Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/433

 ii. OCT. 29, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

357

a was formerly spelt 'a-per-se, a,' that is 'a by itself makes the word a ' ; whence also the letter itself was sometimes called A-per-e-A. So also I-per-xe, 0-per-ae, ik-per-ee."

The only letters that can thus stand alone are A, /, and ; and it was not unusual in MSS. to write these letters as capitals when so standing. / and are usually so written still ; but A is of so very common occurrence that it is more convenient to write a. This seems to be the whole account of the matter. It once fell to my lot to edit l The Romance of Partenay' for the Early English Text Society; and the capital A's of the MS. proved to be troublesome from their fre- quency. On p. 3 occur such words as "Af ter," all in the middle of a line. On p. 9 occur such lines as these :
 * 'Agayne," "And," "Apart," "Almightye,"

FOr tho ther was A Erie in the forest, Which of children had A huge noutnbre gret. At peiters [Poitiers] made A roial gret feste. WALTER W. SKEAT.

Though unable to say why the personal pro- noun I is written with a capital, I may point out a volume in which both capital and lower- case are used. That volume is the first col- lected edition of Akenside's poems :

The Poems of Mark Akenside, M.D. London, Printed by W. Bowyer and J. Nichols. And Sold by J. Dodsley in Pall Mall. MUCCLXXII. 4to. xii-380 pp.

In this fine book, whenever the pronoun I and the interjection O occur at the begin- ning of a line or a sentence, they appear in capitals ; in any other position they are printed in lower-case. Thus in Book I. p. 16, we have

O ! attend

Whoe'er thou art, whom these delights can touch, Whose candid bosom the refining love Of nature warms, o ! listen to my song ; And i will guide thee to her favourite walks.

Book I. ends on p. 34 with an invocation to the genius of ancient Greece as follows : Far above the flight Of fancy's plume aspiring, i unlock The springs of ancient wisdom ; while i join Thy name, thrice honour'd ! with the immortal

praise

Of nature, while to my compatriot youth i point the high example of thy sons. And tune to Attic themes the British lyre.

KICHD. WELFORD. Newcastle-upon-Tyue.

PUBLISHERS' CATALOGUES (10 th S. ii. 50, 118). The following extract from the sale cata- logue (20 October) of Messrs. Hodgson & Co., of Chancery Lane, is interesting in con nexion with early catalogues of publications affixed at the end of a book : -

"370 [Defoe (D.).] The Life and Strange Sur- prising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York,

Mariner written by Himself, with map (no title

or frontispiece), London, printed for W . Taylor, 1719 The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, first edition, 1719 Serious Reflections during the Life of Robinson Crusoe, first edition, 17'20, together 3 vols. calf gilt, each volume containing the cata- logues of Taylor's publications at end (sold not subject to return)."

RONALD DIXON.

CHIRK CASTLE GATES (10 th S. ii. 269). These gates were the work of a common blacksmith, whose name is not apparently known. They seem to have been removed from their original to their present situation. In Lewis's 'Topographical Dictionary of Wales ' (1840) we are told that " a new road, leading to Chirk Castle, in a winding direction through it, so as to embrace a view of much interesting scenery in the valley of the Ceiriog, and avoid a steep hill, has been formed of late, in lieu of that which formerly led from the village. Near New Hall, which is described as an old seat of the Myddeltons, rebuilt many years ago as a farmhouse, and surrounded by a moat, at the entrance into the park from Llangollen and Wrex- ham, stands a pair of iron gates of the richest and most delicate and exquisite workmanship designed and executed by a common blacksmith which anciently stood immediately in front of the castle." J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

After Work. By E. Marston, F.R.G.S. (Heine-

mann.) THE words of old Adam in 'As You Like It,'

At seventeen years many their fortunes seek ;

But at fourscore it is too late a week, serve as motto to Mr. Marston's volume of remi- niscences. At that ripe age there is, happily, in this instance, no question of seeking fortune, but only of extracting what enjoyment and advantage can be reaped, during a period of well-earned leisure, from the experiences of a long and arduous life. In his public and private career Mr. Marston, of the great publishing house of Sampson Low, Marston & Co., has made many friendships and intimacies, private and professional. Memories of these supply materials which, had not the title been appropriated by Landor, might have been called * Last Fruit off an Old Tree.' While engaged for sixty-five years (fifty-eight of which have been spent in London) in the business of publishing and bookselling. Mr. Marston has found time to become a successful as well as a fairly voluminous author, and among the pleasantest contents of his latest volume are the utterances or revelations it contains concerning the delightful works he has written. The greater portion of his volume is occupied with souvenirs and correspondence of many men of busi- ness and letters with whom he has been thrown into close association, and the work may, to some extent, be regarded as a history of the firm of which he is a distinguished member. With his