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STORIES OF
is quite conceivable that the bride and bride-groom were cousins, both Lovells, and it would be interesting to know upon which legend Bayly based his lyric.
The third house that is held to be the scene of the tragic mishap is Exton Hall, the seat of the Noels. The incident is related by an an-cestor of the family, it having been handed down from Dorothy Noel, born in 1693, who was present as a child at the time of the occur-rence—say about 1700-1705. Her version of the story is as follows: There was merry-making at Christmas in the old family hall, and amateur theatricals were performed. In one of the scenes it was necessary to represent a funeral. Accordingly one of the young ladies present personated the dead girl of the piece, and was lowered into an old oak chest, and the lid closed over her. When the scene was finished the lid was raised, when to the dismay of the party she was discovered to be dead. Never again were private theatricals enacted in that house, for the judgment of God was supposed to have been manifested in the event, and the family (said to have been previously given to gaiety and disre-gard of serious subjects) thereafter became noted for its strict performance of religious duties.
This variant does not fit in with Haynes
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