STRETTELL-UTTERSON (11 S. i. 448, 477).— From a list of auction-sale catalogues ranging from 1637 to 1841 it appears that three important book-sales took place in London in 1832. Two of these were conducted by Sotheby & Son, and the third by Evans. The library disposed of by Evans was that of the Rev. Dr. Valpy, a distinguished educationist, and head master for many years of Reading Grammar School. The sale continued, or was advertised to continue, for ten days. Dr. Valpy's library was sold in his lifetime. Having retired from the mastership of Reading School owing to age and infirmity, he went to reside with a son in London, and in consequence of this change got rid of his library. Does this catalogue render any assistance to MR. CLEMENTS? It does not quite tally with the one he mentions, but comes pretty near it. Dr. Valpy, it should be stated, was a great admirer of Shakespeare. On the other hand, it must be remembered that E. V. Utterson possessed a First Folio ShakeW. SCOTT. speare.

2

- Dover.

2

JOHN BAVINGTON JONES.

in 1538 the still larger sum of 31. Os. 10d. These were munificent gifts for ecclesiastical purposes in those days. They probably indicate that the players and those who hearkened to them were adherents of the ancient faith with no ideas of change, but they could not be in any sense a guild attached to the church. Robin Hood, though a highly popular character, not only in England, but, as we have been informed, in the Lowlands of Scotland also, was by no means a saintly person, and neither he nor his followers were calculated to make a religious impression on their neighbours.

The body of young men referred to were probably light-hearted fellows who devoted themselves, when time was not pressing, to the amusement of their fellow-townspeople. Times were, however, rapidly approaching when the entertainment of others became regarded as something in itself unholy, for we find that so early as 1543 Martha Rose and Margaret Martin paid three shillings for the "wode of Robyn Hode is howse." It is impossible to say whether it had been pulled down by some local authority, or whether the owner had demolished because the sports he had organized in former years had ceased to give pleasure.

N. M. & A.

it

22 "BROCHE (11 S. i. 389, 475).-From a case reported in a Year-Book of 6 Edward II., upon which I am at present working, one gathers that a broche was a sword of some kind, and not a lance. It is said of a man accused of murder that he struck his victim on the head dune espeie qest appelle Broch et lui fist une playe del longur de iiij pouz. Objection is taken that the indictment does not specifically state whether 'le laminal [v.l., in another report, le aumail] feust ou de feer ou dasser," &c. W. C. BOLLAND.

22

Lincoln's Inn.

22

HAMPDEN AND SHIP MONEY (11 S. i. 426, 492).—Concerning the actual amount of the ship money attempted to be levied upon Hampden, Junius had a pregnant word to say in his Letter to the Printer of The Public Advertiser of 28 May, 1770:understandings measure the violation of law by the "There is a set of men in this country, whose magnitude of the instance, not by the important consequences which flow directly from the principle ....Had Mr. Hampden reasoned and acted like the moderate men of these days, instead of hazard ing his whole future in a law-suit with the crown, he would have quietly paid the twenty shillings demanded of him, the Stuart family would probably have continued upon the throne, and,

"Quod reparatio Pontis de Depeford, pertinet ad homines Hundredi de Blackheath, and non ad homines Villarum de Eltham, Moding-ham, and Wolwich."

2

Kilburne in his Survey, 1659, p. 73, describes Deptford as lying "at the northwest side of the County by the River Ravensborne and Thames."2

In December, 1700, there was granted a patent by King William III.

"to supply the Inhabitants of the Royal Manors of East Greenwich and Sayes Court with good and wholesome Fresh Water from the River Ravensbourne, which runs between the said Manors, during the term of 500 years."

Hasted says that the Romans were well supplied with water from the Ravensbourne at their camp on Keston Common, where the river takes its rise.

It was in the mouth of this river that the Golden Hind (in which Drake circumnavigated the earth) was laid up by command of Queen Elizabeth, and on board of this ship her Majesty visited Drake and knighted him.

WM. NORMAN.

The earliest references to the Ravensbourne I have noted are as under :

46 A.D. 1208. Through an inundation of the Thames, the whole of the lands on the banks of the Ravensbourne were flooded."-Dunkin's' History of Deptford,' p. 207.

Bishopsgate Institute.

