FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[6]This was the case until quite recently; but towards the end of 1893, the late Mr. Hutchinson Browne, of Moor Close, Binfield, caused the words, "Here Pope Sung," to be once more cut in the bark of a tree growing on the site as Pope's wood. And underneath them he affixed a brass plate inscribed with the following elegant copy of verses in Latin and English, which I was fortunate in obtaining for him from the pen of the Rev. Charles Stanwell, Vicar of Ipsden, Oxon:—"Angliacis resonare modis qui suasit HomerumHic cecinit laudes, Vindelisora, tuas;Hinc Silvae nomen vates dedit; arboris olimInciso testis cortice truncus evat.Silva diu periit, sed nomen et umbra supersunt.Umbra viri circum, nomen ubique volat.""He to our Lyre who wooed great Homer's strain,Here sang the praise of Windsor's sylvan reign;Hence gained the wood a poet's name; of oldThe attesting trunk, inscribed, the story told.The wood hath perished, but surviving stillHis shade these haunts, his name the world doth fill."—C.W. P.[7]Mrs. Blount and her two daughters were on the point of quitting Mapledurham in consequence of the marriage of her son, Michael Blount, in 1715.

[6]This was the case until quite recently; but towards the end of 1893, the late Mr. Hutchinson Browne, of Moor Close, Binfield, caused the words, "Here Pope Sung," to be once more cut in the bark of a tree growing on the site as Pope's wood. And underneath them he affixed a brass plate inscribed with the following elegant copy of verses in Latin and English, which I was fortunate in obtaining for him from the pen of the Rev. Charles Stanwell, Vicar of Ipsden, Oxon:—"Angliacis resonare modis qui suasit HomerumHic cecinit laudes, Vindelisora, tuas;Hinc Silvae nomen vates dedit; arboris olimInciso testis cortice truncus evat.Silva diu periit, sed nomen et umbra supersunt.Umbra viri circum, nomen ubique volat.""He to our Lyre who wooed great Homer's strain,Here sang the praise of Windsor's sylvan reign;Hence gained the wood a poet's name; of oldThe attesting trunk, inscribed, the story told.The wood hath perished, but surviving stillHis shade these haunts, his name the world doth fill."—C.W. P.

"Angliacis resonare modis qui suasit HomerumHic cecinit laudes, Vindelisora, tuas;Hinc Silvae nomen vates dedit; arboris olimInciso testis cortice truncus evat.Silva diu periit, sed nomen et umbra supersunt.Umbra viri circum, nomen ubique volat.""He to our Lyre who wooed great Homer's strain,Here sang the praise of Windsor's sylvan reign;Hence gained the wood a poet's name; of oldThe attesting trunk, inscribed, the story told.The wood hath perished, but surviving stillHis shade these haunts, his name the world doth fill."—C.W. P.

[7]Mrs. Blount and her two daughters were on the point of quitting Mapledurham in consequence of the marriage of her son, Michael Blount, in 1715.

Berkshire Words and Phrases.

By Rev. M.J. Bacon.

Itis not easy to determine in a subject of this kind what are the strict lines of demarcation which separate words and phrases used within a specific area from those used elsewhere, or again, in many instances, to decide what is dialect, and what mere local pronunciation. Where the area is confined to the limit of a county, the difficulties are increased, as the dwellers near the borders would naturally be influenced by the characteristics of the neighbouring county. Thus Berkshire folk on the Wiltshire side of the county would differ in many respects from those on the Hampshire side; and while the verb tokite, for instance, would be unknown to the one, the adjectivedeedywould be equally strange to the other.

Probably, next to verbs and adjectives, the names given to birds and animals, implements, or any common object, would determine a man's county. Phrases are lessnumerous, but adjectives rank first among local peculiarities.

