with regard to wolves, in consequence of its being the fashion of the ladies of the Court, under the last Stuarts, to have, instead of dogs, little wolves, called adives, about the size of cats, which were brought from Asia at a great cost.

Ursus had communicated to Homo a portion of his talents: such as to stand upright, to restrain his rage into sulkiness, to growl instead of howling, &c.; and on his side, the wolf had taught the man what he knew,-to do without a roof, to do without bread and fire, to prefer hunger in the woods to slavery in a palace.

The van (hut and vehicle in one), which traversed many different roads, without, however, leaving Great Britain, had four wheels, with shafts for the wolf, and a splinter-bar for the man. The splinterbar came into use when the roads were bad. The van was strong, although it was built of light boards like a dove-cot. In front there was a glass-door with a little balcony, which was useful for orations. It had something of the character of the platform tempered by an air of the pulpit. At the back there was a complete door with a practicable panel. By lowering the three steps which turned on a hinge below the door, you gained access to the hut, which at night was securely fastened with bolt and lock. Rain and snow had fallen plentifully on it; it had been painted, but of what colour it was difficult to say, change of season being to vans what changes of reign are to courtiers. In front, outside, was a board,— a kind of frontispiece, on which the following inscription might once have been deciphered; it was in black letters on a white ground, but by degrees the characters had become confused and blurred :

"By friction gold loses every year a fourteen hundredth part of its bulk. This is what is called the Wear. Hence it follows that on fourteen hundred millions of gold in circulation throughout the world, one million is lost annually. This million dissolves into dust, flies away, floats about, is reduced to atoms, charges, drugs and weighs down consciences, amalgamates with the souls of the rich, whom it renders proud, and with those of the poor, whom it renders brutish."

The inscription, rubbed and blotted by the rain and kindness of nature, was fortunately illegible, for it is possible that this philosophy concerning the inhalation of gold, which was at the same time both enigmatical and lucid, might not have been to the tastes of the sheriffs, the provost-marshals, and other big-wigs of the law. English legislation did not trifle in those days. It did not take much to make you a felon. The magistrates were ferocious by tradition, and cruelty was a matter of routine. The judges of assize increased and multiplied. Jefferies had become a breed.

III.

In the interior of the hut there were two other inscriptions. Above the box, on a white-washed plank, a hand had written in ink as follows:

"THE ONLY THINGS NECESSARY TO KNOW.a

"The Baron, peer of England, wears a cap with six pearls. The coronet begins with the rank of Viscount. The Viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number. The Earl a coronet with the pearls upon points, mixed with strawberry leaves

A translator as a rule has no right to interfere with the text of the Author. I hope, however, that I may be excused for having ventured to correct some manifest slips which M. Hugo has made in preparing for Ursus the description of the rights and privileges of the English peerage. I have not, indeed, corrected all mistakes. Thus, for example, in the very first sentences of this passage about the peerage, it is stated that the baron wears only a cap, and that the viscount is the lowest rank of peer entitled to a coronet. This was true up to the end of Charles the Second's reign. It is not true now, and it was not true at the time when Ursus wrote. Yet it was a statement which he might reasonably have supposed to be true, and therefore I have let it remain. I have even ventured to pass anachronisms of the opposite kind-where Ursus speaks of that as existing which had not yet come to pass. Thus there will be found among his list of great peers, at the period of the Revolution, some names, as those of Lords Grantham, Lonsdale, Scarborough, Kent, and Coningsby, which were not created till afterwards--when the century was at its close, or even when the next century had commenced. These are errors of detail which do not interfere with the general truth of the picture. With other statements which never were at any time true, I have been less tender. Thus I have struck out the statement that, on the top of Devonshire House, there was a lion which turned its tail on the king's palace. Again, where the writer states that daily in the king's palace there were eighty-six tables spread, each with 500 dishes, I have ventured to give the true statement that there were 500 dishes in all. And so with some other details. With a few passages I have had a little difficulty in deciding how to deal. Thus Victor Hugo makes his hero write "Toute fille de lord est lady. Les autres filles anglaises sont miss." With regard to the first of these statements it is well-known that every daughter of a peer does not receive the title of lady: it is only the daughters of a duke, a marquis, or an earl, that are so honoured. Still, in the general obfuscation of intellect which titular niceties are apt to produce, Ursus might be supposed likely to designate as lady every peer's daughter whomsoever. On the other hand, the daughters of commoners were not called miss in those days, and I have made bold to give the title which Ursus must have known. Let me add that most of the details as to THE ONLY THINGS NECESSARY TO KNOW are borrowed from Chamberlayne's well-known work, "The Present State of England," and that I am a little surprised at the omission by Victor Hugo and his hero Ursus of one curious touch which will be found in Chamberlayne's chapter on the peerage-"No viscount is to wash with a marquis, but at his pleasure.”—Translator.

placed low between. The Marquis, one with pearls and leaves on the same level. The Duke, one with strawberry leaves alone-no pearls. The Royal Duke, a circlet of crosses and flowers de luce. The Prince of Wales, crown like that of the King, but unclosed.

