FAMILY DEATH OMENS.
"Say not 'tis vain! I tell thee, some
Are warned by a meteor's light,
Or a pale bird flitting calls them home,
Or a voice on the winds by night--
And they must go. And he too, he,
Woe for the fall of the glorious tree."
--MRS. HEMANS.
A curious chapter in the history of many of our old county families is
that relating to certain forewarnings, which, from time immemorial,
have been supposed to indicate the approach of death. However
incredible the existence of these may seem, their appearance is still
intimately associated with certain houses, instances of which have
been recorded from time to time. Thus Cuckfield Place, Sussex, is not
only interesting as a fine Elizabethan mansion, but as having
suggested to Ainsworth the "Rookwood Hall" of his striking romance.
"The supernatural occurrence," he says, "forming the groundwork of one
of the ballads which I have made the harbinger of doom to the house of
Rookwood, is ascribed, by popular superstition, to a family resident
in Sussex, upon whose estate the fatal tree--a gigantic lime, with
mighty arms and huge girth of trunk--is still carefully preserved." In
the avenue that winds towards the house the doom-tree still stands:--
"And whether gale or calm prevail, or threatening cloud hath fled,
By hand of Fate, predestinate, a limb that tree will shed;
A verdant bough, untouched, I trow, by axe or tempest's breath,
To Rookwood's head, an omen dread of fast approaching death."
"Cuckfield Place," adds Ainsworth, "to which this singular piece of
timber is attached, is the real Rookwood Hall, for I have not drawn
upon imagination, but upon memory, in describing the seat and domains
of that fated family." A similar tradition is associated with the
Edgewell Oak, which is said to indicate the coming death of an inmate
of Castle Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches; and Camden in
his "Magna Britannia," alluding to the antiquity of the Brereton
family, relates this peculiar fact which is reported to have been
repeated many times: "This wonderful thing respecting them is commonly
believed, and I have heard it myself affirmed by many, that for some
days before the death of the heir of the family the trunk of a tree
has always been seen floating in the lake adjoining their mansion;" a
popular superstition to which Mrs. Hemans refers in the lines which
head the present chapter. A further instance of a similar kind is
given by Sir Bernard Burke, who informs us that opposite the
dining-room at Gordon Castle is a large and massive willow tree, the
history of which is somewhat singular. Duke Alexander, when four years
old, planted this willow in a tub filled with earth. The tub floated
about in a marshy-piece of land, till the shrub, expanding, burst its
cerements, and struck root in the earth below; here it grew and
prospered till it attained its present goodly size. It is said the
Duke regarded the tree with a sort of fatherly and even superstitious
regard, half-believing there was some mysterious affinity between its
fortune and his own. If an accident happened to the one by storm or
lightning, some misfortune was not long in befalling the other.
It has been noted, also, that the same thing is related of the brave
but unfortunate Admiral Kempenfeldt, who went down in the Royal George
off Portsmouth. During his proprietary of Lady Place, he and his
brother planted two thorn trees. But one day, on coming home, the
brother noted that the tree planted by the Admiral had completely
withered away. Astonished at this unexpected sight, he felt some
apprehensions as to Admiral Kempenfeldt's safety, and exclaimed with
some emotion, "I feel sure that this is an omen that my brother is
dead." By a striking coincidence, his worst fears were realised, for
on that evening came the terrible news of the loss of the Royal
George.
Whenever any member of the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, in the
county of Dumfries was about to die--either by accident or disease--a
swan that was never seen but on such occasions, was sure to make its
appearance upon the lake which surrounded Closeburn Castle, coming no
one knew whence, and passing away as mysteriously when the predicted
death had taken place, in connection with which the following singular
legend has been handed down: In days gone by, the lake of Closeburn
Castle was the favourite resort during the summer season of a pair of
swans, their arrival always being welcome to the family at the castle
from a long established belief that they were ominous of good fortune
to the Kirkpatricks. "No matter," it is said, "what mischance might
have before impended, it was sure to cease at their coming, and so
suddenly, as well as constantly, that it required no very ardent
superstition to connect the two events into cause and effect."
