Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

not only interesting in themselves, but cleverly disposed and of happy effect in the poem. In fact, we are inclined to think that Gudrun' as a work of poetic craftsmanship, if not exactly as poetry, deserves to be rated higher, and more widely read than it yet has been, and Miss Armour has done good service to literature in making it thus pleasantly accessible to the general English reader. We rather wish, in the interest of those to whom the whole context of the poem will present itself as unfamiliar, that a few foot-notes had been supplied.

[blocks in formation]

veals its intent and scope. By localisation we are to understand the focussing of

The Poets and Music. By Edward W. Naylor. worship upon some concrete object which is

(Dent and Sons. 6s. net).

[blocks in formation]

worse

off

than do Coleridge and Tennyson, Coleridge's bassoon in the Ancient Mariner,' and his dulcimer in Kubla Khan' are both things to shake one's head over. He scores once, however: in the Ancient Mariner' he calls the flute "lonely," and that is the precise right word revealing, for the nonce at any rate, true musicianly perception. Tennyson is shown to have committed divers funny

mistakes of which the best-or worst is the "warbling" bugle in the 'Welcome to Alexandra. Rudyard Kipling is not altogether sound: diapason," "bourdon" and "brass" have proved pitfalls to him. The chapters on Browning, Milton and Shakespeare are the most valuable and useful part of the book. Milton's exactness in the use of contemporary musical ideas and terms is shown adding force to some well-known lines; on Shakespeare, besides elucidation of passages (and Shakespeare's treatment of music is matter for astonished respect) we have correction of some mistakes made by Shakespearian scholars. Again, Dr. Naylor, drawing from his stores of knowledge of ancient music and ancient writers who are concerned with or touch on music, throws valuable side-lights on a subject of perennial interest and importance the nature of the knowledge current among the half-educated in Shakespeare's day, corresponding with the current knowledge about some branches and applications of science in our own. Music has certainly lost ground since then. The chapter on Browning is an illuminating piece of work. It contains translation into music of the last stanza of We observe that our author considers the stanza unworthy of its place in the poem, and agree with him. In two epigrams at the head of his book, Dr. Naylor deprecates any proaches for omissions.

Abt

Vogler.'

were interested

a

to

re

Dr.

conceived of as vehicle or intermediary or point of contact between divine and human. Practices involving this principle are found to have established themselves independently all over the world, witnessing to a virtually universal proclivity in human nature. Bouquet relates this to the phenomena of idolatry, and in pages which are admirably clear and not without a measure of charm shows probability that idolatry forms a deeper and nobler expression of man's feeling after

He

God than it is usually supposed to be. draws illustration from primitive man, from

the rites practised in ancient Mexico (very copiously) and from Hinduism.

He brings nothing new; but his use of the material is suggestive, and has the stimulating quality of original thought.

So far, so good: it is when we try to make out how we are invited to apply all this to Christianity and the Eucharist that we find some difficulty -a subtle difficulty, for it arises, we think, from the uncertain basis upon which the whole books rests. All these facts about worship have one logical significance if Christianity is what is claims to be, and another, if it is regarded as only one among a number of expressions of the native human religiosity, more praiseworthy perhaps, yet not more to be trusted as truth than the rest. Dr. Bouquet, in his exposition, seems to halt between the two standpoints and so finds himself hampered, unable to make straightforward piece of work of his argument. Even allowing for that, there should perhaps have been some discussion of the place of authoritative teaching in the earliest Christian tradition, and of 1 Cor. xi., which implies that the tradition had already taken deep root.

a

Changing London (Third Series). A Book of
Sketches.
By Hanslip Fletcher, with an
Introduction and Notes by A. E. Richardson.
(Methuen. 10s. 6d. net).

Such reproaches READERS of the Sunday Times

would, indeed, be unreasonable, for he has packed his chapters full of detail of all kinds, from notes on the old ideas of the "music of the spheres" to description of musical instruments-notably the virginal-and exact definition of musical words and phrases all brought in as the several subjects furnish occasion. Into a book on the scale projected

are well

acquainted with these sketches, and doubtless many among them will be glad to possess them in this attractive volume. They are of permanent value as records of streets and buildings which, as the title of the work indicates, are depicted in view of the menace of obliteration; and they are also interesting from a certain characteristic skill which Mr.

