"Nobody will ever be a Prayer-book Christian till they have experienced the Prayer-book." Such truths are more impressive in form than in meaning. There is nothing particularly original in the experiment of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and this is the sort of experiment Miss Searing has narrated. She is unnecessarily cruel in pointing the moral by killing her heroine, a poor country girl whom a fashionable lady takes up and tries to convert into a town belle. Miss Searing must be careful of her quotations. It will not do to say "et timeo Danaos, dona ferentes." Please tell Me a Tale. By S. Baring Gould and Three Martyrs of the Nineteenth Century. By the Author of 'Chronicles of the SchönbergCotta Family.' (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.) The Mountain. By Jules Michelet. With numerous Illustrations. (Nelson & Sons.) A Sea Change. By Flora L. Shaw. (Routledge & Sons.) In the Brave Days of Old: the Story of the Crusades. By Henry Frith. (Same publishers.) Her Gentle Deeds. By Sarah Tytler. (Isbister.) At Granny's; or, Ten Days without Father and Mother. (Masters & Co.) By Mrs. Edward Kennard. (Chapman & Hall.) Dreams by a French Fireside: Fairy Tales. Translated from the German of Richard Leander Twilight Tales. (Prof. R. Volkmann) by Mary O'Callaghan. (Same publishers.) Halcyon and Asphodel, and other Stories. By A. L. H. A. (Hatchards.) The New River: a Romance of the Time of Hugh Myddelton. By Edward Fitzgibbon. (Ward & Downey.) during the War of Independence, its chief hero being an unmitigated scoundrel, a traitor to his country, a pirate, and a slave-dealer. He amasses wealth, and, of course, is killed just when he is on the eve of triumph. Lord Palmerston used to say that one of the uses of war was to teach geography. Those who study Jules Verne's book with an atlas will be perfect in the knowledge of that of modern Greece. The illustrations are good. Mrs. Stanley Leathes's' Afloat' is an attractive story, somewhat sensational in incident. Sim Garland, a fisherman, and Mary his wife and Marigold their daughter lived in the end of a boat by the sea. Sim called his cot "The Cosy," and it was as warm and clean and comfortable and happy as a handy man and a good woman could make it. Ill luck comes to "The Cosy in the shape of a spiteful "innocent," Noodle Nick. The wicked imp takes advantage of Mrs. Garland's illness to wreck the cot and send little Marigold "afloat." After much time and toil and trouble and many a strange coincidence and turn of fortune all things are set right; but the chronicle of events is well worth reading. 'Her Husband's Home' is a pleasant tale of English family life. The interest turns on a misunderstanding, born of their different natures, between Eugénie Durley and her mother-in-law. The two slowly draw together, and so the story is made. 'Margaret Casson's Resolve' is a very "superior" story. Margaret is a very superior young woman; her resolve is to do her duty as a Christian, and she never forgets how significant She gives up a comfortable home and income to rescue and support a drunken father, and her efforts are rewarded with success ; but she is so self-conscious that she wearies the reader. are her acts. story, in feeble imitation of Miss Yonge. There Miss Shaw's 'On the Cliff' is rather a confused are three houses on the cliff, the inhabitants are all related, and the complications of the relationships are endless. There is a curious Indian nurse, whose name is Salome, and who talks like a negress. Miss Doudney dedicates her latest book, 'Prudence Winterburn, "to girls who, like themselves, with romantic self-sacrifice, to a Prudence Winterburn, are ready to devote newly made friend.". Prudence may be worthy of the post of heroine, but she is a very silly girl, and Josephine Chafford for an adventuress is a poor sort of creature. Miss Rowsell is good in an historical story, and there is much that is interesting and amusing in 'The Pedlar and his Dog,' but the dream system is somewhat fanciful; moreover, John Pennycuick the pedlar seems to imagine that Sir Richard Whittington is a kind of perennial. 'Please tell Me a Tale' is a pretty collection to ten years of age by various authors. of short original stories for children from four The names of Miss Yonge and Mr. Baring Gould are a sufficient passport to the book. little child of the London slums. Mr. Thomas Archer's Little Tottie is a poor shelters her and brings her happiness. A crêche Among the mass of mediocre books hurled essentially the same, the enslaving of the weaker races by the stronger." Michelet's 'Mountain' is too well known for comment. The translation seems to be fairly executed; but the weak point of books which blend sentiment and science after this fashion is that they tend to become obsolete in both capacities. Miss Flora Shaw's 'A Sea Change' is a pretty story, with a plot which is a curious combination. The scene throughout is an interior-it is mostly, indeed, laid in a London schoolroom-but round about pupils and teachers floats an atmosphere of wild and stirring adventures and marvellous coincidences. Marina, over whom comes the sea change, is a winsome little creature, and her faithful squire, Lord James Egerton, the nonchalant fine gentleman with the heart of gold, is one of the most attractive of his class, not an uncommon one in fiction. In Mr. Frith's volume, 'In the Brave Days of Old,"" the ever-interesting