“An old retainer, called Oliver Abbot, who, with his forefathers, had worked at Tetcott for generations, told me that Arscott of Tetcott kept not only a well-known pack of foxhounds, but a pack of foumart hounds, which he hunted by night.[162] The song, ‘Arscott of Tetcott,’ was undoubtedly not written concerning the Arscott who married Gertrude Calmady, but of the more recent John Arscott, who died in 1788, and was Black John’s master. Gossips will still tell how Black John, though pleasant and amusing enough when things went smoothly, became dangerous when roused. One day, Sir William Molesworth playfully tried to push him into one of the fishponds, when Black John, wrathfully exclaiming, ‘Turn sides, brother Willie, turn sides’ (and, although a dwarf, he was very strong), soon had Sir William in the water, and, in his rage, would have drowned him, had not a man named Beare come to the rescue. “It is said that Arscott of Tetcott still appears on a phantom horse, with a phantom pack, on the wild moors he used to hunt, and that their cry portends death or misfortune to the unlucky wayfarer; but I am inclined to agree with the man who, when told the devil appeared to people on Cookworthy Moor, replied, ‘I’ve been out on the moor all hours of the day and night; had there been e’er a devil, I must a seen un.’ During the thirty years that Mr. Calmady lived at Tetcott, he kept up with zeal the sporting reputation of the place by keeping a pack of foxhounds and otter hounds, and showing such sport as will long be remembered in the West. During those years, I heard many a story of the olden times. One ascribed, whether rightly or wrongly, to that grand old sportsman, Paul Treby, was to the effect that, on some one asking the meaning of Dosmary Pool, he replied, ‘Don’t e knaw? Why, Do, Dos, Dot damme Mare, give’d up from the Zay, to be Zure.’ “Some years ago I obtained from a cottage in Tetcott an old Staffordshire jug, decorated with game. It was said to have been formerly in the possession of Arscott of Tetcott. This jug I have since given to Mr. Lane, the publisher.” The surname of Black John, and the place and date of his birth, death, and burial are unknown. The editor would be glad to hear from any one who could supply information on these points. FOOTNOTE: [162] The foumart is now extinct in England, though, I believe, to be met with in parts of Scotland. APPENDIX D (p. 90) DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK BY R. PEARSE CHOPE