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discuss, were it not that they require somewhat longer researches than we have now the leisure to enter upon. We think that the long catalogues of 1391 and 1416 are far from proving, as has been said, the literary taste of the monks of Durham. On the contrary, these monks appear to have been employed from year to year in the mechanical labour of producing copies of part of the scriptures, of the works of some of the fathers, and of the heavy scholastic theologians and dialectitians. The mixture of lighter, or even of historical and scientific reading, is comparatively very small. The class of history is confined to a few copies of Bede, with a book or two of Giraldus, and some works which from their local nature, or particular character, the Library of Durham could scarcely be without. this respect they form a remarkable contrast to the earlier catalogue of the twelfth century, where a very large portion of the books in the library consists of classical writers, of scientific books, particularly medical and mathematical, of poetry, of grammar, and of works of a miscellaneous character. From the manner in which they are catalogued, and from what we know from the contents of earlier manuscripts, it is probable that many of the volumes pointed out in this catalogue contained a variety of tracts of a miscellaneous character which are not mentioned in the list.

In

An interesting article in this earlier catalogue are the Anglo-Saxon books, which are thus enumerated :

"LIBRI ANGLICI. Omeliaria vetera duo. Unum novum. Elfledes Boc. Historia Anglorum Anglice. Liber Paulini Anglicus. Liber de Nativitate Sanctæ Mariæ Anglicus. Cronica duo Anglica."

The two first articles in this list

were probably copies of the AngloSaxon homilies of Alfric. The third,

if not a life of Elfleda, may perhaps (by an error or change of orthography) mean a book of King Alfred-perhaps

of the Pastorale. The fourth is doubtlessly Alfred's translation of Bede. And it is equally probable that the last article points out two copies of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. The loss of the latter is more especially to be regretted, as most of our copies of the

chronicle were written in the southern or midland counties; and these might possibly have contained some curious notices relating to events which occurred in the north.

Few of the books indicated in this earlier catalogue make their appearance in those of a later date and we are naturally led to ask the question, what became of them? It is not improbable that many of them were sold. Others were perhaps exchanged for books that were more interesting to the successors of those who had collected them together, and for new books that might serve for models to future copyists. We'fear we must add, that many were erased to supply vellum to the copyist, or cut up to furnish materials to the monastic binder; and we would suggest that, as many of the manuscripts now preserved in the library seem to be in their original bindings, it would be well to examine the construction of their covers. Even a few leaves of a Saxon chronicle, or of "Elfledes boc," would be a discovery not to be despised.

When we examine these monastic catalogues, there is one reflection which never fails to present itself to our minds-how does it happen that the books enumerated are, with a very few exceptions, of this heavy theological description, whilst among the mass of manuscripts which are now preserved in our public collections there is such a large proportion of light and gay literature? We think that this circumstance proves beyond a doubt the rashness of the assertions which have commonly been made, that in the middle ages the monasteries alone were the asylums of literature. We might easily follow up this observation to a much greater length than our space will allow; but we may observe that the most remarkable illustration of it

is to be found in the Royal Library at lected together at a period when the Paris. The ancient fonds were colancient rights and privileges in full monasteries in France enjoyed their vigour, and their libraries were in most cases carefully preserved from the rapacity of intruders, until the revolution of 1793, when, the monasteries being suppressed and destroyed, their libraries were removed to the great national

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collection of which we have just spoken, where they were kept entirely separate, and not mixed with the old library. The old fonds are full of literary riches of every description; but when we look over the monastic catalogues, the fonds de St. Victor, &c. we find that most of them bear a close resemblance to the later of the Durham catalogues, and nine out of ten of the books which they contain might be destroyed without any loss to literature or to history.

In earlier times, that is, up to the thirteenth century, the monasteries were often the residence of those who entered the monastic life with the object of enjoying what we now term literary retirement, and such men formed their own private libraries, the contents of which were regulated by the peculiar taste of each. When such men died, their books, or a part of them, were not unfrequently added to the library of the house in which they had lived. We have traces of this in the earlier catalogues of the library of Durham, in which are enumerated the books of Guarin, who seems to have been attached to poetry and grammar, and who possessed copies of Terence, Horace, Juvenal, Donatus, Priscian, Virgil, Marcianus, Capella, Ovid, Boethius, &c.; those of Reginald, of Laurence the Prior, of William of Nunnewic, of Thomas the Prior, &c. Master Herbert the physician gave also to the library a handsome collection of medical books. We may observe, as one instance that proves the error about the date of this catalogue, that Laurence the Prior was clearly the famous poet of that name, and that William of Nunnewic possessed a volume of his poetry; in all probability therefore, to judge only by this instance, the catalogue was made at least several years after Laurence's death.

Now

the earliest date fixed for this last event is 1160, therefore we can hardly suppose the catalogue to have been made before the latter end (instead of the earlier part) of the twelfth century.

