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. ii. OCT. i, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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establishing a twelfth-century text, Asserius de Rebus Gestis /Elfredi. Those portions that are worthy of acceptance, including all copied by Florence of Worcester, are printed in roman text, while the portions that he omitted are given in italics. Mr. Stevenson has also printed as an appendix the so-called Annals of St. Neots, the 'Chronicon Fani Sancti Neoti sive Annales, qui dicuntur Asserii,' with omissions, the nature and extent of which are stated. As regards the authority of the work, Mr. Stevenson holds, with Kemble, Stubbs, and Freeman, and also with Dr. Reinhold Pauli and the best German authorities, that the ' Life ' is genuine. It has been impugned by more than one scholar, but its only assailant with whom there is need to reckon is Thomas Wright. Wright was a good antiquary, but his censure was generally passed upon portions subsequently seen to be inter- polations. The scholar is now provided with the best and most trustworthy text accessible, and with introduction and notes that cover the field of Anglo-Saxon literature and history.

THE Rev. William Douglas Parish, formerly Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral, who died 23 September, graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, in 1858, taking the degree of S.C.L. He was ordained deacon in 1859 and priest in 1861 by Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Chichester, and became curate of Firle, Sussex. Four years later he was nominated by the l)pan and Chapter of Chichester to the vicarage of Selmeston with Alciston, Sussex, which he held till his death. Bishop Durnford appointed him, in 1877, to the Chancellorship of Chichester Cathedral, but he resigned this office in 1900. His compilations included 'A List of Carthusians.' with biographical notes, and l The Domesday Book in Relation to the County of Sussex/ He drew up dictionaries of the Kentish and the Sussex dialects, while his book on 'School Attendances secured without Compulsion' (1875) is in its fifth edition. He was a frequent contributor to our columns.

MR. VINCENT A. SMITH, the biographer of Asoka, has written ' The Early History of India,' which the Oxford University Press is about to publish. The period dealt with is from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the invasion of Alexander the Great, which has not been treated adequately in any modern volume. It is claimed that this book is the first attempt to give a con- nected narrative of the events in Indian political history prior to the conquest.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

WE commence our September and October notices with the clearance list of Mr. J. Baldwin, of Ley ton, Essex, the prices in which are moderate. There are first editions of ' David Copperfield ' and 'The Mill on the Floss,' early editions of Scott, and interest- ing items under Herbert Spencer and Owen Mere- dith. The list also includes an uncut copy of Leigh Hunt's Indicator, a copy of Mark Pattison's ' Isaac Casaubon/ 1875, and some curious old novels, one extending to seven volumes. We wonder what Mr. Arthur Mudie, who has been a strenuous advocate of the one- volume novel, would say to such a work nowadays.

The list of our old friend Mr. Bertram Dobell contains a Collection of Rare Plays. There are

79 items under this heading. Among these we- find Fletcher's ' The Faithful! Shepherdesse, acted at Somerset House before the King and Queene on Twelfe night last, 1633,' Richard Meighen, 1634, 51. 5s. ; the first edition of Dryden's ' The Duke of Guise,' edges uncut, 1683, 31. 3*. ; and first editions of Sheridan's 'Critic' and 'Pizarro.' Among the- rarities under Miscellaneous are the first edition of ' Blank Verse,' by Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd, 1798. 11. 7s. (this is beautifully bound by Riviere in crushed blue morocco) ; the rare first edition of 'Tales from Shakespeare,' 1807, 211. ; the first edi- tion of North's ' Plutarch,' 1579, 41. 4s. ; and Richard Robinson's ' The Auncient Order, Societie, and Unitie Laudable, of Prince Arthure, and his Knightly Armory of the Round Table,' 1583, 121. 12s. The last work is excessively rare. Robinson was on&- of the sentinels employed by the Earl of Shrewsbury to watch over Mary, Queen of Scots. Mr. Dobell has also curious books on wine, beer, and spirits, and many of the publications of the Early English Text Society.

Mr. Charles Higham sends us a further selection from his stock of second-hand theological books. These include Roman Catholic and Patristic litera- ture. Among many items of interest we notice two complete sets of 'Tracts for the Times '(Tract 90* is of the first edition in one of these) ; Mark Patti- son's sermons ; and a sermon by Froude on the death of the Rev. G. May Coleridge, Torquay, 1847.

Messrs. Iredale, of Torquay, have some autograph letters. There is a characteristic one of Admiral Sir Charles Napier's to a young officer : " Occasions for doing great things come rarely and suddenly, so that if a man's mind be not prepared he cannot take advantage of them, and then talks of being unlucky." There is also a very businesslike com- munication from the author of ' Proverbial Philo- sophy,' 1874, to his publishers, Chapman & Hall : " I forgot to state my terms are no loss and half profits. The American portion of the catalogue is long and interesting. Under General are an uncut copy of Burns, 1787, 12/. 12*. ; ' The Extraordinary Red Book,' 1816 (this gives a list of all pensions and sinecures ; Rundell & Bridge, the silversmiths, had 37,00$., mainly for snuff-boxes intended as presents for foreign'notabilities, a two years' bill) ; Jamieson's 'Scottish Dictionary,' 5 vols., Paisley, 1879, 57. ; Scott Russell's ' Naval Architecture,' 4?., published at 421. ; and ' Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Civil Wars,' 4 vols., 21. 2s.

Mr. James Miles, of Leeds, has an autumn clearance catalogue. This he well calls " Bargains in Books." The items include the Library Edition of Dickens, price 01. 6s. ; Edition de luxe of Fielding, 1882, 31. 3s. ; Balzac, Temple Edition, 21. 12s. Qd. There are a number of works on art, China, and' Japan ; also a selection of modern theology from the library of the late Rev. H. Dacre Blanchard. This includes the 'Preacher's Homiletical Com- mentary,' 32 vols., Funk & Wagnalls, 1892-6, 41. 17s. 6d., and Neale's 'Essays on Liturgiology,' very scarce, 1867, 21. 2*.

Mr. Peach, of Leicester, offers some interesting MSS., among which is Christine de Pisan's 'Le Livre du Regime et Government des Empresses,' &c. The second and third books deal with "femmes des mestiers et femmes des laboureurs." Mr. Peach states that "several of Dame Christine's works were englished and published by Caxton, but so