Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/411

 10 s. x. OCT. 24, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

339

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The Aldermen of the City of London. By the Rev.

Alfred B. Beaven. (Eden Fisher & Co. ) OUR first impression, on turning over the leaves of this handsome volume, is one of sympathy with Mr. Beaven in the satisfaction which he must feel in having been the first to compile a work which will probably outlive many a contemporary effort of imaginative genius. He has covered a field which few had previously attempted to enter, and, having undertaken an ambitious and difficult task, has completed it in such a way that to criticize it with fairness would entail almost equally arduous labour.

The first portion of the work consists of a virtually exhaustive list of the Aldermen of the City of London, arranged under their respective Wards in chronological succession from 1276 to the present time. The second portion gives the chronological succession of the Aldermen, according to seniority of election, to the end of the fourteenth century. In a second volume this list will be completed, and Mr. Beaven has promised to add an Historical Introduction and an Index of Names. In addition to these nominal rolls, the volume under notice contains some special articles, of which the most important are some notes upon the Aldermen who administered the Wards at a period antecedent to the date of the earliest Letter-Books preserved at Guildhall, and a carefully compiled list of the M.P.s for the City of London from 1283 to the present date. In this catalogue are specified the political opinions of the Parliamentary representa- tives of the City from the date when Whigs and Tories came into being, and it is interesting to note the fluctuations of opinion amongst the classes who composed the electorate. From the Revolution of 1688 to the year 1806 the political complexion of the City was predominantly Whig ; on the death of Pitt, and during the continuance of the great French war, opinion veered round to the Tory side ; after Waterloo, and up to 1874, the Liberals again had it all their own way ; while from that date to the present time the City has been consistently Conservative.

To the archaeologist the most interesting portion of Mr. Beayen's book is that in which he discusses the early history of the various Wards, and brings to light from many recondite sources the names of the Aldermen who represented them. The desig- nation of Alderman shares with that of Sheriff the distinction of being among our earliest official titles. The Ealdorman, whether he governed a third of England, or a single shire, or a ward of a city, was, as Kemble points out, identified with the military force of the country as well as with the adminis- tration of justice. The Sheriff was responsible for the revenue, and exercised a general supervision over fiscal matters ; but the Ealdorman was the principal executive officer within the area of his government. Stubbs has shown that the title of Ealdorman is much older than the existing division of shires, and it is probable that Aldermen were appointed in London for the purposes of local government long before the City was divided into Wards. The Aldermen seem to have been nominated by the King, just as at a much later date (1255) we see Henry III. giving orders that four Aldermen

"fiant in Oxonia" ; and it does not seem certahn when or how election, either by the citizens at larg& or by the Ward-mote, originated. The relations- between the Aldermen and the Portreeve have not,, we think, been very closely defined ; nor do we- know whether the former had a share in the general administration of the City, or whether their duties- were originally confined to the limits of their executive jurisdiction. These points will, we hope,, be cleared up by Mr. Beaven in his promised. Historical Introduction.

The earliest list of the Wards is contained in. "Liber L," a manuscript preserved among the- archives of St. Paul's Cathedral ; and of the twenty Wards enumerated in this document, all but four are- called after the names of persons whom we may reasonably conclude to have been Aldermen. Mr.. Beaven, apparently on the authority of the Rev. W. J. Loftie, gives the probable date of this list as. 1115 ; but Mr. J. Horace Round, " whose own care- ful accuracy is," in Mr. Beaven's words, "hardly less marked than his keen eye for inaccuracy in/ others," has shown conclusively that it cannot be earlier than 1122. Although there is no doubt that Aldermen existed in London long before the Con- quest, the first of whom there is definite record appears to be a certain " Turstenus," who witnessed a deed in 1111 as "Aldermanus de la Warde." Another very early Alderman was " Eadwine," who was witness to a London charter in the Colchester cartulary, and who does not seem to be mentioned by Mr. Beaven.

In concluding this account of a memorable book we may point out that Mr. Beaven corrects an, error of Stow, which has apparently escaped the- notice of the latest editor of the 'Survey.' At

. 140 of the first volume of Mr. Kingsford's edition,, tow says he read that about the year 1264V Eustacius, the eighth Prior of Christ Church in Aldgate, " because he would not deale with tem- porall matters," instituted Theobald Fitz Ivo Alder- man of Portsoken Ward under him. Mr. Beaven shows that Fitz Ivo's name appears as Aldermani under date 1196-7, and that the name of Thomas de Wymburne is found as acting Alderman of Port- soken before, during, and after the priorate of Eustacius.

The Dramatic Writings of John Bale, 1495-1563: Edited by John S. Farmer. (Early English Drama Society.)

JOHN BALE, Bishop of Ossory, known to his opponents as "Billious Bale" on account of his acerbility of speech, was an Eastern Counties man of humble birth, being born at Cove, near Dunwich, Suffolk, on 21 Nov., 1495. According to hjs own account, he was the author of twenty-two dramatic works, besides voluminous writings on controversial and ecclesiastical matters. Early in life he con- ceived it his duty to abandon the Roman Catholic faith, and being a bitter writer he made innu- merable enemies. His vituperation against the Church of Rome drew upon him the invective of almost the whole of the writers on that side of the question, and his books are particularly prohibited in the ' Index Expurgatorius ' published in folio at Madrid in 1667. But for the protection of Thomas, Lord Cromwell, he would have fared badly. He was eventually appointed to the Bishopric of Ossory ; but, owing to the treatment he met with from the Roman Catholics in Ireland, he was com- pelled to leave his diocese after barely six months'