"In feodo Thomæ Grove, forestarii de Bringewod,
6l. 1s. 6d.
— ejusdem Thomæ, fossat'de Prestwode dych,
18d.
— Edm. Sharp, parcarii parci de Wiggemour,
6l. 1s. 6d.
— Thomæ Grove, pocar' omnium boscorum
in Wiggemourslonde - 30s. 4d."
There is another like account rendered in 23 & 24 Hen. VII. These, and no doubt many other accounts and documents respecting the honor of Wigmore and its appartenances, are among the Exchequer records, and we are entitled to infer from them, firstly, that a parcarius and a pocarius are two different offices; secondly, that, whether the duty of the latter was performed on the dikes or in the woods of Boringwood chase, the theory of Mr. Bolton Corney (pace cl. viri dixerim) is very deficient in probability. If the above authorities had not fallen under my notice, I should have confidently adopted the conjecture of the noble Querist, who first drew attention to the word, and, so far from considering the substitution of "poker" for "parker" an improbable blunder of the copyist, I should have pronounced it fortunate for the house of Harley that their founder had not been converted into a porcarius or pig-driver.
E. SMIRKE.