Mark Sherborne. By Florence A. G. Davidson. (C. E. Symonds,
Basingstoke. la.)—Miss Davidson is better than her word. She promises a "history of the Parish and Priory," and she gives us a very instructive little sketch of England in prehistoric times. The monastic and parochial story is full of interest. The Priory was founded by Henry, son of Hugh de Port (so called from the Norman Port-en-Basin), one of the Conqueror's favourites. It dates from the earlier part of the twelfth century, and belonged to the Benedictine Order. It was dissolved, as an alien House, in the days of Henry VL Its possessions now belong to Queen's College, Oxford, but we may remark that to speak of a certain benefaction as conferred on that College in 1300 is to antedate its foundation by forty years. Various curiosities of more recent times are given. Here is a gruesome instance of our ancestors' carelessness of human life. The Foundling Hospital used to pack infants in baskets and send them to their foster-mothers by carriers, who "often forgot to deliver them." "Out of 15,000 received in 1760, only 4,400 lived to go out to service." But surely these figures need some correction. A change in the management of the Hospital took place about 1760, and perhaps we should read " received up to 1760." Admission before that had been indiscriminate.
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