story of the Crusades," says the writer, "has been told with as much lightness and as much adventurous detail as is deemed consistent with such a purely historical subject." We regret that we can neither approve of Mr. Frith's method nor enjoy its results. To narrate in three hundred pages lightly and with adventurous detail the history of the centuries of the Crusades seems to us to be a task impossible-it ought never to be attempted. The illustrations are curiously unequal in merit. The quaint old reprints have a value of their own, but of the fanciful pictures there is nothing very good to be said. Miss Sarah Tytler is an old and tried friend, and her books for girls are admirable. It suffices to say that 'Her Gentle Deeds' is worthy of her name and fame. Kirsten Stewart, the doer of the gentle deeds, is a noble woman, and her adopted children, Katie, Beville, and Sa, are a quaint little trio, and very brave in all their trials. Miss Edgeworth and Mrs. Marcet had a rare gift of detail. They were never wearisome, never irrelevant. Most modern writers for little children fall into both faults; for instance, 'At Granny's; or, Ten Days without Father and Mother,' is an elaborate chronicle of the scrapes of two little children, aged five and six respectively. It does not strike us as being amusing, and we are unable to conceive that it can serve any useful end. Mrs. Edward Kennard's 'Twilight Tales' is a volume of stories about animals, half fanciful and quite fascinating. Our only complaint is that the tone is often too sad. The death of the poor old dog fox is a piteous tale. Miss O'Callaghan's translation of 'Dreams by a French Fireside' proves to be a really charming volume of fairy tales. The book grew, says the writer, out of love for German manners and German customs. It was written during the siege of Paris in 1870. "Now and then, when the snow was flying out of doors, he took his pen and tried to scribble with hasty lines...... dream figures upon the paper; and the war mail carried the light delineations faithfully home to his wife, to whom this little book is dedicated." It is a remarkable book, now bold and striking in thought, now dreamy and weird, and always My Mistress the Queen: a Tale of the Seventeenth Century. By M. A. Paull. (Blackie & Son.) Miss Grantley's Girls, and the Stories She told Them. By Thomas Archer. (Same publishers.) Dessie Fennimore: a Tale of Country - Town upon the children of the day it is a real pleasure Children. By S. K. Hutton. to recognize a master hand. Miss Hullah in graceful. (Hodder & Stoughton.) 'The Lion Battalion, and other Stories,' has Thrown on the World; or, the Scrapes and 'Scapes produced something original and charming. Little Peter Gottlieb reminds the reader of one of Ray and Bertie. By Edwin Hodder. (Same of Hans Andersen's children. Miss Hullah is publishers.) By L. T. Meade. delightful as a story-teller, and it is to be hoped that The Lion Battalion,' which is not her first story, will by no means be her last. Described and A Little Silver Trumpet. (Same publishers.) Famous Caves and Catacombs. illustrated by W. H. Davenport Adams. (Nelson & Sons.) JULES VERNE has written several stories which were obviously incredible. In the present instance he has produced one which is only highly improbable. It is by no means one of his best. The scene is laid in the Grecian Archipelago The author of 'The Schönberg-Cotta Family' gives us in 'Three Martyrs of the Nineteenth Century' the lives of Dr. Livingstone, General Gordon, and Bishop Patteson. Such heroic matter is congenial to her pen. She links together the three martyrs by showing how "the Dragon in conflict with which the three heroes, Livingstone, Patteson, and Gordon, fell was 'Halcyon and Asphodel,' a book of fairy tales of English growth, is not particularly attractive; the fairy machinery is somewhat clumsy, and there is none of the poetic feeling of the German book. Mr. Fitzgibbon's 'The New River: a Romance of the Time of Hugh Myddelton' is an exciting work, somewhat after the style of Harrison Ainsworth. There is a pair of lovers and there is a villain; the course of true love runs side by side with the New River, and the villain who seeks to part the lovers seeks also to ruin Hugh Myddelton's scheme; but with the aid of a wise simpleton and his dog-an uncanny pair—virtue is triumphant. Another historical tale is My Mistress 9 the Queen,' a pretty story in the form of an autobiography written by Mistress Frances Heber, who went to Holland in the train of the Princess Mary, wife of William of Orange, and afterwards Queen of England. Miss Grantley's girls were philanthropic schoolgirls who worked for a bazaar, and as they stitched their governess told them a batch of stories, and very pretty stories too. Dessie Fennimore: a Tale of Country-Town Children,' is a chronicle of every-day life in the early part of this century. It is quaint and pretty, but the trial of Mr. Fennimore, the librarian, is a somewhat startling incident. Mr. Hodder's 'Thrown on the World' is a book for boys, stirring and exciting. The heroes, Ray and Bertie, are thrown on the world in early childhood. Their father and mother, Anglo-Russians living in Moscow, become involved in the Nihilist troubles, and, though innocent, are sent to Siberia. The children drift into the great Foundling Hospital of Moscow, and have the luck to be adopted by a rich English visitor, Mr. Barnabas Birtles, tea