The Letters Patent of Southampton. Vol. H. Edited by H.
W. Gidden. (Southampton : Cox and Sharland. 28s. net.)— The Southampton Record Society continues its admirable work of printing the records of the ancient borough. The new volume containing the letters patent from 1415 to 1612 includes some interesting economic documents, such as a Statute of Labourers, ascribed by the editor to 1496, fixing wages in various trades, and two Elizabethan letters relating to Southampton's monopoly of the import of " all wynes called Malvesyes and other swete wynes of the grouth of Candy and Rotymo in the parties of Levant." The monopoly was farmed out to influential courtiers like Leicester or Essex, who could see that it was not infringed by London or Bristol vintners. The editor contributes an Intro- duction. Borough records are such important sources of mediaeval history that all old towns ought to have active Record Societies like Southampton's.
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