who came by virtue of their office, or were sent to represent their brethren in the borough magistracy, who were unable themselves to attend; and he thinks that the expedient of authorizing a person not bearing office, to appear as a deputy on behalf of those who did, would be easily suggested, and would thus approximate to something like the modern system of parliamentary representation. All this seems feasible; but we are not warranted to conclude that there was anything fixed and definite in the modes of representing these boroughs; we should suppose that they were rather irregular, and were shaped by local, and even accidental circumstances.

As to the appearance, the classes of population, and the internal economy of the Saxon towns, we have more precise information. Almost all the buildings were of wood. Hence the complaint in King Edward's charter to Malmesbury Abbey, that the monasteries of the realm were to the sight "nothing but wormeaten and rotten timbers and boards." Yet there were some edifices of stone at an early period; witness St. Wilfred's church, at Hexham, built A.D. 674, of which an elaborate account is preserved, written by prior Richard, in the twelfth century. The churches built of stone were probably of a simple form, resembling some of our oldest parish churches, with a nave and chancel, and sometimes side aisles. In cases where timber was employed, there was, perhaps, more of decoration. We read of glass

windows in the monastery of Wearmouth, as early as the seventh century: but, as late as the time of Alfred, they must have been very uncommon; for, when the ingenious monarch tried to measure the time by burning candles, they so flared about in the wind, which came rushing through the lattices of the apartment, that he made horn lanterns to shelter them from the blast. Chimneys were luxuries unknown, the fires in the houses being made in the centre of the floor, over which there was generally an opening in the roof to allow the escape of smoke; and when the fire went out, or the family retired to rest, the place in which it was made was closed by a cover. What must have been the state of the highways in provincial towns, may be conjectured from the wellknown fact that, in the eleventh century, the ground in Cheapside was so soft, that when the roof of Bow Church was blown off, four of the beams, each twenty-six feet long, were so deeply buried in the street, that little more than four feet of the timber remained above the surface.

The internal appearance of the Anglo-Saxon dwellings of the higher class, according to the researches of antiquaries, exhibited some advance in the cultivation of the arts. Let us enter one of them.-The walls are hung with silk, embroidered with gold, the work of Saxon maidens, who, like the damsels of Israel, produce divers colours of needlework." Chairs and benches may be seen in the apartments,

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adorned with carvings of the heads and feet of lions, eagles, griffins. They are of wood, and some of them are adorned with precious metals. The tables are of a similar description. You see them spread with cloths for the approaching meal, and furnished with knives, spoons, drinking horns, cups, bowls, and dishes. Lamps, and other vessels of glass, though rare, are not unknown; and silver candelabra, and candlesticks of various descriptions, adorn the rooms. There are also lanterns of horn, and mirrors of silver. The Anglo-Saxon bedsteads resemble cribs, or cots, and are furnished with beds, pillows, bed-clothes, curtains, sheets, and coverlets of skin. The luxury of a warm bath, too, may be obtained. Stepping into the kitchen, you have ovens and boiling vessels, and yonder is a cook, dressing some meat. He is thrusting a stick, with a hook at the end, into a caldron, which stands on a four-legged trivet, within which the fire is made. The roast meat is brought up to the table by the servants, upor spits, the guests cutting off such portions as they please.*

The Anglo-Saxons are addicted to the pleasures of the table; and to their lasting dishonour be it said, "that excess in drinking is the common vice of all ranks of people, in which they spend whole nights and days, without intermission."+ A number of men and women prepare the wine chamber, the minstrel Pictorial History of England, i. 323 + William of Malmesbury,

sings his lay, the hall games follow, and the drinking cup goes round the festive circle.*

Let us walk through the streets of an AngloSaxon town of the largest class, and look at the different orders of the population. The greater number of persons we meet with are the Saxon ceorls, or churls. The Domesday-book speaks of some who belonged to the class of ceorls as "liberi homines." Some of these are freemen: others, though they have personal rights, and are under the full protection of the laws, are notwithstanding bound to the soil on which they live and labour. They form a peculiar class of vassals, being under certain obligations to their lord, yet having a property in the land they till. These churls constitute the commonalty of the country, in distinction from the nobles, or eorls. The weregild, or compensation for murder, so common among the Germanic nations, who overthrew the Roman empire, and forming an index of the social position of different classes of the community, values the life of a ceorl at two hundred shillings, and that of an eorl at twelve hundred. These churls are labourers, artisans, and traders, of varios descriptions; they wear a woollen tunic, descending to the knee, with a collar round their necks. The legs of some are naked; but most wear shoes. Certain of these passers-by wear bandages, or cross garters, commonly red or blue, above their ancles, and round the calf. From the shoulders

* Poem of Beowulf. Piet. Hist. 337.

of the better sort, you may also notice short cloaks, about the same length as the tunics. Their long hair, profuse beard, fair complexion, and light eyes, evince their Teutonic origin; while their countenance and bearing seem to proclaim that they belong to an intelligent and freeborn race. Yonder goes a Saxon eorl, alderman, or thane. He is of gentle blood, and has a place in the witenagemote, or national assembly: persons of his class are lords of townships, and are assessors in judgment with the bishop and the sheriff, in the well-known county courts, which form the palladium of Saxon justice. Just by him there walks one of the inferior nobility, or lesser thanes. The dress of these parties distinguishes them from the common multitude. The same in form, it is costlier in material. and ornament. The tunic is of rich cloth, and embroidered on the border; the mantle is of silk, and lined with fur, with a large brooch fastening it round the neck. The women who are passing through the street wear a long garment with loose sleeves, over a kirtle, and their head-dress is made of a piece of serge, or silk, wrapped round the head and neck.

The clergy rank with the nobility; indeed, they form the highest order. Their office invests them with a dignity, which men in general revere. Even the world thane, as the nobleman is called, looks with respect upon the mass thane, or common priest, and treats him as an equal; while the greatest eorl gives