merchant, of London. Birtles is a merchant prince, and he brings the lads up with great generosity and judgment. When they leave school they make the grand tour, with an excellent though absent-minded tutor. They have many adventures in many lands, and the last adventure of all restores them to their parents. Miss Meade's 'A Little Silver Trumpet' is a pathetic story, charmingly illustrated by T. Pym. Little Johnnie Cleaver is a hero, and goes near to being a martyr, only that luck turns at the end. OUR LIBRARY TABLE. THERE are always some people who are ready at any moment to prove that the world is flat or that the Lost Tribes have been found, and in the same way since the days of De Guignes there have not been wanting persons who hold that the priest Hwui-shan of the fifth century was the first discoverer of America. The last disciple of this school is Mr. Vining, the author of An Inglorious Columbus (New York, Appleton & Co.), who has collected in that work, with more labour than profit, all the published opinions on the subject, both for and against his theory, and who rises from a survey of them fully convinced that the laurels worn by Columbus should rest on the brow of Hwui-shan. The whole theory is based on a statement which is reported to have been made by the priest Hwui-shan, who in 499 A.D. arrived at King-chow, in the Chinese province of Hu-kwang, from, as he said, the kingdom of Fusang. This country he affirmed was situated 20,000 Chinese miles to the east of Ta-han (in Korea), and was named from the fusang trees with which it abounds. He described this tree as resembling the t'ung tree, as bearing a fruit like the pear, and as having a bark from which the natives make cloth and a species of brocade. Some of the customs of the people of the land were identical with those of no more direct correlation between veracity and Piccolomini' and 'Wallenstein's Tod' he was Library." An extremely neat edition of Hood's THE pocket-books, almanacs, and date cards of Messrs. De La Rue & Co. have the perfection that practice is said to give. They are as ornamental and luxurious as such things can be without ceasing to be useful.-We have to thank Messrs. T. J. & J. Smith for a quantity of diaries, pocket-books, calendars, and other publications of a similar kind, all of them arranged with a keen eye to the wants of men of business. The scribbling diaries issued by this firm deserve particular praise. WE have also received the new Post Office Handbook, which is to be issued half-yearly at a penny. CHRISTMAS cards again crowd our table. A well-known firm, Messrs. Raphael Tuck & Son, send us a large album filled with cards, which look all the better for being so displayed. A few are crude in colour, but a great number of them are distinctly good. A lavish use of satin makes many of Messrs. Tuck's cards extremely luxurious, and they send us one or two large cards in separate cases, the most elaborate we have yet seen. -Messrs. Schipper & Son send us a copious assortment of cards of more than usual merit both in design and execution. We have received, indeed, no better cards this season. 'The Turner Gallery, produced by the same firm, is a mistake.-Messrs. Wirths Bros. & Owen send a number of highly successful specimens of frosted cards, and also a quantity of other cards of great excellence. Wallenstein. By Friedrich Schiller. Done into English Verse by J. A. W. Hunter. (Kegan WE have on our table The Life and Teachings Paul, Trench & Co.)-In some respects Coleridge's of Joseph Livesey, by John Pearce (National Temrendering of Wallenstein' is one of the best perance League), Aberdour and Inchcolme, poetical translations in the English language. Un-being Historical" Notices of the Parish and fortunately, however, Coleridge did not translate Monastery, by the Rev. W. Ross, LL.D. (Edin'Wallenstein's Lager,' which is by far the finest burgh, Douglas), Pump Court, Vol. II.` (The part of the work; and in his version of the Office),-Index to the London Gazette, 1830 to 1883, compiled by A. Pulling (Clowes),-The occasionally guilty, as he himself admitted, of Q. P. Index Annual for 1884 (Trübner), -New "dilating the original." Perhaps, therefore, Light on Mormonism, by Mrs. E. Dickinson there was room for a new translation. Mr. (Funk & Wagnalls),-Hamlet, Prince of Den Hunter has done his work very well; not, indeed, mark, with Preface and Notes by M. Mull as a poet would have done it, but conscientiously (Kegan Paul),-Law Lyrics (Glasgow, Wilson and with adequate scholarship. He reflects & McCormick), — Love Idylls, Ballads, by H Schiller's ideas accurately, and he does so in Dryerre (Edinburgh, Menzies), -The Eve of the verse which is generally very much better than Reformation, Part I., by the Rev. W. Stang the verse of the majority of English translators. (Burns & Oates), -Memorials of Dean Close, by In an introductory essay he sets forth briefly the One who Knew Him (Rivers),-Religion without facts of Wallenstein's career, and offers some God, by W. Arthur (Bemrose),-Progress (Hunt), suggestions as to Schiller's treatment of the subjec. Most of his criticis treatment of and disof Josh, -Month of the Sacred Heart, by the Abbé criminating, and will be of considerable service by W. L. Pearson (Leipzig, Stauffer), -The ga to readers who may need a little help in the Passage to Heaven, by One who Has It ca effort to appreciate / a noble lind original works Paul), The New