66 PROPOSED EMENDATION IN ASCHAM (11 dwellers by the sea of earlier days, for some S. vii. 445).As having some bearing on such as the " creeper (Nereis virens), the subject under discussion, while not the white rag worm (Nephthys caeca), esca of the materially affecting the point at issue, and Nereis cultrifera, the reference may be made to the juncus artic- Neapolitans-make excellent bait for cod, ulatus, the Scottish spratt" or sprett." whiting, wrasse, bream, and other fishes. This is a jointed leaved rush, useful for fodder, JAMES RITCHIE. which grows on marshy ground, although not necessarily a water plant. That is, it is not inevitably associated with running or even with visible water, although there is usually abundance of moisture beneath the surface on which it appears. In this connexion readers of Burns will at once recall his famous song, Green grows the Rashes, O.' The poet likewise refers to the presence of spratts where little, if any, water may be supposed to affect their development. Thus he makes his farmer, saluting his old mare on New Year's morning, recall how she pulled the plough through stiff places, SCOLOPENDRAS (11 S. vii. 347, 410).The fact that Pliny and many of his successors have described the marine scolopendra as a creature whose habit is, "when she has swallowed a hook, to cast up all her guts within, untill she hath discharged her selfe of the said hooke, and then she suppeth them in again,' 'CRITICAL REVIEW,' 1756 (11 S. vii. 389). According to The Alphabetical List of Sales,' by Walter S. Graves, in W. Y. Fletcher's English Book Collectors' (1902), John Nichols's library was sold in three parts: by Sotheby in April and May, 1828, and by Sotheby & Wilkinson in July, 1856. In the same list will be found the dates at which the library of his son, John Bowyer Nichols, and that of his grandson, John Gough Nichols, were sold, viz., May and December, 1864, and December, 1874, and EDWARD BENSLY. April, 1879. John Nichols's library was sold by Mr. Kingdom when speaking to one another, probably more so in the North of England than in the South. Among Friends in America. who outnumber those in this country by some six to one, it is, I believe, almost universal. Around Philadelphia it 66 appears on the face of it to indicate a fabu-is almost de rigueur; that is, no one would lous creature, as C. C. B. surmises. But on the supposition that Scolopendra marina is a worm of the family Nereidæ, the statement is capable of a simple explanation. In the Nereids and other Polychaet worms the anterior portion of the food canal consists of a well-developed buccal cavity succeeded by a pharynx armed with strong. horny jaws. These parts are thrust forward and everted while the creature is feeding, so that the jaws, instead of being concealed within the body, as in a state of rest, project at its tip. The seemingly unnatural eversion of the anterior of the food canal might readily be exaggerated into a "casting up of all her guts within"; the more so as the phenome. non frequently succeeds any irritation to which the worm is subjected, as when it is being narcotized with weak alcohol. Nereid worms, many of which live between tide-marks, must have been well known to be considered a consistent Friend who said EDWARD GRubb. PINKSTAN JAMES (11 S. vii. 470).-Accord-advise, and without book-learning to assist him. ing to a pedigree in The Pedigree Register After passing a few years dependent solely on his for June, 1907, the mother of Pinkstan with just half-a-crown in his pocket, and, after own labours, he reached London in May, 1783, James was Anne, sister of John Stephens. nine months' quill-driving in a lawyer's office, HENRY B. SWANZY. enlisted in the 54th Foot. He spent a year at Chatham, where he mastered Lowth's Grammar, and read through a whole lending library. He served as sergeant-major in New Brunswick, and on his return, having saved one hundred and He married in 1792, and went to France to get fifty guineas, received a most flattering discharge PETER BARROW (11 S. vii. 429).-Peter Barrow, Consul at Kertch, 8 March, 1866, retired on pension 11 Jan., 1880; died at Onistreham, Calvados, 6 Oct., 1899 (Times, 11 Oct., 1899, p. 1). FREDERIC BOASE. THE SIGN OF THE DRIPPING-PAN (11 S. vii. 447).—It may be of interest to mention that the cricket-ground at Lewes, Sussex, is called the Dripping-Pan," probably from the peculiarity of its formation. 