contribute its quota of brothers to make up the set of twenty-four, and some of the companies having no brothers to elect the system at length came to an end. After election a brother could sell his right to be sworn; the sum of £60 and upwards in the present century was given, because being a freeman entitled a man to have a field supplied by lord Carlisle or Mr. Ord; this cost each upwards of £1,000 a year: so much for parliamentary representation. Well might Frederick, earl of Carlisle, write from Rome to his friend Sir George Selwyn, 'I have a Benedictine father teaching me Italian who will not allow me to pay him, I wish my burgesses at Morpeth had the same taste.'

Every brother paid twopence per month to the funds of his company, which were anciently expended in lights for the church, and up to the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, in payment to the friends of a brother on his death;3 for providing black cloaks and hat bands, which at that time were worn by all attending funerals, and for occasionally entertaining a stranger and minstrels, other than the waits.

The relation between religion and business was maintained. The great meeting day of the Tanners' company was Trinity Monday, when a bough of oak was planted before the alderman's door; the brethren met, each carrying a branch of oak and marched to church

And if any broder or sister be ded ye den schall bring ye candeles to ye dirge and euery broyer and sister schal offre an halpeny at ye chirche and he yat offres nacht he schal paye an halpeny to ye almes at ye next manspeche. -Gild of the Holy Cross, Lincoln.

Also it is ordeyned yat on ye day of ye sepulture of any broder or syster of yis gilde yt euryche offre a ferthyng and yemen a halpeny to allemasse ande aboute ye dede ij candles of viij pounds of wax and two pouere men shal bene hirede of ye almesse silver to holden ye torches about ye dede.-Gild of St. Christopher, Norwich.

A brother dying six miles off, the alderman shall go with the wax and bring the body to the herthe.'-The Tailors' Gild, Norwich.

And so all fairly clad they go in procession with much music to the Church of the Friars Minors of Beverley, and there at the altar of St. Elene solemn mass is celebrated and every one of the Gild makes offering of a penny. The Mass ended and all prayers said they go home and after dinner all the Gild meet in a room within the hall of the Gild and there they eat bread and cheese and drink as much ale as is good for them.-Gild of St. Elene, Beverley, 1378.

+ 1623 geven to minstreels and songstares xviija payd for strangers that came in by chance ijs

1648 Disbursed to the waits of Alnwick

this yeare to our oune waits 5o 6d

1652 Pay on our craft day for wine 38

2s

to the musitians on our feast day 28-Merchant Tailors' Books.

AND COURT BARON OF MORPETH.

55

and heard mass;5 they then went to the Town Hall for business, after which they had their feast, the principal dish being a fruit pie of veal, ham, currants, and raisins. In modern times the alderman entertained the brethren with cheese and ale.

It will be observed that the guilds were what is now styled 'co-operative,' it being more for the common interest to buy for all, and then divide in proportion to the requirement of each. Thus it will be seen that the Tanners' company bought oak trees, stripped the bark, and sold the wood.

A remarkable instance of the change in our habits is that for three Wednesdays after the Stones Fairs in Newcastle all the ordinary work of the tan-yard was given up, and the men stood in the street, where

At ye general day yat ilke brother be redy wit othir to go to ye kirke wit is brothere with a garland of hoke leaves.-Byelaws of Wigenhall, Norfolk. 1601 Paid for Strangers of Trinitie Sunday xijs xd

Item 8 quarts of wine of Trinitie Sunday vs iiijd

Item to the county pypers of Trinitie Sunday xvijd

Item six quarts of wine at dinner the Monnday after Trinitie Sunday iiija

Item more to the Tanners 4 quarts of wine ijs

Item more in sugar that daye xiiij.

Item more for straungers that day vs xd

Item more for a pottel of wine xiiij.-Tanners' Company.

1613 The x. April. For twoe oche graines to ye towle bouth for Trinitie Sun. ijd. 1639 Paid for oake graines for the towle bouth 4. Item for oake graines to the church 4d.-Books of Tanners' Company.

1645 Paid for dressinge the chamber at Trinitie Monday 1s.-Ibid.

The merchant tailors, however, used branches of birch.

1632 pd for ye burche

sett up at Towle Bouth 24.-Merchant Tailors' Books.

