cundum, vel tertium melius; et in quibusdam nihil: et ideo consideranda est consuetudo loci"."" ALETHES, Altogether an interesting account, and your Churchmen of those days evidently looked well to the main chance! But was the corse-present the same with the mortuary? 6 EUBULUS. I lament to say that canons exist which forbid exactions at funerals. Human nature is the same in priest and peasant! Let this be an answer to the former part of your remark; but observe at the same time that the Church was ready to correct herself and prune her own vines,— Ut vineta egomet cædam mea! With reference to the question, as to whether the corse-present and the mortuary were one and the same, there is a difference of opinion. Selden and Blackstone think they were. Cowel, in his Law Dictionary,—a very curious and valuable work, notwithstanding any original defect,—says that the mortuary took this name after the Conquest. Stillingfleet, "Of the Duties and Rights of the Parochial Clergy,” argues that the mortuary was a settled payment, whereas the corse-present was a free oblation. The volume is on the shelf, and I will read the words. "That the prevailing custom became the standing law as to mortuaries appears by Statute of 21 Henry VIII. c. 6, which limits the payment where the custom continued, but allows liberty of free oblations. And this free oblation was then called cors presente, and was distinct from the mortuary, in lieu of tithes, as appears by the instances in Sir W. Dugdale'." I may remark, by the way, from Cowel, that mortuaries, "by custom, in some places of this kingdom, are paid to the parsons of other parishes, as the corpse passes through them." 5 Bracton, lib. ii. c. 26. Flet. lib. ii. c. 56. 6 Selden, Hist. of Tythes, p. 1223. 7 See vol. i. p. 249. Ed. 8vo. 1698. Cowel, Law Dictionary in v. 66 Mortuarium." In Du Cange the Mortuary is called a Canonica portio,-but I cannot make good his reference in my copy of Martene. His words are (in v.) "quod jus Canonica portio dicitur in Statutis Eccl. Cadurc. apud Martene, tom. iv. Anecdot. col. 736." ALETHES. 66 Before we quit the point let me ask the meaning of the term principale legatum." Is it not applied to a mortuary? EUBULUS. It is; and is so used in a Constitution of Archbishop Winchelsey in Lyndwood. The words there are: "In petitione autem principalis legati volumus quod consuetudo Provinciæ cum possessione Ecclesiæ observetur; ita quod Rector Ecclesiæ, si fuerit, vel Vicarius, in petitione suá, vel Capellarius annuus Deum in petitione illa habeat præ oculis." On which Lyndwood remarks, "Istud alibi dicitur mortuarium suprà de consue. c. i., hìc verò vocatur Principale Legatum, quia decedentes solebant, et in quibusdam partibus adhuc solent, optimum vel secundum optimum suum animal primò, et ante cætera legata Deo, et Ecclesiæ pro animâ suâ legare "." His remarks on the latter words of the Constitution are in accordance with the Canons I above referred non enim decet, ut viri Ecclesiastici sint improbi exac 66 to; tores. ALETHES. Are mortuaries still recoverable where they have been used to be given? EUBULUS. Yes; by the statute of Circumspectè agatis, 13 Edw. I. Stat. 4. But on this head I would refer you to the new edition of Burn's Ecclesiastical Law; a useful, though ponderous and expensive work. ALETHES. You did not say what was the worthy old clerk's difficulty. EUBULUS. It was this. A woman-(a good woman she was !)-had died possessed, in her own right, of landed property, her husband still surviving; but the property passed to her two sons. The clerk wished to know whether the mortuary was payable now. 8 See Lyndwood, Provinciale, lib. iii. tit. 16. p. 196. The following instance is given by Cowel in v. Principal. Item lego equum meum vocatum le Baygelding, ut offeratur ante corpus meum in die sepulturæ meæ, nomine Principalii. Ult. volun. Johannis Marclefield, Hen. V. Selden quotes a similar instance, p. 1223, F ALETHES. And what was your reply? I am sure I could not have answered the question. EUBULUS. I think it is Bishop Hall says in his Satires, "And clever clerks but wooden lawyers ben." However, I recollected the Constitution of Simon Langham, which says, "Quodque si mulier viro superstite obierit ad solutionem mortuarii minimè coerceatur,” and, as Heene and Tarring are Peculiars of the Archbishop of Canterbury, I acted upon it, and told my old chronicler that no mortuary would be due till the death of the husband. May the good man live long! ALETHES. I am glad the old clerk chanced to come in. I know more about mortuaries than I ever knew before. And now, Eubulus, let us turn to Selden. What are your opinions as regards that great man? EUBULUS. Formerly his name was never mentioned without the affix of "the learned," and amongst those competent to give an opinion he must ever be called the learned Selden! Ben Jonson, in his Epistle to Master John Selden, spoke of him as he deserved :— "Monarch of letters! 