be forgiven.
 
24 It may be proper to remind the reader, that the chorus of »derry down« is
supposed to be as ancient, not only as the times of the Heptarchy, but as those
of the Druids, and to have furnished the chorus to the hymns of those venerable
persons when they went to the wood to gather mistletoe.
 
25 A rere-supper was a night-meal, and sometimes signified a collation, which
was given at a late hour, after the regular supper had made its appearance. - L.
T.
 
26 The bloody battle alluded to in the text, fought and won by King Harold, over
his brother, the rebellious Tosti, and an auxiliary force of Danes or Norsemen,
took place in 1066 at Stamford, Strangford, or Staneford, a ford upon the river
Derwent, at the distance of about seven miles from York, and situated in that
large and opulent county. A long wooden bridge over the Derwent, the site of
which, with one remaining buttress, is still shown to the curious traveller, was
furiously contested. One Norwegian long defended it by his single arm, and was
at length pierced with a spear thrust through the planks of the bridge from a
boat beneath.
The neighbourhood of Stamford, on the Derwent, contains some memorials of the
battle. Horse-shoes, swords, and the heads of halberds, or bills, are often
found there; one place is called the »Danes' well,« another the »Battle flats.«
From a tradition that the weapon with which the Norwegian champion was slain,
resembled a pear, or, as others say, that the trough or boat in which the
soldier floated under the bridge to strike the blow, had such a shape, the
country people usually begin a great market, which is held at Stamford, with an
entertainment called the Pear-pie feast, which after all may be a corruption of
the Spear-pie feast. For more particulars, Drake's History of York may be
referred to.
 
27 Nota Bene. - We by no means warrant the accuracy of this piece of natural
history, which we give on the authority of the Wardour MS. - L. T.
 
28 This horrid species of torture may remind the reader of that to which the
Spaniards subjected Guatimozin, in order to extort a discovery of his concealed
wealth. But, in fact, an instance of similar barbarity is to be found nearer
home, and occurs in the annals of Queen Mary's time, containing so many other
examples of atrocity. Every reader must recollect,