408 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 108. 



and was reprinted by him in 1790; the portions 

 ■vvithin brackets having been added in 1793 ? It 

 is clear, from tliis statement, that it received the 

 deliberate revision of its author. Novv, I cannot 

 deny that Farmer related the anecdote of the 

 ivool-man — suspicious as is the character of the 

 witness, but I contend that the observations on 

 it should be ascribed to Steevens alone ; and so 

 I shall leave your critic A. E. B to his own re- 

 llcctions. Bolton Corney. 



ANGLO-CATHOMC MBRABT. 



(Vol. iv., p. 365.) 



A Subscriber to the Anglo - Catholic 

 Library has discovered one fault in one volume 

 (published in 1844) of a series which now extends 

 to sixty-three volumes ; and on this one fault he 

 builds a representation which implies, in general, 

 incompetency in the editors, and nejflect of proper 

 sujiervision on the part of the committee of the 

 Anglo-Catholic Library. I believe the character 

 of the editions of most of the volumes sent out in 

 this series is sufficiently known to theologians to 

 render such a charge as this of little importance 

 as respects their judgment. But it may not be 

 60 with many of the readers of " Notes and 

 Queries." 



The gravamen of the charge rests on the im- 

 portance of a certain passage of St. Jerome 

 bearing on the Presbyterian controversy, — on the 

 necessity for a familiarity with that controversy in 

 an editor of Overall's Convocation Book, — and the 

 consequent incompetency of a person not thus 

 familiar with it to edit that work without, not the 

 assistance merely, but the immediate supervision 

 of the committee. 



Now the subject of episcopacy is not, as the 

 Subscriber alleges, " the principal subject" of this 

 Book ; it occupies 30 pages out of 272 : nor is a 

 familiarity with that controversy in any special 

 way necessary for an editor of the volume. The 

 subjects of which the Convocation Book treats are 

 wide and varied, and such omnigenous knowledge 

 as a familiar acquaintance with them implies, is 

 not, nor could be, required in any editor, nor be 

 expected by subscribers. 



The committee of the Anglo-Catholic Library 

 undertook to publish careful re{)rints of the works 

 of^nir old divines; and had they simply reprinted 

 with accuracy the Convocation Book, as published 

 in 1690, they would have fulfilled their covenant 

 with the sub-soribers. They did, however, much 

 more. 



It was known that the original MS. copy of this 

 Book was preserved at Dui-ham. Tlie edition of 

 1690 had been printed from a transcript made by 

 Archbishop Sancroft. The committee therefore 

 engaged the services of a gentleman whose name 



is well known as an accurate editor of works 



existing in MS. 



Tliis gentleman obtained access to all the known 

 M.SS. of the Convocation Book; viz. 1. The 

 original copy, and papers of alterations suggested 

 as it passed through the Upper House, preserved 

 at Durham. 2. A cotemporary MS. of part of 

 the first book, also preserved at Durham. 3. 

 Archbishop SancrofVs Transcript, preserved at 

 Emanuel College, Cambridge ; and 4. A MS. of 

 the first book belonging to Bishop Barlow, pre- 

 served at Queen's College, Oxford. These MSS. 

 were carefully collated, and the variations, in 

 many respects curious and interesting, were 

 printed at the bottom of the pages, and, as re- 

 gards the 4th MS., at the end of the volume. The 

 result is a correct edition of the text of this book, 

 with all that can be learned of its variations — the 

 book so highly extolled by your correspondent. 

 And I hear no objection alleged against the care 

 and faithfulness with which this part of the work 

 has been executed : your correspondent does not 

 appear to be aware of anything of the kind having 

 been done. 



But the editor went still further — he not only 

 gave the subscribers so much more than they had 

 bargained for, he added full references to the autho- 

 rities quoted in the book ; and when the passages 

 were important, he printed them in full, and even 

 added references to works in which the arguments 

 were more largely handled. Now these references 

 appear to me to amount to many hundreds. They 

 begin with Josephus, .and run through Fathers, 

 councils, schoolmen, Roman Catholic controver- 

 sialists, ecclesiastical historians, and the chroniclers 

 of the Middle Ages : and, as far as I can judge in 

 looking over the notes, not more than three or 

 four of these passages have been undiscovered by 

 the editor, and he honestly says he has not found 

 them ; one of these is the unlucky place of 

 St. Jerome, which your correspondent happens to 

 know something about. 



The remarks of yotir correspondent have led 

 me to examine the book, and I refer any one who 

 has the least regard for candour or fairness, to 

 do the same. 1 would ask them to judge it as 

 a whole, to see the number and variety of the 

 references, and the care which has been bestowed 

 upon them ; and to say whether — because he 

 missed one passage, and knew not its importance — 

 the editor can be fairly charged with inoomj)e- 

 tency ; or tlie committee of the Anglo-Catholic 

 Library accused of neglect, in leaving the work in 

 his hands without e.xercising over him such super- 

 vision as implies the reading every sheet as it 

 passed through the press ; for assistance the editor 

 had, and amply acknowledges that he received, at 

 the hand of the superintending editor. 



Another Subscriber to the 

 Anglo-Catholic Library. 





