Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/487

 us. TIL JUNE 14, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

479

In discussing the vexed question whether the Council of 25, assigned to the year 1200 in the ' Liber de Antiquis Legibus,' was in effect the Court of Aldermen or the germ of the later Common Council, Mr. Beaven has allowed the protagonists of the two opposite views, Dr. J. H. Round and the late Miss Bateson, to speak for themselves, and has hesitated to decide ex cathedra between such authorities, though it is fairly evident to which side he inclines. In some other matters notably that of the date of the introduction of the prefix " Lord " before " Mayor " of London he is not at all reticent as to his opinion, and we think that he completely establishes his case as to the comparatively late adoption of this modern designation, which he assigns to the first half of the sixteenth century, dismissing rather curtly, but with obvious reason, the absolutely unsup- ported suggestion of Bishop Stubbs.

Mr. Beaven is on his own ground in dealing with the successive changes in the political cha- racter of the Court of Aldermen during the two centuries from the assembling of the Long Parlia- ment to the accession of Victoria. The details which he has collected are not to be found else- where in a similar form. He points out that during the last three quarters of a century the City Corporation has ceased to concern itself with questions of party politics.

The work bristles with facts and dates, many of which could not be verified from readily access- ible material ; but we have no hesitation in accepting Mr. Beaven's authority in the main, recognizing that in his case, as he has said of Dr. Bound, " second and even third thoughts are desirable before venturing to challenge his con- clusions." He is certainly no lenient critic of himself, as is shown by the elaborate and careful list of corrigenda in which he has rectified many mistakes, which probably few could detect, and by his graceful apology to Prof. Pollard (p. 210) for a criticism which he discovered too late for cancellation in the text to be unjustified. One obvious slip of the pen appears to have escaped the author in the revision of his proofs, in the words " whether nominated or not " in the second line of his introduction to the ' Index of Persons.' It is clear that for " nominated " we should read " admitted." There is also an error in chronology in his note on the marriages of the lady who was the widow of Ralph Basse tt (p. 165), which his dates in the succession of Aldermen confute. Mr. Beaven has, however, rectified it in the Corrigenda, but it is to be feared that few of his readers, despite his appeal in the Preface, will regularly refer to this list. One slight genealogical error we have come upon which has not been noticed in the Corrigenda. The daughter of Sir John Brugge was the wife, not of the old Marquess of Winchester, " the willow and not the oak," but of his son John, the second Marquess.

We must not close without noting with appre- ciation the exact references to original authorities, especially to the MS. records of the Corporation, which are plentifully appended to the Historical Introduction. We are glad, too, to notice his unstinted acknowledgments throughout of the help derived from the personal assistance as well as the publications of Dr. R. K. Sharpe, the Records Clerk at Guildhall, the great value of whose work is not so well known, outside a limited circle of researchers and specialists, as it deserves to be. Mr. Beaven, while proclaiming himself

a humble pupil of Dr. Sharpe, does not hesitate- to express dissent from him on one or two minor points. At this time, when the learned Records Clerk is about to terminate his long service upon the Corporation records, it is pleasant to find that workers in the same field, who are specially qualified to bear testimony to the illu- minating results of his labours, are not backward: with their tributes of admiration.

Mr. Beaven's work will certainly long remain a standard authority on the history of the City of London.

THE Argentine number of The Sphere shows what a loss to the antiquary was caused by the earthquake of March, 1861, when the city of 'Men- doza was entirely destroyed. It was founded in 1560, and had an existence of just three cen- turies before the Mendoza of the present day was built on a site near that of the old city. Among the imposing fragments that remain are portions of the old cathedral, of which there is an illustration. Illustrations are also supplied of the Maca Indians, and from the Chaco district a wooden pipe, a gourd rattle, and a spoon of goat's horn. There is evidence that in prehistoric times Central Argentina was inhabited by a race more civilized than the wander- ing tribes of Spanish colonial times and the present day. This is proved by remains of at least one great road, carvings, and mounds containing, domestic and other implements.

DURING the past five years the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society has been carrying out excavations at Glastonbury A^bey, under the supervision of Mr. F. Bligh Bond. Many interesting discoveries have been made, but much yet remains to be done. The portion selected for this season's work is the Cloister Garth. Donations or subscriptions may be sent to the Treasurer of the Glastonbury Abbey- Excavation Fund, the Castle, Taunton.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. JUNE.

MR. L. C. BRAUN sends us his Catalogue No. 83,. which should have considerable interest for some of our readers in that it offers, for moderate sums,, views of vanishing and vanished London. These comprise over 700 items, mostly nineteenth- century work, though a few examples are earlier,, and a few later. Among the best are the engrav- ings by Black, after Pugin and Rowlandson, of such scenes as ' Christie's Auction-Room,' ' The College of Physicians,' ' Drury Lane Theatre (Interior),' &c. Speed's map is offered for each of the counties .with hardly an exception; and we may note a specially good collection of Oxford pictures, which includes a series of coloured aqua- tints, by Agar after Uwins, showing the cha- racteristic figures of the university, published by Ackermann, 1813, 3s. Qd. each.

No. 10 in Mr. William Daniell's new series of Catalogues describes over 1,100 autograph letters and historical documents, of which some are of considerable interest. Among the letters of British commanders is one from Sir John Moore to Sir Henry Bunbury, dated from Messina, October, 1807, urging his correspondent to " submit to be employed on that service where it.