Fletcher has in plucking at, if not always in plucking out, the heart of the mystery in the several scenes, as well as from the frequent emotional quality in the work. Professor Richardson's notes are very acceptable. His introduction works the lyrical vein to excess, but makes one or two good points.

a

[ocr errors]

number of

We have received from the Oxford Press two new numbers of their series of the World's Classics; Congreve's The Mourning Bride, Poems and Miscellanies, and Sterne's Sentimental Journey. Both have delightful introductions, the former a brilliant essay by Mr. Bonamy Dobree (but why does he say "Literally all we know of Congreve is and then go on to relate particulars not included in that all"?), and the latter by Mrs. Woolf, than perhaps, now writing, is so well able both to apprehend and to express the peculiar excellences of Sterne. Mr. H. Gordon Ward deserves the gratitude of the curious for writing and annotating an amusing Mock Catalogue in German, supposed to be of books found in an Irish castle and intended reference to the "Franckfurter Messe" shows -as caricature of catalogues of fairs. It is a seventeenth century product,

progeny

whom no-one,

as

one of the of Rabelais' catalogue of the "librairie de Sainct Victor." A copy is in the British Museum, and a reprint was made in 1666. Some of the titles, which number

about 100, are very amusing. This booklet is published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

We have received a good Catalogue (No. 27) from MR. EDGAR H. WELLS, of New York, describing chiefly First Editions of modern authors. It is always interesting to observe which authors at any given moment are most in favour with collectors; and then, which of their several books are most prized. Caldecott's picture-books command a pretty good price-here is a set of them as issued, in their original paper covers, offered for $110. The edition commonly called the first edition of Alice in Wonderland is offered for $300; $275 is the price asked for Mr. Walter De la Mare's Songs of Childhood and for Mr. A. E. Housman's 'A Shropshire Lad, $450. Of the many Conrads the little rare works, My Return to Cracow

($115) and Tradition ($110), are expected to tempt most; of the Kiplings here, the chief, to go by price, are 'The Phantom Rickshaw' ($175) and The Science of Rebellion ($127). Mr. Masefield's 'Salt Water Ballads' is marked to fetch $225, and Gilbert's 'The Bab Ballads' and 'More Bab Ballads $175 for the two volumes. Mr. Galsworthy is numerously represented, and the first edition of 'The Forsyte Saga ($50) is the most pecuniarily valuable of the items. Out of ten of Mr. Hugh Walpole's books 'Fortitude' at $20 and The Prelude to Adventure' at the same price are to

,

be most valued, it appears. We noted also three Trollopes Castle Richmond' ($45); 'Lady Anna' ($75), and, better than these, The Last Chronicle of Barset' ($100). Others worth mention, but picked out at random from a number not less deserving, are Mr. H. M. Tomlinson's 'The Sea and the Jungle' ($150); Mr. James Stephens's 'The Crock of Gold' ($85); Alice Meynell's Other Poems of 1896 ($50); and Mr. A. A. Milne's 'When we were very young ($35).

The 961st Caxton Head Catalogue, which we have just received from MESSRS. JAMES TREGASKIS AND SON, describes something over 400 items. Under 'America' we find an entirely uncut copy of Benjamin Franklin's edition of Cicero's De Senectute'‘Cato Major: or his discourse of old age,' with notes, the trans lation, the work of Judge James Logan (1744: £95). The complete series of seventeen woodcuts by Blake, illustrating Thornton's imitation of Virgil from the Barron collection is a tempting item at £15, and so, under Bindings, are The Gentleman's Calling in beadwork (1600), and 'L'Esguillon de L'Amour Divin' from a Carmelite convent at Charenton, dated 1644, in French olive morocco by Clovis Eve, priced respectively £60 and £85. There are some pleasant sixteenth century editions of classics: an English 'De Officiis,' 1558-212; a Pindar, sm. quarto, Rome, 1515-£10, and a Heliodorus 'Historiae Aethiopicae Libri decem, Basle, 1534-£10 10s. Under English History' Under English Literature we noticed a first several good and not expensive items.

