THE GRAY MAN OF BELLISTER, A NORTHUMBRIAN LEGEND. "An old rude 'tale' that fitted well The ruin wild and hoary." COLERIDGE. T was at the gray of the evening twilight, about half a century ago, that a stripling held his way towards the castle of Bellister, with the view of entering into service there. Having crossed the Tyne at Haltwhistle, he found the darkness increasing fast; and although the distance he had to travel was not great, yet in those days, bad companions were more common than welcome on the unfrequented roads after nightfall. Leaving the ferry, he passed a thicket of willow bushes, and then his route lay along a broken road, which he had been directed to follow, as that which would conduct him to the castle. He had not proceeded far, when he descried a traveller at some little distance in advance-a circumstance rather singular, as he had tarried for a few minutes at the ferry, and no one had come over for some time previous. The youth, a stranger in the place, and looking forward with solicitude towards the new scene of his labours, soon overcame the mysterious feeling to which idea gave rise. He therefore quickened his pace, and when sufficiently near, shouted to the unknown individual to stop. But the stranger paid no regard-he neither stopped nor looked behind. The lad had now approached within a few yards, yet with the utmost exertion he could not overtake him; for he passed forward with superhuman rapidity, gliding rather than walking over the surface. An unpleasant sensation of fear crept over the youth, which was not a little increased by a closer inspection, so far as the dubious light enabled, of the object of his misgivings. His head was uncovered, and his long hair hung down behind, white as the frosts of winter. He was wrapt in a long gray cloak, reaching to his heels, and he appeared to carry a small bundle under his arm, concealed by his upper vestments. So occupied had the youth been in the struggle, that he did not at first perceive that he had now reached the broken gateway of the old castle of Bellister. At the instant, when its dark mass became evident through the gloom, the mysterious figure unexpectedly stood still, and turning abruptly round upon the youth, revealed the awful nature of the fellowship which he, in the simplicity of his heart, was so eager to obtain. Death had set his pallid seal on that grisly countenance, and a bloody gash that ran across it heightened the expression of ghastliness imprinted there! The thick beard was dripping with blood, and the forepart of the garments was dyed with the ensanguined stream. The being fixed its large, lustreless eyes upon the youth, and pointing with a menacing scowl towards the dilapidated ruin-melted silently away. It was a scene of the deepest horror. For some time he stood spell-bound to the spot; gazing into the vacant air, that gave back no image-but extended itself in limitless expansion into a vast, terrible, all-absorbing gulf-that seemed to invite him forward, in pursuit of the dread, unsubstantial essences, that roamed its dim and dismal depths. Rallying his scattered fortitude, his first idea was that of self-preservation. His new home was nigh, and thither, scarcely conscious of the action, he betook himself. The old mistress was the only one of the family within, and to her he revealed the horrifying apparition he had witnessed. The old lady was much concerned. Of the existence of a spirit near the place, she was fully aware; she had heard of it from others wiser and older than herself -members of a generation of which there were now few survivors; and there were several instances in which it had made itself visible to persons whom she well knew. Such a thing never occurred, she said, without some accompanying calamity, and when, as on the present occasion, there were manifested tokens of a vindictive disposition on the spirit's part, the danger was near and alarming. It came to pass as the old lady feared and predicted. That very evening the unfortunate lad was seized with a severe illness, and before next morning was a corpse. When the castle was occupied by the Blenkinsops, its manorial lords, many, many centuries ago, a wandering minstrel, says tradition, sought the protection of its roof far on in the evening; and the humble request was granted, and the aged musician was invited to the family hearth. The days of high-souled chivalry and of generous feeling had not then departed; not knowing "the bleak freezings of neglect," the minstrel obtained a ready admittance to the society of the gentle and the august, and his tale and harp found favourable audience with all. 'High placed in hall, a welcome guest, But the hospitable boon had not been long conceded, ere dark suspicions began to rankle in the breast of the lord of Bellister. He was at feud with a neighbouring baron, who scrupled not to employ the basest means for gratifying his rancour. In the appearance of this stranger, at such an untimely hour, there appeared to him some reason to dread the intrusion of a spy, or the disguised agent of his rival to execute some revengeful plot. Distrust therefore sat upon the countenance of the baron;* and as the cordiality with which he "Some gentlemen of the north are called to this day Barons," says Grey in his "Chorographia," 1649. The Blenkinsops of Bellister were entitled to the designation of Baron only in courtesy. By a similar token of respect the Whitfields of Whitfield, in the same vicinity, transmitted to the latest generation, the local title of yearl-i.e., Earl; which after they became extinct passed to Whitfield of Clargill, whose daughter and heiress-married to a Dr Graham-was called Countess of Clargill. John Ogle, of Eglingham, the reputed chief of the family of the Ogles, was usually styled the Count, and his widow the Countess, until