first shop in Chancery Lane, nearly opposite Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Coming of the Friars, and other Historic Essays. By happy creatures had a claim upon those around. It was cast away from him all the pleasures of life, and made a claim to which no one seemed to listen. So Francis himself a brother to these poor sufferers. Soon he gathered around him men like minded with himself, and there grew from his efforts an order that spread through Europe and beyond. It is true that as years passed on the Franciscans, like the other religious orders, lost their first love, and became subject to the mockery and sneers of the world; but this in no way reflects on their devoted founder. Dr. Jessopp has painted a picture of him and his such as no other Englishman could have produced. We trust that what he has said will be read by many who never saw the articles when they appeared in the Nineteenth Century. The two papers on The Black Death in East Anglia are, perhaps, as works of art inferior to those concerning the friars, but they are of terribly painful interest, and give us much information which has been utterly unknown to the historians from whom we most of us get those ideas of the lives of our ancestors which pass for knowledge. THE Monthly Chronicle of North-Country Lore and tion relating to the Northern Counties. It is fully illusLegend (Scott) forms a delightful repertory of informatrated, the designs of Lambton Castle, Morpeth, &c., having special attraction. made an impression on its readers such as few antiquarian books have ever done. A volume of obscure biography-and the people he treated of were, and must ever remain, obscure save to those who take an interest in the history of the growth and decadence of religion -has not in it the elements of popularity, and yet that book has in it attractions which put it on a par with a first-class novel. Dr. Jessopp is a strictly accurate person, an antiquary as plodding as Thomas Hearne, and one who has read as discursively as the author of the Anatomy of Melancholy'; but these qualifications, though they might have endeared him to the heart THE author of 'Greater Britain' continues in the Fortof some of the correspondents of N. & Q.,' would nightly his profoundly important papers on 'The Baluch never have made his account of the Walpoles popular. and Afghan Frontiers of India." He has behind and beyond these qualifications the power possibility of an invasion of India by Russia is promised. A discussion of the of writing in a picturesque style which is unique among Prof. Dowden writes on 'Edmond Scherer,' and Mr. MalEnglish men of letters. It flashes and glimmers with lock on Cowardly Agnosticism,' A highly interesting thought in a way which reminds us of nothing in our study of 'Alfred de Musset' is sent by M. Arsène Housliterature. We could mention two German authors with saye, who pronounces the poet "the most charming man whom he has kindred, but it is a remote relationship, in the world, though the most fantastic."-Once more accidental it may be as far as anything can be considered the Nineteenth Century is controversial. Prof. Huxley so in a world where all relations are so complex and far- sends a rejoinder on Agnosticism,' Mr. Scrutton replies reaching. The volume before us consists of articles to the question whether twelve millions per annum are which have appeared from time to time in the Nine- wasted in the sea, and Lord Powerscourt gives Casual teenth Century. They are slight essays, not exhaustive Notes on Ireland.' Lady Blake writes entertainingly on treatises; but no one can read them without having Seals and Savages.' 'Noticeable Books' form the subhis sympathies quickened and the range of his know-ject of comment by Mr. Gladstone, Dr. Jessopp, Mr. ledge enlarged. In what Dr. Jessopp tells us of the Walter Pater, Mr. Hamilton Aïdé, and Mr. F. Harrison. friars there is perhaps nothing new as to the facts, but -The Sequel to "A Queen Anne Pocket-book," in the picture given us is most effective. English people Longman's, furnishes curious pictures of life at the beknow little of Dominic and Francis. Spanish and Italian ginning of the past century. A. K. H. B. has a characecclesiastics do not attract them. When they do not teristic essay entitled "Of taking in Sail.' There are suspect idleness and fraud they are too often repelled by also a ghost story from the Chinese and Mr. Lang's custhe dread of mysticism. Francis may have been a mystic tomary 'At the Sign of the Ship.'-The Cornhill contains -many of the greatest and best of the human family are papers on 'Napoleon and Elba and on Birds of Prey,' open to this charge-but Dr. Jessopp shows that he was the latter a pleasing specimen of observation of nature.