saw one in Mr. Thomson's nursery. We remember a fine one in the gardens Φέρτερος ἀγρονόμων, ετερόπροπα δένδρα φύτευων. B-n-ll. J. M. THE RECORD COMMISSION. IT is our intention, in the present paper, to consider more attentively those works published under the authority of the late Commissioners, which are comprehended in the first division of the list inserted in our last Number, p. 374, and which consist of eleven Calendars and Indexes to the public Records. In most of our Record Offices there exist two descriptions of Calendars; the one public, the other private. The public or office Calendars, are the property of the public, and were either made originally by the keepers in the performance of their ordinary official duties, or made for the public by persons employed for that purpose; or purchased by the public after having been made by some private person. The private Indexes have generally been made either by persons holding situations in the Record Offices, or at their expense, and have been handed down from officer to officer, generally by purchase. The Committee of the Commons recommended that the private Indexes should be purchased for the public use, and that the public Indexes "should be completed forthwith, either by the ordinary diligence of the persons employed in each office, or, if necessary, by extra assistance provided at the public expense;" they also recommended, as we have before stated, that “some of the principal Calendars and Indexes" should be printed. On the 22d July, 1800, at the very first meeting of the Commissioners, one of their directions to their Secretary was, that he should "write to the Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, to request him to cause the Calendars and Indexes of the Patent, Close, and Charter Rolls to be printed." It may be asked, why did they not adopt the recommendations of the Committee in the order in which they were made, and direct the Calendars to be completed, before they ordered them to be put to press? The answer is, that, whilst giving this direction, they had before them the return made to the Committee by Mr. Astle, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower, in which he stated that, as to the Patent Rolls, in the year 1775, he procured complete Calendars to those Rolls for the use of the Record Office, to which Indexes "Virorum et Locorum" had since been made; and that, as to the Close Rolls since his appointment in 1775, Calendars had been made, procured, or completed, which consisted of eight volumes in folio, with alphabetical Indexes, “ Virorum, Locorum, et Rerum." Nothing appears in the Return respecting any Calendars of the Charter Rolls, but, in the Report of the Committee, it is stated, that "in the Tower no part was then unprovided with Calendars and Indexes," except some presses in Cæsar's Chapel, which were supposed not to be important. With these statements to warrant the Commissioners, there does not appear to be any cause for throwing upon them personally the blame of any want of completeness in the Calendars afterwards published. Nor can any fault be found with their first selection of Calendars to be printed. The Patent, Close, and Charter Rolls are records, the importance of which it is scarcely possible to overrate. They are a collection of parchment membranes, upon which are preserved entries, or enrollments of different kinds. I. Enrollments of Letters Patent granting offices, lands, dignities, and other matters so various, that it is impossible to comprehend them under any general arrangement. These letters were patent or open, and passed under the Great Seal, which was appended to them. II. Enrollments of Letters Close, written in the King's name to individuals upon every occasion on which the Sovereign during the feudal times came into personal contact with the subject, that is, upon almost every occasion whatever, the multifariousness of the matters alluded to in the Close Rolls may be therefore easily imagined. These letters were close, or closed up, and sealed on the outside with the Great Seal. III. Enrollments of Charters containing grants of privileges to corporate bodies, or individuals, both lay and ecclesiastical. These several kinds of Rolls exist from the commencement of the reign of King John to the present time. Down to the end of Edward IV. they are in the Tower, and from that period in the Rolls Chapel, or some other office of the Court of Chancery, it being the duty of the Chancellor to make these enrollments. Progress was reported upon the Calendar of the Close Rolls, and "great labour bestowed" upon it until the year 1804, when we are told, by the Report of the Commissioners, that the Office Calendar,-that Calendar, let it be borne in mind, which Mr. Astle had reported as 66 completed,"- -was not found sufficiently complete or correct for publication, and the printing of it was consequently and very properly postponed. The attention of the Commissioners was probably never again directed to the subject, and thus the present Commissioners had an opportunity of making all historical inquirers their debtors by the early attention they bestowed upon these highly valuable records. I. Calendar of the Patent Rolls. 