Chapter 27

Parson Ruddle does not give the Christian name of the boy who saw the ghost, and we are thrown into perplexity at once. The "ancient gentleman" may have been Thomas Bligh of Botathan, Esq., but he was aged no more than fifty-three. Colonel Vivian's pedigree of the Blighs in his _Visitation of Cornwall_ is most unsatisfactory. Thomas Bligh was buried at South Petherwin, April 10th, 1692. There is no entry in Vivian's pedigree of Walter Bligh, gentleman, who was buried January 29th, 1667-8. Besides, there are many en…