Standon Church the Rev. H. R. Weatherall joined the party, and described the church, particularly the tomb of Sir Ralph Sadlier. Standon Lordship, the residence of Sir Ralph Sadlier, and now the property of the Duke of Wellington, was also described by Mr. Weatherall. At Youngsbury, Mr. C. J. Puller described the tumulus lately opened by him and the articles obtained from it. Thunderidge Church was to have been visited, but time did not allow it.

On June 28 the members of the LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY paid a visit to Oldham. Their first halt was at Werneth Hall, which from time immemorial has been the seat of the lord of the manor of Oldham. The original house is said to have been destroyed by fire in 1456. The present was probably erected about the close of Elizabeth's reign. Chamber Hall was next visited, the fabric of which dates back to 1640, but it has an historical record of over 600 years. The ancient ingle-nook in the farm-house portion of the hall was a special object of interest. Hathershaw Hall, an Elizabethan house, the home of the Sandiford family for many generations, was also inspected. Mr. Andrew acted as cicerone throughout the excursion. The July excursions of the society were as follows: July 12, Streatham Towers, Liverpool; leader, Mr. H. H. Sales. July 19, Ribchester, the camp, the old church, and Stydd chapel; leader, Mr. James Bertwistle, F.S.I.; and July 26, meeting at the Priory, Gore Street, Greenheys, to inspect Mr. Copinger's Biblical

collection.

The SHROPSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY held their annual excursion on Tuesday, July 8, the district selected being that part of the county known as Corvedale. The places visited were the old Saxon church of Stanton Lacy, with its Norman additions and old tombs supposed to be Lacy's; Heath Chapel, which is considered to be one of the most perfect specimens of early Norman architecture in the district; the camp on Nordy Bank, supposed by some to be British, but more probably a Roman military encampment; Corfham Castle, associated in English history with Henry II. and Fair Rosamond, of which the moat only now remains; Diddlebury Church, of Saxon foundation; and Culmington Church, mainly Norman and Early English, with (what is rare in Shropshire churches) a low side window. Short explanations were given at the various places by the Rev. Thomas Auden, F.S.A., the chairman of the council of the society.

At

The CARADOC FIELD CLUB held its second meeting on June 27 at Kinlet. Kinlet Church is transition Norman, and contains some good fifteenth and sixteenth century monuments of the Childes and Blountes. Billingsley and Quat Churches were also visited. the first meeting on May 30, the club visited Leintwardine, and inspected the traces of the foss and vallum which once surrounded the Roman station of Bravinium, on whose site the village now stands. The church was also inspected, with its fine Mortimer chantry chapel, on the north side of the chancel.

On July 10 the twenty-fourth annual excursion of the YORKSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION was made to Coxwold and Byland Abbey. It was a thorough success. The society was fortunate in securing Mr. St. John Hope, of the Society of Antiquaries (who knows more about old English abbeys than any half-dozen other antiquaries), to describe the abbey of Byland, which he did with his usual clearness and interest. The abbey is of an advanced Cistercian type, Kirkstall Abbey being an example of the normal. The cloisters were very large, with the conventual buildings grouped round them. We were delighted to hear Mr. Hope speak in terms of strong condemnation of the invasion of the ivy, which is here almost paramount. Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite gave an able description of the various unique features of Coxwold Church. Later in the day Mr. Leadman, F.S.A., described Newburgh Priory, the seat of Sir George Wombell, where there is a fine collection of Cromwell relics, together with a ridiculous legend as to the bones of Oliver Cromwell being in a walled-up chamber! The association is to be much congratulated on the "get up" and utility of the illustrated programme furnished to members by the hon. secretary, Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, F.S.A.

We have received the sixth part of the Quarterly Journal of the BERKS ARCHEOLOGICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY, edited by Rev. P. H. Ditchfield. It is a good general number, though most of the articles are very brief.

