12 S. IX. JULY 23, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 67
correspond with the sum of the villein lands on the manors formerly held by Harold and by Brihtric. Thus, here again, the villein holders have not paid, though the form of the entries at first disguises the fact. J. A. Rutter.
Elizabethan House, Fore Street,
Totnes, Devon.
A CURIOSITY OF ENDEAVOUR.
Peculiarities of temperament have led men in to many strange fields of endeavour, but a more curious method of instruction or a little work entitled 'Symbolical Illustration,' by F. Brodribb.
Possibly the only extant copy is now in
Was he some queer kind of occultist, whose aim was to bring out the significance of his peculiar symbolism by spreading it abroad and making it popular? This does not seem to be the case, because the book bears no indication of ever having been reproduced.
Was he perhaps inventing a new system of teaching elementary history? Did he think that, once the idea of symbols had been inculcated, they would be more easily memorized than the fact without its symbolical illustration? If so, he was wrong, for the fact would have to lie within the content of the consciousness before the symbol could be appreciated.
Perhaps neither of these explanations is correct. It may be that friend Brodribb was a revivalist. He may have wished to
. . " .'*' W C*;O Cb A v? V J. V CtlAOf J-.iV/ JHJ.CVV J.J.CV V C7 W JjDJ.J.C'VI. VJ my possession, since it is a manuscript j make Citing more expressive, and his work, bound in quarter calf, marbled in the invention of symbolism may have been, conventional fashion of a century ago. The amount of labour represented is very great, and it is strange that it should have ap- peared to anyone that any useful purpose could be served by the undertaking. The symbolical illustrations contained in to his mind, a step in this direction. The book may be an example of a system of pictorial writing which he desired to make general. But all speculation regarding this curiosity of endeavour is now fruit- less. the book represent various outstanding Many years since Brodribb must have occurrences in the history of England, j been gat hered to his fathers, and he has but they are certainly as ; symbolical as their j omifcted to include in this small volume, author claims. The only difficulty is that I probably the resillt of his life > s work a ke ^ anyone who does not possess the key to the to his met hod. It is therefore only as an symbolism must find these extraordinary product of an unconven- -*- ne tional and apparently purposeless intelli- method of drawings difficult to interpret. jj , . 1 J 1 11- i VAX/i.J.WI.4. ^WAiVl CVK'I^/UU. V^J_LVJL V 1J J^LL LJ V^O^l^QO JLiJ. U^AJJ. ~ studies are not .uniform and the sy m bohsm | gence that the nitlo vo i ume can interest G. E. FUSSELL. 70, Josephine Avenue, Brixton Hill, S.W.2. is therefore limited. When the idea under- : a mo dern mind, lying a few of the pictures has been grasped, the author appears to adopt a new system quite arbitrarily. Mainly the figure of a man is represented by a rod or line, and his rank is indicated SMITHFIELD, LONDON : BIBLIOGRAPHY. by the hat or head-dress peculiar to his | This area of about three acres j ust outside class. For instance, a bishop is indicated j the north-west extremity of the City walls by a line capped by a mitre, or a king by j has a considerable bibliography dealing a crown. The death of a king is almost with the Priory of St. Bartholomew and invariably shown by a broken line with an inverted crown on the ground beside it. It is curious that almost the only difference from this rule is the death of the Conqueror, which is represented by a riderless horse in addition to these ordinary symbols. The spectacle of Canute rebuking his nattering courtiers is shown by means of an empty chair set before the waves and a few 1 lines with helmets. It is impossible to conceive why the chair should be un- occupied, but it is perhaps more impossible to discover the complete aim of the author of this ' Svmbolical Illustration.' ils derivatives, the Church, the Hospital, Bartholomew Fair, the Cattle Market, Meat and Provision Markets, &c. Their interest is so great that they have been the subjects of some excellent volumes, but no writer in recent years has attempted a history of Smithfield, and so far as I am aware there is only one little book on the subject, sufficiently scarce to be wanting from several public libraries claiming com- pleteness in such literature. Published about 1848 as the first instalment of * Wil- loughby's London Library of Amusement and Instruction ' (Willoughby and Co.,
