6

"As he was going along in the peace of God and of our lord the king, the Saturday next after the feast of St. Barnabas, on the highway, on the other side of the town of Brentford, alone on foot, on a message to carry to Mr. Piers de Besiles* near Oxford, there the said John with divers persons unknown, all on horseback, met the said suppliant thus alone on foot without defence, and on him the said John cried with a loud voice in English, slee, slee the thefe ;' 'shote, shote the thefe,' by force of which cry all the people there being, surrounded the said suppliant in great numbers, and some of them bent their bows; and some drew their swords and daggers to kill the said suppliant. Whereupon, among others, a servant of the said John Forster shot the said suppliant with an arrow through all his cloaths into his arm, and thereupon he commanded the said servant to cut off his head, and the strangers there would not suffer him: whereupon the said John Forster took a bow-string, and threw it into the water, and then tied both his hands so tightly that the blood gushed out of his fingers; and so led him as a thief to the town of Brentford, and there in the presence of divers persons he would have killed him with his dagger, if it had not been for certain esquires of my lord the Duke of York, when the said suppliant had no other expectation than that of his death," &c.—pp. iv. v.

Among the petitions in the reign of Henry the Sixth, is one from a man complaining that he had been grievously prosecuted in the sheriff's court, at the suit of Richard Rede who had slandered him, in saying, that he had taken his wife and his goods:

"The whiche forseid Richard now late cam to one Elene Faux, and wold have yeven her a goun cloth, with that she wolde have assented to be a bawde betwene Katerine his wiff and me the seid John Westowe. Ferthermore the said Richard yaf counsel and excited in all that he cowde or might to his wif for to be a strumpet, beheting here xxs. with that she wolde assente and suffre the seid John Westowe to lye by here, to thentent to take hym and here to geder, and to raunson him. Also the seid Richard be hoote to oon Sire John Person preest, that if he wolde recorde afore a jugge with the seid Richard, that the seid Katerine were founden in taverne with the seid John Westowe, he wolde yeve the seid sire John for his record a noble," &c.-p. xxii.

About the same time, the queen Dowager complained that William Hicheman of Leicester, "Halywaterclerke," had been convicted of having stolen certain money and goods,

"The whiche William delivered to John Glover of Leycestr' cornesor Cxiij. iiijd. and a new sadell, a paytrell, and a bridell pric' viij. and a two hand swerd and a palet pric' vj. viijd. and a boke compiled of divers tretys pric' xls.; which wer the sayd felon godys the which

* Probably Besils-Legh, five miles from Oxford.

money and godes longyth to us as forfeyt by cause of the 'sayd atteindr'," &c.-p. xxiii.

Of the superstition of the fifteenth century we have some curious examples. Henry Hoigges, of Bodmin in Cornwall, gentleman, petitioned the Chancellor, stating, how that late one

"Richard Flamank of the said counte, squyer, suwyd an oyer determyner ageyn Aleyn ye Priour of Bodmyn of the said counte, so th' yo' said suppliant was w'holde as attorney with the said Richard in the said mater; on S'. John Harry of the said toun of Bodmyn prest and servant of the said priour, of his malys and evele wylle, ymagenyng by sotill craftys of enchauntement wycchecraft and socerye, malygnyd yo' said suppliant endeles to destroye thurz wechecraft abowesaid, he brake his legge, and foul was hert; thurz the weche he was in despayr of his lyff: and more over contynualy fro day to day the said sotill croft of enchauntement wycchecraft and socerye usyth and ocupyyth, and in opyn plac' pronuncit, and to fore many other dyvers persones boldely avowith and wol stonde thirby; the weche th' ys weel knowen to many folkys of the said counte. And more over in opyn plac' saide th' he wolde by ye said crafte of enchauntement wycchecraft and socerye, wyrke yor said suppliant his nekke to breke, and hym endeles to destroye, withoute yo gracyous eide and supporte," &c.-p. xxiv.

