Reviews

217 ) REVIEWS. KENT KEEPERS OF THE PEACE. Kent Records: Vol. XIII-Kent Keepers of the Peace, 1316-1317. Edited with an Introduction by Bertha Haven Putnam, Ph.D., Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. [Pp. lviii + 146. Issued to Subscribers to the Records Branch, K.A.S. Headley Brothers, 1933.] Here we have yet another most excellent work on certain aspects of English medireval social economy as prevailing in our own county. The book consists of some 100 pages of Latin transcript which ought to be intelligible to any serious student of this subject, but far better than the Latin transcript are the preceding 48 pages of Introduction, and it is these Introductions which all we students need. The footnotes and the index are also excellent; and there are good facsimile reproductions of one of the original jurors' presentments and of its enrolment on the Assize Roll. We may find it a matter of regret that we who live in Kent have again had to wait for an .American scholar to decipher and describe these Kentish Records. We are glad enough to have the work ; we are only sorry that the author does not live in our own county. Some minor points are less attractive. Equally with Professor Neilson, our author quotes with approval from our own county historians, but both these ladies will reject the Kentish word "Lathe" in favour of "Last". This latter word occurs often in Professor Putnam's book. It is a most unfortunate choice, and as no capital letter is used, it is sometimes al.most confusing. Our author writes (p. xxx) ". . . in the number of the presenting jurors and in the 218 REVIEWS, system by which they were selected: the chief bailiff of the last chose two electors in each hundred . . ". For the moment one can almost conjecture that " last " is a slip for " latter ". Surely Lathe is a better selection. We also prefer "Lowy " to "Lowey" (p. xlvii) and " Dene " to "Denn " (p. xliv). Again, our author has credited her readers with rather more knowledge than some of them possess. In her first 28 pages, there are filteen references to the , Statute of Winchester, including the expression " With the content of the Statute of Winchester in mind ". It is not until page xxix that we are told that the first three Articles of the Statute are directed against any further increase of robberies, murders and burnings. Similarly, a line of footnote as to the meaning of words less frequently used, such as " Trailbaston " (p. xviii) and "Banlieu" (p. xlvii), would be appreciated, even by the general reader of Latin transcripts. " Array " (p. xvi) is carefully explained, but as regards " Insidiator viarum " (pp. x:xiii and xxvii) one is almost left with the impression that our author had not quite arrived at a satisfactory English equivalent. The English word " Highwayman " lacks the required suggestion of an ambush. After all, these are minor points, as is the statement (p. xlviii) that the whole of Marden Hundred was one of the Denes of the Weald. For the rest, we are given a transcript of early Rolls as to eleven Sessions of the Peace and two Sessions of Gaol Delivery of peculiar interest and rarity ; and the early development of the Justice of the Peace from the Keeper of the Peace is traced with a mass of detail new to most of us students. We must not forget the question of numbers. Kelly's current Post Office Directory gives for East and West Kent, excluding the Boroughs, a total of nearly 500 Justices. Hasted, writing in 1778, quotes (p. 0.1) their numbers as follows :-In 1596, 64: ; in 1625, 86 ; and in 1778, nearly 4:00, but this figure may include Borough Justices. Our author shows us that in 1316 there were only three Keepers for the REVIEWS. 219 whole county. We can fairly appraise the importance of the office at a ratio inverse to the number of those who simultaneously held or hold it. Other writers have shown us how our English villages gradually came to neglect their birthright of Home Rule and Self-Government in favour of those holders of the King's Commission of the Peace, within whose Petty Sessional Divisions such villages lay. Our author has furnished a new chapter-the earliest of all, illustrative of this gradual process. Our Records Branch is to be congratulated on this publication, but there is one concluding point which should be borne in mind. The list of new works on Kentish areas, such as the book in question, seems to be growing, and the material seems more and more to be drawn from the Public Records Office only. As a result, both Wye and Milton Regis are attaining a world-wide and exclusive celebrity which may be beyond their due. Early Records of other Kentish areas in private hands may be equally early and equally informing, though less accessible for the moment. It is high time that Kent had a County Record Office for the reception, preservation and study of all our early Kentish Manuscripts which are still in the hands of private owners. HERBERT W. KNOOKER. C.ALAMY REVISED. Oalamy Revised : Being a revision of Edmund Oalamy' s account of the Ministers and others ejected and silenced, 1660-1662. By A. G. Matthews, M.A., Oxford, at The Clarendon Press, 