Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/580

 478 NOTES AND QUERIES. [128. IX. DEC. 10. 1921. of Hooker.' Could any place and time be more appropriate ? Almost within sight is the tower of Heavitree church Heavitree, which was Hooker's birthplace." In this library Morley Roberts's book is classified as biography which it un- j doubtedly is. H. TAPLEY-SOPER. City Library, Exeter. BREWERS' COMPANY (12 S. ix. 431). Particulars of the Brewers' Company are to be found in ' Ancient Halls of the City Guilds' (1903), p. 122 ; ' The City Companies of London' (1904), p. 198; and 'City of London Year Book' (1910), p. 167. JAMES CASTELLO. New Oxford and Cambridge Club. An illustrated account of this company will be found in Ditchfield's ' City Com- panies of London ' (Dent, 1904). He refers to it as a minor company, and, though poor, as ranking high in dignity and importance, with a history so ancient and full of curious detail that a large volume would be re- quired for " a complete account of this nourishing company." It Was incorporated in 1445, but there are records in possession of the company which prove its existence for some years prior to its incorporation. They have some almshouses at South Mimms. ARCHIBALD SPARKE. CORPORATION OF HOASTMEN (12 S. ix. 431). The Surtees Society has a volume of extracts from the records of the Company of Hostmen of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, pub- lished in 1901, and from its preface I gather that the present seal (illustrated) was remade, according to the accounts, in 1649, at a cost of 6. It represents a portly merchant in a fur -lined robe extending his hand to a visitor in a wayfaring dress and saying to him, " Welcome, my oste." The company was granted a charter of incorporation by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. ARCHIBALD SPARKE. JOHN PATRICK EDEN (12 S. ix. 430), Rector of Sedgefield and Canon of Durham, was born July 6, 1803 ; he married, May 3, 1850, Catherine Francis, daughter of Col. Henry Stobart, R.A., J.P., D.L., of Etherly House, Bishop Auckland, and was the son of Thomas Eden of Glamorganshire, who married Frances Eliza, daughter of the Hon. John Rodney. H. C. BARNARD. on The Renaissance of Roman Architecture. Part I. Italy. By Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, (Cambridge University Press. 2 2s. net.) THOSE who have derived pleasure and profit from Sir Thomas Jackson's previous works on architecture will accord a hearty welcome to his latest book. Unfortunately it' is not always the case that those who are entitled to speak with authority are gifted with lucidity in exposi- tion. But the peculiar charm of Sir Thomas's- writings lies precisely in their lucidity, and he can handle the most intricate problems in the realm of architecture without wearying his reader- When lucidity is allied with a pleasant directness- of style the result is most valuable. In his preliminary chapter the author strikes at the root of the matter, and gives a rapid survey of architecture in Italy from Roman times to the dawn of the Renaissance. At the close of the fourteenth century, Italy, though intellec- tually backward and a prey at once to petty civil strife and the foreign adventurer, had a school of Gothic, which, so far from being decrepit,, was at least as vigorous as the contemporary schools of France and England. But suddenly with the discovery of ancient classical texts and the enthusiastic revival of learning was bom an entirely new school of architecture, which in Florence immediately, and in other northern and central towns surely, if more slowly, asserted its supremacy. The explanation of this rapid artistic revolution is not far to seek. Architec- ture reflects as no otjier art the trend of current ideas. Gothic was freely denounced as barbarous- by the apostles of humanism ; and Italy, though as yet in no sense of the word a nation, began to realize its intellectual and artistic heritage. Thus patriotism came into play. Roman re- mains, which before had been quarries for Romanesque and Gothic builders, were studied with avidity. Florence, the centre of humanism, took the lead. Rome, as ever lacking in initiative, followed at first with a tempered enthusiasm. Milan and Venice were not as yet entirely con- vinced, and suffered Gothic to die slowly with grace and dignity. Many cities were frankly hostile ; and in the south the progress of the artistic was slow and its history less interesting. In the chapters that follow Sir Thomas reviews the progress of the new style in the principal cities of Central and Northern Italy. The study of Gothic architecture, at least in * England, has accustomed students from the time of Rickman to a more or less strict classification of styles. The method is essentially procrustean in practice and intrinsically bad ; and fortunately the author attempts nothing of the kind. Moreover Re- naissance architecture has the great advantage over its predecessor of having known masters as exponents, and thus it is possible in many cases to group together the works of the great architects and to study them as a whole. Thus we can piece together the achievements of Brunei - leschi, Alberti, Bramante and the rest, and glean a fair amount of information as to their methods. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is that which deals with the history, of St. Peter's. It