458
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. DEC. 7, 1907.
the stock. The latter would wind in and out, not
only for the sake of water, but in search of the more
succulent herbage also. We ourselves know one road,
more than twenty miles in length, which, where
its picturesqueness has not found a mortal enemy in
Enclosure Commissioners, indicates plainly that it
was originally an upland track formed by animals
which desired to have an early view of any enemies
approaching them from right or left.
The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. Edited by
M. N. Adler. (Frowde.)
THE protracted journey taken by the Jew Benjamin of Tudela in the land of Sepharad (Spain) between the years 1166 and 1171 has been known hitherto to general readers from being included in the collec- tion of ' Early Travels in Palestine ' published by Thomas Wright in 1848, and to specialists from the elaborate edition published by A. Asher in 1840-41. Mr. Adler now prints a critical text of the Hebrew MS. preserved in the British Museum, with careful collations and seven facsimiles, and a map of the Rabbi's wanderings. To this he appends a new translation and a commentary of exegetical notes.
It has been a question what motive Benjamin could have had for undertaking such extensive travels through a great part of Europe, Asia, and Africa as known at that time. Mr. Adler conjec- tures that the object he had in view was to find out likely places where his compatriots might seek a refuge when driven by persecution from Western Europe. He certainly was careful to note the towns where Jews had already effected a settlement, and records their numbers. He probably had an eye to business at the same time
he would have been no Jew if he had not and
commercial transactions never fail to interest him. Mr. Adler's is a very learned and complete edition of a Jewish classic.
The Gornhill for December has an admirable little poem by Mr. Austin Dobson, 'The Last Proof,' describing the feelings of any author when he has finished correcting his book for the press. Mr Frederic Harrison talks about ' The Alps Once More' in two letters; and Mr. H. W. Lucy has some interesting views concerning the United States and its politics. Mr. Walter Frith gives the substance of a conversation with his father, aged 89; and Mr. A. C. Benson deals with 4 Specialism,' revealing, as usual, his own bent of mind, but dealing usefully with the question of amateur speculation in theology and morals.
The Nineteenth Century opens with ' Modernism and the Papal Encyclical,' by Monsignor Moyes, a defence of the latter which we cannot regard as satisfactory. Sir Alfred Wills deals sensibly with ' Criminals and Crime,' and Mr. St. Clair Baddeley, in ' J^sculapius and his Heirs in Christian Rome,' with some of the medical art of which the Forum preserves traces or hints. Sir Herbert Maxwell dwells on the past of the 'Pantheon' in Oxford Street ; Mr. E. B. Chancellor on ' The Squares and Open Spaces of London ' ; and Mr. Watts-Dunton on ' Dickens and Father Christmas.' The last is a very interesting article, showing that Dickens became a " myth of the people." Incidentally Mr. Watts-Dunton includes a good deal of penetrating literary criticism in his survey of the peculiar qualities of Dickens's Christmas books.
IN The Fortnightly Mr. Laurie Magnus deals with the importance of George Meredith as a poet who
represents in the stream of literary evolution an
advance on Wordsworth and Tennyson. Mrs. John
Lane conjures up brightly the memories of Brighton ;
and Mr. Joseph Shaylor writes with a pleasant
flavour of reminiscence concerning ' Booksellers*
Trade-Dinner Sales,' which are apparently unsuited
to the present hustling age.
BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES . DECEMBER.
DECEMBER is always a busy month with our friends the old booksellers, and from the number of catalogues still pouring in upon us it seems to promise to be exceptionally so this year. Of special interest to our readers will be the catalogue of the books of Joseph Knight.
Mr. Thomas Baker keeps us, as usual,well supplied w r ith divinity. His Catalogue 517 contains the familiar names of Newman, Pusey, and others. There is a nice clean set of " The Library of the Fathers," 1853-85, 101. 10*. The first edition of Cardinal Pole's ' De Concilio Liber,' 1562, is II. Is. ; Hefele's ' Histoire des Conciles,' 12 vols., 61. 6s. ; Mqrland's ' Evangelical Churches of Piedmont,' folio, 1658, 4d. 4s. ; and Helyot's ' Ordres Religieux/ 8 vols., 4to, 1714, 4/. 10s.
Mr. P. M. Barnard, of Tunbridge Wells, has in his Catalogue 18 books relating to Kent. Under Rochester are Thorpe's ' Registrum Roffense,' folio, 1769, 21. 2s. ; and his ' Custumale Roffense,' folio, 1788, a fine copy, 61. 6s. Although the latter forms, a supplement to the former, it is complete in itself. It is rarely met with, as a great part was lost by fire in 1808. There are a number of Tracts, historical and general, ranging from Charles I. to Victoria inclusive. A curious one is " A New Invention, or a Paire of Cristall Spectacles, by helpe whereof may be read so small a print that what twenty sheetes of paper will hardly containe shall be discover'd in one, &c.
These glasses in indifferent lights Serve " old and yong, and middle sights," 4to, June 7, 1644, 4s. The Victorian pamphlets-' include the Gwilts' ' Project for a National Gallery on the Site of Trafalgar Square,' 1838, 2s. 6d. ; and a ' Description of a Great Rostral Column of the Corinthian Order, two hundred and fourteen feet high, cast in iron, with the base, capital, and statue in yellow bronze, to be erected in Trafalgar Square to the memory of Nelson,' Is. Under Chartists is a broadside of the People's Charter. Works relating to America include Sir Walter Raleigh's ' The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtif uL Empyre of Guiana,' London, 1596, 28/. ; Acts passed at the first three Congresses, 1789-93, 3 vols., from the Sussex Collection, 51. ; and Mather's ' Account of the Trials of the New England Witches. To which is added, Cases of Conscience concerning Witchcrafts and Evil Spirits personating Men, London, I. Denton, at the Raven in the Poultry, 1693, 181. 15s.
Mr. Francis Edwards has issued a catalogue devoted to the last portion of the library of our late beloved friend and editor, Joseph Knight, of which he was the purchaser. Knignt had, as is well known, originally a most extensive and choice collection, every room in his house being crowded with books ; and finally he had to break through his wall into the house next door to secure yet another room for his treasures. In his love for the;
