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 DUNSTER CASTLE, 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 EOMXCE OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 
 
 I. T. HEWLETT, M. A. 
 
 LATE OF WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 
 
 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1846.
 
 J. D. SMITH & CO., PRINTERS, 
 
 7. EAST HARDING STREET, GOVGH SQUARE.
 
 o 
 
 ^^3 
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 About six o'clock in the morning of a brilliant 
 
 g May-day, 200 years ago, a small vessel of about 
 
 ten tons burthen, rigged with two large lug- sails 
 
 and a jib, might have been seen leaving the little 
 
 : port of Minehead, on the coast of Somerset, in the 
 
 , Bristol Channel. The morning was so calm that 
 
 ^, the wind, which ought to have hlow7i from the 
 
 .^ north-east, scarcely served to Hft the boat's little 
 
 , pendant from the mast against which it lay. The 
 
 2 sails flapped lazily to and fro, as she rocked on the 
 
 j^ receding tide and was slowly carried beyond the 
 
 qI little pier by the current. 
 
 ^ The harbour-master, who stood at the pier-head, 
 
 :;L VOL. I. B
 
 ^ DUNSTER CASTLE 
 
 watching the departure of the Blossom of Mine- 
 head, as the boat was called, placed his hands to 
 his mouth to form a speaking trumpet, and shouted 
 to the crew to ^' out sweeps and pull lustily into 
 the main tide." No further answer was returned 
 to him for his miasked advice, than a loud *^Ay, 
 ay, sir," which came distinctly to his ear. The 
 oars remained beside the gunwales, and the crew 
 seemed contented to leave their boat to the gui- 
 dance of the stream. The captain, who stood at 
 the helm, rested his back against the tiller, so as to 
 bring her head round to the westward, filled his pipe, 
 and lighted it with a flint, which he struck against 
 the blade of a knife suspended round his neck by a 
 lanyard. The crew, who consisted of another 
 man apparently about the age of the captain, and a 
 tall stripling, who might have seen some seven- 
 teen summers, threw themselves upon the half- 
 deck in the fore part of the vessel, making a pillow 
 for their heads of the warps which had been hauled 
 in and coiled up when they left the pier-side. 
 
 " Lazy dogs, lazy dogs, I wot," said the harbour- 
 master as if soliloquizing, *' but Giles Tudball was
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 3 
 
 ever willing to take things easy, and Will Bow- 
 ering and the young springald seem well enough 
 inclined to follow his examj^le. If the wind do 
 not spring up, and they be too idle to use their 
 sweeps, I doubt not but they will not have dou- 
 bled the foreland ere tide be turned." 
 
 "Doubled the foreland, old boy," shouted a 
 gruff voice so close to the harbour-master's ear, 
 that, though he knew its owner was behind him, it 
 made him spring up from the pier-wall on which 
 he was resting his elbows—" Why should Giles 
 Tudball \A-ish the httle lively Blossom of :\Iinyead 
 to double the foreland on a day like this?" 
 
 " The Blossom of Minyead (for so its inhabit- 
 ants of those days pronounced Minehead, by cDr- 
 ruptioQ probably of its ancient name M^mneved,) 
 I trow. Master Jenkuis, goeth to Ly 'mouth after 
 her usual freight, and, if her owner useth no more 
 exertion than he seems disposed to do just now, 
 the farmers must wait long for the lime-stone 
 that is to be burned in our kilns to manure their 
 lands." 
 
 "'Vast there old boy, and don't trv' to impose 
 B 2
 
 4* DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 upon a simple Welshman who knows but little, 
 yet enough to tell you that such mere cockle- 
 shells as that yonder go not after lime-stone at 
 all, and especially to Ly 'mouth, but to Uphill, 
 opposite the Steep Holmes, on your side of the 
 water, or the more convenient and valuable cliffs 
 over right us in Wales," said Master Jenkins 
 rather indignantly. 
 
 "Said I lime-stone? Ly'mouth lime-stone. 
 Master Jenkins, and to thee ? well, w^ell, I grow 
 old and foolish, and you must have known that 
 when I said lime-stone, I meant Porlock whi- 
 tings which are caught with the hook, opposite 
 the little \dllage of Linton. They are valuable, 
 Master Jenkins, and fetch much money of those 
 who love delicacies. Giles Tudball, you know, doth 
 little else but fish, though he may sometimes run 
 over to your side of the Channel and bring back, 
 in exchange for our broad cloths, a cargo of your 
 woollen yarns for the clothiers of Dunster." 
 
 *^ Little else, indeed," said Master Jenkins, "ex- 
 cept it be, as some folks pretend, that he lies now 
 and then off the mouth of the Channel, near Lundy
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. O 
 
 Island, and lightens some of the ships from the 
 Americas of a part of their cargoes, that they ma}^ 
 float the lighter to the port of Bristol; or inter- 
 changes civilities and strong waters for English 
 gold with the Hollanders and the Frenchmen, v/ho 
 regard not our customs and laws." 
 
 " All scandal, sheer scandal, Master Jenkins ; 
 besides, an he did lay in a small store of tobaccoes 
 and strong waters for his own use, doth he not pay 
 tonnage and poundage and his share of the ship-tax 
 as a freeholder of Minyead ? answer me that !" 
 said the harbour-master. 
 
 " Confound the tonnage and the poundage, and 
 him that imposed so grievous a tax upon us !" said 
 Master Jenkins. 
 
 "Nay, nay, speak not evil of King Charles, 
 Master Jenkins ; he must have money for his 
 necessities ; and thou know'st 'tis said the Parlia- 
 ment will gran: him no further supplies, until he 
 doth away with the bishops, and converts all the 
 churches into meeting-houses." 
 
 " And let him do so, what care I ? The parsons 
 may bum their surplices, put on the black gown,
 
 O DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and crop their heads as closely as Master George 
 Browne, the late clerk of Dunster hath done, pro- 
 vided I have not to pay on both sides of the Chan- 
 nel for every cargo I run out and in with," said 
 Master Jenkins. 
 
 *' Be not wroth, be not wroth ; your good town 
 of Cardiff flourisheth in despite of the King's taxes ; 
 and Master Jenkins, sole owner and captain of the 
 good cutter the St. David, can very well afford to 
 pay the tonnage and poundage dues at every port 
 he puts into." 
 
 Master Jenkins seemed inclined to argue the 
 point, but the old harbour-master stopped his angry 
 reply and continued — 
 
 " But as touching Giles Tudball and the tobac 
 coes and the strong waters: you know a sailor 
 needs something to cheer him in wet and storm 
 stronger than Somersetshire cider or Welsh ales 
 If report speak not falsely, Hollands gin and the 
 Virginian plant may be found among the stores of 
 the St. David of Cardiff. Her captain is said to 
 love his pipe and his glass as well as — " 
 
 "Master Luckes, the harbour-master of the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. / 
 
 Port of Minyead ; who, folk will say, keeps not his 
 eyes so open as they might be, if they were not filled 
 with rheum from the smoke-reek and the fumes 
 of strong waters. He wmks, it is said, some- 
 what frequently at a breach of the customs' laws." 
 
 " I am not of the customs, Master Jenkins, 1 
 have nought to do with their laws. I have my 
 duties to perform, as master of this port and col- 
 lector of all her dues, and I will take care that 
 none, not even the owner and- captain of the St. 
 David, escape by false guagings and short reckon- 
 ings," replied Master Luckesin a great passion, and 
 wending his way towards his official residence, at 
 the foot of the pier which joins the lower town, 
 and is situated close to the base of a high and steep 
 hill, called Greenaleigh. 
 
 Master Jenkins smiled at the old man's wrath, 
 but kept close to his side, throwing in a word or 
 two as he walked along, to irritate him the more ; 
 for it was a favourite amusement with most of the 
 seamen who put into Minehead, to excite the old 
 harbour-master as much as they could, in order to 
 see how suddenly his anger could be changed to
 
 » DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 placidity, and his forgiveness be obtained by an 
 oifer of his favourite liquor, Hollands gin, and 
 materials for supplying his pipe. 
 
 ^' It is false, all false. Master Jenkins, you say 
 it but to provoke me, but I will not be provoked : 
 I am calm, skipper, quite calm, but may 1 be — " 
 
 " Hush, hush, 'vast there. Master Luckes," said 
 the captain, holding up his hand deprecatingly. 
 
 " Nay, may I suffer more than devils are said 
 to suffer, if I do not look you up sharp, your regis- 
 ter must be set right. Master Jenkins, and your 
 tonnage and poundage raised. I have been le- 
 nient, too lenient ; but may I be — " 
 
 " Snugly seated in the little parlour of ' the Ship- 
 aground,' vdth a glass of something warn), sweet, and 
 strong before you, and a pipe of prime Virginia, such 
 as Sir Walter Raleigh loved, and good King Jamie 
 hated and abused, eh ? that was what you would 
 have said, was it not ? and so you shall, harbour- 
 master ; I have not yet broken my fast, and the 
 host of the Ship-aground, your worthy son. Mas- 
 ter Richard, hath a cold chine of Porlock mutton, 
 which will serve us both ; and thou knowest that
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 9 
 
 Giles Tudball takes care that his corner cap- 
 board lacks not the spirits or the weed. So 
 come man, be not angry; I only joked with thee," 
 said Master Jenkins holding out his tarry hand. 
 
 '' Oh, an hast only been joking me all this time ? 
 ah ! ah ! well truly I thought so, and only feigned 
 to be angry you see, so there is mine hand ; and 
 we will explore son Richard's pantry and taste 
 what he hath in liis buffet, but it is not contra- 
 band, the duties have been paid," said the old 
 man, \\'inking at his companion, and hurr}^ng as 
 fast as his old limbs would allow him towards his 
 son's hosteby. 
 
 " 'Vast mate, avast, ere we enter Master Rich- 
 ard's house, I would fain take another look at 
 Giles Tudball and his craft : see, he is out in 
 the run of the tide, and his sails catch the slight 
 breeze that comes off do^^m Channel. He will not 
 be long ere he doubles Bossington Point, and runs 
 safely into Culbone Cove," 
 
 "And why should he run into Culbone Cove 
 of all places ?" said the harbour-master, "you know 
 that Culbone boasteth but of three little huts and 
 B 3
 
 10 DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 the smallest church in England, though I have 
 lieard some of our sailors, who have visited the 
 Isle of Wight, say that they have seen one there 
 even smaller, dedicated to St. Lawrence, but I 
 doubt them Master Jenkins ; they only say it to 
 annoy us : why, I ask thee then, should the Blossom 
 of Minyead make for Culbone? answer me that." 
 
 ''Nay, Master Luckes, you need not be told 
 that Kitnore chmxh is dedicated to St. Culbone, 
 though, who he was, it would puzzle a wiser head 
 tlian mine to tell thee, and that from him the 
 village hath its name. This day, the first of May, 
 is the festival of St. Philip and St. James, and 
 on it is held Kitnore or Culbone revel, under the 
 license of the Bachells of Ashley-Combe, who 
 furnish the parson to the parish, and hold the 
 manor with its rights." 
 
 " Would'st hint. Master Jenkins, that the 
 Esquire of Ashley-Combe would license a revel, a 
 thing forbidden by the Parliament under heavy 
 penalties? or that Giles Tudball would risk his 
 good name, and waste liis time at unlawful junket- 
 ings and ale-meetings?"
 
 DUXSTKR CASTLE. 11 
 
 " As to the license of the good Master Bachell 
 of Ashley-Combe, I say nought about it, but you 
 know, harbour-master, better than I can tell you, 
 that Giles Tudball hath stowed away beneath 
 his half-deck sundry yards of canvass, to form 
 a tent or diinking-booth on Culbone-green, with 
 certain barrels of beer and cider, not to recount 
 other articles for good cheer, out of which' he 
 expects to reap no small advantage to him- 
 self and your son Richard, who hath furnished 
 him with the articles : neither hath he forgotten 
 to take quoits, throwing-bars, and basket-sticks, 
 for the recreation of such as love the sports of 
 Englishmen, which Master Pym and his canting- 
 friends would fain put do^\•n, as wicked and abomi- 
 nable and savouring of prelacy and popery; 
 though they were proclaimed to be la^^-ful, even 
 on the sabbath, by King James himself." 
 
 " Times are changed, times are changed. Mas- 
 ter Jenkins;" said the old man, shaking his head 
 mournfally, " men talk not as they were wont to 
 talk, but speak the language of prophets and seers; 
 such as we used to liear onlv in our churches. Sacred
 
 1^ DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 words be now used on most profane occasions, 
 yet there is more roguery than ever in the world, 
 and they that set up for the greatest share of piety 
 are found to have the lightest weights and the 
 shortest measures." 
 
 '*I am no Papist, but boast myself to be a 
 sound though an unworthy churchman, and yet 
 can I not see that our revels, if they be well con- 
 ducted, under the eyes of the nobles and gentry, 
 as they have hitherto been, can be offensive either 
 to God or man." 
 
 " Right, Master Jenkins, right, better play in 
 sport, than do mischief in earnest. The poor man 
 cannot always work, and, when not at work, he 
 had better play than do worse ; you know the 
 old saying, * idleness is the root of evil,' by which, 
 I trow, is meant that, if a man be not at work 
 or play, he is sure to be in mischief. I would 
 rather that Laud, he that was Bishop of Bath, 
 and is now of Canterbury, though he sees little 
 of his see, seeing that he is in the Tower o' Lon- 
 don, were left to lord it over us, than we should be 
 as we are, in the hands of canting make-believes,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. IS 
 
 who put a stop to all our games and sports ; but 
 liow know you, Master Jenkins, that Giles Tud- 
 ball hath a design to go to Culbone revel ?" 
 
 "Tush, man!" replied the captain of the St. 
 David, smiling, " you are grown old and silly and 
 suspicious withal. Was I not with thee at son 
 Richard's last even, until the smoke and the fumes 
 of strong waters made you talk thick, and close 
 your eyes, and finally obliged you to be put to 
 bed? nay, never \^'ince man, age will creep on, 
 and the stomach and brain will fail a man at 
 last, though he has been an honest toper in 
 his time." 
 
 " Say no more, say no more, I confess 1 was 
 overcome, and yet I did not drink deep," said the 
 harbour-master. 
 
 " Not so deep as you were wont of yore cer- 
 tainly, but still sufficiently deep for an old 
 man, and you slept sound enough to allow every 
 vessel in port to discharge her cargo, without 
 paying tonnage and poundage, had their owners 
 been so disposed," said Master Jenkins. 
 
 "Nay, even you, Welshman though you be.
 
 14 DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 would not have suffered a good-natured old man 
 to be wronged. You would have roused me, you 
 would have roused me, Master Jenkins." 
 
 *"' It might have been a difficult matter, more 
 difficult than you are aware of; you heard us 
 not as we carried the cargo to the Blossom of 
 Minyead, though oiu barrows clattered close under 
 your window." 
 
 "Did Giles Tudball then make known to you 
 his intention of going to Culbone revel ?" 
 
 *^ Ay did he, and I helped him and your son 
 Richard to put everything on board, and am go- 
 ing over to join him by and by in my boat, with 
 Alloway the butcher, and some other good wrestlers 
 from the upper town, and am to have provender 
 and free approach to the ale can for my trouble." 
 
 " And do you know who is gone with Giles Tud- 
 ball and his mate Will Bowering ? did they tell 
 thee that ?" said the old man looking earnestly in 
 the captain's face. 
 
 *' Ay man, they told me all, for they know 
 that I nay be trusted: besides, I have seen the 
 young Hugh de ^lohun before to-day, and even
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 15 
 
 carried him across to Cardiff in my vessel. He 
 is wild, and of a roving disposition, and ought 
 to be a sailor, for he loves the sea, and the more 
 stormy it is, the better he loves it." 
 
 *' The Mohuns once, I am told, owned Dunster 
 Castle ; is this young springald, think you, one of 
 the family ?" 
 
 " Nay, I know not ; I only know that he has 
 been for more than twelve months at Dunster, stu- 
 dying the humanities with g^d Master Snelling 
 the curate, who hath been placed over the church 
 in the room of Master Robert Browne, who, like 
 his father before him, hath become an Independent 
 and calls the Church, whose bread he ate of. 
 Antichrist; and has otherwise offended her worthy 
 sons." 
 
 " And he is away to the revel without good 
 Master Snelling's consent! Well, well, I hope 
 no harm will come of it. The Sheriff with his 
 posse may come upon them, and then — " 
 
 " The Sheriff is the worthy Thomas Luttrell 
 of Dunster Castle, and he is away (doubtless on 
 purpose; for he loves not to interfere with the
 
 16 DUNSTER CASTLE, 
 
 people's pastimes) in his cutter for Cleveden to bring 
 thence his fair ward. I saw him past Blue-anchor 
 bay, and Watchet, and nearly off Brent-knoll, as 
 I crossed from Cardiff yester-e'en." 
 
 "Well, well; I hope no harm may come on't: 
 nay, if I could entrust my duties to another, I would 
 take an oar in thy row-boat, and join in the re- 
 vel myself. I could wrestle once Master Jenkins ; 
 ay, you may smile, but I could indeed, though 
 not quite so well**s this young springald, Hugh 
 de Mohun, who, they say, dorse d big Alloway, 
 the butcher three times fairly." 
 
 " I saw him do it man, and the butcher goes 
 with me to-day, to strive to win back his laurels; 
 but come, we are wasting the time in talking, 
 instead of tasting Master Richard's cheer." 
 
 The harbour-master and the captain left the 
 pier, and entered the little inn called the Ship- 
 aground, where we must leave them for tlie pre- 
 sent, and follow the Blossom of Minehead to see 
 what befell its crew.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Giles Tudball, who owned and commanded the 
 small lugger, called the Blossom of Minehead, was 
 a short, thick-set man, posssesed of great bodily 
 strength and mental courage. He was about thh'ty 
 years of age, very healthy and active. He bore 
 the character of a quiet, inoffensive man, and by 
 some who knew him only on shore was deemed 
 somewhat indolent and fond of ease, and was 
 thought to prefer a seat in the alehouse, over a pipe 
 and some strong waters, to attending to his business 
 as a fellmonger. Giles had inherited this business 
 from his father, and^ had, from his love of the sea 
 and with a view of adding to his gains, joined to 
 it the profession of a fisherman, and a carrier of 
 goods to the opposite coast of Wales, whither he
 
 18 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 conveyed some of the cloths manufactured at 
 Dunster, and brought back skins and hides for his 
 o^vn use, and woollen yarns for the use of the 
 clothiers. 
 
 Master Jenkins's insinuations of his being en- 
 oaored now and then in the contraband trade were 
 well grounded, as Giles often ran down Channel, 
 and returned with a great take of herrings and 
 other fish ; these, with the nets in which they 
 were captured, concealed sundry tubs of spirits and 
 packages of tobacco and pipes, that were consider- 
 ed as great luxuries in those days, and were too 
 expensive to be procured by the lower order of 
 the regular traders. Even the gentry were known 
 to encourage smuggling, and to prefer the spirits 
 and tobaccoes which had not paid duty to those 
 wliich added to the revenue of the kingdom. 
 
 The contraband trade was carried on without 
 mucli difficulty or danger in so insignificant a 
 place as Minehead. There was but one revenue- 
 officer appointed to protect the port, and he was 
 satisfied to be on good set terms with his neigh- 
 bours, and to be contented with the triffing cargoes
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. " 19 
 
 which he was now and then permitted to seize, 
 to make his superiors believe he was performing 
 his duties strictly. He never wanted pipes, tobacco, 
 or strong waters for his own use, though he never 
 purchased them at Master Will Bowering's shop, 
 in which his wife carried on the trade of a general 
 dealer, while her husband went out to sea, with or 
 without his employer, Giles Tudball. Mrs. Bow- 
 ering was not offended at not having the custom- 
 house-officer as a customer ; because she thought 
 that, in his visits to her stores, he might fancy that 
 her goods were not purchased of the Bristol mer- 
 chants, who could not afford to supply her so 
 cheaply as her own good-man could do. Thus all 
 parties were satisfied with the ganger, and the 
 ganger was satisfied with all parties. 
 
 Giles Tudball moreover, kept three or four pack- 
 horses, for the ostensible purpose of collecting and 
 carrying home raw skins and hides, but they were 
 frequently used for transporting inland the com- 
 modities brought up Channel in his lugger, and 
 conveying parcels and letters for the tradesmen and 
 gentry to their customers and friends, with whom
 
 20 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 they would otherwise have found it difficult to 
 communicate. On these expeditions, Giles was 
 frequently absent, as he liked a roving life, and had 
 perfect confidence in his active and enterprising 
 vsdfe, Dame Tudball, as she was called, who pre- 
 sided over the fellmongering business, and in his 
 mate Will Bowering, who had too good a share in 
 the profits of the lugger, to allow him to let her 
 remain idle in harbour. 
 
 Will Bowering was, in personal appearance, 
 somewhat like his employer, short and strong ; but 
 he was of a talkative and rather quarrelsome dis- 
 position, especially when the marvellous tales he 
 told over his glass, of what he saw in his trips 
 across and dovrn Channel, did not meet with the 
 ready credence he demanded for them. Had the 
 ganger been an active officer, or the people on the 
 quay at Minehead zealously disposed towards the 
 government, all the secrets of the smuggling trans- 
 actions of the Blossom might easily have been 
 betrayed, as Master Will, when under the in- 
 fluence of the strong waters of his own importation, 
 could not keep a secret for the life of him.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 21 
 
 With these two men in the lugger, on the 
 morning of May-day 1642, sailed, as we have seen, 
 a young man about seventeen or eighteen years of 
 age ; and, as he will take a prominent part in the 
 events which I am about to relate, it will be neces- 
 sary to describe his person and character, and to 
 give a brief sketch of the little that was known of 
 his past histor)-. 
 
 Hugh de Mohmi was slight, tall, and wel]-pro- 
 portioned, though somewhat longer in the arms 
 than perfect symmetry required. His face was 
 handsome, but had rather a foreign character about 
 it : his eyes were very dark and fringed with 
 long black lashes ; his eyebrows were finely arch- 
 ed, and from above his lofty forehead a profusion 
 of coal-black hair fell in waving masses over his 
 ears, and nearly to his shoulders : on his upper 
 lip he wore a slight moustache, and his chin was 
 beginning to be covered with a dark beard. His com- 
 plexion was darker than a^n Englishman's generally 
 is, though a ruddy glow appeared on his cheeks 
 through the olive-coloured skin, and saved his com- > 
 plexion from being termed swarthy ; had he been 
 of the other sex, he would have been termed a 
 brunette.
 
 2ti DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 He was dressed like his companions, in the cos- 
 tume of a common sailor, which consisted of a close- 
 fittingvest of coarse blue Flushing cloth ; a large pet- 
 ticoat of the same, over loose breeches, which were 
 buttoned at the knees, and below them a pau' of 
 stout, coarsely-made, water-tight boots ; round his 
 waist w^as a broad leathern girdle, in which he 
 carried a small pair of silver-mounted pistols, and on 
 his head he wore a red woollencap, which kept back 
 his luxuriant hair from his forehead, and fell about 
 an mch below his right ear, where it terminated in a 
 tassel; round his neck was suspended a small silver 
 chain, to which was attached a small pipe of the 
 same metal, and a sort of bodkin to clear the tube 
 of any obstruction, and to press in the tobacco, for 
 which purpose one end of it was flattened. Tobacco- 
 smoking was fashionable in those days, and every 
 man who had any pretensions to the rank of a gen- 
 tleman carried with him his pipe and his silver to- 
 bacco-box as regularly as a dandy of the present 
 day carries his gold watch and its appiu'tenances. 
 
 Such, in personal appearance and di*ess, was the 
 young Hugh de Mohun, on the morning in ques-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 23 
 
 tion : of his history all he himself knew was that he 
 was born in London ; that his father died while he 
 was yet very young, and that his mother had retired 
 into a religious house in Holland, to hide her grief 
 for the loss of her husband, leaving h er son to the 
 care of Master Robert Snelling, who had been re- 
 cently appointed to the incumbency of Dunster, in 
 the room of Master Robert Browne ; the said Mas- 
 ter Robert Bro^\iie having been removed for 
 preaching unorthodox doctrines. Master Snelling, 
 doubtless, could have told Hugh de Mohun more of 
 his history, had he chosen to do so ; but he had not 
 volunteered to do it, and Hugh had not as yet been 
 very particular in his inquiries. With this infor- 
 mation, therefore, scanty as it is, the reader must be 
 satisfied for the present. 
 
 Both Hugh de Molimi and Will Bowering were 
 sleeping soundly on the half-deck, for they were 
 weary ; the former with his run from Dunster, 
 whence he had escaped at a very early hour, with- 
 out his tutor's knowledge or consent, and the latter 
 from having been engaged nearly all the night in 
 carrying and stowing away the canvass for the
 
 24 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 drinking-booth, and the barrels of beer and other 
 articles which were intended for the bodily comfort 
 of the revellers on Culbone Green. Giles Tud- 
 ball stood at the tiller, smoking calmly and steadily, 
 only removing his pipe to shake out the ashes of it, 
 or to press them with his tobacco-stopper. 
 
 As the sun rose high in the heavens, the 
 waraith of its beams awoke one of the sleepers. 
 " What ho ! Giles Tudball, I must have slept some 
 two hours at the least, and yet we have Minehead 
 still in view ; I had thought to have lost sight of 
 Conygar Hill ere this, and to have rounded Bossing- 
 ton Point and brought up at Porlock-wear, where 
 you know I wish to be put ashore, that I may see 
 the young Master Julian Bachell, and bring him 
 with me to the revel." 
 
 " Why Master Hugh, thou hast slept but one 
 short hour, and we have been drifting with the tide 
 only. The wind cometh but in slight puiFs, and 
 that at long intervals," said Giles Tudball. 
 
 " Thou should'st have whistled to it, and would'st 
 have done so had thy pipe allowed thee, but at 
 this rate we shall never reach Culbone ; whv
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 25 
 
 not out with the sweeps, as Master Luckes pro- 
 posed ?" 
 
 '• Time enough, young sir ; I care not to reach 
 Culbone Cove before Master Richard, who goes 
 there by land ; the captain of the St. David v>-ould 
 have borne me company, if it had not been for you, 
 and he would have had more patience." 
 
 ^^ Patience, indeed! I lack not patience more 
 than Master Jenkins, who, Welshman like, is im- 
 patient enough at times. I only wish to land at 
 Porlock, and, when I have set foot on shore at the 
 base of Ashley Combe, you m^ay drift do^vn to the 
 Cove as slowly as you please, to give fifty Richards 
 time to meet you at Culbone, an you list. I 
 shall make bold to wake Master AVill here, who 
 hath had as much rest as I have had, at any 
 rate." 
 
 *'• Xay, let him sleep, he has a long day's v.-ork 
 before him," said Giles. 
 
 " His work, I trow, will rest chiefly with his 
 mouth. Master Tudball ; what ^^•ith drinking, eating, 
 and telling lies, he will have enough to employ him, 
 and can do all that as he sits : so here goes to rouse 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 56 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 him. What ho! Will Bowering, rouse thee, man ! 
 The porpoises are rolling about, which thou may'st 
 swear are so many mermen and mermaids, as thou 
 hast often done before ; wake up, man !" said Hugh 
 de Mohun, applying his foot to the half-roused 
 sleeper's person. 
 
 " I would have you know, young sir, that I will 
 not put up with this rough usage," said Will, 
 gazing savagely on his distiuber, for he had not 
 quite slept off the fumes of his last night's drink- 
 ing ; " I will not, by—" 
 
 "Tush man, thou art stale-drunk now, and a 
 little exercise at the oar will work off the remain- 
 der of the Dutchman by the pores of the skin. So 
 out with your sweep, and I will take the other, and 
 a short half-hour shall see us round Bossington 
 Point ; thou cans't tell us some of thy veracious 
 adventures as we pull along ; they will serve us to 
 laugh at." 
 
 *' Come, rouse thee Will! " said Giles, "a. little 
 exercise will do thee no harm." 
 
 " I will obey yon, as in duty bound, Master Giles, 
 but I will be hanged ere I be commanded by a
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 27 
 
 runaway stripling/' said Will, slowly rising and lift- 
 ing his sweep over the larboard bow. 
 
 " Thou wilt as assuredly be hanged as thou wilt 
 venture to tell lies at the gallows' foot," said Hugh, 
 smiling as he put out the starboard oar and began 
 pulling ; ^' your face now looks as if it were made 
 up for a falsehood, only you have not coui'age 
 enough to utter it ; what would'st say ?" 
 
 " I would say that, an thou wert a man and not 
 a mere boy, I would make thy back intimate with 
 the end of a two-inch rope. Master Hugh." 
 
 ^' I knew you were meditating a lie, Will ; you 
 dare not lay a finger on me, for fear I should serve 
 you as I did yon bragging butcher, who boasted 
 that he would toss me into the air as easily as one 
 of his o\Mi bulls could do it, but who bit the grass 
 ere he had firm hold of my collar and elbow ; be- 
 sides Will, thy good-nature, when thou art not in 
 thy cups, is proverbial ; and you would not injure 
 me, who, as you know, am pledged to give thee thy 
 belly-full to-day if you wish it." 
 
 "I wonder that the parson, good Master Snel- 
 ling, does not keep his pupil under lock and key, 
 c £
 
 28 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and flog him for breaking ward, and mumming in 
 sailor's clothes, instead of studying at home in a suit 
 of sober student's grey," said Will, recovering 
 his good humour, but wishing to annoy his perse- 
 cutor. 
 
 " Why, as to lock and key, Master Bowering, 
 he has strong locks and cunning too, and sleeps 
 with the keys under his pillow, but the windows 
 must be higher than the windows of the gateway 
 at Dunster Castle be, if he would keep Hugh de 
 Mohmi within his walls, when he wishes to be else- 
 where. I am too old for the other punishment 
 which you liave suggested, and never bore it very 
 patiently; though a little more of it might 
 have done me good; and as to my sailor's dress, I 
 adopted it at your own suggestion, and gave thee 
 the jacobuses wliich purchased it at Bristol; does 
 it not become me ?" 
 
 " Nay, I cannot but say that you become it, does 
 he not. Master Giles?" said Will, now restored 
 to good humour. 
 
 " That he does. Will, but I doubt good Master 
 Snelling will scold Dame Tudball, for being his
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 29 
 
 wardrobe-keeper and aiding liis mumming," said 
 Giles. 
 
 " Ah, ah ! truly you make me laugh ; Dame 
 Tudball aid me in my freaks ! why man the bell 
 of Dunster chui'ch, in which Master Luttrell hath 
 placed the large clock, sounded twice ere I could 
 prevail on her to let me in to change my dress. 
 How she did lecture me from her casement ! ay 
 and threaten to lecture you too, Giles, when she 
 got you within the four curtains of your bed, 
 for encouraging me in idleness and disobedience. 
 I was forced to kiss her, Giles, when she did 
 let me in, ere I could prevail — but thou art not 
 jealous, eh?" 
 
 " Your kisses are too freely bestowed. Master 
 Hugh, to make me angry that one of them be 
 bestowed on Dame Tudball, who hath always been 
 a discreet woman, excepting in one instance." 
 
 " Indeed ! and when did she prove indiscreet?" 
 inquired Hugh, amused at the notion of Dame 
 Tudball, who was some ten years older than her 
 spouse and ugly withal, going astray. 
 
 '' Not in a matter of love. Master Hugh, she is
 
 so DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 not amorously bent, but she showed her weaK- 
 uess in going to Watchett-Point to see a merman, 
 which Will Bowering, there, assured her, with 
 many oaths, he himself saw combing and brushing 
 his sea-green locks." 
 
 *' Not so, not so ; I do swear by St. Philip and 
 St. James, it was not so : that I saw the merman, 
 I am ready to testify before the Parliament ; but 
 Dame Tudball rode the skewball mare to Watch- 
 ett, to see the tobacco-pipe of old Master Luckes the 
 harbour-master of Minyead, which was found in 
 the belly of a porpoise with other curiosities," said 
 WilL 
 
 " And what were they ?" said Hugh, laughing 
 aside at the captain. 
 
 " I cannot recollect them all just now, my mas- 
 ter, but I know that a pewter measure and a shirt 
 of guenisey-u'ork belonging to young Master Rich- 
 ard Luckes were among the number ; and the pipe 
 I saw with my own eyes." 
 
 *' Why thou ai t growing worse than ever. Will !" 
 said his master, " I have heard you tell these lies 
 at night after your allowance of strong waters, but
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 31 
 
 never in your sober moments ; you know that the 
 harboui'-master's pipe was picked up by the tailor, 
 as he groped for congers, in Blue-anchor bay, and 
 that the Guernsey frock and the pewter measure 
 were borrowed by yourself, when you went in Mas- 
 ter Jenkins's cutter after alabaster from Watchett 
 cliff for the masons. Master Jenkins says that his 
 metheglin made you so uproarious, that you threw 
 off the shirt to fight his mate, and tossed the pewter 
 measure at his head, when he tried to prevent you 
 making an ass of yourself." 
 
 ^* Well ! well ! be it so. I am not used to his 
 honey-wine, and it might have overpowered me; 
 but as to the merman, 1 will swear to having seen 
 him with my own eyes, as plainly as I now see the 
 Blue-anchor hostel at Porlock-wear," said Will. 
 
 " Was it before noon or after ?" inquired Hugh 
 de Mohun, looking as seriously as he could. 
 
 '' It was at night. Master Hugh, the moon was 
 shining as I lay at anchor in this very craft, with 
 my lines out stem and starn, fishing for cod, or 
 tublings, or any thing that might come to hook." 
 
 *' And you saw the merman distinctly ?"
 
 S2 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 ** Why, he came alongside, and looked so wist- 
 fully in my face, that I was about to offer him a 
 drink of my liquor, when he turned down and 
 splashed me with his tail as he dived below." 
 
 Giles Tudball and the young man here burst 
 into a loud roar of laughter, which so offended 
 Will, that he turned sulky and said no more until 
 they reached the landing-place at Porlock-wear, 
 where they put Master Hugh ashore.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 As soon as Hugh de Mobun had left the boat 
 which put him ashore at Porlock-wear, he walked 
 up to the little inn called the Blue Anchor, where 
 he meditated breaking his fast. 
 
 When he entered the kitchen, he found a table 
 spread out with cold meats and pies, salted and 
 dried fish, and abundance of ale and cider. The 
 host himself was presiding at the feast, which 
 was partaken of by a motley crew, who were 
 evidently on their way to the revel. At one 
 end sat a group of gipsies by themselves, talk- 
 ing in a language peculiar to that extraordinary 
 race of people ; by their sides lay bundles of sticks, 
 and bags containing tin boxes and other painted 
 toys, which were, even in those days, set up to be 
 c 3
 
 34 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 throwii at by the visitors at junketings and re- 
 vels : at another part of the table sat a company 
 of minstrels, having their rebecs, pipes and tabors, 
 iiud other instruments for rustic music, within 
 a convenient distance of them : a band of mor- 
 ris-dancers, with their little bells affixed to their 
 knees and their wrists, sat next ; and, at the head 
 of the table, in colloquy with the host, was seated 
 a mediciner or quack-doctor, with his man, the 
 Men-y Andrew as he is called. 
 
 Beneath the bench on which they sat, was placed 
 the box in which the doctor carried his panaceas, 
 and on it rested the large tin horn, with which 
 his servant summoned all who had ailments of 
 of any kind to come and purchase a certain cure 
 for them. Some half-dozen stout, sturdy men, 
 clad in close-fitting cloth dresses, and having thick, 
 heavy-nailed boots on their feet, and padded stock- 
 ings on their legs, stood together in another part 
 of the room, and were evidently come from the 
 hills, to try a fall in wrestling with any one who 
 should be bold enough to oppose them. 
 
 They eyed the youthful Hugh de Mohun as
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. O.) 
 
 he entered the hostehy, and a whisper passed 
 among them that he was the stripling who had 
 given the bullying butcher of ^linyead three fair 
 falls, a fact which seemed to excite their wonder 
 and their smiles. 
 
 Hugh, however, noticed them not, but, going up 
 to the head of the table, after saluting the host 
 and Doctor Graveboys, he seized a huge round 
 of corned beef, helped himself liberally from the 
 joint, and washed down the mass of solids with 
 huge ckaughts from a black jack of foaming ale ; 
 after which he picked the bones of a salted her- 
 ring or two, and finished his meal \\-ith some eggs, 
 which were placed in a basin before him. 
 
 *'l'faith, master mine," said the doctor's servant, 
 in a subdued tone, but loud enough to be heard bv 
 the host and his young guest ; "if all be true that 
 you say of yom' wondrous powders for procuring an 
 appetite, the young seaman there must have been 
 a good customer and bought largely." 
 
 "His appetite, Jansen, is the result of health 
 and exercise, and probably of a prolonged fast, 
 which has caused the juices of the stomach to irri-
 
 S6 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 tate the fauces. My powders, of which you speak, 
 are intended only for such as, having indulged in 
 over-much eating and especially in the use of 
 strong waters, which are poison to indolent sit- 
 at-homes, have not energy enough to seek a re- 
 newal of their digestive powers by the free use of 
 their limbs in the free air of heaven." 
 
 "You say right. Master Graveboys,'' said the 
 host, " strong waters ought never to be resorted 
 to but by such as have taken a chill, or would 
 qualify themselves for exposure to the severity of 
 the weather, or the dews of the late night or early 
 morning." 
 
 " And for which of these dost thou apply so fre- 
 quently to the little squab bottle of true Dutch 
 build, which stands in yonder buffet, worthy host ?" 
 asked Hugh de Mohun, as he pushed the emp- 
 tied jack from before him. 
 
 " I am troubled with the wind-colic at times. 
 Master Hugh, and though I try a Httle ginger in 
 my ale, it Vvill not aUvays remove it without some 
 little qualification," said the host. 
 
 " Jansen," cried the doctor, " open the chest and
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. ciV 
 
 give me a small bottle of my elixir of life; our 
 host shall pay himself for our meal therewith, and 
 find much ease in his ailments \^'ithout resorting 
 to the Dutchman." 
 
 '' Nay, nay, sit still man. I would rather take 
 thy master's coins than his cordials at any time, 
 and this morning my ale sits sufficiently easy 
 on my stomach," said the host. 
 
 "Well, well, Jansen," said the doctor, a httle 
 disconcerted at seeing Hugh smile, "find, if thou 
 canst, a box of my pills for refreshing the brain 
 which has been strained by over-much study : the 
 student of Dunster there, may perhaps like to pur- 
 chase and try them when he puts off his mumming 
 dress and applies himself to his humanities again." 
 
 " Spare yourself the trouble, man ; but, if your 
 chest possesses a philtre or love-potion, give it 
 to the doctor that he may prevail for a kiss with 
 the fair tapstress of the Luttrel Anns in Dunster, 
 from whom he hath hitherto extorted nothing 
 but sound and well-deserved boxes on the ear." 
 
 " Or rather, bring out the salve which has sove- 
 reign virtues in allaying the pains and aches which
 
 38 DUNSTER CASTLE 
 
 result from heavy falls ; for the butcher will doubt- 
 less be at Culbone to redeem his lost honour as a 
 wrestler." 
 
 *'Keep thy salve for thyself, doctor, if it be 
 good for a broken head ; for I think it not impos- 
 sible that your impertinent tongue may earn you 
 a cracked crowm ere the day be past," said Hugh 
 smiling good-naturedly. 
 
 ^' Not from you, young sir, you are too much of 
 a man to lay hands upon the old and peace- 
 able, and I trust, if the butcher of Minyead comes 
 to try a fall, you will serve him as you did be- 
 fore, and as he richly deserves to be sensed, who 
 bulHes and crows over those whose strength is 
 not a match for his." 
 
 *'I would gladly see him grassed," said Jansen, 
 " for he is a braggart, and abuseth his bulky 
 strength." 
 
 " And so you shall, Jansen, if my eye and foot 
 fail me not, and he provokes me to the contest. 
 1 have no quarrel with the man, but I shall not 
 decline a fall with him if he seek it," said Hugh. 
 
 ** It were well," whispered the host, *' you had
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 39 
 
 your friends by you to see fair play. The men 
 from the hills will be there, and they love not 
 to see one of their company foiled by a stripling, 
 and he of gentle blood." 
 
 " Tush, man, never fear for me ; Englishmen 
 w ill see fair play, and if for once they act unfairly, 
 know that Giles Tudball and Will B owe ring, 
 with Master Jenkins and the host of the Ship- 
 aground, will be there to stand by me, even should 
 young Julian Bachell refuse to give me his com- 
 pany to the Green." 
 
 *' He will not refuse you, sir, if he can manage 
 to get away with you, he loves sport too well ; 
 but his father, who is a justice of the peace, 
 would not that his son should be seen aiding in 
 games which Pym and the Parliament have de- 
 clared unlawful." 
 
 " The crop-eared knaves will not induce the 
 owner of Ashley Combe to interfere and prevent 
 our innocent games," said Hugh. 
 
 *' I said not that he would interfere," said the 
 host ; '* but he would rather that his son should 
 not join in them."
 
 40 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 ^' Well, having paid my reckoning, and thank- 
 ed you for your hospitality and good cheer, and the 
 mediciner there for his offer of pills and ointments, 
 I will away to Master Juhan and learn his inten- 
 tions," said Hugh, throwing the price of his break- 
 fast on the table, and preparing to leave the room. 
 
 " Should occasion call for them, command my 
 ser\ices, young sir, and those of my servant Jan- 
 sen," said the doctor with a meaning look. 
 
 Hugh smiled as he bade adieu to him, and, pass- 
 ing through the back of the house, sprung up 
 the steep ascent which led through the garden of 
 the inn to the road from Porlock to Ashley Combe. 
 
 The Lodge in which Master Bachell, the Lord 
 of the Manor, dwelt, was perched, as it were, in a 
 small recess in the mighty cliffs which overhang 
 the Channel above Porlock-wear. The ascent to it 
 was very steep, and it was in those days only 
 accessible to horsemen and persons on foot. The 
 road was very narrow, and composed of loose, large 
 stones, the debris of the red sand-stone rocks of 
 which the cliff is composed. It was overhung by 
 the branches of the dwarf oaks and ashes, with
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 41 
 
 which the surface of these hills is clothed, and 
 which afforded a safe and much sought shelter 
 to the red deer with which the country abounded. 
 
 The house was built of the red rock, and from 
 the Channel appeared to be a part of the cliff it- 
 self. It was not discernible from the road until 
 you stood in front of it, at the gate of the lodge 
 which admitted you into its grounds. 
 
 Up this steep and broken road Hugh de jvlohun 
 sprung as lightly and as actively as one of the red 
 deer, the denizens of the neighbouring woods, would 
 have done. He paused not to gaze at the splendid 
 prospect which, at intervals, might be gained 
 through openings in the coppices, but hurried on, 
 as if business and not pleasui'e urged him. Just 
 as he reached the path which turned out of the 
 main track, the bridle-road from Porlock to Culbone, 
 he overtook Master Richard Luckes, the host of 
 the Ship Aground on Minehead quay, who was 
 riding on a stout galloway, with his vdfe seated on 
 a pillion behind him. 
 
