Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/291

 1922 REVIEWS OF BOOKS 283 At the dissolution of the gild in 1548 the annual value of its lands and possessions was 43. The charter of incorporation was granted (1553) in response to the petition of the townsfolk, backed up probably by the lord of the manor, the earl of Warwick. Henceforth there was to be a common council composed of fourteen aldermen and fourteen capital burgesses ; these jointly were to elect year by year a bailiff and head alderman, who were to be justices of the peace within the borough. The chamberlains were to see to the maintenance of the almshouse and of the grammar- school, which was renamed, not very truthfully, the king's new school of Stratford-on-Avon. The lord of the manor was to nominate the vicar and schoolmaster and to approve the bailiff. Eight days after the signing of the charter King Edward died, and within two months by the execution of the duke of Northumberland the manor of Stratford passed to Queen Mary. Ample illustration of the unquietness of the succeeding years is furnished by the borough documents. Stratford was strongly Protestant, and ' frays ' between men of opposite views as to religion seem to have been frequent. The queen's appointment of Roger Dyos as vicar was evidently unpopular. For sixteen months his stipend was withheld altogether, though at last a portion was paid. Afterwards, on the news of his con- templated departure, he received a further sum, but the balance was not paid till he sued the corporation seventeen years later. Mary's reign was evidently regarded as a disagreeable interval not likely to last long. When the old schoolmaster William Dalan was granted a pension of 8 and a chamber next the Gildhall, he was directed to continue the celebration of mass in the chapel and on feast-days in the parish church ; but the significant words are added, ' as long as he shall live and be lawfully disposed to the same '. The documents transcribed by Mr. Savage are varied in character, beginning with the charter of incorporation (twenty- two pages in length). Then follow the proceedings of the court leet and view of frankpledge for the years 1554 to 1560, interspersed with sundry agreements and the book of orders for 1557. Then comes the rent-roll for 1560-1 and the court-roll for 4 May 1561, with various accounts, and minutes of corporation meetings. After 1561 there is no entry headed ' View of Frankpledge '. The new corporation, like the old court leet, found it a hard matter to restrain the wanderings of pigs and ducks, or the propensities of lazy householders to make rubbish-heaps where they would. Many fines were inflicted for breaking the assize of bread and ale, and for affrays, particularly at fair-time. In 1556 an official was appointed, with a distinctive coat, to oversee ' all sturdy and strange beggars '. Interesting details are furnished as to the fairs (held twice a year), the practice of archery, and the frequent, though forbidden, games of bowls. There are many references also to the ' inmakes ' or inmates, which may be compared with the similar com- plaints in the Southampton Assembly Books half a century later. The objection to inmates, as Dr. Horrocks has pointed out, was that they increased the risk of infection and fire, and that they might very likely come upon the town for relief. The Dugdale Society is to be congratulated on the quality and the usefulness of its first publication. CAROLINE A. J. SKEEL.