ON THE INFLUENCE OF F E U D A L T S :\r 



OK THE 



MODEBN INSTITUTIONS & SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 



BY ROBT. WELLS, ESQ. 



A I'njirr read before the Hull Literary and Philosophical Society, 

 Tuesday, 0th April, 1842. 



To every lover of England's history, the word feudalism must 

 excite recollections of the deepest interest. To trace the develop- 

 ment of that system of political and civil power which for centuries 

 ruled Europe with an arm of might, which raised the spirit of 

 military prowess that shone conspicuous in our annals, and transmitted 

 it through every successive age — which, if it gave not birth to, 

 nurtured and matured the genius of chivalry, though long extinct in 

 name, yet survives in spirit — which, though once the stem ruler of a 

 crowd of slaves, yet at last the instrument of a nation's freedom, — 

 must indeed be attractive to every reflecting Briton. 



0\ir earliest recollections teem with the traditions of feudal 

 grandeur ; and the ruins of every castle on which we gaze, excite 

 a train of reminiscences dear to us in the days of our youth. One 

 cannot pace those deserted halls, or look on those dismantled walls 

 where once the stalwart Baron of England's feudal glory kept his 

 court (almost a sovereign within his domain) \\ithout desiring to linger 

 on a spot, the scene of many a season of festivity, — of knightly 

 courtesy or political strife. Sorrow for departed gieatness may for a 

 moment shade the brow, but will soon be dispelled by the sober 

 thought that a nation's welfare might perhaps have required the 

 destruction of what was once so noble and imposing ; and the calm 

 consideration of the elements of that system — of the vices it 

 nourished — of the injustice it created and upheld, great indeed in 

 comparison with the civil advantages it unfolded, will lead to the 

 conviction that Britain's greatness was best ensured by feudalism's 



