i of Florence. They bore pills on their
shield, (and those pills, as usual then, were gilded,) in allusion
to the professional origin from whence they had derived the name of
Medici; and their agents in England and other countries put that
armorial bearing over their doors as their sign, and the reputation
of that house induced others to put up the same sign.

H.W.

* * * * *

THE LIONS IN THE TOWER.

Mr. Editor,--Some one of your readers may be interested in knowing
that there was a royal menagerie in the Tower of London in the reign
of Edward III. In the Issue Roll of the forty-fourth year of his
reign, 1370, there are five entries of payments made to "William de
Garderobe, keeper of the king's lions and leopards" there, at the rate
of 6d. a day for his wages, and 6d. a day for each beast.--pp. 25.
216. 298. 388. 429.

The number of "beasts" varied from four to seven. Two young lions are
specially mentioned; and a "lion lately sent by the Lord the Prince
from Gascony to England to the Lord the King."

[Greek: Phi]

[Our correspondent's NOTE is an addition to what Bayley has given
us on this subject; who tells us, however, that as early as 1252,
Henry III. sent to the Tower a white bear, which had been brought
to him as a present from Norway, when the Sheriffs of London were
commanded to pay four pence every day for its maintenance.]

* * * * *

NOTES ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. 1.

THE "BIBLIOGRAPHIE BIOGRAPHIQUE."

A lover of literature, and aspiring to promote its extension
and improvement, I sometimes form projects for the adoption of
others--sensible, be it also said, of the extent of my own engagements
with certain learned societies.

One of these projects has been a tabular view of the literary
biography of the British Islands. In the midst of my reflections on
the plans of Blair, Priestly, Playfair, Oberlin, Tytler, Jarry de
Mancy, &c. I received a specimen of a _Bibliographie biographique_, by
Edouard-Marie Oettinger, now in the press at Leipzic.

As books multiply, the inexpediency of attempting general bibliography
becomes more {43} and more apparent. Meritorious as are the works of
Brunet and Ebert, and useful as they may be to _collectors_, they
are inadequate to the wants of _men of letters_. Henceforth, the
bibliographer who aims at completeness and accuracy must restrict
himself to one class of books.