trovertible fact that, in the sixteenth century, a vessel was navigated and propelled by means of steam power, and with an apparatus similar to the modern plan, the following question arises: Does the honour of this invention belong or not to the Americans, Fitch, who attempted, or Fulton, who succeeded in, the happy application of steam to the impelling of vessels? Our opinion is, decidedly, that Fulton deserves the entire honour of the invention and execution, although the machine had been invented and proved more than two centuries and a half before. The paradox contained in this answer will entirely vanish if we assent to the undeniable principle, that a man who produced a scientific invention in the sixteenth century would have done so with much greater facilities in the eighteenth. That either Fitch or Fulton possessed any previous information about the invention of Garay is entirely improbable. The false policy, or apathetic disposition of the ancient Spanish cabinet in not presenting to the public the important records contained in the archives of Simancas during four centuries, depriving the Peninsula of considerable glory, and Europe of much information, opposed an insurmountable barrier, not only to the curiosity of Fulton, but also to the researches of more exalted genius. Many of the monks, it is true, had access to this depository; but none of these possessed any interest in sounding the mine; and if any one had attempted it, the government would not have permitted the undertaking, as this depository has always been viewed as a kind of inalienable property. But had Fulton obtained access, or received information, it would not have extended beyond the knowledge of the fact, that a vessel had been navigated or impelled by power of steam with wheels and paddles, an idea easily discovered, but with difficulty applied to the combination of the powers necessary to produce the effect. The misfortune of there not existing in Spain, at that time, periodicals and publications of general information occasioned the extinction of this noble invention with the last breath of its author. Finally, if Spain possessed the glory of inventing steam-navigation, she has also the misfortune of having lost it; and modern engineers being

free from all obligation to the Spaniard, Garay, there exists no reason for our withholding the praise due to the American, Fulton, who has succeeded in producing his invention in times more congenial, and with results so magnificent as to justify the pride, and augment the wealth of the United States and many nations of Europe.

The Public Records.

:

I.

HE recently-issued "Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records," shows that during the year 1879 five volumes of "Calendars of State Papers" were published, bringing the total number of these calendars up to 105. Nine volumes of the series of "Chronicles and Memorials" were also issued, making a total of 160 volumes already published. Of the former series 11,424 volumes have been sold up to the present, and 39,941 of the latter. The new "Calendars" included (1.) Mrs. Green's Calendar of Domestic State Papers during the Commonwealth, extending from July, 1653, to February, 1654; the papers relating to the period of the Convention Parliament, its resignation, and the assumption of power by Cromwell as Lord Protector. (2.) Mr. Redington's second volume of "Home Office Papers," extending from 1766 to 1769, contained among its principal subjects-The Correspondence with the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; The Struggles for American Independence; Riots in Jersey, and Troubles in the Isle of Man; Riots in London in connection with Wilkes' Trial; and other Riots in Kent, Newcastle, and Oxfordshire. (3.) The fourth volume of "Treasury Papers," by the same editor, begining in 1708, to the end of the reign of Queen Anne, contained notices of Addison, William Paterson, William Penn, Lord Ranelagh, the Colonies, Marquis of Guiscard, the Russian Ambassador, Medical Science, &c. (4.) Mr. Sweetman's third volume of Documents relating to Ireland, between 1285 and 1292, referred, among other matters, to Edward I. and Alienor, the Queen Consort;

Appointments, Free Warrens, The Holy Land, Liberties and Franchises, Mines, Monasteries, Mercenaries serving in Ireland, &c. (5.) The first part of the fourth volume of the "Calendar of Letters and Despatches relating to the Negotiations between England and Spain," preserved in the archives at Simancas and elsewhere, under the editorship of Don Pascual de Gayangos. The introduction contains biographical notices of the following diplomatists :-Chapuys, Bonvalot, Santa Croce, Mai, Loaysa, Garay, Ortiz, Soria, Figueroa, Caracciolo, Niño, Perrenot, and Covos.

The volumes of "Chronicles" were :(1.) "Year Books of the Reign of Edward the First." Years 33-35.

(2.) "Henrici de Bracton de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ. Libri quinque in varios tractatus distincti," vol. ii.

(3.) "The Historians of the Church of York, and its Archbishops," vol. i.

(4.) "The Register of Malmesbury Abbey,"

vol. i.

(5.) "The History of the English," by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, from A.C. 55 to A.D. 1154, in eight books.

(6.) "Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury," vol. iv. (7.) "Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury," vol. i. The chronicle of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I., by Gervase, the Monk of Canterbury. (8.) "Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden," with Trevisa's translation, vol. vii.

(9.) "Recueil des Croniques et anchiennes Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, a present nomme Engleterre, par Jehan de Waurin," vol. iii., 1422-1431.

