Notices of Recent Publications.

["GLOUCESTERSHIRE NOTES AND QUERIES."]

Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society, for 1886-87. Vol. XI., part ii. Edited by Sir John Maclean, F.S.A., etc. Bristol: Printed for the Society by Č. T. Jefferies & Sons. [1887-] 8vo, pp. viii. 185-380, xii. 12.

In our last sheet, No. 7, we had the pleasure of noticing the first portion of the Society's Transactions for the past year, and now we have the remainder before us. That the contents are such as are likely to prove interesting and useful, may be inferred from the following list :

1. Inaugural Address of Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., etc., as President of the Society.

2. Notes on Tanner's Chapel in Dursley Church. By Sir John Maclean, F.S.A., etc.

3. Ancient Church Embroidery in Gloucestershire. By Mrs. BagnallOakeley.

4. A Doubtful Point in the Genealogy of Hicks of Beverston, as it appears in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. By the Rev. Francis J. Poynton, M.A.

5. On three Skulls found near the London Road, Gloucester. By John Beddoe, M.D., F.R.S.

6. Court Roll of the Manor of Bicknor Anglicana. Communicated by Sir John Maclean, F.S.A., etc.

7. Further Note on the Saxon Chapel at Deerhurst. By the Rev. George Butterworth, M.A., Vicar.

8. Some Notes on Wresden, Uley. By W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L. 9. List of the Merchants' Hall, Bristol, 1732. Communicated by E. F. Eberle.

10. Notes on Milo de Gloucester, and his Connection with the Forest of Dene. By A. W. Crawley-Boevey, M.A., Barrister-at-Law.

11. On the Manor House of Wotton-under-Edge, and its Inhabitants. By V. R. Perkins.

12. Notes on the Church of Wotton-under-Edge. By the Rev. H. Sewell, Vicar.

13. Knights' Fees in Gloucestershire, 3 Hen. IV., with an Introduction. By Sir John Maclean, F.S.A., etc.

14. A Domestic Outrage in Gloucestershire, circ. 1220. By Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., G.C.M.G.

15. Notes on a Roman Inscribed Stone at Weston Birt. By Sir John Maclean, F.S.A., etc.

16. Addendum to Memoir on Ancient Church Embroidery in Gloucestershire. By Mrs. Bagnall-Oakeley.

Prefixed to the papers we have enumerated there is a full account of the proceedings of the annual meeting, held at Dursley, in August, 1886, with the report of the council for the preceding year. There are likewise more than twenty pages of "Notices of recent Archæological and Historical Publications; a "List of Members," as they were on the 5th of last September; and a revised "List of Donors and Donations to the Society's Library," which is in good working order, and promises to fulfil the object for [No. 8.-January, 1888.]

which it was established. It may be well to add, in the words of the report, that "the number of members on the Society's list is 416 annual members and 79 life members, making a total of 495 as against 510 in the corresponding period of last year. The general depression in agriculture and trade has no doubt affected the list of the Society's members as it has the list of almost every other society, whether literary or charitable; but it is nevertheless a subject for congratulation that the income of the Society for 1885-6 is little less than it was at the most prosperous period of the Society's existence.” The editorial department is highly satisfactory.

Somersetshire Archæological and Natural History Society's Proceedings, 1886. Vol. XXXII. (N. S., Vol. XII.). Taunton: T. M. Hawkins. 1887. 8vo, pp. viii. 90, 184.

In the first part of this volume there is a full account of the thirty-eighth annual general meeting of the Society, which was held at Yeovil, in August, 1886; with the report of the council for the preceding year, and details of two evening meetings, and of excursions to Brympton, Preston Plucknett, Hamdon Hill, Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Montacute, Martock, Tintinhull, Limington, Ashington, Mudford, and the Hundred Stone, near Yeovil. In the second part the following papers have been placed on record :

I. On the Manor of Yeovil. By E. Green, F.S.A., Hon. Secretary. 2. Gyfla. By Thomas Kerslake.

3. Tom Coryate; and Forks. By E. Green, F.S.A., Hon. Secretary 4. Evidence of the Occupation of Bath by the XX Legion. By George Esdaile, C.E.

