parliament, occurred. The next instance of such elections seems to have
happened in the 18th of Edward I.; and the first returns to such writs of
summons extant are dated the 23rd of the same reign, since which, with a
few intermissions, they have been regularly continued.

The correctness of these statements will appear from a reference to the
4th and 5th chapters of Sir W. Betham's recently published work on
"Dignities Feudal and Parliamentary," or to Sir James Mackintosh's History
of England.

M.

* * * * *

We admit that the battle of Evesham, literally speaking, was not the
origin of the House of Commons, and wish our correspondent P.T.W. had
furnished us with the name of the "modern writer" who has made the
assertion. At the same time it must be conceded that the fall of Simon de
Montfort, at Evesham, led to the more speedy consummation of the wished
for object. Thus Sir James Mackintosh, History of England, vol. i. p. 236,
says--

"Simon de Montfort, at the very moment of his fall, set the example of an
extensive reformation in the frame of parliament, which, though his
authority was not acknowledged by the punctilious adherents to the letter
and forms of law, was afterwards legally adopted by Edward, and rendered
the parliament of that year the model of the British parliament, and in a
considerable degree affected the constitution of all other representative
assemblies. It may indeed be considered as the practical discovery of
popular representation. The particulars of the war are faintly discerned