The paramount usefulness of history, with all its ramifications, as a branch of education has not yet met with a full recognition. The real position and dignity of history remains' still a subject of controversy. The point at issue is—whether history may be considered and studied as a science or not. In France and Germany the question has long been decided. In both countries distinguished writers have invested history with a scientific importance—with a preeminence in general education not readily accepted by the practical Anglo-Saxon. In Great Britain, several eminent historians do believe that there are necessary laws regulating the moral as well as the physical world; they believe that the same powers prevail in the moral movement of nations as in the physical world, and that the human as well as the physical world is subjected to invariable rules in its progressive, harmonious, irresistible movement and growth. But a much greater number of English thinkers, and, we believe, the public generally, maintain that humanity advances by a free effort and free will,—that the progress of nations does not advance subjected to invariable laws, and that consequently history cannot be considered as a science until these laws are discovered, proved, and established. They insist on the fact that physical science alone is possible, as material objects are inanimate, whilst a science relating to human actions is impossible, because a man is free, rational, and responsible agent.

He accounts of the city of Worcester are comprised in a series of foolscap folio volumes, commencing with the year 1540, from which time they are complete, with the exception of the twenty-two years from 1600 to 1623, and they exhibit the whole revenue and expenditure of the faithful city, as annually audited by the proper civic authorities. These ancient tomes throw much light upon historic events, which have had local effect, as well as upon customs and transactions more peculiarly confined to the citizens and their city, but many searches have been made by historians and antiquaries for information of the eventful period of the battle of Worcester, without any result beyond a few casual items which possess little direct interest. In another series of records, called “Chamber Orders,” possessed by the Corporation of Worcester, entries occur which relate to this stirring time so far as it affected the corporate body, but it is not with these I have now to deal. No doubt many records were abstracted by the troopers of Cromwell, as I find at the audit of 1652:—

“Item payed Steephen Fields, who had payed to a souldier to regayne some of the records that were taken out of the Treasurie 5 s.”

The civic state sword also seems to have disappeared, as £5 8s. 6d.

The locality bearing marks of military works near Dunblane is called Laigh Hill in the Ordnance map, though it is composed of several ridges and eminences. Curiously, however, the configuration of the ground is not delineated, though on the scale of six inches to the mile, but the neighbouring part all round is traced minutely. The situation is one of great natural strength, as it is surrounded by the loop of the river Allan, and by a small brook that runs into it opposite Mr. Wilson's woollen factory. The line of the Caledonian railway passes through it from south to north, and also divides one of the camp sites from the other, so that one may be called the east camp and the other the west one. From the appearance of the neighbouring rising grounds, which are all rounded and smooth, it is not unlikely that Laigh Hill, instead of being an aggregate of mounds, was at one time a single hill, if not a double one. With this idea in mind, it may be conceived that these works have been excavated out of the natural hills, and not erected, and therefore that the original rounded eminence of Laigh Hill has disappeared. This mode of constructing fortifications is visible in several old British strongholds, as at Sarum, Camelet, and Caterthun, where the aggers may be of such vast size as one hundred feet in width at the base and twenty-five feet at the top, and as many high. The supposed west camp is of an oval shape, and is contained in the loop of the river Allan; the northern face of its plateau rests upon the precipice overhanging the water.

There are few subjects in our country's history which are so enshrouded in mystery as the so-called conspiracy which was designed to place Perkin Warbeck upon the English throne. It is with great diffidence that I present the following account, which I have collected from various sources, being well aware that the subject is one which has occupied and baffled many of our ablest historians.

The historical reckoning of the years of the Christian era, according to the system introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the sixth century, differs to the extent of four years from the date which suits the words of the gospels, when we reckon the Christian year from Christmas day, (the 25th of December).

Of Latin aphorisms and proverbs versified by our English poets, Shakespere's dramas exhibit the largest display, and in looking over the list—though far from complete—of the manner in which the greatest of our poets availed himself of the knowledge of theancients, one cannot but be struck with the fact either that his knowledge of Latin must have been very considerable—though it was said of him that he knew little of Latin and less of Greek,—or that Latin aphorisms and proverbs had penetrated and enriched the vulgar tongue. But what is still more striking is the adorning which the proverb frequently receives from his masterly touches. He does gild the refined gold; he does give a sweeter perfume to the violet. If many of our best known poets have adopted and sometimes vulgarized the sententious outpourings of the sages of old, Shakespere seldom fails to bring them into the higher regions of song, and to ornament the naked natural beauty with wreaths and robes of honour.

