Historic%20Yorkshire

THE STORY OF A TAX.
alreadydisturbedstateof Durham andYork,the gathering
of rebellious mobs, and the open avowals of intended
resistance,wereurged in vain as deterrentreasons for the
obnoxious tax's collection,but the haughty Earl's answer
to these representations was simply a contemptuous
silence. He turned on his heel with an absence of every
form of ceremony,having to force his way through the
angry crowd that jostled him and shoutedafter him with
curses as he mounted and rode off to his manorial seat
about half a mile from Topcliffe. Upon nearing the
wicket gate which opened into the enclosure before the
manor house, or castle, he found clustered round the
entrance a party of boisterous peasants who greeted his
approach with shouts and the wavingofthe rude weapons
they bore. The hot blood of the Percys rushed to the
cheek of the Earl,but disdainingany comment or remark
he passed straight on, the rude mob making a passage
for him with apparent respect, but on bending over the
neck of his steed he found the seeming courtesy was
but a mockery, for the gate was closed,and fastened with
nails. Stung into speech by the jeers of the hinds, he
bid them return to their homes, threatening that their
deeds wouldlead to bloodshed,said witha contempt that
provoked one burly peasant into the replythat the blood
shed should be Percy's own, for they would knock the
breath out of his body, and sellit to pay his master's tax,
if happily it would fetch as much. At the same time
weapons were flourished unpleasantlynear, while a large
stone was thrown which came very near scattering the
brains of the Earl, who, loweringthe visor of his helmet,
put his horse to the gate, clearing it, and leaving his
assailants far behind, disappointed as yet of their prey.
From the foregoingit may, perhaps, be difficult to conceive
that Percy's character throughout the vast districts
over which he ruled was that of a just, generous, and
kind-hearted master. Yet such was the case; hospitable
to a limitless extent, regardful of the prosperity
of every dependent,and the protectorof his tenantry,it is
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