may see the birth of a new community in the English village." 66 Mr. Peake, discussing the causes of the migration from the villages to the towns, thinks that the most potent factor was the dullness of the country and the desire for a fuller life. He has his dream of the ideal villages. They must contain a population sufficiently large to enable them to supply some of these needs, and to command transport facilities to enable their inhabitants quickly and cheaply to reach some large centre where they can find institutions of a more advanced and complex order." He goes into detail, and continues :---"But above all it is important that all the members of our village should realize that they are members of one and the same community; the agriculturist and the craftsman, the artisan and the professional man would meet on common ground at the village club, their young people would share the recreation grounds, and the artificial barriers of caste would by degrees be broken down. In the ideal village it should be possible for everyone to know everyone else, not only by sight, but to speak to, not that every old gentleman could be expected to recognize every baby at a glance, but that all the men would know one another and all the women likewise, while all the young people and all the children, of whatever class, would have been to some extent brought up together." A village based on individualism strongly tempered with the cooperative principle this is what Mr. Peake wants, and he says in his last paragraph, Now is the time to act." A Pepysian Garland: Black-letter Broadside Ballads of the Years 1595-1639. Chiefly from the Collection of Samuel Pepys. Edited by Hyder E. Rollins, Ph.D. New York University. (Cambridge University Press. 218. net.) Ir may seem strange that Pepys's collection of broadside ballads, which is preserved in the library that bears his name in his college at Cambridge, should have had to wait until now for an editor, and that the editor should not be an English scholar but an American one, Dr. Hyder E. Rollins, of New York University, who here gives us in this Garland "the most interesting seventeenth-century ballads in Pepys's first volume." They make eighty altogether, including seven which the editor has added from other sources; and the way in which they are printed with reproductions of many of the original woodcuts, editorial notes and index leaves nothing to be desired. Pepys's collection is preserved in five folio volumes, and we are told that of the 1671 distinct ballads in it 964 are unique. Of these many are said by the editor to be accessible in one way or another "if one searches diligently"; but nothing like a systematic edition has ever been attempted; nor is this edition itself more than an anthology, but it is of peculiar interest because the period from which these specimens are taken, 1595-1639, represents the heyday of the blackletter broadside ballad, and presumably, therefore, the pick of Pepys's volumes. A little later, under the Commonwealth, the ballad fell into decay; ballad-singing was forbidden by law, and street singers were liable to be flogged; and though ballads continued to be printed they were beginning also to be affected by the beginnings of journalism proper in the shape of newspamphlets. "In authorship, in typography, and in subject-matter," says the editor, Restoration ballads can seldom compare in interest with those of the reigns of the Tudors and early Stuarts." To read these pages is to obtain a rich idea of the thoughts and manners of the London of the time of London before the fire, when Shakespeare, who must have known many ballads by heart, was working, and when the youthful Milton was a student in his father's house in the heart of the City. As poetry we must not overrate them, nor seek to compare them with some of the finer ballads of the Scottish border, which have before now been held as the nearest equiva lent in Britain to the Homeric poems; but in reading them we must not forget that they were meant to be sung to well-known airs. like the songs in 'The Beggar's Opera.' The air must have often made amends for a certain rudeness of rhyme and diction. As for the subjects, no balladmonger ever lacked, as Thomas Middleton said, a subject to write of "; and his words, which are cited by the editor as being in themselves a description of his Garland, may be given here, for no language could be more appropriate. drowns himself to-morrow, a sergeant stabbed "One hangs himself to-day," he says, "another next day; here a pettifogger a' the pillory; a bawd in the cart's nose, and a pander in the tail; hic mulier, haec vir, fashions, fictions, felonies, fooleries; a hundred havens has the balladmonger to traffic at, and new ones still daily discovered." 