 Hugh exchanged salutations with them, and was 
 about to leave them to pui'sue their way, when
 
 42 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Master Richard told him to keep his wind, and 
 not to over-exert himself, for that he had seen Allo- 
 way, the big butcher, push off in Master Jenkins's 
 boat, and had heard him say that the parson's run- 
 away pupil should rue the day when he dorsed, 
 by accident, the best wrestler below the hills. 
 
 Hugh smiled, nodded his head confidently, and 
 told Master Richard that he was not frightened at 
 the bully's threats. They then parted, and the 
 young man entered the gate-lodge of Ashley 
 Combe, and bade the gate-keeper seek Master 
 Julian Bachell and tell him that he wished to 
 speak with him. 
 
 " Why not walk up to the house, sir ? " said the 
 porter ; '^you will find both my old master and the 
 young squire within." 
 
 " I would speak to Master Julian alone," said 
 Hugh, " and care not that his father should know 
 of my being here ; you understand me ?" 
 
 ** Ay — ay, I can easily believe that, Master 
 Hugh de Mohun having doffed his student's grey, 
 and donned a mummer's dress, would fain entice his 
 friend, Julian Bachell, unbeknown to his father, 
 to the revels at Culbone."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 4o 
 
 " You are not far wrong, old man, a ad as you 
 are no spoil-sport', and would not betray your young 
 master, seek liim to do mv errand." said Husfh, 
 placing a piece of silver in the porter's hand to 
 quicken his movements. 
 
 Hugh waited, and not very patiently it must 
 be owned, for some quarter of an hour ere his 
 messenger returned, to say that]\Iaster Julian would 
 be with him as soon as he could leave the library 
 without exciting his father's suspicions. 
 
 " I had great difficulty in getting your message 
 delivered, young sir, for blaster Julian was clo- 
 seted with his father, reading to him the letters 
 which came dowii from London this morning". I 
 was forced to send in Hodge, the keeper, to sav 
 that one of the blood-hound pups was, he thought, 
 do\Mi in the distemper. I knew that wou'd bring 
 him out if anything would, for he loves his dogs, 
 and would grieve sorely to lose one of his favourite 
 breed. He readily forgave my deceiving of him, 
 as you may believe, when he heard that the pup 
 was we-l, and that you were wishing to see him ; 
 he will be here anon."
 
 44 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Hugh passed the time in talking to the old 
 man about the hounds and red deer, and the wood- 
 cocks and wild-fowl that he had killed in his 
 younger days, until Julian made his appearance. 
 The young men shook hands heartily, and express- 
 ed their joy at seeing each other. 
 
 Julian Bachell was about a year older than 
 Hugh de Mohun. He was nearly as tall but 
 much stouter ; and, though such was not the case, 
 appeared to be a far more powerful man. His 
 face was very fair, and his hair and eyes light ; 
 his countenance wore a bright and cheerful look, 
 although there was a something about the short 
 upper lip, and the lines about the mouth, that 
 indicated pride, and perhaps a hasty temper. He 
 was dressed plainly in a suit of claret-coloured 
 cloth, and wore on his head a low-crowned broad- 
 brimmed hat, W'ith a drooping feather in it, and 
 had a light rapier by his side. His right hand held 
 a small riding-wand, and on his left arm rested 
 a beautiful small black and tanned spaniel, whose 
 curly ears quite covered its tiny face, and hung 
 some inch or two below its mouth.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 45 
 
 "Why, how now !" said ^Master Julian, as he drop- 
 ped the ridmg-wand to enable him to grasp 
 Hugh's extended hand. " "What brings Master 
 Snelling's hopeful pupil to Ashley Combe this 
 morning, mummed out in a suit of Giles Tudball's 
 ordering, doubtless ? though, faith, it becomes him 
 welL" 
 
 " Nay, no flattery, you know I am fond of the 
 sea, and Will Bowering prevailed on me to let 
 him buy me this dress in Bristol, lest, as he said, 
 the tar should adhere to my sober grey and be- 
 tray me by its odour to the good parson, who 
 fondly believes that T am sleeping or studying 
 over the gateway of Dunster Castle, when I am 
 whistling for the wind in mid-channel, and taking 
 a midnight trip to the opposite coast." 
 
 "And you have walked over some ten miles from 
 Dunster just to show me how well the suit be- 
 comes you." 
 
 " Not so, Julian ; I sailed, or rather pulled in 
 Giles Tudball's lugger from Minehead quay to 
 Porlock-wear this morning, and I am here, after 
 having done justice to mine host's beef at the Blue
 
 46 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Anchor below, to ask you to join me in a walk 
 to Culbone to see the revels." 
 
 " The revels, man ! art mad ? do not you know 
 that they are forbidden to be held, under pain of 
 the displeasiu-e of the puritan Parliament ? " 
 
 ''I do know it; but I do not think that any 
 one of the Parliament will be likely to hear of 
 a revel being held in so retired a spot as Cul- 
 bone is." 
 
 " Why, man, smell I not of parchment ? I was 
 reading over a most stringent document, sent down 
 by Master Speaker to my father as a justice of the 
 peace, warning him to put a stop to this same 
 Culbone revel, when your messenger called me 
 from the library with his tale of a distempered 
 puppy." 
 
 " There must be spies about, Julian, or so con- 
 temptible a business as a revel at Culbone would 
 never have reached the Speaker's ears ; but what 
 will Master Bachell do ? he will not prevent our old 
 English sports and pastimes." 
 
 " My father, Julian, has business which obliges 
 him to ride in a contrary direction from
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 4< 
 
 Culbone to-day, and he knows not, of his own 
 knowledge, that a revel is to be held."' 
 
 " Good !" said Hugh smiling, " J knew that 
 so loyal a subject as Master Bachell would not 
 obey the orders of a set of canting knaves, who 
 would oppress the whole nation, and deprive them 
 of their rights and privileges, just as they are 
 trying to deprive their lawful sovereign of his 
 prerogatives/' 
 
 " Hugh de i\Iohun, you are nght, and were it 
 not that I might subject my father to inconve- 
 nience and perhaps to danger, for the Puritans 
 love to catch a gentleman and trounce him if they 
 can, I would even join thee in this revelling; but, 
 as it is, I would rather dissuade you from going." 
 
 "Julian, I have pledged my word." 
 
 " Pledged your word ? to whom ? " 
 
 " You will smile, when I name Alloway, the 
 butcher, of Minehead." 
 
 " He whom you threw so fairly three falls ? " 
 
 " The same," said Hugh, " lie lays it to accident, 
 and is gone in Master Jenkins' boat to give me the 
 meeting on Culbone green."
 
 48 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 *' Nay then, for the honour of Dunster, you must 
 indulge him ; and. as it may be dangerous to 
 go alone, for the wrestlers hang together like 
 freemasons, I will go with you," said Julian 
 Bachell. 
 
 " For that matter, I am not badly supported ; 
 I have Giles Tudball and his mate, Master Jen- 
 kins, and the host of the Ship-aground of Mine- 
 head quay : moreover I have promise of aid from 
 the strange old mediciner — " 
 
 " Mean you Graveboys, who writes himself 
 M. D. though he hath not a diploma even from 
 the northern colleges ?" 
 
 " Even so ; and his man Jansen." 
 
 " Then trust me you might have worse allies, for 
 the doctor is doubtless a descendant of Dr. 
 Faustus, and knows more, though not in arte me- 
 dendi, than people give him credit for ; but I will 
 put on a mumming dress to join thee." 
 
 " Not to the injury of your father," said Hugh. 
 
 *' I will so alter my personal appearance, that 
 not even he who begat me should know me." 
 
 Thus saying, Julian left the gate-house, and
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 49 
 
 returned in about ten minutes, dressed in the 
 livery of one of the keepers of Exmoor forest ; by 
 the aid of a wig and corked eyebrows, moustache, 
 an imperial, and a large broad-flapped deer-skin 
 cap, the disguise seemed to Hugh to be perfect.
 
 50 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The little village of Culbone lies about two 
 short miles from Ashley Combe Lodge. The road 
 to it is made through the thick plantations of stun- 
 ted oak and dwarf ash, which cover the lofty hills 
 rising immediately above the Channel. It is 
 very narrow and steep, and passable only by horse- 
 men or persons on foot, and requii'es a firm step 
 and keen eye to enable horse or man to keep on 
 his legs ; for the large unshapely fragments of 
 rock, of which it is fashioned, are loosened and rol- 
 led down in wild disorder by the hea\y storms, 
 which are attracted by the woods and lofty moun- 
 tains skirting this side of the Bristol Channel. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun and Julian Bachell climbed
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 51 
 
 the first ascent in silence, for there was not room 
 for them to walk abreast, and it was no easy mat- 
 ter to find, breath for discourse, when the lungs 
 were in full play, from the exertion required in 
 mastering the difficulties of a path, which was nearly 
 as steep as the roof of a house, and formed of loose 
 and slippery materials. 
 
 When they gained the top of the first steep, they 
 paused to take breath, and to view the extensive 
 and interesting prospect, which an opening in the 
 woods through a deep combe afforded them. 
 
 Immediately in front of them was the mouth of 
 the Bristol Channel, with its bold, majestic fore- 
 land, behind which lay Linton and Ly 'mouth, and 
 opposite to which in mid-chamiel is Lundy Island. 
 To the right lay the coast of South Wales, studded 
 with towns and churches, and having for its back- 
 ground a long and high ridge of mountains ; still 
 more to the right and almost behind the gazers, 
 lay the bold headland called Bossington-Point, 
 and in the bay which it forms lay snugly enscon- 
 ced the little town of Porlock, with its quaint 
 church-steeple, and about a mile nearer to them 
 D 2
 
 52 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 the hamlet of Porlock-wear \vhich boasts of one 
 public and three private houses occupied by fisher- 
 men, whose boats might be seen lying in a little 
 basin, which is filled at high tides, and is called 
 the wear. Immediately below their feet, on the 
 side of the steep hill which they had climbed, was 
 Ashley Combe Lodge, amid a mass of wood which 
 fringed the very borders of the Channel. 
 
 It was as brilliant a May-day as ever shone 
 from the heavens, and, as the coast of Somersetshire 
 is warm and genial, and favourable to vegetation — 
 for there the myrtle and other tender plants flou- 
 rish through the winter — the trees had put on their 
 new livery of brightest green, and the birds, with 
 which the woods were filled, cheered their mates 
 as they brooded on their eggs with every variety 
 of song, in which the nightingale's note was pre- 
 dominant. A few fleecy clouds floated beneath 
 the blue sky, and seemed to be reflections of the 
 white canvass sails of the vessels, which dotted 
 here and there the surface of the si)arkling 
 sea. 
 
 '• On my word Master Hug]i." said Julian, after
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 53 
 
 a prolonged silence, and witli brightening eye, " it 
 were worth more than a pair of exhausted lungs and 
 strained knees to gain such a glorious sight as this. 
 North Devon may boast of its rocks, and caverns, 
 and iron-bound coast, but give me my much-loved 
 Somersetshire, vrith its well-clad mountains and 
 leafy combes, dovrn vrhich the brook dashes and 
 splashes, in haste to contribute its support to 
 the fulness of our glorious Channel. Even our ^ ery 
 Tors, covered only with scanty heath, the brown 
 fern, and the yellow fiuze, have charms for me. 
 With my dog and my fowling gun, and my horses 
 and trusty deer-hounds, I could live here all my 
 days without a sigh, and leave tbe troubles and tur- 
 moils of towns and cities to those who love them." 
 
 " It is a glorious sight, this coast, Julian," replied 
 his companion, " especially when beheld from the 
 sea and by the light of a brilliant moon : I have spent 
 hours in gazing upon it, yet, I have often thought 
 that I would rather steer some goodly bark out 
 into broad ocean yonder, and visit other lands, in 
 search of fame and wild adventures, than settle 
 calmly down as a country gentleman, whose only
 
 51 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 excitement is the chase — even in so lovely a spot 
 as this. I would herd with men who war with their 
 fellows, and not with beasts and birds, Julian, and 
 I would e'en consent to dwell in some crowded 
 city, pro-^-ided I might mingle with the great and 
 the brave, and share their councils and emulate 
 their deeds." 
 
 " Nay, speak not contemptuously of the chase, 
 which our greatest and our bravest love, because it 
 is a mimic warfare, and calls for plots and strata- 
 gems, deep designs, and boldly executed deeds, to 
 ensure success in it. It is no place for the coward, 
 Hugh ; the slinking hound, the lovv^-bred, timid 
 horse, and the fearful rider, are best away from it. 
 Give me a noble steed and my stanch hounds ; 
 let me hear their cheerful notes mingling with 
 the joyous blasts of the horn, as we fly over our 
 hills and dales, and dash through woods and over 
 brooks in our course, until, when horses, hounds, 
 and men are nearly exhausted from exertion and 
 excitement, the quarry is in view, and we rush 
 gloriously in and kill — " 
 
 "A timid deer!" said Hugh, looking down upon
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 55 
 
 the ground, as if he saw the panting beast before 
 him, and grieved, like the melancholy Jacques, for 
 the death of so noble an animal. 
 
 "A timid deer ! no man, a mighty stag, \^'ith 
 antlered head, who stands at bay and — " 
 
 " Gores the noble hounds, until some hunter, 
 bolder than the rest, hamstrings the beast, and all 
 around enjoy the sight of the tears trickling 
 from its lustrous eyes, as the dogs tear it to the 
 gromid. A rush of the huntsmen and a knife 
 drawn across its dappled throat and all is over." 
 
 " Not so. Master Hugh," said Julian dropping 
 his excited tone and smiling, " what think you of 
 the noble haunch, the savoury pasty and the tale 
 of dangers encountered and overcome, recited 
 over the pm'ple wine-cup ?" 
 
 " I think that some, but not such as you, JuUan, 
 love that part of the chase best. You know I am 
 never backward to join your hunt, and am no lag" 
 gard in the pursuit ; but I would fly at higher 
 game : were I a hawk or a falcon now, I would seek 
 my native rocks and woods, and quit a master who 
 would fly me at the timid partridge or sluggish
 
 56 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 wild-duck when my proper quany is the coura-^ 
 geous heron with its spear-like bill, upon which I 
 would rather be impaled than let my noble nature 
 be debased. But let us on ; see yonder, in the shel- 
 tered cove of Culbone lies the crewless lugger of 
 Giles Tudball ; and, as I live, below us, gliding 
 stealthily beneath the trees that fringe the shore, is 
 the boat of Master Jenkins, which bears mine adver- 
 saiy to the fray. So, on Julian, we must be there 
 to give them the meeting, and a race up these 
 steeps wdll give me a breathing, that will prepare 
 my lungs and limbs for the struggle." 
 
 Thus saying, Hugh de Mohun led the way up 
 the tortuous path, at a speed which prevented any 
 further converse, until they reached the summit of 
 the hill and saw below them the miniature church 
 of Culbone and its three little white cottages on 
 the Green, which was studded here and there with 
 groups of people and canvass tents and booths. 
 
 A few minutes brought them down the rapid 
 descent to the brook, which boiled and fumed 
 as it struggled over its stony bed from the hill above, 
 and hastened to close its short career in the sea.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. Oi 
 
 which indented the coast below with its salt 
 waves, as if eager to meet and welcome flie fine, 
 fresh draught supplied by the Dryades of the Por- 
 lockhills from their caves and retreats. Before they 
 crossed the brook, by means of the large fragments 
 of rock, wliich were placed at certain intervals in its 
 bed to insm'e dry feet to pedestrians, Julian begged 
 his friend to consider that he \^-ished not to be 
 known, and, for the better concealment of his real 
 character, should prefer quitting his side, unless any 
 particular occurrence should render it necessary for 
 him to join him, and that he would then do so as a 
 serving-man and not as an equal. 
 
 Hugh, who was anxious to prevent any unplea- 
 sant consecjuences resulting to his friend from his 
 compliance with his w^hims, readily yielded his con- 
 sent, and, leaving him behind, crossed the brook, 
 and quickly ensconced himself in the booth erected 
 by Master Luckes for the entertainment of his cus- 
 tomers. Hugh found Giles Tudball and Master 
 Will Bowering, seated within, on a pJank which 
 rested on two barrels into which spigots had been in- 
 serted, ready for those whose exertions should cause 
 
 D S
 
 58 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 them to need either stimulants or refreshments, 
 blaster Tudball was quietly smoking his intermina- 
 ble pipe, and his mate was following so laudable an 
 example, only removing it now and then, to tell some 
 miraculous tale to Mistress Luckes, who presided 
 at a sort of temporary comiter, whence she supplied 
 strong waters to those who prefered them to ale and 
 cider. A table, formed of the bretting or bottom 
 boards of the lugger, was covered with a good store 
 of solid food, and was put under the care and su- 
 perintendence of Master Jenkins, who acted as 
 carver, to relieve the host, whose duties were con- 
 fined to the ale-can and the cider-cup. 
 
 Master Richard, the host, was the first to sa- 
 lute Hugh de Mohun, and to ask him if he would 
 eat of what was set out, or drink a draught from 
 his barrels, to quench his tliirst after his walk over 
 the hill. This he declined, but, the hostess pressing 
 him to become her customer, he took a small c^uan- 
 tity of spirit and mixed it in a cup with some 
 water, and then seated himself by Giles Tudball, and 
 filled and lighted his pipe. There were no stran- 
 gers in the booth, for the company had not yet
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 55 
 
 aiTived in great numbers, and tlie few that had 
 arrived were employed in tethering and foddering 
 the sumpter horses and forest ponies, on which they 
 had travelled, in the wood adjoining. Hugh, 
 knowing that he could trust his hearers with the 
 secret ^^ithout fear of its betrayal, told them brief- 
 ly that Master Julian Bachell had accompanied 
 him to the revel, disguised as a forester, and did 
 not wish to be kno^vn, lest it might involve his fa- 
 ther in difficulties, as he had had notice from Mas- 
 ter Pym and the Parliament to prevent the revels 
 taking place. All agreed, therefore, not to appear 
 to know him when he came amongst them during 
 the festivities of the day. 
 
 *'But where," asked Hugh of the captain of 
 the St. David, "is my redoubtable foe, the burly 
 butcher of Minyead ?" 
 
 " He is above there, master mine, in the tent 
 of the hill-wrestlers, arranging the play for the 
 day, and is not in the best of humours, from hav- 
 ing been teased and bantered on his former de- 
 feat, by Master Richard's father, the harbour-mas- 
 ter, before we left the quay ; tliou must be alive,
 
 60 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 young sir, or he will make thy bones sore if he 
 catches thee at a disadvantage." 
 
 Hugh only smiled m reply to this advice, and 
 sat smoking his pipe, and conversuig at intervals 
 in a whisper with Giles Tadball, and laughing 
 at the lies told to the mci'edulous hostess by 
 the mate of the lugger. 
 
 Julian Bachell, in the mean while crossed the 
 brook, and strolled towards the groups on the green ; 
 there he fomid the gipsies preparing for the 
 amusement of their expected customers, by ma- 
 king circular holes in the gromid and driving their 
 stakes into the centre of them. The minstrels 
 had formed a sort of temporary theatre under a 
 large oak, by suspending coloured canvass hang- 
 ings from the lower branches, ha^dng taken care 
 to secure a smooth surface within a few yards of 
 them, whereon the lads and lasses, who were so 
 disposed, might figure in the mazy dance to the 
 sound of their music. Beyond them again were 
 the morris-dancers, seated round a pannier, which 
 contained the handkerchiefs, sticks, and the fool's 
 baton and bladder, and other auxiliaries of their
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 61 
 
 simple art. The wrestlers vvere, as Master Jen- 
 kins had said, in a tent by themselves, arranging 
 the sports of the day, in ^Yhich they were to take 
 a prominent part. 
 
 Julian looked in upon them as he passed by, 
 but was bidden by blaster Alloway to " look after 
 his own concerns and not to trouble himself \\-ith 
 what did not belong to him." At any other time 
 the butcher would have been greeted on the 
 head with a blow of the stout ashen beating-pole, 
 which the seeming forester carried in his hand, in 
 return for his insolence ; but he was suffered to go 
 unpunished for reasons which may be easily divined. 
 
 Julian tmiied away towards the platform, which 
 was a sort of turf mound, raised about three feet 
 above the level ground, in order that all the spec- 
 tators might see the wrestling and the back-sword 
 playing to advantage. In the centre of the 
 green was erected the May -pole, of tall, smooth, 
 polished wood, tapering away to a fine point, to 
 which was suspended by gay-colored ribbons a 
 hug-e le^ of mutton ; he who could reach it and 
 take it down was to have it for his pains. At its
 
 62 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 foot were placed some half dozen sacks, in which 
 a race was to be run round the green, and a large 
 hand-bell for the sport called jingling. 
 
 Without the green, and under the shadow of 
 a large tree, was a small table, converted iato a 
 stage, on which Dr. Graveboys had taken his 
 station, ready to sell his nostrums w^hen his easily- 
 deluded customers should arrive ; and by his side 
 stood Master Jansen, trumpet in hand, with the 
 box of medicines suspended in front of him by a 
 broad strap wliich passed over liis shoulders. 
 
 The doctor, as Julian passed, looked earnestly 
 at him, and then, throwing his eyes round him to 
 see that his movements were not observed, made 
 a slight bow of recognition, which the young man 
 did not acknowledge, but passed on under the 
 shade of the trees, where the horses of those w^ho 
 had reached Culbone were tethered, to a retired 
 spot, where he threw himself on the ground to 
 watch the proceedings of the rustics, who where 
 now beginning to assemble from all quarters, but 
 more especially from the road by which he had 
 himself travelled, and from another formed along
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 63 
 
 the side of the brook which descended from the 
 hill above. 
 
 Among these, especially the latter, who had 
 evidently gone by a round-about way to avoid 
 notice, he obsei\-ed many of his father's tenants, 
 fann-seivants, and forest-keepers. Those, who 
 came by the more frequented track, principally 
 consisted of tradesmen and fishermen from Mine- 
 head, Alcombe, Dunster, and Porlock. To see if his 
 disguise were perfect, Julian boldly sauntered 
 among the people from Ashley Combe and Porlock. 
 
 Although they stared hard at him as he passed, 
 he was convinced that he was unkno\^n and unsus- 
 pected by all but one, and that a young girl, the 
 daughter of the gate-keeper, who had doubtless been 
 apprised of his going by her father, and bid- 
 den not to betray his secret or to notice him. 
 She accordingly dropped her eyes when she saw 
 him gaze at her, and betrayed only by a bl^sh her 
 recognition of her young mastei'. 
 
 Satisfied with the result of this experiment, Julian 
 left his lurking-place under the trees, and boldly 
 crossed the green, which was now more thickly
 
 64 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 studded with merry faces and stalwart limbs 
 than when he crossed it before, and entered the 
 booth of Master Richard Luckes. No notice was 
 taken of his entrance by any one, and, after he had 
 accepted an offer of a pipe and some cider from the 
 host, who treated him as a common customer, he 
 seated himself near to Hugh de Mohun and Giles 
 Tudball. 
 
 He had not been long seated ere Master Jansen 
 entered the booth, and, passing by the host, de- 
 clined his offer of " Drink friend, drink! barley- 
 juice or the real golden-pippin cider," walked 
 straight up to the hostess and, assuring her that 
 he was ill and that the doctor's nostrums were 
 not to his taste, for he knew their component parts, 
 begged to be indulged with a glass of her Dutch 
 fire-water. 
 
 While she turned her back to him to supply 
 his wants, he shpped a piece of paper into Julian's 
 hand, and, ha%-ing drunk and paid for his cordial, 
 vanished, assuring the company that 'Miis plan 
 had been succesful, and that he felt very much re- 
 lieved."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 65 
 
 Julian cautiously opened and read the paper 
 thus cautiously given to him. Its contents were 
 these — " I have just heard that the revel will be in- 
 terrupted ; but do all you can, ^\ith your friends, 
 to induce the people to disperse quietly : above 
 all things, do not you be seen or known ; and it were 
 well that G. T. have his lugger ready to convey 
 H. D. M. off at a moment's notice." 
 
 A. G. 
 
 Julian, who did not doubt that Aaron Graveboys 
 wrote the scroll, shewed it to Hugh and to Giles, 
 who, although they could not comprehend the 
 meanmg of the ^^Titer, resolved to prepare to 
 obev his orders.
 
 &J DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 We must enter the tent erected for the wi'est- 
 lers, and see what is going on within its canvass 
 walls. 
 
 Alloway, whose name has been so often men- 
 tioned as the burly butcher who had been fairly 
 thrown three times by Hugh de Mohun, was sit- 
 ting on the gi'omid apart from the rest. He had 
 been laughed at and taunted by so many about 
 his defeat, that he was in a very bad humour, nor 
 could the pipe and stout ale, with which he was 
 endeavouring to console himself and to strengthen 
 his nerves for the anticipated play, dispel the 
 malignant feelings which he entertained to- 
 wards his youthful adversary. He felt very spite-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 67 
 
 ful towards everybody, and resolved to concen- 
 trate his venom and spit it out on him who was 
 the cause of all his vexations. 
 
 " Well butcher," said one of the wrestlers, tum- 
 iijg from his companions towards Alio way, '^as 
 the struggle between you and the stripling will 
 be severe, we have agreed that you shall not waste 
 your strength by joining in the general play, but 
 reserve yourself for a single bout which, as the most 
 interesting, shall come off last." 
 
 " By knife and cleaver, I swear, I will not be 
 thwarted thus," said Alloway. '* I came here to 
 take my part in the trials of strength, and I will 
 not be put off. The man who can fell an ox, even 
 one of the large Devon breed, by a single blow 
 of his arm, and caiTy the carcass, at twice, upon his 
 shoulders from the slaughter-house to the market 
 shambles, is not to be cheated of his honours in the 
 ring, because he has to try a fall with a mere 
 youth — " 
 
 *' Who hath had the best in three fak bouts," 
 said the wrestler. 
 
 "By accident — by accident — I swear by knife
 
 68 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and cleaver — a good butcher's oath — it was by 
 mere accideat." 
 
 " Ay, accidents will happen, is an old saying, 
 and they may happen again, Master Alloway, so 
 resen-e thyself for the struggle on which will de- 
 pend the honour of the wrestlers of ^Ihiyead. If 
 thou art defeated, thy townsmen will not be 
 thought worthy to meet the hill-men on fair 
 terms ; we must give thee a fall or two to put you 
 on an equality with us in future, as the swift 
 runner gives his slower adversary a few yards in 
 the start." 
 
 " Fear not for me, 1 will throw the herring- 
 gutted boy, or I will die in the rmg ; but T will 
 not be put aside like a weak bow, which is only 
 stretched the moment the arrow is to be placed 
 on the string, for fear it should lose its spring. 
 I will try a fall in my turn, by G — d!" 
 
 "It cannot be; we have arranged the play 
 without you, three against three; but if you 
 throw the stripling, and your mind be then un- 
 changed, you shall take up the conqueror, and 
 so win the prize from all of us, if 3'ou can."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. bV 
 
 To this proposition, Alloway, after holding out 
 a long time, at last consented. He left the tent, 
 \Ndth his pipe in his mouth and his black jack of 
 ale in his hand, and was followed bv the others to 
 the platform, where the single-stick players had 
 already taken their station, to commence the sports 
 of the day 
 
 Master Richard Luckes, who presided over the 
 play, called the combatants by name, beginning 
 with the less skilful, who quickly drew blood from 
 each others' crowns, amid the shouts of the bystan- 
 ders, and gave place to others more skilful in the 
 use of the basket-stick. 
 
 After an hour's play, which was pronounced 
 most excellent by the best judges, the plat- 
 *onn was left in possession of an old man, who 
 had had one of his eyes knocked out, in a se- 
 vere struggle which he continued after he had 
 removed the eye and fomid that '' there was no 
 blood.'' 
 
 This man was the champion of the country 
 round, and no one cared to oppose him, so that he 
 was putting on his upper coat, preparing to leave
 
 70 DUNSTEll CASTLE. 
 
 the platform and claim the prize, when Master 
 Richard Luckes bade him wait while he summon- 
 ed the company three times, to see if none could 
 be found to try another bout with him. 
 
 To the first summons, uttered in a clear loud 
 voice no one responded. 
 
 " It is of no use," said one of the beaten play- 
 ers wiping the blood from his forehead," his wea- 
 pon flies quicker than the eye can follow it, and 
 before you can stop it — crack ! your eyes flash 
 lightning and your crow^i is broken." 
 
 "You may as well strike at a will o'the wisp," 
 said another. " He was here before you, and when 
 the blow descends, hey presto! he is there be- 
 hind you — the devil aids him I think." 
 
 '' Dedl me no devil," said Giles Tudball; "if 
 I did not despise the childish play, I would 
 try a bout with him myself for the honour of 
 Minyead. Can no one be found to risk a cracked 
 
 0" 
 
 crown : 
 
 A dead silence followed, and the old man chuc- 
 kled and looked round trimnphantly. 
 
 The summons was uttered for the second time,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 71 
 
 but produced nothing but a low murmui' from the 
 spectators. 
 
 '* For the third and last time," said Richard 
 Luckes, " I pronounce the stage in possession of 
 old Master Castle, the sheep-drover of Berkshire, 
 and the prize to be his, if no one will come forward 
 for the honour of Somerset." 
 
 *' Stand aside there," called out Will Bowering. 
 " Make way, make way," shouted the crowd, clo- 
 sing together instead of falhng back, that they 
 might get a sight of the individual who was rash 
 enough to try conclusions with the veteran. Aided 
 bv Giles Tudball and some dozen more, two vounor 
 men, the one dressed as a forest-keeper and the 
 other as a sailor, forced their way through the 
 crowd to the side of the turf-stage. The former 
 took his station at the side, and the latter sprang 
 lightly upon the platform and took a basket stick 
 from Master Richard Luckes. 
 
 " It is the student of Dunster," shouted those 
 who knew Hugh de Moliun. 
 
 " Ay, and if Master parson Snelling have driven 
 learning into his head, tlie Berkshire sheep-drover
 
 /2 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 will not belong in making a hole whence it may ooze 
 out again with his hot blood," said Master Alloway. 
 
 " And all the better for you, butcher," said one 
 of the wrestlers, " he will be the better qualified to 
 tr}' a fall with you, when his strength is a little 
 reduced." 
 
 " In the name of Heaven," said the fair hostess, 
 Mistress Luckes, '' the young wildgoose is not 
 going to risk his handsome head in a struggle 
 with a man who has cracked as many human 
 crowns as he has paid cro\Mis of silver for Porlock 
 sheep!'' 
 
 " That will he," replied ^Master Jenkins, " he 
 hath but little regard for life or limb when honour 
 is at stake." 
 
 " Then I will e'en seek Master Graveboys and 
 bid him spread a plaister, while I prepare my scis- 
 sors to cut off some of those flowing locks, from 
 which he has withdrawn his woollen cap to make 
 his fate the surer," said Mrs. Luckes. 
 
 As she said, Hugh de Mohun, after selecting a 
 weapon, and shaking the hand of his adversary' to 
 prove that no mahce existed between them, threw
 
 . DU2tfSTER CASTLE. 73 
 
 off his cap according to the I'ules of the game. His 
 long dark hair, which had been partially confined 
 by it, fell do\^'n over his ears and nearly rested on his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Keep a ready hand, a quick eye, and an active 
 foot, Hugh, or the old man will be too much for 
 you," said Giles TudbalL ? 
 
 Hugh smiled and took his ground. His right 
 foot was slightly advanced, and his stick held in 
 such a manner as to be ready to protect his head or 
 to assail his adversary. 
 
 A long pause took place, amidst a breathless si- 
 lence ; both stood on the defensive and seemed un- 
 willing to give the first blow: at lengtli, Hugh drop- 
 ped his stick a little, arid, quick as Hghtning, the old 
 man, seeing what he thought an opening, struck 
 at his head. Hugh sprung back, the turf received 
 the blow, and, before the old man could recover his 
 guard, Hugh, instead of striking St. George, as the 
 blow at the head is termed, gave point as if his 
 stick had been a rapier. The old man staggered 
 and fell on his back. Master Richard stooped over 
 him, and found that his scalp had been abraded 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 ' DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 for about three inches, and that the blood was run- 
 nins: from the wound in a decided stream. 
 
 A loud shout rent the air, when the fact was 
 made known, and, amidst reiterated cries of " So- 
 merset for ever!" Hugii was declared the victor. The 
 three challenges were again given out but no one 
 replied to them. The prize, a new hat of the 
 sort worn by countrymen, was given to the victor, 
 who insisted on Master Castle wearing it for his 
 sake, and to hide the ugly wound on his hitherto 
 invincible head. 
 
 The old man accepted the hat, saying that he 
 had been fairly beaten, but by a trick that he had 
 never seen practised before. 
 
 '' Thanks to my fencing-master," said Hugh, as 
 he jumped from the stage, ''I have achieved a very 
 easy victory." 
 
 " Make way there, make way for Doctor Grave- 
 boys," screamed Mistress Luckes, " he hath a sove- 
 reign remedy for broken pates." 
 
 " Permit me to apply this never-failing unguen- 
 tum to your wounded head," said the doctor, ad- 
 dressing old Master Castle.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. tO 
 
 " I will see thee and thy Ann Quintin at the de\il 
 first ; a little cold \yater will soon stanch the blood, 
 aided by a few pinches of beaver from my hat ; and 
 a quart or two of strong ale will allay the pain." 
 
 "And produce iaflammation," said the doctor. 
 " Jansen bring a bottle of my elixir vitce.'" 
 
 " He licks her what ? " said the old man, giving 
 Jansen such a thrust with his elbow as nearly up- 
 set him and his box of medicaments. '^ I tell thee 
 I will ha' none of thy filthy di'ugs, but will hasten 
 to the booth of Master Luckes, and confer a cup of 
 good ale on yonder lad, who is gamesome and ge- 
 nerous both." 
 
 Hugh declined the offer, and left his antagonist 
 to go with Giles Tudball to see the climbing for 
 the leg of mutton, a prize that Master Will Bower- 
 ing carried ofi*, after he had permitted several coun- 
 try competitors to rub all the grease oif the pole 
 in their attempts to reach it. 
 
 Next followed a race after a huge pig, with a 
 
 very short and well-soaped tail. This afforded most 
 
 excellent sport, as the animal, being used to his 
 
 native v.oods, in which he gained his autumnal 
 
 E 2
 
 76 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and winter livelihood, was very active, and led his 
 pursuers a dance that they did not forget for many 
 a day. After being chased for nearly an hour, he 
 fairly gave them the slip, and they returned to the 
 green with torn clothes and wounded limbs, to be 
 laughed at by their friends. 
 
 Then came on the jingling-match, which is thus 
 played. Six men toss up which of them shall 
 first bear the bell; he upon whom the lot falls 
 strips to the waist, and fastens the bell to his 
 loins by means of a strap or handkerchief. 
 
 The others are blindfolded, and placed at a certain 
 distance, in a circle, from the jingler. As soon as 
 he moves, tbe bell rings, and all rush forward and 
 try to catch him. His business is to elude them, 
 which he does by every means in his power; and, 
 if he can avoid being caught for ten minutes, he 
 has the prize ; if not, the man who takes him be- 
 comes the jingler in turn, and so on, until one suc- 
 ceeds in baffling his pursuers for the required 
 space of time. The fun consists in the blunders 
 which the blinded make, in running against and 
 catching one another instead of the bell-man ; and in
 
 DUNSTER GASTLE. il 
 
 tumbling over obstacles that he throws in their 
 way. The more they are baffled the more the people 
 laugh and enjoy the sport. 
 
 When this was ended, the running in sacks com- 
 menced; and when the victor had received his re- 
 ward, a space of an hour was allowed to those of the 
 wrestlers who had joined in other sports, to recover 
 their wind, previously to entering the ring to decide 
 the most important part of the day's sport. 
 
 JuKan Bachell, while the pig was chased, had 
 contrived to speak a few words with the medi- 
 ciner on the subject of the warning which Jansen 
 had put into his hands ; he learnt from him, that he 
 had received an intimation from a trusty messen- 
 ger, that the Bailiff of Dunster, a sort of chief con- 
 stable, a man of a sour temper and much addicted 
 to puritanism, had given out that he should call in 
 the civil power to aid liim in saving the temple 
 of the Lord — meaning Culbone church — from the 
 profanations of sinners. He added, that he marvel- 
 led he had not yet ^\xl his thieats into executioji. 
 
 Nothing however occurred to prevent the sports 
 going on. Some were engaged in throwing the
 
 '78 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 bar and putting the stone; others amused them- 
 selves by playing at quoits ; while the majority, 
 among whom were Julian Bachell and Hugh and 
 de Mohun, joined the merry dance around the 
 minstrels, having each selected a pretty country 
 lass as a partner. The morris-dancers mingled with 
 the rest, and, by the jingling of their bells, added 
 to the noise, if not to the merriment of the scene. 
 
 At a given signal, the wrestlers left their tent, 
 and took their stations near the stage. Master 
 Richard Luckes was appointed umpire, and the 
 first pair of combatants mounted. The defeated 
 man retired and another took his place, until six 
 had contended, and one was left conqueror. All 
 this occupied much time, and excited great inter- 
 est. Every fall was attended with loud shouts from 
 the victor's friends, and he who remained the con- 
 queror at last, was greeted with universal plaudits. 
 
 The shouts, however, were hushed when Allo- 
 way mounted the stage, and, throwing oif his upper 
 coat, called in a loud voice for the Dunster stu- 
 dent to come forth and try the best of three falls 
 with him. •
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 79 
 
 Hugh sprung up to meet his adversaiy, already 
 prepared for the struggle. Giles Tudball, Will 
 Bowering, Master Jenkins, and the doctor, with his 
 man Jansen, stood close to the platform, by the side 
 of the \\Testlers who had retired from it, to be rea- 
 dy in case of any foul play being meditated. Julian 
 was on the opposite side, near some of his father's 
 tenantry and servants, to whom he meant to appeal 
 if their aid was required. 
 
 Master Alloway had been drinking more than 
 he was aw^are of, and the hquor, and a sense of his 
 former disgrace, added to the taunts of friends and 
 foes, had put him in a very bad humour. He 
 resolved not to shew any mercy to his young foe, 
 but to rush in upon him, and if possible disable 
 him from trying a second fall. 
 
 Hugh was cool and collected, and smiled, as he 
 presented himself for the struggle, at the e\ddent 
 ill-temper of the butcher. Not a word was 
 spoken ; as they grappled, Hugh tried to shift his 
 arms and grasp Alloway round the waist, to throw 
 him over his hips, but the butcher, knowing how he 
 had been defeated before, anticipated the movement,
 
 80 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and succeeded in raising Hugh from the ground. 
 He lifted him up high in the air and would have 
 dashed him furiously to the earth and fallen on him, 
 had not Hugh clasped his thighs so closely \\ith 
 his legs, that he caused him to stagger, and both 
 came to the ground together. 
 
 " A fall, a fair fall!" shouted the ^^Testlers and 
 the fiiends of Minehead. 
 
 " No fall, no fall, both douii together," cried 
 the Dunster men and the majority, who were evi- 
 dently in favour of the youthful student. 
 
 *' By G — d it was a fair fall !" cried the six wres- 
 tlers pressing towards the stage. 
 
 " Stand back — fair play — let the umpire decide," 
 said Giles Tudball and his friends, placing them- 
 selves between the stage and the wrestlers, who, 
 seeing that preparations were made to resist their 
 interference, shouted to Master Luckes to decide. 
 
 " No fall," said the umpire, amidst loud shouts. 
 
 The combatants again grappled, and the butclier 
 threw out all his strength to overcome Hugh, who, 
 like a pliant willow twig, gave way only to spring 
 back again, until, watching his opportunity, he,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 81 
 
 with a slight touch of his foot, tripped up his rival 
 and threw him from him on his back. 
 
 " A fair fall!" said the umpire. 
 
 *' Take time, Master Alloway," said Hugh, '•' to 
 recover your breath." 
 
 " I will take nothing of you but my revenge," 
 said the butcher, staggering to his place and again 
 grappHng with Hugh, who, without givhig him a 
 moment's time, slipped from his hold, and, seizing 
 him round the waist, threw him heavily over his 
 hip upon the tm^f. 
 
 "The second fair fall, and the best of three!" 
 from the umpire, was greeted with louder shouts 
 from all but the regular wrestlers, who looked at 
 each other and growled their dissatisfaction. 
 
 Again the combatants, at the earnest prayer of 
 the defeated man, stood opposite to each other, and 
 had just grasped elbow and collar, when a cir- 
 cumstance, which must be recorded in another 
 chapter, put a premature end to the interesting 
 struggle. 
 
 £ 3
 
 82 
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The crowd, who were gazing on in deep silence 
 around the wrestlers' ring, and anxiously waiting 
 for the players to commence the last good-naturedly 
 conceded trial of skill and strength, were suddenly 
 roused by a stentorian voice, calling to them, in the 
 name of the Parliament of England, to abstain from 
 forbidden sports and pastimes. 
 
 They turned to look at the speaker, and saw a 
 tall gaunt^gure dressed in a sort of half military 
 suit of shabby leather. He wore a rusty breastplate 
 over his chest, and an iron cap, fastened under his 
 chin by a leathem thong, upon his head. In his 
 right hand he carried a long pike tipped with steel, 
 and in his left he held what seemed to be a parch- 
 ment writing. By his side walked a tliin veazen-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 83 
 
 faced man, clad in a suit of dark brown, with a short 
 cloak of a sad colour, on his shoulders, and a high- 
 peaked felt hat with an enormous breadth of brim, 
 upon his head. His hair was closely cropped, and 
 made his ears appear of an uimatural size ; upon 
 his neck was a broad falling collar, and upon his 
 shrivelled legs a pair of large, loose, calf-skin boots : 
 his right hand w^as supported by a strong crutch- 
 headed stick, and under his left arm he carried a 
 large black-bound bible, whose covers were kept 
 together with a pair of enormous silver clasps. 
 
 Behind this pair of strange-looking figures, Ibl- 
 lowed six men, di'essed and armed like their gaunt 
 leader, and casting sour and morose glances upon 
 the assembled revellers. 
 
 They had approached close to the crowd without 
 being observed, and made their way to the stage 
 without opposition. Hugh de Mohun and Master 
 AUoway, relaxed the hold they had taken of each 
 other, and turned to gaze on the cause which had 
 interrupted their play. 
 
 " Hugh de Mohun, pupil of the half papist priest 
 of Dunster, and you, Master Alloway of Minehead.
 
 84 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 leave off your migodly wrestlings with the fleshly 
 arm, and come down from your unlawful pre-emi- 
 nence," shouted the tall leader, as he threw one of 
 his long legs upon the turf, and raised himself to 
 the platform by the aid of his pike. 
 
