History of the Reed family in Europe and America

20
Giant." This Robin of Redesdale (meaning the Dale of
Prince Rheda) flourished in the fifteenth century, and was
associated with Earl Warwick. He fought and conquered
the Earl of Pembroke, in the year 1470, at Danesmore,
near Edgecoat in Northamptonshire, about three miles from
Banbury. His name was Robert ; and he took the name of
Mitford, from a fording-place near his residence, to distin-
guish him from another of the same name. The monu-
ment was on his own estate, and intended to perpetuate his
memory for his valor and success in the Border wars.
Further up the river is the Pringle, — a small stream
which empties into the Reed. Tradition says that Percival
or Percy Reed, Esq., fell into the hands of a company of
moss-troopers, who robbed and murdered him at Bating-
hope, — a place on the banks of this stream ; and that his
spirit haunts the Pringle.
Another legend is, that Mr. Reed, of Bowland, — a gen-
tleman of landed property in the Vale of Gala, — was
prosecuted for a very considerable sum, — the accumulated
arrears of teind, or tithe, — for which he was said to be
indebted to a noble family, the titulars of the tithes. Mr.
Reed was strongly impressed with the belief that his father
had in his lifetime, by a form of process peculiar to the law
of Scotland, purchased these lands ; and that the present
prosecution was groundless. But after an industrious
search among his papers, an investigation of public records,
and a careful inquiry among all persons who had transacted
law-business with his father, no evidence could be obtained
to support his defence. The period had now arrived at
which he considered the loss of his case as inevitable ; and
he had formed his determination to ride to Edinburgh the
next day, and make the best bargain he could by way of
compromise. He went to bed with this resolution, and
with all the circumstances of the case floating in his mind,