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+Project Gutenberg's Strange Pages from Family Papers, by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Strange Pages from Family Papers
+
+Author: T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+Release Date: November 11, 2005 [EBook #17050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE PAGES FROM FAMILY PAPERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Clare Boothby, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+    +------------------------------------------------+
+    |  Transcriber's Note: Some very obvious typos   |
+    | were corrected in this text. For a list please |
+    | see the bottom of the document.                |
+    +------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: "FOR THE BLAST OF DEATH IS ON THE HEATH, AND THE
+GRAVE YAWNS WIDE FOR THE CHILD OF MOY."]
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE PAGES
+
+FROM
+
+FAMILY PAPERS
+
+By T.F. THISELTON DYER
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+"GREAT MEN AT PLAY," "CHURCH LORE GLEANINGS,"
+"THE GHOST WORLD," &C.
+
+LONDON
+SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY
+LIMITED
+St. Dunstan's House,
+FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+1895
+
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
+BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Fatal Curses                                          page 1
+
+CHAPTER II.
+The Screaming Skull                                       29
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Eccentric Vows                                            46
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Strange Banquets                                          69
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Mysterious Rooms                                          88
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Indelible Bloodstains                                    114
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Curious Secrets                                          135
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+The Dead Hand                                            154
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Devil Compacts                                           162
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Family Death Omens                                       180
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+Weird Possessions                                        198
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+Romance of Disguise                                      208
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+Extraordinary Disappearances                             229
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+Honoured Hearts                                          253
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+Romance of Wealth                                        262
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+Lucky Accidents                                          279
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+Fatal Passion                                            289
+
+
+Index                                                    309
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+1. "For the blast of Death is on the heath,
+    And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy."
+                                               Frontispiece.
+
+2. She opened it in secret                          page  38
+
+3. "Madam, you have attained your end. You
+    and I shall meet no more in this world"               72
+
+4. The figure stood motionless                           150
+
+5. Lady Sybil at the Eagle's Crag                        168
+
+6. Dorothy Vernon and the Woodman                        214
+
+7. Lady Mabel and the Palmer                             248
+
+8. There came an old Irish harper, and sang an
+   ancient song                                          272
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE PAGES
+
+FROM
+
+FAMILY PAPERS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FATAL CURSES.
+
+    May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
+    Deny thee shelter! Earth a home! the dust
+    A grave! The sun his light! and heaven her God.
+               BYRON, _Cain_.
+
+
+Many a strange and curious romance has been handed down in the history
+of our great families, relative to the terrible curses uttered in
+cases of dire extremity against persons considered guilty of injustice
+and wrong doing. It is to such fearful imprecations that the
+misfortune and downfall of certain houses have been attributed,
+although, it may be, centuries have elapsed before their final
+fulfilment. Such curses, too, unlike the fatal "Curse of Kehama," have
+rarely turned into blessings, nor have they been thought to be as
+harmless as the curse of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Rheims, who
+banned the thief--both body and soul, his life and for ever--who stole
+his ring. It was an awful curse, but none of the guests seemed the
+worse for it, except the poor jackdaw who had hidden the ring in some
+sly corner as a practical joke. But, if we are to believe traditionary
+and historical lore, only too many of the curses recorded in the
+chronicles of family history have been productive of the most
+disastrous results, reminding us of that dreadful malediction given by
+Byron in his "Curse of Minerva":
+
+    "So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,
+    Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn."
+
+A popular form of curse seems to have been the gradual collapse of the
+family name from failure of male-issue; and although there is,
+perhaps, no more romantic chapter in the vicissitudes of many a great
+house than its final extinction from lack of an heir, such a disaster
+is all the more to be lamented when resulting from a curse. A
+catastrophe of this kind was that connected with the M'Alister family
+of Scotch notoriety. The story goes that many generations back, one of
+their chiefs, M'Alister Indre--an intrepid warrior who feared neither
+God nor man--in a skirmish with a neighbouring clan, captured a
+widow's two sons, and in a most heartless manner caused them to be
+hanged on a gibbet erected almost before her very door. It was in vain
+that, with well nigh heartbroken tears, she denounced his iniquitous
+act, for his comrades and himself only laughed and scoffed, and even
+threatened to burn her cottage to the ground. But as the crimson and
+setting rays of a summer sun fell on the lifeless bodies of her two
+sons, her eyes met those of him who had so basely and cruelly wronged
+her, and, after once more stigmatizing his barbarity, with deep
+measured voice she pronounced these ominous words, embodying a curse
+which M'Alister Indre little anticipated would so surely come to pass.
+"I suffer now," said the grief-stricken woman, "but you shall suffer
+always--you have made me childless, but you and yours shall be
+heirless for ever--never shall there be a son to the house of
+M'Alister."
+
+These words were treated with contempt by M'Alister Indre, who mocked
+and laughed at the malicious prattle of a woman's tongue. But time
+proved only too truly how persistently the curse of the bereaved woman
+clung to the race of her oppressors, and, as Sir Bernard Burke
+remarks, it was in the reign of Queen Anne that the hopes of the house
+of M'Alister "flourished for the last time, they were blighted for
+ever." The closing scene of this prophetic curse was equally tragic
+and romantic; for, whilst espousing the cause of the Pretender, the
+young and promising heir of the M'Alisters was taken prisoner, and
+with many others put to death. Incensed at the wrongs of his exiled
+monarch, and full of fiery impulse, he had secretly left his youthful
+wife, and joined the army at Perth that was to restore the Pretender
+to his throne. For several months the deserted wife fretted under the
+terrible suspense, often silently wondering if, after all, her
+husband--the last hope of the House of M'Alister--was to fall under
+the ban of the widow's curse. She could not dispel from her mind the
+hitherto disastrous results of those ill-fated words, and would only
+too willingly have done anything in her power to make atonement for
+the wrong that had been committed in the past. It was whilst almost
+frenzied with thoughts of this distracting kind, that vague rumours
+reached her ears of a great battle which had been fought, and ere long
+this was followed by the news that the Pretender's forces had been
+successful, and that he was about to be crowned at Scone. The shades
+of evening were fast setting in as, overcome with the joyous prospect
+of seeing her husband home again, she withdrew to her chamber, and,
+flinging herself on her bed in a state of hysteric delight, fell
+asleep. But her slumbers were broken, for at every sound she started,
+mentally exclaiming "Can that be my husband?"
+
+At last, the happy moment came when her poor overwrought brain made
+sure it heard his footsteps. She listened, yes! they were his! Full of
+feverish joy she was longing to see that long absent face, when, as
+the door opened, to her horror and dismay, there entered a figure in
+martial array without a head. It was enough--he was dead. And with an
+agonizing scream she fell down in a swoon; and on becoming conscious
+only lived to hear the true narrative of the battle of Sheriff-Muir,
+which had brought to pass the Widow's Curse that there should be no
+heir to the house of M'Alister.
+
+This story reminds us of one told of Sir Richard Herbert, who, with
+his brother, the Earl of Pembroke, pursuing a robber band in Anglesea,
+had captured seven brothers, the ringleaders of "many mischiefs and
+murders." The Earl of Pembroke determined to make an example of these
+marauders, and, to root out so wretched a progeny, ordered them all to
+be hanged. Upon this, the mother of the felons came to the Earl of
+Pembroke, and upon her knees besought him to pardon two, or at least
+one, of her sons, a request which was seconded by the Earl's brother,
+Sir Richard. But the Earl, finding the condemned men all equally
+guilty, declared he could make no distinction, and ordered them to be
+hanged together.
+
+Upon this the mother, falling upon her knees, cursed the Earl, and
+prayed that God's mischief might fall upon him in the first battle in
+which he was engaged. Curious to relate, on the eve of the battle of
+Edgcot Field, having marshalled his men in order to fight, the Earl of
+Pembroke was surprised to find his brother, Sir Richard Herbert,
+standing in the front of his company, and leaning upon his pole-axe
+in a most dejected and pensive mood.
+
+"What," cried the Earl, "doth thy great body" (for Sir Richard was
+taller than anyone in the army) "apprehend anything, that thou art so
+melancholy? or art thou weary with marching, that thou dost lean thus
+upon thy pole-axe?"
+
+"I am not weary with marching," replied Sir Richard, "nor do I
+apprehend anything for myself; but I cannot but apprehend on your part
+lest the curse of the woman fall upon you."
+
+And the curse of the frantic mother of seven convicts seemed, we are
+told, to have gained the authority of Heaven, for both the Earl and
+his brother Sir Richard, were defeated at the battle of Edgcot, were
+both taken prisoners and put to death.
+
+Sir Walter Scott has made a similar legend the subject of one of his
+ballads in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," entitled "The
+Curse of Moy," a tale founded on an ancient Highland tradition that
+originated in a feud between the clans of Chattan and Grant. The
+Castle of Moy, the early residence of Mackintosh, the chief of the
+clan Chattan, is situated among the mountains of Inverness-shire, and
+stands on the edge of a small gloomy lake called Loch Moy, in which is
+still shown a rocky island as the spot where the dungeon stood in
+which prisoners were confined by the former chiefs of Moy. On a
+certain evening, in the annals of Moy, the scene is represented as
+having been one of extreme merriment, for
+
+    In childbed lay the lady fair,
+    But now is come the appointed hour.
+    And vassals shout, "An heir, an heir!"
+
+It is no ordinary occasion, for a wretched curse has long hung over
+the Castle of Moy, but at last the spell seems broken, and, as the
+well-spiced bowl goes round, shout after shout echoes and re-echoes
+through the castle, "An heir, an heir!" Many a year had passed without
+the prospect of such an event, and it had looked as if the ill-omened
+words uttered in the past were to be realised. It was no wonder then
+that "in the gloomy towers of Moy" there were feasting and revelry,
+for a child is born who is to perpetuate the clan which hitherto had
+seemed threatened with extinction. But, even on this festive night
+when every heart is tuned for song and mirth, there suddenly appears a
+mysterious figure, a pale and shivering form, by "age and frenzy
+haggard made," who defiantly exclaims "'Tis vain! 'Tis vain!"
+
+At once all eyes are turned on this strange form, as she, in mocking
+gesture, casts a look of withering scorn on the scene around her, and
+startles the jovial vassals with the reproachful words "No heir! No
+heir!" The laughter is hushed, the pipes no longer sound, for the
+witch with uplifted hand beckons that she had a message to tell--a
+message from Death--she might truly say, "What means these bowls of
+wine--these festive songs?"
+
+    For the blast of Death is on the heath,
+    And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy.
+
+She then recounts the tale of treachery and cruelty committed by a
+chief of the House of Moy in the days of old, for which "his name
+shall perish for ever off the earth--a son may be born--but that son
+shall verily die." The witch brings tears into many an eye as she
+tells how this curse was uttered by one Margaret, a prominent figure
+in this sad feud, for it was when deceived in the most base manner,
+and when betrayed by a man who had violated his promise he had
+solemnly pledged, that she is moved to pronounce the fatal words of
+doom:
+
+    She pray'd that childless and forlorn,
+      The chief of Moy might pine away,
+    That the sleepless night, and the careful morn
+      Might wither his limbs in slow decay.
+
+    But never the son of a chief of Moy
+      Might live to protect his father's age,
+    Or close in peace his dying eye,
+      Or gather his gloomy heritage.
+
+Such was the "Curse of Moy," uttered, it must be remembered, too, by a
+fair young girl, against the Chief of Moy for a blood-thirsty
+crime--the act of a traitor--in that, not content with slaying her
+father, and murdering her lover, he satiates his brutal passion by
+letting her eyes rest on their corpses.
+
+    "And here," they said, "is thy father dead,
+    And thy lover's corpse is cold at his side."
+
+Her tale ended, the witch departs, but now ceased the revels of the
+shuddering clan, for "despair had seized on every breast," and "in
+every vein chill terror ran." On the morrow, all is changed, no joyous
+sounds are heard, but silence reigns supreme--the silence of death.
+The curse has triumphed, the last hope of the house of Moy is gone,
+and--
+
+    Scarce shone the morn on the mountain's head
+    When the lady wept o'er her dying boy.
+
+But tyranny, or oppression, has always been supposed to bring its own
+punishment, as in the case of Barcroft Hall, Lancashire, where the
+"Idiot's Curse" is commonly said to have caused the downfall of the
+family. The tradition current in the neighbourhood states that one of
+the heirs to Barcroft was of weak intellect, and that he was fastened
+by a younger brother with a chain in one of the cellars, and there in
+a most cruel manner gradually starved to death. It appears that this
+unnatural conduct on the part of the younger brother was prompted by a
+desire to get possession of the property; and it is added that, long
+before the heir to Barcroft was released from his sufferings, he
+caused a report to be circulated that he was dead, and by this piece
+of deception made himself master of the Barcroft estate. It was in one
+of his lucid intervals that the poor injured brother pronounced a
+curse upon the family of the Barcrofts, to the effect that their name
+should perish for ever, and that the property should pass into other
+hands. But this malediction was only regarded as the ravings of an
+imbecile, unaccountable for his words, and little or no heed was paid
+to this death sentence on the Barcroft name. And yet, light as the
+family made of it, within a short time there were not wanting
+indications that their prosperity was on the wane, a fact which every
+year became more and more discernible until the curse was fulfilled in
+the person of Thomas Barcroft, who died in 1688 without male issue.
+After passing through the hands of the Bradshaws, the Pimlots, and the
+Isherwoods, the property was finally sold to Charles Towneley, the
+celebrated antiquarian, in the year 1795.[1] Whatever the truth of
+this family tradition, Barcroft is still a good specimen of the later
+Tudor style, and its ample cellarage gives an idea of the profuse
+hospitality of its former owners, some rude scribblings on one of the
+walls of which are still pointed out as the work of the captive.
+
+In a still more striking way this spirit of persecution incurred its
+own condemnation. In the 17th century, Francis Howgill, a noted
+Quaker, travelled about the South of England preaching, which at
+Bristol was the cause of serious rioting. On returning to his own
+neighbourhood, he was summoned to appear before the justices who were
+holding a court in a tavern at Kendal, and, on his refusing to take
+the oath of allegiance, he was imprisoned in Appleby Gaol. In due
+time, the judges of assizes tendered the same oath, but with the like
+result, and evidently wishing to show him some consideration offered
+to release him from custody if he would give a bond for his good
+behaviour in the interim, which likewise declining to do, he was
+recommitted to prison. In the course of his imprisonment, however, a
+curious incident happened, which gave rise to the present narrative.
+Having been permitted by the magistrates to go home to Grayrigg for a
+few days on private affairs, he took the opportunity of calling on a
+justice of the name of Duckett, residing at Grayrigg Hall, who was not
+only a great persecutor of the Quakers but was one of the magistrates
+who had committed him to prison. As might be imagined, Justice Duckett
+was not a little surprised at seeing Howgill, and said to him, "What
+is your wish now, Francis? I thought you had been in Appleby Gaol."
+
+Howgill, keenly resenting the magistrate's behaviour, promptly
+replied, "No, I am not, but I am come with a message from the Lord.
+Thou hast persecuted the Lord's people, but His hand is now against
+thee, and He will send a blast upon all that thou hast, and thy name
+shall rot out of the earth, and this thy dwelling shall become
+desolate, and a habitation for owls and jackdaws." When Howgill had
+delivered his message, the magistrate seems to have been somewhat
+disconcerted, and said, "Francis, are you in earnest?" But Howgill
+only added, "Yes, I am in earnest, it is the word of the Lord to thee,
+and there are many living now who will see it."
+
+But the most remarkable part of the story remains to be told. By a
+strange coincidence the prophetic utterance of Howgill was fulfilled
+in a striking manner, for all the children of Justice Duckett died
+without leaving any issue, whilst some of them came to actual poverty,
+one begging her bread from door to door. Grayrigg Hall passed into the
+possession of the Lowther family, was dismantled, and fell into ruins,
+little more than its extensive foundations being visible in 1777, and,
+after having long been the habitation of "owls and jackdaws," the
+ruins were entirely removed and a farmhouse erected upon the site of
+the "old hall," in accordance with what was popularly known as "The
+Quaker's Curse, and its fulfilment." Cornish biography, however, tells
+how a magistrate of that county, Sir John Arundell, a man greatly
+esteemed amongst his neighbours for his honourable conduct--fell under
+an imprecation which he in no way deserved. In his official capacity,
+it seems, he had given offence to a shepherd who had by some means
+acquired considerable influence over the peasantry, under the
+impression that he possessed some supernatural powers. This man, for
+some offence, had been imprisoned by Sir John Arundell, and on his
+release would constantly waylay the magistrate, always looking at him
+with the same menacing eye, at the same time slowly muttering these
+words:
+
+    "When upon the yellow sand,
+    Thou shalt die by human hand."
+
+Notwithstanding Sir John Arundell's education and position, he was not
+wholly free from the superstition of the period, and might have
+thought, too, that this man intended to murder him. Hence he left his
+home at Efford and retired to the wood-clad hills of Trevice, where he
+lived for some years without the annoyance of meeting his old enemy.
+But in the tenth year of Edward IV., Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford,
+seized St. Michael's Mount; on hearing of which news, Sir John
+Arundell, then Sheriff of Cornwall--led an attack on St. Michael's
+Mount, in the course of which he received his death wound in a
+skirmish on the sands near Marazion. Although he had broken up his
+home at Efford "to counteract the will of fate," the shepherd's
+prophecy was accomplished; and tradition even says that, in his dying
+moments, his old enemy appeared, singing in joyous tones:
+
+    "When upon the yellow sand,
+    Thou shalt die by human hand."
+
+The misappropriation of property, in addition to causing many a family
+complication, has occasionally been attended with a far more serious
+result. There is a strange curse, for instance, in the family of Mar,
+which can boast of great antiquity, there being, perhaps, no title in
+Europe so ancient as that of the Earl of Mar. This curse has been
+attributed by some to Thomas the Rhymer, by others to the Abbot of
+Cambuskenneth, and by others to the Bard of the House at that epoch.
+But, whoever its author, the curse was delivered prior to the
+elevation of the Earl, in the year 1571, to be the Regent of Scotland,
+and runs thus:
+
+"Proud Chief of Mar, thou shalt be raised still higher, until thou
+sittest in the place of the King. Thou shalt rule and destroy, and thy
+work shall be after thy name, but thy work shall be the emblem of thy
+house, and shall teach mankind that he who cruelly and haughtily
+raiseth himself upon the ruins of the holy cannot prosper. Thy work
+shall be cursed, and shall never be finished. But thou shalt have
+riches and greatness, and shall be true to thy sovereign, and shalt
+raise his banner in the field of blood. Then, when thou seemest to be
+highest, when thy power is mightiest, then shall come thy fall; low
+shall be thy head amongst the nobles of the people. Deep shall be thy
+moan among the children of dool (sorrow). Thy lands shall be given to
+the stranger, and thy titles shall lie among the dead. The branch that
+springs from thee shall see his dwelling burnt, in which a King is
+nursed--his wife a sacrifice in that same flame; his children
+numerous, but of little honour; and three born and grown who shall
+never see the light. Yet shall thine ancient tower stand; for the
+brave and the true cannot be wholly forsaken. Thou, proud head and
+daggered hand, must _dree thy_ weird, until horses shall be stabled in
+thy hall, and a weaver shall throw his shuttle in thy chamber of
+state. Thine ancient tower--a woman's dower--shall be a ruin and a
+beacon, until an ash sapling shall spring from its topmost stone. Then
+shall thy sorrows be ended, and the sunshine of royalty shall beam on
+thee once more. Thine honours shall be restored; the kiss of peace
+shall be given to thy Countess, though she seek it not, and the days
+of peace shall return to thee and thine. The line of Mar shall be
+broken; but not until its honours are doubled, and its doom is ended."
+
+In support of this strange curse, it may be noted that the Earl of
+1571 was raised to be Regent of Scotland, and guardian of James VI. As
+Regent, he commanded the destruction of Cambuskenneth Abbey, and took
+its stones to build himself a palace at Stirling, which never advanced
+farther than the façade, which has been popularly designated "Marr's
+Work."
+
+In the year 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the banner of his Sovereign,
+the Chevalier James Stuart, son of James the Second, or Seventh. He
+was defeated at the battle of Sheriff-Muir, his title being forfeited,
+and his lands of Mar confiscated and sold by the Government to the
+Earl of Fife. His grandson and representative, John Francis, lived at
+Alloa Tower (which had been for some time the abode of James VI. as an
+infant) where, a fire breaking out in one of the rooms, Mrs. Erskine
+was burnt, and died, leaving, beside others, three children who were
+born blind, and who all lived to old age.
+
+But this remarkable curse was to be further fulfilled, for at the
+commencement of the present century, upon the alarm of the French
+invasion, a troop of the cavalry and yeomen of the district took
+possession of the tower, and for a week fifty horses were stabled in
+its lordly hall; and in the year 1810, a party of visitors were
+surprised to find a weaver plying his loom in the grand old Chamber of
+State. Between the years 1815 and 1820, an ash sapling might be seen
+in the topmost stone, and many of those who "clasped it in their hands
+wondered if it really were the twig of destiny, and if they should
+ever live to see the prophecy fulfilled."
+
+In the year 1822, George IV. visited Scotland and searched out the
+families who had suffered by supporting the Princes of the Stuart
+line. Foremost of them all was the Erskine of Mar, grandson of Mar who
+had raised the Chevalier's standard, and to him the King restored his
+earldom. John Francis, the grandson of the restored Earl, likewise
+came into favour, for when Queen Victoria accidentally met his
+Countess in a small room in Stirling Castle, and ascertained who she
+was, she detained her, and, after conversing with her, kissed her.
+Although the Countess had never been presented at St. James's, yet, in
+a marvellous way, "the kiss of peace was given to her, though she
+sought it not"; and then, after the curse had worked through 300
+years, the "weird dreed out, and the doom of Mar was ended."[2]
+
+Another instance which may be quoted relates to Sherborne Castle.
+According to the traditionary accounts handed down, it appears that
+Osmund, one of William the Conqueror's knights, who had been rewarded,
+among other possessions, with the castle and barony of Sherborne, in
+the decline of life determined to resign his temporal honours, and to
+devote himself exclusively to religion. In pursuance of this object,
+he obtained the Bishopric of Salisbury, to which he gave certain
+lands, but annexed to the gift the following conditional curse: "That
+whosoever should take those lands from the Bishopric, or diminish them
+in great or small, should be accursed, not only in this world, but in
+the world to come, unless in his lifetime he made restitution
+thereof." In a strange and wonderful manner this curse is said to have
+been more than once fulfilled. Upon Osmund's death, the castle and
+lands fell into the hands of the next bishop, Roger Niger, who was
+dispossessed of them by King Stephen, on whose death they were held by
+the Montagues, all of whom, it is affirmed, so long as they kept these
+lands, were subjected to grievous disasters, in so much that the male
+line became altogether extinct. About two hundred years from this
+time, the lands again reverted to the Church, but in the reign of
+Edward VI. the Castle of Sherborne was conveyed by the then Bishop of
+Sarum to the Duke of Somerset, who lost his head on Tower Hill. Sir
+Walter Raleigh, again, obtained the property from the crown, and it
+was to expiate this offence, it has been suggested, he ultimately lost
+his head. But in allusion to this reputed curse, Sir John Harrington
+gravely tells how it happened one day that Sir Walter riding post
+between Plymouth and the Court, "the castle being right in the way, he
+cast such an eye upon it as Ahab did upon Naboth's vineyard, and
+whilst talking of the commodiousness of the place, and of the great
+strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the
+Bishopric, suddenly over and over came his horse, and his very
+face--which was then thought a very good one--ploughed up the earth
+where he fell." Then again Prince Henry died shortly after he took
+possession, and Carr, Earl of Somerset, the next proprietor fell in
+disgrace. But the way the latter obtained Sherborne was far from
+creditable, for, having discovered a technical flaw in the deed in
+which Sir Walter Raleigh had settled the estate on his son, he
+solicited it of his royal master, and obtained it. It was in vain that
+Lady Raleigh on her knees appealed to James against this injustice,
+for he only answered, "I mun have the land, I mun have it for Carr."
+But Lady Raleigh was a woman of high spirit, and there on her knees,
+before King James, she prayed to God that He would punish those who
+had thus wrongfully exposed her, and her children, to ruin. She was,
+in fact, re-echoing the curse uttered centuries beforehand. And that
+prayer was not long unanswered, for Carr did not enjoy Sherborne for
+any length of time. Committed to the Tower for the murder of Sir
+Thomas Overbury, he was at last released and restricted to his house
+in the country, "where in constant companionship with the wife, for
+the guilty love of whom he had become the murderer of his friend, he
+passed the remainder of his life, loathing the partner of his crimes,
+and by her as cordially detested."
+
+Spelman goes so far as to say that "all those families who took or had
+Church property presented to them, came, either in their own persons or
+those of their descendants, to sorrow and misfortune." One of the many
+strange occurrences relating to Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer to
+King Henry VIII., was communicated some years ago in connection with
+the famous Cowdray Castle, the principal seat of the Montagues. It is
+said that at the great festival given in the magnificent hall of the
+monks at Battle Abbey, on Sir Anthony Browne taking possession of his
+Sovereign's gift of that estate, a venerable monk stalked up the hall
+to the daïs, where Sir Anthony Browne sat, and, in prophetic language,
+denounced him and his posterity for usurping the possessions of the
+Church, predicting their destruction by fire and water--a fate which
+was eventually fulfilled.
+
+One of the last viscounts was, in 1793, drowned when trying to pass
+the Falls of Schaffhausen on the Rhine, accompanied by Mr. Sedley
+Burdett, the elder brother of the distinguished Sir Francis. They had
+engaged an open boat to take them through the rapids; but it seems the
+authorities tried to prevent so dangerous an enterprise. In order,
+however, to carry out their project, they started two hours earlier
+than the time previously fixed--four o'clock in the morning--and
+successfully passed the first or upper fall. But, unhappily, the same
+good fortune failed them in their next descent, for "the boat was
+swamped and sunk in passing the lower fall, and was supposed to have
+been jammed in a cleft of the submerged rock, as neither boat nor
+adventurers ever appeared again. In the same week, the ancient seat of
+the family, Cowdray Castle, was destroyed by fire, and its venerable
+ruins are the significant monument at once of the fulfilment of the
+old monk's prophecy, and of the extinction of the race of the great
+and powerful noble."
+
+It is further added that the last inheritor of the title--the
+immediate successor and cousin of the ill-fated young nobleman of
+Schaffhausen, Anthony Browne, the last Montague, who died at the
+opening of this century--left no male issue, and his estates devolved
+on his only daughter, who married Mr. Stephen Poyntz, a great
+Buckinghamshire landlord. Some years after their marriage Mr. Poyntz
+was desirous of obtaining a grant of the dormant title "Viscount
+Montague" in favour of the elder of his two sons, issue of this
+marriage; but his hopes were suddenly destroyed by the death of the
+two boys, who were drowned while bathing at Bognor, the "fatal water"
+thus becoming the means, in fulfilment of the monk's terrible
+denunciation on the family in his fearful curse.
+
+In a similar manner the great Tichborne trial followed, it is said,
+upon the fulfilment, in a manner, of a prophecy, respecting that
+ancient family, made more than seven hundred years before. When the
+Lady Mabelle Tichborne, wife of the Sir Roger who flourished in the
+reign of Henry II., was lying on her death-bed, she besought her
+husband to grant her the means of leaving behind her a charitable
+bequest in the form of an annual dole of bread. To gratify her whim,
+he accordingly promised her the produce of as much land in the
+vicinity of the park as she could walk over while a certain brand was
+burning; for, as she had been bedridden for many years, he supposed
+that she would be able to go round only a small portion of the
+property. But when the venerable dame was carried out upon the ground,
+she seemed to regain her strength, and, greatly to the surprise of her
+husband, crawled round several rich and goodly acres, which, to this
+day, retain the name of "The Crawls." On being reconveyed to her
+chamber, Lady Mabelle summoned her family to her bedside and predicted
+its prosperity so long as the annual dole was observed, but she left
+her solemn curse on any of her descendants who should discontinue it,
+prophesying that when such should happen, the old house would fall,
+and the family name "become extinct from failure" of male issue. And
+she further added, that this would be foretold by a generation of
+seven sons being followed immediately after by a generation of seven
+daughters and no son.
+
+The custom of the annual doles was observed for six hundred years on
+every 25th of March, until--owing to the complaints of the magistrates
+and local gentry that vagabonds, gipsies, and idlers of every
+description swarmed into the neighbourhood, under the pretence of
+receiving the dole--it was discontinued in the year 1796. Strangely
+enough, Sir Henry Tichborne, the baronet of that day, had issue seven
+sons, and his eldest son, who succeeded him, had seven daughters and
+no son. The prophecy was apparently completed by the change of name
+of the possessors of the estate to Doughty, in the person of Sir
+Edward Doughty, who had assumed the name under the will of a relative
+from whom he inherited certain property. Finally, it may be added,
+"the Claimant" appeared, and instituted one of the most costly
+lawsuits ever tried, in which the Tichborne estate was put to an
+expense of close upon one hundred thousand pounds!
+
+But, occasionally, the effect of a family curse, through the
+misappropriation of property, has been more sweeping and speedy in its
+retribution, as in the case of Furvie or Forvie, which now forms part
+of the parish of Slains, Scotland--much, if not most of it, being
+covered with sand. The popular account of the downfall of this parish
+tells how, in times gone by, the proprietor to whom it belonged left
+three daughters as heirs of his fair lands; who were, however, most
+unjustly bereft of their property, and thrown homeless on the world.
+On quitting their home--their legal heritage--they uttered a terrible
+curse, which was quickly accomplished, and was considered an
+unmistakable sign of Divine displeasure at the wrong they had
+received. Before many days had elapsed, a storm of almost unparalleled
+violence--lasting nine days--burst over the district, and transformed
+the parish of Forvie into a desert of sand;--a calamity which is said
+to have befallen the district about the close of the 17th century. In
+this way, many local traditions account for the ruined and desolate
+condition of certain wild and uninhabited spots. Ettrick Hall, for
+instance, near the head of Ettrick Water, had such a history. On and
+around its site in former days there was a considerable village, and
+"as late as the Revolution, it contained no fewer than fifty-three
+fine houses." But about the year 1700, when the numbers in this little
+village were still very considerable, James Anderson, a member of the
+Tushielaw family, pulled down a number of small cottages, leaving many
+of the tenants--some of whom were aged and infirm--homeless. It was in
+vain that these poor people appealed to him for a little merciful
+consideration, for he refused to lend an ear to their complaints, and
+in a short time a splendid house was built on the property, known as
+Ettrick Hall. What was considered by the inhabitants far and wide as
+an act of cruel injustice incurred its own punishment, for a prophetic
+rhyme was about the same period made on it, by whom nobody could tell,
+and which, says James Hogg, writing in the year 1826, has been most
+wonderfully verified:
+
+    Ettrick Hall stands on yon plain,
+    Right sore exposed to wind and rain;
+    And on it the sun shines never at morn,
+    Because it was built in the widow's corn;
+    And its foundations can never be sure,
+    Because it was built on the ruin of the poor.
+    And or an age is come and gane,
+    Or the trees o'er the chimly-taps grow green,
+    We kinna wen where the house has been.
+
+The curse that alighted on this fair mansion at length accomplished
+its destructive work, because nowadays there is not a vestige of it
+remaining, nor has there been for these many years; indeed, so
+complete was the collapse of this ill-fated house, that its site could
+only be identified by the avenue and lanes of trees; while many clay
+cottages, on the other hand, which were built previously, long
+remained intact. Equally fatal, also, was the curse uttered against
+the old persecuting family of Home of Cowdenknowes--a place in the
+immediate neighbourhood of St. Thomas's Castle.
+
+    Vengeance, vengeance! When and where?
+    Upon the house of Cowdenknowes, now and evermair!
+
+This anathema, awful as the cry of blood, is generally said to have
+been realised in the extinction of the family and the transference of
+their property to other hands. But some doubt, writes Mr. Robert
+Chambers,[3] seems to hang on the matter, "as the Earl of Home--a
+prosperous gentleman--is the lineal descendant of the Cowdenknowes
+branch of the family which acceded to the title in the reign of
+Charles I., though, it must be admitted, the estate has long been
+alienated."
+
+Love and marriage, again, have been associated with many imprecations,
+one of which dates as far back as the time of Edmund, King of the East
+Angles, in connection with his defeat and capture at Hoxne, in
+Suffolk, on the banks of the Waveney not far from Eye. The story, as
+told by Sir Francis Palgrave in his Anglo-Saxon History, is this:
+"Being hotly pursued by his foes, the King fled to Hoxne, and
+attempted to conceal himself by crouching beneath a bridge, now called
+Goldbridge. The glittering of his golden spurs discovered him to a
+newly-married couple, who were returning home by moonlight, and they
+betrayed him to the Danes. Edmund, as he was dragged from his hiding
+place, pronounced a malediction upon all who should afterwards pass
+this bridge on their way to be married. So much regard was paid to
+this tradition by the good folks of Hoxne that no bride or bridegroom
+would venture along the forbidden path."
+
+That inconstancy has not always escaped with impunity may be gathered
+from the following painful story, one which, if it had not been fully
+attested, would seem to belong to the domain of fiction rather than
+truth: On April 28, 1795, a naval court-martial, which had lasted for
+sixteen days, and created considerable excitement, was terminated. The
+officer tried was Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy, of H.M. Ship
+_Cæsar_ and the charge brought against him was that, in the memorable
+battle of June 1, 1794, he did not bring his ship into action, and
+exert himself to the utmost of his power. The decision of the court
+was adverse to the Captain, but, "having found that on many previous
+occasions Captain Molloy's courage had been unimpeachable," he was
+sentenced to be dismissed his ship, instead of the penalty of death.
+
+It is said that Captain Molloy had behaved dishonourably to a young
+lady to whom he was betrothed. The friends of the lady wished to bring
+an action for breach of promise against the Captain, but the lady
+declined doing so, only remarking that God would punish him. Some time
+afterwards the two accidentally met at Bath, when the lady confronted
+her inconstant lover by saying: "Capt. Molloy, you are a bad man. I
+wish you the greatest curse that can befall a British officer. When
+the day of battle comes, may your false heart fail you!"
+
+Her words were fully realised, his subsequent conduct and irremediable
+disgrace forming the fulfilment of her wish.[4]
+
+Another curse, which may be said to have a historic interest, has been
+popularly designated the "Midwife's Curse." It appears that Colonel
+Stephen Payne, who took a foremost part in striving to uphold the
+tottering fortunes of the Stuarts, had wooed and won a fair wife amid
+the battles of the Rebellion. The Duke of York promised to stand as
+godfather to the first child if it should prove a boy; but when a
+daughter was born, the Colonel in his mortification, it is said,
+"formally devoted, in succession, his hapless wife, his infant
+daughter, himself and his belongings, to the infernal deities."
+
+But the story goes that the midwife, Douce Vardon, was commissioned by
+the shade of Normandy's first duke to announce to her master that not
+only would his daughter die in infancy, but that neither he nor anyone
+descended from him would ever again be blessed with a daughter's love.
+Not many days afterwards the child died, "whose involuntary coming had
+been the cause of the Payne curse." Time passed on, and that "Heaven
+is merciful," writes Sir Bernard Burke,[5] Stephen Payne experienced
+in his own person, for his wife subsequently presented him with a son,
+who was sponsored by the Duke of York by proxy. "But six generations
+of the descendants of Colonel Stephen Payne," it is added, "have come
+and gone since the utterance of the midwife's curse, but they never
+yet have had a daughter born to them." Such is the immutability of the
+decrees of Fate.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Harland's "Lancashire Legends" (1882), 4, 5.
+
+[2] See Sir J. Bernard Burke's "Family Romance," 1853.
+
+[3] "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" (1870), 217-18.
+
+[4] See "Book of Days," I., 559.
+
+[5] "The Rise of Great Families," 191-202.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE SCREAMING SKULL.
+
+    "Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall,
+      Its chambers desolate, its portals foul;
+    Yes, this was once Ambition's airy hall--
+      The dome of thought, the palace of the soul."
+               BYRON.
+
+
+There are told of certain houses, in different parts of the country,
+many weird skull stories, the popular idea being that if any profane
+hand should be bold enough to remove, or in any way tamper with, such
+gruesome relics of the dead, misfortune will inevitably overtake the
+family. Hence, for years past, there have been carefully preserved in
+some of our country homes numerous skulls, all kinds of romantic
+traditions accounting for their present isolated and unburied
+condition.
+
+An old farmstead known as Bettiscombe, near Bridport, Dorsetshire, has
+long been famous for its so-called "screaming skull," generally
+supposed to be that of a negro servant who declared before his death
+that his spirit would not rest until his body was buried in his native
+land. But, contrary to his dying wish, he was interred in the
+churchyard of Bettiscombe, and hence the trouble which this skull has
+ever since occasioned. In the August of 1883, Dr. Richard Garnett, his
+daughter, and a friend, while staying in the neighbourhood determined
+to pay this eccentric skull a visit, the result of which is thus
+amusingly told by Miss Garnett:
+
+"One fine afternoon a party of three adventurous spirits started off,
+hoping to discover the skull and investigate its history. This much we
+knew, that the skull would only scream when it was buried, and so we
+hoped to get leave to inter it in the churchyard. The village of
+Bettiscombe was at length reached, and we found our way to the old
+farmhouse, which stood at the end of the village by itself. It had
+evidently been a manor house, and a very handsome one, too. We were
+admitted into a fine paved hall, and attempted to break the ice by
+asking for milk. We then endeavoured to draw the good woman of the
+house into conversation by admiring the place, and asking in a guarded
+manner respecting the famous skull. On this subject she was most
+reserved. She had only lately had the farmhouse, and had been obliged
+to take possession of the skull also; but she did not wish us to
+suppose that she knew much about it; it was a veritable 'skeleton in
+the closet' to her. After exercising great diplomacy, we persuaded her
+to allow us a sight of it. We tramped up the fine old staircase till
+we reached the top of the house, when, opening a cupboard door, she
+showed us a steep, winding staircase, leading to the roof, and from
+one of the steps the skull sat grinning at us. We took it in our hands
+and examined it carefully; it was very old and weather-beaten, and
+certainly human. The lower jaw was missing, the forehead very low and
+badly proportioned. One of our party, who was a medical student,
+examined it long and gravely, and then, after first telling the good
+woman that he was a doctor, pronounced it to be, in his opinion, the
+skull of a negro. After this oracular utterance, she resolved to make
+a clean breast of all she knew, which, however, did not amount to
+much. The skull, we were informed, was that of a negro servant, who
+had lived in the service of a Roman Catholic priest. Some difference
+arose between them; but whether the priest murdered the servant, in
+order to conceal some crimes known to the negro, or whether the negro,
+in a fit of passion, killed his master, did not clearly appear.
+
+However, the negro had declared before his death that his spirit would
+not rest unless his body was taken to his native land and buried
+there. This was not done, he being buried in the churchyard of
+Bettiscombe. Then the haunting began; fearful screams proceeded from
+the grave, the doors and windows of the house rattled and creaked,
+strange sounds were heard all over the house; in short, there was no
+rest for the inmates until the body was dug up. At different periods
+attempts were made to bury the body, but similar disturbances always
+recurred. In process of time the skeleton disappeared, 'all save the
+skull,' and its reputation as 'the screaming skull' remains
+unimpaired."
+
+In a farm-house in Sussex are preserved two skulls from Hastings
+Priory, about which many gruesome stories are current in the
+neighbourhood. One of these skulls, it appears, has been in the house
+many years; the other was placed there by a former tenant of the farm.
+It is the prevalent impression in the locality, that, if by any chance
+the former skull were to be removed, the cattle in the farm would die,
+and unearthly sounds be heard in and about the house at night time.
+According to a local tradition, the skull belonged to a man who
+murdered the owner of the house, and marks of blood are pointed out on
+the floor of the adjoining room, where the murder is said to have been
+committed, and which no washing will remove. But, on more than one
+occasion, the skull has been taken away without any ill-effects, and,
+one year, was placed by a profane hand in a branch of a neighbouring
+tree, where it remained a whole summer, during which time a bird's
+nest was constructed within it, and a young brood successfully reared.
+And yet the old superstition still survives, and the prejudice
+against tampering with this peculiar skull has in no way
+diminished.[6]
+
+There are the remains of a skull, in three parts, at Tunstead, a
+farmhouse about a mile and a half from Chapel-en-le-Frith, which,
+although popularly known by the male cognomen "Dickie," has always
+been said to be that of a woman. How long it has been located in its
+present home is not known, but tradition tells how one of two
+co-heiresses residing here was murdered, who solemnly affirmed that
+her bones should remain in the place for ever. In days past, this
+skull has been guilty of all sorts of eccentric pranks, many of which
+are still told by the credulous peasantry with respectful awe. It is
+added,[7] also, that if "Dickie" should accidentally be removed,
+everything in the farm will go wrong. The cows will be dry and barren,
+the sheep have the rot, and horses fall down, breaking their knees and
+otherwise injuring themselves. The story goes, too, that when the
+London and North-Western Railway to Manchester was being made, the
+foundations of a bridge gave way in the yielding sands and bog, and,
+after several attempts to build the bridge had failed, it was found
+necessary to divert the highway, and pass it under the railway on
+higher ground. These engineering failures were attributed to the
+malevolent influence of "Dickie," but as soon as the road was
+diverted it was bridged successfully, because no longer in Dickie's
+territory.
+
+A similar superstition attaches to a skull kept in a farmhouse at
+Chilton Cantelo, in Somersetshire. From the date on the tombstone of
+the former owner of the skull--1670--it has been conjectured that he
+came to the retired village, in which he was buried, after taking an
+active part, on the Republican side, in the Civil War; and that seeing
+the way in which the bodies of some of them who had acted with him
+were treated after the Restoration, he wished to provide against this
+in his own case. But, whatever the previous history of this curious
+skull, it has at times caused a good deal of trouble, resenting any
+proposal to consign it to the earth, for buried it will not be, no
+matter how many attempts are made to do so. Strange to say, most of
+this class of skulls behave in the same extraordinary fashion. At a
+short distance from Turton Tower--one of the most interesting
+structures in the neighbourhood of Bolton--is a farmhouse locally
+designated Timberbottom, or the Skull House, so called from the
+circumstance that two skulls are or were kept there, one of which was
+much decayed, whereas the other appeared to have been cut through by a
+blow from some sharp instrument. These skulls, it is said, have been
+buried many times in the graveyard at Bradshaw Chapel, but they have
+always had to be exhumed, and brought back to the farm-house. On one
+occasion, they were thrown into the adjacent river, but to no purpose;
+for they had to be fished up and restored to their old quarters before
+the ghosts of their owners could once more rest in peace.
+
+A popular cause assigned for this strange behaviour on the part of
+certain skulls is that their owners met with a violent death, and that
+the avenging spirit in this manner annoys the living, reminding us of
+Macbeth's words:
+
+    "Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,
+    Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;
+    Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
+    Too terrible for the ear; the times have been
+    That, when the brains were out, the man would die
+    And there an end; but now they rise again,
+    With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
+    And push us from our stools. This is more strange
+    Than such a murder is."
+
+Hence, a romantic and tragic story is told of two skulls which have
+long haunted an old house near Ambleside. It appears that a small
+piece of ground, known as Calgrath, was owned by a humble farmer,
+named Kraster Cook, and his wife Dorothy. But their little inheritance
+was coveted by a wealthy magistrate, Myles Phillipson, who, unable to
+induce them to part with it, swore "he'd have that ground, be they
+'live or dead." As time wore on, however, he appeared more gracious to
+Kraster and Dorothy, and actually invited them to a great Christmas
+banquet given to the neighbours. It was a dear feast for them, for
+Myles Phillipson pretended they had stolen a silver cup, and, sure
+enough, it was found in Kraster's house--a "plant," of course. Such an
+offence was then capital, and, as Phillipson was the magistrate,
+Kraster and Dorothy were sentenced to death. Thereupon, Dorothy arose
+in the court-room and addressed Phillipson in words that rang through
+the building and impressed all for their awful earnestness:
+
+"Guard thyself, Myles Phillipson! Thou thinkest thou hast managed
+grandly, but that tiny lump of land is the dearest a Phillipson has
+ever bought or stolen, for you will never prosper, neither your breed.
+Whatever scheme you undertake will wither in your hand; the side you
+take will always lose; the time shall come when no Phillipson shall
+own an inch of land; and while Calgarth walls shall stand we'll haunt
+it night and day. Never will ye be rid of us!"
+
+Henceforth, the Phillipsons had for their guests two skulls. They were
+found at Christmas at the head of a staircase. They were buried in a
+distant region, but they turned up in the old house again. Again and
+again were the two skulls burned; they were brazed to dust and cast to
+the winds, and for several years they were cast in the lake, but the
+Phillipsons could never get rid of them. In the meantime, Dorothy's
+weird went steadily on to its fulfilment, until the family sank into
+poverty, and at length disappeared.[8]
+
+As a more rational explanation of the matter, it is told by some local
+historians "that there formerly lived in the house a famous doctress,
+who had two skeletons by her for the usual purposes of her profession,
+and these skulls, happening to meet with better preservation than the
+rest of the bones, they were accidentally honoured" with this singular
+tradition.[9]
+
+Wardley Hall, Lancashire, has its skull, which is supposed to be the
+witness of some tragedy committed in the past, and to have belonged to
+Roger Downes, the last male representative of his family, and who was
+one of the most abandoned courtiers of Charles II. Roby, in one of his
+"Traditions," entitled "The Skull House," has represented him as
+rushing forth "hot from the stews," drawing his sword as he staggered
+along, and swearing that he would kill the first man he met. Terrible
+to say, that fearful oath was fulfilled, for his victim was a poor
+tailor, whom he ran through with his weapon and killed on the spot. He
+was apprehended for the crime, but his interest at Court quickly
+procured him a free pardon, and he soon continued his reckless course.
+But one evening, as his sister and cousin Eleanor were chatting
+together at Wardley, the carrier from Manchester brought a wooden
+box, "which had come all the way from London by Antony's waggon."
+Suspecting that there was something mysterious connected with this
+package, for the direction was "a quaint, crabbed hand," she opened it
+in secret, when, to her amazement and horror, this writing attracted
+her notice:
+
+"Thy brother has at length paid the forfeit of his crimes. The wages
+of sin is death! And his head is before thee. Heaven hath avenged the
+innocent blood he hath shed. Last night, in the lusty vigour of a
+drunken debauch, passing over London Bridge, he encounters another
+brawl, wherein, having run at the watchmen with his rapier, one blow
+of the bill which they carried severed thy brother's head from his
+trunk. The latter was cast over the parapet into the river. The head
+only remained, which an eye witness, if not a friend, hath sent to
+thee!" His sister tried at first to keep the story of her brother's
+death a secret, and hid with all speed this ghastly memorial for ever,
+as she hoped, from the gaze and knowledge of the world. It was her
+desire to conceal this foul stain upon the family name, but "the grave
+gives back its dead. The charnel gapes. The ghastly head hath burst
+its cold tabernacle, and risen from the dust." No human power could
+drive it away. It hath "been torn in pieces, burnt, and otherwise
+destroyed, but even on the subsequent day it is seen filling its
+wonted place. Yet it was always observed that sore vengeance
+lighted on its persecutors. One who hacked it in pieces was seized
+with such horrible torments in his limbs that it seemed as though he
+might be undergoing the same process. Sometimes, if only displaced, a
+fearful storm would arise, so loud and terrible that the very elements
+themselves seemed to become the ministers of its wrath." Nor will this
+eccentric piece of mortality allow the little aperture in which it
+rests to be walled up, for it remains there still, whitened and
+bleached by the weather, "looking forth from those rayless sockets
+upon the scenes which, when living, they had once beheld." Towards the
+close of the last century, Thomas Barritt, the Manchester antiquary,
+visited this skull--"this surprising piece of household furniture," as
+he calls it, and adds that "one of us who was last in company with it,
+removed it from its place into a dark part of the room, and there left
+it, and returned home." But on the following night a violent storm
+arose in the neighbourhood, causing an immense deal of damage--trees
+being blown down and roofs unthatched--and the cause, as it was
+supposed, being ascertained, the skull was replaced, when these
+terrific disturbances ceased. And yet, as Thomas Barritt sensibly
+remarks, "All this might have happened had the skull never been
+removed; but withal it keeps alive the credibility of the tradition."
+Formerly two keys were provided for this "place of a skull," one being
+kept by the tenant of the Hall, and the other by the Countess of
+Ellesmere, the owner of the property. The Countess occasionally
+accompanied visitors from the neighbouring Worsley Hall, and herself
+unlocked the door, and revealed to her friends the grinning skull of
+Wardley Hall.[10]
+
+[Illustration: SHE OPENED IT IN SECRET.]
+
+Another romantic story is associated with Burton Agnes Hall, between
+Bridlington and Driffield, Yorkshire, which is haunted by the spirit
+of a lady a former co-heiress of the estate--who is popularly known as
+"Awd Nance." The skull of this lady is carefully preserved in the
+Hall, and so long as it is left undisturbed all goes well, but
+whenever any attempt is made to remove it, the most unearthly noises
+are heard in the house, and last until it is restored. According to a
+local tradition, many years ago the three co-heiresses of the estate
+of Burton Agnes were possessed of considerable wealth, and finding the
+ancient mansion, in which they resided, not in harmony with their
+ideas of what a home should be suited to their position, determined to
+erect a house in such a style as should eclipse all others in the
+neighbourhood. The most prominent organiser of the scheme was the
+younger sister, Anne, who could talk or think of nothing but the
+magnificent home about to be built, which in due time, it is said,
+"emerged from the hands of artists and workmen, like a palace erected
+by the genii of the Arabian Nights, a palace encrusted throughout on
+walls, roof, and furniture with the most exquisite carvings and
+sculptures of the most skilled masters of the age, and radiant with
+the most glowing tints of the pencil of Peter Paul."
+
+But soon after its completion and occupation by its three
+co-heiresses, Anne, the enthusiast, paid an afternoon visit to the St.
+Quentins, at Harpham. On starting to return home about nightfall with
+her dog, she had gone no great distance when she was confronted by two
+ruffianly-looking beggars, who asked alms. She readily gave them a few
+coins, and in doing so the glitter of her finger-ring accidentally
+attracted their notice, which they at once demanded should be given up
+to them. This she refused to do, as it had been her mother's ring, and
+was one which she valued above all price.
+
+"Mother or no mother," gruffly replied one of the rogues, "we mean to
+have it, and if you do not part with it freely, we must take it,"
+whereupon he seized her hand and attempted to drag off the ring.
+
+Frightened at this act of violence, Anne screamed for help, at which
+the other ruffian, exclaiming, "Stop that noise!" struck her a blow,
+and she fell senseless to the earth. But her screams had attracted
+attention, and the approach of some villagers caused the villains to
+make a hasty retreat, without being able to get the ring from her
+finger. In a dying condition, as it was supposed, Anne was carried
+back to Harpham Hall, where, under the care of Lady St. Quentin, she
+made sufficient recovery to be removed the following day to her own
+home. The brutal treatment she had received from the highwaymen,
+however, had done its fatal work, and after a few days, during which
+she was alternately sensible and delirious, she succumbed to the
+effects. Her one thought previous to death was her devotion to her
+home, which had latterly been the ruling passion of her life; and
+bidding her sisters farewell, she addressed them thus:--
+
+"Sisters, never shall I sleep peacefully in my grave in the churchyard
+unless I, or a part of me at least, remain here in our beautiful home
+as long as it lasts. Promise me this, dear sisters, that when I am
+dead my head shall be taken from my body and preserved within these
+walls. Here let it for ever remain, and on no account be removed. And
+understand and make it known to those who in future shall become
+possessors of the house, that if they disobey this my last injunction,
+my spirit shall, if so able and so permitted, make such a disturbance
+within its walls as to render it uninhabitable for others so long as
+my head is divorced from its home."
+
+Her sisters promised to accede to her dying request, but failed to do
+so, and her body was laid entire under the pavement of the church.
+Within a few days Burton Agnes Hall was disturbed by the most
+alarming noises, and no servant could be induced to remain in the
+house. In this dilemma, the two sisters remembered that they had not
+carried out Anne's last wish, and, at the suggestion of the clergyman,
+the coffin was opened, when a strange sight was seen. The "body lay
+without any marks of corruption or decay; but the head was disengaged
+from the trunk, and appeared to be rapidly assuming the semblance of a
+fleshless skull." This was reported to the two sisters, and on the
+vicar's advice the skull of Anne was taken to Burton Agnes Hall,
+where, so long as it remained undisturbed, no ghostly noises were
+heard. It may be added that numerous attempts have from time to time
+been made to rid the hall of this skull, but without success.
+
+Many other similar skulls are still existing in various places, and,
+in addition to their antiquarian interest, have attracted the
+sightseer, connected as they mostly are with tales of legendary
+romance. An amusing anecdote of a skull is told by the late Mr. Wirt
+Sikes.[11] It seems that on a certain day some men were drinking at an
+inn when one of them, to show his courage and want of superstition,
+affirmed that he was "afraid of no ghosts," and dared to go to the
+church and fetch a skull. This he did, and after an hour or so of
+merrymaking over the skull, he carried it back to where he had found
+it; but, as he was leaving the church, "suddenly a tremendous blast
+like a whirlwind seized him, and so mauled him that he ever after
+maintained that nothing should induce him to do such a thing again."
+The man was still more convinced that the ghost of the original owner
+of the skull had been after him, when his wife informed him that the
+cane which hung in his room had been beating against the wall in a
+dreadful manner.
+
+Byron had his skull romance at Newstead, but in this case the skull
+was more orderly, and not given to those unpleasant pranks of which
+other skulls have seemingly been guilty. Whilst living at Newstead, a
+skull was one day found of large dimensions and peculiar whiteness.
+Concluding that it belonged to some friar who had been domesticated at
+Newstead--prior to the confiscation of the monasteries by Henry
+VIII.--Byron determined to convert it into a drinking vessel, and for
+this purpose dispatched it to London, where it was elegantly mounted.
+On its return to Newstead, he instituted a new order at the Abbey,
+constituting himself grand master, or abbot, of the skull. The
+members, twelve in number, were provided with black gowns--that of
+Byron, as head of the fraternity, being distinguished from the rest. A
+chapter was held at certain times, when the skull drinking goblet was
+filled with claret, and handed about amongst the gods of this
+consistory, whilst many a grim joke was cracked at the expense of
+this relic of the dead. The following lines were inscribed upon it by
+Byron:
+
+    Start not, nor deem my spirit fled;
+      In me behold the only skull
+    From which, unlike a living head,
+      Whatever flows is never dull.
+
+    I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee;
+      I died: let earth my bones resign.
+    Fill up, thou canst not injure me;
+      The worm hath fouler lips than mine.
+
+    Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
+      In aid of others, let me shine,
+    And when, alas! our brains are gone,
+      What nobler substitute than wine.
+
+    Quaff while thou canst. Another race,
+      When thou and thine, like me, are sped,
+    May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
+      And rhyme and revel with the dead.
+
+    Why not? since through life's little day
+      Our heads such sad effects produce;
+    Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,
+      This chance is theirs, to be of use.
+
+The skull, it is said, is buried beneath the floor of the chapel at
+Newstead Abbey.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Sussex Archæological Collections xiii. 162-3.
+
+[7] See _Notes and Queries_, 4th S., XI. 64.
+
+[8] Told by Mr. Moncure Conway in _Harper's Magazine_.
+
+[9] "Tales and Legends of the English Lakes," 96-7.
+
+[10] "Harland's Lancashire Legends," 1882, 65-70.
+
+[11] "British Goblins," 1880, p. 146.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ECCENTRIC VOWS.
+
+    No man takes or keeps a vow,
+    But just as he sees others do;
+    Nor are they 'bliged to be so brittle
+    As not to yield and bow a little:
+    For as best tempered blades are found
+    Before they break, to bend quite round,
+    So truest oaths are still more tough,
+    And, tho' they bow, are breaking-proof.
+               BUTLER'S "Hudibras," Ep. to his Lady, 75.
+
+
+Some two hundred and fifty years ago, the prevailing colour in all
+dresses was that shade of brown known as the "couleur Isabelle," and
+this was its origin:--A short time after the siege of Ostend
+commenced, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Isabella
+Eugenia, Gouvernante of the Netherlands, incensed at the obstinate
+bravery of the defenders, is reported to have made a vow that she
+would not change her chemise till the town surrendered. It was a
+marvellously inconvenient vow, for the siege, according to the precise
+historians thereof, lasted three years, three months, three weeks,
+three days, and three hours; and her highness's garment had
+wonderfully changed its colour before twelve months of the time had
+expired. But the ladies and gentlemen of the Court, in no way
+dismayed, resolved to keep their mistress in countenance, and, after a
+struggle between their loyalty and their cleanliness, they hit upon
+the compromising expedient of wearing dresses of the presumed colour,
+finally attained by the garment which clung to the Imperial
+Archduchess by force of religious obstinacy. But, foolish and
+eccentric as was the conduct of Isabella Eugenia, there have been
+persons gifted, like herself, with sufficient mental power and
+strength of character to keep the vows they have sworn.
+
+Thus, at a tournament held on the 17th November, 1559--the first
+anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession--Sir Henry Lee, of
+Quarendon, made a vow that every year on the return of that auspicious
+day, he would present himself in the tilt yard, in honour of the
+Queen, to maintain her beauty, worth, and dignity, against all comers,
+unless prevented by infirmity, accident, or age. Elizabeth accepted
+Sir Henry as her knight and champion; and the nobility and gentry of
+the Court formed themselves into an Honourable Society of Knights
+Tilters, which held a grand tourney every 17th November. But in the
+year 1590, Sir Henry, on account of age, resigned his office, having
+previously, by Her Majesty's permission, appointed the famous Earl of
+Cumberland as his successor. On this occasion, the royal choir sang
+the following verses as Sir Henry Lee's farewell to the Court:
+
+    My golden locks time hath to silver turned,
+      O Time, too swift, and swiftness never ceasing!
+    My youth 'gainst age, and age at youth both spurned,
+      But spurned in vain--youth waned by increasing;
+    Beauty, and strength, and youth, flowers fading been;
+    Duty, faith, love, are roots and evergreen.
+
+    My helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
+      And lover's songs shall turn to holy psalms;
+    A man-at arms must now sit on his knees,
+      And feed on prayers that are old age's alms.
+    And so from Court to cottage I depart,
+    My Saint is sure of mine unspotted heart.
+
+    And when I sadly sit in homely cell,
+      I'll teach my saints this carol for a song:
+    Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well!
+      Cursed be the souls that think to do her wrong!
+    Goddess! vouchsafe this aged man his right
+    To be your beadsman now, that was your knight.
+
+But not long after Sir Henry Lee had resigned his office of especial
+champion of the beauty of the sovereign, he fell in love with the new
+maid of honour--the fair Mrs. Anne Vavasour--who, though in the
+morning flower of her charms, and esteemed the loveliest girl in the
+whole court, drove a whole bevy of youthful lovers to despair by
+accepting this ancient relic of the age of chivalry.[12]
+
+Queen Isabella vowed to make a pilgrimage to Barcelona, and return
+thanks at the tomb of that City's patron Saint, if the Infanta Eulalie
+recovered from an apparently mortal illness, and Queen Joan of Naples
+honoured the knight Galeazzo of Mantua by opening the ball with him at
+a grand feast at her castle of Gaita. At the conclusion of the dance,
+Galeazzo, kneeling down before his royal partner, vowed, as an
+acknowledgment of the honour he had received, to visit every country
+where feats of arms were performed, and not to rest until he had
+subdued two valiant knights, and presented them as prisoners to the
+queen, to be disposed of at her royal pleasure. After an absence of
+twelve months, Galeazzo, true to his vow, appeared at Naples, and laid
+his two prisoners at the feet of Queen Joan, but who, it is said,
+displayed commendable wisdom on the occasion, and "declined her right
+to impose rigorous conditions on her captives, and gave them liberty
+without ransom."
+
+Such cases, it is true, have been somewhat rare, for made oftentimes
+on the impulse of the moment, "unheedful vows," as Shakespeare says,
+"may heedfully be broken." But, scarce as the records of unbroken vows
+may be, they are deserving of a permanent record, more especially as
+the direction of their eccentricity is, for the most part, in itself
+curious and uncommon. Love, for instance, has been responsible for
+many strange and curious vows in the past, and some years ago it was
+stated that the original of Charles Dickens's Miss Havisham was living
+in the flesh not far from Ventnor in the person of an old maiden lady,
+who, because of the maternal objection to some love affair in her
+early life, made and kept a vow that she would retire to her bed, and
+there spend the remainder of her days. It was a stern vow but she kept
+her word, "and the years have come and gone, and the house has never
+been swept or garnished, the garden is an overgrown tangle, and the
+eccentric lady has spent twenty years between the sheets." But whether
+this piece of romance is to be accepted or not, love has been the
+cause of many foolish acts, and many a disappointed damsel, has acted
+in no less eccentric a fashion than Miss Havisham, who was so
+completely overcome by the failure of Compeyson to appear on the
+wedding morning that she became fossilised, and gave orders that
+everything was to be kept unchanged, but to remain as it had been on
+that hapless day. Henceforth she was always attired in her bridal
+dress with lace veil from head to foot, white shoes, bridal flowers in
+her white hair, and jewels on her hands and neck. Years went on, the
+wedding breakfast remained set on the table, while the poor half
+demented lady flitted from one room to another like a restless ghost;
+and the case is recorded of another lady whose lover was arrested for
+forgery on the day before their marriage was to have taken place. Her
+vow took the form of keeping to her room, sitting winter and summer
+alike at her casement and waiting for him who was turning the
+treadmill, and who was never to come again.
+
+On the other hand, vows have been made, but persons have contrived to
+rid themselves of the inconveniences without breaking them, reminding
+us of Benedick, who finding the charms of his "Dear Lady Disdain" too
+much for his celibate resolves, gets out of his difficulty by
+declaring that "When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I
+should live till I were married." Equally ludicrous, also, is the
+story told of a certain man, who, greatly terrified in a storm, vowed
+he would eat no haberdine, but, just as the danger was over, he
+qualified his promise with "Not without mustard, O Lord." And
+Voltaire, in one of his romances, represents a disconsolate widow
+vowing that she will never marry again, "so long as the river flows by
+the side of the hill." But a few months afterwards the widow recovers
+from her grief, and, contemplating matrimony, takes counsel with a
+clever engineer. He sets to work, the river is deviated from its
+course, and, in a short time, it no longer flows by the side of the
+hill. The lady, released from her vow, does not allow many days to
+elapse before she exchanges her weeds for a bridal veil. However far
+fetched this little romance may be, a veritable instance of thus
+keeping the letter of the vow and neglecting the spirit, was recorded
+not so very long ago: A Salopian parish clerk seeing a woman crossing
+the churchyard with a bundle and a watering can, followed her, curious
+to know what intentions might be, and discovered that she was a widow
+of a few months' standing. Inquiring what she was going to do with the
+watering pot, she informed him that she had been obtaining some grass
+seed to sow on her husband's grave, and had brought a little water to
+make it spring up quickly. The clerk told her there was no occasion to
+trouble, the grave would be green in good time. "Ah! that may be," she
+replied, "but my poor husband made me take a vow not to marry again
+until the grass had grown over his grave, and, having a good offer, I
+do not wish to break my vow, or keep as I am longer than I can help."
+
+But vows have not always been broken with impunity. Janet Dalrymple,
+daughter of the first Lord Stair, secretly engaged herself to Lord
+Rutherford, who was not acceptable to her parents, either on account
+of his political principles, or his want of fortune. The young couple
+broke a piece of gold together, and pledged their troth in the most
+solemn manner, the young lady, it is said, imprecating dreadful evils
+on herself should she break her plighted faith. But shortly afterwards
+another suitor sought the hand of Janet Dalrymple, and, when she
+showed a cold indifference to his overtures, her mother, Lady Stair,
+insisted upon her consenting to marry the new suitor, David Dunbar,
+son and heir of David Dunbar of Baldoon, in Wigtonshire. It was in
+vain that Janet Dalrymple confessed her secret engagement, for Lady
+Stair treated this objection as a mere trifle.
+
+Lord Rutherford, apprised of what had happened, interfered by letter,
+and insisted on the right he had acquired by his troth plighted with
+Janet Dalrymple. But Lady Stair answered in reply that "her daughter,
+sensible of her undutiful behaviour in entering into a contract
+unsanctioned by her parents, had retracted her unlawful vow, and now
+refused to fulfil her engagement with him." Lord Rutherford wrote
+again to Lady Stair, and briefly informed her that "he declined
+positively to receive such an answer from anyone but Janet Dalrymple,"
+and, accordingly, an interview was arranged between them, at which
+Lady Stair took good care to be present, with pertinacity insisting on
+the Levitical law, which declares that a woman shall be free of a vow
+which her parents dissent from.
+
+While Lady Stair insisted on her right to break the engagement, Lord
+Rutherford in vain entreated Janet Dalrymple to declare her feelings;
+but she remained "mute, pale, and motionless as a statue," and it was
+only at her mother's command, sternly uttered, she summoned strength
+enough to restore the broken piece of gold--the emblem of her troth.
+At this unexpected act Lord Rutherford burst into a tremendous
+passion, took leave of Lady Stair with maledictions, and, as he left
+the room, gave one angry glance at Janet Dalrymple, remarking, "For
+you, madam, you will be a world's wonder"--a phrase denoting some
+remarkable degree of calamity.
+
+In due time, the marriage between Janet Dalrymple and David Dunbar of
+Baldoon, took place, the bride showing no repugnance, but being
+absolutely impassive in everything Lady Stair commanded or advised,
+always maintaining the same sad, silent, and resigned look.
+
+The bridal feast was followed by dancing, and the bride and bridegroom
+retired as usual, when suddenly the most wild and piercing cries were
+heard from the nuptial chamber, which at length became so hideous that
+a general rush was made to learn the cause. On opening the door a
+ghastly scene presented itself, for the bridegroom was discovered
+lying on the floor, dreadfully wounded, and streaming with blood. The
+bride was seen sitting in the corner of the large chimney, dabbled in
+gore--grinning--in short, absolutely insane, and the only words she
+uttered were; "Take up your bonny bridegroom." She survived this
+tragic event little over a fortnight, having been married on the 24th
+August, and dying on the 12th September.
+
+The unfortunate bridegroom recovered from his wounds, but, strange to
+say, he never permitted anyone to ask him respecting the manner in
+which he had received them; but he did not long survive this dreadful
+catastrophe, meeting with a fatal injury by a fall from a horse as he
+was one day riding between Leith and Holyrood House. As might be
+expected, various reports went abroad respecting this mysterious
+affair, most of them being inaccurate.[13] But the story has gained a
+lasting notoriety from Sir Walter Scott having founded his "Bride of
+Lammermoor" upon it; who, in his introductory notes to that novel, has
+given some curious facts concerning this tragic occurrence, quoting an
+elegy of Andrew Symson, which takes the form of a dialogue between a
+passenger and a domestic servant. The first recollecting that he had
+passed Lord Stair's house lately, and seen all around enlivened by
+mirth and festivity, is desirous of knowing what has changed so gay a
+scene into mourning, whereupon the servant replies:--
+
+                      "Sir, 'tis truth you've told,
+    We did enjoy great mirth; but now, ah me!
+    Our joyful song's turned to an elegie.
+    A virtuous lady, not long since a bride,
+    Was to a hopeful plant by marriage tied,
+    And brought home hither. We did all rejoice
+    Even for her sake. But presently her voice
+    Was turned to mourning for that little time
+    That she'd enjoy: she waned in her prime,
+    For Atropos, with her impartial knife,
+    Soon cut her thread, and therewithal her life;
+    And for the time, we may it well remember
+    It being in unfortunate September;
+    Where we must leave her till the resurrection,
+    'Tis then the Saints enjoy their full perfection."
+
+Many a vow too rashly made has been followed by an equally tragic
+result, instances of which are to be met with in the legendary lore of
+our county families. A somewhat curious legend is connected with a
+monument in the church of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. The story goes that
+two young brothers of the family of Vincent, the elder of whom had
+just come into his estate, were out shooting on Fairmile Common, about
+two miles from the village. They had put up several birds, but had not
+been able to get a single shot, when the elder swore with an oath that
+he would fire at whatever they next met with. They had not gone far
+before a neighbouring miller passed them, whereupon the younger
+brother reminded the elder of his oath, who immediately fired at the
+miller, and killed him on the spot. Through the influence of his
+family, backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken
+to apprehend young Vincent, but, after leading a life of complete
+seclusion for some years, death finally put an end to the
+insupportable anguish of his mind.
+
+A pretty romance is told of Furness Abbey, locally known as "The Abbey
+Vows." Many years ago, Matilda, the pretty and much-admired daughter
+of a squire residing near Stainton, had been wooed and won by James, a
+neighbouring farmer's son. But as Matilda was the only child, her
+father fondly imagined that her rare beauty and fortune combined would
+procure her a good match, little thinking that her heart was already
+given to one whose position he would never recognise. It so happened,
+however, that the young people, through force of circumstances, were
+separated, neither seeing nor hearing of each other for some years.
+
+At last, by chance, they were thrown together, when the active service
+in which James was employed had given his fine manly form an
+appearance which was at once imposing and captivating. Matilda, too,
+was improved in every eye, and never had James seen so lovely a maid
+as his former playmate. Their youthful hearts were disengaged, and
+they soon resolved to render their attachment as binding and as
+permanent as it was pure and undivided. The period had arrived, also,
+when James must again go to sea, and leave Matilda to have her
+fidelity tried by other suitors. Both, therefore, were willing to bind
+themselves by some solemn pledge to live but for each other. For this
+purpose they repaired, on the evening before James's departure, to the
+ruins of Furness Abbey. It was a fine autumnal evening; the sun had
+set in the greatest beauty, and the moon was hastening up the eastern
+sky; and in the roofless choir they knelt, near where the altar
+formerly stood, and repeated, in the presence of Heaven, their vows of
+deathless love.
+
+They parted. But the fate of the betrothed lovers was a melancholy
+one. James returned to his ship for foreign service, and was killed by
+the first broadside of a French privateer, with which the captain had
+injudiciously ventured to engage. As for Matilda, she regularly went
+to the abbey to visit the spot where she had knelt with her lover; and
+there, it is said, "she would stand for hours, with clasped hands,
+gazing on that heaven which alone had been witness to their mutual
+vows."
+
+Another momentous vow, but one of a terribly tragic nature, relates to
+Samlesbury Hall, which stands about midway between Preston and
+Blackburn, and has long been famous for its apparition of "The Lady in
+White." The story generally told is that one of the daughters of Sir
+John Southworth, a former owner, formed an attachment with the heir of
+a neighbouring house, and nothing was wanting to complete their
+happiness except the consent of the lady's father. Sir John was
+accordingly consulted by the youthful couple, but the tale of their
+love for each other only increased his rage, and he dismissed them
+with the most bitter denunciations.
+
+"No daughter of his should ever be united to the son of a family which
+had deserted its ancestral faith," he solemnly vowed, and to
+intensify his disapproval of the whole affair, he forbade the young
+man his presence for ever. Difficulty, however, only served to
+increase the ardour of the lovers, and, after many secret interviews
+among the wooded slopes of the Ribble, an elopement was arranged, in
+the hope that time would eventually bring her father's forgiveness.
+But the day and place were unfortunately overheard by the lady's
+brother, who had hidden himself in a thicket close by, determined, if
+possible, to prevent what he considered to be his sister's disgrace.
+On the evening agreed upon both parties met at the appointed hour,
+and, as the young knight moved away with his betrothed, her brother
+rushed from his hiding-place, and, in pursuance of a vow he had made,
+slew him. After this tragic occurrence, Lady Dorothy was sent abroad
+to a convent, where she was kept under strict surveillance; but her
+mind at last gave way--the name of her murdered sweetheart was ever on
+her lips--and she died a raving maniac. It is said that on certain
+clear, still evenings, a lady in white can be seen passing along the
+gallery and the corridors, and then from the hall into the grounds,
+where she meets a handsome knight, who receives her on his bended
+knees, and he then accompanies her along the walks. On arriving at a
+certain spot, in all probability the lover's grave, both the phantoms
+stand still, and as they seem to utter soft wailings of despair, they
+embrace each other, and then their forms rise slowly from the earth
+and melt away into the clear blue of the surrounding sky.[14]
+
+A strange and romantic story is told of Blenkinsopp Castle, which,
+too, has long been haunted by a "white lady." It seems that its owner,
+Bryan de Blenkinsopp, despite many good qualities, had an inordinate
+love of wealth which ultimately wrecked his fortune. At the marriage
+feast of a brother warrior with a lady of high rank and fortune, the
+health was drunk of Bryan de Blenkinsopp and his "lady love." But to
+the surprise of all present Bryan made a vow that "never shall that be
+until I meet with a lady possessed of a chest of gold heavier than ten
+of my strongest men can carry into my Castle." Soon afterwards he went
+abroad, and after an absence of twelve years returned, not only with a
+wife, but possessed of a box of gold that took three of the strongest
+men to convey it to the Castle. A grand banquet was given in honour of
+his return, and, after several days feasting and rejoicing, vague
+rumours were spread of dissensions between the lord and his lady. One
+day the young husband disappeared, and never returned to Blenkinsopp,
+nothing more being heard of him. But the traditionary account of this
+mystery asserts that his young wife, filled with remorse at her
+undutiful conduct towards him, cannot rest in her grave, but must
+wander about the old castle, and mourn over the chest of gold--the
+cursed cause of all their misery--of which it is supposed she, with
+the assistance of others, had deprived her husband. It is generally
+admitted that the cause of Bryan de Blenkinsopp's future unhappiness
+was the rash vow he uttered at that fatal banquet.
+
+Associated with this curious romance there are current in the
+neighbourhood many tales of a more or less legendary character, but
+there has long been a firm belief that treasure lies buried beneath
+the crumbling ruins. According to one story given in Richardson's
+"Table Book of Traditions" some years ago, two of the more habitable
+apartments of Blenkinsopp Castle were utilized by a labourer of the
+estate and his family. But one night, the parents were aroused by
+screams from the adjoining room, and rushing in they found their
+little son sitting up in bed, terribly frightened. "What was the
+matter?"
+
+"The White Lady! The White Lady!" cried the boy.
+
+"What lady," asked the bewildered parents; "there is no lady here!"
+
+"She is gone," replied the boy, "and she looked so angry because I
+would not go with her. She was a fine lady--and she sat down on my
+bedside and wrung her hands and cried sore; then she kissed me and
+asked me to go with her, and she would make me a rich man, as she had
+buried a large box of gold, many hundred years since, down in a
+vault, and she would give it me, as she could not rest so long as it
+was there. When I told her I durst not go, she said she would carry
+me, and was lifting me up when I cried out and frightened her away."
+When the boy grew up he invariably persisted in the truth of his
+statement, and at forty years of age could recall the scene so vividly
+as "to make him shudder, as if still he felt her cold lips press his
+cheeks and the death-like embrace of her wan arms."
+
+Equally curious is the old tradition told of Lynton Castle, of which
+not a stone remains, although, once upon a time, it was as stately a
+stronghold as ever echoed to the clash of knightly arms. One evening
+there came to its gates a monk, who in the name of the Holy Virgin
+asked alms, but the lady of the Castle liked not his gloomy brow, and
+bade him begone. Resenting such treatment, the monk drew up his
+well-knit frame, and vowed:--"All that is thine shall be mine, until
+in the porch of the holy church, a lady and a child shall stand and
+beckon."
+
+Little heed was taken of these ominous words, and as years passed by a
+baron succeeded to the Lynton estates, whose greed was such that he
+dared to lay his sacrilegious hand even upon holy treasures. But as he
+sate among his gold, the black monk entered, and summoned him to his
+fearful audit; and his servants, aroused by his screams, found only a
+lifeless corpse. This was considered retribution for his sins of the
+past, and his son, taking warning, girded on his sword, and in
+Palestine did doughty deeds against the Saracen. By his side was
+constantly seen the mysterious Black Monk--his friend and guide--but
+"at length the wine-cup and the smiles of lewd women lured him from
+the path of right." After a time the knight returned to Devonshire,
+"and lo, on the happy Sabbath morning, the chimes of the church-bells
+flung out their silver music on the air, and the memories of an
+innocent childhood woke up instantly in his sorrowing heart." In vain
+the Black Monk sought to beguile him from the holy fane, and whispered
+to him of bright eyes and a distant bower. He paused only for a
+moment. In the shadow of the porch stood the luminous forms of his
+mother and sister, who lifted up their spirit hands, and beckoned. The
+knight tore himself from the Black Monk's grasp and rushed towards
+them, exclaiming, "I come! I come! Mother, sister, I am saved! O,
+Heaven, have pity on me!" The story adds that the three were borne up
+in a radiant cloud, but "the Black Monk leapt headlong into the depths
+of the abyss beneath, and the castle fell to pieces with a sudden
+crash, and where its towers had soared statelily into the sunlit air
+was now outspread the very desolation--the valley of the rocks--" and
+thus the vow was accomplished, all that remains nowadays to remind the
+visitor of that stately castle and its surroundings being a lonely
+glen in the valley of rocks where a party of marauders, it is said,
+were once overtaken and slaughtered.
+
+In some cases churches have been built in performance of vows, and at
+the Tichborne Trial one of the witnesses deposed how Sir Edward
+Doughty made a vow, when his son was ill, that if the child recovered
+he would build a church at Poole. Contrary to all expectation, the
+child "did recover most miraculously, for it had been ill beyond all
+hope, and Sir Edward built a church at Poole, and there it stands
+until this day." There are numerous stories of the same kind, and the
+peculiar position of the old church of St. Antony, in Kirrier,
+Cornwall, is accounted for by the following tradition: It is said
+that, soon after the Conquest, as some Normans of rank were crossing
+from Normandy into England, they were driven by a terrific storm on
+the Cornish coast, where they were in imminent danger of destruction.
+In their peril and distress they called on St. Antony, and made a vow
+that if he would preserve them from shipwreck they would build a
+church in his honour on the spot where they first landed. The vessel
+was wafted into the Durra Creek, and there the pious Normans, as soon
+as possible, fulfilled their vow. A similar tradition is told of
+Gunwalloe Parish Church, which, a local legend says, was erected as a
+votive offering by one who here escaped from shipwreck, for, "when he
+had miraculously escaped from the fury of the waves, he vowed that he
+would build a chapel in which the sounds of prayer and praise to God
+should blend with the never-ceasing voice of those waves from which he
+had but narrowly escaped. So near to the sea is the church, that at
+times it is reached by the waves, which have frequently washed away
+the walls of the churchyard." But vows of a similar nature have been
+connected with sacred buildings in most countries, and Vienna owes the
+church of St. Charles to a vow made by the Emperor Charles the Sixth
+during an epidemic. The silver ship, given by the Queen of St. Louis,
+was made in accordance with a vow. According to Joinville, the queen
+"said she wanted the king, to beg he would make some vows to God and
+the Saints, for the sailors around her were in the greatest danger of
+being drowned."
+
+"'Madam,' I replied, 'vow to make a pilgrimage to my lord St. Nicholas
+at Varengeville, and I promise you that God will restore you in safety
+to France. At least, then, Madam, promise him that if God shall
+restore you in safety to France, you will give him a silver ship of
+the value of five masses; and if you shall do this, I assure you that,
+at the entreaty of St. Nicholas, God will grant you a successful
+voyage.' Upon this, she made a vow of a silver ship to St. Nicholas."
+Similarly, there was a statue at Venice said to have performed great
+miracles. A merchant vowed perpetual gifts of wax candles in gratitude
+for being saved by the light of a candle on a dark night, reminding
+us of Byron's description of a storm at sea, in 'Don Juan' (Canto
+II.):
+
+    "Some went to prayers again and made vows
+    Of candles to their saints."
+
+Numerous vows of this kind are recorded, and it may be remembered how
+a certain Empress promised a golden lamp to the church of Notre Dame
+des Victoires, in the event of her husband coming safely out of the
+doctor's hands; and, as recently as the year 1867, attired in the garb
+of a pilgrim of the olden time, walked, in fulfilment of a vow, from
+Madrid to Rome when she fancied herself at death's door.
+
+Many card-players and gamesters, unable to bear reverse, have made
+vows which they lacked the moral courage to keep. Dr. Norman Macleod
+tells a curious anecdote of a well-known character who lived in the
+parish of Sedgley, near Wolverhampton, and who, having lost a
+considerable sum of money by a match at cock-fighting--to which
+practice he was notoriously addicted--made a vow that he would never
+fight another cock as long as he lived, "frequently calling upon God
+to damn his soul to all eternity if he did, and, with dreadful
+imprecations, wishing the devil might fetch him if he ever made
+another bet."
+
+For a time he adhered to his vow, but two years afterwards he was
+inspired with a violent desire to attend a cock-fight at
+Wolverhampton, and accordingly visited the place for that purpose. On
+reaching the scene he soon disregarded his vow, and cried: "I hold
+four to three on such a cock!"
+
+"Four what?" said one of his companions.
+
+"Four shillings," replied he.
+
+"I'll lay," said the other, upon which they confirmed the wager, and,
+as his custom was, he threw down his hat and put his hand in his
+pocket for the money, when he instantly fell down dead. Terrified at
+the sight, "some who were present for ever after desisted from this
+infamous sport; but others proceeded in the barbarous diversion as
+soon as the dead body was removed from the spot."
+
+Another inveterate gambler was Colonel Edgeworth, who on one occasion,
+having lost all his ready cash at the card tables, actually borrowed
+his wife's diamond earrings, and staking them had a fortunate turn of
+luck, rising a winner; whereupon he solemnly vowed never to touch
+cards or dice again. And yet, it is said, before the week was out, he
+was pulling straws from a rick, and betting upon which should prove
+the longest. On the other hand, Tate Wilkinson relates an interesting
+anecdote of John Wesley who in early life was very fond of a game of
+whist, and every Saturday was one of a constant party at a rubber, not
+only for the afternoon, but also for the evening. But the last
+Saturday that he ever played at cards the rubber at whist was longer
+than he expected, and, "on observing the tediousness of the game he
+pulled out his watch, and to his shame he found it was some minutes
+past eight, which was beyond the time he had appointed for the Lord.
+He thought the devil had certainly tempted him beyond his hour, he
+suddenly therefore gave up his cards to a gentleman near him to finish
+the game," and left the room, making a vow never to play with "the
+devil's pages," as he called them, again. That vow he never broke.
+
+Political vows, as is well known, have a curious history, and an
+interesting incident is told in connection with one of the ancestors
+of Sir Walter Scott. It appears that Walter Scott, the first of
+Raeburn, by Ann Isabel, his wife, daughter of William Macdougall, had
+two sons, William, direct ancestor of the Lairds of Raeburn, and
+Walter, progenitor of the Scotts of Abbotsford. The younger, who was
+generally known by the curious appellation of "Bearded Watt," from a
+vow which he had made to leave his beard unshaven until the
+restoration of the Stuarts, reminds us of those Servian patriots who
+during the bombardment of Belgrade thirty years ago, made a vow that
+they would never allow a razor to touch their faces until the thing
+could be done in the fortress itself. Five years afterwards, in 1867,
+the Servians marched through the streets of Belgrade, with enormous
+beards, preceded by the barbers, each with razor in hand, and entered
+the fortresses to have the last office of the vow performed on them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Agnes Strickland, "Lives of the Queens of England," 1884, iii.,
+454-5.
+
+[13] See Sir Walter Scott's notes to the "Bride of Lammermoor."
+
+[14] Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 1882, p. 263-4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+STRANGE BANQUETS.
+
+    "O'Rourke's noble feast will ne'er be forgot
+    By those who were there--or those who were not."
+
+
+In the above words the Dean of St. Patrick has immortalised an Irish
+festival of the eighteenth century; and some such memory will long
+cling to many a family or historic banquet, which--like the tragic one
+depicted in "Macbeth," where the ghost of the murdered Banquo makes
+its uncanny appearance, or that remarkable feast described by Lord
+Lytton, where Zanoni drinks with impunity the poisoned cup, remarking
+to the Prince, "I pledge you even in this wine"--has been the scene of
+some unusual, or extraordinary occurrence.
+
+At one time or another, the wedding feast has witnessed many a strange
+and truly romantic occurrence, in some instances the result of
+unrequited love, or faithless pledges, as happened at the marriage
+feast of the second Viscount Cullen. At the early age of sixteen he
+had been betrothed to Elizabeth Trentham, a great heiress; but in the
+course of his travels abroad he formed a strong attachment to an
+Italian lady of rank, whom he afterwards deserted for his first
+betrothed. In due time arrangements were made for their marriage; but
+on the eventful day, while the wedding party were feasting in the
+great hall at Rushton, a strange carriage, drawn by six horses, drew
+up, and forth stepped a dark lady, who, at once entering the hall and,
+seizing a goblet--"to punish his falsehood and pride"--to the
+astonishment of all present, drank perdition to the bridegroom, and,
+having uttered a curse upon his bride, to the effect that she would
+live in wretchedness and die in want, promptly disappeared to be
+traced no further.
+
+No small consternation was caused by this unlooked-for _contretemps_;
+but the young Viscount made light of it to his fair bride, dispelling
+her alarm by explanations which satisfied her natural curiosity. But,
+it is said, in after days, this unpleasant episode created an
+unfavourable impression in her mind, and at times made her give way to
+feelings of a despondent character. As events turned out, the curse of
+her marriage day was in a great measure fulfilled. It is true she
+became a prominent beauty of the Court of Charles II., and was painted
+with less than his usual amount of drapery by Sir Peter Lely. It is
+recorded also, that she twice gave an asylum to Monmouth, in the room
+at Rushton, still known as the "Duke's Room"; but, living unhappily
+with her husband, she died, notwithstanding her enormous fortune, in
+comparative penury, at Kettering, at a great age, as recently as the
+year 1713.
+
+A curious tale of love and deception is told of Bulgaden Hall,
+once--according to Ferrers, in his "History of Limerick"--the most
+magnificent seat in the South of Ireland--erected by the Right Hon.
+George Evans, who was created Baron Carbery, County of Cork, on the
+9th of May, 1715. A family tradition proclaims him to have been noted
+for great personal attractions, so much so, that Queen Anne, struck by
+his appearance, took a ring from her finger at one of her levees, and
+presented it to him--a ring preserved as a heir-loom at Laxton Hall,
+Northamptonshire. In 1741, he married Grace, the daughter, and
+eventually heiress of Sir Ralph Freke, of Castle Freke, in the County
+of Cork, by whom he had four sons and the same number of daughters;
+and it was George Evans, the eldest son and heir, who became the chief
+personage in the following extraordinary marriage fraud.
+
+It appears that at an early age he fell in love with the beautiful
+daughter of his host, Colonel Stamer, who was only too ready to
+sanction such an alliance. But, despite the brilliant prospects which
+this contemplated marriage opened to the young lady, she turned a deaf
+ear to any mention of it, for she loved another. As far as her parents
+could judge she seemed inexorable, and they could only allay the
+suspense of the expectant lover by assuring him that their daughter's
+"natural timidity alone prevented an immediate answer to his suit."
+
+But what their feelings of surprise were on the following day can be
+imagined, when Miss Stamer announced to her parents her willingness to
+marry George Evans. It was decided that there should be no delay, and
+the marriage day was at once fixed. At this period of our social life,
+the wedding banquet was generally devoted to wine and feasting, while
+the marriage itself did not take place till the evening. And,
+according to custom, sobriety at these bridal feasts was, we are told,
+"a positive violation of all good breeding, and the guests would have
+thought themselves highly dishonoured had the bridegroom escaped
+scathless from the wedding banquet."
+
+Accordingly, half unconscious of passing events, George Evans was
+conducted to the altar, where the marriage knot was indissolubly tied.
+But, as soon as he had recovered from the effects of the bridal feast,
+he discovered, to his intense horror and dismay, that the bride he had
+taken was not the woman of his choice--in short, he was the victim of
+a cheat. Indignant at this cruel imposture, he ascertained that the
+plot emanated from the woman who, till then, had been the ideal of his
+soul, and that she had substituted her veiled sister Anne for herself
+at the altar. The remainder of this strange affair is briefly
+told:--George Evans had one, and only one, interview with his wife,
+and thus addressed her in the following words: "Madam, you have
+attained your end. I need not say how you bear my name; and, for the
+sake of your family, I acknowledge you as my wife. You shall receive
+an income from me suitable to your situation. This, probably, is all
+you cared for with regard to me, and you and I shall meet no more in
+this world."
+
+[Illustration: "MADAM, YOU HAVE ATTAINED YOUR END. YOU AND I SHALL
+MEET NO MORE IN THIS WORLD."]
+
+He would allow no explanation, and almost immediately left his home
+and country, never to meet again the woman who had so basely betrayed
+him. The glory of Bulgaden Hall was gone. Its young master, in order
+to quench his sorrow and bury his disgust, gave way to every kind of
+dissipation, and died its victim in 1769. And, writes Sir Bernard
+Burke, "from the period of its desertion by its luckless master,
+Bulgaden Hall gradually sank into ruin; and to mark its site nought
+remains but the foundation walls and a solitary stone, bearing the
+family arms."
+
+A strange incident, of which, it is said, no satisfactory explanation
+has ever yet been forthcoming, happened during the wedding banquet of
+Alexander III. at Jedburgh Castle, a weird and gruesome episode which
+Edgar Poe expanded into his "Masque of the Red Death." The story goes
+that in the midst of the festivities, a mysterious figure glided
+amongst the astonished guests--tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head
+to foot in the habiliments of the grave, the mask which concealed the
+visage resembling the countenance of a stiffened corpse.
+
+"Who dares," demands the royal host, "to insult us with this
+blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him, that we may know whom
+we have to hang at sunrise from the battlements."
+
+But when the awe-struck revellers took courage and grasped the figure,
+"they gasped in unutterable horror on finding the grave cerements and
+corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness,
+untenanted by any tangible form, vanishing as suddenly as it had
+appeared." All sorts of theories have been suggested to account for
+this mysterious figure, but no satisfactory solution has been
+forthcoming, an incident of which, it may be remembered, Heywood has
+given a graphic picture:
+
+    In the mid-revels, the first ominous night
+    Of their espousals, when the room shone bright
+    With lighted tapers--the king and queen leading
+    The curious measures, lords and ladies treading
+    The self-same strains--the king looks back by chance
+    And spies a strange intruder fill the dance,
+    Namely, a mere anatomy, quite bare,
+    His naked limbs both without flesh and hair
+    (As he deciphers Death), who stalks about,
+    Keeping true measure till the dance be out.
+
+Inexplicable, however, as the presence of this unearthly, mysterious
+personage was felt to be by all engaged in the marriage revels, it
+was regarded as the forerunner of some approaching catastrophe.
+Prophets and seers lost no time in turning the affair to their own
+interest, and amongst them Thomas the Rhymer predicted that the 16th
+of March would be "the stormiest day that ever was witnessed in
+Scotland." But when the supposed ill-fated day arrived, it was the
+very reverse of stormy, being still and mild, and public opinion began
+to ridicule the prophetic utterance of Thomas the Rhymer, when, to the
+amazement and consternation of all, there came the appalling news,
+"The king is dead," whereupon Thomas the Rhymer ejaculated, "That is
+the storm which I meant, and there was never tempest which will bring
+to Scotland more ill-luck."
+
+The disappearance of the heir to a property, which has always been a
+favourite subject with novelists and romance writers, has occasionally
+happened in real life, and a Shropshire legend relates how, long ago,
+the heir of the house of Corbet went away to the wars, and remained
+absent so many years that his family--as in the case of Enoch
+Arden--gave up all hope of ever seeing him again, and eventually
+mourned for him as dead. His younger brother succeeded to the
+property, and prepared to take to himself a wife, and reign in the old
+family hall.
+
+But on the wedding day, in the midst of the feasting, a pilgrim came
+to the gate asking hospitality and alms. He was bidden to sit down
+and share the feast, but scarcely was the banquet ended when the
+pilgrim revealed himself as the long lost elder brother. The
+disconcerted bridegroom acknowledged him at once, but the latter
+generously resigned the greater part of the estates to his brother,
+and, sooner than mar the prospects of the newly married couple, he
+lived a life of obscurity upon one small manor. There seems, however,
+to be a very small basis of fact for this story. The Corbets of
+Shropshire--one branch of whom are owners of Moreton Corbet--are among
+the very oldest of the many old Shropshire families. They trace their
+descent back to Corbet the Norman, whose sons, Robert and Roger,
+appear in Domesday Book as holding large estates under Roger, Earl of
+Shrewsbury. The grandsons of Roger Corbet were Thomas Corbet of
+Wattlesborough, and Robert Corbet. Thomas, who was evidently the elder
+of the two, it seems went beyond seas, leaving his lands in the
+custody of his brother Robert. Both brothers left descendants, but the
+elder branch of the family never attained to such rank and prosperity
+as the younger one." Hence, perhaps, the origin of the legend; but
+Moreton Corbet did not come into the possession of the family till
+long after this date.[15]
+
+Whatever truth there may be in this old tradition, there is every
+reason to believe that some of the worst tragedies recorded in family
+history have been due to jealousy; and an extraordinary instance of
+such unnatural feeling was that displayed by the second wife of Sir
+Robert Scott, of Thirlestane, one of the most distinguished cadets of
+the great House of Buccleuch. Distracted with mortification that her
+husband's rich inheritance would descend to his son by his first wife,
+she secretly resolved to compass the destruction of her step-son, and
+determined to execute her hateful purpose at the festivities held in
+honour of the young laird's twentieth birthday. Having taken into her
+confidence one John Lally, the family piper, this wretched man
+procured three adders, from which he selected the parts replete with
+the most deadly poison, and, after grinding them to fine powder, Lady
+Thirlestane mixed them in a bottle of wine. Previous to the
+commencement of the birthday feast, the young laird having called for
+wine to drink the healths of the workmen who had just completed the
+mason work of the new Castle of Gamescleugh--his future residence--the
+piper Lally filled a silver cup from the poisoned bottle, which the
+ill-fated youth hastily drank off. So potent was the poison that the
+young laird died within an hour, and a feeling of horror seized the
+birthday guests as to who could have done so foul a deed. But the
+father seems to have had his suspicions, and having caused a bugle to
+be blown, as a signal for all the family to assemble in the castle
+court, he inquired, "Are we all here?"
+
+A voice answered, "All but the piper, John Lally!"
+
+These words, it is said, sounded like a knell in Sir Robert's ear, and
+the truth was manifest to him. But unwilling to make a public example
+of his own wife, he adopted a somewhat unique method of vengeance, and
+publicly proclaimed that as he could not bestow the estate on his son
+while alive, he would spend it upon him when dead. Accordingly, the
+body of his son was embalmed with the most costly drugs, and lay in
+state for a year and a day, during which time Sir Robert kept open
+house, feasting all who chose to be his guests; Lady Thirlestane
+meanwhile being imprisoned in a vault of the castle, and fed upon
+bread and water. "During the last three days of this extraordinary
+feast", writes Sir Bernard Burke,[16] "the crowds were immense. It was
+as if the whole of the south of Scotland was assembled at Thirlestane.
+Butts of the richest and rarest wine were carried into the fields,
+their ends were knocked out with hatchets, and the liquor was carried
+about in stoups. The burn of Thirlestane literally ran with wine." Sir
+Robert died soon afterwards, and left his family in utter destitution,
+his wife dying in absolute beggary. Thus was avenged the crime of this
+cruel and unprincipled woman, whose fatal jealousy caused the ruin of
+the family.
+
+Political intrigue, again, has been the origin of many an act of
+treachery, done under the semblance of hospitality, or given rise to
+strange incidents.
+
+To go back to early times, it seems that Edward the Confessor had long
+indulged a suspicion that Earl Godwin--who had in the first instance
+accused Queen Emma of having caused the death of her son--was himself
+implicated in that transaction. It so happened that the King and a
+large concourse of prelates and nobility were holding a large dinner
+at Winchester, in honour of the Easter festival, when the butler, in
+bringing in a dish, slipped, but recovered his balance by making
+adroit use of his other foot.
+
+"Thus does brother assist brother," exclaimed Earl Godwin, thinking to
+be witty at the butler's expense.
+
+"And thus might I have been now assisted by my Alfred, if Earl Godwin
+had not prevented it," replied the King: for the Earl's remark had
+recalled to his mind the suspicion he had long entertained of the Earl
+having been concerned in Prince Alfred's death.
+
+Resenting the king's words, the Earl holding up the morsel which he
+was about to eat, uttered a great oath, and in the name of God
+expressed a wish that the morsel might choke him if he had in any way
+been concerned in that murder. Accordingly he there and then put the
+morsel into his mouth, and attempted to swallow it; but his efforts
+were in vain, it stuck fast in his throat--immovable upward or
+downward--his respiration failed, his eyes became fixed, his
+countenance convulsed, and in a minute more he fell dead under the
+table.
+
+Edward, convinced of the Earl's guilt, and seeing divine justice
+manifested, and remembering, it is said, with bitterness the days past
+when he had given a willing ear to the calumnies spread about his
+innocent mother, cried out, in an indignant voice, "Carry away that
+dog, and bury him in the high road." But the body was deposited by the
+Earl's cousin in the cathedral.
+
+Several accounts have been written of that terrible banquet, to which
+the Earl of Douglas was invited by Sir Alexander Livingstone and the
+Chancellor Crichton--who craftily dissembled their intentions--to sup
+at the royal table in the Castle of Edinburgh. The Earl was foolhardy
+enough to accept the ill-fated invitation, and shortly after he had
+taken his place at the festive board, the head of a black bull--the
+certain omen, in those days in Scotland, of immediate death--was
+placed on the table. The Earl, anticipating treachery, instantly
+sprang to his feet, and lost no time in making every effort to escape.
+But no chance was given him to do so, and with his younger brother he
+was hurried along into the courtyard of the castle, and after being
+subjected to a mock trial, he was beheaded "in the back court of the
+castle that lieth to the west". The death of the young earl, and his
+untimely fate, were the subjects of lament in one of the ballads of
+the time.
+
+    "Edinburgh castle, town, and tower,
+      God grant them sink for sin;
+    And that even for the black dinner
+      Earl Douglas gat therein."
+
+This emphatic malediction is cited by Hume of Godscroft in his
+"History of the House of Douglas," as referring to William, sixth Earl
+of Douglas, a youth of eighteen; and Hume, speaking of this
+transaction, says, with becoming indignation: "It is sure the people
+did abhorre it--execrating the very place where it was done, in
+detestation of the fact--of which the memory remaineth yet to our
+dayes in these words."
+
+Many similar stories are recorded in the history of the past, the
+worst form of treachery oftentimes lurking beneath the festive cup,
+and in times of commotion, when suspicion and mistrust made men feel
+insecure even when entertained in the banqueting hall of some powerful
+host, it is not surprising that great persons had their food tasted by
+those who were supposed to have made themselves acquainted with its
+wholesomeness. But this practice could not always afford security when
+the taster was ready to sacrifice his own life, as in King John (act
+v. sc. 6):
+
+  HUBERT. The king, I fear, is poisoned by a monk:
+          I left him almost speechless.
+
+  BASTARD. How did he take it? Who did taste to him?
+
+  HUBERT. A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain.
+
+But, in modern days, one of the most unnatural tragedies on record was
+the murder of Sir John Goodere, Foote's maternal uncle, by his brother
+Captain Goodere, a naval officer. In the year 1740, the two brothers
+dined at a friend's house near Bristol. For a long time they had been
+on bad terms, owing to certain money transactions, but at the dinner
+table a reconciliation was, to all appearance, made between them. But
+it was a most terrible piece of underhand treachery, for on leaving
+that dinner table, Sir John was waylaid on his return home by some men
+from his brother's vessel--acting by his brother's authority--carried
+on board, and deliberately strangled; Captain Goodere not only
+unconcernedly looking on, but actually furnishing the rope with which
+this fearful crime was committed. One of the strangest parts of this
+terrible tale, Foote used to relate, was the fact that on the night
+the murder was committed he arrived at his father's house in Truro,
+and was kept awake for some time by the softest and sweetest strains
+of music he had ever heard. At first he fancied it might be a serenade
+got up by some of the family to welcome him home, but not being able
+to discover any trace of the musicians, he came to the conclusion that
+he was deceived by his own imagination. Shortly afterwards, however,
+he learnt that the murder had been committed at the same hour of the
+same night as he had been haunted by the mysterious sounds. In after
+days, he often spoke of this curious occurrence, regarding it as a
+supernatural warning, a conviction which he retained till his death.
+
+But, strange and varied as are the scenes that have taken place at the
+banquet, whether great or small, such acts of fratricide have been
+rare, although, according to a family tradition relating to
+Osbaldeston Hall, a similar tragedy once happened at a family banquet.
+There is one room in the old hall whose walls are smeared with several
+red marks, which, it is said, can never be obliterated. These stains
+have some resemblance to blood, and are generally supposed to have
+been caused when, many years ago, one of the family was brutally
+murdered. The story commonly current is that there was once a great
+family gathering at Osbaldeston Hall, at which every member of the
+family was present. The feast passed off satisfactorily, and the
+liquor was flowing freely round, when, unfortunately, family
+differences began to be discussed. These soon caused angry
+recriminations, and at length two of the company challenged each other
+to mortal combat. Friends interfered, and, by the judicious
+intervention on their part, the quarrel seemed to be made up. But soon
+afterwards the two accidentally met in this room, and Thomas
+Osbaldeston drew his sword and murdered his brother-in-law without
+resistance. For this crime he was deemed a felon, and forfeited his
+lands. Ever since that ill-fated day the room has been haunted.
+Tradition says that the ghost of the murdered man continues to haunt
+the scene of the conflict, and during the silent hours of the night it
+may be seen passing from the room with uplifted hands, and with the
+appearance of blood streaming from a wound in the breast.[17]
+
+But, turning to incidents of a less tragic nature, an amusing story is
+told of the Earl of Hopetoun, who, when he could not induce a certain
+Scottish laird, named Dundas, to sell his old family residence known
+as "The Tower," which was on the very verge of his own beautiful
+pleasure grounds, tried to lead him on to a more expensive style of
+living than that to which he had been accustomed, thinking thereby he
+might run into debt, and be compelled to sell his property.
+
+Accordingly, Dundas was frequently invited to Hopetoun House, and on
+one occasion his lordship invited himself and a fashionable shooting
+party to "The Tower," "congratulating himself on the hole which a few
+dinners like this would make in the old laird's rental." But, as soon
+as the covers were removed from the dishes, no small chagrin was
+caused to Lord Hopetoun and his friends when their eyes rested on "a
+goodly array of alternate herrings and potatoes spread from the top to
+the bottom," Dundas at the same time inviting his guests to pledge
+him in a bumper of excellent whiskey. Drinking jocularly to his
+lordship's health, he humorously said, "It won't do, my lord; it won't
+do! But, whenever you or your guests will honour my poor hall of Stang
+Hill Tower with your presence at this hour, I promise you no worse
+fare than now set before you, the best and fattest salt herrings that
+the Forth can produce, and the strongest mountain dew. To this I beg
+that your lordship and your honoured friends may do ample justice."
+
+It is needless to say that Lord Hopetoun never dined again at Stang
+Hill Tower but some time after, when Dundas was on his death-bed, he
+advised his son to make the best terms he could with Lord Hopetoun,
+remarking, "He will, sooner or later, have our little property." An
+exchange was made highly advantageous to the Dundas family, the estate
+of Aithrey being made over to them.[18]
+
+A curious and humorous narrative is told of General Dalzell, a noted
+persecutor of the Covenanters. In the course of his Continental
+service he had been brought into the immediate circle of the German
+Court, and one day had the honour to be a guest at a splendid Imperial
+banquet, where, as a part of his state, the German Emperor was waited
+on by the great feudal dignitaries of the empire, one of whom was the
+Duke of Modena, the head of the illustrious house of Este. After his
+appointment by Charles II. as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, he was
+invited by the Duke of York--afterwards James II., and then residing
+at Holyrood--to dine with him and the Duchess, Princess May of Modena.
+But as this was, we are told, what might be called a family dinner,
+the Duchess demurred to the General being admitted to such an honour,
+whereupon he naively replied that this was not his first introduction
+to the house of Este, for that he had known her Royal Highness's
+father, the Duke of Modena, and that he had stood behind his chair,
+while he sat by the Emperor's side.
+
+There was another kind of banquet, in which it has been remarked the
+defunct had the principal honours, having the same ceremonious respect
+paid to his waxen image as though he were alive. Thus we are reminded
+how the famous Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough demonstrated her
+appreciation for Congreve in a most extraordinary manner. Report goes
+that she had his figure made in wax, talked to it as if it had been
+alive, placed it at the table with her, took every care that it was
+supplied with different sorts of meat, and, in short, the same
+formalities were, throughout, scrupulously observed in these weird and
+strange repasts, just as if Congreve himself had been present.
+
+Saint Foix, it may be remembered, who wrote in the time of Louis XIV.,
+has left an interesting account of the ceremonial after the death of
+a King of France, during the forty days before the funeral, when his
+wax effigy lay in state. It appears that the royal officers served him
+at meals as though he were still alive, the maître d'hotel handed the
+napkin to the highest lord present to be delivered to the king, a
+prelate blessed the table, and the basins of water were handed to the
+royal armchair. Grace was said in the accustomed manner, save that
+there was added to it the "De Profundis." We cannot be surprised that
+such strange proceedings as these gave rise to much ridicule, and
+helped to bring the Court itself into contempt.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] Miss Jackson's "Shropshire Folklore," 101.
+
+[16] Family Romance, 1853, pp. 1-8.
+
+[17] Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 271-2.
+
+[18] Sir Bernard Burke, "Family Romance," 1853, I., 307-12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+MYSTERIOUS ROOMS.
+
+    A jolly place, said he, in days of old;
+    But something ails it now--the spot is curst.
+               WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+A peculiar feature of many old country houses is the so-called
+"strange room," around which the atmosphere of mystery has long clung.
+In certain cases, such rooms have gained an unenviable notoriety from
+having been the scene, in days gone by, of some tragic occurrence, the
+memory of which has survived in the local legend, or tradition. The
+existence, too, of such rooms has supplied the novelist with the most
+valuable material for the construction of those plots in which the
+mysterious element holds a prominent place. Historical romance, again,
+with its tales of adventure, has invested numerous rooms with a grim
+aspect, and caused the imagination to conjure up all manner of weird
+and unearthly fancies concerning them. Walpole, for instance, writing
+of Berkeley Castle, says: "The room shown for the murder of Edward
+II., and the shrieks of an agonising king, I verily believe to be
+genuine. It is a dismal chamber, almost at the top of the house, quite
+detached, and to be approached only by a kind of footbridge, and from
+that descends a large flight of steps that terminates on strong gates,
+exactly a situation for a _corps de garde_." And speaking of Edward's
+imprisonment here, may be mentioned the pathetic story told by Sir
+Richard Baker, in his usual odd, circumstantial manner: "When Edward
+II. was taken by order of his Queen and carried to Berkeley Castle, to
+the end that he should not be known, they shaved his head and beard,
+and that in a most beastly manner; for they took him from his horse
+and set him upon a hillock, and then, taking puddle water out of a
+ditch thereby, they went to wash him, his barber telling him that the
+cold water must serve for this time; whereat the miserable king,
+looking sternly upon him, said that whether they would or no he would
+have warm water to wash him, and therewithal, to make good his word,
+he presently shed forth a shower of tears. Never was king turned out
+of a kingdom in such a manner." And there can be no doubt that many of
+the rooms which have attracted notice on account of their
+architectural peculiarities, were purposely designed for concealment
+in times of political commotion. Of the numerous stories told of the
+mysterious death of Lord Lovel, one informs us[19] how, on the
+demolition of a very old house--formerly the patrimony of the
+Lovel's--about a century ago, there was found in a small chamber, so
+secret that the farmer who inhabited the house knew it not, the
+remains of an immured being, and such remnants of barrels and jars as
+appeared to justify the idea of that chamber having been used as a
+place of refuge for the lord of the mansion; and that after consuming
+the stores which he had provided in case of a disastrous event, he
+died unknown even to his servants and tenants. But the circumstances
+attending Lord Lovell's death have always been matter of conjecture,
+and in the "Annals of England," another version of the story is
+given:[20] "Lord Lovel is believed to have escaped from the field, and
+to have lived for a while in concealment at Minster Lovel,
+Oxfordshire, but at length to have been starved to death through the
+neglect or treachery of an attendant."
+
+At Broughton Castle there is a curiously designed room, which, at one
+time or another, has attracted considerable attention. According to
+Lord Nugent, in his "Memorials of Hampden," this room is "so
+contrived, by being surrounded by thick stone walls, and casemated,
+that no sound from within can be heard. The chamber appears to have
+been built about the time of King John, and is reported, on very
+doubtful grounds of tradition, to have been the room used for the
+sittings of the Puritans." And, he adds: "It seems an odd fancy,
+although a very prevailing one, to suppose that wise men, employed in
+capital matters of state, must needs choose the most mysterious and
+suspicious retirements for consultation, instead of the safer and less
+remarkable expedient of a walk in the open fields." It was probably in
+this room that the secret meetings of Hampden and his confederates
+were held, which Anthony à Wood thus describes: "Several years before
+the Civil War began, Lord Sage, being looked upon as the godfather of
+that party, had meetings of them in his house at Broughton, where was
+a room and passage thereunto, which his servants were prohibited to
+come near. And when they were of a complete number, there would be a
+great noise and talkings heard among them, to the admiration of those
+that lived in the house, yet never could they discern their lord's
+companions."
+
+Amongst other secret rooms which have their historical associations,
+are those at Hendlip Hall, near Worcester. This famous residence--which
+has scarcely a room that is not provided with some means of escape--is
+commonly reported to have been built by John Abingdon in the reign of
+Queen Elizabeth, this personage having been a zealous partisan of Mary
+Queen of Scots. It was here also, under the care of Mr. and Mrs.
+Abingdon, that Father Garnet was concealed for several weeks in the
+winter of 1605-6, but who eventually paid the penalty of his guilty
+knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot. A hollow in the wall of Mrs.
+Abingdon's bedroom was covered up, and there was a narrow crevice into
+which a reed was laid, so that soup and wine could be passed by her
+into the recess, without the fact being noticed from any other room.
+But the Government, suspecting that some of the Gunpowder Conspirators
+were concealed at Hendlip Hall, sent Sir Henry Bromley, of Holt Castle,
+a justice of the peace, with the most minute orders, which are very
+funny: "In the search," says the document, "first observe the parlour
+where they use to dine and sup; in the last part of that parlour it is
+conceived there is some vault, which to discover, you must take care to
+draw down the wainscot, whereby the entry into the vault may be
+discovered. The lower parts of the house must be tried with a broach,
+by putting the same into the ground some foot or two, to try whether
+there may be perceived some timber, which if there be, there must be
+some vault underneath it. For the upper rooms you must observe whether
+they be more in breadth than the lower rooms, and look in which places
+the rooms must be enlarged, by pulling out some boards you may discover
+some vaults. Also, if it appear that there be some corners to the
+chimneys, and the same boarded, if the boards be taken away there will
+appear some secret place. If the walls seem to be thick and covered
+with wainscot, being tried with a gimlet, if it strike not the wall but
+go through, some suspicion is to be had thereof. If there be any
+double loft, some two or three feet, one above another, in such places
+any person may be harboured privately. Also, if there be a loft towards
+the roof of the house, in which there appears no entrance out of any
+other place or lodging, it must of necessity be opened and looked into,
+for these be ordinary places of hovering (hiding)."
+
+The house was searched from garret to cellar without any discovery
+being made, and Mrs. Abingdon, feigning to be angry with the
+searchers, shut herself up in her bedroom day and night, eating and
+drinking there, by which means through the secret tube she fed Father
+Garnet and another Jesuit father. But after a protracted search of ten
+days, these two men surrendered themselves, pressed, it is said, "for
+the need of air rather than food, for marmalade and other sweetmeats
+were found in their den, and they had warm and nutritive drinks passed
+to them by the reed through the chimney," as already described. This
+historic mansion, it may be added, on account of its elevated
+position, was capitally adapted as a place of concealment, for "it
+afforded the means of keeping a watchful look-out for the approach of
+the emissaries of the law, or of persons by whom it might have been
+dangerous for any skulking priest to be seen, supposing his reverence
+to have gone forth for an hour to take the air."
+
+Another important instance of a strange room is that existing at
+Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, which was, in years gone by, a summer
+residence belonging to the Abbey of Barking. It came with the estate
+into possession of the family of Petre in the reign of Henry VIII.,
+and continued to be occupied as their family seat until the latter
+half of the last century. In the south-east corner of a small room
+attached to what was probably the host's bedroom, there was discovered
+some years ago a mysterious hiding place--fourteen feet long, two feet
+broad, and ten feet high. On some floor-boards being removed, a hole
+or trap door--about two feet square--was found, with a twelve-foot
+ladder, to descend into the room below, the floor of which was
+composed of nine inches of dry sand. This, on being examined, brought
+to light a few bones which, it has been suggested, are the remains of
+food supplied to some unfortunate occupant during confinement. But the
+existence of this secret room must, it is said, have been familiar to
+the heads of the family for several generations, evidence of this
+circumstance being afforded by a packing case which was found in this
+hidden retreat, and upon which was the following direction: "For the
+Right Honble the Lady Petre, at Ingatestone Hall, in Essex." The wood,
+also, was in a decayed state, and the writing in an antiquated style,
+which is only what might be expected considering that the Petre family
+left Ingatestone Hall between the years 1770 and 1780.
+
+There are numerous rooms of this curious description which, it must be
+remembered, were, in many cases, the outcome of religious intolerance
+in the sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth, when the
+celebration of Mass in this country was forbidden. Hence those families
+that persisted in adhering to the Roman Catholic faith oftentimes kept
+a priest, who celebrated it in a room--opening whence was a secret one,
+to which in case of emergency he could retreat. Evelyn in his _Diary_,
+speaking of Ham House, at Weybridge, belonging to the Duke of Norfolk,
+as having some of these secret rooms, writes: "My lord, leading me
+about the house, made no scruple of showing me all the hiding places
+for Popish priests, and where they said Masse, for he was no bigoted
+papist." The old Manor House at Dinsdale-upon-Tees has a secret room,
+which is very cleverly situated at the top of the staircase, to which
+access is gained from above. The compartment is not very large, and is
+between two bedrooms, and alongside of the fireplace of one of them.
+"It would be a very snug place when the fire was lighted," writes a
+correspondent of "Notes and Queries," "and very secure, as it is
+necessary to enter the cockloft by a trap door at the extreme end of
+the building, and then crawl along under the roof into the hiding-place
+by a second trap-door." Among further instances of these curious relics
+of the past may be mentioned Armscott Manor, two or three miles distant
+from Shipston-on-Stour. According to a local tradition, George Fox at
+one time lived here. In a passage at the top of the house is the
+entrance to a secret room, which receives light from a small window in
+one of the gables, and in this room George Fox is said to have been
+concealed during the period he was persecuted by the county
+magistrates.
+
+But sometimes such rooms furthered the designs of those who abetted
+and connived at deeds that would not bear the light, and Southey
+records an anecdote which is a good illustration of the bad uses to
+which they were probably often put: "At Bishop's Middleham, a man died
+with the reputation of a water drinker; and it was discovered that he
+had killed himself by secret drunkenness. There was a Roman Catholic
+hiding place, the entrance to which was from his bedroom. He converted
+it into a cellar, and the quantity of brandy which he had consumed was
+ascertained." Indeed, it is impossible to say to what ends these
+secret rooms were occasionally devoted; and there is little doubt but
+that they were the scenes of many of those thrilling stories upon
+which many of our local traditions have been founded.
+
+Political refugees, too, were not infrequently secreted in these
+hiding places, and in the Manor House, Trent, near Sherborne, there is
+a strangely constructed chamber, entered from one of the upper rooms
+through a sliding panel in the oak wainscoting, in which tradition
+tells us Charles II. lay concealed for a fortnight on his escape to
+the coast, after the battle of Worcester. And Boscobel House, which
+also afforded Charles II. a safe retreat, has two secret chambers; and
+there are indications which point to the former existence of a third.
+The hiding place in which the King was hidden is situated in the
+squire's bedroom. It appears there was formerly a sliding panel in the
+wainscot, near the fireplace, which, when opened, gave access to a
+closet, the false floor of which still admits of a person taking up
+his position in this secret nook. The wainscoting, too, which
+concealed the movable panel in the bedroom was originally covered with
+tapestry, with which the room was hung. A curious story is told of
+Street Place, an old house, a mile and a half north of Plumpton, in
+the neighbourhood of Lewes, which dates from the time of James I., and
+was the seat of the Dobells. Behind the great chimney-piece of the
+hall was a deep recess, used for purposes of concealment; and it is
+said that one day a cavalier horseman, hotly pursued by some troopers,
+broke into the hall, spurred his horse into the recess, and
+disappeared for ever.
+
+Bistmorton Court, an old moated manor house in the Malvern district,
+has a cunningly contrived secret room, which is opened by means of a
+spring, and this hidden nook is commonly reported to have played an
+important part in the War of the Roses, when numerous persons were
+concealed there at this troublous period. And a curious discovery was
+made some years ago at Danby Hall, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, when, on
+a small secret room being brought to light, it was found to contain
+arms and saddlery for a troop of forty or fifty horse. It is generally
+supposed that these weapons had been hidden away in readiness for the
+Jacobite rising of 1715 or 1745.
+
+In certain cases it would appear that, for some reason or other, the
+hiding place has been specially kept a secret among members of the
+family. In the north of England there is Netherall, near Maryport,
+Cumberland, the seat of the old family of Senhouse. In this old
+mansion there is said to be a veritable secret room, its exact
+position in the house being known but to two persons--the heir-at-law
+and the family solicitor. It is affirmed that never has the secret of
+this hidden room been revealed to more than two living persons at a
+time. This mysterious room has no window, and, despite every endeavour
+to discover it, has successfully defied the ingenuity of even visitors
+staying in the house. This Netherall tradition is very similar to the
+celebrated one connected with Glamis Castle, the seat of Lord
+Strathmore, only in the latter case the secret room possesses a
+window, which, nevertheless, has not led to its identification. It is
+known as the "secret room" of the castle, and, although every other
+part of the castle has been satisfactorily explored, the search for
+this famous room has been in vain. None are supposed to be acquainted
+with its locality save Lord Strathmore, his heir, and the factor of
+the estate, who are bound not to reveal it unless to their successors
+in the secret. Many weird stories have clustered round this remarkable
+room; one legend connected with which has been thus described:
+
+    The castle now again behold,
+    Then mark yon lofty turret bold,
+    Which frowns above the western wing,
+    Its grim walls darkly shadowing.
+    There is a room within that tower
+    No mortal dare approach; the power
+    Of an avenging God is there.
+    Dread--awfully display'd--beware!
+    And enter not that dreadful room,
+    Else yours may be a fearful doom.
+
+According to one legendary romance--founded on an incident which is
+said to have occurred during one of the carousals of the Earl of
+Crawford, otherwise styled "Earl Beardie" or the "Tiger Earl"--there
+was many years ago a grand "meet" at Glamis, as the result of which
+many a noble deer lay dead upon the hill, and many a grizzly boar dyed
+with his heart's blood the rivers of the plain. As the day drew to its
+close, "the wearied huntsmen, with their fair attendants, returned,
+'midst the sounds of martial music and the low whispered roundelays of
+the ladies, victorious to the castle." In the old baronial dining hall
+was spread a sumptuous and savoury feast, at which "venison and
+reeking game, rich smoked ham and savoury roe, flanked by the wild
+boar's head, and viands and pasties without name, blent profusely on
+the hospitable board, while jewelled and capacious goblets, filled
+with ruby wine, were lavishly handed round to the admiring guests."
+
+At the completion of the banquet, the minstrel strung his ancient
+harp, and soon the company tripped lightly on the oaken floor, till
+the rafters rang with the merry sounds of their midnight revelry. For
+three days and nights the hunt and the feast continued, and as, at
+last, the revelries drew to a close, still four dark chieftains
+remained in the inner chamber of the castle, "and sang, and drank, and
+shouted, right merrilie. The day broke, yet louder rang the wassail
+roar; the goblets were over and over again replenished, and the
+terrible oaths and ribald songs continued, and the dice rattled, and
+the revelry became louder still, till the many walls of the old castle
+shook and reverberated with the awful sounds of debauchery, blasphemy,
+and crime."
+
+"At length their wild, ungovernable frenzy reached its climax. They
+had drunk until their eyes had grown dim, and their hands could
+scarcely hold the hellish dice, when, driven by expiring fury, with
+fiendish glee, they defiantly gnashed their teeth and cursed the God
+of heaven! Then, with returning strength, and exhausting its last and
+fitful energies in still louder imprecations and more fearful yells,
+they deliberately and with unanimous voice consigned their guilty
+souls to the nethermost hell! Fatal words! In a bright, broad sheet of
+lurid and sulphurous flame the Prince of Darkness appeared in their
+midst, and struck--not the shaft of death, but the vitality of eternal
+life--and there to this day in that dreaded room they sit, transfixed
+in all their hideous expression of ghastly terror and dismay--doomed
+to drink the wine cup and throw the dice till the dawning of the Great
+Judgment Day."[21]
+
+Another explanation of the mystery is that during one of the feuds
+between the Lindsays and the Ogilvies, a number of the latter Clan,
+flying from their enemies, came to Glamis Castle, and begged
+hospitality of the owner. He admitted them, and on the plea of hiding
+them, he secured them all in this room, and then left them to starve.
+Their bones, it is averred, lie there to this day, the sight of which,
+it has been stated, so appalled the late Lord Strathmore on entering
+the room, that he had it walled up. Some assert that, owing to some
+hereditary curse, like those described in a previous chapter, at
+certain intervals a kind of vampire is born into the family of the
+Strathmore Lyons, and that as no one would like to destroy this
+monstrosity, it is kept concealed till its term of life is run. But,
+whatever the mystery may be, such rooms, like the locked chamber of
+Blue Beard, are not open to vulgar gaze, a circumstance which has
+naturally perpetuated the curiosity attached to them. The reputation,
+too, which Glamis Castle has long had for possessing so strange a room
+has led to a host of the most gruesome stories being circulated in
+connection with it, many of which from time to time have appeared in
+print. According to one account,[22] "a lady, very well known in
+London society, an artistic and social celebrity, went to stay at
+Glamis Castle for the first time. She was allotted very handsome
+apartments just on the point of junction between the new
+buildings--perhaps a hundred or two hundred years old--and the very
+ancient part of the castle. The rooms were handsomely furnished; no
+grim tapestry swung to and fro, all was smooth, easy, and modern, and
+the guest retired to bed without a thought of the mysteries of Glamis.
+In the morning she appeared at the breakfast table cheerful and
+self-possessed, and, to the inquiry how she had slept, replied, "Well,
+thanks, very well, up to four o'clock in the morning. But your
+Scottish carpenters seem to come to work very early. I suppose they
+are putting up their scaffolding quickly, though, for they are quiet
+now."
+
+Her remarks were followed by a dead silence, and, to her surprise, she
+noticed that the faces of the family party were very pale. But, she
+was asked, as she valued the friendship of all there, never to speak
+on that subject again, there had been no carpenters at Glamis for
+months past. The lady, it seems, had not the remotest idea that the
+hammering she had heard was connected with any story, and had no
+notion of there being some mystery connected with the noise until
+enlightened on the matter at the breakfast table.
+
+At Rushen Castle, Isle of Man, there is said to be a room which has
+never been opened in the memory of man. Various explanations have been
+assigned to account for this circumstance, one being that the old
+place was once inhabited by giants, who were dislodged by Merlin, and
+such as were not driven away remain spellbound beneath the castle.
+Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man," has given a curious
+tradition respecting this strange room, in which the supernatural
+element holds a prominent place, and which is a good sample of other
+stories of the same kind: "They say there are a great many fine
+apartments underground, exceeding in magnificence any of the upper
+rooms. Several men, of more than ordinary courage have, in former
+times, ventured down to explore the secrets of this subterranean
+dwelling-place, but as none of them ever returned to give an account
+of what they saw, the passages to it were kept continually shut that
+no more might suffer by their temerity. But about fifty years since, a
+person of uncommon courage obtained permission to explore the dark
+abode. He went down, and returned by the help of a clue of packthread,
+and made this report: 'That after having passed through a great number
+of vaults he came into a long narrow place, along which having
+travelled, as far as he could guess, for the space of a mile, he saw a
+little gleam of light. Reaching at last the end of this lane of
+darkness, he perceived a very large and magnificent house, illuminated
+with a great many candles, whence proceeded the light just mentioned.
+After knocking at the door three times, it was opened by a servant,
+who asked him what he wanted. "I would go as far as I can," he
+replied; "be so kind as to direct me, for I see no passage but the
+dark cavern through which I came hither." The servant directed him to
+go through the house, and led him through a long entrance passage and
+out at the back door. After walking a considerable distance, he saw
+another house, more magnificent than the former, where he saw through
+the open windows lamps burning in every room. He was about to knock,
+but looking in at the window of a low parlour, he saw in the middle of
+the room a large table of black marble, on which lay extended a
+monster of at least fourteen feet long, and ten round the body, with a
+sword beside him. He therefore deemed it prudent to make his way back
+to the first house where the servant reconducted him, and informed him
+that if he had knocked at the second door he never would have
+returned. He then took his leave, and once more ascended to the light
+of the sun.'"
+
+But, leaving rooms of this supernatural kind, we may allude to those
+which have acquired a strange notoriety from certain peculiarities of
+a somewhat gruesome character; and, with tales of horror attached to
+their guilty walls, it is not surprising that many rooms in our old
+country houses have long been said to be troubled with mysterious
+noises, and to have an uncanny aspect. Wye Coller Hall, near Colne,
+which was long the seat of the Cunliffes of Billington, had a room
+which the timid long avoided. Once a year, it is said, a spectre
+horseman visits this house and makes his way up the broad oaken
+staircase into a certain room, from whence "dreadful screams, as from
+a woman, are heard, which soon subside into groans." The story goes
+that one of the Cunliffes murdered his wife in that room, and that the
+spectre horseman is the ghost of the murderer, who is doomed to pay an
+annual visit to the house of his victim, who is said to have predicted
+the extinction of the family, which has literally been fulfilled. This
+strange visitor is always attired in the costume of the early Stuart
+period, and the trappings of his horse are of a most uncouth
+description; the evening of his arrival being generally wild and
+tempestuous.
+
+At Creslow Manor House, Buckinghamshire, there is another mysterious
+room which, although furnished as a bedroom, is very rarely used, for
+it cannot be entered, even in the daytime, without trepidation and
+awe. According to common report, this room, which is situated in the
+most ancient portion of the building, is haunted by the restless
+spirit of a lady, long since deceased. What the antecedent history of
+this uncomfortable room really is no one seems to know, although it is
+generally agreed that in the distant past it must have been the silent
+witness of some tragic occurrence.
+
+But Littlecote House, the ancient seat of the Darrells, is renowned,
+writes Lord Macaulay, "not more on account of its venerable
+architecture and furniture, than on account of a horrible and
+mysterious crime which was perpetrated there in the days of the
+Tudors." One of the bedchambers, which is said to have been the scene
+of a terrible murder, contains a bedstead with blue furniture, which
+time has made dingy and threadbare. In the bottom of one of the bed
+curtains is shown a strange place where a small piece has been cut out
+and sewn in again--a circumstance which served to identify the scene
+of a remarkable story, in connection with which, however, there are
+several discrepancies. According to one account, when Littlecote was
+in possession of its founders--the Darrells--a midwife of high repute
+dwelt in the neighbourhood, who, on returning home from a professional
+visit at a late hour of the night, had gone to rest only to be
+disturbed by one who desired to have her immediate help, little
+anticipating the terrible night's adventure in store for her, and
+which shall be told in her own words:
+
+"As soon as she had unfastened the door, a hand was thrust in which
+struck down the candle, and at the same time pulled her into the road.
+The person who had used these abrupt means desired her to tie a
+handkerchief over her head and not wait for a hat, and, leading her to
+a stile where there was a horse saddled, with a pillion on its back,
+he desired her to seat herself, and then, mounting, they set off at a
+brisk trot. After travelling for an hour and a half, they entered a
+paved court, or yard, and her conductor, lifting her off her horse,
+led her into the house, and thus addressed her: 'You must now suffer
+me to put this cap and bandage over your eyes, which will allow you to
+breathe and speak, but not to see. Keep up your presence of mind; it
+will be wanted. No harm will happen to you.' Then, taking her into a
+chamber, he added, 'Now you are in a room with a lady in labour.
+Perform your office well, and you shall be amply rewarded; but if you
+attempt to remove the bandage from your eyes, take the reward of your
+rashness."
+
+Shortly afterwards a male child was born, and as soon as this crisis
+was over the woman received a glass of wine, and was told to prepare
+to return home, but in the interval she contrived to cut off a small
+piece of the bed curtain--an act which was supposed sufficient
+evidence to fix the mysterious transaction as having happened at
+Littlecote. According to Sir Walter Scott, the bandage was first put
+over the woman's eyes on her leaving her own house that she might be
+unable to tell which way she travelled, and was only removed when she
+was led into the mysterious bedchamber, where, besides the lady in
+labour, there was a man of a "haughty and ferocious" aspect. As soon
+as the child was born, adds Scott, he demanded the midwife to give it
+him, and, hurrying across the room, threw it on the back of a fire
+that was blazing in the chimney, in spite of the piteous entreaties of
+the mother. Suspicion eventually fell on Darrell, whose house was
+identified by the midwife, and he was tried for murder at Salisbury,
+"but, by corrupting his judge, Sir John Popham, he escaped the
+sentence of the law, only to die a violent death by a fall from his
+horse." This tale of horror, it may be added, has been carefully
+examined, and there is little doubt but that in its main and most
+prominent features it is true, the bedstead with a piece of the
+curtain cut out identifying the spot as the scene of the tragic
+act.[23]
+
+With this strange story Sir Walter Scott compares a similar one which
+was current at Edinburgh during his childhood. About the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, when "the large castles of the Scottish
+nobles, and even the secluded hotels, like those of the French
+_noblesse_, which they possessed in Edinburgh, were sometimes the
+scenes of mysterious transactions, a divine of singular sanctity was
+called up at midnight to pray with a person at the point of death." He
+was put into a sedan chair, and after being transported to a remote
+part of the town, he was blindfolded--an act which was enforced by a
+cocked pistol. After many turns and windings the chair was carried
+upstairs into a lodging, where his eyes were uncovered, and he was
+introduced into a bedroom, where he found a lady, newly delivered of
+an infant.
+
+He was commanded by his attendants to say such prayers by her bedside
+as were suitable for a dying person. On remonstrating, and observing
+that her safe delivery warranted better hopes, he was sternly
+commanded to do as he had been ordered, and with difficulty he
+collected his thoughts sufficiently to perform the task imposed on
+him. He was then again hurried into the chair, but as they conducted
+him downstairs he heard the report of a pistol. He was safely
+conducted home, a purse of gold was found upon him, but he was warned
+that the least allusion to this transaction would cost him his life.
+He betook himself to rest, and after a deep sleep he was awakened by
+his servant, with the dismal news that a fire of uncommon fury had
+broken out in the house of ****, near the head of the Canongate, and
+that it was totally consumed, with the shocking addition that the
+daughter of the proprietor, a young lady eminent for beauty and
+accomplishments had perished in the flames.
+
+The clergyman had his suspicions; he was timid; the family was of the
+first distinction; above all, the deed was done, and could not be
+amended. Time wore away, but he became unhappy at being the solitary
+depository of this fearful mystery, and, mentioning it to some of his
+brethren, the anecdote acquired a sort of publicity. The divine,
+however, had long been dead, and the story in some degree forgotten,
+when a fire broke out again on the very same spot where the house of
+**** had formerly stood, and which was now occupied by buildings of an
+inferior description. When the flames were at their height, the tumult
+was suddenly suspended by an unexpected apparition. A beautiful
+female, in a nightdress, extremely rich, but at least half a century
+old, appeared in the very midst of the fire, and uttered these words
+in her vernacular idiom: "Anes burned, twice burned; the third time
+I'll scare you all." The belief in this apparition was formerly so
+strong that on a fire breaking out and seeming to approach the fatal
+spot, there was a good deal of anxiety manifested lest the apparition
+should make good her denunciation.
+
+But family romance contains many such tales of horror, and one told of
+Sir Richard Baker, surnamed "Bloody Baker," is a match even for Blue
+Beard's locked chamber. After spending some years abroad in
+consequence of a duel, he returned to his old home at Cranbrook, in
+Kent; he only brought with him a foreign servant, and these two lived
+alone. Very soon strange stories began to be whispered of unearthly
+shrieks having been frequently heard at nightfall to issue from his
+house, and of persons who were missed and never heard of again. But it
+never occurred to anyone to connect incidents of this kind with Sir
+Richard Baker, until, one day, he formed an apparent attachment to a
+young lady in the neighbourhood, who always wore a great number of
+jewels. He had often pressed her to call and see his house, and,
+happening to be near it, she determined to surprise him with a visit.
+Her companion tried to dissuade her from doing so, but she would not
+be turned from her purpose. They knocked at the door, but receiving no
+answer determined to enter. At the head of the staircase hung a
+parrot, which, on their passing, cried out:
+
+    "Peapot, pretty lady, be not too bold,
+    Or your red blood will soon run cold."
+
+And the blood of the adventurous women did "run cold" when on opening
+one of the room doors they found it nearly full of the bodies of
+murdered persons, chiefly women. And when, too, on looking out of the
+window they saw "Bloody Baker" and his servant bringing in the body of
+a lady, paralysed with fear they concealed themselves in a recess
+under the staircase, and, as the murderers with their ghastly burden
+passed by, the hand of the murdered lady hung in the baluster of the
+stairs, which, on Baker chopping it off with an oath, fell into the
+lap of one of the concealed ladies. They quickly made their escape
+with the dead hand, on one of the fingers of which was a ring.
+Reaching home, they told the story, and in proof of it displayed the
+ring. Families in the neighbourhood who had lost friends or relatives
+mysteriously were told of this "blood chamber of horrors," and it was
+arranged to ask Baker to a party, apparently in a friendly manner, but
+to have constables concealed ready to take him into custody. He
+accepted the invitation, and then the lady, pretending it was a dream,
+told him all she had seen.
+
+"Fair lady," said he, "dreams are nothing; they are but fables."
+
+"They may be fables," she replied, "but is this a fable?" And she
+produced the hand and ring, upon which the constables appeared on the
+scene, and took Baker into custody. The tradition adds that he was
+found guilty, and was burnt, notwithstanding that Queen Mary tried to
+save him on account of his holding the Roman Catholic religion.[24]
+
+This tradition, of course, must not be taken too seriously; the red
+hand in the armorial bearings having led, it has been suggested, to
+the supposition of some sanguinary business in the records of the
+family. Among the monuments in Cranbrook Church, Kent, there is one
+erected to Sir Richard Baker--the gauntlet, red gloves, helmet, and
+spurs, having been suspended over the tomb. On one occasion, a visitor
+being attracted by the colour of the gloves, was accosted by an old
+woman, who remarked, "Aye, Miss, those are Bloody Baker's gloves;
+their red colour comes from the blood he shed." But the red hand is
+only the Ulster badge of baronetcy, and there is scarcely a family
+bearing it of which some tale of murder and punishment has not been
+told.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] Andrew's "History of Great Britain," 1794-5.
+
+[20] Oxford, 1857.
+
+[21] "Scenes and Legends of the Vale of Strathmore." J. Cargill
+Guthrie, 1875.
+
+[22] "All the Year Round," 1880.
+
+[23] See "Wilts Archæological Magazine," vols. i.-x.
+
+[24] See "Notes and Queries," 1st S., I., p. 67.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+INDELIBLE BLOOD STAINS.
+
+    "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
+    Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
+    The multitudinous seas incarnardine,
+    Making the green one red."--MACBETH.
+
+
+It was a popular suggestion in olden times that when a person had died
+a violent death, the blood stains could not be washed away, to which
+Macbeth alludes, as above, after murdering Duncan. This belief was in
+a great measure founded on the early tradition that the wounds of a
+murdered man were supposed to bleed afresh at the approach or touch of
+the murderer. To such an extent was this notion carried, that "by the
+side of the bier, if the slightest change were observable in the eyes,
+the mouth, feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured
+to be present, and many an innocent spectator must have suffered
+death. This practice forms a rich pasture in the imagination of our
+old writers; and their histories and ballads are laboured into pathos
+by dwelling on this phenomenon."[25] At Blackwell, near Darlington,
+the murder of one Christopher Simpson is described in a pretty local
+ballad known as "The Baydayle Banks Tragedy." A suspected person was
+committed, because when he touched the body at the inquest, "upon his
+handlinge and movinge, the body did bleed at the mouth, nose, and
+ears," and he turned out to be the murderer. Similarly Macbeth (Act
+III., sc. 4), speaking of the ghost, says:--
+
+    "It will have blood; they say blood will have blood;
+    Stones have been known to move and trees to speak,
+    Auguries and understood relations have
+    By magot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
+    The secret'st man of blood."
+
+Shakespeare here, in all probability, alludes to some story in which
+the stones covering the corpse of a murdered man were said to have
+moved of themselves, and so revealed the secret. In the same way, it
+was said that where blood had been shed, the marks could not be
+obliterated, but would continually reappear until justice for the
+crime had been obtained. On one occasion, Nathaniel Hawthorne enjoyed
+the hospitality of Smithells Hall, Lancashire, and was so impressed
+with the well-known legend of "The Bloody Footstep" that he, in three
+separate instances, founded fictions upon it. In his romance of
+"Septimius" he gives this graphic account of what he saw: "On the
+threshold of one of the doors of Smithells Hall there is a bloody
+footstep impressed into the doorstep, and ruddy as if the bloody foot
+had just trodden there, and it is averred that on a certain night of
+the year, and at a certain hour of the night, if you go and look at
+the doorstep, you will see the mark wet with fresh blood. Some have
+pretended to say that this is but dew, but can dew redden a cambric
+handkerchief? And this is what the bloody footstep will surely do when
+the appointed night and hour come round." A local tradition says that
+the stone bearing the imprint of the mysterious footprint was once
+removed and cast into a neighbouring wood, but in a short time it had
+to be restored to its original position owing to the alarming noises
+which troubled the neighbourhood. This strange footprint is
+traditionally said to have been caused by George Marsh, the martyr,
+stamping his foot to confirm his testimony, and has been ever since
+shewn as the miraculous memorial of the holy man. The story is that
+"being provoked by the taunts and persecutions of his examiner, he
+stamped with his foot upon a stone, and, looking up to heaven,
+appealed to God for the justice of his cause, and prayed that there
+might remain in that place a constant memorial of the wickedness and
+injustice of his enemies." It is also stated that in 1732 a guest
+sleeping alone in the Green Chamber at Smithells Hall saw an
+apparition, in the dress of a minister with bands, and a book in his
+hand. The ghost of Marsh, for so it was pronounced to be, disappeared
+through the doorway, and on the owner of Smithells hearing the story,
+he directed that divine service--long discontinued--should be resumed
+at the hall chapel every Sunday.[26]
+
+Then there are the blood stains on the floor at the outer door of the
+Queen's apartments in Holyrood Palace, where Rizzio was murdered. Sir
+Walter Scott has made these blood marks the subject of a jocular
+passage in his introduction to the "Chronicles of the Canongate,"
+where a Cockney traveller is represented as trying to efface them with
+the patent scouring drops which it was his mission to introduce into
+use in Scotland. In another of his novels--"The Abbot"--Sir Walter
+Scott alludes to the Rizzio blood stains, and in his "Tales of a
+Grandfather" he deliberately states that the floor at the head of the
+stair still bears visible marks of the blood of the unhappy victim. In
+support of these blood stains, it has been urged that "the floor is
+very ancient, manifestly much more so than the late floor of the
+neighbouring gallery, which dated from the reign of Charles II. It is
+in all likelihood the very floor upon which Mary and her courtiers
+trod. The stain has been shown there since a time long antecedent to
+that extreme modern curiosity regarding historical matters which might
+have induced an imposture, for it is alluded to by the son of Evelyn
+as being exhibited in the year 1722."[27]
+
+At Condover Hall, Shropshire, there is supposed to be a blood stain
+which has been there since the time of Henry VIII., and cannot be
+effaced. According to a local tradition, which has long been current
+in the neighbourhood, it is the blood of Lord Knevett--the owner of
+the hall and estate at this period--who was treacherously slain by his
+son. But unfortunately this piece of romance, which is utterly at
+variance with facts bearing on the history of Condover and its owners
+in years gone by, must be classed among the legendary tales of the
+locality. One room in Clayton Old Hall, Lancashire, has for years past
+been knicknamed "The Bloody Chamber," from some supposed stains of
+human gore on the oaken floor planks. Numerous stories have, at
+different times, been started to account for these blood-tokens, which
+have gained all the more importance from the mansion having, from time
+immemorial, been the favourite haunt of a mischievious boggart until
+laid by the parson, and now--
+
+    Whilst ivy climbs and holly is green
+    Clayton Hall boggart shall no more be seen.
+
+In Lincoln Cathedral there are two fine rose windows, one made by a
+master workman, and the other by his apprentice, out of the pieces of
+stained glass the former had thrown aside. The apprentice's window was
+declared to be the more magnificent, when the master, in a fit of
+chagrin, threw himself from the gallery beneath his boasted _chef
+d'oeuvre_, and was killed upon the spot. But his blood-stains on
+the floor are declared to be indelible. At Cothele, a mansion on the
+banks of the Tamar, the marks are still visible of the blood spilt by
+the lord of the manor when, for supposed treachery, he slew the warder
+of the drawbridge; but these are only to be seen on a wet day.
+
+But there is no mystery about the so-called "Bloody Chamber," for the
+marks are only in reality natural red tinges of the wood, denoting the
+presence of iron.
+
+In addition to the appearance of such indelible marks of crime,
+oftentimes the ghost of the spiller of blood, or of the murdered
+person, haunts the scene. Thus, Northam Tower, Yorkshire, an embattled
+structure of the time of Henry VII.--a true Border mansion--has long
+been famous for the visits of some mysterious spectre in the form of a
+lady who was cruelly murdered in the wood, her blood being pointed out
+on the stairs of the old tower. Another tragic story is told of the
+Manor House which Bishop Pudsey built at Darlington. It was for very
+many years a residence of the Bishops of Durham, and a resting place
+of Margaret, bride of James IV., of Scotland, and daughter of Henry
+VII., in her splendid progress through the country. This building was
+restored at great expense in the year 1668, and gained a widespread
+notoriety on account of the ghost story of Lady Jerratt, who was
+murdered there; but, as a testimony of the violent death she had
+received, "she left on the wall ghastly impressions of a thumb and
+fingers in blood for ever," and always made her appearance with one
+arm, the other having been cut off for the sake of a valuable ring on
+one of the fingers.
+
+One room of Holland House is supposed to be haunted by Lord Holland,
+the first of his name and the chief builder of this splendid old
+mansion. According to Princess Marie Lichtenstein, in her "History of
+Holland House," "the gilt room is said to be tenanted by the solitary
+ghost of its first lord, who, runs the tradition, issues forth at
+midnight from behind a secret door, and walks slowly through the
+scenes of former triumphs with his head in his hand." And to add to
+this mystery, there is a tale of three spots of blood on one side of
+the recess whence he issues--three spots which can never be effaced.
+
+Stains of blood--stains that cannot be washed away--are to be seen on
+the floor of a certain room at Calverley Hall, Yorkshire. And there is
+one particular flag in the cellar which is never without a mysterious
+damp place upon it, all the other flags being dry. Of course these are
+the witnesses of a terrible tragedy which was committed years ago
+within the walls of Calverley Hall. It appears that Walter Calverley,
+who had married Philippa Brooke, daughter of Lord Cobham, was a wild
+reckless man, though his wife was a most estimable and virtuous lady,
+and that one day he went into a fit of insane jealousy, or pretended
+to do so, over the then Vavasour of Weston. Money lenders, too, were
+pressing him hard, and he had become desperate. Rushing madly into the
+house, he plunged a dagger into one and then into another of his
+children, and afterwards tried to take the life of their mother, a
+steel corset which she wore luckily saving her life. Leaving her for
+dead, he mounted his horse with the intention of killing the only
+other child he had, and who was then at Norton. But being pursued by
+some villagers, his horse stumbled and threw him off, and the assassin
+was caught, being pressed to death at York Castle for his crimes. Not
+only have the stains of this bloody tragedy ever since been indelible,
+but the spirit of Walter Calverley could not rest, having often been
+seen galloping about the district at night on a headless horse.[28]
+And, speaking of ghosts which appear in this eccentric fashion, we may
+note that Eastbury House, near Blandford--now pulled down--had in a
+certain marble-floored room, ineffaceable stains of blood,
+attributable, it is said, to the suicide of William Doggett, the
+steward of Lord Melcombe, whose headless spirit long haunted the
+neighbourhood.
+
+As a punishment for her unnatural cruelty in causing her child's
+death, it is commonly reported that the spirit of Lady Russell is
+doomed to haunt Bisham Abbey, Berkshire, the house where this act of
+violence was committed. Lady Russell had by her first husband a son,
+who, unlike herself, had a natural antipathy to every kind of
+learning, and so great was his obstinate repugnance to learning to
+write that he would wilfully blot over his copy-books in the most
+careless and slovenly manner. This conduct so irritated his mother
+that, to cure him of the propensity, she beat him again and again
+severely, till at last she beat him to death. To atone for her
+cruelty, she is now doomed to haunt the room where the fatal deed was
+perpetrated; and, as her apparition glides along, she is always seen
+in the act of washing the blood stains of her son from her hands.
+Although ever trying to free herself of these marks of her unnatural
+crime, it is in vain, as they are indelible stains which no water will
+remove.
+
+By a strange coincidence, some years ago, in altering a window
+shutter, a quantity of antique copy-books were discovered pushed into
+the rubble between the joints of the floor, and one of these books was
+so covered with blots as to fully answer the description in the
+narrative above. It is noteworthy, also, that Lady Russell had no
+comfort in her sons by her first husband. Her youngest son, a
+posthumous child, caused her special trouble, insomuch so that she
+wrote to her brother-in-law, Lord Burleigh, for advice how to treat
+him. This may have been, it has been suggested, the unfortunate boy
+who was flogged to death, though he seems to have lived to near man's
+estate. Lady Russell was buried at Bisham, by the remains of her first
+husband, Sir Thomas Hoby, and her portrait may still be seen,
+representing her in widow's weeds and with a very pale face.
+
+A mysterious crime is traditionally reported to have, some years ago,
+taken place at the old parsonage at Market, or East Lavington, near
+Devizes--now pulled down. The ghost of the lady supposed to have been
+murdered haunted the locality, and it has been said a child came to an
+untimely end in the house. "Previous to the year 1818," writes a
+correspondent of _Notes and Queries_, "a witness states his father
+occupied the house, and writes that 'in that year on Feast Day, being
+left alone in the house, I went to my room. It was the one with marks
+of blood on the floor. I distinctly saw a white figure glide into the
+room. It went round by the washstand near the bed and disappeared!'"
