owners with increase. Some of the fabulous narrations blended with the history of these swineherds have been attributed by antiquarians to a period antecedent to Christianity.
In the laws of Howel Dha, there is a chapter on the value of animals, in which it is stated "that the price of a little pig from the time it is born until it grows to burrow, is one penny; when it ceases sucking, which is at the end of three months, it is worth twopence; from that time it goes to the wood with the swine, and it is considered as a swine, and its value is fourpence; from the Feast of St. John unto the 1st day of January, its value is fifteenpence; from the 1st of January unto the Feast of St. John, its value is twenty-four pence; and from that time forward its value shall be thirty pence, the same as its mother."
"The qualities of a sow are, that she breeds pigs and do not devour her young ones. The seller must also warrant her sound against the quinsy for three days and nights after she is sold. If she should not possess these qualities, one third of her price must be returned. The value of a boar is equal to the value of three sows."
The British forests, which formerly occupied the greater part of England, were peopled by the swinish multitude. Hertfordshire was nearly covered with wood and forest land; Buckinghamshire boasted its magnificent Bern Wood; Hampshire, its extensive New Forest; nor were the other counties destitute of these sylvan retreats, which have latterly vanished before the axe of the woodman and the industry of the husbandman.
In 1646 Norwood in Surrey is described as containing 830 acres from which the inhabitants of Croydon "have herbage for all kinds of cattle, and mastage for swine without stint."
The right of the forest borderers to fatten their swine in the various forests, formerly royal property, is very ancient, being evidently anterior to the Conquest. At first a small tax or fee was paid by those holding this right; but whether this went to the crown, or consisted in a certain gratuity to the forest ranger or the swineherd, is nowhere specified in the records. This privilege, like all others, was greatly abused; for many of the keepers availed themselves of it, and kept large herds of swine which they suffered to run the forests during the whole of the year, doing exceeding damage to the timber as well as to the land.
The actual period for which it was lawful to turn swine into the royal woods and forests for masting, was from fifteen days before Michaelmas to forty days afterwards, and this was termed the pawnage month.
Nor was the practice of feeding swine in herds, peculiar to this country. In Calabria they are grazed in herds, and the keeper uses a kind of bagpipe, the tones of which, when the period arrives for their being driven home, quickly collects the scattered groups from every part. In Tuscany it is the same.