— one of the most loving souls that ever devoted himself to The Century is this month almost exclusively occupied the service of his fellows. His ways were not the same with American subjects. The four opening papers deal as ours. When a great wrong forces itself on our atten- with Washington, whose inauguration is described at full tion we form societies, call meetings, give lectures, and length. Excellent illustrations accompany the papers, have public dinners, at which dukes and cabinet ministers and a whole series of portraits are reproduced. The make speeches. Such means could not be used in the highly interesting series of papers on Russia is continued, dark and barbarous Middle Ages, so Francis did what he the present number dealing with the Russian police.could. If we feel that his plan was inferior to ours, weRound about Dotheboys Hall,' in Temple Bar, gives a must admit that it called for certain sacrifices which our higher civilization gives us the means of avoiding. What is called the "parochial system " had broken down. Francis beheld masses of people ignorant, diseased, savage, with none to minister to them. Every form of evil was rampant. They were starving, they were eaten up with every foul disease with which we have to deal, and with some dire forms which have, happily, become extinct since his day. What was to be done for these poor lost creatures? If the inherited moral teaching were true-if mercy, love, and charity were not mere names without any corresponding realities-these un good description of Bowes, its church and its castle, and of Bowes Hall, supposed to be the original of Dotheboys Hall. Part I. is given of a description of 'Mr. Disraeli.' The Pulpit in the Good Old Days' has quasi-antiquarian interest.-Mr. Saintsbury sends to Macmillan an admirable account of Leigh Hunt.' Mr. S. O. Addy writes on 'The Study of Field-Names,' an unusually edifying paper. 'An Englishman in Berlin' depicts the present temper of the Berliners, and The Great DogSuperstition' recommends the substitution of other for canine favourites.-Lighter and lighter become the-contents of Murray's, which is now largely occupied with fiction. "Quite Out of the Way,' by Lady Du Cane, gives, however, a pleasant sketch of country life. Mr. A. W. Pollard writes on The Governess and her Grievances. Mr. Robert Shindler writes in the Gentleman's "In Praise of Chess,' and refers to the Evans of the Scotch Gambit as likely to appear in the Dictionary of. Biography.' As a fact, this particular Evans does not seem to be there. Prof. Hales supplies a capital account of Chevy Chase,' and Mr. H. Schütz Wilson has a paper on 'The Genesis of Othello.'-In the English Illustrated Mr. William Sime gives a pleasingly illustrated description of French and English seaports opening on to the Channel. This he calls On Two Shores.' Mr. Swinburne has a ballad entitled 'A Jacobite's Exile.' In A Suburban Garden' letterpress and designs are both by Mr. J. E. Hodgson, R.A. A Hunting We Will Go' is characteristically illustrated by Mr. Hugh Thomson. "Riddle,' THE historical plays are completed with Part XXXIX. of the Illustrated Shakespeare of Messrs. Cassell, and the title-page, &c., are issued to vol. ii. A new volume begins with Troilus and Creseida,' of which one act is supplied. -Old and New London, Part XIX., extends from Clerkenwell to Smithfield, and gives views of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and Church, Old Smithfield Market and place of execution, proceedings before the Court of Pie-poudre, Clerkenwell Green in 1789, St. John's Gate, Hicke's Hall, and other places and objects of interest.-The Encyclopædic Dictionary, Part LXIII., extends from "Retrevert to "Round." "Roman," ," "Romanesque," &c., ""Rhythm," and its compounds, are among the best instances of the special character of the work. "Rhododendron" and other botanical articles are also specially valuable.-Part XIII. of Naumann's History of Music has a portrait of Johann Adolph Hasse, a second of Philippus de Monte. It passes from Netherlandish to Early English Music, and begins a chapter on History of the Tonal Art from the Time of the Renaissance to the Century of the Rococo.'-Picturesque Australasia, Part VI., takes the reader to the gold-fields, and gives pictures of camp life, the rush to the fields, the processes of cradling and farming, &c., and of adventure.-Part III. of Celebrities of the Century ends with Bunsen. William Blake is the subject of a long article. Louis Blanc, Bishop Blomfield, the Bonapartes, the Booths, the Brontës, Bright (whose death is, of course, not reported), are among the subjects of biographies.