introduced into England. The earliest and rudest of these were (the Ringsend cars,' so called from their plying principally to that place and Irishtown, then the resort of the beau monde for the benefit of sea-bathing. This car consisted of a seat suspended in a strap of leather, between shafts, and without springs. The noise made by the creaking of the strap, which supported the whole weight of the company, particularly distinguished this mode of conveyance."

See also Whitelaw and Walsh's Dublin,' vol. ii. p. 1173.,

Miscellaneous.

History of

ABHBA.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. Boswell's Life of Johnson. Including Boswell's 'Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides' and Johnson's Diary of a Journey into North Wales.' Edited by George Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. 6 vols. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) If the ghost of Johnson is capable of taking an interest in sublunary affairs it cannot fail to smile benignant approval at this tribute to Johnson's enduring influence. Originating as it does in Johnson's old college, Pembroke, and published by his university, a work of this nature is an honour to which few ghosts, under the conditions assumed, could prove insensible. Good and scholarly editions of Boswell's inimitable biography are not wanting, and the edition by Napier might well have been regarded as final. With the appearance, however, of the six volumes now before us we become sensible of our requirements, now first known when they are first satisfied. There is no respect in which the present edition does not make effectual appeal. It is, and this is no small matter, the goodliest edition extant. Every demand of the bibliophile is conceded. There are few shelves on which the six handsome volumes will not make a show. The paper and typography are faultless, and the illustrations, portraits, maps, and facsimiles leave nothing to be desired. As the work is intended for service, and not for luxury, it is futile to mention the only shortcoming to which the bibliomaniac might point, the want of a larger upper margin, which would have added somewhat to the beauty of the page.

Passing from these considerations, more than half frivolous, it may be, in the case of a work of this class, and coming to the question of solid merit, a no less favourable estimate is deserved. The book is not only excellent, it is all that a work of its class should be. From its modest title-page, and its dedication to the Master of Balliol, "who is not only an acute and knowing critic,' but Johnsonianissimus," to the Dicta Philosophi,' with which it concludes, it is a model of patient and loving erudition and of penetrative insight. The index alone is a thing for which to be thankful. It occupies to itself 288 pages out the 324 pages of which, apart from prefatory matter, the sixth volume is composed. To the sixth volume is, moreover, affixed a chart of Dr. Johnson's contemporaries, on the model of a chart in Mr. Ruskin's 'Ariadne Florentina.' This, which is drawn up by Margaret and Lucy Hill, is in itself eminently serviceable.

The task of Dr. Hill has occupied him many years of industry, and has been interrupted by other occupations and, which is much to be regretted, by ill health. A portion of his earlier labours-such, for instance, as his publication of Dr. Johnson: his Friends and his Critics, and his republication of Boswell's 'Journal of a Tour to Corsica and his Correspondence with the Hon. Andrew Erskine '-may be regarded as direct preparation for the present work. The third edition

of the text, on which Boswell was engaged at the time of his death, after which it was completed by Malone, has furnished the basis of the reprint, the orthography and the punctuation of Boswell being respected. Complementary works which Dr. Hill meditates, and a portion of which he has in hand, consist of 'A Selection of the Wit and Wisdom of Dr. Johnson,' and a collection of all the letters that are not in the 'Life,' but were published by Mrs. Piozzi, are contained in Croker's edition, or have appeared in N. & Q.' In the present edition appear fifteen letters of Johnson previously unpublished, a long extract from his MS. diary, a suppressed passage in his 'Journey to the Western Islands,' and much other matter of equal interest. These are, of course, to be found in notes or in appendices.

The notes, almost without exception, are full and serviceable, and the cross references they supply to other portions of the volume furnish convincing proofs of the closeness of Dr. Hill's study. Thanks to the magnificent fulness of the index the book is of extreme value not only as regards Johnson, but with respect to his contemporaries. How full is the information may be seen Garrick," by looking in the index under the head The most valuable notes are often those on obscure subjects. See, for instance, the note on Viscount Grimston, who is simply introduced by Boswell as a nobleman, vol. iv. p. 80, or that on Jack Lee, the barrister, vol. ii. p. 224. There is, indeed, no respect in which this work does not enforce our admiration, and there are few students of eighteenth century literature who will not find their labours lightened by its appearance, and will not hold it a book of reference to be kept constantly within reach.

History of the Bassandyne Bible, with Notices of the Early Printers of Edinburgh. By Wm. T. Dobson. (Blackwood & Sons.)

To readers born on this side the Tweed it may be necessary to say that the Bassandyne Bible is the first Bible printed in Scotland. It takes its name from Thomas Bassandyne, a printer, "dwelland at the Nether Bow," in a tall, narrow tenement nearly opposite John Knox's house, a building mentioned in connexion with the murder of Darnley. As the press at the appearance of the Bible, which was printed in Edinburgh in 1576, was under the control of the Reformed Church, no persecution such as the early English printers had to undergo attended upon their Scottish rival. The date of appearance, indeed-far more than a century after that of the earliest productions of the continental presses-shows that no such interest as belongs to the genesis of printing is here to be expected. Such interest as exists is principally local. Regarded in this light, even, the growth of printing in Scotland is well worthy of study, and the book which Mr. Dobson has written gives a valuable summary of the establishment of this all-important art in sufficiently turbulent days. In his second chapter Mr. Dobson deals with the translations of the Bible into English, the work and martyrdom of Tyndale, and the Bibles of Coverdale, Matthews, Taverner, &c. The third chapter takes up the introduction of printing into Edinburgh, going over, in so doing, a portion of the ground occupied by Mr. Robert Dickson, F.S.A.Scot., whose Art of Printing in Scotland' was recently reviewed in our columns. This is specially the case with regard to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar. The information supplied is accompanied by facsimile reproductions of title-pages, texts, &c., the whole constituting a work of far more than local interest. Judging from the facsimile of the " Ark" and the "Passage of the Red Sea," the illustrations to the

Bassandyne Bible are an advance upon those to the Lyons edition of the Vulgate of a somewhat earlier date. Mr. Dobson's contribution to a history of printing in Scotland deserves a warm welcome.