5. The Hagiology of Somerset. By the Rev. J. W. Hardman, LL.D. 6. The History of a Medieval Village [Tintinhull], gathered from Ancient Sources. By the Rev. J. B. Hyson, Vicar.

7. The Armorial Glass in the Windows of Montacute House. By Cadwallader John Bates, M.A.

8. Note on the Ham Hill Stone. By Horace B. Woodward, F.G.S. 9. Somerset Trade Tokens of the Seventeenth Century, and of the period from 1787 to 1817. By William Bidgood.

There are likewise well-written "Obituary Notices" of the Rev. Frederick Brown and William Long, Esq., with a "List of Members" (526 in number), etc. Mr. Bidgood's interesting paper has been already referred to in Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, vol iii., p. 670.

Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, Bishop of Bath and Wells (A.D. 1309-1329). Edited from the Original in the Wells Registry by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobhouse. Printed for Subscribers by the Somerset Record Society. 1887. 4to, pp. xlii. 352.

The Somerset Record Society, as many of our readers are aware, has been formed for the purpose of seeking out, editing, and printing, such documents as bear upon the history of Somerset, and will aid the future historian of the county. The aim of the council is threefold:-1. To publish at least one volume yearly; 2. In the choice of records for publication, to keep in view the work of tracing the stream of county life, and the devolution of property from the earliest documentary period; and 3. In the treatment of records, to present them in such form as will preserve the important parts of the original wording, and to give also such translation and annotation as will open their contents to the general reader, and spread an interest beyond the narrow range of experts. The annual subscription is 1; and the circulation of the volumes is to be limited to subscribers. The Rev. James A. Bennett (South Cadbury Rectory, Bath), as secretary, will give all required information.

The volume for the first year (1886) has been issued, entitled Calendar of the Register of John de Drokensford, Bishop of Bath and Wells (A.D. 13091329); and a satisfactory production it is in every respect. Bishop Hobhouse,

who has edited it for the Society, begins his preface with the statement, that the aim of the publication is not biography, but the contribution to history of such facts as lie embedded in the 306 folios of Bishop Drokensford's register of his administrative acts; and that the contents are so fragmentary and unarranged, in both subject and date, that it is needful to lay before the reader some facts of the prelate's history and mode of life and administration, for the better understanding of the brief and detached entries which constitute the volume. This has been well and clearly done at some length; and the following is a summary of the contents of the preface :-Bishop Drokensford's history; his dealings with his Officers, Chapters, Incumbents, Monasteries; with Discipline and Visitation; with the Pope, the Crown, the Archbishop; with Appropriation of Rectories; Direction of Christian Bounty; Provision for Disabled Clergy; Dispensations and Legitimations; and his Nepotism and Litigiousness.

For the second years' subscription will be given "an account of all the Chantries of the County from the report made upon them at the time of their dissolution, together with their foundations; "this is the work of Mr. E. Green, and is in the press. There are also in preparation: "Kirkby's Quest," by Mr. F. H. Dickinson; the "Cartularies of Bruton Abbey and Montacute Priory,' by Mr. J. Batten; and the "Cartulary of the Hungerford Family." The printing of "Pedes Finium," "Subsidy Rolls," "Cartularies and Custumaries of Bath and Glastonbury Abbeys," etc., is contemplated.

The Gentleman's Magazine Library: Romano-British Remains, Part II. Edited by George Laurence Gomme, F.S.A. London: Elliot Stock. 1887. 8vo, pp. xii. 301-632.

In No. 7 we wrote in high terms of the first portion of this selection of articles on "Romano-British Remains" from the Gentleman's Magazine; and the second and concluding portion, which we have since received, tends greatly to confirm us in the opinion we then expressed. It is not, indeed, easy, as the editor of Notes and Queries has remarked, to exaggerate the importance of Mr. Gomme's several volumes of selections from that wonderful storehouse of information; and as we thoroughly agree with what he has written respecting them in his own columns, we hesitate not to adopt his language, as it expresses forcibly what we feel upon the subject.