'mongst the titles shewn Of others' honours, thus enjoy thy own1." 66 ALETHES. I recollect that epistle well, and will read it over again this night. I see rare Ben on the shelves of those old Dramatists you value so much as the best teachers of the English language. But tell me, were he and Selden so intimate? EUBULUS. They were, as we may judge from a passage in his "Titles of Honour," to the first edition of which work (1614) the epistle 9 Lyndwood, ut suprà, lib. i. tit. 3. p. 21. The date is A.D. 1367. 42 Edw. 3. 1 Ben Jonson's Underwood. Works, vol. viii. p. 364. Ed. Gifford. "Ben above referred to is prefixed, and with these words, Jonson to his honoured friend, Master John Selden." Gifford did well to adopt the lines of Cleveland as the motto in his titlepage :— "The Muses' fairest light in no dark time, The wonder of a learned age; the line Which none can pass; the most proportion'd wit, To Nature, the best judge of what was fit; ALETHES. What is the passage you refer to in the "Titles of Honour ?" EUBULUS. Ben Jonson had requested his friend to investigate the origin and history of the title, Poet Laureat, and he introduced it into this extraordinary work. Selden concludes the subject in these affectionate words. "And thus have I, by no unreasonable digression, performed a promise to you, my beloved Ben Johnson (sic). Your curious learning and judgment may correct where I have erred, and add where my notes and memory have left me short. You are 'Omnia carmina doctus Et calles mython plasmata et historiam ".'" ALETHES. It is pleasing to meet with these literary notices. Oftentimes they show the writers in their truest light. In words like those above quoted he seems softened, and the uneven ruggedness of style is chastened. EUBULUS. I suspect it was Selden's love for Ben Jonson which caused Gifford to express himself so favourably. Gifford, you know, was 2 Titles of Honour. The Second Part, vol. iii. p. 466. What appertains to the Title, Poet Laureat, will be found in c. i. § xlii. xliii. It was amongst the privileges of the Count Palatine to confer this Title. in the habit of writing pettishly. But he was an excellent critic nevertheless, and I respect his memory for that noble and open declaration against impiety and blasphemy, in his Memoirs of Ben Jonson,-if for nothing else 3. ALETHES. But as I wish to know more of Selden on the present occasion, let me hear what Gifford says. EUBULUS. 66 The passage I refer to is in the foot-note to the epistle you purpose reading. It is as follows; and it embodies my own sentiments, which you seem anxious to be possessed of. "Selden's life was useful, and his death instructive. He was drawn in by the crooked politics of the times in which he lived, but he escaped from them to his studies at every convenient opportunity; and though he might be sometimes dissatisfied, he was never factious." ALETHES. 'Tis an honourable testimony. But I think I have gathered from your remarks at different times, that it was Selden's learning rather than his other parts that most attracted your attention. EUBULUS. I was afraid you were about to say admiration! My attention has indeed been called to his learning, and I am contented to sit at his feet as a scholar. But mere learning, Alethes, has never attracted my admiration-in the better sense of the word. Unchastened, it is a mere worldly possession, and will perish with the using. All is not gold that glitters! It is an almost forgotten poet that thus attunes his lay! 3 "I know the importance of fidelity; but no considerations on earth can tempt me to the wanton or heedless propagation of impiety. I have always regarded with feelings of peculiar horror that fool-hardy accuracy which with blind and bold irreverence ferrets out every blasphemous word, which the Author's better feelings had thrown aside, and felicitates the reader on the pernicious discovery. More than one Editor of our old poets might be named-but ignoti altâ jaceant nocte." Memoirs of Ben Jonson, vol. i. p. clxxxviii. It was proved that the players themselves introduced oaths without the knowledge, and, of course, without the authority of Ben Jonson. |