avarice and debauchery. In Weaver's
_Funereal Monuments_, it is recorded that Kelly, in company with one
Paul Waring, went to the churchyard of Walton-le-Dale, near Preston,
where a person was interred at that time supposed to have hidden a
large sum of money, and who had died without disclosing the secret.
They entered precisely at midnight, the grave having been pointed out
to them the preceding day. They dug down to the coffin, opened it, and
exorcised the spirit of the deceased, until the body rose from the
grave and stood upright before them. Having satisfied their inquiries,
it is said that many strange predictions were uttered concerning
divers persons in the neighbourhood, which were literally and
remarkably fulfilled.

At the date of our legend Kelly had been parted from the Doctor for a
considerable time. The Doctor having found out his proneness to these
evil courses, Kelly bore no good-will to his former patron and
associate.

We have not space, or it would be an interesting inquiry, as connected
with the superstitions of our ancestors, to trace the character and
career of these individuals--men once famous amongst their
contemporaries, forming part of the history of those times, and
exerting a permanent influence immediately on the national character,
and remotely on that of a future and indefinite period.

Dame Eleanor Buckley was morally certain, firstly, that her son was
witched; and secondly, that no time should be lost in procuring
relief. Nicholas therefore took horse for Manchester that very
forenoon, with the intention of consulting the learned Doctor
above-named on his son's malady. Ere he left, however, there came
tidings that Grace Ashton had not returned home, and was supposed to
have tarried at Buckley for the night.

Trembling at this unexpected news, the dame once more applied to her
son. He was still wide awake on the couch, in the same position, and
apparently unconscious of her presence. In great anxiety she conjured
him to say if he knew what had befallen Grace Ashton.

"She is dead!" was his reply, in a voice strangely altered from his
usual careless and happy tone. Nothing further, however, could be
drawn from him, but shortly after there came one with additional
tidings.

"Inquiry has been set on foot," said the messenger, "and Tim, well
known at wakes and merry-makings, doth come forward with evidence
which justifies a suspicion that is abroad--to wit, that she has met
death