Few persons possess a complete set of the volumes of Sylvanus Urban, and even those who do, have no key to the latter portion in the shape of a general index. Therefore to them, as to others, these selections will be most useful. Mr. Gomme does not do things by halves. His intention is, that when the work he has undertaken is completed, it shall contain everything of permanent value in that long series of volumes. All the previous selections made are worthy of praise; and this volume and its immediate predecessor are, in our opinion, the most important of the series. Our civilization begins with the Romans. There is not a single institution of which we are proud or ashamed, that can with certainty be traced beyond the time when the legions made us a part of that world-wide empire whose seat was on the Tiber. How much, and in what ways, the Roman occupation affected Britain, is a question of undying interest, and has given rise to many a controversy; for it is not merely an antiquarian question, but one into which grave political and theological questions enter. If the time should ever come, when some devoted student shall set to work to produce a new Britannia Romana, embodying all the knowledge that has accumulated since Horsley's days, he will find these two volumes indispensable. Until such a work is accomplished, this cyclopædia of "Romano-British Remains" will, to some extent, supply its place.

It only remains for us to add, that an index has been supplied, which, if we are not greatly mistaken, will stand the test of the strictest scrutiny.

The Ancient Protestant Episcopal Moravian Church in the West of England and South Wales, from 1740. Part II. With seven plates. Leeds: Goodall and Suddick. 1887. 4 to, pp. 8.

The Ancient Protestant Episcopal Moravian Church in Yorkshire. With thirteen plates. Leeds: Goodall and Suddick. 1887. Royal 8vo, pp. 20.

Twelve months have elapsed since we noticed in favourable terms Part I. of the first of these publications. We now have Part II. before us ;__ and in it there are, with other views, eight of places in Bristol, and two at Durham Down. The photo-lithographs are from pen and ink sketches recently taken on the spot, and the letterpress has been carefully prepared.

The second collection consists of sixty-five similarly executed views from pen and ink sketches, all connected with Yorkshire, and in thirteen plates. The pamphlet which accompanies them, entitled A Short Sketch of the Work carried on by the Ancient Protestant Episcopal Moravian Church (or "Unitas Fratrum"-" United Brethren") in Yorkshire, gives full particulars, and cannot fail to interest the reader.

The Newspaper Press and Periodical Literature of Liverpool. By J. Morley Cooper. Liverpool: Egerton Smith & Co. 1887. 4to, pp. 14.

A Brief Memoir of the Rev. Abraham Hume, D.C.L., F.R.S., etc., Vicar of Vauxhall, and Hon. Canon of Liverpool. By the same. Liverpool: Printed for the Author. 1887. 8vo, pp. 24.

Some Singular Bequests. By the same. Hull: Barnwell. 1887. 12mo, pp. 8.

Of these three pamphlets, for which we are indebted to Mr. Cooper, the first, reprinted from the Liverpool Weekly Mercury, contains a good and useful list of the newspapers and periodicals of Liverpool, from 1712 to the present year, with a preliminary statemeut.

The second, which was written for the Palatine Note-Book, lay for some time in the hands of the editor (who we sincerely hope may soon be able to resume his literary pursuits), but "owing to unforeseen circumstances resulting in the irregular publication of that magazine, a limited number of copies have been printed in this form, without material alteration." It contains a brief, but very pleasing memoir of one who was in many ways most useful in his day, and whose separate publications, as here enumerated in a chronological list (not including his contributions to newspapers and periodicals under an assumed name), are ONE HUNDRED in number. We have found this pamphlet particularly interesting, and are thankful for the possession of a copy.

The third, reprinted from the Hull Miscellany, contains within a small compass details of some singular bequests, to which, we need scarcely say, it would not be difficult to make large additions.

Catalogue of the Manks Crosses, with the Runic Inscriptions and various Readings and Renderings Compared. By P. M. C. Kermode. Ramsey J. Craine; London: Elliot Stock. [1887.] 8vo, pp. 36. The Isle of Man is peculiarly rich in monumental remains of early date, and this Catalogue of Manks Crosses is calculated, we think, to prove highly useful. "Of all the antiquities in which our island is so rich," Mr. Kermode writes, "our ancient Crosses appeal most strongly to our feelings for protection with a loving care. Their original purpose and venerable age, their historical associations and their artistic merits, demand at our hands a better treatment than they have met with; and though we cannot now restore or improve them, we can prevent their further injury and decay, and can at least hand down to those who come after us the fragments we still possess." The pamphlet is dedicated to the Guardians of our Ancient Monuments, appointed under "the Museum and Ancient Monuments Act, 1886," with the