Mr. Rawdon Brown continues his labours at Venice, and has transmitted ten more volumes of transcripts of important documents in the archives of Venice relating to British History. Mr. W. H. Bliss has gone on with his researches in the libraries and secret archives of Rome, his summary report being included in the "Report" before us. M. Armand Baschet, also, is still engaged in the public libraries of Paris, and a large box of transcripts was received from him at the end of 1879. It is pleasing to note this assiduous collecting of historical materials from all accessible sources, which will ultimately

form a corpus historicum as complete as possible.

Mr. W. B. Sanders, Assistant-Keeper of the Records, who is stationed at Southampton for the purpose of superintending the fac-similes of national manuscripts produced by process of photozincography, furnishes an interesting report of his year's work. During this period he has been in correspondence with various individuals and corporate bodies, with a view to ascertain the number of Anglo-Saxon Charters still extant. The result of his inquiry "goes to indicate that only two cathedrals are known now to possess any in addition to those of Canterbury, Westminster, Exeter, and Wells, and that the number of private collections in the same category is limited to very few." Winchester has two : one of King Ethelwolf, A.D. 854, the other of Eadwig, A.D. 957; but Worcester has only one, of Offa of Mercia, A.D. 770. The Salt Library at Stafford contains one of Ethelstan, A.D. 937, and the Taunton Museum one, ascribed to Ini of Wessex, A.D. 702 or 706. Winchester College has four fine charters dated, respectively, A.D. 900, A.D. 924-41, A.D. 940, and A.D. 1018. At Longleat there is one of Baldred of Mercia, A.D. 681, and one of Eadred, A.D. 955. At Melbury, the Earl of Ilchester has five, of the following periods :-A.D. 965, A.D. 1024, A.D. 1044, an undated one of the Guild of Orcy or Urk, the founder of the monastery of Abbotsbury, and a similarly undated grant by Tole, his widow.

Whilst examining the records of the Cathedral of Winchester, Mr. Sanders was fortunate enough to discover "the original grant, abounding in curious information, of the great fair of St. Giles, at that time one of the most important in Europe, to the Bishops of Winchester by Edward III." An unknown contemporaneous copy of Nicholas Trivet was also unearthed; and at Southampton Mr. Sanders came upon a copy of the "Laws of Oleron," variously ascribed to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and to her son Richard "Cœur de Lion." Mr. Sanders' remarks on the disappearance of many invaluable charters are worthy of reproduction; he writes:

It is unfortunate that in the course of years-in some cases very few in number-the Anglo-Saxon charters once possessed by various cathedrals have disappeared. Worcester, at one time very rich in them,

possesses now but one, and that imperfect and only recently restored to the Chapter House. Eleven fine charters, printed by Thorpe, from the originals at Rochester, are no longer to be found there. Others, which, so recently as the period of the publication of the Codex, are there referred to as being then in existence in different cathedral collections, are gone; and one instance has come to my knowledge of a remarkable charter having disappeared within a much shorter time; while another, of great interest from the locality to which it refers, belonging to the same

repository, is also absent. Of the nine charters

quoted by Wanley as belonging then to Wells, none remain; and that which is now there is not one of those, and has nothing to do with either the diocese or the county.

Thus it would seem that our earliest and most precious charters are as little cared for as many of our old parish registers; their custodians (?) are apparently anxious that the inevitable theory of the "survival of the fittest" should receive, if possible, further illustration in quite a new field, however detrimental this might prove to historical research.

The printing of a new edition of the black-letter Prayer-Book of 1636, was completed in August, 1879.

66

Mr. A. C. Ewald's valuable "Calendar of the Norman Rolls" occupies nearly 150 pages of the Appendix. The rolls now calendared continue the series published by Sir Thomas Hardy in his "Rotuli Normanniæ." Hitherto, Carte's selected entries were the only ones known to the searcher, but in the present Calendar" the entire contents of every roll are set out. The entries on these rolls are of a very varied description, furnishing as they do the details of the royal Acts in connection with the conquest of Normandy by Henry V. Those who submitted to the conqueror remained unmolested on their estates, and obtained new grants or confirmations of the same. The Norman knights and gentry who, on the other hand, refused to do homage to Henry, had their estates confiscated, and the parcelling out of the lands of these rebels occupies a considerable portion of the "Calendar." Grants of office are very numerous, prominent among these being the Ushers and Serjeants of the Pleas of the Sword (placita spada), the verderers, and sergents dangereux (officials appointed to collect the money payment made by forest

tenants for leave to plough and sow in time of pannage), the water bailiffs, and the destroyers of wolves. As might be expected, these rolls abound with information respecting the religious houses and their possessions. Mr. Ewald furnishes a full list of the most important houses to which reference is made, as also a most useful one of the ancient names of the towns and districts placed in juxtaposition with their modern equivalents. We cannot do better than to give our readers a few examples taken at random from this well-digested "Calendar" :

May 2, 6 Hen. V.

Caen.

