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is more diverting than the second. on the nature of the State; partly because Hobbes propounded, in his better known Leviathan,' a similar doctrine of politics," in what Sidgwick once described as "a view of social duty, in which the only fixed propositions were selfishness everywhere, and unlimited power somewhere": and partly from his method of approaching psychology, before it had even a name to itself. Who but he, describing, and by an unimpeachable illustration, the association of ideas," would cap it with this warning, legitimately arising, "the mind may almost from anything to anything," truth familiar enough, but not usually SO blandly admitted by philosophers.

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In spite of care in constant definition, he

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equivalents," conception, cognition,

imagination, ideas, notice, and knowledge; an odd assemblage of different processes 'and results. In face of such synonyms," the reader is puzzled to interpret a remark which soon follows: "No man can have in his mind a conception of the future, for the future is not yet." The confusion here of conception, perception, imagination and speculation is as casual, as his delightful brushing on one side

of logic as "but dry discourse." Hobbes

would be called a scientist rather than a poet,

if the choice had to be made; and yet he can write "evidence is to truth, as the sap is to the tree, which so far as it creepeth along with

body and branches, keepeth them alive, when

it forsaketh them they die." One of his charms is that having little capacity himself to be shocked, he could shock others by such

escapades as this with evidence, or as when he coolly defines Conscience "to be opinion of evidence"; a far cry hence it is to Newman's aboriginal Vicar of Christ."

The book has a two-fold value. Primarily it is interesting to the student of philosophy historically considered: it throws light on that of the seventeenth century, it forestalls not a few later views, Kant's plea that the

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ultimate problems problems, are extra-rational, and the still more modern insistence on the importance of the senses. Secondly, the general reader, caring perhaps nothing for the evolution of thought, will find a little storehouse of shrewd insight, pawky wit and stimulating suggestion. In the first part specially, Hobbes again and again approaches Montaigne's sly suggestiveness in handling human nature, drawing it "quite naked." Thus to him the essence of revenge lies in wringing an admission of his fault from the wrong-doer: " for though it be not hard, by returning evil for evil, to make one's adversary displeased with his own fact, yet to make him acknowledge the is the height of revenge.' His keenest thrust is made at the pedagogue's expense: The infallible sign of teaching exactly and without error is this: that no man hath ever taught the contrary; not that few, how few soever if any. For commonly truth is on the side of the few, rather than of the multitude; but when in opinions and questions considered and discussed by many it happeneth that not any one of the men that so discuss

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them differ from another, then it may be justly inferred they know what they teach, and that otherwise they do not."

Hobbes, egoist and materialist, wearied out, as 'The Leviathan' often shows, with his wrangling disputatious era, here aimed a blow at a diversity of teachers at odds with themselves and with him; and yet with his customary adroit shifting of words he managed to hit them on all sides without falling into the self-contradiction which at first sight seems inescapable.

Shakespeare, Jonson and Wilkins as Borrowers By Percy Allen. (London, Cecil Palmer. 7s. 6d. net).

THIS is an exhilarating book, which, by the methods of the newer criticism, tends to give a novel interest to the Elizabethan drama, even if it does not command assent altogether. The line of Mr. Allen's study has been largely exemplified for readers of 'N. & Q.' by the our correspondent, Mr. Dugdale We

work of

Sykes, which is frequently referred to. must confess ourselves to some slight degree disappointed, having supposed from Mr. R. P.

Introduction that Mr. Allen concerned himself more with the action and the stage

qualities of the plays than with verbal resem

blances, but it is still verbal resemblance that bears away the palm. The most convincing

chapter-we found it effectually convincing-is

on the connection between Jonson's

Every man out of his Humour' and 'Twelfth

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Night.' Shakespeare "borrowing from himself is not so plausibly made out; and, in common with many scholars occupied with this kind of research, Mr. Allen, we think, proceeds without sufficient information about, or else reflection upon, the common way in which the minds of all voluminous writers work. Without definitely borrowing from past writings, authors repeat themselves: a situation which has once called up this or that phrase, this or that image will call it up again. It is a trick in the mental mechanism of associa

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tion, and so far from being valued is, should suspect, regarded as a plague. Echoes of what one has read or seen likewise hang about the imagination and impede its original production, and force themselves to the tip of the pen the more readily the more lazily or hurriedly a man is composing. With these comes in the mass of phrase and idea which is the commonplace of the day: and we believe that all this, rather than any explicit use of the one in the making of the other, accounts for such resemblance as appears between Titus Andronicus' and 'Macbeth.' On the other hand, Mr. Allen's treatment of Wilkins's authorship of 'Pericles' is a delightful and clever suggestion of how a play in general, and this play in particular, may have been pieced together from an author's works so as acquire an air of having been written by him. The concluding chapter, on supposed borrowings by Milton from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' is something of a reductio ad absurdum of the general argument of the book. It is, however, worth while to read it through,

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and allot to it a corner in the mind, whence it will probably be produced in time as useful light on some problem of Elizabethan drama.

