438
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* a. L MAY 28, im.
not been seen in civilized war for nearly tw<
hundred years Ah! that Daniel White shoul<
be able to tell in the Saut Market of Glasgow tha he had seen men fight with bows and arrows in tlu
days of Enfield rifles !' Just then one poor fellow
of the Ninety-third, named Penny, raising his heac for an instant above the wall, got an arrow right through his brain, the shaft projecting more than a
foot out at the back of his head One unfortunate
man of this regiment named Montgomery exposed
himself and before he could get down into
shelter again an arrow was sent right through his heart, passing clean through his body, and falling on the ground a few yards behind him."
KEGINALD HAINES. Uppingham.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation. By Richard Hakluyt. Vols. V. and VI. (Glasgow, Mac- Lehose & Sons.)
Six months only have elapsed since we congratulated readers in general and scholars in particular upon the appearance of the first two volumes of a hand- some and in all respects adequate and satisfactory edition of Hakluyt's great work (9 th S. xii. 418). With a rapidity for which we are profoundly thank- fulthe more so since we dared not hope for it- instalments have succeeded each other until half the completed publication is in the hands of the reader. At the present rate of progress the whole may be anticipated during the present year. A boon greater than this will constitute is not easily conceived. The book remains, moreover, a bibliographical treasure and an ornament to all shelves. It need not be said that no diminution of interest attends each successive volume, which still presents records of English enterprise in the most heroic portion of our maritime annals. First among the contents of vol. v. comes a relation of the siege and taking of the city of Rhodes by Sultan Soliman, " the great Turke," of whom a portrait is given from a superb Oriental MS. in the British Museum supplying personal descriptions of the Osmanli sultan. This " briefe relation " was translated out of French into English in 1524 at the instance of the Reverend Lord Thomas Dockwray, Great Prior of the Order of Jerusalem in England. Other illustrations to the volume include a portrait of Sir Edward Osborne, Lord Mayor in 1583, knighted 1584, and member of Parliament for the City of London in 1586, a trader to the Mediterranean, and first governor of the Levant Company, from the. original at Hornby Castle ; and one of Philip de Villiers de 1'Isle Adam, who, among other dignities, was Grand Master of Rhodes. Plans of Alexandria and Constantinople, a sailing chart of the Medi- terranean, and views of Turkish and Venetian merchantmen enhance the value of the volume, one of the most interesting features in which is a description of the yearly pilgrimage "of the Mahu- mitans, Turkes, and Moores unto Mecca in Arabia." Special interest attends for the reader of to-day the account by M. Willis of the "Hand Japan [also called Japon and Giapan], and other little lies in the East Ocean." This land is described as " hillie
and pestered with snow." The people are said to-
be " tractable, civill, wittie, courteous, without
deceit, in virtue and honest conversation exceeding
all other nations lately discovered." "No man is
ashamed there of his povertie, neither be their
gentlemen therefore less honoured of the meaner
people." Very interesting and significant is all
that is said. Illustrations to the volume comprise
portraits of Sir Francis Walsingham, from the
British Museum, of John Eldred, the Emperor
Akbar, George Fenner ; an English sailing chart of
1592 ; plans of Ormuz, Egypt, Goa, Coast of Guinea ;
and chart of Cadiz Harbour ; together with an
entire dispatch of Drake, dated 27 April, 1587,
giving an account of the burning of the Spanish
ships in Cadiz Harbour. This, of course, illustrates,
among other things, ' The Portugal Voyage,' attri-
buted to Col. Antonie Winkfield or Wingfield.
Very spirited reading do most of these vogages
constitute, though it may readily be conceded that
our countrymen do not always show themselves in
the most favourable light.
Charles II. By Osmund Airy, M.A. (Longmans
&Co.)
ORIGINALLY published three years ago as one of the illustrated series of Stuart monographs of Messrs. Goupil, Dr. Airy's life of the most dis- sipated of English monarchs has been judged worthy of being set before a general public. It now appears, accordingly, in a handsome and con- venient form, with an excellent portrait from Samuel Cooper's miniature of the king in the pos- session of the Duke of Richmond, and asks a place, at once to be accorded it, in every historical library. Most of the ground covered is familiar enough to the student. Much of the information supplied, espe- ially that concerning the life of Charles in his xileor during his visit to Scotland, is, however, not asily accessible, and the work is useful or pleasur- able for perusal and reference. It shows clearly the influences which formed the king's profligate and despicable, yet, strange to say, not wholly unlovable character. An acceptable palliation is sffered for his treatment of the Scots, an animated )icture of the life in Paris is afforded, and the state of confusion and disruption which followed the Restoration is depicted. The reproduction is in all' respects commendable. We wish Dr. Airy would not lend his sanction to a heresy such as " byepath."
Great Masters. Part XV. (Heinemann.) Miss RAMUS, subsequently wife of a French ambas- sador to England, a lady who lived until so late as 848, supplies the original of the portrait by Romney,. rom the collection of the Hon. W. F. D. Smith, ,vhich stands first in order in the fifteenth part. ' Simplex munditiis " would be an appropriate notto for this lovely picture. 'Madonna with the Green Cushion,' by Andrea Solario, from the- Louvre, is the most admired work of a painter of remarkable finish, subject to many influences, amidst which that of Leonardo is probably the most assertive. The face of the mother is radiant with sweetness and affection, without the slightest prevision of the Mater Dolorosa ; the Infant is decidedly chubby. From the Berlin Gallery comes- a Dutch interior by Johannes Vermeer of Delft. With a single painting on them, the walls look cold. Some of the furniture is effective, but the chief attraction lies in the warmly draped figure of:
