The Rev. W. Haslam, the author of _Perran Zabuloe_, has just issued a
little volume entitled _The Cross and the Serpent, being a brief History of
the Triumph of the Cross through a long Series of Ages in Prophecy, Types,
and Fulfilments_. Though the present work belongs to one of the two classes
which, for obvious reasons, we do not undertake to notice in our columns,
there is so much of curious matter illustrative of Folk Lore, early
remains, and old-world customs, in the third part of it, as to justify our
directing the attention of our antiquarian readers to the archæology of the
volume. The Druidic Beltein or Midsummer Fire still burns brightly, it
appears, in Cornwall. We shall endeavour to transfer to our Folk Lore
columns some passages on this and other cognate subjects.
Mr. Russell Smith announces a series of _Critical and Historical Tracts_ on
the subject of, I. _Agincourt_; II. _First Colonists of New England_ (this
is already issued); and III. Milton, a _Sheaf of Gleanings after his
Biographers and Annotators_. The name of Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., which
figures upon their title-pages, is a sufficient warrant that they will
deserve the attention of the historical student.
Mr. M. A. Denham, the author of the interesting _Collection of Proverbs and
Popular Sayings relating to the Seasons, Weather, &c._, published by the
Percy Society, also intends to issue some Tracts (limited to fifty copies
of each) illustrative of the antiquities of the northern parts of the
kingdom. The first is to be on _The Slogans or Slughorns of the North of
England_; the second, on _"Some of the Manners and Customs"_ of the North.
We have received the following Catalogues:--Joseph Lilly's (7. Pall Mall)
Catalogue of a Choice and Valuable Collection of Rare, Curious, and Useful
Books; William Andrews' (7. Corn Street, Bristol) Catalogue, Part IV.,
1850, Books just bought from the Deanery, Armagh, &c.; and J. Russell
Smith's (4. Old Compton Street, Soho) Bibliotheca Historica et
Topographica; Books illustrating the History, Antiquities, and Topography
of Great Britain and Ireland.
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