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and Speght and Urry for the other poems; por-accepted chronological order. Spurious and questrait of Chaucer; well printed; language often tionable poems are placed at the end of the third modernized. volume. These are "Romaunt of the Rose," "Court of Love," "Flower and Leaf," "Cuckow and Nightingale," "Goodly Ballad," Praise of Women," "Chaucer's Dream," "C Virelai," "The Prophecy," and "Go forth, King." Introduction valuable, altogether a useful edition.

Morris's Aldine edition, 6 vols. 8vo., 1866 (Bell & Daldy).-Elegantly got up; without engravings, except portrait of Chaucer as frontispiece; contains Sir H. Nicolas's memoir, but the text of the first Aldine edition of the "Tales" is replaced by a new one, based on that of Wright, or on the Harleian MS. 7334, corrected by the help of Tyrwhitt, the Lansdowne MS. 851, and other MSS. Other poems are collated with MSS. and many corrections are printed in italics; has Tyrwhitt's essay with additions by Skeat, and a new glossary. The best text of the complete works up to this_time_published. Prints for the first time "Etas Prima," "Leaulte vaut Richesse," and a poem on prosperity. Admits some doubtful poems. A useful and independent

edition.

Robert Bell's edition, 4 vols. 8vo., 1878. First published in Bell's "Annotated Edition of the English Poets," 8vo., 1854, but revised and reprinted. The full title is "Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with Poems, formerly printed with his, attributed to him; edited with a Memoir by Robert Bell," revised edition in 4 vols., with preliminary essay by W. W. Skeat, M.A. The text of the "Tales" is mainly founded on the Harleian MS. 7334, adopted by Mr. Bell and Mr. Jephson as the best; alterations here and there from other MSS.; practically Wright's text collated with that of Tyrwhitt, &c.; has good notes. The first really satisfactory edition of the minor poems independently collated from MSS. The doubtful and spurious poems are relegated to the last volume, but some dubious work is accepted. Skeat's contribution to this edition is praised in the Academy for August 27, 1878. The contents of the last volume are these: "Romaunt of the Rose," "Court of Love," "Cuckow and Nightingale," "Flower and Leaf," "Loveres Complaynte," "Lament of Mary Magdalene," "Praise of Women," "Go forth, King," Eight Goodly Questions and Answers," "To the Lords and Knights of the Garter," and "It falleth for a Gentleman."

Robert Bell's edition, published by Griffin, in 8 vols. 8vo. (part of a complete edition of English poets), seems less critical; it follows more closely the edition of 1854.

"The Riverside Chaucer," Boston, Mass., 3 vols. 8vo., 1880.-An excellent American edition by Arthur Gilman, M.A. The text of the "Tales is based on Tyrwhitt, revised by help of the Chaucer Society's publications. Well printed and edited. Reviewed in Atlantic Monthly, vol. xlv. p. 108. The MS. preferred is the Ellesmere, but with caution; other readings are given in doubtful cases. The poems are arranged in the best

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"There is no good edition of Chaucer, not even a good text. The only text that the Chaucer scholar should think of using is the valuable six-text edition of the Chaucer Society. For the general reader one edition is as good as another, and there is little to choose between Tyrwhitt, Bell, and Dr. Morris,"-Encyclo. Metropoli. tana, art. "Chaucer." J. MASKELL.

Emanuel Hospital, S.W.

FROM ROBERT GREENE TO RICHARD GRANT WHITE.-Since the year 1592, in which Greene's Groat's-worth of Wit was published, down to the present month of June, 1884, William Shakespeare has never been held up to public execration, for any private or public act, as he is in the current number of the Atlantic Monthly by Mr. Richard Grant White. I give the indictment verbatim, for it can only be answered by examining each of its counts separately, and for this purpose all must appear upon the record :