But a century and a half had passed away, when it happened that the
young heir of Closeburn Castle--a lad of not quite thirteen years of
age--in one of his visits to Edinburgh attended at the theatre a
performance of "The Merchant of Venice," in the course of which he was
surprised to hear Portia say of Bassanio that he should
"Make a swan-like end,
Fading in music."
Often wondering whether swans really sang before dying he determined,
at the first opportunity, to test the truth of these words for
himself. On his return home, he was one day walking by the lake when
the swans came sailing majestically towards him, and at once reminded
of Portia's remark. Without a moment's thought, he lodged in the
breast of the foremost one a bolt from his crossbow, killing it
instantly. Frightened at what he had done, he made up his mind it
should not be known; and, as the water drifted the dead body of the
bird towards the shore, he buried it deep in the ground.
No small surprise, however, was occasioned in the neighbourhood, when,
for several years, no swans made their annual appearance, the idea at
last being that they must have died in their native home, wherever
that might chance to be. The yearly visit of the swans of Closeburn
had become a thing of the past, when one day much excitement was
caused by the return of a single swan, and much more so when a deep
blood-red stain was observed upon its breast. As might be expected,
this unlooked-for occurrence occasioned grave suspicions even amongst
those who had no great faith in omens; and that such fears were not
groundless was soon abundantly clear, for in less than a week the lord
of Closeburn Castle died suddenly. Thereupon the swan vanished, and
was seen no more for some years, when it again appeared to announce
the loss of one of the house by shipwreck.
The last recorded appearance of the bird was at the third nuptials of
Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, the first baronet of that name. On the
wedding-day, his son Roger was walking by the lake, when, on a sudden,
as if it had emerged from the waters, the swan appeared with the
bleeding breast. Roger had heard of this mysterious swan, and,
although his father's wedding bells were ringing merrily, he himself
returned to the castle a sorrowful man, for he felt convinced that
some evil was hanging over him. Despite his father's jest at what he
considered groundless superstition on his part, the young man could
not shake off his fears, replying to his father, "Perhaps before long
you also may be sorrowful." On the night of that very day the son
died, and here ends the strange story of the swans of Closeburn.[39]
Similarly, whenever two owls are seen perched on the family mansion of
the noble family of Arundel of Wardour, it has long been regarded as a
certain indication that one of its members before very long will be
summoned out of the world; and the appearance of a white-breasted bird
was the death-warning of the Oxenham family, particulars relating to
the tragic origin of which are to be found in a local ballad, which
commences thus[40]:
Where lofty hills in grandeur meet,
And Taw meandering flows,
There is a sylvan, calm retreat,
Where erst a mansion rose.
There dwelt Sir James of Oxenham,
A brave and generous lord;
Benighted travellers never came
Unwelcome to his board.
In early life his wife had died;
A son he ne'er had known;
And Margaret, his age's pride,
Was heir to him alone.
In course of time, Margaret became affianced to a young knight, and
their wedding-day was fixed. On the evening preceding it, her father,
in accordance with custom, gave a banquet to his friends, in order
that they might congratulate him on the approaching happy union. He
stood up to thank them for their kind wishes, and in alluding to the
young knight--in a few hours time to be his daughter's husband--he
jestingly called him his son:--
But while the dear unpractised word
Still lingered on his tongue,
He saw a silvery breasted bird
Fly o'er the festive throng.
Swift as the lightning's flashes fleet,
And lose their brilliant light,
Sir James sank back upon his seat
Pale and entranced with fright.
With some difficulty he managed to conceal the cause of his
embarrassment, but on the following day the priest had scarcely begun
the marriage service,
When Margaret with terrific screams
Made all with horror start.
Good heavens! her blood in torrents streams,
A dagger in her heart.
The deed had been done by a discarded lover, who, by the aid of a
clever disguise, had managed to station himself just behind her:--
"Now marry me, proud maid," he cried,
"Thy blood with mine shall wed";
He dashed the dagger in his side,
And at her feet fell dead.
And this pathetic ballad concludes by telling us how
Poor Margaret, too, grows cold with death,
And round her hovering flies
The phantom bird for her last breath,
To bear it to the skies.