And so late as the reign of Henry the Seventh we find Richard Anlaby, gentleman, complaining, that

"One Robert Croke of the cite of London, late of his sympelnesse and ungodly deleyng, had wt him unto his owne house a strange person, which youre seid oratour never knewe, which person affermyd and said unto the seid Robert, that he cowde by his lernyng and truste of nygromancy make that what woman the said Robert lest to have unto his wyfe he shuld have, apon which the said person was retayned still with the said Robert iiij. or v. dayes secretly, and for to accomplissh his said crafte, had at his desire and cōmaundement of the said Robert, certayne juells and sylver plate delyvered, which was put by them into a cofre wt dyverse images of wex, and so by the space of the said dayes caused and made the said Robert to do certayne observauncez w lyghtes and other serimonies, which is agaynst the lawes of God and all gode faith, but in conclusion, the said persone craftly and subtilly departed from the house of the said Robert, and toke w' him grete parte of the said juelles and plate, as hit hath been sithin the troble of your said oratour largely declared and notified unto him, and never had knolich thereof to fore, ffor nowe hit so, gode lord, that late your said oratour by fortune bought certayne sylver plate openly by gode recorde to the valewe of vj. li, as any man myght so do, which as thei that then sold hit said that the said plate was won and takyn in the last feld, ffor which nowe the said Robert surmysith that to be his, and hath affermyd an accion of trespasse to fore the shereffs of the cite of London apon your said oratour, and hath him thereupon arrestid, and by cause of his symple delyng woll not troble w1 the

said nygromancyr, but surmysith that yo' said oratour shuld be pryvy unto the said delyng, whereof the contrary shall be proved to fore your lordship right evydently," &c.-pp. cxix. cxx.

66

Roger Polgrenn states in his petition in the same reign, that it was the custom of Cornwall evermore out of tyme that no mynde ys be used and accustumed that yn cas yff any persone dwellyng wythynne the saide counte dye that hys heyr schall have off all maner off godes of hys fader ys the principals," p. xxxix.; but we have perhaps no other evidence of such a custom: nor do we believe that it now prevails. In another petition complaining that one Lawrence Wilkinson had seduced his maid-servant, a man describes himself as a “ Textwriter of London."

In the time of Edward the Fourth, we have proof of the publication of deeds in parish churches:

"John Croke, Thomas Godard, and Thomas Botely of Newbery, sworn uppon a boke, seyen that they herde John Stokes of Brympton in the countie of Berk, gentilman, sey and declare that he saw and radde, in the parissh churche of Estildesley in the seid countie of Berk, a dede of entayle concerninge a tenement," &c.—p. lxxxv.

A petition from a priest about the same period, affords a curious example of the danger to which the clergy exposed themselves from popular resentment, if openly guilty of immoral conduct :

"Mekely besechith yo' pour chapeleyn and oratour S Waultier Howard prest, that wher as he accordyng to naturall reason and lawe was syttyng and drynkyng with his owne suster in an honest hous within the cite of London, yet dyvers personez maliciously disposed toward yo' said oratour enterd in to the said hous, surmysyng that the said woman shuld not be his suster, and ther made assaulte uppon hym, and hym ther toke, bette, and sore wounded, and from thens carried yo' said oratour to the Compter," &c.-p. lxxxviii.

The petitions of that reign also contain one from a Spanish merchant, complaining, that one Francis Narbone of Gascoyn, enticed him into a tavern of London, and having seduced him to play at dice won of him with false dice 28li., in consequence of which Narbone was arrested; but as he had taken sanctuary in Westminster, the complainant prayed the Chancellor to grant a corpus cum causa" directed to the sheriffs of London, commanding them to bring the matter "be fore the kyng in hys Chauncery."-p. cii. Among other singular petitions, is one in the middle of the fifteenth century, for the recovery of a

book.

