k was not sufficiently
extensive to admit of a spacious building, and probably nothing more was
at first intended than a temporary retreat and defence from the
predatory incursions of the Scots. The structure was, however, gradually
enlarged, and became one of the chief residences of the Lacies. A lofty
flanking wall ran along the brink of the rock, enclosing the keep and
adjoining buildings, likewise the chapel of St Michael, coeval with the
foundation of the castle, and forming part of it, being amply endowed by
the founder, and license procured from the Dean of Whalley for the
purpose of having divine service performed and the sacraments
administered therein, to the household servants, foresters, and
shepherds, who occupied these extensive and thinly-inhabited domains.

In this little sanctuary now lay the remains of its lord. The cold
February sleet pattered fitfully against the narrow panes; and the
shivering mourners muffled themselves in their dark hoods, while they
knelt devoutly on the hard bare pavement of the chapel. Oliver de
Worsthorn, the old seneschal, knelt at the foot of the bier; his white
locks covered his thin features like a veil, hiding their intense and
heart-withering expression. He felt without a stay or helper in his last
hours--a sapless, worthless stem in this wilderness of sorrow.

Robert, the Dean of Whalley, attended as chief mourner. Being descended
from a distant branch of the Lacies, he had long thrown a covetous
glance towards the inheritance. A frequent guest at the castle, he had
been useful as an auxiliary in the management and control of the secular
concerns; the spiritual interests of its head were in the keeping of
another and more powerful agent, little suspected by the dean of
applying the influence he had acquired to purposes of secular
aggrandisement.

It may not be deemed irrelevant that we give a brief outline of the
constitution or office of dean, as then held by the incumbents of
Whalley. The beautiful abbey, now in ruins, was not as yet built. Some
Saxon lord of [Illustration: Dpaellej] had, about the seventh century,
founded a parish church, dedicated to All Saints, called The White
Church under the Leigh. The first erection was of wood, many years
afterwards replaced by a plain building of stone. The rectors or deans
were also lords of the town, and married men, who held it not by
presentation from the patron, but as their own patrimonial estate, the
succession bein