Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/550

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454


NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. 11. DEC. 3,


anonymously and pseudonymously, this is the best and most scientific arrangement. If this plan be adopted (with some possible alterations in the technical bibliographical matter), the result should be highly satis- factory. H. W. C. University Library, Birmingham.

The tract may be treated exactly as though it were a bound volume. If the catalogue is to be arranged under authors' names, the entry would be as examples appended.

If the author's name is known, though not appearing in the work, the name is inserted in square brackets, as in the case of Hall's 4 Remonstrance.' If the author is not known, the leading word of title makes the most ready reference; thus 'Essex Watchmen's Watchword' would be found under 'Essex.'

The greatest difficulty to the non-technical compiler is in determining the correct de- finition of the size ; for example, a foolscap 4to may have been cut down to a pott 4to in some copies while left full in others, what appears as an octavo may be a quarto, and 12mos and 18mos are a veritable puzzle. Perhaps the better plan is to give the size of the title-page in inches.

If the catalogue is to be of more interest than a mere list of books, it is well to add a short memorandum of any noteworthy fact (as below).

Cards are preferable to any other form of MS. catalogue, as additions and alterations can be made without destruction of the sequence ; but care should be taken to select good linen cards, such as are supplied by firms making a speciality of library supplies.

[Hall (Joseph), Bishop.] An Humble Remon- strance to the High Court of Parliament, By A dutifull sonne of the Church. ii+43 pp. Pott 4. London. 1640. This work led to the celebrated reply published under the title of ' Smectymnus.'

Marshall (Stephen). A Sermon Preached before

the Honourable House of Commons At their

publike Fast, November 17, 1640. vi+50 pp Fcap. 4. London. 1641. This writer took a leading part in the noted controversial publication Smectymnus,' the first two letters of that title being his own initials.

The book-lover finds memoranda, such as shown above, give an added interest to items in the collection. I have referred to but few points and to the method I have adopted ; far more may be learnt from Quinn's * Manual of Library Cataloguing,' published at 181, Queen Victoria Street, E.C.

I. C. GOULD.

THE TENTH SHEAF (10 th S. ii. 349). My grandmother, who was born at Naseby in 1808, dictated to me a short time before her death a few notes concerning Naseby Field


previous to its enclosure. Amongst them I find the following paragraph, which may perhaps be of interest to MR. H. W. UNDERDOWN :

" The Tithes (the tenth part of corn and grass) were collected on the field. As soon as the corn and grass were cut the titheman went round and stuck a large dock upright in every tenth shock of corn or cock of hay. These the farmer always left on the ground when he carried. The hay was very troublesome to collect, as it lay in so many different places about the field. The tithe ricks when made were very long ones, and a chimney or hole about two feet square was left in the middle of the rick to aid the heating which nearly always occurred. I remember one of these ricks taking fire in spite of all precautions, and the greater part of it was spoiled as well as a bean rick which caught fire from it. The Tithe Barn, where the tenth part of the corn was housed, still stands near the church and is a very remarkable building."

JOHN T. PAGE. West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

I do not know if it is of any use, but I can remember, when riding about the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, as a bo3 T , with my father, in the early thirties, seeing "shocks" each consisting of, I think, ten sheafs marked with a green bough in various fields, which he explained to me was the tenth of the crop ("tithe") as selected by the clergyman or his representative, and was afterwards duly carted away by him. But all this will have ceased long ago, after the Tithe Commutation Act. G. C. W.

CHILDREN AT EXECUTIONS (10 th S. ii. 346). I cannot cite any instances of children being taken to see executions ; but there is a passage in Mrs. Sherwood's * Fairchild Family,' vol. i. pp. 53-61, which throws a curious light upon the subject. Mrs. Sherwood wrote many religious stories which had a large circulation, and my copy of * The Fairchild Family ' is of the eighteenth edition. The family consisted of a father, mother, and three children Lucy aged nine, Emily a little younger, and Henry, who was between six and seven when the story begins. One morn- ing, when Mr. Fairchild was coming down- stairs, he overheard the children quarrelling in the parlour about Lucy's doll, and instead of interfering promptly he waited until Lucy had pinched Emily, Emily struck Lucy, and each sister had declared she did not love the other. Thereupon Mr. Fairchild went into the room, took a rod from the cupboard, and whipped the hands of the three children until they smarted. They were then made to stand in a corner without their breakfasts, and had no food all the morning. In the afternoon Mr. Fairchild, in order to enforce what he had said about the fearful results of