In the seventh volume of his “History of Scotland,” pp. 365–6, Dr. John Hill Burton, Historiographer Royal, writes thus:—

“In baronial architecture and dwelling-houses there was a great advance between the Reformation and the Restoration. The French style of tall round towers or turrets with conical tops prevailed. In some instances the old square tower was surmounted with turrets and other decorations, and many dwellings were wholly built in the style of Chantilly and other great French châteaus. Of these there are a few fine specimens in Winton, Pinkie, Glammis, Fyvie, Castle Fraser, Craigievar, and Crathes. Heriot's Hospital is a curious modification of this style. It was designed by Sir Robert Aytoun, the poet, who evidently appears to have sought to bring the rambling picturesque character ef the French style into a rigid symmetry, like that which prevails in the classical styles. It may be said that the little corner turrets did not belong to his original plan. In this the towers were to be carried up into high abruptly shapen pavilion roofs, after the French fashion, as exemplified in the Tuileries. These petty turrets depart essentially from the rule that some useful end should be the object of all building—they are too small to serve as flanking works, or to be in any way of service to the main building.”

The Will of Sir Jerome Alexander, a parchment transcript of which is preserved in the Chief Probate Office, Dublin, is a document of more than ordinary interest; even with its cumbrous repetitions we owe no apology for producing it in full:–

“In the name of God Amen. I, Sr Jerome Alexander of the City of Dublin, one of the unprofitable servants of Almighty God, being of a perfect sound disposing memory, praised bee God, this three and twentieth day of March in the yeare of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord Charles the Second of that name by the grace of God of England, Scotland, Fraunce and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c. the two and twentieth, and hereby renounceing and admitting and declareing all former Wills and Testaments by mee at any time heretofore made to bee utterly void & of none effect, doe declare this to bee my last true Will and Testament in manner & form following and doe now soe declare it to bee. And first of all I resigne my soul into the hands of Jesus Christ my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, confidently trusting and assureing myselffe in by and through his onely merritts and mediation to receive life everlasting; and I doe hereby profess myselfe to dye as I have allways lived, a sonne of the Church of England, which is the most absolute and best forme of government in all the world,’ twere to bee heartily wished that it were practised in all the Churches of Christendome, and my body I commend unto the earth from whence it came to receive decent and comely buryall, without any greate pompe or ceremonies whatso-ever, not doubting but at the last day it shall bee raised againe and united unto my soule with it for to partake of immortall and everlasting happiness.

At the introduction of the Feudal system into England, Bristol (which was a walled town before the Anglo-Saxon period) contained several different fiefs; these were all included in the Honour of Gloucester, the Earls † or Consuls of which exercised over their province an authority that was regal in everything save the name.

Few nations can rival Italy in the surpassing interest of her annals. Her great capital has not ceased to influence mankind for two thousand years; and in the Middle Ages its power was twofold; all Western Christendom bowed before the Roman Empire and the Roman Church. But one and the same firmament could not hold these two great lights; the Pope and Emperor were grappling together in a deadly struggle for nearly two hundred years after 1076, though their warfare was sometimes broken by a truce.

Nicholas Tylman, one of the famous yeomen of Kent, whose yearly income passed into a proverb, being “somewhat sick in body, but of good and perfect mind and memory,” made his last will and testament on the 26th March, 1577. On the 6th of April he died. His executors seem to have been good and honest men, and would, there is little doubt, have carried out the instructions contained in his will, even if left to themselves. Fortunately for us, they were not left to themselves. At Faversham, the parish in which Tylman lived and died, was established a court, called “The Court of Orphans.” To this court all executors seem to have had to give an account; in other words, to render an inventory of all the moveable property in the possession of deceased persons at the time of death, with the values of the articles attached. These inventories were entered in the Wardmote Books, and so have come down to us.

