KNARESBOROUGH FOREST AND HATFIELD CHASE.

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your successors refuse this service, so long as it shall not be a full sea at the hour aforesaid, you or yours shall forfeit all your land to the abbot or his successors. This I do intreat, that you may have your lives and goods for this service; and you to promise, by your parts in heaven, that it shall be done by you and your successors, as it is aforesaid."

"I grant all that you have said," exclaimed the abbot, "and will confirm it by the faith of an honest man."

Then the dying hermit said—" My soul longeth for the Lord; and I as freely forgive these gentlemen my death as Christ forgave the thief upon the cross. Into thy hands," continued he, "O Lord, I recommend my spirit; for thou hast redeemed me out of the bands of death, O Lord of truth !"

"Amen!" responded the abbot and the repentant sinners, as the good hermit fell asleep.

Regarding the FOREST OF KNARESBOROUGH, which may be said to exist now only in name, or in enclosed patches, a curious circumstance occurred in the course of last year. While some labourers were at work in a field that had once formed part of the forest, the ground suddenly gave way, and exposed to view a cave, which contained a great number of bones, which on investigation were found to be both human and animal. The skeletons of four or five human beings could be distinguished; the complete skeleton of a dog was found, and the other animal bones consisted of those of deer and other wild beasts of the forest. It was quite clear that this had been the abode or the refuge of some family in very lawless times, when the forest offered an asylum, and that most probably at night some landslip had happened to block up the cave and leave the unfortunates to perish. What tales these old forests could tell!

In the county of Durham, on the north side of the Derwent, there is a district comprising 896 acres, which came into the possession of the crown in the year 1812. It is called Chopwell Wood; and at the time it came to the crown it was all arable land and cultivated as farms; but part of it was immediately planted with oak, larch, alder, and birch, and additional plantations made until it was covered. In 1839, on the occasion of that furious storm which raged over England, no fewer than forty thousand trees were thrown down by its force in Chopwell Wood, all of which had to be sold at a considerable loss.

HATFIELD CHASE, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was one of the largest in England, containing above 180,000 acres. One half was a complete morass; but it was reduced to arable and pasture land in

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the reign of Charles I. by Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, to whom it was sold. A vast number of prostrate trees were found at a considerable depth below the surface. The roots remained unmoved, but many of the trunks were lying on the ground heaped one upon the other, while a large number stood erect, broken or mouldered off about midway. This strange uncovering of old trees developed their peculiar characteristics. Oaks, some of which were upwards of ninety feet long, were black as ebony, uninjured, and closely grained. Ash-trees, on the contrary, were so soft that they were cut to pieces by the workmen's spades; and, when flung up into the open air, turned to dust. But willows, which are softer than ash-wood, by some strange alchemy, preserved their substance. Patriarchal firs had apparently vegetated, even after their overthrow, and their scions became large branches, equal to those of the parent trunk. The alders were black and unchanged.

The opening of this wide morass gave rise to other curious revelations. Many of the old trees had been evidently burnt, some quite through, others on one side; several had been chopped and squared; some were even found to have been riven with huge wooden wedges ; marks by which to substantiate the fact, that the vast swamp of Hatfield Chase had been once inhabited.

Near the root of an ancient tree, eight coins, pertaining to different Roman emperors, were discovered; and in some parts considerable ridges and deep furrows indicated that the morass had been partially cultivated. Some who had studied the phenomena disclosed by the drainage of this tract conjectured that the forest had been felled, and that the trees, being left unmoved, contributed to the accumulation of the waters. This was very likely the case; because whenever the Britons were discomfited, they fled for refuge to the fastnesses of woods and miry forests; from whence they sallied forth, as opportunity permitted, and fell upon their invaders. Hence it was determined that woods and forests should be destroyed, and the order was obeyed. Many were set on fire, others cut down; and forests thus felled, by impeding the draining of water, often turned such broad streams as flowed through them into extensive swamps.

Hatfield Chase is celebrated as the scene of a battle fought between Edwin, King of Northumberland, and Penda, a Pagan king of Mercia, when the former was killed and his army completely routed.

An extensive forest, called the FOREST OF GAULTRIES, once existed in the centre of Yorkshire, and came up close to the walls of York. Portions of it yet remain, but enclosed, and out of the jurisdiction of

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the crown. It was formerly a favourite hunting-ground of the clergy; and the following quaint story is as quaintly told of one of the Bishops of Durham while out hunting there :

