264 JBieglnicft district 



by the family, saw all that had been seen, and more. Car- 

 riages were now interspersed with the troops ; and every 

 body knew that no carriages ever had been, or could be, on 

 the summit of Souther Fell. The multitude was beyond 

 imagination ; for the troops filled a space of half-a-mile, and 

 marched quickly till night hid them, — still marching. There 

 was nothing vaporous or indistinct about the appearance of 

 these spectres. So real did they seem, that some of the 

 people went up the next morning to look for the hoof-marks 

 of the horses ; and awful it was to them to find not one 

 footprint on heather or grass. The witnesses attested the 

 whole story on oath before a magistrate ; and fearful were 

 the expectations held by the whole country side about the 

 coming events of the Scotch rebelHon. It now came out 

 that two others had seen something of the sort in the inter- 

 val, viz., in 1743, but had concealed it, to escape the in- 

 sults to which their neighbours were subjected. Mr. Wren, 

 of AVilton Hall, and his farm-servant, saw, one summer 

 evening, a man and a dog on the mountain, pursuing some 

 horses along a place so steep that a horse could hardly by 

 any possibility keep a footing on it. Their speed was pro- 

 digious, and their disappearance at the south end of the fell 

 so rapid, that Mr. Wren and the servant went up the next 

 morning, to find the body of the man, who must have been 

 killed. Of man, horse, or dog, they found not a trace : and 

 they came down and held their tongues. When they did 

 speak, they fared not much better for having twenty-six 

 sworn comrades in their disgrace. As for the explanation, 

 — the Editor of the * Lonsdale Magazine * declared (Vol. ii. 

 p. 313), that it was discovered that on that midsummer eve 

 of 1745, the rebels were ^exercising on the western coast of 

 Scotland, whose movements had been reflected by some 

 transparent vapour, similar to the Fata Morgana.' This is 



