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two identical. Grammar is only one branch of the tree. Important as grammar is, it is scarcely the most important of the branches which combine to form the knowledge of a language. Grammar is only a means to an end. It is a pathway to the temple. The temple itself is the treasure of great thoughts which constitutes the literature, and which we have termed the productions of a language. It is for this treasure that a language is worth the labour of study; and in regard to literary treasures, no language will repay attention more fully than the English. From what has been said, it is also clear that the grammar of a language is to be learnt in its literature. Grammar is no arbitrary thing. Its rules are not inventions. Its forms are not optional. They are both merely general statements of facts -facts ascertained by the careful perusal of what we term classical authors; that is, authors of high and universal repute. The office of grammar is to make a systematic report of the usages observed in writing by the great minds of a nation. Hence grammar is a science of imitation. The grammarian, like the sculptor, takes a model, and having studied its parts and qualities, endeavours to reproduce the whole. Authority, in consequence, is the great principle recognised in grammar. The authority of such men as Macaulay, Mackintosh, Addison, Dryden, Shakespeare, is, in grammar, paramount and supreme. What they do we must follow, and we must follow it because it is their practice. Their words, their forms of speech, their constructions must be ours. They are our masters, we their scholars. They give laws, we obey the laws they give. Scarcely less than implicit and unqualified ought the obedience to be; for grammar merely declares what is customary, and what is customary in a language is known by what is customary among its best writers.

Let it be observed that it is the English language that we are about to study. Consequently it is the qualities and the laws of that language that it will be our business to ascertain. If we were studying Sanscrit or Hebrew, then the qualities and the laws of the Sancrit and the Hebrew should we be in search of. Disregarding them, we are equally to disregard the qualities and the laws of the Latin. The best of Latin grammars would be a very bad English grammar, and a usage in Latin is no authority for the introduction into English of a similar usage.

rests on phenomena clearly ascertained, invariable in themselves, capable of being distinctly stated, and equally capable of being wrought into a system of general truths.

If the conditions under which thought became speech had been in all cases the same, there would only have been one language on the face of the earth. Descending as mankind did from a common progenitor, the various tribes would have spoken a common tongue. But at Babel the builders were "scattered abroad," and became subjected to outward influences of the most diversified character, and engaged in the most varied kinds of life. Men's pursuits were different almost from the first. Climate and soil change with every change of locality. And both original endowments and the degree of culture superinduced by external influences, or what may be termed indirect education, would be as diverse as the tribes, not to say the individuals of which the species consisted. All these diversified influences would speedily beget varieties in speech which time would increase and harden into different languages.

From this diversity there arise two kinds of grammar-the universal and the particular. Universal grammar is formed by studying language in general, by passing in review the several languages which exist (or most of them), and selecting and classifying those facts which are common to all. Particular grammar is the result of the study of any one given language. By a careful consideration of the usages of the best English writers we discover what constitutes English grammar. If, after we have ascertained the laws of a number of separate languages, we then compare our discoveries one with another, and mark and systematise what we find common to them all, we compose a treatise on general grammar. Particular grammar resembles the anatomy of the human frame, and limits its teachings to one set of objects. Universal grammar is like comparative anatomy, which treats of the general laws of animal life, as deduced from a minute study of the animal kingdom in general.

It is with particular grammar that I am here concerned ;-of the grammar of our nation--namely, the English-I have to treat.

Grammar and logic, or the laws of expression and the laws of thought, are, we have seen, closely connected together in the nature of things. Not easily, then, can they be sundered in manuals of instruction. If separate, they are related sciences; as being related to each other, they may afford mutual light and aid. Requiring separate treatment, they each give and receive illustration. Grammar assists the logician to put his thoughts into a lucid form; and logic assists the grammarian to make his utterances correspond to the exact analogy of his thoughts. No one can be a perfect grammarian who is without skill or logic; and no logician who neglects grammar can successfully convey his ideas to others.

