"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."