"Spartanocuidam respondit Pythia vates;Haud impunitum quondam fore, quod dubitaretDepositumretinere et fraudemjuretueriJurando."
"Spartanocuidam respondit Pythia vates;
Haud impunitum quondam fore, quod dubitaret
Depositumretinere et fraudemjuretueri
Jurando."
The Spartan's name was Glaucus. The story is told at large in Herodot. vi. 86. See Stocker'snote on Juv.Sat.xiii. 199. The use of "sibi," in the extract from theLegenda Aurea, is new to me. Is it common in monkish Latin?
C. FORBES.
Temple.
—MR. BREENput another Query besides "Where shall we find six good anagrams?" He asked, "How comes it that a species of composition once so popular should have become extinct?"
Let me venture to refer MR. BREENtoThe Spectatorfor an answer to this inquiry; where, in Addison's brilliant papers on "False Wit" (Nos. 58. &c.), he will find the whole family of ingenious quibblings,—anagrams, acrostics, chronograms, puns, bouts-rimes, &c.,—mown down to their just level. And MR. BREENcannot, I am sure, as a man of taste, fail to be delighted, even although he may think the following passage (which I quote chiefly as a warning against the rise of an anagrammatric epidemic among your correspondents) a little severe on his old friends:
"The acrostic was probably invented about the same time with the anagram, though it is impossible to decide whether the inventor of the one or the other were the greater blockhead."
It is a tempting folly I admit for an idle hour, and I must plead guilty to having (in consequence of MR. BREEN'Sletter) wasted nearly a whole evening in discovering that
"NOTES ANDQUERIES""Enquires on Dates!"
"NOTES ANDQUERIES"
"Enquires on Dates!"
and also offers the following warning to its contributors—
"Send quite Reason;"
"Send quite Reason;"
while as an encouragement it observes (so an ingenious friend informs us)—
"O send in a Request."
"O send in a Request."
HERMES.
—TheEgils Sagadescribes the duel between the armies of Olaf and Athelstan to have been fought in achamp clos, inclosed with branches of hazel, upon a space called the Vinheidi, orheidiofVin, situatenear(vid) orin(á) the Vinskogr, or forest of Vin.Heidiis a rough open space, with scrubs or bushes, such as furze, juniper, broom, &c. Theheidiand theskogrwere distinct, the latter affording shelter to the fugitives from the former, p. 290. The text, both Norse and Latin, says, "Then he brought his army to the Vin-heidi.A certaintown stood towards the north of the heidi." But a various reading in the note says, "to the town of Vinheidi, which was to the north of the heidi." But it seems as unreasonable for the town to be called Vinheidi, as Vinskogr.Vinshould be taken for the name of the town, and the root of the other phrases. The downs or brakes called Vinheidi were inclosed with hazel, and lay between the forest, or skogr, and some river. The town, being Olaf's head quarters, lay north of them. Athelstan occupied the nearest town to the south of the heidi. [Query, whether south of the river?] The northern town Vin is no doubt the Weon from which the Weon-dune (downs of Weon, or heidi of Vin) was called. The other name given by Simeon Dunelmensis to that space is curious, as showing how well the spot was adapted for attack and pursuit, "eth-runnan-werc," that is, "facilis-ad-opus-currendi." The name Brunanburg, probably signifying "the town of bourns," or watercourses, is unequivocally that of a town. Since Olaf or Arlaf had his quarters at Vin, it was probably at that place where Athelstan was stationed. Find these two places, Vin the northern-most of the two, and find the river. The heidi and the skogr are probably grubbed and ploughed up.
A. N.
—Some three years ago I saw a prospectus announcing that they would be published by Mr. Parker of Oxford, under the direction of Mrs. Praed; but I believe nothing has been done in the matter since.
W. J.
—Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, 191. Piccadilly, have, or had recently, an original MS. of this eminent lawyer and poet. Perhaps L. GYFFESwould learn something of it by communication with them, and, if curious, oblige your readers with an account of it.
