No More Learning

41: Charles
I kept
Coke's
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Felton was hanged at Tyburn" [Bowen, Lion, 522J.
55. articuli . . . avises: NF, HThe articles of the Charter of 28th Edward will be adminis? tered [by the election ofJ three just men or other well-disposed-persons" [DG, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 288-289J .
56. "Vierge": To stay within the "verge" was to stay within 6 miles of the person of the sovereign, either at court or traveling through the kingdom.
57. Fleta: One of Coke's oft-cited sources. The Fleta was a brief paraphrase of Bracton done around 1290.
58. Hastings . . . Sandwich: The original ports of the "Cinque Ports," a group of maritime towns in Sussex and Kent.
59. Ideogram: Chi [M4l2J, "royal do- mains," Rhyme with the king's house.
60. Ideogram: Pi [M5103J, "silks. " This ideogram "is used in the history to demon- strate the symbolic loyalty of the subjects to the king. . . . Pi later comes to stand for coin, 'the currency of the realm'" [ibid. , 289J.
61. sheriffs elective: Election of such a pub- lic office was a major step toward human freedom, "since in matters judicial, military and fiscal, the sheriff transacted all the busi- ness of the shire" [ibid. , 290J.
66. Elfynge . . . Com: Says DG: "Pound's marginalia is a tribute to H. Elfynge the clerk of the House of Commons who on a Wednesday inscribed that Coke's Commen- taries on Magna Charta should be published in print" [ibid. J.
67. William of Hehnswell: The name of one who appeared to be involved in a conspiracy
[cf. 65 aboveJ.
68. leopard's head: The monarch is respon- sible for the purity-legal fineness-of silver and gold. The sign of the leopard was the sign of the crown: "And that these standards be kept it is imperative that no sort of vessel of silver leaves a worker's hand unless it be marked with the leopard's head and that a goldsmith work no worse gold than that denoted by 'the touch of Paris'" [ibid. , 29lJ.
69. Articuli twenty: The "Cap xx" below. The article of the 28th year of Edward I concerned with standards of coinage.
marked with
76. Ad valorem . . . : ML. Inscribed on E's tomb is the phrase Moneta ad suum valorem reducta, "she brought money back to its true val ue ,"
77. non . . . fundendam: ML. From Coke's phrases "a tempore quo non extat memoria" and "utilioribus boseis ad mireram regis ar~ dendom & fundendam" ("from time out of memory" [for this long the king hadJ) ("had the use of wood for burning and melt- ing regal metals / gold and silver") [ibid. , 292J.
78. souls . . . defrauded: Money left to the church to do things in the name of the departed was often sent to Rome.
79. that the seal . . . : The remedy
was to take the seal from the prior and give it to 4 worthy men ("dignioribus") to ad- minister.
80. Paragots: Coke notes that just one car- dinal, Paragots, received more than 10,000 marks a year which in the end came from the "almes" of the people.
ics: the acorns would be natural, legitimate interest, but to cut down the tree would be usury [Institutes, 639J.
86. nel Tirolo: I, "in the Tyrol. " One lira, a legitimate tithe, as a lamb is born every year
[M de R,Discretions, 58J.
87. dies solaris: L, "light of day. " Coke is concerned with laws whereby the buyer can see the horse he is buying, so that the public can be protected from deception.
88. ut pena . . . perveniat: ML, "so that punishment of a few will serve as warning to the many. "
89. 2 rights . . . : When 2 statutes conflicted Coke said the older should be preferred.
90. caveat emptor: L, "Let the buyer beware. "
91. HORSFAIRE . . . no toll: A pastiche of details from a statute meant to help prevent fraud, especially in the sale of horses. The buyer should be allowed to ride the horse as at present a car? buyer is allowed to drive the car. "Phil" and "Mar" identify the statute: "2 & 3 Phil and Mac [sicJ Cap 7. " Fines are set as are other payments: "And for the bookkeeper only one penny, without toll, for every contract" [DG, Pai, 4-2 & 3, 294-295J.
92. long Ching: Yung Cheng [60:73J.
93. responsabili . . . ewe: NF, "responsibili? ty for the increasing of the [water] flowing"
94. reparando: NF, "repairing. "
95. Stat. . . . Eliz. : In an effort to prevent overcrowding and the growth of slums, this statute, entitled "Concerning Inmates," at? tempted to regulate open space around each dwelling [Institutes, 736J.
