Mr. Hardy on a Red Deer^s Antler. 217 



for he was the apostle of the Southern Borders, as well as 

 Bishop of Lindisfarne, and nowhere was he more honoured, 

 as his eulogist Reginald assures us, than in the vicinity of 

 the ancient Forestry. He even, and somewhat to our purpose, 

 devotes three chapters (86, 87, 88) to detail the feats of a stag, 

 which hunted by a Lothian Knight, Robert Fitz Philip, on 

 St. Cuthbert's day, 4th September, 1165, took refuge in a 

 churchyard, under the protection of the saint. That was the 

 time when stags were at their best, and very fat. " Ft natura 

 cervorum plenitudine crassitudinis et dilatata adipe pinguedi- 

 nis redundaverat." Exquisite vision for a monk ! King 

 Robert's present was acceptable in every respect ! The people 

 are assembled in their holiday attire to the saint's festival, 

 and to view the stag in his sanctuary. The weather being 

 fine, they dance, and leap, and sport, put the stone, and joke, 

 and sing ; till at last a luckless lad with a stake pokes up the 

 stag reposing in the porch of the church. Away it bounds, 

 gores one of the dancers to death, and on its flight to the 

 woods is intercepted and killed by one of its original pursuers. 

 For the rest of the story consult Reginald's Miracles of St. 

 Cuthbert. 



How long the monks enjoyed the benefit of '' Good King 

 Robert's Testament" in their behalf, is uncertain. David II. 

 renewed the liberal grant of his father in 1344. This pleasing 

 gift is thrice recorded in the annual account rolls of the Priory 

 (pp. vi, vii, and cvii.) In 1329 there was paid 6s. 8d. for 

 writing the charter. In 1330, there was paid on account of 

 the carriage of the five stags from the forest to Coldingham 

 (King Robert had died in 1329, and his forester appears not 

 to have disbursed the passage-money), and also for salt for 

 the same, and the expense of a man by the primitive name of 



Adam , lis. 4d. In 1344 the clerk's fee for engrossing 



the confirmatory charter was 6s. 8d. It is to some of these 

 consecrated animals, most probably, that the remains of this 

 noble antler once appertained. Reginald tells us that in his 

 time, the horns and bones of deer were converted " into 

 combs, draughtsmen, chessmen, dice, spigots, &c. ;" — a chap- 

 ter of economy our Coldingham monks had overlooked; for 

 though relishing the venison, they had cast to the dogs the 

 bones to gnaw and carry away. 



