and the Honour of Tutbury—­of the whole of which the ancient family of Ferrers were the puissant lords.  Their immense possessions, now forming part of the Duchy of Lancaster, were forfeited by the attainder of Earl Ferrers after his defeat at Burton Bridge, where he led the rebellious Barons against Henry III.  The Chartley estate, being settled in dower, was alone reserved, and has been handed down to its present possessor.  Of Chartley Castle itself—­which appears to have been in ruins for many years—­many interesting historical facts are recorded.  Thus it is said Queen Elizabeth visited her favourite, the Earl of Essex, here in August, 1575, and was entertained by him in a half-timbered house which formerly stood near the Castle, but was long since destroyed by fire.  It is questionable whether Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in this house, or in a portion of the old Castle.  Certain, however, it is that the unfortunate queen was brought to Chartley from Tutbury on Christmas day, 1585.  The exact date at which she left Chartley is uncertain, but it appears she was removed thence under a plea of taking the air without the bounds of the Castle.  She was then conducted by daily stages from the house of one gentleman to another, under pretence of doing her honour, without her having the slightest idea of her destination, until she found herself on the 20th of September, within the fatal walls of Fotheringhay Castle.

Cortachy Castle, the seat of the Earl of Airlie, has for many years past been famous for its mysterious drummer, for whenever the sound of his drum is heard it is regarded as the sure indication of the approaching death of a member of the Ogilvie family.  There is a tragic origin given to this curious phenomenon, the story generally told being to the effect that either the drummer, or some officer whose emissary he was, had excited the jealousy of a former Lord Airlie, and that he was in consequence of this occurrence put to death by being thrust into his own drum, and flung from the window of the tower, in which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly heard.  It is also said that the drummer threatened to haunt the family if his life were taken, a promise which he has not forgotten to fulfil.

Then there is the well-known tradition that prior to the death of any of the lords of Roslin, Roslin Chapel appears to be on fire, a weird occurrence which forms the subject of Harold’s song in the “Lay of the Last Ministrel.”

    O’er Roslin all that dreary night
      A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
    ’Twas broader than the watch-fire light
      And redder than the bright moonbeam.

    It glared on Roslin’s castled rock,
      It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
    ’Twas seen from Dryden’s groves of oak,
      And seen from cavern’d Hawthornden.

    Seem’d all on fire that Chapel proud,
      Where Roslin’s chiefs uncoffin’d lie;
    Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
      Sheathed in his iron panoply.