As a small boy, Thomas Woodcock head a well in Oundle in Northamptonshire "drum like any Drum beating a March." The first he heard this, was "about the Scots coming into England." The well was at a distance from him, so Thomas Woodcock "went and put [his] Head into the Mouth of the Well, and heard it distinctly." Further, there was "no Body in the Well." The drumming allegedly lasts "several Days and Nights, so as all the Country-People came to hear it." The well was rumoured to drum "on several Changes of Times."(157)

As a full grown man, Thomas Woodcock returns to Oundle, where he lived as a boy, upon the death of King Charles II. The innkeeper tells Thomas Woodcock that "their Well had drumm'd" of its own accord, as it did when he was a child and the Scots were coming into England. The well is believed to drum "on several Changes of Times." Going to the well, Thomas Woodcok "heard, it drumm'd once since." (157)