Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 12.djvu/555

 10 s. xii. DEC. 4, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

459

Translations of merit are occasionally used, and the notes at the bottom of the page do not disturb the course of the text, though the student will, we think, read most of them.

On the subject of Fiammetta we are quite at one with our author. She was no less real than Dante's Beatrice, and those commentators who find so little of her in Boccaccio's early work like the ' Filocolo ' seem to us sadly at fault.

On the prevalent views concerning women in fourteenth-century Italy Mr. Hutton writes frankly and well. He has a proper enthusiasm for Boccaccio as humanist, but it is clear that he does not take to medieval Latin with the same enthusiasm as Italian, nor can we blame him for the preference.

At the first sight of Fiammetta, Boccaccio spoke of Love, " whose strength not even the gods were able to resist." A note here quotes the famous chorus on Eros in the ' Antigone ' of Sophocles, and adds : " Yet when he wrote the ' Filocolo ' Boccaccio knew no Greek." The senti- ment is a common-place of classical authors, Greek and Latin, prettily exhibited, for instance, in the ' Metamorphoses ' of Apuleius, which Boccaccio certainly knew. " Tu superos ipsum- que Jovem, tu numina ponti Victa domas. . . .Ilia quibus superos omnes cape tela Cupido," says Venus to her son in Boccaccio's favourite Ovid. In the quotation of the ' Tristia ' of that author (note, p. 39) " sibitis " should be subitis. This, however, is a mere misprint, like the " Leucippe and Clectophon " of p. 94.

Mr. Hutton gives an excellent idea of the rela- tions between his subject and Petrarch, who preferred to Italian masterpieces the newly discovered classics of old time and their exponents, even when they they were such unpleasant people as Pilatus, the Greek professor. Throughout we have a clear vision of the character of Boccaccio, one of the few satisfactory authors whose lives are as pleasant as the best of their works.

The Plays of Oliver Goldsmith, together with ' The Vicar of Wake field.' Edited, with Glossarial Notes and Index, by C. E. Doble, with the Assistance of G. Ostler. With 46 Illustrations. (Frowde.)

WE should have rejoiced twenty years ago to have the opportunity of buying books so cheap, so well printed, and so capably edited as those now issued in the " Oxford Editions," of which this volume is one. It is, says the Prefatory Note, " intended to form a supplementary volume to the ' Poetical Works ' edited by Mr. Austin Dobson for the same series." ' The Good- Natur'd Man ' we have seen acted effectively, and we always wonder that so pretty a comedy as ' She Stoops to Conquer ' is not frequently revived, affording as it does so excellent a chance for a vivacious actress. ' The Vicar,' already published in many forms and styles, is always welcome. Here it is adorned with Mulready's illustrations.

The main feature of the volume is, undoubtedly, the Glossarial Index, It is a novelty in this series which adds much to the value of the book, for it consists of notes which give exact references to Goldsmith's text and add a variety of informa- tion, mostly from contemporary sources. We regard such a feature as much more likely to aid the reader to appreciate Goldsmith than an introduction written by somebody who wants to be clever, and has little idea of being useful.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. DECEMBER.

MR. G. H. BROWN'S Catalogue 53 contains a fine copy of Addison, 4 vols., 4to, full calf, 1761, 31. 15s. There is a rare book under Africa : Daniell's ' African Scenery and Animals,' 30 large coloured engravings, folio, 1804, 211. 10s. The Rowlandspn edition of ' Munchausen,' 1811, full calf, is 21. 15s. ; and a set of Bentley's Mis- cellany, original cloth, uncut, 1837-47, 22 vols., 81. 10s. Under Bewick are the ' Birds,' 1805, 31. ; and the ' Quadrupeds,' 1807, II. 10s. Under Buckinghamshire is Lipscomb's ' History,' 4 vols., 4 to, half -calf, 1831, 151. 10s. There are Burlington Fine-Art Catalogues in the original bindings. Under Coronation of George IV. is Naylor's account, large folio, half-morocco, 1839, 91. A set of Lady Jackson's works, 14 vols., original cloth, 1899, is 11. 10s. ; and the Edition de Luxe of George Meredith, 32 vols., 16Z. There is a nice set of Nichols's ' Literary Anecdotes,' 17 vols., half-calf, gilt tops, uncut, 1812-17, SI. 10s. Wheatley's edition of Pepys, 10 vols., half -calf, 1904, is 11. 10s. Under Queen Victoria is a presentation copy from her (with her autograph and inscription hi 4 of the 5 vols.) of Martin's ' Life of the Prince Consort,' original cloth, 31. 10s.

Mr. George Gregory of Bath sends a double Catalogue, Nos. 191-2, containing over eighteen hundred items of general literature, new and old. We find the first edition of ' Vathek,' Paris, 1787, II. 10s. ; Bullen's ' Love Poems of the Seven- teenth Century,' privately printed, 31. 10s. ; the second edition of ' John Mytton,' with all the advertisements, 1837, 12Z. ; Macklin's edition of the Bible and the Apocrypha, 8 vols., imp. folio, full dark-blue morocco, enclosed in rosewood case with glass door, 151. (cost 165Z.) ; a copy of ' Eikon Basilike ' that either belonged to Charles II. or was presented by him, 10Z. 10s. ; and a spotless copy of ' The Choiseul Gallery,' 4to, 1771, 9Z. Under Boccaccio is the French edition of 1757-61, 5 vols., newly bound in French calf, 20Z. Horace Walpole's copy of Le Neve's ' Monumenta Anglicana,' 5 vols., is 12Z. ; and a set, as new, of Crisp's Visitations and other genealogical works, 21 vols., half -vellum, 10Z. There are lists under Bewick, Illustrated Books, Incunabula, and Landscape Annuals, Keepsakes, and Gift-Books of the Thirties. There is a collec- tion of letters to Sheridan written by his school- fellow Halhed at the age of nineteen : a good many refer to Halhed's passion for Miss Linley, the lady whom Sheridan afterwards married, 50Z.

Mr. F. L. Jones of Oxford sends his first Cata- logue, which contains works from the Daniel Press and on folk-lore. Under London are various parcels of engravings at low prices. The Library Edition of Motley, 9 vols., half-calf, is 4:1. Under Oxford are books and engravings ; under Sanskrit is Monier-Williams's Dictionary, Oxford, 1888, 11. ; and under Tennyson is the ' Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington,' in the original wrappers, Moxon, 1852, 10s.

Messrs. Maggs Brothers' December Catalogue is so full of first editions and presentation books that it would require a page of ' N. & Q.' to describe the chief items. We can note only a few. The following are first editions : ' Sense and Sensibility,' in the original boards, 45Z. ; ' In-