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ART. V.-Issues of the Exchequer; being a Collection of Payments made out of His Majesty's Revenue, from King Henry III. to King Henry VI. Inclusive. With an Appendix. Extracted and Translated from the Original Rolls of the Ancient Pell Office, now Remaining in the Custody of the Right Honourable Sir John Newport, Bart., Comptroller-General of His Majesty's Exchequer. By FREDERICK DEVON, of the Chapter-House Record Office, Poet's Corner, Westminster. London: Murray. 1837.

WHATEVER may be thought of the conduct of those Commissioners to whom have been entrusted for a number of years the care and the controul of the public records of the kingdom, of their negligence or incompetency, in relation to the office referred to, and of the little they have accomplished, when the enormous expenditure to which they have put the country is taken into the comparison, it must be admitted that some of the individuals who have exercised themselves laboriously in editing and publishing portions of these precious and almost countless national documents, have done much to remedy the oversight or mismanagement of the Board, which, one might suppose, ought to take the lead in such important efforts. Not one of these private and individual editors, however, has been so successful, or has conferred so much benefit upon the students of this kind of literature as Mr. Devon, whose extracts from the Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, and the Pell Records of the period of James I., our readers will recollect, were, upon their separate appearances, reviewed in our pages; and whose third contribution to the lights of history is now before us. There are two reasons which may be assigned for this success. In the first place, there does not, we believe, exist in this or any other country, such a rich, invaluable, and exhaustless mine of authentic archives as those now named; and therefore he who digs in it, and draws from it morsels, cannot fail of adding materially to that wealth of information to which the antiquarian, the historian, the statesman, the political economist, the jurisconsult, and the biographer always greedily resort, and which proves the safest and most enduring treasury of historical truth; at the same time affording immoveable landmarks by which the researches and the speculations of these various labourers should be regulated, whenever they recur to the olden time. In the second place, Mr. Devon has translated into plain-and, we are satisfied with as few exceptions as can be expected in any such work-accurate English, the whole of the extracts published by him, whereas, most of the other learned and indefatigable editors have issued their selections, which are from various records, in the abbreviated Latin, in which they originally

were written. We are perfectly aware it has been said, that whoever is likely to make use of these documents will not rest satisfied without examining them in their original shape, and that the bookworms, for instance, who wish to fortify their antiquarian researches, regarding distant periods of our history, never can be content to receive Mr. Devon's extracts or translations as sure guides. Now, this opinion, as it appears to us, proceeds on certain fallacies, and overlooks certain circumstances which may be adverted to in a few words.

It is giving credit to antiquarian students and the compilers of history for a great deal more of skill and a great deal more of patience, than the generality of them possess, when it is said that they will very profitably have recourse to these ancient fountains of information. Without giving Mr. Devon more than may be supposed due to a person of ordinary capacity and industry, it must be presumed that those ancient documents among which it is his daily vocation to labour, have become much more familiar and accessible to him, than to almost any other individual who is differently situated; and that, at least, by this time, he ought to be an expert translator. Then again, as to the selection which constitutes his extracts-whether it be the very best that might be made or not, is far less an object to be considered than the fact, that these extracts, taken as they are from a vast number of Rolls, some of which, he says, approach to one hundred feet in length, afford incontestible proofs of their general nature, their variety, and value-so as to direct and wonderfully assist all future investigators after the same sort of ore. But we are enabled to put this view of the matter beyond all manner of rational dispute by a single sentence; after which, we must proceed to the contents of the present volume. We have before us an extract from a return to the House of Commons, furnished by the Report of the Committee that has lately been examining into the Record Commission, by which it seems that of those record publications, which have appeared in abbreviated Latin, the sale has been miserably smallseldom amounting to a score of copies of each; whereas, that of Mr. Devon's volumes has been vastly greater, and, we understand, they are still selling; thus proving how much the public prefer translations to the original form in which the ancient records of the kingdom have been written.

It cannot be, at any rate, that a volume containing, as the present one does, more than five hundred large octavo pages of extracts from the Issues of Exchequer, embracing such eventful periods in our foreign as well as domestic history, as is indicated in the title page of the work, can be unimportant, or destitute of immense value. The editor, besides a luminous introduction, extending to not less than one hundred and thirty-nine pages, in which he analyzes the body

of the work, and guides the reader's attention to its main features, together with the insertion of many illustrative notes, has added to the whole a most copious Index, amounting to about one hundred and fifty pages,-one important advantage resulting from its construction, being the insertion of a more modern spelling of many names that have no uniformity in the original records,-thus producing a double reading, which generally removes all uncertainty, as to the immediate identity of the persons or places so circumstanced.

Taking it in all its aspects, whether as to the variety and amount of its contents, or the efforts of the editor, the present volume is by far the most interesting and valuable of those which Mr. Devon has published. Every page that the reader examines, every portion which we are about to quote from it, will add strength to this opinion.

Beginning with Henry III., the earliest roll from which any extract is made, belongs to the tenth year of his reign, and furnishes evidence of the existence of a fair held at St. Ives, at this remote period.

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HENRY, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou. To his Treasurer and Chamberlains, greeting. Pay out of our Treasury to Walter de Kirkeham and Walter de Brakeley clerks of our wardrobe, 200 marks, to purchase robes at the fairs of St. Ives, for the use of Richard our brother. Witness ourself, at Westminster, the 30th day of April, in the 10th year of our reign, before the Justices."

