the reception accorded to this most excellent series
of handbooks to the most prominent ecclesiastical
edifices in the kingdom, that it only remains to
add that the volume before us maintains the repu-
tation of its predecessors. Mr. Cecil Hallett has
carried his labours over a wild field, with the result
that a very full account of the great minster has
been brought together within a reasonable com-
Eass. It would have been interesting to have
eard a little more of the shrewd Abbot of Foun-
tains who upon the dissolution of his monastery
secured the mitre of Ripon. Marmaduke Bradley
was the person of whom the King's Commissioners
wrote : ' ' There is a monk of the house called
Marmaduke, to whom Mr. Timmes left a prebend
in Ripon Church, now abiding in the same pre-
bend ... a wealthy fellow who will give you
six hundred marks to make him abbot, and pay
you immediately after the election without delay
or respite at one p.ayment, and, as I suppose,
without much borrowing. The first fruits to the
king is a thousand pounds, which he, with his
policy, will pay within three years, and owe no
man one groat as he saith, and his reason therein
is very apparent. . . . This monk of Ripon hath
a prebend of ;^40, which you may bestow also upon
your friend if you make him abbot." It is need-
less to add that Bradley became Abbot.
* * *
A Perfect Prince. The Story of England a
Thousand Years Ago. By Frederic B. Jeffery.
Illustrations. London : Ellioi Stock, 1901.
8vo. ; pp. xi, 133. Price 3s. 6d.
Mr. Jeffery gives a lively sketch of the story
of Alfred and his England based on the usual
authorities. The book is evidently not intended
for scholars nor for students, but for that much-
catered-for individual the general reader. The
author has a lively imagination and a graphic
pen, but in his next literary undertaking this is
avowedly his first book he would do well to
eschew the too staccato style and the occasional
absurdities of diction into which his praiseworthy
desire to be forcible and picturesque now and
then betrays him. Mr. Jeffery's little book de-
J^E VIEWS AND NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
351
serves special praise for its attempt to realize the
life and atmosphere of Alfred's time. It really
competes with no other life of the King, it reads
pleasantly and brightly, and should find a public.
The illustrations are particularly good.
* * *
A Register of the Members of St. Mary
Magdalen College, Oxford. New Series,
vol. iii. Fellows : 1576-1648. By W. D.
Macray, M.A., F.S.A. London: Henry
Frowde, 1901. 8vo., pp. xiii, 272. Price 7s. 6d.
net.
We welcome most warmly another volume of
Mr. Macray's very valuable Register. The con-
tinuation of the biographies of the Fellows is pre-
ceded, as before, by a number of extracts from the
Registers and the Bursars' Accounts of the college,
covering the years 1576- 1648 a very interesting
period in the history of both city and University.
The biographical notices of the Fellows are
thoroughly done, as usual, and in several cases
Mr. Macray has been able to bring together much
new matter, chiefly from manuscript sources. Of
Robert Ashley, traveller and scholar, for instance,
who died in 1641, Mr. Macray has unearthed
among the Sloane MSS. in the British Museum
a hitherto unpublished autobiography in Latin,
and of this he prints an interesting abstract in
translation. A notable feature of this volume is
the series of appendices. In addition to a number
of seventeenth-century inventories of plate, etc.,
there is published for the first time a record of the
donors' plate now in the possession of the college,
carefully compiled, with descriptions in minute
detail of the coats of arms, by Mr. H. W. Greene,
B.C.L. This record is a most valuable contribu-
tion to that " Catalogue of all the College Plate in
the University" which, as Mr. Macray notes, is
projected by the Oxford Historical Society.
3*C 3*t *
From Squire to Prince. Being a History of the
Rise of the House of Cirksena. By Walter
Phelps Dodge. Twelve plates. London :
T. Fisher Unwin, 1901. 8vo. ; pp. 157.
Price los. 6d.
Under this somewhat catchpenny title Mr.
Dodge tells briefly the story of the rulers of East
Frisia, from the rise of the House of Cirksena, or
Gretsyl, early in the fifteenth century, to the ex-
tinction of the line in 1744, with a few pages
added concerning the later fortunes of Frisia. Mr.
Dodge's previous historical essay that on Piers
Gaveston was so good that we regret to be unable
to speak very favourably of the book before us.
It has little perspective and no background at all.
The story of no European province or principality
can be properly related or studied without due
regard being had to the larger sweep of events in
the surrounding countries. The story of Frisia
and its rulers against the background of German
and Scandinavian history might have been made
of much interest ; but the present essay is too
slight, too detached, we feel almost inclined to say
too perfunctory, to be of much value. The plates
are good.
