Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/240

 198 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io- s. iv. SEPT. 2,1905. tentot, Griquas, and Baautu extreme caution has to be observed, the original traditions having been tampered with for interested motives. The points on which Mr. Stow dwells include the widely extended occupation by the ancient Abatwa or Bushmen in former times, their great antiquity in South Africa, their probable origin in the North, and their arduous struggle for existence. With the solitary exception of the hair, no two sections of the human race, it is held, could be more diver- gent than are the negroes and the Bushmen. The women among the Bushmen are of small and deli- cate proportions, with hands and feet of truly Lilliputian dimensions. Harris mentions one whose foot measured in length barely four inches. Against this are contrasted the robuster nations by whom the Bushmen have in course of time been dispossessed, "in some of which the projecting and uncouth-looking CM calcia becomes a wonderful development." The language, the artistic talents, and even the physical characteristics of the Bush- men have, it is held, closer affinities to some of the northern races of Africa than to the negro type. That we should follow Mr. Stow step by step in his argument is obviously impossible. We may not even attempt to state what the argument is, and can only recommend the work highly to all interested in ethnological points. Theirs, not ours, is it to compare the information we receive with that already possessed concerning the aboriginal tribes of Africa and Polynesia. It is interesting to hear, with regard to the alleged corruption of the native races by the introduction by the white men of tobacco and ardent spirits, that "all the tribes now found in South Africa were smoking and drinking races ages before they knew of the exist- ence of Europeans." In the descriptions of the social condition of the Bushmen we tind (see p. 96) things that remind us of French life as depicted by a Parisian journalist. What is said concerning the dances is of special interest to students of primitive culture. To such, indeed, there is scarcely a page without a message. The reproductions of the Bushman paintings are marvellously interesting, and the illustrations of stone implements, Basutu wall decorations, musical instruments, weapons, pipes, and copper castings, add greatly to the value of a work of singular interest. The Noi-tli of Mrs. Aphra Behn. With an Intro- duction by Krnest A. Baker, M.A. (Routledge & Sons.) To the "Library of Early Novelists" of Messrs. Routledge, already comprising 'The Life and Opinions of John Buncle,'' The Adventures of Don Sylvio de Rosalva,' the ' Heptameron' and the ' Decameron,' and shortly to include Swan's ren- dering of the ' Gesta Romanornm,' has now been added a collection of the novels of Aphra Behn, issued, like other volumes, under the com- petent editorship of Mr. Urnest A. Baker. To the average English reader Mrs. Behn, if known at all, is known by her delightful lyric "Love in fan- tastic triumph sat," and by the story concerning Sir Walter Scott and the shocked old lady to whom he lent her novels which is chronicled by Lockhart. Less than justice has, however, been done to a woman who was the first female professional writer in England, and who is credited with the curious commendation of having introduced milk punch into this country. We welcome this reprint, and should not be sorry if the publishers could see their way to accompany it by an edition of her plays. Some of these are free, but they are no worse than those of Dryden, and not BO bad as those of Wycherley, which are regularly published. That we have taken advantage of the reissue to read Mrs. Behn afresh we will not say, though so to do would be no penance. We have, however, glanced afresh through ' The Court of the King of Bantam' and 'The Lucky Mistake' with a fair amount of pleasure, and without discovering any- thing at which a healthy man needs blush or against which Scott's elderly lady is called upon to protest. ' Oroonoko, the Royal Slave,' is not undeserving the popularity it once enjoyed, and against ' Agnes de Castro' no accusation is to be brought but ultra-sentimentality. ' The Fair Jilt' and ' The Nun' are doubtless more free ; but these we have not reread. A good introduction, dealing with the plays of the "fair Astrsea" as well as her novels, and recording the known particulars of her life, is given by Mr. Baker, and the volume is a welcome addition to an interesting series which appeals alike to the general reader and the scholar. Napoleon: the Firnt Phone. By Oscar Browning, M.A. (Lane.) MR. BROWNING'S account of the first phase of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte is dedicated to Lord Rosebery, the author of ' Napoleon: the Last Phase.' That all phases of the life of Napoleon are equally interesting we will not maintain. AH phases are interesting, however, and concerning most ample materials exist. In the twenty-four years from the birth of Napoleon to the surrender of Toulon in December, 1793, when, at an age at which, as Mr. Browning says, the Englishman is taking his degree, the future Emperor turned from the surrendered fortress with the rank of general, begins a career to which history furnishes no precedent or parallel. He had shown of what stuff lie was made, and those were not wanting who predicted his career. The materials principally employed by Mr. Browning consist avowedly of ' La Jeiinesse de Napoleon ' of Chuquet and the ' Napoleon Inconnu' of Masson ; but there is, he claims, no book contained in the admirable biblio- graphy of Kircheisen bearing on the period which he has not examined so far as was necessary to his purpose. His work is intended as a vin- dication of the Emperor, and such, in a sense, it is. At the period when we quit Napoleon he has committed none of the acts which subse- quently exposed him to obloquy or infamy. At Toulon he separated himself from the atrocities of Barras and Freron; his life, compared to the lives of those with whom he associated, was pare and cleanly, and his conduct in the troublous paths in which he had to walk was not only judicious, but wise. The book will assist the study of Napoleon, and contains much matter not elsewhere accessible to the general student. We should be glad of information whence was obtained the ' Rencontre au Palais-Rnyal' which appears as C. in the first appendix. The frontispiece to the volume con- sists of the statue of Napoleon at Brienne. Other illustrations are Madame Mi're; Charles Bona- parte, Napoleon's father; Pauline Bonaparte, from a pastel in the possession of Mr. John Lane; General Paoli : four early portraits of Napoleon himself; and views of spots associated with his infancy or birth. A map of Toulon and a view of its siege are also given. Is it possible that the