Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/28

 NOTES AND QUERIES; E* h s. xn. J*LY 4, im

Carson. This lady may have been a member of the family inquired after by H. R. C. am interested in both personages, and have for a length of time been endeavouring to ascertain their ancestry and descendants. According todocumentary evidence a llosanna Maxwell, of Drumbo (?), co. Down, was mar- ried to Edward Cash, of Bally macaret, Belfast, circa 1795, possibly a grand-daughter. The chart pedigree of the Carson family of Shanroe gives no help in either case.

WM. JACKSON PIGOTT.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

The New Volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannka.

Vol. X., being Vol. XXXIV. of the Complete

Work. (A. & C. Black and the Times.)

VOLUME by volume we have noticed the appearance

of this all-important work, and we have even con-

gratulated the directorate upon its conclusion (see

9 th S. xi. 399). In consequence of certain difficulties

in the way of production, however, the present

volume is later in reaching us than was its pre-

decessor. Consisting as it does principally of maps,

the mounting of which occupied much time and

labour, its preparation and binding involved the

management in some delay. In many respects this

constitutes the most useful volume of the series.

One hundred and twenty-four maps, covering each

two pages, clearly printed and finely coloured, are

followed by an index, including no fewer than a

quarter of a million entries. The work thus con-

stitutes an atlas of all but unprecedented riches.

and, owing to its size, of unparalleled facility of

reference. Besides giving all the names on the

various maps, alternative names are frequently in-

serted in the index, including many which are now

obsolete. By means of inset maps it has been found

possible to give not only all the principal divisions

of countries, but the principal cities of the world,

and even places such as the Yosemite Valley. The

maps of American States are singularly full of

details, and we know no other work in which

information so full and so up to date can be

obtained. An inspection of them will be to most

men an education. A long preliminary training is

indispensable to those who would turn to best

account the education imparted. The time occu-

pied in this will, however, be well expended, since

the information there placed at the student's dis-

posal is practically inexhaustible. Nowhere else

than in this volume can equal opportunities be found

of studying the latest developments of Africa, upon

which, for one cause or other, all eyes are now

greedily fixed ; and nowhere can so well be con-

templated the stature, size, and importance of the

empires that European nations have carved out.

Quite impossible is the task of conveying to the

reader an idea of the amount of information to be

reaped from the volume. So far as the index is

concerned, we have sought for obscure villages, and

have never failed to find them. We can but con-

gratulate the management upon the accomplish-

ment of an arduous and a national task, and the

subscribers upon the possession of a work of inex

haustible interest and value.

King Edward and his Court. By T. H. S. Escott.

(Fisher Unwin.)

MR. ESCOTT has quickly followed up his valuable work of reference, 'Gentlemen of the House of Commons,' by this entertaining and useful volume, ull of word-portraits of almost all those who have to do with politics or the Court. He does not bore is with a long preface, but at once opens chap. i. by giving the words of welcome accorded by the French press to the Heir-apparent on his visit to Paris in October, 1881 : " Behold the first cosmo- jolitan Prince of Wales produced by the reigning House of England." Mr. Escott s interesting jages include many subjects which have already Deeu discussed in ' N. & Q.' : the amusements in the early fifties, the Egyptian Hall, with Albert Smith's entertainment 'Mont Blanc,' the German Reeds at the Gallery of Illustration in Waterloo Place, with Parry as their colleague, succeeded by Corney Grain, who continued his well-known musical sketches till his death in 1895. The clubs of London and their origin are also treated. These include the Athenaeum, the Carl ton, and the Garrick, its first three meetings being held in Drury Lane Theatre ; its earliest domicile was Probatt's Hotel. 35, King Street, Coven t Garden. Here, February 13th, 1832, with the Duke of Sussex in the chair, the Garrick was opened with a dinner. Thackeray joined a year later, but Dickens not till the January of 1837. The transportation of convicts appears to have originated with the French, who supplied Cartier with prisoners to coloni/e America. Mr. Escott devotes a chapter to the subject of the fusing of English and French intellect, quoting Buckle's declaration that " the marriage of the French with the English intellect was the most important fact between 1700 and 1800," and in tracing its progress to the present time makes reference to Mr. J. E. C. Bodley s having " forged another link in the inter- national chain by his standard work on contem- porary France." Mr. Escott' s volume is well up to date, and includes a tribute to the preaching powers of the Rev. R. J. Campbell, the successor to Dr. Parker at the City Temple. The volume possesses a good index, and an excellent portrait of the author faces the title.

Qotittz to

We must call special attention to the following notices :

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*"

L. D. F. We have no List of Books.

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.