/ 



Nov. 29. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



429 



puted trade of Shakspeare's father) ; but to what 

 end was it related, if not to sugijest an application 

 of which Steevens was only the interpreter ? 



But Bolton Corney thinks the character of the 

 witness suspicious; he forgets that only just before 

 he had stated that the anecdote and its application 

 had been repeated in three editions, extending 

 over thirteen years, all within the lifetime of 

 Dr. Farmer ! A. E. B. 



Leeds. 



Earwig (Vol. iv., pp.274. 411.). — Tlie cor- 

 respondent who asserts the curious fact i\\ixt John- 

 son, Richardson, and Webster do not notice the 

 word earwig must have consulted some expurgated 

 editions of the works of those celebrated lexico- 

 graphers — -or else we must consider his assertion 

 as a curious fact in the history of literary over- 

 siarhts. Bolton Cornet. 



iHis'cellanrnuS. 



NOTES ON books, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC. 



Although tliere are few books which have proved of 

 greater utility to inquirers into tfie more recent history 

 of England than Beatson's Politicid Index, yet it is also 

 true that there are few which have more frequently or 

 mote justly caused the reader to feel the want of a new 

 and improved edition. A very short examination, 

 however, of Mr. Haydn's recently published Beatson's 

 Political Index Modernised, The Book of Dic/nilies, 

 contiiining Rolls of the Official Personages of the Brifis/i 

 Empire, Civil, Ecclesiuiticd, Judicial, Mditary, Naval, 

 and Municipal, ^-c, will satisfy the reader that such 

 want has at length been supplied in a manner the most 

 ample and the most satisfactory. For though we have 

 referred to Beatson's well-known work for the purpose 

 of furnishing a better idea of the Book of Dignities, we 

 are bound to acknowledge that Mr. Haydn is justified 

 in stating, that in the work in question he owes little 

 more tlian the plan to Beatson. Mr. Haydn's volume 

 not only contaii\s many lists (among them the " Admi- 

 nistrations of England, and the Jiuiges of the Ecclesi- 

 astical Courts") notto be foundinthe Political Index, hut 

 the author has liad the advantage of being pL'rmitted to 

 search the various official records with the view of 

 enabling him to give complete and accurate informa- 

 tion. The result, of course, is obvious ; namely, that 

 just in the same proportion that our author surpasses 

 Beatsoii in tlie extent and accuracy of his various lists, 

 does the Boidi of Diijnities exceed its predecessor in 

 usefulness to the oflicial man, the historian, and the 

 scholar. 



Mr. Hunt's experience as a public lecturer at the 

 various literary and scientific institutions of the country, 

 having convinced him that for the majority of the 

 members of those institutions most of the existing 

 works on natural philosophy are of too abstruse and 

 technical a character — are, in short, sealed books, — he 

 has been led to pulilish a small volume which we have 

 no doubt will soon become extremely popular. It is 

 entitled Elementary P/ii/sica, an Introduction to the Study 



of Natural P/iilosophy ; and, as its object is to teach 

 physical science so far as to render all the great deduc- 

 tions from observation and experiment satisfactorily 

 clear, without encountering the difficulty of mathe- 

 matics, — and no one is better able to do this, and throw 

 a charm over such a subject, than the author of the 

 Poetry of Science, — the work, which is illustrated with 

 upwards of two hundred woodcuts, will be found 

 eminently useful ; not only to those who have neither 

 time nor opportunity to carry their studies beyond its 

 pages, but especially as a "first book" to those in 

 whom it may awaken the desire for a more perfect 

 knowledge of the beautiful and important truths of 

 which it treats. 



The nature of the Hand Atlas of Physical Geography, 

 consisting of a Series of Maps and Illustrations, showing 

 tlie Geographical Distribution of Natural Plienomena, 

 embracing the Divisions of Geology, Hydrography, Me- 

 teorology, Natural History: from the Physikalischer Atlas 

 of Berghaus, and the Maps of the Erdkunde, drawn by and 

 under tlie immediate Superintendence of Drs. Hitter and 

 Kiepert, Oetzel, Grimm, §-c. , by the Editor of the Uni- 

 versity Atlas of the Middle Ages, is sufficiently described 

 by its ample title-page ; which shows, moreover, that 

 the work is not a mere copy or reduction of the great 

 atlas of Berghaus, on which it is founded. As a com- 

 panion to the works of Humboldt, Mrs. Somerville, and 

 other writers on physical geography, it will be found 

 most useful ; while its convenient size, and moderate 

 price, place it within the reach of almost all classes of 

 readers. 



Catalogues Received. — Nattaii and Bond's (23. 

 Bedford Street) Catalogue Part II. of Ancient and 

 Modern Books ; Adam Holden's (GO. High Street, 

 Exeter) Catalogue Fart XXX III. of Second-hand 

 Books in Excellent Condition; B. Quarltch's (16. 

 Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. .37. 

 of Books in Oriental Literature ; J. Russell Smith's 

 (4. Old ComjJton Street, Soho) Catalogue Part VII. of 

 an Extensive Collection of Choice, Useful, and Curious 

 Books. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PURCHASE. 



Hustek's De\ne«y of Doncaster. Vol. I. Large or small 



paper. 

 CmiE's Rural Muse. 

 Christian Piety freed from the Delusions of Modern 



ENTHUSusrs. A.D. ITol) or 17o7. 

 An Answer to Father Huddlestone's Short and Plain Way 



to the Faith and Church. By Samuel Grascombe. London, 



1703. 8vo. 

 Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed upon all Members 



OF Parliament. By Samuel Parker, Lord Bishop of Oxoii. 



loss. 4to. 

 Lewis's Life op Caxton. 8vo. 1737. 

 Catalcioue of Joseph Ames's Library. 8vo. 1700. 



TR U'P'S CoMMENTARV. FoUo. Vol.1. 



Wimtlay's Paraphrase on the New Testament. Folio. Vol. I. 



170C. 

 Longs Astronomy. 4to. 1742. 

 Mad. O'.^rulay's Diary. Vol. H. 1842. 

 Adams' Moral Tales. 

 AuroHioGRAPiiv OF Du. Johnson. 1805. 



•,' IjfittiTS, stating partii'iilars and lowest price, carriage free, 

 to liK siMit to >Iu. Hell. Publisher of "NOTliS .ANU 

 (JUFltlES," ISO. Fleet Street. 



