66 are more trustworthy than are the utterances of Shakespeare, which, when they are not essentially dramatic, are at least sufficiently reserved to baffle conjecture. As a rule, the dean is as anxious to acquit Dante of the charges brought against him by wicked men, such as Boccaccio, as was any biographer of Shakespeare-Halliwell-Phillipps or another-to repudiate the assumption that the dramatist ever shot the king's deer. Apropos of the mention by Dante of Gentucca, the dean arraigns "the unclean birds of literature, that scent carrion everywhere, the apes by the Dead Sea,' who make mouths at every prophet as he passes by," and who, after their manner, have pounced upon it. When he dwells upon the not incredible hypothesis that Dante, attracted by the fame of Peter Lightfoot, may have visited Glastonbury, and may even have worshipped within the walls of his (the dean's) own cathedral, we sympathize with the aspiration that led to the utterance; but there are too many hypotheses probable" or "not incredible". and there are also too many "I seem to sees. The book is, however, a work of much scholarship, and gives an interesting and readable, if not wholly unprejudiced view of the influences under which Dante passed. Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Babylonians. By Robert Brown, Jun., F.S.A., M.R.A.S. Vol. II. (Williams & Norgate.) WE noticed the first volume of this interesting work (which appeared early last year) in 9th S. iii. 259; in this our author continues his researches, according to the scheme there propounded, of "tracing the constellation - figures backward from the era of Alexander until their first appearance in the dawn of history." For this purpose it was, of course, necessary to make as much use as possible of the astronomical tablets in the British Museum, and, though a great amount of cuneiform literature is still unpublished, yet enough is available to furnish a fairly complete list of Euphratean stars and constellations. The general conclusion is that it was by the star-gazers in Babylonia that the greater part of the ancient constellations were formed; the system there constructed was adopted in Western Asia and carried by the Phoenicians into Greece, the main foundations of the science having been laid in the country of the Two Rivers before Greek civilization began. A TEACHER of youth (or perhaps we ought to say man) who can write words and music of a cheery and effective, if not hedonistic sort is to be commended. Hence we are glad to notice the songs which Mr. E. H. Griffiths, a well-known Cambridge coach, calls Lyra Fumosa (Cambridge, Heffer & Sons). More especially associated with Sidney College, the collection also appeals to the ordinary 'Varsity man as suitable for cheerful occasions. The metre is not always superfine, but the meaning is clear. MR. CECIL T. DAVIS (Librarian and Clerk to the Commissioners) has issued a Dictionary of Wands worth, with illustrations. It is entirely produced in Wandsworth, and was sold at the Empire Bazaar in aid of the Wandsworth Technical School. Mr. Davis is a well-known enthusiast concerning the district with which he deals. IN a number of the Fortnightly of altogether exceptional interest and importance three or four articles stand prominently forward. First among these is The Evolution of Mystery' of M. Maurice Maeterlinck. To some extent this is a defence of, and an apology for, the writer's methods of labour and choice of themes. Who better fitted than a mystic to deal with the question of mystery? In his treatment of the subject Maeterlinck stands at the opposite pole from Goethe, and, if something like a bull may be pardoned, from Rabelais also. Goethe holds that subjects to which no definite response is obtainable are to be left to dilettanti; a man with work to do in the world must fight shy of them. On the other hand, M. Maeterlinck shows that attempts to pierce the mystery in which our lives are enveloped are the primary duty of the responsible intellect. Between these two men, at a point in a triangle equidistant from each, stands Rabelais, with his declaration that "le rire est le propre dé l'homme." We will contribute nothing of our own to the question, the opportunity not fitting. Mr. Arthur Symons gives a striking description of Ernest Dowson, recently deceased, showing us a man who had much in common with the Villons, the Théophiles, and the Chattertons of the past. The article is well written, and shows us many aspects of an attractive, but