Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/267

 o*s.x. SEPT. 27,

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of lottery ; and " cheker in the myre," which might to the uninitiate be taken to signify a modern at- tendant at a place of amusement, but implies a game in which pieces of iron were thrown at a stick on which a penny was placed. Among the accounts in the Merchant Gild Roll are many interesting entries, as "Given to Ricard the Earl's fool (le Fol domini comitis), 3d." In the mayor's account the sum paid to a jester (bourdour) of the lady duchess is Is. 6d. One shilling is charged to the same account to " Will Cokkesthyne, messenger of the King, bearing tidings from the North on Thursday (Aug. 20, 1355) after the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, that Lord de Percy took and killed a great number of the Scots," an historical incident concerning which nothing is known. There is the customary legislature against scolds with the ordinary penalties of the cucking stool, or " cuckstool," as it is here called. In the Portmanmoot Rolls is a presentment from the twelve frankpledges that "Margeria Skynner est communis conviciatrix ad grave nocumentum omnium vicinorum." She is fined accordingly, and no more is heard of Margery Skinner. At vol. ii. p. 297 is an interesting ordinance concern- ing the Passion Play, which is too long to be quoted. Some regard for sanitation is shown even in those days, and there are respects in which we might still learn from our ancestors. Under the head ' Prices ' much edifying information is supplied. We have but dipped into these volumes and placed before our readers a few samples of their contents. The records abound with matter quaint, curious, sug- gestive, and instructive. It is to be hoped that other volumes will follow under the same competent supervision.

Roman Africa : an Outline of the, History of the Roman Occupation of North Africa. By Alex- ander Graham, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. (Longmans & Co.)

WHEREVKK the Roman settled he left behind him landmarks of priceless value. Time and human greed or ravage have dealt hardly with some of these, but monuments of marvellous we wish we could say imperishable beauty survive in all the places he has colonized. Northern Africa disputes with Asia the predominance among Roman colonial possessions, and remains of unsurpassed magni- ficence attest the spread of Roman dominion and the influence of Roman sway. Unlike the remains of Italy, Iberia, and Gaul, the edifices of Northern Africa, hemmed in between the desert and the Mediterranean, are scarcely as yet sufficiently near or accessible to be the object of holiday excursion. Not the first book is this which Mr. Graham has written on the archaeological remains of Northern Africa. In connexion with our lamented contri- butor Mr. Henry S. Ashbee he is responsible for 1 Travels in Tunisia ' (see 7 th S. v. 78), a record o! three visits to that country, in the course of which he deals with many of the scenes and objects to which he now recurs. His object in the presen volume is, however, more ambitious, being nothing less than a history of the country, as, indeed,- is denoted by its title. His qualifications for his task are numerous. Chief among them may be included familiarity with most of the .countrie he describes, modest, though scarcely advancec classical knowledge, and an enviable capacity o reproducing and reconstituting the ruined edifices of antiquity. In the present, as in the previous

work, the designs form a special attraction and value, and plates such as those of the aqueduct at Carthage, the quadrifrontal arch of Caracalla at Theveste, the monument at Scillium, the restored arch of Trajan at Thamugas, and the three temples (also restored) at Sufetula, which constitute the frontispiece, will be a delight as well as an assist- ance to the student.

Roman conquest of Africa begins with the battle of Zama and defeat of Hannibal by P. Scipio Africanus, two hundred and two years before Christ. The time of Trajan, with its artistic revival, and that of his immediate successors witnessed the erection of the more remarkable difices. Especially interesting though rapidly ismissed, as outside the scheme of the book are he rise of Christianity in Africa, whence its in- uence extended over the Christian world, the errible persecution to which it was subject under Mocletian, and the close of its activity with the Vandal invasion under Genseric. " Unnumbered nscriptions," says Mr. Graham, " brought to light n the latter city [Carta, the capital of old Numidia] and its neighbourhood testify to the weight of Authority exercised there by Christian writers in .he time of Constantine, and to the affectionate regard in which the first of the Christian emperors was held by the citrons in every rank of life." The period with which Mr. Graham deals is naturally the same in part as that covered by ibbon and subsequent authorities. It is from the archaeological portion of the work that we have accordingly the most to learn, and the architec-
 * ural knowledge of our author stands us in good

stead. Close attention has been paid to the amphi- theatre at Thysdrus, which Mr. Graham supposes never to have been finished. It is compared as regards the superficial area with the amphitheatre at Verona. It was at times occupied as a fortress, and in 1697 was played on by artillery, which effected a breach equal to one-fourth of the peri- meter. There, as elsewhere, the stone has oeen carried away to serve other purposes.

The Gentleman's Magazine Library. Edited by

"'oimaravi Parts XII. and XIII. Edited by F.

George Laurence Gomme. English Topouranhy. Parts XII. and XIII. Edited by F. A. Milne. (Stock.)

MR. GOMME'S great series of topographical extracts from the Gentlemcm's Magazine continues to be edited with the minute and scrupulous care which distinguished the early volumes. It is nearing its conclusion, but there is still much labour ahead. The counties are given in strictly alphabetical order; what we have before us ranges from Surrey to Wiltshire. Surrey and Sussex, home counties as they are called, are now under the direct influence of London in a way that never occurred in any former period. Where they have not been actually absorbed, as has been the lot of much of Surrey, we feel that their old-world character has in a great measure departed. London, if out of sight, is still so near as to be always present to the imagination, disturbing all quiet dreams of the past. The col- lections before us are, therefore, peculiarly valuable because the antiquaries of former days viewed things from so different a standpoint from that which we are, whether we like it or not, compelled to occupy. The southern shiras also seem, in those days ot slow travelling, to have been more often visited by the correspondents of Sylvanus Urban than those further away, so that they were wont to