1 vol. It is a pity that the caution which stayed the Calendar of the Close Rolls in its progress towards the press had not done the same good service to the Calendar of the Patent Rolls. It will be remembered that Mr. Astle reported that he had procured "complete Calendars" of these Rolls. No sooner, however, was the work published than it was found in the very preface that it was not complete, and that "though," as the prefacer modestly and with great naïveté remarked, "entitled to great merit," it was merely a selection. It has since been shown that it does not contain a refer ence to more than one in fourteen of the entries upon the rolls themselves. The prefacer, who was evidently a keeper of a Record Office, advertises at the conclusion of his meagre notice, that "various entries appear upon the Patent Rolls which are not here described; and therefore, though this work will be found to yield abundant information, no one is to be deterred from an examination of any record referred to elsewhere, as being on the Patent Rolls, because it is not to be discovered here." The "translation" of this passage seems to be, that record keepers had not then found out that their business was increased by intimating to the public the contents of the documents in their offices, and therefore this gentleman thought that the world obtained information" abundant" enough for his purposes, by the publication of an incomplete Calendar. At the same time he takes care to let the public know that the work cannot be relied upon, and that "certain sums of money" must still be paid for the examination of the Rolls themselves. So far as the Commissioners knowingly sanctioned the publication of an incomplete Calendar, they were unquestionably to blame. Calendars are useful only as they are complete; and a calendar of selections, notwithstanding the elegant praise bestowed upon this one by the preface writer, is oftener calculated to mislead than assist. Nor is the Calendar entitled to the credit of completeness even as far as it goes. It is not so much a calendar as a series of extracts and memoranda taken from the rolls by some inquirer. The original Calendar in the Tower was, it seems, fortunately collated with a similar collection of extracts, of the date of James I. amongst the Cotton MS. (Titus c. ii. and iii.) and to this circumstance it may be inferred from the preface, the volume is indebted for the best portion of its contents; for the compiler of the Cotton MSS. was "some experienced clerk," who selected from the Records themselves, whatever appeared to him to be useful or interesting. The great majority of the entries in this self-styled Calendar are mere memoranda of names of persons and places, and cannot be at all understood without a reference to the Rolls themselves;-a mode of calendaring very useful for Record officers, but almost devoid of use to the public, and exceedingly improper for the Commissioners to have sanctioned. Calendars should contain such information as will sufficiently identify the record, and enable the inquirer to ascertain the general nature of its contents without an inspection; but what information is to be obtained from entries like the following, which succeed each other at page 65 ? "Pro Hospitale Sancti Leonardi Ebor'.-Pro Ep'o Landaven' app'-Pro Abbate Cluniacen.'-Pro Priore Carleol'.-Pro Rectore Ecclesiæ de Maidwell. Pro Abbate de Ramsey.-Pro Priore de Magna Malverne.-Pro Priore de Malton.-Pro Priore de Novo Loco super Alcolne.-Pro Abbate de Cirencestr'." There are thousands of similar entries. On the other hand, the following entries will show how possible it was to have made this work one of the very highest interest, especially if we take into our account the omitted items, which there is no reason for supposing to be of less importance than those which are noticed. As specimens of the contents of these rolls, we will select the following notices of Alice Perrers : 42 Edward III. p. 183.-The King granted to Alice Peryers in fee the manor of Ardington in the county of Berks, which belonged to Mary late Countess Mareschal, the King's aunt, of the value of 80l. to hold of the King in chief. The same year, p. 183. b.-The King granted to Alice Perers for life the open fields of Morton, with the enclosure of Mortoscogh in the forest of Inglewood. The same year, p. 184.-The King granted to Alice Perrers in fee a piece of land called Many Lawes in the county of Northumberland, by the accustomed services. Queen Philippa died on 15 August, 1369, which was in the 43d year of the King's reign. 45 Edward III. p. 187.-Livery of Seisin in the King's name to be delivered to Alice Perers. 46 Edward III. p. 187 b.-The King granted to Alice Perrers in fee one messuage and one shop in the parish of All Saints in the ward of Dougate in London, by the accustomed services. 47 Edward III. p. 189.-The King granted to Alice Perers, late one of the damsels of Queen Philippa, deceased, all the jewels, goods, and chattels of the said Philippa for her own use. 49 Edward III. p. 192.-The King granted to Alice Perers in fee the manor of Braunford Specke, with the advowson of the Church of Wemmeworth, in the county of Devon, which belonged to Robert Specke, an abjured person, by the accustomed services. 50 Edward III. p. 193 b.-Pardon granted to Alice de Perers of many debts, &c. 3 Richard II. p. 202 b.-Divers manors, lands, and tenements, restored to Sir William de Windsor, knight, and Alice his wife, and to Alice in fee, which said Alice, by the name of Alice de Perers, was attainted by Parliament in the 1st year of this reign. The following extracts are made at random merely as specimens of the nature of the entries: 11 Edward III. p. 129.-The King granted to John Bardolfe and Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heiress of Roger Dammory, the manors of Ilkelleshall and Clopton, in the county of Suffolk, by the service of one fourth part of a knight's fee, also forty shillings of annual rent, of the abbot of Waltham Holy Cross, for the farm of Waltham, in exchange for the manors of Kenyngton and Tankeshall, in the county of Surrey. 12 Edward III. p. 131. b.-That John de Moleyns, tenant of the manor of Ilmere, in the county of Bucks, in fee, hold in fee the custody of the Goss-hawks and other birds of the King, and the administration of all things to the same custody belonging, with the fees, &c. 12 Richard II. p. 217.