Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/270

 220 NOTES AND QUERIES. i 12 S.X.MAK. 15,1922. on An Introduction to Ecclesiastical Latin. By H. P. V. Nunn. (Cambridge University Press. 6s. net.) THIS book deserves a hearty welcome : in fact it has been, in our opinion, needed for a long time. To relinquish Latin is to relinquish one of the fairest portions of one's inheritance. A language which was the common speech and common writing of men for so many centuries cannot present any insuperable difficulties. Yet so awkwardly has Latin been treated in the schools that it is supposed with Greek almost to re- quire a special faculty for its acquisition. The first reform required is the use of easy Latin for reading of authors who are more intent upon the matter than upon the manner of their writing. The great body of literature of this kind in Latin is to be found in ecclesiastical works. In these one may often note with surprise how nearly Latin can approximate to modern speech. In them, too, lives and vibrates an energy not, in itself, inferior to the vitality of the classics. The writer of these words still piously remembers the advice of Professor Henry Nettleship to read the Fathers. The scholars of the Renaissance could not have enjoyed classical Latin as they did if they had not had a familiarity with the language almost like that with their mother tongue. In their zeal for pure Latinity they started an un- fortunate tradition which has made the learner of Latin begin at the end rather than the beginning, has rendered all use of or pleasure in Latin " precious," and to a great extent enfeebled interest in it. Mr. Nunn's book is an excellent summary of the grammar of Ecclesiastical Latin, illustrated chiefly from the Vulgate, chosen for the purpose because it is the easiest and most accessible Latin book. The learner is warned not to take the Vulgate for a classic in the sense in which our Authorized Version is to be so taken. Comparisons and contrasts with classical Latin are briefly noted : and Mr. Nunn shows skill in conjecturing and providing against common mis- takes. Extracts follow from nine ecclesiastical writers, beginning with St. Perpetua and ending with Thomas a Kempis. This part of the book might perhaps have been extended. Archaeologia Aeliana. Third Series. Vol. xviii. (Published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.) MR. ALLEN MAWER'S recently published work on I the Place-names of Northumberland, which we ! reviewed at 12 S. yiii. 39, has ensured a respectful : attention to anything he has to say on this subject, j His article in the new Archaeologia Aeliana gives a summary view of the present state of knowledge and of his own opinions. He erects into a matter of interesting speculation the difference of treat- ment between place-names of settlements and towns, and names of natural features. The first article contributed by Mr. Hamilton Thompson tells about the parish churches of Northumber- land, a subject specially worth attention from the beginner in architecture because the beauties .and merits of the old Northumbrian churches are ! to be sought in their construction, not in their I ornament. This article is well illustrated. Mr. Hamitpn Thompson's second paper is on the visitation of the diocese of Durham carried ' out by Archbishop Savage during the vacancy of the See in 1501. We noted one passage : " Vicars were also, in defiance of canon law, occasionally non-resident. The vicar of St. Nicholas, for example, was at his studies at Cambridge ; there was, however, a parish chaplain. . . ." Is this a case of a clerk's having received a licence from his bishop to leave his church for the purpose of study ? Possibly the ' Alumni Cantabrigienses ' has garnered something on the subject from the Episcopal Register of Richard Foxe, who had been translated from Durham to Winchester. A third paper by the same writer is a most careful and interesting account of the books of the Com- panies of Glovers and Skinners of Newcastle-upon- Tyne, to which are appended the orders of the Company of Glovers and copious extracts from their account-books. The Shawdon Court Rolls are dealt with by Mr. J. C. Hodgson, who also works out the history of the manor of Bitchfield ; the accompanying study of Bitchfield Tower with plan and illustrations is by Mr. J. Oswald and Mr. W. Parker Brewis. The study of a slab of grey sandstone which has been for over a century in the garden of Mr. H. F. Lockhart of Hexham has yielded Prof. Bosanquet a new Roman inscription of which he here gives an account. Mr. A. Fen- wick Radcliffe traces the history of the Fenwick family of Brenkley from 1571. Mr. James Hodgson's contribution of recollections and original correspondence of the poet John Cun- nigham is of real importance for a knowledge of the poet's biography (settling, for example, the place of his death and the name of his brother) and of his character and friends. The Print- Collector's Quarterly is always a welcome arrival. The new one contains two aticles of special interest that by Mr. Max Lehrs on the Master L C Z, which is most success- fully illustrated, and that on Collectors' Marks on prints and drawings by Mr. C. F. Bell. Mr. A. K. Sabin discusses with very sympathetic understand - ing the work of Elizabeth Adela Forbes, and Mr. George Somes Layard tells us the curious and romantic story of Lpmbart's pastiche of Cromwell, Charles I. and Louis XIX. to EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lisher" at the Office, Printing House Square, London, E.C.4 ; corrected proofs to The Editor, ' N. & Q.,' Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion in our columns should bear the name and address of the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WHEN answering a query, or referring to an article which has already appeared, correspondents are requested to give within parentheses immediately after the exact heading the numbers of the series, volume, and page at which the con- tribution in question is to be found.