9* g. I, FEU. 2
26, '98.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
179
ut as a record of human progress. Not the laws
rtiich men felt bound to obey because they were
elected as wise and good by great legislators and
hilosophers are in question, but those to which
hey yielded an enforced and indispensable obe-
lience, Alongside of the elaborate Roman system
mposed on the barbarians there grew up "a group
>f kindred Teutonic laws, at first utterly incoherent,
'radually assuming order and system." In these
,'he growth of the idea of law is to be traced. The
nost important of the codes of the barbarians have
o do with migrations and conquests, and the epoch
of law-producing activity coincides with the periods
of conquest of Charles Martel, Pep in the Short, and
Charlemagne. The mixture of races is essential to
progress, and " resistance and attack are alike pro-
vocative of definition." Of special interest are the
pages in which the maintenance in mediaeral times
of canon law is explained. It remained a real and
active force in men s minds, with its own tribunals,
practitioners, and procedure, and yet it was neither
made nor enforced oy the State. With the Norman
Conquest England, the most backward of all Teu-
tonic countries, except those of the extreme North,
made such a stride in advance that she was first of
them all to answer the question, What is law?
Under our early Norman rulers the law of England
became a true lex terrce, so that in the reign of
Henry II. Glanville can speak of "the law and
custom of the realm," a phrase meaningless in the
mouths of jurists across the Channel. So early as
the twelfth century the practice of sending round
the country ministers " to hear cases in the local
courts" was established. Before the end of the
twelfth century the king's court, financial, adminis-
trative, judicial, is the most powerful institution in
the country. When the important series of English
charters reached its climax in the Merchant Charter
of Edward L, and the perambulation of the forests
was ordered, Edward had created " the most
effective law - declaring machine in the Teutonic
world of his day, and gave to England her unique
place in the history of the law." We might proceed through the entire work the early chapters of which, dealing with the sources of law, we have alone touched and show how fruitful it is in illustration and suggestion, how broad in view, and how thorough in workmanship. Mr. Jenks's book is not, however, to be criticized. It is to be studied and mastered. To all concerned with the genesis and progress of our institutions it will warmly commend itself. Tho^e, even, with no claim to special knowledge of the subjects with which it deals will find its perusal a pleasure, and a mastery of its contents an addition to their intellectual equipment.
The Towneley Plays. Reprinted from the Unique MS. by George England. With Notes and Intro- duction by A. W. Pollard. (Kegan Paul & Co.) OF the collections of printed mysteries, augmented in 1885 by the publication of the ' York Plays,' the 4 Towneley Plays ' have long been the least acces- sible. A limited edition, under the charge of Dr. Raine and James Gordon, was issued in 1836 by the Surtees Society, whose third publication it was. In the preface to this all that is known concerning the Towneley MS. is told, and the tradition that it originally belonged to the Cell of Canons of Wood- kirk is supported by arguments that still maintain their weight. As the r Widkirk Mysteries' these plays have always been associated with those of
hester and Coventry, which were subsequently
ssued by the Shakespeare Society. The early
edition has long been scarce, and opportunities of
access to these naive and primitive productions
have been few. The Early English Text Society
lave rendered, accordingly, a genuine service to
scholarship by reprinting the plays in their extra
series. For the handsome volume in which they
appear Mr. Alfred W. Pollard is responsible, the
tast being undertaken at the suggestion and invi-
tation of Dr. Furniyall, under wnose superintend-
ence a new transcript has by permission of Mr.
Quaritch, the present owner of the MS. been
made, and who has, in addition, supplied notes to
- he matter. Mr. Pollard's labours have been con-
fined to writing an introduction and adding side- notes, which are of great utility to a large class of readers. The former is taken to a great extent
- rom the preface to the Surtees Society s volume, in
which all known particulars concerning the MS. are given, together with observations of value concerning the resemblances between the language of the mysteries and current West Riding speech. The glossary of the original has been condensed, and an index of names has been added. The lines
n the plays are, for the first time, numbered, a matter of much convenience. There is more differ- ence between the texts than we were prepared to expect. The long list of errata of the earlier volume has, of course, disappeared. As a rule, the differ- ences are simply orthographical, the exact spelling of the original being now carefully reproduced. Sometimes, however, the alteration is important. Thus, in the ' Processus Noe cum Filiis,' Alle creatures that lif may brought thou at thi wish appears in the Surtees Society volume. In the later edition " brought" is replaced by wroght. In many cases the insertion of words previously omitted adds to the intelligibility of the text, very little real difficulty attends the perusal of the volume. The plays, it is known, are of very different orders of merit. Mr. Pollard regards the ' Second Shep- herd's Play ' as a work of genius. It certainly has abundance of humour. Every part of the task has been well accomplished, and the volume may count as one of the most valuable of the fine series to which it belongs.
Lichfield, its Cathedral and See. By A. B. Clifton.
(Bell & Sons.) Winchester, its Cathedral and See. By Philip W.
Sergeant. (Same publishers.)
WE have here two more of the series of cheap and trustworthy illustrated guides to our cathedrals issued under the superintendence of Messrs. Gleeson White and E. F. Strange, a series in praise of which we have often spoken. In no respect of interest and value do these later volumes yield to their pre- decessors. It is needless to say that each cathedral dealt with has its own transcendent charm. There is no English cathedral that has not. In spite of the horriole devastation to which it was subject, Lichfield remains the most perfect gem among English ecclesiastical edifices. We know what can be said concerning rival buildings, but withdraw no word. There is no cathedral at home or abroad with so much symmetry, picturesqueness, and charm. Seen across the Minster Pool, it is a dream of beauty. Fuller, in his ' Church History,' quoted by Mr. Clifton, says, and we echo the sentiment, " Surely what Charles the Fifth is said to have said
