Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

_Cockade_ (Vol. iii., pp. 7. 196.).--The _cockade_ was simply the knot of the riband that served to _cock_ the broad flapped hat worn by military men in the seventeenth century, and which in fine weather, or going into action, &c., they used to _cock_, by means of hooks, laces, and ribands. We see still in the {293} cocked-hats of coachmen and beadles, the traces of these old ligaments. Hence the phrase to _cock one's hat_. Let me add one or two remarks on other points of dress arising out of old military habits. In old times coats were of the shape we now call frocks, and _lined_ throughout, generally with a different colour from the outside. When a person in one of these coats was going about any active work, and particularly into fight, he doubled back his sleeves, and folded back the collar, which, being of a different colour, came to be what we now call the _facings_ of military uniforms. The French, truer to their origin, still call them the "_revers_." So also on such occasions the broad skirts of the frock coat used to be hooked back not to impede the movements of the lower limbs, and thence the swallow tails of military uniforms. So also the high jack-boots, that covered the knees, used, in walking, to be turned down, and the inside being of a lighter colour, gave the idea of what are called _top-boots_.

C.

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Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

In the belief that the time has arrived when the history of our national architecture must be reconsidered, with a view to a revision of the classes or periods into which it has hitherto been divided, Mr. Sharpe has just put forth a handsomely illustrated volume, under the title of _The Seven Periods of English Architecture defined and illustrated_. Mr. Sharpe's proposal is, that these seven periods should be thus formed:--three belonging to the division _Romanesque_, under the titles of Saxon, Norman, and Transitional Periods; and the remaining four to the _Gothic_, viz. the Lancet, Geometrical, Curvilinear, and Rectangular Periods. We must, of course, refer our readers who desire to know the principles upon which Mr. Sharpe proposes this great change to the work itself, which is plain and to the purpose.

Mr. Bohn some time since became the purchaser of a large number of the copper-plates of Gillray's _Caricatures_. Having had impressions taken, and arranged them in one large volume, he sought the assistance of Mr. Wright, who had just then published his _History of the House of Hanover, illustrated by Caricatures_, and Mr. R. H. Evans, the well-known bibliopole, towards an anecdotical catalogue of the works of this clever satirist: and the result of the labours of these gentlemen has just been published under the title of _Historical and Descriptive Account of the Caricatures of James Gillray, comprising a Political and Humorous History of the latter Part of the Reign of George III._ The volume will be found not only an interesting key to Mr. Bohn's edition of Gillray, and a guide to those who may be making a separate collection of his works, but a pleasant illustration of the wit and satire which lashed the politicians and amused the public

"In the old time when George the Third was king."

Those who know the value of those historical researches which Sir F. Palgrave has already given to the world, will be glad to hear that the first volume of his _History of Normandy and of England_ will probably be published before the close of the present month. In this first volume, which is described in the advertisement as containing the general relations of Mediæval Europe, the Carlovingian Empire, and the Danish Expeditions into Gaul, we understand the learned author has treated those expeditions at considerable length, and enters very fully into that of the decline of the Carlovingian Empire,--a portion of the work as important, as it is in a great measure new, to the English reader. Not the least valuable part of the book will be Sir Francis Palgrave's account of the nature and character of the Continental Chronicles, which form the substratum of his work, but which, existing only in the great collections of Duchesne, Bouquet, Pertz, &c., are generally very imperfectly known to English students.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell, on Monday next, a collection of very rare and interesting Autograph Letters, more particularly illustrative of the period of the Civil Wars. On the same day they will also commence a Four-days' Sale of valuable Books, and Books of Engravings, chiefly from the library of a gentleman deceased, including the original edition of Stuart and Revett's _Athens_, a copy of Merian's _Topographia Germaniæ_ containing nearly one thousand engravings, and many other works of high character.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_Boswell's Life of Johnson, Illustrated_, vol. i. This is the first volume of the _National Illustrated Library_, which the projectors describe "as an endeavour to bestow upon half-crown volumes for the _many_ the same typographical accuracy, and the same artistic ability, hitherto almost exclusively devoted to high-priced books for the _few_." In choosing _Boswell's Johnson_ for their first work, the projectors have shown excellent judgment; and we are bound to add that the book is not only well selected, but neatly printed, and illustrated with a number of excellent woodcuts.--_Illustrations of Medieval Costume in England, &c._,