1934. Price 40s. Tms is a remarkable and more than that, it is an indispensable work for anyone who is engaged in historical research in his own county. The Ohurck Times describes it as having the accuracy of Crookford with the greater elaboration of the Dictionary of Natural Biography. If we say the synopsis of 220 REVIEWS. that Dictionary, it would be nearer the actual facts. One hundred and sixteen authorities are quoted in the list, there are six pages of explanations of these authorities, 552 pages of biographies, two appendices of addenda, one of documents and publications, and the other of additional biographical notes, twenty-seven pages of the Index Locorum, and six of the General Index. The writing is concise and most fair in its judgments. Calamy's original work was undoubtedly the basic power which kept the Nonconformist feeling antagonistic to the Church of England almost to our own time. It is commonly stated that 2,000 ministers were ejected. Deducting those who afterwards conformed almost exactly 1,600 was the number but from these should be deducted another 290 who were turned out because the lawful surviving owners of the livings returned to occupy them. Walker, whose great folio on the sufferings of the Episcopalian clergy is quoted frequently, rightly states that the hardships of these, about 3,500 in number, were far greater than those who in turn had to leave their livings. This is true but Calamy's remark is also true that the Episcopalian Exodus was in time of war and tumult whilst that of the Restoration period was presumably in one of peace and reconciliation. Of those imprisoned, eight ministers died and the observation is made that when troubles for conscience sake abound, some are sure to suffer more than others and the fact that eleven conscientious objectors during the war died in prison is noticed. But as this review is written more especially for Kentish readers the following points have been noted. Calamy states that his references to Kent are somewhat scanty as compared with those of other counties, especially the Midland and Northern. He gives the ejections in Kent as about eighty. George Hughes was the chief source of the Kentish biographies though a considerable amount of information came from the letters of Nicholas Thoroughgood of Monkton. REVIEWS. 221 The Index has 265 references to places and parishes under " Kent". As the book is in alphabetical order for names, there is no difficulty in finding either place or person. I have tested every one of these references and have not found a single mistake. A most remarkable fact and one that should give a first prize to the author. There are just over 600 pages of excellent print. The names in a larger fount so that they are easily picked out. I have looked up many Kentish names and compared the references to records in my own lists finding the facts exactly as stated. Among these was one to a Rev. Thomas Brague. He published a four page address to the inhabita.nts of Smarden in 1651. I could find no reference to him in all the great libraries, including Dr. Williams's, that last resource of the searcher when other libraries fail. The late Canon Westlake was so intrigued with the little paper that he wrote a delightful article on it, his last literary work. But even that, which appeared in a well-known paper, brought no evidence for Thoma.a Brague. But Oalamy Revised, not only tells us what Brague's activities in Kent were, but pursues him to his end and gives us his will and family dispositions. And this sort of thoroughness is characteristic of the whole book. Forster's and Venn's Alumni are quoted (no less than 1,285 of the ejected were 'Varsity men), the Bishops' records are searched, the Wills at Somerset House and other registries are carefully gone through, Parish Registers are looked up, county histories and parish histories yield their quota of information, in fact the list of authorities is such that it would help anyone who is going to do research work of a biographical kind to copy out the list for reference. In conclusion what is the general impression one gains from this book 1 First it is £air to all parties. It sets down ' nothing in malice but gives the facts as they are and it leaves a sense of completeness which to the student is most satisfying. And by this completeness is removed a considerable amount of that suspicion which one of the opposite camp was inclined to hold, when searching the older editions. F. WILLIAM COOK. 222 REVIEWS. DARTFORD. Dartford. Some historical notes written and collected by Sidney Kilwortk Keyes. Perry Son & Lack, Ltd., 20 Lowfield Street, Dartford. 727 pages medium octavo. 