THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY > NATURALIST. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, July 19, 1890. 



EARLY NONCONFORMITY IN ALRESFORD. 



(Continued.) 



" Honest Densham " as he was designated by the 

 people of Reading, to which town he also itinerated, 

 says "the minister of the parish has preached a sermon 

 against us," &c. The conduct of the "spiritual pastor" 

 there at the time of my persecution must have been one 

 of the same ilk, or the riot so near his church doors 

 would have been summarily suppressed. Who was 

 their reverend guide at that time ? Why none other 

 than the Earl of Guildford, whose association with the 

 Hospital of St. Cross was not of the most honourable 

 kind, and about whom in connection with his master- 

 ship many hard things were said until he resigned. As 

 was the teacher.so were the taught. "Honest Densham" 

 alleges " Alresford was totally without the Gospel." If 

 the "Gospel" were not there, cock-fighting, bull-bait- 

 ing, pugilism, and such like were galore. After the 

 suppression of the cock-pit at Tichborne Down, birds 

 were pitted against each other in secret places, and 

 on market days the farmers aad others contravened 

 the laws by holding cock-fights in their market rooms. 

 I believe I saw what was the last of such exhibitions 

 by peeping, when a schoolboy, between the closed 

 shutters of the "Bell Market Inn, "on a Thursday after- 

 noon, and seeing two steel-spurred birds fight until one 

 thrust his spur through the other's head, and then 

 mounted its lifeless body and lustily crowed. I allude 

 to the fact that a "better dispensation exists,'' Colonel 

 Guildford who, in all probability, has kept a main of 

 game cocks in his time if he have not his brothers 

 did now preaches on Pound Hill in peace, and the 

 Salvation Army are permitted to hold their meetings 

 if they don't obstruct the highway. I am old enough 

 to remember the ring in the sward on the hill, to 

 which the bulls were fastened. Bull-baiting also 

 took place in the yard at "The Swan," and my 

 maternal grandfather used to relate a story, almost 

 too horrible to believe. A bull was baited in the said 

 yard, and it was pinned by a dog the property of a 

 butcher occupying the premises where the Hasted 

 family have so long carried on their respectable busi- 

 ness. The butcher was so elated at the success of 

 his dog, that he made a bet of 5, that the dog would 

 pin the bull after its (the dog's) forefeet were chopped 

 off! The brutal butcher took his dog to the shop, 

 and there chopped off its feet, and returned to the 

 bull-baiting yard and won the ^,5. " Honest Den- 

 sham" says in 1798 the mob at North Chapel followed 

 him with bells, horns, &c., like madmen. At Steep, 

 two persecuting farmers swore they would throw 

 him to the dogs or into the pond, and they brought 

 their great dogs. At Rogate he was pelted with 

 rotten eggs, of which they threatened him with a 

 bushel. Verily, it there be any responsibility con- 

 nected with the office of a State Church minister how 

 great must be that responsibility. 



J. W. BATCHELOR. 



THE PRIVY COUNCIL IN HAMPSHIRE. 

 The " Acts of the Privy Council," of which the 

 first volume of a new series, containing a transcript 

 of the register of the Council from 1542 101547,1133 

 recently been issued by Her Majesty's Stationery 

 Office, contain (according to a review of the work in 

 The Times of March 20 last) some items of a local 

 bearing. The Council, which at that time was almost 

 exclusively composed of officials and prelates 

 nominated by the king, followed the king whither- 

 soever his fancy or his business led him, and, during 

 the few years included in the present volume, visited 

 Cowdray (Sussex), Farnham, Portsmouth, Titchfield 

 and Woking. The matters with which it concerned 

 itself were most multifarious, ranging from such 

 things as the prohibition of flesh eating in Lent to the 

 greatest affairs of state. It was also active in deciding 

 private disputes. Among other disputes recorded as 

 decided was one between John More and his neighbours 

 in Hampshire as to a bridge over the Loddon. Is this 

 the same John Moer who, according to an extract from 

 the Court Rolls of Basingstoke in Messrs. Baigent and 

 Millard's " History of Basingstoke" (p. 346), was on 

 the 23th June, 1567, fined 2d. tor fishing in the waters 

 of Wildemoor without leave in company with the 

 rector of Newuham (or Nately Scures) and some others ? 



HAWFINCH NESTED OUT AT LISS. 

 The most interesting event in bird history that has 

 recently happened is that the hawfinch has bred so far 

 south. On July 8, a young bird, about six weeks old, 

 was sent to me to be named. It had struck against a 

 verandah at East Hill, Liss, that day, and killed itself, 

 and it was kindly sent to me by the Hon. Mrs. Cardew. 

 The bird was in splendid plumage ; the orange tints 

 under the beak and on the feathers of the mantle were 

 very conspicuous, though when the base of the feathers 

 were examined the dark hue showed the coming black 

 tippet of the adult hawfinch. There was also a good 

 deal of orange tint over the dorsal feathers, just above 

 the tail. The hawfinch rarely nests out in England, and 

 Morris says "The young hawfinch if said to have," &c. , 

 &c. He notes that varieties occur, some being yellowish 

 white, and from the dorsal yellow of this bird it seems 

 likely that this is a sort of semi-albino. The great 

 interest of tkis circumstance is that as the hawfinch 

 breeds now so far south (it is not recorded as breeding 

 hereabouts in White's Selborne, who marks it only 

 as a winter bird) there is good hope of other northern 

 birds, e.g., the Scandinavian woodcock, being able 

 also to accomplish the feat of parentage in the south 

 east of England. The fact that the hawfinch has 

 nested at East Hill, Liss, speaks much for the gentle 

 habits of the human and humane inhabitants of a 

 beautiful site, and birds love beauty. An exquisite 

 water colour picture of this bird has been made by 

 Mr. Hume, South Harting, whose talent in delineating 

 birds and their colour is first-rate. Mr. H. D. Gordon 

 in the West Sussex Gazette, July 17, 1890. 



