158 



THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



You shall do this in remembrance that by your means I 

 have been slain. And that you may the better call to God 

 for mercy, repent yourselves, and do good works. The 

 officer of Eskdale-side shall blow ' Out on you ! out on 

 you ! out on you ! ' for this heinous crime of yours. If you 

 or your successors refuse this service, so long as it shall not 

 be a full sea at the hour aforesaid, you or yours shall for- 

 feit 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, ' Lord, I recommend my spirit ; for thou 

 hast redeemed me out of the bands of death, 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 year 1850. 

 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 qiiite clear that this had been the abode or 

 the refuge of some family in very lawless times, when the 

 forest offered an asylnm, 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 ! " 



