At length came the news to Rosabel, That the bands of the "Lion-Heart" 'Twas night; and Rhyddlan's* storied hall When Rosabel stole to her latticed bower, And marvel how long to the happy hour, And play'd 'mong the lilies of brow as meek And there she sate, at the moonlight hour, That the breeze, as it rocked the infant flower, "Christ save thee, fair Lady Rosabel!" "O! welcome again! from the bloody war, And thy brow is marked with a fearful scar," And our Lady of blessed memory. And when didst thou come?" she cried. "I come," said the knight, "to make thee mine Thy sire and his guests are drowned in wine, *The beautiful and plaintive air, called "Morfa Rhyddlan," had its origin in a dreadful battle fought near this castle in the year 795, between the Welsh and the Saxons, in which the Saxon prince Offa was victorious, and savagely massacred all the men and children that fell in his hands, the women alone escaping his fury. Fair Rosabel blushed, fair Rosabel sighed ; When she wished in her heart to become his bride? And soon they reached St. Elian's cell, When the saintly man, who joined their hands, "What means," he cried, "that form that stands The young bride raised her head in fear, "Yon bridegroom," he cried, in a jeering tone, The bones of thy lover are blanched and strewn He had lived to reward thy virgin love, "But the hour that thou gavest the Cross away of course, the richer the gift the heavier the saint's curse fell on the enemy of the devotee! People out of health, to this day, send an offering to the saint. A silver groat it said to be a present peculiarly ac ceptable, and has been known to procure his intercession (either to bless or curse) when all other kind of coins have failed. A curious closet of wood, of an hexagonal form, called St. Elian's closet,' is yet left in the east wall of Llanelian church. The misguided devotees assemble here at the wakes, and having deposited their offerings, pro"St. Elian was a Welsh saint; he is com-ceed to learn their future fate by entering the narrow monly called the British Hilary. He was supposed to be gifted with the power of predicting future events; and the good people of ancient Cambria still have the strongest reliance on the efficacy of the saint's Cursing Well,' where, in olden days, magnificent offerings were made to the saint by those who wished evil to any particular person: doorway of the saint's closet; and, if they can but succeed in turning themselves round within theconfined limits of the place, they go away delighted, believing they shall be fortunate until, at least, the next wake; but if they do not succeed, they esteem it an omen of ill fortune, or of their death within the year." DIARY OF A BLASÉ.** CHAPTER XIX. Spa, June 30th. had locked the bed-room door and taken the key with him. So we drank our claret, and waited for his return. "Thinks I to myself" -but I said nothing. At last, we waited till past twelve o'clock; but the gentleman's genYESTERDAY I fell in with two old friends, tleman was no where to be found. H who, from a mere "truant disposition," joined was angry with the man, W― had thrown perhaps with a little good will towards me, himself on the sofa. He wished to go to bed came over to Spa. As soon as their arrival after a long day's travel; but his key was had been announced, I went to them, and at also, for security, in the valet's pocket, who their request joined their dinner. After our had been searched for every where without first greetings, H, who not only appears, success. H- begged me not to remain but really is, a man of fashion, in the best out of politeness; but I did remain, not out of sense of the term, wanted his snuff-box. It politeness, but out of " malice," as the French was in his bed-room, and his bed-room was term it. "I had too much pleasure in their locked by the servant, who had taken the key company to think of leaving them;" and we and gone out. The consequence was, that continued to sip brandy and water. At last, H had to wait some time, and until the three o'clock came, H was out of all paman came back. I have always had a great tience, W- snoring on the sofa, and I, aversion to a valet; and, although I do not quite delighted. The sun should have poured now, as I used to do when a midshipman, his beams upon us before I would have gone brush my own clothes and black my own away. The bell was rung, but in vain, for shoes, yet I like independence in every thing, the waiters would wait no longer. It was and infinitely prefer doing any thing myself proposed to send for a menuisier; but how to being waited upon; for, generally speak-was one to be found at three o'clock in the ing, it is the master who waits, and not the morning? At last the valet, drunk and reeling, in his morning-jacket, entered the room. The keys! the keys !" demanded H—————, in wrath. man. "I wonder you bother yourself with such a travelling appendage, H," observed I, giving him a pinch of snuff to quiet his impatience. "I have never lately travelled with "I have been brought up in a school in which the word impossible has been erased from the language.' 