Note 37b — NOTES ON PARISHES ROUND HORNCASTLE.

Sir John Bolles, of Thorpe Hall, is the hero of the tradition of “the Green Lady,” of that place. She nursed him while imprisoned in Spain, and fell in love with him. He was obliged to explain to her that he had a wife at home already, whereupon she made valuable presents of jewellery to him for his wife. She was said to haunt Thorpe Hall, and for some time a plate was always laid, and a vacant place kept for her at the table. Some of this jewellery still exists, and is worn, to my knowledge, by connections of the family (see Percy’s Ballads, vol. I., “The Spanish Lady’s Love”).