NOTICE is HEREBY GIVEN, that the Fifteen Days of grace allowed for Renewal of Midsummer Policies will expire on 9th July. The Quinquennial Valuation in the Life Department has now been completed, and a Bonus declared, by which the Assured are entitled at their option either to a sum in cash equivalent to 25 per cent of the amount paid in Premiums during the last Five Years, or to a corresponding addition to the sum assured. Prospectuses, Copies of the Accounts, and other information, can be had on application. JOHN P. LAURENCE, Secretary. PROVIDE AGAINST ACCIDENTS! A fixed sum in case of Death by Accident, and a Weekly allowance in the event of Injury, may be secured by a Policy of the DULWICH COLLEGE MSS. Just published, in 8vo. price 158. cloth, CATALOGUE of the MANUSCRIPTS and MUNIMENTS of ALLEYN'S COLLEGE of GOD'S GIFT at DULWICH. By GEORGE F. WARNER, M.A. of the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum. London: LONGMANS & CO. Now ready, Vol. XII-EGYPTIAN TEXTS. RECORDS OF THE PAST; BEING ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS. Published under the sanction of the Society of Biblical Archæology. Edited by S. BIRCH, LL.D. With an Index of the Contents of the Series. Cloth, 3s. 6d. This Day's ATHENÆUM contains Articles on SIR THOMAS MUNRO in INDIA. The EPISCOPAL CHURCH in the UNITED STATES. RAILWAY PASSENGERS' ASSURANCE COMPANY, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Vol. XII. The Oldest and Largest Company, Insuring against Accidents of all kinds. The Right Hon. LORD KINNAIRD, Chairman, Paid-up Capital and Reserve, £230,000. Bonus allowed to Insurers after Five Years. Apply to the Clerks at the Railway Stations, the Local Agents, and WILLIAM J. VIAN, Secretary. JOSEPH GILLOTT'S STEEL PENS. Sold by all Dealers throughout the World. FURNISH your HOUSES or APARTMENTS Acknowledged to be the finest imported, free from acidity or heat, THROUGHOUT on MOEDER'S HIRE SYSTEM. The Original, Best, and most Liberal. Cash Prices. MOEDER begs to announce that the whole of the above Premises have recently been Rebuilt, specially adapted for the Furniture Trade, and now form one of the most commodious Warehouses in the Metropolis. Bed-Room Suites, from 61. 6s. to 50 Guineas. F. MOEDER, 248, 249, 250, Tottenham Court Road; and 19, 20, and 21, Morwell Street, W.O. Established 1862. and much superior to low-priced Sherry. 21s. per dozen. Selected dry TARRAGONA, as supplied to the Public Hospitals, Asylums, &c. 208. per dozen. Rail carriage paid. W. D. WATSON, Wine Merchant, 873, Oxford Street, and 56, Berwick Street, London, W. HOLLOWAY'S PILLS.-In order that the slightest indisposition may not rapidly run its disastrous course from bad to worse, the afflicted of every age and class should give it immediate attention. A few doses of these thoroughly purifying and strengthening Pills will always be beneficial when the least disorder reigns, or when nervous fears oppress. Two or three Pills at bed time have the happiest effect in promoting perfect digestion, whereby the muscles are rendered more vigorous the spirits more buoyant, and the entire frame more hardy. Holloway's medicine increases the quantity of nutriment derivable from a given quantity of food, and so the quality of the blood is improved, the tone of every fibre throughout the body is heightened, and the disposition to fall into disease is reduced to a minimum. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1881. CONTENTS. - N° 79. situ Albaniæ," 3-The Oxfordshire Election of 1754 1598, 4 vols. fol., edited by De Bry and Merian, with plates. Marco Polo's travels are included in the second volume of the Navigationi e Viaggi of NOTES:- Eton College Library, 1-Shakspeariana, 2- the Venetian adventurer and scholar Ramusio, of Comets-An Unpublished Letter of Montrose, 1638-"De whose 3 vols. fol. (Venice, Giunti, 1563, 1574, London Booksellers and Publishers in the Sixteenth and 1556) there is a handsome set. The Latin version Seventeenth Centuries, 4-"The Blickling Homilies"-Old is also in Grynæus, Novus Orbis Regionum, &c., Southwark, 5-"Members of Parliament," Part II-A Basle, 1555, as well as in Muller's Paulus Venetus and its People-Seven Generations-The Knebworth Regis de Regn. Orient., together with Haythonus (the ters-Wilkie's Picture