hopelessly erratic individuality. Miss Helen Zimmern deals with Eleonora Duse, and besides dwelling upon her histrionic and expository gifts supplies us with particulars, previously unpossessed, of her early life. She shows us through what squalid portals there reached the stage one who now counts among its most conspicuous ornaments. Mr. Ernest Rhys deals with "The New Mysticism' as it is exemplified in the writings of Miss Fiona Macleod and Mr. W. B. Yeats. Mr. F. Edmund Garrett depicts to us Paul Kruger in his inner as well as his outer life. Other excellent papers, apart from those on polemical subjects, consist of The Government Factory Bill,' by Miss Gertrude M. Tuckwell, and an account by Mr. J. A. Marriott of Sir William Hunter. Mr. Heathcote Statham's At the Royal Academy' contains some just criticism, and is, as was to be expected, not too optimistic in view.— The summary of the month's news contributed to the Nineteenth Century by Sir Wemyss Reid contains a summary of the proceedings on "Mafeking Day" which constitutes very stimulating reading. We were ourselves witnesses of the spontaneous and overmastering outburst on the Friday night, one of the most thrilling and wonderful-and, let us add, creditable - exhibitions ever made by Englishmen. So far as we were able we avoided the subsequent day's crowd, but we like to read of it in these vigorously descriptive pages. More than usually controversial are many of the articles which appear, one especially by Mr. Wilfrid Ward, on which he bestows the repellent title of 'Liberalism and Intransigeance.' We should have preferred almost any amount of circumlocution to the foisting on our language of such a gallicism as the latter word. It is pleasant to turn from questions of warfare, national or ecclesiastical, to Mrs. Stephen Batson's meditations on The Vogue of the Garden Book.' For the words "garden books" she would herself suggest diaries "written in or suggested by a garden." Some banter is bestowed upon the Laureate's 'The Garden that I Love,' though the Veronica of the conversation is said to have about her " something very lov. able." 'Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden' suggests that the heart of the writer, Mrs. Earle, is in the are quoted from Beckford. A good account is A Fashionable Hobby' would have been A Once Fashionable Hobby,' grangerizing being out of date. Elephant Training in Burma' is worth reading.The Women of the Salons,' No. II., in Longman's, depicts Madame d'Epinay, the friend of Grimm, Rousseau, and the Encyclopædists. It is brightly written. 'Country Teaching for Country Schools' is a thoughtful and valuable article. In At the Sign of the Ship' Mr. Lang bewails the death, in an obscure skirmish, of Capt. Cecil Boyle. He also deals with Smollett. kitchen garden rather than the parterre, if, indeed, it is not in the store closet or the scullery. 'Elizabeth and her German Garden' obtains some praise, though her critic has a shrewd suspicion that she knows nothing about gardening. Mr. Arthur Ponsonby has a thoughtful paper on "Tycho Brahe,' who, on the island of Hveen given him by the king, is described in the words of Hamerton as, since the days of Horace, the most happily situated of mental labourers. Mr. H. Heathcote Statham bears tribute to 'The Genius of Handel.' Mr. Laurence W. Pike pleads 'The Cruel Case of the Wounded War-Horses. Col. J. H. Rivett-Carnac describes 'Swiss Rifle Clubs,' and Mr. Sidney Low writes on the Enigmas of Empire.' An article of mournful interest is the description by the late Capt. Cecil Boyle of The Cavalry Rush to Kimberley.'-In the Pall Mall, under the title of Arts and Crafts in the Sixteenth Century,' further illustrations from Stradanus are given. Among these are 'An Engraver's Workshop in Florence,' several pictures of the culture and utilization of the silkworm, designs of pearl and coral fishing, and of the collection of naphtha. 'Canadian Fisheries,' by Mr. W. S. Harwood, has excellent illustrations from photographs, together with a readable account of the occupation. 'Claude Monet, Impressionist,' by Mr. Wynford Dewhurst, is styled an appreciation." It reproduces many fascinating pictures by a great artist, and gives a definition of "Impressionism." Among the pictures is a view of Monet in his open-air studio, presumably at Argenteuil, An account of 'The War Office and the War,' by a Staff Officer, naturally defends the Office from the criticisms- many of them sufficiently unreasonable-that have been passed upon it. 