July 9. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



45 



n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus eourte. La raison 

 qui m'a oblige de hater vous est mieux connue qu'a 



"^°^" R.E.T. 



Paint taken of of old Oak (Vol. vii., p. 620.).— 

 About twenty-six years ago, by the adoption of a 

 very simple process recommended by Dr. Wol- 

 laston, the paint was entirely removed from the 

 screen of carved oak which fills the north end of 

 the great hall at Audley End, and the wood re- 

 assuraed its original colour and brilliancy.^ The 

 result was brought about by the application of 

 soft-soap, laid on of the thickness of a shilling 

 over the whole surface of the oak, and allowed to 

 remain there two or three days ; at the end of 

 •which it was washed off with plenty of cold water. 

 I am aware that potash has been often tried with 

 success for the same purpose; but, in many in- 

 stances, unless it is used with due caution, the 

 wood becomes of a darker hue, and has the ap- 

 pearance of having been charred. It is worthy 

 of remark, that Dr. WoUaston made the suggestion 

 with great diffidence, not having, as he said, had 

 any practical experience of the effect of such an 

 application. Braybrookb. 



Passage m the " Tempest" (Vol. il., pp. 259. 299. 

 337. 429.). — As a parallel to the expression " most 

 busy least" (meaning " least busy" emphatically), 

 I would suggest the common expression of the 

 Northumbrians, " Far over near " (signifying 

 "much too near"). H. T. Riley. 



NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. 

 The Committee appointed by the Society of Anti- 

 quaries to consider what improvements could be intro- 

 duced into its management, has at length issued a 

 Report ; and we are glad to find that the alterations 

 suggested by them have been frankly adopted by the 

 Council. The principal changes proposed refer to the 

 election of the Council ; the having but one Secretary, 

 who is not to be a member of that body ; the appoint- 

 ment of Local Secretaries ; the retirement annually of 

 the Senior Vice-President ; and lastly, that which more 

 than anything else must operate for the future benefit 

 of the Society, the appoiHtment of a third Standing 

 Committee, to be called The Executive Committee, whose 

 duty shall be " to superintend the correspondence of 

 the Society on all subjects relating to literature and 

 antiquities, to direct any antiquarian operations or ex- 

 cavations carried on by the Society, to examine all 

 papers sent for reading, all objects sent for exhibition, 

 and to assist the Director generally in taking care that 

 the publications of the Society are consistent with its 

 position and importance." It is easy to see that if a 

 proper selection be made of the Fellows to serve on 

 this Committee, their activity, and the renewed interest 

 which will be thereby awakened in the proceedings of 

 the Society, will ensure for the Thursday Evening 

 Meetings a regular supply of objects for exhibition, 



and papers for reading, worthy of the body — and there- 

 fore unlike many which we have too frequently heard, 

 and to which, but for the undeserved imputation which 

 we should seem to cast upon our good friend Sir Henry 

 Ellis, might be applied, with a slight alteration, that 

 couplet of Mathias which tells — 



" How o'er the bulk of these transacted deeds 



Sir Henry pants, and d ns 'em as he reads." 



We have now little doubt that better days are in store 

 for the Society of Antiquaries. 



The Annual Meeting of the Archfeological Institute 

 commences at Chichester on Tuesday next, under the 

 patronage of the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond, and 

 the Bishop of Chichester, and the Presidentship of Lord 

 Talbot de Malahide. There is a good bill of fare pro- 

 vided in the shape of Lectures on the Cathedral, by 

 Professor Willis; excursions to Boxgrove Priory, 

 Halnaker, God wood, Cowdray, Petworth, Pevensey, 

 Amberley, Shoreham, Lewes, and Arundel ; excava- 

 tions on Bow Hill ; Meetings of the Sections of His- 

 tory, Antiquities, and Architecture; and, what we 

 think will be one of the pleasantest features of the 

 programme, the Annual Meeting of the Sussex Archse- 

 ological Society, in the proceedings of which the 

 Members of the Institute are invited to participate. 



Books Received. — A Glossart/ of Provincialisms i'm 

 Use in the County of Sussex, by W. Durrant Cooper, 

 second edition : a small but very valuable addition to 

 our provincial glossaries, with an introduction well 

 worth the reading. We shall be surprised if the meet- 

 ing of the Institute this year in Sussex does not fur- 

 nish Mr. Cooper with materials for a third and 

 enlarged edition. — The Travellers Library, No. 44., 

 A Tour on the Continent by Rail and Road, by John 

 Barrow : a brief itinerary of dates and distances, show- 

 ing what may be done in a two months' visit to the 

 Continent. — No. 45. Swiss Men and Swiss Mountains, 

 by Robert Ferguson : a very graphic and well-written 

 narrative of a tour in Switzerland, which deserves a 

 corner in the knapsack of the " intending" traveller. — 

 The Essays, or Counsels Civil and Moral, by Francis 

 Bacon, Viscount St. Alban, edited by Thomas Markby ; 

 a cheap edition of this valuable " handbook for think- 

 ing men," produced by the ready sale which has at- 

 tended The Advancement of Learning by the same 



editor Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of 



Gothe, with Illustrations by J. Wolf, Part VII., in 

 which the translator carries on the story to The Out- 

 lawry in well-tuned verse. — Cyclopwdia Bibliographica, 

 Part X. This tenth Part concludes the first half of the 

 volume, of authors and their works ; and the punc- 

 tuality with which the Parts have succeeded each other 

 is a suflScient pledge that we shall see this most useful 

 library companion completed in a satisfactory manner. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PURCHASE. 



Moobe's Melodies. 15th Edition. 



Wood's Athene OxoNiENSEs (ed. Bliss). 4 vols. 4to. 1813-2(7. 

 The Complaynts of Scotland. 8vo. Edited by Leyden. 1804. 

 Shakspeare's Plays. Vol. V. of Johnson and Steeveus's edition, 

 in 15 vols. 8vo. 1739. m r^ ■ ^ 



Circle of the Seasons. 12mo. London, 1828. (Two Copies.) 

 Jones' Account of Aberystwith. Trevecka, 8vo. 1779. 



