286
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. H. OCT. 7, me.
consequence of this fact, have found its
way, by gift or legacy, into the Doctor's
hands and thence passed into the cathedral
library of that city ? This question
has been very kindly but disappointingly
answered in the negative by Mr. H. D.
Hughes, the librarian, who, further, in
his reply echoes my own plaint expressed
above : What a pity Gosse did not ex-
tend his inquiry ! I hope yours will be
more successful."
Turning next to Carlisle, the Chapter Clerk, Rev. A. N. Bowman, tells me that a diligent search through the Library Catalogue reveals no trace of the volume in question. A similar reply having reached me from Dr. Darby, Dean of Chester, I can only infer, as surmised above, that Mr. Gosse's " set " is identical with Mason's in York Minster Library, and that the latter has been uncritically mistaken for the former. Whether Mason's " set " merits publication, and " could not fail to be biographically interesting," is a question hardly germane to my present inquiry. This, though but a negative success, has at least the merit of exploding a false hope and discouraging further futile researches. There is no other Northern cathedral library wherein the {supposed) missing volume is likely to be eashrined. It is just possible that, if it ever had an existence, it formed part of the ' Mason Papers,' to which the late Rev. D. C. Tovey refers, in the preface to his invaluable ' Gray and his Friends ' (p. x), as those
" from which Mitford drew most of these materials* of which he speaks in the Preface to the ' Correspondence of Gray and Mason ' as having been placed in his hands by Mr. Penn of Stoke Park. The fate of the originals I am unable to trace."
With this statement all clues to the existence and habitat of Mason's " set " of Gray's squibs apparently vanish.
If I have failed in my quest, I undertook it, to quote the closing words of Mr. Tovey's Introductory Essay, as
" a sort of homage which seems to belong to much greater names, and yet which inclines one who has given much time to Gray, whilst, perhaps, half smiling at his own enthusiasm, to repeat to his fascinating shade the invocation,
Vagliami '1 lungo studio e '1 grande amore Che m'han fatto cercar lo tuo volume.
J. B. MCGOVERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.
- Mitford's Gray Collection in four volumes
(bound in two) in the B.M., MSS. 32,561 and (Add.) 32,562.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HISTORIES OF
IRISH COUNTIES AND TOWNS.
(See 11 S. xi. 103, 183, 315 ; xii. 24, 276, 375 : 12 S. i. .22; ii. 22, 141, 246.)
PABT XI. R S.
RAMS ISLAND.
A Short Visit to Rams Island, Lough Neagh.and its Vicinity in the Year 1853. By Henry Bell. Belfast, 1853.
RANDALSTOWN.
MSS. relating to Randalstown Presbyterian Con- gregation, Library of Presbyterian Historical Society, Belfast.
RATHANGAN. Rathangan, Castledermot, and Athy. 1864.
RATHCOPFEY.
The Wogans of Rathcoffey. By Denis Murphy, S.J.
RATHCROGH AN .
Account of Ogham Inscriptions in the Cave at Rathcroghan, County of Roscommon. By Sir Samuel Ferguson.
RATHDOWN.
The Stones of Bray and the Stories they can tell of Ancient Times in the Barony of Rathdown (a careful summary of the history of Bray and the surrounding coxmtry from the earliest times). By Rev. G. Digby Scott. Dublin, 1913.
ROSCOMMON.
History of Roscommon. By J. Gibbon. Dublin,
1829. Statistical Survey of co. Roscommon. By Isaac
Weld, M.R.I.A. Dublin, 1832. The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many, commonly
called O'Kelly's Country, in the Counties of
Galway and Roscommon. By John O'Dono-
van. Dublin, 1843. Loch Ce and its Annals, North Roscommon and
the Diocese of Elphin in Times of Old. By Very
Rev. Francis Burke, Dean of Elphin. Dublin,
1895. Antiquarian Handbook to the Antiquities of
Roscommon, &c. Royal Society of Antiquaries
of Ireland, Dublin, 1897-8.
ROSEGARLAND.
History of the Town and County of Wexford. Vol. II. includes Rosegarland. By Philip Henry- Hore, M.R.I.A. London, 1900-11.
Ross. Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae. Vol. I. Part III.
includes Diocese of Ross. By Archdeacon
Cotton. Dublin, 1851-78. Clerical and Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne,
and Ross. By Rev. W. M. Brady, D.D.
Dublin, 1863-4. The Abbey of Ross : its History and Details. By
Sir Oliver J. Burke. Dublin, 1868. Index to Marriage Licences of Cork and Ross.
Cork Archa?ological Journal. Register of Irish Wills. Vol. II. contains Diocese
of Ross. Edited by J. Phillimore.
