Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/305

 ii s. x. OCT. 10, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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This has been rendered almost unavoidable by the co-operative method by which the work has lu-eii produced, for, instead of G. E. C.'s mar- vellous single-handed effort in compiling ' The Complete Peerage ' (in twelve years), no fewer than 49 different writers have contributed the 247 articles of ' The Scots Peerage,' and they have been allowed to do so on much more individualistic lines than, say, the contributors to the ' D.N.B.' were permitted. In some cases the reader is con- scious at a glance that the work has been done by an enthusiast on the subject ; in others it is quite perfunctory ; and in one or two cases the original Douglas is preferable. The greatest divergence occurs in the matter of descents, which are some- times very full and suggestive, and sometimes inferior to ' Burke.' This difference of standard has not been adjusted to any extent in the Ad- denda ; and not all the Corrigenda have been cffc'-tcd as they might have been. So far as it goe>. however, 'The Scots Peerage' is a good skeleton for experts to work on, especially in the light of the vast mass of material that is coming yearly to the rescue of the puzzled family his- torian.

The Index, at any rate, is a thing to be thankful for. Compiled by Mrs. Alexander Stuart, it run.-, into 1,482 columns, and contains between 4D.iini) and 50,000 references. The labour in- volved is staggering to anybody with any experi- ence of such work work that no amount of money can ever repay. In conclusion, we must thank Messrs. Constable of Edinburgh for having produced a specimen of typography and format which is an honour to the printer's craft. The heraldic designs of Mr. Graham Johnston are a sheer joy.

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series : America and West Indies, Dec. 1, 1702-1703. Edited by Cecil Headlam. (Stationery Office.) SOMK 1,450 items are calendared in this volume. They relate to the conduct of the French war, especially to the attacks on Guadeloupe and Martinique, and to the operations aboiit New- foundland, South Carolina, and the Bahamas. The problem of the defence of the Colonies, both as to shipping and as to personnel, was a difficult one, as is illustrated here by the reports of the Council of Trade and numerous other official papers from Governors and representatives of Colonies. Nor were questions of law, revenue, and government at this time better settled. Among the persons who play predominant parts in this scene during these months are William Penn, Dudley, Cornbury, and Codrington. An outstanding event was the destruction of Port Royal by fire. The affairs of one Larkin and those of Lord Bellomont and his wife are the chief of the quasi-private matters referred to. Mr. Headlam outlines the multitudinous facts with which the papers deal in a most satisfactory Preface.

WE have received from the Sheffield Public Libraries the fti-scri /iHre Catalogue of the Charters, Rolls, Drfils, Pedigrees, Pamphlets, Newspapers, Monumental Inscriptions, and Maps forming the Jackson r'iill.rrlinn. The collection numbers over thirteen hundred articles. Mr. T. Walter Hall and Mr. A. Hermann Thomas, who have compiled tho Catalogue, furnish a description of each

exhibit, and append a General Index of 84 pages, besides a table of cross-references. They say in their Preface that " when a city has the good fortune to be presented with such a deeply inter- esting collection of local records, the obligation rests with the citizens to arrange it." Prof. H. Jackson in a Prefatory Note states that the collec- tion has for its nucleus books and papers accumu- lated in the course of ninety-five years by three generations of Jacksons, " but its most important constituents are certain memoranda of the late Joseph Hunter which my brother Arthur bought at the Phillipps sale, and, above all, the very important papers which he purchased from the representatives of the late William Swift."

The Jacksons have long been associated with Sheffield. Prof. Jackson's grandfather and father were surgeons there, and he tells us his father had an astonishing knack of discovering books before they became famous. He was a constant, reader of ' N. & Q.,' and an occasional contributor,, signing himself " H. J." Prof. Jackson in a note states : " His old friend James Montgomery signed himself ' J. M. G.' I was myself ' H. J.(2)j' but I think that I was not alone in using this signature."

Henry Jackson was keenly interested in local antiquities, and always retained a curiously exact knowledge of the topography of the district. He collected books printed at Sheffield, but made no serious attempt to record his antiquarian, knowledge. He was born at Sheffield on the- 29th of November, 1806, and died in the housu where he was born on the 25th of June, 1866.

IN the October number of The Burlington Magazine Sir Claude Phillips describes a hitherto- unrecognized picture by Bronzino, a ' Holy Family,' the purchase of which he recently recommended. A fine photogravure shows at once the character- istically vigorous rectangular composition of this master, familiar to all who have paid attention to the ' Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time ' at the National Gallery. There is, besides, a rarer mystical beauty in the new picture which must give it high rank among the works of Bronzino. Mr. Hamilton Bell deals with some T'ang pottery and its affinities with Western art. Mr. C. J. Holmes discusses the alterations and repaintings of ' La Schiavona ' by Titian, a full-page reproduction being given. One of the most interesting features of the number is the reproduction of some Chinese paintings from the Morrison Collection, which are among the recent acquisitions of the British Museum and may be seen in the new gallery. They are masterpieces of great beauty, which can, however, only be appreciated at their full worth in the originals. Still, the ' Tiger by a Torrent' (thirteenth century) and the wonderful ' Fairy with a Phoenix ' (fifteenth century) will give pleasure in the monochrome print. Mr. Lionel Cust discusses two portraits by Van Dyck.

Some space is devoted to the destruction of Rheims Cathedral and the irreparable loss therein sustained at the hands of Prussian soldiery. It is justly pointed out that neither the Germans, nor, for that matter, any modern people, can build with "a particle of the logical coherence and sense of order of the thirteenth - century French," and that, moreover, the German race has never been endowed with such constructive- imagination.