Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review.
Speaking of the changes that have come over the country since William the Conquer caused the Doomsday Sun * ey to be made , Mr . White graphically obseiwes : — " We rarely hear this book mentioned
but our thoughts immediately revert to Avhat must have been the aspect and condition of the countryand its inhabitants at the remote period at Avhich it Avas compiled . In regard to Worksop , how much
the appearance of the country has been changed , Avhen , instead of the present highly cultivated fields and meadoAvs , a bleak and barren extent of sand presented itself , clothed with heath , gorse , fern , and
stunted brushwood , Avith here and there a range of noble forest trees , growing in all the Avild luxuriance of nature , undefined by the hand of man , and tenanted by countless herds of deer and
other noble Avild game , rarely disturbed , because protected by penal statutes and harsh laAvs , which elevated above , and gave more protection to , the Avild animal than the peasant . So severe and unjust Avere
these laws , that the unauthorised slayer of a deer , a boar , or a hare , Avas punished Avith the loss of his eyes , Avhile the killing of a man could be atoned for by the
payment of a moderate composition . " A feiv acres of land in the 1 'alleys , or on the river banks , gaA * e the only token of cultivation and of the presence of man . A feAV miserable huts would be scattered here , and
there , with their little less miserable inhabitants , who derived a scanty subsistence from their hard labour , and that too often mulcted by the rapacity and extortion of their superiors , Avhom no laws restrained ,
and Avith whom Might formed the only code of right and wrong , and by Avhom they were considered iu the li ght of mere beasts of burden , and formed for their sole use and pleasure . His black bread , with
Avhich he might allay , but could scarcely satisfy his hunger , was seldom accompanied by anything more dainty ; and many tilings Avhich have HOAV become necessaries of life , Avere to him either utterly unknoAvn , or if known , unattainable . Still more insecure
was he from the grievous forays of the neighbouring barons and freebooters , to whom plunder Avas a speedier means of enrichment than the honest pursuits of industry . The law to him Avas a sealed book , and totally ignored his presence , except as mere property . Ignorant and degraded
Review.
almost to the level of the beasts , aspirations or hopes of better days could seldom come across his mind ; tied to the soil , he lived and died , having rarely indeed left his native valley- —all beyond being to him
another world . " After a time , a change conies over the scene ; the axe and the hammer are heard sounding in the valley ; a noble monastery lears its head , and seeds of civilization
and cultivation are spread around . An alteration and improvement of the poor man ' s temporal condition ensues ; though for some ages this AA'as so small that it can scarcely be appreciated .
" Time passes on—the land is noAv more folly brought into cultivation—the hamlet slowly increases and becomes the village , and the village the toAvn . The peasant delivered , at least in part , from tho
thraldom of the lords , passes through a rough aud stormy period , improving his condition by dint of hard and long-continued exertion , at times losing all be has gained ; yet , nothing daunted , he fights
the battle over again , and at last his persecutors acknoAvledge him as Avorthy of equal laAvs and privileges Avith themselves . " I have often longed to know the exact influence Avhich our ancient Craft has
exercised in helping to bring the rude matter of savage tribes into due form for the partial security of life and property , and the gradual development of civil and religious liberty ; and the part it is yet
destined to play in aiding human society to become an institution perfect in all its parts , and honourable to the Grand Geometrician of the Universe , because useful in the highest degree to all his creatures . Neither a believer in the literal truth of
our glorious legendary lore , nor that the Avhole was a mere crafty invention at the "Revival" of Mas . nry , in 1717—Avhen the speculative seems to have pushed out the operative Avith as little remorse as the cuckoo does the young of the sparroAv that has hatched it—a divorce that has been
carried too far ; I , for one , believe that the influence of Freemasonry on such changes as Ave have just been reading about , has never yet been properly appreciated . Even
as an operative guild , banded together against cowans or knobsticks , cultivating the rudiments of science , and something moreasregarded the glorious fabricsivhich it Avastheir ' sto rear ; with their Avooden lodges
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review.
