Fabian gives no information on the charges made against lord Say; nor do the subsequent chroniclers. The received text contains two undoubted anachronisms—to what extent, it would require a volume to decide. On comparing the extracts, it appears that we must ascribe the anachronism on paper-making to the earlier dramatist, and that on printing to William Shakspere—who also borrowed the allusion to the score and the tally from a former speech in the work of his unknown precursor.
Malone, when he edited The plays and poems of William Shakspere, undertook to distinguish by inverted commas the lines of this play which the poet "retouched and greatly improved," and by asterisks, those which were "his own original production." The design was commendable, but in the execution of it he committed numerous oversights.
BOLTON CORNEY.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
The Book of Familiar Quotations; being a Collection of Popular Extracts and Aphorisms selected from the Works of the best Authors, is a little volume of such extracts from Shakspeare, Pope, and others of our greatest poets as most frequently fall on the ear in conversation, or meet the eye in the columns of the press and periodicals of the country. The present selection is a very good one, as far as it goes, and has the advantage over its predecessors of not only giving us the name of the author of each passage quoted, but also its precise place in his works.
Shall we Register our Deeds? answered by Sir Edward Sugden. This clever pamphlet proposes an important Query, and replies to it thus: "Let us therefore to the question proposed, Shall we register our deeds? answer with one voice, No!"
If the study of Natural History be one which may with advantage be introduced into the family circle (and who can doubt it?) we know no better medium than the clever and well-conducted little weekly paper which has just been commenced under the title of Kidd's London Journal, of which the first five numbers are before us.
Mr. Tymms, the active and zealous Secretary of the Bury and West Suffolk Archæological Institute, and Editor of the volume of Bury Wills, printed by the Camden Society, is about to publish a Handbook of Bury, on the plan of Cunningham's Handbook of London, and would be glad to receive any notes upon the subject: more especially with respect to its remarkable inhabitants.
We have to call the attention of our readers interested in the history of our Constitution and Constitutional Law to a preliminary Essay on the History of the Law of Habeas Corpus recently published by Dr. Marquardsen, under the title Ueber Haft und Bürgschaft bei den Angelsachsen. It is but a small pamphlet, but will repay the time spent in its perusal. This mention of the Anglo-Saxon polity reminds us, that the Second Part of The Jubilee Edition of the Complete Works of King Alfred has been issued, and, in addition to a continuation of the Harmony of the Chronicles, contains a Sketch of the Anglo-Saxon Mint, and a Description of all the Coins of King Alfred now remaining.