Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/436

 360

NOTES AND QUERIES.

n. OCT. 29,

<now eagerly sought, and that those works which constitute what Mr. Slater calls " the aristocracy -of the bookshelf " mount in price, and pass out of the reach of all but our collector princes. How long this state of things will last, and whether with brightening commercial days average books will regain their value, are matters on which it is not safe to prophesy. We could furnish suggestions as to the cause of the falling-off in prices were the occasion apposite, or were it our cue so to do. 'Considerations of space prohibit, however, such indulgence, and existing conditions as chronicled by Mr. Slater must be left to preach their own lesson. The average price per lot of the sales in 1904 has fallen from 31. 7*. 10d. in 1901 to 21. 9s. 3d. -Since 1901, indeed, the declension has been steady, and the point now reached is lower than it has been since 1896, when the average was 11. 13s. IQd. The item of most importance in the year's sale was the original MS. of the first book of the 'Paradise Lost,' which was bought in for 5,000?. in January. It came with a direct pedigree from Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, by a deeply interesting letter from whom it was accompanied. This contains an excel- lent arraignment of Bentley for his edition of Milton, and supplies curious information as to the rela- tions between the poet and Sir William D'Avenant. It is very interesting to find Tonson in 1731 describ- ing Milton as " the admiration of England and its
 * greatest credit abroad." Much matter of hardly

less significance is to be found in a volume that is inferior in interest to none of its predecessors.

The Poetical Works of John Milton. By the Rev.

H. C. Beeching. (Frowde.)

POUR and a half years ago we drew attention to this edition of Milton as the best, in all respects, for the lover and the student of Milton (see 9 th S. v. 198). It is reprinted from the first edition, with facsimile title-pages, and with the original text. We spoke of it also as "an unmistakable boon," and have since had it in constant use, to the virtual exclusion of all other editions. It is now included in the Oxford two-shilling edition of the poets, and lover of poetry can afford to be without it in one of the shapes in which it has appeared.
 * so is brought within the reach of all classes. No

NEWS of the death of Lady Dilke, which occurred on the 24th inst. at Pyrford Rough, Woking, came as a profound shock to ourselves, and will be received as such by very many of our readers. Born at Ilfracombe on 2 September, 1840, the fourth daughter of Major Henry Strong, H.E I.C.S., and /granddaughter of Samuel Strong, U.E.L., of Augusta, Georgia, and educated by a sister of Thomas Edward Bovydich, of Ashantee fame, Emilia Francis Strong married first, in 1862, Mark Pattison, the celebrated Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, and secondly, in 1885, the Right Hon. Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bart., M.P. She developed at an early age literary ability and artistic appreciation, was a contributor to the Saturday Review in its best days, and wrote chiefly on fine art in regard to which she was an expert in many periodicals, English and foreign, including the Gazette des Beaux- Arts and the Art Journal. During some years she was art critic to the Academy. Her publications include a life of Lord Leighton, contributed to "Dumas' Modern .Artists," ' Renaissance of Art in France,' ' Art in the Modern State,' ' Claude Lorrain d'apres des Docu-

ments inedits,' ' Shrine of Death and other Stories/ 4 Shrine of Love and other Stories,' ' French Painters of the Eighteenth Century,' ' French Architects and Sculptors of the Eighteenth Century,' ' French Decoration and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century,' and * French Engravers and Draughtsmen of the Eighteenth Century.' The four works last named constitute her chief accomplishment in a line in which she had, in this country, no rivals, are admirably illustrated, and form a brilliant history of that delicate eighteenth-cen- tury art which attained in French painting, sculpture, architecture, and designs its highest development.- An active part was taken by her in the Women's Trade Union League, of the com- mittee of which she was an indefatigable member. In our own columns she wrote on her special themes, and on subjects such as the 'Chevalier Servandoni,' ' Jinrikshas,' ' Pin-pricks as a Political Phrase,' * Perelle's Etchings,' * Pyramus and Thisbe,' ' When all the world was young, love ! ' and 'Strong's Bluff.' She was very proud of her connexion with the United Empire Loyalists, and of the sufferings undergone by her grandfather and her great-uncle in the Southern States. Those privi leged to enjoy her intimacy know how great was the range of her knowledge and how wide that of her social sympathies. Under her sway her draw- ing-room perpetuated the attractions and advan- tages of the salons of past days, she herself pre- siding with admirable tact and distinction over brilliant and delightful gatherings, and pouring a flood of illumination over the themes discussed. We may, perhaps, on her behalf alter Steele's celebrated declaration concerning Lady Elizabeth Hastings, since to have known her, which was equal to having loved her, " was a liberal education." Lady Dilke was an enthusiastic bibliophile, and, besides the priceless French Elzevirs in which she delighted, had a collection of early French poetry.

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