"The Duke is a most high and most puissant prince, the Marquis and Earl most noble and puissant lord, the Viscount noble and puissant lord, the Baron a trusty lord. The Duke is his Grace; the other Peers their Lordships. Most honourable is higher than right honourable.

"Lords who are peers are lords in their own right. Lords who are not peers are lords by courtesy:—there are no real lords, excepting such as are peers.

"The House of Lords is a chamber and a court, Concilium et Curia, legislature and court of justice. The Commons, who are the people, when ordered to the bar of the Lords, humbly present themselves bareheaded before the peers, who remain covered. The Commons send up their bills by forty members, who present the bill with three low bows. The Lords send their bills to the Commons by a mere clerk. In case of disagreement, the two Houses confer in the Painted Chamber, the Peers seated and covered, the Commons standing and bareheaded.

"Peers go to parliament in their coaches in file; the Commons do not. Some peers go to Westminster in open four-wheeled chariots (en chaises renversées à quatre roues). The use of these and of coaches emblazoned with coats of arms and coronets is allowed only to peers, and forms a portion of their dignity.

"Barons have the same rank as bishops. To be a baron peer of England, it is necessary to be in possession of a tenure from the king per Baroniam integram, by full barony. The full barony consists of thirteen knight's fees and one third part, each knight's fee being of the value of 20. sterling, which makes in all 400 marks. The head of a barony (Caput baroniæ) is a castle disposed by inheritance, as England herself, that is to say, descending to daughters if there be no sons, and in that case going to the eldest daughter, cæteris filiabus aliundè satisfactis.

"Barons have the degree of lord: in Saxon, laford; dominus in high Latin; Lordus in low Latin. The eldest and younger sons of viscounts and barons are the first esquires in the kingdom. The eldest sons of peers take precedence of knights of the garter. The

That is to say, the other daughters are provided for as best may be. (Note by Ursus on the margin of the wall.)

younger sons do not. The eldest son of a viscount comes after all barons, and precedes all baronets. Every daughter of a peer is a Lady. Other English girls are plain Mistress.

"All judges rank below peers. The serjeant wears a lambskin tippet; the judge one of patchwork, de minuto vario, made up of a variety of little white furs, always excepting ermine. Ermine is reserved for peers and the king.

"A lord never takes an oath, either to the crown or the law. His word suffices; he says, Upon my honour.

"By a law of Edward the Sixth, peers have the privilege of committing manslaughter. A peer who kills a man without premeditation is not prosecuted.

"The persons of peers are inviolable.

"A peer cannot be held in durance, save in the Tower of London. "A writ of supplicavit cannot be granted against a peer.

"A peer sent for by the king has the right to kill one or two deer in the royal park.

66 A peer holds in his castle a baron's court of justice.

"It is unworthy of a peer to walk the street in a cloak, followed by two footmen. He should only show himself attended by a great train of gentlemen of his household.

"A peer can be amerced only by his peers, and never to any greater amount than five pounds, excepting in the case of a duke, who can be amerced ten.

"A peer may retain six aliens born, any other Englishman but four. "A peer can have wine custom-free; an earl eight tuns.

"A peer is alone exempt from presenting himself before the sheriff of the circuit.

"A peer cannot be assessed towards the militia, but by six or more of his own estate.

"When it pleases a peer he raises a regiment and gives it to the king; thus have done their graces the Dukes of Athol, Hamilton, and Northumberland.

"A peer can hold only of a peer.

"In a civil cause he can demand the adjournment of the case, if there be not at least one knight among the jury.

"A peer nominates his own chaplains. A baron appoints three chaplains; a viscount four; an earl and a marquis five; a duke six. "A peer cannot be put to the rack, even for high treason. peer cannot be branded on the hand. A peer is a clerk, though he knows not how to read. In law he knows.

A

“A duke has a right to a canopy, or cloth of state, in all places