+It may be added that part of the road leading from Market Lavington to
+Easterton which skirts the grounds of Fiddington House, used to be
+looked upon as haunted by a lady who was locally known as the
+"Easterton ghost." But in the year 1869 a wall was built round the
+roadside of the pond, and curiously close to the spot where the lady
+had been in the habit of appearing two skeletons were disturbed--one
+of a woman, the other of a child. The bones were buried in the
+churchyard, and no ghost, it is said, has since been seen. It would
+seem, also, that blood stains, wherever they may fall, are equally
+indelible; and even to this day the New Forest peasant believes that
+the marl he digs is still red with the blood of his ancient foes, the
+Danes, a form of superstition which we find existing in various
+places.
+
+For very many years the road from Reigate to Dorking, leading through
+a lonely lane into the village of Buckland, was haunted by a local
+spectre known as the "Buckland Shag," generally supposed to have been
+connected with a love tragedy. In the most lonely part of this lane a
+stream of clear water ran by the side of--which laid for years--a
+large stone, concerning which the following story is told: Once on a
+time, a lovely blue-eyed girl, whose father was a substantial yeoman
+in the neighbourhood, was wooed and won by the subtle arts of an
+opulent owner of the Manor House of Buckland.
+
+In the silence of the evening this lane was their accustomed walk, the
+scene of her devoted love and of his deceitful vows. Here he swore
+eternal fidelity, and the unsuspecting girl trusted him with the
+confiding affection of her innocent heart. It was at such a moment
+that the wily seducer communicated to her the real nature of his
+designs, the moon above being only the witness of his perfidy and her
+distress. She heard the avowal in tremulous silence, but her deadly
+paleness, and her expressive look of mingled reproach and terror
+created alarm even in the mind of her would-be seducer, and he hastily
+endeavoured to recall the fatal declaration; but it was too late, she
+sprang from his agitated grasp, and, with a sigh of agony, fell dead
+at his feet.
+
+When he beheld the work of his iniquitous designs, he was seized with
+distraction, and drawing a dagger from his bosom, he plunged it into
+his own false heart, and lay stretched by the side of her he had so
+basely wronged. On the morrow, as a peasant passed over the little
+stream, he saw a dark stone with drops of blood trickling from its
+heart into the pure limpid water. From that day the stream retained
+its untainted purity, and the stone continued its sacrifice of blood.
+
+Soon afterwards a terrific object was seen hovering at midnight about
+this fatal spot, taking its position at first upon the "bleeding
+stone," but it was ousted by the lord of the manor, who removed the
+blood-tainted stone to his own premises, to satisfy the timid minds of
+his neighbours. But the stone still continued to bleed, nor did its
+removal in any way intimidate the spectre. Connected with this
+alarming midnight visitor, writes a correspondent of _The Gentleman's
+Magazine_, "I remember a circumstance related to me by those who were
+actually acquainted with the facts, and with the person to whom they
+refer. An inhabitant of Buckland, who had attended Reigate Market and
+become exceedingly intoxicated, was joked by a companion upon the
+subject of the 'Buckland Shag,' whereupon he laid a wager that if Shag
+appeared in his path that night he would fight him with his trusty
+hawthorn. Accordingly he set forth, and arrived at the haunted spot.
+The spectre stood in his path, and, raising his stick, he struck it
+with all his strength, but it made no impression, nor did the goblin
+move. The stick fell as upon a blanket--so the man described it--and
+he instantly became sober, while a cold tremor ran through every nerve
+of his athletic frame.
+
+He hurried on, and the spectre followed. At length he arrived at his
+own door; then, and not till then, did the spectre vanish, leaving the
+affrighted man in a state of complete exhaustion upon the threshold of
+his cottage. He was carried to his bed, and from that bed he never
+rose again; he died in a week."
+
+Similarly, there is a romantic old legend connected with Kilburn
+Priory, to the effect that there was formerly, not far distant, a
+stone of dark red colour, which was said to be the stain of the blood
+of St. Gervase de Mertoun. The story goes that Stephen de Mertoun,
+being enamoured of his brother's wife, made immoral overtures to her,
+which she threatened to make known to Sir Gervase, to prevent which
+disclosure Stephen resolved to waylay his brother and slay him. By a
+strange coincidence, the identical stone on which his murdered body
+had expired formed a part of his tomb, and the eye of the murderer
+resting upon it, adds the legend, blood was seen to issue from it.
+Struck with horror at this sight, Stephen de Mertoun hastened to the
+Bishop of London, and making confession of his guilt, demised his
+property to the Priory of Kilburn.
+
+In the same way the Cornishman knows, from the red, filmy growth on
+the brook pebbles, that blood has been shed--a popular belief still
+firmly credited. Some years ago a Cornish gentleman was cruelly
+murdered, and his body thrown into a brook; but ever since that day
+the stones in this brook are said to be spotted with gore--a
+phenomenon which had never occurred previously. And, according to
+another strange Cornish belief told of St. Denis's blood, it is
+related that at the very time when his decapitation took place in
+Paris, blood fell on the churchyard of St. Denis. It is further said
+that these blood stains are specially visible when a calamity of any
+kind is near at hand; and before the breaking out of the plague, it is
+said the stains of the blood of St. Denis were seen; and, "during our
+wars with the Dutch, the defeat of the English fleet was foretold by
+the rain of gore in this remote and sequestered place."
+
+It is also a common notion that not only are the stains of human blood
+wrongfully shed ineffaceable, but a curse lights upon the ground,
+causing it to remain barren for ever. There is, for instance, a
+dark-looking piece of ground devoid of verdure in the parish of
+Kirdford, Sussex. Local tradition says that this was formerly green,
+but the grass withered gradually away soon after the blood of a
+poacher, who was shot there, trickled down on the place. But perhaps
+the most romantic tale of this kind was that known as the "Field of
+Forty Footsteps." A legendary story of the period of the Duke of
+Monmouth's Rebellion describes a mortal conflict which took place
+between two brothers in Long Fields, afterwards called Southampton
+Fields, in the rear of Montague House, Bloomsbury, on account of a
+lady who sat by. The combatants fought so furiously as to kill each
+other, after which their footsteps, imprinted on the ground in the
+vengeful struggle, were reported "to remain, with the indentations
+produced by their advancing and receding; nor would any grass or
+vegetation grow afterwards over these forty footsteps." The most
+commonly received version of the story is, that two brothers were in
+love with the same lady, who would not declare a preference for
+either, but coolly sat upon a bank to witness the termination of a
+duel which proved fatal to both. Southey records this strange story in
+his "Commonplace Book,"[29] and after quoting a letter from a friend,
+recommending him to "take a view of those wonderful marks of the
+Lord's hatred to duelling, called 'The Brothers' Steps,'" he thus
+describes his own visit to the spot: "We sought for near half an hour
+in vain. We could find no steps at all within a quarter of a mile, no,
+nor half a mile, of Montague House. We were almost out of hope, when
+an honest man, who was at work, directed us to the next ground
+adjoining to a pond. There we found what we sought, about
+three-quarters of a mile north of Montague House and five hundred
+yards east of Tottenham Court Road. The steps are of the size of a
+large human foot, about three inches deep, and lie nearly from
+north-east to south-west. We counted only twenty-six; but we were not
+exact in counting. The place where one or both the brothers are
+supposed to have fallen is still bare of grass. The labourer also
+showed us the bank where, the tradition is, the wretched woman sat to
+see the combat." Miss Porter and her sister founded upon this tragic
+romance their story, "Coming Out, or the Field of Forty Footsteps";
+and at Tottenham Street Theatre was produced, many years ago, an
+effective melodrama based upon the same incident, entitled "The Field
+of Footsteps."
+
+Another romantic tale of a similar nature is connected with Montgomery
+Church walls, and is locally designated "The Legend of the Robber's
+Grave," of which there are several versions, the most popular one
+being this: Once upon a time, a man was said to have been wrongfully
+hanged at Montgomery; and, when the rope was round his neck, he
+declared in proof of his innocence that grass would never grow on his
+grave. Curious to relate, be the cause what it may, there is yet to be
+seen a strip of sterility--in the form of a cross--amidst a mass of
+verdure.[30]
+
+Likewise, the peasantry still talk mysteriously of Lord Derwentwater's
+execution, and tell how his blood could not be washed away. Deep and
+lasting were the horror and grief which were felt when the news of his
+death reached his home in the north. The inhabitants of the
+neighbourhood, it is said, saw the coming vengeance of heaven in the
+Aurora Borealis which appeared in unwonted brilliancy on the evening
+of the execution, and which is still known as "Lord Derwentwater's
+Light" in the northern counties; the rushing Devil's Water, too, they
+said, ran down with blood on that terrible night, and the very corn
+which was ground on that day came tinged from the mill with crimson.
+Lord Derwentwater's death, too, was all the more deplored on account
+of his having long been undecided as to whether he should embrace the
+enterprise against the House of Hanover. But there had long been a
+tradition in his family that a mysterious and unearthly visitant
+appeared to the head of the house in critical emergencies, either to
+warn of danger, or to announce impending calamity. One evening, a few
+days before he resolved to cast in his lot with the Stuarts, whilst he
+was wandering amid the solitudes of the hills, a figure stood before
+him in robe and hood of grey.
+
+This personage is said to have sadly reproached the Earl for not
+having already joined the rising, and to have presented him with a
+crucifix which was to render him secure against bullet or sword
+thrust. After communicating this message the figure vanished, leaving
+the Earl in a state of bewilderment. The mysterious apparition is
+reported to have spoken with the voice of a woman, and as it is known
+that "in the more critical conjunctures of the history of the Stuarts
+every device was practised by secret agents to gain the support of a
+wavering follower," it is not difficult to guess at a probable
+explanation of the ghost of the Dilston Groves. It may be added that
+at Dilston, Lady Derwentwater was long said to revisit the pale
+glimpses of the moon to expiate the restless ambition which impelled
+her to drive Lord Derwentwater to the scaffold.
+
+But how diverse have been the causes of many of these romantic blood
+stains may be gathered from another legendary tale connected with
+Plaish Hall, near Cardington, Shropshire. The report goes that a party
+of clergymen met together one night at Plaish Hall to play cards. In
+order that the real object of their gathering might not be known to
+any but themselves, the doors were locked. Before very long, however,
+they flew open without any apparent cause. Again they were locked, but
+presently they burst open a second time, and even a third. Astonished
+at what seemed to baffle explanation, and whilst mutually wondering
+what it could mean, a panic was suddenly created when, in their midst,
+there appeared a mysterious figure resembling the Evil One. In a
+moment the invited guests all rose and fled, leaving the unfortunate
+host by himself "face to face with the enemy."
+
+What happened after their departure was never divulged, for no one
+"ever saw that wretched man again, either alive or dead." That he had
+died some violent death was generally surmised, for a great stain of
+blood shaped like a human form was found on the floor of the room, and
+despite all efforts the mark could never be washed out. Ever since
+this inexplicable occurrence, the house has been haunted, and at
+midnight a ghostly troop of horses are occasionally heard, creating so
+much noise as to awaken even heavy sleepers.
+
+And Aubrey in his "Miscellanies" tells how when the bust of Charles
+I., carved by Bernini, "was brought in a boat upon the Thames, a
+strange bird--the like whereof the bargemen had never seen--dropped a
+drop of blood, or blood-like, upon it, which left a stain not to be
+wiped off." The strange story of this ill-fated bust is more minutely
+told by Dr. Zacharay Grey in a pamphlet on the character of Charles
+I.: "Vandyke having drawn the king in three different faces--a
+profile, three-quarters, and a full face--the picture was sent to Rome
+for Bernini to make a bust from it. Bernini was unaccountably dilatory
+in the work, and upon this being complained of, he said that he had
+set about it several times, but there was something so unfortunate in
+the features of the face that he was shocked every time that he
+examined it, and forced to leave off the work, and, if there was any
+stress to be laid on physiognomy, he was sure the person whom the
+picture represented was destined to a violent end."
+
+The bust was at last finished and sent to England. As soon as the ship
+that brought it arrived in the river, the king, who was very impatient
+to see the bust, ordered it to be carried immediately to Chelsea. It
+was conveyed thither, and placed upon a table in the garden, whither
+the king went with a train of nobility to inspect the bust. As they
+were viewing it, a hawk flew over their heads with a partridge in his
+claws, which he had wounded to death. Some of the partridge's blood
+fell upon the neck of the bust, where it remained without being wiped
+off. This bust was placed over the door of the king's closet at
+Whitehall and continued there till the palace was destroyed by fire.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[25] D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature."
+
+[26] See Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Folklore," 135-136.
+
+[27] "Book of Days," I., 235.
+
+[28] This tradition is the basis of the drama called "The Yorkshire
+Tragedy," and was adopted by Ainsworth in his "Romance of Rookwood."
+
+[29] 2nd Ser., p. 21.
+
+[30] A curious legend is related by Roger de Hoveden, which shows the
+antiquity of the Wakefield mills. "In the year 1201, Eustace, Abbot of
+Flaye, came over into England, preaching the duty of extending the
+Sabbath from three o'clock p.m. on Saturday to sunrising on Monday
+morning, pleading the authority of an epistle written by Christ
+himself, and found on the altar of St. Simon at Golgotha. The people of
+Yorkshire treated the fanatic with contempt, and the miller of
+Wakefield persisted in grinding his corn after the hour of cessation,
+for which disobedience his corn was turned into blood, while the
+mill-wheel stood immovable against all the water of the Calder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CURIOUS SECRETS.
+
+    "And now I will unclasp a secret book,
+    And to your quick-conceiving discontent
+    I'll read your matter deep and dangerous."
+               1. HENRY IV., Act 1., sc. 3.
+
+
+"The Depository of the Secrets of all the World" was the inscription
+over one of the brazen portals of Fakreddin's valley, reminding us of
+what Ossian said to Oscar, when he resigned to him the command of the
+morrow's battle, "Be thine the secret hill to-night," referring to the
+Gaelic custom of the commander of an army retiring to a secret hill
+the night before a battle to hold communion with the ghosts of
+departed heroes. But, as it has been often remarked of secrets--both
+political and social--they are only too frequently made to be
+revealed, a truth illustrative of Ben Jonson's words in "The Case is
+Unaltered "--
+
+                      A secret in his mouth
+    Is like a wild bird put into a cage,
+    Whose door no sooner opens but 'tis out.
+
+In family history, some of the strangest secrets have related to
+concealment of birth, many a fraud having been devised to alter or
+perpetuate the line of issue. Early in the present century, a romantic
+story which was the subject of conversation in the circles both of
+London and Paris, related to Lady Newborough, who had always
+considered herself the daughter of Lorenzo Chiappini, formerly gaoler
+of Modigliana, and subsequently constable at Florence, and of his wife
+Vincenzia Diligenti. Possessed in her girlhood of fascinating
+appearance and charming manners, she came out as a ballet dancer at
+the principal opera at Florence, and one night she so impressed Lord
+Newborough that, by means of a golden bribe, he had her transferred
+from the stage to his residence. His conduct towards her was tender
+and affectionate, and, in spite of the disparity of years, he
+afterwards married her, introducing her to the London world as Lady
+Newborough.
+
+Some time after her marriage, according to a memoir stated to be
+written by the fair claimant of the House of Orleans, and printed in
+Paris before the Revolution of 1830 but immediately suppressed, when
+staying at Sienna she received a posthumous letter from her supposed
+father, which, from its extraordinary disclosures, threw her into
+complete bewilderment.[31] It ran as follows:
+
+  MY LADY,--I have at length reached the term of my days without
+  having revealed to anyone a secret which directly concerns me and
+  yourself. The secret is this:
+
+  On the day when you were born, of a person whom I cannot name and
+  who now is in the other world, a male child of mine was also
+  born. I was requested to make an exchange; and, considering the
+  state of my finances in those days, I accepted to the
+  often-repeated and advantageous proposals, and at that time I
+  adopted you as my daughter in the same manner as my son was
+  adopted by the other party.
+
+  I observe that heaven has repaired my faults by placing you in
+  better circumstances than your father, although his rank was
+  somewhat similar. This enables me to end my days with some
+  comfort.
+
+  Let this serve to extenuate my culpability towards you. I entreat
+  your pardon for my fault. I desire you, if you please, to keep
+  this transaction secret, in order that the world shall not have
+  any opportunity to speak of an affair which is now without
+  remedy.
+
+   This, my letter, you will not receive until after my death.
+
+          LORENZO CHIAPPINI.
+
+After receiving this letter, Lady Newborough sent for Ringrezzi, the
+confessor of the late gaoler, and Fabroni, a confessor of the late
+Countess Borghi, and was told by the former that, in his opinion, she
+was the daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold; but the latter disagreed,
+saying, "Myladi is the daughter of a French lord called Count
+Joinville, who had considerable property in Champagne; and I entertain
+no doubt that if your ladyship were to go to that province you would
+there find valuable documents, which I have been told were there left
+in the hands of a respectable ecclesiastic."
+
+It is further stated that two old sisters of the name of Bandini, who
+had been born and educated in the house of the Borghis, and been
+during all their life in the service of that family, informed Lady
+Newborough, and afterwards in the Ecclesiastical Court of Faenza, that
+in the year 1773 they followed their master and mistress to
+Modigliana, where the latter usually had their summer residence in a
+chateau belonging to them; that, arriving there, they found a French
+count, Louis Joinville, and his countess, established in the Pretorial
+Palace. They further affirmed that between the Borghis and this family
+a very intimate intercourse was soon established and that they daily
+interchanged visits.
+
+Furthermore, the foreign lord, it is said, was extremely familiar with
+persons of the lowest rank, and particularly with the gaoler,
+Chiappini, who lived under the same roof. The wives of both were
+pregnant; and it appeared that they expected their delivery much about
+the same time. But the Count was tormented with a grievous anxiety;
+his wife had as yet had no male offspring, and he much feared that
+they would never be blessed with any. Having communicated his project
+to the Borghis, he at length made an overture to the gaoler, telling
+him he apprehended the loss of a very great inheritance, which
+absolutely depended on the birth of a son, and that he was disposed,
+in case the Countess gave birth to a daughter, to exchange her for a
+boy, and that for this exchange he would liberally recompense the
+father. The man, highly pleased at finding his fortune thus
+unexpectedly made, immediately accepted the offer, and the bargain
+was concluded.
+
+Immediately after the accouchment of the ladies, one of the Bandinis
+went to the Pretorial Palace to see the new-born babies, when some
+women in the house told her that the exchange had already taken place;
+and Chappiani himself being present, confirmed their statement. But as
+there were several persons in the secret--however solemnly secrecy had
+been promised--public rumour soon accused the barterers. The Count
+Louis, fearing the people's indignation, concealed himself in the
+Convent of St. Bernard, at Brisighella.
+
+The lady, it is added, departed with her suppositious son; her own
+daughter being baptized and called Maria Stella Petronilla, and
+designated as the daughter of Lorenzo Chappiani and Vincenzia
+Diligenti.
+
+Having learnt so much, Lady Newborough being in Paris in the year
+1823, had recourse to a stratagem by which she expected to gain
+additional information. Accordingly she inserted in the newspapers,
+"that she had been desired by the Countess Pompeo Borghi to discover
+in France a Count Louis Joinville, who in the year 1773 was with his
+Countess at Modigliana, where the latter gave birth to a son on the
+16th April, and that if either of these persons were still alive, or
+the child born at Modigliana, she was empowered to communicate to them
+something of the highest importance.
+
+Subsequently to this advertisement, she was waited upon by a Colonel
+Joinville, but he derived his title only from Louis XVIII. But before
+the Colonel was out of the door, she had a call from the Abbé de
+Saint-Fare, whom she gave to understand that she was anxious to
+discover the identity of a birth connected with the sojourn with the
+late Comte de Joinville. In the course of conversation, this Abbé is
+stated to have made most injudicious admissions, from which Lady
+Newborough gathered that he was the confidential agent of the Duke of
+Orleans, being currently said to be his illegitimate brother.
+
+Lady Newborough was now convinced in her own mind that she was the
+eldest child of the late Duke of Orleans, and hence was the first
+princess of the blood of France, and the rightful heiress of immense
+wealth. But this discovery brought her no happiness, and subjected to
+her to much discomfort and misery. Her story--whether true or
+false--will in all probability remain a mystery to the end of time,
+being one of those political puzzles which must remain an open
+question.
+
+Secret intrigue, however, at one time or another, has devised the most
+subtle plans for supplanting the rightful owner out of his
+birthright--a second wife through jealously entering into some
+shameful compact to defraud her husband's child by his former wife of
+his property in favour of her own. Such a secret conspiracy is
+connected with Draycot, and, although it has been said to be one of
+the most mysterious in the whole range of English legends, yet,
+singular as the story may be, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "no small
+portion of it is upon record as a thing not to be questioned; and it
+is not necessary to believe in supernatural agency to give all parties
+credit for having faithfully narrated their impressions." The main
+facts of this strange story are briefly told: Walter Long of Draycot
+had two wives, the second being Catherine, daughter of Sir John
+Thynne, of Longleat. On their arrival at Draycot after the honeymoon,
+there were great rejoicings into which all entered save the heir of
+the houses of Draycot and Wraxhall, who was silent and sad. Once
+arrived in her new home, the mistress of Draycot lost no time in
+studying the character of her step-son, for she had an object in view
+which made it necessary that she should completely understand his
+character. Her design was, in short, that the young master of Draycot,
+"the heir of all his father's property--the obstruction in the way of
+whatever children there might be by the second marriage--must be
+ruined, or at any rate so disgraced as to provoke his father to
+disinherit him." Taking into her confidence her brother, Sir Egremont
+Thynne, of Longleat, with his help she soon discovered that the
+youthful heir of Draycot was fond of wine and dice, and that he had on
+more than one occasion met with his father's displeasure for
+indulgence in such acts of dissipation. Having learnt, too, that the
+young man was kept on short supplies by his parsimonious father, and
+had often complained that he was not allowed sufficient pocket-money
+for the bare expenses of his daily life; the crafty step-mother seized
+this opportunity for carrying out her treacherous and dishonourable
+conduct. Commiserating with the inexperienced youth in his want of
+money, and making him feel more than ever dissatisfied at his father's
+meanness to him, she quickly enlisted him on her side, especially when
+she gave him liberal supplies of money, and recommended him to enjoy
+his life whilst it was in his power to do so.
+
+With a full rather than an empty purse, the young squire was soon seen
+with a cheerful party over the wine bottle, and, at another time, with
+a gambling group gathered round the dice box. But this kind of thing
+suited admirably his step-mother, for she took good care that such
+excesses were brought under the notice of the lad's father, and
+magnified into heinous crimes. From time to time this unprincipled
+woman kept supplying the unsuspecting youth with money, and did all in
+her power to encourage him in his tastes for reckless living. Fresh
+stories of his son's dissipated conduct were continually being told to
+the master of Draycot, until at last, "influenced by the wiles of his
+charming wife, on the other by deeper wiles of his brother-in-law, he
+agreed to make out a will disinheriting his son by his first wife, and
+settling all his possessions on his second wife and her relations."
+
+Hitherto, the secret entered into by brother and sister had been a
+perfect success, for not only was the son completely alienated from
+his father, but the latter deemed it a sin to make any provision for
+one who was given to drink and gambling. A draft will was drawn up by
+Sir Egremont Thynne, and when approved of was ordered to be copied by
+a clerk. But here comes the remarkable part of the tale. The work of
+engrossing demands a clear, bright light, and the slightest shadow
+intervening between the light and the parchment would be sure to
+interrupt operations. Such an interruption the clerk was suddenly?
+subjected to, when, "on looking up he beheld a white hand--a lady's
+delicate white hand--so placed between the light and the deed as to
+obscure the spot on which he was engaged. The unaccountable hand,
+however, was gone almost as soon as noticed." The clerk concluding
+that this was some optical delusion, proceeded with his work, and had
+come to the clause wherein the Master of Draycot disinherited his son,
+when again the same ghostly hand was thrust between the light and the
+parchment.
+
+Terrified at this unearthly intervention, the clerk awoke Sir Egremont
+from his midnight slumbers, and told him what had occurred, adding
+that the spectre hand was no other than that of the first wife of the
+master of Draycot, who resented the cruel wrong done to her son. In
+due time the deed was engrossed by another clerk, and duly signed and
+sealed.
+
+But the "white hand" had not appeared in vain, for the clerk's curious
+adventure afterwards became the topic of general conversation, and the
+injustice done to the disinherited heir of Draycot excited so much
+sympathetic indignation that "the trustees of the late Lady Long
+arrested the old knight's corpse at the church door, her nearest
+relations commenced a suit against the intended heir, and the result
+was a compromise between the parties, John Long taking possession of
+Wroxhall, while his other half-brother was allowed to retain Draycot,"
+a settlement that, it is said, explains the division of the two
+estates, which we find at the present day. The secret between the
+brother and sister was well kept, and whatever explanation may be
+given to the "white hand," the story is as singular as any in the
+annals of domestic history.
+
+It was the betrayal of a secret, on the other hand, on the part of a
+woman that is traditionally said to have caused the sudden and tragic
+death of Richard, second Earl of Scarborough. This nobleman, it seems,
+was in the confidence of the King, and had been entrusted by him with
+the keeping of a most important secret. But, like most favourites, the
+Earl was surrounded by enemies who were ever on the alert to compass
+his ruin, and, amidst other devices, they laid their plans to prevail
+on the unsuspecting Earl to betray the confidence which the King had
+implicitly reposed on him. Finding it, however, impossible by this
+means to make him guilty of a breach of trust towards the King, they
+had recourse to another scheme which proved successful, and thereby
+irrevocably compromised him in the King's eyes.
+
+Having discovered that the Earl was in love with a certain lady and
+was in the habit of frequently visiting her, some of his enemies
+discovered where she lived, and, calling on her, promised an exceeding
+rich reward if she could draw the royal secret from her lover, and
+communicate it to them. Easily bought over by the offer of so rich a
+bribe, the treacherous woman, like Delilah of old, soon prevailed upon
+the Earl to give her the desired information, and the secret was
+revealed. As soon as the Earl's enemies were apprised of the same,
+they lost no time in hurrying to the king, and submitting to him the
+proofs of his protégé's imprudence. They gained their end, for the
+next time the Earl came into the royal presence, the King said to him
+in a sad but firm voice, "Lumley, you have lost a friend, and I a good
+servant." This was a bitter shock to the Earl, for he learnt now for
+the first time that she in whom he had reposed his love and faith had
+been his worst enemy, and that, as far as his relations to the King
+were concerned, he was disgraced as a man of honour in his estimation.
+With his proud and haughty spirit, unable to bear the misery and
+chagrin of his fall and ruin, he had recourse to the suicide's escape
+from trouble--he shot himself.
+
+But another secret, no less tragic and of a far more sensational
+nature, related to a certain Mr. Macfarlane. One Sunday, in the autumn
+of the year 1719, Sir John Swinton, of Swinton, in Berwickshire, left
+his little daughter Margaret, who had been indisposed through a
+childish ailment, at home when he went with the rest of his family to
+church, taking care to lock the outer door. After the lapse of an hour
+or so, the child had become dull through being alone, and she made her
+way into the parlour below stairs, where, on her arrival, she hastily
+bolted the door to keep out any ghost or bogie, stories relating to
+which had oftentimes excited her fears. But great was her terror when,
+on looking round, she was confronted by a tall lady, gracefully
+attired, and possessed of remarkable handsome features. The poor child
+stood motionless with terror, afraid to go forwards or backwards. Her
+throbbing heart, however, quickly recovered from its fright, as the
+mysterious lady, with a kind eye and sweet smile, addressed her by
+name, and taking her hand, spoke:
+
+"Margaret, you may tell your mother what you have seen, but, for your
+life, to no one else. If you do, much evil may come of it, some of
+which will fall on yourself. You are young, but you must promise to
+be silent as the grave itself in this matter."
+
+Full of childish wonderment, Margaret, half in shyness and half in
+fear at being an agent in so strange a secret, turned her head towards
+the window, but on turning round found the lady had disappeared,
+although the door remained bolted. Her curiosity was now more than
+before aroused, and she concluded that after all this lady must be one
+of those fairies she had often read of in books; and it was whilst
+pondering on what she had seen that the family returned from church.
+
+Surprised at finding Margaret bolted in this parlour, Sir John learnt
+that "she had been frightened, she knew not why, at the solitude of
+her own room, and had bolted herself in the parlour." Although she was
+soon laughed out of her childish fears, Lady Swinton was quick enough
+to perceive that Margaret had not communicated everything, and
+insisted upon knowing the whole truth. The child made no objection, as
+she had not been told to keep the secret from her mother. After
+describing all that happened, Lady Swinton kissed her daughter
+tenderly and said, "Since you have kept the secret so well, you shall
+know something more of this strange lady."
+
+Thereupon Lady Swinton pushed aside one of the oaken panels in the
+parlour, which revealed a small room beyond, where sat the mysterious
+lady. "And now, Margaret dear," said her mother, "listen to me. This
+lady is persecuted by cruel men, who, if they find her, will certainly
+take her life. She is my guest, she is now yours, and I am sure I need
+not tell you the meanest peasant in all Scotland would shame to betray
+his guest."
+
+Margaret promised to keep the secret, never evincing the slightest
+curiosity to know who the lady was, and it is said she had reached her
+twentieth year when one day the adventure of her childhood was
+explained. It seems that the lady in question was a Mrs. Macfarlane,
+daughter of Colonel Charles Straiton, a zealous Jacobite. When about
+nineteen years old she married John Macfarlane--law agent of Simon
+Fraser, Lord Lovat--who was many years her senior. Soon after her
+marriage Mrs. Macfarlane made the acquaintance of Captain John Cayley,
+a commissioner of Customs, and on September 29th, 1716, he called on
+her at Edinburgh, when, for reasons only known to herself or him, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.
+
+According to Sir Bernard Burke, it was when she would not yield to
+Captain Cayley's immoral overtures that the latter vowed to blacken
+her character, a threat which he so successfully carried out "that not
+one of her female acquaintances upon whom she called would admit her;
+not one of all she met in the street would acknowledge her." Desperate
+at this villainy on his part, Mrs. Macfarlane, under pretence of
+agreeing to Captain Cayley's overtures, sent for him, when fully
+confident that he was about to reap the fruit of his infamous daring
+he obeyed her summons. But no sooner had he entered the room than she
+locked the door, and, snatching up a brace of pistols, she exclaimed:
+"Wretch, you have blasted the reputation of a woman who never did you
+the slightest wrong. You have fixed an indelible stain upon the child
+at her bosom; and all this because, coward as you are, you thought
+there was no one to take her part." At the same time, it is said, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.
+Her husband asserted, however, that she fired to save herself from
+outrage, an explanation which she affirmed was "only too true." Her
+husband also declared that his wife was desirous of sending for a
+magistrate and of telling him the whole story, but that he advised her
+against it. But not appearing to stand her trial in the ensuing
+February, she was outlawed, and obtained refuge in the mansion house
+of the Swinton family in the concealed apartment already
+described.[32] According to Sir Walter Scott, she "returned and lived
+and died in Edinbugh"; but her life must have been comparatively
+short, as her husband married again on October 6th, 1719.
+
+Akin to this dramatic episode may be mentioned one concerning Robert
+Perceval, the second son of the Right Hon. Sir John Perceval, when
+reading for the law in his chambers in Lincoln's Inn. The clock had
+just struck the hour of midnight, when, on looking up from his book,
+he was astonished to see a figure standing between himself and the
+door, completely muffled up in a long cloak so as to defy recognition.
+
+"Who are you?" But the figure made no answer.
+
+"What do you want?" No reply.
+
+The figure stood motionless. Thinking it made a low hollow laugh, the
+young student struck at the intruder with his sword, but the weapon
+met with no resistance, and not a single drop of blood stained it.
+
+This was amazing, and still no answer. Determined to solve the mystery
+of this strange being, he cast aside its cloak, when lo! "he saw his
+own apparition, bloody and ghostly, whereat he was so astonished that
+he immediately swooned away, but, recovering, he saw the spectre
+depart."
+
+At first this occurrence left the most unpleasant impressions on his
+mind, but as days passed by without anything happening, the warning,
+or whatever it was, faded gradually from his memory, and he lived as
+before, drinking and quarrelling, managing to embroil himself at play
+with the celebrated Beau Fielding. The day at last came, however,
+when his equanimity was disturbed, for, as he was walking from his
+chambers in Lincoln's Inn to a favourite tavern in the Strand, he
+imagined that he was followed by an ungainly looking man. He tried to
+avoid him, but the man followed on, and after a time, fully convinced
+that he was dogged by this man, he demanded "Who he was, and why he
+followed him?"
+
+[Illustration: THE FIGURE STOOD MOTIONLESS.]
+
+But the man replied, "I am not following you; I'm following my own
+business."
+
+By no means satisfied, young Perceval crossed over to the opposite
+side of the street, but the man followed him step by step, and before
+many minutes had elapsed he was joined by another man as
+ungainly-looking as himself. Perceval, no longer doubting that he was
+followed, called upon the two men to retire at their peril, and
+although he succeeded in making them take to their heels after a sharp
+sword skirmish, he was himself wounded in the leg, and made his way to
+the nearest tavern. This unpleasant encounter, reviving the memory of
+the ghastly figure he had seen in his chambers, made him feel that he
+was a doomed man, and he was not far wrong, for that night near the
+so-called May-pole in the Strand he was found dead--but how he died
+was a secret never divulged.
+
+Another equally strange incident connected with this mysterious crime
+happened to a Mrs. Brown, "perhaps from her holding some situation in
+the family of his uncle, Sir Robert." On this fatal night, writes Sir
+Bernard Burke, she dreamt that one Mrs. Shearman--the housekeeper--came
+to her and asked for a sheet.
+
+She demanded, "for what purpose," to which Mrs. Shearman replied,
+"Poor Master Robert is killed, and it is to wind him in."
+
+Curious to say, in the morning Mrs. Shearman came at an early hour
+into her room, and asked for a sheet. For what purpose? inquired Mrs
+Brown.
+
+"Poor Mr. Robert is murdered," was the reply; "he lies dead in the
+Strand watch-house, and it is to wind his body in."
+
+In the year 1848, the Warwick magistrates investigated a most
+extraordinary and preposterous charge of murder against Lord Leigh,
+his deceased mother, and persons employed by them, in the course of
+which inquiry one of the accusers professed to have been in possession
+of a secret connected with the matter for a number of years. The
+accusation seems to have originated from the attempt of certain
+parties to seize Stoneleigh Abbey on pretence that it rightfully
+belonged to them, and not to Lord Leigh. In November, 1844, a mob took
+possession of the place for one George Leigh; several of the
+ringleaders were tried for the offence, and not fewer than
+twenty-eight were convicted. The account of this curious conspiracy,
+as given in the "Annual Register," goes on to say that Richard Barnett
+made the charge of murder: in 1814 he was employed under Lady Julia
+Leigh and her son at the Abbey, where a number of workmen were engaged
+in making alterations; four of these men were murdered by large stones
+having been allowed to fall on them, and their bodies were placed
+within an abutment of a bridge, and then inclosed with masonry.
+Another man was shot by Hay, a keeper. In cross-examination, the
+witness said he "had kept silence on these atrocities for thirty
+years, because he feared Lord Leigh, and because he did not expect to
+obtain anything by speaking. He first divulged the secret to those who
+were trying to seize the estate; as this information he thought would
+help them to get it, for the murders were committed to keep out the
+proper owners."
+
+In the course of the inquiry, John Wilcox was required to repeat
+evidence which he had given before a Master of Chancery; but, instead
+of doing so, the man confessed that he was not sober when he made the
+declaration. He further declared how some servants of the Leigh family
+had burned pictures, and had been paid to keep "the secrets of the
+house." The whole story, however, was a deliberate and wilful
+fabrication, the facts were contradicted and circumstantially refuted,
+and of course so worthless a charge was dismissed by the Bench.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] See "Annual Register" (1832), 152-5.
+
+[32] This incident suggested to Sir Walter Scott his description of the
+concealment and discovery of the Countess of Derby in "Peveril of the
+Peak." See "Dictionary of National Biography," xxxv., 74.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE DEAD HAND.
+
+    Open, lock,
+    To the dead man's knock!
+    Fly, bolt, and bar, and band;
+      Nor move, nor swerve,
+      Joint, muscle, or nerve,
+    At the spell of the dead man's hand.
+               INGOLDSBY LEGENDS.
+
+
+One of the most curious and widespread instances of deception and
+credulity is the magic potency which has long been supposed to reside
+in the so-called "Hand of Glory"--the withered hand of a dead man.
+Numerous stories are told of its marvellous properties as a charm, and
+on the Continent many a wonderful cure is said to have been wrought by
+its agency. Southey, it may be remembered, in his "Thalaba, the
+Destroyer," has placed it in the hands of the enchanter, King Mohareb,
+when he would lull to sleep Zohak, the giant keeper of the Caves of
+Babylon. And the history of this wonder-working talisman, as used by
+Mohareb, is thus graphically told:
+
+                            Thus he said,
+    And from his wallet drew a human hand,
+    Shrivelled and dry and black.
+    And fitting, as he spake,
+    A taper in his hold,
+    Pursued: "A murderer on the stake had died.
+    I drove the vulture from his limbs and lopt
+    The hand that did the murder, and drew up
+    The tendon strings to close its grasp,
+    And in the sun and wind
+    Parched it, nine weeks exposed."
+
+From the many accounts given of this "Dead Hand," we gather that it
+has generally been considered necessary that the hand should be taken
+from a man who has been put to death for some crime. Then, when dried
+and prepared with certain weird unguents, it is ready for use. Sir
+Walter Scott, in the "Antiquary" has introduced this object of
+superstition, making the German adventurer, Dousterswivel, describe it
+to the assembled party among the ruins at St. Ruth's thus jocosely:
+"De Hand of Glory is very well known in de countries where your worthy
+progenitors did live; and it is a hand cut off from a dead man as he
+has been hanged for murder, and dried very nice in de smoke of juniper
+wood; then you do take something of de fatsh of de bear, and of de
+badger, and of de great eber (as you do call ye grand boar), and of de
+little sucking child as has not been christened (for dat is very
+essential), and you do make a candle, and put into de Hand of Glory at
+de proper hour and minute, with the proper ceremonials; and he who
+seeketh for treasures shall never find none at all."
+
+Possessed of these mystic qualities, such a hand could not fail to
+find favour with those engaged in any kind of evil and enterprise;
+and, on account of its lulling to sleep all persons within the circle
+of its influence, was of course held invaluable by thieves and
+burglars. Thus the case is recorded of some thieves, who, a few years
+ago, attempted to commit a robbery on a certain estate in the county
+Meath. To quote a contemporary account of the affair, it appears that
+"they entered the house armed with a dead man's hand, with a lighted
+candle in it, believing in the superstitious notion that a candle
+placed in a dead man's hand will not be seen by any but by those by
+whom it is used, and also that if a candle in a dead hand be
+introduced into a house, it will prevent those who may be asleep from
+awaking. The inmates, however, were alarmed, and the robbers fled,
+leaving the hand behind them." Another story communicated by the Rev.
+S. Baring-Gould, tells how two thieves, having come to lodge in a
+public-house, with a view to robbing it, asked permission to pass the
+night by the fire, and obtained it. But when the house was quiet the
+servant girl, suspecting mischief, crept downstairs, and looked
+through the keyhole. She saw the men open a sack, and take out a dry
+withered hand. They anointed the fingers with some unguents, and
+lighted them. Each finger flamed, but the thumb they could not
+light--that was because one of the household was not asleep.
+
+The girl hastened to her master, but found it impossible to arouse
+him--she tried every other sleeper, but could not break the charmed
+sleep. At last stealing down into the kitchen, while the thieves were
+busy over her master's strong-box, she secured the hand, blew out the
+flames, and at once the whole house was aroused.
+
+Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead
+man's hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be
+mentioned the famous "dead hand," which was, in years past, kept at
+Bryn Hall, Lancashire. There are several stories relating to this
+gruesome relic, one being that it was the hand of Father Arrowsmith, a
+priest, who, according to some accounts, is said to have been put to
+death for his religion in the time of William III. It is recorded that
+when about to suffer he desired his spiritual attendant to cut off his
+right hand, which should ever after have power to work miraculous
+cures on those who had faith to believe in its efficacy. This relic,
+which forms the subject of one of Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire,"
+was preserved with great care in a white silk bag, and was resorted to
+by many diseased persons, who are reported to have derived wonderful
+cures from its application. Thus the case is related of a woman who,
+attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every
+night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was
+touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.
+
+It has been denied, however, that Father Arrowsmith was hanged for
+"witnessing a good confession," and Mr. Roby, in his "Traditions of
+Lancashire," says that, having been found guilty of a rape, in all
+probability this story of his martyrdom, and of the miraculous
+attestation to the truth of the cause for which he suffered, were
+contrived for the purpose of preventing the scandal that would have
+come upon the Church through the delinquency of an unworthy member. It
+is further said that one of the family of the Kenyons attended as
+under-sheriff at the execution, and that he refused the culprit some
+trifling favour at the gallows, whereupon Arrowsmith denounced a curse
+upon him, to wit, that, whilst the family could boast of an heir, so
+long they never should want a cripple--a prediction which was supposed
+by the credulous to have been literally fulfilled. But this story is
+discredited, the real facts of the case, no doubt, being that he was
+hanged "under sanction of an atrocious law, for no other reason but
+because he had taken orders as a Roman Catholic priest, and had
+endeavoured to prevail upon others to be of his own faith." According
+to another version of the story, Edmund Arrowsmith was a native of
+Haydock, in the parish of Winwick. He entered the Roman Catholic
+College of Douay, where he was educated, afterwards being ordained
+priest. But in the year 1628 he was apprehended and brought to
+Lancaster on the charge of being a priest contrary to the laws of the
+realm, and was executed on 26th August, 1628, his last words being
+"Bone Jesu."[33] As recently as the year 1736, a boy of twelve years,
+the son of Caryl Hawarden, of Appleton-within-Widnes, county of
+Lancaster, is stated to have been cured of what appeared to be a fatal
+malady by the application of Father Arrowsmith's hand, which was
+effected in the following manner: The boy had been ill fifteen months,
+and was at length deprived of the use of his limbs, with loss of his
+memory and impaired sight. In this condition, which the physicians had
+declared hopeless, it was suggested to his parents that, as wonderful
+cures had been effected by the hand of "the martyred saint," it was
+advisable to try its effects upon their afflicted child. The "holy
+hand" was accordingly procured from Bryn, packed in a box and wrapped
+in linen. Mrs. Hawarden, having explained to the invalid boy her hopes
+and intentions, applied the back part of the dead hand to his back,
+stroking it down each side the backbone and making the sign of the
+Cross, which she accompanied with a fervent prayer that Jesus Christ
+would aid it with His blessing. Having twice repeated this operation,
+the patient, who had before been utterly helpless, rose from his seat
+and walked about the house, to the surprise of seven persons who had
+witnessed the miracle. From that day the boy's pains left him, his
+memory was restored, and his health became re-established. This mystic
+hand, it seems, was removed from Bryn Hall to Garswood, a seat of the
+Gerard family, and subsequently to the priest's house at
+Ashton-in-Makerfield. But many ludicrous tales are current in the
+neighbourhood, of pilgrims having been rather roughly handled by some
+of the servants, such as getting a good beating with a wooden hand, so
+that the patients rapidly retraced their steps without having had the
+application of the "holy hand."
+
+It is curious to find that such a ghastly relic as a dead hand should
+have been preserved in many a country house, and used as a talisman,
+to which we find an amusing and laughable reference in the "Ingoldsby
+Legends":
+
+                       Open, lock,
+    To the dead man's knock!
+    Fly bolt, and bar, and band;
+        Nor move, nor swerve,
+        Joint, muscle, or nerve,
+    At the spell of the dead man's hand.
+    Sleep, all who sleep! Wake, all who wake!
+    But be as dead for the dead man's sake.
+
+The story goes on to tell how, influenced by the mysterious spell of
+the enchanted hand, neither lock, bolt, nor bar avails, neither
+"stout oak panel, thick studded with nails"; but, heavy and harsh, the
+hinges creak, though they had been oiled in the course of the week,
+and
+
+    The door opens wide as wide may be,
+        And there they stand,
+        That wondrous band,
+        Lit by the light of the glorious hand,
+    By one! by two! by three!
+
+At Danesfield, Berkshire--so-called from an ancient horseshoe
+entrenchment of great extent near the house, supposed to be of Danish
+origin--is preserved a withered hand, which has long had the
+reputation of being that presented by Henry I. to Reading Abbey, and
+reverenced there as the hand of James the Apostle. It answers exactly
+to "the incorrupt hand" described by Hoveden, and was found among the
+ruins of the abbey, where it is thought to have been secreted at the
+dissolution.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[33] Baines's "Lancashire," iii., 638; Harland and Wilkinson's
+"Lancashire Folklore," 158-163.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEVIL COMPACTS.
+
+ MEPHISTOPHELES.--I will bind myself to your service here,
+ and never sleep nor slumber at your call. When we meet
+ on the other side, you shall do as much for me.
+               GOETHE'S "_Faust_."
+
+
+The well-known story of Faust reminds us of the many similar weird
+tales which have long held a prominent place in family traditions. But
+in the majority of cases the devil is cheated out of his bargain by
+some spell against which his influence is powerless. According to the
+popular notion, compacts are frequently made with the devil, by which
+he is bound to complete, for instance, a building--as a house, a
+church, a bridge, or the like--within a certain period; but, through
+some artifice, by which the soul of the person for whom he is doing
+the work is saved, the completion of the undertaking is prevented:
+Thus the cock is made to crow, because, like all spirits that shun the
+light of the sun, the devil loses his power at break of day. The idea
+of bartering the soul for temporary gain has not been confined to any
+country, but as an article of terrible superstition has been
+widespread. Mr Lecky has pointed out how, in the fourteenth century,
+"the bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently represent men kneeling down
+before the devil, and devoting themselves to him as his servants." In
+our own country, such compacts were generally made at midnight in some
+lonely churchyard, or amid the ruins of some castle. But fortunately
+for mankind, by resorting to spells and counterspells the binding
+effects of these "devil-bonds" as they have been termed were, in most
+cases, rendered ineffectual, the devil thereby losing the advantage.
+
+It is noteworthy that the wisdom of the serpent is frequently
+outwitted by a crafty woman, or a cunning priest. A well-known
+Lancashire tradition gives a humorous account of how the devil was on
+one occasion deluded by the shrewdness of a clever woman. Barely three
+miles from Clitheroe, on the high road to Gisburne, stood a public
+house with this title, "The Dule upo' Dun," which means "The Devil
+upon Dun" (horse). The story runs that a poor tailor sold himself to
+Satan for seven years on his granting him certain wishes, after which
+term, according to the contract, signed, as is customary, with the
+victim's own blood, his soul was to become "the devil's own." When the
+fatal day arrived, on the advice of his wife, he consulted "the holy
+father of Salley" in his extremity. At last the hour came when the
+Evil One claimed his victim, who tremblingly contended that the
+contract was won from him by fraud and dishonest pretences, and had
+not been fulfilled. He even ventured to hint at his lack of power to
+bestow riches, or any great gift, on which Satan was goaded into
+granting him another wish. "Then," said the trembling tailor, "I wish
+thou wert riding back again to thy quarters on yonder dun horse, and
+never able to plague me again, or any other poor wretch whom thou has
+gotten into thy clutches!"
+
+The words were no sooner uttered than the devil, with a roar which was
+heard as far as Colne, went away rivetted to the back of this dun
+horse, the tailor watching his departure almost beside himself for
+joy. He lived for many years in health and affluence, and, at his
+death, one of his relatives having bought the house where he resided,
+turned it into an inn, having for his sign, "The Dule upo' Dun." On it
+was depicted "Old Hornie" mounted on a scraggy dun horse, without
+saddle or bridle, "the terrified steed being off and away at full
+gallop from the door, while a small hilarious tailor with shears and
+measures," viewed his departure with anything but grief or
+disapprobation.[34] The authors of "Lancashire Legends," describing
+this old house, inform us that it was "one of those ancient gabled
+black and white edifices, now fast disappearing under the march of
+improvement. Many windows of little lozenge-shaped panes set in lead,
+might be seen here in all the various stages of renovation and decay.
+Over the door, till lately, swung the old and quaint sign, attesting
+the truth of the tradition."
+
+Occasionally similar bargains have been rendered ineffectual by
+cunning device. In the north wall of the church of Tremeirchion, North
+Wales, has long been shown the tomb of a former vicar, who was also
+celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing in the middle of the
+fourteenth century. It is reported that he proved himself more clever
+than the Wicked One himself. A bargain was made between them that the
+vicar should practise the black art with impunity during his life, but
+that the devil should possess his body after death, whether he were
+buried within or without the church. But the worthy vicar dexterously
+cheated his ally of his bargain by being buried within the church wall
+itself. A similar tradition is told of other localities, and amongst
+them of Barn Hall, in the parish of Tolleshunt Knights, on the border
+of the Essex marshes. In the middle of a field is shown an enclosed
+uncultivated spot, where, the legend says, it was originally intended
+to erect the hall, had not the devil come by night and destroyed the
+work of the day. This kind of thing went on for some time, when it was
+arranged that a knight, attended by two dogs, should watch for the
+author of this mischief. He had not long to wait, for, in the quiet of
+the night, the Prince of Darkness made his appearance, bent on his
+mischievous errand. A tussle ensued, in the course of which,
+snatching up a beam from the building, he hurled it to the site of the
+present hall, exclaiming:
+
+    "Wheresoe'er this beam shall fall,
+    There shall stand Barn Hall."
+
+But the devil, very angry at being thus foiled by the knight, vowed
+that he would have him at his death, whether he was buried in the
+church or out of it. "But this doom was averted by burying him in the
+wall--half in and half out of the church. At Brent Pelham Church,
+Herts, too, there is the tomb of one Piers Shonkes, and there is a
+tale current in the neighbourhood that the devil swore he would have
+him, no matter whether buried within or without the church. So, as a
+means of escape, he was built up in the wall of the sacred edifice."
+
+Another extraordinary story has long been told of Hermitage Castle,
+one of the most famous of the Border Keeps in the days of its
+splendour. It is not surprising, therefore, that for many years past
+it has had the reputation of being haunted, having been described
+as:--
+
+                              "Haunted Hermitage,
+    Where long by spells mysterious bound,
+        They pace their round with lifeless smile,
+        And shake with restless foot the guilty pile,
+    Till sink the smouldering towers beneath the burdened ground."
+
+It is popularly said that Lord Soulis, "the evil hero of Hermitage,"
+in an unguarded moment made a compact with the devil, who appeared to
+him in the shape of a spirit wearing a red cap, which gained its hue
+from the blood of human victims in which it was steeped. Lord Soulis
+sold himself to the demon, and in return he was permitted to summon
+his familiar, whenever he was desirous of doing so, by rapping thrice
+on an iron chest, the condition being that he never looked in the
+direction of the spirit. But one day, whether wittingly or not has
+never been ascertained, he failed to comply with this stipulation, and
+his doom was sealed. But even then the foul fiend kept the letter of
+the compact. Lord Soulis was protected by an unholy charm against any
+injury from rope or steel; hence cords could not bind him, and steel
+could not slay him. But when at last he was delivered over to his
+enemies, it was found necessary to adopt the ingenious and effective
+expedient of rolling him up in a sheet of lead, and boiling him to
+death, and so:
+
+    On a circle of stones they placed the pot,
+      On a circle of stones but barely nine;
+    They heated it red and fiery hot
+      And the burnished brass did glimmer and shine.
+    They rolled him up in a sheet of lead--
+      A sheet of lead for a funeral pall;
+    They plunged him into the cauldron red
+      And melted him, body, lead, bones and all.
+
+This was the terrible end of the body of Lord Soulis, but his spirit
+is supposed to still linger on the scene. And once every seven years
+he keeps tryst with Red Cap on the scene of his former devilries.
+
+    And still when seven years are o'er
+     Is heard the jarring sound
+    When hollow opes the charmèd door
+     Of chamber underground.
+
+A tradition well-known in Yorkshire relates how on the Eagle's Crag,
+otherwise nicknamed the "Witches' Horseblock," the Lady of Bernshaw
+Tower made that strange compact with the devil, whereby she not only
+became mistress of the country around, but the dreaded queen of the
+Lancashire witches. It seems that this Lady Sybil was possessed of
+almost unrivalled beauty, and scarcely a day passed without some fresh
+admirer seeking her hand--an additional attraction being her great
+wealth. Her intellectual attainments, too, were commonly said to be
+far beyond those of her sex, and oftentimes she would visit the
+Eagle's Crag in order to study nature and admire the varied aspects of
+the surrounding country.
+
+[Illustration: LADY SYBIL AT THE EAGLES' CRAG.]
+
+It was on these occasions that Lady Sybil often felt a strong desire
+to possess supernatural powers; and, in an unwary moment, it is said
+that she was induced to sell her soul to the devil, in order that she
+might be able to take a part in the nightly revelries of the then
+famous Lancashire witches. It is added that the bond was duly attested
+with her blood, and that in consequence of this compact her utmost
+wishes were at all times granted. Hapton Tower was, at this time,
+occupied by a junior branch of the Towneley family, and, although Lord
+William had long been a suitor for the hand of Lady Sybil, his
+proposals were constantly rejected. In his despair, he determined to
+consult a famous Lancashire witch--one Mother Helston--who promised
+him success on the ensuing All Hallows' Eve. When the day arrived, in
+accordance with her directions, he went out hunting, and on nearing
+Eagle's Crag he started a milk-white doe, but, after scouring the
+country for miles--the hounds being well-nigh exhausted--he returned
+to the Crag. At this crisis, a strange hound joined them--the familiar
+of Mother Helston, which had been sent to capture Lady Sibyl, who had
+assumed the disguise of the white doe. The remainder of the curious
+family legend, as told by Mr. Harland, is briefly this: During the
+night, Hapton Tower was shaken as by an earthquake, and in the morning
+the captured doe appeared as the fair heiress of Bernshaw. Counter
+spells were adopted, her powers of witchcraft were suspended, and
+before many days had passed Lord William had the happiness to lead his
+newly-wedded bride to his ancestral home. But within a year she had
+renewed her diabolical practices, causing a serious breach between her
+husband and herself. Happily a reconciliation was eventually effected,
+but her bodily strength gave way, and her health rapidly declined.
+When it became evident that the hour of her death was drawing near,
+Lord William obtained the services of the neighbouring clergy, and by
+their holy offices the devil's bond was cancelled. Soon afterwards,
+Lady Sybil died in peace, but Bernshaw Tower was from that time
+deserted. Popular tradition, however, still alleges that her grave was
+dug where the dark Eagle's Crag shoots out its cold, bare peak into
+the sky, and on the eve of All Hallows, the hound and the milk-white
+doe are supposed by the peasantry to meet on the Crag, pursued by a
+spectre huntsman in full chase. It is further added that the belated
+peasant crosses himself at the sound, remembering the sad fate of Lady
+Sybil of Bernshaw Tower.
+
+It is curious to find no less a person than Sir Francis Drake charged
+with having been befriended by the devil; and the many marvellous
+stories current respecting him still linger among the Devonshire
+peasantry. By the aid of the devil, it is said, he was enabled to
+destroy the Spanish Armada. And his connection with the old Abbey of
+Buckland is equally singular. An extensive building attached to the
+abbey, for instance, which was no doubt used as barns and stables
+after the place had been deprived of its religious character, was
+reported to have been built by the devil in three nights. "After the
+first night," writes Mr. Hunt,[35] "the butler, astonished at the work
+done, resolved to watch and see how it was performed. Consequently,
+on the second night, he mounted into a large tree and hid himself
+between the forks of its five branches. At midnight, so the story
+goes, the devil came, driving teams of oxen, and, as some of them were
+lazy, he plucked this tree from the ground and used it as a goad. The
+poor butler lost his senses and never recovered them." Although, as it
+has been truly remarked, "on the waters that wash the shores of the
+county of Devon were achieved many of those triumphs which make Sir
+Francis Drake's life read more like a romance than a sober chronicle
+of facts;" the extraordinary traditions told respecting him have
+largely invested his life with the supernatural. But, whatever may
+have been the nature of his dealings with the devil, we are told that
+he has had to pay dearly for any earthly advantages he may have
+derived therefrom in his lifetime, "being forced to drive at night a
+black hearse, drawn by headless horses, and urged on by running devils
+and yelping headless dogs, along the road from Tavistock to Plymouth."
+
+Among the many tales related, in which the demoniacal element holds a
+prominent place, there is one relating to the projected marriage of
+his wife. It seems that Sir Francis was abroad, and his wife, not
+hearing from him for seven years, concluded he must be dead, and hence
+was at liberty to enter for a second time the holy estate of
+matrimony. Her choice was made and the nuptial day fixed; but Sir
+Francis Drake was informed of all this by a spirit that attended him.
+And just as the wedding was about to be solemnised, he hastily charged
+one of his big guns and discharged a ball. So true was the aim that
+"the ball shot up right through the globe, dashed through the roof of
+the church, and fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her
+intended bridegroom." The spectators and assembled guests were thrown
+into the wildest confusion; but the bride declared it was an
+indication that Sir Francis Drake was still alive, and, as she refused
+to allow another golden circlet to be placed on her finger, the
+intended ceremony was, in the most abrupt and unexpected manner,
+ended. The prettiest part of the tale remains to be told. Not long
+afterwards Sir Francis Drake returned, and, disguised as a beggar, he
+solicited alms from his wife at her own door; when, unable to prevent
+smiling in the midst of a feigned tale of abject poverty, she
+recognised him, and a very joyful meeting took place.
+
+And even Buckland Abbey did not escape certain strange influences.
+Some years ago, a small box was found in a closet which had been long
+closed, containing, it is supposed, family papers. It was arranged
+that this box should be sent to the residence of the inheritor of the
+property. The carriage was at the abbey door, into which it was easily
+lifted. The owner having taken his seat, the coachman attempted to
+start his horses, but in vain. They would not, they could not, move.
+More horses were brought and then the heavy farm horses, and
+eventually all the oxen. They were powerless to start the carriage. At
+length a mysterious voice was heard declaring that the box could never
+be moved from Buckland Abbey. Accordingly it was taken from the
+carriage easily by one man, and a pair of horses galloped off with the
+carriage.
+
+The famous Jewish banker, Samuel Bernard, who died in the year 1789,
+leaving an enormous property, had, it is said, "a favourite black cock
+which was regarded by many as uncanny, and as unpleasantly connected
+with the amassing of his fortune." The bird died a day or two before
+his master. It would seem that in bygone years black cocks were
+extensively used in magical incantations and in sacrifices to the
+devil, and Burns, it may be remembered, in his "Address to the Deil"
+says, "Some cock or cat your rage must stop;" and a well-known French
+recipe for invoking the Evil One runs thus: "Take a black cock under
+your left arm, and go at midnight to where four cross roads meet. Then
+cry three times 'Poul Noir!' or else utter 'Robert' nine times, and
+the devil will appear."
+
+Among the romantic stories told of Kersal Hall, Lancashire, it is
+related how Eustace Dauntesey, one of its chiefs in days of old, wooed
+a maiden fair with a handsome fortune; but she gave her heart to a
+rival suitor. The wedding day was fixed, but the prospect of her
+marriage was a terrible trouble to Eustace, and threatened to mar the
+happiness of his life. Having, however, in his youth perfected
+himself in the black art, he drew a magic circle, at the witching hour
+of night, and summoned the Evil One to a consultation. The meeting
+came off, at which the usual bargain was quickly struck, the soul of
+Eustace being bartered for the coveted body of the beautiful young
+lady. The compact, it was arranged, should close at her death, but the
+Evil One was to remain meanwhile by the side of Dauntesey in the form
+of an elegant "self," or genteel companion. In due course the eventful
+day arrived when Eustace stood before the altar. But the marriage
+ceremony was no sooner over than, on leaving the sacred edifice, the
+elements were found to be the reverse of favourable to them. The
+flowers strewed before their feet stuck to their wet shoes, and
+soaking rain cast a highly depressing influence on all the bridal
+surroundings; and, on arriving at the festive hall where the marriage
+feast was to be held, the ill-fortune of Eustace assumed another
+shape. Strange to say, his bride began to melt away before his very
+eyes, and, thoroughly familiar as he was with the laws of magic, here
+was a new phase of mystery which was completely beyond his
+comprehension. In short, poor Eustace was the wretched victim of a
+complete swindle, for while, on the one hand, something is recorded
+about "a holy prayer, a sunny beam, and an angel train bearing the
+fair maiden slowly to a fleecy cloud, in whose bosom she became lost
+to earth," Dauntesey, on the other hand, awakened to consciousness by
+a touch from his sinister companion, saw a huge yawning gulf at his
+feet, and felt himself gradually sinking in a direction exactly the
+opposite of that taken by his bride, who, in the short space of an
+hour, was lost to him for ever.
+
+But one of the most curious cases of this kind was that recorded in an
+old tractate[36] published in 1662, giving an account attested by "six
+of the sufficientest men of the town," of what happened to a certain
+John Leech, a farmer living at Raveley. Being desirous of visiting
+Whittlesea fair, he went beforehand with a neighbour to an inn for the
+purpose of drinking "his morninges draught." Whilst the two were
+enjoying their "morninges draught," Mr. Leech began to be "very
+merry," and, seeing his friend was desirous of going, he exclaimed,
+"Let the devil take him who goeth out of this house to-day." But in
+his merriment he forgot his rash observation, and shortly afterwards,
+calling for his horse, set out for the fair. He had not travelled far
+on the road when he remembered what he had said, "his conscience being
+sore troubled at that damnable oath which he had took." Not knowing
+what to do, he rode about, first one way and then another, until
+darkness set in, and at about two o'clock in the night "he espied two
+grim creatures before him in the likeness of griffins." These were
+the devil's messengers, who had been sent to take him at his word, and
+take him they did, according to the testimony of the "six
+sufficientist men of the town." They roughly handled him, took him up
+in the air, stripped him, and then dropped him, "a sad spectacle, all
+bloody and goared," in a farmyard just outside the town of Doddington.
+
+Here he was discovered, lying upon some harrows, in the condition
+described. He was picked up, and carried to a gentleman's house,
+where, being well cared for, he narrated the remarkable adventure
+which had befallen him. Before long, however, he "grew into a frenzy
+so desperate that they were afraid to stay in his chamber," and the
+gentleman of the house, not knowing what to do, "sent for the parson
+of the town." Prompted, it is supposed, by the Satanic influence which
+still held him, Mr. Leech rushed at the minister, and attacked him
+with so much fury that it was "like to have cost him his life." But
+the noise being heard below, the servants rushed up, rescued the
+parson, and tied Mr. Leech down in his bed, and left him. The next
+morning, hearing nothing, they thought he was asleep, but on entering
+his room "he was discovered with his neck broke, his tongue out of his
+mouth, and his body as black as a shoe, all swelled, and every bone in
+his body out of joint."[37]
+
+We may conclude these extraordinary cases of "devil-bonds" with two
+further strange incidents, one an apparent record of a case of a
+similar kind, which was practised, amidst the frivolities and plotting
+of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than Catharine de
+Medicis. In the "Secret History of France for the Last Century,"[38]
+this incredible story is given: "In the first Civil War, when the
+Prince of Conde was, in all appearance, likely to prevail, and
+Katherine was thought to be very near the end of her much desired
+Regency, during the young king's minority, she was known to have been
+for two days together retired to her closet, without admitting her
+menial servants to her presence." Some few days after, having called
+for Monsieur de Mesme, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her
+interest, she delivered him a steel box, fast locked, to whom she
+said, giving him the key: 'That in respect she knew not what might
+come to her by fortune, amidst those intestine broils that then shook
+France, she had thought fit to enclose a thing of great value within
+that box, which she consigned to his care, not to open it upon oath,
+but by an express order under her own hand.' The queen dying without
+ever calling for the box, it continued many years unopened in the
+family of De Mesme, after both their deaths, till, at last, curiosity,
+or the suspicion of some treasure, from the heaviness of it, tempted
+Monsieur de Mesme's successor to break it open, which he did. Instead
+of any rich present from so great a queen, what horror must the
+lookers on have when they found a copper plate of the form and bigness
+of one of the ancient Roman Votive Shields, on which was engraved
+Queen Katherine de Medicis on her knees, in a praying posture,
+offering up to the devil sitting upon a throne, in one of the ugliest
+shapes they used to paint him, Charles the IXth, then reigning, the
+Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III., and the Duke of Alanson, her
+three sons, with this motto in French, "So be it, I but reign."
+
+And in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Hatfield, near the Isle of
+Axholme, Yorkshire, the following ridiculous story is given: "Robert
+de Roderham appeared against John de Ithon, for that he had not kept
+the agreement made between them, and therefore complains that on a
+certain day and year, at Thorne, there was an agreement between the
+aforesaid Robert and John, whereby the said John sold to the said
+Robert the Devil, bound in a certain bond, for threepence farthing,
+and thereupon, the said Robert delivered to the said John one farthing
+as earnest money, by which the property of the said devil, was vested
+in the person of the said Robert, to have livery of the said devil on
+the fourth day next following, at which day the said Robert came to
+the forenamed John and asked delivery of the said devil, according to
+the agreement between them made. But the said John refused to deliver
+the said devil, nor has he yet done it, &c., to the great damage of
+the said Robert, to the amount of 60gs, and he has, therefore, brought
+his suit.
+
+"The said John came, and did not deny the said agreement; and because
+it appeared to the Court that such a suit ought not to subsist among
+Christians, the aforesaid parties are, therefore, adjourned to the
+infernal regions, there to hear their judgment, and both parties were
+amerced by William de Scargell, Seneschall."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Legends," 15-16.
+
+[35] "Romances of the West of England."
+
+[36] "A Strange and True Relation of one Mr. John Leech," 1662.
+
+[37] "Saunders' Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire," 1878, 1-3.
+
+[38] London, printed for A. Bell, 1714.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FAMILY DEATH OMENS.
+
+    "Say not 'tis vain! I tell thee, some
+      Are warned by a meteor's light,
+    Or a pale bird flitting calls them home,
+      Or a voice on the winds by night--
+    And they must go. And he too, he,
+    Woe for the fall of the glorious tree."
+               --MRS. HEMANS.
+
+
+A curious chapter in the history of many of our old county families is
+that relating to certain forewarnings, which, from time immemorial,
+have been supposed to indicate the approach of death. However
+incredible the existence of these may seem, their appearance is still
+intimately associated with certain houses, instances of which have
+been recorded from time to time. Thus Cuckfield Place, Sussex, is not
+only interesting as a fine Elizabethan mansion, but as having
+suggested to Ainsworth the "Rookwood Hall" of his striking romance.
+"The supernatural occurrence," he says, "forming the groundwork of one
+of the ballads which I have made the harbinger of doom to the house of
+Rookwood, is ascribed, by popular superstition, to a family resident
+in Sussex, upon whose estate the fatal tree--a gigantic lime, with
+mighty arms and huge girth of trunk--is still carefully preserved." In
+the avenue that winds towards the house the doom-tree still stands:--
+
+    "And whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,
+      By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed;
+    A verdant bough, untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath,
+      To Rookwood's head, an omen dread of fast approaching death."
+
+"Cuckfield Place," adds Ainsworth, "to which this singular piece of
+timber is attached, is the real Rookwood Hall, for I have not drawn
+upon imagination, but upon memory, in describing the seat and domains
+of that fated family." A similar tradition is associated with the
+Edgewell Oak, which is said to indicate the coming death of an inmate
+of Castle Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches; and Camden in
+his "Magna Britannia," alluding to the antiquity of the Brereton
+family, relates this peculiar fact which is reported to have been
+repeated many times: "This wonderful thing respecting them is commonly
+believed, and I have heard it myself affirmed by many, that for some
+days before the death of the heir of the family the trunk of a tree
+has always been seen floating in the lake adjoining their mansion;" a
+popular superstition to which Mrs. Hemans refers in the lines which
+head the present chapter. A further instance of a similar kind is
+given by Sir Bernard Burke, who informs us that opposite the
+dining-room at Gordon Castle is a large and massive willow tree, the
+history of which is somewhat singular. Duke Alexander, when four years
+old, planted this willow in a tub filled with earth. The tub floated
+about in a marshy-piece of land, till the shrub, expanding, burst its
+cerements, and struck root in the earth below; here it grew and
+prospered till it attained its present goodly size. It is said the
+Duke regarded the tree with a sort of fatherly and even superstitious
+regard, half-believing there was some mysterious affinity between its
+fortune and his own. If an accident happened to the one by storm or
+lightning, some misfortune was not long in befalling the other.
+
+It has been noted, also, that the same thing is related of the brave
+but unfortunate Admiral Kempenfeldt, who went down in the Royal George
+off Portsmouth. During his proprietary of Lady Place, he and his
+brother planted two thorn trees. But one day, on coming home, the
+brother noted that the tree planted by the Admiral had completely
+withered away. Astonished at this unexpected sight, he felt some
+apprehensions as to Admiral Kempenfeldt's safety, and exclaimed with
+some emotion, "I feel sure that this is an omen that my brother is
+dead." By a striking coincidence, his worst fears were realised, for
+on that evening came the terrible news of the loss of the Royal
+George.
+
+Whenever any member of the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, in the
+county of Dumfries was about to die--either by accident or disease--a
+swan that was never seen but on such occasions, was sure to make its
+appearance upon the lake which surrounded Closeburn Castle, coming no
+one knew whence, and passing away as mysteriously when the predicted
+death had taken place, in connection with which the following singular
+legend has been handed down: In days gone by, the lake of Closeburn
+Castle was the favourite resort during the summer season of a pair of
+swans, their arrival always being welcome to the family at the castle
+from a long established belief that they were ominous of good fortune
+to the Kirkpatricks. "No matter," it is said, "what mischance might
+have before impended, it was sure to cease at their coming, and so
+suddenly, as well as constantly, that it required no very ardent
+superstition to connect the two events into cause and effect."
+
+But a century and a half had passed away, when it happened that the
+young heir of Closeburn Castle--a lad of not quite thirteen years of
+age--in one of his visits to Edinburgh attended at the theatre a
+performance of "The Merchant of Venice," in the course of which he was
+surprised to hear Portia say of Bassanio that he should
+
+        "Make a swan-like end,
+    Fading in music."
+
+Often wondering whether swans really sang before dying he determined,
+at the first opportunity, to test the truth of these words for
+himself. On his return home, he was one day walking by the lake when
+the swans came sailing majestically towards him, and at once reminded
+of Portia's remark. Without a moment's thought, he lodged in the
+breast of the foremost one a bolt from his crossbow, killing it
+instantly. Frightened at what he had done, he made up his mind it
+should not be known; and, as the water drifted the dead body of the
+bird towards the shore, he buried it deep in the ground.
+
+No small surprise, however, was occasioned in the neighbourhood, when,
+for several years, no swans made their annual appearance, the idea at
+last being that they must have died in their native home, wherever
+that might chance to be. The yearly visit of the swans of Closeburn
+had become a thing of the past, when one day much excitement was
+caused by the return of a single swan, and much more so when a deep
+blood-red stain was observed upon its breast. As might be expected,
+this unlooked-for occurrence occasioned grave suspicions even amongst
+those who had no great faith in omens; and that such fears were not
+groundless was soon abundantly clear, for in less than a week the lord
+of Closeburn Castle died suddenly. Thereupon the swan vanished, and
+was seen no more for some years, when it again appeared to announce
+the loss of one of the house by shipwreck.
+
+The last recorded appearance of the bird was at the third nuptials of
+Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the first baronet of that name. On the
+wedding-day, his son Roger was walking by the lake, when, on a sudden,
+as if it had emerged from the waters, the swan appeared with the
+bleeding breast. Roger had heard of this mysterious swan, and,
+although his father's wedding bells were ringing merrily, he himself
+returned to the castle a sorrowful man, for he felt convinced that
+some evil was hanging over him. Despite his father's jest at what he
+considered groundless superstition on his part, the young man could
+not shake off his fears, replying to his father, "Perhaps before long
+you also may be sorrowful." On the night of that very day the son
+died, and here ends the strange story of the swans of Closeburn.[39]
+
+Similarly, whenever two owls are seen perched on the family mansion of
+the noble family of Arundel of Wardour, it has long been regarded as a
+certain indication that one of its members before very long will be
+summoned out of the world; and the appearance of a white-breasted bird
+was the death-warning of the Oxenham family, particulars relating to
+the tragic origin of which are to be found in a local ballad, which
+commences thus[40]:
+
+    Where lofty hills in grandeur meet,
+      And Taw meandering flows,
+    There is a sylvan, calm retreat,
+      Where erst a mansion rose.
+
+    There dwelt Sir James of Oxenham,
+      A brave and generous lord;
+    Benighted travellers never came
+      Unwelcome to his board.
+
+    In early life his wife had died;
+      A son he ne'er had known;
+    And Margaret, his age's pride,
+      Was heir to him alone.
+
+In course of time, Margaret became affianced to a young knight, and
+their wedding-day was fixed. On the evening preceding it, her father,
+in accordance with custom, gave a banquet to his friends, in order
+that they might congratulate him on the approaching happy union. He
+stood up to thank them for their kind wishes, and in alluding to the
+young knight--in a few hours time to be his daughter's husband--he
+jestingly called him his son:--
+
+    But while the dear unpractised word
+      Still lingered on his tongue,
+    He saw a silvery breasted bird
+      Fly o'er the festive throng.
+
+    Swift as the lightning's flashes fleet,
+      And lose their brilliant light,
+    Sir James sank back upon his seat
+      Pale and entranced with fright.
+
+With some difficulty he managed to conceal the cause of his
+embarrassment, but on the following day the priest had scarcely begun
+the marriage service,
+
+    When Margaret with terrific screams
+      Made all with horror start.
+    Good heavens! her blood in torrents streams,
+      A dagger in her heart.
+
+The deed had been done by a discarded lover, who, by the aid of a
+clever disguise, had managed to station himself just behind her:--
+
+    "Now marry me, proud maid," he cried,
+      "Thy blood with mine shall wed";
+    He dashed the dagger in his side,
+      And at her feet fell dead.
+
+And this pathetic ballad concludes by telling us how
+
+    Poor Margaret, too, grows cold with death,
+      And round her hovering flies
+    The phantom bird for her last breath,
+      To bear it to the skies.
+
+Equally strange is the omen with which the ancient baronet's family of
+Clifton, of Clifton Hall, in Nottinghamshire, is forewarned when death
+is about to visit one of its members. It appears that in this case the
+omen takes the shape of a sturgeon, which is seen forcing itself up
+the river Trent, on whose bank the mansion of the Clifton family is
+situated. And, it may be remembered, how in the park of Chartley, near
+Lichfield, there has long been preserved the breed of the indigenous
+Staffordshire cow, of white sand colour, with black ears, muzzle, and
+tips at the hoofs. In the year of the battle of Burton Bridge a black
+calf was born; and the downfall of the great house of Ferrers
+happening at the same period, gave rise to the tradition, which to
+this day has been current in the neighbourhood, that the birth of a
+parti-coloured calf from the wild breed in Chartley Park is a sure
+omen of death within the same year to a member of the family.
+
+By a noticeable coincidence, a calf of this description has been born
+whenever a death has happened in the family of late years. The decease
+of the Earl and his Countess, of his son Lord Tamworth, of his
+daughter Mrs. William Joliffe, as well as the deaths of the son and
+heir of the eighth Earl and his daughter Lady Frances Shirley, were
+each preceded by the ominous birth of a calf. In the spring of the
+year 1835, an animal perfectly black, was calved by one of this
+mysterious tribe in the park of Chartley, and it was soon followed by
+the death of the Countess.[41] The park of Chartley, where this weird
+announcement of one of the family's death has oftentimes caused so
+much alarm, is a wild romantic spot, and was in days of old attached
+to the Royal Forest of Needwood and the Honour of Tutbury--of the
+whole of which the ancient family of Ferrers were the puissant lords.
+Their immense possessions, now forming part of the Duchy of Lancaster,
+were forfeited by the attainder of Earl Ferrers after his defeat at
+Burton Bridge, where he led the rebellious Barons against Henry III.
+The Chartley estate, being settled in dower, was alone reserved, and
+has been handed down to its present possessor. Of Chartley Castle
+itself--which appears to have been in ruins for many years--many
+interesting historical facts are recorded. Thus it is said Queen
+Elizabeth visited her favourite, the Earl of Essex, here in August,
+1575, and was entertained by him in a half-timbered house which
+formerly stood near the Castle, but was long since destroyed by fire.
+It is questionable whether Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in this
+house, or in a portion of the old Castle. Certain, however, it is that
+the unfortunate queen was brought to Chartley from Tutbury on
+Christmas day, 1585. The exact date at which she left Chartley is
+uncertain, but it appears she was removed thence under a plea of
+taking the air without the bounds of the Castle. She was then
+conducted by daily stages from the house of one gentleman to another,
+under pretence of doing her honour, without her having the slightest
+idea of her destination, until she found herself on the 20th of
+September, within the fatal walls of Fotheringhay Castle.
+
+Cortachy Castle, the seat of the Earl of Airlie, has for many years
+past been famous for its mysterious drummer, for whenever the sound of
+his drum is heard it is regarded as the sure indication of the
+approaching death of a member of the Ogilvie family. There is a tragic
+origin given to this curious phenomenon, the story generally told
+being to the effect that either the drummer, or some officer whose
+emissary he was, had excited the jealousy of a former Lord Airlie, and
+that he was in consequence of this occurrence put to death by being
+thrust into his own drum, and flung from the window of the tower, in
+which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly
+heard. It is also said that the drummer threatened to haunt the family
+if his life were taken, a promise which he has not forgotten to
+fulfil.
+
+Then there is the well-known tradition that prior to the death of any
+of the lords of Roslin, Roslin Chapel appears to be on fire, a weird
+occurrence which forms the subject of Harold's song in the "Lay of the
+Last Ministrel."
+
+    O'er Roslin all that dreary night
+      A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
+    'Twas broader than the watch-fire light
+      And redder than the bright moonbeam.
+
+    It glared on Roslin's castled rock,
+      It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
+    'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
+      And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
+      Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie;
+    Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
+      Sheathed in his iron panoply.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire, within, around,
+      Deep sacristy and altar's pale
+    Shone every pillar, foliage-bound,
+      And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
+
+    Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
+      Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair;
+    So still they blaze when Fate is nigh
+      The lordly line of Hugh St. Clair.
+
+But, although the last "Roslin," as he was called, died in the year
+1778, and the estates passed into the possession of the Erskines,
+Earls of Rosslyn, the old tradition has not been extinguished.
+Something of the same kind is described as having happened to the old
+Cornish family of the Vingoes on their estate of Treville, for
+"through all time a peculiar token has marked the coming death of one
+of the family. Above the deep caverns in the Treville Cliff rises a
+carn. On this chains of fire were seen ascending and descending, and
+oftentimes were accompanied by loud and frightful noises. But it is
+reported that these tokens have not taken place since the last male of
+the family came to a violent end. According to Mr. Hunt,[42]
+"tradition tells us this estate was given to an old family who came
+with the Conqueror to this country. This ancestor is said to have been
+the Duke of Normandy's wine taster, and to have belonged to the
+ancient Counts of Treville, hence the name of the estate. For many
+generations the family has been declining, and the race is now
+nearly, if not quite, extinct.
+
+In some cases, families have been apprised of an approaching death by
+some strange spectre, either male or female, a remarkable instance of
+which occurs in the MS. memoirs of Lady Fanshaw, and is to this
+effect: "Her husband, Sir Richard, and she, chanced, during their
+abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, who resided in his ancient
+baronial castle surrounded with a moat. At midnight she was awakened
+by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and, looking out of bed, beheld
+by the moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at the
+window. The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but
+pale; and the hair, which was reddish, was loose and dishevelled. This
+apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and then
+vanished with two shrieks, similar to that which had at first excited
+Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, with infinite terror, she
+communicated to her host what had happened, and found him prepared not
+only to credit, but to account for, what had happened.
+
+"A near relation of mine," said he, "expired last night in the castle.
+Before such an event happens in this family and castle, the female
+spectre whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed to be
+the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors
+degraded himself by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the
+dishonour done his family, he caused to be drowned in the castle
+moat."
+
+This, of course, was no other than the Banshee, which in times past
+has been the source of so much terror in Ireland. Amongst the
+innumerable stories told of its appearance may be mentioned one
+related by Mrs. Lefanu, the niece of Sheridan, in the memoirs of her
+grandmother, Mrs. Frances Sheridan. From this account we gather that
+Miss Elizabeth Sheridan was a firm believer in the Banshee, and firmly
+maintained that the one attached to the Sheridan family was distinctly
+heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the
+news arrived from France of Mrs. Frances Sheridan's death at Blois.
+She adds that a niece of Miss Sheridan's made her very angry by
+observing that as Mrs. Frances Sheridan was by birth a Chamberlaine, a
+family of English extraction, she had no right to the guardianship of
+an Irish fairy, and that therefore the Banshee must have made a
+mistake.
+
+Likewise, many a Scotch family has its death-warning, a notable one
+being the Bodach Glass, which Sir Walter Scott has introduced in his
+"Waverley" as the messenger of bad-tidings to the MacIvors, the truth
+of which, it is said, has been traditionally proved by the experience
+of no less than three hundred years. It is thus described by Fergus to
+Waverley: "'You must know that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel,
+wanted Northumberland, there was appointed with him in the expedition
+a sort of southland chief, or captain of a band of Lowlanders, called
+Halbert Hall. In their return through the Cheviots they quarrelled
+about the division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from
+words to blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief
+fell the last, covered with wounds, by the sword of my ancestor. Since
+that day his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any
+great disaster was impending.'" Fergus then gives to Waverley a
+graphic and detailed account of the appearance of the Bodach: "'Last
+night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters and walked out, in
+hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves. I crossed a small
+foot bridge, and kept walking backwards and forwards, when I observed,
+with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid,
+which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards
+before me.'
+
+"'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.'
+
+"'No; I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity
+in daring to dog me. I called to him, but received no answer. I felt
+an anxious troubling at my heart, and to ascertain what I dreaded, I
+stood still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the
+four points of the compass. By heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the
+figure was instantly before my eyes at precisely the same distance. I
+was then convinced it was the Bodach Glass. My hair bristled, and my
+knees shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my
+quarters. My ghastly visitor glided before me until he reached the
+footbridge, there he stopped, and turned full round. I must either
+wade the river or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate
+courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve
+to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew
+my sword, and uttered, 'In the name of God, evil spirit, give place!'
+
+"'Vich Ian Vohr,' it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle;
+'beware of to-morrow.'
+
+"'It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but
+the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared
+further to obstruct my passage.'"
+
+An ancestor of the family of McClean, of Lochburg, was commonly
+reported, before the death of any of his race, to gallop along the
+sea-beach, announcing the event by dismal cries, and lamentations, and
+Sir Walter Scott, in his "Peveril of the Peak," tells us that the
+Stanley family are forewarned of the approach of death by a female
+spirit, "weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person
+of distinction belonging to the family."
+
+These family death-omens are of a most varied description, having
+assumed particular forms in different localities. Corby Castle,
+Cumberland, was famed for its "Radiant Boy," a luminous apparition
+which occasionally made its appearance, the tradition in the family
+being that the person who happened to see it would rise to the summit
+of power, and after reaching that position would die a violent death.
+As an instance of this strange belief, it is related how Lord
+Castlereagh in early life saw this spectre; as is well-known, he
+afterwards became head of the government, but finally perished by his
+own hand. Then there was the dreaded spectre of the Goblin Friar
+associated with Newstead Abbey:
+
+                          A monk, arrayed
+    In cowl and beads, and dusky garb, appeared,
+      Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade,
+    With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard--
+
+This apparition was generally supposed to forebode evil to the member
+of the family to whom it appeared, and its movements have thus been
+poetically described by Lord Byron, who, it may be added, maintained
+that he beheld this uncanny spectre before his ill-starred union with
+Miss Millbanke:
+
+    By the marriage bed of their lords, 'tis said,
+      He flits on the bridal eve;
+    And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of death
+      He comes--but not to grieve.
+
+    When an heir is born, he is heard to mourn,
+      And when aught is to befall
+    That ancient line, in the pale moonshine
+      He walks from hall to hall.
+
+    His form you may trace, but not his face,
+      'Tis shadowed by his cowl;
+    But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,
+      And they seem of a parted soul.
+
+An ancient Roman Catholic family in Yorkshire, of the name of
+Middleton, is said to be apprised of the death of anyone of its
+members by the appearance of a Benedictine nun, and Berry Pomeroy
+Castle, Devonshire, was supposed to be haunted by the daughter of a
+former baron, who bore a child to her own father, and afterwards
+strangled the fruit of their incestuous intercourse. But, after death,
+it seems this wretched woman could not rest, and whenever death was
+about to visit the castle she was generally seen sadly wending her way
+to the scene of her earthly crimes. According to another tradition,
+there is a circular tower, called "Margaret's Tower," rising above
+some broken steps that lead into a dismal vault, and the tale still
+runs that, on certain evenings in the year, the spirit of the Ladye
+Margaret, a young daughter of the house of Pomeroy, appears clad in
+white on these steps, and, beckoning to the passers-by, lures them to
+destruction into the dungeon ruin beneath them.
+
+And, indeed, it would seem to have been a not infrequent occurrence
+for family ghosts to warn the living when death was at hand--a piece
+of superstition which has always held a prominent place in our
+household traditions, reminding us of kindred stories on the
+Continent, where the so-called White Lady has long been an object of
+dread.
+
+There has, too, long been a strange notion that when storms, heavy
+rains, or other elemental strife, take place at the death of a great
+man, the spirit of the storm will not be appeased till the moment of
+burial. This belief seems to have gained great strength on the
+occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral, when, after some weeks
+of heavy rain, and some of the highest floods ever known, the skies
+began to clear, and both rain and flood abated. It was a common
+observation in the week before the duke's interment, "Oh, the rain
+won't give o'er till the Duke is buried!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] "Family Romance"--Sir Bernard Burke--1853, ii., 200-210.
+
+[40] In 1641 there was published a tract, with a frontispiece, entitled
+"A True Relation of an Apparition, in the Likeness of a Bird with a
+white breast, that appeared hovering over the Death-bed of some of the
+children of Mr. James Oxenham, &c."
+
+[41] This tradition has been wrought into a romantic story, entitled
+"Chartley, or the Fatalist."
+
+[42] "Popular Romances of West of England."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+WEIRD POSSESSIONS.
+
+    "But not a word o' it; 'tis fairies' treasure,
+    Which, but revealed, brings on the blabber's ruin."
+               MASSINGER'S "_Fatal Dowry_."
+
+
+From the earliest days a strange fatality has been supposed to cling
+to certain things--a phase of superstition which probably finds as
+many believers nowadays as when Homer wrote of the fatal necklace of
+Eriphyle that wrought mischief to all who had been in possession of
+it. In numerous cases, it is difficult to account for the prejudice
+thus displayed, although occasionally it is based on some traditionary
+story. But whatever the origin of the luck, or ill-luck, attaching to
+sundry family possessions, such heirlooms have been preserved with a
+kind of superstitious care, handed down from generation to generation.
+
+One of the most remarkable curiosities connected with family
+superstitions is what is commonly known as "The Coalstoun Pear," the
+strange antecedent history of which is thus given in a work entitled,
+"The Picture of Scotland": "Within sight of the House of Lethington,
+in Haddingtonshire, stands the mansions of Coalstoun, the seat of the
+ancient family of Coalstoun, whose estate passed by a series of heirs
+of line into the possession of the Countess of Dalhousie. This place
+is chiefly worthy of attention here, on account of a strange heirloom,
+with which the welfare of the family was formerly supposed to be
+connected.
+
+"One of the Barons of Coalstoun, about three hundred years ago,
+married Jean Hay, daughter of John, third Lord Yester, with whom he
+obtained a dowry, not consisting of such base materials as houses or
+land, but neither more nor less than a pear. 'Sure such a pear was
+never seen,' however, as this of Coalstoun, which a remote ancestor of
+the young lady, famed for his necromantic power, was supposed to have
+invested with some enchantment that rendered it perfectly invaluable.
+Lord Yester, in giving away his daughter, informed his son-in-law
+that, good as the lass might be, her dowry was much better, because,
+while she could only have value in her own generation, the pear, so
+long as it was continued in his family, would be attended with
+unfailing prosperity, and thus might cause the family to flourish to
+the end of time. Accordingly, the pear was preserved as a sacred
+palladium, both by the laird who first obtained it, and by all his
+descendants; till one of their ladies, taking a longing for the
+forbidden fruit while pregnant, inflicted upon it a deadly bite: in
+consequence of which, it is said, several of the best farms on the
+estate very speedily came to the market."
+
+The pear, tradition goes on to tell us, became stone hard immediately
+after the lady had bit it, and in this condition it remains till this
+day, with the marks of Lady Broun's teeth indelibly imprinted on it.
+Whether it be really thus fortified against all further attacks of the
+kind or not, it is certain that it is now disposed in some secure part
+of the house--or as we have been informed in a chest, the key of which
+is kept secure by the Earl of Dalhousie--so as to be out of all danger
+whatsoever. The "Coalstowne pear," it is added, without regard to the
+superstition attached to it, must be considered a very great curiosity
+in its way, "having, in all probability, existed five hundred years--a
+greater age than, perhaps, has ever been reached by any other such
+production of nature."
+
+Another strange heirloom--an antique crystal goblet--is said to have
+been for a long time in the possession of Colonel Wilks, the
+proprietor of the estate of Ballafletcher, four or five miles from
+Douglas, Isle of Man. It is described as larger than a common
+bell-shaped tumbler, "uncommonly light and chaste in appearance, and
+ornamented with floral scrolls, having between the designs on two
+sides, upright columellæ of five pillars," and according to an old
+tradition, it is reported to have been taken by Magnus, the Norwegian
+King of Man, from St. Olave's shrine. Although it is by no means
+clear on what ground this statement rests, there can be no doubt but
+that the goblet is very old. After belonging for at least a hundred
+years to the Fletcher family--the owners of Ballafletcher--it was sold
+with the effects of the last of the family, in 1778, and was bought by
+Robert Cæsar, Esq., who gave it to his niece for safe keeping. The
+tradition goes that it had been given to the first of the Fletcher
+family more than two centuries ago, with this special injunction, that
+"as long as he preserved it, peace and plenty would follow; but woe to
+him who broke it, as he would surely be haunted by the 'Ihiannan Shee'
+or 'peaceful spirit' of Ballafletcher." It was kept in a recess,
+whence it was never removed, except at Christmas and Eastertide, when
+it was "filled with wine, and quaffed off at a breath by the head of
+the house only, as a libation to the spirit for her protection."
+
+Then there is the well-known English tradition relating to Eden Hall,
+where an old painted drinking-glass is preserved, the property of Sir
+George Musgrave of Edenhall, in Cumberland, in the possession of whose
+family it has been for many generations. The tradition is that a
+butler going to draw water from a well in the garden, called St.
+Cuthbert's well, came upon a company of fairies at their revels, and
+snatched it from them. They did all they could to recover their
+ravished property, but failing, disappeared after pronouncing the
+following prophecy:
+
+    If this glass do break or fall
+    Farewell the luck of Edenhall.
+
+So long, therefore, runs the legendary tale, as this drinking glass is
+preserved, the "luck of Edenhall" will continue to exist, but should
+ever the day occur when any mishap befalls it, this heirloom will
+instantly become an unlucky possession in the family. The most recent
+account of this cup appeared in _The Scarborough Gazette_ in the year
+1880, in which it was described as "a glass stoup, a drinking vessel,
+about six inches in height, having a circular base, perfectly flat,
+two inches in diameter, gradually expanding upwards till it ends in a
+mouth four inches across. The general hue is a warm green, resembling
+the tone known by artists as brown pink. Upon the transparent glass is
+traced a geometric pattern in white and blue enamel, somewhat raised,
+aided by gold and a little crimson." The earliest mention of this
+curious relic seems to have been made by Francis Douce, who was at
+Edenhall in the year 1785, and wrote some verses upon it, but there
+does not seem to be any authentic family history attaching to it.
+
+There is a room at Muncaster Castle which has long gone by the name of
+Henry the Sixth's room, from the circumstance of his having been
+concealed in it at the time he was flying from his enemies in the
+year 1461, when Sir John Pennington, the then possessor of Muncaster,
+gave him a secret reception. When the time for the king's departure
+arrived, before he proceeded on his journey, he addressed Sir John
+Pennington with many kind and courteous acknowledgments for his loyal
+reception, regretting, at the same time, that he had nothing of more
+value to present him with, as a testimony of his goodwill, than the
+cup out of which he crossed himself. He then gave it into the hands of
+Sir John, accompanying the present with these words: "The family shall
+prosper so long as they preserve it unbroken." Hence it is called the
+"Luck of Muncaster." "The benediction attached to its security," says
+Roby, in his "Traditions of Lancashire," "being then uppermost in the
+recollection of the family, it was considered essential to the
+prosperity of the house at the time of the usurpation, that the Luck
+of Muncaster should be deposited in a safe place; it was consequently
+buried till the cessation of hostilities had rendered all further care
+and concealment unnecessary." But, unfortunately, the person
+commissioned to disinter the precious relic, let the box fall in which
+it was locked up, which so alarmed the then existing members of the
+family, that they could not muster courage enough to satisfy their
+apprehensions. The box, therefore, according to the traditionary story
+preserved in the family, remained unopened for more than forty years;
+at the expiration of which period, a Pennington, more courageous than
+his predecessors, unlocked the casket, and, much to the delight of
+all, proclaimed the Luck of Muncaster to be uninjured. It was an
+auspicious moment, for the doubts as to the cup's safety were now
+dispelled, and the promise held good:
+
+    It shall bless thy bed, it shall bless thy board,
+      They shall prosper by this token,
+    In Muncaster Castle good luck shall be,
+      Till the charmed cup is broken.
+
+Some things, again, have gained a strange notoriety through the force
+of circumstances. A curious story is told, for instance, of a certain
+iron chest in Ireland, the facts relating to which are these: In the
+year 1654, Mr. John Bourne, chief trustee of the estate of John
+Mallet, of Enmore, fell sick at his house at Durley, when his life was
+pronounced by a physician to be in imminent danger. Within twenty-four
+hours, while the doctor and Mrs. Carlisle--a relative of Mr.
+Bourne--were sitting by his bedside, the doctor opened the curtains at
+the bed-foot to give him air, when suddenly a great iron chest by the
+window, with three locks--in which chest were all the writings and
+title deeds of Mr. Mallet's estate--began to open lock by lock. The
+lid of the iron chest then lifted itself up, and stood wide open. It
+is added that Mr. Bourne, who had not spoken for twenty-four hours,
+raised himself up in the bed, and looking at the chest, cried out,
+"You say true, you say true; you are in the right; I will be with you
+by and bye." He then lay down apparently in an exhausted condition,
+and spoke no more. The chest lid fell again, and locked itself lock by
+lock, and within an hour afterwards Mr. Bourne expired.
+
+There is a story current of Lord Lovat that when he was born a number
+of swords that hung up in the hall of the house leaped, of themselves,
+out of the scabbard. This circumstance often formed the topic of
+conversation, and, among his clan, was looked upon as an unfortunate
+omen. By a curious coincidence, Lord Lovat was not only the last
+person beheaded on Tower Hill, but was the last person beheaded in
+this country--April 9, 1747--an event which Walpole has thus described
+in one of his letters, telling us that he died extremely well, without
+passion, affectation, buffoonery, or timidity. He professed himself a
+Jansenist, made no speech, but sat down a little while in a chair on
+the scaffold and talked to the people about him.
+
+And Aubrey, relating a similar anecdote of a picture, tells us how Sir
+Walter Long's widow did make a solemn promise to him on his death-bed
+that she would not marry after his decease; but this she did not keep,
+for "not long after, one Sir----Fox, a very beautiful young gentleman,
+did win her love, so that, notwithstanding her promise aforesaid, she
+married him. They were at South Wrathall, where the picture of Sir
+Walter hung over the parlour door," and, on entering this room on
+their return from church, the string of the picture broke, "and the
+picture, which was painted on wood, fell on the lady's shoulder and
+cracked in the fall. This made her ladyship reflect on her promise,
+and drew some tears from her eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ROMANCE OF DISGUISE.
+
+    PISANIO to IMOGEN:
+      You must forget to be a woman; change
+      Command into obedience: fear and niceness--
+      The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,
+      Woman its pretty self, into a waggish courage:
+      Ready in gibes, quick answered, saucy, and
+      As quarrelsome as the weasel; nay, you must
+      Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek
+      Exposing it--but, Oh! the harder heart!
+      Alack! no remedy! to the greedy touch
+      Of common-kissing Titan, and forget
+      Your laboursome and dainty trims.
+               "_Cymbeline_," ACT III., SC. 4.
+
+
+That a woman, under any circumstances, should dismiss her proper
+apparel, it has been remarked, "may well appear to us as something
+like a phenomenon." Yet instances are far from uncommon, the motive
+being originated in a variety of circumstances. A young lady, it may
+be, falls in love, and, to gain her end, assumes male attire so that
+she may escape detection, as in the case of a girl, who, giving her
+affections to a sailor, and not being able to follow him in her
+natural and recognised character, put on jacket and trousers, and
+became, to all appearance, a brother of his mess. In other cases, a
+pure masculinity of character "seems to lead women to take on the
+guise of men. Apparently feeling themselves misplaced in, and
+misrepresented by, the female dress, they take up with that of men
+simply that they may be allowed to employ themselves in those manly
+avocations for which their taste and nature are fitted." In
+Caulfield's "Portraits of Remarkable Persons," we find a portrait of
+Anne Mills, styled the female sailor, who is represented as standing
+on what appears to be the end of a pier and holding in one hand a
+human head, while the other bears a sword, the instrument doubtless
+with which the decapitation was effected. In the year 1740, she was
+serving on board the _Maidstone_, a frigate, and in an action between
+that vessel and the enemy, she exhibited such desperate and daring
+valour as to be particularly noticed by the whole crew. But her
+motives for assuming the male habit do not seem to have
+transpired.[43]
+
+A far more exciting career was that of Mary Anne Talbot, the youngest
+of sixteen illegitimate children, whom her mother bore to one of the
+heads of the noble house of Talbot. She was born on February 2nd,
+1778, and educated under the eye of a married sister, at whose death
+she was committed to the care of a gentleman named Sucker, "who
+treated her with great severity, and who appears to have taken
+advantage of her friendless situation in order to transfer her, for
+the vilest of purposes, to the hands of a Captain Bowen, whom he
+directed her to look upon as her future guardian." Although barely
+fourteen years old, Captain Bowen made her his mistress; and, on being
+ordered to join his regiment at St. Domingo, he compelled the girl to
+go with him in the disguise of a footboy and under the name of John
+Taylor. But Captain Bowen had scarcely reached St. Domingo when he was
+remanded with his regiment to Europe to join the Duke of York's
+Flanders Expedition. And this time she was made to enrol herself as a
+drummer in the corps.
+
+She was in several skirmishes, being wounded once by a ball which
+struck one of her ribs, and another time by a sabre stroke on the
+side. At Valenciennes, however, Captain Bowen was killed; and, finding
+among his effects several letters relating to herself, which proved
+that she had been cruelly defrauded of money left to her, she resolved
+to leave the regiment, and to return, if possible, to England.
+Accordingly she set out attired as a sailor boy, and eventually hired
+herself to the Commander of a French lugger, which turned out to be a
+privateer. But when the vessel fell in with some of Lord Howe's
+vessels in the Channel, she refused to fight against her countrymen,
+"notwithstanding all the blows and menaces the French captain could
+use." The privateer was taken, and our heroine was carried before Lord
+Howe, to whom she told candidly all that had happened to her--keeping
+her sex a secret.
+
+Mary Anne Talbot, or John Taylor, was next placed on board the
+_Brunswick_, where she witnessed Lord Howe's great victory of the 1st
+June, and was actively engaged in it. But she was seriously wounded,
+"her left leg being struck a little above the knee by a musket-ball,
+and broken, and severely smashed lower down by a grape shot." On
+reaching England she was conveyed to Haslar Hospital, where she
+remained four months, no suspicion having ever been entertained of her
+being a woman. But she was no sooner out of the hospital than,
+retaining her disguise, she entered a small man-of-war--the
+_Vesuvius_, which was captured by two French ships, when she was sent
+to the prisons of Dunkirk. Here she was incarcerated for eighteen
+months, but, having been discovered planning an escape with a young
+midshipman, she was confined in a pitch-dark dungeon for eleven weeks,
+on a diet of bread and water. An exchange of prisoners set her at
+liberty, and, hearing accidentally an American merchant captain
+inquiring in the streets of Dunkirk for a lad to go to New York as
+ship's steward she offered her services, and was accepted.
+Accordingly, in August, 1796, she sailed with Captain Field, and, on
+arriving at Rhode Island, she resided with the Captain's family.
+
+But here another kind of adventure was to befall her--for a niece of
+Captain Field's fell deeply in love with her, even going so far as to
+propose marriage. On leaving Rhode Island, the young lady had such
+alarming fits that, after sailing two miles, Mary Anne Talbot was
+called back by a boat, and compelled to promise a speedy return to the
+enamoured young lady. On reaching England, she was one day on shore
+with some of her comrades when she was seized by a press-gang, and
+finding there was no other way of getting off than by revealing her
+sex, she did so, her story creating a great sensation. From this time
+she never went to sea again, and soon afterwards lived in service with
+a bookseller, Mr. Kirby, who wrote her memoir.[44]
+
+And the late Colonel Fred Burnaby has recorded the history of a
+singular case, the facts of which came under his notice when he was
+with Don Carlos during the Carlist rising of the year 1874: "A
+discovery was made a few days ago that a woman was serving in the
+Royalists' ranks, dressed in a soldier's uniform. She was found out in
+the following manner. The priest of the village to where she belonged
+happening to pass through a town where the regiment was quartered, and
+chancing to see her, was struck by the likeness she bore to one of his
+parishioners.
+
+"You must be Andalicia Bravo," he remarked.
+
+"No, I am her brother," was the reply.
+
+The Cure's suspicions were aroused, and at his suggestion, an inquiry
+was made, when it was discovered that the youthful soldier had no
+right to the masculine vestments she wore. Don Carlos, who was told of
+the affair, desired that she should be sent as a nurse to the hospital
+of Durango, and, when he visited the establishment, presented the fair
+Amazon with a military cross of merit. The poor girl was delighted
+with the decoration, and besought the "King" to allow her to return to
+the regiment, as she said she was more accustomed to inflicting wounds
+than to healing them. In fact, she so implored to be permitted to
+serve once more as a soldier, that at last, Don Carlos, to extricate
+himself from the difficulty, said, "No, I cannot allow you to join a
+regiment of men; but when I form a battalion of women, I promise, upon
+my honour, that you shall be named the Colonel."
+
+"It will never happen," said the girl, and she burst into tears as the
+King left the hospital.
+
+At Haddon Hall may still be seen "Dorothy Vernon's Door," whence the
+heiress of Haddon stole out one moonlight night to join her lover. The
+story generally told is that, while her elder sister, the affianced
+bride of Sir Thomas Stanley, second son of the Earl of Derby, was made
+much of in her recognised attachment, Dorothy, on the other hand, was
+not only kept in the background, but every obstacle was thrown in her
+way against a connection she had formed with John Manners, son of the
+Earl of Rutland. But "something of the wild bird," it is said, "was
+noticed in Dorothy, and she was closely watched, kept almost a
+prisoner, and could only beat her wings against the bars that confined
+her." This kind of surveillance went on for some time, but did not
+check the young lady's infatuation for her lover, and it was not long
+before the young couple contrived to see one another. Disguised as a
+woodman, John Manners lurked of a day in the woods round Haddon for
+several weeks, obtaining now and then a stolen glance, a hurried word,
+or a pressure of the hand from the fair Dorothy.
+
+At length, however, an opportunity arrived which enabled Dorothy to
+carry out the plan which had been suggested to her by John Manners. It
+so happened that a grand ball was given at Haddon Hall, to celebrate
+the approaching marriage of the elder daughter, and, whilst a throng
+of guests filled the ball-room, where the stringed minstrels played
+old dances in the Minstrels' Gallery, and the horns blew low, everyone
+being too busy with his own interests and pleasures to attend to those
+of another, the young Miss Dorothy stole away unobserved from the
+ball-room, "passed out of the door, which is now one of the most
+interesting parts of this historic pile of buildings, and crossed
+the terrace to where, at the "ladies' steps," she could dimly discern
+figures hiding in the shadow of the trees. Another moment, and she was
+in her lover's arms. Horses were waiting, and Dorothy was soon riding
+away with her lover through the moonlight, and was married on the
+following morning. This story, which has been gracefully told by Eliza
+Meteyard under the title of "The Love Steps of Dorothy Vernon," has
+always been regarded as one of the most romantic and pleasant episodes
+in the history of Haddon Hall. Through Dorothy's marriage, the estate
+of Haddon passed from the family of Vernon to that of Manners, and a
+branch of the house of Rutland was transferred to the county of
+Derby."
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY VERNON AND THE WOODMAN.]
+
+But love has always been an inducement, in one form or another for
+disguise, and a romantic story is told of Sir John Bolle, of Thorpe
+Hall, in Lincolnshire, who distinguished himself at Cadiz, in the year
+1596. Among the prisoners taken at this memorable seige, was "a fair
+captive of great beauty, high rank, and immense wealth," and who was
+the peculiar charge of Sir John Bolle. She soon became deeply
+enamoured of her gallant captor, and "in his courteous company was all
+her joy," her infatuation being so great that she entreated him to
+allow her to accompany him to England disguised as his page. But Sir
+John had a wife at home, and replied--to quote the version of the
+story given in Dr. Percy's "Relics of Ancient English Poetry":--
+
+      "Courteous lady, leave this fancy,
+         Here comes all that breeds the strife;
+       I in England have already
+         A sweet woman to my wife.
+    I will not falsify my vow for gold or gain,
+    Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."
+
+Thereupon the fair lady determined to retire to a convent, admiring
+the gallant soldier all the more for his faithful devotion to his
+wife.
+
+      "O happy is that woman
+         That enjoys so true a friend!
+       Many happy days God send her!
+         Of my suit I make an end,
+    On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,
+    Which did from love and true affection first commence.
+
+      "I will spend my days in prayer,
+         Love and all her laws defy;
+       In a nunnery will I shroud me,
+         Far from any company.
+    But ere my prayers have an end be sure of this,
+    To pray for thee and for thy love I will not miss."
+
+But, before forsaking the world, she transmitted to her unconscious
+rival in England her jewels and valuable knicknacks, including her own
+portrait drawn in green--a circumstance which obtained for the
+original the designation of the "Green Lady," and Thorpe Hall has long
+been said to be haunted by the lady in green, who has been in the
+habit of appearing beneath a particular tree close to the mansion.
+
+A story, which has been gracefully told in one of Moore's Irish
+Melodies, relates to Henry Cecil, Earl of Exeter, who early in life
+fell in love with the rich heiress of the Vernons of Hanbury. A
+marriage was eventually arranged, but this union proved a complete
+failure, and terminated in a divorce. Thereupon young Cecil,
+distrustful of the conventionalities of society, and to prevent any
+one of the fair sex marrying him on account of his position, resolved
+"on laying aside the artificial attractions of his rank, and seeking
+some country maiden who would wed him from disinterested motives of
+affection."
+
+Accordingly he took up his abode at a small inn in a retired
+Shropshire village, but even here his movements created suspicion,
+"some maintaining that he was connected with smugglers or gamesters,
+while all agreed that dishonesty or fraud was the cause of the mystery
+of the 'London gentleman's' proceedings." Annoyed at the rude
+molestations to which he was daily, more or less, exposed, he quitted
+the inn and removed to a farm-house in the neighbourhood, where he
+remained for two years, in the course of which time he purchased some
+land, and commenced building himself a house:
+
+But the landlord of the cottage where he lived had a beautiful
+daughter of about seventeen years, to whom young Cecil became so
+deeply attached that, in spite of her humble birth, and simple
+education, he resolved to make her his wife, taking an early
+opportunity of informing her parents of his resolve. The matter came
+as a surprise to the farmer and his wife, and all the more so because
+they had always regarded Mr. Cecil as far too grand a person to
+entertain such an idea.
+
+"Marry our daughter?" exclaimed the good wife, in amazement. "What, to
+a fine gentleman! No, indeed!"
+
+"Yes, marry her," added the husband, "he shall marry her, for she
+likes him. Has he not house and land, too, and plenty of money to keep
+her?"
+
+So the rustic beauty was married, and it was not long afterwards that
+her husband found it necessary to repair to town on account of the
+Earl of Exeter's death. Setting out, as the young bride thought, on a
+pleasure trip, they stopped in the course of their journey at several
+noblemen's seats, where, to her astonishment, Cecil was welcomed in
+the most friendly manner. At last they reached Burleigh, in
+Northamptonshire--the home of the Cecils. And on driving up to the
+house, Cecil unconcernedly asked his wife, "whether she would like to
+be at home there?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she excitedly exclaimed; "it is, indeed, a lovely spot,
+exceeding all I have seen, and making me almost envy its possessor."
+
+"Then," said the young earl, "it is yours."
+
+The whole affair seemed like a fairy tale to the bewildered girl, and
+who, but herself, could describe the feelings she experienced at the
+acclamations of joy and welcome which awaited her in her magnificent
+home. But it was no dream, and as soon as the young earl had arranged
+his affairs, he returned to Shropshire, threw off his disguise, and
+revealed his rank to his wife's parents, assigning to them the house
+he had built, with a settlement of £700 per annum.
+
+"But," writes Sir Bernard Burke, "if report speak truly, the narrative
+must have a melancholy end. Her ladyship, unaccustomed to the exalted
+sphere in which she moved, chilled by its formalities, and depressed
+in her own esteem, survived only a few years her extraordinary
+elevation, and sank into an early grave," although Moore has given a
+brighter picture of this sad close to a pretty romance.
+
+    You remember Ellen, our hamlet's pride,
+      How meekly she blessed her humble lot,
+    When the stranger, William, had made her his bride,
+      And love was the light of their lowly cot.
+    Together they toiled through wind and rain
+      Till William at length in sadness said,
+    "We must seek our fortunes on other plains";
+      Then sighing she left her lowly shed.
+
+    They roam'd a long and weary way,
+      Nor much was the maiden's heart at ease,
+    When now, at close of one stormy day
+      They see a proud castle among the trees.
+    "To night," said the youth, "we'll shelter there;
+      The wind blows cold, the hour is late";
+    So he blew the horn with a chieftain's air,
+      And the porter bow'd as they pass'd the gate.
+
+    "Now welcome, Lady!" exclaimed the youth;
+      "This castle is thine, and these dark woods all."
+    She believed him wild, but his words were truth,
+      For Ellen is Lady of Rosna Hall!
+    And dearly the Lord of Rosna loves
+      What William the stranger woo'd and wed;
+    And the light of bliss in those lordly groves
+      Is pure as it shone in the lowly shed.
+
+But one of the most extraordinary instances of disguise was that of
+the Chevalier d'Eon, who was born in the year 1728, and was an
+excellent scholar, soldier, and political intriguer. In the service of
+Louis XV., he went to Russia in female attire, obtained employment as
+the female reader to the Czarina Elizabeth, under which disguise he
+carried on political and semi-political negotiations with wonderful
+success. In the year 1762, he appeared in England as Secretary of the
+Embassy to the Duke of Nivernois, and when Louis XVI. granted him a
+pension and he went over to Versailles to return thanks for the
+favour, Marie Antoinette is said to have insisted on his assuming
+women's attire. Accordingly, to gratify this foolish whim, D'Eon is
+reported to have one day swept into the royal presence attired like a
+duchess, which character he supported to the great delight of the
+royal spectators.
+
+In the year 1794, he returned to this country, and, being here after
+the Revolution was accomplished, his name was placed in the fatal list
+of _emigrés_, and he was deprived of his pension. The English
+Government, however, gave him an allowance of £200 a year; and in his
+old days he turned his fencing capabilities to account, for he
+occasionally appeared in matches with the Chevalier de St. George, and
+permanently reassumed female attire.
+
+This eccentric character was the subject of much speculation in his
+lifetime, and, curious to say, in the year 1771, it was proved to the
+satisfaction of a jury, on a trial before Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, that the Chevalier was of the female sex. The case in
+question arose from a wager between Hayes, a surgeon, and Jacques, an
+underwriter, the latter having bound himself, on receiving a premium,
+to pay the former a certain sum whenever the fact was established that
+D'Eon was a woman. One of the witnesses was Morande, an infamous
+Frenchman, who gave such testimony that no human being could doubt the
+fact of D'Eon being of the female sex, and two French medical men gave
+equally conclusive evidence. The result of this absurd trial was that
+the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with £702 damages.[45]
+But all doubt was cleared away when D'Eon died, in the year 1810, for,
+an examination of the body being made, it was publicly declared that
+the Chevalier was an old man. Walpole collected some facts about this
+remarkable man, and writes: "The Due de Choiseul believed it was a
+woman. After the death of Louis XV., D'Eon had leave to go to France,
+on which the young Comte de Guerchy went to M. de Vergennes,
+Secretary of State, and gave him notice that the moment D'Eon landed
+at Calais he, Guerchy, would cut his throat, or D'Eon should his; on
+which Vergennes told the Count that D'Eon was certainly a woman. Louis
+XV. corresponded with D'Eon, and when the Duc de Choiseul had sent a
+vessel, which lay six months in the Thames, to trepan and bring off
+D'Eon, the king wrote a letter with his own hand to give him warning
+of the vessel."
+
+Like the Chevalier D'Eon, a certain individual named Russell, a native
+of Streatham, adopted the guise and habits of the opposite sex, and so
+skilfully did he keep up the deception that it was not known till
+after his death. It appears from Streatham Register that he was buried
+on April 14, 1772, the subjoined memorandum being affixed to the
+entry: "This person was always known under the guise or habit of a
+woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in this
+parish, November 21, 1669, but on death proved to be a man. It also
+appears from the registers of Streatham Parish, that his father, John
+Russell, had three daughters, and two sons--William, born in 1668, and
+Thomas in 1672; and there is very little doubt that the above person,
+who was also commonly known as Betsy the Doctress, was one of these
+sons."
+
+It is said that when he assumed the garb of the softer sex he also
+took the name of his sister Elizabeth, who, very likely, either died
+in infancy, or settled at a distance; but, under this name, he
+applied, about two years before his death, for a certificate of his
+baptism. Early in life, he associated with the gypsies, and became the
+companion of the famous Bampfylde Moore Carew. Later on in life he
+resided at Chipstead, in Kent, and there catered for the miscellaneous
+wants of the villagers. He also visited most parts of the continent as
+a stroller and a vagabond, and sometimes in the company of a man who
+passed for his husband, he moved about from one place to another,
+changing his "maiden" name to that of his companion, at whose death he
+passed as his widow, being generally known by the familiar name of Bet
+Page.
+
+According to Lysons, in the course of his wanderings he attached
+himself to itinerant quacks, learned their remedies, practised their
+calling, his knowledge, coupled with his great experience, gaining for
+him the reputation of being "a most infallible doctress." He also went
+in for astrology, and made a considerable sum of money, but was so
+extravagant that when he died his worldly goods were not valued at
+half-a-sovereign. About a year before his death he returned to his
+native parish, his great age bringing him into much notoriety; but his
+death was very sudden, and great was the surprise on all sides when it
+became known that he was a man. In life this strange character was a
+general favourite, and Mr. Thrale was wont to have him in his kitchen
+at Streatham Park, while Dr. Johnson, who considered him a shrewd
+person, held long conversations with him. To prevent the discovery of
+his sex he used to wear a cloth tied under his chin, and a large pair
+of nippers, found in his pocket after death, are supposed to have been
+the instruments with which he was in the habit of removing the
+tell-tale hairs from his face.[46]
+
+In some instances, as in times of political intrigue and commotion,
+disguise has been resorted to as a means of escape and concealment of
+personal identity, one of the most romantic and remarkable cases on
+record being that of Lord Clifford, popularly known as the "shepherd
+lad." It appears that Lady Clifford, apprehensive lest the life of her
+son, seven years of age, might be sacrificed in vengeance for the
+blood of the youthful Earl of Rutland, whom Lord Clifford had murdered
+in cold blood at the termination of the battle of Sandal, placed him
+in the keeping of a shepherd who had married one of her inferior
+servants--an attendant on the boy's nurse. His name and parentage laid
+aside, the young boy was brought up among the moors and hills as one
+of the shepherd's own children. On reaching the age of fourteen, a
+rumour somehow spread to the Court that the son of "the black-faced
+Clifford," as his father had been called, was living in concealment in
+Yorkshire. His mother, naturally alarmed, had the boy immediately
+removed to the vicinity of the village of Threlkeld, amidst the
+Cumberland hills, where she had sometimes the opportunity of seeing
+him.
+
+But, strange to say it is doubtful whether Lady Clifford made known
+her relationship to him, or whether, indeed, the "shepherd lord" had
+any distinct idea of his lofty lineage. It is generally supposed,
+however, that there was a complete separation between mother and
+child--a tradition which was accepted by Wordsworth, with whom the
+story of the shepherd boy was an especial favourite. In his "Song at
+the Feast of Brougham Castle," the poet thus prettily describes the
+shepherd boy's curious career:--
+
+    "Now who is he that bounds with joy
+    On Carroch's side, a shepherd boy?
+    No thoughts hath he but thoughts that pass,
+    Light as the wind along the grass.
+    Can this be he who hither came
+    In secret, like a smothered flame?
+    O'er whom such thankful tears were shed
+    For shelter, and a poor man's bread!
+    God loves the child; and God hath willed
+    That those dear words should be fulfilled,
+    The lady's words, when forced away,
+    The last she to her babe did say,
+    'My own, my own, thy fellow guest
+    I may not be; but rest thee, rest,
+    For lowly shepherd's life is best.'"
+
+Many items of traditionary lore still linger about the Cumberland
+hills respecting the young lord who grew up "as hardy as the heath on
+which he vegetated, and as ignorant as the rude herds which bounded
+over it." But the following description of young Clifford in his
+disguise, and of his employment, as given by Wordsworth, probably
+gives the most reliable traditionary account respecting him that
+prevailed in the district where he spent his lonely youth:--
+
+    "His garb is humble, ne'er was seen
+    Such garb with such a noble mien;
+    Among the shepherd grooms no mate
+    Hath he, a child of strength and state!
+    Yet lacks not friends for solemn glee,
+    And a cheerful company,
+    That learned of him submissive ways;
+    And comforted his private days.
+    To his side the fallow deer
+    Came, and rested without fear;
+    The eagle, lord of land and sea,
+    Stooped down to pay him fealty;
+    And both the undying fish that swim,
+    Through Bowscale-Tarn did wait on him,
+    The pair were servants to his eye
+    In their immortality;
+    They moved about in open sight,
+    To and fro, for his delight.
+    He knew the rocks which angels haunt
+    On the mountains visitant,
+    He hath kenned them taking wing;
+    And the caves where fairies sing
+    He hath entered; and been told
+    By voices how men lived of old."
+
+But one of the first acts of Henry VII., on his accession to the
+throne was to restore young Clifford to his birthright, and to all the
+possessions that his distinguished sire had won. There are few
+authentic facts, however, recorded concerning him; for it seems that
+as soon as he had emerged from the hiding-place where he had been
+brought up in ignorance of his rank, finding himself more illiterate
+than was usual, even in an illiterate age, he retired to a tower,
+which he built in a beautiful and sequestered forest, where, under the
+direction of the monks of Bolton Abbey, he gave himself up to the
+forbidden studies of alchemy and astrology. His descendant Anne
+Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, describes him as "a plain man, who
+lived for the most part a country life, and came seldom either to
+Court or London, excepting when called to Parliament, on which
+occasion he behaved himself like a wise and good English nobleman." He
+was twice married, and was succeeded by his son, called Wild Henry
+Clifford, from the irregularities of his youth.
+
+And we may cite the case of Matthew Hale, who, on one occasion was
+instrumental to justice being done through himself appearing in
+disguise, and supporting the wronged party. It is related that the
+younger of two brothers had endeavoured to deprive the elder of an
+estate of £500 a year by suborning witnesses to declare that he died
+in a foreign land. But appearing in Court in the guise of a miller,
+Sir Matthew Hale was chosen the twelfth juryman to sit on this cause.
+As soon as the clerk of the juryman had sworn in the juryman, a short
+dexterous fellow came into their apartment, and slipped ten gold
+pieces into the hands of eleven of the jury, giving the miller only
+five, while the judge was generally supposed to be bribed with a large
+sum.
+
+At the conclusion of the case, the judge summed up the evidence in
+favour of the younger brother, and the jury were about to give their
+verdict, when the supposed miller stood up, and addressed the court.
+To the surprise of all present, he spoke with energetic and manly
+eloquence, "unravelled the sophistry to the very bottom, proved the
+fact of bribery, shewed the elder brother's title to the estate from
+the contradictory evidence of the witnesses," and in short, he gained
+a complete victory in favour of truth and justice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] See "Annual Register," 1813, 1835, and 1842, for similar cases.
+
+[44] See Notes and Queries, 6th Series, X., _passim_, for "Women on
+board ships in action"; and "Chambers's Pocket Miscellany," "Disguised
+Females, 1853."
+
+[45] See "Dictionary of National Biography," xiv., 485.
+
+[46] Arnold's "History of Streatham," 1866, 164-166. An extraordinary
+case of concealment of sex is recorded in the "Annual Register," under
+Jan. 23, 1833. An inquiry was instituted by order of the Home Secretary
+relative to the death of "a person who had been known for years by the
+name of Eliza Edwards," but who turned out to be a man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY DISAPPEARANCES.
+
+                            "O Annie,
+    It is beyond all hope, against all chance,
+    That he who left you ten long years ago
+    Should still be living; well, then--let me speak;
+    I grieve to see you poor and wanting help:
+    I cannot help you as I wish to do
+    Unless--they say that women are so quick--
+    Perhaps you know what I would have you know--
+    wish you for my wife."
+               ENOCH ARDEN.
+
+
+A glance at the agony columns of our daily newspapers, or the notice
+boards of police stations, it has been remarked, shows how many
+individuals disappear from home, from their business haunts, and from
+the circle of their acquaintances, and leave not the slightest trace
+of their whereabouts. In only too many instances, no satisfactory
+explanation has ever been forthcoming to account for a disappearance
+of this nature, and in the vast majority of cases no evidence has been
+discovered to prove the death of such persons. It is well known that
+"in France, before the Revolution, the vanishing of men almost before
+the eyes of their friends was so common that it scarcely excited any
+surprise at all. The only inquiry was, had he a beautiful wife or
+daughter, for in that case the explanation was easy; some one who had
+influence with the Government had designs upon the lady, and made
+interest to have her natural guardian put out of the way while those
+designs were being fulfilled." But, accountable as the disappearance
+of an individual was at such an unquiet time in French history, such a
+solution of the difficulty cannot be made to apply to our own country.
+Like other social problems, which no amount of intellectual ingenuity
+has been able to unravel, the reason why, at intervals, persons are
+missed and never found must always be regarded as an open question.
+
+Thus a marriage is recorded which took place in Lincolnshire, about
+the year 1750. In this instance, the wedding party adjourned after the
+marriage ceremony to the bridegroom's residence, and dispersed, some
+to ramble in the garden and others to rest in the house till the
+dinner hour. But the bridegroom was suddenly summoned away by a
+domestic, who said that a stranger wished to speak to him, and
+henceforward he was never seen again. All kinds of inquiries were made
+but to no purpose, and terrible as the dismay was of the poor bride at
+this inexplicable disappearance of the bridegroom, no trace could be
+found of him. A similar tradition hangs about an old deserted Welsh
+Hall, standing in a wood near Festiniog. In a similar manner, the
+bridegroom was asked to give audience to a stranger on his wedding
+day, and disappeared from the face of the earth from that moment. The
+bride, however, seems to have survived the shock, exceeding her three
+score years and ten, although, it is said, during all those years,
+while there was light of sun or moon to lighten the earth, she sat
+watching--watching at one particular window which commanded a view of
+the approach to the house. In short, her whole faculties, her whole
+mental powers, became completely absorbed in that weary process of
+watching, and long before she died she was childish, and only
+conscious of one wish--to sit in that long high window, and watch the
+road, along which he might come. Family romance records, from time to
+time, many such stories, and it was not so very long ago that a bridal
+party were thrown into much consternation by the non-arrival of the
+bridegroom. Everything was in readiness, the clergy and the choir,
+already vested, stood in the robing room, crimson carpets were laid
+down from the door to the carriages; some of the guests were at the
+church and others at the bride's house, when an alarm was raised by
+the best man that the bridegroom could nowhere be found. The
+bride-expectant burst into a flood of tears at this cruel
+disappointment, especially when the ominous news reached the church
+that the bridegroom's wedding suit had been found in the room, laid
+out ready to wear, but that there was not the slightest clue as to his
+whereabouts. It only remained for the bridal party to return home, and
+for the dejected and disconsolate bride to lay aside her veil and
+orange-blossoms.
+
+Sometimes, on the other hand, it is the bride who disappears at this
+crisis. Not many years back, an ex-lieutenant in the Royal Navy
+applied to a London magistrate, as he wanted to find his newly married
+wife. The applicant affirmed that the lady he had wedded was an
+actress, and that they were married at the registry office at Croydon.
+The magistrate asked if there had been any wedding breakfast. The
+applicant said "No"; they had partaken of a little luncheon and that
+was all. Mysterious and inexplicable as was this disappearance of a
+wife so shortly after marriage, it was suggested by the magistrate
+whether there were any rivals, but the applicant promptly replied,
+"No, certainly not, and that made the matter all the more
+incomprehensible." Of course, the magistrate could not recover the
+missing bride; but, remarking that the application was a very singular
+one, he recommended the applicant to consult the police on the matter,
+who replied that "he would do so, as he was really afraid that some
+mischief had happened to her," utterly disregarding the proposition of
+the magistrate as to whether the lady could not possibly have changed
+her mind, remarking that such a thing had occasionally happened.
+
+In the life of Dr. Raffles, an amusing story is quoted, which is
+somewhat to the point: "On our way from Wem to Hawkstone, we passed a
+house, of which the following occurrence was told: 'A young lady, the
+daughter of the owner of the house, was addressed by a man who, though
+agreeable to her, was disliked by her father. Of course, he would not
+consent to their union, and she determined to disappear and elope. The
+night was fixed, the hour came, he placed the ladder to the window,
+and in a few minutes she was in his arms. They mounted a double horse,
+and were soon at some distance from the house. After awhile the lady
+broke silence by saying, 'Well, you see what a proof I have given you
+of my affection; I hope you will make me a good husband!'
+
+"He was a surly fellow, and gruffly answered, 'Perhaps I may, and
+perhaps not.'
+
+"She made him no reply, but, after a few minutes' silence, she
+suddenly exclaimed, 'O, what shall we do? I have left my money behind
+me in my room!'
+
+"'Then,' said he, 'we must go and fetch it.' They were soon again at
+the house, the ladder was again placed, the lady remounted, while the
+ill-natured lover waited below. But she delayed to come, and so he
+gently called, 'Are you coming?' when she looked out of the window
+and said, 'Perhaps I may, and perhaps not,' then shut down the window,
+and left him to return upon the double horse alone."
+
+But, if traditionary lore is to be believed, the sudden disappearance
+of the bride on her wedding day has had, in more than one instance, a
+very romantic and tragic origin. There is the well-known story which
+tells how Lord Lovel married a young lady, a baron's daughter, who, on
+the wedding night, proposed that the guests should play at
+"hide-and-seek." Accordingly, the bride hid herself in an old oak
+chest, but the lid falling down, shut her in, for it went with a
+spring lock. Lord Lovel and the rest of the company sought her that
+night and many days in succession, but nowhere could she be found. Her
+strange disappearance for many years remained an unsolved mystery, but
+some time afterwards the fatal chest was sold, which, on being opened,
+was found to contain the skeleton of the long-lost bride. This popular
+story was made the subject of a song, entitled "The Mistletoe Bough,"
+by Thomas Haynes Bayley, who died in 1839; and Marwell Old Hall, near
+Winchester, once the residence of the Seymours, and afterwards of the
+Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it. Indeed, the very
+chest has been preserved in the hall of Upham Rectory, having been
+removed from Marwell some forty years ago. The great house at
+Malsanger, near Basingstoke, has a story of a like nature connected
+with it, reminding us of that of Tony Forster in Kenilworth, and of
+Rogers's Ginevra:
+
+    "There then had she found a grave!
+    Within that chest had she concealed herself,
+    Fluttering with joy, the happiest of the happy,
+    When a spring lock that lay in ambush there,
+    Fastened her down for ever."
+
+This story is found in many places, and the chest in which the poor
+bride was found is shown at Bramshill, in Hampshire, the residence of
+Sir John Cope. But only too frequently the young lady disappears from
+some preconcerted arrangement; a striking instance being that of
+Agnes, daughter of James Ferguson, the mechanist. While walking down
+the Strand with her father, she slipt her hand out of his whilst he
+was absorbed in thought, and he never saw her from that day, nor was
+anything known of the girl's fate till many years after Ferguson's
+death. At the time, the story of her extraordinary disappearance was
+matter of public comment, and all kinds of extravagant theories were
+started to account for it. The young lady, however, was gone, and
+despite the most patient search, and the most persistent inquiries, no
+tidings could be gained as to her whereabouts. In course of years the
+mystery was cleared up, and revealed a pitiable case of sin and shame.
+It appears that a nobleman to whom she had become known at her
+father's lectures took her, in the first instance, to Italy, and
+afterwards deserted her. In her distress, being ashamed to return
+home, she resolved to try the stage as a means of livelihood, and
+applied to Garrick, who gave her a trial on the boards, but the
+attempt proved a failure. She then turned her hand to authorship, but
+with no better success. Although reduced to the most abject poverty,
+she would not make herself known to her relatives, and in complete
+despair, and overwhelmed with a sense of her disgrace, in her last
+extremity she threw herself on the streets, and died in miserable
+beggary and wretchedness in Round Court, off the Strand. It was on her
+death-bed that she disclosed to the surgeon who attended her the
+melancholy and tragic story of her wasted life. But from the
+localities in which she had habitually moved, she must have many a
+time passed her relatives in the streets, though withheld by shame
+from making herself known, when they imagined her to be in some
+distant country, or in the grave.
+
+The strange disappearance of Lady Cathcart, on the other hand, whose
+fourth husband was Hugh Maguire, an officer in the Hungarian service,
+is an extraordinary instance of a wife being, for a long term of
+years, imprisoned by her own husband without any chance of escape. It
+seems that, soon after her last marriage, she discovered that her
+husband had only made her his wife with the object of possessing
+himself of her property, and, alarmed at the idea of losing
+everything, she plaited some of her jewels in her hair and others in
+her petticoat. But she little anticipated what was in store for her,
+although she had already become suspicious of her husband's intentions
+towards her. His plans, however, were soon executed; for one morning,
+under the pretence of taking her for a drive, he carried her away
+altogether: and when she suggested, after they had been driving some
+time, that they would be late for dinner, he coolly replied, "We do
+not dine to-day at Tewing, but at Chester, whither we are journeying."
+
+Some alarm was naturally caused, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "by her
+sudden disappearance, and an attorney was sent in pursuit with a writ
+of _habeas corpus_ or _ne exeat regno_, who found the travellers at
+Chester, on their way to Ireland, and demanded a sight of Lady
+Cathcart. Colonel Maguire at once consented, but, knowing that the
+attorney had never seen his wife, he persuaded a woman to personate
+her.
+
+The attorney, in due time, was introduced to the supposed Lady
+Cathcart, and was asked if she accompanied Colonel Maguire to Ireland
+of her own free will. "Perfectly so," said the woman. Whereupon the
+attorney set out again for London, and the Colonel resumed his journey
+with Lady Cathcart to Ireland, where, on his arrival at his own house
+at Tempo, in Fermanagh, his wife was imprisoned for many years."
+During this period the Colonel was visited by the neighbouring gentry,
+"and it was his regular custom at dinner to send his compliments to
+Lady Cathcart, informing her that the company had the honour to drink
+her ladyship's health, and begging to know whether there was anything
+at table that she would like to eat? But the answer was always the
+same, "Lady Cathcart's compliments, and she has everything she wants."
+Fortunately for Lady Cathcart, Colonel Maguire died in the year 1764,
+when her ladyship was released, after having been locked up for twenty
+years, possessing, at the time of her deliverance, scarcely clothes to
+her back. She lost no time in hastening back to England, and found her
+house at Tewing in possession of a Mr. Joseph Steele, against whom she
+brought an act of ejectment, and, attending the assize in person,
+gained her case. Although she had been so cruelly treated by Colonel
+Maguire, his conduct does not seem to have injured her health, for she
+did not die till the year 1789, when she was in her ninety-eighth
+year. And, when eighty years of age, it is recorded that she took part
+in the gaieties of the Welwyn Assembly, and danced with the spirit of
+a girl. It may be added that although she survived Colonel Maguire
+twenty years, she was not tempted, after his treatment, to carry out
+the resolution which she had inscribed as a poesy on her wedding ring.
+
+    If I survive
+    I will have five.[47]
+
+Another disappearance and supposed imprisonment which created
+considerable sensation in the last century was that of Elizabeth
+Canning. On New Year's Day, 1753, she visited an uncle and aunt who
+lived at Saltpetre Bank, near Well Close Square, who saw her part of the
+way home as far as Houndsditch. But as no tidings were afterwards heard
+of her, she was advertised for, rumours having gone abroad, that she had
+been heard to shriek out of a hackney coach in Bishopsgate-street.
+Prayers, too, were offered up for her in churches and meeting-houses,
+but all inquiries were in vain, and it was not until the 29th of the
+month that the missing girl returned in a wretched condition, ill,
+half-starved, and half-clad. Her story was that after leaving her uncle
+and aunt on the 1st of January, she had been attacked by two men in
+great coats, who robbed, partially stripped her, and dragged her away to
+a house in the Hertfordshire road, where an old woman cut off her stays,
+and shut her up in a room in which she had been imprisoned ever since,
+subsisting on bread and water, and a mince pie that her assailants had
+overlooked in her pocket, and ultimately, she said, she had escaped
+through the window, tearing her ear in doing so.
+
+Her story created much sympathy for her, and steps were immediately
+taken to punish those who had abducted her in this outrageous manner.
+The girl, who was in a very weak condition, was taken to the house
+she had specified, one "Mother" Wells, who kept an establishment of
+doubtful reputation at Enfield Wash, and on being asked to identify
+the woman who had cut off her stays, and locked her up in the room
+referred to, pointed out one Mary Squires, an old gipsy of surpassing
+ugliness. Accordingly, Squires and Wells were committed for trial for
+assault and felony; the result of the trial being that Squires was
+condemned to death, and Wells to be burned in the hand, a sentence
+which was executed forthwith, much to the delight of the excited crowd
+in the Old Bailey Sessions-house.
+
+But the Lord Mayor, Sir Crisp Gascoyne, who had presided at the trial
+_ex-officio_, was not satisfied with the verdict, and caused further
+and searching inquiries to be made. The verdict, on the weight of
+fresh evidence obtained, was upset, and Squires was granted a free
+pardon. On 29th April, 1754, Elizabeth Canning was summoned again to
+the Old Bailey, but this time to take her trial for wilful and corrupt
+perjury. The trial lasted eight days, and, being found guilty, she was
+transported in August, "at the request of her friends, to New
+England." According to the "Annual Register," she returned to this
+country at the expiration of her sentence to receive a legacy of £500,
+left to her three years before by an old lady of Newington Green;
+whereas, later accounts affirm that she never came back, but died 22nd
+July, 1773, at Weathersfield, in Connecticut, it being further stated
+that she married abroad a Quaker of the name of Treat, "and for some
+time followed the occupation of a schoolmistress."
+
+The mystery of her life--her disappearance from Jan. 1st to the 29th
+of that month, and what transpired in that interval--is a secret that
+has never been to this day divulged. Indeed, as it has been observed,
+"notwithstanding the many strange circumstances of her story, none is
+so strange as that it should not be discovered in so many years where
+she had concealed herself during the time she had invariably declared
+she was at the house of Mother Wells."[48]
+
+Another curious disappearance is recorded by Sir John Coleridge,
+forming a strange story of romance. It seems there lived in Cornwall,
+a highly respectable family, named Robinson, consisting of two
+sons--William and Nicholas--and two daughters. The property was
+settled on the two sons and their male issue, and in case of death on
+the two daughters. Nicholas was placed with an eminent attorney of St.
+Austen as his clerk, with a prospect of being one day admitted into
+partnership. But his legal studies were somewhat interrupted by his
+falling in love with a milliner's apprentice; the result being that he
+was sent to London to qualify himself as an attorney. But he had no
+sooner been admitted an attorney of the Queen's Bench and Common
+Pleas than he disappeared, and thenceforward he was never seen by any
+member of his family or former friends, all search for him proving
+fruitless.
+
+In course of time the father died, and William, the elder son,
+succeeded to the property, dying unmarried in May, 1802. As nothing
+was heard of Nicholas, the two sisters became entitled to the
+property, of which they held possession for twenty years, no claim
+being made to disturb their possession of it.
+
+But in the year 1783, a young man, whose looks and manners were above
+his means and situation, had made his appearance as a stranger at
+Liverpool, going by the name of Nathaniel Richardson--the same
+initials as Nicholas Robinson. He bought a cab and horse, and plied
+for hire in the streets of Liverpool--and being "a civil, sober, and
+prudent man," he soon became prosperous, and drove a coach between
+London and Liverpool. He married, had children, and gradually acquired
+considerable wealth. Having gone to Wales, however, in the year 1802,
+to purchase some horses, he was accidentally drowned in the Mersey.
+Many years after his death, it was rumoured in 1821 that this
+Nathaniel Richardson was no other than Nicholas Robinson, and his
+eldest son claimed the property, which was then inherited by the two
+daughters. An action was accordingly tried in Cornwall to recover the
+property. The strange part of the proceedings was that nearly forty
+years had elapsed since anyone had seen Nicholas Robinson; but, says
+Sir John Coleridge, "It was made out conclusively, in a most
+remarkable way, and by a variety of small circumstances, all pointing
+to one conclusion, that Nathaniel Richardson was the identical
+Nicholas Robinson". The Cornish and Liverpool witnesses agreed in the
+description of his person, his height, the colour of his hair, his
+general appearance, and, more particularly, it was mentioned that he
+had a peculiar habit of biting his nails, and that he had a great
+fondness for horses.
+
+In addition to other circumstances, there was this remarkable
+one--that Nathaniel's widow married again and that the furniture and
+effects were taken to the second husband's house. Among the articles,
+was an old trunk, which she had never seen opened; but, on its
+contents being examined one day, among other letters and papers, were
+found the two certificates of Nicholas Robinson's admission as
+Attorney to the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas--and, on the
+trial, the old master of Nicholas Robinson, alias Nathaniel
+Richardson, swore to his handwriting, and so the property was
+discovered.
+
+It has been often remarked that London is about the only place in all
+Europe where a man, if so desirous, can disappear and live for years
+unknown in some secure retreat. About the year 1706, a certain Mr.
+Howe, after he had been married some seven or eight years, rose early
+one morning, and informed his wife that he was obliged to go to the
+Tower on special business, and at about noon the same day he sent a
+note to his wife informing her that business summoned him to Holland,
+where he would probably have to remain three weeks or a month. But
+from that day he was absent from his home for seventeen years, during
+which time his wife neither heard from him, nor of him.
+
+His strange and unaccountable disappearance at the time naturally
+created comment, but no trace could be found of his whereabouts, or as
+to whether he had met with foul treatment. And yet the most curious
+part of the story remains to be told. On leaving his house in Jermyn
+Street, Piccadilly, Mr. Howe went no further than to a small street in
+Westminster, where he took a room, for which he paid five or six
+shillings a week, and changing his name, and disguising himself by
+wearing a black wig--for he was a fair man--he remained in this
+locality during the whole time of his absence. At the time he
+disappeared from his home, Mr. Howe had had two children by his wife,
+but these both died a few years afterwards. But, being left without
+the necessary means of subsistence, Mrs. Howe, after waiting two or
+three years in the hope of her husband's return, was forced to apply
+for an Act of Parliament to procure an adequate settlement of his
+estate, and a provision for herself out of it during his absence, as
+it was uncertain whether he was alive or dead. This act Mr. Howe
+suffered to be passed, and read the progress of it in a little
+coffee-house which he frequented.
+
+After the death of her children, Mrs. Howe removed from her house in
+Jermyn Street to a smaller one in Brewer Street, near Golden Square.
+Just over against her lived one Salt, a corn chandler, with whom Mr.
+Howe became acquainted, usually dining with him once or twice a week.
+The room where they sat overlooked Mrs. Howe's dining room, and Salt,
+believing Howe to be a bachelor, oftentimes recommended her to him as
+a suitable wife. And, curious to add, during the last seven years of
+his mysterious absence, Mr. Howe attended every Sunday service at St.
+James's Church, Piccadilly, and sat in Mr. Salt's seat, where he had a
+good view of his wife, although he could not be easily seen by her.
+
+At last, however, Mr. Howe made up his mind to return home, and the
+evening before he took this step, sent her an anonymous note
+requesting her to meet him the following day in Birdcage Walk, St.
+James's Square. At the time this billet arrived, Mrs. Howe was
+entertaining some friends and relatives at supper--one of her guests
+being a Dr. Rose, who had married her sister.
+
+After reading the note, Mrs. Howe tossed it to Dr. Rose, laughingly
+remarking, "You see, brother, old as I am, I have got a gallant."
+
+But Dr. Rose recognised the handwriting as that of Mr. Howe, which so
+upset Mrs. Howe that she fainted away. It was eventually arranged that
+Dr. Rose and his wife, with the other guests who were then at supper,
+should accompany Mrs. Howe the following evening to the appointed
+spot. They had not long to wait before Mr. Howe appeared, who, after
+embracing his wife, walked home with her in the most matter-of-fact
+manner, the two living together in the most happy and harmonious
+manner till death divided them.
+
+The reason of this mysterious disappearance, Mr. Howe would never
+explain, but Dr. Rose often maintained that he believed his brother
+would never have returned to his wife had not the money which he took
+with him--supposed to have been from one to two thousand pounds--been
+all spent. "Anyhow," he used to add, "Mr. Howe must have been a good
+economist, and frugal in his manner of living, otherwise the money
+would scarce have held out."
+
+A romance associated with Haigh Hall, in Lancashire, tells how Sir
+William Bradshaigh, stimulated by his love of travel and military
+ardour, set out for the Holy land. Ten years elapsed, and, as no
+tidings reached his wife of his whereabouts, it was generally supposed
+that he had perished in some religious crusade. Taking it for granted,
+therefore, that he was dead, his wife Mabel did not abandon herself
+to a life of solitary widowhood, but accepted an offer of marriage
+from a Welsh knight. But, not very long afterwards, Sir William
+Bradshaigh returned from his prolonged sojourn in the Holy land, and,
+disguised as a palmer, he visited his own castle, where he took his
+place amongst the recipients of Lady Mabel's bounty.
+
+As soon, however, as Lady Mabel caught sight of the palmer, she was
+struck by the strong resemblance he bore to her first husband; and
+this impression was quickly followed by bewilderment when the
+mysterious stranger handed to her a ring which he affirmed had been
+given him by Sir William, in his dying moments, to bear to his wife at
+Haigh Hall.
+
+In a moment Lady Mabel's thoughts travelled back into the distant
+past, and she burst into tears as the ring brought back the dear
+memories of bygone days. It was in vain she tried to stifle her
+feelings, and, as her second husband--the Welsh Knight--looked on and
+saw how distressed she was, "he grew," says the old record, "exceeding
+wroth," and, in a fit of jealous passion, struck Lady Mabel.
+
+This ungallant act was the climax of the painful scene, for there and
+then Sir William threw aside his disguise, and hastened to revenge the
+unchivalrous conduct of the Welsh knight. Completely confounded at
+this unexpected turn of events, and fearing violence from Sir
+William, the Welsh knight rode off at full speed, without waiting for
+any explanation of the matter. But he was overtaken very speedily and
+slain by his opponent, an offence for which Sir William was outlawed
+for a year and a day; while Mabel, his wife, "was enjoined by her
+confessor to do penance by going once every week, barefoot and bare
+legged, to a cross near Wigan, popularly known as Mab's Cross.[49]
+
+In Wigan Parish Church, two figures of whitewashed stone preserve the
+memory of Sir William Bradshaigh and his Lady Mabel, he in an antique
+coat of mail, cross-legged, with his sword, partly drawn from the
+scabbard, by his left side, and she in a long robe, veiled, her hands
+elevated and conjoined in the attitude of fervent prayer. Sir Walter
+Scott informs us that from this romance he adopted his idea of "The
+Betrothed," "from the edition preserved in the mansion of Haigh Hall,
+of old the mansion house of the family of Bradshaigh, now possessed by
+their descendants on the female side, the Earls of Balcarres."[50]
+
+[Illustration: LADY MABEL AND THE PALMER.]
+
+Scottish tradition ascribes to the Clan of Tweedie a descent of a
+similar romantic nature. A baron, somewhat elderly, had wedded a buxom
+young wife, but some months after their union he left her to ply the
+distaff among the mountains of the county of Peebles, near the sources
+of the Tweed. After being absent seven or eight years--no uncommon
+space for a pilgrimage to Palestine--he returned, and found, to quote
+the account given by Sir Walter Scott, "his family had not been lonely
+in his absence, the lady having been cheered by the arrival of a
+stranger who hung on her skirts and called her mammy, and was just
+such as the baron would have longed to call his son, but that he could
+by no means make his age correspond with his own departure for
+Palestine. He applied, therefore, to his wife for the solution of the
+dilemma, who, after many floods of tears, informed her husband that,
+walking one day along the banks of the river, a human form arose from
+a deep eddy, termed Tweed-pool, who deigned to inform her that he was
+the tutelar genius of the stream, and he became the father of the
+sturdy fellow whose appearance had so much surprised her husband."
+After listening to this strange adventure, "the husband believed, or
+seemed to believe, the tale, and remained contented with the child
+with whom his wife and the Tweed had generously presented him. The
+only circumstance which preserved the memory of the incident was that
+the youth retained the name of Tweed or Tweedie." Having bred up the
+young Tweed as his heir while he lived, the baron left him in that
+capacity when he died, "and the son of the river-god founded the
+family of Drummelzier and others, from whom have flowed, in the phrase
+of the Ettrick shepherd, 'many a brave fellow, and many a bauld
+feat.'"
+
+It may be added that, in some instances, the science of the medical
+jurist has aided in elucidating the history of disappearances, through
+identifying the discovered remains with the presumed missing subjects.
+Some years ago, the examination of a skeleton found deeply imbedded in
+the sand of the sea-coast at a certain Scotch watering-place showed
+that the person when living must have walked with a very peculiar and
+characteristic gait, in consequence of some deposits of a rheumatic
+kind which affected the lower part of the spine. The mention of this
+circumstance caused a search to be made through some old records of
+the town, and resulted in the discovery of a mysterious disappearance,
+which, at the time, had been duly noted--the subject being a person
+whose mode of walking had made him an object of attention, and whose
+fate, but for the observant eye of the anatomist, must have remained
+wholly unknown. Similarly, it has been pointed out how skeletons found
+in mines, in disused wells, in quarries, in the walls of ruins, and
+various other localities "imply so many social mysteries which
+probably occasioned in their day a wide-spread excitement, or at least
+agitated profoundly some small circle of relatives or friends."