96. Angliae amor: [Cf. 75 aboveJ.
62. ou . . . de fee: NF, not in fee [inheritedJ. "
"where
shrivality
is
71. King onely . . . : Coke said that it "pertains to the king onely to put a value on the coine," a rhyme with "Gold was under the Pontifex" [89:23lJ.
72. 12 grains . . . : The English denar was defined as weighing the same as "twelve grains of wheat in mid spike" [ibid. , 291J.
73. frumenta . . . : NF, Source has, "pan- derabit 12 grana frumenti in media spicae" ("will weigh 12 grains of wheat in mid spike") [ibid. J.
63. In those . . . sufficient": Source: "They shall put in those inquests and juries such as be next neighbours, most sufficient, and least suspicious" [Institutes, 561J .
64. et malveyes procurers: NF, Hand the packing of juries. " [ibid. , 562J .
65. De lum . . . lauter: NF, "of the civil bench and criminal. " Justices of both benches-Common Pleas and the King's Bench-are in this chapter directed to give justice quickly in any kind of conspiracy
[DG Pai, 4-2 & 3, 290J .
74. Magnalia . . .
"inter
5
noted
. . .
70. Auxy
the sign of the leopard. "
: NF,
"Must be
: ML,
Magnalia et regalia coronae" ("among the important and regal rights of the king").
Concerns regulation of coinage [ibid. J.
75. ELIZABETH: Queen E. the First. Al- though she did much to deserve the love of the English ("Angliae amor"), her greatest deed was to restore the coinage of the realm, which had been badly debased.
Source has,
81. alienigenae . . . : ML,
Coke says that such aliens "had a third part of the possessions of the realm" [Institutes, 584J.
82. brocars: ME, "brokers. "
83. caitifes: NF, "wretches. " Thus does education decay in the hands of the church.
84. Rot . . . 3: Coke's marginal note that tells when these bad customs were intro? duced in Rome.
85. grosbois . . . hornbeam: Coke's exposi? tion upon tithes says that the timber trees listed here cannot be tithed because they take years to develop; but acorns can be? cause they are renewable yearly.
A rhyme with the grasslands of the Sienese bank, as well as a central thesis of Pound's econom?
"alien superiors. "
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CANTO CIX Sources
Sir Edward Coke, Second Institutes o f the Laws o f England, 1797 [Institutes] ; Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Lion and the Throne, Little, Brown, Boston, 1956 [Bowen, Lion]; Dante, Par. X, 42, 136; Virgil, Aeneid I, 412; Servii Commentarii, Vol. I, Lipsiae, 1881; Edward Coke, The First Institute of the Laws ofEngland, London, 1897 [First]. Sophocles, The Women of Trachis [WT];
The Charter of Connecticut; Dante, Par. II, 1.
Background
EP, SR, 62, 101; EH, Approaches, 173, 192; Bryce Lyon, A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England, Harpers, N. Y . , 1960; William Stubbs, The Constitutional History o f En- gland, Vol. II, Oxford, 1887; William Sharp McKechnie, Magna Carta, rev. , Burt Franklin, N. Y. , 1958; J. M. Rigg, Select Pleas, Starrs, and Other Records from the Rolls o f the Excheques o f the Jews; M de R, Discretions, 58; W. Keith Kavenagh, ed. Founda- tions of Colonial America, Chelsea House, N. Y. , 1973 [WK, Colonial].
Exegeses
DD, Sculptor, 239? 240; DG, Pai, 4? 2 & 3, 223? 299;DD,Pai, 6-1, 101? 107; HK, Era, 336; CFT, Pai, 5-1, 69-76; Materer, Pai, 4, 2 & 3, 323; Moody, Pai, 4? 1,55-69; MB, Trace, 444? 447; EH, Pai, 5? 2, 354.
9. vocabula artis: NF, "vocables of art. " Coke said of "law French" that it "has grown to be vocables of art-vocabula artis, so apt and significant to express the sense of laws . . . " and "neither ought legal terms to be changed ["Proeme"].
10. Bracton: [107:70].
11. nemo omnia novit: L, "no one renews all. " But prob. in NF, or what Coke called "law French," it means "without knowing all the details. "
12. The Confessor's: Edward the Confessor, king 1042? 1066. Coke's discovery of the phrase ~'excused jury service" implied that trial by jury must have existed before the Norman conquest.
13. Ambracia: City of ancient Greece on an inlet of the Ionian Sea, founded 7th century B. C.
14. veigne en Court: NF, "Vigne for short. "
thing is not known then knowledge of things perishes / No man is born an artist. "
23. Ten families . . . : Early English commu- nity organization was arranged in units of ten under a leader who pledged allegiance to his leader: Modeled upon Roman pre- cedents.
