Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/195

. iv. AUG. w, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 159 order to pay James Jones of Landaffe xl*. ' for his paines to keepe doggs out of this [Cathedral] church at prayer time." In addition to selections from the archivist's reports, comprising a claim for the recognition of Cardiff as the capital of Wales we have translations of portions relating to Larciitt of the important documents in Latin and Welsh •which have been printed under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. The earliest of these is the ' Brut y Tywysogion,' or ' Chronicle of the Princes, the entries in which range from 1043 to 1172. Special attention is called to the schedule of place-names, with the editor's learned dissertation thereon. Some of the names are striking. Cae-Budr (the putrid close) is one of the four Gallows Fields, so called from the public executions once performed there. Blankminster is a name for Whitchurch. Album Monasterium, Bedd-y-ci-du (the grave of the black dog), Cibwr (Kibor or Kibbor in Eng- lish, suggestive of Gibber), may be found together with innumerable others. The muiiicipalia and Corporation plate are described by Mr. Robert Drane, and chapters are also supplied by other writers. The illustrations are once more numerous and excellent. A portrait of Lord Tredegar serves as frontispiece, and there are many good views of Cardiff Castle from various points and innumerable presentations of spots of interest, municipal plate, Ac including a coloured design of the new mayor s chain. A plan of Cardiff in the middle of last century, and a coloured view of St. Mary Street, showing the damage done in 1840 by the river iaff, are supplied separately. The latter is from a water- colour drawing by Mrs. H. G. Baden-Powell. We are sorry for the apparent severance of relations between the borough and its erudite archivist, but can at least congratulate both upon the public spirit that has been exhibited and the good work that has been accomplished. ffatluytun Posthumui; or, Purchas hi* Pilgrime*. By Samuel Purchas, B.D. Vols V. aud VI. (Glasgow, MacLehose k Sons.) THE new instalment of " Purchas his Pilgrimes' is, like some of its predecessors, opportune in time of publication. The concluding chapters ot the tilth book (vii.-xvii.) are still occupied with voyages into the East Indies, and are largely concerned with the treachery and rapacity, and the misdeeds generally, of the Dutch. It is too early as yet to hear of the retribution in store for the Hollanders in Cromwellian days, the period generally being ]6IG-->2 though the Dutch navigations to the Kast Indies, taken from " their own journals and other Histories," deal with an earlier period. W ith the opening out of the sixth book (p. 305) we reach Africa, and are at the outset occupied with Morocco and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean to which the eyes of Europe are still directed. After a flattering dedication by Purchas to the Duke of Buckingham, we come to 'Observations of Africa taken out of John Leo his Nine Bookes, translated by Master Pory,' a work the first edition of which appeared in 1600, in folio, with the title •A Geographical History of Africa, written in Arabicke and Italian by John Leo, a More. Leo, whose real name, so far as we can arrive at it, was Al Hassan Ben Mohammed Alvazas Alfasi, was born at Granada about 1483, educated at Fez, travelled much in Western Africa, Barbary, Syria, Egypt. Armenia, and elsewhere, was seized by Christian corsairs, conducted to Rome, where he was patronized by Leo X., from whom he took the name Jean Leon, by which he was subsequently known. John Pory, subsequently (1603) member for Bridgewater, translated Leo's travels at the suggestion of Hakluyt, whose pupil he was, and this, which had much success, is, after corrections, virtually incorporated by Purchas. This informa- tion, not all of it easily obtainable, may aid the reader, who will find the portion of Purchas con- taining it of special value. Much of the information given is very curious and especially interesting to the anthropologist, to whom the study may be specially commended. Striking information is supplied about " Negromaucie," casting out devils, and kindred subjects. Concerning Fez, the scene of his education, Leo gives very ample in- formation ; but he is no less instructive concerning Egypt. In vol. vi. p. 16 there is a very quaint account of the performances of a trained ass ; and birds are shown telling fortunes in Cairo in the sixteenth century in the same fashion as we have seen them in the London of to-day. A few records of heroism, such as is described vol. vi. pp. 146 et seq., when four English captured and carried into Spain a ship manned with thirteen Turks, in which they were being conveyed as prisoners, follow, before we come to a "contraction" of George Sandys's Eastern travels, published in 1610. Following this comes an account of Richard Jobson's true rela- tion of voyage " for the Discuverie of Gambra" (Gambia), extracted " out of his large Journal!." Jobson's description, the first we possess of many parts of Africa, has been borne out by subsequent explorers, even to those of to-day, and his account, like that gathered by Philippo Pigafetta out of the ' Discourses of Master Edward Lopes, a Portugall,' concerning the Kingdom of Congo, is of surpassing interest. Among the illustrations the maps of Hondius of Egypt, Congo, and other places, the picture of the Zevera or Zebra, the views of the Egyptian Pyramids and Colossus, of Egyptian gods, &c., reward attention. Two more attractive volumes are not to be found in the great work now first brought within general reach. The Muses' Library.—Legend* and Lyrics and ct Chaplet of Verve*. By Adelaide Anne Procter.— Works of Robert tferrick. 2 vols. — Kossetlfs Early Italian Poets.—Poems of William Blake.— Poems of Johnson, Goldsmith, Gray, and Collins, (Routledge & Sons.) To the reprint of " The Muses' Library," a series with the merits and cheapness of which England, as we can personally testify, is ringing, some im- portant additions are being made. ' Herrick,' edited by Mr. A. W. Pollard, and with Mr. Swin- burne's eminently eulogistic and appreciative intro- duction, belongs to the original series. The measure of obligation now incurred consists in the gain of having an edition so carefully edited and so admir- ably got up for a couple of shillings. To obtain,, however, at the same rate Rossetti's ' Early Italian Poets ' and ' Vita Nuova ' of Dante, until recently- one of the most unattainable of poetical works, is a boon not easily overestimated, and one for which' we are personally thankful. Blake's ' Poems' have not previously been accessible in an edition so pretty, portable, and convenient. The edition of Blake,, which is commendably com piece, is ushered in by an appreciative introduction by Mr. W. B. Yeats, supplying, in addition to other matter, an interest- ! ing biography. Mias Procter's right to a place in