The same.-Keeper of the park of Guldeford and the manor of Keninton, Surrey. The same. That he have the whole Exchange of England. The same. That he have all the land which belonged to Gilbert of Aquilia. Theford to the Hospital of Lepers of St. John the Baptist. A fair there,Norfolk. -Castle of Odiham, Hubert de Burg-Keeper of the Tower of London, London,- Southampton, 4. Peter de Rivall.—That he be acquitted of all accounts to be rendered. The following entries occur in the Roll of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Richard II. : 5. Edward, eldest son of the Duke of York, made Earl of Rutland. 14. 17. Westminster, the King gave to the shrine of Saint Edward there a ring bearing a stone called "ruby," appointing that the King of England for ever should use it at the time of Coronation. 23. 25. John Holland, brother to the King, made Earl of Huntingdon. The Inquisitions ad quod Damnum were taken before the Escheators whenever a petition was presented for liberty to alien lands to an ecclesiastical body, to establish a market or a fair, or to do any other act, the right to do which could only be obtained by grant from the Crown. The point to be ascertained by the inquiry was, how far the favour petitioned for would operate to the disadvantage of the Crown. The Tower series of these documents extends from the 1st of Edward II. to the 38th Henry VI. The Calendar contains a reference to the number of the inquisition, the year in which it was taken, the persons mentioned in it as being seised of lands, &c. a short description of the premises, with the names of the parishes and counties, and occasionally a notice of the subject matter of the inquiry. The following are speci mens: 9 Edward III. 16. John Turk of London, Pessoner,' has given to the Prior of the new Hospital of St. Mary Without Bishopgate, London, one messuage, with the appurtenances in the parish of All Saints' Garschirche,' in London, in exchange, &c.-London. 24. John of Oxford, of London, Vyneter,' has given to the Prior of the Holy Trinity in London, two tofts and certain lands in Kentishtoun, in part satisfaction of other lands, &c.-Middlesex. It is so unusual a thing to find any thing to praise in the Calendars of the Commissioners, that it is peculiarly gratifying to meet with so good a volume as this. If the calendar of the Charter Rolls had been examined with the original, some errors would have been avoided, but, with one or two exceptions, as far as we have found, they are not important. The Calendar of the Inquisitions is at once accurate and satisfactory. It was made from the originals by the late Mr. Lemon. III. Calendar to the Inquisitions post mortem. 4 vols. The Inquisitions post mortem were inquiries instituted before the escheators to ascertain of what lands, or other estates, a tenant in capite died seised, and who was his heir. Antiquaries bear unanimous testimony to the high importance of these documents, which afford conclusive evidence for the establishment of pedigrees, and the proof of the transmission of estates. The series in existence commences with the early part of the reign of Henry III. and continues to the abolition of the Court of Wards in the reign of Charles I. The printed Calendar refers only to those in the Tower, from the commencement of the series to the end of Richard III.; the subsequent inquisitions are in the Rolls Chapel. The Calendar contains the number and year of the inquisition, the name of the deceased tenant, a reference to the lands, with the names of the place and the county in which they are situate. Few of the publications of the Commissioners have been more severely handled than this Calendar, and it has not been without reason. It is a mere truism to say, GENT. MAG. VOL. I. 3 S that before a Calendar is set about, it should be ascertained that the documents to be calendared are complete, or as complete as care can make them. If this fact be not established by preliminary search, great risk must of course be run lest accident, or inquiry, should from time to time bring to light documents which ought to have been inserted in the Calendar. All this is so self-evident, that one would imagine no person could need to be informed of it, or would ever dream of commencing a Calendar without previous search and arrangement. Incredible as it may appear, no such previous search and arrangement were resorted to by the compilers of the present Calendar. Three volumes were published, and twenty years elapsed before the necessity of any thing of the sort occurred to these worthy gentlemen! At lengththe fourth volume being in the press-" it was deemed necessary," say these excellent calendar-makers, that the miscellaneous records should be looked over, in order that any deficient documents of the same nature should be collected and added to the general series. Such laudable care could not fail of its reward, and the gratifying result