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mars are styled irregular, and, under that term of cadency, treated with so little respect that many of them have deserted into the ranks of the so-called regular verbs; but they have in every vein the best blood of the Teutonic race, and as they die out or are forced to abandon their order, they carry away so much of the life and spirit, buoyancy and elasticity of the language. Here, by a perpetual application of his "Canons of Articulation," the author unveils many mysteries of the original formation, and explains the modern form of many words in English, Icelandic, and German.

The matter presented in the "Delectus" shows good taste and judicious arrangement, furnishing to the youthful mind a variety of excellent food, moral, scientific, and historical. The prestige of Alfred's great name must be felt in every line that flowed from his pen; and the historico-chronologico-geographical account of the armed colonization of England-no, of the country which the invaders were to make England-by Jutes (that is, Yutes or Goths), Saxons, and English, cannot fail to suggest many a curious and interesting reflection. To this part the Glossary forms an appropriate and trustworthy companion.

There is, however, just one statement in it to which we beg leave to demur: "Teóbe healf gear, the tenth half year, four years and a half." Now from all that we have been able to observe of this mode of reckoning, we should rather say nine and a half; or, if, as we suspect, the expression has reference to p. 47 ("After Egbert"), eighteen and a half; for "nigon teode" ought to have been printed as one word. To explain this let us reckon any number beginning with half, and naming the half between each of the integers; thus,-half, one, one and a half, two, two and a half, three, &c. till we come to nine and a half; then see how often "half" has occurred, and we shall find that we have just told the "tenth half," that the integer named is that which another half would complete.* At p. 49, "Elfred geáf sinre yldestan dohter,"

* This reasoning is verified by the fact that Ethelwolf began his reign in 836, and died in 855, the 19th year.

we should read dehter; and a few lines above, Ælfred Æbelwulfing. He could not surely be styled Epeling, when he was King? These, and a few more errors of the press ought to be noticed in a work likely to come into the hands of such as are not able to understand them as they are, nor to discover what they ought to be. For instance, p. 46, 1. 2 from bottom, fuðe for friðe, 45, 15, unslitnesse (?unstilnesse); and towards the end of the paragraph, we cannot make sense with "næfre," and think we have often read the passage without it. Læden (or Leden) warum is another dismembered compound.— B.C. for A.D. under Neron, p. 40,— geslogan with a singular nom. p. 49,feng adv. long (for longer,)—lyft-es, (for-e,)-winter, d. pl. wintra, and pa for ba, GLOSS., are instances of slight inadvertency, and the examples given under (26) (p. 11,) prove that "follows" ought to be "precedes." With one remark more we have done. By making "bat" a crasis of "ba-hit (19) Mr. Barnes has set his canon of articulation directly against a wellestablished canon of grammar, by which the Gothic "bata and all its derivatives are determined to be short. Besides, if such a crasis be admitted in this case, "hit" itself must be "he-hit," a party to its own generation. Small matters such as these are of great importance in an elementary work; and for an elementary work this displays so much sound learning, deep research, accuracy of thought, and easy perspicuity of speech, as must render it a powerful auxiliary to the tyro, and a valuable addition to the library of the adept. We therefore hope that the accomplished author may soon have an opportunity of re-issuing his Gefylsta with a few improvements, such as we have indicated, or his own sagacity and candour shall find expedient.

66

Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs. Collected by Arthur B. Evans, D.D. Head Master of Market Bosworth Free Grammar School. 12mo. pp. 116.

ALL books of this kind are curious, and useful as well as curious, in developing the history of language, in illustrating old literature, and revealing local usages and domestic economy. Dr. Evans has executed his task in a

manner characterised not only by adequate erudition, but also by good taste and good sense, and this neat little volume may be taken up to amuse as well as inform. Some excellent philological remarks are prefixed, and the author defends the comprehensiveness of his plan by the following reasons, the force of which will we think be generally acknowledged:

"In compiling the present Glossary, I have recorded, not merely words which are for the most part unknown to our lexicographers, or rarely or more anciently used elsewhere; but I have occasionally inserted colloquial corruptions and vulgarisms which appeared at all likely to be philologically or illustratively useful. By 'illustratively' I mean, at all likely to throw a light upon the state of mind or manners of our rural population here; or as possibly explaining the language of our old, and more particularly comic, writers. I have therefore in very many instances introduced with each word the sentence in which it was used, that the sense attached to it may be more clearly verified and understood, or that the singular mode of its application may become more perceptible."

