57G 



KNARESBOROUGH. 



many species of the nnttlope; it inhabits the 

 southern regions of Africa, among the most inac- 

 cessible and barren mountains of the Cape ; the 

 native Hottentots call this animal the Kainsi. Its 

 length, from the tip of the muzzle to the end of 

 the tail, is three feet two inches ; its height at the 

 shoulders is twenty-one inches, but at the croup, 

 about twenty-two ; the horns of this animal are 

 three inches and a half long ; the ears four and a 

 quarter, and the tail three. The head of the 

 klipspringer is small and short, terminating in a 

 small round black muzzle, void of hair ; the sides 

 of the head are somewhat compressed, and con- 

 tracted rather suddenly in front of the orbits; the 

 ears are large, open, and at the points a little 

 rounded ; and the eyes are particularly dark, and 

 rather large. The horns of the male are quite 

 straight, and have three or four small annuli, or 

 rings, round their roots ; elsewhere they are per- 

 fectly smooth. The ktiees are, in appearance, a 

 hard patch, which is caused by their frequent rub- 

 bing against the rocks ; while the tail is but a 

 short brush of hair. The colour of the animal is 

 generally of a mixture of yellow and green, but 

 the under parts of the body are a light sandy red, 

 tinged with yellow; and the inside of tbe ears is 

 clothed with long 1 white hair, surrounded at the 

 edges with a narrow black border. In this species 

 of antelope, the legs are much stronger than in 

 most others, and the hoofs much rounder, not 

 pointed -and flat, as in many others ; and the tips 

 of them are worn much more than any other part, 

 from the animal treading on them alone ; which 

 together with the straightness of the pastern joint, 

 in a great measure accounts for the astonishing 

 agility with which the klipspringer bounds from the 

 high and dangerous rocks and precipices which 

 abound in that country. From the great value set 

 upon its hair for stuffing mattresses, saddles, &c., 

 and for its flesh, which is excellent venison, im- 

 mense numbers fall a prey to the avarice of the 

 natives ; and in addition to these, a great many of 

 the young ones are destroyed by eagles, and other 

 birds of prey inhabiting that climate ; so that the 

 animal is become less common than formerly, and 

 grows every day much scarcer. 



KNARESBOROUGH; an ancient town in 

 Yorkshire, eighteen miles west of York, situated 

 on a cliff above the river Nidd, a stream of minor 

 importance generally, but which, in its short 

 course from the high moorlands till it joins the 

 Ouse, flows through some delightful scenery. On 

 one side of the river (the side on which the town 

 lies) are the ruins of Knaresborough Castle ; oppo- 

 site is the famous Dropping- Well, and in the cliffs, 

 or steep banks, are caves or excavations made in 

 ancient or modern times, but alike in the circum- 

 stance of having been formed by persevering but 

 misapplied industry. One excavation bears the 

 name of St. Robert's Cave (St. Robert was a 

 famous ascetic of the thirteenth century, whose 

 chapel and hermitage are also shown here), but 

 which is rendered more remarkable as having been 

 the scene of the murder committed by the school- 

 master, Eugene Aram. Other excavations were 

 formed by an industrious weaver and his son, who 

 also cut the cliff into terraces, rising one above 

 another, and planted them with flowering shrubs 

 and evergreens. The cliffs on both sides of the 

 Nidd, near Knaresborough, are said by professor 

 Sedgwick to exhibit some fine modifications of the 

 magnesian limestone. 



The Castle of Knuresborouyh, occupied a most 

 elevated situation, and, on the accessible side, was 

 defended by a vast fosse, with strong works on 

 the outside ; the scattered ruins which still remain 

 show it to have been a fortress of great extent. 

 This castle was founded by Serlo de Burgh, who 

 came into England with the Conqueror, and he WHS 

 succeeded in his possession by Eustace Fitz-John, 

 the great favourite of Henry I. It afterwards 

 came into possession of the crown, for it seems 

 that king John granted it to William de Estoteville, 

 for the services of the three knight's fees. In the 

 succeeding reign, it was bestowed on the great 

 justiciary, Hubert de Burgh, on payment of 100 

 per annum into the exchequer. In the reign of 

 Edward II., it was in the family of the Vaux, or 

 de Vallibus, but bestowed by that prince on his 

 favourite, Piers Gaveston, whom he created earl 

 of Cornwall. On his death it reverted to the 

 crown, and continued attached thereto till 1371, 

 when the castle, manor, and honour of Knares- 

 borough, were granted by Edward III. to his 

 fourth son, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. In 

 1 170, the four knights who murdered Thomas H 

 Becket, took refuge here, where they remained 

 prisoners many months, but were some time after 

 pardoned, on condition of their performing a pil- 

 grimage to Jerusalem. After the base treachery 

 which R'cliard II. experienced from the earl of 

 Northumberland, and his gallant son Hotspur 

 Percy, that unfortunate prince was kept a close 

 prisoner here, in an apartment still called the 

 King's Chamber, till he was removed to Pontefract 

 castle, and there murdered by order of Henry IV. 

 In 1616, James I. granted this castle to his son 

 Charles. It was a strong fortress during the civil 

 wars, and made great resistance against the parlia- 

 mentary forces. After the battle of Marston 

 Moor, the townsmen most gallantly defended it 

 against lord Fairfax, and, though at last compelled 

 to surrender, it was on the most honourable terms 

 that the garrison laid down their arms. Not long 

 after this, it was, with many other castles, by 

 order of the House of Commons, rendered untena- 

 ble. The site of the castle commands a most 

 beautiful view of the river, church, part tf the 

 town, Coghjll Hall, dropping-well, bridge, woods, 

 &c. The keep was large, and consisted of three 

 stories. From an east view of it, the dismantled 

 towers, and dilapidated arches, are finely pictur- 

 esque; but the whole is fast falling into decay. 

 Near the centre, in a part of the ruins, are the 

 court-house and prison for the liberty of the forest 

 of Knaresborough. 



The Dropping-Well rises at the foot of a lime- 

 stone rock. After running about twenty yards 

 towards the river, it spreads itself over the top of 

 a crag, about thirty feet high, from whence it falls 

 in a shower, dropping perpendicularly very fast, 

 and making a pleasing sound, thus gratifying the 

 ear as well as the eye. The water, the discharge 

 of which is reckoned at about twenty gallons a 

 minute, is very cold, and has a petrifying quality. 

 It soon incrusts every thing on which it falls; and 

 visiters may be supplied with petrified wood, eggs, 

 birds' nests, and even wigs. The petrifying pro- 

 perty of the water of the Dropping-Well is owing 

 to a gritty or sparry matter, which encrusts the 

 objects it is deposited on. Mr De la Becbe says, 

 " Springs are seldom or ever quite pure, owing to 

 the solvent property of water, which, percolating 

 through the earth, always becomes more or less 



