The earliest instance produced by Dugdale of the Justices Itinerant, is in 23 Hen. II. 1176, when by the advice of the Council held at Northampton, the realm was divided into six parts, and into each were sent three Justices. _Orig. Judic._ p. 51. This is stated on the authority of Hoveden. Dugdale admits however the custom to have been older, and in Gervasius Dorobernensis, we find, in 1170, certain persons, called _inquisitores_, appointed to perambulate England. Gervase of Tilbury, or whoever was the author of the _Dialogus de Scaccario_, calls them _deambulantes, vel perlustrantes judices_. See Spelman, _in voc_. The office continued to the time of Edward III., when it was superseded by that of the Justices of Assize. 280. _The kinges douther_, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 283. Argentille, La meschine qu’ert sa fille, Que ia estoit creue & grant, Et bien poeit auoir enfant. [338. _Sawe_, put for “Say we.” Cf. _biddi_ for “bidde i,” l. 484; _hauedet_ for “hauede it,” 714; &c. 365. _His quiste_, &c. “His bequest made, and (things) distributed for him.”] 433. _Crist warie him with his mouth! Waried wrthe he of north and suth!_ So, in the Romance of Merlin, Bishop Brice curses the enemies of Arthur, Ac, for he is king, and king’s son, Y curse alle, and y dom His enemies with Christes mouth, By East, by West, by North, and South! Ellis, _Metr. Rom._ V. I. p. 260. [506. For _nouth_ we must read _mouth_ or _wolde_. The sense is-- “He thought that he would he were dead, except that he might not (_or_ would not) slay him with his (own) hand.” 550. The sense is-- “When he had done that deed (i.e. gagged the child), _then_ the deceiver had commanded him,” &c. 560. _with_ may mean _knowest_, but this hardly gives sense. Perhaps we should read _wilt_, i.e. “As thou wilt have (preserve) my life.” 567. Mr Morris suggests that the riming words are _adoun_ and _croune_. We might then read-- “And caste þe knaue so harde adoun, þat he crakede þer hise croune.”] 591. _Of hise mouth_, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 71. sq. Totes les houres q’il dormoit, Vne flambe de lui issoit. Par la bouche li venoit fors, Si grant chalur auoit el cors. La flambe rendoit tiel odour, Onc ne sentit nul home meillour. 676. _And with thi chartre make (me) fre._ Instances of the manumission of villains or slaves by charter may be found in Hickes, _Diss. Epistol._ p. 12, Lye’s Dict. _ad calc._, and Madox’s _Formulare Anglicanum_, p. 750. The practice was common in the Saxon times, and existed so late as the reign of Henry VIII. [694. _Wite he him onliue_, if he knows him (to be) alive. 701. It is evident that the words _and gate_ = and goats, must be supplied. For the spelling _gate_, cf. _Pricke of Conscience_, ed. Morris, l. 6134, where _gayte_ is used collectively as a plural.] 706. _Hise ship_, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 89. Grim fet niefs apparailler, Et de viande bien charger.