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accession of George II., he came to England, and resided for some 
time in Pall Mall, under the name of Mr. Johns, without being 
at all molested. He returned to France, and again came to 
England in 1735, when he ventured into public, and visited several 
families in Essex and elsewhere; but his hopes of obtaining a 
pardon, for which object he had the mediation of friends, were 
disappointed. Charles Radcliffe took this opportunity of 
revisiting Dilston. His parental hall was desolate; the gardens 
were over-grown with weeds; the walls and gates were broken 
down ; and the old bridge (which still remains), was in disrepair. 
There was nothing like itself but the old chapel, where a clergyman 
of the Church of England was officiating periodically, and beneath 
which the body of his lamented brother was entombed, besides their 
father’s remains; but even these sad relics he could not be 
allowed to see. 
It is said that with a faithful follower named Armstrong, he 
resided for some time in the neighbourhood of Dilston, taking no 
pains to conceal himself. In the shades of evening he was 
occasionally met by the inhabitants, who took him for the ghost of 
the departed Earl. ‘The woods and river-dell soon gained the 
reputation of being haunted by the spirit of their former owner,— 
a belief to which the dress and family likeness of the forgotten 
Charles Radcliffe contributed. On one occasion he met face to 
face, in the narrow forest walk, the bailiff who had been sent down 
from London by the Commissioners. The man, terrified at 
encountering the supposed ghost, turned his horse and galloped 
back, pursued by Charles, who highly relished the panic he had 
created. The chase, however, was short, for the bailiff striking his 
head against the branch of a tree, was felled to the ground by the 
blow, where Charles left him to recover at his leisure. He was 
picked up by a woodman and conveyed home, and ever afterwards 
persisted in asserting that the ghost had thrown its head at him, 
and thus occasioned the plight in which he was found. He soon 
afterwards petitioned for his recall, and another was sent down in 
his stead, who declared that he had no fear of ghosts, and was 
determined to fire at it the first opportunity ; this opportunity was 
