25^ THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 



cover the tip of her tall. — If a dog was of fo favage 

 a difpofition as to bite people who did nothing to 

 offend him, and had done it thrice, and his mafter 

 flill ncQ-lecled to kill him, he was to be tied to his 

 mafter's foot, and not at a greater length than two 

 fpans, and in that fituation to be killed. Three cows 

 were alfo to be paid as a fine to the king. 



The Wclfh princes, and other lords of particular 

 territories, were owners in chief of all the lands, and 

 fovereign lords of all their fubjects and bondfmcn^ 

 To thefe they diilributed the townfhips and hamlets, 

 to be* holden by particular tenures, and fubjecl: to 

 fuch conditions as the owners thought fit to impofe. 

 Thefe tenants were either free natives, or perfeft 

 flaves. The former had the liberty of going whither 

 they pleafed, had the uncontrolled power of buying 

 and felling, with other immunities ; but the others 

 conftituted even part of the property of their lords, 

 who could difpofe of them in whatever manner they 

 pleafed. They had the power of offering them to fale 

 in the fame manner they would their cattle. This 

 inhum^ji cuftom prevailed in Wales for many years 

 after the death of the lad prince of Wales. There 

 is yet extant a deed of fale, dated even fo late as the 

 year 1448, by which feven flaves and their families 

 became transferred from one perfon to another, in 

 the towniliip of Porthaethwy in Anglefea. — All the 

 tenants, both bond and free, were fubjeft to feveral 

 fervices which they were obliged to perform. They 



were 



