Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/339

 10 s. x. OCT. 3, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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after his death by one of his most ardent disciples, and published within two hundred yards ot the very spot whence issued his own modest little volume in the year 1653." The editor was Mr. R. B. Marston, and pretty vignettes from the issue aforesaid, the "Lea and Dove Edition," are repro- duced in the present book. It is a case, of course, of a son following his father in Waltonian pursuits, though the relationship is nowhere, we believe, indicated in the pages before us. Mr. E. Marston can boast of several parallels between his life and Walton's :

"Izaak Walton was born in the country; so was I. Izaak Walton dwelt in the purlieus of St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street, for more than fifty years ; so have I. He was a vestryman of St. Dunstan's for many years ; so was I."

Cheery humour, an excellent gift for fishing, and prolonged literary activity are further links be- tween the "Amateur Angler " and Walton.

There is a shadowy suggestion that Walton was at Westminster School before he was apprenticed. There are also several references to * N. & Q.,' one as far back as 1856. On 15 Nov., 1873, Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (afterwards the first Lord Aldenham) refers to Walton's description of himself as an ironmonger in 1626 when he married his first wife, Rachel Floud. He seems to have had an excellent taste for cabinets, for we find recorded here a " Dower Coffer " (6 S. xii. 326) celebrating his mar- riage with Ann Ken ; a hanging cupboard inscribed with bis name and the date 1672, now in the fit hands of that enthusiast, Mr. Elkin Mathews ; a linen chest recording Walton's first marriage, dis- covered in Warwick Castle; and a fine cabinet dated 1656, bearing his name and that of " Anne," now in the possession of Sir Henry Harben. The last handsome piece of furniture is not mentioned in his will, like the hanging cupboard, and may have been given away by him, as Mr. Marston sug- gests, during his lifetime. Illustrations of these three pieces of furniture are provided, but the present habitat of the "Dower Coffer" is not traced.

The results and queries of other investigators we leave to readers of the book, who will also find a good record of the modern memorials to Walton, in which Mr. R. B. Marston has played a leading part.

Our only regret as to the volume is that it con- tains several repetitions and other things which the " limse labor " would have removed. Surely there are many friends who would have assisted the veteran author in this work with pleasure.

Intermediate English Grammar. Based on Mason's English Grammars, augmented and revised by A. J. Ashton. (Bell & Sons.) THIS is the second issue of Mason's well-known works in grammar, coming between a Junior and a Senior volume. It has been brought up to " modern requirements " by Mr. Ashton, who is a teacher in English, and the result is well worth consideration by teachers. The examples quoted avoid the jejune character of those in earlier grammars, and we have been through the whole volume with interest. We doubt the propriety of quoting so much of Shake- speare, whose ideas of grammar are unusually free, and think that exceptional usages should be kept as far as possible, for the Senior course. As it is, the elements of the subject are confused enough ir

comparison with the grammar of Greek or Latin.- The latter language has affected our own in many' ways, but this influence is not stated so often as it might be. Perhaps Mr. Ashton takes the view that exceptions are best left without reasons for the Intermediate class of scholar. We note a few Doints which have occurred to us in our survey of
 * he book.

The ' Short History of the English Language " which precedes the Grammar is a good introduction,, and will give some idea of the development of our .iative vocabulary out of various sources. The^ statement concerning " gander " and the loss of the- n with the corresponding German appears on p. 34, and is repeated on p. 35. The "objective case" of" the personal pronouns mentioned on p. 59 seems to us in some instances the same as the "dative of interest " mentioned on p. 191. We are not wholly satisfied with the remarks on the usage of relative pronouns, but in this matter the Senior scholars of" the forthcoming third section will, perhaps, have : more latitude allowed them in verbal expression. For Steele's essay on1 ' Who and Which ' (p. 64)' a more precise reference should have been given. There is a difficulty about "dare" on p. 77, due to the fact that it is a verb like " may "or " can," andi also an ordinary verb. On p. 124 we find " phrensy "" cited as a word with a Greek suffix, but this spell- '" of "frenzy" is surely obsolete. It is easy to d a better example. One occurs in a notable line quoted in No. 14 of the ' Miscellaneous Examples ' on p. 181 foil. On p. 196 there is an ingenious discussion of such phrases as " the three first verses," in which we gladly recognize a protest against pedantry. We learn that "no satisfactory explanation can be given of the use of the relative whom after than in cases where we should expect the nominative." The explanation is surely trie influence of Latin. The note as to " than "=" when " appears on p. 208, but seems to be needed earlier to explain the end of the first paragraph on p. 204. Much of the sound information on 'Punctuation' in chap. xxix. is now rendered useless by the ignorance of writers who seek a reputation for picturesque English in the opular press, and even such is the taste of the ay are able to publish their verbiage in book form. It would do all such persons good to read this Grammar.

We regret to find that there is no index, a feature which would simplify the process of looking up points, or going back to a thing previously stated, as we have wished to do more tnan once. Teachers have so much to teach nowadays that their time should be saved as far as possible.

The History of the Society of Jesus in North America. Documents. Vol. I. Part I. Nos. 1-140, 1605-1838. By Thomas Hughes, S.J. (Longmans & Co.)

IN our closing number for last year we reviewed Parti, of the text of this 'History.' There now comes to hand Part I. of the 'Documents,' a bulky tome containing 140 documents, written in English, Latin, Italian, or French, which are referred to in the text. To those who are interested in the trials and struggles of Roman Catholic missionary work, and who are in possession of Part I. of the text, the present collection of documents will prove valuable for reference. As in the case of the text itself, the author appears to have taken considerable pains in order that the compilation should be as ample and satisfactory as possible.