would be a model for the British world? "To make law that is worthy of acceptance for free communities that are not bound to accept it, this would be no mean ambition. _Nihil aptius, nihil efficacius ad plures provincias sub uno imperio retinendas et fovendas._ But it is hardly to Parliament that one's hopes must turn in the first instance." Certain ancient and honourable societies, proud of a past that is unique in the history of the world, may become fully conscious of the heavy weight of responsibility that was assumed when English law schools saved, but isolated, English law in the days of the Reception. "In that case the glory of Bruges, the glory of Bologna, the glory of Harvard, may yet be theirs." The lecturer paused, and then surveying the crowded Senate House added, with an effect which those who heard him cannot forget, certain words which have not been printed. "But," he concluded, "I see, Mr Vice-Chancellor, that strangers are present." XII. With health so broken that even the summers in England seldom passed without periods of illness and pain Maitland embarked upon one of the great undertakings of his life, an edition of the _Year Books of Edward II_. "These Year Books are a precious heritage. They come to us from life. Some day they will return to life once more at the touch of some great historian." The spirit in which Maitland approached the work is indicated by two quotations, the first from Roger North, the second from Albert Sorel, which are printed on the title page of each volume. "He (Sergeant Maynard) had such a relish of the old Year Books that he carried one in his coach to divert him in travel, and said he chose it before any comedy." "C'est toute la tragédie, toute la comédie humaine que met en scène sous nos yeux l'histoire de nos lois. Ne craignons pas de le dire et de le montrer." The edition of these Year Books printed in the reign of Charles II. from a single inferior manuscript was imperfect and bad. Maitland determined to show how an edition should be made, and in his eyes no labour was too great for such a task. These records were unique, priceless, imcomparable. "Are they not the earliest reports, systematic reports, continuous reports, of oral debate? What has the whole world to put by their side? In 1500, in 1400, in 1300, English lawyers were systematically reporting what of interest was said in Court. Who else in Europe was trying to do the like, to get down on paper and parchment the shifting argument, the retort, the quip, the expletive? Can we, for example, hear what was really said in the momentous councils of the Church, what was really said in Constance and Basel, as we can hear what was really said at Westminster long years before the beginning of 'the conciliar age'?" The Year Books contained more medieval conversation than had survived in any other authentic source. The history of law could not be written without them. "Some day it will seem a wonderful thing that men once