Fairy Tales, Now First Collected/Tale 19
TALE XIX.
THE LUCK OF EDEN-HALL.
In Eden-hall, in Cumberland, the mansion of the knightly family of Musgrave for many generations, is carefully preserved, in a leathern case, an old painted drinking-glass, which, according to the tradition of the neighbourhood, was long ago left by fairies near a well not far from the house, with an inscription along with it to this effect:
From this friendly caution the glass obtained the name recorded in a humorous and excellent ballad, usually, but erroneously attributed to the duke of Wharton, of a famous drinking match at this place, which begins thus:
The good-fortune, however, of this ancient house was never so much endangered as by the duke himself, who, having drunk its contents, to the success and perpetuity, no doubt, of the worthy owner and his race, inadvertently dropped it, and here, most certainly, would have terminated The luck of Eden-hall, if the butler, who had brought the draught, and stood at his elbow, to receive the empty cup, had not happily caught it in his napkin.