of the Queen's First Council, 6-Armenian Prince Hatto) De Tartaris and Mullerus Ultra-Centenarianism-Apple-Scoops-Diversity of School De Cathaia. Lancashire Custom-M. Littré and his Dictionary-Boston Punishments-The Comet: Shakspeare, 7. QUERIES:-Ancient Kalendars—“A Creature of Christ"— Montacute-Marriages and Burials of Servants-Winhoff's "Landrecht van Averissel "-Authors Wanted, 9. REPLIES:-Hereward le Wake, 9-The Metrical Psalms, 10 -Earl of Cleveland: Lords Wentworth of Nettlested, &c., This quarto (Brandenburgh, 1671), of which there are duplicate copies, has a curious frontispiece facing the title-page. Three Spanish works claim a notice before we pass on to the contributions of our own countrymen to this branch of literature. (a) Garcilasso de la Vega, Del Origin de los Yncas, Lisbon, 1609. (b) His Historia General del Peru, Cordova, 1619. Even in Spain 11-" Basket," 12-Boon-Days, 13-Montfode of that Ilk these folios are said to be scarce. (c) Diario de A Legend of a Saint, 14-" Braming "-" Manchet Loaf "-los Capitanes Nodales, Madrid, 1621. This quarto lated Book-plates - The Stuart Papers-"Corvum ne vixit," &c.-The MS. of Gray's "Elegy "-Duke of Marlborough, 1758, 16- Portions of shires," &c.-Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster-"Forthlot"-Clergymen hunting in Scarlet-Horseshoes at Oakham Castle-Throng"-" Mound"-Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 17-The Garnet-headed YaffingaleNOTES ON BOOKS:-Rawlinson's "History of Ancient Literature of Colours-" The Yellow Book," 15-Accumu Authors Wanted, 18. Egypt"-Sparrow Simpson's "Chapters in the History of Old St. Paul's"-"Pfyffer und seine Zeit -George's "Oldest Plans of Bristol "-"Registrum Malmesburiense," Vol. II. Notices to Correspondents, &c. Nates. ETON COLLEGE LIBRARY. " has a MS. note in the beginning, stating that it is "in truth most extremely rare.' It is in beautiful condition, and contains the wood engraving of the interesting chart of the Straits of Magalhaens. This is wanting in the copy in the British Museum, the only other known to be in England. Of our English writers on travel we notice these works of Hakluyt. The Principal Navigations, &c., London, 1599, in gothic type. This contains the best map published in the sixteenth century. His Historie of the W. Indies, "published in Latin by Mr. Hakluyt and translated into English by M. Lok, Gent," printed for A. Hebb, London, sine anno. With this are Discoveries, &c., translated from the Portuguese of Galvano by R. Hak Travels and Voyages.-These are very numerous.luyt, 1601, in black letter. The next in order of We will first mention two early pilgrimages to the Holy Land. (1) Descritione del Viaggio al Santo Sepulchro di Hierusaleme et al Monte Sinay, Milan, 1491, a small 4to., with broad margins, with no title-page. (2) Bartholomæus a Saligniaco (Solingen in Rhenish Prussia), Itinerarium Terra Sanctæ, Leyden, 1525, small 8vo. Both these books are very beautifully printed in gothic type. There are some other similar accounts of pilgrimages, with maps and plans. Benzoni's Historia del Mondo Nuovo, Venice, 1572, has some curious woodcuts, representing the sugar-cane, the mines, the mode of living of the Indians, &c. It also contains one of the earliest descriptions of tobacco. There are many such books, mostly translations from the Spanish. It must suffice to mention La Preclara Narratione di Ferdinando Cortese, &c., a long title in a triangular form, Venice, 1524, 4to., and Bartholomæus de las Casas's, the Spanish missionary, Crudelitates Hispanorum, with fearfully vivid illustrations of the tortures inflicted by the Spaniards, by Theodore and Israel de Bry, Frankfort, 1614. We have also Peregrinationes in Indiam Occidentalem et Orientalem, Frankfort, time as well as of publication is Coryat's Crudities hastily gobled up in Five Moneths Travells in France, Savoy, &c., 1611, 4to. The title and frontispiece sufficiently indicate the eccentricity of this unwearied traveller, who in the following year made a much more extended journey to the East, and died at Surat, as mentioned by Terry in his Voyage, 1655, which is here. In this copy of Coryat numerous good plates have been inserted. Of Purchas's Pilgrimes and Pilgrimage there is a fine set in 5 folios, 1625. Purchas, like