Many of these convey the same idea, but are applied to different objects, and in different ways. Thus in Berkshirechuff,pruff,fess,peart, andsprack, all imply something sharp, smart, or perky; butpruffis applied solely to vegetable life, such as young and healthy shoots, buds, or growing plants; while a sharp, quick mannered man may be eitherchufforfess. "Speak up,chuff, now," is the adjuration of the parent to the bashful child who has just been addressed by thequality.Fesswill be recognised at once as thefierceof the Eastern counties, implying a certain amount of vigour, indeed, but conveying no idea of savagery or temper.Peartandsprackspeak for themselves.

Next comebristleandbriffut, used both as nouns and verbs, though the former is more often the substantive, expressing a sharp, active fellow, or perhaps a terrier, who wouldbriffut aboutin search of rats. The adjectivedeedy, on the other hand, is careful, wary, cautious, almost the Yankee'cute, and is usually intensified bymain, very. "What sort of a girl is your daughter?" asked the late Baron Huddleston of the motherof a young girl who had just given evidence in an important case in the Reading Assize Court. "She be a main deedy little girl, my Lord," was the reply. "Greedy, did you say?" "No, my Lord, deedy—main deedy." But Reading is not central enough in the county for anyone in court to have replied to his Lordship's puzzled look of enquiry.

Besidesmain,feart, orfeartish, is used to emphasise an expression. "He be amain sight, or afeartish dealbetter," or perhaps "onlytar'blish" a contraction of tolerablish. In like manner, the patient wouldchangefor the better, butalterfor the worse, whilea bit alterywould apply to the weathertokeningfor rain.Smartis used to qualify another word, asa smart few, meaning a good many, or it wouldrain smartish. Other words, sometimes corruptions, are common, asunked, awkward, in the sense of obstinate, troublesome;stomachy, proud, self-willed;quisiting, inquisitive;querky, querulous;wangery, languid;shackelty, shaky;hechatty, onomatopœan, applied to a cough;peaked, pronouncedpikkid, pointed, as the end of a stick;worritingfor worrying, thoughterrifyingis more often used, toterrifyand toworritbeing synomymous.Casualtyis risky, hollies being consideredcasualty thingsto plant, while it is oftencasualty weatherin hay-making time. To bein a ferrickis to be in a fidget, andall of a caddlein a muddle.Heftis weight, andhefty, weighty. To poise anything in the hand to test its weight would be toheftit.Overrightis opposite, a word unknown to the aborigines; but what a "Leicestershire mon" would callover yon, is expressed by his Berkshire compeer asathurt thur, evidently a corruption of athwart there.Overrightwould, of course, be originally rightover, and this tendency to put the cart before the horse is common.Droo wetis always used for wet through. The same peculiarity appears elsewhere, as inbreakstufffor breakfast, and even in monosyllables, ashapsefor hasp,clapsefor clasp, andaksfor ask. This last, however, is by no means confined to Berkshire.

Some of the verbs are original, while others bear signs of being simply mispronunciations. Toquiltis to swallow; toplimto swell, like rice in the boiling; tohuckto dig up, or empty. A manhucks outa gutter or ditch, or simplyhuckshis potatoes. Totuckis probably originally to pluck, and is applied to dressing the sides of anewly made rick with the hand to make it trim and neat. Tokite, orkite up, is to look up sharp or peeringly; while bees are indifferently said tobiteortang. "They do tang I," would seem to preclude any derivation from sting, as it undoubtedly is. Toargueis used in its proper sense, and is very common; but it is always turned into the monosyllablearg.

