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established them "with the counsel of his wise men." The introductory passages of the Anglo-Saxon laws which exist, usually express that they were made with the concurrence of the witan.'

Hence it appears that the witena-gemot, the legislative and supreme judicial court of the Anglo-Saxons, resembled our present House of Lords: but, in the Saxon assembly, the members represented territorial property rather than heredi tary dignity; and in this respect it bore a strong analogy to our modern House of Commons.

We are next presented with a history of the Laws of the Anglo-Saxons respecting Homicide, Personal Injuries, Theft, Adultery, the Were and the Mund, Sureties, Legal Tribunals, Ordeals and Legal Punishments, and Trial by Jury.

It is observable that the principle of pecuniary punishment, which exists in our modern code, and particularly in cases of adultery, pervaded the laws of the Anglo Saxons and of the German nations; and hence it arose that every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were, and whoever took his life was obliged to pay this were. In this mode, compensation was offered to the family or relations of the de-, ceased, considering the homicide as a private wrong; and satisfaction was rendered to the community for the public wrong by another pecuniary fine imposed on the murderer, which was called the wite. In the same manner, also, as the were operated as a personal protection, the mund, which was another fine, became the guardian of a man's household peace. This privilege of the mund,' says Mr. Turner, seems to be the principle of the doctrine that every man's house is his castle." No apology will be required of us for transcribing a passage from the chapter on the Trial by Jury:

In considering the origin of the happy and wise institution of the ENGLISH JURY, which has contributed so much to the excellence of our national character, and to the support of our constitutional liberty, it is impossible not to feel considerable diffidence and difficulty. It is painful to decide upon a subject on which great men have previously differed. It is peculiarly desirable to trace, if possible, the seed bud, and progressive vegetation of a tree so beautiful and so venerable.

It is not contested that the institution of a jury existed in the time of the Conqueror. The document which remains of the dispute between Gundulf the bishop of Rochester and Pichot the sheriff, ascertains this fact. We will state the leading circumstances of this valuable account.

The question was, Whether some land belonged to the church or to the king? "The king commanded that all the men of the county should be gathered together, that by their judgment it might

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be more justly ascertained to whom the land belonged." This was obviously a shire gemot.

"They being assembled, from fear of the sheriff, affirmed thatthe land was the king's: but as the bishop of Bayeux, who presided at that placitum, did not believe them, he ordered that if they knew that what they said was true, they should chuse twelve from among themselves, who should confirm with an oath what all had declared. But these, when they had withdrawn to counsel, and were there harassed by the sheriff through his messenger, returned and swore to the truth of what they asserted."

By this decision the land became the king's. But a monk, who knew how the fact really stood, assured the bishop of Rochester of the falsehood of their oath, who communicated the information to the bishop of Bayeux. The bishop, after hearing the monk, sent for one of the twelve, who falling at his feet, confessed that he had for sworn himself. The man on whose oath they had sworn theirs, made a similar avowal.

On this the bishop "ordered the sheriff to send the rest to London, and twelve other men from the best in the county, who confirmed that to be true which they had sworn."

They were all adjudged to be perjured, because the man whose evidence they had accredited, had avowed his perjury. The church recovered the land, and when the last twelve wished to affirm that they had not consented with those who had sworn, the bishop said they must prove this by the iron ordeal. And because they undertook this and could not do it, they were fined three hundred pounds to the king by the judgment of other men of the county."

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By this narration we find, that a shire-gemot determined on the dispute, in the first instance; but that in consequence of the doubts of the presiding judge, they chose from among themselves twelve who swore to the truth of what they had decided, and whose determination decided the case.

The jury appears to me to be an institution of progressive growth, and its principle may be traced to the earliest Anglo-Saxon times. One of the judicial customs of the Saxons was, that a man might be cleared of the accusation of certain crimes, if an appointed number of persons came forwards and swore that they believed him innocent of the allegation. These men were literally juratores, who swore to a veredictum; who so far determined the facts of the case as to acquit the person in whose favour they swore. Such an oath, and such an acquittal, is a jury in its earliest and rudest shape; and it is remarkable that for accusations of any consequence among the Saxons of the continent, twelve juratores were the number required for an acquittal. Thus, for the wound of a noble which produced blood, or disclosed the bone, or broke a limb; or if one seized another by the hair, or threw him into the water; in these and some other cases twelve juratores were required. Similar customs may be observed in the laws of the continental Angli and Frisiones, though sometimes the number of the jury or juratores varied according to the charge; every number being appointed, from three to forty-eight. In the

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laws of the Ripuarii we find that in certain cases the oaths of even seventy-two persons were necessary to his acquittal. It is obvious, from their numbers, that these could not have been witnesses to the facts alleged. Nor can we suppose that they came forward with the intention of wilful and suborned perjury. They could only be persons who, after hearing and weighing the facts of the case, proffered their deliberate oaths that the accused was innocent of the charge. And this was performing one of the most important functions of our modern juries.'

We shall not here attend to the state of Learning, which was confined to the monasteries during the period which we are examining but it is impossible not to commend the diligence with which Mr. Turner has studied the Latin poetry of Aldheim, Bede, and Alcuin, as well as the vernacular poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, the principles of whose versification he has endeavoured to elucidate.

