Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/168

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. FEB. 24, 1900.

handiwork ; but in a few parts, as in the woods of Bonnyside, the remains of the quadruple line are excellently preserved, though the external appear- ances give small indication of the primitive shape of the work. Of singular interest are the walling tablets, of which eighteen have been found in the stations or on the line of the vallum, describing the portions of the work executed by the various legions. At Bridgeness, on the Firth of Forth, supposed to mark the eastern extremity of the vallum, was a tablet, now in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh, saying how under "the Emperor Csesar Titus JElius Hadrian Anton ine, the August, the Pious, the Father of his Country, the 2nd Legion, the August, did (the work of the vallum for) 4,652 paces." A second tablet, found at Castlecary, and now in the Hunterian Museum, declares, "The first cohort of the Tungrians did (the work of the vallum for) 1,000 (paces), and sub- sequently tells how a vexillation of the 20th Legion, the Victorious, did 3,000 paces, and so forth. Almost all begin with a dedication to the Emperor Anto- ninus Pius. A tablet with the name of Quintus Lollius Urbicus serves as a frontispiece to the volume. Another object of great interest, dis- covered accidentally by the plough in 1895, is an altar to Silvanus, of which also an illustration is given, together with a full description by Mr. Haver- tield, F.S.A. As filled out the text gives, " Erected to the god Silvanus by Caristanius lustianus, prsefect of the First Cohort of Hamii, in willing payment of a vow." We must needs close here. To Scottish antiquaries and historians the work done by the Society is well known. English archaeo- logists may be less well informed. It is to be hoped that funds to complete investigations so earnestly undertaken and so competently executed will not be withheld.

A Kipling Primer. By Frederic L. Knowles.

(Chatto & Windus.)

THE extraordinary vogue of Mr. Kipling is shown by the existence of, and presumably the call for, such volumes as this. A "Primer" has seldom, we think, been devoted to a living author's work before. In this case it is a sort of premature and potted biography, provided with a bibliography of the already intricate scheme of the author's writings. The references to critical articles are useful; the writer's own contributions of the sort are not of much note. There are a good many brief assorted scraps of opinion tacked on to the short account of each story of the author's. Such samples are, we have noticed, a favourite form of American literary nutriment. Thebook is, in fact, American inits origin, and this will limit its value over here. We are not referred, for instance, to Messrs. Macniillan's edi- tion of ' The Day's Work,' which is the only one current in England, but to an American issue. And surely the bibliography should add, under a heading like ' The Day's Work,' the list of separate stories comprised in that volume. Otherwise, since the stories are capriciously named, it is difficult to find them in the alphabetical list, if one forgets their exact title. Opinions are printed from such various authorities as the Boston Congregationalist, Mr. Gosse, a " Brattleboro Visitor," and the Athe- na* um. " Personalia " abound, often of a trivial sort. The mention of the services of Mr. Kipling's wife's maternal grandfather to the Mikado of Japan is likely to raise a smile. Fame is a capricious thing. Tennyson is fabled to_have been known merely as a

" gent out of the Temple." Mr. Kipling, it is clear, will never be so ignorantly described, for his merits are blazoned abroad in all sorts of likely and un- likely places, such as a Sunday-school magazine and a commentary on ^Eschylus.

King John and The Winter's Tale constitute the latest additions to the dainty little "Chiswick Shakespeare" (Bell & Sons), the text of which is that of the Cambridge edition. Like the preceding volumes, each of these plays has a glossary and a few serviceable notes, with some striking and well- executed designs.

WE have received the issues for 1900 of Willing'* Press^ Guide, (125, Strand) and The Argus Guide to Municipal London (the Office, 8, New Bridge Street). The Press, both provincial and metropolitan, is very fully represented in the former. We imagine that "Novitates Geological" should be Geological on p. 122. The Sphere and the Spear are both included. ' The Argus Guide ' will be doing a great service if it calls the attention of Londoners to the government of their own city, a point they are culpably careless about.

MB. G. LAURENCE GOMME has compiled an Index of Archaeological Papers published in 1898, which is issued by Messrs. A. Constable & Co. Such compact sources of information in a small compass are highly useful, and we thank Mr. Gomme for his careful and laudable work.

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."

W. T. ("Tennyson Quotation"). You will find the passage in the ' Ode sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition,' part v. ('Works,' one- vol. ed., p. 223).

SENGA (" Derivation of Tramway"). The deriva- tion is nonsense, as a study of ' N. & Q.' will show. 8 th S. iii. 96, 373, will probably suffice.

CORRIGENDUM. P. 46, col. 2, 1. 32, for "Lodo wich " read Lodowick.

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