-The King granted to John de Rofham, and Robert de Rypon, inspectors in the port of Newcastle upon Tyne, 301. because they arrested Alexander, late Archbishop of York, a traitor and attainted person, upon his passage towards foreign parts, with the said 307. found upon him, at the Shales near Tynemouth; and because they refused the corrupt gifts, and dishonest promises of the said Archbishop. 10 Richard II. p. 214.-Concerning an inquiry as to 65 royal fish, called whales, or graspreys, come to land and taken at the port of Gillin in Cornwall. 19 Henry VI. p. 283.-The King granted to John Carpenter, clerk, and others in fee, the manor of Thebaudes, in the town of Chesthunte, in the county of Hertford, with the appurtenances, by fealty, and the rent of one bow, of the price of two shillings, or two shillings for the same; and one barbed arrow, of the price of three pence, or three pence for the same, in lieu of all manner of services, &c. The comparative uselessness of the published Calendar is curiously exemplified by the fact, that after some time it was found to be "too bad" even for the office, and a new one was consequently put in course of preparation. When finished, it is to be hoped the public will derive some benefit from it. If the printing of it would be thought too excellent a satire upon the old Commissioners, a transcript might be lodged at the Museum, and it would be a great advantage to have it sent there, reign by reign, as it is completed. II. Calendar of the Charter Rolls and Inquisitions ad quod Damnum. This Calendar was printed from one in the Tower Record Office of the date of James I. It contains the number of the membrane of the roll upon which the entry is made; the person or body to whom the charter was granted; the towns, vills, or other places mentioned; the counties in which they are situate; and, in most instances, a brief statement of the nature of the grant. The following translation of entries which occur in the 16th Henry III. p. 49, will give an idea of this Calendar : 5. Peter de Kivall.-Keeper of the Ports except Dovor. The same.-Keeper of the Escheats and Wards throughout England. The same.-Keeper of the park of Guldeford and the manor of Keninton, Surrey. The same. That he have the whole Exchange of England. The same. That he have all the land which belonged to Gilbert of Aquilia. Theford to the Hospital of Lepers of St. John the Baptist. A fair there,Norfolk. -Castle of Odiham, Hubert de Burg-Keeper of the Tower of London, London,- Southampton, 4. Peter de Rivall.—That he be acquitted of all accounts to be rendered. The following entries occur in the Roll of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Richard II. :— 5. Edward, eldest son of the Duke of York, made Earl of Rutland. 14. 17. Westminster, the King gave to the shrine of Saint Edward there a ring bearing a stone called "ruby," appointing that the King of England for ever should use it at the time of Coronation. 23. 25. John Holland, brother to the King, made Earl of Huntingdon. The Inquisitions ad quod Damnum were taken before the Escheators whenever a petition was presented for liberty to alien lands to an ecclesiastical body, to establish a market or a fair, or to do any other act, the right to do which could only be obtained by grant from the Crown. The point to be ascertained by the inquiry was, how far the favour petitioned for would operate to the disadvantage of the Crown. The Tower series of these documents extends from the 1st of Edward II. to the 38th Henry VI. The Calendar contains a reference to the number of the inquisition, the year in which it was taken, the persons mentioned in it as being seised of lands, &c. a short description of the premises, with the names of the parishes and counties, and occasionally a notice of the subject matter of the inquiry. The following are speci mens: 9 Edward III. 16. John Turk of London, Pessoner,' has given to the Prior of the new Hospital of St. Mary Without Bishopgate, London, one messuage, with the appurtenances in the parish of All Saints Garschirche,' in London, in exchange, &c.-London. 24. John of Oxford, of London, Vyneter,' has given to the Prior of the Holy Trinity in London, two tofts and certain lands in Kentishtoun, in part satisfaction of other lands, &c.-Middlesex. It is so unusual a thing to find any thing to praise in the Calendars of the Commissioners, that it is peculiarly gratifying to meet with so good a volume as this. If the calendar of the Charter Rolls had been examined with the original, some errors would have been avoided, but, with one or two exceptions, as far as we have found, they are not important. The Calendar of the Inquisitions is at once accurate and satisfactory. It was made from the originals by the late Mr. Lemon. III. Calendar to the Inquisitions post mortem. 4 vols. The Inquisitions post mortem were inquiries instituted before the escheators to ascertain of what lands, or other estates, a tenant in capite died seised, and who was his heir. Antiquaries bear unanimous testimony to the high importance of these documents, which afford conclusive evidence for the establishment of pedigrees, and the proof of the transmission of estates. The series in existence commences with the early part of the reign of Henry III. and continues to the abolition of the Court of Wards in the reign of Charles I. The printed Calendar refers only to those in the Tower, from the commencement of the series to the end of Richard III.; the subsequent inquisitions are in the Rolls Chapel. The Calendar contains the number and year of the inquisition, the name of the deceased tenant, a reference to the lands, with the names of the place and the county in which they are situate. Few of the publications of the Commissioners have been more severely handled than this Calendar, and it has not been without reason. It is a mere truism to say, GENT. MAG. VOL. I. 3 S |