R.
—MR. TAYLORappears to me not altogether correct in his distinctions of these coins. The name VAL. certainly generally denotes Constantius Chlorus, but there are coins of Constantius II. also with VAL. It is impossible for a practised numismatist to confound the coins of these emperors, not only from the difference of lettering and workmanship, but from the change in the size, thickness, &c. of the coins. I have coins of Constantius II. with VAL. bearing the same reverse as others withIVL. (PROVIDENTIAECAESS) in my cabinet. I have also several coins of Constantius II. withP.F.AVG., which haveA.behind the head. I refer above only to coins of bronze, second and third sizes; but I should suppose the rules would apply also to the gold coins. I see "NOTES ANDQUERIES" only monthly, or I should have written sooner, but I hope not to be too late.
W. H. S.
Edinburgh.
"Let fools the name of loyalty divideWise men and gods are on the strongest side."
"Let fools the name of loyalty divide
Wise men and gods are on the strongest side."
I much fear your correspondent HENRYH. BREENsuggests an alteration in Sir CharlesSedley's couplet more favourable to the witty baronet's principles than facts will admit. It is too probable that he conceived the sentiment just as it stands; for we must remember that he belonged to that school of loose wits of the Restoration, who, "Regis ad exemplar," made a mock of all which tended to place "virtue" above "interest," or to make men "too fond of the right to pursue the expedient."
Charles II. and his long train of licentious courtiers now stand at the bar of history, and the verdict on him must be, that if he had a principle in latter life it was this,—that he would never endanger himself for any abstract rule of right; or as Sir W. Scott, inPeveril, accurately says: "he had sworn never to kiss the block on which his father suffered," when yielding to the current would save him from it; hence, there is too good reason to think that, in his estimation, and in the judgment of the school he formed, "loyalty" was "folly," and to take the strongest side "wisdom."
The reference in Sedley's couplet to the line—
"Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni"—
"Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni"—
is too obvious to need notice; and it is but too certain that in the estimation of a courtier of Charles II., Cato dying for his country would be but "a fool for his pains." It is painful to be obliged to remind MR. BREENthat, in order to understand Sedley's meaning, we are not to look for what would be "most consistent with truth," but for what was most probably accordant with the lax morality of the author.
A. B. R.
Belmont, Oct. 6. 1851.
—This work was printed at Venice in 1538, in 4to. Münster republished it in the next following year, with an epitome of its contents in Latin. (G. B. de' Rossi,Dizionario Storico, &c., art. "Levita.").
T. T.
Manchester.
—P. P.'s objection to Sir R. C. Hoare's derivation ofStonehengeseems hardly justifiable. Surely the horizontal stones there may be said to hang,μετέωροι, orμετάρσιοι, sublime: as in the case of "Rocq Pendant" of Alderney, the term "hanging" is loosely applied. That leans forth from the cliff at a considerable angle out of the perpendicular, and is "hanging," in another sense of the word, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and as, in another acceptation, the famous terrace gardens of Babylon are called the Hanging Gardens.
THEOPHYLACT.
—Referring to this subject, allow me to add a Note I have from the will of Robert Birkes, of Doncaster, alderman, proved at York, July 30, 1590, in further illustration. The testator gives to his son Robert all "the seeling work and portalls" in and about the house where he dwelt, "with all doors,glass windows," &c., in full of his child's portion of his goods; and then hishousehe gave to his wife for her life. If by "seeling work and portalls" are meant what we now understand by those terms, the above extract shows that other essential parts of a house besides glass windows were formerly considered as moveable chattels.
C. J.
—The explanation offered by a writer in theMagasin Pittoresquefor 1850, seems perfectly clear without the proposed transposition of the adverbfortintofaitof your correspondent D. C.
If the sentence be read according to the French explanation D. C. has quoted, viz. by readinginfortuneas a verb,fortthe adverb to it, it must be plain that the reading of the sentence must be:
"Fortune fort infortune une."(Fortune very much afflicts one.)
