Rotuli Hundredorum, 2 vols. 1812-1818. These records perpetuate the memory of a national transaction of considerable importance. At the time of the death of Henry III. his gallant son, Edward, was absent upon a crusade, in which his exploits revived the memory of his heroic predecessor, Richard I. His right to the throne was instantly recognised; the chief of the nobility swore allegiance to him over the uninterred corpse of his father; and the kingdom remained in profound tranquillity for a period of nearly two years, which elapsed before he reached his native country. The new Sovereign soon discovered that, although his lengthened absence had not produced any breach of the public peace, it had fostered consequences extremely prejudicial to his interests. The unstable administration of Henry III. opened the door to many irregularities, which the power of the temporary guardians of the realm had not been exerted to repress; unresisted encroachments had despoiled the Crown of some of its most valuable prerogatives; tenants in capite had aliened without license, and frequently to ecclesiastics; rents due to the Crown, the profits of Courts, the emoluments arising from a right to wreck, and various other Jura Regalia, had been withheld; and many oppressions and illegal exactions, equally injurious to the Sovereign and the people, had been permitted to grow up undisturbed. Practices of this kind were not likely to be acquiesced in by a spirited and active Monarch like Edward I. Two months after his arrival in England, a special Commission was issued, under the Great Seal, dated at the Tower of London, on the 11th of October, in the second year of his reign, by which certain persons were authorised to inquire, by the oaths of such good and lawful men by whom the truth might best be known, concerning certain rights, liberties, and other things to the King and his estate, and the estate of the commonalty, belonging, and moreover, concerning the conduct and behaviour of Sheriffs and Bailiffs, in the manner contained in certain articles delivered to the Commissioners with their Commission. The articles referred to, contain many subjects of inquiry, principally relating to the demesnes of the Crown, the tenants in capite, the rents of hundreds, wapentakes, tithings, cities and burghs let to farm, wreck of the sea, free chase, warren, fishery, and other Royal franchises; various breaches of duty in Sheriffs, Bailiffs, and Escheators; purprestures, and the alienation of knight's fees. The proceedings under these Commissions were conducted apparently in a manner similar to proceedings before the Justices in Eyre, whose Capitula Itineris, or the articles of inquiry delivered to them before setting forth upon their Itinera, very much resemble the articles of inquiry delivered to these Commissioners. The returns to the inquisitions taken by the Commissioners, were put into writing and delivered into the Exchequer, where the majority of them are still preserved. They form the Rotuli Hundredorum here published. Extracts from the returns, containing the principal matters, were made at the time for the use of the officers of the Exchequer, and these extracts are included in the publication before us, as well as the returns themselves, so that the deficient counties are in this manner partly supplied, and the publication made to comprehend a survey of the Royal territorial revenue throughout the greater part of England. The returns, or verdicts, of the Jurors, that is, the witnesses, are entered upon the rolls in three different forms. I. When the return relates to a franchise or estate, held by a person believed to be rightfully entitled to it, the form was, generally, merely that such an one held such an estate. II. When the Jurors were ignorant of the title of the tenant, the return was, that he held, but the Jurors knew not by what authority or warrant, nesciunt quo warranto.' III. When the Jurors believed the holding was unlawful, the return was, that the tenant held without warrant,' sine warranto.' The first chapter of the Statute passed in the next Parliament after this in quiry, which was held at Gloucester in the 6th year of the reign, appears to have been founded upon the return of the Commissioners. It enacted that the Sheriffs should cause it to be commonly cried' throughout their Bailiwicks, that all those who claimed to have any franchises by the Charters of the King's predecessors, or in any other manner, should come before the King, or before the Justices in Eyre, at a certain day and place, to show what sort of franchises they claimed to have, and by what warrant. And if the parties did not appear, the Sheriff was to take the franchises into the King's hand, as a distress, in order to compel appearance; and no one was to refuse to answer, upon the ground of the want of an original writ, according to the ordinary course of proceedings at the Common Law, except where it appeared that the ancestor of the tenant died