INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN. 33 



" lu a survL'y of tlio possessions of tho til)l)oy of Glaston- 

 bury made in 1539^ nientii.m is made of ti ' (jaiiir ' of s/j'/cr-a 

 jiheasants in tliu woods at Meare, a uiauor ulmt Cilastonluiry 

 belonging to tho Abbey. 



"" The value set upon pheasants and partridges at various 

 periods, as shown by the laws fixing penalties for their 

 destruetion, seems to have lluctaated considerably. 



" By a sta-tute passed in the eleventh year of the reign of 

 Henry VITI. it was foi'biddeu 'to take pheasants or partridges 

 with engines in another's ground without licence in pain of 

 ten ]ioniid, to be divided between the owner of the ground 

 and the pi'usecutor.' By 23 Eh'z. c. 10, ' Xone should 

 kill or take pheasants or partridges by night in pain 

 of '2t).s'. a pheasant, and lU.v. a partridge, or one month's 

 im[)risonnieut, and bound with sureties n(jt to offend 

 again in the like kind.' B3' 1 Jac. I. c. 27, ' Xo 

 person shall kill or take any pheasant, ])n,rtridg'e (&c.), 

 ■or take or destroy the eggs of pheasants, jiartridges (&c.), 

 in pain of 2().v., (jr imprisonment for every fowl or et^g, 

 and to find sureties in £20 not to offend in the like kind.' 

 Under the same statute, no person was permitted 'to buy or 

 sell any pheasant or partridge, upon pain or forfeit of 20.s'. for 

 every pheasant, aud lO-v. for every jmrtridge.' liy 7 Jac. I. 

 c. 11, 'Every person having hawked at or destroyed any 

 pheasant or partridge between tho 1st of July and last of 

 August, forfeited 40.v. for every time so hawking, and 20.s'. for 

 everv pheasant or partridge so destroyed or taken.' Lords 

 of manors and their serva.nts might take ])heasants and 

 partridges in tlieir own grouuds or precincts in the daytime 

 between Michaelmas and Christmas. But every person of a 

 mean condition having kdled or taken any pheasant or 

 ])artridge, forfeited 206-. for each one so killed, and had to 

 find surety in £2(,) not to olfeiid so a.galn." 



Kor an ea.rly notice of the pheasant in Suffolk, namely in 

 1407, Mr. Harting has referred me to the honsehold expenses 

 of Sir John Howard, Knight, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, 



D 



