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William Plumer's newer and more fashionable mansion was at Gilston, which is not in the adjoining county, but also in Hertfordshire, near Harlow, only a few miles distant from Blakesware. Mrs. Field died of cancer in the breast in August, 1792, and was buried in Widford churchyard, hard by Blakesware. According to Lamb's Key the name Alice W n was "feigned."
A Full and Impartial Account, 26. Ibid., 25. For this story I have found no contemporary testimony. After her release she was taken under the protection of Colonel Plummer of Gilston, who had followed the trial. Hutchinson, Historical Essay on Witchcraft, 130. On his death she was supported by the Earl and Countess of Cowper, and lived until 1730. Witchcraft Farther Displayed, introduction.
Gilston was pulled down in 1853, following upon a sale by auction, when all its treasures were dispersed. Some, I have discovered, were bought by the enterprising tenant of the old Rye House Inn at Broxbourne, but absolute identification of anything now seems impossible. Blakesware is again described in Mrs. Leicester's School, in Mary Lamb's story of "The Young Mahometan."
There the Twelve Cæsars are spoken of as hanging on the wall, as if they were medallions; but Mr. E.S. Bowlby tells me that he perfectly remembers the Twelve Cæsars at Gilston, about 1850, as busts, just as Lamb says. See also notes to "The Last Peach," Vol. I., to "Dream-Children" in this volume, and to "Going or Gone," Vol.
Standing there now, among the trees which mark its site, it is easy to reconstruct the past as described in the essay. The Twelve Cæsars, the tapestry and other more notable possessions of Blakesware, although moved to Gilston on the demolition of Blakesware, are there no longer, and their present destination is a mystery.
An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and Anne Thorne of Walcorne, in the County of Hertford.... Before the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Powell, and is ordered for Execution on Saturday come Sevennight the 15th. One page.
The fine old Whig was William Plumer, who had been her employer, and was now living at Gilston. He died in 1821. This raised many complaints, and having stopped, among others, a frank given to the old dutchess of Marlborough by Mr. Walter Plummer, he was cited before the house, as for breach of privilege, and accused, I suppose very unjustly, of opening letters to detect them.
He was not altogether a skeptic about witchcraft in general, but his purpose was to show that the evidence against Jane Wenham was weak. The two chief witnesses, Matthew Gilston and Anne Thorne, were "much disturbed in their Imaginations." There were many absurdities in their stories. He cited the story of Anne Thorne's mile run in seven minutes. Who knew that it was seven minutes?
Plumer of Gilston Park, which became his through the marriage; his third alliance, when he was nearly seventy, gave him the advantage of a jointure of 1,000l. per annum allowance as guardian, and a couple of mansions.
I have the authority of a gentleman who remembers them at Gilston, whither they were removed, for saying that Charles Lamb's memory was the more accurate. The picture of the little girl with a lamb seems to have made an equal impression on both their minds; and both mention the shuttlecocks on the table. VI. Emily Barton. "Visit to the Cousins." By Mary Lamb.
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