many. I fancied that rooky was from the Flemish roock smoke, whilst rawky more resembles the German rauch. On the other hand, Heath's Dictionary gives rooky as signifying musty. A few days ago I gave directions for an apple tree to be removed a few yards to a more open site. It had been crowded up, and was rather one-sided in consequence. I ordered the thin side to be turned in a certain direction. "You mean the slack side of the tree, sir," said one of the men.

EDMUND WATERTON.

THE CAUSAL "Do" (6th S. iv. 408; v. 53). As to the instance given at the former reference of the use of do in the sense to cause," or "to make," I do not purpose further referring, but I think as strange a meaning once attached to that word when it was used as an equivalent to put. In the "Shepherd's Play," from the Wakefield Mysteries (1409), occurs this line (spoken by Tertius Pastor) :

"Syn they maintain their theft let do them to dede." Tyndale, that grand and vigorous old writer, to whose nervous translation of the Bible the English language is much indebted, wrote, in 1538, "Do on him a garment." In both these instances do is used in the sense of put. I cannot find it appears earlier than in the Handlyne Synne, wherein the line occurs :

"To do a man to deth parfore."

The use of do as an auxiliary seems relatively modern, yet we find in King Alfred's writings "he doth withstand." In Somersetshire and in other places it is customary to say "he do be" instead of "he is." I do not find a later use of do in the sense of put than appears in Tyndale's version.

Tuam.

RICHARD J. KELLY.

POPULAR NAMES FOR THE COINAGE (6th S. iv. 327; v. 17).—Cf. also Green's Tu Quoque; or, The City Gallant: "A close heart and free hand make a man admired: a testern or a shilling to servant that brings you a glass of beer, binds his hands to his lips." The following passage, moreover, seems worthy of being quoted under the above heading: "There is in a curious old book—a big and heavy book, printed in the year 1600 (De Morgan, Arithmetical Books, p. 31)—a versified description of the aliquot parts of a shilling:

"A farthing first findes forty-eight,
An halfpenny hopes for twenty-four,
Three farthings seeks out sixteen straight,
A peny puls a dozen lower;

Dicke Dandiprat drewe eight out deade;
Twopence tooke six, and went his way;
Tom Trip-and-goe with four is fled,
But Goodman Grote on three doth stay;
A testine only two doth take;

Moe parts a shilling cannot make."

Sir J. Bowring, The Decimal System, 1854, pp. 110-1. F. C. BIRKBECK TERRY.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Sonnets of Three Centuries: a Selection, including many Examples hitherto Unpublished. Edited by T. Hall Caine. (Stock.) THE modern sonnet-revival appears to be passing from the enthusiastic to that purely critical stage when matter tends to become secondary to form, and it is probable that we shall hear of a good many ingenious theories not dreamt of in the philosophy of the great poets to whom we owe our masterpieces in this way. But whether a sonnet is written according to the straitest sect of the Italians, or condescends to the hopeless heresy of couplets, the final question will still be, What is its value as a poem? It may also be predicted with safety that there will be always more sonneteers than good sonnets. Every one remembers Boileau's famous line about a "sonnet sans défauts," but few have the courage to quote what follows:

"Mais en vain mille auteurs y pensent arriver; Et cet heureux phénix est encore à trouver." It may be gathered from what has been said above that we do not find ourselves entirely in accord with Mr. pleasanter to praise the evident sincerity of his views. Caine's somewhat super-subtle introduction. But it is and the patient research which he has brought to his task, as well as the admirable way in which he has been seconded by his publisher. The get-up of this book as to paper, type, and size is almost ideal. If there be a from two causes-the necessity (dura necessitas!) for defect in the arrangement of the contents it arises chiefly novelty and Mr. Caine's position as latest in a long train of sonnet anthologists. He has endeavoured to secure distinction for his collection by including unpublished work and it is obvious (for reasons known to every editor) that no gathering from the work of living writers, much less from the unpublished work of living writers, can be in any sense "quintessential." For example, had admirers of his genius would do him the ill turn of inMr. Swinburne been a deceased author, no judicious cluding among his more laudable efforts the pair of sonnets on Carlyle's Reminiscences. Nor can a sonnet which contains such lines as

"Albeit his world

In these few piteous paces then was furled" be regarded as worthy of such a justly acknowledged master of diction as Mr. Dante Rossetti. Nowhere, too, Mr. Roden Noel be permitted to rhyme "laughter" with we imagine, but in a "disinterested" contribution would "water." On the other hand, Sir Noel Paton's "Midnight Wind," Mr. W. B. Scott's" Garland for Advancing Years," Miss Rossetti's "To Day's Burden," Mr. Watts's "Parable Sonnets," Mrs. Meynell's "Renouncement," and Mr. Gosse's "Importunity," are distinct gains to our literature, and will probably find a place in future anthologies. Mr. Caine's collection also includes some examples of published work not found in previous collections, but he cannot be said to have exhausted the field. It is by accident, no doubt, that Mr. Lang's faultless "Natural Theology' "finds no place in it. Mr. Caine refers to Sir William Hamilton in a note, but gives us no specimen of his powers. And is there nothing of Chauncy Hare Townshend, of W. J. Linton, of William Barnes, of John Wilson? Surely, too, that sampling of American sonnet writers is imperfect which gives nothing of O. W. Holmes, H. Timrod, Paul Hayne, and Richard Watson Gilder. But if Mr. Caine has not remembered everybody, he has at least produced an attractive volume, which cannot be exactly compared with any of its pre