Creature, by the Rev. C. de of genius." University New Testament, by the late J. T. Beck, D.D. Two collections of sea stories sent by Messrs. (Edinburgh, Clark),-The Acts of the Apostles, Chatto & Windus render possible a comparison edited by J. R. Lumby (Cambridge, between the indefatigable Mr. Clark Russell and a competitor, Mr. James Runciman. Mr. Press),-Annales du Musée Guimet: Vol. VIII, Russell with his In the Middle Watch need not Le Yi-King, ou Livre des Changements de la fear Mr. Runciman with Skippers and Shellbacks. Dynastie des Tsheou, Part I., by P. LF Both writers have the cardinal virtue of knowMazda und die Asuras, by P. V. Bradke (Nutt), ledge of their subject; but Mr. Russell has a -Alberto da Gandino, Giureconsulto del Secolo the Chinese, and others were unlike anything gift of description and a literary facility which XIII., by L. A. Gandini (Modena, Società Tipo that has been known to exist anywhere. The narrative has been reproduced in several histories and encyclopædias, and the text-consisting of only 453 Chinese characters-here translated is from the celebrated work of Ma Twanlin, which was published about 1321. The story reaches us, therefore, through many hands, and it it quite possible that many of the improbabili Mr. Runciman has not. Mr. Runciman, how- E. Jaeglé grafica),—Lettres sur la Cavalerie, by (Paris, Hinrichsen), - Das Alte Testament bei he is content to describe tersely what he tho- Johannes, by A. H. Franke (Göttingen, Van roughly understands, and some of his stories are denhoeck & Ruprecht), tion than Mr. Russell's, and at times they are ; but they are rougher in dic- Libéraux, l'Eglise et le Libéralisme de 1830 á na Les Catholiques PlonJours, by A. Leroy-Beaulieu (Paris, Satura, Grillen und Schwänke, by L. Fulda ties now found in it may have been inserted by the writers gives a very pleasant view of the real (Leipzig, Reitzner),-La Femme et le Droit, by unfaithful wonder-loving scribes. und Reiss Mr. Russell never tires of saying Völkernamen, by R. Kleinpaul (Leipzig L. Bridel (Paris, Pichon), - Menschen: that nobody would begin to be a sailor if he could know what was before him, or remain a sailor if he could be anything else. ner), Die Sprache als Kunst, Parts Gaertner), by G. Gerber (Berlin, Alten Kyprier in Kunst und Cultus MESSRS. ROUTLEDGE & SONS continue to send by Dr. us additional volumes of their delightful "Pocket | Grundlinien Die Studien A. Holwerda (Leyden, Bril- zur Kelly's (T.) Studies from Nature, British Foliage, Series 1, graphical, Vol. I., 8vo. 25/ cl. Pritchard's (C.) Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis, roy. 8vo. 8/6 Smith's (T. E.) Inventions and How to Protect Them, 2/6 chologie, by _Dr. V. Knauer (Williams & e Rev. J. M. Neale (Masters),-A Key to Lord nnyson's In Memoriam,' by Dr. A. Gatty ell),-Echoes of the Night, and other Poems, by H. Wood (Kegan Paul),-James Nasmyth, gineer, an Autobiography, edited by S. Smiles, .D. (Murray),-William Hedley, the Inventor Railway Locomotion on the Present Principle ockwood),—The Co-operative Commonwealth, an position of Modern Socialism, by L. Gronlund he Modern Press),-Jacques Bonhomme chez hn Bull, by F. de Jupilles (Paris, Lévy),-La ilosophie en France au XIX. Siècle, by F. avaisson (Paris, Hachette),-History of the Negro ace in America from 1619 to 1880, by G. W. Filliams (Putnams), Trout Culture, by C. apel (Low),—and The Field Sports of the North Europe, by Capt. L. Lloyd (Hamilton). LIST OF NEW BOOKS. Theology. eecher's (H. W.) Evolution and Religion, Part 1, Eight ive's (A.) An Introduction to Theology, 8vo. 12/ cl. acred Books of the East: Vol. 26, The Satapatha Brahmana, inclair's (Rev. W. M.) Lessons on the Gospel of St. John, 2/ incentius_Lirinensis for the Antiquity of the Catholic Faith, Latin and English, 12mo. 3/ cl. Poetry. Crane's (W.) The Sirens Three, 4to. 10/6 bds. Hume and Huxley, Agnosticism of, with a Notice of the McCosh's (J.) A Criticism of the Critical Philosophy, 2/ swd. Sidgwick's (Prof. H.) Scope and Method of Economic History and Biography. Lodge's (R.) History of Modern Europe, cr. 8vo. 7/6 cl. Schofield (R. H. A.), Memoirs of, chiefly from his Letters and Daunt's (A.) With Pack and Rifle in the Far South-West, 5/ Wood's (J.) Lectures on Hernia and its Radical Cure, 4/6 cl. Amiel's (H. F.) Journal, trans. by Mrs. H. Ward, 2 vols. 12/ Government Stock, &c., 8vo. 12/6 cl. Jones's (C. A.) A New Dame Trot, cr. 8vo. 3/6 cl. Sala's (G. A.) Under the Sun, Essays mainly written in Hot Smith's (W. C.) The Secretary for Scotland, 8vo. 6/ cl. FOREIGN. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vol. 13, Dieckhoff (A. W.): Der Ablass-streit, 6m. Brugsch (H.) et Dümichen (J.): Recueil de Monuments Champier (V.): Les Anciens Almanachs Illustrés, 75fr. Hirth (G.): Dürer's Federzeichnungen u. Holzschnittwerk, Michel (E.): Les Musées d'Allemagne, 45fr. Volkelt (J.): Erfahrung u. Denken, 13m. General-Karte d. Königr. Griechenland, 16m. 80. Philology. Avesta, die Heil. Bücher der Parsen, hrsg. v. K. F. Geldner: Dieterici (F.): Die Abhandlungen der Ichwân Es-Safâ in Hirth (F.): China and the Roman Orient, 15m. Möbius (A. F.): Gesammelte Werke, Vol. 2, 16m. 12m. General Literature. Biedermann (W. Frhr. v.): Goethe-Forschungen, Neue Daudet (A.): Tartarin sur les Alpes, 10fr. KEATS AT ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL. THAT Keats did attend the lectures at St. Thomas's seems certain; but surely that does