"Fortune fort infortune une."
(Fortune very much afflicts one.)
If we turnedfortintofait, it would entirely spoil the sentence.
Query, Butis"infortuner" to be found as a verb in any old dictionary? We have the adjective "infortuné," which looks much like a participle.
J. C. W.
Francis Terrace, Kentish Town.
—MR. SANSOMwill find the desired MS. in the British Museum, 14 C. vii. (Macray'sManual of Brit. Hist., p. 26. Lond. 1845.)
R. G.
In the Cottonian library, Claudius D. vi. 9., will be found "Abbreviatio compendiosa Chronicorum Angliæ, ab Ao1000, ad A. 1255. Scripsit quidam ad calcem, 'Hic desinit Mat. Paris Historia Minor, quæ est epitome Majoris, quæ adA.D. 1258 continuatur.'"
The Bibliothecæ Regiæ, 14 C. vii., contains "Historiæ M. Paris. Continuatio adA.D. 1273, alia manu. De possessione hujus Codicis multa fuit altercatio." (See Warton'sHistory of English Poetry, vol. i. p. lxxxviii. edit. 1840.) There are also MSS. at Corpus Christi College (No. 56.) and Ben'et College, Cambridge (No. 31.). Macray states, that theHistoria Minorwas made out of theHistoria Majorby Paris, both from Wendover to 1235, and his own large additions after that period.
J. Y.
Hoxton.
—The work of Hugo Sanfordus,De Descensu Domini nostri Jesu Christi ad inferos, was published as a separate work at Amsterdam in 1611, and its title is inserted in the printed catalogue of the Bodleian Library. Can ÆGROTUSgive a specific reference to the book, page, and edition of Gale'sCourt of the Gentilesin which it is spoken of, and also his authority for the statement that it waspublished in the works of a bishop who survived him?
TYRO.
—MR. NATHANIELELLISONwill find in theMemoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope, vol. iii. p. 141., a passage which pretty nearly confirms the account ofthe desertion of Pitt's death-bed. She said that James, a servant, was the only person present with Pitt when he died, and that she herself was the last person who saw him alive except James. She also stated that Dr. Pretyman, who seems to have been in the house, was fast asleep at the time; and that Sir Walter Farquhar, the physician, was absent. The account of Pitt's last moments in Gifford's life of him, where a prayer for forgiveness, &c. is put into his mouth, she pronounced to beall a lie.
J. S. W.
Stockwell.
—In reply to the Query of your correspondent H. L., I have to inform him that there have been published two histories of Hawick, viz.,—
1. Robert Wilson'sSketch of the History of Hawick, a small 8vo. printed in 1825. It contains a notice of the altercations between the Abbot of Melrose and Langlands the Baron of Wilton, relative to the arrear of tithes due to the abbacy of Melrose. A copy of this work can be procured for about 5s.
2. James Wilson'sAnnals of Hawick, 1214-1814, a small 8vo. printed in 1850. This work, under date 1494-5, has a notice of the murder of the chaplain by Langlands. This book can be had for 6s.6d.
A notice of the trial of Langlands for the murder will also be found in Pitcairn'sCriminal Trials, vol. i. p. 20.
T. G. S.
Edinburgh, Oct. 6. 1851.
—J. R. says that "the first edition of theProphecies of Nostradamusis not only in the National Library, but in several others, both in Paris and elsewhere." Does J. R. speak from personal observation or at second-hand? When I was in Paris I spent some hours in searching the catalogue and shelves of both the National Library and that of St. Geneviève, but I could find no edition of Nostradamus dated 1555 in either. To convince myself that my search had been accurate, I turned toNostradamus, par Eugène Bareste, Paris, 1840, and there found it distinctly asserted that there is no copy of the first edition of the book (viz. that of 1555)in any public libraryin Paris, and that the copy used in compiling that edition of 1840 was borrowed from a private collection. I cannot give the exact words of M. Bareste, as I only made a "Note" of their purport; but if J. R. will say upon what authority his statement as to this rare little book is based, I will certainly some day renew my search for it at the National Library.
