66 scarcely a room for which there was not tain Duthy, in his "Sketches of Hamp. provided a secret way of going in and shire," writing of the old mansion of out. Some, for instance, we are informed, Woodcote, says that "behind a stack of had places of retreat in their chimneys; chimneys, accessible only by removing others had staircases concealed in the the floor-boards, was an apartment which walls; and in short there was not a nook contained a concealed closet." Treago, or corner that was not turned to some ad- in the neighborhood of Monmouth, is said vantage. The house, too, as a contrib- to be a good specimen, containing a sleeputor to the "Book of Days " has observed, ing-place and a reading-desk; the chamowing to its elevated position, was highly ber being lighted by a shot-hole in the valuable for the purposes for which it was wall. These secret chambers were not designed, since it afforded the means of uncommon in old Lancashire houses. keeping a watchful lookout for the ap. Thus, at Widness, near Warrington, there proach of the emissaries of the law, or of is a picturesque Tudor mansion with one persons by whom it might have been dan- of these hiding-places. Some years ago, gerous for any skulking priest to be seen, too, in some fields adjoining this resisupposing his reverence to have gone dence were discovered various relics, and forth for an hour to take the air." In an amongst them arms, coins, tobacco-pipes, historical point of view, its memory will etc., which it has been suggested indicate always be preserved, because it was here encampments of Roundhead, and probthat Father Garnet was concealed for sev abiy afterwards of Dutch, soldiers. At eral weeks in the winter of 1605-6, but Mains Hall, in the parish of Kirkham, a who eventually paid the penalty of his secret room was accidentally discovered guilty knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot. by some workmen behind a stack of chimAmong other houses of this kind in the neys; and another one in an old house in neighborhood of Worcester may be men- Goosnargh, called Ashes, which has two tioned Harington Hall, near Chaddesley- small cavities in its centre wall, which is Corbett, which dates back as far as the about four feet thick. Lydvate Hall, also, time of Henry VIII. One of its hiding as well as Speke Hall, both in Lancaplaces, we are told by a correspondent of shire, had secret chambers, a full descripNotes and Queries, can only be entered tion of which is given by Mr. Gibson in by lifting one of the wooden stairs, and his interesting little volume entitled “Lydis a very gloomy recess. The house is vate Hall and its Associations." To these moated round; and Lady Mary Yate, who we may also add Borwick Hall, and is said, as lady of the manor, to have Stonyhurst, the seat of the Sherbournes. resided here for sixty-five years, success- Amongst the houses of this class in Linfully defended. the building against the colnshire may be noticed Upton Hall, attack of a Kidderminster mob who had where there is a secret chamber most come to piilage it in the time of James cleverly contrived. It is about eight feet 11." There is, too, the interesting half- long, five feet broad, and just high enough timber house of Harborough Hall, mid- to allow a person to stand upright. The way between Hegley and Kidderminster. opening was accidentally ascertained by Milner, in his "Letters to a Prebendary," removing a beam behind a single step beafter telling us that "on two occasions the tween two servants' bedrooms. Lipscomb, king (Charles) owed his life to the care in his "History of Buckinghamshire," and ingenuity of priests, who concealed refers to Dinton Hall, near Aylesbury, him in the hiding-hole provided for their the seat of Judge Mayne, one of the regi own safety," adds in a foot-note: "The cides, to whom it is reported to have given above mentioned hiding-hole is still to be shelter at the time of the Restoration. seen at the present Mr. Whitegrave's The secret room was built at the top of house, at Moseley, near Wolverhampton; the house, under the beams of the roof, as is also the priest's hiding-hole-which and was reached by a narrow passage concealed the king, whilst he did not lined with cloth. Ufton Hall, near Readsit in the oak-tree at White Ladies, ing, and Minster-Lovell, Oxfordshire, have about ten miles from that town." Again, both obtained a notoriety as being posin the manor-house, Trent, near Sher- sessed of these curious secret contriv borne, is a secret chamber, entered from one of the upper rooms through a sliding panel in the oak wainscoting, in which, tradition tells us, Charles II. lay concealed for a fortnight on his escape to the coast after the battle of Worcester. Cap ances, having in consequence at different times attracted considerable notice. Referring to instances in the north of England, may be noticed Netherhall, near Maryport, Cumberland, the seat of the old family of Senhouse. In this mansion From Iron. DEEP-SEA LIGHTHOUSES. there is reported to be a veritable secret | recess in the wall capable of containing