1933. Price £1 ls. THE writer and compiler of this volume has been at great pains to produce a complete book of reference to all matters relating to the history of Dartford, its buildings both old and modern, its ancient records, its industries and its inhabitants generally. Unfortunately, however, there is one serious omission and that is the absence of a good plan of the town, while that of the church has been so much reduced that it is of little value. The same must be said of the two plans dated 1829 between pp. 91 and 92. The ancient Parish Church of Holy Trinity is described in various articles, beginning with that of Canon Scott Robertson, reprinted from .Arch. Gant., 1889, XVIII, 383-98. Accounts of the numerous brasses, now fortunately relaid on the floor of the church, and for the most part in their original slabs, under the care and at the cost of the present Archdeacon of Tonbridge (a former Vicar), and under the supervision of Mr. Robert Marchant, are given, with various renderings of the difficult inscription on the Burlton brass. Details of the bells recast in 1917 are also given, and much information as to previous incumbents. On p. 84 the author asks what became of the original font displaced in 1826. Mr. Robert Marchant seems to be able to answer this by writing that when cleaning out the churchyard shed portions of an octagonal bowl of Purbeck marble with shallow arcading were found. These were thirteenth century in charaoter and so there seems little doubt that they were a part of the early font. Other churches of various denominations, together with schools, hospitals, almshouses and public and charitable institutions at large are also fully described ; with some details of the history of Dartford Priory. Reference is also made to the work of Mr. John Dunkin, the local antiquarian and historian of Dartford in 1844. REVIEWS. 223 Being on the Watling Street and the highway from London to Dover, Dartford was visited by a number of Royal and other distinguished persons, and their visits are recorded. The numerous industrial undertakings of the town are described at length, together with the principal events in its history. In short, the volume, which is copiously illustrated by photographs by our late Honorary Photographer, Mr. E. C. Youens, and others, should, though lacking sadly in its arrangement, prove a valuable book of reference to enquirers into the history of Dartford. F.H.D. COMPANION INTO KENT. Companion into Kent, by Dorothy Gardiner. Methuen&; Co., Ltd. 1934. pp. xiv. and 351, with 16 pui,tes. 8vo. 8s. 6d. MACMILLAN'S Highways and Byways Series was one of the first of a new type of county guide book to improve on the old gossiping guide which so often proved just a dull depository of facts, with all the really valuable features of a place ignored. A guide to a county such as one of Murray's Guides is a valuable compendium, but we are now getting more critical over our itineraries, and asking for literature as well as dates. M:rs. Gardiner, from her previous work, has proved that she can act both as guide and topographer. So now, in this latest of her ventures, she has taken us into nooks and corners of Kent, and given us the sayings and doings of long past generations in their homes and on their estates, and the observations and opinions of travellers and antiquaries, while she herself has discoursed on the features which still make noteworthy those chosen spots. Even a "bed-book," as this truly is, may be found wanting. We might therefore suggest that something in the nature of a pictorial map of the county should have been provided, not one with many folds which tears as it is opened ; and is never folded correctly again ; but just a double-page one. An omission seems to be that with all the sciences coming close to our daily life we find little reference to 224 REVIEWS. Geology, much as it influenced unknowingly our forefathers in their sites, and in the nature of their buildings. Certainly Bethersden Marble and Boughton Stone come into the story but we might expect more, even if it was only of the £1.iii.t which has been displaced by brick. Much is given us in this rich volume of quotations and lore, but the writer is disappointed to find no mention of Leeds Castle, and of Saltwood only its name. Did the chough really once inhabit the towering recesses of Canterbury Cathedral 1 If the attribution is correct he must have been driven away ages ago by those pestering jackdaws. On p. 45 we are delighted to find some notice of that curious underground cruciform chamber at St. Nicholas' Court, walled with hewn chalk like many old cellars, but with stone shafts and vaulting ribs at the intersection. It should be of fourteenth century date from the mouldings but at present the reason for its existence is a mystery. The blocked passage was clearly the original entrance but was closed when it was desired to make a way from inside the house. On p. 84 the words" outcrop" should be corrected to" outlier," and" ragstone" to "Folkestone stone." On p. 85 "walled grave" should be" wooden coffin," and" wrought" replaced by "cast." On p. lll there is a misprint of 1511 for 1611. But these and such like niceties are small matters in a book so full of rare quotation and description. Finally there are delightful illustrations and a short bibliography. W.P.D.S. KENTISH AROBITEOTURE AS lNFLUlilNOlilD BY GEOLOGY. Kentish Architecture as Influenced by Geology. By John Archibald, L.R.I.B.A., M.T.P.l. With Geological Map and 7 5 illustrations in the text. Ramsgate. The Monastery Press. 