English literature -- England -- Lancashire; Legends -- England -- Lancashire
James and his company, passing through the ponderous and embattled
gateway, entered into the great quadrangle, an area, it is reported, of
sufficient size to contain six hundred men. Here he alighted, and was
conducted in great state to the oaken chamber, where, royalty being very
hot, a tankard of Rhenish wine, mingled with rosewater, was handed to
him; of this he partook but sparingly, calling to Buckingham for a cup
of muscadine and eggs.
Goring and Finett were not idle, but each of them fully employed in
their respective vocations. Sir John had been pierced by a pair of dark
eyes from the crowd upon the staircase, and Goring was making all haste
for the royal hunt, his Majesty having signified that he would on that
same evening kill a stag. James was, generally, as quick to resolve as
he was impotent to execute; vacillating, and without any fixed purpose,
in matters that required decision and promptitude of action.
With his usual pusillanimity the king went through the business of the
hunt, the deer being literally driven into the very teeth of the dogs.
An hour having been thus occupied, he commanded that they should return,
highly satisfied with his own skill and intrepidity. Ascending the hill
with his favourite, Goring, and discoursing pleasantly on this noble
pastime, the king turned round on the sudden, as though recollecting
something he had lost.
"What! Jack Finett. Quhere? quhere, I say, is my Sienna balsam?" said
he, laying a deep emphasis on the guttural. This sally was acknowledged
with delight by the courtiers. But "Jack" had not been seen or even
remembered. Some trick or device was doubtless intended, and the king
held himself in readiness for the expected surprise; but none was
forthcoming. No magazine of mirth exploded; no mine was sprung; and
James entered into his chamber without any visible expression of
jocoseness issuing from the fertile brains of Sir John Finett. The
irritation produced by his absence seemed to arise, not from any need of
him, but from that tormenting desire which mortals universally feel for
the possession of objects beyond their reach. Search was commanded for
the truant, unsuccessfully; and supper was begun.
The eastern side of the hill on which the tower is built is bold and
rugged, being steep and difficult of access. At its base the Darwen
forces itself through a narrow channel, its waters tumbling over huge
heaps of rock, and reeling in mazy eddies to the echo of their own
voice. The river seems to have worked itself a passage through the
chasm; and the boiling and noisy torrent, struggling to free itself from
observation, foams and bellows like the gorge of a whirlpool, from
whence originates its name, "The Orr," not unlike in sound to the effect
that is here produced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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