Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/247

 ii s. i. MAR. 19, 1910. j NOTES AND QUERIES.

239

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

British and Foreign Arms and Armour. By C. H. Ashdown. (T. 0. & E. C. Jack.)

Ax endeavour is here made to give as complete a history of arms and armour as is consistent with the limitations of space contained in a single volume. After enumerating the best-known pre- vious works on the subject, and pointing out their imperfections, the author continues : " It is with a view to rectifying this obvious requirement that the following pages have been compiled, and it is confidently anticipated that a careful reading and digest of each separate period of armour, supplemented with the study of local brasses, effigies, museums, private collections, &c., will enable the average student to attack the more advanced works upon the subject with eaual profit and pleasure."

Mr. Ashdown is rightly severe on the lack of knowledge of these matters whi^h is displayed in the illustrations of historical books, magazines, and even on the stage :

" The average Englishman is probably more unacqxiainted with arms and armour than any other technical subject. Beyond a general idea that the Crusaders fought in mail, and the Wars of the Roses were waged by warriors clad in plate, his knowledge does not extend, and he con- sequently witnesses many startling incongruities upon the stage of a theatre, or the arena of a pageant, with the most profound indifference. He will perceive Richard III. in a camail, and Ivanhoe in a salade, with the utmost complacency. .... In one theatre recently we have witnessed Bolingbroke in a fifteenth -century tabard, a waistbelt, and round -toed sabbatons. . . .Henry V. in a camail, late fifteenth-century gauntlets, twentieth-century boots, and vambraces covering parts of his coudieres .... But in the illustrations of historical scenes in books and magazines equal ignorance prevails, and a knight in pure mail rtiid a surcoat, making love to a maiden in a reticulated head-dress, seated under a two-centred Tudor archway, is only an example of the incon- gruities which almost -every day insult the in- telligence and offend the eyesight of the educated reader."

The writer is especially eloquent and erudite when dealing with mediaeval armour ; and the examples of monumental brasses are numerous and well selected. Regarding the fifteenth century we read :

''In the combat during this century between the forgers of weapons of offence and the armour with which t<> resist them we have the greatest struggle ever witnessed in this country ; so in- vulnerable did the plate become by completeness of covering and dexterity in tempering that all th<- efforts of the bowyer, fletcher, weapon- forger, and gunsmith had to be enlisted to break down the solidarity of the defence, and it was not until the succeeding century that the victory could he fairly claimed for the attacking faction."

In dealing with the subject of Gothic armour Hi" a ut In ir says : " The second half of the fifteenth century saw armour not only in its highest deve- 1 >pment, but also of the most beautiful form, for

nothing can excel the graceful lines and excel- lence of workmanship characterizing the Gothic style."

In the style called Maximilian, which came into vogue during the early part of the sixteenth century, armour reached its zenith ; but the increasing efficiency of fire-arms sounded the death knell of this form of defence, and towards the end of the century, except for tilting and ceremonial occasions, cap-a-pie armour was no longer to be seen in the field : " Armour had served its purpose so long as sword and lance, javelin and bolt, were the usual weapons of war ; but when it was discovered that against the deadly lead of the arquebus it was of no avail, it was gradually discarded as obsolete and cumber- some."

Arms are dealt with separately, and the subject is well worth studying.

Within its limitations the volume is excellent,, particularly in regard to armour of the Middle- Ages. A useful index is provided, and there are- some fine photographic reproductions of various examples of armour in the Royal Armory at Madrid and elsewhere.

Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire. By Ludwig Friedlander. Translated by J. HT.. Freese. Vol. III. (Routledge & Sons.)

WE welcome the completion of the text of Fried- lander's great work, the presentation of which to English readers should be a real boon. Once again we congratulate the publishers on their- enterprise in securing a competent translation of a book which opens up the whole world of later- Rome (a world in many ways like our own) to the general reader. The obligations of the scholar will be further increased when he hears that a supplementary volume, containing the Notes and Excursuses omitted from the seventh (popular)' German edition, will be published this year in a rendering due to the translator of the volume before us.

This volume is of exceptional interest through- out. It first gathers up with the erudition of a master the various hints we have of the literary- conditions of the time, and gives us a lucid picture of ' Belles-Lettres : Poetry and Artistic Prose.'' Chapters on ' Religion,' ' Philosophy as a Moral Educator,' and ' Belief in the Immortality of the Soul ' follow. These chapters will be found all too- short especially in the description of the struggle between paganism and Christianity. At the end there is a useful index to the three volumes.

The careful perusal of a book of this sort by a master of Roman lore will afford at once more- profit, and, we think, more entertainment to the reader, be he student or mere amateur, than a host of primers and extracts.

MESSRS. VICKEBS'S Newspaper Gazetteer for 1910 has now reached its eleventh annual issue. The plan of the work is excellent. There is first an alphabetical list, followed by a list of places where newspapers are published, and then a list of class and trade papers. Those of special interest to our readers will be found under Antiquities, which supports seven, and Archaeology which has five. ' N. & Q.' is placed under Lite- rature, which is represented by twenty-two. The editor, as usual, brings the ' Gazetteer ' well up to date, the most recent changes being recorded*