1934. Demy Svo. 2s. 6d. net. WE have here a thoughtful essay, based on a lantern lecture given by the author before the Society at its annual meeting on April 12th, 1934, with a charming and very apposite introduction by the Dowager Lady Northbourne.. REVIEWS. 225 No critical study of this nature has ever been attempted before so far as the writer's knowledge goes, and certainly the County of Kent has never been considered from this aspect. There are architectural surveys which have dealt with-for instance-the half-timber tradition of the Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, or the masonry craftmanship developed and fostered in the Cotswolds, but now our eyes have been opened to a new conception : to little features whose significance had been overlooked in the evolution of architectural design. In this book we have a sequence of buildings, first, those the architecture of which has been wholly influenced by the materials to be obtained in the immediate neighbourhood, secondly, by those showing traditional methods of construction, as in the case of the Roman walling at Richborough-a facing of small squared stones tied into a coarse concrete core by bonding courses of another material; thirdly, by instances of the need to make the walls of a building weather-proof by tiling or plastering; :fourthly, by oases of refronting an older house when fashion changed and, finally, the evolution to a more or less universal architecture as seen in brick building. Many features are due to perhaps foreign intercourse or the ease, when land transport for heavy materials was impossible, of carrying stone a long distance by water in place of hauling it a short stage by land. The book is pleasantly got up, and a marvel of cheapness with its many illustrations and its interesting pictorial geological map. An especial word of praise must be given to the choice of the subjects reproduced in the text although it has meant the use of a process paper throughout. Clearness of the matters dealt with might, in places, have been attained by compression, and there is some looseness in proof reading, e.g. at the bottom of p. 40. The list of books for reference also might have been longer, and dates of publication should have been added. The index again might with advantage have been fuller. If another edition is called for a table of the sub-divisions of the Lower Greensand might be given, and the importance 19 once held by the ironstone of the Lenham Beds at Paddlesworth stressed. Some indication of the age of the ironcemented flint brecchia (Coombe Rock) used in Westbere Church might also appear. The architect might also like to know of undoubted instances of the use of Spanish Chestnut in building, and would like to see it clearly stated that shingles were a cheap local and light material for covering spires, while the reason for a tile backing to :fireplaces and the use of brickwork, when it came in, for chimneys, was that these withstood heat better than stone. W.P.D.S. A SAUNTER THROUGH KENT. A SaunterThroughKentwi thPenandPe,ncil, VolumeXXVII, 1933. By Sir Charles lgglesden, F.S.A., "Kentish Express " Office, Ashford. 3s. 6d. THE fact that it has been possible to issue so far twenty-seven volumes in this series, intended not so much for the antiquary as for popular consumption, without any falling off in the interest of the places described, serves once again to emphasize the wealth of historical matter locked up in the towns and villages of this county. In this volume, which is devoted to Faversham, Davington, Birohington, and Bekesbourne, Faversham rightly preponderates, occupying fifty-two of the ninety-one pages of the book. Many descriptions of the ancient houses and other buildings in this historic town show Sir Charles Igglesden at his best, but when he proceeds to tell us of the great Abbey, of which so little is now to be seen, he is on less sure ground. He subscribes to the popular belief that a subterranean passage connected the Abbey with the Creek, though expert opinion has united in ascribing the underground works discovered near the Anchor Inn to part of the drainage system of the monastery. Another legend that dies hard is that all monasteries contained cells for the monks, and here we are told that such places existed in the Abbey of Faversham. The only English REV:rEWS. 227 monks who lived in cells were the members of the Oarthusian Order, and the system was quite contrary to the directions respecting the common life enjoined by the Rule of St. Benedict. No doubt there were prison cells in certain monasteries not following the Carthusian rule, like that at Fountains in which some long forgotten delinquent inscribed the words Vale libertas, but they were the exception rather than the rule. On page 29 of this volume is reproduced the well-known eighteenth century print of the remains of the Abbey, and in the text we read that the main building of the monastery is shown, with the gatehouse in the foreground. Actually the buildings shown are, on the left the parish church of Faversh.am, and on the right the great outer gatehouse of the Abbey, part of which still exists. The pretty little building in the foreground, with its conical roof, was the inner gateway