Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/97

 10 s. VIIL JULY 27, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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adding in bits from memory occasionally." This conjecture seems amply borne out by the bewilder- ing manner in which narrative and notes are com- mingled, and by such stray memoranda as "Loke whither Purbeke be not so corruptely caullid for Corbek " on p. 253, or " Ask wher Knap is," and the like, on p. 294.

To our mind, this reprint is of especial import- ance in that it brings Leland who has been re- garded hitherto as the almost exclusive preserve of antiquaries well within the reach of the general reader of discernment, upon whose atten- tion his work has considerable claims. Much of the peculiar fascination which the 'Itinerary' does undoubtedly possess for us to-day is due to that period of our national life which it recalls so vividly, when a man by travelling but one day's journey on horseback from his own door could find himself in a strange land. It is true that Leland's work is of a character largely utilitarian that is to say, it was undertaken with a single eye to that "quadrate table of silver" in which King Henry was to see his "worlde and impery of Englande so sette forthe" that he should have "ready know- ledge at the firste sighte of many right delectable, fruteful, and necessary pleasures, by the contem- plation thereof." Modern graces of style are not Leland's, nor is it for him to rhapsodize over nature ; indeed, his highest flights of description seldom amount to more than " Thence I passid by hilly, woddy, and much baren ground," unless it be in his presentment of TintageT, "the dungeon that is on a great an[d] high terrible cragge environid with the se." He delighted rather to trace the course of "praty brokes, " ryverets," and the like, enumerate bridges, and observe the character of the country through which he passed, whether it were good for crops, pasturage, or neither. That much of what has come down to us should consist of the notes intended to form the basis of the great "worke," which its author purposed to "divide yn to as many bookes as there be shires yn Eng- land, and sheres and great divisions yn Wales," is after all scarcely a drawback, since the notes often make up in suggestiveness what may be lacking in elaboration. For example, what man is there, with anything of an ear for words, who will not delight in the entry, " Lichet village and an arme out of Pole water beting with a litle fresch," even though its precise meaning be hidden from him ?

Again, those passages (frequent in the present volume) where the notes have been lifted into narrative abound in picturesque touches, as in the brief description of Cranborne, where the author says : " There rennith a fieting bek thorotigh it, and passid down thorough the streat self on the right bond." He has moreover a dry humour which finds expression in his attitude towards the miracles of the day: "I saw at the same tyme a fair great marble tumbe ther of a bisshop of Bath, out of the wich they sayid that oyle did distille : and likely ; for his body was enbaumid plentifully."

The businesslike nature of his task is perhaps responsible for the fact that the legends and stories with which the reader is regaled are not so numerou as might have been expected ; but when they do occur, the very simpleness and brevity of the tell- ing as in the story of the building of the bridge a1 Barnstaple, or the Oxford Castle legend of Edilt and " the chattering pies " make them wonderfully effective. The interest of the volume for the genera reader aforesaid is further heightened by the odds

,nd ends of curious information Scattered up and 3own. Such are the mention of the primitive wlice force at Malmesbury Fair : "At the which jeace kept : and this [i,s] one of the bragges of the and the foreshadowing, in the case of the "maner place " at Ewelme of the modern use of iron girders 'n building : " The haul of it is fair and hath great Darres of iren overthuart it instede of crosse aeames."
 * yme the toune kepith a band of harnesid men to se
 * oun, and thereby they be furnishid with harneys " ;

On occasion, too, we meet with such a quaint, somewhat inconsequent piece of personal informa- tion as "Old Bayllie buildid also of late yn this toun [Bradford, Wiltshire! ; he was a rich clothiar. Bailies sun now drapeth yn the toun, and also a 2 miles out of it at a place yn the way to Farley - castel."

When all is said, there is an abiding charm in Leland's writing, though its abruptness shows but little anticipation of the present canons of what writing should be. Modern civilization and the existence of a large reading public with well- ascertained, almost stereotyped requirements, make it virtually impossible that, in the future, a man should be content to set down (for publication) merely the things he saw, as they appeared to him and even the narrative portions of Leland's work amount to little more than this with an entire lack of self-consciousness. The thing is such an anomaly nowadays that we call it naivete and smile at it ; which is an additional, if scarcely worthy, reason why other than antiquarian readers should turn their attention to the wonderfully complete and scholarly edition of which the present volume is an earnest. Prefixed to the 'Itinerary' is Leland's 'Newe Yeares Gyfte to King Henry the VIII., 1 which contains the dedication of the work to the King ; and there are carefully prepared maps of the traveller's probable routes in the north and west of England, besides indexes both of persons and places. The book is admirably bound, and printed with wide margins to facilitate the making of notes ; more- over, it has this inestimable quality, that the leaves will remain flat wherever it is opened.

A Historical Geography of the British Colonies.

Vol. VI. Australasia. By J. D. Rogers. Part. I

Historical. Part II. Geographical. (Oxford

Clarendon Press.)

WE have here two separate sections, each with its own index, title-page, and maps, bound together in one volume. A good deal of the history is in this case geographical, since it is the presence or absence of rivers and harbours which makes so great a difference in the larger part of the district 111 view. The two sections fairly supplement each other, and form a competent whole.

Mr. Rogers has evidently taken the greatest pains to secure full and detailed information on his vast subject. At the bottom of the page he quotes numerous references to authorities of all kinds, and he has clearly an acquaintance with the text of important Parliamentary debates as well as books. We expect from the modern student of geography carefully "documented" work, especially in a series of such high reputation as this. What is more notable here, however, is the author's style. He writes with a liveliness and a sense of incisive English which are unusual, but he supposes, we think, top much knowledge in his readers. He makes references to Browning and Homer (quoted in