520
NOTES AND QUERIES. [" s. vn. JUNE 29, 1901.
devoted to its production. The editors' names do
not appear on the title-page, but we find from, the
preface that Mr. A. S. Maskelyne and Mr. J. V.
Lyle have had the work entrusted to them. The
documents now given are of equal importance
to the local historian and the genealogist with
those contained in the first volume. Except in
the cases where ecclesiastical estates or the
possessions of the great feudal houses are con-
cerned, all students have hitherto found great
difficulties in the way when endeavouring to trace
the descent of property. The ordinary county his-
tories are full of errors, and in some instances their
compilers have been but in a small measure to
blame. We have, of course, nothing whatever to
say in extenuation of the blunders of those persons
who have at various times undertaken to write on
subjects of which they had not even a rudimentary
knowledge ; but error has been by no means the
monopoly of these hopeless people, for it requires
a range of acquirement with which few have
been gifted to comprehend many of the originals,
written as they are in highly contracted Latin and
in unfamiliar and rapidly changing hands. Besides
this, a preliminary difficulty had to be overcome.
To find the documents in which the desired infor-
mation is contained among the wilderness of papers
in the Record Office was very often quite a hope-
less task. Our successors will, so far as research of
this kind is concerned, live in happier times. When
this series has been completed means will be at
hand by which to trace in most cases the devolution
of landed property from a remote period. The
inquirer must not, however, hope to find informa-
tion of a wider kind. What is recorded is in most
cases of a narrowly territorial and fiscal character.
Occasionally, though very rarely, we do come
upon facts which throw light on the manners of
former times, as when it is put on record that at
Fordinton, in Dorsetshire, in 1286, if a thief were
caught with the goods and chattels of another in
his possession he was to be hanged there and then.
If, however, he were arrested on suspicion, he was
to be sent to Somerton to be judged according to
law.
An Itinerary of the English Cathedrals. Compiled by James G. Gilchrist, M.A., and edited by the Rev. T. Perkins, M.A. (Bell & Sons.) THIS work, primarily intended for the use of American visitors to England, is issued in the same form as the "Cathedral Series" of Messrs. Bell, to which it forms a serviceable indeed, an all but indispensable supplement. It shows the manner in which, starting from a given point for the con- venience of Americans supposed to be Liverpool, but easily to be changed the whole circle of cathedral churches can be seen. As the editor points out, it is no less useful for the Englishman who wishes to see a particular group. An intro- ductory chapter supplies information enabling those who have not made a study of architecture to appreciate and enjoy the merits of the buildings he visits, every one of which has, we may say, a distinct and lovely physiognomy of its own, a physiognomy of which one may become enamoured. A synopsis of the ecclesiastical character and archi- tectural features of each cathedral church is also given. The book is heartily to be commended, and each of the possessors of the series, whom we know to be numerous, should haste to join the work to the collection. It abounds with illustrations, and
has a very useful plan of an edifice of the kind
besides a table of dimensions of the principal
structures.
Scottish Notes and Queries has issued a General Index to the First Series, 1887-99. A great variety of matters of literary, historical, and antiquarian interest are dealt with, among the contributors being some of our own friends. The index would be more serviceable if issued in a cover or a case. The publishers are Brown & Co., of Aberdeen.
THE late Mr. Stanley Leigh ton had, shortly before his lamented death, sent to the press a volume entitled 'Shropshire Houses Past and Present, illustrated from Drawings by Stanley Leighton, M.P., F.S.A., with Descriptive Letterpress by the Artist.' The sketches, to the number of fifty, are reproduced in facsimile, and include houses of all periods. The volume, which is being printed at the Chiswick Press, will be issued in the first place to subscribers before publication.
THE forthcoming section of the 'New English Dictionary' carries on the work from Jew to Kairine, and the following section will finish K and complete Vol. V. Dr. Murray, who is re- sponsible for the new instalment, invites close attention to the words judge, jury, and justice. Jingo has a special interest at the present time. The opening article in K sketches the interesting history of that letter and its status in English, where, like /, it has only a restricted native func- tion, but a large alien constituency.
' NOTES AND QUERIES ' FOR SALE (9 th S. vii. 387). I note that Mr. C. King, bookseller, of Torquay, has for sale ' N. & Q.,' First Series, in 12 vols., original cloth, 1849-60, for 31. 12s. C. W.
t0
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ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.
To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate."
M. C. L. ("Man in the street"). Already noted as Emerson's, 9 th S. ii. 131.
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