Whitaker (_History of Craven_, p. 34.) mentions Gisburne Park as chiefly remarkable for a herd of wild cattle, descendants of that indigenous race which once roamed in the great forests of Lancashire, and they are said by some other writer to have been originally brought to Gisburne from Whalley after the dissolution. One of the descendants of Robert de Brus, the founder of Gainsborough Priory, is stated by Matthew Paris to have conciliated King John with a present of white cattle. The woods of Chillingham Castle are celebrated at this day for the breed of this remarkable race, by which they are inhabited; and I believe there are three or four other places in which they are preserved. In the form and direction of the horns, these famous wild white oxen seem to be living {2} representatives of the race whose bones are found in a fossil state in England and some parts of the Continent in the "diluvium" bone-caves, mixed with the bones of bears, hyenas, and other wild animals, now the cotemporaries of the Bos Gour, or Asiatic Ox, upon mountainous slopes of Western India. I have read that white cattle resembling the wild cattle of Chillingham exist in Italy, and that it has been doubted whether our British wild cattle are descendants of an aboriginal race, or were imported by ecclesiastics from Italy. But this seems unlikely, because they were not so easily brought over as the Pope's _bulls_ (the pun is quite unavoidable), and were undoubtedly inhabitants of our ancient forests at a very early period. However, my present object is only to inquire for any other instances of the custom of offering a white bull in honour of a Christian saint. Perhaps some of your correspondents would elucidate this singular oblation. I am not able to refer to Col. Hamilton Smith's work on the mythology and ancient history of the ox, which may possibly notice this kind of offering. W. S. G. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. * * * * * NEWSTEAD ABBEY. The descent of property, like the family pedigree, occasionally exhibits the most extraordinary disruptions; and to those who may be ignorant of the cause, the effect may appear as romance. I have been particularly struck with the two interesting papers contained in the April number of the _Archaeological Journal_, having reference to the Newstead Abbey estate, formerly the property of Lord Byron's family, which, amongst other matters, contain some severe remarks on the conduct of one of its proprietors, the great uncle and predecessor of our great poet, and having reference to dilapidation. Mr. Pettigrew, in his paper, states that-- "Family differences, particularly during the time of the fifth Lord Byron, _of eccentric and unsocial manners_, suffered and even aided the dilapidations of time. The castellated stables and offices are, however, yet to be seen." And Mr. Ashpitel adds that--