222 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"'! S. NO 64., Mar. 21. '57. 



contain facts or information relative to the history of that 

 period ; and for this purpose to publish in one volume, or 

 one series of volumes, only such parts of the Chronicles, 

 &c., as relate to that period — a course which involves not 

 only the separation of single chronicles into distinct parts, 

 but the omission of all matter considered by the editor 

 to be irrelevant. The objections to this system were never 

 better stated than in the following passage by the Master 

 of the Rolls : 



" My own opinion is, that the objections to this plan 

 are insuperable. To those who wish to read the ancient 

 Chronicles for amusement, and without reference to any 

 ulterior object, this plan renders them useless, because 

 they appear in a divided or mutilated form. To those 

 who wish to study these ancient Chronicles for the pur- 

 pose of history, they are also useless to all those who think 

 it necessary to judge for themselves whether the portions 

 omitted have been properly rejected. The work so com- 

 posed neither is nor professes to be a new edition of the 

 works of ancient historians, but simply a collection of 

 materials for historj'. But in truth it is only a collection 

 of historical materials for the use of the person who lias 

 made the compilation ; all other persons, unless they are 

 content to surrender their judgment on this subject to the 

 compiler, must read the rejected portions. It is not in 

 truth the work of an editor editing the ancient documents, 

 but it is the preliminary step of an historian towards 

 writing a history of the period ; invaluable for himself, 

 but of little value to others. Another great objection to 

 this plan is the time and labour necessarily consumed by 

 it. It has required above 100 years to publish twenty- 

 one volumes of the French Recueil, the last of which was 

 published in the year 1855, and which includes documents 

 no later than the year 1328, i. e. the beginning of the 

 reign of Philippe de Valois. It has occupied from 1822 to 

 1848 to produce the single volume of the Monumenta His- 

 torica Britannica. The only advantage of this plan is to 

 compreSs historical materials into a narrow compass ; but 

 this advantage vanishes if it do not supersede the necessity 

 of consulting -the originals." 



And we think that our readers will agree with us that 

 the following suggestions are so practical and so full of 

 common sense, that if Sir John Romilly is only enabled to 

 carry them out, the results will do him the highest credit, 

 and reflect honour upon the country. 



" The other plan is to select for publication under com- 

 petent editors, but without reference to periodical or chro- 

 nological arrangement, such of the materials I have above 

 described as constitute the sources of British history, and 

 which are most valuable and scarce, and to publish these 

 without mutilation or abridgment. This is the plan 

 which I beg to suggest to their Lordships to adopt in the 

 manner I am about to point out. In making the selection 

 of works to be published, the subject should be considered 

 not as a mere antiquarian or black-letter undertaking, but 

 as part of a national scheme for diffusing useful know- 

 ledge calculated to throw a great light on the history of 

 this country. The works selected should be published 

 whole, without mutilation or abridgment. As a general 

 rule, the mode in which each Chronicle or monument of 

 history ought to be edited and published should be that 

 which would be adopted if it were an editio princeps ; and 

 for this purpose it should represent as correctly as possible 

 the text derived from a collation of the best MSS. The 

 editor should give an account of the MSS. emploj'ed by 

 .him, their age and peculiarities, together with a brief 

 notice of the era when the author flourished, and of any 



chronological difiiculties which exist; but, generally, 

 should add no further note or comment, except as to the 

 various readings. They should be published as separate 

 works, but all uniform and in octavo, which is found prac- 

 tically to be the most convenient size I am of 



opinion that the best mode of accomplishing it is to allot 

 distinct and separate portions of these works to separate 

 and distinct editors under the general direction and su- 

 perintendence of the Master of the Rolls, in a manner 

 similar to that adopted for the formation and publication 

 of Calendars of the State Papers." 



After considering, and we are happy to say rejecting, 

 the proposal for the establishment of a Historical Board, 

 of which some gentleman should be the Director, with a 

 staff of editors and transcribers under him, Sir John Ro- 

 milly suggests a far more simple, straightforward, and 

 business plan. But we will give his own words : — 



" The mode I should suggest would be, that the Master 

 of the Rolls, with the sanction of their Lordships, should 

 communicate with those literary gentlemen who, from 

 their works, have shown themselves to be competent to 

 undertake such a work, and that he should, in conjunc- 

 tion with them, select the works first to be edited and 



published Each work to be published, as well as 



the editor of it, should, I think, be selected by the Master 

 of the Rolls, upon consultation with such persons as he 

 might consider best qualified to advise him in this matter. 

 And the work, and the name of the gentlemen to be em- 

 ployed as editors, should be submitted to their Lordships 

 for their approbation. The gentleman so emploj'ed should 

 act as the editor of the work so selected, and should 

 complete the task without superintendence on his own 

 responsibility. He would have all the credit of the suc- 

 cessful accomplishment of his task ; and, as he would be 

 actuated by a sincere and disinterested love for the sub- 

 ject, he might be safely trusted so to conduct the work. 

 .... The work, as I have already stated, should, in my 

 opinion, be printed in octavo, of a size and type to be 

 approved of, without decoration or graphic illustration of 

 any description except a facsimile of a small portion of 

 the MS. edited and published." 



We only quote one further passage from the Letter of 

 the Master of the Rolls, but it is one which we are sure 

 will be perused with satisfaction by every reader of " N. 

 & Q." It is that in which he proposes the publication of 

 a Catalogue of the Materials for English History : — 



" I am of opinion that it would be of the greatest value 

 that a chronological catalogue of all the historical annals 

 and pieces connected with the History of England should 

 be prepared, in which all the information necessary for 

 determining the historical value of each piece, not merely 

 with regard to the facts of history, but also to the general 

 progress of the country, social as well as political, should 

 be added for the guidance of the reader. I think it of 

 great importance that such a catalogue should be pre- 

 pared ; but it would not be necessary or proper, for that 

 purpose, to delaj' the publication of the works which I 

 have above suggested ; both might go on simultaneouslj'. 

 But besides the value that would be derived from the 

 formation and publication of such a catalogue, my reason 

 for bringing the matter thus before their Lordships is, 

 that Mr. Hardy, one of the Assistant Keepers of this De- 

 partment, and the final editor of the 3Ionume>ita Historica 

 Britannica, who has devoted his life to the study of En- 

 glish history, and who has collected a great amount of 

 materials requisite for its elucidation, has devoted a large 

 portion of his time towards the preparation and comple- 

 tion of such a catalogue as I lave suggested, a large 



