"Mes révérends pères, mes lettres n'avaient pas accoutumé de se suivre de si près, ni d'être si étendues. Le peu de temps que j'ai eu a été cause de l'un et de l'autre. Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte. La raison qui m'a obligé de hâter vous est mieux connue qu'à moi."
R. E. T.
Paint taken off of old Oak (Vol. vii., p. 620.).—About twenty-six years ago, by the adoption of a very simple process recommended by Dr. Wollaston, the paint was entirely removed from the screen of carved oak which fills the north end of the great hall at Audley End, and the wood reassumed its original colour and brilliancy. The result was brought about by the application of soft-soap, laid on of the thickness of a shilling over the whole surface of the oak, and allowed to remain there two or three days; at the end of which it was washed off with plenty of cold water. I am aware that potash has been often tried with success for the same purpose; but, in many instances, unless it is used with due caution, the wood becomes of a darker hue, and has the appearance of having been charred. It is worthy of remark, that Dr. Wollaston made the suggestion with great diffidence, not having, as he said, had any practical experience of the effect of such an application.
Braybrooke.
Passage in the "Tempest" (Vol. ii., pp. 259. 299. 337. 429.).—As a parallel to the expression "most busy least" (meaning "least busy" emphatically), I would suggest the common expression of the Northumbrians, "Far over near" (signifying "much too near").
H. T. Riley.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
The Committee appointed by the Society of Antiquaries to consider what improvements could be introduced into its management, has at length issued a Report; and we are glad to find that the alterations suggested by them have been frankly adopted by the Council. The principal changes proposed refer to the election of the Council; the having but one Secretary, who is not to be a member of that body; the appointment of Local Secretaries; the retirement annually of the Senior Vice-President; and lastly, that which more than anything else must operate for the future benefit of the Society, the appointment of a third Standing Committee, to be called The Executive Committee, whose duty shall be "to superintend the correspondence of the Society on all subjects relating to literature and antiquities, to direct any antiquarian operations or excavations carried on by the Society, to examine all papers sent for reading, all objects sent for exhibition, and to assist the Director generally in taking care that the publications of the Society are consistent with its position and importance." It is easy to see that if a proper selection be made of the Fellows to serve on this Committee, their activity, and the renewed interest which will be thereby awakened in the proceedings of the Society, will ensure for the Thursday Evening Meetings a regular supply of objects for exhibition, and papers for reading, worthy of the body—and therefore unlike many which we have too frequently heard, and to which, but for the undeserved imputation which we should seem to cast upon our good friend Sir Henry Ellis, might be applied, with a slight alteration, that couplet of Mathias which tells—