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OR,
from Castle dangerous, and Chronicles of the Canongate, Etc.
with intruductory essays and notes
by Andrew Lang
London,
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
New York: the MacMIllan Company
1901
INTRODUCTIONTHIS is another little story from "The Keepsake" of 1828. It was told to me many years ago, by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, among other accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a country house, had that of recounting narratives of this sort with very considerable effect; much greater, indeed, than any one would be apt to guess from the style of her written performances. There are hours and moods when most people are not displeased to listen to such things; and I have heard some of the greatest and wisest of my contemporaries take their share in telling them. August 1831 |
The following narrative is given from the pen, so far as memory permits, in the same character in which it was presented to the author's ear; nor has he claim to further praise, or to be more deeply censured, than in proportion to the good or bad judgment which he has employed in selecting his materials, as he has studiously avoided any attempt at ornament which might interfere with the simplicity of the tale.
At the same time it must be admitted that the particular class of stories which turns on the marvellous possesses a stronger influence when told than when committed to print. The volume taken up at noonday, though rehearsing the same incidents, conveys a much more feeble impression than is achieved by the voice of the speaker on a circle of fireside auditors, who hang upon the narrative as the narrator details the minute incidents which serve to give it authenticity, and lowers his voice with an affectation of mystery while he approaches the fearful and wonderful part. It was with such advantages that the present writer heard the following events related, more than twenty years since, by the celebrated Miss Seward, of Lichfield, who to her numerous accomplishments added, in a remarkable degree, the power of narrative in private conversation. In its present form the tale must necessarily lose all the interest which was attached by the flexible voice and intelligent features of the gifted narrator. Yet still, read aloud, to an undoubting audience by the doubtful light of the closing evening, or in silence by a decaying taper and amidst the solitude of a half-lighted apartment, it may redeem its character as a good ghost-story. Miss Seward always affirmed that she had derived her information from an authentic source, although she suppressed the names of the two persons chiefly concerned. I will not avail myself of any particulars I may have since received concerning the localities of the detail, but suffer them to rest under the same general description in which they were first related to me; and, for the same reason, I will not add to or diminish the narrative by any circumstances, whether more or less material, but simply rehearse, as I heard it, a story of supernatural terror.
About the end of the American war, when the officers of Lord Cornwallis's army which surrendered at Yorktown, and others, who had been made prisoners during the impolitic and ill-fated controversy, were returning to their own country, to relate their adventures and repose themselves after their fatigues, there was amongst them a general officer, to whom Miss S. gave the name of Browne, but merely, as I understood, to save the inconvenience of introducing a nameless agent in the narrative. He was an officer of merit, as well as a gentleman of high consideration for family and attainments.
Some business had carried General Browne upon a tour through the western counties, when, in the conclusion of a morning stage, he found himself in the vicinity of a small country town, which presented a scene of uncommon beauty and of a character peculiarly English.
The little town, with its stately old church whose tower bore testimony to the devotion of ages long past, lay amidst pasture and corn-fields of small extent, but bounded and divided with hedgerow timber of great age and size. There were few marks of modern improvement. The environs of the place intimated neither the solitude of decay, nor the bustle of novelty; the houses were old, but in good repair; and the beautiful little river murmured freely on its way to the left of the town, neither restrained by a dam, nor bordered by a towing-path.
Upon a gentle eminence, nearly a mile to the southward of the town, were seen amongst many venerable oaks and tangled thickets the turrets of a castle, as old as the wars of York and Lancaster, but which seemed to have received important alterations during the age of Elizabeth and her successors. It had not been a place of great size; but whatever accommodation it formerly afforded, was, it must be supposed, still to be obtained within its walls; at least, such was the inference which General Browne drew from observing the smoke arise merrily from several of the ancient wreathed and carved chimney-stalks. The wall of the park ran alongside of the highway for two or three hundred yards, and, through the different points by which the eye found glimpses into the woodland scenery, it seemed to be well stocked. Other points of view opened in succession; now a full one, of the front of the old castle, and now a side glimpse at its particular towers; the former rich in all the bizarrerie of the Elizabethan school, while the simple and solid strength of other parts of the building seemed to show that they had been raised more for defence than ostentation.
Delighted with the partial glimpses which he obtained of the castle through the woods and glades by which this ancient feudal fortress was surrounded, our military traveller was determined to inquire whether it might not deserve a nearer view, and whether it contained family pictures or other objects of curiosity worthy of a stranger's visit, when, leaving the vicinity of the park, he rolled through a clean and well-paved street, and stopped at the door of a well-frequented inn.
