72 Legends of Parishes, etc. no more than the usual size but could not lift it, neither could she after she had lightened her " burn " by half. Frightened, she tried to take out the rope and run away, but she could neither draw it out nor move herself. Of course Mr. WilHams had put a spell upon her, and there she had to remain in the cold all night. He cape out in the morning and released her, giving her, as she was poor, the furze. Neither she nor the other women ever troubled him again. Before proceeding any further, to make an allusion in the next legend intelligible, I must say something about Tregeagle (pro- nounced Tregaygle), the Cornish Bluebeard, who was popularly supposed to have sold his soul to the devil, that his wishes might be granted for a certain number of years ; and who, in addition to several other crimes, is accused of marrying and murdering many rich heiresses to obtain ther money. One day, just before his death, he was present when one man lent a large sum to another without receiving receipt or security for it (the money was borrowed for Tregeagle). Soon after Tregeagle's death the borrower denied that he had ever had it, and the case was brought into Bodmin Court to be tried, when the defendant said, " If Tregeagle ever saw it I wish to God that Tregeagle may come into court and declare it." No sooner were the words spoken than Tregeagle appeared, and gave his witness in favour of the plaintiff, declaring "that he could not speak falsely ; but he who had found it so easy to raise him would find it difficult to lay him." The money was paid, but the wretched man was followed night and day by the spirit, and great labour had the parsons and wise men before they could finally rid him of his tormentor. There are many versions of this transac- tion. Tregeagle himself is said in another to have received the money for an estate of which he was steward, and not to have entered it in his books. His ghost was doomed to do many impossible things, such as to empty Dosmery pool, near Bodmin Moor, with a limpet shell that had a hole in the bottom. This pool had the reputation, too, of being bottomless ; but it has lately been cut into and drained by the workers of the granite quarries. Strange tales are told in that neighbourhood of his appearing to
