THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF BRISTOL.
The Little Red Book of Bristol. Edited by Francis B. Biekley. 2 vols. (W. Crofton Hemmons, Bristol, and Sotheran and Co. 30s. net )—These volumes, which are published under the authority of the Council of the city and county of Bristol, deal with the documents in the " Little Red Book," in which there are entries ranging from 1344 to 1574. It is called " Little " to distinguish it from the " Great Red Book," "containing similar entries, generally of a later date." Mr. Bickley in the introduction gives an interesting account of the Royal charters granted to the city, and of the rules of the guilds and chantries, the originals of which are in the "Little Red Book," and most of which are here reprinted in English, French, or Latin. In the Middle Ages the people of this city seem to have been wideawake to their own. interests, and perhaps the saying that Bristol people sleep with one eye open dates from those days. Edward III. gave them a charter in 1331 which seems to have regulated their affairs with much care and minuteness. Clause 13 lays down "that no tanner perform or exercise the business of his craft within the walls, to wit, in the highways where the majority of the people pass." Travellers in Bristol by one of the loctl trams would be happier if this regulation were still in force. The importance of the city was established when Edward III. granted the petition of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and commonalty of Bristol that the town should be recognised as a county. They objected, naturally enough, to travel "thirty miles of very bad and deep road" to Gloucester or llchester to transact business at the Assizes and County Courts. There is a curious map of Bristol, dated 1568, at the beginning of the first volume, and there are several reproduc- tions of tarts of the original documents. This book will, of course, appeal most to people who know and appreciate the quaint charms of old Bristol ; but the "stranger," to borrow a word which often occurs in the text, will find much to interest him in the pictures of social and political life recorded in many of the documents. Here is one of forty regulations issued by proclamation in the fourteenth century :—" Also that no one keep any large dogs roaming about without a chain, under a penalty of 40d."
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