"Referring to the view of Shakespeare's personal character presented in that dry and colorless setting forth of the little that we know of his life which is given in the Riverside edition, the Times critic says,The known facts in Shakespeare's life are so few that his leaving his wife his second-best bedstead, or his suing Philip Rogers for 1. 15s. 6d., stand out with startling distinctness. But perhaps it is well not to infer too much from them.' It is well. It is always well not to infer too much from anything. But this writer, in his brevity, very much understates the facts. It is not only that Shakespeare gave his wife by will nothing but his second-best bed, but, as I have remarked before, that even the second-best bed was the fruit of second-best thoughts. The bequest is an interlineation in the will, in which, as it was originally drawn, Shakespeare's wife is not mentioned! It is not only that he sued Philip Rogers for 11. 15s. 6d., but that, having also sued John Addenbroke for 61. and got judgment, not being able to imprison Addenbroke,-who, poor man, had fled from his inexorable rich creditor,-the writer of Portia's nobly sympathetic exposition of the qualities and origin of Horneby. It is not only that there is no record or even mercy proceeded against Addenbroke's surety, one probable evidence of Shakespeare's having given aid to his father in the pecuniary distress that sent him into hiding lest he should be cast into prison, while there is record that the thriving actor and playwright set to father who had difficulty in getting a coat to his back,work and spent money to get a coat-of-arms for the

arms which would have made the actor playwright a gentleman born;-it is not only this, but that in the height of his prosperity he passes from our sight standing on the side of grasping privilege in its oppression of the class in which he was born, giving support to the squire of Welcombe's project for enclosing part of the Stratford commons, to the injury of the poor little farmers and farm laborers. How long will it be before

the world learns that a man's intellect and his heart have no connexion,-that what he writes is no guide to what he will do, no sign of what he is?"-Extract from "The Anatomizing of William Shakespeare."

I propose to deal now with the climax-the crowning charge against Shakespeare's honour as a man and a citizen. It will be observed that Mr. Grant White does not cite any authority for this hideous charge. Now it will hardly be credited, but it is a fact, that there is not a vestige of authority for it.

First let me say what the enclosure scheme was. I dare say the lord of the manor expected to get something handsome out of it, but it was not a project for enclosing Welcombe fields so as to vest them in him. It was to allot to each owner of common rights a piece of land equal in area to the sum of those pieces over which his existing rights extended, and to grant him this larger piece in fee. Accordingly the effect would be to secure to every "poor little farmer and farm laborer" the fee of a piece of land, probably worth much more than his dry common rights. Shakespeare is known to have possessed such rights in common with a great many other persons, and he was certainly applied .to by J. Greene (who may have been a brother of Thomas Greene, the town clerk of Stratford) for his consent. If he had given it, and the enclosures were effected, I should say he may have acted with judgment, and certainly not with unkindness, towards his poorer brethren. But unfortunately the document which records the result of the interview is in a condition which-so far as I am at present authorized to speak, for I have had but one reading of it-renders its decipherment uncertain, but not hopeless. As I read the entry, Shakespeare disapproved of the enclosure scheme; and the result seems to justify the reading, for it was not effected. What becomes of Mr. Grant White's assertion? How long will it be before he learns that in William Shakespeare the great intellect and the large heart were in intimate connexion?

I am disposed to regard Mr. Grant White's crowning charge as a pure invention; and, to utilize one of his own (unacknowledged) emendations in The Winter's Tale, his "invention stabs the centre"-wounds Shakespeare's reputation in its most vital part. C. M. INGLEBY.

Athenæum Club.

CONTRADICTIONS IN HISTORY.-In the life of Savonarola, written in Latin by Giovanfrancesco Pico,* we are told that Lorenzo de' Medici, when at the point of death, sent for Savonarola, to whom he desired to confess. Savonarola came, but, before consenting to receive Lorenzo as a penitent, required that he should declare his

*Savonar. Vita, inter Vit. Select, Viror, ap. Bates, Lond., 1704.

adherence to the true faith, a condition to which Lorenzo assented. Savonarola then insisted on a promise from Lorenzo that if he had unjustly obtained the property of others he would return it. Lorenzo, after a short hesitation, replied, "Doubtless, father, I shall do this; or, if it be not in my power, I shall enjoin it as a duty that he should restore the republic to liberty, and upon my heirs." Thirdly, Savonarola required establish it in its former state of independence; to which Lorenzo not choosing to make any reply, the priest left him without giving him his absolution. Sismondi takes the same view :

"Savonarola refused him neither his consolation nor his exhortations; but he declared that he could not ab solve him from his sins till he proved his repentance by reparation to the utmost of his power. He should forgive his enemies; restore all that he had usurped; lastly, give back to his country the liberty of which he had despoiled it. Lorenzo de' Medici would not consent to such a reparation; he accordingly did not obtain the absolution on which he set a high price, and died, still possessing the sovereignty he had usurped, on the 8th of April, 1492, in his forty-fourth year."