66 Junior Athenæum Club. CECIL CLARKE. Notes on Books. out of a court-martial on three of his late officers whom he had charged with peculation. Si months afterwards he left for America, where he taught English to French refugees. In 1864, when he returned to England, William Windham declared in the House of Commons "that a statue of gold ought to be erected in his honour, as the Champion of England in America and the opponent of France.' On the 7th of August a dinner was given to him, at which Pitt, Canning, and Hookham Frere were present: and on the 30th of October, looking round for some employment that would provide him with means to support his family, he published the first number of The Porcupine. Cobbett broke The Life and Letters of William Cobbett. By with the ministerial party on the subject of the Lewis Melville. 2 vols. (John Lane.) MR. MELVILLE has in this 'Life of Cobbett' shown the same care and industry as he bestowed on what must be considered the standard life of Thackeray. Cobbett is allowed to tell his story in his own words, the best form of biography, although to carry this out successfully means an immense amount of labour to the compiler. Mr. Melville has had the advantage of basing this memoir mainly upon unpublished correspondence. Although there have been earlier biographies of Cobbett, none of the writers has made any considerable use of his letters. With Cobbett there was no occasion for the prayer that he might have a good conceit of himself, for, as his biographer records, although "it must never be forgotten that there was in him a substratum of sound common sense, it is verily William Cobbett first, and the rest nowhere." If in the realms of vanity he was almost unequalled, vanity was his worst fault. industry was wonderful, and his capacity for His work has never been exceeded: "One of the most voluminous writers the world has ever known, he worked week after week, month after month, year after year, without interruption." He was never weary, and through all his troubles and losses he was always in spirits," and nothing pulled him down." While he enjoyed his food, he knew not the pleasures of the table. "I have not during my life spent more than thirty five minutes a day at table." His practice was "to eat little, and to drink nothing that intoxicates." "He that eats till he is full is little better than a beast, and he that drinks till he is drunk is quite a beast." His ideas about fiction would not suit the lending libraries of the present day, for he deprecated romances of every description: "It is impossible they can do any good, and they may do a great deal of harm." Among lives of writers, that of Cobbett must be reckoned one of the most romantic. When only eleven years old, he was thrown on the world without money to support, without friends to Peace of Amiens, and of all his political friends In this rural retreat we find an altogether different man from the truculent Cobbett of political life. domestic Cobbett is invariably charming." As Leslie Stephen put it, The the vivid descriptions we have of him, he seen> From: to be present before us, with his unfailing goodhumour and good spirits, and sunburnt, with a bright sinile, and an air cona tall, stout man, fa`r pounded of the soldier and the farmer, to which the habit of wearing an eternal red waistco; t contributed not a little." brimmed white hat, a little on one side, an He wore a "broad thrown back so as to give the fullest view his shrewd though bluff countenance, and hi. keen cold-looking eye." All in his househol loved him, and his servants said "they would never wish to serve a better master." He was always planning improvements, not only on his own estate, but outside it, and, to the great joy of his eldest daughter, as it would make this place more lively," he made a turnpike road from Gosport to Winchester, through Botley. In Mr. Melville's second volume we have an account of his prosecution by the Government on account of his strictures on the flogging of English militiamen by German mercenaries, of the coolness with which he bore his two years' imprisonment, and of his release in July, 1812, when he was entertained at dinner by six hundred of his admirers under the presidency of Sir Francis Burdett. It was not until 1832 that his ambition to sit in Parliament was fulfilled-when he was returned for Oldham. It is curious to read that John Bright, who was a candidate, secured