A proclamation to the effect that the quarries yielding white stone in Vaucheulles and Callix and their neighbourhood belong only to the King, and are to be worked for the building and repairing of the churches, houses and fortresses of the King in England and Normandy.

July 13. Safe conduct for John Deboriquelont 6 Hen. V. coming in quest of the horses of William de Sandonville and Raullin Normant.

April 26, Mandate to William Benart to obtain 6 Hen. V. workmen and carts for the laying out of the King's garden in the Castle of Caen.

Nov.10,

Commission to Geoffrey Fitzhugh, Walter

6 Hen. V. Sandes, William Hodeleston, and the Vicomte of Falaise, to punish all brigands now imprisoned or who shall be imprisoned in the Castle of Falaise, according to the laws of the Duchy of Normandy and the regulations laid down for the discipline of the army.

Feb. 26,

Appointment of John des Haies as

6 Hen. V. keeper of the conies of the châtellerie of Arques.

Noteworthy in the grants included in this Calendar is the variety of the Petit Serjeanty services; thus, we have swords, pole-axes, lances, daggers, bows, sheaves of barbed arrows, cross-bows, belts for coats of mail, gilt spurs, plated gauntlets, gilt shields, coats of mail of pure iron chain, and basinets, among the articles to be yearly rendered to the king by the various grantees. Others provided banners with the arms of St. George, nosegays of red roses, chaplets of marjeroms, pounds of pepper, garters, fleurs-de-lys, gold rings, sparrow-hawks, or horns, and Walter Hungerford, Steward of the Household, held his Castle and Barony of Hommet by homage and rendering yearly to the King a lance with the brush of a fox hanging therefrom. At p. 798, under date September 12 (7 Hen. V.), we notice an entry, which closely resembles an early "brief," to wit, a "safe conduct for the four persons selected to travel in quest of relief for the town of Gisors."

Space will not permit us to do more than to mention the voluminous Calendar of the Exchequer. Depositions by Commission, embracing the reigns of William and Mary, Anne, and George I., prepared under the superintendence of Mr. J. J. Bond. We would only suggest that this new information, collected so laboriously, should at least be made somewhat more consultable by the addition of an Index of Places. Without such a referential aid, the searcher would be a bold one who would care to attack these 670 pages of small letter-press. In conclusion, we must not omit to notice the contents of the second appendix; Mr. Bird has here provided us with what may be not inappropriately considered as an official guide to the various records now deposited in the Public Recor This list of Calendars, Inanged in alpha order, with an alarr y of ical e of have

Reviews.

The History of Yorkshire: Wapentake of Gilling West. By General PLANTAGENET HARRISON. Illustrated with 58 Views and 174 Pedigrees. 600 pp., large folio. 1879. (London and Aylesbury: printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney.)

ENERAL HARRISON claims to have exclusively compiled this history from the hitherto almost unread and unpublished Rolls pertaining to the various courts and offices which have existed since the Con

quest, and now collected together in the Public Record Office.

Putting aside "Domesday Book," which stands alone among our public muniments, the principal classes of these records continue in almost unbroken lines from the reign of Henry II. down to the present time, but are still almost unknown except to a few ardent and

painstaking antiquaries. Foremost among such records productive of information for the county historian stand the Pipe Rolls, Test of Fines and the bulky De Bánco Rolls.

General Harrison has most laboriously traced not only the original landowners, but their descendants, and in many cases has connected them with "Domesday Book" in elaborate pedigrees-173 in numberwhich must be of great value to those more immediately concerned, and to the legal profession at large, as well as to others interested in the history of England. The author's sketch of the history of Great Britain commences with a far earlier date than that which generally obtains-viz., with the mythical period of lived in the time of "Serriq," the great-grandfather "Eric," King of the Goths-who is stated to have of Abraham, or about 160 years after Noah!-whose colonies extended to these islands, and remained independent until subdued by the Romans, who held the land for upwards of 400 years, when the "Picts" and "Scots" took possession, being in their turn driven out by the "Angles," under Hengist and Horsa, about A.D. 449, whilst another branch from Hanover in A.D. 495, under "Cerdic," came over and founded the kingdom of Kent about the beginning of the seventh century. The Scandinavians, speaking the same language, conquered the North of England, and in A.D. 794 King Lodbrok, of Denmark, made an ineffectual attempt to do so, but his sons, subsequently landing at Hull, were more successful, and Toor was proclaimed King of Northumberland, which soon became almost entirely Danish. In the early part of the eleventh century that kingdom was broken up and divided into Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, Cumberland and Northumberland.. Harold, King of Denmark, then invaded England and was defeated by King Alfred; but the Danish kings continued to secute their claim, and "Sweyn," the great-grandof Harold, conquered the country and was promed king in A.D. 1014. He was succeeded by son, "Canute the Great ;" and subsequently William Conqueror, claiming as his descendant, fought the ttle of Hastings in 1066, and founded a dynasty sting until the death of Henry VI.