oulders, on the top of a hill near the village of
Long Compton, in Cumberland. It is called "The King"; and the popular
rhyme of the country people--

"If Long Compton thou canst see,
Then king of England thou shalt be"--

points to the fact that the stone must have been once used as a
coronation-stone. Not far from the top of a hill near Barmouth in
Wales, in the middle of a rough path, may be seen a flat stone, in
which there is a footmark about the natural size, locally known as
"Llan Maria," or Mary's step, because the Virgin Mary once, it is
supposed, put her foot on this rock, and then walked down the hill to
a lower height covered with roots of oak-trees. This impression on the
stone is associated with several stone circles and cromlechs--one of
which bears upon it the reputed marks of Arthur's fingers, and is
called Arthur's Quoit--and with a spring of water and a grove, as the
path leading to the hill is still known by a Welsh name which means
Grove Lane; and these associations undoubtedly indicate that the spot
was once a moot-hill or prehistoric sanctuary, where religious and
inauguration rites were performed. At Smithhill's Hall, near
Bolton-le-Moors, there is still to be seen an object of curiosity to a
large number of visitors--the print of a man's foot in the flagstone.
It is said to have been produced by George Marsh, who suffered
martyrdom during the persecutions of Queen Mary in 1555. When on one
occasion the truth of his words was called in question by his enemies,
he stamped his foot upon the stone on which he stood, which ever after
bore the ineffaceable impression as a miraculous testimony to his
veracity. This story must have been an after-thought, to account for
what we may suppose to have been a prehistoric Tanist stone.

In Ireland footmarks are very numerous, and are attributed by the
peasantry to different saints. Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Hall, in their
account of Ireland, refer to several curious examples which are
regarded by the people with superstitious reverence, and are the
occasions of religious pilgrimage. Near the chapel of Glenfinlough, in
King's County, there is a ridge with a boulder on it called the
Fairy's Stone or the Horseman's Stone, which presents on its flat
surface, besides cup-like hollows, crosses, and other markings,
rudely-carved representations of the human foot. On a stone near
Parsonstown, called Fin's Seat, there are similar impressions--also
associated with c