and East India Shell silver mounted, Six second best Silver Table Spoons, Six Tea Spoons, tongs and strainer and large Silver Hop Spoon.

Item: I give to my son Allington a Hoop Diamond Ring, Silver Bread Basket, Six Silver Table spoons, Soup Spoon, and Marrow Spoon, Two Silver Sauce Boats, one East India shell silver mounted, a Gold Seal with Mark Antonys head.

Item: I give to my Daughter Dorothy Harvey, a Rose Diamond Ring, Small flat silver candlestick, a round pinchbeck metal snuff box enlaid, a Silver Sugar Basket and Tongs, with a Silver Cream Pot or Tankard with Blue glass and ladle, a small Case with Silver Handle Knife, Fork and Spoon, Drinking cup, and Box for Salt, a Large Silver Spoon with a spout and Cover.

Item I will that all my printed Books be divided between my Three Sons, John, Hildebrand and Allington Morley, my eldest son John to choose one first, my son Hildebrand one next, my son Allington one next, and so on alternatively in that manner until all my books are divided.

Item: I will that all my China Ware be made into three equal parts or parcels, and divided by Lott between my Three Sons, John, Hildebrand, and Allington Morley.

Item I will that legacies of all kinds given by this my will or any future codicil be paid and discharged within three months after my decease. And I do hereby declare my mind and will to be that my trustees shall in the first place deduct all costs and charges they shall be put unto in relation to the said trust, nor shall any of them be answerable for any more money than they shall actually and respectively receive nor shall any of them be answerable for the acts and doings of the others, nor for any loss or diminution of the money or dividends thereof without their wilful neglect.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my son John Jacob Morley for the term of his natural life only all my Houses, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments and Appurtenances whatsoever Freehold Copyhold or Leasehold wheresoever. And from and after his decease, I give and devise all and singular, the said Freehold, Copyhold and Leasehold premises unto his First Son and every other Son and Sons of his body lawfully begotten severally and successively in remainder one after another, in order and course as they shall every one of them be in seniority of age and priority of birth, and to the several and respective heirs male of the respective body, and bodies of all and every such Son and Sons, lawfully issuing the elder of such son or sons, and the heirs male of his and their body and bodies, lawfully issuing being always preferred, and to take before the younger of them, and for the default of such issue I give and devise all and every of the said forementioned Houses, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and appurtenances whatsover, Freehold, Copyhold, and Leasehold, unto my Second Son, Hildebrand Morley, for and during the term of his natural life only, and from and after his decease I give and devise and every and singular, the said Freehold, Copyhold and Leasehold premises unto his first son, and every other Son and Sons of his body lawfully begotten severally and successively in remainder one after another in order and course as they shall every one of them be in seniority of age, and priority of birth, and to the several and respective heirs male of the respective body and bodies of all and every such Son and Sons lawfully issuing, the elder of such Son and Sons, and the heirs male of his and their body and bodies lawfully issuing being always preferred, and to take before the younger

of them. And for default of such issue I give and devise all, every, and singular the said forementioned Houses, Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances whatsoever, Freehold, Copyhold, and Leasehold, and all the reversion and remainder thereof, and all my estate, right, title, and interest of, in, and to the same unto my Third Son Allington Morley and his heirs forever.

Item I give and devise all other my personal estate of what nature or kind soever except what is hereby bequeathed or shall be in any future codicil, he paying all my just debts, legacies, and funeral charges, and all other lawful demands of my children or any other person claiming under this my Will or any future codicil, and I do hereby constitute and appoint my Sons John Jacob Morley and Allington Morley, EXECUTORS of this my last will and testament contained in two sheets and a half of paper, and written by my own hand, sealed, together, on the upper corner with my own seal, and to each sheet I have set my hand and seal this Twenty-fifth day of October, One thousand, seven hundred and seventy five. JOHN MORLEY,

Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the above named John Morley (the testator, the word pounds in the first sheet first interlined), as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who subscribed our names as witnesses hereunto at his desire and in his presence, and of each other.-JNo. Storer— WM. WOODALL-THOS. HULL.

Whereas I, John Morley, Esquire, of Halsted, Essex, have made my last will and testament dated October the twenty-fifth, one thousand seven hundred and seventy five and therein given to my Son Hildebrand Morley, a sum of money, I do hereby give my said son Hildebrand Morley the further sum of One Thousand pounds more to increase his legacy.

Item: I give hereby to my Son Allington Morley a further sum of One Thousand pounds more to increase his former legacy in my said last will and testament in which this is a codicil and as part thereof. In witness whereof I have this twentieth day of November, One thousand seven hundred and seventy five, Signed my name, JOHN MORLEY.

Proved with a Codicil.-27th January, 1777.

Agricultural
Returns.

The following returns for the county, lately issued. by the Board of Agriculture, show a falling off in the number of all live stock except pigs:

244

REVIEWS AND NOTES OF BOOKS.

William Gilbert of Colchester: A Sketch of his Magnetic Philosophy. By CHARLES E. BENHAM. Royal 16mo. Pp. (iv). 96 (7) with two illustrations. Colchester: Benham and Co., 1902. Price 2s.

