172 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



\_2°i S. VI. 139., Aaa 28. '58. 



in the imagination of our lawyers, it is not easy 

 to tell. A form of manumission, or " Release 

 from Villenan;e," is given in the fourth edition of 

 The Compleat Clerk, Containing the best Forms of 

 all Sorts of Presidents for Conveyances and Assur- 

 ances and other Instruments now in use and practise, 

 Sf-c. London, mdci^xxvii. ; and it is not unlikely 

 that it continued to be reprinted among forms 

 " now in use " till a much later period. As it is 

 probable that few of your readers have ever seen 

 such a document, it is worth printing once 

 again : — 



" To all },o whom these Presents shall come, &c. T.H., 

 Lord of the Mannor of D., sendeth Greeting. Whereas 

 A. B., otherwise called A. B., our Native Son of C. B., 

 otherwise C. B. our Native belonging, or appendant to 

 our Mannor of D. in the County of E., was ijegotten in 

 Villenage, and for such a one, and as such a one was 

 commonlj' called, held, had and reputed openly, publicly, 

 and privately. Know te, that I, the said T. H., for divers 

 good and lawful causes me thereto moving, for me and 

 my heirs for ever manumitted, released, and from the 

 yoak of Servitude and Villenage discharged, and by 

 these my Letters Patents do manumit, free, discharge the 

 said A.B. with all his Sequels begotten or to be begotten, 

 with all his Goods and Chattels, Lands and Tenements 

 by him already bought or hereafter to be bought what- 

 soever. Know YE also, that 1 the said T. H. to have 

 Remised, Released, and for me my Heirs, &c. hath quit- 

 claimed, and by this my present Writing do remit, re- 

 lease, and quitclaim unto the said A. B. and his Heirs, 

 and all his Sequels, all and all manner of Actions real 

 and personal, Suits, Quarrels, Services, Challenges, Tres- 

 passes, Debts and Demands whatsoever, which against 

 the said A. B. or any of the Heirs of his Sequels, or any 

 of them, I have or had, or which I or my Heirs hereafter 

 might have by reason of the Servitude and Villenage 

 aforesaid, or for any other cause whatsoever, from the 

 beginning of the World until the day of the making of 

 these presents ; so that neither I the said T. H. nor my 

 Heirs, nor any other by or for us, or in our names, any 

 action, right, title, claim, interest or demand of Villenage 

 or Servitude by the King's Writ, or by any other means 

 whatsoever against the said A. B. or his Sequels begotten 

 or to be begotten, or against the Goods, Chattels, Lands, 

 and Tenements, purchased or hereafter to be purchased 

 from henceforth may exact, claim, or challenge, at any 

 time hereafter, but that we be wholly and for ever barred 

 by these Presents. And I, the said T. H. and my Heirs, 

 the said A. B., with all bin Sequels begotten or to be be- 

 gotten Free men against all men will warrant for ever by 

 these presents. In Witness, &c." 



Although slavery had died out in England 

 ages before, it yet remained in full vigour in the 

 mining districts of Scotland till about eighty 

 years ago, and was not finally abolished until 

 quite the close of the last century. Until the 

 year 1775 colliers and salters were their masters' 

 property as absolutely as the serfs of the middle 

 ages. Little seems to be recorded of their con- 

 dition ; but as, under the most humane and en- 

 lightened system of management, underground 

 labourers are ever the most degraded of the popu- 

 lation, we may be sure that when to this was 

 added the farther debasement of personal slavery, 

 their lot must have been very dreadful. In that 



year an act was passed (15 Geo. III. cap. 28.) 

 releasing these people from bondage by a gradual 

 process. All persons beginning to work after the 

 passing of the act were to be considered free ; but 

 those who had already worked could only obtain 

 their freedom after a term of years, and then 

 only by an expensive process. The consequence 

 was, that until the passing of the act of 1799 

 (39 Geo. III. cap. 39.), which declared that all 

 colliers " shall be free from their servitude," 

 there were thousands in a state of slavery. 



Edward Peacock. 

 The Manor, Bottesford, Brigg. 



GLASTONBUET AND WELLS CONCOED OF 1327. 



(2°"^ S. vi. 106.) 



I would suggest that the latter paragraphs of 

 this very interesting document should be read as 

 follows : — 



" Furthermore, that the Dean and his successors may 

 have Common of Pasture for all manner of Cattle, also 

 Turbary [turf for fuel] in the moiety [half] which re- 

 mainetb to the Abbot, and have Hogsties [pigstfes] in 

 the same moiety, and take Oilers [alder- wood] and soil 

 to repair them. 



" And the Abbot to have the like Common of [q. and] 

 Hogsties in the Dean's moiety. 



" And that all the Tenants of the Dean and Abbot free 

 and villains, and other their nearest neighbour's tenants, 

 may have Common of Pasture and Turbary in both the 

 moieties of the moor called Yealmore (at this present not 

 enclosed) as they wont to have. 



" And tq build and repair Hogsties, and all their Cattle 

 to chase and rechase to the water for ever." 



The words "build" and "repair" might be ap- 

 plied to pigsties, but not to hogget or hog sheep ; 

 and the phrase, " Common of hogs," or " hoggets," 

 I have never seen : and all the commons that I know 

 of, are either for " sheep," for " cows," for " horses, 

 oxen, cows, and sheep," or for "all manner of 

 cattle." (In later records, " omnimoda animalia.") 



If the phrase in the Concord, " comon o/ hog- 

 sties," be read " common and hogsties," there ap- 

 pears to be no difficulty. 



Dr. Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 

 has : — 



" Aler, the alder tree. 

 Alet. Fire, combustibles." 



These words being, no doubt, pronounced "oiler" 

 and " ollet : " a fuel house being in this neighbour- 

 hood still called an " ollet house." 



If Ina could inform us whether alder trees 

 grow at the place in question, or, better still, if he 

 could refer to the original concord, which is pro- 

 bably in Latin, or possibly Norman, he would in 

 the former case do much to solve the difficulties ; 

 and in the latter explain the matter beyond doubt, 

 as the Latin words of the original concord would 

 not present any of the doubts which arise on the 

 English translation. F. A. Caerington. 



Ogbourne St. George. 



