46 The Littlecote Legend. 



by Aubrey nearly two centuries back, and within one of its supposed 

 date. 



It is true, as Mr. Long urges, that some of the usual embellish- 

 ments of the tale, as told by tradition, are wanting, such as the 

 " patch cut from the bed-curtain, the counting of the steps of the 

 stair-case, and recognition of the house." But what legendary 

 tale filtered through the traditions of centuries ever failed to 

 acquire supplementary and varying embellishments ? How, for 

 example, does it aflFect the substantial truth of the story that the 

 old woman was fetched from Shefford about six miles on the east 

 side of Littlecote, and not from Great Bedwyn, (as some folks have 

 told it) about the same distance on the west which Mr. Long re- 

 marks on as a fatal discrepancy ? 



The discovery, however, of this remarkable and unexpected piece 

 of evidence to the main facts of the legend, does not remove our 

 friend's incredulity, but only shifts it to what a Frenchman would 

 call the ' locale' and 'personnel' of the tale. He denies that there 

 is any ground for supposing Littlecote the theatre of the crime, 

 or Wild Darell its author, and seems to think it just as likely, or 

 even more so, to have been perpetrated in any other 'great house' 

 of this or the adjoining counties, and by any other wild "party." 

 But if we believe on the evidence of the old woman's deposition that 

 such a crime was actually committed, surely it is too late in the day 

 now to look out for some other possible locality or perpetrator than 

 those to which the uninterrupted tradition of the neighbourhood 

 and every version of the story without exception have hitherto 

 attributed it. 



Moreover the other documents discovered by Mr. Long contain 

 matters strongly confirmatory of the ' local and personal ' particu- 

 lars. Some of these by Mr. Long's own admission shew Mr. "William 

 Darell to have been " a scamp, a scape-grace," and a " spendthrift," 

 " charged with another and earlier murder," and to hare carried 

 on sometime previous to the year 1583, "a criminal intrigue with 

 Anne the divorced wife of Sir Walter Hungerford," who may or 

 may not have been the mother of the murdered infant, but who 

 certainly was at one time involved with Darell in some "unfortunate 



