THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



entrance of these wonderful assinegoes ^ the Marquis 

 had given order that these cataracts should begin to 

 fall, which made such a fearful and hideous noise, by- 

 reason of the hollowness of the tower and neiofh- 

 bouring echoes of the castle and the waters that 

 were between and round about, that there was such 

 a roaring as if the mouth of hell had been wide 

 open and all the devils conjured up, occasioning the 

 poor silly men to stand so amazed as if they had 

 been half dead, and yet they saw nothing. At last, 

 as the plot was laid, up came a man, staring and 

 running, crying out, ' Look to yourselves, my 

 masters, for the lions are got loose.* Whereupon 

 the searchers tumbled so over one another, escaping 

 down the stairs, that it was thought one half of 

 them would break their necks, never looking behind 

 them until out of sight of the castle." 



The real value of the second Marquis of Worces- 

 ter's inventions has provided subsequent writers with 

 one of those interesting historical problems which, 

 like the authorship of Junius or the man with the iron 

 mask, are unexhausted and perhaps inexhaustible. 

 The story of the captive Earl in his chamber in the 

 Tower of London watching- the boilingf tea kettle 

 and seeing in the lifting of the lid and the clouds of 

 rising steam visions of the future triumphs to be 

 wrought with the imprisoned force, is probably 



^ Assinego, a young ass (Portuguese). " Thou hast no more 

 brains than I have in my elbow : an assinego may tutor thee." 

 — Troilus and Cresstda, ii. i. 



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