endleton Hall, and died without offspring. The family estate
accordingly descended to the younger brother, Nicholas Assheton, whose
diary for part of the year 1617 and part of the year following is
given, page 303 of Whitaker's _History of Whalley_, edition 1818, and
is a most valuable record of the habits, pursuits, and course of life
of a Lancashire country gentleman of that period. It well deserves
detaching in a separate publication, and illustrating with a more
expanded commentary.

C _b_. "_Piggin full._"] Piggin is properly a sort of bowl, or pail,
with one of the staves much longer than the rest, made for a handle,
to lade water by, and used especially in brewhouses to measure out the
liquor with.

C 2 _a_. "_Nicholas Banister._"] Dr. Whitaker, in the pedigree of the
Banisters, of Altham, (genealogy was, it is well known, one of the
vulnerable parts of this Achilles of topography,) erroneously states
this Nicholas Banister to have been buried at Altham, December 7,
1611. It appears, however, from a deed, an inspection of which I owe
to the kindness of my friend, Dr. Fleming, that his will was dated the
15th August, 1612. In all probability he did not die for some years
after that date. He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of
Richard Elston, of Brockall, Esq.; and, second, Catherine, daughter of
Edmund Ashton, of Chaderton, Esq. The manor house of Altham, for more
than five centuries the residence of this ancient family, stands, to
use Dr. Whitaker's words, upon a gentle elevation on the western side
of the river Calder, commanding a low and fertile domain. It has been
surrounded, according to the prudence or jealousy of the feudal times,
with a very deep quadrangular moat, which must have included all the
apparatus of the farm.

C 3 _a_. "_At Malking Tower, in the forrest of Pendle._"] Malkin Tower
was the habitation of Mother Demdike, the situation of which is
preserved, for the structure no longer exists, by local tradition.
Malkin is the Scotch or north country word for hare, as this animal
was one into which witches were supposed to be fond of transforming
themselves. Malkin Tower is, in fact, the Witches' Tower. The term is
used in the following passage in Morison's _Poems_, p. 7, which bears
upon the above explanation:--

"Or tell the pranks o' winter's nights,
How Satan blazes uncouth lights;
Or how he does a core convene
Upon a witch-frequented green,
Wi' spells a