 "Who is he that dares stop our sports?" said 
 some of the crowd. 
 
 " It is Master Roger Priver, the wool-comber of 
 Dunster, who claims to be high bailiff of the town," 
 cried some Dunster men. 
 
 " And who is that Uttle scarecrow, that hath 
 crawled up to the stcige in his rear ?" 
 
 " That is Master Robert Browne, who writeth 
 himself reverend, and who was turned out of his pul- 
 pit in Dunster church, for preaching strange doc- 
 trines." 
 
 "Is he come here to preach to us, think you?" 
 
 " I doubt it not, for see, he is preparing to open 
 his battery : he is unclasping his black book." 
 
 Hugh de Mohun placed his cap on his head, and, 
 folding his arms across his chest, gazed calmly in 
 Master Priver's face. Allowa}^, laying aside all 
 feelings of animosity, stood by his late foe, to sup- 
 port him, if necessary, against the civil force.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 85 
 
 '' Do^^^l I saj, young man, and depart in peace, 
 lest a worse thing befall thee," shouted Master 
 Roger," and thou, butcher, get thee home to thy 
 shambles, lest thy body be converted into as worth- 
 less a carcass as one of the rotten sheep that thou 
 sometimes cheatest thv customers ^\-ithal." 
 
 "Thou liestl thou snivellin<? wool-tearer — " 
 
 " Nay Master Alloway, speak him fair," said 
 Hugh; 'n3y what authority. Master Roger Priver, are 
 you here to interrupt our innocent amusements ?" 
 
 " Iimocent ! say est thou ? soul-destroying, carnal, 
 devilish — " began the puritan priest. 
 
 "Hush, Master Browne, hush !" said the bailiff, 
 " waste not thy words on such as he. I am here, 
 Hugh de Mohun, in mine office as high bailiff of 
 Dunster, deputed by — " 
 
 " Thou art not high bailiff. Master Thomas Lut- 
 trell, by viitue of his rights as lord of the manor of 
 Dunster, and a lieutenant of the county, did de- 
 pose thee from thine office for illegally supporting 
 the recreant priest there in his heterodoxy. He 
 hath his riq-hts from the kmg-." 
 
 " King me no king, bold boy, I am appointed to
 
 86 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 mine office by the parliament, whose power is above 
 the king's." 
 
 Not yet I trow, Master Roger, though the round- 
 headed knaves begin to express their disaffection 
 and disloyalty a little too openly. We, of the loyal 
 county of Somerset, care not for the parliament ; we 
 obey our lawful sovereign. King Charles." 
 
 " Long live King Charles, and do\\'n with the 
 puritan parliament ! " shouted the crowd. " Fell the 
 wool-comber to the ground, butcher, and you, 
 Master Hugh, toss the snuffling preacher over to our 
 tender mercies." 
 
 The six bailiff's men, thinking their captain in 
 danger, mounted the stage and took their places 
 by his side ; at the same lime, Julian Bachell, Giles 
 Tudball, and several others, among whom were the 
 wrestlers, one by one gained the stage, and ranged 
 themselves near their friends. 
 
 " Down, down, I say to thee, Hugh de Mohun," 
 cried Roger Priver, *' or I will strike thee with 
 my pike." 
 
 Hugh felt for his pistols, forgetting that he had 
 taken them from his belt and given them into the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 87 
 
 care of Doctor Graveboys, before he began to con- 
 tend in the wrestling match. 
 
 Roger Priver saw the motion, and understood 
 the meaning of it. *' Ah, ah !" he cried, "would'st 
 use carnal arms against the deputed officer of the 
 parliament ? down I say, or I will strike thee." 
 
 As he spoke, he lowered the handle of his pike, 
 meaning to strike the haft of it on the ground ; but 
 it unfortunately lighted, but not lightly, on the 
 foot of butcher Alio way, who, stung with the pain 
 and the disasters of the day, struck the bailiff a 
 blow in the face, which would have stretched his 
 body on the tui'f, had he not been caught in his fall 
 and supported by his men. 
 
 " Curses light on thee! " shouted the bailiff, ^' lay 
 on my men — cut, slay, and destroy." 
 
 " Hew them down — cut into pieces the men of 
 Belial, even as Samuel hewed Agag," cried the 
 preacher. 
 
 " Down with the clothier loons, whose hands are 
 more suited to the shuttle than the spear," shouted 
 the crowd as they rushed towards the stage. 
 
 A few blows were exchanged, and a general fight
 
 88 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 would have ensued, had not the pikes been wTested 
 from the hands of Roger Priver and his followers, 
 and JuKan Bachell, aided by Hugh de Mohun, done 
 all he could by word and deed to prevent blood- 
 shed. 
 
 Still the crowd pressed on, and the platform 
 was filled. Roger Priver, seeing that he was pro- 
 tected by the two young men, di'ew forth his com- 
 mission, and a proclamation from the parliament for- 
 bidding the holding of wakes, fairs, revels, and 
 all sorts of junketings. He read the contents at 
 the top of his loud voice, but his words were 
 drowiied by the hissings, hootings, and revihngs 
 of the crowd : at last, j ust as he was finishing the 
 long, wordy proclamation, butcher Alloway 
 snatched the parchment from his hand, and, in the 
 midst of loud hurrahs, tore it into pieces, and scat- 
 tered the shreds amongst the crowd below. 
 
 Again a fight had nearly ensued, for the bailifiE" 
 was not deficient in courage, and made a rush at 
 Alloway, to recover his much-prized warrant of 
 service. Julian and Hugh, however, seized him 
 each by one of his long bony arms, and begged him 
 not to risk his life by his rashness.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 89 
 
 "I care not for life, tear me limb from limb an 
 you list ; I \^ill have my own. Woe, woe, he hath 
 torn my warrant into shreds — Ichabod ! Ichabod ! 
 my glory hath departed." 
 
 " Gag the canting thief"' — cried Giles Tudball, 
 " or we shall have bloodshed." 
 
 " Silence," cried Julian " silence, my friends ! 
 let them depart in peace, and let us resume oiu' 
 sports." 
 
 " And who art thou that woukVst dictate to us, 
 Sir Forester," cried one of the crowd. " Better 
 seek thy hut in Exmoor, and look after thy bucks 
 and does." 
 
 "Hush," said one near him, a fair-haired girl, 
 "thou knowest not whom thou insultest, and 
 would'st give thy tongue a bite, ere thou said'st 
 wrong of the seeming forester." 
 
 " And who is the mummer then, wench ?" 
 " Thy master's son, Julian Bachell," said the 
 girl in a whisper, " and may your lands be taken 
 from you, and your farm be given to another, if you 
 do not see that he suffer no wrong." 
 
 The man left his place, and sought his brother
 
 90 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 tenants, to whom he communicated the news he 
 had just learnt. They gathered together in a body, 
 and forced their way to the stage, to be ready to as- 
 sist their young master, if he should appear to 
 need their help. 
 
 " Silence : I entreat you to hear me," cried 
 Julian. 
 
 " Hear him not — hear him not — he will se- 
 duce you with words of man's wisdom," cried the 
 preacher, " listen rather to me, and I will expose to 
 you your ^^-ickedness, and show unto you on what 
 a broken reed you are leaning. In the book of 
 Numbers, chapter — " but his words were drowned 
 in the shouts of the crowd, who called to those on 
 the platform to kill the high bailiif and his clo- 
 thier loons, and to pull out the false priest's wag- 
 ging tongue. 
 
 " To Tophet shall you go — to Tophet — lo ! the 
 fu'e is kindled, put on more thorns — heap on the 
 wood — make it hot — "shouted the preacher, " truly 
 into the pit shall ye be hurled — ye shall go down 
 below — " 
 
 "Nay rather," said Master Jenkins, ^^ you shall
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 91 
 
 go douTi belowj for I will save thee in spite of thy- 
 self from the fate that will befall thee, if thou ut- 
 terestthy follies and threats to the instated crowd." 
 
 The Welshman placed his left hand upon the 
 priest's mouth, and taking him under his right arm, 
 bore him, struggling and kicking with all his 
 might and main, into the w^ood beyond the crowd, 
 where he strapped him to a tree by his belt, and 
 left him with his cloak tied round his head, to 
 preach through its thick folds to the trees and 
 tethered horses. 
 
 While this was going on. Master Roger Priver, 
 who was held tightly by the young men, turned 
 to Julian, and inquired who he was that dared 
 to oppose the authority of parliament by confiaing 
 the person of their deputed officer. 
 
 " It matters not who I am ; I am anxious to 
 prevent the murder of your men, and to save your 
 life, if you will only listen to and follow my ad- 
 vice," said Julian. 
 
 " Thou slayer of deer and trainer of dogs, thou 
 bloodhound, who huntest after those who would 
 take the wild beasts of the forest, which were made
 
 92 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 for the use of all men ! I will not listen to such as 
 thou art, but will wrestle with thee even to the 
 death." 
 
 Roger, as he said this, foaming at the mouth 
 like a maniac, suddenly withdrew his arm, and 
 struck Julian a severe blow. 
 
 " A Bachell, a Bachell ! to the rescue," shouted 
 the man to whom the lodge-keeper's daughter had 
 given the information that it was his young mas- 
 ter, who, disguised as a forester, was taking so pro- 
 minent a part in the proceedings of the day. 
 
 *' Ah ! ah ! a Bachell," cried the excited bailiff, 
 who was still held by Hugh de Mohun. '' A 
 Bachell is it? — spawn of a tyrant, thy father shall 
 rue this day." 
 
 " To the rescue!" cried the tenants and servants 
 of Ashley Combe, and like a wave they surged for- 
 ward in a body, and filled the platform. 
 
 " Back — back — I intreat you, blood will flow- 
 else. I am not hurt," cried Julian. 
 
 *'We will not back, until we have paid the in- 
 solent wool-comber for the blow\" 
 
 " Nay, nay, hurt him not ; take away his follow-
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 93 
 
 ers, and see them safe from the crowd, if you love 
 me; we will manage the bailiff, who is already held 
 securely by my friend and Giles Tudball: away 
 with them, and use them not ill." 
 
 The men obeyed the former part of their young 
 master's wishes, and seized the bailiffs followers, 
 who offered no resistance, but permitted themselves 
 to be dragged through the crowd, who jeered, his- 
 sed, and shouted at them as they passed to the 
 spot where the preacher had been conveyed by 
 Master Jenkins. There, however, the latter part of 
 Julian's orders was not attended to; for they 
 bound them with their faces to the trees, and ad- 
 ministered to each and all of them a sound drub- 
 bing, with some stout hazel wands and young 
 ground-ashes, which they cut for the purpose. 
 
 "Here, Will, where art thou man?" shouted 
 Giles Tudball. 
 
 " Here, at your starboard elbow, captain," 
 replied Will. 
 
 " Thou art good at a running-knot, give two 
 turns of your belt round this babbler's mouth, and 
 make it fast behind ; he will not stow his talk, while 
 the lee-scuppers of his mouth remain open."
 
 94 DUNSTER CASTLE, 
 
 " In the name of the pari — " began Roger Pri- 
 ver, but ere he could finish the temble threat, the 
 belt was passed twice over his mouth, and he fi- 
 nished in dumb-show, dancing with wrath so vigor- 
 ously, that it changed the anger of the crowd to 
 mirth. 
 
 " To the brook with him ! — duck him, duck him ! 
 the cold water will cure his rage," cried Master 
 Richard Luckes, who doubtless felt assured in his 
 mind that the bailiffs interference with the sports 
 would greatly diminish the profits of his booth. 
 
 " To the brook — to the brook ! " shouted the 
 crowd, and in spite of all Julian and Hugh could do, 
 Master Roger Priver was seized by the people 
 nearest, and hm-ried ofi" to the brook, where he 
 was laid at the bottom of the stream, and turned 
 over and over until he was well nigh drowned. 
 
 "Enough, enough, you will mm'der ,him," 
 shouted Hugh. 
 
 " And a good thing too — he deserves it ; but we 
 will save him for another fate ; he will be sure to 
 be hanged some day," said Giles Tudball, who thus 
 made the crowd laugh, and probably saved the fel- 
 low's life.
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 95 
 
 " The preacher, the preacher ! let us duck the 
 preacher ! He must needs be dry — dry as his own 
 discourses," cried the crowd ; and a rush was made 
 towards the spot where the deposed minister 
 was tied, and still uttering anathemas in the dark 
 against his persecutors. 
 
 Before they could reach the spot, they were arrest- 
 ed in their career by an extraordinary noise. All 
 the horses and ponies that were tethered to the 
 trees in the wood, set up a loud and prolonged 
 neighing, and were replied to by other horses who 
 seemed to be coming down the combe. 
 
 " Even the dumb animals are laughing to think 
 how rightly the knaves have been served," said 
 Giles Tudball. 
 
 " It strikes me that they are putting a veto on 
 the'proceedings, by saying neigh to them," said 
 the mediciner's man, who stood by Hugh and 
 Julian and laughed loudly at his own wit. 
 
 The neighing ceased, and as the crowd were si- 
 lent, the heavy tread as of a body of horse was 
 heard coming do-wn the hard, rocky path beside 
 the brook. In a few minutes, a tall elderly man
 
 96 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 dressed in a horseman's suit of dark grey, with a 
 cloak, falling collar, and large steeple-crowned hat, 
 a huge rapier called a tuck at his side, and a large 
 pair of pistols at his saddle-bow, rode from under 
 tlie trees, followed by a troop of soldiers, to the 
 number of twenty, and all heavily armed. 
 
 ""\\nio are these?" asked Hugh de Mohun. 
 
 ^' As I live," cried the mediciner, "it is Master 
 John Pym. I know him well, for I have seen 
 him oft in liis own borough of Tavistock — away, 
 away ! — Giles Tudball, your boat is in readiness, 
 give me and my man Jansen a cast to Minehead. 
 Come, young sir, and you AVill Bowering follow me ; 
 no time must be lost; through the wood here, 
 where they cannot follow us without dismounting.'' 
 
 So saying, Dr. Graveboys dashed into the cop- 
 pice, and led the way to the cove of Culbone, fol- 
 lowed by Giles Tudball and the rest of the party. 
 Julian was anxious to find his way home through 
 the woods, but was dissuaded by Hugh de Mohun 
 and Giles Tudball, who offered to land him at 
 Porlock-wear. 
 
 A. breeze was blowing from the westward, the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 97 
 
 wind having chopped round during the day, as if 
 to favor their escape; and a few minutes saw the 
 lug-sails set with every reef shaken out, and the 
 Blossom of Minehead running before the wind, 
 and with the tide in her favour, 
 
 " We are well out of his clutches," said the 
 doctor, as they sailed along. 
 
 " Nay we can hardly be said to be safe, though 
 you may be," said Julian. 
 
 " Well, never mind," said Hugh, ^' do not let us 
 be melancholy — come Giles, strike up a merry 
 song." 
 
 Giles complied at once, and trolled forth 
 
 THE BOATxMAN'S SONG. 
 
 Spread wide to the winds the fluttering sails, 
 Bid the masts the strong gales defy ; 
 
 The heart of the mariner never quails, 
 Who relies for protection on high. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 With good canvass aloft, and stout oak below 
 What fear we my messmates where'er we go ! 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 98 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Our loved ones at home watch our craft from the shore, 
 As the treacherous billows we dare ; 
 
 And we fear not tlie wave's tempestuous roar, 
 For they raise for our safety a prayer. 
 
 With, &-C. 
 
 Then court the fierce winds for our gallant boat, 
 She will skim o'er the waves like a bird ; 
 And when in our haven we quietly float. 
 
 They will know that their prayers were heard. 
 
 With, &c. 
 
 This song was followed by many more, ere Julian 
 Bachell leapt ashore at the wear of Porlock ; and, 
 bidding farew^ell to his friends, sought the Lodge 
 of Ashley Combe.
 
 BUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Master Luckes, the harbour-master of the port 
 of Minehead, had been left by his son in charge of 
 the Ship-aground, while he and his spouse were 
 absent at the revels at Culbone. Knowing the old 
 gentleman's propensity for indulging in strong wa- 
 ters, his daughter-in-law had left him a half-pint 
 of brandy for his own drinking, locked the cup- 
 board in which the spirits were kept, and taken 
 the key with her. 
 
 Master Luckes was not long in getting through 
 his modicum, for he had but little else to do but to 
 sit, and sip, and smoke his pipe. Most of the cus- 
 tomers of the little hostelry were either gone to 
 the revel, or were too busy in their respective occu- 
 pations to find time for sitting and soaking in an 
 F 2
 
 100 DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 alehouse. The brandy being finished, and, having 
 nothing else to do, for he could not endure a dry 
 pipe, Master Luckes threw himsef back in a huge 
 leather-covered chair, and fell fast asleep, after he 
 had warned the wench who was chambermaid, boots, 
 waitress, and even ostler upon occasion, to keep a 
 sharp look-out, and rouse him if a customer came in. 
 Mabel watched liim till she saw he was sound 
 asleep, and then tripped lightly across the street 
 to the quay to have a little talk with her sweet- 
 heart, the mate of the St. David, who was busy in 
 milading her cargo, in the absence of Master Jen- 
 kins, his skipper. 
 
 How long Master Luckes had been asleep, he did 
 not know, when he was roused by a deep-toned 
 melodious voice calling in his ear, " What ho ! har- 
 bour-master, art dead ? or have your potations been 
 so deep as to produce a lethargy ?" 
 
 " Mabel — ye pest — Mabel ye good-for-naught," 
 cried the old man not turning round in his chair, 
 *' hear ye not? a customer calleth for ale. Mix it 
 wench, for the big tun runneth somewhat hard 
 and stale."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 101 
 
 *' Mabel, man, like the rest of the gadabouts 
 of Minyeadis off for the junketings at Culbone, I 
 believe ; and here have I been wastmg my lungs in 
 calling house, until I was weary, and was about to 
 leave what I thought a deserted place, when I saw 
 thy lean carcass ensconced in the chair ; rouse thee 
 man!" 
 
 " Mabel, Mabel, where is the jade ?" cried the 
 old man. 
 
 " Out, I tell thee ; gone a-junketing like her 
 master and mistress. Thou art parcel-drunk, har- 
 bour-master, and hast been drinking the strong 
 waters thyself in lack of customers." 
 
 " Who says that ? " said the old man, looking 
 romid sharply, " who dares to say that I would de- 
 fraud any one, letting alone mine own son ? Ah, 
 Master Robert Quirke, I do demand your for- 
 giveness ; I was somewhat sleepy and overcome with 
 much business." 
 
 '' With much liquor, more likely. Your 
 eyes bear proof that your lips and the goblet 
 have been too intimately acquainted." 
 
 " I have tasted but one half-pint ail the day, 
 
 '-^^^
 
 102 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Master Quirke ; I am an ill-used man for — would 
 you believe it? — Richard's wife hath turned key 
 on the spirit-cupboard, and left me not the means 
 of solacing myself with a cordial, or of supplying 
 such as you with aught but cider or ale, which are 
 wont to cause a coldness of stomach." 
 
 " I would taste your ale, Master Luckes, which 
 is wont to be good," said the stranger, taking a 
 seat. 
 
 " Good enough, I trow, for ale — but still chilly 
 to ail aged stomach. Mabel, I say, what Mabel !" 
 
 " You are wasting much of the little breath you 
 have left ; Mabel I tell you is gone, like the 
 rest, a-revelling." 
 
 " Nay, I am here sir," said Mabel, who on seeing 
 a customer enter the inn, had left her sweetheart, 
 run round into the house by the back-door, and 
 now made her appearance with a platter in one 
 hand and a cloth in the other, to make the locum 
 tenensof her master and mistress believe, that she had 
 been busily engaged in the duties of the pantry. 
 
 " Where hast been, wench, that thou didst not 
 answer when I called so long and loudly ?"
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 103 
 
 *' I cried * coming' but I could not leave m}^ 
 work at a moment's warning," said the girl ; *' but 
 you grow deaf, and the brandy you drank made 
 you sleep heavily." 
 
 " Brandy ! ye ne'er do well ; thou knowest — but 
 what boots it to complain to such as thou ? down 
 into the cellar, girl, and draw for Master Robert 
 Quirke of the best." 
 
 The girl obeyed and retiuned with a full quart 
 into which she put a bit of toasted bread and gra- 
 ted a little ginger and nutmeg, and then handed it to 
 the guest, who took a deep di'aught before he pas- 
 sed it to the harbour-master. The old man smelt 
 it, and put it down from his mouth, his resolution 
 not to taste of it, however, failed him ; and, after a 
 few words upon the coldness and unwholesomeness 
 of it to aged stomachs, he raised it to his lips and 
 drained it to the dregs. 
 
 Master Quirke smiled, as he filled his pipe, and 
 bade Mabel prepare a second quart, and spice it 
 well, lest it should disagree with Master Luckes. 
 The old man did not like the smile, and, fearing that 
 he should have a lecture on his well-kno^^■n failing.
 
 104 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 to turn away the guest's attention, expressed his 
 surprise that he had not been to the revel. 
 
 " Revels, Master Luckes, I have done with. I 
 am an old man like yourself, though my hand 
 trembles not, and my legs are not swollen ; for I 
 have shunned aught in the way of drink but good 
 wholesome ale. I have been a fortunate man ; and 
 though I have worked hard through calm and 
 storm as a mariner, I have escaped the dangers 
 of the deep. I would show my gratitude to hea- 
 ven, by leaving some portion of the riches which 
 I have accumulated for the benefit of my fellow- 
 men." 
 
 " Folks say that Master Quirke is building a 
 mansion for himself in the town, on the acres he 
 hath bought of Squire Luttrell," said the harbour- 
 master. 
 
 "I am building; but not for myself. Master 
 Luckes. Folks say wrong if they report that I 
 design to build a mansion to dwell in." 
 
 '' What mean then the cargoes of stone and 
 lime, and timber, that pay the duties of the harbour, 
 and are all consiQ:ned to Robert Quirke."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 105 
 
 *' I tell thee, man, I am building ; but not for my- 
 self, and when I have closed this door that Ma- 
 bel's sharp ears may not be benefited, I will reveal 
 to thee what no mortal has ever yet heard." 
 
 When Master Quirke had closed the door, he 
 took his seat by the fire again, and, after a deep 
 draught of the replenished jack, disclosed his secret 
 thus: 
 
 "Thou knowest, Master Luckes, that when 
 Mistress Leckey died some ten years since, she told 
 her son, who used to freight vessels here, and 
 trade to Waterford, that she would appear upon 
 earth again, and grant him a wind which he might 
 have whistled for in vain." 
 
 " I know it well," said the old man. 
 "But you do not know that i believed not 
 in the tale, but even scoffed at it, and assigned the 
 ruin of Tom Leckey to his fondness for the goblet 
 and the can, rather than to the tricks and whims 
 of his dead mother. I have laughed when they 
 told me of her pranks on shore and at sea." 
 
 " Ah, I have heard thee, I have heard thee, in 
 this very room, Master Quirke, jeer at the pot- 
 F 3
 
 106 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 tycarrier when lie told thee that Dame Leckey, 
 the grey woman of Minyead, had beaten him black 
 and blue with her crutched stick, because he fail- 
 ed to help her ghostship over a stile." 
 
 *' I did laugh, and should laugh even now at so 
 improbable a story. Master Luckes, had I not 
 seen and heard her myself." 
 
 " As how ?" said the harbour-master, looking round, 
 as if afraid of seeing the grey woman at his elbow, 
 and assailuig the ale-jack to give him courage. 
 
 " It was on a dreary night, this last December. 
 I had been over to Swansea, wdth a cargo of goods, 
 and was returning with a freight of wools for the 
 Dunster clothiers. My crew were asleep below, 
 and I was alone on deck, standing near the tiller. 
 It was a dead calm, and I had taken a double 
 turn of the starboard guy -rope, and made it fast to 
 the tiller, to keep the ship's head steady in the tide ; 
 and, as I smoked my pipe, and whistled now and 
 then for a wind to waft me up Channel and into 
 harbour, I heard of a sudden as it were the flap 
 of \nngs, and something passed close to me which 
 looked like a large sea-gull; it sailed up aloft.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 107 
 
 and settled on the mast-head. I should have ac- 
 counted it to be some scared sea-mew, for it whis- 
 tled loud and shrill, had I not known that the web- 
 bed feet of such birds, are all unfitted for lightmg 
 on a dog-vane. Well, harbom'-master, there it 
 sat, and whistled so shrilly, that its cry might 
 have been heard at Cardiff, as it seemed to me. 
 Suddenly, the vrind arose and filled the mainsail, 
 so that the vessel lay over on her side, and the 
 foaming waters rushed over the gunwale and 
 flooded her deck. I was fain to haul up the main- 
 tack, and to shout to the crew below. No one 
 answered to my call. I looked aloft, and there sat 
 the same grey figure, but, instead of the whistling 
 which I before heard, the sound of gibes and laugh- 
 ter reached my ear, amidst the rattKng of the top- 
 gear and the creaking of ropes and blocks. I 
 was an angered, Master Luckes, and in my anger 
 I swore and used profane words, and told the bird, 
 as I thought it, if he were the devil himself and 
 would alight on the deck, I would do his bidding 
 whatever it might be." 
 
 " T'was rash language, Master Quirke, and I
 
 108 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 doubt not, no good came of it," said the harbour- 
 master. 
 
 " I had scarce spoken the words, when the figure 
 
 sprung lightly from the mast-head, and stood before 
 me on the deck. The binnacle light showed me 
 the visage of a grey woman, that is a woman dress- 
 ed in a grey suit, such as Mistress Leckey of 
 ^linyead ever wore. I could see through her 
 form. Master Luckes, the mast and the cordage, and 
 the main hatchway before which she stood. I 
 would have spoken to her, but, somehow or other, 
 my tongue refused its office, and my throat felt as 
 though I had swallowed hot coals. I could only 
 gaze on her, and, though the wind blew louder than 
 any hurricane in the "Western Indies, and the waves 
 roared and splashed against the vessel's sides, I heard 
 these words as distinctly as if the dead calm, which 
 I had been whistling to dispel, had continued : 
 
 ' Thou hast but one son and never a spouse 
 To inherit thy hard-earn' d gains ; 
 Build for the poor a goodly almshouse, 
 It will save thee of hell the pains.' " 
 
 "And what followed — did she disappear in blue 
 flames and leave the smell of brimstone behind
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 109 
 
 her?" said Master Luckes, scarcely above his 
 breath. 
 
 *' I cannot tell you; I was roused as from a 
 deep sleep by my crew, whom the rolling of the 
 ship, and the wash of the waves against her clinker- 
 built sides, had brought upon deck. I said nothing 
 of what I had seen and heard ; but, as we rushed 
 before the wind up Channel, and made our port, 
 I vowed to Heaven to comply with the commands 
 so fearfully sent to me. I bought a piece of land 
 overright the market-house of good Master Lul- 
 trell, and am building what I hope may prove a 
 quiet resting-place for those who may be in need and 
 necessity, for centuries after I am dead and gone."' 
 
 "Did you not consult the parson?" said Master 
 Luckes. 
 
 "I did not; such was my intention, but, as you 
 know Master Robert Browne of Dmister had unset- 
 tled men's minds ; and our patron was gone to 
 Bath to lay complaints against him before the Bishop, 
 and to have the good Master Snelling inducted 
 in his room. I kept my counsel, therefore, and 
 though I believe that what I saw and heard was
 
 110 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 but a dream, I am not sorry that I resolved to act 
 upon it. But you will keep my secret, Master 
 Luckes, until I am dead and gone ?" 
 
 " Ay, will I indeed, tliough in truth 'tis a 
 marvellous tale and worthy recording." 
 
 " What, ho ! -svithin there ! house, I say !" 
 cried a shrill voice, which made Master Luckes 
 nearly spring from his seat. 
 
 "Bah! man, never be frightened. It is the 
 cry of 'Master Basil Chipera, the parish-clerk and 
 cordwainer of Dunster," said Master Quirke. 
 
 "And what bruigs him here I wonder?" said 
 the temporary landlord, as the individual named 
 opened the door and entered the room. 
 
 " As good a forest pony as ever was foaled on 
 Exmoor, Master Luckes," said a little, shrivelled 
 figure, dressed in a suit of iron-grey. "Here are 
 rare doings, my masters, up at Dunster, I trow." 
 
 "What news dost bring?" inquired Robert 
 Quirke. 
 
 " Here hath been a half-score horsemen of the 
 new militia raised by Master John Pym, to speer 
 after master Hugh de Mohun, whom they accuse
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. Ill 
 
 of revelling and rioting in an ungodly manner at 
 Culbone." 
 
 *' Is he not at home then ?" inquired the cunning 
 old harbour-master. 
 
 *' Thou knowest very well, Master Luckes, that 
 he donned his mumming dress, and went away this 
 morning early in the Blossom of Minyead with 
 Giles Tudball. There has been it seems, an at- 
 tack made upon Master Robert Browne, Roger 
 Priver and his constables, who would have been 
 foully murdered, had not Master Pym ridden over 
 Dunkery hill and been at hand in time to save 
 them," said Basil Chipera. 
 
 "And what business had the Hke of them at 
 Culbone ?" asked the old man. 
 
 ** Roger Priver, had it seems, authority from the 
 parliament to put a stop to the revels, but not 
 having a w^arrant from Master Thomas Luttrell, 
 who is away to fetch his ward, no one would obey 
 him, and Master AUowayand your son Richard 
 and others, have got themselves into trouble, and 
 are under arrest." 
 
 " And Hugh de Mohun ?" in quu'ed Master Luckes.
 
 U2 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Is escaped with Giles Tudball, Will Bowering, 
 and tlie mediciner, whom you know as Dr. Grave- 
 boys. The soldiers await his return to Dunster 
 Castle, and I, whom they shut up in the upper 
 room of the gateway, made bold to slip down, as 
 doth Master Hugh, by means of the ivy-stems, and 
 mount my pony and gallop down here, to give 
 him warning of his danger." 
 
 "And what says good parson Snelling, thy 
 master and the boy's tutor ?" said Robert Quirke. 
 
 *'He is nigh distraught. He has been won- 
 dering all day where his charge might be, and 
 many lies have I been obliged to invent to ac- 
 count for his absence; but what is to be done? if he 
 comes up to Dunster he will be arrested, and the 
 Lord knows what may be the upshot of it." 
 
 "Do you return to Dunster, Master Basil, and 
 leave the young man to me. Take a draught of 
 ale, and hie thee back to comfort the good parson," 
 said Robert Quirke. 
 
 It was growing dark when the parish clerk of 
 Dunster remounted his forest pony and gallop- 
 ed along the quay. Robert Quirke, as soon as he
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 113 
 
 was fairly out of sight, descended the steps of the 
 pier, and, getting into a boat, rowed off to the head 
 of the harbour, whence he could get a view of any 
 vessel rounding Greenaleigh point and steering for 
 Minehead. His practised eye soon detected the lug- 
 ger of Giles Tudball coming up Channel, and he 
 pulled vigorously to get to her side before she tack- 
 ed to run into the harboui'.
 
 114 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 We must leave Master Robert Quirke, to wait 
 for the coming, up of the Blossom of Minehead, 
 while we return to the scene of Culbone revel. 
 
 No sooner had the soldiers, with Master John 
 Pjrm at their head, taken possession of the ground 
 lately occupied by the revellers, than most of those 
 assembled followed the example set them by the 
 mediciner and Giles Tudball, and made the best 
 of their way to their respective homes, for fear of 
 consequences, which, being miknown, appeared 
 doubly fearful. 
 
 Master Pym, stationing himself as nearly as he 
 could in the middle of the green, close to the raised 
 platform, drew from his pocket a piece of parch-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 115 
 
 ment, beaiing a t\Aiii-like resemblance to the skin 
 carried by the baihff, Roger Priver, which Alloway 
 had torn into shreds. He opened it deliberately, 
 and, as he held it closely to his eyes, wliich some 
 sixty years' use had rendered somewhat weak, the 
 better to read its contents, the said baihiF, drip- 
 ping with wet and exhausted by the ill-usage he 
 had met ^vith, laid his hand upon his knee, and 
 begged him to seize the transgressors of the 
 law, before they could make their escape. 
 
 " Not so, good bailiif, I \^ill not follow their ex- 
 ample, but will proceed legally. I was bred to the 
 bar, and requhe not to be taught my duty ; did I 
 not impeach Buckingham and Mainwaring, and 
 conduct and brmg to a happy issue the trial of the 
 Lord Straiford ? and have I not successfully resisted 
 the illegal attempt of Charles Stuart, to arrest me 
 and four other members of the parliament, within 
 the house of Commons ? Back good Master Priver, 
 and let me not, I pray thee, said John Pym, in a 
 voice di'avvHngly slow, but firm. 
 
 " Nay but Master Pym, I would avenge myself 
 on mine adversaries whiles they are in the way with
 
 116 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 me," said the bailiff. '* Have I not had my com- 
 mission stolen from me, been roughly handled, and 
 well-nigh suffocated in the waters that overwhelm- 
 ed me ? Have not my men been maltreated, and, 
 with the pious and God-fearing Master Browne, 
 been tied to trees and beaten with ashen boughs ? 
 I would avenge me and mine." 
 
 " Take four of my troop, and release the divine 
 and thy companions, and if, when I have read the 
 order of the parliament in the ears of the people, 
 any of the malcontents become captives to thy 
 spear and thy bow, thou mayest arrest them, but 
 leave the law to punish them : * Vengeance is mine,' 
 thou knowest the rest." 
 
 Roger Priver did as he was ordered, and while, he 
 went to releaese the unfortunate posse comitatus 
 and the deposed mhiister. Master Pym read in slow 
 and solomn tones, a long rigmarole, couched in the 
 puritanical and half blasphemous style «. f the age, 
 against, 'wakes, revels, junketings, church-ales, 
 bride-ales, and such-like ungodly sports.' His only 
 hearers were his soldiery, who, with solemn visages 
 and upturn L^d eyes, pronounced a sonorous snuf-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 117 
 
 fling Amen, as he concluded and folded up the pro- 
 clamation. 
 
 The only parties who had not fled were Mas- 
 ter Richard Luckes, his wife, and Alloway, who, 
 while the proclamation was being read, were hastily 
 dismantling the tent or drinking -booth, and hurry- 
 ing their goods as fast as they could into the boat of 
 Master Jenkins, who was waiting for them in the 
 cove. No sooner, however, had Roger Priver un- 
 bound his captive ofiicers and the preacher, than he 
 strode hastily across the green, followed by Master 
 Pym and the soldiers, and commenced an attack 
 upon the canvass tent which was speedily torn into 
 tatters and rent in twain, as the preacher said, like 
 the veil which hid the Scheckinah from the eyes of 
 the Israelites. 
 
 Master Luckes and the butcher resisted man- 
 fully, but were soon overpowered, and bound tight- 
 ly with sword-belts to trees. Mrs. Luckes amused 
 herself by alternately sobbing and abusing her ene- 
 mies in good set terms to the horror of the dinne, 
 who undertook to convhice her, in a sermon of sixteen 
 heads, that she was nought but a modern Jezabel. 
 
 &?■
 
 118 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Master Jenkins, seeing his friends in captivity, and 
 knowing that his single arm could not release them 
 loosed his boat and pushed off from shore. 
 
 As soon as the tent was demolished, an attack 
 was made on its contents, the spigots were torn 
 from the barrels, and beer and cider flowed forth in 
 streams ; the casks themselves were next demo- 
 lished with the aid of quoits andthrovdng-bars; and 
 the bottles containing the strong waters would have 
 shared their fate, had not some one suggested to 
 Roger Priver that his immersion in the brook 
 might prove dangerous to him, unless he took some- 
 thing as a preventive of cold. 
 
 Roger took the hint and the preventive, in a co- 
 pious draught from a squat bottle ; an example 
 that was followed by every one of the party, al- 
 though they took it in so solemn a maiuier, and with 
 such sour looks, that a spectator might have fancied 
 they were swallowing one of Master Graveboy's 
 most nauseous specifics, instead of right good 
 Scheidam or pui'e Dantzic. The bottles, having been 
 emptied, w^ere broken to pieces, and the party looked 
 round for some other abomination whereon to
 
 PUNSTER CASTLE. 119 
 
 work destruction. The only thing, however, that 
 remained, was the gay hangings suspended from the 
 oak by the minstrels, which, in their hurry and haste 
 to escape, they had been unable to remove ; a few 
 seconds saw them torn into shreds and scattered to 
 the winds. 
 
 All this time Master John Pym stood by, viewing 
 the scene with a solemn visage and not saying a 
 word, although Mrs. Luckes was intreating him at 
 the top of her lungs " to exert his authority and 
 save her worldly goods," which did not in the least 
 interfere with the exhortation of the divine, who 
 had just got to " and seventhly" in his discourse, 
 when the commander ordered his troops to fall in 
 and Roger Priver to follow with the prisoners. 
 Mistress Luckes was placed on her own pillion be- 
 hind the preacher, who insisted upon this arrange- 
 ment that he might conclude his sermon as they 
 marched. Her husband and AlJoway were strap- 
 ped each behind a trooper, with their hands secure- 
 ly tied en derriere. 
 
 In this way they ascended the path, across the 
 brook, down which Julian Bachell and Hugh de
 
 120 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Mohun had come in the morning. It was al- 
 ready getting dusk, and the branches which over- 
 hung them made the road dark and dangerous to 
 be travelled; so that they proceeded but slowly, to 
 enable those on foot to keep up with the horsemen. 
 
 Before they reached the summit of the first as- 
 cent, the horse, the property of Master Richard 
 Ijuckes, on which the preacher and Mistress Luckes 
 rode, commenced a series of gambols, a thing 
 he was never known to do before ; which ended in 
 his stumbling over a huge stone, and pitching Mas- 
 ter Browne over his head ; much to the delight of 
 its other rider, who kept her seat by clinging to her 
 pillion, and quietly extracted the pin which she had 
 inserted into the beast's skin, when she found her 
 plan for ridding herself of the preacher had been 
 successful. As nothing could induce the divine to 
 mount again, he was obliged to shuffle after the 
 horse, commencing his " thirteenthly" between his 
 deep pantings as he best might. 
 
 " Forward, master high baili^V cried one of the 
 soldiers, " Master Pym would confer with thee." 
 
 Roger Priver went to the head of the little band, 
 and walked beside the leader's horse.
 
 DTJNSTER CASTLE. 1^1 
 
 *' Did I not understand thee to say, that the son 
 of the malignant man Bachell, of Ashley Lodge 
 hard by, v,as one of those who assaulted thee in thy 
 duty?" 
 
 "Yea did I; he was mummed as a forester of 
 Exmoor, and did use me grievously," said Roger 
 Priver. 
 
 " He was leader doubtless in the ungodly pas- 
 times?" 
 
 "Yea verily — that is to say joint-leader with the 
 other springald who was disguised, as a seaman." 
 
 ** What name doth he bear?" 
 
 " Hugh de Mohun ; he dwelleth with Master 
 Robert SnelKng, who did dispossess good Master 
 Browne of his pulpit, over the gateway of Dunster 
 Castle, of which one Basil Chipera is warder 
 and parish-clerk, for want of a better," said the 
 baiHff. 
 
 " Countenanced in his disobedience by the sur- 
 pliced priest and that other malignant who owneth 
 Dunster, Master Thomas Luttrell, doubtless?" 
 
 " Thou speakest truly, and verily together they led 
 the revels and the fray, and were the first to resist 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 my authority, to tear up my credentials, and to give 
 us up to the Philistines to be cruelly entreated." 
 
 "What more?" 
 
 " The young Hugh would have drawn pistol 
 on me hut that he had resigned his weapons to 
 some one, while he strove with the arm of flesh 
 with the seller of flesh at Minyead. He also rolled 
 me in the troubled waters of the brook, until my 
 mortal soul had well-nigh quitted its earthly taber- 
 nacle," groaned out the Ijing bailifl". 
 
 " It shall be seen to, it shall be seen to, Master Pri- 
 ver ; in insulting thee, they have insulted the parlia- 
 ment. The herd may escape scathless, but the lead- 
 ers thereof, bulls of Basan as they be, must be made 
 an example to others, that they offend not again." 
 
 " Had we not better seize the w^help in his lair 
 as we pass, and before he have notice of our coming 
 and hide himself ? " 
 
 " Such is my intention ; I cross not Grabhurst 
 hill to Cutcombe this night ; but will e'en refresh 
 at Ashley Combe and secure the prisoner, and then 
 ride on to Dunster where it shall be proved whe- 
 ther Master Luttrell, the owner of its strong Castle,
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE, 123 
 
 will refuse to give hospitality to an officer of the 
 parliament, and to deliver up into his hands the 
 disciple of yon surpliced priest." 
 
 " Ahumph ! " said Roger Priver, in a sort of 
 grunt, which implied deep-felt satisfaction. 
 
 Nothing further was said, until they reached the 
 spot where the road branches off to the Lodge. 
 There, Master Pym ordered all his men but six to 
 proceed to Dunster, with the constables and the pri- 
 soners. He kept the bailiff and the preacher with 
 him, intending to supply them with horses from the 
 Lodge stables, and to take them on with him, after he 
 had refreshed his party and secured his prisoner. 
 
 In the mean while, Julian Bachell, who, as the 
 reader may remember, had sailed round Bossing- 
 ton Point, with Hugh and the rest, in Giles Tud- 
 ball's lugger, had arrived at his landing-place, 
 about a quarter of an hour after Master Pvm 
 reached Ashley-Combe Lodge. 
 
 He stepped lightly ashore, and hurried over the 
 
 rough stones of the beach towards the wear. Just 
 
 as he was crossing the wear, a sort of rudely 
 
 fashioned water-gate, which prevented the tide from 
 
 G 2
 
 124 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 receding from the basin and leaving it dry, he saw 
 some one come out of one of the three fisher- 
 men's huts which stood beside it. She, for it 
 was a female, came towards him just as he was 
 quitting the plank which served as a bridge. 
 
 "Back, Master Julian, back as you love your 
 liberty," she said in a clear whisper, " enemies are 
 at hand." 
 
 " Why, how now pretty Janet, what makes you 
 here after dusk ? men must not have aught to say 
 against my foster-sister, and when girls are out, 
 like owls, at twilight, they are apt to gam the name 
 of light o' loves," said Julian, kindly. 
 
 " I come, Master Juhan," said the gate-keeper's 
 daughter, *^by my father's orders, though not un- 
 willingly, for I care not what men say falsely of 
 me, to warn you not to come up to the Lodge to- 
 night." 
 
 " And why not ? surely my father — " 
 
 " He is not yet returned ; but there is Master 
 
 John Pym of Cutcombe, tlie enemy of all good 
 
 and true men, up there, with Roger Priver, the 
 
 preacher, and some troopers. They are searching for
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 125 
 
 you, and have arrested the servants, and shut up 
 my father in his own gate-house. I made bold to 
 escape by the back window, and, as I knew you 
 had sailed with Master Hugh and would land here, 
 hurried down to warn you." 
 
