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 178

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. FEB. 26, '98.

p. 362), where, after the lines previously quoted by me, the following passage occurs :

"A large oak with the mistletoe growing on it was long pointed out as the tree referred to. A piece of the mistletoe cut by a Hay was believed to have magical virtues. The oak is gone and the estate is lost to the family, as a local historian says."

In a foot-note Mr. Frazer mentions that the above is an extract from a newspaper copied and sent to him by the late Rev. Dr. Gregor, formerly of Pitsligo.

J. M. MACKINLAY, F.S.A.

Glasgow.

EAST ANGLIAN PRONUNCIATION or "PAY" (8 th S. xii. 346, 413 ; 9 th S. i. 132). When MR. HOOPER says that " East Anglians certainly do not pronounce pay to rhyme with high" we must really ask him to bear in mind that he only speaks for Norwich. But East Anglia has long been understood to include a place locally known as Kymebridge.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Artists and Engravers of British and American

Book-Plates. A Book of Reference for Book-

Plate and Print Collectors. By Henry W.

Fincham. (Kegan Paul & Co.)

" I AM now collecting materials for a list of plates

with engravers' signatures, a rather formidable

task." Thus wrote the late Sir A. Wollaston Franks

to an old collector on March 9th, 1888. The Hon.

J. Leicester Warren (afterwards Lord de Tabley),

in his invaluable text-book ' A Guide to the Study

of Book-Plates' (1880), had already given two

tabulated lists of English engravers, but since the

issue of that work much new matter had come

to light, and it was Sir Wollaston's desire to

amplify this, and no one was more competent for

the task. Anterior to the period above namec

Mr. H. W. Fincham, an old and well-informed col

lector, had been busy on the same lines. He was

one of those privileged to enjoy Franks's friend

ship, and, in consequence, often urged him to prin

the results of his labours. Other and more im

portant matters, however, engrossed the time o

the great antiquary, and when pushed he woulc

urge pressure of occupation ana ill health. Mr

Fincham generously offered Sir Wollaston all thi

data he had accumulated; but the inevitable " No

resulted in Sir Wollaston's promise to assist in th

present work ; this he did most loyally, and had h

lived to see the actual volume, he would have con

gratulated Mr. Fincham on the thorough and abl

manner in which he has put it together. It i

scarcely a book for seaside reading, but rather on

for study and reference, a work no ex-libris col

lector should be without, and one which demand

a place in every public library. The work give

a list of over one thousand five hundred artists an

engravers, and notes of some five thousand book

plates, ranging from the earliest times to the presen

day. The arrangement is perfect : Under eac

rtist or engraver is found a list of book-plates gned by him, while by the aid of another index ne is able at once to refer to the name of the owner
 * a book-plate and so find by what artist it was

xecuted.

In his introduction Mr. Fincham condenses into iree pages matter of the greatest interest. The arliest signature, he tells us, is that of " William Marshall,' which appears on the anonymous book- late of Sir Edward Lyttelton. Marshall is well nown as the engraver of many portraits and title- ages of the middle of the seventeenth century, bout which period William Faithorne engravea nd signed the well-known Bishop Hacket portrait late.

It has often been stated that the "S. P." mono- ram plate of Samuel Pepys is referred to in the Diary ' under date 21 July, 1668 ; Mr. Fincham, owever, clearly shows by a subsequent entry 26 July) that four pictorial engravings were meant, nd not a book-plate ; thus it will be seen much aatter of interest outside the main subject is incor- >orated into this volume, while it is well and fully [lustrated by many reproductions of plates note- worthy for their rarity and referred to in the lists. 5ome of these illustrations are too crowded, and ithers might well have been given on a single page ; ut it is, perhaps, ungracious to cavil at a book on which so much care has been expended by the luthor and with which so much pains have been ,aken by the publishers.

Mr. Fincham's volume will remain the standard work of reference for years to come, and though, ike many of the best of similar compilations, it is nainly a labour of love, the writer has his reward n the knowledge that his task has been thoroughly executed, and that he has earned the enduring gratitude of all interested in his favourite pursuit.

Law and Politics in the Middle Ages. By Edward Jenks, M.A. (Murray.)

this work of Mr. Jenks we have an all-important and an eminently valuable and philosophical con- tribution to the knowledge of social and intel- lectual growth and development. From whatever aspect it is approached it commands equally our admiration. The point on which it makes to us the most direct appeal is not assigned much prominence. As a contribution to our knowledge of primitive culture Mr. Jenks's book merits a place with the works of Herbert Spencer, Maine, and Tylor, if such collocation is permissible. It furnishes, more- over, an admirably lucid and no less readable expo- sition of the growth of law and polity, and will repay the most careful study of all concerned with the philosophical aspects of legal and political organization and development. Within the space at our disposal the character and method can neither be analyzed nor even discussed. A work which includes practically in its purview all Occi- dental and Transalpine Europe is not to be dealt with or dismissed in a few fluent sentences. The author's purpose, so far as it can be epitomized, is to separate and illustrate the institutions and ideas in mediaeval life and development which were destined to influence the future, and to show the processes which in Teutonic countries have shaped the social and moral influences now recognized and obeyed. Law, in the author's estimation, is to be contemplated neither as a mass of arbitrary rules of conduct nor as a " deliberate attempt to cover and regulate the sum of existing material activities,"