There are also a few discrepancies in the amounts of the compositions, but none of any importance.
Roger Adams, the publisher of the edition of the Catalogue printed at Chester in 1733, says, in the preliminary address to his subscribers, that—
"The Catalogue was printed five years before the miserable scene of oppression (by sequestration) closed. To supply the defects of it, I apply'd many ways, first to Goldsmith's Hall, where I was told the latter sequestrations were generally imposed; but the haste my friend was in, and some discouragements he met with, rendered this application unsuccessful."
The error which W. H. L. suspects in Oldfield's list, may probably be corrected by application at Goldsmith's Hall.
P. T.
I was aware of the work, A Catalogue, &c., which contains also the error alluded to at p. 406. Will H. F. be so obliging as to say from what materials that work was compiled, and how the whole business of the compositions was managed? Some part of it was carried on at Goldsmith's Hall. Evelyn probably alludes to the compositions at p. 311. of vol. i. of his Diary, edition of 1850.
W. H. L.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
When we consider how many indications are still discoverable, by those who know how to look for them, of the influence which the incursions of the Danes and Northmen into Britain have exercised upon our language, customs, and social and political condition; and that even the most cursory glance at the map of these islands will show in so many local names indisputable evidence of Danish occupation—evidence which is amply confirmed by many of our archaisms or provincialisms, our popular customs and observances,—when these things are considered, it is obvious that a work which should give us the result of these incursions, if written by a competent hand, must prove of great and general interest. Just such a book has been issued by Mr. Murray, under the title of An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, by J. J. A. Worsaae. All who had the pleasure of making Mr. Worsaae's acquaintance when he visited this country in 1846-47, were aware that he possessed two qualifications essentially necessary for the proper execution of the task which he had undertaken. For his archæological acquirements were made patent (even to those who were unable to study his various antiquarian publications in Danish and German) by the English version of his Primæval Antiquities of Denmark; while his thorough mastery over our language was such as to enable him to pursue his researches into the period of our country's history which he proposed to illustrate, without the slightest let or hindrance. With a theme, then, which may be considered as novel as it is interesting (for it is the first attempt to view the subject from the Danish side), and with such abilities to do it justice, it is no wonder that Mr. Worsaae has produced a work which will, we are sure, be found to possess the double merit of not only gratifying the antiquary, but also of interesting, instructing, and amusing the general reader.