It is not surprising to find peculiarities in the common objects and customs of everyday life. Thus the eleven o'clocksnackunder the hedge, known elsewhere aselevenses, isnuncheon; and so it comes to pass that a horse deficient in barrel is spoken of disparagingly as having "no nuncheon bag." A bradawl is analpasser, no doubt "nail-passer"; but a gimlet retains its name, and is not called atwinnet, as in some places. Aduckutis a small bill hook for cutting faggots; while afag-hook, orfagging-hook, is a crooked stick used instead of the left hand in clearing a bank of nettles, etc., with an iron "hook." The new mown hay is termededdish, whiletedding outhay is spreading it out in the sun after it has been mown. The hay-loft over the stable, often the sleeping place of thefogger(forager), the man who tends the cattle, is called thetallut;the smallest pig in the litter, elsewhere either the "cad" or "darling," is invariably therunt; a dog's fangs aretushes, and a bird's clawsnippens. In the poultry-yard and pigeon-cote the cock-bird is thetom; and some of the wild birds have their peculiar names assigned them. Thus thewryneck, or cuckoo's mate, is thepe-pebird, from its note; awishwagtail is adasher; a woodpecker ayaffingal; and the golden plover awhistling dovyer. The little white moth that flits about in the twilight at sundown in the summer months is amargiowlet, and the steady, plodding mole, is either awantor amouldiwarp.

Berkshire stands confessedly at the head of all pig-breeding counties, but that is no reason why the usual call of "choog, choog, choogy," at feeding time, should be changed to "teg, teg, teggy." The cattle call ofcoop, coop, is of course a corruption of "come, come"; andcoobid, coobiddy, the poultry call of "come hither." The carter, walking on the near side of his horses, calls them towards him bycoomither, orcoomither-awo-oy, or more frequentlyholt, orholt tóward, with the accent on the first syllable of "toward," and sends them to the off side with the monosyllablewug. It is not often that the Berkshireman stoops to abuse, for he is naturally easy-going, stolid, and impassive; but a driven cow taking a wrong turn would inevitably be denounced as anold faggot, and a troublesome boy be branded as ayoung radical, though without any political signification attached. A simile would not be looked for amongst essentially an unimaginative folk, butas 'pright as a dishis common, and singularly inappropriate.

Of superstition there is comparatively little, and ghosts and witches meet with but little respect, the men believing that a good "vowld-stake" (i.e. fold-stake) is a sufficient weapon in all cases of emergency, and the women being fully as undaunted as the men. There is, however, a curious old Berkshire saying, that "a spayed bitch will catch a witch," and that there is some faith in the truth of the saying is shown by the fact that sheep dogs, if of the feminine gender, used frequently to be so treated.

Every race has its physical peculiarity, and where the negro is tenderest, the Berkshire man is toughest,—in his shins. As a backstop he prefers to stop the fastest balls with his shins, rather than with his hands, and will keep on all day without apparent inconvenience. At "backswording" Berkshire men were always renowned; but it was necessarily the privilege of the few, the ordinary farm labourer having no opportunity for practising it. Some other test of endurance must therefore be accepted; and forty years ago it was the regular custom, when two carters stopped at a way-side public-house, for the men to shake hands first, in token of friendship, and then to indulge in the pastime of eithercutlegsorkickshins, the former consisting of the men standing apart, and lashing each others legs with their long cart whips till one cried "Hold," while inkickshinseach man took firm grip of his opponent by twisting both hands in the overlapping collar of his smock frock, and then kicking with his hob-nailed boots at the other's shins, the vanquished one of course paying for both pots of ale before they started once more on their respective journeys. There was living in the Lambourn valley, less than forty years ago, a man who was considered the champion of the county side, and his shins were knotted and bent and twisted in the most remarkable manner, as the result of his numerous encounters.

Heavy of gait, stolid of mien, and of indomitable courage, the true Berkshire man is astaunch friend, and a very poor enemy, for he harbours no resentment. Imperturbable to the last degree, he is rarely surprised into an exclamation of surprise, excitement, or satisfaction. When he is,Dal-lee, with a strong accent on the last syllable, is his sole resource. "Dal-lee! that's got 'un," says the carpenter with a grunt of satisfaction, as he gives the finishing blow that drives home a big nail at which he has been pounding. Its derivation may not be hard to find, but it makes the Berkshire man no worse than his neighbours after all.

