parted equally among all his sons. In other places, Borough-English prevailed, that is, the youngest son took everything, to the exclusion of his elder brothers; nay, by an odd application of the maxim "better late than never," a posthumous child ousted the brother already in possession; or, again, the widow or widower inherited. When the tenant died, the lord had a right to seize his best chattel (usually a beast), this was called a Heriot, and it is yet here and there exacted. Many customs are old Saxon, many customs were invented, or at any rate twisted into fantastic rights from mere whim or a not very cleanly sense of humour, but here one must often merely accept the fact, for to try it by the rule of right reason were absurd. Most manors were held of the Crown, in return for services sometimes of the oddest character; thus, Solomon De Campis (or Solomon At-Field) had land in Kent on condition that, "as often as our lord the King would cross the sea, the said Solomon and his heirs should go along with him to hold his head on the sea, if it was needful;" and certain jurors solemnly present on their oath that "the aforesaid Solomon fully performed the aforesaid service." Our early kings provided against every possible contingency. One tenant enjoyed land by the service of holding the King's stirrup when he mounted his horse at Cambridge Castle. Another must make _hastias_ in the King's kitchen on the day of his coronation. The glossaries are dumb as to this mysterious dish, though the learned darkly hint at haggis! Or was it "a certain potage called the mess of _Giron_," which, being enriched with lard, was called _Maupygernon_--which last is possibly mediæval Welsh for a haggis? Thomas Bardolf, who died, lord of Addington, in 5 Edward III., was pledged to compound three portions of this dainty dish against Coronation Day, and serve them up smoking hot, one to the King, one to his Grace of Canterbury, and the third "to whomsoever the King would." Other manors were held on the tenure of presenting to the King a white young brach ("lady the brach" of _King Lear_) with red ears; of delivering a hundred herrings baked in twenty pasties; of finding the King a penny for an oblation, whenever he came to hear mass at Maplescamp, in Kent: gifts of roses, falcons, capons (which last dainties your mediæval sovereign held in special favour), were abundant. But how to riddle this one? The manor of Shrivenham, in Berks, was held (_temp._ Edward III.) by the family of Becket, whose head, whenever the King passed over a certain bridge in those parts, must present himself with two white capons, whereto he directed the royal attention in choice mediæval Latin, "Behold," he said, "my lord, these two capons, which you shall have another time, but not now," which pleasantry reminds one of the current vulgarism, "Will you have it now, or wait till you get it?" The service of the Dymocks, owners of