Hakluyt, was a clergyman with a passion for geographical studies. Lithgow's Rare Adventures and Painfull Peregrinations, &c., is a curiosity. The date has been cut off in binding, but probably it is one of the early quartos, 1611 or 1645. Smith's History of Virginia, which he visited in 1584-1623, is one of the best of this class of writings. This fine folio, in pale green morocco, was once in the possession of James I., of whom, as well as of Charles I. when Prince of Wales and of Elizabeth there are portraits in the frontispiece. On the later voluminous collections of travels our space forbids us to dwell. Titian. The Compendiosa totius Anatomia De- BOTTOM: SHAKESPEARIANA. MIDS. N. DREAM," III. 1.-Drake, vol. ii. p. 351, says that the idea of fixing an ass's nowl on Bottom was most probably taken from Reg. Scot, who, at p. 315 of his Discouerie of Witchcraft, gives us a very curious receipt : The Description of England, by Paul Hentzner, may be here mentioned. The Latin edition, Nürnberg, 1629 (perhaps there are but four or five copies of this in England), and two copies of the Strawberry Hill edition, 1757, with the Latin and English on opposite pages, are here. Only 220 copies were issued of this impression, which is on delicate paper and in a fine type. The book formed part of an itinerary through Germany, England, France, and Italy. Hentzner was a travelling tutor to a young German nobleman, and they visited England in 1598. His description of Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich is worth quoting: "Very majestic, her Face oblong, fair, but wrinkled; her Eyes small, yet black and pleasant, her Nose a little hooked, her Lips narrow, and her Teeth black (a defect the English seem subject to from their too great use of Sugar). She wore false hair and that red." There is an interesting collection of plates inserted in one of these copies. He visits Eton and Windsor. At the latter place he confounds the Winchester Tower with the Round Tower, and makes a more curious mistake in speaking of the Wolsey Chapel, where he was shown the preparations made by Cardinal Wolsey, "who was afterwards capitally punished." Horace Walpole remarks that it was a strange blunder to be made, so near the time, about so remarkable a person, unless he concluded that whoever displeased Henry VIII. was of course put to death. Jodocus Sincerus, the author of another of these itineraries, Amst., 1655, 12mo., shows that he, too, was not free from credulity or liability to mistake. At Westminster a stone is pointed out to him, "in quo Abraham quieverat, cum dor-I at once was when only reading it casually-with miente (sic) appareret visio angelorum descendentium ex cælo." The book is illustrated by a score of very clear plates, representing London and the chief cities of France and Belgium. With a few early works on natural science this portion of our subject may close. One of the first is the De re Metallica (Froben, Basle, 1561), by Agricola, the first mineralogist who appeared after the revival of the science in Europe. This fine folio contains many large and interesting woodcuts. Of Conrad Gesner's History of Animals, the basis of all modern zoology, there are two sets. The best is that in three folio volumes, 1558, 1586, 1602, Frankfort. There is a complete set, which is rarely met with, in 12 vols., 1674, of Aldovrandus, a professor of natural history at Bologna, (ob. 1605). He represents the zoological knowledge of the sixteenth century. Ray, Grew (the discoverer of the sexual system in plants), Malpighi, and many other seventeenth century writers are here. Of the earliest medical authorities, Vesalius, the Dutch anatomist, is the only one that need be noticed. He was the first to give a complete description of the human body, with designs, which at the time were ascribed to "Cut off the head of a horsse or an asse (before they be dead), otherwise the vertue or strength thereof will be lesse effectuall, and make an earthen vessell of fit powder, and mingle the same with the oile; and annoint capacitie to conteine the same......beate the haire into the heads of the standers by, and they shall seeme to haue horsses or asses heads." It may be so, but I rather think that a previous passage (bk. v. chap. v. p. 76 of 2nd ed.) gave