Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/265

 io'" s. iv. SEPT. 9, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 219 seller for many years has printed on his catalogues the excellent portrait of Chaucer from an old service book. Another Birming- ham bookselling firm possesses a monopoly in the quaint picture of a monastic father study- ing ancient tomes. Other designs and pictures used in business have become famous or familiar by sheer repetition, and the list of these might be extended almost indefinitely. WM. JAGGABD. NOTES ON BOOKS, fto. A Companion to Greek Studies. Edited for the Syndics of the University Press by Leonard Whibley, M.A. (Cambridge, University Press.) A WORK such as the present, representing the latest conclusions of English scholarship, calls for mention rather than criticism. Encyclopaedic in informa- tion, and to a certain extent in arrangement, it is intended to supply the student of Greek litera- ture, in a single volume, with all such informa- tion, apart from that given in histories and gram- mars, as will most facilitate his studies. From previous works similar in aim it differs in the greater breadth of its scope and in the advanced conclusions it embodies on many subjects not wholly speculative. An intention to avoid, so far as pos- sible, the discussion of controversial subjects is proclaimed. This, however, cannot easily be carried out, and the influence of such recent studies as that of primitive culture must necessarily assert itself. The most important subjects are entrusted to those who have made a special study of them, and the list of contributors includes the names of the most eminent of existing scholars. ' Literature' is thus entrusted to Sir Richard Jebb, the Regius Pro- fessor of Greek, of whose qualifications it would be imi>ertinence to speak, his associates being, for ' Philosophy,' Dr. Henry Jackson, Prelector of An- cient Philosophy in Trinity College, and Mr. R. D. Hicks, M.A., and for 'Science,' the Head Master of Westminster. Mr. Whibley himself writes 01 public antiquities, dealing with the Constitution o Athens in its legendary history and in its detailec organization, and with the Constitution of Sparta ' Mythology' and ' Religion ' are entrusted to Prof E. A. Gardner, who is also responsible for some important and deeply interesting chapters on daily and domestic life, for what little is known con cerning the Greek house and furniture, and similai subjects. ' Geography' is in the hands of Mr. Tozer • Fauna and Flora in those of Dr. Tristram and ' Prehistoric Art' and ' Sculpture' in those o Dr. Waldstein. Specially interesting papers on •Colonies' and 'Commerce and Industry' are fur nished by Mr. H. J. Edwards, of Peterhouse. Thes ire a few only of the subjects dealt with, and a the close there is a history of ' Scholarship,' by Dr J. E. Sandys. Each subject is followed by an up to-date bibliography. It is next to impossible to a justice to the treatment of the book, since ever separate subject puts in equal claims upon attei tion. As a rule, less-known matters prove to be those of highest interest. In taking account o daily life in town or country we have thus t remember the immense seaboard of Greece an necessity, for the sake of communication with ther countries, of an adjacent harbour. In the aae of theatrical representations one of the doors eads always to the sea. There is, when possible, n a town a rocky hill, serving as a citadel and a lace of refuge. Account h.-is also to be taken of 'ie influence of the Agora, to which the bazaar in oriental civilization more nearly corresponds than nything in Occidental life. In regard to the osition of women, it is held that the picture drawn y Hesiod is possibly more faithful than that in tomer, who may have coloured it to please his udience. It is striking to find that in the fourth entury nearly half the land in Laconia was owned y women. As regards the population of Greece, t is held that the mainland, including Macedonia, may at the close of the fifth century have supported bout 3,000,000 persons, of whom one-third were erfa. Much valuable information concerning ships, rom those of pre-Homeric times, is supplied in an ssay by Mr. Cook, with illustrations derived from he 'Ancient Ships' of Mr. C. Torr. The illustra- ions, which are numerous, add greatly to the value if the work. These are drawn from miscellaneous ources, some of them recently discovered. Maps if Northern Greece, Athens and its Harbour, Central Greece and the Peloponnese, yKgean Sea and Asia Minor, and the Greek colonies are well executed and helpful. Though it is necessarily compendious, no more serviceable, trustworthy, uid comprehensive guide to Greek art, religion, iterature, and life is accessible to the student. [t will do much to facilitate the most useful, delightful, and indispensable of studies. The Burlington opens with Turner's ' Theory of 3olouring,' by Mr. C. J. Holmes, which is illus- irated by two happily coloured reproductions, one of St. Denis, from ' Rivers of France,' a second of Arundel Castle, from ' Rivers of England.' Part ii. of ' The Life of a Dutch Artist in the Seventeenth Century' has many designs from Van Ostade, Rembrandt, and other painters. Some exquisite miniatures of Limbourg follow, and are in turn succeeded by Titian's portrait of Laura de' Dianti, which is the subject of an article by Mr. Herbert Cook, F.S.A., who claims that the original portrait hangs in the well-known gallery at Richmond of Sir Frederick Cook. A portrait of Alfonso d'Este, the lady's husband, is also given. The question is asked whether Hans Daucher is the author of the medals attributed to Albert Diirer, and is answered in the affirmative. The reproductions by which the article is accompanied are very striking. In one case we dissent from a portion of the explana- tion. A 'Virgin and Child Resting,' by Gerard David, and a second by Joachim Patiuir, also repay attention. MR. W. L. COURTNEY gives, in the Fortnightly, the first portion of a lecture upon Christopher Marlowe, delivered recently in Oxford. The subject is one on which Mr. Courtney is entitled to speak, and the lecture, in its opening pages, is to some extent a reply to the 'Christopher Marlowe and his Associates of Mr. John H. Ingram, a thick-and- t liin defender of the great poet from the charges of his enemies. Mr. J. G. Frazer gives the second part of his 'Beginnings of Religion and Totemism among the Australian Aborigines,' a further instal- mentof the forthcoming new edition of 'The Golden Bough.' He shows how — as might, indeed, be expected—social and religious progress in Australia-