But he shall have mercy
That merciful is.
[15] Upon the Abbot Hall estate are some lands which still bear the name of Chapel Fields, in which, at three feet from the surface, human skeletons have been exhumed. The spot may therefore with much probability be assumed to have been the site of an oratory, where a monk of the abbey officiated in offering up prayers for the safety of such as crossed the sands, Kent’s Bank being the point from which they would start upon their journey towards Lancaster.
[16] “Wyke” signifies a bay with a low shore; and the now fertile plain, which includes some hundreds of acres, protected with deep embankments and valve gates for the land streams, was reclaimed many years ago through the enterprise of Mr. Towers, of Dudden Grove, and the late Mr. Stockdale, of Cark.
[17] This is an error on the part of the learned historian, for Sir William Harrington’s death did not occur until 1450.
[18] By a curious error, which has been repeated in many of the published pedigrees, this Sir John Stanley is represented as a base son of James Stanley, Warden of Manchester, and afterwards Bishop of Ely. Bishop Stanley’s son, who was also distinguished for his valour on the field of Flodden, was Sir John Stanley, of Honford (Handforth), in Cheadle parish. Cheshire.
[19] Stour, i.e., fight.
[20] In a tavern brawl, in 1727, Savage had the misfortune to kill a Mr. James Sinclair, for which he was tried and condemned to death. His relentless mother, it is said, endeavoured to intercept the royal mercy; but he was pardoned through the influence of Queen Caroline, and set at liberty. He afterwards addressed a birthday ode to the Queen, in acknowledgment of which she sent him £60, and continued the same sum to him every year.
[21] John Machin was then minister of Astbury, and an intimate friend as well as neighbour of Newcome’s.
[22] In the church of Mont Mijour there is a bracket on which is carved a head devouring a child, closely resembling the one in the warden’s room of the College, and supposed to be intended for a caricature of Saturn.