136. _He sende_ writes _sone onon._ We must here, and in l. 2275, simply
understand _letters_, without any reference to the official summonses of
parliament, which subsequently were so termed, #kat' exochên#. The word
_briefs_ is used in the same sense by the old French writers, and in
La[gh]amon we meet with some lines nearly corresponding with the
present; see ll. 6669-6678.
[175. _þa_. Frequently written for _þat_. See _William of Palerne_.]
189-203. _Ther-on he garte_, &c. Compare the French Romance, ll.
215-228.
Sa fille li ad comandée,
Et sa terre tote liuerée.
Primerement li fet iurer,
Veiant sa gent & affier,
Qe leaument la nurrireit,
Et sa terre lui gardereit,
Tant q'ele fust de tiel age
Qe suffrir porroit mariage.
Quant la pucele seit granz,
Par le consail de ses tenanz,
Au plus fort home la dorroit
Qe el reaume troueroit;
Qu'il li baillast ses citez,
Ses chasteus & ses fermetez.
263.
_Justises dede he maken newe,
Al Engelond to faren thorw._
The earliest instance produced by Dugdale of the Justices Itinerant, is
in 23 Hen. II. 1176, when by the advice of the Council held at
Northampton, the realm was divided into six parts, and into each were
sent three Justices. _Orig. Judic._ p. 51. This is stated on the
authority of Hoveden. Dugdale admits however the custom to have been
older, and in Gervasius Dorobernensis, we find, in 1170, certain
persons, called _inquisitores_, appointed to perambulate England.
Gervase of Tilbury, or whoever was the author of the _Dialogus de
Scaccario_, calls them _deambulantes, vel perlustrantes judices_. See
Spelman, _in voc_. The office continued to the time of Edward III., when
it was superseded by that of the Justices of Assize.