From this epoch downwards, he has to watch the changes of the national literature. Observing it in its purely Anglo-Saxon period, he must estimate the extent to which it was altered by the adoption of Norman-French as a court language, while Anglo-Saxon still continued to be the tongue of the common people; and mark the continued existence of this fundamental Teutonic speech, and its action upon the language of the court, until the former became the established literary language of the day, the latter merely imparting to it one of its characteristic features. Thus tracing these elements from their respective sources down to the days of Chaucer, the influence of the revival of classical learning upon modern language and thought must find a place, and English literature must be described in its progress towards and arrival at full manhood. Along with this inquiry, there should be an ancillary investigation into the causes why the language and literature of the Scottish lowlands have so long differed from those of England, though both springing from the same root. Returning to the Anglo-Saxon period, another and more laborious inquiry opens in the department of the laws and public institutions. There must be a search after those which were peculiar to the Anglo-Saxons; and in dealing with authorities posterior to the conquest, the historian must carefully sift them, that he may ascertain the extent to which any law or custom was undoubtedly Anglo-Saxon. After having ascertained how much of the spirit of feudal institutions had tinged the purely Saxon usages, he must next follow the progress of feudalism abroad, and fully explain the effect produced on Britain by its full grown importation at the era of the Conquest. In conjunction with this large inquiry, the jurisprudence of Rome must be kept in view; first, as some relics of it in municipal institutions, and otherwise, may have been associated with the very earliest forms of internal organization in modern Europe; and secondly, after its letter had been buried for centuries, as it was resuscitated by the civilians and canonists, and brought in array against the common law of England, and amalgamated with the feudal system in Scotland. From these elements the history of Parliament and of municipal bodies, the prerogatives of the crown, and the rights and privileges of the subject, together with the practical administration of the law, ought all to be developed in their origin and growth. The state of knowledge and of opinion among the people at large, on political matters, and particularly on the manner in which they are governed, should form a part of this constitutional inquiry.