'Irish Popular Superstitions'). An odd mixture of merriment and malignity, under the name of Puck he will be recognized as the "merry wanderer of the night," who boasts that he can put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes," and Shakspeare has conferred on him a kind of immortality he never expected. Dr. P. W. Joyce in his The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places' deals fully with places named after the sprite, to attest his former reign of terror in the minds of the old peasantry. WILLIAM MACARTHUR.

Dublin.

SACKVILLE Fox (11 S. vii. 470).—A Sackville Fox was Blanc Coursier and Genealogist of the Order of the Bath in the reigns of Geo. II. and III. He died either 1 Dec. or 18 Dec., 1760. See Gentleman's Magazine, Obituary,' 1760, p. 394, and Noble's College of Arms,' pp. 399 and 448. G. R. Y. R.

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UNICORN'S HORN (11 S. vii. 450).-The horn referred to was, no doubt, the tusk of a narwhal. See Browne's Vulgar Errors,' bk. iii. chap. xxiii., where the whole question touching unicorn's horns is discussed very fully. It appears that another Pope (Julius III.) also spent a large sum on a unicorn's horn; but, according to Sir Thos. Browne, the horn he stuck not to give many thousand crowns for was really the tusk of a narwhal, specimens of which were frequently brought home by travellers and retailed as unicorn's horns. The particular horn belonging to Pope Clement VII. is referred to by Aldrovandus, who saw it at Rome (see his treatise on Quadrupeds,' bk. i. p. 223). The so-called unicorn's horn seen at Windsor in 1598 by the German traveller Heutzner (E. Phipson, AnimalLore in Shakespeare's Time,' p. 456) was a narwhal's tusk. It was brought back by Frobisher, and was reserved as a Jewel by the Queenes Majesties Commandment in her wardrope of Robes " (Hakluyt's 'Voyages [1904], vii. 297). Rhinoceros horn was also frequently passed off upon credulous people as unicorn's horn.

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The horn was collected as a curiosity owing to the belief current in the sixteenth century that it was an effective remedy against poisons. The belief persisted in England down to the time of Charles II., but a horn cup sent at that time to the Royal Society to be tested appears to have successfully disproved the superstition (Ray Lankester. Science from an Easy Chair,' 1910, p. 127). Dr. Edward Browne, the

son of Sir Thomas Browne, inspected a number of specimens while he was travelling abroad, and records (' Travels,' 1685, p. 102) that the King of Denmark had a wonderful collection. See Roscher's Lexicon' under Monokeros,' where a full bibliography is given; also W. Haughton, On the Unicorns of the Ancients, Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1862, p. 363; Robert Brown, jun., The Unicorn,' 1881; G. C. Kirchmayer, On the Unicorn,' 1661 (translated in Goldsmid's Un-Natural History,' Edinburgh, 1886, vols. i. and ii.); Encyclo. Brit.,' 11th ed., article Unicorn.' MALCOLM LETTS.

'THE AMBULATOR' (11 S. vii. 430).—The first edition of this guide to London was 1787, 1793, 1794, 1796, 1800, 1807, and the published in 1774. Others appeared in 1782, eleventh edition, which is in this library, in 1811. It is a 12mo volume of 316+ viii pages, and contains a map of the country, Twenty-five Miles round London.' An Advertisement requests that persons able to give information respecting the change of property that may occur from time to time, and the errors or omissions that may be noticed." should communicate with Scatcherd & Letterman, Ave-Maria Lane. The full title is :

:

Pocket Com

"The Ambulator; | or, | A panion for the tour of London and Its Environs, within the circuit of twenty-five miles: descriptive of the Objects most Remarkable for | Grandeur, Elegance, Taste, Local Beauty, and Antiquity. | Illustrated by | Anecdotes, Historical and Biographical; and embellished with Fourteen Elegant Engravings, | and | A Correct Additions Map. The Eleventh Edition, with considerable and Improvements. | London: | Printed for Scatcherd and Letterman; Wilkie and Robinson; Long- | man, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown ; C. Law; J. Harris ; John Richardson; J. Asperne; T. Hughes; J. Cawthorne : T. Under- wood; and Gale and Curtis. | 1811."