+According to the "Annual Register" (1845, p. 195), while some men were
+being employed in taking the soil from the bottom of the river in
+front of some mills a human skeleton was accidentally found. At a
+coroner's inquest, it transpired that about nine years before a Jew
+whose name was said to be Abrams, visited Taverham in the course of
+his business, sold some small articles for which he gave credit to the
+purchasers, and left the neighbourhood on his way to Drayton, the next
+village, with a sum of £90 in his possession. But at Drayton he
+disappeared, and never returned to Taverham to claim the amount due to
+him.
+
+Search was made for the missing man, but to no purpose, and after the
+excitement in the neighbourhood had abated, the matter was soon
+forgotten. But some time afterwards a man named Page was apprehended
+for sheep stealing, tried, and sentenced to be transported for life.
+During his imprisonment, he told divers stories of robberies and
+crimes, most of which turned out to be false. But, amongst other
+things, he wrote a letter promising that if he were released from gaol
+and brought to Cossey, "he would show them that, from under the willow
+tree, which would make every hair in their heads rise up." The man was
+not released, but the river was drawn, and some sheep's skins and
+sheep's heads were found, which were considered to be the objects
+alluded to by Page. The search, however, was still pursued, and from
+under the willow tree the skeleton was fished up, evidently having
+been fastened down. It was generally supposed that these were the
+bones of the long lost Jew, who, no doubt, had been murdered for the
+money on his person--a crime of which Page was aware, if he were not
+an accomplice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[47] See "Romantic Records of the Aristocracy," 1850, I., 83-87.
+
+[48] See "Dict. of Nat. Biog.," VIII., 418-420; Caulfield's "Remarkable
+Persons," and Gent. Mag., 1753 and 1754.
+
+[49] Sir B. Burke's "Vicissitudes of Families," first series, 270-273.
+Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 45-47. Roby's "Traditions of
+Lancashire."
+
+[50] The tale of the noble Moringer is, in some respects, almost
+identical with this tradition. It exists in a collection of German
+popular songs, and is supposed to be extracted from a manuscript
+"Chronicle of Nicholas Thomann, Chaplain to St. Leonard in
+Weissenhorn," and dated 1533.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HONOURED HEARTS.
+
+    "I will ye charge, after that I depart
+    To holy grave, and thair bury my heart,
+    Let it remaine ever bothe tyme and hour,
+    To ye last day I see my Saviour."
+               --Old ballad quoted in Sir Walter Scott's notes
+                 to "Marmion."
+
+
+A curious and remarkable custom which prevailed more or less down to
+the present century was that of heart burial. In connection with this
+strange practice numerous romantic stories are told, the supreme
+regard for the heart as the source of the affections, having caused it
+to be bequeathed by a relative or friend, in times past, as the most
+tender and valuable legacy. In many cases, too, the heart, being more
+easy to transport, was removed from some distant land to the home of
+the deceased, and hence it found a resting place, apart from the body,
+in a locality endeared by past associations.
+
+Westminster Abbey, it may be remembered, contains the hearts of many
+illustrious personages. The heart of Queen Elizabeth was buried there,
+and it is related how a prying Westminster boy one day, discovering
+the depositories of the hearts of Elizabeth and her sister, Queen
+Mary, subsequently boasted how he had grasped in his hand those once
+haughty hearts. Prince Henry of Wales, son of James I., who died at
+the early age of eighteen, was interred in Westminster Abbey, his
+heart being enclosed in lead and placed upon his breast, and among
+further royal personages whose hearts were buried in a similar manner
+may be mentioned Charles II., William and Mary, George, Prince of
+Denmark, and Queen Anne.
+
+The heart of Edward, Lord Bruce, was enclosed in a silver case, and
+deposited in the abbey church of Culross, near the family seat. In the
+year 1808, this sad relic was discovered by Sir Robert Preston, the
+lid of the silver case bearing on the exterior the name of the
+unfortunate duellist; and, after drawings had been taken of it, the
+whole was carefully replaced in the vault; and in St. Nicholas's
+Chapel, Westminster, was enshrined the heart of Esme Stuart, Duke of
+Richmond, where a monument to his memory is still to be seen with this
+fact inscribed upon it.
+
+Many interesting instances of heart burial are to be found in our
+parish churches. In the church of Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, which
+was once the seat of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a nameless black marble
+monument is pointed out as that of Anne Boleyn. According to a popular
+tradition long current in the neighbourhood, this is said to have
+contained the head, or heart. "It is within a narrow seat," writes
+Miss Strickland, "and may have contained her head, or her heart, for
+it is too short to contain a body. The oldest people in the
+neighbourhood all declare that they have heard the tradition in their
+youth from a previous generation of aged persons, who all affirm it to
+be Anne Boleyn's monument." But, it would seem, there has always been
+a mysterious uncertainty about Anne Boleyn's burial place, and a
+correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (October, 1815), speaks of
+"the headless remains of the departed queen, as deposited in the arrow
+chest and buried in the Tower Chapel before the high altar. Where that
+stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of more than 300
+years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related
+by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar, the body of a
+person of short stature, without a head, not many years since, was
+found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anne, but soon after it
+was reinterred in the same place and covered with earth."[51]
+
+By her testament, Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, wife of Edward, Duke
+of Buckingham, who was beheaded on May 17th, 1521, appointed her heart
+to be buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within the City of
+London; and in the Sackville Vault, in Withyam Church, Sussex, is a
+curiously shaped leaden box in the form of a heart, on a brass plate
+attached to which is this inscription: "The heart of Isabella,
+Countess of Northampton, died on October 14th, 1661." A leaden drum
+deposited in a vault in the church of Brington is generally supposed
+to contain the head of Henry Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, who received
+his death wound at the battle of Newbury; and at Wells Cathedral, in a
+box of copper, a heart was accidentally discovered, supposed to be
+that of one of the bishops; and in the family vault of the
+Hungerfords, at Farley Castle, a heart was one day found in a glazed
+earthenware pot, covered with white leather. The widow of John Baliol,
+father of Bruce's rival, showed her affection for her dead lord in a
+strange way, for she embalmed his heart, placed it in an ivory casket,
+and during her twenty years of widowhood she never sat down to meals
+without this silent reminder of happier days. On her death, she left
+instructions for her husband's heart to be laid on her bosom, and from
+that day "New Abbey" was known as Sweet Heart Abbey, and "never," it
+is said, "did abbey walls shelter a sweeter, truer heart than that of
+the lady of Barnard Castle."
+
+Among the many instances of heart-bequests may be noticed that of
+Edward I., who on his death-bed expressed a wish to his son that his
+heart might be sent to Palestine, inasmuch as after his accession he
+had promised to return to Jerusalem, and aid the crusade which was
+then in a depressed condition. But, unfortunately, owing to his wars
+with Scotland, he failed to fulfil his engagement, and at his death he
+provided two thousand pounds of silver for an expedition to convey his
+heart thither, "trusting that God would accept this fulfilment of his
+vow, and grant his blessing on the undertaking"; at the same time
+imprecating "eternal damnation on any who should expend the money for
+any other purpose." But his injunction was not performed.
+
+Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, the avowed foe of Edward I., also gave
+directions to his trusted friend, Sir James Douglas, that his heart
+should be buried in the Holy Land, because he had left unfulfilled a
+vow to assist in the Crusade, but his wish was frustrated owing to the
+following tragic occurrence. After the king's death, his heart was
+taken from his body, and, enclosed in a silver case, was worn by Sir
+James Douglas suspended to his neck, who set out for the Holy Land. On
+reaching Spain, he found the King of Castile engaged in war with the
+Moors, and thinking any contest with Saracens consistent with his
+vows, he joined the Spaniards against the Moors. But being overpowered
+by the enemy's horsemen, in desperation he took the heart from his
+neck, and threw it before him, shouting aloud, "Pass on as thou wert
+wont, I will follow or die." He was almost immediately struck down,
+and under his body was found the heart of Bruce, which was intrusted
+to the charge of Sir Simon Locard of Lee, who conveyed it back to
+Scotland, and interred it beneath the high altar in Melrose Abbey, in
+connection with which Mrs. Hemans wrote some spirited lines:--
+
+    Heart! thou didst press forward still
+    When the trumpet's note rang shrill,
+    Where the knightly swords were crossing
+    And the plumes like sea-foam tossing.
+    Leader of the charging spear,
+    Fiery heart--and liest thou here?
+    May this narrow spot inurn
+    Aught that so could heat and burn?
+
+The heart of Richard, the Lion-hearted, has had a somewhat eventful
+history. It seems that this monarch bequeathed his heart to Rouen, as
+a lasting recognition of the constancy of his Norman subjects. The
+honour was gratefully acknowledged, and in course of time a beautiful
+shrine was erected to his memory in the cathedral. But this costly
+structure did not escape being destroyed in the year 1738 with other
+Plantagenet memorials. A hundred years afterwards the mutilated effigy
+of Richard was discovered under the cathedral pavement, and near it
+the leaden casket that had inclosed his heart, which was replaced.
+Before long it was taken up again, and removed to the Museum of
+Antiquities, where it remained until the year 1869, when it found a
+more fitting resting-place in the choir of the cathedral.
+
+James II. bequeathed his heart to be buried in the Church of the
+Convent Dames de St. Marie, at Chaillot, whence it was afterwards
+removed to the chapel of the English Benedictines in the Faubourg St.
+Jacques. And the heart of Mary Beatrice, his wife, was also bequeathed
+to the Monastery of Chaillot, in perpetuity, "to be placed in the
+tribune beside those of her late husband, King James, and the
+Princess, their daughter." Dr. Richard Rawlinson, the well known
+antiquary bequeathed his heart to St. John's College, Oxford; and
+Edward, Lord Windsor, of Bradenham, Bucks, who died at Spa in the year
+1754, directed that his body should be buried in the "Cathedral church
+of the noble city of Liege, with a convenient tomb to his memory, but
+his heart to be enclosed in lead and sent to England, there to be
+buried in the chapel of Bradenham, under his father's tomb, in token
+of a true Englishman."
+
+Paul Whitehead, who died in the year 1774, left his heart to his
+friend Lord le Despencer, to be deposited in his mausoleum at West
+Wycombe. Lord le Despencer accepted the bequest, and on the 16th May,
+1775, the heart, after being wrapped in lead and placed in a marble
+urn, was carried with much ceremony to its resting place. Preceding
+the bier bearing the urn, "a grenadier marched in full uniform, nine
+grenadiers two deep, the odd one last; two German flute players, two
+surpliced choristers with notes pinned to their backs, two more flute
+players, eleven singing men in surplices, two French horn players, two
+bassoon players, six fifers, and four drummers with muffled drums.
+Lord le Despencer, as chief mourner, followed the bier, in his uniform
+as Colonel of the Bucks Militia, and was succeeded by nine officers of
+the same corps, two fifers, two drummers, and twenty soldiers with
+their firelocks reversed. The Dead March in "Saul" was played, the
+church bell tolled, and cannons were discharged every three and a half
+minutes." On arriving at the mausoleum, another hour was spent by the
+procession in going round and round it, singing funeral dirges, after
+which the urn containing the heart was carried inside, and placed upon
+a pedestal bearing the name of Paul Whitehead, and these lines:
+
+    Unhallowed hands, this urn forbear;
+      No gems, no Orient spoil,
+    Lie here concealed; but what's more rare,
+      A heart that knew no guile.
+
+But in the year 1829 some unhallowed hand stole the urn, and the
+whereabouts of Whitehead's heart remains a mystery to the present day.
+In recent times an interesting case of heart burial was that of Lord
+Byron, whose heart was enclosed in a silver urn and placed at Newstead
+Abbey in the family vault; and another was that of the poet, Shelley,
+whose body, according to Italian custom after drowning, was burnt to
+ashes. But the heart would not consume, and so was deposited in the
+English burying ground at Rome.
+
+It is worthy, too, of note that heart burial prevailed to a very large
+extent on the Continent. To mention a few cases, the heart of Philip,
+King of Navarre, was buried in the Jacobin's Church, Paris, and that
+of Philip, King of France, at the convent of the Carthusians at
+Bourgfontaines, in Valois. The heart of Henri II., King of France, was
+enshrined in an urn of gilt bronze in the Celestins, Paris; that of
+Henri III., according to Camden, was enclosed in a small tomb, and
+Henri IV.'s heart was buried in the College of the Jesuits at La
+Fleche. Heart burial, again, was practised at the deaths of Louis IX.,
+XII., XIII., and XIV., and in the last instance was the occasion of an
+imposing ceremony. "The heart of this great monarch," writes Miss
+Hartshorne, "was carried to the Convent of the Jesuits. A procession
+was arranged by the Cardinal de Rohan, and, surrounded by flaming
+torches and escorted by a company of the Royal Guards, the heart
+arrived at the convent, where it was received by the rector, who
+pronounced over it an eloquent and striking discourse."
+
+The heart of Marie de Medicis, who built the magnificent palace of the
+Luxembourg, was interred at the Church of the Jesuits, in Paris; and
+that of Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV., was deposited in a silver
+case in the monastery of Val de Grace. The body of Gustavus Adolphus,
+the illustrious monarch who fell in the field of Lutzen, was embalmed,
+and his heart received sepulchre at Stockholm; and, as is well known,
+the heart of Cardinal Mazarin was, by his own desire, sent to the
+Church of the Theatins. And Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV.,
+directed in her will that her body should be buried at St. Denis near
+to her husband, "of glorious memory," but her heart she bequeathed to
+Val de Grace; and she also decreed that it should be drawn out through
+her side without making any further opening than was absolutely
+necessary. Instances such as these show the prevalence of the custom
+of heart burial in bygone times, a further proof of which may be
+gathered from the innumerable effigies or brasses in which a heart
+holds a prominent place.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[51] See Timbs' "Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England," i., p.
+300; and "Enshrined Hearts of Warriors and Illustrious People," by
+Emily Sophia Hartshorne, 1861.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+ROMANCE OF WEALTH.
+
+        The unsunn'd heaps
+    Of miser's treasure.
+               MILTON.
+
+
+Stories of lost or unclaimed property have always possessed a
+fascinating charm, but, unfortunately, the links for proving the
+rightful ownership break off generally at the point where its history
+seems on the verge of being unravelled. At the same time, however
+romantic and improbable some of the announcements relating to such
+treasure-hoards may seem, there is no doubt that many a poor family,
+at the present day, would be possessed of great wealth if it could
+only gain a clue to the whereabouts of money rightfully its own.
+
+The legal identification, too, of such property when discovered has
+frequently precluded its successfully being claimed by those really
+entitled to enjoy it, and few persons are aware of the enormous amount
+of unclaimed money--amounting to some millions--which lies dormant,
+although continually made public in the "agony columns" of the _Times_
+and other daily newspapers. It should be also remembered that wealth
+of this kind is carefully preserved in all kinds of places; bankers'
+cellars, for instance, containing some of the most curious unclaimed
+deposits, many of them being of rare intrinsic value, whilst others
+are of great romantic interest.
+
+Thus, not many years ago, there was accidentally discovered in the
+vaults of the Bank of England a large chest of some considerable age,
+which, on being removed from its resting place, almost fell to pieces.
+On the contents of this old chest being examined, some massive plate
+of the time of Charles II. was brought to light, of very beautiful and
+chaste workmanship. Nor was this all, for much to the surprise of the
+explorers, a bundle of love letters, written during the period of the
+Restoration, was found carefully packed away with the plate. On search
+being made by the directors of the bank in their books, the surviving
+heir of the original depositor was ascertained, to whom the plate and
+packet of love letters were handed over.
+
+Many similar cases might be quoted, for in most of our bank cellars
+are hoarded away family treasures, which for some inexplicable reason
+have never been claimed. Some, again, of our old jewellers' shops have
+had strange deposits in their cellars, the history and whereabouts of
+their owners having baffled the most searching and minute inquiries.
+As an illustration, may be given an instance which occurred some years
+back in connection with a jeweller's shop near Soho. It seems that an
+old lady lodged for a few weeks over the said shop, and, on leaving
+for the Continent, left behind her, for safety's sake, several boxes
+of plate to be taken care of until further notice. But years passed by
+and no tidings of the lady reached the jeweller, although from time to
+time the most careful inquiries were instituted. At last, however, it
+transpired that she had died somewhat suddenly, but, as no record was
+found amongst her papers relating to the boxes of plate, a lengthened
+litigation arose as to the rightful claimant of the property.
+
+Occasionally, through domestic differences, homes are broken up and
+the members dispersed, some perhaps going abroad. In many cases, such
+persons it may be are not only lost sight of for years, but are never
+heard of again, and hence, when they become entitled to money, large
+sums are frequently spent in advertising for their whereabouts, and
+oftentimes with no satisfactory results. Indeed, advertisements for
+missing relatives are, it is said, yearly on the increase, and
+considerable sums of money cannot be touched owing to the uncertainty
+as to whether persons of this description are alive or dead. An
+interesting instance occurred in the year 1882, when Sir James Hannen
+had the following case brought before him: "Counsel applied on behalf
+of Augustus Alexander de Niceville for letters of administration to
+the property of his father, supposed to be dead, as he had not been
+heard of since the year 1831, and who, if alive, would be 105 years
+old. In early life he held a commission in the French army, but in the
+year 1826 he came to this country and settled in Devonshire. On the
+breaking out of the French Revolution he returned with his wife to
+France, but his wife came back to England, and corresponded with her
+husband till the year 1831, when she ceased to hear from him. In spite
+of every means employed for tracing his whereabouts, nothing was ever
+heard of him, his wife dying in the year 1875. Affidavits in support
+of these facts having been read, the application was granted."
+
+Then there are the well-known unclaimed funds in Chancery, concerning
+which so much interest attaches. It may not be generally known what a
+mine of wealth these dormant funds constitute, amounting to many
+millions; indeed, the Royal Courts of Justice have been mainly built
+with the surplus interest of this money, and occasionally large sums
+from this fund have been borrowed to enable the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer to carry through his financial operations. By an Act passed
+in the year 1865, facilities are afforded to apply £1,000,000 from
+funds standing in the books of the Bank of England to an account thus
+designated: "Account of securities purchased with surplus interest
+arising from securities carried to the account of moneys placed out
+for the benefit and better security of the suitors of the Court of
+Chancery." Not so very long ago the subject was discussed in
+Parliament, when it was urged that, as the Government were trustees of
+these funds, something should be done, as far as possible, by
+publicity, to adopt measures whereby the true owners might become
+claimants if they had but the knowledge of their rights.
+
+Another reason for money remaining unclaimed for a number of years, is
+through missing wills. Hence many a family forfeits its claim to
+certain property on account of the testator's last wishes not being
+forthcoming. Thackeray makes one of his plots hang in a most ingenious
+way upon a missing will, which is discovered eventually in the
+sword-box of a family coach, and various curious instances are on
+record of wills having been discovered years after the testator's
+death in the most out-of-the-way and unlikely hiding places. In some
+cases, also, through a particular clause in a will being peculiarly or
+doubtfully worded, heirs have been deprived of what was really due to
+them, a goodly part of the property having been squandered and wasted
+in prolonged legal expenses.
+
+Then, again, it is universally acknowledged that there is an immense
+quantity of money, and other valuables, concealed in the earth. In
+olden days, the householder was the guardian of his own money, and so
+had to conceal it as his ingenuity could devise. Accordingly large
+sums of money were frequently buried underground, and in excavating
+old houses, treasures of various kinds are oftentimes found underneath
+the floors. The custom of making the earth a stronghold, and confiding
+to its safe-keeping deposits of money, prevailed until a comparatively
+recent period, and was only natural, when it is remembered how, in
+consequence of civil commotions, many a home was likely to be robbed
+of its most valuable belongings. Hence every precaution was taken, a
+circumstance which accounts for the cunning secretal of rich and
+costly relics in old buildings. According to an entry given by Pepys
+in his "Diary," a large amount was supposed to be buried in his day,
+and he gives an amusing account of the hiding of his own money by his
+wife and father when the Dutch fleet was supposed to be in the Medway.
+Times of trouble, therefore, will account for many of the treasures
+which were so carefully secreted in olden times. Many years ago, as
+the foundations of some old houses in Exeter were being removed, a
+large collection of silver coins was discovered--the money found
+dating from the time of Henry VIII. to Charles I., or the
+Commonwealth--and it has been suggested that the disturbed state of
+affairs in the middle of the 17th century led to this mode of securing
+treasure.
+
+This will account in some measure for the traditions of the existence
+of large sums of hidden money associated with some of our old family
+mansions. An amusing story is related by Thomas of Walsingham, which
+dates as far back as the 14th century. A certain Saracen physician
+came to Earl Warren to ask permission to kill a dragon which had its
+den at Bromfield, near Ludlow, and committed great ravages in the
+earl's lands. The dragon was overcome; but it transpired that a large
+treasure lay hid in its den. Thereupon some men of Herefordshire went
+by night to dig for the gold, and had just succeeded in reaching it
+when the retainers of the Earl of Warren, having learnt what was going
+on, captured them and took possession of the hoard for the earl. A
+legend of this kind was long connected with Hulme Hall, formerly a
+seat of a branch of the Prestwich family. It seems that during the
+civil wars its then owner, Sir Thomas Prestwich, was very much
+impoverished by fines and sequestrations, so that he was forced to
+sell the mansion and estate to Sir Oswald Mosley. On more than one
+occasion his mother had induced him to advance large sums of money to
+Charles I. and his adherents, under the assurance that she had hidden
+treasures which would amply repay him. This hoard was generally
+supposed to have been hidden, either in the hall itself, or in the
+grounds adjoining, and it was said to be protected by spells and
+incantations, known only to the lady dowager herself. Time passed on,
+and the old lady became every day more infirm, and at last she was
+struck down with apoplexy before she could either practise the
+requisite incantations, or inform her son where the treasure was
+secreted. After her burial, diligent search was made, but to no
+effect; and Sir Thomas Prestwich went down to the grave in comparative
+poverty. Since that period fortune-tellers and astrologers have tried
+their powers to discover the whereabouts of this hidden hoard, and,
+although they have been unsuccessful, it is still believed that one
+day their labours will be rewarded, and that the demons who guard the
+money will be forced to give up their charge. Some years ago the hall
+and estate were sold to the Duke of Bridgewater, and, the site having
+been required for other purposes, the hall was pulled down, but no
+money was discovered.
+
+In Ireland, there are few old ruins in and about which excavations
+have not been made in the expectation of discovering hidden wealth,
+and in some instances the consequence of this belief has been the
+destruction of the building, which has been actually undermined. About
+three miles south of Cork, near the village of Douglas, is a hill
+called Castle Treasure, where a "cross of gold" was supposed to be
+concealed; and the discovery, some years ago, of a rudely-formed clay
+urn and two or three brazen implements attracted for some time crowds
+to the spot.
+
+But such stories are not confined to any special locality, and there
+is, in most parts of England, a popular belief that vast treasures are
+hidden beneath the old ruins of many houses, and that supernatural
+obstacles always prevent their being discovered. Indeed, Scotland has
+numerous legends of this kind, some of which, as Mr. Chambers has
+pointed out, have been incorporated into its popular rhymes. Thus, on
+a certain farm in the parish of Lesmahagow, from time immemorial there
+existed a tradition that underneath a very large stone was secreted a
+vast treasure in the shape of a kettleful, a bootful, and a bull-hide
+full "of gold, all of which have been designated 'Katie Neevie's
+hoord,'" having given rise to the following adage:
+
+    Between Dillerhill and Crossford
+    There lies Katie Neevie's hoord.
+
+And at Fardell, anciently the seat of Sir Walter Raleigh's family, in
+the courtyard formerly stood an inscribed bilingual stone of the Roman
+British period; the stone is now in the British Museum. The tradition
+current in the neighbourhood makes the inscription refer to a treasure
+buried by Sir Walter Raleigh, and hence the local rhyme:
+
+    Between this stone and Fardell Hall
+    Lies as much money as the devil can haul.
+
+A curious incident happened in Ireland about the commencement of the
+last century. The Bishop of Derry being at dinner, there came in an
+old Irish harper, and sang an ancient song to his harp. The Bishop,
+not being acquainted with Irish, was at a loss to understand the
+meaning of the song, but on inquiry he ascertained the substance of it
+to be this--that in a certain spot a man of gigantic stature lay
+buried, and that over his breast and back were plates of pure gold,
+and on his fingers rings of gold so large that an ordinary man might
+creep through them. The spot was so exactly described that two persons
+actually went in quest of the garden treasure. After they had dug for
+some time, they discovered two thin pieces of gold, circular, and more
+than two inches in diameter. But when they renewed their excavations
+on the following morning they found nothing more. The song of the
+harper has been identified as "Moiva Borb," and the lines which
+suggested the remarkable discovery have been translated thus:
+
+    In earth, beside the loud cascade,
+    The son of Sora's king we laid;
+    And on each finger placed a ring
+    Of gold, by mandate of our king.
+
+The loud cascade was the well-known waterfall at Ballyshannon, known
+as "The Salmon Leap" now.
+
+[Illustration: THERE CAME IN AN OLD IRISH HARPER AND SANG AN
+ANCIENT SONG TO HIS HARP.]
+
+It was also a common occurrence for a miser to hide away his hoards
+underground, and before he had an opportunity of making known their
+whereabouts he died, without his heirs being put in the necessary
+possession of the information regarding that part of the earth wherein
+he had kept secreted his wealth. At different times, in old houses
+have been discovered misers' hoards, and which, but for some accident,
+would have remained buried in their forgotten resting-place. This
+will frequently account for money being found in the most eccentric
+nooks, an illustration of which happened a few years ago in Paris,
+when a miser died, leaving behind him, as was supposed, money to the
+value of sixty pounds. After some months had passed by, the claimant
+to the property made his appearance, and, on the miser's apartments
+being thoroughly searched, no small astonishment was caused by the
+discovery of the large sum of thirty-two thousand pounds. It may be
+noted that in former years our forefathers were extremely fond of
+hiding away their money for safety, making use of the chimney, or the
+wainscot or skirting-board. There it frequently remained; and such
+depositories of the family wealth were occasionally, from death and
+other causes, completely forgotten. In one of Hogarth's well-known
+pictures, the young spendthrift, who has just come into his
+inheritance, is being measured by a fashionable tailor, when, from
+behind the panels which the builders are ripping down, is seen falling
+a perfect shower of golden money.
+
+There can be no doubt that there is many an old house in this country
+which, if thoroughly ransacked, would be found to contain treasures of
+the most valuable and costly kind. Some years ago, for example, a
+collection of pictures was discovered at Merton College, Oxford,
+hidden away between the ceiling and the roof; and missing deeds have
+from time to time been discovered located in all sorts of mysterious
+nooks. In a set of rooms in Magdalen College, too, which had been
+originally occupied by one of the Fellows, and had subsequently been
+abandoned and devoted to lumber, was unearthed a strong wooden box,
+containing, together with some valuable articles of silver plate, a
+beautiful loving-cup, with a cover of pure gold. When, also, the
+Vicarage house of Ormesby, in Yorkshire, required reparation, some
+stonework had to be removed in order to carry out the necessary
+alterations, in the course of which a small box was found, measuring
+about a foot square, which had been embedded in the wall. The box,
+when opened, was full of angels, angelets, and nobles. Some of the
+money was of the reign of Edward IV., some of Henry VI., and some,
+too, of the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. It has been suggested
+that when Henry VIII. dissolved the lesser monasteries, the monks of
+Guisboro' Priory, which was only about six miles off, fearing the
+worst, fled with their treasures, and, with the craft and cunning
+peculiar to their order, buried a portion of them in the walls of the
+parsonage house of Ormesby.[52]
+
+To quote another case, Dunsford, in his "Memories of Tiverton" (1790),
+p. 285, speaking of the village of Chettiscombe, says that in the
+middle of the 16th century, in the north part of this village was "a
+chapel entire, dedicated to St. Mary. The walls and roof are still
+whole, and served some years past for a dwelling-house, but is now
+uninhabited." It appears that not only was there some superstition
+attaching to this building, which accounted for its untenanted
+condition, but certain money was supposed to be hidden away, to
+discover which every attempt had hitherto been in vain. "It was
+therefore proposed," says the author, "that some person should lodge
+in the chapel for a night to obtain preternatural information
+respecting it. Two persons at length complied with the request to do
+so, and, aided by strong beer, approached about nine o'clock the
+hallowed walls. They trembled exceedingly at the sudden appearance of
+a white owl that flew from a broken window with the message that
+considerable wealth lay in certain fields, that if they would
+diligently dig there, they would undoubtedly find it." They quickly
+attended to this piece of information, and employed a body of workmen
+who, before long, succeeded in bringing to light the missing money.
+
+A similar tradition was associated with Bransil Castle, a stronghold
+of great antiquity, situated in a romantic position about two miles
+from the Herefordshire Beacon. The story goes that the ghost of Lord
+Beauchamp, who died in Italy, could never rest until his bones were
+delivered to the right heir of Bransil Castle. Accordingly, they were
+sent from Italy enclosed in a small box, and were for a considerable
+time in the possession of Mr. Sheldon, of Abberton. The tradition
+further states that the old Castle of Bransil was moated round, and in
+that moat a black crow, presumed to be an infernal spirit, sat to
+guard a chest of money, till discovered by the rightful owner. The
+chest could never be moved without the mover being in possession of
+the bones of Lord Beauchamp.
+
+Such stories of hidden wealth being watched over by phantom beings are
+not uncommon, and remind us of those anecdotes of treasures concealed
+at the bottom of wells, guarded over by the "white ladies." In
+Shropshire, there is an old buried well of this kind, at the bottom of
+which a large hoard has long been supposed to lie hidden, or as a
+local rhyme expresses it:
+
+    Near the brook of Bell
+    There is a well
+    Which is richer than any man can tell.
+
+In the South of Scotland it is the popular belief that vast treasures
+have for many a year past been concealed beneath the ruins of
+Hermitage Castle; but, as they are supposed to be in the keeping of
+the Evil One, they are considered beyond redemption. At different
+times various efforts have been made to dig for them, yet "somehow the
+elements always on such occasions contrived to produce an immense
+storm of thunder and lightning, and deterred the adventurers from
+proceeding, otherwise, of course the money would long ago have been
+found." And to give another of these strange family legends, may be
+quoted one told of Stokesay Castle, Shropshire. It seems that many
+years ago all the country in the neighbourhood of Stokesay belonged to
+two giants, who lived the one upon View Edge, and the other at Norton
+Camp. The story commonly current is that "they kept all their money
+locked up in a big oak chest in the vaults under Stokesay Castle, and
+when either of them wanted any of it he just took the key and got
+some. But one day one of them wanted the key, and the other had got
+it, so he shouted to him to throw it over as they had been in the
+habit of doing, and he went to throw it, but somehow he made a mistake
+and threw too short, and dropped the key into the moat down by the
+Castle, where it has remained ever since. And the chest of treasure
+stands in the vaults still, but no one can approach it, for there is a
+big raven always sitting on the top of it, and he won't allow anybody
+to try and break it open, so no one will ever be able to get the
+giants' treasure until the key is found, and many say it never will be
+found, let folks try as much as they please."[53]
+
+Amongst further reasons for the hiding away of money, may be noticed
+eccentricity of character, or mental delusion, a singular instance of
+which occurred some years ago. It appears that whilst some workmen
+were grubbing up certain tree at Tufnell Park, near Highgate, they
+came upon two jars, containing nearly four hundred pounds in gold.
+This they divided, and shortly afterwards, when the lord of the manor
+claimed the whole as treasure trove, the real owner suddenly made his
+appearance. In the course of inquiry, it transpired that he was a
+brassfounder, living at Clerkenwell, and having been about nine months
+before under a temporary delusion, he one night secreted the jars in a
+field at Tufnell Park. On proving the truth of his statement, the
+money was refunded to him.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] "Journal of the Archæological Association," 1859, Vol. xv., p.
+104.
+
+[53] "Shropshire Folklore" (Miss Jackson), 7, 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+LUCKY ACCIDENTS.
+
+    "As the unthought-on accident is guilty
+    Of what we wildly do, so we profess
+    Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
+    Of every wind that blows."
+               "Winter's Tale," Act iv., Sc. 3.
+
+
+Pascal, one day, remarked that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter
+the whole face of the world would probably have been changed. The same
+idea may be applied to the unforeseen advantages produced by
+accidents, some of which have occasionally had not a little to do with
+determining the future position in life of many eminent men. Prevented
+from pursuing the sphere in this world they had intended, compulsory
+leisure compelled them to adopt some hobby as a recreation, in which,
+unconsciously, their real genius lay.
+
+Thus David Allan, popularly known as the "Scottish Hogarth," owed his
+fame and success in life to an accident. When a boy, having burnt his
+foot, he amused the monotony of his leisure hours by drawing on the
+floor with a piece of chalk--a mode of passing his time which soon
+obtained an extraordinary fascination for him. On returning to school,
+he drew a caricature of his schoolmaster punishing a pupil, which
+caused him to be summarily expelled. But, despite this punishment, his
+success as an artist was decided, the caricature being considered so
+clever that he was sent to Glasgow to study art, where he was
+apprenticed in 1755 to Robert Foulis, a famous painter, who with his
+brother Andrew had secretly established an academy of arts in that
+city. Their kindness to him he was afterwards able to return when
+their fortunes were reversed.
+
+If Sir Walter Scott had not sprained his foot in running round the
+room when a child, the world would probably have had none of those
+works which have made his name immortal. When his son intimated a
+desire to enter the army, Sir Walter Scott wrote to Southey, "I have
+no title to combat a choice which would have been my own, had not my
+lameness prevented." In the same way, the effects of a fall when about
+a year old rendered Talleyrand lame for life, and being, on this
+account, unfit for a military career, he was obliged to renounce his
+birthright in favour of his second brother. But what seemed an
+obstacle to his future success was the very reverse, for, turning his
+attention to politics and books, he eventually became one of the
+leading diplomatists of his day. Again, Josiah Wedgwood was seized in
+his boyhood with an attack of smallpox, which was followed by a
+disease in the right knee, some years afterwards necessitating the
+amputation of the affected limb. But, as Mr. Gladstone, in his address
+on Wedgwood's life and work delivered at Burslem, Oct. 26th, 1863,
+remarked, the disease from which he suffered was, no doubt, the cause
+of his subsequent greatness, for "it prevented him from growing up to
+be the active, vigorous English workman, but it put upon him
+considering whether, as he could not be that, he might not be
+something else, and something greater. It drove him to meditate upon
+the laws and secrets of his art."
+
+Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. Being removed from school on
+account of his health, it appears that a cold caught in the summer of
+1660 while bathing, which produced a rheumatic affection of the
+joints, accompanied by other ailments. He became unable to walk to
+school, and he finally left in May, 1662. His self-training now began,
+and Sacroborco's "De Sphæra" was lent to him, with the perusal of
+which he was so pleased that he forthwith commenced a course of
+astronomic studies. Accordingly, he constructed a rude quadrant and
+calculated a table of the sun's altitudes, pursuing his studies, as he
+said himself, "under the discouragement of friends, the want of
+health, and all other instructors, except his better genius."[54]
+
+Alluding to accidents as sometimes developing greatness, Mr. Smiles
+remarks that Pope's satire was in a measure the outcome of his
+deformity; and Lord Byron's club foot, he adds, "had probably not a
+little to do with determining his destiny as a poet. Had not his mind
+been embittered, and made morbid by his deformity, he might never have
+written a line. But his misshapen foot stimulated his mind, roused his
+ardour, threw him upon his own resources, and we know with what
+result."
+
+Again, in numerous other ways, it has been remarked, accidents have
+taken a lucky turn, and, if not being the road to fortune, have had
+equally important results. The story is told of a young officer in the
+army of General Wolfe who was supposed to be dying of an abscess in
+the lungs. He was absent from his regiment on sick leave, but resolved
+to join it when a battle was expected, "for," said he, "since I am
+given over I had better be doing my duty, and my life's being
+shortened a few days matters not." He received a shot which pierced
+the abscess and made an opening for the discharge, the result being
+that he recovered and lived to eighty years of age.
+
+Brunel, the celebrated engineer, had a curious accident, which might
+have forfeited his life. While one day playing with his children and
+astonishing them by passing a half sovereign through his mouth out at
+his ear, he unfortunately swallowed the coin, which dropped into his
+windpipe. Brunel regarded the mischief caused by the accident as
+purely mechanical; a foreign body had got into his breathing
+apparatus, and must be removed, if at all, by some mechanical
+expedient. But he was equal to the emergency, and had an apparatus
+constructed which had the effect of relieving him of the coin. In
+after days he used to tell how, when his body was inverted, and he
+heard the gold piece strike against his upper front teeth, was,
+perhaps, the most exquisite moment in his whole life, the half
+sovereign having been in his windpipe for not less than six weeks.
+
+In the year 1784, William Pitt almost fell the victim to the folly of
+a festive meeting, for he was nearly accidentally shot as a
+highwayman. Returning late at night on horseback from Wimbledon to
+Addiscombe, together with Lord Thurlow, he found the turnpike gate
+between Tooting and Streatham thrown open. Both passed through it,
+regardless of the threats of the turnpike man, who, taking the two for
+highwaymen, discharged the contents of his blunderbuss at their backs;
+but, happily, no injury was done, and Pitt had the good fortune to
+escape from what might have been a very serious, if not fatal,
+accident. Foote, too, met with a bad accident on horseback, which, at
+the time, seemed a lasting obstacle to his career as an actor. Whilst
+riding with the Duke of York and some other noblemen, he was thrown
+from his horse and his leg broken, so that an amputation became
+necessary. In consequence of this accident, the Duke of York obtained
+for him the patent of the Haymarket Theatre for his life; but he
+continued to perform his former characters with no less agility and
+spirit than he had done before to the most crowded houses. Similarly,
+on one occasion--a very important one--Charles James Matthews was
+nearly prevented making his first appearance on the stage through
+being thrown from his horse, but, to quote his own words, "the
+excitement of the evening dominated all other feelings, and I walked
+for the time as well as ever."
+
+Some men, again, have owed their success to the accidents of others. A
+notable instance was that of Baron Ward, the well-known minister of
+the Duke of Parma. After working some time as a stable-boy in Howden,
+he went to London, where he had the good luck to come to the Duke of
+Parma's assistance after a fall from his horse in Rotten Row. The Duke
+took him back to Lucca as his groom, and ere long Ward made the ducal
+stud the envy of Italy. He soon rose to a higher position, and became
+the minister and confidential friend of the Duke of Parma, with whom
+he escaped in the year 1848 to Dresden, and for whom he succeeded in
+recovering Parma and Placenza. Indeed, Lord Palmerston once remarked,
+"Baron Ward was one of the most remarkable men I ever met with."
+
+It was through witnessing an accident that Sir Astley Cooper made up
+his final decision to take up surgery as his profession. A young man,
+having been run over by a cart, was in danger of dying from loss of
+blood, when young Cooper lost no time in tying his handkerchief about
+the wounded limb so as to stop the hemorrhage. It was this incident
+which assured him of his taste for surgery. In the same way, the story
+is quoted of the eminent French surgeon, Ambrose Paré. It is stated
+that he was acting as stable-boy to an abbé at Laval when a surgical
+operation was about to be performed on one of the brethren of the
+monastery. On being called in to assist, Ambrose Paré not only proved
+so useful, but was so fascinated with the operation that he made up
+his mind to devote his life to the study and practice of surgery.
+Instances of this kind might be enumerated, being of frequent
+occurrence in biographical literature, and showing to what unforeseen
+circumstances men have occasionally owed their greatness.
+
+A romance which, had it lacked corroborative evidence, would have
+seemed highly improbable, is told of the two Countesses of Kellie. In
+the latter half of the last century, Mr Gordon, the proprietor of
+Ardoch Castle--situated upon a high rock, overlooking the sea--was one
+evening aroused by the firing of a gun evidently from a vessel in
+distress near the shore. Hastening down to the beach, with the
+servants of the Castle, it was evident that the distressed vessel had
+gone down, as the floating spars but too clearly indicated. After
+looking out in vain for some time, in the hope of recovering some of
+the passengers--either dead or alive--he found a sort of crib, which
+had been washed ashore, containing a live infant. The little creature
+proved to be a female child, but beyond the fact that its wrappings
+pointed to its being the offspring of persons in no mean condition,
+there was no trace as to who these were.
+
+The little foundling was brought up with Mr. Gordon's own daughters,
+and when she had attained to womanhood, by an inexplicable
+coincidence, a storm similar to that just mentioned occurred. An
+alarm-gun was fired, and this time Mr. Gordon had the satisfaction of
+receiving a shipwrecked party, whom he at once made his guests at the
+Castle. Amongst them was one gentleman passenger, who after a
+comfortable night spent in the Castle, was surprised at breakfast by
+the entrance of a troop of blooming girls, the daughters of his host,
+as he understood, but one of whom specially attracted his attention.
+
+"Is this young lady your daughter, too?" he inquired of Mr. Gordon.
+
+"No," replied his host, "but she is as dear to me as if she were."
+
+He then related her history, to which the stranger listened with eager
+interest, and at its close he not a little surprised Mr. Gordon by
+remarking that he "had reason to believe that the young lady was his
+own niece." He then gave a detailed account of his sister's return
+from India, corresponding to the time of the shipwreck, and added,
+"she is now an orphan, but if I am not mistaken in my supposition, she
+is entitled to a handsome provision which her father bequeathed to her
+in the hope of her yet being found."
+
+Before many days had elapsed, sufficient evidence was forthcoming to
+prove that by this strange, but lucky, accident of the shipwreck, the
+long lost niece was found. The young heiress keenly felt leaving the
+old castle, but to soften the wrench it was arranged that one of the
+Misses Gordon should accompany her to Gottenburg, where her uncle had
+long been settled as a merchant.
+
+The sequel of this romance, as it is pointed out in the "Book of
+Days,"[55] is equally astonishing. It seems that among the Scotch
+merchants settled in the Swedish port, was Mr. Thomas Erskine--a
+younger son of a younger brother of Sir William Erskine, of Cambo, in
+Fife--an offshoot of the family of the Earl of Kellie--to whom Miss
+Anne Gordon was married in the year 1771. A younger brother, named
+Methven, ten years later married Joanna, a sister of Miss Gordon. It
+was never contemplated that these two brothers would ever come near to
+the peerage of their family--there being at one time seventeen persons
+between them and the family titles; but in the year 1797 the baronet
+of Cambo became Earl of Kellie, and two years later the title came to
+the husband of Anne Gordon. In short, "these two daughters of Mr.
+Gordon, of Ardoch, became in succession Countesses of Kellie in
+consequence of the incident of the shipwrecked foundling, whom their
+father's humanity had rescued from the waves."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[54] See "Dictionary of National Biography," xix., 242.
+
+[55] "The Two Countesses of Kellie," ii. 41, 42.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+FATAL PASSION.
+
+    What dreadful havoc in the human breast
+    The passions make, when, unconfined and mad,
+    They burst, unguided by the mental eye,
+    The light of reason, which, in various ways,
+    Points them to good, or turns them back from ill!
+               THOMSON.
+
+
+The annals of some of our old and respected families have occasionally
+been sadly stained "by hideous exhibitions of cruelty and lust," in
+certain instances the result of an unscrupulous disregard of moral
+duty and of a vindictive fierceness in avenging injury. It has been
+oftentimes remarked that few tragedies which the brain of the novelist
+has depicted have surpassed in their unnatural and horrible details
+those enacted in real life, for
+
+    When headstrong passion gets the reins of reason,
+    The force of Nature, like too strong a gale,
+    For want of ballast, oversets the vessel.
+
+Love, indeed, which has been proverbially said to lead to as much evil
+as any impulse that agitates the human bosom, must be held responsible
+for only too many of those crimes which from time to time outrage
+society, for, as the authors of "Guesses at Truth" have remarked,
+"jealousy is said to be the offspring of love, yet, unless the parent
+make haste to strangle the child, the child will not rest till it has
+poisoned the parent." Thus, a tragedy which made the Castle of
+Corstorphine the scene of a terrible crime and scandal in the year
+1679, may be said to have originated in an unhallowed passion.
+
+George, first Lord Forrester, having no male issue, made an
+arrangement whereby his son-in-law, James Baillie, was to succeed him
+as second Lord Forrester and proprietor of the estate of Corstorphine.
+Just four years after this compact was made, Lord Forrester died, and
+James Baillie, a young man of twenty-five, succeeded to the title and
+property. But this arrangement did not meet with the approval of Lord
+Forrester's daughters, who regarded it as a manifest injustice that
+the honours of their ancient family should devolve on an alien--a
+feeling of dissatisfaction which was more particularly nourished by
+the third daughter, Lady Hamilton, whose husband was far from wealthy.
+
+It so happened that Lady Hamilton had a daughter, Christian, who was
+noted for her rare beauty and high spirit. But, unfortunately, she was
+a girl of strong passion, which, added to her self-will, caused her,
+when she had barely arrived at a marriageable age, to engage herself
+to one James Nimmo, the son of an Edinburgh merchant. Before many
+weeks had elapsed, the young couple were married, and the handsome
+young wife was settled in her new home in Edinburgh. Time wore on, the
+novelty of marriage died away, and as Mrs. Nimmo dwelt on her
+mercantile surroundings, she recognised more and more what an
+ill-assorted match she had made, and in her excitable mind, "she
+cursed the bond which connected her with a man whose social position
+she despised, and whose occupations she scorned." The report, however,
+of her uncommon beauty, could not fail to reach the ears of young Lord
+Forrester, who on the score of relationship was often attracted to
+Mrs. Nimmo's house. At first he was received with coldness, but, by
+flattering and appealing to her vanity, he gradually "accomplished the
+ruin of this unhappy young woman," and made her the victim of his
+licentious and unprincipled designs.
+
+But no long time had elapsed when this shameful intrigue became the
+subject of common talk, and public indignation took the side of the
+injured woman, when Lord Forrester, after getting tired of her, "was
+so cruel and base as to speak of her openly in the most opprobrious
+manner," even alluding to her criminal connection with him. In so
+doing, however, he had not taken into consideration the violent
+character of the woman he had wronged, nor thought he of her jealousy,
+wounded pride, and despair. In his haste, also, to rid himself of the
+woman who no longer fascinated him, he paid no heed to the passion
+that was lurking in her inflamed bosom, nor counted on her _spretæ
+injuria formæ_.
+
+On the other hand, whilst he was forgetting the past in his orgies,
+Mrs. Nimmo--whose love for him was turned to the bitterest hate--was
+hourly reproaching him, and at last the fatal moment arrived when she
+felt bound to proceed to Corstorphine Castle, and confront her
+evil-doer. At the time, Lord Forrester was drinking at the village
+tavern, and, when the infuriated woman demanded to see him, he was
+flushed with claret, and himself in no amiable mood. The altercation,
+naturally, "soon became violent, bitter reproaches were uttered on the
+one side, and contemptuous sneers on the other." Goaded to frenzy, the
+unhappy woman stabbed her paramour to the heart, killing him
+instantly.
+
+When taken before the sheriff of Edinburgh, she confessed her crime,
+and, although she told the court in the most pathetic manner how
+basely she had been wronged by one who should have supported rather
+than ruined her, sentence of death was passed upon her. She managed,
+writes Sir Bernard Burke,[56] to postpone the execution of her
+sentence by declaring that she was with child by her seducer, and
+during her imprisonment succeeded in escaping in the disguise of a
+young man. But she was captured, and on the 12th November, 1679, paid
+the penalty of her rash act, appearing at her execution attired in
+deep mourning, covered with a large veil.
+
+Radcliffe to this day possesses the tradition of a terrible tragedy of
+which there are several versions. It appears that one Sir William de
+Radclyffe had a very beautiful daughter whose mother died in giving
+her birth. After a time he married again, and the step-mother,
+actuated by feeling of jealousy, conceived a violent hatred to the
+girl, which ere long prompted her to be guilty of the most insane
+cruelty. One day, runs the story, when Sir William was out hunting,
+she sent the unsuspecting girl into the kitchen with a message to the
+cook that he was to dress the white doe. But the cook professing
+ignorance of the particular white doe he was to dress, asserted, to
+the young lady's intense horror, that he had received orders to kill
+her, which there and then he did, afterwards making her into a pie.
+
+On Sir William's return from hunting, he made inquiries for his
+daughter, but his wife informed him that she had taken the opportunity
+in his absence of going into a nunnery. Suspicious, however, of the
+truth of her story--for her jealous hatred of his daughter had not
+escaped his notice--he flew into a passion, and demanded in the most
+peremptory manner where his daughter was, whereupon the scullion boy
+denounced the step-mother, and warned Sir William against eating the
+pie.
+
+The whole truth was soon revealed, and the diabolic wickedness of Lady
+William did not pass unpunished, for she was burnt, and the cook was
+condemned to stand in boiling lead. A ballad in the Pepys' collection,
+entitled, "The Lady Isabella's Tragedy, or the Step-mother's Cruelty,"
+records this horrible barbarity; and in a Lancashire ballad, called
+"Fair Ellen of Radcliffe", it is thus graphically told:--
+
+    She straighte into the kitchen went,
+      Her message for to tell;
+    And then she spied the master cook,
+      Who did with malice swell.
+
+    "Nowe, master cooke, it must be soe,
+      Do that which I thee tell;
+    You needs must dress the milk-white doe,
+      You which do knowe full well."
+
+    Then straight his cruel, bloody hands,
+      He on the ladye laid,
+    Who, quivering and ghastly, stands
+      While thus to her he sayd:
+
+    "Thou art the doe that I must dress;
+      See here! behold, my knife!
+    For it is pointed, presentli
+      To rid thee of thy life."
+
+    O then, cryed out the scullion boye,
+      As loud as loud might be,
+    "O save her life, good master cook,
+      And make your pyes of me."
+
+The tradition adds that Sir William was not unmindful of the scullion
+boy's heroic conduct, for he made him heir to his possessions.
+
+Another cruel case of woman's jealousy, which, happily, was not so
+disastrous in its result as the former, relates to Maria, daughter of
+the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, second son of Kenneth, Earl of Seaforth,
+who was Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline. Report goes that between
+this young lady, who was one of the greatest beauties about the Court,
+and a Mr. Price, an admired man about town, there subsisted a strong
+attachment. Unfortunately for Miss Mackenzie, Mr. Price was an
+especial favourite of the celebrated Countess of Deloraine, who, to
+get rid of her rival in beauty, poisoned her.
+
+But this crime was discovered in time, antidotes were administered
+with success, and the girl's life was saved; although her lovely
+complexion is said to have been ruined, ever after continuing of a
+lemon tint. Queen Caroline, desirous of shielding the Countess of
+Deloraine from the consequences of her act, persuaded "the poisoned
+beauty" to appear, as soon as she was sufficiently recovered, at a
+supper, given either by the Countess of Deloraine or where she was to
+be present. Accordingly, on the night arranged, some excitement was
+caused by the arrival of Miss Mackenzie, for as she entered the room,
+someone exclaimed, "How entirely changed!"
+
+But Mr. Price, who was seated by Lady Deloraine remarked, "In my eyes
+she is more beautiful than ever," and it only remains to add that they
+were married next morning.
+
+Like jealousy, thwarted love has often been cause of the most
+unnatural crimes, and a tragic story is told of the untimely death of
+Mr Blandy, of Henley, in Oxfordshire, who, by practice as an attorney,
+had accumulated a large fortune. He had an only child, Mary, who was
+regarded as an heiress, and consequently had suitors many. On one
+occasion, it happened that William Cranstoun, brother of Lord
+Cranstoun, being upon a recruiting party in Oxfordshire, and hearing
+of Miss Blandy's "great expectations," found an opportunity of
+introducing himself to the family.
+
+The Captain's attentions, however, to Miss Blandy met with the strong
+disapproval of her father, for he had ascertained that this suitor for
+his daughter's hand had been privately married in Scotland. But
+against this objection Captain Cranstoun replied that he hoped to get
+this marriage speedily set aside by a decree of the Supreme Court of
+Session. And when the Court refused to annul the marriage, Mr. Blandy
+absolutely refused to allow his daughter to have any further
+communications with so dishonourable a man; a resolution to which he
+remained inexorable.
+
+Intrigue between the two was the result, for it seems that Miss
+Blandy's affection for this profligate man--almost double her age--was
+violent. As might be expected, Captain Cranstoun not only worked upon
+her feelings, but imposed on her credulity. He sent her from Scotland
+a pretended love powder, which he enjoined her to administer to her
+father, in order to gain his affection and procure his consent. This
+injunction she did not carry out, on account of a frightful dream, in
+which she saw her father fall from a precipice into the ocean.
+Thereupon the Captain wrote a second time, and told her in words
+somewhat enigmatical, but easily understood by her, his design.
+
+Horrible to relate, the wicked girl was so elated with the idea of
+removing her father, that she was heard to exclaim before the
+servants, "who would not send an old fellow to hell for thirty
+thousand pounds?"
+
+The fatal die was cast. The deadly powder was mixed and given to him
+in a cup of tea, after drinking which he soon began to swell
+enormously.
+
+"What have you given me, Mary?" asked the unhappy dying man. "You have
+murdered me; of this I was warned, but, alas! I thought it was a false
+alarm. O, fly; take care of the Captain!"
+
+Thus Mr. Blandy died of poison, but his daughter was captured whilst
+attempting to escape, and was conveyed to Oxford Castle, where she was
+imprisoned till the assizes, when she was tried for parricide, was
+found guilty, and executed. Captain Cranstoun managed to effect his
+escape, and went abroad, where he died soon afterwards in a deplorable
+state of mind, brought about by remorse for the evil and misery he had
+caused.
+
+Almost equally tragic was the fatal passion of Sir William Kyte,
+forming another strange domestic drama in real life. Possessed of
+considerable fortune, and of ancient family, Sir William was deemed a
+very desirable match, and when he offered his hand to a young lady of
+noble rank, and of great beauty, he was at once accepted. The marriage
+for the first few years turned out happily, but the crisis came when
+Sir William was nominated, at a contested election, to represent the
+borough of Warwick, in which county lay the bulk of his estate. After
+the election was over, Lady Kyte, by way of recompensing a zealous
+partisan of her husband, took an innkeeper's daughter, Molly Jones,
+for her maid; "a tall, genteel girl, with a fine complexion, and
+seemingly very modest and innocent." But before many months had
+elapsed, Sir William was attracted by the girl, and, eventually,
+became so infatuated by her charms, that, casting aside all restraints
+of shame or fear, he agreed to a separation between his wife and
+himself. Accordingly, Sir William left Lady Kyte, with the two younger
+children, in possession of the mansion-house in Warwickshire, and
+retired with his mistress and his two eldest sons to a farmhouse on
+the Cotswold hills. Charmed with the situation, he was soon tempted to
+build a handsome house here, to which were added two large
+side-fronts, for no better reason than that Molly Jones, one day,
+happened to say, "What is a Kite without wings." But the expense of
+completing this establishment, amounting to at least £10,000, soon
+involved Sir William in financial difficulties, which caused him to
+drown his worries in drink.
+
+At this juncture, Molly Jones, forgetting her own past, was
+injudicious enough to engage a fresh coloured country girl--who was
+scarcely twenty--as dairymaid, for whom Sir William quickly conceived
+an amorous regard. Actuated by jealousy or disgust, Molly Jones
+threatened to leave Sir William, a resolution which she soon carried
+out, retiring to Cambden, a neighbouring market town, where she was
+reduced to keep a small sewing school as a means of livelihood.
+Although left to carry on his intrigue undisturbed, Sir William soon
+became a victim to gloomy reflections, feeling at times that he had
+not only cruelly wronged a good wife, but had been deserted by the
+very woman for whose sake he had brought this trouble and disgrace
+upon his family. Tormented by these conflicting passions, he
+occasionally worked himself up into such a state of frenzy that even
+his new favourite was terrified, and had run away. It was when almost
+maddened with the thought of his evil past that he formed that fatal
+resolve which was a hideous ending to "the dreadful consequence of a
+licentious passion not checked in its infancy." One October evening,
+as a housemaid was on the stairs, suddenly "the lobby was all in a
+cloud of smoke." She gave the alarm, and on the door being forced
+open whence the smoke proceeded, it was discovered that Sir William
+had set fire to a large heap of fine linen, piled up in the middle of
+the room. From an adjoining room, where Sir William had made his
+escape, the flames burst out with such fury that all were glad to make
+their escape out of the house, the greater part of which was in a few
+hours burnt to the ground--no other remains of its master being found
+next morning but the hip-bone, and bones of the back.
+
+A case which, at the time, created considerable sensation was the
+murder of Thynne of Longleat by a jealous antagonist. The eleventh
+Duke of Northumberland left an only daughter, whose career, it has
+been said, "might match that of the most erratic or adventurous of her
+race." Before she was sixteen years old, she had been twice a widow,
+and three times a wife. At the age of thirteen, she was married to the
+only son of the Duke of Newcastle, a lad of her own age, who died in a
+few months. Her second husband was Thynne of Longleat, "Tom of Ten
+Thousand," but the tie was abruptly severed by the bullet of an
+assassin, set on by the notorious Count Konigsmark, who had been a
+suitor for her hand, and was desirous of another chance. After his
+death, the young widow, who was surrounded by a host of admirers,
+married the Duke of Somerset, and she seems to have made him a fitting
+mate, for when his second wife, a Finch, tapped him familiarly on the
+shoulder, or, according to another version, seated herself on his
+knee, he exclaimed indignantly:
+
+"My first wife was a Percy, and she never thought of taking such a
+liberty."
+
+It may be added that one of the most remarkable incidents in this
+celebrated beauty's life was when by dint of tears and supplications
+she prevented Queen Anne from making Swift a bishop, out of revenge
+for the "Windsor prophecy," in which she was ridiculed for the redness
+of her hair, and upbraided as having been privy to the brutal murder
+of her second husband. "It was doubted," says Scott, "which imputation
+she accounted the more cruel insult, especially since the first charge
+was undoubted, and the second arose only from the malice of the poet."
+
+Another tragedy of a similar kind was the murder of William Mountford,
+the player. Captain Richard Hill had conceived a violent passion for
+Mrs. Bracegirdle, the beautiful actress, and is said to have offered
+her his hand, and to have been refused. At last his passion became
+ungovernable, and he determined to carry her off by force. To carry
+out his purpose, he induced his friend Lord Mohun to assist him in the
+attempt. According to one account, "he dodged the fair actress for a
+whole day at the theatre, stationed a coach near the Horseshoe Tavern,
+in Drury Lane, to carry her off in, and hired six soldiers to force
+her into it. As the beautiful actress came down Drury Lane, at ten
+o'clock at night, accompanied by her mother and brother, and escorted
+by her friend Mr. Page, one of the soldiers seized her in his arms,
+and endeavoured to force her into the coach. But the lady's scream
+attracted a crowd, and Captain Hill, finding his endeavours
+ineffectual, bid the soldiers let her go. Disappointed in their
+object, Lord Mohun and Captain Hill vowed vengeance; and Mrs.
+Bracegirdle on reaching home sent her servant to Mr. Mountford's house
+to take care of himself, warning him against Lord Mohun and Captain
+Hill, "who she feared, had no good intention toward him, and did wait
+for him in the street." It appears that Mountford had already heard of
+the attempt to carry off Mrs. Bracegirdle, and hearing that Lord Mohun
+and Captain Hill were in the street, did not shrink from approaching
+them."
+
+The account says that he addressed Lord Mohun, and told him how sorry
+he was to find him in the company of such a pitiful fellow as Captain
+Hill, whereupon, it is said, "the captain came forth and said he would
+justify himself, and went towards the middle of the street, and Mr.
+Mountford followed him and drew." The end of the quarrel was that
+Mountford fell with a terrible wound, of which he died on the
+following day, declaring in his last moments that Captain Hill ran him
+through the body before he could draw his sword. Captain Hill, it
+seems, owed Mountford a deadly grudge, having attributed his rejection
+by Mrs. Bracegirdle to her love for him--an unlikely passion, it is
+thought, as Mountford was a married man, with a good-looking wife of
+his own, afterwards Mrs. Verbruggen, and a celebrated actress.
+
+Oulton House, Suffolk, long known as the "Haunted House," acquired its
+ill-omened name from a tragic occurrence traditionally said to have
+happened many years ago, and the peasantry in the neighbourhood affirm
+that at midnight a wild huntsman, with his hounds, accompanied by a
+lady carrying a poisoned cup, is occasionally seen. The story is that,
+in the reign of George II., a squire, returning unexpectedly home from
+the chase, discovered his wife with an officer, one of his guests, in
+too familiar a friendship. High words followed, and the indignant
+husband, provoked by the cool manner in which the officer treated the
+matter, struck him, whereupon the guilty lover drew his sword and
+drove it through the squire's heart, the faithless wife and her
+paramour afterwards making their escape.
+
+Some years afterwards, runs the tale, the Squire's daughter, who had
+been left behind in the hasty departure, having grown to womanhood,
+was affianced to a youthful farmer of the neighbourhood. But on their
+bridal eve, as they were sitting together talking over the new life
+they were about to enter, "a carriage, black and sombre as a hearse,
+with closely drawn curtains, and attended by servants clad in sable
+liveries, drew up to the door." The young girl was seized by masked
+men, carried off in the carriage to her unnatural mother, while her
+betrothed was stabbed as he vainly endeavoured to rescue her. A grave
+is pointed out in the cemetery at Namur, as that in which was laid the
+body of the unhappy girl, poisoned, it is alleged, by her unscrupulous
+and wicked mother. It is not surprising, we are told, that the
+locality was supposed to be haunted by the wretched woman--both as
+wife and mother equally criminal.
+
+Family romance, once more, has many a dark page recording how
+despairing love has ended in self-destruction. At the beginning of the
+present century, a sad catastrophe befell the Shuckburghs of
+Shuckburgh Hall. It appears the Bedfordshire Militia were stationed
+near Upper Shuckburgh, and the officers were in the habit of visiting
+the Hall, whose hospitable owner, Sir Stewkley Shuckburgh, received
+them with every mark of cordiality. His daughter, then about twenty
+years of age, was a young lady of no ordinary attractions, and her
+fascinations soon produced their natural effect on one of the
+officers, Lieutenant Sharp, who became deeply attached to her. But as
+soon as Sir Stewkley became aware of this love affair, he gave it his
+decided disapproval. Lieutenant Sharp was forbidden the house, and
+Miss Shuckburgh resolved to smother her love in deference to her
+father's wishes. It was accordingly decided between the young people
+that their intimacy should cease, and that the letters which had
+passed between them should be returned. An arrangement was, therefore,
+made that the lady should leave the packet for Lieutenant Sharp in the
+summer-house in the garden on a specified evening, and that on the
+following morning she should find the packet intended for her in the
+same place. The sad engagement was kept, and having left her packet in
+the evening, Miss Shuckburgh set out on the following morning to find
+her own. A servant, it is said, who saw her in the garden, was curious
+to know what could have brought her out at so early an hour. He
+followed her unobserved, and on drawing near to the summer-house, "he
+heard the voices of the lieutenant and of the lady in earnest dispute.
+The officer was loud and impassioned, the lady firm but unconsenting.
+Immediately was heard the report of a pistol, and the fall of a
+body--another report and fall. Guessing the tragic truth, the servant
+raised an alarm, and the two lovers were found lying dead in their own
+blood." It is generally supposed that this terrible act of
+self-destruction was the result of mutual agreement--the outcome of
+passion and despair.
+
+"Since that hour," writes Howitt, "every object, about the place which
+could suggest to the memory this fatal event, has been changed or
+removed. The summer-house has been razed to the ground; the
+disposition of the garden itself altered; but," he adds, "such tragic
+passages in human life become part and parcel of the scene where they
+occur--they become the topic of the winter fireside. They last while
+passions and affections, youth and beauty last. They fix themselves
+into the soil, and the very rock on which it lies, and though the
+house was razed from the spot, and its park and pleasaunces turned
+into ploughed fields, it would still be said for ages: Here stood
+Shuckburgh Hall, and here fell the young and lovely Miss Shuckburgh by
+the hand of her despairing lover."
+
+And to conclude with a romance in brief, some forty or fifty years
+ago, in the far north of England a girl was on the eve of being
+married. Her wedding dress was ordered, the guests were bidden. But,
+it is said that at the eleventh hour, in a fit of passion and paltry
+jealousy, she resented some fancied want of devotion in her lover.
+
+He was single-minded, loyal, and altogether of finer stuff than
+herself; but she was a wretched slave to such old stock phrases as
+delicacy, family pride, and the like, and so he was allowed to go, for
+she came of people who looked upon unforgiveness as a virtue.
+
+Accordingly the discarded lover exchanged into a regiment under orders
+for Afghanistan. At the time, our troops were engaged there in hot
+fighting. The lad fell, and hidden on his breast was found a locket
+which his sweetheart had once given him. It came back to her through a
+brother officer, who had known something of his sad story, with a
+stain on it--a stain of his blood. When that painful relic silently
+told her of the devotion which she had so unjustly and basely wronged,
+there came, in the familiar lines:
+
+    A mist and a weeping rain,
+    And life was never the same again.
+
+That stain marked every day of a lonely life throughout forty years or
+more.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] "Vicissitudes of Families," 1863, III. Ser., 202-203.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+"Abbey Vows," The, 56-58.
+
+Abingdon, John, Secret Room built by, at Hendlip Hall, 91-93.
+
+Abrams, Disappearance of a Jew named, 251, 252.
+
+Accidents, Lucky, 279-288.
+
+Adolphus, Gustavus, Burial of, 262.
+
+Ainsworth and Cuckfield Place, 180, 181.
+
+Alexander III., Banquet of, 73-75.
+
+Alfred, Prince, Death of, 79, 80.
+
+Allan David, the Painter, 279, 280.
+
+Anne of Austria, Heart of, 262.
+
+Anne of Burton Agnes Hall, Skull of, 40-43.
+
+Antoinette, M., and the Chevalier D'Eon, 220.
+
+Armscott Manor, Secret Room at, 95, 96.
+
+Arrowsmith, Father, Hand of, 158-160.
+
+Arundell, Sir John, 12, 13.
+
+Aubrey's "Miscellanies," 132, 133.
+
+"Awd Nance" of Burton Agnes Hall, 40-43.
+
+
+Baillie, James, 290-292.
+
+Baker, Sir Richard, 110-112.
+
+Baker, Sir Richard, and the Murder of Edward II., 89.
+
+Baliol, John, The Heart of, 256.
+
+Ballafletcher, Estate of, 201, 202.
+
+Ballyshannon, Waterfall at, 272.
+
+Bandini, The Sisters, 137-140.
+
+Bank of England, Discovery in the Vaults of the, 264.
+
+Banquets, Strange, 69-87.
+
+Banshee, The, 193.
+
+Barcroft Hall; the Idiot's Curse, 9, 10.
+
+Baring-Gould, Rev. S., Story by, 156, 157.
+
+Barn Hall, Tradition of, 165, 166.
+
+Barritt, Thomas, and the Wardley Hall Skull, 39, 40.
+
+Baydoyle Bank's Tragedy, The, 115.
+
+"Bearded Watt," The, 68.
+
+Beauchamp, Lord, Ghost of, 275, 276.
+
+Belgrade, Bombardment of, Vow made by the Servians at, 68.
+
+Benedick, Vow of, 51.
+
+Berkeley Castle, Walpole and, 88, 89.
+
+Bernard, Samuel, "Address to the Deil," 173.
+
+Bernshaw Tower, Lady Sybil of, 168-170.
+
+Berry Pomeroy Castle, Spectre at, 197.
+
+Betsy, the Doctress (Russell), 222-224.
+
+Bettiscombe, Screaming Skull at, 29-32.
+
+Bisham Abbey, Spirit of Lady Russell at, 122, 123.
+
+Bistmorton Court, Secret Room at, 97.
+
+Blackwell, Murder at, 114, 115
+
+Blandy, Miss, 296, 297.
+
+Blandy, Mr., of Henley, Poisoning of, 296, 297
+
+Blenkinsopp Castle, Romantic Story of, 60-62.
+
+Blood Stains, Indelible, 114-134.
+
+"Bloody Baker," 110-112.
+
+"Bloody Chamber," The, 118, 119
+
+"Bloody Footstep," Legend of the, 115-117.
+
+Bodach Glass, The, 193-195.
+
+Boleyn, Anne, Monument to, 254, 255.
+
+Bolle, Sir John, Story of, 215, 216.
+
+Boscobel House, Secret Chambers at, 97.
+
+Bourne, Mr. John, 205, 206.
+
+Bracegirdle, Mrs., the Actress, 301-303.
+
+Bradshaigh, Sir William, 246-248.
+
+Bramshill, A Chest at, 235.
+
+Bransie Castle, Tradition associated with, 275, 276.
+
+Brent Pelham Church, 166.
+
+Brereton Family, The, 181.
+
+Bromfield, Story of a Dragon at, 268, 269.
+
+Bromley, Sir Henry, 92.
+
+Broughton Castle, Room at, 90, 91.
+
+Brown, Mrs., and the Death of Robert Perceval, 151, 152.
+
+Browne, Sir Anthony, and Cowdray Castle, 19-21.
+
+Bruce, Robert, The Heart of, 257-258.
+
+Brunel, the Engineer, 282, 283.
+
+Bryn Hall, "Dead Hand" at, 157-160.
+
+Buckland Abbey, Sir F. Drake and, 170-173.
+
+"Buckland Shag," Spectre of the, 124-126.
+
+Bulgaden Hall, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Burdett, Mr. Sedley, 20.
+
+Burke, Sir Bernard, and Bulgaden Hall, 73;
+  and Sir Robert Scott of Thirlestane, 78;
+  and Capt. Cayley, 148;
+  and Cecil, Earl of Exeter, 219;
+  and Draycot, 141;
+  and Gordon Castle, 182;
+  and Mrs. Nimmo, 292.
+
+Burnaby, Col. Fred., Incident of the Carlist Rising, 212, 213
+
+Burton Agnes Hall, "Awd Nance" of, 40-43.
+
+Byron, Lord, and Skull at Newstead Abbey, 44, 45;
+  Club Foot of, 282;
+  and the Spectre of Newstead Abbey, 196;
+  The Heart of, at Newstead Abbey, 260.
+
+Calverley Hall, Blood Stains at, 120, 121.
+
+Calverley, Walter, 120, 121.
+
+Cambuskenneth Abbey, Destruction of, 15.
+
+Canning, Elizabeth, Disappearance of, 239-241.
+
+Carbery, Baron, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Carew, B.M., A Companion of Russell, 223.
+
+Carlist Rising in 1874, Incident of the, 212, 213.
+
+Caroline, Queen, and the Countess of Deloraine, 295.
+
+Carr, Earl of Somerset, 18, 19.
+
+Castle Dalhousie, Death Omen, 181.
+
+Castle Treasure, near Cork, 270.
+
+Castlereagh, Lord, and the "Radiant Boy" Spectre, 196.
+
+Cathcart, Lady, Strange Disappearance of, 236-238.
+
+Cayley, Capt. John and Mrs. Macfarlane, 148, 149.
+
+Cecil, Earl of Exeter, 217-220.
+
+Chancery, Unclaimed Funds in, 266, 267.
+
+Charles I., Bernini's Bust of, 133, 134.
+
+Charles II., at the Trent Manor House, 96;
+  at Boscobel House, 97.
+
+Chartley, Park at, 187-189.
+
+Chattan, Clan of, 6-9.
+
+Chettiscombe, Village of, 274, 275.
+
+Chiappini, L., Daughter of, 136-140.
+
+Chilton Cantels, Skull in a Farmhouse in, 34.
+
+"Claimant," The, 23.
+
+Clayton Old Hall, The "Bloody Chamber" at, 118.
+
+Clifford, Lord, the "Shepherd Lad," 224-227.
+
+Clifford, Wild Henry, 227.
+
+Clifton, Family of, Death Omen of, 187.
+
+Closeburn Castle, Lake at, 183-185.
+
+"Coalstoun Pear," The, 199-201.
+
+Coleridge, Sir John, Strange Romance recorded by, 241-243.
+
+Compacts with the Devil, 162-179.
+
+Condover Hall, Blood Stain at, 118.
+
+Congreve and Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, 86.
+
+Cook, Kraster, Myles Phillipson and, 35-37.
+
+Cooper, Sir Astley, 285.
+
+Cope, Sir John, 235.
+
+Corbet, Legend of the House of, 75, 76.
+
+Corby Castle, "Radiant Boy" Spectre of, 196.
+
+Cornish Belief _re_ St. Denis' Blood, 127.
+
+Corstophine, Castle of, Tragedy at, 290-293.
+
+Cortachy Castle, 189, 190.
+
+Cothele, Blood Stains at, 119.
+
+"Couleur Isabelle" Dresses, Origin of, 46, 47.
+
+Cowdenknowes, Curse of the House of, 25.
+
+Cowdray Castle, 19, 20.
+
+Cows at Chartley Park, 187-189
+
+Cranbrook, Sir R. Baker at, 110-112.
+
+Cranstoun, Capt., 296, 297.
+
+Crawford, Earl of, 99.
+
+"Crawls," The, Estate named, 22.
+
+Creslow Manor House, Mysterious Room at, 105, 106.
+
+Crichton Chancellor, Banquet given by, 80, 81.
+
+Cuckfield Place, 180, 181.
+
+Cullen, Viscount, Marriage Feast of, 69-71.
+
+Cunliffes, The, of Billington, 105
+
+Curious Secrets, 135-153.
+
+Curses: M'Alister Family, 2-5;
+  The Curse of Moy, 6-9;
+  Idiot's Curse, 9, 10;
+  Quaker's Curse, 10-12;
+  A Shepherd's Curse on Sir J. Arundell, 12, 13;
+  Curse on the Family of Mar, 14-17;
+  On Sherborne Castle, 17-19;
+  On Cowdray Castle, 19, 20;
+  The Curse of Furvie, 23;
+  Of Ettrick Hall, 24, 25;
+  On the Earl of Home, 25;
+  Of Edmund, King of the East Angles, 26;
+  On Capt. Molloy, 26, 27;
+  The Midwife's Curse, 27, 28.
+
+Dalrymple, Janet, 52-56.
+
+Dalzell, Gen., 85, 86.
+
+Danby Hall, Secret Room at, 98.
+
+Danesfield, Withered Hand at, 161.
+
+Darrells, The, of Littlecote House, 106-108.
+
+Dauntesey, Eustace, Story of, 173-176.
+
+Dead Hand, The, 154-161.
+
+Death Omens, 180-191.
+
+Deloraine, Countess of, 295.
+
+D'Eon, Chevalier, in Woman's Attire, 220-222.
+
+Derwentwater, Lord, Execution of, 130, 131.
+
+Despencer, Lord le, 259, 260.
+
+Devil Compacts, 162-179.
+
+"Devil upon Dun" Public House, Story of the, 163, 164.
+
+"Dickie," Skull called, at Tunstead, 33, 34.
+
+Dickens, Chas., Original of Miss Havisham, 50, 51.
+
+Dilston Groves, Ghost of the, 131
+
+Disappearances, Extraordinary, 229-252.
+
+Disguise, Romance of, 208-228.
+
+Dobells, Seat of the, 97.
+
+Doggett, Wm., Suicide of, 121.
+
+Don Carlos, Col. Fred. Burnaby and, 212, 213.
+
+Doughty, Sir Edward, 23;
+  Vow made by, 64.
+
+Douglas, Sir James, and the Heart of Robert Bruce, 257, 258.
+
+Douglas, Earl of, at Sir A. Livingstone's Banquet, 80, 81.
+
+Downes, Roger, of Wardley Hall, 37-40.
+
+Dragon at Bromfield, Story of, 268, 269.
+
+Drake, Sir Francis, Befriended by the Devil, 170-173.
+
+Draycot, Walter Long of, 141-144.
+
+Drinking Glass in possession of Sir George Musgrave, 202, 203.
+
+Drummer, Mysterious, at Cortachy Castle, 189, 190.
+
+Duckett, Justice, 11-12.
+
+Dunbar, David, and Jane Dalrymple, 53-56.
+
+Dundas, Laird named, Lord Hopetoun and, 84, 85.
+
+
+Eagle's Crag, Lady Sybil and the, 168-170.
+
+"Earl Beardie," 99.
+
+Eastbury House, Blood Stains at, 121.
+
+Easterton Ghost, The, 123, 124.
+
+East Lavington, Mysterious Crime at, 123, 124.
+
+Eccentric Vows, 46-68.
+
+Eden Hall, Tradition relating to, 202, 203.
+
+Edgewell Oak, Tradition, 181.
+
+Edgeworth, Col., 67.
+
+Edinburgh, Mysterious Crime at; Sir Walter Scott and, 108-110.
+
+Edmund, King of the East Angles, 25, 26.
+
+Edward, Lord Bruce, Heart of, 254
+
+Edward, Lord Windsor, The Body of, 259.
+
+Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin, 79, 80.
+
+Edward I., The Heart of, 256, 257.
+
+Edward II., The Murder of, 88, 89.
+
+Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, 255.
+
+Ellesmere, Countess of, and the Wardley Hall Skull, 40.
+
+Elizabeth, Queen, and Sir Henry Lee, 47, 48.
+
+Erskine, Mr. Thomas, 287.
+
+Erskine of Mar, The, 16.
+
+Ettrick Hall, Curse of, 24, 25.
+
+Evans, Right Hon. George, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Evelyn's "Diary," and Ham House, Weybridge, 95.
+
+Exeter, Coins found in, 268.
+
+Extraordinary Disappearances, 229-252.
+
+
+Family Death Omens, 180-198.
+
+Fanshaw, Lady, Strange Spectre of, 192.
+
+Fardell, Stone at, 271.
+
+Fatal Curses, 1-28.
+
+Fatal Passion, 289-307.
+
+Ferguson, Agnes, Disappearance of, 235, 236.
+
+"Field of Forty Footsteps," Tale of the, 128, 129.
+
+Fielding, Beau, and Robert Perceval, 150, 151.
+
+Flamsteed, the Astronomer, 281.
+
+Foote, Accident to, 283.
+
+Forrester, First Lord, 290, 291.
+
+Foulis, Mr. Robert, 280.
+
+Fox, George, at Armscott Manor, 96.
+
+Freke, Sir Ralph, Daughter of, 71-73.
+
+Furness Abbey, Romance of, 56-58.
+
+Furvie, Curse of, 23.
+
+
+Galeazzo of Mantua, Ball given by, 49.
+
+Garnet, Father, 91, 93.
+
+Garnett, Dr. Richard, and Skull at Bottiscombe, 30-32.
+
+Garrick, David, and Agnes Ferguson, 235, 236.
+
+Garswood, "Dead Hand" at, 160.
+
+Gascoyne, Sir Crisp, 240.
+
+Gladstone, Mr., Address on Wedgwood's Life, 281.
+
+Glamis Castle, Tradition relating to, 98-103.
+
+Goblet in possession of Colonel Wilks, 201, 202.
+
+Godwin, Earl, Edward the Confessor and, 79, 80.
+
+Goldbridge, 26.
+
+Goodere, Sir John, Murder of, 82, 83.
+
+Gordon, Mr., of Ardoch Castle, Daughters of, 285-288.
+
+Gordon Castle, Tree at, 182.
+
+Grayrigg Hall, 11, 12.
+
+Grey, Dr. Z., and Bust of Charles I., 133, 134.
+
+Guisboro' Priory, The Monks of, 274.
+
+Gunpowder Conspirators, The, at Hendlip Hall, 92, 93.
+
+Gunwalloe Parish Church, Tradition relating to, 64, 65.
+
+
+Haddon Hall, "Dorothy Vernon's Door" at, 213-215.
+
+Haigh Hall, Romance associated with, 246-248.
+
+Hale, Sir Matthew, in Disguise, 227, 228.
+
+Ham House, Weybridge, Secret Rooms at, 95.
+
+Hand, The Dead, 154-161.
+
+Hannen, Sir James, and the case of de Niceville, 265
+
+Hapton Tower, 168, 169.
+
+Harper, Story of an old Irish, 271, 272.
+
+Harpham Hall, 41, 42.
+
+Harrington, Sir John, 18.
+
+Hastings Priory, Skulls from, 32.
+
+Havisham, Miss, The original of, 50, 51.
+
+Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and the Legend of "The Bloody Footsteps," 115, 116.
+
+Heart Burial on the Continent, 260.
+
+Hearts, Honoured, 253-262.
+
+Helston, Mother, a Lancashire witch, 169.
+
+Hendlip Hall, Secret Room at, 91-93.
+
+Herbert, Sir Richard, at the Battle of Edgcot Field, 5, 6.
+
+Hermitage Castle, Story of, 166;
+  Treasures Hidden in, 270, 271, 276.
+
+Hidden Money and Treasure, Traditions _re_, 268-278.
+
+Hill, Captain R., 301-303.
+
+Hoby, Sir Thomas, 123.
+
+Holland House, Room at, 120.
+
+Holyrood Palace, Blood Stains on floor of, 117.
+
+Home of Cowdenknowes, Family of, 25.
+
+Honoured Hearts, 253-262.
+
+Hopetoun, Earl, and Laird named Dundas, 84, 85.
+
+Horndon-on-the-Hill Church, 254, 255.
+
+Howe, Mr., Strange Disappearance of, 244-246.
+
+Howe, Lord, and "John Taylor," 211.
+
+Howgill, Francis, a Noted Quaker, 10-12.
+
+Hoxne, Tradition at, 26.
+
+Hulme Hall, Legend connected with, 269, 270.
+
+Hume's "History of the House of Douglas," 81.
+
+Hungerford, Vault of the, 256.
+
+
+Idiot's Curse, The, 9, 10.
+
+Indelible Blood Stains, 114-134.
+
+Indre, M'Alister, Curse of, 2-5.
+
+Ingatestone Hall, Strange Room at, 94.
+
+"Ingoldsby Legends," Dead Hand mentioned in, 160, 161.
+
+Iron Chest in Ireland, Story of an, 205, 206.
+
+Isabella, Countess of Northampton, 256.
+
+Isabella Eugenia, of the Netherlands, 46, 47.
+
+Isabella, Queen, 49.
+
+Ithon, John de, Story of, 178, 179.
+
+
+James II., The Heart of, 259.
+
+Jerratt, Lady, Ghost Story of, 119, 120.
+
+Joan, Queen of Naples, 49.
+
+Johnson, Dr., Conversations with a Man in Woman's attire, 224.
+
+Joinville, Count Louis, 138-140.
+
+Jones, Molly, Sir Wm. Kyte and, 298-300.
+
+
+"Katie Neevie's Hoard," 271.
+
+Kellie, The two Countesses of, 285-288.
+
+Kempenfeldt, Admiral, 182.
+
+Kersal Hall, Romantic Story of, 173-176.
+
+Kilburn Priory, Legend connected with, 126, 127.
+
+Kirdford, Piece of Ground at, 128.
+
+Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Family of, 183-185.
+
+Knevett, Lord, Murder of, 118.
+
+Konigsmark, Count, 300.
+
+Kyte, Sir Wm., and Molly Jones, 298-300.
+
+
+Lally, John, A Piper, 77, 78.
+
+Lecky, Mr., and Devil Compacts in the Fourteenth Century, 163.
+
+Lee, Sir Henry, Queen Elizabeth and, 47, 48.
+
+Leech, John, Strange Story of, 175, 176.
+
+Lefanu, Mrs., Story of "The Banshee," 193.
+
+Legend of the Robber's Grave, 129, 130.
+
+Leigh, Lord, Charge of Murder against, 152, 153.
+
+Lincoln Cathedral, Blood Stains at, 118, 119.
+
+Lincolnshire, Strange Disappearance at a Marriage in 1750, 230.
+
+Lindsays, The, 101.
+
+Littlecote House, Mysterious Crime at, 106-108.
+
+Livingstone, Sir A., Banquet given by, 80, 81.
+
+Long, Walter, of Draycot, 141-144.
+
+Long, Sir Walter, Story of his Widow, 206, 207.
+
+Louis XIV., Burial of Heart of, 261.
+
+Lovat, Lord, Story of, 206.
+
+Lovel, Lord, Disappearance of his Bride, 234.
+
+Lovell, Lord, The Mysterious Death of, 89, 90.
+
+"Luck of Muncaster," The, 203-205.
+
+Lucky Accidents, 279-288.
+
+Lynton Castle, Tradition relating to, 62-64.
+
+
+Mab's Cross, near Wigan, 248.
+
+M'Alister Family, Curse of the, 2-5.
+
+McClean, Family of, 195.
+
+Macfarlane, Mrs., Secret relating to, 146-149.
+
+Mackenzie, Maria, 295.
+
+Macleod, Dr. Norman, Anecdote told by, 66, 67.
+
+Magdalene College, Oxford, Cup found at, 274.
+
+Maguire, Col., and Lady Cathcart, 236-238.
+
+Malsanger, House at, 234, 235.
+
+Manners, John, and Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, 214, 215.
+
+Manor House at Darlington, 119.
+
+Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, and the Chevalier D'Eon, 221.
+
+Mar, The Earl of, 14-17.
+
+Market Parsonage, Mysterious crime at, 123, 124.
+
+Marlborough, Duchess of, and Congreve, 86.
+
+Marsh, George, the martyr, 116.
+
+Marwell Old Hall, Traditions _re_, 234.
+
+Mary Queen of Scots at Chartley Park, 189.
+
+Matthews, C.J., the actor, 284.
+
+Mazarin, Cardinal, Heart of, 262.
+
+Medicis, Marie de, Heart of, 261.
+
+Medicis, Queen Catherine de, Story of, 177, 178.
+
+Merton College, Oxford, Pictures discovered at, 273.
+
+Mertoun, Stephen de, Murder committed by, 126, 127.
+
+Middleton Family in Yorkshire, 197.
+
+Midwife's Curse, The, 27, 28.
+
+Millbanke, Miss, Lord Byron and, 196, 197.
+
+Mills, Anne, the female sailor, 209.
+
+Misers' Hoards, 272, 273.
+
+Missing Wills, 267.
+
+"Mistletoe Bough," The (song), 234.
+
+Modena, The Duke of, 85, 86.
+
+Mohun, Lord, 301, 302.
+
+"Moiva Borb" (song), 272.
+
+Molloy, Captain, of H.M.S. "Cæsar," 26, 27.
+
+Montagues, The, and Sherborne Castle, 18;
+  and Cowdray Castle, 19.
+
+Montgomery Church Walls, Tale of, 129, 130.
+
+Morley, Sir Oswald, 269.
+
+Mountford, Wm., Murder of, 301-303.
+
+Moy, The Curse of, 6-9.
+
+Muncaster Castle, Room at, 203-205.
+
+Musgrave, Sir George, 202, 203.
+
+Mysterious Rooms, 88-113.
+
+
+Newborough, Lady, Romantic Story relating to, 136-140.
+
+Netherall, Secret Room at, 98.
+
+Newstead Abbey, Skull at, 44, 45;
+  Spectre of, 196;
+  Lord Byron's Heart at, 260.
+
+Niceville A.A. de, 265, 266.
+
+Nimmo, Mrs., 290-293.
+
+Northam Tower, Spectre at, 119.
+
+Northumberland, Duke of, The Eleventh Daughter of the, 300, 301.
+
+Nugent, Lord, "Memorials of Hampden," 90, 91.
+
+
+Ogilvies, The, 101.
+
+Omens, Family Death, 180-198.
+
+Ormesby, Treasure found at the Vicarage House of, 274.
+
+Osbaldeston Hall, Tradition relating to, 83, 84.
+
+Oulton House, Tragedy at, 303.
+
+Overbury, Sir Thomas, Murder of, 19.
+
+Owls, The Family of Arundel of Wardour and, 185.
+
+Oxenham Family, Death Warning of the, 185-187.
+
+
+Page, Murderer of a Jew named Abrams, 251, 252.
+
+Paré, Ambrose, the Surgeon, 285.
+
+Parma, Duke of, and Baron Ward, 284.
+
+Passion, Fatal, 289-307.
+
+Payne, Col. Stephen, Curse on, 27, 28.
+
+Pear, The Coalstoun, 199-201.
+
+Pembroke, Earl of, at the Battle of Edgcot Fields, 5, 6.
+
+Pennington, Sir John, 204.
+
+Perceval, Robert, Strange Death of, 150-152.
+
+Phillipson, Myles, 35-37.
+
+Pitt, Wm., Accident to, 283.
+
+Plaish Hall, Legendary Tale connected with, 132.
+
+Poe, Edgar A., "Masque of the Red Death," 73-75.
+
+Political Vows, 68.
+
+Pope's Satire, 282.
+
+Possessions, Weird, 199-207.
+
+Poyntz, Mr. Stephen, 21.
+
+Prestwich, Sir Thomas, 269, 270.
+
+Price, Mr., 295.
+
+Prophecy relating to Cowdray Castle, 19, 20.
+
+Pudsey, Bishop, 119.
+
+
+Quaker's Curse, The, 10-12.
+
+
+Radcliffe, Tragedy at, 293, 294.
+
+Radclyffe, Sir Wm. de, 293, 294.
+
+"Radiant Boy" of Corby Castle, 196.
+
+Raffles, Dr., Amusing Story in the Life of, 233, 234.
+
+Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Sherborne Castle, 18, 19;
+  Seat at Fardell, 271.
+
+Rawlinson, Dr. R., The Heart of, 259.
+
+Richard I., The Heart of, 258.
+
+Rizzio, Murder of, 117.
+
+Robinson, Nicholas, Disappearance of, 241-243.
+
+Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire:" The "Dead Hand" at Bryn Hall, 157, 158;
+  and the "Luck of Muncaster," 204, 205.
+
+Roderham, Robert de, Story of, 178, 179.
+
+Romance of Wealth, 263-278.
+
+"Rookwood Hall," Ainsworth's, 180, 181.
+
+Rooms, Mysterious, 88-113.
+
+Roslin, the Lords of, Traditions regarding, 190, 191.
+
+_Royal George_, Sinking of the, 182.
+
+Rushen Castle, Secret Room at, 103-105.
+
+Rushton, The Duke's Room at, 70.
+
+Russell, of Streatham, in Women's attire, 222-224.
+
+Russell, Lady, of Bisham Abbey, 122, 123.
+
+Rutherford, Lord, and Janet Dalrymple, 52-56.
+
+
+St. Antony, Church of, in Cornwall, Tradition Relating to, 64.
+
+St. Denis' Blood, Belief relating to, 127.
+
+St. Foix, Account of Ceremonial after the Death of a King
+ of France, 86, 87.
+
+St. Louis, Queen of, Vow by the, 65.
+
+St. Michael's Mount, Sir J. Arundell and, 13.
+
+Samlesbury Hall, Vow Relating to, 58-60.
+
+Scarborough, Second Earl of, Death of, 144-146.
+
+Scotland, Legends _re_ Hidden Treasures in, 270, 271, 276.
+
+Scott, Sir Robert, of Thirlestane, Second wife of, 77, 78.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, Vow by an Ancestor of, Accident to, 68, 280;
+  and the Mysterious Crime at Littlecote House, 108;
+  at Edinburgh, 108-110;
+  and the Murder of Rizzio, 117;
+  and the Clan of Tweedie, 249.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Antiquary," 155.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Peveril of the Peak," 149, 195.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Tales of a Grandfather," 117.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "The Betrothed," 248.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "The Bride of Lammermoor," 55, 56.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, and "The Curse of Moy," 6-9.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Waverley," The Bodach Glass in, 193-195.
+
+"Scottish Hogarth," The, 279, 280.
+
+Screaming Skulls, 29-45.
+
+Secrets, Curious, 135-153.
+
+Sedgley, Vow made by a Parishioner of, 66, 67.
+
+Servian Patriots, The, 68.
+
+Sharp, Lieut., 304-306.
+
+Shelley, The Poet, Heart of, 260, 261.
+
+"Shepherd Lad," Lord Clifford as the, 224-227.
+
+Sherborne Castle, Curse of, 17-19.
+
+Sheriff-Muir, Battle of, 5, 15.
+
+Shonkes, Piers, Tomb of, 166.
+
+Shropshire, Buried Well in, 276.
+
+Shuckburgh Hall, Tragedy at, 304-306.
+
+Sikes, Wirt, Anecdote of a Skull, 43, 44.
+
+Simpson, Christopher, Murder of, 115.
+
+Skull, The Screaming, 29-45.
+
+Skull House, near Turton Tower, Bolton, 34, 35.
+
+Smithell's Hall, 115, 116.
+
+Soulis, Lord, Compact with the Devil, 166-168.
+
+Southey, Anecdote recorded by, 96.
+
+Southey and "The Brothers' Steps," 128, 129.
+
+Southey's "Thalaba, the Destroyer," 154, 155.
+
+Southworth, Sir John, Daughter of, 58-60.
+
+Spectre, Lady Fanshaw's strange, 192.
+
+Spectre of the "Buckland Shag," 124-126.
+
+Stair, Lord, Daughter of the first, 52-56.
+
+Stamer, Col., Daughter of, 71-73
+
+Stoke d'Abernon, Monument in the Church of, 56.
+
+Stokesay Castle, Treasure at, 277.
+
+Stoneleigh Abbey, 152, 153.
+
+Strathmore, Lord, of Glamis Castle, 98-103.
+
+Street Place, Old House called, 97.
+
+Swans of Closeburn, The, 184, 185.
+
+"Sweet Heart Abbey," 256.
+
+Swinton, Sir John, 146-149.
+
+Sybil, Lady, and the Eagle's Crag, 168-170.
+
+
+Talbot, Mary Anne as "John Taylor," sailor, 209-212.
+
+Talleyrand, Accident to, 280.
+
+"Taylor, John," _alias_ Mary Anne Talbot, 209-212.
+
+Thirlestone, Lady, 77-78.
+
+Thomas the Rhymer, 75.
+
+Thorpe Hall, The "Green Lady" of, 215, 216.
+
+Thrale, Mr., of Streatham Park, 223, 224.
+
+Thynne, Sir Egremont, 141-144.
+
+Thynne of Longleat, Murder of, 300.
+
+Tichborne, Sir Henry, 21.
+
+Tichborne, Lady Mabelle, 21-23.
+
+Tichborne Trial, The Great, 21-23, 64.
+
+"Tiger Earl," The, 99.
+
+Timberbottom, Skull at Farmhouse called, 34, 35.
+
+Towneley, Charles, 10.
+
+Treasures concealed in the Earth, 267, 268.
+
+Tremeirchon Church, 165.
+
+Trentham, Elizabeth, Viscount Cullen and, 69-71.
+
+Trent, Manor House at, Strange Chamber in, 96, 97.
+
+Tufnell Park, Find of Gold at, 278.
+
+Tunstead, Skull at, 33, 34.
+
+Tweedie, The Clan of, 249, 250.
+
+
+Vardon, Douce, a Midwife, 28.
+
+Vavasour, Mrs. A., and Sir Henry Lee, 48.
+
+Venice, Statue at, 65, 66.
+
+Vernons of Hanbury, Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and one of the, 217-220.
+
+Vienna, The Church of St. Charles, 65.
+
+Vincent, Family of, at Stoke d'Abernon, 56.
+
+Voltaire, Vow in one of his Romances, 51, 52.
+
+Vows, Eccentric, 46-68.
+
+
+Wakefield Mills, The, 130.
+
+Walpole and Berkeley Castle, 88, 89.
+
+Ward, Baron, 284.
+
+Wardley Hall, Skull at, 37-40.
+
+Wealth, Romance of, 263-278.
+
+Wedgwood, Josiah, 280, 281.
+
+Weird Possessions, 199-207.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, Strange belief on the occasion of his funeral, 198.
+
+Wells, "Mother," 240, 241.
+
+Wesley, John, and the game of whist, 67, 68.
+
+Westminster Abbey, Hearts of Illustrious Personages at, 253.
+
+Whitehead, Paul, The Heart of, 259, 260.
+
+Widow's Curse, The, 2-5.
+
+Wilkinson, Tate, 67, 68.
+
+Wilks, Col., Heirloom in possession of, 201, 202.
+
+Wills, Missing, 267.
+
+Witches' Horseblock, The, 168-170.
+
+Wordsworth's "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle," 225-227.
+
+Wye Coller Hall, Room at, 105.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Typos corrected in text:
+
+Page 53: 'Jane' corrected to 'Janet'.
+Page 143: 'suddedly' corrected to 'suddenly'.
+Page 190: 'fulful' corrected to 'fulfil'.
+Page 219: 'accompany-' corrected to 'accompanying'.
+Page 269: 'various others localities' corrected to 'various other
+localities'.
+Page 279: 'playes' corrected to 'players'.
+Page 281: 'De Sphoera' corrected to 'De Sphæra' [On the basis of
+information found here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/sacrobosco.html].
+Page 294: 'call' corrected to 'called'.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Pages from Family Papers
+by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Strange Pages from Family Papers, by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Strange Pages from Family Papers
+
+Author: T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+Release Date: November 11, 2005 [EBook #17050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE PAGES FROM FAMILY PAPERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Clare Boothby, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="noin">Transcriber's Note: Some very obvious typos
+were corrected in this text. <br />For a list please
+see the bottom of the document.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep001.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep001.jpg" width="355" height="550" alt="For the Blast of Death is on the Heath." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"<span class="sc">For the Blast of Death is on the Heath, <br />and the
+Grave yawns wide for the Child of Moy.</span>"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+
+<a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii"></a>
+<h1>STRANGE PAGES <br />
+FROM<br />
+FAMILY PAPERS</h1>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3>By T.F. THISELTON DYER</h3>
+<br />
+<h4>AUTHOR OF<br />
+<span class="sc">"Great Men at Play," "Church Lore Gleanings,"<br />
+"The Ghost World," &amp;c.</span></h4>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h5>LONDON<br />
+SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON &amp; COMPANY<br />
+<i>LIMITED</i><br />
+St. Dunstan's House,<br />
+<span class="sc">Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C.</span><br />
+1895</h5>
+
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv"></a>
+<h6>LONDON:<br />
+PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,<br />
+BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.C.</h6>
+
+<br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+
+<a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a>
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="50%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp" width="80%">Fatal Curses</td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="20%"><i>page</i> <a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">The Screaming Skull</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">29</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Eccentric Vows</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">46</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Strange Banquets</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">69</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Mysterious Rooms</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">88</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Indelible Bloodstains</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">114</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Curious Secrets</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">135</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">The Dead Hand</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">154</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX.<a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Devil Compacts</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">162</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Family Death Omens</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">180</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Weird Possessions</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">198</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Romance of Disguise</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">208</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Extraordinary Disappearances</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">229</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Honoured Hearts</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">253</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Romance of Wealth</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">262</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Lucky Accidents</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">279</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Fatal Passion</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">289</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlp">Index.</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#INDEX">309</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"></a>
+
+<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="75%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: top;" width="3%">1.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="82%">"For the blast of Death is on the heath,
+And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy."</td>
+  <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top;" width="15%"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">2.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">She opened it in secret</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><i>page</i> <a href="#imagep038">38</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: top;">3.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">"Madam, you have attained your end. You and I shall meet no more in this world"</td>
+  <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="#imagep072">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">4.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">The figure stood motionless</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep150">150</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">5.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Lady Sybil at the Eagle's Crag</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep168">168</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">6.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Dorothy Vernon and the Woodman</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep214">214</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">7.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">Lady Mabel and the Palmer</td>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep248">248</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" style="vertical-align: top;">8.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">There came an old Irish harper, and sang an ancient song</td>
+  <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="#imagep272">272</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<p><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></a></p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>
+<h2>STRANGE PAGES<br />
+FROM<br />
+FAMILY PAPERS.</h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>FATAL CURSES.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods<br /></span>
+    <span>Deny thee shelter! Earth a home! the dust<br /></span>
+    <span>A grave! The sun his light! and heaven her God.<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Byron</span>, <i>Cain</i>.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>Many a strange and curious romance has been handed down in the history
+of our great families, relative to the terrible curses uttered in
+cases of dire extremity against persons considered guilty of injustice
+and wrong doing. It is to such fearful imprecations that the
+misfortune and downfall of certain houses have been attributed,
+although, it may be, centuries have elapsed before their final
+fulfilment. Such curses, too, unlike the fatal "Curse of Kehama," have
+rarely turned into blessings, nor have they been thought to be as
+harmless as the curse of the Cardinal-Archbishop of <a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>Rheims, who
+banned the thief&mdash;both body and soul, his life and for ever&mdash;who stole
+his ring. It was an awful curse, but none of the guests seemed the
+worse for it, except the poor jackdaw who had hidden the ring in some
+sly corner as a practical joke. But, if we are to believe traditionary
+and historical lore, only too many of the curses recorded in the
+chronicles of family history have been productive of the most
+disastrous results, reminding us of that dreadful malediction given by
+Byron in his "Curse of Minerva":</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A popular form of curse seems to have been the gradual collapse of the
+family name from failure of male-issue; and although there is,
+perhaps, no more romantic chapter in the vicissitudes of many a great
+house than its final extinction from lack of an heir, such a disaster
+is all the more to be lamented when resulting from a curse. A
+catastrophe of this kind was that connected with the M'Alister family
+of Scotch notoriety. The story goes that many generations back, one of
+their chiefs, M'Alister Indre&mdash;an intrepid warrior who feared neither
+God nor man&mdash;in a skirmish with a neighbouring clan, captured a
+widow's two sons, and in a most heartless manner caused them to be
+hanged on a gibbet erected almost before her very door. It was in vain
+that, with well nigh heartbroken tears, she denounced his iniquitous
+act, for <a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>his comrades and himself only laughed and scoffed, and even
+threatened to burn her cottage to the ground. But as the crimson and
+setting rays of a summer sun fell on the lifeless bodies of her two
+sons, her eyes met those of him who had so basely and cruelly wronged
+her, and, after once more stigmatizing his barbarity, with deep
+measured voice she pronounced these ominous words, embodying a curse
+which M'Alister Indre little anticipated would so surely come to pass.
+"I suffer now," said the grief-stricken woman, "but you shall suffer
+always&mdash;you have made me childless, but you and yours shall be
+heirless for ever&mdash;never shall there be a son to the house of
+M'Alister."</p>
+
+<p>These words were treated with contempt by M'Alister Indre, who mocked
+and laughed at the malicious prattle of a woman's tongue. But time
+proved only too truly how persistently the curse of the bereaved woman
+clung to the race of her oppressors, and, as Sir Bernard Burke
+remarks, it was in the reign of Queen Anne that the hopes of the house
+of M'Alister "flourished for the last time, they were blighted for
+ever." The closing scene of this prophetic curse was equally tragic
+and romantic; for, whilst espousing the cause of the Pretender, the
+young and promising heir of the M'Alisters was taken prisoner, and
+with many others put to death. Incensed at the wrongs of his exiled
+monarch, and full of fiery impulse, he had secretly left his <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>youthful
+wife, and joined the army at Perth that was to restore the Pretender
+to his throne. For several months the deserted wife fretted under the
+terrible suspense, often silently wondering if, after all, her
+husband&mdash;the last hope of the House of M'Alister&mdash;was to fall under
+the ban of the widow's curse. She could not dispel from her mind the
+hitherto disastrous results of those ill-fated words, and would only
+too willingly have done anything in her power to make atonement for
+the wrong that had been committed in the past. It was whilst almost
+frenzied with thoughts of this distracting kind, that vague rumours
+reached her ears of a great battle which had been fought, and ere long
+this was followed by the news that the Pretender's forces had been
+successful, and that he was about to be crowned at Scone. The shades
+of evening were fast setting in as, overcome with the joyous prospect
+of seeing her husband home again, she withdrew to her chamber, and,
+flinging herself on her bed in a state of hysteric delight, fell
+asleep. But her slumbers were broken, for at every sound she started,
+mentally exclaiming "Can that be my husband?"</p>
+
+<p>At last, the happy moment came when her poor overwrought brain made
+sure it heard his footsteps. She listened, yes! they were his! Full of
+feverish joy she was longing to see that long absent face, when, as
+the door opened, to her horror and dismay, there entered a figure in
+martial array without a <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>head. It was enough&mdash;he was dead. And with an
+agonizing scream she fell down in a swoon; and on becoming conscious
+only lived to hear the true narrative of the battle of Sheriff-Muir,
+which had brought to pass the Widow's Curse that there should be no
+heir to the house of M'Alister.</p>
+
+<p>This story reminds us of one told of Sir Richard Herbert, who, with
+his brother, the Earl of Pembroke, pursuing a robber band in Anglesea,
+had captured seven brothers, the ringleaders of "many mischiefs and
+murders." The Earl of Pembroke determined to make an example of these
+marauders, and, to root out so wretched a progeny, ordered them all to
+be hanged. Upon this, the mother of the felons came to the Earl of
+Pembroke, and upon her knees besought him to pardon two, or at least
+one, of her sons, a request which was seconded by the Earl's brother,
+Sir Richard. But the Earl, finding the condemned men all equally
+guilty, declared he could make no distinction, and ordered them to be
+hanged together.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this the mother, falling upon her knees, cursed the Earl, and
+prayed that God's mischief might fall upon him in the first battle in
+which he was engaged. Curious to relate, on the eve of the battle of
+Edgcot Field, having marshalled his men in order to fight, the Earl of
+Pembroke was surprised to find his brother, Sir Richard Herbert,
+standing in the front of his company, and leaning <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>upon his pole-axe
+in a most dejected and pensive mood.</p>
+
+<p>"What," cried the Earl, "doth thy great body" (for Sir Richard was
+taller than anyone in the army) "apprehend anything, that thou art so
+melancholy? or art thou weary with marching, that thou dost lean thus
+upon thy pole-axe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not weary with marching," replied Sir Richard, "nor do I
+apprehend anything for myself; but I cannot but apprehend on your part
+lest the curse of the woman fall upon you."</p>
+
+<p>And the curse of the frantic mother of seven convicts seemed, we are
+told, to have gained the authority of Heaven, for both the Earl and
+his brother Sir Richard, were defeated at the battle of Edgcot, were
+both taken prisoners and put to death.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Walter Scott has made a similar legend the subject of one of his
+ballads in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," entitled "The
+Curse of Moy," a tale founded on an ancient Highland tradition that
+originated in a feud between the clans of Chattan and Grant. The
+Castle of Moy, the early residence of Mackintosh, the chief of the
+clan Chattan, is situated among the mountains of Inverness-shire, and
+stands on the edge of a small gloomy lake called Loch Moy, in which is
+still shown a rocky island as the spot where the dungeon stood in
+which prisoners were confined by the former chiefs of Moy. On a
+certain <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>evening, in the annals of Moy, the scene is represented as
+having been one of extreme merriment, for</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In childbed lay the lady fair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But now is come the appointed hour.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And vassals shout, "An heir, an heir!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It is no ordinary occasion, for a wretched curse has long hung over
+the Castle of Moy, but at last the spell seems broken, and, as the
+well-spiced bowl goes round, shout after shout echoes and re-echoes
+through the castle, "An heir, an heir!" Many a year had passed without
+the prospect of such an event, and it had looked as if the ill-omened
+words uttered in the past were to be realised. It was no wonder then
+that "in the gloomy towers of Moy" there were feasting and revelry,
+for a child is born who is to perpetuate the clan which hitherto had
+seemed threatened with extinction. But, even on this festive night
+when every heart is tuned for song and mirth, there suddenly appears a
+mysterious figure, a pale and shivering form, by "age and frenzy
+haggard made," who defiantly exclaims "'Tis vain! 'Tis vain!"</p>
+
+<p>At once all eyes are turned on this strange form, as she, in mocking
+gesture, casts a look of withering scorn on the scene around her, and
+startles the jovial vassals with the reproachful words "No heir! No
+heir!" The laughter is hushed, the pipes no longer sound, for the
+witch with uplifted hand beckons that she had a message to tell&mdash;a
+message <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>from Death&mdash;she might truly say, "What means these bowls of
+wine&mdash;these festive songs?"</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">For the blast of Death is on the heath,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>She then recounts the tale of treachery and cruelty committed by a
+chief of the House of Moy in the days of old, for which "his name
+shall perish for ever off the earth&mdash;a son may be born&mdash;but that son
+shall verily die." The witch brings tears into many an eye as she
+tells how this curse was uttered by one Margaret, a prominent figure
+in this sad feud, for it was when deceived in the most base manner,
+and when betrayed by a man who had violated his promise he had
+solemnly pledged, that she is moved to pronounce the fatal words of
+doom:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">She pray'd that childless and forlorn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The chief of Moy might pine away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That the sleepless night, and the careful morn<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Might wither his limbs in slow decay.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">But never the son of a chief of Moy<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Might live to protect his father's age,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or close in peace his dying eye,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or gather his gloomy heritage.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Such was the "Curse of Moy," uttered, it must be remembered, too, by a
+fair young girl, against the Chief of Moy for a blood-thirsty
+crime&mdash;the act of a traitor&mdash;in that, not content with slaying her
+father, and murdering her lover, he satiates his <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>brutal passion by
+letting her eyes rest on their corpses.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And here," they said, "is thy father dead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And thy lover's corpse is cold at his side."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Her tale ended, the witch departs, but now ceased the revels of the
+shuddering clan, for "despair had seized on every breast," and "in
+every vein chill terror ran." On the morrow, all is changed, no joyous
+sounds are heard, but silence reigns supreme&mdash;the silence of death.
+The curse has triumphed, the last hope of the house of Moy is gone,
+and&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Scarce shone the morn on the mountain's head<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the lady wept o'er her dying boy.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But tyranny, or oppression, has always been supposed to bring its own
+punishment, as in the case of Barcroft Hall, Lancashire, where the
+"Idiot's Curse" is commonly said to have caused the downfall of the
+family. The tradition current in the neighbourhood states that one of
+the heirs to Barcroft was of weak intellect, and that he was fastened
+by a younger brother with a chain in one of the cellars, and there in
+a most cruel manner gradually starved to death. It appears that this
+unnatural conduct on the part of the younger brother was prompted by a
+desire to get possession of the property; and it is added that, long
+before the heir to Barcroft was released from his sufferings, he
+caused a report to be circulated that he was dead, and by this piece
+of deception made himself master of the Barcroft estate. It was in one
+of his <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>lucid intervals that the poor injured brother pronounced a
+curse upon the family of the Barcrofts, to the effect that their name
+should perish for ever, and that the property should pass into other
+hands. But this malediction was only regarded as the ravings of an
+imbecile, unaccountable for his words, and little or no heed was paid
+to this death sentence on the Barcroft name. And yet, light as the
+family made of it, within a short time there were not wanting
+indications that their prosperity was on the wane, a fact which every
+year became more and more discernible until the curse was fulfilled in
+the person of Thomas Barcroft, who died in 1688 without male issue.
+After passing through the hands of the Bradshaws, the Pimlots, and the
+Isherwoods, the property was finally sold to Charles Towneley, the
+celebrated antiquarian, in the year 1795.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Whatever the truth of
+this family tradition, Barcroft is still a good specimen of the later
+Tudor style, and its ample cellarage gives an idea of the profuse
+hospitality of its former owners, some rude scribblings on one of the
+walls of which are still pointed out as the work of the captive.</p>
+
+<p>In a still more striking way this spirit of persecution incurred its
+own condemnation. In the 17th century, Francis Howgill, a noted
+Quaker, travelled about the South of England preaching, which at
+Bristol was the cause of serious <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>rioting. On returning to his own
+neighbourhood, he was summoned to appear before the justices who were
+holding a court in a tavern at Kendal, and, on his refusing to take
+the oath of allegiance, he was imprisoned in Appleby Gaol. In due
+time, the judges of assizes tendered the same oath, but with the like
+result, and evidently wishing to show him some consideration offered
+to release him from custody if he would give a bond for his good
+behaviour in the interim, which likewise declining to do, he was
+recommitted to prison. In the course of his imprisonment, however, a
+curious incident happened, which gave rise to the present narrative.
+Having been permitted by the magistrates to go home to Grayrigg for a
+few days on private affairs, he took the opportunity of calling on a
+justice of the name of Duckett, residing at Grayrigg Hall, who was not
+only a great persecutor of the Quakers but was one of the magistrates
+who had committed him to prison. As might be imagined, Justice Duckett
+was not a little surprised at seeing Howgill, and said to him, "What
+is your wish now, Francis? I thought you had been in Appleby Gaol."</p>
+
+<p>Howgill, keenly resenting the magistrate's behaviour, promptly
+replied, "No, I am not, but I am come with a message from the Lord.
+Thou hast persecuted the Lord's people, but His hand is now against
+thee, and He will send a blast upon all that thou hast, and thy name
+shall rot out of the earth, and this thy dwelling shall become
+desolate, <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>and a habitation for owls and jackdaws." When Howgill had
+delivered his message, the magistrate seems to have been somewhat
+disconcerted, and said, "Francis, are you in earnest?" But Howgill
+only added, "Yes, I am in earnest, it is the word of the Lord to thee,
+and there are many living now who will see it."</p>
+
+<p>But the most remarkable part of the story remains to be told. By a
+strange coincidence the prophetic utterance of Howgill was fulfilled
+in a striking manner, for all the children of Justice Duckett died
+without leaving any issue, whilst some of them came to actual poverty,
+one begging her bread from door to door. Grayrigg Hall passed into the
+possession of the Lowther family, was dismantled, and fell into ruins,
+little more than its extensive foundations being visible in 1777, and,
+after having long been the habitation of "owls and jackdaws," the
+ruins were entirely removed and a farmhouse erected upon the site of
+the "old hall," in accordance with what was popularly known as "The
+Quaker's Curse, and its fulfilment." Cornish biography, however, tells
+how a magistrate of that county, Sir John Arundell, a man greatly
+esteemed amongst his neighbours for his honourable conduct&mdash;fell under
+an imprecation which he in no way deserved. In his official capacity,
+it seems, he had given offence to a shepherd who had by some means
+acquired considerable influence over the peasantry, under the
+impression that he <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>possessed some supernatural powers. This man, for
+some offence, had been imprisoned by Sir John Arundell, and on his
+release would constantly waylay the magistrate, always looking at him
+with the same menacing eye, at the same time slowly muttering these
+words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"When upon the yellow sand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thou shalt die by human hand."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Sir John Arundell's education and position, he was not
+wholly free from the superstition of the period, and might have
+thought, too, that this man intended to murder him. Hence he left his
+home at Efford and retired to the wood-clad hills of Trevice, where he
+lived for some years without the annoyance of meeting his old enemy.
+But in the tenth year of Edward IV., Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford,
+seized St. Michael's Mount; on hearing of which news, Sir John
+Arundell, then Sheriff of Cornwall&mdash;led an attack on St. Michael's
+Mount, in the course of which he received his death wound in a
+skirmish on the sands near Marazion. Although he had broken up his
+home at Efford "to counteract the will of fate," the shepherd's
+prophecy was accomplished; and tradition even says that, in his dying
+moments, his old enemy appeared, singing in joyous tones:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"When upon the yellow sand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thou shalt die by human hand."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The misappropriation of property, in addition to causing many a family
+complication, has occasionally <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>been attended with a far more serious
+result. There is a strange curse, for instance, in the family of Mar,
+which can boast of great antiquity, there being, perhaps, no title in
+Europe so ancient as that of the Earl of Mar. This curse has been
+attributed by some to Thomas the Rhymer, by others to the Abbot of
+Cambuskenneth, and by others to the Bard of the House at that epoch.
+But, whoever its author, the curse was delivered prior to the
+elevation of the Earl, in the year 1571, to be the Regent of Scotland,
+and runs thus:</p>
+
+<p>"Proud Chief of Mar, thou shalt be raised still higher, until thou
+sittest in the place of the King. Thou shalt rule and destroy, and thy
+work shall be after thy name, but thy work shall be the emblem of thy
+house, and shall teach mankind that he who cruelly and haughtily
+raiseth himself upon the ruins of the holy cannot prosper. Thy work
+shall be cursed, and shall never be finished. But thou shalt have
+riches and greatness, and shall be true to thy sovereign, and shalt
+raise his banner in the field of blood. Then, when thou seemest to be
+highest, when thy power is mightiest, then shall come thy fall; low
+shall be thy head amongst the nobles of the people. Deep shall be thy
+moan among the children of dool (sorrow). Thy lands shall be given to
+the stranger, and thy titles shall lie among the dead. The branch that
+springs from thee shall see his dwelling burnt, in which a King is
+nursed&mdash;his wife a sacrifice in that same flame; <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>his children
+numerous, but of little honour; and three born and grown who shall
+never see the light. Yet shall thine ancient tower stand; for the
+brave and the true cannot be wholly forsaken. Thou, proud head and
+daggered hand, must <i>dree thy</i> weird, until horses shall be stabled in
+thy hall, and a weaver shall throw his shuttle in thy chamber of
+state. Thine ancient tower&mdash;a woman's dower&mdash;shall be a ruin and a
+beacon, until an ash sapling shall spring from its topmost stone. Then
+shall thy sorrows be ended, and the sunshine of royalty shall beam on
+thee once more. Thine honours shall be restored; the kiss of peace
+shall be given to thy Countess, though she seek it not, and the days
+of peace shall return to thee and thine. The line of Mar shall be
+broken; but not until its honours are doubled, and its doom is ended."</p>
+
+<p>In support of this strange curse, it may be noted that the Earl of
+1571 was raised to be Regent of Scotland, and guardian of James VI. As
+Regent, he commanded the destruction of Cambuskenneth Abbey, and took
+its stones to build himself a palace at Stirling, which never advanced
+farther than the fa&ccedil;ade, which has been popularly designated "Marr's
+Work."</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the banner of his Sovereign,
+the Chevalier James Stuart, son of James the Second, or Seventh. He
+was defeated at the battle of Sheriff-Muir, his title being forfeited,
+and his lands of Mar confiscated <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>and sold by the Government to the
+Earl of Fife. His grandson and representative, John Francis, lived at
+Alloa Tower (which had been for some time the abode of James VI. as an
+infant) where, a fire breaking out in one of the rooms, Mrs. Erskine
+was burnt, and died, leaving, beside others, three children who were
+born blind, and who all lived to old age.</p>
+
+<p>But this remarkable curse was to be further fulfilled, for at the
+commencement of the present century, upon the alarm of the French
+invasion, a troop of the cavalry and yeomen of the district took
+possession of the tower, and for a week fifty horses were stabled in
+its lordly hall; and in the year 1810, a party of visitors were
+surprised to find a weaver plying his loom in the grand old Chamber of
+State. Between the years 1815 and 1820, an ash sapling might be seen
+in the topmost stone, and many of those who "clasped it in their hands
+wondered if it really were the twig of destiny, and if they should
+ever live to see the prophecy fulfilled."</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1822, George IV. visited Scotland and searched out the
+families who had suffered by supporting the Princes of the Stuart
+line. Foremost of them all was the Erskine of Mar, grandson of Mar who
+had raised the Chevalier's standard, and to him the King restored his
+earldom. John Francis, the grandson of the restored Earl, likewise
+came into favour, for when Queen <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>Victoria accidentally met his
+Countess in a small room in Stirling Castle, and ascertained who she
+was, she detained her, and, after conversing with her, kissed her.
+Although the Countess had never been presented at St. James's, yet, in
+a marvellous way, "the kiss of peace was given to her, though she
+sought it not"; and then, after the curse had worked through 300
+years, the "weird dreed out, and the doom of Mar was ended."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another instance which may be quoted relates to Sherborne Castle.
+According to the traditionary accounts handed down, it appears that
+Osmund, one of William the Conqueror's knights, who had been rewarded,
+among other possessions, with the castle and barony of Sherborne, in
+the decline of life determined to resign his temporal honours, and to
+devote himself exclusively to religion. In pursuance of this object,
+he obtained the Bishopric of Salisbury, to which he gave certain
+lands, but annexed to the gift the following conditional curse: "That
+whosoever should take those lands from the Bishopric, or diminish them
+in great or small, should be accursed, not only in this world, but in
+the world to come, unless in his lifetime he made restitution
+thereof." In a strange and wonderful manner this curse is said to have
+been more than once fulfilled. Upon Osmund's death, the castle and
+lands fell into the hands of the next bishop, <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>Roger Niger, who was
+dispossessed of them by King Stephen, on whose death they were held by
+the Montagues, all of whom, it is affirmed, so long as they kept these
+lands, were subjected to grievous disasters, in so much that the male
+line became altogether extinct. About two hundred years from this
+time, the lands again reverted to the Church, but in the reign of
+Edward VI. the Castle of Sherborne was conveyed by the then Bishop of
+Sarum to the Duke of Somerset, who lost his head on Tower Hill. Sir
+Walter Raleigh, again, obtained the property from the crown, and it
+was to expiate this offence, it has been suggested, he ultimately lost
+his head. But in allusion to this reputed curse, Sir John Harrington
+gravely tells how it happened one day that Sir Walter riding post
+between Plymouth and the Court, "the castle being right in the way, he
+cast such an eye upon it as Ahab did upon Naboth's vineyard, and
+whilst talking of the commodiousness of the place, and of the great
+strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the
+Bishopric, suddenly over and over came his horse, and his very
+face&mdash;which was then thought a very good one&mdash;ploughed up the earth
+where he fell." Then again Prince Henry died shortly after he took
+possession, and Carr, Earl of Somerset, the next proprietor fell in
+disgrace. But the way the latter obtained Sherborne was far from
+creditable, for, having discovered a technical flaw in the deed in
+which Sir Walter <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>Raleigh had settled the estate on his son, he
+solicited it of his royal master, and obtained it. It was in vain that
+Lady Raleigh on her knees appealed to James against this injustice,
+for he only answered, "I mun have the land, I mun have it for Carr."
+But Lady Raleigh was a woman of high spirit, and there on her knees,
+before King James, she prayed to God that He would punish those who
+had thus wrongfully exposed her, and her children, to ruin. She was,
+in fact, re-echoing the curse uttered centuries beforehand. And that
+prayer was not long unanswered, for Carr did not enjoy Sherborne for
+any length of time. Committed to the Tower for the murder of Sir
+Thomas Overbury, he was at last released and restricted to his house
+in the country, "where in constant companionship with the wife, for
+the guilty love of whom he had become the murderer of his friend, he
+passed the remainder of his life, loathing the partner of his crimes,
+and by her as cordially detested."</p>
+
+<p>Spelman goes so far as to say that "all those families who took or had
+Church property presented to them, came, either in their own persons or
+those of their descendants, to sorrow and misfortune." One of the many
+strange occurrences relating to Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer to
+King Henry VIII., was communicated some years ago in connection with
+the famous Cowdray Castle, the principal seat of the Montagues. It is
+said that <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>at the great festival given in the magnificent hall of the
+monks at Battle Abbey, on Sir Anthony Browne taking possession of his
+Sovereign's gift of that estate, a venerable monk stalked up the hall
+to the da&iuml;s, where Sir Anthony Browne sat, and, in prophetic language,
+denounced him and his posterity for usurping the possessions of the
+Church, predicting their destruction by fire and water&mdash;a fate which
+was eventually fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>One of the last viscounts was, in 1793, drowned when trying to pass
+the Falls of Schaffhausen on the Rhine, accompanied by Mr. Sedley
+Burdett, the elder brother of the distinguished Sir Francis. They had
+engaged an open boat to take them through the rapids; but it seems the
+authorities tried to prevent so dangerous an enterprise. In order,
+however, to carry out their project, they started two hours earlier
+than the time previously fixed&mdash;four o'clock in the morning&mdash;and
+successfully passed the first or upper fall. But, unhappily, the same
+good fortune failed them in their next descent, for "the boat was
+swamped and sunk in passing the lower fall, and was supposed to have
+been jammed in a cleft of the submerged rock, as neither boat nor
+adventurers ever appeared again. In the same week, the ancient seat of
+the family, Cowdray Castle, was destroyed by fire, and its venerable
+ruins are the significant monument at once of the fulfilment of the
+old monk's prophecy, <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>and of the extinction of the race of the great
+and powerful noble."</p>
+
+<p>It is further added that the last inheritor of the title&mdash;the
+immediate successor and cousin of the ill-fated young nobleman of
+Schaffhausen, Anthony Browne, the last Montague, who died at the
+opening of this century&mdash;left no male issue, and his estates devolved
+on his only daughter, who married Mr. Stephen Poyntz, a great
+Buckinghamshire landlord. Some years after their marriage Mr. Poyntz
+was desirous of obtaining a grant of the dormant title "Viscount
+Montague" in favour of the elder of his two sons, issue of this
+marriage; but his hopes were suddenly destroyed by the death of the
+two boys, who were drowned while bathing at Bognor, the "fatal water"
+thus becoming the means, in fulfilment of the monk's terrible
+denunciation on the family in his fearful curse.</p>
+
+<p>In a similar manner the great Tichborne trial followed, it is said,
+upon the fulfilment, in a manner, of a prophecy, respecting that
+ancient family, made more than seven hundred years before. When the
+Lady Mabelle Tichborne, wife of the Sir Roger who flourished in the
+reign of Henry II., was lying on her death-bed, she besought her
+husband to grant her the means of leaving behind her a charitable
+bequest in the form of an annual dole of bread. To gratify her whim,
+he accordingly promised her the produce of as much land in the
+vicinity of the park as she could walk over while a <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>certain brand was
+burning; for, as she had been bedridden for many years, he supposed
+that she would be able to go round only a small portion of the
+property. But when the venerable dame was carried out upon the ground,
+she seemed to regain her strength, and, greatly to the surprise of her
+husband, crawled round several rich and goodly acres, which, to this
+day, retain the name of "The Crawls." On being reconveyed to her
+chamber, Lady Mabelle summoned her family to her bedside and predicted
+its prosperity so long as the annual dole was observed, but she left
+her solemn curse on any of her descendants who should discontinue it,
+prophesying that when such should happen, the old house would fall,
+and the family name "become extinct from failure" of male issue. And
+she further added, that this would be foretold by a generation of
+seven sons being followed immediately after by a generation of seven
+daughters and no son.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of the annual doles was observed for six hundred years on
+every 25th of March, until&mdash;owing to the complaints of the magistrates
+and local gentry that vagabonds, gipsies, and idlers of every
+description swarmed into the neighbourhood, under the pretence of
+receiving the dole&mdash;it was discontinued in the year 1796. Strangely
+enough, Sir Henry Tichborne, the baronet of that day, had issue seven
+sons, and his eldest son, who succeeded him, had seven daughters and
+no son. The prophecy was apparently completed by the change <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>of name
+of the possessors of the estate to Doughty, in the person of Sir
+Edward Doughty, who had assumed the name under the will of a relative
+from whom he inherited certain property. Finally, it may be added,
+"the Claimant" appeared, and instituted one of the most costly
+lawsuits ever tried, in which the Tichborne estate was put to an
+expense of close upon one hundred thousand pounds!</p>
+
+<p>But, occasionally, the effect of a family curse, through the
+misappropriation of property, has been more sweeping and speedy in its
+retribution, as in the case of Furvie or Forvie, which now forms part
+of the parish of Slains, Scotland&mdash;much, if not most of it, being
+covered with sand. The popular account of the downfall of this parish
+tells how, in times gone by, the proprietor to whom it belonged left
+three daughters as heirs of his fair lands; who were, however, most
+unjustly bereft of their property, and thrown homeless on the world.
+On quitting their home&mdash;their legal heritage&mdash;they uttered a terrible
+curse, which was quickly accomplished, and was considered an
+unmistakable sign of Divine displeasure at the wrong they had
+received. Before many days had elapsed, a storm of almost unparalleled
+violence&mdash;lasting nine days&mdash;burst over the district, and transformed
+the parish of Forvie into a desert of sand;&mdash;a calamity which is said
+to have befallen the district about the close of the 17th century. In
+this way, many local traditions account for the ruined and desolate
+<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>condition of certain wild and uninhabited spots. Ettrick Hall, for
+instance, near the head of Ettrick Water, had such a history. On and
+around its site in former days there was a considerable village, and
+"as late as the Revolution, it contained no fewer than fifty-three
+fine houses." But about the year 1700, when the numbers in this little
+village were still very considerable, James Anderson, a member of the
+Tushielaw family, pulled down a number of small cottages, leaving many
+of the tenants&mdash;some of whom were aged and infirm&mdash;homeless. It was in
+vain that these poor people appealed to him for a little merciful
+consideration, for he refused to lend an ear to their complaints, and
+in a short time a splendid house was built on the property, known as
+Ettrick Hall. What was considered by the inhabitants far and wide as
+an act of cruel injustice incurred its own punishment, for a prophetic
+rhyme was about the same period made on it, by whom nobody could tell,
+and which, says James Hogg, writing in the year 1826, has been most
+wonderfully verified:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ettrick Hall stands on yon plain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Right sore exposed to wind and rain;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And on it the sun shines never at morn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Because it was built in the widow's corn;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And its foundations can never be sure,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Because it was built on the ruin of the poor.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And or an age is come and gane,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or the trees o'er the chimly-taps grow green,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We kinna wen where the house has been.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>The curse that alighted on this fair mansion at length accomplished
+its destructive work, because nowadays there is not a vestige of it
+remaining, nor has there been for these many years; indeed, so
+complete was the collapse of this ill-fated house, that its site could
+only be identified by the avenue and lanes of trees; while many clay
+cottages, on the other hand, which were built previously, long
+remained intact. Equally fatal, also, was the curse uttered against
+the old persecuting family of Home of Cowdenknowes&mdash;a place in the
+immediate neighbourhood of St. Thomas's Castle.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Vengeance, vengeance! When and where?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Upon the house of Cowdenknowes, now and evermair!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This anathema, awful as the cry of blood, is generally said to have
+been realised in the extinction of the family and the transference of
+their property to other hands. But some doubt, writes Mr. Robert
+Chambers,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> seems to hang on the matter, "as the Earl of Home&mdash;a
+prosperous gentleman&mdash;is the lineal descendant of the Cowdenknowes
+branch of the family which acceded to the title in the reign of
+Charles I., though, it must be admitted, the estate has long been
+alienated."</p>
+
+<p>Love and marriage, again, have been associated with many imprecations,
+one of which dates as far back as the time of Edmund, King of the East
+Angles, in connection with his defeat and capture <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>at Hoxne, in
+Suffolk, on the banks of the Waveney not far from Eye. The story, as
+told by Sir Francis Palgrave in his Anglo-Saxon History, is this:
+"Being hotly pursued by his foes, the King fled to Hoxne, and
+attempted to conceal himself by crouching beneath a bridge, now called
+Goldbridge. The glittering of his golden spurs discovered him to a
+newly-married couple, who were returning home by moonlight, and they
+betrayed him to the Danes. Edmund, as he was dragged from his hiding
+place, pronounced a malediction upon all who should afterwards pass
+this bridge on their way to be married. So much regard was paid to
+this tradition by the good folks of Hoxne that no bride or bridegroom
+would venture along the forbidden path."</p>
+
+<p>That inconstancy has not always escaped with impunity may be gathered
+from the following painful story, one which, if it had not been fully
+attested, would seem to belong to the domain of fiction rather than
+truth: On April 28, 1795, a naval court-martial, which had lasted for
+sixteen days, and created considerable excitement, was terminated. The
+officer tried was Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy, of H.M. Ship
+<i>C&aelig;sar</i> and the charge brought against him was that, in the memorable
+battle of June 1, 1794, he did not bring his ship into action, and
+exert himself to the utmost of his power. The decision of the court
+was adverse to the Captain, but, <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>"having found that on many previous
+occasions Captain Molloy's courage had been unimpeachable," he was
+sentenced to be dismissed his ship, instead of the penalty of death.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that Captain Molloy had behaved dishonourably to a young
+lady to whom he was betrothed. The friends of the lady wished to bring
+an action for breach of promise against the Captain, but the lady
+declined doing so, only remarking that God would punish him. Some time
+afterwards the two accidentally met at Bath, when the lady confronted
+her inconstant lover by saying: "Capt. Molloy, you are a bad man. I
+wish you the greatest curse that can befall a British officer. When
+the day of battle comes, may your false heart fail you!"</p>
+
+<p>Her words were fully realised, his subsequent conduct and irremediable
+disgrace forming the fulfilment of her wish.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another curse, which may be said to have a historic interest, has been
+popularly designated the "Midwife's Curse." It appears that Colonel
+Stephen Payne, who took a foremost part in striving to uphold the
+tottering fortunes of the Stuarts, had wooed and won a fair wife amid
+the battles of the Rebellion. The Duke of York promised to stand as
+godfather to the first child if it should prove a boy; but when a
+daughter was born, the Colonel in his mortification, it is said,
+"formally devoted, in <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>succession, his hapless wife, his infant
+daughter, himself and his belongings, to the infernal deities."</p>
+
+<p>But the story goes that the midwife, Douce Vardon, was commissioned by
+the shade of Normandy's first duke to announce to her master that not
+only would his daughter die in infancy, but that neither he nor anyone
+descended from him would ever again be blessed with a daughter's love.
+Not many days afterwards the child died, "whose involuntary coming had
+been the cause of the Payne curse." Time passed on, and that "Heaven
+is merciful," writes Sir Bernard Burke,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Stephen Payne experienced
+in his own person, for his wife subsequently presented him with a son,
+who was sponsored by the Duke of York by proxy. "But six generations
+of the descendants of Colonel Stephen Payne," it is added, "have come
+and gone since the utterance of the midwife's curse, but they never
+yet have had a daughter born to them." Such is the immutability of the
+decrees of Fate.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Harland's "Lancashire Legends" (1882), 4, 5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See Sir J. Bernard Burke's "Family Romance," 1853.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" (1870), 217-18.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See "Book of Days," I., 559.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "The Rise of Great Families," 191-202.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER II.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>THE SCREAMING SKULL.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall,<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its chambers desolate, its portals foul;<br /></span>
+    <span>Yes, this was once Ambition's airy hall&mdash;<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The dome of thought, the palace of the soul."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Byron.</span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>There are told of certain houses, in different parts of the country,
+many weird skull stories, the popular idea being that if any profane
+hand should be bold enough to remove, or in any way tamper with, such
+gruesome relics of the dead, misfortune will inevitably overtake the
+family. Hence, for years past, there have been carefully preserved in
+some of our country homes numerous skulls, all kinds of romantic
+traditions accounting for their present isolated and unburied
+condition.</p>
+
+<p>An old farmstead known as Bettiscombe, near Bridport, Dorsetshire, has
+long been famous for its so-called "screaming skull," generally
+supposed to be that of a negro servant who declared before his death
+that his spirit would not rest until his body was buried in his native
+land. But, contrary to his <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>dying wish, he was interred in the
+churchyard of Bettiscombe, and hence the trouble which this skull has
+ever since occasioned. In the August of 1883, Dr. Richard Garnett, his
+daughter, and a friend, while staying in the neighbourhood determined
+to pay this eccentric skull a visit, the result of which is thus
+amusingly told by Miss Garnett:</p>
+
+<p>"One fine afternoon a party of three adventurous spirits started off,
+hoping to discover the skull and investigate its history. This much we
+knew, that the skull would only scream when it was buried, and so we
+hoped to get leave to inter it in the churchyard. The village of
+Bettiscombe was at length reached, and we found our way to the old
+farmhouse, which stood at the end of the village by itself. It had
+evidently been a manor house, and a very handsome one, too. We were
+admitted into a fine paved hall, and attempted to break the ice by
+asking for milk. We then endeavoured to draw the good woman of the
+house into conversation by admiring the place, and asking in a guarded
+manner respecting the famous skull. On this subject she was most
+reserved. She had only lately had the farmhouse, and had been obliged
+to take possession of the skull also; but she did not wish us to
+suppose that she knew much about it; it was a veritable 'skeleton in
+the closet' to her. After exercising great diplomacy, we persuaded her
+to <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>allow us a sight of it. We tramped up the fine old staircase till
+we reached the top of the house, when, opening a cupboard door, she
+showed us a steep, winding staircase, leading to the roof, and from
+one of the steps the skull sat grinning at us. We took it in our hands
+and examined it carefully; it was very old and weather-beaten, and
+certainly human. The lower jaw was missing, the forehead very low and
+badly proportioned. One of our party, who was a medical student,
+examined it long and gravely, and then, after first telling the good
+woman that he was a doctor, pronounced it to be, in his opinion, the
+skull of a negro. After this oracular utterance, she resolved to make
+a clean breast of all she knew, which, however, did not amount to
+much. The skull, we were informed, was that of a negro servant, who
+had lived in the service of a Roman Catholic priest. Some difference
+arose between them; but whether the priest murdered the servant, in
+order to conceal some crimes known to the negro, or whether the negro,
+in a fit of passion, killed his master, did not clearly appear.</p>
+
+<p>However, the negro had declared before his death that his spirit would
+not rest unless his body was taken to his native land and buried
+there. This was not done, he being buried in the churchyard of
+Bettiscombe. Then the haunting began; fearful screams proceeded from
+the grave, the doors and windows of the house rattled and <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>creaked,
+strange sounds were heard all over the house; in short, there was no
+rest for the inmates until the body was dug up. At different periods
+attempts were made to bury the body, but similar disturbances always
+recurred. In process of time the skeleton disappeared, 'all save the
+skull,' and its reputation as 'the screaming skull' remains
+unimpaired."</p>
+
+<p>In a farm-house in Sussex are preserved two skulls from Hastings
+Priory, about which many gruesome stories are current in the
+neighbourhood. One of these skulls, it appears, has been in the house
+many years; the other was placed there by a former tenant of the farm.
+It is the prevalent impression in the locality, that, if by any chance
+the former skull were to be removed, the cattle in the farm would die,
+and unearthly sounds be heard in and about the house at night time.
+According to a local tradition, the skull belonged to a man who
+murdered the owner of the house, and marks of blood are pointed out on
+the floor of the adjoining room, where the murder is said to have been
+committed, and which no washing will remove. But, on more than one
+occasion, the skull has been taken away without any ill-effects, and,
+one year, was placed by a profane hand in a branch of a neighbouring
+tree, where it remained a whole summer, during which time a bird's
+nest was constructed within it, and a young brood successfully reared.
+And yet the old <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>superstition still survives, and the prejudice
+against tampering with this peculiar skull has in no way
+diminished.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>There are the remains of a skull, in three parts, at Tunstead, a
+farmhouse about a mile and a half from Chapel-en-le-Frith, which,
+although popularly known by the male cognomen "Dickie," has always
+been said to be that of a woman. How long it has been located in its
+present home is not known, but tradition tells how one of two
+co-heiresses residing here was murdered, who solemnly affirmed that
+her bones should remain in the place for ever. In days past, this
+skull has been guilty of all sorts of eccentric pranks, many of which
+are still told by the credulous peasantry with respectful awe. It is
+added,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> also, that if "Dickie" should accidentally be removed,
+everything in the farm will go wrong. The cows will be dry and barren,
+the sheep have the rot, and horses fall down, breaking their knees and
+otherwise injuring themselves. The story goes, too, that when the
+London and North-Western Railway to Manchester was being made, the
+foundations of a bridge gave way in the yielding sands and bog, and,
+after several attempts to build the bridge had failed, it was found
+necessary to divert the highway, and pass it under the railway on
+higher ground. These engineering failures were attributed to the
+malevolent influence of "Dickie," but as <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>soon as the road was
+diverted it was bridged successfully, because no longer in Dickie's
+territory.</p>
+
+<p>A similar superstition attaches to a skull kept in a farmhouse at
+Chilton Cantelo, in Somersetshire. From the date on the tombstone of
+the former owner of the skull&mdash;1670&mdash;it has been conjectured that he
+came to the retired village, in which he was buried, after taking an
+active part, on the Republican side, in the Civil War; and that seeing
+the way in which the bodies of some of them who had acted with him
+were treated after the Restoration, he wished to provide against this
+in his own case. But, whatever the previous history of this curious
+skull, it has at times caused a good deal of trouble, resenting any
+proposal to consign it to the earth, for buried it will not be, no
+matter how many attempts are made to do so. Strange to say, most of
+this class of skulls behave in the same extraordinary fashion. At a
+short distance from Turton Tower&mdash;one of the most interesting
+structures in the neighbourhood of Bolton&mdash;is a farmhouse locally
+designated Timberbottom, or the Skull House, so called from the
+circumstance that two skulls are or were kept there, one of which was
+much decayed, whereas the other appeared to have been cut through by a
+blow from some sharp instrument. These skulls, it is said, have been
+buried many times in the graveyard at Bradshaw Chapel, but they have
+always had to be exhumed, and brought back to the <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>farm-house. On one
+occasion, they were thrown into the adjacent river, but to no purpose;
+for they had to be fished up and restored to their old quarters before
+the ghosts of their owners could once more rest in peace.</p>
+
+<p>A popular cause assigned for this strange behaviour on the part of
+certain skulls is that their owners met with a violent death, and that
+the avenging spirit in this manner annoys the living, reminding us of
+Macbeth's words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ay, and since too, murders have been performed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Too terrible for the ear; the times have been<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That, when the brains were out, the man would die<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And there an end; but now they rise again,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And push us from our stools. This is more strange<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Than such a murder is."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Hence, a romantic and tragic story is told of two skulls which have
+long haunted an old house near Ambleside. It appears that a small
+piece of ground, known as Calgrath, was owned by a humble farmer,
+named Kraster Cook, and his wife Dorothy. But their little inheritance
+was coveted by a wealthy magistrate, Myles Phillipson, who, unable to
+induce them to part with it, swore "he'd have that ground, be they
+'live or dead." As time wore on, however, he appeared more gracious to
+Kraster and Dorothy, and actually invited them to a great <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>Christmas
+banquet given to the neighbours. It was a dear feast for them, for
+Myles Phillipson pretended they had stolen a silver cup, and, sure
+enough, it was found in Kraster's house&mdash;a "plant," of course. Such an
+offence was then capital, and, as Phillipson was the magistrate,
+Kraster and Dorothy were sentenced to death. Thereupon, Dorothy arose
+in the court-room and addressed Phillipson in words that rang through
+the building and impressed all for their awful earnestness:</p>
+
+<p>"Guard thyself, Myles Phillipson! Thou thinkest thou hast managed
+grandly, but that tiny lump of land is the dearest a Phillipson has
+ever bought or stolen, for you will never prosper, neither your breed.
+Whatever scheme you undertake will wither in your hand; the side you
+take will always lose; the time shall come when no Phillipson shall
+own an inch of land; and while Calgarth walls shall stand we'll haunt
+it night and day. Never will ye be rid of us!"</p>
+
+<p>Henceforth, the Phillipsons had for their guests two skulls. They were
+found at Christmas at the head of a staircase. They were buried in a
+distant region, but they turned up in the old house again. Again and
+again were the two skulls burned; they were brazed to dust and cast to
+the winds, and for several years they were cast in the lake, but the
+Phillipsons could never get rid of them. In the meantime, Dorothy's
+weird went steadily on to its <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>fulfilment, until the family sank into
+poverty, and at length disappeared.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>As a more rational explanation of the matter, it is told by some local
+historians "that there formerly lived in the house a famous doctress,
+who had two skeletons by her for the usual purposes of her profession,
+and these skulls, happening to meet with better preservation than the
+rest of the bones, they were accidentally honoured" with this singular
+tradition.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>Wardley Hall, Lancashire, has its skull, which is supposed to be the
+witness of some tragedy committed in the past, and to have belonged to
+Roger Downes, the last male representative of his family, and who was
+one of the most abandoned courtiers of Charles II. Roby, in one of his
+"Traditions," entitled "The Skull House," has represented him as
+rushing forth "hot from the stews," drawing his sword as he staggered
+along, and swearing that he would kill the first man he met. Terrible
+to say, that fearful oath was fulfilled, for his victim was a poor
+tailor, whom he ran through with his weapon and killed on the spot. He
+was apprehended for the crime, but his interest at Court quickly
+procured him a free pardon, and he soon continued his reckless course.
+But one evening, as his sister and cousin Eleanor were chatting
+together at Wardley, the carrier from Manchester <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>brought a wooden
+box, "which had come all the way from London by Antony's waggon."
+Suspecting that there was something mysterious connected with this
+package, for the direction was "a quaint, crabbed hand," she opened it
+in secret, when, to her amazement and horror, this writing attracted
+her notice:</p>
+
+<p>"Thy brother has at length paid the forfeit of his crimes. The wages
+of sin is death! And his head is before thee. Heaven hath avenged the
+innocent blood he hath shed. Last night, in the lusty vigour of a
+drunken debauch, passing over London Bridge, he encounters another
+brawl, wherein, having run at the watchmen with his rapier, one blow
+of the bill which they carried severed thy brother's head from his
+trunk. The latter was cast over the parapet into the river. The head
+only remained, which an eye witness, if not a friend, hath sent to
+thee!" His sister tried at first to keep the story of her brother's
+death a secret, and hid with all speed this ghastly memorial for ever,
+as she hoped, from the gaze and knowledge of the world. It was her
+desire to conceal this foul stain upon the family name, but "the grave
+gives back its dead. The charnel gapes. The ghastly head hath burst
+its cold tabernacle, and risen from the dust." No human power could
+drive it away. It hath "been torn in pieces, burnt, and otherwise
+destroyed, but even on the subsequent day it is seen filling its
+wonted place. Yet it was always <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>observed that sore vengeance
+lighted on its persecutors. One who hacked it in pieces was seized
+with such horrible torments in his limbs that it seemed as though he
+might be undergoing the same process. Sometimes, if only displaced, a
+fearful storm would arise, so loud and terrible that the very elements
+themselves seemed to become the ministers of its wrath." Nor will this
+eccentric piece of mortality allow the little aperture in which it
+rests to be walled up, for it remains there still, whitened and
+bleached by the weather, "looking forth from those rayless sockets
+upon the scenes which, when living, they had once beheld." Towards the
+close of the last century, Thomas Barritt, the Manchester antiquary,
+visited this skull&mdash;"this surprising piece of household furniture," as
+he calls it, and adds that "one of us who was last in company with it,
+removed it from its place into a dark part of the room, and there left
+it, and returned home." But on the following night a violent storm
+arose in the neighbourhood, causing an immense deal of damage&mdash;trees
+being blown down and roofs unthatched&mdash;and the cause, as it was
+supposed, being ascertained, the skull was replaced, when these
+terrific disturbances ceased. And yet, as Thomas Barritt sensibly
+remarks, "All this might have happened had the skull never been
+removed; but withal it keeps alive the credibility of the tradition."
+Formerly two keys were provided for this "place of a skull," one being
+kept <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>by the tenant of the Hall, and the other by the Countess of
+Ellesmere, the owner of the property. The Countess occasionally
+accompanied visitors from the neighbouring Worsley Hall, and herself
+unlocked the door, and revealed to her friends the grinning skull of
+Wardley Hall.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep038" id="imagep038"></a><a name="Page_38a" id="Page_38a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep038.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep038.jpg" width="349" height="550" alt="She opened it in Secret." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">She opened it in Secret</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Another romantic story is associated with Burton Agnes Hall, between
+Bridlington and Driffield, Yorkshire, which is haunted by the spirit
+of a lady a former co-heiress of the estate&mdash;who is popularly known as
+"Awd Nance." The skull of this lady is carefully preserved in the
+Hall, and so long as it is left undisturbed all goes well, but
+whenever any attempt is made to remove it, the most unearthly noises
+are heard in the house, and last until it is restored. According to a
+local tradition, many years ago the three co-heiresses of the estate
+of Burton Agnes were possessed of considerable wealth, and finding the
+ancient mansion, in which they resided, not in harmony with their
+ideas of what a home should be suited to their position, determined to
+erect a house in such a style as should eclipse all others in the
+neighbourhood. The most prominent organiser of the scheme was the
+younger sister, Anne, who could talk or think of nothing but the
+magnificent home about to be built, which in due time, it is said,
+"emerged from the hands of artists and workmen, like a <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>palace erected
+by the genii of the Arabian Nights, a palace encrusted throughout on
+walls, roof, and furniture with the most exquisite carvings and
+sculptures of the most skilled masters of the age, and radiant with
+the most glowing tints of the pencil of Peter Paul."</p>
+
+<p>But soon after its completion and occupation by its three
+co-heiresses, Anne, the enthusiast, paid an afternoon visit to the St.
