The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-15
THE LAMBTON WORM.
A Curious English Tradition.

FROM the Genealogical Magazine.
ne PARK and manor house of Lambton.
belonging to the family of that name
the head of which is the Earl of Durham
lie on the bank of the river Wear to the
horth OF Lumley. Early in the fourteenth
century the heir, young John Lambton.
was leading disso,ute life. Among his
dellnquincies was the custom of fishing on
Sunday, and on one of the occasions and
ing that his usual good fortune had desert
ed minnie gave way to temper and invoked
curses upon the river, the land, the fish.
niHiselI, MS luck, and all that concerned
Nun Ihen he invoked the powers of evil
10 give him aid and success i'm one Iost
cast or the rod A great strain came
upon the Ane, and, after a tremendous
eHort, ne landed an immense and hid
eouS-looKlng worm, resembling an eft
ms III disgust he threw into a well
close by, where it grew with such mar
Velous fapidity as soon TO fill it up with
It's BODY and limbs; and conseouently IL
was aole to scramble out. Then il made
LOT a large rock in the center of the river
ana, coiling its tail around it. made If its
headquarters by day, while at night II
ehclrcled hill at a little distance from
me river on the opposite bank These
are called respectively Wormwell and
Wormhill to this day, and the latter is
about mile from Lambton hall From
these' It's coigns of vantage 1t would rail
Inc countries round, making forays auono
the farmsteads, sucking The cows wor
rylng the cattle, eating the lambs and
smaller Try, frightening men, women and
chlldren, and causing them to flee in ter
TOR Tor their lives. Thus 1t laid waste all
the country side, and soon reached the
castle Itself, where dwelt the old lord in
solitary and gloomy grandeur, the hopeful
heir having Joined the Crusaders and set
out for Palestine -
ADVISED by his steward, the Lord Of
Lambton placed troughs of milk in Tho
way by which the worm must annroaob
10 propitiate it. But in time the milk Of
the region gave out, and the worm. to sio-
hIty Its anger, rooted up trees and took to
destroying every living thing The kni,rht
Grant of the period sought to make 1Nyav
with this terrible monster, but one and
all persisted who made the attempt: lie
worm would envelop them in it's tremen-
dous folds and crush them to death or
should the knight succeed in dealing what
would be thought fatal blow or thrust
the worm had the power of reunitine the
severed parts and becoming whole again
At length, after seven years absence
John Lambton returned home, now a
Knight of Rhodes. Acting on the advice
OF venerable sybil whom he consulted
ne caused his armor TO be studded With
lance points, engaged to go to the river
at early morning, armed only with bia
sword, and, taking his stand upon the sum
NIT OF the worm rock, await the coming
of the monster; further he made a VOW
that If successful in his enterprise l,a
would Stay the first living being that he
chanced to meet on his return from the
encounter, and that. should he fail to ,ler-
form his oath precisely as prescribed il
was decreed that no Lord of Lambton for
nine successive generations should die a
natural death or in his bed. The result of
the combat between the knight and n a
dragon was decisive in favor of the for
mer, who slew his enemy by embracing il
and piercing it with the spearheads in
many places, and then, having cut the
body in twain, let fall the lower portion
into the stream first. the upper portion
being held upon the spear points until the
possibility of reuniting had passed. But
when, in answer to the blast on his born
announcing victory, the old lord came out
to greet him. the oath had to be broken
since filial pety would not allow of it's full
hlment. During the period of the curse no
Lord of Lambton did die natural death.
the last of the nine generations. Henry
Lambton, M. p. Tor Durham in 1851 died
while crossing the new bridge over the
Wear in his carriage; his predecessors had
all undergone the ban.