{28} The _General Biographer’s Dictionary_ says 51 in all. {32} So says the Register, but I suspect _erroneously_. _Ardington_ was the place in which the family of Clarkes was settled. Sir Edward Clarke, probably the son of Sir Thomas, was High Sheriff of Berks in 1626 (_Marsh_). {34} Halliwell’s dictionary gives _haydiggle_ (Somerset) as meaning high spirits, and once a country dance. {36} From Father Gasquet’s essay on the Recusants in _The Old English Bible_. {53} _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 83, 8vo. {54} See _Commentaries_, as before. N.B. Among the Garrows, a people of Hindostan, the youngest _daughter_ inherits the property of her family. See _Asiatic Researches_, vol. iii. p. 34, 8vo. {56} Blackstone’s _Commentaries_, vol. ii. chap. v. {57a} Blackstone’s _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 81, 85. {57b} Sir Martin Wright is of opinion that Domesday-Book was made soon after our ancestors had agreed to tenures, _i.e._ the feodal system of tenure, for the purpose of ascertaining each man’s fee; and he supposes that as soon as the survey was completed, the great landholders of the kingdom were summoned to London and Sarum to do homage to the king for their landed possessions. Now it may be presumed, that if Merdon had been then surrendered to the king, and any alteration made in the nature of the tenure of the lands in the manor, it would have been reported and registered in the book. But it certainly is not to be found there. May it not then be justly concluded that it was passed over, and that the customs now prevailing are the same as were in use previous to the Conquest? {58} See _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 48, 81. {67} This word cannot be understood. It probably may be the name of a holding, or of a family. {154} Robin Hood’s butt, no doubt used for archery practice, lay on this down, called Rough Borrow.