The other example is at Irnham Hall, Lincolnshire. "The situation of this ingeniously-contrived place had been forgotten, though it was well known to exist somewhere in the mansion, till it was discovered a few years ago. In going round the chimney-stacks, it was observed that one of the chimneys of a cluster was without any smoke or any blackness, and as clean as when the masonry was new. This led to the conjecture that it was not in reality a chimney, but an open shaft to give light and air to the priest's hiding-place; yet so forming one of a group of chimneys as to obviate all suspicion of its real purpose. It was carefully examined, and the conjecture fully borne out by the discovery of the long-lost hiding-place. The opening into it was found by removing a beam behind a single step between two servants' bed-rooms. You then come to a panel which has a very small iron tube let into it, through which any message could be conveyed to the occupant of the hiding-place. This panel being removed, a ladder of four steps leads down into the secret chamber.... The hiding-place is 8 feet long by 5 feet broad, and just high enough to allow of standing upright."—Notes and Queries, 1st S., xii.
Other instances occur at Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk; Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire; Coldham Hall, Suffolk; Maple Durham, Watcomb, and Ufton Court, Berkshire; Stonyhurst and Berwick Hall, Lancashire; Bourton, Gloucestershire; Henlip, Worcestershire; Chelvey Court, Somerset; Nether Witton, Northumberland; Paxhill, Sussex (built by Sir Andrew Borde, jester of Henry VIII., and the original of "Merry Andrew"); Treago, Hereford; Weybridge, Surrey; Woodcote, Hampshire; and elsewhere. In several of these instances the secret chamber was formed in the roof of the house, and in two cases at least it was accompanied by a small chapel.
[[2]] Fairies.
[[3]] The reader can appraise this ghost-story at what he thinks it worth. It is not the produce of the author's imagination, but may be found reported in the translation of the Chronicon Roberti Montensis, by John Stowe, Harl. MS., 545, fol. 190, b.
[[4]] In this way the more timid of the Jacobites drank the toast of "The King over the water."
[[5]] Dean Goode's "Rome's Tactics," pp. 50-53.
III.
ALONE IN THE WORLD.
"Speechless Sorrow sat with me;
I was sighing wearily:
Lamp and fire were out; the rain
Wildly beat the window-pane.
In the dark we heard a knock,
And a hand was on the lock;
One in waiting spake to me,
Saying sweetly,
'I am come to sup with thee.'
"All my room was dark and damp,—
'Sorrow,' said I, 'trim the lamp;
Light the fire and cheer thy face;
Set the guest-chair in its place.'
And again I heard the knock;
In the dark I found the lock,—
'Enter, I have turned the key—
Enter, stranger,
Who art come to sup with me.'