A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Founded mainly on the Materials collected by the Philological Society. Edited by James A. H. Murray, LL.D. Part I. A-Ant. (Clarendon Press.) STUDENTS of philology, and all who care for or conscientiously employ our noble language, will congratulate themselves upon the appearance of the first instalment of the new dictionary of Dr. Murray. If a proverb to the effect that "well begun is half done," which seems exceptionally applicable in the case of a work in the compilation of materials for which a quarter of a century has been occupied, holds good, a fair chance of seeing the completed dictionary is held out to others beside the youngest workers in the fields of literature. How arduous has been the labour, and how ambitious is the effort, may be judged from the fact that, prefatory matter apart, three hundred and fifty quarto pages of three closely printed columns carry the work no further than the word "ant." In presence of such a commencement the computation that 12,000 pages will be required for the entire work seems moderate. The story of the Philological Society's dictionary has been told in many periodicals, among others in the Athenæum of April 26th and September 13th, 1879. It is now well known that, at the instigation of the Philological Society, some hundreds of readers in England and America read anew the great English writers, for the purpose of extracting typical quotations which might serve to illustrate the history of words, and furnish the basis of a dictionary which, by "the completeness of its vocabulary and by the application of the historical method to the life and use of words, might be worthy of the English language and of English scholarship." Death is apt to interfere with the development of a scheme so ambitious as this. The decease of Mr. Herbert Coleridge, one of the originators and the first general editor, was followed by other losses, until in the end the idea seemed almost abandoned. Two million quotations had been obtained, however, and some of these had been provisionally arranged. These materials were placed in the hands of Dr. Murray and submitted to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, by whom," on certain conditions," the expense of printing and publishing the dictionary was undertaken. In 1879 Dr. Murray's labours commenced, and their first demonstrable product is now before the public.

In so many different respects does a work of this kind appeal to the scholar, it is impossible in the small space at our disposal even to indicate the chief features. Prominent among the advantages is the manner in which the historical method is employed, so that the first appearance of a word in the language, its growth and development, and in the case of an obsolete word its disappearance also, are shown. Take, for example, a word like amay, to dismay. This word, now, of course, long obsolete, had as verb and as past participle a little short of two hundred years' circulation. It is first met with in King Alisaunder, 1300; next in the Troylus of Chaucer, 1374; again in Sir Ferumbras, 1380, Gower's Confessio Amantis, 1393, the Seven Sages, 1425; and disappears in Caxton's Charles the Great, 1485. How sound and philosophical

is a scheme like this, and how valuable it must be when well carried out, is at once obvious. It may be doubted better in arrangement, more thorough in treatment, or whether any existing dictionary of a living language is likely to be of higher utility. That the vocabulary is extensive is apparent. Applying to it the test of an individual collection of words, made partly with a view to assisting in the labours of the Philological Society, we find very few words that do not appear in their place in the earliest example of use. Adient as a past participle, from Hay any Work for Cooper, one of the Martin Mar prelate tracts, is not found; nor is the form agrisde, from agrise, which appears in the Mirror for Magistrates. Aisnecia, given by Wright from Skinner-primogeniture, is omitted, probably for good reasons, since we cannot trace it in the authority indicated; and alcumise, for alchemize, only mentioned in H. Crosse's Vertue's Commonwealth, might be quoted from Heywood's Love's Mistress, I. i. The curious form aldernother, used by Lydgate, seems worth mention among the many alders given. Amply as a verb, to amplify, occurs in Occleve, and amynd as a substantive, signifying a reminder, in Lydgate. In the writer last named ancree, for anchor, instead of the common form of ancre, is used. Some of these variations are possibly due to misprints. The looseness of orthography down to times comparatively recent is, of course, one of the facts too familiar to the student to need mention. The instances of omission that reward a long and close search are advanced as proofs of the care with which the task has been accomplished, and not with the idea of censure. One thing, however, is obvious. The poems of Shakspeare have not been so diligently studied as the plays. Lucrece alone furnishes instances of the use of address in the sense of prepare to, of abridgment, and of advisedly, that might with advantage have been quoted. The references are not in every case quite adequate. Adoption is said to be employed by Cleveland in Gen. Poems, 1677, p. 118. The passage quoted might with advantage be mentioned as occurring in the Character of a London Diurnal of Cleveland, which is a prose work published in 1644. An instance of the use of adamite, in a sense different apparently from any which is given, is furnished in a poem of Cleveland's, entitled To the State of Love; or, the Senses Festivall:"It was a She so glittering bright, You'd think her soul an Adamite, A Person of so rare a frame, Her body might be lin'd with 'fame" From Poems, ed. 1661.

