GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER, 1835. BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. CONTENTS. PAGE MINOR CORRESPONDENCE-Westminster School-The Unicorn-Peers' Proxies 450 ...... BOSWELL'S LIFE OF DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.. 451 458 NEW RECORD COMMISSION, No. IV.-Pipe Roll of 31st Henry I. Family of Unton, or Umpton Chapter-house of the Abbey at Bocherville, near Rouen (with two Plates) Letters of Charles Duke of Somerset to Tonson respecting Addison..... 472 .... 477 Report of M. Francisque Michel on his Researches in the English Libraries... 479 485 POETRY.-Rev. W. L. Bowles on hearing the Messiah performed in Gloucester La Martine's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 497.-Jesse's Gleanings in Natural LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. New Publications; Circulation of the Metropolitan Newspapers, 532.--Summary of Public Petitions presented to Parliament, 533.-The Universities; Literary Institutions; the Comet; Useful Inventions, &c. ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES... 535-538 ...... 538 545 HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.-Foreign News, 541.-Domestic Occurrences, Embellished with two Plates of the Chapter-house of BOCHERVILLE. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. J. T. M. writes: In the Encyclopedia Britannica appears the following paragraph, "HODMAN, a cant term formerly used for a young scholar admitted from Westminster - school to be student at Christ-church in Oxford" Can any of your Correspondents elucidate the expression? I would also ask, how long the Greek Esop has been disused at Westminster? There is now lying before me, • Αίσωπο Μυθοι, Ζυν τοις · Επιγραμμασιν ἐκ τοις ἀνθολογίας ἐκλεκτοις. In usum Scholæ Regiæ Westmonast. Londini. Ex Officina Johannis Redmayne, 1671, 12mo.' It contains the Greek Fables, with Epimythia, or Morals, appended to them; the Life of Esop, by Maximus Planudes; the Batrachomyomachia of Homer; a selection from the Authologia, different from that now in use, and much shorter, with a few extracts from Moschus, Theocritus, Bion, and Anacreon. An index of the fables concludes the volume. Pp. 128. Mr. JAMES LOGAN remarks: The existence of that noble-looking animal the Unicorn has never been satisfactorily proved, although some travellers have averred that the race was not an imaginary one, nor yet entirely extinct, they having either caught a glimpse of the creature, or heard of some one that did. They did not of course refer to the rhinoceros, that terrific, but well known animal, whose horn is so different from that which is given to the Unicorn. I am led to make these remarks not only with a view to settle this point, by means of any of your Correspondents, better versed in natural history or geology than I am, but also from a desire to have a passage explained, about which, with others, I am in doubt. In the "Rites of Durham Cathedral," p. 117, a Unicorn's horn, Elephant's tooth, or such like, we are told, were amongst the offerings made at shrines. Now does the first the elegant horn of the singular fish called a Sea Unicorn? and are any such relics yet preserved, or any written or other evidence extant to prove the fact? Several horns, it appears, were found in the North in 1831, which, from their unusual appearance, and resemblance to those of the supposed imaginary Land Unicorn, were believed to be the remains of this animal, which, like the bear, beaver, elk, wild cattle, &c. may have once inhabited the British Isles. mean S. S. is informed that, some curious matter relative to Peers' Proxies, their voting, mode of vacating them, and proceedings of the House upon the subject, will be found in the " Report of the Lords' Committee of Privileges appointed to examine Precedents of Peers advanced to a higher dignity, entering their Proxies according to their former titles," drawn up by Mr. Cowper, the Deputy Clerk of the Parliament, and ordered to be printed 13 May 1817. In answer to R. T. who inquires whether there was any connection between the families of Freschville and Tideswell; who, he states, as well as Foljambe, bore the same charges on their armorial shield; we can only remark that this proves no relationship, but probably only their being subinfeudatories of the same lord. But we do not find the name of Tideswell mentioned among the old Derbyshire families, nor any record of arms borne by that name. L. inquires, "where there may exist in a public or private library a Continuation of the Register, remaining in the University Library at Cambridge (marked D. d. II. 21), of the Proceedings of the Court of High Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical, from Mich. Term. 1631, to Hilary Term 1633 [1633-4]? A learned friend, who has recently been so obliging as to examine the volume at my instance, acquaints me, that the latest note of time therein is of the 26th of March 1634. It ends, therefore, unfortunately for my purpose, with the term immediately preceding that in which a cause commenced to which I have occasion to refer." G. C. remarks, "Sharon Turner, in the 10th volume of his History of England, p. 405, states that Henry VIII. gave to Cardinal Pole the house which the learned Colet had built; and two pages further on, that the Cardinal returned to England for two years more to his rural retreat. Can you, or any of your numerous readers, inform me where this house was situated, or if it is still extant?" A young Genealogist asks, Whether any Correspondent can afford him information of the parentage of Sir George Etherege (Charles the Second's courtier), the arms he bore, or any other particulars respecting his family? We are much obliged by the communication of Mr. WILLIAM MICHELL; but had already availed ourselves of his account of the church of Perranzabuloe. GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. BOSWELL'S LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. New Edition. 8 Vols. Murray. 1835. : AFTER the animosity of party feeling has subsided, and the rivalry of literary reputation has yielded to the calmer and more impartial judgment of the public, we think the merit of Mr. Croker's edition of Boswell's biography will be generally acknowledged; nor do we know any circumstance which tends more strongly to confirm this opinion, than the fact that another edition, incorporating great part of his materials, and enriched with his additional notes, has rapidly succeeded his proving the success of his undertaking and the approbation of the public. How far Mr. Croker acted judiciously in interweaving with Boswell's text the narrative of some other biographers, must be left to general opinion; for ourselves we should have wished it otherwise. But to those persons who did not possess the volumes of Piozzi, Hawkins, and others, his plan afforded much additional information, in a convenient compass, and brought the scattered rays from remote quarters, to illuminate in one focus the noble Image which the public voice had placed on the pedestal of Fame. The additional matter, also, which Mr. Croker collected from the conversation of friends, or from the remembrance of a few of Johnson's contemporaries, was often important and always gratifying; while his own exemplary diligence and acuteness rectified much that was erroneous, supplied much that was deficient, and illustrated much that was obscure. Errors, too, that had long escaped detection, had crept into the narrative of Boswell, not so much from negligence of attention, and certainly from no culpable disregard of truth; but from the difficulty of following up, even with the most ready and experienced pen, the rapid flow of conversation, of arresting with precision ideas and images, that were separated by delicate touches of distinction, and of unfolding with exactness arguments that were entangled by opposition of opinion, or linked together by a long consecution of arrangement. Even to the unrelaxing assiduity, the ready activity of Boswell, could not be applied the language of the poet of Bourdeaux : Quum maxime nunc proloquor, Circum loquentis ambitu, Tu sensa nostri pectoris Ut dicta jam ceris tenes, Tu me loquentem prævenis. Mr. Croker has been successful in rectifying much that is erroneous, partly by comparing Boswell with himself, partly by the information of other persons who were present; sometimes by authorities drawn from his extensive knowledge of literature, and sometimes by reasons deduced from logical and well-grounded inferences. We think, also, that the estimate which Mr. Croker has formed of Johnson's character, though not drawn out into a formal arrangement, nor |