in the forest; that is, the privilege of mining in a portion of the forest which he may select. This, however, is subject to the approval of an officer called the gaveller, or deputy-gaveller, who is appointed by the crown, and who fixes the limit of the gale and the rent to be paid, which is usually very small. In default of payment, the crown has a right to one-fifth of the produce of the mine. The miners' affairs used to be managed by themselves at regular meetings, held at the Queen's Lodge or Speech House, in the centre of the forest; but their management was not always good. The free miners, as may be supposed, were mostly all poor men without capital, and the coal was raised in small quantities at very great expense. In course of time capitalists were attracted to the district, who bought up many of the miners' rights; and by them the mining operations are now carried on with great energy and success.

We have already spoken of the fanciful way in which places are named by the people in the forest. A few of the names given by the miners to their engines or coal-pits will illustrate this more strongly : Pluckpenny; Cuts out therefrom; Work or Hang; Strip and at it; Ready Money; As you like it; Venus and Jupiter; New Strip and at it.

The sun was now long past the meridian, and we began to entertain some thoughts of dinner; but down among the miners' houses such a thing was out of the question, as a little outward inspection of the only "public" soon informed us. We determined then to hold on to the Speech House. We passed by several enclosures thickly wooded with young trees, and arrived at a cleared space called "Acorn Patch Nursery," a nursery for the forest. From this point the view was very fine. We had skirted the second ridge we described, and looked now on its western side, densely wooded, while up the valley ran for miles what the map called the "line of the coal-field," containing treasures beyond all price. We soon struck into a narrow, dreary road, a fit place for a highwayman to ply his trade, if any one of that class still survive ; and then we came upon a magnificent wood, with oaks and elms "of giant stature," the sunshine peering through, and daylight just gleaming in the horizon; and a few hundred yards of pleasant walking brought us to the Speech House.

There is something exquisitely delicious in quaffing a glass of pale ale on a warm summer day, when one is hot, and tired, and fatigued. The gods never drank such nectar; men only, and what is more to the purpose, Englishmen only, could find it out. It imparts new vigour

to the whole man, and leaves no trace behind.

This was our first de

mand at the Speech House, and as the place seemed in a good deal of disorder, we were ushered into the large hall, where the miners' meetings are held, a spacious room with twenty-four deers'-heads nailed against the walls, with one door, four windows, an enormous chimney, a lot of hat-pegs, forms, and chairs, and a platform for the grandees. Here we despatched, in company with two dogs that forced themselves on our society, a very excellent dinner, and then started. We tried to fish something out of the attendants about the forest, but we might as well have dragged the Thames for salmon at London Bridge.

Our road lay now across the forest, chiefly past enclosures; but still on the grassy turf at the roadside stood many large and magnificentlooking trees. One oak in particular we noticed, under whose branches a very large party might enjoy themselves, either with a cold collation or a merry dance. Apple-trees were also very numerous, but of course they were crabs, and their fruit, for some of them had little apples, was unpleasantly sour. The road now began to descend to what is expressively enough called Cinderford Bridge, which either takes its name from, or gives its name to, some extensive mining-works situated a little distance up a valley on the left-hand side of the road. The bridge is surrounded by quite a little village, which appears to be inhabited chiefly by workmen. Ascending a high ground on the opposite side, and turning to look back, we have another fine view of part of the forest. Here one of the ridges, still densely wooded, ends and slopes down to the valley through which the Cinderford Bridge stream prattles and murmurs on its way. We are now practically out of the forest, and the road, after a little further ascent, is all down hill, but commanding most extensive prospects of the fertile and picturesque County of Gloucester. We pass through Little Dean, a small village, and after a twilight's walk through shady lanes, we once more descended to Newnham, and very soon sunk

"Into such sleep as wont to shed

Oblivion on the weary head

After a toilsome day."

CHAPTER XI.

LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE FORESTS.

WITCHES OF PENDLE-FOREST OF DELAMERE-SUBMARINE FOREST AT LEASOWE.

HE forests of Lancashire belong to history. Few traces of any that previously existed can be found now. The numerous mosses, such as Chat Moss, &c., with which it abounds, indicate the existence of extensive forests at a very early period. Those of which we have accurate accounts were chiefly situated in the northern

and eastern parts of the county; that is, where it is most mountainous and borders upon Yorkshire. The two principal forests were those of Blackburnshire and Bowland, both belonging to the honor of Clitherce. They were, however, divided into the forests of Pendle, Trawden, Accrington, and Rossendale; and after the marriage of Thomas of Lancaster with Alice de Lacey, they came into the possession of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the forest then went by the name of the Forest of Lancaster. Another forest, that of Pickering in Yorkshire, also belonged to the same duchy; and so strictly and impartially were the forest laws carried out in both, that the records of these two forests became the highest authority on that complicated scheme of jurisprudence, the law of the forest. In 1311, the entire annual profits of these four forests was estimated at 4l. 5s. 8d. The Commissioners of the Commonwealth valued them as worth 5591. Os. 5d. per annum, as "part of the possessions of Charles Stewart, the late king." In 1651, they were all sold to Adam Baynes for the sum of 68537. 16s. 1d. Since that time, their character as forests has entirely disappeared; the steam-engine and the power-loom having cleared all before them.