H. C. DEST. CROIX.
—Monuments, with inscriptions, to William Bourchier, Earl of Bath, 1623; Henry Bourchier, Earl of Bath; many of the family of Bourchier-Wrey, and others allied to them, are in the church of Tavistock, in the county of Devon; and the whole of them have been carefully transcribed with notes of the heraldry.
S. S. S.
—Jenkins, the historian of Exeter, in relating the prince's public entry into that city, states that he was preceded by the Earl of Macclesfield and two hundred horsemen,most of whomwere English nobles and gentlemen. There is in the Bodleian Library a fo. broadsheet entitled,A True and Exact Relation of the Prince of Orange, his Publick Entrance into Exeter, which, if I remember right, was reprinted in Somers'Tracts, but I do not think any names of those gentlemen are therein mentioned.
S. S. S.
—Does not Herbert imply in these lines—
"Take one from ten, and what remains?Ten still, if sermons go for gains."
"Take one from ten, and what remains?
Ten still, if sermons go for gains."
that the payer oftithesreceives an equivalent in the ministrations of the priest?
S. C. C.
Corfe Castle.
This passage alludes doubtless to the tithe of the parson, and maintains that the tithe-payer is no loser if the sermons for which tithe is paid produce their effects. In fact, it is a paraphrase ofProverbs, iii. 9, 10.:
"Honour the Lord with all thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
J. A. PICTON.
Liverpool.
—This was formerly the general practice in the South of England, and it has occasionally been resorted to within the last thirty years. At Chalvington, in Sussex, there once resided, according to a popular tradition, theonly honest miller ever known. About a century since, this person, finding it impossible to succeed in business, hanged himself in his own mill, and was buried in a neighbouring "crossways." An oaken stake, driven through his body, taking root, grew into a tree, and threw a singular shrivelled branch, the only one it ever produced, across the road. It was the most singular tree I ever saw, and had something extremely hag-like and ghostly in its look. The spot was of course haunted, and many a rustic received a severe shock to hisfeelings on passing it after nightfall. The tradition was of course received by the intelligent as a piece of superstitiousfolk-lore, and the story of the "only honest miller" was regarded as a meremyth, until about twenty-five years ago, when a labourer employed in digging sand near the roots of the scraggy oak tree, discovered a human skeleton. This part of the history I can vouch for, having seen, when a schoolboy, some of the bones. I must not omit to mention that the honest miller of Chalvington owned the remarkable peculiarity of a "tot" or tuft of hair growing in the palm of each hand!
MARKANTONYLOWER.
—The coat of arms described by F. I. B. is given by Robson and by Burke to the family of Kelley of Terrington, co. Devon, and the crests are similar, but I can find no authority for the coat in any work relating to that county. The ancient family, Kelly of Kelly, in Devon, bore a very different coat and crest. There is no such place as Terrington in that county, unless Torrington be meant, but no family of note bearing the name of Kelley had possessions there. I conclude, therefore, that there must be a mistake as to the county.
S. S. S.
—No life of Cromwell was ever written by "one Kember;" there is aLife of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the second edition (London, 1725) of which, greatly enlarged from the first, is now before me, and which has the autograph of Malone, who has on the fly-leaf asserted it to have been "written by Isaac Kimber, a Dissenting minister, who was born at Vantage in Berkshire, Dec. 1, 1692. His son, Edward Kimber, refers to it as the work of his father, in a history of England in ten volumes, which he published."
Kimber's life is a much better one than Carlyle's; but the best biography of that most extraordinary man is by Thomas Cromwell, published some twenty or thirty years since, and of which there was a second edition.
J. MT.
—In answer to the inquiry of T. C. W., relative to a Bible (Reeves, 1802) in the possession of his friend, I beg leave to state that the said Bible was illustrated with original drawings by my father, J. Harris of Walworth, who died seventeen years since, and that I am his only son surviving him in his profession. Any further communication relative to him I shall be most happy to give on a personal interview.