William Roscoe, on the other hand, says "This interview * was scarcely terminated, when a visitor of a very different character arrived. This was the haughty and enthusiastic Savonarola, who probably thought that in the last moments of agitation and of suffering he might be enabled to collect materials for his factious purposes. With apparent charity and kindness, the priest exhorted Lorenzo to remain firm in the Catholic faith, to which Lorenzo professed his strict adherence. He then required an avowal of his intention, in case of his recovery, to live a virtuous and wellregulated life; to this he also signified his sincere assent. Lastly, he reminded him that, if needful, he ought to bear his death with fortitude. 'With cheerfulness,' replied Lorenzo, if such be the will of God.' On his quitting the room, Lorenzo called him back, and, as an unequivocal mark that he harboured in his bosom no resentment against him for the injuries which he had his benediction; with which he instantly complied, received, requested the priest would bestow upon him Lorenzo_making the usual responses with a firm and collected voice."

Roscoe is firmly persuaded of the truth of this statement, and alludes to contrary reports as symptoms of that party spirit which did not arise in Florence until after the death of Lorenzo. I believe that the account left by Politiano bears out the statement that Lorenzo was duly absolved. He appears to have died peacefully, " occasionally repeating portions of Scripture, and accompanying his ejaculations with elevated eyes and solemn gestures of his hands, till, the energies of life gradually declining, he pressed a magnificent crucifix to his lips, and calmly expired."

RICHARD EDGCUMBE.

ENGLISH JUDICIAL COSTUME.-I have often inquired for complete explanations as to the robes

*With Pico of Mirandula, uncle of the historian from whose work I have quoted.

SPURIOUS EDITIONS OF WELL-KNOWN POEMS.A few curious editions of well-known poems are, I hope, worthy of a place in our storehouse of bibliographical memoranda. The first is :

:

Absolom and Achitophel. | A | Poem. I-Si Proprius stes Te Capiet Magis | London | Printed and sold by H. Hills, in Black-fryars, near the Waterside, For the Benefit of the Poor. 1708.-Pot 4to. A-C, in fours; PP. 24. This edition contains a key which differs materially from that published by Davis in his Journey round the Library, &c. (1821, p. 63), and runs

thus:-
David.....
Absalom [sic]
Annabel.....
Achitophel
Zimri
Balaam
Caleb
Nadab......
Shimei
Corah
Bathsheba

King Charles II.
D. Monmouth.

.Dutchess of Monmouth.
Earl of Shaftesbury.
.L. Gray.

Sidney.

worn by the common law judges, and have been
told the rules were transmitted orally, and could not
be found in print. After consulting the clerks of
several counsel, I have elicited the following facts.
Scarlet robes are worn in town by the judges
sitting in banc on the first day of the "sittings
(or term as it was formerly called), also in banc on
"red-letter days" (i.e., such days as appear with
red letters in the calendar). On circuit at the
opening of the commission scarlet robes are woru
by both judges, should two be present. After the
commission is opened, the judge who sits in the
Crown Court and tries prisoners continues to
wear his scarlet robes, and does so until all the
prisoners are dealt with. He is hence termed by
criminals "the red-gown judge." The judge who
tries nisi prins cases removes his scarlet robes
and puts on a black silk gown, and is called “the
black-gown judge." The scarlet robes worn in
winter in town, and on circuit whether in summer
or winter, are trimmed with ermine, but in town
in summer these robes are trimmed with grey silk.
When on circuit, the senior or "red-gown judge
sits in the Crown Court at the first town on the The pamphlet concludes with the following
circuit, whilst the junior judge takes nisi prius
cases; but at the next place" the red-gown judge
becomes "the black-gown judge," and so they
alternate throughout the circuit. On ordinary days
the judges sitting in banc wear dark blue (or
purple) robes, which in winter are trimmed with
ermine, and in summer with bronze silk. I am
not quite certain whether I have correctly de-
scribed this shade of silk, which is of a curious
colour, and seems to have been adopted only in
the new Royal Courts of Justice. Black silk
gowns are worn both in town and on circuit by
judges trying nisi prius cases.

