Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/57

ii s. vm. JULY 19, 1913. NOTES AND QUERIES.

51 edition mentioned above. The Bishop went on to say that the book was found suitable for reading at Mothers' Meetings and on similar occasions, and that a demand for copies had arisen in consequence. The book being out of print and no copies procurable from the London booksellers, the copyright having expired and the author being (to him) unknown, "some young ladies who," the Bishop wrote, were "dear to him" prevailed upon the local publisher to print an edition. This is the same as its predecessors, except that the words "the Little Pedlar" are omitted, and also the steel-plate frontispiece of the previous editions.

The story has appeared finally in a collection entitled 'Forgotten Tales of Long Ago,' compiled by Mr. E. V. Lucas (1906). In his Preface the editor writes:—

"For looking through the scores and scores I might, I believe, say hundreds of books from which to select the twenty stories within these covers, I should consider myself amply rewarded by the discovery of ' Lady Anne.' This story I might almost say this novel which is at once the longest and, to my mind, the best thing in the present volume, is anonymous. All that I know of the author is that she I take it to be a woman's work wrote also ' The Blue Silk Hand-bag ' [sic], but of that book I have been able to catch no

glimpse I have had here and there to condense

a few pages, but I have touched nothing essential : the sweet little narrative is only shortened, never altered."

In 'N. & Q.,' 5 S. iii. 448, the authorship of * Lady Anne ' was asked for by W. J. T., who mentioned that he had already put the question to another correspondent of ' N. & Q.,' and an authority on children's books, one " Olphar Hamst." The querist writes of it as "a once favourite book of a past generation." Whatever popularity the story had had, it certainly waned, for [ have reason to believe that it was but little known before its reappearance in 1906, and that copies of the earlier editions are very scarce.

As time goes on, names of anonymous Writers hitherto forgotten or unknown occasionally come to light. I hope this will be thought sufficient justification for re- viving the question of the authorship of what I consider to be, of its kind, a really re- markable book. May I at the same time beg that should copies of * The Blue Silk Workbag ' or ' The Harcourt Family ' be in the possession of readers of 'X. & Q.' (neither is in the British Museum), I may be granted the pleasure of seeing them ? PERCEVAL LUCAS.

Rackham, Pulborough.

BYRON AND THE HOBHOUSE MS. (11 S. vii. 509). I am enabled, through the kind- ness of Dr. H. Varnhagen of the English Seminary connected with the University of Erlangen, Bavaria, to answer my own query under this heading, and forward the information for the benefit of those who may be interested in it. The Hobhouse MS. referred to by Hall Caine was printed in 1909 (nine years later than expected) in Lady Dorchester's edition of Lord Brough- ton's ' Recollections of a Long Life,' ii. 190 et seq.

I may add that the Byron Collection of editions of the poet's works, and of books and articles on or referring to him, in the library of the English Seminary at Erlangen, is, to judge from the Catalogue, unique of its kind, not only in foreign, but in home libraries. It is curious and flatter- ing to find a fervent Byron cult flourishing in a town so (to us) out of the beaten track as Erlangen. J. B. McGovERN.

St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

Some years ago Lady Dorchester pub- lished her father's diaries, correspondence, and memoranda in several volumes, which contain, I suppose, all, or practically all, the information relative to Byron that Hob- house bequeathed to posterity. The book is of great interest, and something of the fascination that the poet exercised over his contemporaries can be felt on reading its pages. A. R. BAYLEY.

I think it will be found that the MS. in question forms part of Lord Broughton's ' Recollections of a Long Life,' published by Murray a few years since.

WM. DOUGLAS. 125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.

DERIVED SENSES OF THE CARDINAL POINTS (11 S. vii. 270, 333, 482). It is throughout the United States that the cardinal points are used from a visitor's point of view almost to distraction. I happen rather frequently to be on that side of the Atlantic, and when in large cities I ask my way, of a policeman for instance, the prompt reply is generally of this type : " Take third street east." " My good "man," I feel constrained to retort, " I am not a Walking compass ; is it to the right or left ? " HARRY HEMS.

Fair Park, Exeter.

At 9 S. x. 5, under the heading ' " Met " : Points of the Compass,' MR. J. S. UDAL gave some curious examples of the way in which natives in the West