THIS Monograph Group

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The Franciscans and Dominicans of Exeter. By A. G. Little and R. C. Easterling. (Exeter: A. Wheaton and Co. 7s. 6d.). THIS is Monograph No. 3 of the History of The two houses with which it is concerned belong to the first generation of their respective Orders, the Dominican house having been in existence as early as 1232. The origin of both lies in obscurity. The first chapter in the history of the Grey Friars at Exeter is concerned with their having pitched upon mortally insanitary site and the prolonged difficulties encountered before they could move. Thereafter what is recorded of them shows them to have been a fairly considerable house. Belonging to the Custody of Bristol the Exeter Friary in the fourteenth century was the seat of the studium of the Custody and though, as our authors say, few traces of its intellectual activities remain, there is record of a Friar John Wille who is described in 1367 as having studied theology at Exeter, who rose to some ecclesiastical importance. The warden, in 1534, Cardmaker by name, to the disgust of the brethren, welcomed Bishop Latimer when he came to Exeter by the King's commission and preached in their churchyard, and then went on to display himself as a supporter of Reform, a course which in 1555 brought him to Smithfield and to the stake. The last warden was Gregory Bassett, who seems to have oscillated between the old and the new religion.

The

history of the Black Friars in Exeter, which

begins in or before 1232, opens up many in

teresting records and topographical particulars relating to the site of their house, one of the best in the city on the north side of the cemetery of the Cathedral but outside the Close. The Dominicans, who were not always on the best of terms with the clergy, were friends for the most part of the townspeople, and there is an interesting record of the Mayor of Exeter and his fellows coming, in 1409, to the Black Friars to see a play, the only recorded instance of a play being performed in either house of friars at Exeter. At the beginning of the fourteenth century they had a lively dispute with the dean and chapter about the funeral

of Sir Henry Raleigh, which is interesting both as an example of mediaeval turbulence and as illustrating ecclesiastical rights and customs. Later in the century a friar of this house was

denounced by the Bishop for selling indul

gences. The suppression took place in 1538. Their list of benefactors includes the executors of Eleanor of Castile who gave the convent 100s.; Edward 1., who in 1297 gave them 483. for four days' food, the friars then probably numbering thirty-six; and Grandisson who left them, with 100s. "all the writings of the holy friar, Thomas de Alquino" To the Friars Minor Grandisson bequeathed 5 marks. The authors give two ap

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Old Liverpool. Written in manuscript by the Rev. R. Postance. Illustrations by John Sanders (to be obtained from the artist, 32, Jermyn St., Prince's Avenue, Liverpool. 2s.).

WE have received a copy of this pleasant

little book, which was reprinted last January, the first edition having been published in 1889. The letter-press is reproduction of a beautifully written manuscript, as easy and more amusing to read than print, which has been compiled from good authors on Liverpool and tells the history of the place in an easy, chatty style, but with substance. The illustrations are numerous, all of them interesting and several very attractive. The booklet is to be sold for the benefit of St. Paul's Church, Liverpool, and, by any one interested either in that church or the town here will be two shillings well bestowed.

WE have received from the Oxford Press two

new members of their World's Classics

series: Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone and Anthony Trollope's Dr. Wortle's School. The former has an introduction by Mr. T. S. Eliot, in which the writer has much that is interesting to say of the relation of Dickens to Collins. The latter is virtually a study of

two characters, with a third somewhat in the

background drawn in outline only but with

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equal firmness. So far, so good, and even very good: but the three men move amid little group, devised in the true manner of Trollope, but rather deficient in life, and the plot is not a happy one.

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Printed and Published by The Bucks Free
Wycombe, in the County of Bucks.

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ERATURE.

No. 504. ARTS AND CRAFTS.

SHAKESPEARE,

and other early Dramatists.

Report all early books, pamphlets, manuscripts, autograph letters, out of the way items, etc., to

MAGGS BROS.

34 & 35, Conduit St., London. W

For Sale.-Notes and Queries. THE FIFTH, SIXTH and SEVENTH SERIES, 36 bound volumes (1874 to 1879). Would be sold separately. - Offers to A.H., Box 193, 'N. & Q., 20, High Street, High Wycombe, Bucks.

When replying to advertisements please mention "NOTES AND QUERIES."

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QUERIES:-Age of bearing arms and of Knighthood-XVI century place-names: identification sought, 225-Rights pertaining to a grave-Maj.Gen. John Miller, Royal Marines, d. 1825-Shields in a doll's house: Norreys Armed merchant ships-Moliere on the English Stage St. Omer family, 226-Stained glass windows and trade guilds-David Anderson (Letters of Warren Hastings)-Journal of Sir William Norris-Epigram on Lord Curzon-Author wanted, 227.

