NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Agreeing with Mr. Lower, that they who desire to know the truth as to the earlier periods of our national history, will do wisely to search for it among the mists and shadows of antiquity, and rather collect it for themselves out of the monkish chronicles than accept the statements of popular historiographers, we receive with great satisfaction the addition to our present list of translations of such chronicles, which Mr. Lower has given us in The Chronicle of Battel Abbey from 1066 to 1176, now first translated, with Notes, and an Abstract of the subsequent History of the Establishment. The original Chronicle, which is preserved among the Cottonian MSS., though known to antiquaries and historians, was never committed to the press until the year 1846, when it was printed by the Anglia Christiana Society from a transcript made by the late Mr. Petrie. Mr. Lower's translation has been made from that edition; and though undertaken by him as an illustration of local history, will be found well deserving the perusal of the general reader, not only from the light it throws upon the Norman invasion and upon the
history of the abbey founded by the Conqueror in fulfilment of his vow, but also for the pictures it exhibits of the state of society during the period which it embraces.
Books Received.—The Embarrassment of the Clergy in the Matter of Church Discipline. Two ably written letters by Presbyter Anglicanus, reprinted, by request, from the Morning Post;—Ann Ash, or the Foundling, by the Author of 'Charlie Burton' and 'The Broken Arm.' If not quite equal to Charlie Burton, and there are few children's stories which are so, it is a tale well calculated to sustain the writer's well-deserved reputation;—Burns and his Biographers, being a Caveat to Cavillers, or an Earnest Endeavour to clear the Cant and Calumnies which, for half a Century, have clung, like Cobwebs, round the Tomb of Robert Burns.
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, of 93. Wellington Street, Strand, will sell on Monday next, and five following days, the valuable Library of the late Mr. Andrews of Bristol, containing, besides a large collection of works of high character and repute, some valuable Historical, Antiquarian, and Heraldic Manuscripts.
Catalogues Received.—John Gray Bell's (17. Bedford Street, Covent Garden) Catalogue of Autograph Letters and other Documents; John Alex. Wilson's (20. Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen) Catalogue of Cheap Books, many Rare and Curious; E. Stibbs' (331. Strand) Catalogue Part III. of Books in all Languages.