Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/343

 12 S. VI. JUNE 5, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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perhaps unnecessary to add that eventually the daughter married the Dane, and that they lived in unbroken happiness till death them did part. T. PERCY ARMSTRONG.

A veritable mine of these will be found in some hundreds of names out of a total of 23,000 of voters at the county of York Parliamentary Election of May- June, 1807. The Poll-Book contains nearly 500 pp., and is, even now, not difficult to procure second- hand. W. B. H.

on

Old Crosses and Lychgates. By Aymer Valancel

(Batsford, 18s. net.).

THE occasion to which we owe this book demanded the best that England can give. Its nucleus is to be found in an article which appeared in The Burlington Magazine for September 1918, and which was intended to be of some help in suggesting models for memorials to the men fallen in the war. As the Preface remarks, this subject of the commemoration of the fallen has not, on account of the cessation of the war, at all declined in interest and importance ; and we would earnestly advise any local authorities who are still considering what form the memorial for which they are responsible shall take, to study the examples of crosses and lychgates here collected for their inspection. They will find illustrations of old crosses, or remaining fragments of crosses numbering close on 200 ; and 38 illustrations of lychgates.

The Introduction which gives a survey of the evolution of the standing cross from the ancient menhir, to the elaborate market cross contains several curious details. Thus, from a letter of Jean and Andre de Laval, describing an incident in the life of St. Jeanne d'Arc, we find that at Selles they had a standing-cross of wrought iron There is occasionally found in wills mention ol standing crosses made of wood. No doubt it is right to assume that crosses of stone were always the most usual. The Palm Sunday procession it seems, went to, as a rule, the churchyard cross and it was therefore necessary that every village should possess one. Our author quotes the Constitutions (1229) of William de Bleys, Bishop o Worcester, to the effect that a fair and comely cross (crux decens et honesta) should be erected for this purpose in every village of his diocesi unless there was a custom that the procession should be directed to some other spot.

The demolition of the crosses in so many places with the acts of disrespect which frequently accompanied it, forms a curious minor chapter ir the always rather curious, history of iconoclasm An account of the Antiquities of Langhorne ant Pendine is quoted to show that in that district after the Reformation, the heads of wolves anc foxes, brought in for a reward, were attached to the churchyard cross.

The chapter on the monolith crosses does no enter into the vexed question of their severa


 * ates. The illustrations given are good, special

are having been bestowed on the Sandbach rosses. We half -regretted that the Blanchland ross finds a place here, lest it should be chosen as he model for a memorial.

The next chapter which deals with the shaft-on- iteps type of cross, is, naturally, from the practical )oint of view the most important in the book. We should like to think that the graceful shafts of attract attention, though prudence and knowledge would be wanting to supply the appropriate rosses. Remaining sockets and other fragments lave been carefully figured and described, and should prove of utility.
 * he Rocester and Great Grimsby crosses will

We are given an excellent account of the Eleanor Crosses, and the illustrations supplied are also excellent. Among the latter we get most apt examples of the decayed state of the sculptor's art in the sixteenth century which should, we think, serve a good purpose in showing that this type of cross is, in truth, an ambitious undertaking. On the other hand, the preaching, crosses, market rosses and lychgates abound with suggestions and the vision of possibilities. Perhaps it may be said that modern memorials are likely to be successful as works of art in some direct proportion to their public usefulness. We should like, then, to put in a word for the preaching-cross so to call it ; that is for the erection in suitable open spaces of villages and towns of some such structure as the beautiful preaching-cross at Iron Acton, which could be used for lectures and addresses as well as sermons.

In the striking collection of pictures of market crosses are included several reproductions of old drawings of structures which have long since disappeared such, for instance, as the curious Glastonbury market-cross, where the gables are placed over the spandrels and piers between the arched openings the sky-lines of the gable running up to the foot of the pinnacle topping the pier, and the face of each gable being returned at an angle from the pier. The effect the plan being octagonal is crown-like ; pretty and odd- In a large number of cases plans, sections and details are supplied in addition to the general view. The text gives all that is known of each example passing several by, it is to be presumed because no records of them are available.

The chapter on ' unclassified varieties ' gives a good photograph of the curious and interesting cross in Bisley ((Glos.) churchyard, which our author is inclined to take to be a combination between a cross and a lantern for the " poor souls' light."

There is a sufficient bibliography to which per- haps Dr. Browne's book ' The Ancient Cross- shafts of Bewcastle and Ruthwell ' might have been added.

Malherbe and the Classical Reaction in the Seven- teenth Century. By Edmund Gosse. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2s. net.).

MALHERBE, in this valuable and interesting study, is presented at his best. We see both his achieve- ment and the range of his influence at their maxi- mum. What remains to be said of him, whether as a man of letters, or as a private person, will be found to have on the whole a detractive or limit- ing effect. The high lights, chiefly, are indicated :