+Quentins, at Harpham. On starting to return home about nightfall with
+her dog, she had gone no great distance when she was confronted by two
+ruffianly-looking beggars, who asked alms. She readily gave them a few
+coins, and in doing so the glitter of her finger-ring accidentally
+attracted their notice, which they at once demanded should be given up
+to them. This she refused to do, as it had been her mother's ring, and
+was one which she valued above all price.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother or no mother," gruffly replied one of the rogues, "we mean to
+have it, and if you do not part with it freely, we must take it,"
+whereupon he seized her hand and attempted to drag off the ring.</p>
+
+<p>Frightened at this act of violence, Anne screamed for help, at which
+the other ruffian, exclaiming, "Stop that noise!" struck her a blow,
+and she fell senseless to the earth. But her screams had attracted
+attention, and the approach of some villagers caused the villains to
+make a hasty retreat, without being able to get the ring from her
+finger. In a dying condition, as it was supposed, <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>Anne was carried
+back to Harpham Hall, where, under the care of Lady St. Quentin, she
+made sufficient recovery to be removed the following day to her own
+home. The brutal treatment she had received from the highwaymen,
+however, had done its fatal work, and after a few days, during which
+she was alternately sensible and delirious, she succumbed to the
+effects. Her one thought previous to death was her devotion to her
+home, which had latterly been the ruling passion of her life; and
+bidding her sisters farewell, she addressed them thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Sisters, never shall I sleep peacefully in my grave in the churchyard
+unless I, or a part of me at least, remain here in our beautiful home
+as long as it lasts. Promise me this, dear sisters, that when I am
+dead my head shall be taken from my body and preserved within these
+walls. Here let it for ever remain, and on no account be removed. And
+understand and make it known to those who in future shall become
+possessors of the house, that if they disobey this my last injunction,
+my spirit shall, if so able and so permitted, make such a disturbance
+within its walls as to render it uninhabitable for others so long as
+my head is divorced from its home."</p>
+
+<p>Her sisters promised to accede to her dying request, but failed to do
+so, and her body was laid entire under the pavement of the church.
+Within a few days Burton Agnes Hall was disturbed by <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>the most
+alarming noises, and no servant could be induced to remain in the
+house. In this dilemma, the two sisters remembered that they had not
+carried out Anne's last wish, and, at the suggestion of the clergyman,
+the coffin was opened, when a strange sight was seen. The "body lay
+without any marks of corruption or decay; but the head was disengaged
+from the trunk, and appeared to be rapidly assuming the semblance of a
+fleshless skull." This was reported to the two sisters, and on the
+vicar's advice the skull of Anne was taken to Burton Agnes Hall,
+where, so long as it remained undisturbed, no ghostly noises were
+heard. It may be added that numerous attempts have from time to time
+been made to rid the hall of this skull, but without success.</p>
+
+<p>Many other similar skulls are still existing in various places, and,
+in addition to their antiquarian interest, have attracted the
+sightseer, connected as they mostly are with tales of legendary
+romance. An amusing anecdote of a skull is told by the late Mr. Wirt
+Sikes.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> It seems that on a certain day some men were drinking at an
+inn when one of them, to show his courage and want of superstition,
+affirmed that he was "afraid of no ghosts," and dared to go to the
+church and fetch a skull. This he did, and after an hour or so of
+merrymaking over the skull, he carried it back <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>to where he had found
+it; but, as he was leaving the church, "suddenly a tremendous blast
+like a whirlwind seized him, and so mauled him that he ever after
+maintained that nothing should induce him to do such a thing again."
+The man was still more convinced that the ghost of the original owner
+of the skull had been after him, when his wife informed him that the
+cane which hung in his room had been beating against the wall in a
+dreadful manner.</p>
+
+<p>Byron had his skull romance at Newstead, but in this case the skull
+was more orderly, and not given to those unpleasant pranks of which
+other skulls have seemingly been guilty. Whilst living at Newstead, a
+skull was one day found of large dimensions and peculiar whiteness.
+Concluding that it belonged to some friar who had been domesticated at
+Newstead&mdash;prior to the confiscation of the monasteries by Henry
+VIII.&mdash;Byron determined to convert it into a drinking vessel, and for
+this purpose dispatched it to London, where it was elegantly mounted.
+On its return to Newstead, he instituted a new order at the Abbey,
+constituting himself grand master, or abbot, of the skull. The
+members, twelve in number, were provided with black gowns&mdash;that of
+Byron, as head of the fraternity, being distinguished from the rest. A
+chapter was held at certain times, when the skull drinking goblet was
+filled with claret, and handed about amongst the gods of this
+consistory, <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>whilst many a grim joke was cracked at the expense of
+this relic of the dead. The following lines were inscribed upon it by
+Byron:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Start not, nor deem my spirit fled;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In me behold the only skull<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From which, unlike a living head,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whatever flows is never dull.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I died: let earth my bones resign.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fill up, thou canst not injure me;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The worm hath fouler lips than mine.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In aid of others, let me shine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when, alas! our brains are gone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What nobler substitute than wine.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Quaff while thou canst. Another race,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When thou and thine, like me, are sped,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May rescue thee from earth's embrace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And rhyme and revel with the dead.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Why not? since through life's little day<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Our heads such sad effects produce;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">This chance is theirs, to be of use.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The skull, it is said, is buried beneath the floor of the chapel at
+Newstead Abbey.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Sussex Arch&aelig;ological Collections xiii. 162-3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 4th S., XI. 64.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Told by Mr. Moncure Conway in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Tales and Legends of the English Lakes," 96-7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "Harland's Lancashire Legends," 1882, 65-70.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "British Goblins," 1880, p. 146.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER III.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>ECCENTRIC VOWS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>No man takes or keeps a vow,<br /></span>
+    <span>But just as he sees others do;<br /></span>
+    <span>Nor are they 'bliged to be so brittle<br /></span>
+    <span>As not to yield and bow a little:<br /></span>
+    <span>For as best tempered blades are found<br /></span>
+    <span>Before they break, to bend quite round,<br /></span>
+    <span>So truest oaths are still more tough,<br /></span>
+    <span>And, tho' they bow, are breaking-proof.<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <span class="sc">Butler's</span> "Hudibras," Ep. to his Lady, 75.</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<p>Some two hundred and fifty years ago, the prevailing colour in all
+dresses was that shade of brown known as the "couleur Isabelle," and
+this was its origin:&mdash;A short time after the siege of Ostend
+commenced, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Isabella
+Eugenia, Gouvernante of the Netherlands, incensed at the obstinate
+bravery of the defenders, is reported to have made a vow that she
+would not change her chemise till the town surrendered. It was a
+marvellously inconvenient vow, for the siege, according to the precise
+historians thereof, lasted three years, three months, three weeks,
+three days, and three hours; and her <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>highness's garment had
+wonderfully changed its colour before twelve months of the time had
+expired. But the ladies and gentlemen of the Court, in no way
+dismayed, resolved to keep their mistress in countenance, and, after a
+struggle between their loyalty and their cleanliness, they hit upon
+the compromising expedient of wearing dresses of the presumed colour,
+finally attained by the garment which clung to the Imperial
+Archduchess by force of religious obstinacy. But, foolish and
+eccentric as was the conduct of Isabella Eugenia, there have been
+persons gifted, like herself, with sufficient mental power and
+strength of character to keep the vows they have sworn.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, at a tournament held on the 17th November, 1559&mdash;the first
+anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession&mdash;Sir Henry Lee, of
+Quarendon, made a vow that every year on the return of that auspicious
+day, he would present himself in the tilt yard, in honour of the
+Queen, to maintain her beauty, worth, and dignity, against all comers,
+unless prevented by infirmity, accident, or age. Elizabeth accepted
+Sir Henry as her knight and champion; and the nobility and gentry of
+the Court formed themselves into an Honourable Society of Knights
+Tilters, which held a grand tourney every 17th November. But in the
+year 1590, Sir Henry, on account of age, resigned his office, having
+previously, by Her Majesty's permission, appointed the famous Earl of
+Cumberland <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>as his successor. On this occasion, the royal choir sang
+the following verses as Sir Henry Lee's farewell to the Court:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">My golden locks time hath to silver turned,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">O Time, too swift, and swiftness never ceasing!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My youth 'gainst age, and age at youth both spurned,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But spurned in vain&mdash;youth waned by increasing;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beauty, and strength, and youth, flowers fading been;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Duty, faith, love, are roots and evergreen.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">My helmet now shall make a hive for bees,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And lover's songs shall turn to holy psalms;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A man-at arms must now sit on his knees,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And feed on prayers that are old age's alms.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And so from Court to cottage I depart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My Saint is sure of mine unspotted heart.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And when I sadly sit in homely cell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I'll teach my saints this carol for a song:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Cursed be the souls that think to do her wrong!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Goddess! vouchsafe this aged man his right<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To be your beadsman now, that was your knight.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But not long after Sir Henry Lee had resigned his office of especial
+champion of the beauty of the sovereign, he fell in love with the new
+maid of honour&mdash;the fair Mrs. Anne Vavasour&mdash;who, though in the
+morning flower of her charms, and esteemed the loveliest girl in the
+whole court, drove a whole bevy of youthful lovers to despair by
+accepting this ancient relic of the age of chivalry.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>Queen Isabella vowed to make a pilgrimage to Barcelona, and return
+thanks at the tomb of that City's patron Saint, if the Infanta Eulalie
+recovered from an apparently mortal illness, and Queen Joan of Naples
+honoured the knight Galeazzo of Mantua by opening the ball with him at
+a grand feast at her castle of Gaita. At the conclusion of the dance,
+Galeazzo, kneeling down before his royal partner, vowed, as an
+acknowledgment of the honour he had received, to visit every country
+where feats of arms were performed, and not to rest until he had
+subdued two valiant knights, and presented them as prisoners to the
+queen, to be disposed of at her royal pleasure. After an absence of
+twelve months, Galeazzo, true to his vow, appeared at Naples, and laid
+his two prisoners at the feet of Queen Joan, but who, it is said,
+displayed commendable wisdom on the occasion, and "declined her right
+to impose rigorous conditions on her captives, and gave them liberty
+without ransom."</p>
+
+<p>Such cases, it is true, have been somewhat rare, for made oftentimes
+on the impulse of the moment, "unheedful vows," as Shakespeare says,
+"may heedfully be broken." But, scarce as the records of unbroken vows
+may be, they are deserving of a permanent record, more especially as
+the direction of their eccentricity is, for the most part, in itself
+curious and uncommon. Love, for instance, has <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>been responsible for
+many strange and curious vows in the past, and some years ago it was
+stated that the original of Charles Dickens's Miss Havisham was living
+in the flesh not far from Ventnor in the person of an old maiden lady,
+who, because of the maternal objection to some love affair in her
+early life, made and kept a vow that she would retire to her bed, and
+there spend the remainder of her days. It was a stern vow but she kept
+her word, "and the years have come and gone, and the house has never
+been swept or garnished, the garden is an overgrown tangle, and the
+eccentric lady has spent twenty years between the sheets." But whether
+this piece of romance is to be accepted or not, love has been the
+cause of many foolish acts, and many a disappointed damsel, has acted
+in no less eccentric a fashion than Miss Havisham, who was so
+completely overcome by the failure of Compeyson to appear on the
+wedding morning that she became fossilised, and gave orders that
+everything was to be kept unchanged, but to remain as it had been on
+that hapless day. Henceforth she was always attired in her bridal
+dress with lace veil from head to foot, white shoes, bridal flowers in
+her white hair, and jewels on her hands and neck. Years went on, the
+wedding breakfast remained set on the table, while the poor half
+demented lady flitted from one room to another like a restless ghost;
+and the case is recorded of another lady whose lover was arrested for
+forgery on the day before their <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>marriage was to have taken place. Her
+vow took the form of keeping to her room, sitting winter and summer
+alike at her casement and waiting for him who was turning the
+treadmill, and who was never to come again.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, vows have been made, but persons have contrived to
+rid themselves of the inconveniences without breaking them, reminding
+us of Benedick, who finding the charms of his "Dear Lady Disdain" too
+much for his celibate resolves, gets out of his difficulty by
+declaring that "When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I
+should live till I were married." Equally ludicrous, also, is the
+story told of a certain man, who, greatly terrified in a storm, vowed
+he would eat no haberdine, but, just as the danger was over, he
+qualified his promise with "Not without mustard, O Lord." And
+Voltaire, in one of his romances, represents a disconsolate widow
+vowing that she will never marry again, "so long as the river flows by
+the side of the hill." But a few months afterwards the widow recovers
+from her grief, and, contemplating matrimony, takes counsel with a
+clever engineer. He sets to work, the river is deviated from its
+course, and, in a short time, it no longer flows by the side of the
+hill. The lady, released from her vow, does not allow many days to
+elapse before she exchanges her weeds for a bridal veil. However far
+fetched this little romance may be, a veritable instance of thus
+keeping the <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>letter of the vow and neglecting the spirit, was recorded
+not so very long ago: A Salopian parish clerk seeing a woman crossing
+the churchyard with a bundle and a watering can, followed her, curious
+to know what intentions might be, and discovered that she was a widow
+of a few months' standing. Inquiring what she was going to do with the
+watering pot, she informed him that she had been obtaining some grass
+seed to sow on her husband's grave, and had brought a little water to
+make it spring up quickly. The clerk told her there was no occasion to
+trouble, the grave would be green in good time. "Ah! that may be," she
+replied, "but my poor husband made me take a vow not to marry again
+until the grass had grown over his grave, and, having a good offer, I
+do not wish to break my vow, or keep as I am longer than I can help."</p>
+
+<p>But vows have not always been broken with impunity. Janet Dalrymple,
+daughter of the first Lord Stair, secretly engaged herself to Lord
+Rutherford, who was not acceptable to her parents, either on account
+of his political principles, or his want of fortune. The young couple
+broke a piece of gold together, and pledged their troth in the most
+solemn manner, the young lady, it is said, imprecating dreadful evils
+on herself should she break her plighted faith. But shortly afterwards
+another suitor sought the hand of Janet Dalrymple, and, when she
+showed a cold indifference to his <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>overtures, her mother, Lady Stair,
+insisted upon her consenting to marry the new suitor, David Dunbar,
+son and heir of David Dunbar of Baldoon, in Wigtonshire. It was in
+vain that Janet Dalrymple confessed her secret engagement, for Lady
+Stair treated this objection as a mere trifle.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Rutherford, apprised of what had happened, interfered by letter,
+and insisted on the right he had acquired by his troth plighted with
+Janet Dalrymple. But Lady Stair answered in reply that "her daughter,
+sensible of her undutiful behaviour in entering into a contract
+unsanctioned by her parents, had retracted her unlawful vow, and now
+refused to fulfil her engagement with him." Lord Rutherford wrote
+again to Lady Stair, and briefly informed her that "he declined
+positively to receive such an answer from anyone but Janet Dalrymple,"
+and, accordingly, an interview was arranged between them, at which
+Lady Stair took good care to be present, with pertinacity insisting on
+the Levitical law, which declares that a woman shall be free of a vow
+which her parents dissent from.</p>
+
+<p>While Lady Stair insisted on her right to break the engagement, Lord
+Rutherford in vain entreated Janet Dalrymple to declare her feelings;
+but she remained "mute, pale, and motionless as a statue," and it was
+only at her mother's command, sternly uttered, she summoned strength
+enough to restore the broken piece of gold&mdash;the emblem of her troth.
+<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>At this unexpected act Lord Rutherford burst into a tremendous
+passion, took leave of Lady Stair with maledictions, and, as he left
+the room, gave one angry glance at Janet Dalrymple, remarking, "For
+you, madam, you will be a world's wonder"&mdash;a phrase denoting some
+remarkable degree of calamity.</p>
+
+<p>In due time, the marriage between Janet Dalrymple and David Dunbar of
+Baldoon, took place, the bride showing no repugnance, but being
+absolutely impassive in everything Lady Stair commanded or advised,
+always maintaining the same sad, silent, and resigned look.</p>
+
+<p>The bridal feast was followed by dancing, and the bride and bridegroom
+retired as usual, when suddenly the most wild and piercing cries were
+heard from the nuptial chamber, which at length became so hideous that
+a general rush was made to learn the cause. On opening the door a
+ghastly scene presented itself, for the bridegroom was discovered
+lying on the floor, dreadfully wounded, and streaming with blood. The
+bride was seen sitting in the corner of the large chimney, dabbled in
+gore&mdash;grinning&mdash;in short, absolutely insane, and the only words she
+uttered were; "Take up your bonny bridegroom." She survived this
+tragic event little over a fortnight, having been married on the 24th
+August, and dying on the 12th September.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate bridegroom recovered from his wounds, but, strange to
+say, he never permitted <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>anyone to ask him respecting the manner in
+which he had received them; but he did not long survive this dreadful
+catastrophe, meeting with a fatal injury by a fall from a horse as he
+was one day riding between Leith and Holyrood House. As might be
+expected, various reports went abroad respecting this mysterious
+affair, most of them being inaccurate.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> But the story has gained a
+lasting notoriety from Sir Walter Scott having founded his "Bride of
+Lammermoor" upon it; who, in his introductory notes to that novel, has
+given some curious facts concerning this tragic occurrence, quoting an
+elegy of Andrew Symson, which takes the form of a dialogue between a
+passenger and a domestic servant. The first recollecting that he had
+passed Lord Stair's house lately, and seen all around enlivened by
+mirth and festivity, is desirous of knowing what has changed so gay a
+scene into mourning, whereupon the servant replies:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">"Sir, 'tis truth you've told,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We did enjoy great mirth; but now, ah me!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our joyful song's turned to an elegie.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A virtuous lady, not long since a bride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was to a hopeful plant by marriage tied,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And brought home hither. We did all rejoice<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Even for her sake. But presently her voice<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was turned to mourning for that little time<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That she'd enjoy: she waned in her prime,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>For Atropos, with her impartial knife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Soon cut her thread, and therewithal her life;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And for the time, we may it well remember<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It being in unfortunate September;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where we must leave her till the resurrection,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis then the Saints enjoy their full perfection."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Many a vow too rashly made has been followed by an equally tragic
+result, instances of which are to be met with in the legendary lore of
+our county families. A somewhat curious legend is connected with a
+monument in the church of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. The story goes that
+two young brothers of the family of Vincent, the elder of whom had
+just come into his estate, were out shooting on Fairmile Common, about
+two miles from the village. They had put up several birds, but had not
+been able to get a single shot, when the elder swore with an oath that
+he would fire at whatever they next met with. They had not gone far
+before a neighbouring miller passed them, whereupon the younger
+brother reminded the elder of his oath, who immediately fired at the
+miller, and killed him on the spot. Through the influence of his
+family, backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken
+to apprehend young Vincent, but, after leading a life of complete
+seclusion for some years, death finally put an end to the
+insupportable anguish of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>A pretty romance is told of Furness Abbey, locally known as "The Abbey
+Vows." Many <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>years ago, Matilda, the pretty and much-admired daughter
+of a squire residing near Stainton, had been wooed and won by James, a
+neighbouring farmer's son. But as Matilda was the only child, her
+father fondly imagined that her rare beauty and fortune combined would
+procure her a good match, little thinking that her heart was already
+given to one whose position he would never recognise. It so happened,
+however, that the young people, through force of circumstances, were
+separated, neither seeing nor hearing of each other for some years.</p>
+
+<p>At last, by chance, they were thrown together, when the active service
+in which James was employed had given his fine manly form an
+appearance which was at once imposing and captivating. Matilda, too,
+was improved in every eye, and never had James seen so lovely a maid
+as his former playmate. Their youthful hearts were disengaged, and
+they soon resolved to render their attachment as binding and as
+permanent as it was pure and undivided. The period had arrived, also,
+when James must again go to sea, and leave Matilda to have her
+fidelity tried by other suitors. Both, therefore, were willing to bind
+themselves by some solemn pledge to live but for each other. For this
+purpose they repaired, on the evening before James's departure, to the
+ruins of Furness Abbey. It was a fine autumnal evening; the sun had
+set in the greatest beauty, and the moon was hastening <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>up the eastern
+sky; and in the roofless choir they knelt, near where the altar
+formerly stood, and repeated, in the presence of Heaven, their vows of
+deathless love.</p>
+
+<p>They parted. But the fate of the betrothed lovers was a melancholy
+one. James returned to his ship for foreign service, and was killed by
+the first broadside of a French privateer, with which the captain had
+injudiciously ventured to engage. As for Matilda, she regularly went
+to the abbey to visit the spot where she had knelt with her lover; and
+there, it is said, "she would stand for hours, with clasped hands,
+gazing on that heaven which alone had been witness to their mutual
+vows."</p>
+
+<p>Another momentous vow, but one of a terribly tragic nature, relates to
+Samlesbury Hall, which stands about midway between Preston and
+Blackburn, and has long been famous for its apparition of "The Lady in
+White." The story generally told is that one of the daughters of Sir
+John Southworth, a former owner, formed an attachment with the heir of
+a neighbouring house, and nothing was wanting to complete their
+happiness except the consent of the lady's father. Sir John was
+accordingly consulted by the youthful couple, but the tale of their
+love for each other only increased his rage, and he dismissed them
+with the most bitter denunciations.</p>
+
+<p>"No daughter of his should ever be united to the son of a family which
+had deserted its ancestral <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>faith," he solemnly vowed, and to
+intensify his disapproval of the whole affair, he forbade the young
+man his presence for ever. Difficulty, however, only served to
+increase the ardour of the lovers, and, after many secret interviews
+among the wooded slopes of the Ribble, an elopement was arranged, in
+the hope that time would eventually bring her father's forgiveness.
+But the day and place were unfortunately overheard by the lady's
+brother, who had hidden himself in a thicket close by, determined, if
+possible, to prevent what he considered to be his sister's disgrace.
+On the evening agreed upon both parties met at the appointed hour,
+and, as the young knight moved away with his betrothed, her brother
+rushed from his hiding-place, and, in pursuance of a vow he had made,
+slew him. After this tragic occurrence, Lady Dorothy was sent abroad
+to a convent, where she was kept under strict surveillance; but her
+mind at last gave way&mdash;the name of her murdered sweetheart was ever on
+her lips&mdash;and she died a raving maniac. It is said that on certain
+clear, still evenings, a lady in white can be seen passing along the
+gallery and the corridors, and then from the hall into the grounds,
+where she meets a handsome knight, who receives her on his bended
+knees, and he then accompanies her along the walks. On arriving at a
+certain spot, in all probability the lover's grave, both the phantoms
+stand still, and as they seem to utter soft wailings of despair, they
+embrace each other, and <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>then their forms rise slowly from the earth
+and melt away into the clear blue of the surrounding sky.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>A strange and romantic story is told of Blenkinsopp Castle, which,
+too, has long been haunted by a "white lady." It seems that its owner,
+Bryan de Blenkinsopp, despite many good qualities, had an inordinate
+love of wealth which ultimately wrecked his fortune. At the marriage
+feast of a brother warrior with a lady of high rank and fortune, the
+health was drunk of Bryan de Blenkinsopp and his "lady love." But to
+the surprise of all present Bryan made a vow that "never shall that be
+until I meet with a lady possessed of a chest of gold heavier than ten
+of my strongest men can carry into my Castle." Soon afterwards he went
+abroad, and after an absence of twelve years returned, not only with a
+wife, but possessed of a box of gold that took three of the strongest
+men to convey it to the Castle. A grand banquet was given in honour of
+his return, and, after several days feasting and rejoicing, vague
+rumours were spread of dissensions between the lord and his lady. One
+day the young husband disappeared, and never returned to Blenkinsopp,
+nothing more being heard of him. But the traditionary account of this
+mystery asserts that his young wife, filled with remorse at her
+undutiful conduct towards him, cannot rest in her grave, but must
+wander about <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>the old castle, and mourn over the chest of gold&mdash;the
+cursed cause of all their misery&mdash;of which it is supposed she, with
+the assistance of others, had deprived her husband. It is generally
+admitted that the cause of Bryan de Blenkinsopp's future unhappiness
+was the rash vow he uttered at that fatal banquet.</p>
+
+<p>Associated with this curious romance there are current in the
+neighbourhood many tales of a more or less legendary character, but
+there has long been a firm belief that treasure lies buried beneath
+the crumbling ruins. According to one story given in Richardson's
+"Table Book of Traditions" some years ago, two of the more habitable
+apartments of Blenkinsopp Castle were utilized by a labourer of the
+estate and his family. But one night, the parents were aroused by
+screams from the adjoining room, and rushing in they found their
+little son sitting up in bed, terribly frightened. "What was the
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"The White Lady! The White Lady!" cried the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"What lady," asked the bewildered parents; "there is no lady here!"</p>
+
+<p>"She is gone," replied the boy, "and she looked so angry because I
+would not go with her. She was a fine lady&mdash;and she sat down on my
+bedside and wrung her hands and cried sore; then she kissed me and
+asked me to go with her, and she would make me a rich man, as she had
+buried a <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>large box of gold, many hundred years since, down in a
+vault, and she would give it me, as she could not rest so long as it
+was there. When I told her I durst not go, she said she would carry
+me, and was lifting me up when I cried out and frightened her away."
+When the boy grew up he invariably persisted in the truth of his
+statement, and at forty years of age could recall the scene so vividly
+as "to make him shudder, as if still he felt her cold lips press his
+cheeks and the death-like embrace of her wan arms."</p>
+
+<p>Equally curious is the old tradition told of Lynton Castle, of which
+not a stone remains, although, once upon a time, it was as stately a
+stronghold as ever echoed to the clash of knightly arms. One evening
+there came to its gates a monk, who in the name of the Holy Virgin
+asked alms, but the lady of the Castle liked not his gloomy brow, and
+bade him begone. Resenting such treatment, the monk drew up his
+well-knit frame, and vowed:&mdash;"All that is thine shall be mine, until
+in the porch of the holy church, a lady and a child shall stand and
+beckon."</p>
+
+<p>Little heed was taken of these ominous words, and as years passed by a
+baron succeeded to the Lynton estates, whose greed was such that he
+dared to lay his sacrilegious hand even upon holy treasures. But as he
+sate among his gold, the black monk entered, and summoned him to his
+fearful audit; and his servants, aroused by his screams, found only <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>a
+lifeless corpse. This was considered retribution for his sins of the
+past, and his son, taking warning, girded on his sword, and in
+Palestine did doughty deeds against the Saracen. By his side was
+constantly seen the mysterious Black Monk&mdash;his friend and guide&mdash;but
+"at length the wine-cup and the smiles of lewd women lured him from
+the path of right." After a time the knight returned to Devonshire,
+"and lo, on the happy Sabbath morning, the chimes of the church-bells
+flung out their silver music on the air, and the memories of an
+innocent childhood woke up instantly in his sorrowing heart." In vain
+the Black Monk sought to beguile him from the holy fane, and whispered
+to him of bright eyes and a distant bower. He paused only for a
+moment. In the shadow of the porch stood the luminous forms of his
+mother and sister, who lifted up their spirit hands, and beckoned. The
+knight tore himself from the Black Monk's grasp and rushed towards
+them, exclaiming, "I come! I come! Mother, sister, I am saved! O,
+Heaven, have pity on me!" The story adds that the three were borne up
+in a radiant cloud, but "the Black Monk leapt headlong into the depths
+of the abyss beneath, and the castle fell to pieces with a sudden
+crash, and where its towers had soared statelily into the sunlit air
+was now outspread the very desolation&mdash;the valley of the rocks&mdash;" and
+thus the vow was accomplished, all that remains nowadays to remind the
+visitor of that stately castle and its surroundings <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>being a lonely
+glen in the valley of rocks where a party of marauders, it is said,
+were once overtaken and slaughtered.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases churches have been built in performance of vows, and at
+the Tichborne Trial one of the witnesses deposed how Sir Edward
+Doughty made a vow, when his son was ill, that if the child recovered
+he would build a church at Poole. Contrary to all expectation, the
+child "did recover most miraculously, for it had been ill beyond all
+hope, and Sir Edward built a church at Poole, and there it stands
+until this day." There are numerous stories of the same kind, and the
+peculiar position of the old church of St. Antony, in Kirrier,
+Cornwall, is accounted for by the following tradition: It is said
+that, soon after the Conquest, as some Normans of rank were crossing
+from Normandy into England, they were driven by a terrific storm on
+the Cornish coast, where they were in imminent danger of destruction.
+In their peril and distress they called on St. Antony, and made a vow
+that if he would preserve them from shipwreck they would build a
+church in his honour on the spot where they first landed. The vessel
+was wafted into the Durra Creek, and there the pious Normans, as soon
+as possible, fulfilled their vow. A similar tradition is told of
+Gunwalloe Parish Church, which, a local legend says, was erected as a
+votive offering by one who here escaped from shipwreck, for, "when he
+had miraculously escaped from the fury of the <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>waves, he vowed that he
+would build a chapel in which the sounds of prayer and praise to God
+should blend with the never-ceasing voice of those waves from which he
+had but narrowly escaped. So near to the sea is the church, that at
+times it is reached by the waves, which have frequently washed away
+the walls of the churchyard." But vows of a similar nature have been
+connected with sacred buildings in most countries, and Vienna owes the
+church of St. Charles to a vow made by the Emperor Charles the Sixth
+during an epidemic. The silver ship, given by the Queen of St. Louis,
+was made in accordance with a vow. According to Joinville, the queen
+"said she wanted the king, to beg he would make some vows to God and
+the Saints, for the sailors around her were in the greatest danger of
+being drowned."</p>
+
+<p>"'Madam,' I replied, 'vow to make a pilgrimage to my lord St. Nicholas
+at Varengeville, and I promise you that God will restore you in safety
+to France. At least, then, Madam, promise him that if God shall
+restore you in safety to France, you will give him a silver ship of
+the value of five masses; and if you shall do this, I assure you that,
+at the entreaty of St. Nicholas, God will grant you a successful
+voyage.' Upon this, she made a vow of a silver ship to St. Nicholas."
+Similarly, there was a statue at Venice said to have performed great
+miracles. A merchant vowed perpetual gifts of wax candles in gratitude
+for being saved by the <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>light of a candle on a dark night, reminding
+us of Byron's description of a storm at sea, in 'Don Juan' (Canto
+II.):</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Some went to prayers again and made vows<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of candles to their saints."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Numerous vows of this kind are recorded, and it may be remembered how
+a certain Empress promised a golden lamp to the church of Notre Dame
+des Victoires, in the event of her husband coming safely out of the
+doctor's hands; and, as recently as the year 1867, attired in the garb
+of a pilgrim of the olden time, walked, in fulfilment of a vow, from
+Madrid to Rome when she fancied herself at death's door.</p>
+
+<p>Many card-players and gamesters, unable to bear reverse, have made
+vows which they lacked the moral courage to keep. Dr. Norman Macleod
+tells a curious anecdote of a well-known character who lived in the
+parish of Sedgley, near Wolverhampton, and who, having lost a
+considerable sum of money by a match at cock-fighting&mdash;to which
+practice he was notoriously addicted&mdash;made a vow that he would never
+fight another cock as long as he lived, "frequently calling upon God
+to damn his soul to all eternity if he did, and, with dreadful
+imprecations, wishing the devil might fetch him if he ever made
+another bet."</p>
+
+<p>For a time he adhered to his vow, but two years afterwards he was
+inspired with a violent desire to attend a cock-fight at
+Wolverhampton, and <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>accordingly visited the place for that purpose. On
+reaching the scene he soon disregarded his vow, and cried: "I hold
+four to three on such a cock!"</p>
+
+<p>"Four what?" said one of his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Four shillings," replied he.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll lay," said the other, upon which they confirmed the wager, and,
+as his custom was, he threw down his hat and put his hand in his
+pocket for the money, when he instantly fell down dead. Terrified at
+the sight, "some who were present for ever after desisted from this
+infamous sport; but others proceeded in the barbarous diversion as
+soon as the dead body was removed from the spot."</p>
+
+<p>Another inveterate gambler was Colonel Edgeworth, who on one occasion,
+having lost all his ready cash at the card tables, actually borrowed
+his wife's diamond earrings, and staking them had a fortunate turn of
+luck, rising a winner; whereupon he solemnly vowed never to touch
+cards or dice again. And yet, it is said, before the week was out, he
+was pulling straws from a rick, and betting upon which should prove
+the longest. On the other hand, Tate Wilkinson relates an interesting
+anecdote of John Wesley who in early life was very fond of a game of
+whist, and every Saturday was one of a constant party at a rubber, not
+only for the afternoon, but also for the evening. But the last
+Saturday that he ever played at cards the rubber at whist was longer
+than he expected, and, "on observing the tediousness of the game he
+<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>pulled out his watch, and to his shame he found it was some minutes
+past eight, which was beyond the time he had appointed for the Lord.
+He thought the devil had certainly tempted him beyond his hour, he
+suddenly therefore gave up his cards to a gentleman near him to finish
+the game," and left the room, making a vow never to play with "the
+devil's pages," as he called them, again. That vow he never broke.</p>
+
+<p>Political vows, as is well known, have a curious history, and an
+interesting incident is told in connection with one of the ancestors
+of Sir Walter Scott. It appears that Walter Scott, the first of
+Raeburn, by Ann Isabel, his wife, daughter of William Macdougall, had
+two sons, William, direct ancestor of the Lairds of Raeburn, and
+Walter, progenitor of the Scotts of Abbotsford. The younger, who was
+generally known by the curious appellation of "Bearded Watt," from a
+vow which he had made to leave his beard unshaven until the
+restoration of the Stuarts, reminds us of those Servian patriots who
+during the bombardment of Belgrade thirty years ago, made a vow that
+they would never allow a razor to touch their faces until the thing
+could be done in the fortress itself. Five years afterwards, in 1867,
+the Servians marched through the streets of Belgrade, with enormous
+beards, preceded by the barbers, each with razor in hand, and entered
+the fortresses to have the last office of the vow performed on them.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Agnes Strickland, "Lives of the Queens of England,"
+1884, iii., 454-5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> See Sir Walter Scott's notes to the "Bride of
+Lammermoor."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 1882, p. 263-4.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>STRANGE BANQUETS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"O'Rourke's noble feast will ne'er be forgot<br /></span>
+    <span>By those who were there&mdash;or those who were not."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>In the above words the Dean of St. Patrick has immortalised an Irish
+festival of the eighteenth century; and some such memory will long
+cling to many a family or historic banquet, which&mdash;like the tragic one
+depicted in "Macbeth," where the ghost of the murdered Banquo makes
+its uncanny appearance, or that remarkable feast described by Lord
+Lytton, where Zanoni drinks with impunity the poisoned cup, remarking
+to the Prince, "I pledge you even in this wine"&mdash;has been the scene of
+some unusual, or extraordinary occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>At one time or another, the wedding feast has witnessed many a strange
+and truly romantic occurrence, in some instances the result of
+unrequited love, or faithless pledges, as happened at the marriage
+feast of the second Viscount Cullen. At the early age of sixteen he
+had been betrothed to Elizabeth Trentham, a great heiress; but in the
+<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>course of his travels abroad he formed a strong attachment to an
+Italian lady of rank, whom he afterwards deserted for his first
+betrothed. In due time arrangements were made for their marriage; but
+on the eventful day, while the wedding party were feasting in the
+great hall at Rushton, a strange carriage, drawn by six horses, drew
+up, and forth stepped a dark lady, who, at once entering the hall and,
+seizing a goblet&mdash;"to punish his falsehood and pride"&mdash;to the
+astonishment of all present, drank perdition to the bridegroom, and,
+having uttered a curse upon his bride, to the effect that she would
+live in wretchedness and die in want, promptly disappeared to be
+traced no further.</p>
+
+<p>No small consternation was caused by this unlooked-for <i>contretemps</i>;
+but the young Viscount made light of it to his fair bride, dispelling
+her alarm by explanations which satisfied her natural curiosity. But,
+it is said, in after days, this unpleasant episode created an
+unfavourable impression in her mind, and at times made her give way to
+feelings of a despondent character. As events turned out, the curse of
+her marriage day was in a great measure fulfilled. It is true she
+became a prominent beauty of the Court of Charles II., and was painted
+with less than his usual amount of drapery by Sir Peter Lely. It is
+recorded also, that she twice gave an asylum to Monmouth, in the room
+at Rushton, still known as the "Duke's Room"; but, living unhappily
+with her husband, <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>she died, notwithstanding her enormous fortune, in
+comparative penury, at Kettering, at a great age, as recently as the
+year 1713.</p>
+
+<p>A curious tale of love and deception is told of Bulgaden Hall,
+once&mdash;according to Ferrers, in his "History of Limerick"&mdash;the most
+magnificent seat in the South of Ireland&mdash;erected by the Right Hon.
+George Evans, who was created Baron Carbery, County of Cork, on the
+9th of May, 1715. A family tradition proclaims him to have been noted
+for great personal attractions, so much so, that Queen Anne, struck by
+his appearance, took a ring from her finger at one of her levees, and
+presented it to him&mdash;a ring preserved as a heir-loom at Laxton Hall,
+Northamptonshire. In 1741, he married Grace, the daughter, and
+eventually heiress of Sir Ralph Freke, of Castle Freke, in the County
+of Cork, by whom he had four sons and the same number of daughters;
+and it was George Evans, the eldest son and heir, who became the chief
+personage in the following extraordinary marriage fraud.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that at an early age he fell in love with the beautiful
+daughter of his host, Colonel Stamer, who was only too ready to
+sanction such an alliance. But, despite the brilliant prospects which
+this contemplated marriage opened to the young lady, she turned a deaf
+ear to any mention of it, for she loved another. As far as her parents
+could judge she seemed inexorable, and they could <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>only allay the
+suspense of the expectant lover by assuring him that their daughter's
+"natural timidity alone prevented an immediate answer to his suit."</p>
+
+<p>But what their feelings of surprise were on the following day can be
+imagined, when Miss Stamer announced to her parents her willingness to
+marry George Evans. It was decided that there should be no delay, and
+the marriage day was at once fixed. At this period of our social life,
+the wedding banquet was generally devoted to wine and feasting, while
+the marriage itself did not take place till the evening. And,
+according to custom, sobriety at these bridal feasts was, we are told,
+"a positive violation of all good breeding, and the guests would have
+thought themselves highly dishonoured had the bridegroom escaped
+scathless from the wedding banquet."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, half unconscious of passing events, George Evans was
+conducted to the altar, where the marriage knot was indissolubly tied.
+But, as soon as he had recovered from the effects of the bridal feast,
+he discovered, to his intense horror and dismay, that the bride he had
+taken was not the woman of his choice&mdash;in short, he was the victim of
+a cheat. Indignant at this cruel imposture, he ascertained that the
+plot emanated from the woman who, till then, had been the ideal of his
+soul, and that she had substituted her veiled sister Anne for herself
+at the altar. The remainder of this strange <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>affair is briefly
+told:&mdash;George Evans had one, and only one, interview with his wife,
+and thus addressed her in the following words: "Madam, you have
+attained your end. I need not say how you bear my name; and, for the
+sake of your family, I acknowledge you as my wife. You shall receive
+an income from me suitable to your situation. This, probably, is all
+you cared for with regard to me, and you and I shall meet no more in
+this world."</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="Page_72a" id="Page_72a"></a><a name="imagep072" id="imagep072"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep072.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep072.jpg" width="355" height="540" alt="Madam, you have attained your end." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"<span class="sc">Madam, you have attained your end. <br />You and I shall
+meet no more in this world</span>."
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>He would allow no explanation, and almost immediately left his home
+and country, never to meet again the woman who had so basely betrayed
+him. The glory of Bulgaden Hall was gone. Its young master, in order
+to quench his sorrow and bury his disgust, gave way to every kind of
+dissipation, and died its victim in 1769. And, writes Sir Bernard
+Burke, "from the period of its desertion by its luckless master,
+Bulgaden Hall gradually sank into ruin; and to mark its site nought
+remains but the foundation walls and a solitary stone, bearing the
+family arms."</p>
+
+<p>A strange incident, of which, it is said, no satisfactory explanation
+has ever yet been forthcoming, happened during the wedding banquet of
+Alexander III. at Jedburgh Castle, a weird and gruesome episode which
+Edgar Poe expanded into his "Masque of the Red Death." The story goes
+that in the midst of the festivities, a mysterious figure glided
+amongst the astonished guests&mdash;tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head
+to foot in the <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>habiliments of the grave, the mask which concealed the
+visage resembling the countenance of a stiffened corpse.</p>
+
+<p>"Who dares," demands the royal host, "to insult us with this
+blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him, that we may know whom
+we have to hang at sunrise from the battlements."</p>
+
+<p>But when the awe-struck revellers took courage and grasped the figure,
+"they gasped in unutterable horror on finding the grave cerements and
+corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness,
+untenanted by any tangible form, vanishing as suddenly as it had
+appeared." All sorts of theories have been suggested to account for
+this mysterious figure, but no satisfactory solution has been
+forthcoming, an incident of which, it may be remembered, Heywood has
+given a graphic picture:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In the mid-revels, the first ominous night<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of their espousals, when the room shone bright<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With lighted tapers&mdash;the king and queen leading<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The curious measures, lords and ladies treading<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The self-same strains&mdash;the king looks back by chance<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And spies a strange intruder fill the dance,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Namely, a mere anatomy, quite bare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His naked limbs both without flesh and hair<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(As he deciphers Death), who stalks about,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Keeping true measure till the dance be out.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Inexplicable, however, as the presence of this unearthly, mysterious
+personage was felt to be by <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>all engaged in the marriage revels, it
+was regarded as the forerunner of some approaching catastrophe.
+Prophets and seers lost no time in turning the affair to their own
+interest, and amongst them Thomas the Rhymer predicted that the 16th
+of March would be "the stormiest day that ever was witnessed in
+Scotland." But when the supposed ill-fated day arrived, it was the
+very reverse of stormy, being still and mild, and public opinion began
+to ridicule the prophetic utterance of Thomas the Rhymer, when, to the
+amazement and consternation of all, there came the appalling news,
+"The king is dead," whereupon Thomas the Rhymer ejaculated, "That is
+the storm which I meant, and there was never tempest which will bring
+to Scotland more ill-luck."</p>
+
+<p>The disappearance of the heir to a property, which has always been a
+favourite subject with novelists and romance writers, has occasionally
+happened in real life, and a Shropshire legend relates how, long ago,
+the heir of the house of Corbet went away to the wars, and remained
+absent so many years that his family&mdash;as in the case of Enoch
+Arden&mdash;gave up all hope of ever seeing him again, and eventually
+mourned for him as dead. His younger brother succeeded to the
+property, and prepared to take to himself a wife, and reign in the old
+family hall.</p>
+
+<p>But on the wedding day, in the midst of the feasting, a pilgrim came
+to the gate asking <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>hospitality and alms. He was bidden to sit down
+and share the feast, but scarcely was the banquet ended when the
+pilgrim revealed himself as the long lost elder brother. The
+disconcerted bridegroom acknowledged him at once, but the latter
+generously resigned the greater part of the estates to his brother,
+and, sooner than mar the prospects of the newly married couple, he
+lived a life of obscurity upon one small manor. There seems, however,
+to be a very small basis of fact for this story. The Corbets of
+Shropshire&mdash;one branch of whom are owners of Moreton Corbet&mdash;are among
+the very oldest of the many old Shropshire families. They trace their
+descent back to Corbet the Norman, whose sons, Robert and Roger,
+appear in Domesday Book as holding large estates under Roger, Earl of
+Shrewsbury. The grandsons of Roger Corbet were Thomas Corbet of
+Wattlesborough, and Robert Corbet. Thomas, who was evidently the elder
+of the two, it seems went beyond seas, leaving his lands in the
+custody of his brother Robert. Both brothers left descendants, but the
+elder branch of the family never attained to such rank and prosperity
+as the younger one." Hence, perhaps, the origin of the legend; but
+Moreton Corbet did not come into the possession of the family till
+long after this date.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Whatever truth there may be in this old tradition, there is every
+reason to believe that <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>some of the worst tragedies recorded in family
+history have been due to jealousy; and an extraordinary instance of
+such unnatural feeling was that displayed by the second wife of Sir
+Robert Scott, of Thirlestane, one of the most distinguished cadets of
+the great House of Buccleuch. Distracted with mortification that her
+husband's rich inheritance would descend to his son by his first wife,
+she secretly resolved to compass the destruction of her step-son, and
+determined to execute her hateful purpose at the festivities held in
+honour of the young laird's twentieth birthday. Having taken into her
+confidence one John Lally, the family piper, this wretched man
+procured three adders, from which he selected the parts replete with
+the most deadly poison, and, after grinding them to fine powder, Lady
+Thirlestane mixed them in a bottle of wine. Previous to the
+commencement of the birthday feast, the young laird having called for
+wine to drink the healths of the workmen who had just completed the
+mason work of the new Castle of Gamescleugh&mdash;his future residence&mdash;the
+piper Lally filled a silver cup from the poisoned bottle, which the
+ill-fated youth hastily drank off. So potent was the poison that the
+young laird died within an hour, and a feeling of horror seized the
+birthday guests as to who could have done so foul a deed. But the
+father seems to have had his suspicions, and having caused a bugle to
+be blown, as a signal for all the family to <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>assemble in the castle
+court, he inquired, "Are we all here?"</p>
+
+<p>A voice answered, "All but the piper, John Lally!"</p>
+
+<p>These words, it is said, sounded like a knell in Sir Robert's ear, and
+the truth was manifest to him. But unwilling to make a public example
+of his own wife, he adopted a somewhat unique method of vengeance, and
+publicly proclaimed that as he could not bestow the estate on his son
+while alive, he would spend it upon him when dead. Accordingly, the
+body of his son was embalmed with the most costly drugs, and lay in
+state for a year and a day, during which time Sir Robert kept open
+house, feasting all who chose to be his guests; Lady Thirlestane
+meanwhile being imprisoned in a vault of the castle, and fed upon
+bread and water. "During the last three days of this extraordinary
+feast", writes Sir Bernard Burke,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> "the crowds were immense. It was
+as if the whole of the south of Scotland was assembled at Thirlestane.
+Butts of the richest and rarest wine were carried into the fields,
+their ends were knocked out with hatchets, and the liquor was carried
+about in stoups. The burn of Thirlestane literally ran with wine." Sir
+Robert died soon afterwards, and left his family in utter destitution,
+his wife dying in absolute beggary. Thus was avenged the crime of this
+cruel and unprincipled woman, whose fatal jealousy caused the ruin of
+the family.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>Political intrigue, again, has been the origin of many an act of
+treachery, done under the semblance of hospitality, or given rise to
+strange incidents.</p>
+
+<p>To go back to early times, it seems that Edward the Confessor had long
+indulged a suspicion that Earl Godwin&mdash;who had in the first instance
+accused Queen Emma of having caused the death of her son&mdash;was himself
+implicated in that transaction. It so happened that the King and a
+large concourse of prelates and nobility were holding a large dinner
+at Winchester, in honour of the Easter festival, when the butler, in
+bringing in a dish, slipped, but recovered his balance by making
+adroit use of his other foot.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus does brother assist brother," exclaimed Earl Godwin, thinking to
+be witty at the butler's expense.</p>
+
+<p>"And thus might I have been now assisted by my Alfred, if Earl Godwin
+had not prevented it," replied the King: for the Earl's remark had
+recalled to his mind the suspicion he had long entertained of the Earl
+having been concerned in Prince Alfred's death.</p>
+
+<p>Resenting the king's words, the Earl holding up the morsel which he
+was about to eat, uttered a great oath, and in the name of God
+expressed a wish that the morsel might choke him if he had in any way
+been concerned in that murder. Accordingly he there and then put the
+morsel into his mouth, and attempted to swallow it; but his <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>efforts
+were in vain, it stuck fast in his throat&mdash;immovable upward or
+downward&mdash;his respiration failed, his eyes became fixed, his
+countenance convulsed, and in a minute more he fell dead under the
+table.</p>
+
+<p>Edward, convinced of the Earl's guilt, and seeing divine justice
+manifested, and remembering, it is said, with bitterness the days past
+when he had given a willing ear to the calumnies spread about his
+innocent mother, cried out, in an indignant voice, "Carry away that
+dog, and bury him in the high road." But the body was deposited by the
+Earl's cousin in the cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>Several accounts have been written of that terrible banquet, to which
+the Earl of Douglas was invited by Sir Alexander Livingstone and the
+Chancellor Crichton&mdash;who craftily dissembled their intentions&mdash;to sup
+at the royal table in the Castle of Edinburgh. The Earl was foolhardy
+enough to accept the ill-fated invitation, and shortly after he had
+taken his place at the festive board, the head of a black bull&mdash;the
+certain omen, in those days in Scotland, of immediate death&mdash;was
+placed on the table. The Earl, anticipating treachery, instantly
+sprang to his feet, and lost no time in making every effort to escape.
+But no chance was given him to do so, and with his younger brother he
+was hurried along into the courtyard of the castle, and after being
+subjected to a mock trial, he was beheaded "in the back court of the
+castle that lieth to the west". <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>The death of the young earl, and his
+untimely fate, were the subjects of lament in one of the ballads of
+the time.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Edinburgh castle, town, and tower,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">God grant them sink for sin;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And that even for the black dinner<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Earl Douglas gat therein."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This emphatic malediction is cited by Hume of Godscroft in his
+"History of the House of Douglas," as referring to William, sixth Earl
+of Douglas, a youth of eighteen; and Hume, speaking of this
+transaction, says, with becoming indignation: "It is sure the people
+did abhorre it&mdash;execrating the very place where it was done, in
+detestation of the fact&mdash;of which the memory remaineth yet to our
+dayes in these words."</p>
+
+<p>Many similar stories are recorded in the history of the past, the
+worst form of treachery oftentimes lurking beneath the festive cup,
+and in times of commotion, when suspicion and mistrust made men feel
+insecure even when entertained in the banqueting hall of some powerful
+host, it is not surprising that great persons had their food tasted by
+those who were supposed to have made themselves acquainted with its
+wholesomeness. But this practice could not always afford security when
+the taster was ready to sacrifice his own life, as in King John (act
+v. sc. 6):</p>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 10%; padding-top: .3em; padding-bottom: .3em;">
+<p class="noin"><span class="sc">Hubert</span>. The king, I fear, is poisoned by a monk:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">I left him almost speechless.</span><br />
+<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a><span class="sc">Bastard</span>. How did he take it? Who did taste to him?<br />
+<span class="sc">Hubert</span>. A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain.<br /></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But, in modern days, one of the most unnatural tragedies on record was
+the murder of Sir John Goodere, Foote's maternal uncle, by his brother
+Captain Goodere, a naval officer. In the year 1740, the two brothers
+dined at a friend's house near Bristol. For a long time they had been
+on bad terms, owing to certain money transactions, but at the dinner
+table a reconciliation was, to all appearance, made between them. But
+it was a most terrible piece of underhand treachery, for on leaving
+that dinner table, Sir John was waylaid on his return home by some men
+from his brother's vessel&mdash;acting by his brother's authority&mdash;carried
+on board, and deliberately strangled; Captain Goodere not only
+unconcernedly looking on, but actually furnishing the rope with which
+this fearful crime was committed. One of the strangest parts of this
+terrible tale, Foote used to relate, was the fact that on the night
+the murder was committed he arrived at his father's house in Truro,
+and was kept awake for some time by the softest and sweetest strains
+of music he had ever heard. At first he fancied it might be a serenade
+got up by some of the family to welcome him home, but not being able
+to discover any trace of the musicians, he came to the conclusion that
+he was deceived by his own imagination. Shortly afterwards, however,
+he learnt that the murder had been committed at the <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>same hour of the
+same night as he had been haunted by the mysterious sounds. In after
+days, he often spoke of this curious occurrence, regarding it as a
+supernatural warning, a conviction which he retained till his death.</p>
+
+<p>But, strange and varied as are the scenes that have taken place at the
+banquet, whether great or small, such acts of fratricide have been
+rare, although, according to a family tradition relating to
+Osbaldeston Hall, a similar tragedy once happened at a family banquet.
+There is one room in the old hall whose walls are smeared with several
+red marks, which, it is said, can never be obliterated. These stains
+have some resemblance to blood, and are generally supposed to have
+been caused when, many years ago, one of the family was brutally
+murdered. The story commonly current is that there was once a great
+family gathering at Osbaldeston Hall, at which every member of the
+family was present. The feast passed off satisfactorily, and the
+liquor was flowing freely round, when, unfortunately, family
+differences began to be discussed. These soon caused angry
+recriminations, and at length two of the company challenged each other
+to mortal combat. Friends interfered, and, by the judicious
+intervention on their part, the quarrel seemed to be made up. But soon
+afterwards the two accidentally met in this room, and Thomas
+Osbaldeston drew his sword and murdered his brother-in-law without
+resistance. For this <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>crime he was deemed a felon, and forfeited his
+lands. Ever since that ill-fated day the room has been haunted.
+Tradition says that the ghost of the murdered man continues to haunt
+the scene of the conflict, and during the silent hours of the night it
+may be seen passing from the room with uplifted hands, and with the
+appearance of blood streaming from a wound in the breast.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>But, turning to incidents of a less tragic nature, an amusing story is
+told of the Earl of Hopetoun, who, when he could not induce a certain
+Scottish laird, named Dundas, to sell his old family residence known
+as "The Tower," which was on the very verge of his own beautiful
+pleasure grounds, tried to lead him on to a more expensive style of
+living than that to which he had been accustomed, thinking thereby he
+might run into debt, and be compelled to sell his property.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, Dundas was frequently invited to Hopetoun House, and on
+one occasion his lordship invited himself and a fashionable shooting
+party to "The Tower," "congratulating himself on the hole which a few
+dinners like this would make in the old laird's rental." But, as soon
+as the covers were removed from the dishes, no small chagrin was
+caused to Lord Hopetoun and his friends when their eyes rested on "a
+goodly array of alternate herrings and potatoes spread from the top to
+the bottom," Dundas at the same time inviting his <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>guests to pledge
+him in a bumper of excellent whiskey. Drinking jocularly to his
+lordship's health, he humorously said, "It won't do, my lord; it won't
+do! But, whenever you or your guests will honour my poor hall of Stang
+Hill Tower with your presence at this hour, I promise you no worse
+fare than now set before you, the best and fattest salt herrings that
+the Forth can produce, and the strongest mountain dew. To this I beg
+that your lordship and your honoured friends may do ample justice."</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that Lord Hopetoun never dined again at Stang
+Hill Tower but some time after, when Dundas was on his death-bed, he
+advised his son to make the best terms he could with Lord Hopetoun,
+remarking, "He will, sooner or later, have our little property." An
+exchange was made highly advantageous to the Dundas family, the estate
+of Aithrey being made over to them.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>A curious and humorous narrative is told of General Dalzell, a noted
+persecutor of the Covenanters. In the course of his Continental
+service he had been brought into the immediate circle of the German
+Court, and one day had the honour to be a guest at a splendid Imperial
+banquet, where, as a part of his state, the German Emperor was waited
+on by the great feudal dignitaries of the empire, one of whom was the
+Duke of Modena, <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>the head of the illustrious house of Este. After his
+appointment by Charles II. as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, he was
+invited by the Duke of York&mdash;afterwards James II., and then residing
+at Holyrood&mdash;to dine with him and the Duchess, Princess May of Modena.
+But as this was, we are told, what might be called a family dinner,
+the Duchess demurred to the General being admitted to such an honour,
+whereupon he naively replied that this was not his first introduction
+to the house of Este, for that he had known her Royal Highness's
+father, the Duke of Modena, and that he had stood behind his chair,
+while he sat by the Emperor's side.</p>
+
+<p>There was another kind of banquet, in which it has been remarked the
+defunct had the principal honours, having the same ceremonious respect
+paid to his waxen image as though he were alive. Thus we are reminded
+how the famous Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough demonstrated her
+appreciation for Congreve in a most extraordinary manner. Report goes
+that she had his figure made in wax, talked to it as if it had been
+alive, placed it at the table with her, took every care that it was
+supplied with different sorts of meat, and, in short, the same
+formalities were, throughout, scrupulously observed in these weird and
+strange repasts, just as if Congreve himself had been present.</p>
+
+<p>Saint Foix, it may be remembered, who wrote in the time of Louis XIV.,
+has left an interesting <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>account of the ceremonial after the death of
+a King of France, during the forty days before the funeral, when his
+wax effigy lay in state. It appears that the royal officers served him
+at meals as though he were still alive, the ma&icirc;tre d'hotel handed the
+napkin to the highest lord present to be delivered to the king, a
+prelate blessed the table, and the basins of water were handed to the
+royal armchair. Grace was said in the accustomed manner, save that
+there was added to it the "De Profundis." We cannot be surprised that
+such strange proceedings as these gave rise to much ridicule, and
+helped to bring the Court itself into contempt.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Miss Jackson's "Shropshire Folklore," 101.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Family Romance, 1853, pp. 1-8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 271-2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Sir Bernard Burke, "Family Romance," 1853, I., 307-12.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER V.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>MYSTERIOUS ROOMS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>A jolly place, said he, in days of old;<br /></span>
+    <span>But something ails it now&mdash;the spot is curst.<br /></span> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Wordsworth</span>.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>A peculiar feature of many old country houses is the so-called
+"strange room," around which the atmosphere of mystery has long clung.
+In certain cases, such rooms have gained an unenviable notoriety from
+having been the scene, in days gone by, of some tragic occurrence, the
+memory of which has survived in the local legend, or tradition. The
+existence, too, of such rooms has supplied the novelist with the most
+valuable material for the construction of those plots in which the
+mysterious element holds a prominent place. Historical romance, again,
+with its tales of adventure, has invested numerous rooms with a grim
+aspect, and caused the imagination to conjure up all manner of weird
+and unearthly fancies concerning them. Walpole, for instance, writing
+of Berkeley Castle, says: "The room shown for the murder of Edward
+II., and the shrieks of an agonising king, I verily <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>believe to be
+genuine. It is a dismal chamber, almost at the top of the house, quite
+detached, and to be approached only by a kind of footbridge, and from
+that descends a large flight of steps that terminates on strong gates,
+exactly a situation for a <i>corps de garde</i>." And speaking of Edward's
+imprisonment here, may be mentioned the pathetic story told by Sir
+Richard Baker, in his usual odd, circumstantial manner: "When Edward
+II. was taken by order of his Queen and carried to Berkeley Castle, to
+the end that he should not be known, they shaved his head and beard,
+and that in a most beastly manner; for they took him from his horse
+and set him upon a hillock, and then, taking puddle water out of a
+ditch thereby, they went to wash him, his barber telling him that the
+cold water must serve for this time; whereat the miserable king,
+looking sternly upon him, said that whether they would or no he would
+have warm water to wash him, and therewithal, to make good his word,
+he presently shed forth a shower of tears. Never was king turned out
+of a kingdom in such a manner." And there can be no doubt that many of
+the rooms which have attracted notice on account of their
+architectural peculiarities, were purposely designed for concealment
+in times of political commotion. Of the numerous stories told of the
+mysterious death of Lord Lovel, one informs us<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> how, on the
+demolition of a very old <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>house&mdash;formerly the patrimony of the
+Lovel's&mdash;about a century ago, there was found in a small chamber, so
+secret that the farmer who inhabited the house knew it not, the
+remains of an immured being, and such remnants of barrels and jars as
+appeared to justify the idea of that chamber having been used as a
+place of refuge for the lord of the mansion; and that after consuming
+the stores which he had provided in case of a disastrous event, he
+died unknown even to his servants and tenants. But the circumstances
+attending Lord Lovell's death have always been matter of conjecture,
+and in the "Annals of England," another version of the story is
+given:<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> "Lord Lovel is believed to have escaped from the field, and
+to have lived for a while in concealment at Minster Lovel,
+Oxfordshire, but at length to have been starved to death through the
+neglect or treachery of an attendant."</p>
+
+<p>At Broughton Castle there is a curiously designed room, which, at one
+time or another, has attracted considerable attention. According to
+Lord Nugent, in his "Memorials of Hampden," this room is "so
+contrived, by being surrounded by thick stone walls, and casemated,
+that no sound from within can be heard. The chamber appears to have
+been built about the time of King John, and is reported, on very
+doubtful grounds of tradition, to have been the room used for the
+sittings of the Puritans." And, he adds: "It seems an odd fancy,
+although <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>a very prevailing one, to suppose that wise men, employed in
+capital matters of state, must needs choose the most mysterious and
+suspicious retirements for consultation, instead of the safer and less
+remarkable expedient of a walk in the open fields." It was probably in
+this room that the secret meetings of Hampden and his confederates
+were held, which Anthony &agrave; Wood thus describes: "Several years before
+the Civil War began, Lord Sage, being looked upon as the godfather of
+that party, had meetings of them in his house at Broughton, where was
+a room and passage thereunto, which his servants were prohibited to
+come near. And when they were of a complete number, there would be a
+great noise and talkings heard among them, to the admiration of those
+that lived in the house, yet never could they discern their lord's
+companions."</p>
+
+<p>Amongst other secret rooms which have their historical associations,
+are those at Hendlip Hall, near Worcester. This famous residence&mdash;which
+has scarcely a room that is not provided with some means of escape&mdash;is
+commonly reported to have been built by John Abingdon in the reign of
+Queen Elizabeth, this personage having been a zealous partisan of Mary
+Queen of Scots. It was here also, under the care of Mr. and Mrs.
+Abingdon, that Father Garnet was concealed for several weeks in the
+winter of 1605-6, but who eventually paid the penalty of his guilty
+knowledge of the <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>Gunpowder Plot. A hollow in the wall of Mrs.
+Abingdon's bedroom was covered up, and there was a narrow crevice into
+which a reed was laid, so that soup and wine could be passed by her
+into the recess, without the fact being noticed from any other room.
+But the Government, suspecting that some of the Gunpowder Conspirators
+were concealed at Hendlip Hall, sent Sir Henry Bromley, of Holt Castle,
+a justice of the peace, with the most minute orders, which are very
+funny: "In the search," says the document, "first observe the parlour
+where they use to dine and sup; in the last part of that parlour it is
+conceived there is some vault, which to discover, you must take care to
+draw down the wainscot, whereby the entry into the vault may be
+discovered. The lower parts of the house must be tried with a broach,
+by putting the same into the ground some foot or two, to try whether
+there may be perceived some timber, which if there be, there must be
+some vault underneath it. For the upper rooms you must observe whether
+they be more in breadth than the lower rooms, and look in which places
+the rooms must be enlarged, by pulling out some boards you may discover
+some vaults. Also, if it appear that there be some corners to the
+chimneys, and the same boarded, if the boards be taken away there will
+appear some secret place. If the walls seem to be thick and covered
+with wainscot, being tried with a gimlet, if it strike not the wall but
+go through, <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>some suspicion is to be had thereof. If there be any
+double loft, some two or three feet, one above another, in such places
+any person may be harboured privately. Also, if there be a loft towards
+the roof of the house, in which there appears no entrance out of any
+other place or lodging, it must of necessity be opened and looked into,
+for these be ordinary places of hovering (hiding)."</p>
+
+<p>The house was searched from garret to cellar without any discovery
+being made, and Mrs. Abingdon, feigning to be angry with the
+searchers, shut herself up in her bedroom day and night, eating and
+drinking there, by which means through the secret tube she fed Father
+Garnet and another Jesuit father. But after a protracted search of ten
+days, these two men surrendered themselves, pressed, it is said, "for
+the need of air rather than food, for marmalade and other sweetmeats
+were found in their den, and they had warm and nutritive drinks passed
+to them by the reed through the chimney," as already described. This
+historic mansion, it may be added, on account of its elevated
+position, was capitally adapted as a place of concealment, for "it
+afforded the means of keeping a watchful look-out for the approach of
+the emissaries of the law, or of persons by whom it might have been
+dangerous for any skulking priest to be seen, supposing his reverence
+to have gone forth for an hour to take the air."</p>
+
+<p>Another important instance of a strange room <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>is that existing at
+Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, which was, in years gone by, a summer
+residence belonging to the Abbey of Barking. It came with the estate
+into possession of the family of Petre in the reign of Henry VIII.,
+and continued to be occupied as their family seat until the latter
+half of the last century. In the south-east corner of a small room
+attached to what was probably the host's bedroom, there was discovered
+some years ago a mysterious hiding place&mdash;fourteen feet long, two feet
+broad, and ten feet high. On some floor-boards being removed, a hole
+or trap door&mdash;about two feet square&mdash;was found, with a twelve-foot
+ladder, to descend into the room below, the floor of which was
+composed of nine inches of dry sand. This, on being examined, brought
+to light a few bones which, it has been suggested, are the remains of
+food supplied to some unfortunate occupant during confinement. But the
+existence of this secret room must, it is said, have been familiar to
+the heads of the family for several generations, evidence of this
+circumstance being afforded by a packing case which was found in this
+hidden retreat, and upon which was the following direction: "For the
+Right Honble the Lady Petre, at Ingatestone Hall, in Essex." The wood,
+also, was in a decayed state, and the writing in an antiquated style,
+which is only what might be expected considering that the Petre family
+left Ingatestone Hall between the years 1770 and 1780.</p>
+
+<p>There are numerous rooms of this curious <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>description which, it must be
+remembered, were, in many cases, the outcome of religious intolerance
+in the sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth, when the
+celebration of Mass in this country was forbidden. Hence those families
+that persisted in adhering to the Roman Catholic faith oftentimes kept
+a priest, who celebrated it in a room&mdash;opening whence was a secret one,
+to which in case of emergency he could retreat. Evelyn in his <i>Diary</i>,
+speaking of Ham House, at Weybridge, belonging to the Duke of Norfolk,
+as having some of these secret rooms, writes: "My lord, leading me
+about the house, made no scruple of showing me all the hiding places
+for Popish priests, and where they said Masse, for he was no bigoted
+papist." The old Manor House at Dinsdale-upon-Tees has a secret room,
+which is very cleverly situated at the top of the staircase, to which
+access is gained from above. The compartment is not very large, and is
+between two bedrooms, and alongside of the fireplace of one of them.
+"It would be a very snug place when the fire was lighted," writes a
+correspondent of "Notes and Queries," "and very secure, as it is
+necessary to enter the cockloft by a trap door at the extreme end of
+the building, and then crawl along under the roof into the hiding-place
+by a second trap-door." Among further instances of these curious relics
+of the past may be mentioned Armscott Manor, two or three miles distant
+from Shipston-on-Stour. According to a <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>local tradition, George Fox at
+one time lived here. In a passage at the top of the house is the
+entrance to a secret room, which receives light from a small window in
+one of the gables, and in this room George Fox is said to have been
+concealed during the period he was persecuted by the county
+magistrates.</p>
+
+<p>But sometimes such rooms furthered the designs of those who abetted
+and connived at deeds that would not bear the light, and Southey
+records an anecdote which is a good illustration of the bad uses to
+which they were probably often put: "At Bishop's Middleham, a man died
+with the reputation of a water drinker; and it was discovered that he
+had killed himself by secret drunkenness. There was a Roman Catholic
+hiding place, the entrance to which was from his bedroom. He converted
+it into a cellar, and the quantity of brandy which he had consumed was
+ascertained." Indeed, it is impossible to say to what ends these
+secret rooms were occasionally devoted; and there is little doubt but
+that they were the scenes of many of those thrilling stories upon
+which many of our local traditions have been founded.</p>
+
+<p>Political refugees, too, were not infrequently secreted in these
+hiding places, and in the Manor House, Trent, near Sherborne, there is
+a strangely constructed chamber, entered from one of the upper rooms
+through a sliding panel in the oak wainscoting, in which tradition
+tells us Charles II. lay <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>concealed for a fortnight on his escape to
+the coast, after the battle of Worcester. And Boscobel House, which
+also afforded Charles II. a safe retreat, has two secret chambers; and
+there are indications which point to the former existence of a third.
+The hiding place in which the King was hidden is situated in the
+squire's bedroom. It appears there was formerly a sliding panel in the
+wainscot, near the fireplace, which, when opened, gave access to a
+closet, the false floor of which still admits of a person taking up
+his position in this secret nook. The wainscoting, too, which
+concealed the movable panel in the bedroom was originally covered with
+tapestry, with which the room was hung. A curious story is told of
+Street Place, an old house, a mile and a half north of Plumpton, in
+the neighbourhood of Lewes, which dates from the time of James I., and
+was the seat of the Dobells. Behind the great chimney-piece of the
+hall was a deep recess, used for purposes of concealment; and it is
+said that one day a cavalier horseman, hotly pursued by some troopers,
+broke into the hall, spurred his horse into the recess, and
+disappeared for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Bistmorton Court, an old moated manor house in the Malvern district,
+has a cunningly contrived secret room, which is opened by means of a
+spring, and this hidden nook is commonly reported to have played an
+important part in the War of the Roses, when numerous persons were
+concealed there at this troublous period. And a curious discovery <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>was
+made some years ago at Danby Hall, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, when, on
+a small secret room being brought to light, it was found to contain
+arms and saddlery for a troop of forty or fifty horse. It is generally
+supposed that these weapons had been hidden away in readiness for the
+Jacobite rising of 1715 or 1745.</p>
+
+<p>In certain cases it would appear that, for some reason or other, the
+hiding place has been specially kept a secret among members of the
+family. In the north of England there is Netherall, near Maryport,
+Cumberland, the seat of the old family of Senhouse. In this old
+mansion there is said to be a veritable secret room, its exact
+position in the house being known but to two persons&mdash;the heir-at-law
+and the family solicitor. It is affirmed that never has the secret of
+this hidden room been revealed to more than two living persons at a
+time. This mysterious room has no window, and, despite every endeavour
+to discover it, has successfully defied the ingenuity of even visitors
+staying in the house. This Netherall tradition is very similar to the
+celebrated one connected with Glamis Castle, the seat of Lord
+Strathmore, only in the latter case the secret room possesses a
+window, which, nevertheless, has not led to its identification. It is
+known as the "secret room" of the castle, and, although every other
+part of the castle has been satisfactorily explored, the search for
+this famous room has been in vain. None are supposed to <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>be acquainted
+with its locality save Lord Strathmore, his heir, and the factor of
+the estate, who are bound not to reveal it unless to their successors
+in the secret. Many weird stories have clustered round this remarkable
+room; one legend connected with which has been thus described:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The castle now again behold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then mark yon lofty turret bold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which frowns above the western wing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Its grim walls darkly shadowing.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There is a room within that tower<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No mortal dare approach; the power<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of an avenging God is there.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dread&mdash;awfully display'd&mdash;beware!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And enter not that dreadful room,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Else yours may be a fearful doom.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>According to one legendary romance&mdash;founded on an incident which is
+said to have occurred during one of the carousals of the Earl of
+Crawford, otherwise styled "Earl Beardie" or the "Tiger Earl"&mdash;there
+was many years ago a grand "meet" at Glamis, as the result of which
+many a noble deer lay dead upon the hill, and many a grizzly boar dyed
+with his heart's blood the rivers of the plain. As the day drew to its
+close, "the wearied huntsmen, with their fair attendants, returned,
+'midst the sounds of martial music and the low whispered roundelays of
+the ladies, victorious to the castle." In the old baronial dining hall
+was spread a sumptuous and savoury feast, at which "venison and
+reeking game, rich smoked ham and savoury <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>roe, flanked by the wild
+boar's head, and viands and pasties without name, blent profusely on
+the hospitable board, while jewelled and capacious goblets, filled
+with ruby wine, were lavishly handed round to the admiring guests."</p>
+
+<p>At the completion of the banquet, the minstrel strung his ancient
+harp, and soon the company tripped lightly on the oaken floor, till
+the rafters rang with the merry sounds of their midnight revelry. For
+three days and nights the hunt and the feast continued, and as, at
+last, the revelries drew to a close, still four dark chieftains
+remained in the inner chamber of the castle, "and sang, and drank, and
+shouted, right merrilie. The day broke, yet louder rang the wassail
+roar; the goblets were over and over again replenished, and the
+terrible oaths and ribald songs continued, and the dice rattled, and
+the revelry became louder still, till the many walls of the old castle
+shook and reverberated with the awful sounds of debauchery, blasphemy,
+and crime."</p>
+
+<p>"At length their wild, ungovernable frenzy reached its climax. They
+had drunk until their eyes had grown dim, and their hands could
+scarcely hold the hellish dice, when, driven by expiring fury, with
+fiendish glee, they defiantly gnashed their teeth and cursed the God
+of heaven! Then, with returning strength, and exhausting its last and
+fitful energies in still louder imprecations and more fearful yells,
+they deliberately and with unanimous <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>voice consigned their guilty
+souls to the nethermost hell! Fatal words! In a bright, broad sheet of
+lurid and sulphurous flame the Prince of Darkness appeared in their
+midst, and struck&mdash;not the shaft of death, but the vitality of eternal
+life&mdash;and there to this day in that dreaded room they sit, transfixed
+in all their hideous expression of ghastly terror and dismay&mdash;doomed
+to drink the wine cup and throw the dice till the dawning of the Great
+Judgment Day."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another explanation of the mystery is that during one of the feuds
+between the Lindsays and the Ogilvies, a number of the latter Clan,
+flying from their enemies, came to Glamis Castle, and begged
+hospitality of the owner. He admitted them, and on the plea of hiding
+them, he secured them all in this room, and then left them to starve.
+Their bones, it is averred, lie there to this day, the sight of which,
+it has been stated, so appalled the late Lord Strathmore on entering
+the room, that he had it walled up. Some assert that, owing to some
+hereditary curse, like those described in a previous chapter, at
+certain intervals a kind of vampire is born into the family of the
+Strathmore Lyons, and that as no one would like to destroy this
+monstrosity, it is kept concealed till its term of life is run. But,
+whatever the mystery may be, such rooms, like the locked chamber of
+Blue Beard, <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>are not open to vulgar gaze, a circumstance which has
+naturally perpetuated the curiosity attached to them. The reputation,
+too, which Glamis Castle has long had for possessing so strange a room
+has led to a host of the most gruesome stories being circulated in
+connection with it, many of which from time to time have appeared in
+print. According to one account,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> "a lady, very well known in
+London society, an artistic and social celebrity, went to stay at
+Glamis Castle for the first time. She was allotted very handsome
+apartments just on the point of junction between the new
+buildings&mdash;perhaps a hundred or two hundred years old&mdash;and the very
+ancient part of the castle. The rooms were handsomely furnished; no
+grim tapestry swung to and fro, all was smooth, easy, and modern, and
+the guest retired to bed without a thought of the mysteries of Glamis.
+In the morning she appeared at the breakfast table cheerful and
+self-possessed, and, to the inquiry how she had slept, replied, "Well,
+thanks, very well, up to four o'clock in the morning. But your
+Scottish carpenters seem to come to work very early. I suppose they
+are putting up their scaffolding quickly, though, for they are quiet
+now."</p>
+
+<p>Her remarks were followed by a dead silence, and, to her surprise, she
+noticed that the faces of the family party were very pale. But, she
+was asked, as she valued the friendship of all there, <a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>never to speak
+on that subject again, there had been no carpenters at Glamis for
+months past. The lady, it seems, had not the remotest idea that the
+hammering she had heard was connected with any story, and had no
+notion of there being some mystery connected with the noise until
+enlightened on the matter at the breakfast table.</p>
+
+<p>At Rushen Castle, Isle of Man, there is said to be a room which has
+never been opened in the memory of man. Various explanations have been
+assigned to account for this circumstance, one being that the old
+place was once inhabited by giants, who were dislodged by Merlin, and
+such as were not driven away remain spellbound beneath the castle.
+Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man," has given a curious
+tradition respecting this strange room, in which the supernatural
+element holds a prominent place, and which is a good sample of other
+stories of the same kind: "They say there are a great many fine
+apartments underground, exceeding in magnificence any of the upper
+rooms. Several men, of more than ordinary courage have, in former
+times, ventured down to explore the secrets of this subterranean
+dwelling-place, but as none of them ever returned to give an account
+of what they saw, the passages to it were kept continually shut that
+no more might suffer by their temerity. But about fifty years since, a
+person of uncommon courage obtained permission <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>to explore the dark
+abode. He went down, and returned by the help of a clue of packthread,
+and made this report: 'That after having passed through a great number
+of vaults he came into a long narrow place, along which having
+travelled, as far as he could guess, for the space of a mile, he saw a
+little gleam of light. Reaching at last the end of this lane of
+darkness, he perceived a very large and magnificent house, illuminated
+with a great many candles, whence proceeded the light just mentioned.
+After knocking at the door three times, it was opened by a servant,
+who asked him what he wanted. "I would go as far as I can," he
+replied; "be so kind as to direct me, for I see no passage but the
+dark cavern through which I came hither." The servant directed him to
+go through the house, and led him through a long entrance passage and
+out at the back door. After walking a considerable distance, he saw
+another house, more magnificent than the former, where he saw through
+the open windows lamps burning in every room. He was about to knock,
+but looking in at the window of a low parlour, he saw in the middle of
+the room a large table of black marble, on which lay extended a
+monster of at least fourteen feet long, and ten round the body, with a
+sword beside him. He therefore deemed it prudent to make his way back
+to the first house where the servant reconducted him, and informed him
+that if he had knocked at the second door he never would have
+<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>returned. He then took his leave, and once more ascended to the light
+of the sun.'"</p>
+
+<p>But, leaving rooms of this supernatural kind, we may allude to those
+which have acquired a strange notoriety from certain peculiarities of
+a somewhat gruesome character; and, with tales of horror attached to
+their guilty walls, it is not surprising that many rooms in our old
+country houses have long been said to be troubled with mysterious
+noises, and to have an uncanny aspect. Wye Coller Hall, near Colne,
+which was long the seat of the Cunliffes of Billington, had a room
+which the timid long avoided. Once a year, it is said, a spectre
+horseman visits this house and makes his way up the broad oaken
+staircase into a certain room, from whence "dreadful screams, as from
+a woman, are heard, which soon subside into groans." The story goes
+that one of the Cunliffes murdered his wife in that room, and that the
+spectre horseman is the ghost of the murderer, who is doomed to pay an
+annual visit to the house of his victim, who is said to have predicted
+the extinction of the family, which has literally been fulfilled. This
+strange visitor is always attired in the costume of the early Stuart
+period, and the trappings of his horse are of a most uncouth
+description; the evening of his arrival being generally wild and
+tempestuous.</p>
+
+<p>At Creslow Manor House, Buckinghamshire, there is another mysterious
+room which, although furnished as a bedroom, is very rarely used, for
+it cannot be <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>entered, even in the daytime, without trepidation and
+awe. According to common report, this room, which is situated in the
+most ancient portion of the building, is haunted by the restless
+spirit of a lady, long since deceased. What the antecedent history of
+this uncomfortable room really is no one seems to know, although it is
+generally agreed that in the distant past it must have been the silent
+witness of some tragic occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>But Littlecote House, the ancient seat of the Darrells, is renowned,
+writes Lord Macaulay, "not more on account of its venerable
+architecture and furniture, than on account of a horrible and
+mysterious crime which was perpetrated there in the days of the
+Tudors." One of the bedchambers, which is said to have been the scene
+of a terrible murder, contains a bedstead with blue furniture, which
+time has made dingy and threadbare. In the bottom of one of the bed
+curtains is shown a strange place where a small piece has been cut out
+and sewn in again&mdash;a circumstance which served to identify the scene
+of a remarkable story, in connection with which, however, there are
+several discrepancies. According to one account, when Littlecote was
+in possession of its founders&mdash;the Darrells&mdash;a midwife of high repute
+dwelt in the neighbourhood, who, on returning home from a professional
+visit at a late hour of the night, had gone to rest only to be
+disturbed by one who desired to have her immediate help, little
+<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>anticipating the terrible night's adventure in store for her, and
+which shall be told in her own words:</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as she had unfastened the door, a hand was thrust in which
+struck down the candle, and at the same time pulled her into the road.
+The person who had used these abrupt means desired her to tie a
+handkerchief over her head and not wait for a hat, and, leading her to
+a stile where there was a horse saddled, with a pillion on its back,
+he desired her to seat herself, and then, mounting, they set off at a
+brisk trot. After travelling for an hour and a half, they entered a
+paved court, or yard, and her conductor, lifting her off her horse,
+led her into the house, and thus addressed her: 'You must now suffer
+me to put this cap and bandage over your eyes, which will allow you to
+breathe and speak, but not to see. Keep up your presence of mind; it
+will be wanted. No harm will happen to you.' Then, taking her into a
+chamber, he added, 'Now you are in a room with a lady in labour.
+Perform your office well, and you shall be amply rewarded; but if you
+attempt to remove the bandage from your eyes, take the reward of your
+rashness."</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards a male child was born, and as soon as this crisis
+was over the woman received a glass of wine, and was told to prepare
+to return home, but in the interval she contrived to cut off a small
+piece of the bed curtain&mdash;an act which was supposed sufficient
+evidence to fix the mysterious <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>transaction as having happened at
+Littlecote. According to Sir Walter Scott, the bandage was first put
+over the woman's eyes on her leaving her own house that she might be
+unable to tell which way she travelled, and was only removed when she
+was led into the mysterious bedchamber, where, besides the lady in
+labour, there was a man of a "haughty and ferocious" aspect. As soon
+as the child was born, adds Scott, he demanded the midwife to give it
+him, and, hurrying across the room, threw it on the back of a fire
+that was blazing in the chimney, in spite of the piteous entreaties of
+the mother. Suspicion eventually fell on Darrell, whose house was
+identified by the midwife, and he was tried for murder at Salisbury,
+"but, by corrupting his judge, Sir John Popham, he escaped the
+sentence of the law, only to die a violent death by a fall from his
+horse." This tale of horror, it may be added, has been carefully
+examined, and there is little doubt but that in its main and most
+prominent features it is true, the bedstead with a piece of the
+curtain cut out identifying the spot as the scene of the tragic
+act.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>With this strange story Sir Walter Scott compares a similar one which
+was current at Edinburgh during his childhood. About the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, when "the large castles of the Scottish
+nobles, and even the secluded hotels, like those of the French
+<i>noblesse</i>, which they possessed <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>in Edinburgh, were sometimes the
+scenes of mysterious transactions, a divine of singular sanctity was
+called up at midnight to pray with a person at the point of death." He
+was put into a sedan chair, and after being transported to a remote
+part of the town, he was blindfolded&mdash;an act which was enforced by a
+cocked pistol. After many turns and windings the chair was carried
+upstairs into a lodging, where his eyes were uncovered, and he was
+introduced into a bedroom, where he found a lady, newly delivered of
+an infant.</p>
+
+<p>He was commanded by his attendants to say such prayers by her bedside
+as were suitable for a dying person. On remonstrating, and observing
+that her safe delivery warranted better hopes, he was sternly
+commanded to do as he had been ordered, and with difficulty he
+collected his thoughts sufficiently to perform the task imposed on
+him. He was then again hurried into the chair, but as they conducted
+him downstairs he heard the report of a pistol. He was safely
+conducted home, a purse of gold was found upon him, but he was warned
+that the least allusion to this transaction would cost him his life.
+He betook himself to rest, and after a deep sleep he was awakened by
+his servant, with the dismal news that a fire of uncommon fury had
+broken out in the house of ****, near the head of the Canongate, and
+that it was totally consumed, with the shocking addition that the
+daughter of the proprietor, a young lady <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>eminent for beauty and
+accomplishments had perished in the flames.</p>
+
+<p>The clergyman had his suspicions; he was timid; the family was of the
+first distinction; above all, the deed was done, and could not be
+amended. Time wore away, but he became unhappy at being the solitary
+depository of this fearful mystery, and, mentioning it to some of his
+brethren, the anecdote acquired a sort of publicity. The divine,
+however, had long been dead, and the story in some degree forgotten,
+when a fire broke out again on the very same spot where the house of
+**** had formerly stood, and which was now occupied by buildings of an
+inferior description. When the flames were at their height, the tumult
+was suddenly suspended by an unexpected apparition. A beautiful
+female, in a nightdress, extremely rich, but at least half a century
+old, appeared in the very midst of the fire, and uttered these words
+in her vernacular idiom: "Anes burned, twice burned; the third time
+I'll scare you all." The belief in this apparition was formerly so
+strong that on a fire breaking out and seeming to approach the fatal
+spot, there was a good deal of anxiety manifested lest the apparition
+should make good her denunciation.</p>
+
+<p>But family romance contains many such tales of horror, and one told of
+Sir Richard Baker, surnamed "Bloody Baker," is a match even for Blue
+Beard's locked chamber. After spending some years abroad in
+consequence of a duel, he returned to his old <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>home at Cranbrook, in
+Kent; he only brought with him a foreign servant, and these two lived
+alone. Very soon strange stories began to be whispered of unearthly
+shrieks having been frequently heard at nightfall to issue from his
+house, and of persons who were missed and never heard of again. But it
+never occurred to anyone to connect incidents of this kind with Sir
+Richard Baker, until, one day, he formed an apparent attachment to a
+young lady in the neighbourhood, who always wore a great number of
+jewels. He had often pressed her to call and see his house, and,
+happening to be near it, she determined to surprise him with a visit.
+Her companion tried to dissuade her from doing so, but she would not
+be turned from her purpose. They knocked at the door, but receiving no
+answer determined to enter. At the head of the staircase hung a
+parrot, which, on their passing, cried out:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Peapot, pretty lady, be not too bold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or your red blood will soon run cold."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And the blood of the adventurous women did "run cold" when on opening
+one of the room doors they found it nearly full of the bodies of
+murdered persons, chiefly women. And when, too, on looking out of the
+window they saw "Bloody Baker" and his servant bringing in the body of
+a lady, paralysed with fear they concealed themselves in a recess
+under the staircase, and, as the murderers with their ghastly burden
+passed by, the hand of the murdered lady hung in the baluster <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>of the
+stairs, which, on Baker chopping it off with an oath, fell into the
+lap of one of the concealed ladies. They quickly made their escape
+with the dead hand, on one of the fingers of which was a ring.
+Reaching home, they told the story, and in proof of it displayed the
+ring. Families in the neighbourhood who had lost friends or relatives
+mysteriously were told of this "blood chamber of horrors," and it was
+arranged to ask Baker to a party, apparently in a friendly manner, but
+to have constables concealed ready to take him into custody. He
+accepted the invitation, and then the lady, pretending it was a dream,
+told him all she had seen.</p>
+
+<p>"Fair lady," said he, "dreams are nothing; they are but fables."</p>
+
+<p>"They may be fables," she replied, "but is this a fable?" And she
+produced the hand and ring, upon which the constables appeared on the
+scene, and took Baker into custody. The tradition adds that he was
+found guilty, and was burnt, notwithstanding that Queen Mary tried to
+save him on account of his holding the Roman Catholic religion.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>This tradition, of course, must not be taken too seriously; the red
+hand in the armorial bearings having led, it has been suggested, to
+the supposition of some sanguinary business in the records of the
+family. Among the monuments in Cranbrook <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>Church, Kent, there is one
+erected to Sir Richard Baker&mdash;the gauntlet, red gloves, helmet, and
+spurs, having been suspended over the tomb. On one occasion, a visitor
+being attracted by the colour of the gloves, was accosted by an old
+woman, who remarked, "Aye, Miss, those are Bloody Baker's gloves;
+their red colour comes from the blood he shed." But the red hand is
+only the Ulster badge of baronetcy, and there is scarcely a family
+bearing it of which some tale of murder and punishment has not been
+told.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Andrew's "History of Great Britain," 1794-5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Oxford, 1857.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "Scenes and Legends of the Vale of Strathmore." J.
+Cargill Guthrie, 1875.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> "All the Year Round," 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See "Wilts Arch&aelig;ological Magazine," vols. i.-x.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See "Notes and Queries," 1st S., I., p. 67.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>INDELIBLE BLOOD STAINS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood<br /></span>
+    <span>Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather<br /></span>
+    <span>The multitudinous seas incarnardine,<br /></span>
+    <span>Making the green one red."&mdash;</span><span class="sc">Macbeth.</span><br />
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>It was a popular suggestion in olden times that when a person had died
+a violent death, the blood stains could not be washed away, to which
+Macbeth alludes, as above, after murdering Duncan. This belief was in
+a great measure founded on the early tradition that the wounds of a
+murdered man were supposed to bleed afresh at the approach or touch of
+the murderer. To such an extent was this notion carried, that "by the
+side of the bier, if the slightest change were observable in the eyes,
+the mouth, feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured
+to be present, and many an innocent spectator must have suffered
+death. This practice forms a rich pasture in the imagination of our
+old writers; and their histories and ballads are laboured into pathos
+by dwelling on this phenomenon."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> At Blackwell, near Darlington,
+<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>the murder of one Christopher Simpson is described in a pretty local
+ballad known as "The Baydayle Banks Tragedy." A suspected person was
+committed, because when he touched the body at the inquest, "upon his
+handlinge and movinge, the body did bleed at the mouth, nose, and
+ears," and he turned out to be the murderer. Similarly Macbeth (Act
+III., sc. 4), speaking of the ghost, says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"It will have blood; they say blood will have blood;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stones have been known to move and trees to speak,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Auguries and understood relations have<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By magot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The secret'st man of blood."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Shakespeare here, in all probability, alludes to some story in which
+the stones covering the corpse of a murdered man were said to have
+moved of themselves, and so revealed the secret. In the same way, it
+was said that where blood had been shed, the marks could not be
+obliterated, but would continually reappear until justice for the
+crime had been obtained. On one occasion, Nathaniel Hawthorne enjoyed
+the hospitality of Smithells Hall, Lancashire, and was so impressed
+with the well-known legend of "The Bloody Footstep" that he, in three
+separate instances, founded fictions upon it. In his romance of
+"Septimius" he gives this graphic account of what he saw: "On the
+threshold of one of the doors of Smithells Hall there is a bloody
+footstep impressed into the doorstep, and ruddy as if the bloody foot
+had just <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>trodden there, and it is averred that on a certain night of
+the year, and at a certain hour of the night, if you go and look at
+the doorstep, you will see the mark wet with fresh blood. Some have
+pretended to say that this is but dew, but can dew redden a cambric
+handkerchief? And this is what the bloody footstep will surely do when
+the appointed night and hour come round." A local tradition says that
+the stone bearing the imprint of the mysterious footprint was once
+removed and cast into a neighbouring wood, but in a short time it had
+to be restored to its original position owing to the alarming noises
+which troubled the neighbourhood. This strange footprint is
+traditionally said to have been caused by George Marsh, the martyr,
+stamping his foot to confirm his testimony, and has been ever since
+shewn as the miraculous memorial of the holy man. The story is that
+"being provoked by the taunts and persecutions of his examiner, he
+stamped with his foot upon a stone, and, looking up to heaven,
+appealed to God for the justice of his cause, and prayed that there
+might remain in that place a constant memorial of the wickedness and
+injustice of his enemies." It is also stated that in 1732 a guest
+sleeping alone in the Green Chamber at Smithells Hall saw an
+apparition, in the dress of a minister with bands, and a book in his
+hand. The ghost of Marsh, for so it was pronounced to be, disappeared
+through the doorway, and on the owner of Smithells hearing <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>the story,
+he directed that divine service&mdash;long discontinued&mdash;should be resumed
+at the hall chapel every Sunday.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>Then there are the blood stains on the floor at the outer door of the
+Queen's apartments in Holyrood Palace, where Rizzio was murdered. Sir
+Walter Scott has made these blood marks the subject of a jocular
+passage in his introduction to the "Chronicles of the Canongate,"
+where a Cockney traveller is represented as trying to efface them with
+the patent scouring drops which it was his mission to introduce into
+use in Scotland. In another of his novels&mdash;"The Abbot"&mdash;Sir Walter
+Scott alludes to the Rizzio blood stains, and in his "Tales of a
+Grandfather" he deliberately states that the floor at the head of the
+stair still bears visible marks of the blood of the unhappy victim. In
+support of these blood stains, it has been urged that "the floor is
+very ancient, manifestly much more so than the late floor of the
+neighbouring gallery, which dated from the reign of Charles II. It is
+in all likelihood the very floor upon which Mary and her courtiers
+trod. The stain has been shown there since a time long antecedent to
+that extreme modern curiosity regarding historical matters which might
+have induced an imposture, for it is alluded to by the son of Evelyn
+as being exhibited in the year 1722."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>At Condover Hall, Shropshire, there is supposed to be a blood stain
+which has been there since the time of Henry VIII., and cannot be
+effaced. According to a local tradition, which has long been current
+in the neighbourhood, it is the blood of Lord Knevett&mdash;the owner of
+the hall and estate at this period&mdash;who was treacherously slain by his
+son. But unfortunately this piece of romance, which is utterly at
+variance with facts bearing on the history of Condover and its owners
+in years gone by, must be classed among the legendary tales of the
+locality. One room in Clayton Old Hall, Lancashire, has for years past
+been knicknamed "The Bloody Chamber," from some supposed stains of
+human gore on the oaken floor planks. Numerous stories have, at
+different times, been started to account for these blood-tokens, which
+have gained all the more importance from the mansion having, from time
+immemorial, been the favourite haunt of a mischievious boggart until
+laid by the parson, and now&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Whilst ivy climbs and holly is green<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Clayton Hall boggart shall no more be seen.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In Lincoln Cathedral there are two fine rose windows, one made by a
+master workman, and the other by his apprentice, out of the pieces of
+stained glass the former had thrown aside. The apprentice's window was
+declared to be the more magnificent, when the master, in a fit of
+chagrin, threw himself from the gallery beneath his boasted <i>chef
+d'&oelig;uvre</i>, <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>and was killed upon the spot. But his blood-stains on
+the floor are declared to be indelible. At Cothele, a mansion on the
+banks of the Tamar, the marks are still visible of the blood spilt by
+the lord of the manor when, for supposed treachery, he slew the warder
+of the drawbridge; but these are only to be seen on a wet day.</p>
+
+<p>But there is no mystery about the so-called "Bloody Chamber," for the
+marks are only in reality natural red tinges of the wood, denoting the
+presence of iron.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the appearance of such indelible marks of crime,
+oftentimes the ghost of the spiller of blood, or of the murdered
+person, haunts the scene. Thus, Northam Tower, Yorkshire, an embattled
+structure of the time of Henry VII.&mdash;a true Border mansion&mdash;has long
+been famous for the visits of some mysterious spectre in the form of a
+lady who was cruelly murdered in the wood, her blood being pointed out
+on the stairs of the old tower. Another tragic story is told of the
+Manor House which Bishop Pudsey built at Darlington. It was for very
+many years a residence of the Bishops of Durham, and a resting place
+of Margaret, bride of James IV., of Scotland, and daughter of Henry
+VII., in her splendid progress through the country. This building was
+restored at great expense in the year 1668, and gained a widespread
+notoriety on account of the ghost story of Lady Jerratt, who was
+murdered there; but, as a <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>testimony of the violent death she had
+received, "she left on the wall ghastly impressions of a thumb and
+fingers in blood for ever," and always made her appearance with one
+arm, the other having been cut off for the sake of a valuable ring on
+one of the fingers.</p>
+
+<p>One room of Holland House is supposed to be haunted by Lord Holland,
+the first of his name and the chief builder of this splendid old
+mansion. According to Princess Marie Lichtenstein, in her "History of
+Holland House," "the gilt room is said to be tenanted by the solitary
+ghost of its first lord, who, runs the tradition, issues forth at
+midnight from behind a secret door, and walks slowly through the
+scenes of former triumphs with his head in his hand." And to add to
+this mystery, there is a tale of three spots of blood on one side of
+the recess whence he issues&mdash;three spots which can never be effaced.</p>
+
+<p>Stains of blood&mdash;stains that cannot be washed away&mdash;are to be seen on
+the floor of a certain room at Calverley Hall, Yorkshire. And there is
+one particular flag in the cellar which is never without a mysterious
+damp place upon it, all the other flags being dry. Of course these are
+the witnesses of a terrible tragedy which was committed years ago
+within the walls of Calverley Hall. It appears that Walter Calverley,
+who had married Philippa Brooke, daughter of Lord Cobham, was a wild
+reckless man, though his wife was a most estimable and virtuous <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>lady,
+and that one day he went into a fit of insane jealousy, or pretended
+to do so, over the then Vavasour of Weston. Money lenders, too, were
+pressing him hard, and he had become desperate. Rushing madly into the
+house, he plunged a dagger into one and then into another of his
+children, and afterwards tried to take the life of their mother, a
+steel corset which she wore luckily saving her life. Leaving her for
+dead, he mounted his horse with the intention of killing the only
+other child he had, and who was then at Norton. But being pursued by
+some villagers, his horse stumbled and threw him off, and the assassin
+was caught, being pressed to death at York Castle for his crimes. Not
+only have the stains of this bloody tragedy ever since been indelible,
+but the spirit of Walter Calverley could not rest, having often been
+seen galloping about the district at night on a headless horse.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>
+And, speaking of ghosts which appear in this eccentric fashion, we may
+note that Eastbury House, near Blandford&mdash;now pulled down&mdash;had in a
+certain marble-floored room, ineffaceable stains of blood,
+attributable, it is said, to the suicide of William Doggett, the
+steward of Lord Melcombe, whose headless spirit long haunted the
+neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>As a punishment for her unnatural cruelty in <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>causing her child's
+death, it is commonly reported that the spirit of Lady Russell is
+doomed to haunt Bisham Abbey, Berkshire, the house where this act of
+violence was committed. Lady Russell had by her first husband a son,
+who, unlike herself, had a natural antipathy to every kind of
+learning, and so great was his obstinate repugnance to learning to
+write that he would wilfully blot over his copy-books in the most
+careless and slovenly manner. This conduct so irritated his mother
+that, to cure him of the propensity, she beat him again and again
+severely, till at last she beat him to death. To atone for her
+cruelty, she is now doomed to haunt the room where the fatal deed was
+perpetrated; and, as her apparition glides along, she is always seen
+in the act of washing the blood stains of her son from her hands.
+Although ever trying to free herself of these marks of her unnatural
+crime, it is in vain, as they are indelible stains which no water will
+remove.</p>
+
+<p>By a strange coincidence, some years ago, in altering a window
+shutter, a quantity of antique copy-books were discovered pushed into
+the rubble between the joints of the floor, and one of these books was
+so covered with blots as to fully answer the description in the
+narrative above. It is noteworthy, also, that Lady Russell had no
+comfort in her sons by her first husband. Her youngest son, a
+posthumous child, caused her special trouble, insomuch so that she
+wrote to her brother-in-law, <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>Lord Burleigh, for advice how to treat
+him. This may have been, it has been suggested, the unfortunate boy
+who was flogged to death, though he seems to have lived to near man's
+estate. Lady Russell was buried at Bisham, by the remains of her first
+husband, Sir Thomas Hoby, and her portrait may still be seen,
+representing her in widow's weeds and with a very pale face.</p>
+
+<p>A mysterious crime is traditionally reported to have, some years ago,
+taken place at the old parsonage at Market, or East Lavington, near
+Devizes&mdash;now pulled down. The ghost of the lady supposed to have been
+murdered haunted the locality, and it has been said a child came to an
+untimely end in the house. "Previous to the year 1818," writes a
+correspondent of <i>Notes and Queries</i>, "a witness states his father
+occupied the house, and writes that 'in that year on Feast Day, being
+left alone in the house, I went to my room. It was the one with marks
+of blood on the floor. I distinctly saw a white figure glide into the
+room. It went round by the washstand near the bed and disappeared!'"
+It may be added that part of the road leading from Market Lavington to
+Easterton which skirts the grounds of Fiddington House, used to be
+looked upon as haunted by a lady who was locally known as the
+"Easterton ghost." But in the year 1869 a wall was built round the
+roadside of the pond, and curiously close to the spot where the lady
+had been in the habit of appearing two skeletons <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>were disturbed&mdash;one
+of a woman, the other of a child. The bones were buried in the
+churchyard, and no ghost, it is said, has since been seen. It would
+seem, also, that blood stains, wherever they may fall, are equally
+indelible; and even to this day the New Forest peasant believes that
+the marl he digs is still red with the blood of his ancient foes, the
+Danes, a form of superstition which we find existing in various
+places.</p>
+
+<p>For very many years the road from Reigate to Dorking, leading through
+a lonely lane into the village of Buckland, was haunted by a local
+spectre known as the "Buckland Shag," generally supposed to have been
+connected with a love tragedy. In the most lonely part of this lane a
+stream of clear water ran by the side of&mdash;which laid for years&mdash;a
+large stone, concerning which the following story is told: Once on a
+time, a lovely blue-eyed girl, whose father was a substantial yeoman
+in the neighbourhood, was wooed and won by the subtle arts of an
+opulent owner of the Manor House of Buckland.</p>
+
+<p>In the silence of the evening this lane was their accustomed walk, the
+scene of her devoted love and of his deceitful vows. Here he swore
+eternal fidelity, and the unsuspecting girl trusted him with the
+confiding affection of her innocent heart. It was at such a moment
+that the wily seducer communicated to her the real nature of his
+designs, the moon above being only the witness of his <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>perfidy and her
+distress. She heard the avowal in tremulous silence, but her deadly
+paleness, and her expressive look of mingled reproach and terror
+created alarm even in the mind of her would-be seducer, and he hastily
+endeavoured to recall the fatal declaration; but it was too late, she
+sprang from his agitated grasp, and, with a sigh of agony, fell dead
+at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>When he beheld the work of his iniquitous designs, he was seized with
+distraction, and drawing a dagger from his bosom, he plunged it into
+his own false heart, and lay stretched by the side of her he had so
+basely wronged. On the morrow, as a peasant passed over the little
+stream, he saw a dark stone with drops of blood trickling from its
+heart into the pure limpid water. From that day the stream retained
+its untainted purity, and the stone continued its sacrifice of blood.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards a terrific object was seen hovering at midnight about
+this fatal spot, taking its position at first upon the "bleeding
+stone," but it was ousted by the lord of the manor, who removed the
+blood-tainted stone to his own premises, to satisfy the timid minds of
+his neighbours. But the stone still continued to bleed, nor did its
+removal in any way intimidate the spectre. Connected with this
+alarming midnight visitor, writes a correspondent of <i>The Gentleman's
+Magazine</i>, "I remember a circumstance related to me by those who were
+actually acquainted with <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>the facts, and with the person to whom they
+refer. An inhabitant of Buckland, who had attended Reigate Market and
+become exceedingly intoxicated, was joked by a companion upon the
+subject of the 'Buckland Shag,' whereupon he laid a wager that if Shag
+appeared in his path that night he would fight him with his trusty
+hawthorn. Accordingly he set forth, and arrived at the haunted spot.
+The spectre stood in his path, and, raising his stick, he struck it
+with all his strength, but it made no impression, nor did the goblin
+move. The stick fell as upon a blanket&mdash;so the man described it&mdash;and
+he instantly became sober, while a cold tremor ran through every nerve
+of his athletic frame.</p>
+
+<p>He hurried on, and the spectre followed. At length he arrived at his
+own door; then, and not till then, did the spectre vanish, leaving the
+affrighted man in a state of complete exhaustion upon the threshold of
+his cottage. He was carried to his bed, and from that bed he never
+rose again; he died in a week."</p>
+
+<p>Similarly, there is a romantic old legend connected with Kilburn
+Priory, to the effect that there was formerly, not far distant, a
+stone of dark red colour, which was said to be the stain of the blood
+of St. Gervase de Mertoun. The story goes that Stephen de Mertoun,
+being enamoured of his brother's wife, made immoral overtures to her,
+which she threatened to make known to Sir Gervase, to prevent which
+disclosure Stephen <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>resolved to waylay his brother and slay him. By a
+strange coincidence, the identical stone on which his murdered body
+had expired formed a part of his tomb, and the eye of the murderer
+resting upon it, adds the legend, blood was seen to issue from it.
+Struck with horror at this sight, Stephen de Mertoun hastened to the
+Bishop of London, and making confession of his guilt, demised his
+property to the Priory of Kilburn.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way the Cornishman knows, from the red, filmy growth on
+the brook pebbles, that blood has been shed&mdash;a popular belief still
+firmly credited. Some years ago a Cornish gentleman was cruelly
+murdered, and his body thrown into a brook; but ever since that day
+the stones in this brook are said to be spotted with gore&mdash;a
+phenomenon which had never occurred previously. And, according to
+another strange Cornish belief told of St. Denis's blood, it is
+related that at the very time when his decapitation took place in
+Paris, blood fell on the churchyard of St. Denis. It is further said
+that these blood stains are specially visible when a calamity of any
+kind is near at hand; and before the breaking out of the plague, it is
+said the stains of the blood of St. Denis were seen; and, "during our
+wars with the Dutch, the defeat of the English fleet was foretold by
+the rain of gore in this remote and sequestered place."</p>
+
+<p>It is also a common notion that not only are the stains of human blood
+wrongfully shed ineffaceable, <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>but a curse lights upon the ground,
+causing it to remain barren for ever. There is, for instance, a
+dark-looking piece of ground devoid of verdure in the parish of
+Kirdford, Sussex. Local tradition says that this was formerly green,
+but the grass withered gradually away soon after the blood of a
+poacher, who was shot there, trickled down on the place. But perhaps
+the most romantic tale of this kind was that known as the "Field of
+Forty Footsteps." A legendary story of the period of the Duke of
+Monmouth's Rebellion describes a mortal conflict which took place
+between two brothers in Long Fields, afterwards called Southampton
+Fields, in the rear of Montague House, Bloomsbury, on account of a
+lady who sat by. The combatants fought so furiously as to kill each
+other, after which their footsteps, imprinted on the ground in the
+vengeful struggle, were reported "to remain, with the indentations
+produced by their advancing and receding; nor would any grass or
+vegetation grow afterwards over these forty footsteps." The most
+commonly received version of the story is, that two brothers were in
+love with the same lady, who would not declare a preference for
+either, but coolly sat upon a bank to witness the termination of a
+duel which proved fatal to both. Southey records this strange story in
+his "Commonplace Book,"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> and after quoting a letter from a friend,
+recommending him to "take a view of those <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>wonderful marks of the
+Lord's hatred to duelling, called 'The Brothers' Steps,'" he thus
+describes his own visit to the spot: "We sought for near half an hour
+in vain. We could find no steps at all within a quarter of a mile, no,
+nor half a mile, of Montague House. We were almost out of hope, when
+an honest man, who was at work, directed us to the next ground
+adjoining to a pond. There we found what we sought, about
+three-quarters of a mile north of Montague House and five hundred
+yards east of Tottenham Court Road. The steps are of the size of a
+large human foot, about three inches deep, and lie nearly from
+north-east to south-west. We counted only twenty-six; but we were not
+exact in counting. The place where one or both the brothers are
+supposed to have fallen is still bare of grass. The labourer also
+showed us the bank where, the tradition is, the wretched woman sat to
+see the combat." Miss Porter and her sister founded upon this tragic
+romance their story, "Coming Out, or the Field of Forty Footsteps";
+and at Tottenham Street Theatre was produced, many years ago, an
+effective melodrama based upon the same incident, entitled "The Field
+of Footsteps."</p>
+
+<p>Another romantic tale of a similar nature is connected with Montgomery
+Church walls, and is locally designated "The Legend of the Robber's
+Grave," of which there are several versions, the most popular one
+being this: Once upon a time, a man was said to have been wrongfully
+hanged at <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>Montgomery; and, when the rope was round his neck, he
+declared in proof of his innocence that grass would never grow on his
+grave. Curious to relate, be the cause what it may, there is yet to be
+seen a strip of sterility&mdash;in the form of a cross&mdash;amidst a mass of
+verdure.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>Likewise, the peasantry still talk mysteriously of Lord Derwentwater's
+execution, and tell how his blood could not be washed away. Deep and
+lasting were the horror and grief which were felt when the news of his
+death reached his home in the north. The inhabitants of the
+neighbourhood, it is said, saw the coming vengeance of heaven in the
+Aurora Borealis which appeared in unwonted brilliancy on the evening
+of the execution, and which is still known as "Lord Derwentwater's
+Light" in the northern counties; the rushing Devil's Water, too, they
+said, ran down with blood on that terrible night, and the very corn
+which was ground on that <a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>day came tinged from the mill with crimson.
+Lord Derwentwater's death, too, was all the more deplored on account
+of his having long been undecided as to whether he should embrace the
+enterprise against the House of Hanover. But there had long been a
+tradition in his family that a mysterious and unearthly visitant
+appeared to the head of the house in critical emergencies, either to
+warn of danger, or to announce impending calamity. One evening, a few
+days before he resolved to cast in his lot with the Stuarts, whilst he
+was wandering amid the solitudes of the hills, a figure stood before
+him in robe and hood of grey.</p>
+
+<p>This personage is said to have sadly reproached the Earl for not
+having already joined the rising, and to have presented him with a
+crucifix which was to render him secure against bullet or sword
+thrust. After communicating this message the figure vanished, leaving
+the Earl in a state of bewilderment. The mysterious apparition is
+reported to have spoken with the voice of a woman, and as it is known
+that "in the more critical conjunctures of the history of the Stuarts
+every device was practised by secret agents to gain the support of a
+wavering follower," it is not difficult to guess at a probable
+explanation of the ghost of the Dilston Groves. It may be added that
+at Dilston, Lady Derwentwater was long said to revisit the pale
+glimpses of the moon to expiate the restless ambition which impelled
+her to drive Lord Derwentwater to the scaffold.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>But how diverse have been the causes of many of these romantic blood
+stains may be gathered from another legendary tale connected with
+Plaish Hall, near Cardington, Shropshire. The report goes that a party
+of clergymen met together one night at Plaish Hall to play cards. In
+order that the real object of their gathering might not be known to
+any but themselves, the doors were locked. Before very long, however,
+they flew open without any apparent cause. Again they were locked, but
+presently they burst open a second time, and even a third. Astonished
+at what seemed to baffle explanation, and whilst mutually wondering
+what it could mean, a panic was suddenly created when, in their midst,
+there appeared a mysterious figure resembling the Evil One. In a
+moment the invited guests all rose and fled, leaving the unfortunate
+host by himself "face to face with the enemy."</p>
+
+<p>What happened after their departure was never divulged, for no one
+"ever saw that wretched man again, either alive or dead." That he had
+died some violent death was generally surmised, for a great stain of
+blood shaped like a human form was found on the floor of the room, and
+despite all efforts the mark could never be washed out. Ever since
+this inexplicable occurrence, the house has been haunted, and at
+midnight a ghostly troop of horses are occasionally heard, creating so
+much noise as to awaken even heavy sleepers.</p>
+
+<p>And Aubrey in his "Miscellanies" tells how <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>when the bust of Charles
+I., carved by Bernini, "was brought in a boat upon the Thames, a
+strange bird&mdash;the like whereof the bargemen had never seen&mdash;dropped a
+drop of blood, or blood-like, upon it, which left a stain not to be
+wiped off." The strange story of this ill-fated bust is more minutely
+told by Dr. Zacharay Grey in a pamphlet on the character of Charles
+I.: "Vandyke having drawn the king in three different faces&mdash;a
+profile, three-quarters, and a full face&mdash;the picture was sent to Rome
+for Bernini to make a bust from it. Bernini was unaccountably dilatory
+in the work, and upon this being complained of, he said that he had
+set about it several times, but there was something so unfortunate in
+the features of the face that he was shocked every time that he
+examined it, and forced to leave off the work, and, if there was any
+stress to be laid on physiognomy, he was sure the person whom the
+picture represented was destined to a violent end."</p>
+
+<p>The bust was at last finished and sent to England. As soon as the ship
+that brought it arrived in the river, the king, who was very impatient
+to see the bust, ordered it to be carried immediately to Chelsea. It
+was conveyed thither, and placed upon a table in the garden, whither
+the king went with a train of nobility to inspect the bust. As they
+were viewing it, a hawk flew over their heads with a partridge in his
+claws, which he had wounded to death. Some of the partridge's <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>blood
+fell upon the neck of the bust, where it remained without being wiped
+off. This bust was placed over the door of the king's closet at
+Whitehall and continued there till the palace was destroyed by fire.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Folklore,"
+135-136.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "Book of Days," I., 235.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> This tradition is the basis of the drama called "The
+Yorkshire Tragedy," and was adopted by Ainsworth in his "Romance of
+Rookwood."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> 2nd Ser., p. 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> A curious legend is related by Roger de Hoveden, which
+shows the antiquity of the Wakefield mills. "In the year 1201,
+Eustace, Abbot of Flaye, came over into England, preaching the duty of
+extending the Sabbath from three o'clock p.m. on Saturday to sunrising
+on Monday morning, pleading the authority of an epistle written by
+Christ himself, and found on the altar of St. Simon at Golgotha. The
+people of Yorkshire treated the fanatic with contempt, and the miller
+of Wakefield persisted in grinding his corn after the hour of
+cessation, for which disobedience his corn was turned into blood,
+while the mill-wheel stood immovable against all the water of the
+Calder."</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>CURIOUS SECRETS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span class="i0">"And now I will unclasp a secret book,<br /></span>
+    <span class="i0">And to your quick-conceiving discontent<br /></span>
+    <span class="i0">I'll read your matter deep and dangerous."<br /></span> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem">1. <span class="sc">Henry IV.</span>, Act 1., sc. 3.</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>"The Depository of the Secrets of all the World" was the inscription
+over one of the brazen portals of Fakreddin's valley, reminding us of
+what Ossian said to Oscar, when he resigned to him the command of the
+morrow's battle, "Be thine the secret hill to-night," referring to the
+Gaelic custom of the commander of an army retiring to a secret hill
+the night before a battle to hold communion with the ghosts of
+departed heroes. But, as it has been often remarked of secrets&mdash;both
+political and social&mdash;they are only too frequently made to be
+revealed, a truth illustrative of Ben Jonson's words in "The Case is
+Unaltered "&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i18">A secret in his mouth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is like a wild bird put into a cage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose door no sooner opens but 'tis out.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In family history, some of the strangest secrets have related to
+concealment of birth, many a fraud <a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>having been devised to alter or
+perpetuate the line of issue. Early in the present century, a romantic
+story which was the subject of conversation in the circles both of
+London and Paris, related to Lady Newborough, who had always
+considered herself the daughter of Lorenzo Chiappini, formerly gaoler
+of Modigliana, and subsequently constable at Florence, and of his wife
+Vincenzia Diligenti. Possessed in her girlhood of fascinating
+appearance and charming manners, she came out as a ballet dancer at
+the principal opera at Florence, and one night she so impressed Lord
+Newborough that, by means of a golden bribe, he had her transferred
+from the stage to his residence. His conduct towards her was tender
+and affectionate, and, in spite of the disparity of years, he
+afterwards married her, introducing her to the London world as Lady
+Newborough.</p>
+
+<p>Some time after her marriage, according to a memoir stated to be
+written by the fair claimant of the House of Orleans, and printed in
+Paris before the Revolution of 1830 but immediately suppressed, when
+staying at Sienna she received a posthumous letter from her supposed
+father, which, from its extraordinary disclosures, threw her into
+complete bewilderment.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> It ran as follows:</p>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;"><p><span class="sc">My Lady</span>,&mdash;I have at length reached the term of my
+days without having revealed to anyone a secret which
+directly concerns me and yourself. The secret is this:</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>On the day when you were born, of a person whom I cannot
+name and who now is in the other world, a male child of mine
+was also born. I was requested to make an exchange; and,
+considering the state of my finances in those days, I
+accepted to the often-repeated and advantageous proposals,
+and at that time I adopted you as my daughter in the same
+manner as my son was adopted by the other party.</p>
+
+<p>I observe that heaven has repaired my faults by placing you
+in better circumstances than your father, although his rank
+was somewhat similar. This enables me to end my days with
+some comfort.</p>
+
+<p class="noin">Let this serve to extenuate my culpability towards you. I
+entreat your pardon for my fault. I desire you, if you
+please, to keep this transaction secret, in order that the
+world shall not have any opportunity to speak of an affair
+which is now without remedy.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-bottom: .1em;">This, my letter, you will not receive until after my death.</p>
+
+<p class="right" style="margin-top: .1em;"><span class="sc">Lorenzo Chiappini.</span></p></div>
+<br />
+
+<p>After receiving this letter, Lady Newborough sent for Ringrezzi, the
+confessor of the late gaoler, and Fabroni, a confessor of the late
+Countess Borghi, and was told by the former that, in his opinion, she
+was the daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold; but the latter disagreed,
+saying, "Myladi is the daughter of a French lord called Count
+Joinville, who had considerable property in Champagne; and I entertain
+no doubt that if your ladyship were to go to that province you would
+there find valuable documents, which I have been told were there left
+in the hands of a respectable ecclesiastic."</p>
+
+<p>It is further stated that two old sisters of the name of Bandini, who
+had been born and educated <a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>in the house of the Borghis, and been
+during all their life in the service of that family, informed Lady
+Newborough, and afterwards in the Ecclesiastical Court of Faenza, that
+in the year 1773 they followed their master and mistress to
+Modigliana, where the latter usually had their summer residence in a
+chateau belonging to them; that, arriving there, they found a French
+count, Louis Joinville, and his countess, established in the Pretorial
+Palace. They further affirmed that between the Borghis and this family
+a very intimate intercourse was soon established and that they daily
+interchanged visits.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, the foreign lord, it is said, was extremely familiar with
+persons of the lowest rank, and particularly with the gaoler,
+Chiappini, who lived under the same roof. The wives of both were
+pregnant; and it appeared that they expected their delivery much about
+the same time. But the Count was tormented with a grievous anxiety;
+his wife had as yet had no male offspring, and he much feared that
+they would never be blessed with any. Having communicated his project
+to the Borghis, he at length made an overture to the gaoler, telling
+him he apprehended the loss of a very great inheritance, which
+absolutely depended on the birth of a son, and that he was disposed,
+in case the Countess gave birth to a daughter, to exchange her for a
+boy, and that for this exchange he would liberally recompense the
+father. The man, highly pleased at finding his fortune thus
+unexpectedly <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>made, immediately accepted the offer, and the bargain
+was concluded.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the accouchment of the ladies, one of the Bandinis
+went to the Pretorial Palace to see the new-born babies, when some
+women in the house told her that the exchange had already taken place;
+and Chappiani himself being present, confirmed their statement. But as
+there were several persons in the secret&mdash;however solemnly secrecy had
+been promised&mdash;public rumour soon accused the barterers. The Count
+Louis, fearing the people's indignation, concealed himself in the
+Convent of St. Bernard, at Brisighella.</p>
+
+<p>The lady, it is added, departed with her suppositious son; her own
+daughter being baptized and called Maria Stella Petronilla, and
+designated as the daughter of Lorenzo Chappiani and Vincenzia
+Diligenti.</p>
+
+<p>Having learnt so much, Lady Newborough being in Paris in the year
+1823, had recourse to a stratagem by which she expected to gain
+additional information. Accordingly she inserted in the newspapers,
+"that she had been desired by the Countess Pompeo Borghi to discover
+in France a Count Louis Joinville, who in the year 1773 was with his
+Countess at Modigliana, where the latter gave birth to a son on the
+16th April, and that if either of these persons were still alive, or
+the child born at Modigliana, she was empowered to communicate to them
+something of the highest importance.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>Subsequently to this advertisement, she was waited upon by a Colonel
+Joinville, but he derived his title only from Louis XVIII. But before
+the Colonel was out of the door, she had a call from the Abb&eacute; de
+Saint-Fare, whom she gave to understand that she was anxious to
+discover the identity of a birth connected with the sojourn with the
+late Comte de Joinville. In the course of conversation, this Abb&eacute; is
+stated to have made most injudicious admissions, from which Lady
+Newborough gathered that he was the confidential agent of the Duke of
+Orleans, being currently said to be his illegitimate brother.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Newborough was now convinced in her own mind that she was the
+eldest child of the late Duke of Orleans, and hence was the first
+princess of the blood of France, and the rightful heiress of immense
+wealth. But this discovery brought her no happiness, and subjected to
+her to much discomfort and misery. Her story&mdash;whether true or
+false&mdash;will in all probability remain a mystery to the end of time,
+being one of those political puzzles which must remain an open
+question.</p>
+
+<p>Secret intrigue, however, at one time or another, has devised the most
+subtle plans for supplanting the rightful owner out of his
+birthright&mdash;a second wife through jealously entering into some
+shameful compact to defraud her husband's child by his former wife of
+his property in favour of her own. Such a secret conspiracy is
+connected with Draycot, <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>and, although it has been said to be one of
+the most mysterious in the whole range of English legends, yet,
+singular as the story may be, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "no small
+portion of it is upon record as a thing not to be questioned; and it
+is not necessary to believe in supernatural agency to give all parties
+credit for having faithfully narrated their impressions." The main
+facts of this strange story are briefly told: Walter Long of Draycot
+had two wives, the second being Catherine, daughter of Sir John
+Thynne, of Longleat. On their arrival at Draycot after the honeymoon,
+there were great rejoicings into which all entered save the heir of
+the houses of Draycot and Wraxhall, who was silent and sad. Once
+arrived in her new home, the mistress of Draycot lost no time in
+studying the character of her step-son, for she had an object in view
+which made it necessary that she should completely understand his
+character. Her design was, in short, that the young master of Draycot,
+"the heir of all his father's property&mdash;the obstruction in the way of
+whatever children there might be by the second marriage&mdash;must be
+ruined, or at any rate so disgraced as to provoke his father to
+disinherit him." Taking into her confidence her brother, Sir Egremont
+Thynne, of Longleat, with his help she soon discovered that the
+youthful heir of Draycot was fond of wine and dice, and that he had on
+more than one occasion met with his father's displeasure for
+indulgence in such acts of dissipation. <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>Having learnt, too, that the
+young man was kept on short supplies by his parsimonious father, and
+had often complained that he was not allowed sufficient pocket-money
+for the bare expenses of his daily life; the crafty step-mother seized
+this opportunity for carrying out her treacherous and dishonourable
+conduct. Commiserating with the inexperienced youth in his want of
+money, and making him feel more than ever dissatisfied at his father's
+meanness to him, she quickly enlisted him on her side, especially when
+she gave him liberal supplies of money, and recommended him to enjoy
+his life whilst it was in his power to do so.</p>
+
+<p>With a full rather than an empty purse, the young squire was soon seen
+with a cheerful party over the wine bottle, and, at another time, with
+a gambling group gathered round the dice box. But this kind of thing
+suited admirably his step-mother, for she took good care that such
+excesses were brought under the notice of the lad's father, and
+magnified into heinous crimes. From time to time this unprincipled
+woman kept supplying the unsuspecting youth with money, and did all in
+her power to encourage him in his tastes for reckless living. Fresh
+stories of his son's dissipated conduct were continually being told to
+the master of Draycot, until at last, "influenced by the wiles of his
+charming wife, on the other by deeper wiles of his brother-in-law, he
+agreed to make out a will disinheriting his son by his first wife, and
+settling <a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>all his possessions on his second wife and her relations."</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto, the secret entered into by brother and sister had been a
+perfect success, for not only was the son completely alienated from
+his father, but the latter deemed it a sin to make any provision for
+one who was given to drink and gambling. A draft will was drawn up by
+Sir Egremont Thynne, and when approved of was ordered to be copied by
+a clerk. But here comes the remarkable part of the tale. The work of
+engrossing demands a clear, bright light, and the slightest shadow
+intervening between the light and the parchment would be sure to
+interrupt operations. Such an interruption the clerk was suddenly?
+subjected to, when, "on looking up he beheld a white hand&mdash;a lady's
+delicate white hand&mdash;so placed between the light and the deed as to
+obscure the spot on which he was engaged. The unaccountable hand,
+however, was gone almost as soon as noticed." The clerk concluding
+that this was some optical delusion, proceeded with his work, and had
+come to the clause wherein the Master of Draycot disinherited his son,
+when again the same ghostly hand was thrust between the light and the
+parchment.</p>
+
+<p>Terrified at this unearthly intervention, the clerk awoke Sir Egremont
+from his midnight slumbers, and told him what had occurred, adding
+that the spectre hand was no other than that of the first wife of the
+master of Draycot, who resented the <a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>cruel wrong done to her son. In
+due time the deed was engrossed by another clerk, and duly signed and
+sealed.</p>
+
+<p>But the "white hand" had not appeared in vain, for the clerk's curious
+adventure afterwards became the topic of general conversation, and the
+injustice done to the disinherited heir of Draycot excited so much
+sympathetic indignation that "the trustees of the late Lady Long
+arrested the old knight's corpse at the church door, her nearest
+relations commenced a suit against the intended heir, and the result
+was a compromise between the parties, John Long taking possession of
+Wroxhall, while his other half-brother was allowed to retain Draycot,"
+a settlement that, it is said, explains the division of the two
+estates, which we find at the present day. The secret between the
+brother and sister was well kept, and whatever explanation may be
+given to the "white hand," the story is as singular as any in the
+annals of domestic history.</p>
+
+<p>It was the betrayal of a secret, on the other hand, on the part of a
+woman that is traditionally said to have caused the sudden and tragic
+death of Richard, second Earl of Scarborough. This nobleman, it seems,
+was in the confidence of the King, and had been entrusted by him with
+the keeping of a most important secret. But, like most favourites, the
+Earl was surrounded by enemies who were ever on the alert to compass
+his ruin, and, amidst other devices, they laid their plans to prevail
+on the <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>unsuspecting Earl to betray the confidence which the King had
+implicitly reposed on him. Finding it, however, impossible by this
+means to make him guilty of a breach of trust towards the King, they
+had recourse to another scheme which proved successful, and thereby
+irrevocably compromised him in the King's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Having discovered that the Earl was in love with a certain lady and
+was in the habit of frequently visiting her, some of his enemies
+discovered where she lived, and, calling on her, promised an exceeding
+rich reward if she could draw the royal secret from her lover, and
+communicate it to them. Easily bought over by the offer of so rich a
+bribe, the treacherous woman, like Delilah of old, soon prevailed upon
+the Earl to give her the desired information, and the secret was
+revealed. As soon as the Earl's enemies were apprised of the same,
+they lost no time in hurrying to the king, and submitting to him the
+proofs of his prot&eacute;g&eacute;'s imprudence. They gained their end, for the
+next time the Earl came into the royal presence, the King said to him
+in a sad but firm voice, "Lumley, you have lost a friend, and I a good
+servant." This was a bitter shock to the Earl, for he learnt now for
+the first time that she in whom he had reposed his love and faith had
+been his worst enemy, and that, as far as his relations to the King
+were concerned, he was disgraced as a man of honour in his estimation.
+With his proud and <a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>haughty spirit, unable to bear the misery and
+chagrin of his fall and ruin, he had recourse to the suicide's escape
+from trouble&mdash;he shot himself.</p>
+
+<p>But another secret, no less tragic and of a far more sensational
+nature, related to a certain Mr. Macfarlane. One Sunday, in the autumn
+of the year 1719, Sir John Swinton, of Swinton, in Berwickshire, left
+his little daughter Margaret, who had been indisposed through a
+childish ailment, at home when he went with the rest of his family to
+church, taking care to lock the outer door. After the lapse of an hour
+or so, the child had become dull through being alone, and she made her
+way into the parlour below stairs, where, on her arrival, she hastily
+bolted the door to keep out any ghost or bogie, stories relating to
+which had oftentimes excited her fears. But great was her terror when,
+on looking round, she was confronted by a tall lady, gracefully
+attired, and possessed of remarkable handsome features. The poor child
+stood motionless with terror, afraid to go forwards or backwards. Her
+throbbing heart, however, quickly recovered from its fright, as the
+mysterious lady, with a kind eye and sweet smile, addressed her by
+name, and taking her hand, spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret, you may tell your mother what you have seen, but, for your
+life, to no one else. If you do, much evil may come of it, some of
+which will fall on yourself. You are young, but you must <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>promise to
+be silent as the grave itself in this matter."</p>
+
+<p>Full of childish wonderment, Margaret, half in shyness and half in
+fear at being an agent in so strange a secret, turned her head towards
+the window, but on turning round found the lady had disappeared,
+although the door remained bolted. Her curiosity was now more than
+before aroused, and she concluded that after all this lady must be one
+of those fairies she had often read of in books; and it was whilst
+pondering on what she had seen that the family returned from church.</p>
+
+<p>Surprised at finding Margaret bolted in this parlour, Sir John learnt
+that "she had been frightened, she knew not why, at the solitude of
+her own room, and had bolted herself in the parlour." Although she was
+soon laughed out of her childish fears, Lady Swinton was quick enough
+to perceive that Margaret had not communicated everything, and
+insisted upon knowing the whole truth. The child made no objection, as
+she had not been told to keep the secret from her mother. After
+describing all that happened, Lady Swinton kissed her daughter
+tenderly and said, "Since you have kept the secret so well, you shall
+know something more of this strange lady."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon Lady Swinton pushed aside one of the oaken panels in the
+parlour, which revealed a small room beyond, where sat the mysterious
+lady. "And now, Margaret dear," said her mother, <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>"listen to me. This
+lady is persecuted by cruel men, who, if they find her, will certainly
+take her life. She is my guest, she is now yours, and I am sure I need
+not tell you the meanest peasant in all Scotland would shame to betray
+his guest."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret promised to keep the secret, never evincing the slightest
+curiosity to know who the lady was, and it is said she had reached her
+twentieth year when one day the adventure of her childhood was
+explained. It seems that the lady in question was a Mrs. Macfarlane,
+daughter of Colonel Charles Straiton, a zealous Jacobite. When about
+nineteen years old she married John Macfarlane&mdash;law agent of Simon
+Fraser, Lord Lovat&mdash;who was many years her senior. Soon after her
+marriage Mrs. Macfarlane made the acquaintance of Captain John Cayley,
+a commissioner of Customs, and on September 29th, 1716, he called on
+her at Edinburgh, when, for reasons only known to herself or him, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.</p>
+
+<p>According to Sir Bernard Burke, it was when she would not yield to
+Captain Cayley's immoral overtures that the latter vowed to blacken
+her character, a threat which he so successfully carried out "that not
+one of her female acquaintances upon whom she called would admit her;
+not one of all she met in the street would acknowledge her." Desperate
+at this villainy on his part, Mrs. Macfarlane, under pretence of
+agreeing to Captain Cayley's overtures, <a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>sent for him, when fully
+confident that he was about to reap the fruit of his infamous daring
+he obeyed her summons. But no sooner had he entered the room than she
+locked the door, and, snatching up a brace of pistols, she exclaimed:
+"Wretch, you have blasted the reputation of a woman who never did you
+the slightest wrong. You have fixed an indelible stain upon the child
+at her bosom; and all this because, coward as you are, you thought
+there was no one to take her part." At the same time, it is said, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.
+Her husband asserted, however, that she fired to save herself from
+outrage, an explanation which she affirmed was "only too true." Her
+husband also declared that his wife was desirous of sending for a
+magistrate and of telling him the whole story, but that he advised her
+against it. But not appearing to stand her trial in the ensuing
+February, she was outlawed, and obtained refuge in the mansion house
+of the Swinton family in the concealed apartment already
+described.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> According to Sir Walter Scott, she "returned and lived
+and died in Edinbugh"; but her life must have been comparatively
+short, as her husband married again on October 6th, 1719.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>Akin to this dramatic episode may be mentioned one concerning Robert
+Perceval, the second son of the Right Hon. Sir John Perceval, when
+reading for the law in his chambers in Lincoln's Inn. The clock had
+just struck the hour of midnight, when, on looking up from his book,
+he was astonished to see a figure standing between himself and the
+door, completely muffled up in a long cloak so as to defy recognition.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" But the figure made no answer.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" No reply.</p>
+
+<p>The figure stood motionless. Thinking it made a low hollow laugh, the
+young student struck at the intruder with his sword, but the weapon
+met with no resistance, and not a single drop of blood stained it.</p>
+
+<p>This was amazing, and still no answer. Determined to solve the mystery
+of this strange being, he cast aside its cloak, when lo! "he saw his
+own apparition, bloody and ghostly, whereat he was so astonished that
+he immediately swooned away, but, recovering, he saw the spectre
+depart."</p>
+
+<p>At first this occurrence left the most unpleasant impressions on his
+mind, but as days passed by without anything happening, the warning,
+or whatever it was, faded gradually from his memory, and he lived as
+before, drinking and quarrelling, managing to embroil himself at play
+with the celebrated Beau Fielding. The day at last came, <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>however,
+when his equanimity was disturbed, for, as he was walking from his
+chambers in Lincoln's Inn to a favourite tavern in the Strand, he
+imagined that he was followed by an ungainly looking man. He tried to
+avoid him, but the man followed on, and after a time, fully convinced
+that he was dogged by this man, he demanded "Who he was, and why he
+followed him?"</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep150" id="imagep150"></a><a name="Page_150a" id="Page_150a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep150.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep150.jpg" width="700" height="456" alt="The Figure stood motionless." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"<span class="sc">The Figure stood motionless.</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But the man replied, "I am not following you; I'm following my own
+business."</p>
+
+<p>By no means satisfied, young Perceval crossed over to the opposite
+side of the street, but the man followed him step by step, and before
+many minutes had elapsed he was joined by another man as
+ungainly-looking as himself. Perceval, no longer doubting that he was
+followed, called upon the two men to retire at their peril, and
+although he succeeded in making them take to their heels after a sharp
+sword skirmish, he was himself wounded in the leg, and made his way to
+the nearest tavern. This unpleasant encounter, reviving the memory of
+the ghastly figure he had seen in his chambers, made him feel that he
+was a doomed man, and he was not far wrong, for that night near the
+so-called May-pole in the Strand he was found dead&mdash;but how he died
+was a secret never divulged.</p>
+
+<p>Another equally strange incident connected with this mysterious crime
+happened to a Mrs. Brown, "perhaps from her holding some situation in
+the family of his uncle, Sir Robert." On this fatal <a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>night, writes Sir
+Bernard Burke, she dreamt that one Mrs. Shearman&mdash;the housekeeper&mdash;came
+to her and asked for a sheet.</p>
+
+<p>She demanded, "for what purpose," to which Mrs. Shearman replied,
+"Poor Master Robert is killed, and it is to wind him in."</p>
+
+<p>Curious to say, in the morning Mrs. Shearman came at an early hour
+into her room, and asked for a sheet. For what purpose? inquired Mrs
+Brown.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mr. Robert is murdered," was the reply; "he lies dead in the
+Strand watch-house, and it is to wind his body in."</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1848, the Warwick magistrates investigated a most
+extraordinary and preposterous charge of murder against Lord Leigh,
+his deceased mother, and persons employed by them, in the course of
+which inquiry one of the accusers professed to have been in possession
+of a secret connected with the matter for a number of years. The
+accusation seems to have originated from the attempt of certain
+parties to seize Stoneleigh Abbey on pretence that it rightfully
+belonged to them, and not to Lord Leigh. In November, 1844, a mob took
+possession of the place for one George Leigh; several of the
+ringleaders were tried for the offence, and not fewer than
+twenty-eight were convicted. The account of this curious conspiracy,
+as given in the "Annual Register," goes on to say that Richard Barnett
+made the charge of murder: in 1814 he was <a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>employed under Lady Julia
+Leigh and her son at the Abbey, where a number of workmen were engaged
+in making alterations; four of these men were murdered by large stones
+having been allowed to fall on them, and their bodies were placed
+within an abutment of a bridge, and then inclosed with masonry.
+Another man was shot by Hay, a keeper. In cross-examination, the
+witness said he "had kept silence on these atrocities for thirty
+years, because he feared Lord Leigh, and because he did not expect to
+obtain anything by speaking. He first divulged the secret to those who
+were trying to seize the estate; as this information he thought would
+help them to get it, for the murders were committed to keep out the
+proper owners."</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the inquiry, John Wilcox was required to repeat
+evidence which he had given before a Master of Chancery; but, instead
+of doing so, the man confessed that he was not sober when he made the
+declaration. He further declared how some servants of the Leigh family
+had burned pictures, and had been paid to keep "the secrets of the
+house." The whole story, however, was a deliberate and wilful
+fabrication, the facts were contradicted and circumstantially refuted,
+and of course so worthless a charge was dismissed by the Bench.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> See "Annual Register" (1832), 152-5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> This incident suggested to Sir Walter Scott his
+description of the concealment and discovery of the Countess of Derby
+in "Peveril of the Peak." See "Dictionary of National Biography,"
+xxxv., 74.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>THE DEAD HAND.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>Open, lock,<br /></span>
+    <span>To the dead man's knock!<br /></span>
+    <span>Fly, bolt, and bar, and band;<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nor move, nor swerve,<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Joint, muscle, or nerve,<br /></span>
+    <span>At the spell of the dead man's hand.<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Ingoldsby Legends</span>.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>One of the most curious and widespread instances of deception and
+credulity is the magic potency which has long been supposed to reside
+in the so-called "Hand of Glory"&mdash;the withered hand of a dead man.
+Numerous stories are told of its marvellous properties as a charm, and
+on the Continent many a wonderful cure is said to have been wrought by
+its agency. Southey, it may be remembered, in his "Thalaba, the
+Destroyer," has placed it in the hands of the enchanter, King Mohareb,
+when he would lull to sleep Zohak, the giant keeper of the Caves of
+Babylon. And the history of this wonder-working talisman, as used by
+Mohareb, is thus graphically told:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>Thus he said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from his wallet drew a human hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shrivelled and dry and black.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And fitting, as he spake,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A taper in his hold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pursued: "A murderer on the stake had died.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I drove the vulture from his limbs and lopt<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The hand that did the murder, and drew up<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The tendon strings to close its grasp,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in the sun and wind<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Parched it, nine weeks exposed."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>From the many accounts given of this "Dead Hand," we gather that it
+has generally been considered necessary that the hand should be taken
+from a man who has been put to death for some crime. Then, when dried
+and prepared with certain weird unguents, it is ready for use. Sir
+Walter Scott, in the "Antiquary" has introduced this object of
+superstition, making the German adventurer, Dousterswivel, describe it
+to the assembled party among the ruins at St. Ruth's thus jocosely:
+"De Hand of Glory is very well known in de countries where your worthy
+progenitors did live; and it is a hand cut off from a dead man as he
+has been hanged for murder, and dried very nice in de smoke of juniper
+wood; then you do take something of de fatsh of de bear, and of de
+badger, and of de great eber (as you do call ye grand boar), and of de
+little sucking child as has not been christened (for dat is very
+essential), and you do make a candle, and put into de Hand of Glory at
+de proper hour and minute, with the proper ceremonials; and he <a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>who
+seeketh for treasures shall never find none at all."</p>
+
+<p>Possessed of these mystic qualities, such a hand could not fail to
+find favour with those engaged in any kind of evil and enterprise;
+and, on account of its lulling to sleep all persons within the circle
+of its influence, was of course held invaluable by thieves and
+burglars. Thus the case is recorded of some thieves, who, a few years
+ago, attempted to commit a robbery on a certain estate in the county
+Meath. To quote a contemporary account of the affair, it appears that
+"they entered the house armed with a dead man's hand, with a lighted
+candle in it, believing in the superstitious notion that a candle
+placed in a dead man's hand will not be seen by any but by those by
+whom it is used, and also that if a candle in a dead hand be
+introduced into a house, it will prevent those who may be asleep from
+awaking. The inmates, however, were alarmed, and the robbers fled,
+leaving the hand behind them." Another story communicated by the Rev.
+S. Baring-Gould, tells how two thieves, having come to lodge in a
+public-house, with a view to robbing it, asked permission to pass the
+night by the fire, and obtained it. But when the house was quiet the
+servant girl, suspecting mischief, crept downstairs, and looked
+through the keyhole. She saw the men open a sack, and take out a dry
+withered hand. They anointed the fingers with some unguents, and
+lighted them. <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>Each finger flamed, but the thumb they could not
+light&mdash;that was because one of the household was not asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The girl hastened to her master, but found it impossible to arouse
+him&mdash;she tried every other sleeper, but could not break the charmed
+sleep. At last stealing down into the kitchen, while the thieves were
+busy over her master's strong-box, she secured the hand, blew out the
+flames, and at once the whole house was aroused.</p>
+
+<p>Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead
+man's hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be
+mentioned the famous "dead hand," which was, in years past, kept at
+Bryn Hall, Lancashire. There are several stories relating to this
+gruesome relic, one being that it was the hand of Father Arrowsmith, a
+priest, who, according to some accounts, is said to have been put to
+death for his religion in the time of William III. It is recorded that
+when about to suffer he desired his spiritual attendant to cut off his
+right hand, which should ever after have power to work miraculous
+cures on those who had faith to believe in its efficacy. This relic,
+which forms the subject of one of Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire,"
+was preserved with great care in a white silk bag, and was resorted to
+by many diseased persons, who are reported to have derived wonderful
+cures from its application. Thus the case is related of a woman who,
+attacked with the <a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every
+night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was
+touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.</p>
+
+<p>It has been denied, however, that Father Arrowsmith was hanged for
+"witnessing a good confession," and Mr. Roby, in his "Traditions of
+Lancashire," says that, having been found guilty of a rape, in all
+probability this story of his martyrdom, and of the miraculous
+attestation to the truth of the cause for which he suffered, were
+contrived for the purpose of preventing the scandal that would have
+come upon the Church through the delinquency of an unworthy member. It
+is further said that one of the family of the Kenyons attended as
+under-sheriff at the execution, and that he refused the culprit some
+trifling favour at the gallows, whereupon Arrowsmith denounced a curse
+upon him, to wit, that, whilst the family could boast of an heir, so
+long they never should want a cripple&mdash;a prediction which was supposed
+by the credulous to have been literally fulfilled. But this story is
+discredited, the real facts of the case, no doubt, being that he was
+hanged "under sanction of an atrocious law, for no other reason but
+because he had taken orders as a Roman Catholic priest, and had
+endeavoured to prevail upon others to be of his own faith." According
+to another version of the story, Edmund Arrowsmith was a native of
+Haydock, in the parish of Winwick. He entered <a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>the Roman Catholic
+College of Douay, where he was educated, afterwards being ordained
+priest. But in the year 1628 he was apprehended and brought to
+Lancaster on the charge of being a priest contrary to the laws of the
+realm, and was executed on 26th August, 1628, his last words being
+"Bone Jesu."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> As recently as the year 1736, a boy of twelve years,
+the son of Caryl Hawarden, of Appleton-within-Widnes, county of
+Lancaster, is stated to have been cured of what appeared to be a fatal
+malady by the application of Father Arrowsmith's hand, which was
+effected in the following manner: The boy had been ill fifteen months,
+and was at length deprived of the use of his limbs, with loss of his
+memory and impaired sight. In this condition, which the physicians had
+declared hopeless, it was suggested to his parents that, as wonderful
+cures had been effected by the hand of "the martyred saint," it was
+advisable to try its effects upon their afflicted child. The "holy
+hand" was accordingly procured from Bryn, packed in a box and wrapped
+in linen. Mrs. Hawarden, having explained to the invalid boy her hopes
+and intentions, applied the back part of the dead hand to his back,
+stroking it down each side the backbone and making the sign of the
+Cross, which she accompanied with a fervent prayer that Jesus Christ
+would aid it with His blessing. Having <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>twice repeated this operation,
+the patient, who had before been utterly helpless, rose from his seat
+and walked about the house, to the surprise of seven persons who had
+witnessed the miracle. From that day the boy's pains left him, his
+memory was restored, and his health became re-established. This mystic
+hand, it seems, was removed from Bryn Hall to Garswood, a seat of the
+Gerard family, and subsequently to the priest's house at
+Ashton-in-Makerfield. But many ludicrous tales are current in the
+neighbourhood, of pilgrims having been rather roughly handled by some
+of the servants, such as getting a good beating with a wooden hand, so
+that the patients rapidly retraced their steps without having had the
+application of the "holy hand."</p>
+
+<p>It is curious to find that such a ghastly relic as a dead hand should
+have been preserved in many a country house, and used as a talisman,
+to which we find an amusing and laughable reference in the "Ingoldsby
+Legends":</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">Open, lock,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the dead man's knock!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fly bolt, and bar, and band;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor move, nor swerve,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Joint, muscle, or nerve,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">At the spell of the dead man's hand.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sleep, all who sleep! Wake, all who wake!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But be as dead for the dead man's sake.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The story goes on to tell how, influenced by the mysterious spell of
+the enchanted hand, neither <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>lock, bolt, nor bar avails, neither
+"stout oak panel, thick studded with nails"; but, heavy and harsh, the
+hinges creak, though they had been oiled in the course of the week,
+and</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The door opens wide as wide may be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And there they stand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That wondrous band,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lit by the light of the glorious hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By one! by two! by three!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At Danesfield, Berkshire&mdash;so-called from an ancient horseshoe
+entrenchment of great extent near the house, supposed to be of Danish
+origin&mdash;is preserved a withered hand, which has long had the
+reputation of being that presented by Henry I. to Reading Abbey, and
+reverenced there as the hand of James the Apostle. It answers exactly
+to "the incorrupt hand" described by Hoveden, and was found among the
+ruins of the abbey, where it is thought to have been secreted at the
+dissolution.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Baines's "Lancashire," iii., 638; Harland and
+Wilkinson's "Lancashire Folklore," 158-163.</p></div>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER IX.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>DEVIL COMPACTS.</h3>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;">
+<p class="noin"><span class="sc">Mephistopheles</span>.&mdash;I will bind myself to your service
+here, and never sleep nor slumber at your call. When we meet
+on the other side, you shall do as much for me.</p>
+<p class="right"><span class="sc">Goethe's</span> "<i>Faust</i>."</p></div>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<p>The well-known story of Faust reminds us of the many similar weird
+tales which have long held a prominent place in family traditions. But
+in the majority of cases the devil is cheated out of his bargain by
+some spell against which his influence is powerless. According to the
+popular notion, compacts are frequently made with the devil, by which
+he is bound to complete, for instance, a building&mdash;as a house, a
+church, a bridge, or the like&mdash;within a certain period; but, through
+some artifice, by which the soul of the person for whom he is doing
+the work is saved, the completion of the undertaking is prevented:
+Thus the cock is made to crow, because, like all spirits that shun the
+light of the sun, the devil loses his power at break of day. The idea
+of bartering the soul for temporary gain has not been confined to any
+country, but as an article of terrible superstition has <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>been
+widespread. Mr Lecky has pointed out how, in the fourteenth century,
+"the bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently represent men kneeling down
+before the devil, and devoting themselves to him as his servants." In
+our own country, such compacts were generally made at midnight in some
+lonely churchyard, or amid the ruins of some castle. But fortunately
+for mankind, by resorting to spells and counterspells the binding
+effects of these "devil-bonds" as they have been termed were, in most
+cases, rendered ineffectual, the devil thereby losing the advantage.</p>
+
+<p>It is noteworthy that the wisdom of the serpent is frequently
+outwitted by a crafty woman, or a cunning priest. A well-known
+Lancashire tradition gives a humorous account of how the devil was on
+one occasion deluded by the shrewdness of a clever woman. Barely three
+miles from Clitheroe, on the high road to Gisburne, stood a public
+house with this title, "The Dule upo' Dun," which means "The Devil
+upon Dun" (horse). The story runs that a poor tailor sold himself to
+Satan for seven years on his granting him certain wishes, after which
+term, according to the contract, signed, as is customary, with the
+victim's own blood, his soul was to become "the devil's own." When the
+fatal day arrived, on the advice of his wife, he consulted "the holy
+father of Salley" in his extremity. At last the hour came when the
+Evil One claimed his victim, who tremblingly contended that the
+contract was won <a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>from him by fraud and dishonest pretences, and had
+not been fulfilled. He even ventured to hint at his lack of power to
+bestow riches, or any great gift, on which Satan was goaded into
+granting him another wish. "Then," said the trembling tailor, "I wish
+thou wert riding back again to thy quarters on yonder dun horse, and
+never able to plague me again, or any other poor wretch whom thou has
+gotten into thy clutches!"</p>
+
+<p>The words were no sooner uttered than the devil, with a roar which was
+heard as far as Colne, went away rivetted to the back of this dun
+horse, the tailor watching his departure almost beside himself for
+joy. He lived for many years in health and affluence, and, at his
+death, one of his relatives having bought the house where he resided,
+turned it into an inn, having for his sign, "The Dule upo' Dun." On it
+was depicted "Old Hornie" mounted on a scraggy dun horse, without
+saddle or bridle, "the terrified steed being off and away at full
+gallop from the door, while a small hilarious tailor with shears and
+measures," viewed his departure with anything but grief or
+disapprobation.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The authors of "Lancashire Legends," describing
+this old house, inform us that it was "one of those ancient gabled
+black and white edifices, now fast disappearing under the march of
+improvement. Many windows of little lozenge-shaped panes set in lead,
+might be seen here in all the various stages <a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>of renovation and decay.
