Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/579

 ii. DEC. 10. low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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and ornam' 8 for his chamber," which he is sanguine enough to expect "will be of use afterwards " (p. 297). The same correspondent reports the convalescence of his pupil, after too free an indulgence in green fruit, in the modern-looking phrase, " he begins to pick up his crum's again mainly" (p. 300). Q'hatthe conditions of university life were pretty much the same then as now appears from the complaint, "Scholars here are very much cheated in buying anything unless they pay present mony, though their tutors be never so carefull" (p. 333). They could economize, however, in their book-bill, seeing that " bookes of all sorts are growne pretty plenti- full att the second hand in y e Stationers Shops" (p. 241).

Among the items of local gossip of the year 1660 crops up the statement " Wee are now informed y e L d Gray of Grooby [Groby] was y e late King's executioner." The same letter which supplies this very improbable information gives a graphic account of Charles II. 's triumphal entry into London, with many of those minute touches which make the scene to live. Dr. Magrath is in doubt as to what Daniel Fleming meant by " ye boiling of my maire," for which he paid 4of. It can hardly be, as he suggests, the swilling or the bolusing of the animal. Soiling is more likely to be a local form of "polling," for clipping, or having its hair cut. At all events, Ray gives "boiling trees" as a North- Country word for "pollard trees."

Calendar of Inquisitions post Mortem and other Analogous Documents preserved in the Public Record Office Vol. I. Henry III. (His Majesty's Stationery Office.)

WE are very glad to welcome the first volume of the new calendar of the long series of Inquests post Mortem. These documents form, we believe, an historical series unrivalled in the archives of any foreign state, and are of the highest topo- graphical and genealogical value. They have re- mained up to the present time most difficult to consult. Imperfect manuscript calendars of some of them have been long in existence, and between the years 1806 and 1838 four folio volumes of calen- dars were issued by the old Record Commission. To say that these were useless would be to exag- gerate wildly, but they are, in most cases, a very im- perfect key to the treasures to which they relate, for not only were they compiled on lines which do not call for commendation, but they are especially the earlier volumes so full of mistakes and misprints that those who consult them are often led in hope- lessly wrong directions ; the indexes, too, were made by careless or inefficient persons, and are almost as likely to lead the searcher in a wrong direction as a right one. In 1865 two volumes of extracts were edited by Mr. Charles Roberts, entitled ' Calendarium Genealogicum, 3 covering the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. Mr. Roberts did sound work, which we have on many occasions found of service, but the plan on which the book was arranged was not satisfactory, and it was discon- tinued. There was good reason for this postpone- ment : " The obvious inconvenience of pursuing a system in which the names of heirs were given in one calendar and the lands in another made it undesirable to proceed further on these lines " ; but notwithstanding the error of plan, the work, so far as it goes, will always be of service. The present calendar, without inordinately adding to its bulk, could not be made to contain all the information to

be found in the originals, but it may be regarded as an almost perfect key. The extents of the manors and the names of the jurors have for the most part been left out. This, we are sure, will be a keen dis- appointment to all our readers who study the names of places and persons, as it will necessitate a visit to the Record Office when the information is required ; but we are reluctantly compelled to- say that the excellent system of reference to the originals in a great degree compensates for the inconvenience.

As well as the index to persons and places, which occupies more than a hundred pages, there is a most valuable one of subjects. Every historical student will be the better for reading it from end to end and endeavouring to assimilate the information to which it will direct him.

The volume is published under the able editorship of Sir H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, the text being due to- Mr. J. E. E. S. Sharp, and the indexes to Mr. A. E. Stamp.

Place - name Synonyms Classified. By Austin.

Farmar. (Nutt.) The Place-names of Stirlingshire. By Rev. J. B..

Johnston, B.D. (Stirling, Shearer & Son.) THE former of these books is a tentative effort- to bring place-names into groups according to their signification. We cannot say we find it informing or interesting, and the system of cross-references adopted is somewhat irritating. To take an illus- trative instance : on the first page we find group No. 6 to consist of Dal-iz, Dai-chow, Dali-chow, which contain in their common element the idea of distance. Here a further reference is given to- group 8, 6, which consists of the same three names with the information that the final element in each means "place." References to both these entries are repeated on p. 134 and p. 196, but we are never told where these places are, or in what language dal means distant, so that we are hardly wiser than. when we began the chase. Some groups, however, are more mutually illuminative, as in entry 2000, "Old Church," where Alt-kirch, Oude-capel,, Hen-eglwys, Hen-egglys, and Shan-kill are brought together. But as very many of the entries consist of a solitary name, the comparative method com- pletely breaks down.

In ' The Place-names of Stirlingshire,' which has now attained to its second edition, Mr. Johnston does more minutely for one county what he has already done with much success for the whole of Scotland. He now claims to be able to disentangle the etymology of certain names which formerly baffled his efforts ; but he honestly gives up as "doubtful "a certain residuum which still obsti- nately refuse to be accounted for, which plain deal- ing increases our faith in his method.

The Burlington Magazine. Vol. VI. No. XXI. THE latest number of this favourite magazine for connoisseurs is of exceptional interest. Its list of plates is of unusual extent, including eight plates from the Carvallo collection (two of them after Goya) ; , a like number of designs by Jean-Francois Millet,, from the collection of our old friend Ja'mes Staats Forbes ; a triptych by Lucas Cranach to accompany Mr. Lionel Gust's 'Notes on the Royal Collection' ;. an interesting uncatalogued miniature by Fran9ois Clouet ; a bronze statuette from Paramythia ; many designs of furniture, Sheffield plate, and reproductions of Italian designs, the whole being