Introduction. xv 



from Latin statutes, which the author translates and explains. 

 In Chap. I he says of a certain statute, that, in his opinion^ 

 it was made soon after the Battle of Evesham, in the time of 

 Henry III. ; and he frequently interprets statutes with the air 

 of one whose opinion was worth having. In Chap, xi., he 

 enlarges upon the mistakes made by lords, knights, squires, 

 and gentlemen who know but little of the law. " They come 

 to the court or sende their clerkes, that can [know] as litle 

 law as their maister or lasse, but that he vnderstandeth a lytell 

 latyn." At the end of the same chapter, he is deep in law- 

 terms, court-roll, fee simple, fee tayle, franke tenement, and 

 all the rest of it. He then gives numerous forms, all in 

 Latin, to be used by owners who wish to lease, grant, or 

 surrender lands ; but only a good lawyer would venture to 

 recommend forms suitable for such important purposes. 



Some other points of internal evidence have already been 

 incidentally noticed, such as the author's familiarity with the 

 mode of life of the rich ; his lesson made for " a gentylmans 

 seruaunte " ; his readiness to try many ways of farming as an 

 experimentalist who could afford to lose money ; and his 

 statement that Latin was no trouble to him. I proceed to 

 notice a few more. 



Something further can be inferred from the author's men- 

 tion of places. He speaks of so many counties, as Cornwall, 

 Devon, Essex, Kent, Somerset, Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, 

 and Lancashire, that we can at first obtain no definite result. 

 But there is an express allusion to " the peeke countreye " at 

 p. 44 ; whilst at p. 8 1 he alludes to the parts about London 

 by using the adverb " there," as if it were not his home. Yet 

 that he was perfectly familiar with London is obvious from his 

 allusions to it in chap. xix. of the Book on Surveying. But 

 there are two more explicit references which are worth notice. 

 At p. 27, he speaks of " \hefari/ier syde of Darbyshyre, called 



