Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/146

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL FEB. e, im

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

Wells and Glastonbnry. By T. S. Holmes.

(Methuen & Co.) THK topographer of ancient cities could not easily discover a more congenial subject than that which Mr. Holmes found ready to his hand in the hoary memories which gather round Wells and Glastpn- bury. He has on the whole risen to the occasion with proper enthusiasm, and tells their story with careful and minute detail. We can extend our congratulation to Mr. E. H. New on the somewhat impressionist woodcuts in eighteenth-century style, of which he gives a liberal supply, although for accuracy of detail we may prefer the photographic processes which are now brought to such perfec- tion. The author modestly disclaims originality, though he has some new information to impart as to the municipal and corporate development of Wells from mediaeval times till it received its charter of incorporation as a borough from Queen Elizabeth in 1589.

The famous legend of Joseph of Arimathsea and his introduction of Christianity at Glastonbury has hardly received so much attention as it deserves. Mr. Holmes should have consulted the edition of the fourteenth-century poem ' Joseph of Arimathie ' which Prof. Skeat produced for the Early English Text Society. The story was popularized by the English bishops under Bubwith bringing it forward at the Council of Basel in 1431, in order to "go one better" than the claim of the Gallican Church that St. Dionysius the Areopagite was its founder. But the legend had been already mentioned by William of Malmesbury in the twelfth century, and there is no doubt that a Celtic monastery existed at Glastonbury at a very early date.

Wells obtained its name from an ancient fountain or well sacred to St. Andrew, which is mentioned in a charter of Cynewulf in 776, and is still flowing. The author thinks that Glastonbury, otherwise Avallac, was so called in honour of two Celtic gods of the nether world, Glast and Avallac. Where do these reputed deities find mention ? Not in the works of Prof. Rhys, who deduces the names from glasdon, the oak, and avail, the apple tree, both cultivated by the Druids. Evalac, King of Sarras, converted by Joseph, is one of the inci- dental personages in the old romance mentioned above. As a rule, authorities are not cited for statements which often seem to require verification. Madilode Street, e.g., is said to have got its name from "middle lode" or middle ford (p. 294). It is more likely, we suggest, to stand for "Maude- lode," the lane that led by the almshouses of St. Mary Maudelin or Magdalen, founded here by Abbot Beere, from which Magdalen Street hard by also has its name. Gerarde of the ' Herball ' is misprinted "Gerald" (p. 288).

It is sad to learn that so lately as 1723 important remains of St. Joseph's Chapel were still in exist- ence, and that Stukeley saw them being carted away for paving roads and cattle-stalls !

The JEnzid of Viroil, Books VII. XII. Trans- lated into Blank Verse by Henry Smith Wright. (Kegan Paul & Co.)

MB. WEIGHT has now completed his rendering of the '^Eneid,' the first part of which appeared in 1903. The translation is a good, clear rendering,

free from diffuseness, and not wanting in dignity. On the other hand, far too many inversions are used, and we do not find the variety of feet which is really essential to raise blank verse above dullness. Here is a passage from the speech of ^Eneas in Book XI. on viewing Pallas :

Unhappy boy,

Hath fortune now, in this her gracious hour, Begrudged me thee, permitting not that thou Should'st see my kingdom, nor as conqueror ride To thy ancestral home ? Not this indeed The parting promise that I gave thy sire, When he embraced me as 1 left his nails, And sent me forth to win a mighty realm !' Fearful of risk, he warned me that our foes Were keen in war, and with a hardv race The fight would be. He haply even now, Deceived by empty hopes, is offering prayers And gifts piled on the altar.

IN this month's Cornhill Mr. Lucy concludes his highly interesting series of reminiscences, and reveals the fact that he was offered the editorship of Punch in 1897, but " could not accept it to the deposition of the man who gave me my first footing on Punch, and whose friendship I had enjoyed for fifteen years." He supplies also an amusing sketch of Phil May's casual ways. We do not care much for Mr. Noyes's latter-day verse concerning ' Bacchus and the Pirates.' Miss Rosaline Masson contributes some pleasant reminiscences of ' Browning in Edinburgh.' S. G. Tallentyre gives a lever sketch of ' A Parson of the Thirties,' Canon Hall, who was the friend of Sydney Smith and Barham, and an agreeable clergyman, apparently, of the old-fashioned sort. Col. Macartney-Filgate's accbunt of an infantry scouting competition, ' Manchuria in the Mourne Mountains,' is good reading.

IN The Fortnightly " Auditor Tantum " con- inues that frank criticism of Parliamentary igures which has become fashionable lately, but weighed in the balance. There seems to us a
 * his time it is ' His Hajesty's Ministers ' who are-

reat deal too much writing on politics in the magazines, and we therefore welcome four articles of a different sort : ' Americans as Actors,' by VEr. Bram Stoker ; ' Poetry and the Stage,' by Mr. Stephen Gwynn ; ' The Fatigue of Anatole France,' by Mr. T. M. Kettle ; and ' The Writings of Mr. W. B. Yeats,' by E. M. D. All these japers may be read with interest and profit. The first is a study of the American " racial spirit " rather than of the stage of the United States. Mr. Gwynn emphasizes the success of Prof. Murray's translation of the ' Electra ' at the Court Theatre, and dwells reasonably on. arrive at their seats when the acting has begun a proceeding not tolerated in classical music. Why Mr. Gwynn should speak of Hauptmanstall's ' Electra ' we know not. The German's adapter's name is Hoffmannsthal. It appears that Mr. 3wynn has just discovered Euripides, which he truly describes as " a little absurd." Mr. W. B Yeats in his Irish plays is denied the touch o ordinary humanity and normal emotions which is strong in Euripides, and Mr. Phillips in ' Nero s criticized as " diffuse and scattered." Mr. Kettle's able, but not entirely satisfactory article
 * he nuisance of interruption by persons who


 * xplains that after ten years Anatole France is

Dired of politics, and has returned to a " pessimism stabbed into lightsome flashes with epigrams."