Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/365

 ii s. x. or T. 31, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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appointed. In 1546, in the deed which gave St. Bartholomew's Hospital to the city, Henry VIII. granted also " that the said mayor, commonalty, and citizens, arid their successors should he masters, rulers, and governors of the hospital or house called Bethlem. Henceforth it belongs to London. Bethlehem and Bridewell (incorporated lf>T>3) were shortly after placed under the same management.

There comes now into view the Bedlam of Eliza- bethan and subsequent literature, a scene of horror and yet of terrible fascination, which brings out strangely the vigorous vices and virtues of the times the unscrupulousness of curiosity; the greed and cruelty; the somewhat spasmodic, but, on the whole, increasing benevolence and reason- ableness; the gradual conquest by science of super- stitions in regard to insanity.

About 1676 the hospital was moved to a new house in Moorficlds, and remained there till 1816, when it was established in its present home in St. George's Fields, Southwark.

Mr. O'Donoghue does welcome justice to the theory and practice of ages less well-equipped scientifically than our own in the treatment of the insane. He has also studied with evident care, and to useful purpose, a vast mass of material relating to the property of the hospital. What we greatly regret is that he should have chosen to present all this valuable matter much of it more or less new to the public in a series of ill-con- nected, flimsy scraps, which seem to aim more at picturesqueness than anything else, and usually achieve no more than a dreary facetiousness, sadly remote from wit. Here and there. the flippancy is of curiously inappropriate character, as in the followintr sentence : " In 1864 our Lady of Bethlehem, as I have already noted, shook her contaminated skirts with a vicious swish, as she slammed her doors behind the departing convicts." What is perhaps of greater importance is the lack of clearness and coherence in the narrative conse- quent on this straining after quasi-humorous effect such that it is necessary to read a good deal of it two or three times over before the facts and their connexion are disentangled.

There is a useful chronological table, and we have to thank Mr. O'Donoghue for a highly interesting collection of illustrations.

Book-Auction Records. Edited by Frank Kars- lake. Vol. XI. Part 4. (Karslake & Co., II. Is. yearly.)

THIS part contains 1,792 records from sales which took place during July. Among many notable items is the first edition of ' Ingoldsby,' morocco by Bedford, 261. The Blake records in- clude ' The Gates of Paradise,' 721., and ' Poetical Sketehes," 56Z. The final and complete proof- sheets of the second series of 'Dramatic Idyls,' with Browning's corrections, realized Qll. There are a number of first editions of Byron, Shelley, and Dickens : ' Sketches by Boz ' fetched 391.; ' The Christmas Carol,' IdZ.; ' Tale of Two Cities,' original numbers, 41Z. The first edition of Gray's ' Elegy ' brought the large sum of 295Z. 'I' lie Ben Jonsons include the first edition of ' Sej;mus,' 900Z. (in the original vellum, and the only known copy on large paper, a presentation '>py with Jonsons inscription); 'The Masque of Queens,' large copy, 245Z.; and the Works,

first folio, morocco extra by Bedford, 100Z. There are choice items under Keats, including first editions of ' Endymion ' and ' Lamia.' Dalziel's copy of ' Alice in Wonderland ' fetched 2001.; it contained two letters of Dodgson to Messrs. Dalziel. There are numerous records under Luther. The first edition of ' Paradise Lost ' brought 104*. Among first editions of Scott we note ' Waverley," 200J., and ' Tales of my Land- lord,' first series, SQL Among R. L. Stevenson entries is " I '11 sing you a tale of a tropical sea; on board of the old Equator," a privately printed broadside, presented to each guest at the Tivoli Hotel, Apia, at a dinner given by R. L. S. in 1889, when the passengers and crew of the Equator celebrated their safe arrival (not men- tioned in Col. Prideaux's 'Bibliography'); this was bought by Quaritch for 130Z.

In this part Mr. Karslake gives the portrait and account of Joseph Ames which appeared in ' The Lives of Illustrious and Eminent Persons of Great Britain,' 12mo, Longman, 1820; also a poem of Ben Jonson's which is not included in any edition of his works, entitled ' Of the Baccanall Triumphe of the Nine Worthies of New Canaan.' The poem appeared in 1637 in Thomas Morton's ' New English Canaan; or, New Canaan,' con- taining an abstract of New England. The book is excessively rare, and any one wanting to read Jonson's poem would have to go to the British Museum to do so. Mr. Karslake rightly thinks that subscribers will welcome it in his pages. The part contains the title-page and Index to Vol. XI.

On account of the losses of French and Belgian booksellers through the war, Mr. Karslake has generously decided to supply next year's volume of ' Book- Auction Records ' free of charge to those of them who are subscribers.

The Bucks, Berks and Oxon Archaeological Journal : July. (Reading, Slaughter & Son; London, Elliot Stock).

THIS is the twentieth year of the publication of the Journal, and we congratulate the editors, the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield and Mr. John Hautenville Cope, on the interesting matter appearing in the number for July. Mr. Charles E. Keyser continues his ' Notes on the Churches of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Hat- ford, and Shellingford, and the Chapels of Goosey and Baulking,' which has fourteen illustrations; Mary Sharp likewise continues her history of the Parish of Beenham, and Emily J. Climenson con- tinues ' The Shiplake Virtuoso.'

At the annual meeting of the Society on April 28th Mr. Keyser was re-elected President, and Mr. Ditchtield honorary secretary. We are sorry to see that the Treasurer reports the balance-sheet to be unsatisfactory, and that nearly double the number of members are required to place the Society in a sound condition. Surely there should be no difficulty in obtaining these, for the work of the Society is most useful.

THE October Quarterly Rerieir* has an article by Sir Valentine Chirol, entitled 'The Origins of the Present War," which will assuredly arouse the keenest interest. It lays bare in the web of events many significant strands which had lurked beyond access for the general public. This article alone makes the new number important. Further contributions on the war are Lord Sydenham's account of two months' operations by land: Mr.