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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL FEB. IG, 1907.

neighbourhood of the Inner or Middle Temple, and so named from the association of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem with the Temple Church. The court is not given in William Stow's little ' Stranger's Guide,' of about 1721, nor in Lockie's or Elmes's topographical dictionaries. Neither does it appear in Dodsley's * London and its Environs,' 1761.

About the year 1742 another stenographer's advertisement appears in The Daily Ad- vertiser as follows, and it will be observed that the advertiser hung out his sign " over against the Middle Temple Gate " :

J. Western, | (At the Hand-and-Pen, over-against the I Middle Temple Gate, in Fleet Street) | Con- tinues to teach any Gentleman or Lady | his New Method of Short-Hand, within Six Weeks ; they writing | at Home One Hour a Day, and coming or sending to him for | Instruction once in Two Days. He teaches Gentlemen, at a Distance, | by sending them Instructions from Time to Time ; and others who had I formerly learn'd the Methods of Mr. Shelton, Rich, Addy, Mason, | Byrom, <fcc.

He also takes down Trials at Law, &c., and sells,

1. His Short-Hand Grammar, (curiously engrav : d sufficient to teach the | Art perfectly, as is attested, at the beginning of the Book, by about | twenty Gentlemen of the Clergy, Law, &c., formerly taught. Price | One Guinea and a Half, and Two Guineas on Royal Paper.
 * and authoriz'd by his Majesty) which alone is

If any Thing seems doubtful, he will explain it gratis.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

The Work* of William Shakespeare. Vols. VI., VIL, and VIII. (Stratford-on-Avon, the Shake- speare Head Press.)

Tins most satisfactory and sumptuous edition of Shakespeare, to be known henceforward as " The Stratford Town Shakespeare," is on the verge of completion. Eight volumes out of ten are now before us : and vols. ix. and x., completing the edition, are in the hands of the binder.

Vol. vi., which contains the Second and Third 1'aits of 'King Henry VI.,' 'King Richard III.,' and 'King Henry VIII.,' and consequently finishes the plays founded on English history, has as frontis- piece a reproduction of R. EarlonVs mezzotint of the Jan sen portrait. Vol. vii. includes 'Troilus and Cressida,' ' Coriolanus,' 'Titus Andronicus,' and 'Romeo and Juliet,' and has for frontispiece the Davenant bust, copied (for the first time, as we believe) by permission from the Garrick Club. To the 'Troilus and Cressida' is prefixed a book- seller's preface which is given before some copies of the NiU9 quarto. Gifts of prophecy seem to have been in the possession of this worthy, who declares it to deserve such a labour of comment as well as the best comedy of Terence or Plautus, and adds : "Believe this, that when he is gone, and his comedies out of sale, you will scramble for them,

and set up a new English inquisition." Four tragedies, comprising 'Timon of Athens,' 'Julius Csesar,' ' Macbeth,' and ' Hamlet, Prince of Den- mark,' constitute vol. viii., the frontispiece to which consists of the Felton portrait from the engraving by J. Cochran.

The special merits of the edition are twofold. Considered as books, the eight volumes which have- now appeared are entitled to a foremost place. Type, paper, and other matters are a pleasure to> the signt and the touch, and there are no shelves to which the noble volumes do not form an adorn- ment. On what is their great merit we have once more to insist. This is a perfect text, undeh'led by comment and undisturbed by wild conjecture. The provision of this we are disposed to regard as Mr. Bullen's greatest boon to the drama he loves so much, and to the improvement and elucidation of which he has so largely contributed. A knowledge 110 less exemplary and secure than he possesses is indispensable to the preparation of a text which,. so far as the cultivated man of letters is concerned,. is the best attainable in reposefulness and delight.

A Novel by Thomas Lodge. (Rout- ledge & Sons.)

UNDER this modern-soiinding title it is not at first easy to recognize the charming romance which sup- plied the basis of Shakespeare's 'As You Like It.' This work, in itself a classic, has been added to< " The Photogravure and Colour Series "of Messrs. Roiitledge, one of the most attractive and note- worthy features in which it immediately becomes. With eight photogravures and nine line illustra- tions in the text by Mr. Thomas Mayland, the volume, apart from its Shakespearian interest, is a delight. Concerning the extent of Shakespeare's obligations to Lodge there is no question. The melancholy and pensive Jaques ; Touchstone, the most carefully elaborated of Shakespearian clowns, and Audrey, the priceless hoyden, are Shakespeare's own introductions ; but the subordinate characters, such as Adam, as well as the essential, such as Rosalind, Celia, and their respective lovei-s, are recognizable under more or less changed names and aspects. All that is wanting is Shakespeare's love dialogue, the magic of which is unequalled.

Historic Link*. By I). L. Maguire, L.L.A. (Sonnen-

schein & Co.)

Miss MAGUIRE has got hold of a good idea, and worked it out to excellent results in her "aids to the making of history." Topography is the natural handmaid to History, and better than anything else helps the student to realize, and even visualize what is otherwise a matter of faith. No one can visit a dismantled castle, ruined abbey, or any other hoary shrine with which our England is so richly studded, without feeling conscious of having his interest stimulated in events of the past. We want to know something of the mighty men of old who lived their lives and achieved their fame on these historic landmarks.

The links which the writer selects to bind the present with the past are St. Albans, Repton as "the Home of St. Wystan," Hampton Court, the Tower of London, &c. With a graphic pen she suc- ceeds in reanimating the people who once thronged these memorable sites, and the young persons for whom she writes will insensibly imbibe a taste for architecture and antiquities as they surrender them- selves to the charm of her story. The exigencies of