her death in 1755. had been received declined a visible constraint gathered over the minstrel's features, which soon communioned itself to the entire circle. --Pr fins less fernen from the và Hence it was with more than customary alacrity that the signal for withdrawal was chered. After the company had retired, the lord of Bellister continued to pace his apartment, filled with perplexing anxieties. The image of the harper, too abject to justify his fears, still haunted him, and the off-experienced perfidy of his deadly foe. At length suspense rose into passion. He summoned his attendants, and directed them to bring the harper into his presence. But how was every doubt and jealously anew inflamed, when they found the chamber that he had occupied empty, and the inmate gone! Either he had augured treachery from his entertainer, or he was conscious that the guilty errand on which he had been sent was detected. In the mind of the baron, his flight only served to confirm the unfavourable ideas that he had been led to conceive. The bloodhounds were ordered out, and instant pursuit after the fugitive commenced; the baron himself leading a band of his followers. The bloodhounds were soon upon his track, and rapidly outstripped the vengeance of their exasperated master. They came up with the poor old minstrel, hard by the willow trees near the banks of the Tyne, and tore him to pieces, before any of the party had reached him. Remorse for the barbarous outrage seized the baron, but the deed of violence was irremediable. Whenever, after the sunset hour, he took his way to the castle, the fate of the hapless minstrel rose in terror before his eyes, and the visible shape of the murdered man attended him home. Years stole by, and the baron slept with his fathers. But the injured spirit still frequented its ancient circuitunsatisfied and unappeased. At some periods it was more than usually outrageous ;—its efforts to attract notice became more assiduous;and the appearances that it assumed more terrific. This agitation and inquietude were always found to be the prelude of some impending misfortune to the house of Bellister and its dependents, between whose fate and its own there had been induced an inseparable bond.* *Similar to this is the Irish and Gaelic superstition of the Banshee, or attendant Fairy-wife of families of the pure stock, whose office it was to announce by her wailing the approaching death of some one of the destined race. "To me my sweet Kathleen, the Benshee has cried, And I die-ere to-morrow I die ; This rose thou hast gather'd, and laid by my side, -SMYTH. According to Delrio, a spectral woman in mourning attire was wont to appear in the castle of an illustrious family in Bohemia previous to the death of its mistress. VOL. I.-No. 3. K The Gray Man no longer appears at Bellister, nor traverses the broken pathway near which the clump of willows still responds in sad murmurs to the wizard blast of evening. But Bellister and its vicinity continue to be a haunted or rather forbidden place after nightfall. The rustic passes it with a beating heart; the schoolboy's bravery is over, and his merriment hushed till he is by; and the rider, trusting neither his eye nor his ear, applies the spur to his steed, and hurries past. The dread of an unexpiated crime, and of a mystery unrevealed, hangs unlifted from the spot; and nature, as she spreads the pall of midnight over the lonesome way and the gloomy ruin, and as the sweep of the rushing river combines with the moaning breeze and the owl's funeral scream, seems to sympathise with the peasant's awe, and approve of his reverence for the life of a fellow-being. The jottings of this Northumbrian ghost story were communicated by Mr William Pattison, a native of the district in which the castle is situated. Bellister Castle stands on an artificial mount, on the southern side of the Tyne opposite to Haltwhistle, and was surrounded by a broad fosse. It has been an irregular structure, and now consists of a rude and crumbling mass of ruins overshadowed by an enormous sycamore. Being the seat of a younger branch of the Blenkinsops, it was the property of Thomas Blenkinsop, 1553; and of George, 1558. At present the castle and estate belong to the Bacon family.* J. H. The Macleans of Loch Buy are thus premonished by the spirit of one of their ancestors. "Before the death of any of his race, the phantom-chief gallops along the sea-beach, near to the castle, announcing the event by cries and lamentations, (Scott's Demonology, &c., p. 341.) Thus also the family of Rothiemurcus had the Bodach an Dun, or the Ghost of the Hill; Kinchardine, the Spectre of the Bloody Hand ; Gartinbeg House was haunted by Bodach Gartin, and Tulloch Gorm by Maug Molach, or the Girl with the Hairy Left Hand.--(Pennant.) And like to those were the "White Lady of the House of Brandenburgh," and the fairy Melusine, who usually prognosticated the recurrence of mortality to some noble family of Poitou. Prince, in his "Worthies of Devon,” records the appearance of a white bird, performing the same office for the worshipful lineage of Oxenham, (Croker's Fairy Legends, p. 126.) Brand identifies these with Wraiths, but they had a general commission, whereas the "Warning Spirit" was a family appurtenance. The Dahlia. This beautiful, green-leaved, tall, and graceful plant is a native of Mexico, and takes its name from Dahlè, a Swede, who introduced it first into Europe. In 1804, Lady Holland had it cultivated in her garden at Holland House; since which period it has become a special favourite with rich and poor, and is one of the autumnal beauties that grace an English flower-garden. What it may appear to lose in want of odour is amply compensated for by the brilliance and variety of its colours. *Mackenzie's Northumberland, vol. ii., p. 316. |