The following lines from Cowper appear on the title-page before the number of the edition :

LONDON-opulent, enlarged, and still
Increasing LONDON-Babylon of old
Not more the glory of the earth than she.
A more accomplish'd World's chief glory now!
The villas with which LONDON stands begirt,
Like a swarth Indian with his belt of beads,
Prove it!

The tenth edition (1794) was dated Islington, 27 Nov., 1806, but the eleventh is dated Chiswick, 4 Oct.. 1810. A Concise Account of the Metropolis occupies the first twentyfour pages, the remainder, the 'Ambulator; or, A Tour Round London,' being arranged

comme

The seventh edition, 1794, is in the London Library, the catalogue of which states that editions 1-3 had the title, The Ambulator; or, The Stranger's Companion,' &c. The second, third, fifth, and ninth editions may be consulted at the Guildhall Library. THOMAS Wm. HUCK. Literary and Scientific Institution,

Saffron Walden.

'The Ambulator' was an annual publication which appeared first, I believe, in 1787. My copy is described as "the seventh edition, corrected and improved." The title-page is as follows::

Ambulator: or, a pocket companion in a Tour round London, within the circuit of Twenty-five miles, | describing | Whatever is most remarkable for Antiquity, Grandeur, | Elegance, or Rural Beauty | including | New Catalogues of Pictures, and illustrated by | Historical and biographical Observations. To which are prefixed. | A Concise Description of the Metropolis, | and a Map of the country described [............... "London: | Printed (by Assignment from the Assignees of John Bew) for | Scatcherd and Whitaker, Ave-Maria Lane, | 1794."

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ROME JEWISH SARCOPHAGI AND GREEK PAINTING (11 S. vii. 429). 2. In Hare's "Walks in Rome,' thirteenth edition, p. 659, in the account of the Appartamento Borgia, the celebrated fresco known as the Nozze Aldobrandini' is mentioned. Found in 1607 (Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne,' ii. 62) in the Baths of Titus, near the Arch of Gallienus on the Esquiline, it is considered to be the finest specimen of ancient pictorial art in Rome. It was purchased at first by the Aldobrandini family, whence its name. It represents an ancient Greek ceremony, possibly the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis. There is fine copy by Nicholas Poussin in the Doria Palace. "S'il fait allusion à un sujet mythologique, le réel y est à côté de l'idéal, et la mythologie y est appliquée à la représentation d'un mariage

a

nuptial et attendant son époux, a cette expression de pudeur virginale, d'embarras modeste, qui avait rendu célèbre un tableau dont le sujet était le mariage de Roxane et l'auteur Aëtion, peintre grec."-Ampère, ' Hist. Rom.,' iv. 127. Mr. H. Stuart Jones in his 'Companion to Roman History' (1912), p. 410, says of this painting :—

It probably belongs to the Augustan period, and was taken from the upper part of a wall decorated in a variety of the architectural style: a certain note of severity in its composition, which is that of a bas-relief rather than of a painting, caused it to be ascribed to pre-Alexandrine art. On the other hand, the fact that the central group -Aphrodite and the bride--is closely paralleled by a terra-cotta of the third century B.C., fron Asia Minor, has been held to show that the There supposed original was of Hellenistic date. is in reality no need to posit such an original. Graceful as the composition is, it is far from lucid in its details-witness the varieties of interpretation proposed by modern scholars; does it stand alone, for there are similar groups, as for example in the remains of the Golden House of Nero, which have the same superficial appearance of classical severity, but are even more evidently made up of well-worn types. They are the handiwork of a classicizing school, which retained its traditions beside those of the more modern' decorators."

nor

LOUISE DE LA RAMÉE (OUIDA) (11 S. vii. 187). Criticizing the writer of the sketch of Ouida in the D.N.B.,' EL SOLTERO says:

de Vigne,' was published in The New Monthly "Fourthly, that her first novel, Granville Magazine. It was not; she in a Preface says it was published in a military magazine.” The writer of the sketch is right, and EL SOLTERO is wrong in this matter, for Granville de Vigne' appeared in The New Monthly Magazine during the years 1861-3, cxxi.exxviii. It is worth adding that neither name nor pseudonym was employed. EL SOLTERO also says:

"Thirdly, that these stories were never reprinted. In America they were, about 1868 or 1872, in two volumes, one called Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, and Other Stories, the other 'Beatrice Boville, and Other Stories; by whom published, and where, I do not know.'

