DRAINAGE. 63 



which, by a liberal construction, can be considered analo- 

 gous to his subject. From an epic poem to a catalogue, 

 nothing comes amiss to him. The result is, that the work 

 of which we speak has no more to do with the philosophy 

 of embanking than of billiards, nor more with the art of 

 draining than of music. To be sure, in the former case, 

 the words which recur from time to time are marsh-banks, 

 fen-dikes, weirs, and dams, not cushions, cannons, and 

 hazards ; and in the latter, sluices, gates, spouts, and 

 clows, not flats, sharps, and semitones. But, beyond a 

 familiarity with these terms, a student of Dugdale will 

 learn nothing either of the philosophy or of the art. Three 

 thousand five hundred names of persons, and nearly five 

 thousand names of places, are the staple of the work. It 

 may interest some of our readers to know that Thomsons, 

 Dicksons, and Jacksons had not yet appeared on the scene ; 

 whereas Sweteblodes, Thunders, and Forshames have per- 

 haps now departed from it. The name cf every person 

 who sat on a commission of sewers from the time of the 

 third Henry to that of the second James is recorded, as 

 well as the name of every plaintiff and defendant in a 

 marsh-land suit, and of every place immediately or re- 

 motely connected with these litigations. When A. sues B. 

 for having failed to repair a dyke or scour a sluice, the 

 plea, the answer, the replication, the rejoinder, the evi- 

 dence, the adjournments, the rehearings, and the verdict, 

 are given with the utmost minuteness. Probably a dili- 

 gent student might extract from this work a digest of 

 marsh-land law, and show how, from time to time, it was 

 advanced and settled. Then we have a record of every 

 session of sewers and assembly of jurats through twenty-one 

 reigns, and a full account, or more frequently a copy, of each 

 of their proprio motus and presentments. These sometimes 

 produce curious matter, as in the following instance : 



" In 6 Edward II. the jury for the hundred of Cornylo 

 exhibited a presentment unto Hervic de Stantone and his 

 fellow-justices itinerants, imparting that the Prior of 