+Over the door, till lately, swung the old and quaint sign, attesting
+the truth of the tradition."</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally similar bargains have been rendered ineffectual by
+cunning device. In the north wall of the church of Tremeirchion, North
+Wales, has long been shown the tomb of a former vicar, who was also
+celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing in the middle of the
+fourteenth century. It is reported that he proved himself more clever
+than the Wicked One himself. A bargain was made between them that the
+vicar should practise the black art with impunity during his life, but
+that the devil should possess his body after death, whether he were
+buried within or without the church. But the worthy vicar dexterously
+cheated his ally of his bargain by being buried within the church wall
+itself. A similar tradition is told of other localities, and amongst
+them of Barn Hall, in the parish of Tolleshunt Knights, on the border
+of the Essex marshes. In the middle of a field is shown an enclosed
+uncultivated spot, where, the legend says, it was originally intended
+to erect the hall, had not the devil come by night and destroyed the
+work of the day. This kind of thing went on for some time, when it was
+arranged that a knight, attended by two dogs, should watch for the
+author of this mischief. He had not long to wait, for, in the quiet of
+the night, the Prince of Darkness made his appearance, bent on his
+mischievous errand. <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>A tussle ensued, in the course of which,
+snatching up a beam from the building, he hurled it to the site of the
+present hall, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Wheresoe'er this beam shall fall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There shall stand Barn Hall."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the devil, very angry at being thus foiled by the knight, vowed
+that he would have him at his death, whether he was buried in the
+church or out of it. "But this doom was averted by burying him in the
+wall&mdash;half in and half out of the church. At Brent Pelham Church,
+Herts, too, there is the tomb of one Piers Shonkes, and there is a
+tale current in the neighbourhood that the devil swore he would have
+him, no matter whether buried within or without the church. So, as a
+means of escape, he was built up in the wall of the sacred edifice."</p>
+
+<p>Another extraordinary story has long been told of Hermitage Castle,
+one of the most famous of the Border Keeps in the days of its
+splendour. It is not surprising, therefore, that for many years past
+it has had the reputation of being haunted, having been described
+as:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">"Haunted Hermitage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where long by spells mysterious bound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They pace their round with lifeless smile,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And shake with restless foot the guilty pile,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Till sink the smouldering towers beneath the burdened ground."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It is popularly said that Lord Soulis, "the evil hero of Hermitage,"
+in an unguarded moment made <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>a compact with the devil, who appeared to
+him in the shape of a spirit wearing a red cap, which gained its hue
+from the blood of human victims in which it was steeped. Lord Soulis
+sold himself to the demon, and in return he was permitted to summon
+his familiar, whenever he was desirous of doing so, by rapping thrice
+on an iron chest, the condition being that he never looked in the
+direction of the spirit. But one day, whether wittingly or not has
+never been ascertained, he failed to comply with this stipulation, and
+his doom was sealed. But even then the foul fiend kept the letter of
+the compact. Lord Soulis was protected by an unholy charm against any
+injury from rope or steel; hence cords could not bind him, and steel
+could not slay him. But when at last he was delivered over to his
+enemies, it was found necessary to adopt the ingenious and effective
+expedient of rolling him up in a sheet of lead, and boiling him to
+death, and so:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">On a circle of stones they placed the pot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On a circle of stones but barely nine;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They heated it red and fiery hot<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And the burnished brass did glimmer and shine.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They rolled him up in a sheet of lead&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A sheet of lead for a funeral pall;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They plunged him into the cauldron red<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And melted him, body, lead, bones and all.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This was the terrible end of the body of Lord Soulis, but his spirit
+is supposed to still linger on the scene. And once every seven years
+he keeps <a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>tryst with Red Cap on the scene of his former devilries.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And still when seven years are o'er<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Is heard the jarring sound<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When hollow opes the charm&egrave;d door<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Of chamber underground.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A tradition well-known in Yorkshire relates how on the Eagle's Crag,
+otherwise nicknamed the "Witches' Horseblock," the Lady of Bernshaw
+Tower made that strange compact with the devil, whereby she not only
+became mistress of the country around, but the dreaded queen of the
+Lancashire witches. It seems that this Lady Sybil was possessed of
+almost unrivalled beauty, and scarcely a day passed without some fresh
+admirer seeking her hand&mdash;an additional attraction being her great
+wealth. Her intellectual attainments, too, were commonly said to be
+far beyond those of her sex, and oftentimes she would visit the
+Eagle's Crag in order to study nature and admire the varied aspects of
+the surrounding country.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep168" id="imagep168"></a><a name="Page_168a" id="Page_168a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep168.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep168.jpg" width="357" height="550" alt="Lady Sybil at the Eagles' Crag." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Lady Sybil at the Eagles' Crag.</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was on these occasions that Lady Sybil often felt a strong desire
+to possess supernatural powers; and, in an unwary moment, it is said
+that she was induced to sell her soul to the devil, in order that she
+might be able to take a part in the nightly revelries of the then
+famous Lancashire witches. It is added that the bond was duly attested
+with her blood, and that in consequence of this compact her utmost
+wishes were at all times granted. Hapton <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>Tower was, at this time,
+occupied by a junior branch of the Towneley family, and, although Lord
+William had long been a suitor for the hand of Lady Sybil, his
+proposals were constantly rejected. In his despair, he determined to
+consult a famous Lancashire witch&mdash;one Mother Helston&mdash;who promised
+him success on the ensuing All Hallows' Eve. When the day arrived, in
+accordance with her directions, he went out hunting, and on nearing
+Eagle's Crag he started a milk-white doe, but, after scouring the
+country for miles&mdash;the hounds being well-nigh exhausted&mdash;he returned
+to the Crag. At this crisis, a strange hound joined them&mdash;the familiar
+of Mother Helston, which had been sent to capture Lady Sibyl, who had
+assumed the disguise of the white doe. The remainder of the curious
+family legend, as told by Mr. Harland, is briefly this: During the
+night, Hapton Tower was shaken as by an earthquake, and in the morning
+the captured doe appeared as the fair heiress of Bernshaw. Counter
+spells were adopted, her powers of witchcraft were suspended, and
+before many days had passed Lord William had the happiness to lead his
+newly-wedded bride to his ancestral home. But within a year she had
+renewed her diabolical practices, causing a serious breach between her
+husband and herself. Happily a reconciliation was eventually effected,
+but her bodily strength gave way, and her health rapidly declined.
+When it became evident that the hour <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>of her death was drawing near,
+Lord William obtained the services of the neighbouring clergy, and by
+their holy offices the devil's bond was cancelled. Soon afterwards,
+Lady Sybil died in peace, but Bernshaw Tower was from that time
+deserted. Popular tradition, however, still alleges that her grave was
+dug where the dark Eagle's Crag shoots out its cold, bare peak into
+the sky, and on the eve of All Hallows, the hound and the milk-white
+doe are supposed by the peasantry to meet on the Crag, pursued by a
+spectre huntsman in full chase. It is further added that the belated
+peasant crosses himself at the sound, remembering the sad fate of Lady
+Sybil of Bernshaw Tower.</p>
+
+<p>It is curious to find no less a person than Sir Francis Drake charged
+with having been befriended by the devil; and the many marvellous
+stories current respecting him still linger among the Devonshire
+peasantry. By the aid of the devil, it is said, he was enabled to
+destroy the Spanish Armada. And his connection with the old Abbey of
+Buckland is equally singular. An extensive building attached to the
+abbey, for instance, which was no doubt used as barns and stables
+after the place had been deprived of its religious character, was
+reported to have been built by the devil in three nights. "After the
+first night," writes Mr. Hunt,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> "the butler, astonished at the work
+done, resolved to watch and see how it was performed. <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>Consequently,
+on the second night, he mounted into a large tree and hid himself
+between the forks of its five branches. At midnight, so the story
+goes, the devil came, driving teams of oxen, and, as some of them were
+lazy, he plucked this tree from the ground and used it as a goad. The
+poor butler lost his senses and never recovered them." Although, as it
+has been truly remarked, "on the waters that wash the shores of the
+county of Devon were achieved many of those triumphs which make Sir
+Francis Drake's life read more like a romance than a sober chronicle
+of facts;" the extraordinary traditions told respecting him have
+largely invested his life with the supernatural. But, whatever may
+have been the nature of his dealings with the devil, we are told that
+he has had to pay dearly for any earthly advantages he may have
+derived therefrom in his lifetime, "being forced to drive at night a
+black hearse, drawn by headless horses, and urged on by running devils
+and yelping headless dogs, along the road from Tavistock to Plymouth."</p>
+
+<p>Among the many tales related, in which the demoniacal element holds a
+prominent place, there is one relating to the projected marriage of
+his wife. It seems that Sir Francis was abroad, and his wife, not
+hearing from him for seven years, concluded he must be dead, and hence
+was at liberty to enter for a second time the holy estate of
+matrimony. Her choice was made and the nuptial day fixed; but Sir
+Francis Drake was informed of <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>all this by a spirit that attended him.
+And just as the wedding was about to be solemnised, he hastily charged
+one of his big guns and discharged a ball. So true was the aim that
+"the ball shot up right through the globe, dashed through the roof of
+the church, and fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her
+intended bridegroom." The spectators and assembled guests were thrown
+into the wildest confusion; but the bride declared it was an
+indication that Sir Francis Drake was still alive, and, as she refused
+to allow another golden circlet to be placed on her finger, the
+intended ceremony was, in the most abrupt and unexpected manner,
+ended. The prettiest part of the tale remains to be told. Not long
+afterwards Sir Francis Drake returned, and, disguised as a beggar, he
+solicited alms from his wife at her own door; when, unable to prevent
+smiling in the midst of a feigned tale of abject poverty, she
+recognised him, and a very joyful meeting took place.</p>
+
+<p>And even Buckland Abbey did not escape certain strange influences.
+Some years ago, a small box was found in a closet which had been long
+closed, containing, it is supposed, family papers. It was arranged
+that this box should be sent to the residence of the inheritor of the
+property. The carriage was at the abbey door, into which it was easily
+lifted. The owner having taken his seat, the coachman attempted to
+start his horses, but in vain. They would not, they could not, move.
+<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>More horses were brought and then the heavy farm horses, and
+eventually all the oxen. They were powerless to start the carriage. At
+length a mysterious voice was heard declaring that the box could never
+be moved from Buckland Abbey. Accordingly it was taken from the
+carriage easily by one man, and a pair of horses galloped off with the
+carriage.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Jewish banker, Samuel Bernard, who died in the year 1789,
+leaving an enormous property, had, it is said, "a favourite black cock
+which was regarded by many as uncanny, and as unpleasantly connected
+with the amassing of his fortune." The bird died a day or two before
+his master. It would seem that in bygone years black cocks were
+extensively used in magical incantations and in sacrifices to the
+devil, and Burns, it may be remembered, in his "Address to the Deil"
+says, "Some cock or cat your rage must stop;" and a well-known French
+recipe for invoking the Evil One runs thus: "Take a black cock under
+your left arm, and go at midnight to where four cross roads meet. Then
+cry three times 'Poul Noir!' or else utter 'Robert' nine times, and
+the devil will appear."</p>
+
+<p>Among the romantic stories told of Kersal Hall, Lancashire, it is
+related how Eustace Dauntesey, one of its chiefs in days of old, wooed
+a maiden fair with a handsome fortune; but she gave her heart to a
+rival suitor. The wedding day was fixed, but the prospect of her
+marriage was a terrible trouble to Eustace, and threatened to mar the
+happiness of <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>his life. Having, however, in his youth perfected
+himself in the black art, he drew a magic circle, at the witching hour
+of night, and summoned the Evil One to a consultation. The meeting
+came off, at which the usual bargain was quickly struck, the soul of
+Eustace being bartered for the coveted body of the beautiful young
+lady. The compact, it was arranged, should close at her death, but the
+Evil One was to remain meanwhile by the side of Dauntesey in the form
+of an elegant "self," or genteel companion. In due course the eventful
+day arrived when Eustace stood before the altar. But the marriage
+ceremony was no sooner over than, on leaving the sacred edifice, the
+elements were found to be the reverse of favourable to them. The
+flowers strewed before their feet stuck to their wet shoes, and
+soaking rain cast a highly depressing influence on all the bridal
+surroundings; and, on arriving at the festive hall where the marriage
+feast was to be held, the ill-fortune of Eustace assumed another
+shape. Strange to say, his bride began to melt away before his very
+eyes, and, thoroughly familiar as he was with the laws of magic, here
+was a new phase of mystery which was completely beyond his
+comprehension. In short, poor Eustace was the wretched victim of a
+complete swindle, for while, on the one hand, something is recorded
+about "a holy prayer, a sunny beam, and an angel train bearing the
+fair maiden slowly to a fleecy cloud, in whose bosom she became lost
+to earth," <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>Dauntesey, on the other hand, awakened to consciousness by
+a touch from his sinister companion, saw a huge yawning gulf at his
+feet, and felt himself gradually sinking in a direction exactly the
+opposite of that taken by his bride, who, in the short space of an
+hour, was lost to him for ever.</p>
+
+<p>But one of the most curious cases of this kind was that recorded in an
+old tractate<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> published in 1662, giving an account attested by "six
+of the sufficientest men of the town," of what happened to a certain
+John Leech, a farmer living at Raveley. Being desirous of visiting
+Whittlesea fair, he went beforehand with a neighbour to an inn for the
+purpose of drinking "his morninges draught." Whilst the two were
+enjoying their "morninges draught," Mr. Leech began to be "very
+merry," and, seeing his friend was desirous of going, he exclaimed,
+"Let the devil take him who goeth out of this house to-day." But in
+his merriment he forgot his rash observation, and shortly afterwards,
+calling for his horse, set out for the fair. He had not travelled far
+on the road when he remembered what he had said, "his conscience being
+sore troubled at that damnable oath which he had took." Not knowing
+what to do, he rode about, first one way and then another, until
+darkness set in, and at about two o'clock in the night "he espied two
+grim creatures before him in the likeness of griffins." <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>These were
+the devil's messengers, who had been sent to take him at his word, and
+take him they did, according to the testimony of the "six
+sufficientist men of the town." They roughly handled him, took him up
+in the air, stripped him, and then dropped him, "a sad spectacle, all
+bloody and goared," in a farmyard just outside the town of Doddington.</p>
+
+<p>Here he was discovered, lying upon some harrows, in the condition
+described. He was picked up, and carried to a gentleman's house,
+where, being well cared for, he narrated the remarkable adventure
+which had befallen him. Before long, however, he "grew into a frenzy
+so desperate that they were afraid to stay in his chamber," and the
+gentleman of the house, not knowing what to do, "sent for the parson
+of the town." Prompted, it is supposed, by the Satanic influence which
+still held him, Mr. Leech rushed at the minister, and attacked him
+with so much fury that it was "like to have cost him his life." But
+the noise being heard below, the servants rushed up, rescued the
+parson, and tied Mr. Leech down in his bed, and left him. The next
+morning, hearing nothing, they thought he was asleep, but on entering
+his room "he was discovered with his neck broke, his tongue out of his
+mouth, and his body as black as a shoe, all swelled, and every bone in
+his body out of joint."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>We may conclude these extraordinary cases of "devil-bonds" with two
+further strange incidents, one an apparent record of a case of a
+similar kind, which was practised, amidst the frivolities and plotting
+of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than Catharine de
+Medicis. In the "Secret History of France for the Last Century,"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>
+this incredible story is given: "In the first Civil War, when the
+Prince of Conde was, in all appearance, likely to prevail, and
+Katherine was thought to be very near the end of her much desired
+Regency, during the young king's minority, she was known to have been
+for two days together retired to her closet, without admitting her
+menial servants to her presence." Some few days after, having called
+for Monsieur de Mesme, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her
+interest, she delivered him a steel box, fast locked, to whom she
+said, giving him the key: 'That in respect she knew not what might
+come to her by fortune, amidst those intestine broils that then shook
+France, she had thought fit to enclose a thing of great value within
+that box, which she consigned to his care, not to open it upon oath,
+but by an express order under her own hand.' The queen dying without
+ever calling for the box, it continued many years unopened in the
+family of De Mesme, after both their deaths, till, at last, curiosity,
+or the suspicion of some treasure, from the heaviness of it, tempted
+Monsieur de <a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>Mesme's successor to break it open, which he did. Instead
+of any rich present from so great a queen, what horror must the
+lookers on have when they found a copper plate of the form and bigness
+of one of the ancient Roman Votive Shields, on which was engraved
+Queen Katherine de Medicis on her knees, in a praying posture,
+offering up to the devil sitting upon a throne, in one of the ugliest
+shapes they used to paint him, Charles the IXth, then reigning, the
+Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III., and the Duke of Alanson, her
+three sons, with this motto in French, "So be it, I but reign."</p>
+
+<p>And in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Hatfield, near the Isle of
+Axholme, Yorkshire, the following ridiculous story is given: "Robert
+de Roderham appeared against John de Ithon, for that he had not kept
+the agreement made between them, and therefore complains that on a
+certain day and year, at Thorne, there was an agreement between the
+aforesaid Robert and John, whereby the said John sold to the said
+Robert the Devil, bound in a certain bond, for threepence farthing,
+and thereupon, the said Robert delivered to the said John one farthing
+as earnest money, by which the property of the said devil, was vested
+in the person of the said Robert, to have livery of the said devil on
+the fourth day next following, at which day the said Robert came to
+the forenamed John and asked delivery of the said devil, according to
+the <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>agreement between them made. But the said John refused to deliver
+the said devil, nor has he yet done it, &amp;c., to the great damage of
+the said Robert, to the amount of 60gs, and he has, therefore, brought
+his suit.</p>
+
+<p>"The said John came, and did not deny the said agreement; and because
+it appeared to the Court that such a suit ought not to subsist among
+Christians, the aforesaid parties are, therefore, adjourned to the
+infernal regions, there to hear their judgment, and both parties were
+amerced by William de Scargell, Seneschall."</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Legends," 15-16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> "Romances of the West of England."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> "A Strange and True Relation of one Mr. John Leech,"
+1662.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "Saunders' Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire,"
+1878, 1-3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> London, printed for A. Bell, 1714.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER X.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>FAMILY DEATH OMENS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"Say not 'tis vain! I tell thee, some<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are warned by a meteor's light,<br /></span>
+    <span>Or a pale bird flitting calls them home,<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Or a voice on the winds by night&mdash;<br /></span>
+    <span>And they must go. And he too, he,<br /></span>
+    <span>Woe for the fall of the glorious tree."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem">&mdash;<span class="sc">Mrs. Hemans.</span> </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>A curious chapter in the history of many of our old county families is
+that relating to certain forewarnings, which, from time immemorial,
+have been supposed to indicate the approach of death. However
+incredible the existence of these may seem, their appearance is still
+intimately associated with certain houses, instances of which have
+been recorded from time to time. Thus Cuckfield Place, Sussex, is not
+only interesting as a fine Elizabethan mansion, but as having
+suggested to Ainsworth the "Rookwood Hall" of his striking romance.
+"The supernatural occurrence," he says, "forming the groundwork of one
+of the ballads which I have made the harbinger of doom to the house of
+Rookwood, is ascribed, by popular superstition, to a family resident
+in Sussex, upon whose estate the <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>fatal tree&mdash;a gigantic lime, with
+mighty arms and huge girth of trunk&mdash;is still carefully preserved." In
+the avenue that winds towards the house the doom-tree still stands:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A verdant bough, untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To Rookwood's head, an omen dread of fast approaching death."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Cuckfield Place," adds Ainsworth, "to which this singular piece of
+timber is attached, is the real Rookwood Hall, for I have not drawn
+upon imagination, but upon memory, in describing the seat and domains
+of that fated family." A similar tradition is associated with the
+Edgewell Oak, which is said to indicate the coming death of an inmate
+of Castle Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches; and Camden in
+his "Magna Britannia," alluding to the antiquity of the Brereton
+family, relates this peculiar fact which is reported to have been
+repeated many times: "This wonderful thing respecting them is commonly
+believed, and I have heard it myself affirmed by many, that for some
+days before the death of the heir of the family the trunk of a tree
+has always been seen floating in the lake adjoining their mansion;" a
+popular superstition to which Mrs. Hemans refers in the lines which
+head the present chapter. A further <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>instance of a similar kind is
+given by Sir Bernard Burke, who informs us that opposite the
+dining-room at Gordon Castle is a large and massive willow tree, the
+history of which is somewhat singular. Duke Alexander, when four years
+old, planted this willow in a tub filled with earth. The tub floated
+about in a marshy-piece of land, till the shrub, expanding, burst its
+cerements, and struck root in the earth below; here it grew and
+prospered till it attained its present goodly size. It is said the
+Duke regarded the tree with a sort of fatherly and even superstitious
+regard, half-believing there was some mysterious affinity between its
+fortune and his own. If an accident happened to the one by storm or
+lightning, some misfortune was not long in befalling the other.</p>
+
+<p>It has been noted, also, that the same thing is related of the brave
+but unfortunate Admiral Kempenfeldt, who went down in the Royal George
+off Portsmouth. During his proprietary of Lady Place, he and his
+brother planted two thorn trees. But one day, on coming home, the
+brother noted that the tree planted by the Admiral had completely
+withered away. Astonished at this unexpected sight, he felt some
+apprehensions as to Admiral Kempenfeldt's safety, and exclaimed with
+some emotion, "I feel sure that this is an omen that my brother is
+dead." By a striking coincidence, his worst fears were realised, for
+on that evening came the terrible news of the loss of the Royal
+George.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>Whenever any member of the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, in the
+county of Dumfries was about to die&mdash;either by accident or disease&mdash;a
+swan that was never seen but on such occasions, was sure to make its
+appearance upon the lake which surrounded Closeburn Castle, coming no
+one knew whence, and passing away as mysteriously when the predicted
+death had taken place, in connection with which the following singular
+legend has been handed down: In days gone by, the lake of Closeburn
+Castle was the favourite resort during the summer season of a pair of
+swans, their arrival always being welcome to the family at the castle
+from a long established belief that they were ominous of good fortune
+to the Kirkpatricks. "No matter," it is said, "what mischance might
+have before impended, it was sure to cease at their coming, and so
+suddenly, as well as constantly, that it required no very ardent
+superstition to connect the two events into cause and effect."</p>
+
+<p>But a century and a half had passed away, when it happened that the
+young heir of Closeburn Castle&mdash;a lad of not quite thirteen years of
+age&mdash;in one of his visits to Edinburgh attended at the theatre a
+performance of "The Merchant of Venice," in the course of which he was
+surprised to hear Portia say of Bassanio that he should</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">"Make a swan-like end,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fading in music."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Often wondering whether swans really sang before <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>dying he determined,
+at the first opportunity, to test the truth of these words for
+himself. On his return home, he was one day walking by the lake when
+the swans came sailing majestically towards him, and at once reminded
+of Portia's remark. Without a moment's thought, he lodged in the
+breast of the foremost one a bolt from his crossbow, killing it
+instantly. Frightened at what he had done, he made up his mind it
+should not be known; and, as the water drifted the dead body of the
+bird towards the shore, he buried it deep in the ground.</p>
+
+<p>No small surprise, however, was occasioned in the neighbourhood, when,
+for several years, no swans made their annual appearance, the idea at
+last being that they must have died in their native home, wherever
+that might chance to be. The yearly visit of the swans of Closeburn
+had become a thing of the past, when one day much excitement was
+caused by the return of a single swan, and much more so when a deep
+blood-red stain was observed upon its breast. As might be expected,
+this unlooked-for occurrence occasioned grave suspicions even amongst
+those who had no great faith in omens; and that such fears were not
+groundless was soon abundantly clear, for in less than a week the lord
+of Closeburn Castle died suddenly. Thereupon the swan vanished, and
+was seen no more for some years, when it again appeared to announce
+the loss of one of the house by shipwreck.</p>
+
+<p>The last recorded appearance of the bird was at <a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>the third nuptials of
+Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the first baronet of that name. On the
+wedding-day, his son Roger was walking by the lake, when, on a sudden,
+as if it had emerged from the waters, the swan appeared with the
+bleeding breast. Roger had heard of this mysterious swan, and,
+although his father's wedding bells were ringing merrily, he himself
+returned to the castle a sorrowful man, for he felt convinced that
+some evil was hanging over him. Despite his father's jest at what he
+considered groundless superstition on his part, the young man could
+not shake off his fears, replying to his father, "Perhaps before long
+you also may be sorrowful." On the night of that very day the son
+died, and here ends the strange story of the swans of Closeburn.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<p>Similarly, whenever two owls are seen perched on the family mansion of
+the noble family of Arundel of Wardour, it has long been regarded as a
+certain indication that one of its members before very long will be
+summoned out of the world; and the appearance of a white-breasted bird
+was the death-warning of the Oxenham family, particulars relating to
+the tragic origin of which are to be found in a local ballad, which
+commences thus<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>Where lofty hills in grandeur meet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Taw meandering flows,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There is a sylvan, calm retreat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where erst a mansion rose.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">There dwelt Sir James of Oxenham,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A brave and generous lord;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Benighted travellers never came<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Unwelcome to his board.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In early life his wife had died;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A son he ne'er had known;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And Margaret, his age's pride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Was heir to him alone.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In course of time, Margaret became affianced to a young knight, and
+their wedding-day was fixed. On the evening preceding it, her father,
+in accordance with custom, gave a banquet to his friends, in order
+that they might congratulate him on the approaching happy union. He
+stood up to thank them for their kind wishes, and in alluding to the
+young knight&mdash;in a few hours time to be his daughter's husband&mdash;he
+jestingly called him his son:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">But while the dear unpractised word<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Still lingered on his tongue,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He saw a silvery breasted bird<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Fly o'er the festive throng.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Swift as the lightning's flashes fleet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And lose their brilliant light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sir James sank back upon his seat<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Pale and entranced with fright.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>With some difficulty he managed to conceal the cause of his
+embarrassment, but on the following <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>day the priest had scarcely begun
+the marriage service,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">When Margaret with terrific screams<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Made all with horror start.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Good heavens! her blood in torrents streams,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A dagger in her heart.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The deed had been done by a discarded lover, who, by the aid of a
+clever disguise, had managed to station himself just behind her:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Now marry me, proud maid," he cried,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Thy blood with mine shall wed";<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He dashed the dagger in his side,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And at her feet fell dead.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And this pathetic ballad concludes by telling us how</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Poor Margaret, too, grows cold with death,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And round her hovering flies<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The phantom bird for her last breath,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To bear it to the skies.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Equally strange is the omen with which the ancient baronet's family of
+Clifton, of Clifton Hall, in Nottinghamshire, is forewarned when death
+is about to visit one of its members. It appears that in this case the
+omen takes the shape of a sturgeon, which is seen forcing itself up
+the river Trent, on whose bank the mansion of the Clifton family is
+situated. And, it may be remembered, how in the park of Chartley, near
+Lichfield, there has long been preserved the breed of the indigenous
+Staffordshire cow, of white sand colour, with black ears, muzzle, and
+tips at the hoofs. In the year of the battle of <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>Burton Bridge a black
+calf was born; and the downfall of the great house of Ferrers
+happening at the same period, gave rise to the tradition, which to
+this day has been current in the neighbourhood, that the birth of a
+parti-coloured calf from the wild breed in Chartley Park is a sure
+omen of death within the same year to a member of the family.</p>
+
+<p>By a noticeable coincidence, a calf of this description has been born
+whenever a death has happened in the family of late years. The decease
+of the Earl and his Countess, of his son Lord Tamworth, of his
+daughter Mrs. William Joliffe, as well as the deaths of the son and
+heir of the eighth Earl and his daughter Lady Frances Shirley, were
+each preceded by the ominous birth of a calf. In the spring of the
+year 1835, an animal perfectly black, was calved by one of this
+mysterious tribe in the park of Chartley, and it was soon followed by
+the death of the Countess.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> The park of Chartley, where this weird
+announcement of one of the family's death has oftentimes caused so
+much alarm, is a wild romantic spot, and was in days of old attached
+to the Royal Forest of Needwood and the Honour of Tutbury&mdash;of the
+whole of which the ancient family of Ferrers were the puissant lords.
+Their immense possessions, now forming part of the Duchy of Lancaster,
+were forfeited by the attainder <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>of Earl Ferrers after his defeat at
+Burton Bridge, where he led the rebellious Barons against Henry III.
+The Chartley estate, being settled in dower, was alone reserved, and
+has been handed down to its present possessor. Of Chartley Castle
+itself&mdash;which appears to have been in ruins for many years&mdash;many
+interesting historical facts are recorded. Thus it is said Queen
+Elizabeth visited her favourite, the Earl of Essex, here in August,
+1575, and was entertained by him in a half-timbered house which
+formerly stood near the Castle, but was long since destroyed by fire.
+It is questionable whether Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in this
+house, or in a portion of the old Castle. Certain, however, it is that
+the unfortunate queen was brought to Chartley from Tutbury on
+Christmas day, 1585. The exact date at which she left Chartley is
+uncertain, but it appears she was removed thence under a plea of
+taking the air without the bounds of the Castle. She was then
+conducted by daily stages from the house of one gentleman to another,
+under pretence of doing her honour, without her having the slightest
+idea of her destination, until she found herself on the 20th of
+September, within the fatal walls of Fotheringhay Castle.</p>
+
+<p>Cortachy Castle, the seat of the Earl of Airlie, has for many years
+past been famous for its mysterious drummer, for whenever the sound of
+his drum is heard it is regarded as the sure indication <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>of the
+approaching death of a member of the Ogilvie family. There is a tragic
+origin given to this curious phenomenon, the story generally told
+being to the effect that either the drummer, or some officer whose
+emissary he was, had excited the jealousy of a former Lord Airlie, and
+that he was in consequence of this occurrence put to death by being
+thrust into his own drum, and flung from the window of the tower, in
+which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly
+heard. It is also said that the drummer threatened to haunt the family
+if his life were taken, a promise which he has not forgotten to
+fulfil.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the well-known tradition that prior to the death of any
+of the lords of Roslin, Roslin Chapel appears to be on fire, a weird
+occurrence which forms the subject of Harold's song in the "Lay of the
+Last Ministrel."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">O'er Roslin all that dreary night<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Twas broader than the watch-fire light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And redder than the bright moonbeam.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">It glared on Roslin's castled rock,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Each Baron, for a sable shroud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sheathed in his iron panoply.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>Seem'd all on fire, within, around,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Deep sacristy and altar's pale<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shone every pillar, foliage-bound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Blazed battlement and pinnet high,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So still they blaze when Fate is nigh<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The lordly line of Hugh St. Clair.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But, although the last "Roslin," as he was called, died in the year
+1778, and the estates passed into the possession of the Erskines,
+Earls of Rosslyn, the old tradition has not been extinguished.
+Something of the same kind is described as having happened to the old
+Cornish family of the Vingoes on their estate of Treville, for
+"through all time a peculiar token has marked the coming death of one
+of the family. Above the deep caverns in the Treville Cliff rises a
+carn. On this chains of fire were seen ascending and descending, and
+oftentimes were accompanied by loud and frightful noises. But it is
+reported that these tokens have not taken place since the last male of
+the family came to a violent end. According to Mr. Hunt,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+"tradition tells us this estate was given to an old family who came
+with the Conqueror to this country. This ancestor is said to have been
+the Duke of Normandy's wine taster, and to have belonged to the
+ancient Counts of Treville, hence the name of the estate. For many
+generations the family has <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>been declining, and the race is now
+nearly, if not quite, extinct.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases, families have been apprised of an approaching death by
+some strange spectre, either male or female, a remarkable instance of
+which occurs in the MS. memoirs of Lady Fanshaw, and is to this
+effect: "Her husband, Sir Richard, and she, chanced, during their
+abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, who resided in his ancient
+baronial castle surrounded with a moat. At midnight she was awakened
+by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and, looking out of bed, beheld
+by the moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at the
+window. The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but
+pale; and the hair, which was reddish, was loose and dishevelled. This
+apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and then
+vanished with two shrieks, similar to that which had at first excited
+Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, with infinite terror, she
+communicated to her host what had happened, and found him prepared not
+only to credit, but to account for, what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"A near relation of mine," said he, "expired last night in the castle.
+Before such an event happens in this family and castle, the female
+spectre whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed to be
+the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors
+degraded himself by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the
+dishonour done <a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>his family, he caused to be drowned in the castle
+moat."</p>
+
+<p>This, of course, was no other than the Banshee, which in times past
+has been the source of so much terror in Ireland. Amongst the
+innumerable stories told of its appearance may be mentioned one
+related by Mrs. Lefanu, the niece of Sheridan, in the memoirs of her
+grandmother, Mrs. Frances Sheridan. From this account we gather that
+Miss Elizabeth Sheridan was a firm believer in the Banshee, and firmly
+maintained that the one attached to the Sheridan family was distinctly
+heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the
+news arrived from France of Mrs. Frances Sheridan's death at Blois.
+She adds that a niece of Miss Sheridan's made her very angry by
+observing that as Mrs. Frances Sheridan was by birth a Chamberlaine, a
+family of English extraction, she had no right to the guardianship of
+an Irish fairy, and that therefore the Banshee must have made a
+mistake.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, many a Scotch family has its death-warning, a notable one
+being the Bodach Glass, which Sir Walter Scott has introduced in his
+"Waverley" as the messenger of bad-tidings to the MacIvors, the truth
+of which, it is said, has been traditionally proved by the experience
+of no less than three hundred years. It is thus described by Fergus to
+Waverley: "'You must know that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel,
+wanted <a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>Northumberland, there was appointed with him in the expedition
+a sort of southland chief, or captain of a band of Lowlanders, called
+Halbert Hall. In their return through the Cheviots they quarrelled
+about the division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from
+words to blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief
+fell the last, covered with wounds, by the sword of my ancestor. Since
+that day his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any
+great disaster was impending.'" Fergus then gives to Waverley a
+graphic and detailed account of the appearance of the Bodach: "'Last
+night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters and walked out, in
+hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves. I crossed a small
+foot bridge, and kept walking backwards and forwards, when I observed,
+with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid,
+which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards
+before me.'</p>
+
+<p>"'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.'</p>
+
+<p>"'No; I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity
+in daring to dog me. I called to him, but received no answer. I felt
+an anxious troubling at my heart, and to ascertain what I dreaded, I
+stood still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the
+four points of the compass. By heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the
+figure was instantly before my eyes at precisely <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>the same distance. I
+was then convinced it was the Bodach Glass. My hair bristled, and my
+knees shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my
+quarters. My ghastly visitor glided before me until he reached the
+footbridge, there he stopped, and turned full round. I must either
+wade the river or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate
+courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve
+to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew
+my sword, and uttered, 'In the name of God, evil spirit, give place!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Vich Ian Vohr,' it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle;
+'beware of to-morrow.'</p>
+
+<p>"'It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but
+the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared
+further to obstruct my passage.'"</p>
+
+<p>An ancestor of the family of McClean, of Lochburg, was commonly
+reported, before the death of any of his race, to gallop along the
+sea-beach, announcing the event by dismal cries, and lamentations, and
+Sir Walter Scott, in his "Peveril of the Peak," tells us that the
+Stanley family are forewarned of the approach of death by a female
+spirit, "weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person
+of distinction belonging to the family."</p>
+
+<p>These family death-omens are of a most varied description, having
+assumed particular forms in <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>different localities. Corby Castle,
+Cumberland, was famed for its "Radiant Boy," a luminous apparition
+which occasionally made its appearance, the tradition in the family
+being that the person who happened to see it would rise to the summit
+of power, and after reaching that position would die a violent death.
+As an instance of this strange belief, it is related how Lord
+Castlereagh in early life saw this spectre; as is well-known, he
+afterwards became head of the government, but finally perished by his
+own hand. Then there was the dreaded spectre of the Goblin Friar
+associated with Newstead Abbey:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">A monk, arrayed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In cowl and beads, and dusky garb, appeared,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This apparition was generally supposed to forebode evil to the member
+of the family to whom it appeared, and its movements have thus been
+poetically described by Lord Byron, who, it may be added, maintained
+that he beheld this uncanny spectre before his ill-starred union with
+Miss Millbanke:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">By the marriage bed of their lords, 'tis said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He flits on the bridal eve;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of death<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He comes&mdash;but not to grieve.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">When an heir is born, he is heard to mourn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And when aught is to befall<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That ancient line, in the pale moonshine<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He walks from hall to hall.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>His form you may trace, but not his face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Tis shadowed by his cowl;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And they seem of a parted soul.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>An ancient Roman Catholic family in Yorkshire, of the name of
+Middleton, is said to be apprised of the death of anyone of its
+members by the appearance of a Benedictine nun, and Berry Pomeroy
+Castle, Devonshire, was supposed to be haunted by the daughter of a
+former baron, who bore a child to her own father, and afterwards
+strangled the fruit of their incestuous intercourse. But, after death,
+it seems this wretched woman could not rest, and whenever death was
+about to visit the castle she was generally seen sadly wending her way
+to the scene of her earthly crimes. According to another tradition,
+there is a circular tower, called "Margaret's Tower," rising above
+some broken steps that lead into a dismal vault, and the tale still
+runs that, on certain evenings in the year, the spirit of the Ladye
+Margaret, a young daughter of the house of Pomeroy, appears clad in
+white on these steps, and, beckoning to the passers-by, lures them to
+destruction into the dungeon ruin beneath them.</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, it would seem to have been a not infrequent occurrence
+for family ghosts to warn the living when death was at hand&mdash;a piece
+of superstition which has always held a prominent place in our
+household traditions, reminding us of kindred <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>stories on the
+Continent, where the so-called White Lady has long been an object of
+dread.</p>
+
+<p>There has, too, long been a strange notion that when storms, heavy
+rains, or other elemental strife, take place at the death of a great
+man, the spirit of the storm will not be appeased till the moment of
+burial. This belief seems to have gained great strength on the
+occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral, when, after some weeks
+of heavy rain, and some of the highest floods ever known, the skies
+began to clear, and both rain and flood abated. It was a common
+observation in the week before the duke's interment, "Oh, the rain
+won't give o'er till the Duke is buried!"</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> "Family Romance"&mdash;Sir Bernard Burke&mdash;1853, ii.,
+200-210.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> In 1641 there was published a tract, with a
+frontispiece, entitled "A True Relation of an Apparition, in the
+Likeness of a Bird with a white breast, that appeared hovering over
+the Death-bed of some of the children of Mr. James Oxenham, &amp;c."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> This tradition has been wrought into a romantic story,
+entitled "Chartley, or the Fatalist."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> "Popular Romances of West of England."</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>WEIRD POSSESSIONS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"But not a word o' it; 'tis fairies' treasure,<br /></span>
+    <span>Which, but revealed, brings on the blabber's ruin."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Massinger's</span> "<i>Fatal Dowry</i>."
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>From the earliest days a strange fatality has been supposed to cling
+to certain things&mdash;a phase of superstition which probably finds as
+many believers nowadays as when Homer wrote of the fatal necklace of
+Eriphyle that wrought mischief to all who had been in possession of
+it. In numerous cases, it is difficult to account for the prejudice
+thus displayed, although occasionally it is based on some traditionary
+story. But whatever the origin of the luck, or ill-luck, attaching to
+sundry family possessions, such heirlooms have been preserved with a
+kind of superstitious care, handed down from generation to generation.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most remarkable curiosities connected with family
+superstitions is what is commonly known as "The Coalstoun Pear," the
+strange antecedent history of which is thus given in a work entitled,
+"The Picture of Scotland": "Within sight of the House of Lethington,
+in Haddingtonshire, stands <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>the mansions of Coalstoun, the seat of the
+ancient family of Coalstoun, whose estate passed by a series of heirs
+of line into the possession of the Countess of Dalhousie. This place
+is chiefly worthy of attention here, on account of a strange heirloom,
+with which the welfare of the family was formerly supposed to be
+connected.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the Barons of Coalstoun, about three hundred years ago,
+married Jean Hay, daughter of John, third Lord Yester, with whom he
+obtained a dowry, not consisting of such base materials as houses or
+land, but neither more nor less than a pear. 'Sure such a pear was
+never seen,' however, as this of Coalstoun, which a remote ancestor of
+the young lady, famed for his necromantic power, was supposed to have
+invested with some enchantment that rendered it perfectly invaluable.
+Lord Yester, in giving away his daughter, informed his son-in-law
+that, good as the lass might be, her dowry was much better, because,
+while she could only have value in her own generation, the pear, so
+long as it was continued in his family, would be attended with
+unfailing prosperity, and thus might cause the family to flourish to
+the end of time. Accordingly, the pear was preserved as a sacred
+palladium, both by the laird who first obtained it, and by all his
+descendants; till one of their ladies, taking a longing for the
+forbidden fruit while pregnant, inflicted upon it a deadly bite: in
+consequence of which, it is said, several of the best <a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>farms on the
+estate very speedily came to the market."</p>
+
+<p>The pear, tradition goes on to tell us, became stone hard immediately
+after the lady had bit it, and in this condition it remains till this
+day, with the marks of Lady Broun's teeth indelibly imprinted on it.
+Whether it be really thus fortified against all further attacks of the
+kind or not, it is certain that it is now disposed in some secure part
+of the house&mdash;or as we have been informed in a chest, the key of which
+is kept secure by the Earl of Dalhousie&mdash;so as to be out of all danger
+whatsoever. The "Coalstowne pear," it is added, without regard to the
+superstition attached to it, must be considered a very great curiosity
+in its way, "having, in all probability, existed five hundred years&mdash;a
+greater age than, perhaps, has ever been reached by any other such
+production of nature."</p>
+
+<p>Another strange heirloom&mdash;an antique crystal goblet&mdash;is said to have
+been for a long time in the possession of Colonel Wilks, the
+proprietor of the estate of Ballafletcher, four or five miles from
+Douglas, Isle of Man. It is described as larger than a common
+bell-shaped tumbler, "uncommonly light and chaste in appearance, and
+ornamented with floral scrolls, having between the designs on two
+sides, upright columell&aelig; of five pillars," and according to an old
+tradition, it is reported to have been taken by Magnus, the Norwegian
+King of <a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>Man, from St. Olave's shrine. Although it is by no means
+clear on what ground this statement rests, there can be no doubt but
+that the goblet is very old. After belonging for at least a hundred
+years to the Fletcher family&mdash;the owners of Ballafletcher&mdash;it was sold
+with the effects of the last of the family, in 1778, and was bought by
+Robert C&aelig;sar, Esq., who gave it to his niece for safe keeping. The
+tradition goes that it had been given to the first of the Fletcher
+family more than two centuries ago, with this special injunction, that
+"as long as he preserved it, peace and plenty would follow; but woe to
+him who broke it, as he would surely be haunted by the 'Ihiannan Shee'
+or 'peaceful spirit' of Ballafletcher." It was kept in a recess,
+whence it was never removed, except at Christmas and Eastertide, when
+it was "filled with wine, and quaffed off at a breath by the head of
+the house only, as a libation to the spirit for her protection."</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the well-known English tradition relating to Eden Hall,
+where an old painted drinking-glass is preserved, the property of Sir
+George Musgrave of Edenhall, in Cumberland, in the possession of whose
+family it has been for many generations. The tradition is that a
+butler going to draw water from a well in the garden, called St.
+Cuthbert's well, came upon a company of fairies at their revels, and
+snatched it from them. They did all they could to recover their
+ravished <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>property, but failing, disappeared after pronouncing the
+following prophecy:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">If this glass do break or fall<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Farewell the luck of Edenhall.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So long, therefore, runs the legendary tale, as this drinking glass is
+preserved, the "luck of Edenhall" will continue to exist, but should
+ever the day occur when any mishap befalls it, this heirloom will
+instantly become an unlucky possession in the family. The most recent
+account of this cup appeared in <i>The Scarborough Gazette</i> in the year
+1880, in which it was described as "a glass stoup, a drinking vessel,
+about six inches in height, having a circular base, perfectly flat,
+two inches in diameter, gradually expanding upwards till it ends in a
+mouth four inches across. The general hue is a warm green, resembling
+the tone known by artists as brown pink. Upon the transparent glass is
+traced a geometric pattern in white and blue enamel, somewhat raised,
+aided by gold and a little crimson." The earliest mention of this
+curious relic seems to have been made by Francis Douce, who was at
+Edenhall in the year 1785, and wrote some verses upon it, but there
+does not seem to be any authentic family history attaching to it.</p>
+
+<p>There is a room at Muncaster Castle which has long gone by the name of
+Henry the Sixth's room, from the circumstance of his having been
+concealed in it at the time he was flying from his enemies in <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>the
+year 1461, when Sir John Pennington, the then possessor of Muncaster,
+gave him a secret reception. When the time for the king's departure
+arrived, before he proceeded on his journey, he addressed Sir John
+Pennington with many kind and courteous acknowledgments for his loyal
+reception, regretting, at the same time, that he had nothing of more
+value to present him with, as a testimony of his goodwill, than the
+cup out of which he crossed himself. He then gave it into the hands of
+Sir John, accompanying the present with these words: "The family shall
+prosper so long as they preserve it unbroken." Hence it is called the
+"Luck of Muncaster." "The benediction attached to its security," says
+Roby, in his "Traditions of Lancashire," "being then uppermost in the
+recollection of the family, it was considered essential to the
+prosperity of the house at the time of the usurpation, that the Luck
+of Muncaster should be deposited in a safe place; it was consequently
+buried till the cessation of hostilities had rendered all further care
+and concealment unnecessary." But, unfortunately, the person
+commissioned to disinter the precious relic, let the box fall in which
+it was locked up, which so alarmed the then existing members of the
+family, that they could not muster courage enough to satisfy their
+apprehensions. The box, therefore, according to the traditionary story
+preserved in the family, remained unopened for more than forty years;
+at the expiration of which period, a Pennington, more <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>courageous than
+his predecessors, unlocked the casket, and, much to the delight of
+all, proclaimed the Luck of Muncaster to be uninjured. It was an
+auspicious moment, for the doubts as to the cup's safety were now
+dispelled, and the promise held good:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">It shall bless thy bed, it shall bless thy board,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They shall prosper by this token,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In Muncaster Castle good luck shall be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Till the charmed cup is broken.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Some things, again, have gained a strange notoriety through the force
+of circumstances. A curious story is told, for instance, of a certain
+iron chest in Ireland, the facts relating to which are these: In the
+year 1654, Mr. John Bourne, chief trustee of the estate of John
+Mallet, of Enmore, fell sick at his house at Durley, when his life was
+pronounced by a physician to be in imminent danger. Within twenty-four
+hours, while the doctor and Mrs. Carlisle&mdash;a relative of Mr.
+Bourne&mdash;were sitting by his bedside, the doctor opened the curtains at
+the bed-foot to give him air, when suddenly a great iron chest by the
+window, with three locks&mdash;in which chest were all the writings and
+title deeds of Mr. Mallet's estate&mdash;began to open lock by lock. The
+lid of the iron chest then lifted itself up, and stood wide open. It
+is added that Mr. Bourne, who had not spoken for twenty-four hours,
+raised himself up in the bed, and looking at the chest, cried out,
+"You say true, you say true; you are in the right; <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>I will be with you
+by and bye." He then lay down apparently in an exhausted condition,
+and spoke no more. The chest lid fell again, and locked itself lock by
+lock, and within an hour afterwards Mr. Bourne expired.</p>
+
+<p>There is a story current of Lord Lovat that when he was born a number
+of swords that hung up in the hall of the house leaped, of themselves,
+out of the scabbard. This circumstance often formed the topic of
+conversation, and, among his clan, was looked upon as an unfortunate
+omen. By a curious coincidence, Lord Lovat was not only the last
+person beheaded on Tower Hill, but was the last person beheaded in
+this country&mdash;April 9, 1747&mdash;an event which Walpole has thus described
+in one of his letters, telling us that he died extremely well, without
+passion, affectation, buffoonery, or timidity. He professed himself a
+Jansenist, made no speech, but sat down a little while in a chair on
+the scaffold and talked to the people about him.</p>
+
+<p>And Aubrey, relating a similar anecdote of a picture, tells us how Sir
+Walter Long's widow did make a solemn promise to him on his death-bed
+that she would not marry after his decease; but this she did not keep,
+for "not long after, one Sir&mdash;&mdash;Fox, a very beautiful young gentleman,
+did win her love, so that, notwithstanding her promise aforesaid, she
+married him. They were at South Wrathall, where the picture of Sir
+Walter hung over the parlour door," and, on entering this room <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>on
+their return from church, the string of the picture broke, "and the
+picture, which was painted on wood, fell on the lady's shoulder and
+cracked in the fall. This made her ladyship reflect on her promise,
+and drew some tears from her eyes."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>ROMANCE OF DISGUISE.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span class="sc">Pisanio</span> to <span class="sc">Imogen</span>:<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">You must forget to be a woman; change<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Command into obedience: fear and niceness&mdash;<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Woman its pretty self, into a waggish courage:<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ready in gibes, quick answered, saucy, and<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">As quarrelsome as the weasel; nay, you must<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Exposing it&mdash;but, Oh! the harder heart!<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Alack! no remedy! to the greedy touch<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of common-kissing Titan, and forget<br /></span>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Your laboursome and dainty trims.<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem">"<i>Cymbeline</i>," <span class="sc">Act III., Sc. 4.</span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>That a woman, under any circumstances, should dismiss her proper
+apparel, it has been remarked, "may well appear to us as something
+like a phenomenon." Yet instances are far from uncommon, the motive
+being originated in a variety of circumstances. A young lady, it may
+be, falls in love, and, to gain her end, assumes male attire so that
+she may escape detection, as in the case of a girl, who, giving her
+affections to a sailor, and not being able to follow him in her
+natural and recognised character, <a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>put on jacket and trousers, and
+became, to all appearance, a brother of his mess. In other cases, a
+pure masculinity of character "seems to lead women to take on the
+guise of men. Apparently feeling themselves misplaced in, and
+misrepresented by, the female dress, they take up with that of men
+simply that they may be allowed to employ themselves in those manly
+avocations for which their taste and nature are fitted." In
+Caulfield's "Portraits of Remarkable Persons," we find a portrait of
+Anne Mills, styled the female sailor, who is represented as standing
+on what appears to be the end of a pier and holding in one hand a
+human head, while the other bears a sword, the instrument doubtless
+with which the decapitation was effected. In the year 1740, she was
+serving on board the <i>Maidstone</i>, a frigate, and in an action between
+that vessel and the enemy, she exhibited such desperate and daring
+valour as to be particularly noticed by the whole crew. But her
+motives for assuming the male habit do not seem to have
+transpired.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>A far more exciting career was that of Mary Anne Talbot, the youngest
+of sixteen illegitimate children, whom her mother bore to one of the
+heads of the noble house of Talbot. She was born on February 2nd,
+1778, and educated under the eye of a married sister, at whose death
+she was committed to the care of a gentleman named Sucker, "who
+treated <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>her with great severity, and who appears to have taken
+advantage of her friendless situation in order to transfer her, for
+the vilest of purposes, to the hands of a Captain Bowen, whom he
+directed her to look upon as her future guardian." Although barely
+fourteen years old, Captain Bowen made her his mistress; and, on being
+ordered to join his regiment at St. Domingo, he compelled the girl to
+go with him in the disguise of a footboy and under the name of John
+Taylor. But Captain Bowen had scarcely reached St. Domingo when he was
+remanded with his regiment to Europe to join the Duke of York's
+Flanders Expedition. And this time she was made to enrol herself as a
+drummer in the corps.</p>
+
+<p>She was in several skirmishes, being wounded once by a ball which
+struck one of her ribs, and another time by a sabre stroke on the
+side. At Valenciennes, however, Captain Bowen was killed; and, finding
+among his effects several letters relating to herself, which proved
+that she had been cruelly defrauded of money left to her, she resolved
+to leave the regiment, and to return, if possible, to England.
+Accordingly she set out attired as a sailor boy, and eventually hired
+herself to the Commander of a French lugger, which turned out to be a
+privateer. But when the vessel fell in with some of Lord Howe's
+vessels in the Channel, she refused to fight against her countrymen,
+"notwithstanding all the blows and menaces the French <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>captain could
+use." The privateer was taken, and our heroine was carried before Lord
+Howe, to whom she told candidly all that had happened to her&mdash;keeping
+her sex a secret.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Anne Talbot, or John Taylor, was next placed on board the
+<i>Brunswick</i>, where she witnessed Lord Howe's great victory of the 1st
+June, and was actively engaged in it. But she was seriously wounded,
+"her left leg being struck a little above the knee by a musket-ball,
+and broken, and severely smashed lower down by a grape shot." On
+reaching England she was conveyed to Haslar Hospital, where she
+remained four months, no suspicion having ever been entertained of her
+being a woman. But she was no sooner out of the hospital than,
+retaining her disguise, she entered a small man-of-war&mdash;the
+<i>Vesuvius</i>, which was captured by two French ships, when she was sent
+to the prisons of Dunkirk. Here she was incarcerated for eighteen
+months, but, having been discovered planning an escape with a young
+midshipman, she was confined in a pitch-dark dungeon for eleven weeks,
+on a diet of bread and water. An exchange of prisoners set her at
+liberty, and, hearing accidentally an American merchant captain
+inquiring in the streets of Dunkirk for a lad to go to New York as
+ship's steward she offered her services, and was accepted.
+Accordingly, in August, 1796, she sailed with Captain Field, and, on
+arriving at Rhode Island, she resided with the Captain's family.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>But here another kind of adventure was to befall her&mdash;for a niece of
+Captain Field's fell deeply in love with her, even going so far as to
+propose marriage. On leaving Rhode Island, the young lady had such
+alarming fits that, after sailing two miles, Mary Anne Talbot was
+called back by a boat, and compelled to promise a speedy return to the
+enamoured young lady. On reaching England, she was one day on shore
+with some of her comrades when she was seized by a press-gang, and
+finding there was no other way of getting off than by revealing her
+sex, she did so, her story creating a great sensation. From this time
+she never went to sea again, and soon afterwards lived in service with
+a bookseller, Mr. Kirby, who wrote her memoir.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
+
+<p>And the late Colonel Fred Burnaby has recorded the history of a
+singular case, the facts of which came under his notice when he was
+with Don Carlos during the Carlist rising of the year 1874: "A
+discovery was made a few days ago that a woman was serving in the
+Royalists' ranks, dressed in a soldier's uniform. She was found out in
+the following manner. The priest of the village to where she belonged
+happening to pass through a town where the regiment was quartered, and
+chancing to see her, was struck by the likeness she bore to one of his
+parishioners.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>"You must be Andalicia Bravo," he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am her brother," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>The Cure's suspicions were aroused, and at his suggestion, an inquiry
+was made, when it was discovered that the youthful soldier had no
+right to the masculine vestments she wore. Don Carlos, who was told of
+the affair, desired that she should be sent as a nurse to the hospital
+of Durango, and, when he visited the establishment, presented the fair
+Amazon with a military cross of merit. The poor girl was delighted
+with the decoration, and besought the "King" to allow her to return to
+the regiment, as she said she was more accustomed to inflicting wounds
+than to healing them. In fact, she so implored to be permitted to
+serve once more as a soldier, that at last, Don Carlos, to extricate
+himself from the difficulty, said, "No, I cannot allow you to join a
+regiment of men; but when I form a battalion of women, I promise, upon
+my honour, that you shall be named the Colonel."</p>
+
+<p>"It will never happen," said the girl, and she burst into tears as the
+King left the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>At Haddon Hall may still be seen "Dorothy Vernon's Door," whence the
+heiress of Haddon stole out one moonlight night to join her lover. The
+story generally told is that, while her elder sister, the affianced
+bride of Sir Thomas Stanley, second son of the Earl of Derby, was made
+much <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>of in her recognised attachment, Dorothy, on the other hand, was
+not only kept in the background, but every obstacle was thrown in her
+way against a connection she had formed with John Manners, son of the
+Earl of Rutland. But "something of the wild bird," it is said, "was
+noticed in Dorothy, and she was closely watched, kept almost a
+prisoner, and could only beat her wings against the bars that confined
+her." This kind of surveillance went on for some time, but did not
+check the young lady's infatuation for her lover, and it was not long
+before the young couple contrived to see one another. Disguised as a
+woodman, John Manners lurked of a day in the woods round Haddon for
+several weeks, obtaining now and then a stolen glance, a hurried word,
+or a pressure of the hand from the fair Dorothy.</p>
+
+<p>At length, however, an opportunity arrived which enabled Dorothy to
+carry out the plan which had been suggested to her by John Manners. It
+so happened that a grand ball was given at Haddon Hall, to celebrate
+the approaching marriage of the elder daughter, and, whilst a throng
+of guests filled the ball-room, where the stringed minstrels played
+old dances in the Minstrels' Gallery, and the horns blew low, everyone
+being too busy with his own interests and pleasures to attend to those
+of another, the young Miss Dorothy stole away unobserved from the
+ball-room, "passed out of the door, which is now one of the most
+interesting <a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>parts of this historic pile of buildings, and crossed
+the terrace to where, at the "ladies' steps," she could dimly discern
+figures hiding in the shadow of the trees. Another moment, and she was
+in her lover's arms. Horses were waiting, and Dorothy was soon riding
+away with her lover through the moonlight, and was married on the
+following morning. This story, which has been gracefully told by Eliza
+Meteyard under the title of "The Love Steps of Dorothy Vernon," has
+always been regarded as one of the most romantic and pleasant episodes
+in the history of Haddon Hall. Through Dorothy's marriage, the estate
+of Haddon passed from the family of Vernon to that of Manners, and a
+branch of the house of Rutland was transferred to the county of
+Derby."</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep214" id="imagep214"></a><a name="Page_214a" id="Page_214a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep214.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep214.jpg" width="355" height="550" alt="Dorothy Vernon and the Woodman." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Dorothy Vernon and the Woodman.</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But love has always been an inducement, in one form or another for
+disguise, and a romantic story is told of Sir John Bolle, of Thorpe
+Hall, in Lincolnshire, who distinguished himself at Cadiz, in the year
+1596. Among the prisoners taken at this memorable seige, was "a fair
+captive of great beauty, high rank, and immense wealth," and who was
+the peculiar charge of Sir John Bolle. She soon became deeply
+enamoured of her gallant captor, and "in his courteous company was all
+her joy," her infatuation being so great that she entreated him to
+allow her to accompany him to England disguised as his page. But Sir
+John had a wife at home, and replied&mdash;to quote the version <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>of the
+story given in Dr. Percy's "Relics of Ancient English Poetry":&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">"Courteous lady, leave this fancy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Here comes all that breeds the strife;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">I in England have already<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A sweet woman to my wife.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will not falsify my vow for gold or gain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Thereupon the fair lady determined to retire to a convent, admiring
+the gallant soldier all the more for his faithful devotion to his
+wife.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">"O happy is that woman<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That enjoys so true a friend!<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Many happy days God send her!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of my suit I make an end,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which did from love and true affection first commence.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">"I will spend my days in prayer,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Love and all her laws defy;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">In a nunnery will I shroud me,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Far from any company.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But ere my prayers have an end be sure of this,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To pray for thee and for thy love I will not miss."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But, before forsaking the world, she transmitted to her unconscious
+rival in England her jewels and valuable knicknacks, including her own
+portrait drawn in green&mdash;a circumstance which obtained for the
+original the designation of the "Green Lady," and Thorpe Hall has long
+been said to be haunted by the lady in green, who has been in the
+habit of appearing beneath a particular tree close to the mansion.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>A story, which has been gracefully told in one of Moore's Irish
+Melodies, relates to Henry Cecil, Earl of Exeter, who early in life
+fell in love with the rich heiress of the Vernons of Hanbury. A
+marriage was eventually arranged, but this union proved a complete
+failure, and terminated in a divorce. Thereupon young Cecil,
+distrustful of the conventionalities of society, and to prevent any
+one of the fair sex marrying him on account of his position, resolved
+"on laying aside the artificial attractions of his rank, and seeking
+some country maiden who would wed him from disinterested motives of
+affection."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly he took up his abode at a small inn in a retired
+Shropshire village, but even here his movements created suspicion,
+"some maintaining that he was connected with smugglers or gamesters,
+while all agreed that dishonesty or fraud was the cause of the mystery
+of the 'London gentleman's' proceedings." Annoyed at the rude
+molestations to which he was daily, more or less, exposed, he quitted
+the inn and removed to a farm-house in the neighbourhood, where he
+remained for two years, in the course of which time he purchased some
+land, and commenced building himself a house:</p>
+
+<p>But the landlord of the cottage where he lived had a beautiful
+daughter of about seventeen years, to whom young Cecil became so
+deeply attached that, in spite of her humble birth, and simple
+education, he resolved to make her his wife, taking an early
+<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>opportunity of informing her parents of his resolve. The matter came
+as a surprise to the farmer and his wife, and all the more so because
+they had always regarded Mr. Cecil as far too grand a person to
+entertain such an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Marry our daughter?" exclaimed the good wife, in amazement. "What, to
+a fine gentleman! No, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, marry her," added the husband, "he shall marry her, for she
+likes him. Has he not house and land, too, and plenty of money to keep
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>So the rustic beauty was married, and it was not long afterwards that
+her husband found it necessary to repair to town on account of the
+Earl of Exeter's death. Setting out, as the young bride thought, on a
+pleasure trip, they stopped in the course of their journey at several
+noblemen's seats, where, to her astonishment, Cecil was welcomed in
+the most friendly manner. At last they reached Burleigh, in
+Northamptonshire&mdash;the home of the Cecils. And on driving up to the
+house, Cecil unconcernedly asked his wife, "whether she would like to
+be at home there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," she excitedly exclaimed; "it is, indeed, a lovely spot,
+exceeding all I have seen, and making me almost envy its possessor."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said the young earl, "it is yours."</p>
+
+<p>The whole affair seemed like a fairy tale to the bewildered girl, and
+who, but herself, could describe the feelings she experienced at the
+acclamations of <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>joy and welcome which awaited her in her magnificent
+home. But it was no dream, and as soon as the young earl had arranged
+his affairs, he returned to Shropshire, threw off his disguise, and
+revealed his rank to his wife's parents, assigning to them the house
+he had built, with a settlement of &pound;700 per annum.</p>
+
+<p>"But," writes Sir Bernard Burke, "if report speak truly, the narrative
+must have a melancholy end. Her ladyship, unaccustomed to the exalted
+sphere in which she moved, chilled by its formalities, and depressed
+in her own esteem, survived only a few years her extraordinary
+elevation, and sank into an early grave," although Moore has given a
+brighter picture of this sad close to a pretty romance.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">You remember Ellen, our hamlet's pride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">How meekly she blessed her humble lot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the stranger, William, had made her his bride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And love was the light of their lowly cot.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Together they toiled through wind and rain<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Till William at length in sadness said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"We must seek our fortunes on other plains";<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Then sighing she left her lowly shed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">They roam'd a long and weary way,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor much was the maiden's heart at ease,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When now, at close of one stormy day<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They see a proud castle among the trees.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"To night," said the youth, "we'll shelter there;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The wind blows cold, the hour is late";<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So he blew the horn with a chieftain's air,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And the porter bow'd as they pass'd the gate.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>"Now welcome, Lady!" exclaimed the youth;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"This castle is thine, and these dark woods all."<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">She believed him wild, but his words were truth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Ellen is Lady of Rosna Hall!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And dearly the Lord of Rosna loves<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What William the stranger woo'd and wed;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the light of bliss in those lordly groves<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is pure as it shone in the lowly shed.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But one of the most extraordinary instances of disguise was that of
+the Chevalier d'Eon, who was born in the year 1728, and was an
+excellent scholar, soldier, and political intriguer. In the service of
+Louis XV., he went to Russia in female attire, obtained employment as
+the female reader to the Czarina Elizabeth, under which disguise he
+carried on political and semi-political negotiations with wonderful
+success. In the year 1762, he appeared in England as Secretary of the
+Embassy to the Duke of Nivernois, and when Louis XVI. granted him a
+pension and he went over to Versailles to return thanks for the
+favour, Marie Antoinette is said to have insisted on his assuming
+women's attire. Accordingly, to gratify this foolish whim, D'Eon is
+reported to have one day swept into the royal presence attired like a
+duchess, which character he supported to the great delight of the
+royal spectators.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1794, he returned to this country, and, being here after
+the Revolution was accomplished, his name was placed in the fatal list
+of <i>emigr&eacute;s</i>, and he was deprived of his pension. The <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>English
+Government, however, gave him an allowance of &pound;200 a year; and in his
+old days he turned his fencing capabilities to account, for he
+occasionally appeared in matches with the Chevalier de St. George, and
+permanently reassumed female attire.</p>
+
+<p>This eccentric character was the subject of much speculation in his
+lifetime, and, curious to say, in the year 1771, it was proved to the
+satisfaction of a jury, on a trial before Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, that the Chevalier was of the female sex. The case in
+question arose from a wager between Hayes, a surgeon, and Jacques, an
+underwriter, the latter having bound himself, on receiving a premium,
+to pay the former a certain sum whenever the fact was established that
+D'Eon was a woman. One of the witnesses was Morande, an infamous
+Frenchman, who gave such testimony that no human being could doubt the
+fact of D'Eon being of the female sex, and two French medical men gave
+equally conclusive evidence. The result of this absurd trial was that
+the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with &pound;702 damages.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>
+But all doubt was cleared away when D'Eon died, in the year 1810, for,
+an examination of the body being made, it was publicly declared that
+the Chevalier was an old man. Walpole collected some facts about this
+remarkable man, and writes: "The Due de Choiseul believed it was a
+woman. After the death of Louis XV., D'Eon had leave to go to France,
+on which the <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>young Comte de Guerchy went to M. de Vergennes,
+Secretary of State, and gave him notice that the moment D'Eon landed
+at Calais he, Guerchy, would cut his throat, or D'Eon should his; on
+which Vergennes told the Count that D'Eon was certainly a woman. Louis
+XV. corresponded with D'Eon, and when the Duc de Choiseul had sent a
+vessel, which lay six months in the Thames, to trepan and bring off
+D'Eon, the king wrote a letter with his own hand to give him warning
+of the vessel."</p>
+
+<p>Like the Chevalier D'Eon, a certain individual named Russell, a native
+of Streatham, adopted the guise and habits of the opposite sex, and so
+skilfully did he keep up the deception that it was not known till
+after his death. It appears from Streatham Register that he was buried
+on April 14, 1772, the subjoined memorandum being affixed to the
+entry: "This person was always known under the guise or habit of a
+woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in this
+parish, November 21, 1669, but on death proved to be a man. It also
+appears from the registers of Streatham Parish, that his father, John
+Russell, had three daughters, and two sons&mdash;William, born in 1668, and
+Thomas in 1672; and there is very little doubt that the above person,
+who was also commonly known as Betsy the Doctress, was one of these
+sons."</p>
+
+<p>It is said that when he assumed the garb of the softer sex he also
+took the name of his sister Elizabeth, who, very likely, either died
+in infancy, <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>or settled at a distance; but, under this name, he
+applied, about two years before his death, for a certificate of his
+baptism. Early in life, he associated with the gypsies, and became the
+companion of the famous Bampfylde Moore Carew. Later on in life he
+resided at Chipstead, in Kent, and there catered for the miscellaneous
+wants of the villagers. He also visited most parts of the continent as
+a stroller and a vagabond, and sometimes in the company of a man who
+passed for his husband, he moved about from one place to another,
+changing his "maiden" name to that of his companion, at whose death he
+passed as his widow, being generally known by the familiar name of Bet
+Page.</p>
+
+<p>According to Lysons, in the course of his wanderings he attached
+himself to itinerant quacks, learned their remedies, practised their
+calling, his knowledge, coupled with his great experience, gaining for
+him the reputation of being "a most infallible doctress." He also went
+in for astrology, and made a considerable sum of money, but was so
+extravagant that when he died his worldly goods were not valued at
+half-a-sovereign. About a year before his death he returned to his
+native parish, his great age bringing him into much notoriety; but his
+death was very sudden, and great was the surprise on all sides when it
+became known that he was a man. In life this strange character was a
+general favourite, and Mr. Thrale was wont to have <a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>him in his kitchen
+at Streatham Park, while Dr. Johnson, who considered him a shrewd
+person, held long conversations with him. To prevent the discovery of
+his sex he used to wear a cloth tied under his chin, and a large pair
+of nippers, found in his pocket after death, are supposed to have been
+the instruments with which he was in the habit of removing the
+tell-tale hairs from his face.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p>
+
+<p>In some instances, as in times of political intrigue and commotion,
+disguise has been resorted to as a means of escape and concealment of
+personal identity, one of the most romantic and remarkable cases on
+record being that of Lord Clifford, popularly known as the "shepherd
+lad." It appears that Lady Clifford, apprehensive lest the life of her
+son, seven years of age, might be sacrificed in vengeance for the
+blood of the youthful Earl of Rutland, whom Lord Clifford had murdered
+in cold blood at the termination of the battle of Sandal, placed him
+in the keeping of a shepherd who had married one of her inferior
+servants&mdash;an attendant on the boy's nurse. His name and parentage laid
+aside, the young boy was brought up among the moors and <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>hills as one
+of the shepherd's own children. On reaching the age of fourteen, a
+rumour somehow spread to the Court that the son of "the black-faced
+Clifford," as his father had been called, was living in concealment in
+Yorkshire. His mother, naturally alarmed, had the boy immediately
+removed to the vicinity of the village of Threlkeld, amidst the
+Cumberland hills, where she had sometimes the opportunity of seeing
+him.</p>
+
+<p>But, strange to say it is doubtful whether Lady Clifford made known
+her relationship to him, or whether, indeed, the "shepherd lord" had
+any distinct idea of his lofty lineage. It is generally supposed,
+however, that there was a complete separation between mother and
+child&mdash;a tradition which was accepted by Wordsworth, with whom the
+story of the shepherd boy was an especial favourite. In his "Song at
+the Feast of Brougham Castle," the poet thus prettily describes the
+shepherd boy's curious career:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Now who is he that bounds with joy<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On Carroch's side, a shepherd boy?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No thoughts hath he but thoughts that pass,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Light as the wind along the grass.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can this be he who hither came<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In secret, like a smothered flame?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O'er whom such thankful tears were shed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For shelter, and a poor man's bread!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God loves the child; and God hath willed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That those dear words should be fulfilled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The lady's words, when forced away,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The last she to her babe did say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>'My own, my own, thy fellow guest<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I may not be; but rest thee, rest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For lowly shepherd's life is best.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Many items of traditionary lore still linger about the Cumberland
+hills respecting the young lord who grew up "as hardy as the heath on
+which he vegetated, and as ignorant as the rude herds which bounded
+over it." But the following description of young Clifford in his
+disguise, and of his employment, as given by Wordsworth, probably
+gives the most reliable traditionary account respecting him that
+prevailed in the district where he spent his lonely youth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"His garb is humble, ne'er was seen<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Such garb with such a noble mien;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Among the shepherd grooms no mate<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hath he, a child of strength and state!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yet lacks not friends for solemn glee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And a cheerful company,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That learned of him submissive ways;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And comforted his private days.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To his side the fallow deer<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Came, and rested without fear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The eagle, lord of land and sea,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stooped down to pay him fealty;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And both the undying fish that swim,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Through Bowscale-Tarn did wait on him,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pair were servants to his eye<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In their immortality;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They moved about in open sight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To and fro, for his delight.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He knew the rocks which angels haunt<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On the mountains visitant,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>He hath kenned them taking wing;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the caves where fairies sing<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He hath entered; and been told<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By voices how men lived of old."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But one of the first acts of Henry VII., on his accession to the
+throne was to restore young Clifford to his birthright, and to all the
+possessions that his distinguished sire had won. There are few
+authentic facts, however, recorded concerning him; for it seems that
+as soon as he had emerged from the hiding-place where he had been
+brought up in ignorance of his rank, finding himself more illiterate
+than was usual, even in an illiterate age, he retired to a tower,
+which he built in a beautiful and sequestered forest, where, under the
+direction of the monks of Bolton Abbey, he gave himself up to the
+forbidden studies of alchemy and astrology. His descendant Anne
+Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, describes him as "a plain man, who
+lived for the most part a country life, and came seldom either to
+Court or London, excepting when called to Parliament, on which
+occasion he behaved himself like a wise and good English nobleman." He
+was twice married, and was succeeded by his son, called Wild Henry
+Clifford, from the irregularities of his youth.</p>
+
+<p>And we may cite the case of Matthew Hale, who, on one occasion was
+instrumental to justice being done through himself appearing in
+disguise, and supporting the wronged party. It is related that <a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>the
+younger of two brothers had endeavoured to deprive the elder of an
+estate of &pound;500 a year by suborning witnesses to declare that he died
+in a foreign land. But appearing in Court in the guise of a miller,
+Sir Matthew Hale was chosen the twelfth juryman to sit on this cause.
+As soon as the clerk of the juryman had sworn in the juryman, a short
+dexterous fellow came into their apartment, and slipped ten gold
+pieces into the hands of eleven of the jury, giving the miller only
+five, while the judge was generally supposed to be bribed with a large
+sum.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the case, the judge summed up the evidence in
+favour of the younger brother, and the jury were about to give their
+verdict, when the supposed miller stood up, and addressed the court.
+To the surprise of all present, he spoke with energetic and manly
+eloquence, "unravelled the sophistry to the very bottom, proved the
+fact of bribery, shewed the elder brother's title to the estate from
+the contradictory evidence of the witnesses," and in short, he gained
+a complete victory in favour of truth and justice.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> See "Annual Register," 1813, 1835, and 1842, for similar
+cases.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> See Notes and Queries, 6th Series, X., <i>passim</i>, for
+"Women on board ships in action"; and "Chambers's Pocket Miscellany,"
+"Disguised Females, 1853."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> See "Dictionary of National Biography," xiv., 485.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Arnold's "History of Streatham," 1866, 164-166. An
+extraordinary case of concealment of sex is recorded in the "Annual
+Register," under Jan. 23, 1833. An inquiry was instituted by order of
+the Home Secretary relative to the death of "a person who had been
+known for years by the name of Eliza Edwards," but who turned out to
+be a man.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>EXTRAORDINARY DISAPPEARANCES.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span style="margin-left: 10em;">"O Annie,<br /></span>
+    <span>It is beyond all hope, against all chance,<br /></span>
+    <span>That he who left you ten long years ago<br /></span>
+    <span>Should still be living; well, then&mdash;let me speak;<br /></span>
+    <span>I grieve to see you poor and wanting help:<br /></span>
+    <span>I cannot help you as I wish to do<br /></span>
+    <span>Unless&mdash;they say that women are so quick&mdash;<br /></span>
+    <span>Perhaps you know what I would have you know&mdash;<br /></span>
+    <span>wish you for my wife."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Enoch Arden.</span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>A glance at the agony columns of our daily newspapers, or the notice
+boards of police stations, it has been remarked, shows how many
+individuals disappear from home, from their business haunts, and from
+the circle of their acquaintances, and leave not the slightest trace
+of their whereabouts. In only too many instances, no satisfactory
+explanation has ever been forthcoming to account for a disappearance
+of this nature, and in the vast majority of cases no evidence has been
+discovered to prove the death of such persons. It is well <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>known that
+"in France, before the Revolution, the vanishing of men almost before
+the eyes of their friends was so common that it scarcely excited any
+surprise at all. The only inquiry was, had he a beautiful wife or
+daughter, for in that case the explanation was easy; some one who had
+influence with the Government had designs upon the lady, and made
+interest to have her natural guardian put out of the way while those
+designs were being fulfilled." But, accountable as the disappearance
+of an individual was at such an unquiet time in French history, such a
+solution of the difficulty cannot be made to apply to our own country.
+Like other social problems, which no amount of intellectual ingenuity
+has been able to unravel, the reason why, at intervals, persons are
+missed and never found must always be regarded as an open question.</p>
+
+<p>Thus a marriage is recorded which took place in Lincolnshire, about
+the year 1750. In this instance, the wedding party adjourned after the
+marriage ceremony to the bridegroom's residence, and dispersed, some
+to ramble in the garden and others to rest in the house till the
+dinner hour. But the bridegroom was suddenly summoned away by a
+domestic, who said that a stranger wished to speak to him, and
+henceforward he was never seen again. All kinds of inquiries were made
+but to no purpose, and terrible as the dismay was of the poor bride at
+this inexplicable disappearance of the <a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>bridegroom, no trace could be
+found of him. A similar tradition hangs about an old deserted Welsh
+Hall, standing in a wood near Festiniog. In a similar manner, the
+bridegroom was asked to give audience to a stranger on his wedding
+day, and disappeared from the face of the earth from that moment. The
+bride, however, seems to have survived the shock, exceeding her three
+score years and ten, although, it is said, during all those years,
+while there was light of sun or moon to lighten the earth, she sat
+watching&mdash;watching at one particular window which commanded a view of
+the approach to the house. In short, her whole faculties, her whole
+mental powers, became completely absorbed in that weary process of
+watching, and long before she died she was childish, and only
+conscious of one wish&mdash;to sit in that long high window, and watch the
+road, along which he might come. Family romance records, from time to
+time, many such stories, and it was not so very long ago that a bridal
+party were thrown into much consternation by the non-arrival of the
+bridegroom. Everything was in readiness, the clergy and the choir,
+already vested, stood in the robing room, crimson carpets were laid
+down from the door to the carriages; some of the guests were at the
+church and others at the bride's house, when an alarm was raised by
+the best man that the bridegroom could nowhere be found. The
+bride-expectant burst into a flood of tears at this cruel
+disappointment, especially when <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>the ominous news reached the church
+that the bridegroom's wedding suit had been found in the room, laid
+out ready to wear, but that there was not the slightest clue as to his
+whereabouts. It only remained for the bridal party to return home, and
+for the dejected and disconsolate bride to lay aside her veil and
+orange-blossoms.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, on the other hand, it is the bride who disappears at this
+crisis. Not many years back, an ex-lieutenant in the Royal Navy
+applied to a London magistrate, as he wanted to find his newly married
+wife. The applicant affirmed that the lady he had wedded was an
+actress, and that they were married at the registry office at Croydon.
+The magistrate asked if there had been any wedding breakfast. The
+applicant said "No"; they had partaken of a little luncheon and that
+was all. Mysterious and inexplicable as was this disappearance of a
+wife so shortly after marriage, it was suggested by the magistrate
+whether there were any rivals, but the applicant promptly replied,
+"No, certainly not, and that made the matter all the more
+incomprehensible." Of course, the magistrate could not recover the
+missing bride; but, remarking that the application was a very singular
+one, he recommended the applicant to consult the police on the matter,
+who replied that "he would do so, as he was really afraid that some
+mischief had happened to her," utterly disregarding the proposition of
+the magistrate as to whether the lady could not possibly <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>have changed
+her mind, remarking that such a thing had occasionally happened.</p>
+
+<p>In the life of Dr. Raffles, an amusing story is quoted, which is
+somewhat to the point: "On our way from Wem to Hawkstone, we passed a
+house, of which the following occurrence was told: 'A young lady, the
+daughter of the owner of the house, was addressed by a man who, though
+agreeable to her, was disliked by her father. Of course, he would not
+consent to their union, and she determined to disappear and elope. The
+night was fixed, the hour came, he placed the ladder to the window,
+and in a few minutes she was in his arms. They mounted a double horse,
+and were soon at some distance from the house. After awhile the lady
+broke silence by saying, 'Well, you see what a proof I have given you
+of my affection; I hope you will make me a good husband!'</p>
+
+<p>"He was a surly fellow, and gruffly answered, 'Perhaps I may, and
+perhaps not.'</p>
+
+<p>"She made him no reply, but, after a few minutes' silence, she
+suddenly exclaimed, 'O, what shall we do? I have left my money behind
+me in my room!'</p>
+
+<p>"'Then,' said he, 'we must go and fetch it.' They were soon again at
+the house, the ladder was again placed, the lady remounted, while the
+ill-natured lover waited below. But she delayed to come, and so he
+gently called, 'Are you coming?' <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>when she looked out of the window
+and said, 'Perhaps I may, and perhaps not,' then shut down the window,
+and left him to return upon the double horse alone."</p>
+
+<p>But, if traditionary lore is to be believed, the sudden disappearance
+of the bride on her wedding day has had, in more than one instance, a
+very romantic and tragic origin. There is the well-known story which
+tells how Lord Lovel married a young lady, a baron's daughter, who, on
+the wedding night, proposed that the guests should play at
+"hide-and-seek." Accordingly, the bride hid herself in an old oak
+chest, but the lid falling down, shut her in, for it went with a
+spring lock. Lord Lovel and the rest of the company sought her that
+night and many days in succession, but nowhere could she be found. Her
+strange disappearance for many years remained an unsolved mystery, but
+some time afterwards the fatal chest was sold, which, on being opened,
+was found to contain the skeleton of the long-lost bride. This popular
+story was made the subject of a song, entitled "The Mistletoe Bough,"
+by Thomas Haynes Bayley, who died in 1839; and Marwell Old Hall, near
+Winchester, once the residence of the Seymours, and afterwards of the
+Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it. Indeed, the very
+chest has been preserved in the hall of Upham Rectory, having been
+removed from Marwell some forty years ago. The great house at
+Malsanger, <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>near Basingstoke, has a story of a like nature connected
+with it, reminding us of that of Tony Forster in Kenilworth, and of
+Rogers's Ginevra:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There then had she found a grave!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Within that chest had she concealed herself,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fluttering with joy, the happiest of the happy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When a spring lock that lay in ambush there,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fastened her down for ever."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This story is found in many places, and the chest in which the poor
+bride was found is shown at Bramshill, in Hampshire, the residence of
+Sir John Cope. But only too frequently the young lady disappears from
+some preconcerted arrangement; a striking instance being that of
+Agnes, daughter of James Ferguson, the mechanist. While walking down
+the Strand with her father, she slipt her hand out of his whilst he
+was absorbed in thought, and he never saw her from that day, nor was
+anything known of the girl's fate till many years after Ferguson's
+death. At the time, the story of her extraordinary disappearance was
+matter of public comment, and all kinds of extravagant theories were
+started to account for it. The young lady, however, was gone, and
+despite the most patient search, and the most persistent inquiries, no
+tidings could be gained as to her whereabouts. In course of years the
+mystery was cleared up, and revealed a pitiable case of sin and shame.
+It appears that a nobleman to whom she had become known at her
+father's lectures took her, in the first instance, to <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>Italy, and
+afterwards deserted her. In her distress, being ashamed to return
+home, she resolved to try the stage as a means of livelihood, and
+applied to Garrick, who gave her a trial on the boards, but the
+attempt proved a failure. She then turned her hand to authorship, but
+with no better success. Although reduced to the most abject poverty,
+she would not make herself known to her relatives, and in complete
+despair, and overwhelmed with a sense of her disgrace, in her last
+extremity she threw herself on the streets, and died in miserable
+beggary and wretchedness in Round Court, off the Strand. It was on her
+death-bed that she disclosed to the surgeon who attended her the
+melancholy and tragic story of her wasted life. But from the
+localities in which she had habitually moved, she must have many a
+time passed her relatives in the streets, though withheld by shame
+from making herself known, when they imagined her to be in some
+distant country, or in the grave.</p>
+
+<p>The strange disappearance of Lady Cathcart, on the other hand, whose
+fourth husband was Hugh Maguire, an officer in the Hungarian service,
+is an extraordinary instance of a wife being, for a long term of
+years, imprisoned by her own husband without any chance of escape. It
+seems that, soon after her last marriage, she discovered that her
+husband had only made her his wife with the object of possessing
+himself of her property, and, alarmed at the idea of losing
+everything, she plaited some of <a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>her jewels in her hair and others in
+her petticoat. But she little anticipated what was in store for her,
+although she had already become suspicious of her husband's intentions
+towards her. His plans, however, were soon executed; for one morning,
+under the pretence of taking her for a drive, he carried her away
+altogether: and when she suggested, after they had been driving some
+time, that they would be late for dinner, he coolly replied, "We do
+not dine to-day at Tewing, but at Chester, whither we are journeying."</p>
+
+<p>Some alarm was naturally caused, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "by her
+sudden disappearance, and an attorney was sent in pursuit with a writ
+of <i>habeas corpus</i> or <i>ne exeat regno</i>, who found the travellers at
+Chester, on their way to Ireland, and demanded a sight of Lady
+Cathcart. Colonel Maguire at once consented, but, knowing that the
+attorney had never seen his wife, he persuaded a woman to personate
+her.</p>
+
+<p>The attorney, in due time, was introduced to the supposed Lady
+Cathcart, and was asked if she accompanied Colonel Maguire to Ireland
+of her own free will. "Perfectly so," said the woman. Whereupon the
+attorney set out again for London, and the Colonel resumed his journey
+with Lady Cathcart to Ireland, where, on his arrival at his own house
+at Tempo, in Fermanagh, his wife was imprisoned for many years."
+During this period the Colonel was visited by the neighbouring gentry,
+"and it was his regular custom at dinner to send <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>his compliments to
+Lady Cathcart, informing her that the company had the honour to drink
+her ladyship's health, and begging to know whether there was anything
+at table that she would like to eat? But the answer was always the
+same, "Lady Cathcart's compliments, and she has everything she wants."
+Fortunately for Lady Cathcart, Colonel Maguire died in the year 1764,
+when her ladyship was released, after having been locked up for twenty
+years, possessing, at the time of her deliverance, scarcely clothes to
+her back. She lost no time in hastening back to England, and found her
+house at Tewing in possession of a Mr. Joseph Steele, against whom she
+brought an act of ejectment, and, attending the assize in person,
+gained her case. Although she had been so cruelly treated by Colonel
+Maguire, his conduct does not seem to have injured her health, for she
+did not die till the year 1789, when she was in her ninety-eighth
+year. And, when eighty years of age, it is recorded that she took part
+in the gaieties of the Welwyn Assembly, and danced with the spirit of
+a girl. It may be added that although she survived Colonel Maguire
+twenty years, she was not tempted, after his treatment, to carry out
+the resolution which she had inscribed as a poesy on her wedding ring.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">If I survive<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will have five.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>Another disappearance and supposed imprisonment which created
+considerable sensation in the last century was that of Elizabeth
+Canning. On New Year's Day, 1753, she visited an uncle and aunt who
+lived at Saltpetre Bank, near Well Close Square, who saw her part of the
+way home as far as Houndsditch. But as no tidings were afterwards heard
+of her, she was advertised for, rumours having gone abroad, that she had
+been heard to shriek out of a hackney coach in Bishopsgate-street.
+Prayers, too, were offered up for her in churches and meeting-houses,
+but all inquiries were in vain, and it was not until the 29th of the
+month that the missing girl returned in a wretched condition, ill,
+half-starved, and half-clad. Her story was that after leaving her uncle
+and aunt on the 1st of January, she had been attacked by two men in
+great coats, who robbed, partially stripped her, and dragged her away to
+a house in the Hertfordshire road, where an old woman cut off her stays,
+and shut her up in a room in which she had been imprisoned ever since,
+subsisting on bread and water, and a mince pie that her assailants had
+overlooked in her pocket, and ultimately, she said, she had escaped
+through the window, tearing her ear in doing so.</p>
+
+<p>Her story created much sympathy for her, and steps were immediately
+taken to punish those who had abducted her in this outrageous manner.
+The girl, who was in a very weak condition, was taken <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>to the house
+she had specified, one "Mother" Wells, who kept an establishment of
+doubtful reputation at Enfield Wash, and on being asked to identify
+the woman who had cut off her stays, and locked her up in the room
+referred to, pointed out one Mary Squires, an old gipsy of surpassing
+ugliness. Accordingly, Squires and Wells were committed for trial for
+assault and felony; the result of the trial being that Squires was
+condemned to death, and Wells to be burned in the hand, a sentence
+which was executed forthwith, much to the delight of the excited crowd
+in the Old Bailey Sessions-house.</p>
+
+<p>But the Lord Mayor, Sir Crisp Gascoyne, who had presided at the trial
+<i>ex-officio</i>, was not satisfied with the verdict, and caused further
+and searching inquiries to be made. The verdict, on the weight of
+fresh evidence obtained, was upset, and Squires was granted a free
+pardon. On 29th April, 1754, Elizabeth Canning was summoned again to
+the Old Bailey, but this time to take her trial for wilful and corrupt
+perjury. The trial lasted eight days, and, being found guilty, she was
+transported in August, "at the request of her friends, to New
+England." According to the "Annual Register," she returned to this
+country at the expiration of her sentence to receive a legacy of &pound;500,
+left to her three years before by an old lady of Newington Green;
+whereas, later accounts affirm that she never came back, but died 22nd
+July, 1773, at <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>Weathersfield, in Connecticut, it being further stated
+that she married abroad a Quaker of the name of Treat, "and for some
+time followed the occupation of a schoolmistress."</p>
+
+<p>The mystery of her life&mdash;her disappearance from Jan. 1st to the 29th
+of that month, and what transpired in that interval&mdash;is a secret that
+has never been to this day divulged. Indeed, as it has been observed,
+"notwithstanding the many strange circumstances of her story, none is
+so strange as that it should not be discovered in so many years where
+she had concealed herself during the time she had invariably declared
+she was at the house of Mother Wells."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another curious disappearance is recorded by Sir John Coleridge,
+forming a strange story of romance. It seems there lived in Cornwall,
+a highly respectable family, named Robinson, consisting of two
+sons&mdash;William and Nicholas&mdash;and two daughters. The property was
+settled on the two sons and their male issue, and in case of death on
+the two daughters. Nicholas was placed with an eminent attorney of St.
+Austen as his clerk, with a prospect of being one day admitted into
+partnership. But his legal studies were somewhat interrupted by his
+falling in love with a milliner's apprentice; the result being that he
+was sent to London to qualify himself as an attorney. But he had no
+sooner been <a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>admitted an attorney of the Queen's Bench and Common
+Pleas than he disappeared, and thenceforward he was never seen by any
+member of his family or former friends, all search for him proving
+fruitless.</p>
+
+<p>In course of time the father died, and William, the elder son,
+succeeded to the property, dying unmarried in May, 1802. As nothing
+was heard of Nicholas, the two sisters became entitled to the
+property, of which they held possession for twenty years, no claim
+being made to disturb their possession of it.</p>
+
+<p>But in the year 1783, a young man, whose looks and manners were above
+his means and situation, had made his appearance as a stranger at
+Liverpool, going by the name of Nathaniel Richardson&mdash;the same
+initials as Nicholas Robinson. He bought a cab and horse, and plied
+for hire in the streets of Liverpool&mdash;and being "a civil, sober, and
+prudent man," he soon became prosperous, and drove a coach between
+London and Liverpool. He married, had children, and gradually acquired
+considerable wealth. Having gone to Wales, however, in the year 1802,
+to purchase some horses, he was accidentally drowned in the Mersey.
+Many years after his death, it was rumoured in 1821 that this
+Nathaniel Richardson was no other than Nicholas Robinson, and his
+eldest son claimed the property, which was then inherited by the two
+daughters. An action was accordingly tried in Cornwall to <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>recover the
+property. The strange part of the proceedings was that nearly forty
+years had elapsed since anyone had seen Nicholas Robinson; but, says
+Sir John Coleridge, "It was made out conclusively, in a most
+remarkable way, and by a variety of small circumstances, all pointing
+to one conclusion, that Nathaniel Richardson was the identical
+Nicholas Robinson". The Cornish and Liverpool witnesses agreed in the
+description of his person, his height, the colour of his hair, his
+general appearance, and, more particularly, it was mentioned that he
+had a peculiar habit of biting his nails, and that he had a great
+fondness for horses.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to other circumstances, there was this remarkable
+one&mdash;that Nathaniel's widow married again and that the furniture and
+effects were taken to the second husband's house. Among the articles,
+was an old trunk, which she had never seen opened; but, on its
+contents being examined one day, among other letters and papers, were
+found the two certificates of Nicholas Robinson's admission as
+Attorney to the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas&mdash;and, on the
+trial, the old master of Nicholas Robinson, alias Nathaniel
+Richardson, swore to his handwriting, and so the property was
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>It has been often remarked that London is about the only place in all
+Europe where a man, if so desirous, can disappear and live for years
+unknown in some secure retreat. About the <a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>year 1706, a certain Mr.
+Howe, after he had been married some seven or eight years, rose early
+one morning, and informed his wife that he was obliged to go to the
+Tower on special business, and at about noon the same day he sent a
+note to his wife informing her that business summoned him to Holland,
+where he would probably have to remain three weeks or a month. But
+from that day he was absent from his home for seventeen years, during
+which time his wife neither heard from him, nor of him.</p>
+
+<p>His strange and unaccountable disappearance at the time naturally
+created comment, but no trace could be found of his whereabouts, or as
+to whether he had met with foul treatment. And yet the most curious
+part of the story remains to be told. On leaving his house in Jermyn
+Street, Piccadilly, Mr. Howe went no further than to a small street in
+Westminster, where he took a room, for which he paid five or six
+shillings a week, and changing his name, and disguising himself by
+wearing a black wig&mdash;for he was a fair man&mdash;he remained in this
+locality during the whole time of his absence. At the time he
+disappeared from his home, Mr. Howe had had two children by his wife,
+but these both died a few years afterwards. But, being left without
+the necessary means of subsistence, Mrs. Howe, after waiting two or
+three years in the hope of her husband's return, was forced to apply
+for an Act of Parliament to procure an <a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>adequate settlement of his
+estate, and a provision for herself out of it during his absence, as
+it was uncertain whether he was alive or dead. This act Mr. Howe
+suffered to be passed, and read the progress of it in a little
+coffee-house which he frequented.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of her children, Mrs. Howe removed from her house in
+Jermyn Street to a smaller one in Brewer Street, near Golden Square.
+Just over against her lived one Salt, a corn chandler, with whom Mr.
+Howe became acquainted, usually dining with him once or twice a week.
+The room where they sat overlooked Mrs. Howe's dining room, and Salt,
+believing Howe to be a bachelor, oftentimes recommended her to him as
+a suitable wife. And, curious to add, during the last seven years of
+his mysterious absence, Mr. Howe attended every Sunday service at St.
+James's Church, Piccadilly, and sat in Mr. Salt's seat, where he had a
+good view of his wife, although he could not be easily seen by her.</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, Mr. Howe made up his mind to return home, and the
+evening before he took this step, sent her an anonymous note
+requesting her to meet him the following day in Birdcage Walk, St.
+James's Square. At the time this billet arrived, Mrs. Howe was
+entertaining some friends and relatives at supper&mdash;one of her guests
+being a Dr. Rose, who had married her sister.</p>
+
+<p>After reading the note, Mrs. Howe tossed it to <a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>Dr. Rose, laughingly
+remarking, "You see, brother, old as I am, I have got a gallant."</p>
+
+<p>But Dr. Rose recognised the handwriting as that of Mr. Howe, which so
+upset Mrs. Howe that she fainted away. It was eventually arranged that
+Dr. Rose and his wife, with the other guests who were then at supper,
+should accompany Mrs. Howe the following evening to the appointed
+spot. They had not long to wait before Mr. Howe appeared, who, after
+embracing his wife, walked home with her in the most matter-of-fact
+manner, the two living together in the most happy and harmonious
+manner till death divided them.</p>
+
+<p>The reason of this mysterious disappearance, Mr. Howe would never
+explain, but Dr. Rose often maintained that he believed his brother
+would never have returned to his wife had not the money which he took
+with him&mdash;supposed to have been from one to two thousand pounds&mdash;been
+all spent. "Anyhow," he used to add, "Mr. Howe must have been a good
+economist, and frugal in his manner of living, otherwise the money
+would scarce have held out."</p>
+
+<p>A romance associated with Haigh Hall, in Lancashire, tells how Sir
+William Bradshaigh, stimulated by his love of travel and military
+ardour, set out for the Holy land. Ten years elapsed, and, as no
+tidings reached his wife of his whereabouts, it was generally supposed
+that he had perished in some religious crusade. Taking it for granted,
+therefore, <a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>that he was dead, his wife Mabel did not abandon herself
+to a life of solitary widowhood, but accepted an offer of marriage
+from a Welsh knight. But, not very long afterwards, Sir William
+Bradshaigh returned from his prolonged sojourn in the Holy land, and,
+disguised as a palmer, he visited his own castle, where he took his
+place amongst the recipients of Lady Mabel's bounty.</p>
+
+<p>As soon, however, as Lady Mabel caught sight of the palmer, she was
+struck by the strong resemblance he bore to her first husband; and
+this impression was quickly followed by bewilderment when the
+mysterious stranger handed to her a ring which he affirmed had been
+given him by Sir William, in his dying moments, to bear to his wife at
+Haigh Hall.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment Lady Mabel's thoughts travelled back into the distant
+past, and she burst into tears as the ring brought back the dear
+memories of bygone days. It was in vain she tried to stifle her
+feelings, and, as her second husband&mdash;the Welsh Knight&mdash;looked on and
+saw how distressed she was, "he grew," says the old record, "exceeding
+wroth," and, in a fit of jealous passion, struck Lady Mabel.</p>
+
+<p>This ungallant act was the climax of the painful scene, for there and
+then Sir William threw aside his disguise, and hastened to revenge the
+unchivalrous conduct of the Welsh knight. Completely confounded at
+this unexpected turn of events, <a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>and fearing violence from Sir
+William, the Welsh knight rode off at full speed, without waiting for
+any explanation of the matter. But he was overtaken very speedily and
+slain by his opponent, an offence for which Sir William was outlawed
+for a year and a day; while Mabel, his wife, "was enjoined by her
+confessor to do penance by going once every week, barefoot and bare
+legged, to a cross near Wigan, popularly known as Mab's Cross.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p>
+
+<p>In Wigan Parish Church, two figures of whitewashed stone preserve the
+memory of Sir William Bradshaigh and his Lady Mabel, he in an antique
+coat of mail, cross-legged, with his sword, partly drawn from the
+scabbard, by his left side, and she in a long robe, veiled, her hands
+elevated and conjoined in the attitude of fervent prayer. Sir Walter
+Scott informs us that from this romance he adopted his idea of "The
+Betrothed," "from the edition preserved in the mansion of Haigh Hall,
+of old the mansion house of the family of Bradshaigh, now possessed by
+their descendants on the female side, the Earls of Balcarres."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep248" id="imagep248"></a><a name="Page_248a" id="Page_248a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep248.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep248.jpg" width="700" height="453" alt="Lady Mabel and the Palmer." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Lady Mabel and the Palmer.</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>Scottish tradition ascribes to the Clan of Tweedie a descent of a
+similar romantic nature. A baron, somewhat elderly, had wedded a buxom
+young wife, but some months after their union he left her to ply the
+distaff among the mountains of the county of Peebles, near the sources
+of the Tweed. After being absent seven or eight years&mdash;no uncommon
+space for a pilgrimage to Palestine&mdash;he returned, and found, to quote
+the account given by Sir Walter Scott, "his family had not been lonely
+in his absence, the lady having been cheered by the arrival of a
+stranger who hung on her skirts and called her mammy, and was just
+such as the baron would have longed to call his son, but that he could
+by no means make his age correspond with his own departure for
+Palestine. He applied, therefore, to his wife for the solution of the
+dilemma, who, after many floods of tears, informed her husband that,
+walking one day along the banks of the river, a human form arose from
+a deep eddy, termed Tweed-pool, who deigned to inform her that he was
+the tutelar genius of the stream, and he became the father of the
+sturdy fellow whose appearance had so much surprised her husband."
+After listening to this strange adventure, "the husband believed, or
+seemed to believe, the tale, and remained contented with the child
+with whom his wife and the Tweed had generously presented him. The
+only circumstance which preserved the memory of the incident was <a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>that
+the youth retained the name of Tweed or Tweedie." Having bred up the
+young Tweed as his heir while he lived, the baron left him in that
+capacity when he died, "and the son of the river-god founded the
+family of Drummelzier and others, from whom have flowed, in the phrase
+of the Ettrick shepherd, 'many a brave fellow, and many a bauld
+feat.'"</p>
+
+<p>It may be added that, in some instances, the science of the medical
+jurist has aided in elucidating the history of disappearances, through
+identifying the discovered remains with the presumed missing subjects.
+Some years ago, the examination of a skeleton found deeply imbedded in
+the sand of the sea-coast at a certain Scotch watering-place showed
+that the person when living must have walked with a very peculiar and
+characteristic gait, in consequence of some deposits of a rheumatic
+kind which affected the lower part of the spine. The mention of this
+circumstance caused a search to be made through some old records of
+the town, and resulted in the discovery of a mysterious disappearance,
+which, at the time, had been duly noted&mdash;the subject being a person
+whose mode of walking had made him an object of attention, and whose
+fate, but for the observant eye of the anatomist, must have remained
+wholly unknown. Similarly, it has been pointed out how skeletons found
+in mines, in disused wells, in quarries, in the walls of ruins, and
+various other localities "imply so many social mysteries which
+<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>probably occasioned in their day a wide-spread excitement, or at least
+agitated profoundly some small circle of relatives or friends."
+According to the "Annual Register" (1845, p. 195), while some men were
+being employed in taking the soil from the bottom of the river in
+front of some mills a human skeleton was accidentally found. At a
+coroner's inquest, it transpired that about nine years before a Jew
+whose name was said to be Abrams, visited Taverham in the course of
+his business, sold some small articles for which he gave credit to the
+purchasers, and left the neighbourhood on his way to Drayton, the next
+village, with a sum of &pound;90 in his possession. But at Drayton he
+disappeared, and never returned to Taverham to claim the amount due to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Search was made for the missing man, but to no purpose, and after the
+excitement in the neighbourhood had abated, the matter was soon
+forgotten. But some time afterwards a man named Page was apprehended
+for sheep stealing, tried, and sentenced to be transported for life.
+During his imprisonment, he told divers stories of robberies and
+crimes, most of which turned out to be false. But, amongst other
+things, he wrote a letter promising that if he were released from gaol
+and brought to Cossey, "he would show them that, from under the willow
+tree, which would make every hair in their heads rise up." The man was
+not released, but the river was drawn, and some sheep's skins and
+sheep's <a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>heads were found, which were considered to be the objects
+alluded to by Page. The search, however, was still pursued, and from
+under the willow tree the skeleton was fished up, evidently having
+been fastened down. It was generally supposed that these were the
+bones of the long lost Jew, who, no doubt, had been murdered for the
+money on his person&mdash;a crime of which Page was aware, if he were not
+an accomplice.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> See "Romantic Records of the Aristocracy," 1850, I.,
+83-87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See "Dict. of Nat. Biog.," VIII., 418-420; Caulfield's
+"Remarkable Persons," and Gent. Mag., 1753 and 1754.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Sir B. Burke's "Vicissitudes of Families," first series,
+270-273. Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 45-47. Roby's "Traditions of
+Lancashire."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> The tale of the noble Moringer is, in some respects,
+almost identical with this tradition. It exists in a collection of
+German popular songs, and is supposed to be extracted from a
+manuscript "Chronicle of Nicholas Thomann, Chaplain to St. Leonard in
+Weissenhorn," and dated 1533.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>HONOURED HEARTS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"I will ye charge, after that I depart<br /></span>
+    <span>To holy grave, and thair bury my heart,<br /></span>
+    <span>Let it remaine ever bothe tyme and hour,<br /></span>
+    <span>To ye last day I see my Saviour."<br /></span> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp; &nbsp; &mdash;Old ballad quoted in Sir Walter Scott's notes to "Marmion."
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>A curious and remarkable custom which prevailed more or less down to
+the present century was that of heart burial. In connection with this
+strange practice numerous romantic stories are told, the supreme
+regard for the heart as the source of the affections, having caused it
+to be bequeathed by a relative or friend, in times past, as the most
+tender and valuable legacy. In many cases, too, the heart, being more
+easy to transport, was removed from some distant land to the home of
+the deceased, and hence it found a resting place, apart from the body,
+in a locality endeared by past associations.</p>
+
+<p>Westminster Abbey, it may be remembered, contains the hearts of many
+illustrious personages. The heart of Queen Elizabeth was buried there,
+and it is related how a prying Westminster boy one day, discovering
+the depositories of the hearts <a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>of Elizabeth and her sister, Queen
+Mary, subsequently boasted how he had grasped in his hand those once
+haughty hearts. Prince Henry of Wales, son of James I., who died at
+the early age of eighteen, was interred in Westminster Abbey, his
+heart being enclosed in lead and placed upon his breast, and among
+further royal personages whose hearts were buried in a similar manner
+may be mentioned Charles II., William and Mary, George, Prince of
+Denmark, and Queen Anne.</p>
+
+<p>The heart of Edward, Lord Bruce, was enclosed in a silver case, and
+deposited in the abbey church of Culross, near the family seat. In the
+year 1808, this sad relic was discovered by Sir Robert Preston, the
+lid of the silver case bearing on the exterior the name of the
+unfortunate duellist; and, after drawings had been taken of it, the
+whole was carefully replaced in the vault; and in St. Nicholas's
+Chapel, Westminster, was enshrined the heart of Esme Stuart, Duke of
+Richmond, where a monument to his memory is still to be seen with this
+fact inscribed upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Many interesting instances of heart burial are to be found in our
+parish churches. In the church of Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, which
+was once the seat of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a nameless black marble
+monument is pointed out as that of Anne Boleyn. According to a popular
+tradition long current in the neighbourhood, this is said to have
+contained the head, or heart. "It is within a narrow seat," writes
+<a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>Miss Strickland, "and may have contained her head, or her heart, for
+it is too short to contain a body. The oldest people in the
+neighbourhood all declare that they have heard the tradition in their
+youth from a previous generation of aged persons, who all affirm it to
+be Anne Boleyn's monument." But, it would seem, there has always been
+a mysterious uncertainty about Anne Boleyn's burial place, and a
+correspondent of the <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> (October, 1815), speaks of
+"the headless remains of the departed queen, as deposited in the arrow
+chest and buried in the Tower Chapel before the high altar. Where that
+stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of more than 300
+years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related
+by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar, the body of a
+person of short stature, without a head, not many years since, was
+found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anne, but soon after it
+was reinterred in the same place and covered with earth."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>By her testament, Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, wife of Edward, Duke
+of Buckingham, who was beheaded on May 17th, 1521, appointed her heart
+to be buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within the City of
+London; and in the Sackville <a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>Vault, in Withyam Church, Sussex, is a
+curiously shaped leaden box in the form of a heart, on a brass plate
+attached to which is this inscription: "The heart of Isabella,
+Countess of Northampton, died on October 14th, 1661." A leaden drum
+deposited in a vault in the church of Brington is generally supposed
+to contain the head of Henry Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, who received
+his death wound at the battle of Newbury; and at Wells Cathedral, in a
+box of copper, a heart was accidentally discovered, supposed to be
+that of one of the bishops; and in the family vault of the
+Hungerfords, at Farley Castle, a heart was one day found in a glazed
+earthenware pot, covered with white leather. The widow of John Baliol,
+father of Bruce's rival, showed her affection for her dead lord in a
+strange way, for she embalmed his heart, placed it in an ivory casket,
+and during her twenty years of widowhood she never sat down to meals
+without this silent reminder of happier days. On her death, she left
+instructions for her husband's heart to be laid on her bosom, and from
+that day "New Abbey" was known as Sweet Heart Abbey, and "never," it
+is said, "did abbey walls shelter a sweeter, truer heart than that of
+the lady of Barnard Castle."</p>
+
+<p>Among the many instances of heart-bequests may be noticed that of
+Edward I., who on his death-bed expressed a wish to his son that his
+heart might be sent to Palestine, inasmuch as after <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>his accession he
+had promised to return to Jerusalem, and aid the crusade which was
+then in a depressed condition. But, unfortunately, owing to his wars
+with Scotland, he failed to fulfil his engagement, and at his death he
+provided two thousand pounds of silver for an expedition to convey his
+heart thither, "trusting that God would accept this fulfilment of his
+vow, and grant his blessing on the undertaking"; at the same time
+imprecating "eternal damnation on any who should expend the money for
+any other purpose." But his injunction was not performed.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, the avowed foe of Edward I., also gave
+directions to his trusted friend, Sir James Douglas, that his heart
+should be buried in the Holy Land, because he had left unfulfilled a
+vow to assist in the Crusade, but his wish was frustrated owing to the
+following tragic occurrence. After the king's death, his heart was
+taken from his body, and, enclosed in a silver case, was worn by Sir
+James Douglas suspended to his neck, who set out for the Holy Land. On
+reaching Spain, he found the King of Castile engaged in war with the
+Moors, and thinking any contest with Saracens consistent with his
+vows, he joined the Spaniards against the Moors. But being overpowered
+by the enemy's horsemen, in desperation he took the heart from his
+neck, and threw it before him, shouting aloud, "Pass on as thou wert
+wont, I will follow or die." He was <a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>almost immediately struck down,
+and under his body was found the heart of Bruce, which was intrusted
+to the charge of Sir Simon Locard of Lee, who conveyed it back to
+Scotland, and interred it beneath the high altar in Melrose Abbey, in
+connection with which Mrs. Hemans wrote some spirited lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Heart! thou didst press forward still<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the trumpet's note rang shrill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where the knightly swords were crossing<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the plumes like sea-foam tossing.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Leader of the charging spear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fiery heart&mdash;and liest thou here?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May this narrow spot inurn<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Aught that so could heat and burn?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The heart of Richard, the Lion-hearted, has had a somewhat eventful
+history. It seems that this monarch bequeathed his heart to Rouen, as
+a lasting recognition of the constancy of his Norman subjects. The
+honour was gratefully acknowledged, and in course of time a beautiful
+shrine was erected to his memory in the cathedral. But this costly
+structure did not escape being destroyed in the year 1738 with other
+Plantagenet memorials. A hundred years afterwards the mutilated effigy
+of Richard was discovered under the cathedral pavement, and near it
+the leaden casket that had inclosed his heart, which was replaced.
+Before long it was taken up again, and removed to the Museum of
+Antiquities, where it remained until the <a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>year 1869, when it found a
+more fitting resting-place in the choir of the cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>James II. bequeathed his heart to be buried in the Church of the
+Convent Dames de St. Marie, at Chaillot, whence it was afterwards
+removed to the chapel of the English Benedictines in the Faubourg St.
+Jacques. And the heart of Mary Beatrice, his wife, was also bequeathed
+to the Monastery of Chaillot, in perpetuity, "to be placed in the
+tribune beside those of her late husband, King James, and the
+Princess, their daughter." Dr. Richard Rawlinson, the well known
+antiquary bequeathed his heart to St. John's College, Oxford; and
+Edward, Lord Windsor, of Bradenham, Bucks, who died at Spa in the year
+1754, directed that his body should be buried in the "Cathedral church
+of the noble city of Liege, with a convenient tomb to his memory, but
+his heart to be enclosed in lead and sent to England, there to be
+buried in the chapel of Bradenham, under his father's tomb, in token
+of a true Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>Paul Whitehead, who died in the year 1774, left his heart to his
+friend Lord le Despencer, to be deposited in his mausoleum at West
+Wycombe. Lord le Despencer accepted the bequest, and on the 16th May,
+1775, the heart, after being wrapped in lead and placed in a marble
+urn, was carried with much ceremony to its resting place. Preceding
+the bier bearing the urn, "a grenadier marched in full uniform, nine
+grenadiers two deep, the odd one <a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>last; two German flute players, two
+surpliced choristers with notes pinned to their backs, two more flute
+players, eleven singing men in surplices, two French horn players, two
+bassoon players, six fifers, and four drummers with muffled drums.
+Lord le Despencer, as chief mourner, followed the bier, in his uniform
+as Colonel of the Bucks Militia, and was succeeded by nine officers of
+the same corps, two fifers, two drummers, and twenty soldiers with
+their firelocks reversed. The Dead March in "Saul" was played, the
+church bell tolled, and cannons were discharged every three and a half
+minutes." On arriving at the mausoleum, another hour was spent by the
+procession in going round and round it, singing funeral dirges, after
+which the urn containing the heart was carried inside, and placed upon
+a pedestal bearing the name of Paul Whitehead, and these lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Unhallowed hands, this urn forbear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No gems, no Orient spoil,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lie here concealed; but what's more rare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A heart that knew no guile.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But in the year 1829 some unhallowed hand stole the urn, and the
+whereabouts of Whitehead's heart remains a mystery to the present day.
+In recent times an interesting case of heart burial was that of Lord
+Byron, whose heart was enclosed in a silver urn and placed at Newstead
+Abbey in the family vault; and another was that of the poet, Shelley,
+whose body, according to Italian custom <a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>after drowning, was burnt to
+ashes. But the heart would not consume, and so was deposited in the
+English burying ground at Rome.</p>
+
+<p>It is worthy, too, of note that heart burial prevailed to a very large
+extent on the Continent. To mention a few cases, the heart of Philip,
+King of Navarre, was buried in the Jacobin's Church, Paris, and that
+of Philip, King of France, at the convent of the Carthusians at
+Bourgfontaines, in Valois. The heart of Henri II., King of France, was
+enshrined in an urn of gilt bronze in the Celestins, Paris; that of
+Henri III., according to Camden, was enclosed in a small tomb, and
+Henri IV.'s heart was buried in the College of the Jesuits at La
+Fleche. Heart burial, again, was practised at the deaths of Louis IX.,
+XII., XIII., and XIV., and in the last instance was the occasion of an
+imposing ceremony. "The heart of this great monarch," writes Miss
+Hartshorne, "was carried to the Convent of the Jesuits. A procession
+was arranged by the Cardinal de Rohan, and, surrounded by flaming
+torches and escorted by a company of the Royal Guards, the heart
+arrived at the convent, where it was received by the rector, who
+pronounced over it an eloquent and striking discourse."</p>
+
+<p>The heart of Marie de Medicis, who built the magnificent palace of the
+Luxembourg, was interred at the Church of the Jesuits, in Paris; and
+that of Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV., was deposited in a silver
+case in the monastery of Val de Grace. <a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>The body of Gustavus Adolphus,
+the illustrious monarch who fell in the field of Lutzen, was embalmed,
+and his heart received sepulchre at Stockholm; and, as is well known,
+the heart of Cardinal Mazarin was, by his own desire, sent to the
+Church of the Theatins. And Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV.,
+directed in her will that her body should be buried at St. Denis near
+to her husband, "of glorious memory," but her heart she bequeathed to
+Val de Grace; and she also decreed that it should be drawn out through
+her side without making any further opening than was absolutely
+necessary. Instances such as these show the prevalence of the custom
+of heart burial in bygone times, a further proof of which may be
+gathered from the innumerable effigies or brasses in which a heart
+holds a prominent place.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> See Timbs' "Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of
+England," i., p. 300; and "Enshrined Hearts of Warriors and
+Illustrious People," by Emily Sophia Hartshorne, 1861.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XV.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>ROMANCE OF WEALTH.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The unsunn'd heaps<br /></span>
+    <span class="i0">Of miser's treasure.<br /></span> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Milton</span>.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>Stories of lost or unclaimed property have always possessed a
+fascinating charm, but, unfortunately, the links for proving the
+rightful ownership break off generally at the point where its history
+seems on the verge of being unravelled. At the same time, however
+romantic and improbable some of the announcements relating to such
+treasure-hoards may seem, there is no doubt that many a poor family,
+at the present day, would be possessed of great wealth if it could
+only gain a clue to the whereabouts of money rightfully its own.</p>
+
+<p>The legal identification, too, of such property when discovered has
+frequently precluded its successfully being claimed by those really
+entitled to enjoy it, and few persons are aware of the enormous amount
+of unclaimed money&mdash;amounting to some millions&mdash;which lies dormant,
+although continually made public in the "agony columns" of the <i>Times</i>
+and <a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>other daily newspapers. It should be also remembered that wealth
+of this kind is carefully preserved in all kinds of places; bankers'
+cellars, for instance, containing some of the most curious unclaimed
+deposits, many of them being of rare intrinsic value, whilst others
+are of great romantic interest.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, not many years ago, there was accidentally discovered in the
+vaults of the Bank of England a large chest of some considerable age,
+which, on being removed from its resting place, almost fell to pieces.
+On the contents of this old chest being examined, some massive plate
+of the time of Charles II. was brought to light, of very beautiful and
+chaste workmanship. Nor was this all, for much to the surprise of the
+explorers, a bundle of love letters, written during the period of the
+Restoration, was found carefully packed away with the plate. On search
+being made by the directors of the bank in their books, the surviving
+heir of the original depositor was ascertained, to whom the plate and
+packet of love letters were handed over.</p>
+
+<p>Many similar cases might be quoted, for in most of our bank cellars
+are hoarded away family treasures, which for some inexplicable reason
+have never been claimed. Some, again, of our old jewellers' shops have
+had strange deposits in their cellars, the history and whereabouts of
+their owners having baffled the most searching and minute inquiries.
+As an illustration, may be given an instance which occurred some years
+back in <a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>connection with a jeweller's shop near Soho. It seems that an
+old lady lodged for a few weeks over the said shop, and, on leaving
+for the Continent, left behind her, for safety's sake, several boxes
+of plate to be taken care of until further notice. But years passed by
+and no tidings of the lady reached the jeweller, although from time to
+time the most careful inquiries were instituted. At last, however, it
+transpired that she had died somewhat suddenly, but, as no record was
+found amongst her papers relating to the boxes of plate, a lengthened
+litigation arose as to the rightful claimant of the property.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, through domestic differences, homes are broken up and
+the members dispersed, some perhaps going abroad. In many cases, such
+persons it may be are not only lost sight of for years, but are never
+heard of again, and hence, when they become entitled to money, large
+sums are frequently spent in advertising for their whereabouts, and
+oftentimes with no satisfactory results. Indeed, advertisements for
+missing relatives are, it is said, yearly on the increase, and
+considerable sums of money cannot be touched owing to the uncertainty
+as to whether persons of this description are alive or dead. An
+interesting instance occurred in the year 1882, when Sir James Hannen
+had the following case brought before him: "Counsel applied on behalf
+of Augustus Alexander de Niceville for letters of administration to
+the property of his father, supposed to be dead, as he <a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>had not been
+heard of since the year 1831, and who, if alive, would be 105 years
+old. In early life he held a commission in the French army, but in the
+year 1826 he came to this country and settled in Devonshire. On the
+breaking out of the French Revolution he returned with his wife to
+France, but his wife came back to England, and corresponded with her
+husband till the year 1831, when she ceased to hear from him. In spite
+of every means employed for tracing his whereabouts, nothing was ever
+heard of him, his wife dying in the year 1875. Affidavits in support
+of these facts having been read, the application was granted."</p>
+
+<p>Then there are the well-known unclaimed funds in Chancery, concerning
+which so much interest attaches. It may not be generally known what a
+mine of wealth these dormant funds constitute, amounting to many
+millions; indeed, the Royal Courts of Justice have been mainly built
+with the surplus interest of this money, and occasionally large sums
+from this fund have been borrowed to enable the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer to carry through his financial operations. By an Act passed
+in the year 1865, facilities are afforded to apply &pound;1,000,000 from
+funds standing in the books of the Bank of England to an account thus
+designated: "Account of securities purchased with surplus interest
+arising from securities carried to the account of moneys placed out
+for the benefit and better security of the suitors of the Court of
+<a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>Chancery." Not so very long ago the subject was discussed in
+Parliament, when it was urged that, as the Government were trustees of
+these funds, something should be done, as far as possible, by
+publicity, to adopt measures whereby the true owners might become
+claimants if they had but the knowledge of their rights.</p>
+
+<p>Another reason for money remaining unclaimed for a number of years, is
+through missing wills. Hence many a family forfeits its claim to
+certain property on account of the testator's last wishes not being
+forthcoming. Thackeray makes one of his plots hang in a most ingenious
+way upon a missing will, which is discovered eventually in the
+sword-box of a family coach, and various curious instances are on
+record of wills having been discovered years after the testator's
+death in the most out-of-the-way and unlikely hiding places. In some
+cases, also, through a particular clause in a will being peculiarly or
+doubtfully worded, heirs have been deprived of what was really due to
+them, a goodly part of the property having been squandered and wasted
+in prolonged legal expenses.</p>
+
+<p>Then, again, it is universally acknowledged that there is an immense
+quantity of money, and other valuables, concealed in the earth. In
+olden days, the householder was the guardian of his own money, and so
+had to conceal it as his ingenuity could devise. Accordingly large
+sums of money were frequently buried underground, and in excavating
+<a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>old houses, treasures of various kinds are oftentimes found underneath
+the floors. The custom of making the earth a stronghold, and confiding
+to its safe-keeping deposits of money, prevailed until a comparatively
+recent period, and was only natural, when it is remembered how, in
+consequence of civil commotions, many a home was likely to be robbed
+of its most valuable belongings. Hence every precaution was taken, a
+circumstance which accounts for the cunning secretal of rich and
+costly relics in old buildings. According to an entry given by Pepys
+in his "Diary," a large amount was supposed to be buried in his day,
+and he gives an amusing account of the hiding of his own money by his
+wife and father when the Dutch fleet was supposed to be in the Medway.
+Times of trouble, therefore, will account for many of the treasures
+which were so carefully secreted in olden times. Many years ago, as
+the foundations of some old houses in Exeter were being removed, a
+large collection of silver coins was discovered&mdash;the money found
+dating from the time of Henry VIII. to Charles I., or the
+Commonwealth&mdash;and it has been suggested that the disturbed state of
+affairs in the middle of the 17th century led to this mode of securing
+treasure.</p>
+
+<p>This will account in some measure for the traditions of the existence
+of large sums of hidden money associated with some of our old family
+mansions. An amusing story is related by Thomas <a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>of Walsingham, which
+dates as far back as the 14th century. A certain Saracen physician
+came to Earl Warren to ask permission to kill a dragon which had its
+den at Bromfield, near Ludlow, and committed great ravages in the
+earl's lands. The dragon was overcome; but it transpired that a large
+treasure lay hid in its den. Thereupon some men of Herefordshire went
+by night to dig for the gold, and had just succeeded in reaching it
+when the retainers of the Earl of Warren, having learnt what was going
+on, captured them and took possession of the hoard for the earl. A
+legend of this kind was long connected with Hulme Hall, formerly a
+seat of a branch of the Prestwich family. It seems that during the
+civil wars its then owner, Sir Thomas Prestwich, was very much
+impoverished by fines and sequestrations, so that he was forced to
+sell the mansion and estate to Sir Oswald Mosley. On more than one
+occasion his mother had induced him to advance large sums of money to
+Charles I. and his adherents, under the assurance that she had hidden
+treasures which would amply repay him. This hoard was generally
+supposed to have been hidden, either in the hall itself, or in the
+grounds adjoining, and it was said to be protected by spells and
+incantations, known only to the lady dowager herself. Time passed on,
+and the old lady became every day more infirm, and at last she was
+struck down with apoplexy before she could either practise the
+<a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>requisite incantations, or inform her son where the treasure was
+secreted. After her burial, diligent search was made, but to no
+effect; and Sir Thomas Prestwich went down to the grave in comparative
+poverty. Since that period fortune-tellers and astrologers have tried
+their powers to discover the whereabouts of this hidden hoard, and,
+although they have been unsuccessful, it is still believed that one
+day their labours will be rewarded, and that the demons who guard the
+money will be forced to give up their charge. Some years ago the hall
+and estate were sold to the Duke of Bridgewater, and, the site having
+been required for other purposes, the hall was pulled down, but no
+money was discovered.</p>
+
+<p>In Ireland, there are few old ruins in and about which excavations
+have not been made in the expectation of discovering hidden wealth,
+and in some instances the consequence of this belief has been the
+destruction of the building, which has been actually undermined. About
+three miles south of Cork, near the village of Douglas, is a hill
+called Castle Treasure, where a "cross of gold" was supposed to be
+concealed; and the discovery, some years ago, of a rudely-formed clay
+urn and two or three brazen implements attracted for some time crowds
+to the spot.</p>
+
+<p>But such stories are not confined to any special locality, and there
+is, in most parts of England, a popular belief that vast treasures are
+hidden <a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>beneath the old ruins of many houses, and that supernatural
+obstacles always prevent their being discovered. Indeed, Scotland has
+numerous legends of this kind, some of which, as Mr. Chambers has
+pointed out, have been incorporated into its popular rhymes. Thus, on
+a certain farm in the parish of Lesmahagow, from time immemorial there
+existed a tradition that underneath a very large stone was secreted a
+vast treasure in the shape of a kettleful, a bootful, and a bull-hide
+full "of gold, all of which have been designated 'Katie Neevie's
+hoord,'" having given rise to the following adage:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Between Dillerhill and Crossford<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There lies Katie Neevie's hoord.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And at Fardell, anciently the seat of Sir Walter Raleigh's family, in
+the courtyard formerly stood an inscribed bilingual stone of the Roman
+British period; the stone is now in the British Museum. The tradition
+current in the neighbourhood makes the inscription refer to a treasure
+buried by Sir Walter Raleigh, and hence the local rhyme:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Between this stone and Fardell Hall<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lies as much money as the devil can haul.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A curious incident happened in Ireland about the commencement of the
+last century. The Bishop of Derry being at dinner, there came in an
+old Irish harper, and sang an ancient song to his harp. The Bishop,
+not being acquainted with Irish, was at a loss to understand the
+meaning of the song, but on inquiry he ascertained the substance of it
+to be <a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>this&mdash;that in a certain spot a man of gigantic stature lay
+buried, and that over his breast and back were plates of pure gold,
+and on his fingers rings of gold so large that an ordinary man might
+creep through them. The spot was so exactly described that two persons
+actually went in quest of the garden treasure. After they had dug for
+some time, they discovered two thin pieces of gold, circular, and more
+than two inches in diameter. But when they renewed their excavations
+on the following morning they found nothing more. The song of the
+harper has been identified as "Moiva Borb," and the lines which
+suggested the remarkable discovery have been translated thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In earth, beside the loud cascade,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The son of Sora's king we laid;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And on each finger placed a ring<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of gold, by mandate of our king.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The loud cascade was the well-known waterfall at Ballyshannon, known
+as "The Salmon Leap" now.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep272" id="imagep272"></a><a name="Page_272a" id="Page_272a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep272.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep272.jpg" width="353" height="540" alt="There came in an old Irish Harper." /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">There came in an old Irish Harper <br />and sang an
+Ancient Song to his Harp.</span>
+<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was also a common occurrence for a miser to hide away his hoards
+underground, and before he had an opportunity of making known their
+whereabouts he died, without his heirs being put in the necessary
+possession of the information regarding that part of the earth wherein
+he had kept secreted his wealth. At different times, in old houses
+have been discovered misers' hoards, and which, but for some accident,
+would have remained <a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>buried in their forgotten resting-place. This
+will frequently account for money being found in the most eccentric
+nooks, an illustration of which happened a few years ago in Paris,
+when a miser died, leaving behind him, as was supposed, money to the
+value of sixty pounds. After some months had passed by, the claimant
+to the property made his appearance, and, on the miser's apartments
+being thoroughly searched, no small astonishment was caused by the
+discovery of the large sum of thirty-two thousand pounds. It may be
+noted that in former years our forefathers were extremely fond of
+hiding away their money for safety, making use of the chimney, or the
+wainscot or skirting-board. There it frequently remained; and such
+depositories of the family wealth were occasionally, from death and
+other causes, completely forgotten. In one of Hogarth's well-known
+pictures, the young spendthrift, who has just come into his
+inheritance, is being measured by a fashionable tailor, when, from
+behind the panels which the builders are ripping down, is seen falling
+a perfect shower of golden money.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that there is many an old house in this country
+which, if thoroughly ransacked, would be found to contain treasures of
+the most valuable and costly kind. Some years ago, for example, a
+collection of pictures was discovered at Merton College, Oxford,
+hidden away between the ceiling and the roof; and missing deeds <a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>have
+from time to time been discovered located in all sorts of mysterious
+nooks. In a set of rooms in Magdalen College, too, which had been
+originally occupied by one of the Fellows, and had subsequently been
+abandoned and devoted to lumber, was unearthed a strong wooden box,
+containing, together with some valuable articles of silver plate, a
+beautiful loving-cup, with a cover of pure gold. When, also, the
+Vicarage house of Ormesby, in Yorkshire, required reparation, some
+stonework had to be removed in order to carry out the necessary
+alterations, in the course of which a small box was found, measuring
+about a foot square, which had been embedded in the wall. The box,
+when opened, was full of angels, angelets, and nobles. Some of the
+money was of the reign of Edward IV., some of Henry VI., and some,
+too, of the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. It has been suggested
+that when Henry VIII. dissolved the lesser monasteries, the monks of
+Guisboro' Priory, which was only about six miles off, fearing the
+worst, fled with their treasures, and, with the craft and cunning
+peculiar to their order, buried a portion of them in the walls of the
+parsonage house of Ormesby.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>To quote another case, Dunsford, in his "Memories of Tiverton" (1790),
+p. 285, speaking of the village of Chettiscombe, says that in the
+middle of the <a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>16th century, in the north part of this village was "a
+chapel entire, dedicated to St. Mary. The walls and roof are still
+whole, and served some years past for a dwelling-house, but is now
+uninhabited." It appears that not only was there some superstition
+attaching to this building, which accounted for its untenanted
+condition, but certain money was supposed to be hidden away, to
+discover which every attempt had hitherto been in vain. "It was
+therefore proposed," says the author, "that some person should lodge
+in the chapel for a night to obtain preternatural information
+respecting it. Two persons at length complied with the request to do
+so, and, aided by strong beer, approached about nine o'clock the
+hallowed walls. They trembled exceedingly at the sudden appearance of
+a white owl that flew from a broken window with the message that
+considerable wealth lay in certain fields, that if they would
+diligently dig there, they would undoubtedly find it." They quickly
+attended to this piece of information, and employed a body of workmen
+who, before long, succeeded in bringing to light the missing money.</p>
+
+<p>A similar tradition was associated with Bransil Castle, a stronghold
+of great antiquity, situated in a romantic position about two miles
+from the Herefordshire Beacon. The story goes that the ghost of Lord
+Beauchamp, who died in Italy, could never rest until his bones were
+delivered to the right heir <a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>of Bransil Castle. Accordingly, they were
+sent from Italy enclosed in a small box, and were for a considerable
+time in the possession of Mr. Sheldon, of Abberton. The tradition
+further states that the old Castle of Bransil was moated round, and in
+that moat a black crow, presumed to be an infernal spirit, sat to
+guard a chest of money, till discovered by the rightful owner. The
+chest could never be moved without the mover being in possession of
+the bones of Lord Beauchamp.</p>
+
+<p>Such stories of hidden wealth being watched over by phantom beings are
+not uncommon, and remind us of those anecdotes of treasures concealed
+at the bottom of wells, guarded over by the "white ladies." In
+Shropshire, there is an old buried well of this kind, at the bottom of
+which a large hoard has long been supposed to lie hidden, or as a
+local rhyme expresses it:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Near the brook of Bell<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There is a well<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which is richer than any man can tell.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the South of Scotland it is the popular belief that vast treasures
+have for many a year past been concealed beneath the ruins of
+Hermitage Castle; but, as they are supposed to be in the keeping of
+the Evil One, they are considered beyond redemption. At different
+times various efforts have been made to dig for them, yet "somehow the
+elements always on such occasions contrived to produce an immense
+storm of thunder and lightning, and <a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>deterred the adventurers from
+proceeding, otherwise, of course the money would long ago have been
+found." And to give another of these strange family legends, may be
+quoted one told of Stokesay Castle, Shropshire. It seems that many
+years ago all the country in the neighbourhood of Stokesay belonged to
+two giants, who lived the one upon View Edge, and the other at Norton
+Camp. The story commonly current is that "they kept all their money
+locked up in a big oak chest in the vaults under Stokesay Castle, and
+when either of them wanted any of it he just took the key and got
+some. But one day one of them wanted the key, and the other had got
+it, so he shouted to him to throw it over as they had been in the
+habit of doing, and he went to throw it, but somehow he made a mistake
+and threw too short, and dropped the key into the moat down by the
+Castle, where it has remained ever since. And the chest of treasure
+stands in the vaults still, but no one can approach it, for there is a
+big raven always sitting on the top of it, and he won't allow anybody
+to try and break it open, so no one will ever be able to get the
+giants' treasure until the key is found, and many say it never will be
+found, let folks try as much as they please."<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>Amongst further reasons for the hiding away of money, may be noticed
+eccentricity of character, or mental delusion, a singular instance of
+which <a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>occurred some years ago. It appears that whilst some workmen
+were grubbing up certain tree at Tufnell Park, near Highgate, they
+came upon two jars, containing nearly four hundred pounds in gold.
+This they divided, and shortly afterwards, when the lord of the manor
+claimed the whole as treasure trove, the real owner suddenly made his
+appearance. In the course of inquiry, it transpired that he was a
+brassfounder, living at Clerkenwell, and having been about nine months
+before under a temporary delusion, he one night secreted the jars in a
+field at Tufnell Park. On proving the truth of his statement, the
+money was refunded to him.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "Journal of the Arch&aelig;ological Association," 1859, Vol.
+xv., p. 104.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> "Shropshire Folklore" (Miss Jackson), 7, 8.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>LUCKY ACCIDENTS.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>"As the unthought-on accident is guilty<br /></span>
+    <span>Of what we wildly do, so we profess<br /></span>
+    <span>Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies<br /></span>
+    <span>Of every wind that blows."<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem">"Winter's Tale," Act iv., Sc. 3.
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>Pascal, one day, remarked that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter
+the whole face of the world would probably have been changed. The same
+idea may be applied to the unforeseen advantages produced by
+accidents, some of which have occasionally had not a little to do with
+determining the future position in life of many eminent men. Prevented
+from pursuing the sphere in this world they had intended, compulsory
+leisure compelled them to adopt some hobby as a recreation, in which,
+unconsciously, their real genius lay.</p>
+
+<p>Thus David Allan, popularly known as the "Scottish Hogarth," owed his
+fame and success in life to an accident. When a boy, having burnt his
+foot, he amused the monotony of his leisure hours by drawing on the
+floor with a piece of <a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>chalk&mdash;a mode of passing his time which soon
+obtained an extraordinary fascination for him. On returning to school,
+he drew a caricature of his schoolmaster punishing a pupil, which
+caused him to be summarily expelled. But, despite this punishment, his
+success as an artist was decided, the caricature being considered so
+clever that he was sent to Glasgow to study art, where he was
+apprenticed in 1755 to Robert Foulis, a famous painter, who with his
+brother Andrew had secretly established an academy of arts in that
+city. Their kindness to him he was afterwards able to return when
+their fortunes were reversed.</p>
+
+<p>If Sir Walter Scott had not sprained his foot in running round the
+room when a child, the world would probably have had none of those
+works which have made his name immortal. When his son intimated a
+desire to enter the army, Sir Walter Scott wrote to Southey, "I have
+no title to combat a choice which would have been my own, had not my
+lameness prevented." In the same way, the effects of a fall when about
+a year old rendered Talleyrand lame for life, and being, on this
+account, unfit for a military career, he was obliged to renounce his
+birthright in favour of his second brother. But what seemed an
+obstacle to his future success was the very reverse, for, turning his
+attention to politics and books, he eventually became one of the
+leading diplomatists of his day. Again, Josiah Wedgwood was seized in
+his boyhood <a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>with an attack of smallpox, which was followed by a
+disease in the right knee, some years afterwards necessitating the
+amputation of the affected limb. But, as Mr. Gladstone, in his address
+on Wedgwood's life and work delivered at Burslem, Oct. 26th, 1863,
+remarked, the disease from which he suffered was, no doubt, the cause
+of his subsequent greatness, for "it prevented him from growing up to
+be the active, vigorous English workman, but it put upon him
+considering whether, as he could not be that, he might not be
+something else, and something greater. It drove him to meditate upon
+the laws and secrets of his art."</p>
+
+<p>Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. Being removed from school on
+account of his health, it appears that a cold caught in the summer of
+1660 while bathing, which produced a rheumatic affection of the
+joints, accompanied by other ailments. He became unable to walk to
+school, and he finally left in May, 1662. His self-training now began,
+and Sacroborco's "De Sph&aelig;ra" was lent to him, with the perusal of
+which he was so pleased that he forthwith commenced a course of
+astronomic studies. Accordingly, he constructed a rude quadrant and
+calculated a table of the sun's altitudes, pursuing his studies, as he
+said himself, "under the discouragement of friends, the want of
+health, and all other instructors, except his better genius."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>Alluding to accidents as sometimes developing greatness, Mr. Smiles
+remarks that Pope's satire was in a measure the outcome of his
+deformity; and Lord Byron's club foot, he adds, "had probably not a
+little to do with determining his destiny as a poet. Had not his mind
+been embittered, and made morbid by his deformity, he might never have
+written a line. But his misshapen foot stimulated his mind, roused his
+ardour, threw him upon his own resources, and we know with what
+result."</p>
+
+<p>Again, in numerous other ways, it has been remarked, accidents have
+taken a lucky turn, and, if not being the road to fortune, have had
+equally important results. The story is told of a young officer in the
+army of General Wolfe who was supposed to be dying of an abscess in
+the lungs. He was absent from his regiment on sick leave, but resolved
+to join it when a battle was expected, "for," said he, "since I am
+given over I had better be doing my duty, and my life's being
+shortened a few days matters not." He received a shot which pierced
+the abscess and made an opening for the discharge, the result being
+that he recovered and lived to eighty years of age.</p>
+
+<p>Brunel, the celebrated engineer, had a curious accident, which might
+have forfeited his life. While one day playing with his children and
+astonishing them by passing a half sovereign through his mouth out at
+his ear, he unfortunately swallowed the coin, which dropped into his
+<a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>windpipe. Brunel regarded the mischief caused by the accident as
+purely mechanical; a foreign body had got into his breathing
+apparatus, and must be removed, if at all, by some mechanical
+expedient. But he was equal to the emergency, and had an apparatus
+constructed which had the effect of relieving him of the coin. In
+after days he used to tell how, when his body was inverted, and he
+heard the gold piece strike against his upper front teeth, was,
+perhaps, the most exquisite moment in his whole life, the half
+sovereign having been in his windpipe for not less than six weeks.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1784, William Pitt almost fell the victim to the folly of
+a festive meeting, for he was nearly accidentally shot as a
+highwayman. Returning late at night on horseback from Wimbledon to
+Addiscombe, together with Lord Thurlow, he found the turnpike gate
+between Tooting and Streatham thrown open. Both passed through it,
+regardless of the threats of the turnpike man, who, taking the two for
+highwaymen, discharged the contents of his blunderbuss at their backs;
+but, happily, no injury was done, and Pitt had the good fortune to
+escape from what might have been a very serious, if not fatal,
+accident. Foote, too, met with a bad accident on horseback, which, at
+the time, seemed a lasting obstacle to his career as an actor. Whilst
+riding with the Duke of York and some other noblemen, he was thrown
+from his horse and his <a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a>leg broken, so that an amputation became
+necessary. In consequence of this accident, the Duke of York obtained
+for him the patent of the Haymarket Theatre for his life; but he
+continued to perform his former characters with no less agility and
+spirit than he had done before to the most crowded houses. Similarly,
+on one occasion&mdash;a very important one&mdash;Charles James Matthews was
+nearly prevented making his first appearance on the stage through
+being thrown from his horse, but, to quote his own words, "the
+excitement of the evening dominated all other feelings, and I walked
+for the time as well as ever."</p>
+
+<p>Some men, again, have owed their success to the accidents of others. A
+notable instance was that of Baron Ward, the well-known minister of
+the Duke of Parma. After working some time as a stable-boy in Howden,
+he went to London, where he had the good luck to come to the Duke of
+Parma's assistance after a fall from his horse in Rotten Row. The Duke
+took him back to Lucca as his groom, and ere long Ward made the ducal
+stud the envy of Italy. He soon rose to a higher position, and became
+the minister and confidential friend of the Duke of Parma, with whom
+he escaped in the year 1848 to Dresden, and for whom he succeeded in
+recovering Parma and Placenza. Indeed, Lord Palmerston once remarked,
+"Baron Ward was one of the most remarkable men I ever met with."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>It was through witnessing an accident that Sir Astley Cooper made up
+his final decision to take up surgery as his profession. A young man,
+having been run over by a cart, was in danger of dying from loss of
+blood, when young Cooper lost no time in tying his handkerchief about
+the wounded limb so as to stop the hemorrhage. It was this incident
+which assured him of his taste for surgery. In the same way, the story
+is quoted of the eminent French surgeon, Ambrose Par&eacute;. It is stated
+that he was acting as stable-boy to an abb&eacute; at Laval when a surgical
+operation was about to be performed on one of the brethren of the
+monastery. On being called in to assist, Ambrose Par&eacute; not only proved
+so useful, but was so fascinated with the operation that he made up
+his mind to devote his life to the study and practice of surgery.
+Instances of this kind might be enumerated, being of frequent
+occurrence in biographical literature, and showing to what unforeseen
+circumstances men have occasionally owed their greatness.</p>
+
+<p>A romance which, had it lacked corroborative evidence, would have
+seemed highly improbable, is told of the two Countesses of Kellie. In
+the latter half of the last century, Mr Gordon, the proprietor of
+Ardoch Castle&mdash;situated upon a high rock, overlooking the sea&mdash;was one
+evening aroused by the firing of a gun evidently from a vessel in
+distress near the shore. Hastening down to the beach, with the
+servants of the Castle, it was <a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>evident that the distressed vessel had
+gone down, as the floating spars but too clearly indicated. After
+looking out in vain for some time, in the hope of recovering some of
+the passengers&mdash;either dead or alive&mdash;he found a sort of crib, which
+had been washed ashore, containing a live infant. The little creature
+proved to be a female child, but beyond the fact that its wrappings
+pointed to its being the offspring of persons in no mean condition,
+there was no trace as to who these were.</p>
+
+<p>The little foundling was brought up with Mr. Gordon's own daughters,
+and when she had attained to womanhood, by an inexplicable
+coincidence, a storm similar to that just mentioned occurred. An
+alarm-gun was fired, and this time Mr. Gordon had the satisfaction of
+receiving a shipwrecked party, whom he at once made his guests at the
+Castle. Amongst them was one gentleman passenger, who after a
+comfortable night spent in the Castle, was surprised at breakfast by
+the entrance of a troop of blooming girls, the daughters of his host,
+as he understood, but one of whom specially attracted his attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this young lady your daughter, too?" he inquired of Mr. Gordon.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied his host, "but she is as dear to me as if she were."</p>
+
+<p>He then related her history, to which the stranger listened with eager
+interest, and at its close he not a little surprised Mr. Gordon by
+remarking that he <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a>"had reason to believe that the young lady was his
+own niece." He then gave a detailed account of his sister's return
+from India, corresponding to the time of the shipwreck, and added,
+"she is now an orphan, but if I am not mistaken in my supposition, she
+is entitled to a handsome provision which her father bequeathed to her
+in the hope of her yet being found."</p>
+
+<p>Before many days had elapsed, sufficient evidence was forthcoming to
+prove that by this strange, but lucky, accident of the shipwreck, the
+long lost niece was found. The young heiress keenly felt leaving the
+old castle, but to soften the wrench it was arranged that one of the
+Misses Gordon should accompany her to Gottenburg, where her uncle had
+long been settled as a merchant.</p>
+
+<p>The sequel of this romance, as it is pointed out in the "Book of
+Days,"<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> is equally astonishing. It seems that among the Scotch
+merchants settled in the Swedish port, was Mr. Thomas Erskine&mdash;a
+younger son of a younger brother of Sir William Erskine, of Cambo, in
+Fife&mdash;an offshoot of the family of the Earl of Kellie&mdash;to whom Miss
+Anne Gordon was married in the year 1771. A younger brother, named
+Methven, ten years later married Joanna, a sister of Miss Gordon. It
+was never contemplated that these two brothers would ever come near to
+the peerage of their family&mdash;there being at one time seventeen persons
+between them <a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>and the family titles; but in the year 1797 the baronet
+of Cambo became Earl of Kellie, and two years later the title came to
+the husband of Anne Gordon. In short, "these two daughters of Mr.
+Gordon, of Ardoch, became in succession Countesses of Kellie in
+consequence of the incident of the shipwrecked foundling, whom their
+father's humanity had rescued from the waves."</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> See "Dictionary of National Biography," xix., 242.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "The Two Countesses of Kellie," ii. 41, 42.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a>
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h3>FATAL PASSION.</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem chapter 1">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+    <span>What dreadful havoc in the human breast<br /></span>
+    <span>The passions make, when, unconfined and mad,<br /></span>
+    <span>They burst, unguided by the mental eye,<br /></span>
+    <span>The light of reason, which, in various ways,<br /></span>
+    <span>Points them to good, or turns them back from ill!<br /></span>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+    <td class="titlepoem"><span class="sc">Thomson</span>. </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>The annals of some of our old and respected families have occasionally
+been sadly stained "by hideous exhibitions of cruelty and lust," in
+certain instances the result of an unscrupulous disregard of moral
+duty and of a vindictive fierceness in avenging injury. It has been
+oftentimes remarked that few tragedies which the brain of the novelist
+has depicted have surpassed in their unnatural and horrible details
+those enacted in real life, for</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">When headstrong passion gets the reins of reason,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The force of Nature, like too strong a gale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For want of ballast, oversets the vessel.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Love, indeed, which has been proverbially said to lead to as much evil
+as any impulse that agitates the human bosom, must be held responsible
+for only too many of those crimes which from time to time <a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>outrage
+society, for, as the authors of "Guesses at Truth" have remarked,
+"jealousy is said to be the offspring of love, yet, unless the parent
+make haste to strangle the child, the child will not rest till it has
+poisoned the parent." Thus, a tragedy which made the Castle of
+Corstorphine the scene of a terrible crime and scandal in the year
+1679, may be said to have originated in an unhallowed passion.</p>
+
+<p>George, first Lord Forrester, having no male issue, made an
+arrangement whereby his son-in-law, James Baillie, was to succeed him
+as second Lord Forrester and proprietor of the estate of Corstorphine.