Before ordering horses to proceed on his journey, General Browne made inquiries concerning the proprietor of the château which had so attracted his admiration, and was equally surprised and pleased at hearing in reply a nobleman named whom we shall call Lord Woodville. How fortunate! Much of Browne's early recollections, both at school and at college, had been connected with young Woodville, whom, by a few questions, he now ascertained to be the same with the owner of this fair domain. He had been raised to the peerage by the decease of his father a few months before, and, as the general learned from the landlord, the term of mourning being ended, was now taking possession of his paternal estate in the jovial season of merry autumn, accompanied by a select party of friends to enjoy the sports of a country famous for game.
This was delightful news to our traveller. Frank Woodville had been Richard Browne's fag at Eton, and his chosen intimate at Christ Church; their pleasures and their tasks had been the same; and the honest soldier's heart warmed to find his early friend in possession of so delightful a residence, and of an estate, as the landlord assured him with a nod and a wink, fully adequate to maintain and add to his dignity. Nothing was more natural than that the traveller should suspend a journey, which there was nothing to render hurried, to pay a visit to an old friend under such agreeable circumstances.
The fresh horses, therefore, had only the
brief task of conveying the general's
travelling- "If I could have formed a wish, my dear
Browne," said Lord Woodville, "it would have been
to have you here, of all men, upon this occasion, which my
friends are good enough to hold as a sort of holiday. Do not
think you have been unwatched during the years you have been
absent from us. I have traced you through your dangers, your
triumphs, your misfortunes, and was delighted to see that,
whether in victory or defeat, the name of my old friend was
always distinguished with applause."
The general made a suitable reply, and
congratulated his friend on his new dignities, and the
possession of a place and domain so beautiful.
"Nay, you have seen nothing of it as
yet," said Lord Woodville, "and I trust you do not
mean to leave us till you are better acquainted with it. It
is true, I confess, that my present party is pretty large,
and the old house, like other places of the kind, does not
possess so much accommodation as the extent of the outward
walls appears to promise. But we can give you a comfortable
old-fashioned room, and I venture to suppose that your
campaigns have taught you to be glad of worse
quarters."
The general shrugged his shoulders, and
laughed. "I presume," he said, "the worst
apartment in your château is considerably superior to
the old tobacco-cask, in which I was fain to take up my
night's lodging when I was in the Bush, as the Virginians
call it, with the light corps. There I lay, like Diogenes
himself, so delighted with my covering from the elements,
that I made a vain attempt to have it rolled on to my next
quarters; but my commander for the time would give way to no
such luxurious provision, and I took farewell of my beloved
cask with tears in my eyes."
"Well, then, since you do not fear your
quarters," said Lord Woodville "you will stay with
me a week at least. Of guns, dogs, fishing-rods, flies, and
means of sport by sea and land, we have enough and to spare:
you cannot pitch on an amusement, but we will pitch on the
means of pursuing it. But if you prefer the gun and
pointers, I will go with you myself, and see whether you
have mended your shooting since you have been amongst the
Indians of the back settlements."
The general gladly accepted his friendly
host's proposal in all its points. After a morning of manly
exercise, the company met at dinner, where it was the
delight of Lord Woodville to conduce to the display of the
high properties of his recovered friend, so as to recommend
him to his guests, most of whom were persons of distinction.
He led General Browne to speak of the scenes he had
witnessed; and as every word marked alike the brave officer
and the sensible man, who retained possession of his cool
judgement under the most imminent dangers, the company
looked upon the soldier with general respect, as on one who
had proved himself possessed of an uncommon portion of
personal courage-- The day at Woodville Castle ended as usual in
such mansions. The hospitality stopped within the limits of
good order; music, in which the young lord was a proficient,
succeeded to the circulation of the bottle; cards and
billiards, for those who preferred such amusements, were in
readiness; but the exercise of the morning required early
hours, and not long after eleven o'clock the guests began to
retire to their several apartments.
The young lord himself conducted his friend,
General Browne, to the chamber destined for him, which
answered the description he had given of it, being
comfortable, but old-fashioned. The bed was of the massive
form used in the end of the seventeenth century, and the
curtains of faded silk, heavily trimmed with tarnished gold.