'Delhi Past and Present' supplies a series of excellent views of the principal edifices in the great Mohammedan capital. In 'Ex-Libris' Mr. W. E. Henley, like the patriot he is, sings the praises of Thomas Atkins and his hymner Mr. Rudyard Kipling. Mr. Street, in his From a London Attic,' deals with the characteristics of Jews. By far the longest contribution to the Cornhill consists of part v. of the In Years of Storm and Stress' of Mr. Karl Blind. It is a very A pitiable narration of cruelty and hardship. Literary Nihilist,' by Mr. Thomas Seccombe, gives a brilliant account of Anatole France, one of the most interesting figures in recent French literature. He has been called, as Mr. Seccombe tells us, "l'extrême fleur du génie latin." Mr. Osborn's Warders of the West depicts the proceedings of the North-West Mounted Police, concerning whom some admirable stories are told. A Trek from the Transvaal' is a record of experiences about the time of the Jameson raid, some of them pleasant enough, but others disastrous. It gives a startling account of the ravages of the cattle plague. "Georgian Gossips,' by Miss A. M. Wilson, is a curious account of conversations, consisting of the recollections of nonagenarians. Authority can be supplied for every strange assertion that is made. Urbanus Sylvan (!), repeating 'The Legend of MacEditorial Communications should be addressed to conglinne,' changes in strange fashion his nar"The Editor of 'Notes and Queries ""-Advertise ration from the past tense to the present. Mr. Crockett's The Blue Eyes of Ailie is an agreements and Business Letters to "The Publisher" able and original story.The Sultan of Lansdown at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. Tower' is the title assigned, in Temple Bar, a We beg leave to state that we decline to return gossiping account of Beckford of Vathek' fame. communications which, for any reason, we do not Some harsh criticisms on Emma, Lady Hamilton, | print; and to this rule we can make no exception. Notices to Correspondents. We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Let WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rules. each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answering queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate." OXON. ("Noblesse oblige").-All that is known concerning this will be found 3rd S. x. 4; 5th S. x. 134. LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1900. CONTENTS.No. 129. NOTES:-Freedom of the Press, 469-Oldest Basque Song, 470-Dictionary of National Biography,' 472-D. QuareTom Bowling-Tales of the Genii-"Mr. Attorney -Sir Erasmus Wilson, 474-Ruskin's Residences-" Cake Ink"-Huish, 475. QUERIES:-"Inwardness"-"I.O.U."-Ronjat-Installation of a Midwife-John White, 475-"Nower"-" To help"-Lola Montez-Colin Campbell-J. W. Box-Thos. Johnson, 476-Somner Merryweather-"Indicible "-The Vase of Soissons-Roods and Rood-lofts-Early Evening Newspaper, 477. REPLIES:-Poem by Ben Jonson, 477-The Flag-Familiar French Quotations-Cowper's Letters-Ladies and Leap Year, 478-Thebal - Ancestors-St. Martin's Parish Cumberland's 'Jew'-Malachy Dudeny-Genius and Large Families, 479-"Quagga" and "Zebra"- Old Clock"Scoinson arch," 480-Poet's Immortality-White Man's Burden'-G. R. De Cardonnel-"La fe endrycza," &c.Kingston Coronation Stone-South American Republics, 481-Melek Taus-Dryden-Picts and Scots, 482-"Larksilver"-Baudelaire-Hops-Tomb in Berkeley ChurchDefoe, 483-Biblical Quotations-"I'll hang my harp," &c. "Pillillew," 484 Muggletonian Writings-RackstrowCrabs' Eyes, 485-Miquelon-" Seriff Erlik KhanFootball, 486 Tobacco Earl's Palace Adventurers The Mouse, 487. . Merchant Milton's NOTES ON BOOKS :-Balfour Paul's Heraldry' - Clephan's 'Defensive Armour' - Arkwright's Anthems'-'Scribner's Magazine.' Notices to Correspondents. Fotes. