178 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiv. 



Bailiff there occurs a long schedule of 152 articles of merchan- 

 dise and live stock, upon which it was this functionary's duty 

 to collect the king's dues. These were payable by all traders, 

 other than freemen of Sandwich, bringing any of these goods 

 into the town, apparently either by land or from oversea. 



By this list the customs duty on a Swan was the relatively 

 enormous sum of 6s. 8d., twice its value at that time as an 

 article of food and double the duty on the next highest taxed 

 article. Only four other things paid a higher duty than 4d. 

 It is evident therefore that no one, barring freemen, who 

 were exempt from these dues by their Charter, could afford 

 to deal in Swans or import them from abroad unless he were 

 a person of considerable wealth. I am assured by Mr. J. A. 

 Jacobs, the curator of the Sandwich Records, that this entrj^ 

 regarding the Swan is in the handwriting of the original 

 transcriber, so that this duty was imposed not later than 1465. 



The Swan-mark that I now have to draw attention to dates 

 from some time prior to the first year of Richard II. (1377) 

 and possibly much earlier, as indeed others may be, though 

 they have only come down to us in records bearing much 

 later dates. It was inscribed in the earliest volume now 

 remaining of the Corporation Registers of New Romney, 

 between that date and 1352. The history of it is here com- 

 piled from information derived from the fourth, fifth and 

 sixth reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, but 

 the mark itself is reproduced (less the conventional outline 

 of the Swan's bill) from a tracing, kindly taken for me by 

 the Rev. C. E. Raven, from the book itself, which is now 

 preserved in the library of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge. 

 As given in the fourth report above-mentioned, it is so 

 inaccurate as to be barely recognizable. 



Y^) 



THE SWAN-MARK OF SIR RICHARD DE TOTESHAM Ctrca I37O. 



The earlier half of the Register is occupied with Corporation 

 accounts and other matters concerning the government of 

 the town, running in consecutive order from 1352 to 1381 

 in the handwriting of those who held the office of Common 

 Clerk. From internal evidence it appears that the occupant 

 of this post from the commencement up to some time in the 



