Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/335

 9*8. V.APRIL 21, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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material to be found in the ' Journals ' of the Lords and Commons for the years 1640-45. The author takes some pride in being the first to indicate the important accession to our scanty knowledge of those particular years which he has produced from the latter source, and cherishes a hope that the existing blank in many parochial histories may thus be filled up. In his account (vol. i. pp. 57, 58) of Dr. Racket's defence of deans and chapters made before the Long Parliament in 1641 he does not seem to be aware that the speech is given in extenso from Racket's own MS. in his ' Life by Dr. Plume, prefixed to his ' Sermons,' 1675, fol., pp. xviii-xxv.

We could wish that Dr. Shaw had imported a little more of the grace of literary style and anec- dote into what is a rather austerely dry record of discussions, memoranda, and proceedings. We had hoped, for instance, to have somewhere chanced upon the familiar figure of genial Tom Fuller, and have been relieved by a twinkle of his humour ; but we looked for him in vain. Some contemporary light and matter of human interest might have been gleaned, we should have thought, from his charming ' Verney Memoirs.' But Dr. Shaw has no mind to anything but official records. So much the better, perhaps, for the rigid historian ; but so much the worse for the average reader. We might complain, too, that when the author has given us with such a lavish hand lists of the dispossessed clergy, minutes of committees, heads of proposals, et hoc genii* omne, he has not printed the one docu- ment of central interest, the notorious ' Directory for Public Worship.' We hear a good deal about it, but we do not get the document itself in its entirety. A place might well have been found for it among the voluminous appendices with which the second volume is replenished.
 * Church History,' or from a book such as the

Dr. Shaw pathetically complains of the rudeness and discourtesy he too often experienced at the hands of that dog-in-the-manger the parish clerk, who threw every difficulty in the way of consulting the muniments under his custody. He strongly pleads that parochial records of national importance would be far better safeguarded in some central building in London, where they would be con- veniently accessible.

Pleadings and Deposition* in the Duchy Court of Lancaster, Time of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. Edited by Lieut. -Col. Henry Fishwick. (Lanca- shire and Cheshire Record Society.) THESE legal documents are of much social and family interest. They also supply many additions and corrections to pedigrees as they occur in the standard authorities, as well as throwing much incidental light upon the ways of living four hundred years ago. It is very rarely that we feel justified in commending any abridgment or condensation of old documents ; but in this case there can be no manner of doubt that the editor has used a wise discretion. Papers of this class are so cumbered with superfluous words mere law forms for the most part that had they been given in full they would have occupied, perhaps, three times the room they do at present without any additional advan- tage to the student.

We had no idea that the people of Lancashire in the early Tudor days were such turbulent folk as they are proved to have been by the records before us. They seem to have waged something very like private warfare whenever a dispute arose regarding

common rights, enclosures, land tenures, or rents; not seldom, even, when questions merely as to seats in a church. It is a popular opinion that before the rise of Puritanism, even in the fiercest times of party conflict, churches were held sacred. The ' Paston Letters ' and other evidence prove that this was not universally the case ; but still the long-cherished opinion holds its ground. So far, at least, as the men of the Duchy of Lancaster are concerned, it must be dismissed to the limbo set apart for historical errors. Five or six disgraceful scenes of riot in churches are mentioned here, and from the details given we cannot but feel that the participators in these turmoils had almost as little reverence for sacred buildings as the Roundheads of a later time; and they had far less excuse for their conduct, for their violent acts took place in a time of peace, and were evidently in no degree excited by religious fanaticism. Churches, we know, were in former times often used for secular purposes. This seems strange to us moderns. A long list of such cases lies before us. An addition may here be made to the number. On 17 December, 1524, a court was held in the church of Kirkby Ireleth for the purpose of deciding as to the owner- ship of certain lands, on which occasion "diverse riotous persons " ran off with a manor roll which had been produced in evidence. On the Sunday morning the litigants went to early mass, and when. Rowland Thornprough, one of the defendants, was- on his " kneys in his preers," riotous persons who were of the opposing faction set upon him, and he would have been in danger of his life had not the priest of the parish come to quell the disturbance, bearing the blessed sacrament with him.

A highly curious account occurs, under the year 1530-1, relative to a clergyman who was charged with being guilty of shameful extortion in the dis- charge of his office. It is, however, but fair to say that the defendant denied everything alleged against him, and that the decision of the court, if ever given, is not forthcoming.

Though the Lancashire men were sufficiently bellicose when their rights or prejudices were in danger of being tampered with, there were, as it would seem, not a few of them who had a strong objection to serving the king in the defence of the Border, as by the tenure of their lands they were bound to do. On one occasion, in 1542, a certain* Richard Bannestur forbade the people over whom he had influence " on their peril to wear the red! rose, or be sworn to serve the king." Such an act as this seems to have been perilously on the verge of high treason. Henry VIII. was not a monarch accustomed to treat lightly any contempt of the royal authority. We wonder what happened to- Richard Bannestur and his followers.

Deeds relating to East Lothian. Transcribed and translated by J. G. Wallace-James. Privately printed. (Haddington, Hutchinson.) THIS is a carefully executed work ; we only wish it had been larger. No student of history can fail to be thankful for what Mr. Wallace- James has already done, and if more be asked for of the same kind there will be no covert rebuke concealed in the request. He has placed beyond risk of loss- fifteen documents relating to East Lothian, every one of which is of local importance, and several of wide interest. One of them is singularly curious ; it is a precept bearing date 1324 from Patrick, Earl of March, to his bailiff, ordering him to give seism