"In the eighth year of this king's reign (E. II.) it was ordained by parliament, that an ox fatted with grass should be sold for 15_s._, fatted with corn 20_s._, the best cow for 12_s._; a fat hog of two years 3_s._ 4_d._; a fat sheep shorn 14_d._, and with fleece 20_d._; a fat capon 2_d._, a fat hen 1_d._, four pigeons 1_d._ And whosoever sold for more, should forfeit his ware to the king. But this order was soon revoked, by reason of the scarcity that after followed. For, in the year following, 1315, there was so great a dearth, that continued three years, and therewith a mortality, that the living were not sufficient to bury the dead; horses, dogs, and children were eaten in that famine, and thieves in prison plucked in pieces those that were newly brought in, and eat them half alive." But, again, sub ann. 1349: "This year dyed in Norwich of the plague, from the first of January to the last of June, 57,374 persons, besides religious people and beggars; and in Yarmouth, 7053. This plague began November the first, 1348, and continued to 1357, and it hath been observed that they that were born after this had but twenty-eight teeth, whereas before they had thirty-two." This latter notice refers to the first of those three destructive epidemics which visited Europe during the reign of our Edw. III., and are so frequently mentioned in ancient records. It is styled the "Pestilencia Prima et Magna, Anno Domini 1349, a festo Stæ. Petronillæ usque ad festum Sti. Michaelis." (Nicolas, _Chron. of Hist._, p. 345.) COWGILL. Minor Queries. _Gillingham._--Can you, or any of your correspondents, furnish me with any historical or local data that may tend to identify the place where that memorable council was convened, by which the succession to the English crown was transferred from the Danish to the Saxon line? Hutchins, in his _History of Dorset_ (Edw. II., 1813, vol. iii. p. 196.), says: "Malmsbury[4] mentions a council held at Gillingham, in which Edward the Confessor was chosen king. It was really a grand council of the realm; but the generality of our historians place it with more probability at London, or in the environs thereof." [Footnote 4: Book ii. c. 12. p. 45.]