The principles now set forth determine the mode of my proceeding. I shall not copy forms and rules from the writings of former grammarians. I shall not out of my own head devise forms and rules. I shall rather take the language as it is, and inquire into its qualities and laws. Beginning with the simplest enunciations of thought, I shall aid the student to analyse them, and from such analysis to deduce for himself the fundamental facts and principles of the English tongue. This process must be gone through three times: first, in regard to the forms of the language or its grammar; secondly, in regard to the productions of the language or its literature; and thirdly, as an ap-grammar, and of English grammar, reference to logic must be pendage to the last, in regard to the origin and progress of the language or its history. If the reader attentively accompany me over this extended field, he will possess a full as well as accurate acquaintance with the English language.

Language is the expression of thought by means of articulate sounds, as painting is the expression of thought by means of form and colour. The relations which subsist between our thoughts, when carefully analysed and set forth systematically, give rise to logic. The laws and conditions under which the expression of our thoughts takes place form the basis of grammar. The logician has to do with states of the intellect, the grammarian is concerned with verbal utterances.

That there are laws of speech a cursory attention to the subject will suffice to prove. There is, indeed, no province of the universe of things but is subject to law. Each object has its own mode of existence, which, in conjunction with the sphere of circumstances in the midst of which it is, gives rise to the laws and conditions by which it is controlled. Accordingly, language takes its laws from the organs by which sound is made articulate, from the culture of the intelligent beings by whom these organs are employed, from the purposes for which speech is designed, and from even the medium and other outward influences in union with which these purposes are pursued.

Were there no such laws the science of grammar could not exist. The sciences are in each case a systematic statement of generalised facts-in other words, of definite laws; and grammar

But in a manual which proposes to handle the subject of

tacit and latent; it may be felt, it must not be displayed. Yet, in at least one or two terms will our obligations to logic be more positive and outward, for I shall borrow from that science the words subject, attribute, predicate, etc.; and this I shall do, because these terms, when once their import is understood, afford facilities for explanation far greater than the ordinary terms employed in English grammars. In these cases, however, and in other things in which I shall depart from what is usual, I shall also supply the customary views and the ordinary terms.

As the English language, like other languages, was spoken before its laws were formed into a systematic treatise called a grammar, so the real facts of the language, in their primary and their model form, exist and are to be looked for in the every-day speech of well-educated persons. Hence the speech of educated persons is of authority in grammar no less than the language of the best authors. Nay, we seem likely to find a language in its greater purity when we take it from the lips of educated persons generally than when we derive it from the somewhat artificial shapes which it assumes in the learned or the popular volume. If so, "household words " are good for grammar as well as for practical wisdom. And so it is in the nursery we may look for the English tongue in a form the most simple and yet the most idiomatic. Of all teachers of English grammar the best is a well-educated English mother. Hence it is evident that a nursery, in a cultivated English home, is the best school of English grammar. As a matter of fact, it is in such schools

that, among the upper classes of this country, the young learn to speak correct English from their earliest days. Were all English children trained in such schools, the language would be everywhere well and grammatically spoken. Consequently, could we place our students in cultivated nurseries, they would soon. speak and write their mother tongue with correctness and propriety. I am unable to accomplish this. I cannot place the young of the working classes in cultivated nurseries, but I may attempt to do the next best thing; and that is, to bring forth and set before them, in a living and organic form, the spoken language of such nurseries. And this shall I undertake, the rather because, as the mother is the child's natural educator, or, to speak more correctly, as the mother is an educator of God's own appointment, so every system of education will be good and effectual i proportion as it is in form, substance, and spirit, motherly. I must add that it is for Englishmen I write. I write also for the uneducated and for the young. Having these facts before my mind, I shall study plainness and simplicity. Yet do I hope to be able to write in such a manner that scholars may not disdain to cast an eye on these pages. However that may be, I shall make it my first object and my last so to express my thoughts as to be fully understood, if not also readily followed, by the now large and meritorious class who are endeavouring to educate themselves. To labour for such is to me a very great pleasure. I ask for their confidence, and will endeavour to reward their attention..

LESSONS IN DRAWING.-I.

INTRODUCTION.