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. THE following sad list of war correspondents who have suffered during the present war in South Africa appeared in the Daily Express on Wednesday, the 6th inst., and I have obtained the cordial permission of Mr. C. Arthur Pearson to place it as a permanent record in the pages of "his old friend N. & Q.'" :— Mr. G. W. Steevens, Daily Mail, died of enteric during siege of Ladysmith. Mr. Alfred Ferrand, Morning Post, killed at Ladysmith. Mr. Albert Collett, Daily Mail, killed in action, Molteno. Mr. Lambie, Melbourne Age, killed at Rensburg. Col. Hoskier, Sphere, killed near Stormberg. Mr. Ernest G. Parslow, Daily Chronicle, shot dead by Lieut. Murchison at Mafeking. Murderer, penal servitude for life. Mr. Mitchell, Standard, captured, escaped, took enteric fever, and died. Mr. W. Spooner, Reuter's, died of fever. Mr. Charles E. Hands, Daily Mail, dangerously wounded, Maritsani (recovering by last news). Mr. A. G. Hales, Daily News, wounded and cap tured. Mr. Julian Ralph, Daily Mail, struck by shell fragment at Belmont, and severely injured in accident. Mr. F. W. Walker, Daily Mail, wounded at Stormberg. Capt. Wright, Daily Mail, injured while despatch riding. Lord Delawarr, Globe, wounded at Vryheid. Mr. P. J. Reid (son of Sir H. G. Reid), Echo, seriously wounded at Kheis. Mr. E. F. Knight, Morning Post, shot with sporting Mauser bullet at Belmont, right arm amputated. Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill, Morning Post, captured at Chieveley, afterwards escaped. Lord Cecil Manners, Morning Post, captured near Johannesburg, and liberated. Mr. Hales, Sydney Morning Herald, captured. Mr. George Lynch, Morning Herald and Echo, captured, released, in hospital with enteric fever, now in England. Mr. M. H. Donohoe, Daily Chronicle, captured probably released on 5th of June. Mr. A. Graham, Central News, missing since May 21st, supposed captured. Mr. A. F. Hellawell, Rev. Adrian Hofmeyr, Lady Sarah Wilson, all Daily Mail, captured. Lord Rosslyn, Daily Mail and Sphere, captured. Mr. James Milne, Reuter's, captured. after siege of Ladysmith, recovered, now ill with Mr. John Stuart, Morning Post, nearly blind dysentery. Mr. W. Maxwell, Standard, enteric fever during siege of Ladysmith, recovered. Mr. Alfred Kinnear, Central News, enteric, invalided home. Mr. Jos. S. Dunn, Central News, twice captured, enteric, recovered. Mr. W. Martindale, Mr. W. S. Swallow, and Mr. Charles Bray, Central News, enteric, recovered. Mr. F. A. Stewart, Illustrated London News, down with dysentery at Durban. Mr. W. T. Maud, Daily Graphic, laid up with enteric fever after Ladysmith, and invalided home. Mr. Bullen, Daily Telegraph, invalided home. Mr. H. W. Nevinson, Daily Chronicle, in hospital with fever, now recovered. Mr. J. A. Cameron, Daily Chronicle, enteric, permanently invalided. Mr. Brayley Hodgetts, Express, invalided with enteric. Mr. Lester Ralph, Mr. H. Lyons, Mr. R. C. E. Nissen, and Mr. L. Oppenheim, Daily Mail, invalided. It is of interest to note that the first war correspondent was Henry Crabb Robinson, who, when the Spaniards rose against the French in 1808, was entrusted by the conductors of the Times with the duty of special correspondent in the Peninsula.* It is to the enterprise of the Daily News that we are largely indebted to the first war correspondence by telegraph instead of by post. This was done at the suggestion of Mr., now Sir John Robinson, during the Franco-German war, when the late Archibald Forbes was its correspondent. Mr. Fox Bourne, in his book English Newspapers,' states that, mainly by the the paper rose from 50,000 to 150,000 a day. graphic letters which appeared in its columns, This correspondence included The Diary of a Besieged Resident in Paris,' by Henry Labouchere. In this war the New York The present outlay of the Daily News for war telegrams, exclusive of the remuneration and expenses of the correspondents, amounts to an average of 1,2001. a month. Although the cost to the daily newspapers for correspondence and telegrams during the present war must be large, it cannot, of course, compare with that of the American Press during the fight between the North and the South. The New York Herald during the four years the contest lasted employed sixty special correspondents. The loss in horses was seventy-eight out of one hundred and twentythree.* The account of the capture of New Orleans, which occupied three columns, cost alone 260., while the entire outlay during the war amounted to 120,000%. Most of the newspapers, with the exception of the Times, now give the names of their correspondents. "Y.L," in the Sphere of the 9th inst., states his belief that the practice was first commenced by the Daily Telegraph in 1879 when it sent out Dr., now Sir W. H. Russell, to describe the incidents of the Zulu war. "Y. L." well describes our mili Tribune had the most expensive telegrams of or Erezciac (= Eretziak Elegies) preserved any paper. These were arranged for by Mr. | in the mansion called Solartekua at Markina, G. W. Smalley, now the New York corre- on the margin of the provinces of Gipuskoa spondent