My grandfather Thomas Fox bought property at Lewisham about 1790 which was partly bounded by the Ravensbourne stream. Probably this is not a sufficiently early reference for MR. PHILIP NORMAN; but I expect the title-deeds, which perhaps are accessible, would give references of an earlier date. W. H. Fox.

City of London Club, E.C. [MR. J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL also thanked for reply.]

DOOR-KNOCKER ETIQUETTE (11 S. i. 487). The summary of the etiquette of doorknocking in the Spanish periodical of 1836 does not seem very wide of the mark, according to my recollections of thirty years later than that date. Everybody (in London) had a door-knocker, and there was certainly a more or less generally understood code of knocks. I remember that an old lady, who was born at the very beginning of the last century, always said, on engaging a new footman: "Let me hear how you knock " and according to his proficiency in the art

of rat-tat-tatting, so was he appraised. A sonorous and insistent reverberation on the front door was in those days considered a sign of social importance.

In 'The Footman's Directory and Butler's Remembrancer; or, The Advice of Onesimus to his Young Friends,' London, printed for the Author, and sold by J. Hatchard & Son, 1823, the following instructions are set forth :

"In knocking at a gentleman's door, you should not ring the bell, unless you see it written on a brass plate to do so, except it should be at a relation's of the family which you live with, then you always should ring, as well as knock; and also at your own door, as this is a mark of respect, and a hint to the family and servants that some of the family are come home. Knock loud enough to be heard, as some of the halls and kitchens are a great way from the front door." FRANK SCHLOESSER.

COMETS AND PRINCES: JULIUS CÆSAR

(11 S. i. 448).—The comet which appeared at the time of Cæsar's death has been identified. It is believed to have been the same as that seen in the time of Justinian in 531 A.D., again in the reign of Henry II. in 1106, and again in 1680. Its periodic time is supposed to be about 574-5 years. It is not expected to return again till the year 2255. See Milner's Gallery of Nature,' 1848, pp. 112–13. W. S. S.

CHEVALIER DE LAURENCE ON HERALDRY (11 S. i. 486). This was undoubtedly the author of The Empire of the Nairs and other works. See 'D.N.B.,' s.v. Henry Lawrence.

James C. D.

British travellers, by order of Bonaparte He wrote on the outbreak of hostilities. several works, and contributed to The Pamphleteer, xxiii. 159, an article entitled On the Nobility of the British Gentry; or, The Political Ranks and Dignities of the British Empire, compared with those of the Continent; for the Use of Foreigners' in Great Britain, and of Britons abroad.* This was published separately, London, Nickisson, 1840, 12mo, 58., and is evidently the "work on heraldry" mentioned by MR. FORREST MORGAN.

Some references to the Chevalier de Laurence will be found in The Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1841, p. 206. W. SCOTT.

"PULL" (11 S. i. 407, 457).—From_my earliest days I have been accustomed to hear that a person who had been ill was Much pulled down or, more shortly, pulled." G. W. E. R.

'

"THE FORTUNE OF WAR" (11 S. i. 223, 274).-In what is now named York Road, opposite the Maiden Lane Railway Station, is a small inn or public-house called "The Fortune of War." I remember when this portion of York Road used to be called Maiden Lane. Beginning at King's Cross, it crossed Battle Bridge, and passed Maiden Lane Station and The Fortune of War," Barnsbury Square being more north on the right, and the Roman Road crossing Maiden Lane diagonally.

The name of this little inn, whatever its origin, seems peculiarly appropriate to its situation; for, as Thornbury says, London tradition considers that Boadicea's great battle with Suetonius occurred here Old and New London,' ii. 276). Battle Bridge would commemorate the British queen's last battle, in which she lost her life; Maiden Lane recording that her two maiden daughters (the immediate cause of the war) were with her in her chariot (as in the new sculpture on Westminster Bridge), and there also perished; while the Roman Road, running west, would be the route by which Suetonius hurried from Wales to save London. up Pinks mentions that an elephant's skeleton, Roman coins, and a Latin inscription mentioning one of the legions in this battle, have been dug up in Maiden Lane; and Suetonius used elephants against the queen of the Iceni (History of Clerkenwell,' 1880, 17, 358, 500, 502, 571).

.

As Boadicea's object was to attack Roman London, and she needed water for her troops,

A writer in 'N. & Q.' has pointed out that Suetonius encamped on the high ground overlooking London, now called Barnsbury Square, and that the ditch of his square camp may still be seen at the back of at least one side of the square a fact which I have verified by personal observation. Wheatley says that old records refer to this road as Maiden Lane (' London Past and Present,' 1891, ii. 455); and Smyth says that the Maiden Way began on the Roman Road (Archeologia, 1846, xxxi. 280).

This cluster of place-names and corresponding topographical features, all agreeing with the idea that this district was the scene of the last great attempt of Britain to throw off the yoke of Rome, makes the local inn name of "The Fortune of War 2 a very appropriate one. Out of what was formerly Maiden Lane proceeds a smaller turning called Forum Street. L. M. R.

Notes on Books, &c.

The Cornish Coast (South) and the Isles of Scilly. By Charles G. Harper. (Chapman & Hall.) MR. HARPER has a long row of books about England to his credit, largely illustrated by himself; he is an indefatigable searcher after legend and architecture, and his latest travels have produced a book which will be of real use to the visitor and tourist.

We cannot say that we can always endorse his ideas of taste and humour, and he indulges in some sweeping condemnations, e.g., of golfers which we do not regard as justified. However, these are matters on which individual opinion doubtless differs, and most people can profit by the author's keenness to see and hear notable things. The book is excellently printed in good type, and the illustrations, though somewhat sketchy, are generally effective.

Mr. Harper's equipment as a traveller is pretty good, but he makes a gross mistake in Latin on "Malo quam "" does not mean P. 86. "rather than," and a schoolboy would not need to reach Macaulay's standard to correct the two later lines. They should be concerned with a wicked man " in the ablative case, and also "in adversity.'

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice.

Abridged and edited by Mrs. Frederick Boas. (Cambridge University Press.)

The Cambridge Review has given utterance to a protest by one of our younger literary hands against this book. He represents a feeling which we certainly share. The young schoolboy. or schoolgirl has an ample selection of books already

Mrs. Boas has reduced the book to "about half its original size," and added a few notes. The cannot view the result with equanimity, and hopes present reviewer, a great lover of Jane Austen, that the Cambridge Press will cease truncating classics. He very much doubts if Jane Austen's works are suitable for the young at all; in fact, many grown-up persons find them unutterably dull. If this is so, they might be left as they are. If it is not so, the negative needs proof in order to excuse a volume like this.

A

Collection of Eastern Stories and Legends for Selected Narration or Later Reading in Schools. and adapted by Marie L. Shedlock, with a Foreword by Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids, and a Frontispiece by Wolfram Onslow Ford. (Routledge & Sons.)

THIS lengthy title is rather a mouthful, and we should have been just as well pleased if the 'Foreword' had been omitted, and the frontispiece which figures opposite the title-page also left to speak for itself. The chief point about the stories is not whether they are veracious, but whether they are suitable for telling to children. As Miss Shedlock has already tried them in that way with success, their publication is clearly justified. We have read them with pleasure, and are glad to think that, just as Western art is being revivified by Oriental influences-if all that we read is true-so the tales of the East are being added to our store of legend. Mr. Marmaduke Pickthall and other close students of the East have pointed out the delightful humour of Oriental tale-telling, which wins some of the applause here devoted to the novel. Miss Shedlock's selections, which represent the essence of Buddhism and the earnestness of that creed, have also the charm of humour, and of that power of make-believe which modern children know, perhaps, best through Mr. Kipling's JungleBooks.'

Miss Shedlock's 'Notes on the Stories' at the end show their value, and are much. to the point. All the stories except the last are told of the Buddha (To Be), or the Bodhisatta, and the first, we learn, has often been told in connexion with a story of Hans Andersen's. Thus East and West meet in a realm in which they have, after all, The achievement of the much in common. simplicity which is needed for effective telling is not easy, as we are often reminded by the Christmas flood of new fairy-tales, and we congratulate Miss Shedlock on her success in an art which has become more difficult since it took on itself the dignity of a science.

WE Confess that we are somewhat tired of anthologies which are produced by competing publishers in reckless profusion. We make an exception, however, of The Time of the Singing of Birds, which Mr. Frowde publishes, and which is the result of the joint labours of M. A. P., M. S., and G. M. F. Without any knowledge of the persons these initials represent, we may congratulate the selectors both on excellent taste