however, that there was a gateway here with that massive masonry which we have learned to associate with the works of the Antonine Emperors. This gateway has been destroyed, doubtless at the time of some incursion of the barbarians. Later on, probably about the time of Severus, another has been erected, some 8 or 10 feet above the original one. The primary and secondary strata of the camp are here marked with unusual distinctness by the pivot-holes of the gates which are found at the two different levels mentioned above. There has, then, apparently been another destruction of the camp and another rebuilding with sandstone and very inferior workmanship.

The committee have now an able and efficient band of workers, and would gladly continue their operations through the month of August, when, no doubt, results of the utmost interest would be obtained. But the sum subscribed (chiefly by three or four generous individuals), and amounting to about £60, is now more than exhausted. Unless other contributors will come forward and raise about £40 more, the works will have to be immediately closed."-Mr. Blair, the secretary, reported that several small objects had been discovered at Chesters lately, amongst them being fragments of embossed Samian ware (one piece having the potter's name ALB[INVS] in relief on the outside); fragments of plain Samian ware, the potter's name REGVLINVS being on one piece, CALE | on another; an earthenware bead; a bow-shaped bronze fibula minus the pin, and other small objects. Mr. Blair also exhibited a sheet of drawings, a collection of masons' marks found at different parts on the inside of the town wall of Newcastle, on a portion of the wall in Pink Lane, the wall extending from Westgate Street to Stowell Street, the wall extending from Stowell Street to St. Andrew's Street, the wall between St. Andrew's Street and Newgate Street, the old tower in Croft Stairs, the wall at Corner Tower, by John Gibson. He also read the following notes by him: "Antiquities have been found in taking down parts of the wall and towers, viz., a Roman altar from the White Friar Tower, now in the Black Gate Museum; two ancient buckles and a leaden bullet found at the tower; inscription in plaster from the White Friar Tower, dated 1614, now in the library of the castle; an old musket found on the wall near the White Friar Tower; the stone statue of King James I., and the large stone with the royal arms cut on it, which stood over the north entrance of Newgate, now in the guard room of the castle; six stone figures or watchmen with which the watchtowers of the wall were formerly garnished, found at different parts of the wall, now in the guard-room of the castle; a cannon-ball found in the wall at the Pilgrim Street Gate, a twenty-four pounder, in June, 1802; three cannon-balls, each of twenty-two pounds weight, found in the wall in New Bridge Street, 1811; several large cannon-balls found in taking down the Newgatesome of them are in the library of the castle; an iron cannon-ball found in 1700 during repairs in the walls of the Mordon Tower, lately presented to the society.

On Tuesday, July 30, the DEVONSHIRE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART met, for the first time since its

formation, at Okehampton. After a welcome by the Mayor and Corporation, a general meeting of the members was held in the Town Hall at four o'clock, when the Rev. S. Baring-Gould was nominated as next year's President, and Ashburton was chosen as the place of meeting. At eight o'clock the company assembled in the Market Hall for the purpose of listening to the presidential address. Unfortunately, the President (Lord Halsbury), having to attend a Cabinet Council on that day, was unable to be present in person; he, however, forwarded his address, which was read by the secretary (the Rev. W. Harpley). The Lord Chancellor chose as his subject, "The Relation of Archeology to Science, Art, and Literature." Lord Halsbury maintained that the value of antiquarian studies did not receive sufficient recognition, and instanced the tablets of Tel el Amarna as revealing something like consular reports between Syria and Egypt at a period in which crude, superficial, and therefore ignorant, incredulity denied the existence of written character at all. He granted, however, that occasionally there might be some justification for popular scepticism as to the importance of archæological discovery, and as a specimen of the feeling which existed in some quarters in relation to the pursuit, referred to a favourite French play which represented an ignorant citizen digging up the broken relics of his crockery which a servant had buried to conceal his awkwardness, and claiming them as Roman remains. All human learning might err, and research was not knowledge, but it was a clue to the labyrinth of confused tradition, a light which had no colour, and which therefore cast no shade of its own over the facts which it disclosed.

