miles
of Mowbray, and a despatch on Sunday evening from the mayor of that
town having reached him, apprising him of the invasion of the miners,
Egremont had received orders to march with his troop there on the
following morning.

Egremont had not departed more than two hours when the horsemen whom
Sybil had met arrived at Lord Marney's headquarters, bringing a most
alarming and exaggerated report of the insurrection and of the
havoc that was probably impending. Lord Marney being of opinion that
Egremont's forces were by no means equal to the occasion resolved
therefore at once to set out for Mowbray with his own troop. Crossing
Mowbray Moor he encountered a great multitude, now headed for purposes
of peace by Walter Gerard. His mind inflamed by the accounts he had
received, and hating at all times any popular demonstration, his
lordship resolved without inquiry or preparation immediately to disperse
them. The Riot Act was read with the rapidity with which grace is
sometimes said at the head of a public table--a ceremony of which none
but the performer and his immediate friends are conscious. The people
were fired on and sabred. The indignant spirit of Gerard resisted; he
struck down a trooper to the earth, and incited those about him not to
yield. The father of Sybil was picked out--the real friend and champion
of the People--and shot dead. Instantly arose a groan which almost
quelled the spirit of Lord Marney, though armed and at the head of armed
men. The people who before this were in general scared and dispersing,
ready indeed to fly in all directions, no sooner saw their beloved
leader fall than a feeling of frenzy came over them. They defied the
troopers, though themselves armed only with stones and bludgeons; they
rushed at the horsemen and tore them from their saddles, while a shower
of stones rattled on the helmet of Lord Marney and seemed never to
cease. In vain the men around him charged the infuriated throng; the
people returned to their prey, nor did they rest until Lord Marney fell
lifeless on Mowbray Moor, literally stoned to death.

These disastrous events of course occurred at a subsequent period of the
day to that on which half-a-dozen troopers were ascending the staircase
of the Round Tower of Mowbray Castle. The distracted house-steward of
Lord de Mowbray had met and impressed upon them, now that the Castle
was once more in their possession, of securing the muniment room, for Mr
Bentley had witnes