Page:Early Reminiscences.djvu/201

Rh One day the bailiffs came into the house at Pridhamsleigh, to arrest him for debt. They found him seated on a keg, with a pistol in his hand.

"See here," said Edward, "this barrel contains gunpowder, and is full. Unless you clear out of this house in two minutes, I will discharge my pistol into it, and blow you and myself to the devil, and d—— me if I care."

One of Edward's achievements was to throw down a guinea on the ground, and then, galloping past as hard as his horse could go, swing himself round head downwards, pick up the guinea and recover his seat. He is said to have taught Astley, who was in his company, to perform sundry daring feats on horseback, and Astley afterwards became the head and proprietor of the Royal Amphitheatre, London.

One day a sturdy beggar came to the door at Lew and whined for charity in food and money. "You shall have some," said Edward. "Food and drink you shall have, but you must eat the meat and lap the ale like a dog." He drew him within, presented a pistol to his ear, forced him to kneel down, and then bound his hands behind his back, in spite of the fellow's struggles. He then called for a dish of broken meat and a soup plate full of ale, and obliged the man literally to eat the meat and lap the ale on the floor, like a dog, while kneeling.

One day he saw a poor woman with her babe. He went up to her and said: "I will give you ten guineas for that child," and he pulled the gold out of his pocket. After some demur the woman accepted the money. Then Edward strode off and strapped the babe to the top of a gate-post. Next he measured twenty paces, and levelled the pistol at the child. The woman rushed at him and struck the pistol up.

"What be you firing at my babe for?" she asked. "It is not yours any more. It is mine.  I bought it, and am going to put a bullet into its mouth to stop the squealing."

The woman threw the guineas down, ran to her infant, unbound and carried it off.

I may now give some of the ghost stories relative to Old Madam picked up by me as a boy, and happily written down by me as received.

There is a long corridor extending upstairs from the main