ay, I will not believe the latter," said the abbot; "Robert Aske is
chosen by Heaven to be our deliverer. It has been prophesied that a
'worm with one eye' shall work the redemption of the fallen faith, and
you know that Robert Aske hath been deprived of his left orb by an
arrow."

"Therefore it is," observed Father Eastgate, "that the Pilgrims of Grace
chant the following ditty:--

"'Forth shall come an Aske with one eye,
He shall be chief of the company--
Chief of the northern chivalry.'"

"What more?" demanded the abbot, seeing that the monk appeared to
hesitate.

"Nay, I know not whether the rest of the rhymes may please you, lord
abbot," replied Father Eastgate.

"Let me hear them, and I will judge," said Paslew. Thus urged, the monk
went on:--

"'One shall sit at a solemn feast,
Half warrior, half priest,
The greatest there shall be the least.'"

"The last verse," observed the monk, "has been added to the ditty by
Nicholas Demdike. I heard him sing it the other day at the abbey gate."

"What, Nicholas Demdike of Worston?" cried the abbot; "he whose wife is
a witch?"

"The same," replied Eastgate.

"Hoo be so ceawnted, sure eno," remarked the forester, who had been
listening attentively to their discourse, and who now stepped forward;
"boh dunna yo think it. Beleemy, lort abbut, Bess Demdike's too yunk an
too protty for a witch."

"Thou art bewitched by her thyself, Cuthbert," said the abbot, angrily.
"I shall impose a penance upon thee, to free thee from the evil
influence. Thou must recite twenty paternosters daily, fasting, for one
month; and afterwards perform a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of
Gilsland. Bess Demdike is an approved and notorious witch, and hath been
seen by credible witnesses attending a devil's sabbath on this very
hill--Heaven shield us! It is therefore that I have placed her and her
husband under the ban of the Church; pronounced sentence of
excommunication against them; and commanded all my clergy to refuse
baptism to their infant daughter, newly born."

"Wea's me! ey knoas 't reet weel, lort abbut," replied Ashbead, "and
Bess taks t' sentence sore ta 'ert!"

"Then let her amend her ways, or heavier punishment will befall her,"
cried Paslew, severely. "'_Sortilegam non patieris vivere_' saith the
Levitical law. If she be convicted she shall die the death. That she is
comely I admit; but it is the comelines