380 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»"» S. N« 71., May 9. '57. 



MiittTlKntaui* 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



If any reader takes up the six goodly volumes which 

 have issued from the Oxford University Press, under the 

 title of A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from 

 September, 1678, to April, 1714, by Narcissus Luttrell, 

 with the anticipation that Narcissus Luttrell will prove 

 as glorious a gossip as that strange compound of vanity, 

 animality, and candour, Samuel Pepys — the very king of 

 Diarists — ^that reader will find himself most egregiously 

 mistaken. Or if he supposes that, because the Diary be- 

 fore us treats of the same period as Macaulay, and Ma- 

 caulay borrowed for his brilliant pictures some choice bits 

 from Luttrell's composition, that therefore Luttrell's book 

 will be as interesting as Macaulay's, he will be equally 

 in error. But if he be content to take the goods the 

 gods provide, and look upon this Diary as a day by day 

 record of the rumours and the facts which agitated the 

 public mind during the eventful years which preceded, 

 witnessed, and followed the Revolution of 1688, he will 

 be well pleased with the work before us. He may see in 

 these pages as in a mirror, if not — 



" How Bradshaw bullied in a broad-brimmed hat," 

 the whole progress, at least as far as they are patent to 

 the general eye, of the events of our history from the 

 commencement of Titus Oates's wicked intrigues, and the 

 murder of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey in 1670, to the death 

 of the Second Charles and the succession of his honester 

 but bigoted brother; through the Revolution, and, in 

 short, through all the varying scenes of political strife 

 which were acted from that time until the death of Queen 

 Anne : for the diarist concludes his labours, or rather the 

 portion of his Diary which remains, and which has here 

 been printed, does not extend beyond April, 1714. As 

 we have said, here we may read how day by day the 

 public mind was agitated, now by rumours of that plot of 

 which, as Dryden says — 



" Some truth there was, but dash'd and brew'd with lies ;" 

 now by some startling piece of state policy, which in 

 those unsettled times might end men knew not how ; and 

 we read them as it were in a newspaper. In short, we do 

 not think we could better describe this curious and va- 

 luable contribution to English history than by calling it 

 The Times of those times. The resemblance, too, be- 

 tween this Diary and our great cotemporary, extends to 

 this, that though political information is the main in- 

 gredient in both, in both we have a plentiful supply of 

 minor news, accidents and offences, births, deaths, and 

 marriages : so that one minute we read how " Lord Sun- 

 derland, who succeeds Sir Joseph Williamson in his place 

 of Secretary of State, hath paid Sir Joseph 6000/. for the 

 same ; " and in the next that " Mrs. Gwyn, mother to 

 Madam Ellen Gw3'n, being in drink, was drowned in a 

 ditch near Westminster ; " and again, after a curious 

 entry respecting the Earl of Danby moving the Court of 

 King's Bench for a Scandalum Magnatum against certain 

 booksellers, we read under the date of June 9th, " dyed at 

 Walton -upon-Thames the old astrologer Mr. Wm. Lilly." 

 Thus the student of our social, as well as of our political, 

 history, will find his account in the brief but suggestive 

 records in Luttrell's Diary. Some of these we propose to 

 transplant hereafter to the columns of " N. & Q. ; " but we 

 must now bring to a close our notice of this curious and 

 instructive book. Its publication is most creditable to the 

 University of Oxford; for while it is a work which no 

 bookseller could have undertaken with any prospect of 

 remuneration, it is as certainly one which ought not to 

 slumber in MS. in the Library of All Souls. 



A very valuable addition has just been made to our 

 stock of Shakspearian literature by the publication of 



Pericles, Prince of Tyre. A Novel, hy George Wilkina. 

 Printed in 1608, and founded upon Shakespeare's Play, 

 edited by Professor Tycho Mommsen, with a Preface, in- 

 cluding a brief Account of some original Shakspeare-Editions 

 extant in Germany and Switzerland, and a few Remarks on 

 the Latin Romance of Apollonius, King of Tyre, by the 

 Editor; and an Introduction by J. Payne Collier, Esq. 

