Stony hurst. 227 



extinct, by which Stony hurst was founded and originally 

 occupied. The marble monuments bear epitaphs of rare 

 tenderness, though antiquated in phraseology, foremost 

 among them being that which commemorates the last of 

 the race, Richard Francis Shireburn, who died, poor boy, 

 in 1702, at the age of only nine poisoned, tradition 

 says, by eating yew-berries, though as the time of his 

 death is stated on the monument to have been June, and 

 it is impossible for yew-berries to exist except in October 

 and November, there is something in need of explana- 

 tion. It is not, by the way, the yew-berry that is 

 poisonous, for that is perfectly innocuous, but the seed. 



Stonyhurst needs at least half-a-day purely and entirely 

 to itself. At present, as well known, it is the principal 

 college maintained in this country by the Jesuits, a party 

 of whom obtained possession of it in 1794, when driven 

 from Liege by the terrors of the French Revolution. 

 The site was occupied by a hall in exceedingly remote 

 times, a Shireburn going hence in 1347 to attend Queen 

 Philippa at Calais. The existing edifice was raised in 

 the time of Elizabeth, by whom the head of the family 

 was so highly esteemed, that although a Catholic, she 

 allowed him to retain his private oratory and domestic 

 priest. The lofty and battlemented centre and the noble 

 cupolas give it a character among our Lancashire man- 

 sions quite unique. The interior is in perfect harmony 

 with the external design. It is richly stored, moreover, 

 with works of art, and with archaeological and historical 

 curiosities, the latter including various treasures brought 