Rogers's (J. E. T.) Six Centuries of Work and Wages, 8vo. 15/ not imply that he was not also a student at the same time at Guy's. At p. 99 of a work published in 1841, and now scarce, 'The Philosophy of Mystery,' by Walter Cooper Dendy, Fellow of the Medical Society of London, &c., it is remarked, "Even in the lecture-room of Saint Thomas's, I have seen Keats in a deep poetic dream: his mind was on Parnassus with the Muses. And here is a quaint fragment," con"which he one evening tinues Mr. Dendy, scribbled in our presence, while the precepts of Sir Astley Cooper fell unheeded on his ear." The fragment that follows, and which appears to have escaped the notice of Keats's editors and biographers, is interesting as showing the in Handbook of French Composition, cr. 8vo. 2/6 swd. Andrieux's (V.) The Vegetable Garden, Eng. ed., pub. under fluence Chatterton's works were then exercising upon the mind of the young medical student. JOHN H. INGRAM. THE BYRON QUARTO. 46, Marlborough Hill, St. John's Wood, Dec. 14, 1885. THE book which I wished to trace, and which it was important to trace, is unquestionably the quarto of 1806 described in the Athenæum for the 5th of December. It is the first of the four volumes in which Lord Byron's juvenilia are collected; and it does not seem to me that there is any evidence of an earlier collection. The dates which Mr. Edgcumbe reproduces from the appendix to the English version of Elze's The 'Life' are more familiar than significant. translator of that work drew a most reasonable conclusion (ignored by his friend), namely, that what Byron sent to Miss Pigot was probably It is the poem 'On Leaving Newstead' only. tolerably clear to me that, in demanding "every copy" back from the printer, the poet referred to every copy of the sheet or two already worked off when he determined to give his poems another form. Of course it is not impossible that a fifth book exists; but I see no more reason for supposing so than for assuming a Shakspeare folio It seems to me likelier on earlier than 1623. the whole that a line written down from memory should have been written wrongly. I shall, of course, be very pleased to see any further material in this connexion that may turn up; but to search for a book earlier than the quarto of 1806, containing the line Through the cracks in thy walls do the hollow winds would be scarcely worth while unless one had THE MEETING OF HENRY I. AND ROBERT OF A COMMUNICATION appeared in Notes and Mr. Waters calls attention to the importance of his discovery by observing that 66 none of the chronicles give the name of the place at which this concord was made between King Henry and his brother." Prof. Freeman touches on this point in his 'Reign of William Rufus,' published two years later, and though he draws attention in the preface of that work (p. viii) to a "story of Mr. Waters's from this cartulary, he adds, with reason, "It would be more satisfactory if one could refer to that witness for oneself"; and (consciously or not) he wholly ignores Mr. Waters's discovery that the meeting of Henry and Robert took place "apud Wesbian." He asserts, without hesitation, that they met at Alton, in HampMaldon,' shire (p. xxxix, ii. 408-9; wrongly ii. xix), basing that assertion on Andresen's reading ("Al bois de Altone trespasser ") of Wace 10,393, and on the likely position of the "The place of the conference," he obspot. serves, "between Henry and Robert is satisfactorily fixed in the new text of Wace published by Dr. Andresen" (p. vii). 66 What, then, becomes of Mr. Waters's discovery? Simply this. The two charters to which he refers were drawn up in precisely the same form, the one being tested at Westbury (apud Westb'riam), the other at Westminster, and both being dated according to the time which had elapsed since the above concordia. But, though this was so, he has most unaccountably in one of them mistaken the place where the charter itself was tested for the locality of an event to which the charter alludes, and taken the words apud Westb'riam to refer to the concordia between the brothers instead of to the charter itself! Accordingly Mr. Waters's record evidence, which would, if trustworthy, be fatal to Prof. Freeman's conclusion, may henceforth be put aside. It is a striking illustration of the facility with which historical error is spread that no less renowned an antiquary than Mr. Eyton himself should have been misled by this erroneous discovery. His MS. Itineraries of Henry I. and Henry II. (of which the latter alone has, I believe, been published) are now in the British Museum, and we find that to the former (Add. MSS. 31, 937, fol. 118) he has made the addition : [1102] "Feb. 2. Concord with Robert apud Wesbian (N. & Q., Jan. 1, 1880)." As usual, however, where Mr. Eyton is not writing from his own knowledge, or recording a discovery of his own, he is careful, as we see, to give us the reference to the source of his information. It will also be noticed that Mr. Eyton misunderstood Mr. Waters, and so went further in the path of error (sic crescit eundo) by assigning not only the place but the date also to the concordia instead of to the charter itself. Does not this further enforce the lesson that no reputation however widespread, can dispense with the necessity of referring to an original authority for ourselves? It is earnestly to be hoped that the Colchester cartulary, so full of instruction for the historical student, may