BACON, swines flesh salted, and dried in the chimney.—Old historians and law-writers speak of the service of the bacon, a custom in the manor of Whichencore in Staffordshire, and priory of Dunmore in Essex; in the former of which places, by an ancient grant of the lord, a fitch of bacon, with half a quarter of wheat, was to be given to every married couple who could swear, that, having been married a year and a day, they would never within that time have once exchanged their mate for any other person on earth, however richer, fairer, or the like. But they were to bring two of their neighbours to swear with them that they believed they swore the truth. On this the lord of another neighbouring manor, of Rudlow, was to find a horse saddled, and a sack to carry the bounty in, with drums and trumpets, as far as a day's journey out of the manor: all the tenants of the manor being summoned to attend, and pay service to the bacon. The bacon of Dunmore, first erected under Henry III. was on much the same footing; only the tenor of the oath was, that the parties had never once repented, or wished themselves unmarried again.