Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/525

 ii s. x. DEC. 26, i9i4.r NOTES AND QUERIES.

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celebration. One curious circumstance is that of Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, holding a towel for the King to wash his hands before meat, not in his own right, but as deputy for one John Wiltshire, a mere citizen of London, who was tenant for certain lands in Heyden.

THE January number of The Quarterly Review is being issued in two parts (price 3s. each), of which the first appeared a few days ago. The object of this early publication of part of the number is to provide a survey of the Great War which shall not be out of date. Col. Blood, Mr. Archibald Hurd, and Mr. R. W. Seton- Watson fur- nish respectively an account of the operations on land, at sea, and in Serbia during October and November. It is needless to say that these are both capable and deeply interesting equally needless to discuss the details of them here. There are three unsigned articles of no little importance : a weighty plea for the reform of the Censorship, vigorously describing the dis- advantages entailed upon the country by the present system of concealment ; a discussion of the attitude of Italy, which concludes with the expectation that she will maintain indefinitely her policy of vigilant neutrality ; and a paper entitled ' The German Spirit,' which sums up anew ably and with abundant illustration what the world has been learning on this subject during the past months. " German policy," the writer remarks, " is the reflex of what occurs in the animal kingdom," a sentence which seems to express its nature about as exactly and as tersely as it is possible to do given the Darwinian doctrine of evolution. Mr. Thursfield's article on the Board of Admiralty (of which the first part is given here) is a very clear and useful piece of work. Mr. Percy F. Martin contributes a study of the administration of the Sudan, and Mr. G. F. Abbott a very fascinating and instructive expo- sition of the present condition of Islam and its attitude towards the " Infidel " governments, France and Great Britain, to which the great part of it is subject.

The one article not concerned with the war is singularly delightful ' Catullus at Home,' from the pen of Sir Archibald Geikie. The ex- cursion of scientific writers into literature, if not a dismal failure, is apt to be an unusually shining success, by reason of a certain quality of style, and a certain precision and depth of insight which go with scientific accomplishment. Nor is the special quality of the information which they bring to bear on their theme without its proper effect. All these are present in Sir Archibald Geikie's charming description of Sirmio, which is enhanced, too, by the freshness of outlook in so far as Catullus himself is concerned.

The Antiquary : December. (Elliot Stock, 6d.)

THE first note of the month refers to the pro- posed alteration to the ancient church of Deer- hurst, which if carried out would " entirely destroy the historical character of the present arrange- ment." Another note (taken from The South Wales Daily News of the 2nd of November) describes a piece of eighteenth-century plate in Cardiganshire a Swedish beaker chalice, set with ten small copper coins and one large silver coin, the latter forming the bottom of the cup. A note is also made of Prof. Moorman's lecture

at Leeds, in which he endeavoured to stimulate interest in the dialect literature of Yorkshire, and pointed out that " there is no such thing as a Yorkshire dialect, singular. There are, as a matter of fact, four distinct dialects in the county, apart, of course, from some slight varia- tions. One of these belongs to the south-west or mill country ; another to the marshland around York ; while the wolds on the east, along the coast, and even to Northallerton, provide yet another dialect ; and a fourth may be found in the dales on the north-west of Yorkshire." He would " like to see a Yorkshire drama similar to Stanley Houghton's Lancashire and Mase- field's Gloucestershire plays." There is also a note about the discovery in India of buildings- and inscriptions containing valuable information relating to the old kingdom of Dhekura. The exploration of the site of Margidunum, a Roman fortified post on the Fosse Way ten miles from Nottingham, is described by Dr. Oswald and Dr. T. Davies Pryce. Mr. J. A. Lovat-Fraser bought at a second-hand bookstall ' The Satires of Juvenal, paraphrastically imitated and adapted to the Times,' and dated 1763. There was no indication as to the author, but he found a copy in the British Museum dated 1764, with the initials E. B. G., which told him the author was Edward Burnaby Greene. Mr. Lovat-Fraser describes his find under the title ' An Anti-Scottish Satirist of the Eighteenth Century." Three other con- tributors are well known to readers of ' N. & Q.' r Mr. J. Tavenor-Perry concludes his articles on ' The Middlesex River Crane ' ; Mr. H. R. Leighton continues ' Old Durham Houses ' ; and Mr. J. B. McGovern has an interesting note on Dr. F. G. Lee's ' History, Description, and Anti- quities of the Prebendal Church of the Blessed. Virgin Mary of Thame.'

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. DECEMBER.

MESSRS. MAGGS'S Catalogue No. 331 describes nearly 1,500 books, none without some interest attached to it, some of them of considerable importance. They have two Catalogues of Collec- tions in the Library of C. Fairfax Murray, each priced at 211. , the one of French, the other of German books. Each is in two thick quarto volumes, and abundantly illustrated. The French books, of which accounts are given, belong mainly to the period from the beginning of printing to 1525, during the last thirty years of which illustra- tion in France was at its best. The German books are dated from 1455 to 1680. An interesting item is a complete set of the " Chertsey Worthies^ Library," which was brought out privately from 1878 to 1881. This is in four small quarto volumes, and includes the collected works of Davies of Hereford, Henry More, Nicholas Breton, Dr. Joseph Beaumont, Quarles, Sylvester, and Cowley. A greater prize is a first edition of Clarendon's ' History of the Rebellion,' in four volumes, which have been extended to seven by the insertion of some 800 portraits and views, 24J. Another extra-illustrated book which may claim attention is Lord Morley's ' Life of Gladstone,' in six volumes, with portraits, views, autograph letters, caricature, and other matter. Among the letters are several by Gladstone himself, and examples from Browning, Tennyson, Keble,