before long be given to the world, and that when it is so given it may be blessed with a capable editor. J. H. ROUND. THE COPYRIGHT AND PUBLICATION OF THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.' But now comes Mr. Austin Dobson armed with an old ledger of the printer of the novel, B. Collins, of Salisbury, from which it appears that so early as the 28th of October, 1762, Collins had purchased "of the author, Dr. Goldsmith," for the sum of twenty guineas, a "third share in 'The Vicar of Wakefield'"; and forthwith Mr. Dobson, in his essay prefixed to Mr. Elliot Stock's pretty facsimile of the first edition, puts back the whole story of the cruel landlady and the bailiffs and Johnson's intervention to some period antecedent even to this early date, and to some place other than Mrs. Fleming's lodgings at Islington, which have hitherto been the accepted scene of the anecdote. Hence it follows that the publisher's supposed "faint hopes of profit" must have extended, without any other imaginable excuse, over some three years and a half, or possibly more. To this charge I venture, on behalf of the departed Newbery and Collins, to put in a plea of "Not guilty." Johnson says that he sold the novel-that is, the copyright-to the bookseller for 601. But this cannot be literally correct, for Goldsmith's transaction with Newbery must have been either later or earlier than his transaction with Collins. If later, the novel would have been, so far, not his to sell; if earlier, then it is clear that Collins could not have subsequently purchased his third share "of the author, Dr. Goldsmith.” In this dilemma the only reasonable supposition is that, before Newbery appeared on the scene, Collins, having doubtless seen so much of the novel as was then written - and we know, at least, that Goldsmith was engaged upon it in 1762-had thought it a promising venture to risk twenty guineas in return for a future third share plus book. Such a mode of pledging unfinished work to a publisher and printer was common enough, and certainly was not out of keeping with Goldy's" habits. Equally in keeping would be the supposition that the manuscript WHILE the beautiful performance of the dramatic version of The Vicar of Wakefield' at the Lyceum Theatre is fresh in the memory of the public, I may, perhaps, assume that readers will not be indifferent to a question that concerns the literary history of Goldsmith's immortal novel. The question is whether the original purchasers of the copyright were so little conscious of the merits of a work which has since delighted, and will yet delight, millions of readers, that they allowed the manuscript to lie neglected year after year, while such trash as 'The Theatre of Love,' Anti-Pamela,' and 'The Memoirs of Constantia' was deluging the town. Dr. Johnson has honestly confessed that he did not think his friend's tale would "have had much success"; but, on the other hand, it was Johnson was thereupon put aside for other work, and so remained unfinished till the landlady's clamorous demands suggested to the dilatory this is corroborated, if we again assume the common confusion between pounds and guineas, by Sir John Hawkins's statement that the sum paid by Newbery was "forty pounds." or A parting word regarding the true date of the Johnson story, particularly as this involves the reputation of poor Mrs. Thrale, whom Mr. Dobe son, in polite equivalents, dismisses as a mer dacious hussy, certainly on very slight grounds. The lady was oblivious of dates, after the alleged habit of her sex; and she has incurred the playful censure of Johnson upon her "laxity of narration." Whether a particular event, therefore, happened before 1765 or "not later than 1765, "after dinner" or before dinner, cannot be satisfactorily settled by her recollections after lapse of years. But when she distinctly tells us that it was from her house that Johnson set forth on his benevolent expedition, that he returned thither after he had accomplished it and gave her a detailed account of his proceedings, and that ten years later he told her that the "enraged author was, as she had suspected, Goldsmith, and the manuscript that of the famous 'Vicar of Wakefield,' we must either set down Mrs. Thrale as a deliberate falsifier of literary history, as Mr. Dobson appears inclined to do or believe that it was indeed at her house that Goldsmith's messenger-aware, no doubt, of the urgency of his errand-had finally hunted down the object of his search. But Mr. Dobson urges that the lady did not make the acquaintance of Johnson till 1764, after his return from Scotland, August 19th; and we know that the rescue from the bailiffs must have o curred before December 19th, when The Tra veller' was published. These dates Mr. Dobson considers fatal; but why? For little reason, as far as appears, beyond his assumption that the transaction with Collins must have been subsequent to the arrangement with Newbery. W. MOY THOMAS, author the writing of the concluding chapters. the Gentleman's Magazine of January, under MISS BROUGHTON has completed a new who, having cursorily scanned the manuscript by the card, says he sold "it," what he really novel. It is three years since her last novel, while the hard-hearted landlady's bailiffs were standing by, as we see them in the familiar picture, found enough to induce him to hasten away to Mr. Newbery's shop; and everybody knows that the experienced bibliopole put