BEFORE we enter upon the subject of drawing, and how to draw, it will be of great service to some of our readers who may make up their minds to practise from our instructions, to give some little advice respecting the materials necessary for their use. First, the paper: the best and cheapest kind is that called "drawing cartridge," the imperial size is the most convenient, which when cut up into quarto, or four portions, will afford sufficient room for the subjects we intend to place before our pupils. Drawing books made of this paper, as well as the paper itself, with pencils, drawing boards, and other drawing materials, can be obtained from the publishers. The next and most important of all the materials are the pencils, for free-hand drawing-that is, drawing without the use of instruments-we recommend HB, B, and BB. The B pencil is first used for marking in the general proportions and character of the subject; this pencil must be used lightly, then the errors may be very easily effaced without disturbing the surface of the paper; and what is equally important is, that after the whole subject is arranged the drawing may be reduced in tone-that is, made lighter to receive the finished outline-to be done with the HB, which makes a cleaner and more definite line than the B. The B may also be used for shading, especially the broad or flat tones of shade: the BB is the finishing pencil for the extreme depth of tone in the darkest parts. For plan and geometrical drawing, an HH pencil is the most suitable. Be careful that the pencil is cut evenly with a sharp knife, not hacked or jagged as in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 represents the most suitable form of point. You must have a deal drawing board, half-inch or three-quarters thick, according to size, upon which the paper is to be laid and pinned down with flat-headed drawing pins. For highly-finished and important drawings it would be better to fix the paper in the following manner:-Wet both sides with a sponge, being particular that the paper is not rubbed, wetted only; turn the edges up all round about three-quarters of an inch broad, and paste the under-side; wait a minute or two until the paper has sufficiently expanded (which is caused by the wetting), then, having placed it evenly on the board, turn the pasted edges down and press them close to the board, under a cloth or piece of waste paper; once more wet the paper gently all over except the parted edges, and lay the board down flat, somewhere, to dry; the pasted edges must dry first, or the paper will fly up, because as it dries it will contract. If the pupil is able to fix his paper successfully, he will see for himself the advantage of having a firm and smooth surface to work upon. The most convenient size of board is twenty-three inches by sixteen inches-this will take half of an imperial sheet of paper, very useful for plan drawing and working plans; these, with a piece of india-rubber, will be quite sufficient to start with. Thus,

having provided ourselves with implements, we will proceed to open our subject.

Many believe that the art of drawing can only be acquired by a favoured few-viz., by those who are supposed to possess a power which is but sparingly bestowed amongst mankind in general. This power or gift is by them called genius, and they would almost deem it an act of presumption to undertake the practice of the art unless they were previously assured that they possessed this gift, or power, or genius, or whatever else it may be termed. There are many who, after making a few attempts towards acquiring the power of drawing, give it up, and excuse themselves from further efforts by saying, "Oh, I have no genius for this; I must be born with the talent, or I cannot succeed." Such a mistake is very common; there will be scarcely a reader of this who could not furnish one or more cases in proof of the statement. That genius is not absolutely necessary, we know from undeniable evidence; there are and have been thousands of men who have proved themselves to be able draughtsmen, without adding to the list of our Raphaels and Turners; and there are very few indeed, considering the number who exercise the art, and whose success in drawing we must acknowledge to be very great, who can rank as first-rate artists. Knowing, then, this to be the case, we relinquish all attempts to create genius, and confine ourselves, by simple, practical instructions, to open a way by which any one who has the courage to persevere may acquire the power of drawing from natural or artificial objects, and enable him to represent his ideas in a way of which no other art is capable. For purely mechanical drawing-that is, the exact representation of the forms of objects, be they animals, trees, machinery, or anything else- -no extraordinary genius beyond an earnest desire is required. Only let the pupil commence and proceed with a determination that nothing shall daunt him, to follow out certain leading principles, which having mastered, he will then discover that the application of these principles will render the art not so difficult as he at first imagined. Nevertheless, it is one thing to be able to draw a simple object, or a combination of these objects, and it is quite another thing to expect that having acquired this power it must, without fail, result in producing a talent for the higher qualifications of the artist. No; a great deal may be done towards gaining a full mastery of the principles of drawing applicable to a faithful transcript of any object whatever, before arriving at the stage which introduces us to that exalted position where genius is necessary for the full development of the poetic, or more elevated results of the artistic mind. In order, therefore, to enable a student to overcome the difficulties of drawing, he undoubtedly must be fully prepared and determined to attack every impediment he may meet in his progress; and for any one who is earnest in his work there is this encouraging thought, that if he meets with a succession of difficulties, and manages by perseverance to surmount them all one after the other, he must be making sure progress, whereas if none present themselves he may be assured he is standing still.

