The Weird Of The Wentworths Volume Ii Part 29

ENDNOTES:

[A] See Note I. _The Funeral._

[B] A fact.

[C] See Note K. _Val di Bovino._

[D] See Note L. _The Vardarelli._

[E] The costumes of Leonora and this bandit are true to life.

[F] See Note M. _The Mysterious Guide._

[G] Scuffle, or s.h.i.+ndy.

[H] N.B.--Having dropped Bill Stacy's lingo, we shall not reintroduce it.--_J.S._

[I] See Note N. _Deaths of Earl and Countess._

APPENDIX.

_Note_ A, _vol._ i, _page_ 6.--OLIVER CROMWELL.

The Protector, as is well known, died on the anniversary of his two greatest victories.

The 3rd of September, 1650, beheld him victor at Dunbar, the 3rd of September, 1651, at Worcester; the 3rd of September, 1658, he yielded up his ambitious soul.

A terrific hurricane swept over England the night he died, and it is worthy of record that a similar convulsion of the elements took place at the deaths of Napoleon Bonaparte, Pitt, George IV., and other men of note.

_Note_ B, _vol._ i, _p._ 10.--WEIRD OF THE WENTWORTHS.

_Weird_, derived from the Saxon, means _fated_; it is here used as a substantive; more frequently it is found adjectively, _e.g._:--

"The _weird_ sisters, hand in hand."--_Macbeth._

"To the _weird_ lady of the woods."--_Old Ballad._

Sir Walter Scott uses it as a substantive throughout his novels. _Vide_ Guy Mannering, chap. xlvi. "The Weird's Dreed."

The original _weird_, _curse_, or _fate_, is to be found in the archives of a good English family; I forget where I read it, but it made a great impression on my mind.

The name _Wentworth_ is selected merely as one connected with the author's family, and has no historic reference to the Straffords, or any other t.i.tle in our peerage.

_Note_ C, _vol._ i, _p._ 55.--QUEEN'S DRIVE.

The road _probably_ did not exist, _certainly_ not as the "Queen's Drive," at the time of our tale. If any critic catches up the anachronism, I can only defend myself with Cowper's lines:--

"No matter when, a poet's muse is To make them grow just where she chooses."

_Note_ D, _vol._ i, _chapter_ xi.--SWITZERLAND.

The descriptions are drawn from nature, and the impressions those which a tour, in the loveliest weather, through the romantic country created in the author's mind. He, however, believes he has crowned Rigi with an hotel before due time.

_Note_ E, _vol._ i, _p._ 140.--DEVIL'S BRIDGE.

_Le Pont du Diable_ is a thread-like bridge spanning a tremendous gap made by the Reuss through the rocks near Fluellen. The author, with some friends, saw it under the circ.u.mstances here described, and the little incident narrated actually took place among the party.

_Note_ F, _vol._ i, _p._ 148.--THE TOWERS.

Though the main topics of the scenery are true to nature, it is almost needless to say no such castles as the Towers ever existed near the Lammermoors save in imagination. The same may be said of the scenery in the next few chapters. Individually each spot is as faithful a picture of _some_ place as the author could draw, but _en ma.s.se_ they are grouped without any attention to topography beyond the general resemblance one spot has to another in Scotland's romantic land.

_Note_ G, _vol._ i, _p._ 237.--JUSTIFIABLE SUICIDE.

The author is aware that some demur may be raised against the lawfulness of suicide under _any_ circ.u.mstances, and that many deem it irreconcileable with a Christian profession in _every_ contingency. He begs to leave it an open question. During the Indian mutiny, and in similar cases of certain death by human violence, he believes that suicide was not only attempted, but committed, by truly religious persons. The moral character of the heroine was only gradually developing itself, and he trusts all final judgment upon her will be reserved till the close of the romance.

_Note_ H, _vol._ i, _p._ 258.--REBECCA.

Owing to corresponding incidents a certain resemblance to the celebrated scene in _Ivanhoe_ was almost unavoidable; the author hopes he has steered clear of any intentional likeness, but if he has caught a faint echo from the immortal Scott, he is not ashamed to own it. "_Sequiturque patrem, non pa.s.sibus aequis._"

_Note_ I, _vol._ ii, _p._ 45.--THE FUNERAL.

The scene at Lady Arranmore's funeral was taken from the description of the impressive and beautiful ceremony performed on the occasion of the late deeply lamented Prince Consort's sepulture.

_Note_ K, _vol._ ii, _p._ 126.--VAL DI BOVINO.

This Val is a narrow defile formed by the _Cervaro_ through the Apennines, and has always been the celebrated haunt of brigands. The following scene is not fict.i.tious, though names are of course changed.

_Note_ L, _vol._ ii, _p._ 129.--THE VARDARELLI.

This was the name of some notorious banditti in the beginning of this century. I have no reason to believe they were not true Italians, though here a foreign parentage is given to them.