-Our Own Country for this month does not appear among Messrs. Cassell's periodicals. THE Scottish Art Review improves both as regards letterpress and illustrations. The latest number is excellent. TECHNICAL BOOKBINDING' is continued in No. XXI. of the Bookbinder, which gives, among other good illustrations, a coloured plate of an Arabian binding. MR. ALBERT HARTSHORNE, F.S.A., of Bradbourne Hall, Wirksworth, has in hand a work on the picturesque subject of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Wine Glasses and Goblets.' It will be fully illustrated, and will include the drinking-glasses of the time of the Civil War and of the Restoration; the glasses with coins in the stems; those of which the fashion was introduced at the coming of William III., the glasses of the Jacobite and rival clubs; those which came in on the accession of George I.; the tall champagne glasses; punch and ale glasses; Hogarth" glasses; masonic glasses; thistle glasses; commemorative, memento, and memorial glasses; armorial glasses; betrothal glasses; sealed glasses; "blunderbusses"; political glasses; square-footed glasses; liqueur glasses; rummers; coaching glasses; the numerous variety of beaded, twisted, threaded, and coloured stemmed glasses; and the engraved, gilt, and cut wine glasses and goblets of the latter part of the last century. Mr. Hartshorne will be glad of any notes of dated examples, with descriptions and heights of such glasses, their shapes and the fashion of their stems, and references to collections of such objects. IN the loud chorus of regrets over the death of John Bright it is right to mingle our voice of mourning. John Bright was a not infrequent contributor to our columns, in which he always took a keen interest. THE Rev. R. H. Hadden, the Vicar of St. Botolph, Aldgate, makes an appeal to the descendants of Lord Darcy of the North and Sir Nicholas Carew to restore to its place the handsome monument to these worthies, who were executed in 1538. Notices to Correspondents. 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 publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. 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. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate." A. FELS ("Milton and Sir Henry Wotton ").-The passage from Sir Henry Wotton's letter is prefixed to the first and to many subsequent editions of Comus.' "Doric delicacy" refers, doubtless, to Doric music-what Milton himself calls the Dorian mood Of flutes and soft recorders ('Paradise Lost,' i. 550-551), and so conveys an idea of sweet lyric cadence. Latin hymn to the Blessed Virgin beginningA. M. T. desires to be told the author's name of the O Sanctissima, O purissima, Dulcis Virgo Maria! and where it is to be found in the Breviary. A. D. ("Poole's' Annotations upon the Holy Bible '"). -This work, selected from the Synopsis Criticorum of the same author, is in the list of books recommended to clergymen by Bishop Tomline. It is in good estimation, but a copy in the state you mention would have slight pecuniary value. E. H. COLEMAN ("Casting-Bottle ").-See 'Nares's 'Glossary' and 'Encyclopædic Dictionary' s.v. KELLY.-The Miss H. Kelly who played Distaffina at the Haymarket in 1810 was no relation to Miss Frances Maria Kelly nor to Miss F. H. Kelly, the daughter of Michael Kelly. Nothing is known concerning her family. M. A. B. ("Renwick ").-The man concerning whom you ask was Renwick Williams, found guilty of assaulting Calendar,' vol. iii. pp. 161-166. women in 1790. See Knapp and Baldwin's 'Newgate NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries""-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 22, Took's Court, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, E.C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1889. CONTENTS.-N° 172. of these productions that further eulogy is needless. In those sumptuous brain-pictures which constitute the imaginative faculty, in that lofty flight which, NOTES:-Thomas De Quincey, 281-Precious Metals, 282-leaving the baser regions of the earth, soars amid ments manifested, 286. the ideal and the ethereal, in that existence which takes its being from the "insubstantial pageant" of the untangible-æsthetic, De Quincey is unrivalled. In calling attention to De Quincey's works a QUERIES:-Trinity School - Macaulay Chalmers-Savage of Aveyron-Battle of Gorde-M. Arnold, 287-Folio-Lin- word or two of criticism on them may not be out colnshire MSS.-"Multum legere sed non multa"-Shak- of place. Of the much that has since his death speare's House" Arellian"-Blunders of Authors-Pate been written of him nothing is worthier of survival Family, 288-Cancinating-Chaucer's Works-Pulpits in Churches-Herdman on Skating - Bacon's Reliques of than that brief word of the Blackwood reviewer, Rome-Marquis of Hastings-Date of Melloni's Birth-"De Quincey's logic cuts like a razor and his imagination flames like a furnace." that has been written of the "Opium-Eater" is weak and transient, a singular lack of moral insight has beset all his historiographers, and yet no man Authors Wanted, 289. Families-Drinking Health in Blood-Chromo, 292-White Yeoman's Service-Homer's 'Iliad '-Ignesham, 298. -Garnett's Twilight of the Gods - Dictionary of National 'Book of Sundials.' Notices to Correspondents, &c. Notes. THOMAS DE QUINCEY. Much else REPLIES:- Punch' Publications, 289-Wordsworth's 'Ode to the Cuckoo, 290-Edward Bower-Maxims in CokeWinter-Capt. J. Garnault-Tooth-brushes, 291-Sir H. Light - The Ring of Amasis-Woodrove and Pudsey pot-Telegram-Tours Cathedral-Monte Video-Miss Mel-ever