The heading of the chapter is "Rus in Urbe," and, still following Mr. Gomme's guidance, we have now to trace a transition that occurred in the use of these public lands as the urban element became more and more preponderant. It seems that while there are boroughs with common pasture only, there has been found no instance of a borough having arable and meadow allotments, and no common pasture. The inference is that, as the community grew more addicted to mercantile pursuits, they were less able to devote themselves to the cares of husbandry, and, accordingly, the lands ceased to be cultivated. But they were still of considerable value for grazing purposes. The merchants' cattle and horses might be placed in them--the latter, perhaps, being subsequently entered in the service of trade. Existing arrangements in boroughs which have abandoned agriculture afford clear indications that at one time allotments were carried out and rules enforced with regard to cultivation and the annual crops. The history of many towns shows that they formerly enjoyed rights of common which they no longer enjoy, and the manner in which these became lost is in numerous instances a mystery. When, from being lands of which the tenants were virtually seised for life, they passed through some evolution into being the property of the corporation let to freemen or others as the case might be, they might not improbably be sold for the good of the community at large. In earlier days the right may have been surrendered by timid or ignorant townspeople under the pressure of a local lord of the manor strong enough to set the law at defiance, or a compromise may have been effected between him and those in temporary enjoyment of the benefit. These, as we have observed, sometimes consisted of no more than a fraction of the inhabitants, and, as the population increased, this would be a diminishing fraction, with the result that outsiders would be apathetic regarding the fate of the common. Where there was a special qualification, it was not necessarily seniority. At Huntingdon, for example, it was the freemen dwelling in "commonable" houses who were privileged to use the common. There were other restrictions than those already named. In the locality just mentioned "commonable" burgesses, if we may imitate their manner of speech, might depasture two cows and one horse from Old May-day till Martinmas, and four sheep from Martinmas till Candlemas. At Coventry, in what are called Lammas Lands, the allowance is two horses and one cow. How very wise and necessary these limitations were may be gleaned from the following extract from a decree in Chancery in 42 Elizabeth. The bill--we have modernized the spelling--recites that,