12 S. X. MAY 6, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 359
Author Wanted (12 8. x. 252).—2. A story entitled 'Miser Farebrother' (not 'Miser Fairbrother's Daughter') appeared in The Illustrated London News during the second half of 1887; the author was B. L. Farjeon and the illustrations were by Gordon Browne. Benjamin Walker.
Notes on Books.
The Building of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter. By Herbert E. Bishop and Edith K. Prideaux. (Exeter, James G. Commin.) WE all know the pride of Devon, and concede that it has its justification. One of its centres is naturally the Cathedral at Exeter, reared, in the main, by Devon hands, under the guidance and by help of the wealth of Devon Bishops, with stone from Devon quarries. Praised justly for its " harmonious integrity " it stands now in the full glory of " Decorated " Gothic architecture at its best. Such a work has failed of its purpose, or, rather, the spectator is convicted of stupidity if it does not arouse delight merely by being what it is, without reference to history. But nothing, after the first familiarity is attained, ministers so effectually to delight as history the record especially of the builders and the vicissitudes of the building. The scholarly and readable volume before us comes as near as any we have recently seen to being ideal for that pur- pose. Of original sources Exeter possesses the Fabric Rolls, the Act Books of the Dean and Chapter, the Archives of the Dean and Chapter and the Bishops' Registers. This material has within comparatively recent years been carefully worked over, and by means of transcription, indexing, and to some extent by printing been rendered far more accessible and serviceable than it was for earlier workers in this field. Miss Prideaux gives us to start with a careful account of the craftsmen who, with the clerk of the works and the building-master at their head, actually raised the pile. Many of their names, much about the wages paid them, and something of the implements they used are found in the records. An interest- ing detail is the use of gauntleted gloves for the carpenters when handling large timbers in the erection of scaffolding. In 1050 the Bishop's See was transferred from Crediton to the Church which Cnut had rebuilt after the burning of Exeter by the Danes. There are still existing foundations and lower courses of masonry which appear to be Saxon work and may be the remains of the old Church. Early in the following century the second Norman Bishop began the erection of a Norman Church, which took about a century to finish. The eastern termination of this Church has been the subject of an erroneous statement which is here corrected. The central apse, uncovered in the seventies during the work of -restoration, proved to be not semi-circular but five-sided. The Norman Church can easily be reconstructed in imagination from the traces and remains of it still forming part of the present nave. The original records do not go back far enough to include any part of its building. The beautiful Chapter House and the misericords are the work of the half-century after the Norman Church was finished ; then arose Bishop Bronescombe, who, following the fashion of the later thirteenth century, determined to lengthen the Church by an eastern extension. We come here to the period of the first Fabric Roll, and also to a stage in the history of the Cathedral which has been seriously misunderstood. The result of careful investigation both of the documentary and the architectural evidence is to overthrow the con- clusions as to a great amount of " transitional " work having been done after the completion of the Norman Church and having been, under Brones- combe and Quivil, remodelled. The chapter on the construction of the Choir (which should have had a less ungainly title than ' The Eastern Extension, &c.') is one of the most important of the book and exceedingly well worked out. The very careful chapter on the Choir and Altar furnishings gives an account both of such remains of early work as are still in situ and of all the costly appurtenances which have dis- appeared but are mentioned in the records. The destruction carried out under Edward VI., Elizabeth and Cromwell was as violent and lamentable here as anywhere. In Grandison's episcopate and that of his successor the old Norman Church now become the nave was transformed ; its West Front, new clerestory and porches added ; its interior arcading remodelled. The Black Death retarded the work, and has also left several problems to be solved, as to which our authors are able, from some additions to their information and from a closer study of what has long been known, to correct some mistakes on the part of high authorities. The discussion of detail especially of the figures and of ornament generally deserves the highest praise. The illustrations are well chosen except that we regret the absence of any general view of the Cathedral. This seems wanted, despite its familiarity, for completness' sake. The volume is most attractively printed, with good and agreeable spacing. In fact it should be the subject of great satisfaction to all who had a hand in its production, and a source of delight and instruction to many readers. On the Text of Abbo of Fleury's ' Quaestiones Gram- maticales.' By Henry Bradley. (Humphrey Milford, Oxford. Is. net.) THIS pamphlet gives us a paper communicated to the British Academy in February last. Abbo of Fleury (who afterwards became abbot of that monastery) taught Latin in the monastic school at Ramsey from 980 to 982, and wrote his ' Quaes- tiones Grammaticales' to help his English scholars in the pronunciation of Latin and as to various grammatical difficulties. The only known MS. of the work is in the Vatican Library ; and the only printed text is that edited in 1833 by Cardinal Mai, which has been reproduced in Migne's ' Patrologia.'. The work has been studied by Dr. Funke and Prof. Jellinek, but in one important place the remarks and the ingenuity of these scholars have been thrown quite off the track by a truly amazing blunder on the part of the first editor. Dr. Bradley now possesses a rotograph of the two pages of the
