214 



Wild Dareil of Littlecote. 



likewise masqued ; and after she had done her office the child was 

 presently taken by these fellowes and cast into a fire, which was 

 made in the chamber for that purpose, and consumed to ashes, the 

 mother crying owt and exclayming uppon them for that crueltie, 

 which she sayde in the midwife's hearing was the fifth time they 

 had used in like sort upon her children. This will not quit your 

 Mrs. Yincent, because though these men were barbarous the woman 

 was in some sort compassionit, but I expect before long to heare 

 your Catholique gentlewoman putt into the number of Saints as 

 well as Garnett and his companion, whose pictures and names I 

 saw in the Jesuit's Legend at Augusta." 



There is no further mention of this story in Carleton's subse- 

 quent letters. It may readily be imagined with what buoyant ex- 

 citement the contributor of this Article on " Wild Dareil" hurried 

 off to refer to the "Court and Times of James the First," contain- 

 ing Chamberlain's letters to Carleton, in the not altogether despe- 

 rate hope of finding some allusion to the nearly precise parallel at 

 Littlecote, then a tale only twenty-seven years old. Not defeated 

 by again finding nothing in the printed letters, he then hastened 

 to the Museum to test their accuracy by a reference to the original 

 MS. It appears that Chamberlain wrote two letters, one dated 

 June 8th, the other June 22nd, but strange to say, he never even 

 noticed the dark tale at all. It is clear that Carleton's letter was 

 received by him, and that his letter, dated June 8th, was in reply 

 to it, as we find in this latter (although for some unexplained rea- 

 son the passage is omitted in the printed copy), the acknowledge- 

 ment, that, "Two days since I received both your letters of the 

 24th and 30th of last month," In the face of these recent discov- 

 eries we dare not affirm that we have yet thoroughly sifted DarelPs 

 history; but, as regards his crowning enormity, this Littlecote 

 legend, my anticipation is that nothing will be discovered to bear it 

 out, and, individually, I must be content, to remain, and peradven- 

 ture to stand alone in my unbelief, the "sceptical archaeologist " 

 cast aside with somewhat of compassionate disdain by my more 

 credulous but very worthy friend and school-fellow, the author of 

 the interesting and admirable article headed "Wiltshire" in a 

 late number of the Quarterly Review. C. E. L. 



