28 



Extracts from the Records of the 



Burden endeavoured to escape prosecution about these carps. On 

 the roll of the Michaelmas Sessions, 1605, is the deposition of one 

 Thomas Sadler, of Donhead, to the effect that : — 



" As this examinatt, the sayd Bugden [out of whose pond the fish were taken] 

 John Lushe and some other of theire neighbo rs were comynge from S r James 

 Mervin's house of Fountell .... a daye before the last assizes, he heard 

 the sayd John Lushe saye unto the sayd Edmonde Bugden that yf Bugden wyll 

 gyve but slight evydence against me att the Assises that then the said Lushe 

 would paye him fower pounds tenn shillings in money at S l James' daye then 

 followinge." 



Then Burden had an interview with Edith Blacker's mother, and: — 



" Dyd very earnestly p'swade her to entreate her daughter to saye that such 

 Fishe as was in the gravie in the house of the sayd Burden .... (when 

 Bugden's carpes were missinge) that they were macharell * and noe other 

 Fishe . . . ." 



Another witness deposes :— 



" That about three yeares since att what tyme he dwelt w th one Edmonde 

 Bugden of Donhed as this examt and one of Bugden's brothers were caryinge of 

 carpes of my Lo d of Warder's to putt into a stewe he dyd see one John Lushe of 

 Donhed take upp some small carpes and putt them into his hatt." 



" Farming under the Tudors " 1 is scarcely touched on in the 

 minutes during Elizabeth's reign, and the glimpses of agriculture 

 in the succeeding reign, to be obtained from the sessions rolls, are 

 few and indirect. 



The following extracts exhibit some o£ the inconveniences of the 

 common-field system of husbandry, as well as some lamentable in- 

 stances of defective constabulary administration. 



Trinity, 1604 :— 



" Imprimis about fower or five yeeres agone one Robert Harte fettered his 

 horse in an eavenyng in Netherhavens feild (the above saied William Cowper 

 looking upon hime) In wch night the sayd horse was stolen and the said William 



* The -words of the old song come irresistibly to mind, which describe the unsuccessful subterfuge 

 of Mr. Lobsky :— 



«' A dozen of sprats ! base man, quoth she, 

 What ! caught in the river the fish of the sea," &c, &c. 



1 Under this title the Quarterly Beview in a recent number discusses the 



English agricultural operations of the sixteenth century. 



