Value of MSS.—In the cause of Calvert v. Sebright, a question arose as to the sale of a collection of manuscript books by the late Sir John Sebright in the year 1807. In aid of the inquiry before the Master, as to the difference in value of the manuscripts in 1807 and the year 1849, Mr. Rodd made an affidavit, from which I have made the following extract, showing the prices at which five lots were sold in 1807, and the prices at which the same lots were sold at the late Mr. Heber's sale in 1836:

"No. in Catalogue, 1185. Bracton de (Hen.) Consuetudinibus et Legibus AnglicÆ. (In pergamena) literis deauratis. Sold in 1807 for 1l. 13s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 6l. 6s.

"Lot 1190. Gul. Malmesburiensis de Gestis Regum Anglorum. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 1l. 7s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 63l.

"Lot 1195. Chronica Gulielmi Thorn. (In membranis.) Sold in 1807 for 12s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 85l.

"Lot 1198. Henrici Archid. Huntindoniensis de Gestis Anglorum et Gyr. Cambriensis expugnatio HiberniÆ. (In pergamena.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 1s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 78l. 15s. 6d.

"Lot 1206. Chronica Matt. Parisensis sine Historia Minor cum vit authoris, per Doctissimum Virum Rog. Twysden Bar. (In papyro.) Sold in 1807 for 2l. 8s.: produced at Heber's sale, 1836, 5l. 15s. 6d. Total produce in 1807, 8l. 1s.: in 1836, 238l. 17s."

In the catalogue of Heber's books, &c., Nos. 447. 1006. 498. 118. and 1016. correspond with the Nos. 1185. 1190. 1195. 1198. 1206.

F. W. J.

Robert Hill.—I possess a Latin Bible which formerly belonged to this person, and contains many MS. notes in his handwriting. The following is by another hand:

"This book formerly belonged to Mr. Robert Hill, a taylor of Buckingham, and an acquaintance of my cousin John Herbert, surgeon of that town. J. L."

"In literature we find of this profession (i. e. that of a taylor) John Speed, a native of Cheshire, whose merit as an historian and antiquary are indisputable—to whom may be added the name of a man who in literature ought to have taken the lead, we mean John Stow. Benjamin Robins, the compiler of Lord Anson's Voyage, who united the powers of the sword and the pen, was professionally a taylor of Bath; as was Robert Hill of Buckingham, who, in the midst of poverty and distress, while obliged to labour at his trade for the support of a large family, acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew, and other languages, such as has only been equalled by Magliabecchi, who studied in a cradle curtained by cobwebs and colonised by spiders."—See "Vestiges Revived," No. XX. European Mag. for Mar. 1813.

The above choice note is, I presume, an extract from the Europ. Mag., and may serve to show that although ordinarily it takes "nine tailors to make a man," it may occasionally require nine men to make such a tailor as R. Hill seems to have been.

B. H. C.

English Orthography.—The agricultural newspapers and magazines in the United States have generally restored the spelling of plow in place of plough, which has crept in since the translation of the Bible into English.

Could not cloke, the old spelling, be also restored, in place of cloak, which has nothing but oak to keep it in countenance; whilst cloke is in analogy with smoke, poke, broke, &c.?

There are two English words, in pronouncing which not a single letter of them is sounded; namely ewe (yo!) and aye (I!)

Uneda.

Philadelphia.

Bookselling in Glasgow in 1735.—The following curious report of a law case appears in Morison's Dictionary of the Decisions of the Court of Session, p. 9455. It appears from it that, so late as 1735, the city of Glasgow, now containing a population of nearly 400,000, was considered too limited a sphere for the support of only two booksellers.

"1735, January 15. Stalker against Carmichael. Carmichael and Stalker entered into a co-partnery of bookselling within the City of Glasgow, to continue for three years; and because the place was judged too narrow for two booksellers at a time, it was stipulated that after the expiry of three years, either of them refusing to enter into a new contract upon the former terms, should be debarred from any concern in bookselling within the city of Glasgow. In a reduction of the contract, the Lords found the debarring clause in the contract is a lawful practice, and not contrary to the liberty of the subject."

X. Y.

Edinburgh.

Epitaph on a Sexton.—Epitaph on a sexton, who received a great blow by the clapper of a bell:

Answer to the foregoing:

E.