BATTLE OF SADOWA (4th S. v. 33.)-In reference to several nations having given different names to this battle and that of Waterloo, as mentioned by JAYDEE, I would add, as a parallel instance, Austerlitz, fought on Dec. 2, 1805. It was called by Napoleon the Battle of Austerlitz, by his soldiers the Battle of the Three Emperors, and by others the Day of the Anniversary. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Bolton Percy, near Tadcaster. CURIOUS BELL LEGEND (4th S. v. 315.)-Presuming that some other correspondent will explain the legend sent by MR. ELLACOMBE, perhaps it may be well to state that in Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, by William Thomas, D.D., London: 1730, vol. i. p. 555, is the following passage relating to the church of S. George, Brailes:

"On the great bell here are the Arms of Underhill, a cheveron between three trefoils, and round it this inscription in Saxon characters: Gaude quod post ipsum scandis. Et est tibi honor grandis in cœli palatio."

THOMAS WALESBY.

REID FAMILY (4th S. v. 92, 237, 284.)-ANGLOScorus makes a very great blunder by saying, "the only family territorially described as of 'Pitfoddels' was a branch of the very old Norman race of Menzies." MR. MARSHALL is under no mistake as to there having been a family designed as "Rede or Reid of Pitfoddels." I had several years ago met with crown charters in the public records which showed they were the ancient possessors of that barony. They ended in an heiress, who married a Menzies. The following charters fully prove what I have stated:

"Carta Alexandro Rede de Pitfodellis, et Mariota Culane ejus sponse, terrarum de Eister Pitfodellis." (See

Book XIII. No. 143, of King James IV., dated Dec. 10, 1494.)

The above Alexander Rede was succeeded by one of the same name, as shown by another crown charter.

"Carta Alexandro Rede de Pitfodellis, et Margaritæ Crawfurd ejus sponsæ, terrarum de Eistertown et Westertown de Pitfodellis." (See Book XIV. No. 64, of King James IV.. dated Nov. 4, 1504.)

"Carta Thomas Menzies, et Mariota Reid sponsæ suæ, de terrarum et Baronia de Pitfodellis, de novo unit." (See Book xxvIII. No. 338, of King James V., dated Nov. 5, 1542.)

A previous charter, Book XXVIII. No. 191, and dated June 2, 1542, proves the above Thos. Menzies was son of Gilbert Menzies of Findoun. The lands of Pitfoddels must have been erected into a barony in favour of the "Redes" at a very early period.

The above is evidence how the public may be misled by dogmatic assertions, when made without any investigation of the public records. J. A. R. SIBYLS OF CHEYNEY COURT (4th S. v. 243, 317.)-The emblems of the Sibyls are thus given in the second edition of the Emblems of Saints:Agripa, a scourge; Cumana, a crib; Cycmeria, a horn; Delphica, holding a crown of thorns; Elopontia, holding a cross; Europa, a sword; Frigea, a cross with pennon; Libica, lighted taper; Persica, holding a lantern, and trampling on a dragon; Samne (Sane), a rose; Tiburtina, F. C. H. about to give a blow.

on the

JOHN ANGELL (4th S. v. 31, 108.)-In reference to the information given by B. E. N. (p. 108) relative to John Angell, there is one point on which I would be glad to have some additional information. Your informant says that Mr. Angell's name disappeared from the Dublin Almanac in 1820, and that he died in 1828. Now, if it be so, (1) Where did he die ? (2) Where was he buried? I was perfectly aware that Mr. Angell was author of a History of Ireland, but that was not what I was in search of. He was author of other works, if I mistake not. He as a shorthand writer took the parliamentary proceedings in committee of the House of Commons, county of Antrim, the county of Leitrim, and Callan elections. In short, he was well known to the Right Honourable and Honourable the Dublin Society, Grafton Street-one of the oldest scientific institutions in Ireland. This may be proved by looking at a minute of a meeting of that over by Thos. Le Hunte, Esq., vice-president; by which society, dated January 25, 1770, presided shorthand work to the public. I have a printed minute the society recommended Mr. Angell's сору of said minute. I have also the fifth edition ing for is the Stenographical Grammar (a totally of his Stenography, 1787. But what I am huntdifferent work) and the two manuscript volumes.

Edinburgh.

A. B.

The Vision of William concerning Piers the Ploughman, together with Vita de Dowel, Dobet et Dobest, secundum Wit et Resoun, by William Langland (1377, A.D.) Edited from various MSS. by the Rev. W. Walter Skeat, M.A. The Crowley Text, or Text B. (Early English Text Society.)

The "Gest Historiale" of the Destruction of Troy. An Alliterative Romance translated from Guido de Colonna's Historia Troiana. Now first edited from the Unique MS. in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, by the Rev. Geo. A. Panton and David Donaldson. (Early English Text Society.)