Who Killed Amy Robsart ? By Philip Sidney,
F.R.Hist.S. Frontispiece. London : Elliot
Stock, 1901. 8vo. ; pp. xix, 59. Price 3s. 6d.
net.
Most people who have read Kenilworth , but who
forget that Sir Walter Scott was a novelist and
not a historian, would reply to Mr. Sidney's
question under the influence of the great romancer,
and lay the death of the unfortunate Amy Robsart
at the door of her husband. Mr. Sidney gives
the evidence pro and con in detail in this little
book, devoting special attention to Queen Eliza-
beth's attitude in the matter, and certainly makes
it hard to resist the conclusion that the Queen did
at all events speak of the death of Amy before it
occurred. Mr. Sidney's own attitude is judicial,
and he comes to the conclusion that, '' to sum up,
the balance of the evidence tends to show that
Amy was murdered, but by a person or persons
unknown." The numerous quotations of and from
original correspondence add much to the value of
this brochure, which will interest all students of
the Elizabethan time.
a^ Hfi it
Through Human Eyes : Poems. By A. Buckton.
With an Introductory Poem by Robert
Bridges. Oxford : Da/i/V/ Prss, 1901. Sewed.
4to. ; pp. 53. 130 copies printed.
In this privately printed brochure Miss Buckton
brings together a little sheaf of verse which is de-
lightful to read. There is nothing morbid or weak
about her work. Miss Buckton's music is genuine,
her outlook clear and undimmed by the shallow
pessimism so much in fashion, and her utterance
inspiring and noble. We have no space to notice
these charming verses in detail. We would fain
quote the two "Sonnets of Art," the "Victor,'
the "Song Celestial," and others, but we must
content ourselves with the following " Circlet,"
which we choose because of its brevity, although
the thought it contains is as pleasant as the
execution is ingenious :
" If I had known, as now I know.
That fairest Summer cometh late
I ne'er had felt the winter slow.
If I had known, as now I know.
That rarest vineyards ripen so.
And had I found it light to wait,
I ne'er had known, as now I know.
That fairest Summer cometh late !"
We hope Miss Buckton's poems may soon be made
accessible to the general world of readers. It is
needless to add of a book printed at the Daniel
Press that paper and press-work are beyond re-
proach .
* *
Mr. Elliot Stock has issued, printed in red and
black on a sheet of suitable size, a carefully-drawn
pedigree of the D'Arcy family. The tree traces
the descent of the two main branches of the family
from Rognwald, whose son Rollo was first Duke
of Normandy, down to the present time. It has
been drawn by Mr. Vivian H. King, A.R.I.B A.,
who gives in the margin a list of the chief authori-
ties upon which he has based his work, and should
352
CORRESPONDENCE.
be of mnch interest to the members of both the
English and Irish branches of the D'Arc>' family.
The tree is issued, in a limited edition, at the price
of 7s. 6d. plain, and ids. 6d. mounted on linen.
* *
We have received a Classed Catalogue of Printed
Books OH Heraldry (Eyre and Spottiswoode ;
price 2S.) contained in the National Art Library,
Victoria and Albert Museum. The old catalogue
an alphabetical list under authors' names has
been some time out of print. The present useful
contribution to heraldic bibliography contains
many more titles, including, we are glad to see, a
large number of references to papers and articles
in societies' transactions and in periodical litera-
ture, and is classified chronologically and geo-
graphically. Full indexes facilitate reference. At
the end are sixteen excellent plates, reproducing
pages from various heraldic works, mostly of the
sixteenth century.
* * *
The Reliquary for October is hardly so interesting
as usual. The chief contents are papers on
" Three Kentish Churches," by Mr. J. R. Lark by ;
" Five Wells Tumulus, Derbj^Shire," by Mr. John
Ward,F.S.A.; and " Ardfert," by Mr.H. Elrington.
The illustrations are good, especially those accom-
panying the " Notes on Archaeology." The Archi-
tectural Review for October is the first number
issued altogether under the new editorial arrange-
ments. To judge from this issue, the contents in
future will be more architectural, and less archaeo-
logical than heretofore. There is a splendidly
illustrated article on " The Architect of Newgate,"
by Mr. Reginald Blomfield. In the Genealogical
Magazine, October, Mr. Fox-Davies, under the
general title of " Things which might be Attended
to," gives useful "Hints to the College of Arms"
in regard to a reform in procedure which would
permit slight changes to be made in grants of arms,
without involving the necessity of entirely new
grants. We have also received the Architects'
Magazine, September ; Lincolnshire Notes and
Queries, October, with, inter alia, an interesting and
instructive note on the " Cost of Housekeeping in
the Eighteenth Century," and two good plates of
monuments in Snarford Church, Lines. ; East
Anglican, August ; and Local Antiquities, etc., in the
Hull Museum (price id.), by Mr. T. Sheppard,
F.G.S., an illustrated pamphlet of interest which
is No. 3 of the "Hull Museum Publications."
