barton Castle. The places where prisoners of war were stationed on parole in Scotland were Dumfries, Lauder, Lanark, Selkirk, Hawick, Kelso, Cupar (Fife), Biggar, Melrose, Lockerbie, Peebles, Sanquhar, Jedburgh, Edinburgh. I have been kindly favoured with replies to my request for information. One correspondent, who hails all the way from Chicago, has furnished me with some valuable information about the officers on parole at one of these places. Last autumn I received permission from the Admiralty (they had to do with the prisoners of war, the Transport Board being under them) to inspect the records in the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London. When I tried to make use of my permit," I was informed that the records of the prisoners of war were now in Somerset House, as the building was demolished in which they formerly were, and that they would not be open to public inspection for four years! I had put past a portion of my annual holiday for the purpose of my quest. Imagine, then, my disappointment at being thus put to inconvenience by travelling a far distance with a permission to inspect what I would not be permitted to inspect! I mention this for the benefit of any persons who may be travelling on similar errands to the Public Record Office. On appealing some time later to my M.P., he soon put matters in train for my being allowed actually to inspect the documents in the custody of the Record Office. I have not yet availed myself of this permission, but shall not be surprised if red tape again blocks the way and renders my search futile. J. MACBETH FORBES. 14, Viewforth Terrace, Edinburgh. CARACCIOLI'S CHAPEL (8th S. iii. 87).—This would be, as MR. BONE supposes, the Sardinian Chapel in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Caraccioli was ambassador in London for seven years, beginning in 1763, and we are told in Timbs's 'Curiosities of London' (1855) that "during the existence of the penal laws the 'only entrance to the chapel was through the Sardinian Ambassador's house, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The Riots of 1780 commenced with the partial demolition of this building."-P. 182. the distance between that locality and Chesterfield Street. How Lady Townshend got into the Marchese's chapel may be explained by the fact that May 18, 1766, was a Sunday, and by Mr. Walpole's comment that she "meant to go armed with every viaticum, the Church of England in one hand, Methodism in t' other, and the Host in her mouth." The Sardinia Chapel, Lincoln's Inn Fields, belonged to "M. Cordon, the Sardinian Minister," in 1780. It also must have been attached to his official residence, for when the Gordon rioters set fire to it, it was only the intervention of the Guards that "saved the house," out of which Tom Walpole succeeded in "dragging Madame Cordon," as W. F. WALLER. his cousin writes to Mann. THE CENTURION (8th S. iii. 87).-There is a print of a Roman centurion in Archdeacon Farrar's Life of Christ,' chap. xix. p. 218, 4to., illustrated, 1891 ("From Menin, Il Costumi di tutti There is in Lewin's 'Life and Nazione" "). Epistles of St. Paul,' 1874, vol. ii. p. 182, the effigy of M. Favonius Pollio Facilis, a centurion of the twentieth legion, who was quartered at Camulodunum, now Colchester, and died there, and was buried in the Roman cemetery just without the Roman walls, on the south of the road leading from Headgate to Lexden. This is accompanied by a description of his accoutrements. ED. MARSHALL. The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials in India preserved at the India Office commence as follows: Madras, 1698; Bombay, 1709; Bengal, 1713. A register of baptisms, &c., at St. Helena dates from 1767. These are under the control of See also Smith's 'Streets of London,' 1861, p. 187. the Director of Funds, and all applications for Liverpool. J. F. MANSERGH. This place of worship was so called because it belonged to the Marchese di Caraccioli, who in 1766 was Neapolitan Ambassador. It was no doubt attached to the Embassy; but where that Embassy was, commentators, in the absence of any contemporary Boyle, have had to leave undetermined. It was certainly not in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn Fields, if for no other reason than that George Augustus could never have "strolled " searches in them should be addressed to that officer. The scale of fees for searches and copies of documents, fixed by an Order of the Secretary of State for India in Council dated July 21, 1862, is annexed: "General Search, 28. 