“Latter Lammas.”  Lammas day is the first day of August, so called quasi, Lamb-mass, on which day the tenants that hold lands of the Cathedral of York, which is dedicated to St. Peter, ad Vincula, were bound by that tenure to bring a living lamb into the church at high mass.—­Cornell’s Interpreter.  Lammas day was always a great day of account, for in the payment of rents our ancestors distributed the year into four quarters, ending at Candlemas, Whitsuntide, Lammas, and Martinmas, and this was as common as the present divisions of Lady day, Midsummer, Michaelmas, and Christmas.  In regard to Lammas, in addition to its being one of the days of reckoning, it appears from the Confessor’s laws, that it was the specific day whereon the Peter-pence, a tax very rigorously executed, and the punctual payment of which was enforced under a severe penalty, was paid.  In this view then, Lammas stands as a day of account, and Latter Lammas will consequently signify the day of doom, which in effect, as to all payments of money, or worldly transactions in money, is never.  Latter here is used for last, or the comparative for the superlative, just as it is in a like case in our version of the book of Job, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,” meaning of course the last day, or the end of the world.  That the last day, or Latter Lammas, as to all temporal affairs is never, may be illustrated by the following story:—­A man at confession owned his having stolen a sow and pigs; the father confessor exhorted him to make restitution.  The penitent said some were sold, and some were killed, but the priest not satisfied with this excuse, told him they would appear against him at the day of judgment if he did not make restitution to the owner, upon which the man replied, “Well, I’ll return them to him then.”

“Lydford Law.”  In Devonshire and Cornwall this saying is common: 

  “First hang and draw,
   Then hear the cause by Lydford Law.”

Sometimes it is expressed in this manner; “Lydford Law, by which they hang men first, and try them afterwards.”  Lydford was formerly a town of note, but now an inconsiderable village on the borders of Dartmoor, not far from Tavistock.  It is famous for a ruined castle, under which is a dungeon that used to be a prison for the confinement of persons who offended against the Stannary Courts of Tavistock, Ashburton, Chapford, and Plimpton.  These Stannary Courts were erected by a charter of Edward III. for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the tin mines in Devonshire, and of determining causes among the tinners, whether criminal, or actions for debt.  The proceedings were very summary, and the prison horribly offensive.  Near Lydford is a famous waterfall, and a most romantic view down the river Lyd; over which is a curious bridge built with one arch.  The parish is the largest in the kingdom, including the whole Forest of Dartmoor.  William Browne of Tavistock, and the author of Britannia’s Pastorals, gives a humorous description of Lydford in the reign of James I.