Читать книгу The Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales. A tour performed in 1837 онлайн

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At this period, a number of baronial laws, although dormant, might still be enforced on occasion, and amongst them was one which furnished Mary with a promising prospect of recompense. It decreed, that in cases of seduction, the injured fair, on making application to the presiding magistrate, was entitled to remuneration by submitting to the following ordeal:—The tail of a three years old bull, the property of the seducer, being well shaven, greased and introduced through a wicker door, if the applicant could, by so treacherous a handle, detain the animal for a certain period with both hands, while two men goaded it to escape, it became hers, by right of conquest, in satisfaction for her lost virtue; and, in case of failure, she forfeited all further claim, and was rewarded for her attempt with so much of the grease and soap as remained in her hands.

Women know no medium in the master-passion: “Where most they love, there most they hate when slighted:”—and so with Molly. All nature seemed to change: the beautiful valley no longer heard the soft murmurings of Roger’s “love breathed vows;” the waters of the Ceriog flowed on without a rival sound; and Molly vowed vengeance amid their peaceful banks, where once she swore eternal love and constancy.