nal trials. One of these curious cases is recorded in Aubrey's Miscellanies, that medley of useful and useless matters, as having taken place in the immediate vicinity of Cawood Castle, Yorkshire. The depositions made at the trial, but for one extraordinary and allimportant piece of evidence, were of common-place type. According to the circumstances brought out in the course of investigation, the facts were these :—

On Monday, the 14th of April, 1690, William Barwick was out walking with his wife, Mary Barwick, close to Cawood Castle. From motives not divulged at the trial, although shrewdly guessed at by Aubrey, he determined to murder her, and finding a pond conveniently at hand, he threw her in. Deeming, doubtless, that the body would soon be discovered where it was, he went the next day to the place, procured a huge spade, and, getting the corpse out of the water, made a grave close by, and buried it.

Apparently satisfied that no one had witnessed his ghastly deed, Barwick actually went on the day he had committed the murder to his wife's sister, and informed her husband, Thomas Lofthouse, that he had taken his wife to a relative's house in Selby, and left her there. Lofthouse, however, according to his deposition on oath, averred that on the Tuesday after the visit of Barwick," about half an hour after twelve of the clock, in the day-time, he was watering quickwood, and as he was going for the second pail, there appeared, walking before him, an apparition in the shape of a woman. Soon after she sat down over against the pond, on a

green hill. He walked by her as he went to the pond, and as he came with the pail of water from the pond, looking sideways to see if she sat in the same place, which he saw she did." The witness then observed that the apparition was dandling "something like a white bag" on her lap, evidently suggestive, indeed, of her unborn babe that was slain with her. Lofthouse now emptied his pail of water, so he averred, and then stood in the yard of his house, to see if he could still see the woman's figure, but she had disappeared. He described her attire as exactly similar to that worn by his sisterin-law at the time of her murder, but remarked that she looked extremely pale, and that her teeth were visible, "her visage being like his wife's sister."

Notwithstanding the horror of this apparition, Lofthouse, according to Aubrey's account, did not mention anything about it to his wife till night-time, when, at his family duty of prayers, the thoughts of the apparition were so overpowering, that they interrupted his devotion. After he had made an end of his prayers, therefore, he told the whole story of what he had seen to his wife, "who, laying the whole circumstances together, immediately inferred that her sister was either drowned or otherwise murdered, and desired her husband to look after her the next day, which was Wednesday in Easter week." Lofthouse now recalled to mind what Barwick had told him about having left his wife at his uncle's at Selby, and therefore went to him and made inquiries, and found that neither the man nor his wife had been seen or heard of there. This information,

coupled with the appearance of the apparition, increased his suspicions against Barwick to such a degree, that he went before the Lord Mayor of York, and obtained a warrant for the arrest of his brother-in-law.

The culprit, when arrested, confessed the crime, and the body of the murdered woman being disinterred, was found dressed in clothing similar, apparently, to that worn by the apparition. Ultimately Barwick suffered the extreme penalty of the law for his crime.

CHEDWORTH.

ACCORDING to an anecdote related by Mrs. Crawford, in the Metropolitan Magazine for 1836, Chedworth, the seat of Lord Chedworth, in Gloucestershire, has not escaped the fate common to the residences of most noble families; that is to say, it has a story of an apparition attached to it. The account of this circumstance is stated to have been told to Mrs. Crawford by Miss Wright, the adopted child of Lord Chedworth, and daughter of a sister of his. The story, as told by his niece, was, that Lord Chedworth had great doubts as to the existence of the soul in another world, doubts which were equally shared by a gentleman for whom he had a very great friendship.

One morning Miss Wright remarked, when her uncle joined her at the breakfast-table, that he was very thoughtful, had no appetite, and was unusually silent.

At last he said, “Molly "-for thus he was accustomed to call his niece-"I had a strange visitor last night. My old friend Bcame to me."

"What!" said Miss Wright, "did he come after I

went to bed?

"His spirit did," said Lord Chedworth, solemnly.

"Oh, my dear uncle! how could the spirit of a living man appear?" said she, smiling.

"He is dead, beyond doubt," replied his lordship; "listen, and then laugh as much as you please. I had not entered my bedroom many minutes when he stood before me. Like you, I could not believe but that I was looking on the living man, and so accosted him; but he (the spirit) answered, 'Chedworth, I died this night at eight o'clock. I came to tell you there is another world beyond the grave; there is a righteous God that judgeth all!'"

“Depend upon it, uncle, it was only a dream; but even as Miss Wright was still speaking, a groom on horseback rode up the avenue, and immediately afterwards delivered a letter to Lord Chedworth, announcing the sudden death of his friend.

CHESHUNT.

IN Mrs. Crowe's Night Side of Nature is a remarkable account of a haunted dwelling, stated to be "in the neighbourhood of the metropolis." Mrs. Crowe neither

mentions the name of the locality, nor furnishes more than the initial of the "gentleman engaged in business in London," whose family suffered from the "hauntings" at this residence; but in Howitt's History of the Supernatural these omitted particulars are supplied. According to Mr. Howitt, the old-fashioned house referred to by Mrs. Crowe was at Cheshunt, and belonged to Sir Henry Meux; and the account given by the authoress was taken down from the recital of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, the well-known actors, who also furnished the same particulars to Mr. Howitt. A comparison of the statements given by Mrs. Crowe and Mr. Howitt enables us to give the following details:

Mr. Chapman, the brother-in-law of Mr. Kean, and apparently the well-known publisher, had been induced, by the unusually low rental, to purchase the seven years' lease of a large old-fashioned house at Cheshunt. The house was a good country residence, was furnished, and had a considerable quantity of land attached to it, including a garden and pleasure-ground. The family removed into the place, and Mr. Chapman joined them once or twice a week, as his business engagements permitted.

"They had been some considerable time in the house," says Mrs. Crowe, "without the occurrence of anything remarkable, when one evening, towards dusk, Mrs. Chapman, on going into what was called the oak bedroom, saw a female figure near one of the windows; it was apparently a young woman with dark hair hanging over her shoulders, a silk petticoat, and a short white.