Volume II Part 41 (2/2)
”It will not drown,” thought he. After a little reflection he resolved to dispose of it in some other manner.
”It will haunt me as long as it is above ground. I'll bury it.” In pursuance of this wholesome resolve, he took it home again. Digging a deep grave in the peat-moss behind this cottage, he thrust in the object of his apprehensions, trusting that he was now safe from its power.
But noises horrid and unaccountable disturbed him. Demons had surely chosen his dwelling for their head-quarters. Nor day nor night could he rest--fancying that a whole legion of them were haunting him. He seemed to be the sport and prey of his own terrors; and with a heavy heart he resolved to quit, though suffering a grievous loss by the removal.
The story of the haunted casket, with many additions and improvements, soon got abroad. No one dared to pa.s.s the house after nightfall, and ”The Lost Farm” has ever since been tenantless.
Grimes removed to another in a few weeks; but his happiness and his hopes were for ever dissipated by the mysterious intruder. Hearing no tidings from his daughter, he determined, several weeks after the adventure, to sally forth in quest of intelligence.
It was a cold bl.u.s.tery morning when the old man set out on his errand.
He was clad in a coa.r.s.e blue frieze coat, with the usual complement of large white-plated b.u.t.tons. His head was sheltered by an oil case-covered hat, tied down with a blue and white check handkerchief, and he held a long stick before him at arm's length, on which his sorrowful and drooping frame hung more heavily than usual. He had grown a dozen years older at least in less than as many weeks; and when he came to Church Town, having taken the bypath through the hills, he was fain to rest himself a while at the inn-door. Before it stood several carts on their way towards Preston, whither they were bound for the disposal of their produce on the morrow. Grimes thought he might as well make some inquiries there; Katherine having at times visited that remote town to make purchases. He would have company too if he went with the carts, and a lift now and then if he were tired; so, throwing down his bundle, he entered the house intimating his wish that they should join company.
”To Preston, lad?” said a jolly carter, holding a pewter pot that seemed as if glued to his hard fist. ”Rare doings there, old one.
What! thee wants to look at the fun, I warrant. Why, the rebels ha'
been packed off to Lunnun long sin'; but we han had some on 'em back again; that is, thou sees, their Papist heads were sent back i' pickle into these parts, and one on 'em grins savagely afore the Town Ha'.”
Grimes knew little of political niceties, or whether kings _de facto_ or _de jure_ were better ent.i.tled to the throne.
The late disturbances had not reached these districts; so that the rebellion of 1745 might as well have happened in Kamtschatka or j.a.pan for any personal knowledge that old Grimes had of the matter.
”Rebels!” said he; ”I have heard a somewhat of this business; though I know nothing, and care less about them cannibals.”
”Then what be'st thee for in such a hurry to Preston?”
”I had a daughter, but she has left me, the staff and comfort of my old age, when I stood most in need of the prop!” Here the old man drew his hat over his brows, partly turning aside.
”Cheer up, friend,” saith another; ”thy daughter, maybe, is gone wi'
Prince Charlie, when he piped through Preston 'Hie thee, Charlie, hame again!'”
This malicious sally raised a loud laugh; but the old man heard it with great agony and consternation; for though a bow drawn at a venture--a chance expression merely, intended as a clever hit at the women's expense, who had followed in the train of the rebels--Grimes construed the pa.s.sage literally; and from that time it ran continually in his head, that his daughter's absence would be found to have some connection with these events.
”Hang thy jibes!” said the first speaker, for whom this piece of wit was more especially intended; ”hang thee, I'll knock thy neck straight; pepper me but I will!”
This worthy had a wife, who incontinently had contributed to augment the rebel train when the Prince, in far different plight, on the 27th of November 1745, pa.s.sed through Preston, on his route to London, piping ”The king shall have his own again.”
A fray was nigh commencing--a circ.u.mstance not at all unusual in those turbulent times--but the master of the band speedily interfered, threatening displeasure and a wholesome discipline to his refractory servants.
Grimes accompanied them on their journey, riding, walking, and gossiping, at irregular intervals; during which he learned much news relating to the aspect and circ.u.mstances of the time, the names of the leaders, and those attainted and condemned, in this hasty and ill-timed rebellion. A considerable number of Lancas.h.i.+re partisans, officers of the Manchester regiment, commanded by Colonel Townley, had been conveyed to London, and tried for high treason, in July 1746.
Some were reprieved and pardoned; others were executed, with all the horrid accompaniments prescribed by the law. The heads of Townley and one Captain Fletcher were placed upon Temple Bar. The heads of seven others, having been preserved in spirits, were at that time ornamenting posterns and public thoroughfares in Manchester, Preston, Wigan, and Carlisle, to the great comfort of the loyal and well-disposed, and the grievous terror of the little children who pa.s.sed in and out thereat. Others, the n.o.ble leaders of this short and ill-acted tragedy for the benefit of the selfish and bigoted Stuarts, suffered death; while others escaped, amongst whom was the t.i.tular Earl of Derwent.w.a.ter, supposed to have been conveyed secretly aboard s.h.i.+p for Scotland.
In these rebellions, it may generally be said, that in the county of Lancaster, Catholics as well as Protestants displayed a firm attachment to the reigning family. Instances of defection were very rare; and, when they occurred, might be imputed to some peculiarity in the situation of the delinquents rather than to party or religious feelings. The romantic attempt of the young Chevalier, as displayed in this rebellion, had in it something imposing to ardent and enthusiastic minds; and those who embraced his cause south of the Tweed were princ.i.p.ally young men of warm temperament, whose imaginations were dazzled by the chivalrous character of the enterprise.[17]
About the close of day, the towers of ”proud Preston” were seen rising above the broad sweep of the river below Penwortham Bridge. The situation chosen by our ancestors for the erection of ”_Priest's Town_”--so called because the majority of its inhabitants in former times were ecclesiastics--evinces the discriminating eye of a priest, and shows that, whether the religious orders selected a site for an abbey or for a city, they were equally felicitous in their choice.
Placed at a convenient distance from the sea, upon the elevated banks of one of the finest rivers in England, with a mild climate and a dry soil, and commanding a rich a.s.semblage of picturesque views, in one of the most interesting portions of Ribblesdale, the spirit of St Wilfred himself, to whom the parish church is dedicated, and who was the most accomplished ecclesiastic of his age, must have animated the mind that fixed upon this spot.[18]
Grimes, adjusting his satchel and other appendages, trudged warily on, according to the directions he had procured from his guides, in respect to lodgings. His route lay up Fishergate; and on his way, near the Town Hall, his progress was interrupted by a dense crowd. The soldiers and local authorities were just conveying a prisoner of some note from the hall of justice to head-quarters at the Bull Inn, under a strong guard.
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