358
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL MAY 4, 1907.
before that date. Simon de Rede's family
is said to have borne several coats, but I
have no references. A " griffin " is one, and
Sir John Reade, of Brocket Hall, took this
coat. It seems possible that Cussans,
having made one mistake as regards the
spelling of the name, made a second, and
gave the Reid (not Rede) arms.
Everything connected with the old family of Lytton being of such interest, I trust you will allow me once more to occupy a little of your valuable space.
(Major) G. READE MACMULLEN. 56, St. Michael's Road, Bedford.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.
Heraldry Explained. By Arthur Charles Fox-
Davies. (T. C. & E. C. Jack.)
THIS is a useful little book with many illustrations executed in a most satisfactory manner. Here and there we encounter statements we are moved to question, but we know no other small volume in which what has been called the queen of the sciences has been so accurately treated. One piece of information which is well-nigh unknown, but very important, is that the heraldic laws of Eng- land, Scotland, and Ireland differ from each other in many ways. The instruction supplied on this point is of no little value. We wish details had been given at greater length.
We are glad to have it pointed out that mottoes are non-heraldic. They may be assumed or changed at pleasiire, and the various members of a family may each use a different one, or two or more may be employed at the same time by one person.
Augmentations to arms are incidentally men- tioned. We wish the author had been cruel enough to give a criticism, accompanied by illustrations, of some of the hideous inventions of this kind by which official heraldry has been disgraced.
Descriptive, Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters in. Public and Private Libraries and Muniment Rooms. Compiled for Sir Henry Howe Bemrose, Kt., by Isaac Herbert Jeayes. (Bemrose & Sons.) THE present volume of abstracts of ancient deeds relating to the county of Derby is another debt of the antiquary and the topographer to Sir H. H. Bemrose and the great publishing firm of which he is the head. In order to turn to practical account the Derbyshire MSS. of ancient and modern date in which the library of Sir H. H. Bemrose is ex- ceptionally rich, the services of Mr. Isaac Herbert Jeayes, Assistant Keeper in the Department of MSS., British Museum, were called into request for the purpose of examination and cataloguing, with a view to possible publication. While engaged on this task Mr. Jeayes arrived at the conclusion that it might be well to broaden the scheme. Numerous other deeds in private hands were placed at the disposal of Sir Henry for the publication of a book of Derbyshire charters. The British Museum is rich in Derbyshire deeds, possessing in their entirety the charters collected by Adam Wolley, and bequeathed by him to the nation in 1828. It
was therefore decided to make short abstracts in
English, " which should embrace all the salient
points of each document of all the Derbyshire deeds,
either in public archives or private muniment
rooms, to which access could be had." The result
is the appearance of a volume including 2,787"
charters from no fewer than thirty- four different
sources, the charters with very few exceptions,
being in actual existence, and having been examined
by the editor. Nothing later than A.D. 1550 has-
been included. Fifty-four out of fifty-six twelfth-
century charters have been printed in full. The
earliest charter is a notification from William,
Archbishop of Canterbury, Legate of the Apostolic
See, circa 1129-39, to Roger, Bishop of Chester, and
Ranulph the Earl, relating to Calk Abbey. Three
comprehensive indexes, of persons, places, and
matters, add much to the value of a work in which
is found material for a history of Derbyshire.
Antiquaries will not be grudging in recognition of
the fresh service rendered by Sir Henry.
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. By Sir Philip Sidney. Edited by Ernest A. Baker. (Rout- ledge & Sons.)
BOUND in solid buckram, as befits a classic book,, this edition of the 'Arcadia ' should be welcome to a large body of readers. Mr. Baker has done well in printing "the whole 'Arcadia,' excrescences and all, especially as the additions of those who were fellow-spirits and admirers, and belonged to the same great epoch, cannot be without their interest to readers in the present age." The introduction is adequate, and interesting in its bibliographical details. It includes some discussion of the poetical element in prose a thorny subject on which we- cannot enter here. Mr. Baker compares the 'Arcadia' to the 'Golden Ass' of Apuleius, and it is possible that the translation of that work by Firenzuola may have been read and admired by Sidney; but the subject-matter and treatment of the two books are very different. There are un- doubtedly longueurs in the 'Arcadia' for the modern reader ; still, there is also abundance of fine phrasing which sets off occasional touches of the vernacular. The main surprise for the modern reader will be the prevailing dignity of expression, a feature singularly lacking in the prose of the present age.
The Pocket Plato. Edited by S. C. Woodhouse..
(Routledge & Sons.)
THIS is an attractive specimen of the series of "Way faring Books." From fewer than 250 pages of selected translations from the large corpus of Plato's work it is not, of course, posssible to get an adequate resume of the beauty and profundity of one of the greatest thinkers and artists of the world. Still, readers of the present volume will gain some idea of the methods and personality of Socrates, and of the moral teaching of his pupil. Mr. Wood- house has been fortunate in securing leave to use Jowett's translations. They are as a whole very far from being accurate or adequate in passages of difficulty, as unfortunate boys who have used the Master of Balliol as an easy "crib" have dis- covered before now ; but they are never pedantic in style. Jowett had naturally some of that lightness and irony which make Plato's style supreme as different, we may add, from that other favourite of reprinting publishers, Marcus Aurelius, as an artificial rose is from the living flower. The playful
