By ihe Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S. A. 



159 



At Vernditch are some marterns still remaining. It is a pretty 

 little beast and of a deep chesnut colour, a kind of pole-cat less than 

 a fox, and the furre is much esteemed : not much inferior to sables. 

 It is the richest furre of our nation. 1 Martial says of it f Venator 

 capta marte superbus adest/ " 



Of trees he mentions one that grew naturally. " It had a white 

 leaf: the leaves are but rare: it is no bigger than a cherry-tree : 

 they call it whiting or white wood. The rind will not rot, that is 

 to say, not in a long time, which makes it useful for stakes, which 

 is the only thing that I know it is good for. If you make a fire 

 with it, it strikes. I never saw it anywhere but hereabouts : the 

 leaf of it is almost as big as that of a nut-tree." 3 In another place 

 he calls it f< the whitty or wayfaring tree : some grew on the south 

 down on the farm at Broad Chalk. In Herefordshire they are not 

 uncommon, and they used, when I was a boy to make pinnes for 

 the yoakes of their oxen for them, believing it had vertue to preserve 

 them from being forespohen, as they call it [i.e., bewitched] : and 

 they use to plant one by their dwelling house believing it to preserve 

 them from witches and evil eyes." 3 The tree he speaks of is the 

 " whitten-tree," or wayfarer tree, a punning name given to it by 

 Gerard in his herbal, implying that it is ever on the road. 4 Aubrey 

 mentions another called the " coven-tree," as used by carters to 

 make whips of. This seems to be a variety of spindle. 



1 " Natural History of Wilts," p. 59. Dame Juliana Berners (c. 1460) reckons 

 the martron, or marteron, as one of the five beasts of chace. It appears to have 

 been the martin. In a list of jewels belonging to Queen Katherine Parr is "one 

 martron skynne with clawes of gold, the head garnished with emeralds, diamonds 

 and rubies." 



Their relative value as an article of import is shewn from a " Table of Excise " 

 of the year 1657 :— 



f " Sables : the timber of 40 skins £30 .0.0. 



I Black fox skins do. do. £10 . 0 . 0 . 



- J Martrons do. do. 9.0.0. 



Jurs "l Ermines < do. do. 1 .10 . 0 . 



I Rabbit skins every five score 1 .10 . 0 . 



^ Squirrels the thousand 5.0.0. 

 2 Aubrey, MS. 

 3 Aubrey, " Natural History of Wilts," p. 56. 

 4 Prior's "Popular Plants." 