American Men of Letters-Washington Irving. By Charles Dudley Warner.-Noah Webster. By Horace E. Scudder. (Sampson Low & Co.) THIS new series is edited by Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, and fitly commences with a life of Washington Irving, the first American writer who attained a European reputation. Mr. Warner, who has undertaken the first volume of this series, wrote the introduction to the "Geoffrey Crayon" edition of Washington Irving's works which was published some little time ago. So abundant are the materials for this sketch that Mr. Warner's difficulty has rather been how to avoid overcrowding his little volume with interesting reminiscences. Of the charming style of Irving's writings the readers of "N. & Q." have no need to be reminded; but it is much to be regretted that his works should be neglected by the rising generation. The amiability of his character added an additional zest to the purity of his style, and it would be difficult indeed to find a better model for the young literary aspirant than Washington Irving. Few nobler instances could be found in literary history than the abandonment of his long cherished scheme of writing the history of the Conquest of Mexico to Mr. W. H. Prescott. With such a subject we need hardly say that Mr. Warner has not failed to produce a very interesting book.

The subject of Mr. Scudder's sketch is that of a very different type of man. Noah Webster, who in this country is mainly remembered as a compiler of an American dictionary, was born in the little village of West Hartford on October 16, 1758. When at college he served as a private in the revolutionary army. During the earlier part of his career Webster supported himself by teaching. Unlike Irving, he was a typical American, with all the distinct individuality of his race. A man of indomitable will, extraordinary perseverance, and, above all, of unlimited faith in himself. Though without much depth of learning, there was no literary work that he did not think himself capable of undertaking. Whether he was writing on the decomposition of white lead paint or a cure for cancer, or revising the Bible, his confidence never failed him. Through the means of his SpellingBook, which was published in 1783, and his Dictionary, which did not appear until 1828, he exercised great influence on the formation of American orthography. He died in 1843, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. We especially commend the attention of our readers to the chapter on the American dictionary of the English language, in which much interesting information will be found. The publishers of this series are to be congratulated upon having produced such readable and handy volumes, printed in a clear type and on excellent paper. If a complete list of the works of each "man of letters was added to each volume we think it would still further increase the usefulness of the series.

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Eighth Report. (Stationery Office.)

To write a review of a huge volume such as this is impossible within the lines at our disposal. To pick out here and there a fact for comment, leaving a hundred other things more important untouched upon, suggests unpleasantly that we have but opened the book at random, and remarked on the first matter that caught the eye. This would, in the present case, be a most unfair assumption. We have read every word of the ponderous folio, and are quite sure that it is of equal importance to students with any of its predecessors. The only marked falling off in interest is in the portion devoted to the

have got down to the reign of Charles II., and it cannot be pretended that that time of "evil days" and "evil tongues" is equal in fascination with the fierce struggle of the Civil War. Though containing far less that appeals to the imagination, we are not sure that, viewed in the white light of history, the disclosures are not as important. We yet but dimly realize what a sink of iniquity the men of the restored monarchy lived in. The papers here will help to fill out the picture. The records of the Corporation of Leicester have been carefully examined. They are probably as important as those of any borough in the three kingdoms. The series of royal charters opens with two documents dated in the first year of King John, and the mass of papers relating to the public matters of the town is simply enormous. The gild rolls begin in the same reign, and we should conjecture, from the evidence we have here, that they are so important that every line of them should be published with all convenient speed. In the 39 Henry III. we find a charter, printed in full, by which primogeniture was substituted for the custom of inheritance known as Borough English. It is said to have been given "assensu et voluntate omnium burgensium." Among the letters in the possession of the Earl of Denbigh is a document written in November, 1648, from some place in the Netherlands, from which it appears that the writer, who was a Royalist, knew of a plot to murder Col. Thomas Rainborowe. The letter must have been written early in the month, for Rainborowe was killed in an inn at Doncaster by certain adventurers from Pontefract Castle on October 29. It has been the common opinion that this cruel deed was conceived and executed by members of the Pontefract garrison only. This letter, however, makes it not improbable that they had received instructions from the leaders of the party beyond the sea.

MR. KERSHAW, the librarian of Lambeth Palace Library, is engaged on Studies in Lambeth Library: a Manual of its History, Contents, and Literary Annals. An account of the building and its ancient surroundings will be given, together with a description of its principal treasures. Mr. Elliot Stock will be the publisher.

MR. G. L. GOMME will give an account of books on local government in the March number of the Bibliographer.

Notices to Correspondents.

ENQUIRER ("Daniel Pulteney ").-He died Sept. 7, 1731, and was buried at St. James's, Westminster, Sept. 14, 1731. The body was removed to the east end of the south cloister of Westminster Abbey, May 17, 1732. See Col. Chester's Westminster Abbey Registers.

AUSTRALIAN HERALDRY (ante, pp. 104, 123).-A correspondent asks who authorizes or invents the arms for the various colonies.

A. G.-You shall hear from us.
MACADAM.-Initialled.

We can take no notice of anonymous communications.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of Notes and Queries ""-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 20, Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.

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