2i8 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



was the boundary of the common land in one direction, 

 while a spot " where once a cross stood " marked it 

 in another. The cross had disappeared in the days 

 of Queen Elizabeth, but the ancient oak was a well- 

 known landmark, and was doubtless some giant of the 

 forest. 



The parish registers date from the year 1608, but 

 throughout the whole of the seventeenth century they 

 are very fragmentary, though here and there items 

 of interest may be picked up. The early marriage 

 formula is usually the quaint phrase " were marry'd 

 together " ; while in the case of baptisms the hour of 

 birth is always carefully inserted. But the most 

 noticeable point in these early registers — of the time 

 of James L — is the strange custom of burying persons 

 on the same day as that on which they died. Over 

 and over again the entry occurs — " burryed ye same 

 day," or " day following." The exact hour of death 

 is always stated, and according as it occurred before 

 or after midnight, so did the burial take place the day 

 following or the same day. If, for instance, a death 

 occurred in the evening the corpse would of necessity 

 be buried on the following day, but otherwise the 

 entry is invariably, " burryed ye same day." There 

 is no mention of any plague or sickness, such as we 

 sometimes find, *' dy'd of the small pox " or " feaver " : 

 it was evidently the usual custom. The question 

 suggests itself, what about the use of coffins in those 

 days of hasty burial ? The answer probably is that 

 no coffins were used, but that the corpse was buried 

 simply in a winding-sheet. In the rubrics of our 

 Burial Service a total silence will be observed as 

 regards coffins ; they speak of the " corpse " and the 

 " body," but never of the coffin ; and when the rubrics 



