Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/200

 280 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. iv. SEPT. so, The volumes before us include the papers of three of the most noteworthy years of the reign. The execution of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the king's chief agent in the suppression of the monasteries, and the consequent religious reaction, fall within their limits. As the greater, part of these documents have never before oeen accessible except in manuscript, we need not dwell on their importance to the historian ; but it may not be out of place to direct attention to their value to the genealogist and the student of the very important questions connected with land tenure. The great amount of monastic property which was forfeited and rapidly changed hands has been frequently dwelt upon, but it is only recently that much consideration has been given to the vast estates of the nobles which from time to time passed to the Crown by the attainder of their possessors. Such violent and rapid changes were perhaps more in- fluential in breaking up the mediaeval organization of society than even the Wars of the Roses. No one knows the exact time when all bondmen had become free, as we now understand the word "free- dom," but it is highly improbable that serfdom existed to any serious extent, except on the rolls of manor courts and in the pages of law-books, after the middle of the sixteenth century. Murder, when done for political ends, was not in those days regarded with the horror that it is now; but we were not prepared for Mr. Gairdner's statement that it was well known that Henry was plotting the assassination of his cousin Reginald Pole. The cardinal was a brave man, and treated his own personal safety as a matter of minor importance." One of those engaged in this foul business'was Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet. Of this dark stain on his character Mr. Gairdner says " the evidence hardly allows of a doubt." There are numerous papers relating to the king's marriage and divorce from Anne of Cleves, but they do not add much to the information we already possess, except by snowing in colours perhaps a shade darker than before the shameless subserviency of the autho- rities, ecclesiastical and civil alike, to the will of the autocrat who held their lives in his hand. There are many papers relating to the charges against Queen Katherine Howard. Mr. Gairdner accepts these allegations as true, and there is cer- tainly no one whose opinion on the events of that terrible time ought to have greater weight. We confess, however, that having read all the docu- ments he gives relating to the unhappy woman, we have grave doubts as to the truth of the evidence. It seems to us to prove far too much, and to be too circumstantial. Perjury is by no means an un- natural solution. If this were so, the plot may have been organized to gratify the king, or it may have been a move on the part of their enemies to crush the influence of the house of Howard. AN illustrated shilling series of "Forgotten Children's Books" is to be issued at once by the Leaclenhall Press. The old type and quaint wood- cuts, the greyish paper with its innumerable specks of embedded dirt, and the gaudily coloured Dutch papers used in the binding, are to follow faithfully the originals of a century ago. The publishers' own title-page and remarks are to be relegated to the end of the volumes. The three promised are Mrs. Turner's amusing cautionary stories entitled ' The Daisy' (1807); the second series of cautionary stories, entitled 'The Cowslip' (1811); and 'A New Riddle Book by John the Giant Killer, Esquire' (1778). Others are to follow. THE Leadenhall Press will almost immediately issue Mr. Andrew Tuer's new volume of ' Stories from Old-fashioned Children's Books.' The wood- cuts in the originals, of which there are several hundred, are closely followed, and no photographic half-tone blocks are used. Instead of being in the fragmentary manner of Mr. Tuer's preceding volume, ' Forgotten Children's Books,' which had a large sale, the stories will be complete in themselves. The two volumes are quite independent of each other. AMONG Mr. David Nutt's forthcoming publica- tions are, we are glad to see, ' The Courtyer' of Count Baldessar Castilio, done into English by Thomas Hoby, 1561, and Urquhart and Motteux's 'Rabelais,' both to be included in "The Tudor Library." THE thirteenth volume of ' Book-Prices Current' will be published almost immediately. The editor furnishes an introduction, in which he records the characteristics of the sales of 1899, and furnishes a forecast of the tastes of collectors and of the prices of the future. AMONG the announcements of Messrs. Bell & Sons is 'French Painters of the Eighteenth Century,' by Lady Dilke, a work with twelve photogravure ilates and sixty-four illustrations in half-tone. 10 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 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. A. P. — Brou is in the Department of Ain, South-East France. The church of Notre Dame there was raised by Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) in memory of her second husband, Philibert II. of Savoy, whom she married in 1501. CORRIGENDUM. — P. 231, col. 2, 1. 12, for "ex- tremely " read extensively. NOTICK. 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. e i. i o For Twelve MniiMu For Six Month* ... ... 0 10 3