Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
Among the books which we have for some time intended to bring under the notice of our readers is a new and cheaper edition of The Coin Collector's Manual, or Guide to the Numismatic Student in the Formation of a Cabinet of Coins: comprising an Historical and Critical Account of the Origin and Progress of Coinage, from the Earliest Period to the Fall of the Roman Empire; with some Account of the Coinages of Modern Europe, more especially of Great Britain, by H. Noel Humphreys: and we have been the more anxious to do this, because, except among professed collectors, greater ignorance probably exists on the subject of coins, their date, value, &c., than upon any other subject with which educated people are supposed to possess some acquaintance. Yet there are few numismatic questions likely to occur which ordinary readers would not be enabled to solve by a reference to these two little volumes, enriched as it is with numerous illustrations; especially if they would place beside them Akerman's most useful Numismatic Manual.
We are indebted to Mr. Murray for two volumes which will be among the pleasant additions to the cheap books of the month, namely, the new volume, being the fourth of the reprint, of Lord Mahon's History of England to the Peace of Versailles, which comprises the interval between the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle and that of Hubertsburg; and in the Railway Reading, for half-a-crown! the fourth edition of Lockhart's spirited translations of Ancient Spanish Ballads, Historical and Romantic. Thanks, Mr. Murray, thanks!
That Mr. De la Motte, who is so well known as an accomplished draughtsman, should turn his attention to photography, is no slight testimony to the value of the art. That he has become a master in it, may be seen by one glance at his own works on the walls of his Photographic Gallery. The beginner may therefore receive with confidence the results of that gentleman's experience; and The Practice of Photography, a Manual for Students and Amateurs, just published by him, will
be found a most useful and instructive companion to every one who is now contemplating an excursion, armed with a camera, for the purpose of securing for the gratification of his friends truthful records of his wanderings. Mr. De la Motte wisely confines his instruction to the paper and glass processes; his details on these are clear and minute, and the book is well worth the money for those pages of it alone which are devoted to the "Chemicals used in Photography."
Books Received.—On the Archaic Mode of expressing Numbers in English, Saxon, Friesic, &c., by E. Thomson, Esq.; a learned and ingenious tract, written originally for insertion in "N. & Q.," but which fact ought not to prevent our speaking of it in the terms which it deserves.—A Few Words in Reply to the Animadversions of the Rev. Mr. Dyce on Mr. Hunter's "Disquisition on the Tempest," 1839, and his "New Illustrations of the Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakspeare," 1845, &c. A short but interesting contribution to Shakspearian criticism, by one who has already done good service in the same cause. If we cannot agree with Mr. Hunter in all that he seeks to establish, we can admire his knowledge of Elizabethan literature, and appreciate the spirit in which he writes.—The Antiquary. This is the first number of a small work consisting of reprints of proclamations, curious advertisements from early newspapers, and such odd matters as paint more forcibly than the gravest historian, the colours of the times.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.
The Complaynts of Scotland. 8vo. Edited by Leyden. 1804.