Literary Gossip for Archæologists.

DR. SAUER will publish shortly the result of his researches on the two fronts of the Parthenon. He is now engaged in studying the façades of the Theseion, about which it is uncertain whether they contained representations in relief or were left blank.

Dr. Tomassetti, of Rome, by means of a hitherto unobserved fragment of inscription, is reconstructing the dedication of the ancient Temple of Castor and Pollux on the Roman Forum.

Mr. T. Wilson, the able secretary to the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society, proposes shortly to print and publish The Boke of Recorde of Kirkbiekendall, 1575, a manuscript volume in possession of the Corporation of Kendall. It will appear as an extra volume of the Society's series, and will be edited by the Chancellor of Carlisle.

We are glad to hear that the Inventory of the Church Plate of Leicestershire, by Rev. Andrew Trollope, is on the eve of publication. It is being brought out

by Messrs. Clarke and Hodgson, of Leicester, in two vols. demy 4to., at a subscription price of £1 10s., which will be closed on publication.

We are glad of the opportunity of noticing the projected publication of a unique and interesting manuscript volume of the sixteenth century in lithographed facsimile. Mr. George Weddell, of 20, West Grainger Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, is about to bring out by this method-" Ye Apothecarie, His Booke of Recepts '—a manuscript volume, temp. Elizabeth, which was discovered some few years ago among the papers belonging to the old firm of Gilpin and Co., Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. To many noble and ancient families in the North of England its interest will be enhanced by the historic names appended to the recipes. The names include Cholmley, Slingsby, Fairfax, Lister, Sheffield, Fleetwood, Vavasour, Bellasis, Harcourt, etc. Mr. Weddell is inclined to think that the original or an early owner of the book was Mary Cholmley, daughter of Sir Henry Cholmley, of Whitby, who married Henry Fairfax, uncle of the great Lord Fairfax. Besides the purely medical bearing of the work, there is a portion devoted to such household matters as "To make cruddes and creame,' ," "A note howe to die blewe out of white," and "To make usk-a-baughe." There is also " A note of Mrs. Barbara, her lessons on ye Virginalle," which includes compositions by Mr. Bird, organist to Queen Elizabeth, and by Dr. Bull, the reputed composer of the National Anthem. The volume will consist of about 180 pages of fcap. 4to. well bound, and, should 200 subscribers be found, will be supplied to them at 12s. 6d. ; but if the subscription should reach 300, it will be reduced to 10s. 6d.

Mr. Rupert Simms, of Newcastle, Staffordshire, is now nearing the completion of the long labour that he has spent over the Bibliography of Staffordshire. It is proposed to publish the work for subscribers in one volume imp. 8vo., at 21s. ; names to be sent to Mr. Lomax, Johnson's Head, Lichfield. The full and very long title, as given in the circular, explains the comprehensive intention of the work. "Bibliotheca Staffordiensis: or a bibliographical account of books, tracts, pamphlets, sermons, poll books, and other printed matter relating, printed or published in, or written by a native, resident, or person deriving a title from any portion of the County of Stafford ; giving a full collation; biographical notices of authors and printers; and also the prices at which the rarer articles have been sold by public or private sale. Together with as full a list as possible of all prints, engravings, etchings, etc., of any part thereof; portraits of anyone connected with the county; and of oil paintings, drawings, and water colours, by any person, so connected with their present location. The same forming a complete index to all sources from which any information can be obtained relating to Staffordshire."

