210 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB . 1917 
and it descended religiously from father to son. The poorer 
folk used only a shell. This cellar was sometimes of terra- 
cotta. It was placed in the middle of the table, to which, if 
itself, it gave a sacred character. ‘ Splendet in mensa ’ says 
• Horace, ‘ paternum salinum.’ Od. 2. 16. 13. In mediaeval 
times it remained a well-known mark of caste. Edward III. 
once lost a fine silver one engraved with apes and birds. 
Pennant relates of Wales that a certain tune called Gosteg-yr- 
Halen, or the Salt-prelude,' was always played when, in the 
story of King Arthur, the salt-cellar was placed before the 
Knights of the Round Table. As containing salt it was re- 
garded as the sacred symbol of sworn friendship. 
The Saxon ‘ Salt-ways ’ of England lasted as such from the 
eighth down to the eighteenth century : at least one ran through 
Gloucestershire^ from Droitwich as far as the Thames at Lech- 
lade. The salt could not be produced in most inland villages, 
and therefore its supply became a very profitable industry ; so 
that the salter ranked high among traders, the numerous 
monasteries becoming his chief customers. There were few root 
crops in those Middle Ages, consequently towards winter the 
herds had to be turned into stored meat, and the value of salt 
was paramount.^ The Salt-hill of Eton gave rise to the now 
abolished festival of ‘Montem.’ [Gent. Magazine, 1799, pt. 2, 
p. 1026). Many streams and towns all over the world (as might 
be surmised) are named from the presence of salt. In the 
Argentine, one of the loveliest provinces in all South America 
is called Salta ; and the Rio Salado flows beneficently through 
it. Salzburg in Austria is on the Salzach river, and is famous 
for its salt-mines. Halle in Saxony is on another river Saale : 
and the name Halle is here probably of the same root as the 
Welsh Halen, or Helli, and Greek *Aac, in Painswick manor 
the Saltbox stood near Shepscombe and Ebworth, on the salt- 
ridge, where once was kept, no doubt, the supply of salt for 
distribution in that great manor with its deer-park and farms ; 
and to provide for the November-saltings of meat. 
The fondness of deer for Salt is illustrated by an in- 
cident within my own experience. At Wissen Park (John 
1 Salperton is on it. 
2 After the Black Death, salt doubled and trebled its price. 
