Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 10.djvu/28

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. JULY 5, 1902.

is expected. The author has made an estimate of the cost of the construction of the Antonine wall reduced to the monetary standard of the present day. The result arrived at is 317.00W. This will surprise many of our readers. We have, however, gone carefully through his calculations, and regard them as an under rather than an over estimate, if slave labour were not employed. Working on the same lines, Major Ruck concludes that the stone wall of Hadrian was produced by the expenditure of 1,268,OOW. ; but, as he points out, there was economy displayed in this heavy payment, as it would obviously require a smaller proportionate garrison to guard it. To recur to the Antonine wall, when it was complete were grass seeds sown on the top ? if not the rains would soon work great damage. If they were, how was the seed obtained ? We may conclude, though there can be no certainty on the matter, that on this island the business of a seedsman was then unknown.

Mr. J. Romilly Allen's short paper on ' The Early Christian Monuments of the Glasgow District' is well illustrated. There are few persons who have examined so many of these objects as the author. He has confined his paper to those which are anterior to or about the period of the Norman Conquest of England. The greater number are memorials of the dead, but some are evidently preaching crosses, and others probably mark the boundaries of sanctuaries, while perhaps in a few cases, though the author does not suggest this, they indicate the place where some tragedy has happened for the purpose of directing devout persons to pray for the souls of the victims. So far as is at present known, there are none with legends carved upon them. Quoting Jocelyne's life of St. Kentigern, written 111 the twelfth century, Mr. Allen directs attention to the statement that the pious bishop erected many crosses, one of which was made of the sand of the sea-shore. Ropes of sand figure in Scottish folk-lore, and we have read somewhere of a person who doubted the capacity of those who constructed Stonehenge to move the blocks of which it is composed, and that he solved the mystery to his own satisfaction by maintaining that they were castings of sand formed by some process now for- gotten. But a cross made out of sand is a new thing in our experience.

'The Chateau of St. Fargeau' is by Mr. James Dalrymple Duncan. It is an interesting chronicle of the successive owners of the castle and domain, but contains very little relating to Scotland.

' Notes on Scottish Costume in the Fifteenth Century,' by Mr. Robert Brydall, is an interesting paper, put from the nature of things cannot be all we desire ; iconoclasm has done its work so effec- tively over the Border that few tombs can furnish evidence.

Miscellanea Qenealogica et Heraldica for June, edited by W. Bruce IJannerman, opens with an interesting obituary notice of its founder, Dr. Joseph Jackson Howard, Maltravers Herald Extraordinary. He was born on the 12th of April, 1827, entered the Post Office in 1851, and became principal clerk in 1867, retiring in 1888. He was one of the pioneers of the Civil Service Supply Association. Early in life he acquired a taste for heraldry and genealogy, and became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1854. At the time of his death, on the 18th of April, he was eighth in seniority of such fellows. He took an active part (in conjunction with the

late Sir A. W. Franks) in the Exhibition of Civic Plate held at Somerset House in 1860, and in the following year contributed to an Exhibition of Seals. In May, 1862, he collected materials for an ex- hibition of heraldry which was held in the Society's rooms, and he was also a considerable contributor to the Heraldic Exhibition of 1894. He was one of the earliest to commence a collection of armorial hook-plates, and, in addition to this, made a choice collection of armorial china. He was one of the founders of the Harleian Society, acting as honorary treasurer from its formation in 1869 to the end of last year. Dr. Howard's charming manner en- deared him to all who knew him. No correspondent ever wrote to him in vain, and he spared neither time nor trouble in giving to all, whether friends or strangers, the results of his investigations. He was a valued contributor to ' N. & Q.'

THE Coronation numbers of the Sphere and the Queen, received too late for notice last week, have now a pathetic interest. Both numbers contain interesting papers on archaeology and folk-lore, the popular taste for which is largely due to ' N. Q.' The Sphere in its ' Story of King Edward and his Empire from 1862 to 1902' is admirable in every way, and forms a record of forty years' pro- gress, not the least interesting paper being that by the editor, ' The Story of Literature and Education.' The Queen, in an historical article by Arthur H. Beavan, contains a number of illustrations copied from the Lambeth Palace Library by special per- mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. An illus- tration of a George III. Coronation teapot is also given ; this was among the first examples of the method of transfer printing on china invented by John Sadler, of Liverpool.

$0 tier 8 to Comsponirruis.

We must call special attention to the following notices :

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate."

E. BIGOK BAOOT (" A headless man had a letter to write," Ac.). The answer seems to be 0=nothing. See 7 th S. x. and xi. passim.

NOTICE.

Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'" Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lisher" at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print ; and to this rule we can make no exception.