lxx PROLEGOMENA 



seventeen slain. The price paid for Mart heads had reached a 

 shilling at Kendal in 1794, our latest record for this parish. 

 The accounts of Martindale, kept during the first fifty years of 

 the present century, inform us that half-a-crown was the price 

 set upon the head of this outlawed animal by the local wise- 

 acres, but it was rarely demanded. In the year 1822-23 we 

 find entered : <2 Foxes and 2 Marts, £1, Os. Od.' In 1823-24 

 there is a similar note : ' Three Marts, 7s. 6d.' We read in 

 1824-25: 'To 9 Foxes and one Mart, £2, 7s. 6d.' In 1837 

 we have another instance of the two species being lumped 

 together: 'To Mr. Thomson a fox head and a Mart, 7s. 6d.' 

 But the best point in these fragmentary accounts must be 

 admitted to be the reappearance of the old term ' Marterne,' 

 employed by John Manwood as early as 1598. This has un- 

 expectedly come to light in the Martindale accounts for the year 

 1825-26: 'Two Martern, 5s. Od.' 

 Foulmart. Eewards of payments for the heads of Foumarts or Polecats 

 were paid by the parish of St. Lawrence, Appleby, but especially 

 by Kendal parish. I can find no returns of Foumarts in the 

 accounts of Bondgate, Appleby, nor in those of Crosthwaite, 

 Keswick. They are absent from the books of Greystoke, Dacre, 

 Barton, Shap, Orton, Hawkshead, Penrith, Martindale, Asby. 

 These ranked formerly among the largest and wildest parishes 

 in Lakeland. No accounts are available for the remote parishes 

 of Alston and Bewcastle, which might have been expected to 

 yield valuable returns. The accounts of St. Lawrence, Appleby, 

 commence in 1765, and, like the Kendal entries, are slightly 

 exasperating by reason of the frequency with which the payments 

 for different animals are lumped together under the titles of 

 ' Vermens/ ' Verment Heads as per bill,' or ' Verment Heads Bill.' 

 The first entry of 1 765 mentions the present species: ' Jos.Bewsher, 

 2 Eaven heads, 1 Folmart, £0, 0s. 8d. Jno. Foster, 1 Folmart, 

 £0, 0s. 4d.' One of the last entries is for 1830, and runs : 'for 

 two foulmart heads, £0, 0s. 8d.' The species paid in the interval 

 between 1765 and 1830 are Eavens, Foxes, Badgers, and Foul- 

 marts. The reward of fourpence never varied. Thus we read 

 in 1811 : '4 fox Heads, £1, 0s. Od. ; 8 foomt do., £0, 2s. 8d.' 

 The largest sum paid for vermin in this parish was £2, 5s. lid., 



