Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/246

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. SEPT. ie. 1910.

how quick many people are at working fi-oin just the rudiment of an idea. We know that a good deal of very creditable carving was done in England in the later Middle Age ; the enjoyment of sculpture s.eems to have been spontaneous over -the greater part of Western Europe. It must have been in the blood : why should it not have shown itself at a time when the inspiration imparted by the arrival of Christianity gave a new impetus to intellectual and artistic activity ': There seems no difficulty about it ; on the other hand, the difficulty about how those nines and those names came out so correctly in the twelfth century apropos de rien becomes more perplexing the more one looks at it.

However, the opponents of the early date have done good service. They have impelled its supporters to get together and marshal into an .argument the number of interesting particulars iivailable concerning Anglo-Saxon crosses. Again, if Prof. Cook had not made his somewhat sur- prisingly feeble remark about the " Ravenna .chair not having been sent to Ravenna till 1001," we might not have had Dr. Browne's fascinating chapter aboxit the chair and its monogram nor yet the excellent illustration of it which he gives us in this book. 1 ! The same thing may be said of -the discussions concerning Alcfrith and the spelling of the names concerning the subjects sculptured on the shafts, and the ' Dream of the Holy Rood.' We should like to mention our entire agreement with Dr. Browne in admiring the skill with which the passages from the ' Dream ' were chosen for the Ruth well Cross.

Only one thing gave us some disappointment in a book which, with, this one exception, we found a treasure-house of instruction and pleasure : the great shafts themselves, and in particular Ruthwell, are somewhat inadequately illustrated. It would surely have been well worth while to give the best of the photographs that have been taken of them.

Sir William Butt, M.D. : a Local Link tcith

Shakespeare. By S. D. Clippingdale. COLI.ECTORS of " Shakespeariana " may like to be told of this pamphlet, reprinted from The West London Medical Journal. It puts together all that is known of Henry VIII. 's physician, who lies buried in the Church of All Saints, Fulham. It is true that mention of him in ' Henry VIII.' constitutes a somewhat precarious link with Shakespeare, but it is fully justification enough for this essay.

Dr. Clippingdale arranges his matter in paragraphs, each with a title indicating its subject-matter a very good plan and puts down his statements under each heading in a terse, lively way, interspersing his statements with bits from Shakespeare. There are three illustrations, of which one shows his brass, thought to be the only representation of a medical man in plate armour, and another his caduceus crest, thought to be the first use of this figure in heraldry.

THE interesting ' Portrait of a Man ' by Catena, reproduced for the first time as frontispiece in the September number of The Burlington Magazine, was till recently in the collection of Dr. A. Brasseur of Paris. The picture formerly bore the name of Lotto, and the identity of the sitter is discussed by

Mr. Tancred Borenius. Mr. A. F. Kendrick deals with two unique pieces from the collection of medi- aeval silk fabrics purchased in J893 for the Victoria and Albert Museum, and reconstructs the design of one of them, a noteworthy fragment showing a griffin's head. The portrait of himself by Daniel Stringer (dated 1776), recently acquired by the National Gallery, is reproduced with notes by Mr. Collins Baker. Sir Claude Phillips discusses the two companion ' Conversations Galantes,' now for the first time brought forward as the work of Jean Francois de Troy, having been hitherto attri- buted to Fragonard. Five pictures of the former painter are reproduced: 'La Surprise' (Victoria and Albert Museum), 'La Chasse,' 'La Peche,' ' Le Dejeuner de Chasse,' and ' La Mort d'un Cerf ' (Wallace Collection). Some striking relics dis- covered in the Hebrides (Lewis) by school- children in the autumn of 1915 are described by Mr. James Curie. The find consisted of bronze brooches and other ornaments, and they exhibit the association of Celtic and Scandinavian art. Mr. Curie dates them as not earlier than the middle of the ninth century. Mr. F. M. Kelly's continuation of his ' Shakespearian Dress Notes ' treats of the ruff, and is accompanied by numerous illustrations. Mr. G. F. Hill also continues his learned notes on 'Italian Medals.'

The Athenteum now appearing monthly, arrange- ments have been made whereby advertisements of posts vacant and wanted, which it is desired to publish weekly, may appear in the intervening weeks in ' N. & Q.'

We must call special attention to the following notices :

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means ot disposing of them.

CORRESPONDENTS who send letters to be forwarded to other contributors should put on the top left- hand corner of their envelopes the number of the page of ' N. & Q.' to which their letters refer, so that the contributor may be readily identified.

POSTAGE. We would call the attention of our contributors to the recent alterations in the rates of Ze^er-postage. A letter weighing more than one ounce, but under two ounces, requires two- pence in stamps. We have on several occasions had to pay excess postage because our correspon- dents, knowing that the letter exceeded the ounce, put on an additional halfpenny stamp. Will they please bear in mind that there is no three-halfpenny letter-r&te ?

ST. SWITHIN and W. R. W. Forwarded.

Co \VLARD. MR. C. L. COWLARD, of Madford, Launceston, Cornwall, desires to communicate with Miss E. C. Holman, who in ' N. & Q.' of June 13, 1914, and later by letter, referred to a book in her possession with this name.

WE learn from the Red Cross Gift House that they have had presented to them for sale a Manu- script on Robespierre, dated 1904, and running to about 40 pages, by Lord Morley.