2»'> S. NO 65., Mar. 28. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



259 



an instance, I would state, that I know of, at 

 least, one instance, in which a twin brother and 

 a twin sister have each had a numerous family of 

 healthy and talented children. 



PiSHEY Thompson. 

 Stoke Newington. 



Mummy Wheat (P' S. v. 417. 538. 595. ; vi. Q5. 

 513.) — 



" The Resurrection from Egypt. — At one of the late 

 sittings of the Academy of Sciences, M. Guerin-Mene- 

 villie presented several stalks of Wheat more than six 

 feet in height, and each having several very fine ears. 

 The seed from which this specimen was originally grown 

 consisted of live grains found in an old Egyptian tomb, 

 where it had lain for centuries. They were sown in 1849 ; 

 and the first year gave a yield, it is asserted, of 1,200 for 

 1. In 1853, comparative experiments were made by M. 

 Drouillard in different parts of France, and the result was 

 very remarkable. Some Egyptian seed sown rough-cast 

 in one half of a field, near Morlaix, gave a yield of 60 

 for 1, while the ordinary French corn in the other half of 

 the ground only gave 15 to 1. This same Egyptian 

 wheat, when sown grain bj' grain in a line, has yielded 

 more than 556 for 1. The farmers of the neighbourhood, 

 on hearing of this result, eagerly sought to obtain some 

 of the seed; and at present there are more than 1,000 

 kilogrammes in the ground in the arrondissement of 

 Morlaix alone. — Galignani's Messenger." 



From the Morning Star, March 9th, 1857. 



Anon. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



The Camden Society has just issued to its members 

 three new books — all well calculated to please the sub- 

 scribers, assist historical students, and do credit to the 

 Society which has produced them. Two out of the three 

 are from materials in private hands, and which would 

 probably never have been committed to the press but for 

 the existence of this literaiy association ; of the third 

 nearly the same thing might be said — inasmuch as the 

 MS. from which it is printed is in the public library at 

 Malta. The Rev. Lambert Larking, a gentleman well 

 known for his intimate acquaintance with our records, 

 and his palajographical knowledge, being compelled by 

 ill health to pass the winter of 1838-9 in the Island of 

 Malta, amused himself with making a transcript of a va- 

 luable MS. in the Public Library there, to which his atten- 

 tion had been directed by Dr. Vassallo, the librarian. That 

 MS. it is which has now been published under his able 

 editorship, and forms the first of the three volumes which 

 we have now to notice. The nature of the work is shown 

 by its title. The Knights Hospitallers in England, being the 

 Report of Prior fhilip de Thame to the Grand 3Iaster 

 Ell/an de Villanova for A.D. 1338 ; edited by the Kev. 

 Lambert B. Larking, M.A., loith an Historical Introduc- 

 tion, by John Mitchell Kemble, M.A. It is needless to 

 occupy our space with arguments to show the value of a 

 woik like this — containing as it does what Mr. Kemble 

 well describes in the opening sentence of the admirable 

 dissertation which he has prefixed to it, as a " valuable, 

 and in its way, I believe, an unique document for the il- 

 lustration of certain social relations in this country during 

 the first half of the fourteenth century." Though the 

 learned editor has printed the original record in extenso in 

 deference to the suggestions of others (with whom we 



agree, but in spite of his own opinion) — and valuable as 

 it is for the amount of information of every kind which is 

 to be found in it — it is only justice to Mr. Kemble and 

 Mr. Larking to say, that practically that value has been 

 doubled by the manner in which the materials contained 

 in it have been worked up by Mr. Kemble in his Intro- 

 duction — and have been illustrated and made available 

 by the notes and very model of an index by which Mr. 

 Larking has completed the volume. The next book, the 

 Diary of John Rous, Incumbent of Santon Downham, 

 Suffolk, from 1025 to 1642, has been produced under the 

 superintendence of a lady, Mrs. Green, the well-known 

 author of The Lives of the Princesses of England. Though 

 not of great historical importance, this diary of a quiet 

 country clergyman, who records not only his own views 

 and acts, but occasional notices of passing events, contains 

 many of those hints and touches which Macaulay so 

 skilfully culls to give life and light to his pictures, and 

 what will find favour with all our readers, " all the po- 

 pular skits and satirical verses which came within the 

 notice of the Diarist." This is a feature which gives 

 peculiar interest to this amusing little volume. The 

 Camden Society are indebted to Mr. Dawson Turner for 

 permission to publish it. In like manner the Society is 

 indebted to the courtesy of Sir Walter C. Trevelyan for 

 the materials of the third volume just issued to the 

 members, — Trevelyan Papers prior to a.d. 1558, edited by 

 J.Payne Collier, Esq. As this is only the first portion of 

 a work which is to be hereafter completed, and then ac- 

 companied by a preliminary Memoir, we must content 

 ourselves with pronouncing it to be a collection both of 

 variety and interest. Of varietj', for it contains documents 

 of every kind — charters, wills, inventorie.s, &c., — and of 

 interest, for with these are mixed up political poems and 

 household books of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., the 

 existence of which was hitherto unknown. These pub- 

 lications confirm the opinion that the works of the Cam- 

 den Society improve in value with the experience of the 

 Council and Editfjrs. 



At a time like the present, when too many editors con- 

 fine their labours to a hasty reading of the proofs of a 

 book, and the adding their name to the title-page, it is 

 pleasant to meet with a volume so carefully edited as 

 Ballads and Songs by David 3Iallet ; a New Edition, with 

 Notes and Illustrations, and a Memoir of the Author, by 

 Frederick Dinsdale, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A. This work bears 

 on every page evidence that its preparation has been a 

 labour of love. The facts of the poet's life have been 

 collected with great industry, and are narrated with a 

 brevitj- which contrasts strongly with the abundance of 

 references to authorities, which prove how Mr. Dinsdale 

 might have spun it out, had he been so disposed. The 

 Poems are annotated with the same care and profusion; 

 and the w^ork, which is beautifully printed and illustrated 

 by engravings, will do much to preserve Mallet's memory ; 

 nor while Mallet is remembered, can Mr. Dinsdale be 

 forgotten. 



Among a number of works, appropriate to the present 

 season, which have reached us, we must particularise a 

 new edition of Passion Week, a Collection of Poetical 

 Pieces suited to this Holy Season ; beautifully printed and 

 illustrated by the well known series of wood-blocks by 

 Albert Durer, — a new and compact edition of Taj'- 

 lor's Holy Living and Holy Dying, produced with the 

 neatness for which Parker of Oxford is distinguished ; 

 and with this peculiarity, to adapt them to general 

 readers, the omission of the classical quotations. To 

 these we must add, a Series of Lenten Sermons preached 

 during the present Lent in the Church of St. Mary the 

 Virgin, Oxford. The Series will consist of thirteen : four 

 of which, viz. those by the Bishops of Oxford and London, 



