William Harrison Ainsworth

Preston Fight

Or, The Insurrection of 1715

Warsaw 2022

Contents

DEDICATION

BOOK I. THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER

CHAPTER I Dilston Castle

CHAPTER II The Chevalier de Saint George

CHAPTER III Nicholas Ribbleton

CHAPTER IV The Little Chapel

CHAPTER V Anna Webb and Dorothy Forster

CHAPTER VI Lady Webb

CHAPTER VII The Proposal

CHAPTER VIII Colonel Oxburgh and his Companions

CHAPTER IX Confession

CHAPTER X A Banquet

CHAPTER XI A Mysterious Occurrence in the Chapel

CHAPTER XII A Letter from the Earl of Mar

CHAPTER XIII The Betrothal

CHAPTER XIV The Spy

CHAPTER XV A General Departure

BOOK II. BAMBOROUGH CASTLE

CHAPTER I The High Sheriff

CHAPTER II Pursuit

CHAPTER III Lord Widdrington

CHAPTER IV Dunstanborough Castle

CHAPTER V How the Prince was lodged in the old Fortress

CHAPTER VI Anna’s Adventure in the Cavern

CHAPTER VII An Alarm

CHAPTER VIII How the Sheriff and his Troop were cared for

CHAPTER IX The Prince’s parting Injunctions to Lord Derwentwater and Anna

CHAPTER X. The Escape

BOOK III. THE INSURRECTION IN SCOTLAND

CHAPTER I The Hunting in Braemar

CHAPTER II Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum

CHAPTER III How the Standard was set up, and King James proclaimed at Castletown

BOOK IV. THE RISING IN NORTHUMBERLAND

CHAPTER I Dilston revisited

CHAPTER II A Warrant issued for the Earl’s Arrest

CHAPTER III The Woodcutter’s Hut

CHAPTER IV The Maiden’s Walk

CHAPTER V How Charles Radclyffe provoked Sir William Lorraine

CHAPTER VI How Charles Radclyffe joined the Earl at the Hut

CHAPTER VII How the Magistrates and the Militiamen were forced to quit the Castle

