Stephen,
The Son Of Earthbald, Had A Similar Mark, The Accident Being In A
Manner Converted Into Nature.
A like miracle of nature occurred in
earl Alberic, son of Alberic earl of Veer, {168} whose father,
during
The pregnancy of his mother, the daughter of Henry of Essex,
having laboured to procure a divorce, on account of the ignominy of
her father, the child, when born, had the same blemish in its eye,
as the father had got from a casual hurt. These defects may be
entailed on the offspring, perhaps, by the impression made on the
memory by frequent and steady observation; as it is reported that a
queen, accustomed to see the picture of a negro in her chamber,
unexpectedly brought forth a black child, and is exculpated by
Quintilian, on account of the picture. In like manner it happened
to the spotted sheep, given by Laban out of his flock to his nephew
Jacob, and which conceived by means of variegated rods. {169} Nor
is the child always affected by the mother's imagination alone, but
sometimes by that of the father; for it is well known that a man,
seeing a passenger near him, who was convulsed both behind and
before, on going home and telling his wife that he could not get the
impression of this sight off his mind, begat a child who was
affected in a similar manner.
CHAPTER VIII
Passage of the river Conwy in a boat, and of Dinas Emrys
On our return to Banchor from Mona, we were shown the tombs of
prince Owen and his younger brother Cadwalader, {170} who were
buried in a double vault before the high altar, although Owen, on
account of his public incest with his cousin-german, had died
excommunicated by the blessed martyr St. Thomas, the bishop of that
see having been enjoined to seize a proper opportunity of removing
his body from the church.
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