seised of the franchise in question, in which case an original writ was to be issued, in a new form prescribed by the Statute. (Authentic Edition of the Statutes, I. p. 45.) Upon the authority of this Statute, and assisted by the information obtained (upon the previous inquiry, various proceedings in quo warranto were instituted against persons who were supposed to have usurped the Royal franchises. The rolls of pleadings in these cases, and in other similar cases, in the reigns of the two succeeding Monarchs, constitute the records published in the Placita de quo Warranto. In many instances these proceedings were at once submitted to; in others, in which they were contested, advantage was occasionally taken on behalf of the Crown, of the loss of charters, and the absence of other evidence; and long standing possession was found insufficient to atone for the want of some ancient and forgotten document, even although the land was in the possession of the descendant of him by whose sword it had originally been won. Cases of this description aroused the public feeling, and produced a loud and general discontent. At length the King desisted, and by an Ordinance, or Statute, made in the 18th year of his reign, established the same limitation in proceedings by quo warranto, which by the Statute of Westminster primer, 3d Edward I. c. 39, had been previously made the time of limitation in a writ of right. The Statute of 18th Edward I. declared that 'all those which claimed to have quiet possession of any franchise before the time of King Richard, without interruption, and could show the same by a lawful inquest, should well enjoy their possession; and in case that such possession should be demanded for cause reasonable, the King should confirm it by title; and those that had old Charters of franchise should have the same Charters adjudged, according to their tenor and form.' (Authentic Edition of Statutes, I. p. 107.) The time of legal prescription thus settled, remained unaltered, notwithstanding the lapse of so many intervening centuries, up to the reign of his present Majesty, when by the recommendation of the Law Commissioners, the period of prescription was properly settled at sixty years; a time which, 300 years ago, was judged sufficient in the case of a writ of right. (Stat. 32 H. VIII. c. 2. Authentic Edition, vol. III. p. 747.) A survey so comprehensive as that taken by the Special Commissioners, could not fail to contain many circumstances of very curious and often important information. It is true it extended only to the Royal domains, and such matters as the King was interested in as conservator of the public peace, and protector of the commonalty against the oppressions of his officers, but these topics opened many points of inquiry highly illustrative of the modes of transacting business and the general manners and practices of the times; the state of the law, the venality of its ministers and the severities practised by them; the condition of towns, the tenures of property, and the persons in whom the possession of lands was vested. Topographers do not appear to be at all generally aware of the contents of these volumes, which, although a mine of information more useful, perhaps, to them than to any other description of inquirers, have been permitted to remain almost unnoticed. For twenty years these and many others of the record publications have been in our libraries and upon our bookstalls; they have been highly reputed because they were published at a great expense, and were ushered into the world with all the eclat which cannot fail to accompany a Government publication; but until very lately they have not been studied; scarcely have they even been referred to. There is not one of the actual records that has been subjected to a thorough sifting; not one, the contents of which have been properly investigated. We call topographers to the task, and are quite sure that, if it be properly pursued, not only will much new information be obtained, but the character and importance of topographical inquiries will be placed before the public in a new and favourable point of view. In the cursory notice which we are compelled to give, it is impossible that we can enter upon the subject; but the following miscellaneous extracts from some of the returns relating to London, will bear out the truth of our remarks, and be sufficient to spur on future inquirers to grapple more closely with these ponderous volumes. London. The jurors say, that Lord William de Say and his heirs have appropriated to themselves free chase and warren in the county of Middlesex against the crown of the Lord the King and the liberties of the City of London, in disherison of the Lord the King, and to the prejudice of the whole kingdom, but from what time, and upon what warrant, they do not know. They also say that the Lord the King, lately Earl of Cornwall, made or caused to be made in the plain and common of Hundeslawe [Hounslow] in a place