We make one extract exemplifying the very interesting results of Dr. Evans's philological skill:

"CRATCH, S. A butcher's 'cratch,' the frame or cradle on which the butcher lays out or dresses his sheep. We have this old word in the child's play of 'cat's cratch,' or 'cat's cradle.' So Spenser

Begin from first, where he encradled was In simple 'cratch,' wrapt in a wad of hay. Hymn on Heavenly Love, i. 225. Johnson has the word cratch for the palisaded frame in which hay is put for cattle.' Todd quotes Wickliffe's version of Luke ii. 'She leyde him in a cracche.' He gives the derivation creicche' Fr. and Latin 'crates,' meaning by the former créche. The word crate, a pannier or open wicker-basket, has probably the same origin; and the Anglo-Saxon cart had probably the name of cræt from its wicker formation. The old German word kraet, a basket, given by Johnson as the derivation of crate, is in Wachter, who tells us, that when he was in Sweden, he heard the Swedes call their baskets craten. It is odd too that the Danes have the word kradt for 'twigs,' which leads us again to the fountain-head of all these terms, viz. the Latin crates. The French had the old word 'cretin' for 'basket': see Menage."

To this we add a specimen of such entries as illustrate local customs:

"PLOUGH BULLOCKERS. A name given in this county to persons who, like the Morris-Dancers (or dancers of the Morisco, or Moorish dance,) come round on Plough Monday, dressed up in ribbons and women's gear, and dance with untiring agility before the houses of the more opulent, to obtain plough-money, for the evening dance or festivity."

The following is, we think, less successful:

"TIN, or TYNTE, Meadows near Gracedieu Abbey. This name embarrassed me for a long time, till I heard accidentally that the property had belonged to a Le Despenser, who had been attainted. The meadows were called the attainted,' or attinted meadows; whence came, no doubt, the vulgar abbreviation of Tin meadows."

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We doubt that the term "attainted" was in any case transferred from persons to places. Tynte is itself a surname, but whence derived we cannot at present say as we can scarcely accept for gospel the legendary story of master Burke, that the first ancestor of the family assumed the name because he was tinctus cruore Saraceno.

Dr. Evans states that "housen" is still used in Leicestershire as the plural of house; and so placen, closen, &c. the s, or c, being pronounced as z; but he has not mentioned a remarkable sense in which, as we are informed, the term house is now, or was recently, employed in this county. It was customary to speak of the ordinary dwelling-room as "the house," which thus answered to the aula, or hall, of large mansions.

"His own worthy," is a Leicestershire phrase for a man's being convalescent. "How's your husband, this morning?" "Thank ye, sir; he's not his own worthy yet." We believe the cognate phrase "he worths himself," which Dr. Evans has not mentioned, is also used in the like sense.

There is one little matter which we regret in the composition of Dr. Evans's work, though it does not materially affect its value. It is that he did not obtain a sight of the Rev. A. Macaulay's History of Claybrook, which contains some remarks on the dialect of the county, until his book was printed; and, in consequence, the result of Mr. Macaulay's inquiries, instead of being

incorporated in the alphabet, is appended to the preface. In one or two instances the name of Britton is cited as an authority, when the real authority was Macaulay. Dr. Evans might have confidently looked in Nichols's History of Leicestershire for anything that had been published on the county previously to its completion, and, so doing, he would have found Mr. Macaulay's Glossary under the parish of Clay brook.

We must not close without mentioning that our philological friends may shortly expect from Miss Baker, of Northampton, the publication of a very complete Glossary of Northamptonshire Words, the work of many years, collected while that lady was the companion of her brother, the historian of the county, in his topographical tours. This work will, we believe, be as extensive as the Craven Glossary, or that of Norfolk, by Forby; and, for copiousness of illustration and comparison with what has been observed in the dialect of other counties, we have no doubt that it will surpass all that have gone before it.

The Ballad of Edwin and Emma, by David Mallet. A New Edition, with Notes and Illustrations by Frederick T. Dinsdale, Esq. LL.D. F.S.A. 1849. 12mo.

IT is not yet quite a century and a half since the occurrence of "the Bowes Tragedy," and yet, as Mr. Dinsdale shows us in this very pleasing production, a little cycle of romance has gathered round the story of Roger Wrightson and Martha Railton, or, as Mr. Mallet chose more poetically to style them, of Edwin and Emma. On the 15th of March 1714-15, these parties, as we are told in the sober pathos of the parish register, "were buried in one grave: he died in a fever; and upon the tolling of his passing bell, she cried out, My heart is broke,' and in a few hours expired,-purely through love." The public curiosity which this event excited was gratified shortly after by the circulation of a ballad history, entitled "The Pattern of True Love, or Bowes Tragedy," which was preceded by a prose statement,

"Wherein is set forth the hard usage

*

which the young woman met with during the time of his sickness; and upon hearing the first toll of the passing bell, she fainted away; but by the shrieks and cries of her mother and a young woman, was call'd back again, and in amazing condition continued about 12 hours, and then died also the weeping lamentations made by both friends † at the grave, where she was first laid, and then he, being a fit pattern for all young men and women to With a word of prove constant in love. advice to all hard-hearted parents not to cross their children in love."