This dish Mr. Woodman's father had and which Mr. Woodman still has. Also it is ordeyned that upoun the Sonday next after St Kateryne day most commonly to be hadde the said alderman and his Brederne and sisters shall come to their Gilde Halle togedre and take such as shall be there prouyded by the Stuarde off the Gilde for the tyme beynge. Att which dyner a man and his Wyff shall paye iiijd and eny other single persone-both preste man and woman shall paye ijd Any one not present to pay a lb. of wax and his dinner beside-Guild of St. Katherine, Stamford, Henry VII.

1564 21 April. Purchased of Cuthbert Horsley of Horsley esq: 500 oak trees growing at Horsley Birks for £145.

1605 24 April. George Fenwick of Longshaws esq. entered into a bond that Robt. Mitford of Mitford esq and Cuthbert his son and heire apparent should perform an agreement for the sale of the woods and underwoods at Espley for £100.

1607 1 July. Paid to Robert Haslerige of Swarland esq.: £60 for 70 trees on Swarland aforesaid.

1668 1 July. Paid Richard Wilson £59 5s. Od. for barke from Ulgham Parke. 1695 26 May. Bought of Thomas Ledyard of Newcastle upon Tyne a parcel of oak bark at Tritlington Bankes.—All the foregoing from the Tanners' Book.

*Last Wednesday in November.

scales were fixed, to take the mart hides from the farmers, weigh and pay for them, after which the men dined in their master's house. This was kept up to the year 1825. Now, so completely is the killing of marts given up that few housekeepers know what hung beef is. And at that time all farmers came to market in carts, or on horseback with a sack, carrying the hides. Now dog carts are general.

No one could carry on business in the borough unless he were a brother of one of the companies.

The fair presented a union of the municipality and of the lord. All the tenants of the lord from Longhorsley, Stannington, Ulgham, etc., as well as at Morpeth, were required to attend on Ascension Day and St. Magdalen's Day, to accompany the steward who proclaimed the fair in the market place, then at the Fair-moor and at the old lime kiln at the terrace, in the following words :

Whereas it is enacted that every lord of a fair shall make, or cause to be made, open proclamation how long the said fair shall endure now know ye that the [Right Honourable Frederick Howard] Earl of Carlisle, Viscount Howard of Morpeth, Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and Lord of this present fair, doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons, coming and repairing to this present fair, that they keep the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King; that no manner of persons during this present fair shall commit or make any riot, route, or unlawful assembly, or any other misdemeanour within the precincts of this fair; and all manner of persons are required peaceably and quietly to pay their tolls, due or accustomed, and that no person or persons bring to the said fair any infected goods, and all such persons as shall buy sell or exchange any horse, gelding, mare, or filley within the said fair, shall enter them with the clerk of the tolls, with the colours, age, and marks of the said horses, geldings, colts, and filleys, together with the names, surnames, and dwelling places as well of the buyer as the seller thereof. And it is the will and pleasure of the lord of the said fair coming, and repairing to the said fair, shall have free egress and regress, to and from, the same; and if there should happen any difference, or controversy, to arise between party or parties, within the said fair, the party or parties, grieved may repair to the officers of the said fair, when they shall have justice administered unto them according to the court of Pied poudre; and lastly know ye that the said fair shall continue for the space of three days whereof the present day is one. God save the King. The Lord of the Fair.

So soon as this was done the bailiffs with all the corporate officers

Mairt.-An ox slaughtered at Martinmas and salted for winter store. It was not unusual for a few families to join in the purchase of a mairt and to divide it among them.-Brockett.

AND COURT BARON OF MORPETH.

57

proclaimed the fair at the market place, the blue stone at Buller's Green, and the lime kiln at the terrace.10

The bailiffs were judges of the court of Pied poudre, and Mr. Woodman has been frequently present when one of them heard and decided cases. In former times no sale could take place before the market bell11 rang at eleven o'clock; in modern times the market began with sunrise, in winter before it. A curious custom general, if not universal, in the market, was as follows:-A butcher buying an ox took a shilling in his hand, spit12 upon it, and if his offer were accepted, gave it to the seller; this of course was the earnest or 'arles' penny, but the spitting on the coin is not so easily explained. In some cases the seller had to return some coin known as the 'luck penny ;' to this some of the borderers attached great importance.