The wealthy magnificent abbey of Whalley once stood in this forest. It was founded about the twelfth century by some Cistercian monks from Stanlaw in Cheshire, and its erection cost 30007. This amount will give some idea of its magnificence; for though such a sum would not in our day go far towards the erection even of a church, yet when

the wages of labour were only twopence per day, when the adjoining forest supplied nearly all the timber, and plenty of fine sandstone was to be had in the neighbourhood, we can imagine the scale of splendour on which the edifice could be reared. These old monks were almost unerring judges of the places best fitted for residence, where all the physical comforts of life could be had. The situation was warm, and at the same time picturesque, the soil was fertile, the neighbouring forests supplied deer and all kinds of game in great plenty, and the streams were well stocked with delicious fish. The monastery was suppressed by Henry VIII., and it is now in ruins; but many of the parts remain entire, and give a slight idea of the fallen splendour whose memory they preserve.

The Forest of Pendle has acquired a considerable degree of notoriety from some old traditions and stories connected with the witches who at one time were supposed, by the people in the neighbourhood, to inhabit it. These stories have acquired a kind of historical interest from their having been made the basis of the trial for witchcraft of eighteen poor women at Lancaster, in 1633.

At that period the people of England were infected by a witchmania, which caused the cruel suffering of many innocent people. For a woman to be old and ugly, to live alone, to keep a cat, and to have some peculiarity in her manner, were sufficient to cause ignorant and senseless people to set her down as a witch. If any calamity happened in the neighbourhood, the people immediately attributed it to the socalled witch. The poor woman was seized, and usually met her death either at the hands of a fanatical mob or through the verdict of as fanatical a jury. The originators of the most notorious witch-trials in the Forest of Pendle were a man named Robinson, a woodcutter, and his son, both of whom seem to have been scoundrels of the very deepest dye. Robinson's story was, that he was on his way to Burnley to pay some money early one morning; it was dark and the road was very bad, and the traveller was very tired and weary. A terrible storm came on, thunder, lightning, and rain; and Robinson, on looking up at a crag that overlooked the road he was travelling, saw, or thought he saw, by the glare of the lightning, the most terrible witch in Pendle. He trembled all over, and presently felt something rubbing his legs. This he found to be a tremendous black cat with eyes darting flames. cat spoke to him in good English, and said, "You cursed my mistress two days ago; she will meet you again at Malkin tower;" the mistress doubtless being the terrible witch who sat on the crag looking on. The witch and the cat then set off for the forest.

This

WITCHES OF PENDLE FOREST.

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The story told by the son was much longer, more full of details and romance, and with a great deal more of the horrible. On the night before the father went on his journey young Robinson went into the forest to gather some berries. He had not been engaged in this pursuit long, when two beautiful greyhounds came up with collars of gold. He thought this a good opportunity to have a hunt; and a hare being started, he tried to urge the hounds to follow, but in vain. The dogs would not stir. He then struck them to urge them on; whereupon one was suddenly transformed into Moll Dickenson, a reputed witch in the neighbourhood, and the other into a little boy. Young Robinson tried to run, but the touch of the witch fixed him to the earth. She offered him some money to hold his tongue; but he refused it with the strongest feelings of superstitious horror. Immediately on his refusal, Moll took a string and flung it over the boy, who immediately became a white horse, and Robinson soon felt himself seated on the horse in front of the witch. They soon arrived at a house in the forest, where it was currently reported "the witches' Sabbath" was kept. About fifty hags were here, all making ready for a carousal; and a young comely damsel brought to Robinson a delicious-looking steak on a golden dish. The first taste, however, was enough, the meat was so disgusting. Robinson next found himself in a barn, where six witches were pulling vigorously at ropes attached to the roof, and at every pull down came the choicest and richest articles of food. A vast cauldron then rose, and such rites as are described in Macbeth were performed around it; and after some other horrible incantations, young Robinson made a desperate attempt to escape. He got out of the barn and fled, pursued, like Tam o' Shanter, by the whole troop; but they did not catch him, and he reached home in the most pitiable and forlorn condition. He raved for a whole week about the witches, &c. and what he had seen, and his father forsook his usual employment and would scarcely speak.

In our days the matter would have ended here. The country people might perhaps think the story true, and people who believe in mesmerism and clairvoyance might think it a subject of anxious inquiry; but with the general public the two stories would be set down either as fabrications or the creations of a diseased imagination. At all events, they would never reach a court of law, nor lead to the loss of life. But in those times it was different; on the bare evidence of these Robinsons eighteen persons were tried at Lancaster, seventeen were found guilty, and six were actually hanged. One of the poor women was so terrified at her position, that she actually confessed herself a