Gentleman's Magazine: And Historical Chronicle

In reference to the term "Privy or Private Tithes," already discussed in our vol. 11. p. 114, vol. 111. p. 338, a correspondent makes the following remarks:

"The origin of the term was thus. At the time of the Ecclesiastical Survey (1534) and previous thereto, that is, in monastic times, when the tithes of a parish belonged to the public community of priests and monks in a monastery, the tithes, which were troublesome to collect, and which we now generally call small or vicarial, were left to maintain the vicar or officiating minister in the private local parish where they arose, and were frequently called 'privatæ decimæ,' privy or private tithes, in contradistinction to the great tithes, which the public community in the monastery took care to keep to themselves. By referring to the Ecclesiastical Survey, as printed by order of the King in 1817, it will be found that the term 'privatæ decimæ,' privy tithes, occurs most frequently in the midland counties, as in the dioceses of Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford; and in the same return, where the vicar is mentioned as having

The

in privatis decimis,' worth so and so, very frequently the expression et in aliis minutis decimis,' follows, which is a redundancy of expression, and merely refers to small trifling tithes hardly worth noticing, which the 'privatæ decimæ,' in fact, included. If a distinction could be made between the privatæ decimæ and the minutæ decimæ, it was this. privatæ decimæ referred to the more substantial parts of what we now call the vicarial tithes, and such as arose from the land, as fruits, potatoes, turnips, hops, lamb, wool, milk, calves, agistment, &c. The minutæ decimæ referred to the trifling tithes of pigs, geese, eggs, honey, wax, &c. which were things that farmers might have, or might not have.

"As monasteries and the great tithes that belonged to them have faded in our view, so has the term privy tithes become more and more obsolete, and the more correct definition of small or vicarial, which comprise and mean the same things, become general. And in confirmation that this is the correct meaning, I will here briefly quote what Mr. Justice Blackstone says, who may be called the best authority that could be quoted on the subject. After referring to the abuses in monasteries, and the establishment of vicarages, he says, in vol. i. page 375, chapter Clergy-The endowments of vicarages have usually been by a portion of the glebe, or land, belonging to the parsonage, and a particular share of the tithes, which the appropriators found it

most troublesome to collect, and which are therefore generally called privy, small, or vicarial tythes.' Eagle, in his Treatise on Tithes, vol. i. page 79, in speaking of the endowment of vicarages, says 'They were endowed with what are generally called privy or small tithes.' LEX."

HYDROPHOBIA AND CANINE PATHOLOGY. A very extensive inquiry has been recently made on the Continent into several canine diseases commonly confounded together under the name of hydrophobia. In this inquiry the names of

Baron D'Hanens, Dr. Forster, and others, occur as leading physiologists; the object has been to ascertain the proportionate number of real to false cases of that disease, and the result has proved highly satisfactory, for it seems that out of 100

reported cases, not above one real one will phobia is a very rare disorder, and that be found; that the true contagious hydrothe cases so often mistaken for it, which cause the death of so many harmless dogs, is a complaint quite innocent in its character. Another important fact is, that in the hot countries of the south of Europe, where dogs swarm in the streets in an almost wild state, canine madness is unknown, which shews that heat has very little to do with the cause of the disorder. The true canine madness is found chiefly in those countries where the cruel practice of dog-fighting prevails, and is totally unheard of in Turkey, where animals are kindly treated, and where fighting them for amusement is forbid. The strongest predisponent to the disorder, too, has been proved to be fear of its occurrence, and for this reason, in countries where there is a censorship of the press, it has been forbidden to report cases of this disorder.

It appears by Queen Elizabeth's Woodward's account, that 200 oaks were delivered to Sir Walter Raleigh towards the building and structure of ships, by gift of the Lady Elizabeth the Queen, by virtue of a warrant under the hand of the Lord Treasurer of England, dated 8th April 1586.

Addendum to June, p. 597. In 1830, Mr. Hugh McKeon of Lavenham, published, An Inquiry into the Birthplace, Parentage, Life, and Writings of the Rev. William Gurnell, M.A. formerly Rector of Lavenham in Suffolk, and Author of the Christian in Complete Armour. Woodbridge, Loder, 12mo.

Errata. P. 63, b, lines 4 and 5, for Suffolk, read Norfolk; p. 65, at line 5 from the bottom-There is a parish in Suffolk of the name of Farnham,

MAGAZINE.

GENTLEMAN'S

Life and Administration of Edward first Earl of Clarendon; with Original Correspondence and authentic Papers never before published. By T. H. Lister, Esq. 3 vols. 8vo. Lond. 1838.

"PUT not your trust in Princes," is perhaps the moral lesson which is the most frequently inculcated by history, and certainly not less frequently by our own history than by that of other nations. Wolsey, More, and Strafford, are conspicuous instances from our own annals; but Clarendon, the subject of the present work, stands amongst the known victims of royal ingratitude as the most obvious and eminent example. A glance at his biography, to the consideration of which these volumes invite us, will prove the truth of this remark.

Edward Hyde, born on the 18th February 1609, was the third son of Henry Hyde, of Dinton, in the county of Wilts, a gentleman of small estate, and a descendant of the Hydes of Norbury and Hyde in Cheshire. After receiving the rudiments of education at home, he passed, in 1622, at the precocious age of fourteen, to Magdalen Hall. His first destination was the Church; but some disappointments at Oxford, and the circumstance of his having influential family connexions in the Law, occasioned an alteration in his views; and shortly before the 14th February 1626, when he took his degree of bachelor of arts, he entered of the Middle Temple. Ill health and an attachment to gay society rendered his first three years of little advantage to him as a lawyer; and, probably, in the hope of his being more determinedly fixed in the study of his profession, his father consented to his marriage in 1629, being then under age, to a daughter of Sir George Ayliffe of Gretenham in Wilts. His wife caught the small-pox, miscarried, and died, within six months of their union; and in 1632 he married his second wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Master of the Requests and of the Mint-a gentleman whose character is placed in a very amiable light by a letter respecting his daughter's marriage, printed in the third volume of the present work. (P. 3.)

Within a few months after Hyde's second marriage his father died suddenly, and he then came into possession of property sufficient to set him to a certain extent above the necessity of "labouring in his vocation." He continued indeed to practise the Law, but it was not in that persevering way in which alone men can become great lawyers. They are plants which thrive best in a poor and barren soil; take from them in early life the necessity of working for their daily bread, and they may become Clarendons, but never Eldons. Hyde devoted "every day some hours to general literature .... With members of his own profession he lived little .... but ere he had attained the age of twenty-seven, could enumerate among his intimate associates many of the most eminent persons in the kingdom-persons distinguished not merely by rank and power, but by their characters, abilities, and acquirements It is probable," says Mr. Lister, "that he then entertained hopes of future political or literary distinction." (I. 14.) If so, he judged wisely. The course he took soon led him into the House of Commons, and he there at once became conspicuous, if not eminent.

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Gentleman's Magazine: And Historical Chronicle, Volumen 165