Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/553

 10 s. x. DEC. 5, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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JKisrdlanmts.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Quarterly Eevieio : October. (John Murray.)

MR. W. A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN supplies an article on the field sports of the Middle Ages which will be of great interest to not a few readers of ' N. Q.' These sports were the delight not only of kings, but also of almost every layman who had land and possessed a good horse. Priests, however, might not enjoy the pleasures of the chase, but we do not imagine that this law was ever rigidly enforced; perhaps dispensations were given, or it may be that ecclesiastics, in this as in other more serious matters, often assumed the privilege of doing with- out them, as it v/as a common belief, as Mr. Baillie- Grohman tells us, that field sports were necessary for promoting health and long life, and some people even whispered that the neglect thereof perilled the soul's salvation. If the latter thesis was ever seriously maintained, we have not been so fortunate as to come across the statement, and we know that some of the more thoughtful of the ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages were not sparing in their denuncia- tion of a life devoted to sport. Alcuin is an early example. In a letter to the community of Jarrow he bids the young men remember their illustrious forefathers and devote themselves to higher things than driving foxes out of their holes or running after hares. The ' Roman des Debuits ' must be a most interesting work. It was written by the royal chaplain Gace de la Buigne, and, as is evident, nas been carefully studied by Mr. Baillie-Grohman. This cleric filled the post of chaplain to "John the Good," remaining with his master a great part of the time that he was a captive in this country. Much of the work is believed to have been dictated by the King to Gace while here. The work appears to be extremely good of its kind, but far too much clogged by mystical theology to suit the taste of a twentieth-century sportsman. As a signal of the death of the stag the "prize" is blown, and the author remarks regarding it that "no man who hears such melody would wish for any other in Paradise." Hunting-horns were used wherever field sports were pursued, and those of English manufacture were considered of special excellence : German nobles imported them ; and Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI. of France, acquired at one time twenty-three from London, for which he paid 117 francs. The best treatise on the music of the chase occurs in Hardouin's 'Tre"sor de la Venerie,' written in 1394. There exists, so far as is known, but one manuscript copy. It was pub- lished upwards of fifty years ago in an impression that has now become scarce.

' Vagrants, Beggars, and Tramps,' by Mr. John Copke, is another interesting paper. There is an opinion widely diffused that there was little vagrancy in this country before the fall of the monasteries, and the great changes of property consequent thereon. We fully recognize the fact that many of the working classes who aforetime lived in comfort were by this rendered homeless and desolate ; but it is a mistake to assume that vagrancy suddenly became a new thing in England during the Tudor time. There had been all along a set of people who were wanderers as much from mere pleasure as because they could not obtain the

necessaries of life where they were. "Whatever poetry is in the vagabond lies here," and Mr. Cooke further adds, " it is this that gives him a place in the literature of all ages." We are here in complete harmony with him. We have known not a few cases of the kind. There are men who revolt against continuous work, though for a short time they enjoy labour, and could maintain themselves if they had the faculty of working for more than a few days at one time or in one place. These- restrictions they will not long tolerate, however liberally they are recompensed. The stringent forest laws of the Normans no doubt increased vagrancy ; they impelled those who had the- sporting passion to hide in the great forests which then occupied a large part of England, or to lurk in the wide fenlands where fishing and bird-snaring were ever-changing and delightful occupations.

The wars of Stephen's reign much increased this evil, but we think matters improved somewhat under the second Henry. He was a man of mixed character. It is easy to speak ill of him, but he had, notwithstanding all his faults, and his constant quarrels with ecclesiastical authority, a good and generous side to his character. He was not without deep religious feelings, which lay at the back of a wild, profligate, and despotic nature. He, however, knew full well that though tfulness for the poor was one of those things required of a king, and we believe that when not carried away by passion he strove to obey the dictates of his conscience. Things seem to have become far worse when John appeared on the scene, and were little, if any, better during the long reign of his son. When, however, the Black Death of 1348 visited our shores, a great change followed ; villenage began to die out, or rapidly became a very lenient form of servitude. It virtually became extinct in the Tudor time, though in name at least it lasted until the reign of James I. We have not space for the discussion of what people used to call the old poor law. Hardly two persons who understand its provisions agree as to what it was intended to produce.

Prof. Ridgeway's paper on 'The Origin of Tragedy ' will, so far as it extends, be found useful, but it deals too curtly with a vast subject.

' The Inns of Court,' by Mr. C. E. A. Bedwell, is open to a similar objection. An interesting sketch is given, but a student of the history of English law requires far more than it is possible to compress into a review.

THE Angus collection of Baptist books, which has been previously mentioned in ' N. & Q..' is now easy of reference, as the Rev. G. P. Gould, the President of Regent's Park College, where the books are placed, has made a catalogue of them, and it is now issued by the Kingsgate Press in a handsome quarto volume, the paper and print being all that can be desired. Mr. Gould expresses the hope " that the contents of the Angus Library, made thus more readily accessible, will render effective service in stimulating and assisting deno- minational research." This should certainly be the result, for no history of the Baptists can possibly be written without reference to this valuable col- lection of Baptist literature. What is now wanted is a good Baptist Biographical Dictionary, to give some account of the writers whose works are in the library.