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The Museum Gazette 



Social Life in England. 1 — Much interest attaches to a 

 well-written account of the social life of our forefathers, 

 such as may be read in the volume now before us. Though 

 this " account of the social changes that have taken place 

 throughout the ages " must of necessity be a brief one, 

 affording here and there only the veriest glimpses, yet con- 

 sidering that it is condensed into some 400 pages of clear type, 

 the author has done his work well and presented us with 

 a series of very pleasantly written chapters. Even trivial 

 matters, as the author surmises in his introductory chapter, 

 have their interest. We are reminded " that William the 

 Conqueror ate with his fingers and never saw a coal 

 fire; that the two thousand cooks of Richard II. could 

 make neither a plum pudding nor mince pies ; that Chaucer 

 never saw a printed book ; that Queen Elizabeth never heard 

 of tea or saw a newspaper ; that George I. had no umbrella, 

 and that Queen Victoria was the first sovereign of our island 

 home who had not to depend on wind and weather to leave 

 her kingdom." 



Beza's Icones : Contemporary Portraits of Reformers of 

 Religion and Letters. — To all who feel that they have been 

 in any degree forgetful in the way of Christmas gifts, we can 

 cordially recommend this work. It will be acceptable at any 

 season and to all who take interest either in portraiture or 

 history. It contains forty-nine full-page portraits ; thirty- 

 eight of these are facsimile reproductions of Beza's Icones, 

 the other eleven are from Lombard's translation of Beza. 

 The Editor, Dr. C. G. M'Crie, has supplied to them all con- 

 cise but very readable biographies. We are interested to 

 observe that he acknowledges exceptional indebtedness in his 

 work to a distinguished naturalist, Dr. Carruthers, late the 

 Keeper of the Botanical Collection in the British Museum. 



1 "A Short History of Social Life in England," by M. B. Synge, 

 F.R.Hist.S. Crown 8vo, cloth, pp. xvi. and 407. 6s. Hodder and 

 Stoughton, 1906. 



