But we have much stronger evidence than this. We read, at the outset, of these documents, that “it will be evident that they are connected with some Inquest of military service during the reign of Henry II.” This is an extraordinary assertion from one who is himself their editor. For we have only to turn to the second on the list to find in it nothing but a detailed record of the sums given individually by some forty burgesses of (Castle) Rising towards paying off the mortgages of their lord the earl of Arundel, who was clearly in the hands of the Jews. And the long and most curious return from the barony of Robert de Valoines deals with a humble reeve who neglected his master’s hay; a shepherd who had charge of his lord’s fold; Brian, who looked after the wood; Gilbert, who kept the bees; and other dependents fined for negligence. We may even say, most confidently, that the idea of an Inquest of military service could never occur to any one who perused the whole of these documents with an unbiassed mind. They are simply the result of an enquiry into the payment of moneys, and the reasons for such payment. But Mr. Hall has a theory to advance, and can only see these records in its light. Briefly stated, that theory is that these documents “answer very nearly to the description of such an Inquest” on knight service as is referred to in the return for the Honour of Arundel assigned to 1166. That these documents are later in date; that they do not suggest an Inquest on knight service; that, even if they did, they have no concern with an Inquest restricted to a Sussex Honour--all these objections are as nothing to Mr. Hall. He is as ready to “hazard the supposition” that conflicts with all the evidence as he was loth to accept a solution that fits in every way the facts of the case. May one not raise a strong protest against the sacrifice of a dozen pages, within a strictly limited space, to the enunciation of wildly conjectural and absolutely erroneous theories, not in the book of a private author, but in a Government publication, intended to form for all time the standard edition of a famous work? Let us now turn to the Pipe Roll of 1172 (18 Hen. II.), which plays an important part in Mr. Hall’s arguments. He tells us that an entry occurs in several different counties which has proved a source of difficulty to several generations of historical students. The entry in question is headed “De hiis qui cartas non miserunt,” certain assessments being appended in each case for the Scutage of Ireland (p. ccii.).