Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/504

 418 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. NOV. is, NOTES ON BOOKS, ftc. Beaumont and Fletcher: The Maids Tragedy; Philasterj A King, and no Xing; The Scornful Lady; The Cuxtom of the Country. The Text edited by Arnold Glover, M.A. (Cambridge, University Press.) THE knowledge that a new edition of Beaumont and Fletcher was in contemplation by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press begot hopes which seemed dashed when, close on the heeU of the announcement, came intelligence of the death of Mr. Arnold Glover, the appointed editor. No great delay has, however, been experienced in getting the work in hand. Mr. A. K. vValler—who has edited for " The Cambridge English Classics," in which series the present work is comprised, the 'Hudibras' of Samuel Butler, 'The Poems of Richard Crashaw,'' The English Poems of Abraham Cowley," and ' Poems on Several Occasions' by Prior—has stepped into the breach, and with the aid of Mrs. Glover, who was associated with her husband in his preliminary labours, has brought out the first volume with a celerity which gives hope of a reasonably speedy accomplishment of the task. Meantime, under the care of Mr. A. H. Bullen, another and, in some respects, more am- bitious edition, of which the first volume has seen the light, has begun. The order of the plays in these two latest editions, so far as the work has proceeded, is the same, being that of the second or 1679 folio, the text of which, in spite of the hostile comment it has provoked, is, generally speaking, the best to be obtained. From all its predecessors the edition now issued differs in various respects. That each volume is, or will be, separately obtain- able is a matter of convenience to the few; that the price is half that of previous or competing editions is of importance to the many; that the text is, for the time, based entirely upon an early edition, admitting no form of conjectural emendation, constitutes its specializing feature. Though accepted as the basis of the edition, the second folio is not held to be faultless, or even to supply in all instances the best obtainable text. For the plays generally, however, the first full collection of which it furnishes, it is the best and only source, and considering the conditions under which, in common with all the volumes of "The Cambridge English Classics," the work is issued, its selection, in the interest of scien- tific arrangement, was imperative. In an appendix is given an apparatus of variant readings. This comprises " the text of all the early issues, that is to say, of all editions prior to and includ- ing the second folio." In the full sense, then, the edition is critical and adequate, and for the practical purposes of the scholar it is all that can be required. Its advantages of handines* and appearance are those of a well conceived and executed series, and are creditable to a great university. What is most important in the various early editions which have been collated for the purpose of the text is the disposition as prose or blank verse. Many corruptions have doubtless crept into folios and quartos. Through ignorance or some other cause, however, many passages in which the aim after verse is evident are in the early editions printed as prose. This is the more dis- turbing since of all the Tudor and early Stout dramatists Fletcher is the loosest in versification. In our own extracts, compiled before authoritatire editions were available, we notice lines of supposed blank verse so redundant as Go bid your lady seek some fool to fawn on her, which occurs in a speech of Dinant in ' The Little French Lawyer.' Very much more striking pro- longations of lines are now to be traced, but these are attributable to the ignorance of the printer, or possibly to attempts at economy of space. Another volume of what is destined to be a popular edition is, we gather, in an advanced stage. It is much to be hoped that progress will be rapid, as, from the energy with which the series has been prosecuted, we have a right to expect. A complete and port- able Beaumont and Fletcher is one of the most desirable of literary possessions. It is pleasant to think that two zealous attempts to supply what is so requisite are in progress. The Tragedies of Algernon Charles Swinburne. Vol. II. (Chatto & Windus.) THE second volume of the collected tragedies of Mr. Swinburne consists of ' Chastelard' and ' Both- well,' the latter in two acts and twenty-six scene*. There is no occasion for us to criticize afresh i book of modern poetry, a taak, indeed, outside our province. It is, however, permissible to take the opportunity of the reissue of these noble and powerful works to say that since the days of Victor Hugo and Musset no volume containing an equal amount of poetry and drama has seen the light in this or, we believe, any other country. While our faith in Hugo as a dramatist is waning—a fact to which, in the presence of Mr. Swinburne, we, altering Virgilian phrase, allude in shuddering— that in Mr. Swinburne augments, and we do not despair of seeing the day when 'Chastelard' i» played, though we are hopeless of finding acton capable of personating the characters and speaking the verse. It has been a genuine delight to reread the two plays now reissued. On p. 142. So soften the toothed iron's edge, in a speech of the queen, is printed " so often," Ac., to the destruction of the sense. The complete edition of the plays will be an inestimable boon, and as such we will give it welcome^ The Inooldsby Legends; or, Mirth and MarreU. By Thomas Ingoldshy, Esq. (Frowde.) To the "Standard Oxford Editions," some forth- coming volumes of which we have recently an- nounced, has been added a reproduction of 'Tat Ingoldsby Legends.' This marvellous collection ripens rather than ages, and can still be read from beginning to end. Apart from their animal spirits and <>,••>.., these legends give some of the man marvellous rimes in the language Twenty-fit* rep -•>. - - oth perusal. The Essays of Mia. 2vols. (Heinemann.) WITH an able and scholarly introduction by Mr. Arthur Waugh. a generous appreciator ol Lamb, this edition of 'Kim' adds to the attraction* of Heinemann's " Favourite Classics," which ar» also the world's cheapest classics, Each volume contains a portrait of Lamb. eproductions of designs of Cruikshank, Leech, and thers,_ and a portrait of Barbara add to the joy of