THE STRANGE STORY OF THE DUNMOW FLITCH --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: EARLIEST OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE FLITCH.] EARLIEST OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE FLITCH.--Entries in the Chartulary of Dunmow Priory, in the British Museum, recording the presentation of the Baron in 1445 and 1510, now reproduced for the first time. The top entry is the earliest surviving record of the custom. The recipient in the first case is Richard Wright; in the second, Thomas le Fuller. --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: TWO BACON RECEIPTS.] TWO BACON RECEIPTS.--The Parsleys and Reynoldses received their Bacon in 1701, the Shakeshafts in 1751. This 1751 presentation was the last legitimate ceremony. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Strange Story of the Dunmow Flitch By J. W. ROBERTSON-SCOTT ("HOME COUNTIES") WITH 34 ILLUSTRATIONS Nil nisi jurantibus ("Nothing unless you are able to swear") --_Motto of a former Dunmow Lord of the Manor_ Two Shillings DUNMOW: D. CARTER TO H. W. W. H. CONTENTS Twas thought a sumptuous treat On Birthdays, Festivals, or Days of State, A salt dry Flitch of Bacon to prepare. --Congreve. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I A Narrative of Nine Hundred Years CHAPTER II The Priory and the Rhymester CHAPTER III A Yeoman, a Husbandman and Thomas le Fuller CHAPTER IV The Vanished Cloisters CHAPTER V A Tale of Tyranny and War CHAPTER VI The Jury of Spinsters CHAPTER VII --And Bachelors CHAPTER VIII The Bacon Refused CHAPTER IX Enter The Novelist CHAPTER X The Winners of the Bacon CHAPTER XI The Scene at the Modern Ceremony CHAPTER XII Another Flitch Custom CHAPTER XIII The Bacon Over Sea APPENDIX The Last Prior and the "Fair Matilda" --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: LAST LEGITIMATE PRESENTATION OF THE BACON.] LAST LEGITIMATE PRESENTATION OF THE BACON.--This record of the Shakeshaft ceremony is from an old print, "The Manner of Claiming the Bacon," etc., published by Bowles and appearing in _Hone's Everyday Book_. Note the realistic "sharp-pointed stones"; also that the headgear of the Shakeshafts agrees with that represented in Ogbourne's picture. --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Illustration: PROCESSION AT THE LAST LEGITIMATE PRESENTATION OF THE BACON.]