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NOTES' AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. SEPT. 28, 1001.

Matthew Arnold. Canon Ainger writes with customary tact and grace on George Du Maurier. Mr. Sidney Low is responsible for Lord Randolph Churchill, Prof. Beeching for Dean Church, Mr. E V. Lucas for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). Dr. Norman Moore for Sir Andrew Clark, Mr. C. H. Read for Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, the Rev. W. Hunt for E. A. Freeman, and Mr. A. F. Pollard for James Anthony Froude. We are able to mention the more important lives only, but did space permit there are scores of other lives to which we should turn. Among contributors to our own pages we notice Henry S. Ashbee, E. L. Blanch- ard, Edward Bradley (Cuthbert Bede), Richard Copley Christie, and very many others. Scarcely a page is there to which we turn without the temp- tation to expatiate. But the narrowness of our space is prohibitive of such indulgence. We content our- selves accordingly with congratulating the editor upon his all but completed labour, and affirming that the high quality of workmanship conspicuous from the outset is maintained to the close.

Transactions of the Leicestershire Architectural and Archaeological Society. Vol. IX. Part I. (Leicester, Clarke & Satchell.)

COL. G. C. BELLAIRS has contributed an account of a most curious discovery made at Higham-on-the- Hill. The tenant of a farm at that place was desirous of removing a hillock in one or his fields for the purpose of filling up a pit in another part of the farm. This little hill had, according to the engraving annexed, much the appearance of a circular barrow. When the work was done it appears that no relics indicating interments were come upon, but in the centre was discovered a wooden cross, eighteen feet long, with a transverse bar about one-third of the way from the head, which measured sixteen feet. This cross was pierced by large oblong openings, three in the shaft and two in the arms. It is to be noted that it was lying due east and west. No nails or bolts for the purpose of fastening the two pieces together were found. They may have been retained in position by a rope, which when buried would soon decay, or the cross piece may only have been laid athwart the shaft without any fastening whatever What^was the object of burying this is not clear. Was it a relic of pre-Christian times, or the remains of an early preaching-cross used by Catholic missionaries ? From its form we are led to believe that it is Christian, and would suggest (but only as a mere guess) that the place where it was found may have been dedicated to heathen rites, and that the cross was buried in the mound for the purpose of sanctifying it or driving away the evil spirits which were believed to haunt the spots that had been devoted to the old worship. Another suggestion has occurred to us. Can this cross have been buried in the pasture for the pur- pose of preserving animals from the ravages of one of the frequent cattle plagues which in medi- eval days so sorely troubled the English farmer? A plate from a photograph is given of the Roman pavement recently discovered near St. Nicholas's Church, Leicester. It is somewhat smudgy, but con- veys a fair idea of what was once a beautiful work of art. The centre panel, unfortunately mutilated is decorated by what in the language of heraldry would be described as a peacock in his pride. About half the number is occupied by Mr. Henry Hartopp's calendar of Leicestershire administra-

tion bonds, extending from 1600 to 1649. We need not dwell on the great service this compilation must render to genealogists.

AMONG the notes and answers published in recent numbers of the Intermediate are several communications relating to that vexed question, the former existence or non-existence of the sup- posed seigneurial right known as the jus primce noctis or the droit de marquette. Other notes treat of heraldic mottoes which express pride and arro- gance a wide subject, for the haughty feudal families of mediaeval Europe were apt to indulge in boastful devises.

THE Antiquary for September is up to the usual standard in most respects, but it is to be regretted that by some oversight the editor has permitted the author of a paper on ' Pagan Myths and Chris- tian Figures ' to make use of an undue number of superstitions already brought together by another writer in an earlier number of the magazine. A comparison of the article in question with the ' Death - Dove and its Congeners ' (published in April, 1895) will reveal an amount of repetition which cannot be regarded as permissible. No doubt it is a common practice among folk-lorists to requisition beliefs that have already been quoted and requoted, in illustration of the subject they are dealing with, but it is unusual to reprint them, with but slightly altered form, in the periodical from whose pages they have been "lifted."

THE fifteenth volume of ' Book-Prices Current will contain an unusual number of entries. Many of the books recorded have never appeared in the work since its commencement. The total value of the books sold has also reached the highest amount during the last fifteen years.

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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."

T. S. ("Sadie"). After the Marquis de Sade, a bloodthirsty and licentious French writer of the close of the eighteenth century.

P. M. ("The Comparison of Proper Names"). Very witty, but too personal for insertion.

NOTICE.

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