66 A GRIC UL TURA L WRIJERS. 



places neere London. And it begins to increase in all places of this Realme, where 

 discretion and Industrie sway the minds of the inhabitants. 



He calls the Kentish men 



Most apt and industrious in planting- Orchards with Pippins and Cherries, especially 

 neere the Thames, about Feversham and Sittingbourne. And the order of their 

 planting is such as the form delighteth the eye, the fruit the taste, and the walkes 

 infinite recreate the body. Besides, the grass and herbage, notwithstanding the trees, 

 >ieldeth as much benefit, in manner, as if there were no trees planted at all, especially 

 for hay. 



He again refers to a place called Tan Deane, near Taunton, as the 

 paradise of England, the land being so fruitful bv nature as to make 

 poor men live as well by a matter of twenty potmds per annum as he 

 that hath an hundred pounds in some other parts, and he speaks of 

 wheat giving from four to ten quarters per acre on the lands around 

 Ilchester, Sutton, Somerton, Weston, Melton, and F'alconbridge. 



Regarding the derivation of the word manor, he says there is some 

 difference of opinions : 



It is in Laline called maneyium, yet a word not used among the Romanes or ancient 

 Latines, and therefore to finde the etimon by it cannot be ; for the word is used among 

 our Lawyers, as many other made words are, which have beene terms raised by our 

 Lawes, & are not elsewhere in use, and therefore the nearest way to find the signification 

 of the word is by the quality of the thing; so that some hold it should precede of the 

 Latine verbe manere, which signifieth to abide or remaine in a place, as the Lord and 

 his Tenants did in this, whereof the head house or the Lord's seat was called Berrye, 

 which signifieth in the Saxon tongue a dwelling place, which continueth yet still in 

 Hartfordshire and in divers other places, and is also taken sometimes pro crasto, 

 which was also the seate of the Lord of some mannors. Manner houses were also, and 

 yet are called in some places Hals, as in Essex and northwards ; Courts and Court houses 

 westward, as in Somerset, Devon, etc., as also mannor places ; all of which are places 

 of the Lord's owne abode, and therefore it may not unfitly be said to take the name of 

 abiding or dwelling. Some thinke, and not improperly, that it taketh name of the 

 French word manemirer, which signifieth to till and manure the ground ; and of the 

 two, I take this latter to be the most proper derivation of the word mannor ; for 

 thereof are many chief houses of tillage called prediagrannges or fermes ; which word 

 farme is taken of the Saxon word fearmion, which signifieth to feede or yeelde 

 victuall ; for in ancient time their reservations were as well in victuall as in money, 

 until at length they were turned into money ; and some farme rents doe yet continue 

 in victuall. Furthermore, a mannor may take the name of niaiuer, to governe and 

 guide, because the Lord of the Mannor had the managing and direction of all his 

 Tennants within the limits of his jurisdiction. 



He also states the quantity of land that should be held by the nobility 

 in their different degrees, and he describes the meaning of the word 

 ward, and the tenure of wardships. 



The illustration on page 65 very curiously depicts the methods 

 adopted for measuring land in his day. John Norden was also the 

 author of several religious works. 