We congratulate the Early English Text Society and all students of our national literature on the steady and satisfactory progress which Mr. Skeat is making with his excellent edition of Piers Plowman-certainly, next to the writings of Chaucer, by far the most important legacy which the fourteenth century has bequeathed to us. In the goodly volume before us, which a few years since would not have been attainable at the price of a year's subscription to the Society (one guinen), though it is only one of five or six books, which the subscribers will receive for the 1869 subscription, we have the poem as it exists in the type B, or Crowley version, the second of the five different shapes in which Mr. Skeat has shown that the poem exists; with an Introduction full of valuable illustration of the poem, the MSS. in which it is found, and the peculiarities of the present version. The next book is a very curious alliterative poem on the Destruction of Troy from a MS. in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow. It was originally supposed, and is so described by the author of the catalogue of the museum, to be a translation from the well known poem of Joseph of Exeter. That proved not to be the case. The histories said to be by Dares and Dictys were then examined with no better success. At last the transcript was compared with a MS. of Guido de Colonna, and it was then seen that the poem was a translation, though not a continuous one, of that author's Historia Trojana. The volume now issued contains only the text. Full particulars as to the MS., the language, &c., will be given in the Preface and Introduction, which will be issued in a separate part.

Memoirs of the Marquise de Montagu. By the Baroness de Noailles. (Bentley.)

The subject of the present memoir is Malle. de Maintenon, the fourth daughter of Le Duc d'Aven, eldest son of the last Marshal de Noailles. She was born at Paris on June 22, 1766, and her mother wished to have two beggars from the parish of Saint Roch for her godfather and godmother-a little incident indicative of the pious care bestowed upon her in her youth. She was married to the Marquis Joachin de Montagu on May 12, 1783. But, in spite of the brilliant prospects before her, heavy trials were soon at hand. The French Revolution entailed upon her heavy losses of family and fortune, and she in an especial degree proved the sweet uses of adversity.

The book is not only interesting for its details of the life of an excellent woman, but for the glimpses it affords of manners and society during the period to which it relates.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Vol. I. (Bell & Daldy), is a further instalment of the new and wondrously cheap reissue of the Aldine Poets (in eighteenpenny volumes).

Fragmenta Regalis, by Sir Robert Naunton, Master of the Court of Wards. Reprinted from the third posthumous edition by Edward Arber.

Thomas Watson's Poems, viz. The Ehatompathia, or Passionate Centurie of Love (1582); Melibaus sive Eclogia Inobitum, &c. (1500) the Eclogue upon the Death of Rt. Hon. Sir F. Walsingham (1590); and The Teares of Fancy, or Love Disdained, posthumously published in 1593, carefully edited by Edward Arber-two new volumes of Mr. Arber's excellent English Reprints, which fully maintain the character of the Series for choice selection, careful printing, and extraordinary cheapness.

DIOCESAN RECORDS.-A good deal of light is likely to be thrown before long upon the character and condition Monday last for "a return from each diocese, stating the of these important documents. Lord Romilly moved on places in which the records of all ecclesiastical and diocesan matters are preserved, explaining the manner in kept in fire-proof places, stating the names of the persons which these records are kept, distinguishing such as are in whose custody they are kept, the conditions under which access is permitted to them, what fees are taken for leave to inspect and to make copies, what is the total amount of such fees received within the last five years, and what steps are taken for the preservation of these records from damp and from improper abstraction or removal."

OUR lace-loving lady friends, who desire to be initiated into the mysteries of, and be enabled to reproduce, the Point de Venise, Point Coupé, and all other laces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, will be glad to learn that Mrs. Hailstone of Horton Hall. Bradford, announces for early publication a volume of Designs for Lacemaking, from specimens selected from her own extraordinary collection, and the scarce old pattern-books published in Italy, Germany, and France.

"MOTHER SHIPTON'S PROPHECIES."

-

- Mr. Edwin

Pearson has just reproduced 250 copies of the 1686 edition of this once popular folk-book, with illustrationsfrom the original woodblocks of the quaint old engravings used in various early impressions of the history of the Yorkshire prophetess.

HISTORICAL and literary antiquaries will rejoice to learn that the Corporation of the City of London, following on the steps of "The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts," has been delving into the municipal records and hidden materials of their Guildhall At the recommendation of the Library Committee the Corporation has just printed a valuable Calendar in continuation of one compiled by Mr. T. Brewer. It is entitled, "Analytical Indexes to Volumes II. and VIII. of the series of Records known as the Remembruncia, preserved among the archives of the City of London." The series of books preserved in the Town Clerk's Record Room, now known as Remembrancia, consists of nine volumes, embracing the period from 1580 (22nd Elizabeth) to 1664 (16th Charles II.) These archives contain copies of the correspondence between the sovereigns, their ministers, the privy council, the lord mayors, courts of

mountains; and we have no reason to believe that any other part of Antilebanon was included in the dominions of Solomon.