They were published in 1867 at Philadelphia, by J. B. Lippincott & Co. One, containing nine stories, was entitled "Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and other Stories. By 'Ouida.' Author's Edition." An Advertisement reads as follows:

"The publishers have the pleasure of offering to the many admirers of the writings of Ouida,' the present volume of Contributions, which have appeared from time to time in the leading journals of Europe, and which have recently been collected and revised by the author, for publication in book-form.

"They have also in press, to be speedily published, another similar volume of tales, from the same pen, together with an unpublished romance entitled Under Two Flags.'

Our editions of Ouida's Works are published by express arrangement with the author; and any other editions that may appear in the American market will be issued in violation of the courtesies usually extended to authors and publishers.

"Philadelphia, May, 1867."

The second volume of stories I have not seen, but there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the volume which EL SOLTERO says was called 'Beatrice Boville, and Other Stories.' ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

QUEENHOO HALL (11 S. vii. 430). For the origin of the name see Skeat's PlaceNames of Hertfordshire,' 1904, p. 36. For an interesting account of the house see Queen Hoo Hall,' by E. E. Squires, pp. 178183 of the Transactions of the East Herts Archæological Society, vol. ii., 1902-4.

Royal Navy and Marines Memorial, Greenwich Hospital School.-Portland stone. Victoria fountain, Victoria Park.-Podium, Portland and Kentish ragstone, Sicilian marble, and Aubigny stone. J. ARDAGH.

Notes on Books.

Horace Walpole's World. By Alice D. Greenwood. (Bell & Sons.)

IT required some courage, we imagine, to undertake another book on the much-bewritten Horace, but Miss Greenwood has amply justified the rated herself in the literature of the Georgian boldness of her attempt. Having already satuperiod in writing her excellent account of the Hanoverian queens, she has found it easy to reproduce Walpole in his true milieu. Sometimes, indeed, she might be thought to have yielded to the temptation of making unwarrantable excursions into the field of contemporary politics, as in her ninth chapter, on The Legend of C. J. Fox,' with which the lively flâneur, in his detachment, had little to do. But the secondary title of her book, A Sketch of Whig Society under George III.,' saves her from such an imputation. She has been able to impart some novelty to her narrative by making good use of the correspondence of the time brought to light by the Historical MSS. Commission. As a biographer she evinces a more sympathetic insight into the character of her subject than most of her predecessors, and one, therefore, more likely to be just. Notwithstanding Walpole's love of gossip and badinage, he was at heart a good-natured man, and always ready to do a friend a service. He had, indeed, a genius for friendship, and was inclined rather to overvalue the good qualities of others; "all his geese were swans.' He was particularly happy in the society of old ladies, and the extravagant admiration he felt for his three duchesses is well known. He was singularly free from jealousy and envy; independent and high-principled beyond most politicians of his time; and, like most great men, fond of children. He certainly was not the inept and empty-headed fribble that the antiquarian dilettantism which found expresWe may smile at Macaulay tried to make out. sion in the lath-and-plaster of his Thames-side castle, which he stuffed with incongruous bric-abrac; it was the toy with which he chose to amuse himself he was conscious of his own virtuosity; and it should not blind us to his sterling qualities. The writer notes in passing that the erection of this stucco pile was arrested for a time in 1762 by the carpenters going on strike for an increase of wages; which must be one of the earliest instances of a grève on record.

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valetudinarian state of health, Walpole was Owing to his fastidious tastes and somewhat content to stand aloof as an amused spectator of the ever-interesting comedy of life. For the same reasons probably he was in a high degree susceptible of being bored, though Miss Greenwood will not admit this. But she herself gives an instance of his declining the proposed acquaintance of a Mr. Gough merely because he thought he would prove intolerably dull The author is

certainly mistaken, too, in suggesting that the word bore is inapplicable because it 'had not as yet enriched our vocabulary" (p. 2). It first came into vogue in Walpole's own circle, and was used by his friend Lord Carlisle.

