Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/427

 9 th S. I. MAY 21, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

419

olume, Hook refers to the journey of Lord yf ayor Venables to Oxford, in the account of vhich are incidents corresponding with those letailed by the unhappy 1 irkins.

JAMES HOOPER. Norwich.

NAPOLEON'S ATTEMPTED INVASION OF ENG- 355). It seems to me surprising to find DR. SYKES endeavouring to reinstate the cha- racter of Warden's book after it has been discredited some eighty years ever since its publication, in fact. I fear he will have up- hill work. The Quarterly Review never seems to have been refuted. A part of the review was printed in the ' Handbook of Fictitious Names,' 1868, and still without remonstrance, and now DR. SYKES comes along as jauntily as if nothing had ever happened, and says the book is all bond fide.
 * ,AND IN 1805 (8 th S. xii. 481 ^ 9 th S. i. 16, 71,

When I was at Boulogne several years ago I was unable to find the medal to commemo- rate the taking of England, and I understood it was no longer exhibited at the museum. RALPH THOMAS.

BREADALBANE (9 th S. i. 147, 372). The ogy and pedigree of the present Marquis

of Breadalbane, curiously written, is (or was) hanging up in Taymouth Castle, and was exhibited at one of the exhibitions (Glasgow, I believe). I have seen it both there and at Taymouth Castle. It interested me because my mother's family belong to the Breadal- bane Campbells. C. R. T.

' THE CHALDEE MS.' (9 th S. i. 166, 272). Some one has, by this time, doubtless referrec to the fact that the original proof-sheet is in the British Museum. A few weeks ago it was in the show-case of recent acquisitions in the King's Library. O. O. H.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. By Sii Bernard Burke, C.B., LL.D. Edited by his Son 2 vols. (Harrison & Sons.)

THREE consecutive generations have now super intended the production of Burke' s ' History of tht Landed Gentry,' the ninth edition of which is before us. The first volume of the first edition, by Johr Burke, appeared so early as 1833 as 'A Genea logical and Heraldic History of the Commoners o Great Britain and Ireland.' Subsequent edition! were issued, with the title the work now bears under the charge of Sir Bernard Burke, Ulstei King of Arms, the sixth edition being given tc the world in 1882, and the eighth, under the care of Mr. Ashworth P. Burke, in 1894. During thi

ong time it has maintained its reputation as ne of the most trustworthy and indispensable uides to the herald, the historian, and the genea- ogist. The position it holds has, indeed, never 1 >een forfeited, and has not even been very seriously attacked. Each successive edition has been marked >y enlargement and improvement. Some very ipecial features are noteworthy in this latest idition. The most conspicuous is, perhaps, the removal of the names of the Irish gentry from the general list and their appearance under a separate leading at the close of vol. ii. Another all-im- >ortant improvement is the addition in very many sases of illustrations of arms, the first that have )een seen in the work. These are, as a rule, drawn rom the ex-libris of various families, where these can be obtained. This feature has great interest, and is, of course, capable of indefinite expansion. Ultimately, no doubt, the work will be as fully illustrated as the companion volume ' The Peerage.' Among the very numerous plates now given are those of Col. Douglas Macneil, C.B. ; of Acton of Gatacre Park ; Aglionby of Staffield rfall ; Allanby of Wai- soken: Aylmer of Walworth Castle: the Balfours of Balfour, of Balbirnie, and of W hittinghame ; Burnaby of Baggrave Hall ; Disraeli of Hughenden ; Lane of Moundsley ; Moray of Abercairny ; Oliphant of Rossie, and innumerable others. It is impossible to study a work in which a full record is Kept of those who constitute, in fact, the backbone of the nation without being struck by the vicissitudes of county families. Names disappear from each suc- cessive edition, the links with ancient ancestry being severed, while fresh pedigrees are obtained to fill their places. Fortunately, however, the work as a whole constitutes a record of stability and strength, and the task, as we know by experience, of comparing each successive edition with its pre- decessor can scarcely be regarded as revealing much change. The type of the ' History ' is kept stand- ing, so that fresh additions or disappearances can be constantly noted. Nothing new is to be said concerning a work the prestige of which is main- tained. Our duty to our readers is accomplished in announcing the appearance of the latest edition.

Yoga ; or, Transformation. By William J. Flagg.

(New York, J. W. Bouton ; London, Redway.) REACHING us from America, Mr. Flagg's book supplies a comparative statement of the various religious dogmas concerning the soul and its des- tiny, and of "Akkadian, Hindu, Taoist, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Christian, Mohammedan, Japanese. and other magic." This statement, which is copied from the title-page, shows the reader the spirit in which the whole is written, and prepares him for all he has to expect. We have read a great portion of the book, and dipped into the whole, without finding anything with which in our pages it is ex- pedient to deal. The folk-lore aspects of early beliefs are passed by, and the matters on which it is attempted to cast light are mystical and occult. To believers in spiritualistic marvels the work will no doubt commend itself. The attitude of mind of the author is shown in the assertion, ' ' It cannot be without some foundation that beliefs have always prevailed in the possibility of an indefinitely long extension of earthly life, and even theories, dreams, and hopes of earthly immortality." Some- thing more than dreams and hopes seems to be in question if, as we are told, Lao-lsee claims to have lived a thousand years, and his disciple Chuang-Tzu