+Just four years after this compact was made, Lord Forrester died, and
+James Baillie, a young man of twenty-five, succeeded to the title and
+property. But this arrangement did not meet with the approval of Lord
+Forrester's daughters, who regarded it as a manifest injustice that
+the honours of their ancient family should devolve on an alien&mdash;a
+feeling of dissatisfaction which was more particularly nourished by
+the third daughter, Lady Hamilton, whose husband was far from wealthy.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that Lady Hamilton had a daughter, Christian, who was
+noted for her rare beauty and high spirit. But, unfortunately, she was
+a girl of strong passion, which, added to her self-will, caused her,
+when she had barely arrived at a marriageable age, to engage herself
+to one James Nimmo, the son of an Edinburgh merchant. <a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>Before many
+weeks had elapsed, the young couple were married, and the handsome
+young wife was settled in her new home in Edinburgh. Time wore on, the
+novelty of marriage died away, and as Mrs. Nimmo dwelt on her
+mercantile surroundings, she recognised more and more what an
+ill-assorted match she had made, and in her excitable mind, "she
+cursed the bond which connected her with a man whose social position
+she despised, and whose occupations she scorned." The report, however,
+of her uncommon beauty, could not fail to reach the ears of young Lord
+Forrester, who on the score of relationship was often attracted to
+Mrs. Nimmo's house. At first he was received with coldness, but, by
+flattering and appealing to her vanity, he gradually "accomplished the
+ruin of this unhappy young woman," and made her the victim of his
+licentious and unprincipled designs.</p>
+
+<p>But no long time had elapsed when this shameful intrigue became the
+subject of common talk, and public indignation took the side of the
+injured woman, when Lord Forrester, after getting tired of her, "was
+so cruel and base as to speak of her openly in the most opprobrious
+manner," even alluding to her criminal connection with him. In so
+doing, however, he had not taken into consideration the violent
+character of the woman he had wronged, nor thought he of her jealousy,
+wounded pride, and despair. In his haste, also, to rid himself of the
+woman who no longer fascinated <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>him, he paid no heed to the passion
+that was lurking in her inflamed bosom, nor counted on her <i>spret&aelig;
+injuria form&aelig;</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, whilst he was forgetting the past in his orgies,
+Mrs. Nimmo&mdash;whose love for him was turned to the bitterest hate&mdash;was
+hourly reproaching him, and at last the fatal moment arrived when she
+felt bound to proceed to Corstorphine Castle, and confront her
+evil-doer. At the time, Lord Forrester was drinking at the village
+tavern, and, when the infuriated woman demanded to see him, he was
+flushed with claret, and himself in no amiable mood. The altercation,
+naturally, "soon became violent, bitter reproaches were uttered on the
+one side, and contemptuous sneers on the other." Goaded to frenzy, the
+unhappy woman stabbed her paramour to the heart, killing him
+instantly.</p>
+
+<p>When taken before the sheriff of Edinburgh, she confessed her crime,
+and, although she told the court in the most pathetic manner how
+basely she had been wronged by one who should have supported rather
+than ruined her, sentence of death was passed upon her. She managed,
+writes Sir Bernard Burke,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> to postpone the execution of her
+sentence by declaring that she was with child by her seducer, and
+during her imprisonment succeeded in escaping in the disguise of a
+young man. But she was captured, and on the 12th November, <a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>1679, paid
+the penalty of her rash act, appearing at her execution attired in
+deep mourning, covered with a large veil.</p>
+
+<p>Radcliffe to this day possesses the tradition of a terrible tragedy of
+which there are several versions. It appears that one Sir William de
+Radclyffe had a very beautiful daughter whose mother died in giving
+her birth. After a time he married again, and the step-mother,
+actuated by feeling of jealousy, conceived a violent hatred to the
+girl, which ere long prompted her to be guilty of the most insane
+cruelty. One day, runs the story, when Sir William was out hunting,
+she sent the unsuspecting girl into the kitchen with a message to the
+cook that he was to dress the white doe. But the cook professing
+ignorance of the particular white doe he was to dress, asserted, to
+the young lady's intense horror, that he had received orders to kill
+her, which there and then he did, afterwards making her into a pie.</p>
+
+<p>On Sir William's return from hunting, he made inquiries for his
+daughter, but his wife informed him that she had taken the opportunity
+in his absence of going into a nunnery. Suspicious, however, of the
+truth of her story&mdash;for her jealous hatred of his daughter had not
+escaped his notice&mdash;he flew into a passion, and demanded in the most
+peremptory manner where his daughter was, whereupon the scullion boy
+denounced the step-mother, and warned Sir William against eating the
+pie.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>The whole truth was soon revealed, and the diabolic wickedness of Lady
+William did not pass unpunished, for she was burnt, and the cook was
+condemned to stand in boiling lead. A ballad in the Pepys' collection,
+entitled, "The Lady Isabella's Tragedy, or the Step-mother's Cruelty,"
+records this horrible barbarity; and in a Lancashire ballad, called
+"Fair Ellen of Radcliffe", it is thus graphically told:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">She straighte into the kitchen went,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her message for to tell;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And then she spied the master cook,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who did with malice swell.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Nowe, master cooke, it must be soe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Do that which I thee tell;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You needs must dress the milk-white doe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">You which do knowe full well."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then straight his cruel, bloody hands,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He on the ladye laid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who, quivering and ghastly, stands<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">While thus to her he sayd:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Thou art the doe that I must dress;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">See here! behold, my knife!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For it is pointed, presentli<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To rid thee of thy life."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">O then, cryed out the scullion boye,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As loud as loud might be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"O save her life, good master cook,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And make your pyes of me."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The tradition adds that Sir William was not unmindful of the scullion
+boy's heroic conduct, for he made him heir to his possessions.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>Another cruel case of woman's jealousy, which, happily, was not so
+disastrous in its result as the former, relates to Maria, daughter of
+the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, second son of Kenneth, Earl of Seaforth,
+who was Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline. Report goes that between
+this young lady, who was one of the greatest beauties about the Court,
+and a Mr. Price, an admired man about town, there subsisted a strong
+attachment. Unfortunately for Miss Mackenzie, Mr. Price was an
+especial favourite of the celebrated Countess of Deloraine, who, to
+get rid of her rival in beauty, poisoned her.</p>
+
+<p>But this crime was discovered in time, antidotes were administered
+with success, and the girl's life was saved; although her lovely
+complexion is said to have been ruined, ever after continuing of a
+lemon tint. Queen Caroline, desirous of shielding the Countess of
+Deloraine from the consequences of her act, persuaded "the poisoned
+beauty" to appear, as soon as she was sufficiently recovered, at a
+supper, given either by the Countess of Deloraine or where she was to
+be present. Accordingly, on the night arranged, some excitement was
+caused by the arrival of Miss Mackenzie, for as she entered the room,
+someone exclaimed, "How entirely changed!"</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Price, who was seated by Lady Deloraine remarked, "In my eyes
+she is more beautiful than ever," and it only remains to add that they
+were married next morning.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>Like jealousy, thwarted love has often been cause of the most
+unnatural crimes, and a tragic story is told of the untimely death of
+Mr Blandy, of Henley, in Oxfordshire, who, by practice as an attorney,
+had accumulated a large fortune. He had an only child, Mary, who was
+regarded as an heiress, and consequently had suitors many. On one
+occasion, it happened that William Cranstoun, brother of Lord
+Cranstoun, being upon a recruiting party in Oxfordshire, and hearing
+of Miss Blandy's "great expectations," found an opportunity of
+introducing himself to the family.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain's attentions, however, to Miss Blandy met with the strong
+disapproval of her father, for he had ascertained that this suitor for
+his daughter's hand had been privately married in Scotland. But
+against this objection Captain Cranstoun replied that he hoped to get
+this marriage speedily set aside by a decree of the Supreme Court of
+Session. And when the Court refused to annul the marriage, Mr. Blandy
+absolutely refused to allow his daughter to have any further
+communications with so dishonourable a man; a resolution to which he
+remained inexorable.</p>
+
+<p>Intrigue between the two was the result, for it seems that Miss
+Blandy's affection for this profligate man&mdash;almost double her age&mdash;was
+violent. As might be expected, Captain Cranstoun not only worked upon
+her feelings, but imposed on her credulity. He sent her from Scotland
+a pretended <a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a>love powder, which he enjoined her to administer to her
+father, in order to gain his affection and procure his consent. This
+injunction she did not carry out, on account of a frightful dream, in
+which she saw her father fall from a precipice into the ocean.
+Thereupon the Captain wrote a second time, and told her in words
+somewhat enigmatical, but easily understood by her, his design.</p>
+
+<p>Horrible to relate, the wicked girl was so elated with the idea of
+removing her father, that she was heard to exclaim before the
+servants, "who would not send an old fellow to hell for thirty
+thousand pounds?"</p>
+
+<p>The fatal die was cast. The deadly powder was mixed and given to him
+in a cup of tea, after drinking which he soon began to swell
+enormously.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you given me, Mary?" asked the unhappy dying man. "You have
+murdered me; of this I was warned, but, alas! I thought it was a false
+alarm. O, fly; take care of the Captain!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus Mr. Blandy died of poison, but his daughter was captured whilst
+attempting to escape, and was conveyed to Oxford Castle, where she was
+imprisoned till the assizes, when she was tried for parricide, was
+found guilty, and executed. Captain Cranstoun managed to effect his
+escape, and went abroad, where he died soon afterwards in a deplorable
+state of mind, brought about by remorse for the evil and misery he had
+caused.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a>Almost equally tragic was the fatal passion of Sir William Kyte,
+forming another strange domestic drama in real life. Possessed of
+considerable fortune, and of ancient family, Sir William was deemed a
+very desirable match, and when he offered his hand to a young lady of
+noble rank, and of great beauty, he was at once accepted. The marriage
+for the first few years turned out happily, but the crisis came when
+Sir William was nominated, at a contested election, to represent the
+borough of Warwick, in which county lay the bulk of his estate. After
+the election was over, Lady Kyte, by way of recompensing a zealous
+partisan of her husband, took an innkeeper's daughter, Molly Jones,
+for her maid; "a tall, genteel girl, with a fine complexion, and
+seemingly very modest and innocent." But before many months had
+elapsed, Sir William was attracted by the girl, and, eventually,
+became so infatuated by her charms, that, casting aside all restraints
+of shame or fear, he agreed to a separation between his wife and
+himself. Accordingly, Sir William left Lady Kyte, with the two younger
+children, in possession of the mansion-house in Warwickshire, and
+retired with his mistress and his two eldest sons to a farmhouse on
+the Cotswold hills. Charmed with the situation, he was soon tempted to
+build a handsome house here, to which were added two large
+side-fronts, for no better reason than that Molly Jones, one day,
+happened to say, "What is a Kite without <a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>wings." But the expense of
+completing this establishment, amounting to at least &pound;10,000, soon
+involved Sir William in financial difficulties, which caused him to
+drown his worries in drink.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture, Molly Jones, forgetting her own past, was
+injudicious enough to engage a fresh coloured country girl&mdash;who was
+scarcely twenty&mdash;as dairymaid, for whom Sir William quickly conceived
+an amorous regard. Actuated by jealousy or disgust, Molly Jones
+threatened to leave Sir William, a resolution which she soon carried
+out, retiring to Cambden, a neighbouring market town, where she was
+reduced to keep a small sewing school as a means of livelihood.
+Although left to carry on his intrigue undisturbed, Sir William soon
+became a victim to gloomy reflections, feeling at times that he had
+not only cruelly wronged a good wife, but had been deserted by the
+very woman for whose sake he had brought this trouble and disgrace
+upon his family. Tormented by these conflicting passions, he
+occasionally worked himself up into such a state of frenzy that even
+his new favourite was terrified, and had run away. It was when almost
+maddened with the thought of his evil past that he formed that fatal
+resolve which was a hideous ending to "the dreadful consequence of a
+licentious passion not checked in its infancy." One October evening,
+as a housemaid was on the stairs, suddenly "the lobby was all in a
+cloud of smoke." She gave the alarm, and on the door <a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>being forced
+open whence the smoke proceeded, it was discovered that Sir William
+had set fire to a large heap of fine linen, piled up in the middle of
+the room. From an adjoining room, where Sir William had made his
+escape, the flames burst out with such fury that all were glad to make
+their escape out of the house, the greater part of which was in a few
+hours burnt to the ground&mdash;no other remains of its master being found
+next morning but the hip-bone, and bones of the back.</p>
+
+<p>A case which, at the time, created considerable sensation was the
+murder of Thynne of Longleat by a jealous antagonist. The eleventh
+Duke of Northumberland left an only daughter, whose career, it has
+been said, "might match that of the most erratic or adventurous of her
+race." Before she was sixteen years old, she had been twice a widow,
+and three times a wife. At the age of thirteen, she was married to the
+only son of the Duke of Newcastle, a lad of her own age, who died in a
+few months. Her second husband was Thynne of Longleat, "Tom of Ten
+Thousand," but the tie was abruptly severed by the bullet of an
+assassin, set on by the notorious Count Konigsmark, who had been a
+suitor for her hand, and was desirous of another chance. After his
+death, the young widow, who was surrounded by a host of admirers,
+married the Duke of Somerset, and she seems to have made him a fitting
+mate, for when his second wife, a Finch, tapped him familiarly on the
+shoulder, or, <a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>according to another version, seated herself on his
+knee, he exclaimed indignantly:</p>
+
+<p>"My first wife was a Percy, and she never thought of taking such a
+liberty."</p>
+
+<p>It may be added that one of the most remarkable incidents in this
+celebrated beauty's life was when by dint of tears and supplications
+she prevented Queen Anne from making Swift a bishop, out of revenge
+for the "Windsor prophecy," in which she was ridiculed for the redness
+of her hair, and upbraided as having been privy to the brutal murder
+of her second husband. "It was doubted," says Scott, "which imputation
+she accounted the more cruel insult, especially since the first charge
+was undoubted, and the second arose only from the malice of the poet."</p>
+
+<p>Another tragedy of a similar kind was the murder of William Mountford,
+the player. Captain Richard Hill had conceived a violent passion for
+Mrs. Bracegirdle, the beautiful actress, and is said to have offered
+her his hand, and to have been refused. At last his passion became
+ungovernable, and he determined to carry her off by force. To carry
+out his purpose, he induced his friend Lord Mohun to assist him in the
+attempt. According to one account, "he dodged the fair actress for a
+whole day at the theatre, stationed a coach near the Horseshoe Tavern,
+in Drury Lane, to carry her off in, and hired six soldiers to force
+her into it. As the beautiful actress came down Drury Lane, at ten
+<a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>o'clock at night, accompanied by her mother and brother, and escorted
+by her friend Mr. Page, one of the soldiers seized her in his arms,
+and endeavoured to force her into the coach. But the lady's scream
+attracted a crowd, and Captain Hill, finding his endeavours
+ineffectual, bid the soldiers let her go. Disappointed in their
+object, Lord Mohun and Captain Hill vowed vengeance; and Mrs.
+Bracegirdle on reaching home sent her servant to Mr. Mountford's house
+to take care of himself, warning him against Lord Mohun and Captain
+Hill, "who she feared, had no good intention toward him, and did wait
+for him in the street." It appears that Mountford had already heard of
+the attempt to carry off Mrs. Bracegirdle, and hearing that Lord Mohun
+and Captain Hill were in the street, did not shrink from approaching
+them."</p>
+
+<p>The account says that he addressed Lord Mohun, and told him how sorry
+he was to find him in the company of such a pitiful fellow as Captain
+Hill, whereupon, it is said, "the captain came forth and said he would
+justify himself, and went towards the middle of the street, and Mr.
+Mountford followed him and drew." The end of the quarrel was that
+Mountford fell with a terrible wound, of which he died on the
+following day, declaring in his last moments that Captain Hill ran him
+through the body before he could draw his sword. Captain Hill, it
+seems, owed Mountford a deadly grudge, having attributed his rejection
+by Mrs. Bracegirdle <a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>to her love for him&mdash;an unlikely passion, it is
+thought, as Mountford was a married man, with a good-looking wife of
+his own, afterwards Mrs. Verbruggen, and a celebrated actress.</p>
+
+<p>Oulton House, Suffolk, long known as the "Haunted House," acquired its
+ill-omened name from a tragic occurrence traditionally said to have
+happened many years ago, and the peasantry in the neighbourhood affirm
+that at midnight a wild huntsman, with his hounds, accompanied by a
+lady carrying a poisoned cup, is occasionally seen. The story is that,
+in the reign of George II., a squire, returning unexpectedly home from
+the chase, discovered his wife with an officer, one of his guests, in
+too familiar a friendship. High words followed, and the indignant
+husband, provoked by the cool manner in which the officer treated the
+matter, struck him, whereupon the guilty lover drew his sword and
+drove it through the squire's heart, the faithless wife and her
+paramour afterwards making their escape.</p>
+
+<p>Some years afterwards, runs the tale, the Squire's daughter, who had
+been left behind in the hasty departure, having grown to womanhood,
+was affianced to a youthful farmer of the neighbourhood. But on their
+bridal eve, as they were sitting together talking over the new life
+they were about to enter, "a carriage, black and sombre as a hearse,
+with closely drawn curtains, and attended by servants clad in sable
+liveries, drew up to the <a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>door." The young girl was seized by masked
+men, carried off in the carriage to her unnatural mother, while her
+betrothed was stabbed as he vainly endeavoured to rescue her. A grave
+is pointed out in the cemetery at Namur, as that in which was laid the
+body of the unhappy girl, poisoned, it is alleged, by her unscrupulous
+and wicked mother. It is not surprising, we are told, that the
+locality was supposed to be haunted by the wretched woman&mdash;both as
+wife and mother equally criminal.</p>
+
+<p>Family romance, once more, has many a dark page recording how
+despairing love has ended in self-destruction. At the beginning of the
+present century, a sad catastrophe befell the Shuckburghs of
+Shuckburgh Hall. It appears the Bedfordshire Militia were stationed
+near Upper Shuckburgh, and the officers were in the habit of visiting
+the Hall, whose hospitable owner, Sir Stewkley Shuckburgh, received
+them with every mark of cordiality. His daughter, then about twenty
+years of age, was a young lady of no ordinary attractions, and her
+fascinations soon produced their natural effect on one of the
+officers, Lieutenant Sharp, who became deeply attached to her. But as
+soon as Sir Stewkley became aware of this love affair, he gave it his
+decided disapproval. Lieutenant Sharp was forbidden the house, and
+Miss Shuckburgh resolved to smother her love in deference to her
+father's wishes. It was accordingly decided between the <a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>young people
+that their intimacy should cease, and that the letters which had
+passed between them should be returned. An arrangement was, therefore,
+made that the lady should leave the packet for Lieutenant Sharp in the
+summer-house in the garden on a specified evening, and that on the
+following morning she should find the packet intended for her in the
+same place. The sad engagement was kept, and having left her packet in
+the evening, Miss Shuckburgh set out on the following morning to find
+her own. A servant, it is said, who saw her in the garden, was curious
+to know what could have brought her out at so early an hour. He
+followed her unobserved, and on drawing near to the summer-house, "he
+heard the voices of the lieutenant and of the lady in earnest dispute.
+The officer was loud and impassioned, the lady firm but unconsenting.
+Immediately was heard the report of a pistol, and the fall of a
+body&mdash;another report and fall. Guessing the tragic truth, the servant
+raised an alarm, and the two lovers were found lying dead in their own
+blood." It is generally supposed that this terrible act of
+self-destruction was the result of mutual agreement&mdash;the outcome of
+passion and despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Since that hour," writes Howitt, "every object, about the place which
+could suggest to the memory this fatal event, has been changed or
+removed. The summer-house has been razed to the ground; the
+disposition of the garden itself altered; but," <a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a>he adds, "such tragic
+passages in human life become part and parcel of the scene where they
+occur&mdash;they become the topic of the winter fireside. They last while
+passions and affections, youth and beauty last. They fix themselves
+into the soil, and the very rock on which it lies, and though the
+house was razed from the spot, and its park and pleasaunces turned
+into ploughed fields, it would still be said for ages: Here stood
+Shuckburgh Hall, and here fell the young and lovely Miss Shuckburgh by
+the hand of her despairing lover."</p>
+
+<p>And to conclude with a romance in brief, some forty or fifty years
+ago, in the far north of England a girl was on the eve of being
+married. Her wedding dress was ordered, the guests were bidden. But,
+it is said that at the eleventh hour, in a fit of passion and paltry
+jealousy, she resented some fancied want of devotion in her lover.</p>
+
+<p>He was single-minded, loyal, and altogether of finer stuff than
+herself; but she was a wretched slave to such old stock phrases as
+delicacy, family pride, and the like, and so he was allowed to go, for
+she came of people who looked upon unforgiveness as a virtue.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the discarded lover exchanged into a regiment under orders
+for Afghanistan. At the time, our troops were engaged there in hot
+fighting. The lad fell, and hidden on his breast was found a locket
+which his sweetheart had once given him. It came back to her through a
+brother officer, who <a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a>had known something of his sad story, with a
+stain on it&mdash;a stain of his blood. When that painful relic silently
+told her of the devotion which she had so unjustly and basely wronged,
+there came, in the familiar lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A mist and a weeping rain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And life was never the same again.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>That stain marked every day of a lonely life throughout forty years or
+more.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> "Vicissitudes of Families," 1863, III. Ser., 202-203.</p></div>
+<a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>
+<h3>INDEX.</h3>
+<br />
+
+<ul>
+<li>"Abbey Vows," The, <a href='#Page_56'>56-58</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Abingdon, John, Secret Room built by, at Hendlip Hall, <a href='#Page_91'>91-93</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Abrams, Disappearance of a Jew named, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Accidents, Lucky, <a href='#Page_279'>279-288</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Adolphus, Gustavus, Burial of, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ainsworth and Cuckfield Place, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Alexander III., Banquet of, <a href='#Page_73'>73-75</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Alfred, Prince, Death of, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Allan David, the Painter, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Anne of Austria, Heart of, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Anne of Burton Agnes Hall, Skull of, <a href='#Page_40'>40-43</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Antoinette, M., and the Chevalier D'Eon, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Armscott Manor, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Arrowsmith, Father, Hand of, <a href='#Page_158'>158-160</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Arundell, Sir John, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Aubrey's "Miscellanies," <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Awd Nance" of Burton Agnes Hall, <a href='#Page_40'>40-43</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Baillie, James, <a href='#Page_290'>290-292</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Baker, Sir Richard, <a href='#Page_110'>110-112</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Baker, Sir Richard, and the Murder of Edward II., <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Baliol, John, The Heart of, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ballafletcher, Estate of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ballyshannon, Waterfall at, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bandini, The Sisters, <a href='#Page_137'>137-140</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bank of England, Discovery in the Vaults of the, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Banquets, Strange, <a href='#Page_69'>69-87</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Banshee, The, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Barcroft Hall; the Idiot's Curse, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Baring-Gould, Rev. S., Story by, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Barn Hall, Tradition of, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Barritt, Thomas, and the Wardley Hall Skull, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Baydoyle Bank's Tragedy, The, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Bearded Watt," The, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Beauchamp, Lord, Ghost of, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Belgrade, Bombardment of, Vow made by the Servians at, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Benedick, Vow of, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Berkeley Castle, Walpole and, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bernard, Samuel, "Address to the Deil," <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bernshaw Tower, Lady Sybil of, <a href='#Page_168'>168-170</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Berry Pomeroy Castle, Spectre at, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Betsy, the Doctress (Russell), <a href='#Page_222'>222-224</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a>Bettiscombe, Screaming Skull at, <a href='#Page_29'>29-32</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bisham Abbey, Spirit of Lady Russell at, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bistmorton Court, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Blackwell, Murder at, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li>
+
+<li>Blandy, Miss, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Blandy, Mr., of Henley, Poisoning of, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li>
+
+<li>Blenkinsopp Castle, Romantic Story of, <a href='#Page_60'>60-62</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Blood Stains, Indelible, <a href='#Page_114'>114-134</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Bloody Baker," <a href='#Page_110'>110-112</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Bloody Chamber," The, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li>
+
+<li>"Bloody Footstep," Legend of the, <a href='#Page_115'>115-117</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bodach Glass, The, <a href='#Page_193'>193-195</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Boleyn, Anne, Monument to, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bolle, Sir John, Story of, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Boscobel House, Secret Chambers at, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bourne, Mr. John, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bracegirdle, Mrs., the Actress, <a href='#Page_301'>301-303</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bradshaigh, Sir William, <a href='#Page_246'>246-248</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bramshill, A Chest at, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bransie Castle, Tradition associated with, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Brent Pelham Church, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Brereton Family, The, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bromfield, Story of a Dragon at, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bromley, Sir Henry, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Broughton Castle, Room at, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Brown, Mrs., and the Death of Robert Perceval, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Browne, Sir Anthony, and Cowdray Castle, <a href='#Page_19'>19-21</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bruce, Robert, The Heart of, <a href='#Page_257'>257-258</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Brunel, the Engineer, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bryn Hall, "Dead Hand" at, <a href='#Page_157'>157-160</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Buckland Abbey, Sir F. Drake and, <a href='#Page_170'>170-173</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Buckland Shag," Spectre of the, <a href='#Page_124'>124-126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bulgaden Hall, Tale of, <a href='#Page_71'>71-73</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Burdett, Mr. Sedley, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Burke, Sir Bernard, and Bulgaden Hall, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  and Sir Robert Scott of Thirlestane, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Capt. Cayley, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Cecil, Earl of Exeter, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Draycot, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Gordon Castle, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>;</li>
+<li>  and Mrs. Nimmo, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Burnaby, Col. Fred., Incident of the Carlist Rising, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a></li>
+
+<li>Burton Agnes Hall, "Awd Nance" of, <a href='#Page_40'>40-43</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Byron, Lord, and Skull at Newstead Abbey, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  Club Foot of, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Spectre of Newstead Abbey, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li>
+<li>  The Heart of, at Newstead Abbey, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Calverley Hall, Blood Stains at, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Calverley, Walter, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cambuskenneth Abbey, Destruction of, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Canning, Elizabeth, Disappearance of, <a href='#Page_239'>239-241</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carbery, Baron, Tale of, <a href='#Page_71'>71-73</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carew, B.M., A Companion of Russell, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carlist Rising in 1874, Incident of the, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Caroline, Queen, and the Countess of Deloraine, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carr, Earl of Somerset, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Castle Dalhousie, Death Omen, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Castle Treasure, near Cork, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Castlereagh, Lord, and the "Radiant Boy" Spectre, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>Cathcart, Lady, Strange Disappearance of, <a href='#Page_236'>236-238</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cayley, Capt. John and Mrs. Macfarlane, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cecil, Earl of Exeter, <a href='#Page_217'>217-220</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chancery, Unclaimed Funds in, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Charles I., Bernini's Bust of, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Charles II., at the Trent Manor House, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  at Boscobel House, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Chartley, Park at, <a href='#Page_187'>187-189</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chattan, Clan of, <a href='#Page_6'>6-9</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chettiscombe, Village of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chiappini, L., Daughter of, <a href='#Page_136'>136-140</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chilton Cantels, Skull in a Farmhouse in, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Claimant," The, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Clayton Old Hall, The "Bloody Chamber" at, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Clifford, Lord, the "Shepherd Lad," <a href='#Page_224'>224-227</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Clifford, Wild Henry, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Clifton, Family of, Death Omen of, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Closeburn Castle, Lake at, <a href='#Page_183'>183-185</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Coalstoun Pear," The, <a href='#Page_199'>199-201</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Coleridge, Sir John, Strange Romance recorded by, <a href='#Page_241'>241-243</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Compacts with the Devil, <a href='#Page_162'>162-179</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Condover Hall, Blood Stain at, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Congreve and Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cook, Kraster, Myles Phillipson and, <a href='#Page_35'>35-37</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cooper, Sir Astley, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cope, Sir John, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Corbet, Legend of the House of, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Corby Castle, "Radiant Boy" Spectre of, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cornish Belief <i>re</i> St. Denis' Blood, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Corstophine, Castle of, Tragedy at, <a href='#Page_290'>290-293</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cortachy Castle, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cothele, Blood Stains at, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Couleur Isabelle" Dresses, Origin of, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cowdenknowes, Curse of the House of, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cowdray Castle, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cows at Chartley Park, <a href='#Page_187'>187-189</a></li>
+
+<li>Cranbrook, Sir R. Baker at, <a href='#Page_110'>110-112</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cranstoun, Capt., <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Crawford, Earl of, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Crawls," The, Estate named, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Creslow Manor House, Mysterious Room at, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Crichton Chancellor, Banquet given by, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cuckfield Place, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cullen, Viscount, Marriage Feast of, <a href='#Page_69'>69-71</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cunliffes, The, of Billington, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li>
+
+<li>Curious Secrets, <a href='#Page_135'>135-153</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curses: M'Alister Family, <a href='#Page_2'>2-5</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  The Curse of Moy, <a href='#Page_6'>6-9</a>;</li>
+<li>  Idiot's Curse, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>;</li>
+<li>  Quaker's Curse, <a href='#Page_10'>10-12</a>;</li>
+<li>  A Shepherd's Curse on Sir J. Arundell, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li>
+<li>  Curse on the Family of Mar, <a href='#Page_14'>14-17</a>;</li>
+<li>  On Sherborne Castle, <a href='#Page_17'>17-19</a>;</li>
+<li>  On Cowdray Castle, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>;</li>
+<li>  The Curse of Furvie, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li>
+<li>  Of Ettrick Hall, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>;</li>
+<li>  On the Earl of Home, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>;</li>
+<li>  Of Edmund, King of the East Angles, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;</li>
+<li>  On Capt. Molloy, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>;</li>
+<li>  The Midwife's Curse, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.<br /><br /></li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Dalrymple, Janet, <a href='#Page_52'>52-56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dalzell, Gen., <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a>Danby Hall, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Danesfield, Withered Hand at, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Darrells, The, of Littlecote House, <a href='#Page_106'>106-108</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dauntesey, Eustace, Story of, <a href='#Page_173'>173-176</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dead Hand, The, <a href='#Page_154'>154-161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Death Omens, <a href='#Page_180'>180-191</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Deloraine, Countess of, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>D'Eon, Chevalier, in Woman's Attire, <a href='#Page_220'>220-222</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Derwentwater, Lord, Execution of, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Despencer, Lord le, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Devil Compacts, <a href='#Page_162'>162-179</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Devil upon Dun" Public House, Story of the, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Dickie," Skull called, at Tunstead, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dickens, Chas., Original of Miss Havisham, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dilston Groves, Ghost of the, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a></li>
+
+<li>Disappearances, Extraordinary, <a href='#Page_229'>229-252</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Disguise, Romance of, <a href='#Page_208'>208-228</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dobells, Seat of the, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Doggett, Wm., Suicide of, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Don Carlos, Col. Fred. Burnaby and, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Doughty, Sir Edward, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;
+<ul class="ul1"><li>Vow made by, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Douglas, Sir James, and the Heart of Robert Bruce, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Douglas, Earl of, at Sir A. Livingstone's Banquet, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Downes, Roger, of Wardley Hall, <a href='#Page_37'>37-40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dragon at Bromfield, Story of, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Drake, Sir Francis, Befriended by the Devil, <a href='#Page_170'>170-173</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Draycot, Walter Long of, <a href='#Page_141'>141-144</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Drinking Glass in possession of Sir George Musgrave, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Drummer, Mysterious, at Cortachy Castle, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Duckett, Justice, <a href='#Page_11'>11-12</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dunbar, David, and Jane Dalrymple, <a href='#Page_53'>53-56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dundas, Laird named, Lord Hopetoun and, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Eagle's Crag, Lady Sybil and the, <a href='#Page_168'>168-170</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Earl Beardie," <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Eastbury House, Blood Stains at, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Easterton Ghost, The, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>.</li>
+
+<li>East Lavington, Mysterious Crime at, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Eccentric Vows, <a href='#Page_46'>46-68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Eden Hall, Tradition relating to, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edgewell Oak, Tradition, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edgeworth, Col., <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edinburgh, Mysterious Crime at; Sir Walter Scott and, <a href='#Page_108'>108-110</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edmund, King of the East Angles, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edward, Lord Bruce, Heart of, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a></li>
+
+<li>Edward, Lord Windsor, The Body of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edward I., The Heart of, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edward II., The Murder of, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ellesmere, Countess of, and the Wardley Hall Skull, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Elizabeth, Queen, and Sir Henry Lee, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Erskine, Mr. Thomas, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Erskine of Mar, The, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>Ettrick Hall, Curse of, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Evans, Right Hon. George, Tale of, <a href='#Page_71'>71-73</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Evelyn's "Diary," and Ham House, Weybridge, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Exeter, Coins found in, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Extraordinary Disappearances, <a href='#Page_229'>229-252</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Family Death Omens, <a href='#Page_180'>180-198</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fanshaw, Lady, Strange Spectre of, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fardell, Stone at, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fatal Curses, <a href='#Page_1'>1-28</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fatal Passion, <a href='#Page_289'>289-307</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ferguson, Agnes, Disappearance of, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Field of Forty Footsteps," Tale of the, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fielding, Beau, and Robert Perceval, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Flamsteed, the Astronomer, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Foote, Accident to, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Forrester, First Lord, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Foulis, Mr. Robert, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fox, George, at Armscott Manor, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Freke, Sir Ralph, Daughter of, <a href='#Page_71'>71-73</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Furness Abbey, Romance of, <a href='#Page_56'>56-58</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Furvie, Curse of, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Galeazzo of Mantua, Ball given by, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Garnet, Father, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Garnett, Dr. Richard, and Skull at Bottiscombe, <a href='#Page_30'>30-32</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Garrick, David, and Agnes Ferguson, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Garswood, "Dead Hand" at, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gascoyne, Sir Crisp, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gladstone, Mr., Address on Wedgwood's Life, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Glamis Castle, Tradition relating to, <a href='#Page_98'>98-103</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Goblet in possession of Colonel Wilks, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Godwin, Earl, Edward the Confessor and, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Goldbridge, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Goodere, Sir John, Murder of, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gordon, Mr., of Ardoch Castle, Daughters of, <a href='#Page_285'>285-288</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gordon Castle, Tree at, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grayrigg Hall, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grey, Dr. Z., and Bust of Charles I., <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Guisboro' Priory, The Monks of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gunpowder Conspirators, The, at Hendlip Hall, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gunwalloe Parish Church, Tradition relating to, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Haddon Hall, "Dorothy Vernon's Door" at, <a href='#Page_213'>213-215</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Haigh Hall, Romance associated with, <a href='#Page_246'>246-248</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hale, Sir Matthew, in Disguise, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ham House, Weybridge, Secret Rooms at, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hand, The Dead, <a href='#Page_154'>154-161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hannen, Sir James, and the case of de Niceville, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a></li>
+
+<li>Hapton Tower, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Harper, Story of an old Irish, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Harpham Hall, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Harrington, Sir John, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hastings Priory, Skulls from, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Havisham, Miss, The original of, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and the Legend of "The Bloody Footsteps," <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Heart Burial on the Continent, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a>Hearts, Honoured, <a href='#Page_253'>253-262</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Helston, Mother, a Lancashire witch, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hendlip Hall, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_91'>91-93</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Herbert, Sir Richard, at the Battle of Edgcot Field, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hermitage Castle, Story of, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  Treasures Hidden in, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Hidden Money and Treasure, Traditions <i>re</i>, <a href='#Page_268'>268-278</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hill, Captain R., <a href='#Page_301'>301-303</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hoby, Sir Thomas, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Holland House, Room at, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Holyrood Palace, Blood Stains on floor of, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Home of Cowdenknowes, Family of, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Honoured Hearts, <a href='#Page_253'>253-262</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hopetoun, Earl, and Laird named Dundas, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Horndon-on-the-Hill Church, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Howe, Mr., Strange Disappearance of, <a href='#Page_244'>244-246</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Howe, Lord, and "John Taylor," <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Howgill, Francis, a Noted Quaker, <a href='#Page_10'>10-12</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hoxne, Tradition at, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hulme Hall, Legend connected with, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hume's "History of the House of Douglas," <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hungerford, Vault of the, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Idiot's Curse, The, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Indelible Blood Stains, <a href='#Page_114'>114-134</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Indre, M'Alister, Curse of, <a href='#Page_2'>2-5</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ingatestone Hall, Strange Room at, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Ingoldsby Legends," Dead Hand mentioned in, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Iron Chest in Ireland, Story of an, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Isabella, Countess of Northampton, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Isabella Eugenia, of the Netherlands, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Isabella, Queen, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ithon, John de, Story of, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>James II., The Heart of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Jerratt, Lady, Ghost Story of, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Joan, Queen of Naples, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Johnson, Dr., Conversations with a Man in Woman's attire, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Joinville, Count Louis, <a href='#Page_138'>138-140</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Jones, Molly, Sir Wm. Kyte and, <a href='#Page_298'>298-300</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>"Katie Neevie's Hoard," <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kellie, The two Countesses of, <a href='#Page_285'>285-288</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kempenfeldt, Admiral, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kersal Hall, Romantic Story of, <a href='#Page_173'>173-176</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kilburn Priory, Legend connected with, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kirdford, Piece of Ground at, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Family of, <a href='#Page_183'>183-185</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Knevett, Lord, Murder of, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Konigsmark, Count, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kyte, Sir Wm., and Molly Jones, <a href='#Page_298'>298-300</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Lally, John, A Piper, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lecky, Mr., and Devil Compacts in the Fourteenth Century, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lee, Sir Henry, Queen Elizabeth and, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Leech, John, Strange Story of, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lefanu, Mrs., Story of "The Banshee," <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a>Legend of the Robber's Grave, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Leigh, Lord, Charge of Murder against, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lincoln Cathedral, Blood Stains at, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lincolnshire, Strange Disappearance at a Marriage in 1750, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lindsays, The, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Littlecote House, Mysterious Crime at, <a href='#Page_106'>106-108</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Livingstone, Sir A., Banquet given by, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Long, Walter, of Draycot, <a href='#Page_141'>141-144</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Long, Sir Walter, Story of his Widow, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Louis XIV., Burial of Heart of, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lovat, Lord, Story of, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lovel, Lord, Disappearance of his Bride, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lovell, Lord, The Mysterious Death of, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Luck of Muncaster," The, <a href='#Page_203'>203-205</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lucky Accidents, <a href='#Page_279'>279-288</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lynton Castle, Tradition relating to, <a href='#Page_62'>62-64</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Mab's Cross, near Wigan, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>.</li>
+
+<li>M'Alister Family, Curse of the, <a href='#Page_2'>2-5</a>.</li>
+
+<li>McClean, Family of, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Macfarlane, Mrs., Secret relating to, <a href='#Page_146'>146-149</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mackenzie, Maria, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Macleod, Dr. Norman, Anecdote told by, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Magdalene College, Oxford, Cup found at, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Maguire, Col., and Lady Cathcart, <a href='#Page_236'>236-238</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Malsanger, House at, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Manners, John, and Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Manor House at Darlington, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, and the Chevalier D'Eon, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mar, The Earl of, <a href='#Page_14'>14-17</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Market Parsonage, Mysterious crime at, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Marlborough, Duchess of, and Congreve, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Marsh, George, the martyr, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Marwell Old Hall, Traditions <i>re</i>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mary Queen of Scots at Chartley Park, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Matthews, C.J., the actor, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mazarin, Cardinal, Heart of, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Medicis, Marie de, Heart of, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Medicis, Queen Catherine de, Story of, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Merton College, Oxford, Pictures discovered at, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mertoun, Stephen de, Murder committed by, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Middleton Family in Yorkshire, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Midwife's Curse, The, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Millbanke, Miss, Lord Byron and, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mills, Anne, the female sailor, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Misers' Hoards, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Missing Wills, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Mistletoe Bough," The (song), <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Modena, The Duke of, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mohun, Lord, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Moiva Borb" (song), <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Molloy, Captain, of H.M.S. "C&aelig;sar," <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a>Montagues, The, and Sherborne Castle, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  and Cowdray Castle, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Montgomery Church Walls, Tale of, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Morley, Sir Oswald, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mountford, Wm., Murder of, <a href='#Page_301'>301-303</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Moy, The Curse of, <a href='#Page_6'>6-9</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Muncaster Castle, Room at, <a href='#Page_203'>203-205</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Musgrave, Sir George, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mysterious Rooms, <a href='#Page_88'>88-113</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Newborough, Lady, Romantic Story relating to, <a href='#Page_136'>136-140</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Netherall, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Newstead Abbey, Skull at, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  Spectre of, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>;</li>
+<li>  Lord Byron's Heart at, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Niceville A.A. de, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Nimmo, Mrs., <a href='#Page_290'>290-293</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Northam Tower, Spectre at, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Northumberland, Duke of, The Eleventh Daughter of the, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Nugent, Lord, "Memorials of Hampden," <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Ogilvies, The, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Omens, Family Death, <a href='#Page_180'>180-198</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ormesby, Treasure found at the Vicarage House of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Osbaldeston Hall, Tradition relating to, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Oulton House, Tragedy at, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Overbury, Sir Thomas, Murder of, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Owls, The Family of Arundel of Wardour and, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Oxenham Family, Death Warning of the, <a href='#Page_185'>185-187</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Page, Murderer of a Jew named Abrams, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Par&eacute;, Ambrose, the Surgeon, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Parma, Duke of, and Baron Ward, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Passion, Fatal, <a href='#Page_289'>289-307</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Payne, Col. Stephen, Curse on, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pear, The Coalstoun, <a href='#Page_199'>199-201</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pembroke, Earl of, at the Battle of Edgcot Fields, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pennington, Sir John, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Perceval, Robert, Strange Death of, <a href='#Page_150'>150-152</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Phillipson, Myles, <a href='#Page_35'>35-37</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pitt, Wm., Accident to, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Plaish Hall, Legendary Tale connected with, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Poe, Edgar A., "Masque of the Red Death," <a href='#Page_73'>73-75</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Political Vows, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pope's Satire, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Possessions, Weird, <a href='#Page_199'>199-207</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Poyntz, Mr. Stephen, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Prestwich, Sir Thomas, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Price, Mr., <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Prophecy relating to Cowdray Castle, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pudsey, Bishop, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Quaker's Curse, The, <a href='#Page_10'>10-12</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Radcliffe, Tragedy at, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Radclyffe, Sir Wm. de, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Radiant Boy" of Corby Castle, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Raffles, Dr., Amusing Story in the Life of, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Sherborne Castle, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  Seat at Fardell, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Rawlinson, Dr. R., The Heart of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Richard I., The Heart of, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rizzio, Murder of, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Robinson, Nicholas, Disappearance of, <a href='#Page_241'>241-243</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a>Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire:"
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>The "Dead Hand" at Bryn Hall, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li>
+<li>and the "Luck of Muncaster," <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Roderham, Robert de, Story of, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Romance of Wealth, <a href='#Page_263'>263-278</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Rookwood Hall," Ainsworth's, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rooms, Mysterious, <a href='#Page_88'>88-113</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Roslin, the Lords of, Traditions regarding, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Royal George</i>, Sinking of the, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rushen Castle, Secret Room at, <a href='#Page_103'>103-105</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rushton, The Duke's Room at, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Russell, of Streatham, in Women's attire, <a href='#Page_222'>222-224</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Russell, Lady, of Bisham Abbey, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rutherford, Lord, and Janet Dalrymple, <a href='#Page_52'>52-56</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>St. Antony, Church of, in Cornwall, Tradition Relating to, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li>
+
+<li>St. Denis' Blood, Belief relating to, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li>
+
+<li>St. Foix, Account of Ceremonial after the Death of a King of France, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.</li>
+
+<li>St. Louis, Queen of, Vow by the, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li>
+
+<li>St. Michael's Mount, Sir J. Arundell and, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Samlesbury Hall, Vow Relating to, <a href='#Page_58'>58-60</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scarborough, Second Earl of, Death of, <a href='#Page_144'>144-146</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scotland, Legends <i>re</i> Hidden Treasures in, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Robert, of Thirlestane, Second wife of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, Vow by an Ancestor of, Accident to, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>;
+<ul class="ul1">
+<li>  and the Mysterious Crime at Littlecote House, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>;</li>
+<li>  at Edinburgh, <a href='#Page_108'>108-110</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Murder of Rizzio, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>;</li>
+<li>  and the Clan of Tweedie, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "Antiquary," <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "Peveril of the Peak," <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "Tales of a Grandfather," <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "The Betrothed," <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "The Bride of Lammermoor," <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, and "The Curse of Moy," <a href='#Page_6'>6-9</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, "Waverley," The Bodach Glass in, <a href='#Page_193'>193-195</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Scottish Hogarth," The, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Screaming Skulls, <a href='#Page_29'>29-45</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Secrets, Curious, <a href='#Page_135'>135-153</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sedgley, Vow made by a Parishioner of, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Servian Patriots, The, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sharp, Lieut., <a href='#Page_304'>304-306</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Shelley, The Poet, Heart of, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Shepherd Lad," Lord Clifford as the, <a href='#Page_224'>224-227</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sherborne Castle, Curse of, <a href='#Page_17'>17-19</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sheriff-Muir, Battle of, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Shonkes, Piers, Tomb of, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Shropshire, Buried Well in, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Shuckburgh Hall, Tragedy at, <a href='#Page_304'>304-306</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sikes, Wirt, Anecdote of a Skull, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Simpson, Christopher, Murder of, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Skull, The Screaming, <a href='#Page_29'>29-45</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a>Skull House, near Turton Tower, Bolton, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Smithell's Hall, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Soulis, Lord, Compact with the Devil, <a href='#Page_166'>166-168</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Southey, Anecdote recorded by, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Southey and "The Brothers' Steps," <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Southey's "Thalaba, the Destroyer," <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Southworth, Sir John, Daughter of, <a href='#Page_58'>58-60</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Spectre, Lady Fanshaw's strange, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Spectre of the "Buckland Shag," <a href='#Page_124'>124-126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stair, Lord, Daughter of the first, <a href='#Page_52'>52-56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stamer, Col., Daughter of, <a href='#Page_71'>71-73</a></li>
+
+<li>Stoke d'Abernon, Monument in the Church of, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stokesay Castle, Treasure at, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stoneleigh Abbey, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Strathmore, Lord, of Glamis Castle, <a href='#Page_98'>98-103</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Street Place, Old House called, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Swans of Closeburn, The, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Sweet Heart Abbey," <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Swinton, Sir John, <a href='#Page_146'>146-149</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sybil, Lady, and the Eagle's Crag, <a href='#Page_168'>168-170</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Talbot, Mary Anne as "John Taylor," sailor, <a href='#Page_209'>209-212</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Talleyrand, Accident to, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Taylor, John," <i>alias</i> Mary Anne Talbot, <a href='#Page_209'>209-212</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thirlestone, Lady, <a href='#Page_77'>77-78</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thomas the Rhymer, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thorpe Hall, The "Green Lady" of, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thrale, Mr., of Streatham Park, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thynne, Sir Egremont, <a href='#Page_141'>141-144</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Thynne of Longleat, Murder of, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tichborne, Sir Henry, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tichborne, Lady Mabelle, <a href='#Page_21'>21-23</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tichborne Trial, The Great, <a href='#Page_21'>21-23</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Tiger Earl," The, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Timberbottom, Skull at Farmhouse called, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Towneley, Charles, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Treasures concealed in the Earth, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tremeirchon Church, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Trentham, Elizabeth, Viscount Cullen and, <a href='#Page_69'>69-71</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Trent, Manor House at, Strange Chamber in, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tufnell Park, Find of Gold at, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tunstead, Skull at, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tweedie, The Clan of, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Vardon, Douce, a Midwife, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vavasour, Mrs. A., and Sir Henry Lee, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Venice, Statue at, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vernons of Hanbury, Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and one of the, <a href='#Page_217'>217-220</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vienna, The Church of St. Charles, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vincent, Family of, at Stoke d'Abernon, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Voltaire, Vow in one of his Romances, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vows, Eccentric, <a href='#Page_46'>46-68</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Wakefield Mills, The, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Walpole and Berkeley Castle, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ward, Baron, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wardley Hall, Skull at, <a href='#Page_37'>37-40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wealth, Romance of, <a href='#Page_263'>263-278</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wedgwood, Josiah, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>.</li>
+
+<li><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a>Weird Possessions, <a href='#Page_199'>199-207</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wellington, Duke of, Strange belief on the occasion of his funeral, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wells, "Mother," <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wesley, John, and the game of whist, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Westminster Abbey, Hearts of Illustrious Personages at, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Whitehead, Paul, The Heart of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Widow's Curse, The, <a href='#Page_2'>2-5</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wilkinson, Tate, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wilks, Col., Heirloom in possession of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wills, Missing, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Witches' Horseblock, The, <a href='#Page_168'>168-170</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wordsworth's "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle," <a href='#Page_225'>225-227</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wye Coller Hall, Room at, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+</ul>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr"><h5>Typos corrected in text:</h5>
+
+<p class="noin">
+Page 53: 'Jane' corrected to 'Janet'.<br />
+Page 143: 'suddedly' corrected to 'suddenly'.<br />
+Page 190: 'fulful' corrected to 'fulfil'.<br />
+Page 219: 'accompany-' corrected to 'accompanying'.<br />
+Page 269: 'various others localities' corrected to 'various other localities'.<br />
+Page 279: 'playes' corrected to 'players'.<br />
+Page 281: 'De Sphoera' corrected to 'De Sph&aelig;ra' [On the basis of<br />
+information found here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/sacrobosco.html].<br />
+Page 294: 'call' corrected to 'called'.<br /></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Pages from Family Papers
+by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE PAGES FROM FAMILY PAPERS ***
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+Project Gutenberg's Strange Pages from Family Papers, by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Strange Pages from Family Papers
+
+Author: T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+Release Date: November 11, 2005 [EBook #17050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE PAGES FROM FAMILY PAPERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Clare Boothby, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+    +------------------------------------------------+
+    |  Transcriber's Note: Some very obvious typos   |
+    | were corrected in this text. For a list please |
+    | see the bottom of the document.                |
+    +------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: "FOR THE BLAST OF DEATH IS ON THE HEATH, AND THE
+GRAVE YAWNS WIDE FOR THE CHILD OF MOY."]
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE PAGES
+
+FROM
+
+FAMILY PAPERS
+
+By T.F. THISELTON DYER
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+"GREAT MEN AT PLAY," "CHURCH LORE GLEANINGS,"
+"THE GHOST WORLD," &C.
+
+LONDON
+SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY
+LIMITED
+St. Dunstan's House,
+FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+1895
+
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+PRINTED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
+BREAM'S BUILDINGS, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+Fatal Curses                                          page 1
+
+CHAPTER II.
+The Screaming Skull                                       29
+
+CHAPTER III.
+Eccentric Vows                                            46
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Strange Banquets                                          69
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Mysterious Rooms                                          88
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+Indelible Bloodstains                                    114
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Curious Secrets                                          135
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+The Dead Hand                                            154
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+Devil Compacts                                           162
+
+CHAPTER X.
+Family Death Omens                                       180
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+Weird Possessions                                        198
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+Romance of Disguise                                      208
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+Extraordinary Disappearances                             229
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+Honoured Hearts                                          253
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+Romance of Wealth                                        262
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+Lucky Accidents                                          279
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+Fatal Passion                                            289
+
+
+Index                                                    309
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+1. "For the blast of Death is on the heath,
+    And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy."
+                                               Frontispiece.
+
+2. She opened it in secret                          page  38
+
+3. "Madam, you have attained your end. You
+    and I shall meet no more in this world"               72
+
+4. The figure stood motionless                           150
+
+5. Lady Sybil at the Eagle's Crag                        168
+
+6. Dorothy Vernon and the Woodman                        214
+
+7. Lady Mabel and the Palmer                             248
+
+8. There came an old Irish harper, and sang an
+   ancient song                                          272
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE PAGES
+
+FROM
+
+FAMILY PAPERS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FATAL CURSES.
+
+    May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
+    Deny thee shelter! Earth a home! the dust
+    A grave! The sun his light! and heaven her God.
+               BYRON, _Cain_.
+
+
+Many a strange and curious romance has been handed down in the history
+of our great families, relative to the terrible curses uttered in
+cases of dire extremity against persons considered guilty of injustice
+and wrong doing. It is to such fearful imprecations that the
+misfortune and downfall of certain houses have been attributed,
+although, it may be, centuries have elapsed before their final
+fulfilment. Such curses, too, unlike the fatal "Curse of Kehama," have
+rarely turned into blessings, nor have they been thought to be as
+harmless as the curse of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Rheims, who
+banned the thief--both body and soul, his life and for ever--who stole
+his ring. It was an awful curse, but none of the guests seemed the
+worse for it, except the poor jackdaw who had hidden the ring in some
+sly corner as a practical joke. But, if we are to believe traditionary
+and historical lore, only too many of the curses recorded in the
+chronicles of family history have been productive of the most
+disastrous results, reminding us of that dreadful malediction given by
+Byron in his "Curse of Minerva":
+
+    "So let him stand, through ages yet unborn,
+    Fix'd statue on the pedestal of scorn."
+
+A popular form of curse seems to have been the gradual collapse of the
+family name from failure of male-issue; and although there is,
+perhaps, no more romantic chapter in the vicissitudes of many a great
+house than its final extinction from lack of an heir, such a disaster
+is all the more to be lamented when resulting from a curse. A
+catastrophe of this kind was that connected with the M'Alister family
+of Scotch notoriety. The story goes that many generations back, one of
+their chiefs, M'Alister Indre--an intrepid warrior who feared neither
+God nor man--in a skirmish with a neighbouring clan, captured a
+widow's two sons, and in a most heartless manner caused them to be
+hanged on a gibbet erected almost before her very door. It was in vain
+that, with well nigh heartbroken tears, she denounced his iniquitous
+act, for his comrades and himself only laughed and scoffed, and even
+threatened to burn her cottage to the ground. But as the crimson and
+setting rays of a summer sun fell on the lifeless bodies of her two
+sons, her eyes met those of him who had so basely and cruelly wronged
+her, and, after once more stigmatizing his barbarity, with deep
+measured voice she pronounced these ominous words, embodying a curse
+which M'Alister Indre little anticipated would so surely come to pass.
+"I suffer now," said the grief-stricken woman, "but you shall suffer
+always--you have made me childless, but you and yours shall be
+heirless for ever--never shall there be a son to the house of
+M'Alister."
+
+These words were treated with contempt by M'Alister Indre, who mocked
+and laughed at the malicious prattle of a woman's tongue. But time
+proved only too truly how persistently the curse of the bereaved woman
+clung to the race of her oppressors, and, as Sir Bernard Burke
+remarks, it was in the reign of Queen Anne that the hopes of the house
+of M'Alister "flourished for the last time, they were blighted for
+ever." The closing scene of this prophetic curse was equally tragic
+and romantic; for, whilst espousing the cause of the Pretender, the
+young and promising heir of the M'Alisters was taken prisoner, and
+with many others put to death. Incensed at the wrongs of his exiled
+monarch, and full of fiery impulse, he had secretly left his youthful
+wife, and joined the army at Perth that was to restore the Pretender
+to his throne. For several months the deserted wife fretted under the
+terrible suspense, often silently wondering if, after all, her
+husband--the last hope of the House of M'Alister--was to fall under
+the ban of the widow's curse. She could not dispel from her mind the
+hitherto disastrous results of those ill-fated words, and would only
+too willingly have done anything in her power to make atonement for
+the wrong that had been committed in the past. It was whilst almost
+frenzied with thoughts of this distracting kind, that vague rumours
+reached her ears of a great battle which had been fought, and ere long
+this was followed by the news that the Pretender's forces had been
+successful, and that he was about to be crowned at Scone. The shades
+of evening were fast setting in as, overcome with the joyous prospect
+of seeing her husband home again, she withdrew to her chamber, and,
+flinging herself on her bed in a state of hysteric delight, fell
+asleep. But her slumbers were broken, for at every sound she started,
+mentally exclaiming "Can that be my husband?"
+
+At last, the happy moment came when her poor overwrought brain made
+sure it heard his footsteps. She listened, yes! they were his! Full of
+feverish joy she was longing to see that long absent face, when, as
+the door opened, to her horror and dismay, there entered a figure in
+martial array without a head. It was enough--he was dead. And with an
+agonizing scream she fell down in a swoon; and on becoming conscious
+only lived to hear the true narrative of the battle of Sheriff-Muir,
+which had brought to pass the Widow's Curse that there should be no
+heir to the house of M'Alister.
+
+This story reminds us of one told of Sir Richard Herbert, who, with
+his brother, the Earl of Pembroke, pursuing a robber band in Anglesea,
+had captured seven brothers, the ringleaders of "many mischiefs and
+murders." The Earl of Pembroke determined to make an example of these
+marauders, and, to root out so wretched a progeny, ordered them all to
+be hanged. Upon this, the mother of the felons came to the Earl of
+Pembroke, and upon her knees besought him to pardon two, or at least
+one, of her sons, a request which was seconded by the Earl's brother,
+Sir Richard. But the Earl, finding the condemned men all equally
+guilty, declared he could make no distinction, and ordered them to be
+hanged together.
+
+Upon this the mother, falling upon her knees, cursed the Earl, and
+prayed that God's mischief might fall upon him in the first battle in
+which he was engaged. Curious to relate, on the eve of the battle of
+Edgcot Field, having marshalled his men in order to fight, the Earl of
+Pembroke was surprised to find his brother, Sir Richard Herbert,
+standing in the front of his company, and leaning upon his pole-axe
+in a most dejected and pensive mood.
+
+"What," cried the Earl, "doth thy great body" (for Sir Richard was
+taller than anyone in the army) "apprehend anything, that thou art so
+melancholy? or art thou weary with marching, that thou dost lean thus
+upon thy pole-axe?"
+
+"I am not weary with marching," replied Sir Richard, "nor do I
+apprehend anything for myself; but I cannot but apprehend on your part
+lest the curse of the woman fall upon you."
+
+And the curse of the frantic mother of seven convicts seemed, we are
+told, to have gained the authority of Heaven, for both the Earl and
+his brother Sir Richard, were defeated at the battle of Edgcot, were
+both taken prisoners and put to death.
+
+Sir Walter Scott has made a similar legend the subject of one of his
+ballads in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," entitled "The
+Curse of Moy," a tale founded on an ancient Highland tradition that
+originated in a feud between the clans of Chattan and Grant. The
+Castle of Moy, the early residence of Mackintosh, the chief of the
+clan Chattan, is situated among the mountains of Inverness-shire, and
+stands on the edge of a small gloomy lake called Loch Moy, in which is
+still shown a rocky island as the spot where the dungeon stood in
+which prisoners were confined by the former chiefs of Moy. On a
+certain evening, in the annals of Moy, the scene is represented as
+having been one of extreme merriment, for
+
+    In childbed lay the lady fair,
+    But now is come the appointed hour.
+    And vassals shout, "An heir, an heir!"
+
+It is no ordinary occasion, for a wretched curse has long hung over
+the Castle of Moy, but at last the spell seems broken, and, as the
+well-spiced bowl goes round, shout after shout echoes and re-echoes
+through the castle, "An heir, an heir!" Many a year had passed without
+the prospect of such an event, and it had looked as if the ill-omened
+words uttered in the past were to be realised. It was no wonder then
+that "in the gloomy towers of Moy" there were feasting and revelry,
+for a child is born who is to perpetuate the clan which hitherto had
+seemed threatened with extinction. But, even on this festive night
+when every heart is tuned for song and mirth, there suddenly appears a
+mysterious figure, a pale and shivering form, by "age and frenzy
+haggard made," who defiantly exclaims "'Tis vain! 'Tis vain!"
+
+At once all eyes are turned on this strange form, as she, in mocking
+gesture, casts a look of withering scorn on the scene around her, and
+startles the jovial vassals with the reproachful words "No heir! No
+heir!" The laughter is hushed, the pipes no longer sound, for the
+witch with uplifted hand beckons that she had a message to tell--a
+message from Death--she might truly say, "What means these bowls of
+wine--these festive songs?"
+
+    For the blast of Death is on the heath,
+    And the grave yawns wide for the child of Moy.
+
+She then recounts the tale of treachery and cruelty committed by a
+chief of the House of Moy in the days of old, for which "his name
+shall perish for ever off the earth--a son may be born--but that son
+shall verily die." The witch brings tears into many an eye as she
+tells how this curse was uttered by one Margaret, a prominent figure
+in this sad feud, for it was when deceived in the most base manner,
+and when betrayed by a man who had violated his promise he had
+solemnly pledged, that she is moved to pronounce the fatal words of
+doom:
+
+    She pray'd that childless and forlorn,
+      The chief of Moy might pine away,
+    That the sleepless night, and the careful morn
+      Might wither his limbs in slow decay.
+
+    But never the son of a chief of Moy
+      Might live to protect his father's age,
+    Or close in peace his dying eye,
+      Or gather his gloomy heritage.
+
+Such was the "Curse of Moy," uttered, it must be remembered, too, by a
+fair young girl, against the Chief of Moy for a blood-thirsty
+crime--the act of a traitor--in that, not content with slaying her
+father, and murdering her lover, he satiates his brutal passion by
+letting her eyes rest on their corpses.
+
+    "And here," they said, "is thy father dead,
+    And thy lover's corpse is cold at his side."
+
+Her tale ended, the witch departs, but now ceased the revels of the
+shuddering clan, for "despair had seized on every breast," and "in
+every vein chill terror ran." On the morrow, all is changed, no joyous
+sounds are heard, but silence reigns supreme--the silence of death.
+The curse has triumphed, the last hope of the house of Moy is gone,
+and--
+
+    Scarce shone the morn on the mountain's head
+    When the lady wept o'er her dying boy.
+
+But tyranny, or oppression, has always been supposed to bring its own
+punishment, as in the case of Barcroft Hall, Lancashire, where the
+"Idiot's Curse" is commonly said to have caused the downfall of the
+family. The tradition current in the neighbourhood states that one of
+the heirs to Barcroft was of weak intellect, and that he was fastened
+by a younger brother with a chain in one of the cellars, and there in
+a most cruel manner gradually starved to death. It appears that this
+unnatural conduct on the part of the younger brother was prompted by a
+desire to get possession of the property; and it is added that, long
+before the heir to Barcroft was released from his sufferings, he
+caused a report to be circulated that he was dead, and by this piece
+of deception made himself master of the Barcroft estate. It was in one
+of his lucid intervals that the poor injured brother pronounced a
+curse upon the family of the Barcrofts, to the effect that their name
+should perish for ever, and that the property should pass into other
+hands. But this malediction was only regarded as the ravings of an
+imbecile, unaccountable for his words, and little or no heed was paid
+to this death sentence on the Barcroft name. And yet, light as the
+family made of it, within a short time there were not wanting
+indications that their prosperity was on the wane, a fact which every
+year became more and more discernible until the curse was fulfilled in
+the person of Thomas Barcroft, who died in 1688 without male issue.
+After passing through the hands of the Bradshaws, the Pimlots, and the
+Isherwoods, the property was finally sold to Charles Towneley, the
+celebrated antiquarian, in the year 1795.[1] Whatever the truth of
+this family tradition, Barcroft is still a good specimen of the later
+Tudor style, and its ample cellarage gives an idea of the profuse
+hospitality of its former owners, some rude scribblings on one of the
+walls of which are still pointed out as the work of the captive.
+
+In a still more striking way this spirit of persecution incurred its
+own condemnation. In the 17th century, Francis Howgill, a noted
+Quaker, travelled about the South of England preaching, which at
+Bristol was the cause of serious rioting. On returning to his own
+neighbourhood, he was summoned to appear before the justices who were
+holding a court in a tavern at Kendal, and, on his refusing to take
+the oath of allegiance, he was imprisoned in Appleby Gaol. In due
+time, the judges of assizes tendered the same oath, but with the like
+result, and evidently wishing to show him some consideration offered
+to release him from custody if he would give a bond for his good
+behaviour in the interim, which likewise declining to do, he was
+recommitted to prison. In the course of his imprisonment, however, a
+curious incident happened, which gave rise to the present narrative.
+Having been permitted by the magistrates to go home to Grayrigg for a
+few days on private affairs, he took the opportunity of calling on a
+justice of the name of Duckett, residing at Grayrigg Hall, who was not
+only a great persecutor of the Quakers but was one of the magistrates
+who had committed him to prison. As might be imagined, Justice Duckett
+was not a little surprised at seeing Howgill, and said to him, "What
+is your wish now, Francis? I thought you had been in Appleby Gaol."
+
+Howgill, keenly resenting the magistrate's behaviour, promptly
+replied, "No, I am not, but I am come with a message from the Lord.
+Thou hast persecuted the Lord's people, but His hand is now against
+thee, and He will send a blast upon all that thou hast, and thy name
+shall rot out of the earth, and this thy dwelling shall become
+desolate, and a habitation for owls and jackdaws." When Howgill had
+delivered his message, the magistrate seems to have been somewhat
+disconcerted, and said, "Francis, are you in earnest?" But Howgill
+only added, "Yes, I am in earnest, it is the word of the Lord to thee,
+and there are many living now who will see it."
+
+But the most remarkable part of the story remains to be told. By a
+strange coincidence the prophetic utterance of Howgill was fulfilled
+in a striking manner, for all the children of Justice Duckett died
+without leaving any issue, whilst some of them came to actual poverty,
+one begging her bread from door to door. Grayrigg Hall passed into the
+possession of the Lowther family, was dismantled, and fell into ruins,
+little more than its extensive foundations being visible in 1777, and,
+after having long been the habitation of "owls and jackdaws," the
+ruins were entirely removed and a farmhouse erected upon the site of
+the "old hall," in accordance with what was popularly known as "The
+Quaker's Curse, and its fulfilment." Cornish biography, however, tells
+how a magistrate of that county, Sir John Arundell, a man greatly
+esteemed amongst his neighbours for his honourable conduct--fell under
+an imprecation which he in no way deserved. In his official capacity,
+it seems, he had given offence to a shepherd who had by some means
+acquired considerable influence over the peasantry, under the
+impression that he possessed some supernatural powers. This man, for
+some offence, had been imprisoned by Sir John Arundell, and on his
+release would constantly waylay the magistrate, always looking at him
+with the same menacing eye, at the same time slowly muttering these
+words:
+
+    "When upon the yellow sand,
+    Thou shalt die by human hand."
+
+Notwithstanding Sir John Arundell's education and position, he was not
+wholly free from the superstition of the period, and might have
+thought, too, that this man intended to murder him. Hence he left his
+home at Efford and retired to the wood-clad hills of Trevice, where he
+lived for some years without the annoyance of meeting his old enemy.
+But in the tenth year of Edward IV., Richard de Vere, Earl of Oxford,
+seized St. Michael's Mount; on hearing of which news, Sir John
+Arundell, then Sheriff of Cornwall--led an attack on St. Michael's
+Mount, in the course of which he received his death wound in a
+skirmish on the sands near Marazion. Although he had broken up his
+home at Efford "to counteract the will of fate," the shepherd's
+prophecy was accomplished; and tradition even says that, in his dying
+moments, his old enemy appeared, singing in joyous tones:
+
+    "When upon the yellow sand,
+    Thou shalt die by human hand."
+
+The misappropriation of property, in addition to causing many a family
+complication, has occasionally been attended with a far more serious
+result. There is a strange curse, for instance, in the family of Mar,
+which can boast of great antiquity, there being, perhaps, no title in
+Europe so ancient as that of the Earl of Mar. This curse has been
+attributed by some to Thomas the Rhymer, by others to the Abbot of
+Cambuskenneth, and by others to the Bard of the House at that epoch.
+But, whoever its author, the curse was delivered prior to the
+elevation of the Earl, in the year 1571, to be the Regent of Scotland,
+and runs thus:
+
+"Proud Chief of Mar, thou shalt be raised still higher, until thou
+sittest in the place of the King. Thou shalt rule and destroy, and thy
+work shall be after thy name, but thy work shall be the emblem of thy
+house, and shall teach mankind that he who cruelly and haughtily
+raiseth himself upon the ruins of the holy cannot prosper. Thy work
+shall be cursed, and shall never be finished. But thou shalt have
+riches and greatness, and shall be true to thy sovereign, and shalt
+raise his banner in the field of blood. Then, when thou seemest to be
+highest, when thy power is mightiest, then shall come thy fall; low
+shall be thy head amongst the nobles of the people. Deep shall be thy
+moan among the children of dool (sorrow). Thy lands shall be given to
+the stranger, and thy titles shall lie among the dead. The branch that
+springs from thee shall see his dwelling burnt, in which a King is
+nursed--his wife a sacrifice in that same flame; his children
+numerous, but of little honour; and three born and grown who shall
+never see the light. Yet shall thine ancient tower stand; for the
+brave and the true cannot be wholly forsaken. Thou, proud head and
+daggered hand, must _dree thy_ weird, until horses shall be stabled in
+thy hall, and a weaver shall throw his shuttle in thy chamber of
+state. Thine ancient tower--a woman's dower--shall be a ruin and a
+beacon, until an ash sapling shall spring from its topmost stone. Then
+shall thy sorrows be ended, and the sunshine of royalty shall beam on
+thee once more. Thine honours shall be restored; the kiss of peace
+shall be given to thy Countess, though she seek it not, and the days
+of peace shall return to thee and thine. The line of Mar shall be
+broken; but not until its honours are doubled, and its doom is ended."
+
+In support of this strange curse, it may be noted that the Earl of
+1571 was raised to be Regent of Scotland, and guardian of James VI. As
+Regent, he commanded the destruction of Cambuskenneth Abbey, and took
+its stones to build himself a palace at Stirling, which never advanced
+farther than the facade, which has been popularly designated "Marr's
+Work."
+
+In the year 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the banner of his Sovereign,
+the Chevalier James Stuart, son of James the Second, or Seventh. He
+was defeated at the battle of Sheriff-Muir, his title being forfeited,
+and his lands of Mar confiscated and sold by the Government to the
+Earl of Fife. His grandson and representative, John Francis, lived at
+Alloa Tower (which had been for some time the abode of James VI. as an
+infant) where, a fire breaking out in one of the rooms, Mrs. Erskine
+was burnt, and died, leaving, beside others, three children who were
+born blind, and who all lived to old age.
+
+But this remarkable curse was to be further fulfilled, for at the
+commencement of the present century, upon the alarm of the French
+invasion, a troop of the cavalry and yeomen of the district took
+possession of the tower, and for a week fifty horses were stabled in
+its lordly hall; and in the year 1810, a party of visitors were
+surprised to find a weaver plying his loom in the grand old Chamber of
+State. Between the years 1815 and 1820, an ash sapling might be seen
+in the topmost stone, and many of those who "clasped it in their hands
+wondered if it really were the twig of destiny, and if they should
+ever live to see the prophecy fulfilled."
+
+In the year 1822, George IV. visited Scotland and searched out the
+families who had suffered by supporting the Princes of the Stuart
+line. Foremost of them all was the Erskine of Mar, grandson of Mar who
+had raised the Chevalier's standard, and to him the King restored his
+earldom. John Francis, the grandson of the restored Earl, likewise
+came into favour, for when Queen Victoria accidentally met his
+Countess in a small room in Stirling Castle, and ascertained who she
+was, she detained her, and, after conversing with her, kissed her.
+Although the Countess had never been presented at St. James's, yet, in
+a marvellous way, "the kiss of peace was given to her, though she
+sought it not"; and then, after the curse had worked through 300
+years, the "weird dreed out, and the doom of Mar was ended."[2]
+
+Another instance which may be quoted relates to Sherborne Castle.
+According to the traditionary accounts handed down, it appears that
+Osmund, one of William the Conqueror's knights, who had been rewarded,
+among other possessions, with the castle and barony of Sherborne, in
+the decline of life determined to resign his temporal honours, and to
+devote himself exclusively to religion. In pursuance of this object,
+he obtained the Bishopric of Salisbury, to which he gave certain
+lands, but annexed to the gift the following conditional curse: "That
+whosoever should take those lands from the Bishopric, or diminish them
+in great or small, should be accursed, not only in this world, but in
+the world to come, unless in his lifetime he made restitution
+thereof." In a strange and wonderful manner this curse is said to have
+been more than once fulfilled. Upon Osmund's death, the castle and
+lands fell into the hands of the next bishop, Roger Niger, who was
+dispossessed of them by King Stephen, on whose death they were held by
+the Montagues, all of whom, it is affirmed, so long as they kept these
+lands, were subjected to grievous disasters, in so much that the male
+line became altogether extinct. About two hundred years from this
+time, the lands again reverted to the Church, but in the reign of
+Edward VI. the Castle of Sherborne was conveyed by the then Bishop of
+Sarum to the Duke of Somerset, who lost his head on Tower Hill. Sir
+Walter Raleigh, again, obtained the property from the crown, and it
+was to expiate this offence, it has been suggested, he ultimately lost
+his head. But in allusion to this reputed curse, Sir John Harrington
+gravely tells how it happened one day that Sir Walter riding post
+between Plymouth and the Court, "the castle being right in the way, he
+cast such an eye upon it as Ahab did upon Naboth's vineyard, and
+whilst talking of the commodiousness of the place, and of the great
+strength of the seat, and how easily it might be got from the
+Bishopric, suddenly over and over came his horse, and his very
+face--which was then thought a very good one--ploughed up the earth
+where he fell." Then again Prince Henry died shortly after he took
+possession, and Carr, Earl of Somerset, the next proprietor fell in
+disgrace. But the way the latter obtained Sherborne was far from
+creditable, for, having discovered a technical flaw in the deed in
+which Sir Walter Raleigh had settled the estate on his son, he
+solicited it of his royal master, and obtained it. It was in vain that
+Lady Raleigh on her knees appealed to James against this injustice,
+for he only answered, "I mun have the land, I mun have it for Carr."
+But Lady Raleigh was a woman of high spirit, and there on her knees,
+before King James, she prayed to God that He would punish those who
+had thus wrongfully exposed her, and her children, to ruin. She was,
+in fact, re-echoing the curse uttered centuries beforehand. And that
+prayer was not long unanswered, for Carr did not enjoy Sherborne for
+any length of time. Committed to the Tower for the murder of Sir
+Thomas Overbury, he was at last released and restricted to his house
+in the country, "where in constant companionship with the wife, for
+the guilty love of whom he had become the murderer of his friend, he
+passed the remainder of his life, loathing the partner of his crimes,
+and by her as cordially detested."
+
+Spelman goes so far as to say that "all those families who took or had
+Church property presented to them, came, either in their own persons or
+those of their descendants, to sorrow and misfortune." One of the many
+strange occurrences relating to Sir Anthony Browne, standard-bearer to
+King Henry VIII., was communicated some years ago in connection with
+the famous Cowdray Castle, the principal seat of the Montagues. It is
+said that at the great festival given in the magnificent hall of the
+monks at Battle Abbey, on Sir Anthony Browne taking possession of his
+Sovereign's gift of that estate, a venerable monk stalked up the hall
+to the dais, where Sir Anthony Browne sat, and, in prophetic language,
+denounced him and his posterity for usurping the possessions of the
+Church, predicting their destruction by fire and water--a fate which
+was eventually fulfilled.
+
+One of the last viscounts was, in 1793, drowned when trying to pass
+the Falls of Schaffhausen on the Rhine, accompanied by Mr. Sedley
+Burdett, the elder brother of the distinguished Sir Francis. They had
+engaged an open boat to take them through the rapids; but it seems the
+authorities tried to prevent so dangerous an enterprise. In order,
+however, to carry out their project, they started two hours earlier
+than the time previously fixed--four o'clock in the morning--and
+successfully passed the first or upper fall. But, unhappily, the same
+good fortune failed them in their next descent, for "the boat was
+swamped and sunk in passing the lower fall, and was supposed to have
+been jammed in a cleft of the submerged rock, as neither boat nor
+adventurers ever appeared again. In the same week, the ancient seat of
+the family, Cowdray Castle, was destroyed by fire, and its venerable
+ruins are the significant monument at once of the fulfilment of the
+old monk's prophecy, and of the extinction of the race of the great
+and powerful noble."
+
+It is further added that the last inheritor of the title--the
+immediate successor and cousin of the ill-fated young nobleman of
+Schaffhausen, Anthony Browne, the last Montague, who died at the
+opening of this century--left no male issue, and his estates devolved
+on his only daughter, who married Mr. Stephen Poyntz, a great
+Buckinghamshire landlord. Some years after their marriage Mr. Poyntz
+was desirous of obtaining a grant of the dormant title "Viscount
+Montague" in favour of the elder of his two sons, issue of this
+marriage; but his hopes were suddenly destroyed by the death of the
+two boys, who were drowned while bathing at Bognor, the "fatal water"
+thus becoming the means, in fulfilment of the monk's terrible
+denunciation on the family in his fearful curse.
+
+In a similar manner the great Tichborne trial followed, it is said,
+upon the fulfilment, in a manner, of a prophecy, respecting that
+ancient family, made more than seven hundred years before. When the
+Lady Mabelle Tichborne, wife of the Sir Roger who flourished in the
+reign of Henry II., was lying on her death-bed, she besought her
+husband to grant her the means of leaving behind her a charitable
+bequest in the form of an annual dole of bread. To gratify her whim,
+he accordingly promised her the produce of as much land in the
+vicinity of the park as she could walk over while a certain brand was
+burning; for, as she had been bedridden for many years, he supposed
+that she would be able to go round only a small portion of the
+property. But when the venerable dame was carried out upon the ground,
+she seemed to regain her strength, and, greatly to the surprise of her
+husband, crawled round several rich and goodly acres, which, to this
+day, retain the name of "The Crawls." On being reconveyed to her
+chamber, Lady Mabelle summoned her family to her bedside and predicted
+its prosperity so long as the annual dole was observed, but she left
+her solemn curse on any of her descendants who should discontinue it,
+prophesying that when such should happen, the old house would fall,
+and the family name "become extinct from failure" of male issue. And
+she further added, that this would be foretold by a generation of
+seven sons being followed immediately after by a generation of seven
+daughters and no son.
+
+The custom of the annual doles was observed for six hundred years on
+every 25th of March, until--owing to the complaints of the magistrates
+and local gentry that vagabonds, gipsies, and idlers of every
+description swarmed into the neighbourhood, under the pretence of
+receiving the dole--it was discontinued in the year 1796. Strangely
+enough, Sir Henry Tichborne, the baronet of that day, had issue seven
+sons, and his eldest son, who succeeded him, had seven daughters and
+no son. The prophecy was apparently completed by the change of name
+of the possessors of the estate to Doughty, in the person of Sir
+Edward Doughty, who had assumed the name under the will of a relative
+from whom he inherited certain property. Finally, it may be added,
+"the Claimant" appeared, and instituted one of the most costly
+lawsuits ever tried, in which the Tichborne estate was put to an
+expense of close upon one hundred thousand pounds!
+
+But, occasionally, the effect of a family curse, through the
+misappropriation of property, has been more sweeping and speedy in its
+retribution, as in the case of Furvie or Forvie, which now forms part
+of the parish of Slains, Scotland--much, if not most of it, being
+covered with sand. The popular account of the downfall of this parish
+tells how, in times gone by, the proprietor to whom it belonged left
+three daughters as heirs of his fair lands; who were, however, most
+unjustly bereft of their property, and thrown homeless on the world.
+On quitting their home--their legal heritage--they uttered a terrible
+curse, which was quickly accomplished, and was considered an
+unmistakable sign of Divine displeasure at the wrong they had
+received. Before many days had elapsed, a storm of almost unparalleled
+violence--lasting nine days--burst over the district, and transformed
+the parish of Forvie into a desert of sand;--a calamity which is said
+to have befallen the district about the close of the 17th century. In
+this way, many local traditions account for the ruined and desolate
+condition of certain wild and uninhabited spots. Ettrick Hall, for
+instance, near the head of Ettrick Water, had such a history. On and
+around its site in former days there was a considerable village, and
+"as late as the Revolution, it contained no fewer than fifty-three
+fine houses." But about the year 1700, when the numbers in this little
+village were still very considerable, James Anderson, a member of the
+Tushielaw family, pulled down a number of small cottages, leaving many
+of the tenants--some of whom were aged and infirm--homeless. It was in
+vain that these poor people appealed to him for a little merciful
+consideration, for he refused to lend an ear to their complaints, and
+in a short time a splendid house was built on the property, known as
+Ettrick Hall. What was considered by the inhabitants far and wide as
+an act of cruel injustice incurred its own punishment, for a prophetic
+rhyme was about the same period made on it, by whom nobody could tell,
+and which, says James Hogg, writing in the year 1826, has been most
+wonderfully verified:
+
+    Ettrick Hall stands on yon plain,
+    Right sore exposed to wind and rain;
+    And on it the sun shines never at morn,
+    Because it was built in the widow's corn;
+    And its foundations can never be sure,
+    Because it was built on the ruin of the poor.
+    And or an age is come and gane,
+    Or the trees o'er the chimly-taps grow green,
+    We kinna wen where the house has been.
+
+The curse that alighted on this fair mansion at length accomplished
+its destructive work, because nowadays there is not a vestige of it
+remaining, nor has there been for these many years; indeed, so
+complete was the collapse of this ill-fated house, that its site could
+only be identified by the avenue and lanes of trees; while many clay
+cottages, on the other hand, which were built previously, long
+remained intact. Equally fatal, also, was the curse uttered against
+the old persecuting family of Home of Cowdenknowes--a place in the
+immediate neighbourhood of St. Thomas's Castle.
+
+    Vengeance, vengeance! When and where?
+    Upon the house of Cowdenknowes, now and evermair!
+
+This anathema, awful as the cry of blood, is generally said to have
+been realised in the extinction of the family and the transference of
+their property to other hands. But some doubt, writes Mr. Robert
+Chambers,[3] seems to hang on the matter, "as the Earl of Home--a
+prosperous gentleman--is the lineal descendant of the Cowdenknowes
+branch of the family which acceded to the title in the reign of
+Charles I., though, it must be admitted, the estate has long been
+alienated."
+
+Love and marriage, again, have been associated with many imprecations,
+one of which dates as far back as the time of Edmund, King of the East
+Angles, in connection with his defeat and capture at Hoxne, in
+Suffolk, on the banks of the Waveney not far from Eye. The story, as
+told by Sir Francis Palgrave in his Anglo-Saxon History, is this:
+"Being hotly pursued by his foes, the King fled to Hoxne, and
+attempted to conceal himself by crouching beneath a bridge, now called
+Goldbridge. The glittering of his golden spurs discovered him to a
+newly-married couple, who were returning home by moonlight, and they
+betrayed him to the Danes. Edmund, as he was dragged from his hiding
+place, pronounced a malediction upon all who should afterwards pass
+this bridge on their way to be married. So much regard was paid to
+this tradition by the good folks of Hoxne that no bride or bridegroom
+would venture along the forbidden path."
+
+That inconstancy has not always escaped with impunity may be gathered
+from the following painful story, one which, if it had not been fully
+attested, would seem to belong to the domain of fiction rather than
+truth: On April 28, 1795, a naval court-martial, which had lasted for
+sixteen days, and created considerable excitement, was terminated. The
+officer tried was Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy, of H.M. Ship
+_Caesar_ and the charge brought against him was that, in the memorable
+battle of June 1, 1794, he did not bring his ship into action, and
+exert himself to the utmost of his power. The decision of the court
+was adverse to the Captain, but, "having found that on many previous
+occasions Captain Molloy's courage had been unimpeachable," he was
+sentenced to be dismissed his ship, instead of the penalty of death.
+
+It is said that Captain Molloy had behaved dishonourably to a young
+lady to whom he was betrothed. The friends of the lady wished to bring
+an action for breach of promise against the Captain, but the lady
+declined doing so, only remarking that God would punish him. Some time
+afterwards the two accidentally met at Bath, when the lady confronted
+her inconstant lover by saying: "Capt. Molloy, you are a bad man. I
+wish you the greatest curse that can befall a British officer. When
+the day of battle comes, may your false heart fail you!"
+
+Her words were fully realised, his subsequent conduct and irremediable
+disgrace forming the fulfilment of her wish.[4]
+
+Another curse, which may be said to have a historic interest, has been
+popularly designated the "Midwife's Curse." It appears that Colonel
+Stephen Payne, who took a foremost part in striving to uphold the
+tottering fortunes of the Stuarts, had wooed and won a fair wife amid
+the battles of the Rebellion. The Duke of York promised to stand as
+godfather to the first child if it should prove a boy; but when a
+daughter was born, the Colonel in his mortification, it is said,
+"formally devoted, in succession, his hapless wife, his infant
+daughter, himself and his belongings, to the infernal deities."
+
+But the story goes that the midwife, Douce Vardon, was commissioned by
+the shade of Normandy's first duke to announce to her master that not
+only would his daughter die in infancy, but that neither he nor anyone
+descended from him would ever again be blessed with a daughter's love.
+Not many days afterwards the child died, "whose involuntary coming had
+been the cause of the Payne curse." Time passed on, and that "Heaven
+is merciful," writes Sir Bernard Burke,[5] Stephen Payne experienced
+in his own person, for his wife subsequently presented him with a son,
+who was sponsored by the Duke of York by proxy. "But six generations
+of the descendants of Colonel Stephen Payne," it is added, "have come
+and gone since the utterance of the midwife's curse, but they never
+yet have had a daughter born to them." Such is the immutability of the
+decrees of Fate.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Harland's "Lancashire Legends" (1882), 4, 5.
+
+[2] See Sir J. Bernard Burke's "Family Romance," 1853.
+
+[3] "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" (1870), 217-18.
+
+[4] See "Book of Days," I., 559.
+
+[5] "The Rise of Great Families," 191-202.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE SCREAMING SKULL.
+
+    "Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall,
+      Its chambers desolate, its portals foul;
+    Yes, this was once Ambition's airy hall--
+      The dome of thought, the palace of the soul."
+               BYRON.
+
+
+There are told of certain houses, in different parts of the country,
+many weird skull stories, the popular idea being that if any profane
+hand should be bold enough to remove, or in any way tamper with, such
+gruesome relics of the dead, misfortune will inevitably overtake the
+family. Hence, for years past, there have been carefully preserved in
+some of our country homes numerous skulls, all kinds of romantic
+traditions accounting for their present isolated and unburied
+condition.
+
+An old farmstead known as Bettiscombe, near Bridport, Dorsetshire, has
+long been famous for its so-called "screaming skull," generally
+supposed to be that of a negro servant who declared before his death
+that his spirit would not rest until his body was buried in his native
+land. But, contrary to his dying wish, he was interred in the
+churchyard of Bettiscombe, and hence the trouble which this skull has
+ever since occasioned. In the August of 1883, Dr. Richard Garnett, his
+daughter, and a friend, while staying in the neighbourhood determined
+to pay this eccentric skull a visit, the result of which is thus
+amusingly told by Miss Garnett:
+
+"One fine afternoon a party of three adventurous spirits started off,
+hoping to discover the skull and investigate its history. This much we
+knew, that the skull would only scream when it was buried, and so we
+hoped to get leave to inter it in the churchyard. The village of
+Bettiscombe was at length reached, and we found our way to the old
+farmhouse, which stood at the end of the village by itself. It had
+evidently been a manor house, and a very handsome one, too. We were
+admitted into a fine paved hall, and attempted to break the ice by
+asking for milk. We then endeavoured to draw the good woman of the
+house into conversation by admiring the place, and asking in a guarded
+manner respecting the famous skull. On this subject she was most
+reserved. She had only lately had the farmhouse, and had been obliged
+to take possession of the skull also; but she did not wish us to
+suppose that she knew much about it; it was a veritable 'skeleton in
+the closet' to her. After exercising great diplomacy, we persuaded her
+to allow us a sight of it. We tramped up the fine old staircase till
+we reached the top of the house, when, opening a cupboard door, she
+showed us a steep, winding staircase, leading to the roof, and from
+one of the steps the skull sat grinning at us. We took it in our hands
+and examined it carefully; it was very old and weather-beaten, and
+certainly human. The lower jaw was missing, the forehead very low and
+badly proportioned. One of our party, who was a medical student,
+examined it long and gravely, and then, after first telling the good
+woman that he was a doctor, pronounced it to be, in his opinion, the
+skull of a negro. After this oracular utterance, she resolved to make
+a clean breast of all she knew, which, however, did not amount to
+much. The skull, we were informed, was that of a negro servant, who
+had lived in the service of a Roman Catholic priest. Some difference
+arose between them; but whether the priest murdered the servant, in
+order to conceal some crimes known to the negro, or whether the negro,
+in a fit of passion, killed his master, did not clearly appear.
+
+However, the negro had declared before his death that his spirit would
+not rest unless his body was taken to his native land and buried
+there. This was not done, he being buried in the churchyard of
+Bettiscombe. Then the haunting began; fearful screams proceeded from
+the grave, the doors and windows of the house rattled and creaked,
+strange sounds were heard all over the house; in short, there was no
+rest for the inmates until the body was dug up. At different periods
+attempts were made to bury the body, but similar disturbances always
+recurred. In process of time the skeleton disappeared, 'all save the
+skull,' and its reputation as 'the screaming skull' remains
+unimpaired."
+
+In a farm-house in Sussex are preserved two skulls from Hastings
+Priory, about which many gruesome stories are current in the
+neighbourhood. One of these skulls, it appears, has been in the house
+many years; the other was placed there by a former tenant of the farm.
+It is the prevalent impression in the locality, that, if by any chance
+the former skull were to be removed, the cattle in the farm would die,
+and unearthly sounds be heard in and about the house at night time.
+According to a local tradition, the skull belonged to a man who
+murdered the owner of the house, and marks of blood are pointed out on
+the floor of the adjoining room, where the murder is said to have been
+committed, and which no washing will remove. But, on more than one
+occasion, the skull has been taken away without any ill-effects, and,
+one year, was placed by a profane hand in a branch of a neighbouring
+tree, where it remained a whole summer, during which time a bird's
+nest was constructed within it, and a young brood successfully reared.
+And yet the old superstition still survives, and the prejudice
+against tampering with this peculiar skull has in no way
+diminished.[6]
+
+There are the remains of a skull, in three parts, at Tunstead, a
+farmhouse about a mile and a half from Chapel-en-le-Frith, which,
+although popularly known by the male cognomen "Dickie," has always
+been said to be that of a woman. How long it has been located in its
+present home is not known, but tradition tells how one of two
+co-heiresses residing here was murdered, who solemnly affirmed that
+her bones should remain in the place for ever. In days past, this
+skull has been guilty of all sorts of eccentric pranks, many of which
+are still told by the credulous peasantry with respectful awe. It is
+added,[7] also, that if "Dickie" should accidentally be removed,
+everything in the farm will go wrong. The cows will be dry and barren,
+the sheep have the rot, and horses fall down, breaking their knees and
+otherwise injuring themselves. The story goes, too, that when the
+London and North-Western Railway to Manchester was being made, the
+foundations of a bridge gave way in the yielding sands and bog, and,
+after several attempts to build the bridge had failed, it was found
+necessary to divert the highway, and pass it under the railway on
+higher ground. These engineering failures were attributed to the
+malevolent influence of "Dickie," but as soon as the road was
+diverted it was bridged successfully, because no longer in Dickie's
+territory.
+
+A similar superstition attaches to a skull kept in a farmhouse at
+Chilton Cantelo, in Somersetshire. From the date on the tombstone of
+the former owner of the skull--1670--it has been conjectured that he
+came to the retired village, in which he was buried, after taking an
+active part, on the Republican side, in the Civil War; and that seeing
+the way in which the bodies of some of them who had acted with him
+were treated after the Restoration, he wished to provide against this
+in his own case. But, whatever the previous history of this curious
+skull, it has at times caused a good deal of trouble, resenting any
+proposal to consign it to the earth, for buried it will not be, no
+matter how many attempts are made to do so. Strange to say, most of
+this class of skulls behave in the same extraordinary fashion. At a
+short distance from Turton Tower--one of the most interesting
+structures in the neighbourhood of Bolton--is a farmhouse locally
+designated Timberbottom, or the Skull House, so called from the
+circumstance that two skulls are or were kept there, one of which was
+much decayed, whereas the other appeared to have been cut through by a
+blow from some sharp instrument. These skulls, it is said, have been
+buried many times in the graveyard at Bradshaw Chapel, but they have
+always had to be exhumed, and brought back to the farm-house. On one
+occasion, they were thrown into the adjacent river, but to no purpose;
+for they had to be fished up and restored to their old quarters before
+the ghosts of their owners could once more rest in peace.
+
+A popular cause assigned for this strange behaviour on the part of
+certain skulls is that their owners met with a violent death, and that
+the avenging spirit in this manner annoys the living, reminding us of
+Macbeth's words:
+
+    "Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,
+    Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;
+    Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
+    Too terrible for the ear; the times have been
+    That, when the brains were out, the man would die
+    And there an end; but now they rise again,
+    With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
+    And push us from our stools. This is more strange
+    Than such a murder is."
+
+Hence, a romantic and tragic story is told of two skulls which have
+long haunted an old house near Ambleside. It appears that a small
+piece of ground, known as Calgrath, was owned by a humble farmer,
+named Kraster Cook, and his wife Dorothy. But their little inheritance
+was coveted by a wealthy magistrate, Myles Phillipson, who, unable to
+induce them to part with it, swore "he'd have that ground, be they
+'live or dead." As time wore on, however, he appeared more gracious to
+Kraster and Dorothy, and actually invited them to a great Christmas
+banquet given to the neighbours. It was a dear feast for them, for
+Myles Phillipson pretended they had stolen a silver cup, and, sure
+enough, it was found in Kraster's house--a "plant," of course. Such an
+offence was then capital, and, as Phillipson was the magistrate,
+Kraster and Dorothy were sentenced to death. Thereupon, Dorothy arose
+in the court-room and addressed Phillipson in words that rang through
+the building and impressed all for their awful earnestness:
+
+"Guard thyself, Myles Phillipson! Thou thinkest thou hast managed
+grandly, but that tiny lump of land is the dearest a Phillipson has
+ever bought or stolen, for you will never prosper, neither your breed.
+Whatever scheme you undertake will wither in your hand; the side you
+take will always lose; the time shall come when no Phillipson shall
+own an inch of land; and while Calgarth walls shall stand we'll haunt
+it night and day. Never will ye be rid of us!"
+
+Henceforth, the Phillipsons had for their guests two skulls. They were
+found at Christmas at the head of a staircase. They were buried in a
+distant region, but they turned up in the old house again. Again and
+again were the two skulls burned; they were brazed to dust and cast to
+the winds, and for several years they were cast in the lake, but the
+Phillipsons could never get rid of them. In the meantime, Dorothy's
+weird went steadily on to its fulfilment, until the family sank into
+poverty, and at length disappeared.[8]
+
+As a more rational explanation of the matter, it is told by some local
+historians "that there formerly lived in the house a famous doctress,
+who had two skeletons by her for the usual purposes of her profession,
+and these skulls, happening to meet with better preservation than the
+rest of the bones, they were accidentally honoured" with this singular
+tradition.[9]
+
+Wardley Hall, Lancashire, has its skull, which is supposed to be the
+witness of some tragedy committed in the past, and to have belonged to
+Roger Downes, the last male representative of his family, and who was
+one of the most abandoned courtiers of Charles II. Roby, in one of his
+"Traditions," entitled "The Skull House," has represented him as
+rushing forth "hot from the stews," drawing his sword as he staggered
+along, and swearing that he would kill the first man he met. Terrible
+to say, that fearful oath was fulfilled, for his victim was a poor
+tailor, whom he ran through with his weapon and killed on the spot. He
+was apprehended for the crime, but his interest at Court quickly
+procured him a free pardon, and he soon continued his reckless course.
+But one evening, as his sister and cousin Eleanor were chatting
+together at Wardley, the carrier from Manchester brought a wooden
+box, "which had come all the way from London by Antony's waggon."
+Suspecting that there was something mysterious connected with this
+package, for the direction was "a quaint, crabbed hand," she opened it
+in secret, when, to her amazement and horror, this writing attracted
+her notice:
+
+"Thy brother has at length paid the forfeit of his crimes. The wages
+of sin is death! And his head is before thee. Heaven hath avenged the
+innocent blood he hath shed. Last night, in the lusty vigour of a
+drunken debauch, passing over London Bridge, he encounters another
+brawl, wherein, having run at the watchmen with his rapier, one blow
+of the bill which they carried severed thy brother's head from his
+trunk. The latter was cast over the parapet into the river. The head
+only remained, which an eye witness, if not a friend, hath sent to
+thee!" His sister tried at first to keep the story of her brother's
+death a secret, and hid with all speed this ghastly memorial for ever,
+as she hoped, from the gaze and knowledge of the world. It was her
+desire to conceal this foul stain upon the family name, but "the grave
+gives back its dead. The charnel gapes. The ghastly head hath burst
+its cold tabernacle, and risen from the dust." No human power could
+drive it away. It hath "been torn in pieces, burnt, and otherwise
+destroyed, but even on the subsequent day it is seen filling its
+wonted place. Yet it was always observed that sore vengeance
+lighted on its persecutors. One who hacked it in pieces was seized
+with such horrible torments in his limbs that it seemed as though he
+might be undergoing the same process. Sometimes, if only displaced, a
+fearful storm would arise, so loud and terrible that the very elements
+themselves seemed to become the ministers of its wrath." Nor will this
+eccentric piece of mortality allow the little aperture in which it
+rests to be walled up, for it remains there still, whitened and
+bleached by the weather, "looking forth from those rayless sockets
+upon the scenes which, when living, they had once beheld." Towards the
+close of the last century, Thomas Barritt, the Manchester antiquary,
+visited this skull--"this surprising piece of household furniture," as
+he calls it, and adds that "one of us who was last in company with it,
+removed it from its place into a dark part of the room, and there left
+it, and returned home." But on the following night a violent storm
+arose in the neighbourhood, causing an immense deal of damage--trees
+being blown down and roofs unthatched--and the cause, as it was
+supposed, being ascertained, the skull was replaced, when these
+terrific disturbances ceased. And yet, as Thomas Barritt sensibly
+remarks, "All this might have happened had the skull never been
+removed; but withal it keeps alive the credibility of the tradition."
+Formerly two keys were provided for this "place of a skull," one being
+kept by the tenant of the Hall, and the other by the Countess of
+Ellesmere, the owner of the property. The Countess occasionally
+accompanied visitors from the neighbouring Worsley Hall, and herself
+unlocked the door, and revealed to her friends the grinning skull of
+Wardley Hall.[10]
+
+[Illustration: SHE OPENED IT IN SECRET.]
+
+Another romantic story is associated with Burton Agnes Hall, between
+Bridlington and Driffield, Yorkshire, which is haunted by the spirit
+of a lady a former co-heiress of the estate--who is popularly known as
+"Awd Nance." The skull of this lady is carefully preserved in the
+Hall, and so long as it is left undisturbed all goes well, but
+whenever any attempt is made to remove it, the most unearthly noises
+are heard in the house, and last until it is restored. According to a
+local tradition, many years ago the three co-heiresses of the estate
+of Burton Agnes were possessed of considerable wealth, and finding the
+ancient mansion, in which they resided, not in harmony with their
+ideas of what a home should be suited to their position, determined to
+erect a house in such a style as should eclipse all others in the
+neighbourhood. The most prominent organiser of the scheme was the
+younger sister, Anne, who could talk or think of nothing but the
+magnificent home about to be built, which in due time, it is said,
+"emerged from the hands of artists and workmen, like a palace erected
+by the genii of the Arabian Nights, a palace encrusted throughout on
+walls, roof, and furniture with the most exquisite carvings and
+sculptures of the most skilled masters of the age, and radiant with
+the most glowing tints of the pencil of Peter Paul."
+
+But soon after its completion and occupation by its three
+co-heiresses, Anne, the enthusiast, paid an afternoon visit to the St.
+Quentins, at Harpham. On starting to return home about nightfall with
+her dog, she had gone no great distance when she was confronted by two
+ruffianly-looking beggars, who asked alms. She readily gave them a few
+coins, and in doing so the glitter of her finger-ring accidentally
+attracted their notice, which they at once demanded should be given up
+to them. This she refused to do, as it had been her mother's ring, and
+was one which she valued above all price.
+
+"Mother or no mother," gruffly replied one of the rogues, "we mean to
+have it, and if you do not part with it freely, we must take it,"
+whereupon he seized her hand and attempted to drag off the ring.
+
+Frightened at this act of violence, Anne screamed for help, at which
+the other ruffian, exclaiming, "Stop that noise!" struck her a blow,
+and she fell senseless to the earth. But her screams had attracted
+attention, and the approach of some villagers caused the villains to
+make a hasty retreat, without being able to get the ring from her
+finger. In a dying condition, as it was supposed, Anne was carried
+back to Harpham Hall, where, under the care of Lady St. Quentin, she
+made sufficient recovery to be removed the following day to her own
+home. The brutal treatment she had received from the highwaymen,
+however, had done its fatal work, and after a few days, during which
+she was alternately sensible and delirious, she succumbed to the
+effects. Her one thought previous to death was her devotion to her
+home, which had latterly been the ruling passion of her life; and
+bidding her sisters farewell, she addressed them thus:--
+
+"Sisters, never shall I sleep peacefully in my grave in the churchyard
+unless I, or a part of me at least, remain here in our beautiful home
+as long as it lasts. Promise me this, dear sisters, that when I am
+dead my head shall be taken from my body and preserved within these
+walls. Here let it for ever remain, and on no account be removed. And
+understand and make it known to those who in future shall become
+possessors of the house, that if they disobey this my last injunction,
+my spirit shall, if so able and so permitted, make such a disturbance
+within its walls as to render it uninhabitable for others so long as
+my head is divorced from its home."
+
+Her sisters promised to accede to her dying request, but failed to do
+so, and her body was laid entire under the pavement of the church.
+Within a few days Burton Agnes Hall was disturbed by the most
+alarming noises, and no servant could be induced to remain in the
+house. In this dilemma, the two sisters remembered that they had not
+carried out Anne's last wish, and, at the suggestion of the clergyman,
+the coffin was opened, when a strange sight was seen. The "body lay
+without any marks of corruption or decay; but the head was disengaged
+from the trunk, and appeared to be rapidly assuming the semblance of a
+fleshless skull." This was reported to the two sisters, and on the
+vicar's advice the skull of Anne was taken to Burton Agnes Hall,
+where, so long as it remained undisturbed, no ghostly noises were
+heard. It may be added that numerous attempts have from time to time
+been made to rid the hall of this skull, but without success.
+
+Many other similar skulls are still existing in various places, and,
+in addition to their antiquarian interest, have attracted the
+sightseer, connected as they mostly are with tales of legendary
+romance. An amusing anecdote of a skull is told by the late Mr. Wirt
+Sikes.[11] It seems that on a certain day some men were drinking at an
+inn when one of them, to show his courage and want of superstition,
+affirmed that he was "afraid of no ghosts," and dared to go to the
+church and fetch a skull. This he did, and after an hour or so of
+merrymaking over the skull, he carried it back to where he had found
+it; but, as he was leaving the church, "suddenly a tremendous blast
+like a whirlwind seized him, and so mauled him that he ever after
+maintained that nothing should induce him to do such a thing again."
+The man was still more convinced that the ghost of the original owner
+of the skull had been after him, when his wife informed him that the
+cane which hung in his room had been beating against the wall in a
+dreadful manner.
+
+Byron had his skull romance at Newstead, but in this case the skull
+was more orderly, and not given to those unpleasant pranks of which
+other skulls have seemingly been guilty. Whilst living at Newstead, a
+skull was one day found of large dimensions and peculiar whiteness.
+Concluding that it belonged to some friar who had been domesticated at
+Newstead--prior to the confiscation of the monasteries by Henry
+VIII.--Byron determined to convert it into a drinking vessel, and for
+this purpose dispatched it to London, where it was elegantly mounted.
+On its return to Newstead, he instituted a new order at the Abbey,
+constituting himself grand master, or abbot, of the skull. The
+members, twelve in number, were provided with black gowns--that of
+Byron, as head of the fraternity, being distinguished from the rest. A
+chapter was held at certain times, when the skull drinking goblet was
+filled with claret, and handed about amongst the gods of this
+consistory, whilst many a grim joke was cracked at the expense of
+this relic of the dead. The following lines were inscribed upon it by
+Byron:
+
+    Start not, nor deem my spirit fled;
+      In me behold the only skull
+    From which, unlike a living head,
+      Whatever flows is never dull.
+
+    I lived, I loved, I quaff'd, like thee;
+      I died: let earth my bones resign.
+    Fill up, thou canst not injure me;
+      The worm hath fouler lips than mine.
+
+    Where once my wit, perchance, hath shone,
+      In aid of others, let me shine,
+    And when, alas! our brains are gone,
+      What nobler substitute than wine.
+
+    Quaff while thou canst. Another race,
+      When thou and thine, like me, are sped,
+    May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
+      And rhyme and revel with the dead.
+
+    Why not? since through life's little day
+      Our heads such sad effects produce;
+    Redeem'd from worms and wasting clay,
+      This chance is theirs, to be of use.
+
+The skull, it is said, is buried beneath the floor of the chapel at
+Newstead Abbey.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] Sussex Archaeological Collections xiii. 162-3.
+
+[7] See _Notes and Queries_, 4th S., XI. 64.
+
+[8] Told by Mr. Moncure Conway in _Harper's Magazine_.
+
+[9] "Tales and Legends of the English Lakes," 96-7.
+
+[10] "Harland's Lancashire Legends," 1882, 65-70.
+
+[11] "British Goblins," 1880, p. 146.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ECCENTRIC VOWS.
+
+    No man takes or keeps a vow,
+    But just as he sees others do;
+    Nor are they 'bliged to be so brittle
+    As not to yield and bow a little:
+    For as best tempered blades are found
+    Before they break, to bend quite round,
+    So truest oaths are still more tough,
+    And, tho' they bow, are breaking-proof.
+               BUTLER'S "Hudibras," Ep. to his Lady, 75.
+
+
+Some two hundred and fifty years ago, the prevailing colour in all
+dresses was that shade of brown known as the "couleur Isabelle," and
+this was its origin:--A short time after the siege of Ostend
+commenced, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Isabella
+Eugenia, Gouvernante of the Netherlands, incensed at the obstinate
+bravery of the defenders, is reported to have made a vow that she
+would not change her chemise till the town surrendered. It was a
+marvellously inconvenient vow, for the siege, according to the precise
+historians thereof, lasted three years, three months, three weeks,
+three days, and three hours; and her highness's garment had
+wonderfully changed its colour before twelve months of the time had
+expired. But the ladies and gentlemen of the Court, in no way
+dismayed, resolved to keep their mistress in countenance, and, after a
+struggle between their loyalty and their cleanliness, they hit upon
+the compromising expedient of wearing dresses of the presumed colour,
+finally attained by the garment which clung to the Imperial
+Archduchess by force of religious obstinacy. But, foolish and
+eccentric as was the conduct of Isabella Eugenia, there have been
+persons gifted, like herself, with sufficient mental power and
+strength of character to keep the vows they have sworn.
+
+Thus, at a tournament held on the 17th November, 1559--the first
+anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession--Sir Henry Lee, of
+Quarendon, made a vow that every year on the return of that auspicious
+day, he would present himself in the tilt yard, in honour of the
+Queen, to maintain her beauty, worth, and dignity, against all comers,
+unless prevented by infirmity, accident, or age. Elizabeth accepted
+Sir Henry as her knight and champion; and the nobility and gentry of
+the Court formed themselves into an Honourable Society of Knights
+Tilters, which held a grand tourney every 17th November. But in the
+year 1590, Sir Henry, on account of age, resigned his office, having
+previously, by Her Majesty's permission, appointed the famous Earl of
+Cumberland as his successor. On this occasion, the royal choir sang
+the following verses as Sir Henry Lee's farewell to the Court:
+
+    My golden locks time hath to silver turned,
+      O Time, too swift, and swiftness never ceasing!
+    My youth 'gainst age, and age at youth both spurned,
+      But spurned in vain--youth waned by increasing;
+    Beauty, and strength, and youth, flowers fading been;
+    Duty, faith, love, are roots and evergreen.
+
+    My helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
+      And lover's songs shall turn to holy psalms;
+    A man-at arms must now sit on his knees,
+      And feed on prayers that are old age's alms.
+    And so from Court to cottage I depart,
+    My Saint is sure of mine unspotted heart.
+
+    And when I sadly sit in homely cell,
+      I'll teach my saints this carol for a song:
+    Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well!
+      Cursed be the souls that think to do her wrong!
+    Goddess! vouchsafe this aged man his right
+    To be your beadsman now, that was your knight.
+
+But not long after Sir Henry Lee had resigned his office of especial
+champion of the beauty of the sovereign, he fell in love with the new
+maid of honour--the fair Mrs. Anne Vavasour--who, though in the
+morning flower of her charms, and esteemed the loveliest girl in the
+whole court, drove a whole bevy of youthful lovers to despair by
+accepting this ancient relic of the age of chivalry.[12]
+
+Queen Isabella vowed to make a pilgrimage to Barcelona, and return
+thanks at the tomb of that City's patron Saint, if the Infanta Eulalie
+recovered from an apparently mortal illness, and Queen Joan of Naples
+honoured the knight Galeazzo of Mantua by opening the ball with him at
+a grand feast at her castle of Gaita. At the conclusion of the dance,
+Galeazzo, kneeling down before his royal partner, vowed, as an
+acknowledgment of the honour he had received, to visit every country
+where feats of arms were performed, and not to rest until he had
+subdued two valiant knights, and presented them as prisoners to the
+queen, to be disposed of at her royal pleasure. After an absence of
+twelve months, Galeazzo, true to his vow, appeared at Naples, and laid
+his two prisoners at the feet of Queen Joan, but who, it is said,
+displayed commendable wisdom on the occasion, and "declined her right
+to impose rigorous conditions on her captives, and gave them liberty
+without ransom."
+
+Such cases, it is true, have been somewhat rare, for made oftentimes
+on the impulse of the moment, "unheedful vows," as Shakespeare says,
+"may heedfully be broken." But, scarce as the records of unbroken vows
+may be, they are deserving of a permanent record, more especially as
+the direction of their eccentricity is, for the most part, in itself
+curious and uncommon. Love, for instance, has been responsible for
+many strange and curious vows in the past, and some years ago it was
+stated that the original of Charles Dickens's Miss Havisham was living
+in the flesh not far from Ventnor in the person of an old maiden lady,
+who, because of the maternal objection to some love affair in her
+early life, made and kept a vow that she would retire to her bed, and
+there spend the remainder of her days. It was a stern vow but she kept
+her word, "and the years have come and gone, and the house has never
+been swept or garnished, the garden is an overgrown tangle, and the
+eccentric lady has spent twenty years between the sheets." But whether
+this piece of romance is to be accepted or not, love has been the
+cause of many foolish acts, and many a disappointed damsel, has acted
+in no less eccentric a fashion than Miss Havisham, who was so
+completely overcome by the failure of Compeyson to appear on the
+wedding morning that she became fossilised, and gave orders that
+everything was to be kept unchanged, but to remain as it had been on
+that hapless day. Henceforth she was always attired in her bridal
+dress with lace veil from head to foot, white shoes, bridal flowers in
+her white hair, and jewels on her hands and neck. Years went on, the
+wedding breakfast remained set on the table, while the poor half
+demented lady flitted from one room to another like a restless ghost;
+and the case is recorded of another lady whose lover was arrested for
+forgery on the day before their marriage was to have taken place. Her
+vow took the form of keeping to her room, sitting winter and summer
+alike at her casement and waiting for him who was turning the
+treadmill, and who was never to come again.
+
+On the other hand, vows have been made, but persons have contrived to
+rid themselves of the inconveniences without breaking them, reminding
+us of Benedick, who finding the charms of his "Dear Lady Disdain" too
+much for his celibate resolves, gets out of his difficulty by
+declaring that "When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I
+should live till I were married." Equally ludicrous, also, is the
+story told of a certain man, who, greatly terrified in a storm, vowed
+he would eat no haberdine, but, just as the danger was over, he
+qualified his promise with "Not without mustard, O Lord." And
+Voltaire, in one of his romances, represents a disconsolate widow
+vowing that she will never marry again, "so long as the river flows by
+the side of the hill." But a few months afterwards the widow recovers
+from her grief, and, contemplating matrimony, takes counsel with a
+clever engineer. He sets to work, the river is deviated from its
+course, and, in a short time, it no longer flows by the side of the
+hill. The lady, released from her vow, does not allow many days to
+elapse before she exchanges her weeds for a bridal veil. However far
+fetched this little romance may be, a veritable instance of thus
+keeping the letter of the vow and neglecting the spirit, was recorded
+not so very long ago: A Salopian parish clerk seeing a woman crossing
+the churchyard with a bundle and a watering can, followed her, curious
+to know what intentions might be, and discovered that she was a widow
+of a few months' standing. Inquiring what she was going to do with the
+watering pot, she informed him that she had been obtaining some grass
+seed to sow on her husband's grave, and had brought a little water to
+make it spring up quickly. The clerk told her there was no occasion to
+trouble, the grave would be green in good time. "Ah! that may be," she
+replied, "but my poor husband made me take a vow not to marry again
+until the grass had grown over his grave, and, having a good offer, I
+do not wish to break my vow, or keep as I am longer than I can help."
+
+But vows have not always been broken with impunity. Janet Dalrymple,
+daughter of the first Lord Stair, secretly engaged herself to Lord
+Rutherford, who was not acceptable to her parents, either on account
+of his political principles, or his want of fortune. The young couple
+broke a piece of gold together, and pledged their troth in the most
+solemn manner, the young lady, it is said, imprecating dreadful evils
+on herself should she break her plighted faith. But shortly afterwards
+another suitor sought the hand of Janet Dalrymple, and, when she
+showed a cold indifference to his overtures, her mother, Lady Stair,
+insisted upon her consenting to marry the new suitor, David Dunbar,
+son and heir of David Dunbar of Baldoon, in Wigtonshire. It was in
+vain that Janet Dalrymple confessed her secret engagement, for Lady
+Stair treated this objection as a mere trifle.
+
+Lord Rutherford, apprised of what had happened, interfered by letter,
+and insisted on the right he had acquired by his troth plighted with
+Janet Dalrymple. But Lady Stair answered in reply that "her daughter,
+sensible of her undutiful behaviour in entering into a contract
+unsanctioned by her parents, had retracted her unlawful vow, and now
+refused to fulfil her engagement with him." Lord Rutherford wrote
+again to Lady Stair, and briefly informed her that "he declined
+positively to receive such an answer from anyone but Janet Dalrymple,"
+and, accordingly, an interview was arranged between them, at which
+Lady Stair took good care to be present, with pertinacity insisting on
+the Levitical law, which declares that a woman shall be free of a vow
+which her parents dissent from.
+
+While Lady Stair insisted on her right to break the engagement, Lord
+Rutherford in vain entreated Janet Dalrymple to declare her feelings;
+but she remained "mute, pale, and motionless as a statue," and it was
+only at her mother's command, sternly uttered, she summoned strength
+enough to restore the broken piece of gold--the emblem of her troth.
+At this unexpected act Lord Rutherford burst into a tremendous
+passion, took leave of Lady Stair with maledictions, and, as he left
+the room, gave one angry glance at Janet Dalrymple, remarking, "For
+you, madam, you will be a world's wonder"--a phrase denoting some
+remarkable degree of calamity.
+
+In due time, the marriage between Janet Dalrymple and David Dunbar of
+Baldoon, took place, the bride showing no repugnance, but being
+absolutely impassive in everything Lady Stair commanded or advised,
+always maintaining the same sad, silent, and resigned look.
+
+The bridal feast was followed by dancing, and the bride and bridegroom
+retired as usual, when suddenly the most wild and piercing cries were
+heard from the nuptial chamber, which at length became so hideous that
+a general rush was made to learn the cause. On opening the door a
+ghastly scene presented itself, for the bridegroom was discovered
+lying on the floor, dreadfully wounded, and streaming with blood. The
+bride was seen sitting in the corner of the large chimney, dabbled in
+gore--grinning--in short, absolutely insane, and the only words she
+uttered were; "Take up your bonny bridegroom." She survived this
+tragic event little over a fortnight, having been married on the 24th
+August, and dying on the 12th September.
+
+The unfortunate bridegroom recovered from his wounds, but, strange to
+say, he never permitted anyone to ask him respecting the manner in
+which he had received them; but he did not long survive this dreadful
+catastrophe, meeting with a fatal injury by a fall from a horse as he
+was one day riding between Leith and Holyrood House. As might be
+expected, various reports went abroad respecting this mysterious
+affair, most of them being inaccurate.[13] But the story has gained a
+lasting notoriety from Sir Walter Scott having founded his "Bride of
+Lammermoor" upon it; who, in his introductory notes to that novel, has
+given some curious facts concerning this tragic occurrence, quoting an
+elegy of Andrew Symson, which takes the form of a dialogue between a
+passenger and a domestic servant. The first recollecting that he had
+passed Lord Stair's house lately, and seen all around enlivened by
+mirth and festivity, is desirous of knowing what has changed so gay a
+scene into mourning, whereupon the servant replies:--
+
+                      "Sir, 'tis truth you've told,
+    We did enjoy great mirth; but now, ah me!
+    Our joyful song's turned to an elegie.
+    A virtuous lady, not long since a bride,
+    Was to a hopeful plant by marriage tied,
+    And brought home hither. We did all rejoice
+    Even for her sake. But presently her voice
+    Was turned to mourning for that little time
+    That she'd enjoy: she waned in her prime,
+    For Atropos, with her impartial knife,
+    Soon cut her thread, and therewithal her life;
+    And for the time, we may it well remember
+    It being in unfortunate September;
+    Where we must leave her till the resurrection,
+    'Tis then the Saints enjoy their full perfection."
+
+Many a vow too rashly made has been followed by an equally tragic
+result, instances of which are to be met with in the legendary lore of
+our county families. A somewhat curious legend is connected with a
+monument in the church of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. The story goes that
+two young brothers of the family of Vincent, the elder of whom had
+just come into his estate, were out shooting on Fairmile Common, about
+two miles from the village. They had put up several birds, but had not
+been able to get a single shot, when the elder swore with an oath that
+he would fire at whatever they next met with. They had not gone far
+before a neighbouring miller passed them, whereupon the younger
+brother reminded the elder of his oath, who immediately fired at the
+miller, and killed him on the spot. Through the influence of his
+family, backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken
+to apprehend young Vincent, but, after leading a life of complete
+seclusion for some years, death finally put an end to the
+insupportable anguish of his mind.
+
+A pretty romance is told of Furness Abbey, locally known as "The Abbey
+Vows." Many years ago, Matilda, the pretty and much-admired daughter
+of a squire residing near Stainton, had been wooed and won by James, a
+neighbouring farmer's son. But as Matilda was the only child, her
+father fondly imagined that her rare beauty and fortune combined would
+procure her a good match, little thinking that her heart was already
+given to one whose position he would never recognise. It so happened,
+however, that the young people, through force of circumstances, were
+separated, neither seeing nor hearing of each other for some years.
+
+At last, by chance, they were thrown together, when the active service
+in which James was employed had given his fine manly form an
+appearance which was at once imposing and captivating. Matilda, too,
+was improved in every eye, and never had James seen so lovely a maid
+as his former playmate. Their youthful hearts were disengaged, and
+they soon resolved to render their attachment as binding and as
+permanent as it was pure and undivided. The period had arrived, also,
+when James must again go to sea, and leave Matilda to have her
+fidelity tried by other suitors. Both, therefore, were willing to bind
+themselves by some solemn pledge to live but for each other. For this
+purpose they repaired, on the evening before James's departure, to the
+ruins of Furness Abbey. It was a fine autumnal evening; the sun had
+set in the greatest beauty, and the moon was hastening up the eastern
+sky; and in the roofless choir they knelt, near where the altar
+formerly stood, and repeated, in the presence of Heaven, their vows of
+deathless love.
+
+They parted. But the fate of the betrothed lovers was a melancholy
+one. James returned to his ship for foreign service, and was killed by
+the first broadside of a French privateer, with which the captain had
+injudiciously ventured to engage. As for Matilda, she regularly went
+to the abbey to visit the spot where she had knelt with her lover; and
+there, it is said, "she would stand for hours, with clasped hands,
+gazing on that heaven which alone had been witness to their mutual
+vows."
+
+Another momentous vow, but one of a terribly tragic nature, relates to
+Samlesbury Hall, which stands about midway between Preston and
+Blackburn, and has long been famous for its apparition of "The Lady in
+White." The story generally told is that one of the daughters of Sir
+John Southworth, a former owner, formed an attachment with the heir of
+a neighbouring house, and nothing was wanting to complete their
+happiness except the consent of the lady's father. Sir John was
+accordingly consulted by the youthful couple, but the tale of their
+love for each other only increased his rage, and he dismissed them
+with the most bitter denunciations.
+
+"No daughter of his should ever be united to the son of a family which
+had deserted its ancestral faith," he solemnly vowed, and to
+intensify his disapproval of the whole affair, he forbade the young
+man his presence for ever. Difficulty, however, only served to
+increase the ardour of the lovers, and, after many secret interviews
+among the wooded slopes of the Ribble, an elopement was arranged, in
+the hope that time would eventually bring her father's forgiveness.
+But the day and place were unfortunately overheard by the lady's
+brother, who had hidden himself in a thicket close by, determined, if
+possible, to prevent what he considered to be his sister's disgrace.
+On the evening agreed upon both parties met at the appointed hour,
+and, as the young knight moved away with his betrothed, her brother
+rushed from his hiding-place, and, in pursuance of a vow he had made,
+slew him. After this tragic occurrence, Lady Dorothy was sent abroad
+to a convent, where she was kept under strict surveillance; but her
+mind at last gave way--the name of her murdered sweetheart was ever on
+her lips--and she died a raving maniac. It is said that on certain
+clear, still evenings, a lady in white can be seen passing along the
+gallery and the corridors, and then from the hall into the grounds,
+where she meets a handsome knight, who receives her on his bended
+knees, and he then accompanies her along the walks. On arriving at a
+certain spot, in all probability the lover's grave, both the phantoms
+stand still, and as they seem to utter soft wailings of despair, they
+embrace each other, and then their forms rise slowly from the earth
+and melt away into the clear blue of the surrounding sky.[14]
+
+A strange and romantic story is told of Blenkinsopp Castle, which,
+too, has long been haunted by a "white lady." It seems that its owner,
+Bryan de Blenkinsopp, despite many good qualities, had an inordinate
+love of wealth which ultimately wrecked his fortune. At the marriage
+feast of a brother warrior with a lady of high rank and fortune, the
+health was drunk of Bryan de Blenkinsopp and his "lady love." But to
+the surprise of all present Bryan made a vow that "never shall that be
+until I meet with a lady possessed of a chest of gold heavier than ten
+of my strongest men can carry into my Castle." Soon afterwards he went
+abroad, and after an absence of twelve years returned, not only with a
+wife, but possessed of a box of gold that took three of the strongest
+men to convey it to the Castle. A grand banquet was given in honour of
+his return, and, after several days feasting and rejoicing, vague
+rumours were spread of dissensions between the lord and his lady. One
+day the young husband disappeared, and never returned to Blenkinsopp,
+nothing more being heard of him. But the traditionary account of this
+mystery asserts that his young wife, filled with remorse at her
+undutiful conduct towards him, cannot rest in her grave, but must
+wander about the old castle, and mourn over the chest of gold--the
+cursed cause of all their misery--of which it is supposed she, with
+the assistance of others, had deprived her husband. It is generally
+admitted that the cause of Bryan de Blenkinsopp's future unhappiness
+was the rash vow he uttered at that fatal banquet.
+
+Associated with this curious romance there are current in the
+neighbourhood many tales of a more or less legendary character, but
+there has long been a firm belief that treasure lies buried beneath
+the crumbling ruins. According to one story given in Richardson's
+"Table Book of Traditions" some years ago, two of the more habitable
+apartments of Blenkinsopp Castle were utilized by a labourer of the
+estate and his family. But one night, the parents were aroused by
+screams from the adjoining room, and rushing in they found their
+little son sitting up in bed, terribly frightened. "What was the
+matter?"
+
+"The White Lady! The White Lady!" cried the boy.
+
+"What lady," asked the bewildered parents; "there is no lady here!"
+
+"She is gone," replied the boy, "and she looked so angry because I
+would not go with her. She was a fine lady--and she sat down on my
+bedside and wrung her hands and cried sore; then she kissed me and
+asked me to go with her, and she would make me a rich man, as she had
+buried a large box of gold, many hundred years since, down in a
+vault, and she would give it me, as she could not rest so long as it
+was there. When I told her I durst not go, she said she would carry
+me, and was lifting me up when I cried out and frightened her away."
+When the boy grew up he invariably persisted in the truth of his
+statement, and at forty years of age could recall the scene so vividly
+as "to make him shudder, as if still he felt her cold lips press his
+cheeks and the death-like embrace of her wan arms."
+
+Equally curious is the old tradition told of Lynton Castle, of which
+not a stone remains, although, once upon a time, it was as stately a
+stronghold as ever echoed to the clash of knightly arms. One evening
+there came to its gates a monk, who in the name of the Holy Virgin
+asked alms, but the lady of the Castle liked not his gloomy brow, and
+bade him begone. Resenting such treatment, the monk drew up his
+well-knit frame, and vowed:--"All that is thine shall be mine, until
+in the porch of the holy church, a lady and a child shall stand and
+beckon."
+
+Little heed was taken of these ominous words, and as years passed by a
+baron succeeded to the Lynton estates, whose greed was such that he
+dared to lay his sacrilegious hand even upon holy treasures. But as he
+sate among his gold, the black monk entered, and summoned him to his
+fearful audit; and his servants, aroused by his screams, found only a
+lifeless corpse. This was considered retribution for his sins of the
+past, and his son, taking warning, girded on his sword, and in
+Palestine did doughty deeds against the Saracen. By his side was
+constantly seen the mysterious Black Monk--his friend and guide--but
+"at length the wine-cup and the smiles of lewd women lured him from
+the path of right." After a time the knight returned to Devonshire,
+"and lo, on the happy Sabbath morning, the chimes of the church-bells
+flung out their silver music on the air, and the memories of an
+innocent childhood woke up instantly in his sorrowing heart." In vain
+the Black Monk sought to beguile him from the holy fane, and whispered
+to him of bright eyes and a distant bower. He paused only for a
+moment. In the shadow of the porch stood the luminous forms of his
+mother and sister, who lifted up their spirit hands, and beckoned. The
+knight tore himself from the Black Monk's grasp and rushed towards
+them, exclaiming, "I come! I come! Mother, sister, I am saved! O,
+Heaven, have pity on me!" The story adds that the three were borne up
+in a radiant cloud, but "the Black Monk leapt headlong into the depths
+of the abyss beneath, and the castle fell to pieces with a sudden
+crash, and where its towers had soared statelily into the sunlit air
+was now outspread the very desolation--the valley of the rocks--" and
+thus the vow was accomplished, all that remains nowadays to remind the
+visitor of that stately castle and its surroundings being a lonely
+glen in the valley of rocks where a party of marauders, it is said,
+were once overtaken and slaughtered.
+
+In some cases churches have been built in performance of vows, and at
+the Tichborne Trial one of the witnesses deposed how Sir Edward
+Doughty made a vow, when his son was ill, that if the child recovered
+he would build a church at Poole. Contrary to all expectation, the
+child "did recover most miraculously, for it had been ill beyond all
+hope, and Sir Edward built a church at Poole, and there it stands
+until this day." There are numerous stories of the same kind, and the
+peculiar position of the old church of St. Antony, in Kirrier,
+Cornwall, is accounted for by the following tradition: It is said
+that, soon after the Conquest, as some Normans of rank were crossing
+from Normandy into England, they were driven by a terrific storm on
+the Cornish coast, where they were in imminent danger of destruction.
+In their peril and distress they called on St. Antony, and made a vow
+that if he would preserve them from shipwreck they would build a
+church in his honour on the spot where they first landed. The vessel
+was wafted into the Durra Creek, and there the pious Normans, as soon
+as possible, fulfilled their vow. A similar tradition is told of
+Gunwalloe Parish Church, which, a local legend says, was erected as a
+votive offering by one who here escaped from shipwreck, for, "when he
+had miraculously escaped from the fury of the waves, he vowed that he
+would build a chapel in which the sounds of prayer and praise to God
+should blend with the never-ceasing voice of those waves from which he
+had but narrowly escaped. So near to the sea is the church, that at
+times it is reached by the waves, which have frequently washed away
+the walls of the churchyard." But vows of a similar nature have been
+connected with sacred buildings in most countries, and Vienna owes the
+church of St. Charles to a vow made by the Emperor Charles the Sixth
+during an epidemic. The silver ship, given by the Queen of St. Louis,
+was made in accordance with a vow. According to Joinville, the queen
+"said she wanted the king, to beg he would make some vows to God and
+the Saints, for the sailors around her were in the greatest danger of
+being drowned."
+
+"'Madam,' I replied, 'vow to make a pilgrimage to my lord St. Nicholas
+at Varengeville, and I promise you that God will restore you in safety
+to France. At least, then, Madam, promise him that if God shall
+restore you in safety to France, you will give him a silver ship of
+the value of five masses; and if you shall do this, I assure you that,
+at the entreaty of St. Nicholas, God will grant you a successful
+voyage.' Upon this, she made a vow of a silver ship to St. Nicholas."
+Similarly, there was a statue at Venice said to have performed great
+miracles. A merchant vowed perpetual gifts of wax candles in gratitude
+for being saved by the light of a candle on a dark night, reminding
+us of Byron's description of a storm at sea, in 'Don Juan' (Canto
+II.):
+
+    "Some went to prayers again and made vows
+    Of candles to their saints."
+
+Numerous vows of this kind are recorded, and it may be remembered how
+a certain Empress promised a golden lamp to the church of Notre Dame
+des Victoires, in the event of her husband coming safely out of the
+doctor's hands; and, as recently as the year 1867, attired in the garb
+of a pilgrim of the olden time, walked, in fulfilment of a vow, from
+Madrid to Rome when she fancied herself at death's door.
+
+Many card-players and gamesters, unable to bear reverse, have made
+vows which they lacked the moral courage to keep. Dr. Norman Macleod
+tells a curious anecdote of a well-known character who lived in the
+parish of Sedgley, near Wolverhampton, and who, having lost a
+considerable sum of money by a match at cock-fighting--to which
+practice he was notoriously addicted--made a vow that he would never
+fight another cock as long as he lived, "frequently calling upon God
+to damn his soul to all eternity if he did, and, with dreadful
+imprecations, wishing the devil might fetch him if he ever made
+another bet."
+
+For a time he adhered to his vow, but two years afterwards he was
+inspired with a violent desire to attend a cock-fight at
+Wolverhampton, and accordingly visited the place for that purpose. On
+reaching the scene he soon disregarded his vow, and cried: "I hold
+four to three on such a cock!"
+
+"Four what?" said one of his companions.
+
+"Four shillings," replied he.
+
+"I'll lay," said the other, upon which they confirmed the wager, and,
+as his custom was, he threw down his hat and put his hand in his
+pocket for the money, when he instantly fell down dead. Terrified at
+the sight, "some who were present for ever after desisted from this
+infamous sport; but others proceeded in the barbarous diversion as
+soon as the dead body was removed from the spot."
+
+Another inveterate gambler was Colonel Edgeworth, who on one occasion,
+having lost all his ready cash at the card tables, actually borrowed
+his wife's diamond earrings, and staking them had a fortunate turn of
+luck, rising a winner; whereupon he solemnly vowed never to touch
+cards or dice again. And yet, it is said, before the week was out, he
+was pulling straws from a rick, and betting upon which should prove
+the longest. On the other hand, Tate Wilkinson relates an interesting
+anecdote of John Wesley who in early life was very fond of a game of
+whist, and every Saturday was one of a constant party at a rubber, not
+only for the afternoon, but also for the evening. But the last
+Saturday that he ever played at cards the rubber at whist was longer
+than he expected, and, "on observing the tediousness of the game he
+pulled out his watch, and to his shame he found it was some minutes
+past eight, which was beyond the time he had appointed for the Lord.
+He thought the devil had certainly tempted him beyond his hour, he
+suddenly therefore gave up his cards to a gentleman near him to finish
+the game," and left the room, making a vow never to play with "the
+devil's pages," as he called them, again. That vow he never broke.
+
+Political vows, as is well known, have a curious history, and an
+interesting incident is told in connection with one of the ancestors
+of Sir Walter Scott. It appears that Walter Scott, the first of
+Raeburn, by Ann Isabel, his wife, daughter of William Macdougall, had
+two sons, William, direct ancestor of the Lairds of Raeburn, and
+Walter, progenitor of the Scotts of Abbotsford. The younger, who was
+generally known by the curious appellation of "Bearded Watt," from a
+vow which he had made to leave his beard unshaven until the
+restoration of the Stuarts, reminds us of those Servian patriots who
+during the bombardment of Belgrade thirty years ago, made a vow that
+they would never allow a razor to touch their faces until the thing
+could be done in the fortress itself. Five years afterwards, in 1867,
+the Servians marched through the streets of Belgrade, with enormous
+beards, preceded by the barbers, each with razor in hand, and entered
+the fortresses to have the last office of the vow performed on them.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Agnes Strickland, "Lives of the Queens of England," 1884, iii.,
+454-5.
+
+[13] See Sir Walter Scott's notes to the "Bride of Lammermoor."
+
+[14] Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 1882, p. 263-4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+STRANGE BANQUETS.
+
+    "O'Rourke's noble feast will ne'er be forgot
+    By those who were there--or those who were not."
+
+
+In the above words the Dean of St. Patrick has immortalised an Irish
+festival of the eighteenth century; and some such memory will long
+cling to many a family or historic banquet, which--like the tragic one
+depicted in "Macbeth," where the ghost of the murdered Banquo makes
+its uncanny appearance, or that remarkable feast described by Lord
+Lytton, where Zanoni drinks with impunity the poisoned cup, remarking
+to the Prince, "I pledge you even in this wine"--has been the scene of
+some unusual, or extraordinary occurrence.
+
+At one time or another, the wedding feast has witnessed many a strange
+and truly romantic occurrence, in some instances the result of
+unrequited love, or faithless pledges, as happened at the marriage
+feast of the second Viscount Cullen. At the early age of sixteen he
+had been betrothed to Elizabeth Trentham, a great heiress; but in the
+course of his travels abroad he formed a strong attachment to an
+Italian lady of rank, whom he afterwards deserted for his first
+betrothed. In due time arrangements were made for their marriage; but
+on the eventful day, while the wedding party were feasting in the
+great hall at Rushton, a strange carriage, drawn by six horses, drew
+up, and forth stepped a dark lady, who, at once entering the hall and,
+seizing a goblet--"to punish his falsehood and pride"--to the
+astonishment of all present, drank perdition to the bridegroom, and,
+having uttered a curse upon his bride, to the effect that she would
+live in wretchedness and die in want, promptly disappeared to be
+traced no further.
+
+No small consternation was caused by this unlooked-for _contretemps_;
+but the young Viscount made light of it to his fair bride, dispelling
+her alarm by explanations which satisfied her natural curiosity. But,
+it is said, in after days, this unpleasant episode created an
+unfavourable impression in her mind, and at times made her give way to
+feelings of a despondent character. As events turned out, the curse of
+her marriage day was in a great measure fulfilled. It is true she
+became a prominent beauty of the Court of Charles II., and was painted
+with less than his usual amount of drapery by Sir Peter Lely. It is
+recorded also, that she twice gave an asylum to Monmouth, in the room
+at Rushton, still known as the "Duke's Room"; but, living unhappily
+with her husband, she died, notwithstanding her enormous fortune, in
+comparative penury, at Kettering, at a great age, as recently as the
+year 1713.
+
+A curious tale of love and deception is told of Bulgaden Hall,
+once--according to Ferrers, in his "History of Limerick"--the most
+magnificent seat in the South of Ireland--erected by the Right Hon.
+George Evans, who was created Baron Carbery, County of Cork, on the
+9th of May, 1715. A family tradition proclaims him to have been noted
+for great personal attractions, so much so, that Queen Anne, struck by
+his appearance, took a ring from her finger at one of her levees, and
+presented it to him--a ring preserved as a heir-loom at Laxton Hall,
+Northamptonshire. In 1741, he married Grace, the daughter, and
+eventually heiress of Sir Ralph Freke, of Castle Freke, in the County
+of Cork, by whom he had four sons and the same number of daughters;
+and it was George Evans, the eldest son and heir, who became the chief
+personage in the following extraordinary marriage fraud.
+
+It appears that at an early age he fell in love with the beautiful
+daughter of his host, Colonel Stamer, who was only too ready to
+sanction such an alliance. But, despite the brilliant prospects which
+this contemplated marriage opened to the young lady, she turned a deaf
+ear to any mention of it, for she loved another. As far as her parents
+could judge she seemed inexorable, and they could only allay the
+suspense of the expectant lover by assuring him that their daughter's
+"natural timidity alone prevented an immediate answer to his suit."
+
+But what their feelings of surprise were on the following day can be
+imagined, when Miss Stamer announced to her parents her willingness to
+marry George Evans. It was decided that there should be no delay, and
+the marriage day was at once fixed. At this period of our social life,
+the wedding banquet was generally devoted to wine and feasting, while
+the marriage itself did not take place till the evening. And,
+according to custom, sobriety at these bridal feasts was, we are told,
+"a positive violation of all good breeding, and the guests would have
+thought themselves highly dishonoured had the bridegroom escaped
+scathless from the wedding banquet."
+
+Accordingly, half unconscious of passing events, George Evans was
+conducted to the altar, where the marriage knot was indissolubly tied.
+But, as soon as he had recovered from the effects of the bridal feast,
+he discovered, to his intense horror and dismay, that the bride he had
+taken was not the woman of his choice--in short, he was the victim of
+a cheat. Indignant at this cruel imposture, he ascertained that the
+plot emanated from the woman who, till then, had been the ideal of his
+soul, and that she had substituted her veiled sister Anne for herself
+at the altar. The remainder of this strange affair is briefly
+told:--George Evans had one, and only one, interview with his wife,
+and thus addressed her in the following words: "Madam, you have
+attained your end. I need not say how you bear my name; and, for the
+sake of your family, I acknowledge you as my wife. You shall receive
+an income from me suitable to your situation. This, probably, is all
+you cared for with regard to me, and you and I shall meet no more in
+this world."
+
+[Illustration: "MADAM, YOU HAVE ATTAINED YOUR END. YOU AND I SHALL
+MEET NO MORE IN THIS WORLD."]
+
+He would allow no explanation, and almost immediately left his home
+and country, never to meet again the woman who had so basely betrayed
+him. The glory of Bulgaden Hall was gone. Its young master, in order
+to quench his sorrow and bury his disgust, gave way to every kind of
+dissipation, and died its victim in 1769. And, writes Sir Bernard
+Burke, "from the period of its desertion by its luckless master,
+Bulgaden Hall gradually sank into ruin; and to mark its site nought
+remains but the foundation walls and a solitary stone, bearing the
+family arms."
+
+A strange incident, of which, it is said, no satisfactory explanation
+has ever yet been forthcoming, happened during the wedding banquet of
+Alexander III. at Jedburgh Castle, a weird and gruesome episode which
+Edgar Poe expanded into his "Masque of the Red Death." The story goes
+that in the midst of the festivities, a mysterious figure glided
+amongst the astonished guests--tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head
+to foot in the habiliments of the grave, the mask which concealed the
+visage resembling the countenance of a stiffened corpse.
+
+"Who dares," demands the royal host, "to insult us with this
+blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him, that we may know whom
+we have to hang at sunrise from the battlements."
+
+But when the awe-struck revellers took courage and grasped the figure,
+"they gasped in unutterable horror on finding the grave cerements and
+corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness,
+untenanted by any tangible form, vanishing as suddenly as it had
+appeared." All sorts of theories have been suggested to account for
+this mysterious figure, but no satisfactory solution has been
+forthcoming, an incident of which, it may be remembered, Heywood has
+given a graphic picture:
+
+    In the mid-revels, the first ominous night
+    Of their espousals, when the room shone bright
+    With lighted tapers--the king and queen leading
+    The curious measures, lords and ladies treading
+    The self-same strains--the king looks back by chance
+    And spies a strange intruder fill the dance,
+    Namely, a mere anatomy, quite bare,
+    His naked limbs both without flesh and hair
+    (As he deciphers Death), who stalks about,
+    Keeping true measure till the dance be out.
+
+Inexplicable, however, as the presence of this unearthly, mysterious
+personage was felt to be by all engaged in the marriage revels, it
+was regarded as the forerunner of some approaching catastrophe.
+Prophets and seers lost no time in turning the affair to their own
+interest, and amongst them Thomas the Rhymer predicted that the 16th
+of March would be "the stormiest day that ever was witnessed in
+Scotland." But when the supposed ill-fated day arrived, it was the
+very reverse of stormy, being still and mild, and public opinion began
+to ridicule the prophetic utterance of Thomas the Rhymer, when, to the
+amazement and consternation of all, there came the appalling news,
+"The king is dead," whereupon Thomas the Rhymer ejaculated, "That is
+the storm which I meant, and there was never tempest which will bring
+to Scotland more ill-luck."
+
+The disappearance of the heir to a property, which has always been a
+favourite subject with novelists and romance writers, has occasionally
+happened in real life, and a Shropshire legend relates how, long ago,
+the heir of the house of Corbet went away to the wars, and remained
+absent so many years that his family--as in the case of Enoch
+Arden--gave up all hope of ever seeing him again, and eventually
+mourned for him as dead. His younger brother succeeded to the
+property, and prepared to take to himself a wife, and reign in the old
+family hall.
+
+But on the wedding day, in the midst of the feasting, a pilgrim came
+to the gate asking hospitality and alms. He was bidden to sit down
+and share the feast, but scarcely was the banquet ended when the
+pilgrim revealed himself as the long lost elder brother. The
+disconcerted bridegroom acknowledged him at once, but the latter
+generously resigned the greater part of the estates to his brother,
+and, sooner than mar the prospects of the newly married couple, he
+lived a life of obscurity upon one small manor. There seems, however,
+to be a very small basis of fact for this story. The Corbets of
+Shropshire--one branch of whom are owners of Moreton Corbet--are among
+the very oldest of the many old Shropshire families. They trace their
+descent back to Corbet the Norman, whose sons, Robert and Roger,
+appear in Domesday Book as holding large estates under Roger, Earl of
+Shrewsbury. The grandsons of Roger Corbet were Thomas Corbet of
+Wattlesborough, and Robert Corbet. Thomas, who was evidently the elder
+of the two, it seems went beyond seas, leaving his lands in the
+custody of his brother Robert. Both brothers left descendants, but the
+elder branch of the family never attained to such rank and prosperity
+as the younger one." Hence, perhaps, the origin of the legend; but
+Moreton Corbet did not come into the possession of the family till
+long after this date.[15]
+
+Whatever truth there may be in this old tradition, there is every
+reason to believe that some of the worst tragedies recorded in family
+history have been due to jealousy; and an extraordinary instance of
+such unnatural feeling was that displayed by the second wife of Sir
+Robert Scott, of Thirlestane, one of the most distinguished cadets of
+the great House of Buccleuch. Distracted with mortification that her
+husband's rich inheritance would descend to his son by his first wife,
+she secretly resolved to compass the destruction of her step-son, and
+determined to execute her hateful purpose at the festivities held in
+honour of the young laird's twentieth birthday. Having taken into her
+confidence one John Lally, the family piper, this wretched man
+procured three adders, from which he selected the parts replete with
+the most deadly poison, and, after grinding them to fine powder, Lady
+Thirlestane mixed them in a bottle of wine. Previous to the
+commencement of the birthday feast, the young laird having called for
+wine to drink the healths of the workmen who had just completed the
+mason work of the new Castle of Gamescleugh--his future residence--the
+piper Lally filled a silver cup from the poisoned bottle, which the
+ill-fated youth hastily drank off. So potent was the poison that the
+young laird died within an hour, and a feeling of horror seized the
+birthday guests as to who could have done so foul a deed. But the
+father seems to have had his suspicions, and having caused a bugle to
+be blown, as a signal for all the family to assemble in the castle
+court, he inquired, "Are we all here?"
+
+A voice answered, "All but the piper, John Lally!"
+
+These words, it is said, sounded like a knell in Sir Robert's ear, and
+the truth was manifest to him. But unwilling to make a public example
+of his own wife, he adopted a somewhat unique method of vengeance, and
+publicly proclaimed that as he could not bestow the estate on his son
+while alive, he would spend it upon him when dead. Accordingly, the
+body of his son was embalmed with the most costly drugs, and lay in
+state for a year and a day, during which time Sir Robert kept open
+house, feasting all who chose to be his guests; Lady Thirlestane
+meanwhile being imprisoned in a vault of the castle, and fed upon
+bread and water. "During the last three days of this extraordinary
+feast", writes Sir Bernard Burke,[16] "the crowds were immense. It was
+as if the whole of the south of Scotland was assembled at Thirlestane.
+Butts of the richest and rarest wine were carried into the fields,
+their ends were knocked out with hatchets, and the liquor was carried
+about in stoups. The burn of Thirlestane literally ran with wine." Sir
+Robert died soon afterwards, and left his family in utter destitution,
+his wife dying in absolute beggary. Thus was avenged the crime of this
+cruel and unprincipled woman, whose fatal jealousy caused the ruin of
+the family.
+
+Political intrigue, again, has been the origin of many an act of
+treachery, done under the semblance of hospitality, or given rise to
+strange incidents.
+
+To go back to early times, it seems that Edward the Confessor had long
+indulged a suspicion that Earl Godwin--who had in the first instance
+accused Queen Emma of having caused the death of her son--was himself
+implicated in that transaction. It so happened that the King and a
+large concourse of prelates and nobility were holding a large dinner
+at Winchester, in honour of the Easter festival, when the butler, in
+bringing in a dish, slipped, but recovered his balance by making
+adroit use of his other foot.
+
+"Thus does brother assist brother," exclaimed Earl Godwin, thinking to
+be witty at the butler's expense.
+
+"And thus might I have been now assisted by my Alfred, if Earl Godwin
+had not prevented it," replied the King: for the Earl's remark had
+recalled to his mind the suspicion he had long entertained of the Earl
+having been concerned in Prince Alfred's death.
+
+Resenting the king's words, the Earl holding up the morsel which he
+was about to eat, uttered a great oath, and in the name of God
+expressed a wish that the morsel might choke him if he had in any way
+been concerned in that murder. Accordingly he there and then put the
+morsel into his mouth, and attempted to swallow it; but his efforts
+were in vain, it stuck fast in his throat--immovable upward or
+downward--his respiration failed, his eyes became fixed, his
+countenance convulsed, and in a minute more he fell dead under the
+table.
+
+Edward, convinced of the Earl's guilt, and seeing divine justice
+manifested, and remembering, it is said, with bitterness the days past
+when he had given a willing ear to the calumnies spread about his
+innocent mother, cried out, in an indignant voice, "Carry away that
+dog, and bury him in the high road." But the body was deposited by the
+Earl's cousin in the cathedral.
+
+Several accounts have been written of that terrible banquet, to which
+the Earl of Douglas was invited by Sir Alexander Livingstone and the
+Chancellor Crichton--who craftily dissembled their intentions--to sup
+at the royal table in the Castle of Edinburgh. The Earl was foolhardy
+enough to accept the ill-fated invitation, and shortly after he had
+taken his place at the festive board, the head of a black bull--the
+certain omen, in those days in Scotland, of immediate death--was
+placed on the table. The Earl, anticipating treachery, instantly
+sprang to his feet, and lost no time in making every effort to escape.
