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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. v. A 14. iaoo.

got up in the interest of this particular Mary. I am bound to say that I remember (though my daughters do not) a Mary who had a lamb about 1829 or 1830. She was in the Child's Companion ;

or, Sunday Scholar's Reward Florence and Miss

MacArthur affirm that my Mary was Susan, and I have a dim notion that she was. But then they go on to quote ' Simple Susan ' and ' Attorney Case ' out of Miss Eclgeworth ; but mine is much simpler than that, in the Child's Companion. Edith further affirms that it was Mary whose lamb went to school,

CfJLol [AV OV TTLCTTO. XkyOVfTO."

M. C. L.

New York.

SIR JOHN WELD (9 th S. v. 229). He was appointed Town Clerk of London 11 James I. (1613), and discharged in 1642 for his loyalty to Charles I. By that king he was knighted 19 Sept., 1642, his son John receiving the like honour some three days later. Both father and son suffered keenly for their services to royalty, Sir John, senior, being fined 2,555/., and Sir John, junior, l,25l., although the latter was eventually reduced to 757Z. At the Restoration Sir John, senior, was restored to the place of Town Clerk of London, and held the same until his death or resignation, some six years later, his successor being appointed in 1667. Sir John, senior, was Sheriff of Salop in 1641-2, and either the senior or junior knight was Sheriff of Wilts in 1665-6. The precise dates of death of these two knights between whom it is often diffi- cult to distinguish would be acceptable. One of them usually said to be the son died 11 Sept., 1674 ; but I am inclined to think him the father, who would, however, then be of a great age. Sir John Weld, M.P. for Wenlock in 1678-9, was doubtless theyounger knight, W. D. PINK.

Leigh, Lancashire.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Burners History of my Own Time. Part I. Tin

Reign of Charles II. Edited by Osmund Airy

M.A. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) WE welcome with sincere pleasure the appearance of the second and concluding volume of the firs portion of Burnet's history of his own time. Tha portion, by general consent the most interesting, i occupied with the reign of Charles II. A supple mentary volume, supplying from the Harleian MSS the full text of Burnet's ' Characters,' together wit other matter, is promised. We would fain see continuation, comprising the portion of the wor dealing with the reign of James II. That, how ever, is not at present forthcoming, and will, i ever it appears, constitute a separate scheme. Th present edition of Burnet's greatest work is, c course, based upon that of Dr. Routh, President c Magdalen College, Oxford, issued in six volumes, wit

otes by " Speaker" Onslow and others, in 1823, and jprinted ten years later. The text has now been sllated with the original MS. in the Bodleian y Mr. W. D. Macray, and the variations, due to everal causes, and notably to Burnet's desire to often asperities, are, with unimportant exceptions, uly noted. In its present shape the work is autho- 'tative, and probably, as regards this and the illowing generation, ' final. Owing to the pro- ecu tion of research, chiefly under the Historical Manuscripts Commission, complete finality is not o be hoped. As is mentioned in the second volume, ince the whole of the notes were in type there

i J..LCUII.I.U..A. \o<_/^ JLI. A/ Vtf. , if kj. 11.. ^Or/;, UULll (JO/SL-

ig a strong light upon Burnet himself and the poch with which he deals. The majority of the otes of Onslow and Dartmouth are retained, those f Swift which do not consist of mere abuse and bscenity are given, and a few explanatory words,
 * idicated by square brackets, together with further

.otes by the latest editor, are supplied. A valuable eature is the presence throughout of marginal eferences to the folio edition, which has been enerally used by preceding historians, and to the Bodleian MS.

Political animosities ran high during the period ft'hen Burnet wrote, and his work and him- elf have been the subject of persistent and venomous attack. This need cause little surprise. Much of the information Burnet supplies he derived it second hand, and historians, from Herodotus downward, have been to some extent at the mercy >f their informants. Inaccuracies in abundance ire, accordingly, to be found. Harsh and censorious n judgment, and not too loyal in his treatment of /hose who had once been his friends or allies, Burnet went on making enemies and converting into foes those whom at one time he had most favourably mpressed. He forfeited the patronage, at one- time warmly accorded, of Charles II. and the Duke of York, subsequently James II. ; converted into an implacable enemy the Duke of Lauderdale ; and was, through his own action, on the worst terms with his brother ecclesiastics. These things he has survived. The rancorous animosity of Swift has been no more successful in putting down the autho- rity of Burnet than was the peevish malignity of Pope in writing down Cibber as an ass. To the student of history in the most interesting period of our national development Burnet is still indis- pensable, while his work, though he is far from being a stylist, may be read with gratification. It course, useless, in the few columns we can

eng

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devote to a summary of current literature and to the reissue of works of importance, to attempt a fresh estimate of Burnet. His work, however, for the light it casts upon the period with which he deals, stands next in importance to that of Clarendon. Nowhere else, except in republications by the Camden Society and other printing clubs, do we get so close an insight into the persecutions in Scotland and to the difficulties generally between prelatist and Covenanter. What, of course, arrests and rewards attention is the series of characters of the more important historical personages. These are not free from bias. We hesitate to charge Burnet with conscious malignity or intentional injustice. His convictions, however, changed with changing conditions, and, like a famous minister of recent times, he was easily able to convince himself