Corre0ponDence.
THE SAD CASE OF SIR SIMON LEACH :
HIS MONUMENT.
To THE Editor.
The remote village of Cadeleigh, not far from
Tiverton in Devon, jjossesses an interesting village
church, the crowning glory of which is a magnifi-
cent Jacobean monument with life-size sculptured
figures, surmounted by a heavy canopy a most
complete and handsome example of the gorgeous
Renaissance period. The monument was erected
by Sir Simon Leach, a quondam Sheriff of the
county, to commemorate himself and his descen-
dants, and, in order to keep his memory green, he
left also a sum of money to keep the monument in
repair.
Ill-fortune, however, attended the family, and it
is now, I believe, quite extinct in the direct line.
The family mansion is a humble farmhouse, and
the money that was left to keep the tomb in repair,
although invested in land, has been allowed to
lapse for the incredible reason that no trouble was
taken to collect this rent in the sleepy meridian of
the last century.
When I saw the tomb a few weeks ago, it was
doomed to destruction. The canopy was falling
backwcirds, and was endangering the fabric of the
church, and in a fortnight, for safety's sake, was to
have been removed.
For the time being the parish authorities are
holding their hands, while I am doing my best to
arouse interest in what is the finest example of the
period in Devonshire.
The tomb commemorates a Devon worthy, and
it will be a standing reproach if it be destroyed or
allowed to be removed from the church in which
he worshipped, and in which he desired to rest with
his wife and children.
The cost of underpinning and preserving the
monument will be only /80, of which about 25
has been promised.
The parish is very poor and the population small.
May I appeal through you to the many lovers of
the ancient and picturesque relics of our country
for help in the work of preservation ?
It is not desired to restore, only preserve. Many
Devonians in London will, I am sure, send a small
subscription for the sake of the old county ; the
most trifling sum will be gratefully received by
Miss Chichester, Calverleigh Court, Tiverton,
or by
Yours very obediently,
Prescott Row.
Offices of the Homeland Association,
24, Bride Lane, E.C.
October 16, 1901.
Note to Publishers. IVe shall be particularly
obliged to publishers if they will always state the price
of books sent for review.
To INTENDING CONTRIBUTORS. Unsolicited At SS.
will always receive careful cUtention, but the Editor
cannot return them if not accepted unless a fully
stamped and directed envelope is enclosed. To this
rule no exception will be made.
It would be well if those proposing to submit AfSS.
would first write to the Editor stcUing the subject and
manner of treatment.
Letters containing qiuries can only be inserted in the
" Antiquary " if of getural interest, or on some new
subject. The Editor cannot undertake to reply pri-
vately, or through the " ANTIQUARY," to questions of
the ordinary nature that sometimes recuh him. No
attention is paid to atwnymous communications or
would-be contributions.
NOTES OF THE MONTH.
353
The Antiquary,
DECEMBER, igor.
jQotes of tfte a^ontft.
Some interesting discoveries have been made
at the Cluniac Priory of Much Wenlock in
Shropshire. The Rev. Dr. H. S. Cranage,
F.S.A., author of the splendid Architectural
Description of the Churches of Shropshire, and
Cambridge Extension Lecturer, has recently
been making some excavations on the site of
the priory church, and has found under the
central tower the circular apse of a former
Saxon church, perhaps the original church of
St. Milbuya (who died here in February,
722). This measures about 38 feet by
28 feet, and beyond the apse on the east
side is a square east wall, a unique feature
in Saxon work. He has also found, further
east, the east wall of the second, or Norman,
church. For the present the work is sus-
pended, but it is hoped that it will be re-
sumed before long. The present church is
the third edifice.
'^ ^ ^
Mr. David MacRitchie, F.S.A. Scot., lectured
before the Inverness Gaelic Society on
October 29 on the curiously interesting
subject of " Shelta : the Cairds' Language."
In the course of his paper Mr. MacRitchie
showed that Shelta, or Shelru, is a secret
jargon spoken at the present day by tinkers,
beggars, wandering pipers, and other nomads,
throughout the British Isles. Its existence
was only announced to modern civilized
people about twenty five years ago by Mr.
