the other,-Roscoe is touched with animation, and rises far above himself. If the expenses incurred in building St. Peter's Church were the occasion of those exactions which incited the Reformation, here is a curious link of causes indeed. His remarks on the art of etching, by which not copies but the original sketches themselves of the greatest masters have been multiplied and perpetuated, are just and new. This work will not, I think, materially add to his reputation, nor detract from it; it stands exposed to the same capital objections as the Life of Lorenzo ;-as a piece of biography, it is much too ample for the subject; as a History of Literature, and the Arts and Sciences, it is much too contracted in its scope; and the two topics, by being treated together, mutually encumber and fetter each other. The style is laudable, and this may be regarded as its highest praise. There is a sentiment in the 24th chapter very applicable to the present political morality If the examples of the crimes of one, could justify those of another, the world would soon become a great theatre of treachery, and rapine, and blood; and the human race would excel the brute creation only in the superior talents displayed in promoting their mutual destruction !"' March 10. Read with exquisite delight, rarely interrupted, Scott's Marmion. The product of a true poet-a rich tissue of vivid imagery and glowing sentiment, where all seems natural, yet all new; and the imagination and the heart are surprised, at every turn, with careless but inimitable strikes of character, interest and pathos. The little introductions to each of the cantos are infinitely engaging, and fraught with feelings which must find a response in every bosom; but I grieve that he has said so much for Pitt, that he has prefigured in the 6th canto, with approbation, our late offensive deeds at Copenhagen; and that Marmion and the tale turn out at last to be entirely visionary-a discovery which almost breaks the magic charm, and dissolves the brilliant illusion by which we have so long and deliciously enchanted.

THE RECORD COMMISSION.

No. III.

THE second division of the list of the publications of the Commissioners, contained in our first article upon this subject, comprehends the new editions commenced under the authority of the late Commissioners, and comprises fourteen volumes. shall notice them in the order of their publication.

1. The Authentic Edition of the Statutes. 9 vols.

We

Startling as the assertion may appear to persons who have never considered the matter sufficiently, it is yet strictly true that the enormous and neglected volumes of our early written law present a subject well worthy of the deep attention of the philosopher and the historian. Our national progress from comparative barbarism to civilization; the constant variations in the state of the public mind; the gradual growth of our now abundant liberty; the decay and abolition of the feudal rigours and exactions; the progressive improvement of our language; and the history of our

* It must be recollected that Mr. Green was a staunch Whig, and supported that interest locally with all his strength; though in the latter years of his life politics and party lost much of their former influence; and the study of the beauties of nature and art seemed alike to occupy and tranquillize his well-regulated mind, which moved in harmony with the increase of age, and took a softer and milder colouring, as the shadows of advancing life gently spread over its surface.-EDIT.

[July, singular political institutions and system of jurisprudence, are all written in volumes which it is the custom to throw aside with infinite disdain, as mere emanations of dull. ness unfit to be approached by the mass of half-inquirers, who look upon themselves as philosophers; "volumes which it is believed," says Mr. Daines Barrington, in the Preface to his Observations on the Statutes, "that few lawyers or historians have perused in a regular course of reading." It is true that the prospect held forth by these volumes is sufficient to discourage every one but the most zealous. The truths to be discovered do not lie like grape-clusters in a vineyard; a man cannot stetch forth his hand and gather them; they are hidden in languages which have passed away, and in words which denote legal mysteries long fallen into oblivion; they are incumbered by a phraseology which, in the early period, is clouded by barbarism, and is afterwards overlaid by that tautology which, to the disgrace of our legislature and our lawyers, has been permitted to become the language of jurisprudence. The principal matters contained in our Statute Book may be classed under the head of Charters, which proceeded immediately from the king, and are couched in the form of royal grants; Ordinances, or Royal Mandates, consented to in great councils, and intended to have a partial or temporary legislative effect; and Statutes, which name was anciently reserved for the more solemn acts of the three bodies of the legislature, and which, from the time of Edward III., has been the only form in which they have made known their will. Previous to the reign of Henry VII. the acts of the legislature are to be found sometimes in Latin, sometimes in French, and sometimes in English; no general rule upon the subject appears to have prevailed. From Henry VII. the English language has been the only one used.