At eleven o'clock on Wednesday the reading of papers was commenced, under the presidency of Mr. R. N. Worth. The fourteenth report of the committee on "Devonshire Verbal Provincialisms" was read by Mr. F. T. Elworthy, and the thirteenth report of the committee on Devonshire folk-lore was also presented. A lady member of the association supplied the committee with some charms copied from a book belonging to a Devonshire farmer's wife. Some of the words were very curious, and of others the spelling was original. The following is a sample: "Blessing for strain-As Christ was riding over cross a Bridge, his leg hee took and blessed it, and said these words, 'Bone to Bone, Sinner to Sinner, Vains to Vains. He blessed it and it come hole againe. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.'" For erysipelas the prayer runs: "Now come ye to the Lord of the land, Barney Fire. Barney Gout shall die away under a black thorn with red cow's milk and black wool. In the name," etc. The following sobriquets were given by the inhabitants of certain parishes to their neighbours. The people of Ashreigney were called "bog-eaters"; of Ashwater "taties"; of Barnstaple "bull-dogs"; of Beaford "blackberries"; of Bishopsnympton "brags" or "bonepickers"; of Bradworthy "horniwigs"; of Chagford "chuggy pigs"; of Cheriton "owls"; of Copplestone "fagotters"; of Cadbury "cocks"; of Crediton " Kirton bloody-backs" (in allusion to the bull-fights, in which the dogs were tossed and the owners received them on their backs); of Cadeleigh "hens"; of Chawleigh "boars"; of Dowland

geese"; of High Bickington "pretty maids"; of Kennerleigh "candlesticks"; of Kingsnympton "hogs"; of Mariansleigh and Morchard "breadeaters"; of Pinhoe "pigs"; of Ponghill "cuckoos"; of Rose-ash "Whitpot-eaters"; of South Tawton "rats"; of South Molton "molten images" and "jolly boys"; of South Leal "pretty maidens."The "Climate of Devon " was the subject of a report presented on behalf of the committee by Mr. R. N. Worth. The second report of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee was read by the Rev. S. BaringGould. The committee reported considerable progress in the examination of the prehistoric relics of Dartmoor. Last year the report dealt exclusively with Grampound, every one of the huts within that area having been carefully excavated. This year the enclosing wall, which presented very peculiar and perplexing characteristics, had been examined in ten additional places. Fresh fields have also been explored, notably the hut circles on the slope of Langstone Moor in Peter Tavy parish. A careful plan has been taken of the remains near Merivale Bridge, and the enclosure of King's Oven has been subjected to investigation. Interesting details were given of these spots.

66

Okehampton Beginnings was the title of a paper read by Mr. R. N. Worth, F.G.S. The town, he said, first found written record eight hundred years ago in Domesday. It was a somewhat difficult problem to ascertain what the precise name of the river was. If it had always been the Ockment, or at least, if that had been the name before the Saxon planted his "tun" in the valley, then Okehampton was simply the tun," or, as we should now say, the "town" of the Ockment, just as Tawton was the town of the Taw. If, however, "ment" was a corruption of "ing," then they had to deal with a duplex problem. "Ing" might be the Saxon for meadow, in which case Ockington would mean the "tun" of the meadow of the Ock; or it might represent the Saxon patronymic "partule," or clan affix signifying descendants. Then Ockington would be the settlement of the family or tribe of Ock. That the real name of the town was never Okehampton, and that the current "Ockington was probably as near as they were ever likely to get to its original phonetic value, did not admit of controversy. Among other papers were the following: "Sport on Dartmoor," by Mr. W. F. Collier; "Recent Repairs at the Castle of Exeter," by Sir John Phear; "Okehampton Castle," by Mr. R. N. Worth; "Bratton Clovelly," by the Rev. T. H. Whale; "The Devonshire Domes. day and the Gelt Roll," by the Rev. O. J. Reichel, M.A., B.C.L.; "An Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Parish Accounts of Milton Abbot for the year 1588, as given in the Monthly Magazine or British Register for the year 1810," by the Rev. C. H. Taylor, M. A. ; "Samuel Stodden," by Mr. G. M. Roe; and "Dartmoor and County Council of Devon," by Mr. W. F. Collier.

