lamed a warning of the coming of the Danes; it was
doubtless lighted at the coming of William the Conqueror into the West;
when the Armada went beating up the Channel; time and again when the
rumour ran that Napoleon had started for these shores; the country-folk
lighted it several times as a warning that the Doones were out on one
of their raids, till one night they climbed the beacon and threw the
watchman on the fire, after which it was left black and silent for all
the evil that the Doones did, until in due course retribution overtook
them and their stronghold was seized. So that I conjecture that the
circle of stones (if there were one) was pulled down to build the
beacon fires.

But the "Hunting of the Earl of Rone" which takes place at Combe Martin
on Ascension Day is probably the most interesting of all ancient
survivals in North Devon. It is a curious ceremony, partaking
something of the nature of a Guy Fawkes mummery, something, I consider,
of a much older and traditional character.

The "Earl of Rone," actually, was the son of the Earl of Tyrone, the
"Red Hand of Erin," who, in the reign of James I, fled from Ireland and
landed at Combe Martin, wandered about the countryside with a band of
companions, and was finally pursued and captured in Lady Wood, outside
the village. In the Ascensiontide sports the Earl wears a grotesque
costume: a mask, and a smock padded with straw, and round his neck a
chain of biscuits. He has with him a hobby-horse and buffoon covered
with fantastic trappings, and carrying a small article called a
"mapper" (which is conjectured to be a misreading for "snapper"), and
representing the teeth and jaws of a horse. The Earl has also a
donkey, decorated with flowers and with a necklace of biscuit, and the
hunters wear a sort of fantastic grenadier costume. For a week before
Ascension Day this strange cortege goes in procession round the
neighbourhood. The ceremony on Ascension Day is as follows: The Earl
of Rone hides in Lady Wood, and is there pursued by the soldiers, fired
upon, and captured. He is then placed on the donkey, with his face
towards the tail, and led into the village, accompanied by the fool
with his hobby-horse. They make several halts, at each of which the
Earl is again fired upon and falls wounded from his donkey, mourned by
the fool, but amid the general rejoicing of the spectators. Finally he
is replaced by the fool, and the affair becomes a mere matter of