Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/426

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420


NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. NOV. is. 1910.


tnagic as it exi-ts to-day in a small parish in the count >. Mr. (i. (J. Conlton has a well-illustrated -article on (!>< casual inscriptions which idle hands in medi;eval clays made on the chinch-built churches of the Eastern Counties. They are not so foolish as the remarks left in public places by Tom. Dick, and Harry to-day, but some of them are trivial, fond records which gain a new interest after many centuries. The drawings are mostly rude in outline; the archer, for instance, ligured from Whittlesford might have come from the nursery. There are some puzzles to be solved which have so far evaded Mr. Coulton and his learned helpers. Finally, we notice, again by Prof. Hughes, a paper on ' Acoustic Vases in Churches traced back to the Theatres and Oracles of Greece,' which gives a useful list of literature bearing on the subject, and raises various sug- gestive queries concerning the uses of such vessels. They are often found in a position which renders them useless for resonance, but the Professor conjectures that they played an important part in the oracles of the Pythian priestess. In fact, she sat on such a vase because its resonance added to what Milton calls the " hideous hum " of the shrine.

Dr. Stokes's reconstruction of Cambridge outside Barnwell Gate in the fourteenth century, with a map, should interest all those who know the ground and have a taste for history. Here again we come across the King's Ditch, and learn of the foundation of the God's House which became Christ's College, and of the Black Friars' Monastery, which, after the despoliation of Henry VIII. .passed ultimately into Emmanuel College. Dr. Stokes ranges over a period both earlier and later than his map, and marshals skilfully the scanty evidence available. Hostels, old estate -deeds, chapels, the watercourses still specially characteristic of Cambridge, and the Spinning House which held notorious characters at the end of the nineteenth century all yield up their lore under the author's eye, and we learn shocking things of the unreformed Corporation of Cam- bridge in the nineteenth century. Dons and tradesmen were both pretty casual in those days, as readers of the free-and-easy reminiscences of Gunning will readily believe.

The Centenary of the Battle of Waterloo : Hmc it was commemorated at Certain Places in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales by the Royal Regiment of Artillery. By Major J. H. Leslie, R.A. (Woolwich, printed at the Royal Artillery Institution Printing House.)

THE compiler of this booklet, whose name is very familiar to our readers, was himself the originator of this commemoration. Search was made in the early part of June, 1915, for the graves or monuments of officers and men of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who had served at Waterloo, and on the centenary day of the great battle a wreath of laurel leaves, red roses, and dark blue iris (or cornflowers) was laid upon each of the forty that had been discovered. Artillery officers or their relatives for the most part performed this function, with so much in the way of cortege and ceremony as each several place could pro- vide. Naturally, these were most impressive at Woolwich. A white card, printed in red and blue, and bearing a drawing of a Waterloo ar- tillery-man (by Col. E. A. P. Hobday, R.A.), was


attached to each wreath, and expressed verbally the salutation of their " brother officers of to- day" to 1h<- mane.- of Hie Waterloo men.

Major Leslie gives us a full list of the forty whose memory was thus honoured, with bio"- graphicalpArticulai>. several full-page portraits, a norp-nfttie person to whom in each case it fell to lay the wreath in its place, and some account of the ceremony with which it was done. Every- where the plan seems to have been carried out as happily as it had been conceived.

Those of our readers who are interested in the detail of military biography should certainly make a note of this brochure.

The 'Daily New*' Any Year Calendar for T -o Centuries. Compiled by Herbert Atherton. (London, The Daily News Office, M. net.) WE should like to draw our readers' attention to this compilation, which we ourselves have already found useful. It consists of a sheet of moderate size, bearing seven lettered calendars with a table of the years which belong to the several letters, and the requisite corrections for leap years. The two centuries are 1800-2000. It is thus "possible, by means of three glances, to find the day of the week upon which fell any date within this period. One could hardly have the business of verification made simpler or easier. The Calendar may also be ob- tained printed in colours, and mounted on card- board for hanging; and we certainly think it would be worth acquiring by most people whose business is with history, or with records of the past.


The Athenaeum now appearing monthly, arrange- ments have been made whereby advertisements of posts vacant and wanted, which it is desired to publish weekly, may appear in the intervening weeks in ' N. & Q.'


ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub Ucation, but as a guarantee of good faith.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When ans%yer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents M-ho repeat queries are requested to head the second com munication " Duplicate."

Miss S. CORNER, MR. R. PIERPOINT, and G. W. E. R. Forwarded.

M. HENRI VIARD. Forwarded to MR. F. H. CHEBTHAM.

MR. J. ARDAGH. A bibliography of articles on the present war is being compiled in The Athenaum Peiiodical Index; and our correspondent MR. R. A. PEDDIE is also compiling one of books with the assistance of a friend.

CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 373, col. 1, 1. 12 from foot, for " brother Leonard " read brother Edward.