the first and greater foundation for Shakespeare's imagination to work upon. "The body of man is subject to......sicknesses and infirmities whereunto an asses body is not inclined and man's body must be fed with bread, &c., and not with hay. Bodins asse-headed man must either eat hay or nothing; as appeareth by the story." There are two reasons for thus thinking. (1) Shakespeare must, I think, have been struck-as the discrepancy that Bodin's English sailor was at Salamis, as told in the story given four pages before, and as told in the sentences preceding and succeeding the ass-headed clause, turned into an ass complete-body, hoofs, and tail. (2) Because the contrast drawn between eating bread, &c., and eating hay was in its turn very likely to have suggested Bottom's "Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay good hay, sweet hay hath no fellow." It may be added that "ass-headed" is not in Bodin; also, that both passages from Scot, especially that quoted by Drake, show that Shakespeare here introduced no unknown creature of his imagination, but brought before his audiences one which they had known by report. It was not the creature so much as its walking and talking as set forth that made it supremely ridiculous. BR. NICHOLSON. 306, Goldhawk Road, W. P.S.-It may interest some of the readers of "N. & Q." to know that it is my wish to reprint Scot by subscription. COMETS. The appearance of a comet in days gone by, apart from its astronomical interest, was regarded with extravagant terror, and made the subject of the most fanciful speculations. Indeed, judging from what historians tell us, no more alarming portent could possibly present itself, the vulgar mind investing it with the most mysterious significance. Hence, from the earliest times, superstitious fancy has associated these curious phenomena of our solar system with sundry events of mundane importance. Thus, Suetonius relates that a blazing star appeared for seven days in succession, during the celebration of games instituted by Augustus in honour of Julius. According to the common people this comet indicated his reception among the gods; and to mark the significance that was attached to what was considered a supernatural occurrence, his statues were ornamented with its figure, and medals were struck with a representation of it. It is possible that Shakspeare had this event in his mind when he wrote the following passage in Julius Caesar, II. ii.: "When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." Pliny narrates that a comet appeared before the death of Claudius, and when Mithridates was born one is reported to have appeared with a disc as large as that of the sun. Referring, however, to modern times, it may be remembered that the appearance of Halley's comet in 1456, just as the Turks had become masters of Constantinople, and threatened an advance into Europe, was regarded with a widespread superstitious dread, and to the "Ave Maria" was added the supplication, "Lord, save us from the devil, the Turk, and the comet." The supposed portentousness of the event was further magnified by the occurrence of a lunar eclipse at Constantinople. Again, the Great Plague of London was attributed by many to the comet which appeared in the spring of that year. A correspondent of Chambers's Book of Days (ii. 584), enumerating the superstitious notions connected with comets, tells us that "when Lima and Callao were destroyed by an earthquake in 1746, the disaster was attributed to a small comet." Comets are also supposed to bring warmth, sunshine, and fruitfulness. The wine of the comet year, 1858, is still preferred to that of almost any other vintage. T. F. THISELTON DYER. AN UNPUBLISHED Letter of MONTROSE, 1638. -The Marquis of Hamilton, the Royal Commissioner in Scotland, returned to Edinburgh Sept. 15, 1638, with a plan to supersede the National Covenant which had been set on foot in the preceding February, and which Montrose had been one of the first to sign. The Commissioner, the Privy Council in Scotland, and the whole nation were to subscribe the old Confession of Faith of July, 1580. It was the proclamation to this effect which drew forth the protestation of the Covenanters, led by Montrose. Their protest was Lord Advocate, advised Hamilton to