0 3 6
                                                            ———-
                                                            1 12 0
  (On the back.)
  Three days pay…………………………………. 0 7 6
  half A pound of pouder………………………….. 0 0 8
  for y^e muster master ………………………….. 0 0 6
  for listing money………………………………. 0 1 0
  for drums and cullers…………………………… 0 3 0
                                                            ———-
                                                            2 4 8
                                       Thos Rock Con^{ble} 0 12 8

  (IN) A TRUE ACCOUNT OF Y^e CONS^{BL} OF ALDINGTON CHARGES FOR Y^e
  YEARE 1716/5 NOV. Y^e 7 & 8 1715 Y^e CHARGES FOR ATENDING AS
  CONS^{BL}

s. d.

bringing in y^e Train souldiers………………….. 3 0 spent when y^e soulders whent to Worcester………… 1 6

One can picture the scene in the little hamlet as Thomas Rock collected his forces at the gossip corner; the little crowd of admiring villagers and the martial bearing of the one recruit, as with "cullers" flying and drums beating he marched away, followed by the village children to the end of the lane.

William Tindal, in his History of Evesham, 1794, records the fact that in 1790 Aldington belonged to Lord Foley, but history is silent as to local events from that date until modern times, when, in the first half of the next century, the Manor became the property of an ancestor of the present owner. There is a tradition that the Manor House was a small but beautiful old building, with a high-pitched stone-slate roof and three gables in line at the front; but these disappeared, the pitch of the roof was reduced, and about 1850 the modern part of the house was added at the southern extremity of the old structure.

As the neighbouring parish of Wickhamford is referred to in connection with Badsey and Aldington several times in these pages, it may not be out of place to give the following inscription on the tombstone of a member of the Washington family. It is particularly of interest at the present time, more especially to Americans, and it has not, as far as I am aware, previously appeared in any other book.

INSCRIPTION

ON THE TOMBSTONE LYING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ALTAR, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF WICKHAMFORD, NEAR EVESHAM, IN THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ENGLAND. M.S.

PENELOPES

     Filiæ perillustris & militari virtute clarissimi
              Henrici Washington, collonelli,
     Gulielmo Washington ex agro Northampton
                     Milite prognati;
        ob res bellicosas tam Angl: quam Hiberniâ
               fortiter, & feliciter gestas,
        Illustrissimis Principib: & Regum optimis
            Carolo primo et secundo charissimi:
       Qui duxit uxorem Elizabetham ex antiquâ, et
           Generosâ prosapiâ Packingtoniensium
                       De Westwood;
         Familiâ intemeratae fidei in principes,
                   et amoris in patriam.
     Ex praeclaris hisce natalibus Penelope oriunda,
            Divini Numinis summâ cum religione
                     Cultrix assidua;
          Genetricis (parentum solæ superstitis)
                     Ingens Solatium;
       Aegrotantib. et egentib. mirâ promptitudine
                  Liberalis et benefica;
         Humilis & casta, et soli Christo nupta;
         Ex hac vitâ caducâ ad sponsum migravit
                  Febr. 27 An. Dom. 1697.

[Translation]

INSCRIPTION

ON THE TOMBSTONE LYING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ALTAR, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF WICKHAMFORD, NEAR EVESHAM, IN THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ENGLAND. M.S.

Sacred to the memory of

PENELOPE,

          daughter of that renowned and distinguished
           soldier, Colonel Henry Washington. He was
             descended from Sir William Washington,
           Knight, of the county of Northampton, who
         was highly esteemed by those most illustrious
          Princes and best of Kings, Charles the First
        and Second, for his valiant and successful warlike
              deeds both in England and in Ireland:
            he married ELIZABETH, of the ancient and
          noble stock of the Packingtons of Westwood,
         a family of untarnished fidelity to its Prince
            and love to its country. Sprung from such
          illustrious ancestry, PENELOPE was a diligent
           and pious worshipper of her Heavenly Father.
            She was the consolation of her mother, her
            only surviving parent; a prompt and liberal
           benefactress of the sick and poor; humble and
            pure in spirit, and wedded to Christ alone.

                From this fleeting life she migrated
                          to her Spouse,
                 February 27, Anno Domini. 1697.

CHAPTER II.

THE FARM BAILIFF.

"If a job has to be done you may as well do it first as last."
                                                    —WILLIAM BELL.

The labourers born and bred in the Vale of Evesham are mostly tall and powerful men, and mine were no exception; where the land is good the men compare favourably in size and strength with those in less favoured localities, and the same applies to the horses, cattle, and sheep; but the Vale, with its moist climate, does not produce such ruddy complexions as the clear air of the Hills, and even the apples tell the same story in their less brilliant colouring, except after an unusually sunny summer. In the days of the Whitsuntide gatherings for games of various kinds, sports, and contests of strength, the Vale men excelled, and certain parishes, famous for the growth of the best wheat, are still remembered as conspicuously successful.

My men, though grown up before education became compulsory,