Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/209

 12 s. iv. JULY, i9i8.] NOTES AND QUERIES-

203

on

Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters.

Vol. IV. : Wardens' Account Book, loJfa-

1571. Transcribed and edited by Bower

Marsh. (Oxford, printed for the Company at

the University Press.)

CUE readers will not have forgotten vol. iii. of this publication of Becords, which we noticed at 12 S. i. 479. The new volume gives us 248 finely printed quarto pages containing a verbal and literal facsimile of the accounts of the Wardens of the Company for the years 1546-71, preceded by an Introduction, and followed by two indexes : a general one and an index of names.

The Wardens' accounts were kept in two series : the first a rough copy entered on a " pamphlet " or quire of paper, the second a fair copy of this not without some alterations written in a larger book, which counted as the official record. The work before us is a transcript of the first of the " small " or rough series, printed with careful note of the paging of the original. The year for which the accounts were handed in van from the Feast of the Assumption to the next eve of that feast, and an entry stating the names of the responsible persons, and the regnal date, duly begins each yearly record. It was, perhaps, & little pedantic to allow nothing to appear here which was not on the original pages even to omitting a note of the year concerned. If this had been given as a running marginal heading throughout the transcript, the work would have been much easier to refer to.

The matters dealt with here are what any teader of ' N. & Q.' could foretell, without having inspected the book ; but they are none the less pleasant for that. Accounts of fines and rents, of disbursements for the " dinner," for repairs, for charities, and in payment of service ; amusing iiste of eatables, which, read to-day, have a more than commonly appetizing sound ; particulars of the furnishing of soldiers by the Company ; evidence as to the extent of the property in their hands ; and occasional (though rare) references to the historical events of the time these make up the contents of the Wardens' " pamphlets."

The Carpenters during these years of their history seem to have enjoyed a modest but solid prosperity.

Selections from the Poems of William Wordsworth.

Edited by A. Hamilton Thompson. (Cam-

bridge. University Press, 2. Qd.) Poems of Keats : Endymion ; the Volume of 1820 ;

and other Poems. Edited by W. T. Young.

(Same publishers, 3s. net.)

FOB those an increasing number, we hope and believe, to-day who desire to read, with good guidance as to meaning and spirit, the great poetry of the past, both these volumes are decidedly attractive. At his best Wordsworth is an indubitable immortal, but he wrote too much, and Mr. Thompson's selection suffices to make an excellent representation of his spirit and achievement at their highest. He has had the courage to omit a few of the lyrics found in every anthology, in order to make room for less familiar pieces, and in this he is wise. Familiarity

in poetry does not necessarily mean excellence. The notes are good, and the type of the volume is pleasant to read.

Among the many men of promise who have given up their lives in the War Lieut. Young is not the least regretted. He had good taste, wide knowledge, and a gift of expression qualities which go far to make the ideal com- mentator. This edition of Keats seems meant for the elementary student when we look at some of the notes on mythology, but it takes a serious and well-instructed view of the art and significance of Keats which may well commend it to older readers. The ' Commentary,' which is reserved to the end of the book, is a good piece of criticism. In the notes the comparisons with other poets and the improvements by which Keats reached his final felicity are of special interest. The meaning of " forlorn " in the ' Ode to a Nightingale ' is somewhat obscure, and might have been explained. The word in its Shakespearian and other uses might form the subject of a pretty little dissertation. Indeed, the passage of Keats hi question was dis- cussed in our pages at 11 S. iv. 507 ; v. 11, 58, 116, 175.

A Reprint of : The Relation beticeene the Lord of a Mannor and the Coppy-holder His Tenant. Delivered in the Learned Readings of the late Excellent and Famous Lawyer, Char. Calthrope of the Honorable Society of Lincolnes-Inne Esq. (Manorial Society, 1 Mitre Court Build- ings, B.C.)

THE MANORIAL SOCIETY is proceeding steadily with its task of rendering accessible works and documents connected with the history of the manor hi England. In 1914 it produced in facsimile ' The Order of keeping a Court Leet and Court Baron,' one of three small treatises on seventeenth-century manorial law and custom bound in a single volume. The second of these was the ' Relation ' here reprinted from the original edition of 1636 ; the third being the fifth edition (1650) of ' Coke's Complete Copyholder,' which the Society hopes to reprint later.

Sir Charles Calthrope, upon whose " Readings " this book is based, was largely employed in the service of the Crown in Ireland, being made Attorney-General there in June, 1584. He was much occupied with grants of forfeited lands, and in securing the reservation of the royal rights in them. In September, 1586, he was in Munster, " meting such lands as Sir Walter Rawley is to have." He was confirmed in his office of Attorney- General by James I., and knighted on March 24, 1604. He died Jan. 6, 1616.

This report of his lectures on the nature oj copyhold and copyhold tenures is highly technical, but some of the definitions have almost a touch o j humour to lighten them ; for example, " If divers doe hold Lands, to dine with the Lord every Sunday in the yeare ; this maketh neither good Tenure, nor Manour. But if they hold to wait on the Lord every Sunday at dinner, and to dine with him ; this maketh a good service, but no good Tenure." Again, " If Divers doe hold to come to the Lords Court, and there to doe nothing, this maketh neither good Tenure nor good Mannour." As will be seen from these short extracts, the reprint preserves the typographical peculiarities of the original edition.