should never be legal, unless
they were assented to at least by the majority of those who were to pay
them. Now these were not the people at large, but the military tenants of
the crown, who are accordingly the only persons entitled to be present at
the great council to be holden for taxation. Very early, however,
talliages had been exacted by the crown from those who were not military
tenants; and this imposition daily grew in importance with the relaxation
of the feudal tenures, and the increasing opulence of towns. The attempt
of the barons to include talliage, and even the vague mention of the
privileges of burghs, are decisive symptoms of this silent revolution. But
the generally feudal character of the charter and the main object of its
framers prevailed over that premature, but very honest, effort of the
barons."

[3] "Legis habet vigorem, quicquid de consilio et consensu
magnatum et reipublicae communi sponsione, authoritate regis,
juste fuerit definitum."--_Bracton_.

We recommend the reader to turn to the pages succeeding the above extract,
where the views of the enlightened author and statesman on the origin of
our parliament are set forth in perspicuous and masterly style.

* * * * *

VISIT TO CORFE CASTLE.

(_From a Correspondent._)

This is Corfe Castle! the celebrated structure, the date of which, and the
founder of which, are lost in antiquity:

"It stands to tell
A melancholy tale, to give
An awful warning; soon
Oblivion will steal silently
The remnant of its fame."

The castle is situate on the summit of a vast pyramidical mound, situated
abruptly in an opening of the chalk range extending from Ballard Down to
Worthbarrow in the Isle of Purbeck, county of Dorset. The walls are
extremely thick, (12 feet in some places,) and are about half a mile in
circuit. On the northern side the steepness of the ascent renders it
inaccessible, and on the south is a deep ditch, over which is a bridge of
three arches commanded by a gateway, flanked by two circular massive
towers. The first ward has several towers. Passing onwards in a
considerable ascent, we reached a second bridge guarded by a gate and
towers, and entered the second ward, in which are the ruins of five
towers. Winding round to the right, the explorer enters on the third and
principal ward, which stands on the summit of the hill; here were the
state apartments, store r