WHITE cattle: an inquiry into their origin, etc. 413 



descendants of these animals that we now call the wild forest 

 breed U 



Some tenants in former days had to pay a white bull as a fine. 

 At Lodebrook, "Warwick, tenants had to pay " swarf -money," 

 laying it in a hole ; " if it be not paid, he giveth a great forfeiture, 

 thirty shillings and a white bull." - The white bull appears in 

 another form — for instance, at Marlborough, Wilts, every freeman, 

 by ancient custom, gave to the Mayor at his admission a couple 

 of greyhounds, two white capons, and a white bull. On the arms 

 of this town there are a bull, two capons, and three greyhounds. 



At Bitton it is stated in the New History of Gloucestershire 

 (1779), that a peculiar agricultural custom formerly prevailed. 

 Three proprietors owned three meadows; one of them had to 

 place in his meadow " a white bull ; " the second, " a black boar ; " 



^ Mr. Edward Peacock, F.S.A., has favoured me with the following 

 notes on this subject : — 



(( 



WHITE BULL. Mantery of Saint Edmund's Bury. 



" Among the lands with which the sacrist's office was endowed were 

 those of Haberdon, the tenants of which were bound to p^o^'ide a white 

 bull as often as any matron of rank or other female should come, out of 

 devotion, to make what were called the oblations of the white bull at the 

 shrine of St. Edmund. On this occasion the animal, adorned with ribbons 

 and garlands, was brought to the South gate of the monastery, and led 

 along Church-gate, Guildhall, and Abbey-gate streets to the great West 

 gate — the lady all the time keeping close to the animal. Here the pro- 

 cession ended. The bull was returned to its pasture, and the lady made 

 her oflFerings at the shrine, in the hope of becoming a mother.'' — Dugdale, 

 Monasticon Anglicanum. Ed. 184:6, vol. iij., p. 133, col. 1, n. 



A lease setting forth this service, dated 1533, is given on p. 169, vol. ij. ; 

 also mentioned in Notes and Queries, first series, vol. viij,, p. 1. 



I may add that G. R. Eorlong, in his Rivers of Lift (vol. ii., p. 281) 

 writes — "The newly married ladies of Oxford once pressed forward to kiss 

 the altar stone, after they had led up towards it with much caressing a 

 white bull, kindly provided for such necessities as theirs by a countryman." 



- Air. Peacock again favours me with the following notes : — A fine of 

 a white bull is mentioned, but I do not know in what connection, in 

 Delisle, Clause Agricolt, p. 235. 



Certain parishes pay a fine to the Lord of the Manor of Knightton, co. 

 Warwick. " The fine for non-payment was, in the olden time, one pound 

 for every penny not forthcoming, or else the forfeiture of a white bull with 

 a red nose, and ears of the same colour." — G. L, Gomme, Primitive Folk 

 Moots, p. 110. 



