Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/459

 io" s. ii. NOV. 5, loot.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Museum, and a second has been discovered in the library of Worcester College, Oxford. The work was reprinted, with modernized spelling, in vol. x. of Thomas Park's edition of the " Harleian Mis- cellany " ; and Mr. Hindley included a reprint, together with that of another dramatic tract, obviously by the same author, entitled 'A Merry Dialogue between Band, Cufte, and Ruff,' also dated 1615, in his " Old Book-Collector's Miscellany." Of these works little is known, and Mr. Sieveking is the first to supply a plausible conjecture as to authorship, which he is disposed to attribute to Thomas Hey wood. At the time when this whimsical trifle was first played in Cambridge the super- cession of the cutting sword by the rapier and dagger had not long been accomplished. The work consists of a dispute as to the relative value and importance of the weapons alone or in combination, and is full of a kind of play upon words common enough in Tudor times, though rarely carried to such an extent. Some notes with which the book concludes are of remarkable value and interest. The whole is issued with an introduction by Prof. Ward, the Master of Peterhouse, of which college Heywood is thought to have been a member. It forms a pleasing addition to every library of Tudor literature.

The Works of Heinrich Heine Vol. IX. The Book of Song*, translated by T. Brooksbank. Vol. X. New Poems. Translated by Margaret Armour. (Heinemaun.)

FOURTEEN years ago Charles Godfrey Leland began at Mr. Heinemann's request the task of translating the works of Heine. Of the twelve volumes of which the whole was to consist, eight, containing the prose works, were completed. Notices of the appearance of these will be found in our columns. Difficulty was experienced after Leland's death in finding any one qualified to take up his un- finished task. Mr. Brooksbank accomplished at length a rendering of ' The Book of Songs,' which forms the ninth volume of the collection, after which he, too, died, and the completion of the task was left to Margaret Armour (Mrs. W. B. Mac- dougall), who supplies a rendering of the 'New Poems,' and will, it is supposed, be responsible for the remaining volumes. It is much more dif- ficult to render the poems than the prose works, and we venture, with a tolerably intimate know- ledge of Leland, to doubt whether he could have discharged it. It is a mere commonplace to affirm that no man that ever lived could give an adequate version of Heine's verses. It is triumph enough, for a man of genius, or something like it, such as was George Mac Donald, to attain success in one or two poems. Mr. Brooksbank has done as well as waff to be expected, and some of his translations are entitled to praise.

I despaired at first believing

I should never bear it. Now I have borne it I have borne it,

Only never ask me How, is one of the best of his efforts, but is inferior to Mr. Mac Donald's, which it closely resembles. Miss Margaret Armour has facility and alertness in rime. Her rendering of ' Atta Troll ' is a clever piece of work, and contains more of Heine's mood and humour than is to be expected in a translation. It is satisfactory to think that the entire work is within reach of completion.

The Letters of Thomas Gray. Edited by Duncan-

C. Tovey. Vol.11. (Bell & Sons.) IF Mr. Tovey has taken his time over the second volume of Gray's letters the first volume appeared in 1900 he has justified by thoroughness of work- manship the slowness of production. The period covered is 1757-62, the principal correspondents being Mason, Wharton, and the Rev. James Brown, Mason's letters to Gray constituting a considerable portion of the contents. Towards the close of the volume are given the reminiscences of the Rev. Norton Nicholls. These are, of course, interesting and valuable, though they cast no light upon the record of the poet that is not obtainable from the letters. Gray s gradually formed delight in Virgil and his warm admiration for Milton are known, as are the aversion he felt towards Voltaire and his tolerance of Rousseau. Gray speaks to Wharton of having gone mad over old Scbtch and Irish poetry, and being extasie about Macpherson's ' Ossian.' He has strong suspicions as to their being; forgeries, but is "resolved to believe them genuine in spite of the Devil and the Kirk." The notes are exemplary in all respects, and the edition, when, completed, will be a treasure.

AMONG the many points discussed in recent num- bers of the Intermeaiaire are the perpetual miracle of the tongue of St. Anthony 01 Padua, fortified churches, the family of Sanson, the executioner during the Terror, the true date of the birth of Eugene de Beauharnais, and horseshoes in connexion- with churches. In regard to the last subject it is- stated that when the sanctuary of St. Martin of Tours was the centre of religious life in Gaul, it> was the custom before one went on a journey to nail a horseshoe on the door of the church, in honour of the saint (or rather, perhaps, to remind him of the traveller and his steed, who might be needing help). According to one account of this

Eious practice, the key of the saint's chapel was eated red in the fire of the "fevre," and used to mark the horse, which thus secured the attention and the protection of the holy man. The key was- also used when horses were ill.

THE latest number of Folk Lore contains an- account of some of the customs and beliefs which have been noticed among the Basuto. The practices connected with the birth of a first child are de- cidedly quaint. For instance, "it must be born in the home of its maternal grandparents, otherwise it will not live to grow up. If the infant should be a boy the rejoicings are judiciously mixed with regtet," and the news-carriers who are dispatched to the father's village to tell him of the event " beat him vigorously with their sticks." But when it is a girl, the messengers pour water over the delighted parent to damp his joy, lest the arrival of a daughter who will be worth many cows when- she is marriageable should prove too great a shock. Following on this article comes the beginning of a paper on the 'European Sky-God,' which, when completed, will be a most useful garner of concep- tions relating to Zeus the brilliant and his fellow- deities, who typified the celestial spaces, the heavenly bodies, the wind, and the sky-born water which gives rise to spring, river, and sea.

A FEW articles on literary subjects are inter- spersed among the political essays in the Fort- ui'jhthj. 'In the Footsteps of Rousseau' is tech- nically accurate as a title, seeing that it follows