chamber, its exact position in the house several persons standing upright side by being known but to two persons the side. Slindon House, between Arundel heir-at-law and the family solicitor. It is and Chichester, a seat of the present Lesaffirmed that never has the secret of this lie of Balquhain, is one of the most fa hidden room been revealed to more than mous residences with secret chambers in two living persons at a time. It has no this part of the country, and has long been window, and has hitherto defied the inge- looked on with much interest. There is, nuity of every visitor staying in the house, too, a secret room at Moyles Court, the in spite of all endeavors made to discover house held by the unfortunate Lady Lisle, it. This Netherhall tradition is very sim- who, it may be remembered, died on the ilar to the celebrated one connected with scaffold at Winchester, on the charge of Glamis, only in the latter case the secret concealing fugitives after the battle of chamber possesses a window, which, nev- Sedgmoor. Nor must we omit to mention ertheless, has not led to the identification Carew Castle, about six miles from Tenby, of Northumberland," has given a full ac in which there is a secret hiding-place count of a secret room at Nether-Witton and passage constructed between the outer in Northumberland, formerly the seat of and inner walls of the dining-halls. It of the room. Hodgson, in his "History was built about the time of Henry I., and the Thorntons, and now of their lineal is described at some length in Fenton's descendant, Roger Thornton Trevelyan. "Historical Tour through PembrokeThe two secret chambers of Danby Hall in shire." Of other instances in the west Wensleydale, Yorkshire, deserve notice. of England, Bochym Castle may be noOne of these was discovered between the ticed, a curious old house in the district ball fireplace and the west wall of the between Helston and the Lizard. house, and when entered, was found to contain arms and saddlery for a troop of forty or fifty horse. It is generally sup posed that these weapons had been hidden away in readiness for the Jacobite rising of 1715 or 1745. The other chamber was situated in the upper story of the old THE paper read by Mr. Chris Andertower, access to which was gained by a son, of Leeds, before the Society of Engi narrow staircase in the thickness of the neers on the construction of deep-sea wall; having, it is commonly thought, lighthouses will, we hope, attract the atbeen used as a chapel. There are, too, the tention it deserves. Mr. Anderson proAbbey House, Whitby, the seaside resi- poses to construct such lighthouses of dence of Sir Charles Strickland, and Kirk-hollow, riveted ironwork in the form of a by-Knowle Castle, near Thirsk. Another large cylinder, about thirty-six feet in remarkable instance, also, is Oxburgh diameter, and two hundred and ninety feet Hall, in the county of Norfolk, which no doubt in days of old was extensively used as a place of concealment. Evelyn, in his Diary," under August 23, 1678, speaks of Ham House at Weybridge, in Surrey, belonging to the Duke of Norfolk, as having some of these secret hiding-places, and says: My lord, leading me about the house, made no scruple of showing me all the hiding-places for popish priests, and where they said mass: for he was no bigoted papist." Again Paxhill, near Lindfield, in Sussex, is worthy of notice. It is reported to have been built by Dr. Andrew Borde, physician and jester to Henry VIII., and the original "Merry Andrew." In the ceiling of the groundfloor, we are told, is a large chamber, surrounded by a stone bench, which is entered by a trap-door in the floor above; and be hind the shutters of the window in one of the upper rooms is a door, opening into a 66 66 in length, consisting of three essential parts. The upper portion, rising one hundred and forty feet out of the water, is to be similar, so far as shape, arrangement, and internal fittings are concerned, to the tower of an ordinary lighthouse. The central portion, about water-line, is to be packed with a material (such as corkwood) much lighter than water, and capable of forming a durable and unsink. able floating power. The lower portion, extending to one hundred and fifty feet below the water-line, is intended to counteract the force of wind and weather acting upon the tower, and as ballast to lower the centre of gravity of the whole structure to any desired extent. To this compartment water is admitted, and, if necessary, a quantity of iron ballast can also be employed. The lighthouse is to be erected complete in the shipbuilding yard, launched and towed out to its in tended site, where it will readily be made | motion caused by passing waves will be to assume its erect position by admitting almost inappreciable. The extreme dewater to the lower compartment. Having sirability and increasing necessity for been properly floated and ballasted, it is lighthouses and telegraphic stations in to be securely attached by steel wire mid-ocean is universally admitted. The ropes two inches in diameter to anchor