Equally strange is the omen with which the ancient baronet's family of
Clifton, of Clifton Hall, in Nottinghamshire, is forewarned when death
is about to visit one of its members. It appears that in this case the
omen takes the shape of a sturgeon, which is seen forcing itself up
the river Trent, on whose bank the mansion of the Clifton family is
situated. And, it may be remembered, how in the park of Chartley, near
Lichfield, there has long been preserved the breed of the indigenous
Staffordshire cow, of white sand colour, with black ears, muzzle, and
tips at the hoofs. In the year of the battle of Burton Bridge a black
calf was born; and the downfall of the great house of Ferrers
happening at the same period, gave rise to the tradition, which to
this day has been current in the neighbourhood, that the birth of a
parti-coloured calf from the wild breed in Chartley Park is a sure
omen of death within the same year to a member of the family.
By a noticeable coincidence, a calf of this description has been born
whenever a death has happened in the family of late years. The decease
of the Earl and his Countess, of his son Lord Tamworth, of his
daughter Mrs. William Joliffe, as well as the deaths of the son and
heir of the eighth Earl and his daughter Lady Frances Shirley, were
each preceded by the ominous birth of a calf. In the spring of the
year 1835, an animal perfectly black, was calved by one of this
mysterious tribe in the park of Chartley, and it was soon followed by
the death of the Countess.[41] The park of Chartley, where this weird
announcement of one of the family's death has oftentimes caused so
much alarm, is a wild romantic spot, and was in days of old attached
to the Royal Forest of Needwood and the Honour of Tutbury--of the
whole of which the ancient family of Ferrers were the puissant lords.
Their immense possessions, now forming part of the Duchy of Lancaster,
were forfeited by the attainder of Earl Ferrers after his defeat at
Burton Bridge, where he led the rebellious Barons against Henry III.
The Chartley estate, being settled in dower, was alone reserved, and
has been handed down to its present possessor. Of Chartley Castle
itself--which appears to have been in ruins for many years--many
interesting historical facts are recorded. Thus it is said Queen
Elizabeth visited her favourite, the Earl of Essex, here in August,
1575, and was entertained by him in a half-timbered house which
formerly stood near the Castle, but was long since destroyed by fire.
It is questionable whether Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in this
house, or in a portion of the old Castle. Certain, however, it is that
the unfortunate queen was brought to Chartley from Tutbury on
Christmas day, 1585. The exact date at which she left Chartley is
uncertain, but it appears she was removed thence under a plea of
taking the air without the bounds of the Castle. She was then
conducted by daily stages from the house of one gentleman to another,
under pretence of doing her honour, without her having the slightest
idea of her destination, until she found herself on the 20th of
September, within the fatal walls of Fotheringhay Castle.
Cortachy Castle, the seat of the Earl of Airlie, has for many years
past been famous for its mysterious drummer, for whenever the sound of
his drum is heard it is regarded as the sure indication of the
approaching death of a member of the Ogilvie family. There is a tragic
origin given to this curious phenomenon, the story generally told
being to the effect that either the drummer, or some officer whose
emissary he was, had excited the jealousy of a former Lord Airlie, and
that he was in consequence of this occurrence put to death by being
thrust into his own drum, and flung from the window of the tower, in
which is situated the chamber where his music is apparently chiefly
heard. It is also said that the drummer threatened to haunt the family
if his life were taken, a promise which he has not forgotten to
fulfil.
Then there is the well-known tradition that prior to the death of any
of the lords of Roslin, Roslin Chapel appears to be on fire, a weird
occurrence which forms the subject of Harold's song in the "Lay of the
Last Ministrel."
O'er Roslin all that dreary night
A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
'Twas broader than the watch-fire light
And redder than the bright moonbeam.
It glared on Roslin's castled rock,
It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.
Seem'd all on fire that Chapel proud,
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie;
Each Baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheathed in his iron panoply.
Seem'd all on fire, within, around,
Deep sacristy and altar's pale
Shone every pillar, foliage-bound,
And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair;
So still they blaze when Fate is nigh
The lordly line of Hugh St. Clair.
But, although the last "Roslin," as he was called, died in the year
1778, and the estates passed into the possession of the Erskines,
Earls of Rosslyn, the old tradition has not been extinguished.
