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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. APRIL 28, im.

the standard of excellence previously reached is maintained. Which of us has not, amidst the multi- tude of commentators, pined for a text undefiled >by conjecture and undisturbed by note? Which of us, too, has not longed for an edition with a text perfect in daintiness and legibility? Well, these things are herein conceded, and the edition may be pronounced unique.

The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. Part 72.

(Leeds, Whitehead & Son.)

MR. J. W. CLAY contributes a long and important article on the great Northern house of Clifford. It contains abstracts of many wills and inquisitiones post mortem, which will be of the greatest service to any one who may undertake the task of writing -an extended history of that Important and pic- turesque race.

When public penances were discontinued by the authorities of the Church of England is by no means certain. A correspondent contributes a record of a ceremony of this sort which was performed at Bishop Wilton in 1730, when Lancelot Blackburn was archbishop. The penance was inflicted for a violation of the seventh commandment. The offender had to stand in the church porch bareheaded and with bare feet, with a white rod in his hand, and vested in a long white sheet, and was to beg all those who entered the church to pray for him. After the second lesson was over he was to enter the church and say in English the psalm "Miserere tiiei," and then make public confession of his evil conduct. We presume, but are by no means sure, that absolution followed.

An engraving of an interesting floriated cross tombstone to some member of the Fitzconan family is given. It was found a few years ago in the church of Liverton, near Saltburn.

The Berks, Sucks, and Oxon Archaeological Journal.

Vol. II. No. 3. Edited by Rev. P. H. Ditchfield.

(Reading, Slaughter & Son.)

THE notice of Pamber Church is interesting. It was once a chapel of the Benedictine Priory of >herborne, founded by Henry de Port in the twelfth century, and consisted originally of an aisleless -nave. It was attached to the monastery of St. Vigor in Normandy, and was suppressed, along with the other alien houses, early in the fifteenth century. Among the interesting objects this church contains is a cross-legged effigy made of wood. Three other wooden effigies are mentioned as being in the church of Sparsholt, in Berkshire. A note should be made of these, for in most parts of England effigies of this material are of great rarity. There is a list of wooden effigies (which we believe, however, is by no means complete) in Archceologia, vol. xlvi.

Mr. Ernest W. Dormer contributes the first part of a paper on Bisham Abbey ; and Mr. Charles E. Keyser has given several excellent plates in illus- tration of his account of the churches of Sparsholt and Childrey.

MESSRS. HART & SONS, of Saffron Walden, have ent us an interesting little guide to this town, where there is much to interest the antiquary, as there are many indications that its site has been the scene of human occupation from a period of very remote antiquity. Ancient earthworks, camps, and burial mounds are numerous ; and six miles east is the fine group of burial mounds known as the Bartlow Hills. The town obtained

its prefix of *' Saffron" from the extensive cultiva- tion in the district of that once famous drug or dye. Holingshead states that it was first planted there in the reign of Edward III. The parish church is one of the finest examples in the country of the pure Perpendicular style ; it is 200 feet long by 82 feet wide, and the tower is 85 feet high ; it has seven pointed arches on each side of the nave. In the centre of the south chapel is the black marble altar-tomb of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, Chancellor to Henry VIII. There are now only eight brasses remaining of the many effigies which were once in the church. The belfry contains eight bells, and by the will of Thomas Turner, dated 10 June, 1623, the day of his funeral, 27 June, is observed as a ringing festival, to which ringers come from many parts. The work, which forms a valuable short record, is written by Mr. Guy May- nard, the Curator of the Museum, and the excellent illustrations make the booklet very attractive.

MR. BERTRAM DOBELL promises a series of pub- lications of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, principally from MSS. in his own possession, which offer a marvellous attraction to the student of literature. Among them are the poetical works of William Stroode, an all but unknown poet, whose 'Floating Island' was acted before King Charles by the students of Christ Church, 29 Aug., 1636, and gave rise to a curious stage controversy. One collection of MSS. will be in three or four volumes. A more interesting announcement than that Mr. Dobell issues has rarely been put forward.

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