+But no chance was given him to do so, and with his younger brother he
+was hurried along into the courtyard of the castle, and after being
+subjected to a mock trial, he was beheaded "in the back court of the
+castle that lieth to the west". The death of the young earl, and his
+untimely fate, were the subjects of lament in one of the ballads of
+the time.
+
+    "Edinburgh castle, town, and tower,
+      God grant them sink for sin;
+    And that even for the black dinner
+      Earl Douglas gat therein."
+
+This emphatic malediction is cited by Hume of Godscroft in his
+"History of the House of Douglas," as referring to William, sixth Earl
+of Douglas, a youth of eighteen; and Hume, speaking of this
+transaction, says, with becoming indignation: "It is sure the people
+did abhorre it--execrating the very place where it was done, in
+detestation of the fact--of which the memory remaineth yet to our
+dayes in these words."
+
+Many similar stories are recorded in the history of the past, the
+worst form of treachery oftentimes lurking beneath the festive cup,
+and in times of commotion, when suspicion and mistrust made men feel
+insecure even when entertained in the banqueting hall of some powerful
+host, it is not surprising that great persons had their food tasted by
+those who were supposed to have made themselves acquainted with its
+wholesomeness. But this practice could not always afford security when
+the taster was ready to sacrifice his own life, as in King John (act
+v. sc. 6):
+
+  HUBERT. The king, I fear, is poisoned by a monk:
+          I left him almost speechless.
+
+  BASTARD. How did he take it? Who did taste to him?
+
+  HUBERT. A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain.
+
+But, in modern days, one of the most unnatural tragedies on record was
+the murder of Sir John Goodere, Foote's maternal uncle, by his brother
+Captain Goodere, a naval officer. In the year 1740, the two brothers
+dined at a friend's house near Bristol. For a long time they had been
+on bad terms, owing to certain money transactions, but at the dinner
+table a reconciliation was, to all appearance, made between them. But
+it was a most terrible piece of underhand treachery, for on leaving
+that dinner table, Sir John was waylaid on his return home by some men
+from his brother's vessel--acting by his brother's authority--carried
+on board, and deliberately strangled; Captain Goodere not only
+unconcernedly looking on, but actually furnishing the rope with which
+this fearful crime was committed. One of the strangest parts of this
+terrible tale, Foote used to relate, was the fact that on the night
+the murder was committed he arrived at his father's house in Truro,
+and was kept awake for some time by the softest and sweetest strains
+of music he had ever heard. At first he fancied it might be a serenade
+got up by some of the family to welcome him home, but not being able
+to discover any trace of the musicians, he came to the conclusion that
+he was deceived by his own imagination. Shortly afterwards, however,
+he learnt that the murder had been committed at the same hour of the
+same night as he had been haunted by the mysterious sounds. In after
+days, he often spoke of this curious occurrence, regarding it as a
+supernatural warning, a conviction which he retained till his death.
+
+But, strange and varied as are the scenes that have taken place at the
+banquet, whether great or small, such acts of fratricide have been
+rare, although, according to a family tradition relating to
+Osbaldeston Hall, a similar tragedy once happened at a family banquet.
+There is one room in the old hall whose walls are smeared with several
+red marks, which, it is said, can never be obliterated. These stains
+have some resemblance to blood, and are generally supposed to have
+been caused when, many years ago, one of the family was brutally
+murdered. The story commonly current is that there was once a great
+family gathering at Osbaldeston Hall, at which every member of the
+family was present. The feast passed off satisfactorily, and the
+liquor was flowing freely round, when, unfortunately, family
+differences began to be discussed. These soon caused angry
+recriminations, and at length two of the company challenged each other
+to mortal combat. Friends interfered, and, by the judicious
+intervention on their part, the quarrel seemed to be made up. But soon
+afterwards the two accidentally met in this room, and Thomas
+Osbaldeston drew his sword and murdered his brother-in-law without
+resistance. For this crime he was deemed a felon, and forfeited his
+lands. Ever since that ill-fated day the room has been haunted.
+Tradition says that the ghost of the murdered man continues to haunt
+the scene of the conflict, and during the silent hours of the night it
+may be seen passing from the room with uplifted hands, and with the
+appearance of blood streaming from a wound in the breast.[17]
+
+But, turning to incidents of a less tragic nature, an amusing story is
+told of the Earl of Hopetoun, who, when he could not induce a certain
+Scottish laird, named Dundas, to sell his old family residence known
+as "The Tower," which was on the very verge of his own beautiful
+pleasure grounds, tried to lead him on to a more expensive style of
+living than that to which he had been accustomed, thinking thereby he
+might run into debt, and be compelled to sell his property.
+
+Accordingly, Dundas was frequently invited to Hopetoun House, and on
+one occasion his lordship invited himself and a fashionable shooting
+party to "The Tower," "congratulating himself on the hole which a few
+dinners like this would make in the old laird's rental." But, as soon
+as the covers were removed from the dishes, no small chagrin was
+caused to Lord Hopetoun and his friends when their eyes rested on "a
+goodly array of alternate herrings and potatoes spread from the top to
+the bottom," Dundas at the same time inviting his guests to pledge
+him in a bumper of excellent whiskey. Drinking jocularly to his
+lordship's health, he humorously said, "It won't do, my lord; it won't
+do! But, whenever you or your guests will honour my poor hall of Stang
+Hill Tower with your presence at this hour, I promise you no worse
+fare than now set before you, the best and fattest salt herrings that
+the Forth can produce, and the strongest mountain dew. To this I beg
+that your lordship and your honoured friends may do ample justice."
+
+It is needless to say that Lord Hopetoun never dined again at Stang
+Hill Tower but some time after, when Dundas was on his death-bed, he
+advised his son to make the best terms he could with Lord Hopetoun,
+remarking, "He will, sooner or later, have our little property." An
+exchange was made highly advantageous to the Dundas family, the estate
+of Aithrey being made over to them.[18]
+
+A curious and humorous narrative is told of General Dalzell, a noted
+persecutor of the Covenanters. In the course of his Continental
+service he had been brought into the immediate circle of the German
+Court, and one day had the honour to be a guest at a splendid Imperial
+banquet, where, as a part of his state, the German Emperor was waited
+on by the great feudal dignitaries of the empire, one of whom was the
+Duke of Modena, the head of the illustrious house of Este. After his
+appointment by Charles II. as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, he was
+invited by the Duke of York--afterwards James II., and then residing
+at Holyrood--to dine with him and the Duchess, Princess May of Modena.
+But as this was, we are told, what might be called a family dinner,
+the Duchess demurred to the General being admitted to such an honour,
+whereupon he naively replied that this was not his first introduction
+to the house of Este, for that he had known her Royal Highness's
+father, the Duke of Modena, and that he had stood behind his chair,
+while he sat by the Emperor's side.
+
+There was another kind of banquet, in which it has been remarked the
+defunct had the principal honours, having the same ceremonious respect
+paid to his waxen image as though he were alive. Thus we are reminded
+how the famous Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough demonstrated her
+appreciation for Congreve in a most extraordinary manner. Report goes
+that she had his figure made in wax, talked to it as if it had been
+alive, placed it at the table with her, took every care that it was
+supplied with different sorts of meat, and, in short, the same
+formalities were, throughout, scrupulously observed in these weird and
+strange repasts, just as if Congreve himself had been present.
+
+Saint Foix, it may be remembered, who wrote in the time of Louis XIV.,
+has left an interesting account of the ceremonial after the death of
+a King of France, during the forty days before the funeral, when his
+wax effigy lay in state. It appears that the royal officers served him
+at meals as though he were still alive, the maitre d'hotel handed the
+napkin to the highest lord present to be delivered to the king, a
+prelate blessed the table, and the basins of water were handed to the
+royal armchair. Grace was said in the accustomed manner, save that
+there was added to it the "De Profundis." We cannot be surprised that
+such strange proceedings as these gave rise to much ridicule, and
+helped to bring the Court itself into contempt.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] Miss Jackson's "Shropshire Folklore," 101.
+
+[16] Family Romance, 1853, pp. 1-8.
+
+[17] Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 271-2.
+
+[18] Sir Bernard Burke, "Family Romance," 1853, I., 307-12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+MYSTERIOUS ROOMS.
+
+    A jolly place, said he, in days of old;
+    But something ails it now--the spot is curst.
+               WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+A peculiar feature of many old country houses is the so-called
+"strange room," around which the atmosphere of mystery has long clung.
+In certain cases, such rooms have gained an unenviable notoriety from
+having been the scene, in days gone by, of some tragic occurrence, the
+memory of which has survived in the local legend, or tradition. The
+existence, too, of such rooms has supplied the novelist with the most
+valuable material for the construction of those plots in which the
+mysterious element holds a prominent place. Historical romance, again,
+with its tales of adventure, has invested numerous rooms with a grim
+aspect, and caused the imagination to conjure up all manner of weird
+and unearthly fancies concerning them. Walpole, for instance, writing
+of Berkeley Castle, says: "The room shown for the murder of Edward
+II., and the shrieks of an agonising king, I verily believe to be
+genuine. It is a dismal chamber, almost at the top of the house, quite
+detached, and to be approached only by a kind of footbridge, and from
+that descends a large flight of steps that terminates on strong gates,
+exactly a situation for a _corps de garde_." And speaking of Edward's
+imprisonment here, may be mentioned the pathetic story told by Sir
+Richard Baker, in his usual odd, circumstantial manner: "When Edward
+II. was taken by order of his Queen and carried to Berkeley Castle, to
+the end that he should not be known, they shaved his head and beard,
+and that in a most beastly manner; for they took him from his horse
+and set him upon a hillock, and then, taking puddle water out of a
+ditch thereby, they went to wash him, his barber telling him that the
+cold water must serve for this time; whereat the miserable king,
+looking sternly upon him, said that whether they would or no he would
+have warm water to wash him, and therewithal, to make good his word,
+he presently shed forth a shower of tears. Never was king turned out
+of a kingdom in such a manner." And there can be no doubt that many of
+the rooms which have attracted notice on account of their
+architectural peculiarities, were purposely designed for concealment
+in times of political commotion. Of the numerous stories told of the
+mysterious death of Lord Lovel, one informs us[19] how, on the
+demolition of a very old house--formerly the patrimony of the
+Lovel's--about a century ago, there was found in a small chamber, so
+secret that the farmer who inhabited the house knew it not, the
+remains of an immured being, and such remnants of barrels and jars as
+appeared to justify the idea of that chamber having been used as a
+place of refuge for the lord of the mansion; and that after consuming
+the stores which he had provided in case of a disastrous event, he
+died unknown even to his servants and tenants. But the circumstances
+attending Lord Lovell's death have always been matter of conjecture,
+and in the "Annals of England," another version of the story is
+given:[20] "Lord Lovel is believed to have escaped from the field, and
+to have lived for a while in concealment at Minster Lovel,
+Oxfordshire, but at length to have been starved to death through the
+neglect or treachery of an attendant."
+
+At Broughton Castle there is a curiously designed room, which, at one
+time or another, has attracted considerable attention. According to
+Lord Nugent, in his "Memorials of Hampden," this room is "so
+contrived, by being surrounded by thick stone walls, and casemated,
+that no sound from within can be heard. The chamber appears to have
+been built about the time of King John, and is reported, on very
+doubtful grounds of tradition, to have been the room used for the
+sittings of the Puritans." And, he adds: "It seems an odd fancy,
+although a very prevailing one, to suppose that wise men, employed in
+capital matters of state, must needs choose the most mysterious and
+suspicious retirements for consultation, instead of the safer and less
+remarkable expedient of a walk in the open fields." It was probably in
+this room that the secret meetings of Hampden and his confederates
+were held, which Anthony a Wood thus describes: "Several years before
+the Civil War began, Lord Sage, being looked upon as the godfather of
+that party, had meetings of them in his house at Broughton, where was
+a room and passage thereunto, which his servants were prohibited to
+come near. And when they were of a complete number, there would be a
+great noise and talkings heard among them, to the admiration of those
+that lived in the house, yet never could they discern their lord's
+companions."
+
+Amongst other secret rooms which have their historical associations,
+are those at Hendlip Hall, near Worcester. This famous residence--which
+has scarcely a room that is not provided with some means of escape--is
+commonly reported to have been built by John Abingdon in the reign of
+Queen Elizabeth, this personage having been a zealous partisan of Mary
+Queen of Scots. It was here also, under the care of Mr. and Mrs.
+Abingdon, that Father Garnet was concealed for several weeks in the
+winter of 1605-6, but who eventually paid the penalty of his guilty
+knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot. A hollow in the wall of Mrs.
+Abingdon's bedroom was covered up, and there was a narrow crevice into
+which a reed was laid, so that soup and wine could be passed by her
+into the recess, without the fact being noticed from any other room.
+But the Government, suspecting that some of the Gunpowder Conspirators
+were concealed at Hendlip Hall, sent Sir Henry Bromley, of Holt Castle,
+a justice of the peace, with the most minute orders, which are very
+funny: "In the search," says the document, "first observe the parlour
+where they use to dine and sup; in the last part of that parlour it is
+conceived there is some vault, which to discover, you must take care to
+draw down the wainscot, whereby the entry into the vault may be
+discovered. The lower parts of the house must be tried with a broach,
+by putting the same into the ground some foot or two, to try whether
+there may be perceived some timber, which if there be, there must be
+some vault underneath it. For the upper rooms you must observe whether
+they be more in breadth than the lower rooms, and look in which places
+the rooms must be enlarged, by pulling out some boards you may discover
+some vaults. Also, if it appear that there be some corners to the
+chimneys, and the same boarded, if the boards be taken away there will
+appear some secret place. If the walls seem to be thick and covered
+with wainscot, being tried with a gimlet, if it strike not the wall but
+go through, some suspicion is to be had thereof. If there be any
+double loft, some two or three feet, one above another, in such places
+any person may be harboured privately. Also, if there be a loft towards
+the roof of the house, in which there appears no entrance out of any
+other place or lodging, it must of necessity be opened and looked into,
+for these be ordinary places of hovering (hiding)."
+
+The house was searched from garret to cellar without any discovery
+being made, and Mrs. Abingdon, feigning to be angry with the
+searchers, shut herself up in her bedroom day and night, eating and
+drinking there, by which means through the secret tube she fed Father
+Garnet and another Jesuit father. But after a protracted search of ten
+days, these two men surrendered themselves, pressed, it is said, "for
+the need of air rather than food, for marmalade and other sweetmeats
+were found in their den, and they had warm and nutritive drinks passed
+to them by the reed through the chimney," as already described. This
+historic mansion, it may be added, on account of its elevated
+position, was capitally adapted as a place of concealment, for "it
+afforded the means of keeping a watchful look-out for the approach of
+the emissaries of the law, or of persons by whom it might have been
+dangerous for any skulking priest to be seen, supposing his reverence
+to have gone forth for an hour to take the air."
+
+Another important instance of a strange room is that existing at
+Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, which was, in years gone by, a summer
+residence belonging to the Abbey of Barking. It came with the estate
+into possession of the family of Petre in the reign of Henry VIII.,
+and continued to be occupied as their family seat until the latter
+half of the last century. In the south-east corner of a small room
+attached to what was probably the host's bedroom, there was discovered
+some years ago a mysterious hiding place--fourteen feet long, two feet
+broad, and ten feet high. On some floor-boards being removed, a hole
+or trap door--about two feet square--was found, with a twelve-foot
+ladder, to descend into the room below, the floor of which was
+composed of nine inches of dry sand. This, on being examined, brought
+to light a few bones which, it has been suggested, are the remains of
+food supplied to some unfortunate occupant during confinement. But the
+existence of this secret room must, it is said, have been familiar to
+the heads of the family for several generations, evidence of this
+circumstance being afforded by a packing case which was found in this
+hidden retreat, and upon which was the following direction: "For the
+Right Honble the Lady Petre, at Ingatestone Hall, in Essex." The wood,
+also, was in a decayed state, and the writing in an antiquated style,
+which is only what might be expected considering that the Petre family
+left Ingatestone Hall between the years 1770 and 1780.
+
+There are numerous rooms of this curious description which, it must be
+remembered, were, in many cases, the outcome of religious intolerance
+in the sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth, when the
+celebration of Mass in this country was forbidden. Hence those families
+that persisted in adhering to the Roman Catholic faith oftentimes kept
+a priest, who celebrated it in a room--opening whence was a secret one,
+to which in case of emergency he could retreat. Evelyn in his _Diary_,
+speaking of Ham House, at Weybridge, belonging to the Duke of Norfolk,
+as having some of these secret rooms, writes: "My lord, leading me
+about the house, made no scruple of showing me all the hiding places
+for Popish priests, and where they said Masse, for he was no bigoted
+papist." The old Manor House at Dinsdale-upon-Tees has a secret room,
+which is very cleverly situated at the top of the staircase, to which
+access is gained from above. The compartment is not very large, and is
+between two bedrooms, and alongside of the fireplace of one of them.
+"It would be a very snug place when the fire was lighted," writes a
+correspondent of "Notes and Queries," "and very secure, as it is
+necessary to enter the cockloft by a trap door at the extreme end of
+the building, and then crawl along under the roof into the hiding-place
+by a second trap-door." Among further instances of these curious relics
+of the past may be mentioned Armscott Manor, two or three miles distant
+from Shipston-on-Stour. According to a local tradition, George Fox at
+one time lived here. In a passage at the top of the house is the
+entrance to a secret room, which receives light from a small window in
+one of the gables, and in this room George Fox is said to have been
+concealed during the period he was persecuted by the county
+magistrates.
+
+But sometimes such rooms furthered the designs of those who abetted
+and connived at deeds that would not bear the light, and Southey
+records an anecdote which is a good illustration of the bad uses to
+which they were probably often put: "At Bishop's Middleham, a man died
+with the reputation of a water drinker; and it was discovered that he
+had killed himself by secret drunkenness. There was a Roman Catholic
+hiding place, the entrance to which was from his bedroom. He converted
+it into a cellar, and the quantity of brandy which he had consumed was
+ascertained." Indeed, it is impossible to say to what ends these
+secret rooms were occasionally devoted; and there is little doubt but
+that they were the scenes of many of those thrilling stories upon
+which many of our local traditions have been founded.
+
+Political refugees, too, were not infrequently secreted in these
+hiding places, and in the Manor House, Trent, near Sherborne, there is
+a strangely constructed chamber, entered from one of the upper rooms
+through a sliding panel in the oak wainscoting, in which tradition
+tells us Charles II. lay concealed for a fortnight on his escape to
+the coast, after the battle of Worcester. And Boscobel House, which
+also afforded Charles II. a safe retreat, has two secret chambers; and
+there are indications which point to the former existence of a third.
+The hiding place in which the King was hidden is situated in the
+squire's bedroom. It appears there was formerly a sliding panel in the
+wainscot, near the fireplace, which, when opened, gave access to a
+closet, the false floor of which still admits of a person taking up
+his position in this secret nook. The wainscoting, too, which
+concealed the movable panel in the bedroom was originally covered with
+tapestry, with which the room was hung. A curious story is told of
+Street Place, an old house, a mile and a half north of Plumpton, in
+the neighbourhood of Lewes, which dates from the time of James I., and
+was the seat of the Dobells. Behind the great chimney-piece of the
+hall was a deep recess, used for purposes of concealment; and it is
+said that one day a cavalier horseman, hotly pursued by some troopers,
+broke into the hall, spurred his horse into the recess, and
+disappeared for ever.
+
+Bistmorton Court, an old moated manor house in the Malvern district,
+has a cunningly contrived secret room, which is opened by means of a
+spring, and this hidden nook is commonly reported to have played an
+important part in the War of the Roses, when numerous persons were
+concealed there at this troublous period. And a curious discovery was
+made some years ago at Danby Hall, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, when, on
+a small secret room being brought to light, it was found to contain
+arms and saddlery for a troop of forty or fifty horse. It is generally
+supposed that these weapons had been hidden away in readiness for the
+Jacobite rising of 1715 or 1745.
+
+In certain cases it would appear that, for some reason or other, the
+hiding place has been specially kept a secret among members of the
+family. In the north of England there is Netherall, near Maryport,
+Cumberland, the seat of the old family of Senhouse. In this old
+mansion there is said to be a veritable secret room, its exact
+position in the house being known but to two persons--the heir-at-law
+and the family solicitor. It is affirmed that never has the secret of
+this hidden room been revealed to more than two living persons at a
+time. This mysterious room has no window, and, despite every endeavour
+to discover it, has successfully defied the ingenuity of even visitors
+staying in the house. This Netherall tradition is very similar to the
+celebrated one connected with Glamis Castle, the seat of Lord
+Strathmore, only in the latter case the secret room possesses a
+window, which, nevertheless, has not led to its identification. It is
+known as the "secret room" of the castle, and, although every other
+part of the castle has been satisfactorily explored, the search for
+this famous room has been in vain. None are supposed to be acquainted
+with its locality save Lord Strathmore, his heir, and the factor of
+the estate, who are bound not to reveal it unless to their successors
+in the secret. Many weird stories have clustered round this remarkable
+room; one legend connected with which has been thus described:
+
+    The castle now again behold,
+    Then mark yon lofty turret bold,
+    Which frowns above the western wing,
+    Its grim walls darkly shadowing.
+    There is a room within that tower
+    No mortal dare approach; the power
+    Of an avenging God is there.
+    Dread--awfully display'd--beware!
+    And enter not that dreadful room,
+    Else yours may be a fearful doom.
+
+According to one legendary romance--founded on an incident which is
+said to have occurred during one of the carousals of the Earl of
+Crawford, otherwise styled "Earl Beardie" or the "Tiger Earl"--there
+was many years ago a grand "meet" at Glamis, as the result of which
+many a noble deer lay dead upon the hill, and many a grizzly boar dyed
+with his heart's blood the rivers of the plain. As the day drew to its
+close, "the wearied huntsmen, with their fair attendants, returned,
+'midst the sounds of martial music and the low whispered roundelays of
+the ladies, victorious to the castle." In the old baronial dining hall
+was spread a sumptuous and savoury feast, at which "venison and
+reeking game, rich smoked ham and savoury roe, flanked by the wild
+boar's head, and viands and pasties without name, blent profusely on
+the hospitable board, while jewelled and capacious goblets, filled
+with ruby wine, were lavishly handed round to the admiring guests."
+
+At the completion of the banquet, the minstrel strung his ancient
+harp, and soon the company tripped lightly on the oaken floor, till
+the rafters rang with the merry sounds of their midnight revelry. For
+three days and nights the hunt and the feast continued, and as, at
+last, the revelries drew to a close, still four dark chieftains
+remained in the inner chamber of the castle, "and sang, and drank, and
+shouted, right merrilie. The day broke, yet louder rang the wassail
+roar; the goblets were over and over again replenished, and the
+terrible oaths and ribald songs continued, and the dice rattled, and
+the revelry became louder still, till the many walls of the old castle
+shook and reverberated with the awful sounds of debauchery, blasphemy,
+and crime."
+
+"At length their wild, ungovernable frenzy reached its climax. They
+had drunk until their eyes had grown dim, and their hands could
+scarcely hold the hellish dice, when, driven by expiring fury, with
+fiendish glee, they defiantly gnashed their teeth and cursed the God
+of heaven! Then, with returning strength, and exhausting its last and
+fitful energies in still louder imprecations and more fearful yells,
+they deliberately and with unanimous voice consigned their guilty
+souls to the nethermost hell! Fatal words! In a bright, broad sheet of
+lurid and sulphurous flame the Prince of Darkness appeared in their
+midst, and struck--not the shaft of death, but the vitality of eternal
+life--and there to this day in that dreaded room they sit, transfixed
+in all their hideous expression of ghastly terror and dismay--doomed
+to drink the wine cup and throw the dice till the dawning of the Great
+Judgment Day."[21]
+
+Another explanation of the mystery is that during one of the feuds
+between the Lindsays and the Ogilvies, a number of the latter Clan,
+flying from their enemies, came to Glamis Castle, and begged
+hospitality of the owner. He admitted them, and on the plea of hiding
+them, he secured them all in this room, and then left them to starve.
+Their bones, it is averred, lie there to this day, the sight of which,
+it has been stated, so appalled the late Lord Strathmore on entering
+the room, that he had it walled up. Some assert that, owing to some
+hereditary curse, like those described in a previous chapter, at
+certain intervals a kind of vampire is born into the family of the
+Strathmore Lyons, and that as no one would like to destroy this
+monstrosity, it is kept concealed till its term of life is run. But,
+whatever the mystery may be, such rooms, like the locked chamber of
+Blue Beard, are not open to vulgar gaze, a circumstance which has
+naturally perpetuated the curiosity attached to them. The reputation,
+too, which Glamis Castle has long had for possessing so strange a room
+has led to a host of the most gruesome stories being circulated in
+connection with it, many of which from time to time have appeared in
+print. According to one account,[22] "a lady, very well known in
+London society, an artistic and social celebrity, went to stay at
+Glamis Castle for the first time. She was allotted very handsome
+apartments just on the point of junction between the new
+buildings--perhaps a hundred or two hundred years old--and the very
+ancient part of the castle. The rooms were handsomely furnished; no
+grim tapestry swung to and fro, all was smooth, easy, and modern, and
+the guest retired to bed without a thought of the mysteries of Glamis.
+In the morning she appeared at the breakfast table cheerful and
+self-possessed, and, to the inquiry how she had slept, replied, "Well,
+thanks, very well, up to four o'clock in the morning. But your
+Scottish carpenters seem to come to work very early. I suppose they
+are putting up their scaffolding quickly, though, for they are quiet
+now."
+
+Her remarks were followed by a dead silence, and, to her surprise, she
+noticed that the faces of the family party were very pale. But, she
+was asked, as she valued the friendship of all there, never to speak
+on that subject again, there had been no carpenters at Glamis for
+months past. The lady, it seems, had not the remotest idea that the
+hammering she had heard was connected with any story, and had no
+notion of there being some mystery connected with the noise until
+enlightened on the matter at the breakfast table.
+
+At Rushen Castle, Isle of Man, there is said to be a room which has
+never been opened in the memory of man. Various explanations have been
+assigned to account for this circumstance, one being that the old
+place was once inhabited by giants, who were dislodged by Merlin, and
+such as were not driven away remain spellbound beneath the castle.
+Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man," has given a curious
+tradition respecting this strange room, in which the supernatural
+element holds a prominent place, and which is a good sample of other
+stories of the same kind: "They say there are a great many fine
+apartments underground, exceeding in magnificence any of the upper
+rooms. Several men, of more than ordinary courage have, in former
+times, ventured down to explore the secrets of this subterranean
+dwelling-place, but as none of them ever returned to give an account
+of what they saw, the passages to it were kept continually shut that
+no more might suffer by their temerity. But about fifty years since, a
+person of uncommon courage obtained permission to explore the dark
+abode. He went down, and returned by the help of a clue of packthread,
+and made this report: 'That after having passed through a great number
+of vaults he came into a long narrow place, along which having
+travelled, as far as he could guess, for the space of a mile, he saw a
+little gleam of light. Reaching at last the end of this lane of
+darkness, he perceived a very large and magnificent house, illuminated
+with a great many candles, whence proceeded the light just mentioned.
+After knocking at the door three times, it was opened by a servant,
+who asked him what he wanted. "I would go as far as I can," he
+replied; "be so kind as to direct me, for I see no passage but the
+dark cavern through which I came hither." The servant directed him to
+go through the house, and led him through a long entrance passage and
+out at the back door. After walking a considerable distance, he saw
+another house, more magnificent than the former, where he saw through
+the open windows lamps burning in every room. He was about to knock,
+but looking in at the window of a low parlour, he saw in the middle of
+the room a large table of black marble, on which lay extended a
+monster of at least fourteen feet long, and ten round the body, with a
+sword beside him. He therefore deemed it prudent to make his way back
+to the first house where the servant reconducted him, and informed him
+that if he had knocked at the second door he never would have
+returned. He then took his leave, and once more ascended to the light
+of the sun.'"
+
+But, leaving rooms of this supernatural kind, we may allude to those
+which have acquired a strange notoriety from certain peculiarities of
+a somewhat gruesome character; and, with tales of horror attached to
+their guilty walls, it is not surprising that many rooms in our old
+country houses have long been said to be troubled with mysterious
+noises, and to have an uncanny aspect. Wye Coller Hall, near Colne,
+which was long the seat of the Cunliffes of Billington, had a room
+which the timid long avoided. Once a year, it is said, a spectre
+horseman visits this house and makes his way up the broad oaken
+staircase into a certain room, from whence "dreadful screams, as from
+a woman, are heard, which soon subside into groans." The story goes
+that one of the Cunliffes murdered his wife in that room, and that the
+spectre horseman is the ghost of the murderer, who is doomed to pay an
+annual visit to the house of his victim, who is said to have predicted
+the extinction of the family, which has literally been fulfilled. This
+strange visitor is always attired in the costume of the early Stuart
+period, and the trappings of his horse are of a most uncouth
+description; the evening of his arrival being generally wild and
+tempestuous.
+
+At Creslow Manor House, Buckinghamshire, there is another mysterious
+room which, although furnished as a bedroom, is very rarely used, for
+it cannot be entered, even in the daytime, without trepidation and
+awe. According to common report, this room, which is situated in the
+most ancient portion of the building, is haunted by the restless
+spirit of a lady, long since deceased. What the antecedent history of
+this uncomfortable room really is no one seems to know, although it is
+generally agreed that in the distant past it must have been the silent
+witness of some tragic occurrence.
+
+But Littlecote House, the ancient seat of the Darrells, is renowned,
+writes Lord Macaulay, "not more on account of its venerable
+architecture and furniture, than on account of a horrible and
+mysterious crime which was perpetrated there in the days of the
+Tudors." One of the bedchambers, which is said to have been the scene
+of a terrible murder, contains a bedstead with blue furniture, which
+time has made dingy and threadbare. In the bottom of one of the bed
+curtains is shown a strange place where a small piece has been cut out
+and sewn in again--a circumstance which served to identify the scene
+of a remarkable story, in connection with which, however, there are
+several discrepancies. According to one account, when Littlecote was
+in possession of its founders--the Darrells--a midwife of high repute
+dwelt in the neighbourhood, who, on returning home from a professional
+visit at a late hour of the night, had gone to rest only to be
+disturbed by one who desired to have her immediate help, little
+anticipating the terrible night's adventure in store for her, and
+which shall be told in her own words:
+
+"As soon as she had unfastened the door, a hand was thrust in which
+struck down the candle, and at the same time pulled her into the road.
+The person who had used these abrupt means desired her to tie a
+handkerchief over her head and not wait for a hat, and, leading her to
+a stile where there was a horse saddled, with a pillion on its back,
+he desired her to seat herself, and then, mounting, they set off at a
+brisk trot. After travelling for an hour and a half, they entered a
+paved court, or yard, and her conductor, lifting her off her horse,
+led her into the house, and thus addressed her: 'You must now suffer
+me to put this cap and bandage over your eyes, which will allow you to
+breathe and speak, but not to see. Keep up your presence of mind; it
+will be wanted. No harm will happen to you.' Then, taking her into a
+chamber, he added, 'Now you are in a room with a lady in labour.
+Perform your office well, and you shall be amply rewarded; but if you
+attempt to remove the bandage from your eyes, take the reward of your
+rashness."
+
+Shortly afterwards a male child was born, and as soon as this crisis
+was over the woman received a glass of wine, and was told to prepare
+to return home, but in the interval she contrived to cut off a small
+piece of the bed curtain--an act which was supposed sufficient
+evidence to fix the mysterious transaction as having happened at
+Littlecote. According to Sir Walter Scott, the bandage was first put
+over the woman's eyes on her leaving her own house that she might be
+unable to tell which way she travelled, and was only removed when she
+was led into the mysterious bedchamber, where, besides the lady in
+labour, there was a man of a "haughty and ferocious" aspect. As soon
+as the child was born, adds Scott, he demanded the midwife to give it
+him, and, hurrying across the room, threw it on the back of a fire
+that was blazing in the chimney, in spite of the piteous entreaties of
+the mother. Suspicion eventually fell on Darrell, whose house was
+identified by the midwife, and he was tried for murder at Salisbury,
+"but, by corrupting his judge, Sir John Popham, he escaped the
+sentence of the law, only to die a violent death by a fall from his
+horse." This tale of horror, it may be added, has been carefully
+examined, and there is little doubt but that in its main and most
+prominent features it is true, the bedstead with a piece of the
+curtain cut out identifying the spot as the scene of the tragic
+act.[23]
+
+With this strange story Sir Walter Scott compares a similar one which
+was current at Edinburgh during his childhood. About the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, when "the large castles of the Scottish
+nobles, and even the secluded hotels, like those of the French
+_noblesse_, which they possessed in Edinburgh, were sometimes the
+scenes of mysterious transactions, a divine of singular sanctity was
+called up at midnight to pray with a person at the point of death." He
+was put into a sedan chair, and after being transported to a remote
+part of the town, he was blindfolded--an act which was enforced by a
+cocked pistol. After many turns and windings the chair was carried
+upstairs into a lodging, where his eyes were uncovered, and he was
+introduced into a bedroom, where he found a lady, newly delivered of
+an infant.
+
+He was commanded by his attendants to say such prayers by her bedside
+as were suitable for a dying person. On remonstrating, and observing
+that her safe delivery warranted better hopes, he was sternly
+commanded to do as he had been ordered, and with difficulty he
+collected his thoughts sufficiently to perform the task imposed on
+him. He was then again hurried into the chair, but as they conducted
+him downstairs he heard the report of a pistol. He was safely
+conducted home, a purse of gold was found upon him, but he was warned
+that the least allusion to this transaction would cost him his life.
+He betook himself to rest, and after a deep sleep he was awakened by
+his servant, with the dismal news that a fire of uncommon fury had
+broken out in the house of ****, near the head of the Canongate, and
+that it was totally consumed, with the shocking addition that the
+daughter of the proprietor, a young lady eminent for beauty and
+accomplishments had perished in the flames.
+
+The clergyman had his suspicions; he was timid; the family was of the
+first distinction; above all, the deed was done, and could not be
+amended. Time wore away, but he became unhappy at being the solitary
+depository of this fearful mystery, and, mentioning it to some of his
+brethren, the anecdote acquired a sort of publicity. The divine,
+however, had long been dead, and the story in some degree forgotten,
+when a fire broke out again on the very same spot where the house of
+**** had formerly stood, and which was now occupied by buildings of an
+inferior description. When the flames were at their height, the tumult
+was suddenly suspended by an unexpected apparition. A beautiful
+female, in a nightdress, extremely rich, but at least half a century
+old, appeared in the very midst of the fire, and uttered these words
+in her vernacular idiom: "Anes burned, twice burned; the third time
+I'll scare you all." The belief in this apparition was formerly so
+strong that on a fire breaking out and seeming to approach the fatal
+spot, there was a good deal of anxiety manifested lest the apparition
+should make good her denunciation.
+
+But family romance contains many such tales of horror, and one told of
+Sir Richard Baker, surnamed "Bloody Baker," is a match even for Blue
+Beard's locked chamber. After spending some years abroad in
+consequence of a duel, he returned to his old home at Cranbrook, in
+Kent; he only brought with him a foreign servant, and these two lived
+alone. Very soon strange stories began to be whispered of unearthly
+shrieks having been frequently heard at nightfall to issue from his
+house, and of persons who were missed and never heard of again. But it
+never occurred to anyone to connect incidents of this kind with Sir
+Richard Baker, until, one day, he formed an apparent attachment to a
+young lady in the neighbourhood, who always wore a great number of
+jewels. He had often pressed her to call and see his house, and,
+happening to be near it, she determined to surprise him with a visit.
+Her companion tried to dissuade her from doing so, but she would not
+be turned from her purpose. They knocked at the door, but receiving no
+answer determined to enter. At the head of the staircase hung a
+parrot, which, on their passing, cried out:
+
+    "Peapot, pretty lady, be not too bold,
+    Or your red blood will soon run cold."
+
+And the blood of the adventurous women did "run cold" when on opening
+one of the room doors they found it nearly full of the bodies of
+murdered persons, chiefly women. And when, too, on looking out of the
+window they saw "Bloody Baker" and his servant bringing in the body of
+a lady, paralysed with fear they concealed themselves in a recess
+under the staircase, and, as the murderers with their ghastly burden
+passed by, the hand of the murdered lady hung in the baluster of the
+stairs, which, on Baker chopping it off with an oath, fell into the
+lap of one of the concealed ladies. They quickly made their escape
+with the dead hand, on one of the fingers of which was a ring.
+Reaching home, they told the story, and in proof of it displayed the
+ring. Families in the neighbourhood who had lost friends or relatives
+mysteriously were told of this "blood chamber of horrors," and it was
+arranged to ask Baker to a party, apparently in a friendly manner, but
+to have constables concealed ready to take him into custody. He
+accepted the invitation, and then the lady, pretending it was a dream,
+told him all she had seen.
+
+"Fair lady," said he, "dreams are nothing; they are but fables."
+
+"They may be fables," she replied, "but is this a fable?" And she
+produced the hand and ring, upon which the constables appeared on the
+scene, and took Baker into custody. The tradition adds that he was
+found guilty, and was burnt, notwithstanding that Queen Mary tried to
+save him on account of his holding the Roman Catholic religion.[24]
+
+This tradition, of course, must not be taken too seriously; the red
+hand in the armorial bearings having led, it has been suggested, to
+the supposition of some sanguinary business in the records of the
+family. Among the monuments in Cranbrook Church, Kent, there is one
+erected to Sir Richard Baker--the gauntlet, red gloves, helmet, and
+spurs, having been suspended over the tomb. On one occasion, a visitor
+being attracted by the colour of the gloves, was accosted by an old
+woman, who remarked, "Aye, Miss, those are Bloody Baker's gloves;
+their red colour comes from the blood he shed." But the red hand is
+only the Ulster badge of baronetcy, and there is scarcely a family
+bearing it of which some tale of murder and punishment has not been
+told.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] Andrew's "History of Great Britain," 1794-5.
+
+[20] Oxford, 1857.
+
+[21] "Scenes and Legends of the Vale of Strathmore." J. Cargill
+Guthrie, 1875.
+
+[22] "All the Year Round," 1880.
+
+[23] See "Wilts Archaeological Magazine," vols. i.-x.
+
+[24] See "Notes and Queries," 1st S., I., p. 67.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+INDELIBLE BLOOD STAINS.
+
+    "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
+    Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
+    The multitudinous seas incarnardine,
+    Making the green one red."--MACBETH.
+
+
+It was a popular suggestion in olden times that when a person had died
+a violent death, the blood stains could not be washed away, to which
+Macbeth alludes, as above, after murdering Duncan. This belief was in
+a great measure founded on the early tradition that the wounds of a
+murdered man were supposed to bleed afresh at the approach or touch of
+the murderer. To such an extent was this notion carried, that "by the
+side of the bier, if the slightest change were observable in the eyes,
+the mouth, feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured
+to be present, and many an innocent spectator must have suffered
+death. This practice forms a rich pasture in the imagination of our
+old writers; and their histories and ballads are laboured into pathos
+by dwelling on this phenomenon."[25] At Blackwell, near Darlington,
+the murder of one Christopher Simpson is described in a pretty local
+ballad known as "The Baydayle Banks Tragedy." A suspected person was
+committed, because when he touched the body at the inquest, "upon his
+handlinge and movinge, the body did bleed at the mouth, nose, and
+ears," and he turned out to be the murderer. Similarly Macbeth (Act
+III., sc. 4), speaking of the ghost, says:--
+
+    "It will have blood; they say blood will have blood;
+    Stones have been known to move and trees to speak,
+    Auguries and understood relations have
+    By magot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
+    The secret'st man of blood."
+
+Shakespeare here, in all probability, alludes to some story in which
+the stones covering the corpse of a murdered man were said to have
+moved of themselves, and so revealed the secret. In the same way, it
+was said that where blood had been shed, the marks could not be
+obliterated, but would continually reappear until justice for the
+crime had been obtained. On one occasion, Nathaniel Hawthorne enjoyed
+the hospitality of Smithells Hall, Lancashire, and was so impressed
+with the well-known legend of "The Bloody Footstep" that he, in three
+separate instances, founded fictions upon it. In his romance of
+"Septimius" he gives this graphic account of what he saw: "On the
+threshold of one of the doors of Smithells Hall there is a bloody
+footstep impressed into the doorstep, and ruddy as if the bloody foot
+had just trodden there, and it is averred that on a certain night of
+the year, and at a certain hour of the night, if you go and look at
+the doorstep, you will see the mark wet with fresh blood. Some have
+pretended to say that this is but dew, but can dew redden a cambric
+handkerchief? And this is what the bloody footstep will surely do when
+the appointed night and hour come round." A local tradition says that
+the stone bearing the imprint of the mysterious footprint was once
+removed and cast into a neighbouring wood, but in a short time it had
+to be restored to its original position owing to the alarming noises
+which troubled the neighbourhood. This strange footprint is
+traditionally said to have been caused by George Marsh, the martyr,
+stamping his foot to confirm his testimony, and has been ever since
+shewn as the miraculous memorial of the holy man. The story is that
+"being provoked by the taunts and persecutions of his examiner, he
+stamped with his foot upon a stone, and, looking up to heaven,
+appealed to God for the justice of his cause, and prayed that there
+might remain in that place a constant memorial of the wickedness and
+injustice of his enemies." It is also stated that in 1732 a guest
+sleeping alone in the Green Chamber at Smithells Hall saw an
+apparition, in the dress of a minister with bands, and a book in his
+hand. The ghost of Marsh, for so it was pronounced to be, disappeared
+through the doorway, and on the owner of Smithells hearing the story,
+he directed that divine service--long discontinued--should be resumed
+at the hall chapel every Sunday.[26]
+
+Then there are the blood stains on the floor at the outer door of the
+Queen's apartments in Holyrood Palace, where Rizzio was murdered. Sir
+Walter Scott has made these blood marks the subject of a jocular
+passage in his introduction to the "Chronicles of the Canongate,"
+where a Cockney traveller is represented as trying to efface them with
+the patent scouring drops which it was his mission to introduce into
+use in Scotland. In another of his novels--"The Abbot"--Sir Walter
+Scott alludes to the Rizzio blood stains, and in his "Tales of a
+Grandfather" he deliberately states that the floor at the head of the
+stair still bears visible marks of the blood of the unhappy victim. In
+support of these blood stains, it has been urged that "the floor is
+very ancient, manifestly much more so than the late floor of the
+neighbouring gallery, which dated from the reign of Charles II. It is
+in all likelihood the very floor upon which Mary and her courtiers
+trod. The stain has been shown there since a time long antecedent to
+that extreme modern curiosity regarding historical matters which might
+have induced an imposture, for it is alluded to by the son of Evelyn
+as being exhibited in the year 1722."[27]
+
+At Condover Hall, Shropshire, there is supposed to be a blood stain
+which has been there since the time of Henry VIII., and cannot be
+effaced. According to a local tradition, which has long been current
+in the neighbourhood, it is the blood of Lord Knevett--the owner of
+the hall and estate at this period--who was treacherously slain by his
+son. But unfortunately this piece of romance, which is utterly at
+variance with facts bearing on the history of Condover and its owners
+in years gone by, must be classed among the legendary tales of the
+locality. One room in Clayton Old Hall, Lancashire, has for years past
+been knicknamed "The Bloody Chamber," from some supposed stains of
+human gore on the oaken floor planks. Numerous stories have, at
+different times, been started to account for these blood-tokens, which
+have gained all the more importance from the mansion having, from time
+immemorial, been the favourite haunt of a mischievious boggart until
+laid by the parson, and now--
+
+    Whilst ivy climbs and holly is green
+    Clayton Hall boggart shall no more be seen.
+
+In Lincoln Cathedral there are two fine rose windows, one made by a
+master workman, and the other by his apprentice, out of the pieces of
+stained glass the former had thrown aside. The apprentice's window was
+declared to be the more magnificent, when the master, in a fit of
+chagrin, threw himself from the gallery beneath his boasted _chef
+d'oeuvre_, and was killed upon the spot. But his blood-stains on
+the floor are declared to be indelible. At Cothele, a mansion on the
+banks of the Tamar, the marks are still visible of the blood spilt by
+the lord of the manor when, for supposed treachery, he slew the warder
+of the drawbridge; but these are only to be seen on a wet day.
+
+But there is no mystery about the so-called "Bloody Chamber," for the
+marks are only in reality natural red tinges of the wood, denoting the
+presence of iron.
+
+In addition to the appearance of such indelible marks of crime,
+oftentimes the ghost of the spiller of blood, or of the murdered
+person, haunts the scene. Thus, Northam Tower, Yorkshire, an embattled
+structure of the time of Henry VII.--a true Border mansion--has long
+been famous for the visits of some mysterious spectre in the form of a
+lady who was cruelly murdered in the wood, her blood being pointed out
+on the stairs of the old tower. Another tragic story is told of the
+Manor House which Bishop Pudsey built at Darlington. It was for very
+many years a residence of the Bishops of Durham, and a resting place
+of Margaret, bride of James IV., of Scotland, and daughter of Henry
+VII., in her splendid progress through the country. This building was
+restored at great expense in the year 1668, and gained a widespread
+notoriety on account of the ghost story of Lady Jerratt, who was
+murdered there; but, as a testimony of the violent death she had
+received, "she left on the wall ghastly impressions of a thumb and
+fingers in blood for ever," and always made her appearance with one
+arm, the other having been cut off for the sake of a valuable ring on
+one of the fingers.
+
+One room of Holland House is supposed to be haunted by Lord Holland,
+the first of his name and the chief builder of this splendid old
+mansion. According to Princess Marie Lichtenstein, in her "History of
+Holland House," "the gilt room is said to be tenanted by the solitary
+ghost of its first lord, who, runs the tradition, issues forth at
+midnight from behind a secret door, and walks slowly through the
+scenes of former triumphs with his head in his hand." And to add to
+this mystery, there is a tale of three spots of blood on one side of
+the recess whence he issues--three spots which can never be effaced.
+
+Stains of blood--stains that cannot be washed away--are to be seen on
+the floor of a certain room at Calverley Hall, Yorkshire. And there is
+one particular flag in the cellar which is never without a mysterious
+damp place upon it, all the other flags being dry. Of course these are
+the witnesses of a terrible tragedy which was committed years ago
+within the walls of Calverley Hall. It appears that Walter Calverley,
+who had married Philippa Brooke, daughter of Lord Cobham, was a wild
+reckless man, though his wife was a most estimable and virtuous lady,
+and that one day he went into a fit of insane jealousy, or pretended
+to do so, over the then Vavasour of Weston. Money lenders, too, were
+pressing him hard, and he had become desperate. Rushing madly into the
+house, he plunged a dagger into one and then into another of his
+children, and afterwards tried to take the life of their mother, a
+steel corset which she wore luckily saving her life. Leaving her for
+dead, he mounted his horse with the intention of killing the only
+other child he had, and who was then at Norton. But being pursued by
+some villagers, his horse stumbled and threw him off, and the assassin
+was caught, being pressed to death at York Castle for his crimes. Not
+only have the stains of this bloody tragedy ever since been indelible,
+but the spirit of Walter Calverley could not rest, having often been
+seen galloping about the district at night on a headless horse.[28]
+And, speaking of ghosts which appear in this eccentric fashion, we may
+note that Eastbury House, near Blandford--now pulled down--had in a
+certain marble-floored room, ineffaceable stains of blood,
+attributable, it is said, to the suicide of William Doggett, the
+steward of Lord Melcombe, whose headless spirit long haunted the
+neighbourhood.
+
+As a punishment for her unnatural cruelty in causing her child's
+death, it is commonly reported that the spirit of Lady Russell is
+doomed to haunt Bisham Abbey, Berkshire, the house where this act of
+violence was committed. Lady Russell had by her first husband a son,
+who, unlike herself, had a natural antipathy to every kind of
+learning, and so great was his obstinate repugnance to learning to
+write that he would wilfully blot over his copy-books in the most
+careless and slovenly manner. This conduct so irritated his mother
+that, to cure him of the propensity, she beat him again and again
+severely, till at last she beat him to death. To atone for her
+cruelty, she is now doomed to haunt the room where the fatal deed was
+perpetrated; and, as her apparition glides along, she is always seen
+in the act of washing the blood stains of her son from her hands.
+Although ever trying to free herself of these marks of her unnatural
+crime, it is in vain, as they are indelible stains which no water will
+remove.
+
+By a strange coincidence, some years ago, in altering a window
+shutter, a quantity of antique copy-books were discovered pushed into
+the rubble between the joints of the floor, and one of these books was
+so covered with blots as to fully answer the description in the
+narrative above. It is noteworthy, also, that Lady Russell had no
+comfort in her sons by her first husband. Her youngest son, a
+posthumous child, caused her special trouble, insomuch so that she
+wrote to her brother-in-law, Lord Burleigh, for advice how to treat
+him. This may have been, it has been suggested, the unfortunate boy
+who was flogged to death, though he seems to have lived to near man's
+estate. Lady Russell was buried at Bisham, by the remains of her first
+husband, Sir Thomas Hoby, and her portrait may still be seen,
+representing her in widow's weeds and with a very pale face.
+
+A mysterious crime is traditionally reported to have, some years ago,
+taken place at the old parsonage at Market, or East Lavington, near
+Devizes--now pulled down. The ghost of the lady supposed to have been
+murdered haunted the locality, and it has been said a child came to an
+untimely end in the house. "Previous to the year 1818," writes a
+correspondent of _Notes and Queries_, "a witness states his father
+occupied the house, and writes that 'in that year on Feast Day, being
+left alone in the house, I went to my room. It was the one with marks
+of blood on the floor. I distinctly saw a white figure glide into the
+room. It went round by the washstand near the bed and disappeared!'"
+It may be added that part of the road leading from Market Lavington to
+Easterton which skirts the grounds of Fiddington House, used to be
+looked upon as haunted by a lady who was locally known as the
+"Easterton ghost." But in the year 1869 a wall was built round the
+roadside of the pond, and curiously close to the spot where the lady
+had been in the habit of appearing two skeletons were disturbed--one
+of a woman, the other of a child. The bones were buried in the
+churchyard, and no ghost, it is said, has since been seen. It would
+seem, also, that blood stains, wherever they may fall, are equally
+indelible; and even to this day the New Forest peasant believes that
+the marl he digs is still red with the blood of his ancient foes, the
+Danes, a form of superstition which we find existing in various
+places.
+
+For very many years the road from Reigate to Dorking, leading through
+a lonely lane into the village of Buckland, was haunted by a local
+spectre known as the "Buckland Shag," generally supposed to have been
+connected with a love tragedy. In the most lonely part of this lane a
+stream of clear water ran by the side of--which laid for years--a
+large stone, concerning which the following story is told: Once on a
+time, a lovely blue-eyed girl, whose father was a substantial yeoman
+in the neighbourhood, was wooed and won by the subtle arts of an
+opulent owner of the Manor House of Buckland.
+
+In the silence of the evening this lane was their accustomed walk, the
+scene of her devoted love and of his deceitful vows. Here he swore
+eternal fidelity, and the unsuspecting girl trusted him with the
+confiding affection of her innocent heart. It was at such a moment
+that the wily seducer communicated to her the real nature of his
+designs, the moon above being only the witness of his perfidy and her
+distress. She heard the avowal in tremulous silence, but her deadly
+paleness, and her expressive look of mingled reproach and terror
+created alarm even in the mind of her would-be seducer, and he hastily
+endeavoured to recall the fatal declaration; but it was too late, she
+sprang from his agitated grasp, and, with a sigh of agony, fell dead
+at his feet.
+
+When he beheld the work of his iniquitous designs, he was seized with
+distraction, and drawing a dagger from his bosom, he plunged it into
+his own false heart, and lay stretched by the side of her he had so
+basely wronged. On the morrow, as a peasant passed over the little
+stream, he saw a dark stone with drops of blood trickling from its
+heart into the pure limpid water. From that day the stream retained
+its untainted purity, and the stone continued its sacrifice of blood.
+
+Soon afterwards a terrific object was seen hovering at midnight about
+this fatal spot, taking its position at first upon the "bleeding
+stone," but it was ousted by the lord of the manor, who removed the
+blood-tainted stone to his own premises, to satisfy the timid minds of
+his neighbours. But the stone still continued to bleed, nor did its
+removal in any way intimidate the spectre. Connected with this
+alarming midnight visitor, writes a correspondent of _The Gentleman's
+Magazine_, "I remember a circumstance related to me by those who were
+actually acquainted with the facts, and with the person to whom they
+refer. An inhabitant of Buckland, who had attended Reigate Market and
+become exceedingly intoxicated, was joked by a companion upon the
+subject of the 'Buckland Shag,' whereupon he laid a wager that if Shag
+appeared in his path that night he would fight him with his trusty
+hawthorn. Accordingly he set forth, and arrived at the haunted spot.
+The spectre stood in his path, and, raising his stick, he struck it
+with all his strength, but it made no impression, nor did the goblin
+move. The stick fell as upon a blanket--so the man described it--and
+he instantly became sober, while a cold tremor ran through every nerve
+of his athletic frame.
+
+He hurried on, and the spectre followed. At length he arrived at his
+own door; then, and not till then, did the spectre vanish, leaving the
+affrighted man in a state of complete exhaustion upon the threshold of
+his cottage. He was carried to his bed, and from that bed he never
+rose again; he died in a week."
+
+Similarly, there is a romantic old legend connected with Kilburn
+Priory, to the effect that there was formerly, not far distant, a
+stone of dark red colour, which was said to be the stain of the blood
+of St. Gervase de Mertoun. The story goes that Stephen de Mertoun,
+being enamoured of his brother's wife, made immoral overtures to her,
+which she threatened to make known to Sir Gervase, to prevent which
+disclosure Stephen resolved to waylay his brother and slay him. By a
+strange coincidence, the identical stone on which his murdered body
+had expired formed a part of his tomb, and the eye of the murderer
+resting upon it, adds the legend, blood was seen to issue from it.
+Struck with horror at this sight, Stephen de Mertoun hastened to the
+Bishop of London, and making confession of his guilt, demised his
+property to the Priory of Kilburn.
+
+In the same way the Cornishman knows, from the red, filmy growth on
+the brook pebbles, that blood has been shed--a popular belief still
+firmly credited. Some years ago a Cornish gentleman was cruelly
+murdered, and his body thrown into a brook; but ever since that day
+the stones in this brook are said to be spotted with gore--a
+phenomenon which had never occurred previously. And, according to
+another strange Cornish belief told of St. Denis's blood, it is
+related that at the very time when his decapitation took place in
+Paris, blood fell on the churchyard of St. Denis. It is further said
+that these blood stains are specially visible when a calamity of any
+kind is near at hand; and before the breaking out of the plague, it is
+said the stains of the blood of St. Denis were seen; and, "during our
+wars with the Dutch, the defeat of the English fleet was foretold by
+the rain of gore in this remote and sequestered place."
+
+It is also a common notion that not only are the stains of human blood
+wrongfully shed ineffaceable, but a curse lights upon the ground,
+causing it to remain barren for ever. There is, for instance, a
+dark-looking piece of ground devoid of verdure in the parish of
+Kirdford, Sussex. Local tradition says that this was formerly green,
+but the grass withered gradually away soon after the blood of a
+poacher, who was shot there, trickled down on the place. But perhaps
+the most romantic tale of this kind was that known as the "Field of
+Forty Footsteps." A legendary story of the period of the Duke of
+Monmouth's Rebellion describes a mortal conflict which took place
+between two brothers in Long Fields, afterwards called Southampton
+Fields, in the rear of Montague House, Bloomsbury, on account of a
+lady who sat by. The combatants fought so furiously as to kill each
+other, after which their footsteps, imprinted on the ground in the
+vengeful struggle, were reported "to remain, with the indentations
+produced by their advancing and receding; nor would any grass or
+vegetation grow afterwards over these forty footsteps." The most
+commonly received version of the story is, that two brothers were in
+love with the same lady, who would not declare a preference for
+either, but coolly sat upon a bank to witness the termination of a
+duel which proved fatal to both. Southey records this strange story in
+his "Commonplace Book,"[29] and after quoting a letter from a friend,
+recommending him to "take a view of those wonderful marks of the
+Lord's hatred to duelling, called 'The Brothers' Steps,'" he thus
+describes his own visit to the spot: "We sought for near half an hour
+in vain. We could find no steps at all within a quarter of a mile, no,
+nor half a mile, of Montague House. We were almost out of hope, when
+an honest man, who was at work, directed us to the next ground
+adjoining to a pond. There we found what we sought, about
+three-quarters of a mile north of Montague House and five hundred
+yards east of Tottenham Court Road. The steps are of the size of a
+large human foot, about three inches deep, and lie nearly from
+north-east to south-west. We counted only twenty-six; but we were not
+exact in counting. The place where one or both the brothers are
+supposed to have fallen is still bare of grass. The labourer also
+showed us the bank where, the tradition is, the wretched woman sat to
+see the combat." Miss Porter and her sister founded upon this tragic
+romance their story, "Coming Out, or the Field of Forty Footsteps";
+and at Tottenham Street Theatre was produced, many years ago, an
+effective melodrama based upon the same incident, entitled "The Field
+of Footsteps."
+
+Another romantic tale of a similar nature is connected with Montgomery
+Church walls, and is locally designated "The Legend of the Robber's
+Grave," of which there are several versions, the most popular one
+being this: Once upon a time, a man was said to have been wrongfully
+hanged at Montgomery; and, when the rope was round his neck, he
+declared in proof of his innocence that grass would never grow on his
+grave. Curious to relate, be the cause what it may, there is yet to be
+seen a strip of sterility--in the form of a cross--amidst a mass of
+verdure.[30]
+
+Likewise, the peasantry still talk mysteriously of Lord Derwentwater's
+execution, and tell how his blood could not be washed away. Deep and
+lasting were the horror and grief which were felt when the news of his
+death reached his home in the north. The inhabitants of the
+neighbourhood, it is said, saw the coming vengeance of heaven in the
+Aurora Borealis which appeared in unwonted brilliancy on the evening
+of the execution, and which is still known as "Lord Derwentwater's
+Light" in the northern counties; the rushing Devil's Water, too, they
+said, ran down with blood on that terrible night, and the very corn
+which was ground on that day came tinged from the mill with crimson.
+Lord Derwentwater's death, too, was all the more deplored on account
+of his having long been undecided as to whether he should embrace the
+enterprise against the House of Hanover. But there had long been a
+tradition in his family that a mysterious and unearthly visitant
+appeared to the head of the house in critical emergencies, either to
+warn of danger, or to announce impending calamity. One evening, a few
+days before he resolved to cast in his lot with the Stuarts, whilst he
+was wandering amid the solitudes of the hills, a figure stood before
+him in robe and hood of grey.
+
+This personage is said to have sadly reproached the Earl for not
+having already joined the rising, and to have presented him with a
+crucifix which was to render him secure against bullet or sword
+thrust. After communicating this message the figure vanished, leaving
+the Earl in a state of bewilderment. The mysterious apparition is
+reported to have spoken with the voice of a woman, and as it is known
+that "in the more critical conjunctures of the history of the Stuarts
+every device was practised by secret agents to gain the support of a
+wavering follower," it is not difficult to guess at a probable
+explanation of the ghost of the Dilston Groves. It may be added that
+at Dilston, Lady Derwentwater was long said to revisit the pale
+glimpses of the moon to expiate the restless ambition which impelled
+her to drive Lord Derwentwater to the scaffold.
+
+But how diverse have been the causes of many of these romantic blood
+stains may be gathered from another legendary tale connected with
+Plaish Hall, near Cardington, Shropshire. The report goes that a party
+of clergymen met together one night at Plaish Hall to play cards. In
+order that the real object of their gathering might not be known to
+any but themselves, the doors were locked. Before very long, however,
+they flew open without any apparent cause. Again they were locked, but
+presently they burst open a second time, and even a third. Astonished
+at what seemed to baffle explanation, and whilst mutually wondering
+what it could mean, a panic was suddenly created when, in their midst,
+there appeared a mysterious figure resembling the Evil One. In a
+moment the invited guests all rose and fled, leaving the unfortunate
+host by himself "face to face with the enemy."
+
+What happened after their departure was never divulged, for no one
+"ever saw that wretched man again, either alive or dead." That he had
+died some violent death was generally surmised, for a great stain of
+blood shaped like a human form was found on the floor of the room, and
+despite all efforts the mark could never be washed out. Ever since
+this inexplicable occurrence, the house has been haunted, and at
+midnight a ghostly troop of horses are occasionally heard, creating so
+much noise as to awaken even heavy sleepers.
+
+And Aubrey in his "Miscellanies" tells how when the bust of Charles
+I., carved by Bernini, "was brought in a boat upon the Thames, a
+strange bird--the like whereof the bargemen had never seen--dropped a
+drop of blood, or blood-like, upon it, which left a stain not to be
+wiped off." The strange story of this ill-fated bust is more minutely
+told by Dr. Zacharay Grey in a pamphlet on the character of Charles
+I.: "Vandyke having drawn the king in three different faces--a
+profile, three-quarters, and a full face--the picture was sent to Rome
+for Bernini to make a bust from it. Bernini was unaccountably dilatory
+in the work, and upon this being complained of, he said that he had
+set about it several times, but there was something so unfortunate in
+the features of the face that he was shocked every time that he
+examined it, and forced to leave off the work, and, if there was any
+stress to be laid on physiognomy, he was sure the person whom the
+picture represented was destined to a violent end."
+
+The bust was at last finished and sent to England. As soon as the ship
+that brought it arrived in the river, the king, who was very impatient
+to see the bust, ordered it to be carried immediately to Chelsea. It
+was conveyed thither, and placed upon a table in the garden, whither
+the king went with a train of nobility to inspect the bust. As they
+were viewing it, a hawk flew over their heads with a partridge in his
+claws, which he had wounded to death. Some of the partridge's blood
+fell upon the neck of the bust, where it remained without being wiped
+off. This bust was placed over the door of the king's closet at
+Whitehall and continued there till the palace was destroyed by fire.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[25] D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature."
+
+[26] See Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Folklore," 135-136.
+
+[27] "Book of Days," I., 235.
+
+[28] This tradition is the basis of the drama called "The Yorkshire
+Tragedy," and was adopted by Ainsworth in his "Romance of Rookwood."
+
+[29] 2nd Ser., p. 21.
+
+[30] A curious legend is related by Roger de Hoveden, which shows the
+antiquity of the Wakefield mills. "In the year 1201, Eustace, Abbot of
+Flaye, came over into England, preaching the duty of extending the
+Sabbath from three o'clock p.m. on Saturday to sunrising on Monday
+morning, pleading the authority of an epistle written by Christ
+himself, and found on the altar of St. Simon at Golgotha. The people of
+Yorkshire treated the fanatic with contempt, and the miller of
+Wakefield persisted in grinding his corn after the hour of cessation,
+for which disobedience his corn was turned into blood, while the
+mill-wheel stood immovable against all the water of the Calder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CURIOUS SECRETS.
+
+    "And now I will unclasp a secret book,
+    And to your quick-conceiving discontent
+    I'll read your matter deep and dangerous."
+               1. HENRY IV., Act 1., sc. 3.
+
+
+"The Depository of the Secrets of all the World" was the inscription
+over one of the brazen portals of Fakreddin's valley, reminding us of
+what Ossian said to Oscar, when he resigned to him the command of the
+morrow's battle, "Be thine the secret hill to-night," referring to the
+Gaelic custom of the commander of an army retiring to a secret hill
+the night before a battle to hold communion with the ghosts of
+departed heroes. But, as it has been often remarked of secrets--both
+political and social--they are only too frequently made to be
+revealed, a truth illustrative of Ben Jonson's words in "The Case is
+Unaltered "--
+
+                      A secret in his mouth
+    Is like a wild bird put into a cage,
+    Whose door no sooner opens but 'tis out.
+
+In family history, some of the strangest secrets have related to
+concealment of birth, many a fraud having been devised to alter or
+perpetuate the line of issue. Early in the present century, a romantic
+story which was the subject of conversation in the circles both of
+London and Paris, related to Lady Newborough, who had always
+considered herself the daughter of Lorenzo Chiappini, formerly gaoler
+of Modigliana, and subsequently constable at Florence, and of his wife
+Vincenzia Diligenti. Possessed in her girlhood of fascinating
+appearance and charming manners, she came out as a ballet dancer at
+the principal opera at Florence, and one night she so impressed Lord
+Newborough that, by means of a golden bribe, he had her transferred
+from the stage to his residence. His conduct towards her was tender
+and affectionate, and, in spite of the disparity of years, he
+afterwards married her, introducing her to the London world as Lady
+Newborough.
+
+Some time after her marriage, according to a memoir stated to be
+written by the fair claimant of the House of Orleans, and printed in
+Paris before the Revolution of 1830 but immediately suppressed, when
+staying at Sienna she received a posthumous letter from her supposed
+father, which, from its extraordinary disclosures, threw her into
+complete bewilderment.[31] It ran as follows:
+
+  MY LADY,--I have at length reached the term of my days without
+  having revealed to anyone a secret which directly concerns me and
+  yourself. The secret is this:
+
+  On the day when you were born, of a person whom I cannot name and
+  who now is in the other world, a male child of mine was also
+  born. I was requested to make an exchange; and, considering the
+  state of my finances in those days, I accepted to the
+  often-repeated and advantageous proposals, and at that time I
+  adopted you as my daughter in the same manner as my son was
+  adopted by the other party.
+
+  I observe that heaven has repaired my faults by placing you in
+  better circumstances than your father, although his rank was
+  somewhat similar. This enables me to end my days with some
+  comfort.
+
+  Let this serve to extenuate my culpability towards you. I entreat
+  your pardon for my fault. I desire you, if you please, to keep
+  this transaction secret, in order that the world shall not have
+  any opportunity to speak of an affair which is now without
+  remedy.
+
+   This, my letter, you will not receive until after my death.
+
+          LORENZO CHIAPPINI.
+
+After receiving this letter, Lady Newborough sent for Ringrezzi, the
+confessor of the late gaoler, and Fabroni, a confessor of the late
+Countess Borghi, and was told by the former that, in his opinion, she
+was the daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold; but the latter disagreed,
+saying, "Myladi is the daughter of a French lord called Count
+Joinville, who had considerable property in Champagne; and I entertain
+no doubt that if your ladyship were to go to that province you would
+there find valuable documents, which I have been told were there left
+in the hands of a respectable ecclesiastic."
+
+It is further stated that two old sisters of the name of Bandini, who
+had been born and educated in the house of the Borghis, and been
+during all their life in the service of that family, informed Lady
+Newborough, and afterwards in the Ecclesiastical Court of Faenza, that
+in the year 1773 they followed their master and mistress to
+Modigliana, where the latter usually had their summer residence in a
+chateau belonging to them; that, arriving there, they found a French
+count, Louis Joinville, and his countess, established in the Pretorial
+Palace. They further affirmed that between the Borghis and this family
+a very intimate intercourse was soon established and that they daily
+interchanged visits.
+
+Furthermore, the foreign lord, it is said, was extremely familiar with
+persons of the lowest rank, and particularly with the gaoler,
+Chiappini, who lived under the same roof. The wives of both were
+pregnant; and it appeared that they expected their delivery much about
+the same time. But the Count was tormented with a grievous anxiety;
+his wife had as yet had no male offspring, and he much feared that
+they would never be blessed with any. Having communicated his project
+to the Borghis, he at length made an overture to the gaoler, telling
+him he apprehended the loss of a very great inheritance, which
+absolutely depended on the birth of a son, and that he was disposed,
+in case the Countess gave birth to a daughter, to exchange her for a
+boy, and that for this exchange he would liberally recompense the
+father. The man, highly pleased at finding his fortune thus
+unexpectedly made, immediately accepted the offer, and the bargain
+was concluded.
+
+Immediately after the accouchment of the ladies, one of the Bandinis
+went to the Pretorial Palace to see the new-born babies, when some
+women in the house told her that the exchange had already taken place;
+and Chappiani himself being present, confirmed their statement. But as
+there were several persons in the secret--however solemnly secrecy had
+been promised--public rumour soon accused the barterers. The Count
+Louis, fearing the people's indignation, concealed himself in the
+Convent of St. Bernard, at Brisighella.
+
+The lady, it is added, departed with her suppositious son; her own
+daughter being baptized and called Maria Stella Petronilla, and
+designated as the daughter of Lorenzo Chappiani and Vincenzia
+Diligenti.
+
+Having learnt so much, Lady Newborough being in Paris in the year
+1823, had recourse to a stratagem by which she expected to gain
+additional information. Accordingly she inserted in the newspapers,
+"that she had been desired by the Countess Pompeo Borghi to discover
+in France a Count Louis Joinville, who in the year 1773 was with his
+Countess at Modigliana, where the latter gave birth to a son on the
+16th April, and that if either of these persons were still alive, or
+the child born at Modigliana, she was empowered to communicate to them
+something of the highest importance.
+
+Subsequently to this advertisement, she was waited upon by a Colonel
+Joinville, but he derived his title only from Louis XVIII. But before
+the Colonel was out of the door, she had a call from the Abbe de
+Saint-Fare, whom she gave to understand that she was anxious to
+discover the identity of a birth connected with the sojourn with the
+late Comte de Joinville. In the course of conversation, this Abbe is
+stated to have made most injudicious admissions, from which Lady
+Newborough gathered that he was the confidential agent of the Duke of
+Orleans, being currently said to be his illegitimate brother.
+
+Lady Newborough was now convinced in her own mind that she was the
+eldest child of the late Duke of Orleans, and hence was the first
+princess of the blood of France, and the rightful heiress of immense
+wealth. But this discovery brought her no happiness, and subjected to
+her to much discomfort and misery. Her story--whether true or
+false--will in all probability remain a mystery to the end of time,
+being one of those political puzzles which must remain an open
+question.
+
+Secret intrigue, however, at one time or another, has devised the most
+subtle plans for supplanting the rightful owner out of his
+birthright--a second wife through jealously entering into some
+shameful compact to defraud her husband's child by his former wife of
+his property in favour of her own. Such a secret conspiracy is
+connected with Draycot, and, although it has been said to be one of
+the most mysterious in the whole range of English legends, yet,
+singular as the story may be, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "no small
+portion of it is upon record as a thing not to be questioned; and it
+is not necessary to believe in supernatural agency to give all parties
+credit for having faithfully narrated their impressions." The main
+facts of this strange story are briefly told: Walter Long of Draycot
+had two wives, the second being Catherine, daughter of Sir John
+Thynne, of Longleat. On their arrival at Draycot after the honeymoon,
+there were great rejoicings into which all entered save the heir of
+the houses of Draycot and Wraxhall, who was silent and sad. Once
+arrived in her new home, the mistress of Draycot lost no time in
+studying the character of her step-son, for she had an object in view
+which made it necessary that she should completely understand his
+character. Her design was, in short, that the young master of Draycot,
+"the heir of all his father's property--the obstruction in the way of
+whatever children there might be by the second marriage--must be
+ruined, or at any rate so disgraced as to provoke his father to
+disinherit him." Taking into her confidence her brother, Sir Egremont
+Thynne, of Longleat, with his help she soon discovered that the
+youthful heir of Draycot was fond of wine and dice, and that he had on
+more than one occasion met with his father's displeasure for
+indulgence in such acts of dissipation. Having learnt, too, that the
+young man was kept on short supplies by his parsimonious father, and
+had often complained that he was not allowed sufficient pocket-money
+for the bare expenses of his daily life; the crafty step-mother seized
+this opportunity for carrying out her treacherous and dishonourable
+conduct. Commiserating with the inexperienced youth in his want of
+money, and making him feel more than ever dissatisfied at his father's
+meanness to him, she quickly enlisted him on her side, especially when
+she gave him liberal supplies of money, and recommended him to enjoy
+his life whilst it was in his power to do so.
+
+With a full rather than an empty purse, the young squire was soon seen
+with a cheerful party over the wine bottle, and, at another time, with
+a gambling group gathered round the dice box. But this kind of thing
+suited admirably his step-mother, for she took good care that such
+excesses were brought under the notice of the lad's father, and
+magnified into heinous crimes. From time to time this unprincipled
+woman kept supplying the unsuspecting youth with money, and did all in
+her power to encourage him in his tastes for reckless living. Fresh
+stories of his son's dissipated conduct were continually being told to
+the master of Draycot, until at last, "influenced by the wiles of his
+charming wife, on the other by deeper wiles of his brother-in-law, he
+agreed to make out a will disinheriting his son by his first wife, and
+settling all his possessions on his second wife and her relations."
+
+Hitherto, the secret entered into by brother and sister had been a
+perfect success, for not only was the son completely alienated from
+his father, but the latter deemed it a sin to make any provision for
+one who was given to drink and gambling. A draft will was drawn up by
+Sir Egremont Thynne, and when approved of was ordered to be copied by
+a clerk. But here comes the remarkable part of the tale. The work of
+engrossing demands a clear, bright light, and the slightest shadow
+intervening between the light and the parchment would be sure to
+interrupt operations. Such an interruption the clerk was suddenly?
+subjected to, when, "on looking up he beheld a white hand--a lady's
+delicate white hand--so placed between the light and the deed as to
+obscure the spot on which he was engaged. The unaccountable hand,
+however, was gone almost as soon as noticed." The clerk concluding
+that this was some optical delusion, proceeded with his work, and had
+come to the clause wherein the Master of Draycot disinherited his son,
+when again the same ghostly hand was thrust between the light and the
+parchment.
+
+Terrified at this unearthly intervention, the clerk awoke Sir Egremont
+from his midnight slumbers, and told him what had occurred, adding
+that the spectre hand was no other than that of the first wife of the
+master of Draycot, who resented the cruel wrong done to her son. In
+due time the deed was engrossed by another clerk, and duly signed and
+sealed.
+
+But the "white hand" had not appeared in vain, for the clerk's curious
+adventure afterwards became the topic of general conversation, and the
+injustice done to the disinherited heir of Draycot excited so much
+sympathetic indignation that "the trustees of the late Lady Long
+arrested the old knight's corpse at the church door, her nearest
+relations commenced a suit against the intended heir, and the result
+was a compromise between the parties, John Long taking possession of
+Wroxhall, while his other half-brother was allowed to retain Draycot,"
+a settlement that, it is said, explains the division of the two
+estates, which we find at the present day. The secret between the
+brother and sister was well kept, and whatever explanation may be
+given to the "white hand," the story is as singular as any in the
+annals of domestic history.
+
+It was the betrayal of a secret, on the other hand, on the part of a
+woman that is traditionally said to have caused the sudden and tragic
+death of Richard, second Earl of Scarborough. This nobleman, it seems,
+was in the confidence of the King, and had been entrusted by him with
+the keeping of a most important secret. But, like most favourites, the
+Earl was surrounded by enemies who were ever on the alert to compass
+his ruin, and, amidst other devices, they laid their plans to prevail
+on the unsuspecting Earl to betray the confidence which the King had
+implicitly reposed on him. Finding it, however, impossible by this
+means to make him guilty of a breach of trust towards the King, they
+had recourse to another scheme which proved successful, and thereby
+irrevocably compromised him in the King's eyes.
+
+Having discovered that the Earl was in love with a certain lady and
+was in the habit of frequently visiting her, some of his enemies
+discovered where she lived, and, calling on her, promised an exceeding
+rich reward if she could draw the royal secret from her lover, and
+communicate it to them. Easily bought over by the offer of so rich a
+bribe, the treacherous woman, like Delilah of old, soon prevailed upon
+the Earl to give her the desired information, and the secret was
+revealed. As soon as the Earl's enemies were apprised of the same,
+they lost no time in hurrying to the king, and submitting to him the
+proofs of his protege's imprudence. They gained their end, for the
+next time the Earl came into the royal presence, the King said to him
+in a sad but firm voice, "Lumley, you have lost a friend, and I a good
+servant." This was a bitter shock to the Earl, for he learnt now for
+the first time that she in whom he had reposed his love and faith had
+been his worst enemy, and that, as far as his relations to the King
+were concerned, he was disgraced as a man of honour in his estimation.
+With his proud and haughty spirit, unable to bear the misery and
+chagrin of his fall and ruin, he had recourse to the suicide's escape
+from trouble--he shot himself.
+
+But another secret, no less tragic and of a far more sensational
+nature, related to a certain Mr. Macfarlane. One Sunday, in the autumn
+of the year 1719, Sir John Swinton, of Swinton, in Berwickshire, left
+his little daughter Margaret, who had been indisposed through a
+childish ailment, at home when he went with the rest of his family to
+church, taking care to lock the outer door. After the lapse of an hour
+or so, the child had become dull through being alone, and she made her
+way into the parlour below stairs, where, on her arrival, she hastily
+bolted the door to keep out any ghost or bogie, stories relating to
+which had oftentimes excited her fears. But great was her terror when,
+on looking round, she was confronted by a tall lady, gracefully
+attired, and possessed of remarkable handsome features. The poor child
+stood motionless with terror, afraid to go forwards or backwards. Her
+throbbing heart, however, quickly recovered from its fright, as the
+mysterious lady, with a kind eye and sweet smile, addressed her by
+name, and taking her hand, spoke:
+
+"Margaret, you may tell your mother what you have seen, but, for your
+life, to no one else. If you do, much evil may come of it, some of
+which will fall on yourself. You are young, but you must promise to
+be silent as the grave itself in this matter."
+
+Full of childish wonderment, Margaret, half in shyness and half in
+fear at being an agent in so strange a secret, turned her head towards
+the window, but on turning round found the lady had disappeared,
+although the door remained bolted. Her curiosity was now more than
+before aroused, and she concluded that after all this lady must be one
+of those fairies she had often read of in books; and it was whilst
+pondering on what she had seen that the family returned from church.
+
+Surprised at finding Margaret bolted in this parlour, Sir John learnt
+that "she had been frightened, she knew not why, at the solitude of
+her own room, and had bolted herself in the parlour." Although she was
+soon laughed out of her childish fears, Lady Swinton was quick enough
+to perceive that Margaret had not communicated everything, and
+insisted upon knowing the whole truth. The child made no objection, as
+she had not been told to keep the secret from her mother. After
+describing all that happened, Lady Swinton kissed her daughter
+tenderly and said, "Since you have kept the secret so well, you shall
+know something more of this strange lady."
+
+Thereupon Lady Swinton pushed aside one of the oaken panels in the
+parlour, which revealed a small room beyond, where sat the mysterious
+lady. "And now, Margaret dear," said her mother, "listen to me. This
+lady is persecuted by cruel men, who, if they find her, will certainly
+take her life. She is my guest, she is now yours, and I am sure I need
+not tell you the meanest peasant in all Scotland would shame to betray
+his guest."
+
+Margaret promised to keep the secret, never evincing the slightest
+curiosity to know who the lady was, and it is said she had reached her
+twentieth year when one day the adventure of her childhood was
+explained. It seems that the lady in question was a Mrs. Macfarlane,
+daughter of Colonel Charles Straiton, a zealous Jacobite. When about
+nineteen years old she married John Macfarlane--law agent of Simon
+Fraser, Lord Lovat--who was many years her senior. Soon after her
+marriage Mrs. Macfarlane made the acquaintance of Captain John Cayley,
+a commissioner of Customs, and on September 29th, 1716, he called on
+her at Edinburgh, when, for reasons only known to herself or him, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.
+
+According to Sir Bernard Burke, it was when she would not yield to
+Captain Cayley's immoral overtures that the latter vowed to blacken
+her character, a threat which he so successfully carried out "that not
+one of her female acquaintances upon whom she called would admit her;
+not one of all she met in the street would acknowledge her." Desperate
+at this villainy on his part, Mrs. Macfarlane, under pretence of
+agreeing to Captain Cayley's overtures, sent for him, when fully
+confident that he was about to reap the fruit of his infamous daring
+he obeyed her summons. But no sooner had he entered the room than she
+locked the door, and, snatching up a brace of pistols, she exclaimed:
+"Wretch, you have blasted the reputation of a woman who never did you
+the slightest wrong. You have fixed an indelible stain upon the child
+at her bosom; and all this because, coward as you are, you thought
+there was no one to take her part." At the same time, it is said, she
+fired two shots at him with a pistol, one of which pierced his heart.
+Her husband asserted, however, that she fired to save herself from
+outrage, an explanation which she affirmed was "only too true." Her
+husband also declared that his wife was desirous of sending for a
+magistrate and of telling him the whole story, but that he advised her
+against it. But not appearing to stand her trial in the ensuing
+February, she was outlawed, and obtained refuge in the mansion house
+of the Swinton family in the concealed apartment already
+described.[32] According to Sir Walter Scott, she "returned and lived
+and died in Edinbugh"; but her life must have been comparatively
+short, as her husband married again on October 6th, 1719.
+
+Akin to this dramatic episode may be mentioned one concerning Robert
+Perceval, the second son of the Right Hon. Sir John Perceval, when
+reading for the law in his chambers in Lincoln's Inn. The clock had
+just struck the hour of midnight, when, on looking up from his book,
+he was astonished to see a figure standing between himself and the
+door, completely muffled up in a long cloak so as to defy recognition.
+
+"Who are you?" But the figure made no answer.
+
+"What do you want?" No reply.
+
+The figure stood motionless. Thinking it made a low hollow laugh, the
+young student struck at the intruder with his sword, but the weapon
+met with no resistance, and not a single drop of blood stained it.
+
+This was amazing, and still no answer. Determined to solve the mystery
+of this strange being, he cast aside its cloak, when lo! "he saw his
+own apparition, bloody and ghostly, whereat he was so astonished that
+he immediately swooned away, but, recovering, he saw the spectre
+depart."
+
+At first this occurrence left the most unpleasant impressions on his
+mind, but as days passed by without anything happening, the warning,
+or whatever it was, faded gradually from his memory, and he lived as
+before, drinking and quarrelling, managing to embroil himself at play
+with the celebrated Beau Fielding. The day at last came, however,
+when his equanimity was disturbed, for, as he was walking from his
+chambers in Lincoln's Inn to a favourite tavern in the Strand, he
+imagined that he was followed by an ungainly looking man. He tried to
+avoid him, but the man followed on, and after a time, fully convinced
+that he was dogged by this man, he demanded "Who he was, and why he
+followed him?"
+
+[Illustration: THE FIGURE STOOD MOTIONLESS.]
+
+But the man replied, "I am not following you; I'm following my own
+business."
+
+By no means satisfied, young Perceval crossed over to the opposite
+side of the street, but the man followed him step by step, and before
+many minutes had elapsed he was joined by another man as
+ungainly-looking as himself. Perceval, no longer doubting that he was
+followed, called upon the two men to retire at their peril, and
+although he succeeded in making them take to their heels after a sharp
+sword skirmish, he was himself wounded in the leg, and made his way to
+the nearest tavern. This unpleasant encounter, reviving the memory of
+the ghastly figure he had seen in his chambers, made him feel that he
+was a doomed man, and he was not far wrong, for that night near the
+so-called May-pole in the Strand he was found dead--but how he died
+was a secret never divulged.
+
+Another equally strange incident connected with this mysterious crime
+happened to a Mrs. Brown, "perhaps from her holding some situation in
+the family of his uncle, Sir Robert." On this fatal night, writes Sir
+Bernard Burke, she dreamt that one Mrs. Shearman--the housekeeper--came
+to her and asked for a sheet.
+
+She demanded, "for what purpose," to which Mrs. Shearman replied,
+"Poor Master Robert is killed, and it is to wind him in."
+
+Curious to say, in the morning Mrs. Shearman came at an early hour
+into her room, and asked for a sheet. For what purpose? inquired Mrs
+Brown.
+
+"Poor Mr. Robert is murdered," was the reply; "he lies dead in the
+Strand watch-house, and it is to wind his body in."
+
+In the year 1848, the Warwick magistrates investigated a most
+extraordinary and preposterous charge of murder against Lord Leigh,
+his deceased mother, and persons employed by them, in the course of
+which inquiry one of the accusers professed to have been in possession
+of a secret connected with the matter for a number of years. The
+accusation seems to have originated from the attempt of certain
+parties to seize Stoneleigh Abbey on pretence that it rightfully
+belonged to them, and not to Lord Leigh. In November, 1844, a mob took
+possession of the place for one George Leigh; several of the
+ringleaders were tried for the offence, and not fewer than
+twenty-eight were convicted. The account of this curious conspiracy,
+as given in the "Annual Register," goes on to say that Richard Barnett
+made the charge of murder: in 1814 he was employed under Lady Julia
+Leigh and her son at the Abbey, where a number of workmen were engaged
+in making alterations; four of these men were murdered by large stones
+having been allowed to fall on them, and their bodies were placed
+within an abutment of a bridge, and then inclosed with masonry.
+Another man was shot by Hay, a keeper. In cross-examination, the
+witness said he "had kept silence on these atrocities for thirty
+years, because he feared Lord Leigh, and because he did not expect to
+obtain anything by speaking. He first divulged the secret to those who
+were trying to seize the estate; as this information he thought would
+help them to get it, for the murders were committed to keep out the
+proper owners."
+
+In the course of the inquiry, John Wilcox was required to repeat
+evidence which he had given before a Master of Chancery; but, instead
+of doing so, the man confessed that he was not sober when he made the
+declaration. He further declared how some servants of the Leigh family
+had burned pictures, and had been paid to keep "the secrets of the
+house." The whole story, however, was a deliberate and wilful
+fabrication, the facts were contradicted and circumstantially refuted,
+and of course so worthless a charge was dismissed by the Bench.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] See "Annual Register" (1832), 152-5.
+
+[32] This incident suggested to Sir Walter Scott his description of the
+concealment and discovery of the Countess of Derby in "Peveril of the
+Peak." See "Dictionary of National Biography," xxxv., 74.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE DEAD HAND.
+
+    Open, lock,
+    To the dead man's knock!
+    Fly, bolt, and bar, and band;
+      Nor move, nor swerve,
+      Joint, muscle, or nerve,
+    At the spell of the dead man's hand.
+               INGOLDSBY LEGENDS.
+
+
+One of the most curious and widespread instances of deception and
+credulity is the magic potency which has long been supposed to reside
+in the so-called "Hand of Glory"--the withered hand of a dead man.
+Numerous stories are told of its marvellous properties as a charm, and
+on the Continent many a wonderful cure is said to have been wrought by
+its agency. Southey, it may be remembered, in his "Thalaba, the
+Destroyer," has placed it in the hands of the enchanter, King Mohareb,
+when he would lull to sleep Zohak, the giant keeper of the Caves of
+Babylon. And the history of this wonder-working talisman, as used by
+Mohareb, is thus graphically told:
+
+                            Thus he said,
+    And from his wallet drew a human hand,
+    Shrivelled and dry and black.
+    And fitting, as he spake,
+    A taper in his hold,
+    Pursued: "A murderer on the stake had died.
+    I drove the vulture from his limbs and lopt
+    The hand that did the murder, and drew up
+    The tendon strings to close its grasp,
+    And in the sun and wind
+    Parched it, nine weeks exposed."
+
+From the many accounts given of this "Dead Hand," we gather that it
+has generally been considered necessary that the hand should be taken
+from a man who has been put to death for some crime. Then, when dried
+and prepared with certain weird unguents, it is ready for use. Sir
+Walter Scott, in the "Antiquary" has introduced this object of
+superstition, making the German adventurer, Dousterswivel, describe it
+to the assembled party among the ruins at St. Ruth's thus jocosely:
+"De Hand of Glory is very well known in de countries where your worthy
+progenitors did live; and it is a hand cut off from a dead man as he
+has been hanged for murder, and dried very nice in de smoke of juniper
+wood; then you do take something of de fatsh of de bear, and of de
+badger, and of de great eber (as you do call ye grand boar), and of de
+little sucking child as has not been christened (for dat is very
+essential), and you do make a candle, and put into de Hand of Glory at
+de proper hour and minute, with the proper ceremonials; and he who
+seeketh for treasures shall never find none at all."
+
+Possessed of these mystic qualities, such a hand could not fail to
+find favour with those engaged in any kind of evil and enterprise;
+and, on account of its lulling to sleep all persons within the circle
+of its influence, was of course held invaluable by thieves and
+burglars. Thus the case is recorded of some thieves, who, a few years
+ago, attempted to commit a robbery on a certain estate in the county
+Meath. To quote a contemporary account of the affair, it appears that
+"they entered the house armed with a dead man's hand, with a lighted
+candle in it, believing in the superstitious notion that a candle
+placed in a dead man's hand will not be seen by any but by those by
+whom it is used, and also that if a candle in a dead hand be
+introduced into a house, it will prevent those who may be asleep from
+awaking. The inmates, however, were alarmed, and the robbers fled,
+leaving the hand behind them." Another story communicated by the Rev.
+S. Baring-Gould, tells how two thieves, having come to lodge in a
+public-house, with a view to robbing it, asked permission to pass the
+night by the fire, and obtained it. But when the house was quiet the
+servant girl, suspecting mischief, crept downstairs, and looked
+through the keyhole. She saw the men open a sack, and take out a dry
+withered hand. They anointed the fingers with some unguents, and
+lighted them. Each finger flamed, but the thumb they could not
+light--that was because one of the household was not asleep.
+
+The girl hastened to her master, but found it impossible to arouse
+him--she tried every other sleeper, but could not break the charmed
+sleep. At last stealing down into the kitchen, while the thieves were
+busy over her master's strong-box, she secured the hand, blew out the
+flames, and at once the whole house was aroused.
+
+Among other qualities which have been supposed to belong to a dead
+man's hand, are its medicinal virtues, in connection with which may be
+mentioned the famous "dead hand," which was, in years past, kept at
+Bryn Hall, Lancashire. There are several stories relating to this
+gruesome relic, one being that it was the hand of Father Arrowsmith, a
+priest, who, according to some accounts, is said to have been put to
+death for his religion in the time of William III. It is recorded that
+when about to suffer he desired his spiritual attendant to cut off his
+right hand, which should ever after have power to work miraculous
+cures on those who had faith to believe in its efficacy. This relic,
+which forms the subject of one of Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire,"
+was preserved with great care in a white silk bag, and was resorted to
+by many diseased persons, who are reported to have derived wonderful
+cures from its application. Thus the case is related of a woman who,
+attacked with the smallpox, had this dead hand in bed with her every
+night for six weeks, and of a poor lad living near Manchester who was
+touched with it for the cure of scrofulous sores.
+
+It has been denied, however, that Father Arrowsmith was hanged for
+"witnessing a good confession," and Mr. Roby, in his "Traditions of
+Lancashire," says that, having been found guilty of a rape, in all
+probability this story of his martyrdom, and of the miraculous
+attestation to the truth of the cause for which he suffered, were
+contrived for the purpose of preventing the scandal that would have
+come upon the Church through the delinquency of an unworthy member. It
+is further said that one of the family of the Kenyons attended as
+under-sheriff at the execution, and that he refused the culprit some
+trifling favour at the gallows, whereupon Arrowsmith denounced a curse
+upon him, to wit, that, whilst the family could boast of an heir, so
+long they never should want a cripple--a prediction which was supposed
+by the credulous to have been literally fulfilled. But this story is
+discredited, the real facts of the case, no doubt, being that he was
+hanged "under sanction of an atrocious law, for no other reason but
+because he had taken orders as a Roman Catholic priest, and had
+endeavoured to prevail upon others to be of his own faith." According
+to another version of the story, Edmund Arrowsmith was a native of
+Haydock, in the parish of Winwick. He entered the Roman Catholic
+College of Douay, where he was educated, afterwards being ordained
+priest. But in the year 1628 he was apprehended and brought to
+Lancaster on the charge of being a priest contrary to the laws of the
+realm, and was executed on 26th August, 1628, his last words being
+"Bone Jesu."[33] As recently as the year 1736, a boy of twelve years,
+the son of Caryl Hawarden, of Appleton-within-Widnes, county of
+Lancaster, is stated to have been cured of what appeared to be a fatal
+malady by the application of Father Arrowsmith's hand, which was
+effected in the following manner: The boy had been ill fifteen months,
+and was at length deprived of the use of his limbs, with loss of his
+memory and impaired sight. In this condition, which the physicians had
+declared hopeless, it was suggested to his parents that, as wonderful
+cures had been effected by the hand of "the martyred saint," it was
+advisable to try its effects upon their afflicted child. The "holy
+hand" was accordingly procured from Bryn, packed in a box and wrapped
+in linen. Mrs. Hawarden, having explained to the invalid boy her hopes
+and intentions, applied the back part of the dead hand to his back,
+stroking it down each side the backbone and making the sign of the
+Cross, which she accompanied with a fervent prayer that Jesus Christ
+would aid it with His blessing. Having twice repeated this operation,
+the patient, who had before been utterly helpless, rose from his seat
+and walked about the house, to the surprise of seven persons who had
+witnessed the miracle. From that day the boy's pains left him, his
+memory was restored, and his health became re-established. This mystic
+hand, it seems, was removed from Bryn Hall to Garswood, a seat of the
+Gerard family, and subsequently to the priest's house at
+Ashton-in-Makerfield. But many ludicrous tales are current in the
+neighbourhood, of pilgrims having been rather roughly handled by some
+of the servants, such as getting a good beating with a wooden hand, so
+that the patients rapidly retraced their steps without having had the
+application of the "holy hand."
+
+It is curious to find that such a ghastly relic as a dead hand should
+have been preserved in many a country house, and used as a talisman,
+to which we find an amusing and laughable reference in the "Ingoldsby
+Legends":
+
+                       Open, lock,
+    To the dead man's knock!
+    Fly bolt, and bar, and band;
+        Nor move, nor swerve,
+        Joint, muscle, or nerve,
+    At the spell of the dead man's hand.
+    Sleep, all who sleep! Wake, all who wake!
+    But be as dead for the dead man's sake.
+
+The story goes on to tell how, influenced by the mysterious spell of
+the enchanted hand, neither lock, bolt, nor bar avails, neither
+"stout oak panel, thick studded with nails"; but, heavy and harsh, the
+hinges creak, though they had been oiled in the course of the week,
+and
+
+    The door opens wide as wide may be,
+        And there they stand,
+        That wondrous band,
+        Lit by the light of the glorious hand,
+    By one! by two! by three!
+
+At Danesfield, Berkshire--so-called from an ancient horseshoe
+entrenchment of great extent near the house, supposed to be of Danish
+origin--is preserved a withered hand, which has long had the
+reputation of being that presented by Henry I. to Reading Abbey, and
+reverenced there as the hand of James the Apostle. It answers exactly
+to "the incorrupt hand" described by Hoveden, and was found among the
+ruins of the abbey, where it is thought to have been secreted at the
+dissolution.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[33] Baines's "Lancashire," iii., 638; Harland and Wilkinson's
+"Lancashire Folklore," 158-163.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+DEVIL COMPACTS.
+
+ MEPHISTOPHELES.--I will bind myself to your service here,
+ and never sleep nor slumber at your call. When we meet
+ on the other side, you shall do as much for me.
+               GOETHE'S "_Faust_."
+
+
+The well-known story of Faust reminds us of the many similar weird
+tales which have long held a prominent place in family traditions. But
+in the majority of cases the devil is cheated out of his bargain by
+some spell against which his influence is powerless. According to the
+popular notion, compacts are frequently made with the devil, by which
+he is bound to complete, for instance, a building--as a house, a
+church, a bridge, or the like--within a certain period; but, through
+some artifice, by which the soul of the person for whom he is doing
+the work is saved, the completion of the undertaking is prevented:
+Thus the cock is made to crow, because, like all spirits that shun the
+light of the sun, the devil loses his power at break of day. The idea
+of bartering the soul for temporary gain has not been confined to any
+country, but as an article of terrible superstition has been
+widespread. Mr Lecky has pointed out how, in the fourteenth century,
+"the bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently represent men kneeling down
+before the devil, and devoting themselves to him as his servants." In
+our own country, such compacts were generally made at midnight in some
+lonely churchyard, or amid the ruins of some castle. But fortunately
+for mankind, by resorting to spells and counterspells the binding
+effects of these "devil-bonds" as they have been termed were, in most
+cases, rendered ineffectual, the devil thereby losing the advantage.
+
+It is noteworthy that the wisdom of the serpent is frequently
+outwitted by a crafty woman, or a cunning priest. A well-known
+Lancashire tradition gives a humorous account of how the devil was on
+one occasion deluded by the shrewdness of a clever woman. Barely three
+miles from Clitheroe, on the high road to Gisburne, stood a public
+house with this title, "The Dule upo' Dun," which means "The Devil
+upon Dun" (horse). The story runs that a poor tailor sold himself to
+Satan for seven years on his granting him certain wishes, after which
+term, according to the contract, signed, as is customary, with the
+victim's own blood, his soul was to become "the devil's own." When the
+fatal day arrived, on the advice of his wife, he consulted "the holy
+father of Salley" in his extremity. At last the hour came when the
+Evil One claimed his victim, who tremblingly contended that the
+contract was won from him by fraud and dishonest pretences, and had
+not been fulfilled. He even ventured to hint at his lack of power to
+bestow riches, or any great gift, on which Satan was goaded into
+granting him another wish. "Then," said the trembling tailor, "I wish
+thou wert riding back again to thy quarters on yonder dun horse, and
+never able to plague me again, or any other poor wretch whom thou has
+gotten into thy clutches!"
+
+The words were no sooner uttered than the devil, with a roar which was
+heard as far as Colne, went away rivetted to the back of this dun
+horse, the tailor watching his departure almost beside himself for
+joy. He lived for many years in health and affluence, and, at his
+death, one of his relatives having bought the house where he resided,
+turned it into an inn, having for his sign, "The Dule upo' Dun." On it
+was depicted "Old Hornie" mounted on a scraggy dun horse, without
+saddle or bridle, "the terrified steed being off and away at full
+gallop from the door, while a small hilarious tailor with shears and
+measures," viewed his departure with anything but grief or
+disapprobation.[34] The authors of "Lancashire Legends," describing
+this old house, inform us that it was "one of those ancient gabled
+black and white edifices, now fast disappearing under the march of
+improvement. Many windows of little lozenge-shaped panes set in lead,
+might be seen here in all the various stages of renovation and decay.
+Over the door, till lately, swung the old and quaint sign, attesting
+the truth of the tradition."
+
+Occasionally similar bargains have been rendered ineffectual by
+cunning device. In the north wall of the church of Tremeirchion, North
+Wales, has long been shown the tomb of a former vicar, who was also
+celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing in the middle of the
+fourteenth century. It is reported that he proved himself more clever
+than the Wicked One himself. A bargain was made between them that the
+vicar should practise the black art with impunity during his life, but
+that the devil should possess his body after death, whether he were
+buried within or without the church. But the worthy vicar dexterously
+cheated his ally of his bargain by being buried within the church wall
+itself. A similar tradition is told of other localities, and amongst
+them of Barn Hall, in the parish of Tolleshunt Knights, on the border
+of the Essex marshes. In the middle of a field is shown an enclosed
+uncultivated spot, where, the legend says, it was originally intended
+to erect the hall, had not the devil come by night and destroyed the
+work of the day. This kind of thing went on for some time, when it was
+arranged that a knight, attended by two dogs, should watch for the
+author of this mischief. He had not long to wait, for, in the quiet of
+the night, the Prince of Darkness made his appearance, bent on his
+mischievous errand. A tussle ensued, in the course of which,
+snatching up a beam from the building, he hurled it to the site of the
+present hall, exclaiming:
+
+    "Wheresoe'er this beam shall fall,
+    There shall stand Barn Hall."
+
+But the devil, very angry at being thus foiled by the knight, vowed
+that he would have him at his death, whether he was buried in the
+church or out of it. "But this doom was averted by burying him in the
+wall--half in and half out of the church. At Brent Pelham Church,
+Herts, too, there is the tomb of one Piers Shonkes, and there is a
+tale current in the neighbourhood that the devil swore he would have
+him, no matter whether buried within or without the church. So, as a
+means of escape, he was built up in the wall of the sacred edifice."
+
+Another extraordinary story has long been told of Hermitage Castle,
+one of the most famous of the Border Keeps in the days of its
+splendour. It is not surprising, therefore, that for many years past
+it has had the reputation of being haunted, having been described
+as:--
+
+                              "Haunted Hermitage,
+    Where long by spells mysterious bound,
+        They pace their round with lifeless smile,
+        And shake with restless foot the guilty pile,
+    Till sink the smouldering towers beneath the burdened ground."
+
+It is popularly said that Lord Soulis, "the evil hero of Hermitage,"
+in an unguarded moment made a compact with the devil, who appeared to
+him in the shape of a spirit wearing a red cap, which gained its hue
+from the blood of human victims in which it was steeped. Lord Soulis
+sold himself to the demon, and in return he was permitted to summon
+his familiar, whenever he was desirous of doing so, by rapping thrice
+on an iron chest, the condition being that he never looked in the
+direction of the spirit. But one day, whether wittingly or not has
+never been ascertained, he failed to comply with this stipulation, and
+his doom was sealed. But even then the foul fiend kept the letter of
+the compact. Lord Soulis was protected by an unholy charm against any
+injury from rope or steel; hence cords could not bind him, and steel
+could not slay him. But when at last he was delivered over to his
+enemies, it was found necessary to adopt the ingenious and effective
+expedient of rolling him up in a sheet of lead, and boiling him to
+death, and so:
+
+    On a circle of stones they placed the pot,
+      On a circle of stones but barely nine;
+    They heated it red and fiery hot
+      And the burnished brass did glimmer and shine.
+    They rolled him up in a sheet of lead--
+      A sheet of lead for a funeral pall;
+    They plunged him into the cauldron red
+      And melted him, body, lead, bones and all.
+
+This was the terrible end of the body of Lord Soulis, but his spirit
+is supposed to still linger on the scene. And once every seven years
+he keeps tryst with Red Cap on the scene of his former devilries.
+
+    And still when seven years are o'er
+     Is heard the jarring sound
+    When hollow opes the charmed door
+     Of chamber underground.
+
+A tradition well-known in Yorkshire relates how on the Eagle's Crag,
+otherwise nicknamed the "Witches' Horseblock," the Lady of Bernshaw
+Tower made that strange compact with the devil, whereby she not only
+became mistress of the country around, but the dreaded queen of the
+Lancashire witches. It seems that this Lady Sybil was possessed of
+almost unrivalled beauty, and scarcely a day passed without some fresh
+admirer seeking her hand--an additional attraction being her great
+wealth. Her intellectual attainments, too, were commonly said to be
+far beyond those of her sex, and oftentimes she would visit the
+Eagle's Crag in order to study nature and admire the varied aspects of
+the surrounding country.
+
+[Illustration: LADY SYBIL AT THE EAGLES' CRAG.]
+
+It was on these occasions that Lady Sybil often felt a strong desire
+to possess supernatural powers; and, in an unwary moment, it is said
+that she was induced to sell her soul to the devil, in order that she
+might be able to take a part in the nightly revelries of the then
+famous Lancashire witches. It is added that the bond was duly attested
+with her blood, and that in consequence of this compact her utmost
+wishes were at all times granted. Hapton Tower was, at this time,
+occupied by a junior branch of the Towneley family, and, although Lord
+William had long been a suitor for the hand of Lady Sybil, his
+proposals were constantly rejected. In his despair, he determined to
+consult a famous Lancashire witch--one Mother Helston--who promised
+him success on the ensuing All Hallows' Eve. When the day arrived, in
+accordance with her directions, he went out hunting, and on nearing
+Eagle's Crag he started a milk-white doe, but, after scouring the
+country for miles--the hounds being well-nigh exhausted--he returned
+to the Crag. At this crisis, a strange hound joined them--the familiar
+of Mother Helston, which had been sent to capture Lady Sibyl, who had
+assumed the disguise of the white doe. The remainder of the curious
+family legend, as told by Mr. Harland, is briefly this: During the
+night, Hapton Tower was shaken as by an earthquake, and in the morning
+the captured doe appeared as the fair heiress of Bernshaw. Counter
+spells were adopted, her powers of witchcraft were suspended, and
+before many days had passed Lord William had the happiness to lead his
+newly-wedded bride to his ancestral home. But within a year she had
+renewed her diabolical practices, causing a serious breach between her
+husband and herself. Happily a reconciliation was eventually effected,
+but her bodily strength gave way, and her health rapidly declined.
+When it became evident that the hour of her death was drawing near,
+Lord William obtained the services of the neighbouring clergy, and by
+their holy offices the devil's bond was cancelled. Soon afterwards,
+Lady Sybil died in peace, but Bernshaw Tower was from that time
+deserted. Popular tradition, however, still alleges that her grave was
+dug where the dark Eagle's Crag shoots out its cold, bare peak into
+the sky, and on the eve of All Hallows, the hound and the milk-white
+doe are supposed by the peasantry to meet on the Crag, pursued by a
+spectre huntsman in full chase. It is further added that the belated
+peasant crosses himself at the sound, remembering the sad fate of Lady
+Sybil of Bernshaw Tower.
+
+It is curious to find no less a person than Sir Francis Drake charged
+with having been befriended by the devil; and the many marvellous
+stories current respecting him still linger among the Devonshire
+peasantry. By the aid of the devil, it is said, he was enabled to
+destroy the Spanish Armada. And his connection with the old Abbey of
+Buckland is equally singular. An extensive building attached to the
+abbey, for instance, which was no doubt used as barns and stables
+after the place had been deprived of its religious character, was
+reported to have been built by the devil in three nights. "After the
+first night," writes Mr. Hunt,[35] "the butler, astonished at the work
+done, resolved to watch and see how it was performed. Consequently,
+on the second night, he mounted into a large tree and hid himself
+between the forks of its five branches. At midnight, so the story
+goes, the devil came, driving teams of oxen, and, as some of them were
+lazy, he plucked this tree from the ground and used it as a goad. The
+poor butler lost his senses and never recovered them." Although, as it
+has been truly remarked, "on the waters that wash the shores of the
+county of Devon were achieved many of those triumphs which make Sir
+Francis Drake's life read more like a romance than a sober chronicle
+of facts;" the extraordinary traditions told respecting him have
+largely invested his life with the supernatural. But, whatever may
+have been the nature of his dealings with the devil, we are told that
+he has had to pay dearly for any earthly advantages he may have
+derived therefrom in his lifetime, "being forced to drive at night a
+black hearse, drawn by headless horses, and urged on by running devils
+and yelping headless dogs, along the road from Tavistock to Plymouth."
+
+Among the many tales related, in which the demoniacal element holds a
+prominent place, there is one relating to the projected marriage of
+his wife. It seems that Sir Francis was abroad, and his wife, not
+hearing from him for seven years, concluded he must be dead, and hence
+was at liberty to enter for a second time the holy estate of
+matrimony. Her choice was made and the nuptial day fixed; but Sir
+Francis Drake was informed of all this by a spirit that attended him.
+And just as the wedding was about to be solemnised, he hastily charged
+one of his big guns and discharged a ball. So true was the aim that
+"the ball shot up right through the globe, dashed through the roof of
+the church, and fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her
+intended bridegroom." The spectators and assembled guests were thrown
+into the wildest confusion; but the bride declared it was an
+indication that Sir Francis Drake was still alive, and, as she refused
+to allow another golden circlet to be placed on her finger, the
+intended ceremony was, in the most abrupt and unexpected manner,
+ended. The prettiest part of the tale remains to be told. Not long
+afterwards Sir Francis Drake returned, and, disguised as a beggar, he
+solicited alms from his wife at her own door; when, unable to prevent
+smiling in the midst of a feigned tale of abject poverty, she
+recognised him, and a very joyful meeting took place.
+
+And even Buckland Abbey did not escape certain strange influences.
+Some years ago, a small box was found in a closet which had been long
+closed, containing, it is supposed, family papers. It was arranged
+that this box should be sent to the residence of the inheritor of the
+property. The carriage was at the abbey door, into which it was easily
+lifted. The owner having taken his seat, the coachman attempted to
+start his horses, but in vain. They would not, they could not, move.
+More horses were brought and then the heavy farm horses, and
+eventually all the oxen. They were powerless to start the carriage. At
+length a mysterious voice was heard declaring that the box could never
+be moved from Buckland Abbey. Accordingly it was taken from the
+carriage easily by one man, and a pair of horses galloped off with the
+carriage.
+
+The famous Jewish banker, Samuel Bernard, who died in the year 1789,
+leaving an enormous property, had, it is said, "a favourite black cock
+which was regarded by many as uncanny, and as unpleasantly connected
+with the amassing of his fortune." The bird died a day or two before
+his master. It would seem that in bygone years black cocks were
+extensively used in magical incantations and in sacrifices to the
+devil, and Burns, it may be remembered, in his "Address to the Deil"
+says, "Some cock or cat your rage must stop;" and a well-known French
+recipe for invoking the Evil One runs thus: "Take a black cock under
+your left arm, and go at midnight to where four cross roads meet. Then
+cry three times 'Poul Noir!' or else utter 'Robert' nine times, and
+the devil will appear."
+
+Among the romantic stories told of Kersal Hall, Lancashire, it is
+related how Eustace Dauntesey, one of its chiefs in days of old, wooed
+a maiden fair with a handsome fortune; but she gave her heart to a
+rival suitor. The wedding day was fixed, but the prospect of her
+marriage was a terrible trouble to Eustace, and threatened to mar the
+happiness of his life. Having, however, in his youth perfected
+himself in the black art, he drew a magic circle, at the witching hour
+of night, and summoned the Evil One to a consultation. The meeting
+came off, at which the usual bargain was quickly struck, the soul of
+Eustace being bartered for the coveted body of the beautiful young
+lady. The compact, it was arranged, should close at her death, but the
+Evil One was to remain meanwhile by the side of Dauntesey in the form
+of an elegant "self," or genteel companion. In due course the eventful
+day arrived when Eustace stood before the altar. But the marriage
+ceremony was no sooner over than, on leaving the sacred edifice, the
+elements were found to be the reverse of favourable to them. The
+flowers strewed before their feet stuck to their wet shoes, and
+soaking rain cast a highly depressing influence on all the bridal
+surroundings; and, on arriving at the festive hall where the marriage
+feast was to be held, the ill-fortune of Eustace assumed another
+shape. Strange to say, his bride began to melt away before his very
+eyes, and, thoroughly familiar as he was with the laws of magic, here
+was a new phase of mystery which was completely beyond his
+comprehension. In short, poor Eustace was the wretched victim of a
+complete swindle, for while, on the one hand, something is recorded
+about "a holy prayer, a sunny beam, and an angel train bearing the
+fair maiden slowly to a fleecy cloud, in whose bosom she became lost
+to earth," Dauntesey, on the other hand, awakened to consciousness by
+a touch from his sinister companion, saw a huge yawning gulf at his
+feet, and felt himself gradually sinking in a direction exactly the
+opposite of that taken by his bride, who, in the short space of an
+hour, was lost to him for ever.
+
+But one of the most curious cases of this kind was that recorded in an
+old tractate[36] published in 1662, giving an account attested by "six
+of the sufficientest men of the town," of what happened to a certain
+John Leech, a farmer living at Raveley. Being desirous of visiting
+Whittlesea fair, he went beforehand with a neighbour to an inn for the
+purpose of drinking "his morninges draught." Whilst the two were
+enjoying their "morninges draught," Mr. Leech began to be "very
+merry," and, seeing his friend was desirous of going, he exclaimed,
+"Let the devil take him who goeth out of this house to-day." But in
+his merriment he forgot his rash observation, and shortly afterwards,
+calling for his horse, set out for the fair. He had not travelled far
+on the road when he remembered what he had said, "his conscience being
+sore troubled at that damnable oath which he had took." Not knowing
+what to do, he rode about, first one way and then another, until
+darkness set in, and at about two o'clock in the night "he espied two
+grim creatures before him in the likeness of griffins." These were
+the devil's messengers, who had been sent to take him at his word, and
+take him they did, according to the testimony of the "six
+sufficientist men of the town." They roughly handled him, took him up
+in the air, stripped him, and then dropped him, "a sad spectacle, all
+bloody and goared," in a farmyard just outside the town of Doddington.
+
+Here he was discovered, lying upon some harrows, in the condition
+described. He was picked up, and carried to a gentleman's house,
+where, being well cared for, he narrated the remarkable adventure
+which had befallen him. Before long, however, he "grew into a frenzy
+so desperate that they were afraid to stay in his chamber," and the
+gentleman of the house, not knowing what to do, "sent for the parson
+of the town." Prompted, it is supposed, by the Satanic influence which
+still held him, Mr. Leech rushed at the minister, and attacked him
+with so much fury that it was "like to have cost him his life." But
+the noise being heard below, the servants rushed up, rescued the
+parson, and tied Mr. Leech down in his bed, and left him. The next
+morning, hearing nothing, they thought he was asleep, but on entering
+his room "he was discovered with his neck broke, his tongue out of his
+mouth, and his body as black as a shoe, all swelled, and every bone in
+his body out of joint."[37]
+
+We may conclude these extraordinary cases of "devil-bonds" with two
+further strange incidents, one an apparent record of a case of a
+similar kind, which was practised, amidst the frivolities and plotting
+of the French Court, by no less celebrated a lady than Catharine de
+Medicis. In the "Secret History of France for the Last Century,"[38]
+this incredible story is given: "In the first Civil War, when the
+Prince of Conde was, in all appearance, likely to prevail, and
+Katherine was thought to be very near the end of her much desired
+Regency, during the young king's minority, she was known to have been
+for two days together retired to her closet, without admitting her
+menial servants to her presence." Some few days after, having called
+for Monsieur de Mesme, one of the Long Robe, and always firm to her
+interest, she delivered him a steel box, fast locked, to whom she
+said, giving him the key: 'That in respect she knew not what might
+come to her by fortune, amidst those intestine broils that then shook
+France, she had thought fit to enclose a thing of great value within
+that box, which she consigned to his care, not to open it upon oath,
+but by an express order under her own hand.' The queen dying without
+ever calling for the box, it continued many years unopened in the
+family of De Mesme, after both their deaths, till, at last, curiosity,
+or the suspicion of some treasure, from the heaviness of it, tempted
+Monsieur de Mesme's successor to break it open, which he did. Instead
+of any rich present from so great a queen, what horror must the
+lookers on have when they found a copper plate of the form and bigness
+of one of the ancient Roman Votive Shields, on which was engraved
+Queen Katherine de Medicis on her knees, in a praying posture,
+offering up to the devil sitting upon a throne, in one of the ugliest
+shapes they used to paint him, Charles the IXth, then reigning, the
+Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III., and the Duke of Alanson, her
+three sons, with this motto in French, "So be it, I but reign."
+
+And in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Hatfield, near the Isle of
+Axholme, Yorkshire, the following ridiculous story is given: "Robert
+de Roderham appeared against John de Ithon, for that he had not kept
+the agreement made between them, and therefore complains that on a
+certain day and year, at Thorne, there was an agreement between the
+aforesaid Robert and John, whereby the said John sold to the said
+Robert the Devil, bound in a certain bond, for threepence farthing,
+and thereupon, the said Robert delivered to the said John one farthing
+as earnest money, by which the property of the said devil, was vested
+in the person of the said Robert, to have livery of the said devil on
+the fourth day next following, at which day the said Robert came to
+the forenamed John and asked delivery of the said devil, according to
+the agreement between them made. But the said John refused to deliver
+the said devil, nor has he yet done it, &c., to the great damage of
+the said Robert, to the amount of 60gs, and he has, therefore, brought
+his suit.
+
+"The said John came, and did not deny the said agreement; and because
+it appeared to the Court that such a suit ought not to subsist among
+Christians, the aforesaid parties are, therefore, adjourned to the
+infernal regions, there to hear their judgment, and both parties were
+amerced by William de Scargell, Seneschall."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] Harland and Wilkinson's "Lancashire Legends," 15-16.
+
+[35] "Romances of the West of England."
+
+[36] "A Strange and True Relation of one Mr. John Leech," 1662.
+
+[37] "Saunders' Legends and Traditions of Huntingdonshire," 1878, 1-3.
+
+[38] London, printed for A. Bell, 1714.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FAMILY DEATH OMENS.
+
+    "Say not 'tis vain! I tell thee, some
+      Are warned by a meteor's light,
+    Or a pale bird flitting calls them home,
+      Or a voice on the winds by night--
+    And they must go. And he too, he,
+    Woe for the fall of the glorious tree."
+               --MRS. HEMANS.
+
+
+A curious chapter in the history of many of our old county families is
+that relating to certain forewarnings, which, from time immemorial,
+have been supposed to indicate the approach of death. However
+incredible the existence of these may seem, their appearance is still
+intimately associated with certain houses, instances of which have
+been recorded from time to time. Thus Cuckfield Place, Sussex, is not
+only interesting as a fine Elizabethan mansion, but as having
+suggested to Ainsworth the "Rookwood Hall" of his striking romance.
+"The supernatural occurrence," he says, "forming the groundwork of one
+of the ballads which I have made the harbinger of doom to the house of
+Rookwood, is ascribed, by popular superstition, to a family resident
+in Sussex, upon whose estate the fatal tree--a gigantic lime, with
+mighty arms and huge girth of trunk--is still carefully preserved." In
+the avenue that winds towards the house the doom-tree still stands:--
+
+    "And whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,
+      By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed;
+    A verdant bough, untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath,
+      To Rookwood's head, an omen dread of fast approaching death."
+
+"Cuckfield Place," adds Ainsworth, "to which this singular piece of
+timber is attached, is the real Rookwood Hall, for I have not drawn
+upon imagination, but upon memory, in describing the seat and domains
+of that fated family." A similar tradition is associated with the
+Edgewell Oak, which is said to indicate the coming death of an inmate
+of Castle Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches; and Camden in
+his "Magna Britannia," alluding to the antiquity of the Brereton
+family, relates this peculiar fact which is reported to have been
+repeated many times: "This wonderful thing respecting them is commonly
+believed, and I have heard it myself affirmed by many, that for some
+days before the death of the heir of the family the trunk of a tree
+has always been seen floating in the lake adjoining their mansion;" a
+popular superstition to which Mrs. Hemans refers in the lines which
+head the present chapter. A further instance of a similar kind is
+given by Sir Bernard Burke, who informs us that opposite the
+dining-room at Gordon Castle is a large and massive willow tree, the
+history of which is somewhat singular. Duke Alexander, when four years
+old, planted this willow in a tub filled with earth. The tub floated
+about in a marshy-piece of land, till the shrub, expanding, burst its
+cerements, and struck root in the earth below; here it grew and
+prospered till it attained its present goodly size. It is said the
+Duke regarded the tree with a sort of fatherly and even superstitious
+regard, half-believing there was some mysterious affinity between its
+fortune and his own. If an accident happened to the one by storm or
+lightning, some misfortune was not long in befalling the other.
+
+It has been noted, also, that the same thing is related of the brave
+but unfortunate Admiral Kempenfeldt, who went down in the Royal George
+off Portsmouth. During his proprietary of Lady Place, he and his
+brother planted two thorn trees. But one day, on coming home, the
+brother noted that the tree planted by the Admiral had completely
+withered away. Astonished at this unexpected sight, he felt some
+apprehensions as to Admiral Kempenfeldt's safety, and exclaimed with
+some emotion, "I feel sure that this is an omen that my brother is
+dead." By a striking coincidence, his worst fears were realised, for
+on that evening came the terrible news of the loss of the Royal
+George.
+
+Whenever any member of the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, in the
+county of Dumfries was about to die--either by accident or disease--a
+swan that was never seen but on such occasions, was sure to make its
+appearance upon the lake which surrounded Closeburn Castle, coming no
+one knew whence, and passing away as mysteriously when the predicted
+death had taken place, in connection with which the following singular
+legend has been handed down: In days gone by, the lake of Closeburn
+Castle was the favourite resort during the summer season of a pair of
+swans, their arrival always being welcome to the family at the castle
+from a long established belief that they were ominous of good fortune
+to the Kirkpatricks. "No matter," it is said, "what mischance might
+have before impended, it was sure to cease at their coming, and so
+suddenly, as well as constantly, that it required no very ardent
+superstition to connect the two events into cause and effect."
+
+But a century and a half had passed away, when it happened that the
+young heir of Closeburn Castle--a lad of not quite thirteen years of
+age--in one of his visits to Edinburgh attended at the theatre a
+performance of "The Merchant of Venice," in the course of which he was
+surprised to hear Portia say of Bassanio that he should
+
+        "Make a swan-like end,
+    Fading in music."
+
+Often wondering whether swans really sang before dying he determined,
+at the first opportunity, to test the truth of these words for
+himself. On his return home, he was one day walking by the lake when
+the swans came sailing majestically towards him, and at once reminded
+of Portia's remark. Without a moment's thought, he lodged in the
+breast of the foremost one a bolt from his crossbow, killing it
+instantly. Frightened at what he had done, he made up his mind it
+should not be known; and, as the water drifted the dead body of the
+bird towards the shore, he buried it deep in the ground.
+
+No small surprise, however, was occasioned in the neighbourhood, when,
+for several years, no swans made their annual appearance, the idea at
+last being that they must have died in their native home, wherever
+that might chance to be. The yearly visit of the swans of Closeburn
+had become a thing of the past, when one day much excitement was
+caused by the return of a single swan, and much more so when a deep
+blood-red stain was observed upon its breast. As might be expected,
+this unlooked-for occurrence occasioned grave suspicions even amongst
+those who had no great faith in omens; and that such fears were not
+groundless was soon abundantly clear, for in less than a week the lord
+of Closeburn Castle died suddenly. Thereupon the swan vanished, and
+was seen no more for some years, when it again appeared to announce
+the loss of one of the house by shipwreck.
+
+The last recorded appearance of the bird was at the third nuptials of
+Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the first baronet of that name. On the
+wedding-day, his son Roger was walking by the lake, when, on a sudden,
+as if it had emerged from the waters, the swan appeared with the
+bleeding breast. Roger had heard of this mysterious swan, and,
+although his father's wedding bells were ringing merrily, he himself
+returned to the castle a sorrowful man, for he felt convinced that
+some evil was hanging over him. Despite his father's jest at what he
+considered groundless superstition on his part, the young man could
+not shake off his fears, replying to his father, "Perhaps before long
+you also may be sorrowful." On the night of that very day the son
+died, and here ends the strange story of the swans of Closeburn.[39]
+
+Similarly, whenever two owls are seen perched on the family mansion of
+the noble family of Arundel of Wardour, it has long been regarded as a
+certain indication that one of its members before very long will be
+summoned out of the world; and the appearance of a white-breasted bird
+was the death-warning of the Oxenham family, particulars relating to
+the tragic origin of which are to be found in a local ballad, which
+commences thus[40]:
+
+    Where lofty hills in grandeur meet,
+      And Taw meandering flows,
+    There is a sylvan, calm retreat,
+      Where erst a mansion rose.
+
+    There dwelt Sir James of Oxenham,
+      A brave and generous lord;
+    Benighted travellers never came
+      Unwelcome to his board.
+
+    In early life his wife had died;
+      A son he ne'er had known;
+    And Margaret, his age's pride,
+      Was heir to him alone.
+
+In course of time, Margaret became affianced to a young knight, and
+their wedding-day was fixed. On the evening preceding it, her father,
+in accordance with custom, gave a banquet to his friends, in order
+that they might congratulate him on the approaching happy union. He
+stood up to thank them for their kind wishes, and in alluding to the
+young knight--in a few hours time to be his daughter's husband--he
+jestingly called him his son:--
+
+    But while the dear unpractised word
+      Still lingered on his tongue,
+    He saw a silvery breasted bird
+      Fly o'er the festive throng.
+
+    Swift as the lightning's flashes fleet,
+      And lose their brilliant light,
+    Sir James sank back upon his seat
+      Pale and entranced with fright.
+
+With some difficulty he managed to conceal the cause of his
+embarrassment, but on the following day the priest had scarcely begun
+the marriage service,
+
+    When Margaret with terrific screams
+      Made all with horror start.
+    Good heavens! her blood in torrents streams,
+      A dagger in her heart.
+
+The deed had been done by a discarded lover, who, by the aid of a
+clever disguise, had managed to station himself just behind her:--
+
+    "Now marry me, proud maid," he cried,
+      "Thy blood with mine shall wed";
+    He dashed the dagger in his side,
+      And at her feet fell dead.
+
+And this pathetic ballad concludes by telling us how
+
+    Poor Margaret, too, grows cold with death,
+      And round her hovering flies
+    The phantom bird for her last breath,
+      To bear it to the skies.
+
+Equally strange is the omen with which the ancient baronet's family of
+Clifton, of Clifton Hall, in Nottinghamshire, is forewarned when death
+is about to visit one of its members. It appears that in this case the
+omen takes the shape of a sturgeon, which is seen forcing itself up
+the river Trent, on whose bank the mansion of the Clifton family is
+situated. And, it may be remembered, how in the park of Chartley, near
+Lichfield, there has long been preserved the breed of the indigenous
+Staffordshire cow, of white sand colour, with black ears, muzzle, and
+tips at the hoofs. In the year of the battle of Burton Bridge a black
+calf was born; and the downfall of the great house of Ferrers
+happening at the same period, gave rise to the tradition, which to
+this day has been current in the neighbourhood, that the birth of a
+parti-coloured calf from the wild breed in Chartley Park is a sure
+omen of death within the same year to a member of the family.
+
+By a noticeable coincidence, a calf of this description has been born
+whenever a death has happened in the family of late years. The decease
+of the Earl and his Countess, of his son Lord Tamworth, of his
+daughter Mrs. William Joliffe, as well as the deaths of the son and
+heir of the eighth Earl and his daughter Lady Frances Shirley, were
+each preceded by the ominous birth of a calf. In the spring of the
+year 1835, an animal perfectly black, was calved by one of this
+mysterious tribe in the park of Chartley, and it was soon followed by
+the death of the Countess.[41] The park of Chartley, where this weird
+announcement of one of the family's death has oftentimes caused so
+much alarm, is a wild romantic spot, and was in days of old attached
+to the Royal Forest of Needwood and the Honour of Tutbury--of the
+whole of which the ancient family of Ferrers were the puissant lords.
+Their immense possessions, now forming part of the Duchy of Lancaster,
+were forfeited by the attainder of Earl Ferrers after his defeat at
+Burton Bridge, where he led the rebellious Barons against Henry III.
+The Chartley estate, being settled in dower, was alone reserved, and
+has been handed down to its present possessor. Of Chartley Castle
+itself--which appears to have been in ruins for many years--many
+interesting historical facts are recorded. Thus it is said Queen
+Elizabeth visited her favourite, the Earl of Essex, here in August,
+1575, and was entertained by him in a half-timbered house which
+formerly stood near the Castle, but was long since destroyed by fire.
+It is questionable whether Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in this
+house, or in a portion of the old Castle. Certain, however, it is that
+the unfortunate queen was brought to Chartley from Tutbury on
+Christmas day, 1585. The exact date at which she left Chartley is
+uncertain, but it appears she was removed thence under a plea of
+taking the air without the bounds of the Castle. She was then
+conducted by daily stages from the house of one gentleman to another,
+under pretence of doing her honour, without her having the slightest
+idea of her destination, until she found herself on the 20th of
+September, within the fatal walls of Fotheringhay Castle.
+
+Cortachy Castle, the seat of the Earl of Airlie, has for many years
+past been famous for its mysterious drummer, for whenever the sound of
+his drum is heard it is regarded as the sure indication of the
+approaching death of a member of the Ogilvie family. There is a tragic
+origin given to this curious phenomenon, the story generally told
+being to the effect that either the drummer, or some officer whose
+emissary he was, had excited the jealousy of a former Lord Airlie, and
+that he was in consequence of this occurrence put to death by being
+thrust into his own drum, and flung from the window of the tower, in
+which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly
+heard. It is also said that the drummer threatened to haunt the family
+if his life were taken, a promise which he has not forgotten to
+fulfil.
+
+Then there is the well-known tradition that prior to the death of any
+of the lords of Roslin, Roslin Chapel appears to be on fire, a weird
+occurrence which forms the subject of Harold's song in the "Lay of the
+Last Ministrel."
+
+    O'er Roslin all that dreary night
+      A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
+    'Twas broader than the watch-fire light
+      And redder than the bright moonbeam.
+
+    It glared on Roslin's castled rock,
+      It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
+    'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
+      And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
+      Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie;
+    Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
+      Sheathed in his iron panoply.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire, within, around,
+      Deep sacristy and altar's pale
+    Shone every pillar, foliage-bound,
+      And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
+
+    Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
+      Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair;
+    So still they blaze when Fate is nigh
+      The lordly line of Hugh St. Clair.
+
+But, although the last "Roslin," as he was called, died in the year
+1778, and the estates passed into the possession of the Erskines,
+Earls of Rosslyn, the old tradition has not been extinguished.
+Something of the same kind is described as having happened to the old
+Cornish family of the Vingoes on their estate of Treville, for
+"through all time a peculiar token has marked the coming death of one
+of the family. Above the deep caverns in the Treville Cliff rises a
+carn. On this chains of fire were seen ascending and descending, and
+oftentimes were accompanied by loud and frightful noises. But it is
+reported that these tokens have not taken place since the last male of
+the family came to a violent end. According to Mr. Hunt,[42]
+"tradition tells us this estate was given to an old family who came
+with the Conqueror to this country. This ancestor is said to have been
+the Duke of Normandy's wine taster, and to have belonged to the
+ancient Counts of Treville, hence the name of the estate. For many
+generations the family has been declining, and the race is now
+nearly, if not quite, extinct.
+
+In some cases, families have been apprised of an approaching death by
+some strange spectre, either male or female, a remarkable instance of
+which occurs in the MS. memoirs of Lady Fanshaw, and is to this
+effect: "Her husband, Sir Richard, and she, chanced, during their
+abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, who resided in his ancient
+baronial castle surrounded with a moat. At midnight she was awakened
+by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and, looking out of bed, beheld
+by the moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at the
+window. The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but
+pale; and the hair, which was reddish, was loose and dishevelled. This
+apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and then
+vanished with two shrieks, similar to that which had at first excited
+Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, with infinite terror, she
+communicated to her host what had happened, and found him prepared not
+only to credit, but to account for, what had happened.
+
+"A near relation of mine," said he, "expired last night in the castle.
+Before such an event happens in this family and castle, the female
+spectre whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed to be
+the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors
+degraded himself by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the
+dishonour done his family, he caused to be drowned in the castle
+moat."
+
+This, of course, was no other than the Banshee, which in times past
+has been the source of so much terror in Ireland. Amongst the
+innumerable stories told of its appearance may be mentioned one
+related by Mrs. Lefanu, the niece of Sheridan, in the memoirs of her
+grandmother, Mrs. Frances Sheridan. From this account we gather that
+Miss Elizabeth Sheridan was a firm believer in the Banshee, and firmly
+maintained that the one attached to the Sheridan family was distinctly
+heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the
+news arrived from France of Mrs. Frances Sheridan's death at Blois.
+She adds that a niece of Miss Sheridan's made her very angry by
+observing that as Mrs. Frances Sheridan was by birth a Chamberlaine, a
+family of English extraction, she had no right to the guardianship of
+an Irish fairy, and that therefore the Banshee must have made a
+mistake.
+
+Likewise, many a Scotch family has its death-warning, a notable one
+being the Bodach Glass, which Sir Walter Scott has introduced in his
+"Waverley" as the messenger of bad-tidings to the MacIvors, the truth
+of which, it is said, has been traditionally proved by the experience
+of no less than three hundred years. It is thus described by Fergus to
+Waverley: "'You must know that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel,
+wanted Northumberland, there was appointed with him in the expedition
+a sort of southland chief, or captain of a band of Lowlanders, called
+Halbert Hall. In their return through the Cheviots they quarrelled
+about the division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from
+words to blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief
+fell the last, covered with wounds, by the sword of my ancestor. Since
+that day his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any
+great disaster was impending.'" Fergus then gives to Waverley a
+graphic and detailed account of the appearance of the Bodach: "'Last
+night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters and walked out, in
+hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves. I crossed a small
+foot bridge, and kept walking backwards and forwards, when I observed,
+with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid,
+which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards
+before me.'
+
+"'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.'
+
+"'No; I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity
+in daring to dog me. I called to him, but received no answer. I felt
+an anxious troubling at my heart, and to ascertain what I dreaded, I
+stood still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the
+four points of the compass. By heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the
+figure was instantly before my eyes at precisely the same distance. I
+was then convinced it was the Bodach Glass. My hair bristled, and my
+knees shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my
+quarters. My ghastly visitor glided before me until he reached the
+footbridge, there he stopped, and turned full round. I must either
+wade the river or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate
+courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve
+to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew
+my sword, and uttered, 'In the name of God, evil spirit, give place!'
+
+"'Vich Ian Vohr,' it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle;
+'beware of to-morrow.'
+
+"'It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but
+the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared
+further to obstruct my passage.'"
+
+An ancestor of the family of McClean, of Lochburg, was commonly
+reported, before the death of any of his race, to gallop along the
+sea-beach, announcing the event by dismal cries, and lamentations, and
+Sir Walter Scott, in his "Peveril of the Peak," tells us that the
+Stanley family are forewarned of the approach of death by a female
+spirit, "weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person
+of distinction belonging to the family."
+
+These family death-omens are of a most varied description, having
+assumed particular forms in different localities. Corby Castle,
+Cumberland, was famed for its "Radiant Boy," a luminous apparition
+which occasionally made its appearance, the tradition in the family
+being that the person who happened to see it would rise to the summit
+of power, and after reaching that position would die a violent death.
+As an instance of this strange belief, it is related how Lord
+Castlereagh in early life saw this spectre; as is well-known, he
+afterwards became head of the government, but finally perished by his
+own hand. Then there was the dreaded spectre of the Goblin Friar
+associated with Newstead Abbey:
+
+                          A monk, arrayed
+    In cowl and beads, and dusky garb, appeared,
+      Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade,
+    With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard--
+
+This apparition was generally supposed to forebode evil to the member
+of the family to whom it appeared, and its movements have thus been
+poetically described by Lord Byron, who, it may be added, maintained
+that he beheld this uncanny spectre before his ill-starred union with
+Miss Millbanke:
+
+    By the marriage bed of their lords, 'tis said,
+      He flits on the bridal eve;
+    And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of death
+      He comes--but not to grieve.
+
+    When an heir is born, he is heard to mourn,
+      And when aught is to befall
+    That ancient line, in the pale moonshine
+      He walks from hall to hall.
+
+    His form you may trace, but not his face,
+      'Tis shadowed by his cowl;
+    But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,
+      And they seem of a parted soul.
+
+An ancient Roman Catholic family in Yorkshire, of the name of
+Middleton, is said to be apprised of the death of anyone of its
+members by the appearance of a Benedictine nun, and Berry Pomeroy
+Castle, Devonshire, was supposed to be haunted by the daughter of a
+former baron, who bore a child to her own father, and afterwards
+strangled the fruit of their incestuous intercourse. But, after death,
+it seems this wretched woman could not rest, and whenever death was
+about to visit the castle she was generally seen sadly wending her way
+to the scene of her earthly crimes. According to another tradition,
+there is a circular tower, called "Margaret's Tower," rising above
+some broken steps that lead into a dismal vault, and the tale still
+runs that, on certain evenings in the year, the spirit of the Ladye
+Margaret, a young daughter of the house of Pomeroy, appears clad in
+white on these steps, and, beckoning to the passers-by, lures them to
+destruction into the dungeon ruin beneath them.
+
+And, indeed, it would seem to have been a not infrequent occurrence
+for family ghosts to warn the living when death was at hand--a piece
+of superstition which has always held a prominent place in our
+household traditions, reminding us of kindred stories on the
+Continent, where the so-called White Lady has long been an object of
+dread.
+
+There has, too, long been a strange notion that when storms, heavy
+rains, or other elemental strife, take place at the death of a great
+man, the spirit of the storm will not be appeased till the moment of
+burial. This belief seems to have gained great strength on the
+occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral, when, after some weeks
+of heavy rain, and some of the highest floods ever known, the skies
+began to clear, and both rain and flood abated. It was a common
+observation in the week before the duke's interment, "Oh, the rain
+won't give o'er till the Duke is buried!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] "Family Romance"--Sir Bernard Burke--1853, ii., 200-210.
+
+[40] In 1641 there was published a tract, with a frontispiece, entitled
+"A True Relation of an Apparition, in the Likeness of a Bird with a
+white breast, that appeared hovering over the Death-bed of some of the
+children of Mr. James Oxenham, &c."
+
+[41] This tradition has been wrought into a romantic story, entitled
+"Chartley, or the Fatalist."
+
+[42] "Popular Romances of West of England."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+WEIRD POSSESSIONS.
+
+    "But not a word o' it; 'tis fairies' treasure,
+    Which, but revealed, brings on the blabber's ruin."
+               MASSINGER'S "_Fatal Dowry_."
+
+
+From the earliest days a strange fatality has been supposed to cling
+to certain things--a phase of superstition which probably finds as
+many believers nowadays as when Homer wrote of the fatal necklace of
+Eriphyle that wrought mischief to all who had been in possession of
+it. In numerous cases, it is difficult to account for the prejudice
+thus displayed, although occasionally it is based on some traditionary
+story. But whatever the origin of the luck, or ill-luck, attaching to
+sundry family possessions, such heirlooms have been preserved with a
+kind of superstitious care, handed down from generation to generation.
+
+One of the most remarkable curiosities connected with family
+superstitions is what is commonly known as "The Coalstoun Pear," the
+strange antecedent history of which is thus given in a work entitled,
+"The Picture of Scotland": "Within sight of the House of Lethington,
+in Haddingtonshire, stands the mansions of Coalstoun, the seat of the
+ancient family of Coalstoun, whose estate passed by a series of heirs
+of line into the possession of the Countess of Dalhousie. This place
+is chiefly worthy of attention here, on account of a strange heirloom,
+with which the welfare of the family was formerly supposed to be
+connected.
+
+"One of the Barons of Coalstoun, about three hundred years ago,
+married Jean Hay, daughter of John, third Lord Yester, with whom he
+obtained a dowry, not consisting of such base materials as houses or
+land, but neither more nor less than a pear. 'Sure such a pear was
+never seen,' however, as this of Coalstoun, which a remote ancestor of
+the young lady, famed for his necromantic power, was supposed to have
+invested with some enchantment that rendered it perfectly invaluable.
+Lord Yester, in giving away his daughter, informed his son-in-law
+that, good as the lass might be, her dowry was much better, because,
+while she could only have value in her own generation, the pear, so
+long as it was continued in his family, would be attended with
+unfailing prosperity, and thus might cause the family to flourish to
+the end of time. Accordingly, the pear was preserved as a sacred
+palladium, both by the laird who first obtained it, and by all his
+descendants; till one of their ladies, taking a longing for the
+forbidden fruit while pregnant, inflicted upon it a deadly bite: in
+consequence of which, it is said, several of the best farms on the
+estate very speedily came to the market."
+
+The pear, tradition goes on to tell us, became stone hard immediately
+after the lady had bit it, and in this condition it remains till this
+day, with the marks of Lady Broun's teeth indelibly imprinted on it.
+Whether it be really thus fortified against all further attacks of the
+kind or not, it is certain that it is now disposed in some secure part
+of the house--or as we have been informed in a chest, the key of which
+is kept secure by the Earl of Dalhousie--so as to be out of all danger
+whatsoever. The "Coalstowne pear," it is added, without regard to the
+superstition attached to it, must be considered a very great curiosity
+in its way, "having, in all probability, existed five hundred years--a
+greater age than, perhaps, has ever been reached by any other such
+production of nature."
+
+Another strange heirloom--an antique crystal goblet--is said to have
+been for a long time in the possession of Colonel Wilks, the
+proprietor of the estate of Ballafletcher, four or five miles from
+Douglas, Isle of Man. It is described as larger than a common
+bell-shaped tumbler, "uncommonly light and chaste in appearance, and
+ornamented with floral scrolls, having between the designs on two
+sides, upright columellae of five pillars," and according to an old
+tradition, it is reported to have been taken by Magnus, the Norwegian
+King of Man, from St. Olave's shrine. Although it is by no means
+clear on what ground this statement rests, there can be no doubt but
+that the goblet is very old. After belonging for at least a hundred
+years to the Fletcher family--the owners of Ballafletcher--it was sold
+with the effects of the last of the family, in 1778, and was bought by
+Robert Caesar, Esq., who gave it to his niece for safe keeping. The
+tradition goes that it had been given to the first of the Fletcher
+family more than two centuries ago, with this special injunction, that
+"as long as he preserved it, peace and plenty would follow; but woe to
+him who broke it, as he would surely be haunted by the 'Ihiannan Shee'
+or 'peaceful spirit' of Ballafletcher." It was kept in a recess,
+whence it was never removed, except at Christmas and Eastertide, when
+it was "filled with wine, and quaffed off at a breath by the head of
+the house only, as a libation to the spirit for her protection."
+
+Then there is the well-known English tradition relating to Eden Hall,
+where an old painted drinking-glass is preserved, the property of Sir
+George Musgrave of Edenhall, in Cumberland, in the possession of whose
+family it has been for many generations. The tradition is that a
+butler going to draw water from a well in the garden, called St.
+Cuthbert's well, came upon a company of fairies at their revels, and
+snatched it from them. They did all they could to recover their
+ravished property, but failing, disappeared after pronouncing the
+following prophecy:
+
+    If this glass do break or fall
+    Farewell the luck of Edenhall.
+
+So long, therefore, runs the legendary tale, as this drinking glass is
+preserved, the "luck of Edenhall" will continue to exist, but should
+ever the day occur when any mishap befalls it, this heirloom will
+instantly become an unlucky possession in the family. The most recent
+account of this cup appeared in _The Scarborough Gazette_ in the year
+1880, in which it was described as "a glass stoup, a drinking vessel,
+about six inches in height, having a circular base, perfectly flat,
+two inches in diameter, gradually expanding upwards till it ends in a
+mouth four inches across. The general hue is a warm green, resembling
+the tone known by artists as brown pink. Upon the transparent glass is
+traced a geometric pattern in white and blue enamel, somewhat raised,
+aided by gold and a little crimson." The earliest mention of this
+curious relic seems to have been made by Francis Douce, who was at
+Edenhall in the year 1785, and wrote some verses upon it, but there
+does not seem to be any authentic family history attaching to it.
+
+There is a room at Muncaster Castle which has long gone by the name of
+Henry the Sixth's room, from the circumstance of his having been
+concealed in it at the time he was flying from his enemies in the
+year 1461, when Sir John Pennington, the then possessor of Muncaster,
+gave him a secret reception. When the time for the king's departure
+arrived, before he proceeded on his journey, he addressed Sir John
+Pennington with many kind and courteous acknowledgments for his loyal
+reception, regretting, at the same time, that he had nothing of more
+value to present him with, as a testimony of his goodwill, than the
+cup out of which he crossed himself. He then gave it into the hands of
+Sir John, accompanying the present with these words: "The family shall
+prosper so long as they preserve it unbroken." Hence it is called the
+"Luck of Muncaster." "The benediction attached to its security," says
+Roby, in his "Traditions of Lancashire," "being then uppermost in the
+recollection of the family, it was considered essential to the
+prosperity of the house at the time of the usurpation, that the Luck
+of Muncaster should be deposited in a safe place; it was consequently
+buried till the cessation of hostilities had rendered all further care
+and concealment unnecessary." But, unfortunately, the person
+commissioned to disinter the precious relic, let the box fall in which
+it was locked up, which so alarmed the then existing members of the
+family, that they could not muster courage enough to satisfy their
+apprehensions. The box, therefore, according to the traditionary story
+preserved in the family, remained unopened for more than forty years;
+at the expiration of which period, a Pennington, more courageous than
+his predecessors, unlocked the casket, and, much to the delight of
+all, proclaimed the Luck of Muncaster to be uninjured. It was an
+auspicious moment, for the doubts as to the cup's safety were now
+dispelled, and the promise held good:
+
+    It shall bless thy bed, it shall bless thy board,
+      They shall prosper by this token,
+    In Muncaster Castle good luck shall be,
+      Till the charmed cup is broken.
+
+Some things, again, have gained a strange notoriety through the force
+of circumstances. A curious story is told, for instance, of a certain
+iron chest in Ireland, the facts relating to which are these: In the
+year 1654, Mr. John Bourne, chief trustee of the estate of John
+Mallet, of Enmore, fell sick at his house at Durley, when his life was
+pronounced by a physician to be in imminent danger. Within twenty-four
+hours, while the doctor and Mrs. Carlisle--a relative of Mr.
+Bourne--were sitting by his bedside, the doctor opened the curtains at
+the bed-foot to give him air, when suddenly a great iron chest by the
+window, with three locks--in which chest were all the writings and
+title deeds of Mr. Mallet's estate--began to open lock by lock. The
+lid of the iron chest then lifted itself up, and stood wide open. It
+is added that Mr. Bourne, who had not spoken for twenty-four hours,
+raised himself up in the bed, and looking at the chest, cried out,
+"You say true, you say true; you are in the right; I will be with you
+by and bye." He then lay down apparently in an exhausted condition,
+and spoke no more. The chest lid fell again, and locked itself lock by
+lock, and within an hour afterwards Mr. Bourne expired.
+
+There is a story current of Lord Lovat that when he was born a number
+of swords that hung up in the hall of the house leaped, of themselves,
+out of the scabbard. This circumstance often formed the topic of
+conversation, and, among his clan, was looked upon as an unfortunate
+omen. By a curious coincidence, Lord Lovat was not only the last
+person beheaded on Tower Hill, but was the last person beheaded in
+this country--April 9, 1747--an event which Walpole has thus described
+in one of his letters, telling us that he died extremely well, without
+passion, affectation, buffoonery, or timidity. He professed himself a
+Jansenist, made no speech, but sat down a little while in a chair on
+the scaffold and talked to the people about him.
+
+And Aubrey, relating a similar anecdote of a picture, tells us how Sir
+Walter Long's widow did make a solemn promise to him on his death-bed
+that she would not marry after his decease; but this she did not keep,
+for "not long after, one Sir----Fox, a very beautiful young gentleman,
+did win her love, so that, notwithstanding her promise aforesaid, she
+married him. They were at South Wrathall, where the picture of Sir
+Walter hung over the parlour door," and, on entering this room on
+their return from church, the string of the picture broke, "and the
+picture, which was painted on wood, fell on the lady's shoulder and
+cracked in the fall. This made her ladyship reflect on her promise,
+and drew some tears from her eyes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ROMANCE OF DISGUISE.
+
+    PISANIO to IMOGEN:
+      You must forget to be a woman; change
+      Command into obedience: fear and niceness--
+      The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,
+      Woman its pretty self, into a waggish courage:
+      Ready in gibes, quick answered, saucy, and
+      As quarrelsome as the weasel; nay, you must
+      Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek
+      Exposing it--but, Oh! the harder heart!
+      Alack! no remedy! to the greedy touch
+      Of common-kissing Titan, and forget
+      Your laboursome and dainty trims.
+               "_Cymbeline_," ACT III., SC. 4.