Having this attractive table of contents, it is not wonderful that the "Bowes Tragedy" became popular : but, though it contributed materially to perpetuate the story, it does not appear to have been seen by Mr. Mallet, who is supposed to have derived his suggestive materials only from a letter written by the Curate of Bowes about the year 1750 to Mr. Copperthwaite of Marrick. Mr. Leigh Hunt has remarked upon a striking feature of the story which was lost to the poet

"Mallet's account of the heroine's death is not so affecting as the real circumstance--her suddenly screaming out, at hearing the death-bell of her lover, that her heart was burst;' but it is not wanting in pathos, especially the first line; and there is a vein of natural elegance throughout the poem."

Sir Walter Scott, also, was much of the same mind. He terms Mr. Mallet's poetical additions "elegant but tinsel frippery;" for, he remarks,

"The similes, reflections, and suggestions of the poet are, in fact, too intrusive and too well said to suffer the reader to feel the full taste of the tragic tale. The verses are, doubtless, beautiful; but I must own the simple prose of the Curate's letter, who gives the narrative of the tale as it really happened, has to me a tone of serious veracity more affecting than the ornaments of Mallet's fiction."

Other writers have felt inspired by the same subject; as Mr. Hutchinson the Durham Historian, who moulded it into a pastoral tale, entitled "A Week at a Cottage," published in 1776; and the Rev. Thomas Denton, who wrote, about the year 1738, "Bowes

"Amazing," i. e. amazed or distracted, †The friends of both.

Love, or Love in its purity," a pedantic and very hobbling poem, which Mr. Dinsdale has reprinted: but the most remarkable circumstance in the literary history of "Edwin and Emma" is that many of its stanzas are translated into "The Death of Earl Oswald," in the 3d volume of Evans's Old Ballads. The thief was Mr. William Julius Mickle, who seems to have thought there was no great harm in pilfering and resetting his countryman's diamonds. We give one specimen :

Mallet's 5th stanza.

Long had she fill'd each youth with love, Each maiden with despair,

And tho' by all a wonder own'd,

Yet knew not she was fair.

Mickle's 6th stanza.

Long had the neighbouring hamlets rung
With praises of the fair;

Her charms had fill'd each swain with love,
Each maiden with despair,

Mallet himself had written this ballad as a companion or pendant to a former production of his muse, his "William and Margaret," which had received the approval of the censors of the day, and had been originally suggested by a verse of Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle

When it was grown to dark midnight,
And all were fast asleep,

In came Margaret's grimly ghost,
And stood at William's feet.

It is some years since the poem of Edward and Emma received the homage of a distinguished artist, Mr.

George Arnald, A.R.A. having illustrated it with several pleasing etchings, which were attached to 100 remaining copies of Baskerville's original edition, and published by Messrs. Longman in

1810.

Mr. Dinsdale has now expended upon this work all the riches of literary, local, and biographical illustration. The extent of the collections comprised in his Notes will be scarcely imagined until they are seen. They consist of a life of Mallet,-of the criticisms of distinguished judges (from which we have quoted those of Scott and Leigh Hunt),-of bibliographical and literary notes, (of which also we have stated the most important particulars,)-genealogical tables of the Wrightsons and Railtons, the Montacutes and Capulets of this village tragedy, and of several other families more or less connected with the tale or the locality, accompanied by wills. and deeds, and, added to all this, descriptions of the castle and church of Bowes, and a map, which, it may be remarked, comprises in its area the scenery of Sir Walter Scott's poem of Rokeby, and will make this little book a useful as well as amusing companion to the tourist in that picturesque neighbourhood.

The monumental stone which Mr. Dinsdale, in 1848, erected in memory of the lovers, against the west end of the church at Bowes, was described in our Vol. XXX. p. 338.

An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles by the Reformers. By the Rev. T. R. Jones. 8vo. pp. xvi. 272. v. (Index).We are glad to see a work of this kind, which professes to explain the Articles by the extracts from the Reformers from Latimer to Whitgift. The author, who is Incumbent of St. Mary's, Kelbrooke, Yorkshire, dedicates his book to his dioeesan, the Bishop of Ripon. The biographical notices of the writers quoted are perhaps redundant, or might have been given in notes. But the work, as a whole, is valuable at this time, and precisely such as was wanted. It affords the best answer to the latitudinarian argument, that the Reformers had no positive meaning in the Articles they framed, but intended them for peace rather than belief. For if their other writings agree with the Articles,

these latter must be interpreted as definitely as the former. It is singular that this argument is now used by parties who interpret the liturgy strictly, though they construe the Articles widely. Such a principle is in divinity what the ballot is in politics; it may be held sincerely by some, but it will end in being a refuge for duplicity.