acquaint the so effective that in October Sir Thomas Hope, king before proceeding further in urging subscription. The Assembly met November 21, and ratified the National Covenant. Montrose spent part of July and August in Aberdeen in order to push the National Covenant. Here he was assisted by Patrick Leslie, provost of Aberdeen, and cousin to Lord Rothes, who commended Montrose to him. Moreover "that unctuous dame," Lady Pitsligo, “a rank puritan," who dwelt in the Earl Marischal's close at Aberdeen, gave him her countenance, and so attracted many auditors to the preaching of the Covenanting ministers (see Napier's Life and Times of Montrose, 1840, and his Memoirs of Montrose, 1856). Most Loueing freinde I hope our last hes giuen you some small notice of what hes passed heir at this tyme, aluayes since, ther hes beane ane proclamation which we heaue all protested against for raisons which you will receaue togither with the protestation; houseur we think all shall drifft ouer untill the Assembly and pas to our Contentment houbeit, in case any be requyred to subscryue this ould confession which the Commissioner and the Counsell hes signed you will study to imped it so heaueing no forder for the present bot remembring me heartely to all yr goode nibours our fellou labourers I am yr uery assured freind Edinbr 25 septbr 1638. MONTROSE. you will doe me the fauour to cause delyuer this paquett to my Lady pitslygo and if ther come any letters direct to me from hir or any in thos quarters to yr I hope you will send them to Montrose wher they will find me. [Endorsed] for my Dere loueing freinde patrik Lesly at Aberdeine. [Three seals in red wax: a heart pierced fesswise by an arrow, and above a cross fitchy between two wings displayed.] W. C. B. "DE SITU ALBANIE."-Inasmuch as it has pleased Her Majesty to bestow on her youngest son, Prince Leopold, chief among the patrons of literary culture in these kingdoms, the ancient title of Duke of Albany, first assumed by the Regent at Scone in 1398, the following passages concerning the situation and shape of Albany, from a work now almost forgotten, entitled Antiquitates Celto-Normannica, containing the Chronicle of Man and the Isles, &c., edited by the Rev. James Johnstone, M. A., Rector of Maghera-Cross, and printed at Copenhagen, 1786, p. 135, may be interesting: "De situ ALBANIE, quæ in se figuram hominis habet; quomodo fuit primitus in septem Regionibus [sic] divisa, quibusque nominibus antiquitus sit vocata, et a quibus inhabitata.-Ex MS. Bibliothecæ Coll. 3120. "1. Opera pretium puto mandare memoriæ, qualiter, Albania, et a quibus habitatoribus primum habitata, quibus nominibus nuncupata et in quot partibus par- in the first instance it came out in the form of tita. handbills, broadsides, and newspaper articles, but a good deal of it was subsequently reprinted. It would be interesting if Mr. Wing would favour us with a bibliographical note upon these collections. I have the following three, but probably there were more, published in 1753-4: 2. Legimus in historiis et in chronicis antiquorum Brittonum, et in gestis et annalibus antiquis Scotorum et Pictorum, quod illa regio quæ nunc corrupte vocatur Scotia, antiquitus appellabatur Albania ab Albanacto juniore filio Bruti primi Regis Brittanorum majoris Brittania. Et post multum intervallum temporis a Pictis Pictavia; qui regnaverunt in ea per circulum MLXX. annorum. Secundum quosdam MCCCLX. nunc vero corrupte vocatur Scotia. Scotti vero regnarunt per spatium cccxv. annorum; anno illo quo Vilhelmus Rex Rufus, frater Malcolmi viri honesta vitæ et virtutis, regnum suscepit. "3. Regio enim ista formam et figuram hominis in se habet. Pars namque pricipalis ejus, id est, caput est in Arregathel in occidentali parte Scotice supra mare Hy. bernia; Pedes vero ejus sunt supra mare Northwagia; montes vero et deserta de Arregaithel capiti et collo hominis assimilantur; corpus vero ipsius est mons qui Mound vocatur. Qui a mari occidentali usque ad mare orientale extenditur. Brachia autem ejus sunt ipsi montes, qui dividunt Scotiam ab Arregaithel. Latus dexteræ partis ex Murref et Ros et Mar et Buchan; crura enim illius sunt illa duo principalia et præclara flumina (quæ descendunt de monte prædicto, i.e. Mound) quæ vocantur Tae et Spe. Quorum unum fluit citra montem, alterum vero ultra in mare Norvegale. Inter crura hujus hominis sunt Enegus et Moerne citra montem, et ultra montem aliæ terræ inter Spe et montem. 