(sic

In the storm came, and swept off the maidens." The signification of alate here is "winged," which is given by Dr. Murray subsequently as a meaning of the word.

Especially judicious and ample is the etymological treatment. Avoiding the tendency to place words of common derivation in classes, Dr. Murray gives sepa rate information concerning each so-called derivative of what is ordinarily treated as a root word, many of these derivatives being in use earlier, so far as can be ascer tained, than the simpler and more familiar form. No information, indeed, that is necessary to the scientific knowledge of words is spared, and the work is exemplarily correct and ample. Not easy is it to say in what respect improvement is to be hoped. The dictionary is, indeed, in the highest sense national, and will go far to raise the general estimate of English scholarship.

Our Own Country :" Descriptive," Historical, Pictorial. (Cassell & Co.)

THIS is the sixth volume of a series which has had a very wide circulation. It is not only a beautiful table book, but a most useful work of reference. Taking a middle course between a guide-book and a narrative of travel, it has some of the useful characteristics of each. The illustrations are for the most part good, from the artist's point of view; but in some of them a little more architectural detail might have been given with advantage. The woodcut of Pevensey Castle is the best representation of that most interesting ruin that we have seen. On the other hand, the smudgy thing that does duty for St. George's Chapel, Windsor, is about as bad as can be. No one who did not know beforehand what was the character of the stall canopies could make out anything from the blurred paper which is here presented. We commend to our readers' notice the remarks on the present condition of the Arundel Chapel. No one who has been permitted to visit it will think the writer has erred on the side of strong language.

A History of Southampton. Partly from the MS. of Dr. Speed in the Southampton Archives. By the Rev. J. Sylvester Davies. (Southampton, Gilbert & Co.) DR. SPEED was an industrious local antiquary of the last century. His collections for a history of Southampton are very valuable, but we think Mr. Davies has exercised a wise discretion in not printing them in full. He has given us, we imagine, all that is valuable, and it is certainly not to the interest of students that books should be burdened with useless matter Mr. Davies must not be looked upon merely as the editor of selections from Speed's manuscripts. He has carefully studied the history of the town, and has given the public very much additional information regarding both ancient and modern times. He is evidently a careful antiquary, not given to taking second-hand evidence when the original sources are to be discovered. One of the most important services the author has done is to print, so far as we can see without curtailment, the "Ordinances of the Guild Merchant." These, it seems, exist in several different versions. The one he has printed is in modern spelling. It appears that the guild had the power of imprisoning its members, and even persons who were outside the brotherhood. For instance, if a stranger struck a guildsman he was to go to prison for a day and a night. The rules as to cleanliness and health were also strict. No butcher or cook was to throw offal or filth into the street; no one might let his pigs wander at large or leave "muck or dung" before his door for more than two nights. The lists of mayors, Members of Parliament, and other officials seem to be carefully drawn up, and there is an excellent ndex.

Little Essays: Sketches and Characters supplied by Charles Lamb. Selected from his Letters by Percy Fitzgerald. (Chatto & Windus.)

