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droning out the special needs and distresses of the petitioners or 
be deprived of their civic functions. 
There were Briefs for building and restoring Churches and 
Chapels. Assisting those suffering from robbery and piracy, 
Repairing damages from Civil Wars, Erecting new Fortifica- 
tions, Fires, Floods, Hailstorms, Earthquakes, Inroads of the Sea, 
Redemption of Captives, Founding Royal Fisheries, Visitations 
of Plague, Shipwrecks, Landslips, Assistance of poor Soldiers, 
Founding and sustaining Hospitals or Relief of the Persecuted. 
What took place at Keynsham must have taken place in every 
parish in the neighbourhood, though it has died and left no sign. 
Briefs did not spring up in post reformation times, nor even 
with the appeal of the Roman client to his patron to defend his 
suit, an appeal his patron was obliged to comply with, especially 
when it was accompanied by a present or offering. Briefs 
existed amongst the Assyrians 3,000 years ago, and even then 
were well recognized means for relieving the distressed and 
Martial. Epig B.K., III. 52. 
Empta domus fuerat tibi, Tongiliane, ducentis : 
Abstulit hance nimium casus in urbe frequens. 
Collatum est decies : r og o non potes ipse v ideri: 
Incendisse tuam, Tongiliane, domum ? 
suggests that Tongilianus rebuilt his house by means very like 
those by which a successor in toil at the present day is provided 
for the poor man’s donkey. ‘‘ You bought, friend Tongilianus, 
a house at a heavy price but it fell down, as too often happens at 
Rome. It was rebuilt at five times the original cost. I ask 
Tongilianus whether any one would not naturally think that you 
had set fire to it yourself.” 
In ancient times the collections could scarcely be considered 
voluntary, as judges were appointed to assess the contributions — 
to be paid by the various members of the commune, and a 
similar state of things still exists in China and Russia. 
As early as A.D. 1240, it was practised among the Normans, and 
the Count of Flanders reminded his subjects of this liability : “ In 