99 "Well, but the comfort of it. When you arrive, dirty and dusty, your portmanteau opened, all your articles of dress laid out." up. "The key!" roared W- who had woke "I "I have them," replied the valet, with a most knowing leer, facetiously smiling. have them all safe-all right, gentlemen. Here they are," continued the man, pulling them out, and presenting them as it he had done a very clever thing. "Here they are you see." The man was too tipsy to be expostulated with, and the gentlemen took their keys in silence. "And now," said I, "gentlemen, I wish you a very good night. You have fully established the extreme comfort of having a valet, and the impossibility of doing without one." It was a glorious victory, although to get out of the house I had to open a window "Yes, so you may, but then the security; and leap from it, and to get into my own every thing locked up, which, in a strange ho-house at that hour was even more difficult. tel, is so necessary." "I can do all that myself sooner than he can; and, as I must wait till it be done, I may as well do it myself." "I lock my own room, and know where to find the key when I come in." "Very likely; but still it is impossible to travel comfortably without a valet." CHAPTER XX. I HAVE been reading Jesse's "Gleanings." "Quite impossible," rejoined W. Is he quite correct? have my doubts. In "Be it so," replied I; "we differ in opinion. one point I certainly do not agree with him, All I can say is, that I think the advantages in his favorite opinion of cats. I do, however, more than overbalanced by the dependence." know an instance of misplaced affection in a The conversation dropped, and we sat down cat, which, although it does not add to the to dinner; the time passed away, as it always moral character of the race, is extremely cudoes, when old friends, who respect and like rious for more reasons than one, and as it each other, meet, after an absence of some happened in my own family, I can vouch for months. After dinner, notwithstanding Mrs. its authenticity. A little black spaniel had Trollope, we smoked cigars; and as the even-five puppies, which were considered too many ing advanced, there were none left on the table. Hrang the bell for his servant to procure others; the servant had gone out and was no where to be found, and for security, for her to bring up. As, however, the breed was much in request, her mistress was unwilling that any of them should be destroyed, and she asked the cook whether she thought it would be possible to bring part of them up by hand before the kitchen fire. In reply, the cook observed that the cat had that day 66 kittened, and that, perhaps, the puppies might ble, and advanced to high honor and wealth. be substituted for her progeny. The experi- The third white elephant, of which I am about ment was made, two of the kittens were re- to speak particularly, and who may be conmoved, and two puppies substituted. The cat sidered as the heir apparent, was taken a few made no objections, took to them kindly, and months previous to our declaring war against gradually all the kittens were taken away, the Burmahs. He was very young; his moand the cat nursed the two puppies only. ther had been killed, and he yet required parNow, the first curious fact was, that the two tial nourishment. He was brought to Ranpuppies nursed by the cat were, in a fortnight, goon, established in one of the best houses in as active, forward, and playful, as kittens the place, and an edict was sent forth from would have been: they had the use of their the capital, ordering that twenty-four of the legs, barked, and gambolled about; while the most healthy young married women should other three, nursed by the mother, were whin- be dedicated to his wants, and if they fell off ing and rolling about like fat slugs. The cat in powers of nourishment, to be replaced by gave them her tail to play with, and they others. This was considered an honor-for were always in motion; they very soon ate were they not nursing a god? Major Canmeat, and long before the others, they were ning, the political agent, who went to see this fit to be removed. This was done, and the curious spectacle, described it to me as folcat became inconsolable. She prowled lows. "The animal was not above three feet about the house, and on the second day of and a few inches high, its color was a dirty tribulation fell in with the little spaniel, who gray, rather than white; it was very healthy, was nursing the other three puppies. "O playful, and in good spirits. When I went ho!" says Puss, putting up her back, "it is into the room, which was very spacious, and you who have stolen my children." No," built of teak-wood, the twenty-four nurses replied the Spaniel, with a snarl, "they are were sitting, or lying, on mats about the room, my own flesh and blood." "That won't do," some playing at draughts and other games, said the cat, "I'll take my oath before any others working. The elephant