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I am told that Lord Chief Justice Coleridge thought that some alteration in costume should be made to commemorate the change of courts, and introduced a scarlet sash, which, to distinguish him from the puisne justices of the Queen's Bench Division, he wears over his right shoulder, whilst they wear it over the left shoulder. The sash is only used by some judges, and I have only observed it worn by a nisi prius judge.

FREDERICK E. SAWYER. P.S.-Since writing the above note, in January, 1884, I have seen Mr. Justice North sitting in the Nisi Prius Court at Lewes Assizes, in black satin robes trimmed with ermine, and with the scarlet sash (as I thought it) over his right shoulder, and attached to the hood at the back. On inquiry I was told that this was the costume formerly worn by the common law judges when called in to advise the House of Lords, and that the scarlet sash was termed "the gun-case," as it held a gun which was carried separately by the judge. My informant said the use of these robes in the New Law Courts was introduced by Lord Coleridge,

........

Armstrong.
..Ferguson.
Sheriff Bethel.
Stephen College,

D. Portsmouth, or

any other Concubine.

"Advertisement,

"To prevent the Publicks being impos'd on; this is to give notice, that the Book lately Publish'd in 4to. is very Imperfect and Uncorrect in so much that above Thirty Lines are omitted in several Places, and many gross Errors committed, which pervert the Sence." The next is :

Cyder, A Poem. | In two Books. Honos erit huic quoq: Pomo? Virg. With The Splendid Shilling, | and Sold by H. Hills, in Black-Fryars, near the WaterParadise Lost, and two Songs, &c. [ London: | Printed side. 1708.-8vo. A-C, in eights; pp. 48. This appears to be an early spurious edition of John Phillips's poems, the first edition, also in 1708, being described in Lowndes as a 12mo. It is sewn in a Dutch-paper cover together with :

The Kit-Cats | A | Poem. | Tante Molis Erat.London: | Printed and Sold by H. Hills in Black-Fryars near the Water-side. 1708-An 8vo. sheet, pp. 16.

Wine | A | Poem. Nulla placere diu, nec vivere carmina possunt, Qra Scribuntur a quæ potoribus. | Epist. 19. Lib. 1. Hor. | (Imprint as above.)

I have seen some other publications bearing H. Hills's imprint (notably a copy of the celebrated verell), from which I gather that his device of Assize sermon preached at Derby by Dr. Sacheprinting "for the Benefit of the Poor" simply meant that "charity begins at home," most of them being pirated editions.

ALFRED WALLIS.

A HUNDRED YEARS BETWEEN THE MARRIAGE OF A FATHER AND HIS SON.-If the following fact has not beer noted before, it seems worthy of being placed on record. Thomas Coke, first Earl of Leicester, m. rried his first wife on Oct. 5, 1775; his son, the prevent earl, married his second wife on Aug. 26, 1875; there was thus an interval of

all but a hundred years between the one event and the other. It would be hard to find another like instance, and probably there is no other in the Peerage. G. L. G.

OLD PROVERBS.-I submit that “N. & Q.' might fitly appropriate a corner to the quotation of proverbs by given writers, as tending to prove the age of the proverb. It would, I believe, be not unfrequently found that a proverb is much older than has been imagined. One of those I am about to give as quoted in the fourteenth century is popularly supposed to have arisen out of a trial in Westminster Hall four hundred years later. If the Editor thinks fit, I offer such as I have noted for a commencement.

Every honest miller has golden thumbs.Chaucer.

A long spoon to eat with the devil.-Chaucer. Put an ape in his hood (i.e., make a fool of him).

-Chaucer.

As bold as blind Bayard.-Chaucer.
Poverty brings a man to five marks.-Wycliffe.
Hold not all gold that shineth.-Wycliffe.

A monk out of his cloister is a fish out of the water.-Wycliffe.

The frog said to the harrow, Cursed be so many lords.-Wycliffe.

Rob Peter to pay Paul.-Wycliffe. Dog looks over towards Lincoln, and little sees thereof.-Wycliffe.

