Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/465

 ii s. ix. JUNE 6, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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her, and he with two others went to seek the offender, but was himself stabbed to the heart in the fight which ensued. In 1326 another chaplain, Alan cle Hacford, killed, " with a sword called ' misericord,' " Walter de Anne, because he found him sitting with a certain Alice de York, the chaplain's mistress. Thereupon both the chaplain and his mistress fled. The jury found the chaplain's chattels to be of the value of 10s. 0^7., including a brass dish for washing the head worth twopence, a small cross-bow worth twelvepence, and a desk for books worth a penny. A third chaplain, Pyn chard de Wynchecoumbe, of St. Dunstan's in the Tower, murdered William Noreys in January, 1340, and fled.

A " misericorde " was also the weapon with which Nicholas Horn was slain in 1324 by John de Cavendisshe, who thereupon sought sanctuary in the Church of St. Mary de Wolcherche. This right of sanctuary and the many difficulties it caused the officers of justice are described in a section of the Introduction. The proportion of criminals who seem to have escaped punishment is very large.

Reference has been made above to the illus- tration afforded of Chaucer's language. Simon Chaucer, probably connected with the poet's family, was killed in a quarrel in November, 1336, his antagonist taking refuge in the Church of St. Mary de Aldermarichirche, but being cap- tured after he had escaped from the church by night. Henry Staci of Ipswich, who died in the Marshalsea in 1324, also belonged to a family connected with Chaucer's.

There are a few misprints : " brought " for bought, and " that arm " for the arm (p. 29) ; " Stubb's ' Const, Hist.' " for Stubbs's (p. 105, note 1) ; " Weekly " for Weekly (p. 181, note 1) ; " her rightful death " for his rightful death (p. 247) ; and " mistery of Skinner's " (p. 268). But these are far outweighed by the excellent Index.

We have said enough, we hope, to indicate the multitude of interesting facts that Dr. Sharpe has made accessible in this volume, which we regret to think is likely to be the last for which we shall be indebted to him. The thanks of every lover of the history of the first city of the Empire are due to him for the skill and learning which he has devoted through many years to the elucidation of the records of the Corporation ; and thanks are also due to the Corporation itself for publishing the results of Dr. Sharpe's labours,

THE first number of The Bodleian Quarterly Record was issued on 23 April, and if our notice of it is somewhat belated, let that not be taken for indifference to its obvious claim to a cordial wel- come. The plan of the paper is threefold : a section of ' Notes and News ' ; a list of accessions to the library arranged in fifteen divisions, and giving shelf-marks ; and reprints of selected original documents. We understand that this plan is to be repeated in subsequent issues. As for the object of the Record, it is, on the one hand, to supply details of useful and interesting information, and, on the other, to " serve as a centre of Bodleian interests," which may be used " for the inter- change of suggestions and ideas for the improve- ment of the Library."

The first ' Note" ' as in duty bound has to do with the founder, whose portrait fittingly forms the frontispiece to the number. For an account

of his life, it refers us to the work of our esteemed^ contributor Dr. W. D. Macray in the ' D.N.B.' and ' The Annals of the Bodleian,' and reminds us that Dr. Macray is " passing through the seventy- fifth year since he first entered the service of the- Library in 1840," a record which, if not abso- lutely unparalleled, would be hard indeed to beat- Next comes a paragraph on the present position of the Bodleian, the greatest of university libraries,, and the greatest library not directly aided by the State. It contains, we are told, about 2,750,000 printed literary pieces (the number being under- estimated) in about 860,000 bound volumes, and about 40,000 MSS. The normal income is stated to be 11,700L, and the expenditure 12,OOOZ. The latter cannot, in the opinion of a Joint Committee- of Council and Curators who have considered the question, be reduced without impairing the efficiency of the Library ; the financial position,, as the public has already known for some time,, thus causes some anxiety. The deficit, however,, relatively both to the wealth of the nation and the importance of the Bodleian, is so inconsiderable that no one can doubt it will be duly provided for.

The seven original documents printed here include the extract from John Harvy's MS. (temp. Henry VII.), describing a model surgeon,, which was lately read by Sir William Osier before the Association of Provincial Surgeons when they visited the Bodleian ; a specimen of Queen Elizabeth's translation of Cicero's ' Pro Marcello ' j and a curious " protestation " alleged to have been made by Charles I. at Christ Church before being communicated.

If subsequent numbers are as interesting as this initial one, The Bodleian Quarterly Record should have a prosperous future before it.

The Fortnightly Review for June sets out with the first instalment of Count Ilya Tolstoy's; ' Reminiscences ' of his father. These are chiefly sketches of some of the persons who composed the Tolstoy household during the writer's childhood. The most interesting of the particulars given about Count Leo Tolstoy relate to his extraordinary paternal perspicacity. Prof. Gerothwohl's tribute to Dowden is, we think, one of the best things that have come from his pen, giving us not only a most attractive portrait of a remarkable and lov- able man, and a notable scholar, but also, by the way, several good observations, made with epigram- matic felicity, on literature and things in general The editor's study, * The Idea of Comedy,' of which we have here the second part, deals with, the comedy of the Restoration, and then with Moliere. It is almost beyond hope to find any- thing new to say about Moliere ; but Mr. Court- ney's analysis, though it might not be beyond, the capacity of other students of comedy, has- qualities of lucidity, and of that mingled pene- tration and kindly humour belonging to the man of letters who is also a man of the world, which make it well worth while.

Sir Home Gordon's ' The Centenary of Lord's ' will doubtless be preserved as a valuable item by collectors of " Cricketiana " who are on the look- out for productions inspired by the occasion. Quite as interesting as any performance upon it is the " enigmatic perplexity " of the wicket at Lord's, which, though improved and that at great cost remains bafflingly " tricky." For this the subsoil is responsible, and it will be astonishing if the science of the twentieth