are

edition of Bacon's

'Henry VII’ (1622: £16

10s.); a copy of Ellis's 'Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances (1805: £2 10s.); and that Historie of George Castriot Surnamed Scanderbeg with which Spenser is connected (1596: £20). Pine's 'Horace' with the enhancing error "pot est" and the printed list of antiquities is priced £45; and among several French books worth having there is a copy of the 'Mémoires' of Margaret of Navarre in the eighth edition, printed at Liège, 1713, for which £14 is asked. A whole section is devoted to Kate Greenaway: nine of her almanacs, all in first editions, for £77s.; and an original drawing called 'Primroses 1899, for £22 10s., are the best. Two copies of Waterhous's 'Discourse and Defence of Arms' are here (£7 10s. and £8). Among books on London we noticed Evelyn's 'Fumifugium,' a first edition (1661: £8 5s.). There is an Italian MS. on 85 vellum leaves, XV century work, of Cicero's 'De Officiis offered for £21; and also an illuminated leaf from a late XIV century French Livy (£85). Richard Percivale's Spanish Grammar (Bollifant: London) published in 1599, in exceptionally good state, for £42 must not be omitted and we may further mention 'Las Obras de Boscan' in the "edicion romana" (1547: £28); a first edition of Hernan Nuñez de Guzman's 'Refranes, o Proverbios en Romance' (Salamanca: 1555: £30), and 'Sir Thomas Smithes. Voiage and Entertainment in Russia' (London: 1605: £50).

Press, Ltd., at their Offices, 20, High Street,

Printed and Published by The Bucks Free
High Wycombe, in the County of Bucks.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Rates

}

Inserts. j

{

1s.

10d.

9d.

8d.

7d.

per line.

The line is of about 7 words.

CONTENTS. - No. 23.

MEMORABILIA:-397.

NOTES:-The Authorship of 'Lust's Dominion,' 399-The King's Ships, 402-Circus Families-Dr. John Craig Sand-pictures, 405 Dairying expressions in magazines-Changing London, 406. QUERIES:-Colley Cibber-Le Publiciste-Glasspainter and writing-master, 406 Sir John Murray-The surname Caithness-Identification of fictitious place-names Henry Blackwell: Cambrian Gleanings-Dagelly- The Dilemma': identification of characters-Elizabeth, wife of Captain Cook, 407-Wardlaw of Towie-Blenheim steps-Oubridge-Burton-A daughter of King John-Arundel (1) - Philips Family, 408.

REPLIES: Telegraphs from the Admiralty to the Coast, 408-Kirwee prize money-Sea-sickness-Dickens queries-The Cock at Temple Bar. 410-Limited editions-A. T. Elwes-Natural children of Charles II and James II-Monogram on half-crowns-Locking of pews, 411-" Treeing the fox "-" Staffull," Cumberland-Constable and Newman families, 412-The rook in heraldry -"Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre "-Scotch song wanted, 413.

THE LIBRARY: - 'Barnacles in Nature and Myth '-' Nippon Shindo Ron.'

[blocks in formation]

Binding CASES FOR
VOLUME CLIV.

BINDING CASES for VOLUME CLIV, in

blue cloth, are now ready, and may be obtained from "NOTES & QUERIES," 20, High Street, High Wycombe, Bucks, England.

Price: 3s. 3d. post free. The above are also on sale at our London Office, 14, Burleigh Street, London, W.C.2.

INDEX TO VOL. CLIV.

TITLE PAGE and SUBJECT INDEX

THE VOLUME CLIV (January-June, 1925)

is now available. Orders, accompanied by a remittance, should be sent to "NOTES AND QUERIES," 20, High Street, High Wycombe, Bucks, England. Price: 2s. 7d. post free. The above are also on sale at our London Office, 14, Burleigh Street, London, W.C.2.

SETS FOR SALE.