J. HARRIS.
40. Sidmouth Street, Regent Square,Sept. 27. 1851.
—ANOLDBENGALCIVILIANis informed that, no matter whom Byron may have intended to designate by the above glorious appellation, there is but ONE to whom it properly belongs. If your correspondent will consult the 110th Psalm, he will find David representing God the Father as thus addressing God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: "The dew of Thy birth is of thewomb of the morning."
G. L. S.
Pemb. Coll. Oxon., Sept. 20. 1851.
This seems to be an invocation to the personification of Light, Lucifer, orφωσφορος, the "son of the morning," by which intellectual light is indicated, through whose assistance we are enabled to discover the true faith.
The poet enters a caveat that the latter do not act the part of an Iconoclast, as has too often been her wont. At least this appears to me to be the interpretation.
E. I. U. S. Club.
—Your Querist NAUTICUSdescribes the vallum or ditch called "Grimsdyke, or Grimesditch, or the Devil's Ditch," running from Great Berkhampstead, Hants, to Bradenham, Bucks, and then puts two Queries.
NAUTICUSassumes that this ditch had, at some distant day, been an artificial earthwork; but at the same time he points out that, "from its total want of flank defence, it could hardly hold an enemy in check for long; and that it does not seem to have been a military way." He asks, "Are there other earthworks of the same name (Grimsdyke) in England?" I find no trace of any otherearthworksof that name in England; and it may be very questionable whether this ditch be of ancient earthwork, or of its original natural formation.
But there is, inCheshire, a brook or rivulet in its pristine state, calledGrimsditch. This brook or rivulet is one of the contributory streams of Cheshire to the great rivers, the Mersey and the Weaver; and is described by the author ofKing's Vale Royal of England, or the County Palatine of Chester illustrated, published in 1656, as follows:
"The Grimsditch cometh from the Hall of Grimsditch, by Preston, Daresbury, Keckwith, and so falleth into the Marsey."
Here then we have the name of a place which gives the name ofGrimsditchto the brook or rivulet; and it is, moreover, shown by the County History that the place (the hamlet or lands of Grimsditch) has been in the possession of a family of the name of Grimsditch from the time of Henry III.
From the words of the original grant this hamlet, by which Thomas Tuschet, in 10 Hen. III. 1226, grants to Hugo de Grimsditch "totam terram de Grimsdich pertinentem ad villam de Witeleigh"(Ormerod'sChesh.i. 488.), it may be inferred that the place went by the name of Grimsditch prior to the Norman Conquest. There can therefore be but little doubt that the name is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
The present possessor of the property is Thomas Grimsditch, Esq., late M.P. for the borough of Macclesfield.
The second Query of NAUTICUSapplies to theetymologyof the word Grimsditch.
This is a very difficult question to solve. Take the first syllable:Grim,grime, dirt, sullying blackness.
"She sweats; a man may go over shoes in thegrimeof it."—Shakspeare.
Then the wordditch: this is derived from dic (Saxon), dük (Erse); but whatever may be the true etymology of the word, it can scarcely be doubted that it is of Anglo-Saxon origin.
I may however add that there is a tradition in the Grimsditch family of Cheshire, said to have been handed down for many ages, as to the origin of the name, to the following effect:
That in remote ages their first parents were warriors; that one of these warriors was attacked by a griffin; that a fierce contest ensued; and that the man was the conqueror of that fabulous bird or beast, the battle-ground being adykeorditch.
Hence, says the tradition, emanated the family coat of arms, which are certainly very singular, viz. Azure, a griffin or, about to tear, and ramping upon, a warrior, completely armed in plate armour, in bend dexter, across the lower part of the shield. Crest, aTalbot.
WILLIAMBEAUMONT.