But then the sheets, pillows, and blankets looked delightful
to the campaigner, when he thought of his mansion, the cask.
There was an air of gloom in the tapestry
hangings (g),
which, with their worn-out graces, curtained the walls of
the little chamber, and gently undulated as the autumnal
breeze found its way through the ancient
lattice- "This is an old-fashioned sleeping
apartment, General," said the young lord; "but I
hope you will find nothing that makes you envy your old
tobacco-cask."
"I am not particular respecting my
lodgings," replied the general; "yet were I to
make any choice, I would prefer this chamber by many
degrees, to the gayer and more modern rooms of your family
mansion. Believe me that when I unite its modern air of
comfort with its venerable antiquity, and recollect that it
is your lordship's property, I shall feel in better quarters
here, than if I were in the best hotel London could
afford."
"I trust--I have no doubt--that you will
find yourself as comfortable as I wish you, my dear
General," said the young nobleman; and once more
bidding his guest good night, he shook him by the hand and
withdrew.
The general once more looked round him, and internally
congratulating himself on his return to peaceful life, the
comforts of which were endeared by the recollection of the
hardships and dangers he had lately sustained, undressed
himself, and prepared himself for a luxurious night's rest.
Here, contrary to the custom of this species
of tale, we leave the general in possession of his apartment
until the next morning.
The company assembled for breakfast at an
early hour, but without the appearance of General Browne,
who seemed the guest that Lord Woodville was desirous of
honouring above all whom his hospitality had assembled
around him. He more than once expressed surprise at the
general's absence, and at length sent a servant to make
inquiry after him. The man brought back information that
General Browne had been walking abroad since an early hour
of the morning, in defiance of the weather, which was misty
and ungenial.
"The custom of a soldier,"--said
the young nobleman to his friends: "many of them
acquire habitual vigilance, and cannot sleep after the early
hour at which their duty usually commands them to be
alert."
Yet the explanation which Lord Woodville thus
offered to the company seemed hardly satisfactory to his own
mind, and it was in a fit of silence and abstraction that he
awaited the return of the general. It took place near an
hour after the breakfast-bell had rung. He looked fatigued
and feverish. His hair, the powdering and arrangement of
which was at this time one of the most important occupations
of a man's whole day, and marked his fashion as much as, in
the present time, the tying of a cravat or the want of one,
was dishevelled, uncurled, void of powder, and dank with
dew. His clothes were huddled on with a careless negligence,
remarkable in a military man, whose real or supposed duties
are usually held to include some attention to the toilet;
and his looks were haggard and ghastly in a peculiar degree.
"So you have stolen a march upon us this
morning, my dear General," said Lord Woodville;
"or you have not found your bed so much to your mind as
I had hoped and you seemed to expect. How did you rest last
night?"
"Oh, excellently well! remarkably well!
never better in my life"--said General Browne rapidly,
and yet with an air of embarrassment which was obvious to
his friend. He then hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and,
neglecting or refusing whatever else was offered, seemed to
fall into a fit of abstraction.
"You will take the gun to-day,
General;" said his friend and host, but had to repeat
the question twice ere he received the abrupt answer,
"No, my Lord; I am sorry I cannot have the honour of
spending another day with your lordship; my post horses are
ordered, and will be here directly."
All who were present showed surprise, and
Lord Woodville immediately replied, "Post horses, my
good friend! what can you possibly want with them, when you
promised to stay with me quietly for at least a week?"
"I believe," said the general,
obviously much embarrassed, "that I might, in the
pleasure of my first meeting with your lordship, have said
something about stopping here a few days; but I have since
found it altogether impossible."
"That is very extraordinary,"
answered the young nobleman. "You seemed quite
disengaged yesterday, and you cannot have had a summons
to-day; for our post has not come up from the town, and
therefore you cannot have received any letters."
General Browne, without giving any further
explanation, muttered something of indispensable business,
and insisted on the absolute necessity of his departure in a
manner which silenced all opposition on the part of his
host, who saw that his resolution was taken, and forbore
further importunity.
"At least, however," he said,
"permit me, my dear Browne, since go you will or must,
to show you the view from the terrace, which the mist that
is now rising, will soon display."
