FITZ OF FITZ-FORD:

01-12-37 yi

A LEGEND OF DEVON.

BY

MRS. BRAY.

Is the tale true?

Ay, marry, 'tis a tale

Of old tradition, full of wonderment

And such sweet sorrows, as make crystal beads
Hang from young maidens' eyelids, whilst the aged
Shake their gray locks, and, deeply sighing, tell us
Such is the world!

MANUSCRIPT PLAY.

A NEW EDITION,

REVISED AND CORRECTED, WITH NOTES BY THE AUTHOR.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

LONDON:

Printed by Manning and Mason, Ivy Lane, St. Paul's.

TO

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD,

ETC. ETC. ETC.

MY LORD DUKE,

FITZ OF FITZ-FORD, on its original publication, was dedicated to your Grace's worthy and lamented father, who kindly took an interest in this, and many other of my works.

Your Grace has since inherited, in your domain around Tavistock, the property on which stands the gateway of Fitzford, and the few other remains of the once imposing, but now decayed mansion of the ancient family of Fitz.

Having been honoured by your Grace, and your amiable Duchess, with no small share of a kindness, similar to that which, for so many years, I experienced from your late father, I venture to hope that you will receive the dedication of the present edition of Fitz of Fitz-ford, as a mark of my grateful sense of the same, and of the sincere esteem of

MY LORD DUKE,

Your Grace's most obliged and obedient servant,

ANNA ELIZA BRAY.

The Vicarage, Tavistock, July 26th, 1845.

FITZ OF FITZ-FORD.

INTRODUCTION.

Nor unsung,

Be here the Tavy, mountain-born! the theme
Of the old bard. The duteous river laves,
Fair Tavistock, thine abbey's mouldering walls,
And flows complaining by. O ye who dwell
Around yon ruins, guard the precious charge
From hands profane!

CARRINGTON.

IT has of late been much the custom with writers who raise a superstructure of fiction on a foundation of truth, to pretend that, for the narrative they lay before the public, they are indebted to some lucky chance; such as finding a manuscript in an old chest, or amongst family papers in an ancient castle. In many instances has this ingenious mode of introduction been rendered so pleasing by the talent of the writer, that it has added materially to the interest of the work itself; so that we become delighted by a double fiction.

to

In the present case, however, it is not necessary to resort any fictitious mode of introduction. The tale of Fitz of Fitzford is founded in truth. And in order to satisfy the reader of this, and by what means the few but interesting facts connected with it became known to the writer of these pages, it will be advisable to give him, in the first instance, some account of the town and neighbourhood where the family of Fitz once flourished, and where their name is still mentioned with interest, as the traveller looks upon the ruined vestiges of their once splendid mansion.