He went to Smithell's hall, among other places, to
be questioned by Mr. Barton.--ED.]; and the tradition may have connected
itself with the stone within a short time after the martyrdom; or,
perhaps, when the old persecuting knight departed this life, and Bloody
Mary was also dead, people who had stood at a little distance from the
Hall door, and had seen George Marsh lift his hand and stamp his foot
just at this spot,--perhaps they remembered this action and gesture, and
really believed that Providence had thus made an indelible record of it
on the stone; although the very stone and the very mark might have lain
there at the threshold hundreds of years before. But, even if it had
been always there, the footprint might, after the fact, be looked upon as
a prophecy, from the time when the foundation of the old house was laid,
that a holy and persecuted man should one day set his foot here, on the
way that was to lead him to the stake. At any rate, the legend is a good
one.
Mrs. ------ tells me that the miraculous stone was once taken up from the
pavement, and flung out of doors, where it remained many years; and in
proof of this, it is cracked quite across at one end. This is a pity,
and rather interferes with the authenticity, if not of the stone itself,
yet of its position in the pavement. It is not far from the foot of the
staircase, leading up to Sir Roger Barton's examination-room, whither we
ascended, after examining the footprint.
Pages:
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287