 " Thanks, my good Janet, thanks — but who 
 comes here?" 
 
 " A boy, and, as I think, the tapster-boy from 
 the Blue Anchor," said Janet. 
 
 " What now boy, whom seek you thus stealthily?" 
 
 *'An it please your honour, I seek yourself; good 
 Mistress Luckes, whom the troopers are carrying 
 prisoner to Ashley Combe, strapped to her pony, 
 like a basket of chickens or a side of veni- 
 son, whispered me, while the soldiers and con- 
 stables took their bearer, to meet you and warn 
 you not to go up to the Lodge to-night, but to 
 put out in a boat and hail Master Jenkins, who will 
 shortly round the headland on his way to Min- 
 yead." 
 
 ^' 'Tis well done of Mistress Luckes, and I will 
 not forget to reward her ; and now, Janet, do you go 
 back to the Lodge, and secretly warn the serving-
 
 126 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 men to offer no resistance, and if possible give my 
 father notice of all that has happened ; away my 
 good girl, and good night. The tapster here will 
 go with me, and bring the boat ashore when I am 
 safely seated with Master Jenkins." 
 
 Janet tripped off as soon as she had seen Julian 
 launch one of the small boats that lay on the beach, 
 and quickly momited the steep path : when she 
 gained the Lodge-gate, she looked cautiously 
 round, and listened attentively ; neither seemg nor 
 hearing anything to alarm her, she knocked at the 
 door, and whispered through the key-hole to her fa- 
 ther, that Master JuHan had left Porlock-wear for 
 Minehead. She then with more caution followed 
 the hard road which led up to the Lodge itself, un- 
 til she came within view of the house. Concealing 
 herself behind a large walnut tree, she endeavoured 
 to see what was going on within. Lights were 
 burning in the great hall, and every now and then 
 a shadow, as of one bearing refreshments, passed 
 over the large window. Creeping behind the ever- 
 greens that skirted the circular carriage -road, slie 
 sought the stables, where the horses were busily
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 127 
 
 eating the com put before them, still saddled, and 
 having theii- bridles thrown on their necks. Passing 
 at the back of the stables, she gained the offices, 
 and, mounting by a projection in the vrall, looked 
 into the large kitchen, where she saw two or tiii^ee 
 of the women seated and crying by the fire, while 
 others, with the serving-men, were preparing dishes 
 for the men in the hall. 
 
 Seeing that no soldiers or strangers were amongst 
 them, Janet tapped smartly at the ^vmdow, and 
 could not help laughing at the effect produced by 
 '' the sound herself had made." The servants set 
 down the dishes they were about to carry in ; 
 those who were seated sprung up on their feet, and 
 all, huddled together m the middle of the room, 
 gazed with terror-fraught eyes at the window 
 whence the unexpected sound proceeded. 
 
 She tapped again louder than before, and the 
 servants huddled together more closely, clinging to 
 each other for support, until one, bolder than the 
 rest, left the group and approached the window. 
 
 " It is I — Janet ; do not be afraid, but open the 
 window." The man sprang on a sort of di'esser, and
 
 1^8 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 opened the ^vindow, or lather four quarries of 
 glass in an iron frame, formed for letting out heat 
 and admitting air. 
 
 " Master Julian hath escaped; his orders are, 
 that no resistance be offered to the intruders, but 
 that they have all that they demand," said Janet. 
 
 " It needs not Master Julian's orders to insure 
 that; for the knaves have seized on everything with- 
 out the asking, and are sitting cheek by jowl, gen- 
 tle and simple, higglety-pigglety at the same table, 
 eating and drinking as though they meant to pay 
 a reckoning," said the butler ; " would it might 
 choke them!" 
 
 "Amen !" said every one. 
 
 " And master preacher there read me a lecture, 
 and said a grace of a good ten minutes' length, and 
 then fell to at trencher and wine-cup, like a crop- 
 eared varlet as he is," said the house-steward, " and 
 complained of the claret being over thin, d — n 
 himl" 
 
 " Amen," said the butler. 
 
 "I will aw^ay," said Janet, " for fear of discovery, 
 for I would not be taken and shut up before I give
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 129 
 
 Master Bachell warning of what guests he hath 
 witliin." 
 
 So saying she alighted safely on her feet, and 
 sought by the same hidden track her station be- 
 hind the walnut tree. She had not remained long, 
 before she saw shadows of the whole company 
 standing up at the raised table, and heard a mut- 
 tering sound which she doubted not arose from 
 Master Browne saying grace after meat. This lasted 
 some five minutes, and shortly afterwards the horses 
 were brought round, and the company mounted 
 and rode past her, with Master Pym at their head, and 
 the preacher and Roger Priver closing the rear. 
 
 Janet, as soon as they were out of hearing, ran 
 down to the Lodge-gate, and found that her father 
 had been released, with strict orders to inform 
 four troopers who had been left within when 
 Master Bachell or his son Julian should arrive. 
 
 " I will see them all on the top of Dunkery hill 
 first," said the gate-keeper. 
 
 " Or rather at the bottom of its iron mines, 
 father," said Janet, " as being nearer to the place 
 best suited to their puritanical persons." 
 G 3
 
 130 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Merry were the crew of the lugger as she sailed 
 before a slight but favouring breeze towards her 
 haven, for they knew nothing of what had occurred 
 since their leaving Culbone Cove. All sat smoking, 
 singing, and talking by tui'ns, and expecting to meet 
 their friends at Minehead. Master Giles Tudball 
 was in the bows conning, and Will Bowering at the 
 tiller, steering and telling marvellous lies at intervals, 
 to the amusement of Hugh de Mohun, the quack- 
 salver, and his man Jansen. 
 
 " Come, Master Giles, yonder lights show us the 
 quay of Minehead ; we have rounded Greenaleigh 
 Point, and, but that the flat shore forces us to keep 
 rather far out, a short half-hour would see our 
 warps made fast to the pier." said Hugh.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 131 
 
 "We had been there long since, had there been 
 more of a wmd," said Giles. " I doubt not but 
 that Master Richard and his wife \Yill have brought 
 themselves to an anchor in their own tap-room ere 
 this, for they have but hali' our distance to go, and 
 their galloway is fleet." 
 
 " Yon lazy lubber at the tiller hath not whistled 
 once for a wind," said Hugh, "for, what with telhng 
 lies and puffing forth smoke, his mouth hath had 
 no holiday." 
 
 " Foul fall the tale-teller, he was afraid to whis- 
 tle, Master Hugh, lest his false breath should rouse 
 the grey woman of IMinyead," said Dr. Graveboys. 
 
 " Keep thee to thy pills and thy unguents. Mas- 
 ter Doctor," replied Will, " I fear Mistress Leckey's 
 wraith less than thou dost the ghosts of those 
 whom thy filthy drugs have laid low in the church- 
 yard." 
 
 " Nay then, if that be so, shew thy bravery and 
 whistle now," said the doctor, "louder — louder 
 still, for she may be at Waterford or Lundy Island, 
 and can scarce hear so coward a sound, at so great a 
 distance."
 
 13^ DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Will, being so near to port, and in company, 
 complied, and sent forth a clear, loud wliistle, 
 l)ut the sound had scarcely died away, when a loud 
 flapping as of -wuigs was heard, and the light of 
 Will's pipe, which he had resumed, shewed his face 
 turning ghastly pale. 
 
 " D — -n — I mean Lord preserve us ! it is the grey 
 woman," cried Will. 
 
 '* Tush man, be not fool and coward to boot,'' 
 cried his master ; "it was but a sea-mew, whom 
 your silly whistle cominced that we had another 
 gull, and that is yourself, on board." 
 
 " Never mind," said Hugh, " It will make a 
 proper subject for a new lie when you get on shore ; 
 you can swear that you heard her speak in a loud 
 clear tone." 
 
 '^ What ho ! lugger ahoy !" shouted a loud deep- 
 toned voice, j ust as Hugh had done speaking. 
 
 " Lord help us !" cried Will, " see what it is to 
 jest with the dead." 
 
 " Lugger ahoy ! lay to," said the same voice. 
 " Heaven help us, for nought else can," groaned 
 Will.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 133 
 
 " Peace, fool, and down with the hehn hard. It 
 is the voice of honest Robert Quirke, and yonder 
 is iiis boat just ahead of us," said Giles, " what 
 ho ! what cheer, messmate ?" 
 
 " Hold on by the painter, while I step aboard," 
 said Master Quirke, laying his skiff alongside and 
 shipping his sculls. " Now^ make her fast to the starn, 
 and up with your tiller into mid-channel : Minyead 
 must not see her Blossom in harbour to-night." 
 
 " How so ? hath the ganger informed against us ?" 
 said Giles. 
 
 '' The ganger hath not uttered a word that the 
 customs officers might not hear and smile at," said 
 Robert Quirke, " but there be those at Dunster, 
 that might seek at Minyead certain revellers and 
 such-like, who have set at nought the orders of the 
 parhament, and maltreated its officer in the lanky 
 person of Master Roger Priver." 
 
 " And how knowest thou these news ?" inquired 
 Hugh de Mohun. 
 
 '^ The warder of the gate wherein Master Snel- 
 ling liveth brought them to me at Minyead ; he 
 came thither to warn the pupil that the tutor was 
 a prisoner on his account."
 
 134 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 *' And what more said Basil Chipera ? said he 
 that Master Thomas Luttrell was returned ?" asked 
 Hugh. 
 
 " He hath not returned, but is expected home this 
 night. Master Pym hath taken possession of the 
 Castle, under the pretence of asking hospitality 
 for himself and liis troopers ; and Mistress Luttrell 
 does not dare to say him nay." 
 
 "What is your advice in this strait ?" 
 
 " That you go forward with me to the mouth of 
 the Hone, the Dunster river, where, as you know, I 
 have a store-house on the lower marsh : there I 
 can stow you secujrely, and the lugger can find safe 
 anchorage; there also will the yatch of Master Lut- 
 trell cast anchor, and w^e can advise him of all that 
 hath happened," said Robert Quirke. 
 
 " Thy plan is a good one," said Dr. Graveboys, 
 " but as I fear neither Pym, parliament, nor prose- 
 cution, for my license authorizes me to sell my 
 goods any and every where, I will to ^linyead in 
 Master Quirke's boat with my man Jansen, and 
 thence to Dunster, whence I will bring such infor- 
 mation to you all at Hone-mouth as may be of ser- 
 vice, and no one a whit the wiser."
 
 DUNSrER CASTLE. 135 
 
 "A blast from my trumpet shall be a hint of 
 friends nigh," said Jansen. 
 
 *' Nay if thy tin lie on this, as it doth on other 
 occasions, when it proclaims safety to the ailing, 
 it were better it were silent," said Will Bowering. 
 
 " It will not turn a sea-mew into a dead woman, 
 or the voice of Master Quirke into a wraith's 
 shriek," said Jansen, as he followed liis master over 
 the lugger's side. 
 
 The doctor and his servant had not long quit- 
 ted the vessel, ere another cry of '' Lugger ahoy !" 
 was heard. 
 
 '* Who comes now ?" said Hugh. 
 
 " Master Jenkins, as you may judge by his Welsh 
 tongue," said Giles Tudball. 
 
 " Impossible ! " said Hugh, "we left him behind 
 us, and, as he has but a pair of sculls and a small 
 square sail, it is not likely he can have come up 
 with the swiftest boat in the Channel." 
 
 " Nay, you forget that she draws less water, and 
 can creep close in shore, while we have been 
 forced to keep a good offing, and that, with a wind 
 astern, a square sail will carry such a cockle-shell 
 as that before it, nine knots good."
 
 13G DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 *' Who hath he on board with him ?" asked Ro- 
 bert Quii'ke, " for I see one in the stem-sheets." 
 
 " Master Richard Luckes or the bully butcher 
 mayhap," said Giles. 
 
 '' It is I — Julian Bachell ; is Hugh de Mohmi 
 still on board ?" 
 
 Hugh stepped to the side, and in a few minutes 
 shook hands with his friend as he leapt aboard. Ju- 
 lian as briefly as possible recounted to him all 
 that had taken place since he quitted them. The 
 boat of Master Jenkins was towed astern, and all 
 the party agreed to go to the Hone's mouth and re- 
 main there until morning, as Master Jenkins did 
 not fail to add to Julian's story an alarming ac- 
 comit of the proceedings of Pym and his follow- 
 ers at Culbone. 
 
 The lugger's head was brought round and put 
 up Channel. The wind began to increase so 
 nmch, that before they reached the place of their 
 destination it blew half a gale, and tliey were 
 obliged to take in a double reef of all the sails. 
 Will Bowering could not help asserting that they 
 should have a storm for having insulted the grey- 
 woman of Minyead, who was not to be summoned
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 137 
 
 with impunity. The crew laughed at his fears — all 
 but one, and that was Master Robert Quirke, who, 
 as the reader knows, fancied he had sound reasons 
 for dreaduig the old woman's powers. They arrived 
 however, before the storm, which shortly fol- 
 lowed, gained its height, and came to anchor in the 
 Hone's mouth. After making everything snug on 
 board, they reached the store-house, and foultd a 
 comfortable shelter from the rain which began to 
 fall heavily. 
 
 In the mean while. Dr. Graveboys and his man 
 landed at Minehead, and ha\'ing taken some refresh- 
 ment at the Ship Aground, as an excuse for in- 
 forming the harbour-master of the arrest of his 
 son and Mistress Richard, left the quay, and went 
 through the upper town and the little village of 
 Alcombe to the town of Dunster. 
 
 The distance was about two miles and a half, 
 and the doctor and Jansen were, from much prac- 
 tice, good and fast walkers ; but, before they reach- 
 ed the base of Conygarhill, which impends over the 
 town, the storm had commenced, and Jansen found 
 his box of drugs a troublesome appendage to his 
 shoulders.
 
 138 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 *' I would, master mine, that we had left this 
 pack of thine at the Plume of Feathers, in Min- 
 yead, for the wind acts upon it like the sails of the 
 lugger, and I have already made three such lurches 
 to leeward as well-nigh brought me up all stand- 
 ing in yon ditch," said Jansen. 
 
 " What ! leave my medicaments, the tools of 
 my trade, behind me ? never ! who knows but that 
 they may have been at cut and thrust up at Dun- 
 ster, and that my unguents and healing balsams 
 may be in requisition ; and, as for the wind, it is be- 
 hind us, and when we have rounded Conygar we 
 shall be in shelter." 
 
 *^ Well, at any rate, it is better to be here on 
 hard ground, than out in the Channel on such an 
 evening," said Jansen. " Giles Tudball, I trust, is 
 by this time in harbour." 
 
 "Ay, that he is; for, with such a merry breeze 
 astern, his lively bark would not be long running 
 into Blue Anchor Bay, especially as it is high 
 tide, and he can keep close in shore. It is not a de- 
 sirable night for Channel sailing truly, and yet one 
 is there, with wind and tide against him, unless he 
 be alreadv arrived," said the doctor.
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 139 
 
 " And who may that be ?" asked Jansen. 
 
 " The fjocd owner of vonder noble Castle. ^las- 
 ter Luttrell, who was to sail from Clevedon this day 
 with his fair ward : God presen-e them both I " 
 
 " Who is this fair ward, of whom men speak so 
 praisingly ?" 
 
 '■^listress Prudence Everard, the orphan child 
 of the last of the Everards of Lnxborough, whom 
 he left when on his death-bed to the care and pro- 
 tection of his oldest friend. Master Thomas Lut- 
 trell. She hath just completed her studies in some 
 house near the College in Bristol, and was to give 
 him the meeting at Clevedon this day, to be con- 
 veyed to Dunster Castle, which is henceforth to 
 be her home." 
 
 The doctor was interrupted m his speech by 
 a \-ivid flash of lightning, followed by a loud thun- 
 der-clap, and such a dash of rain as made both him 
 and Jansen set off at the top of their speed, which 
 they did not relax until they found shelter in the 
 Luttrell Arms, the principal hostehy in the 
 town. 
 
 Without stopping to diy his clothes, the doctor,
 
 140 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 bidding Jansen remain within, sought the gate- 
 way of the Castle by the open road, but seeing, 
 by the gleam of a flash of lightning, one of the 
 troopers posted there as a sentry, he returned down 
 the road, and sought to approach the gateway by a 
 secret path that led round the foot of the hill 
 through bushes and briars. 
 
 Through this path the doctor with difficulty 
 found his way, and reached, by means of the ivy, the 
 window out of which Basil Chipera had made his 
 escape, and which belonged to the room occupied as 
 a sleeping apartment by Hugh de Mohun. A.t this 
 window^, into which he was rather too stout to creep, 
 as it was barred, but not closely, the doctor shouted, 
 well knowing that the wind which was roaring 
 round the gateway would prevent the sentinel 
 hearing him on the further side. His shouts 
 soon brought to him Basil Chipera, who could only 
 tell him that Master Pym and his men were 
 in the Castle, and that the parson was with Mis- 
 tress Luttrell, (considered as under arrest,) endea- 
 vouring to calm her apprehensions for her hus- 
 band's safety. Master Roger Priver was also in
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 141 
 
 the Castle, reducing to ^mting the information 
 he had furnished against Hugh de Mohun and 
 Julian Bachell. Those ^vho had been arrested 
 were now confined in the keep. Master Robert 
 Browne was acting as Prive rs amanuensis. 
 
 When he had acquired all the information he could 
 from Basil Chpera, the doctor returned by the same 
 path to the Luttrell Arms. He was now thoroughly 
 soaked by the rain and the droppings from the 
 shrubs and bushes ; nevertheless, he announced to 
 Jansen his intention of leaving him there, while 
 he went down to the stores of Master Robert 
 Quirke, to explain the state of things at Dun- 
 ster Castle to those there assembled, and to ascer- 
 tun whether the yacht, a little cutter of some 
 thirty tons, had yet arrived. 
 
 " Not so, master mine ;" said Jansen, " if you go, 
 I go. Like master like man ; or if you will stay here 
 and dry your garments, I, who am parcel-dry, and 
 somewhat cheered by a jack of ale, slightly spiced, 
 will borrow a wrapper of good Dunster broad-cloth 
 from mine host, and seek Master Quirke 's store, and 
 be back again speedily."
 
 142 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Not so, good Jansen, I must e'en go, if it be 
 but to retrieve mine honour, having pledged it to 
 that effect." 
 
 " Then will I go with you, for it never shall be 
 said, that a drop of rain and a gleam of lightning 
 drove Jansen from his master's side. But you 
 will take a cup of what our host holds better than 
 all our specifics, a spiced cup of ale ?" 
 
 The doctor consented, and, having finished the 
 pottle, set out with his man, leaving his box of 
 drugs in the care of the host. 
 
 The road to the marshes lay by the side of the 
 river, which, though but a small stream at Dunster, 
 grows gradually wider and deeper as it nears the 
 Channel. It w^as famed in those days for its trout 
 and salmon, wdiich were taken in great numbers at 
 certain seasons by means of stake or tide-nets. The 
 ground on either side of it is wet and swampy, as 
 it is liable to be flooded at every spring-tide. To 
 enable persons to reach the mouth of it in safety, 
 a sort of path, or liard, as it is termed, had been 
 made of the shingles and rough stones obtained 
 from Watchet.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 143 
 
 Along this hard, the doctor and his man pro- 
 ceeded with very great difficulty, for, although the 
 moon was at the full, and it was not yet late, the 
 darkness was intense, and the rain di'ove heavily 
 in their faces; the wind too was still powerful, 
 and almost lifted them from their legs. They 
 pressed on however, having a glimpse of their road 
 from the frequent flashes of lightning, and, after 
 much exertion, reached the storehouse of Master 
 Quirke, and made their coming known by a blast 
 from Jansen's horn, though it could scarcely be 
 heard amidst the din of the thunder. 
 
 Within, they found very comfortable quarters, for 
 Master Quirke had lighted a large fire, and had set 
 out a substitute for a table, on which w^ere heaped 
 such viands as Master Jenkins had been enabled to 
 rescue from the stores of Richard Luckes's booth, 
 and certain supplies of spirits which the world 
 said were always to be had in plenty in the store- 
 house, which was supposed to contain provisions and 
 other goods that formed the freights of its owner. 
 
 The party within were all very meny except Will 
 Bowering, who still believed that he had caused the
 
 144 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 storm which was raging without, by exciting the 
 
 wrath of the grey woman of Minehead. He was 
 
 to 
 cahning his fears as he best might, by copious li- 
 bations, between which he muttered all the prayers 
 he knew by heart, to deprecate the anger of the de- 
 parted lady. 
 
 Doctor Graveboys and Jansen changed their wet 
 suits for others furnished tliem by the owner of 
 the stores, and then sat do\M-i and communicated 
 to their friends all that they had heard at Dunster. 
 
 ''I see nothing that need alarm us for those 
 in the Castle," said Hugh de Mohun. " Master Pym, 
 sour puritan though he be, will offer no insult, 
 nor allow any to be offered, to Mistress Luttrell or 
 Master Snelling. That crop-eared rogue, Roger Pri- 
 ver, may tell his lies an he list, and Master Browne 
 write them down; but, if there be justice and jus- 
 tices in the land, we will defeat their measures." 
 
 *' As to justice in these days," said Julian 
 Bachell, ''we must not expect it, for even King 
 Charles, God bless him ! cannot obtam it. I am 
 the more alarmed however, for the safety of Master 
 Luttrell than for that of his lady."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 145 
 
 " Fear not for him Master Bachell, he is used 
 to the Channel, and, rely upon it, he hath, when 
 he saw the storm brooding, run into Weston-upon- 
 the-Sea, or into "Watchet," said Giles Tudball. 
 
 " Hark !" cried Will Bowering as he sprang to 
 
 his feet; "hark, I say — heard ye not a cry as of 
 
 one in danger ?" 
 
 All listened, but nothing was heard save the 
 
 roar of the wind and the rumbling of the thunder. 
 
 " Will hath not got over his fears of the gi'ey 
 woman yet, though he be safe housed ashore,"' said 
 Giles. 
 
 Will stood pale and trembling, and could not 
 join in the laugh that was going romid at his ex- 
 pense. 
 
 *' I'll swear that I heard a cry," said he, "between 
 the thunder-claps, and hark ! by heavens! 1 hear it 
 now; be it Mother Leckey, or the devil's dam, or 
 the de^dl himself, I will see what it means." 
 
 Will rushed towards the door, but Jansen threw 
 himself in his way, telling him not to make a laugli- 
 ing-stock of himselt by his folly. Will however 
 fluner him aside, as if he had been a mere infant in 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 his powerful grasp, and threw open the door. All 
 the party sprung to their feet, for, amidst the noise 
 of the elements, the cries of human beings in distress 
 reached their ears. 
 
 "The squire of Dunster Castle!" cried Hugh de 
 Mohun ; " it must be he, and in danger. Lanterns 
 Giles, lanterns, thou hast plenty at hand; I will 
 forth ; and do you all follow, but Jansen, who shall 
 throw all this dry wood in a heap without, and set 
 light to it to serve as a beacon to show^ them friends 
 are nigh." 
 
 So saying, Hugh, followed by Julian, rushed 
 out, and a scene presented itself to their eyes, 
 which shewed that his conjectui-es had not been 
 unfounded.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The shore about Blue- Anchor Bay is very flat, and 
 although, at high water, a vessel of much larger size 
 than the cutter belonging to Dunster Castle could 
 sail up the channel formed by the Hone with ease 
 and in safety ; yet the shghtest de nation from the 
 straight course, on entering the river's mouth, would 
 be sure to be attended with disastrous consequences. 
 When Hugh de Mohun and his friends left the 
 storehouse, they could distinctly hear cries for 
 assistance, but so intense was the darkness that they 
 could see nothing, until a vivid and prolonged flash 
 of lightning shewed them a small vessel, cutter-rig- 
 ged, Ipng on her side near the mouth of the 
 river, about sixty yards below where they were 
 H 2
 
 148 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 standing. The v. ind, which was blowing strongly 
 up Channel, dashed the waves over her, and seemed 
 at times completely to overwhelm her ! the crew 
 were in the rigging, and a second flash of 
 lightning discovered to those on shore the figures 
 of a man and woman standing on the after-deck, 
 apparently lashed to the guy-rope. 
 
 " God help them !" cried Julian Bachell, " for 
 the cutter ^^ill go to pieces before we can reach 
 them." 
 
 " Not so," cried Giles, "she is on the sands and 
 will hold together yet; now steady all, and listen 
 to me. Master Jenkins, do you get your boat ready ; 
 Will, bring you a coil of rope, make fast one end 
 to our warp, and put the coil in the boat. I and 
 Master Jenkins, \\'ill pull off to the cutter, and 
 when all are in the boat, a tug on the rope shall be 
 your signal to haul us ashore." 
 
 " No small boat can live in such a sea as this I 
 fear, and the tide is still running up," said Hugh. 
 
 " We will try however," said Giles, as he leapt 
 into the boat with the Welshman; a few smart 
 strokes of the sculls sent the little boat into mid-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 149 
 
 stream, and the}- could at intervals see her strug- 
 gling with the tide by the blaze of the signal fire, 
 which had been lighted by Jansen and was now 
 burning fiercely: when she had got about half 
 the distance from the shore to the cutter, a wave 
 took her, and she disappeared from view. 
 
 " I feared 'twould be so ; the boat, our only hope 
 is gone down, and Giles Tudball — " 
 
 " Fear not for him or the Welshman, Master 
 Bachell, they swim like seabirds, and the tide will 
 soon bring them ashore ; see yonder they are, strug- 
 gling manfully toward us; heap up the fire Jansen, 
 for we must recover the boat when she drifts 
 ashore if w^e can see her," shouted Will. 
 
 As soon as he had seen Giles and Master Jen- 
 kins safely landed, Hugh de Mohun went into the 
 storehouse, and, aided by the doctor, ridded himself 
 of his boots and loose jacket and petticoat; he de- 
 posited his pistols on the table, and returned to 
 the party outside. 
 
 " Haul in the rope. Master Giles, and make one 
 end fast to me. I will swim on board the cutter, and, 
 by means of the rope, haul a hawser on board her, 
 and then escape is easy and certain."
 
 150 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Najs nay, Master Hugh, you go not to risk 
 your life ; the plan is a good one, and I will carry it 
 out," said Giles. 
 
 "Fear not for me, Giles, thou knowest I can 
 swim bravely," said Hugh, seizing the end of the 
 rope, and looping it tightly over his shoulders : "I 
 shall not take water here, but go down as far as the 
 rope will let me, and so get the tide-stream in my 
 favour — do you get ready to make fast the hawser, 
 as soon as you see me on board." 
 
 Hugh ran dowai beside the stream for some 
 hundred yards, which brought him opposite to the 
 cutter, but a little below her. There he fearlessly 
 plmigedinto the waves, and was seen buffeting them 
 ^vith his powerful arms. Julian and the Mediciner 
 looked on in silence ; Giles Tudball and the 
 Welshman were busied preparing a strong cable- 
 rope, which Will had got ready ; and Jansen was 
 busily employed feeding the fire with dry wood, 
 which, being saturated with pitch and tar, burnt 
 brightly in spite of the rain that continued to fall. 
 
 In a few minutes, which seemed hours to Julian 
 and Graveboys, Hugh de Mohun was seen clinging 
 to the cutter's man-rope ; a loud shout proclaimed
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 154^ 
 
 his success, and in another second he was on board 
 her, and, with the crew, employed in hauling in 
 the cable from the shore ; a few minutes sufficed to 
 make it fast. 
 
 " Bravely done and well !" said Giles Tudball, 
 " had we but the boat now, Master Jenkins, all 
 should be safe on shore in a few seconds : as it is 
 we must trust to those on board to see to their safe 
 passage." 
 
 " Look yonder," said JuHan, " if my eyes deceive 
 me not, we shall not risk the Hves of Master Lut- 
 trell and his fair ward for the want of a boat." 
 
 *' True enough ; there floats my little skiflT, keel 
 upwards ; a short swim shall soon enable me to renew 
 my acquaintance with her," said Master Jenkins, 
 as he waded out into the surf, and succeeded with 
 little difficulty in drawing the boat towards the land, 
 where, with the assistance of the others, she was 
 drawn on shore, emptied of the water and lamiched 
 again. The skulls could not be seen, but the o\vner 
 and Giles Tudball drew her down to the spot where 
 the hawser was made fast, and getting into her, made 
 for the cutter by pulling hand over hand on the
 
 152 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 cable, which was drawn taught from the shore to 
 the ship. 
 
 It was a work of some diificultj to gain the ship's 
 side, as the waves ran so high, that the little boat 
 was frequently nearly overset, and Giles and his 
 companion, though holding on " like grim death," 
 were nearly w^ashed from their places by the 
 surges that burst over them. Skilful and coura- 
 geous, they held boldly on, and gained the cut- 
 ter's side. Master Luttrell stepped in, assisted by 
 Hugh de Mohmi, and Prudence Everard, whom 
 Hugh had fastened to his left arm by a handker- 
 chief passed round her right wrist for fear of ac- 
 cident, timidly essayed to follow her guardian. 
 Twice she made the attempt, but her courage failed 
 her just as she touched the boat's side. Hugh placed 
 his right hand round her waist, and sprmig lightly 
 into the skiff, but at that instant a mighty wave 
 caused the boat to surge, and he and Prudence 
 were thrown into the raging waters. 
 
 A shriek of agony passed the lips of Master Lut- 
 trell, and he would have sprung into the tide after 
 his ward, had not Giles and Master Jenkuis held
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 153 
 
 him back, assuring him that he need fear nought, 
 as the young de Mohun would safely convey his 
 companion to shore. 
 
 These assurances seemed likely to be realized, 
 for Hugh was holding his left hand aloft, with 
 Prudence firmly bound to it, and breasting the 
 waves, as he struggled manfully to land, with his 
 right hand. Julian Bachell rushed mto the stream 
 as theyneared the shore, and assisted them to land. 
 The poor girl, who was half dro^^iied by the wa- 
 ter >he had swallowed, and exhausted by tlie pre- 
 vious events of the evening, fell at Hugh's feet 
 deprived of sense and motion. 
 
 He bade Julian unfasten the handkerchief that 
 had bound them, and, when it was done, raised her 
 in his arms and conveyed her carefully into the 
 storehouse, where he laid her before the fire, cha- 
 fed her cold hands, and poured a small portion of 
 brandy into her mouth. Doctor Graveboys took a 
 small phial from the pocket of his still dripping- 
 jerkin, and, applying it to her nostrils, in a few 
 minutes she opened her eyes, and saw her guardian 
 and all the party, including the crew of the cutter, 
 H 3
 
 154- DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 standing gazing upon her. She cast a look of 
 love upon her friend, of gratitude on her preserver, 
 closed her eyes again, and burst out in a fit of 
 hysterical crying." 
 
 Dr. Graveboys poured a few drops of the con- 
 tents of his phial into a cup of water, and, stooping 
 over her, contrived with Hugh's assistance to make 
 her swallow a portion of it. It had a surprising ef- 
 fect, for in a few minutes the sobbing ceased, she 
 opened her eyes again, and raised herself from 
 Hugh's breast, on the which she had been reclining. 
 
 Master Luttrell lifted her from the ground and 
 placed her on a seat, supporting her in his arms, 
 and blessing God for having rescued her from a 
 watery grave. 
 
 " And to you, my young friend, next to Him, 
 are we indebted for our lives ; trust me I shall 
 never forget your conduct on this day. To you 
 too, Giles Tudball and Master Jenkins. I stand 
 deeply indebted, and will not forget to do my best 
 to pay the debt. Master Julian Bachell, Prudence 
 Everard thanks you for your aid ; and Dr. Grave- 
 boys shall not want a friend henceforth, for the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 155 
 
 kindly part wkicli he hath taken in restoring to 
 me her who is to me as a daughter." 
 
 Hugh, Julian, and the rest, declared that all their 
 exertions were repaid and theu' dangers compen- 
 sated by the safety of ^Master Luttrell and his 
 fair ward. 
 
 " Xor must I forget to thank Master Bowering 
 and Jan sen there, whose friendly beacon first gave 
 us hopes of rescue, and enabled us to see the exer- 
 tions which our friends were making for our safety." 
 
 Will made a low bow, and went out with Jansen 
 to secure the boat. Hugh de Mohun inquired of 
 the captain of the cutter how it was that he had 
 contrived to get her aground. 
 
 *' Why, you see, sir, when I saw the storm 
 a-brewing, my advice was to run for Weston, and 
 take shelter at Uphill ; but Master Luttrell said 
 me nay, and I was forced, against my will, to make 
 the best of my way against a strong tide and a head- 
 wind, which nearly drove us ashore on the Steep 
 Holms. I kept on however, and, deceived by the 
 light from the windows of this storehouse, which 
 I mistook for the light on the pier at ^linyead,
 
 156 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 whither I thought we were running, for I was 
 confounded by the storm that raged, bump I came 
 aground, and, but for youi' aid, might have passed 
 the night in no pleasant situation, even if the cut- 
 ter had not gone to pieces." 
 
 Master Luttrell, w^ho had been leaning over Pru- 
 dence Everard and anxiously inquiring into her 
 feelings, finding that, beyond the excitement and 
 the fears she had undergone, there was but Kttle 
 to dread, except the consequences that might fol- 
 low from her being unable to exchange her drip- 
 ping garments for dry ones, turned to Hugh de 
 Mohun, and inquired of him tlie cause of their 
 being at the storehouse. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun and Julian Bachell briefly re- 
 counted the events of the day, and Doctor Grave- 
 boys told him of the state of things at the Castle. 
 
 "Master Pym," said he, "is welcome to the use 
 of my poor apartments, and to such hospitality 
 as the Castle aifords ; for, though a fanatic and a dis- 
 loyal person, he is still a gentleman; but Master 
 Roger Priver and Master Browne, who have 
 made enemies of friends, and sown dissension in
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 157 
 
 families where love only reigned before, shall troop 
 with the troopers, or my name be not Luttrell. 
 So, on for Dunster, for these dripping garments 
 will do no good to this maiden's delicate frame, 
 and Mistress Luttrell will be anxious and alarmed 
 for the safety of her eldest child, as she calls her. You, 
 Master Hugh de Mohmi, may safely take up your 
 residence with me to-night, and incite your friend 
 Julian Bachell to do the same, for I will be bail 
 with Master John Pym for your appearing to ac- 
 comit for your boyish frolics. You, Master Giles 
 Tudball and the rest of you, shall be under my pro- 
 tection at the Luttrell Arms in Dunster, where there 
 be loyal men enough to see that a king's j ustice be 
 not wronged by these new officers, unlawfully ap- 
 pointed by the parliament without the royal au- 
 thority ; — so forward for Dunster." 
 
 Hugh, who had been employed in resuming his 
 large boots and the remainder of his dress, ven- 
 tured to suggest that they should remain where 
 they were, until the storm was abated ; but Master 
 Luttrell, deeming it better for Prudence and all of 
 them that they should brave the storm and so get
 
 158 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 to the Castle, where they might retu'e to rest at 
 once, would not }ield to his suggestions. Just 
 at tliat moment, too. Will Bowering came in and 
 said that the storm had suddenly ceased, and added 
 with an oath that he had heard a shrill voice in 
 angry tones cry out, " Saved ! saved! saved !" which 
 he did not doubt proceeded from the grey wo- 
 man of Minyead, who was incensed at having lost 
 her prey. He called upon Jansen to confirm his 
 statement, but the Merry Andrew declared that all 
 he had heard was the cry of some waterfowl, as they 
 flew over to the neighbouring marshes for their 
 nightly shelter. He added however, that the storm 
 had passed on to the eastward, and that the moon 
 was making her light visible. 
 
 The fires were carefully extinguished, and 
 Prudence, covered with a thick warm boat-cloak, 
 was conducted along the hard pathway supported 
 on one side by her guardian and on the other by 
 Hugh de Mohun, to whom she did not fail to pour 
 forth her thanks for his gallant conduct towards her. 
 
 "He hath acted a noble part. Prudence, and de- 
 serves our gratitude, which shall be shown in deeds
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 159 
 
 rather than words. You, who have talents in lim- 
 ning, shall paint a picture of your rescue, and I will 
 take care that it shall be preserved as an heir-loom 
 in my family ; thus shall we immortalise the cou- 
 rage of Hugh and your talents in the art of paint- 
 ing, at the same time," said Master Luttrell. 
 
 " I fear me I shall not do justice to my subject," 
 said Prudence, "for, with all a woman's fear, I clo- 
 sed my eyes that I might not see my danger, and 
 heard only the assurances of my safety whis- 
 pered by my preserver, amidst the roaring of the 
 waves and the howling of the storm/' 
 
 " Imagination wiM supply materials, and to-mor- 
 row, when all is calm, we will \'isit the scene of om* 
 disasters and see to the condition of our little bark,'' 
 said Master Luttrell, as he hurried his ward with 
 rapid steps to\Aards the Castle. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun was too happy to talk ; he felt 
 that he had proljably saved the life of the fair 
 girl who leaned on his arm and of her guardian, 
 for whom he had long entertained a high regard ; 
 nor was his happiness a little enhanced by the 
 idea, that he should be enabled to form a more in-
 
 160 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 timate acquaintance with Prudence, while the pic- 
 ture, which her guardian had suggested, was in pro- 
 gress. 
 
 These thoughts kept Hugh silent, and, as Pru- 
 dence had enough to occupy her mind, and the Mas- 
 ter of Dunster Castle was pondering on what had 
 taken place within his walls, no further conversa- 
 tion ensued until they reached the hostelry, a 
 small, long, low-fronted building called the Luttrell 
 Arms, which was situated near to the foot of the 
 steep road leadmg up to the gateway. There 
 they parted with Giles Tudball and the rest of 
 their friends, except Julian Bachell, who joined 
 them and proceeded witb them to the Castle. 
 
 The gateway of Dmister Castle consisted of a 
 large square tower, battlemented and flanked by tur- 
 rets at each corner. Its ponderous gates had not 
 been closed for years, as, during the peaceful reigns 
 of EKzabeth and the first James, nothing had oc- 
 curred to render such a proceeding necessary : the 
 office of warder or porter was therefore almost a 
 sinecure, and the worthy little man, Basil Chipera, 
 who held the office, amused his leisure hours when
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 161 
 
 not engaged in his business, or in his duty as clerk 
 of the parish, m gardening and in cultivatmg a fine 
 lemon-tree, ^yhich grew against the south walls near 
 the Castle-\\"indows, and was the object of his con- 
 stant care and regard. 
 
 The lower part contamed two rooms, in which Basil 
 Chipera lived and slept; above them were three 
 other rooms, where Master Robert Snelling and his 
 pupil had their habitation. They wanted no culi- 
 nary offices, for they either took their meals in the 
 hall, where the parson officiated as chaplain, or were 
 supplied with v>hat they required from the kitchen 
 and buttery. 
 
 When Master Luttrell drew nigh to the tower, he 
 was surprised to find the gates closed, and a sentinel, 
 with his pike shouldered, marching up and down 
 before them. 
 
 "What ho ! sir trooper! are we Hving in warlike 
 times, that my Castle is thus furnished, and closed 
 against its lightful owner? Open, and let me pass." 
 
 " It is against my orders to let any one in with- 
 out Master Pym's leave given," replied the man in 
 a surly tone, and without stopping in his walk.
 
 162 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 '^ Open to me sirrah, I am the master here ; I am 
 Thomas Luttrell." 
 
 "An thou wert the Speaker himself, with his 
 Commons at his heels, I would not open to you 
 \vithout the orders of my commander, John Pym 
 of Cutconibe," replied the man. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun dropped the arm that still rested 
 on his, and, backed by Julian Bachell, stepped up 
 to the trooper and bade him stand aside on peril 
 of life, at the same time presenting at his head one 
 of the pistols which he wore in his belt. Master 
 Luttrell, however, bade him use no violence, but 
 ring the large bell which was used as a summons 
 to meals. 
 
 Julian obeyed, and rang a peal which quickly 
 produced another trooper, who, upon hearing the 
 names of those who demanded entrance, opened the 
 wicket-door and admitted them; and, by the light 
 of a torch which he carried, conducted them respect- 
 fully through the outer court to the -inhabited 
 part of the Castle.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Master Thomas Luttrell was ushered by the 
 trooper into the hall of the Castle : Prudence 
 Everard hung upon liis arm, and Hugh de Mohun 
 and Juhan Bachell, followed in the rear. At 
 the upper end of the hall, at the raised table 
 where the family and theh guests took their meals, 
 while the inferior members of the household, the 
 servants and retainers, sat at the tables below, was 
 seated Master John Pym ; by his side sat Master 
 Robert Browne, busily employed in -svriting ; and 
 on the other side of him stood Roger Priver : the 
 constables of Dunster, forming the bailiffs posse 
 comitatus, were seated near the great fire-place, 
 and with them some half-dozen soldiers. 
 
 The trooper, who had preceded the owner of the 
 Castle, announced his presence, and Master Pym
 
 164 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 rose from his seat, walked down the hall and greet- 
 ed him stiffly and formally. The blaze from the 
 huge fire threw a gleam upon the face of the par- 
 liament officer, and shewed it in all its disagreeable 
 sourness. He removed his steeple-crowned hat 
 when he saw that a lady was leaning on Master 
 lyuttrell's arm, and made a low obeisance, but with- 
 out uttering a word. 
 
 I would beg you. Master Pym, as you have as- 
 sumed the mastery here, to summon one of the 
 female domestics, that Mistress Prudence Everard, 
 who hath been exposed to the storm this night in a 
 way that may prove injurious to her delicate frame, 
 may speedily seek the repose she needeth, and be 
 placed under the protection of her who acteth to 
 her a mother's part." 
 
 " Master Luttrell, I war not \\-ith women, and 
 much less with Prudence Everard, the daughter of 
 my late near neighbour of Luxborough ; that we 
 were not friends was not from any fault of mine, but 
 he was ever favourable to the party who would have 
 promoted the interests of Prelacy and Arminianism, 
 which I, in my conscience, have felt it my duty to
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 165 
 
 oppose. Mistress Everard, 1 pray thee to retire; I 
 have business with Master Luttrell and these 
 youths. Mauworth, conduct the lady to Mistress 
 Luttrell." 
 
 The same trooyjer, who had ushered the party 
 into the hall, took a light from one of the sconces, 
 and, after Prudence had bidden good night to her 
 friends, preceded her to the apartments occupied 
 by Mistress Luttrell and Master Snelling, who 
 received her with joy, and heard the account of her 
 escape from danger with heartfelt gratitude. She 
 then retired to rest, after partaking of a warm 
 draught, which in those days was considered as a 
 certain preventive of the ills ensuing from wetted 
 garments and exposure to the night air. 
 But we must return to the hall. 
 " I marvel greatly, Master Pym," said the owner 
 of Dunster Castle, " that, having taken possession, 
 and I trust, been treated with all due hospitality, 
 you should have deemed it necessary to place a 
 guard at my gates, to make my servants prisoners, 
 and to refuse admittance to myself and my 
 friends."
 