Something of the same kind is described as having happened to the old
Cornish family of the Vingoes on their estate of Treville, for
"through all time a peculiar token has marked the coming death of one
of the family. Above the deep caverns in the Treville Cliff rises a
carn. On this chains of fire were seen ascending and descending, and
oftentimes were accompanied by loud and frightful noises. But it is
reported that these tokens have not taken place since the last male of
the family came to a violent end. According to Mr. Hunt,[42]
"tradition tells us this estate was given to an old family who came
with the Conqueror to this country. This ancestor is said to have been
the Duke of Normandy's wine taster, and to have belonged to the
ancient Counts of Treville, hence the name of the estate. For many
generations the family has been declining, and the race is now
nearly, if not quite, extinct.
In some cases, families have been apprised of an approaching death by
some strange spectre, either male or female, a remarkable instance of
which occurs in the MS. memoirs of Lady Fanshaw, and is to this
effect: "Her husband, Sir Richard, and she, chanced, during their
abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, who resided in his ancient
baronial castle surrounded with a moat. At midnight she was awakened
by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and, looking out of bed, beheld
by the moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at the
window. The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but
pale; and the hair, which was reddish, was loose and dishevelled. This
apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and then
vanished with two shrieks, similar to that which had at first excited
Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, with infinite terror, she
communicated to her host what had happened, and found him prepared not
only to credit, but to account for, what had happened.
"A near relation of mine," said he, "expired last night in the castle.
Before such an event happens in this family and castle, the female
spectre whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed to be
the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors
degraded himself by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the
dishonour done his family, he caused to be drowned in the castle
moat."
This, of course, was no other than the Banshee, which in times past
has been the source of so much terror in Ireland. Amongst the
innumerable stories told of its appearance may be mentioned one
related by Mrs. Lefanu, the niece of Sheridan, in the memoirs of her
grandmother, Mrs. Frances Sheridan. From this account we gather that
Miss Elizabeth Sheridan was a firm believer in the Banshee, and firmly
maintained that the one attached to the Sheridan family was distinctly
heard lamenting beneath the windows of the family residence before the
news arrived from France of Mrs. Frances Sheridan's death at Blois.
She adds that a niece of Miss Sheridan's made her very angry by
observing that as Mrs. Frances Sheridan was by birth a Chamberlaine, a
family of English extraction, she had no right to the guardianship of
an Irish fairy, and that therefore the Banshee must have made a
mistake.
Likewise, many a Scotch family has its death-warning, a notable one
being the Bodach Glass, which Sir Walter Scott has introduced in his
"Waverley" as the messenger of bad-tidings to the MacIvors, the truth
of which, it is said, has been traditionally proved by the experience
of no less than three hundred years. It is thus described by Fergus to
Waverley: "'You must know that when my ancestor, Ian nan Chaistel,
wanted Northumberland, there was appointed with him in the expedition
a sort of southland chief, or captain of a band of Lowlanders, called
Halbert Hall. In their return through the Cheviots they quarrelled
about the division of the great booty they had acquired, and came from
words to blows. The Lowlanders were cut off to a man, and their chief
fell the last, covered with wounds, by the sword of my ancestor. Since
that day his spirit has crossed the Vich Ian Vohr of the day when any
great disaster was impending.'" Fergus then gives to Waverley a
graphic and detailed account of the appearance of the Bodach: "'Last
night I felt so feverish that I left my quarters and walked out, in
hopes the keen frosty air would brace my nerves. I crossed a small
foot bridge, and kept walking backwards and forwards, when I observed,
with surprise, by the clear moonlight, a tall figure in a grey plaid,
which, move at what pace I would, kept regularly about four yards
before me.'
"'You saw a Cumberland peasant in his ordinary dress, probably.'
"'No; I thought so at first, and was astonished at the man's audacity
in daring to dog me. I called to him, but received no answer. I felt
an anxious troubling at my heart, and to ascertain what I dreaded, I
stood still, and turned myself on the same spot successively to the
four points of the compass. By heaven, Edward, turn where I would, the
figure was instantly before my eyes at precisely the same distance. I
was then convinced it was the Bodach Glass. My hair bristled, and my
knees shook. I manned myself, however, and determined to return to my
quarters. My ghastly visitor glided before me until he reached the
footbridge, there he stopped, and turned full round. I must either
wade the river or pass him as close as I am to you. A desperate
courage, founded on the belief that my death was near, made me resolve
to make my way in despite of him. I made the sign of the cross, drew
my sword, and uttered, 'In the name of God, evil spirit, give place!'