down his pounds or guineas with a promptitude which sufficed at once to rescue the desponding poet sold was the remaining two-thirds of the copyright. What he really meant, then, by the words "for sixty pounds," probably was that this was the agreed value of the whole work. But if onethird share had already been assessed at twenty guineas, why, it may be asked, was not the entire work assessed at sixty guineas? Mr. Dobson but he seems to have forgotten that in another Belinda,' first appeared in Temple Bar. Miss Broughton wisely takes time to pro duce her stories. Her new story in the early part of next year. published by Messrs. Bentley. will appear It will be IN the fifth volume of the 'Dictionary of from the clutches of his persecutors. It has himself very reasonably suspects that we should National Biography,' which reaches fro hitherto always been inferred, from Johnson's be right here in "putting guineas for pounds"; Bicheno to Bottisham, Mr. W. Barcla on account Johnson himself distinctly says that Squire writes on Sir Henry Rowley Bishop March, 1766, there are sufficient reasons for the remark which would be altogether misleading stone; Precentor Venables on Dean Blake if he was not referring to the total price. Sixty ley; Mr. Charles Kent on the Countess festly unfounded notion that Newbery had but guineas, therefore, we may take it, was the Blessington; the Rev. J. W. Ebsworth accounts of the transaction recorded by the faithful and painstaking Boswell, that this must have occurred near the end of the year 1764; and though The Vicar' was not published till circumstances" this was no mean price"-a Boscawen; Mr. G. P. Macdonell "faint hopes of profit by his bargain"; for Newbery was then on the very point of publishing 'The Traveller,' the brilliant success of which poem, Johnson himself, with curious inconsistency, tells us, greatly enhanced the marketable value of the yet unpublished prose work. If we may rely on the memory of Dr. Parr, Goldsmith agreed value of the whole copyright. Of this sum Collins, who is shown by the account book to Col. Blood; Mr. A. H. Bullen on Robe have regularly received his share of the profits Earl of Devonshire, and Edward Blount, t correct, already paid twenty guineas. What Elizabethan stationer; Mr. J. H. Johnson received in hard cash, therefore, would Randulph Blundevill, Earl of Chester; be forty guineas. It may be worth noting that Leslie Stephen on Boswell; of the publication, had, if the above views are Round Mr. Jan airdner on Bishop Bonner; Mr. E. Maunde hompson on St. Boniface; the Rev. W. D. acray on Sir Thomas Bodley; Dr. Furvall on Andrew Borde; Mr. John Venn George Boole; Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse Bonington; and Mr. A. Egmont Hake George Borrow. The late Mrs. Anne ilchrist is the author of the article on Filliam Blake, the poet. SIR LEPEL GRIFFIN is said to be the joint roprietor of the Asiatic Quarterly Review, hich will make its first appearance next eek. SIR CHARLES WARREN is writing an article the South African question for one of the onthly reviews. IN the opening number of Notes and ueries for the year 1886 will appear the rst of a series of papers intended as a conibution to a history of the Thames, and iving new views upon the condition and opulation of England previous to the Roman occupation, and other kindred matters. THE international copyright question ppears to be growing in interest. A letter n the subject has been printed in the Pubishers' Circular from a gentleman who has ust returned from a visit to the United states, during which he came into frequent ontact with authors and publishers, when he subject was constantly discussed. The etter in question is signed "E. M.," initials which indicate a writer who has paid much attention to the subject. He noticed that at nany American bookstalls "the chief books offered for sale were cheap reprints of Eng Fish authors." THE Primrose Record, conducted by Mr. Thomas Purnell, and "issued by authority of the Grand Council of the Primrose League," was to have ceased with the close of the elections. It has, however, been determined to continue the publication on new lines. Weekly stories and acrostics will be the main features. Mr. Purnell retires from the editorship. An illustrated magazine for children will be issued in January, under the title of Merry and Wise, by Messrs. Burns & Oates. The introduction is written by Cardinal Manning, under whose auspices the new candidate for juvenile favour is sent forth. MESSRS. HURST & BLACKETT will publish next month a novel entitled A Fair Maid,' by Mr. F. W. Robinson, and also a new work entitled 'Reminiscences of the Court and Times of King Ernest of Hanover,' by the Rev. C. A. Wilkinson, his Majesty's domestic chaplain. MR. HUBERT HALL in the next number of the Antiquary commences the proposed on A NEW magazine will be published for the 1st of January, entitled The Christian the 1st of January, entitled The Christian Reformer, reviving an old title. It will in some measure take the ground of the Modern Review and the Theological Review, but be published as a shilling monthly magazine. Among the contributors to the first numbers will be Dr. Martineau, Prof. Upton, and Prof. Estlin Carpenter. It will be published by Messrs. Williams & Norgate. THE registers of baptisms of the Episcopal church, Muthill, Perthshire, from 1697 to 1847, have been transcribed by the Rev. A. W. Cornelius