6d.; Special Search, 18.; Certificate of Baptism (giving date of birth), 10s.; Certificate of Marriage, 10s.; Certificate of Burial, 10s.; Copy of Will or Administration, if not exceeding 600 words, 10s.; for every additional 150 words or less, 2s. 6d." There are no printed "directions to searchers" in connexion with the examination of the records ST. THOMAS'S DAY CUSTOM: APPLES And St. A MODERN FRENCH CRITIC ON SHAKSPEARE'S COMEDIES (8th S. iii. 81).-Sir Walter Scott's miscellaneous prose works are so little known in comparison with his poems and romances that I dare say many readers who are familiar enough with Marmion,' 'Ivanhoe,' and their glorious sisters, have never read Scott's excellent essay on Molière, first published in the Foreign Quarterly Review for 1828, and now included in vol. xvii. of Scott's 'Miscellaneous Works,' ed. 1870. As Sir Walter was a devoted lover of Shakespeare, whose works he appears to have had at his fingers' ends, no one can suspect him of wishing to depreciate Shakespeare in favour of any other author, however illustrious; and yet in comedy pure and simple, apart from poetry, Scott is inclined to rank Molière above even Shakespeare. After saying that "he felt it his duty to vindicate for him [Molière] the very highest place of any who has ever distinguished himself in his department of literature," he continues : remembered that the manners in Shakspeare (so far as his comedy depends on them) are so antiquated, that but regards her immortal bard, and the pious care with which for the deep and universal admiration with which England his works have been explained and commented upon, the follies arising out of the fashions of his time would be entirely obsolete. We enjoy such characters as Don Armado, and even Malvolio, as we would do the pictures of Vandyke in a gallery; not that they resemble in their imagined, until the excellence of the painter presented exterior anything we have ever seen or could have them before us, and made us own that they must have been drawn from originals now forgotten. "The scenes of Molière, however, are painted from subjects with which our own times are acquainted; they represent follies of a former date, indeed, but which fashioned habits being allowed for, the personages of his have their resemblances in the present day. Some olddrama resemble the present generation as much as our grandmothers' portraits, but for hoop petticoats and commodes, resemble their descendants of the present generation." Before concluding, I should like to say that, loving-I do not mean valuing-Molière, as I do, more than any author except Sir Walter, I felt considerably savage when I read M. Louis Veuillot's painful and offensive attack on him quoted by M. L. NoTTELLE-with disapproval, I am glad to see-at 8th S. iii. 70. To think of a Frenchman throwing stones at the creator of Monsieur Jourdain, Argan, and Harpagon! Tennyson has, however, happily taught us how to deal with folk like M. Veuillot, "who scratch the very dead for spite ":The noblest answer unto such Is perfect stillness when they brawl. JONATHAN BOUCHIER. PRATT (8th S. iii. 48).-Foss, in his 'Biographical Dictionary of the Judges of England,' gives an account of Sir John Pratt (ultimately Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench), in which he says: however, had sufficient means to afford him a liberal education. He was sent to Oxford, and eventually became a fellow of Wadham College." Wallsend. R. R. DEES. chief justice's father was; but they record that his grand"None of the biographers of the family state who the father, Richard Pratt, was ruined by the Civil Wars, and obliged to sell his patrimonial estate at Carcwell "Our countrymen will perhaps ask if we have for- [sic, but qu. Carswell or Carewell?] Priory, near Colgotten the inimitable comic powers of our own Shak- lumpton, in Devonshire, which had been long in posspeare. The sense of humour displayed by that extra-session of his ancestors. The parents of John Pratt, ordinary man is perhaps as remarkable as his powers of searching the human bosom for other and deeper purposes...... The Merry Wives of Windsor' is perhaps the piece most resembling a regular comedy, yet the poetry with which it abounds is of a tone which soars in many respects beyond its sphere. In most of his other compositions his comic humour is rather an ingredient of the drama than the point to which it is emphatically and specially directed. The scenes of Falstaff are but introduced to relieve and garnish the historical chronicle which he desired to bring on the stage. In the characters of Falconbridge and Hotspur their peculiar humour gilds the stern features of high and lofty chivalry; in the Tempest' the comic touches shine upon and soften the extravagance of beautiful poetry and romantic fiction. These plays may be something higher and better, but they are not comedies dedicated to expose the vices and follies of mankind, though containing in them much that tends to that purpose. It must also be PENNY POST (3rd S. ii. 68; 7th S. xi. 25; 8th S. ii. 189, 258, 298).