Our purpose in these lessons on drawing is first to enlarge upon the leading principles, and, taking these for the groundwork, we intend to apply them to all subjects, whether they be still-life (or objects), figure, or landscape drawing.

It is important to mention that, to draw a line successfully, much depends upon the position of the body, the hand, and the arm. The pupil must sit as uprightly as he can, having the copy and the paper he is drawing upon in a direct line before him; he must be able to see both his copy and his own drawing without having to raise or lower his head; he has no need to stoop over his work-it is bad for his health, and bad for his picture. Wo do not sit in the same position to draw as we do to write. The pencil is not subject to the same rules as a pen; it must be so held that if dropped from the hand whilst in the act of drawing the line, it would fall on the paper at a right angle with the line. For instance, to represent a perpendicular line (see a to b, Fig. 1), the pencil must be held as shown in the engraving; if a horizontal position is represented, as in Fig. 2; if an inclined line, as in Figs. 3 and 4. By attending to this rule we have such a command of the pencil that without moving the wrist we can reach either end of the line, or that portion of the line we wish to draw, without any danger of its being directed out of its proper course.

The pupil, very probably, will have noticed that there are but two kinds of lines to draw by which all objects whatsoever are represented-viz., straight lines and curved lines. It is the

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wish particularly to impress this idea upon the mind of the student. To draw a line at random, without a previous arrangement. trusting more to good luck than to skill for its being correct, and leaving out all consideration or inquiry as to its fitness until it is drawn, is the most discouraging practice that can bo followed. Let the student make up his mind, before he attempts to draw the line, where it is to begin, and where it is to end. Take a single line for an example (Fig. 6). Let it be supposed it is to begin at a and end at b; make a point where it is to begin and another where it is to end, and follow this practice invariably, whatever the subject may be, and whatever may be the number of lines that compose it. If the line be too long to draw at once without leaving off, mark any number of points in the direction between the two points a and b, and mark those points first which are nearest the extremes (the order of the letters in Fig. 6 will explain this), ending with those near the centre. When these points are properly placed so as to be in a straight direction, join a to c by one continued and carefully drawn line-that is, without leaving off (observing what has been already said about the position of the pencil); then draw a line from c to e, from e to d, and from d to b, as in Fig. 7. By this process of marking in the distances where there is a combination of lines, we overcome one, if not the greatest, difficulty in free-hand drawing. There are other helps for placing lines correctly, all of which will be noticed in their due course.. This method of drawing a line must be practised over and over again

they are connected with each other, combine to represent the various forms which nature and art so abundantly furnish. The question then narrows itself to the consideration-how are we to

treat these lines?

We will begin by a caution, and direct the attention of the student to the pernicious and unsatisfactory way which many pursue when drawing a line. They begin, we will say, at the top (Fig. 5), a, and make a series of continuous scratches until they have reached the supposed end at b. Now here, at the outset of our instructions, let us endeavour to impress upon the student that such a mode of procedure is fatal to anything like success in drawing. They who follow this practice depend upon the advantage of being able to rub out their failures, and try again and again, with very creditable perseverance, until they arrive at something like the line they wish for; but when the subject is a complex one--that is, one made up of innumerable lines and curves-and this scratching and rubbing-out process is repeated, it cannot be surprising if we should see the unfortunate beginner, labouring under despair and excitement, throw the whole aside in disgust, being fully persuaded in his own mind that he will never be able to make any progress whatever. They who follow this plan generally say drawing is exceedingly difficult, and that it requires genius or natural talent to enable any one to succeed. We therefore carnestly desire to impress upon all who hope to draw well not to allow themselves to fall into a method which we must again call most pernicious and unsatisfactory. To draw a single line requires the same care and judgment as a combination of any number of lines; each

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until it is accomplished. Then in the same way draw lines in a horizontal position, as in Figs. 8 and 9; then again inclined lines, as in Figs. 10 and 11, 12 and 13.

