Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/227

 10*" S. III. MARCH 11, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

183

Fitzherbert in his 'Abridgement' (ed. 1516) quotes Statham's entry (22 Hen. VI.).

It is safe to say that in neither of these instances are the words thesaurus and inventus, or the words " tresour " and " troue," com- bined to form a substantive, for each word appears separately and to be used with separate significance.

In the ' Expositiones Terminorum Legum,' by Rastell, printed 1527, the words " tresour " and " trove " are there (for the first time so far as the present writer is aware) clearly combined as in the modern use of the word, and with a significance that approaches the modern limited meaning. The passage runs :

" Tresour troue est quant ascun money ou argent plate ou bolion est troue ascun leu et mil contist a que le properte est doncques le properte de ceo apperteynt al roy et ceo est dit tresour troue." Brit. Mus. C 40. g. 2.

Here, then, there appear in the same sentence both the substantive " tresour troue " and the word "troue" as its verb. Similarly, among the ' Acts of the Privy Council,' under date 1550, there is calendared "A lettre to

the Lord Russell to go with certein

persons that have offred to find treasure trovey " Although the word "treasure- trove," with its variant spellings, had come into use, an Act of the Privy Council dated 1593 used the expression " a pot of treasure found by them."

It may be remembered that digests, dictionaries, and other legal literature are, in the main, but reflections of the official and administrative practice of the king's servants, which, probably without reference to publication, have been proceeding steadily in the interests of the Crown. It is, there- fore, not unlikely that the use of the word " treasure-trove " with the limited meaning preceded its appearance in the 'Expo- sitiones.'

Coke heads a chapter (3 ' Inst.,' 133) " Of treasure trove" along with the words "The- saurus inventus," as though " treasure trove" was their true rendering. Yet in 2 ' Inst.,' 138, Coke uses "treasure" and "trove" separately, meaning by u treasure " what in 3 ' Inst.,' 133, he calls " treasure trove." At this period " treasure trove " was thesaurus in a limited sense, for it did not comprehend all that was included under " treasure which was found." Then, as now, "treasure-trove" denoted only that thesaurus which, when its owner was unknown, came to the king injure coronce. As regards inventus, it would appear that treasure-trove, before it was found, or, at any rate, dug out from its place of con-

cealment, belonged to the Crown ('Mirror

of Justices,' lib. i. ch. iii. ; Case of Saltpetre,

12 Rep. 13 ; Reg. v. Toole, xi. Cox's C. C, 75 -

Aurum Regiute,' p. 123 ; Ruding's ' Coinage/

The word inventus, or trove, might easily have given place to an equivalent, such as

hidden," "secreted/' or "deposited," for the words absconditus, occultatio, and dejiositio all occur in early writings on the subject, and, in common with the word inventus, would have expressed the requisite idea.

Upon the fact of thesaurus becoming

treasure-trove," and not " treasure-hid," &c. although hiding is an important attribute of treasure-troveit might have been possible for the Crown to base the argument that on a mere finding of treasure the property pre- sumptively vested in the Crown, so as to throw the burden of proof upon the finder that the treasure was not hidden, but was e.y., abandoned. Whether or no this argument would have been sound, ownerless treasure of" a certain sort is now, prima facie, treasure- trove (Attorney-General v. trustees of the British Museum, 1903, 2 Ch. 598).

This note may be concluded by statin"- what at the present; day appear to be the essential attributes of treasure- trove, although to establish the accuracy of the definition would occupy far more space than is here permissible. Treasure- trove, then consists of gold or silver advertently de- posited anywhere without abandonment, the- owner being unknown.

WILLIAM MARTIN, Temple, E.G.

SHAKESPEARIANA. 'Love's LABOUR'S LOST,' I. i. 47-8. O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep .Not to see ladies, study, fast, not sleep ! So far as I have noticed, no review of the- latest volume in the " New Variorum " series mentions the somewhat remarkable slip in the textual note on the second line quoted above It is, of course, agreed that to is understood before each of the last three verbs. It is not true, however, that not is understood before the second and third verbs, making the line read, as Furness gives it,

Not to see ladies, not to study, not to fast, not to- sleep.

Dr. Furness overlooks the fact that the poet states the "barren tasks " as follows : "Xot to see ladies (negatively), to study (affirmatively). to fast (affirmatively), not to sleep (negatively)." According to Biron's way of thinking, " not to see ladies " was a deprivation ; but " not.