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9-s.iv.8ept.23/99.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 259 according to Gildas, "more eager to shroud their villainous faces with beards than to cover with decent clothing those parts of their body which required it," soon effaced the Roman wall as a boundary. Very interesting is that part of Mr. Neilson's arguments in which he establishes that Solway, otherwise Sulewad or Sulwath, means the muddy ford, from sol, a term for mud common to the Anglo - Saxon and Norse languages, and vad or vath, a frequent suffix in Icelandic local names. The termination on the Scottish border he finds in the Lochmabenstane, a lonely granitic boulder, some six feet or so in height, still standing a few yards above high-water mark on the seashore in Gretna parish, the other end being at Eskmouth. Equally impossible is it for us to show the erudition by which this is supported or demonstrated, and to set before the reader the curious and picturesque details and legends Mr. Neilson has collected with regard to salt works and fisheries, the wars of Edward I., and other matters. His geographical views are supported by the reproduction of quaint maps, the earliest of which dates back to the fourteenth century. These are all the illustrations to the volume except the pale, delicate, intellectual head of a little Edward, to whom, with the simple ' dates 14 March, 1891, and 30 January, 1896, the work is dedicated. This touching dedication we mention with profound sympathy. Mr. Neilson's 'Annals of the Solway' cannot do other than appeal to all who are interested in Border history. It is a mere private confidence which we make that a sight of the Solway is to us the most invigorating of pro- spects, and. that the breeze across its waters or from the adjacent hills seems to us fitted to " create a soul under the ribs of death." Kensington Palace, the Birthplace of the Queen. By Ernest Law, B. A. (Bell & Sons.) Mr. Law, well known as the historian of Hampton Court and to some extent of Windsor Castle, has now turned his attention to Kensington Palace, to the state rooms, pictures, and gardens of which he supplies an historical guide. That the publication is opportune needs not be said. It is excellent also, as well might have been expected by those familiar with Mr. Law's previous histories. It supplies all the information the visitor to the Palace can want, furnishes a catalogue raisonni of the most important pictures, and is well illus- trated with designs of the house and reproductions of portraits. What will greatly commend it to the public, and will, indeed, secure its popularity, are the engravings of Her Majesty at the ages of two, four, and six. The reproduction of Denning's portrait of the Princess at the age of four is de- lightful. Dancing in all Ages. By Edward Scott. (Sonnen- schein & Co.) Mr. Scott's history of dancing in all ages is a work of some research, and conveys not unpleasantly a considerable amount of information, some of it not too easily accessible elsewhere. Its author, whom we take to be a mailre de danse, is thoroughly zealous, and his book is largely compiled from classical sources. With these in the original he can scarcely be familiar, and his references are, wo conjecture, principally taken at second hand. Were it otherwise, he could not have allowed such mistakes as we occasionally encounter to pass un- corrected. It is hardly within the power of the most careless of compositors, had the word been correctly given, to furnish us with the name " Mecaanus (sic) as that of " the celebrated Roman knight and friend of Augustus." Mistakes, again, such as "Tyson"forLyson, and " danse decompagne" for danse de campagne are too frequent. Whence did Mr. Scott obtain the information that the word Macabre is supposed to have been a corruption of Macarius, " the name of the saint to whom the dance was dedicated"? and whence does he draw the astounding information that in England the danse Macabre was called " the shaking of the sheet" ? According to Ducange and Littre, the danse Macabre is the danse des Machdbe'es, or chorea Machabaeorum; and "the shaking of the sheets," which is the name of a country dance, has always an indelicate signification, little likely to have been derived from the grave danse Macabre. Gayton, 'Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot,' says of Sancho, "he knew not what a dance the Don would lead him, before he return'd to the shaking of the sheets, with his Joan Gutierez" (book l. p. 25). For another, and even better in- stance, see a speech of Goldwire, junior, in Mas- singer's 'City Madam,' Act II. sc. i. Favyn, not Favine, is the author of ' Lc Theatre d'Honneur.' He is called, however, Favine in the English translation of 1623, so the name must pass. We might easily multiply slips due to carelessness or imperfect information. While, accordingly, as a popular treatise the volume serves a purpose, it will scarcely take rank as an authority. Admiral Phillip. By Louis Becke and Walter Jeffery. (Fisher Uuwin.) One wonders how many well-informed Englishmen not directly connected with Australia will recognize the name of Arthur Phillip, Vice-Admiral, or be able to tell us what he has done that his name should be chronicled in the list of England's heroes, and find a place in the series of "Builders of Greater Britain." Such deeds as he accomplished are not of a kind to appeal to popular imagination. Not quite three columns of the ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' are devoted to his life, and the authorities by whom he was sent on what proved to be the crowning glory of his life doubted the wisdom of the selection. As it happens, a better could not have been made. Admiral (then Capt.) Phillip was sent out in com- mand of what is known in Australia as "the first fleet," for the purpose of establishing a convict settlement in Australia. Manifold were the hard- ships he underwent; and though he is charged with cruelty as well as inflexibility in the discharge of his duty, he appears to have displayed equal resolu- tion, heroism, and judgment. When the inhabitants of the colony, neglected by the home Government, all but died of starvation, Capt. Phillip shared all the privations of his men, and by his own cheerful- ness kept up their spirits. His treatment of the natives, at once firm and judicious, succeeded in placating them and winning their confidence. When on a visit to Bennilong, who gave a name still occasionally heard to Bennilong Point, he was transfixed by the spear of an old native, which entered above his collar-bone and came out at his back. He would not allow the native to be punished, and his courage and gentle- ness exercised such an influence that, according to the letters of a master's mate, not too well disposed towards him, "it was followed by the fullest inter- course with these people, insomuch that they eat,