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303
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
215
In
the
Tedworth
case,
as
at
Epworth,
and
in
the
curious
Cideville
case
of
1851,
a
quarrel
with
"cunning
men"
preceded
the
disturbances.
In
Lord
St.
Vincent's
case,
which
follows,
nothing
of
the
kind
is
reported.
As
an
almost
universal
rule
children,
especially
girls
of
about
twelve,
are
centres
of
the
trouble;
in
the
St.
Vincent
story,
the
children
alone
were
exempt
from
annoyance.
LORD
ST.
VINCENT'S
GHOST
STORY
Sir
Walter
Scott,
writing
about
the
disturbances
in
the
house
occupied
by
Mrs.
Ricketts,
sister
of
the
great
admiral,
Lord
St.
Vincent,
asks:
"Who
has
seen
Lord
St.
Vincent's
letters?"
He
adds
that
the
gallant
admiral,
after
all,
was
a
sailor,
and
implies
that
"what
the
sailor
said"
(if
he
said
anything)
"is
not
evidence".
The
fact
of
unaccountable
disturbances
which
finally
drove
Mrs.
Ricketts
out
of
Hinton
Ampner,
is
absolutely
indisputable,
though
the
cause
of
the
annoyances
may
remain
as
mysterious
as
ever.
The
contemporary
correspondence
(including
that
of
Lord
St.
Vincent,
then
Captain
Jervis)
exists,
and
has
been
edited
by
Mrs.
Henley
Jervis,
grand-daughter
of
Mrs.
Ricketts.
{222}
There
is
only
the
very
vaguest
evidence
for
hauntings
at
Lady
Hillsborough's
old
house
of
Hinton
Ampner,
near
Alresford,
before
Mr.
Ricketts
took
it
in
January,
1765.
He
and
his
wife
were
then
disturbed
by
footsteps,
and
sounds
of
doors
opening
and
shutting.
They
put
new
locks
on
the
doors
lest
the
villagers
had
procured
keys,
but
this
proved
of
no
avail.
The
servants
talked
of
seeing
appearances
of
a
gentleman
in
drab
and
of
a
lady
in
silk,
which
Mrs.
Ricketts
disregarded.
Her
husband
went
to
Jamaica
in
the
autumn
of
1769,
and
in
1771
she
was
so
disturbed
that
her
brother,
Captain
Jervis,
a
witness
of
the
phenomena,
insisted
on
her
leaving
the
house
in
August.
He
and
Mrs.
Ricketts
then
wrote
to
Mr.
Ricketts
about
the
affair.
In
July,
1772,
Mrs.
Ricketts
wrote
a
long
and
solemn
description
of
her
sufferings,
to
be
given
to
her
children.
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