Memorials of Old Somerset. Edited by F. J. Snell. (Bemrose
and Sons. 15s.)—Mr. Snell has been assisted by a company of efficient writers. He gives in his introductory chapter a sketch of the county history. Somersetshire may claim to be at least on a level, as far as this is concerned, with any region of England. It is within the borders of this county that we must look for Baden Hill, the scene of the great conflict which checked for a while the tide of Saxon conquest. Glastonbury is one of the most famous spots in England ; it was in Somersetshire marches that the Great Alfred found shelter for a while. It was almost on the same spot that the unlucky rebellion of Monmouth blazed up and was quenched in blood. In this sketch we see hints of many of the subjects which are afterwards more fully worked out. Canon Church writes about the Cathedral, with which he has been con- nected for more than half-a-century, and Canon Scott Holmes writes about Glastonbury Abbey. There is not one of the great monastic foundations that can match the story of this sanctuary of the West. Canon Holmes doubts whether there was an actually continuous celebration of Christian worship in this shrine. He thinks that it lay desolate for the space of a lifetime between the departure of the last of the British priests and the arrival of the first of the English. The known history of the Abbey is curiously chequered. It was involuntarily mixed up in the ecclesiastical controversies of the day. And its end was lamentably tragic. There is no worse blot on the fame of Thomas Cromwell than the fate of Abbot Whiteing. (We see that Canon Holmes attributes the famous visitation of St. Albans to Arch- bishop Warham. It was, of course, the work of Warham's predecessor, Cardinal Morton, and belongs to the year 1490, whereas Warham went to Canterbury in 1503.) Mr. D. P. Alford writes about Taunton Castle, and Mr. C. W. Whistler about King Alfred. One of the curiosities of the volume is the paper on "Mother Shipton's Tomb." Mother Shipton, whose prophecies give a notable example of fraud and credulity, was a Yorkshire- woman, but her name is oddly connected with Somersetshire through the stone which is known as her tomb. It really is a monumental stone to the memory of a Roman girl, the inscription running thus :— "
IVL MARTIN A VII. AN XII. III. D.XXII. (Julia Martinis lived twelve years, three months, twenty-two days)"
Dorothy Wadham, the co-foundress of Wadham College, was in a way connected with Somersetshire. Robert Blake, born in Bridgwater, and William Dampier, a native of East Coker and educated at Bruton, more genuinely belong to the county. This is a most praiseworthy volume.
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