of the monastery, and of this only part of one wall is visible at the present time. With regard to the main buildings of the house--church and cloister-seventeenth and eighteenth century writers tell the tale of destruction, and every vestige of this part of the Abbey has long since disappeared. The buildings formerly adjoining the outer gateway, including the Guest-hall, with a fine king-post roof, and a small chapel, are now, happily, receiving the care they deserve after years of neglect. The panelling which Sir Charles tells us is at Bourne Park is stated in Vol. XXXIV of Archr:eologia Oantiana to have been removed to Dorney Court, Bucks, together with a carved fireplace from the Guest-hall. Sir Charles admirably recounts many of the legends and historical incidents connected with Faversham, and in the course of his valuable notes on the parish church rightly insists on the desecration wrought by George Dance in the eighteenth century, when the nave was remodelled in the Tuscan style. Da"Vington, on the outskirts of Faversham, has been in the public eye in recent times through the :pur9h􀂞e of the 228 REVIEWS. Priory by the Central Board of Finance of the Church of England, whereby after four centuries the property has returned to ecclesiastical ownership. A full description of the Priory is given in these pages. The massive arch of the lavatoire in the cloister, described on page 57 a.s " one of Mr. Williment's unhappy embellishments" is actually original thirteenth century work, though one must own that it has been so surrounded with unsuitable modern additions as to have lost much of its character. An interesting and valuable account of Birchington, Quex, and Bekesbourne church, is followed by a reference to the Archbishops' house in Bekesbourne (here called a palace) which must be called in question. Archbishop Cranmer, we are told (page 89) determined to increase the size of the house, " and for this purpose demolished the partially-ruined Ford Manor at Hoath and used the material in the erection of a superb palace." This is hardly in accord with the elaborate description of the buildings at Ford made in 1647, or with the disregarded petitions of Archbishop Parker to Queen Elizabeth asking that Ford might be demolished and his " little house at Bekesbourne " enlarged. But these errors of fact, which the reviewer is in honour bound to notice, should cause no one to neglect this book, in which is so much of value and interest, painstakingly gathered. C.R.C. A SAUNTER THROUGH KENT. A Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil. By Sir Charles Igglesden, F.S.A. Vol. XXVIII, The Isle of Sheppey. 1934. pp. 97. "Kentish Express" Ojfice, Ashford. 3s. 6d. Tms volume continues the estimable work of a personal survey of the County which has been the author's delight for so many years. The same artist again accompanies him but we feel that the views depicted could· have been better interpreted by another hand. REVIEWS. 229 The volume before us is wholly occupied by an account of that island of London Clay which so suitably terminates the London Basin on the East. It is disappointing that the geologist has to look in vain for any mention of this clay, a matter of supreme importance from the rapidity with which the high cliffs of this most unstable of formations are being washed away. However, this destruction has its scientific compensation in the unsealing of a rich fossil semi-tropical flora of palms and other plants, with long extinct tortoises, crocodiles, snakes, crabs and other creatures which delighted in the calm waters of a great estuary. Certainly the pyrites (copperas), is very destructive, but then the superabundance of decaying life in these beds was the origin of the pyrites in the first place. While there is considerable unnecessary repetition, and old discarded theories still appear, the book is both a useful guide and a delightful repository of stories and legends connected with the island. Other subjects will probably attract other sections of readers. The architect will especially appreciate the mention of the mason's marks in Eastchurch church, built 1431, with its evidence of an,almost international masonic organization which had grown up by the fifteenth century, but he could wish, on reading about other details of construction, 'that the author was more architecturally minded. Is it correct to speak of an ancient piscina as "elegantly designed,'' corbels as "jambs," or roofs as " ceilings " 1 On p. 62 Court of Hastings must be a misprint for Court of Hustings. As to the word " hostelry " (p. 32), the writer has always understood that the word had a special meaning which could not bring it so low as to make it synonymous with a mere drinking den where there was no accommodation for man or beast. On p. 95 there is a quite unreasonable diatribe against that useful, albeit bloodthirsty, animal the stoat. Does the author really approve the keeper's gibbet 1 Rats and mice are vermin, rabbits only less so, and these are the principle food of that great hunter, the stoat, and his smaller cousin the weasel. In the account of Queenboroughit is stated that Hogarth's engraving, 230 REVIEWS. or more probably, etching, of the High Street shows it reversed. This must be due to the artist drawing his view direct on to the copper plate, which when printed from would naturally give a picture the wrong way round. W.P.D.S. SANDS, CLAYS AND MINER,U,S. Sands, O"laysandMinerals. Vol. II, Nos. I and II. February and August, 1934. (A. L. Curtis, Ohatteris, Oambs. 