stood more in need of a kindly, penetrative, lon, 293-Capt. Marryat-W. James-Lord Mayor's Show and sympathetic criticism. We have space only to The Brussels Gazette'-Ludovic Sforza-" Faire une gaffe," 294-J. C. Hobhouse-Tea Clippers-The Rose, Thistle, and look at his literary character, to note the fact that Shamrock-"I do not like thee, Dr. Fell "-East Sheen, 295 his strength lies in the manner in which he com-Coaching Days'-Rev. J. Hackman-Mistarchy-Manual of Arms, 296-Criss-cross Row-Stage Coaches-Eppingen- bined literature and philosophy. De Quincey was Folk-lore-Dyer of Sharpham, 297-Century-Macaroni- collectively the greatest classical scholar, analytic thinker, logician, and idealist produced by England during the nineteenth century, and his matchless art in uniting these functions and forming from them a concrete whole was the foundation of his greatness. His style is built upon the Greek. His works are models of classic purity, and display an exquisite depth and tenderness. His mode of thinking and reasoning and his method of expressing his thoughts is not so intensely English, but his dictation is purer, more classical, and scholarly than that of Macaulay. Macaulay's style, graphic and brilliant though it be, is, nevertheless, somewhat coarse and parliamentary; it savours rather of the forum than the study. Macaulay had, perhaps, the more capacious, but De Quincey the more profound intellect. De Quincey and Carlyle are far less fluent, but much more thoughtful writers than Macaulay; it is doubtful, in fact, which of the two was the better thinker. De Quincey is certainly the closer, more patient, and more subtle; but Carlyle the more earnest, vigorous, and original. In scholarly diction, criticism, analytic thought, and curious information De Quincey excelled both Macaulay and Carlyle. He was a richer 3. The philosophical and critical articles, trans-intuitive thinker than Macaulay, but was inferior lations from Kant, propositions on education, the dashing attacks on 'Bible Idolatry,' Goethe, Plato, and Josephus, together with a variety of other disquisitions, all of them interesting in themselves and conducted throughout with a closeness and subtlety of thought, profundity of insight, and lucidity of expression such as few writers save De Quincey have ever possessed, and always illuminated with a rich, trenchant humour peculiarly his In correspondence with the recent cheap editions of the works of Carlyle and Macaulay, were it not well that some enterprising publisher should issue a cheap, popular, and portable edition of the complete works of our third greatest literary Englishman of the nineteenth century, Thomas de Quincey? Such an edition could be thus divided to great advantage : 1. The autobiographical papers, including the 'Opium-Eater' and Sketches,' which section would in itself be a rich mine of literary wealth and reminiscential information. 2. The lives, critical and biographical, comprising, of course, the brilliant essays on Shakespeare, Dr. Parr, and Goethe. own. 4. The imaginative and humorous pieces. So much has been said with perfect justice in praise to him in the knowledge of politics, general history, and miscellaneous literature; nor was he gifted with Macaulay's unrivalled power of inductive and analogous reasoning, or that forensic skill in bringing one fact forward to prove and demonstrate another, which is done with such matchless effect in the essays on 'Bacon,' 'Milton,' and 'The Civil Disabilities of the Jews'; his skill, as we have shown, lay in an altogether different department. To say that a mountain is less than Chimborazo o or a river shorter than the Amazon is, we conceive, faint censure. To say that De Quincey is in moral force, literary strength, intuitive fecundity, and Mines Royal. Under this society Houghsetter was general completeness not so great as Thomas Car- deputy-governor and Thurland first assistant. The lyle is surely no very severe animadversion. The Cardiganshire mines were first worked for the mission of Carlyle was such as devolves upon benefit of the society. Sir Hugh Myddelton afterany man rarely in the long roll of centuries; the wards rented them as above, realizing the handmission of De Quincey is such as any highly-cul- some monthly return of 2,000l. from Cwmsymlog tured age must inevitably produce. The mission mine alone. They were next leased to Sir Francis of Carlyle was to reveal the infinite, to dispel the Godolphin and Thomas Bushel, Esq., the latter clouds which environ and benarrow human vision, said to have been "a favourite servant" of Bacon; to awaken us to those eternal realities which we and it was then that Charles I., in 1637, granted are so liable to overlook, and to invigorate the life- the licence to coin silver at Aberystwith, and purposes of mankind. The mission of De Quincey "pennies, twopences, sixpences, shillings, and was to embody that excellence peculiar to litera-half-crowns" were so coined, stamped as before ture and philosophy, to