The duties of the bailiffs were numerous, and, during the long war, onerous, and their house doors never rested. They were justices of the peace, and qualified as such at the Christmas Quarter Sessions, they had to swear in the recruits, to commit deserters, to billet soldiers, to relieve soldiers' widows13 and children having passes, they had to fix the weight of bread according to the price of wheat, they had to condemn the bread under weight seized by the bread weighers and give it to the poor.

The corporation were large occupiers of land, and were tenants of 1,500 acres at Clifton field, which lord William Howard offered to them at 1s. 6d. per acre, although he was informed it was well worth

10 The lord received stallage and pickage, the first for placing stalls, the second for breaking the surface of the ground.

Item that noe barker shall by covenant or make bargain for any skins ye Satturday or one the Wednesday before the bell ringe cheape nor handle any skins and every one offendinge shall for every skin soe by handled or cheaped forfitt and pay the one half to the lord the other half to the comon.—, -Bye Law

Book of 1593.

12 Spitting to avert evil influences was considered an act of religion. It is an Irish luck superstition.

Most tradespeople have a peculiar custom they call handsel, that is to say, the first money they receive in the morning they spit upon and put it in their pocket. The same ja Scotland.-Past and Present, p. 544.

To spit in your nand before grasping the hand of a person with whom you are making a bargain is held to clench the bargain and make it binding on both sides. Napier, Folk-lore, p. 100.

Spitting a defence from magic.-Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, 1633.

Spittle a charm against all kinds of fascination.-Theocritus, Pliny, many examples. Brand, pp. 139, 140, 141.

13 The women were paid 6d., the children 3d.

VOL. XVI.

H

6

2s. 6d. They had their own common' of 401 acres. It has been in their possession from time immemorial, and was what is commonly designated 'moor' until 1762, when it was first ploughed. Adjoining the common on the west is the 'Gubion,' containing about 312 acres. For it the corporation paid a rent of £10; lord Carlisle offered a lease for ninety-nine years at £10 10s. This offer was refused, an action of ejectment was successfully brought against them in 1806,11 and lord Carlisle recovered possession. It was then all heath and whins. They also occupied the moor land of Cottingwood,

14

of some 400 acres. They gave it up in the latter part of last century, after which it was fenced and cultivated. In Cottingwood was the racecourse, in the south-east corner of which, at the hollin port,' the inhabitants of Morpeth encamped at the time of the great plague. The ridges' behind the houses were cultivated as corn lands, as were the North Field lands, 60 acres of which they ridded of wood, but afterwards parted with, only reserving the after-eatage.

The officers of the corporation were two bailiffs, a sergeant-atmace, two flesh- and fish-lookers, two ale-tasters and bread-weighers, and four constables, who were elected and appointed at the court leet, according to ancient usage: the bailiffs and sergeant being elected by the lord from the nominees of the jury who selected and presented all the other officers. The orders and bye-laws of the borough, as revised and agreed upon in 1593, may be found in a book commonly called 'the blue back,' which yet remains in the town's hutch, a copy of which was in the box of each company. Amongst them is

AN ORDER CONFERRING THE ELECTION OF BAYLIFFES AND Sergeant.

Itm it is ordered and concluded and agreed by the said Thomas Lo. Dacre burgesses and comenaltie aforesaid that ye great inquest at ye Court at Michaelmas shall by there discresson name 4 men to ye election of bayliffes and ij men to ye election of sargeant and they soe named to ye election of ye said officers it is concluded that the said S Phillip Dacre Knight brother to ye Lo Dacre or other for the tyme beinge the office that the said Sr Phillip now beareth officient with him or them the aldermen of the seven crafts shall by their discression elect and chuse twoe of the said 4 soe named to the Offices of Bayliffes and these elect to stand for the space of one year and alsoe to elect one of the said ij names to the office of a sargeant and soe by them in like manner to stand for

141806 13 May at a common guild it was resolved that to defend the claim made on the Gubion by the earl of Carlisle the stint money be increased to 10" -Corporation Book, No. 2, p. 97.