The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-10 00:00:00

SUIT' AND SERVICE.

Another lord had to find a spindle-full of raw
thread to make a false string for the king's crossbow;
another, a currycomb when wanted; another, an es-
quire:with a purple lance and an iron cap ; while brave
old Egremont Castle was once held "by the service of
one knight's fee, that the lord should march at the
king's command in the army against Wales and Scot-
land." Three " fletched" arrows, feathered with
eagle's feathers, made up all the service to be ren-
dered by one lord ; two arrows with peacock's fea-
thers, that of another; a loaf of oat bread, value half
a farthing—value stamped thereon--and three barbed
arrows feathered with peacock's feathers, whenever
our lord the king should hunt in Dartmoor Forest,
the service to be rendered by the Lord of Loston ; one
footman, a bow without a string,and an arrow with-
out feathers, the service to be rendered by another
lord; litter for the king's bed, and hay for the
king's horse, together with the services of an
esquire for 40 days, duly equipped with a
hambergell or coat of mail, redeemed the broad
lands of Brokenhurst ; the like services of pro-
viding hay for the king's horse, straw for the
king's bed, and rushes for the king's chamber,
make good the title to many a noble manor through-
out England. A pair of gloves turned up with hare-
skin, a pair of scarlet hose, a coat or cloak of grey
furred skins, two hogsheads ofred wine, and 200 pears
of the kind called " permeines"—to be paid at the
Feast of St. Michael yearly; a sextary (about a
pint and a half) of clove wine or July flower wine ;
200 pullets, a cask of ale and a firkin of butter; .
24
pasties of fresh herrings on their first coming ;
two white doves and two capons ; a pound of cum-
min seed, two pairs of gloves, and a steel needle ;
a hot simnel sent up every day for the king's din-
ner; a pot-hook for the king's meat; a gallon of
honey; one tablecloth and one towel yearly;
several rents of gloves and capons, and tuns of ale,
and firkins of butter ; a nightcap—value one half-
penny ; a snowball in June and a red rose at Christ-
mas ; two white hares yearly—rather a troublesome
tenure, as white hares were at all times exceedingly
rare in England; taking care of the King's hawks,
or breeding them in independent mews ; are among
the most frequent services to be rendered for
the gift of an estate, " with all that grow on it
as high as heaven, and all that was within it as low as
hell." They show the great scarcity of money and the slack -
ness of commerce in those days, and carry one down to the
very rudiments of society, when all barter was in kind,
and when there were but two estates in the realm—Royalty
and the nobles—who divided the earth and the villeins be-
tween them.—Dickens's "All the Year Round."

A ROMAN SCHOOL—A letter from Rome tells
the following story :—"
A. very shocking affair took place
last Saturday evening in that great institution of the indus-
trial training schools of San Michele, in this city, from the
presidency of which the esteemed Tosti was lately re •
moved, with much harshness and injustice, to make room
for Monsignor Milella, a creature of Antonelli's, and
one of the corrupt ministerial clique. The boys and grown
lads of this school, having resented the dismissal of their
beloved late director, and having been further exasperated
by the reduced diet and increased tediousness of their pre-
scribed routine on a late occation, I think about six weeks
ag,o when Milella came to inspect them, saluted him with
cries of " Viva i/ Cardinale Tosti," and a,f,terwards wont so
far as to cry, " Viva Vittorio Emanuele, that they might
anger him the more. In consequence of this demonstration,
13 of them were expelled, and since then the masters and
scholars have been at war. On Saturday one of the prefetti,
or head masters of a division, who is a Neapolitan priest, a
man of violent temper, beat a boy for some fault with a large
key. The boy resisted, and several of his companions, hay-
ing sticks, it is said, concealed under their clothes, attacked
the master, with another priest who came to his aid. It is
horrible to relate, but this priest and teacher of children then
drew a dragger or knife he carried about with him, and
wounded three of them. The whole school was up in insur-
rection by this time, andfighting against all the masters; but
they, being unable to subdue so many at once, sent for the
Pontifical carbineers. About 50 of that force soon entered
the premises, and having quelled the riot, kept guard over
the establishment all night. The stabbing schoolmaster is
a good deal knocked about by the furious onslaught of the
boys. More than 70 of them have left the school, which
may now perhaps be closed, though formerly, under better
management, it did much good.