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