-An early reference is mentioned in the Life of Sir R. Hill,' ii. 29, and the 'Enc. Brit.,' xix. 564, gives some account of the book. In 1659, John Hill, of York, published 'A Penny Post: or, a Vindication of the Liberty and Birthright of every Englishman in Carrying Merchants' and other Men's Letters, against any Restraint of Farmers of such Employments.' So it looks as if John Hill had preached and practised penny postage nearly two centuries before Sir Rowland. The first Hill, moreover, described what he had actually done, while the second Hill described in 1837 what, in his judgment, ought to be done. The carriers of the elder Hill, we are told, were trampled down by Cromwell's soldiers; the plan of Sir Rowland Hill, he tells us, came very near being spoilt by the dignitaries of the Treasury and the Post-Office. Is not there some difference between penny post and penny postage? Leaving out John Hill's curiosity, penny post used to mean what Americans call local post or drop letters; that is, letters that were delivered in or near the town where they were posted. Robert Murray started such a penny post in London about 1681; from him it passed to William Dockwra, and from Dockwra to the Post-Office in 1683, the law officers ruling correctly that post-office business was a prerogative of the Crown. The penny post dealt exclusively in London letters, posted in London for delivery in London. Up to 1801 the charge was a penny for every letter. The Post-Office Act of 1710, known as 9 Ann, c. 11, mentions that part of the postal service called the penny post, established and settled within the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Borough of Southwark and parts adjacent, and to be received and delivered within ten English miles distant from the said General Letter Office in London." This describes the penny post sufficiently. Its carriers, or postmen, had nothing to do with letters received from outside the penny post district. From 1801 to 1839 the rate on these London local letters was twopence. The twopenny postmen were one set; foreign letters were delivered by another set; mail letters from any part of the kingdom, except London, by a third set. Great reforms had been introduced when the first Penny Postage Act was signed (Aug. 17, 1839), and the penny post of Charles II. was lost in the penny postage of Sir Rowland Hill. Perhaps one reason why the Post-Office did not take readily to Hill's proposal is because he computed the cost of carrying mails from town to town very carefully, and overlooked the fact that the heaviest expense consists in delivering a letter in any place after it has been received by railway or steamship. Delivering by postmen is more expensive than carrying by rail. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Purgatory of Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio i̟-xxvii.). THIS new experiment in literal verse translation arose Ode to Cromwell' offered a promising equivalent for out of the thought that Andrew Marvell's stanza in his the stanza of the Divina Commedia. Efforts to reproduce the great medieval poem in English verse have so repeatedly been made in the present century that they have come to form one of the literary features of our the stanza. Cary's verse is easy and free, like Pope's era. What has been wanting from all is the sentiment of Homer, and makes no pretence of reproducing poetic form; Longfellow's is line for line, and almost as verbal as an interlinear gloss; both are typical in their several kinds, but both neglect the stanza. Those who, like Mr. Ichabod Wright and Dean imitate Dante's own peculiar interlaced rhyme, the teraa Plumptre, have kept the stanza in view, have tried to rima. The effect is constrained, and ungenial to the English reader, who finds himself weighted with the extra burden of attending to an intricate system of rhyme, without thereby deriving any help to appreciate was not how to imitate, but how to find an English the recurrent movement of the strophe. The problem equivalent for Dante's terzine; and when Mr. Shadwell caught from Marvell's verse the impression that it was meet for this service, he had found the spring of a new departure. The two best-known stanzas of Marvell are among the gems of English poetry : He nothing common did nor mean The axe's edge did try; Nor called the gods with vulgar spite But bowed his comely head It was not an