We have no worse enemy than he whom we save from the gallows.-King Richard II.

It hath been an old proverb that there is no worse pestilence than a familiar enemy (.e., an enemy in a man's own household). -John Husee,

1538.

Man proposeth, and God disposeth.-Jane, Lady Ringley, 1532-40. (In its French form this is as old as the fourteenth century.)

The old saying, Well is spent the penny that getteth the pound.-Thomas Warley, 1534.

"He that will in Courte dwell

Must cory ffavell;

And he that will in Courte abyde Must cory ffavell back and side." Edward Underhill, 1553. HERMENTRUDE. COLERIDGE'S "REMORSE."-The recent recital at Prince's Hall, London, by Mr. Philip Beck, in the presence of Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, of Coleridge's tragedy of Remorse somewhat condensed by Mr. Thicke was in every way a notable achievement; but one of the evening journals said, "The piece has been unearthed, or rather undusted, by Mr. Thicke." Industed is a new coinage, and the writer evidently meant exactly the reverse, and that the play had been dusted. Mrs. Glover played in Kemorse when it was produced in 1813; but the piece was not suc

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cessful, although highly praised by Leigh Hunt in the Examiner. It was revived in 1817 for a single benefit performance at Drury Lane. CUTHBERT BEDE.

SMUGGLING AND WITCHCRAFT.-I enclose a The article shows that the ancient belief in the cutting from the Scotsman newspaper of May 12. power to remove an obnoxious individual by witchcraft still exists in the Highlands; and not only so, but that professors of the magic art may be got to put it in practice. In Pitcairn's Criminal Trials there are some dark revelations of a similar character in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. See a very interesting confession in Hill Burton's Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. i. p. 277.

"In illustration of the gross ignorance and superstitious beliefs of the smuggling fraternity, it may be stated that, on account of his success in unearthing smugglers, an official made himself so obnoxious to that

class that a few years ago an attempt was actually made

to 'remove' him by means of the occult and mysterious agency of witchcraft. The means adopted in order to compass his death was the well-known corp crèadh, or clay image, the efficacy of which, when properly gone about, to destroy life is still implicitly believed in by the bulk of the people in the more remote parts of the Highlands. The mode of setting this fell agency in operation is by the operator modelling an image in clay of the person whose death is desired, and, having muttered the appropriate incantation over it, placing it in water running towards the east, the idea being that the body of the victim wastes away in exact proportion as the water wears away the clay of the image. When a sudden death is desired, the image is placed in a rapidly running stream. If, on the other hand, a long, painful, and rusty nails are stuck in the chest and other vital parts lingering illness should be desired, a number of pins and of the image, which is then deposited in comparatively still water. Should, however, the corp creadh happen to be discovered in the water before the thread of life

is severed, it at once loses its efficacy; and not only does the victim recover, but, so long as the image is kept intact, is ever after proof against all professors of the

black art. Although at one time numerous enough, individuals having the requisite knowledge of the black art are believed to be now very few and far between, and becoming fewer daily. In the case of the official in question, not much difficulty was experienced in obtaining the services of a suitable party, who had, of course, been paid a handsome fee before undertaking the work. That the attempt miscarried is attributed by the believers in witchcraft to the fact that a pearl-fisher happened, in the course of his legitimate calling, to discover the image before it had been many days in the water. The intended victim is not, apparently, any the worse for that attempt to cut short his career."

A. G. REID.

KNOWING FINE.-Mr. Dickinson's Cumbriana, in treating of the tenure of land in Cumberland, under the head of " Marriage" has the following passage, p. 283:

inconsistent with the morality of after ages that we "Others [services], again, were of a nature so are glad they are fallen into disuse, or have been commuted to an annual money payment, or enfranchised by purchase. Not many generations back the

family estate was always left to the second son, if the first-born of marriage was a male child, on account of the uncertain lineage of the eldest, the lord of the manor claiming, and perhaps exercising, the right to sleep with every bride within his manor, high or low, on the first night of her marriage. If more marriages

than one were intended for the same day he could command the postponement of all but one. The abolition of this intensely feudal and debasing custom crept northward, and has happily died out in the far highlands at no very distant date. The customs and usages of the Cumberland manors vary considerably, not as to time or period, but as to one manor with another."