of the Times; and as there was an and Biscaya, accessible by coach from the railalliance between the Daily News and the way stations of Olacueta-Berriz or the coastTribune providing for the use of each other's line. I had the curiosity to call there on telegrams, the readers of the London paper 26 July, 1897, in order to see for myself if the no doubt received much benefit. words had been correctly copied and printed, and to obtain, if possible, a photograph of the page of the manuscript where it occurs. I was accompanied by Don J. M. de Bernaola, a priest of Durango, whose grandfather had entertained the learned German friend of Goethe when he made a stay in that former capital of Biscay. Don F. de Mugertegi, the master of the house (Etcheko-Jauna), not only very graciously consented to let us inspect the manuscript, but sent it to our inn on loan, so that we might look at it at leisure in true scholarlike fashion. He told us that Humboldt had been the guest of his grandfather there, and had seen the manuscript. For some account of Humboldt's_tour in Basqueland see 'Guillaume von Humboldt en Espagne' (Paris, 1898), by my friend Dr. A. Farinelli, of the University of Innsbruck. The manuscript is a small library, an odd collection of miscellaneous documents in five volumes, bound in parchment, and entitled 'Antiguedades de Vizcaya,' formed by Ibarguren or Ibargüen, a lawyer of the sixteenth century. There was no index or book-marker to guide us to the page bearing the song, but my companion had the luck to find it early the next We morning in tomo iii., cuaderno 71. agreed that the text of it had never been correctly published by any of the preceding editors, most of whom had carelessly copied it the one from the other, with a sliding scale of blunders. We decided that the dialect in which it is written was Biscayan (in the provincial sense) of Ibarguren's own time, and that the friend called a sortsiko mayor,* which my song, might well be a patraña or jest of that individual himself. He thinks, rightly, that its value has been overstated. But it has a THE OLDEST BASQUE SONG. grim majesty of its own, and stands in the MUCH has been written, in five or six same relation towards later Basque as 'Beowulf' does to English. Its scansion is irregular, languages, since the time of Wilhelm von as will be seen. It is the work of some one Humboldt, who did so much for Bascological unaccustomed to Heuskarian spelling, and so science, about the oldest known Heuskarian curt and laconic in style as to be very obscure song. The latest publication dealing with this difficult question is the Appendix to a even for those gifted with the Pindaric spark treatise called Cantabria y la Guerra Can-(pindar in Basque) of vaticination. tabrica' (Tolosa, 1899) by my friend Don Isaac López ta Mendizábal, of the University of Madrid. The song is the renowned Lelo tary historians as 66 no longer chroniclers; they are now literary, kinematographers, who, from the distance of 7,000 miles, flash you out a transparency picture of a battle ere yet the mountains at the seat of war have ceased to resound with the roll of invisible musketry and the thunder of eight-mile-range guns." No record of special correspondents can be complete without a tribute to those brave men who fell in the Soudan, and to whom a memorial has been fittingly placed in the crypt of our great Cathedral. JOHN C. FRANCIS. * Grant's 'Newspaper Press,' vol. ii. p. 255. It certainly does not come down, as some have * For a successful bit of work in this metre see pp. 8-11 of Amona' ('The Grandmother'), a sentimental poem by Antonio Arzac (San Sebastian, 5 May). Leusoac. 6. Lecu Yroniam* Gagoçaniam Dau gogoa. Eramayasu 8. Sojac gogorrac Narru biloxa pretended, from the time of Octavius Cæsar Mendi tantayac 9. Bost urteco Pochoa. Gureco bata X. Yl ba daguyam Aec anys ta 11. Guc guychi ta ya IZ (=12). The rest of the thirteenth and all the fifteenth strophe have been torn off the paper. (have) done their all: and Tiber lecua the war song. 3. Octavianus (is) Lord of the World: Lecobidi Vizcaycoa. 14. Gueldico scabal Uchin damayo Grandoya. 16. Andi aristac Gueystosyn doas Betico nayas Narr doa. 14. The (fortified) place (on the) Tiber will remain (with) open (gates). He puts in empty-abandonment (for it) the grain-house. 16. Let the oaks grow tall! *If Biscaya be taken, as it formerly was, for all Basqueland, this word might mean at Pam + Or "He has." The plains (of the) dry plona.' A mere guess for lal, |