Thus communed these;
while to their lowly dome,
The full-fed swine return'd with
evening home;
Compell'd,
reluctant,
to the several sties,
With din obstreperous,
and ungrateful cries.
Pope's Odyssey.
In that pleasant district
of merry England
which is
watered by the river Don,
there extended in ancient
times a large forest,
covering the greater part
of the beautiful hills
and valleys
which lie
between Sheffield
and the pleasant
town of Doncaster.
The remains
of this extensive wood are
still to be
seen at the noble seats
of Wentworth,
of Warncliffe Park,
and around Rotherham.
Here haunted
of yore the fabulous Dragon
of Wantley;
here were
fought many of the
most desperate battles
during the Civil Wars
of the Roses;
and here also
flourished in ancient
times those bands
of gallant outlaws,
whose deeds
have been
rendered so popular
in English song.
Such being our chief scene,
the date of our story
refers to a period
towards the end
of the reign
of Richard I.,
when his return
from his long captivity had
become an event
rather wished than
hoped for
by his despairing subjects,
who were in the meantime
subjected to
every species of subordinate oppression.
The nobles,
whose power had
become exorbitant
during the reign of Stephen,
and whom the prudence
of Henry the Second
had scarce
reduced to
some degree of subjection
to the crown,
had now
resumed their ancient license
in its utmost extent;
despising the feeble
interference
of the English Council
of State,
fortifying their castles,
increasing the number
of their dependants,
reducing all
around them
to a state of vassalage,
and striving
by every means
in their power,
to place themselves each
at the head of
such forces as
might enable him
to make a figure
in the national convulsions
which appeared to be impending.
The situation
of the inferior gentry,
or Franklins,
as they were called,
who,
by the law
and spirit
of the English constitution,
were entitled
to hold
themselves independent
of feudal tyranny,
became now unusually precarious.
If,
as was
most generally the case,
they placed themselves
under the protection of
any of the petty kings
in their vicinity,
accepted of feudal offices
in his household,
or bound themselves
by mutual treaties of alliance
and protection,
to support him
in his enterprises,
they might indeed purchase
temporary repose;
but it
must be with the
sacrifice of
that independence
which was so dear
to every English bosom,
and at
the certain hazard of
being involved
as a party in
whatever rash expedition the ambition
of their protector
might lead him to undertake.
On the other hand,
such and so multiplied
were the means of vexation
and oppression
possessed by the great Barons,
that they never
wanted the pretext,
and seldom the will,
to harass and pursue,
even to the very edge
of destruction,
any of
their less powerful neighbours,
who attempted
to separate themselves
from their authority,
and to trust
for their protection,
during the dangers
of the times,
to their own inoffensive conduct,
and to the laws
of the land.
A circumstance
which greatly tended
to enhance the tyranny
of the nobility,
and the sufferings
of the inferior classes,
arose from the
consequences
of the Conquest
by Duke William of Normandy.
Four generations
had not
sufficed to blend
the hostile blood
of the Normans
and Anglo-Saxons,
or to unite,
by common language
and mutual interests,
two hostile races,
one of
which still