 166 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " I regret that it has been my unpleasant duty 
 to act as I have done, Master Luttrell, but I act 
 upon due authority," said Pym. 
 
 " Have you the king's warrant for your acts ?" 
 " Tush, tush. Master Luttrell, I have the warrant 
 of those whose authority is superior to that of 
 Charles Stuart : the times are licentious, and re- 
 quire a stronger curb than he, who supports Laud, 
 him of Canterbury I mean, is likely to put upon 
 them. I have the Speaker's warrant to put an end to 
 revels, junketings and such like sports, which were 
 legalized by the father of your Charles Stuart, be- 
 cause they savoured of the holiday games encou- 
 raged in the times of prelacy and popery. I sent a 
 copy of the orders of the parliament to you, 
 amongst others. Master Luttrell, and I find that 
 one of your household, Master Hugh de Mohun 
 there, was amongst the first to promote the revels 
 and ale-drinkings at Culbone, to resist the autho- 
 rity of the parliament, and to maltreat and misuse 
 its subordinate officer. Master Roger Priver, whose 
 warrant to execute the oflUce of high bailiff, of 
 which you unjustly deprived him, he hath torn into
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 167 
 
 shreds and trodden under foot. * Shall I not visit 
 for these things ?'" 
 
 " Master Pym, I am a peaceable and a quiet man, 
 and I will not argue with such as thou about the 
 proceedings of those who, though the lowest estate 
 of the realm, seem to me to wish to assume the en- 
 tire power, and to put do^vn the monarchy. I will 
 only say, in my defence, that I received not a copy 
 of the warrant to which you refer, for I was away 
 late last evening to take charge of my ward at 
 Clevedon, and, as thou knowest, am but now re- 
 turned : in the next place, I deny that Hugh de 
 Mohun— " 
 
 " The descendant doubtless -of the Mohuns, who 
 whilome held Dunster and many estates around it, 
 and were zealous papists ?" said Pym. 
 
 " I deny, I say, that Hugh de Mohun is one of 
 my household : he sojom'neth for a space with 
 Master Robert Snelling, to be perfected in his hu- 
 manities, before he goeth to Oxford to complete his 
 education," said Master Luttrell, taking no notice 
 of the interrogatory ^^•itll which Pym had en- 
 deavoured to interrupt his statement.
 
 168 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Master Robert Snelling forsooth ! him whom 
 men call the parson of Dunster?" 
 
 "Yea, and who hath driven me from my freehold, 
 and from my flock, instigated thereto and supported 
 by the Master of Dunster Castle, who calleth himself 
 patron of the incumbency. How long, how long, O 
 Lord?" shouted the deposed divine. 
 
 " Silence, good Master Browne, and let me hear 
 what excuses the pupil of the malignant hath to 
 offer," said Pyiu. 
 
 " I deny he truth of your assertions," said Hugh, 
 " I went to the revels as to a mere holiday, and 
 to keep my word with one who had challenged 
 me to a trial of strength. I neither interfered 
 with Roger Priver in the execution of his duty, nor 
 did I destroy his warrant." 
 
 *' He did both, and moreover did submerse me in 
 the brook," cried the bailiff. 
 
 " Thou hast sworn to it," said Pym. 
 
 " He lies in his teeth," said Hugh, *' I did all in 
 my power to protect him and his followers there, 
 as my friend Julian Bachell can testify." 
 
 " Master Julian Bachell will have employment
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 169 
 
 enough todefend himself," said Pym, '^ for Roger Pri- 
 ver hath put his hand to written testimony, where- 
 in he asserts, and hath proved to demonstration, that 
 he aided and abetted thee in the riots at Culbone ; 
 and his father, who will not deny that he received 
 my warrant and the proclamation, shall suffer the 
 penalties c^his disobedience to the parliament." 
 
 "Punish me an you will. Master Pym, but 
 trust the word of one who never willingly spoke 
 an untruth — my father knew not of my going to 
 Culbone." 
 
 " It was by my fault and at my solicitations 
 that he went," said Hugh; *' let tKe bkme fall on 
 me. His father knew not of his going." 
 
 " Yet he read over to his father both the war- 
 rant and the proclamation before he went — I am 
 advised of that — and the old malignant, who boasts^ 
 himself on his loyalty, as he calls his prejudices 
 for Charles Stuart, went wide of home, lest he should 
 be called upon to suppress the devil's games." 
 
 " Master Pym," said Julian, " you are an old man 
 and I but a youth, or I would thrust your abuse 
 of my father down your throat with my staff here.' 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Nay, be not rash," said Master'Luttrell, " Master 
 Pjm cannot but speak in the language of his party, 
 which partaketh of the coarseness of the followers 
 by whom they are supported." 
 
 " Master Roger Priver, summon your constables, 
 and, in your office of high bailiff, take me into cus- 
 tody these hot-headed youths," said Pym. 
 
 "He is no longer high bailiff; as a magistrate, 
 armed with the king's authority, and lord of this 
 manor, I have deprived him of the office, for his 
 illegal support of yon deposed priest,'' said Master 
 Luttrell. 
 
 " Which the parliament, at my instigation, have 
 restored to him," said Pym. 
 
 " Let him shew his warrant of authority," said 
 Hugh de Mohun. 
 
 " Thou did'st tear it into shreds," — said Roger 
 Priver. 
 
 " Thou liest, wool-comber," said Hugh. 
 " It was violently taken from me, and destroyed 
 by the flesh-seller, and thou, like to Saul of old, 
 did'st stand by and consentedst," said the baihff. 
 
 Seize on them, Master Priver^ and I will be 
 thv authority," said Pym.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 171 
 
 Roger Priver took seven solemn steps towards 
 the young men, and beckoned to his followers to 
 support him. ^\Tien he saw that they were dravvii 
 up in order beliind him, he took another step in ad- 
 vance, and offered to seize Julian Bachell who stood 
 nearest to him. Julian however, stepped back, 
 and with the beating-pole, which he still carried 
 in his character of an Exmoor forester, dealt the 
 bailiff such a blow on the side of his head as laid 
 him prostrate on the hall-floor. 
 
 " He hath resisted the parliament," cried Pym, 
 dravs'ing his rapier, "his blood be upon him." 
 
 Master Luttrell, though a peaceable man, di'ew 
 in defence of his young friend, but, before he had 
 crossed blades with Pym, Hugh de Mohun threw 
 himself between them, and, drawing both his pistols, 
 put one into the hands of Julian, and presented the 
 other at the leader of the assailants. Pym drop- 
 ped his point, and the constables, with the soldiers, 
 who were merely militia-men and as yet unused to 
 fighting, di'ew back while Master Priver scram- 
 bled up upon his legs. 
 
 " I warn thee. Master Luttrell," said Pym, ''that 
 I 2
 
 172 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 I act upon authority in arresting these youths, and, 
 if any resistance be made, you will be held ac- 
 countable." 
 
 "I am in my own house, Master Pym, and it 
 never shall be said that, while I am owner of it, this 
 Castle allowed its guests to be betrayed. You 
 have taken possession, but shall not keep it, if my 
 blade hold good — so stand aside, Hugh de Mohun, 
 and let me not in ridding my Castle of an unwel- 
 come intruder, and the country of a pestilent round- 
 head," cried Master Luttrell, as he thrust aside his 
 
 young friend, and made a push at Pym. 
 
 "Use not the carnal weapon — use not the carnal 
 
 weapon; but order the men of war to seize upon 
 
 them," shouted IMaster Browne. 
 
 " Thou art right — I will not imbrue my hands 
 
 with his blood. Mauworth bring up your men, and 
 
 seize them all," said P}^n. 
 
 ** Hark, my men," said Hugh, "these pistols are 
 
 but small, but they will do their duty — pause, and 
 
 settle among yourselves which two of you shall 
 
 fall, before you attempt to execute the orders of 
 
 yon disloyal man." 
 
 The men fell back, and a pause took place. Pym,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 1T3 
 
 Roger Priver, and the divine, consulted together, 
 while Master Luttrell and the tvro young men re- 
 treated backward, keep mg a firm front to the enemy, 
 until they reached the screen of dark-oak which ran 
 across the hall near the entrance. Here they pla- 
 ced their backs against the wainscot, and prepared 
 to defend themselves against all attacks. 
 
 The conference between Pym and his allies last- 
 ed for some few^ minutes: P}in then stepped for- 
 w^ard and said, *' A truce %\-ith tliis folly, Master 
 Luttrell, we have odds in our favour. Lay down 
 youi' arms, and throw yourself on our merciful con- 
 sideration : leave those young men to the fate their 
 folly deserves." 
 
 " Never, Master Pym ; so do your worst," said 
 Master Luttrell. 
 
 " Bailiff do your duty — constiibies and soldiers 
 support the officer," cried P}Tii. 
 
 Roger Priver, who had resumed his pike and 
 put on his skull-cap, brought his weapon to the 
 charge and advanced upon the three, followed by his 
 men and the soldiers. The click of the pistols was 
 heard, as Julian and his friend brought them to the 
 full cock, and blood would certainly have been shed
 
 174 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and lives lost, for Hugh never missed his mark, and 
 Julian was but little inferior to him in the use of 
 his weapon, had not the hall-door been flung open, 
 and Mistress Luttrell, accompanied by Master Ro- 
 bert Snelling, and followed by Basil Chipera and a 
 large body of the Castle servants, entered. 
 
 " How now ?" shouted Pym. " Sergeant Mau- 
 worth, did'st thou not confine yonder men as thou 
 wast bidden ?" 
 
 " I did as I was commanded, and secm'ed them 
 all," said the sergeant. 
 
 " Ay, but though doors be locked and windows 
 barred, there be those that can find means of 
 escape," said Basil Chipera ; " and, while Dunster 
 owns a smith and he can be smuggled into these 
 walls, its lawful servants are not to be kept in cap- 
 tivity while its master is being murdered." 
 
 " What means this usage, Master Pym ?" said 
 Mistress Luttrell, advancing before the rest. 
 
 "It is the priest, mine enemy !" cried out Mas- 
 ter Browne, as he saw Master Snelling come for- 
 ward with the lady ; " smite him hip and thigh." 
 
 " Silence preacher," said the lady, " I would
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 175 
 
 ask Master Pym why he, havmg received all due 
 hospitality at our hands, repays it hy threatening 
 the lives and liberty of the owner of this Castle and 
 his friends." 
 
 " Madam," said Pym, " I had nought against 
 your husband; but Hugh de Mohun and Julian 
 Bachell are proved on oath to have rendered them- 
 selves amenable to the laws, as has Master Luttrell, 
 now that he hath aided in their rescue from those 
 w^ho have authority to arrest them." 
 
 " I deny that authority," said Master Luttrell. 
 
 " And I — and I too," added the young men. 
 
 "Master Pym," said Snelling, "you have, as I 
 believe treated me in an unlawful manner, for which 
 I might have my remedy hereafter ; but I will fore- 
 go all further thoughts of retaliation, if you \\'ill 
 but listen to reason, and withdraw from the Castle 
 with your forces." 
 
 " Hew him down ! " shouted Master Browne. 
 
 "You see that the servants are armed," continued 
 the parson, not heeding the preacher, " and fully 
 equal to your force. The alarm hath been given 
 in the town of Dunster, and ere many minutes
 
 ^'^^ DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 elapse, the lojal people of the place will be within 
 the gates, ready to defend one whom they justly 
 love and esteem. I would save bloodshed, Master 
 P;yTn ; so, with the permission of the good Master 
 Luttrell here, I beg you to vacate." 
 
 '* Peace, surpliced knave ! " said Pym, " and 
 let me speak \\-ith youi' betters." 
 
 "Nay, I intreat you, use fair words, Master 
 Ppn ; the priest acts on my authority," said Mis- 
 tress Luttrell. 
 
 " I crave your pai'don, lady ; I knew it not," 
 said Pym, sheathing his sword, and biddmg his men 
 ground their pikes, which Roger Priver was the last 
 to obey. " I would speak with Master Luttrell." 
 
 " Say on then, but be concise, or I will not answer 
 for the consequences, if the men of Dunster find 
 you here, and know that you have threatened my 
 life," said Thomas Luttrell. 
 
 *' Wilt thou pledge me thine honor to appear 
 before me when called upon, and to produce these 
 two young men also ?" 
 
 " I will, if thou wilt shew me an authority from 
 King Charles, but not else. Your waiTant being
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 177 
 
 signed by the parliament only, I consider illegal, and 
 will not obey it." 
 
 " Long live King Charles, and down with the 
 parliament!" shouted the servants, headed by Basil 
 Chipera. 
 
 " Circumstances are against me," said P}Tn, "but 
 as sure as there is a power above the king's, thou 
 shalt pay for this, Master Luttrell." 
 
 " Nay threaten not, but save thyself and thy men, 
 while yet you may ; stand aside there Basil Chipera, 
 and let these men pass, take sufficient force \^-ith 
 you, and see them safely outside the gates with 
 their horses and arms, and then make all fast for the 
 night. Master Pym, I bid thee farewell, and 
 trust your next visit to Dunster Castle may be ol 
 such a nature as not to force me to be but a churl 
 in my house. Master Priver, see that thou act not 
 without better authority thaa that thou has acted 
 on this day ; and you. Master Robert Browne, 
 practise more and preach less, lest your strange 
 doctrines get you into further trouble. You, 
 soldiers and constables, be peaceable and or- 
 derly, and provoke not the townsmen, lest they 
 I 3
 
 178 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 give you a warmer reception than you calculate 
 upon." 
 
 Master Pym made a low bow to the lady, put 
 on his lofty hat, and passed out of the hall, follow- 
 ed by Roger Priver, who dashed his pike on the 
 pavement with a loud " ahumph" of defiance, by 
 the preacher, who looked at Snelling as he passed, 
 and muttered something about " the abominations 
 of the land;" and by the constables and troopers, 
 who seemed very glad to have the opportunity 
 of avoiding a struggle with the servants of the 
 Castle. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun and Julian Bachell assisted 
 Basil Chipera in clearing the Castle ; and, when they 
 had seen the gates securely fastened, sought re- 
 freshment and rest, which they greatly needed af- 
 ter all the events of a day so fruitful of incident 
 and adventure.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 When Pym, followed by his troopers, mounted 
 like himself, and by Roger Priver and his men on 
 foot, left the gateway of Dnnster Castle, and rode 
 slowly down the steep descent, everything in the 
 town below seemed quiet and tranquil. A Hght 
 gleamed here and there from a latticed window, and 
 a lamp, which indicated the hostelry, gave forth its 
 feeble rays, scarcely serving to shew the market- 
 house, a small octagonal building, open below its 
 slated roof, w^hich stood exactly facing it. The hill 
 called Conygar, which impended over Dunster on 
 the opposite side to the Castle, looked Hke a huge 
 black mass from the thickly planted Scotch firs 
 which lined its sides. 
 
 *' Where be these men of Behal, with whose loyalty
 
 180 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 and zeal in the defence of their lord, Basil Chipera 
 did threaten us ?" asked Master Browne of Roger 
 Priver, by whose side he marched. 
 
 " The muddlepates are doubtless sleeping off the 
 effects of the ale they have absorbed since their re- 
 turn from the ungodly revellings, in drinking health 
 to the King and confusion to the Parliament. 
 They are wont to be more valiant over their cups 
 than in the fray, and to shew their loyalty in words 
 rather than in deeds. I would that my pike were 
 better acquainted with their flesh than it is likely to 
 be this night ; but vengeance is mine, and I will re- 
 pay the scurvy usage of this day at some future time ; 
 let them look to it," said Roger Priver. 
 
 '^ Silence, silence, there, bailiff! and 3'ou good 
 master preacher, be silent," said Pym. " The law is 
 powerful enough, in our hands, to compensate you 
 for any ill-treatment you may have experienced in 
 
 the execution of its orders." 
 
 ''But T have been buffeted and well-nigli drov/n- 
 
 ed, deprived of my warrant of authority, and made 
 
 a mark for the finger of scorn to j^oint at," said 
 
 the wool-comber.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 181 
 
 " Yea, he speaketh but the truth, and I, a 
 minister of the gospel, have been treated as the 
 very scorn of men," added Browne. 
 
 " All which shall be set right in due season," 
 said Pym ; to which assurance the only reply was 
 a deep groan from the offended dignitary and the 
 preacher. The latter added his favourite cry un- 
 der tribulation — " How Long ? oh Lord ! how long?" 
 at which the constables and troopers uttered a na- 
 sal grunt by way of chorus. 
 
 " As I have been rudely thrust out of the Castle 
 of yon malignant, Thomas Luttrell, and mean not 
 to depart far hence until I have duly investigated 
 the serious matters before me, concerning this day's 
 rebellious acts, I shall put up for the night at the 
 hostelry below, known by the name of the Luttrell 
 Arms. So forward, good Mauworth, to see to our 
 reception, and provide stabluig and provender for 
 our horses," said Pym. 
 
 " May it please you sir, I fear that our presence 
 among men dedicated to the service of the owner 
 of this castle and town may not be acceptable, and 
 our reception not over-courteous," said Mauworth.
 
 183 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " It is a house of public entertainment, and I 
 fear not any rudeness at the hands of its host or its 
 guests, who know me as a neighbour and a justice ; 
 ride on sir, and see all prepared for our comforts." 
 
 Mauworth obeyed, and, striking his spurs into his 
 horse's flanks, galloped down the hill into the 
 town. 
 
 " Were I a justice of peace," said Roger Priver, 
 "I would e'en take away the license to sell creature 
 comforts from such hostels as the Luttrell Arms, 
 where profane toasts and improper songs are night- 
 ly given and sung, as provocatives to deep drink- 
 ing and abusive language ; it is a stumbling block 
 and a stone of offence to such as be soberly in- 
 clined, to hear issuing from its doors and windows 
 words of abuse directed against the godly of the 
 land, and such as shew due respect to the parlia- 
 ment." 
 
 " I, even I," snuffled Master Robert Browne, " I, 
 a preacher of the pure gospel, the resister of 
 Laud's attempts to restore the papistical forms and 
 observances, am nightly denounced in the com- 
 mon meeting room of yon hell-upon-earth, as
 
 • DUNSTER CASTLE. 183 
 
 no better than a Scottish cahdnist — oh — oh ! how 
 long ?how long?" 
 
 The troopers and constables uttered a chorus 
 of " Oh ! oh ! how long ? how long ?" in which the 
 wool-comber's voice predominated. 
 
 "Look for better times — look for a change," 
 said Pjm ; " the nation is awakened from its sloth- 
 fulness ; the plough is ready, the oxen harnessed, 
 and it wants but the hand of one skilful in the art 
 to guide the ploughshare. There will be stirring 
 times ere long, and he that taketh not his station 
 between the stilts, and dceth not his work without 
 lookingbehind him, will be — but hark ! — halt every 
 one, and listen." 
 
 The soldiers stopped, as if suddenly changed to 
 stone, at the word of their commander. Roger Pri- 
 ver and his men more slowly, but as quickly as they 
 could, followed the example set them. The preach- 
 er asked the meaning of the sudden order to halt 
 on their way, but Pym bade him hold his peace 
 and listen. 
 
 " I hear nothing. Master Pym," said Roger Pri- 
 ver, after the party had halted for some five minutes.
 
 184 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 "but the wind rustling through the pine-groves on 
 Conygar hill." 
 
 " Dost hear the sound of the hoofs of Mau- 
 worth's horse ?" asked Pym. 
 
 " No truly, he has reached the inn, doubtless, 
 and has already stabled his steed." 
 
 " I heard the tread of his horse distinctly as it 
 entered the town ; suddenly the sound ceased, and 
 I fancied I heard a cry and a groan as of one unex- 
 pectedly assailed — forward, men, but be cautious. 
 Constables be ready to support us." 
 
 So saying, Pym rode forward, but not at a rapid 
 pace, followed by Roger Priver and his men at a 
 sort of jog-trot speed. 
 
 They entered the narrow street of the town with- 
 out meeting with any obstruction, and passed on 
 towards the inn about a hundred yards. Master 
 Pym, who was foremost, fancied he saw something 
 lying on the road before him, and called a halt. 
 
 " Bailiff, to the front, and see what obstructs 
 our way." Roger Priver marched for\\ard. He 
 had not gone more than twenty yards, when a 
 struggle, a fall, and a stifled groan were heard,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 185 
 
 and the bailiff disappeared from the view of his 
 
 friends. 
 
 "A snare, a snare! — the enemy — the enemy!" 
 shouted Master Robert Browne; '*he hath fallen 
 into the hands of the Philistines." 
 
 "Charge! charge, and be steady!" cried Pym, 
 as he set the example to his men by riding forward 
 at a brisk trot. 
 
 " The rope, beware of the rope," was heard in 
 the voice of Roger Priver; but, before the warn- 
 ing could reach the ears of those for whose bene- 
 fit it was intended, Pym and his six troopers were 
 thrown heavily to the ground ; and, before they could 
 rise, were seized by the hands of a multitude who 
 seemed to spring from the ground. 
 
 " Long live King Charles and the noble Master 
 Luttrell, and down with Pym and the Parliament!" 
 cried one whose tones proclaimed him to be a 
 Welshman. 
 
 " Out lanyards* and make all taut," cried an- 
 other. 
 
 " Ay, ay sir," said a third. 
 
 *' Secure them, but offer no violence — I would 
 not have a blow struck or a wound inflicted, though
 
 186 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 I have unguents of no doubtful healing powers," 
 said a fourth. 
 
 "Master mine," added a fifth, " do let us have 
 a little phlebotomy, an it were but to see if the 
 rogues' blood run red like honest men's." 
 
 "No jesting," said a sixth voice, " but hamstring 
 their horses, and bind their riders firmly." 
 
 " What means this violence?" said Pym. "I 
 command you in the name of the pari — " 
 
 Before he could complete his speech, a gag of 
 some kind was passed over his mouth, and his hands 
 were drawn closely behind his back. His girdle, 
 which held his pistols, and the band from which 
 his rapier hung suspended, were cut in twain, and 
 a groan from the horse, which had fallen with him 
 over a rope tightly strained across the street, told 
 him that the order to hamstring all the cattle was 
 being obeyed. Pym struggled hard to free him- 
 self, but the hands that held him were too power- 
 ful for him, strong as he was, to resist. 
 
 " Lie still. Master Pym," said a voice in his ear, 
 " and you will suffer no further injury — resist, and 
 this night may be your last : you have overacted
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 187 
 
 jour part, and insulted and imprisoned men more 
 beloved and respected than yourself." 
 
 Pym was forced to take this advice, for he was 
 now on his back, ^^dth two powerful men holding 
 him down. 
 
 A scuffle, and but a short one, took place among 
 the constables. The sound of blows was heard, 
 mingled with a few words, and those chiefly in 
 the voice of the preacher Robert Browne, which 
 was stayed evidently by something bemg tied over 
 the apertui'e out of which the voice proceeded. 
 
 " Are all the horses disabled ?" asked some one. 
 
 "All ; all as useless as a craft without a rudder," 
 was the answer. 
 
 " Then bind the riders two and two, and away 
 with them to the iron mines, where they may lie 
 snug enough, without friend or foe finding their 
 unw^orthy bodies." 
 
 "And what is to be done with these poor ham- 
 strmig beasts, whose groaning is almost like that 
 of men ? " inquired another. 
 
 "Master mine, it strikes me that it were merciful 
 to have them knocked on the head by oiu' friends
 
 188 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 here, and their carcasses thrown into the Hone, 
 the river which rises at Cutcombe where King 
 Pym, our prisoner, was born." 
 
 "Ay, ay, and let the stream carry them out to 
 sea, to the spot where Master Luttrell well nigh 
 lost his life." 
 
 A. groan or two, and a gurgling sound, as of blood 
 rushing forth, showed that the hint had been taken, 
 and a heavy tramp of men seemed to intimate that 
 numbers were not wanting to execute the orders for 
 conveying the horses' carcasses into the river. 
 
 P3rm and his followers were placed on their 
 feet, and, supported by one on either side c f them, 
 led forth, past the old priory of Dunster and its an- 
 cient church, leaving the market-place and the hos- 
 tel on their right hand. The march was performed 
 in silence, and they quitted the town without so 
 much as a single light being shown by which they 
 might see the figures and faces of their foes ; the 
 moon too had long withdrawn her light. 
 
 We must leave them on their march towards Dun- 
 kery hill, at the foot of which were the iron mines, 
 in whicli it was evidently the intention to imprison
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 189 
 
 them, and return to Ashley Combe Lodge, the 
 seat of Master Bachell, Julian's father, which, 
 the reader Avill be good enough to remember, was 
 left in the possession of some of the troopers of 
 Master Pym. 
 
 Janet, the gate-keeper's daughter, did not for one 
 moment relax from her vigilance, in order that 
 she might apprise her master of the unwelcome re- 
 sult of his son's having accompanied his friend, 
 Hugh de Mohun, to the revels at Culbone. Her fa- 
 ther's commands to quit the road and go to bed, 
 though often repeated were not obeyed ; she was 
 resolved to await Master Bachell's return, let the 
 consequences to herself be what they might. 
 
 Though the young May moon went down and 
 left her in comparative darkness, still she walked 
 slowly backwards and forwards between the Httle 
 hamlet of Porlock-wear and the lodge in which her 
 father dwelt, and listened anxiously for the footsteps 
 of the horses, which bore her master and his atten- 
 dant. At length, as the clock of Dunster church 
 sent its booming notes over hill and vale, proclaim- 
 ing the hour of ten, she distinctly heard the tread of
 
 190 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 horses, and rushed down a narrow pathway through 
 the woods, which would enable her to stop the riders 
 at a wicket-gate, through which they must pass to en- 
 ter the bridle-track that led to Asbley Combe. 
 
 Master Bachell w^as surprised when Janet seized 
 his bridle, and begged him to stay and listen 
 to what she had to tell him before he approached 
 his house ; and Alick Pearson, his groom, was not a 
 little alarmed, that she, to whom he had plighted his 
 honest troth, should be wandering about in the 
 gloomy woods of Ashley Combe at so late an hour. 
 The surprise of the master, and the jealousy of the 
 groom, however, were allayed when they heard 
 all that Janet had to impart. Her master bade her 
 return to her home and retire to bed, but to be 
 stirring in the morning, and give the servants no- 
 tice that he knew of all that was going on, and 
 to bid them offer no resistance or insult to the 
 troopers left in possession of the Lodge. 
 
 Alick, stooping from his horse, kissed her cheek, 
 and told her to take care of herself, and not let any 
 of the rude soldiers see her, for fear her beauty 
 should overcome their puritanical morality.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 191 
 
 Janet smiled as she tripped off to the Lodge, and 
 Master Bachell, turning his horse's head, rode at 
 a smart canter, followed by his groom, through 
 Porlock-wear and Porlock village towards Dunster, 
 intending to ascertain the fate of his son and his 
 companion, and to offer what assistance he might 
 to Mistress Luttrell, in case her husband should 
 not have returned from Clevedon. 
 
 Just as he arrived at the spot where the road 
 branched off, oq the left by Minehead to Dunster, 
 and on the right by the base of Dunkery hill to the 
 upper part of the town and the keep of the Castle, 
 his progress was arrested by a procession which oc- 
 cupied the whole of the narrow road. 
 
 *'Alick, come up and keep at my side ; prepare 
 your pistols, but do not fire unless we are attacked. 
 This may be Master Pym and his party on their 
 return, or it may be merely Giles Tudball and his 
 sumpter horses, or his sumpter men trafficking in- 
 land: at all events be prepared and do as I do." 
 
 Alick rode up to his master's side, and drew a 
 huge pistol from its holster, and, in his eagerness to 
 ascertain whether friend or foe was before him, 
 called out " Who goes there ?"
 
 192 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Who asks the question ?" said some one spring- 
 ing from under the shade of the nut-tree hedge, 
 and seizing his bridle. 
 
 " It is I— Bachell of Ashley Combe." 
 
 "Then, good sir, you are among friends — ride on 
 to Dunster, where you will find your son in safety 
 with the lord of the Castle. You will easily 
 obtain admittance, for we have the gentlemen who 
 were rude enough to take possession of it in our 
 safe keeping, and mean to let them pass a quiet 
 night in one of the mines here in Dunkery hill." 
 
 '* I should know that voice," said Master Bach- 
 ell, "and if I err not it belongs to Dr. — " 
 
 "Hush, good sir, hush!" said the mediciner "the 
 locks about the ears of Pym and his puritans be so 
 closely clipped, that not a whisper escapes them." 
 
 " Whom have you, with you then ?" asked Master 
 Bachell whispering. 
 
 "I will just give some orders to my man Jansen, 
 and be with your worship anon," said Graveboys. 
 
 In a few seconds, the master of Ashley Combe 
 could see the body of men who had halted at his 
 approach pass through a field-gate on the right 
 of the road, and enter upon a path which he knew
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 193 
 
 led across an open wild common to the entrance of 
 the iron mines. 
 
 Graveboys returned as soon as the whole of the 
 body of men had passed on their way, and explain- 
 ed to Master Bachell, as briefly as he could, all that 
 had happened during this memorable day ; and how 
 that he, Giles Tudball, Master Robert Quirke, 
 Jenkins and others, assisted by the loyal people of 
 Dunster, had seized and gagged Master Pym and 
 his followers, and were going to confine them in 
 the iron mines, until Master Luttrell, Hugh de Mo- 
 hun, and Julian Bachell, should have taken what 
 measures they deemed necessary for their present 
 safety. 
 
 Master Bachell seemed to think that the conse- 
 quences of their rashness would be serious ; but the 
 mediciner assured him that they had taken such 
 precautions, that none of the party who had execu- 
 ted the bold seizure of Pym, his troopers and 
 followers, could ever be known. He begged that 
 no violence might be offered to any one, and hav- 
 ing obtained a promise to that effect from Grave- 
 boys, who assured him that every one should be 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 released as sooq as Master Luttrell's pleasure should 
 be known, he rode off to Dunster with Alick, as 
 fast as liis horse could carry him. He avoided 
 the town, and gained the gates without meeting a 
 soul. Basil Chipera, who was keeping watch within, 
 after ha\'ing seen Pym's troop-horses committed 
 to the stream of the Hone, gladly admitted him 
 within the walls, and obtained for him and his ser- 
 vant, lodgings in the Castle, although its owner and 
 the family had retired for rest an hour or two pre- 
 viously to his arrival. 
 
 Basil Chipera took the horses to the sta- 
 bles, and having supplied them with provender 
 for the night, left them, with the promise of a 
 good grooming in the morning, and sought his 
 own chamber in the lower room of the gateway 
 of Dunster Castle, but not before he had seen 
 the gates securely fastened.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 195 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 When Pym and his party were safely thrust mto 
 the iron mines, at the foot of Dunkery hill, and 
 their escape prevented, by heaping up large stones 
 at the entrance, Master Robert Quirke, who, at the 
 instigation of Basil Chipera, had been the principal 
 actor in the attack, called his party together, and 
 made each individual take a most solemn oath, never 
 to divulge the names of any one who had had a 
 share in the illegal proceeding. 
 
 He found no one unwilling to take the oath re- 
 quired of him, as none but those who were well- 
 affected towards the owner of Dunster, and, what 
 wa^ beginning to be called, the king's party, were 
 allowed to join in the attack. 
 
 Quirke and Graveboys, when they agreed to con- 
 K 2
 
 196 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 fine Pym, and so allow Master Luttrell time to de- 
 cide upon his plans, had both of them stipulated, 
 that no violence should be offered to any one, be- 
 yond what was absolutely necessary for securing 
 their persons, and preventing them from alarming 
 the town by cries for help. In this they were 
 ably seconded by Giles Tudball and the other prin- 
 cipal actors, who had no ill-will against any one, 
 except perhaps, Roger Priver, and Robert Browne 
 the preacher ; and their ill-feeling towards them was 
 not sufficiently strong, to urge them to offer them 
 any serious violence. The mines, in which it had 
 been agreed upon to imprison them, were neither 
 deep nor dangerous ; they were on a level with 
 the valley, and well ventilated by fissures in the hill 
 above. Robert Quirke, too, before he left the mines, 
 and he was the last to do so, took care to free Mas- 
 ter Pym of the belt which bound his arms, and the 
 strap that gagged his mouth, so that he might be 
 at liberty to set all the rest of the prisoners free. 
 He also, wisely took the precaution to disarm all 
 the party, in case, which was not unlikely, they 
 should quarrel with each other during their con-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 197 
 
 finement ; for, although they had acted together in 
 their attacks on the revellers and the malignants, as 
 they called the Bachells and the Luttrells, the con- 
 stables and troopers were not as yet prepared to 
 go the lengths to which Pym, the Preacher, and 
 Roger Priver would have urged them. 
 
 They were opposed to popery and prelacy, but 
 had not yet forgotten the feelings, of loyalty and 
 respect for the gentry around them, in which they 
 had been brought up. Mauworth, who was a tenant 
 on Pym's estate, and treated by him as a confiden- 
 tial person, would have sided with his landlord in 
 case of an open rupture ; but he had been heard 
 to say, that he thought Master Pym was going a lit- 
 tle too far and too fast. 
 
 When the Dunster men had taken the oath 
 imposed upon them by Quirke, they hastened 
 back as rapidly as they could to the town, and 
 sought their beds. Dr. Graveboys and Jansen went 
 with the host of the Luttrell Arms, and put up at 
 his house for the night — or rather morning : Ro- 
 bert Quirke returned to Minehead, with Tudball 
 and Will Bowering ; while Master Jenkins sought
 
 198 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 the stores on the banks of the Hone where he had 
 left his boat, in which he meant to reach the Blos- 
 som of Minehead, and sleep on board that lugger. 
 The whole party effected their objects so success- 
 fully, that no one w^as aware of their having been 
 absent on so desperate a business, but those who 
 were not likely to betray them. 
 
 Before they parted, it had been settled that 
 Dr. Graveboys should see Basil Chipera early 
 on the follomng morning, and learn through him 
 the wishes of Master Luttrell, concerning the dis- 
 posal of Pym and his party, and if any danger was 
 likely to result from their imprisonment, that the 
 principal actors in it, should get out of the way until 
 the danger was over. The arms, which had been 
 taken away from the prisoners, were hidden in a 
 brake, hard by the mouth of the mines. 
 
 The first act of Pym when he fomid himself at 
 liberty to speak, was to address the soldiers and 
 constables, and bid them submit quietly to the 
 fate that had befallen them : his second was to re- 
 lease Mauworth and the preacher from their bonds, 
 and to assist them in releasing the others. The
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 199 
 
 moment Master Robert Browne found his tongue 
 at liberty, lie burst out with his usual " how long ? 
 how long ?" which produced a deep groan from 
 every one but Roger Priver, who, forgetting the 
 presence of Master Pym, no sooner found the gag 
 removed from his mouth, than he uttered an oath 
 against the men who had bound him, of so fright- 
 ful a nature, as caused him to be severely repri- 
 manded. 
 
 " Hath no one a light, that we may see the na- 
 ture of the place, in which our enemies have con- 
 fined us ? " inquired Pjnn. 
 
 Some half-dozen men produced flints, and 
 struck a light with their knives, catching the 
 sparks in some tinder which they carried with 
 them for the purpose of ignitmg their pipes. Mau- 
 worth produced some matches which he had about 
 him, and succeeded in lighting one of them. By its 
 short and flickering rays, they could see that they 
 were in a sort of cavern, from which passages 
 branched in all directions : they had not time to 
 examine either of them, for before the light of the 
 match had been exposed one minute, a flutter of
 
 200 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 wings was heard, and the match was extmguished 
 by something that flew against it. Another was 
 ignited, which speedily shared the fate of its pre- 
 decessor ; and so alarmed the whole party, that they 
 believed the preacher's assertion that Beelzebub 
 was among them, and begged of Mauworth not to 
 persevere in his attempts to enlighten those, who 
 were evidently for a time, under the power of Satan. 
 
 " They be but bat-mice," said Roger Priver, 
 '* and were they devils I will have a hght. I cannot 
 endure this darkness." 
 
 He seized a match from Mauworth, and kin- 
 dled a flame from his tinder ; it flickered brightly 
 for a moment, and was suddenly extinguished by 
 something tliat struck him at the same time so 
 sharp a blow on the face, as brought the tears to 
 his eyes, and caused a small stream of blood to 
 trickle down his cheek. 
 
 ^'' May the cm'se of — " commenced Roger Priver. 
 
 " Swear not at all," said Pym, " the attempt to 
 gain a light is useless; let each man betake liimself 
 to sleep, and see what the morning will bring forth. 
 Mauworth, I would speak with you apart."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 201 
 
 The sergeant, following the direction of his com- 
 mander's voice, succeeded in reaching him ; and 
 Pym, takmg his hand, led him up the cavern, un- 
 til he had reached such a distance from the rest, 
 as he thought would prevent the tenor of his words 
 being heard. 
 
 "Mauworth, I have no reason to doubt your 
 fidelity," said Pym, ** but I cannot account for 
 your allowing us to fall into an ambuscade, with- 
 out giving an alarm." 
 
 " An it please you, sir, my horse stumbled over 
 a rope, or some other obstruction, placed across 
 the street of Dunster, and threw me over his 
 head. I essayed to shout to give you warning, 
 but ere a cry left my lips, my mouth was gagged, 
 and I was held in the grasp of many men, against 
 whose strength my struggles were unavailing." 
 
 *' I guessed as m-uch," said Pym in a whisper ; 
 "but tell me sergeant, if you can, who were the 
 leaders in this base attack on the authorities 
 appointed by the parliament." 
 
 " I know them not," replied Mauworth, *' so 
 that I could positively swear to them, for they 
 K 3
 
 202 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 spoke not a word that I could hear distinctly : 
 but I have my suspicions." 
 
 " And on whom do they fall ? " asked Pym. 
 
 Mauworth was about to name some of the par- 
 ties concerned, when he was interrupted by a hub- 
 bub from the farther end of the cavern, caused by 
 the liigh bailiff, and the troopers and consta- 
 bles, mutually accusing each other of being the 
 cause of their being shut up in a loathsome prison, 
 for a long night. 
 
 "We must quiet them, sir," said Mauworth, 
 "or they will get to blows." 
 
 "Peace, peace ; " shouted Pym, "and do you 
 Master Browne offer up a prayer, and then let all 
 seek the repose we so much need." 
 
 The preacher needed no further orders, but at once 
 commenced a piayer, which, as it was an impre- 
 cation of everything undesirable upon the head of 
 his enemies, might have been safely called a male- 
 diction. The commencement of it acted as a sti- 
 mulant on his hearers, and was received with many 
 marks of approbation ; but when he left off abusing 
 the men of Dunster, the malignants of the Castle,
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 203 
 
 and of Ashley-Combe, and the young men 
 who were educated in the unseemly schools 
 of papacy and prelatism ; and launched out 
 into a rambling discourse on the titles and claims 
 he, as a servant of the gospel, had been mijustly 
 deprived of; his words operated as a sedative and 
 lulled most of his hearers to sleep. He was 
 not aware of this effect, until in the midst of a se- 
 vere censure upon Master Snelling, who had thrust 
 him from his rightful pulpit, Roger Priver uttered 
 so loud, and so prolonged a snore, as awakened an 
 echo throughout the mines. 
 
 Master Browne was indignant; he raised his 
 foot, and' guessing from the sound, whereabouts 
 Roger was lying, kicked him as hard as he could : 
 the kick only produced a louder snore, and the 
 preacher after inquiring 'Svho hath ears to hear ?" 
 without receiving any answer, seated himself \\ith 
 his back against the sides of the cavern, and speedily 
 followed the example set him by his congrega- 
 tion. They slept soundly for some time, for they 
 were wearied by the long day's toil, and by their 
 march from Dmister; but were aroused by a sud-
 
 204 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 den, sharp cry, which caused them all to spring 
 from their places, and seek the arms which had 
 been taken from them. 
 
 " Blood, blood, more blood — ahah ! — Say not 
 1 did it — you had a fak trial — a jury of your peers 
 found you guilty — ahah! the laws — the law^s — 
 blame them — blame not me. Avaunt, thou head- 
 less thing." 
 
 The cflvern lang with the cry, and every man's 
 heart palpitated as he heard it. 
 
 " What means it ?" said Roger Priver in a 
 whisper heard by all. 
 
 " What means it ? " said a voice which they 
 then knew to be Master Pym's. " What means 
 it? ye false friends — ye base chiu'ls — to suffer 
 the guilty Strafford to thrust liis headless trunk 
 into my presence, and accuse me of his mui'der — 
 what ho ! Mauworth — take me hence — I will stay 
 here no longer; remove /«7?^ or carry me hence — 
 I am choking." 
 
 " God's judgment," said one of the Dunster 
 constables, to which a deep groan was responded. 
 
 '' Hush, my friends, hush! he sleeps, and
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 205 
 
 dreams as he sleeps; I will awaken him," said 
 Mauworth. 
 
 The men huddled together and trembled, as 
 they held each other's hands, to hear the fright- 
 ful shrieks that issued from Pym's lips, until his 
 sergeant had succeeded in rousing him to a state 
 of consciousness. When he was fully awakened, 
 and apprized of what he had uttered, he excused 
 himself, by saying that he had had a frightful 
 dream, and begged of them to seek repose again. 
 
 They were all of them however, too much 
 alarmed to sleep, and huddled together, as pa- 
 tiently as they could, waited until morning should 
 dawn upon them. They did not dare to make 
 any audible remarks on what had alarmed them, 
 for fear they should reach the ears of Master Pym, 
 who was now conversing wdth Mauworth as ration- 
 ally and calmly, as if nothing had occmTed to 
 disturb him. 
 
 Master John Pym, although he had from the 
 commencement of his parliamentary career, univer- 
 sally opposed the royalists, and taken an active 
 part with Mr. Hampden and those who resisted 
 the payment of the ship-tax, was gentlemanly
 
 206 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 in his demeanor, and mild in his manners and 
 language, until he had rendered himself so ob- 
 noxious to the king, that he came into the house, 
 shortly after the assassination of Buckingham, to 
 seize him and four other members. Pym escaped 
 the danger, and absented himself from the 
 house for awhile. When he returned, a change 
 was observed in him : he was more severe in his 
 looks, and his language was violent : he took 
 the lead of his party, and when the impeachment 
 of the Lord Strafford was determined upon, he 
 untiringly persevered in his attempts to secure his 
 condemnation and execution. He was also the 
 bitterest enemy of the established church, and 
 lost no opportunity of assailing the bishops, and 
 the deans and chapters ; and of encouraging those, 
 who, under the pretence of their being remnants 
 of papistry, sought to remove the communion ta- 
 bles and the rails wliich surrounded them, from the 
 eastern ends of the churches. Nothing in fact, 
 was proposed to injure the church, in which he 
 was not a prominent actor. Of all tlie enemies 
 whom Archbishop Laud had, none was more per- 
 severingly bitter than John Pym, although they
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 207 
 
 were contemporaries at Oxford; Laud being a 
 member aad president of St. John's college, and 
 Pym a student of Broadgates Hall, now Pem- 
 broke college. 
 