On Thursday Mr. P. Q. Karkeek contributed "A Short Chapter from the Story of Torbay, 1667," describing the seizure of a Spanish vessel by two French men-of-war in English waters at a time when England was at peace with both countries. Papers were sent by Mr. W. C. Lake on the "Frosts of 1888 and 1895

as observed at Teignmouth," and by Mr. A. R. Hunt on "Professional and Amateur Research in South Devon," but in the absence of the authors were not read. The titles of the remaining papers were as follows: "Notes on the Geology of Okehampton," by Mr. R. N. Worth; "Devonshire Briefs," by Dr. Brushfield; "Sydenham, an Error in Lysons's Devon," by Mrs. Radford; "A Loose Sheet in the History of Barnstaple," by Mr. J. Harper; "Hulham Manor," by the Rev. O. J. Reichel; and "Domesday Identification," by Mr. R. N. Worth.

Reviews and Motices
of New Books.

[Publishers are requested to be so good as always to mark clearly the prices of books sent for review, as these notices are intended to be a practical aid to book-buying readers.]

A HANDBOOK TO THE ANCIENT COURTS OF PROBATE AND DEPOSITORIES OF WILLS. By George W. Marshall, LL.D., Rouge Croix. Cloth, 8vo., pp. vi, 75. London: Horace Cox. Price 6s. 8d. This is a new edition of a book which needs no praise from us. It is one of those handbooks which are indispensable to the student whose work lies in genealogy, or other researches connected with ancient wills. Dr. Marshall's name is a sufficient guarantee for the completeness, (so far as is possible), and accuracy of the work. Here, at a glance, may be seen from what period wills have been preserved in different parts of the country, as well as where they are now to be seen. The multitude of the ancient courts of probate is quite extraordinary when catalogued in a list, as in the index of this book. Modern legislation, if it has done no other work for which antiquaries are grateful, has at least endeavoured to gather together in various centres these ancient records of the past, and so preserve them from further loss and injury, and make them more accessible to those who require to consult them. The plan of the handbook and its object are thus explained by Dr. Marshall in the preface:

"The object of these pages is to show at a glance the date of the earliest known record, will, administration, or inventory, as the case may be, in each court, which is indicated by the date in the first column; the name of the court, and the localities subject to it, in the second; and the present place of deposit of the records in the third."

If all the printed copies of this most useful handbook are not yet bound, we would suggest that a few copies interleaved for notes might be found acceptable by many who may have occasion to use the book, and we feel sure that any who make use of it, will readily give Dr. Marshall information as to additions, or possible inaccuracies, which they may discover in the course of their work. It is only in its practice that a book of this kind can possibly be made absolutely complete or perfect.

THE STUDENT'S CHAUCER, being a complete edition of his works. Edited from numerous manuscripts, with introduction and full glossary, by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat, Litt. D., LL.D., Ph.D., M. A., Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge. Cloth, crown Svo., pp. 906. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Price 7s. 6d. We have had occasion, as the different volumes appeared, of welcoming Professor Skeat's large edition of Chaucer. The book before us may be said to be an abridged edition of that work. Its price brings it within the reach of all, and by the publication of this smaller book, Professor Skeat has conferred a distinct benefit on all those students of the father of English poetry, to whom the price of the larger work might be an obstacle. We have, too, in this book a handy edition of all Chaucer's works, edited with that profound scholarship and accuracy for which Professor Skeat is so widely known. The following are, briefly, the contents of the book: (1) Introduction (containing a life of Chaucer, his writings and the early editions of his work, and a brief account of the grammar, metre, versification, and pronunciation); (2) Romaunt of the Rose: Fragments A, B, and C; (3) The Minor Poems; (4) The translation of Boethius "De Consolatione Philosophie"; (5) Troilus and Criseyde; (6) The Hous of Fame; (7) The Legend of Good Women; (8) A Treatise on the Astrolabe; (9) The Canterbury Tales; (10) Appendix: Variations and Emendations. Added to these are two appendixes, the first of which contains a glossary to Chaucer's works, and the second a glossary to fragments B and C of the "Romaunt of the Rose." This will give a pretty good idea of the scope of this useful, handy, and excellent edition of Chaucer.