criticize, systemize, create, stated. Whether Bushel did as well with the instruct the intellect, convince the reason, and feed mines as Sir Hugh Myddelton or not, he is found the imagination. A noble mission, but not the afterwards supplying the king with 40,000l. towards noblest ! C. C. DOVE. the payment of troops, and is reported at his own Armley. expense to have "clothed the whole army "; besides which Fuller says he PRECIOUS METALS IN THE BRITISH ISLES. (Continued from p. 103.) With reference to the above, allow me to add the following, which I have just come across in the shape of a note from Campbell's 'Surrey,' 1774, i. 184: "There is a mine at Consumblock (Cardiganshire) with which it is believed both the Saxons and Romans were acquainted, and from which silver was procured. In Queen Elizabeth's reign some Germans began fresh researches, and a man of Great Reputation and high favour with her, one Mr. Smith, who, from his taking the Customs to farm, has been known to posterity by the name of 'Customer Smith,' wrought these mines with effect; and at a great expence sent the silver that was drawn out of them to the Tower of London to be coined. After him came the famous Sir Hugh Myddelton, who farmed them from the Society of Royal Mines for an annual rent of 4001. He was so fortunate as to make 2,000l. a month, and acquired here in a short space the greatest part of that vast wealth which he buried in the project of bringing the New River to London. Upon his demise Sir T. Godolphin and Thomas Bushel, Esq., undertook the working of these mines, and King Charles I. gave them leave to set up a mint at Aberystwith, where they coined shillings and crowns marked with the ostrich feathers...... At some seasons they have yielded forty ounces of pure silver for every Tun [sic] of metal from this ore." "converted the mattocks of his miners into spears, and their shovels into shields, formed them into a regiment, and commanded them in person in defence of a cause too desperate for recovery." After the Restoration the mines became the property of another company, of which Sir John Pettus was a member, and he says: "These are the chief which produce silver now in working, though not effectually, and by negligence therein we lose a million of money a year.' In 1690 a very rich mine was discovered just under the surface at Bwlch-esgair-hyr, the property of Sir Carbery Pryse, and in course of a legal dispute, tried in Westminster Hall, the patentees produced proof that the lead of the mine contained silver to the amount of from 48 oz. to 60 oz. troy to every ton. This mine it was that procured the celebrated Act of 6 William and Mary, entitled 'An Act to prevent Disputes and Controversies concerning Royal Mines,' which vested minerals in the proprietors of the soil, reserving the right of pre-emption to the Crown at fixed rates. The mines appear to have flourished till about 1744. In 1800 Sir Thomas Bonsall, of Derbyshire, worked the mines of Cwmystwith, Grogwinion, and Gelli Eirin, realizing a large fortune, and employing "on an average 150 men." That there was, and still is, ample scope for work is shown by the fact that one of the Cardiganshire veins in the Bronfloyd mine at one time yielded its lead and silver for a width of 60 ft., and another vein (the Frognoch) is reported as charged with metal to a width of 120 ft."; added to which all these Cardiganshire mines are embedded in the Cambrian slate formation, which, according to eminent geologists, attains the extraordinary thickness of 20,000 ft., thus rendering the "prospect" next to inexhaustible. As more than once Sir Hugh Myddelton's connexion with these mines and his success with them has been called in question, a few closer particulars respecting them from local sources may be serviceable. Campbell's Consumblock is really the Welsh Cwmsymlog, one of a large group of argentiferous lead mines which have long been worked in the Aberystwith district of Cardiganshire. In 1563 letters patent were granted to Thomas Thurland and Daniel Houghsetter, two Germans, giving them powers to work "all the mines royal of gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver" within specified counties of England and the principality of Wales; The Cwmsymlog mine is now worked under the and in 1567 these letters patent became the ground-name of the East Darren, and the Cwmystwith, work of a corporation entitled the Society for the also still worked, produced a half century since for Mr. Lewis Pugh, its then owner, some 11,000l. a year. As continual reference is made in past accounts of the mines as to what might result from better or more systematic working in producing the precious metals, this particular field seems, in addition to those before mentioned, to be one in which improved plant and methods of extracting the ore will for some time to come give a very satisfactory output. In the similar slate formation at Snowdon and in its vicinity gold veins are continually cropping up, and many years since a very fine specimen was given me by one of the "guides" there in return for some slight service rendered to him. This specimen ultimately went to a friend in South Africa. Having taken the book to pieces myself with scrupulous care, I placed the same in the hands of Mr. Zaehnsdorf, the bookbinder, who kindly carried out all my instructions, as I find by a note I have appended in the volume, which is as follows :— "May 1, 1885.