walking about, justice of peace that you have my two pup-looking at them, and what they were doing, pies." Thereupon issue was joined, that is to as if he understood all about it. After a short say, there was a desperate combat, which ended in the defeat of the spaniel, and the cat walking proudly off with one of the puppies, which she took to her own bed. Having deposited this one, she returned, fought again, gained another victory,and redeemed another puppy. Now it is very singular that she should have only taken two, the exact number she had been deprived of. Does this not prove to a certain extent the power of comprehending numbers in animals? and does not the precocity of the two puppies brought up by the cat, infer there is some grounds for the supposition that, with the milk is imbued much of the nature and disposition of the mother? A few experiments made on these points would be interesting, and we should have a new science, that of lacteology, to add to craniology, in our nurture and rearing of the species. time, the little deity felt hungry, and, with his trunk, he pushed some of the women, but to annoy him they would not yield to his solicitations. When he became angry, and was too rough for them, they submitted, and he put his trunk round their waists in the most affectionate manner, while he was supplying himself." I did not see the animal myself, as immediately that they heard of our arrival at the mouth of the river, they despatched him under a strong guard to a place of security. But I should like to ascertain hereafter, whether his nurture made him a more reasonable being than are elephants in general. How one's thoughts fly away over time and space! What a rush of incidents crowd into my memory, merely from having mentioned this circumstance of the white elephant. I did once intend to have written a narrative of what passed during our sojourn in that This reminds me of a singular fact, little country, for I saw more of the inhabitants known. The Burmahs, who are disciples of than most people; but others have forestalled Gaudma, equally with the inhabitants of Pegu me, and it is now too late. Nevertheless, it and Syriam, whose country they have con- will perhaps amuse the reader, if, without enquered, worship the White Elephant, who is tering into the military details, I mention a considered as a god. There have been but few of the operations and scenes which then three white elephants since the foundation of occurred. Blasé as I am, I prefer reministhe Burmah dynasty by Alompraa. The first cences to observations. I like to feed upon one is dead, and I have one of his teeth carved the store of memory, because I am too inacwith figures, which was consecrated to the tive to care to add to its garner. It shall be great Dagon Pagoda. The second now reigns so, then, and we will discourse a little about -he is attended by hundreds, wears a how- the Burmahs. dah, or cloth, studded with precious stones, An Armenian merchant who resided there and said to be worth a million of money. told me a story one day which was curious. He also wears his bangles or armlets on each leg, and fares sumptuously every day. White elephants are very scarce; the color is occasioned by a disease in the animal, a species of leprosy. Any elephant hunter who is fortunate enough to capture a white elephant in these countries, is immediately created a no The King of Pegu was possessed of the most splendid ruby in the world, both as to size and color. This was well known; it was the boast of the nation. When the Burmahs subdued the kingdom of Pegu, the old king with all his family were taken prisoners, vast treasure was also captured, but the great ru 1836. Autobiographical Sketches connected with Laycock Abbey. 11 by was not to be found, notwithstanding the the corps. In every stockade we attacked, torture and beheading of thousands. With there were always one or two of these men, the usual barbarity of these countries, the old and they really appeared to believe in their king, a miserable paralytic little man, was own powers. They generally stood above the stripped naked and confined within an iron timbers of the stockade, dancing and capercage, which I saw when I was at Rangoon. ing as the boats advanced, and continued their In this confinement he lived for ten or twelve extravagances amidst a shower of bullets, years, every festival day being brought out exposing their persons in a most undaunted and exposed to the derision of the populace. manner. There was one fellow who, dressed At last he died, and his body was thrown out in a short red jacket, and nothing else except to be devoured by the dogs and birds of prey. the cloth round his loins, who was well known One of the soldiers who assisted to drag the to our men; they called him Happy Jack, from body out of the cage, turned it over with his the capers which he used to cut, and somehow foot, and perceived that his right hand grasped or another, it was his good fortune never to a lump of damma, (a sort of pitch,) which cu- be