_Lord of Ruckwood._
"We our roope theder brouhton,
A roope beltan[8],
Als we hoveon for don;
And there waren and wakeden,
And the Ward soe kept,
That the King was harmless,
And the Country scatheless.

_The Bailiffe._
"And a morn, when itt day was,
And the sun arisen was,
Faier honour weren to us toke,
Als us hoveon for to don.

_The Lords, and the Tenants_
Fayre on the staffe we scorden,
Als we hoveon for to don,
Fayre we him senden,
Theder we hoveon for to sende.

_The Bailiffe._
And zif ther is any man
That this wittsiggen can
Iche am here ready for to don
Azens himself, iche one,
Other mid him on,
Other mid twyn feren,
Als we ther weren.
----
"Sir, byleve take this staffe,
This is the Tale of the Wardstaffe."

It will be at once apparent that this is a corrupt transcript of a
semi-Saxon original of much earlier date; and by comparing it with Morant's
very blundering copy, the conjectural corrections I have essayed will be
perceived to be numerous. Many of then will, however, be found not only
warranted, but absolutely necessary, from the accompanying prose account of
the ceremony. The MS. from which it was taken by Morant, was an account of
the Rents of the hundred of Ongar, in the time of John Stonar of Loughton,
who had a grant of it for his life in the 34th year of King Henry VIII. He
seems to have died 12th June, 1566, holding of the Queen, by the twentieth
part of a knight's fee, and the yearly rent of 13l. 16s. 4d., the manor,
park, chase, &c., of Hatfield Broad Oak, with the hundreds of Ongar and
Harlow; and the _Wardstaff_ of the same hundreds, then valued at 101l. 15s.
10d. As the _Wardstaff_ is said by Morant to make a considerable figure in
old records, it is reasonable to hope that a more satisfactory account of
it may still lie amongst unsunned ancient muniments. All the old Teutonic
judicial assemblies were, as Sir F. Palgrave remarks, held in the open air,
beneath the sky and _by the light of the sun_. The following is a part of
the ancient rhyme by which the proceedings of the famous Vehm-Gerichte were
opened, which were first printed by Schottelius, and the whole of which may
be found in Beck's _Geschichte der Westphalischen Fehm-Gerichte_, and in
Sir F. Palgrave's work. The similarity of expression is remarkable.

{59}

"All dewile an duessem Dage,
Mit yuwer allen behage,
Under