2nd s. No 45., Nov. 8. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



379 



Theodolite (2"'* S. i. 73. 122.) — Is it not most 

 probable that this "still-vexed" word is com- 

 pounded from the Greek dedonat, " to see," and 

 (tSuKov, "a figure," or "object?" I say nothing 

 as to the rules for the formation of compound 

 words. • Eta Beta Pi. 



Masvicius' Virgil (2"^ S. ii. 235.) — If either of 



your correspondents should be desirous of seeing 



or obtaining a fine copy of the Leuwarden edition, 



I can accommodate them. W. G. L. 



39. Westbourne Grove. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 



Two biographies of men, alike in their strong natural 

 genius, but different in country and education, Bernard 

 Palissy and Jerome Cardan, has Mr. Morley already 

 given to the world. He has now completed this triology 

 of lives by that of Cornelius Agrippa : and thus accom- 

 plished, and very successfuUj', the point at which he 

 aimed, that of showing us what the life of a scholar was 

 at the time of the revival of learning and the reformation 

 of the Church. Through how many pages of old for- 

 gotten learning, through what piles of old Latin letters 

 written by Agrippa, must Mr. Morley have waded to 

 gather the materials for the pleasant and interesting 

 volumes in which he gives us the history of a man 

 who won his knighthood in the field, who earned his 

 doctorate in every faculty, who wrote a book on magic, 

 which keeps him as a magician in men's minds even up 

 to the present day, and who, after discoursing upon the 

 " Vanitj' of Sciences and Arts," died away from the wife 

 who had dishonoured him and the children from whom 

 he was forced to flee, a lonely and unhappy man. Mr. 

 Morley will have added to his reputation by these two 

 volumes, which we commend very heartily to the notice 

 of our readers; although we cannot endorse all the 

 opinions and views to which the author has given ex- 

 pression. 



When a man of fortune emploj's his ample means in 

 collecting works of art or objects of antiquity, he does 

 good service to the cause of Art or Archaeology ; but he 

 deserves still higher praise when he endeavours to make 

 others the sharers in the enjoyment to be derived from 

 their possession by the publication of casts, engravings, 

 &c., of the treasures in his keeping. To this higher praise 

 Lt.-Gen. Fox is fully entitled — for, having busied himself 

 for forty years in forming a Collection of Coins, he has 

 now issued a scries of engravings of such of them as have 

 hitherto been unpublished, for the use of numismatic stu- 

 dents. The work is entitled Engravings of Inedited or Rare 

 Greek Coins, with Descriptions, by Lieutenant-General C. 

 R. Fox. Part I., Europe ; and this first part comprises 114 

 Greek Coins of Europe, commencing with Massilia, and 

 terminating with the Islands of the iEgean Sea; and if 

 he is encouraged, of which there can be little doubt, the 

 editor proposes to complete it by a selection of such un- 

 published coins of Asia and Africa as may be in his pos- 

 session. 



The world- wde reputation of the useful volumes pro- 

 duced by the late Mr. Maunder, and which are known as 

 Maunder's Treasuries, is likely to receive an increase by 

 the new volume just added to the Series. It is entitled 

 3Vie Treasury of Geography, Physical, Historical, De- 

 scriptive, and Political, containing a succinct Account of 



every Country in the World, preceded by an Introductory 

 Outline of the History of Geography ; a familiar Inquiry 

 into the Varieties of Race and Language exhibited by dif- 

 ferent Nations, and a View of the Relations of Geography 

 to Astronomy and the Physical Sciences. It was designed 

 and commenced by Mr. Maunder, but has been completed 

 by one well-fitted for the task, Mr. William Hughes ; and 

 with its ample index, well engraved maps, and accom- 

 panying plates, is such a complete handbook of the 

 branch of knowledge Avhich it is intended to teach, that 

 it well deserves to be regarded, as it is designated, a 

 Treasury of Geography. 



For seven years now has the well-known house of 

 De la Rue & Co. issued for the use of men of business 

 and men of no business, in fact, for every body, their 

 Indelible Diary and Memorandum Book. And as each 

 year has added to it some new description of useful in- 

 formation, it may readily be conceived what a vast 

 amount of that knowledge which is called for and wanted 

 every day is now garnered up in its clearly but closely 

 printed pages. While as a guarantee for that accuracy 

 without which the information would be worse than 

 useless, we have a responsible editor announced in the 

 title-page, viz. Mr. Norman Pogson, First Assistant at 

 the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford. 



Our readers, we are sure, will be glad to learn that 

 The Remains of Tho. Heame, being Extracts from the 

 Manuscript Diaries of the Oxford Antiquary; collected, 

 with a few Notes, by Dr. Bliss, will shortly be published. 

 The learned Editor doubts "whether in these days two 

 hundred purchasers of such a work will be found, but 

 hopes that the Collectors of Heame's Works, (to which 

 this may be deemed a fitting supplement,) the lovers of 

 biographical minutiae, of personal anecdote, of historical 

 gossip, and, above all, of the local antiquities, habits, and 

 manners of the University, will find in it somewhat of 

 information and amusement to make up for the smallness 

 of the impression, and the consequent high price " at 

 which the book is to be published. There can be but 

 little doubt of this, and We certainly look for it with 

 much anxiety. 



We have this week to record the death of an occa- 

 sional, but most valuable contributor to "N. & Q.," the 

 Rev. Joseph Mendham, of Sutton Coldfield, who died there 

 on Sunday last, at the advanced age of 87. For several 

 years before his death, he had quitted the field of litera- 

 ture ; directing the powers of his mind to the prospect of 

 that state which brings " an end to all controversy," and in 

 which truth is to be seen at length in all its reality. The 

 late Mr. Thomas Rodd, than whom no one better knew 

 how to put scarce books into the most proper hands, used 

 to express this high character of him as a writer : " Few 

 men know so well the worth of books as Mr. Mendham, 

 and no one knows better how to use them." We propose 

 to give, next week, a List of his published Works. 



British Museum. — Our literary friends will be glad 

 to learn that the new circular Reading Room, which will 

 be the largest in the world, is rapidly approaching com- 

 pletion, more than two hundred workmen being daily em- 

 ployed upon it. The decorations are nearly complete, and 

 the appliances for heating and ventilating are in a for- 

 ward state, so that the public may hope to be admitted 

 beneath the magnificent dome in May or June next. If 

 we are not misinformed, arrangements are being made 

 so that the place may be lighted up with gas for the con- 

 venience of evening students ; and what above all it is 

 gratifying to know is, that there will be a complete ma- 

 nuscript Catalogue of the collection in the room ; that is, 

 the present four or five different catalogues will be em- 

 bodied in one. The new Reading Room will be capable 

 of seating five hundred readers, giving ample table-room 



