Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/427

 9's.x.Nov.22,i902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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have found them accurate. Mr. Benham, we are sorry to say, gives very little in the way of note or commentary. We do not doubt that his opinion is that it is the paramount duty of all who are trusted with the editorship of valuable manuscripts to have them preserved and made accessible in type as soon as possible, and that for the present the time and space devoted to elucidations ought to be regarded as a hindrance to this laudable object.

The volume before us contains so much interest- ing matter that it is not easy to select those things to which it is the most v; mportant to draw attention. There is one entry, however, con- cerning which no doubt whatever can exist. It has only dawned upon our legislators in quite recent times that what is called the truck system is sure to degenerate into fraud upon the workmen. The authorities of Colchester though they had never heard of political economy, sociology, or any of the fine words in which we are accustomed to disguise commonplace ideas were beforehand with our law- makers by upwards of four hundred years, for in 1411 we find a decree that "no weaver shall be compelled to take any merchandise or victuals for his wages against his will, but only in gold or silver." The bailiffs of the borough had power to enforce this order without a day's delay, as in a court of piepowder.

Few accounts of trial by wager of battle have come down to us. There is one here of the year 1375 which reads like a condensed version of a scene in some old romance. Sir John Cavendish, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who was mur- dered by Wat Tyler's followers some six years afterwards, was sitting along with other associates at an assize held at Colchester on 25 July when a certain John Huberd was brought before him, who' had accused John Bock en ham of various robberies and murders "by them jointly committed." John Bockenham denies the charges, and there and then challenges Huberd to battle. Whereupon the jus- tices order the duel to take place on the very next day, and the sheriff of Essex forthwith to prepare the clothing and arms such as were accustomed to be used in England on these occasions, and the prisoners to be safely kept until the time of meeting. The duel took place, &s provided, on the north side of the castle oefore the justices in person, who, we may be sure, were clad in their gorgeous official robes, and accompanied by their underlings in the various dresses indicative of their several positions in the legal and social hierarchies. A fence or ring was, no doubt, made, and we may well imagine the crowd of townspeople men, women, and children eager to see a real battle conducted under the solemn sanction of the law. The coats of the two chief actors were made of leather and their staves pointed with horn. Each man had also a target in his hand. Silence being proclaimed, the fight began. At length the approver, John Huberd, was vic- torious. John Bockenham owned himself overcome by vociferating " Criaunt, criaunt ! " He was there- upon hanged promptly, while the victor was led back to the castle. What happened to him after- wards is wrapped in darkness. Was he feasted as a hero, or did he receive punishment for the crimes in which he had participated according to his own confession ?

A series of trade regulations of the time of Edward IV. contains some entries highly curious as showing how carefully the interests of the people were safeguarded. Millers, for example, were not

permitted to keep pigs, geese, or ducks, "nor no maner pultre but iij hennes and a cokke," under a penalty of 3s. id. If they violated this order more than twice they were to stand in the pillory.

Men quarrelled in the fifteenth century as fiercely as they do now, and sometimes took even stranger methods of avenging themselves. The monks of the Abbey of St. John were never on good terms with the men of the town. On one occasion the latter stole a dead felon's body from a gallows, and repre- sented to the coroner that it was that of a murdered man, the implication being that the poor wretch had come by his death at the hands of some of the abbey people.

William Chiveling, a tailor, was burnt alive at Colchester on Thursday, 4 November, 1429, for Lollardry. The bare facts and the king's writ are given, but no details- of the trial. We do not find any account of this sufferer in Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments,' but it does not follow that he is nojb mentioned therein, as all the editions we have ever consulted have wretched indexes. Speaking of indexes, it is but justice to say that that which Mr. Benham has added to his work is very copious and of excellent quality.

The Handbook of Boston. Compiled by R. N.

(Boston, Newcomb.)^

THIS serviceable volume, intended for the use of visitors to the town, fulfils excellently its pur- pose, supplying, besides other matters, a good historical sketch, occupying twelve pages, notes on the antiquities, and an account of the beautiful church known as Boston "Stump," of which a capital pictrfre is supplied in the frontispiece. We have visited Boston but once, for the purpose of seeing our late contributor Robert Rooerts, the valued R. R. of our pages. We still retain pleasant recollections of the town, a portion of which re- minded us of Tunbridge Wells, and of the church, and should like to see it again after perusing R. N.'s account. Most of the information is new to us, as it doubtless is to many of our readers. So far as we are able to judge, the guide is estimable in all respects.

Troilus and Cressida ; Pericles; Taming of the Shreiv. With Introductions and Notes by John Dennis and Illustrations by Byam Shaw. (Bell & Sons.)

WE have a fancy though we have not received quite the entire series that these volumes all but conclude the issue of the "Chvswick Shakespeare." We have spoken more than once in favour of the beauty of the edition and its convenience, the excellence of the text (which follows the Globe edition), the vigour of the illustrations, and the utility of the notes. These merits are naturally as obvious in the later as they were in the earlier volumes, and the approaching completion of the work is a matter for congratulation. Among pocket editions this carries off the palm for beauty and trustworthiness.

How to Form a Library. By H. B. Wheatley,

F.S.A. (Stock.)

WE have already drawn attention to the merits of Mr. Wheatley's entertaining volume, which first appeared in Stock's "Book-Lover's Library." Of this valuable series it is one of the best volumes (see 7 th S. i. 379). Its popularity has been such that it is now issued in a cheap form, in which, doubt-