obvious thought that a stanza of four lines would match a three-line stanza. If we count syllables, we find that the four English lines offer somewhat less space than the three Italian lines, but then the balance is redressed by the larger proportion of monosyllables that are available in English as against Italian usage. The point which most challenges inquiry is the correlast line of the terzina. The two short lines form, indeed, spondence between the short English couplet and the an admirable cadence, and they set in relief the rise and fall of the whole movement; but then, how far is it like the original? This question has been anticipated by Mr. Shadwell, and he has answered it in the preface by showing that these two members were adapted to correFree delivery is so costly that in the United sponding purposes of expression in the two systems of States only the larger towns have it. In a large versification. It is not, however, to be supposed that the part of Chicago it has not been established. On short couplet always contains the matter of Dante's the other hand, the postmaster of Boston, Mass., third line; the translation is not framed on lines so rigid; was allowed a penny for every letter he handled derives from making a unit of the stanza is this, that on the contrary, a chief advantage which the translator so early as 1639. The English penny post, then-within the range of the stanza he enjoys freedom of meaning letters delivered by postmen for a penny-transposition. was abolished in London in 1839, in the United Kingdom in 1840, in the United States in 1863. The United Kingdom has had penny postage since 1840, America since 1883. C. W. ERNST. Boston, Mass. Mr. Pater's introduction adds a graceful ornament to a beautiful book. He broaches a well-chosen topic, at How is it that a subject which was treated with marked once aloof from and congenial to the work before him: indifference in the eighteenth century should now stand almost at the summit of literary ambition? One of the causes he finds in Dante's habits of close observation, severely adjusted expression, and elaboration of detail, Dante's minuteness of touch approaches almost to miniature-painting. To the age of Johnson abstraction, generalization, seemed to be of the essence of art and poetry, a principle which the taste of the nineteenth century has inverted in favour of that circumstantial manner of which every canto of the Divina Commedia would afford illus tration." We do not go with Mr. Pater in regretting that the translator has left off at the end of the twenty-seventh canto. On the contrary, we think that something is gained by calling attention to the limits of the Purgatory' proper, as contradistinguished from the Earthly Paradise,' which occupies the remaining six cantos, and constitutes a distinct section of the poem. In conclusion, what most strikes us is the degree of freedom which the movement attains under the double restriction of versification and literal rendering. To exhibit this we will take a short series of stanzas from 'Purg.,' xv., one of those philosophic passages which are generally considered less favourable to translation:As rays from mirror's face reflected, Or water, upward are directed, And in like measure dart Their course from line by plummet guided Even as science shews And all experience knows : So in that place I felt the stroke In haste my face to hide. Elegies and Epitaphs. By Charles Box. (Gloucester, Osborne.) MR. Box was for many years on the staff of the Field, also editor of Cricket, and author of The English Game of Cricket.' He devoted much of his spare time to making this collection of Elegies and Epitaphs,' which contains a considerable number on celebrated persons. Mr. Box well remarks in his preface that "with the socalled enlightenment of the present day tombstone The author did literature has by no means kept pace." not live to publish his book. He died in July, 1891, leaving instructions for his executors to see the work through the press, a task which they have well and faithfully performed. French Book-Plates: a Handbook for Ex-Libris Collectors. By Walter Hamilton. (Bell & Sons.) THE second work on book-plates issued by Messrs. Bell & Sons appears in a limited edition, and contains about a hundred illustrations, of which nearly every one has been selected with the purpose of showing either the various modifications in French heraldry, the quaint conceits in French canting arms (armes parlantes), or the exquisite fancy and lightness of touch displayed in their pictorial designs. Heraldry in France is not the fixed science it is in England, and Mr. Hamilton points out the alterations brought about