(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIE,—Your correspondent in the Spectator of July 6th may have laid the ghost of Woollashall (I apologise for the capital H, but not for the omission of the second o, as there are various ways of spelling the word), but fear the "priest-hole" tradition cannot be so easily blotted out. It hardly follows that all that emanates from a rector of a parish may be taken as " Gospel" ; and that a chapel was constructed in the garrets in the year 1800 is no argument that one did not exist there years before similar to that at Boscobel, Moseley, and numerous other old houses I could specify; indeed, that both a chapel and a "priest-hole" did exist is well authenticated. A correspondent to the Gentleman's Magazine about the year 1770, as far as I can recollect, speaking of these matters, mentions a tradition handed down by his grandmother, that it was the custom here when Mass was about to be celebrated to spread linen upon the hedges adjacent to the house as a sign to those in the neighbouring villages who might wish to
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