Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/104

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NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS.

much attention to the investigation of these peculiarities of tenure and their origin. If we cannot say that ho has satisfactorily shown whence they sprung, or why they are so widely scattered, he has certainly collected much valuable information, and made some useful suggestions, to assist those who may be disposed to go deeper into the subject. Perhaps it would be relieved of some needless difficulties if the custom of Borough English, as it existed in towns, were investigated apart from the customs in manors which resemble it, and are, there is reason to believe, of later origin; and in doing so, the early power of disposing of houses and land by will in such towns, a remnant of Anglo-Saxon law, is not to be disregarded, as it is an important element in judging of the reasonableness of the custom. These numerous exceptions from the general law, though in some manors they may be referrible to mere caprice, seem to imply a social condition in certain localities, which history has very imperfectly transmitted. Mr. Corner has ascertained that there were like customs to be found in Picardy, Artois, and some other places on the continent. From the Rev. J. Dale we have a contribution entitled "Extracts from Churchwardens' Accounts and other matters belonging to the parish of Bolney, contained in a MS. book of the time of Henry VIII." Among other curious items are some relative to the building of the steeple, and also the notices of the collections at "Hognel," which word, it is suggested in a note may, like Hogmenay, be a corrupt derivative from "au guy l'an neuf," the commencement of some verses sung on New Year's day. From those words, dropping the last, it is easy to understand that aug'lan might be obtained, and then, by a transposition not uncommon, augnal, and thence Ognel and Hognel, as the word is spelt in those accounts.

The Rev. F. Spurrell has furnished a description of the Architectural Reliques of Lewes Priory which are contained in the British Museum and the Museum at Lewes, with lithographs. One of the most remarkable is supposed to be part of a circular lavatory of black marble, ten or eleven feet in diameter, executed in the twelfth century. The same gentleman has contributed an Inventory of the goods of Cornelius Humphrey, a substantial yeoman of Newhaven, in 1697; which shows what were then the home comforts and accommodation of persons of that class. And from the Rev. E. Turner we have a brief notice of the programme of the funeral ceremony of Sir Anthony Browne, Standard-bearer of Henry VIII., by whom he was held in great esteem, and was appointed one of the executors of his will. He received from his sovereign a grant of Battle Abbey after the dissolution. He died in 1548, and was interred in Battle Church, where his tomb remains.


PUBLICATIONS OF THE CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. Fragments of a Greco-Egyptian work upon Magic, from a Papyrus in the British Museum. Edited, with a Translation and Notes, by C. Wyecliffe Goodwin, M.A.

By publishing this remarkable fragment, the Cambridge Antiquarian Society has done much to elucidate a very interesting branch of inquiry. The art of the magicians who withstood Moses and Aaron, the strange magical doctrines of some of the early Eastern heretics, and the doings of the modern Egyptian magicians, alike receive illustration from the fragment and the valuable notes with which it is accompanied.