64 Such then are the subjects of the ballads, though there are also others which treat of historical events, like the assassination of Henry IV. of France; the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, the burning of Cork in 1622, the Amboyna Massacre, the battle between the Dutch and Spanish fleets in 1639; but most of them are sentimental or journalistic, such as the hanging ballads, often like the entries in the Newgate Calendar,' with a strong moral intention, or religious, as they reflect the frame of mind of citizens more unanimous than now on matters of theology and on impending divine judgment. This aspect of the psychology of Stuart London can never be neglected by those who would try to imagine what life in London was like. The most important single ballad in this volume, according to Dr. Rollins, is the first, which is dated 1595, and is entitled Francis' New Jig.' The jig was a "miniature comedy or farce, written in ballad measure, which at the end of a play was sung and danced on the stage to ballad-tunes." By 1590, jigs, says the editor, were thoroughly established in the London theatres as the usual conclusion to plays. At least two characters were required for the dialogue; and thus the humblest jig, whether theatrical or not, connects itself with Horace's Donec gratus eram tibi, Gay's Were I laid on Greerland's coast,' and that beautiful product of the fifteenth century The Nut-brown Maid,' through the beats of which the music can be distinctly heard. The County New Jig between Simon and Susan' in this volume reminds us of "And fresher then the blossomes That bloome upon the tree." We wish we had room to quote it all; it is much the daintiest ballad in the collection. With jigs and rural dance resort" we remember in 'Comus'; as we remember also the "merry wakes and pastimes," which seem to recall the very title of this jig. Thus even on the grave muse of Milton do we seem able to trace the influence of the ballad; for its influence on Shakespeare our editor points definitely to a religious ballad of 1607, entitled Caleb Shillock's Prophecy; or, The Jew's Prediction,' whence perhaps Shakespeare took the name of Shylock. For the rest one cannot be too thankful for Dr. Rollins's industry in rescuing these racy compositions of merry London from their long and undeserved oblivion. It may well be, as he says, that he has given us the flower of the collection here; but we hope that he will be able, as he appears to suggest, to prosecute his researches further in Pepys's accumulation, and we hope also that he will continue to have the support of the authorities at Magdalene and of the Cambridge University Press. Nature and Other Miscellanies. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Oxford University Press. 28. 6d. net.) Two volumes of Emerson have previously appeared in the World's Classics, and it is a pleasure to re-read these lectures in a form so superior to the cheap edition by which one made one's first acquaintance with them. The question arises of how many at the present day are likely to be attracted to the American sage by the opportunity the Oxford University Press supplies. we A general answer must be that there are always people, young and old, ready to accept a fair chance of reading the classics of their language, and Emerson long ago was elevated to that rank by popular esteem. Properly speaking, suppose, a classic is an author whose position has been assured by time. It is in the other and looser sense that Emerson deserves the name; he is a thinker whose authority has transcended the limits of his own period. For that reason alone he is entitled to the study he does undoubtedly still get. That the readers who come fresh to him will be obliged to put forth some effort is likely enough. His philosophic outlook is about as different as could be from that which now prevails in England and America-if any can be safely said to prevail in either country. How absolute the knave is!" we can fancy the new-comer exclaiming, as he misses that larger consideration for the earthiness of mortals which distinguishes a popular few of the later moralizers. Emerson, indeed, does not argue; he tells you. Yet, in spite of his rather close companionship with the stars, he is a very bracing thinker, and a very human. There are whole passages in his work-not so much in this volume, perhaps, as in, say, Representative Men'-which bring faint but unmistakable reminders of so different an essayist as Montaigne. The thought is not Montaigne's, but the accents are; and the accents are the expression of a similar undercurrent of ironic perception. If the comparison should strike those who have not lately looked into Emerson as forced, we would suggest that they give him another glance or two. (1903 The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. Edited and translated by F. L. Attenborough. (Cambridge University Press. 158. net.) IN 1840, B. Thorpe, completing the work of Richard Price, published an edition of these Laws, under the title of Ancient Laws and Institutes of England.' No other English edition has appeared since. The monumental work on the subject, the standard authority, is F. Liebermann's Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen 1916), but there is room for an English version, students of our early social and constitutional and this present volume will be welcomed by history. As the editor and translator points out, the " Laws of Ethelberht [about 600] are of special interest as being the earliest document Teutonic language possesses any original records written in the English language. .. No other of equal antiquity, apart from short inscriptions." King Alfred's laws stand by themselves in importance. He collected the "most just" of the laws of Ine, Offa, and Ethelberht, not daring ** to for I cannot tell what [innovations of mine] will presume to set down in writing many of my own, meet with the approval of our successors." That these ordinances throw a strong light upon the mind and manners of our forefathers need not be emphasized; a knowledge of them is indispensable to an understanding of the period. This edition is furnished with introductions and notes. THE Publisher would be pleased to hear from