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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s. v. FEB. 3, 190*.
French tongue and the French ideals was assertive.
It is curious to read how the friars who invaded
England in 1258, picking their way barefooted over
frozen mud and hard snow, which were blood-
stained by their feet, "were so full of fun among
themselves that a deaf mute could hardly refrain
from laughter at seeing them." We read, of course, of
the popular canonization of St. Thomas of Hereford
and the circumstances under which it was obtained.
Some space is bestowed on the interesting figure of
the M aid of Norway. Of the invasion of England by
David of Scotland, at the instigation of Philip of
France, it is said "In thus playing the game
of the French king, David began a policy which,
from Neville's Cross to Flodden, brought embarrass-
ment to England and desolation to Scotland." A
vivid description is supplied of the institution of
orders of chivalry. Interest throughout is un-
flagging, and the treatment generally is sprightly
as well as philosophical.
Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions. By H. Munro-
Chadwick. (Cambridge, University Press). IN noticing a book of such closely specialized learn- ing as Mr. Chadwick's we shall best discharge pur duty by indicating its scope and characteristics, without attempting to challenge any of the author's particular conclusions. Few, indeed, would be capable of doing so, for Mr. Chadwick has obviously made a special study of the charters and legal codes of the early Saxon kingdoms, and is able to write with a fullness of knowledge which only pro- found research can supply. Himself a severely scientific student of Saxon institutions, he writes for the serious historical student, and not for the mere general reader, to whom he hardly ever con- descends ; but the repertory of facts which he has brought together will be of inestimable value to future historians.
One of the first subjects with which he occupies himself is that of wergelds, the amount of com- pensation to which different classes of the commu- nity were liable for breach of their mund or surety- ship. In Wessex this graduated system of fines was fixed at 1,200,600, or 200 "shillings," according as one was a landowner, a landless gentleman, or a ceorl. But as a " shilling " in one region bore quite a different value from the same denomination else- where, this leads to a long and careful investigation of the monetary system of the early Saxons, which is sufficiently intricate in consequence of the am- biguity of the terminology. The author conjectures that the shilling must originally have denoted an ounce of silver ; but the evidence is far from con- clusive. The same laxness of use confuses the meaning of the word eorl, which is variously latinized in the early charters as dux, minister, comes, and miles. From having been at one time applicable to any noble, it seems to have acquired its specific meaning as a title from a conflation with the Scandinavian iarl. The origin of some of our modern shires, Mr. Chadwick conjectures, may be traced to divisions of a kingdom made between members of the king's family, as sometimes happened.
Worthy, too, of notice is the account given of the word hagnstald, generally used in the sense of a bachelor, which has been a puzzle to etymologists. Mr. Chadwick, differing from Kluge, holds the original meaning to have been ' v the occupant of a haga," i.e., of a town dwelling attached to a country manor, this haga being often appropriated
to soldiers. Thus the hagnstald came to be used
for any young warrior (p. 341). We have to thank
the writer for a learned and informing book.
Poems. By George Crabbe. Edited by Adolphus William Ward, Litt.D. Vol. I. (Cambridge, University Press.)
A THREE-VOLUME edition of the works of Crabbe, of which the first volume has appeared, is in course of publication under the editorship of the Master of Peterhouse. Byron's ridiculous estimate of Crabbe as " Nature's sternest painter, yet the best," pardon- able enough as a mere ebullition, has done Crabbe more harm than good. His works are none the less indispensable in every collection of English literature. The 1823 edition the last published in Crabbe's lifetime has supplied the basis of the text. An interesting prefatory note shows what other sources have been consulted. The volume opens with 'Juvenilia,' in the midst of which is inserted 'Inebriety.' 'The Library,' 'The Village,' 'The Newspaper,' ' The Parish Register,' and ' The Borough ' are also given. This seems destined to be the first complete edition.
Matthew Prior s Poems on Several Occasion? Edited by A. R. Waller. (Cambridge, University Press. )
A FIRST volume of Prior's poems has also been added to the " Cambridge English Classics." It is occupied with the 'Poems on Several Occasions,' which themselves comprise, with other works, ' Alma ; or, the Progress of the Mind,' in three cantos, and 'Solomon on the Vanity of the World,' a poem in three books, together with the lightest of Prior's erotic and narrative poems, excluding, of course, those by other writers which were printed in some of his miscellanies. A second volume will comprise the remainder of Prior's writings in prose and verse, including from the Lpngleat MSS. the 'Prose Dialogues' of Prior hitherto unpublished.
Facts and Fancies for the Curious. By Charles C.
Bombaugh, A.M. (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott
Company.)
WE have here what is rather floridly called "a melange of excerpta," chiefly, but not wholly modern, and largely Afaerican. The whole con- stitutes a work into which men may dip with the certainty of amusement, but conveys an idea that the wit and thought of to-day are inferior to those of yesterday. It is to be hoped that the seeker after information will not light upon a passage such as : ' k The Roman silver denarius sank finally to common copper coins, known in France as 'Dermer' [sic], in England as ' d,' and in Germany as 'pfennig'" a sentence in which inaccuracy of statement is as noteworthy as deficiency of gram- mar. In the verses from God's Acre, among the inscriptions from Mount Auburn cemetery, it should be said that the lines beginning
She lived unknown, and few could know When Mary [sic] ceased to be,
are altered from Wordsworth ; and those beginning Thou art gone to the grave
from Heber. * The Wit of the Epigrammatists ' is of very disparate quality. A good many enigmas are given, in most cases without the answers. OQ