 As a country' gentleman, Pym was much beloved ; 
 he was a kind husband, an affectionate father, and 
 a considerate landlord to his tenantry. As a 
 neighbour, his company was sought after and ap- 
 preciated by those, even, who differed from him 
 in politics, until after the execution of Strafford, 
 when he suddenly found himself shunned by all 
 w^ho had previously courted his society. 
 
 He grew morose and peevish; seldom appeared in 
 Somersetshire, and made the leadership of his 
 party in the commons, an excuse for absenting 
 himself from his family. His moroseness increased, 
 too, greatly, after his intercourse with the Scottish 
 Covenanters, who were referred to him as the 
 most powerful person upon whom they could 
 rely to advocate their claims. 
 
 It was in the midst of his conferences with 
 these opponents of a ritual, that he had been 
 summoned into Somersetshire, by news of the illness
 
 S08 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 of his wife, and while watching over her during her 
 convalesence, he had heard of the intended revellings 
 at Culbone, and taken the proceedings which led 
 to his temporary confinement in the mines of 
 Dunkery hill. 
 
 "Mauworth," said Pym, ''tell me, and tell 
 me truly, what I have said that those fools yon- 
 der are alarmed at." 
 
 Mauw^orth repeated to him the words he had 
 uttered in liis dream. 
 
 " Will it ever be thus ? will the vision never 
 leave me ? I would that daylight were come, for 
 the gloom and heavy air of this cavern oppresses 
 me. What hour is it, think you ?" 
 
 " Nay, sir, I know not, and I fear me that unless 
 those same caitiffs, who have entombed us, remove 
 the obstacles at the mouth of this cavern, we shall 
 be long ere we discern day from night," said Mau- 
 worth. 
 
 "They cannot mean to murder us: to leave us 
 here to die of famine," said Pym, ''Would to God 
 we had resisted, and been slain in fair fight, rather 
 than die and rot here."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 209 
 
 " We can at least make a struggle for our li- 
 berty: we are a strong body, and may force the 
 entrance, which they can have barred only with 
 loose stones and rubbish," said the sergeant. 
 
 " Let the trial be made instantly," said Pym, 
 " for I feel as if I should be suffocated." 
 
 The bailiff and his men, and the troopers, were 
 ordered to set about trying to remove the obstacles 
 that closed the entrance. They worked long and 
 resolutely, but having no instrmnents to assist 
 them in their task, made but a slight impression 
 on the bulk of stones that had been heaped 
 at the mouth of the mine. 
 
 When they were exhausted mth their at- 
 tempts, and had given them up in despair, they 
 threw themselves upon the ground, firmly per- 
 suaded, that the cavern in which they were con- 
 fined would be their burial place. Robert Browne, 
 in his alarm, commenced chaunting the burial 
 ser\ice of the church, aided by Roger Priver ; and 
 Pym, with his sergeant at his side, paced up and 
 down the mine wdthout speaking a word. 
 
 Suddenly' a noise was heard at the entrance.
 
 210 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 like the fall of masonry, which grew louder and 
 louder. All sprung to their feet, and their hearts 
 leapt in their bosoms when the light of day shone 
 in upon them ; and then each man rushed to 
 the opening, and assisted those without in remov- 
 ing the rocks which still opposed their escape. 
 When an opening wide enough to admit the pas- 
 sage of a man was made, Pym stepped forth, and 
 saw Master Luttrell and Master Bachell, with a 
 strong party of Dunster men waiting to receive 
 him.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. ^11 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 When Master Pym stepped forth, followed by his 
 party, neither of the gentlemen who had come to 
 release them, could refrain from laughing. The 
 soil of the mines, a kind of red ochre, had stained 
 their clothes and persons, so that they looked like 
 a body of wild Indians rather than Englishmen. 
 The Dunster men, when they beheld Roger Pri- 
 ver and their other towns-fellows, the constables, 
 so strangely disfigured, fairly shouted with glee, and 
 were so boisterous in their laughter, that Master 
 Luttrell was compelled to threaten them ^^'ith 
 his severest displeasure, if they did not cease their 
 unseasonable clamour. 
 
 When silence was somewhat restored, Master 
 Luttrell addressed Pym, and told him, that he deeply
 
 212 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 regretted the unworthy manner in which he had 
 been treated, and that the moment he was in- 
 formed by Master Bachell of what had occurred, 
 he had summoned his retainers and hastened over 
 to release him. He added that he would use his 
 best exertions to discover, and punish the parties 
 who had been guilty of so gross an outrage. 
 
 ''He lieth, he lieth! believe him not; it was 
 the malignant himself that gave the orders to 
 his ungodly dependants to confine us, while he and 
 yon other malignant there, might lay their plans, 
 to ensure the escape of those who disobeyed the 
 warrant of Master Speaker, and the parliament, 
 and insulted their officers — " 
 
 " Aye, and did plunge them in a brook, and 
 tore up my warrant of authority — oh ! oh !" 
 
 " Silence, good Master Browne ; be silent, 
 Bailiff of Dunster ; your wTongers shall not go un- 
 pmiished: the proceedings of yesterday and the 
 past night shall be laid before the house of com- 
 mons : let Master Luttrell and Master Bachell 
 look to it : Dunster Castle and Ashley-Combe 
 Lodge may find other owners shortly, in men
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 213 
 
 more inclined to be obedient to those, to whose 
 hands the people have entrusted the supreme 
 authority," said Pym. 
 
 " While we have a king and a house of peers," 
 said Master Bachell, '^ I for one, shall not acknow^- 
 ledge the supremacy of the lower house; more 
 especially when it is made up of violent men, 
 w^ho curry favour of the lowest of the people, and 
 seek to gain an ascendancy in the state, by pan- 
 dering to their basest passions." 
 
 " Nor I," said Master Luttrell. '' I am a mag- 
 istrate as well as yourself, Master Pym, and as 
 zealous in the due administration of the laws ; but 
 I cannot esteem any warrant legal, that has not 
 the authority of the king — God bless him." 
 
 Master Luttrell raised his plumed hat from his 
 brow, and his example was followed by all his 
 party, who uttered a loud shout of "Long live Kino- 
 Charles." 
 
 " How long ? — how long ?" groaned the preacher. 
 
 "Heed them not. Master Browne," said Pym, "let 
 them shout their loudest. It may gratify them 
 to cry, 'Long live the king,' but let them shout as
 
 214 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 loudly as they will, Charles Stuart must have 
 good ears to hear them, seeing that he is sojourn- 
 ing in York." 
 
 While Pym addressed these few words to the 
 preacher, the leaders of the Dunster party, were 
 begging of their followers not to indulge in any 
 remarks, or utter any shouts which might be re- 
 ported to their disadvantage. They ceased shout- 
 ing therefore, but turned such threatening looks 
 on their opponents, as show^ed that they would 
 gladly have used stronger language in their hearing, 
 and even proceeded to blows, had the slightest hint 
 been given to them by their superiors, that an at- 
 tack upon the Roundheads would have been agree- 
 able to them. 
 
 "May I ask, Master Pym, on what good grounds 
 my poor house of Ashley-Combe, is invaded by your 
 troopers or trained-bands as you call them, and my 
 senants put under restraint ?" inquired Bachell. 
 
 " And I too would know, why I find, on my 
 / return from a distant voyage, my Castle converted 
 into a prison, my wife alarmed, and the establish- 
 ment thrown into disorder," said Master Luttrell.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 215 
 
 "You shall both know, and that soon," said 
 Pym, " that a strange thing hath been done in the 
 land, and that too by your instriunentation. An 
 offence has been committed against all godly men, 
 and in direct opposition to the orders of the par- 
 liament. The yomig Hugh de Mohun, and Julian 
 Bachell may generously, as youth is wont to do, 
 take upon themselves all the responsibility of the 
 unlawful doings at Culbone, but those who ought, 
 by virtue of the authority reposed in them, to have 
 prevented such scenes, shall not escape the punish- 
 ment due to them, under the plea of absence from 
 home, and ignorance of what was going on. For the 
 unworthy treatment which I, and my followers here 
 have experienced, in ha^dng been expelled by force 
 from Dunster Castle in the night, and shut up in a 
 close, loathsome cavern, I must have satisfaction — " 
 " Take it now," said Master Bachell, laying his 
 hand on the hilt of his rapier. 
 
 " Nay, good Bachell," said Luttrell, " It was I 
 who removed him from Dunster, of which he com- 
 plains, and from me he shall have that satisfaction 
 he requires. Draw, Master Pym fear not that
 
 216 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 you shall not have fair play, for 1 pledge you my 
 word, that he, of my Dunster followers, who offers 
 to interfere between us, shall have his ears cropped 
 as closely as the hair of your retainers." 
 
 Pym smiled gloomily, as Mauworth and his fol- 
 lowers drew up to his side, as if to support him, and 
 said — " No, Masters . f Dunster and Ashley- Combe; 
 the insult has been passed upon the parliament 
 through me its miworthy officer — " 
 
 "He never spoke a truer word; unworthy he 
 is," said one of the Dunster men. 
 
 " And the parliament," continued Pym, not 
 heeding the remark, " shall give me the satisfac- 
 tion I require. I imbrue not my hands in the 
 blood of my neighbours, in any private quarrel." 
 
 Mauworth looked disconcerted, and the preacher 
 and Roger Priver groaned, as if disappointed at 
 not seeing Pym fall on and slay one of tlie malig- 
 nants, at least. Bachell and his friend exchanged 
 smiles, accompanied by a curl of the lip and a shrug 
 of the shoulders. The Dunster men laughed 
 outright, and the words cowardly, crop-ear'd rogue, 
 passed among them.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 217 
 
 "You hear, good Master Pym — you hear," 
 said Browne ; " let not our good cause suffer by 
 witholding the strong arm. I myself, am ready 
 for the fray, rather than our enemies should 
 triumph over us ungodly. Smite them, even to 
 the death." 
 
 " You forget we have no arms," said Mauworth. 
 
 "Be silent, I intreat you," said Pym, "no man 
 who knows me, will accuse me of a want of courage ; 
 a pubhc offence hath been committed, and its pun- 
 ishment shall not be a private matter, but of 
 such a nature, as to lead others to be unwilling 
 to offend in the same w^ay in future." 
 
 " We shall not shrink from any investigation, 
 legally made, into our conduct, and I pledge you 
 my word as a gentleman, that neither my friend 
 Bachell here, nor myself, will attempt to evade 
 giving that satisfaction which the law can demand 
 of us," said Master Luttrell. 
 
 "And the young men — Hugh de Mohun and Ju- 
 lian Bachell, they must be given up to us ; they 
 are our prisoners and — " 
 
 "Not so, you forget Master P}^n, that you are 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 virtually our prisoners, seeing that we have you in 
 our power, unarmed and unhorsed," said Master 
 Bachell, " but I will be responsible for the appear- 
 ance of my son, to answer any charge you may 
 bring against him, in any lawfully constituted 
 court." 
 
 " Our arms and our horses must be restored 
 to us, and that instantly," said Pym. 
 
 " For your arms — search yonder bushes, and take 
 them, and use them in a better cause than depri- 
 ving the people of their innocent amusements, and 
 alarming the servants and families of private gentle- 
 men, when they are left unprotected ; for yom' horses 
 — ^if you would recover their bloated and swollen 
 carcasses, go, follow the Hone to where its pure, 
 iresn waters mmgle with the salt waves ojf the 
 Channel," said Master Luttrell. 
 
 "You have not dared to — " 
 
 "/have dared nothing," said Luttrell interrupt- 
 ing Pym, "I knew nothing whatever of the intended 
 attack on your party after you quitted my Castle, 
 neither did Master Bachell ; but your conduct to 
 two of your nearest neighbours and former friends,
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 219 
 
 it seems, urged the townsmen of Dunster to resort 
 to measures, that I would have prevented had I 
 known of them in time." 
 
 Mauworth and Roger Priver had armed them- 
 selves and their men, as soon as the place where 
 their weapons had been deposited had been 
 made known to them, and before the short dia- 
 logue between Master Luttrell and their leader 
 was ended, had formed themselves behind the latter. 
 The Dunster men seeing their movements, dresv 
 themselves up behind their leaders, and by their 
 looks betrayed their anxiety for a struggle to com- 
 mence. 
 
 ^' Back, Mauworth — back, and draw off your 
 men ; heard you not that I said I woidd make of 
 this grave matter no private quaiTel ?"' said Pym. 
 
 "Ah Lord! and ah ! his glorj^, it is departed,'' 
 said the preacher. 
 
 " Oh — oh ! " groaned Roger Priver, letting his 
 pike fall heavily on the ground, an example which 
 all the troopers followed. 
 
 " Men of Dunster, I will have no further vio- 
 lence committed," said Master Luttrell, " the evil 
 that has been done already, may inconvenience 
 L 2
 
 220 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 you all more than you reckon upon ; lay aside your 
 arms." 
 
 "Nay, not so," said Master Bachell ; '* keep your 
 arms in readiness, my friends, for, unless my eyes 
 deceive me, yonder, along the road from Ashley- 
 Combe, come some mounted troopers, who, by 
 their dress and bearing, are a part and portion of 
 Master Pym's trained-bands." 
 
 " Nay, there are but four of them," said Mas- 
 ter Luttrell, " and we are a match for them at 
 any rate." 
 
 All eyes were turned upon the four men, who, 
 as soon as they arrived at the gate leading from 
 the lane towards the mines, turned into it, and 
 galloped up to their leader, Pym ; each of them 
 looked pale and haggard, and turned his head be- 
 hind him as if he dreaded pursuit. 
 
 "How now% sirrahs?" said Pym, when he saw 
 who the men were, " did I not leave you at Mas- 
 ter Bachell's Lodge of Ashley-Combe, and bid you 
 remain there until fmlher orders ? what has dri- 
 ven you thence thus hastily, and with the marks of 
 cravens on your brows ?" 
 
 " The devil*" said tlie foremost of them.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. ^21 
 
 "Sathanas, Sathanas!" said the rest, groaning, 
 in which they were aided and assisted by Ro- 
 bert Browne, Roger Priver, and the troopers. 
 
 "Cease your clamour and tell me plainly, what 
 means this nonsense ?" asked Pym. 
 
 " The devil — the devil — sathanas — sathanas ! " 
 groaned out the four together. 
 
 " They have been over-free of the wine-pot, and 
 are now but parcel-sober," said Mauworth. 
 
 " Good comrade Mauworth, and you most ho- 
 nored sir, we are most sober, seeing that the chuil 
 of a butler at Ashley-Combe, would supply us 
 with nothing but fair water from the spring, after 
 your departure, saying that even that was too good 
 for such as we." 
 
 " He showed his prudence if not his hospitality," 
 said Pym; "but what happened to you to alarm 
 you?" 
 
 "The dev— " 
 
 " Pshaw! man, facts," said Mauworth. 
 "Finding, honored sir, that no further bodily 
 refreshments were forthcoming, and being some- 
 what fatigued wdth the exertions of the day, we
 
 222 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 did lay ourselves down to rest, after locking up 
 the servajits, and securing the outer doors, so that 
 no one could gain admittance without gi\'ing us due 
 notice, according to your honour's orders. The 
 beds truly were soft, and our slumbers were heavy, 
 yet did none of us rest long ; for noises, such as 
 no earthly sounds resemble, disturbed us ; and visi- 
 tations from the fiends beset us at intervals, v>here- 
 of we bear the marks even now, as though we had 
 been cudgelled by mortal hands ; and our couches 
 were moistened as we lay, either by the sweat 
 from our frightened bodies, or by water poured 
 upon us by the evil one." 
 
 "Oh ! oh ! how long ? how long ?" said Robert 
 Browne. 
 
 '* Silence, preacher ; and do you proceed, fellow," 
 said Pym. 
 
 " We engaged in prayer, honored sir, and the 
 fiends left us awhile, but anon returned again, and 
 bufietted us sorely — " 
 
 "Fools!" said Mauworth, "did your courage 
 fail you, so that you could not discover your tor- 
 mentors?"
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 223 
 
 *^ Our lights failed us, good ^lauworth, and we 
 were in tbe darkness of despair until day-lio;ht 
 came, and shewed us everything as we had left 
 it overnight: not a bolt or lock dra^\ii or un- 
 fastened; all the servants shut up in their respective 
 rooms. One fair maiden from the gate-lodge, told 
 us that the night had been fearfully stormy, and 
 that she had seen lights and sights in the stables, 
 such as had never been seen at Ashley-Combe be- 
 fore, and truly when we sought our horses, Vv-e 
 found them reeking with sweat, and covered with 
 mud and foam, as though they had been lidden or 
 driven all night long." 
 
 *'0h ! oh ! how long ? how long ? Satan hath pre- 
 vailed," said the preacher. 
 
 " Well sirrah, and then ? " said Pym. 
 
 " And then," said the trooper, " we mounted 
 our horses, meaning to ride to Dunster, to inform 
 your honour that Master Bachell was not returned 
 to his house, and to ask what we were to do with our 
 prisoners, whom we have left in security. Seeing 
 a crowd assembled here as we rode by, we judged 
 it might be best to join it, and see the cause of its 
 assembling.
 
 224 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 *' A mighty fine story, truly," said Mauworth; 
 " the fools have been frightened out of their wits. 
 
 '* Never trust me again," said Alick Pearson, in a 
 whisper to his master, "if I be wrong in saying 
 that Janet hath done tliis : she, doubtless unfas- 
 tened the doors for her fellow-servants, and they, 
 having beaten and scared the knaves to their 
 heart's content, submitted to be shut up again, to 
 make them believe that their tormentors were 
 not mere mortals." 
 
 " But the horses ? how can you account for the 
 state they were found in ?" asked Master Bachell. 
 
 "Janet's father, no doubt has been driving 
 them round the pastures, while their riders were 
 being pmiished within," said Alick. 
 
 "Master Bachell," said Pym, " have you a hand 
 in this unseemly business ?" 
 
 "I was not at my house, as your own men will 
 testify, last night : I passed it at the Castle of 
 Master Luttrell, of which he and others can as- 
 sure you, and in riding thither, I heard of your 
 detention here, and had it not been so late, and 
 that Master Luttrell had retired, well-nigh worn
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 225 
 
 out by fatigue, and alarm for the safety of his 
 ward, I would have aroused him and brought him 
 to release you on the instant." 
 
 " I cannot doubt your word, sir," said Pym, " but 
 here be matters that must be investigated. 1 
 will return with you to Ashley-Combe, and ^\ill, 
 if I may make so bold, remain there until I am 
 furnished with horses, and enabled to return to 
 Cutcombe," 
 
 As a guest, Master Ppn shall be welcome to 
 -Ashley-Combe, if he vnll dismiss his followers, and 
 place himself under my protection : but as one having 
 authority from one estate of the reahu, in direct 
 opposition to my sovereign's wishes, I cannot, and 
 will not admit him witliin my walls," said Master 
 Bachell; "my servant's horse is at his service. 
 AKck, dismount and give place to Master Pym ; 
 you can follow us on foot." 
 
 Pym seemed hesitating how to act, when Mau- 
 worth di'ew his attention to two troopers, each 
 with a led horse by his side, riding down Dmikery 
 Hill in a direction from Cutcombe, to where the}^ 
 were standing. They soon came to the spot, and 
 L 3
 
 226 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 rode up to Pym, presenting him with a packet 
 which bore the seal of the house of commons, and 
 was directed to him and ordered to be delivered 
 with all speed. 
 
 Pym broke the seal, skimmed over the contents 
 of the paper, and his eyes glistened as he said to 
 Mauworth, "I must away instantly — there be news, 
 good news ; the Scottish covenanters await my 
 presence in London, and the queen's ship, in w^hich 
 she has sent from Holland ammunitions of war, and 
 supplies of money for Charles Stuart, is beset at 
 sea, and likely to be captured. Master Bachell, 
 and you Master Luttrell, I must leave you now, 
 for weighty matters call me hence ; but rest assur- 
 ed that you shall hear from those, ere long, who 
 will make you sorely repent of coimiving at, to 
 say the least — a breach of their authority. 
 
 " Fare you well, John Pym," said Master Lut- 
 trell, "and do you rest assured, that my friend here 
 and myself shall be ready to justify our proceed-^ 
 ings when legally called upon to do so. Long 
 live the king!" 
 
 Amidst the shouts of the Dunster men, and the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 227 
 
 groans of the troopers, Pym mounted one of the 
 led horses and Mauworth the other, and rode oif 
 towards Cutcombe, followed by the six mounted 
 troopers. 
 
 Master Luttrell took his friend Bachell with 
 him to Dunster Castle, making all his retainers 
 follow them, for fear they should fall upon the dis- 
 mounted troopers, who followed their master on 
 foot to Cutcombe ; the preacher and Roger Pri- 
 ver taking good care to accompany them. Alick 
 Pearson was dispatched to Ashley-Combe to re- 
 lease the prisoners, and report to his fellow -ser- 
 vants all that had occurred.
 
 22S DUNSTER CASTLE 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun and Julian Bachell, wearied* by 
 the exertions and excitements of tlie previous 
 day, slept longer and sounder than was their wont. 
 They w^ere early risers by habit, but when they 
 awoke on the morning after the revels at Culbone, 
 the sun was already high in the heavens. Ju- 
 lian spiling from his bed at once, and dressed him- 
 self, but Hugh, who had been busy in dreams, 
 with the rescue of Prudence Everard from the 
 waves of the Bristol Channel, turned on his side, 
 and sought sleep again. He was in hopes that the 
 visions of his slumbers would return ; for it was 
 just as his fair rescued one was pouring into his 
 eager ears her thanks for the services which he
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 229 
 
 had rendered her, that he awoke. He had just 
 sunk again uito that pleasant state, when we are 
 not certain whether we are awake or asleep, as 
 his door was opened, and a hand laid upon his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " What ho ! friend Hugh," said a voice, *' arouse 
 thee man, and enjoy the freshness of the morning 
 an\ 
 
 '^Ay — ay, Giles Tudball and Will Bowering — ■ 
 I hear you — I come, I come — hold you but taut 
 upon,the haulser, and she shall yet be saved — a few 
 strokes of my right arm will see us on dry land," 
 murmured Hugh, as rearing his left arm aloft, and 
 using his right hand as if in the act of swimming, 
 he turned and raised himself in his bed. 
 
 "Why how now, Hugh? art dreaming over 
 again the scenes of yesterday ?" asked Julian, as 
 he gazed on the handsome face of his friend. 
 
 " Is it you, Julian ? I would not use a harsh word 
 to one whom I esteem as I do thee P but I would 
 thou hadst been any where but here, just now ; 
 thou hast broken the thread of the pleasantest 
 dream that — "
 
 230 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Tush man, leave dreams to dreamers, and 
 wake thou to realities: Mistress Prudence Ever- 
 ard, I warrant you, is waiting with her guardian, to 
 repeat the thanks she uttered so freely yesternight, 
 and is perhaps — and it is of more consequence 
 to her, waiting to break her fast : up man," said 
 Julian. 
 
 Hugh rose in his bed, and wondered that he 
 was not in his own room in the tmTet, with his 
 usual means of exchanging his sea dress, for his 
 sober suit of grey, within his reach. Julian was 
 obliged to repeat to him the later transactions of 
 the past night, before he could account for his being 
 in a small sleeping room within the Castle, instead 
 of m his own little closet, over the gateway. 
 
 " Thanks, Julian, thanks, I understand my po- 
 sition clearly now, but my mind has been sleep- 
 less though my body has not ; I have dreamed, 
 Julian, the most delicious — " 
 
 "Pooh, pooh, man; banish them, as I said be- 
 fore, for the more pleasing reality," said Julian, 
 as he removed part of the upper bedding, and then 
 threw open the casement of the room.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 231 
 
 '' But I have nothiag to put on save my mumming 
 dress, as Mistress Tudball calls my sea- going suit, 
 and I dare hardly appear before my kind tutor in 
 the clothes that are scarcely yet dry from my 
 truanting yesterday : do summon Basil Chipera, 
 if thou canst, and bid him provide me with a suit 
 more proper to appear in."' 
 
 " Nay, were I Hugh de Mobun, I should choose 
 rather to present myself to the pretty eyes of Pru- 
 dence Everard, in the di'ess wherein she will re- 
 cognise her preserver, than in a modest suit, more 
 befitting the person of an Oxford student, than 
 one who mastered the old Berkshire stick-player, 
 and the burly butcher in the wrestling ring ; and 
 afterwards proved himself so good a swimmer, as 
 to save a fair girl from a watery grave. But if you 
 really are not willing to appear in youi' damp sailor's 
 di'ess, here, I will freely give up my forester's 
 suit to you, and don your mumming garments : in 
 good sooth, I would not mind the risk of chills, 
 agues, and rheumatism, to be mistaken for you, 
 if it were but for a few minutes, to enjoy the 
 smiles of gratitude that the fair Prudence will not
 
 2S2 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 fail to bestow on one, whom she may, for a short time 
 mistake for her preserver." 
 
 "Enough, Julian, enough," said Hugh, " I will 
 join you on the terrace in a few seconds." 
 
 Julian smiled significantly as he left his friend, 
 who, in a short period, joined him in the same dress 
 as he had worn on the previous day. 
 
 "To the keep — to the keep," said Hugh, "let 
 us enjoy the fresh breezes from the Channel on this 
 lovely morning; they will brace our nerves, and 
 give us fresh life." 
 
 As he uttered these words, Hugh fairly raced 
 before his friend up the short ascent that ran round 
 the Castle, and led to the keep. The path was 
 made through a dense mass of elms, which covered 
 three sides of the steep on which the Castle stood. 
 As they bounded along, the rooks, hundreds of 
 whom nestled in the branches above them, 
 left their nests, and flew screaming upwards; but 
 after circling round their homes for a few seconds, 
 settled again, as if aware no enemy was to be 
 dreaded in those secure retreats. 
 
 " Here we are, Julian," said Hugh, panting with
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 233 
 
 the exertions he had made to reach the summit; 
 "here we are, on the loveliest spot in the west of 
 this fair Isle ; see, yonder is Grabhurst Hill, that 
 emulates this torr in height, and there is Dun- 
 kery, and there Conygar, and below it Minehead, 
 at the foot of lofty Greenaleigh — and there, look 
 there, Juhan, is Hone-mouth, and Master Lut- 
 trell's little craft, lying as unconcernedly as though 
 her planks had not been in danger of parting com- 
 pany with each other; and there are the stores of 
 Master Robert Quiike, and, as I believe, Giles 
 Tudball's Blossomof Minehead just setting her sails ; 
 and yonder are the Welsh Hills or mountains, as 
 Master Jenkins calls them, and — " 
 
 "A truce — a truce, good Hugh — you forget that 
 these scenes are familiar to me, who have been a 
 frequent visitor at Dunster Castle ; but see here, 
 Hugh ; here down through this vista in the woods, 
 the wheel of the mill of Dunster, dashing the wa- 
 ters of the bright brook that flows from Grabhurst, 
 over its whirling surface. Is it not beautiful, 
 to see through this gloomy grove, the spray 
 sparkhng like brilliants, in the gleams of the sun- 
 shine below?"
 
 ^34 DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Beautiful, indeed it is, Julian, and I am not sorry 
 that time has, by its corroding powers, changed 
 what was a huge frowning fortress into a peaceable 
 habitation for rooks and singing birds. Where 
 stately sentinels uttered their watch-words, as the 
 guard went its rounds, or a strange footstep was 
 heard, the nightingale's notes, and the whistling of 
 the blackbird or the mavis are now heard, min- 
 gled with the jo}dul chirrupings of other emulant 
 song birds. Yon crumbling ruins, could doubt- 
 less tell some tales of woe and misery, could 
 their disjointed stones but speak." 
 
 As he said this, Hugh pointed to the ruins of a 
 round tower, which impended over the Castle and 
 the town, and commanded the hills that sur- 
 rounded it on every side but the one which looked 
 down upon the marsh -grounds, and the Channel. 
 But little of the building remained ; but what little 
 had not been cleared away, shewed an arched door- 
 w^ay, Hanked by walls of enormous thickness, and 
 formed of the dark, red rock, so prevalent in the 
 strata of the neighbouring hills or torrs. Rumor 
 said, that the stones of the fallen walls had been con-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 235 
 
 sumed in filling up some gloomy dungeons below 
 them, and a subterranean cavern, which communi- 
 cated with the Castle, and thence, by other passages, 
 with the prior)" of Dunster, in order that in trou- 
 blous times, the monks might find a safe retreat 
 in the Castle. 
 
 Julian, leaning on Hugh's shoulder, drew him 
 gently towards the door of the tower, and pointing to 
 the remains of the arch, shewed him two shields, each 
 bearing on its mutilated surface a coat of arms. 
 
 " These, Hugh, are said to be the shields of the 
 whilome owners of Dmister ; you see, though but 
 faintly, the one on the left, bears, gule, a dexter 
 arm, habited in a maunch, ermine, the ]iscn&, proper, 
 holding a fleur de lis, or ; that on the right, bears 
 or, a cross engrailed, sable.'' 
 
 " I see," said Hugh, " though I confess I am not 
 curious in heraldry ; I would earn a coat of arms 
 for myself, rather than be indebted for it to some 
 ancestor, many generations removed. These, how- 
 ever, I can, even in my ignorance of such matters, 
 testify are not the arins of the Luttrells, for they, 
 as you may see, without and within the Castle walls,
 
 2S6 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 bear for their crest, five feathers in a plume, and 
 for arms, a sable bend between six martlets, having 
 for supporters, two swans with coronets around 
 their throats." 
 
 " Those Hugh," said Julian seriously, pointing 
 to the archway, " those are the arms of the Mo- 
 huns, formerly owners of this Castle and its demes- 
 nes, with many fair acres around them : you best 
 know whether you have any claim to wear them." 
 
 '^Julian Bachell," said Hugh, after a closer exa- 
 mination of the heraldric shields than he had be- 
 fore deigned to bestow upon them, " I know not, 
 whether or no I am entitled to bear those arms : 
 a mystery hangs over me, but I care not at pre- 
 sent to seek to solve it. My father, I am told — " 
 
 " Nay — nay, Hugh," said Julian, " do not — 
 do not for a moment fancy that I sought to en- 
 trap you into the betrayal of any family secrets." 
 
 "I do not fancy it; an I did, I should be silent. 
 My father, I am told, died early in my childhood, 
 and by violence. My mother sought to hide 
 her grief in a foreign land, lea\ing me to the care 
 of an old nurse, in my infancy, and afterwards to 
 my kind friend and tutor Master Robert Snel-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 237 
 
 ling, now parson of Dunster. I have that opinion 
 of his judgment and discretion, Julian, that I have 
 never pressed him to relate to me more of my 
 family matters, than he has thought right to im- 
 part; but 1 doubt not, that when he deems it fit- 
 ting and proper, I shall be made fully acquainted 
 with every circumstance, that it concerns me to 
 know: but who cometh here?" 
 
 "Basil Chipera, or my eyes deceive me, "said Julian. 
 
 The parish clerk and cordwainer of Dunster, 
 sprung lightly up the steps upon the green sward, 
 which led to the keep, and doffing his cap, beg- 
 ged to know, "whether it were the young gentle- 
 mens' pleasure to break their fast \\ith the ladies 
 in the hall, or to have a meal sensed for them, 
 wdth the chaplain Master Snelling." 
 
 " With the ladies, by all means," said both the 
 young men. 
 
 " Then follow me, sirs, for the meal is already set 
 out, and Mistress Luttrell and her ward, wait but 
 for my summons to take their seats.'' 
 
 " For 2/owr summons ?" asked Julian ; " where then 
 is the butler, that you are acting in his room ?"
 
 238 . DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " May it please you, Master Julian, I am almost 
 the only male domestic left within the walls, for 
 the ser\ing-men were summoned, early in the morn- 
 ing, to act as a body-guard to their master, and 
 his friend Master Bachell of Ashley-Combe, who 
 are—" 
 
 " My father — hath he been at Dunster Castle ? " 
 
 '' He amved late last night, after you had re- 
 tired, and would not have you dis-urbed from your 
 rest. He roused my master, at an early hour 
 this morning, with the news that the friends and 
 allies of certain youthful revellers, had taken Mas- 
 ter Ppn and his followers in a trap, on their way 
 hence to Ashley-Combe, and had shut them up 
 for the night, in the iron mines at the foot of 
 Dunkery Hill." 
 
 " And Master Luttrell ? " said Hugh. 
 
 '' Rose, on the instant, and summoning all the ser- 
 vants, and several of the Dunster men, set out with 
 Master Bachell tP release them," said Basil. 
 
 " And why did he not rouse us ? surely our as- 
 sistance might have been deemed — " 
 
 " Your presence might have been productive of 
 bad consequences," said Basil Chipera, "though
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 239 
 
 Roger Priver had had his warrant torn to shreds, 
 Pym is not one to be trifled with, and hath a strong 
 party to back him." 
 
 "Pooh! the Dunster men — I mean the true 
 men, could have easily mastered Roger Priver and 
 his comitatus with Pym's trained-bands to boot," 
 said Julian. 
 
 " I meant neither comitatus nor trained troopers, 
 when I spoke of Master Pym's having a strong 
 party to back him," said Basil ; " I alluded to the 
 parliament, which seems to usm'p the powers of the 
 king." 
 
 " And do the ladies," asked Hugh de Mohim, 
 "know the cause of their being thus left to the 
 services of Basil Chipeia, and the companionship 
 of the tAvo young gentlemen, who have, unwittingly 
 it is true, been the cause of these unpleasant 
 disturbances ?" 
 
 " Doubtless sir, doubtless ; for Mistress Luttrell 
 herself, ordered hei tiring-maid to summon you to 
 the meal which I was preparing ; but, for certain 
 reasons, I thought I had better relieve her from so 
 onerous a duty, and come myself," said Basil ; and
 
 240 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 as he said so, he uttered a low, peculiar sound, some 
 thing between a cough and a laugh. 
 
 " What, sirrah ! — how mean you ? would'st 
 hint, that Mohun or I, would offer any rude- 
 ness to the discreet serving-maid of Mistress Lut- 
 trell ?" 
 
 '' Far be it from my thoughts ; rudeness ? no, 
 no rudeness, but I thought I might be better able 
 to supply the information you would require 
 than" — 
 
 " A pretty young woman, whose breath might 
 have failed her, under the exertion of climbing to 
 the keep of Dunster Castle," said Hugh. 
 
 Basil Chipera gave another of his peculiar 
 sounds, and then turned and ran rapidly down the 
 slopes, to the Castle. The young men followed 
 him more leisurely, and when they entered the 
 hall, found the ladies already seated at the upper 
 table, and a few domestics, all of the weaker sex 
 save Basil Chipera, in attendance upon them. 
 
 As Hugh de Mohun approached the table, and 
 removed his cap, which allowed his luxuriant black 
 hair to fall over his shoulders, Julian thought him
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 241 
 
 the handsomest man he had ever seen, and when 
 he removed his eyes from his friend, and turned 
 them on Prudence Everard, he fancied that he read 
 the same opinion in her speaking looks. She 
 looked pale, and as if suffering from the cold and 
 fright of the previous evening ; but, when she rose 
 to return her preserver's salutation, the blood moun- 
 ted to her face, and her eyes beamed so brightly, 
 and so sweet a smile spread itself over her features, 
 that Julian thought, wdth no little surprise, that, 
 until that moment, he had had no notion Prudence 
 Everard was so very beautiful. 
 
 He removed his gaze however, from the pre- 
 server and the preserved, to pay his attentions to 
 Mistress Luttrell, who, when she had returned the 
 salutations of the young men, and made kind in- 
 quiries after their health, summoned Basil Chipera 
 to his post, and set them an example to commence 
 the morning's irieal, which they were not slow- 
 to follow. 
 
 The meal was eaten nearly in silence, for the 
 table was surrounded by female domestics ; but, as 
 soon as it was ended. Mistress Luttrell, leaning on 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 the arm of Prudence Everard, led the way to the 
 library, and bade the young men follow her. 
 
 " Here is one here, Hugh de Mohun, to whom 
 itbecometh you to apologize humbly for having ab- 
 sented yourself, without permission, from his valu- 
 able lectures, and for appearing in a dress, which, 
 however well it becomes you as a )nan, is all un- 
 seemly for a student. Master Snelling, if the 
 book you are pondering over, can spare your ear- 
 nest gaze for a few seconds, I would pray you to 
 bestow them in chiding your runaw^ay pupil here," 
 said Mistress Luttrell, smiling as she spoke. 
 
 " My dear Hugh — my dear Hugh, you are 
 welcome : I forgive you all the trouble and anxiety 
 you have cost me — fieely forgive you, for 
 havincr rescued this dear child here," said the 
 tutor, taking Prudence Everard by the hand, and 
 imprinting a kiss upon it. " Had she perished in 
 the waves, Dunster Castle would have scarcely 
 again been enlivened by a smile from its mistress." 
 
 " True, true, good Master Snelling, in losing 
 Prudence Everard, I should have felt that I had 
 lost a daughter ; indeed Hugh, we — that is, I, 
 cannot be sufficiently grateful for your — "
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 243 
 
 *' Nay, say no more, madam ; Julian here, is 
 equally entitled to your praises with myself," said 
 Hugh. 
 
 "No," said Julian, sharply; *'no, whatever 
 merit is due, is due to you, Mohun. It may be 
 my good fortune to deserve the thanks of Mistress 
 Everard at some future time." 
 
 The words uttered by Juliau were uttered in 
 so unwonted a tone, that the ladies, Hugh de 
 Mohun, and even the usually absent Master Snel- 
 ling, could not help looking earnestly at him, to 
 see if anything had ruffled his temper. His cheeks 
 were flushed, and his light blue eyes sparkled 
 proudly, as he turned them first on Prudence 
 Everard, and then upon Hugh de Mohun, who 
 returned his gaze so fixedly, that Julian shrunk 
 abashed from it, and, turning on his heel, sought a 
 distant window, that commanded a ^^ew of the 
 town and the approach to the Castle. 
 
 Hugh was about to follow him, and demand 
 the meaning of his haughty looks and proud de- 
 meanor, but Mistress Luttrell and Prudence, who, 
 by a glance at each other, seemed to have commu- 
 M 2
 
 244 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 nicated their thoughts of Julian's conduct and the 
 consequences that might have resulted from it, 
 stayed him, and by compelUng him to give them and 
 Master Snelling a long account of the events at 
 Culbone revels, enabled Julian to recover, partially 
 it is true, his good-humour. He even supplied seve- 
 ral particulars, which Hugh's modesty would not 
 allow him to recount fully and fairly ; but, when 
 he had done so, as if he had acquitted himself 
 of a debt due to another, he again turned on his 
 heel, and sought his former station at the ^™dow. 
 
 Hugh followed his movements wdth his eyes : 
 again the colour rose to his cheeks, and he seemed 
 bent on demanding of him, on the spot, the mean- 
 ing of his unusual conduct. Again, a woman's 
 tact was employed to prevent mischief. Julian 
 was requested to go with Master Snelling to the 
 town, and inquire for news of his father and the 
 party who had accompanied him to the Dunkery 
 mines. 
 
 '' I would do your bidding gladly, ladies, and 
 leave Hugh de Mohun to entertain you further 
 wi^h a description of our follies, did I not see the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 245 
 
 very party, of whom you seek some news, al- 
 ready approaching the Castle. Yonder come Mas- 
 ter Luttrell and my father, -with the Castle servants, 
 hsLxing dismissed the Dunster men at the door 
 of the hostelr}', into which they are hiii'rying, 
 as bees into a hive, doubtless to break their fast 
 at the expense of the lord of this Castle,'* said 
 Julian. 
 
 The sound of horses' hoofs on the hard, rocky 
 road, leading up to the gates, was shortly heard, 
 and, in a few minutes. Master Luttrell and Ju- 
 lian's father entered the library, and briefly re- 
 counted the result of their interview with Ppn. 
 They then sought refreshment in the hall, whi- 
 ther they bade the two young men follow them, 
 leaving Mistress Luttrell and Prudence Everard to 
 the companionship of the parson of Dunster. 
 
 Master Bachell seemed inchned to be severe upon 
 his son for the part he had taken in the revels, but 
 Hugh de ^lohun generously exonerated him from 
 all blame, by explaining the means to which he liad 
 resorted to induce him to be his companion. In 
 this he was aided by Master Luttrell, who, good-
 
 246 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 humouredly rated Hugh on his imprudence, and 
 bade him, who had been the sole cause of all 
 the difficulties and dangers likely to result from 
 his wild thoughtlessness, suggest some means of 
 appeasing the wrath of Pym, and compensating 
 Roger Priver and the preacher for the ill-treat- 
 ment to which they had been subjected. 
 
 "I alone have been to blame," said Hugh, "and 
 upon me alone let the anger of Pym and the 
 wrath of Priver and Master Browne fall." 
 
 " Whatever punishment the parliament, by its 
 orders, inflicts upon Mohun, I share at any and 
 all risks," said Julian : " it never shall be said, 
 that a Bachell yielded to another in generosity ; 
 even though that other be a stranger, and altogether 
 unknown, except as the pupil of a good man and 
 a protege of the owner of tliis Castle." 
 
 " Why how now ?" said Julian's father, looking 
 searchingly at his son, " do you, Julian, call your 
 friend Hugh there a stranger, and allude to a 
 Mohun as an unknown ? what means this ? It 
 seems to me, that, since I left Ashley-Combe y ester- 
 mom, madness has seized upon every one."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 247 
 
 " What the young Master Bachell may mean, 
 I know not," said Hugh ; " but ^^ithin this half- 
 hour, he seems to me to have taken up a tone and 
 manner as insulting to me as they are unaccount- 
 able. If he hath cause of quarrel, let him state 
 it, he shall not find me backward in — " 
 
 " Tush, boy, tush I — if Juhan's temper be soured, 
 the point of your rapier, or a ball from one 
 of your play-thing pistols, will not sweeten it," said 
 Master Bachell. 
 
 " Nor those haughty looks, with which you 
 eye your friend," said Master Luttrell: " but what 
 means it all, Hugh ? I pray you explain." 
 
 "I know not what it means, nor have I any 
 explanation to offer," said Hugh, '• I pray you* 
 inquire of the young Master Bachell, what cause 
 of quarrel I have given him." 
 
 " Julian, what does all this mean ?" asked his 
 father. 
 
 " Nay, ask Mohmi ; he can best tell why he 
 treats me with such looks, and even offers to 
 back h!s haughty demeanor towards me with his 
 arms. I have no quarrel with him," said Julian.
 
