Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/100

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x JDLY 25, im.

his career as a naturalist." Further, Cambridge is not only Darwin's own University, but was also that of his grandfather Erasmus, who formed a botanic garden, published ' The Loves of the Plants,' and was concerned with questions of evolution.

Documents relating to the Office, of the Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth. Edited, with Notes and Indexes, by Albert Feuillerat. (Nutt.)

Satiro-Mastix. By T. Dekker. Herausgegeben nach den Drucken von 1602 von Dr. Hans Scherer. (Same publisher.)

THE bulky Revels volume is Vol. XXL of the series of " Materialien zur Kunde des alteren Englischen Dramas," which, under the spirited direction of Prof. Bang, has done much to clear up the difficulties and exhibit the texts of a most important period of the English stage. Prof. Feuillerat, who writes in excellent English, has given us a masterly piece of editing which ought to be in every library of any pretensions. He has devoted infinite care to the printing of the text ; his notes show his ample knowledge of the work of English scholars, and he gives us besides a glossarial index, an index of proper names, and a subject index. The notes are testimonies to the editor's erudition, and contest, it seems to us, with success, some of the conclusions of Mr. E. K. Chambers in his 'Tudor Revels.' The repu- tation of Collier is further reduced, but Cunning- ham is found to be an accurate editor of the Revels. The identity of the plays mentioned is sometimes uncertain. It is ingeniously suggested, we notice, that one called ' The Painful Phillgrimage ' (sic) may be ' Everyman,' as these two words occur in the course of the play. The meticulous care which is shown in printing the text is revealed in several notes as to uncertain words.

Altogether, our only regret is that a work of such value did not receive cloth binding in the first instance as a matter of course. But we must not ask too much of a series which would be impossible without generous and unremunerative labour on the part of the devoted band which the Professor of English Philology at Lou vain inspires to study.

The contribution to the " Materialien " which precedes the ' Documents relating to the Revels ' is Dekker's ' Satiro-Mastix,' edited by Dr. Hans Scherer, who provides German notes to the play. While these are reasonable and ingenious, they might, we think, give a few more explanations, instead of referring to the places where such explanations can be found. "Poesies for rings," for instance, is at once cleared up for the English reader if he is referred to the more familiar form in this connexion, "posies."

The Poetical Works of Keats. Edited, with an Introduction and Textual Notes, by H. Buxton Forman, C.B. (Frowde, Oxford University Press.) THE heading at the top of the title-page, " Oxford Edition," will lead the judicious reader to expect good and thorough work, and he will not be dis- appointed when he comes to examine Mr. Forman's latest issue concerning a poet on whom he has specialized for years. The introduction is substan- tially that supplied by the editor to a larger issue, also published by the Clarendon Press, in 1906, and it tells with lucidity the somewhat complicated history of the sources of Keats's text. It happens that these sources are more numerous than usual,

and the text is further complicated by the casual handwriting of the poet. Various readings are printed at the bottom of the pages, and Mr. Forman may be trusted to reproduce these correctly, for there is no greater master than he of the small de- tails which often escape even a careful editor or printer.

It is interesting to note that Keats has been credited with, or suspected of, the authorship of verses now proved to be by Mrs. Tighe, Laman Blanchard, B. W. Procter, and Massinger. We fully agree with Mr. Forman in scouting the claims of the ' Song ' beginning

Stay, ruby-breasted warbler, stay ! It is written in George Keats's hand, and seems unworthy of John Keats at any period.

The comparatively small amount of Keats's out- put allows of large type in a single-volume edition. We envy the rising generation who can procure such good text, editing, and binding as this for a sum which would hardly have purchased an inferior edition some years since. We hope that Keats's fame as a classic arid an exemplar will be spread much further than it reaches at present, and must gently protest at the phrase "important lyric" used by Mr. Forman concerning the Nightingale Ode. The MS. of the Ode is, as Mr. Forman has, indeed, said just above, " important " or " very important." The Ode itself is not less than im- mortal, and it is surely as well to say so in these days, when many versifiers as well as readers regard their favourite hymnal collections as the best models, and are deaf to the masters of poetry, such as Keats and Coleridge.

The copy sent to us has a Bright red cover. Some of the earlier " Oxford " issues were, we think, clad in blue. Perhaps both colours are available at any rate, we certainly prefer blue for poets. Did not Keats write a sonnet on that colour, too ?

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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 pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.

D. M. Philadelphia ("American Ambassador or U.S. Ambassador "). See the editorial note at 10 S. v. 510.

R. PIEBPOINT ("Lincolnshire Cattle and Fuel: He who looked over Lincoln "). The first allusion is to the use of cow-dung for fuel, for which see the long discussion at 8 S. iv. 226, 277, 377, 417 ; vi. 475. The second is to the proverb about the Devil looking; over Lincoln, also much discussed in ' N. & Q.' See the editorial note at 8 S. ii. 128, and the replies at p. 210 of the same volume.

NOTICE.

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