440
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vm. NOV. 29, 1913.
length of the first syllable is not noted ; an
Kinemacolour is succeeded by " Kinematics
kin-e-mat'iks," " Kinesltherapy , -si-ther'a-pi,'
and " Kinematograph, 'o-graf," the second mem-
ber having got out of its alphabetical order.
Elizabethan Rogues and Vagabonds. By Frank Aydelotte. " Oxford Historical and Lite- rary Studies," Vol. I. (Oxford University Press.)
MR. AYDELOTTE has produced an interesting and instructive volume on the various kinds of people classed, in the sixteenth century, as " Rogues and Vagabonds." After a short introduction he treats his material in six chapters : 1. Origins, and the " size of the Vagabond Class " (size referring not to their stature, but to their numbers in proportion to the honest and industrious) ; 2. " The Art of Begging," and all its deceits in make-up and action ; 3. Laws against Vaga- bonds ; 4. The Art of Conny- Catching ; 5. Laws against Conny - Catching ; 6. A Critical Analysis of the " Rogue Pamphlets." Repro- duced plates serve to illustrate the meaning of the text. Though the author's word-pictures are chiefly drawn from printed works, he has also delved in MSS. in order to complete them. Some documents of great importance to the case are printed in extenso at the end. The book is of historical and social value, as well as of literary interest from its explanation of many allusions in contemporary works. Shakespeare's Auto- lycus, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, and even Falstaff
- are specimens of the higher class of " conny-
catchers " here treated, who had a delight in the ingenuity of their art, as well as a business eye to its profits.
Mr. Aydelotte might have made his book even fuller than he has done with some advantage, and there are some minor slips and press errors left uncorrected. But we are very grateful to have the facts put thus together in so portable a volume, which enables us to realize, as we might not otherwise have done, the kind of people with whom Shakespeare would have been classed " if he wore not some great Lord's livery." The author has made an interesting point through the com- plexities arising from the royal monopolies and protection of " unlawful games," showing how royal favourites could stride over edicts and statutes alike. Mr. Aydelotte would find a further example of a favoured Bowling Alley at Charing Cross in the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Archeology of the Old Testament. By Edouard
Na ville, D.C. L. (R. Scott.)
PROF. NAVILLE, whose learned works on Egyptology are well known, here makes a fresh departure in a book of remarkable interest. At the same time the thesis he propounds is not quite so new as he supposes. A Biblical scholar of our own advanced a very similar view seventeen years ago. The epoch-making discovery of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets written by the petty kings of Palestine to their Egyptian sovereign before the time of Joshua has familiarized us with the idea that writing was in use there at a much earlier date than was once though tpossible, and that the script employed was neitherCanaanite nor Hebrew, but the Babylonian cuneiform. When Dr. Naville argues that in all likelihood it was in this character that Moses wrote
the books which bear his name, he does not seem
to be aware that so far back as 1896 Col. Conder
had come to the same conclusion " The Mosaic
records were most probably preserved in tablets
written in cuneiform signs" ('The Bible and the
East,' p.73), and that " this explains many difficulties
in the literary structure of the Torah " (p. 226).
This is the hypothesis which Dr. Naville works out
with great ingenuity and many additional argu-
ments. He points out, e.g., that documents found
at Gezer were written in cuneiform as late as
650 B.C., and concludes that all religious books
were written in this character down to the time
of Solomon. The fact that the ancient Code of
King Hammurabi was put forth in this script
would doubtless recommend it to the Hebrew law-
giver as that of the typical legislator with which
he was probably well acquainted. This time-
honoured character of the remotest antiquity came
to be regarded as " the divine writing " or " writing
of God," which would explain the Hebrew phrase
that the Law was " written with the finger of God "
(Ex. xxxi. 18). The much-disputed title which the
Pharaoh gave to Joseph is interpreted as Zaphenath-
paneah, which is found in Egyptian inscriptions as
meaning "Head of the Sacred College." Students
of the Old Testament will find this a very sug-
gestive book.
WE have received from Messrs. Phillimore their Catalogue of Parish Register Series, prepared under the editorship of Mr. Thomas M. Blagg. The aim is ambitious : it is to print, on a County system, the whole of the Parish Registers in England (except such as have been printed already by others), dealing in the first instance with the marriages from the beginning of each Register down to the early years of the nineteenth century. Two hundred volumes are now included, and it is estimated that the mar- riages of two million persons are recorded. The marriage entries have been taken first, as they are by far the most important part of every register. Only 150 copies of these Registers are printed.
THOSE interested in Charlotte Bronte and who is not? will find portraits and other illustrations relating to the Brpnte family, from the collection of Mr. Clement Shorter, in the Christmas Number of The Queen, with a descriptive article by Priscilla, Countess Annesley.
EDITORIAL communications should be addressed
to " The Editor of * Notes and Queries ' "Adver-
tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub-
lishers "at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery
Lane, E.G.
A. P., Toronto. The words are a rough transla- tion from Virgil, '^En.,' ii. 5. 6 :
qua3que ipse miserrima vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui.
ENGLISH REGIMENTS IN CANADA, ante, p. 331. MAJOR LESLIE writes that if P. D. M. cares to communicate with him, he can put him on the track of what he asks for.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROBINSON. Forwarded.
