Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/291

 10*8. HI. MARCH 25, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

this interesting record. For example, it is the fashion to say that women were in former days badly educated. It is evident, however, that the faculty of reading Latin was a by no means rare accomplishment; in fact, we believe it to have been far more common than it was fifty years ago. Every one knows this was the case with Margaret Roper, Sir Thomas More's learned daughter. The ' Chronicle ' furnishes us with the names of several other women of the same class. Mary Wiseman, daughter of Thomas Wiseman, of Braddpck, an Essex squire, was taught Latin along with her brothers and sisters. We hear, too, that Magdalen Copley "had the Latin tongue perfect." She also understood painting and music. The pages before us furnish other examples. In 1610 the goods of William Copley, of Gatton, were seized by the Lord Chamberlain, on account of his recusancy, and, as well as much plate and armour, there was carried off " so fair a library of books that he pleasured therewith the universities of England." Were these books divided between Cambridge and Oxford ? If so, it would be interesting if any of them could be identified. The work is well printed, and contains some interesting portraits, as well as plates representing seventeenth and eighteenth century vestments, the property of the present nuns.

We have detected two slight mistakes. We are told that Pelham was the residence of the Thimblebys before they moved to Irnham ; this is an error for Pilham, a little village near Gains- borough. Toby Matthew is spoken of as Archbishop of Durham. That see was never raised to archi- episcopal rank. Toby Matthew was Bishop of Durham from 1595 to 1606, when he became Arch- bishop of York, vacating the see by death in 1628.

The Scot* Peerage. Edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms. Vol. II. (Edin- burgh, Douglas.)

LESS than a year after the appearance of the first volume of the magnificent 'Scots Peerage' of Sir James Balfour Paul and his assistants and allies (see 10 th S. i. 357) the second volume sees the light. It includes a full historical and genealogical account of over forty noble Scottish houses, arranged alphabetically between Ogilvy, Lord Banff, and Cranstoun, Lord Cranstoun. With the genealogical aspects of these families we are indisposed to occupy ourselves, the path to be followed in so doing being one of the thorniest to be trodden. We are still ready to accept as final this decision of those who con- stitute the highest obtainable tribunal, and have beside access to all documentary evidence, trust- worthy or other. It is, of course, extraordinary in the case of a race so rigorous in regard to morality as are held to be the Scotch, to find that the difficulties in tracing Scottish descents are mostly traceable to the light estimation in which ecclesiastical sanction to marriage seems to have been held. This is well known to those who have, in however dilettante a fashion, occupied them- selves with Scottish genealogy. Proofs of this abound in the present volume, where such carefully guarded entries as the following abound : " Whether Sir Colin ever was married to this lady, whoever she was, is not without doubt," &c. The number of illegitimate births chronicled is also large. When we come to historical and romantic details, these are most striking in the case of the less illus- trious peerages. It is in course of the much-con-

tested and ancient peerage of Borthwick, which has more than once remained in abeyance, that we- learn from the Hamilton Papers and the ' Diurnal of Occurrents ' how John, sixth Lord Borthwick, who married Isobell, eldest daughter of David Lindsay, eighth Earl of Crawford, who supported James, Earl of Arran, in his contest with Mary of Lorraine for the Regency, was on St. Cuthbert's- Day (4 Sept.), 1544, seized by Sir George Douglas and detained in Dalkeith Castle. Lady Borthwick. retaliated by imprisoning Patrick, Earl of Both- well, who was acting in the opposite interest, and holding him until her husband was released. Writing to Shrewsbury, Lord Euro says : " Bicause the Lady Borthyke was faire, he [Bothwell] came- to hir for love, but she made hyme to be handled and kepte." This is suggestive of Scott, and still more of Massinger's ' Picture.' Under Scott, Duke of Buccleuch, we have, in addition to interesting, particulars concerning "Wicked Wat" and other Walter Scotts, an account of James, Duke of Mon- mouth, who married, when she was at the age of twelve, Anna, Countess of Buccleuch, the greatest heiress in Scotland, and became the first Duke of Buccleuoh. Interesting particulars are given con- cerning the Comynses, Earls and Mormaers of Buchan, including the Countess Isabella, who placed with her own hands the diadem on the head of Robert Bruce, and was, like Cardinal la Balue, the victim of Louis XL, placed, by order of Ed- ward I., in a cage erected in a room in Berwick Castle. Happier than he, she was allowed the attendance of her women and " the convenience of a decent chamber." Under Hepburn, Earl of Both- well, we have an account of James Hepburne, fourth Earl of Bothwell and first Duke of Orkney,, the husband of Mary Stuart. There is, as may well be supposed, no lack of adventures in this- record of the most turbulent nobility that ever existed. Full-page achievements of twelve peers,, including the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl and Marquess of Breadalbane, the Earl of Caithness, and Lord Colville of Culross, constitute a valuable feature in the volume.

The Works of William Shakespeare. In 10 vols. Vol. II. (Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare Head- Press.)

THE second volume of Mr. Bullen's noble edition, of the works of Shakespeare has been issued from the Stratford Head Press. It opens with a superb reproduction of the Chandos portrait, and contains four plays 'The Comedy of Errors,' 'Much Ado about Nothing,' 'Love's Labour's- Lost,' and ' A Midsummer Night's Dream.' To the claims upon consideration of this edition we drew attention upon the appearance of the first volume(see ante, p. 19). To the readers no small class who seek to have their enjoyment undisturbed by con- jecture and uninterrupted by comment, the edition* remains ideal, while to the lover of fine books it makes direct and irresistible appeal. Though the text is modern, there is enough that is archaic as well as beautiful in the appearance of the type to convey to the reader a pleasurable sense of autho- rity, while the mere contemplation of the beauti- fully balanced page is in itself a luxury. No chance- exists of drawing attention to new readings, for none such are attempted. All that can be said is that the work woos to a reperusal, and that a more fascinating edition for the shelf or the hand is not to be hoped. In an age in which new editions