New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
NEW LIGHTS ON MEDIAEvAL ENGLAND

NEW LIGHTS ON MEDIAEvAL ENGLAND,
ooMEsrAY BOOK AND BEYOND: Three Essays
in the Early History of England. BY Frederie
William Maitland. IL D. Octave. PIP. KILL 02o
Boston, Little Brown Il Co
THE NATIONAL. MOVEMENT IN THE REIGN
OF HENRY III AND ITS ELIMINATION IN
THE BARON's WAR. BY Oliver H. Richard.
son. Duodecimo PIP. XIV 20 inc Mae'i''"'
Company. .
The circle to which DIR. Maitland's "p'mes-
dav Book and Beyond" makes It's appeal Is
necessarily limited. Only those measurably "a
miiar with the mooted points in English consu-
,ut,onal law can appreciate the full bearing OF
he Treatise Fer these readers he has gathered
,osether and Informally arranged vast num-
AAr 81 abstruse and technical evidences from
what "a perhaps the most abstruse and technl-
al Of all English records. the "Domesday BOOK.
90 careful has he been TO avoid even the suspi-
c,on of prejudice partisansh!p In histoficai
matters so intent has he been to collect Data
for his readers which they might securely
form their own opinions, that he mas given HIS
book the superficial appearance or peng UNI
edited. Out OF this material, at first appearance
inchoate, three conclusions or. "a least pausl-
bic hypothesis will after time. take toieraoy
definite shape One deals with the confusing
mas. which the early English made of their
degree of village communal prerogatives in the
management and control Of land. and one with
tho rights and restraints of the tillers Of the
soil. These hypothesis IT Is impossible TO ex-
plain adequately within a short compass, For
In the matter of economics the mediaval MIND
seldom formulated. and never thoroughly sys-
tematized Ideas Medieval methods Of dealing
with property were largely the results OF ira
dition imperfectly recorded. of unconscious
habit or of a tacit concession TO changing cir
cumstances and what such chance and vagaries
have complicated 1t passes human power TO
make simple and compact All that DR.. Malt
land has attempted to do has been TO make
some portions OF early English economics fairy
Ineligible The admirably impartial and yet
thoroughly human spirit in which he has ap-
preached his problems Is best indicated by MS
own words:
The history Of law must be history OF ideas.
1t must represent. not merely what men nae y,
done and said but what men have thought IN
bygone ages. The task of reconstructinS an
cent ideas is hazardous. and can only be &C
conplished little by little. Against many
kinds Of anachronism we now guard ourselves.
We are careful of costume. of armor and ar
chitecture, Of words and forms of speech But II
Is far easier TO be careful of these things than
TO prevent the intrusion Of untimely ideas. In
particular. there lies besetting danger for US in
the barbarians use Of a language which is too
and when committed they Will be fatal ana
fundamental mistakes. II, for example, we in
troducc the persona fcta too soon. we snail be
doing than II armed Hengist and
Horsa with machine guns or pictured the VEN
cradle Bede correcting proofs for the press; we
shall have built upon crumblins foundation
Had Mr. Richardson approached what he has
entitled the National Movement in the Reign Of
Henry III with Dr. Maitlands abnegation of
purely modern modes of thought, he would have
written a persuasive history. The assertion
which may be taken as the keynote of his vol
ume that "the road to permanent order and
freedom led through the disorders OF the
Barons' war 70 the establishment: Of a parlia-
mentary system" is indisputahiy true. To IL
lustrate and develop it he has collected a large
number OF pertinent facts and has cited page by
page many original authorities. His work.
modelled on the belief that history IS philoso-
ply. teaching by examples" is evidently the re-
. suit of painful research In his exposition OF
the general trend and destinies Of affairs where
they are divorced from purely personal Interests.
his work needs only grace OF style TO be great.
But In his charac terization Of Simon de Mont
fort and the English sovereign. the two principal
figures Of his history. he forgets that what is
finally effected through the efforts Of states
men-who after ALL are but rough hewers and
not shapers Of civilizaton-never comedies and
often is quite at variance with the purposes
they aimed for Whatever may be said OF meas
ures men can fairly be Judged only by the
lights OF their own age. not by those Of age
utterly unknown 10 them. The one difficulty
with Mr.. Richardson as expositor is the fact
that he is an American in the court Of King