19 
hen kylled wt. the gun," and in quick succession a crane, then 
another, next a mallard, then a widgeon, foil victims to the new 
foe. From that time, doubtless, the cross-boAV would gradually 
fall into disuse, and the gun, clumsy as it then was, be used inits stead. 
On 24th September, 1549, (?) xx® were sent to “Barnes of 
London to buy guiq)owder av"‘ all.” In Lord North’s Household 
Book is the following entry : — 
Feb. 22, 1577 — A hand gonno and gonne powder . . xxxij*. 
And Sep. 14 ol the same year, “Liiij lbs. of gon powder, 
Lviij* vj^. 
For 14 lb. of matches ...... hj’ ix'*.” 
Guns long remained much too costly articles to bo extensively 
used, and, probably, it is not until comparatively recent times that 
they have aided largely in the work of extermination.* 
Ihc “L’Estrango Household Book” is so interesting a record, 
that T must ask your pardon if I have dwelt longer than 1 intended 
upon it the difficulty is to know when to stop or what to make 
choice of. ' 
Sir Thomas Brown’s paper refers to the latter part of the seven- 
teenth century, a period about 150 years later than the L’Estrango 
Household Book. Macauley draws a most vi\dd picture of the 
state of England at this time, he says Could the England 
of 1 G85, be by some magical process set before our eyes, we should 
not know one landscape in one hundred, or one building in ten 
thousand .... many thousand square miles, which are 
nov^ rich in corn-land and meadow, intersected by green hedge- 
Besides the birds already named the following also occur : — woodcock, 
spnwe [wliimbrel] stint, redshank, knot, teal, peacock, heron, dotterells, sea 
dotterell, blackbird, sea pye, bittern, popeler [shoveller] pigeon, stock -dove, 
brant, snipe, and sjiarrow. I may mention that the porpoise occurs several 
times ; a conger also seems to have been so much esteemed, that part of it 
was given to “my Lord of Norwich.” Fresh salmon often occur, also 
oysters, (which cost the great Duke of Buckingham 2d. per 100,) crabs, 
“ cravose ” or crayfish, and a hare killed by the greyhounds. Rats seem to 
have required a great deal of killing, and “Peter the Rattoner” was 
freijuently rewarded with xx<> for “ laying of ye chains [chambers] for ratts,” 
or 4d. for “laying of ratten bayn” or poison. We should be very glad to 
give him 20d. for one of the “old English” rats he took so much trouble to 
destroy. 
C 2 