In this neat little volume, the substance of which has already appeared in articles in the Essex County Standard, will be found an appreciative review of the magnetic writings of that notable Essex worthy, Dr. William Gilbert. As every Colcestrian knows Dr. Gilbert was the favourite physician of Queen Elizabeth, President in his day of the Royal College of Physicians, and an extensive landed proprietor in Essex and Suffolk. He devoted many years of his life to the investigation of the properties of the lodestone, and of the mariners' compass, the results of his labours being embodied in his celebrated book De Magnete, published in Latin, in London, in 1600. Of this work the Gilbert Club has (in 1901) issued an English version: and as Mr. Benham tells us at the outset it is the appearance of this version which has prompted him to discuss Gilbert's views and their philosophical bearing. He has attempted, and with real success, to show what manner of man Dr. Gilbert was, wherein lay his peculiar genius, what were his merits, and what also his blunders and failings. Mr. Benham dwells on the circumstance that, although Gilbert's actual discoveries were few and crude, he must be judged by the spirit of his work rather than by any individual additions to the phenomena of the science. He did indeed make new observations in electricity, and generalized the few that had been made prior to his time. He invented the first primitive electroscope, and unquestionably improved magnetic apparatus. He was the discoverer of the plan of augmenting the power of a lodestone by fitting iron caps to it; a discovery which raised the admiration of Galileo, and made him speak of Gilbert as a man of enviable greatness. Mr. Benham prefers, however, to rest Gilbert's claims to greatness on his philosophic method more than on his direct contributions to the science. "He was not the builder of sciences, but the architect of a truly scientific spirit, and his life work consisted in the doctrine, new to England, that all scientific knowledge must be founded on

practical experiment and observation alone, instead of upon speculations and theories evolved out of inner consciousness."

The successive chapters of the book deal with the old magnetic philosophies, magnetic motions and electric force, the magnet's "directive virtue," the variation of the compass, the dip and "orbes of virtue" of the magnet, the life of the Universe (in which Gilbert, though no Manichean, was clearly a believer), and lastly the Copernican theory. The author is particularly happy in his treatment of the last topic, but throughout the book the analysis of Gilbert's views is accurate and discriminating. The work is illustrated with a picture of Gilbert's globular magnet or "terrella," and another of his tombstone in the Church of Holy Trinity, Colchester.

SILVANUS P. THOMPSON.

Catalogue of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts, relating to or connected with the County of Essex, and collected by Augustus Cunnington. A contribution towards the Bibliography of the County. Pp. [6], 90, demy 4to. Braintree (Charles Joscelyne), 1902. One hundred copies printed for private circulation.

The late Mr. Augustus Cunnington, a well-known solicitor, of Braintree, who held the positions of clerk to the Urban District Council and to the Braintree Bench of Magistrates, and was Registrar of the Braintree County Court, took a warm interest in the history of his county. He was one of our keenest collectors of Essex books.

In distributing copies of this Catalogue, his son, Mr. Herbert J. Cunnington, has thus addressed his father's friends.

In accordance with the wish of my late father, I have pleasure in asking your acceptance of the enclosed copy of a Catalogue of his Library of Essex Books.

One of the last things in which he took an active interest was the compilation of this Catalogue, the chief part of the work being undertaken by Miss C. Fell Smith, to whom we are greatly indebted for her valuable services.

The Library has now come into my possession, and I shall be very pleased at any time to give you an opportunity of inspecting any of the books if you should wish to do so.

Yours faithfully,

HERBERT J. CUNNINGTON.

Mr. Cunnington's library was a valuable one, and contained most of the important topographical works on Essex. These and many other works are here fully described in this catalogue, which is nicely printed on Van Gelder paper. The handsome

volume will prove a most convenient and important reference catalogue for other workers in a similar field. Very few of the tedious seventeenth century sermons, usually so numerous in a bibliography, are included. The maps only number nine, but one is of Braintree. The manuscripts, although few, are interesting, including as they do two editions of Mr. John Cunnington's. History of Braintree (1833), illustrated with his own pencil and water-colour drawings, and his Life of William Grant, the Braintree miser (1827).* There are also four volumes of the late Rev. J. H. Sperling's church heraldry of the county (cf. E.R. iii. 82), and other valuable items.

:

The system followed in the catalogue is very much that recommended some years ago by the Essex Bibliographical Committee, and cross references are sufficiently plentiful. Criticism could of course be directed as to what is included and what omitted..

C

On this point no two authorities would thoroughly agree, but we must say that in a catalogue of Essex books we should not expect to find such works as Dugdale's Monasticon, Lewis' Topo. graphical Dictionary, Ecton's Liber Valorum and Thesaurus, Martin's Natural History of England, the exact list of the Lords and Commons for 1710, Charles Whitworth's Succession of Parliaments, or The Catalogne of the Library of the Society of Antiquaries (1861-8), although, of course, each of these contains Essex information. On the other hand, many works are catalogued without any apparent reason for their inclusion as relating to Essex. Every student will supply some of the reason for the entries under A Barrister, Thomas Guy, Lascelles Wraxall, Wm. Gilpin, E. W. Godwin, and others, are unknown to us. Arthur Young's Six Weeks'

deficiencies, but the

Tour is not referred to that well-known author.

The publication of The Bibliography of Essex, for which the material is almost complete, is much to be desired; meanwhile this catalogue of Mr. Cunnington's library is a very creditable and welcome contribution in that direction, for convenient references to the best-known Essex Histories for purposes of collation are not easily to be found.

We understand that the present owner of the library intends adding to the collection.

* John Cunnington was the father of Augustus, and his predecessor in Braintree; the recollections of the two extend over a lengthy period of local history.