proved that the house is troubled by evil spirits, but that there was an
informality in the proceedings before the Civil Court of Tours, that
rendered its decision null and of no effect."

A similar cause was tried before the Parliament of Bourdeaux, in the year
1595, relative to a house in that city which was sorely troubled by evil
spirits. The parliament appointed certain ecclesiastics to examine and
report to them, and on their report in the affirmative that the house was
haunted, the lease was annulled, and the tenant absolved from all payment
of rent and taxes.[42]

[42] Ibid. p. 156.

One of the best stories of a haunted house is that of the royal palace of
Woodstock, in the year 1649, when the commissioners sent from London by
the Long Parliament to take possession of it, and efface all the emblems
of royalty about it, were fairly driven out by their fear of the devil,
and the annoyances they suffered from a roguish cavalier, who played the
imp to admiration. The commissioners, dreading at that time no devil,
arrived at Woodstock on the 13th of October, 1649. They took up their
lodgings in the late king's apartments--turned the beautiful bedrooms and
withdrawing-rooms into kitchens and sculleries--the council-hall into a
brew-house, and made the dining-room a place to keep firewood in. They
pulled down all the insignia of royal state, and treated with the utmost
indignity every thing that recalled to their memory the name or the
majesty of Charles Stuart. One Giles Sharp accompanied them in the
capacity of clerk, and seconded their efforts, apparently with the
greatest zeal. He aided them to uproot a noble old tree, merely because it
was called the _King's_ Oak, and tossed the fragments into the dining-room
to make cheerful fires for the commissioners. During the first two days,
they heard some strange noises about the house, but they paid no great
attention to them. On the third, however, they began to suspect they had
got into bad company; for they heard, as they thought, a supernatural dog
under their bed, which gnawed their bed-clothes. On the next day, the
chairs and tables began to dance, apparently of their own accord. On the
fifth day, something came into the bedchamber and walked up and down; and
fetching the warming-pan out of the withdrawing-room, made so much noise
with it that they thought five church-bells were ringing in their ears. On
the sixth day, the plates and dishes were thrown up and