But all these things are relics of a past age now. Shins are tenderer, mouths less wide, or at least the dialect is less broad; and the certificated schoolmaster and the railways have done their deadly work.

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.

Bull-Baiting

Bull-Baiting in Berkshire.

By Rev. Canon Sturges.

Thecharacter of a people is reflected in their amusements. The gradual decline of the popularity of rough and cruel sports is a sure indication that there has been corresponding improvement in the people themselves. The History of Sports will show how slowly and yet how continuously this improvement has gone on under the influence of Christian civilization.

It was not until christian teaching had been leavening society for 400 years that public opinion was educated up to the point of abolishing the gladiatorial contests, and the wholesale massacres of the Roman amphitheatre. For nearly a thousand years more the lists, within which men-at-arms met in mortal combat to shew their skill or settle their quarrels, were the very chiefest places of amusement in our own land. There king and nobles would sit on seats raised above the crowd, and fairest ladies gave the signal to begin, and presented the reward tothe victor when the games were over. The common people crowded round the enclosure, while all watched the armed men tilting at one another on horseback, or dealing mighty blows with sword and buckler, and when a spear's head penetrated a knight's corslet, and he fell from his horse, and his life's blood oozed out on the ground, or when a downward sweep of a great two-handed sword fell on a footman's helmet, cleaving it and the head beneath it in two, as sometimes happened, the men in the crowd did not turn sick, nor the women scream and faint, as would be the case now if such sights were seen, but the men clapped their hands and cheered, and the women waved their handkerchiefs, and put on their sweetest smiles for him who dealt the fatal blow. In time that class of exhibitions passed out of use, and another took its place, and survived to within the memory of living persons. No longer was the stake played for human life, but for the humbler one of the life of a brute. Sometimes, indeed, the highest in the land would mingle with the lowest, for the pleasure of seeing a couple of strong men battering one another's faces into shapeless mass with fists, until one of the twocould no longer stand. But the commoner and more generally approved sport was that which transferred the duty of being done to death for the amusement of mankind, from man himself to the dumb helpless creatures that have been committed to man's care, and set apart for his lawful use. Bull-baiting, bear-baiting, cock-fighting, rat-killing, dog-fighting, and such like, were for several centuries his favourite amusements.[8]Queen Elizabeth was an enthusiastic patroness of baiting. The master of the bears, bulls, and dogs, was one of the officers of the Royal household during her reign, and in several subsequent reigns. She was wont to entertain ambassadors to her court, with bull and bear-baiting after a state dinner. In 1591 an order of the Privy council was issued forbidding plays to be acted on Thursdays, because "bear-baiting and such like pastimes had usually been practised on that day." Thus Shakespeare was silenced every Thursday, lest the bull-ring should be neglected.

It was not until the beginning of the present century that the conscience of the nation beganto revolt against the continuance of this barbarous sport. In 1802 an attempt was made in the House of Commons to pass a bill to suppress it. The question was argued with much warmth, and the bill was lost. In 1835 public opinion had so far advanced that a bill was passed without much difficulty, by which it became illegal henceforth to bait or worry any bear, bull, dog, or other animal. And thus after seven centuries of popularity, bull-baiting ceased to be a public amusement.

We should like now to take our readers, as far as we can by a descriptive narrative, to one of the bull-baitings of Berkshire as they were conducted sixty years ago. There are plenty of places we might select for our visit. Every town in the county and every considerable village had its common or ground where the greensward was reddened at least once a year with the blood of bulls and dogs. Strangely enough the favourite day for the great bait of the year was Good Friday.