He threw open a sash-window, and stepped down
upon the terrace as he spoke. The general followed him
mechanically, but seemed little to attend to what his host
was saying, as, looking across an extended and rich
prospect, he pointed out the different objects worthy of
observation. Thus they moved on till Lord Woodville had
attained his purpose of drawing his guest entirely apart
from the rest of the company, when, turning round upon him
with an air of great solemnity, he addressed him thus:--
"Richard Browne, my old and very dear
friend, we are now alone. Let me conjure you to answer me
upon the word of a friend, and the honour of a soldier. How
did you in reality rest during last night?"
"Most wretchedly indeed, my lord,"
answered the general, in the same tone of
solemnity;--"so miserably, that I would not run the
risk of such a second night, not only for all the lands
belonging to this castle, but for all the country which I
see from this elevated point of view."
"This is most extraordinary," said
the young lord, as if speaking to himself; "then there
must be something in the reports concerning that
apartment." Again turning to the general, he said,
"For God's sake, my dear friend, be candid with me, and
let me know the disagreeable particulars which have befallen
you under a roof where, with consent of the owner, you
should have met nothing save comfort."
The general seemed distressed by this appeal,
and paused a moment before he replied. "My dear
lord," he at length said, "what happened to me
last night is of nature so peculiar and so unpleasant, that
I could hardly bring myself to detail it even to your
lordship, were it not that, independent of my wish to
gratify any request of yours, I think that sincerity on my
part may lead to some explanation about a circumstance
equally painful and mysterious. To others, the
communications I am about to make, might place me in the
light of a weak-minded, superstitious fool who suffered his
own imagination to delude and bewilder him; but you have
known me in childhood and youth, and will not suspect me of
having adopted in manhood the feelings and frailties from
which my early years were free." Here he paused, and
his friend replied:--
"Do not doubt my perfect confidence in
the truth of your communication, however strange it may
be," replied Lord Woodville. "I know your firmness
of disposition too well, to suspect you could be made the
object of imposition, and am aware that your honour and your
friendship will equally deter you from exaggerating whatever
you may have witnessed."
"Well then," said the general,
"I will proceed with my story as well as I can, relying
upon your candour; and yet distinctly feeling that I would
rather face a battery than recall to my mind the odious
recollections of last night."
He paused a second time, and then perceiving
that Lord Woodville remained silent and in an attitude of
attention, he commenced, though not without obvious
reluctance, the history of his night's adventures in the
Tapestried Chamber.
"I undressed and went to bed, so soon as
your lordship left me yesterday evening; but the wood in the
chimney, which nearly fronted my bed, blazed brightly and
cheerfully, and, aided by a hundred exciting recollections
of my childhood and youth, which had been recalled by the
unexpected pleasure of meeting your lordship, prevented me
from falling immediately asleep. I ought, however, to say
that these reflections were all of a pleasant and agreeable
kind, grounded on a sense of having for a time exchanged the
labour, fatigues, and dangers of my profession, for the
enjoyments of a peaceful life, and the reunion of those
friendly and affectionate ties which I had torn asunder at
the rude summons of war.
"While such pleasing reflections were
stealing over my mind, and gradually lulling me to slumber,
I was suddenly aroused by a sound like that of the rustling
of a silken gown, and the tapping of a pair of high-heeled
shoes, as if a woman were walking in the apartment. Ere I
could draw the curtain to see what the matter was, the
figure of a little woman passed between the bed and the
fire. The back of this form was turned to me, and I could
observe, from the shoulders and neck, it was that of an old
woman, whose dress was an old-fashioned gown, which, I
think, ladies call a sacque; that is, a sort of robe,
completely loose in the body, but gathered into broad plaits
upon the neck and shoulders, which fall down to the ground,
and terminate in a species of train.
"I thought the intrusion singular
enough, but never harboured for a moment the idea that what
I saw was anything more than the mortal form of some old
woman about the establishment, who had a fancy to dress like
her grandmother, and who, having perhaps (as your lordship
mentioned that you were rather straitened for room) been
dislodged from her chamber for my accommodation, had
forgotten the circumstance, and returned by twelve to her
old haunt. Under this persuasion I moved myself in bed and
coughed a little, to make the intruder sensible of my being
in possession of the premises. She turned slowly round, but
gracious Heaven! my lord, what a countenance did she display
to me! There was no longer any question what she was, or any
thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore
the fixed features of a corpse, were imprinted the traces of
the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her
while she lived. The body of some atrocious criminal seemed
to have been given up from the grave, and the soul restored
from the penal fire, in order to form, for a space, a union
with the ancient accomplice of its guilt. I started up in
bed, and sat upright, supporting myself on my palms, as I
gazed on this horrible spectre. The hag made, as it seemed,
a single and swift stride to the bed where I lay, and
squatted herself down upon it, in precisely the same
attitude which I had assumed in the extremity of horror,
advancing her diabolical countenance within half a yard of
mine, with a grin which seemed to intimate the malice and
the derision of an incarnate fiend."
