82 COBNUBIANA. 



has a sodden uncanny look. It was formerly a public-house, 

 but of late years it has been inhabited by private tenants. A 

 certain mine-captain, who died many years ago, seems to be the 

 ghost, whose manifestations have given this house so painful a 

 name. These manifestations occur between Christmas and Lady- 

 day, and take the character of unseen hands, noises, doors 

 opening mysteriously, and portents of a like nature. The story 

 runs as follows, given to me by two former and present 



inhabitants of the place : "Old Capt. , was ' a philosopher,' 



for he could bring the stars into the room — a remarkable instance 

 of occult powers. As he lay a-dying, suddenly the whole house 

 shook, so that his wife cried out ' Old Cap'n has passed : levs 

 put on the tea-kettle.' " After his death, his spirit is supposed 

 to have haunted the house, though it has never actually been 

 seen. When a certain old woman was sitting at the table, un- 

 seen hands would present her with the things she required — a 

 most good-natured ghost, whose services would be very welcome 

 to many of us. The sisters of one of my informants used to 

 complain to him of the noises they heard by night, which were 

 unheard by him. They complained that it was like a chariot of 

 fire driving round the room. For a long time he heard nothing, 

 until one night he was aroused by mysterious noises, and it 

 seemed as if the house door was being slowly opened, dragging 

 noisily against the ground as was its wont. Then feet, clad in 

 bags, pattered into the shop below, corn was weighed, and the 

 oven was being prepared to cook a meal. The feet approached 

 the bottom of the stairs, and displaced the boots arranged there. 

 This was more than the awe-struck listener could bear, so he 

 cried aloud " In the name of the Lord, who is there ?" At the 

 sacred name, a sudden quietness ensued, until the father of my 

 informant inquired what was the matter. On being told, he 

 merely replied " G-o to sleep, I heard it as well as thee ?" 



To still the noise of a roystering party in this house, on another 

 occasion, the old man exclaimed, " Hold your noise, the old one 

 will be here in a moment !" refering to the philosophic mine 

 captain. In mockery, one of the men fell on his knees ''to raise 

 the old one," when a dreadful sound was heard, and the passage 

 seemed full of some mystic presence which could be understood 

 rather than felt. The men hurried off at full speed, and the 



