oedie_ is not by Batornicki, but translated by him
from the Polish. In the preface he apologises for inelegant German, as that
is not his native language; and I presume he is a Pole, as he says the
author's name is known among us (_unter uns_). As he calls it a poem
(_Dichtung_) the original is probably in verse. I think the Munich critic
could have seen only some extracts from the _Comoedia Divina_; for, so far
from Batornicki "plundering freely," I do not find any resemblance between
the works except in the sole word _comoedia_. The _Comoedia Divina_ is a
mockery, not political, but literary, and as such anti-mystic and
conservative. _Die Ungoettliche Comoedie_ is wild, mystical, supernatural,
republican, and communistic. It contains passages of great power,
eloquence, and pathos. German critics are often prosy and inefficient, but
not given to wilful misrepresentation or carelessness in examining the
books they review. The writer in the Munich journal must be held an
exception.

H. B. C.

U. U. Club.

* * * * *

{571}

LIVERIES WORN BY GENTLEMEN.

(Vol. vi., p. 146.; Vol. viii., p. 473.)

The prevalence of the custom of the liveries of noble and other persons
being worn by others than the retainers of the family, in the reigns of
Henry VI. and Elizabeth, is exemplified by two documents preserved amongst
the MSS. of the corporation of this borough. The first, which is also
curious as a specimen of the language of the period, is an award under the
seal of Margaret of Anjou; under whom, as they had previously done under
Katherine, queen of Henry V., the corporation farmed the bailiwick of the
town:

"Margaret, by the grace of God, Quene of England and of Ffraunce and
Lady of Irland, Doughter of the Kyng of Sicile and Jer[=l][=m]. Be it
knawen to all men to whom this p'sent writyng (endented) shall come,
that whereas a certeyn Co[=m]ission of my fuldoutfull Lord was directed
to c'teyn [p=]sones to enquere as well of yevyng of lyu'e, as of other
diu's articles ... before the Co[=m]issioners of the seyd Co[=m]ission
it was p'sented by William Neuby and other of our te[=n][=n]tz of
Leycestre ... that c'teyn [p=]sones, in Leycestre, had taken clothyng
of diu'rez p'sones, ayenst the forme of the statut; that ys to wete,
that some of hem had taken clothyng of the Viscount Beaumont, and some
of S^r Edward Grey, Lord Fferrers of Growby, and some