Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/325

 n s. m. APRIL 22, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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reputation. The complete history oi this firm would be interesting as they were virtually the pioneers of rifle-making in this country.

In the catalogue of the Exhibition of 1851 there is an exhibit by T. K. Baker, 88, Fleet Street, who was probably an ancestor of the F. T. Baker referred to by T. W. W., and whose name appears at the same address in the catalogue of the Exhi- bition of 1862.

There seems a great want of some hand- book to do for firearms of the flint lock period and earlier, what Britten has done for clocks and watches ; but the materials seem scanty, and the information scattered and difficult to collect, probably for the reason that T. W. W. has indicated.

E. RODGER.

Western Club, Glasgow.

There is no book of reference, to my knowledge, dealing with London gunmakers and their work, but Stocqueler's 'Military Encyclopaedia,' London, W. H. Allen, 1853, might be consulted. Books about the rifle, such as Forsyth's 'Sporting Rifle' (Smith & Elder) and Greener's ' Modern Shot Guns ' (Cassell), have no doubt something to say about their makers. Reference may also be made to an article on 'Breech-loaders and their Inventors' in Belgravia, vol. xvii. (1872). W. SCOTT.

0n

The History of the English Biible. By John

Brown, D.D. (Cambridge University Press.) THIS little volume, one of " The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature," is admirably fitted to introduce readers to the main features in the history of our English Bible, a history which is in itself of great interest, and hard for any reader of to-day to realize.

In 130 pages, to which is added a brief Biblio- graphy which might be extended, Dr. Brown sketches the fortunes of the Bible in English from Csedmon to the Revision of 1881. He has a teen eye for salient points, and he gives just enough of personal detail concerning the good men and scholars who laboured in the great work to make his narrative vivid. His writing is usually admirable, as well as scholarly in the knowledge it shows, and a sentence not easy to read, like that in the first paragraph of p. 3, is a rarity.

The little work should be an incentive to the study of our greatest classic. Our only criticism is a regret that Dr. Brown has not stated why the Revision of 1881 ie regarded as a failure. A brief comparison with a few passagee in the

Authorized Version of 1611 would, surely have made this clear. One at least of the works on the subject might have been mentioned in the Biblio- graphy.

Bond. Vol. II. (Frowde.)
 * Wood Carvings in English Churches. By Francis

MR. BOND pursues his enthusiastic labours on the wood carvings of English churches with unabated zeal. This second instalment has to do with Stalls and Tabernacle Work, Bishops' Thrones and Church Chairs. The stallwork is the more important and worthy of notice because it is now a speciality of the Anglican Church, the analogous work in Continental chancels having almost totally disappeared. Mr. Bond remarks that the subject has hitherto been un- accountably neglected, and his prediction that the illustrations which he offers will come as a revelation of beauty to most people is quite warranted. We cannot, indeed, bestow too high commendation upon these illustrations, of which there are 124 ; they have been produced from photographs with the utmost delicacy and accuracy of detail. Nothing could be more effective or more truthful ; they do great credit to the Grout Engraving Company, by whom they have been produced. Mr. Bond comments upon them with the knowledge of an expert. He promises two further volumes, which will complete this admirable series.

THE current number of The Fortnightly is excel- lent and well varied in its contents. ' Political articles for once do not overshadow other interests, and ' Personalities in Parliament ' by " Auditor Tantum " gives just the sort of information the ordinary person wishes to have. Miss Alice Law has a sound article on ' Addison in "The Spectator," * though she might have traced in him the influence of classical training. Nor do we under- stand how Addison's sentences can be " almost irritating in their brevity " to a reader of to-day. Mr. Laurence Irving's article on ' The Plight of the Serious Drama' is an indictment worth considering. W T hat he says concerning serious art, the limits of the popular actor, and the present temper and 5 demands of the English public seems to us depress- ingly true. Mr. T. H. S. Escott has a striking- and well-written paper on ' The Arnolds : a Study in Heredity,' bringing out that inheritance of moral and mental faculties which is clear in some distinguished families. Perhaps Mr. Escott makes too much of the historical work of Arnold of Rugby, but he has shown convincingly how he and his son shared the same subjects and ten* dencies. * Rachel's Sentimental Life,' by Mr. Francis Gribble, exhibits the restless and fugitive character of a great artist. Mr. F. G. Aflalo dwells on the advantages of ' The New Zoo " which London owes to the rule of Dr. Chalmers Mitchell. Everywhere, even to the unscientific eye, advance has been visible of late years. Walter Lennard continues his attractive series ' In Search of Egeria,' with an account of a clever woman who goes in for all sorts of fads in turn. There are other notable articles in the number, which is one of the most interesting we have seen of late. We should add that Mr. Thomas Hardy begins it with a series of ' Satires of Circumstance ' in verse, which are uniformly gloomy, but have the arresting quality of all his poetry. '