Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/291

 10 s. XL MAK. 20, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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devastated Paris, or, by a superb effort of indignant patriotism, practically wiped put Moscow, ha* ever occurred in London, it might at first seem ' strange that so many great private dwellings are but things of the past, and their very sites only known to those who have given themselves to the particular study of ancient landmarks, did we not remember that building development has done what popular excitement has never been able to compass, and indeed has never, except on one occasion, seriously attempted." There are many other sentences equally long. Another feature which makes the book at times tedious is that Mr. Chancellor is so well informed on matters of history that he is apt to digress from the subject upon which he is writing. He tells one not only about the house and its building and its inmates, but also about those who may have lived in it, and about many others who did not do so. As a sample, consider the following extract, which appears in the chapter on Lans- downe House, when our author is talking of the purchase of this establishment by Lord Shel- burne from Lord Bute :

" By a curious coincidence, its new owner (Lord" Shelburne) was nearly as unpopular as its old (Lord Bute), and when Lord Shelburne became responsible for the Peace of Versailles, in 1783, it was scandalously asserted that, whereas the mansion had been built by one peace, it was paid for by another. The accusation has in it a far too rhetorical ring to convey much confidence in its accuracy, and is somewhat on a par with Burke's indecent invective against Shelburne, when he attributed his not acting as a Cataline or a Borgia simply to his want of the necessary understanding ; which, by-the-bye, reminds us so forcibly of a celebrated passage in one of Junius's letters directed against the Duke of Grafton, as to give colour to the theory advanced by some, that those letters were the production of Burke himself."

To this passage is added a foot-note as follows : " A propos it may not be generally known that Lord Shelburne was aware of the identity of Junius, and had promised to make known the secret, but death prevented his doing so, un- happily for the peace of the world, which is periodically disturbed by discussions on this tiresome subject. He once told Sir Richard Phillips that ' he knew Junius, and knew all about the writing and production of those letters,' and he further affirmed that ' Junius has never yet been publicly named. None of the parties ever guessed at as Junius was the true Junius.' But let us remember Lord Beaconsfield's famous advice on this subject and say no more about it." Some readers may agree with us that in dis- cussing these matters our author is wandering somewhat far from the history of Lansdowne House ; but it is difficult to criticize where there is so much that is interesting, whether it concerns the houses in question or not, and the author's facts and dates are accurate so far as we have tested them.

The illustrations are sufficient, but not par- ticularly interesting. There are one or two exterior views of the private palaces which are rather dull, and there are three reproductions of pictures from the Bridgewater House Collection of which the best is, we think, the Cuyp which faces p. 202. The rest are photographs of rooms

hi existing houses, the most interesting of which,, perhaps, is that of the Sculpture Gallery at Lansdowne House, which faces p. 281.

As regards the articles on existing private palaces, those on Apsley House and Bridgewater House are the most attractive.

The Quarterly Review : January. (John Murray. ) THE POET LAUREATE has made a comparison between Milton and Dante which in more than one direction will awaken wide sympathy. To- contrast the seventeenth-century Protestant with the mediaeval Catholic would be a rash endeavour in any one who had but a slight acquaintance with the times in which they flourished. It would without doubt end in disastrous failure, but Mr. Austin's acquaintance with the state of the Italian world in the days of the Florentine is both wide and deep, so that the picture he gives is in no manner slurred a defect which has haunted not a few Dantean essays of modern times. The rank that Milton takes among English poets is unassailable, but except among scholars is by no means enviable. Last year the endeavour to do honour to his memory was far from a failure. There can be no doubt that many who had previously read but little of Milton's verse were impelled to give deliberate attention to him, and as a result were charmed by ' Lycidas ' and ' II Penseroso,' not to mention his still more famous works ; but, as the Poet Laureate points out, this admiration was " little shared in by the nation at large." The intellect was stimulated, but the imagination left as it had been for the last two centuries. On the other hand, it is known to every one who has any acquaintance with the Italian people, either by travel or from books, that Dante has ever been a popular poet, loved by all ranks of the people, as the Scotch love Burns. No two poets in the whole range of literature are wider apart than the theologian of Italy and the peasant of Scot- land, but they have each a safe place in the hearts of the people : nobles and workers feel the same passionate regard, and express it nearly in the same words. Since his death Dante has ever stood in the national regard on a far higher pedestal than Popes or kings ; and you could not rouse the ire of a Scot more than by the suggestion that the author of ' The Lady of the Lake ' was deserving of a higher place than the Ayrshire ploughman.

' The Works of Anthony Trpllope,' by Mr. T. H. S. Escptt, is pleasant reading. The writer evidently estimates highly the author he criti- cizes. There is no flattery such as is commonly poured upon popular novelists, but Trollope is dealt with by one who fully appreciates his merits. We have what seems a very fair picture of one who had great influence in his day, and is at the present tune by no means forgotten, as many new editions show.

MESSRS. VICKEHS'S Newspaper Gazetteer for the present year shows the usual careful work of the editor, and its bold, clear type makes it easy of reference. As one looks through the long lists of publications, one is puzzled to know whether any single interest is now unrepresented in the Press. Commerce of all kinds and amusements of all kinds are to be found among the titles : and one has only to look through the pages of this ' Gazetteer ' to see pretty clearly the serious and frivolous interests of the period.