We have heard a good deal of late years about the Imperial policy of Elizabeth. By some it has been extolled for its success in enabling the nation at first to steer clear of, and at last to brave openly, the hostility of Catholic Europe. By others its example has been deprecated not for its inherent defects, but because it is unsuitable to our own times; yet there does not seem to be any sufficient reason why, on the one hand, it should receive from us the praise that was denied to it by far less discerning contemporaries; or, again, why it should not be deemed as inapplicable to this particular age as to any other in which it has been tried and found wanting.

This paper will embrace the old question of the Picts in Scotland which has been so much discussed, and also the newer question of the inhabitants of Britain preceding the Celtic invasion of these islands which has already been brought by me before the Society. This newer subject now meets with more attention on the part of historians and other men of science.

The series of Records known as the Memoranda Rolls of the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer is one of the earliest and most interesting amongst our historical documents. These Rolls begin early in the reign of Henry III., and become full in that of Edward I., increasing in bulk during almost each succeeding year in proportion to the growth of the imperial revenue.