Preston Fight Part 1

Preston Fight.

William Harrison Ainsworth.

The Earl of Mar did vow and swear, If that proud Preston he came near, Ere the Right should starve,and the Wrong shall stand, He would drive them into some foreign land.

Old Lancas.h.i.+re Ballad.

TO.

WILLIAM FRANCIS AINSWORTH, ESQ.,.

PH., F.S.A., F.R.G.S.,.

ETC., ETC.,.

THE details of Preston Fight, given in the Tale, which I have the gratification of inscribing to your name, may be new to you; inasmuch as you may not have seen DOCTOR HIBBERT WARE'S very curious historical collections relative to the great Jacobite movement of 1715, published, several years ago, by the Chetham Society, from which my materials have been derived.

But I am sure you will share my feelings of sympathy with the many gallant Roman Catholic gentlemen, who, from mistaken feelings of loyalty, threw away life and fortune at Preston; and you cannot fail to be struck with admiration at the masterly defence of the town made by Brigadier Mackintosh-the real hero of Preston Fight.

I hope I may have succeeded in giving you some idea of that valorous Highland commander.

Nothing can be better than the description of him given in the old Lancas.h.i.+re ballad: "Mackintosh is a soldier brave, And of his friends he took his leave;

Unto Northumberland he drew,

And marched along with a jovial crew."

What a contrast to the brave brigadier is General Forster, by whose incompetency, or treachery, Preston was lost!-as the same old ballad says: "'Thou Forster hast brought us from our own home,

Leaving our estates for others to come;

Thou treacherous dog, thou hast us betrayed,'

My Lord Derwent.w.a.ter thus fiercely said."

But the hero of my tale is the ill-fated Earl of Derwent.w.a.ter-by far the most striking figure in the Northumbrian insurrection.

The portrait I have given of him I believe to be in the main correct, though coloured for the purposes of the story. Young, handsome, chivalrous, wealthy, Lord Derwent.w.a.ter was loyal and devoted to him whom he believed his rightful and lawful sovereign.

His death was consistent with his life. On the scaffold he declared, "I intended wrong to none, but to serve my king and country, and without self-interest, hoping by the example I gave to induce others to do their duty."

"My Lord Derwent.w.a.ter he is dead,

And from his body they took his head;

But Mackintosh and the rest are fled

To fit his hat on another man's head."

Lord Derwent.w.a.ter was strongly attached to his ancestral mansion, and deeply mourned by his tenants and retainers. In the "Farewell to Dilston," by Surtees, he is made to say: "Farewell to pleasant Dilston Hall,

My father's ancient seat;

A stranger now must call thee his,

Which gars my heart to greet.

Albeit that here in London Tower,

It is my fate to die,

O, carry me to Northumberland,

In my father's grave to lie."

How few who visit Greenwich Hospital are aware that that n.o.ble inst.i.tution, of which the country is so justly proud, has derived, for upwards of a century and a half, the immense revenue of six thousand a year from the ill-fated earl's forfeited estates!

Has not this effaced the treason?

I commend his story to you.

Your affectionate cousin.

W. HARRISON AINSWORTH.

Little Rockley, Hurstpierpoint,

May 19,1875.

BOOK OF THE FIRST.

THE EARL OF DERWENt.w.a.tER.

I.

Dilston Castle.

A SPLENDID place was Dilston Castle in Northumberland, the seat of the young Earl of Derwent.w.a.ter, in the early part of the last century.

Crowning an eminence, overlooking a most picturesque district, approached by a long avenue of chestnut trees, and surrounded by woods, extending to the banks of the Tyne, the mansion formed a conspicuous object from whichever side it might be viewed.

Dilston Castle could not boast antiquity, having only been built some sixty years prior to the date of our story, by Sir James Radclyffe, subsequently created Earl of Derwent.w.a.ter by James the Second, but it occupied the site of an old Border fortress, called Devilstone-since modified to Dilston-that had often resisted the incursions of the Scots.

Of this stronghold, which dated back to the time of Henry the First, only a single memorial was left, in the shape of a grey stone tower-all the rest having been demolished.

The mansion formed a square, and enclosed a s.p.a.cious court with a fountain in the centre. The princ.i.p.al entrance, approached by a large perron, was inside the court, and faced a grand gateway, that terminated the chestnut avenue.

Close by, though screened by trees, was a little chapel, wherein the rites of Rome were performed-the Radclyffes being strict adherents to the old religion. Hereabouts, also, stood the grey stone tower, before alluded to, and some chambers within it were still used.

As may be supposed, from its size, the mansion contained some magnificent apartments, and these were sumptuously furnished. Large gardens, laid out in the formal French style, and ornamented with terraces, flights of stone steps, statues, and fountains, added to the attractions of the place.

Beneath the acclivity, whereon stood the castle, was a romantic and beautiful dell, the sides of which were clothed with brushwood. Through the midst of the ravine rushed a stream, called the Devil's Water-bright and clear, despite its name-that hurried on, unless checked by a huge rock, or some other impediment, when it spread out into a pool. In places, the glen had a weird look, and many strange legends were connected with it.

The picturesque beauty of the spot was materially heightened by a lofty bridge flung across the hollow, and leading from the castle to the deer-park.