was communicated to the public, in the preface to the fourth volume, with an air of self-congratulation well suited to such a very peculiar evidence of forethought. "The result was," say these admirable editors, "the recovery of a large portion of the Inquisitions which are noted in the preceding volumes as lost, and the discovery of upwards of three thousand other important documents of the same kind!" The labours of such attentive persons of course deserved to be ushered into the world with becoming dignity; the volumes are accordingly of the most expensive form, and are set off by some wonderful indexes. Each volume has Indexes Nominum and Locorum, which bear no mean proportion to the size of the Calendar itself. Thus, in the first volume, the calendar, which, let it be remembered, is but an index itself, occupies 334 pages, and the indexes to this volume of Calendar, 200 pages. In the second volume the calendar runs through 362 pages, and the indexes keep up their proportion by filling 218 pages. In the third volume the quantity of calendar is reduced to 340 pages, but ample amends are made for the deficiency by an increased allowance of 271 pages of indexes. These must indeed have been the "Saturnia regna” of index makers. If the old Commissioners had remained but a few years longer, we should have had a general Index to all these indexes, in certainly two, probably three volumes; and as a “crowning mercy," we might have seen some one favoured volume, in which the index outnumbered the work indexed. But, alas! "how soon bright things do fade!" The recovery of the Inquisitions "reported lost," and the discovery of "the three thousand," left less room for indexes in the fourth volume, and 482, and 264, are the diminished proportions of the calendar and index. The fifth volume would probably have set every thing to rights, but whilst it was in preparation, the iron age of the present Commissioners suddenly succeeded, and “the glories of index-making departed." Volume V. was stopped at the press; the printed fragment was appended to volume IV., and-to the horror of all indexmakers-without an index! Genealogists, to whom the Inquisitions post mortem are peculiarly valuable, have loudly complained that the names and ages of the heirs to the deceased tenants in capite were not inserted in this Calendar, and for a long time past there have been rumours of a separate publication to supply the omission. One is at a loss to attribute the neglect to insert a notice of a portion of the record so clearly useful, to any other reason than the desire of the record-officers to reserve some information which might possibly lead to a "search and examination." It is also objected that many Inquisitions are inserted which are not Inquisitions post mortem, but upon escheats, and other occasions. IV. Calendar of the Inquisitions post mortem for the Duchy of Lancaster, and Pleadings in Causes in the Duchy Court. 2 vols. These volumes contain a Calendar of the Inquisitions post mortem taken within the Duchy of Lancaster, similar to the general Calendar of such Inquisitions just mentioned. Some of the lands referred to in these inquisitions are situate beyond the Duchy, but the great majority lie within it. The interest of the Calendar is therefore chiefly confined to that portion of the kingdom. The number of the Inquisitions calendared amounts to 3569, but many of them are stated not to be inquisitions post mortem. The Calendar of Inquisitions occupies but a portion of the first volume; the remainder contains a Calendar of pleadings in causes in the Duchy Court, from the 1st Henry VII. to the end of the reign of Philip and Mary. This Calendar contains a reference to the number of the record, the names of the parties, a notice of the matter in dispute, and of the situation and description of the premises. The second volume is one which it would be to the credit of the Commissioners never even to allude to. The first volume had scarcely passed the press, when accident, or the extraordinary inquisitiveness of some person in the office, brought to light various documents which should have been calendared in the first volume. The inquiry was pursued, and, in due time, a mass of documents was discovered, between the reigns of Henry VII. and Mary, the mere calendar of which fills 207 folio pages. The second volume contains a supplementary catalogue of these discoveries, and also a calendar for the reign of Elizabeth. It would be a mere waste of time and temper to comment upon such absurd misconduct. Every one of these documents would have been found, if a proper search had been instituted before the Calendar was transcribed for the press. As the volumes stand, they display the scandalous condition of one of the Record Offices 23 years after the institution of the Record Commission; they show the incapacity, or the inattention of the Commissioners; and evince a want of care in their advisers, and paid servants, so great, that it is difficult to distinguish it from dishonesty. Three hundred pages of a third volume had been printed when the new Commissioners were appointed, but its progress was very properly stopped. The printed sheets, however, as far as they go, ought to be bound up like those of the part of the volume of the Foedera, and a copy should be sent to the Museum, and the other public libraries. As they have been printed, they ought to be accessible to the public. They might be useful, by chance. V. Calendar of the Proceedings in Chancery. 