"'Vich Ian Vohr,' it said, in a voice that made my very blood curdle;
'beware of to-morrow.'
"'It seemed at that moment not half a yard from my sword's point; but
the words were no sooner spoken than it was gone, and nothing appeared
further to obstruct my passage.'"
An ancestor of the family of McClean, of Lochburg, was commonly
reported, before the death of any of his race, to gallop along the
sea-beach, announcing the event by dismal cries, and lamentations, and
Sir Walter Scott, in his "Peveril of the Peak," tells us that the
Stanley family are forewarned of the approach of death by a female
spirit, "weeping and bemoaning herself before the death of any person
of distinction belonging to the family."
These family death-omens are of a most varied description, having
assumed particular forms in different localities. Corby Castle,
Cumberland, was famed for its "Radiant Boy," a luminous apparition
which occasionally made its appearance, the tradition in the family
being that the person who happened to see it would rise to the summit
of power, and after reaching that position would die a violent death.
As an instance of this strange belief, it is related how Lord
Castlereagh in early life saw this spectre; as is well-known, he
afterwards became head of the government, but finally perished by his
own hand. Then there was the dreaded spectre of the Goblin Friar
associated with Newstead Abbey:
A monk, arrayed
In cowl and beads, and dusky garb, appeared,
Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade,
With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard--
This apparition was generally supposed to forebode evil to the member
of the family to whom it appeared, and its movements have thus been
poetically described by Lord Byron, who, it may be added, maintained
that he beheld this uncanny spectre before his ill-starred union with
Miss Millbanke:
By the marriage bed of their lords, 'tis said,
He flits on the bridal eve;
And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of death
He comes--but not to grieve.
When an heir is born, he is heard to mourn,
And when aught is to befall
That ancient line, in the pale moonshine
He walks from hall to hall.
His form you may trace, but not his face,
'Tis shadowed by his cowl;
But his eyes may be seen from the folds between,
And they seem of a parted soul.
An ancient Roman Catholic family in Yorkshire, of the name of
Middleton, is said to be apprised of the death of anyone of its
members by the appearance of a Benedictine nun, and Berry Pomeroy
Castle, Devonshire, was supposed to be haunted by the daughter of a
former baron, who bore a child to her own father, and afterwards
strangled the fruit of their incestuous intercourse. But, after death,
it seems this wretched woman could not rest, and whenever death was
about to visit the castle she was generally seen sadly wending her way
to the scene of her earthly crimes. According to another tradition,
there is a circular tower, called "Margaret's Tower," rising above
some broken steps that lead into a dismal vault, and the tale still
runs that, on certain evenings in the year, the spirit of the Ladye
Margaret, a young daughter of the house of Pomeroy, appears clad in
white on these steps, and, beckoning to the passers-by, lures them to
destruction into the dungeon ruin beneath them.
And, indeed, it would seem to have been a not infrequent occurrence
for family ghosts to warn the living when death was at hand--a piece
of superstition which has always held a prominent place in our
household traditions, reminding us of kindred stories on the
Continent, where the so-called White Lady has long been an object of
dread.
There has, too, long been a strange notion that when storms, heavy
rains, or other elemental strife, take place at the death of a great
man, the spirit of the storm will not be appeased till the moment of
burial. This belief seems to have gained great strength on the
occasion of the Duke of Wellington's funeral, when, after some weeks
of heavy rain, and some of the highest floods ever known, the skies
began to clear, and both rain and flood abated. It was a common
observation in the week before the duke's interment, "Oh, the rain
won't give o'er till the Duke is buried!"
FOOTNOTES:
[39] "Family Romance"--Sir Bernard Burke--1853, ii., 200-210.
[40] In 1641 there was published a tract, with a frontispiece, entitled
"A True Relation of an Apparition, in the Likeness of a Bird with a
white breast, that appeared hovering over the Death-bed of some of the
children of Mr. James Oxenham, &c."
[41] This tradition has been wrought into a romantic story, entitled
"Chartley, or the Fatalist."
[42] "Popular Romances of West of England."