The best place we can select for our visit will be Wokingham. It is a comfort to know that there at least the baiting will not be on Good Friday. St. Thomas's Day, Dec. 21st, has beenthe day there set apart for many generations for the sacrifice of bulls by dog-torture. And there the sport enjoys an endowment and so flourishes wonderfully, outdoing in the fame of its bull-baiting all other towns and parishes in the county of Berks. The endowment arose in this way. One, George Staverton, a lover of the sport, having himself, it is said, been gored by a bull, charged his estate with £6 a year to provide a bull for baiting. Whether he meant it as a revenge on the whole bull race for his injuries, or, as the expression of a good-natured wish, that others should enjoy the sport from which he had himself received so much pleasure, we are left to guess. But this we know, that the bequest increased in value, and soon was sufficient to buy two bulls at least every year; and in 1815, which is the year to which we are going to take our readers back to witness the Wokingham bull-baiting, anyone strolling through the streets of the town, any day of the year, would have had abundant evidence that the sport was held in great estimation by the inhabitants. At many a cottage door was to be seen a specimen of the true British bull-dog. Sometimes the animal had a silver collar, betokening past victories won overthe bull. All were sleek, and evidently objects of much care and interest, often of much more than were bestowed on the children of the house.

The 21st of December, 1815, was a cold, damp, dull day. Two hours before noon, a young fellow drove out of Reading with a companion to see the Wokingham bull-baiting. As they drew near the town, the road became crowded with carriages and pedestrians hurrying in the same direction.[9]Arrived at the Market Place, the younger man found a place in a window overlooking the scene, while the elder, a tall fellow, evidently ahabituèof the bull-ring, joined the crowd outside. The spectators filled every window, and in some cases had seated themselves on the roofs of the houses. Carriages, filled with occupants, were drawn up in front of the shops, and all available standing room on the footpaths and roadway was filled by visitors, towns-people, and parishioners. A cry arises "room for the Alderman and Burgesses." The Corporation of Wokingham dates from Saxon times, and the chief-magistratewas still called "the Alderman," the town having refused steadily for eight centuries to adopt the new-fangled Norman title of "Mayor." The remaining members of the Corporation were "burgesses." Here they come, first pushing a way through the crowd, two "ale-tasters" with wands of office surmounted by the acorn, the Corporation crest; then two sergeants of the mace, the mace-bearer, the alderman, burgesses, town clerk, and others. The alderman takes his seat with his friends in the large window of the old "Red Lion Inn," and gives the signal that the sport is to begin. Shouts are heard and a commotion is evident in a corner of the crowd. Here he comes, the first bull, led by a dozen strong men, a rope round his horns and a chain fifteen feet long, into the middle of the market place, where the end of the chain is fastened to a strong staple in a post level with the ground. Away go his keepers. In a moment the bull has cleared a ring for the coming contest. With head down and tail erect, he sweeps round at the full extent of his chain, and is all alone in the centre of a circle thirty feet in diameter.

"A lane! a lane!" and quickly the crowd has given way to form a narrow passage, at the endof which we see a man holding a dog between his knees. It is the first dog to be set on; his owner cries, "Set on!" and the dog loosed tears down the lane, through hoops held at regular intervals, right at the face of the bull, who has heard his yelp, and is waiting for him. The dog goes for the bull's nose; the animal keeps him off by always presenting a horn to his advance. We notice he does notprodat the dog, but tries to sweep the horn along the ground under the dog's belly. The dog, quite conscious of the meaning of these tactics, is never for a moment still, but dancing to and fro, tries to get through the bull's guard. It seems for a while that this game of attack and defence might go on for the whole day. But suddenly the bull has managed to get his horn beneath the dog, and up he goes into the air, some twenty or thirty feet high. "Catch the dog, quick. He'll be done for if he touches ground." And see our friend from Reading holding out a pair of long arms, and down comes the dog, bespattering, as he falls into them, the man's face and clothes with blood and mud. When the day is over, many, who came out in holiday clothes, will return home sorry spectacles from dog-catching,covered with filth, and with torn and disordered clothes.