Speaking of the changes that have come over the country since William the Conquer caused the Doomsday Sun * ey to be made , Mr . White graphically obseiwes : — " We rarely hear this book mentioned
but our thoughts immediately revert to Avhat must have been the aspect and condition of the countryand its inhabitants at the remote period at Avhich it Avas compiled . In regard to Worksop , how much
the appearance of the country has been changed , Avhen , instead of the present highly cultivated fields and meadoAvs , a bleak and barren extent of sand presented itself , clothed with heath , gorse , fern , and
stunted brushwood , Avith here and there a range of noble forest trees , growing in all the Avild luxuriance of nature , undefined by the hand of man , and tenanted by countless herds of deer and
other noble Avild game , rarely disturbed , because protected by penal statutes and harsh laAvs , which elevated above , and gave more protection to , the Avild animal than the peasant . So severe and unjust Avere
these laws , that the unauthorised slayer of a deer , a boar , or a hare , Avas punished Avith the loss of his eyes , Avhile the killing of a man could be atoned for by the
payment of a moderate composition . " A feiv acres of land in the 1 'alleys , or on the river banks , gaA * e the only token of cultivation and of the presence of man . A feAV miserable huts would be scattered here , and
there , with their little less miserable inhabitants , who derived a scanty subsistence from their hard labour , and that too often mulcted by the rapacity and extortion of their superiors , Avhom no laws restrained ,
and Avith whom Might formed the only code of right and wrong , and by Avhom they were considered iu the li ght of mere beasts of burden , and formed for their sole use and pleasure . His black bread , with
Avhich he might allay , but could scarcely satisfy his hunger , was seldom accompanied by anything more dainty ; and many tilings Avhich have HOAV become necessaries of life , Avere to him either utterly unknoAvn , or if known , unattainable . Still more insecure
was he from the grievous forays of the neighbouring barons and freebooters , to whom plunder Avas a speedier means of enrichment than the honest pursuits of industry . The law to him Avas a sealed book , and totally ignored his presence , except as mere property . Ignorant and degraded
Review.
almost to the level of the beasts , aspirations or hopes of better days could seldom come across his mind ; tied to the soil , he lived and died , having rarely indeed left his native valley- —all beyond being to him
another world . " After a time , a change conies over the scene ; the axe and the hammer are heard sounding in the valley ; a noble monastery lears its head , and seeds of civilization
and cultivation are spread around . An alteration and improvement of the poor man ' s temporal condition ensues ; though for some ages this AA'as so small that it can scarcely be appreciated .
" Time passes on—the land is noAv more folly brought into cultivation—the hamlet slowly increases and becomes the village , and the village the toAvn . The peasant delivered , at least in part , from tho
thraldom of the lords , passes through a rough aud stormy period , improving his condition by dint of hard and long-continued exertion , at times losing all be has gained ; yet , nothing daunted , he fights
the battle over again , and at last his persecutors acknoAvledge him as Avorthy of equal laAvs and privileges Avith themselves . " I have often longed to know the exact influence Avhich our ancient Craft has
exercised in helping to bring the rude matter of savage tribes into due form for the partial security of life and property , and the gradual development of civil and religious liberty ; and the part it is yet
destined to play in aiding human society to become an institution perfect in all its parts , and honourable to the Grand Geometrician of the Universe , because useful in the highest degree to all his creatures . Neither a believer in the literal truth of
our glorious legendary lore , nor that the Avhole was a mere crafty invention at the "Revival" of Mas . nry , in 1717—Avhen the speculative seems to have pushed out the operative Avith as little remorse as the cuckoo does the young of the sparroAv that has hatched it—a divorce that has been
carried too far ; I , for one , believe that the influence of Freemasonry on such changes as Ave have just been reading about , has never yet been properly appreciated . Even
as an operative guild , banded together against cowans or knobsticks , cultivating the rudiments of science , and something moreasregarded the glorious fabricsivhich it Avastheir ' sto rear ; with their Avooden lodges