FullReads

Henry Fenwick, Esq., takes himself with dignity.

But to turn from the pomp of state, to peep for a moment at the intimate life of the people of England a couple of centuries ago, few things could be better than “The Constable’s Accounts of the Manor of Manchester,” from which a few items of “Disbursements” are cited;

"Pd. Expences apprehending two Felons....   -/1/-

"Pd. Expences maintaining them two Nights

in the Dungeon ......................   -/2/-

"To Ann Duncan very ill to take her over into

Ireland .............................   -/4/-

"To Straw for the Dungeon ...............   -/4/-

"To Belman sundry public Cries ..........   -/7/6

"To three pair of Stockings and dying for the

Beedle ..............................   -/9/-

"To Wine drinking Royal healths the Prince's

birthday at his full age ............   3/16/6

"To a distressed Sailor to Leverpoole ...   -/1/-

"Pd. Boonfire on King's Coronation Day ..   -/6/6

"Gave Nancy Mackeen a Stroller ..........   -/-/6

"Pd. Musicians at rejoicing for good news

from Germany, and on birth of the Prince

of Wales ............................   2/7/-

"Pd. for a Cat with nine Tails ..........   -/3/-

"To a lame Stranger .....................   -/1/-

"Pd. lighting Lamps last Dark ...........   -/2/6

"Several Fortune Tellers Indicted, etc...   -/12/-

"Pd. Lawyer Nagave advising Roger Blomely's

Case bringing Actions agt. the Constable

for putting him in the Dungeon for being

drunk on Sunday in time of divine

Service ..............................  l/l/-"
 

It is interesting to note in this connection that on August 16, 1762, was “Pd.” one “Barnard Shaw maintenance of Rioters and Evidence, 1-11-6.”

A circumstance of considerable human interest, too, and one possibly little known, is the great aversion to the sight of bears held by the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, at least in the year 1891. A copy of the “Bye-Laws” of the “Administrative County of the Isle of Wight,” issued that year, contains, following articles relating to “Regulating the Sale of Coal” and “Spitting,” this:

“As to Bears.

“1. No bear shall be taken along or allowed to be upon any highway, unless such bear shall be securely confined in a vehicle closed so as to completely hide such bear from view.

“2. Any person who shall offend against this Bye-law shall be liable to a fine not exceeding in any case five pounds.”

“Atti del Municipale! Atti del Consiglio Comunale di Siena. Bollettino Degli atti Pubblicati Dalla Giunta Municipale di Roma.” It is fitting that quartos of such titles as these, containing addresses beginning Signori Consiglieri and Onorevoli Signori, should look something like Italian opera, and be bound in vellum, title and date stamped in gold on bright red and purple labels, with sides of mottled purple boards, and imprints such as “Bologna. Regia Tipografia Fratelli Merlani,” and of typography the best. And on genuine paper, far from the woodpulp of American municipal graft contracts.

Once, indeed, municipal documents were august pages. Some of the early Italian and German are on paper that will last as long as the law. And in these times the title pages of municipal documents were Piranesiesque: massive architectural scroll work framing stone tablets, hung with garlands of fruit and grain, and decorated with carved lions, human heads, and histrionic masks. And initial letters throughout to correspond.

Now who but France would bind her municipal documents in heavily tooled, full levant morocco, with grained silk inside covers?