REPLIES.-Dampier of East Coker, 227-English officers in Austrian service, 228-Adjectives from place-names, 229-An old English puzzle-latchThe Horse in folk-songs and tales-Unpublished Letters of Warren Hastings-The story of Savile Row, 230-A Buddhist Prayer-Double piscinasJohn Stillwell, drawer "-Irregular numeral adjectives-New Zealand earthquake, 231-Newspapers and litigation-Phœnician names in England-Sumac tree-Songs about soldiersSarah Wright-Leonard family of America, 232 -Heraldry of Oxfordshire-Memorials of county boundaries and centres-Authors wanted, 233.

THE LIBRARY:-' The Antiquity of Man in East Anglia '-' Calendar of State Papers-Venice' 'The Year's Work in English Studies.'

Bookseller's Catalogue.

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THIS WEEK:

A forgotten Spa

Warren Hastings' Letters

Macartney in China: Bibliography

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219

220

221

JOTES AND QUERIES is published every Bucks (Telephone: Wycombe 306). Subscriptions (£2 2s. a year, U.S.A. $10.50, including postage, two half-yearly indexes and two cloth binding cases, or £1 15s. 4d a year, U.S.A. $9, without binding cases) should be sent to the Manager. The London Office is at 14, Burleigh

Street, W.C.2 (Telephone: Chancery 8766), where

the current issue is on sale. Orders for back numbers, indexes and bound volumes should be sent either to London or to Wycombe; letters for the Editor to the London Office.

Memorabilia.

THE new number (Vol. ix, No. i.) of the Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association has two main historical articles of considerable interest concerning eighteenth century America. The first is by Mr. John Pell on the Philip Skene who, born at Hollyards in Fife about 1723, came as a Captain in the 27th Enniskillens, in 1756, to North America. He was wounded in Abercrombie's attack on Ticonderoga, but present next year with Amherst's successful expedition, and, promoted major of brigade in charge of the two garrisons of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, entered on a scheme for settling a tract of country on the headwaters of Lake Champlain. He was granted 20,000 acres of virgin land, erected into a township under the name of Skenesborough, and sold his commission to devote himself to develop ing it. At the beginning of 1775, on the troubles between the English Government and the Colonies becoming acute, he was recalled from his pioneer work to active service as Lieut.-Governor of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. However, he spent a considerable part of the time the war lasted in gaol in Connecticut, having been captured by the enemy in June, 1775, and the end of it was that he lost all his property to the Americans, and after some attempt to recover it, finally returned to England and died in 1810 at Stoke Goldington, Bucks. From his last surviving descendant, who died in 1913, comes the collection of Skene papers now in the Library of Fort Ticonderoga, which, as Mr. Pell's essay with its numerous notes very well shows, gives us a good story of the foundation and administration of an American outpost settlement. There is a map of Skenes

borough dated 1762, and a most attractive portrait of Philip Skene-a pencil drawing made about 1790. The second paper is Mrs. Lansing's account of the raid made by Lieut.Col. Frederick Baum, with a force of Indians, over the valley of the Battenkill, as a prelim

mer of 1777. Mrs. Lansing brings together a wonderful amount of detail on a stirring and important event of the Burgoyne campaign which has been more or less overlooked. MAJOR J. Fairfax-Blakeborough writes to

us:-"Many will be interested to hear that Sir Alfred E. Pease has completed the compilation of a glossary of 8,000 North Yorkshire words. He writes thus to me on the subject:

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I have, after great labour, compiled dictionary of the North Riding dialect with very full illustrations of its use. There never

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has been a comprehensive glossary. father's is the longest, but it is very condensed. Atkinson's is full of error and, till he was too old, he did not know it like those of us who were bred to familiarity with it. He gives few names of our birds for instance. I have 14 folios of the local names of birds. I mention this as an example of what I have added to published material. To each bird I give its vernacular names, its English and scientific, state whether rare or common, whether resident, migrant and SO on. Whether it would be possible to get it published I do not know. There are few people now living competent to pass an opinion on

it, unluckily, and it will soon be a record of a thing, which is to me a tragedy, as there was nothng so expressive and forceful, or so consolidating and uniting an influence amongst North Yorkshiremen.

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My own experience (and it was that of my father, who spent much of his life and means in endeavouring to preserve dialect) is that, though there are many who speak with enthusiasm of folkspeech and its preservation, the enthusiasm wanes when they are asked to put their hands into their pockets."

THE cropping up of new epistolary customs seems worth notice. Apparently it is becoming usual to put on a letter, instead of the date of writing, the words "date as per postmark." We have seen protest against this on the ground that absence of date (and we suppose even if preserved and affixed to doubtful dating) would make the letter usethe letter, the postmark would constitute a less as a legal document; another objection is the frequent illegibility of post-marks; and a third the tiresomeness to the recipient of having to refer to the envelope, or the outside, of the letter for the date.

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