General Books

In my first communication I did myself the pleasure to send you a correct list of all the royal letters which had been sent by different English monarchs to the Grand Masters of Malta, with their dates, the languages in which they were written, and stating to whom they were addressed. I now purpose to forward with your permission from time to time, literal translations of these letters, which Mr.... more...

THE RELIGION OF THE RUSSIANS. Public attention being very particularly directed towards the Russian nation at the present time, a few remarks regarding some peculiarities in their manner of worship, &c., which probably are not generally known, may be interesting. I have been for some time past endeavouring to determine the exact nature of the homage the Russians pay to the "gods"—whether... more...

FOLK LORE IN THE REIGN OF KING JAMES I. In turning over the pages of an old book of controversial divinity, I stumbled upon the following illustrations of folk lore; which, as well from their antiquity as from their intrinsic curiosity, seem worthy of a place in your columns. They make us acquainted with some of the usages of our ancestors, who lived in the remoter districts of England early in the... more...

Minor Notes. Italian-English (Vol. viii., p. 436.).—The following wholesale assassination of the English language was perpetrated in the form of a circular, and distributed among the British residents at Naples in 1832: "Joseph the Cook, he offer to one illuminated public and most particular for British knowing men in general one remarkable, pretty, famous, and splendid collection of old goods,... more...

A STRAWBERRY-HILL GEM. "Pour qui se donne la peine de chercher, il y a toujours quelque trouvaille à faire, même dans ce qui a été le plus visité.—Henry Patin. I take up a work of European celebrity, and reflect awhile on its bibliographic peculiarities—which may almost pass for romance. It is a Scottish work with regard to the family connexion of its author: it is an Irish work with... more...

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. In two former communications on a subject incidental to that to which I now beg leave to call your attention, I hinted at a result far more important than the discovery of the author of the Taming of a Shrew. That result I lay before your readers, in stating that I think I can show grounds for the assertion that the Taming of the Shrew, by Shakspeare, is the original play; and... more...

ANCIENT AMERICAN LANGUAGES. (Continued from Vol. vi., pp. 60, 61.) Since communicating to you a short list of a few books I had noted as having reference to this obscure subject, I have stumbled over a few others which bear special reference to the Quichua: and of which I beg to send you a short account, which may be worthy a place in your valuable pages. The first work upon the Quichua language, of... more...

PERIPLUS OF HANNO THE CARTHAGINIAN. I am not sufficiently Quixotic to attempt a defence of the Carthaginians on the western coast of Africa, or any where else, but I submit that the accusation brought against them by Mr. S. Bannister, formerly Attorney-General of New South Wales, is not sustained by the only record we possess of Hanno's colonising expedition. That gentleman, in his learned Records... more...

KENNINGTON COMMON. Before all traces be lost of Kennington Common, so soon to be distinguished by the euphonious epithet of Park, let me put a Query to some of your antiquarian readers in relation thereunto; and suffer me to make the Query a peg, whereon to hang sundry and divers little notes. And pray let no one ridicule the idea that Kennington has its antiquities; albeit that wherever you look, new... more...

ARABIAN TALES AND THEIR SOURCES. The Arabians have been the immediate instruments in transmitting to us those Oriental tales, of which the conception is so brilliant, and the character so rich and varied, and which, after having been the delight of our childhood, never lose entirely the spell of their enchantment over our maturer age. But while many of these tales are doubtless of Arabian origin, it is... more...