Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/307

 clear, still evenings a lady in white can be seen passing along the gallery and the corridors, and then from the Hall into the grounds: that she there meets a handsome knight who receives her on his bended knees, and he then accompanies her along the walks. On arriving at a certain spot, most probably the lover's grave, both the phantoms stand still, and, as they seem to utter soft wailings of despair, they embrace each other, and then their forms rise slowly from the earth and melt away into the clear blue of the surrounding sky.

THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY. story of the Dragon of Wantley has been claimed for several districts. Hunter, in his "Hallamshire," 1820, claims that locality for the scene of the conflict; but Mr Gregson, in his "Fragments," pp. 151-2, shows pretty conclusively that the tradition must be assigned to More Hall, in the Hundred of West Derby. Sir William de la More, who flourished about 1326, was a noted warrior. He distinguished himself at the battle of Poictiers, and was knighted by Edward I. His prowess gained him great fame, and he is supposed to have been the hero of the legend; although a similar story is told of Sir Thomas Venables, of Golborne David, in the county of Chester. It is not improbable that the issue of some family feud or Border fray is there allegorised by the author of the ballad, which is reprinted in the "Fragments" from a broadside issued for Randal Taylor, near Stationers' Hall, London, 1685.