152 &umeU Ftllageg in tfje N*fo 



halls, where Saxon families of rank resided, and where an 

 industrious population followed the daily routine of pas- 

 turage and husbandry.* A large proportion had been 

 consequently brought into cultivation ; yet sufficient 

 still remained to afford a harbour for numerous wild 

 animals. This part comprised many sylvan spots of 

 great beauty, with tracts of common land, covered with 

 the golden blossomed gorse, and tufts of ferns, or else 

 with short herbage, intermingled with wild thyme. 

 Noble groups of forest-trees were seen at intervals, with 

 clear running streams, and masses of huge stones which 

 projected from among the grass. The sun rose on the 

 morning of the fatal day in cloudless beauty, and fresh 

 breezes tempered the heat, which, at harvest-time 

 is often great; the people were already in the fields, 

 and the creaking of heavy-laden waggons was heard at 

 intervals, with the sweeping sound of the rapid sickle. 

 In a moment the scene was changed. Bands of Norman 

 soldiers rushed in and drove all before them. They trod 

 down the standing corn, and commanded the terrified 

 inhabitants of hall and hut, to depart in haste. More 

 than one hundred manors, villages, and hamlets were 

 depopulated, even the churches were thrown down those 

 venerated places, where the voice of prayer and thanks- 

 giving had been heard for generations ; where the young 

 bride pledged her vows, and where words of peace were 

 spoken to cheer the hearts of those who laid their friends 

 * Rapin. 



