Boors or REFERENCE. — We have received the annual issue of The
f atholic Year-book and Clergy List (Regan Paul. Trench, and Co., is. net), a handbook of general information for Catbolics.—With this may be mentioned The Catholic Directory (Burns and Oates, is. 6d. net), an "Ecclesiastical Register and Almanac" which, besides claiming the venerable antiquity of sixty-three years, nearly as far back as emanci- pation, writes on its title - page perinissu Superiorum.— The British Almanac (Letts and Co., Is.) is in its seventy- third year, and continues, as far as we can see, to enlarge its contents and accommodate them to general utility.— Cut Cavendish. By Captain Arthur Maincvaring. (Routledge and Sons. Is.)—The notice by the publishers does not convince us that this title is quite right. "Cavendish" and" Whist" are two words that go together, and the explanation that this " Cavendish " has nothing to do with the other, does not go for much. There is a good deal of useful information, and many serviceable hints, in the book. And there is a supplementary chapter on that bastard whist which calls itself " bridge."— How to Play Chess, by Rev. G. G. Cunnington (same publishers, 6d.), appears in a second edition, revised and enlarged.— The quarterly instalment of The Oxford English Dictionary (Clarendon Press, 5s.) is a portion of Vol. IV., appearing under the editorship of Mr. Henry Bradley, M.A., and taking in the words "Glass-coach—Graded." It is as full as usual of informa- tion more or less of a novelty to the ordinary reader. How many who read this notice could say offhand that a " glass-coach" was so called in distinction to a "curtain-coach," one that had no glazed windows ? Etymology is, of course, a strong point in the dictionary, and the editor mentions several words in which he has gone against common beliefs. "Gown," for instance, bith-rto claimed as "Celtic," is referred to the Romance language, "gona," represented by the mediseval Latin gunna.