In reply to your correspondent NAUTICUS, who inquires whether there are any ancient entrenchments in England known by the name ofGrimsdyke, besides the one he mentions in Hants, I beg to remind him that the Roman wall (or ditch and rampart) executed between the Firths of Forth and Clyde during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, is popularly called by the above name. To account for the name, it has been said that it originated in the circumstance of a chieftain of the name ofGrahamhaving been the first to force his way through it; but those who gave such a derivation of the word could scarcely have been aware that it bears this name in common with at least two others, viz., that mentioned by NAUTICUSas existing at Great Berkhampstead, Hants; and the other pointed out by W. S. G. as near Salisbury.
L. D. L.
—In reply to the inquiry of RUSTICUS, I rather imagine theCagotsare the remains of the Paulician "Churches" of Thoulouse Albi andCahors(Charhagensis) of Maitland'sAlbigenes and Waldenses, p. 428.; and that the Cretins are no other thancredentes(cf. Maitland passim), probably remnants of the same body of heretics.
AJAX.
Is there any resemblance between them and Cretins? Are there any families or races of Cretins ever heard of?
C. B.
—I send you two instances of the serpent being represented with a human head; the first occurs in the Arundel MS. No. 23., in this College, containing the genealogical descent of King Edward IV., and apparently coeval with that sovereign. The other is a beautifully executed sketch of Adam and Eve in a MS., also in this College, of the time of Henry VII., at the commencement ofThe Genealogy of the Saxon Kings from Adam. They are both female heads, the latter, however, being the entire bust.
THOMASW. KING(York Herald).
College of Arms.
In the stained glass of the east window in the Lady Chapel, Wells Cathedral (temp. Edw. III.), the serpent, which is entwined round a tree, and holds an apple, has not only the head but the upper half of a human figure. On a scroll is written in uncial letters, "Si comederitis de ligno vitæ eritis sicut Dii scientis bonis et malis;" and in a straight line below the subject, "Arbor cum Serpente."
T. WT.
—At the time when Leibnitz wrote, curious references to accounts of savages were not infrequent. All your readers will remember Locke's reference to some account of savages who had neither idea of God nor of being superior to man. It may be that narratives of tribes who did not use fire, who lived on dried flesh or fish, for instance, may have given rise to an idea of their not knowing fire. I think I remember to have seen it stated that some of the savages of Australia did not know fire. On this, five-and-twenty years ago, I made a note from Mr. Barron Field'sCollection of Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales. Two wrecked Englishmen passed some time among the natives, and found they had no knowledge that water could be heated; but the very story seems to show that they knew of fire. On boiling some in a tin pot,
"The whole tribe gathered round them, and watched the pot till it began to boil, when they all took to their heels, shouting and screaming, nor could they be persuaded to return till they saw them pour the water out and clean the pot, when they slowly ventured back and carefully covered the place where the water was spilt with sand."
These two Englishmen were treated with great attention by the natives, they were painted twice a day, and it was quite their own faults that they did not have their noses bored and their bodies scarified.
M.
—The following is an extract from a periodical of 1848 or 1849:
"According to theMedical Times, Major Alvord has discovered on the American prairies a plant possessing the property of pointing north and south, and has given it the name ofSylphium laciniatum."
G. P***.
—M. Lottin de Laval, "by a new process," has produced the most accurate copies of cuneatic inscriptions that have yet been published. It is said that he has copied by his process (which must, I think, be some kind of heliography) 1200 inscriptions from the Sinaitic peninsula, the publication of which may be speedily expected, so that MR.BUCKTON'Swishes on this point are anticipated. These inscriptions have been already deciphered.
E. H. D. D.
—MR.CORNISHwill find this statue at Mapledurham in Oxon, the living of the lady's son. It remains there, it is stated, until an appropriate site can be obtained.
W. A.
—I doubt that Sir Joshua Reynolds ever painted a miniature, and I should say certainly not after Mr. Burke "had passed the meridian of life." His sister, Miss Reynolds, was a professedminiature painter, and I have little doubt must have painted Mr. Burke, as she certainly did Johnson; but the description given of this miniature is very unlike Mr. Burke. The name of the possessor might, in some degree, enable us to ascertain whether the portraits mentioned are really of the great statesman.
