Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/361

 s. VIIL OCT. 12, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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antiquaries, is the more striking in that its range is wider. For example, the ' Enventary tacken of all the properties for my Lord Admeralles men, the 10 of Marche, 1598,' is sufficiently comprehensive, including as it does in the first "Item 1 "j rocke, j cage, j tombe, j Hell mought," and going on to, among other things, " ij marchepanes and the sittie of Rome."

Pleasant reading, too, are the letters from rhilip Henslowe and Joan Alleyn to Edward Alleyn, and the jocose effusion written by John Pyk to Mistress Alleyn, concluding:

Yett I swear to you by the fayth of a fustyan kinge never to retorne till fortune vs bryng w* a Jovfull metyng to lovly london J sesse.

Yo r petty prety pratlyn" parlyng pyg by me John pyk.

The 'Papers' are divided into 'Muniments [that is documents on vellum] relating to the Theatres and Bear Garden,' 'Papers relating to the Drama and the Stage 'and to ' Bear-baiting, the Memo- randum-Book of Edward Alleyn,' 'Miscellaneous Notes ' and ' Miscellaneous Papers. Of the appen- dixes which are three in number, the first two contain respectively ' Documents not now at Dul- wich ' (including the Inventory above quoted) and ' Dramatic Plots,' such as ' The Seven Deadly bins, 'Dead Man's Fortune,' 'Frederick and Basilea, and a fragment of a ' Troilus and Cressida hitherto imprinted ; while the third consists of Alleyn s part in Robert Greene's play of ' Orlando Funoso The book is a masterpiece of careful editing, and there is a good Index.

BelVs Cathedral Series - Bangor and Llandaff Cathedral* ; Ramsey Abbey ; The Temple Church. (Bell & Sons.)

WE have before had occasion to speak in terms of praise of this admirable series of descriptive guides, and the volumes now to hand cannot but enhance the reputation the series already enjoys Whilst avoiding abstruse technicalities, the little books vet contrive to impart to the lay reader accurate information as to the various beauties and pecu- liarities of architecture which are to be found in our historical cathedrals and churches. I" par- ticular we commend the volume on Romsey Abbey bv the Rev. T. Parkins. The author is evidently a lover of Norman architecture, and we should wel- come a description from the same pen of the church of St Cross at Winchester - one ot the finest examples of Norman architecture which we have meT with, and well worthy of a place in the

" The h HttTe votme' on the Temple Church by Mr. George Worlev, also calls for mention. The two sections of this famous church, the " Round and the " Oblong," and their respective styles of Tran- sitional and Early English, are described in a manne which all can understand, and in addition there is a sketch of the history of the Knight Templars (by whom the church was founded) from S rise to their final extinction as an Order.

We commend these little guide-books to all who arfinteSed in famous churches, either from an architectural or an historical standpoint.

The Comhi/l Magazine for October is full of

iTi&^biSS^ fhe^philosoV^r-s whims and

social oddities. The Rev. W. H. Hutton writes excellently, as might be expected, on ' Edgehill,' recalling not only the battle, but also the life of Sanderson Miller, the designer and antiquary who put up the modern castle ruin there, and was in addition famous as an agriculturist, being cele- brated by Jago, a poet whose verse was nardly equal to one of the fairest parts of England. In ' A Botanical Legend ' Canon John Vaughan tells how he searched successfully for traces ot the wild pea which on a Suffolk beach in 1555 once saved many from hunger. The article is a veritable romance of botanical history, and the sea-pease in question was much written up by old botanists. Mr. J. B. Atlay has a good subject in ' The Author of Ten Thousand a Year,' whose fantastic vanity was almost incredible. We cannot share Mr. Atlay's view that the work in question is one of the best in the English language. Much of its satire is so underlined in Early Victorian style as to be tedious. The Rev. G. E. Jeans has combined both amusement and instruction in 'A Light Study in " Bradshaw,"' which we once saw put first in a list of educational books which had to be handed in to a pedantic don. Many are the curiosities in place- names which this paper reveals, and more might easily be added. There are also an article on ' Uganda Housekeeping ' ; a poem by Mr. Leonard Huxley on the joys of Switzerland ; and a discus- sion by Mr. A. C. Benson on ' Humour,' which would be the better for more illumination by that same quality. Mr. Benson's views are sound, but he reminds us of many things which others have said before, and we do not think that he is quite fair to an attitude of mind which he dismisses without adequate discussion.

The National Revieio is too technical this month not to be skipped widely by the man who cares more for humane letters than politics. We really think that far too much is being written about the navy and army and the Irish party month by month. Was it worth while to reproduce from La Remie a private diary concerning ' The Death of Leo XIII.,' with its attendant crowd of journalists and eccle- siastics? The writer, Adriano Pierconti, might have produced a complete line in the first set of verses quoted as by Leo. We feel sure that even when he was nearing the end he did not compose a hexameter with half a foot short. Probably the word "jam" has been missed out, but it does not matter, the really important thing in the article being the amount of telegrams sent, the fuss over the dying Pontiff. We can see nothing of real significance in all this detail that "makes death a hideous show," as Matthew Arnold said in some lines very different in ideal from the modern craze for publicity. Dr. W. H. D. Rouse has a really practical and well- written article on 'Classics in the Modern School,' which does deserve ample notice. The Rev. R. L. Gales in ' Still More Dicta of the Poor ' supplies some good and characteristic stuff both in the humorous and the pompous line. Literary critics are apt to underrate the talking ability of the people who do not read books, and these articles, olbviously first-hand knowledge, please us well. 'The Social Transformation of Scottish Liberalism," by Mr. William Wallace, has some striking remarks on Scottish literature.

THE same writer continues the criticism of literary Scotland in The Fortnightly with the 'Limits of Scottish Patriotism.' Sir Thomas Bar-