+
+
+That a woman, under any circumstances, should dismiss her proper
+apparel, it has been remarked, "may well appear to us as something
+like a phenomenon." Yet instances are far from uncommon, the motive
+being originated in a variety of circumstances. A young lady, it may
+be, falls in love, and, to gain her end, assumes male attire so that
+she may escape detection, as in the case of a girl, who, giving her
+affections to a sailor, and not being able to follow him in her
+natural and recognised character, put on jacket and trousers, and
+became, to all appearance, a brother of his mess. In other cases, a
+pure masculinity of character "seems to lead women to take on the
+guise of men. Apparently feeling themselves misplaced in, and
+misrepresented by, the female dress, they take up with that of men
+simply that they may be allowed to employ themselves in those manly
+avocations for which their taste and nature are fitted." In
+Caulfield's "Portraits of Remarkable Persons," we find a portrait of
+Anne Mills, styled the female sailor, who is represented as standing
+on what appears to be the end of a pier and holding in one hand a
+human head, while the other bears a sword, the instrument doubtless
+with which the decapitation was effected. In the year 1740, she was
+serving on board the _Maidstone_, a frigate, and in an action between
+that vessel and the enemy, she exhibited such desperate and daring
+valour as to be particularly noticed by the whole crew. But her
+motives for assuming the male habit do not seem to have
+transpired.[43]
+
+A far more exciting career was that of Mary Anne Talbot, the youngest
+of sixteen illegitimate children, whom her mother bore to one of the
+heads of the noble house of Talbot. She was born on February 2nd,
+1778, and educated under the eye of a married sister, at whose death
+she was committed to the care of a gentleman named Sucker, "who
+treated her with great severity, and who appears to have taken
+advantage of her friendless situation in order to transfer her, for
+the vilest of purposes, to the hands of a Captain Bowen, whom he
+directed her to look upon as her future guardian." Although barely
+fourteen years old, Captain Bowen made her his mistress; and, on being
+ordered to join his regiment at St. Domingo, he compelled the girl to
+go with him in the disguise of a footboy and under the name of John
+Taylor. But Captain Bowen had scarcely reached St. Domingo when he was
+remanded with his regiment to Europe to join the Duke of York's
+Flanders Expedition. And this time she was made to enrol herself as a
+drummer in the corps.
+
+She was in several skirmishes, being wounded once by a ball which
+struck one of her ribs, and another time by a sabre stroke on the
+side. At Valenciennes, however, Captain Bowen was killed; and, finding
+among his effects several letters relating to herself, which proved
+that she had been cruelly defrauded of money left to her, she resolved
+to leave the regiment, and to return, if possible, to England.
+Accordingly she set out attired as a sailor boy, and eventually hired
+herself to the Commander of a French lugger, which turned out to be a
+privateer. But when the vessel fell in with some of Lord Howe's
+vessels in the Channel, she refused to fight against her countrymen,
+"notwithstanding all the blows and menaces the French captain could
+use." The privateer was taken, and our heroine was carried before Lord
+Howe, to whom she told candidly all that had happened to her--keeping
+her sex a secret.
+
+Mary Anne Talbot, or John Taylor, was next placed on board the
+_Brunswick_, where she witnessed Lord Howe's great victory of the 1st
+June, and was actively engaged in it. But she was seriously wounded,
+"her left leg being struck a little above the knee by a musket-ball,
+and broken, and severely smashed lower down by a grape shot." On
+reaching England she was conveyed to Haslar Hospital, where she
+remained four months, no suspicion having ever been entertained of her
+being a woman. But she was no sooner out of the hospital than,
+retaining her disguise, she entered a small man-of-war--the
+_Vesuvius_, which was captured by two French ships, when she was sent
+to the prisons of Dunkirk. Here she was incarcerated for eighteen
+months, but, having been discovered planning an escape with a young
+midshipman, she was confined in a pitch-dark dungeon for eleven weeks,
+on a diet of bread and water. An exchange of prisoners set her at
+liberty, and, hearing accidentally an American merchant captain
+inquiring in the streets of Dunkirk for a lad to go to New York as
+ship's steward she offered her services, and was accepted.
+Accordingly, in August, 1796, she sailed with Captain Field, and, on
+arriving at Rhode Island, she resided with the Captain's family.
+
+But here another kind of adventure was to befall her--for a niece of
+Captain Field's fell deeply in love with her, even going so far as to
+propose marriage. On leaving Rhode Island, the young lady had such
+alarming fits that, after sailing two miles, Mary Anne Talbot was
+called back by a boat, and compelled to promise a speedy return to the
+enamoured young lady. On reaching England, she was one day on shore
+with some of her comrades when she was seized by a press-gang, and
+finding there was no other way of getting off than by revealing her
+sex, she did so, her story creating a great sensation. From this time
+she never went to sea again, and soon afterwards lived in service with
+a bookseller, Mr. Kirby, who wrote her memoir.[44]
+
+And the late Colonel Fred Burnaby has recorded the history of a
+singular case, the facts of which came under his notice when he was
+with Don Carlos during the Carlist rising of the year 1874: "A
+discovery was made a few days ago that a woman was serving in the
+Royalists' ranks, dressed in a soldier's uniform. She was found out in
+the following manner. The priest of the village to where she belonged
+happening to pass through a town where the regiment was quartered, and
+chancing to see her, was struck by the likeness she bore to one of his
+parishioners.
+
+"You must be Andalicia Bravo," he remarked.
+
+"No, I am her brother," was the reply.
+
+The Cure's suspicions were aroused, and at his suggestion, an inquiry
+was made, when it was discovered that the youthful soldier had no
+right to the masculine vestments she wore. Don Carlos, who was told of
+the affair, desired that she should be sent as a nurse to the hospital
+of Durango, and, when he visited the establishment, presented the fair
+Amazon with a military cross of merit. The poor girl was delighted
+with the decoration, and besought the "King" to allow her to return to
+the regiment, as she said she was more accustomed to inflicting wounds
+than to healing them. In fact, she so implored to be permitted to
+serve once more as a soldier, that at last, Don Carlos, to extricate
+himself from the difficulty, said, "No, I cannot allow you to join a
+regiment of men; but when I form a battalion of women, I promise, upon
+my honour, that you shall be named the Colonel."
+
+"It will never happen," said the girl, and she burst into tears as the
+King left the hospital.
+
+At Haddon Hall may still be seen "Dorothy Vernon's Door," whence the
+heiress of Haddon stole out one moonlight night to join her lover. The
+story generally told is that, while her elder sister, the affianced
+bride of Sir Thomas Stanley, second son of the Earl of Derby, was made
+much of in her recognised attachment, Dorothy, on the other hand, was
+not only kept in the background, but every obstacle was thrown in her
+way against a connection she had formed with John Manners, son of the
+Earl of Rutland. But "something of the wild bird," it is said, "was
+noticed in Dorothy, and she was closely watched, kept almost a
+prisoner, and could only beat her wings against the bars that confined
+her." This kind of surveillance went on for some time, but did not
+check the young lady's infatuation for her lover, and it was not long
+before the young couple contrived to see one another. Disguised as a
+woodman, John Manners lurked of a day in the woods round Haddon for
+several weeks, obtaining now and then a stolen glance, a hurried word,
+or a pressure of the hand from the fair Dorothy.
+
+At length, however, an opportunity arrived which enabled Dorothy to
+carry out the plan which had been suggested to her by John Manners. It
+so happened that a grand ball was given at Haddon Hall, to celebrate
+the approaching marriage of the elder daughter, and, whilst a throng
+of guests filled the ball-room, where the stringed minstrels played
+old dances in the Minstrels' Gallery, and the horns blew low, everyone
+being too busy with his own interests and pleasures to attend to those
+of another, the young Miss Dorothy stole away unobserved from the
+ball-room, "passed out of the door, which is now one of the most
+interesting parts of this historic pile of buildings, and crossed
+the terrace to where, at the "ladies' steps," she could dimly discern
+figures hiding in the shadow of the trees. Another moment, and she was
+in her lover's arms. Horses were waiting, and Dorothy was soon riding
+away with her lover through the moonlight, and was married on the
+following morning. This story, which has been gracefully told by Eliza
+Meteyard under the title of "The Love Steps of Dorothy Vernon," has
+always been regarded as one of the most romantic and pleasant episodes
+in the history of Haddon Hall. Through Dorothy's marriage, the estate
+of Haddon passed from the family of Vernon to that of Manners, and a
+branch of the house of Rutland was transferred to the county of
+Derby."
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY VERNON AND THE WOODMAN.]
+
+But love has always been an inducement, in one form or another for
+disguise, and a romantic story is told of Sir John Bolle, of Thorpe
+Hall, in Lincolnshire, who distinguished himself at Cadiz, in the year
+1596. Among the prisoners taken at this memorable seige, was "a fair
+captive of great beauty, high rank, and immense wealth," and who was
+the peculiar charge of Sir John Bolle. She soon became deeply
+enamoured of her gallant captor, and "in his courteous company was all
+her joy," her infatuation being so great that she entreated him to
+allow her to accompany him to England disguised as his page. But Sir
+John had a wife at home, and replied--to quote the version of the
+story given in Dr. Percy's "Relics of Ancient English Poetry":--
+
+      "Courteous lady, leave this fancy,
+         Here comes all that breeds the strife;
+       I in England have already
+         A sweet woman to my wife.
+    I will not falsify my vow for gold or gain,
+    Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."
+
+Thereupon the fair lady determined to retire to a convent, admiring
+the gallant soldier all the more for his faithful devotion to his
+wife.
+
+      "O happy is that woman
+         That enjoys so true a friend!
+       Many happy days God send her!
+         Of my suit I make an end,
+    On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,
+    Which did from love and true affection first commence.
+
+      "I will spend my days in prayer,
+         Love and all her laws defy;
+       In a nunnery will I shroud me,
+         Far from any company.
+    But ere my prayers have an end be sure of this,
+    To pray for thee and for thy love I will not miss."
+
+But, before forsaking the world, she transmitted to her unconscious
+rival in England her jewels and valuable knicknacks, including her own
+portrait drawn in green--a circumstance which obtained for the
+original the designation of the "Green Lady," and Thorpe Hall has long
+been said to be haunted by the lady in green, who has been in the
+habit of appearing beneath a particular tree close to the mansion.
+
+A story, which has been gracefully told in one of Moore's Irish
+Melodies, relates to Henry Cecil, Earl of Exeter, who early in life
+fell in love with the rich heiress of the Vernons of Hanbury. A
+marriage was eventually arranged, but this union proved a complete
+failure, and terminated in a divorce. Thereupon young Cecil,
+distrustful of the conventionalities of society, and to prevent any
+one of the fair sex marrying him on account of his position, resolved
+"on laying aside the artificial attractions of his rank, and seeking
+some country maiden who would wed him from disinterested motives of
+affection."
+
+Accordingly he took up his abode at a small inn in a retired
+Shropshire village, but even here his movements created suspicion,
+"some maintaining that he was connected with smugglers or gamesters,
+while all agreed that dishonesty or fraud was the cause of the mystery
+of the 'London gentleman's' proceedings." Annoyed at the rude
+molestations to which he was daily, more or less, exposed, he quitted
+the inn and removed to a farm-house in the neighbourhood, where he
+remained for two years, in the course of which time he purchased some
+land, and commenced building himself a house:
+
+But the landlord of the cottage where he lived had a beautiful
+daughter of about seventeen years, to whom young Cecil became so
+deeply attached that, in spite of her humble birth, and simple
+education, he resolved to make her his wife, taking an early
+opportunity of informing her parents of his resolve. The matter came
+as a surprise to the farmer and his wife, and all the more so because
+they had always regarded Mr. Cecil as far too grand a person to
+entertain such an idea.
+
+"Marry our daughter?" exclaimed the good wife, in amazement. "What, to
+a fine gentleman! No, indeed!"
+
+"Yes, marry her," added the husband, "he shall marry her, for she
+likes him. Has he not house and land, too, and plenty of money to keep
+her?"
+
+So the rustic beauty was married, and it was not long afterwards that
+her husband found it necessary to repair to town on account of the
+Earl of Exeter's death. Setting out, as the young bride thought, on a
+pleasure trip, they stopped in the course of their journey at several
+noblemen's seats, where, to her astonishment, Cecil was welcomed in
+the most friendly manner. At last they reached Burleigh, in
+Northamptonshire--the home of the Cecils. And on driving up to the
+house, Cecil unconcernedly asked his wife, "whether she would like to
+be at home there?"
+
+"Oh, yes," she excitedly exclaimed; "it is, indeed, a lovely spot,
+exceeding all I have seen, and making me almost envy its possessor."
+
+"Then," said the young earl, "it is yours."
+
+The whole affair seemed like a fairy tale to the bewildered girl, and
+who, but herself, could describe the feelings she experienced at the
+acclamations of joy and welcome which awaited her in her magnificent
+home. But it was no dream, and as soon as the young earl had arranged
+his affairs, he returned to Shropshire, threw off his disguise, and
+revealed his rank to his wife's parents, assigning to them the house
+he had built, with a settlement of L700 per annum.
+
+"But," writes Sir Bernard Burke, "if report speak truly, the narrative
+must have a melancholy end. Her ladyship, unaccustomed to the exalted
+sphere in which she moved, chilled by its formalities, and depressed
+in her own esteem, survived only a few years her extraordinary
+elevation, and sank into an early grave," although Moore has given a
+brighter picture of this sad close to a pretty romance.
+
+    You remember Ellen, our hamlet's pride,
+      How meekly she blessed her humble lot,
+    When the stranger, William, had made her his bride,
+      And love was the light of their lowly cot.
+    Together they toiled through wind and rain
+      Till William at length in sadness said,
+    "We must seek our fortunes on other plains";
+      Then sighing she left her lowly shed.
+
+    They roam'd a long and weary way,
+      Nor much was the maiden's heart at ease,
+    When now, at close of one stormy day
+      They see a proud castle among the trees.
+    "To night," said the youth, "we'll shelter there;
+      The wind blows cold, the hour is late";
+    So he blew the horn with a chieftain's air,
+      And the porter bow'd as they pass'd the gate.
+
+    "Now welcome, Lady!" exclaimed the youth;
+      "This castle is thine, and these dark woods all."
+    She believed him wild, but his words were truth,
+      For Ellen is Lady of Rosna Hall!
+    And dearly the Lord of Rosna loves
+      What William the stranger woo'd and wed;
+    And the light of bliss in those lordly groves
+      Is pure as it shone in the lowly shed.
+
+But one of the most extraordinary instances of disguise was that of
+the Chevalier d'Eon, who was born in the year 1728, and was an
+excellent scholar, soldier, and political intriguer. In the service of
+Louis XV., he went to Russia in female attire, obtained employment as
+the female reader to the Czarina Elizabeth, under which disguise he
+carried on political and semi-political negotiations with wonderful
+success. In the year 1762, he appeared in England as Secretary of the
+Embassy to the Duke of Nivernois, and when Louis XVI. granted him a
+pension and he went over to Versailles to return thanks for the
+favour, Marie Antoinette is said to have insisted on his assuming
+women's attire. Accordingly, to gratify this foolish whim, D'Eon is
+reported to have one day swept into the royal presence attired like a
+duchess, which character he supported to the great delight of the
+royal spectators.
+
+In the year 1794, he returned to this country, and, being here after
+the Revolution was accomplished, his name was placed in the fatal list
+of _emigres_, and he was deprived of his pension. The English
+Government, however, gave him an allowance of L200 a year; and in his
+old days he turned his fencing capabilities to account, for he
+occasionally appeared in matches with the Chevalier de St. George, and
+permanently reassumed female attire.
+
+This eccentric character was the subject of much speculation in his
+lifetime, and, curious to say, in the year 1771, it was proved to the
+satisfaction of a jury, on a trial before Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, that the Chevalier was of the female sex. The case in
+question arose from a wager between Hayes, a surgeon, and Jacques, an
+underwriter, the latter having bound himself, on receiving a premium,
+to pay the former a certain sum whenever the fact was established that
+D'Eon was a woman. One of the witnesses was Morande, an infamous
+Frenchman, who gave such testimony that no human being could doubt the
+fact of D'Eon being of the female sex, and two French medical men gave
+equally conclusive evidence. The result of this absurd trial was that
+the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with L702 damages.[45]
+But all doubt was cleared away when D'Eon died, in the year 1810, for,
+an examination of the body being made, it was publicly declared that
+the Chevalier was an old man. Walpole collected some facts about this
+remarkable man, and writes: "The Due de Choiseul believed it was a
+woman. After the death of Louis XV., D'Eon had leave to go to France,
+on which the young Comte de Guerchy went to M. de Vergennes,
+Secretary of State, and gave him notice that the moment D'Eon landed
+at Calais he, Guerchy, would cut his throat, or D'Eon should his; on
+which Vergennes told the Count that D'Eon was certainly a woman. Louis
+XV. corresponded with D'Eon, and when the Duc de Choiseul had sent a
+vessel, which lay six months in the Thames, to trepan and bring off
+D'Eon, the king wrote a letter with his own hand to give him warning
+of the vessel."
+
+Like the Chevalier D'Eon, a certain individual named Russell, a native
+of Streatham, adopted the guise and habits of the opposite sex, and so
+skilfully did he keep up the deception that it was not known till
+after his death. It appears from Streatham Register that he was buried
+on April 14, 1772, the subjoined memorandum being affixed to the
+entry: "This person was always known under the guise or habit of a
+woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth, as registered in this
+parish, November 21, 1669, but on death proved to be a man. It also
+appears from the registers of Streatham Parish, that his father, John
+Russell, had three daughters, and two sons--William, born in 1668, and
+Thomas in 1672; and there is very little doubt that the above person,
+who was also commonly known as Betsy the Doctress, was one of these
+sons."
+
+It is said that when he assumed the garb of the softer sex he also
+took the name of his sister Elizabeth, who, very likely, either died
+in infancy, or settled at a distance; but, under this name, he
+applied, about two years before his death, for a certificate of his
+baptism. Early in life, he associated with the gypsies, and became the
+companion of the famous Bampfylde Moore Carew. Later on in life he
+resided at Chipstead, in Kent, and there catered for the miscellaneous
+wants of the villagers. He also visited most parts of the continent as
+a stroller and a vagabond, and sometimes in the company of a man who
+passed for his husband, he moved about from one place to another,
+changing his "maiden" name to that of his companion, at whose death he
+passed as his widow, being generally known by the familiar name of Bet
+Page.
+
+According to Lysons, in the course of his wanderings he attached
+himself to itinerant quacks, learned their remedies, practised their
+calling, his knowledge, coupled with his great experience, gaining for
+him the reputation of being "a most infallible doctress." He also went
+in for astrology, and made a considerable sum of money, but was so
+extravagant that when he died his worldly goods were not valued at
+half-a-sovereign. About a year before his death he returned to his
+native parish, his great age bringing him into much notoriety; but his
+death was very sudden, and great was the surprise on all sides when it
+became known that he was a man. In life this strange character was a
+general favourite, and Mr. Thrale was wont to have him in his kitchen
+at Streatham Park, while Dr. Johnson, who considered him a shrewd
+person, held long conversations with him. To prevent the discovery of
+his sex he used to wear a cloth tied under his chin, and a large pair
+of nippers, found in his pocket after death, are supposed to have been
+the instruments with which he was in the habit of removing the
+tell-tale hairs from his face.[46]
+
+In some instances, as in times of political intrigue and commotion,
+disguise has been resorted to as a means of escape and concealment of
+personal identity, one of the most romantic and remarkable cases on
+record being that of Lord Clifford, popularly known as the "shepherd
+lad." It appears that Lady Clifford, apprehensive lest the life of her
+son, seven years of age, might be sacrificed in vengeance for the
+blood of the youthful Earl of Rutland, whom Lord Clifford had murdered
+in cold blood at the termination of the battle of Sandal, placed him
+in the keeping of a shepherd who had married one of her inferior
+servants--an attendant on the boy's nurse. His name and parentage laid
+aside, the young boy was brought up among the moors and hills as one
+of the shepherd's own children. On reaching the age of fourteen, a
+rumour somehow spread to the Court that the son of "the black-faced
+Clifford," as his father had been called, was living in concealment in
+Yorkshire. His mother, naturally alarmed, had the boy immediately
+removed to the vicinity of the village of Threlkeld, amidst the
+Cumberland hills, where she had sometimes the opportunity of seeing
+him.
+
+But, strange to say it is doubtful whether Lady Clifford made known
+her relationship to him, or whether, indeed, the "shepherd lord" had
+any distinct idea of his lofty lineage. It is generally supposed,
+however, that there was a complete separation between mother and
+child--a tradition which was accepted by Wordsworth, with whom the
+story of the shepherd boy was an especial favourite. In his "Song at
+the Feast of Brougham Castle," the poet thus prettily describes the
+shepherd boy's curious career:--
+
+    "Now who is he that bounds with joy
+    On Carroch's side, a shepherd boy?
+    No thoughts hath he but thoughts that pass,
+    Light as the wind along the grass.
+    Can this be he who hither came
+    In secret, like a smothered flame?
+    O'er whom such thankful tears were shed
+    For shelter, and a poor man's bread!
+    God loves the child; and God hath willed
+    That those dear words should be fulfilled,
+    The lady's words, when forced away,
+    The last she to her babe did say,
+    'My own, my own, thy fellow guest
+    I may not be; but rest thee, rest,
+    For lowly shepherd's life is best.'"
+
+Many items of traditionary lore still linger about the Cumberland
+hills respecting the young lord who grew up "as hardy as the heath on
+which he vegetated, and as ignorant as the rude herds which bounded
+over it." But the following description of young Clifford in his
+disguise, and of his employment, as given by Wordsworth, probably
+gives the most reliable traditionary account respecting him that
+prevailed in the district where he spent his lonely youth:--
+
+    "His garb is humble, ne'er was seen
+    Such garb with such a noble mien;
+    Among the shepherd grooms no mate
+    Hath he, a child of strength and state!
+    Yet lacks not friends for solemn glee,
+    And a cheerful company,
+    That learned of him submissive ways;
+    And comforted his private days.
+    To his side the fallow deer
+    Came, and rested without fear;
+    The eagle, lord of land and sea,
+    Stooped down to pay him fealty;
+    And both the undying fish that swim,
+    Through Bowscale-Tarn did wait on him,
+    The pair were servants to his eye
+    In their immortality;
+    They moved about in open sight,
+    To and fro, for his delight.
+    He knew the rocks which angels haunt
+    On the mountains visitant,
+    He hath kenned them taking wing;
+    And the caves where fairies sing
+    He hath entered; and been told
+    By voices how men lived of old."
+
+But one of the first acts of Henry VII., on his accession to the
+throne was to restore young Clifford to his birthright, and to all the
+possessions that his distinguished sire had won. There are few
+authentic facts, however, recorded concerning him; for it seems that
+as soon as he had emerged from the hiding-place where he had been
+brought up in ignorance of his rank, finding himself more illiterate
+than was usual, even in an illiterate age, he retired to a tower,
+which he built in a beautiful and sequestered forest, where, under the
+direction of the monks of Bolton Abbey, he gave himself up to the
+forbidden studies of alchemy and astrology. His descendant Anne
+Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, describes him as "a plain man, who
+lived for the most part a country life, and came seldom either to
+Court or London, excepting when called to Parliament, on which
+occasion he behaved himself like a wise and good English nobleman." He
+was twice married, and was succeeded by his son, called Wild Henry
+Clifford, from the irregularities of his youth.
+
+And we may cite the case of Matthew Hale, who, on one occasion was
+instrumental to justice being done through himself appearing in
+disguise, and supporting the wronged party. It is related that the
+younger of two brothers had endeavoured to deprive the elder of an
+estate of L500 a year by suborning witnesses to declare that he died
+in a foreign land. But appearing in Court in the guise of a miller,
+Sir Matthew Hale was chosen the twelfth juryman to sit on this cause.
+As soon as the clerk of the juryman had sworn in the juryman, a short
+dexterous fellow came into their apartment, and slipped ten gold
+pieces into the hands of eleven of the jury, giving the miller only
+five, while the judge was generally supposed to be bribed with a large
+sum.
+
+At the conclusion of the case, the judge summed up the evidence in
+favour of the younger brother, and the jury were about to give their
+verdict, when the supposed miller stood up, and addressed the court.
+To the surprise of all present, he spoke with energetic and manly
+eloquence, "unravelled the sophistry to the very bottom, proved the
+fact of bribery, shewed the elder brother's title to the estate from
+the contradictory evidence of the witnesses," and in short, he gained
+a complete victory in favour of truth and justice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] See "Annual Register," 1813, 1835, and 1842, for similar cases.
+
+[44] See Notes and Queries, 6th Series, X., _passim_, for "Women on
+board ships in action"; and "Chambers's Pocket Miscellany," "Disguised
+Females, 1853."
+
+[45] See "Dictionary of National Biography," xiv., 485.
+
+[46] Arnold's "History of Streatham," 1866, 164-166. An extraordinary
+case of concealment of sex is recorded in the "Annual Register," under
+Jan. 23, 1833. An inquiry was instituted by order of the Home Secretary
+relative to the death of "a person who had been known for years by the
+name of Eliza Edwards," but who turned out to be a man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY DISAPPEARANCES.
+
+                            "O Annie,
+    It is beyond all hope, against all chance,
+    That he who left you ten long years ago
+    Should still be living; well, then--let me speak;
+    I grieve to see you poor and wanting help:
+    I cannot help you as I wish to do
+    Unless--they say that women are so quick--
+    Perhaps you know what I would have you know--
+    wish you for my wife."
+               ENOCH ARDEN.
+
+
+A glance at the agony columns of our daily newspapers, or the notice
+boards of police stations, it has been remarked, shows how many
+individuals disappear from home, from their business haunts, and from
+the circle of their acquaintances, and leave not the slightest trace
+of their whereabouts. In only too many instances, no satisfactory
+explanation has ever been forthcoming to account for a disappearance
+of this nature, and in the vast majority of cases no evidence has been
+discovered to prove the death of such persons. It is well known that
+"in France, before the Revolution, the vanishing of men almost before
+the eyes of their friends was so common that it scarcely excited any
+surprise at all. The only inquiry was, had he a beautiful wife or
+daughter, for in that case the explanation was easy; some one who had
+influence with the Government had designs upon the lady, and made
+interest to have her natural guardian put out of the way while those
+designs were being fulfilled." But, accountable as the disappearance
+of an individual was at such an unquiet time in French history, such a
+solution of the difficulty cannot be made to apply to our own country.
+Like other social problems, which no amount of intellectual ingenuity
+has been able to unravel, the reason why, at intervals, persons are
+missed and never found must always be regarded as an open question.
+
+Thus a marriage is recorded which took place in Lincolnshire, about
+the year 1750. In this instance, the wedding party adjourned after the
+marriage ceremony to the bridegroom's residence, and dispersed, some
+to ramble in the garden and others to rest in the house till the
+dinner hour. But the bridegroom was suddenly summoned away by a
+domestic, who said that a stranger wished to speak to him, and
+henceforward he was never seen again. All kinds of inquiries were made
+but to no purpose, and terrible as the dismay was of the poor bride at
+this inexplicable disappearance of the bridegroom, no trace could be
+found of him. A similar tradition hangs about an old deserted Welsh
+Hall, standing in a wood near Festiniog. In a similar manner, the
+bridegroom was asked to give audience to a stranger on his wedding
+day, and disappeared from the face of the earth from that moment. The
+bride, however, seems to have survived the shock, exceeding her three
+score years and ten, although, it is said, during all those years,
+while there was light of sun or moon to lighten the earth, she sat
+watching--watching at one particular window which commanded a view of
+the approach to the house. In short, her whole faculties, her whole
+mental powers, became completely absorbed in that weary process of
+watching, and long before she died she was childish, and only
+conscious of one wish--to sit in that long high window, and watch the
+road, along which he might come. Family romance records, from time to
+time, many such stories, and it was not so very long ago that a bridal
+party were thrown into much consternation by the non-arrival of the
+bridegroom. Everything was in readiness, the clergy and the choir,
+already vested, stood in the robing room, crimson carpets were laid
+down from the door to the carriages; some of the guests were at the
+church and others at the bride's house, when an alarm was raised by
+the best man that the bridegroom could nowhere be found. The
+bride-expectant burst into a flood of tears at this cruel
+disappointment, especially when the ominous news reached the church
+that the bridegroom's wedding suit had been found in the room, laid
+out ready to wear, but that there was not the slightest clue as to his
+whereabouts. It only remained for the bridal party to return home, and
+for the dejected and disconsolate bride to lay aside her veil and
+orange-blossoms.
+
+Sometimes, on the other hand, it is the bride who disappears at this
+crisis. Not many years back, an ex-lieutenant in the Royal Navy
+applied to a London magistrate, as he wanted to find his newly married
+wife. The applicant affirmed that the lady he had wedded was an
+actress, and that they were married at the registry office at Croydon.
+The magistrate asked if there had been any wedding breakfast. The
+applicant said "No"; they had partaken of a little luncheon and that
+was all. Mysterious and inexplicable as was this disappearance of a
+wife so shortly after marriage, it was suggested by the magistrate
+whether there were any rivals, but the applicant promptly replied,
+"No, certainly not, and that made the matter all the more
+incomprehensible." Of course, the magistrate could not recover the
+missing bride; but, remarking that the application was a very singular
+one, he recommended the applicant to consult the police on the matter,
+who replied that "he would do so, as he was really afraid that some
+mischief had happened to her," utterly disregarding the proposition of
+the magistrate as to whether the lady could not possibly have changed
+her mind, remarking that such a thing had occasionally happened.
+
+In the life of Dr. Raffles, an amusing story is quoted, which is
+somewhat to the point: "On our way from Wem to Hawkstone, we passed a
+house, of which the following occurrence was told: 'A young lady, the
+daughter of the owner of the house, was addressed by a man who, though
+agreeable to her, was disliked by her father. Of course, he would not
+consent to their union, and she determined to disappear and elope. The
+night was fixed, the hour came, he placed the ladder to the window,
+and in a few minutes she was in his arms. They mounted a double horse,
+and were soon at some distance from the house. After awhile the lady
+broke silence by saying, 'Well, you see what a proof I have given you
+of my affection; I hope you will make me a good husband!'
+
+"He was a surly fellow, and gruffly answered, 'Perhaps I may, and
+perhaps not.'
+
+"She made him no reply, but, after a few minutes' silence, she
+suddenly exclaimed, 'O, what shall we do? I have left my money behind
+me in my room!'
+
+"'Then,' said he, 'we must go and fetch it.' They were soon again at
+the house, the ladder was again placed, the lady remounted, while the
+ill-natured lover waited below. But she delayed to come, and so he
+gently called, 'Are you coming?' when she looked out of the window
+and said, 'Perhaps I may, and perhaps not,' then shut down the window,
+and left him to return upon the double horse alone."
+
+But, if traditionary lore is to be believed, the sudden disappearance
+of the bride on her wedding day has had, in more than one instance, a
+very romantic and tragic origin. There is the well-known story which
+tells how Lord Lovel married a young lady, a baron's daughter, who, on
+the wedding night, proposed that the guests should play at
+"hide-and-seek." Accordingly, the bride hid herself in an old oak
+chest, but the lid falling down, shut her in, for it went with a
+spring lock. Lord Lovel and the rest of the company sought her that
+night and many days in succession, but nowhere could she be found. Her
+strange disappearance for many years remained an unsolved mystery, but
+some time afterwards the fatal chest was sold, which, on being opened,
+was found to contain the skeleton of the long-lost bride. This popular
+story was made the subject of a song, entitled "The Mistletoe Bough,"
+by Thomas Haynes Bayley, who died in 1839; and Marwell Old Hall, near
+Winchester, once the residence of the Seymours, and afterwards of the
+Dacre family, has a similar tradition attached to it. Indeed, the very
+chest has been preserved in the hall of Upham Rectory, having been
+removed from Marwell some forty years ago. The great house at
+Malsanger, near Basingstoke, has a story of a like nature connected
+with it, reminding us of that of Tony Forster in Kenilworth, and of
+Rogers's Ginevra:
+
+    "There then had she found a grave!
+    Within that chest had she concealed herself,
+    Fluttering with joy, the happiest of the happy,
+    When a spring lock that lay in ambush there,
+    Fastened her down for ever."
+
+This story is found in many places, and the chest in which the poor
+bride was found is shown at Bramshill, in Hampshire, the residence of
+Sir John Cope. But only too frequently the young lady disappears from
+some preconcerted arrangement; a striking instance being that of
+Agnes, daughter of James Ferguson, the mechanist. While walking down
+the Strand with her father, she slipt her hand out of his whilst he
+was absorbed in thought, and he never saw her from that day, nor was
+anything known of the girl's fate till many years after Ferguson's
+death. At the time, the story of her extraordinary disappearance was
+matter of public comment, and all kinds of extravagant theories were
+started to account for it. The young lady, however, was gone, and
+despite the most patient search, and the most persistent inquiries, no
+tidings could be gained as to her whereabouts. In course of years the
+mystery was cleared up, and revealed a pitiable case of sin and shame.
+It appears that a nobleman to whom she had become known at her
+father's lectures took her, in the first instance, to Italy, and
+afterwards deserted her. In her distress, being ashamed to return
+home, she resolved to try the stage as a means of livelihood, and
+applied to Garrick, who gave her a trial on the boards, but the
+attempt proved a failure. She then turned her hand to authorship, but
+with no better success. Although reduced to the most abject poverty,
+she would not make herself known to her relatives, and in complete
+despair, and overwhelmed with a sense of her disgrace, in her last
+extremity she threw herself on the streets, and died in miserable
+beggary and wretchedness in Round Court, off the Strand. It was on her
+death-bed that she disclosed to the surgeon who attended her the
+melancholy and tragic story of her wasted life. But from the
+localities in which she had habitually moved, she must have many a
+time passed her relatives in the streets, though withheld by shame
+from making herself known, when they imagined her to be in some
+distant country, or in the grave.
+
+The strange disappearance of Lady Cathcart, on the other hand, whose
+fourth husband was Hugh Maguire, an officer in the Hungarian service,
+is an extraordinary instance of a wife being, for a long term of
+years, imprisoned by her own husband without any chance of escape. It
+seems that, soon after her last marriage, she discovered that her
+husband had only made her his wife with the object of possessing
+himself of her property, and, alarmed at the idea of losing
+everything, she plaited some of her jewels in her hair and others in
+her petticoat. But she little anticipated what was in store for her,
+although she had already become suspicious of her husband's intentions
+towards her. His plans, however, were soon executed; for one morning,
+under the pretence of taking her for a drive, he carried her away
+altogether: and when she suggested, after they had been driving some
+time, that they would be late for dinner, he coolly replied, "We do
+not dine to-day at Tewing, but at Chester, whither we are journeying."
+
+Some alarm was naturally caused, writes Sir Bernard Burke, "by her
+sudden disappearance, and an attorney was sent in pursuit with a writ
+of _habeas corpus_ or _ne exeat regno_, who found the travellers at
+Chester, on their way to Ireland, and demanded a sight of Lady
+Cathcart. Colonel Maguire at once consented, but, knowing that the
+attorney had never seen his wife, he persuaded a woman to personate
+her.
+
+The attorney, in due time, was introduced to the supposed Lady
+Cathcart, and was asked if she accompanied Colonel Maguire to Ireland
+of her own free will. "Perfectly so," said the woman. Whereupon the
+attorney set out again for London, and the Colonel resumed his journey
+with Lady Cathcart to Ireland, where, on his arrival at his own house
+at Tempo, in Fermanagh, his wife was imprisoned for many years."
+During this period the Colonel was visited by the neighbouring gentry,
+"and it was his regular custom at dinner to send his compliments to
+Lady Cathcart, informing her that the company had the honour to drink
+her ladyship's health, and begging to know whether there was anything
+at table that she would like to eat? But the answer was always the
+same, "Lady Cathcart's compliments, and she has everything she wants."
+Fortunately for Lady Cathcart, Colonel Maguire died in the year 1764,
+when her ladyship was released, after having been locked up for twenty
+years, possessing, at the time of her deliverance, scarcely clothes to
+her back. She lost no time in hastening back to England, and found her
+house at Tewing in possession of a Mr. Joseph Steele, against whom she
+brought an act of ejectment, and, attending the assize in person,
+gained her case. Although she had been so cruelly treated by Colonel
+Maguire, his conduct does not seem to have injured her health, for she
+did not die till the year 1789, when she was in her ninety-eighth
+year. And, when eighty years of age, it is recorded that she took part
+in the gaieties of the Welwyn Assembly, and danced with the spirit of
+a girl. It may be added that although she survived Colonel Maguire
+twenty years, she was not tempted, after his treatment, to carry out
+the resolution which she had inscribed as a poesy on her wedding ring.
+
+    If I survive
+    I will have five.[47]
+
+Another disappearance and supposed imprisonment which created
+considerable sensation in the last century was that of Elizabeth
+Canning. On New Year's Day, 1753, she visited an uncle and aunt who
+lived at Saltpetre Bank, near Well Close Square, who saw her part of the
+way home as far as Houndsditch. But as no tidings were afterwards heard
+of her, she was advertised for, rumours having gone abroad, that she had
+been heard to shriek out of a hackney coach in Bishopsgate-street.
+Prayers, too, were offered up for her in churches and meeting-houses,
+but all inquiries were in vain, and it was not until the 29th of the
+month that the missing girl returned in a wretched condition, ill,
+half-starved, and half-clad. Her story was that after leaving her uncle
+and aunt on the 1st of January, she had been attacked by two men in
+great coats, who robbed, partially stripped her, and dragged her away to
+a house in the Hertfordshire road, where an old woman cut off her stays,
+and shut her up in a room in which she had been imprisoned ever since,
+subsisting on bread and water, and a mince pie that her assailants had
+overlooked in her pocket, and ultimately, she said, she had escaped
+through the window, tearing her ear in doing so.
+
+Her story created much sympathy for her, and steps were immediately
+taken to punish those who had abducted her in this outrageous manner.
+The girl, who was in a very weak condition, was taken to the house
+she had specified, one "Mother" Wells, who kept an establishment of
+doubtful reputation at Enfield Wash, and on being asked to identify
+the woman who had cut off her stays, and locked her up in the room
+referred to, pointed out one Mary Squires, an old gipsy of surpassing
+ugliness. Accordingly, Squires and Wells were committed for trial for
+assault and felony; the result of the trial being that Squires was
+condemned to death, and Wells to be burned in the hand, a sentence
+which was executed forthwith, much to the delight of the excited crowd
+in the Old Bailey Sessions-house.
+
+But the Lord Mayor, Sir Crisp Gascoyne, who had presided at the trial
+_ex-officio_, was not satisfied with the verdict, and caused further
+and searching inquiries to be made. The verdict, on the weight of
+fresh evidence obtained, was upset, and Squires was granted a free
+pardon. On 29th April, 1754, Elizabeth Canning was summoned again to
+the Old Bailey, but this time to take her trial for wilful and corrupt
+perjury. The trial lasted eight days, and, being found guilty, she was
+transported in August, "at the request of her friends, to New
+England." According to the "Annual Register," she returned to this
+country at the expiration of her sentence to receive a legacy of L500,
+left to her three years before by an old lady of Newington Green;
+whereas, later accounts affirm that she never came back, but died 22nd
+July, 1773, at Weathersfield, in Connecticut, it being further stated
+that she married abroad a Quaker of the name of Treat, "and for some
+time followed the occupation of a schoolmistress."
+
+The mystery of her life--her disappearance from Jan. 1st to the 29th
+of that month, and what transpired in that interval--is a secret that
+has never been to this day divulged. Indeed, as it has been observed,
+"notwithstanding the many strange circumstances of her story, none is
+so strange as that it should not be discovered in so many years where
+she had concealed herself during the time she had invariably declared
+she was at the house of Mother Wells."[48]
+
+Another curious disappearance is recorded by Sir John Coleridge,
+forming a strange story of romance. It seems there lived in Cornwall,
+a highly respectable family, named Robinson, consisting of two
+sons--William and Nicholas--and two daughters. The property was
+settled on the two sons and their male issue, and in case of death on
+the two daughters. Nicholas was placed with an eminent attorney of St.
+Austen as his clerk, with a prospect of being one day admitted into
+partnership. But his legal studies were somewhat interrupted by his
+falling in love with a milliner's apprentice; the result being that he
+was sent to London to qualify himself as an attorney. But he had no
+sooner been admitted an attorney of the Queen's Bench and Common
+Pleas than he disappeared, and thenceforward he was never seen by any
+member of his family or former friends, all search for him proving
+fruitless.
+
+In course of time the father died, and William, the elder son,
+succeeded to the property, dying unmarried in May, 1802. As nothing
+was heard of Nicholas, the two sisters became entitled to the
+property, of which they held possession for twenty years, no claim
+being made to disturb their possession of it.
+
+But in the year 1783, a young man, whose looks and manners were above
+his means and situation, had made his appearance as a stranger at
+Liverpool, going by the name of Nathaniel Richardson--the same
+initials as Nicholas Robinson. He bought a cab and horse, and plied
+for hire in the streets of Liverpool--and being "a civil, sober, and
+prudent man," he soon became prosperous, and drove a coach between
+London and Liverpool. He married, had children, and gradually acquired
+considerable wealth. Having gone to Wales, however, in the year 1802,
+to purchase some horses, he was accidentally drowned in the Mersey.
+Many years after his death, it was rumoured in 1821 that this
+Nathaniel Richardson was no other than Nicholas Robinson, and his
+eldest son claimed the property, which was then inherited by the two
+daughters. An action was accordingly tried in Cornwall to recover the
+property. The strange part of the proceedings was that nearly forty
+years had elapsed since anyone had seen Nicholas Robinson; but, says
+Sir John Coleridge, "It was made out conclusively, in a most
+remarkable way, and by a variety of small circumstances, all pointing
+to one conclusion, that Nathaniel Richardson was the identical
+Nicholas Robinson". The Cornish and Liverpool witnesses agreed in the
+description of his person, his height, the colour of his hair, his
+general appearance, and, more particularly, it was mentioned that he
+had a peculiar habit of biting his nails, and that he had a great
+fondness for horses.
+
+In addition to other circumstances, there was this remarkable
+one--that Nathaniel's widow married again and that the furniture and
+effects were taken to the second husband's house. Among the articles,
+was an old trunk, which she had never seen opened; but, on its
+contents being examined one day, among other letters and papers, were
+found the two certificates of Nicholas Robinson's admission as
+Attorney to the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas--and, on the
+trial, the old master of Nicholas Robinson, alias Nathaniel
+Richardson, swore to his handwriting, and so the property was
+discovered.
+
+It has been often remarked that London is about the only place in all
+Europe where a man, if so desirous, can disappear and live for years
+unknown in some secure retreat. About the year 1706, a certain Mr.
+Howe, after he had been married some seven or eight years, rose early
+one morning, and informed his wife that he was obliged to go to the
+Tower on special business, and at about noon the same day he sent a
+note to his wife informing her that business summoned him to Holland,
+where he would probably have to remain three weeks or a month. But
+from that day he was absent from his home for seventeen years, during
+which time his wife neither heard from him, nor of him.
+
+His strange and unaccountable disappearance at the time naturally
+created comment, but no trace could be found of his whereabouts, or as
+to whether he had met with foul treatment. And yet the most curious
+part of the story remains to be told. On leaving his house in Jermyn
+Street, Piccadilly, Mr. Howe went no further than to a small street in
+Westminster, where he took a room, for which he paid five or six
+shillings a week, and changing his name, and disguising himself by
+wearing a black wig--for he was a fair man--he remained in this
+locality during the whole time of his absence. At the time he
+disappeared from his home, Mr. Howe had had two children by his wife,
+but these both died a few years afterwards. But, being left without
+the necessary means of subsistence, Mrs. Howe, after waiting two or
+three years in the hope of her husband's return, was forced to apply
+for an Act of Parliament to procure an adequate settlement of his
+estate, and a provision for herself out of it during his absence, as
+it was uncertain whether he was alive or dead. This act Mr. Howe
+suffered to be passed, and read the progress of it in a little
+coffee-house which he frequented.
+
+After the death of her children, Mrs. Howe removed from her house in
+Jermyn Street to a smaller one in Brewer Street, near Golden Square.
+Just over against her lived one Salt, a corn chandler, with whom Mr.
+Howe became acquainted, usually dining with him once or twice a week.
+The room where they sat overlooked Mrs. Howe's dining room, and Salt,
+believing Howe to be a bachelor, oftentimes recommended her to him as
+a suitable wife. And, curious to add, during the last seven years of
+his mysterious absence, Mr. Howe attended every Sunday service at St.
+James's Church, Piccadilly, and sat in Mr. Salt's seat, where he had a
+good view of his wife, although he could not be easily seen by her.
+
+At last, however, Mr. Howe made up his mind to return home, and the
+evening before he took this step, sent her an anonymous note
+requesting her to meet him the following day in Birdcage Walk, St.
+James's Square. At the time this billet arrived, Mrs. Howe was
+entertaining some friends and relatives at supper--one of her guests
+being a Dr. Rose, who had married her sister.
+
+After reading the note, Mrs. Howe tossed it to Dr. Rose, laughingly
+remarking, "You see, brother, old as I am, I have got a gallant."
+
+But Dr. Rose recognised the handwriting as that of Mr. Howe, which so
+upset Mrs. Howe that she fainted away. It was eventually arranged that
+Dr. Rose and his wife, with the other guests who were then at supper,
+should accompany Mrs. Howe the following evening to the appointed
+spot. They had not long to wait before Mr. Howe appeared, who, after
+embracing his wife, walked home with her in the most matter-of-fact
+manner, the two living together in the most happy and harmonious
+manner till death divided them.
+
+The reason of this mysterious disappearance, Mr. Howe would never
+explain, but Dr. Rose often maintained that he believed his brother
+would never have returned to his wife had not the money which he took
+with him--supposed to have been from one to two thousand pounds--been
+all spent. "Anyhow," he used to add, "Mr. Howe must have been a good
+economist, and frugal in his manner of living, otherwise the money
+would scarce have held out."
+
+A romance associated with Haigh Hall, in Lancashire, tells how Sir
+William Bradshaigh, stimulated by his love of travel and military
+ardour, set out for the Holy land. Ten years elapsed, and, as no
+tidings reached his wife of his whereabouts, it was generally supposed
+that he had perished in some religious crusade. Taking it for granted,
+therefore, that he was dead, his wife Mabel did not abandon herself
+to a life of solitary widowhood, but accepted an offer of marriage
+from a Welsh knight. But, not very long afterwards, Sir William
+Bradshaigh returned from his prolonged sojourn in the Holy land, and,
+disguised as a palmer, he visited his own castle, where he took his
+place amongst the recipients of Lady Mabel's bounty.
+
+As soon, however, as Lady Mabel caught sight of the palmer, she was
+struck by the strong resemblance he bore to her first husband; and
+this impression was quickly followed by bewilderment when the
+mysterious stranger handed to her a ring which he affirmed had been
+given him by Sir William, in his dying moments, to bear to his wife at
+Haigh Hall.
+
+In a moment Lady Mabel's thoughts travelled back into the distant
+past, and she burst into tears as the ring brought back the dear
+memories of bygone days. It was in vain she tried to stifle her
+feelings, and, as her second husband--the Welsh Knight--looked on and
+saw how distressed she was, "he grew," says the old record, "exceeding
+wroth," and, in a fit of jealous passion, struck Lady Mabel.
+
+This ungallant act was the climax of the painful scene, for there and
+then Sir William threw aside his disguise, and hastened to revenge the
+unchivalrous conduct of the Welsh knight. Completely confounded at
+this unexpected turn of events, and fearing violence from Sir
+William, the Welsh knight rode off at full speed, without waiting for
+any explanation of the matter. But he was overtaken very speedily and
+slain by his opponent, an offence for which Sir William was outlawed
+for a year and a day; while Mabel, his wife, "was enjoined by her
+confessor to do penance by going once every week, barefoot and bare
+legged, to a cross near Wigan, popularly known as Mab's Cross.[49]
+
+In Wigan Parish Church, two figures of whitewashed stone preserve the
+memory of Sir William Bradshaigh and his Lady Mabel, he in an antique
+coat of mail, cross-legged, with his sword, partly drawn from the
+scabbard, by his left side, and she in a long robe, veiled, her hands
+elevated and conjoined in the attitude of fervent prayer. Sir Walter
+Scott informs us that from this romance he adopted his idea of "The
+Betrothed," "from the edition preserved in the mansion of Haigh Hall,
+of old the mansion house of the family of Bradshaigh, now possessed by
+their descendants on the female side, the Earls of Balcarres."[50]
+
+[Illustration: LADY MABEL AND THE PALMER.]
+
+Scottish tradition ascribes to the Clan of Tweedie a descent of a
+similar romantic nature. A baron, somewhat elderly, had wedded a buxom
+young wife, but some months after their union he left her to ply the
+distaff among the mountains of the county of Peebles, near the sources
+of the Tweed. After being absent seven or eight years--no uncommon
+space for a pilgrimage to Palestine--he returned, and found, to quote
+the account given by Sir Walter Scott, "his family had not been lonely
+in his absence, the lady having been cheered by the arrival of a
+stranger who hung on her skirts and called her mammy, and was just
+such as the baron would have longed to call his son, but that he could
+by no means make his age correspond with his own departure for
+Palestine. He applied, therefore, to his wife for the solution of the
+dilemma, who, after many floods of tears, informed her husband that,
+walking one day along the banks of the river, a human form arose from
+a deep eddy, termed Tweed-pool, who deigned to inform her that he was
+the tutelar genius of the stream, and he became the father of the
+sturdy fellow whose appearance had so much surprised her husband."
+After listening to this strange adventure, "the husband believed, or
+seemed to believe, the tale, and remained contented with the child
+with whom his wife and the Tweed had generously presented him. The
+only circumstance which preserved the memory of the incident was that
+the youth retained the name of Tweed or Tweedie." Having bred up the
+young Tweed as his heir while he lived, the baron left him in that
+capacity when he died, "and the son of the river-god founded the
+family of Drummelzier and others, from whom have flowed, in the phrase
+of the Ettrick shepherd, 'many a brave fellow, and many a bauld
+feat.'"
+
+It may be added that, in some instances, the science of the medical
+jurist has aided in elucidating the history of disappearances, through
+identifying the discovered remains with the presumed missing subjects.
+Some years ago, the examination of a skeleton found deeply imbedded in
+the sand of the sea-coast at a certain Scotch watering-place showed
+that the person when living must have walked with a very peculiar and
+characteristic gait, in consequence of some deposits of a rheumatic
+kind which affected the lower part of the spine. The mention of this
+circumstance caused a search to be made through some old records of
+the town, and resulted in the discovery of a mysterious disappearance,
+which, at the time, had been duly noted--the subject being a person
+whose mode of walking had made him an object of attention, and whose
+fate, but for the observant eye of the anatomist, must have remained
+wholly unknown. Similarly, it has been pointed out how skeletons found
+in mines, in disused wells, in quarries, in the walls of ruins, and
+various other localities "imply so many social mysteries which
+probably occasioned in their day a wide-spread excitement, or at least
+agitated profoundly some small circle of relatives or friends."
+According to the "Annual Register" (1845, p. 195), while some men were
+being employed in taking the soil from the bottom of the river in
+front of some mills a human skeleton was accidentally found. At a
+coroner's inquest, it transpired that about nine years before a Jew
+whose name was said to be Abrams, visited Taverham in the course of
+his business, sold some small articles for which he gave credit to the
+purchasers, and left the neighbourhood on his way to Drayton, the next
+village, with a sum of L90 in his possession. But at Drayton he
+disappeared, and never returned to Taverham to claim the amount due to
+him.
+
+Search was made for the missing man, but to no purpose, and after the
+excitement in the neighbourhood had abated, the matter was soon
+forgotten. But some time afterwards a man named Page was apprehended
+for sheep stealing, tried, and sentenced to be transported for life.
+During his imprisonment, he told divers stories of robberies and
+crimes, most of which turned out to be false. But, amongst other
+things, he wrote a letter promising that if he were released from gaol
+and brought to Cossey, "he would show them that, from under the willow
+tree, which would make every hair in their heads rise up." The man was
+not released, but the river was drawn, and some sheep's skins and
+sheep's heads were found, which were considered to be the objects
+alluded to by Page. The search, however, was still pursued, and from
+under the willow tree the skeleton was fished up, evidently having
+been fastened down. It was generally supposed that these were the
+bones of the long lost Jew, who, no doubt, had been murdered for the
+money on his person--a crime of which Page was aware, if he were not
+an accomplice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[47] See "Romantic Records of the Aristocracy," 1850, I., 83-87.
+
+[48] See "Dict. of Nat. Biog.," VIII., 418-420; Caulfield's "Remarkable
+Persons," and Gent. Mag., 1753 and 1754.
+
+[49] Sir B. Burke's "Vicissitudes of Families," first series, 270-273.
+Harland's "Lancashire Legends," 45-47. Roby's "Traditions of
+Lancashire."
+
+[50] The tale of the noble Moringer is, in some respects, almost
+identical with this tradition. It exists in a collection of German
+popular songs, and is supposed to be extracted from a manuscript
+"Chronicle of Nicholas Thomann, Chaplain to St. Leonard in
+Weissenhorn," and dated 1533.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HONOURED HEARTS.
+
+    "I will ye charge, after that I depart
+    To holy grave, and thair bury my heart,
+    Let it remaine ever bothe tyme and hour,
+    To ye last day I see my Saviour."
+               --Old ballad quoted in Sir Walter Scott's notes
+                 to "Marmion."
+
+
+A curious and remarkable custom which prevailed more or less down to
+the present century was that of heart burial. In connection with this
+strange practice numerous romantic stories are told, the supreme
+regard for the heart as the source of the affections, having caused it
+to be bequeathed by a relative or friend, in times past, as the most
+tender and valuable legacy. In many cases, too, the heart, being more
+easy to transport, was removed from some distant land to the home of
+the deceased, and hence it found a resting place, apart from the body,
+in a locality endeared by past associations.
+
+Westminster Abbey, it may be remembered, contains the hearts of many
+illustrious personages. The heart of Queen Elizabeth was buried there,
+and it is related how a prying Westminster boy one day, discovering
+the depositories of the hearts of Elizabeth and her sister, Queen
+Mary, subsequently boasted how he had grasped in his hand those once
+haughty hearts. Prince Henry of Wales, son of James I., who died at
+the early age of eighteen, was interred in Westminster Abbey, his
+heart being enclosed in lead and placed upon his breast, and among
+further royal personages whose hearts were buried in a similar manner
+may be mentioned Charles II., William and Mary, George, Prince of
+Denmark, and Queen Anne.
+
+The heart of Edward, Lord Bruce, was enclosed in a silver case, and
+deposited in the abbey church of Culross, near the family seat. In the
+year 1808, this sad relic was discovered by Sir Robert Preston, the
+lid of the silver case bearing on the exterior the name of the
+unfortunate duellist; and, after drawings had been taken of it, the
+whole was carefully replaced in the vault; and in St. Nicholas's
+Chapel, Westminster, was enshrined the heart of Esme Stuart, Duke of
+Richmond, where a monument to his memory is still to be seen with this
+fact inscribed upon it.
+
+Many interesting instances of heart burial are to be found in our
+parish churches. In the church of Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, which
+was once the seat of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a nameless black marble
+monument is pointed out as that of Anne Boleyn. According to a popular
+tradition long current in the neighbourhood, this is said to have
+contained the head, or heart. "It is within a narrow seat," writes
+Miss Strickland, "and may have contained her head, or her heart, for
+it is too short to contain a body. The oldest people in the
+neighbourhood all declare that they have heard the tradition in their
+youth from a previous generation of aged persons, who all affirm it to
+be Anne Boleyn's monument." But, it would seem, there has always been
+a mysterious uncertainty about Anne Boleyn's burial place, and a
+correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (October, 1815), speaks of
+"the headless remains of the departed queen, as deposited in the arrow
+chest and buried in the Tower Chapel before the high altar. Where that
+stood, the most sagacious antiquary, after a lapse of more than 300
+years, cannot now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related
+by eminent writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar, the body of a
+person of short stature, without a head, not many years since, was
+found, and supposed to be the reliques of poor Anne, but soon after it
+was reinterred in the same place and covered with earth."[51]
+
+By her testament, Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, wife of Edward, Duke
+of Buckingham, who was beheaded on May 17th, 1521, appointed her heart
+to be buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within the City of
+London; and in the Sackville Vault, in Withyam Church, Sussex, is a
+curiously shaped leaden box in the form of a heart, on a brass plate
+attached to which is this inscription: "The heart of Isabella,
+Countess of Northampton, died on October 14th, 1661." A leaden drum
+deposited in a vault in the church of Brington is generally supposed
+to contain the head of Henry Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, who received
+his death wound at the battle of Newbury; and at Wells Cathedral, in a
+box of copper, a heart was accidentally discovered, supposed to be
+that of one of the bishops; and in the family vault of the
+Hungerfords, at Farley Castle, a heart was one day found in a glazed
+earthenware pot, covered with white leather. The widow of John Baliol,
+father of Bruce's rival, showed her affection for her dead lord in a
+strange way, for she embalmed his heart, placed it in an ivory casket,
+and during her twenty years of widowhood she never sat down to meals
+without this silent reminder of happier days. On her death, she left
+instructions for her husband's heart to be laid on her bosom, and from
+that day "New Abbey" was known as Sweet Heart Abbey, and "never," it
+is said, "did abbey walls shelter a sweeter, truer heart than that of
+the lady of Barnard Castle."
+
+Among the many instances of heart-bequests may be noticed that of
+Edward I., who on his death-bed expressed a wish to his son that his
+heart might be sent to Palestine, inasmuch as after his accession he
+had promised to return to Jerusalem, and aid the crusade which was
+then in a depressed condition. But, unfortunately, owing to his wars
+with Scotland, he failed to fulfil his engagement, and at his death he
+provided two thousand pounds of silver for an expedition to convey his
+heart thither, "trusting that God would accept this fulfilment of his
+vow, and grant his blessing on the undertaking"; at the same time
+imprecating "eternal damnation on any who should expend the money for
+any other purpose." But his injunction was not performed.
+
+Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, the avowed foe of Edward I., also gave
+directions to his trusted friend, Sir James Douglas, that his heart
+should be buried in the Holy Land, because he had left unfulfilled a
+vow to assist in the Crusade, but his wish was frustrated owing to the
+following tragic occurrence. After the king's death, his heart was
+taken from his body, and, enclosed in a silver case, was worn by Sir
+James Douglas suspended to his neck, who set out for the Holy Land. On
+reaching Spain, he found the King of Castile engaged in war with the
+Moors, and thinking any contest with Saracens consistent with his
+vows, he joined the Spaniards against the Moors. But being overpowered
+by the enemy's horsemen, in desperation he took the heart from his
+neck, and threw it before him, shouting aloud, "Pass on as thou wert
+wont, I will follow or die." He was almost immediately struck down,
+and under his body was found the heart of Bruce, which was intrusted
+to the charge of Sir Simon Locard of Lee, who conveyed it back to
+Scotland, and interred it beneath the high altar in Melrose Abbey, in
+connection with which Mrs. Hemans wrote some spirited lines:--
+
+    Heart! thou didst press forward still
+    When the trumpet's note rang shrill,
+    Where the knightly swords were crossing
+    And the plumes like sea-foam tossing.
+    Leader of the charging spear,
+    Fiery heart--and liest thou here?
+    May this narrow spot inurn
+    Aught that so could heat and burn?
+
+The heart of Richard, the Lion-hearted, has had a somewhat eventful
+history. It seems that this monarch bequeathed his heart to Rouen, as
+a lasting recognition of the constancy of his Norman subjects. The
+honour was gratefully acknowledged, and in course of time a beautiful
+shrine was erected to his memory in the cathedral. But this costly
+structure did not escape being destroyed in the year 1738 with other
+Plantagenet memorials. A hundred years afterwards the mutilated effigy
+of Richard was discovered under the cathedral pavement, and near it
+the leaden casket that had inclosed his heart, which was replaced.
+Before long it was taken up again, and removed to the Museum of
+Antiquities, where it remained until the year 1869, when it found a
+more fitting resting-place in the choir of the cathedral.
+
+James II. bequeathed his heart to be buried in the Church of the
+Convent Dames de St. Marie, at Chaillot, whence it was afterwards
+removed to the chapel of the English Benedictines in the Faubourg St.
+Jacques. And the heart of Mary Beatrice, his wife, was also bequeathed
+to the Monastery of Chaillot, in perpetuity, "to be placed in the
+tribune beside those of her late husband, King James, and the
+Princess, their daughter." Dr. Richard Rawlinson, the well known
+antiquary bequeathed his heart to St. John's College, Oxford; and
+Edward, Lord Windsor, of Bradenham, Bucks, who died at Spa in the year
+1754, directed that his body should be buried in the "Cathedral church
+of the noble city of Liege, with a convenient tomb to his memory, but
+his heart to be enclosed in lead and sent to England, there to be
+buried in the chapel of Bradenham, under his father's tomb, in token
+of a true Englishman."
+
+Paul Whitehead, who died in the year 1774, left his heart to his
+friend Lord le Despencer, to be deposited in his mausoleum at West
+Wycombe. Lord le Despencer accepted the bequest, and on the 16th May,
+1775, the heart, after being wrapped in lead and placed in a marble
+urn, was carried with much ceremony to its resting place. Preceding
+the bier bearing the urn, "a grenadier marched in full uniform, nine
+grenadiers two deep, the odd one last; two German flute players, two
+surpliced choristers with notes pinned to their backs, two more flute
+players, eleven singing men in surplices, two French horn players, two
+bassoon players, six fifers, and four drummers with muffled drums.
+Lord le Despencer, as chief mourner, followed the bier, in his uniform
+as Colonel of the Bucks Militia, and was succeeded by nine officers of
+the same corps, two fifers, two drummers, and twenty soldiers with
+their firelocks reversed. The Dead March in "Saul" was played, the
+church bell tolled, and cannons were discharged every three and a half
+minutes." On arriving at the mausoleum, another hour was spent by the
+procession in going round and round it, singing funeral dirges, after
+which the urn containing the heart was carried inside, and placed upon
+a pedestal bearing the name of Paul Whitehead, and these lines:
+
+    Unhallowed hands, this urn forbear;
+      No gems, no Orient spoil,
+    Lie here concealed; but what's more rare,
+      A heart that knew no guile.
+
+But in the year 1829 some unhallowed hand stole the urn, and the
+whereabouts of Whitehead's heart remains a mystery to the present day.
+In recent times an interesting case of heart burial was that of Lord
+Byron, whose heart was enclosed in a silver urn and placed at Newstead
+Abbey in the family vault; and another was that of the poet, Shelley,
+whose body, according to Italian custom after drowning, was burnt to
+ashes. But the heart would not consume, and so was deposited in the
+English burying ground at Rome.
+
+It is worthy, too, of note that heart burial prevailed to a very large
+extent on the Continent. To mention a few cases, the heart of Philip,
+King of Navarre, was buried in the Jacobin's Church, Paris, and that
+of Philip, King of France, at the convent of the Carthusians at
+Bourgfontaines, in Valois. The heart of Henri II., King of France, was
+enshrined in an urn of gilt bronze in the Celestins, Paris; that of
+Henri III., according to Camden, was enclosed in a small tomb, and
+Henri IV.'s heart was buried in the College of the Jesuits at La
+Fleche. Heart burial, again, was practised at the deaths of Louis IX.,
+XII., XIII., and XIV., and in the last instance was the occasion of an
+imposing ceremony. "The heart of this great monarch," writes Miss
+Hartshorne, "was carried to the Convent of the Jesuits. A procession
+was arranged by the Cardinal de Rohan, and, surrounded by flaming
+torches and escorted by a company of the Royal Guards, the heart
+arrived at the convent, where it was received by the rector, who
+pronounced over it an eloquent and striking discourse."
+
+The heart of Marie de Medicis, who built the magnificent palace of the
+Luxembourg, was interred at the Church of the Jesuits, in Paris; and
+that of Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV., was deposited in a silver
+case in the monastery of Val de Grace. The body of Gustavus Adolphus,
+the illustrious monarch who fell in the field of Lutzen, was embalmed,
+and his heart received sepulchre at Stockholm; and, as is well known,
+the heart of Cardinal Mazarin was, by his own desire, sent to the
+Church of the Theatins. And Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV.,
+directed in her will that her body should be buried at St. Denis near
+to her husband, "of glorious memory," but her heart she bequeathed to
+Val de Grace; and she also decreed that it should be drawn out through
+her side without making any further opening than was absolutely
+necessary. Instances such as these show the prevalence of the custom
+of heart burial in bygone times, a further proof of which may be
+gathered from the innumerable effigies or brasses in which a heart
+holds a prominent place.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[51] See Timbs' "Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England," i., p.
+300; and "Enshrined Hearts of Warriors and Illustrious People," by
+Emily Sophia Hartshorne, 1861.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+ROMANCE OF WEALTH.
+
+        The unsunn'd heaps
+    Of miser's treasure.
+               MILTON.
+
+
+Stories of lost or unclaimed property have always possessed a
+fascinating charm, but, unfortunately, the links for proving the
+rightful ownership break off generally at the point where its history
+seems on the verge of being unravelled. At the same time, however
+romantic and improbable some of the announcements relating to such
+treasure-hoards may seem, there is no doubt that many a poor family,
+at the present day, would be possessed of great wealth if it could
+only gain a clue to the whereabouts of money rightfully its own.
+
+The legal identification, too, of such property when discovered has
+frequently precluded its successfully being claimed by those really
+entitled to enjoy it, and few persons are aware of the enormous amount
+of unclaimed money--amounting to some millions--which lies dormant,
+although continually made public in the "agony columns" of the _Times_
+and other daily newspapers. It should be also remembered that wealth
+of this kind is carefully preserved in all kinds of places; bankers'
+cellars, for instance, containing some of the most curious unclaimed
+deposits, many of them being of rare intrinsic value, whilst others
+are of great romantic interest.
+
+Thus, not many years ago, there was accidentally discovered in the
+vaults of the Bank of England a large chest of some considerable age,
+which, on being removed from its resting place, almost fell to pieces.
+On the contents of this old chest being examined, some massive plate
+of the time of Charles II. was brought to light, of very beautiful and
+chaste workmanship. Nor was this all, for much to the surprise of the
+explorers, a bundle of love letters, written during the period of the
+Restoration, was found carefully packed away with the plate. On search
+being made by the directors of the bank in their books, the surviving
+heir of the original depositor was ascertained, to whom the plate and
+packet of love letters were handed over.
+
+Many similar cases might be quoted, for in most of our bank cellars
+are hoarded away family treasures, which for some inexplicable reason
+have never been claimed. Some, again, of our old jewellers' shops have
+had strange deposits in their cellars, the history and whereabouts of
+their owners having baffled the most searching and minute inquiries.
+As an illustration, may be given an instance which occurred some years
+back in connection with a jeweller's shop near Soho. It seems that an
+old lady lodged for a few weeks over the said shop, and, on leaving
+for the Continent, left behind her, for safety's sake, several boxes
+of plate to be taken care of until further notice. But years passed by
+and no tidings of the lady reached the jeweller, although from time to
+time the most careful inquiries were instituted. At last, however, it
+transpired that she had died somewhat suddenly, but, as no record was
+found amongst her papers relating to the boxes of plate, a lengthened
+litigation arose as to the rightful claimant of the property.
+
+Occasionally, through domestic differences, homes are broken up and
+the members dispersed, some perhaps going abroad. In many cases, such
+persons it may be are not only lost sight of for years, but are never
+heard of again, and hence, when they become entitled to money, large
+sums are frequently spent in advertising for their whereabouts, and
+oftentimes with no satisfactory results. Indeed, advertisements for
+missing relatives are, it is said, yearly on the increase, and
+considerable sums of money cannot be touched owing to the uncertainty
+as to whether persons of this description are alive or dead. An
+interesting instance occurred in the year 1882, when Sir James Hannen
+had the following case brought before him: "Counsel applied on behalf
+of Augustus Alexander de Niceville for letters of administration to
+the property of his father, supposed to be dead, as he had not been
+heard of since the year 1831, and who, if alive, would be 105 years
+old. In early life he held a commission in the French army, but in the
+year 1826 he came to this country and settled in Devonshire. On the
+breaking out of the French Revolution he returned with his wife to
+France, but his wife came back to England, and corresponded with her
+husband till the year 1831, when she ceased to hear from him. In spite
+of every means employed for tracing his whereabouts, nothing was ever
+heard of him, his wife dying in the year 1875. Affidavits in support
+of these facts having been read, the application was granted."
+
+Then there are the well-known unclaimed funds in Chancery, concerning
+which so much interest attaches. It may not be generally known what a
+mine of wealth these dormant funds constitute, amounting to many
+millions; indeed, the Royal Courts of Justice have been mainly built
+with the surplus interest of this money, and occasionally large sums
+from this fund have been borrowed to enable the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer to carry through his financial operations. By an Act passed
+in the year 1865, facilities are afforded to apply L1,000,000 from
+funds standing in the books of the Bank of England to an account thus
+designated: "Account of securities purchased with surplus interest
+arising from securities carried to the account of moneys placed out
+for the benefit and better security of the suitors of the Court of
+Chancery." Not so very long ago the subject was discussed in
+Parliament, when it was urged that, as the Government were trustees of
+these funds, something should be done, as far as possible, by
+publicity, to adopt measures whereby the true owners might become
+claimants if they had but the knowledge of their rights.
+
+Another reason for money remaining unclaimed for a number of years, is
+through missing wills. Hence many a family forfeits its claim to
+certain property on account of the testator's last wishes not being
+forthcoming. Thackeray makes one of his plots hang in a most ingenious
+way upon a missing will, which is discovered eventually in the
+sword-box of a family coach, and various curious instances are on
+record of wills having been discovered years after the testator's
+death in the most out-of-the-way and unlikely hiding places. In some
+cases, also, through a particular clause in a will being peculiarly or
+doubtfully worded, heirs have been deprived of what was really due to
+them, a goodly part of the property having been squandered and wasted
+in prolonged legal expenses.
+
+Then, again, it is universally acknowledged that there is an immense
+quantity of money, and other valuables, concealed in the earth. In
+olden days, the householder was the guardian of his own money, and so
+had to conceal it as his ingenuity could devise. Accordingly large
+sums of money were frequently buried underground, and in excavating
+old houses, treasures of various kinds are oftentimes found underneath
+the floors. The custom of making the earth a stronghold, and confiding
+to its safe-keeping deposits of money, prevailed until a comparatively
+recent period, and was only natural, when it is remembered how, in
+consequence of civil commotions, many a home was likely to be robbed
+of its most valuable belongings. Hence every precaution was taken, a
+circumstance which accounts for the cunning secretal of rich and
+costly relics in old buildings. According to an entry given by Pepys
+in his "Diary," a large amount was supposed to be buried in his day,
+and he gives an amusing account of the hiding of his own money by his
+wife and father when the Dutch fleet was supposed to be in the Medway.
+Times of trouble, therefore, will account for many of the treasures
+which were so carefully secreted in olden times. Many years ago, as
+the foundations of some old houses in Exeter were being removed, a
+large collection of silver coins was discovered--the money found
+dating from the time of Henry VIII. to Charles I., or the
+Commonwealth--and it has been suggested that the disturbed state of
+affairs in the middle of the 17th century led to this mode of securing
+treasure.
+
+This will account in some measure for the traditions of the existence
+of large sums of hidden money associated with some of our old family
+mansions. An amusing story is related by Thomas of Walsingham, which
+dates as far back as the 14th century. A certain Saracen physician
+came to Earl Warren to ask permission to kill a dragon which had its
+den at Bromfield, near Ludlow, and committed great ravages in the
+earl's lands. The dragon was overcome; but it transpired that a large
+treasure lay hid in its den. Thereupon some men of Herefordshire went
+by night to dig for the gold, and had just succeeded in reaching it
+when the retainers of the Earl of Warren, having learnt what was going
+on, captured them and took possession of the hoard for the earl. A
+legend of this kind was long connected with Hulme Hall, formerly a
+seat of a branch of the Prestwich family. It seems that during the
+civil wars its then owner, Sir Thomas Prestwich, was very much
+impoverished by fines and sequestrations, so that he was forced to
+sell the mansion and estate to Sir Oswald Mosley. On more than one
+occasion his mother had induced him to advance large sums of money to
+Charles I. and his adherents, under the assurance that she had hidden
+treasures which would amply repay him. This hoard was generally
+supposed to have been hidden, either in the hall itself, or in the
+grounds adjoining, and it was said to be protected by spells and
+incantations, known only to the lady dowager herself. Time passed on,
+and the old lady became every day more infirm, and at last she was
+struck down with apoplexy before she could either practise the
+requisite incantations, or inform her son where the treasure was
+secreted. After her burial, diligent search was made, but to no
+effect; and Sir Thomas Prestwich went down to the grave in comparative
+poverty. Since that period fortune-tellers and astrologers have tried
+their powers to discover the whereabouts of this hidden hoard, and,
+although they have been unsuccessful, it is still believed that one
+day their labours will be rewarded, and that the demons who guard the
+money will be forced to give up their charge. Some years ago the hall
+and estate were sold to the Duke of Bridgewater, and, the site having
+been required for other purposes, the hall was pulled down, but no
+money was discovered.
+
+In Ireland, there are few old ruins in and about which excavations
+have not been made in the expectation of discovering hidden wealth,
+and in some instances the consequence of this belief has been the
+destruction of the building, which has been actually undermined. About
+three miles south of Cork, near the village of Douglas, is a hill
+called Castle Treasure, where a "cross of gold" was supposed to be
+concealed; and the discovery, some years ago, of a rudely-formed clay
+urn and two or three brazen implements attracted for some time crowds
+to the spot.
+
+But such stories are not confined to any special locality, and there
+is, in most parts of England, a popular belief that vast treasures are
+hidden beneath the old ruins of many houses, and that supernatural
+obstacles always prevent their being discovered. Indeed, Scotland has
+numerous legends of this kind, some of which, as Mr. Chambers has
+pointed out, have been incorporated into its popular rhymes. Thus, on
+a certain farm in the parish of Lesmahagow, from time immemorial there
+existed a tradition that underneath a very large stone was secreted a
+vast treasure in the shape of a kettleful, a bootful, and a bull-hide
+full "of gold, all of which have been designated 'Katie Neevie's
+hoord,'" having given rise to the following adage:
+
+    Between Dillerhill and Crossford
+    There lies Katie Neevie's hoord.
+
+And at Fardell, anciently the seat of Sir Walter Raleigh's family, in
+the courtyard formerly stood an inscribed bilingual stone of the Roman
+British period; the stone is now in the British Museum. The tradition
+current in the neighbourhood makes the inscription refer to a treasure
+buried by Sir Walter Raleigh, and hence the local rhyme:
+
+    Between this stone and Fardell Hall
+    Lies as much money as the devil can haul.
+
+A curious incident happened in Ireland about the commencement of the
+last century. The Bishop of Derry being at dinner, there came in an
+old Irish harper, and sang an ancient song to his harp. The Bishop,
+not being acquainted with Irish, was at a loss to understand the
+meaning of the song, but on inquiry he ascertained the substance of it
+to be this--that in a certain spot a man of gigantic stature lay
+buried, and that over his breast and back were plates of pure gold,
+and on his fingers rings of gold so large that an ordinary man might
+creep through them. The spot was so exactly described that two persons
+actually went in quest of the garden treasure. After they had dug for
+some time, they discovered two thin pieces of gold, circular, and more
+than two inches in diameter. But when they renewed their excavations
+on the following morning they found nothing more. The song of the
+harper has been identified as "Moiva Borb," and the lines which
+suggested the remarkable discovery have been translated thus:
+
+    In earth, beside the loud cascade,
+    The son of Sora's king we laid;
+    And on each finger placed a ring
+    Of gold, by mandate of our king.
+
+The loud cascade was the well-known waterfall at Ballyshannon, known
+as "The Salmon Leap" now.
+
+[Illustration: THERE CAME IN AN OLD IRISH HARPER AND SANG AN
+ANCIENT SONG TO HIS HARP.]
+
+It was also a common occurrence for a miser to hide away his hoards
+underground, and before he had an opportunity of making known their
+whereabouts he died, without his heirs being put in the necessary
+possession of the information regarding that part of the earth wherein
+he had kept secreted his wealth. At different times, in old houses
+have been discovered misers' hoards, and which, but for some accident,
+would have remained buried in their forgotten resting-place. This
+will frequently account for money being found in the most eccentric
+nooks, an illustration of which happened a few years ago in Paris,
+when a miser died, leaving behind him, as was supposed, money to the
+value of sixty pounds. After some months had passed by, the claimant
+to the property made his appearance, and, on the miser's apartments
+being thoroughly searched, no small astonishment was caused by the
+discovery of the large sum of thirty-two thousand pounds. It may be
+noted that in former years our forefathers were extremely fond of
+hiding away their money for safety, making use of the chimney, or the
+wainscot or skirting-board. There it frequently remained; and such
+depositories of the family wealth were occasionally, from death and
+other causes, completely forgotten. In one of Hogarth's well-known
+pictures, the young spendthrift, who has just come into his
+inheritance, is being measured by a fashionable tailor, when, from
+behind the panels which the builders are ripping down, is seen falling
+a perfect shower of golden money.
+
+There can be no doubt that there is many an old house in this country
+which, if thoroughly ransacked, would be found to contain treasures of
+the most valuable and costly kind. Some years ago, for example, a
+collection of pictures was discovered at Merton College, Oxford,
+hidden away between the ceiling and the roof; and missing deeds have
+from time to time been discovered located in all sorts of mysterious
+nooks. In a set of rooms in Magdalen College, too, which had been
+originally occupied by one of the Fellows, and had subsequently been
+abandoned and devoted to lumber, was unearthed a strong wooden box,
+containing, together with some valuable articles of silver plate, a
+beautiful loving-cup, with a cover of pure gold. When, also, the
+Vicarage house of Ormesby, in Yorkshire, required reparation, some
+stonework had to be removed in order to carry out the necessary
+alterations, in the course of which a small box was found, measuring
+about a foot square, which had been embedded in the wall. The box,
+when opened, was full of angels, angelets, and nobles. Some of the
+money was of the reign of Edward IV., some of Henry VI., and some,
+too, of the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. It has been suggested
+that when Henry VIII. dissolved the lesser monasteries, the monks of
+Guisboro' Priory, which was only about six miles off, fearing the
+worst, fled with their treasures, and, with the craft and cunning
+peculiar to their order, buried a portion of them in the walls of the
+parsonage house of Ormesby.[52]
+
+To quote another case, Dunsford, in his "Memories of Tiverton" (1790),
+p. 285, speaking of the village of Chettiscombe, says that in the
+middle of the 16th century, in the north part of this village was "a
+chapel entire, dedicated to St. Mary. The walls and roof are still
+whole, and served some years past for a dwelling-house, but is now
+uninhabited." It appears that not only was there some superstition
+attaching to this building, which accounted for its untenanted
+condition, but certain money was supposed to be hidden away, to
+discover which every attempt had hitherto been in vain. "It was
+therefore proposed," says the author, "that some person should lodge
+in the chapel for a night to obtain preternatural information
+respecting it. Two persons at length complied with the request to do
+so, and, aided by strong beer, approached about nine o'clock the
+hallowed walls. They trembled exceedingly at the sudden appearance of
+a white owl that flew from a broken window with the message that
+considerable wealth lay in certain fields, that if they would
+diligently dig there, they would undoubtedly find it." They quickly
+attended to this piece of information, and employed a body of workmen
+who, before long, succeeded in bringing to light the missing money.
+
+A similar tradition was associated with Bransil Castle, a stronghold
+of great antiquity, situated in a romantic position about two miles
+from the Herefordshire Beacon. The story goes that the ghost of Lord
+Beauchamp, who died in Italy, could never rest until his bones were
+delivered to the right heir of Bransil Castle. Accordingly, they were
+sent from Italy enclosed in a small box, and were for a considerable
+time in the possession of Mr. Sheldon, of Abberton. The tradition
+further states that the old Castle of Bransil was moated round, and in
+that moat a black crow, presumed to be an infernal spirit, sat to
+guard a chest of money, till discovered by the rightful owner. The
+chest could never be moved without the mover being in possession of
+the bones of Lord Beauchamp.
+
+Such stories of hidden wealth being watched over by phantom beings are
+not uncommon, and remind us of those anecdotes of treasures concealed
+at the bottom of wells, guarded over by the "white ladies." In
+Shropshire, there is an old buried well of this kind, at the bottom of
+which a large hoard has long been supposed to lie hidden, or as a
+local rhyme expresses it:
+
+    Near the brook of Bell
+    There is a well
+    Which is richer than any man can tell.
+
+In the South of Scotland it is the popular belief that vast treasures
+have for many a year past been concealed beneath the ruins of
+Hermitage Castle; but, as they are supposed to be in the keeping of
+the Evil One, they are considered beyond redemption. At different
+times various efforts have been made to dig for them, yet "somehow the
+elements always on such occasions contrived to produce an immense
+storm of thunder and lightning, and deterred the adventurers from
+proceeding, otherwise, of course the money would long ago have been
+found." And to give another of these strange family legends, may be
+quoted one told of Stokesay Castle, Shropshire. It seems that many
+years ago all the country in the neighbourhood of Stokesay belonged to
+two giants, who lived the one upon View Edge, and the other at Norton
+Camp. The story commonly current is that "they kept all their money
+locked up in a big oak chest in the vaults under Stokesay Castle, and
+when either of them wanted any of it he just took the key and got
+some. But one day one of them wanted the key, and the other had got
+it, so he shouted to him to throw it over as they had been in the
+habit of doing, and he went to throw it, but somehow he made a mistake
+and threw too short, and dropped the key into the moat down by the
+Castle, where it has remained ever since. And the chest of treasure
+stands in the vaults still, but no one can approach it, for there is a
+big raven always sitting on the top of it, and he won't allow anybody
+to try and break it open, so no one will ever be able to get the
+giants' treasure until the key is found, and many say it never will be
+found, let folks try as much as they please."[53]
+
+Amongst further reasons for the hiding away of money, may be noticed
+eccentricity of character, or mental delusion, a singular instance of
+which occurred some years ago. It appears that whilst some workmen
+were grubbing up certain tree at Tufnell Park, near Highgate, they
+came upon two jars, containing nearly four hundred pounds in gold.
+This they divided, and shortly afterwards, when the lord of the manor
+claimed the whole as treasure trove, the real owner suddenly made his
+appearance. In the course of inquiry, it transpired that he was a
+brassfounder, living at Clerkenwell, and having been about nine months
+before under a temporary delusion, he one night secreted the jars in a
+field at Tufnell Park. On proving the truth of his statement, the
+money was refunded to him.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] "Journal of the Archaeological Association," 1859, Vol. xv., p.
+104.
+
+[53] "Shropshire Folklore" (Miss Jackson), 7, 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+LUCKY ACCIDENTS.
+
+    "As the unthought-on accident is guilty
+    Of what we wildly do, so we profess
+    Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
+    Of every wind that blows."
+               "Winter's Tale," Act iv., Sc. 3.
+
+
+Pascal, one day, remarked that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter
+the whole face of the world would probably have been changed. The same
+idea may be applied to the unforeseen advantages produced by
+accidents, some of which have occasionally had not a little to do with
+determining the future position in life of many eminent men. Prevented
+from pursuing the sphere in this world they had intended, compulsory
+leisure compelled them to adopt some hobby as a recreation, in which,
+unconsciously, their real genius lay.
+
+Thus David Allan, popularly known as the "Scottish Hogarth," owed his
+fame and success in life to an accident. When a boy, having burnt his
+foot, he amused the monotony of his leisure hours by drawing on the
+floor with a piece of chalk--a mode of passing his time which soon
+obtained an extraordinary fascination for him. On returning to school,
+he drew a caricature of his schoolmaster punishing a pupil, which
+caused him to be summarily expelled. But, despite this punishment, his
+success as an artist was decided, the caricature being considered so
+clever that he was sent to Glasgow to study art, where he was
+apprenticed in 1755 to Robert Foulis, a famous painter, who with his
+brother Andrew had secretly established an academy of arts in that
+city. Their kindness to him he was afterwards able to return when
+their fortunes were reversed.
+
+If Sir Walter Scott had not sprained his foot in running round the
+room when a child, the world would probably have had none of those
+works which have made his name immortal. When his son intimated a
+desire to enter the army, Sir Walter Scott wrote to Southey, "I have
+no title to combat a choice which would have been my own, had not my
+lameness prevented." In the same way, the effects of a fall when about
+a year old rendered Talleyrand lame for life, and being, on this
+account, unfit for a military career, he was obliged to renounce his
+birthright in favour of his second brother. But what seemed an
+obstacle to his future success was the very reverse, for, turning his
+attention to politics and books, he eventually became one of the
+leading diplomatists of his day. Again, Josiah Wedgwood was seized in
+his boyhood with an attack of smallpox, which was followed by a
+disease in the right knee, some years afterwards necessitating the
+amputation of the affected limb. But, as Mr. Gladstone, in his address
+on Wedgwood's life and work delivered at Burslem, Oct. 26th, 1863,
+remarked, the disease from which he suffered was, no doubt, the cause
+of his subsequent greatness, for "it prevented him from growing up to
+be the active, vigorous English workman, but it put upon him
+considering whether, as he could not be that, he might not be
+something else, and something greater. It drove him to meditate upon
+the laws and secrets of his art."
+
+Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. Being removed from school on
+account of his health, it appears that a cold caught in the summer of
+1660 while bathing, which produced a rheumatic affection of the
+joints, accompanied by other ailments. He became unable to walk to
+school, and he finally left in May, 1662. His self-training now began,
+and Sacroborco's "De Sphaera" was lent to him, with the perusal of
+which he was so pleased that he forthwith commenced a course of
+astronomic studies. Accordingly, he constructed a rude quadrant and
+calculated a table of the sun's altitudes, pursuing his studies, as he
+said himself, "under the discouragement of friends, the want of
+health, and all other instructors, except his better genius."[54]
+
+Alluding to accidents as sometimes developing greatness, Mr. Smiles
+remarks that Pope's satire was in a measure the outcome of his
+deformity; and Lord Byron's club foot, he adds, "had probably not a
+little to do with determining his destiny as a poet. Had not his mind
+been embittered, and made morbid by his deformity, he might never have
+written a line. But his misshapen foot stimulated his mind, roused his
+ardour, threw him upon his own resources, and we know with what
+result."
+
+Again, in numerous other ways, it has been remarked, accidents have
+taken a lucky turn, and, if not being the road to fortune, have had
+equally important results. The story is told of a young officer in the
+army of General Wolfe who was supposed to be dying of an abscess in
+the lungs. He was absent from his regiment on sick leave, but resolved
+to join it when a battle was expected, "for," said he, "since I am
+given over I had better be doing my duty, and my life's being
+shortened a few days matters not." He received a shot which pierced
+the abscess and made an opening for the discharge, the result being
+that he recovered and lived to eighty years of age.
+
+Brunel, the celebrated engineer, had a curious accident, which might
+have forfeited his life. While one day playing with his children and
+astonishing them by passing a half sovereign through his mouth out at
+his ear, he unfortunately swallowed the coin, which dropped into his
+windpipe. Brunel regarded the mischief caused by the accident as
+purely mechanical; a foreign body had got into his breathing
+apparatus, and must be removed, if at all, by some mechanical
+expedient. But he was equal to the emergency, and had an apparatus
+constructed which had the effect of relieving him of the coin. In
+after days he used to tell how, when his body was inverted, and he
+heard the gold piece strike against his upper front teeth, was,
+perhaps, the most exquisite moment in his whole life, the half
+sovereign having been in his windpipe for not less than six weeks.
+
+In the year 1784, William Pitt almost fell the victim to the folly of
+a festive meeting, for he was nearly accidentally shot as a
+highwayman. Returning late at night on horseback from Wimbledon to
+Addiscombe, together with Lord Thurlow, he found the turnpike gate
+between Tooting and Streatham thrown open. Both passed through it,
+regardless of the threats of the turnpike man, who, taking the two for
+highwaymen, discharged the contents of his blunderbuss at their backs;
+but, happily, no injury was done, and Pitt had the good fortune to
+escape from what might have been a very serious, if not fatal,
+accident. Foote, too, met with a bad accident on horseback, which, at
+the time, seemed a lasting obstacle to his career as an actor. Whilst
+riding with the Duke of York and some other noblemen, he was thrown
+from his horse and his leg broken, so that an amputation became
+necessary. In consequence of this accident, the Duke of York obtained
+for him the patent of the Haymarket Theatre for his life; but he
+continued to perform his former characters with no less agility and
+spirit than he had done before to the most crowded houses. Similarly,
+on one occasion--a very important one--Charles James Matthews was
+nearly prevented making his first appearance on the stage through
+being thrown from his horse, but, to quote his own words, "the
+excitement of the evening dominated all other feelings, and I walked
+for the time as well as ever."
+
+Some men, again, have owed their success to the accidents of others. A
+notable instance was that of Baron Ward, the well-known minister of
+the Duke of Parma. After working some time as a stable-boy in Howden,
+he went to London, where he had the good luck to come to the Duke of
+Parma's assistance after a fall from his horse in Rotten Row. The Duke
+took him back to Lucca as his groom, and ere long Ward made the ducal
+stud the envy of Italy. He soon rose to a higher position, and became
+the minister and confidential friend of the Duke of Parma, with whom
+he escaped in the year 1848 to Dresden, and for whom he succeeded in
+recovering Parma and Placenza. Indeed, Lord Palmerston once remarked,
+"Baron Ward was one of the most remarkable men I ever met with."
+
+It was through witnessing an accident that Sir Astley Cooper made up
+his final decision to take up surgery as his profession. A young man,
+having been run over by a cart, was in danger of dying from loss of
+blood, when young Cooper lost no time in tying his handkerchief about
+the wounded limb so as to stop the hemorrhage. It was this incident
+which assured him of his taste for surgery. In the same way, the story
+is quoted of the eminent French surgeon, Ambrose Pare. It is stated
+that he was acting as stable-boy to an abbe at Laval when a surgical
+operation was about to be performed on one of the brethren of the
+monastery. On being called in to assist, Ambrose Pare not only proved
+so useful, but was so fascinated with the operation that he made up
+his mind to devote his life to the study and practice of surgery.
+Instances of this kind might be enumerated, being of frequent
+occurrence in biographical literature, and showing to what unforeseen
+circumstances men have occasionally owed their greatness.
+
+A romance which, had it lacked corroborative evidence, would have
+seemed highly improbable, is told of the two Countesses of Kellie. In
+the latter half of the last century, Mr Gordon, the proprietor of
+Ardoch Castle--situated upon a high rock, overlooking the sea--was one
+evening aroused by the firing of a gun evidently from a vessel in
+distress near the shore. Hastening down to the beach, with the
+servants of the Castle, it was evident that the distressed vessel had
+gone down, as the floating spars but too clearly indicated. After
+looking out in vain for some time, in the hope of recovering some of
+the passengers--either dead or alive--he found a sort of crib, which
+had been washed ashore, containing a live infant. The little creature
+proved to be a female child, but beyond the fact that its wrappings
+pointed to its being the offspring of persons in no mean condition,
+there was no trace as to who these were.
+
+The little foundling was brought up with Mr. Gordon's own daughters,
+and when she had attained to womanhood, by an inexplicable
+coincidence, a storm similar to that just mentioned occurred. An
+alarm-gun was fired, and this time Mr. Gordon had the satisfaction of
+receiving a shipwrecked party, whom he at once made his guests at the
+Castle. Amongst them was one gentleman passenger, who after a
+comfortable night spent in the Castle, was surprised at breakfast by
+the entrance of a troop of blooming girls, the daughters of his host,
+as he understood, but one of whom specially attracted his attention.
+
+"Is this young lady your daughter, too?" he inquired of Mr. Gordon.
+
+"No," replied his host, "but she is as dear to me as if she were."
+
+He then related her history, to which the stranger listened with eager
+interest, and at its close he not a little surprised Mr. Gordon by
+remarking that he "had reason to believe that the young lady was his
+own niece." He then gave a detailed account of his sister's return
+from India, corresponding to the time of the shipwreck, and added,
+"she is now an orphan, but if I am not mistaken in my supposition, she
+is entitled to a handsome provision which her father bequeathed to her
+in the hope of her yet being found."
+
+Before many days had elapsed, sufficient evidence was forthcoming to
+prove that by this strange, but lucky, accident of the shipwreck, the
+long lost niece was found. The young heiress keenly felt leaving the
+old castle, but to soften the wrench it was arranged that one of the
+Misses Gordon should accompany her to Gottenburg, where her uncle had
+long been settled as a merchant.
+
+The sequel of this romance, as it is pointed out in the "Book of
+Days,"[55] is equally astonishing. It seems that among the Scotch
+merchants settled in the Swedish port, was Mr. Thomas Erskine--a
+younger son of a younger brother of Sir William Erskine, of Cambo, in
+Fife--an offshoot of the family of the Earl of Kellie--to whom Miss
+Anne Gordon was married in the year 1771. A younger brother, named
+Methven, ten years later married Joanna, a sister of Miss Gordon. It
+was never contemplated that these two brothers would ever come near to
+the peerage of their family--there being at one time seventeen persons
+between them and the family titles; but in the year 1797 the baronet
+of Cambo became Earl of Kellie, and two years later the title came to
+the husband of Anne Gordon. In short, "these two daughters of Mr.
+Gordon, of Ardoch, became in succession Countesses of Kellie in
+consequence of the incident of the shipwrecked foundling, whom their
+father's humanity had rescued from the waves."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[54] See "Dictionary of National Biography," xix., 242.
+
+[55] "The Two Countesses of Kellie," ii. 41, 42.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+FATAL PASSION.
+
+    What dreadful havoc in the human breast
+    The passions make, when, unconfined and mad,
+    They burst, unguided by the mental eye,
+    The light of reason, which, in various ways,
+    Points them to good, or turns them back from ill!
+               THOMSON.
+
+
+The annals of some of our old and respected families have occasionally
+been sadly stained "by hideous exhibitions of cruelty and lust," in
+certain instances the result of an unscrupulous disregard of moral
+duty and of a vindictive fierceness in avenging injury. It has been
+oftentimes remarked that few tragedies which the brain of the novelist
+has depicted have surpassed in their unnatural and horrible details
+those enacted in real life, for
+
+    When headstrong passion gets the reins of reason,
+    The force of Nature, like too strong a gale,
+    For want of ballast, oversets the vessel.
+
+Love, indeed, which has been proverbially said to lead to as much evil
+as any impulse that agitates the human bosom, must be held responsible
+for only too many of those crimes which from time to time outrage
+society, for, as the authors of "Guesses at Truth" have remarked,
+"jealousy is said to be the offspring of love, yet, unless the parent
+make haste to strangle the child, the child will not rest till it has
+poisoned the parent." Thus, a tragedy which made the Castle of
+Corstorphine the scene of a terrible crime and scandal in the year
+1679, may be said to have originated in an unhallowed passion.
+
+George, first Lord Forrester, having no male issue, made an
+arrangement whereby his son-in-law, James Baillie, was to succeed him
+as second Lord Forrester and proprietor of the estate of Corstorphine.
+Just four years after this compact was made, Lord Forrester died, and
+James Baillie, a young man of twenty-five, succeeded to the title and
+property. But this arrangement did not meet with the approval of Lord
+Forrester's daughters, who regarded it as a manifest injustice that
+the honours of their ancient family should devolve on an alien--a
+feeling of dissatisfaction which was more particularly nourished by
+the third daughter, Lady Hamilton, whose husband was far from wealthy.
+
+It so happened that Lady Hamilton had a daughter, Christian, who was
+noted for her rare beauty and high spirit. But, unfortunately, she was
+a girl of strong passion, which, added to her self-will, caused her,
+when she had barely arrived at a marriageable age, to engage herself
+to one James Nimmo, the son of an Edinburgh merchant. Before many
+weeks had elapsed, the young couple were married, and the handsome
+young wife was settled in her new home in Edinburgh. Time wore on, the
+novelty of marriage died away, and as Mrs. Nimmo dwelt on her
+mercantile surroundings, she recognised more and more what an
+ill-assorted match she had made, and in her excitable mind, "she
+cursed the bond which connected her with a man whose social position
+she despised, and whose occupations she scorned." The report, however,
+of her uncommon beauty, could not fail to reach the ears of young Lord
+Forrester, who on the score of relationship was often attracted to
+Mrs. Nimmo's house. At first he was received with coldness, but, by
+flattering and appealing to her vanity, he gradually "accomplished the
+ruin of this unhappy young woman," and made her the victim of his
+licentious and unprincipled designs.
+
+But no long time had elapsed when this shameful intrigue became the
+subject of common talk, and public indignation took the side of the
+injured woman, when Lord Forrester, after getting tired of her, "was
+so cruel and base as to speak of her openly in the most opprobrious
+manner," even alluding to her criminal connection with him. In so
+doing, however, he had not taken into consideration the violent
+character of the woman he had wronged, nor thought he of her jealousy,
+wounded pride, and despair. In his haste, also, to rid himself of the
+woman who no longer fascinated him, he paid no heed to the passion
+that was lurking in her inflamed bosom, nor counted on her _spretae
+injuria formae_.
+
+On the other hand, whilst he was forgetting the past in his orgies,
+Mrs. Nimmo--whose love for him was turned to the bitterest hate--was
+hourly reproaching him, and at last the fatal moment arrived when she
+felt bound to proceed to Corstorphine Castle, and confront her
+evil-doer. At the time, Lord Forrester was drinking at the village
+tavern, and, when the infuriated woman demanded to see him, he was
+flushed with claret, and himself in no amiable mood. The altercation,
+naturally, "soon became violent, bitter reproaches were uttered on the
+one side, and contemptuous sneers on the other." Goaded to frenzy, the
+unhappy woman stabbed her paramour to the heart, killing him
+instantly.
+
+When taken before the sheriff of Edinburgh, she confessed her crime,
+and, although she told the court in the most pathetic manner how
+basely she had been wronged by one who should have supported rather
+than ruined her, sentence of death was passed upon her. She managed,
+writes Sir Bernard Burke,[56] to postpone the execution of her
+sentence by declaring that she was with child by her seducer, and
+during her imprisonment succeeded in escaping in the disguise of a
+young man. But she was captured, and on the 12th November, 1679, paid
+the penalty of her rash act, appearing at her execution attired in
+deep mourning, covered with a large veil.
+
+Radcliffe to this day possesses the tradition of a terrible tragedy of
+which there are several versions. It appears that one Sir William de
+Radclyffe had a very beautiful daughter whose mother died in giving
+her birth. After a time he married again, and the step-mother,
+actuated by feeling of jealousy, conceived a violent hatred to the
+girl, which ere long prompted her to be guilty of the most insane
+cruelty. One day, runs the story, when Sir William was out hunting,
+she sent the unsuspecting girl into the kitchen with a message to the
+cook that he was to dress the white doe. But the cook professing
+ignorance of the particular white doe he was to dress, asserted, to
+the young lady's intense horror, that he had received orders to kill
+her, which there and then he did, afterwards making her into a pie.
+
+On Sir William's return from hunting, he made inquiries for his
+daughter, but his wife informed him that she had taken the opportunity
+in his absence of going into a nunnery. Suspicious, however, of the
+truth of her story--for her jealous hatred of his daughter had not
+escaped his notice--he flew into a passion, and demanded in the most
+peremptory manner where his daughter was, whereupon the scullion boy
+denounced the step-mother, and warned Sir William against eating the
+pie.
+
+The whole truth was soon revealed, and the diabolic wickedness of Lady
+William did not pass unpunished, for she was burnt, and the cook was
+condemned to stand in boiling lead. A ballad in the Pepys' collection,
+entitled, "The Lady Isabella's Tragedy, or the Step-mother's Cruelty,"
+records this horrible barbarity; and in a Lancashire ballad, called
+"Fair Ellen of Radcliffe", it is thus graphically told:--
+
+    She straighte into the kitchen went,
+      Her message for to tell;
+    And then she spied the master cook,
+      Who did with malice swell.
+
+    "Nowe, master cooke, it must be soe,
+      Do that which I thee tell;
+    You needs must dress the milk-white doe,
+      You which do knowe full well."
+
+    Then straight his cruel, bloody hands,
+      He on the ladye laid,
+    Who, quivering and ghastly, stands
+      While thus to her he sayd:
+
+    "Thou art the doe that I must dress;
+      See here! behold, my knife!
+    For it is pointed, presentli
+      To rid thee of thy life."
+
+    O then, cryed out the scullion boye,
+      As loud as loud might be,
+    "O save her life, good master cook,
+      And make your pyes of me."
+
+The tradition adds that Sir William was not unmindful of the scullion
+boy's heroic conduct, for he made him heir to his possessions.
+
+Another cruel case of woman's jealousy, which, happily, was not so
+disastrous in its result as the former, relates to Maria, daughter of
+the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, second son of Kenneth, Earl of Seaforth,
+who was Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline. Report goes that between
+this young lady, who was one of the greatest beauties about the Court,
+and a Mr. Price, an admired man about town, there subsisted a strong
+attachment. Unfortunately for Miss Mackenzie, Mr. Price was an
+especial favourite of the celebrated Countess of Deloraine, who, to
+get rid of her rival in beauty, poisoned her.
+
+But this crime was discovered in time, antidotes were administered
+with success, and the girl's life was saved; although her lovely
+complexion is said to have been ruined, ever after continuing of a
+lemon tint. Queen Caroline, desirous of shielding the Countess of
+Deloraine from the consequences of her act, persuaded "the poisoned
+beauty" to appear, as soon as she was sufficiently recovered, at a
+supper, given either by the Countess of Deloraine or where she was to
+be present. Accordingly, on the night arranged, some excitement was
+caused by the arrival of Miss Mackenzie, for as she entered the room,
+someone exclaimed, "How entirely changed!"
+
+But Mr. Price, who was seated by Lady Deloraine remarked, "In my eyes
+she is more beautiful than ever," and it only remains to add that they
+were married next morning.
+
+Like jealousy, thwarted love has often been cause of the most
+unnatural crimes, and a tragic story is told of the untimely death of
+Mr Blandy, of Henley, in Oxfordshire, who, by practice as an attorney,
+had accumulated a large fortune. He had an only child, Mary, who was
+regarded as an heiress, and consequently had suitors many. On one
+occasion, it happened that William Cranstoun, brother of Lord
+Cranstoun, being upon a recruiting party in Oxfordshire, and hearing
+of Miss Blandy's "great expectations," found an opportunity of
+introducing himself to the family.
+
+The Captain's attentions, however, to Miss Blandy met with the strong
+disapproval of her father, for he had ascertained that this suitor for
+his daughter's hand had been privately married in Scotland. But
+against this objection Captain Cranstoun replied that he hoped to get
+this marriage speedily set aside by a decree of the Supreme Court of
+Session. And when the Court refused to annul the marriage, Mr. Blandy
+absolutely refused to allow his daughter to have any further
+communications with so dishonourable a man; a resolution to which he
+remained inexorable.
+
+Intrigue between the two was the result, for it seems that Miss
+Blandy's affection for this profligate man--almost double her age--was
+violent. As might be expected, Captain Cranstoun not only worked upon
+her feelings, but imposed on her credulity. He sent her from Scotland
+a pretended love powder, which he enjoined her to administer to her
+father, in order to gain his affection and procure his consent. This
+injunction she did not carry out, on account of a frightful dream, in
+which she saw her father fall from a precipice into the ocean.
+Thereupon the Captain wrote a second time, and told her in words
+somewhat enigmatical, but easily understood by her, his design.
+
+Horrible to relate, the wicked girl was so elated with the idea of
+removing her father, that she was heard to exclaim before the
+servants, "who would not send an old fellow to hell for thirty
+thousand pounds?"
+
+The fatal die was cast. The deadly powder was mixed and given to him
+in a cup of tea, after drinking which he soon began to swell
+enormously.
+
+"What have you given me, Mary?" asked the unhappy dying man. "You have
+murdered me; of this I was warned, but, alas! I thought it was a false
+alarm. O, fly; take care of the Captain!"
+
+Thus Mr. Blandy died of poison, but his daughter was captured whilst
+attempting to escape, and was conveyed to Oxford Castle, where she was
+imprisoned till the assizes, when she was tried for parricide, was
+found guilty, and executed. Captain Cranstoun managed to effect his
+escape, and went abroad, where he died soon afterwards in a deplorable
+state of mind, brought about by remorse for the evil and misery he had
+caused.
+
+Almost equally tragic was the fatal passion of Sir William Kyte,
+forming another strange domestic drama in real life. Possessed of
+considerable fortune, and of ancient family, Sir William was deemed a
+very desirable match, and when he offered his hand to a young lady of
+noble rank, and of great beauty, he was at once accepted. The marriage
+for the first few years turned out happily, but the crisis came when
+Sir William was nominated, at a contested election, to represent the
+borough of Warwick, in which county lay the bulk of his estate. After
+the election was over, Lady Kyte, by way of recompensing a zealous
+partisan of her husband, took an innkeeper's daughter, Molly Jones,
+for her maid; "a tall, genteel girl, with a fine complexion, and
+seemingly very modest and innocent." But before many months had
+elapsed, Sir William was attracted by the girl, and, eventually,
+became so infatuated by her charms, that, casting aside all restraints
+of shame or fear, he agreed to a separation between his wife and
+himself. Accordingly, Sir William left Lady Kyte, with the two younger
+children, in possession of the mansion-house in Warwickshire, and
+retired with his mistress and his two eldest sons to a farmhouse on
+the Cotswold hills. Charmed with the situation, he was soon tempted to
+build a handsome house here, to which were added two large
+side-fronts, for no better reason than that Molly Jones, one day,
+happened to say, "What is a Kite without wings." But the expense of
+completing this establishment, amounting to at least L10,000, soon
+involved Sir William in financial difficulties, which caused him to
+drown his worries in drink.
+
+At this juncture, Molly Jones, forgetting her own past, was
+injudicious enough to engage a fresh coloured country girl--who was
+scarcely twenty--as dairymaid, for whom Sir William quickly conceived
+an amorous regard. Actuated by jealousy or disgust, Molly Jones
+threatened to leave Sir William, a resolution which she soon carried
+out, retiring to Cambden, a neighbouring market town, where she was
+reduced to keep a small sewing school as a means of livelihood.
+Although left to carry on his intrigue undisturbed, Sir William soon
+became a victim to gloomy reflections, feeling at times that he had
+not only cruelly wronged a good wife, but had been deserted by the
+very woman for whose sake he had brought this trouble and disgrace
+upon his family. Tormented by these conflicting passions, he
+occasionally worked himself up into such a state of frenzy that even
+his new favourite was terrified, and had run away. It was when almost
+maddened with the thought of his evil past that he formed that fatal
+resolve which was a hideous ending to "the dreadful consequence of a
+licentious passion not checked in its infancy." One October evening,
+as a housemaid was on the stairs, suddenly "the lobby was all in a
+cloud of smoke." She gave the alarm, and on the door being forced
+open whence the smoke proceeded, it was discovered that Sir William
+had set fire to a large heap of fine linen, piled up in the middle of
+the room. From an adjoining room, where Sir William had made his
+escape, the flames burst out with such fury that all were glad to make
+their escape out of the house, the greater part of which was in a few
+hours burnt to the ground--no other remains of its master being found
+next morning but the hip-bone, and bones of the back.
+
+A case which, at the time, created considerable sensation was the
+murder of Thynne of Longleat by a jealous antagonist. The eleventh
+Duke of Northumberland left an only daughter, whose career, it has
+been said, "might match that of the most erratic or adventurous of her
+race." Before she was sixteen years old, she had been twice a widow,
+and three times a wife. At the age of thirteen, she was married to the
+only son of the Duke of Newcastle, a lad of her own age, who died in a
+few months. Her second husband was Thynne of Longleat, "Tom of Ten
+Thousand," but the tie was abruptly severed by the bullet of an
+assassin, set on by the notorious Count Konigsmark, who had been a
+suitor for her hand, and was desirous of another chance. After his
+death, the young widow, who was surrounded by a host of admirers,
+married the Duke of Somerset, and she seems to have made him a fitting
+mate, for when his second wife, a Finch, tapped him familiarly on the
+shoulder, or, according to another version, seated herself on his
+knee, he exclaimed indignantly:
+
+"My first wife was a Percy, and she never thought of taking such a
+liberty."
+
+It may be added that one of the most remarkable incidents in this
+celebrated beauty's life was when by dint of tears and supplications
+she prevented Queen Anne from making Swift a bishop, out of revenge
+for the "Windsor prophecy," in which she was ridiculed for the redness
+of her hair, and upbraided as having been privy to the brutal murder
+of her second husband. "It was doubted," says Scott, "which imputation
+she accounted the more cruel insult, especially since the first charge
+was undoubted, and the second arose only from the malice of the poet."
+
+Another tragedy of a similar kind was the murder of William Mountford,
+the player. Captain Richard Hill had conceived a violent passion for
+Mrs. Bracegirdle, the beautiful actress, and is said to have offered
+her his hand, and to have been refused. At last his passion became
+ungovernable, and he determined to carry her off by force. To carry
+out his purpose, he induced his friend Lord Mohun to assist him in the
+attempt. According to one account, "he dodged the fair actress for a
+whole day at the theatre, stationed a coach near the Horseshoe Tavern,
+in Drury Lane, to carry her off in, and hired six soldiers to force
+her into it. As the beautiful actress came down Drury Lane, at ten
+o'clock at night, accompanied by her mother and brother, and escorted
+by her friend Mr. Page, one of the soldiers seized her in his arms,
+and endeavoured to force her into the coach. But the lady's scream
+attracted a crowd, and Captain Hill, finding his endeavours
+ineffectual, bid the soldiers let her go. Disappointed in their
+object, Lord Mohun and Captain Hill vowed vengeance; and Mrs.
+Bracegirdle on reaching home sent her servant to Mr. Mountford's house
+to take care of himself, warning him against Lord Mohun and Captain
+Hill, "who she feared, had no good intention toward him, and did wait
+for him in the street." It appears that Mountford had already heard of
+the attempt to carry off Mrs. Bracegirdle, and hearing that Lord Mohun
+and Captain Hill were in the street, did not shrink from approaching
+them."
+
+The account says that he addressed Lord Mohun, and told him how sorry
+he was to find him in the company of such a pitiful fellow as Captain
+Hill, whereupon, it is said, "the captain came forth and said he would
+justify himself, and went towards the middle of the street, and Mr.
+Mountford followed him and drew." The end of the quarrel was that
+Mountford fell with a terrible wound, of which he died on the
+following day, declaring in his last moments that Captain Hill ran him
+through the body before he could draw his sword. Captain Hill, it
+seems, owed Mountford a deadly grudge, having attributed his rejection
+by Mrs. Bracegirdle to her love for him--an unlikely passion, it is
+thought, as Mountford was a married man, with a good-looking wife of
+his own, afterwards Mrs. Verbruggen, and a celebrated actress.
+
+Oulton House, Suffolk, long known as the "Haunted House," acquired its
+ill-omened name from a tragic occurrence traditionally said to have
+happened many years ago, and the peasantry in the neighbourhood affirm
+that at midnight a wild huntsman, with his hounds, accompanied by a
+lady carrying a poisoned cup, is occasionally seen. The story is that,
+in the reign of George II., a squire, returning unexpectedly home from
+the chase, discovered his wife with an officer, one of his guests, in
+too familiar a friendship. High words followed, and the indignant
+husband, provoked by the cool manner in which the officer treated the
+matter, struck him, whereupon the guilty lover drew his sword and
+drove it through the squire's heart, the faithless wife and her
+paramour afterwards making their escape.
+
+Some years afterwards, runs the tale, the Squire's daughter, who had
+been left behind in the hasty departure, having grown to womanhood,
+was affianced to a youthful farmer of the neighbourhood. But on their
+bridal eve, as they were sitting together talking over the new life
+they were about to enter, "a carriage, black and sombre as a hearse,
+with closely drawn curtains, and attended by servants clad in sable
+liveries, drew up to the door." The young girl was seized by masked
+men, carried off in the carriage to her unnatural mother, while her
+betrothed was stabbed as he vainly endeavoured to rescue her. A grave
+is pointed out in the cemetery at Namur, as that in which was laid the
+body of the unhappy girl, poisoned, it is alleged, by her unscrupulous
+and wicked mother. It is not surprising, we are told, that the
+locality was supposed to be haunted by the wretched woman--both as
+wife and mother equally criminal.
+
+Family romance, once more, has many a dark page recording how
+despairing love has ended in self-destruction. At the beginning of the
+present century, a sad catastrophe befell the Shuckburghs of
+Shuckburgh Hall. It appears the Bedfordshire Militia were stationed
+near Upper Shuckburgh, and the officers were in the habit of visiting
+the Hall, whose hospitable owner, Sir Stewkley Shuckburgh, received
+them with every mark of cordiality. His daughter, then about twenty
+years of age, was a young lady of no ordinary attractions, and her
+fascinations soon produced their natural effect on one of the
+officers, Lieutenant Sharp, who became deeply attached to her. But as
+soon as Sir Stewkley became aware of this love affair, he gave it his
+decided disapproval. Lieutenant Sharp was forbidden the house, and
+Miss Shuckburgh resolved to smother her love in deference to her
+father's wishes. It was accordingly decided between the young people
+that their intimacy should cease, and that the letters which had
+passed between them should be returned. An arrangement was, therefore,
+made that the lady should leave the packet for Lieutenant Sharp in the
+summer-house in the garden on a specified evening, and that on the
+following morning she should find the packet intended for her in the
+same place. The sad engagement was kept, and having left her packet in
+the evening, Miss Shuckburgh set out on the following morning to find
+her own. A servant, it is said, who saw her in the garden, was curious
+to know what could have brought her out at so early an hour. He
+followed her unobserved, and on drawing near to the summer-house, "he
+heard the voices of the lieutenant and of the lady in earnest dispute.
+The officer was loud and impassioned, the lady firm but unconsenting.
+Immediately was heard the report of a pistol, and the fall of a
+body--another report and fall. Guessing the tragic truth, the servant
+raised an alarm, and the two lovers were found lying dead in their own
+blood." It is generally supposed that this terrible act of
+self-destruction was the result of mutual agreement--the outcome of
+passion and despair.
+
+"Since that hour," writes Howitt, "every object, about the place which
+could suggest to the memory this fatal event, has been changed or
+removed. The summer-house has been razed to the ground; the
+disposition of the garden itself altered; but," he adds, "such tragic
+passages in human life become part and parcel of the scene where they
+occur--they become the topic of the winter fireside. They last while
+passions and affections, youth and beauty last. They fix themselves
+into the soil, and the very rock on which it lies, and though the
+house was razed from the spot, and its park and pleasaunces turned
+into ploughed fields, it would still be said for ages: Here stood
+Shuckburgh Hall, and here fell the young and lovely Miss Shuckburgh by
+the hand of her despairing lover."
+
+And to conclude with a romance in brief, some forty or fifty years
+ago, in the far north of England a girl was on the eve of being
+married. Her wedding dress was ordered, the guests were bidden. But,
+it is said that at the eleventh hour, in a fit of passion and paltry
+jealousy, she resented some fancied want of devotion in her lover.
+
+He was single-minded, loyal, and altogether of finer stuff than
+herself; but she was a wretched slave to such old stock phrases as
+delicacy, family pride, and the like, and so he was allowed to go, for
+she came of people who looked upon unforgiveness as a virtue.
+
+Accordingly the discarded lover exchanged into a regiment under orders
+for Afghanistan. At the time, our troops were engaged there in hot
+fighting. The lad fell, and hidden on his breast was found a locket
+which his sweetheart had once given him. It came back to her through a
+brother officer, who had known something of his sad story, with a
+stain on it--a stain of his blood. When that painful relic silently
+told her of the devotion which she had so unjustly and basely wronged,
+there came, in the familiar lines:
+
+    A mist and a weeping rain,
+    And life was never the same again.
+
+That stain marked every day of a lonely life throughout forty years or
+more.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] "Vicissitudes of Families," 1863, III. Ser., 202-203.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+"Abbey Vows," The, 56-58.
+
+Abingdon, John, Secret Room built by, at Hendlip Hall, 91-93.
+
+Abrams, Disappearance of a Jew named, 251, 252.
+
+Accidents, Lucky, 279-288.
+
+Adolphus, Gustavus, Burial of, 262.
+
+Ainsworth and Cuckfield Place, 180, 181.
+
+Alexander III., Banquet of, 73-75.
+
+Alfred, Prince, Death of, 79, 80.
+
+Allan David, the Painter, 279, 280.
+
+Anne of Austria, Heart of, 262.
+
+Anne of Burton Agnes Hall, Skull of, 40-43.
+
+Antoinette, M., and the Chevalier D'Eon, 220.
+
+Armscott Manor, Secret Room at, 95, 96.
+
+Arrowsmith, Father, Hand of, 158-160.
+
+Arundell, Sir John, 12, 13.
+
+Aubrey's "Miscellanies," 132, 133.
+
+"Awd Nance" of Burton Agnes Hall, 40-43.
+
+
+Baillie, James, 290-292.
+
+Baker, Sir Richard, 110-112.
+
+Baker, Sir Richard, and the Murder of Edward II., 89.
+
+Baliol, John, The Heart of, 256.
+
+Ballafletcher, Estate of, 201, 202.
+
+Ballyshannon, Waterfall at, 272.
+
+Bandini, The Sisters, 137-140.
+
+Bank of England, Discovery in the Vaults of the, 264.
+
+Banquets, Strange, 69-87.
+
+Banshee, The, 193.
+
+Barcroft Hall; the Idiot's Curse, 9, 10.
+
+Baring-Gould, Rev. S., Story by, 156, 157.
+
+Barn Hall, Tradition of, 165, 166.
+
+Barritt, Thomas, and the Wardley Hall Skull, 39, 40.
+
+Baydoyle Bank's Tragedy, The, 115.
+
+"Bearded Watt," The, 68.
+
+Beauchamp, Lord, Ghost of, 275, 276.
+
+Belgrade, Bombardment of, Vow made by the Servians at, 68.
+
+Benedick, Vow of, 51.
+
+Berkeley Castle, Walpole and, 88, 89.
+
+Bernard, Samuel, "Address to the Deil," 173.
+
+Bernshaw Tower, Lady Sybil of, 168-170.
+
+Berry Pomeroy Castle, Spectre at, 197.
+
+Betsy, the Doctress (Russell), 222-224.
+
+Bettiscombe, Screaming Skull at, 29-32.
+
+Bisham Abbey, Spirit of Lady Russell at, 122, 123.
+
+Bistmorton Court, Secret Room at, 97.
+
+Blackwell, Murder at, 114, 115
+
+Blandy, Miss, 296, 297.
+
+Blandy, Mr., of Henley, Poisoning of, 296, 297
+
+Blenkinsopp Castle, Romantic Story of, 60-62.
+
+Blood Stains, Indelible, 114-134.
+
+"Bloody Baker," 110-112.
+
+"Bloody Chamber," The, 118, 119
+
+"Bloody Footstep," Legend of the, 115-117.
+
+Bodach Glass, The, 193-195.
+
+Boleyn, Anne, Monument to, 254, 255.
+
+Bolle, Sir John, Story of, 215, 216.
+
+Boscobel House, Secret Chambers at, 97.
+
+Bourne, Mr. John, 205, 206.
+
+Bracegirdle, Mrs., the Actress, 301-303.
+
+Bradshaigh, Sir William, 246-248.
+
+Bramshill, A Chest at, 235.
+
+Bransie Castle, Tradition associated with, 275, 276.
+
+Brent Pelham Church, 166.
+
+Brereton Family, The, 181.
+
+Bromfield, Story of a Dragon at, 268, 269.
+
+Bromley, Sir Henry, 92.
+
+Broughton Castle, Room at, 90, 91.
+
+Brown, Mrs., and the Death of Robert Perceval, 151, 152.
+
+Browne, Sir Anthony, and Cowdray Castle, 19-21.
+
+Bruce, Robert, The Heart of, 257-258.
+
+Brunel, the Engineer, 282, 283.
+
+Bryn Hall, "Dead Hand" at, 157-160.
+
+Buckland Abbey, Sir F. Drake and, 170-173.
+
+"Buckland Shag," Spectre of the, 124-126.
+
+Bulgaden Hall, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Burdett, Mr. Sedley, 20.
+
+Burke, Sir Bernard, and Bulgaden Hall, 73;
+  and Sir Robert Scott of Thirlestane, 78;
+  and Capt. Cayley, 148;
+  and Cecil, Earl of Exeter, 219;
+  and Draycot, 141;
+  and Gordon Castle, 182;
+  and Mrs. Nimmo, 292.
+
+Burnaby, Col. Fred., Incident of the Carlist Rising, 212, 213
+
+Burton Agnes Hall, "Awd Nance" of, 40-43.
+
+Byron, Lord, and Skull at Newstead Abbey, 44, 45;
+  Club Foot of, 282;
+  and the Spectre of Newstead Abbey, 196;
+  The Heart of, at Newstead Abbey, 260.
+
+Calverley Hall, Blood Stains at, 120, 121.
+
+Calverley, Walter, 120, 121.
+
+Cambuskenneth Abbey, Destruction of, 15.
+
+Canning, Elizabeth, Disappearance of, 239-241.
+
+Carbery, Baron, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Carew, B.M., A Companion of Russell, 223.
+
+Carlist Rising in 1874, Incident of the, 212, 213.
+
+Caroline, Queen, and the Countess of Deloraine, 295.
+
+Carr, Earl of Somerset, 18, 19.
+
+Castle Dalhousie, Death Omen, 181.
+
+Castle Treasure, near Cork, 270.
+
+Castlereagh, Lord, and the "Radiant Boy" Spectre, 196.
+
+Cathcart, Lady, Strange Disappearance of, 236-238.
+
+Cayley, Capt. John and Mrs. Macfarlane, 148, 149.
+
+Cecil, Earl of Exeter, 217-220.
+
+Chancery, Unclaimed Funds in, 266, 267.
+
+Charles I., Bernini's Bust of, 133, 134.
+
+Charles II., at the Trent Manor House, 96;
+  at Boscobel House, 97.
+
+Chartley, Park at, 187-189.
+
+Chattan, Clan of, 6-9.
+
+Chettiscombe, Village of, 274, 275.
+
+Chiappini, L., Daughter of, 136-140.
+
+Chilton Cantels, Skull in a Farmhouse in, 34.
+
+"Claimant," The, 23.
+
+Clayton Old Hall, The "Bloody Chamber" at, 118.
+
+Clifford, Lord, the "Shepherd Lad," 224-227.
+
+Clifford, Wild Henry, 227.
+
+Clifton, Family of, Death Omen of, 187.
+
+Closeburn Castle, Lake at, 183-185.
+
+"Coalstoun Pear," The, 199-201.
+
+Coleridge, Sir John, Strange Romance recorded by, 241-243.
+
+Compacts with the Devil, 162-179.
+
+Condover Hall, Blood Stain at, 118.
+
+Congreve and Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, 86.
+
+Cook, Kraster, Myles Phillipson and, 35-37.
+
+Cooper, Sir Astley, 285.
+
+Cope, Sir John, 235.
+
+Corbet, Legend of the House of, 75, 76.
+
+Corby Castle, "Radiant Boy" Spectre of, 196.
+
+Cornish Belief _re_ St. Denis' Blood, 127.
+
+Corstophine, Castle of, Tragedy at, 290-293.
+
+Cortachy Castle, 189, 190.
+
+Cothele, Blood Stains at, 119.
+
+"Couleur Isabelle" Dresses, Origin of, 46, 47.
+
+Cowdenknowes, Curse of the House of, 25.
+
+Cowdray Castle, 19, 20.
+
+Cows at Chartley Park, 187-189
+
+Cranbrook, Sir R. Baker at, 110-112.
+
+Cranstoun, Capt., 296, 297.
+
+Crawford, Earl of, 99.
+
+"Crawls," The, Estate named, 22.
+
+Creslow Manor House, Mysterious Room at, 105, 106.
+
+Crichton Chancellor, Banquet given by, 80, 81.
+
+Cuckfield Place, 180, 181.
+
+Cullen, Viscount, Marriage Feast of, 69-71.
+
+Cunliffes, The, of Billington, 105
+
+Curious Secrets, 135-153.
+
+Curses: M'Alister Family, 2-5;
+  The Curse of Moy, 6-9;
+  Idiot's Curse, 9, 10;
+  Quaker's Curse, 10-12;
+  A Shepherd's Curse on Sir J. Arundell, 12, 13;
+  Curse on the Family of Mar, 14-17;
+  On Sherborne Castle, 17-19;
+  On Cowdray Castle, 19, 20;
+  The Curse of Furvie, 23;
+  Of Ettrick Hall, 24, 25;
+  On the Earl of Home, 25;
+  Of Edmund, King of the East Angles, 26;
+  On Capt. Molloy, 26, 27;
+  The Midwife's Curse, 27, 28.
+
+Dalrymple, Janet, 52-56.
+
+Dalzell, Gen., 85, 86.
+
+Danby Hall, Secret Room at, 98.
+
+Danesfield, Withered Hand at, 161.
+
+Darrells, The, of Littlecote House, 106-108.
+
+Dauntesey, Eustace, Story of, 173-176.
+
+Dead Hand, The, 154-161.
+
+Death Omens, 180-191.
+
+Deloraine, Countess of, 295.
+
+D'Eon, Chevalier, in Woman's Attire, 220-222.
+
+Derwentwater, Lord, Execution of, 130, 131.
+
+Despencer, Lord le, 259, 260.
+
+Devil Compacts, 162-179.
+
+"Devil upon Dun" Public House, Story of the, 163, 164.
+
+"Dickie," Skull called, at Tunstead, 33, 34.
+
+Dickens, Chas., Original of Miss Havisham, 50, 51.
+
+Dilston Groves, Ghost of the, 131
+
+Disappearances, Extraordinary, 229-252.
+
+Disguise, Romance of, 208-228.
+
+Dobells, Seat of the, 97.
+
+Doggett, Wm., Suicide of, 121.
+
+Don Carlos, Col. Fred. Burnaby and, 212, 213.
+
+Doughty, Sir Edward, 23;
+  Vow made by, 64.
+
+Douglas, Sir James, and the Heart of Robert Bruce, 257, 258.
+
+Douglas, Earl of, at Sir A. Livingstone's Banquet, 80, 81.
+
+Downes, Roger, of Wardley Hall, 37-40.
+
+Dragon at Bromfield, Story of, 268, 269.
+
+Drake, Sir Francis, Befriended by the Devil, 170-173.
+
+Draycot, Walter Long of, 141-144.
+
+Drinking Glass in possession of Sir George Musgrave, 202, 203.
+
+Drummer, Mysterious, at Cortachy Castle, 189, 190.
+
+Duckett, Justice, 11-12.
+
+Dunbar, David, and Jane Dalrymple, 53-56.
+
+Dundas, Laird named, Lord Hopetoun and, 84, 85.
+
+
+Eagle's Crag, Lady Sybil and the, 168-170.
+
+"Earl Beardie," 99.
+
+Eastbury House, Blood Stains at, 121.
+
+Easterton Ghost, The, 123, 124.
+
+East Lavington, Mysterious Crime at, 123, 124.
+
+Eccentric Vows, 46-68.
+
+Eden Hall, Tradition relating to, 202, 203.
+
+Edgewell Oak, Tradition, 181.
+
+Edgeworth, Col., 67.
+
+Edinburgh, Mysterious Crime at; Sir Walter Scott and, 108-110.
+
+Edmund, King of the East Angles, 25, 26.
+
+Edward, Lord Bruce, Heart of, 254
+
+Edward, Lord Windsor, The Body of, 259.
+
+Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin, 79, 80.
+
+Edward I., The Heart of, 256, 257.
+
+Edward II., The Murder of, 88, 89.
+
+Eleanor, Duchess of Buckingham, 255.
+
+Ellesmere, Countess of, and the Wardley Hall Skull, 40.
+
+Elizabeth, Queen, and Sir Henry Lee, 47, 48.
+
+Erskine, Mr. Thomas, 287.
+
+Erskine of Mar, The, 16.
+
+Ettrick Hall, Curse of, 24, 25.
+
+Evans, Right Hon. George, Tale of, 71-73.
+
+Evelyn's "Diary," and Ham House, Weybridge, 95.
+
+Exeter, Coins found in, 268.
+
+Extraordinary Disappearances, 229-252.
+
+
+Family Death Omens, 180-198.
+
+Fanshaw, Lady, Strange Spectre of, 192.
+
+Fardell, Stone at, 271.
+
+Fatal Curses, 1-28.
+
+Fatal Passion, 289-307.
+
+Ferguson, Agnes, Disappearance of, 235, 236.
+
+"Field of Forty Footsteps," Tale of the, 128, 129.
+
+Fielding, Beau, and Robert Perceval, 150, 151.
+
+Flamsteed, the Astronomer, 281.
+
+Foote, Accident to, 283.
+
+Forrester, First Lord, 290, 291.
+
+Foulis, Mr. Robert, 280.
+
+Fox, George, at Armscott Manor, 96.
+
+Freke, Sir Ralph, Daughter of, 71-73.
+
+Furness Abbey, Romance of, 56-58.
+
+Furvie, Curse of, 23.
+
+
+Galeazzo of Mantua, Ball given by, 49.
+
+Garnet, Father, 91, 93.
+
+Garnett, Dr. Richard, and Skull at Bottiscombe, 30-32.
+
+Garrick, David, and Agnes Ferguson, 235, 236.
+
+Garswood, "Dead Hand" at, 160.
+
+Gascoyne, Sir Crisp, 240.
+
+Gladstone, Mr., Address on Wedgwood's Life, 281.
+
+Glamis Castle, Tradition relating to, 98-103.
+
+Goblet in possession of Colonel Wilks, 201, 202.
+
+Godwin, Earl, Edward the Confessor and, 79, 80.
+
+Goldbridge, 26.
+
+Goodere, Sir John, Murder of, 82, 83.
+
+Gordon, Mr., of Ardoch Castle, Daughters of, 285-288.
+
+Gordon Castle, Tree at, 182.
+
+Grayrigg Hall, 11, 12.
+
+Grey, Dr. Z., and Bust of Charles I., 133, 134.
+
+Guisboro' Priory, The Monks of, 274.
+
+Gunpowder Conspirators, The, at Hendlip Hall, 92, 93.
+
+Gunwalloe Parish Church, Tradition relating to, 64, 65.
+
+
+Haddon Hall, "Dorothy Vernon's Door" at, 213-215.
+
+Haigh Hall, Romance associated with, 246-248.
+
+Hale, Sir Matthew, in Disguise, 227, 228.
+
+Ham House, Weybridge, Secret Rooms at, 95.
+
+Hand, The Dead, 154-161.
+
+Hannen, Sir James, and the case of de Niceville, 265
+
+Hapton Tower, 168, 169.
+
+Harper, Story of an old Irish, 271, 272.
+
+Harpham Hall, 41, 42.
+
+Harrington, Sir John, 18.
+
+Hastings Priory, Skulls from, 32.
+
+Havisham, Miss, The original of, 50, 51.
+
+Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and the Legend of "The Bloody Footsteps," 115, 116.
+
+Heart Burial on the Continent, 260.
+
+Hearts, Honoured, 253-262.
+
+Helston, Mother, a Lancashire witch, 169.
+
+Hendlip Hall, Secret Room at, 91-93.
+
+Herbert, Sir Richard, at the Battle of Edgcot Field, 5, 6.
+
+Hermitage Castle, Story of, 166;
+  Treasures Hidden in, 270, 271, 276.
+
+Hidden Money and Treasure, Traditions _re_, 268-278.
+
+Hill, Captain R., 301-303.
+
+Hoby, Sir Thomas, 123.
+
+Holland House, Room at, 120.
+
+Holyrood Palace, Blood Stains on floor of, 117.
+
+Home of Cowdenknowes, Family of, 25.
+
+Honoured Hearts, 253-262.
+
+Hopetoun, Earl, and Laird named Dundas, 84, 85.
+
+Horndon-on-the-Hill Church, 254, 255.
+
+Howe, Mr., Strange Disappearance of, 244-246.
+
+Howe, Lord, and "John Taylor," 211.
+
+Howgill, Francis, a Noted Quaker, 10-12.
+
+Hoxne, Tradition at, 26.
+
+Hulme Hall, Legend connected with, 269, 270.
+
+Hume's "History of the House of Douglas," 81.
+
+Hungerford, Vault of the, 256.
+
+
+Idiot's Curse, The, 9, 10.
+
+Indelible Blood Stains, 114-134.
+
+Indre, M'Alister, Curse of, 2-5.
+
+Ingatestone Hall, Strange Room at, 94.
+
+"Ingoldsby Legends," Dead Hand mentioned in, 160, 161.
+
+Iron Chest in Ireland, Story of an, 205, 206.
+
+Isabella, Countess of Northampton, 256.
+
+Isabella Eugenia, of the Netherlands, 46, 47.
+
+Isabella, Queen, 49.
+
+Ithon, John de, Story of, 178, 179.
+
+
+James II., The Heart of, 259.
+
+Jerratt, Lady, Ghost Story of, 119, 120.
+
+Joan, Queen of Naples, 49.
+
+Johnson, Dr., Conversations with a Man in Woman's attire, 224.
+
+Joinville, Count Louis, 138-140.
+
+Jones, Molly, Sir Wm. Kyte and, 298-300.
+
+
+"Katie Neevie's Hoard," 271.
+
+Kellie, The two Countesses of, 285-288.
+
+Kempenfeldt, Admiral, 182.
+
+Kersal Hall, Romantic Story of, 173-176.
+
+Kilburn Priory, Legend connected with, 126, 127.
+
+Kirdford, Piece of Ground at, 128.
+
+Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Family of, 183-185.
+
+Knevett, Lord, Murder of, 118.
+
+Konigsmark, Count, 300.
+
+Kyte, Sir Wm., and Molly Jones, 298-300.
+
+
+Lally, John, A Piper, 77, 78.
+
+Lecky, Mr., and Devil Compacts in the Fourteenth Century, 163.
+
+Lee, Sir Henry, Queen Elizabeth and, 47, 48.
+
+Leech, John, Strange Story of, 175, 176.
+
+Lefanu, Mrs., Story of "The Banshee," 193.
+
+Legend of the Robber's Grave, 129, 130.
+
+Leigh, Lord, Charge of Murder against, 152, 153.
+
+Lincoln Cathedral, Blood Stains at, 118, 119.
+
+Lincolnshire, Strange Disappearance at a Marriage in 1750, 230.
+
+Lindsays, The, 101.
+
+Littlecote House, Mysterious Crime at, 106-108.
+
+Livingstone, Sir A., Banquet given by, 80, 81.
+
+Long, Walter, of Draycot, 141-144.
+
+Long, Sir Walter, Story of his Widow, 206, 207.
+
+Louis XIV., Burial of Heart of, 261.
+
+Lovat, Lord, Story of, 206.
+
+Lovel, Lord, Disappearance of his Bride, 234.
+
+Lovell, Lord, The Mysterious Death of, 89, 90.
+
+"Luck of Muncaster," The, 203-205.
+
+Lucky Accidents, 279-288.
+
+Lynton Castle, Tradition relating to, 62-64.
+
+
+Mab's Cross, near Wigan, 248.
+
+M'Alister Family, Curse of the, 2-5.
+
+McClean, Family of, 195.
+
+Macfarlane, Mrs., Secret relating to, 146-149.
+
+Mackenzie, Maria, 295.
+
+Macleod, Dr. Norman, Anecdote told by, 66, 67.
+
+Magdalene College, Oxford, Cup found at, 274.
+
+Maguire, Col., and Lady Cathcart, 236-238.
+
+Malsanger, House at, 234, 235.
+
+Manners, John, and Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, 214, 215.
+
+Manor House at Darlington, 119.
+
+Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, and the Chevalier D'Eon, 221.
+
+Mar, The Earl of, 14-17.
+
+Market Parsonage, Mysterious crime at, 123, 124.
+
+Marlborough, Duchess of, and Congreve, 86.
+
+Marsh, George, the martyr, 116.
+
+Marwell Old Hall, Traditions _re_, 234.
+
+Mary Queen of Scots at Chartley Park, 189.
+
+Matthews, C.J., the actor, 284.
+
+Mazarin, Cardinal, Heart of, 262.
+
+Medicis, Marie de, Heart of, 261.
+
+Medicis, Queen Catherine de, Story of, 177, 178.
+
+Merton College, Oxford, Pictures discovered at, 273.
+
+Mertoun, Stephen de, Murder committed by, 126, 127.
+
+Middleton Family in Yorkshire, 197.
+
+Midwife's Curse, The, 27, 28.
+
+Millbanke, Miss, Lord Byron and, 196, 197.
+
+Mills, Anne, the female sailor, 209.
+
+Misers' Hoards, 272, 273.
+
+Missing Wills, 267.
+
+"Mistletoe Bough," The (song), 234.
+
+Modena, The Duke of, 85, 86.
+
+Mohun, Lord, 301, 302.
+
+"Moiva Borb" (song), 272.
+
+Molloy, Captain, of H.M.S. "Caesar," 26, 27.
+
+Montagues, The, and Sherborne Castle, 18;
+  and Cowdray Castle, 19.
+
+Montgomery Church Walls, Tale of, 129, 130.
+
+Morley, Sir Oswald, 269.
+
+Mountford, Wm., Murder of, 301-303.
+
+Moy, The Curse of, 6-9.
+
+Muncaster Castle, Room at, 203-205.
+
+Musgrave, Sir George, 202, 203.
+
+Mysterious Rooms, 88-113.
+
+
+Newborough, Lady, Romantic Story relating to, 136-140.
+
+Netherall, Secret Room at, 98.
+
+Newstead Abbey, Skull at, 44, 45;
+  Spectre of, 196;
+  Lord Byron's Heart at, 260.
+
+Niceville A.A. de, 265, 266.
+
+Nimmo, Mrs., 290-293.
+
+Northam Tower, Spectre at, 119.
+
+Northumberland, Duke of, The Eleventh Daughter of the, 300, 301.
+
+Nugent, Lord, "Memorials of Hampden," 90, 91.
+
+
+Ogilvies, The, 101.
+
+Omens, Family Death, 180-198.
+
+Ormesby, Treasure found at the Vicarage House of, 274.
+
+Osbaldeston Hall, Tradition relating to, 83, 84.
+
+Oulton House, Tragedy at, 303.
+
+Overbury, Sir Thomas, Murder of, 19.
+
+Owls, The Family of Arundel of Wardour and, 185.
+
+Oxenham Family, Death Warning of the, 185-187.
+
+
+Page, Murderer of a Jew named Abrams, 251, 252.
+
+Pare, Ambrose, the Surgeon, 285.
+
+Parma, Duke of, and Baron Ward, 284.
+
+Passion, Fatal, 289-307.
+
+Payne, Col. Stephen, Curse on, 27, 28.
+
+Pear, The Coalstoun, 199-201.
+
+Pembroke, Earl of, at the Battle of Edgcot Fields, 5, 6.
+
+Pennington, Sir John, 204.
+
+Perceval, Robert, Strange Death of, 150-152.
+
+Phillipson, Myles, 35-37.
+
+Pitt, Wm., Accident to, 283.
+
+Plaish Hall, Legendary Tale connected with, 132.
+
+Poe, Edgar A., "Masque of the Red Death," 73-75.
+
+Political Vows, 68.
+
+Pope's Satire, 282.
+
+Possessions, Weird, 199-207.
+
+Poyntz, Mr. Stephen, 21.
+
+Prestwich, Sir Thomas, 269, 270.
+
+Price, Mr., 295.
+
+Prophecy relating to Cowdray Castle, 19, 20.
+
+Pudsey, Bishop, 119.
+
+
+Quaker's Curse, The, 10-12.
+
+
+Radcliffe, Tragedy at, 293, 294.
+
+Radclyffe, Sir Wm. de, 293, 294.
+
+"Radiant Boy" of Corby Castle, 196.
+
+Raffles, Dr., Amusing Story in the Life of, 233, 234.
+
+Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Sherborne Castle, 18, 19;
+  Seat at Fardell, 271.
+
+Rawlinson, Dr. R., The Heart of, 259.
+
+Richard I., The Heart of, 258.
+
+Rizzio, Murder of, 117.
+
+Robinson, Nicholas, Disappearance of, 241-243.
+
+Roby's "Traditions of Lancashire:" The "Dead Hand" at Bryn Hall, 157, 158;
+  and the "Luck of Muncaster," 204, 205.
+
+Roderham, Robert de, Story of, 178, 179.
+
+Romance of Wealth, 263-278.
+
+"Rookwood Hall," Ainsworth's, 180, 181.
+
+Rooms, Mysterious, 88-113.
+
+Roslin, the Lords of, Traditions regarding, 190, 191.
+
+_Royal George_, Sinking of the, 182.
+
+Rushen Castle, Secret Room at, 103-105.
+
+Rushton, The Duke's Room at, 70.
+
+Russell, of Streatham, in Women's attire, 222-224.
+
+Russell, Lady, of Bisham Abbey, 122, 123.
+
+Rutherford, Lord, and Janet Dalrymple, 52-56.
+
+
+St. Antony, Church of, in Cornwall, Tradition Relating to, 64.
+
+St. Denis' Blood, Belief relating to, 127.
+
+St. Foix, Account of Ceremonial after the Death of a King
+ of France, 86, 87.
+
+St. Louis, Queen of, Vow by the, 65.
+
+St. Michael's Mount, Sir J. Arundell and, 13.
+
+Samlesbury Hall, Vow Relating to, 58-60.
+
+Scarborough, Second Earl of, Death of, 144-146.
+
+Scotland, Legends _re_ Hidden Treasures in, 270, 271, 276.
+
+Scott, Sir Robert, of Thirlestane, Second wife of, 77, 78.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, Vow by an Ancestor of, Accident to, 68, 280;
+  and the Mysterious Crime at Littlecote House, 108;
+  at Edinburgh, 108-110;
+  and the Murder of Rizzio, 117;
+  and the Clan of Tweedie, 249.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Antiquary," 155.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Peveril of the Peak," 149, 195.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Tales of a Grandfather," 117.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "The Betrothed," 248.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "The Bride of Lammermoor," 55, 56.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, and "The Curse of Moy," 6-9.
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, "Waverley," The Bodach Glass in, 193-195.
+
+"Scottish Hogarth," The, 279, 280.
+
+Screaming Skulls, 29-45.
+
+Secrets, Curious, 135-153.
+
+Sedgley, Vow made by a Parishioner of, 66, 67.
+
+Servian Patriots, The, 68.
+
+Sharp, Lieut., 304-306.
+
+Shelley, The Poet, Heart of, 260, 261.
+
+"Shepherd Lad," Lord Clifford as the, 224-227.
+
+Sherborne Castle, Curse of, 17-19.
+
+Sheriff-Muir, Battle of, 5, 15.
+
+Shonkes, Piers, Tomb of, 166.
+
+Shropshire, Buried Well in, 276.
+
+Shuckburgh Hall, Tragedy at, 304-306.
+
+Sikes, Wirt, Anecdote of a Skull, 43, 44.
+
+Simpson, Christopher, Murder of, 115.
+
+Skull, The Screaming, 29-45.
+
+Skull House, near Turton Tower, Bolton, 34, 35.
+
+Smithell's Hall, 115, 116.
+
+Soulis, Lord, Compact with the Devil, 166-168.
+
+Southey, Anecdote recorded by, 96.
+
+Southey and "The Brothers' Steps," 128, 129.
+
+Southey's "Thalaba, the Destroyer," 154, 155.
+
+Southworth, Sir John, Daughter of, 58-60.
+
+Spectre, Lady Fanshaw's strange, 192.
+
+Spectre of the "Buckland Shag," 124-126.
+
+Stair, Lord, Daughter of the first, 52-56.
+
+Stamer, Col., Daughter of, 71-73
+
+Stoke d'Abernon, Monument in the Church of, 56.
+
+Stokesay Castle, Treasure at, 277.
+
+Stoneleigh Abbey, 152, 153.
+
+Strathmore, Lord, of Glamis Castle, 98-103.
+
+Street Place, Old House called, 97.
+
+Swans of Closeburn, The, 184, 185.
+
+"Sweet Heart Abbey," 256.
+
+Swinton, Sir John, 146-149.
+
+Sybil, Lady, and the Eagle's Crag, 168-170.
+
+
+Talbot, Mary Anne as "John Taylor," sailor, 209-212.
+
+Talleyrand, Accident to, 280.
+
+"Taylor, John," _alias_ Mary Anne Talbot, 209-212.
+
+Thirlestone, Lady, 77-78.
+
+Thomas the Rhymer, 75.
+
+Thorpe Hall, The "Green Lady" of, 215, 216.
+
+Thrale, Mr., of Streatham Park, 223, 224.
+
+Thynne, Sir Egremont, 141-144.
+
+Thynne of Longleat, Murder of, 300.
+
+Tichborne, Sir Henry, 21.
+
+Tichborne, Lady Mabelle, 21-23.
+
+Tichborne Trial, The Great, 21-23, 64.
+
+"Tiger Earl," The, 99.
+
+Timberbottom, Skull at Farmhouse called, 34, 35.
+
+Towneley, Charles, 10.
+
+Treasures concealed in the Earth, 267, 268.
+
+Tremeirchon Church, 165.
+
+Trentham, Elizabeth, Viscount Cullen and, 69-71.
+
+Trent, Manor House at, Strange Chamber in, 96, 97.
+
+Tufnell Park, Find of Gold at, 278.
+
+Tunstead, Skull at, 33, 34.
+
+Tweedie, The Clan of, 249, 250.
+
+
+Vardon, Douce, a Midwife, 28.
+
+Vavasour, Mrs. A., and Sir Henry Lee, 48.
+
+Venice, Statue at, 65, 66.
+
+Vernons of Hanbury, Cecil, Earl of Exeter, and one of the, 217-220.
+
+Vienna, The Church of St. Charles, 65.
+
+Vincent, Family of, at Stoke d'Abernon, 56.
+
+Voltaire, Vow in one of his Romances, 51, 52.
+
+Vows, Eccentric, 46-68.
+
+
+Wakefield Mills, The, 130.
+
+Walpole and Berkeley Castle, 88, 89.
+
+Ward, Baron, 284.
+
+Wardley Hall, Skull at, 37-40.
+
+Wealth, Romance of, 263-278.
+
+Wedgwood, Josiah, 280, 281.
+
+Weird Possessions, 199-207.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, Strange belief on the occasion of his funeral, 198.
+
+Wells, "Mother," 240, 241.
+
+Wesley, John, and the game of whist, 67, 68.
+
+Westminster Abbey, Hearts of Illustrious Personages at, 253.
+
+Whitehead, Paul, The Heart of, 259, 260.
+
+Widow's Curse, The, 2-5.
+
+Wilkinson, Tate, 67, 68.
+
+Wilks, Col., Heirloom in possession of, 201, 202.
+
+Wills, Missing, 267.
+
+Witches' Horseblock, The, 168-170.
+
+Wordsworth's "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle," 225-227.
+
+Wye Coller Hall, Room at, 105.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Typos corrected in text:
+
+Page 53: 'Jane' corrected to 'Janet'.
+Page 143: 'suddedly' corrected to 'suddenly'.
+Page 190: 'fulful' corrected to 'fulfil'.
+Page 219: 'accompany-' corrected to 'accompanying'.
+Page 269: 'various others localities' corrected to 'various other
+localities'.
+Page 279: 'playes' corrected to 'players'.
+Page 281: 'De Sphoera' corrected to 'De Sphaera' [On the basis of
+information found here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/sacrobosco.html].
+Page 294: 'call' corrected to 'called'.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Pages from Family Papers
+by T. F. Thiselton Dyer
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE PAGES FROM FAMILY PAPERS ***
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