is to be found for forty days, at the
manorial lord's proper charges; and sometimes a
footman with a bow and four arrows; and sometimes
the footman has a bow and only three
arrows; but, to make up, he must have "one pale"
and "one bacon or salted hog," half of which
he is to give to the earl marshal, and on the
other half to feed himself, following the army so
long as that moiety of salted hog shall last;
and sometimes he, the unfortunate footman, is
to go with the army into Scotland, barefoot,
clothed with a shirt and breeches, having in the
one hand a bow without a string, and in the
other an arrow unfeathered, which, unless he
gets better tailoring among the heather, will be
but scanty covering or protection for his poor
Saxon thews and sinews against the stark and
supple Highland foe. Some lords paid a yearly
service in ouziell, or young birds (a corruption
of oiseaux); and some in ouzels, which are not
young birds, but a species apart and of itself,
comprehending blackbirds and thrushes, and
served up at the royal table, as they are to this
day in France and Italy. Sir Walter Hungerford
held the manor of Homet, in Normandy,
in consideration of rendering to the king and
his heirs a lance with a foxtail hanging thereto,
yearly, upon the Feast of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross, and also of finding ten men-at-
arms and twenty archers in the English king's
wars with France.

Another lord had to find a spindle-full of raw
thread to make a false string for the king's crossbow; another, a currycomb when wanted;
another, an esquire with a purple lance and an iron
cap; while brave old Egremont Castle was once
held "by the service of one knight's fee, that
the lord should march at the king's command,
in the army, against Wales and Scotland."
Three "fletched" arrows, feathered with eagle's
feathers, made up all the service to be rendered
by one lord; two arrows with peacock's
feathers, that of another; a loaf of oat bread, value
half a farthing—value stamped thereon—and
three barbed arrows feathered with peacock's
feathers, whenever our lord the king should
hunt in Dartmoor Forest, the service to be
rendered by the lord of Loston; one footman, a
bow without a string, and an arrow without
feathers, the service to be rendered by another lord;
litter for the king's bed, and hay for the king's
horse, together with the services of an esquire
for forty days, duly equipped with a hambergell
or coat of mail, redeemed the broad lands of
Brokenhurst; the like services of providing
hay for the king's horse, straw for the king's
bed, and rushes for the king's chamber, made
good the title to many a noble manor throughout
England. A pair of gloves turned up with
hareskin, a pair of scarlet hose, a coat or cloak
of grey furred skins, two hogsheads of red wine,
and two hundred pears of the kind called
"permeines,"—to be paid at the Feast of St. Michael
yearly; a sextary (about a pint and a half) of
clove wine or July-flower wine; two hundred
pullets, a cask of ale and a firkin of butter;
twenty-four pasties of fresh herrings on their
first coming in; two white doves and two white
capons; a pound of cummin seed, two pairs of
gloves, and a steel needle; a hot simnel sent up
every day for the king's dinner; a pot-hook for
the king's meat; a gallon of honey; one tablecloth
and one towel yearly; several rents of
gloves and capons, and tuns of ale, and firkins
of butter; a nightcap—value one half-penny;
a snowball in June and a red rose at Christmas;
two white hares yearly—rather a troublesome
tenure, as white hares were at all times exceedingly
rare in England; taking care of the king's
hawks, or breeding them in independent mews;
are among the most frequent services to be
rendered for the gift of an estate, "with all that
grow on it as high as heaven, and all that
was within it as low as hell." They show the
great scarcity of money, and the slackness of
commerce in those days, and carry one down to
the very rudiments of society, when all barter
was in kind, and when there were but two
estates in the realm—royalty and the nobles—who
divided the earth and the villeins between them.

Sometimes it was enough if the king could
count on having his horse shod with royal nails,
if he came within the boundaries of a certain
manor; sometimes, if the lord and his villeins
would go out once a year gathering wool for the
queen, from off the thorns and briars; and
sometimes—in the case of religious houses—
royalty was content with a daily mass, or a
special office, said at stated times, or when the
king would honour the rich abbey with a visit,
and thought the bargain no bad one between
lands and masses. John de Liston held the
farm of Liston, in Essex, by the serjeanty of
making baskets for the king; and Roger de
Leyburn might have Bures, so long as he would
scald the king's hogs when required; and
William Fitz-Daniel held four "ox-gangs" of
land for paying yearly a flasket, which was
either a wickered bottle or a small wooden tub
—commentators are undecided which; and
Nicholas de Mora rendered two knives, one
very good, the other very bad, for certain lands
held in Shropshire; and Stene and Hinton,
Northampton, were held by the service of
presenting one rose yearly at the Feast of St. John
the Baptist; and Ralph de Waymer had the
right of farming the fish-ponds of Stafford, if
when the king fished therein he had all the
pikes and breams that he might catch: Ralph
reserving to himself all other fish, including eels,
that might come to the hooks, royal or otherwise
—which was not a bad look out for Ralph
de Waymer. As for Levington, in York, it was
held for no greater service than the owner's
repairing to Skelton Castle every Christmas-day,
there leading the lady from her chamber to
chapel, and, after mass, leading her from the
chapel to her chamber again, departing without
noise or mystery after dining with her in all
honour, as liege and tenant should. Does the
lord of the manor of Sockburne, in Durham,
still meet the Bishop of Durham, on his first
entrance into the diocese, with Sir John Conyers's
ancient falchion in his hand?—that falchion