Another dog is now ready. His fate is more speedily determined than that of his predecessor. The bull, almost immediately, sends him flying into the air, so high that he falls on the roof of the Town Hall, and in coming down is impaled on some spikes.

This is a grand stroke by which the present bull has outdone all former bulls that have been fastened to that chain and stake for many a year. And while the poor dog is writhing and whining piteously, the crowd applauds vociferously. In one of the smaller carriages, two school boys occupy the back seat. These boys are now standing up, wildly clapping their hands and hurrahing, while the dog on the roof still writhes and cries out in its agony. One of those boys will live to be a farmer in Wokingham, and be well known for his love of animals. More than seventy years after the event he will often tell of this, his only visit to the bull-baiting, and express his wonder by what strange contagion he could have caught the spirit of that cruel crowd, and witnessed, with delirious delight, animal torture, which on any otherday of his life would have brought tears to his eyes.[10]

And now a third dog is set on. Whether the bull is tired or demoralized by the applause he has just received we cannot tell; but certain it is that number three almost at once-succeeds in fastening his teeth in the cartilage of the bull's nose. "A pin! a pin!" "The dog has pinned the bull!" and the animal tosses its head up and down in a frenzy of wrath and terror, trying to shake off the dog. But he might as well try to shake off his own horns. A story is told of a man who made a bet, and won it, that he would cut off each of his dogs legs in succession without his letting go, when once he had got his teeth in the bull.

The owner of the present dog with the assistance of other men forces the dog's mouth open with a stick, and so gets him away, but not without tearing the bull's nose and leaving a portion of the cartilage in the dog's mouth. A note is taken of the owner's name that his dog's success may be rewarded in due time at the distribution of prizes.

Three or four more dogs are set on in turn, and the short winter afternoon is already half over. People begin to clamour for the second bull. But they are not destined to part with the first without a little more excitement. Some young men growing bold by familiarity with the scene, take an opportunity of tossing the loose chain over the animal's back. This makes him start forward with great impetuosity, and in doing so he tears the staple out of the post to which the chain is fastened. "The Bull is loose!" Away scampers the crowd in every direction. A woman who had been selling apples and cakes out of a large basket is upset in her flight, and her wares are scattered. Several others fall over her prostrate form, but before further mischief is done, the animal is again secured. A single tree grows in the middle of the market-place. In the boughs a number of small boys, early in the day, had taken up their position, and there witnessed all the fun. Not knowing how else to secure the bull while the staple in the post is undergoing repair, the men pass the chain round this tree. The bull, finding itself thus robbed of a liberty which just now had seemed to offer a prospect of escape from his tormentors, frantic with rage andterror, makes wild rushes forward, jerking and swaying the tree to the great alarm of the urchins in the boughs. The crowd enjoying their fright, cry out to increase it, "the tree is coming down." This is too much for the boys' courage, down they come like apples in a gale of wind, some on the bull's back, some in the slush and mud. The whole crowd except a few anxious parents, is convulsed with laughter. Luckily the boys are got out of the way of the bull, who seems fairly puzzled at this new form of attack, and no one is seriously hurt.[11]

It is now determined to dismiss the bull to the neighbouring slaughter-house. The poor creature is led away, covered with blood, and foam, and sweat, a very picture of distress and exhaustion, and of the madness that comes of fear, rage, and pain.

The second bull is coming out fresh and strong, and good to keep up the sport for another hour or two. But we have seen enough, and may well return to Reading with our young friend who has been looking on from the window. The light is already failing. It is damp and chill, and will bedark before he reaches home. It is well, too, to escape the rough horse-play which grows rougher as the day closes. Already there have been several fights among the dog-owners and others, and before the night is over there will be many more, and not impossibly lives may be lost. Even the lives of women were not always safe after the passions of men had been roused by these scenes of cruelty, sustained by a free flow of the drink, which makes men "full of quarrel and offence." Witness the Parish Registers, where we find the entry, "Martha May, aged 55, (who was hurt by fighters after Bull-baiting) was buried Dec. 31st 1808." Poor Martha May! she must have been badly hurt, and only lived six days, as we reckon, (allowing four days for the interval between her death and burial), after her last bull-baiting on St. Thomas's Day in Wokingham Market Place in 1808.

