NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL MAY 29, im
out doubt was a very fine character, highminded
and pure. All that was noblest and best in
England was on his side He was, no doubt,
ambitious and dictatorial. His methods in politics were those of the age, utterly unscrupulous. He might urge that he was not bound to keep faith with men who would not keep faith with him. But from a man in his position, and with his pre- tensions, the world had the right to expect a higher standard."
With somewhat conflicting feelings we conclude our perusal of this volume. It is an ungrateful task to complain of having too much, yet here we are confronted with some 600 pages of fairly close print dealing with only two reigns, a con- siderable proportion of which are confined to details of royal movements and petty events. The narration of these, though interesting to a certain extent, yet tends to obstruct a clear view of more important things. As a book of refer- ence it is admirable ; the careful research ex- Mbited, and the abundant authorities quoted in its pages, bear witness to the author's scholar- ship.
The battles of Lewes, Evesham, and Stirling Bridge, together with the " Pair of Lincoln," are illustrated by excellent maps. Extremely inter- esting are the chapters dealing with the finance of the reign of Henry III. and the accompanying tables showing the estimate of the revenue year "by year.
The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck. By the Author of 'The Life of Sir Kenelm Digby.' (Longmans & Co.)
'Tins is a rather slight but true story of domestic politics in the reign of James I., the facts of which ^ire set out in Burke's ' Extinct Peerage.' The heroine is the daughter of Lord Chief Justice Coke .and Lady Elizabeth Hatton, the beautiful heiress of Lord Burleigh's family. Lady Purbeck is not herself a very interesting person, and, as the .author remarks: "Of Lady Purbeck's character much less is recorded than of the characters of several other leading figures in this story her father, her mother, Lord Bacon, and Villiers, Duke -of Buckingham." Some interesting insight into the characters of these people will be found in the book. For instance, Chief Justice Coke is thus -described: "He was bad-tempered, ill-mannered, cantankerous, and narrow-minded, and he must have been a bad companion, for beyond legal literature he read but little. He shunned the society of his contemporaries Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as of vagrants, who ought to be set in the stocks, or whipped from tithing to tithing." He appears, however, to have been, what was rare in those times, a judge who could not be corrupted.
The principal incidents in the life of the lady are her enforced marriage to Sir John Villiers (after- wards created Lord Purbeck) and her liaison with Sir Robert Howard. For the latter offence she was condemned to do public penance, but avoided this disagreeable proceeding by two timely escapes from prison. She left one son, but as it was never decided whether he was legitimate or not, the title has been long dormant.
Antiquaries will be interested in the book, but the ordinary reader will, we think, find too little story and too many extracts from ancient corre- spondence, some of which become rather tedious.
Passing English of Hie Victorian Age. By J.
Redding Ware. (Routledge & Sons.) IN this ' Dictionary of Heterodox English, Slang, and Phrase,' as its' secondary title defines it, Mr. Ware has essayed a task for which he seems to have few qualifications as a student of English. We have not to push our investigations far to arrive at this conclusion. Authors are prone to give us a taste of their quality by putting some of their best things in the Preface. Here we find in the second page that the "passing Victorian " phrase " dead as a door-nail " comes from Ireland, and " is probably ' dead as O'Donnel ' " (shade of Piers Plowman !) ; that " ' smithereens ' means ' Smither's ruins,' though no one seems to know who Smithwrs was " ; that in " Right as a trivet " ' trivet " is the " last-century pronunciation ^pf Truefit, the supreme Bond Street wig-maker " ; and that " the' still common ' Bloody Hell ' is By our lady, hail.' "
We can confidently promise the editors of the ' New English Dictionary ' that if they cast their eyes over Mr. Ware's pages they will find much that is new to them. They will learn, for instance, that the popular " Bless my soul ! " stands for ' Bless me, Saul ! " a Puritanic exclamation : and they will certainly appreciate the discovery that" carrots," as applied to redhair, has nothing to do with the vegetable so called, but " is a corruption from Catholic times in England when a red man or woman was called Iscariot " indeed, the vegetable may have gained its name from the same source " ; and further " sandy " as applied to the hair ' is really a substitute for Iscariot."
We have said enough to show the character of this amazing book, which is not trustworthy in its derivations. <->It seems a pity that industry should be spoilt by the lack of reference to proper authorities.
Jlotias t0 (tempontonts.
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