The editor states in a note, that the prescriptive right to take tolls in this fair is now in course of litigation, and thus is presented at once something that may bear upon a question concerning certain legal and municipal rights, or claims that exist in our own day. The second extract affords evidence of a curiosity of another sort; and contains these words,-" Pay out of our Treasury to Brother William, a monk of Beaulieu, going on our embassy beyond sea, 2 marks for his expenses." These were the days for cheap diplomacy. Many names and rewards to persons who supported the King and his chief Justiciary, aided by the influence of the Church against the encroachments of the Barons, are also extracted, and several interesting entries pertaining to Normandy, Poitou, and other provinces in France formerly subject to the King of England.

The earliest Roll yet discovered in the Pell Office, concerning the accounts rendered in to the Exchequer by the Jews, Mr. Devon states, is one that dates in the reign of Henry III., part of which we are about to quote; and, as he justly observes it is curious, inasmuch as it shews that a great portion of the revenue derived from this class of persons was paid by Jewesses. There is a most whimsical and grotesque heading to this Roll, if one is to judge from the lithographic impression before us.

"ROLL OF THE JEWS OF SAINT HILARY AND EASTER TERMS IN THE 17TH YEAR OF KING HENRY III.

Northampton.

Of Samuel the son of Abraham, half a mark, as a fine for many debts.
Nottingham and Derby.

"Of Rachael, the daughter of David, 11s. 4d., for an aid to marry the King's sister.

Oxford.

"Of Copinus, of Oxford, 50s., for debts purchased from the Treasury. Of Bonamy, son of Copinus, 9s., as a fine for many debts.

Of David, of Oxford, 40d., for the chattels of Bone of Nottingham.
Wiltshire.

"Of Isaac, the son of Josces Wilton, 10s. 6d., for an account of 6000 marks.

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Of the same, 15d., for an account of 2500 marks.

London and Middlesex.

"Of Margery, for a chyrograph, 2 marks, for an account of 6000 marks. "Of Ely Blunde, 20d., for an account of 2500 marks.

Of James Crespin, 10s., for a fine for the chattels of Deudon, the son of Bonevie.

“Of the same, half a mark for the same, for Abraham the son of Benedict of Oxford.

Of Leon, the son of Isaac, 20s., for the same for many debts.

"Of Belacez, wife of Sampson Kokeman, 1 mark, for the same.

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"

Of Benedict Levesque, 50s. for the same.

Of Ely Levesque, 10s., for the same."

One entry in the same reign orders to be paid from "Our Treasury to Master Walter, keeper of our converted Jews, of London, 10 marks, for the term of Saint Benedict, at Easter." Does this intimate that an inducement was held out to tempt the Jews to change their religion, or are we to suppose that whenever one of them departed from their ancient faith, he became such an outcast amongst his brethren as to require the royal support? Most probably, we think, the keeping of these converts was an act of piety on the part of his Majesty, that was also intended to manifest the extent of his devotion to the cause of religion.

The character given of Henry III. by Hume and other historians, is fully borne out by these records, when they say that he was remarkable for his piety and observance of religious forms and duties. For example, he pays stipends to priests to say masses for the soul of his grandmother, and 2000 poor are fed for the salvation of his sister's soul, the Empress of Germany.

In the 41st year of the same monarch, mention is made of "Master Henry de Abrinces, the versifier, who receives 6d. per day," from "the morrow of Easter, on the 9th day of April, until Michaelmas day, including both days." This, says Mr. Devon, is

the first entry that has been found of a versifier, who, it may be conjectured, was the poet laureate of the age! The following anecdote of this son of song is copied by the editor from Andrews' history of Britain :

"In 1251, a bard, styled Master Henry the versifier, had 100s, allowed him as a fee of office. This Master Henry chanced to offend a humourous Cornish poet, named Michael Blaunpayne, or Merry Master Michael, by reflections on his country, which drew from the western rhymer a sharp satire, [in Latin,] in which Master Henry is thus described, [as translated by James Pettit Andrews:]

The thigh of a sparrow, the feet of a goat,

Hare-lips, and boar's fangs, thee a monster denote;

Thou canst whine like a whelp, like a bull thou canst roar,
Thou art foul as a witch, and art as black as a Moor,
Thus peerless appearing, believe me, thy songster,
Thy grimly grimaces demonstrate a monster!""

There is a Roll from which copious entries are extracted, which contains an account of the expenses of repairing and rebuilding part of Henry's palace at Westminster, that must interest architectural antiquaries. It includes a payment to an artist, which, considering the wages allowed to many other persons in the same Roll, appears to be large.

"And to Master William Painter, with his men, designing the picture of Jesse on the mantel of the king's chimney, and for renovating and cleaning a painting on the wall of the King's said chamber, 43s. 10d.; and for divers colours bought for the same, 7s. 6d."

The entries connected with the repairs now referred to, are remarkably minute and particular, even down to the number of nails used, as well as the names and classes of workmen employed, together with the time they were engaged. The result was in expenditure,

"Sum total of all the expenses about the petty works of the King's Court, Westminster, in wages to the workmen, and for all purchases made, from Monday next after the Invention of the Holy Cross, in the 43rd year of the reign of Henry, son of King John, King of England, until the day of the nativity next following, £126 17s. 8d.

Of the entries in the reign of Edward I., we quote one, that not only contains payments of a curious description, but a variety of items, which enables the reader to judge of the value of money at that period, and of some of the purposes for which it was expended.

"Edward, &c.-Pay, &c., to the usher of the Exchequer, 9s., for taking eighteen summonses to divers of our counties in England, &c.; and 39s. for taking forty-seven writs for his daily allowance at divers places in England; also pay to the same usher, 8s. 7d., for wax to seal the same summonses and writs, &c.; also pay to the knights, chamberlains,