"Sir Anthon Bek, Busshop of Dureme in the tyme of King Eduarde, the son of King Henry, was the maist prowd and masterfull busshopp in all England, and it was comonly said that he was the prowdest lord in Christienty. It chaunced that emong other lewd persons, this Sir Anthon entertained at his court one Hugh de Pountchardon, that for his evil deeds and manifold robberies had been driven out of the Inglische Courte, and had come from the southe to seek a little bread and to live by stalynge. And to this Hughe, whom also he imployed to good purpose in the warr in Scotland, the busshop gave the lande of Thikley, since of him caullid Thikley-Puntchardon, and also made him his cheife huntsman. And after, this blake Hugh dyed afore the busshop, and efter that the busshop chasid the wild hart in Galtres forest, and sodainly ther met with him Hugh de Pontchardin that was afore deid, on a wythe [white] horse; and the said Hugh loked earnestly on the busshop, and the busshop said unto him, 'Hughe, what maketh thee here? and he spake never word, but lifte up his cloke, and then he shewed Sir Anton his ribbes set with bones, and nothing more; and none other of the varlets saw him, but the busshop only; and ye said Hugh went his way, and Sir Anton toke corage, and cheered the dogges, and shortly efter he was made Patriarque of Hierusalem, and he saw nothing no moe: and this Hugh is him that the silly people in Galtres doe call Le Gros Veneur, and he was seen twice efter that by simple folk, afore yat the forest was felled in the tyme of Henry, father of Henry yat now ys."

CHAPTER XIV.

MISCELLANEOUS AND MINOR FORESTS.

CHARNWOOD, NEEDWOOD, WHITTLEBURY, SALCEY, WYCHWOOD, ASHDOWN, ST. LEONARD'S, TILGATE.

Tthentic history will carry us.

HE FOREST OF CHARNWOOD claims an antiquity higher than auIt comprises a district ten miles in length and six in breadth, and is generally considered to have formed part of the Forest of Arden. That it was frequented by the Britons, and that the peaks of its picturesque hills were the resort of the Druids, is proved by many Celtic remains. Cromlechs and barrows are of frequent occurrence; and in one part of the forest a curiously-formed seat, excavated in the solid rock, and with a kind of rude canopy, may be seen, from whence, probably, the arch-Druid addressed the surrounding multitude. There are traces also of Roman power; a road which, if originally of British construction, was unquestionably used by their conquerors; the remains of a Roman camp too, and many Roman coins, have been dug up at different times in various parts of the forest. A singular remain, perhaps of the Roman period, was within a few years standing on Beacon Hill. This was "an erection of rude and ancient masonry, about six feet in height, of a round form, and having in its centre a cavity about a yard deep and a yard in diameter, the sides of which were very thickly covered with burnt pitch. This had evidently been used for the 'beacon-fire;' and on digging round, many fragments of mortar and dark-red brick were found, which lead to the inference that it was Roman workmanship."

During the middle ages, the vicinity of Charnwood was the dwelling-place of many a bold baron. The powerful Earls of Leicester had 1 Potter's History and Antiquities of Charnwood Forest.

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255 parks here, and the strong castles of Grobe and Mountsorrel rose close beside; but the greatest interest connected with Charnwood is princely Bradgate, the residence-probably the birth-place-of Lady Jane Grey. The present park of Bradgate is bounded by a wall of nearly seven miles in length, and is also subdivided into several walled lawns, some of which are of very ancient enclosure. The whole surface is of a very varied character, in which wildness greatly predominates. The mansion, of which the ruins form an object of such interest, is deserving of notice. Thoresby mentions that James I. was entertained here for some days; as also William III. The following account has been given

of the destruction of the house:

"It is said of the wife of the Earl of Suffolk (Stamford), who last inhabited Bradgate Hall, that she set it on fire at the instigation of her sister, who then lived in London. The story is thus told: 'Some time after the earl had married he brought his lady to his seat at Bradgate; her sister wrote to her, desiring to know how she liked her habitation and the country she was in the Countess of Suffolk (Stamford) wrote for answer, that the house was tolerable, that the country was a forest, and the inhabitants all brutes. The sister in consequence, by letter, desired her to set fire to the house, and run away by the light of it. The former part of the request, it is said, she immediately put in practice; and thus this celebrated and interesting mansion was consigned to the flames.' "2

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Charnwood, although now presenting different features from what it did many ages since, when, to quote the old Leicestershire tradition, a squirrel might be hunted six miles without touching the ground, and a traveller might journey from Beaumanor to Bardon on a clear summer's day without once seeing the sun," still abounds in picturesque views; and although trees are scanty, many specimens of the oak are to be found there unmatched for beauty.

The royal FOREST OF NEEDWOOD, in Staffordshire, had formerly four wards and four keepers, with each a lodge, now in the hands of private gentlemen. In Elizabeth's reign it was about 24 miles in circumference, and in 1658 it contained upwards of 92,000 acres. In 1684 it contained more than 47,000 trees, besides 10,000 cords of hollies and underwood, valued at upwards of 30,000l. It is now principally enclosed, leaving, however, a portion belonging to the crown, and one lodge. It contains still some of the largest oaks in England, and is noted for the fineness of its turf.

The wildest and most romantic spot of Needwood Forest is the * We need hardly tell our readers that the latter part of this account is apocryphal.