hit, at least, not that we know of, for takriosity induced the Burmah to force out with ing stockade after stockade, at every fresh the point of his spear. This had been ob- attack there was Happy Jack to be seen ca. served before, but the Burmahs, who are very pering and shouting as usual, and never ceassuperstitious and carry about them all sorts ing to expose himself until the troops had of charms, imagined it to be a charm for his landed and were about to scale the fortress. paralysis or palsy with which he was afflict- It was quite amusing_to hear the men shout ed, and therefore had allowed it to remain. out with laughter, By heavens, there's HapBut when the Burmah took it up, the weight py Jack again." I hope he is alive at this of it convinced him that it was not all dam- moment; at all events, he deserves to be, ma: he examined it, and found that it was (To be continued.) the great ruby of the Pegu kingdom which had been lost, and which the old man had for so many years, in a state of nudity and incarceration, held in his left hand. I asked one of the Burmah chiefs whether this ruby, now in the possession of the King of Ava, was so fine as represented: his answer was in truly eastern hyperbole-" Dip it in the Irrawaddy," said he, (that is an enormous river seven hundred miles long and in many parts several miles broad,)" and the whole water will turn to blood." 66 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES CON NECTED WITH LAYCOCK ABBEY.* BY MRS. CRAWFORD. I PASS over Corsham House, the seat of the Methuen family, about four miles from Laycock Abbey, as being more fully described in I have said that the Burmahs are very su- "Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire." Also Boperstitious; thay have a great variety of wood, the seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne, charms which they wear about their persons, which, though a noble mansion, is uninterestbut there is one custom of theirs which is very ing to the antiquarian, the Lansdowne family singular. They polish rubies; that is, with-being of very modern rise. Sir William Petout cutting them in facettes, but merely the stone, whatever its primitive shape, is rubbed down on every side until it is perfectly smooth. They then make an incision in the flesh, generally the arm or leg, put in the ruby and allow the skin to heal over it, so that the stone remains there. Soldiers and sailors in search of plunder will find out any thing, and this practice of the Burmahs was soon discovered, and after the assault and carrying of a stockade, you will see the men passing their hands over the dead bodies, and immediately that they felt a rising in the limb, out with their knives and cut in for the rubies. Indeed, the plunder was more considerable than might be imagined, for every Burmah carried all his wealth about his person. ty, who made the "Down Survey" in Ireland, was its founder. On that occasion, he very wisely got a grant to him and his heirs, of Dunkerron Castle, the ancient seat of the princely family of O'Sullivan. Thus, owing to the injustice of English rulers, the ancient Irish have been stripped of their ancestral rights; and their noble dwellings and ample heritages given to the stranger. Half way up to Bowden Hill, and between Bowood and Laycock Abbey, stands Spye Park, the seat of the Bayntons, a family of great antiquity, and who formerly made a *Continued from vol. xiv. + Dunkerron Castle, in the county of Kerry: the Another singular custom arising from the O'Sullivans were styled Princess of Dunkerron. same cause prevails among this people. The Also the fine Castles of Ardea, Beare, Dromiking has a corps denominated Invulnerables, nagh, and Dunloh, (the latter most beautifully situated on the River Laune, and commanding whose ranks are filled up in this manner:when a criminal is condemned to death for an extensive view of the lower Lake of Killarney,) belonged to this once powerful race of uncertain offences, such as robbery, he is per- fortunate Erin. mitted to challenge as an invulnerable. This + Sir Sullivan, of Thames Ditton, in is proved by his standing at a certain distance the county of Surrey, is the only representative from several men who fire at him with ball. of that noble family; and has, most undoubtedShould he not be wounded or killed, he is ly, a prior claim to Lord Lansdowne's, to Dunpronounced an invulnerable and enrolled in kerron Castle. considerable figure in the county. Nothing chambers, supposed to be the spirit of the galcan be more delightful than the situation of lant Sir Henry Baynton, who was beheaded this old mansion, standing in a fine park, richly wooded, and commanding a most extensive view into (as it is said) ten counties. at Berwick, in the time of Henry the Fourth. for taking part with the rebel Earl of Northumberland. More modern spectres also were said to trouble the indwellers of Spye Park, for I remember Lady Shrewsbury saying that old Sir Edward, the father of the late Sir Andrew Baynton, was continually seen at