Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/386

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 17, IOOB.

the Earliest Period,' Penrith, 1858 ; and Dr. J. A. Giles's Appendix to Richard of Cirencester's ' Ancient State of Britain ' ('Six Old English Chronicles,' Bohn, 1866,

p. 489). J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

"WHARF" (10 S. x. 264). This word occurs in a manorial record printed in ' The Domesday of St. Paul's,' Camd. Soc., p. 158*, " circa A.D. 1290 " : " qwarvae sive kayse ... .in mariscis contra mare et alia numina."

W. C. B.

THE BONASSUS (10 S. ix. 365, 451 ; x. 90, 138). Perhaps one of the earliest mentions of this beast is its description in the " Dictionarium Britannicum, or a more compleat Universal Etymological English Dictionary than any extant. . . . Revis'd and Improv'd by N. Bailey, 1730," as follows :

" Bonassus, a wild beast that has the head of a bull, and the body and mane of a horse, which when hunted saves himself by his ordure, which he throws out in such abundance, and so noisome, that the hunters are obliged to leave off the pursuit."

W. B. H.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

House Mottoes and Inscriptions : Old and New. By

S. F. A. Caulfeild. (Elliot Stock.) THIS revised edition has some effective illustrations, and contains a good deal that is quaint and interesting. Unfortunately, the author, though she has apparently some experience as a maker of books, has an inadequate acquaintance with foreign languages, or no idea at all of proof-reading. The mistakes are numerous, and many of those in Latin are of a character so obvious that they should have been detected. The assistance of a competent friend would have made a pleasant book of these somewhat disjointed collections of mottoes. As it is, we fear that the best of intentions may lead some to make errors permanent in stone on their own houses. The standard of correctness in such matters is already low enough even in London, where information is easily to be got concerning most things.

In some cases the mottoes are given correctly, but their origin is not stated. Virgil, for instance, 'made the statement " Non omniapossumus omnes," which leads the wise to the further conclusion, "Call in the expert when you don't know." The punctua- tion of the distich over "the house of Ariosto makes absolute nonsense.

To "The Silver Library" of Messrs. Longman, which includes many delectable volumes now on our shelves, a new edition of The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, by Sir George Trevelyan, has just been added. More than thirty years, says the new Preface by the veteran author, have passed since the ' Life ' first appeared ; and in various forms it has had the extended sale which it fully

deserves. For ourselves, we have long been fasci- nated by the account of the classical scholar, historian, orator, and statesman ; and the fact that his endowments in the first respect are now some- what out of date and repute has only increased our regard for a rare type of man, amply and fairly presented by a brilliant relative of similar tastes. Sir George has wisely left the existing text un- altered, but we find some interesting additions in the shape of fresh notes to three of the chapters. The First Appendix gives a contemporary account of Macaulay's earliest appearance on a public plat- form, and the Third a picturesque notice of him as a customer of the bookstalls. We find also mar- ginal notes and comments on all sorts of authors which Macaulay made in the course of his per- sistent and wide reading, and which, when pub- lished separately a short while ago, found favour with all lovers of choice literature. Lord Morley r it is added in a note to this edition, pronounced these marginalia " the most splendid literary nugce that ever were ; if indeed that be at all the right word for things so stirring, provocative, challeng- ing, and fertile in suggestion." We gave in oxir notice of these marginalia some specimens of Macaulay's insight. We now quote in English the sentence which he regarded as " the finest sentence ever written." Csesar, answering Cicero's message of gratitude for the humanity displayed towards- the political adversaries who were in his power after the surrender of Corfinium, explained his joy in Cicero's approval, and continued : "Nor am I disturbed when 1 hear it said that those, whom I have sent off alive and free, will again bear arm& against me ; for there is nothing which I so much covet as that I should be like myself, and they like themselves."

Sir George says in his new Preface that he has. been accused of inserting passages in Macaulay's- letters and diaries which bear traces of intellectual narrowness or political prejudice. The answer is,, of course, that he wished to show his uncle as he was, and not in an ideal light. Biography by a relative is justly open to suspicion for this very reason ; but when, as here, it combines full know- ledge and sympathy with freedom from prejudice,, and concerns a great man, we get a book that is a possession for ever, to use the classical phrase.

Our only suggestion is that, in view of the deficiencies of the present age, Sir George might have added more exact references at the bottom of the page for quotations in foreign languages.. Readers may imagine that the Greek lines quoted immediately below the mention of 'The Seven against Thebes ' (p. 728) are from that play, though all expert lovers of Greek will recognize the melan- choly wisdom of the ' OZdipus Coloneus.'

By the Roman Wall, by Maria A. Hoyer (Nutt),. is the record of a tour in the district made, we gather, by two enthusiastic ladies. The enthusiasm is very pleasant, and is tempered by a certain, amount of plans and solid archaeology. But the author has not learnt the art of excluding the trivial. Details of meals, weather, and church- going are overdone ; and there is an air of senti mental patronage of the ancients which does not please us. Nevertheless the book should have its readers, and may help to arouse interest in a district which is little known. We are not prepared, however, to endorse all the writer's conclusions on her subject.