5. Damascus.-On the east of Antilebanon, the first conspicuous object which presents itself is the city of Damascus. We are told (2 Sam. viii. 6) that David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and that the Syrians became tributary to David and brought him gifts. Aram Dammesek, or Syria of Damascus, means properly the territory, or a portion of it, and might not comprise the city. But even supposing the city of Damascus to be here meant, the Israelitic dominion over it was of very short duration. Rezin (one of the officers of Hadadezer, king of Tzobah), after the conquest of that wealthy kingdom by David, fled to Damascus with a band of followers, and reigned there, and was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon. (1 Kings xi. 24, 25.)

It is quite clear, therefore, that Damascus never formed part of the dominions of Solomon. On the contrary, under Rezin and his successors, it became the capital of that powerful kingdom of Aram, or Syria, which in after times inflicted so many fatal calamities on the kingdom of Israel.

6 and 7. Tzobah and Tadmor.-The kingdom of Tzobah and the city of Tadmor have been, and still are, the subjects of such astounding errors among Biblical critics and geographers, that it would be impossible to treat of them with the proper degree of attention and illustration in the present note without extending its limits too far. therefore to discuss this part of the subject in two separate notes, one "On the Kingdom of Tzobah," and the other "On the City of Tadmor, or Palmyra."

propose

I think I may safely engage to show in these notes that neither Tzobah nor Tadmor formed any part of the dominions of Solomon.

II. EASTERN BORDER. On the eastern side there was an accession to Israel, in the reign of David, of the two unfortunate kingdoms of Ammon and Moab. The conquest of these two kingdoms had been expressly interdicted to Israel by the Mosaic law, because Jehovah had given them to the children of Lot for a possession. (Deut. ii. 9, 19.) They both, however, were conquered by David and possessed by Solomon.*

III. SOUTHERN BORDER.-In the most solemn terms had Moses interdicted the conquest of Edom. "Meddle not with them [the people of Edom]; for I will not give you of their land, no not so much as a foot-breadth; because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession." David, however, undertook, and with considerable difficulty effected, its conquest; and one of the most

See a very lame attempt to reconcile the conduct of David with the Mosaic prohibition in Dr. Kitto's History of Palestine, p. 475.

civilised and best-governed kingdoms in the East was subjected, for six months, to the savage cruelty of the homicidal Joab. (1 Kings xi. 16.)

Here, then, was an important, but to the orthodox Jewish mind an illegal accession to the Mosaic border on the SOUTH.

Edom consisted of three divisions: 1, the valley of the 'Arabah, which extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Elath; 2, a long, but narrow chain of mountains bounding this valley on the east, and 3, another mountain chain on the west of the 'Arabah, square in outline and much broader than that on the east, but extending only half as far southward as the eastern mountains.

The western chain is now inhabited by the Azazimah Arabs. Some late travellers, to favour their own particular theories, deny that these western mountains formed part of Edom tilla period long subsequent to the reign of Solomon. Dean Stanley affirms:

"Modern writers, who represent Edom as extending west of the 'Arabah in the time of Moses, commit an

anachronism borrowed from the times after the captivity, when the Edomites, driven from their ancient seats, occupied the south of Judæa as far as Hebron." (Sinar and Pal. p. 94, note, fifth edit.)

Dean is in error. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the In Joshua xv. 21-31 is a long list of cities (allotted to the tribe of Judah) which bordered on Edom. Unless the Azazimah mountains formed part of Edom, not one of these cities could possibly have bordered on any part of that kingdom. Among these cities is Beersheba, which lies due north of the western extremity of the Azazimah range. It is plain, therefore, that the whole of these mountains must have been inis a mere chimera. The book of Joshua is the cluded in Edom. The supposed "anachronism" oldest authority in existence; and the Dean himterms:self has spoken of this book in the most rapturous

"There is one document in the Hebrew Scriptures to which probably no parallel exists in the topographical records of any other ancient nation. In the book of Joshua we have what may without offence be termed the Domesday book of the conquest of Canaan. Ten chapters of this book are devoted to a description of the country, in which not only are the general features and boundaries carefully laid down; but the names and situations of its towns and villages enumerated with a precision of geographical terms which encourages and almost compels a minute investigation." (Sinai and Palestine, preface.)

A "minute investigation" of the book of Joshua ought surely to have satisfied the Dean that, according to the authority of that venerable record-the most ancient which could be referred to on the subject-the Azazimah mountains, at the time of the exodus, and not merely "after the captivity," actually formed part of the kingdom of Edom. But the exclusion of these mountains from Edom was necessary to support the