Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/100

 NOTES AND QUERIES. EIO* s. ni. JAX. as, uws.

than are such utterances. Even when, which is not always the case, the phrase has been used by the man to whom it is imputed there is rarely any proof that it is his last utterance. " Deep dream of peace " are said to be the last words of Leigh Hunt. That he used them, or their equi- valent, in his ' Abou Ben Adhem ' we know ; that they were the last words he spoke we venture to doubt. To Thistlewood is attributed " I shall soon know the grand secret," and to Rabelais "Je vais querir un grand peut-etre." "No, no!" are said to be the last words of Emily Bronte. They may well be so ; but they scarcely constitute a famous saying. We have marked for notice scores of words in various languages, but there is no need for long comment. The work may be read with amuse- ment and advantage, and we found difficult the task of abandoning its perusal. The sayings are of very unequal value. Many of them are, however, curious, and most repay perusal. Mr. Latham, in his interesting preface, concedes that the ascrip- tion to certain people of well-known phrases is often dubious. Mr. Latham, we understand, has, in deference to a generally expressed opinion, begun an index to the sayings, which, so soon as it is ready, will be added to the work.

It is sad to hear that Mr. Harbottle, who is responsible for the ' Dictionary of Battles,' died while the work was going to press, leaving to Mr. Dalbiac the revision of proofs. It is a useful com- pilation and up to date.

MESSRS. ROUTLEDGE & SONS have reissued in a cheap and an attractive form, in shilling volumes, the series of poets first published by Messrs. Law- rence & Bullen under the title of " The Muses' Library." At the appearance of successive volumes of what was, and is, the daintiest edition of the less accessible poets we drew attention to the merits of each. The collection includes Edmund Waller, 2 vols., edited by G. Thorn Drury ; Coleridge, edited by Richard Garnett, C.B. ; Henry Vauyhan, edited by E. K. Chambers, 2 vols. ; Marcell, edited by G. A. Aitken, 2 vols. ; Donne, edited by E. K. Chambers, 2 vols. : William Browne, edited by Gordon Goodwin, 2 vols. ; Drummond of Haicthi~>iden, edited by Wm. C. VVard, 2 vols. : Thomas Careic, edited by Arthur Vincent ; Keats, edited by G. Thorn Drury, 2 vols. ; John Gay, . edited by John Underbill, 2 vols. Each volume is in a pretty cloth cover, suggestive of the original binding. The whole constitutes for the lover of poetry a most enviable collection. Well do we remember the time, a couple of generations ago, when the pretty little editions then issued by Sharpe, Cooke, and others under the title of "British Poets" did, indeed, "keep the word of promise to the ear," but only to break it to our hopes, since the presence of the Yaldens, Orams, Glynns, Grangers, and others was very far from com- pensating for the omission of most of the Tudor and virtually all the Restoration poets. A writer such as Carew. Suckling, or Marvell was then unattainable. We have now made amends for shortcoming, and all the poets a man can seek to read or possess are available. The conditions of appearance furnish a guarantee that the text is in every case pure and uncastrated, and the series in its present shape is an incomparable boon.

WE regret to notice the death of Mr. W. Fraser Rae, on the 22nd inst., of pneumonia. He was a

great authority on the Junius question and also on the history of the Sheridans. He contributed notes to 'N. fc Q.' on 'Mr. Dilke on Junius,' 'House of Commons Sessions,' and other subjects, and was an accomplished man of letters with an unusually wide range of learning, as his published works suggest.

MR. T. W. SHORE, of whose death we also hear with regret, was a contributor of ours. He wrote in the Ninth Series on 'Kingston Coronation Stone,' and contributed several articles on ' Oxford as a Place-name.' A biography appears in The Times of the 17th inst.

MR. A. L. HUMPHREYS, of 187, Piccadilly, will issue forthwith, in an edition limited to one hundred copies, a work entitled ' Somersetshire Parishes : a Handbook of Historical Reference to all Places in the County.' It will appear in eight parts, whereof the first. Abbas Combs to Binegar (including Bath, 44 pp.), is now ready.

ia

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To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication "Duplicate."

MANCUNIAN ("Religion of all sensible men"). Put by Disraeli into the mouth of Waldershare in ' Eridymion,' but related by Toland in his ' Clido- phorus' (1720) of the first Lord Shaftesbury. See the communications by MR. W. E. COCKSHOTT and GENERAL PATRICK MAXWELL at 9" 1 S. x. 271. The lines you inquire about do not refer to Napoleon at St. Helena. They should run :

The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rockbound coast, and are from Mrs. Hemans's ' Landing of the Pil- grim Fathers.'

E. F. McPiKE, Chicago (" Millikin - Entwisle Families"). Appeared ante, p. 6, and copy of the number posted to you.

CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 56, col. 2, line 22, for "Seaham" read Sheahan.

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