ITINERAKIES. 



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legend of St. Robert is this : St. Robert going to the 

 king, complained to him that his deer in the forest of 

 Knaresborough did the poor men's corn much harm ; the 

 king merrily asked him, why they did not pound them ? 

 whereupon St. Robert catcheth two of the stags, and 

 putteth them into the pinfold ; the king wondering at it, 

 asks him what he would desire in recompense for the 

 poor ; the saint answered, only as much land as he could 

 plough round with two stags, in the time of divine 

 service. The king granted his request, he encompassed 

 a great quantity of land, which is now in the occupation 

 of the Shngbyes. The picture of the plough and bucks 

 is in one of the church windows at Knaresborough. 

 Another legend of this saint is, that a certain fellow 

 feigned himself a cripple, had tied up one of his legs, and 

 came to beg something of St. Robert, making great 

 complaint of his lameness and poverty. St. Robert 

 being very compassionate and charitable, saith to him, I 

 have nothing left but one cow, and that give I thee, as 

 freely as ever God gave it me. Whence it is to this 

 day a proverb among them thereabout, " As free as St. 

 Robert gave his cow." So soon as the fellow took the 

 cow by the horn to lead her away, he proved a cripple 

 indeed, and could not let down his leg. The picture of 

 this also is in one of the church windows. Sir Henry 

 Slingsby his monument, built by himself before he was 

 beheaded, is in this church of Knaresborough. We went 

 to see St. Robert's well, about a mile distant from the 

 town. Hence we went to the dropping- well, so called, 

 because it falleth from a cliff or precipice not far from 

 the river ; it riseth in the field a good distance from the 

 place, where it falls down the high bank ; and any other 

 running water that falls down a precipice might a^ well 

 be called a dropping- well. Any dry thing the water 

 covers over with a crust or bark of stone ; but soft, 

 spongy, and succulent things (into which it can soak and 

 insinuate itself, as moss, green leaves, earth, &;c.) it 

 seems to convert into stone, or at least, the water petri- 



