Strange Pages from Family Papers

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."

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."

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.

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."

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."

CHAPTER XVII.ToC

FATAL PASSION.

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

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.

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.

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.

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:—

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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."

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:

• "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.