only 153 votes. Attendance at the House affected his health. He spoke in favour of the repeal of the malt duties on the 16th of March, and on the 12th of May presented petitions for the repeal of the "cursed Poor Law Act. On the 25th he made "a powerful speech supporting Lord Chandos's motion, on Agricultural Distress, in which he urged Parliament to take the matter in hand. This was his last appearance. The following morning he went to Normandy Farm, never again to leave it alive." Hard at work to the last, within a few days of his death he was dictating from his bed articles for the Register, and on the day before he died he insisted on being carried round his farm to see how work was progressing. On the afternoon of the following day, the 18th of June (there is a slight slip here, July" being given), he peacefully passed to his rest. At the end of the second volume is the Bibliography of first editions which was so carefully compiled by Mr. Melville, and appeared in N. & Q.' during July and August of last year. The volumes contain many illustrations, including J. R. Smith's fine portrait of Cobbett and ten of Gillray's caricatures. There are also portraits of O'Connell, Peel, and William Windham, and a picture of the tomb at Farnham. The paper, print, and entire get-up of the two handsome volumes are creditable to printer and publisher alike. The Loss of Normandy (1189-1204): Studies in the History of the Angevin Empire. By F. M. Powicke. (Manchester University Press.) HISTORICAL students have for some years been made aware that Prof. Powicke was engaged in the study of the Angevin Empire by the publication of a remarkable series of papers on various subjects connected with it, and the fruit of his labours is now before them in this valuable volume, which combines in a marked degree the acumen of the scholar with the practised skill of the expositor and writer. The book is furnished with every apparatus for study, and is very fully documented. In his first chapter the author recounts the early history of the Counts of Anjou, and, with the aid of an orographical map, shows the commanding position of Tours between the Ile de France and Normandy on one side and Aquitaine on the other, while hinting at the influence of the Chansons du Geste in nourishing that idea of a united France which lay behind the life work of Philip Augustus. From this we pass on in the second chapter to a consideration of the diversities in the political | condition of the various parts of Henry II.'s empire, and the way in which he attempted to insist on the unity of such differing states as Anjou, Aquitaine, and Gascony. A study of the administration of Anjou, of Poitou, of Angoulême, and of Gascony winds up the chapter, and indicates the way in which the government of a manor by an absent lord was extended to these wide dominions. The third chapter, which treats of the administration of Normandy, will be of the greatest value to students of the origin of English institutions, especially of English law. In many respects Normandy was more advanced in civilization than England; the power of the duke was greater and more direct, and the rights of his subjects. as against him restricted. The next three chapters tell the story of the war between Philip Augustus and Richard and John and of the final loss of Normandy in a very clear and well-written narrative. Chap. vii. describes the building and uses of the Norman Castle, with especial reference to the part it played in war, and an appendix gives some detailed particulars as to the cost of Château-Gaillard. The war and finance of the Norman State is the next subject of consideration, and here we see the transformation of the direct feudal relation between duke and barons into a less personal one, where the King is served by mercenary armies and supported by non-feudal finance. Philip also relied upon mercenaries and Jews and money payments instead of feudal services. When Normandy fell into his hands he continued its law and institutions. and respected its customs. The last and most valuable chapter is that on the effect of the loss of Normandy on the history of England. Prof. Powicke has little of absolute novelty to say on the matter, and so much the better; but he brings out to the full certain consequences on law and feudalism not generally dwelt upon. His. final conclusions and hints are well worth study, and he ends: "It is sufficient to remind ourselves that when the Normans became French they did a great deal more than bring the national epic to a close. They permitted the English once more to become a nation, and they established theFrench state for all time." logue 206 opens with Alken's Hints to all would be Meltonians.' the original issue, rare, folio, calf, 1825, 17. 