Coming Out, or the Field of Forty Footsteps";
and at Tottenham Street Theatre was produced, many years ago, an
effective melodrama based upon the same incident, entitled "The Field
of Footsteps."

Another romantic tale of a similar nature is connected with Montgomery
Church walls, and is locally designated "The Legend of the Robber's
Grave," of which there are several versions, the most popular one
being this: Once upon a time, a man was said to have been wrongfully
hanged at Montgomery; and, when the rope was round his neck, he
declared in proof of his innocence that grass would never grow on his
grave. Curious to relate, be the cause what it may, there is yet to be
seen a strip of sterility--in the form of a cross--amidst a mass of
verdure.[30]

Likewise, the peasantry still talk mysteriously of Lord Derwentwater's
execution, and tell how his blood could not be washed away. Deep and
lasting were the horror and grief which were felt when the news of his
death reached his home in the north. The inhabitants of the
neighbourhood, it is said, saw the coming vengeance of heaven in the
Aurora Borealis which appeared in unwonted brilliancy on the evening
of the execution, and which is still known as "Lord Derwentwater's
Light" in the northern counties; the rushing Devil's Water, too, they
said, ran down with blood on that terrible night, and the very corn
which was ground on that day came tinged from the mill with crimson.
Lord Derwentwater's death, too, was all the more deplored on account
of his having long been undecided as to whether he should embrace the
enterprise against the House of Hanover. But there had long been a
tradition in his family that a mysterious and unearthly visitant
appeared to the head of the house in critical emergencies, either to
warn of danger, or to announce impending calamity. One evening, a few
days before he resolved to cast in his lot with the Stuarts, whilst he
was wandering amid the solitudes of the hills, a figure stood before
him in robe and hood of grey.

This personage is said to have sadly reproached the Earl for not
having already joined the rising, and to have presented him with a
crucifix which was to render him secure against bullet or sword
thrust. After communicating this message the figure vanished, leaving
the Earl in a state of bewilderment. The mysterious apparition is
reported to have spoken with the voice of a woman, and as it is known
that "in the more critical conjunct