"
It were idle to paint the astonishment and dismay which this short
narrative produced. Paslew immediately saw the dangers by which he was
involved. He was, by this desperate and unfortunate act, at once
committed to the measures from which he had hitherto kept aloof, and he
must now stand foremost in the cause, or tamely submit to the infuriate
vengeance which this overt act of rebellion would inevitably hasten. He
had hoped that, sheltered in this quiet nook, he should escape without
being made a party in the contest, and rest secure until hotter heads
and lighter brains had fought the battles that would leave him in
possession of the spoil. If the king's party were triumphant, he fancied
that, by seeming to take little or no part in the hostilities then
abroad, his house might be spared in the general wreck that would ensue;
but all these schemes of deep-laid policy and ambition were in a moment
dissipated. No time was to be lost. The whole country would instantly be
in array, and the beacon-light of Pendle proclaim Paslew as the source
and instigator of this second rebellion. It would be in vain to stay the
rising.
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