108. Under Blake is Blair's Grave,' with. Blake's designs, 2 vols. in 1, folio, morocco, 301.' This copy is from the library of Sir Theodore Martin. A Boccaccio, 1506, quarto, levant, is 117. 158; the first edition of all the three parts of Hudibras,' morocco extra, 251.; and the Centenary Edition of Carlyle, 30 vols., new half morocco, 91. 158. There is a fine copy, in the twelve original parts, of Pierce Egan's Life in London,' with the Cruikshank plates, 651.; also Combe's Napoleon,' first edition, uncut, with the original label preserved, 217. A choice Dickens item is the Library Edition, presentation set from the author, 18 vols., 287. 108. Under Shirley is the first edition of his poems, 1646, . 12mo, levant by Riviere, 321. There are some fine portraits and prints, including a half-length in oval of the Duchess of Argyle (one of the beautiful Miss Gunnings), mezzotint after Read, 1771, 381. 108. 46 66 MESSRS. MAGGS send a continuation of their Messrs. Maggs also send Catalogue 310. This Catalogue of Autograph Letters and Manuscripts (No. 309). A choice memento of Hans Andersen is a child's scrapbook containing more than 150 pictures, with descriptive verses signed H. C. Andersen. There is also another volume containing English translations from the Danish text, in the autograph of the owner, Viggo Orsted, with two letters describing the scrapbook and its origin, half calf to match the album, quarto, both volumes in morocco case by Riviere, 150l. Under Arditi is the original MS. score of Il Bacio,' 251. Among characteristic letters of Lord Beaconsfield is one to his sister Sarah (no date): Our party are in high spirits. Chandos gives a grand fish dinner on the 18th to the leaders of both houses, and has asked me the only man not a member of the houses," price 21. 28. A long letter of Beattie, the Scottish poet, discussing and challenging Chatterton and the Rowley Poems," 13 June, 1782, is 107. 108. There are many letters connected with Napoleon, including one from the Duchess of Tuscany, in which she assures Napoleon of her loyalty and that of her husband." Paul Jones's letters are rare, but there is a long one in which mention is made of the Alliance and Bonhomme Richard, and which shows the personal interest he took in his men, and his efforts to safeguard the prize money due to them. It is priced at 1007. A letter from Beethoven, 3 pages, 1816, is 781.; and another dated 1825, 211. Under the Brontës are two poems by Charlotte, 11 pages, bound by Riviere in crimson levant, 751.; and several poetical pieces by Emily, bound by Riviere, 521. 108. A letter of Fanny Burney's to Mrs. Thrale concerning Johnson's illness says: "I love my Master dearly, for every time he is ill I grow more and more sorry, 91. 98. Burns collectors can secure valuable additions: a fourpage quarto letter from "Clarinda to Sylvander is 651. An unpublished letter of Byron's, dealing with alterations in the proof-sheets of Don Juan,' is 601. There are letters of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Longfellow, the Darwins, Dickens, Tennyson, George Eliot, and Emerson. A long letter of Evelyn's to Dr. Plot contains a personal account of himself. Under Thomas Hardy is an original autograph MS., signed, of a poem entitled A Sunday Morning Tragedy,' dated January, 1904, bound in morocco, 751. Under Jefferson, the third President of the United States, is a letter to his friend Edmund Randolph, Feb. 15, 1783, concerning the disturbed state of America at the time of its Independence being recognized, 421. The last item is one of Walpole's breezy letters, dated Strawberry Hill, 13th Augt., 1773: "We have had ten days of weather that Vesuvius would not disown. Les Dames de la Cour and Les Dames de la Salle say that Sir Isaac Newton foretold that, beginning with last summer, we are to have eighteen noble Summers running. I like any vulgar Belief when it is agreeable to my Wishes, and therefore trust S Isaac upon the faith of such Illiterate commentators. Eighteen Summers would be such an Eternity to me, that I will reckon upon them, since I am too old to accept your kind Invitation to Naples. [The letter is to Sir William Hamilton.] I have always thought that great solicitude about health in the latter end of life, is only taking care to be well against one dies." The price is 211. is devoted to military and naval portraits, battle pieces, costumes, and military caricatures. The numerous catalogues we receive on these subjects indicate the demand there is for them. Among the illustrations in the present catalogue are portraits of General Monckton, price 181. 