A HAPPY inspiration is, in this addition to the "Mayfair Library" of Messrs. Chatto & Windus, happily carried out. Workers have not time to reread the delightful letters of Lamb. Here, however, are a series of fragments, each a gem in its way, to which he may turn with the certainty of delight. We feel inclined to ask, however-as Sheridan is said to have asked on being shown Dodd's Beauties of Shakespeare-Where are the other eleven volumes?

MESSRS. MITCHELL & HUGHES have just issued to the members of the Kent Archæological Society vol. xv. of its Proceedings, edited by the Rev. Canon Scott Robertson. It is amply illustrated throughout its 480 pages.

SIR SHERSTON BAKER, BART., the English editor of Halleck's International Law, is preparing for publication

by subscription a treatise on The Office of Vice-Admiral of the Coast, of which the type will be broken up after the edition is subscribed for. The subject taken in hand by Sir Sherston is involved in considerable mystery, which his work, it is understood, will clear up. Communications may still be addressed to Sir Sherston Baker, Bart., Library Chambers, Temple.

IN John Frazer Corkran, whose death at his residence, Clareville Grove, South Kensington, was recently announced, we have to regret the loss of one who was alike journalist, novelist, poet, and historian. The author of An Hour Ago: a Mystery, was also the author of a very valuable History of the National Constituent Assembly of France in 1848, a subject which his position at the time, as the Paris correspondent of a well-known English daily paper, enabled him to treat with special knowledge and fulness and accuracy of detail. His judgments were honourably impartial, and the concluding words of the History might have been written but the other day, so true are they of the Chambers of 1884 no less than of the Assembly of 1848.

Notices to Correspondents.

We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

Ir our correspondents will realize the fact that for every communication, of whatever nature, that is inserted in " N. & Q.," two communications of equal interest and value are of necessity omitted, they will extend a little indulgence. With the best liquors, as with the worst, a quart and a half cannot be forced into a pint measure. The most gratifying evidences of utility and appreciation bring with them augmenting burdens. A. MAITLAND.

"The world forgetting, by the world forgot."

Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1, 207.
"He is a fool who thinks by force or skill
To turn the current of a woman's will."
Sir Samuel Tuke, Adventures of Five
Hours, V. iii.

R. ("The Two Foscari ").-The only tragedy on this subject published in 1821 is by Lord Byron. It may, of course, be seen in every edition of his works. The best prose account of the story in English is to be found in Smedley's Sketches of Venetian History, vol. ii. It is inserted as a note in the authoritative editions of Byron.

C. M. ("Bradshaw's Railway Companion").-Much and, with the present press of matter, cannot be reobliged for your contribution, but the discussion is closed, opened.

A STAUNCH ADMIRER ("Omitted Contributions").— If you will conceal less closely your identity we may be better qualified to judge of the value of your communication.

ALPHA-Your obliging communication on Sussex iron, for which we have not at present space at disposal, has been forwarded to LADY NEILL,

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries ""-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 20, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.

BABURIN. By IVAN TURGENEV, D.C.L. Translated from Introduction. By SIDNEY JERROLD. Crown 8vo. with Portrait, 68.

A HISTORY of the INDIAN MUTINY, and of the Disturbances which accompanied it among the Civil Population. By T. R. F. HOLMES. 8vo. with Maps and Plans, 218.

The LIFE of MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HENRY MARION DURAND, K.C.S.T., O.B.. of the Royal Engineers. By H. M. DURAND, O.S.I., of the Bengal Civil Ser vice, Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. 8vo. 428.

NATIVE LIFE in

TRAVANCORE. With numerous Illustrations and Map. By the Rev. SAMUEL MATEER, of the London Missionary Society, Author of "The Land of Charity." 8vo. 188.

before put together. Reprinted from the Quarterly and Westminster Reviews. On the Kitchen and the Cellar-ThackerayRussia-Carriages, Roads, and Coaches. By SEPT. BERDMORE (NIMSHIVIOH). Crown 8vo. 78. 6d.