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[IS book is the result of an exceptionally thorough and scholarly study of our English era of 1485-1603. In his preface the author says he has endeavoured to draw in miniature a representation of the life of a great nation during a critical period of its history. Within so small a compass it can only be a bird's eye view, but the colours that have been chosen, the light and shadow that have been made to play about so skilfully, make it a helpful work both to the historian and to the layman. This success has been achieved in great part by the writer's happy selection of rare illustrations gleaned from Museums, Art Collections, and from the drawings of artists. The reproduction of these pictures and prints does credit to the firm of Batsford.

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Those who perhaps have only a superficial acquaintance with the reigns of our Tudor sovereigns, will find here, in the apt comparisons with modern conditions, much that is enlightening. For instance, we are told: was far easier for the humblest peasant to have speech with Queen Elizabeth than it is for any ordinary man to obtain access to a We are minister of a Labour Cabinet." reminded that the humour of the age of Miracle betrayed in the performances Plays, was usually crude and boisterous, the humour of the nursery rather than of the drawing room." In the portraits by Nicholas Hilyard the fanciful attire becomes a reality to us as we read that the Elizabethan dandies as the middle of wore breeches as deep winter," and so costly that they "would outreach a thousand acres "-with various other typical extracts from contemporary writers that show the importance then attached to the ownership of land. Other successful illustrations are the coloured set of Needlework Panels of the time taken from the Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight, and reproductions In of prints showing military exploits. especial amongst these latter are a battery

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in action, circa 1600, and an early sixteenth century gun-boat.

The work is divided into chapters on "The Life in the Spirit of the Tudor Age"; Country"; "Life in the Town"; "Life in the

"The Church "; "Adventure on Home Land and Sea." For new material the account of the military side of life, rendered in a realistic way, would be hard to beat, and here again the comparison drawn in regard to modern warfare is of interest. As early as 1560, one of the features of the Boer War was anticipated in a suggestion that some of the ships' guns should be mounted on wheels for service in the field; whilst yet earlier, in 1514,

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a mild anticipation of "poison gas " is hinted at in the following extract, sundry deep pits for to have made fumigation, to the intent that men upon the assaulting of the same should have been poisoned and stopped."

The changing conditions of art are dealt with in considerable detail, and we are shown by telling instances the struggle between the native and the invading styles of ornament. The De la Warre monument in Boxgrove church is a good example of the effort made by local craftsmen to catch the spirit of foreign art, and one might oneself suggest a visit to the small church of Chiddingly in Sussex to see an example of what the writer alludes to, viz., that, as the classic style triumphed, the church monument became merely a fine design to commemorate a certain person, but thereby the original idea of making it harmonise with the building in which it was to stand, was lost sight of. Thus, the traditional recumbent attitude was abanand effigies were doned represented in ungainly attitudes, lying sideways, the head supported only by the arm. The tombs, too, were often made, as in the Jeffrey monument at Chiddingly, far too large for the size of the church.

An addition to a future embrace a bibliography.

edition might

Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and
St. Joseph of Arimathea. By J. Armitage
Press,
University
Robinson. (Cambridge
2s. 6d. net.)

IS small and inexpensive book is really The subject itself has an unfailing attractiveness; the records concerned are among those which lovers of the Middle Ages study most deeply and affectionately, and the ever instructive process of the development of tradition may be followed at Glastonbury with something more than average clearness. It would be impertinent to praise the Dean of Wells's handling of this material in regard to criticism and scholarship; but a competent scholar might yet have made a dull heavy work of it, and Dr. Armitage Robinson, by his simple and easy style, and by the combination of firmness of outline with fulness of matter, has given these pages a literary quality which it cannot be out of place to appreciate.

THIS masterpiece of its kind.

its

The two legends in question are of comparatively recent growth, that is, neither of them was known to William of Malmesbury, the first historical authority to whom we can go back. His account of Glastonbury makes its sanctity begin with the building of the little church of wattles, for which some claimed that the Lord's disciples were founders. This church, the oldest in the land, was preserved and honoured till in 1184 it perished in the great fire which consumed the whole monastery. The fire is of much importance for the growth of the Arthurian legend of Glastonbury, for in the course of their struggle to re-erect their monastery and retrieve its fortunes by use of the sacred relics

interred within their ground, the monks were brought to the discovery of the tomb of King Arthur and his Queen. Their search for this, whatever its immediate occasion, must be connected with identification of Glastonbury and Avalon, an interesting point in the development of the story. The legend of St. Joseph of Arimathea goes back for us principally to John of Glastonbury, who, writing at the end of the fourteenth century, worked into his narrative the material added by later hands to William of Malmesbury's book. It is remarkable that the old Glastonbury tradition about St. Joseph does not make mention of the Grail, though it accepts the story, told in the book called The Holy Grail,' of the miraculous shirt on which the voyage of the disciples to Britain was made. Instead of the Grail-which never received ecclesiastical sanction as authentic the Glastonbury monks give St. Joseph the two silver cruets, filled with the blood and sweat of the Lord, which appear on his arms and in_representations of him..