The Statutes were anciently enrolled, under the direction of the Chancellor, upon certain Rolls termed "Statute Rolls." There is extant in the Tower a series of these Rolls, six in number, each Roll consisting of several membranes tacked together. The first, or great Roll, contains the Statutes from 6th Edward I. to 50th Edward III. The second Roll, of which there also exists a duplicate, contains the Statutes of the reign of Richard II. The third Roll, the Statutes of Henry IV. and Henry V. The fourth Roll, the Statutes from 1st Henry VI. to 8th Henry VI. The fifth Roll, the Statutes from 25th Henry VI. to 39th Henry VI. The sixth Roll, the Statutes from 1st Edward IV. to 8th Edward IV. Some documents have crept into the earlier parts of the Statute Book, and have always been treated as authentic Statutes, which do not appear upon the Statute Rolls; and the series of the Statute Rolls is incomplete, being interrupted between 8th Henry VI. and 23d Henry VI.; but, so far as relates to the matter entered upon these Rolls, they have always been regarded as of the very highest authority. There is reason to believe that the Statute Rolls were continued down to 4th Henry VII., but the portion between the 8th Edward IV. and that period, is not known to be in existence.

Before the time of Richard III. the business of the Parliament was registered in the following manner :-entries of all Petitions, or Bills, presented to Parliament by individuals, or by the Parliament to the Sovereign, with the answers, and of all adjournments, messages from the Sovereign, elections of Speakers, and all the other occurrences and transactions of the Parliament, were made upon a Roll, which was termed the Parliament Roll. From the entries upon this Roll, it appeared what Petitions of the Parliament to the Crown had been consented to, and, usually after the end of the Session, these Petitions and answers were put into the form of one general Statute, which was afterwards entered upon the Statute Roll. In the only Parliament held under Richard III. the Statutes began to be framed from the several Bills passed in Parliament, and not as parts of one general Statute. Upon the adoption of this new practice, the Statutes themselves, in the form in which they were passed, came to be entered on the Parliament Roll as well as on the Statute Roll-a double

and useless trouble, especially after the reign of Richard III., in which the Acts were first printed and published soon after the close of the Session. The practice of Richard III. was continued by his successor; but after his third Parliament, the Statute Roll, which had become nearly useless, or at any event was superseded for all practical purposes by the Parliament Roll, was laid aside. The sessional publications have been continued down to the present time.

It will be observed that the Statute Roll commences with the 6th Edward I.; but the Statute Book has always contained several Charters and Statutes anterior to that period, and especially the Magna Charta, the Charter of the Forest, and the Statutes of Merton, Marlebridge, and Westminster Primer. The Charters of liberties contained in all the editions of the Statutes before the one now under consideration, were printed from one of two Charters of Inspeximus of Edward I., one dated in the 25th, and the other in the 28th year of his reign; but it was well known that some of the original Charters themselves, and many transcripts or exemplifications of them, were in existence. The Commissioners determined to prefix to the authentic edition copies of all the known Charters of liberties, and in order to obtain copies of these documents which could be relied upon, two Sub-Commissioners were employed during the summer of 1806, in making a progress through England and Ireland, to every place where it appeared from the returns to the Record Committee of 1800, or from other intelligence, that any Charters, or transcripts of them, were preserved. The result appeared in the recovery of six Charters, not before printed either in the Statutes, in Blackstone's Charters, or elsewhere, and some of which had been previously supposed to be entirely lost. These, together with all the Charters ever published before, were prefixed to the authentic edition.