Here General Browne stopped, and wiped from
his brow the cold perspiration with which the recollection
of his horrible vision had covered it.
"My lord," he said, "I am no
coward. I have been in all the mortal dangers incidental to
my profession, and I may truly boast that no man ever knew
Richard Browne dishonour the sword he wears; but in these
horrible circumstances, under the eyes, and as it seemed,
almost in the grasp of an incarnation of an evil spirit, all
firmness forsook me, all manhood melted from me like wax in
the furnace, and I felt my hair individually bristle. The
current of my life-blood ceased to flow, and I sank back in
a swoon, as very a victim to panic terror as ever was a
village girl or a child of ten years old. How long I lay in
this condition I cannot pretend to guess.
"But I was roused by the castle clock
striking one, so loud that it seemed as if it were in the
very room. It was some time before I dared open my eyes,
lest they should again encounter the horrible spectacle.
When, however, I summoned courage to look up, she was no
longer visible. My first idea was to pull my bell, wake the
servants, and remove to a garret or a hay-loft, to be
ensured against a second visitation. Nay, I will confess the
truth, that my resolution was altered, not by the shame of
exposing myself, but by the very fear that, as the bell-cord
hung by the chimney, I might, in making my way to it, be
again crossed by the fiendish hag, who, I figured to myself,
might be still lurking about some corner of the apartment.
"I will not pretend to describe what hot
and cold fever-fits tormented me for the rest of the night,
through broken sleep, weary vigils, and that dubious state
which forms the neutral ground between them. An hundred
terrible objects
appeared to haunt me; but there was the great difference
betwixt the vision which I have described, and those which
followed, that I knew the last to be deceptions of my own
fancy and over-excited nerves.
"Day at last appeared, and I rose from
my bed ill in health, and humiliated in mind. I was ashamed
of myself as a man and a soldier, and still more so, at
feeling my own extreme desire to escape from the haunted
apartment, which, however, conquered all other
considerations; so that, huddling on my clothes with the
most careless haste, I made my escape from your lordship's
mansion, to seek in the open air some relief to my nervous
system, shaken as it was by this horrible rencountre with a
visitant, for such I must believe her, from the other world.
Your lordship has now heard the cause of my discomposure,
and of my sudden desire to leave your hospitable castle. In
other places I trust we may often meet; but God protect me
from ever spending a second night under that roof!"
Strange as the general's tale was, he spoke
with such a deep air of conviction, that it cut short all
the usual commentaries which are made on such stories. Lord
Woodville never once asked him if he was sure he did not
dream of the apparition, or suggested any of the
possibilities by which it is fashionable to explain
supernatural appearances, as wild vagaries of the fancy or
deceptions of the optic nerves. On the contrary he seemed
deeply impressed with the truth and reality of what he had
heard; and, after a considerable pause, regretted, with much
appearance of sincerity, that his early friend should in his
house have suffered so severely.
"I am the more sorry for your pain, my
dear Browne," he continued, "that it is the
unhappy, though most unexpected, result of an experiment of
my own. You must know, that for my father and grandfather's
time, at least, the apartment which was assigned to you last
night had been shut on account of reports that it was
disturbed by supernatural sights and noises. When I came, a
few weeks since, into possession of the estate, I thought
the accommodation which the castle afforded for my friends
was not extensive enough to permit the inhabitants of the
invisible world to retain possession of a comfortable
sleeping-apartment. I therefore caused the Tapestried
Chamber, as we call it, to be opened; and without destroying
its air of antiquity, I had such new articles of furniture
placed in it as became the modern times. Yet as the opinion
that the room was haunted very strongly prevailed among the
domestics, and was also known in the neighbourhood and to
many of my friends, I feared some prejudice might be
entertained by the first occupant of the Tapestried Chamber,
which might tend to revive the evil report which it had
laboured under, and so disappoint my purpose of rendering it
a useful part of the house. I must confess, my dear Browne,
that your arrival yesterday, agreeable to me for a thousand
reasons besides, seemed the most favourable opportunity of
removing the unpleasant rumours which attached to the room,
since your courage was indubitable, and your mind free of
any preoccupation on the subject. I could not, therefore,
have chosen a more fitting subject for my experiment."
