92 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[April 1, 1899. 



wine from a wooden bottle slung at his side, much to the 

 amusement of Lord and Lady Willougbby de Broke, who 

 viewed the proceedings from the steps of the Manor, This 

 done the company returned to the sign of the Swan, to 

 feast at the generous table furnished by the host, and to 

 perpetuate the harvest custom in " potations pottle deep " 

 after the usage of Shakespeare's time. 



There is, perhaps, no more curious custom extant in 

 England than that known as " the Candle-light Auction " 

 for the Warton grazing rights, which occurs in the month 

 of October immediately subsequent to the oommemoiation 

 of the harvest home. 



Between the Warwickshire villages of Polesworth and 

 Atherstone there is a small hamlet called Warton. At 

 the sign of ihe Boot, or the Hatter's Arms of this village 

 (the two inns which the village boasts) this quaint custom, 

 dating from the time of George the Third, is annually 

 celebrated. It relates to the letting of certain grazing 

 rights upon the herbage growing at the roadside and upon 

 the common lands in the parish. The rights are let by 

 auction and the custom is that the whole of the grass has 

 to be sold by candle-light, and the last bidder, when the 

 flame burns out, is declared the purchaser. 



The road surveyor of the day performs the duties of 

 auctioneer, and is present with candle and book. The 

 latter, doubtless, would be highly entertaining to the 

 antiquary, inasmuch as it contains the records of these 

 yearly auctions by candle-light from October 1st, 1815, to 

 the present time, with the prices realized at each sale. At 

 one time, soon after the institution of the custom, the sales 

 used to realize about fifty pounds, but a quarter of that 

 amount is now considered a satisfactory result. 



All being ready, the tallow candle is cut into five lengths, 

 half an inch high, there being five lots of herbage to be 

 sold — each half inch of candle being for one lot. Then 

 the road- surveyor auctioneer proceeds to describe the lots. 



But the eyes of the company are, for the moment, 

 attracted only by the flame of the candle. It is something 

 to watch ; something to make jests upon. The company 

 show not the slightest disposition to bid for the herbage 

 until the candle-light is dying out. Then the competition 

 is remarkably brisk, and at the last flicker of flame each 

 lot is knocked down by the road surveyor amid roars of 

 laughter. 



The custom of the payment of " wroth silver " to the 

 stewards of the Dukes of Buccleuch, Lords of the Manor 

 of Knightlow Hundreds, so far as is known is now practised 

 in no other county of rural England. There was a simOar 

 custom in vogue in the New Forest in Hampshire in 1670, 

 where " rother money" and "cattle money" appears to 

 have been paid by the inhabitants to the owners of different 

 manors for rights of herbage ; but to-day, Shakespeare's 

 greenwood seems to be the only place in England where 

 this relic of early Saxon times is still practised with almost 

 the same curious formalities as those observed at the wroth 

 silver payment of eight centuries ago. 



The custom dates from the days of King Canute (about 

 the year 1018), who appointed a verderer or chief woodsman 

 — represented by the land steward of to-day — over the 

 forest districts, with powers to act as judge, and to see that 

 no encroachments were made, or Royal Forest destroyed ; 

 to seize robbers frequenting the woods, to cause the de- 

 struction of wild animals, to see to the stalling of beasts 

 of venery, and to prevent cattle straying. 



The dwellers in the forests had certain privileges granted 

 to them in regard to the grazing of the vast unenclosed 

 lands, and these, in course of time, they obtained as their 

 rights — often paying acknowledgments to the king, or to 

 the lord of the manor, either in labour or remuneration. 



in money, or in cattle ; and to these rights and charges are 

 due the ceremonies of "wroth silver," " warth moneth," 

 " hoctive moneth," " turf-dale moneth," and other similar 

 customs, none of which now exist in Shakespeare's green- 

 wood but that chief and most ancient of them all — " the 

 payment of the wroth silver." 



On Knightlow Hill (a slight eminence on the old London 

 coach road between Coventry and Dunchurch, within the 

 parish of Ryton-on-Dunsmore) the observance of this 

 Saxon custom is annually carried out " before sunrise on 

 Martinmas Day," the 11th of November. 



The steward of the Duke of Buccleuch, woodlandera 

 attracted by the prospect of rum and milk, representatives 

 of the parishes upon which the toll is levied, and a few 

 other persons (mostly antiquarians) interested in the 

 practice of this curious ceremony of feudal times, assemble 

 round the base of an old roadside cross which stands upon 

 the brow of an ancient British tumulus or barrow, and in 

 which there is a hollow formed for the reception of the 

 wroth silver. Tolls ranging from one penny half-penny 

 to two shillings and three half-pence are "called" from 

 twenty-eight parishes in the Hundred of Knightlow ; and 

 for non-payment of these fees there is a fine of twenty 

 shillings for every penny not forthcoming, or else the 

 forfeiture of a white bull with a red nose, and ears of the 

 same colour. 



The ceremony in its chief points is as follows : — The 

 steward, as the emblem of authority, takes his stand 

 facing the east, and invites those present to form a ring 

 round the broken cross, whereupon he recites " The Charter 

 of Assembly," commencing " Wroth silver collected at 

 Knightlow Cross by the Duke of Buccleuch, as Lord of 

 the Manor of the Hundreds of Knightlow." The parishes 

 liable to pay the fees are then cited to appear, each 

 representative (on the calling of the name by the steward) 

 casting the required sum into the hollow of the cross. 



The ancient mode of payment was that the person 

 paying must walk thrice round the stone and say, " the 

 wroth silver," and then lay the money in the hole before 

 good witness ; for if not duly performed the parishes were 

 in danger of the fine. These formalities have but slightly 

 changed through the eight centuries of their observance, 

 the custom of to-day being that the person does not walk 

 thrice round the stone as in the original practice, but 

 simply throws the money into the hollow of the stone, 

 calling out "wroth silver" as each separate amount 

 falls in, the money being afterwards gathered (in single 

 payments) into the hand of the modern representative of 

 the ancient verderer. Subsequently a breakfast is partaken 

 of at the Shoulder of ;\Iutton Inn at Stretton-on-Dunsmore, 

 where the health of the Duke of Buccleuch, " the Lord 

 of Knightlow Hundreds," is drunk in the time-honoured 

 glasses of rum and milk. 



Once only during the present century has the fine for 

 non-payment of "the wroth silver" been exacted, and then 

 the animal was rejected as not answering to the description 

 prescribed by the charter — namely, " a white bull with a 

 red nose, and ears of the same colour." 



By John H. Oooke, f.l.s., p.g.s. 

 Mr. Robertson, m.a., n.sc, of St. Andrew's University, finds 

 that there are many plants which do not allow of the use of the 

 filter pump for injection-staining or of treatment by the well- 

 known method of Von Hohnel. For such specimens he suggests 

 an alternative method, which he thinks will be found useful, 

 both to private workers and for classes. A piece of india-rubber 

 tubing, eight or more feet in length, is securely wired to the 

 end of a large glass funnel. The apparatus is fixed at a con- 



