Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
"And who's Will o' th' Jumps?" I again inquired. "He's Ailse o'
th' Jumps, fellie," replied the girl; and I doubt whether she had any
idea whatever of her legal surname.
MR. WIKES, OF LEASEHOLME.[18]
The living of Leaseholme, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, was held by
three successive generations of the Wikeses for upwards of a century;
all of whom were men of literary talents, popular preachers, great
oddities--but much given to the bottle. The first of the Wikes family
who held the living was a gentleman who had been captain in the army in
the reign of Charles I., and had fought for the unfortunate monarch
throughout the civil war. In one of the battles he received a wound in
his leg, which incapacitated him from further active service, and the
death of the king and the supremacy of Cromwell prevented him from
looking to Government for promotion.
But on the Restoration Mr. Wikes cast about for some berth in which he
might spend his declining years in ease and comfort. The living of
Leaseholme fell vacant, and he applied for it, remembering how his old
friend the sea-captain, Lyons, had obtained the bishopric of York from
Queen Elizabeth.
Captain Wikes was ordained by the Archbishop of York, and given the
living he solicited, King Charles II. being glad to reward an old
soldier of his father, who had shared his misfortunes, thus economically
to himself.
Mr. Wikes also held the incumbency of Ellerburn, near Leaseholme, and
took service in the morning at Leaseholme, and in the afternoon at
Ellerburn, or _vice versà_.
One year, when the 30th of January fell on a Sunday, Mr. Wikes marched
off to Ellerburn for morning service, with a pathetic sermon on the
martyrdom of his royal master in his pocket; but on his arrival at the
place he found the clerk and sexton near the churchyard, with a short
pole in their hands, watching a domestic quarrel that was going forward
on the opposite side of the beck that flows through the village. The
parson asked why the church was empty and his subordinates were not in
their places. The clerk pointed across the beck, and bade Parson Wikes
"look and see a woman combing her husband's head with a three-legged
stool."
Mr. Wikes at once plunged over the brook, and striking the husband with
his fist, tore the furious pair asunder, shouting, "Be quiet, you
brute!" to the husband, and "Hold your tongue, you vixen!" to the woman.
Both fell on him, and he had hard work in defending himself from husband
and wife. In the fray that ensued the yells of the parson--"Peace, you
monster! Have done, termagant! Hands off, you coward! Retire,
virago!"--were mingled with the abuse and blows of the disputants, till
the absurdity of the whole scene burst upon them all, as the crowd of
delighted parishioners and neighbours gathered in a circle about them,
and they fell back laughing, and shook hands all round.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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