"Upon my life," said General
Browne, somewhat hastily, "I am infinitely obliged to
your lordship--very particularly indebted indeed. I am
likely to remember for some time the consequences of the
experiment, as your lordship is pleased to call it."
"Nay, now you are unjust, my dear
friend," said Lord Woodville. "You have only to
reflect for a single moment, in order to be convinced that I
could not augur the possibility of the pain to which you
have been so unhappily exposed. I was yesterday morning a
complete sceptic on the subject of supernatural appearances.
Nay, I am sure that had I told you what was said about that
room, those very reports would have induced you, by your own
choice, to select it for your accommodation. It was my
misfortune, perhaps my error, but really cannot be termed my
fault, that you have been afflicted so strangely."
"Strangely indeed!" said the
general, resuming his good temper; "and I acknowledge
that I have no right to be offended with your lordship for
treating me like what I used to think myself--a man of some
firmness and courage. But I see my post horses are arrived,
and I must not detain your lordship from your
amusement."
"Nay, my old friend," said Lord
Woodville, "since you cannot stay with us another day,
which, indeed, I can no longer urge, give me at least half
an hour more. You used to love pictures, and I have a
gallery of portraits, some of them by Vandyke, representing
ancestry to whom this property and castle formerly belonged.
I think that several of them will strike you as possessing
merit."
General Browne accepted the invitation,
though somewhat unwillingly. It was evident he was not to
breathe freely or at ease until he left Woodville Castle far
behind him. He could not refuse his friend's invitation,
however, and the less so, that he was a little ashamed of
the peevishness which he had displayed towards his
well-meaning entertainer.
The general, therefore, followed Lord
Woodville through several rooms, into a long gallery hung
with pictures, which the latter pointed out to his guest,
telling the names, and giving some account of the personages
whose portraits presented themselves in progression. General
Browne was but little interested in the details which these
accounts conveyed to him. They were, indeed, of the kind
which are usually found in the old family gallery. Here was
a cavalier who had ruined the estate in the royal cause;
there, a fine lady who had reinstated it by contracting a
match with a wealthy Roundhead. There hung a gallant who had
been in danger for corresponding with the exiled Court of
St. Germain's; here, one who had taken arms for William at
the Revolution; and there, a third that had thrown his
weight alternately into the scale of Whig and Tory.
While Lord Woodville was cramming these words
into his guest's ear "against the stomach of his
sense," they gained the middle of the gallery, when he
beheld General Browne suddenly start, and assume an attitude
of the utmost surprise, not unmixed with fear, as his eyes
were caught and suddenly riveted by a portrait of an old
lady in a sacque, the fashionable dress of the end of the
seventeenth century.
"There she is!" he exclaimed;
"there she is, in form and features, though inferior in
demoniac expression to the accursed hag who visited me last
night!"
"If that be the case," said the
young nobleman, "there can remain no longer any doubt
of the horrible reality of your apparition. That is the
picture of a wretched ancestress of mine, of whose crimes a
black and fearful catalogue is recorded in a family history
in my charter-chest. The recital of them would be too
horrible; it is enough to say, that in yon fatal apartment
incest and unnatural murder were committed. I will restore
it to the solitude to which the better judgement of those
who preceded me had consigned it; and never shall any one,
so long as I can prevent it, be exposed to a repetition of
the supernatural horrors which could shake such courage as
yours."
Thus the friends, who had met with such glee,
parted in a very different mood, Lord Woodville to command
the Tapestried Chamber to be unmantled and the door built
up, and General Browne to seek in some less beautiful
country, and with some less dignified friend, forgetfulness
of the painful night which he had passed in Woodville
Castle.
(End)
(g) p. 668. "The tapestry hangings." In the
"Blackwood" version (1818, p. 705) it is doubted whether
the room was hung with tapestry. General Browne is called
"Colonel D." The scene is in the north, not the west, of
England. In "Blackwood" the hero cannot close the door of
his room. The date in "Blackwood" is 1737, much earlier than
Scott places it, "about the end of the American War." It is
plain that Scott had information about place and person
which he did not give. In a similar but more awful modern
tale (told at first hand) two persons see the apparition.
One of them does not survive the shock.
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