us. VIIL AUG. 23, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
159
0tt
Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts existing
in the Archives and Collections of Afilan. Vol. I.
Edited by Allen B. Hinds. (Stationery Office.) THIS Calendar may be said to owe its inception to Commendatore Fumi, who, as Director of the Archives at Milan, began making notes of any- thing he found relating to England, and communi- cated these to the late W. H. Bliss. The present editor, who went to Milan to pursue investiga- tions in 1910, found that, besides the material collected by the Commendatore, there were numerous papers which would throw welcome light upon a period of English history for which original authorities are meagre.
The first paper of this volume belongs to July, 1385, the last to November, 1618, but the time actually illustrated is comparatively short, viz., the reign of Edward IV. ; the earlier years of Henry VII. ; the campaign in Flanders and Swiss League of Henry VIII. ; the affairs con- nected with the battle of Pavia ; the divorce proceedings, and the fortunes of English Catholics.
The general history and the minute progress of events during each of these periods are excel- lently set out in Mr. Hinds's introduction, who leaves hardly so much as a good anecdote without a reference. The Wars of the Roses as seen by Rome, and by a Papal legate eager for personal
Eromotion, furnish the matter for the first period, i which also we have valuable documents relating to the intricate relations between England, France, and Burgundy, which give some fresh information by which to study that extraordinary character about whom one cannot hear too much Louis XL One of the most instructive letters belonging to this section is that in which Pietro Aliprando gives his highly unfavourable impres- sions of the English.
Of the papers connected with Henry VII. , the most interesting are those concerned with the dowry of Lucia Visconti, which it was alleged had never been paid by Milan. The Milanese envoy, Raymond of Soncino, sent to get help for Sforza against France, has many a shrewd remark to make on the English monarch, whose strength and judgment he admired.
The documents of 1513, while they relate chiefly to the war with France, furnish some good matter connected with the state of the Church ; and those following Pavia afford some new details of Henry's activity as the would-be pacificator of Europe.
The papers relating to the divorce proceedings give some new evidence as to the magnanimity and firmness of Catherine's behaviour, and as to the attachment of some of her servants, and the feeling upon the whole question abroad.
The last group of papers are from the Borromeo correspondence. Among the most interesting are the letter of Mary Stuart to St. Carlo Borromeo ; the accounts by different writers of the suffer- ings of the English Catholics ; and the document sent by the Procurator-General of the Bene- dictines to Clement VIII. justifying his order against the railing accusations of the Jesuits, who desired to monopolize the championship of the Roman cause in England.
Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica. Edited by
W. Bruce Bannerman. (Mitchell Hughes &
Clarke.)
THE present part contains ' Pedigrees of the Visi- tation of Gloucestershire,' with twelve engravings of coats of arms ; ' A Curious Genealogical Medley/ illustrated with four portraits (Mrs. Esten, the Duke of Hamilton's daughter, Jane Powell, and Lady Hamilton) ; ' The Pedigree of Herries of Cowsland ' ; ' Grants of Arms to John Codrington ' ; and an article on the ancient Norman family Dodderidge of Dotheridge. The final article is a most interesting one on the birth and youthful career of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. After stating that "it is a remarkable fact that scarcely any notice of the early youth and training of Henry of Richmond appears in any of our printed histories," the writer says: "While drawing up accurately what few facts and dates I have been able to collect, I am obliged to name the sources from which they come, and many blunders are corrected, for up to some fifty years ago ' in print ' seems to have been accepted as authentic ! " The writer, however, does not " condemn earlier writers," for they had not the opportunity we now have of examining original documents, and "they could only build upon what was within their reach - r for their own times they accepted hearsay evidence, and for earlier dates it was largely traditional the most uncertain of all foundations, quicksands which vary at every fresh telling ! in fact, they were often Troubadours' tales with a very small core of truth and quite unreliable." We are glad to see that the article is to be continued.
Book-Prices Current. Vol. XXVII. Parts III.
and IV. (Elliot Stock.)
THE sales recorded range from the 13th of January to the 2nd of June of the present year, and are of exceptional interest. They include the fourth portion of Charles Butler's library, and a further portion of the MSS. of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps. The Phillipps sale extended over May 19th and tour following days, and, many of the MSS. "not being 'books' in the ordinary meaning of the word," readers are referred to particulars given in The Athenceum of May 31st, 1913. The entire sum so far realized amounts to 71,282Z. Is. 6d. The third portion of the Huth Library also figures in this volume, the total to date being 119.683Z. 14s. 6d. The total for the Browning MSS. amounted to 15,514^. K : of this nearly half is accounted for by the sum paid by Mr. Sabin for a series of 284 letters between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett (6,55W.). The printed books fetched 6,054Z. 18s. 6d. The collections were sold on instructions received from the administrators of the estate of the late R. W. Barrett Browning.
THE volume of the Transactions of the Birming- ham Archaeological Society for 1912 opens with a paper by Mr. W. Hobart Bird on Bond's and Ford's Hospitals, Coventry. They are examples of fif- teenth-century architecture, handed down to us, in the case of Ford's, in perfect condition. Coven- try in the Middle Ages occupied an important position ; its citizens were wealthy, their pros- perity being derived from the manufacture of woollen cloth. The cost of building St. Michael's Church was chiefly borne by the family of Adam and Charles Botoner, but they were not alone in their gifts. Another paper by Mr. Walter