Charles Godfrey Leland, who made his first
acquaintance with this jargon or language
during the course of an interview with a
tramp in Somersetshire. The short vocabu-
VOL. xxxvii.
lary published by Mr. Leland was afterwards
supplemented by lists obtained by other ex-
plorers in this hitherto unknown region, and
a scientific study of this peculiar form of
speech was made by Professor Kuno Meyer
and Mr. John Sampson of Liverpool. As a
result of this study, the astonishing fact be-
came apparent that Shelta, although now
only known to our lowest castes, is really a
cryptic language of great antiquity, and is, to
a large extent, "a systematic perversion of
the pre-aspirated Gaelic spoken anterior to
the eleventh century." Thus, it may best be
described as a "jargon," since it is not a
language in the precise sense, but a form of
speech manufactured out of a true language
viz., Gaelic. The forms of disguise em-
ployed are many, and are capable of distinct
classification. In some cases the word is
simply inverted, as in English "back-slang."
Other disguises are effected by prefixing an
arbitrary letter or letters for example,
"g-athair" for "athair," and "gr-asal" for
"asal." Sometimes a suffix is added, as the
" osk " of " thal-osk " (day), a word which
shows a double disguise, since "thai " is the
" back-slang " form of " latha," dating from
the period when " latha " had not lost its
dental sound. Equally complicated is the
process which transfigures *' rig " (the old
form of " righ ") into " s-rig-o," and " ubhal "
into " gr-ul-a " ; while other varieties of
change are illustrated by " shalawa " for
"balbh," "sharrog" for "dearg," "acharam"
for "amarach," and "gre" for "erg" (the
old form of Gaelic "eirgh"). More interest-
ing still is Professor Meyer's statement that
this secret form of speech was well known in
the twelfth century, and was employed by
the bardic castes, who had a special term to
denote each of the various processes of
fabrication. " The manufacture of such
jargon is recognised not only in the preface
to the *Amra Choluimchille,' preserved in
the ' Lebor na huidre ' (' Leabhar na
h-uidhre '), a manuscript of the beginning of
the twelfth century, but also in the ' Auraicept
na n-eces ' (' Instruction of the Poets '), copies
of which are found in the books of Lecim
and Ballimote. Dr. Ferguson, moreover,
has detected on Ogham inscriptions examples
of the practice of disguising words by the
introduction of arbitrary ingredients." We
2 V
354
NOTES OF THE MONTH.
are perhaps too much accustomed at the
present day to limit the term " Ogham " to
a certain well-known and clearly -defined
script. But Professor Meyer shows, from a
passage in O'Molloy's Irish Grammar, written
in 1677, that it was then used to denote an
obscure form of speech, and that this speech
was in use in the fourteenth century, as
evidenced by the obituary notice of Morishe
O'Gibelan, an Irish scholar who died in
1328, and who, in addition to many other
accomplishments, was " an elegant and exact
speaker of the speech which in Irish is called
Ogham.'" Mr. Alexander Carmichael,
known to all lovers of Gaelic lore ever since
the publication of Campbell of Islay'
Sgeuiac/itian, has collected a list of more
than three hundred words from the mouths
of Highland tinkers, and the lecturer
announced that he had<\Mr. Carmichael's
permission to print this list as an appendix
to his paper. Similar work might be done
with no great difficulty by the ministers of
Highland parishes, or indeed by residents in
any district where such wanderers resort,
and the result of a combined study of this
sort would be to largely increase our know-
ledge of the subject, as well as to add
enormously to its vocabulary. One detail of
much importance to which attention was
drawn in the lecture was that, whereas the
tales collected by Mr. Sampson from an
Ulster tinker appeared to consist of undiluted
Shelta (except for an occasional English
word employed), the lists compiled by Mr.
Carmichael and some others contain many
words that are true Gypsy, or Romani, a
language absolutely distinct from Gaelic or
Shelta. This seems to involve questions
of race and intermixture which, with our
present imperfect knowledge, are not easy of
solution.
^ ^ ^
A subterranean house has been reopened
near Kirkwall, Orkney, on the estate of the
Marquis of Zetland. It had originally been
opened in 185 7,. but was not then properly
explored. Signs of habitation were every-
where visible, including the remains of ruined
walls, the bones of sheep, oxen, boars, fish,
and whales, deer-horns, stone trestles, re-
cessed stones, fragments of clay, pottery,
and charcoal, together with some implements
fashioned from bones. The structure extends
about 36 feet, and is entirely underground.
