Dec. 23. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



503 



mere parvenu ghost — a spirit of no pretensions 

 whatever. It is the Walpurgis of the witches and 

 demons on the wolds and in the woods. Ghosts 

 of suicides hold high carnival at dreary cross 

 roads, and he who has courage enough to watch in 

 the churchyard with an ash stick in his hand, will 

 see the fetches of those who are to die during the 

 next year. Sometimes also the wayfarer sees 

 lights and hears solemn music in lonely churches 

 — another fine old idea which has haunted man's 

 mind, ever since Keginald of Durham's friend the 

 Yorkshire monk fell asleep and dreamed of the 

 ghostly mass at Fame. But all this diablerie ter- 

 minates at the first sound of the midnight bells ; 

 and the spirit or demon, wherever he is, must 

 hie him back instanter. Old Smudgers, who 

 knows more legends than the brothers Grimm, 

 and has killed incomparably more rats, tells a tale 

 of a dissipated young fellow who, lovelorn and 

 morose, wandered out one Christmas Eve instead 

 of joining the carol singers, — how, full of evil 

 thoughts, he sauntered through the common field, 

 and was accosted by the enemy in the guise of 

 (probably his nearest prototype) a Yorkshire 

 horsedealer, who tried all manner of ways to 

 get hold of him by engaging him in some game of 

 chance, but all without success ; till he ofiered to 

 drink him for a " bag of gold," which our thirsty 

 rustic could not find it in his heart to refuse, and 

 proposed an instantaneous adjournment to the 

 " Red Eagle." " No time like the present," said 

 the old gentleman, drawing out a bottle and a 

 couple of horns ; and so they sat down on the hill 

 side, and drank as though for their lives. Dick 

 held out manfully for some time, but felt the 

 liquor gradually stealing away his senses. He 

 sees his adversary's eyes glaring with triumph, 

 and feels a burning grasp at his throat, when sud- 

 denly, borne by the breeze over the hills and 

 fens, comes the merry sound of the midnight 

 chimes — ringing out from every tower and steeple 

 down the country side. With a shriek that woke 

 every one up at Mud Wallingham, twenty-one 

 miles off", the Yorkshireman abandoned his prey ; 

 and next morning Dick was found with his gold 

 at the bottom of the hill. But the ill-gotten riches 

 never made Dick thrive. His favourite son left 

 him alone in his old age, and he became a miser, 

 and barred himself up in the old house near the 

 church — still called the "'Miser's House." One 

 wintry Christmas Eve, when all was wind and 

 storm without, there was a knock, and a sup- 

 plication for relief at his door ; but all the beggar 

 got was a curse. Next morning the body of his 

 long-lost son was found frozen on the step, and 

 that day the old man died — but not to rest : for, 

 at a certain hour on Christmas Eve, the wretched 

 old miser unbars the window with his bony hands, 

 and showers down, from between the old stan- 

 chions, coins of a date and coinage long passed 



away : of late years, probably because of the un- 

 happy scarcity of specie, he has been less liberal ; 

 but Smudgers watched once, a long time ago, and 

 picked up a penny, which he has still carefully 

 wrapped up in silver paper, beneath the false 

 bottom of his old chest. 



N.B. Smudgers is indisputably the biggest liar 

 in our village. V. T. Stebnbebg. 



15. Store Street, Bedford Square. 



STONTHUBST BUCK-HUNT. 



I send you a broadsheet containing a poetical 

 account of a circumstance which occurred about 

 a century ago. The name of the rhymer is now 

 forgotten, and his composition can only be pre- 

 vented from becoming so by preserving it in your 

 pages. It is still "sung or said" by all the ancient 

 ones resident in the locality. T. T. W. 



Burnley. 



"An Interesting Account of Stonyhurst Buck-hunt: de- 

 tailing the Particulars of the Chace of that Day, which 

 was honoured with the Presence of the Duke of Nor- 

 folk, his noble Brothers, and his Kinsman — Talbot ; 

 accompanied by Mr. Waters, Mr. Harris, and Mr. 

 Penketh — all of whom Avere Gentlemen fond of the 

 Turf, and who stood at nought in taking a leap when iu 

 — 'View halloo!' 



* To Whalley Moor therefore he ran, 

 To Clitheroe and Waddington ; 

 Yet visits Mitton by tlie way, 

 Although he had no time to stay.' " 



1. 



** It was one morning when the sun 

 Had gilded all our horizon, 

 And seem'd in haste to mount the sky, 

 Some new known pleasures to espy ; 

 Whose early rays did me invite 

 To walk the downs for my delight. 



2. 



" Serene and calm all did appear, 

 At last this music reach'd my ear — 

 The morning's call one blast of horn ; 

 While horses at the ground did spurn 

 In stately scorn neighing so high, 

 As echoed in the lofty sky : 



3, 

 " 'Twas my good hap to see his Grace * 

 As he on Twister mounted was ; 

 Norfolk's great Duke, my muse does mean. 

 Whose skill in horsemanship was seen 

 So excellent, my fancy swore 

 Chiran ne'er taught Achilles more ; 



4. 

 ** With steady countenance he sat, 

 While the proud steed did bound and jet. 

 Seeming of nature to complain 

 That he was made of aught terrene, 

 Eeady to mount the starry sphere. 

 And make a constellation there. 



* Thomas, the eighth Duke of Norfolk, married Maria 

 Winifreda Francisca, only daughter of Sir Nicholas Sher- 

 burne, of Stonyhurst ; — she died without issue in 1754. 



