The Lancashire Witches

Lancashire Witches, by William Harrison Ainsworth

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Title: The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest
Author: William Harrison Ainsworth
Release Date: March 29, 2005 [EBook #15493]
Language: English
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[Illustration: NICHOLAS ASSHETON AND THE THREE DOLL WANGOS LEAVING HOGHTON HALL.]

THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES. A Romance of Pendle Forest.
By William Harrison Ainsworth, Esq.
Sir Jeffery.--Is there a justice in Lancashire has so much skill in witches as I have? Nay, I'll speak a proud word; you shall turn me loose against any Witch-finder in Europe. I'd make an ass of Hopkins if he were alive.--SHADWELL.
Third Edition.
Illustrated by John Gilbert.
London: George Routledge & Co., Farringdon Street. 1854.
To James Crossley, Esq., (of Manchester,)
President of the Chetham Society, And the Learned Editor Of "The Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster,"--
The groundwork of the following pages,-- This Romance, undertaken at his suggestion, is inscribed by his old, and sincerely attached friend, The Author.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
The Last Abbot of Whalley.
I. THE BEACON ON PENDLE HILL II. THE ERUPTION III. WHALLEY ABBEY IV. THE MALEDICTION V. THE MIDNIGHT MASS VI. TETER ET FORTIS CARCER VII. THE ABBEY MILL VIII. THE EXECUTIONER IX. WISWALL HALL X. THE HOLEHOUSES

BOOK THE FIRST.
Alizon Device.
I. THE MAY QUEEN II. THE BLACK CAT AND THE WHITE DOVE III. THE ASSHETONS IV. ALICE NUTTER V. MOTHER CHATTOX VI. THE ORDEAL BY SWIMMING VII. THE RUINED CONVENTUAL CHURCH VIII. THE REVELATION IX. THE TWO PORTRAITS IN THE BANQUETING-HALL X. THE NOCTURNAL MEETING

BOOK THE SECOND.
Pendle Forest.
I. FLINT II. READ HALL III. THE BOGGART'S GLEN IV. THE REEVE OF THE FOREST V. BESS'S O' TH' BOOTH VI. THE TEMPTATION VII. THE PERAMBULATION OF THE BOUNDARIES VIII. ROUGH LEE IX. HOW ROUGH LEE WAS DEFENDED BY NICHOLAS X. ROGER NOWELL AND HIS DOUBLE XI. MOTHER DEMDIKE XII. THE MYSTERIES OF MALKIN TOWER XIII. THE TWO FAMILIARS XIV. HOW ROUGH LEE WAS AGAIN BESIEGED XV. THE PHANTOM MONK XVI. ONE O'CLOCK! XVII. HOW THE BEACON FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED
BOOK THE THIRD.
Hoghton Tower.
I. DOWNHAM MANOR-HOUSE II. THE PENITENT'S RETREAT III. MIDDLETON HALL IV. THE GORGE OF CLIVIGER V. THE END OF MALKIN TOWER VI. HOGHTON TOWER VII. THE ROYAL DECLARATION CONCERNING LAWFUL SPORTS ON THE SUNDAY VIII. HOW KING JAMES HUNTED THE HART AND THE WILD-BOAR IN HOGHTON PARK IX. THE BANQUET X. EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS XI. FATALITY XII. THE LAST HOUR XIII. THE MASQUE OF DEATH XIV. "ONE GRAVE" XV. LANCASTER CASTLE

INTRODUCTION.
The Last Abbot of Whalley.
CHAPTER I.
--THE BEACON ON PENDLE HILL.
There were eight watchers by the beacon on Pendle Hill in Lancashire. Two were stationed on either side of the north-eastern extremity of the mountain. One looked over the castled heights of Clithero; the woody eminences of Bowland; the bleak ridges of Thornley; the broad moors of Bleasdale; the Trough of Bolland, and Wolf Crag; and even brought within his ken the black fells overhanging Lancaster. The other tracked the stream called Pendle Water, almost from its source amid the neighbouring hills, and followed its windings through the leafless forest, until it united its waters to those of the Calder, and swept on in swifter and clearer current, to wash the base of Whalley Abbey. But the watcher's survey did not stop here. Noting the sharp spire of Burnley Church, relieved against the rounded masses of timber constituting Townley Park; as well as the entrance of the gloomy mountain gorge, known as the Grange of Cliviger; his far-reaching gaze passed over Todmorden, and settled upon the distant summits of Blackstone Edge.
Dreary was the prospect on all sides. Black moor, bleak fell, straggling forest, intersected with sullen streams as black as ink, with here and there a small tarn, or moss-pool, with waters of the same hue--these constituted the chief features of the scene. The whole district was barren and thinly-populated. Of towns, only Clithero, Colne, and Burnley--the latter little more than a village--were in view. In the valleys there were a few hamlets and scattered cottages, and on the uplands an occasional "booth," as the hut of the herdsman was termed; but of more important mansions there were only six, as Merley, Twistleton, Alcancoats, Saxfeld, Ightenhill, and Gawthorpe. The "vaccaries" for the cattle, of which the herdsmen had the care, and the "lawnds," or parks within the forest, appertaining to some of the halls before mentioned, offered the only evidences of cultivation. All else was heathy waste, morass, and wood.
Still, in the eye of the sportsman--and the Lancashire gentlemen of the sixteenth century