Mr. Treadwell Wolden has in active preparation two exhaustive and richly illustrated volumes on Westminster Hall. It will be issued by subscription at two guineas, orders to be sent to Mr. A. P. Watt, 2,

Mr. F. A. Edwards, of Southampton, has just published in the Hampshire Independent, of which he is publisher, a bibliographical list of the Hampshire newspapers. The list, which includes a few papers not actually printed in the county, comprises over one hundred titles, and brings to light some curious journalistic information. Some papers, for instance, displayed a fondness for changing their names, a practice which, it would be thought, must have been very inconvenient. The Hampshire Chronicle was the greatest sinner in this respect, and this paper was also more than once mixed up in another inconvenient practice, when two papers of identical titles were published simultaneously. When, for instance, that paper, which was originally printed in Southampton, changed hands and was removed to Winchester in 1778, the former publisher started another Hampshire Chronicle in Southampton. A few years later the Winchester paper similarly usurped the title of the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, and in 1814 it adopted similar questionable tactics to combat the Hampshire Courier of Portsmouth. Evidently the copyright laws could not have been very severe then. Mr. Edwards invites additional information for this list, which has been prepared for a new edition of Mr. H. M. Gilbert's Bibliotheca Hantoniensis.

Reviews and Motices

of New Books.

[Publishers are requested to be so good as always to mark clearly the prices of books sent for review, as these notices are intended to be a practical aid to book-buying readers.]

CONSTRUCTION OF THE WONDERFUL CANON OF

LOGARITHMS. By John Napier, Baron of Merchiston. Translated from Latin into English, with notes, and a catalogue of the various editions of Napier's works, by William Rae Macdonald, F.F.A. William Blackwood and Sons.

This book of 169 pages is full of interest to the mathematician who is not indifferent to the history of the processes which he uses in his everyday work. It need scarcely be said that the introduction of logarithms gave an impetus to the common employment of mathematics, which, perhaps, has never been exceeded by any other discovery, and in this little book," writes his son and literary executor, Robert Napier, "you have most amply unfolded the theory of the construction of logarithms." We doubt if one out of every thousand who use logarithms ever heard of this "wonderful canon," or have an idea what it contains, and few still have any conception of the methods of calculation he employed. In the book under review we have a translation of the canon by Mr. Macdonald, whose copious notes are not the least interesting part to the mathematician. In his antiquarian researches he has been most happy, and has given us information which enables us to estimate Napier at a higher level than we did before.

The history of John Napier (Napier or Nepair, as the surname was sometimes spelt) is given in the preface, from which it appears that he was not only a mathematician, but a student of theology, whilst yet an undergraduate at St. Andrew's, and that thirty years later he published the results of his studies in a work entitled A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John. This theological work went through numerous editions in English, Dutch, French, and German, "a proof of its widespread popularity with the Reformed Churches." The versatility of Napier's mind, the author says, is further evidenced by his attention to agriculture; the Merchiston system of tillage by manuring the land with salt is described by his eldest son, Archibald, who was subsequently raised to the peerage as Lord Napier of Merchiston. Another of the chief aids which he gave to mathematical science was the introduction of the decimal point, enabling fractions to be used with the same facility as whole numbers. The decimal point, we thus find, has had an existence of some 300 years-it is a unique thing that the introduction of such a small thing as a dot should have such a wonderful effect on the ease with which a science can be employed. We have often noticed that theology and exact science have frequently been closely interwoven in the same person, and that it is generally by the latter that his name is known. Napier is certainly no exception, for his name most certainly lives by his

introduction of logarithms. It should also be cherished for the invention of the decimal point.

The author has evidently taken an affectionate interest in the task he allotted to himself, and has done his work well. This volume is one which should find its way into the library of many scientific physicists, not only on account of its historical value, but also as explaining the elegant methods employed by Napier in working out his great discovery.-W. de W. Abney, C.B., F.R.S.