The First Year of a Silken Reign, 1837-8. By Andrew W. Tuer and C. E. Fagan. (Field & Tuer.) AMONG books suggested by the Jubilee this is one of the most happily conceived. It is, in fact, a history of the first year of the sovereignty of Queen Victoria, compiled from various sources, and supplying not only a life of the Queen during the period, but a record of events, manners, and social life. Very curious is it to those who can recall the accession of Her Majesty to see how much of an antiquarian character already distinguishes the costumes and the proceedings of the opening year of her reign. Coaching and sport and fashion are among the subjects most fully discussed, and there is naturally a full account of the coronation. The plates, the genuineness of which is one only of their merits, include two portraits of the Queen, and views of her arrival at Westminster Abbey and her coronation, and of Hyde Park, St. James's Palace, Putney Bridge, Brighton, from the Chain Pier, costume plates, &c., the whole constituting an exceptionally attractive and desirable volume.

VOL. II. of the new series of the Transactions of the Institute of Architects is a portly tome, and includes many views, plans, and diagrams of great value to the profession, and, of course, some which are not wholly technical in their character. A rather ambitious paper, by Mr. Woodward, describes 'London as It Is and as It Might Be,' and among other details describes the functions of various" boards," or engines for taxing the ratepayers by the busybodies of the districts. It is a fact that the poor-rate levied in London amounts to more than 2,000,000l. per annum; while, under the pleasant delusion that it taxes itself, the body is screwed by an immeasurable apparatus for pauperizing those who pay

neither rates nor taxes. We are not told how much the Asylums Board dispenses on 7,000 pauper lunatics and imbeciles, nor what is the enforced outlay on a host of paupers' children by the School Board; but it is certain that the Board of Works' expenditure is not less than 2,500,000l. annually, taken from the pockets of two classes of the community, and that the vestries expend, in addition, 2,000,000l. a year at least. All this is besides a monstrous debt, which is being increased at a great rate. The ratepayer in a sardonic mood could hardly do worse for his peace of mind than read the lamentations of Mr. Woodward, which reveal a heap of blunders, or worse, and conclude with sugof the usual gestions for a number of "boons" character, and, of course, gratuitous to those who are to use them. Mr. White has supplied a very interesting paper on the ancient city of the Hanseatic League, Wisby, in Gothland, which remains a very storehouse of Gothic relics; it is a grim place, at best, with some fine Romanesque works. Mr. A. H. Haig, the distinguished etcher, has added some valuable notices of the old emporium and its neighbourhood. fire-proof construction occupied Mr. J. B. Gass, fortunately for his readers. Antiquaries, as well as architects, should read Mr. A. Graham's account of Roman remains in North Africa, including Carthage and Tunisia at large. Mr. J. Conder's Further Notes on Japanese Architecture' is a valuable addition, by a competent writer, to our still imperfect knowledge of the subject. It comprises notices of the construction and materials of buildings which are novel to us and very curious in themselves. Tokio, Carthage, Wisby, and other places are much less deserving attention than 'London as It Is.'

American

Accordingly, Mr. Woodward's paper is the leading element of the volume, and a very edifying one it is. What the antiquary of the future, his brother the ratepayer, and pauperized generations to come will think of us it is not hard to guess.

IN the August number of Le Livre M. Octave Uzanne This is accompanied by two very striking portraits of has a valuable and suggestive causerie upon Balzac. the great romancer. Some of the opinions of Casanova, especially those on the Revolution, given in the 'Casanova Inédit,' also by M. Uzanne, are very noteworthy. What is said about the Duke of Orléans (Egalité) is excellent. M. Pougon describes Les Archives et la Bibliothèque de l'Opéra,' and M. Lemercier de Neuville deals with Jules Noriac.

Notices to Correspondents.

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To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate."

E. R. VYVYAN.-("John Palmer") Full particulars of the life of this actor are supplied in Gilliland's Genest's Account of the Stage,' and ordinary books of Dramatic Mirror' (p. 880), The Thespian Dictionary,' theatrical reference. ("Hogarth's Strolling Actresses Littleton." Atavism") Resemblance to great-grandin a Barn'") This picture was burnt a few years ago at tendency to reproduce ancestral types. First recorded father or more remote ancestors rather than parents; use, according to Dr. Murray's Dictionary,' 1833.William Cleland died in 1689, supposed to have been born in 1661. The date of birth cannot be exactly fixed.-("Slipshod English ") The use of the indicative after if is justifiable when contingency is not coupled with futurity, as " If he is blind he cannot help it."

G. E. WATSON.-("Actors who are also Authors") The names of such are legion. Many of the Shakspearian dramatists were actors. Among men of recent date it is sufficient to mention Mr. Dion Boucicault, Mr. Joseph Jefferson, and Mr. H. T. Craven.-(" Numismatic") The signification of the device on Manx coins has often been discussed in N. & Q.' Consult especially 5th S. vii. 309, 454.

MR. ALLAN FEA is anxious to convey his thanks to readers of N. & Q' who have forwarded him direct valuable information concerning 'Stocks and the Pillory,' ante, p. 9.

JERMYN is anxious to know where-somewhere near

1824-a sale took place of engravings belonging to Sir M. M. Sykes.

CORRIGENDUM.-P. 147, col. 1, 1, 23 from bottom, for "choice book" read choir book.

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