CHAPTER VIII How the Earl took leave of the Countess

CHAPTER IX Mad Jack Hall of Otterburn

CHAPTER X The Race on Simonside

CHAPTER XI Wanny Crags

CHAPTER XII Warkworth Castle

CHAPTER XIII Organisation of the Force

CHAPTER XIV The Earl’s brief Visit to Dilston

CHAPTER XV How the Earl was rescued by Nathan the Woodcutter

BOOK V. THE MARCH FROM HEXHAM TO LONGTOWN

CHAPTER I The Junction with the South Country Scots

CHAPTER II Mackintosh’s Achievements

CHAPTER III Sunday at Kelso

CHAPTER IV A Council of War

CHAPTER V Further Dissensions

CHAPTER VI The Highlanders refuse to cross the Border

CHAPTER VII Lord Widdrington returns from Lancashire

BOOK VI. THE MARCH FROM PENRITH TO PRESTON

CHAPTER I The Rout on Penrith Fell

CHAPTER II Madam Bellingham

CHAPTER III Hornby Castle

CHAPTER IV Sir Henry Hoghton and the Quaker

CHAPTER V How the Prisoners in Lancaster Castle were released

CHAPTER VI Lancashire Witches

BOOK VII. THE ATTACK

CHAPTER I Proud Preston

CHAPTER II How King James was proclaimed for the last Time

CHAPTER III The Countess and Dorothy arrive at Preston

CHAPTER IV Mrs. Scarisbrick

CHAPTER V Important Recruits

CHAPTER VI The Ball at the Town-Hall

CHAPTER VII Ralph Fairbrother

CHAPTER VIII Apathy of General Forster

CHAPTER IX Parson Woods of Chowbent

CHAPTER X General Wills arrives at Preston

BOOK VIII. THE DEFENCE

CHAPTER I The Barricades

CHAPTER II What the Countess and Dorothy beheld from the summit of the Mansion

CHAPTER III The Commencement of the Assault

CHAPTER IV Altercation between Forster and Mackintosh

CHAPTER V How the two large Houses in Church-street were taken by the Assailants

CHAPTER VI Houses burnt by the Assailants

CHAPTER VII The Windmill Barricade

CHAPTER VIII How the two large Houses were illuminated

CHAPTER IX The Ford

CHAPTER X By whom the Countess and Dorothy were liberated

CHAPTER XI An Unlucky Shot

BOOK IX. THE SURRENDER

CHAPTER I How a Party of Dragoons was routed by Captain Gordon

CHAPTER II Meeting of Carpenter and Wills

CHAPTER III General Forster wishes to capitulate

CHAPTER IV Colonel Oxburgh proposes Terms of Surrender to Wills

CHAPTER V Captain Dalziel has a Conference with Wills

CHAPTER VI How Forster learnt that he had been betrayed

CHAPTER VII Colonel Cotton

CHAPTER VIII Hostages required

CHAPTER IX In what Manner the Hostages were received by General Wills

CHAPTER X Brigadier Mackintosh dissuades the Earl of Wintoun from sallying forth

CHAPTER XI The Terms of the Treaty are accepted

CHAPTER XII The Insurgent Officers deliver up their Swords

CHAPTER XIII How Brigadier Mackintosh parted with his Claymore

CHAPTER XIV The Two Generals enter the Town

CHAPTER XV The Town is plundered by the Soldiery

CHAPTER XVI Captain Shaftoe is shot

BOOK X. THE DUNGEON

CHAPTER I The Chief Insurgent Prisoners are taken to London

CHAPTER II The Earl of Derwentwater is imprisoned in the Devereux Tower

CHAPTER III The Earl of Nithsdale’s Escape

CHAPTER IV The Earl of Wintoun’s Escape

CHAPTER V General Forster’s Escape from Newgate

CHAPTER VI Brigadier Mackintosh’s Escape

BOOK XI. THE SCAFFOLD

CHAPTER I The last Parting between the Earl of Derwentwater and the Countess

CHAPTER II How Lord Widdrington took a last Leave of the Earl of Derwentwater

CHAPTER III How the Earl of Derwentwater was beheaded

CHAPTER IV What happened in the Chapel at Dagenham Park

CHAPTER V The Journey to Dilston

CHAPTER VI The Interment

DEDICATION

TO WILLIAM FRANCIS AINSWORTH, ESQ., PH., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., ETC., ETC

THE details of Preston Fight, given in the Tale, which I have the gratification of inscribing to your name, may be new to you; inasmuch as you may not have seen DOCTOR HIBBERT WARE’S very curious historical collections relative to the great Jacobite movement of 1715, published, several years ago, by the Chetham Society, from which my materials have been derived.

But I am sure you will share my feelings of sympathy with the many gallant Roman Catholic gentlemen, who, from mistaken feelings of loyalty, threw away life and fortune at Preston; and you cannot fail to be struck with admiration at the masterly defence of the town made by Brigadier Mackintosh-the real hero of Preston Fight.

I hope I may have succeeded in giving you some idea of that valorous Highland commander.

Nothing can be better than the description of him given in the old Lancashire ballad:

Mackintosh is a soldier brave,
And of his friends he took his leave;
Unto Northumberland he drew,
And marched along with a jovial crew.

What a contrast to the brave brigadier is General Forster, by whose incompetency, or treachery, Preston was lost!–as the same old ballad says:

“Thou Forster hast brought us from our own home,
Leaving our estates for others to come;
Thou treacherous dog, thou hast us betrayed,”
My Lord Derwentwater thus fiercely said.

But the hero of my tale is the ill-fated Earl of Derwentwater–by far the most striking figure in the Northumbrian insurrection.

The portrait I have given of him I believe to be in the main correct, though coloured for the purposes of the story. Young, handsome, chivalrous, wealthy, Lord Derwentwater was loyal and devoted to him whom he believed his rightful and lawful sovereign.

His death was consistent with his life. On the scaffold he declared, “I intended wrong to none, but to serve my king and country, and without self- interest, hoping by the example I gave to induce others to do their duty.”

My Lord Derwentwater he is dead,
And from his body they took his head;
But Mackintosh and the rest are fled
To fit his hat on another man’s head.

Lord Derwentwater was strongly attached to his ancestral mansion, and deeply mourned by his tenants and retainers. In the “Farewell to Dilston,” by Surtees, he is made to say:

Farewell to pleasant Dilston Hall,
My father’s ancient seat;
A stranger now must call thee his,
Which gars my heart to greet.
Albeit that here in London Tower,
It is my fate to die,
O, carry me to Northumberland,
In my father’s grave to lie.

How few who visit Greenwich Hospital are aware that that noble institution, of which the country is so justly proud, has derived, for upwards of a century and a half, the immense revenue of six thousand a year from the ill-fated earl’s forfeited estates!

Has not this effaced the treason?

I commend his story to you.

Your affectionate cousin, W. Harrison Ainsworth.

Little Rockley, Hurstpierpoint, May 19,1875

BOOK I. THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER

CHAPTER I. Dilston Castle

A SPLENDID place was Dilston Castle in Northumberland, the seat of the young Earl of Derwentwater, in the early part of the last century.

Crowning an eminence, overlooking a most picturesque district, approached by a long avenue of chestnut trees, and surrounded by woods, extending to the banks of the Tyne, the mansion formed a conspicuous object from whichever side it might be viewed.

Dilston Castle could not boast antiquity, having only been built some sixty years prior to the date of our story, by Sir James Radclyffe, subsequently created Earl of Derwentwater by James the Second, but it occupied the site of an old Border fortress, called Devilstone–since modified to Dilston–that had often resisted the incursions of the Scots.

Of this stronghold, which dated back to the time of Henry the First, only a single memorial was left, in the shape of a grey stone tower–all the rest having been demolished.

The mansion formed a square, and enclosed a spacious court with a fountain in the centre. The principal entrance, approached by a large perron, was inside the court, and faced a grand gateway, that terminated the chestnut avenue.

Close by, though screened by trees, was a little chapel, wherein the rites of Rome were performed–the Radclyffes being strict adherents to the old religion. Hereabouts, also, stood the grey stone tower, before alluded to, and some chambers within it were still used.

As may be supposed, from its size, the mansion contained some magnificent apartments, and these were sumptuously furnished. Large gardens, laid out in the formal French style, and ornamented with terraces, flights of stone steps, statues, and fountains, added to the attractions of the place.

Beneath the acclivity, whereon stood the castle, was a romantic and beautiful dell, the sides of which were clothed with brushwood. Through the midst of the ravine rushed a stream, called the Devil’s Water–bright and clear, despite its name–that hurried on, unless checked by a huge rock, or some other impediment, when it spread out into a pool. In places, the glen had a weird look, and many strange legends were connected with it.

The picturesque beauty of the spot was materially heightened by a lofty bridge flung across the hollow, and leading from the castle to the deer-park.

From this bridge, the stately structure, with the charming and diversified scenery around it, could be contemplated to the greatest advantage.

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