BLOOMSBURY AND ST. GILES. By George Clinch. Truelove and Shirley. Crown 4to., pp. xii., 220, with 24 full-page illustrations. Price 12s. It is not a little remarkable that the work now so well done by Mr. Clinch had not been previously attempted, but up to the time of the issue of this handsome volume, no account of the above-named parishes, which are full of historical and literary associations, had been published. The first two chapters deal with the history of St. Giles, relating to the foundation of the hospital for lepers in 1101, and its suppression by the iniquitous Henry VIII., with grant to Lord Lisle. The old church of St. Giles, pertaining to the leper hospital, was pulled down and rebuilt in 1623. But the new church got into decay, and the present fabric of St. Giles-in-the-Fields was built in 1731, as one of the fifty churches then erected at the public charge. The third chapter deals with the celebrated or remarkable characters that have been connected with the parish, from such names as Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Andrew Marvell, down to mere local notorieties, such as "old John Norris, the musical shrimp man.' "The fourth chapter opens with an account of the City gallows which used to occupy the space where Tottenham Court Road, New Oxford Street, High Street, Charing Cross Road, and Oxford Street now meet. This is followed by an account of the pound and cage, the stocks and whipping-post, and the fire engine, the chapter concluding with notes on old inns and alehouses, such as the Black Bear, the Crooked Billet, and the Hampshire Hog. An exhaustive account of the parochial charities comprises chapter five. The next chapter is chiefly occupied with an account of Seven Dials and its literature. To Lincoln's Inn Fields and to Lincoln's Inn two other chapters are justly assigned.

The second section of the work describes Bloomsbury. The name had its origin from the family of Blemund or Blumund, who owned the manor early in the thirteenth century. It is chiefly celebrated for the British Museum, of whose history and description a good outline sketch is here given. Bloomsbury, too, as the west end of last century, is rich in associations with eminent literary and other celebrities, about whom Mr. Clinch has many pleasant particulars and anecdotes to record.

OKEHAMPTON: ITS ANTIQUITIES AND INSTITU. TIONS, a new edition, with additional chapters. By W. H. K. Wright, F.R.H.S. William Masland, Tiverton. Crown 8vo., pp. xviii., 242. This work was originally published in three parts in 1839, but not completed, and was chiefly due to the labour of Rev. H. G. Fothergill, Rector of Belston. In the present volume the old material has been given in its original form and arrangement; but the last half of the book, dealing chiefly with the ecclesiastical antiquities, is the work of Mr. Wright. The chief interest of the older part lies in the reproduction of the brief journals of Messrs Rattenbury and Shebbeare, burgesses of Okehampton, from the 21st James I. to the death of William III. The Orange Revolution is thus recorded:

"19 Feb., 1688. This day William and Mary, prince and princesse of Orange were proclaymed king and queen of England, France, and Ireland, and effigies of the Pope burnt in this towne."

The volume is well-illustrated, and is exceptionally interesting for the antiquary who may have no acquaintance with this little Devonshire borough; by residents and Devonians it is sure to be much valued.

ENGLISH

GOLDSMITHS. By Robert Charles Hope, F.S.A., F.R.S.L. 8vo., pp. 76. Price 5s. To be had of the author, Albion Crescent, Scarborough. Only 100 copies printed. All those who are interested in English plate will thank us for drawing their attention to this small but valuable work. It is a list of all who have been or still are members of the Goldsmiths' companies in the cities and towns where plate was or is assayed. The lists, which are arranged in alphabetical order for the different towns, and which have the date of entry, or the earliest date found attached, together with the latest date or year of death, have cost Mr. Hope an infinity of trouble. They have been obtained from original sources, either from the books of the old Goldsmiths' companies, or from the Freemen's lists (usually beginning in Elizabethan times) in the various cities and towns where the Assay Offices formerly existed. The book includes the goldsmiths of London, York, Norwich, Exeter, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Chester, Hull, Shrewsbury, and Sheffield. Birmingham has to be omitted, as, strange to say, this newest of cities could not grant permission to copy the names.

A CALENDAR OF WILLS RELATING ΤΟ THE COUNTY OF KENT. Edited by Leland Lewis Duncan, F.S.A. Printed for the Lewisham Antiquarian Society. Imp. 8vo., pp. 93, and interleaved with stout writing paper. Price IOS. 6d.

