66 ing ne waking, at noo tyme. And if the feyd B were fole, and I fole, I would take her "to be my wife before all the wymen of the "world, of what condiciones foever they be, good or evylle; as help me God and his feyn66 tes, and this flesh and all fleshes." 66 And his neighbours fhall make oath, that they truft verily he hath faid truly. And if it be found by his neighbours before-named, that he be a freeman, there fhall be delivered to him half a quarter of wheat and a cheese; and if he be a villain, he fhall have half a quarter of rye without cheese. And then shall Knightleye, the lord of Rudlow, be called for, to carry all these things tofore rehearsed; and the faid corn fhall be laid on one horse and the bacon above it: and he to whom the bacon appertaineth fhall afcend upon his horse, and fhall take the cheese before him, if he have a • horse. And if he have none, the lord of • Whichenovre fhall caufe him to have one • horse and faddle, to fuch time as he be paffed his lordship; and fo fhall they depart the manor of Whichenovre with the corn and the bacon, tofore him that hath won it, with trumpets, taborets, and other manner of minstrelfy. And all the free tenants of Whichenovre shall • conduct him to be paffed the lordship of Whichenovre. And then shall they all return except him to whom appertaineth to make the carriage and journey without the county of Stafford, at the cofts of his lord of Whichenovre.' 6 No 608. N° 608. Monday, October 18, 1714. - Perjuria ridet amantum. OVID, Ars Am. i. 633. Forgiving with a smile The perjuries that eafy maids beguile.' • Mr SPECTATOR, A DRYDEN. CCORDING to my promife I herewith tranfmit to you a lift of several perfons, who from time to time demanded the flitch of bacon of Sir Philip de Somerville, and his defcendants; as it is preferved in an ancient manufcript under the title of "The register of "Whichenovre-hall, and of the bacon flitch "there maintained.” In the beginning of this record is recited the law or inftitution in form, as it is already ' printed in your laft Paper: to which are added two by-laws, as a comment upon the general law, the fubftance whereof is, that the wife 'fhall take the fame oath as the hufband, mu'tatis mutandis; and that the judges fhall, as they think meet, interrogate or cross-examine the witneffes. After this proceeds the register • in manner following. 66 Aubry de Falstaff, fon of Sir John Falstaff, "kt. with dame Maude his wife, were the first "that demanded the bacon, he having brited T 2 twain "twain of his father's companions to fwear falfely "in his behoof, whereby he gained the flitch: "but he and his faid wife falling immediately "into a difpute how the faid bacon fhould be "dreffed, it was by order of the judges taken " from him, and hung up again in the hall.” "Alison, the wife of Stephen Freckle, brought "her faid husband along with her, and fet "forth the good conditions and behaviour of "her confort, adding withal that she doubted not but he was ready to atteft the like of her, "his wife; whereupon he, the faid Stephen, fhaking his head, fhe turned fhort upon him, " and gave him a box on the ear. 66 66 66 66 Philip de Waverland, having laid his hand upon the book, when the claufe, were I fole "and fhe fole, was rehearsed, found a fecret "compunction rifing in his mind, and ftole it "off again. "Richard de Lovelefs, who was a courtier, "and a very well-bred man, being obferved to "hefitate at the words after our marriage, was "thereupon required to explain himself. He "replied, by talking very largely of his exact "complaifance while he was a lover; and al 66 leged that he had not in the leaft difobliged "his wife for a year and a day before marriage "which he hoped was the fame thing. 66 Rejected. "Joceline Jolly, efq. making it appear, by "unqueftionable teftimony, that he and his "wife had preferved full and entire affection for "the fpace of the first month, commonly called "the "the honey-moon, he had in confideration "thereof one rafher bestowed upon him." 6 6 After this, fays the record, many years paffed over before any demandant appeared at Whichenovre-hall; infomuch that one would have thought that the whole country were turned Jews, fo little was their affection to the flitch • of bacon. 6 "The next couple enrolled had like to have carried it, if one of the witneffes had not depofed, that dining on a Sunday with the demandant, whose wife had fat below the fquire's lady at church, fhe the faid wife dropped fome expreffions, as if the thought her husband deferved to be knighted; to which he returned a pasfionate pifh!' the judges, taking the premises ⚫ into confideration, declared the aforefaid behaviour to imply an unwarrantable ambition in ⚫ the wife, and anger in the husband. It is recorded as a fufficient difqualification • of a certain wife, that, fpeaking of her huf band, the faid God forgive him. 6 6 It is likewife remarkable, that a couple were rejected upon the depofition of one of their neighbours, that the lady had once told her husband, that it was her duty to obey;" to which he replied, "O my dear! you are "never in the wrong!" 6 66 The violent paffion of one lady for her lapdog; the turning away of the old house-maid by another; a tavern-bill torn by the wife, and a tailor's by the hufband; a quarrel about the kifling-cruft; fpoiling of dinners, and ⚫ coming in late of nights, are fo many T3 feveral articles articles which occafioned the reprobation of 6 fome scores of demandants, whofe names are recorded in the aforefaid regifter. • Without enumerating other particular per'fons, I fhall content myself with obferving that the fentence pronounced against one Gervafe Poacher is, that he might have had bacon "to his eggs, if he had not hitherto fcolded his "wife when they were over-boiled." And the depofition against Dorothy Dolittle runs in these words," that fhe had fo far ufurped the "dominion of the coal fire (the stirring whereof "her husband claimed to himself) that by her good-will fhe never would fuffer the poker 66 "out of her hand." • I find but two couples in this first century that were fuccefsful; the firft was a fea-captain and his wife, who fince the day of their mar6 riage had not feen one another until the day of the claim. The fecond was an honest pair in the neighbourhood; the hufband was a man of plain good fenfe, and a peaceable temper; the woman was dumb.' N° 609. Wednesday, October 20, 1714. Juv. Sat. i. 86. Mr. SPECTATOR, I' HAVE for fome time defired to appear in your Paper, and have therefore chofen a day to fteal into the SPECTATOR, when I *The 20th of Oct. 1714, was the day of the Coronation of king George I. take |