3s. 6d. each.) ALTHOUGH this is a technical magazine and so unlikely to come before many of the members, it, in addition to being published in an attractive format, includes in its articles several worthy of a wider public than those for whom it is produced. No. I has an article on" The Decay of Building Stones through Soot," which is much to the point in studying the decay of ancient buildings in towns. A second paper, "Knapping Flints, The Oldest Industry," is a very interesting account of the Neolithic flint workings at Grimes Graves, three miles N. of Brandon in Suffolk ; and the state of the modern gun flint industry. A mine in use at the time the paper was written is described, with the processes in the manufacture of the flints. Very few tools seem to be needed by the half a dozen knappers, which i􀂒 all the dying industry now supports. The sec0nd number· includes in its contributions one on the Australian Pearl Fishing Industry, and another ·on Old Stone · Cross Heads at St. Donats, Glamorgan, and at St. Michael's Mount and Breage, Cornwall. While there is little in these two numbers applicable to Kent the paper in No. II on "Limestones" by Dr. F. J. North, and that on" The Scientific Refinement of Whiting" closely affect the County as a source of chalk. It will be news to many that whiting-levigated chalk-may contain :fine sand, and that for many modern uses it is most important that this sand should be eliminated. The article describes some recently designed machinery by which this desired object is attained. REVIEWS. 231 HISTORY OF KNooKHOLT, KENT. History of Knockholt, Kent, by G. H. Marlow. Kentish District Times Go. Ltd., Bromley, 1934. 2s. AN invitation to write a short notice of a book is often taken to be an invitation to find fault with it if one oan. With Mr. Marlow's History of Knockholt, which can be 'obtained from him at Redcot, Halstead, I can find no fault. On the contrary, it seems to me exactly what a Parish History should be. Although I do not know Knockholt I find its history exceedingly interesting. A very obvious improvement, and one which the author himself would naturally like to have included, would be a map. This, of course, would have added to the quite nominal cost (2s.), but the history is worthy of it. The amount of skilled labour involved in compiling this short history must have been enormous, implying as it does the knowledge of where to look, what to look for, and, when found, the perusal and translation of many hundred documents, to say nothing of the work of extracting from them that part only which is pertinent to K.nockholt. As one of the general public for whom this history is written I sincerely thank Mr. Marlow for it. A vast amount of local history must have accumulated in the process of compiling this little book. I hope that Mr. Marlow will make use of it in writing similar histories of other places in the neighbourhood whose life story must be closely linked with that of K.nockholt. C.W.K. THE POSTHUMOUS MmAOLES OF KING HENRY VI. The Posthumous Miracles of King Henry VI. Edited from a MS. in the British :Museum by Paul Grosjean. 8vo. Bruxelles. Society of Bollandists, .1935. IN 1923 at the Cambridge University Press, Father Ronald Knox and Shane Leslie issued a book of the miracle& of King Henry the Sixth. It was a work of piety, for•both the 232 REVIEWS. authors owed something to the king's bounty and they were inspired by an earlier work of piety of that distinguished scholar, now Provost of Eton, Dr. M. R. James, F.S.A., who in 1919 edited John Blacman's life of the king, which was published at the same press. Now after ten years comes this work from the Society of Bollandists. It is a print of a manuscript fully described in the great Catalogue of the Royal MSS. published.by the British Museum authorities, Vol. II, p. 195, it being Royal MS. 13, C, viii. Of parts of this the book of 1923 was a translation. It is now edited by a Jesuit father with voluminous notes and prolegomena extending to upwards of 250 pages. The Jesuit order has always been distinguished by accurate and learned scholars and the present work will, if anything, add to the reputation of the order. It is all in the "language of gentlemen," while Knox and Leslie's excerpts were in the vulgar tongue with the Latin printed below. Now as to miracles of the sort here related mankind may perhaps broadly be divided into three kinds: (1) Those who will believe anything ; (2) Those who like Hume regard human testimony as so fallible a thing that it cannot justify belief in any miracle. These are described by Father Knox rather unhappily as " those who disbelieve ecclesiastical miracles on principle," and it may be supposed that he would desire to include in his words; (3) Those who think the evidence has to be weighed very carefully before coming to any conclusion. But it appears at once how difficult it is to discuss such things temperately and apart from any religious bias. The universal testimony about Henry VI is that he was regarded during his life by the common people as "simple," or not quite all there, and one knows how the " village idiot " is regarded in his village as being specially under the influence of angels or devils. So it is not surprising in any way to find that the King, though he was by no means a " village idiot," should be regarded as a saint by the common folk who were quite unable to appreciate the magnificence of REVIEWS. 