222 Wild Darell of Littlecote. 



burial at Ramsbury, yet, coupled with the fact that most undoubtedly 

 he died at Littlecote, of which he was in possession until his death, 

 that Ramsbury was the parish, and that the family mausoleum was 

 there, we can hardly doubt but that he was gathered to his fathers, 

 and that his bones still rest somewhere under the soil of the Darell 

 aisle. 



In conclusion, I will add that, hard as it is to cast "historic 

 doubts" upon a narrative so replete with exciting incidents, and 

 which has now, for nearly three centuries, shrouded the curious and 

 interesting old mansion at Littlecote with a halo of archaeological 

 mystery, I am bound to confess my, perhaps somewhat reluctant, 

 scepticism ; and, as far therefore as my own humble opinion goes, I 

 must consign this tale — the murder, the trial, and all — in the form 

 transmitted to us by our " agreeable gossip," (as James the First 

 would have called him,) John Aubrey, to the limbo of departed le- 

 gends. "It would be unfair" (using Lord Campbell's words,) "to load 

 the memory " of even a spendthrift and a scrape-grace, such as Darell 

 confessedly was, " with the obloquy of so great a crime, upon such 

 unsatisfactory testimonj'." Peace therefore to the manes of the last 

 Darell of Littlecot, though it may be pain to the breathless listeners of 

 the neighbourhood, who are annually gathered round the yule log 

 on a cold Christmas evening, and who are wont to hear, not only 

 the name and residence of the mid-wife, and the exact route by 

 which she went and returned, but that there are still some of her 

 descendants yet living, who can vouch for the truth of this constant 

 family tradition, and more than this, that even now few dare pass 

 the perilous stone stile before cock crow, and while the hoarse cry 

 of the imearthly pack is heard, and the headless himtsman, (all such 

 apparitions, singidar to say, are headless ! !) is seen careering in the 



chase. 



It may here be not out of place to take some cursory notice of the 

 old mansion at Littlecote, as well as of the Darell aisle at Rams- 

 bury. There have been, apparently, many alterations in the former, 

 made no doubt by the Chief Justice, or by his son. Neverthe- 

 less, there was a goodly mansion in the days of the Darells, although 

 the only armorial records of its then possessors, are the lions ram- 



