332 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



holder, ' he requested to have it found.* The servant assures us 

 that he afterwards made use of these remarkable words ' I am full ; 

 do not take up my lid for fear of the steam, and mind how you place 

 me on the trivet/ Still, however, he expressed no sense of pain ; 

 and it is most extraordinary that he mistook the surgeon who attended 

 him next day for a tinker." 

 We vouch for the accuracy of this statement in every particular. 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



THE HISTORY OP THE BOROUGHS AND MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS 

 OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, PROM THE EARLIEST TO THE PRE- 

 SENT TIME, WITH AN EXAMINATION OF RECORDS, CHARTERS,, 

 AND OTHER DOCUMENTS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR CONSTITUTION 

 AND POWERS. IN THREE VOLS. BY HENRY ALLWORTH ME- 

 RE WETHER, SERGEANT- AT-LAW, SOLICITOR-GENERAL TO THE 

 QUEEN; AND ARCHIBALD JOHN STEPHENS,, ESQ M.A., F.R.S., 

 BARRISTER-AT-LAW. LONDON : STEVENS AND SONS, BELL- 

 YARD ; S. SWEET, CHANCERY-LANE j AND A. MAXWELL, BELL- 

 YARD, LAW BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS. 1835. 



OF all the social usurpations which the lapse of time, and the legal ab- 

 surdity of " usage" has sanctioned, that of the bodies styling themselves 

 " Municipal Corporations," has been the most odious to individuals, perni- 

 cious to the public, and injurious to the interests of the state. Originally 

 Guilds " or companies," chartered by kings for the purposes of encourag- 

 ing trade and commerce, their operations and influence were then exclu- 

 sively confined to these objects. But availing themselves of the unsettled 

 periods of our history, and the troubled times of our monarchy, they 

 gradually assumed the important position in the community they at present 

 occupy ; and with it all the abominations incidental to irresponsible power, 

 and the corruptions consequent on enormous and uncontrolled privileges. 

 The anomalous principle adopted in our common law courts of giving the 

 sanction of legality to the circumstance of "usage," completed the power 

 and the profligacy of these bodies: and their corruption, as a necessary 

 result, overspread the land with a deluge of evils. Their enormities, how- 

 ever, produced the natural consequences. Public attention became impe- 

 ratively called to them : and a commission for inquiry into their abuses 

 was issued. What this may lead to is not in our power to predicate ; 

 but we should say that much will depend on the politics of the government 

 in power at the period of the production of their report. In the meanwhile 

 every information which can be had on the subject must be valuable ; 

 especially as the reform of these bodies is inevitably close at hand. And 

 just in the critical time when it is most wanted, it has appeared in a shape 

 which must recommend it to all parties interested. The information we 

 allude to is to be found in the work whose title heads this notice : the 

 names of the learned authors who have compiled it, is a sufficient gua- 

 rantee for its accuracy. With the plan proposed as a remedy by them, 

 we perhaps see some cause to differ ; but with the general purpose, the 

 single-mindedness, and the sincerity which pervades it, we cannot. It is a 

 fact worthy of serious notice, that the authors, Sergeant Merewether in 