The nature of a volume like the present renders it difficult to make extracts from it, or even, within our space, to make a series of detached observations. The introduction presents much information; but it is GENT. MAG. VOL. XII.

chiefly collected from such writers as Warton, and contains some errors, which must be laid, not to the charge of the editor, but to that of the authorities which he uses. The text, as it appears to us, is very well edited. We have here and there a trifling literal error, such as, in one place, cooptorio instead of coopertorio: but such errors are almost unavoidable in the first edition of a text made after old manuscripts. We may also point out the contents of a volume at p. 26, of which the first article is stated to be "Algorismus passio sancti Laurencii versificata:" and which is entered in the index, “Laurentii, Algorismus passio Sancti." It should evidently be separated into two articles; and there can be no doubt that the treatise on arithmetic (Algorismus) was altogether a different thing from the martyrdom of St. Laurence. These, however, are but trifles; and by no means take away from the thanks which we owe to the Surtees Society and to Mr. Botfield for this publication of the Ancient Durham Catalogues.

The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Hammersmith, &c. By Thomas Faulkner. Royal and demy 8vo. pp. 450.

THIS industrious author is favourably known to the public by his previous Histories of the contiguous villages of Chelsea, Kensington, and Fulham. In the latter work, published in 1813, he also gave an account of Hammersmith, at that time a hamlet to Fulham, but since made a distinct parish. After an interval of above 20 years, during which time he has exerted himself to obtain every requisite information, Mr. Faulkner has now published his enlarged account of Hammersmith, in a pleasing separate work. It is diligently compiled, and is full of those minute details to be expected in local histories, frequently rendered by Mr. Faulkner more useful by apposite illustrations, and general remarks, explanatory of the subject in hand.

The parish of Hammersmith is a striking example of the rapid increase of population in the villages around 20

the metropolis. In 1801, it contained 5,600 persons; in 1811, 7,393; in 1831, 10,222; and it is expected that in the next census it will reIts turn above 13,000 inhabitants. situation on the high western road had caused it greatly to outstrip, in size and population, the mother parish of Fulham.

The Roman road from London to Staines and Chichester, passed through the centre of the parish. After following the course of the present Oxford Road as far as Shepherd's Bush, it followed a straight line to Turnham Green, in the same direction as a parish road called Gold Hawk Lane, which in 1834 was again converted into a high road. Upon digging down about ten feet, the workmen came to the old Roman causeway, which was very hard and compact. Several Roman coins and tiles were found.

A good chapter is given on agriculture and gardening, as carried on in the neighbourhood of Hammersmith; the latter to a great extent, the ground being sometimes made to produce four complete crops during the year.

The author traces the course of the Thames till it arrives at Hammersmith,

"Where it is enlivened and embellished with one of the most magnificent works of art that modern skill and ingenuity have produced-the Suspension Bridge. It then passes the site of Brandenburgh House, once the seat of gaiety and fashion. The views in this part of the Thames are much admired, its width being greatly enlarged, its curves gracefully formed, and its busy assembly of boats and barges, presents a series of objects in perpetual motion. As it approaches the picturesque

churches of Putney and Fulham, the latter is seen with charming effect through the noble trees which adorn the palace of the Bishop of London."

The greatest attraction at Hammersmith is the Suspension Bridge.

"The towers are of stone, and designed as archways of the Tuscan Order. They are forty-eight feet high above the roadway, twenty-two feet thick, and fourteen feet wide. The roadway is slightly curved, and is about eighteen feet above high water mark. The width of the carriageway is twenty feet, with footways five feet wide.

"The chains are eight in number, com

posed of wrought-iron bars, five inches deep and one thick; four of these have six bars in each chain, and four have only three bars in each, making thirty-six bars, which make a curvature in the centre of about twentynine feet; from the vertical rods is suspended the platform, which supports the roadway, formed of timber, covered with chalk and flints. The chains pass over rollers fixed in frames in the suspension towers, and are secured to the hold-down piers on each side by bolts. The extreme length to the back of the piers on shore is eight hundred and twenty-three feet, supporting six hundred and eighty-eight feet of roadway, being one hundred and thirtyfive feet more than the Menai Bridge. The extent of water-way between the piers is four hundred feet; the distance from them to the shore about one hundred and forty-five feet. The weight of the iron used is 350 tons. The cost was £45,341."

The eminent engineer of this Bridge, William Tierney Clarke, esq. has also erected several others in this kingdom -at Shoreham, Bath, &c.; and is now employed by the Imperial Government of Austria, in the erection of a Suspension Bridge of a very magnificent size, between Pest and Buda, in Hungary. He is also the resident engineer at the West Middlesex Waterworks in Hammersmith, one of the most useful and successful undertakings that have been established in the me

tropolis during the present century. To secure water of the purest quality, the Company, in 1829, purchased one hundred and ten acres of land on the Surrey side at Barnes, and have formed large reservoirs for the water to settle and filter; and in 1837, an immense iron pipe was laid across the bed of the Thames to convey the water to the powerful engine at Hammersmith; which supplies daily about 2,250,000 gallons, for the use of all parts of the west of London.

The junction of three Railways on the northern borders of the parish of Hammersmith, has induced Mr. Faulkner to give an account of these stupendous undertakings, which are working such an alteration throughout the country. But the line that is more immediately connected with the parish is the Birmingham, Bristol, and Thames Junction Railway, now in active progress toward completion; of this a map is given, shewing its connexion with

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