Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/412

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. vi. OCT. 20, 1912.

" seraglio " and " serail " to say nothing, in this short list taken somewhat at random, of " seraph " or " sequence," or of the words " seven " and " seventy," and all their con- nexions and Latin equivalents. We are left as far as ever from the origin of " sentinel " and " sentry."

The total number of words in the volume, including 1,130 main words and all subordinate entries and combinations, is 2,119, and the illus- trative quotations reach the high total of 14,620.

WE have received three more numbers of the attractive little series " The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature." Perhaps of most general interest will be found Mr. J. S. M. Ward's Brasses, and it is much to be hoped that it will stimulate yet further the interest already fairly active in regard to this characteristic English mode of commemoration. For it is somewhat disquieting to learn that in more than one instance a fine detail in a brass shown here in the repro- duction from the author's rubbing has dis- appeared since that rubbing was taken. No doubt the lack of a handbook at once inexpensive and comprehensive has hitherto had something to do with the lack of watchfulness and intelligence in this matter on the part of people who have not time to make a hobby of brass-rubbing. Out of 150,000 brasses laid down, but 4,000 still remain to us. The history of the destruction in divers manners of the great bulk of them is sufficiently grievous, but it is still more grievous to realize that it is anywhere still proceeding. The reader who has already some acquaintance with the subject will find described and in twenty-five cases illustrated most of the ex- amples he may expect. For the beginner a glossary of terms would have been of great advantage, and more notes might have been given on the composition and method of treatment of the brasses. The book is otherwise well- arranged and clearly written, and the illustrations are satisfactory.

Dr. Giles in China and the Manchus appears more hampered than most of the writers of this series by the narrowness of the limits within which he has to work. The history he gives us consists almost entirely of serried facts and those chiefly of military interest. This may do for the beginning of Manchu dominion, and for the reigns of the less important emperors, but we should have been glad to have the history of the reigns of K'ang Hsi and Ch'ien Lung treated more amply with reference to their personalities and the general state of life and thought and art in China in their day. In works of populariza- tionespecially where the subject involves un- familiar peoples and regions it is worth while to sacrifice a good deal of minor matter in order to make the portrait and the circumstances of the greatest characters stand out in sufficient strength and with sufficient detail to afford, as it were, a hold for the imagination. Dr. Giles will have nothing to do with whitewashing " the old Buddha " ; oddly, he never mentions her name.

Mr. L. Spence's The Civilization of Ancient Mexico is a simply written, straightforward piece of work, which yet could not have been accomplished without, on the author's part, an enviably thorough and extensive knowledge of his subject. He has confined himself strictly to

Mexico and to historical matters, verifiable from original sources, adventuring but little into speculation. This makes his book all the safer and more informing even if we miss the ima- ginative touch and the intellectual pleasure which speculation brings. The Mexican religion, which naturally takes up the better part of the book, is presented clearly, if somewhat dryly. The Biblio- graphy is good. Since Wilson's ' Prehistoric Man ' is included, perhaps Dr. Frazer's ' Golden Bough ' might also have been mentioned. After feeling the strangeness and the isolation of the American civilizations, it is a good thing for the beginner to be made aware of the resemblances within them to civilizations whose history we can better trace.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. OCTOBER.

MESSRS. LUPTOX BROS, of Burnley have sent us their Catalogue 119. It runs to near a thousand items, among which may be noticed, at moderate prices, a good proportion of useful and interesting modern works. We may mention the following : the Lancashire Parish Register Society's Publi- cations, 24 vols., dealing with some nineteen parishes, issued at Rochdale, 1899-1906, 51. ; ' The English Dialect Dictionary,' Dr. Wright's fine work, in 6 vols., originally costing 151., 61. 10s. ; the Chetham Society's Publications, First Series, Vols. I. to CXII., with index vol., 1844-84, 11. ; and Bewick's ' History of British Land and Water Birds, and History of Quadru- peds,' 1820-26, 31. 12s. 6d.

MR. ALBKRT SOTTON of Manchester offers in his Catalogue No. 199, besides a number of good modern books at cheap prices, several items which may well be of interest to the curious. There is an ' Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo. Verulam,' a sound copy, bound in contemporary calf, 1639, 31. 3s. Students of criminal history will find here ' A Collection of Books, Portraits, Auto- graphs, Cuttings, &c. : all relating to the Unfor- tunate Doctor Dodd who was Executed for Forgery,' in 3 vols., 1777-94, 31. 3s. ; and a volume containing divers particulars concerning the trial for murder and execution of Elizabeth Fenning in 1815, among which the most interesting are autograph notes by the poor girl herself, who seems to have been innocent, and he* friends, 31. 3s. A set of The Fortnightly Revieiv, 93 vols., from its commencement in 1865 to 1910, is offered for Wl. ; and a set of Punch, from 1841 to the end of 1909 bound in 67 yearly vols. for 211.

[Notices of other Catalogues held over.]

to (K0msp0ntottis.

T. CANN HUGHES. See 10 S. xii. 354. Crozier was born at Blackburn in 1815, and died at Man- chester, where he had mostly lived, 1891. He was President of the Manchester Academy of Arts. A short Life of him, by Thomas Lether- brow, reprinted from The Manchester City News, was brought out in 1891 (J. E. Cornish) ; and notices of him may be seen in ' Manchester Faces and Places,' vol. ii., and in Momus, 5 June, 1879.