There remains one other point on which information is needed. The dogs were evidently highly trained. Knowing quite well what was expected of them, eager as grey-hounds with the quarry in view to escape from the master's hand, and to fly through the hoops at the bull's nose. Where and how did they get their training?There are still old inhabitants in Wokingham who can answer this question by word of mouth. For weeks before the baiting, on every moonlight night, it was common practice for a party of men with three or four dogs to visit some field or park, and there driving an ox, which they had before noted as suitable for their purpose, into a corner of the field, set on their dogs in order, according to the received rules of baiting. In the morning the owner would be furious at finding his best ox in a pitiable condition, and useless for the market for months to come. But so general was the interest in bull-baiting that he got no more pity than the farmer's wife, whose ducks are all killed by a fox, gets now from her neighbours.

Looking back on bull-baiting and similar sports, that were contemporaneous with it, and comparing them with the scenes of violence that formed popular entertainments in the generations that went before, and with the sports and games of our own day, the conclusion cannot be escaped that the world's history shews a well-marked line at progress in the gentler virtues, and the growth of sympathy between man and his fellow, and between man and the animals around him,that tends to brand cruelty wherever found as a vice.

It is the duty of every one to do what he can to further this progress to quicken this growth, and to practise and encourage only those amusements which seem suitable for the development of the best side in the character of the people.

THE END

FOOTNOTES:[8]Erasmus, the reformer, speaks of 'many herds' of bears which he saw being trained for baiting when he was in England in the reign of Henry VIII.[9]This description is taken from "The Reminiscences of an Octogenarian," published inThe Reading Observer. He describes a visit made by himself when a youth, to Wokingham, under the guidance of an elder companion, to see the bull-baiting. Other particulars have been derived from information given to the writer of this article by those, most of them now dead, who were spectators of the sports.[10]The particulars of this scene were given to the writer by the farmer who had been one of the boys in the chaise.[11]The description of this scene is taken partly from an old picture, and partly from the narrative of an eye-witness.

[8]Erasmus, the reformer, speaks of 'many herds' of bears which he saw being trained for baiting when he was in England in the reign of Henry VIII.

[9]This description is taken from "The Reminiscences of an Octogenarian," published inThe Reading Observer. He describes a visit made by himself when a youth, to Wokingham, under the guidance of an elder companion, to see the bull-baiting. Other particulars have been derived from information given to the writer of this article by those, most of them now dead, who were spectators of the sports.

[10]The particulars of this scene were given to the writer by the farmer who had been one of the boys in the chaise.

[11]The description of this scene is taken partly from an old picture, and partly from the narrative of an eye-witness.

Index.

