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THE HILTONS. 307
The sequel is easily imagined :
" That maiden kiss hath holy power
Over planet and sigillary hour;
The Elfish spell hath lost its charms,
And a Danish knight is in Edith's arms.
And Harold, at his bride's request,
His barbarous gods forswore ;
Freya, and Woden, and Balder, and Thor,
And Jarrow, with tapers blazing bright,
Hailed her gallant proselyte."
But there was another legend connected with the Hiltons ;
even a
certain visionary inhabitant called "The cauld lad of Hilton," who was
seldom seen but heard nightly by the servants who slept in the great hall ;
showing his capricious temper by breaking the plates and dishes, and
hurling the pewters in all directions when they had been left tidy, and by
arranging everything with the grandest precision when that apartment had
been left in disarray. At length his pranks becoming unbearable, it was
determined to make an effort to get rid of him and in
;
accordance with the
acknowledged specific as to dealing with brownies, a green cloak and hood
were laid before the kitchen fire, while the domestics sat up watching at a
prudent distance. Sure enough at twelve o'clock the sprite glided in, stood
by the glowing embers, surveyed the garments very attentively, tried them
on, frisked about, cut somersaults and gambadoes, and as the crow of the
first cock was heard, twitched the mantle tightly about him and departed,
uttering
as his valediction :
" Here's a cloak, and here's a hood,
The cauld lad o' Hilton will do no more good."
But tradition said that "the cauld lad of Hilton" was no mere
brownie, but the disembodied spirit of a certain groom
lad whom one of
the old barons of Hilton had slain in a moment of wrath or intemperance.
Impatient that his horse did not come to the door at the time appointed,
he went to the stable ; finding the boy loitering, he seized a hay-fork
and struck him, though not intentionally, a mortal blow. He covered his
victim with straw till
night, and then threw him into the pond, where the
skeleton of a boy was (in confirmation of the tale) discovered in the last
baron's time. Certainly on the 3rd of July, 1609, an inquest was held
before Master John King, coroner Wardce de Chestre, of which the following
record remains "
:
Inquisitio super visum corporis Rogeri Skelton ibi
" jacentis mortui. Jurati presentant quod Robertus Hilton de Hilton, Gen.,
" die et anno supradictis inter horas 8 et 9 ante meridiem, falcans gramen
" cum quadam falce, Anglice a -
Syth, ad valorem cxxd quam ipse in manibus
" suis tenuit, eundem Rogerum stantem a tergo casu infortunii cum acie
" ejus falcis, Anglice the Scyth point, percussit super dextrum femer ejusdem