It is not long since we drew attention to a beautifully got-up book on the monumental inscriptions of Lewisham church and churchyard issued by this small but energetic society, and now Mr. Duncan, the hon. sec., has produced this valuable volume. It is a calendar of Kentish wills proved in the Prerogative County of Canterbury from the commencement of the series, in 1384, down to 1559. The arrangement is as follows: (a) name of deceased, in alphabetical

order; (b) parish; (c) date of probate, the letter F attached signifying that there is a filed will extant, in addition to the copy in the will-register; and (d) reference to the first forty-two will-registers of the court. This calendar cannot fail to be of the greatest possible service to the genealogist, as well as to those engaged in drawing up histories of Kentish parishes. The volume can only be obtained of Charles North, printer, Blackheath, S. E. Early application should be made, as only 150 copies have been printed.

THE MONUMENTAL HISTORY OF THE EARLY BRITISH CHURCH. By J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A. (Scot.). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Pp. xvi., 225, with sixteen illustrations. Price 3s.

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge are to be congratulated on the issue of this useful and much-needed volume, and upon having secured so competent an author as Mr. Romilly Allen, the now well-known writer of Early Christian Symbolism in Great Britain and Ireland. It was high time that some sound and reliable compendium of the archæological, as distinct from the documentary evidence of the Early Church in Great Britain, should be put forth. This book is divided into four sections, which deal respectively with the archeology of the RomanoBritish Church before 400, of the early Celtic Church 400 to 600, of the later Celtic Church 600 to 1006, and of the Saxon Church 600 to 1066; and each section is sub-divided into parts that treat of the structures, of the sepulchral monuments, and of the portable objects. The illustrations form a valuable feature of the work; seven of the sixteen plates are taken from Mr Romilly Allen's rubbings. It is a book that everyone interested in British ecclesiology will be bound to consult, and it will correct many of those fallacies into which popular lecturers on our Early Christianity not infrequently fall. There might possibly be a few advantageous minor corrections in subsequent editions, but the book, as a whole, can be recommended with much confidence.

GEOMETRY IN RELIGION. E. W. Allen.

pp. 96, with illustrations.

8vo.,

One of the signs of the times is assuredly to be found in the printing of arrant nonsense, such as never used to degrade the printing press. It is a complete puzzle to us how a brain could be formed capable of compiling the arrangement of terms and expressions found in these closely-printed pages! Another puzzle is, provided such stuff was written, how any sane publisher can be found to print it! Even if we were able to answer both these conundrums, yet a third one would remain-why, when it has been published, is such a book sent to the editor of the Antiquary? All that we can do for the nameless author of this hopeless imbecility, which has not even the merit of being unconsciously amusing, is to give the full title, and to quote a single sentence, and then, if there are any lunatics among our readers, they may like to possess themselves of a copy of the work. The title is: Geometry in Religion, and the Exact Dates in Biblical History after the Monuments; or, the Fundamental Principles of Christianity; the Precessional

Year, etc., as based on the Teaching of the Ancients by the Cube, Square, Circle, Pyramid, etc.

As a quotation, taken honestly at haphazard, and just as intelligent or the reverse as all the rest, this must suffice: "What the races expect in the New Age. The theory of retributive justice in sexual and parental relations leads to expectations for the time of the second existence, which, together with the rites (a rite is a system), form the expression of the 'hope' by customs, transmitted from father to son"!

THE PASSION PLAY AS PLAYED AT OBERAMMERGAU. By W. T. Stead. Review of Reviews Office. Quarto, pp. 130, illustrated with sixty photographic reproductions. Price Is. paper; 2s. limp cloth.

