Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/266

 260

NOTES AND QUERIES. & s. m. APRIL i,

valley of the Euphrates as the original home of the signs of the zodiac and of various others of the ancient constellation - figures. The present volume is mainly concerned with the Hellenic his- tory of the signs, including their place in the art of the various nations with whom the earlier Greeks came into contact, and concludes with a notice of the Grseco-Babylonian period of Seleucus and his successors. In a second it is proposed to trace the constellation-figures backwards from the era of Alexander to their first appearance in the dawn of history. Mr. Brown has gone into the matter very elaborately and with great wealth of illustration, which cannot fail to render his work of high interest to the student of ancient literature and science.

Bygone Church Life in Scotland. Edited by William

Andrews. (Andrews & Co.)

LIKE some previous volumes of the "Bygone Series," ' Bygone Church Life in Scotland ' is com- piled by various authorities, and edited by Mr. Andrews. The Rev. Geo. S. Tyack writes on ' The Cross in Scotland' and on 'Discipline in the Kirk,' Mr. Thomas Frost on 'Saints and Holy Wells' and ' Church Music,' the Rev. R. Wilkins Rees on ' Curiosities of Church Finance ' and ' Witchcraft and the Kirk,' and so forth. Familiar enough to the majority of our readers are the subjects treated, but many interesting things are depicted, and much amusing gossip is supplied. The gentleman who asked in the last number concerning Jeanie Geddes (see ' Notices to Correspondents,' ante, p. 240) will find, as is there said, all needful explanation concern- ing this froward, if pious matron, under the heading 'The Story of a Stool.' There are few readers, indeed, who will not find something to their taste, and none who will not derive amusement from a perusal of the volume. Illustrations of spots of interest, including Glasgow Cathedral, and of objects of antiquity add to its attraction.

Memoir of W. Sparrow Simpson, D.D. By W. J. S.

Simpson, M.A. (Longmans & Co.) A SIMPLE and unpretentious memoir of an old and valued correspondent of ' N. & Q.' has been com- piled by the Rev. W. J. Sparrow Simpson, with filial piety and with becoming brevity. The domestic and clerical sides of Dr. Sparrow Simp- son's winning personality as here brought into view will be new to most men, yet it appears that it is to the taste and enthusiasm of the late Succentor of St. Paul's, who was an ardent Churchman, that the acknowledged excellence of the musical part of the services there is very largely due. The work which he was able to perform for our great City cathe- dral during his long connexion with it, first as Minor Canon and then as Sub-Dean and Librarian, will ever constitute a permanent claim to public gratitude. During the thirty-five years of his librarianship he simply wrought a revolution in the Cathedral library. He made it the ambition of his life to get together from every quarter all such books, pamphlets, tracts, and views as had any bearing on the building or diocese in which his interests were centred " a valuable mass of material," as he was justified in calling it. During his tenure of office the number of volumes, which had been accumulating for one hundred and fifty years, considerably more than doubled itself, and this immense collection he himself classified and catalogued. The three volumes of papers and glean- ings about old St. Paul's which he produced from

time to time as the outcome of his studies wei welcomed by antiquaries and will retain their valu< The very touching and beautiful words from h; last testament with which this volume closes spea eloquently of the devout and humble spirit of good man, who did his work quietly and ur ostentatiously.

WE have received with pleasure the record of th winter meetings and summer excursions of th Upper Norwood Athenaeum during 1897-8. Th plan of this society is excellent. The members devot a series of Saturday afternoons to visiting places c historical interest. One of the members havin previously prepared a paper on the place to b visited, the excursion is taken, and at the clos of the day the paper is read and discussed. Th places selected last year are full of suggestion, an< include Whitehall Palace, Stoke Poges, Petei borough, Claremont, and many others. We notic a quaint inscription, which Mr. Daniel Stock ha copied in his paper on Aldenham, taken from tomb in the church of St. John the Baptist. It i to the memory of John Robinson, died 1674, age< twenty-four years :

Death parts the dearest lovers for a while, And makes them mourn who only used to smile, But after death our unmixed love shall tye Eternal knots between my love and I. J. R. The following inscription is below a female figuri in a shroud, with a label issuing from her mouth inscribed "Sarah Smith": I, Sarah Smith, whom them didst love alone, For thy dear sake have laid this marble stone. ' The Record ' is carefully edited by Mr. J. Stanlej and Mr. W. F. Harradence.

to

We must call special attention to the following notices :

ON all communications must be written the nam( 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 rule. 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. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate."

R. STEGGALL ("Catskin Earls"). The origin of this expression has been fully explained in 'N. &Q.' See 4 th S. v. 295 ; 5 th S. vi. 214 ; viii. 308 ; ix. 214 ; 7 th S. ix. 314, 393, 435, 512.

A'O TICK.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' "Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher "- at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.G. 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.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION BY POST.

. d.

106

.. 10 3

For Twelve Months For Six Months ...