realm, instituted tithings;
so called, from the Saxon, because ten freeholders with their families
composed one. These all dwelt together, and were sureties, or
free-pledges to the king for the good behaviour of each other; and if
any offence were committed in their district, they were bound to have
the offender forthcoming. And therefore, anciently, no man was suffered
to abide in England above forty days, unless he were enrolled in some
tithing or decennary. As ten families of freeholders made up a tithing,
so ten tithings composed a superior division, called a hundred. In some
of the more northern counties these hundreds are called wapentakes. The
sub-division of hundreds into tithings seems to be most peculiarly the
invention of Alfred; the institution of hundreds themselves he rather
introduced than invented, for they seem to have obtained in Denmark; and
we find that in France a regulation of this sort was made above 200
years before; set on foot by Clotharicus and Childebert, with a view of
obliging each district to answer for the robberies committed in its own
division. In some counties there is an intermediate division between the
shire and the hundred, as lathes in Kent, and rapes in Sussex, each of
them containing about three or four hundreds a-piece. Where a county is
divided into three of these intermediate jurisdictions, they are called
trithings, which still subsist in the large county of York, where, by an
easy corruption, they are denominated ridings; the north, the east, and
the west.

J.M. C----D.

* * * * *

STANZAS,

(BEING AN INTRODUCTION TO AN INTENDED VERSIFICATION OF ONE OF THE TALES
OF BOCCACCIO.)

(_For the Mirror._)

The young, fair Spring, is tripping o'er the Earth,
With feet that ne'er can know the lag of age;
The Earth, her lover, conscious of her worth,
Flings down all his rich treasures to engage
That blushing wanderer: but she journeys forth
Heedless of all his offerings. The hot rage
Of love shall scorch his heart in tortures fell,
Till Winter comes with many an icicle.

That loved-one yet is here; and flowers, and songs,
And streams--to gush above her own free feet
Of stainless ivory,--and countless throngs
Of birds are living, her pure soul to greet.
And the lone spirit, thoughtfully that longs
For a dim view of Eden, from a seat
O'erhanging some green valley, now espies
Nought that might dr