Every century seems generally characterized by some pre-eminent feature or aspiration, or marked tendencies, the study of which deserves the special attention of the student of history, as they facilitate the comprehension of the general progressive movements of humanity. Thus the fourteenth century is conspicuous by its numerous popular insurrections, evincing the yearnings of the people and their efforts to obtain greater justice at the hands of their masters. They appear as follows:—Wilhelm Tell, in 1308; Jacques van Artevelde, in 1354; Rienzi, 1354; Marino Faliero, 1355; the Jacquerie, 1358; Michele di Lando, 1378; and Wat Tyler, 1385. Recent researches and documents have thrown a new light on those historical episodes of the fourteenth century, and on none more so than on the Jacquerie.

Iceland, which lies but ninety-five miles distant from the nearest part of the American continent, was well known to the merchants of Bristol, who traded thither in the early part of the fifteenth century.

During William Cannynge's second Mayoralty in 1450, King Henry VI. specially exempted that distinguished merchant by name in a treaty made with Denmark, which prohibited all other Englishmen from trading with Iceland.

The history of a small country town in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ought to present features of interest, not only to the student of our country's history, but also to the general reader. A good deal may be learnt from the poetical and prose writers of the time; but we all know that writings produced in the heat of political argument, or for representation on the stage, are almost sure to partake of a some-what artificial form. I need not say one word as to the peculiar interest which attaches to this reign over other reigns. Perhaps, to speak truly, no reign possesses in itself an interest superior to another. For-one man the Tudor period possesses no attractions whatever, for a second the reign of Henry may have charms sufficient to render him oblivious even of the times when Henry's children sat in succession on his throne.

If any present or future historian consults the official Burial Register of Westminster Abbey for the date of the interment of the Princess Mary, third daughter and sixth child of King James I. and the Princess Anne of Denmark, he will find it to be the 16th of December, 1607. If he pursues his search, and resorts to the monument erected to her memory in Henry VII.'s Chapel, he will find it distinctly recorded on the marble that she died on that day. If he then examines the contemporaneous histories of that period, and especially the minute details and social gossip contained in certain trustworthy correspondence, which has been preserved and become a part of history, he will inevitably, and with perfect justice, arise from their perusal with the conviction that the royal parents were, as parents, devoid of the ordinary instincts of humanity, and as sovereigns lost to all sense of common decency; and that the Court by which they were upheld, and the nation by which their conduct was tolerated, must have been in a state of the most gross and outrageous immorality.

There is no greater commonplace in English history than the assertion, that the old Aristocracy was destroyed by the Wars of the Roses. The object of this paper is to inquire, whether the vulgar opinion be well founded or not.

The old English peerage of the Feudal age may be divided into two classes: the upper class will comprise Dukes, Marquises, and Earls; the lower class, all noblemen beneath the degree of Earl. There are about twenty-seven great historic houses that belong to the former division, if we adopt a fair test for the term “Historic House,” and exclude from it all those families which have not held an Earldom in the male line continuously for at least one hundred years, or thereabouts, before the Reformation. The greater part of these twenty-seven houses derived their chief importance from the Norman Conquest, though very few of them obtained their Earldoms from the Conqueror himself. The wars of King Stephen's days, seventy years later, gave birth to many titles renowned afterwards in English history. The Thirteenth Century was the period in which the Historic Houses mainly gathered their laurels. They wrested the Great Charter from King John, they bent John's feeble son to their will, and (boldest act of all) they stood unflinching before John's mighty grandson. French and German houses may boast of doughty feats in wars abroad; English houses have achieved far more glorious results at home. But Time was doing his work upon them all. The Earls of Albemarle had died out so early as the Twelfth Century, and four great historic Earldoms dropped in the Thirteenth.

Several centuries before the introduction of surnames, and its adoption as a family designation, the name of Roger was common over Europe. It is still to be found, both as a Christian and a family name, in most of the continental countries. In France it is spelt Roger; in German Roger and Rüdiger; in Norway Hrodgjer and Ruadgjer; in Spain Rogerio; and in Italy Rogero and Ruggiero. According to Miss Yonge the name signifies “spear of fame” it had been originally granted in meed of renown—in reward of heroism. The name became pre-eminently Norman.