394 Wild Darell of Littlecote. 



whether two myles or more, I doe not remembre. And I demaundinge of her 

 w ch way shee wente in rydinge thither, shee aunswered that as shee supposed 

 shee wente faste by Dunington Parke, leavinge the said parke on her righte 

 hande, and demaundinge of her by what houses shee traveyled by, shee aun- 

 swered that shee traveyled by dyvers houses w ch shee knewe not, and demaund- 

 inge over or throughe what waters shee passed, shee aunswered shee passed 

 over a greate and a longe bridge w ch as shee veryly supposed was a bridge 

 over the Thames, as by the water w ch passed throughe the said bridge beinge 

 very greate shee dyd imagin. 



" By me, Anthokye Bridges." 



It will not be necessary to offer more than a few comments on 

 the above documents. The reader may safely be left to draw his 

 own conclusions as to the connexion between the passage in 

 Bridges's letter and the date of the deposition. On the deposition 

 itself I would observe 



1st. The mention of the Knevetts was, obviously, a "blind " to 

 induce Mistress Barnes to move, and so, in no way, inculpates Sir 

 Henry *Knevett as regards the murder, though it does lead to a 

 suspicion that some of his party may have concocted the affair in 

 order to damage the reputation of Darell. But there is another 

 point. Are we to believe that this " Mother Barnes," who was so 

 well known as to have made a promise to cross the county, some 

 thirty miles, to Malmesbury, was yet, herself, so ignorant of her 

 own immediate neighbourhood as not to be aware that she had 

 merely been carried some five or six miles from her home, and 

 that she remained a whole day in a house of such pretensions as 

 Littlecote, in utter ignorance of where she was staying- ? Why, it 

 would have been dangerous for Darell himself to have faced her, 

 as she might very frequently have seen him in her own village 

 hard by, where Bridges, being his friend and relation, resided. 



2nd. She is asked to describe her route, and she states that she 

 thought that in "going thither" viz. to the unknown mansion, 

 "she left Dunington Park" that is the Park of Donnington Castle 

 near Newbury, on her "right." Now if this was the fact, a glance 

 at the map will show that she may have gone, we know not where, 

 certainly anywhere but to Littlecote. But let us suppose that she 

 thought she detected Donnington on her return, and that she was 

 taken round by way of Speen, and so by the Lambourne road to 



