. Devonshire characters and strange events. ng outstripped his master and run all the wayhome. The ballad above mentioned begins as follows :— In the month of November, in the year fifty-two,Three jolly Fox-hunters, all sons of the Blue,Came oer from Pencarrow, not fearing a wet coat,To take their diversion with Arscott of fol-de-rol, lol-de-rol, etc. The daylight was dawning, right radiant the mornWhen Arscott of Tetcott he winded his horn ;He blew such a flourish, so loud in the hall^The rafters resounded, and danced to the fol-de-rol, etc. In the kitchen the servants,
. Devonshire characters and strange events. ng outstripped his master and run all the wayhome. The ballad above mentioned begins as follows :— In the month of November, in the year fifty-two,Three jolly Fox-hunters, all sons of the Blue,Came oer from Pencarrow, not fearing a wet coat,To take their diversion with Arscott of fol-de-rol, lol-de-rol, etc. The daylight was dawning, right radiant the mornWhen Arscott of Tetcott he winded his horn ;He blew such a flourish, so loud in the hall^The rafters resounded, and danced to the fol-de-rol, etc. In the kitchen the servants, in kennel the hounds,In the stable the horses were roused by the Black-Bird in saddle sat Arscott, To-dayI will show you good sport; lads, hark, follow, away!Sing fol-de-rol, etc. To return to Black John. His wonted couch whenhe could not get back to Tetcott at night was a bedamong the reeds or fern of some sheltering brake orwood, and he slept, as he himself used to express it,rolled up, as warm as a hedge-boar, round his own. JOHN ARSCOTT, OF TETCOTT 55 nose. One day he was covered with snow, and foundto all appearance dead. He was conveyed to Tetcottand put in a cofBn. But as he was about to be buried,and whilst the service was proceeding, a loud thumpingnoise was heard within the coffin. The lid was re-moved, and he sat up. He had been in a long trance,but the funeral ride and jolting had revived him, and,said he, When I heard the passon say Earthto earth and dust to dust, I thought it high time tobumpy. After that he had no love for parsons of the Churchor indeed ministers of any denomination, for every oneof them, he said, would bury him alive, if they an itinerant Methodist preacher came across himand asked his way. Black John volunteered to showhim a short cut across the park, and led him to a pad-dock, in which his master kept a favourite bull. Hethrust the preacher into it and fastened the gate. Whatensued is matter of guess-work. A yell and a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonnewyorkjlane
