Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/283

 us. ix. APWL 4, 19U.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

279

' Problemes numeriques. .. .servant d'ap- plication au " Triparty en la Science des Nombres" de Nicolas Chuquet, le pere des Algebristes Franais ' (Rome), 1882, in the same Bulletino. H. KREBS.

0n

English History in Contemporary Poetry. No. I. The Fourteenth Century. By Prof. Herbert Bruce- No. III. The Tudor Monarchy, 1485 to 1588. By N. L. Frazer. (Bell & Sons, Is. net each.)

PROF. BRUCE states in his Introduction that "the direct historical allusions in the poetry of the fourteenth century" must always seem vague to the modern reader, and the writers in prose and poetry appeared " much more concerned with the sufferings of Hell, the joys of Heaven, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the like, than with the facts in past history which most impress modern historians." Prof. Bruce dwells a good deal on the fact that in this period men had sincerely democratic ideas, being convinced that in another world present social distinctions will be forgotten : "Death is a great leveller. And even in the present world men should try to see beyond social inequalities the truer Values of moral worth and good deeds." He divides his material into twelve sections.

Mr. Frazer, dealing with the period 1485 to 1588, is able to give us more quotations, and opens with the poem of Stephen Hawes, the " Spenser before Spenser," on the accession of the house of Tudor. Then we have quotations from Dunbar and Skelton, the latter finding in the war with Scotland a congenial subject for his virulent pen. An aspect of English fashionable society in Henry VIII. 's reign is given by Sir Thomas More, for which Marsden's translation is quoted. The English gallant

Struts about,

In cloaks of fashion French. His girdle, purse, And sword are French. His hat is French. His nether limbs are cased in French costume, His shoes are French. In short, from top to toe He stands the Frenchman ......

If he speak

Though but three little words in French, he swells And plumes himself on his proficiency, And, his French failing, then he utters words Coined by himself, with widely gaping mouth, And sound acute, thinking to make at least The accent French ......

With accent French he speaks the Latin tongue, With accent French the tongue of Lombardy, To Spanish words he gives an accent French, German he speaks with the same accent French ; In truth he seems to speak with accent French All but the French itself. The French he speaks With accent British.

In reference to literature and politics in Eliza- beth's reign, Mr. Frazer quotes Prof. Pollard's words in ' The Political History of England,' vi. 440 : " No period of English Literature has less to do with politics than that during which English letters reached their zenith."

These two little books are full of instruction and amusement.

Churchwardens' Accounts of the Parish of Badsey, Worcestershire. (Hampstead, Priory Press, 2s. 6d.)

IN 1898 the Rev. W. H. Price, at that time Vicar of Badsey, transcribed the Badsey churchwardens' accounts with a viev/ to publication. His sudden death whilst celebrating the Holy Communion in his church on March 15th, 1903, prevented this, and a portion of the work, consisting of the earlier accounts, covering the period from 1525 to 1571, has now been undertaken by his sister, Mrs. Drys- dale Bowden, and is published as a memorial of her brother. Mr. E. A. B. Barnard, the editor,, acknowledges the help of Mr. C. A. Binyon and Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, who have collated the transcription.

The parish of Badsey is one of the twelve churchea comprised in the "Deanery of the Vale," formerly under the peculiar jurisdiction of the Abbey of Evesham. The abbey seems to have been in undisturbed possession from the eighth century till its dissolution in 1539. On December llth, 1546, the King granted it, with the Rectory and church, to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, who still remain the patrons and rectors.

The earliest date in the manuscript is 1525. The entry refers to tithes, and notes are given from Fox's history of Godmanchester to show the tithes paid for sheep, cows, and calves. The accounts were nearly always presented on the second Sunday after Easter, and showed the surplus or deficit. We quote a few of the expenses.

In 1538-9, the year that Cranmer's Bible was issued by authority, a charge for its purchase is made of iijrf. In 1541-2 all parishes were ordered by proclamation " to buy and provide Bibles of the larger volume to be set and fixed in the parish church." The charge made for this is vjs. viijd. During the years 1542^4 a bier was bought for xijc?., in accordance with the order that every parish was to be so provided a necessity when- burial in coffins was an exception. During the same period there is a charge of vijrf. for the Pro- cession Book. King Henry VIII. had expressed a desire to Cranmer that on account of the wars of Christendom there should be "general processions in all churches," and "certain suffrages said or sung with due reverence " in English. This was the first English Litany, compiled by Cranmer from the old Latin Processional to be sung on Sundays and festivals. It was first sung by St. Paul's choir on October 18th, 1544, being St. Luke's Day and Sunday. In 1548-9 there is vs. charged for the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., published March 7th, and ordered to be used on June 9th, 1549.

There are many other historical items. It is a valuable and curious record, and the two excellent indexes make reference easy.

The International Directory of Booksellers. Edited

by James Clegg. (Elliot Stock, 6s. net.) THIS is the ninth edition of this useful work, and it has been completely revised and several import- ant sections added. The one that will most com- mend itself to our readers is Mr. Daniel Hipwells ' Select Bibliography of Bibliographies,' which has. been compiled with praiseworthy care and accuracy. Frequent references are made to the bibliographies which have appeared in 'N. & Q.' : Cobbett, Cobden, Dibdin, FitzGerald, and Kipling among many others.