SOUTHWARK BRIDGE (11 S. ix. 286).-MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS says at the above reference that "the bridge will disappear unregretted and unsung. If your correspondent will look in Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry's last volume, "The River Rhymer,' he will find the latter condition is assuredly unfulfilled. At p. 230 he will discover a charming lyrical picture of the bridge and its surroundings in its last days, as well as ample reference to the interesting Dickensian associations nected with it. I observe, however, that the Rhymer makes no allusion to the steamboat pier which years ago was attached to one of the buttresses of the bridge.

con

DUMPS. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN NEWSPAPER OFFICE WINDOWS (11 S. ix. 508).-Following this statement of my friend MR. ALECK ÅBRAHAMS, it may be mentioned that, whatever is the custom in this country, in Paris the newspapers continue to give full reports of news in their windows as it arrives. For instance, the Matin, a journal of large circulation, with offices in a prominent position in the French capital, has crowds all day outside, reading the many messages displayed, and inspecting the pictures also on view of topical events and persons.

J. LANDFEAR LUCAS.

OLD ETONIANS: (7) RICHARD CALVERT (11 S. ix. 489). I should think the Calverts | mentioned were connected with the Calverts of Albury, Brent Pelham, and Furneaux Pelham, Herts. Chauncy states that the Calverts of Herts were a branch of the ancient family of the Calverts of Lancashire. Many of the Calverts are buried in Albury Church vault. M.A.

THE GREAT EASTERN, THE FIRST OF THE LEVIATHANS (11 S. viii. 506; ix. 55, 116, 158, 298).-See The Illustrated Times, 1859, in which, especially in the July-December volume, are many interesting prints and much letterpress.

PALLAVICINI: JANE CROMWELL (11 S. ix. 270, 314, 375, 435, 511).-At the last reference a reply of mine appeared in which I said, concerning the epitaph of Horacio Pallavicine, "The following is an exact copy.' As it appears it is not exact. This is probably owing to some accident or to faulty type. The last two lines of the epitaph should read::

BEING OF THE AGE OF SIX

AND THIRTY YEARES.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

[The type was correctly set, but two or three letters were broken during printing.]

Notes on Books.

LONDON.

London. By Sir Laurence Gomme. Norgate, 78. 6d. net.)

(Williams &

London Survivals. By P. H. Ditchfield. (Methuen & Co., 10s. 6d. net.) WORKS on London and its surroundings multiply apace. Only the other week we reviewed two books on Chelsea, and to-day we have these further contributions to the history of London. Anything written by Sir Laurence Gomme on London is sure to receive a hearty welcome. In his book on The Governance of London' (1907) he dealt with a newly discovered aspect of the question of origins; in 'The Making of London," published in 1912, he attempted to apply the results of this study to the evolution of the city; and in this his latest book he deals with a part of the subject which is only incidentally touched upon in the two previous works, and claims to have discovered the great fact of historical continuity-conscious and effective continuity-underlying the main issues of London life throughout all its changes. As the result of his investigations he maintains that "the continuity springs from the city-state of Roman Londinium, is carried through the hundred years of historical silence, is handed on to the London of Anglo-Saxon times, proceeds through the great period of Plantagenet rule, runs deep down under the preponderating mass of Tudor and Stuart changes, and comes out in the open when the Georgian statesmanship broke away the blocking forces."

the

Sir Laurence acknowledges that "the continuity thus revealed is not unchanging throughout the centuries. Each age modifies its form; or rather its form is modified by the different upon it"; but he asserts that "the ideal of conforces which have constantly worked tinuity comes from Roman London and from Roman Augusta, and it has never lost touch with the realities. Each age has possessed the feeling for continuity, has expressed itself in terms belonging to itself. It is only the terms which have been altered....The material was different, but the undying ideal was always the same.' The author is aware that there will be opposition to such a point of view, and an opposition not easy to meet, coming as it does from schools which have so long been dominated by the sweeping generalities of Freeman and his followers.' He says that the story he has to tell "differs altogether from that hitherto told," for it includes masses of material which have until but one word to say about "the tradition of now been ignored. In the present work he has London" ; he could not omit this from his evidence, and he could not complete it, for it will make a book by itself, and we are glad to know He gives in that he means to publish it soon. the text of the present work a summary sufficient for immediate purposes, expressing a conviction that "the completed study will satisfy many that the position he takes up for London is historically sound."

The last chapter, The Greatness that is London,' refers to its magnificent development, which has never been at the bidding of outside forces, for "its whole history shows it to be a

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living organism at every stage of its exhausting life. "Neither monarch nor noble has had a hand in its making.” Whatever the future may bring, London, the author predicts, will be the centre, as she has been the centre all these centuries, of the new institutions which will come into existence. It will not be a small uncared-for London, not a London shrinking within its walls, and commanding nothing but the fragments of its former greatness-the greatness that was London. She will be a great London with a territorium stretching from the Thames to the sea [we hope not], endowed with powers of self-government within the empire to which she belongs.' There are twenty-four illustrations. We much wish that the compiling of the Index had been more thorough.