3 vols. The origin of the Court of Chancery, or, perhaps more correctly, the origin of the equitable jurisdiction of the Chancellor, is a point upon which our legal antiquaries have not yet been able to arrive at certainty. One great occasion of this uncertainty has probably been that the early records of proceedings before the Chancellor have until very lately remained unsorted, tied up carelessly in bundles, and thrown in one large confused heap, "under the arch at the N.E. corner of the white tower." When the return was made to the Committee of the Commons, in 1800, this "great heap under the arch" was unnoticed, but "several lockers" were mentioned, and stated to contain "loose parchments of a very miscellaneous nature." The Chancery proceedings were described in this return, as if in most admirable condition, with 45 volumes of Repertories, and three volumes of Indexes, "so that any cause might speedily be found." The records were stated to be of the reigns of Henry VI., Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., the sovereigns between Henry VI. and Elizabeth not being enumerated. In 1809, "the great heap under the arch" was thrown out, sorted, and deposited in boxes for future examination; the "lockers" also, and several drawers and cupboards, were ransacked and put in a course of inspection. The result was the discovery of vast masses of valuable documents, and amongst them more than 15,000 letters, of which 1,120 were of the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. and proceedings in Chancery from Richard II. downwards. It seems doubtful whether all the cart-loads of neglected records have even yet been so far sorted and examined, that the contents can be stated to be fully ascertained. The late Keeper of the Records, Mr. Lysons, very properly considered that the Chancery proceedings ought to be indexed, and not merely procured an index to be made for the reigns of Elizabeth and James, but, "being fully persuaded that it would be of great use to the public," began to print it in an octavo volume. The printing was suspended after some time, probably because the Commissioners determined to take the work in hand, and either disliked Mr. Lysons's plan, or objected to the appearance of an useful unpretending octavo amongst their lordly folios. At any event, they paid Mr. Lysons the sum he had expended in printing 344 pages, and, by an order dated the 16th July, 1821, directed that the Calendars commencing with the reign of Elizabeth, and ending with that of Charles I. should be forthwith transcribed and printed. Why the reign of Elizabeth was chosen as the period of commencement, either by Mr. Lysons or the Commissioners, does not appear, nor can we divine any good reason whatever for such selection. The editor himself seems to have been equally at a loss to know why the value of his work should be lessened, and its completeness destroyed, by the omission of the more ancient documents, and did all in his power to remedy the mistake by prefixing a short preliminary account of the more ancient records, with 134 specimens of the proceedings from the reign of Richard II. to Elizabeth. These specimens were found to contain much very curious matter, equally illustrative of the legal forms, of the condition of the people, and of the manners of the times to which they referred. The volume was consequently received by the public with very great satisfaction. After a few years a second volume was published, and, as the ancient specimens had been greeted with so much applause, 56 more of them were again prefixed. The remainder both of the first and second volume consists of a calendar of the proceedings in the reign of Elizabeth, arranged alphabetically by the plaintiff's name, and containing the names of the parties, the object of the suit, a description of the premises affected by the suit, and the name of the county in which they were situate. Matters of the sort contained in this Calendar, must be frequently important to genealogists and topographers, but surely they are not worth purchasing at the expense to the nation of such enormous and costly publications as these, which are printed in a style and manner the most ridiculously extravagant? But the most curious part of the history of these volumes remains behind. Some time after the publication