188.; Admiral Cockburn, 107. 10s.; Sir Samuel Hood, 721. 108. ; and Nelson, 211. ; a picture of the Volunteers of Ireland, 107. 108.; and A Storm Coming On,' showing H.M.S. Ramillies, 271. 108. There are also books of military costumes. MESSRS. SOTHERAN'S Price Current 736 contains a thousand items devoted to Natural History. All the well-known authors are to be found in it. A tall copy of the first edition of Parkinson's Garden of Pleasant Flowers,' folio, old calf rebacked, rare, 1629, is 31l. 10s. Among works on Orchids is a fine copy of the Imperial Edition of 'Reichenbachia' by F. Sander, St. Albans, both series, 192 coloured plates (one of 100 copies), 4 vols., 1888-94, half morocco, 401. Another scarce book, Sweet's British Flower Garden,' 7 vols., royal octavo, 1823-38, is 211.; and a set of the Reports of the Challenger's Voyage, 40 vols. in 50, 481. There is also a set of Lovell Reeve's Conchologia Iconica,' 20 thick vols., quarto, 2,727 plates exhibiting above 20,000 figures, all hand-coloured, half morocco, 1843-78, 115l. The first edition of Lilford's Birds of the British Islands,' 7 vols., is 60l. A choice set of Bowdler Sharpe and Dresser's Birds of Europe,' with the Supplement, 11 vols., royal quarto, half morocco emblematically tooled, 1871-1910, is priced 851. The catalogue states that "this magnificent and valuable work has for some time been getting very scarce, and is constantly increasing in value." There are sets of the Linnean, Ray, Somersetshire, Geological, and other Societies. MR. ALBERT SUTTON'S Manchester Catalogue 206 contains among works on Angling a copy of the Edition de Luxe of Ronald's Fly-Fisher's Entomology,' 2 vols., 1913, 31. 38. There are works on Birds, and many works on Ireland. Dictionaries include the English Dialect Dictionary,' 6 vols., 4to, 61. 158. Under Dickens is the Edition de Luxe, 30 vols., half morocco, 191. 108. There are first editions of Lever. Under Scotland is MacGibbon and Ross's Ecclesiastical Architecture,' 3 vols., 1896, 21. 10s. A copy of Farmer's Slang and its Analogues,' 7 vols., is priced 71. Under Wales is The Pedigree of the Family of Powell' (one of 25 copies printed), calf gilt, 1891, 77. There are a number of Stothard's plates. [Notices of other Catalogues held over.] Notices to Correspondents. J. J. HAMMOND. - Forwarded to MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS. PRYCE WILLIAMS.-Forwarded to Mr. Francis Edwards. CORRIGENDUM. At p. 489 A. SAINTHILL'S inquiry was intended for the date of birth of General Ingoldsby. ELEVENTH SERIES.-VOL. VII. SUBJECT INDEX [For classified articles see ANONYMOUS WORKS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, BOOKS RECENTLY PUblished, A Abbey (R.), guardian of John Keats, 427 Adam, medieval conceit on the name, 270, 333 Adam (Walter), Westminster scholar, 70 Adam family of Fanno, 449 46 Addressed," heraldic meaning of the word, 228, Adventurers in Holland, merchants, c. 1600, 108 Ainay," derivation of the word, 170, 251 "-al," noun-suffix, the use of, 267, 414 Almanacs, diminutive, English and foreign, 329, Almshouses near the Strand, c. 1820, 130, 236, Ambassador, British, in France, 1595, 367, 478, 'Ambulator,' guide to the London district, 430 Andrewes (Richard), c. 1500, his ancestry, 70, 135 Anonymous Works:- A Spur to a Celestial Race, 10 Ballad of the Revenge, 8 Anonymous Works:- Clara, book for children, 189 Eccentric Biography, c. 1800, 336, 455 Letter H to his Little Brother Vowels, 93 Pax Vobis, 1685, 328, 433 Testament du Chevalier Walpole, 1767, 129 Antrobus family and Gray, 35 Ape in alchemist's laboratory, 110, 157, 211 Armour (Robert) and Burns, 130 Arnold (Benedict), his burial-place, 49, 370 • The Baccarat, game, derivation of the word, 67, 133 Bagshaw (Thomas), Oxford student, 1734, 50, Black Monk; or, The Secret of the Grey Bagwell (C.), Westminster School steward, 70 Bainbridge, Goring, and Gifford families, 69 |