Mr. Stockdale's Annales Caermoelenses says as follows on the "knowing rent," p. 66: "The yearly rent or farm of the whole bailiwick of Cartmel Fue amounts to seventeen pounds three shillings and sevenpence halfpenny, and besides is chargeable with a certain rent, custom, or gressom, called the knowings, of seven pounds seventeen shillings and tenpence." The late Mr. John Harrison, of Cark Hall, North Lancashire, told me that several farms in that neighbourhood pay what he called the "knowing fine." J. F. C., F.S.A. Bank, Keswick.

THE ROMANY LANGUAGE OF COIN.-11., a balancer; 10s., a posh balancer; 58. pansh colla; 2s. 6d., posh conna; 2s., duè colla and con cotta ("con cotta" means "the piece"); 1s. 6d., dash ta horri; 1s., trin goosha; 6d., shère horra; 5d., pansh horra; 4d., stor horra and con cotta; 3d., trin horra and con cotta; 2d., duè horra; 1d., trin posh yahroos; 1d., a horra; d., trin lollies; d., posh è yahroo; d., a lollie; a five-pound note, pansh bar lill.

Queries.

CHARLES KING.

We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

A

EDWARD II.'s "HOUSEHOLD ORDINANCES."When editing Francis Tate's (1601) Englishing of these for the Chaucer Society in 1876, to find out Chaucer's probable duties as Vallettus Camera Regis of Edward III., I said, in note 2, p. x, of my edition, that I believed the French original of these Ordinances was not known. But I mistook. paper copy of the French book was then, and is still, in the Cotton MS. Tiberius, E. VIII., article xvi. leaf 43, back. I have had to find it out to-day (Whit Monday, June 2) to ascertain for our Philological Society's Dictionary, which Dr. Murray is editing, what French word represents the "Assayour, Assaior, Assaier, Asseour" of Tate's Englishing. Asseour does. And on this our editor raises the pertinent question, What was the distinction, if any, between the asseour, the placer of the dishes, drinks, &c., and the sayer, or

assayer, who tasted the wine and food of the king and all nobles down to an earl to detect poisoning? Further, what is "a cup of assaie"? Is it a cup whose contents have been tested, or a grand cup worthy to be set before a king? F. J. FURNIVALL.

PROOFS OF LITERARY FAME.-There can scarcely be a stronger proof of success in the literature of fiction, and firmly established fame consequent thereon, than that the creatures of an author's imagination should become familiar in our mouths as parts of speech; that is to say, as adjectives or verbs. In every dictionary quixotic is to be found. But it is not so commonly known that Samuel Butler has achieved a fame somewhat similar for his hero. Lord Fountainhall, a distinguished Scotch judge in the seventeenth century, whose Decisions are constantly quoted, wrote: "I have heard some huddibrass the initialia testimonorum, viz., the examining of witnesses upon their age, their being married or not, &c., as an impertinent and insignificant old style" (Dec. Suppl., iii. 67, 1676). Jamieson, in his Scot. Dict., gives "to huddibrass," v. a., to hold up to ridicule. Mackintosh, MacAdam, Peel, Shrapnel, Burke, and, I believe, in France Lafarge, have each made a name for themselves-and for something else. What other cases are there of fictional personages having done the same? ALEX. FERGUSSON, Lieut.-Col. Lennox Street, Edinburgh.

of "N. & Q." assist me to the purport of these HOLE SILVER: WAKE SILVER.-Can any reader terms? They occur in the Court Rolls of the Seven Hundreds of Cirencester, co. Gloucester, viz., view of frankpledge for Crowthorne Hundred held November 11, 3 Elizabeth :

"Duntesborne Abbotles.-The Tithingman, being there exacted and being sworn, doth present that the rents certain at this view called hole silver [are] two shillings, and of a fine of Wake three pence.'

"Preston.-The Tithingman, being there exacted and being sworn, doth present that there is nothing of rents certain, but a fine called Waksilver due at this view three pence."

"Summary of Holesilver.-Of certain monies paid borne Abbots, 2s.; Estington, 13s. 4d.; Coln Rogers, without divers vills called holesilver, namely, of Dunst6s. 8d.; Coln St. Alwins, 5s.; Lechturise, 6s."

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