--In rebinding this volume the old style of the original work has been followed, a sample of the book was sewn (as now) upon four leathern bands, and former cover being inlaid within the end board. The bound in brown calfskin, with flaxen bands to tie or to pass over a little ball and thus to clasp it." The enclosed four printed leaves (part of a Latin psalter) having been used as "end papers," ," sewn earlier date, all of which are carefully preserved, upon vellum slips, and covered with MSS. of an May I close this note with a query or queries? printed pages of another book as end papers for and bound up herewith, the utilization of the What more is known about "Customer Smith," the date and cause of discontinuance of "the farm-to have been expected. The ancient pasteboard a durable binding indicating an economy hardly ing of Customs," "the Aberystwith Mint," and the "ostrich feather" coinage? R. W. HACKWOOD. P.S.-Since the above was written gold is reported to have turned up in the rocks near Torquay. To what extent it is likely to be found does not seem to be satisfactorily decided; but at all events vigorous prospecting is going on, and, from all accounts, the local authorities are interesting themselves in the matter. Possibly some local correspondent may be able to furnish closer details. THE PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF ANCIENT BOOKBINDINGS.-Being a great advocate for the conservation of all that originally belonged to a book, I view with great suspicion rebinding; for if a volume can in any way be preserved in its original state with safety, it is most desirable, though there are cases in which it may be hardly possible to patch, or even to protect. Such being the case, it is a matter for consideration whether the binding should be a replica of the old (sometimes an impossibility, the tools being wanting) or a work of our period. For old books, and particularly black-letter books, there seems something inharmonious in morocco and gay gilding-for instance, to see a Caxton in a gros grain morocco with a dentelle border seems inharmonious-vellum, calf, or pigskin being the most appropriate. Having some few years since rescued a copy of 'Britton's Laws,' a book imprinted by Redmond in 1530, from a fireplace, in which it had been thrown as unworthy of being catalogued for sale, I found the book in its original binding, which was of sheepskin or calf, but so ragged that I deemed rebinding necessary, though the book itself was perfect and the sewing intact. For the benefit of others who love old tomes I will recount what I did with it, taking care to preserve all possible. covers were much worm-eaten, but the book itself, happily, is but little injured. The book is black letter, and having noted that it was unpaged-as was at that date usual-I carefully collated it by the signatures of the sheets, and made a drawing of the water-mark in the paper (a hand and flower). The book has been cut; but, curiously, on signature P P 3 it will be found that a leaf has been turned down, as it has remained for 306 years, and this when laid out shows the exact size of the original paper on which the book is printed, with its virgin "deckle" intact, the water-mark indicating it to be an octavo. The book had been decorated with a renaissance "blind roll," and was lettered in ink upon the fore edge leaves, as books were titled prior to the use of gold upon the leather backs. Thus, on the shelves of an ancient library the leather bindings stood with their fore-edges to the front and the vellum bindings with their backs out, all the titles being done in ink. The tome being of value, I enclose it in a slip-case, simply lettered Britton, 1530." LUKE LIMNER, F.S. A. THE PARLIAMENT OF 1491-2.-It is well known that the returns to all the Parliaments between the 17 Edward IV. (1478) and 1 Edward VI. (1547) are-with the exception of a few fragments towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII.—totally lost. This hiatus in our parliamentary annals is greatly to be regretted; the more so because of the interesting and critical period embraced within it. A list of the Parliament 21 Henry VIII. (1529 to 1536), found among Lord Denbigh's papers, and printed in the Blue Book Returns, fortunately supplies the names of the members who formed that historically important assembly; at all events, at its earliest stage. And still more recently, the discovery of the greater part of the returns to Henry VIII.'s last Parliament (1545-7) leads to the slight hope that there may yet be found, in |