any subscriber who may have a copy of the Index to vol. vi., 12th Series, to spare. Notices to Correspondents. EDITORIAL Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries '”—Adver tisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher " -at the Office, Printing House Square, London, E.C.4; corrected proofs to The Editor, N. & Q.,' Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion in our columns should bear the name and address of the sender-not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. WHEN answering a query, or referring to an article which has already appeared, correspondents are requested to give within parenthesesimmediately after the exact heading the numbers of the series, volume, and page at which the contribution in question is to be found. TWELFTH SERIES. VOL. X. SUBJECT INDEX. [For classified articles see ANONYMOUS WORKS, BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED, CHRISTIAN NAMES, A Abbott (Richard), of Burton, Westmorland, date of death wanted, 190 "Abyssinian" cross carried in procession on Acera: James Fort inscriptions, 245 Adams (Thomas), of Warkworth, Northumber- Afghanistan, inscription on Irishman's tomb, 347 Alcock (Charles), writer on cricket and football, Aldeburgh: Commonwealth marriages and burials 'Allostree's Almanack,' 1680, 70 America, British settlers in, 57, 114, 178, 198 American humorists: Capt. G. H. Derby, 154, 219 Athenian Club, 321 Atkinson (James), medical officer in India, d. 1852, 289, 337 Atterbury (Francis), Bishop of Rochester, poems attributed to, 91 Aucher and Depedene families, 149 437 Australia, introduction of rabbits into, 32 Auterac (Joseph), Westminster scholar, 110 Automata: exhibitions in London, 269, 331, 396; see also under Games-Chess B Bacon (Charles, John and William), Westminster scholars, 331 Baldwin (George Dimsdale), Westminster scholar, 331 Ball games: see Games Banbury the Globe Room, 226 Bible, early editions in Latin, 427, 495 Birmingham mint and French coinage, 490 Blackwell (George Graham), of Oxford University, 1819, 210 Bladen family, British settlers in America, 368 Blair (Henry and William Robert), Westminster scholars, 431 Blake (Charles, Fasham and John), Westminster scholars, 350 Blake (William), early American publication of his poems, 128 Blancheapelton, place-name, 345 66 Bloxam (Charles Henry), Westminster scholar, 131 Bluebeard" story: origin and early references, 68, 113, 196, 255 Blyth family pedigree, 348 Boates (Henry Ellis) of Liverpool, 251, 297, 316, 356 Barbados: Needham's Point cemetery, 23, 46, Bolton Evening News, (?) oldest halfpenny evening 351, 393 newspaper, 330, 476 Bomb-vessels in Charles II.'s navy, 16 Bomenteek," use of word, 494 Bonython (Sir J. Langdon), incorrectly described as the late," 380 Books recently published :— Ackerman's (A. S. E.) Bacon and Shakespeare, 300 Acts of the Privy Council of England (16131614), 300 Alumni Cantabrigenses, 178 Ancient Tales from Many Lands, by R. M. Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems, edited by Archaeologia Aeliana, 220 Archæology and Anthropology, Annals of, 360 Bacon and Shakespeare, by A. S. E. Acker- Bennett's (H. S.), The Pastons and their Bibliographies of Modern Authors: J. C. Bolland's (William Craddock), The General Bossuet (Jacques Bénigne): a Study, by Bradley's (H.) On the Text of Abbo of Cambridge Medieval History, The, Vol. iii., Chadwick's (D.) Social Life in the Days of Churches of the City of London, The, by Books recently published :- Collins's (F. H.) Authors' and Printers' Crabtree's (W. A.) Primitive Speech. Part I. Denny (Col. William), Lieutenant-Governor Dennys, Pedigrees of Some East Anglican, Ecclesiastical Latin, An Introduction to, by Elizabethans and the Empire, by A. F. Emerson's (Ralph Waldo) Nature and Other English Association, Essays and Studies by English Gothic Architecture, A Guide to, by English Prose, Vol. iv., Landor to Holmes, 360; Vol. v., Mrs. Gaskell to Henry English Tracts, Pamphlets and Printed English Village (The): The Origin and Eveleth (George W.) to Edgar Allen Poe, The Exeter, The Building of the Cathedral Finch (late Allan George), Report on the Flags (British): Their Early History and Folkestone District, The Ancient Buildings of, 420 Freeman's (Andrew) English Organ-Cases, 19 Gardner's (S.) A Guide to English Gothic Germany and the Western Empire (Cam- Gloucester Journal (Bicentenary): Historical Grey Friars of Chester, The, by J. H. E. Hampshire, by Telford Varley, 120 Language: An Introduction to the Study of Laws of the Earliest English Kings, ed. and Books recently published :- McGovern's (J. B.); The Battle of Brunan- Measure for Measure (New Sheakespeare), 179 Middle English Vocabulary, by J. R. R. Murry's (J. M.) The Problem of Style, 298 New English Dictionary on Historical Prin- 159 Newton's (E. E.) Twinings in the Strand, 480 Nunn's (H. P. V.) An Introduction to Ec- Old Deeside Road, The, by G. M. Fraser, 79 Owl (The) and the Nightingale, Ed. by J. W. Oxford University Press, 1468-1921, 280 Paracelsus, by John Maxson Stillman, 340 Pepysian Garland (A), ed. by H. E. Rollins, Perrin's (W. G.) British Flags, 460 Place-Names of the Orange Free State, by Polish Tales, trans. by Else C. M. Benecke Pollard's (A. F.) The Complete Elizabethans Primitive Speech. Part i.: A Study in Prints of British Military Operations, 100 Readings in English Social History from Con- Sadlier's (Michael) Excursions in Victorian Sanders's (E. K.) Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, |