28 MAY 1881, Page 23

Not Many Years Ago. By an Elderly Bachelor. (ffemington.)— Taking

it for granted that these " Memories of My Life," as they are called, are veritable recollections of fact, we may say that they are interesting. There are some curious details, for instance, of n rector who would have his tithes in kind. " The Miss Smiths wished to have the portion due to them of the potatoes taken up that morning," was a specimen of the messages which used to come down from the rectory. This was one of the things which the Church of England has managed to survive. There is a certain pathetic interest in the writer's own story, and the book, on the whole, is worth look- ing at. We see repeated again the curious story, which certainly ought to have its place in Aryan mythology, of the apprentices who stipulated in their indentures that they were not to have salmon "more than a certain number of times in the week." The "Elderly Bachelor" Should know that a reward has been offered for the pro- duction of any such indentures, or evidence supporting the story, but has never, we think, been claimed.