C.
—Martial's distribution of hours and employments seems to me to be as follows:—From 6 till 8 the visits of the "salutantes" are received; from 8 till 9 the law tribunals are attended; from 9 till 11 the "varii labores" occupy; from 11 till 12 the "quies." The expression "in quintam" must bring us to the end of the 5th hour; and the "sexta hora" must be that which concludes at 12.
Your inquirer A. E. B. might have further asked what is the difference between the "quies" of the "sexta," and the "finis" of the "septima." To understand this is to understand the difficulty which he propounds. I apprehend the "quies" not to mean the "siesta," but that gradual and perhaps irregular cessation or suspension of employments which precedes the close of business for the day. The "siesta" is the "finis" of Martial, which would thus fall between 12 and 1; that time of the day at which A. E. B. fixes it rightly. I think he errs in identifying the "siesta" with the "sexta hora."
To question 214 I may be allowed to reply, that the effect of moonlight upon the face of those who sleep exposed to it in hot climates is very severe indeed, producing an appearance not very unlike that of a swollen and putrescent corpse. The Psalmist refers to it Ps. cxxi. 6.; and all who have lived in the East Indies are well acquainted with the phenomenon.
THEOPHYLACT.
TheAntiquarian Gleanings in the North of England, being Examples of Antique Furniture, Plate, Church Decorations, Objects of Historical Interest, &c., drawn and etched by William B. Scott, Government School of Design, Newcastle, which has just been completed, is a valuable addition to the numerous works which have been published of late years illustrative of archæology in its most picturesque aspect. It will be seen from the title that Mr. Scott has not confined himself to any one class of objects; in some cases historical associations having determined his choice; in others, the rarity of examples of the object illustrated; in others, their intrinsic beauty. The Chair of the Venerable Bede, and the Swords of Cromwell, Fairfax, and Lambert, belong to the first of these divisions; as the Nautilus Cup set in gold, and the Ivory Cup, both the property of Mr. Howard of Corby, belong to the last: and so much taste and skill has Mr. Scott shown in the whole of the thirty-eight plates, as quite to justify the hope expressed by him, that in all of them the connoisseur and the artist will find something worthy attention.
We have before us two books to which we desire to direct the attention of our readers. The first isA Manual of Ecclesiastical History, from the First to the Twelfth Century, by the Rev. E. S. Foulkes, M.A., the main plan of which has been borrowed from Spanheim, and the materials principally compiled from that writer, Spondanus, Mosheim and Fleury, Gieseler, Döllinger, and others, respecting whom, however, Mr. Foulkes states, "I believe I have never once trusted to them on a point involving controversy without examining their authorities." "Let nobody," he elsewhere observes, "think that he can fairly know Church History from reading a single modern historian, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic; the only way of getting a correct view, unless a person should have time to consult the originals, is to read two opposite writers, side by side, and balance one set of facts against the other. Yet even so it is hopeless to get a true appreciation of past times except through cotemporary writings; I have therefore appended to the catalogue of modern historians a few of the principal cotemporary works, disciplinary, doctrinal, and historical, from age to age down to the end of the twelfth century, which would be a far more trustworthy clue to the real sentiments of the times than could be gained from a more modern source, and could not, I think, fail to be a corrective to narrow misapprehensions, and a great help to the student whose wish it is to be fair and candid." These extracts from Mr. Foulke's preface (which contains brief notices of the principal modern writers on thesubject) sufficiently explain the nature of his very useful and carefully compiled volume.
