Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/390

 320 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.viii.AFE^i0,i82i. liked, too, the picture set before us at the beginning of the scholar, who " sat apparently unmoved through the weeks from Mons to the Marne and the Marne to Ypres, 'absorbed in the collation of manuscripts of Pelagius." The Story of the Shire : Being the Lore, History, and Evolution of English Bounty Institutions. By Frederick W. Hackwood. (Heath Cranton, 15s. net.) THESE chapters bring together a considerable amount of information. Mr. Hackwood has gone diligently over the chief authorities on the subject, and has extracted from them their most interesting particulars. He sets these out pleasantly enough ; and though most of what he has to say is familiar to readers who have given any attention to the history of the English county, the book should prove of value, for it brings together a good deal of material which has generally to be sought in separate works. It contains useful chapters on modern custom and organization, and its weightier paragraphs are relieved by the occasional insertion of odd and entertaining detail. The whole is not quite equally satisfactory. For example, the chapter on the County Escheator gives far too slight an idea of the Sheriff's func- tions under this aspect, and if it was worth while to point the reader to tailler as the origin of " tally," it was also worth while to mention the connexion between echoir and " escheat." Good works of " vulgarization " deserve nothing but a welcome, but we do not think their un- pretentious quality should dispense them from the obligation of furnishing some reference to the sources whence their statements are taken. The historical student will have no difficulty in pinning down Mr. Hackwood' s information to its proper place ; but the historical student hardly needs such a book as this. For the general reader, to whom these matters are new, and for whom the book is designed, such refer- ences are most desirable. A further criticism concerns the illustrations. The time has surely gone by for such insipid fancies as ' The Landing of the Jutes ' or ' The Appeal to the Witan.' The tally-sticks and bag, which might have had some interest, are so feebly done as to be useless. The ' Lord Mayor's Procession' (1761) best represents the level suitable to the text. While not without imperfections Mr. Hack wood's book is a readable account of a subject which, for several reasons, can hardly fail in its. appeal to English people. Rules for Compositors and Readers at the Unitersity Press, Oxford. By Horace Hart. (Humphrev Milford, 2s. net.). THIS neat and beautifully printed booklet is the twenty-fifth edition (the eleventh for publication) of a work which has long been prized wherever it is known, and has come to be known by most editors and printers. The preface relates how the first edition was produced for the use of the compositors and readers of the Clarendon Press, and how for years copies were supplied gratuitously to such of the general public as could advance the slightest claim to this generosity, until publication was, in a manner, forced upon the Claredon Press by copies being sold " at the Stores. 1 ' " No ' so- and-so ' should be without ' so-and-so,' " is all too common a form of puff. Yet we trust the words have not been so entirely emptied of real meaning but what we may say that no editor, author, com- positor or reader and no book-lover either ougKt to be without this admirably compiled and carefully revised guide. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Archaeological Journal. Vol. XXVI., No. 1. (Oxford, Blackwell, 3s. net.) IN this number Mr. Keyser gives a most lavishly illustrated account of the churches of Great and Little Coxwell, Coleshill, Inglesham, Buscot and Eaton Hastings. Mr. d'Almaine has transcribed the will of Master Anthony Forster (1572), that worthy gentleman whom Scott, with a certainly unconscionable disregard for truth, turned into a villain and the murderer of Amy Robsart. Mr. Huntingford discusses the date of the White Horse at Uffington. Mr. Treacher contributes a first instalment of the Index to the Hurst Parish Marriage Register. THE early publication is announced of the sixth and final volume of Modern English Biography,' by Frederic Boase. The biographies are of those who died between the years 1851 and 1901, and number many thousands of concise memoirs of all who attained fame or notoriety in every direc- tion of human activity in the British Empire. The compiler died on December 23, 1916, but the work has been completed from materials left by him, under the direction of Miss A. K. Ranee. The present volume is the Supplement Volume III. (L.-Z.), of which 125 copies only will be printed. The publishers are Messrs. Netherton and Worth, Lemon Street, Truro, price 42s. net. to Corregponbente. EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of Notes and Queries ' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers" 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. MB. STUART H. MAXWELL. The origin of the saying " I shall pass through this world but once, &c." has more than once been asked for in our columns. The most recent discussion was at 10 S. i. 247, 316, 355, 433; v. 260, 393, 498; vii. 140; xi. 60, 366, but no very satisfactory conclusion was arrived at. CORRIGENDA. (' Robert Whatley ' ) ante, p. 286, col. 2, note J : for " Institution. York 40 " read Institution, York 40 ; and p. 287, col. 1, 1. 35 : for ' Edward " read Edmund. (Double Firsts at Oxford) ante, p. 295, col. 2 (1836), for " John Wickers " read John Wickens ; and (1850) for " Henry Mitchell Hall " read Henry Mitchell Hull.