THE REGISTERS OF THE PARISH OF HORBLING, LINCOLNSHIRE. Complete transcript from 1653 to 1837; list of the Bishop's transcripts from 1561; list of vicars of Horbling from 1222, etc. Edited and annotated by Henry Peet, F.S.A. Cloth, demy 8vo., pp. 208. London: Mitchell and Hughes. Price 10s.

This book, to which is prefixed a portrait of the editor, deals with the parish registers of a country parish in Lincolnshire. So far as it is possible to express an opinion without comparing the printed volume with the manuscript registers, the transcribing seems to have been carefully done. The printing of parish registers, when accurately transcribed, is a useful piece of work. We are bound, nevertheless, to say that there is very little of general interest in the Horbling registers. Jonathan Cateline, who succeeded to the incumbency of Horbling in 1653, turned his hands to a little doggerel rhyming, which he inscribed in one of the register books. His compendium of the Decalogue was his best effort; it is as follows: "First, thou shalt have no other God but me; Unto an Image do not bow thy knee; Sweare not; but Sanctifie God's Name and Day; Honour thy Parents; Do not thy Neighbour slay. Flee Fornication, and all them that love it, And see thou never Steale, nor Lye, nor Covet."

The book is clearly printed, but, as we have already observed, has not much of general interest about it.

The editor would have done better, perhaps, to have printed these registers in a less costly manner. As it is, we are afraid he will find himself out of pocket with the present venture. Only a hundred copies of the book, we may add, have been printed.

A SUMMARY CATALOGUE OF WESTERN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AT OXFOrd, etc. By Falconer Madan, M.A., sub-librarian. Cloth, crown 8vo., pp. ix, 651. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. Price 21s.

We owe our readers, as well as Mr. Madan and the publishers, an apology for not having noticed this book sooner. "The Summary Catalogue," Mr. Madan tells us in the preface, "of which a first instalment is now published, is due to a series of resolutions passed by the curators of the Bodleian Library on June 7, 1890. . . . The design has been to catalogue, in a style similar to the Inventaires Sommaires of the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, such Bodleian MSS. as are (1) not included in the quarto series of catalogues instituted by Mr. Coxe, and are (2) not Oriental. . . . The entire scheme, which is liable to modification, includes the following volumes: Vol. i. and vol. ii., a new edition of the old catalogue (Nos. 1 to 8,716); vol. iii., collections acquired from 1697 to 1800 (Nos. 8,717 to 16,996), now issued; vol. iv. and vol. v., collections acquired since 1800, and MSS. acquired in small groups or singly from 1697 to 1890; vol. vi., current accessions from July, 1890, with a general index." This plan will explain how it is that the present volume, which is the first that is issued, is the third of the series. The catalogue deals with twenty collections of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the most important and the largest of which is that of the Rawlinson Manuscripts, bequeathed to the University in 1755 by Richard Rawlinson, hon. D.C.L., and a bishop among the non-jurors. This collection alone contains nearly six thousand manuscripts, covering a wide range of subjects. Besides the Rawlinson collection, Tanner's, Brown Willis's, and other important collections, are indexed in this catalogue, the whole number of manuscripts tabulated, and briefly described by Mr. Madan, numbering rather more than eight thousand. The catalogue will be of inestimable value to the student, as it places before him a survey, with critical notes, of a large portion of the manuscripts preserved in the library. It may be pretty safely asserted that there are few subjects which would not receive elucidation from some one or other of the manuscripts, now for the first time made so readily accessible to the student, by the issue of this painstaking catalogue.

*

A HISTORY OF THE TOWN AND PORT OF FORDWICH, with a transcription of the fifteenth-century copy of the costumal. By C. Eveleigh Woodruff, M.A. Cloth, 8vo., pp. x, 291. Canterbury: Cross and Jackman.

