APPENDIX.
_Note_ A, _vol._ i, _page_ 6.--OLIVER CROMWELL.
The Protector, as is well known, died on the anniversary of his twogreatest victories.
The 3rd of September, 1650, beheld him victor at Dunbar, the 3rd ofSeptember, 1651, at Worcester; the 3rd of September, 1658, he yielded uphis ambitious soul.
A terrific hurricane swept over England the night he died, and it isworthy of record that a similar convulsion of the elements took place atthe deaths of Napoleon Bonaparte, Pitt, George IV., and other men ofnote.
_Note_ B, _vol._ i, _p._ 10.--WEIRD OF THE WENTWORTHS.
_Weird_, derived from the Saxon, means _fated_; it is here used as asubstantive; more frequently it is found adjectively, _e.g._:--
"The _weird_ sisters, hand in hand."--_Macbeth._
"To the _weird_ lady of the woods."--_Old Ballad._
Sir Walter Scott uses it as a substantive throughout his novels. _Vide_Guy Mannering, chap. xlvi. "The Weird's Dreed."
The original _weird_, _curse_, or _fate_, is to be found in the archivesof a good English family; I forget where I read it, but it made a greatimpression on my mind.
The name _Wentworth_ is selected merely as one connected with theauthor's family, and has no historic reference to the Straffords, or anyother title in our peerage.
_Note_ C, _vol._ i, _p._ 55.--QUEEN'S DRIVE.
The road _probably_ did not exist, _certainly_ not as the "Queen'sDrive," at the time of our tale. If any critic catches up theanachronism, I can only defend myself with Cowper's lines:--
"No matter when, a poet's muse is To make them grow just where she chooses."
_Note_ D, _vol._ i, _chapter_ xi.--SWITZERLAND.
The descriptions are drawn from nature, and the impressions those whicha tour, in the loveliest weather, through the romantic country createdin the author's mind. He, however, believes he has crowned Rigi with anhotel before due time.
_Note_ E, _vol._ i, _p._ 140.--DEVIL'S BRIDGE.
_Le Pont du Diable_ is a thread-like bridge spanning a tremendous gapmade by the Reuss through the rocks near Fluellen. The author, with somefriends, saw it under the circumstances here described, and the littleincident narrated actually took place among the party.
_Note_ F, _vol._ i, _p._ 148.--THE TOWERS.
Though the main topics of the scenery are true to nature, it is almostneedless to say no such castles as the Towers ever existed near theLammermoors save in imagination. The same may be said of the scenery inthe next few chapters. Individually each spot is as faithful a pictureof _some_ place as the author could draw, but _en masse_ they aregrouped without any attention to topography beyond the generalresemblance one spot has to another in Scotland's romantic land.
_Note_ G, _vol._ i, _p._ 237.--JUSTIFIABLE SUICIDE.
The author is aware that some demur may be raised against the lawfulnessof suicide under _any_ circumstances, and that many deem itirreconcileable with a Christian profession in _every_ contingency. Hebegs to leave it an open question. During the Indian mutiny, and insimilar cases of certain death by human violence, he believes thatsuicide was not only attempted, but committed, by truly religiouspersons. The moral character of the heroine was only graduallydeveloping itself, and he trusts all final judgment upon her will bereserved till the close of the romance.
_Note_ H, _vol._ i, _p._ 258.--REBECCA.
Owing to corresponding incidents a certain resemblance to the celebratedscene in _Ivanhoe_ was almost unavoidable; the author hopes he hassteered clear of any intentional likeness, but if he has caught a faintecho from the immortal Scott, he is not ashamed to own it. "_Sequiturquepatrem, non passibus aequis._"
_Note_ I, _vol._ ii, _p._ 45.--THE FUNERAL.
The scene at Lady Arranmore's funeral was taken from the description ofthe impressive and beautiful ceremony performed on the occasion of thelate deeply lamented Prince Consort's sepulture.
_Note_ K, _vol._ ii, _p._ 126.--VAL DI BOVINO.
This Val is a narrow defile formed by the _Cervaro_ through theApennines, and has always been the celebrated haunt of brigands. Thefollowing scene is not fictitious, though names are of course changed.
_Note_ L, _vol._ ii, _p._ 129.--THE VARDARELLI.
This was the name of some notorious banditti in the beginning of thiscentury. I have no reason to believe they were not true Italians, thoughhere a foreign parentage is given to them.
_Note_ M, _vol._ ii, _p._ 175.--THE MYSTERIOUS GUIDE.
This story is taken from an adventure which in part happened to acountryman of the author's.
_Note_ N, _vol._ ii, _p._ 259.--DEATHS OF EARL AND COUNTESS.
The end of our heroine and her lord is also taken from real life.
THE END.
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET ANDCHARING CROSS.
The Weird of the Wentworths: A Tale of George IV's Time, Vol. 2 Page 25