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.




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