Curiosities of Rent.

sanes of the battles of Blenheim (fought on the 2d August, 1704), and Waterloo (i8th June, 1815). On the abolition of ward holdings under George II., all the lands which were formerly held by the crown were converted into blanchholdings, but as there appears to have been a generally understood rule that the obliga tion of performing any specified duties should lapse if not demanded within a given time, the greater majority of these curious old cus toms have disappeared. So late, however, as the coronation of Queen Victoria, an in teresting service was performed by the lord of Worksop Manor, to whose predecessors Henry VIII. had granted that estate in 1 542, on condition that they provided a righthand glove for the king at his coronation, and sup ported his arm on that day so long as he should hold the sceptre. This right was in herited by the Duke of Norfolk, who offici ated in 1838. Another long surviving custom dating from the time of Edward III. was observed about four hundred years later when the owner of Liston, Essex, presented George III. at his coronation with a number of wafers, and on the same occasion the king received a bowl of porridge from the tenant of Addington. It is interesting to note that this estate was granted originally to Lezelin, a cook, by William the Conqueror, and it has been supposed that the manor in question was an appendage of the king's cook, as Sheen was of the royal butler. This ex plains the origin of the duty imposed upon the tenant of making porridge on coronation day. We find interesting traces of the tiabits of the times in the service demanded from Wil liam de Alesbtiry, who held lands in Buck inghamshire, and bound himself in return to find straw for the king's bed, and also for the floor of his room, if ever he should chance to visit Alesbury in winter. Three eels were also to be paid at the same time. Should the royal visit take place in summer, straw

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had again to be provided for the bed, but grass or rushes for the floor, and two green geese instead of the eels. These services were only to be performed twice a year, even should His Majesty pay three visits in that time. For the fortunate family of Wilming ton (who were descended from Robert de Wilmington, a cook to the Earl of Boulogne) in Kent, rent day must have been more hon oured in the breach than in the observance, as they were only asked to find a pot-hook for the king's meat whenever he chanced to visit their manor. Rather a trying lot fell to the lot of Eba, Countess of Warwick, who in return for the lands of Hokinorton, Ox fordshire, had the doubtful honour of carving at the table of Edward I. on his birthday, but she was graciously allowed to keep the knife which the king used, as a souvenir of the occasion. John de Rockes of Winterslow, Wilts, must also have felt a responsible person, as when the sovereign happened to visit Clarendon, it was ordained that de Rockes should come to the palace of the king, and "go into the buttery, and draw out of any vessel he should find in the same buttery at his choice as much wine as should be need ful for making a pitcher of the claret which he should make at the king's charge, and that he should serve the king with a cup, and have the remainder of the wine after the king had drunk, and the vessel." Among the blanch-holdings which existed in Scotland are the following : A red falcon and a tercel for the thanedom of Glamis; two falcon hoods for the barony of Muirhouse Edinburgh; three broad arrows for Lochindorb, described as a good center for hunting; the Dewar lands in Glen Dochart, held in virtue of custody of a relic of St. Eillan; the barony of Penicuik for blowing six blasts on a horn on the " moor of the burgh of Edin burgh " when the king should hunt there, and the barony of Carnwath, whose owner was enjoined to present two pairs of shoes, each containing half an ell of English cloth, to the man who was first in a race from