Hallen, and will be privately printed by subscription. The entries number about four thousand, and are of more than local interest. Muthill during the eighteenth century was the only Episcopal church in a very large district, and most of the Perthshire gentry were Episcopalians. The Muthill registers are believed to be the oldest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, and among the wellknown families represented in these manuscripts are those of Drummond, Erskine, Forbes, Graham, Johnstone, McGregor, Murray, Oliphant, and Rollo. WE understand that Mr. Harvey is engaged on a history of the church of St. Andrew Undershaft, London. The work will contain some extracts from the registers, but, as we have already announced, the registers will next year be printed in extenso under the editorship of the Rev. A. W. Cornelius Hallen. MR. J. O. AUSTIN, of Providence, Rhode Island, has completed his Genealogical This work Dictionary of Rhode Island.' notices 465 families that settled within the present limits of Rhode Island before 1690, with their descendants carried to the third and in many cases to the fourth generation. MR. R. BROWN, F.S.A.Scot., the author of a history of the Paisley Grammar School, is writing a history of Paisley from the Roman period till 1884. The work will be divided into two volumes, the first reaching down to 1750, the second dealing with the history of the town since that time. MR. FISHER UNWIN informs us that the author of the little volume recently published entitled 'The New Godiva, and other Studies in Social Questions,' unwittingly trespassed on the title of a novel by Mr. Sydney Hodges, called A New Godiva, the novel having been dramatized. The title of the volume of essays in future editions will be Five Studies in Social Questions.' THE Cambridge branch of the Royal Historical Society held a meeting at the beginning of the month, in which Prof. Seeley proved that as early as 1734 George II. had received a copy of the Family Compact of 1733. It has generally been supposed that the English Government did not know of its existence, but Prof. Seeley thinks that it was his knowledge of it that made Walpole's policy so timid. He was not prepared to fight both Spain and France. THE death is announced of Dr. Howson, the Dean of Chester. He was for many years Principal of the Liverpool College, and while holding that office he wrote, along with Mr. Conybeare, the work on "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul' by which he will be chiefly remembered. He also published a number of other books. As Dean of Chester he, with the best intentions, obliterated nearly every trace of the old cathedral. For this, however, the chief responsibility lay with the architect, who led the energetic dean astray. Dr. W. Pinnock, the writer of several works on ecclesiastical law, has also died. Some of the papers have cruelly said he was the author of the "Catechisms" which had begun to appear before he was born. THE Monthly List of Parliamentary Papers for November contains, besides the First Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Depression of Trade and Industry, thirteen House of Commons Reports and Papers, and fourteen Papers by Command. Among the former will be noted the Return showing the present Borough and County Constituencies in each County in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and also the Constituencies as constituted by the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, by the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, with the number of members and the population; the Report from the Select Committee on Irish Industries; the Navy List of Ships on May 1st, 1885; the Number of Children attending Voluntary Schools, and Expenditure; and the Return of Casualties "UNWIN'S ANNUAL," called 'The Broken in the Army in the Nile Expedition up to the Present Time. The Papers by Command Shaft,' to be issued next week, will contain include Abstracts of Returns of Sea Casual- stories by Mr. F. Marion Crawford, Mr. ties for 1883-4, with Charts; the Adminis-R. L. Stevenson, Mr. F. Anstey, Mr. W. H. tration Report on the Indian Railways for 1884-5; the Fourteenth Report of the Local Government Board; part ii. of the Report on Lighthouse Illuminants; and the Indexes to the Reports of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes in the Housing of the Working Classes in England and Wales and in Ireland. por MRS. A. R. ELLIS, who edited the recent A MONUMENT to the memory of the late Dean Stanley has been placed in St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. In the inscription on the monument he is spoken of as being "celebrated as a Churchman, historian, and divine." Pollock, Mr. William Archer, Mr. Tighe Hopkins, and the editor, Mr. Henry Norman, all purporting to have been told on board the steamer Bavaria while delayed in mid-ocean by the breaking of the shaft. Mr. Crawford's story, The Upper Berth,' is the first short story he has written. The connecting narrative by the editor introduces descriptions of the contributors, and more or less imaginary conversations between them. PROF. W. VIETOR, of Marburg, is going to publish a new periodical, Phonetische Studien. It will be devoted to phonetics in general, and especially to German orthoepy, and will contain contributions in German, English, and French. ONE of the greatest modern scholars of the Society of Jesus, Father Scheerman, |