of the volumes, and shortly after the institution of the present Commission, it was discovered that although the Editor had, obligingly, permitted the Record Board to make use of his name as an Editor, and had, condescendingly, submitted to be paid several large sums for various arduous duties which he himself describes by the words" collecting," "selecting," arranging," "looking-over," "transcribing," "collating and examining," the valuable preliminary matter which had excited so much attention to the first volume, and had earned so much fair fame for its learned editor, the whole of this matter was nothing more than a verbatim reprint of 136 pages of Mr. Lysons's octavo volume. So also the preface, which had pleased the world as much by its modesty as its learning, was found to place the Editor in the situation in which the celebrated Mr. Puff was placed by his use of a well-known line from Shakspeare. Mr. Lysons and the Editor both thought the same things, but Mr. Lysons happened to commit his thoughts to paper first, and, odd enough! in the very 66 same words which were subsequently used by the Editor. The public, however, who can never be made to understand these things, began to think from that time forth, that as far as these volumes were concerned, they were indebted to Mr. Lysons for every thing, except receiving the money. This is a serious matter,-in some walks of life it would be thought an Old Bailey matter,-it is but right therefore we should give our authority for our statements, which is that of Mr. Cooper, the Secretary to the present Commissioners, in his work upon Records, vol. i. p. 384, and p. 455. Upon the authority of Mr. Cooper, we are also told that," instead of having corrected the Calendar to the Chancery Proceedings with the originals, much less compiled it, the Editor actually printed the office Calendar as it stands, with all its errors and omissions; and it even appears that the office Calendar itself was on some occasions sent to the printer instead of the transcripts for which he was paid, with a view of preserving the original Calendar." Nicolas's Letter to Lord Brougham, p. 27. Statements like these let the public into some of the secrets of the art and mystery of Book-making, and will doubtless figure in the pages of some future historian of the "Curiosities" of Literature. When the present Commissioners commenced their labours, a third volume of the Chancery Calendar had proceeded some way through the press. It was completed to the end of the reign of Elizabeth, and published in 1832. Dates of the different bills, which were omitted in the former volumes, are given in part of the third volume, and add something to its value. a VII. A Chronological Index to the Statutes. 1 vol. The "ruling passion" of the late Commissioners seems to have been not to do any thing like other people. Here are two folio volumes printed in the usual grand extravagant manner, and termed Indexes, but which are abstracts and not Indexes, and do not answer the purpose of Indexes. The Alphabetical Abstract contains the several matters mentioned in the Statutes specified briefly, and in an alphabetical order; the Chronological abstract contains an enlarged abstract of the Statutes relating to the matters mentioned in the alphabetical abstract, the statutes themselves being arranged chronologically. The diffuseness of the larger abstract may be imagined from the following items. The abstract of the Statutes relating to the Stamp Duties, which were mere novelties during the period to which this Collection of Statutes refers, occupies nine folio pages, and every different description of document charged with duty stands upon a whole line, and has a separate reference to the Statute, the volume, and the page of the Collection. Thus there are eight different successive references to the 9th William III. cap. 25, sect. 9, all following each other, line after line, and the same number of references to the volume and page in which the section is printed. The abstract of the "Customs" occupies 32 pages; that of the "Excise" 44 pages, and so in proportion of other subjects. An Abstract may be a very good thing, but it is not an Index, and those who refer to these ponderous volumes in the hope of finding a reference to places or persons, or even subjects mentioned in the Statutes, will often find themselves disappointed. VIII. Index to Domesday Book. 1 vol. If any record deserved to be better indexed than all others, Domesday Book would be the one entitled to that distinction. To the antiquary it is as interesting, and as important, as an antediluvian relic is to the geologist; it lays open, and if properly studied, would be found to lay open more fully than is supposed, the state of our country under circumstances which have long passed away, and have left little more than this one record to guide us to a minute knowledge of its peculiarities. The |
