Where he came from is not stated, but he
sate himself down by the widow's hearth, claimed it as his own, and
paid a double fee for his successful gallantry. How he managed the
matter remains unexplained, but young brides were plentiful in the
parish just about that time; and at the same court where Alice's
matrimonial alliances were compounded for, no less than fifteen other
young women paid their fees for marrying without license from the
lord. I have only noticed one instance of anything like remission of
_marriage fees_, though I hope it was less uncommon than appears
on the rolls. The lady in this case was a butcher's widow, and it was
too much to expect that she could wait till the next court, wherefore
the steward graciously knocked off seventy-five per cent. of his due;
and, in lieu of two shillings, charged her only sixpence--_ratione
temporis et in misericordia_, as he sententiously observes.
Magnanimous steward!
I have met with no evidence leading to the belief that anywhere in
the country villages there was anything approaching to a panic. Only
a novice would be led astray by what he might read occurred at
Coltishall. Five brothers named Gritlof and two other brothers named
Primrose, being _nativi_, i.e., _villeins born_, and so the
property of the lord, had decamped whither none could tell; the court
solemnly adjudicated upon the case, and decreed that the seven
runaways should be attached _per corpora_, whatever that may
mean.
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