The name is absent

of water. Now in a charter of the year 902, we
find an interesting statement, which I must take
leave to cite¹ : Denewulf bishop of Winchester
and his Chapter had leased land at Eblesburne to
Beornwulf, a relative of the bishop : the Chapter
sent word to Beomwulf that the men, that is the
serfs, were to remain attached to the land—ⁱⁱSset
^lδa men moston on ^lδam lande wunian ’’—whether
he, or any other, held it : “ ^lδonne wæron Saer Jzreo
WiteJzeowe men burbærde, ^,] Jzreo Jzeowbserde, ^lSa
me salde bisceop "j ‰ hiwan to rihtre séhte J hira
team “Now there were three convicts burbærde
and three Jzeowbserde, whom the bishop and the
brethren gave me, together with their offspring.”
The expressions used in this passage seem to show
that some of the WiteJzeowe men upon this estate
enjoyed a higher condition than others², being cul-
tivators or boors, while the others were more strictly
slaves. The very curious and instructive dialogue
of Ælfric numbers among the serfs the yr⅞>ling or
ploughman, whose occupation the author neverthe-
less places at the head of all the crafts, with perhaps
a partial exception in favour of the smith’s³.

Servitude ceased by voluntary or compulsory
manumission on the part of the lord; the latter
case being that where the services of the slave were
forfeited through the misconduct of the master.

¹ Cod. Dip. No. 1079.

^a The compounds of bærde cannot denote anything but a peπnanent
condition or quality : they are nearly equivalent to the compounds of
cund, excepting that they are necessarily personal.

³ Thorpe, Analecta.

And as loss of liberty must be considered in the
main as a consequence of the public law, under-
stood in the general, and expressed in the parti-
cular case, so must it I think be asserted, that at
Jirst emancipation depended in some degree upon
the popular will as well as the mercy or caprice of
private individuals. It is no doubt true, that at
a period when what we now call crimes were ra-
ther considered in the light of civil injuries, for
which satisfaction was due to the parties injured, it
might seem reasonable to leave the latter in pos-
session of the power to assess the minimum, at
least, of his own satisfaction : to allow him to de-
cide how long a period of servitude he would con-
tent himself with, if he chose to renounce the right
he possessed of claiming an endless one ; or lastly,
to reward good and faithful service by cancelling
the consequences of an earlier wrong. But eman-
cipation has two very different effects : it not only
relieves the serf from personal burthens and dis-
abilities, but it restores or introduces a citizen to
political and public rights. In a state of society
where landed possession and the exercise of such
rights are inseparable, a grave difficulty arises, viz.
how can provision be made for the newly emanci-
pated, and now free man ? If the community will
consent, and possess the means, to create a new free
Hide for his occupation, of course the matter can
be managed ; but this consent renders the eman-
cipation in reality the act of the state, not of the
ɪnanumittor. Or the lord on restoring freedom to
his serf may endow him with a portion of his own

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