Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE FAMILY. 3
This Alured seems to have been a deuce of a fellow, a very
good type of the family. When British Harry had that difference we wot of with the Bishop of Rome, I find Alured to have
been engaged in some five or six Romish plots, such as, had the
king been in possession of facts, would have consigned him to a
rather speedy execution. However, the king seems- to have
looked on this gentleman with a suspicious eye, and to have been
pretty well aware what sort of man he was, for I find him writing to his wife, on the occasion of his going to court: "The
King's Grace looked but sourly upon me, and said it should go
hard, but that the pitcher which went so oft to the well should be
broke at last. Thereto I making answer,' that that should depend on the pitcher, whether it were iron or clomb,' he turned
on his heel, and presently departed from me."
He must have been possessed of his full share of family
audacity to sharpen his wits on the terrible Harry, with such an
unpardonable amount of treason hanging over him. I have
dwelt thus long on him, as he seems to have possessed a fair
share of the virtues and vices of his family,- a family always
generous and brave, yet always led astray by bad advisers.
This Alured built Ravenshoe House, as it stands to this day, and
in which much of the scene of this story is laid.
They seem to have got through the Gunpowder Plot pretty
well, though I can show you the closet where one of the minor
conspirators, one Watson, lay perdu for a week or so after that
gallant attempt, more I suspect from the effect of a guilty conscience than anything else, for I never heard of any distinct
charge being brought against him. The Forty-five, however, did
not pass quite so easily, and Ambrose: Ravenshoe went as near
to lose his head as any one of the family since the Conquest.
When the news came from the north about the alarming advance
of the Highlanders, it immediately struck Ambrose that this was
the best opportunity for making a fool of himself that could possibly occur. He accordingly, without hesitation or consultation
with any mortal soul, rang the bell for his butler, sent for his
stud-groom, mounted every man about the place (twenty or so),
armed them, grooms, gardeners, and all, with crossbows and
partizans from the armory, and rode into the cross, at Stcinnington, on a market day, and boldly proclaimed the Pretender king.
It soon got about that " the Squire" was making a fool of himself, and that there was some fun going; so he shortly found
himself surrounded by a large and somewhat dirty rabble, who,
with cries of "Well done, old rebel!" and "Hurrah for the
Pope!" escorted him, his terror-stricken butler and his shamestricken grooms, to the Crown and Sceptre. As good luck would
have it, there happened to be in the town that day no less a per