4. Hæc vero terra a septem fratribus divisa fuit antiquitus in septem partes. Quarum pars principalis est Enegus cum Moerne ab Enegus primogenito fratrum sic nominata. Secunda autem pars est Adthehodle et Gouerin; Pars etiam tertia est Stradeern cum Meneted. Quarta pars partium est Fife cum Foth-reve. Quinta vero pars est Marr cum Buchen. Sexta autem est Murref et Ros. Septima enim pars est Cathanesia citra montem et ultra montem. Quia mons Mound dividit Cathanesiam per medium." In the Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores Veteres (O'Conor) will be found some interesting notes of the descent of the kings of Albany in a line from Conor II., King of Ireland, and a metrical series of these kings from an Irish MS. written about A.D. 1057, formerly at Stowe, vol. i. p. cxxiv. et seqq., entitled Regum Hibernorum Albania series Metrica. The great mass of evidence on the subject between pp. cxxii. and cxliii. will repay the perusal of the student of history. Cork. R. C. THE OXFORDSHIRE ELECTION OF 1754.-A little tract on the subject of this very remarkable political contest has recently been printed by Mr. William Wing, the active secretary of the North Oxfordshire Archæological Society, which possesses considerable interest. There is a large amount of ephemeral literature connected with these great elections which it is by no means easy to meet with in after years, but which nevertheless, from the many anecdotes they contain and the many references in them to local characters and customs, are often worthy of being collected and preserved. Mr. Wing observes, with regard to the Oxfordshire election of 1754, that "much of the literature has survived to our own time." Of course, The Oxfordshire Contest; or, the whole Controversy between the Old and New Interest. Lond., 8vo., 1753. Pp. 64. The Old and New Interest; or, a Sequel to the Oxford shire Contest. Lond., 8vo., 1753. Pp. 72. Oxfordshire in an Uproar; or, the Election Magazine. Oxford, 8vo., no date. Pp. 78. Mr. Wing refers to the debates on the Oxfordshire election of 1754 as reported in the London Magazine; he quotes the imaginary Latin names under which the real names of the members were concealed, but does not give the latter. If he has not the key, I shall have much pleasure in sending it to him, for without it it is difficult to find out that L. Tarquinius Collatinus stands for Sir C. Mordaunt (the sixth baronet, 1721-78), and that Mamilius Octavius means Horace Walpole, Esq., not "the Horace," but his uncle, who was created Baron Walpole of Wolterton in 1756. Sutton, Surrey. EDWARD SOLLY. [See "N. & Q.," 5th S. xii. 428; 6th S. i. 22.] LONDON BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.-I am a little surprised at the omissions in the several lists of London printers and publishers which have appeared in "N. & Q" during the last year or two, and, though I have long since given up taking notes of such matters, I think the following supplementary list may be of interest to some of your readers. My notes, as a rule, never embraced any people who printed or sold books in London before Queen Elizabeth or after Charles I. For the present I can offer you only a list of those whose names begin with A and B. Others may follow as I shall find leisure : Alsop, Bernard, printer.-Printed for Thomas Jones bookseller, 1621; Richard Fleming, 1618; John Hodget› 1619. Allot, Robert, bookseller.-Had a shop in Paul's Churchyard called the Black Bear, where Ep. Earle's Microcosmography was sold in 1629; published Hakewill's Apology, 1635. Alchorn, Thomas, bookseller.-At the sign of the Green Dragon in Paul's Churchyard, 1634; published Giles Fleming's Paul's Cross Sermon, 1634. Parrot in Paul's Churchyard. Published Boys's Remains, Aspley, William, bookseller.-At the sign of the folio. 1622. Allde, Edward, printer.-Printed for N. Butter The Joyful Return of Prince Charles, 1623. Goldsmith's Row in Cheapside." Published sermons by Bartlett, John, bookseller.-"The Golden Cup in the Richard Harris, of Hanwell, 1610. I find him still at his post in 1640. Boulton, Robert, bookseller.-Apparently in partner |