prisoner; and as, in the opinion of Cromwell and the language of the
times, he was regarded as an obstinate malignant, he was in great
danger of having shared with the Earl of Derby his execution at
Bolton-le-Moor, having partaken with him the dangers of two actions.
But Sir Geoffrey's life was preserved by the interest of a friend, who
possessed influence in the councils of Oliver.--This was a Mr.
Bridgenorth, a gentleman of middling quality, whose father had been
successful in some commercial adventure during the peaceful reign of
James I.; and who had bequeathed his son a considerable sum of money,
in addition to the moderate patrimony which he inherited from his
father.

The substantial, though small-sized, brick building of Moultrassie
Hall, was but two miles distant from Martindale Castle, and the young
Bridgenorth attended the same school with the heir of the Peverils. A
sort of companionship, if not intimacy, took place betwixt them, which
continued during their youthful sports--the rather that Bridgenorth,
though he did not at heart admit Sir Geoffrey's claims of superiority
to the extent which the other's vanity would have exacted, paid
deference in a reasonable degree to the representative of a family so
much more ancient and important than his own, without conceiving that
he in any respect degraded himself by doing so.

Mr. Bridgenorth did not, however, carry his complaisance so far as to
embrace Sir Geoffrey's side during the Civil War. On the contrary, as
an active Justice of the Peace, he rendered much assistance in
arraying the militia in the cause of the Parliament, and for some time
held a military commission in that service. This was partly owing to
his religious principles, for he was a zealous Presbyterian, partly to
his political ideas, which, without being absolutely democratical,