. A BLIND BEGGAR CHEATED OF HIS DRINK BY HIS BOY. (By kind permission of the Publisher.) century' thousands of documents have been printed and analysed—petitions, year-books full of reports of law- suits, statutes, and ordinances. These are, so to speak, the catacombs from which an historian can unearth and sift the riches they contain. The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with English roads and bridges, the security of the roads, the ordinary traveller and the casual passer- by ; the next with lay wayfarers, the herbalists, charla- tans, minstrels, jugglers, messengers, and p
. A BLIND BEGGAR CHEATED OF HIS DRINK BY HIS BOY. (By kind permission of the Publisher.) century' thousands of documents have been printed and analysed—petitions, year-books full of reports of law- suits, statutes, and ordinances. These are, so to speak, the catacombs from which an historian can unearth and sift the riches they contain. The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with English roads and bridges, the security of the roads, the ordinary traveller and the casual passer- by ; the next with lay wayfarers, the herbalists, charla- tans, minstrels, jugglers, messengers, and pedlars, the wandering workmen, and the outlaws ; the last with reUgious wayfarers, the pardoners, the wandering preachers and friars, the pilgrims, and the crusaders. The whole is written by a man who is deeply in love with the times and the men he is describing. There are about seventy illustrations, some of them photographs, others reproductions of drawings in old manuscripts, which are distributed through the book not to give a reader an occasional rest but to illuminate the topic under discussion and to stimulate interest. Another excellent point about this book is that by means of un- obtrusive footnotes the author gives chapter and verse for most of his statements. It is not only for this that references are valuable, but also for the fact that at any stage the interested reader is told exactly the book or series of books which he can rely upon as being best for further study. But footnotes and illustrations and excellence in printing cannot make a book ; they can but embellish it. Its charm must be ascribed to other things, to the interest of the subject to every English- man, and to the kindly, scholarly, and witty manner in which the whole tale is told. One may open the book almost at any page to find pleasant and interesting reading. " When a robber, murderer, or other evil-doer shall fly into any church upon his confession of felony, the coroner shall cause th
Size: 2695px × 1855px
Photo credit: © The Bookworm Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcontribu, booksponsoruniversityoftoronto, booksubjectscience