Two suits occur for the payment of a surgeon's bill: the one informs us that James le Leche, a Dutchman, was applied to by Sir Edward Courtenay, Knight, to cure him of a disease in his

leg; and that, as Sir Edward was obliged to return into Devonshire, he engaged James to attend him, but that when he was fully healed, before he applied for payment, Courtenay ordered his servant to take him to the Compter, &c.-p. civ: and the other in the reign of Henry VII. when Peter Blank, surgeon, complained that a stationer of London "having a child that was diseased in the ie with a pynne and a webbe, willyd and desyred ye seyd oratour to cure ye seyd child;" this he undertook to do, provided the father would cause the child" to be preserved and kept from mysbehavyng hymself with his hands. in toching and robbyng of the seyd ei;" but as the patient did" rub his eye" the attempt to save it failed, upon which the stationer brought an action against the doctor.―p. cxxiv. Nor are these the only litigations in which the professors of the healing art were complainants: but we have no space for further extracts. Our object in selecting the few which we have introduced from above fifty that we had marked for the purpose, is to show the valuable illustrations of manners which these petitions contain; and which would alone entitle them to attention, even were they as destitute as they are rich in information connected with legal and personal history, and the descent of property.

That the petitions in question should, under any circumstances, be neglected by a Commission established for the publication of records that elucidate the history of this country, would be sufficient matter of astonishment; but that a calendar should be ordered to be made of one part of the series to the entire omission of what, we contend, are the most useful and important, really seems to be an act of wilful absurdity which could only be exceeded by an attempt to justify or explain it. The truth however is, that the Commissioners, and it is the fault of all similar institutions that emanate from the Crown, are men of high rank, who, being fully engaged on more important official duties, are obliged to act upon suggestions, the merits of which they have neither the necessary information, nor the time to investigate. Of the gross folly of many of those propositions; and still more, of the culpable manner in which even bad plans have been executed, we have, we think, presented ample specimens for one article on the subject.

No es comida para puercos Mi Fruto, ca perlas son y aunque parezeo Carrasco soy mas, pues soy Carrascon. De las Cortes, y Midrano en Cintrueniyo, por Maria Sanchez No driza. Año 1633.

Few, if any, of our readers are probably aware that Mr. Blanco White is not the first distinguished member of the Church of Spain who has sought a refuge in our country and communion from the snares and terrors by which his conscience was assailed in the land and the faith of his fathers. The curious little work in which we find this fact being one of extreme rarity, we may, perhaps, be thought to render a not unacceptable service to our readers by laying before them the opinions of the author on the religion in which he was nurtured. It is in the possession of Mr. Salvà, of Regent-street, in whose catalogue of Spanish books, a work of great bibliographical learning and accuracy, it is noticed in the following words:

"This work was written by a Spaniard, who, after being an Augustin Friar in Spain, came to England, where he turned Protestant. King James ordered him to translate the Liturgy into Spanish, and as a reward for his labours made him a canon of Hereford cathedral. The leaf supplied by hand in this copy is more than a century old, an unequivocal proof that the rarity of this book is of long standing. In fact, neither Nicholas Antonio, nor any other bibliographer, either Spanish or foreign, had, so far as I can discover, the remotest idea of this author, or of his work, until La Serna Santander announced it in the catalogue of his books, and the editors of the periodical work, called 'Ocios de Españoles emigrados,' in the number for the month of May, 1824, gave notice of this copy, which is the only one of whose existence we have any account. It was at Genoa, from whence it has just been imported as a curiosity worthy to hold a place in some of the libraries of England, which contain so many bibliographical rarities."

The style of the book is fantastic, and highly characteristic of an age in which it was the fashion not only to use words to express a meaning, but to play with them in any way ingenuity could devise; and in which quirks and puns found their way into the gravest discussions, and even into the pulpit. It has, in spite of this, a tone of great earnestness and seriousness: it is dedicated to his two daughters in an address containing the counsels and sentiments of a truly christian father; which concludes in these words:

"Love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourselves. Honour your father and your honoured and generous mother. Love

* Late Deputy to the Cortes for the city of Valencia.