Memorials of Old Wiltshire. Edited by Alice Dryden. (Bemrose and
Sons. 158. net.)—We are glad to see this addition to the series of "Memorials of the Counties of England." It is con- structed on the usual plan : a number of papers specially written for the volume, each by an expert in his or her own subject, have been arranged by an experienced editor. The volume begins with a general survey of the county. Among the other contents we see an essay on "Prehistoric Circles," in which Wiltshire is peculiarly rich ; a well-deserved tribute to Lieutenant-General Pitt-Rivers, whose services to archaeology were so distinguished ; descriptions of Marlborough by Canon Wordsworth, of Malmesbury by Mr. Harold Brakspear, of Salisbury by Mr. A. W. K. Stratton, and of Bradford-on-Avon by the editor. Of course, a reader specially acquainted with one portion of the county may feel dis- appointed at what he may think the too scanty recognition of its notable things. Charlton Park and Littlecote, for instance, deserve more than the line and a half which are assigned to them in the paper entitled "Some Old Houses." The county is wealthy in old houses, but Littlecote especially would be remarkable anywhere. And surely the picturesque story of the Littlecote ghost deserves a place in any book about "Old Wiltshire." One of the papers is very properly given to the " Arundels of Wardour." It would have been as well to give the inscription on the porch of the old castle correctly, or,. if the errors are exactly reproduced, to give the unlearned reader the true reading. The first line (really a couplet) runs: " Gentis Arundelliae Lanherniae proles iunior hoc messuit prime sedere loco." One of the "l's" should be retrenched in " Arundelliae," "Lanherniae " should be "Lanhernia," " messnit" " meruit," and "prime" "prima." A word is missing. The sixth (really seventh) line reads: " Comprecor aucta din manent augenda per aevum," where we ought to read " maneant."
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