82 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



the wild bull. It is said, indeed, that during portions 

 of their long career the De Hoghtons have borne as 

 their crest the bull's head alone ; * but one or other — the 

 wild bull itself, or its head — they have borne for many 

 centuries, and in such a matter ancient heraldry must 

 be evidence of great weight. 



We return from Hoghton Tower, and crossing, via 

 Whalley, the Craven Hills, we arrive at the eastern 

 side of the great mountain chain. Here was the great 

 Forest of Knaresborough, the extent of which has been 

 before mentioned. In this forest, in the time of King 

 John, who is said to have visited him with all his 

 court, lived, at one time alone, at another in company 

 with others, the celebrated hermit, Saint Eobert of 

 Knaresborough, whose fame long survived in the North, 

 on account of his acts of charity to the poor, and of the 

 miracles he was supposed to have wrought for their 

 benefit. He was long honoured as the founder and 

 patron saint of the Priory of Knaresborough, and that 

 monastic house did full justice to his memory. There 

 exists, in the possession of the Duke of Newcastle, and 

 lent by him to the learned Mr. Walbran,f a MS. " Life 

 of Saint Robert," written in Latin rhyming triplets, in 

 Latin prose and in English metre, by (as Mr. Walbran 

 supposes) the Prior of Knaresborough, the date of 

 which is placed " in the early part of the fifteenth 

 century." I give quotations — premising, however, that 



* Sir H. De Hoghton has a grant from the Heralds' College to one 

 Thomas Hoghton, dated 1588, that he might use the white bull as his crest, 

 in lieu of a bull's head, argent, &c. ; but Sir Henry has reasons to think 

 that this was a personal favour, and that the white bull entire had been the 

 family crest anterior to that date. 



f See Walbran's "Memorials of the Abbey of St. Mary of Fountains," 

 vol. xliii. of the publications of the Surtees Society. 