Mr. Ditchfield, in a series of pleasant rambles, takes us through the quaint streets of the City, and points out the treasures of beauty and antiquity that still survive. The wanderings do not extend far beyond the demesne of the Corporation, and most of the illustrations (114 in number) by Mr. E. L. Wratten have been sketched within the area of the City. The constant references made in our pages to vanishing London show how rapidly old landmarks are disappearing, and we are grateful to Mr. Ditchfield for these descriptions and sketches of places, some of which will in course of time become mere matters of history.

He

The author begins with a quest for the earliest relics to be found of London civilization. does not concern himself about Celtic London, but contents himself with searching for Roman London, the first object looked for being the Roman wall. The survey is begun at the Tower, where among the remains of the Wardrobe Tower, close to the White Tower, there is a portion with some medieval building attached to it. This was long concealed by modern brickwork, and eventually it was found that the wall had continued further south. From the Tower it ran northwards across the moat, through Tower Hill (though no signs appear above the ground) to Trinity Place, where we see a large portion from the level of the street. It has been repaired, and a roof has been placed over the top to preserve it." Northwards, a considerable portion of the wall is to be found in Barber's Bonded Warehouses, Cooper's Row. Mr. Ditchfield was permitted to examine this, which forms part of the eastern wall of the great warehouse and vaults. "Its height here is 35 ft., and we climb stairs and descend into cellars, and inspect each part of this magnificent stretch of 112 ft. In the basement it is 8 ft. thick, and entirely Roman. "That part which is displayed on the ground and upper floors is medieval, and you can see the rampart, along which the guard walked, protected by a bulwark." In Crutched Friars, No. 1 has been named "Roman Wall House," where a perfect piece of the wall was discovered which forms the foundation of the neighbouring houses. Mr. Ditchfield then traces the wall to the site of Christ's Hospital, where, during the erection of the new Post Office, a fine part of the wall was discovered beneath the ground. Steps have been made to lead to it, so as to facilitate inspection of this piece. The wall proceeds southwards, running probably through Printing House Square towards the river."

We must leave the author's readers to ramble with him through the pre-Reformation churches, the churches built by Wren, the Inns of Court, the City Palaces, and the Halls of the Companies, and we feel sure that they, like ourselves, will find enjoyment in doing so.

Bannockburn. By John E. Morris. A Centenary Monograph. (Cambridge University Press, 58. net.) WE have great pleasure in recommending this monograph alike to historical students and to general readers who are interested in mediaval warfare and in the battle of Bannockburn in particular. Dr. Morris has assimilated with some eagerness the work done by Mr. Mackenzie in elucidating the puzzles presented by the ordinary accounts of the battle. Not all modern experts on the question will agree with him, but we must confess that on the all-important question of the real site of the battle he seems to us to make out an incontrovertible case for the theory which he and Mr. Mackenzie hold. This is to the effect that the fighting took place not on the upland, but on the level Carse, in the tract between the Forth and the Bannock-the English, most disastrously for them, having the Bannock at their backs. If this ground is accepted, the movements of the Scottish army otherwise almost unintelligible as the tactics of a master of war-are readily explained, and the accounts of the different authorities may be harmonized without violence.

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The story of the battle as we learnt it in our childhood falls almost to nothing. Edward's army of 100,000 men soon, no doubt, began to seem doubtful; but the awful charge of the heavy-armed English horse, and the plunge into the treacherous "pots," covered with earth and hurdles, and fitted with wicked stakes, seemed still to survive, as did the "multitude that watched afar" which poured down on the wearied English at the end of the day and completed the rout. Dr. Morris, however, assured that the Carse was the battle-field, tells us that the "pots" were dug, indeed, but, as things turned out, were never used, while the campfollowers on Gillies' Hill must be relegated to the region of myth.

One of the ablest features of the work is the handling of the original authorities, and the skill and insight with which each is corrected as to his errors, and made to yield his quota of truth. Thus we have discrepant accounts of the position of the English archers, said by the Lanercost Chronicler and by Trokelowe to have been in the first line, and by Baker to have been in the rear. Dr. Morris plausibly conjectures that the main body of them was in fact in the rear, but that in the course of the battle Edward threw out a skirmishing line of archers a small proportion only of the whole number - which drew northwards towards the English right, and did some rapid and not ineffective shooting into the left flank of Douglas.

The account of the battle is preceded by a good and careful study of the evolution of tactics and the composition of armies during the previous reign, while the whole monograph points forward to the methods employed at Crecy and Poitiers. It is curious, in analyzing the levies, to observe how unwarlike at one time were the northerners of England, and, again, for how long a time it was Welshmen, not Englishmen, who could alone be counted on to do execution as archers.

MAGGS