Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/290

 240 NOTES AND QUERIES. p»» s. VL B«. 22, woo. Among the frequenters of the fair were not only citizens and burghers and country folk from the neighbouring villages, but the great nobles of adjoining districts — Counts of Beam. Provence, or Toulouse—whose state was hardly to be dis- tinguished from that of kings, and not seldom kings themselves with their Courts. Very numerous fairs were held in Paris. Those of moat importance were La Foire Saint-Laurent and La Foire Saint- Germain. So soon as the performance of plays was established—at the close, that is, of the sixteenth century—the providers of entertainments on the trestles of tho fair sought to enhance their attrac- tions by enshrining their feats of juggling, rope- dancing, &c., in a species of dramatic framework, in which the characters of the Italian comedy spoke. The development of their proceedings was followed watchfully by the comedians of the Hotel de Bourgogne, whose privileges and whose profits were seriously impaired. For a while the privileges of the fair could be pleaded against those of the regularly constituted comedians, and the Court, which enjoyed the performances, was as anxious for its amusement to support them as was the Church for its profit. The comedians in the end prevailed, and the unlicensed performers became the victims of endless prohibitions. They knew well how to evade the penalties with which they were menaced, and when they were suppressed in one form assumed speedily another. The task under- taken by M. Albert is to show the progress of a duel which lasted to the Revolution, to depict the protean character of the unlicensed entertainment, describe the devices adopted, exhibit the character of the pieces performed, and show how out of this long-sustained struggle emerged the popular theatre of Paris as now it exists. Admirably is this task discharged, and the book is a work of fine scholar- ship, which the student of the stage will noi dream of neglecting—cannot, indeed, afford to neglect. Calendar of Inquisition* Post Mortem and other Analogous Document!. — Vol. I. Henry VII. (Stationery Office.) FOR genealogical and topographical purposes no one of the great series of calendars of our public records merits a higher place than the volume before us, the preparation of which, as we are informed by the JJeputy-Keeper, is due to Mr. Maskelyne. That gentleman has assuredly done his work in a most effective manner. We have gone over nearly every line of it, including the elaborate index, and have detected no errors, except, it may be, here and there a case of doubt- ful spelling of local and personal names. These slips, if errors they be, are easily condoned by those who have had experience in reading documents of this class, which have often become almost illegible from the want of care of the custodians of former days, and are also sometimes written in hands by no means easy to read even by skilled experts. Mr. Maskelyne has given a highly condensed, but lucid explanation of the nature of an Inquest post mortem in his preface. We are glad he has done this. Skilled antiquaries, like other experts, are apt to think that things familiar to themselves must, as a matter of course, be known to other people. The editor is not tainted with this super- stition. He realizes that, as some two hundred and fifty years have gone by since Inquests jjpst mortem such as he has to deal with were living things, if some explanation of their nature were not furnished many persons, some of whom have had a legal training, would be possessed with the idea that this calendar had to deal with inquests held before the coroner. It may therefore not be out of place to quote a few lines from the preface explanatory of these documents:— Upon the announcement of the death of any person reputed to hold directly of the King, a writ was prepared in Chancery, and sent under the Great Seal to the escheators of those counties where the deceased's lands were situated, requir- ing them to certify the King touching certain matters specified in the writ. The reply or return, known as an ' inquisition,' ' office,' or escheat,' was sent to the Chancery, sewn on to the writ, and the name of the person delivering it and the date of its receipt were noted on its face by the receiving clerk." The great series of these inquisitions, imperfect as it has become from the decay or loss of many important documents, is supplemented in some instances by the transcripts which were sent to the Exchequer. It therefore follows that when an inquest is Known to have existed, but is not now forthcoming, it is sometimes possible to supply its Slace by the copy in the latter series. Tnese ocuments are important not only to the genea- logist, but also to the student of names of persons and places. The Chancery series is the more useful, as it always contains the names of the jurors. From these lists we not only gain information as to persons, but have in not a few cases light thrown on family history. The land-names, we believe, are all recorded in the index. Blotters to Ciirrrsjjaui-ruts. We must call special attention to the following notices:— ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate." D. M. ("Somner Merryweather ").—Your query appeared 9th S. v. 477, and a reply follows 9th S. vi. 76. CORKIOKNDUM.—P. 169, col. 2, 1. 2, for "Aucher, of Kent," read Aucker, of JfeiU. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'"—Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher"— at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E. C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.