MISCIELLANE0118.—Those who are interested in the study of typography will
find much that is interesting in The Printing of Greek in the Fifteenth Century, by Robert Proctor (Bibliographical Society). The illustrations at the end of the volume, representing specimens of fifteenth-century work at Venice, Milan, Paris, and elsewhere, should be mentioned. The last specimen, the epilogue of Laacaris to his treatise on the noun and the verb, is a remarkably beautiful piece of work, not unlike the type recently used by Messrs. Macmillan, but with more familiar shapes of the sigma, and so far, if we may say so, preferable.—With this may be mentioned Facsimiles of Biblical Manuscripts in the British Museum, edited by Frederic G. Kenyon, D.Litt. (Trustees of the British Museum, 10s.) The specimens include a papyrus of the third century, and passages from the Codex Alexandrinus, the Codex Purptueus (sixth century), Northumbrian Gospels (eighth century), and the first and second Wycliffite Bibles, with many others.— We have to add another to the long list of recent books on gardening. This is A Practical Guide to Garden Plants, by John Weathers (Longmans and Co., 21s.) Part I. contains some general information on the structure and parts of plants, on the methods of propagation, on soil and other matters. Part IL is given to the flower-garden, with shrubberies, lawns, Ice. ; while in III. and IV. we have "The Hardy Fruit Garden" and "The Vegetable Garden " respectively. We cannot treat the volume with the fulness which it deserves, but we may say that it seems full and complete. The author certainly has not spared space, for it runs to nearly twelve hundred pages.
A few words of commendation may be given to How to Keep Fit, compiled by Surgeon-Captain H. Waite (Gale and Polden, Is.), a little manual intended, in the first instance, for soldiers on active service, but quite fit to be utilised by others. —Among the contributions to our knowledge of Alfred the Great, at this time especially appropriate, is Alfred the Great and his Abbeys, by I. Charles Wall (Elliot Stock, 5s.) The King founded three religious houses, and it is the story of these that Mr. Wall tells. They did not attain any considerable success The Winchester foundation was overshadowed by its great neighbour. The other two somehow missed their aim. These were at Athelney and Shaftesbury (the latter a nunnery). The latter had considerable wealth, it is true, the income amounting to more than a thousand pounds. Indeed, no nunnery in the Kingdom was better provided. Mr. Wall's book gives ns a careful and minute account of the three foundations.— The writer of The Sack of London, by One Who Saw It (F. V. White and Co., ls.), takes the opportunity of airing some of his political and social theories. But, whatever he may think and write, he is eminently patriotic. If London is sacked (not by enemies, let it be understood, but by starving Englishmen) and the Empire brought into great straits, all turns oat well in the end, and the two hostile Powers, which we need not mention, receive their deserts.
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