It must have been a great pleasure to Mr. R.
Thurston Hopkins to write his charmingly illustrated 914 Watermills and Windmills (Philip Allan, 16s.), and though it is somewhat of a specialist's book, saying almost all there is to be said in detail on the subject, it will also give enjoyment to many others who love old country ways and things. Furthermore, the search after deserted watermills will bring the wayfarer face to face with some of the hidden lovelinesses of England, while the windmills, whether in activity or pathetically mouldering, will point to the open field or up the high down. Of the very many interesting historical details Mr. Hopkins has collected, one may be quoted : it was from a Wandsworth watermill run by Huguenot refugees some two hundred years ago that Catholic cardinals obtained the best quality in red hats. Mr. Hopkins might note that lcnaveship (p. 16) was the perquisite of the under-miller (indeed, the word often means that), not of the miller, and it might perhaps be worth recording that the first mill on a stream was often, for obvious reasons, called Doolittle Mill. In the Bedfordshire parishes of Ampthill and Totternhoe there are places so named. Carshalton, Mr. Hopkins thinks, is a name that has been debased. On the contrary : it has altered little from its original Caerse-healh-tun or " watercress nook farm," to which its still abundant, clear streams brought both prosperity and a name.
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