Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/396

 356 Correspondence.

Bury St. Edmunds brought the most noble from Europe there) walked handling the white bull to the shrine.

Was Bury St. Edmunds the only place in Britain where white bulls were employed in rites and practices for procuring children ? I do not think it can be a solitary exception, and I shall be glad of references to other shrines or churches in Britain where white bulls were utilised in a similar manner. Are there no super- stitions relating to cattle in Britain in connection with the Church or otherwise which make colour, i.e. white, an essential feature ? I surmise that at regular intervals cattle were blessed, that occa- sions arose when sacrifices were permitted, and that there were various festivals in which they played a part. I shall indeed be much obliged for references to any case or cases similar to that at Bury St. Edmunds, or to cases of superstition relating to cattle which depend on the white colour of the animal whether as an essential or a minor point.

White cattle also appear to be desirable animals and considered as of some value for the payment of the dues of freemanship and of fines. I know of one borough in England where the freeman before he obtained the freedom had to pay as part of his dues a white bull, and the borough bears on its arms a white bull. Again, certain tenures which demand the payment of dues to the superior at a fixed spot in a defined manner also demand, as the fine for the non-fulfilment of the obligation, the presentation of a white bull. I am aware of a case also of common pasturage where there is an obligation to turn in a white bull at a stated period. My notes on these three points — freeman's dues, fines, and common pasturage — are at present not in my hands, so that I am unable to specify the exact localities, but again I surmise they are not isolated instances. Might I again ask to be favoured with instances of white cattle borne on the arms of cities or boroughs in Britain, or where the candidate for freemanship is called on to include them in his dues, or cases of land tenure where they are demanded either as part of the contract or for non-fulfilment of it, or where the rights in a common pasturage require the common bull to be white ? In connection with this, I am led to ask what was the colour of the parish-bull which the lord of the manor or the representative of the Church of old had to keep in the parish for the common good ? Lastly, I may note that if we turn to heraldry we find crests and arms that show