It may be presumed that where a scoundrel escaped the contagion
altogether, while others were dying all round him, or where another
recovered after being brought to death's door, in such cases the man
would, as a rule, be a person of exceptional strength and vigorous
constitution. Such fellows, when the evil spirit was upon them, would
be ugly customers to deal with. Gilbert Henry, of Tibenham, was a
somewhat audacious thief when he walked into John Smith's house,
where there was none alive to bar the door, and carried off certain
bushels of malt and barley, with other goods not specified; and, not
content therewith, stripped the dead man of his coat and waistcoat.
The value of these articles of apparel was not assessed very highly--
only sixpence each--and Master Gilbert, after paying the price of the
garments, seems to have gone away with them. It is hardly to be
wondered at that neither steward nor lord greatly coveted that coat
and waistcoat. At the same court, too, William Hessland was amerced
for appropriating the few trumpery chattels of Walter Cokstone, a
_villein_ belonging to the lord. Another wretched pair--a man
and his wife--had deliberately cleared a crop of oats off an acre and
a half of land, and stacked it in their own barn. Their view was that
it belonged to no one; the steward took a different view, and
reminded them that what grew on no man's land was the property of
some one other than the smart man who ventured to lift it.
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