[4] Here and elsewhere in the chapter these references are to Blackmore’s local romance Perlycross, unless otherwise stated.
[5] Two species of furze are produced in Devonshire—the rank luxuriant sort flourishing in the spring, and the smaller dwarf or dale furze, which blooms in the autumn. The larger, which goes by the name of French furze, forms considerable brakes, and is usually cut at four years’ growth. Its crane stems used to be burnt for charcoal, whereas the dwarf furze was cut and grubbed by farmers and labourers for fuel.
[6] Lorna Doone, chapter iii.
[7] This is, of course, assuming that they did not take the turning to Bolham. By an apparent anachronism, Blackmore talks of “the village of Bolham on the Bampton Road” (Lorna Doone, chapter lx.) as the place where the ladies’ coach was stopped by Faggus. There was no coach-road passing through Bolham at that date.
[8] Perhaps a more likely explanation is that it was a Norman motte, specimens of which are to be found not only in England, but in France, and which is depicted in several scenes of the Bayeux. These earthworks are usually planted not on hill-tops, but on low sites in or near villages, and not far from a church.
[9] This story, repeated in directories and guide-books for generations, receives short shrift from Mr R. N. Worth. “It has been claimed as the Beamdune where Kynegils defeated the Britons in 614, but that was Bampton in Oxfordshire” (History of Devonshire, p. 98). Sic transit gloria mundi.
[10] “And truly, the Dulverton people said that he was the richest man in their town, and could buy up half of the county armigers” (Lorna Doone, chapter xiii.). Some of the local “armigers” figure in the following pages.
[11] It may be worth mentioning that an incident similar to that which marred the happiness of Susan Sydenham occurred in the life of the celebrated John Donne. In 1610, on the third day after his arrival at Paris, he was left alone in a room where he had been dining with Sir Robert Drury and others. Half an hour later the knight returned, and was surprised to find him in a curious sort of ecstasy. At first he was unable to speak, but after a time he declared—
“I have seen a dreadful vision since I saw you. I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me through this room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms.”
Sir Robert suggested that it was nothing but a dream, which he advised him to forget, but Donne replied, “I cannot be surer that I am now living than that I have not slept since I saw you, and I am so sure that at her second appearance she stopped, looked me in the face and vanished.”