Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/564

 416 MISCELLAXEOUS NOTICES. advanced in his Preface claim most serious consideration. Mr. Shaw urges strongly the disadvantage, Avhich few are more competent than himself to appreciate, experienced in England through the want of some extensive means of instruction, such as this museum might supply, if secured as the nucleus of a national collection. The want of such an estahlishment for the promotion of a more cultivated taste in design is daily more and more felt, as compared with the advantages afforded in other countries, auxiliary not only to artistic but to industrial ingenuity. The collection would form an invaluable adjunct to a Central School of Design. Mr. Shaw progresses with unrivalled perfection in his "Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages," of which the seventh and eighth parts have lately appeared. His plates, representing the splendid triptych of the work of Limoges, exhibited in the collection formed at the Adelphi, and some gorgeous tissues, well worthy of modern imitation, surpass any of his former works. We must reserve a fuller notice of this publication for a future occasion. Its very moderate price, and the singular beauty of the plates, should render it extensively acceptable to the admirers of ancient art. Mr. Charles Wickes, of Leicester, announces (by subscription) a Monograph on the Spires and Towers of the Churches of Great Britain ; an interesting subject, which has never been treated separately. The fii'st portion is prepared for the press. Such a work must prove attractive to many, and especially to those who, during the proposed meeting of the Listitute in the West in the ensuing year, may visit a district so distinguished for tlie beautiful design of the church-towers, and their striking variety. A valuable addition to the illustrations of Provincial Dialects, the result of many years' research, is announced for publication (^by suhscription). It is the " Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, with Examples of their Colloquial Use. By Anne Elizabeth Baker." Long the com- panion and coadjutor of her brother in his excursions during the progress of his History of the County, Miss Baker has had unusual facilities for the collection of dialectical expressions. It is greatly to be regretted that the important undertaking contemplated by ^Ir. Baker should have been only ])aitly achieved for want of sufficient public support. We hope that philo- logists may prove of more kindly disposition than the patrons of topography; and that Miss Baker may be encouraged to send her work to press without delay. Subscribers' names received by Messrs. Kichols and Mr. J. Russell Smith. The Rev. J. C. Bruce has brought to a successful termination the interesting investigation of the " Roman Wall," which he has pursued with the most indefatigable energy. His work (of which we hope to give a detailed notice in the next Journal) has just been announced as ready for delivery ; and, numerous as have been the recent contributions to the History of the Romans in Britain, this volume will be found inferior to none, either in the imjtortance of the subject, or the intelligence and earnestness in personal observation, with which Mr. Bruce has achieved his Smvey of the Gi-eat Northern Barrier. The numerous illustrations com- prise many subjects hitherto unknown, and have been prepared with the utmost attention to accuracy, too little considered by previous writers on these remarkable remains.