Something in this
simplicity of costume and in her manner inclined Jocelyn to think the
fair maiden must belong to some family professing Puritanical opinions;
and he found, upon inquiry from one of his neighbours in the throng--an
old farmer--that this was actually the case.
The young lady was Mistress Aveline Calveley, his informant said, only
child of Master Hugh Calveley, who had but lately come to dwell in
Tottenham, and of whom little was known, save that he was understood to
have fought at the battle of Langside, and served with great bravery,
under Essex, both in Spain and in Ireland, in the times of good Queen
Bess--such times as England would never see again, the old farmer
parenthetically remarked, with a shake of the head. Master Hugh
Calveley, he went on to say, was a strict Puritan, austere in his life,
and morose in manner; an open railer against the licence of the times,
and the profligacy of the court minions,--in consequence of which he had
more than once got himself into trouble. He abhorred all such sports as
were now going forward; and had successfully interfered with the parish
priest, Sir Onesimus, who was somewhat of a precisian himself, to
prevent the setting up the May-pole on the past Sunday,--for which, the
farmer added, some of the young folks owe him a grudge; and he expressed
a hope, at the same time, that the day might pass by without any
exhibition being made of their ill-will towards him.
"These Puritans are not in favour with our youth," the old man said;
"and no great marvel they be not; for they check them in their
pleasures, and reprove them for harmless mirth.
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