by the Revolution and by the Napoleonic régime, thus enabling collectors to fix the dates of ex-libris. The long list given of French artists and engravers is also likely to be of service in identifying plates. There are chapters on ecclesiastical plates, plates of famous men, and on book-plate mottoes, many of which contain curious conceits. The author acknowledges his indebtedness to various French authorities on ex-libris (whose works are now unobtainable), but his pages are enlivened by anecdotes and quotations culled from a wider field of literature than is afforded by Les Ex-Libris Français. It shows the interest taken in the subject that the volume, which is handsome, brightly written, and instructive, is already at a premium. Remarkable Comets. By William Thynne Lynn, B.A., F.R.A.S. (Stanford.) THIS valuable little treatise is mainly historical in its scope, and is intended as a handy work of reference to those comets which for any cause are considered remarkable. It is thorough and excellent in all respects. We hear with much pleasure that our valued correspondent Mr. A. Vicars succeeds Sir Bernard Burke as Ulster King at Arms. CANON W. SPARROW SIMPSON is engaged on a catalogue of books, pamphlets, maps, &c., relating to the City of London that are to be found in the library of St. Paul's Cathedral. The volume will be published by Mr. Elliot Stock very shortly. MR. KERSHAW writes:-" Most genealogists are aware of the numerous early wills contained in the registers at Lambeth Palace Library, beginning at the time of Archbishop Peckham in 1279. A MS. list, however, of the intestati has also been lately prepared, which should make this series of greater value to literary inquirers. It seems, as yet, almost incredible that so few students appear to be aware that the library has been open daily for several years, Saturdays excepted, from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M." THE Compilation of the Chaucer Society's 'Praise of Chaucer' has been undertaken by Miss Jeanie B. Partridge, of Alvechurch, Redditch. She asks the help of readers of N. & Q. The volume is to contain all mentions of, and allusions to, Chaucer up to 1800, and the chief ones since. Every extract should be on a separate slip of paper, and contain a careful copy of the words relating to Chaucer, with the stops, capitals, italics, &c., of the original, and the date, title, page, and author's name. The volume will be published in or before 1900, the quincentenary of Chaucer's death; but next year a trial list of the extracts then collected will be issued, in order to help in its completion. 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. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. 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. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate." J. E.-"Poet of the Poor," Rev. George Crabbe. "Attic Bee," Sophocles. "Madman of the North," "Manchester Poet," Charles Charles XII. of Sweden. Swain. "Mrs. Partington," a species of Mrs. Malaprop, "Great invented by B. P. Shillaber, an American. Prussian Drill-sergeant," Frederick William I. Leigh, Henry S. Lowell, Hon. James Russell. Martin, Sir Theodore. Marston, Dr. J. Westland. Norton, Hon. Mrs. Ogilvy, Mrs. David. Prowse, W. Jeffery. Rossetti, Miss Christina. Sawyer, William. Scott, Clement. Sims, George R. Stedman, Edmund Clarence. Stoddard, Richard Henry. Taylor, Sir Henry. Taylor, Bayard. Vere, Aubrey de. A most nutritious and invigorating beverage, made by the simple addition of boiling water, at a cost within the reach of all. Every SATURDAY, of any Bookseller or News-agent, Price THREEPENCE. THE ATHENÆUM JOURNAL OF ENGLISH and FOREIGN LITERATURE, and the DRAMA. This Day's ATHENÆUM contains Articles on LORD ABERDEEN. PAYNE'S HISTORY of the NEW WORLD. WANDERINGS in EASTERN AQUITAINE. ANDREWS on the OLD ENGLISH MANOR. NEW NOVELS. SCIENCE-Recent Publications; Astronomical Notes; Geographica Notes; Societies; Meetings; Gossip. FINE ARTS-Castellated Architecture of Scotland; The Royal Academy; Mr. John Pettie; Sales; Gossip. MUSIC The Week; 'The Golden Web'; Gossip; Performances Nex Week. DRAMA-The Week; Gossip. The ATHENAEUM for February 18 contains Articles on MONTAGU WILLIAMS in the EAST END. An IDLE WOMAN in CONSTANTINOPLE. WATSON'S LACHRYME MUSARUM. PHILOLOGICAL LITERATURE. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE. OUR LIBRARY TABLE-LIST of NEW BOOKS. BARABBAS and ANOTHER - The ETHICS of PLAGIARISM "LIFTING" at EASTER-The PROPOSED WELSH UNIVERSITY SCHEME-SCANDAL about QUEEN ELIZABETH-Mr. L. JENNINGS, M.P.-SALES-A PUBLISHERS' APOLOGIA. LITERARY GOSSIP. 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