Who first founded Malmesbury ? 59 



"There are three sons of captives who free themselves — a bard, 

 a scholar, and a mechanic. 



"There are three things which every Briton may legally be 

 compelled to attend — the worship of God, military service, and the 

 Courts of Law. 



" There are three things free to every man, Briton or Foreigner, 

 the refusal of which no Law can justify — water from a spring, well 

 or river ; firing from a dead tree, a block of stone not in use. 



" There are three Orders who are exempt from bearing arms — the 

 bard, the judge, the graduate in Law or Religion. These repre- 

 senting God and his peace, no weapon must be found in their hands. 



"There are three thieves who shall not suffer punishment — a 

 woman compelled by her husband, a child, a needy person who 

 has gone through three towns, and to nine houses in each town, 

 without being able to obtain relief though he has asked for it. 



"There are three Ends of Law — prevention of wrong, punishment 

 for wrong inflicted, insurance of just retribution. 



" There are three sacred things by which the conscience binds 

 itself to truth — the name of God, the rod of him who offers up 

 prayers to God, the joined right hand. 



"There are three persons who have a right to public main- 

 tenance — the old, the babe, the foreigner who cannot speak the 

 British tongue." 



The Malmutian Code is contained in 248 clauses, varying in 

 length from a few lines to a page or more. It was translated by 

 Gildas the Historian A.D. 600. "Si quis voluerit hsec omnia scire, 

 legat Malmutinas leges quas Gildas Historiographus de Britannico 

 in Latinum sermonem transtulit." (Leland's Collect: iii., p. 20.) 



Malmutius designed and partly constructed the system of British 

 Roads which the Romans found here, on the lines of which nearly 

 all the Primitive British towns were built. These were 1, the 

 Sam Wyddelin (Irish Road) corrupted into Watling Street, from 

 Dover to Holyhead ; 2, the Ryknield Street from Menapia to the 

 mouth of the Tweed ; 3, the Ermyn Street (properly Armin, that 

 is "Frontier" Street, the same word as " Ariminum,") from Anderida 

 or Pevensey to the Humber ; 4, the Iknield Street on the Eastern 