nightfall in the park and grounds; and that the latter had often, (when in company with his mistress,) been startled by the apparition of his father. Sir Andrew, in early life, was remarkable for the possession of every engag In 1652, at the defeat of Sir William Waller by the Lord Wilmot, Bromham House, the ancient seat of the Baynton family, situated near to the field of battle, was burnt down; upon which, they removed to Spye Park, and having greatly enlarged and beautified it, made it their chief residence. But that they afterwards rebuilt Bromham House (or Bremhill) is certain, from a letter I have by me, written fourteen years after the fire, by Siring and moral quality; but the misconduct of Edward Baynton, to one of my family. As the letter is a fair specimen of the friendly and homely manner of invitations in those times, I will transcribe it, mauger the chance of offending modern delicacy. his first wife, to whom he was fondly attached, altered, it was said, his very nature, and plunged him, in order to banish thought, into the most reckless libertinism. Lady Maria Baynton was the object of his earliest, and therefore of his sweetest vows: and when he For my most honored kinsman, Thomas Gore, married her, hope promised him a golden "SIR! age of wedded happiness. But, unfortunately, the veil which hid Lady Maria's real character was soon drawn aside. A gen"On Tuesday next, I intend (God willing) tleman of great personal attractions (and reto make my sonne, which it hath pleased lated to Lady Maria) arrived from abroad on the Lord lately to bless our family with, a a visit at the house. The wretched wife and Christian. And it is my wife's desire as well mother forgot her twofold duty; and after as mine, to have your good company then here many stolen meetings amongst the shades of at dinner, to join with Mr. William Glanville, Spye Park, whose beauty and peacefulness of Broad Hinton, and Mrs. Thynne, my wife's might have awakened purer and holier feelkinswoman, who are intended for the other ings, she fled with her seducer. Sir Andrew gossips, in giving it a name. If your wife, was at first inconsolable; and despite her brother, (to whom I desire to have my re- shameless desertion of him, long-lamented the spects presented,) and other our relations and good friends can conveniently come along with you, I shall be very glad to see them also. That it may be your turne before this time twelve months, (though I shall not presume to obtrude myself,) to receive the like courtisie, are the hearty wishes of, sir, 66 "Bremhill House, mother of his child. Alas! that sinful mother and guilty wife, was speedily visited by an awful retribution! Her infamons seducer, (for whom she had outraged the laws of her God, and the delicacy of woman,) soon grew weary of the poor victim he had immolated at the shrine of a lawless passion, treating her with the utmost cruelty and brutality. Death at last put an end to her dreadful sufferings; and the young, the elegant, and the accomplished Lady Maria, brought up in the lap of luxury, and nurtured upon There is now in the Royal Museum, a curi- the bosom of indulgence, died in a lone ous old pedigree, showing that the Bayntons in house, without a single friend or attendthe reign of Henry the Second, were knights ant to administer to her latest wants, or a chaof St. John of Jerusalem. Sir Henry Bayn- ritable hand to close her dying eyes.* ton held the office of knight-marshal to the that the young and thoughtless female would king, a place of great authority at that time; take warning from her fate, and learn to keep and his son, who was slain at Bretagne in the in subjection those passions of our frail humayear 1201, was a noble knight of Jerusalem. nity that rise up, like the angry winds of the Sidney, in his treatise on Government, men- tempest, to make shipwreck of God's glorious tions this family as being of "great antiquity; creation! Man may redeem his follies; but and that in name and ancient possessions, it one false step in woman, and farewell hope! A equals most, and is far superior to many of pretty affecting tale, under the title of "Mathe nobility." The house at Spye Park al- ria; or the Obesquies of an Unfaithful Wife," ways struck me with gloom; but, perhaps, written (I forget by whom) upon the melanthe legends told of it, and the too real events choly facts I have just recorded, was one of that had happened in it, might throw their the first productions of the novel tribe I ever shade over its walls. Oh As all antique mansions in the country *The heartless destroyer of her life and fame must be associated with a due portion of the finished the dismal tragedy, shutting up her corpse superstitious, and the wonderful, Spye Park in the house alone, till the rats actually had eaten was not without its share. There was a story part of the body. And yet this man was aftertold, (and duly credited by the peasantry,) of wards admitted in the best society, and admired a knight, clad in armor, haunting one of the by all the women! |