100 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ S .IX.JULYJO,I..
junction of the Thames and the Kennet, was a Benedictine (Cluniac) house of great wealth and dignity. Yet, as Dr. Hurry says, "the most enduring memorial of the ancient Abbey" and its chief title to fame in future years may be the MS. (now in the British Museum) of 'Sumer is icumen in," which there was composed and transcribed.
There is much else, however, that is of outstanding interest in the subject, and Dr. Hurry tells the story, from the foundation to the Dissolution and from the Dissolution through the Civil War to the present day, from many points of view and in very attractive style. He has some wise words, also, about what might have happened if a constructive policy had attended the dissolution of this and the other monasteries.
The Eton College Register, 1753-1790. Alphabetically arranged and edited with biographical notes by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh (Eton: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne. 30s. net.)
Mr. Austen-Leigh begins with 1753 because only from that time forward is the Eton MS. collection of Annual School Lists approximately complete; and he ends with 1790 because Etonians from 1791 onwards are already included in Stapylton's Eton School Lists. The preface shows what sources he consulted (among them his own happy discovery—the MS. list of boys admitted by Dr. Barnard, Headmaster, between 1754 and 1765) and what labour he has been at to make his book as complete as possible. He has done the work well, and has produced a volume that will be not only of interest to Etonians but of great value to biographers and genealogists. The period that be has chosen is one rich in notable names. Under "Wesley" one may find the Duke of Wellington; Cornwallis appears also. Sumner and Simeon are among the Churchmen. Fox, Canning, Grey, Melbourne (Mr. William Lamb, 1789-96) and Windham are of the Statesmen; Person among the scholars; Hallarn and John Hookbam Frere among the writers; Wordsworth's Sir George Beaumont among the painters; Bankes among the men of science; Charles Young among the actors. Here, too, are Beau Brummel and his brother, and Colonel George Hanger, the dandy, who married his cook; and Henry Angelo, the fencer, and the capable eldest son of "Capability" Brown, the gardener. And here are less successful and reputable people, like queer old George Combe (Combes in the list), "of uncertain parentage," who wrote "Dr. Syntax" and lived many years in the Fleet; and Thomas Palmer, who was sent to Botany Bay for sedition; and that romantic scoundrel, George Robert ("Fighting") Fitzgerald, who after a wild life killed a man in a fracas and was hanged for murder.
"Browsing" through its handsomely printed pages, one comes across many a well-known Etonian name Hawtrey, Luxmoore, Cust, Hanbury. By arranging his names alphabetically Mr. Austen-Leigh has conferred a benefit on all who wish to use the book for general, as distinct from Etonian, purposes; and his Introduction is full of interesting facts and comments on Eton life during the period. Among those whom Mr. Austen-Leigh thanks for help in his work is the Rev. Alfred B. Beaven.
The Cambridge Scene: Being Sketches of the Colleges. By the Rev. H. P. Stokes, LL.D., Litt.D., F.S.A. (Cambridge : Bowes and Bowes.)
Canon Stokes contributed these 21 papers (his book includes Girton and Newnham) to The Cambridge Review in 1918-1919, "when staff officers and naval lieutenants and military cadets were living in the rooms of the Colleges described." But they make up a little book which any novice in the subject will find complete in itself and a valuable introduction to the fuller works by Clark and others. Canon Stokes is learned enough to be impartial, and adroit enough to say much in few lines. No College gets more than ten pages; no College less than five. Big Trinity has only six; little Peterhouse has ten. All are good; and the author's jetting humour and lively mind make the book amusing as well as instructive. There are some neat black-and-white illustrations by Constance Prescott.
The Print-Collector's Quarterly. Vol. 8, No. 2. July 1921. (J. M. Dent, 209. p.a.).
This is the second number of this excellent little periodical to be published in England, whither it has been transferred from the United States. The magazine may be confidently recommended to amateurs of prints of all kinds, since its scope includes work, old and new, of all nations, in etching, engraving, lithography, wood-cutting and the allied arts. The contents of the current issue consist of a paper on Jean Duvet, by Mr. A. E. Popham; the first article of two on modern woodcuts, by Mr. Herbert Furst; a specially valuable paper on "Some Undescribed States of Meryon Etchings," by Mr. Harold J. L. Wright, and an account, by Mr. Frank Gibson, of the etchings and lithographs of Mr. George Clausen, R.A. In all cases the work is scholarly and the lists of great service to collectors; while the illustrations are extremely good for their size.
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