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take special care that all such unthrifty and common women as follow the court be banished."

THE humorous custom which formerly prevailed at Enborne, near Newbury, respecting widows, is no longer observed. It is said to be compounded for by a fine; but this is uncertain, the court rolls being silent on the subject. The custom was this: The widow of every copyhold tenant was permitted to retain the possession of his lands, as long as she continued sole and chaste; (dum sola et casta fuerit:) but if she was guilty of incontinence, the estates were forfeited; nor could they be restored, unless she mounted a black ram, and went into the next court held for the manor, riding backwards, and repeating a quaint formula of words.

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BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

THOUGH the whole of Buckinghamshire, at the time of the Roman invasion, appears to have been in the possession of the CATTIEUCHLANI, there is reason to believe that its western parts had, at no very distant period, been peopled by the ANCALITES, whose name is apparently derived from the term Uchelitwys, or the Inhabitants of High Grounds, thus called from their relative situation to the Taveini, the appellation of the tribe residing in the low grounds, near the rivers Thame and Thames.

This county was included by the Romans in the division named FLAVIA CESARIENSIS. After their departure, it became the theatre of many battles and revolutions, and was at length constituted a part of Mercia, to whose monarchs it remained subject during the continuance of the heptarchy.

The origin of its name has given birth to various conjectures. Camden imagines that it was derived from the Saxon word Bucken, indicative of the beech trees with which it formerly abounded, and which are still plentiful in many parts of the county. Those who have controverted this derivation, affirm, that its etymology may be traced to the term Buccen, Bucks, or Deer; its forests having anciently afforded sustenance to thousands of those animals. Spelman, and Brown Willis, incline to the latter opinion.

Buckinghamshire is bounded on the north by Northamptonshire; on the east, by the counties of Bedford, Hertford, and Middlesex; on the south, is Berkshire, and a point of Surrey; and on the west, Oxfordshire. Its size has been variously estimated; but the most correct computation has been given in the general view of its agriculture; wherein it is said to be 45 miles in length,

eighteen

eighteen in breadth, and 138 in circumference. It contains about 518,400 acres, 8 hundreds, 16 market towns, 185 parishes, about 14,500 houses, and 94,000 inhabitants. Its limits are mostly artificial; the river Coln only bounding a small portion of the east side, and the Thames separating it from Berkshire and Surrey.

The face of the county is much varied. The southern parts are occupied by the Chiltern Hills and their appendages. These eminences are chiefly composed of chalk intermixed with flints;* and though very inferior to the northern district with respect to richness of soil, have been rendered extremely productive by the great attention given to the cultivation and improvement of the land. The prolific Vale of Aylesbury spreads through the middle of the county, and furnishes a rich pasturage to vast quantities of cattle, its amazing fertility being chiefly employed in the support of the dairy and grazing systems. The more northern parts are diversified with gentle sand hills, entering from Bedfordshire.

The effect of circumstances on human habits is forcibly exemplified by the conduct of the farmers who reside in the above divisions of the county. In the vicinity of the Chiltern Hills, where the soil is light, and inimical to production without much labor, the most sedulous care is bestowed on the business of husbandry. Every variety of materials, that will either constitute or increase manure, is carefully collected, and applied with judgment. Improved modes of culture are readily adopted, and the general management of the land is praise-worthy and judicious. In the Vale of Aylesbury, and the more northern division of the county, this picture is reversed. The astonish ing produce of the meadows rendering exertion less necessary,

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*The soil being very shallow, and the grounds elevated, the flints seem to be absolutely necessary to keep the surface moist, and protect the grain from the toopowerful effect of the sun. Some writers have affirmed, that the farmers ineffectually endeavour to cleanse the soil of these stones; but this is a mistake, as the husbandman, in many cases, would rather increase than diminish their number.

the farmer has suffered his indolence to overpower his reason, and, content with the evening mist and the morning dew,* neglects the means of improvement, and turns a deaf ear to arguments whose instructive tendency might operate to array his fields in tenfold verdure.

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The soil of this county is principally composed of rich loam, strong clay, chalk, and loam upon gravel. Its application in the Chiltern district is to the growth of wheat, barley, oats, beans, and saintfoin the northern division, as we have already intimated, is chiefly applied to pasture, and meadow, with a very small proportion of arable. The great quantities of butter annually made on the dairy farms, are mostly purchased by the London dealers, who contract for it half-yearly. The average weight, produced weekly from each cow, is eight pounds (sixteen ounces to a pound) in summer, and six pounds in winter. In some of the dairies a very useful machine, called a mill-churu, has lately been introduced, by which the fatiguing operation of churning is greatly facilitated, the mill being worked by a horse. In other dairies a barrel-churn is used, with two handles, turned by two men, who make from six to six score pounds of butter at one churning. The skim and butter-milk is made use of to fatten swine. In the neighbourhood of Midmenham, Great and Little Hampton, &c. many calves are suckled; and at Aylesbury, and its vicinity, great attention is given to the rearing of ducks, to supply the markets of the metropolis.

For

* "So rich and fertile is the soil about Aylesbury and Buckingham, that we were assured it was considered a disgrace to a farmer to suffer a heap of manure to be seen at the end of his field, to plough in straight lines, to disturb an anthill on his pasture, or to permit more water than falls from the heavens to pass over his meadow." See View of the Agriculture of Bucks. This statement is corroborated by the following passage from the same work. "In the district now under consideration, large tracts possess in such a high degree the advantage of obtaining water, that the farmer can flow his grounds when and where he pleases, brooks and rivulets running through the greater part of these fine meadows, with few or no mills to interrupt or contro! him in the free application of their fructifying streams; yet, excepting in the neighbourhood of one or two of the paper-mills, there is scarcely an acre of land watered throughout the county."

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