curling brown hair, light eyes, and open Saxon countenance, best seen in
his native county of Lancaster. He wore a Lincoln-green tunic, with a
bugle suspended from the shoulder by a silken cord; and a silver plate
engraved with the three luces, the ensign of the Abbot of Whalley, hung
by a chain from his neck. A hunting knife was in his girdle, and an
eagle's plume in his cap, and he leaned upon the but-end of a crossbow,
regarding three persons who stood together by a peat fire, on the
sheltered side of the beacon. Two of these were elderly men, in the
white gowns and scapularies of Cistertian monks, doubtless from Whalley,
as the abbey belonged to that order. The third and last, and evidently
their superior, was a tall man in a riding dress, wrapped in a long
mantle of black velvet, trimmed with minever, and displaying the same
badges as those upon the sleeves of the sentinels, only wrought in
richer material. His features were strongly marked and stern, and bore
traces of age; but his eye was bright, and his carriage erect and
dignified.

The beacon, near which the watchers stood, consisted of a vast pile of
logs of timber, heaped upon a circular range of stones, with openings to
admit air, and having the centre filled with fagots, and other quickly
combustible materials. Torches were placed near at hand, so that the
pile could be lighted on the instant.

The watch was held one afternoon at the latter end of November, 1536. In
that year had arisen a formidable rebellion in the northern counties of
England, the members of which, while engaging to respect the person of
the king, Henry VIII., and his issue, bound themselves by solemn oath to
accomplish the restoration of Papal supremacy throughout the realm, and
the restitution of religious establishments and lands to their late
ejected possessors. They bound themselves, also, to punish the enemies