When Mr. Stead arrived at Ober-Ammergau on June 7, he asked for the text of the play in German and English. "In a short time," he says, "I was furnished with a small library in both languages, official guides, authorised texts, the only authentic version, complete descriptive accounts, illustrated editions, and so forth. Armed with specimens of the best, I made my way to the Passion Play on Sunday, June 8. Imagine, then, my astonishment on discovering that not one of all the versions sold has the faintest claim to give an account of the Passion Play as it is played to-day; that all of them describe the play as it was presented ten years ago; that in all the mass of Ober-Ammergau literature there is not a single German-English edition, with the German text printed in parallel columns to the English translation, and that none of the published books of the play contain any illustration, either of the play as it is played or of the performer as they appear. Nothing is more pathetic than to witness the vain attempts of the audience to follow the play by the aid of books which describe tableaux which have been dropped, give the dialogue of scenes which have been suppressed, and illustrate their text by portraitures of players who are no longer on the stage, or who are playing different parts."

Óf this discomfort we had practical experience on Sunday, June 29. Our so-called Libretto of the Songs and Dialogue: Ober-Ammergau, 1890, bought at the place, is scored with corrections as to omitted or inserted parts and tableaux. The English, too, is eccentric, as may be judged from directions on the opening page: Pouse to take a lunch. Don't forget an opera glas"! Mr. Stead, has, however, most admirably and thoroughly supplied this remarkable deficiency. The introductory, explanatory, and historic chapters are excellent, whilst the main part of the book is taken up with the German text, as now being acted, with an English version, happily interspersed with brief descriptions, in parallel columns, The very numerous photographic plates are reproduced by express permission from the copyright originals of this year. Mr. Stead's book has made us long to go again, and, as this is out of the question, the next best thing is to strongly recommend every English visitor, who purports going to this marvellous and soul-stirring drama during August or September, to be fore-armed with a copy of this work.

BOOKS RECEIVED, of which notices are reserved.Annals of the Barber-Surgeons, Newspaper Reporting, Lostara, History of Holbeach, The Days of James IV., The Testimony of Tradition, Gentleman's Magazine Library (Architectural Antiquities), and The Corporation Records of St. Albans.

Among the painphlets and magazines that have reached us may be mentioned, in addition to those usually received, the South Australian Cornish Association; Struggles in Africa; The Studio, a New York journal devoted to the Fine Arts; A Cursory Relation of all the Antiquities and Familyes in Cumberland, a reprint of a pamphlet by Edmund Sandford, c. 1675, edited by Chancellor Ferguson; Condover Past and Present, a sixpenny historical pamphlet compiled to further the ends of a local industrial exhibition; The Library Journal, the official organ of the American Library Association; the first quarterly part of Berkshire Notes and Queries, edited by G. F. Tudor Sherwood, price Is. 6d. ; and Thenks Awfully, sketches in cockney dialect (Field and Tuer), price IS.

Correspondence.

WROXETER.

GENERAL PITT-RIVERS, in a recent letter to the Times, strongly urged the desirability of carrying out further excavations at Wroxeter and Silchester, etc., instead of sending money abroad to Greece, Palestine, Cyprus, or Egypt.

As regards Wroxeter, the portion that has been explored is a mere fragment. When the season is dry and the corn ripe, the outlines of Roman buildings underneath the surface can be traced most distinctly in the cornfields which surround the already explored portion. A rich harvest of Roman antiquities may be expected when further excavations are carried out.

Unfortunately, the local society has not funds for the purpose, its excellent Transactions swallowing up most of its income. And a recent appeal to the Society of Antiquaries to help has resulted in a negative answer, on account of lack of funds.

If only, as General Pitt-Rivers urges, we had an English Exploration Fund, Wroxeter and similar sites might speedily be thoroughly explored.

Shrewsbury.

F.

[Silchester is now absorbing attention; the work of definite exploration has already been begun by the Society of Antiquaries. The response to the appeal for funds for this work is fairly good. The town of Wroxeter should come next. Meanwhile, we venture to think that all special aid should be given for the present to Silchester. Both these excavations are of national, and not merely local, importance.-ED.].