 ^4^ DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Nor have I any quarrel witli you, Julian. 
 I cannot, in any way, account — " 
 
 " Then shake hands and be friends again, if you 
 have been foes, even in imagination," said Master 
 Bachell. 
 
 Julian ext nded his hand, and Mohun took 
 it, but each felt, that the grips of the other was 
 different from what he had always hitherto found it, 
 and each sat silently apart, during the discussion 
 that followed between the seniors, as to the best 
 mode of being prepared to meet the accusations 
 that would be brought against them by Pym. Af- 
 ter a lengthened conversation, it was agreed, 
 that Master Bachell and Julian should return to 
 Ashley-Combe, and there, quietly and in secrecy, 
 arm their followers; wdiile Master Luttrell was 
 pursuing the same plan with the tenants and retain- 
 ers of the Castle ; and that each should give the 
 other notice if any danger impended over him, and 
 both be prepared for mutually assisting and pro- 
 tecting each other. 
 
 The council, if such the little meeting might be 
 called, was then broken up, and, after having taken
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. ^'49 
 
 leave of the ladies, Master Bachell and Julian, moun- 
 ted on one of Master Luttrell's horses, left the Castle 
 followed at a respectful distance by Alick Pearson. 
 
 When they had left Dunster town, and were pass- 
 mg under the dark boughs of the pines which 
 covered the sides of Conygar hill, his father rode 
 close to Julian's side, and inquired of him, 
 firmly, but kindly, the meaning of the tone he had 
 assumed, and the rude allusions he had made to 
 one, whom, for some months past, he had proudly 
 acknowledged as a friend. 
 
 JuUan tried to evade giving an answer to his 
 father's questions, by saying, that he had merely 
 followed an example set him by Hugh ; but, upon 
 being closely examined and pressed home, he at 
 last owned, that he felt offended by the looks and 
 tones bestowed by Prudence Everard upon one com- 
 paratively a stranger to her ; — so much kinder and 
 softer, than she had ever cast upon hhn, whom she 
 had known for many years. 
 
 " And so, young man, because a fair girl allows 
 her eyes to beam kindly upon a youth who saved 
 her life at the risk of his own, and thanks him for 
 M 3
 
 250 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 his timely succour, in warmer and softer tones than 
 she bestows upon a mere acquaintance of her 
 infancy, you must needs feel offended, and vent 
 your spleen upon one, whom you should feel proud 
 to call your friend," said Master Bachell. 
 
 " I shall call him so no longer, unless he apolo- 
 gizes for his haughty looks and inflated demeanor 
 A Bachell is not to be insulted by a mere stranger, 
 and one who knows so Httle of his own origin, 
 as not to be able to recognize the arms borne 
 by those of his own name when he sees them," 
 replied JuUan. 
 
 " Talk not so fooKshly, Julian," said his father ; 
 *' though a mystery may, for a time, hang over the 
 birth of Hugh de Mohun, he will at some future 
 period, prove his right to wear the arms earned by 
 his ancestors, or bravely win, in the field of battle, 
 heraldic honours for himself." 
 
 " A deed not so easy of accomplishment, as the 
 mere dragging of a timid maiden from the trou- 
 bled waters of a shallow stream," said Julian. 
 
 " Fie, Julian, fie — ^you are mad, or jealous, or 
 both. Curb your temper, lest I repent me of the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 251 
 
 indulgences, which, as the only cliild of thy long 
 lost mother, I have, too weakly perchance, be- 
 stowed upon you." 
 
 JuHan did not answer his father ; but put spurs 
 to his horse, and rode forward in silence, until they 
 reached Ashley-Combe. He alighted at the hall 
 door, threw his bridle to Alick Pearson, and sought 
 his sleeping-room, where he exchanged his dis- 
 guise for his usual morning suit. He then sum- 
 moned Janet, the lodge-keeper's daughter, and 
 learnt from her the method by which she, as- 
 sisted by the servants, had so greatly alarmed Pym's 
 stalwart troopers, after drugging theii' night-possets. 
 
 But we must leave Ashley-Combe, and return 
 to Dunster Castle. 
 
 As soon as the Bachells had left the Castle, 
 Master Luttrell took Hugh de Mohun aside, and 
 inquired of him the cause of the evident displea- 
 sure of Julian, and his own proud looks of defiance. 
 
 Hugh answered, and answered truly, that he 
 could not account, in any way, for Juhan's con- 
 duct, unless it arose from a feeling, now that their 
 folly was over, that, by his persuasions, he had been
 
 252 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 induced to lake such a share in the forbidden sports 
 and pastimes as would eventually bring himself and 
 his father into danger and perhaps disgrace. He 
 freely owned that he had been wrong in resenting 
 his friend's intemperate conduct, and promised to 
 be more guarded for the future. 
 
 Master Luttrell kept his eye fixed on the coun- 
 tenance of Hugh, while he answered him ; and 
 was convinced, from every look and lineament, 
 that he had not tried to deceive him, and that he 
 really knew of no cause, beyond the one he had 
 suggested, for Julian's display of ill-temper. He 
 left him, therefore, with a request that he would 
 resume his ordinary di'ess, and join the family at 
 the dinner-table, at noon. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun gladly availed himself of an 
 opportunity for retiring for a while : he was anx- 
 ious to learn from some of his companions of the 
 previous day the particulars of the attack on 
 Vym and the Puritans, and to ascertain what their 
 plans were for the future ; in order to avoid the 
 punishment which Pym and his party in parlia- 
 ment would doubtless inflict upon those, who had
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 253 
 
 SO rudely set their orders at defiance and torn up 
 their warrant. 
 
 He did not wish to pass through the to^vl\ of 
 Dunster, for many reasons, in his present costume ; 
 and, as he had left his usual every-day di'ess with 
 Dame Tudball, it was necessary that he should 
 go to Minehead to resume it ; for he felt con\inced, 
 from his knowledge of the dame's temper, that 
 she would not give up his clothes to any one but 
 himself, and then, not without reading him a se- 
 vere lecture on his folly, in having got into a 
 scrape himself, and led her husbaad and Will Bow- 
 ering to join him. He sought the lodge, and gained 
 his o\\^l room, whence he let himself down, by 
 the aid of the i\y stems, into the thicket below the 
 gate tower. A few rapid strides brought him to 
 the edge of the lower park, the fence of which he 
 cleared at a bound, and, without seeing any one 
 or being seen, gained the meadows at the back of 
 the hostel called the Luttrell Arms. 
 
 He cautiously approached the house, and learnt 
 from the host that Dr. Graveboys and Jansen had 
 quitted the to^^ n, soon after they had heard from
 
 254 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Basil Cliipera that Pym and his followers were 
 likely to be set at liberty ; and were then some 
 miles on their road towards Bristol, where, it was 
 reported, some pestilent disorder was raging, which 
 the mediciner thought not unlikely to furnish him 
 with numerous customers. 
 
 Hugh, having learnt all the information that 
 the host could furnish him with, again entered the 
 park, and quickly sought the marshes below it. 
 Through these he hurried, avoiding Alcombe and 
 the upper town of Minehead, and so reached the 
 residence of Giles Tudball, which was at the bot- 
 tom of the town, and close to a lane leading down 
 to the marshes and the shore. He looked about 
 the out-premises, where the skins and hides were 
 dressed and dried, in hopes of seeing Giles before he 
 sought his wife ; that he might learn what sort of 
 mood the dame was in, and what kind of reception she 
 had given her husband, on his return from Dunster. 
 
 Neither Giles, however, nor any of his men were 
 to be seen ; so Hugh had no other course to pur- 
 sue, but to knock at the door of the dwelling-house, 
 and ask for Dame Tudball.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 255 
 
 " Keep the outside, keep the outside, Master 
 Hugh, not a footfall of yours shall ever be heard 
 within these doors again ;" screamed the dame from 
 her window above Mm. 
 
 " My good dame, what have J done to offend 
 you ?" said Hugh, with a soiTOwful face, and in 
 humble tones. 
 
 " Don't good me, or dame me — or speak to 
 me — you, you ne*er-do-well — is it not enough that 
 you make a fool of yom'self by your mummings, 
 and youi' junketings, and your wrestlings, and other 
 ungodly sports, but you must lead my good man — 
 fool that he is — into scrapes and fightings, and per- 
 haps into prison ? Get you gone, and never let me 
 see the face of you more." 
 
 When the dame had uttered these words as 
 rapidly as she could, she shut the casement with 
 such force, that two or three quarries of glass were 
 shaken from their frames, and came crashing on 
 the ground at Hugh's feet. 
 
 " See there again," shouted the dame through 
 the vacant leads, '^ ill-luck attends you, wherever 
 you come or go, and I hope it will bide by you 
 for life—I do."
 
 256 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 '* Nay, good, kind dame, mind not this trifle, 
 I will send one that shall soon repair the damage 
 at my cost ; and my good dame, do just tell me 
 where I may see Giles, for I have news for him, 
 and let me in to exchange these garments for my 
 student's dress," said Hugh. 
 
 The dame left the casement for a few seconds 
 and then returned to it, and when she had opened 
 it, she threw out Hugh's clothes in a bundle, 
 and bade him " trudge elsewhere w4th them ; for 
 itito her house he should never set foot again." 
 
 " And will you not tell me where I may see 
 Giles, dame ? his safety may depend on my 
 seeing him," said Hugh. 
 
 " Safety ? and what care I for his safety ? he 
 may as well be in a prison as junketing in an ale- 
 house, instead of being at home with his wife and 
 attending to his business.'" 
 
 *' Is he at the Plume of Feathers in the upper 
 town, or at — " 
 
 " If you want him, you may seek him, and the 
 search will not be a hard one, to one who knows 
 liis haunts and habits," said the offended lady.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 257 
 
 again closing the casement, but with less violence 
 than before. 
 
 Hugh did not wait to see if the dame would re- 
 pent, and let liim in to change his cbess, but sought 
 the stable, and, mounting the ladder leading to the 
 hay-loft above it, converted it into a dressing- 
 room, and, when he had changed his clothes, he 
 hid his sailor's dress behind some bundles of fodder. 
 He then returned to the beach, and, following its 
 windings, gained the pier, and entered the Ship- 
 aground, at its head. There he found Giles, Will 
 Bowering, and several more, listening to Richard 
 Luckes and his wife, who had not long returned 
 home from Ashley-Combe, and were entertaining 
 their friends and customers with an account of all 
 that had taken place there, previously to their 
 retui'n. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun seated himself amongst them, 
 and, when they had exchanged all the informa- 
 tion they were possessed of or required, it was 
 agreed that no further steps should be taken in the 
 business, until they should hear, which they would 
 doubtless do, through ^Master Luttrcll or Master
 
 258 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Bachell, what means of punishment Pym, and 
 the parliament, at his instigation, would adopt. 
 
 This agreement was sealed by a tankard of foam- 
 ing ale, of which all partook largely but the old 
 harbour-master, who, complaining of its being some- 
 what cold to his stomach, was furnished with some 
 strong waters^ at the expense of Master Robert 
 Quirke. 
 
 Hugh then withdrew, taking Giles Tudball with 
 him, and, as soon as they had gained the beach, 
 gave him so vivid a description of the reception he 
 had met with from the dame, and the sort of hu- 
 mour she was in, that Giles determined to set out 
 upon one of those inland expeditions, in which he 
 frequently indulged under various pretences. 
 
 Hugh tried to dissuade him from doing so, lest 
 his prolonged absence should make his good 
 woman more irate ; but Giles knew that, if he allow- 
 ed it time, her temper would cool, especially if 
 he made good use of his absence, and returned 
 home with a full purse. 
 
 Hugh, therefore left him, after he had told him 
 to let Will Bowering seek for and take care of his
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 259 
 
 sea-suit, and retraced his steps to Dunster Castle, 
 whither he arrived, without any one but Basil 
 Chipera knowing of his absence, in good time 
 for the mid-day meal.
 
 260 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Master Thomas Luttrell and Master Bachell, 
 were busily engaged in preparing such of their ten- 
 ants as were of age to bear arms, in the exercise 
 of the pike, rapier, and pistol. The men were fur- 
 nished \A'ith horses, and mustered regularly on 
 certain days, and not dismissed until they had per- 
 formed certain evolutions on horseback, and certain 
 exercises on foot, which were deemed necessary by 
 their respective officers. So great was the zeal dis- 
 played, especially by the younger men, who tho- 
 roughly hated and detested the Roundheads, that a 
 few weeks sufficed to render many a hand, which had 
 hitherto only guided a plough or wielded a whip, 
 fully capable of managing a pike, and using the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 261 
 
 small-sword and heavier cavalry sabre. The neigh- 
 bouring gentry too, who had heard of the proceed- 
 ings at Culbone revels and their results, follow- 
 ed the example set them by the lords of Dunster 
 and Ashley-Combe, with whom they lived on the 
 most friendly terms, and armed their tenants and 
 dependents. A little army was thus formed and 
 prepared to defend themselves and their leaders, 
 against any hostile measures on the part of Master 
 John Pym of Cutcombe, or King Pym, — a title 
 by which he had then become generally known. 
 These warlike precautions, however, seemed to 
 be unnecessary^ ; for nothing was heard either of 
 Pym or the Parliament, with reference to the ille- 
 gal acts of the Culbone revellers, or the imprison- 
 ment of the constables by the Dunster men. Pym 
 and the Parliament were, in fact, too much busied 
 with affairs of State, to find time to think of so tri- 
 fling a matter as a breach of their authority in a 
 little, out-of-the-way nook, in the West. Pym 
 was engaged in daily conferences with the Scot- 
 tish covenanters, and in laying their complaints 
 and wishes before the house of commons. The 
 commons were occupied in receiving messages
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 from the king, who was then at York, and in fram- 
 ing such answers as should involve him deeper and 
 deeper in the meshes of a policy, which, they began 
 to see, would end in open rebellion, and the curtail- 
 ment, if not the utter extinction, of the regal 
 power. The royalist members, few in number, but 
 all good men, and true to their sovereign, vainly en- 
 deavoured to stem the tide of treason, flowing in so 
 fiercely against them. They formed but a miser- 
 able minority, and their voices, when raised in de- 
 fence of their lawful sovereign, were drowned by the 
 overwhelming shouts of his opponents. Many of 
 them, who foresaw that words would lead, and 
 shortly too, to blows, left London for their country 
 homes, where they either levied forces to be in 
 readiness for the approaching struggle, or, hav- 
 ing collected all their semceable followers, joined 
 the king as speedily as they could. 
 
 Pym had not forgotten the insults he had met 
 with at Culbone and Dunster : he bided his time, 
 thinking that an opportunity would shortly occur 
 of punishing those with greater severity than he 
 could do at present, who had despised his authority 
 and imprisoned himself and his followers.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 263 
 
 Had he been inclined to be obli\ious on the sub- 
 ject, he had those about him who did not fail to re- 
 fresh his memory. The preacher, Robert Browne, 
 and the bailiff of Dunster, Roger Priver, had posi- 
 tively refused to return to their homes, until such 
 measures had been carried into effect as should 
 ensure them from further vengeance from the ma- 
 lignants of Dunster and its neighbourhood. Pym, 
 not choosing to leave them at Cutcombe, lest the 
 unrestrained licentiousness of their speech should 
 provoke an attack, that might endanger the safety 
 of his family, bade them follow him to London, and 
 upon their arrival, appointed Master Browne to be 
 the private chaplain to his household, and Roger 
 Priver to act as superintendent, or officer, over a 
 small body of men, whom he had armed and kept 
 about his person. Pym was a courageous man, and 
 belonged to a party that was in favour, especially 
 with the lower orders of London and Westminster ; 
 but, since the very prominent part he had taken in 
 procuring the execution of Strafford, he had, more 
 than once, been attacked in his passage from his 
 residence to the house of commons. He had de- 
 fended himself bravely and successfully against these
 
 264; DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 attacks ; but his friends, who knew his value to the 
 cause they were advocating, had prevailed upon 
 him to make the assurance of his safety doubly 
 sure by going down to Westminster, surrounded 
 by such a body of men as should deter his enemies 
 — who, of course were called the m}T:midons of 
 Charles Stuart, papistical malignants — from making 
 further aggressions on his person. 
 
 Like Xerxes, with his minister by his side, bid- 
 ding him daily, to ' Remember the Athenians,' 
 Pym was daily reminded by his chaplain and the 
 officer of his body-guard not to forget the malign 
 nants of Dunster and Ashley-Combe. 
 
 " How long ? how long ?" would Master Browne 
 cry, as he raised his eyes to the ceiKng, at the con- 
 clusion of his graces before and after meat, " How 
 long ? how long shall the men of Duntser and of 
 Porlock triumph ungodly ?" 
 
 " How long ? how long — will the parliament per- 
 mit its officer's ill-treatment, and the destruction 
 of its warrant of authority, by the hand of prelatists 
 and papists, to go unpunished ?" would Roger Pri- 
 ver Snuffle daily into his master's ears, as he rode 
 bv his side down to the house of commons.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 265 
 
 Pym could do no more to appease the eagerness 
 of his followers, than to bid them have patience, 
 until weightier matters were disposed of ; a reply 
 that invariably produced a deep groan from the 
 breasts of those, who were panting for vengeance 
 on their foes, and whose hatred grew the fiercer, 
 the longer the execution of their vengeance was 
 delayed. 
 
 But we must leave London and public events for 
 the present, and return to Dmister Castle. 
 
 Although Master Luttrell was much occupied 
 in levying and training his troops, he was not im- 
 mindf ul of the promise that he had made to Hugh de 
 Mohmi, that his ward, the fair Prudence Everard, 
 should represent on canvass her escape from the 
 waters of the Hone river. Prudence was skilful 
 in painting, and, as Mistress Luttrell was constantly 
 by her side, when Hugh sat for his portrait, she 
 could see nothing objectionable or imj^roper in 
 the execution of the pleasing task which her guar- 
 dian had set her. The picture proceeded but slowly, 
 it is true ; for the palette was frequently laid 
 aside for a ramble in the gardens, or on the keep ; 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 — for a gallop over the park and the surrounding 
 Tors ; but still more frequently, for the enjoyment 
 of conversation and music, — an art in which 
 also Prudence excelled. Still it progressed, 
 to the satisfaction of good Master Luttrell, who, 
 though by no means a connoisseur in the art of 
 limning, could not fail to acknowledge his fair 
 ward's success in representing on the canvass the 
 features of her preserver. 
 
 To Hugh de Mohun, these days passed as if 
 they had been a succession of joyous dreams. His 
 worthy tutor, Robert Snelling, was too busily enga- 
 ged in \mting a treatise in defence of the impri- 
 soned Laud, to devote much of his time to his pu- 
 pil's improvement. He, therefore, contented him- 
 self ^^dth pointing out to him such passages in 
 the ancient poets and historians as he wished 
 him to study during the day, and Basil Chipera, 
 did not deem it any part or portion of his duty 
 to inform the tutor, that the pupil was so re- 
 markably quick at study, as to be able to conquer 
 the difficulties of his authors in a very short space 
 of time.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 267 
 
 Master Luttrell was, as we have seen, much 
 employed in training his followers, and Mistress 
 Luttrell had many duties to attend to, in her nur- 
 sery, and in other parts of her estabKshment, 
 besides watcliing the growing attachment of two 
 young persons, or rather of exercising a duenna- 
 like surveillance over them, lest an attachment 
 should be formed between a young orphan girl 
 entrusted to her charge, and a young man, of whose 
 origin and prospects m life she was by no means 
 fully informed. Hugh de Mohun and Prudence 
 Everard were, therefore, left much together — but 
 not alone ; for the little Alice Luttrell, a lovely child, 
 about twelve years of age, and her brother William, 
 about a twelvemonth younger than she was, were 
 almost constantly their companions, both in the li- 
 brary and in their walks and rides. 
 
 It happened one day, some three weeks after 
 the doings recorded in the commencement of our 
 tale, that Hugh de Mohun rode with Prudence 
 Everard to a spot in the park of Dunster, which 
 was a favourite resort of theirs, although it bore 
 but an ill name with the superstitious peasantry 
 
 N 2
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 around. On the side of a hill, named Grabhurst, 
 stood a bright, clear pool of water, called St. Leo- 
 nard's Well. It was partly enclosed by a stone wall, 
 and roofed over, to protect it from the inroads of 
 the deer and the cattle, which would have polluted, 
 by their trampling, the pure stream that sup- 
 plied the to\\Ti and Castle wdth water. The walls 
 and roof were thickly covered with luxuriant ivy, 
 and around it, grew a circle of lofty trees, w^hich 
 extended their mighty branches about them, as 
 if to shelter and protect the humbler thorns, which 
 flourished beneath their >^hade. 
 
 The waters of St. Leonardos "Well were reputed 
 to be possessed of healing powers ; if drunk or 
 used externally, at their pure source, they were said 
 to stay fevers and to prevent blindness. It was, 
 however, necessary to invoke the aid of St. Leo- 
 nard, before using or drinking of the waters of his 
 fountam, and that too, either before the sun's rays 
 had shone upon them, or after they had ceased 
 to reflect his beams. Early in the morning or late 
 m the evening, the water was efficacious; but, if 
 taken when the glare of day was upon it, it lost
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 2G9 
 
 its healing properties. Many, who would have 
 gladly tested the medicinal powers of St. Leonard's 
 Well, were deterred from doing so by a story that 
 was current in the neighbourhood, that Mistress 
 Leckey, " the grey woman of Minyead,'" had of late 
 taken it under her especial protection, and taken 
 up her abode within the grove that surrounded it. 
 The few peasants, more resolute than their friends, 
 who had ventured to di'ink there at the prescribed 
 hours, had heard strange noises amidst the trees, 
 and seen something grey hovering about the thick 
 may-bushes. Some had even gone so far as to assert, 
 that they had distinctly seen, and been plainly 
 spoken to, by the grey woman, who bade them, as 
 they valued her pleasure or displeasure, not venture 
 a second time to disturb her in her quiet retreat. 
 
 In spite of these reports, Hugh de Mohun and 
 Prudence Everard made frequent visits to the 
 well of St. Leonard ; for the ride tliither was over 
 green, velvety turf, and the \-iew from it was very 
 beautiful. They could tether their ponies to the 
 thorn-bushes, and allow them to crop the luxuriant 
 grass that grew around them ; and, seated on the
 
 270 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 stones, that formed the entrance to the well, 
 enjoy the prospect about them, while the little 
 AKce and her brother amused themselves by gazing 
 at the pebbles, which shone like diamonds, at the 
 bottom of the bright, and bubbling stream-head. 
 
 It was on one of the loveliest evenings of that 
 " sweetest month of all the year" — May — when de 
 Mohmi and Miss Everard, arrivmg after a gentle 
 canter at the grove which surrounded the well, 
 dismounted from their forest ponies, and fastened 
 them by their bridles to one of the numerous 
 thorns that grew there. The children dismounted 
 too ; but, after amusing themselves, for a short 
 time, by plucking the may-boughs, now covered 
 with their bloom, mounted again, without the 
 knowledge of their friends, and set off for a race 
 upon the soft, noiseless turf. Prudence seated her- 
 self on one of the stones at the entrance of the 
 conduit, and de Mohun stood by her side, leaning 
 his back against the dark green leaves and tor- 
 tuous branches of the ivy, that completely covered 
 the little building. Neither spoke for some mi- 
 nutes, for both were engaged in viewing the lovely
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 271 
 
 and extensive prospect before them, and in listen- 
 ing to the nightingales and other song birds, that 
 were warbling their evenmg hymns in the thicket 
 adjoining. 
 
 '• I wonder, de Mohnn," said Prudence Everard, 
 at length breaking silence, and pointing with her 
 riding wand towards the Channel, " I wonder if what 
 I have read of foreign lands be true. Can southern 
 France, the banks of the Rhme, or the shores of 
 the pure-skied Italy, so much surpass in beauty 
 the prospect which now lies before us ?" 
 
 " I can scarcely think it," replied Hugh, "and yet, 
 1 have imagined it, when reading the glowing des- 
 criptions of those who have travelled in the lands, 
 and about the spots you name. Never have I, I 
 must confess it, seen this and other spots so beau- 
 tiful as within these last few days ; — it must be this 
 splendid weather, that causes every tiling to look 
 so bright and beautiful." 
 
 Prudence Everard sighed slightly as she owned 
 that she too, in her frequent visits to Dunster 
 Castle, had never seen the country around look so 
 lovely as it had lately appeai'ed to her.
 
 272 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " See there," said Hugh, pointing over Mine- 
 liead towards the broad ocean, " see there, where 
 the setting sun throws its deep red glare over the 
 cahn and placid waters of the Channel, in which we 
 may fancy reflected as pure a sky as Italy can boast 
 of. And see here again, to the right, where its 
 last rays bring out boldly, in relief, the deep re- 
 cesses and tall forests of our Tors, which need 
 not yield in height or majesty to the much vaun- 
 ted hills of Rhineland. Below us too, is a quiet 
 scene, such as southern France cannot, methinks, 
 with all her beauties, greatly sui'pass : of vines and 
 olives we cannot boast ; but those rich sea-green 
 2neads, surrounded by lofty elms- and oaks, and 
 dotted here and there, with flocks and herds, and 
 the bright green ribbons of the springing corn, pos- 
 sess such channs for English eyes, that I, for one, 
 would not wilHngly exchange them, for what may be 
 but the fabled glories of other and strange lands.'* 
 
 *' Can those other strange lands, of which you 
 speak, show us any thing more majestic in its sim- 
 ple grandeur than our Castle there, with its dark 
 red turrets clearly defined against that cloudless
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 273 
 
 sky; and Conygar too, — its pine-clad sides may 
 fairly emulate, though not upon so grand a scale, 
 the sombre groves of northern England. It is 
 very beautiful ;" said Prudence Everard. 
 
 " It is very, very beautiful," repeated Hugh, 
 and yet the time has not long passed, since I was 
 wilKng, — ay and anxious, — to exchange these our 
 lovely home-views, and hitherto peaceful lands, for 
 other countries and far different scenes. Now, 
 methinks, I would not leave this happy spot, — this 
 quiet, calm life — for worlds of w^ealth, or the 
 proudest titles which fame could confer upon me. 
 Would that I were the owner of these fair do- 
 mains !" 
 
 " And why ?" said Prudence, turning her dark 
 blue eyes inquiringly on her companion. 
 
 " Miss Everard," answered Hugh, as he took 
 the hand which rested on an ivy branch by his 
 side, "if I were the lord of these domains, and 
 master of this fair hand, I would not exchange 
 positions with — " 
 
 " Nay — nay, my friend — for such I may inno- 
 cently call my preserver — " said Prudence Ever- 
 N 3
 
 274 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 ard, rising, aad endeavouring to withdraw her 
 hand, " this is language to which I must not, — 
 cannot listen. Remember de Mohun, I am 
 young — an orphan, and, as I believe, dependent 
 on the bounties of my friends — nay, leave me, I 
 entreat you — release my hand." 
 
 " Miss Everard — Prudence Everard, hear me 
 but one word. T love you — love you, with all the 
 fervour of a heart in which passion has never yet 
 held sway — with all the purity of a virgin affection 
 — nay, turn not away until you have heard me 
 out. Never again will I alarm you with an offer 
 of my love — never entreat you to own an affection 
 for me, until I can do so fairly and honourably, 
 and with the obtained sanction of your friends and 
 guardians. A cloud hangs over me at present, 
 which I will speedily dispel, and when I have as- 
 certained and obtained my rank and fortune, both 
 shall be laid at your feet. Tell me — tell me I 
 entreat you, if de Mohun proves himself of un- 
 blemished descent, and the owner of goodly lands, 
 will Miss Everard entrust the happiness of her 
 future years to his keeping?"
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 215 
 
 " Never — never ! the base-born never can bt 
 united to the last of the noble Everards." 
 
 These words were spoken in a deep, yet shrill 
 voice, which seemed to proceed from the very cen- 
 tre of the well. They were spoken slowly and 
 distinctly — word by word — almost syllable by syl- 
 lable. Prudence Everard stood still, and turned 
 as pale as the waters at her feet. Hugh de Mo- 
 han dropped the hand he held, and gazed into 
 the recesses of the well, as if he expected to find 
 some one concealed mthin them. It was unoc- 
 cupied, save by the bubbling waters. He passed 
 rapidly round the building, and then inished into 
 the grove which surrounded it. No human being 
 was within sight. 
 
 " The children! — Alice — WilHam — the children ! 
 de Mohun, where are they ?" 
 
 " Here we are, dear Prudence," said little Alice, 
 "we have had a race, and my dear Sylvia has 
 beaten Willy's Trotty — oh, so much, you can- 
 not think." 
 
 " Ay, but your Sylvia is higher by a hand, 
 than poor Trotty, and you had the best start," said 
 the boy.
 
 276 DUNSTEIl CASTLE. 
 
 " Saw you no one near us, as you rode down to 
 the well ?" asked Hugh. 
 
 " No one," said Alice. "Indeed, if any one had 
 been at the well, we could not have seen them." 
 
 " Why notj dearest?" asked Prudence Everard. 
 
 " Oh," said Willy, " there was a grey sort of 
 mist all about it, that at a distance, looked for all 
 the world like an old woman in a grey cloak." 
 
 " We had better return home. Miss Everard/' 
 said Hugh : " the evening dew is rising." 
 
 Prudence, declining the proffered assistance of 
 de Mohun, mounted the pony, and the party rode, 
 almost in silence, to Dunster Castle.
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 27" 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 It was nearly dark when Hugh de Mohun 
 parted with Prudence Everard and the children, at 
 the small postern, which led from the quadrangle 
 in front of the Castle to the long range of sta- 
 bling. He did not bid them farewell for the night, 
 as he intended to join them at the supper-table. 
 Supper, that most sociable of all meals, for it is 
 partaken of after the cares and labours of the day 
 are over, — was served about eight o'clock ; and 
 the children were not mifrequently allowed to sit 
 up and partake of it, especially if they could en- 
 gage the interest of Prudence Everard as a can- 
 vasser in their favour. 
 
 Hugh was not a little chafed in his temper, 
 at Miss Everard's having declined his services 
 to assist her from her saddle : a few moments
 
 278 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 however, sufficed to enable him to smooth his 
 ruffled brow. As he rode homewards, by the side 
 of her he loved, the words of the mysterious voice 
 at the well had rung in his ears, and given rise to 
 thoughts more painful than had ever pervaded his 
 mind before. He had endeavoured to bring to his 
 recollection all the scenes of his earliest days. 
 He tried to remember the features of those who 
 were around him in his infancy ; but, beyond a 
 shadowy outline of a tall, dark lady, who had once 
 or t\nce received him into her bosom from the 
 arms of his old nurse, and the dim features of 
 another domestic, no impressions remained on 
 his memory. 
 
 Was he base-bom ? how should he solve the 
 problem ? His aged nurse was he knew not where. 
 She might be buried for all he knew, and, with 
 her, the secret of his birth. His tutor, Master 
 Snelling, was doubtless furnished with full informa- 
 tion on the subject; but was he at liberty to dis- 
 close what he knew ? — He would seek him and 
 question him closely. 
 
 Acting upon this resolve, Hugh, when he had
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 279 
 
 quitted his companions, crossed the quadrangle, 
 and, with impatient strides, rushed down the steep 
 pathway which led to the gate tower, wherein his 
 tutor lodged. The arched door-way, which gave 
 access to the interior, and was usually open, was 
 now closed, and the door itself fastened. Hugh 
 knocked impatiently upon it with the butt of his 
 riding-whip, but could obtain no reply to his sum- 
 mons. Again and again, and with increasing loud- 
 ness, were the blows repeated, but to no purpose. 
 He looked up to the window of the room in which 
 his tutor usually studied and wrote, but no light 
 shone from its quan-ied casement ; he went to the 
 farther side of the tower, and, climbing to his own 
 window, by means of the strong ivy stems, tried to 
 gain access to his apartment in his usual way ; but 
 the iron-bound casement was secm-ely fastened 
 within, and he was forced to descend without ac- 
 complishing his object. He then, knocked and 
 shouted at a small aperture, which gave light to 
 the lower room, usually occupied by Basil Chi- 
 pera ; but no response was granted to him. 
 
 Bestowing any tiling but a benediction on the
 
 280 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 head of the absent warder, he returned hastily 
 to the Castle, not doubting that Basil had left 
 his post for the hostelry in the to^vTi, and that he 
 should find his tutor busily engaged in the li- 
 brary ; a spot that held out so many temptations to 
 the good old man, that, when once he was enscon- 
 ced within its walls. Master Chipera knew that 
 his absence for some hours would not be noticed, 
 a circumstance by which he did not fail frequently 
 to profit. 
 
 A small side door from the gardens, of which 
 he had a key, admitted him to a passage leading to 
 the library. He opened the inner door, but found 
 the room in total darkness. Well knowing the 
 localities, he crossed it, and made his way to the 
 entrance hall, and thence to the large hall, or ban- 
 queting room, where he found several of the ser- 
 vants preparing for the evening meal. To his in- 
 quiries for his tutor, he was answered, that Master 
 Snelling had set off that afternoon, with Basil Chi- 
 pera as a servant and guard, for the good city of 
 Bristol, with the purpose of having his volumi- 
 nous manuscripts in defence of Laud and the
 
 DUNSTER OASTLE. 281 
 
 Chiu'ch put into print ; and had left word that 
 Hugh de Mohun should employ himself in the 
 library, and take up his residence -svithin the Castle, 
 until his return. 
 
 Great was the disappointment, but the young 
 man bore it manfully ; for he was aware that his 
 tutor's absence would not be prolonged beyond the 
 ensuing Saturday, as his duties would require his 
 presence on the Sunday. He took a rapid walk 
 on the terrace of the gardens, to allay his irritated 
 feelings ; and, when calmness was restored to his 
 mind, he joined the family of his friend at the 
 supper table, with an unbeating heart and unruf- 
 fled forehead. 
 
 " I wonder," said Mistress Luttrell, " that 
 Julian Bachell hath been so long an absentee from 
 these walls, which in his childhood were to him as 
 a second home." 
 
 '* He has been, and is still, busied in assisting his 
 father in raising the tenantry, and perfecting them 
 in their exercises," said Master Luttrell. " King 
 Charles has not a more zealous soldier, in his 
 dominions, than the young Julian. Did he con- 
 sider his father safe in his absence, he would ere
 
 282 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 this, have joined the armies ah'eady raised in the 
 North, and rallying round their ill-used sovereign." 
 
 " An it please you, sir," said the aged butler, 
 as he stood behind his master's high-backed chair, 
 " Master Julian was at the Castle this afternoon." 
 
 " And why came he not in, as was his wont ? " 
 inquired the lady. 
 
 " An it please you, madam, he was about to 
 dismount; but when I told him that Master Hugh 
 de Mohun was absent, riding in the park with 
 Mistress Everard, he turned his horse's head, in^ 
 tending, as I deemed, to join them." 
 
 " Saw you nought of him ?" asked Master Lut- 
 trell. 
 
 " "We did not see him," replied Hugh, " But he 
 might easily have missed us had he sought us ; 
 for Dunster park is no paddock to be traversed 
 over in some hour or so." 
 
 " Had he ridden to Grabhurst, we must have 
 seen him," said Alice, " for Willy and I were can- 
 tering about on the highest ridges of it, while dear 
 Prudence here, and Master Hugh, were amusing 
 themselves by sitting and watching the trickling 
 waters of S^ Leonard's Well."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 The colour rose vividly in the cheeks of Hugh 
 and Prudence Everard at this simple remark, 
 their eyes met for a moment, and were then firmly 
 fixed on the cloth that covered the board. Mis- 
 tress Luttrell glanced from one to the other and 
 then at her husband ; but her looks were not heeded 
 by the latter, as he was busily employed ^vith the 
 viands before him ; and an observation " that Mas- 
 ter Bachell had doubtless failed to find his friend 
 de Mohun and ridden home again," put an end to 
 further speculation on the subject. 
 
 Supper over, blaster Luttrell requested Pru- 
 dence to take her seat at the instrument, and sing 
 to him one of his favourite songs. She readily 
 complied ; but did not sing ^vith her usual spirit. 
 In a duet with Hugh de Mohun, which they had 
 so often sung together as to be perfect in it, 
 Prudence sang in so flat a tone, and the voices 
 were so far from harmonizing, that Mistress Lut- 
 trell could not refrain from asking her ward if she 
 were ill. 
 
 Prudence o^vned that she did not feel quite 
 well, and feared she might have taken a slight 
 cold, from riding in the evening dews.
 
 284 DL'XSTER CASTLE. 
 
 ]Mistress Luttrell kissed the fair cheek of her 
 ward, as she stood beside her, and, in a whis- 
 per, told her that she thought such late and dis- 
 tant rides had better not be repeated ; and then 
 bade her seek relief from her indisposition in sleep. 
 
 Prudence retired immediately, and Hugh would 
 fain have done so too, for his quick ear had caught 
 the wliispered ad\ice of Mistress Luttrell ; but 
 he was detained for some two tedious hours, 
 listening to the unentertaining detail, anent the 
 progress made in military matters by his newly 
 raised troop, delivered by his host, between the 
 puffs of his silver-mounted pipe. 
 
 The harangue, however, ended with the third 
 pipe, and Hugh, after having learned that the par- 
 son of Dunster would return from Bristol so soon 
 as he had seen his manuscript placed in the prin- 
 ter's hands, and given the necessary directions for 
 ha\ing the proof sheets foi-warded to him, retired 
 to his bed, to think over the events of the day. 
 
 When Prudence Everard had reached her sleep- 
 ing room, she dismissed her maid immediately ; 
 declining her services for the night, under the
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 285 
 
 plea of a ^'iolent head-aclie. When the maid had 
 left her, however, she did not commence her pre- 
 parations for retiring to rest, but sat down near 
 the window, and gently opened the casement. 
 The fresh air from without blew chilly upon her, 
 but the very chilliness was a relief to her. Her 
 brain seemed heated, her forehead throbbed, and 
 the coolness of the night wind spread refreshingly 
 over her temples, and seemed to allay their pain- 
 ful throbbings. 
 
 She sat for some time, thinking of the interview 
 with Hugh de Mohun at St. Leonard's Well, and 
 of the strange voice and words, wliich had closed 
 it so fearfully and abruptly. Maiden-like, she 
 blushed, though no eye was near to see her, when 
 she thought of the sudden declaration of love 
 poured into her ear by her preserver, and reso- 
 lutely examined her heart, to see if its pure recesses 
 harboured more than a friendly and grateful feel- 
 ing towards him. 
 
 What the result of the self-imposed examination 
 might have been, it is impossible to say ; for, ere 
 it came to a conclusion, the fair girl felt a hand
 
 286 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 laid gently on her shoulder, and heard the gentle 
 voice of her guardian and more than mother whis- 
 per a chiding into her ear, for endangering her 
 health by exposing herself to the damp dews of 
 night. 
 
 " Nay, dearest madam," said Prudence, raising 
 Mistress Luttrell's hand to her lips, " no harm 
 will befall me from these pui'e breezes ; indeed 
 they have done me good already, for my head did 
 ache and — " 
 
 *' Art sure, dearest, that this little heart is not 
 more affected than the head ?" said Mistress Lut- 
 trell, drawing her to her, and placing her arm round 
 her slender waist, so that her hand rested on her 
 heart. 
 
 Prudence tried to withdraw from her embrace, 
 but her guardian, using a gentle violence, held 
 her firmly, while she questioned her in alow voice, 
 as to what had passed between her and Hugh de 
 Mohun, at the fomitain of St. Leonard. 
 
 After a slight struggle with herself, Prudence 
 revealed, ingenuously, every thing that had pas- 
 sed between them ; and so vividly was the scene
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 287 
 
 impressed upon her memory, that the very words 
 used by Hugh and herself at the well, were re- 
 peated to the attentive ear of her guardian. 
 
 *' I have been to blame," said Mistress Luttrell, 
 as she released the blushing girl from her embrace, 
 and drew her upon a couch by her side ; " I 
 only have been to blame : I ought to have been 
 aware of and guarded against the danger of leav- 
 ing two young hearts, ignorant of the world and 
 of themselves, to the influence of a passion, likely 
 to be engendered by gratitude for a life preserved 
 on the one hand, and on the other, by a noble, a 
 manly feeling of satisfaction, at having been the 
 preserver of so fair a form as this." 
 
 Prudence Everard threw herself on Mistress 
 Luttrell's bosom and sobbed. 
 
 " Yet why should I blame myself ? Prudence 
 Everard, I feel for yoa as a mother would feel: I 
 do not believe that my love for mine ov.'n child, 
 my youthful Alice, surpasses the love I feel for 
 you, — you, who, motherless and fatherless, an or- 
 phan indeed, are left to my protection. Were 
 Alice arrived at vour time of life, and had she been
 
 288 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 preserved from almost certain death by so noble a 
 youth as Hugh de Mohun, could I — " 
 
 " But the words — those fatal, mysteriously 
 uttered words — ' base-born,' can they be true, dear- 
 est lady?" said Prudence, raising her face and 
 gazing fixedly at her guardian. 
 
 " Imagination, dearest, — fancy — must have de- 
 ceived you," said Mistress Luttrell. 
 
 " Nay, lady, I heard them pronounced too slowly 
 and distinctly, ever to attribute them to fancy or 
 imagination," said Prudence. 
 
 " Some prying spy must have been at hand, and 
 maliciously or playfully, uttered them, in order 
 to alarm you." 
 
 *' Not so — it is impossible ; you know the spot 
 well; excepting the rock-covered well itself, and 
 the small group of trees and bushes which sur- 
 round it, all is open hill about it, there is not so 
 much as a thicket to hide a hare, within half a 
 mile of it," said Prudence, earnestly. 
 
 " And may not the recess of the well, or the 
 overhanging mound, have concealed some wander- 
 ing eaves-dropper ?"
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 289 
 
 " No, dearest madam, for Hugh de Mohun ex- 
 amined both, speedily and accurately; and the 
 children, who were returning to us at the moment, 
 must have seen any one who had fled from the 
 spot, which was found uninhabited by aught, 
 save ourselves," said Prudence. 
 
 " Well, dearest, well," said Mistress Luttrell, 
 '* I have no superstitious feelings myself, neither 
 I think, have you. I have no doubt that we shall 
 find some earthly solution of the difliculty which 
 now puzzles us. But we will sleep upon these 
 and other matters, and talk them over calmly and 
 rationally in the morning; and, as to the nobility of 
 de ]\Iohun's birth, rest assured, that our doubts 
 on that subject can be, and shall be, set at rest by 
 good Master Robert Snelling on his return to the 
 Castle. 
 
 As she uttered these words, the fair guardian 
 kissed her fairer ward's lips, and bade her seek 
 that repose which her agitated spirits required. 
 
 Prudence closed her casement, drew her cur- 
 tains, and was speedily undressed, and soliciting 
 the approach of sleep to her harassed mind; 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 290 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 hours, however, passed before she really slept, and 
 
 then it was but to dream as she slept. 
 
