Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/558

 460 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i 2 s.ix.DRo.3,i92i. ROYAL STANDBACKS (p. 384, A). I used to hear this phrase as " The Royal Drawbacks " fifty years ago or more, with the same sense attached to it as that noted. C. C. B. on poofe*. The Historical Geography of the Wealden Iron Industry. By Mary Cecilia Delany. (London : Benii Brothers. 4s. 6d. net.) THIS is the first belonging to the Historico- Geographical series of monographs which the Geographical Association is publishing under the editorship of Professor Fleure. Both the series and this initial number deserve a welcome. Mrs. Delany gives a most careful account of the geology, conformation, and general history of the Weald. The iron industry flourished there extensively in Roman times, but after the departure of the Romans seems to have dwindled till the thirteenth century, when we have docu- mentary evidence to show that it had begun to revive and even to supplant the iron industry of the Forest of Dean. The most active period, however, falls in the sixteenth century, by the middle of which the Weald was dotted all over with forges and furnaces. Water-power had then superseded the natural draught and the hand-worked bellows and hammer upon which the old iron-workers relied, and bar or wrought- iron, ordnance and shot, and cast-iron goods of various sorts were produced in considerable quantities. There is a good discussion of the local conditions in the matter of wood and water which made the working of the Weald iron for so long a profitable business. In the seventeenth century the iron-workers' prosperity began to decline ; by the end of the eighteenth it was virtually extinct. The causes of decline hardly need stating ; on the one hand the exhaustion of the wood supplies, which had been, drawn upon recklessly without care to replace what had been taken ; on the other hand the intro- duction of the use of coal. The methods of mining and manufacture, the prices obtained, and the wages paid for labour have all been several times over the subject of antiquarian and historical inquiry, and Mrs. Delany has summarized in a workmanlike way the results of considerable research. The matter set out is excellent and, in reality, well put together, but for the reader's con- venience we could have wished for a better subdivision into paragraphs. The second para- graph is seven pages long. Mediceval Heresy and the Inquisition. By A. S. Turberville. (London : Crosby Lockwood, 10s. 6d. net.) THERE are no historical subjects of greater psychological interest than heresies and the methods resorted to for countering them. The work before us is the best short general account of them that has appeared in English. Based on Lea's great work, it brings together the results of more modern, especially of French, study. It has the merit, which remains somewhat un- common, of being readable. The writer's easy, unaffected and pleasant English interposes no obstacle between the matter he writes of and the reader's mind. While the scope of his book prevents his going very deeply into theological or philosophical questions, he sets out what is required for his purpose with skill. Intellectual sympathy, a real understanding of the passion for what is conceived to be truth, which may dominate bodies of men to the exclusion of material interests, is an important factor in the historian of heresies and of the Inquisition ; a lack of it deprives some most valuable work of the power to convince. This understanding Mr. Turberville shows, and, in virtue of it, is able to maintain a conspicuous impartiality nowhere better in evidence than in his account of the magic arts and the dealings of the Inquisition in regard to them. The footnotes and the note on authorities put the reader in possession of the requisite clues for further information, to which after a study of this book he may go on with a well-prepared mind. A Concise Guide to the Town and University of Cambridge. Originally written by John Willis Clark. Seventh Edition entirely revised. (Cambridge : Bowes and Bowes. Is. 9d. net.) THE preface and introduction supplied by John Willis Clark to the fourth edition of this work are dated August, 1910, the year of his death. It was first published in 1898 and having served for nearly one quarter of a century is likely to serve for another. Its author not only knew what he was talking about, with an accurate and abundant knowledge, but was happy in the selection he made from his stores on behalf of people compelled to look, learn and enjoy against time. The publishers have had the guide thoroughly revised for this new edition, inserting notice of fresh developments, and making some substitution of illustrations. It counts among the best of English guide-books. Jloticetf to Correspondent. 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, B.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. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. 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