The Statutes for the periods during which the Statute Roll is defective, have been derived from various inferior sources, some of them Records, and others MSS., or printed transcripts, which have been sanctioned by the usage of centuries. The nature of these secondary sources may be judged from the following enumeration:-exemplifications of Statutes, that is, copies examined with the original records, were anciently sent throughout the country, with writs annexed requiring them to be proclaimed, and sometimes directing copies to be made and distributed. Many such exemplifications are in existence. Transcripts were also occasionally sent to the King's Courts for their guidance and information. From the 12th Henry VII. to the present time, with a very few deficiencies, the original Acts, as engrossed and passed in Parliament, are preserved in the Parliament Office. The Close, Patent, Fine, and Charter Rolls contain entries of Charters, Statutes, and instruments in which Statutes are recited. The Red Books of the Exchequer at Westminster and at Dublin, and three other ancient books, preserved in the Exchequer at Westminster; several ancient volumes preserved in the office of the Town Clerk of the City of London, and especially two known by the names of Liber Horn, which was compiled about A. D. 1311, and Liber Custumarum, of the date of A. D. 1320, contain entries of ancient Statutes. There are also many highly valuable manuscripts of a similar character in the Cottonian and other collections in the British Museum, at the Bodleian, in several of the college libraries at Cambridge, and in the libraries of Lincoln's Inn and the Inner Temple. From all these sources the Statute Book has been made as complete as it now seems possible to render it.

The editors of the early printed collections of the Statutes divided them into two portions, the Antiqua, or Vetera Statuta, being those prior to the reign of Edward III., and the Nova Statuta, those subsequent to that period. The Vetera Statuta were first printed by Pynson in 1508, 12mo; they were frequently reprinted, and in 1532 an edition of Statutes, omitted in the former collection, was published by Berthelet, under the title of Secunda Pars Veterum Statutorum. The earliest colGENT. MAG. VOL. II.

E

lection of the Nova Statuta, comprehending those from 1st Edward III. to 22d Edward IV., was published by Lettou and Machlinia about 1482, folio. The first collection, which included both the Vetera and the Nova Statuta, appears to have been printed by Berthelet in 1543; it consisted of one volume in folio, and comprised all the Statutes down to the 19th Henry VII. in English. Rastell followed in 1557 with a collection of all the Statutes to that year, also in one volume folio. This collection was in the original languages; "for those," said Rastell, "that were first written in Latin, or in Frenche, dare I not presume to translate into English for fear of misinterpretacion ; for many wordes and termes be there in divers Statutes, both in Latin and in Frenche, which be very hard to translate aptly into English." These scruples were overcome in subsequent editions; and Rastell's Statutes in English were frequently reprinted until 1621. Barker followed Rastell, and was the first to designate the Statutes by the title they still bear-"The Statutes at Large." His edition was in English, 2 vols. folio, 1587-8, and ended with the Statute of 29th Elizabeth. Pulton, the next editor, brought to his task no ordinary degree of literary enthusiasm. In 1611, being then "almost fourscore," he first promulgated his proposal of a publication of the Statutes from the original records, and, in order that he might prosecute his enterprise with the vigour necessary for its accomplishment, but little suited to his time of life, he took a lodging near the Record Office in the Tower, and petitioned the Crown that the keeper of the records might "every day deliver unto him, when he should require, one Parliament Roll, to be by him and his clerk perused and viewed, and the same afterwards to be re-delivered by them to the said keeper thereof." The old man met with a good deal of opposition from the Record officers, but such a spirit as his is seldom unsuccessful, and he lived to complete a work to which all subsequent editors of the Statutes have been mainly indebted. It was published in 1618, 2 vols. folio, and ended with 7th James I. Keble succeeded with an edition, ending with 27th Charles Serjeant Hawkins, in 1735, brought the Statutes down to 7th George II. in six volumes, folio. Cay, in the like number of volumes, published in 1758 a collection ending with 30th George II. volumes, 4to., ending with 4th George III. twenty-four volumes of an 8vo. collection to 1st George III. which has been continued from that time. Runnington between 1786-1801, published a collection to the 41st George III. in fourteen volumes, 4to. Notwithstanding these various editions, it appears that, amongst them all, there was not any complete collection containing all the matters which at different times, and by different editors, had been published as Statutes; there was a want of uniformity in the text of the earlier Statutes; there was not any complete translation of all the Statutes previous to Henry VII.; nor was there any collection whatever published under the royal authority, which alone has the power of promulgating the laws. Under these circumstances, few will dispute the propriety of the opinion expressed by the Commons' Committee of 1800, that "it was highly expedient for the honour of the nation, and the benefit of all his Majesty's subjects, that a complete and authoritative edition of all the Statutes should be published." The Record Commissioners very properly proceeded at once to the labour pointed out to them, and the authentic edition, in nine volumes, was published between the years 1811 and 1818. The collection is preceded by a very able historical and explanatory introduction, written by Sir T. Tomlins, from which we have derived most of the facts above noticed. This edition cost the country 59,3921., of which sum 29,000l. were paid for literary labour. The expenditure of so vast a sum entitled the country to a large return; and it is a pleasure to be able to record that, in this instance, the publication appears to have given almost unqualified satisfaction. It constitutes a noble Corpus Juridicum worthy of the reputation which our laws have attained, and of the dignified station amongst nations to which our country has ascended.