following important objects to be attained blocks weighing about two hundred tons by their construction may be briefly stat each, sunk in suitable positions, so that ed: (1.) For meteorological purposes, as in water one mile deep, each rope would from a station say one thousand miles be from two to three miles long. The from our shores, a storm-warning from proposed displacement is about two thou- the Atlantic could be sent thirty-six hours sand tons, for which there would be no in advance, and a yearly saving of many difficulty in providing adequate moorings. million pounds' worth of maritime propThe structure is entirely dependent for erty and of hundreds of human lives its floating power upon the light material thereby effected. (2.) Shipowners could contained in the central division, and is be apprised of the passage and condition consequently unsinkable even if damaged of their vessels, and could forward mesby collision with a ship or an iceberg. sages to the same en route. (3.) To af Owing to its peculiar form and arrange- ford rendezvous for vessels in distress or ment, its stability is very great, so that, if shipwrecked crews. The author also proforced from the perpendicular, it would poses to employ similar lighthouses on a instantly right itself with great power. smaller scale for coast service. The imThe author has calculated that a hurri- mense saving of life and property which cane moving with a velocity of one hun- would result around the shores of the dred miles per hour, equivalent to a pres- United Kingdom would be sufficient in sure of fifty pounds per square foot, will one year alone to recoup their cost many only cause a deviation of ten degrees from times over. As we pride ourselves on the perpendicular. Against this it is to being an eminently seafaring nation, it be noticed that the sag of the mooring- should follow that the above invention, ropes will form a most effective spring to which certainly tends towards rendering control any tendency to oscillation. As navigation safer, and communication with the whole mass of the structure is com- ships in distress easier, would receive paratively great, and the area exposed to more than ordinary support. The scheme the lifting force of waves very small in- is ingenious, and, we think, perfectly deed, it is thought the rising and falling' practicable. THE EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. In the Jacobean age the herse was a stage of wood, with sable drapery, set up in the centre of the church to support the coffin during the funeral, and afterwards removed to stand over the grave in the chancel or chapel until the marble tomb was ready to replace it. While the herse was so standing, a poetic mourner might lay upon it a scroll containing appropriate verse. Such a written scroll was an epitaph. In October, 1621, William Browne laid upon the herse of the Countess Dowager of Pembroke, then standing in Salisbury Cathedral, an epitaph-a scroll in which he had written these very lines, without stops or signature: Underneath this sable Herse Marble Pyles let no man raise Shall turn Marble & become Both her Mourner and her Tombe Collectors of such pieces wrote this, often from imperfect memory, in their books. In 1650 William Browne wrote in a book some of his shorter poems, among them this epitaph, and signed his name thereto, eight years before any version of the epitaph appeared in print, and one hundred and six years before Peter Whalley, editing Ben Jonson's works, claimed it for that poet. William Browne's book is in the British Museum, Lansd. MS. 777. In 1815 it was privately printed by Sir Egerton Brydges, who, however, fancifully rearranged the poems, and did not understand this epitaph. HENRY SALUSBURY MILMAN. Athenæum Club: Jan. 4, 1884. Academy. For EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGB will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & Co. Single Numbers of THE LIVING AGE, 18 cents. FORBIDDEN. OH, weary feet that on Life's stony ways Beat out the lagging hours of all the days, Oh, longing hands that may not, must not, clasp Those other loved ones in this world's wide night; Oh, parted hands that may not, must not, grasp Those other hands with yearnings infinite! Oh, starving lips, whose hunger is but this They may not kiss. Save of the wicked, in the angry cries That rend my heart, and fill my tired eyes, Oh, aching eyes that shine so far apart, Those whom I loved join not these vagrant Love-haunted eyes that may not, must not, But lie too fast asleep, hosts, tell In slumber dead and deep, To walk abroad, screaming such empty boasts. wind That is so full of sorrow, deaf and blind. A fearsome problem lies, All The Year Round. THE DEW-FALL. I HEARD the word of the Dew-fall The Dewdrop said to the leaf; There arose a breeze at the nightfall, The Lily shook, and the Dewdrop Said the Dewdrop unto the flower; "Thy heart, O Lily, is cold and chilly, And dark as a wintry shower." And the night went by with its starlight, Said the Dew with a sigh of desire; For the Rose has a heart of fire." Academy. |