such memoranda a sufficient number could be collected of each prince’s reign up to the olden time, what more could we desire to enable us to judge of the genius of their princes, the wants and habits of the people, their acts and occupations? The most ancient written customary law of France is A.D. 1088,[3.1.15] at which time Mewar was in high [135] prosperity; opposing, at the head of a league far more powerful than France could form for ages after, the progress of revolution and foreign conquest. Ignorance, sloth, and all the vices which wait on and result from continual oppression in a perpetual struggle for existence of ages’ duration, gradually diminished the reverence of the inhabitants themselves for these relics of the wisdom of their forefathers. In latter years, they so far forgot the ennobling feeling and respect for ‘the stone which told’ their once exalted condition, as to convert the materials of the temple in which many of these stood into places of abode. Thus many a valuable relic is built up in the castles of their barons, or buried in the rubbish of the fallen pile. =Books of Grants.=—We have, however, the books of grants to the chiefs and vassals, and also the grand rent-roll of the country. These are of themselves valuable documents. Could we but obtain those of remoter periods, they would serve as a commentary on the history of the country, as each contains the detail of every estate, and the stipulated service, in horse and foot, to be performed for it. In later times, when turbulence and disaffection went unpunished, it was useless to specify a stipulation of service that was nugatory; and too often the grants contained but the names of towns and villages, and their value; or if they had the more general terms of service, none of its details.[3.1.16] From all these, however, a sufficiency of customary rules could easily be found to form the written law of fiefs in Rajasthan. In France, in the sixteenth century, the variety of these customs amounted to two hundred and eighty-five, of which only sixty[3.1.17] were of great importance. The number of consequence in Mewar which have come to my observation is considerable, and the most important will be given in the Appendix. Were the same plan pursued there as in that ordinance which produced the laws of Pays Coutumiers[3.1.18] of France, viz. ascertaining those of each district, the materials are ready.