As we have said that all objects are to be represented by straight and curved lines, we will present a simple combination of these lines as an illustration of our system, when the utility of placing points to mark the positions and distances will be evident, for by this process we obtain that which one word will express, the arrangement of the drawing. It is this arrangement of the places where the lines are to be drawn that we would earnestly impress upon the learner the necessity of repeatedly practising, for upor this will depend the power of producing a correct and satisfacto, y drawing.

Figs. 14 and 15 may appear to be only a piece of scribble, yet they contain all that is necessary for the purpose of illustrating

Fig. 13 our meaning. First, then, observe the position of a with regard

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line must be drawn cleanly, and with a knowledge beforehand of its proper position. The same principle that regulates one regulates the whole; it is only a repetition of that princple according to the number of lines in the drawing. We

to b (Fig. 14), and their distance from each other, and place points to correspond, as a and b in Fig. 15; and also the positions of the other characteristic points respectively- with regard to a being in a direct line with a and b, c with regard tol and a; also d perpendicular with c, and so on; e and g on the same level, e being perpendicularly under 1, i under f, and k somewhat below the position of i under g. When all these characteristic points and distances are determined, then, as in the drawing of a simple line (as before explained), join these points by lines straight and curved as in the example, Fig. 14, producing the result as in Fig. 15. Respecting the importance of this fundamental principle, we cannot too earnestly impress it upon the mind of the pupil, and recommend him to practise it frequently.

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HISTORIC SKETCHES.-I.

MAGNA CHARTA.

labourers who depended on them for a living. Sometimes things were better, sometimes worse; but at all times, as far as the workmen were concerned, bad was best. "Christ and his

It was high time something should be done when the prelates and barons of England made King John sign the Great Charter. The land had had no rest, the people no security, since the day when Duke William overthrew King Harold at Hastings, in October, 1066. If we take a glance at the history of the hundred and fifty years immediately succeeding the Conquest, we shall find it a record of many kinds of violence, an account of one perpetual striving which should be the greater, and it shows incidentally how much less than the whole world a man was willing to accept in exchange for his soul. Brother had striven with brother, sons with their fathers, for the throne. Kings had striven with prelates, barons with priests, for the Stephen's reign, when the population was under two millionsmastery; baron had waged war on neighbouring baron on account of some private quarrel; even the religious houses"they greatly oppressed the wretched people by making them were divided against themselves; and "the people"-that is to say, all those who were not of the so-called noble class-had been fearfully ill-used. In spite of the spirit of armed religion, as embodied in the institution of chivalry-in spite of the efforts of great and good men to procure some recognition of the law which bids us do unto others as we would have them do unto us, the grossest tyranny prevailed. The weakest went to the wall, and of the rulers it might well be said"The good old rule

saints slept," said the poor people in the reign of Stephen, 1135-1154. In no other way could they account for their grievous condition. "You might as well have tilled the sea" husbandman had spent his labour and his earnings so as to as the land, says the Anglo-Saxon chronicler, for when the induce the earth to bring forth her increase, lawless men swooped down upon the crop, and as often as not slew the helpless owner of it, and drove his family into slavery. Every man who was strong enough built a castle, forcing the people to work at the stronghold which was to overawe them; and he paid them for neither time nor trouble. "They filled the land full of castles"-there were eleven hundred in England in

Sufficeth them-the simple plan

That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can."