Qui'e recently we had occasion to commend very warmly Mr. J. R. Boyle's History of the Town and Port of Hedon. It is certainly curious that at so short an interval, a very similar work should appear, dealing with another decayed, and still more ancient port and municipal corporation, in the South of England. Mr. Woodruff's book on Fordwich is quite worthy of taking

Fordwich at the present day, is the quaint old "Court House" of the now defunct borough, and of which we are enabled, by the kindness of the author and publishers, to reproduce an illustration. It probably represents a class of humble structures of a kind, at one time not uncommon in the smaller towns, but of which it is now, perhaps, the only survivor. There is a quaint and not unpleasing simplicity about it, which ought to ensure its careful preservation in the future. Of the borough seals we are also kindly enabled to reproduce the illustrations given in Mr. Woodruff's book.

poration. One cannot help feeling that so venerable a corporation ought to have been dealt with more leniently, and if some of its powers had become inconvenient, and other of its privileges abused, that some other fate should have been in store for it than that of suppression. Of one fact we may be glad, and that is that it should have found so competent a person as Mr. Woodruff to record its ancient history before its documents become dispersed, or are in any other way damaged or lost.

The book, we may add, contains several excellent illustrations, including three of the exceedingly simple and quaint "Court House" of the municipality, one of which is reproduced in our pages. We have nothing but praise to bestow on this book, and we congratulate the author very cordially on his work, of which he quite unnecessarily speaks with much diffidence in the preface.

THE HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND (Popular County Histories Series). By Cadwallader T. Bates. Cloth, demy Svo., pp. vi, 303. London : Elliot Stock.

This, which is the latest issued of the series of Popular County Histories, deals with a county the history of which, more, perhaps, than that of any other, is difficult to compress within the limits assigned for it. Much of the earlier history of Northumberland bristles with controversial matter, and many of the problems to be solved are burning questions at the present day. The author, therefore, of such a history as this is at once placed at a disadvantage, for he has to state what he believes to be the fact, without having room to explain the reasons for his belief, or to give the arguments by which he would endeavour to commend his opinions to the acceptance of the reader. We call attention to this because, in commending Mr. Bates's work, we do not wish in all cases to be supposed to accept his conclusions, while, on the other hand, it would be scarcely fair to gainsay a writer whose limited space has deprived him of the opportunity of stating his reasons for arriving at this or that conclusion. With this reservation, we are willing to admit that Mr. Bates's History of Northumberland is a very good book, and among the best of the series yet published. The author knows his subject thoroughly, and writes with the full confidence of one who feels that he has a right to speak authoritatively on the subject with which he is dealing. This is always an advantage, even when, as in the case of Northumberland, there are important points on which scholars are not at present agreed. The work is divided into eleven chapters, viz.: (1) Introductorythe Four Dykes; (2) The Wall; (3) The Kingdom: Bamburgh; (4) The Kingdom: Corbridge; (5) The Earldom; (6) Tyndale; (7) The Great Wars; (8) The Percies; (9) The East and Middle Marches; (10) The Radcliffes; (11) Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is necessarily with the earlier portion that the author is on more debatable ground. When later periods are under review surer ground is reached, and there will be less disposition shown to dispute Mr. Bates's conclusions. We look upon the book as a thoroughly satisfactory survey of the History of Northumberland, and, as we have already said, it is quite one of the best of the series of Popular County Histories yet published, one or two only of which have been a disappointment.

Mr. Woodruff's work is divided into ten chapters, to five of which there are important appendixes. The scope of the book may be gained from the titles of the chapters, which are as follow: (1) Early History and Derivation of the Name [of Fordwich]; (2) The Connection with St. Augustine's Monastery at Canterbury; (3) Cinque Port History and the Connection with Fordwich; (4) Municipal History; (5) Perambulation of the Liberty; (6) Ecclesiastical History; (7) Fordwich Wills and Feet of Fines; (8) The Fishery and the Trout; (9) The Custumal; (10) Table of Contents of the Custumal, and Transcription of the Custumal.

Probably the most valuable portion of the book is that which contains the Custumal; but from beginning to end, the book is full of highly-interesting and important information, the value of which is much enhanced by the frequent use made of documentary evidence supplied by the records of the extinct cor