Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/483

 ii s. v. MAY is, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Upper Nonoood Athenceum : the Record of the Winter Meetings and Summer Excursions, 1911. (Privately printed.)

' THE RECORD ' is that of a well-filled year. The winter meetings included a visit to the Guild- hall, when Mr. Walter B. Briant read a paper in which he mentions the result of the investiga- tions made by Mr. Sydney Perks. Our readers will remember the note in our issue of 5 Nov., 1910, on the exhaustive [paper Mr. Perks read before the Society of Arts on the 1st of the pre- vious June, giving a full account of his important discoveries.

The City churches visited included St. Margaret Pattens, to which Mr. Frank E. Spiers conducted the members. The rector, the Kev. St. Barbe S. Sladen, showed them the carvings and various objects of interest. All Hallows, Lombard Street, was also visited, when Mr. Arthur J. Pitman, in the paper he read, spoke of the rich plate this church possesses, dating from 1605 to 1771. Like St. Margaret's, it is remarkable for its choice carvings.

The first summer ramble, conducted by Mr. Harold F. Murrell, was to Chaldon Church, when, by kind permission of the rector, the Rev. G. E. Belcher, the famous mediaeval wall - painting representing ' The Ladder of Human Salvation and the Road to Heaven ' was explained by Miss Bell. On the 10th of June, under the guidance of Mr. Henry W. Burrows, an expedition was made to Wing Church, where the Ramblers were welcomed by the vicar, the Rev. F. H. Tatham, who, in his account of the building, mentions that " it is in some respects unique, as it shows the basilican form better than almost any other church in this country, and gives a good idea of what our first English churches of the larger sort were like." Mr. Burrows, in his paper, stated that the style of the church has puzzled archaeologists. Parker considers that the nave, piers, and arches are plain Norman, and that the chancel appears to have been of that style. The only church in England with which Mr. Burrows is acquainted closely comparable to Wing is Brixworth.

Other places visited were Knebworth, when ladies were present ; Abbot's Langley, Chiswick, and Lingfteld. Mr. W. Thorold Lowdell in his paper stated that the entire peal of five bells at Lingfield Church, by Eldridge, is dated 1648. Among the ancient tombs is that of the first Lord Cobham who died in 1361 of the pestilence. In the chancel a black stone to Gulielmus Widnellus bears a Latin inscription and the following lines : Desist those profane feet, forbeare To fowle this hallowed marble where Lies Vertue's goodness, Honour's heire. 'Cause the world not worthy him to have The Great Jehovah shut him in this grave. The Ramblers are not unmindful of services rendered, and to Mr. Frank E. Spiers a presenta- tion was made on his retirement from the office of Hon. Secretary, 1901-11. On the illuminated address an acrostic by Mr. Harradence, who joined the Ramblers twenty years ago, has been placed. ' The Record ' is full of illustrations, and forms a most interesting little volume. Great credit is due to Mr. Theophilus Pitt for his careful editing.

Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts relating to English Affairs existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice. Vol. XVII., April, 1621 April, 1623. Edited by Allen B. Hinds. (Stationery Office.)

THE material in this volume comes exclusively from the Frari. We have Girolamo Lando as Venetian ambassador in London till July, 1622, and thereafter Alvise Valaresso. The dispatches of these ambassadors rather wordy, apt to digress sometimes into general reflections, but full of matters closely observed, and not wholly wanting in humour make up a great part of the book. Lando's lengthy ' Relazio,' or account of England, presented to the Venetian Senate on his return home, is not only important, but highly enter- taining. He depicts the characters of James I. and of Charles, for the benefit of his masters, with a minuteness and ruthlessness that argue both acute insight and a touch of antipathy. But his chef-d'ontw-e, so far as amusing descrip- tion goes, is the part of his discourse that treats of Scotland and the Scotch. European history during these two years presents nothing of first- rate interest. The dreary fortunes of the Pala- tine and James's ineffective dealings with them naturally bulk large in the ambassadors' reports ; but from 1 March, 1623, onwards when Valaresso in hot haste and agitation sent post, regardless of expense, to acquaint the Doge and Senate that Charles and Buckingham had gone to Spain there is at least plenty of excitement. Charles is left still at Madrid at the close of the volume. The relations between England and France turn chiefly on the treatment of the Huguenots, wherein, as in all other affairs, the faults and infirmities of James receive melancholy enough illustration.

The only interesting character, from a literary point of view, who plays any considerable part is Sir Henry Wootton, James's ambassador at Venice. We get here the full story of the episode of Lady Arundel then living in Italy who was accused of having received into her house an enemy of the Republic, and, though warned by Wootton to flee, chose rather the spirited course of appealing to the Doge in Collegio against the slander. Wootton, who had been constantly ailing since his return to Venice, and was evidently out of spirits as well as in the wrong, cuts rather a sorry figure in the proceed- ings. James considered him "arioso e di vivace troppo " ; and he seems to have acted here without sufficient cognizance either of facts or personalities.

Mr. Hinds weaves the different strands of history conveniently together in a pleasantly written Preface.

The Tragedies of Shakespeare. (Henry Frowde.) The Histories and Poems of Shakespeare. (Same

publisher.)

THESE two volumes of the Oxford Editions of Standard Authors are from the text of the Oxford edition prepared by W. J. Craig, with introductory studies by Prof. Edward Dowden and full glossaries. It is unnecessary to say that, coming from the Oxford University Pres's, both paper and print are all that can be desired, and the way the volumes are bound renders it a pleasure to open them. Those before us are in cloth, published at 2*. each.