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NOTES AND QUERIES.

. I. JUNKLV9S.

of St. Francis Xavier, S.J. This saint is com- memorated in the Roman martyrology on 3 Decem- ber, but is included in the present volume for the sake of convenience.

Weather - Lore. By Richard Inwards, F.R.A.S.

(Stock.)

SHORT as has been the period since this compre- hensive and carefully edited collection of proverbs, sayings, and rules concerning the weather saw the light, it has sufficed to bring xis three editions. Proof more convincing how useful and trustworthy the book has been found is not to be desired. Draw- ing attention previously to its merits (8 th S. v. 179), we dwelt on the fact that the weather-lore of our ancestors, nonsensical and contradictory as much of it is, yields in few respects of sanity to the pseudo- scientific guessing by which it is being replaced. It must be remembered, moreover, that the obser- vations chronicled are drawn from very different latitudes, and that what is said, for instance, con- cerning weather in a given month in Spain may not necessarily hold true concerning Norway, or even England. Since its first appearance ' Weather-Lore ' has been much enlarged, and in some respects modified. Slight blemishes we ourselves pointed out have been removed, and fresh information of importance has been added. Most important, perhaps, is the list of the average flowering times of well-known plants, contributed by Mr. Mawley, one time president of the Meteorological Society. This is said to be the result of many thousands of observations in Central England. Large as is the list thus obtained, it might with advantage be extended. Another addition is a useful bibliography of weather-lore, comprising books in Italian, French, German, and other languages. A frontispiece, with representations of cloudland, taken direct from nature by Col. H. M. Saunders, of Cheltenham, con- stitutes a noteworthy and an artistic feature. To our previous notice we have only to add that in its amended form the work is even more worthy of the support of the folk-lorist, the meteorologist, and the antiquary.

The Heart of Midlothian. By Sir Walter Scott.

With Introductory Essay and Notes by Andrew

Lang. (Nimmo.)

WE have here another volume, the sixth, of the large-type "Border Edition" of the Waverley Novels, with Mr. Lang's preliminary dissertation and his useful notes, and with the ten illustrations of the earlier issue, by Sir John Millais, Mr. Wai Paget, and other artists. With what Mr. Lang says concerning the weakness and lack of reality of the conclusion we are in accord. Anxious to enforce an exemplary moral, Scott slays the father at the hands of the son, and is unwise in so doing. In proportion as we love the central interest do we dislike not only the closing scenes, but the passages in which Scott dwells on the married felicity of the Butlers. The praise that is bestowed on Madge Wildfire is merited, and the comparison betwixt Erne Deans and Hetty in ' Adam Bede ' is capital.

In the Days of King James. By Sidney Herbert

Burchell. (Gay & Bird.)

MB. BURCHELL knows a good deal concerning litera- ture and life in the epoch with which he deals, and has more command of language in Stuart times than many of those who employ antiquated phraseology. His invention, however, is not on a par with his

inowledge, and his narrations are thin and in- effective. "You had not riled me" is a very modern colloquialism to be emploved, though it is, perhaps, just defensible ; " roiled" would have been better. We trace few slips of importance.

The Spectator. With Introduction and Notes by

George A. Aitken. Vol. VII. (Nimmo.) ONE more volume will complete Mr. Nimmo's admirably artistic edition of the Spectator. The seventh volume has a portrait of Henry Grove and a charming vignette of York Gate. Mr. Aitken's notes remain, as heretofore, few and helpful, and the edition is all the student can desire.

THE new catalogue of Messrs. A. Maurice & Co., of Bedford Street, Covent Garden, contains a remarkable assortment of French illustrated works n fine bindings.

ia

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P. J. F. GANTILLON ("Ninth Volume of the Spectator"). No. 1 of a ninth volume, extending to sixty numbers, dedicated to the Viscountess of Falconberg, appeared 3 Jan., 1715, and the last in 1721. It was published in 12mo. by J. Roberts, and written by William Bond with the assistance of a few friends presumably the same William Bond whose name appears in the 'Biographia Dramatica ' and the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' A fifth edition and a sixth of what appears to be the same book were issued by W. Mears, 1726, and by Tonson and Watts. This ran from 3 Jan., 1715, to 3 Aug. of the same year, and was dedicated to Lord Gage, who is said to have been a relative of Bond.

J. S. McTEAR (Bangor, co. Down). The method of playing beggar-my-neighbour you describe con- forms exactly with that with which we were familiar- very many years ago.

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