Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/507

 s. xii. DEC. 19, i9oa] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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notes and comments add to the utility of the work. A glossary of ballad commonplace is a new and striking feature. On this, did space permit, < we could make some comment, and we commend it to those of our readers who are philologists. When of a sword we hear that a man "dried it on his sleeve" or " straiked it o'er a strae," we would observe that this is still seen. Murderers or combatants in burlesque imitate the action of "straiking" the sword on a floor covered with straw or rushes before proceeding to fight. We shall look with anxiety for the following volumes of what will surely be the best popular edition in existence.

Grace Book B. Part I. Edited for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society by Mary Bateson. (Cam- bridge, University Press.)

THIS volume is the second of a series which com- memorates the late Dr. Luard, who was Registrary (such is the Cambridge form, not " Registrar ") of the University from 1862 to 1891. The volume con- sists of brief notes made by the proctors in Latin year after year from 1488 to 1511. These notes con- cern almost entirely admissions to'degrees, fees, and expenses. There is an excellent index, and the whole affords a most interesting insight into the University at a time of which little has been written and comparatively little is known. The introduction brings out clearly the chief points of interest. The list of books deposited as cautions is steadily dreary to-day, being almost entirely concerned with mediaeval philosophy and theology ; a Latin Plato is the only classical book mentioned. We hear of the first negotiations with the Lady Margaret who was to take so important a part in Cambridge history by founding Christ's College in 1505 and St. John's College in 1511. Bishop Fisher it was who secured her patronage and who appears as Proctor in 1494-5. Folios 67-70 (four, surely, not three, as the introduction says) are missing here, but we find on the next page Wisher's accounts for breakfast before going to Greenwyshe (Greenwich) to dine with Lady Margaret, boat thither and back, servants' dinner and supper. Letters, which were sealed with red wax, were written for the University chiefly by Caius Auberinus, and later by a Vicar of Trumpington who is unidentified. Now such duties would, we suppose, fall to the Public Orator of the University. This was a period of depression, and patrons to supply funds were much wanted. In 1506 Erasmus was, we recall, teaching Greek in Cambridge, though details of his stay are not known, and we find this same year a " facultas incipiendi in theo- logia" granted to him. He soon left his work, and we dare say that, as on a later visit, he discovered, in his own significant words, that "nothing could be extracted from the naked."

There were town-and-gown rows in these days, a prominent fishmonger being injured, and free fights between the various hostels and colleges. For two nights the recently founded college of Christ's fought the students of the Hostel of St. Nicholas, the proctors putting down as their expenses a*. 8d. and 2s. 5d. We presume that this Hostel of St. Nicholas was one of the establishments now merged in King's College. A note in such cases might be conveniently added at the bottom of the page or in the index ; modern representatives of old foundations might be added in brackets. No doubt the Cambridge Antiquarian Society know

these things, but they should make their admirable research more available to the public by reasonable annotation of such highly interesting volumes as this. Ihere might, too, be a brief vocabulary of late Latin terms used, which will be searched for in vain in ordinary dictionaries, and will certainly be unknown to a good many who have had what is called a classical education.

The index, at any rate, is all that could be desired and its use will save some confusions and doubts due to erratic spelling and absence of capital letters. We look forward with pleasure to the appearance of Part II. of this 'Grace Book,' which goes down to 1549.

Chelsea Old Church. By Randall Davies, F.S.A. With a Preface by Herbert P. Home. (Duck- worth & Co.)

WE heartily recommend to archaeologists this admirable volume on a most interesting topic. All concerned with families any member of which died in Chelsea before the nineteenth century should consult the book. It deals also with such topics as the last resting-place of Sir Thomas More, and others which have been discussed in the pages of 'N. Q.'

Who's Who, 1904. (A. & C. Black.)

Who's Who Year-Book, 1904. (Same publishers.) IN spite of an accident which seemed to menace the production of the coming year's issue of 'Who's Who,' the new volume makes its appear- ance with what may be regarded as exemplary punctuality. Little is to be added to what has previously been said about this annual, which is, perhaps, to all concerned with literature, art, science, and society, the most indispensable of works of reference. We ourselves make more constant and habitual use of it than of any other work of its class, and cannot recall an occasion when our application has been infructuous. In consequence of the augmenting extent of the bio- graphies a few of which are, perhaps through personal vanity, a trifle excessive, though the fault, on the whole, is on the right side the tables which have hitherto formed a preliminary part of the volume are now issued separately as the veyed in this is also indispensable.
 * Who 's Who Year-Book.' The information con-

Whitaker's Almanack, 1904.

' WHITAKER' maintains its supremacy, and remains an indispensable guide to the editor, the student, the man of affairs, and all connected with the world's progress. One of numerous features of interest in the latest volume is the space devoted to education.

Whitaker's Peerage for 1904.

THIS still constitutes the cheapest and readiest of guides to the titled classes. So thoroughly up to date is it that the lamented death of Lord Rowton is recorded, and the Rowton peerage is chronicled as extinct. Within its seven to eight hundred pages is, in convenient form, all that the average man seeks to know.

Photoyrams of the Year (Dawbarn & Ward) not only keeps up the fine record of the advance of art, but also supplies numerous designs worthy of preser- vation, and useful, we should suppose, for purposes of extra-illustration. We anticipate with pleasure^ the appearance of each successive volume.