twenty years, to a newly erected manſion, ſome thirty miles diſtant, on a report which was riſen among his domeſtics, that the image of the late lord was frequently ſeen in an apartment on the weſt ſide of the caſtle. This opinion of the caſtle being haunted was readily adopted by the ſurrounding peaſantry; and no one, after the cloſe of day, dared venture within ſight of it.
At this period, a war between England and Scotland raged with incredible fury; and the youth of each nation were invited to join the ſtandard of their reſpective ſovereigns. The baron Raymond exerted his intereſt among his tenantry and vaſſals, in favour of king David; but ſuch were the devaſtations of the Scottiſh monarch, and his marauding army, that many of his ſubjects joined the forces of the victorious Edward.
Among the numerous clans and individuals that fled from Scotland, was a youth of majeſtic mien and manly form, the ſon of a vaſſal of the houſe of Raymond; who having from his infancy diſcovered a propenſity for war, had engaged the notice of the baron, and with his ſon, two years younger, had been inſtructed in the uſe of arms. Glanville (for ſuch was the name of the young peaſant) ſuſpecting that his lordſhip would command his attendance upon lord Edward, then on the point of ſetting out to join the forces of his ſovereign, privately ſtole away from the village, intent to follow the banners of the Britiſh monarch.
Having continued his walk the whole day, he reached the ſkirts of a gloomy foreſt, that flickered from the rude blaſts of the north the caſtle of Raymond. He ſtood a few minutes, and gazed on the ſcene around, in hopes of diſcovering ſome cot, or ſhepherd’s hovel, where he might paſs the night. No one appearing, he ſtruck into the foreſt, and, after half an hour’s walk, arrived at the oppoſite ſide; the ſun had now ſunk beneath the horizon; and its laſt reflections, which pointed upon the lofty battlements, diſcovered to him the abandoned caſtle. He was an utter ſtranger to this part of the country, and, conſequently, knew not that the
