Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/75

 s.i. JAN. 16, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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It is curious to note how great men of letters who have any Latin at all are almost invariably so fond of it that they write more of it than they know witness Shakespeare, Scott, Lamb. These were in touch with life, no mere dons or academic minds, hard-working men, good citizens of the world, and their feeling and usage ought to weigh with educators of to-day.

So far we have spoken of Latin as a thing desired in itself by our great writers. Classical transla- tion is a more restricted field, and at its best an excellent mental discipline. Mr. Clarke, who has been assisted, his title-page adds, by friends in the revision of his work, tells us in a letter that the ' Elegy' has been done into Latin by W. Hildyard, 1838; J. H. Macaulay, 1841, in ' Arundines Cami'; Lord Ravensworth ; H. Sewell, 1875 ; H. J. Dod- well, 1884 ; Rev. R. B. Kennard, 1892 ; and Canon Sheringham, 1901. He does not, however, mention the version in Latin hexameters by B. H. Kennedy ('Sabrinae Corolla,' fourth ed., pp. 197-202). Mr. Clarke, it is clear, belongs to the older school, which is not so careful of its Latinity as modern composers are. He has, en revanche, a naturalness, a free flow of line, which their elaborateness is apt to miss. We readily acknowledge that his version has given us a pleasure which outweighs the points in which we think it amiss, or capable of better effect and idiom. One line we entreat him to re- model which has dare in it, since we are bound to shorten the first syllable of that useful verb. In the line

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn there is a subjunctive instead of the future ; and can one forget the "lisping" of the children on " their sire's return " ? One might put

Heu ! fesso suboles occurret nulla parent! for the line

Nee fesso suboles occurret balba parenti. We see that Mr. Clarke uses " neve" for nor, which we should not allow ourselves ; and does not " cursus Honoris " suggest a limited and technical path to glory in Roman life ? We notice, too, a good many collocations of noun and adjective with the same case ending, which we fancy one would have avoided e.g., in a line like

In silvis solitis sunt patefacta locis would not sitm sound better and be as good ? In this same stanza " juvenum " is an evident misprint for jurenem. In some cases it would be feasible, we think, to represent the English more fully ; but these are matters of taste and vocabulary on which it is impossible to dwell briefly. Suffice it to say that the present reviewer owes to Mr. Clarke a pleasant afternoon of reflection on a secluded path of scholarship which he has followed with unabated interest and delight for many years, and which he hopes will never cease to be a special means of intercourse among the few and fit, however the mutable many rage of this and that as a panacea for getting on in this money-making era.

No. x. of the Burlinrjton Maga:ine is issued under new management, though time has not yet been found to introduce contemplated improvements. Its most important illustrations are from the Nor- manton Collection (article 3), and include Vandyke's 'Lady Mary, Daughter of Charles I.,' which does duty as frontispiece ; a ' Venus and Adonis ' of Titian ; a portrait of Sophie Arnauld(qy. Arnould?)

by Greuze, and two other works of the same painter ; and Murillo's ' Moorish Slave.' A Chinese painting of the fourth century and many other contributions of much interest and value appear, it seems as if the alterations to be anticipated consist in giving increased attention to modern as well as ancient art.

Ax admirable number of Scribner's Magazine reached us too late to be inserted in last week's notice. Capt. Mahan begins in it an account, to be continued, of 'The W T ar of 1812.' Mr. Spielmann writes on Frank Brangwyn, and Mr. Dellenbaugh describes ' A New Valley of Wonders.'

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

MR. BERTRAM DOBELI/S list is, as usual, full of interest. It opens with a collection of manuscripts. The first is ' A Bpoke of the Accomptes of Barton, made at our Ladie Daie, Anno Dmi. 1611.' Another MS. is ' A Relation made by an English Ambas- sador in France to James I.' There are also ' Un- printed and Unpublished Manuscripts of Rowleie Plays.' These were referred to in the Athenantm, 21 May, 1892; also in ' N. & Q.,' 2 nd S. vii. 277. Among the books are a Folio Shakespeare, excep- tionally fine copy of unusual size (13& by 9 in.), 135/. ; Byron's ' Hours of Idleness,' large-paper copy of the genuine first edition, uncut, 25^. (a copy of this sold at Sotheby's in May last for 43/.); Folk- lore Society's Publications, 31 vols. ; Keats, first edition, 12mo ; and ' Dramatic Portraits in the Days of Garrick' (this collection contains nine portraits of Garrick). Under Dickens we find a collection of pamphlets, evidently bound up by direction of the novelist.

Mr.. William Downing, of Temple Row, Bir- mingnam, in his new list includes the rare first edition of ' Paradise Regain'd,' a fine copy bound by Zaehnsdorf, 30/. ; also 'The Nuremberg Chro- nicle,' 1493 ; ' The Orchid Album,' 11 vols. ; " Tudor Translations," 26 vols., 1893-1903, 4QL ; ' Armorial Families, 1 by Fox-Daviea, showing which arms ia use are borne by legal authority ; ' The Roman Wall,' by the Rev. J. Collingwood Bruce, 1851 ^ Brough's ' Life of Falstaff,' illustrated by Cruik- shank, 1858 ; Maxwell's ' Irish Rebellion,' first edition, Cruikshank's illustrations ; Poole's ' Eng- lish Parnassus,' 1657 ; Prayer Book of King Edward VII., folio, 1903; Rogers's 'Italy,' 2 vols. 4to, 1838, bound by Hayday, 81. 8*. ; and Shaw's- ' Dresses of the Middle Ages,' 1843.

Mr. Francis Edwards has a collection of first editions of modern authors ; and under Africa we find many interesting pamphlets and books on the Boer war, helpful to the future historian. He has also a series of papers from the Society of Anti- quaries. In the general portion of the catalogue is Sir F. E. Eden's ' History of the Labouring Classes. from the Conquest,' 3 vols. 4to, very scarce, 1797,. 107. ; Froissart, 6 vols., 1901-2, scarce, 51. ; Pierce Egan, 1825, 01. 10*. ; first editions of Coleridge ^ Rymer et Robertus Sanderson, Foedera, 20 vols., 1727-34, 15J. ; Punch, a complete set, 1841 to 1902, 26/. Mr. Edwards also makes a special offer of pub- lications of the Royal Geographical Society. He. has a complete set, 36.

Messrs. Fawn, of Bristol, have many works relating to Bristol, including ' A History of Bank- ing in Bristol from 1750 to 1899 ' and the Bristol