 The great importance of this reprint may be best stated 

 in Mr. Collier's own words, viz. " That the novel before 

 us very much adopts the language of the play, and not 

 unfrequently supplies portions of the play as it was acted 

 in 1607 or 1608, which have not come down to us in any 

 of the printed copies of Pericles : " and finally, " it supplies 

 manj' passages written by Shakspeare, and recited by the 

 performers, which were garbled, mangled, or omitted, in 

 the printed play of Pericles as it has come down to us." 

 Are we not then justified in regarding this reprint as a 

 valuable gift to every lover of Shakspeare? 



The ceremony of opening the Exhibition of Art 

 Treasures at Manchester on Tuesday last, by Prince 

 Albert, appears to have given general satisfaction. The 

 collections in every department are rich not Only beyond 

 precedent, but beyond the most sanguine expectations of 

 the projectors. One could wish that when public cu- 

 riosity at Manchester is sated, the whole could be trans- 

 ferred to the metropolis, to enable the hundreds to view 

 it, who have neither the time nor the means to make a 

 journey to Manchester for the purpose. 



The Irish Quarterly Review will in future be published 

 with the other Quarterlies, on the 1st April, Ist July, 

 Ist October, and 1st January, and the price 5s., instead of 

 2s. 6d. as formerly. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PURCHASE. 



Hmtory awd Antiqditiei of Twickenham. By Edwaid Ironside, 



Esq. 4to. 1797. 

 Tooke's Pkkes. Vols. I. tolV.,orany of them. 

 Thb Tatler. Vol. I. Large Paper. Sharpe's British Classics. 1804. 



•** Letters, statins particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be 

 sent to Messrs. Beli, & Daldy, Publishers ot " NOTES AND 

 QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street. 



Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to 

 the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and ad- 

 dresses are given for that purpose : 

 Plain Sermons. By Contributors to the " Tracts for the Times." 



Wanted by Rev. J. B. Wilkimon, Weston Market Rectory , Harling, 

 Thetford. 



JosEPHDs (Greek). Small Edition, 12mo., or 18mo. 

 JotiRNAi. OF Sacred Litbrathre. January, 1857. 



Wanted by Rev. F. Parker, Luffingcott, Devon. 



ftaXitti to (Tdrrc^ijajilfcuti. 



We are compelled to postpone many interesting articles which are in 

 type, including one on Niebuhr's Praises of a Spdrious Work ; Mb. 

 Challeteth an Early Mention of Tobacco; Mr. H. L. Temple on 

 Archaisms and Provincialisms j together tvith Notes on Books which 

 have reached us, among ivhich we may mention the concluding part y 

 Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 



K. K. K. (St. John's, Cambridge). How can we forward a letter to 

 this CoiTespondent f 



M. W. J. R. The Fundamental Charter of Presbytery Examined, 

 Svo. 1697, is by Bishop John Sage. See " N. & Q., 2nd S. i. 494. 



X. TheRev.T. Streatflelddied on May \7,i^S. For a notice of him 

 see Gent. Mag., July, 1848, p. 99. The name of the Rev. R. M' Donald 

 Caunter, LL.B., Curate of llanwell, Oxon., occurs in the Clergy List qf 

 1857. 



Owing to an accident to our copy containing Answers *o Correspon* 

 DENTS, several such answers are unavoidably postponed until next week. 



"Notes and Qoehies" is published at noon on Friday, and is also 

 isstied in Monthly Parts. The subscription for Stamped Copies for 

 kix Months forwarded direct from the Publishers (including the Half- 

 yearly Index) is \\s. id., which may be paid by Post Office Order tn 

 favour q/' Messrs. Bell and Daldy,186. Fleet Street, E.Ci to whom 

 also all CoMMONicJ^oNs for the Editor should ie addressed. 



