REPLIES:-- The Discovery and Recovery of MSS., by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie 456 "The Whippiad" 457 Spontaneous Combustion, by Shirley Hibberd 458 Major-General Lambert, by Edgar MacCulloch 459 The "Salt-peter-man," by J. Deck 460 Metrical Psalms and Hymns, by J. Sansom 460 The Sign of the Cross in the Greek Church 461 PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES:--New Developing Fluid--Photographic Tent--Mr. Wilkinson's simple Mode of levelling Cameras--Antiquarian Photographic Club 462 REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES:--Erroneous Forms of Speech: Mangel Wurzel--The Whetstone--Charade--Parochial Libraries--Judge Smith--Church Catechism--Charade attributed to Sheridan--Gesmas and Desmas--Lode--Epitaphs imprecatory--Straw-bail--How to stain Deal--Detached Belfry Towers 463 MISCELLANEOUS:-- Notes on Books, &c. 465 Books and Odd volumes wanted 465 Notices to Correspondents 466 Advertisements 466 * * * * * Notes. OLD POPULAR POETRY: "ADAM BELL, CLYM OF THE CLOUGH, AND WILLIAM OF CLOWDESLY." I have very recently become possessed of a curious printed fragment, which is worth notice on several accounts, and will be especially interesting to persons who, like myself, are lovers of our early ballad poetry. It is part of an unknown edition of the celebrated poem relating to the adventures of Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly. There are (as many of your readers will be aware from Ritson's small volume, _Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry_, 8vo. 1791) two old editions of _Adam Bell, &c._, one printed by William Copland, without date, and the other by James Roberts in 1605. The edition by Copland must have preceded that by Roberts by forty or fifty years, and may have come out between 1550 and 1560; the only known copy of it is among the Garrick Plays (at least it was so when I saw it) in the British Museum. The re-impression by Roberts is not very uncommon, and I think that more than one copy of it is at Oxford. When Copland printed the poem, he did not enter it at Stationers' Hall; comparatively few of his publications, generally of a free, romantic, or ludicrous character, were licensed, and he was three times fined for not first obtaining the leave of the Company. Nevertheless, we do find an entry of a "book" called "Adam Bell," &c., among the memoranda belonging to the year 1557-8, but it was made at the instance, not of Copland, but of John Kynge, in this form: