scandal of the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke; adventures in coaching and at country inns; fashion in the parks, and poverty in the crowded courts and alleys of central and eastern London; dwarfs, giants, and other eccentric visitors to "Modern Babylon;" duels, and seaside scenes; the fencing school of Angelo; the masked balls at Mrs. Cornely's; the processions of civic dignitaries in rural boroughs; scenes in the huntingfield, and other English sports;each and all of

these, and a thousand other subjects, were laid hold of by Rowlandson and "taken off" in their turn, and here stand reproduced Mr. Grego's pages. Many of these sketches hitherto have been almost unique, hid away in the lumber rooms and dark closets of the houses of country gentlemen, from which they have been unearthed brought to the sale rooms of Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, or Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, by the order of executors from time to time. Of

and

But this defect, we feel sure, will be forgiven by those who, like ourselves, have gone carefully through them from first to last, making their own notes and comments as they have passed along. From Mr. Grego's memoranda we gather that the life and career of Rowlandson was singularly uneventful. He was born in Old Jewry, London, in July, 1756, in the middle rank of life, and received his early education under a certain Dr. Barrow, where he had among his school-fellows the son of Edmund Burke, and also Jack Banister,

of

comic celebrity,

and young An

gelo, the fencer.

He spent a year

con

or two with a relative in Paris, where he carefully educated his eye by studying the scenes of foreign life. His first contribution-at least accepted tribution to the Royal Academy, was sent in 1775. For some years he resided in the artistic quarter of Soho, and took lessons in drawing at the

Mr. R. Ackermann, of the Strand, who, in pushing his fortune, was at the same time advancing his own interest. He made several expeditions into the country along with his comic literary friend, Mr. H. Wigstead. He died in 1827. Two of the best specimens of his pencil, "The English Review" and

the "French Review," hang on the walls of the gallery at Windsor Castle, where, it is understood, there is put away in a closet a large store of his other drawings, made chiefly for George IV. when Prince Regent.

The smaller vignettes, which are scattered in such profusion through the text of the volumes now under notice, must be regarded as elegant examples of the versatility of Rowlandson's pencil, but which it is impossible to describe in detail, or to assign to any particular year. It is therefore as well that the effort to identify them further should not have been made. But the catalogue raisonnée of Rowlandson's larger and more important works is very properly arranged chronologically, and most of the drawings and engravings are explained in detail, with all necessary references to the history of the times to which they refer and belong. The

Westminster elections of Fox, Sheridan, Hood, and Gardner; the canvassing of Georgiana, the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, on behalf of her bosom friend; and the riots at the polling-booths in Covent Garden, as might be expected, occupy a very large share of attention; and illustrations of "London Cries" and rural beggardom, fill up the gaps between the more important subjects.

The chief fault that we have to find with the book as a whole is its want of style and finish. Enthusiastically intent on his subject matter, Mr. Grego apparently has no time to bestow on his manner. The consequence is, that he is guilty of many slips of the pen, which are rather provoking to the eye and ear, but which doubtless will be carefully remedied in a second edition.

We give, by permission of the publishers, a few specimens of Rowlandson's illustrations as samples of the rest. They will, we think, be enough to justify our remarks above as to his having inherited a portion of the mantle of Hogarth. It only remains that we should credit the book with one valuable feature, namely, a very excellent index.

an impression of that extraordinary, and to our view profane, adaptation of heraldry called "Redemptoris mundi arma."

2. The crest of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, on a copy of Polibius, printed in 1546-viz., on a forse, the bear and ragged staff, a crescent for difference, with his initials, "R. D."

3. The arms of Queen Elizabeth, on a MS. copy on vellum of the "Statutes of the Order of the Garter," written in Her Majesty's reign.

4. The arms of King James I. from a copy of "Paradin's Alliances Genealogiques des Rois et Princes de Gaule, Lions, 1561," once in the Royal Library, and sold by the British Museum in 1769.

5. The arms, quarterings, and crest of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, from a copy of Sansovino's "Hist. Universale dell' origine et imperio de Turchi," printed at Venice in 1564.

6. The badge, within the garter, of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, "The Wizard Earl," from a copy of Bodin's "Dæmonomania," printed at Basil in 1581.

7. The arms and quarterings, with the motto, Prudens non loquax, of Sir John Savile, Knight, Baron of the Exchequer, who died in 1606, elder brother of Sir Henry from a copy of Littleton's "Tenures" printed

HE use of Book-Plates or engravings of the arms of noblemen and gentlemen, pasted, as appears to have been the original fashion, on the reverse of the titles of books, and afterwards within their covers or binding, does not, I think, date in England beyond the lettar part of the seventeenth century, but long before that period stamps of arms, crests, or badges, applied to the exterior binding, were common, and indeed generally to be found impressed on the covers of the principal collections of books from the sixteenth century even to the present time; a dozen specimens from my own library are now before me.

1. The arms of King Henry VIII. on a copy of "Historiæ Germanorum," printed at Tubingen in 1525. On the reverse side is

8. The arms of Sir Henry Shirley, 2nd Baronet, who died in 1632, from a copy of Weaver's "Funeral Monuments" presented by him to Burton, the Leicestershire antiquary, in the same year.

9. The arms of King Charles I. from the Holy Bible printed by John Bill in 1639, being the very book from which the lessons of the day were read to His Majesty on the morning of his martyrdom, as appears by a memorandum written in the book in 1747.

10. The arms, crest, and badge of the Bath of Sir Christopher Hatton, created in 1643 Lord Hatton of Kirby, from a copy of the works of Gyraldus printed at Basil in 1580.

11. The feathers and badge, worked in seed pearls, and therefore not properly a stamp, from a copy of Sir Geoffrey Fenton's translation of Guicciardins' "Wars of Italy," 1599,

presented to Henry, Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James I.

12. The arms and quarterings of the antiquary, Ralph Sheldon, of Beoley in Worcestershire, and of Weston in Warwickshire, from Somner's "Saxon, Latin, and English Dictionary," printed in 1659, and on another book his crest (the Sheldrake). I have mentioned these at the end of my dozen examples of exterior book-plates, because Mr. Sheldon's books, in which he generally wrote "In posterum," afford the first instance which I recollect of the modern use of the book-plate applied within the binding. His bookbinder was evidently supplied with a large copperplate of his arms, which we find impressed within his books; this collection, called in the seventeenth century "a closet of books," was broken up and sold at Weston House in the year 1781.

An interesting Paper on the subject of Book-Plates was written by the Rev. Daniel Parsons and printed in the Proceedings of the Oxford University Genealogical and Heraldic Society (of which I had the honour to be one of the founders), in 1836. Mr. Parsons fixes the year 1700 as the earliest known date of book-plates, but admits that perhaps some few were "wrought" before that time; that this was so is certain, several being now known from the dates, and others from internal evidence, to have been used in the latter part of the seventeenth century. I will here give a list from my own collection, formed in 1847, of some early book-plates, after the example of other collectors in the pages of THE ANTIQUARY, and also in those of Notes and Queries. I do not think it necessary to describe the arms.

BOOK-PLATES WITH EARLY DATES.

1. Francis Gwyn, of Lansanor and Ford Abbey, 1698.

2. John Harvey, of Ickworth, 1698. 3. William Hewer, of Clapham, in the county of Surrey, Esquire. Chief clerk to the Diarist, Pepys. 1699. No arms.

4. John Manners, Lord Roos, eldest son and heir apparent to John, Earl of Rutland, 1700.

5. Joseph Stillington, A.M., Coll. Jesu, 1700.

6. Algernon, Earl of Essex, 1701.

7. Sir George Tempest, Baronet, 1702. 8. John, Lord Harvey, 1702. 9. Charles, Lord Halifax, 1702. 10. William Talbot, Bishop of Oxford, 1702.

11. Sir Thomas Littleton, Baronet, 1702.
12. Ambrose Holbech, 1702.

13. Francis, Baron of Guilford, 1703.
14. Wriothesley, Duke of Bedford, 1703.
15. Scroop, Earl of Bridgewater, 1703.
16. John, Earl of Roxburghe, 1703.

17. Robert Price, one of the Barons of the Exchequer, 1703.

18. Sir William Dudley, of Clapton, Baronet, 1704.

19. Hon. John Haldane, of Gleneagles, 1707.

20. Sir Thomas Hanmer, of Hanmer, 1707.

21. Francis Columbine, Colonel of Foot, 1708.

22. William Thompson, of Hambleton in Yorkshire, 1708.

23. Sir Hugh Paterson, of Banokburn, Baronet, 1709.

24. Charles, Viscount Bruce, 1712.
25. Michael Grace, 1712.

26. John, Lord Percival, 1715.

27. Arthur St. George, Chancellor of Clogher, 1717.

28. Mathew Skinner, Esq., Serjeant-atLaw, 1729.

29. Edward Yardley, 1721.
30. Sir George Cooke, 1727.
31. John Percival, Earl of Egmont, 1736.
32. John, Duke of Bedford, 1736.
33. Col. William Hanmer, 1739.
34. John Bouchier, Esq., 1739.
35. Samuel Strode, 1741.

BOOK-PLATES, UNDATED, BUT WHICH, FROM INTERNAL EVIDENCE, ARE OF EARLIER DATE THAN THE YEAR 1750.

1. Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Admiralty; three different examples, ob. 1703.

2. Robert, Lord Ferrers, Baron of Chartley. He was created Earl Ferrers in 1711. 3. Hon. Robert Shirley, ob. 1698.

4. Ferrers Shirley, grandson of Earl Ferrers, ob. 1712.

5. Robert, Lord Viscount Tamworth, ob. 1714.