The Customs of Old England | Page 2

234 Records and
Reminiscences Sir Francis Burnand 285 The Old Time Parson P. H.
Ditchfield 287 The Customs of Old England F. J. Snell
A short Selection only.

THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND
BY
F. J. SNELL
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
First Issued in this Cheap Form in 1919
This Book was First Published (Crown 8vo) February 16th, 1911

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Note: In this book superscript is represented by| |the carat "^" |
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PREFACE
The aim of the present volume is to deal with Old English Customs, not
so much in their picturesque aspect--though that element is not wholly
wanting--as in their fundamental relations to the organized life of the
Middle Ages. Partly for that reason and partly because the work is
comparatively small, it embraces only such usages as are of national
(and, in some cases, international) significance. The writer is much too
modest to put it forth as a scientific exposition of the basic principles of
mediæval civilization. He is well aware that a book designed on this
unassuming scale must be more or less eclectic. He is conscious of
manifold gaps--valde deflenda. And yet, despite omissions, it is hoped
that the reader may rise from its perusal with somewhat clearer
conceptions of the world as it appeared to the average educated
Englishman of the Middle Ages. This suggests the remark that the
reader specially in view is the average educated Englishman of the
twentieth century, who has not perhaps forgotten his Latin, for Latin
has a way of sticking, while Greek, unless cherished, drops away from
a man.
The materials of which the work is composed have been culled from a
great variety of sources, and the writer almost despairs of making
adequate acknowledgments. For years past admirable articles cognate
to the study of mediæval relationships have been published from time
to time in learned periodicals like "Archæologia," the "Archæological
Journal," the "Antiquary," etc., where, being sandwiched between
others of another character, they have been lost to all but antiquarian
experts of omnivorous appetite. Assuredly, the average educated
Englishman will not go in quest of them, but it may be thought he will
esteem the opportunity, here offered, of gaining enlightenment, if not in
the full and perfect sense which might have been possible, had life been

less brief and art not quite so long. The same observation applies to
books, with this difference that, whereas in articles information is
usually compacted, in some books at least it has to be picked out from
amidst a mass of irrelevant particulars without any help from indices. If
the writer has at all succeeded in performing his office--which is to do
for the reader what, under other circumstances, he might have done for
himself--many weary hours will not have been spent in vain, and the
weariest are probably those devoted to the construction of an index,
with which this book, whatever its merits or defects, does not go
unprovided.
Mere general statements, however, will not suffice; there is the
personal side to be thought of. The great "Chronicles and Memorials"
series has been served by many competent editors, but by none more
competent than Messrs. Riley, Horwood, and Anstey, to whose
introductions and texts the writer is deeply indebted. Reeves' "History
of English Law" is not yet out of date; and Mr. E. F. Henderson's
"Select Documents of the Middle Ages" and the late Mr. Serjeant
Pulling's "Order of the Coif," though widely differing in scope, are both
extremely useful publications. Mr. Pollard's introduction to the
Clarendon Press selection of miracle plays contains the pith of that
interesting subject, and Miss Toulmin Smith's "York Plays" and Miss
Katherine Bates's "English Religious Drama" will be found valuable
guides. Perhaps the most realistic description of a miracle play is that
presented in a few pages of Morley's "English Writers," where the
scene lives before one. For supplementary details in this and other
contexts, the writer owes something to the industry of the late Dr.
Brushfield, who brought to bear on local documents the illumination of
sound and wide learning. A like tribute must be paid to the Rev. Dr.
Cox, but having regard to his long and growing list of important works,
the statement is a trifle ludicrous.
One of the best essays on mortuary rolls is that of the late Canon Raine
in an early Surtees Society volume, but the writer is specially indebted
to a contribution of the Rev. J. Hirst to the "Archæological Journal."
The late Mr. André's article on vowesses, and Mr. Evelyn-White's
exhaustive account of the Boy-Bishop must be mentioned, and--lest I

forget--Dr. Cunningham's "History of English Commerce." The late Mr.
F. T. Elworthy's paper on Hugh Rhodes directed attention to the
Children of the Chapel, and Dom. H. F. Feasey