 First and foremost, she dreamed that she was 
 again in the cutter; the winds were howling 
 around her, the cordage whistling wildly in her 
 ears, and the waves madly lashing the sides of 
 the groaning vessel, as it lay on its side upon the 
 sands. Again the welcome blaze of the beacon 
 was seen, holding out a hope of safety and of suc- 
 cour. Again did she, by its bright flashes, see the 
 boat upset in its attempts to reach them ; and still 
 more clearly, the bold plunge of Hugh de Mohun 
 into the boiling waters, and his vigorous struggles 
 to gain the wreck. Again was she precipitated 
 with him into the wa^es, and mistrusted his man- 
 ful endeavours to conve}^ her safely to the shore. 
 She felt his warm breath upon her cold cheek, 
 as he chafed her into life again, and repeated her 
 grateful thanks for the preservation of her life. 
 
 Anon the vision changed. The well — the burn- 
 ing words of love, poured into her virgin ears, and 
 the awful warning, so mysteriously uttered, were 
 vividly before her— strange, unearthly figures pco-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 291 
 
 pled the spot, menacing her with gibbering faces, 
 and amongst them, most conspicuous, the grey 
 woman of Minehead, such in appearance as she 
 had heard her described by the credulous peasantry. 
 The vision changed again. She was in a strange 
 country — far different in its appearance from her 
 beloved Somersetsliire ; instead of the lovely val- 
 leys, the lofty Tors, and the noble Channel, she 
 beheld a flat, uninteresting scene, on which grew 
 a few stimted willows, beside a narrow sluggish 
 stream. It seemed a picture of desolation ; sud- 
 denly, however, it became peopled. From two 
 opposite directions, dense bodies of armed men 
 issued — they rushed to the encounter ; and, amidst 
 the roar of cannon, and fierce cries of vengeance, 
 the shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the 
 dying came clearly defined upon her ear. Like the 
 figures of the optician's instrument, these melted 
 gradually away, and left two men only standing 
 in the midst of what had been two armies. Foot to 
 foot — hand to hand they stood, striving like de- 
 mons for each other's life. The bright sparks 
 flew from their swords, as they thrust or cut 
 o 2
 
 292 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 at each other, and parried the rapidly succeeding 
 blows. At length, one of the combatants fell, 
 and, as his adversary passed his sword through 
 his breast, a white-plumed hat fell from his dark- 
 ly-clad brows, and disclosed to her the features of 
 Hugh de Mohun. The foe, who wore the livery 
 of the king's enemies, but whose face could not 
 be seen, again raised his arm to repeat the blow. 
 Prudence shrieked out — '^ Spare him ! " and awoke. 
 Ere she could recover her scattered senses entirely, 
 she found Mistress Luttrell by her side, gazing 
 upon her wonderingly and tenderly. 
 '' What ails my child ?" 
 
 " I did but dream," said Prudence, " I did but 
 dream, and a fearful dream it was ; — but it was 
 but a dream, and I will rise immediately." 
 
 She tried to fulfil her resolve, but, when she 
 made the attempt, a sickly feeling came over her — 
 her head seemed to reel round and round, she 
 trembled violently, and fell back on her pillow 
 senseless. 
 
 Mistress Luttrell, after trying the effect of the 
 usual restoratives for fainting fits, and finding
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 29o 
 
 them vain, became alarmed, and dispatched a 
 sen^ant for medical aid. The surgeon, on his 
 arrival, and after due examination of the pulse, 
 pronounced the disorder to be an attack of fever, 
 or of that hideous disease, the small-pox ; but he 
 could not tell which. 
 
 The rumour that the fair Prudence Everard was 
 seriously, nay dangerously, ill was soon spread 
 about within the Castle and in the town. The last 
 person who heard the report was the one whom 
 it most concerned to learn it. Hugh de Mohun 
 had risen early, and left the Castle for the well of 
 St. Leonard, determined to pass the day by the 
 side of its waters, to see if, perchance, he could 
 solve the mystery of the voice which had pronoun- 
 ced him to be base-born.
 
 294 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun did not stir from his position 
 beside St. Leonard's Well, until the shades of even- 
 ing fell gloomily over its waters. He had provi- 
 ded himself with a book and some means of re- 
 freshment, in order to enable him to keep his re- 
 solve, not to quit the spot until the hour should 
 have arrived, at which the being, earthly or un- 
 earthly, had proclaimed him to be base-born, and 
 as such, unworthy of the hand of Prudence Ever- 
 ard. 
 
 The hours passed away slowly and silently ; no 
 sound was heard, from morning until eve, but the 
 gentle murmurings of the stream, as it trickled 
 from its rock- covered recess into the channel which
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 295 
 
 conveyed it to its destination, and the voices of 
 the birds, as they warbled forth their melodies in 
 the grove. 
 
 "I need wait no longer," said Hugh, as he pla- 
 ced his book in his bosom, " but, before I quit 
 this spot, I ■v\ill betake me to a little distance on 
 the hill, to see if the same appearance will pre- 
 sent itself to my eyes, as was seen by Alice and 
 WilHam Luttrell." 
 
 Hugh slowly mounted the steep ascent, keep- 
 ing as nearly as he could, in the path by which 
 the children had descended, which the traces of 
 the footsteps of their ponies pointed out to him. 
 When he reached the summit, he turned round 
 and gazed eagerly at the well. 
 
 " By heaven ! — but it is strange — well may the 
 ignorant, uneducated peasant deem the mist which 
 shrouds the well to be the wraith of Mistress 
 Leckey! It hath a wondrous similitude to the 
 figure of a grey-clad witch. See it moves its arm 
 and beckons to me: I ^\ill not be churlish enough, 
 not to attend its summons." 
 
 A few seconds sufficed to bring the cictive youtli
 
 ^6 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 to the spot which he had so recently quitted, and, 
 as he suspected, the nearer he approached it, the 
 fainter the \dsion grew, and, when he arrived at 
 the well, not a particle of mist was visible. 
 
 "That riddle is solved." said Hugh, ''the wa- 
 ters and the moist ground, render the air cooler 
 here than elsewhere, and consequently, a vapom*, 
 in a state of condensation, hovers over the spot, 
 and is visible at a distance. But the voice ? — I 
 would I could solve that mystery as easily." 
 
 " What ho ! Hillioah ! hillioah !" screamed a 
 voice close to the well. 
 
 Hugh started, and laid his hand on a pistol 
 which was concealed within his tunic. He looked 
 about him, but no one was to be seen. 
 
 " Whoever or whatever you are — appear!" 
 
 " Hillioah — hillioah ! — Master Hugh — Master 
 Hugh !" 
 
 *' Whoever calls me, I am here. Come forth, 
 appear!" shouted Hugh greatly excited. 
 
 " Here, indeed — I would that you had been 
 there, down at the Castle, and saved my old knees, 
 and my panting lungs so great an exertion ; — din-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 297 
 
 nerless you have been, and supperless you will be, 
 unless you hasten back to the Castle, where every 
 thing is at sixes and sevens, because forsooth. Mis- 
 tress Everard is ill and light-headed, and Master 
 Hugh is well and light of foot, and been missing 
 all day, and I forsooth am to be sent, old as I am, 
 because the fools below, have not courage to look 
 upon an old woman in a grey cloak — to search 
 St. Leonard's Well for a straying student." 
 
 " How came you hither, Jefferies ?" asked Hugh 
 earnestly, of the aged butler. 
 
 "On foot, on foot, and a toilsome climb I have 
 had of it. But young Mistress Alice would make 
 me go seek you here ; for, as she said, she knows 
 you love to haunt this spot, in spite of the grey 
 woman of Minehead, who is said to haimt it too." 
 
 " But I saw you not as you approached, and 
 I^was on the hill above," said Hugh. 
 
 "Folks must have sharp eyes that can see 
 through a thick mist and a mound of thorns 
 and oaks," said the butler ; " but come, your pre- 
 sence is needed at the Castle ; for the young Mis- 
 tress Everard is suffering from your having impru- 
 o 3
 
 298 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 dently detained her in the dews of yester-evening, 
 and is seriously fevered and beside herself." 
 
 "Prudence Everard ill! I and away — let us has- 
 ten JefFeries, let us hasten, and you can tell me of 
 her ailments as we go along — how, when, where, 
 was she taken ill ? speak." 
 
 " Nay, if you gallop down hill at so fast a pace, 
 you must needs answer your own questions, for 
 the little breath I have left wall not suffice me to 
 run and talk too," said JefFeries. 
 
 " Then I will leave you to return at your lei- 
 sure, and will seek my information from others," 
 said Hugh, as he darted forward and left the old 
 man to follow him as he best could. 
 
 He found, from Mistress Luttrell, that Pru- 
 dence was dangerously ill, and heard from Master 
 Luttrell, that her mind w^as wandering, and that 
 her thoughts, if they could judge of them % 
 her rambling words, were busied with fears of his 
 exposure to some unpronounced danger, and with 
 some unearthly vision which she had seen at St. 
 Leonard's Well. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun was greatly shocked at these
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. ^9 
 
 ill- tidings, and grieved to think he should not hav^e 
 heard of her illness before. He fully explained 
 to his friends why he had been absent until so late 
 an hour, and was applauded by both of them for 
 having endeavoured to discover the person who 
 had so wTongfully insulted him, and so cruelly 
 alarmed Miss Everard. 
 
 " But the physician — what report does he make ? 
 is he skilful ? does he give any hopes ?" said Hugh 
 eagerly. 
 
 '' He repeats," said Mistress Luttrell, '' that a 
 fever, the result of cold or excitement, or some- 
 thing else, is raging in the veins of my dear ward." 
 
 " Is that all the information his skill enables 
 him to give ? he must be an ass — an ignorant 
 ass," said Hugh. 
 
 "Nay, he is sufficiently skilful for a country 
 mediciner, and shews his wfsdom by not assignmg 
 any specific cause for his patient's disorder," said 
 Master Luttrell, smiling at Hugh's earnestness. 
 
 " But the result ? does he give any hopes of 
 a speedy recovery? tell me, dear madam," said 
 Hugh.
 
 300 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " He can only tell us that much depends on the 
 result of the drugs he has administered, and upon 
 the patient being kept perfectly quiet. The mor- 
 row, he says, will enable him to speak more posi- 
 tively." 
 
 " Dear madam," said Hugh, " had you not bet- 
 ter seek further ad\nce ? this mediciner is a mere 
 village apothecary : every moment is of vital con- 
 sequence, let me mount a horse, and seek further 
 aid." 
 
 "You will be puzzled to find it, Hugh, nearer 
 than Taunton, or Bridgewater, but rest assured 
 of this, that, should it be needful, further aid shall 
 be procured. Now to supper — that my lady here 
 may return to watch over the slumbers of. her sick 
 ward." 
 
 As Master Luttrell said this, he seated him- 
 self at the table, and commenced his evening meal. 
 Mistress Luttrell followed her husband's example, 
 for she had to prepare for a night of watchful 
 sleeplessness. Hugh, who had lost all appetite, in 
 fears for Prudence's safety, thought both of them 
 very unfeeling persons, for being able to swal-
 
 DL XSTER CASTLE. 301 
 
 low food while one so dear to them was lying ill. 
 He tried to eat, but he could not, his mouth 
 felt dry and parched. He took the wine-cup 
 presented to him by JefFeries, and drained it to 
 the dregs. The draught revived him, and he was 
 enabled to inquire more calmly into many par- 
 ticulars of which he was still ignorant. 
 
 ^' So, young sir," said Master Luttrell, assuming, 
 a seriousness of brow, as soon as his lady had bid- 
 den them farewell for the night, and Jeiferies 
 had placed all that was requisite for their final re- 
 freshment, before them, " so, young sir, it seems 
 that you have contrived, in the space of some three 
 short weeks — " 
 
 "Very short ones — " said Hugh, '^ I never knew 
 three weeks pass so speedily." 
 
 " Or so happily, 1 presume ; but do not inter- 
 rupt me. You have contrived, it would appear, 
 in this very short space of time, to lose your own 
 heart and gain that of my fair ward in exchange." 
 " That I have lost my o^vn, I will not deny ; 
 for I cannot, with any show^ of truth ; and 1 would 
 gladly know that I had won a heart so pure and
 
 '302 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 guileless in exchange ; but of that fact I have no 
 assurance," said Hugh. 
 
 "You have confessed your love to Prudence, 
 did you ask for hers in return ? be candid, Hugh 
 de Mohun, you speak to a friend." 
 
 " T will be candid. I have confessed my affec- 
 tion to Miss Everard. I would not however de- 
 mand her hand, until I should have cleared up 
 the mystery of my birth, and ascertained whether 
 my rank and my fortune were worthy of her accep- 
 tance. Thus much I had told her, when the mys- 
 terious voice forbade our union, under the vile as- 
 surance that I was basely bom." 
 
 " You have, so far, acted well and honourably, 
 Hugh. It will be necessaiy that the man who 
 weds Prudence should have both station in so- 
 ciety and fortune to maintain his rank. She is 
 of unsullied descent, and my duty is to see that 
 no stain be marked upon her escutcheon. She is 
 poor too — nay almost penniless — for her father, 
 the last of the Everards of Luxborough, was entan- 
 gled in the meshes of the law, and sold his estates 
 to maintain a system of hospitality, which he erro-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 303 
 
 neously deemed essential to the character of a 
 country gentleman." 
 
 "Trust you to my honour, sir," said Hugh, 
 proudly, " not to solicit further for the hand of 
 your fair ward, until I find my name to be pure 
 and unsullied, and my fortune adequate to her 
 deserts." 
 
 " Both of which points, though doubtful at pre- 
 sent, may, as I beKeve, be solved by my worthy 
 chaplain. Master Robert Snelling, on his return." 
 
 " I would that he were here now," said Hugh. 
 
 " Time enough — time enough — ^for, should he 
 solve our doubts favourably, both you and Pru- 
 dence Everard are too young as yet to form a 
 contract which is to last for life. Should your 
 claim to the unsullied name and the wide do- 
 mains of the Mohuns be made good, you shall 
 have my consent to aspire to a union with Pru- 
 dence, after she, should God spare her to us, 
 and yourself, shall have passed three or four 
 years in the world — " 
 
 " Three or four years I — an eternity ! " said Hugh, 
 looking amazed.
 
 304 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " in order, that both of you may be sure, 
 
 that none others have charms enough to make you 
 regret your hasty choice. But stirring times, or 
 I mistake not, are at hand. Hugh de Mohvm, in 
 your love-dreams, you have not noted the pro- 
 gress of events in the outer world. The king is 
 daily, nay, hourly threatened ; not only his power 
 but his person is in danger. The Church is assailed 
 by men, who, feigning to believe all that her ene- 
 mies speak against her, are eagerly awaiting an op- 
 portunity of possessing themselves of her fair inheri- 
 tance. In her defence, and in the defence of my 
 lawful sovereign, this arm shall be exerted, and 
 these broad lands, bequeathed to me by my ances- 
 tors, shall be willingly sacrificed, to raise and main- 
 tain troops, that will fight in their lawful king's 
 behalf, so long as the walls of this my Castle hold 
 together." 
 
 '* And, should such a necessity arise," said Hugh, 
 " I should feel a pride in ranging myself under 
 your banner. The plume of feathers shall not be 
 plucked from the crest of the Luttrells, while a 
 Mohun can wield a weapon in its defence."
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 305 
 
 " I believe thee, Hugh, and I thank thee also, 
 nor will I fail to avail myself of your services, 
 should they be required. I will now wish thee 
 a good night and refreshing slumbers, — promising 
 you the due fulfilment of my word, with respect to 
 Prudence Everard, on the terms I have mentioned ; 
 provided that the report from the lips of good 
 Master Snelling shall be, such as I doubt not it will 
 be, confirmatory of your claims to an unspotted 
 descent and suitable means for its maintenance." 
 
 Hugh shook the extended hand of his friend, 
 and retired, but not to rest. He summoned Jef- 
 feries to his apartment, and bade him go seek the 
 latest news of ]\iiss Everard's condition. The an- 
 swer was unfavourable ; she was restless and more 
 feverish, and the mediciner was about to take blood 
 from her surcharged veins. 
 
 Hugh could not sleep, but threw open the case- 
 ment of his room, and leaned out of it, as far as he 
 could thrust his body, that the cool night-air might 
 allay the fever, which burned within liim, caused 
 by anxiety for the safety of her whom he loved. 
 
 " I would," said he, " that Dr. Graveboys were
 
 306 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 in the neighbourhood, for, though a mere Quack- 
 salver, as he is termed by the professionals, his ex- 
 perience is great, and his drugs have wrought 
 many and wondrous cures. I marvel where he 
 may be found ; but, if Prudence Everard be not 
 pronounced out of risk when the morrow's sun 
 rises, I will seek him ; even should I be necessi- 
 tated to journey as far as the city of Bristol for the 
 purpose." 
 
 For some four or five hours, did the anxious 
 youth tread his apartment, as the seaman treads 
 the deck of his vessel in the night watch. Now 
 and then, he gently opened his door and listened, 
 if ought might he heard to increase or dimin- 
 ish his fears ; all, however, was still — silent as the 
 grave, on which, for the first time in his life, 
 he thought sadly and seriously. At length, worn 
 out with fruitless watching, he flung himself in 
 his day dress on his bed, and fell into a deep and 
 heavy slumber. 
 
 Vexed and hurt was he, when he awoke, to find 
 the sun already far up in the heavens on his daily 
 course ; and still more vexed, when Jefferies, steal-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 307 
 
 thily entered his apartment to tell him that Master 
 Luttrell was awaiting him in the hall. 
 
 " Unfeeling \\Tetch, that he must think me, to 
 be slumbering here when, perhaps, death may 
 be — but, Jefferies, I have passed a sleepless night, 
 and, though the mind was wakeful, the body at 
 last failed me," said Hugh, as he sprung from 
 his bed. "But Prudence — Miss Everard — what 
 report bring you of her ?" 
 
 " She is no worse," said Jefferies. 
 
 " Thank God for it," said Hugh. " I will but 
 bathe my temples, and be with you speedily." 
 
 When Jefferies had left the room, Hugh de 
 Mohun threw himself on his knees beside his bed, 
 and offered up a prayer for the invalid's safety and 
 recovery ; as pure and sincere as ever issued from 
 the heart of man. He then plunged his heated 
 brow into the cool water, and arranged his dress 
 as speedily as possible, and joined the party as- 
 sembled at the morning meal. 
 
 There was one there whom he little expected to 
 see. Julian Bachell was seated beside Mistress 
 Luttrell : he rose upon Hugh's entrance, and
 
 308 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 proffered him his hand ; Hugh grasped it in silence, 
 and scarcely raised his eyes to see with what expres- 
 sion of feature his former friend regarded him, but, 
 dropping it quickly, sought the side of Mistress 
 Luttrell, to obtain a confirmation of the aged but- 
 ler's assurance that Prudence Everardwas not worse. 
 
 '* She is not worse, de Mohun," said Mistress 
 Luttrell. " She has passed, it is true, a troubled 
 night, and the fever, in despite of the blood-let- 
 ting, is not diminished. It is accounted a favourable 
 symptom that it hath not increased." 
 
 " Would it not be well to seek further advice, as 
 I suggested last evening," said Hugh. 
 
 " That is provided for," said Master Luttrell. 
 " Julian Bachell, having heard from some Dunster 
 men, of the ill-health of my ward, hath abeady des- 
 patched a messenger to Cutcombe, to ensure the 
 services of an eminent physician of Taunton, who is 
 still in attendance, at intervals, on the lady of Master 
 John Pym, who is scarcely as yet convalescent." 
 
 Hugh de Mohun looked at Julian Bachell, as if 
 to ask him how he had dared to interfere in a mat- 
 ter which could not concern him ; and fancied that
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 309 
 
 a smile of triumph passed over his features as he 
 returned his gaze. 
 
 But Httle was spoken during the remainder of 
 the meal, save on subjects of public interest, which 
 had so few charms for Hugh that he scarcely lis- 
 tened to the remarks which were made. As soon as 
 the meal was over, he left the hall, and walked 
 rapidly up to the keep, and looked about, upon the 
 distant hills that stretched away towards Cut- 
 combe, as if to see if the physician who had been 
 summoned so unexpectedly by Julian were on his 
 road to the Castle. No one was to be seen, ex- 
 cept some shepherds watching their homed flocks, 
 and Hugh turned away from that quarter in a list- 
 less maimer, and wandered to and fro on the green 
 turf of the Keep. 
 
 In his wanderings, he, udthout designing it, ap- 
 proached the arch of the ruined tower, and again 
 gazed upon the shields and crest, which JuHan 
 had informed him were the arms borne bytheMo- 
 huns, who were formerly lords of Dunster and of 
 many fair and broad lands besides. 
 
 " Am I entitled to wear those arms as mine by
 
 310 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 legitimate descent, or am I not ?" said Hugh, 
 aloud ; for he believed himself to be alone, and far 
 from the hearing of any mortal being. 
 
 " Not without the bend sinister, the mark of 
 the base-born, being drawn across them," was 
 replied to his question, in the same loud, screaming 
 voice as he had heard on the eventful visit to St. 
 Leonard's Well. 
 
 " Who is it that so unhesitatingly answers my 
 doubts ?" said Hugh. " Speak— I will listen." 
 
 No further reply was made to him, and Hugh, 
 after searching the building and the bushes around 
 it, to see that no one was concealed mthin reach 
 of him, moved away, saying, " Well, no matter, 
 when Master Snelling returns, I shall know all." 
 
 "Ay, tvhen he returns, you will know all," 
 screamed out the same voice. 
 
 "By Heaven! it came from the ruins! some 
 one lies concealed there : I will find him, if he 
 be mortal, and make him repent of thus rashly 
 taunting and insulting me," said Hugh, as he 
 dashed under the old archway. 
 
 The decayed door gave way readily to the weight
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. 311 
 
 of his person, thrown hastily upon it, and Hugh 
 rolled in, amidst a heap of rubbish and clouds of 
 dust, which his violent entrance had produced. 
 His search was long but \'ain ; no one was to be 
 seen. 
 
 Slowly did he descend to the Castle, and anx- 
 iously did he await in the librar}' the arrival of 
 the Taunton physician : it was late in the day when 
 he arrived. His %-isit to the sick chamber was a 
 prolonged one ; and, when he left it, he frankly sta- 
 ted that the chances of life and death were so nice- 
 ly balanced, that he could not ventui'e to sav 
 which w^ay the scales would turn. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun turned sorrowfully away, when 
 he heard what he believed to be a confirmation of 
 his worst fears, and for that, and the succeeding 
 day, knew not how he passed his hours, though 
 the servants knew that he neither ate nor slept, 
 but wandered from room to room, and passage to 
 passage, seeking intelligence of the state of Pru- 
 dence Everard. 
 
 The morning of the Saturday dawned, on which 
 the return of Master Robert Snelling was expected.
 
 312 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun had ceased to wish for his re- 
 turn ; for what mattered it to him, whether he could 
 proclaim him rightful heir to the Mohuns, if she, on 
 whom he wished to confer their unblemished name 
 and estates, were to be taken from him ? The medi- 
 ciner however, announced that a favourable change 
 had taken place in the night, and that he believed, 
 that nature had won the battle over disease.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 31, 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Mabel, wench ! Mabel, girl I — what ho! Mabel I 
 the devil's in thee — Mabel, I say, come hither, and 
 put tilings in order, for Master Robert Quirke's 
 reception : that youi' master is mad there's no 
 Cjuestion, and your mistress is not far behind him : 
 to think they should go tramping up to Ashley- 
 Combe, merely to see the new-trained bands go 
 through their exercise, under the orders of yotmg 
 Julian Bachell; and Master Robert Quirke, the 
 richest habitant of Minyead, coming to pass his even- 
 ing, and smoke his pipe at the Ship Aground !" said 
 Master Luckes, the old harbour-master. 
 
 "Well I'm a coming, as fast as I can," said 
 Mabel — " I must tidy myself, I suppose, before I 
 can wait on Master Quirke." 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 314 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 " Ay, ay —dress, dress — nothing but dress ! but 
 not to please the eye of old Master Quirke. The 
 St. David is expected in harbour this evening, and 
 the folk do say that Master Jenkins's mate, Welsh- 
 man though he be, hath found favour in the eyes 
 of Mistress Mabel. Well, well — to think that my 
 son Richard and his wife should go gadding 
 after a parcel of country loons, in body armour and 
 scull-caps, instead of staying at home to receive the 
 worshipful company of Master Quirke and the 
 Captain of the St. David ! And to lock up the buf- 
 fet too, in which the strong waters are kept, when 
 they know that their ale sits but coldly on the 
 stomach ! " 
 
 '' There is ginger in plenty," said Mabel, " my 
 mistress will not be long ere she returns. The 
 buifet would not be locked, did not some people 
 apply to it so often, when they have free access 
 to it, as to muddle the few brains that nature has 
 provided them with." 
 
 " Get thee gone, thou art saucy, wench," said 
 old Master Luckes, *' get thee gone, but yet, stop — 
 as thou sayest there is ginger in store, you may
 
 DUXSTER CASTLE. S\5 
 
 make me a cup of warmed ale, and season it with a 
 little spice and some sugar; it will serve me to 
 sip until Master Quirke comes." 
 
 " "Well, here he is, and in good time," said Mabel, 
 as she showed him in; and as I live. Master Jen- 
 kins with liim. I will just run and see the St. 
 David made fast to the pier, and be back again to 
 take their orders, as soon as they are ready to give 
 them." 
 
 Away scudded the girl, and was soon in the 
 embrace of her lover, the mate of the St. David ; 
 a few hurried words assured them that their love 
 was unchanged, and a promise from the mate that 
 he would visit her, as soon as he had made every 
 thing snug on board, enabled Mabel to hurry back 
 to her duties, just as old Master Luckes had called 
 down upon her head every malediction, with which 
 his memory supplied him. 
 
 " Xay, be not angry. Master Luckes," said both 
 of the guests; "Mabel is a good girl, and is 
 only gone to greet her sweetheart upon his safe 
 return." 
 
 " She is a spy — a vile eaves-dropper and a tale- 
 p 2
 
 316 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 bearer," said the old harbour-master ; " but for her 
 tittle-tattling about my love of the Dutch bottles, 
 I could offer you something better than the cold 
 ale and still colder cider from my son's cellars." 
 
 "Piiovided the ale be good, and sufficiently 
 •spiced, it will serve my turn until Master Richard 
 comes back," said Quirke, " so, when Mabel hath 
 had enough talk vvdth her lover, order her to bring 
 us pipes and a warm tankard." 
 
 " Nay, an old Master Luckes lacketh patience to 
 await the opening of the buffet, I can give him a 
 dose of as good Scheidam as ever warmed his old 
 nose," said Jenkins, producing from the folds of his 
 large wrapping coat, a bladder containing about 
 two quarts of the liquor the old man loved. 
 
 "Ahah — ahah," said the harbour-master, apply- 
 ing his lips to the mouth of the bladder, which 
 was tied to a bit of elder, hollowed out to form a 
 mouth-piece, " ahah ! but that is good — I will but 
 taste it again, and then order Mabel to furnish 
 neated water and sugar and — " 
 
 " Avast there ! — steady, old fellow !" said Master 
 Jenkins, " a bladder holds but little, and if you pull
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 317 
 
 away at it so heartily, you will leave your friends 
 but a smell instead of a taste." 
 
 " Ah, I did but put my lips to it," said the old 
 man; "but it hath a glueish quality about it, 
 which makes it hang to one's mouth." 
 
 Mabel, who had hurried over her little flirtation, 
 now came in, and furnished the guests with all that 
 they required. They had not long lighted their 
 pipes, and sipped their glasses, ere the host, Rich- 
 ard Luckes, entered, accompanied by Giles Tud- 
 ball and his mate Will Bowering. Their appear- 
 ance was heartily greeted by all the party ; for 
 Giles had been absent, inland, for some three 
 weeks, and Will had only returned from a long trip 
 over to Holland, on the day before. 
 
 "Let us make a night on it," said Giles, " I 
 have put my old woman in a good humour, by 
 placing a tolerably well laden purse in her hand, 
 atid Will's good woman hath such a store of goods 
 to sort and stow av.ay, that she will not miss her 
 husband, should he sit up to hear the cock crow- 
 ing. I have news too, my masters ; news well 
 worth the hearing, and if Master Richard will but 
 send a trustworthy person to Will Bowering's
 
 318 DLNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 house, he will find there a something, in the shape 
 of a tub of real Nantz, that will help us to pass 
 away the time." 
 
 *' I -s^-ill go myself — I will not entrust it to ano- 
 ther, for fear of accidents," said the old harbour- 
 master. " I will but taste it, under Mistress 
 Bowering's eye, to see that no mistake be made, 
 and be back again nnon." 
 
 " Not so — not so, sit thee still old boy ; who 
 would trust a wolf to bring home a lamb, or a 
 kite to carry a cliicken to its roost: sit thee 
 still, and be content to have your share of the 
 Nantz, when it shall have been safely conveyed 
 hither." 
 
 As Master Jenkins said this, and thrust the old 
 grog-lover back into liis seat, the rueful aspect of 
 his face was so ludicrous as to cause a burst of 
 laughter at his expense. 
 
 " Were I not an old man and weak to boot, you 
 would not treat me thus. Master Jenkins, you 
 d d Welsh skipper you ; to insinuate and in- 
 timate that I would take advantage — unfair advan- 
 tao"e — of Giles Tudball's keg ! may I be — '' 
 
 " Over a reeking goblet of its contents," said
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 319 
 
 Giles Tudbal], "as thou shalt be, if — ?/, mind — you 
 conduct yourself quietly and peaceably, as an old 
 man should do." 
 
 I did but jest — Master Jenkins knows, I did but 
 jest ; but he is ever fond of trying if my English 
 temper be as hasty as his Welsh disposition is." 
 
 " Nay, your blood is naturally cooler than mine, 
 I allow," said Master Jenkins ; " but it hath such 
 a quantity of strong waters mingled with it, that 
 it runneth through vein and artery in such a tide, 
 that the cable of your discretion is Hable to be 
 parted." 
 
 " Ay, like the cable, and a strong one it was 
 too, of the Blossom of Minyead, which was bitten 
 in two by a cod-fish, on the Dogger-bank, in his 
 struggles to get off my hook," said Will Bowering. 
 
 " An that be not a lie of the first water — as they 
 speak of diamonds — I know not what is," said 
 Master Quirke. 
 
 ** I will swear to the truth of it," said Will, " for 
 1 saw the fish with mine own eyes. It ^^ as at 
 least three yards in length, and had teeth, to the 
 full as long as my fingers."
 
 320 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 A loud roar of laughter pacified old Master 
 Luckes, and silenced Will Bowering. The host en- 
 tered with a jorum of hot grog, the pipes were 
 filled and lighted, and, after a few puifs and a few 
 sij^s, to enable them to ascertain if the weed and the 
 liquor were really good, Master Quirke begged of 
 Giles Tudball the disclosure of the important 
 news at which he had hinted. 
 
 " 1 have been the long journey," said Giles, 
 " and have seen much, and heard more. Perilous 
 times are at hand, and it behoves us to be on the 
 loot-:)Ut." 
 
 "What does Master John Pym — " began the 
 skipper of the St. David. 
 
 " Pym me no Pyms, Master Jenkins ; though 
 king Pym, as they call him, be a great man in 
 these pai'ts, he is but one among the many, who 
 are doing their best to dethrone our King and to 
 destroy our Church. In every towTi and every vil- 
 lage through which I have journeyed, I have seen 
 such preparations making for the carrying on of 
 a war, that I cannot but believe both parties are 
 in earnest, and bent on trying their strength in a
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. S2l 
 
 struggle. I have heard and seen much from both 
 sides ; for I travelled witli merchandize, and had 
 free admission every where, and, from what T 
 have seen and heard, parties are so nicely balanced 
 that the struggle will be a fearful one." 
 
 " But the nobility and gentry," asked Robert 
 Quirke, "surely they take side with their lawful 
 sovereign ?" 
 
 " In the west, such is the case. The larger towns, 
 and the villages around them have placed them- 
 selves under the orders of the gentry, and are arm- 
 ing in defence of the kmg. As I journeyed Lon- 
 don-ward, however, after passing the towns of 
 Newbury and Reading, and the royal residence of 
 Windsor, I could experience a vast difference. 
 Neither gentr}^ nor soldiers were to be seen ; but 
 on every heath and common, and in every street 
 and mafket-place, crowds were assembled around 
 preachers, who were instilling into the ears of their 
 hearers a poisonous belief that our king, yielding 
 to the advice of Laud and the bishops, was about 
 to suppress the reformed religion and re-establish 
 popery in its stead. In proof, were adduced the
 
 322 DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 restoration of stone altars and painted windows in 
 our churches, the use of credences and the sur- 
 plice, or * white' as they call it, in the pulpits, 
 and an assumption of priestly authority on the 
 part of the clergy, savouring of the days prior to 
 the blessed reformation. As I entered the city — " 
 
 '' Hast been to London then ? " asked Master 
 Jenkins. "Ay have I, and seen what I grieved 
 to see. The whole city is armed and in opposi- 
 tion to the king." 
 
 *' And where is the King ?" asked every one. 
 
 " In the north — beyond Derby, or, as some say, 
 at York — and, although the flower of our gentry 
 and our nobles are rallying around him, it is said, 
 that he is in sad deficiency of means to pay for 
 the support of his troops." 
 
 " And the Queen — is she yet retmiied ?" asked 
 Robert Quirke. 
 
 *'I am grieved to say, that a report is current, 
 that the vessel, in which she was returning with 
 ample supplies of money and ammunition from 
 Holland, has been driven ashore somewhere on the 
 coast, and she herself and all the moneys and
 
 ' DUXSTER CASTLE. 323 
 
 jewels she brought with her fallen into the hands of 
 her enemies. The aavy, it seems, hath sided with 
 the parliament and against its king ; but the news 
 of the queen's capture are so uncertain, that I 
 would not have you depend upon them." 
 
 *'I trust they be not true," said Robert Quirke, 
 "and, upon that my trust, I will give you a toast to 
 drink, Giles ; let the glasses be filled to their brims : 
 now then, rise every one, and doff liis cap — I give, 
 * Charles Stuart and his Queen Henrietta, and may 
 their enemies perish as they deserve ! ' — to the 
 dregs, boys, to the dregs, fancy the liquor the blood 
 of the rebels, and leave not a drop of it, now — 
 The King and the Queen — hurrah !" 
 
 Every glass was drained, and every voice exerted 
 to such a degree, that the very cliffs, which impen- 
 ded over the Ship Aground, shook with the shouts 
 which issued from its doors. 
 
 " Saw you aught of ^Master Pym, Giles Tud- 
 ball ?" asked Master Jenkins. 
 
 "Ay, that did I," said Giles, laughing ; "I put 
 on the guise of a Scotch pedlar, and made my way 
 into his house, though I should have had a diffi-
 
 S24f DUXSTER CASTLE. 
 
 culty in doing so, had I not furnished myself with 
 the newest tracts, abusive of the bishops and the 
 ritual of the Church." 
 
 "Saw you aught of Roger Priverand the preach- 
 er, Robert Browne ?" 
 
 " I both saw them and talked with them ; Roger 
 is a great man, and, at the head of some half dozen 
 pikes, escorts his master to the house of Parlia- 
 ment daily. The preacher, too, is established as 
 chaplain to the household, and wonieth them, as 
 they owned, with lengthened prayers and gra- 
 ces ; noae of which does he conclude, without 
 entreating Heaven to visit upon Master Robert 
 Snelling its heaviest malediction." 
 
 " Said they anything of the penalties likely to 
 be imposed on certain parties, who imprisoned 
 Master Pym and his followers, and sunk the 
 carcasses of his horses in the Hone river ?" asked 
 Will Powering. 
 
 " Ay, and indeed did they ; they talked of the 
 shutting up of certain Dunster men in the prison 
 of Taunton, amongst whom the names of those 
 here present were not forgotten," said Giles Tud-
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. S25 
 
 ball. "But now, as I Lave given you all my 
 news, it were but courteous in you to satisfy me 
 as to what hath befallen this neighbourhood in 
 my absence. What of the Dunster student — 
 Hugh de Mohun ? hath any one seen or heard 
 aught of him ?" 
 
 " I have seen but little, but heard much," said 
 Robert Quirke. "He hath shut himself up in Dun- 
 ster, and hath become, as it were, a mere milksop ; 
 and all, as they do report, for the love of Mistress 
 Prudence Everard, whom, as you may remember, 
 he saved from the waves, on the e'en of our mad 
 doings at Culbone." 
 
 " Ay, and he hath, as it were, been mettymor- 
 phied," said Master Richard, the host, who had 
 just returned with his wife. " He hath not quit- 
 ted the walls of Dunster, or at least its park, but 
 hath, as Basil Chipera told me, been sitting with- 
 in, looking at the Hmning of his sweetheart, or 
 wandering with her and the httle Luttrells, amid 
 the groves to hear the nightingale's song. It would 
 seem that he were entirely changed, and, instead of 
 the bold, sprightly youth we knew him, has be- 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 S26 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 come a mere milksop. While Master Thomas 
 Luttrell has been arming and training his tenantry, 
 and his once friend and associate, Julian Bachell, 
 hath been aiding his father in the same good cause, 
 our wrestler and stick-player, who defeated Bully 
 Alloway the butcher, and old Master Castles from 
 Berkshire, hath become a mere hanger-on upon a 
 fair girl and a dangler with children." 
 
 " Fie — fie. Master Richard," said Quirke, 
 you know that, during the last few days, the life 
 of Mistress Everard hath been despaired of, and 
 that the young Hugh de Mohun hath been nigh 
 distraught about the cause of her illness, which 
 Basil Chipera, ere he left home with the parson. 
 Master Snelling, attributed to certain unholy 
 visitations from her v^hom we call the grey w^oman 
 of Minyead.*' 
 
 "And whither hath the good Master Snelling 
 gone, to require the esquirage of the cordwainer, 
 and his parish-clerk, Basil Chipera ?" said Giles. 
 
 " To Bristol, as it is said, to procure the print- 
 ing of certain treatises in defence of him of Canter- 
 bury — Laud, who Lath need of defenders, seeing
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 3^ 
 
 that he is close shut up in the Tower, and threatened 
 to be tried for his life," said Master Qiiirke. 
 
 " To Bristol, said you ? I hope not," said Giles. 
 
 " And why so. Master Tudball ?" 
 
 " Because I was turned away from that quarter, 
 ere I had passed the town of Chippenham, by a 
 report that a plague was raging there, which was 
 killing its hundreds daily," said Giles. 
 
 " Nine hundred thousand died there yesterday, 
 only yesterday," said Will Bowering. "I heard 
 it from good authority in the Channel, from a 
 Bristol pilot, who would not approach nigher the 
 city than the Posset Point." 
 
 " Where you expect to go to when you die, I 
 know not. Will," said Master Quirke, laughing ; 
 " but if lying will ensm-e you a place among 
 the tormented, you will not fail of it — you have 
 killed more by some eight hundred thousand, in 
 one day, than the fair city of Bristol holds within 
 its walls." 
 
 " Well, well I meant nhie thousand, nine thou- 
 sand, and no less. Our old friend. Dr. Aaron 
 Graveboys, hath saved a million by his medica-
 
 .'328 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 nients ; an he were here, Mistress Prudence Everard 
 would easily spare Master Hugh de Mohun to 
 take his pastimes with us again," said Will. 
 
 " We have seen the last of him," said Master 
 Richard Luckes, *' call me liar else. Never will 
 Hugh de Mohun enter these doors more, and make 
 the roof of this room rattle again with his bois- 
 terous laughter. He is lost — become a mere milk- 
 sop." 
 
 " I will not call thee liar, but I am here to re- 
 fute your words, in one respect. I have entered 
 your doors ; but I cannot make the roof rattle with 
 my laughter. I am here to seek tidings of Giles 
 Tudball, to know if he hath seen or heard of 
 my good tutor. Master Snelling, w^hose return 
 was looked for to-day ; or of the mediciner. Doc- 
 tor Graveboys, whose aid may even yet, be sendee- 
 able to the recovery of Mistress Everard." 
 
 " Hugh de Mohun !" cried the party, as they 
 rose from their seats to greet him. 
 
 "Yes, Hugh de Mohun, but a changed, an 
 altered being," said the youth, as he took the hands 
 extended to him, and shook them heartily. " I
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 329 
 
 will, however, so far resume my former self as to 
 partake of your cup, while my good friend, Giles 
 here, of whose return I heard by chance, gives me 
 the news he brings." 
 
 Giles, reluctantly mentioned the account he had 
 heard of the severity with which the plague was 
 rag-insT at Bristol, and, as he told his ill news, he 
 could not help remarking the great change that 
 had taken place in the manner and bearing of the 
 yomig man. Instead of the joyous, daring look, 
 which he had used to wear, his face was smileless, 
 his cheeks pale, and his eyes dull and dim. His 
 dress too seemed to be neglected, and his hair, 
 formerly the object of admiration to Mistress 
 Richard Luckes, was altogether micared for, and 
 hung on his shoulders in disordered profusion. 
 
 His presence seemed to cast a damp over the jo- 
 viality of the party ; and, when he rose to leave them, 
 to return to Dunster, every one felt his departure 
 as a relief. Yet no one there present failed to 
 regret that one so young and so gallant, so good and 
 so generous, should be, thus early in life, weighed 
 down by anxiety for the fate of those whom he 
 esteemed and loved.
 
 330 DUNSTER CASTLE. 
 
 Hugh de Mohun walked rapidly towards the 
 Castle, by the beach. He had resolved to travel 
 to Bristol on the morrow, should no tidings be 
 heard of his tutor that night, for he was sure that 
 nothing but illness would detain him and pre- 
 vent him from being at liis post to discharge his 
 duties in the church. 
 
 " I am not wont to desecrate the sabbath by 
 travelling," said Hugh, " but it is of vital impor- 
 tance to me to see Master Snelhng, and 1 trust, ] 
 may be forgiven, if I, for once in my life, break 
 the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy." 
 
 " The sin needs not to be committed," said a 
 deep voice in his ear. " I am here to tell you, 
 that Master Robert Snelling is no more. He 
 died two days since, of the plague, in Bristol. He 
 blessed you ere he died, and seemed to wish to 
 send you some special message; but his tongue 
 failed him." In the speaker, Hugh recognised the 
 mediciner. 
 
 Aaron Graveboys had come suddenly upon him, 
 as he turned into the park of Dunster. A thick 
 film seemed to pass over his eyes, his brain reeled.
 
 DUNSTER CASTLE. 331 
 
 as he thought of the destruction of all his hopes of 
 learning the history of his birth and fortune. He 
 fell to the ground, and would have fallen hea\-ily, 
 had not the mediciner caught him in his arms. 
 
 Jansen and his master conveyed him up the 
 slopes to the Castle. 
 
 END OF VOL. 1.
 
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