Under such circumstances, it is not very wonderful if we find that the position of all classes beneath the highest, and notably the class which furnished labourers, was perfectly intolerable. The king oppressed the barons, the barons fought among themselves and oppressed their weaker brethren, the lesser barons oppressed the small freeholders, and the small freeholders solaced themselves with the thraldom in which they kept the

work at these castles, and when the castles were finished they filled them with devils and evil men." So writes the

chronicler.

At times the Church lifted her voice to warn, to exhort, and

to threaten; and now and again, in the most solemn manner, put the most notorious evil-doers out of the communion of Christian men; but in spite of the superstitious fears, which were general, respecting the power of the priesthood, the Church was nearly powerless to stop the universal rapine, until she resorted to the bold expedient of putting Christianity under arms. This she did by founding, or rather by moulding on her own plan, the institution of chivalry. She enlisted under the banner of the Cross the choicest and most generous of the warlike spirits, and having sworn them by word and deed, in every way, "to break the heathen and uphold the Christ," she sent them forth against the wolves who were making such havoc in her sheepfold. Murderers, robbers, violators, scoundrels of all sorts, began now to count the cost of their actions, and then they hesitated about repeating them, for they found they had to lay their account with cracked skulls and slashed

bodies in this world as well as with a solemn promise of eternal to the trustee. If the ward were a woman, the warder could damnation in the next.

Henry II. mended matters a bit when he came to the throne in 1151, and by persevering in a wise policy strove to reduce to something like order the chaos into which society had fallen; but during the crusade which was led by Richard I. in 1190, and especially during the king's captivity in Austria, selfishness and wickedness in high places at home found scope for exercise, and law became silent amid the din of arms. From the LionHearted himself, peer and commoner were content to endure much; they saw in the fearless, generous, though Normanly cruel King, qualities which commanded their affections if not their judgments, and they bore with something like satisfaction the continuous and heavy demands which he made upon their blood and treasuro. But the Lion being dead was succeeded by one who had played the traitor against him during his lifetime, who had all the ferocity and all the cruelty of his brother without one of his noble qualities, and who was already known to the people by the utter depravity of his life. Here is his portrait, drawn by one of our ablest historians: "He stands before us polluted with meanness, cruelty, perjury, and murder; uniting with an ambition, which rushed through every crime to the attainment of its object, a pusillanimity which often, at the sole appearance of opposition, sank into despondency. Arrogant in prosperity, abject in adversity, he neither conciliated affection in the one, nor excited esteem in the other." Nor was this all. The man was the servant of a licentiousness which recognised no bounds. There was scarcely one family, even among the nobles, that did not smart under a keen sense of that injury which no man pardons to another. The sin for which Lucretia suffered and which drove the kings from Rome, the sin from tho taint of which Virginius saved his daughter by killing her; that sin sat heavily on John's soul, and stirred to their lowest depths the hearts of all England against him.

From such an one the nation would endure nothing tamely, not even those acts which former kings had done, and which by prescription had almost obtained the semblance of law. The barons were utterly enraged, the clergy were fixedly hostile, and the people were suffering to that degree at which they sometimes turn and teach their wrongers in some wild hour how much the wretched dare." The king was quite unable to ride on the whirlwind he had brought about him, and everything was ready, everybody was prepared, for a revolution. But one thing was wanting to make the revolution successful. There was abun dance of muscle, enough and to spare of disposition to kick ainst the tyrant, but there was not any one to gather the headstrong passions into a focus whence they might act with effect upon the object of their wrath. The barons and those under them--the wrongs the barons suffered at the king's hands taught them sympathy with those who whilom suffered wrong at their own-represented brute force as the untamed elephant represents it: they lacked the skilful guide who might gather up their strength and lead it to the goal they wished to attain. They wanted Geist,*

Before we ascertain whence Geist came, and the manner in which it worked, let us see rather more particularly what it was the barons and the people suffered that was so intolerable.

