The landing of Charles Edward Stuart, and the "Seven Men of Moidart," on
the memorable 25th July, 1745, was the opening of the last, and, in many
respects, the most brilliant and stirring chapter in the Romance of English
History. That Mr. Murray has therefore done wisely in the publication, in a
separate form, of _The Forty-Five: by Lord Mahon, being the Narrative of
the Insurrection of 1745, extracted from Lord Mahon's History of England_,
there can be little doubt. The memory of that eventful period is so kept
alive among us, by snatches of Jacobite ballads, and recitals of the
strange incidents in which it was so rich, that this separate publication
of so much of Lord Mahon's _History of England from the Peace of Utrecht
(1713) to the Peace of Paris (1763)_ as relates to its "moving accidents by
flood and field," will be a great boon to those numerous readers who have
neither means, time, nor opportunity to peruse Lord Mahon's interesting
narrative in that valuable contribution to our national history for which
it was originally written.
Some time since the British Museum purchased for about 120l. a volume
containing no less than sixty-four early French Farces and Moralities,
printed between the year 1542 and 1548, of which a very large proportion
was entirely unknown. How important a collection of materials for the early
history of the Drama, especially in France, is contained in this precious
volume, we learn from a work which has reached us, "_pas destiné au
commerce_," under the title of _Description Bibliographique et Analyse d'un
Livre unique qui se trouve au Musée Britannique_, which contains a short
but able analysis of the various pieces which formed the volume thus
fortunately secured for our national library. Though the name of the editor
is stated, on the title-page, to be _Tridace-Nafe-Théobrome, Gentilhomme
Breton_, we strongly suspect that no such gentleman is to be found; and
that we are really indebted for this highly curious and interesting book to
a gentleman who has already laid the world of letters under great
obligation, M. Delpierre, the accomplished Secretary of Legation of the
Belgian Embassy.
Literature, Science, and the Arts have sustained a heavy loss in the death
of that accomplished patron of them--that most amiable nobleman the
Marquess of Northampton. His noble simplicity and single-mindedness of
character, and his unaffected kindliness of manner, endeared him to all who
had the good fortune to be honoured with his acquaintance, and by all of
whom his death will be long and most deeply regretted.
Mr. Sandys, F.S.A., of Canterbury, has issued a Prospectus for the
immediate publication, by Subscription, of the _Consuetudines Kanciæ: a
History of Gavelkind and other remarkable Customs in the County of Kent_.
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Monday next, and four following
days, a very select and valuable Library, the property of a gentleman
deceased, including among other choice lots, two early MSS. of the _Divina
Comedia_, and an extensive, rare, and interesting series of early editions
of Dante. {78}
_Books Received._--_Clark's Introduction to Heraldry_ (London, Washbourne),
fourteenth edition, which contains a chapter and plates, which are entirely
new, on Heraldry in conjunction with Architecture;--_Hints and Queries
intended to promote the Preservation of Antiquities and the Collection and
Arrangement of Information on the Subject of Local History and
Tradition_--a most useful little tract, highly creditable to the _Kilkenny
Archæological Society_, by whose order it has been printed for
circulation;--_The Peril of the Papal Aggression; or, the Case as it stands
between the Queen and the Pope, by Anglicanus_. London, Bosworth.
_Catalogues Received._--Charles Skeet's (21. King William Street, Charing
Cross) Catalogue No. 1. for 1851, of a Miscellaneous Collection of Books,
New and Second-hand; John Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue, Part
CXX. (No. 1. for 1851) of Old and New Books; Edward Stibbs' (331. Strand)
Catalogue, Part II., of a valuable Collection of Books, including an
extensive purchase of Italian, French, and Spanish Literature; Bernard
Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 23. of
European and Oriental Philology and General Literature; John Miller's (43.
Chandos Street) Catalogue No. XVII. of Books Old and New.
* * * * *