The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-22

himself hnds place amdE the remembered
dead before their pages Gle. This juxtapo-
sition of life and death is sectiag. 1t is as it
were seeing venerable fo1p sculpturing out or
freshening the memorial fome loved friend,
and then meeting his gravelst little further
on, newly dug and soddedover There are
here related many inciden illustrating the
manners and customs of ear and later times,
sprightly anecdotes, encount,s of keen witted
men, the graphing of mindshat swayed the
empire of literature and thdght among our
grave forefathers, whose tired was with the
dignity of conscious power, add who yet could
often unbend to the infants pest for knowl-
edge. The last of the gene tions of fthese
worthless have almost disappears But it will
be long before the characteristics of their
mighty impress will have bee worn away,
even amid the collisions of an ate of untiring
excitement; and while their contrys history
shall stand to tell to posterity What God has
wrought for us, will, too, the memory Of the
instruments he chose for his wondrous works of
Providence, in our welfare, go down from age
to age.
| NSSS 'OAouACo1 ohhu IHOSo ludI are 10 lOhO"
them, will help in this desirable end, and years
hence, (may it be many yet, when their author
and compiler himself is remembered among
the honored dead, will his labors be best sp.
! preciated, and some successor in his path will,
do doubt, place his name, too, in future edi-
ton, greatly enlarged, of the Annals of the
American Pulpit. The work is printed in q
neat style, and we trust that the toll bestowed
upon its preparation will meet with generous
patronage from discerning public.
By f 5. Greasy, NJ. A, &c. Third Edition. Revised,
with additions. New York d. Appleton Co For
sale by r. Farnham, Washington d. c.
This is a book which deserves an attentive
perusal and more than this, too, it should be
carefully studied and pondered Originally, it
appeared as small pamphlet, and with a
specific political object. Its authors, however
saw fit TO enlarge it, and make it more perma
nent as well as useful and this third edition
now has the stamp of learning and close re-
search. The origin of that glorious old instru-
ment, the Magma Charta, and its development
into the British Constitution, whose elements
OhOCi iIitO tNcIy civil CONSTITUTION since formed
where the English language is spoken, is mar
rated, and its subsequent revision and confirma.
ton noted from one period to another, together
with great variety of other information, re-
lating to the language and laws of England.
book like this is worthy of much more ex-
tended notice than we can give to it. All we
can do will be to glance at a few of the items
of Importance, recommending our readers to
acquaiut themselves with the varied facts which
the author in his researches has presented,
bearing on the topics that fall under his obser-
walton. AS to the question respecting the orr
gin of the Anglo-Saxon nation, or how far the
original Celtic race had any influence on the
English language, &c, our author adopts 20.
sition leaning rather to DIR. Arnold, than to
Sir Francis Palgrave. DR.. Arnold did not ad-
NIT that this influence was very important, and
Mr.. Greasy says that there are about thirty
words only in the English language of Celtic
derivation which cannot be traced as subse-
quently introduced from Scotland or Ireland
These words, he thinks, relating for the most
part to feminine employments, and correspond
ing to the situation of the state of women in a
conquered nation, show that of the ancient
British race the males were probably nearly
all destroyed by the Saxon conquerors, while
the women were taken as wives or drudges. Az
TO tho genoSI uitu,:tion Of the people in Anglo
Saxon times, he says that probably no very
large portion of them were in state of absolute
slavery. Those who were so, were called
TheOW, Esne, or Thral. Most of these were
composed Of the conquered Britons afterwards,
too, of others, punished for crimes The bulk
Of the people were freemen, called Corls and
Thames. Any Corl who could acquire defined
amount of landed property could become a
Thane, or noble. The country was divided into
towns, whose chief officer was Gesefa, or
ReeUe, whence our word sheriff. The Thane
was the lord of the township.
Mr.. Greasy enumerates the kinds of officers.
and modes of justice prevalent at that time,
with considerable detail. AS to the population
of England at the Norman Conquest he states
it at one and half to two millions. OF these.
probably one hundred thousand were DESTROYED
blythe Normans, and many more driven into
exile. William the Conqueror's army consist
ed of sixty thousand men, of whom fifteen
thousand fell in the fight. Besides these. how.
ever, there were a number of attendants. as
usual, on an army; and Mr.. Greasy saws that
probably during that monarch's reign as many
as two or three hundred thousand more Normans
came into England. By the time of John, the
total population amounted to two millions.
In reference to the feudal system, it is our
authors opinion that there was little of it in
England before the Norman conquest. 1t did
prevail in Normandy, and no doubt was there
introduced. In the time of John, it is asserted
that one half of the whole population were in a
state OF slavery 1t was against this tyrant, as
our readers we'll know, the stand for their lib
critics was taken, by the Barons and others, led
on by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canter-
bury; and On the 18th of June, 1915, one
hundred and forty.nine years after the Nor
man conquest, and seven centuries and half
after the reputed era Of the landing of the
first OF our Saxon ancestors in the Island, they
met the king on the field of Runnymede, and ex-
torted from him the ever-memorabe Magnn
Charta. Mr.. Greasy gives this document in
full, as well as various papers relating to it,
and the more perfected instrument, "made in
the ninth year of King Henry the Third, and
confirmed by King Edward the First in the
fve-and,twentieth year of his reign" He
states the principles for which the contest
was waged, and the liberties secured by the
Magma Charta, and "the vigorous develop.
ment' of which "was aided and attested in