Note 133 — Chapter IX · ARCHÆOLOGY—continued.

It may occur to some to wonder for what purpose the Lord Clinton could need so many as “1,000 kiddes”; and as a probable answer we may say that, in those days, coal was not in universal use, as it is now. Peat-sods, called in Lincolnshire “bages,” and wood, were the ordinary fuel. Hence we find frequent mention of the right of “Turbary,” i.e., of cutting turf on certain lands, as a valuable privilege. At such an extensive establishment as Tattershall Castle, then at least three times its present size, there would be no small number of persons needing fire-warmth. The old writer, William of Worcester, (“Itinerarium,” p. 162), tells us that the Lord Treasurer Cromwell’s household consisted ordinarily of 100 persons, and that, when he rode to London, his retinue was commonly 120 horsemen (Weir’s “Hist.” vol. i. p. 304, ed. 1828). The beautiful mantelpieces still remaining in the castle, embellished with his arms, and the proud motto, “Ne j’ droit?”—“Have I not right?” are famed throughout the kingdom; and on the spacious hearths beneath them the smouldering peat and blazing faggot would yield welcome warmth to guests and retainers reclining before them, wearied with the varied labours of the day: days, indeed, we may well believe, by no means monotonous, when it is remembered that, besides the sport of hunting and hawking, the Lord Clinton’s followers were not uncommonly engaged in predatory strife (of which I shall presently give instances) with neighbours hardly less powerful than himself. By way of adding note to note, I may here say that, among the poor, cheaper kinds of fuel were in use than the peat and faggot. Cow-dung was dried in brick-shaped blocks, which were called “dythes”; or sheep-dung into “brocks,” and stacked like peat for burning. I have spoken with old people, in the marsh, who remember both these being in common use.