Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/47

 9" s. ix. JAK. 11, 1902.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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plate, from a MS. in the British Museum, depicting the Duke of Orleans a prisoner in the Tower, a striking, vivid, and characteristic presentation of mediaeval life as it showed itself to the illuminating scribe. Following this comes a vivid picture of the Tower and the river as both are seen under the conditions, atmospheric and other, of to-day. Forty photogravures, sixteen blocks, and a couple of plans are given in the present volume. Most of them are views of the Tower and its appurtenances. The portraits include Anne Boleyn, Fisher (Bishop of Rochester), Sir Thomas More, his daughter Mar- garet Roper (as is supposed) the last three from drawings by Holbein Bloody Mary, Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley (by Lucas van Heere), Lady Jane Grey (from Holbein), Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (by Joannes Corvus), and Robert, Earl of Essex. In addition there are many presentations of ancient armour and an accurate representation of the block and axe. In their fidelity and beauty these designs render the work unique in its class, a fine historical monument, and a book which all lovers of English annals will be bound to possess. Lord Ronald has done his work well, his chapters vii. to xi. inclusive, dealing with the Tudor monarchs, being especially well written and effective. We are not greatly impressed by the parallel he institutes between Sir Thomas More and Mr. Gladstone, and still less by some further comparisons in which he indulges. Should not the Sir Henry Ellice whom at p. 144 he couples with Froude the historian as an authority on Tudor MSS. be Sir Henry Ellis? 1-t seems implied (p. 170) that the title of Lord Sudley (Thomas, Lord Sey- mour of Sudley, Lord High Admiral of England) and that of Lord Sudeley were, iu the days of Edward VI., the same. Lord Ronald should be an authority on the subject, but we knew not the fact he advances. To the charge brought against the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey of quarter- ing upon their family shield the arms of Edward the Confessor we may advance the assertion (9 th S. viii. 495) that Edward the Confessor belongs to a time when arms were not borne in England. We have more to say concerning Lord Ronald's inter- esting and valuable volume, but must wait till his second volume, for which we look with anxiety, brings the indispensable index.

Modern English Biography. By Frederick Boase. Vol. ill. R Z. (Truro, Netherton & Worth.) As we anticipated, Mr. Frederick Boase was not able to complete within the nineteenth century what is practically a supplement to the biogra- phical records of its latter half. One additional year has had to be accorded him for the discharge of his onerous and responsible task, and the close of 1901 saw the completed work in the hands of the subscribers. The appearance of each separate part has been chronicled (see 8 th S. i. 345 ; xi. 440). MB. RALPH THOMAS (8 th S. i. 487) bore also a tribute to the importance of the work then begun (and now achieved), and gave a half promise, still unredeemed, to supply further comment upon it. We are glad to see within the period we ourselves judged indispensable the completion of a work the utility of which to all concerned in historical, political, and genealogical pursuits cannot easily be over- estimated. Two hundred and fifty copies in all have been printed. As there are more than five hundred public libraries, the absence from which of a book of this kind should count as

a reproach, we shall be justified in the assumption that the book, except to those who have secured a copy or are in the neighbourhood of a library on the shelves of which it rests, is now inaccessible. It is at least to be presumed that it will shortly become so, and those who cannot already boast its possession are counselled at once to obtain it.

Turning over incidentally pages naturally in- tended for consultation rather than perusal, we come on the names of many dear and distinguished friends. One of the first is W. R. S. Ralston, the famous Russian scholar, found dead in his bed in 1889. Then follow William Brighty Rands (the Matthew Browne of ' Chaucer's England,' an ex- quisite and but half-recognized writer), Charles Reade. his nephew William Winwood Reade, John Edmund Reade, Robert Reece, Alfred German Reed (the entertainer), Sir Charles Reed, Henry Reeve (editor of the Edinburgh JReview), Henry Robert Reynolds (of Cheshunt) and his brother Sir John Russell Reynolds, James Rice (collaborator with Sir Walter Besant), Col. Alfred Bate Richards (of Volunteer fame), Sir Benjamin Ward Richard- son, F.R.S., Sir Matthew White Ridley, David Roberts, R.A., with his constant friend and asso- ciate in life and art Clarkson Stantield, R.A., Thomas William Robertson, Thomas Frederick Robson (actor), Lord Romilly (Master of the Rolls) and Hugh Hastings Romilly (explorer and writer), James Anderson Rose (collector), Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, and Clara Marion Jessie Rousby, known as the beautiful Mrs. Rousby. These names, taken with a solitary exception from the first letter in the volume, and consisting, also with a solitary exception, of those with whom we had more or less association or intimacy, convey an idea of the class with whom the three volumes are principally concerned. Some others such, for in- stance, as Peter Robinson, draper are well known to the public, though without claim to literary, artistic, or social recognition. It is, however, in connexion with people obscure enough to escape inclusion in general biographical dictionaries that a work of this class is specially useful. The lives run from about a fifth of a column to a column ; in one or two cases, as that of George Augustus Sala, they are slightly over a column. All accessible facts of birth, paternity, descent, occupation, works, death, and sepulture are supplied, and for immediate reference the work is, in its line, the best we possess. Being so nearly up to date, it all but serves, so far as England is concerned, the pur- poses of a dictionary such as that of Vapereau. It at any rate leaves far behind works such as 'Men of the Time' and 'Men of the Day.' We are happy in commending the completed work to our readers. Whatever their occupation or pursuit, it can scarcely fail to be useful to them. An ample index facilitates reference, and indicates uses, not always obvious, to which the work may be put.

Art Sales of the Year 1901. Edited by J. Herbert

Slater. (Virtue & Co.)

EMBOLDENED by the conspicuous success which has attended his 'Book-Prices Current,' a work which, in the course of little over a dozen years, has developed into one of the most prized of biblio- graphical possessions, Mr. Slater has, not unnatur- ally, essayed to do for pictures and prints what he has previously done for books. The result of his efforts is the work before us, the sub-title of which