498 Recent Wiltshire Boohs, Pamphlets, Articles, &c. 



genius alike for friendship and architecture." "In the Great Hall, 

 Lacock Abbey, Miller accomplished what was to prove his most im- 

 portant building in ' the Gothick taste.' " John Ivory Talbot, who was in 

 1753 contemplating pulling down the old Hall and building a new one 

 at Lacock, was introduced to Miller, from whose plans the present 

 Hall was built. A series of extracts from Talbot's letters, as well as a 

 letter of introduction from Mr. Eichard Goddard, are printed in chapter 

 xix., pp. 298—309. In these extracts the progress of the work on the 

 Hall is followed from its commencement to its completion in 1756. 



English Church Brasses from the 13th to the 17th century. A 

 Manual for Antiquaries, Archaeologists, and Collectors. By Ernest R. 

 Suming. With 237 illustrations of extant examples reproduced from 

 rubbings. London : L. Upcott Gill, Bazaar Buildings, Drury Lane, 

 W.C., 1910. 



Cloth, 9in. X 5fin., pp. xii. +456. Price 10/6. 



" The purpose of this book is to point out the various periods of 

 armour, to note every component part in the different periods, to par- 

 ticularise each item of ecclesiastical vestment, to review the successive 

 styles of civilian costume, both male and female, to deal with the 

 history of brasses in general, to show how copies may be made of 

 the four or five thousand examples still extant, and to place before the 

 public a much longer list of Churches containing brasses than any 

 hitherto published." 



A copiously illustrated book but by no means free from inaccuracies. 

 A quite erroneous explanation of " Chrysom Child " is for instance 

 given. 



Lists of Brasses existing in each county are given in their chrono- 

 logical order. The Wiltshire list gives four of the fourteenth century, 

 thirteen of the fifteenth century, thirty of the sixteenth century, fifteen 

 of the seventeenth century, and one of the eighteenth century. There 

 is however an error in stating that the Brass to John Wylkys, Vicar 

 of Hilmarton, who died in 1480, is still existing in that Church. 'Kite 

 mentions it as described by Aubrey {Monumental Brasses of Wilts, 

 p. 35), but it has long since entirely disappeared. 



The Secret Of StOUehenge, by Charles F. Cooksey. An article 

 in The Nineteenth Century, Feb., 1910, pp. 356 — 367. The author 

 starts with the statement of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Walter de 

 Mapes that the stones of Stonehenge were brought from Ireland, to 

 which place they had been conveyed from Africa or Spain. " I could 

 not believe that this wonderfully conceived and equally wonderfully 

 executed work could have been erected in Ireland under any conditions 

 which had prevailed in that island up to that period. It was also 

 difficult to believe that it would have been possible to convey the 

 stones such a long distance by sea and land. Under these circum- 

 stances, I began to cast about for an ancient name which would be 

 likely to occur in those primitive records, and which had sufficiently 

 strong resemblance to the word Ireland to mislead the Early English 