Many points of interest Miss Greenwood passes over with a mere allusion, such as Walpole's correspondence with Chatterton and his intimacy with the Miss Berrys; but, on the other hand, she preserves several traits and customs of the period which were worth recording, such as the newly arisen fashion of great folks going out of town at the end of the week (p. 69). It is amusing to find a certain county magnate writing from his magnificent castle to warn one of his guests that if she should require a cold bath, she must send on her bathing-tub in advance, as we have not the least convenience of that sort here" (p. 79).

to Mrs. James's very large gift of books in 1711 (p. 266), and to the strange history and loss of the most valuable MS. possessed by the Library (pp. 293-4). Chains were abolished in 1720.

The important growth of the Library dates from the time when Parliamentary assistance began to be given to it, having been mooted in 1707, and taking shape in the Act of 1710. An Act of 1814 required the delivery of a copy of every book published to the Library of Sion College, and to the Librarians of four Scottish Universities, and of the King's Inns, Dublin. An Act of 1836 abolished these rights, and substituted an annual sum of money in compensation for them. The compensation to Sion College amounted only to £363 158. 2d., which sum was to be paid yearly, and is paid to the present day. An Act of 1875 settled the division of the London Wall property between the Hospital and the College, at the same time separating the Hospital from the College, and setting up a new body of trustees to manage the Hospital, which was endowed with one quarter of the profits of the sale of the City property and a certain share of other properties. An Act of 1884 authorized the purchase of a new site for Sion College for 31,6251., their share of the sale, and the erection of their new and present home on the Thames removed from the old site, in addition to 30,000 pamphlets; and the number of books has now reached 100,000, and is yearly increasing. The story ends here. The book is accurately and with two beautifully printed, and enriched appendixes and a complete Index. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. (Cambridge, Deighton, Bell & Co.)

Sion College and Library. By E. H. Pearce. (Cambridge University Press.)

THIS is not the kind of book which will command a large circle of readers or which lends itself very easily to review, but it is an extremely accurate, exhaustive, and well-printed history of the College and Library of Sion, which will be welcomed by every member and every beneficiary of that institution.

Thomas White, D.D., the founder of Sion College (who must not be confused with Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John's College, Oxford), was a post-Reformation pluralist. Born c. 1550 at Bristol, he died in 1624, being

then Vicar of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, Canon of Windsor, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and Prebendary of Mora in St. Paul's Cathedral. Twice married, he had no children, and made noble use of the accumulations of his ecclesiastical preferments. In 1621 he founded the White Professorship of Moral Philosophy at Oxford, endowing it with 1007. per annum; and under his will there was founded the College and Almshouse of Sion, to which a charter of incorporation was granted in 1626. Curiously enough, the Library, which has since become the most important and conspicuous feature of the College, is not due to the founder, but is an afterthought of John Simson, his kinsman and executor, who built it soon afterwards, and endowed it with 161. per annum.

The book before us gives a long and complete history of the vicissitudes, misfortunes, and benefactions incident to the growth of the College, including the almshouses, the Library, the College estates, and other properties, together with much personal history of the presidents, librarians, and other officers who were responsible for the management of them. The story is well and minutely told. We cannot recapitulate it here, only calling attention

AMONG the papers of varied interest published in the last issue of this Society are an illustrated monograph on the Churches of Gothland,' by Prof. A. C. Seward; and an account of a fourpossessions of Corpus Christi College, by Dr. teenth-century inventory of the books and other James. The paper of most general interest is that by Dr. W. M. Palmer, in which he gives a readable and, indeed, lively account of Coachmen. In discussing the records of the 'College Dons, Country Clergy, and University Cambridgeshire Probate Court he prints a number of inventories of the goods which the members of the University possessed during the Elizabethan and Stuart period, in the way of furniture, books, Some curious items, as might be expected, come to light. In the shop of one Voyage John Denys about 1570 Frobisher's could be bought for 1d., and the Vision of Piers Plowman' for 6d. One Thomas, University Printer in 1583, put out a volume in folio called 'Zanchi's Miscellanies,' which no one can find any trace of. What, again, were the "iij atemeryes " which Gylpyn, a Fellow of Trinity, had under his windows in 1550 (p. 186) ?

and wines.