It consists of the entrance at the south
gallery in the middle and a chamber at the
north end. The entrance consists of two
square apartments, divided and roofed by
large, water-worn stones. The most remark-
able feature in the building is that the roofing
is supported by four massive pillars, each
consisting of a water-worn stone placed on
end.
rjp (|p ^
Mr. G. H. Richmond has, according to
Literature, been the purchaser at New York,
for the sum of 300,000 dollars, of Mr.
Gilbert's great library. In the collection are
nine folio editions of Chaucer, copies of the
first four folios of Shakespeare, and first
editions of Froissart, Spenser, Herrick,
Milton, Waller, Suckling, and Holinshed,
and Still's Gammer Gurtoiis Needle, which
realized jP^d^ at the sale of Mr. George
Daniel's library in 1864.
ijp fr "ij?
The Berlin correspondent of the Standard
says that further reports have arrived there
regarding the important discovery by Italian
archaeologists of another royal palace in
Crete, at Phaistos. The palace is of the
Mycenaean period, or about 1500 u.c, and
its ruins are, in many resjiects, even more
interesting than those discovered at Knossos
last year by English archseologists. The
ruins of the Palace are situated two hours'
journey from the ancient town of Gortys,
known as containing the longest Greek in-
scription extant. It is built on the spur of
a high mountain chain, a site characteristic
of nearly all the Mycenaean fortresses. Two
parts of the excavated Palace are of special
importance. One is a large enclosure, on
one side of which is a terrace-wall, and on
the other a flight of stairs. As these stairs
end in a closed wall, it is supposed that they
must have been intended for the acommoda-
tion of spectators witnessing processions and
dramatic representations on the space below.
Here, therefore, we may have an example of
the oldest Greek theatre. A small building,
consisting of two low chambers, with benches
along the walls, is connected with the en-
closure, and from the chambers the way
leads through two corridors to a large square.
NOTES OF THE MONTH.
355
beyond which is a staircase from 13 to 14
metres wide, and then through an atriian
into a large hall, supposed to be the Megaron,
or Throne-room of the monarch. Two doors
open into the hall, the ceiling of which is
supported by three huge wooden pillars.
Leaving this hall, one enters other corridors,
and then, up more stairs, a second hall, with
four pillars, which is thought to have been
the women's room. The numerous corridors
and stairs at Phaistos are especially notice-
able.
So far fewer remains have been discovered
than at Knossos. The Palace seems to have
been pretty well looted at some earlier date,
but enough has been found to show that the
excavations are exceedingly instructive. But
only a portion of the Palace has been un-
covered, and it is, therefore, possible that
future researches may bring unexpected
treasures to light
(^ ij{t ^
We note with much regret the death, at the
age of 71, of the Rev. Isaac Taylor, LL.D.,
Canon of York and Rector of Settrington,
Yorkshire. He was a member of that well-
known family, the Taylors of Ongar, and was
fourth in the direct line of that name. Canon
Taylor wrote much and well on many sub-
jects. His published works include Words
and Places^ 1864; Etruscan Researches, 1874;
The Manx Runes, 1 886 ; and Origin of the
Aryans, 1890; but probably the work of
most importance, and by which he will be
lastingly remembered, is The Alphabet : an
Account of the Origin and De^'elopment of
Letters, which appeared in 1883. We regret
to have also to record the death of the Right
Rev. William Robert Brownlow, D.D., Roman
Catholic Bishop of Clifton, which occurred
on November 9, after a brief illness. Dr.
Brownlow was a keen antiquary. He was
co-editor with Dr. Northcote of the English
edition of Roma Sotteranea, and wrote on
" Christian Antiquities," " Slavery and Serf-
dom in Europe," and other subjects. He
had been a member of the Clifton Anti-
quarian Club for some years, and last August
was made a vice-president of the Bristol and
Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, to
whose Proceedings he had contributed several
papers
St. Petersburg correspondents report that the
tomb of the great Asiatic conqueror Tamer-
lane, who destroyed hundreds of towns and
plundered the tombs of his enemies, was
plundered during October in Samarkand.
The robbers not only broke the valuable
memorial tablet that was on the tomb under
the cupola of the great mosque, where the
conqueror is buried, but they also took away
many other valuables belonging to the mosque,
which seems to be practically unguarded,
notwithstanding that it contains some of the
most valuable inscriptions in Asia.
^ ^ ij(
A new work is in course of preparation on
Prehistoric Man and the Stone Age, with
Special Reference to the now Counties of
Cumberland and Westfnorland, by Mr. W. H.