233 his two colleges of Eton and Kings. That was past their understanding so they could not leave his fame securely founded on the rock of these glorious works. They must found it on the sands of these so-called miracles. But such was the spirit of the times and allowance must aJso be made for the way in which these tales had their inception, namely in English notes made of the testimony of those who came to visit the relics at Windsor where the dean, John Morgan, was eager to get material for a beatification which might divert to Windsor part of the stream of pilgrims then flowing to Canterbury. The Dean entrusted these notes to a scholar of good Latin erudition who has dressed them up and probably expanded them with a suitable collection of pious thoughts into their present shape. Their expansion has gone so far that they obviously bored Knox and Leslie and, lest their readers should also be bored, they were kind enough to omit certain passages they thought redundant. Few would question the wisdom they showed therein and your reviewer would be inclined to carry it still further. It has been pointed out that many miracles in the numerous collections of such things referring to various saints are in more or less common form. That would have to be considered if it were necessary to go into any discussion of the weight of the evidence. But in writing a review for archaeologists it is not necessary to go into that, for, true or false, these records can be read with interest because of the light they throw on the manners and customs of the people when the Wars of the Roses were raging. For this purpose we do not want them cut down. We want them-at full length. They are infinitely interesting as exhibiting what seem to be new and unheard of diseases which may or may not be the same as those that plague us in the twentieth century. As to these matters we here have the story in full in the original tongue printed verbatim from the original manuscripts. Finally we may note some of these histories which concern people living in ·Kent. It would be pleasant to do this at full length, bu t that cannot be. It must be sufficient simply 20 234 REVIEWS. to name the places, leaving those interested to consult the original pages of Father Grosjean. If they do so they will think themselves much obliged to him. The places then are: Adisham (Miracle No. 45); Canterbury ( No. 138); Cobham (No. 165); Cranbrook (No. 27); Harrietsham (No. 10); Higham-in-Patrixbourne (No. 131); Hythe (No. 166); Kennington (No. 115); Ma,rden (No. 12); Ryarsh (No.122); Sheppey (No. 111); Smallhythe (No. 97); Staplehurst (No. 161); Westwell (No. 1). Further there is an unidentified place Hynce (No. 100), said to be in Kent; also Sawndryche ( No. 42) probably Sundridge, as Dr. Gordon Ward thinks, and not Sandwich, an identification copied from Knox and Leslie. There is a piquancy in the fact that this MS. belonged to one of the English Martyrs, Cranmer. Probably he borrowed from its pages some of the babeuries he denounced. RALPH GRIFFIN. THE REV. JEREMIAH SMITH, 1653-1723. THosE interested in genealogy may like to have their attention drawn to notes on the above " man of Kent " and his descendants which appeared in Notes and Queries for November 3rd and 10th, 1934. They have since been republished in revised and amplified form, with the addition of an interesting synopsis, by their author Mr. L. G. H. Horton-Smith. The Rev. Jeremiah seems to have belonged to the family of Smith of Buckland, near Maidstone, and later of Boughton Monchelsea. Baptised at All Saints', Maidstone, in December 1653, he · was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1671, as "Jeremiah Smith of Kent." His connection with Kent seems to have come to an end with middle life, for somewhere about the year 1706 we find him as pastor of the Independent Chapel in East Street, Andover, Rants, whence he removed to London in 1708 or 1709 to become co-pastor and later sole pastor over the Presbyterian RECORDS BRANCH. 235 church or chapel in Silver Street there, and he eventually died when on a journey, at Aston in Berkshire. He became famous in debates concerning the Trinity and wrote to such point on the subject as to be worthy of inclusion in the "Dictionary of National Biography." David Bogue and James Bennett in their Hiswry of Dissenters (second edition, 1833, by James Bennett, D.D.) say that "Amidst the theological contentions of the year 1719 he stood forward the champion of the Trinity." W.P.D.S.