[52] Hume.

[53] Like the knave on playing-cards, who is still depicted in this dress.

[Illustration:  THE GREY MAN OF THE WOOD; OR, THE SECRET MINE.]

THE GREY MAN OF THE WOOD;

OR,

THE SECRET MINE.

    “Humph.  Say, what art thou that talk’st of kings and queens?
      K.  Hen.  More than I seem, and less than I was born to;
    A man at least, for less I should not be;
    And men may talk of kings, and why not I?
      Humph.  Ay, but thou talk’st as if thou wert a king.
      K.  Hen, Why, so I am, in mind, and that’s enough.
      Humph.  But if thou be a king, where is thy crown?”

—­King Henry VI.

Waddington Hall, the site of the following legend, says Pennant, “is a stone house, with some small ancient windows, and a narrow winding staircase within, now inhabited by several poor families; yet it formerly gave shelter to a royal guest.  The meek usurper, Henry VI., after the battle of Hexham, in 1463, was conveyed into this county, where he was concealed by his vassals for an entire twelvemonth, notwithstanding the most diligent search was made after him.  At length he was surprised at dinner at Waddington Hall, and taken near Bungerley Hippingstones in Clitherwood.  The account which Leland gives from an ancient chronicle concurs with the tradition of the country, that he was deceived—­i.e. betrayed—­by Thomas Talbot, son and heir to Sir Edmund Talbot, of Bashal, and John his cousin, of Colebry.  The house was beset; but the king found means to get out, ran across the fields below Waddow Hall, and passed the Ribble, on the stepping-stones, into a wood on the Lancashire side, called Christian Pightle, but being closely pursued, was there taken.  From hence he was carried to London, in the most piteous manner, on horseback, with his legs tied to the stirrups.  Rymer has preserved the grant of a reward for this service, of the estates of Sir Richard Tunstall, a Lancastrian, to Sir James Harrington, by Edward IV., dated from Westminster, July 9th, 1465.”

At that time Waddington belonged to the Tempests, who inherited it by virtue of the marriage of their ancestor, Sir Roger, in the reign of Edward I., with Alice, daughter and heiress of Walter de Waddington.  An alliance had just been made between the Tempests and the Talbots.  It may be presumed, that in order to save their estates (which they afterward were suffered quietly to possess), they agreed with Sir James to give up the saintly monarch, which was the reason that the latter had the reward for what the grant calls “his great and laborious diligence in taking our great traitor and rebel, Henry, lately called Henry VI.”