called Fisseburn, a pond of water and a park in the vill of Itelworth, which Edmund his son, who now is, holds, contrary to the crown of the Lord the King, and the liberties of the City of London, and of all the clergy and people, because by the pond the King's highway is stopped up, and this has been as well in the time of King Henry as in the time of King Edward who now is, but of the precise time they are ignorant. They say also, that Lord Walter de Merton has appropriated to himself unjustly the common moor,* which always was a common from the foundation of the same city until the said Lord Walter appropriated the same to himself, contrary to justice and the crown of the Lord the King, and to the great damage of the whole city, and to the disherison of the said Lord the King, and upon what warrant, in what manner, and from what time they are ignorant.— p. 404, vol. i. They say that Walter Hervy holds a certain house in the parish of Saint Peter the Less, towards Woodewharve, which was at one time the King's cellar for keeping his wine there, but in what manner aliened or by what warrant it is held they do not know. p. 103. ibid. They say, that whereas London-bridge was for a long time in the hands of the citizens of London, and they have always been accustomed, with the common consent, to appoint a keeper thereof, to the common advantage of the Lord the King, and of his city, and of all passengers, now the said bridge is in the hands of the lady the Queen, and they know not by what warrant. They say also that the same bridge is in great danger of falling for want of taking care thereof, which is to the great danger of the Lord the King, and of his city, and of all passengers. p. 406. vol. i. They say also, that Ada de Basing built formerly a certain house in Aldermannebir, in the King's highway, making no small encroachment upon the Lord the King, and to the damage of the whole city; and the citizens of London came and levelled the whole house to the earth, and afterwards came Thomas, the son and heir of the said Ada, and appropriated the same place to himself without warrant, and committed the same encroachment by enclosing the same place with a stone wall, and still holds the same enclosed, and hath held it for eight years past and more, to the disherison of the Lord the King and the damage of the whole City of London. They say also, that the prior and convent of the Holy Trinity, in London, have stopped up the highway of the Lord the King, by which there used to be a common passage from Aldgate to Bishopesgate, with an earthen wall, and the way was between the priory and the city wall, and the walls were formerly thrown down; and now again, by the same prior and convent, they have been built up, and the way stopped eight years and more, to the disherison of the Lord the King, and the damage of the whole of the aforesaid city. p. 412, vol. i. In other returns, this is called the moor, 'sub muro Lond,' 'under London Wall,' and in others is described as situate between Bishopsgate and Cripplegate, on the north versus Vinesbur,' towards Finsbury.' They say, that the Lord the King hath in demesne the whole City of London, with the Tower of the same, with the Judaism, and his Palace of Westminster, which belong to the dignity of his Crown in antient demesne, and also the water of Thames, which begins at Yanlade at the entrance of the sea, towards the east, on both sides, up to the bridge of Stanes towards the west. Also they say, that the prioress and convent of St. Helena have appropriated to themselves a lane which was called St. Elleyne's-lane, by which all persons at their pleasure, as in the King's highway, used to draw their carts, to ride and pass along, and which extended from Bishopesgate-strate as far as the King's highway of Saint Mary-atte-Nax, and which contained at the east end eighteen feet or more in breadth, and thirteen feet or more at the west end, to the great damage of the Lord the King and of his city; and this they appropriated in the time of King Henry, the father of the Lord King Edward who now is.-p. 420, vol. i. Although less general in the character of their contents, the Placita de Quo Warranto are equally important with the Rotuli Hundredorum; perhaps, indeed, they are more so, as they exhibit more minutely the condition of the various properties to which they refer. We have not left ourselves any room for extracts; but we earnestly invite all topographers and legal antiquaries to an attentive examination of them. Both these publications were principally edited by Mr. Illingworth. ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE ALPHABETIC LETTERS. A CRITICISM upon an "Abstract of than their fault. If your correspondent chooses to mend them by transposition (the only imaginable mode of doing so) he is perfectly welcome; but it is idle to blame the cacophony of onomatopoeic words. My objections to the usual terms are, 1st, That they are not terms on which the learned world are unanimous. Turn to the grammars of the semetic languages, whence I consider the names are derived, and we find and n bound up with t and d, m and w with b and p, y and q 1, with g and k. These combinations serve no philological purpose whatever. There are no two authors who unite in bringing under the same denomination the same letter (when that denomination, like the words labial, &c., is taken from one of the speech-forming organs); and it is highly improbable that there ever will: for this reason, that there is no language.containing a sufficient number of letters to fill up a complete system. But suppose it be denied that it is the essence of t and d, th and dh, to be formed by the contact of the tongue and teeth; suppose that each of your readers finds himself able to say, tin, thin, din, thine, with his tongue no nearer his teeth than it is when he says; lin, rin, nin, suppose there be nations in the world who turn the tongue towards the brain, far back in the mouth, when they say t or d, and G others who never say th without throwing their tongue beyond their lips, and others who, really making dental sounds of d and t, pronounce them in a manner not to be imitated by those who pronounce them as we do; are the sounds in the first case to be called dento-cerebral, in the second, dento-labial, and the third case, dento-dental, or is cacophony worse than nonsense. The nations alluded to are the Indians, the Icelanders, and the Gaels. The same argument applies to the appellation palatal. It is no less strange than true, that we have lived nearly 6,000 years in the world without discovering that k and q might be, and are, pronounced with the tongue not in contact with the palate, but with the jaw. But, alas! it was not ordained that our language should be enriched with the epithets faucal or nixal. Etymologis aliter visum est. If q and k are palatal, then are the German ch, Spanish x, Welsh k, &c. &c., palato-gutturals; but if we take the guttural sound as the standard, then are k and q gutturo-palatals. I wanted names for two things, 1st, for the collection of the four sounds s, z, sh, zh, and, 2nd, for the whole assemblage of the hissing sounds, such as the abovementioned, and the additional ones of ch and j. Surely the word sibilant is better suited for a generic than a specific denomination. Sir, it is my confirmed opinion, that the faulty classification of lettersthe very elements-has led to much spurious philology, and will lead to R. G. L. more. MR. URBAN, B-ll, Dec. 5. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," and a desire to show that little knowledge still more unsafe. At p. 583 of your last number is a paper from Mr. Clark, on Balloons, and the date of their invention, in which he says, "While pursuing my antiquarian researches the other day, in a rare poetical work, entitled, The Shipwreck of Jonas,' translated by Sylvester, from Du Bartas, 4to, 1594, I was much struck by meeting with the following couplet : In this single couplet, therefore, we appear to be presented with confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ,' that instead of balloons being, as generally supposed, an invention of no more than some 60 years' standing, they were known at least two centuries previous." The greatness of Mr. Clarke's error is in exact proportion to the positiveness of his assertion. In the first place I shall remark, calamo currente, that Sylvester's Jonas is a very common book, and not rare; in my small library I have no less than three editions of it. Next that the word balloones as used by Sylvester, does not mean what we call air-balloons; but that the name of our air-balloons are adopted from the balloons of Sylvester; i. e., large balls covered with leather and skin, and filled with air (answering to our foot-ball, which is a small balloon); and that these balloons are used in Italy in the game, called from them, Ballone or Pallone; and that Mr. Clark might have known this, had he reflected on the word joined to balloon, like windy balloones bounde;' the ball, at the game of Pallone, bounding instantly from the racket, the side walls, and the floor; but we never heard of air-balloons bounding in the air. From the large air-filled balls used in the Italian game, did our balloons, similarly inflated, take this name. J. M. THERE are certain items in the parochial accounts of the churchwardens, or proctors, of several churches and chapels in Oxford, transcribed and preserved in Wood's manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum, which may serve incidentally to illustrate the ancient custom of burning odious persons in effigy, to amuse the populace. It is not perhaps generally known, that before the Reformation, when the public amusements of the people were systematically interwoven with the ceremonies of religion, encouragement was given to this popular propensity on certain anniversaries; particularly the dedication day, which was generally followed by a whole week of |