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Besides the main body of the work which gives the legends, their origin, and the use to which they were put, we have a series of valuable additional notes of which the five most important are The old Church at Glastonbury,' and the Grave of St. Joseph of Arimathea.'

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places in France? Several of the other offences are curious. Canon Fletcher gives two or three of the forms to be recited by penitents when confessing their sins on the stool of penitence in church.

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Episodes in the History of England. By
Arthur J. Ireland. (Longmans, 6s. net.)
THESE fifteen episodes preceded by an in-
troduction on the Birth of Britain—are
taken from the centuries ending with the Nor-
man Conquest. A third of the whole, and even
something more, is devoted to the Britons:
may account for some
proportion which
curious omissions. A history of these cen-
turies without mention of Edwin, Oswald, Wil-
fred or Athelstan, in which Dunstan hardly
makes appearance and Bede is no more than
alluded to, while the Druids are dealt with
at no little length, and a whole chapter is de-
voted to Boadicea betrays selection made with
not quite sufficient regard to real and vital
importance. In themselves the episodes are
well set out, in readable English, commendably
free from mere literary tricks, and equipped
with all the available details. The story of
Senlac in particular may well stir even those
already familiar with it. The necessary in-
formation about foreign affairs is well calcu-
lated and well introduced. The portraits of

A Century of Dorset Documents. By J. M. J. characters are on the traditional lines, and Fletcher. (Dorchester F. Longman.)

THIS

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by this we mean nothing derogatory.

CORRIGENDUM.

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At ante p. 33, col. 1, 1. 16, for Yayton read Yapton.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. APPROVED Queries' are inserted free of charge. Contributors are requested always to give their names and addresses, for the information of the Editor, and not necessarily for publication.

HIS is a paper read by our valued correspondent, Canon Fletcher, before the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club. He treats a subject made to his hand." A mass of documents, not long ago, reposed neglected in a state of damp and dirt in the Muniment Room in Wimborne Minster. They have now been arranged, calendared, indexed and gathered together into five MS. volumes. The earliest date from 1557, and they range up to 1670 with a few beyond that year. They mainly have to do with the Consistory Court. These documents form the matter of the paper before us. They are wills, inventories, church accounts, presentments and citations and penalties, with records relating to the clergy and the churchwardens. The most interesting sections are and AUTOGRAPHS for SALE. those which illustrate enforcement of the Early printed Works, Standard Authors. Books obligation to attend service and hear preach- First Editions, &c. Catalogues free. ing, when the preacher was one Thomas Nor- and autographs wanted for cash. Lists free.man, who aroused dislike, and the presentment Reginald Atkinson, 188, Peckham Rye, Lonof different people for offences against the don, S.E.22. Church. In 1599 the Churchwardens present for the offence of bringing cakes into church at a baptism. This was only an offence on such an occasion, otherwise cakes brought into church were held to be blessed, and were sold as such to the profit of the church. Was this custom prevalent elsewhere? Is it to be connected with the ancient Catholic custom, of blessing and distributing bread at mass, which one may still find observed in country

BOOKS

WANTED about the family

INFORMENON who owned one of the three
of
Manors of COATES in Gloucestershire, between
1363 and 1463. Richard Vernon was Lord of
this Manor in 1363; another Richard in 1463.
Also wanted the ancestry of John LUCY,
Lord of another of the Manors of Coates in
1361, and the names of his children.-JOHN
DISNEY THORPE, Coates Manor, Cirencester.

Printed and Published by the Bucks Free Press, Ltd., at their Offices, High Street,
Wycombe. in the County of Bucks.

FOR READERS AND WRITERS, COLLECTORS AND LIBRARIANS. Seventy-Seventh Year.

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BECOME A SUBSCRIBER

ΤΟ

SCOTTISH NOTES AND

QUERIES,

EDITED BY

JOHN A. HENDERSON.

THIS IS Monthly Publication affords excellent facilities for the solving of points of difficulty in genealogical, proprietary, and antiquarian history, as well as the judicious amplifying of published data.

Free specimen copy will be sent post free on application to publishers:

MILNE & HUTCHISON,

ABERDEEN.

CONTENTS.-No. 6.

MEMORABILIA :-91.

NOTES: Textual Notes on some Passages in 'Hamlet,' 93-The Brownes of Woodchester and the Roman Pavement, 94-Toll of the Sea-Loss of hired ship Harpooner, 95-Lamb's review of Moxon's sonnets The Birthplace of Henry Kirke White, 97-The first bathing-machine Three hundred years of immigration into England-Brooks family, 98.

