Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/51

 10 s. XL JAX. 9, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

hoped that the guests did not suffer from indigestion, for the dinner consisted of hotch-potch, cockie leekie, crabbit heads, salmon scollops, haggis, and poor man o' mutton. Occasionally evenings were diversified by the advent of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who would try experiments on the girls in electro-biology. Prof. Simpson would sometimes come with him, and would try the effects of chloro- form upon the girls, and " would have half-a-dozen of us lying about in various stages of sleep." Private theatricals also afforded a favourite amuse- ment, and at Dr. Simpson's in ' The Babes in the Wood ' the host and Lyon Playfair were the babes, the prologue beingwritten by Alexander Smith, and the epilogue by Sydney Dobell.

On the 17th of April, 1856 V Eliza Chambers, the author, was married to William Priestley, who had been Prof. Simpson's assistant. As a student he had taken the Senate Medal as well as the Simpson Gold Medal and Balfour's Prize for Botany. Both Irasband and wife were innocent of all worldly affairs, but "never felt oppressed with the sense of poverty." Priestley had saved something out of his salary, and had just received 501. for his share in editing Simpson's works. " That formed our ready cash, and our sole capital was 1,000^. promised by my'father to start us in life."

Of their early struggles and first brilliant success we leave Lady Priestley to tell. Her friends included many of the well-known names of the second half of the nineteenth century, her uncle, Henry Wills, being assistant editor of All the Year Hound. There is much about Dickens. We can well understand Lady Priestley's great affection for Wills, for we always found him full of kindness, and aspirants to literary fame were sure of his sympathy and advice. He had previously been assistant editor of The, Daily Ne>r*, and was on the first staff of Punch. Another intimate friend was Thackeray, and we have an account of his reconciliation with Dickens at the Athenaeum Club in the autumn of 186;?. On the 24th of December of, the same year Lady Priestley was invited to meet him to dine at the Benzons'. " There was one guest missing; his place at the table had been laid, it was now removed ; that guest Thackeray was lying dead in the pretty red house he had built for himself within a stone's throw of the festivities in which he was expected to take part." The illustrations include portraits of Lady Priestley and her father and mother, sketches by Dicky Doyle, and a sketch of a dog by Millais.

The. Fortnightly Renew for January includes an article on ' The late Empress of China ' by Dr. E. J. Dillon, who ehows that she had many good points. She is compared as a political reformer with Glad- stone. Mr. A. Maurice Low writes interestingly on 'The Future of Parties in America.' 'The Opposition in the Commons' is not so crushing as the article on the old Tory gang in last month's National Re-inew, tut it is hardly flattering. Com- plaint is made of recent negligence to attend Par- liament in several cases. Mr. W. T. Stead has some startling stories to tell of communications which he heads with the title ' How I know that the Dead Return.' Mr. Masefield writes on Defoe in a rather elaborate and unnatural style, and some of his general statements are not, we think, defensible. Miss Jane E. Harrison on : The Divine Right of Kings' is not concerned with theories of the Jesuits, as one might suppose, but deals with the

theories of Dr. Frazer in his ' Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship' and ' Adonis, Attis, and Osiris. This is a highly interesting article. Mr Fllson Young s account of ' The New Poetry ' of Mr. John Davidson should also not be missed.

The Nineteenth Century has secured the Earl of krroll. Lord Ribblesdale, Lord Stanley of Alderlev and the Comtesse de Franqueville to write on politics and education ; while Lady Paget publishes a reminiscence of ' Court and Society at Berlin in the Fifties.' 'The Waste of Infant Life,' by Dr

!i G L K - an ^ C l ayt n ' is an im D or tant article ; and Mr. \V. C. D. Whetham's ' Inheritance and Sociology is lucid and interesting. Prof. Simon Newcomb does not believe in ' Modern Occultism ' under which heading he also deals briefly with the work of the Psychical Society, and phantoms of the living. He suggests strikingly the many possible causes of error in such transactions. Mr. Herbert Paul deals with Milton in his usual attractive style Mr. Lewis Melville's article on 'The Centenary of Edgar Allan Poe ' is largely a recapitulation of material now familiar to most lovers of letters.

The Cornhill begins with 'A New Year's Ron- deau' by Mr. Austin Dobson, which is elegant as usual with him. Mr. Lucy continues his remi- niscences, which are always heavily drawn on without delay by the daily papers a tribute to their interest. C. L. G. has some amusing ' Stanzas addressed to the Hon. Charles Parsons, F.R S ' They are, perhaps, a little too elaborate, though often ingenious. Two personal papers, 'Charles Eliot Norton,' by Mr. Frederic Harrison, and 'John Thadeus Delane,' by the Dean ot Canterbury are both good reading, though the latter somewhat overdoes the praise of virtues which are generally regarded as needing no comment in the English gentleman. Delane used " his rare powers for public ends and for the good of his country." no doubt ; but he also used them for the good of his paper and the support of popular clamour. This may be seen in ' Crimean Papers,' a lucid account of the difficulties which the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Panmure were both inadequate to meet by Sir Herbert Maxwell. This article, excellent in judgment, is the best thing in the number. Miss Jane Findlater, herself a novelist, deals with ' The Novels of Fogazzaro'; and Dr. W. H. Fitchett with 'The Man who discovered Australia.'

The Burlington Magazine opens with ' A Retro- spect' concerning its fortunes, which is full of sound sense and criticism. It is matter for great congratulation that the magazine is firmly estab- lished, for it stands alone in its knowledge, in- dependence, and resolute refusal of the second-rate. The question of ' Reorganization at South Kensing- ton ' is further considered. The frontispiece is a reproduction of Whistjer's striking picture 'The Coast of Brittany,' which serves to illustrate an article on ' Whistler and Modern Painting ' by Prof. C. J. Holmes. Another illustration is a portrait of Luther as "Junker Jorg," by Lucas Cranach, in the King's collection at Windsor, which is cou sidered by Mr. Lionel Cust. ' Eight Italian Medals ' from the British Museum, by Mr. G. F. Hill, are of a quality well deserving reproduction. Probably, however, the most interesting article in the number is the appreciation of Charles Eliot Norton by Mr. Henry James, who excels in such portraiture. In the section on ' Art in America ' the pictures of Mr. E. C. Tarbell are noteworthy.