Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland ..

TIIF. DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND. ""•
and more likelieyet to be, except so'ne remeJie be found. But what doo I talke of these
things, or Jerire the suppre.^^ion r/ b vigors being a minister ? Certes I may speake of them
right well, as feeling the harme in that 1 am a buier, neucrthelesse I speake generallie in ech
of them.
To conclude therefore, in our markets all things are to be sold necessarie for mans vse,
and there is our prouision made commonlie for all the weeke insuiiig. Therefore as there
are no great townes without one weekelie market at the least, so there are vcrie few of them
that haue not one or two faires or more within the compasse of the yeare assigned vnto them
by the prince. And albeit that some of them are not much better than Lowse faire or the
common kirkem^sses beyond the sea, yet there are diuerse not inferiour to the greatest marts
in Europe, as Sturbridge faire neere to Cambridge, Bristow faire, Bartholomew faire at
London, Lin mart. Cold faire at Newport pond for cattell, and diuerse other, all which or
at leastwise the greatest part of them (to the end I may with the more ease to the reader and
lesse trauell to my selfe fulfill my taske in their recitall) I haue set downe, according to the
names of the moneths wherein they are hplden, at the end of this booke, where you shall
find them at large, as I borowed the same from L Stow, and the reports of others.
OF PARKES AND WARRENS.
CHAP. XIX.
IN euerie shire of England there is great plentie of parkes, whereof some here and there,,
to wit, welnere to the number of two hundred for hir daily prouision of that flesh apperteine
to the prince, the rest to such of the nobilitie and gentlemen as haue their lands and patrimo-
nies lieng in or neere vnto the Fame. I would gladUe haue set downe the iust number of these
inclosures to be found in euerie countie : but sith I cannot so doo, it shall suffice to saie, that
in Kent and Essex onelie are to thi- number of an hundred, and twentie in the bishoprike of
Durham, wherein great plentie of fallow deere is cherished and kept. As for warrens of
conies, I iudge them almost innumerable, and dailie like to increase, by reason that the
blacke skins of those beasts are thought to counteruaile the prices of their naked carcases,
and this is the onelie cause whie the gniie are lesse esteemed. Neere vnto London their
quickest merchandize is of the yong rabbets, wherfore the older conies are brought from
further off, where there is no such speedie vtterance of rabbets and sucklings in their season,
nor so great losse by their skins, sith they are suffered to growe vp to their full greatnesse
with their owners. Our parkes are generallie inclosed with strong pale made of oke, of
which kind of wood there is great store cherished in the woodland countries from time to
time in ech of them, onelie for the maintenance of the said defense, and safe-keeping of the
fallow deere from ranging about the countrie. Howbeit in times past diuerse haue been
fensed in with stone walles (especiallie in the times of the Romans, who first brought fallow
deere into this land, as some coniecture) albeit those inclosures were ouerthrowne againe by the
Saxons Si Danes, as Cauisham, Towner, and Woodstocke, beside other in the west countrie,
and one also at Bolton. Among other things also to be seene in that towne, there is one of
the fairest clockes in Europe. Where no wood is, they are also inclosed with piles of slate ;
and therto it is doubted of manie whether our bucke or doe are to be reckoned in wild or
tame beasts or not. Plinie deemeth them to be wild, Martial is also of the same opinion,
xvhere he saith, " Imbelles dama quid nisi prceda sumus ?" And so in time past the like controuersie
was about be'es, which the lawiers call " Feras," tit. de arquirendo rcrum dominio,
& lib. 2. instit. But Plinie attempting to decide the quarell calleth them " Medias inter
feras & placidas aucs." But whither am I so suddenlie digressed ? In returning therefore
vnto our parks, I find also the circuit of these inclosures in like manner conteine often times
a walke of foure or fiue miles, and sometimes more or lesse. Wherby it is to be scene
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what
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