Grisly Grisell; Or, The Laidly Lady of Whitburn: A Tale of the Wars of the Roses

Transcribed from the 1906 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
A TALE OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES
BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE AUTHOR OF ‘THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE’, ETC. ETC.
London MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1906
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1893, By MACMILLAN & CO.
Men speak of Job, and for his humblesse, And clerkes when hem list can well endite, Namely of men, but as in stedfastnese Though clerkes preisin women but a lite, There can no man in humblesse him acquite As women can, nor can be half so trewe As women ben. Chaucer, The Clerke’s Tale .
First Edition (2 Vols. Crown 8 vo ) 1893 Second Edition (1 Vol. Crown 8 vo ) 1894, 1906.
It was a great pity, so it was, this villanous saltpetre should be digg’d out of the bowels of the harmless earth. Shakespeare, King Henry IV. , Part I.
A terrible shriek rang through the great Manor-house of Amesbury. It was preceded by a loud explosion, and there was agony as well as terror in the cry. Then followed more shrieks and screams, some of pain, some of fright, others of anger and recrimination. Every one in the house ran together to the spot whence the cries proceeded, namely, the lower court, where the armourer and blacksmith had their workshops.
There was a group of children, the young people who were confided to the great Earl Richard and Countess Alice of Salisbury for education and training. Boys and girls were alike there, some of the latter crying and sobbing, others mingling with the lads in the hot dispute as to “who did it.”
By the time the gentle but stately Countess had reached the place, all the grown-up persons of the establishment—knights, squires, grooms, scullions, and females of every degree—had thronged round them, but parted at her approach, though one of the knights said, “Nay, Lady Countess, ’tis no sight for you. The poor little maid is dead, or nigh upon it.”