Examination of an Old Manuscript Preserved in the Library of
the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick. By J. Le Marchant Douse. (Taylor and Francis. 2s. 6d. net.)—The manuscript here examined is the Northumberland manuscript, a facsimile of which was recently reviewed in these columns. About the edit- ing of that document in the interest of the Shakespeare-Bacon craze we had to speak with severity. Mr. Douse's examination is undertaken in an entirely different spirit, and if his pamphlet had been in the hands of the other editor, it might (though we do not say it would) have saved him a good deal of labour. For Mr. Douse identifies the handwriting in which the famous scribblings on the outside leaf of the manuscript are made as that of John Davies of Hereford, the poet and writing- master, who was, at the probable date of the manuscript, in the service of the Earl of Northumberland. Mr. Douse is at some pains to go through all the scribble, and show that every entry refers to people whom Davies is known to have been concerned with. Thus with the entry "Neville. Ne vile yetis," he compares an epigram of Davies's addressed to Sir Henry Neville which concludes "thy noble name denies the vile." Mr. Douse repro- duces the facsimile of the scribbled cover made for Spedding's ' reprint, but gives no facsimile of the known writing of John Davies, so that we have not before us the means of testing their identity. Assuming, however, that he is right in his identifica- tion, we may congratulate him on a small piece of work satis- factorily accomplished.
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