If Literature made no great advancement among the AngloSaxons, still less were they acquainted with Science; yet some of their productions in the Arts were not contemptible. Specimens of their architecture still remain; and on the zig zag fret or moulding by which it is distinguished, Mr. Turner makes this etymological remark:

The Saxon word used to denote the adorning of a building is gefrætwian, or frætwan, and an ornament is frætew; but frætan signifies to gnaw or to eat; and upon our recollecting that the diagonal ornament of Saxon building is an exact imitation of teeth, we can hardly refrain from supposing that the ornament was an intended imitation of teeth. Frætew and frætwung, which they used to signify ornament, may be construed fret-work, or teeth. work. The teeth which the Saxon diagonals represent, are, I believe, marine teeth. If so, perhaps they arose from the stringing of teeth of the large sea animals.'

In the last book, the structure and mechanism of the AngloSaxon language are explained, according to the system of Mr. Tooke, in his Diversions of Purley; observations are offered on its originality; and proofs of its comprehensiveness and power are adduced from our own language, which is chiefly Saxon, by taking some passages from our principal authors in prose and verse, and marking in italics the Saxon words which they contain. As we have already extended this article to a considerable length, we cannot enter into a discussion of this concluding chapter but we must lament that the copious subject of the Anglo-Saxon language should have been dismissed in so concise a manner. In closing this volume, however, we sincerely acknowlege our obligations to the author for the plea

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sure which he has afforded us, and for having made a valuable addition to the store of our domestic history, by introducing the English reader to an acquaintance with the private life of his Saxon ancestors.

ART. II. Memoirs of Samuel Foote, Esquire, with a Collection of his genuine Bon-mots, Anecdotes, Opinions, &c. mostly origi. nal; and three of his dramatic Pieces, not published in his Works. By William Cooke, Esq. 3 Vols. Crown 8vo. 135. 6d. Boards. R. Phillips.

IT will readily be allowed that the subject of the present memoirs was a character much more likely to excite our interest, than many of his dramatic brethren whose histories have been pompously recorded. We agree, therefore, with Mr. Cooke in regretting that no adequate biography of him has yet appeared; and we shall briefly notice a few of the particulars which are here related.

Respecting the qualifications of Mr. Cooke for the task which he has imposed on himself, we are told that

Very early in life he had the pleasure of being introduced to this genuine son of comic humour; and finding in him all the charms of conversation which could attach a young man with a literary and lively turn of mind, he was careful in recollecting and noting down as many of his anecdotes, conversa ions, bon-mots, &c., as convenience would permit not with any intent, at that time, to publish them;' but as the records of a man who drew on him the gaze of the fashionable and literary world, -as the reminiscences of hours which afforded such exquisite delight.

On the death of Foote, which happened about nine years after their first acquaintance, the Editor had the pleasure of continuing in acquaintance with many respectable persons who were the intimates of his late friend's earlier days, and who had seen him in all the situa tions of his varied life. From these he was curious to glean as much of his manners, habits, and conversation, as he could; and from their readiness to oblige, as well as from the iesearches of an old and valuable friend (whose name, which he is not permitted to mention here, would be a passport for every thing curious or authentic in literary or dramatic history), he has collected such materials as embolden him to publish these volumes. He is at the same time ready to allow that the work might have been more enlarged, had it been begun immediately after the death of Foote, by some of those cotemporaries here alluded to; when the ardour of congenial talents, and the raciness of events, would have made greater and more forcible impressions:' but under the actual circumstances, he not only presumes that his performance will be found the best that has yet appeared, but is father sanguine in thinking it the best that can now be effected."

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After some prefatory remarks, Mr. Cooke proceeds to state

that

Samuel Foote was borne at Truro, in Cornwall, about the year 1720: his father, John Foote, was a very useful magistrate of that county, and enjoyed the posts of commissioner of the prize office and fine contract. His mother (descended in the female line from the old Earl of Rutland) was the daughter of Sir Edward Goodere, bart., who represented the county of Hereford in parliament for several years, and brought Mr. Foote a large fortune.'

The father died soon after the establishment of his children in the world, but the mother lived to the extreme age of eighty-four, through various fortunes. We had the pleasure of dining with her in company with a grand-daughter of her's, at a barrister's chambers in Gray's Inn, when she was at the advanced age of seventy-nine; and though she had full sixty steps to ascend before she reached the drawing room, which looked into the gardens, she did it without the help of a cane, or any other support, and with all the activity of a woman of forty.

'Her manners and conversation were of the same cast; witty, humorous, and convivial; and though her remarks, occasionally, (considering her age and sex,) rather strayed "beyond the limits of becoming mirth," she, on the whole, delighted every body, and was confessedly the heroine of that day's party.

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She was likewise in face and person the very model of her son Samuel-short, fat, and flabby, with an eye that eternally gave the signal for mirth and good humour in short, she resembled him so much in all her movements, and so strongly identified his person and manners, that by changing habits, they might be thought to have interchanged sexes.'—

'Foote's first education was at one of the three principal grammar schools long since founded in the city of Worcester, and which have always borne a considerable reputation for learning in all its branches, as well as a general attention to the morals of the pupils. The school to which he was sent was, at that time, under the care of Dr. Miles, a particular friend of his father's, and a man of nence in the discharge of his duties.'

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The following circumstance is said to have first unfolded his peculiar talent of mimicry:

Being at his father's house during the Christmass recess, a man in the parish had been charged with a bastard child; and this business being to be heard the next day before the bench of justices, the family were conversing about it after dinner, and making various observations. Samuel, then a boy between eleven and twelve years of age, was silent for some time; at last he drily observed, “Well, I foresee how this business will end, as well as what the justices will say upon it."" Aye," said, his father (rather surprised at the boy's observation), well, Sam, let us hear it" Upon this the young mimic, dressing up his face in a strong earicature likeness of justice D thus proceeded:

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