When the Conqueror obtained possession of the island, A.D. 1966, he gave the land to be divided among his followers as a reward for their services. The only condition he imposed upon them-a very necessary one to a prince who was only in military possession of the country-was, that whenever summoned they should attend him with so many men-at-arms, archers, etc, according to the extent of their fees or holdings, for six weeks at their own expense. This was the only strictly fendal obligation; but custom added a number of other obligationg, which, though smaller, were more galling. If a baron dod, his þeir hal to pay a sum of money by way of “relief." as it was call, or a fe to in ince the king to accept him in his father's stead; and if the heir were under age, the king had the wardship of him, an office which enabled the king to put into his own treasure the diference between the youth's income and the cost of his keen an à eineation, for though the situation was really one of trust, practically it was made the means of profit of the wel Grt is handy to be rendered by It embodies the meaning of ara, intelligence, and Wi

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marry her to whom he pleased. For the purpose of making the king's eldest son a knight, and for providing a dower for his eldest daughter, custom required that all the king's tenants should subscribe; and when the king went on a journey through any part of the country, his purveyors were in the habit of taking fer the royal use, cattle, provisions, horses, carts, and whatever else might be wanted. Though as a matter of prudence the feudal prince summoned the grand council of all his tenants if he wanted their advice, he was under no legal obligation to summon them; and they might not meet unless he did so. While it was not supposed that a feudal prince could want money, seeing he had large demesne lands specially reserved to him, there was not any law forbidding him either to ask for it or to take it from the tenants.

Now it is easy to see that all the above-named institutions were liable to great abuse; and as a matter of fact they were abused to an unbearable extent. Reliefs, wardship, purveyance, the expensive military attendance, or the money commutation for it-all were made the means of screwing money or money's worth out of the people, and the Church, which held a great proportion of the land in the kingdom, was subject to spoliation as well as the lay tenants. All were tarred with the same brush. The sacred trust of guarding the infant orphan was sold for a fixed sum, and the purchaser of the trust got all he could for his money out of the ward's estate; men bought the right to marry heiresses who were wards of the king, and the right was sold to the highest bidder, almost without reference to personal qualifications. But this was not all. John gave that worst sign of an evil government-the sale of justice. Henry II. had sold decrees, but the nuisance culminated under John. On the roll of the Exchequer are numerous entries of gifts, sometimes of money, sometimes of goods, in consideration of the king's influence to get a verdict. The judges also took bribes, and that in cases where the Crown was concerned.

Lastly, there was the great grievance of the forest laws, those remote ancestors of our existing game laws. These laws, made by the cruel Conqueror, who, says a Norman monk, "loved the tall stags as if he had been their father," made it a felony, punishable with loss of limb for an unauthorised person to be found in a forest, and by the same law it was made a capital offence to kill a stag.

If all these things were done in the green tree, what could have been done in the dry? If the king so acted towards the barons, prelates, abbots, and other chief tenants, how did these in their turn behave towards those under them? Badly, it is to be feared, though they made the best recompense they could, under the dictation of Geist, by including them with themselves in the charter of liberties. With the wretched labourers, the villeins-the poor slaves who knew not in the evening what they were to do in the morning, but they were bound to do whatever they were commanded," who were liable to beating and imprisonment at the will of their lord, who were incapablo of acquiring property, or of giving freedom to their childrenwe have not now anything to do. They, alas! benefited but slightly by Magna Charta; their time of emancipation had not yet come.

Let us turn now to look at what Geist did to remedy, as regarded freemen, the wrongs from which they suffered.

Stephen de Langton was an Englishman who had been promoted to the see of Canterbury by the Pope, in defiance and in spite of the king. Before he gave John absolution, and took off the ban under which England had lain for the six years prior to 1213, he made the penitent swear to abolish all unjust practices, to do right, and to govern according to law; but a short time afterwards, the barons having refused to follow the king in an expedition to France, John turned his hired troops loose on the barons' lands, and burned and pillaged right and left. Langton met him at Northampton, and again at Nottingham, and by threatening to excommunicate every one of his followers, compelled him to desist. But Grist, in the shape of the Primate, knew that other means must be taken to prevent a repetition of violence. At a meeting of the barons in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Langton said he had discovered a charter of liberties which Henry I. had granted when he was desirons of winning the support of the English against his brother Robert. He read the charter to them, and suggested

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