The other, Calmet'sDictionary of the Bible, Abridged, Modernized, and Re-edited, according to the most recent Biblical Researches, by T. A. Buckley, B.A., is addressed to a wider class of readers, and in its preparation general utility has been the main object; while in the remodelling which this popular and useful work of Calmet has here undergone, care has been taken to purify it from the Rationalism with which all the later editions have been charged, and to supply its place by such copious additions and alterations from the most recent biblical researches, so as to make the present edition rather a new book than a reprint of an old one; and deserving of that extensive circulation which its extremely moderate price is calculated to procure for it.
The Principles of Chemistry illustrated by Simple Experiments, by Dr. J. A. Stöckhardt, Professor in the Royal Academy of Agriculture at Tharaud, having been extensively adopted as an introductory work in the Schools of Germany, in consequence of its convenient classification and its clear and concise elucidation of principles, and explanation of chemical phenomena, it was translated into English at the recommendation of Professor Horsford; and a reprint of it from the American edition forms the new volume of Bohn'sStandard Library. It is illustrated with numerous engravings, and as the necessary apparatus for performing most of the experiments in it is extremely small, the book will no doubt soon become a popular one.
The Chetham Library, Manchester, will shortly receive a valuable addition to its literary treasures by Mr. Halliwell's donation of his extensive collection of Proclamations, Ballads, and Broadsides, which, we are informed, extends to upwards of 2500 articles, including many of great rarity, and a few probably unique. Amongst the latter are two curious black-letter ballads, printed in the year 1570, unnoticed by all bibliographers, and not to be found in the useful and interestingExtracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, recently published by Mr. Collier; but the greater portion of the collection belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth, and commencement of the eighteenth century, most of the ballads being reprints of much older copies.
We are requested to remind such of our readers as are members of the Archæological Institute that the Salisbury volume will be ready next week.
CATALOGUESRECEIVED.—J. Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue 127., being 8. for 1851, of Old and New Books; J. Gray Bell's (17. Bedford Street, Covent Garden) Catalogue Part 27. of Valuable and Interesting Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Drawings, &c.; W. Pedder's (10. Holywell Street) Catalogue Part 7. for 1851 of Ancient and Modern Books; B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 35. of Books in European Languages, Dialects, Classics, &c.
POPE'SLITERARYCORRESPONDENCE. Vol. III. Curll. 1735.
ALMANACS, any for the year 1752.
MATTHIAS' OBSERVATIONS ONGRAY. 8vo. 1815.
SHAKSPEARE, JOHNSON, ANDSTEVENS, WITHREED'SADDITIONS. 3rd Edition, 1785. Vol. V.
SWIFT'SWORKS, Faulkner's Edition. 8 Vols. 12mo. Dublin, 1747. Vol. III.
SOUTHEY'SPENINSULARWAR. Vols. V. VI. 8vo.
JOURNAL OF THEGEOLOGICALSOCIETY OFDUBLIN. Vol. I. Part I. (One or more copies.)
THEANTIQUARY. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1816. Vols. I. and II.
HISTORY ANDANTIQUITIES OFTWICKENHAM, being the First Part of Parochial Collections for the County of Middlesex, begun in 1780 by E. Ironside, Esq., London, 1797. (This work forms 1 vol. of Miscell. Antiquities in continuation of the Bib. Topographica, and is usually bound in the 10th Volume.)
RITSON'SROBINHOOD. 12mo. London, 1795. Vol. II. (10s.will be given for a clean copy inboards, or 7s.6d.for a clean copybound.)
DR. JOHNSON'SPRAYERS ANDMEDITATIONS.
ANNUALOBITUARY ANDBIOGRAPHY. Vol. XXXI.
THEOPHILUS ANDPHILODOXUS, or Several Conferences, &c., by Gilbert Giles, D.D., Oxon, 1674; or the same work republished 1679, under the title of a "Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist."
PECK'SCOMPLETECATALOGUE OF ALL THEDISCOURSESWRITTEN BOTH FOR ANDAGAINSTPAPACY IN THETIME OFKINGJAMES II.1735. 4to.
***Letters, stating particulars and lowest price,carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES ANDQUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.
A. B. R.will find the passage he refers to—