II. in two volumes, folio.

Ruffhead followed in 1762-5 with nine
Pickering published between 1762-9

The principal objection raised against this collection is, that it descends no lower than the end of the reign of Queen Anne, and that consequently it contains but a small number of the Statutes now in force. The Commons' Committee recommended the publication of all the Statutes, and it is difficult to discover why their recommendation was departed from. The accession of the House of Hanover is an era which furnished, perhaps, a good resting place, but cannot be considered a termination. The more modern Statutes alone are those which are principally useful to the practical lawyer, and to the body of the people; both of whom, as well as the historian, ought to be considered in an undertaking like this. We shall hope to see the labour speedily resumed, which we are convinced it might be, and brought down to the end of George IV., at a comparatively trifling expense. It would be well to leave to every monarch the duty of promulgating the laws of only his immediate predecessor. Another objection urged against this edition is, that 'not a single private act is inserted. Though' continues the author from whom we quote (Sir H. Nicolas, Observ. on Hist. Lit. p. 98), it might not have been wise to print all the modern Private Statutes, on account of their extent, one volume at least should have been devoted to the earlier ones, because the private Statutes in the reigns of the Plantagenets and Tudors, abound in historical, biographical, and antiquarian, if not legal, information, as well as with notices of the descent of lands; and one volume would have comprised nearly if not the whole of the Private Acts down to the Accession of the House of Stuart." Part of this censure seems founded in mistake. The rule acted upon by the Commissioners, and explained in the introduction, was this. Down to the 31st Henry VIII. all the Acts were inserted. In that year the distinction between Public Acts and Private Acts is for the first time specifically stated in the Inrollment of the Statutes in Chancery. After that date the Private Acts are merely noticed in this edition by the insertion of their titles. With all deference to the authority from whom we have quoted, we think the Commissioners were right. It was necessary, as he admits, to draw the line somewhere, and the circumstance alluded to appears to have furnished them with a sufficient reason for taking their stand at the 31st Henry VIII. The Private Acts are no doubt of very great utility, especially to the Genealogist, and excerpta from them, judiciously selected, would be exceedingly acceptable; but the authentic edition was not the place for the publication of such excerpta, and in our opinion the Commissioners did wisely in excluding them as soon as the distinction was made in the inrolment. We may remark in conclusion, that practical men look upon it as a pity that the authentic edition has not been rendered legal evidence. It might easily be done by a short Act of Parliament, and would add greatly to the utility and dignity of this highly important and praiseworthy publication.

II. Rymer's Fœdera. Three Volumes.

The admirable work which is known by the title of the Fœdera, a work, the reputation of which, both at home and on the continent, exceeds that of any similar publication, originated with the celebrated Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford. The Earl of Halifax recommended Rymer, the critic, antiquary, and historiographer royal, as a proper person to carry Lord Oxford's plan into execution, and his appointment was conferred upon him by a Royal Warrant dated the 20th August, 1693. Authority was given to him to transcribe and publish all the leagues, treaties, alliances, capitulations, and confederacies, which had at any time been made between the Crown of England and any other kingdoms, princes, and states;' the public archives were laid open to him, and, in some cases, the Record Officers were even authorized to deliver to him all leagues, &c. which he should have occasion for and desire. In 1704, after a lapse of eleven years, his first volume was published. In 1707 his authority was renewed by a warrant of Queen Anne, and full permission to inspect the Public Records was given,