The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-21 00:00:00

THE BUCKLYN SHAIG.

" The story goes that long ago there was a very wicked
Lord Clifford, who lived at Raymond Castle, for in those
days the castle and the hall both belonged to the same
person.
" This wicked Lord Clifford had murdered his wife, and
buried her somewhere in tho castle. Ile led a bad life,
and drank hard, and oppressed the poor. One day a holy
Franciscan came to Lord Clifford to ask an alms. The
baron was going out hunting. He wore a broad hunting-
belt, with a great gold buckle, and he had very fierce dogs,
for ho was going to hunt the wolf in the great forest under
the hill. The friar asked for alms for his house, and for
the poor of the neighbouring hamlet, and he upbraided
Lord Clifford for his cruelty to the widow and the orphan.
He was a bold man that barefooted friar, but he said what
he said for love of God and Our Lady. The wicked
baron got very angry, and swore at the friar, and,
as the friar would not be silent, he struck him
with hls great hunting-whip on the mouth, and the blood
flowed. Then he called to his savage dogs, and they flew
at the friar. They grow mad at the sight of blood, and
they tore the friar down on the ground, and there he lay
half dead. But as Lord Clifford was riding off the friar
called out, 'Lord Clifford, Lord Clifford, I forgive thee
but the Evil One will ride with thee to-night, and hold
by the buckle of thy belt.'
"Lord Clifford called off his hounds, and they followed
the hunt through all the day; but when evening came
Lord Clifford was missing. The huntsmen and the guests
heard screams far off in the forest, but ho never came back
Only all through the night they hoard the sound of a horse•
galloping, as if backwards and forwards, just along that
piece of the road opposite the small pond with the island.
The horse never reached the castle, but went up and down
the same distance along the road, as if the rider never could
find his way home. And they do say that sometimes the
labourers, returning home at night, have seen a horse at
full gallop : there sits on him a man pale and horrid, and
holding on behind, with his arms round his waist, is the
devil, for all the world like a very shaggy wolf, and the
peasants call it the Bucklyn Shaig ; and I have been told
occasionally when some persons who perhaps had not
a very clear conscience (for I cannot believe it would hap-
pen to a good man) have been riding down that part of
the road, Bucklyn Shaig, who seems always to haunt the
place, will jump up behind the unhappy man and throw
his arms round his waist, as he is seen to do round the
phantom Lord Clifford, and so will ride with him, whether
he will or no, till he passes out of the shade of the trees
again into the open road and over the brook ; and then the
devil leaps down and jumps over the fence in the shape of
a black cat. And the story goes, that when Bucklyn
Shaig is seen it is always a sign that some great crime has
been committed up at the castle, or that a great misfortune
is about to happsn to the house of Clifford."
Such is the Bucklyn Shaig, and the legend is cer-
tainly romantic enough to have arrested the atten-
tion of the novelist. We have been somewhat dis-
appointed, however, at not finding any actual re-
appearance of the monster in the course of the nar-
rative. Assuredly Roger Clifford and his valet
Vincenzo are sufficiently wicked to arouse a whole
legion of evil spirits. The lovers of sensation have,
in these volumes, a rich treat before them. The
murder of Roger's guest and gambling companion
is, with all the preliminaries and accessories, most
startlingly particularised. The unhappy victim,
having a dark suspicion of the intentions of his
friend, puts aside the coffee which is hospitably
proffered to him, and asks only for champagne and
a couple of eggs, shrewdly believing that the wire
fastening of the one and the shell of the other will
render them inaccessible to the manoeuvres of the
poisoner. This caution, however, proves unavail-
ing, but we refer the curious in these matters to the
pages of the " Bucklyn Shaig" for a most elaborately
described and effective murder. Other and better
attractions for differently disposed readers will bo
found iu a contemplation of the lovely character
of Teresa Clifford. The work is dedicated, with
much feeling and affection, to the memory of a be-
loved friend—" the truest of women and the most
faithful of friends"—and that cherished companion,
we doubt not, lives again in the peaceful portrait of
the perfect Teresa. The girlish and impetuous Rosy
is a charming contrast to her gentle cousin. The
climax of the tale where the one cousin has uncon-
sciously taken the narcotic intended for the other,
the scene where one is falling asleep from the opiate,
and the other restless from excitement, is very power-
fully
.described and full of melo-dramatic interest.
We must not betray all the secrets of the tale.
Suffice it to say that Mrs. Montgomery has most
skilfuliy and artistically combined the appalling and
exciting attractions of the sensational school R ith
the h'gher qualifications of thought and feeling.