A History of the Vaudois Church. By Antoine Monastier. Post 8vo. pp. 432.We do not remember that any work on this subject has come under our notice since that of Dr. Henderson, entitled "The Vaudois," which was reviewed in November, 1845. The volume now before us is the production of a native of the Vallies, now resident at Lausanne. Vaudois by birth-by his affections--by

"A

his associations—a Vaudois too, he trusts, by his faith-the author has devoted more than ten years to accomplish the wish of his life-the composition of a brief His tory of the Vaudois Church. (p. vi.) There is no work of the kind that we are acquainted with, and certainly none that has been translated into English, equally copious within so small a compass. It investigates the origin and rise of the Vaudois in early times, and details at length their sufferings in later ones, and thus may justly claim its place in the department of ecclesiastical history. If there are a few passages which bespeak an Helvetic origin, the well-informed reader will know how to bear with them. The last event mentioned is the visit of the late King of Sardinia to the Valleys in 1844, when he was so much pleased with his reception as to cause a beautiful fountain to be constructed at the entrance of the town of La Torre, with this inscription, "The King, Charles Albert, to the people who welcomed him with so much affection." (p. 424.) We should not omit to mention, that a map of the Valleys is prefixed.

The Fountain of Life Opened. By John Flavel, A.D. 1671. Post 8vo. pp. 458.This work, which is further entitled "A display of Christ in his mediatorial glory," consists of forty-two discourses on the Covenant of Redemption, and the Life of Christ. There is uncommon force in the old divines (allowing for particular expressions and occasional quaintness of style), and the stores of their minds appear inexhaustible. We quote a few words from Disc. 42. "God hath further use for the holiness of your lives; this serves to daunt the hearts and overawe the consciences of his and your enemies." (p. 456.) Mr. Bickersteth says in his "Christian Student," that there are few writers of a more practical and edifying character than Flavel.

Catechesis. By the Rev. Charles Wordsworth, M.A. 12mo. pp. 212.-In this work, which is designed for "Christian Instruction preparatory to Confirmation and First Communion," there are many good points of moral teaching, yet there is something about it we do not like, and for which reason we should hardly venture to recommend it. The term "First Communion" sounds so like the Gallic "Première Communion," as to have a suspicious air; but let that pass. The offices of baptism and confirmation, as well as the catechism, are added, which the reader has already in his prayer-book, without the notes being so numerous as to warrant this enlargement of the volume and the

price. But what is most extraordinary the Order of Communion, “ according to the Church in Scotland,' " is also appended. Now if this is virtually the same. as our own, it is redundant; and if not, it deserves no place in a manual intended for use in our own church. The fact is, that this very office is a subject of disunion in Scotland, and that episcopalian congregations there have refused it, preferring our own as the sounder of the two. Mr. Wordsworth's inserting it resembles Cardinal Duperron's giving the ultramontane bull, In Coenâ Domini, for a rule of penitence, in his ritual for the diocese of Evreux, whereas that bull is not admitted in France.

Sequel to Letters to M. Gondon. By C. Wordsworth, D.D. Post 8vo. pp. xxiv. 295.-We should gladly devote a longer space to the consideration of this volume, but with other matter on our hands we must in that case defer noticing it, and delay sometimes appears like neglect. We therefore choose the lesser evil of the two. This supplementary volume is a defence of the author's celebrated "Letters to M. Gondon," against the criticisms of the Dublin Review and the Tablet newspaper, and some remarks in the British Magazine. It is indispensable as a companion to the former volume, from being an effective defence, and containing valuable additions, elicited by the call for making such a defence. Much information on various points of controversy is incidentally introduced, and a full table of contents will guide the reader to particulars. The work, however, might be a little improved, by giving some of the references more precisely, as the mere names of Tertullian, Cyprian, &c. leave the reader out at sea; nor do we know whether the quotation from the Regulæ Inquisitionis, at p. 193, pertinent as it is, relates to the Roman, the Portuguese, or the Spanish tribunal. But in general the references are full, and great care has evidently been bestowed upon them.

Roma Ruit. By F. Fullwood, D.D. A new edition. 8vo. pp. xxxi. 334.— The author of this volume, which first ap. peared in 1679, was Archdeacon of Totnes in Devon. It is edited by C. Hardwick, M.A. Fellow of Catharine Hall, Cambridge. The editor states that "the object of the following reprint is to supply on the subject of the papal jurisdiction a well-digested text-book and such

a synopsis has been already provided in this Treatise of Archdeacon Fullwood." (p. iii.) This edition was undertaken at the suggestion of Professor Corrie, to ac

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