QUERIES: Isaak Walton's second marriage
Edward Sass, actor Water supply of Roman
London-Herdwick (Hardwick) of Lindley Hall:
Burton-" Pasigraphie," 99-Medallic legends
Daughters of John Knox The Rev. G. W.
Braikenridge-Letters on Sundial-The Cagots-
Drabbetts," Farnham Olives
A German V.C., 100 Balaclava-Hougham
Family, Kent-Horatio D'Esterre Darby-James
and Peter d'Ager
branch -

Cheney

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AnaBurgess (Burges)-Foreign Heraldry Moenobornhemum Forks Le Violon d'Ingres "-Author of ornithological book, 101. REPLIES:-French Chapels in London-" Wink" Anglo-saxophone Onslow Square, 102 Chevalier Family A Spanish Charm-" Stew houses," "Hot houses," 103-The Steelyard, 104Bee folk-lore-Tavern names of military origin -British Scandinavian Society-The Executioner of Charles I-Strong Men, 105-Christmas as a place-name Bibliography of the bicycle William Evans, engraver-" Humphrey Hedgehog "-Tomb of Mary of Gueldres-Day, month, and year, 106.

THE LIBRARY:- Keats'-' Antigone '-' Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-boy- La Question de la Langue en Italie - Small Talk at Wreyland'-The Quarterly Review.

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NOTES AND QUERIES is published every Friday, at 20, High Street, High Wycombe, Bucks (Telephone: Wycombe 306.). Subscriptions (82 28. a year, U.S.A. $10.50, including postage, two half-yearly indexes and two cloth binding cases, or £1 158. 4d. a year, U.S.A. $9, without binding cases) should be sent to the Manager. The London Office is at 22, Essex Street, W.C.2 (Telephone: Central 396), where the current issue is on sale. Orders for back numbers, indexes and bound volumes should be sent either to London or to Wycombe; letters for the Editor to the London Office.

Memorabilia.

THE Cathedral of Christ Church at Vic

toria, British Columbia (of which the corner-stone will be laid next September by the Bishop of London) is to have incorporated in its structure five ancient stones from Canterbury. These first formed part of the Church of St. Augustine's Monastery erected between 597 and 605; later on they were built into Canterbury Cathedral. The authorities of Canterbury Cathedral have bestowed them on the Cathedral of Christ Church, and they have been conveyed free of charge, by the Canadian Government Merchant Marine to the Bishop of British Columbia.

WE have looked with great interest

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through the number for July of OldTime New England the bulletin of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. Two pages are devoted to descriptions, with small illustrations, of a dozen houses now owned by the Society. Half of these are of the seventeenth century, the earliest being Scotch" Boardman House, 8m. from Boston, built in 1651 to house the Scotch prisoners from Dunbar, who were brought to New England to work in the Sangus Iron Works. It is one of the best examples of its date and kind. Harrison Gray Otis House in Boston, built by the Senator of that name in 1795, possibly from designs by Bulfinch, is the Headquarters of the Society.

THE interesting historical question as to the identity of office between the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords receives illustration in The Times of Aug. 4 in a letter by Mr. J. G. Swift MacNeill, K. C., of which we give the main part.

In Ireland the offices of Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords, though in practice generaly united, were regarded in theory as distinct. Thus, in the first Session of the Parliament of Ireland after the Restoration of the Stuart dynasty, the Irish Lord Primate, Archbishop Bramhall, and not the Irish Lord Chancellor, was Speaker of the House of Lords (Mountmorris's "Irish Parliament," I., pp. 101-102). The theoretical severance of those offices under the Irish Constitution is brought prominently before us by the proposal of the Duke of Rutland as Irish Viceroy so late as 1784 that a Speakership of the Irish House of Lords should be established, with a salary attached thereto, distinct from the Lord Chancellorship.

Nearly half a century ago the question as to whether the Lord Chancellor is ex officio Speaker of the House of Lords was discussed. In a letter to The Times of August 3, 1878, the Duke of St. Albans of the day expressed some surprise at finding the Lord Chancellor (Cairns) reported as claiming to be Speaker of the House of Lords.

Mr. Locock Webb, in a letter addressed to The Times on August 6, 1878, points out that the right of the Lord Chancellor in virtue of his office to be Prolocutor or Speaker of the House of Lords has, probably from remote times, but certainly for a period extending over two centuries, been recognized not only by custom but by Standing Orders of the House of Lords and by Acts of Parliament. In the Acts 14 and 15 Vict., c. 85, s. 17, and 15 and 16 Vict., c. 87, s. 16, the Lord Chancellor is expressly recognized as Speaker of the Lords. If there is no Lord Chancellor, the Lord Keeper, who, like the Lord Chancellor, may be a Commoner with no right to sit as a peer of Parliament, performs the functions of a Speaker, and by a Standing Order of the House of Lords (No. 3, November 19, 1660), it is the duty of the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper ordinarily to attend the Lords' House of Parliament."

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