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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. xi. MAR. 13, 1915.

Bald to the Abbey Church of St. Denis. The writer compares the figure of Christ m the frontal with that of certain plaques in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Golden Book of St. Emmeran's Abbey in Munich Library, and refers the whole of these to the Carlovingian era, Mr. L. W. King contributes an account of the excava- tions at Babylon by the German Oriental Society, the results of which are now published m Eng- land ('The Excavations at Babylon, by Robert Koldewey). Illustrations are given of the Ishtar Gate and of the beasts in brick relief on the foundations.

FROM ' Notes of the Month ' in The Antiquary for March (Elliot Stock) we learn that, during the improvements now being made in Old Palace Yard, the King's Jewel House has been discovered. This is one of the oldest of London's buildings. Another note informs visitors to Westminster \bbey that the beautiful sixteenth-century iron grille has been restored (after nearly a century) to its original place round the effigy of Lady Mar- garet Beaufort. A note from The Globe records the gift by Japan to King Albert of Belgium of a beautiful Japanese sword, forged in 1577 by the famous swordsmith Kakagawa Shichiyemon- no-jo Yukikane, who died in the year of the Armada. Miss Mary F. A. Tench gives a description of Reims Cathedral, illustrated by photographs taken by her in 1911. Mr. R. G. Collingwood, under ' Roman Ambleside,' describes some of the results of the explorations carried out by the Cumberland and Westmorland Anti- quarian Society. As many as possible of the remains have been left open to the inspection of 1 he public. These include the three central build- ings, all the gates, and the three remaining corner turrets. Mr. Carl T. Walker supplies an abridg- ment of his work (in course of compilation) on the ' History and Antiquities of Hampsthwaite.' He will include an account of Peter Barker, the blind joiner. Mr. Eminson discusses some ' Decep- tive Place-Names of England and Normandy ' ; and Mr. H. R. Leighton has ' A Note upon Diamond- Writings on Window-Panes in Two Houses in the 'County of Durham.'

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. MARCH. MESSRS. P. J. & A. E. DOBELL send us a worth the attention of book-lovers whose purses are rather shallow than deep. It describes more than 750 items, the greater number of which are inexpensive as well as good. Under the headings of Ruskin and Shelley are copies, printed on vellum, of letters and isolated works, of which we may mention Ruskin's Letters to William Ward (31. 3s.), ' Stray Letters to a London Biblio- phile ' (1Z. 10s.), and the two letters to Maurice on ' Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds '(11. Is.); .and Shelley's ' Hellas ' (31. 3s.), ' Wandering Jew' (31. 10s.), and Letters to Leigh Hunt (31. 3s.) and Godwin (21. 10s.). For 2s. Qd. is offered a copy of letters to The Athenaeum on ' The Hard- ships of Publishing,' by Walter Besant, Mr. A. D. Innes, Mr. John Murray, Mr. Heinemann, and others, dated 1 March, 1893. Messrs. Dobell have also a copy of the first folio of Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Comedies and Tragedies ' (1647), which contains seventeenth - century MS. notes, -and was apparently used in the theatre, 11. 7s.
 * Rough List ' of books (numbered 239 ) which is

A good collection of Miltoniana the Smectynmus controversy is here offered for 31. 3s., the tracts bound together in a thick small quarto in contemporary calf. A Netherlandish fifteenth-century MS., 144 leaves in Gothic letter, in a contemporary monastic binding of wooden boards covered with leather, containing sermons of St. Anselm, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others, is a very interesting item. Might we suggest that the " roughness " of the list need hardly go to quite that degree which it reaches in the Latin titles of the sermons ? Another good item is a collection of twenty-two Broadsides, printed with a view to induce recruits to come forward to repel the threatened invasion of England by Napoleon, 4Z. 4s.

MR. ELLIS'S Catalogue No. 157 is divided into two parts the first, describing autographs and historical documents; the second, old books and MSS., and both full, as usual, of excellent matters. In both parts collectors of Pepys items will find things to interest them. We may mention two examples from several : a letter to Pepys from Sir William Coventry, dated 30 Nov. (probably 1667), upon the revelations of Gilsthrop, Batten's clerk (4Z. 4s.), and a copy of Wheatley's ' Pepys's Diary,' in 10 vols., with autograph letters and other things inserted, 21Z. There are important historical documents relating to the Cinque Ports (1557-1680, 10Z. 10s.), to Reigate (eighteenth cen- tury, 30Z.), and to Tournay (fifteenth century, 20Z.), as well as six MSS. of the last decade of the sixteenth century relating to levies in Norfolk, 12Z. 12s. Among autographs are a short whimsi- cal dinner invitation from Lamb to Alsop (1823, 7Z. 7s.), and a fragment of a note of Lamb's to Dr. Stoddart (6Z. 6s.).

The outstanding item among the old books and MSS. consists of four little tracts printed in black-letter by Robert Redman (1527-32): ' The Testament of Moyses,' ' In the Name of the Father,' &c., * The Crede or Beleve,' and ' A Consolation for troubled Consciences.' No copies of these are in the British Museum, nor yet at Oxford or Cambridge, only two others being known(120Z.). We may also mention a first edition of Drayton's e Polyolbion ' (1622, 21Z.); a copy of Toye's ' Chaucer ' compiled and edited by William Thynne black - letter (c. 1545, 17Z. 10s.); ten works on calligraphy, which include a MS. Alphabet by John Willis (1677-9, 10Z. 10s.), and Frate Vespasiano's work on the subject (1556, 61. 6s.); a copy of the first edition of Richard Hawkins's ' Observations in his Voyage into the South Sea' (1593, 14Z. 14s.); a copy of Gilbert's ' De Magnete,' first edition (1600,212.); and an important collection of views, portraits, tickets, newspaper cuttings, &c., relating to Vaux- hall Gardens, inlaid in 200 or more sheets of paper, atlas folio, and contained in three cases, 21Z.

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

J. C. H. Forwarded.

J. M. P. (' Man's extremity,' &c.). The source of this saying seems not to have been discovered. It is given in works of reference as a proverb without indication of origin.