24. a city remaineth: Although Henry VIII expropriated the property of the church, London still went on.
25. Tuan: [85:33].
26. et consuetudo: L, "also custom. "
27. Wadsworth: Joseph W. , "who stole the Connecticut Charter and hid it in Charter Oak" [PD, 6]. He was publicly rewarded in 1715.
. . .
29. Brewen, Canfield: Among 19 persons listed in the Charter of Conn. to whose peti- tion the king was responding in granting the charter: Henry Woolicott, John Talcott, Obedias Brewen, Mathew Camfeild, etc. The charter says: "Wee have thought fitt, and att the humble Peti,on of the Persons aforesaid, and are graciously pleased to create and make them a Body Pollitique . . . " [WK, Co- lonial,1I1-112].
30. meere . . . : The charter says: "And accordingly Our Will and pleasure is, and of our especial1 grace, certeine knowledge and meere mayan, wee have Ordeyned, Consti? tuted and Declared, And by theis presents, for vs, our heires and Successors, Doe Or? deine, Constitute and Declare that they, the said. . . . " Here the 19 names are repeated and are followed by many phrases and con- ditions, including those in the canto lines, such as: "And further, that the said Gover- nour and Company, and their Successors shall and may for ever hereafter have a Comon Seale. . . . there shall bee one Gover- nour, one Deputy Governour and Twelve Assistants to bee . . . Elected. . . . " In the
1. Pro Veritate: L, "for truthfulness"
Glossary
those before and after) indicate parallel con?
16. Ie Concord del fine: NF, "a fine which brings harmony because it [cannot omit] anything [ascum chose]. "
17. avJl~odv",: [87:59]. Pound gives the whole phrase from WT as: "Splendour it all coheres! " [WT, 50].
18. solonques . . . dit): NF, "so long as the purpose holds, CHARTER said to be cer? tain. I in which the earth lives I (the book says). " These phrases do not occur in Coke in any such form, but some parts occur in a variety of places.
19. "de ses vicines": NF [? ], "of these neighborhoods [? ]. "
20. tempora non regum: ML, "times not of kings. "
21. arundinetum: Source has this word fol- lowed by "where seeds grow" [Coke, First, 86a, 4b, 5b; DG,Pai 4? 2 & 3, 296].
22. Si . . . nascitur: ML, "If the name of a
2. curtilagia teneant: ML, "[those] living in cottages. " The statute prescribes the ideal and goes on to allow exceptions to some who cannot afford "4 acres" [108:95] or would otherwise be harmed.
3. Idlenesse: But the statute was against "unlawful houses," which Coke describes as "being nests to hatch idleness, the mother of pickings" [Institutes, 740].
4. EPARXON: Reference to The Book of the Eparch [96:271]
cems in ancient laws such as The Eparch's Book and a number of statutes throughout the legal history of England.
6. Donaison, denizen: NF, "Merchant strangers. "
7. (Littleton's): Coke's First Institute was in large part a commentary upon the legal work of Littleton.
8. No wight . . . : In his comment on Little- ton, Coke quoted Chaucer's description of the "Sergeant of the Lawe": "Ther koude no wight pynche at his writyng. "
5. Do sell . . . changed:
These 10 lines (with
15. Sellaio: painter.
[20: 17;
93 :68],
Florentine
'62: From the
preamble to
28. Charles
the Charter of Connecticut, dated April 23, 1662: "Charles the Second, by the grace of God, King of England. . . . "
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meantime, the king appointed such officers and said they were "to contynue in the said severall Offices respectively, untill the sec- ond Thursday which shall bee in the Moneth of October now next comeing" [ibid, 112- 113].
31. Oathes: "All other Officers to be ap- pointed . . . shall . . . take their severall and respective Corporall Oathes . . . " [ibid. , 114]. The next two pages of text are de- voted to the ritual of oaths.
. . .
jects. . . . " etc. [ibid. , 115].
33. Under . . . seal: "That all such Lawes . . . as shall bee soe made by the Gov- ernor . . . and Assistants . . . and published in writeing under their Cornon Seale, shall care-
nes whereof, wee have caused these our Let- ters to bee made Patent: Witnes our Selfe, att Westminster, the three and Twentieth day of Aprill. . . By Writ! of Privy Seale. [Signed] Howard" [ibid. , 118].
39. Wing .