FOURTH SERIES (1868-1883), bound half leather, marbled boards, second hand, in good condition, £7 7s.

FIFTH SERIES (1874-1879) bound half leather, marbled boards, second-hand, in good condition, £7 7s.

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

OTES AND QUERIES is published every
Subscrip-

N Friday, at 20, High Street, High Wycombe,

Bucks (Telephone: Wycombe 306). tions (£2 2s. a year, U.S.A. $10.67, including postage, two half-yearly indexes and two cloth binding cases, or £1 15s. 4d. a year, U.S.A. $8.56 without binding cases) should be sent to the Manager. The London Office is at 14, Burleigh Street, W.C.2 (Telephone: Chancery 8766), where the current issue is on sale. Orders for back numbers, indexes and bound volumes should be sent either to London or to Wycombe; letters for the Editor to the London Office.

Memorabilia.

ALL sorts of misgivings gather in the minds of conservative and tradition-loving persons about the spectacle of the development of the cinema. There is no disputing that it is a mighty development: but hardly less indisputable is its tendency to make havoc in many directions. Mr. M. Willson Fisher, in the Fortnightly Review for December, complains of the way in which the great stories of the world are being altered to suit the picture-producer's purposes. Is it worse to know these stories in denaturalised, distorted form than not to know them at all? On the whole, we should agree that it is, for ignorance is certainly remediable, and preoccupation by an inferior, fantastically wrong version by no means certainly so.

a

Lieut.-Col. H. de Waiteville writes about the air defence of Britain. He recalls the ten all but consecutive nights of air-raid on London in September, 1917, with the effect they produced on East London. Had they continued, that effect might have been wrought up to a grave crisis. He notes, too, that bombing by night produced far more formidable moral shock than bombing by dav, witness the two daylight raids of July, - 1917, which were carried out by more numerous aeroplanes and proved infinitely more destructive than were any two night raids, yet were productive of far less demoralisation. Not a matter to be wondered at:

is

Ποίησον δ ̓ αἴθρην, δὸς δ ̓ ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἰδέσθαι ἐν δὲ φάει καὶ ὄλεσσον

[ocr errors]

The raids petered out, our author tells us, first, because aircraft was wanted in France; secondly, because of unwillingness to devote aircraft to attacking London; thirdly, because deterioration of the Ghent bombing squadron made the London enterprise unworkable. When the order of an England flight was issued the men had to be brought out of drinking saloons and such like haunts; the service records found on prisoners and on the dead showed how short their training had been; the squadron devoted to London did not rank high in its country's Air Service. Moreover, the famous Gotha is shown to have been, after all, but machine, with speed not so much as 100 m.p.h. and a ceiling" sometimes far under 10,000 feet when fully loaded. ("Ceiling is the term adopted for the maximum altitude to which an aeroplane can attain). And even those giants," of which we used to think with trembling respect, turned out hardly more successful; and were, besides,

[ocr errors]

،،

an inferior

unhandy, and liable to crash on their way

home. On the general question of the air defence of Britain, besides the matters of serious practical importance, a number of interesting problems, calculations and possible situations are raised and discussed.

The

THE December Cornhill-which, we think, finishes the year up well-has a paper on 'London Squares' by Captain B. S. Townsquares present a many-sided problem, social, esthetich financial. hygienic, There is also the question of their subterIn the increased demand for ranean use. parking accommodation for motor cars, would it not be possible to use the dessous of the squares for garages? Captain Townroe goes through the practical difficulties to be met. The subsoil, as subterranean work for railways has shown, being drained of water will no longer support trees: of the squares have beautiful trees. is thought that it would be impossible, even with strong ventilating fans, to keep a garage holding 200 motor cars free enough from the noxious gases given off by the engines to be safe for the mechanics and other men who would be working there. Further, there is the matter of leases; some leases with

and some Then it

rights over the square enclosure have yet a long while to run. Thus, the longest lease in Eaton Square will expire in 2002. By that time, at the rate London is changing now, and business moving westward, the whole question of the possible uses of squares will

the cry of universal human instinct. probably wear another aspect.

« VorigeDoorgaan »