Abbot, power of,133-134Alfred the Great,98-114Agriculture languishing,14Albert Memorial Chapel,41Abingdon, chronicles of,63-64;Fair,93;Guild,121Bacon, M.J., Berkshire Words and Phrases,235-243Barber's Guild,124-126,129Berkshire Words and Phrases,235-243Bible, Alfred attempts to translate the,107Binfield,211-234Binfield and Easthampstead, 1700-1716, and the early years of Alexander Pope,211-234British tribes,2Bull-baiting in Berkshire,244-258Burney, Fanny, life at Windsor described by,37Burning at the Stake,14Celtic times,2Chapel Royal,40-41Charles I. a prisoner at Windsor,34;execution and burial,34;snow at his funeral,35Christianity, spread of,8Civil War,14-18Cloth-trade destroyed at Reading,160Cumnor Place and Amy Robsart,63-97Cumnor Church,65-69Danes destroy Churches,7-8;defeated,104Disobedience, fine for,126Ditchfield, P.H. Historic Berkshire,1-20;Guilds of Berkshire,115-136Dragon stories,140Dudley, Lord Robert,74-91Easthampstead,211-234Elfreda's crimes,179Elizabeth, Queen, patroness of baiting animals,246England united under Alfred,7Faringdon, Hugh,153-159Field, J.E., Wallingford Castle,47-62First Battle of Newbury,193-203First monarch interred at Windsor,31Freedom of towns sold,131Gardiner, E.R., Scouring of the White Horse,137-152Garter, institution of,26Gaunt, John of, marriage,186Gilt cup as a New Year's present,159Good Friday, baiting animals on,247Guilds of Berkshire,115-136Handbill, quaint,144Herne's oak,44Heart of St. George brought to Windsor,30Highwayman, story of a,142-143Historic Berkshire,1-20Holy Cross, Guild of,135Hunting,113Ingleby, Miss Evelyn, Windsor Castle,21-46Inns in Berkshire,87Isabella bestowes Wallingford Castle on Mortimer,56Jack of Newbury,13James, flight of,36Jewel, Alfred's103John signs the Magna Charta,11-12Knighthood, flower of,26Lamplough, E., First Battle of Newbury,193-203;Second Battle of Newbury,204-210Last of the Abbots,153-159Law-giver, Alfred the,110-114Library at Windsor,42-43Magna Charta,11-12,23Martin, regicide,163Mercatory guild,128Merry Wives of Windsor,33Murder of Amy Robsart,88Newbury, First Battle,193-203;Second Battle,204-210Nicholas, St., College of,60Norman Conquest,65Norman invaders,9Oaks, ancient,44Origin of Guilds,116Parliament held at Reading,13;at Wallingford,53Parsons, Robert, Author of 'Leicester's Commonwealth,'76-77Penny, C.W., Binfield and Easthampstead,211-234Pepys at Windsor,35Philippa, Queen, death of,26-28Poet and scholar, Alfred,106-110Poetry, Anglo-Saxon,100Pomp and vanity at Windsor,25Pope, Alexander,217-234Physical peculiarity,241Reading Abbey,179-192;Guilds,117,123Reformation, doctrines of,14Reid, H.J.,F.S.A., Cumnor Place and Amy Robsart,63-97Restoration rejoicings,18Restoration of Windsor Castle,39Revolution of 1688,18-19Richard II. at Windsor,28;death,29Robsart, Amy,74-91,78-82Roman times,2-4Rome visited by Alfred,100Royal county,1Royal prisoners, story of,25Saxon times,5Scott, Sir Walter, on Cumnor,73Scouring of the White Horse,137-152Second Battle of Newbury,204-210Settlements of the Saxons,5-6Seymour, Jane, buried at Windsor,32Shaw, the Lifeguardsman,149Ship-money,162Shoemaker's guild,126-127Siege of Reading,160-178Simon de Montfort,12,24Snow at the funeral of Charles I.,35Soldiers taking down a weathercock,67Sports,141-142Standard, Saxon,138-139Staverton, George, strange bequest,248Stephen and the Empress Maud, wars of,10-11Sturges, Canon, Bull-baiting in Berkshire,244-258Sunday shaving,124-126;Sports,127Superstitions,241Tailors ordered to make clothes for soldiers,165Tennyson, quoted,46Thompson, W.H., Alfred the Great,98-114Tiles as fines,125Tobacco, prize for smoking,149Trade, increase of,12Voting £70,000 for a tomb,35Victuallers' Company,127-128Village Feasts,137Wallingford Castle,47-62Wantage, birth place of Alfred,98Warrior-king, Alfred,100-106Wellington on a victory,160White Horse,137-152Windsor Castle,21-46William the Conqueror at Wallingford,48Wokingham, bull-baiting at247-256Wolsey's Tomb-House,22Words and Phrases,235-243

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