Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/553

 iv. DEC. 2, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 459 House on 5 November, which 1819 had, though there was then no Latin Professor to make it. bo far aa surviving reputation is concerned, the advan tage is aura, we think, to be with the men of 1905 We doubt if the ordinary man of letters couk name more than two or three of the lights of 1819 and we cannot say that the period was one of dis tinction, though it has given us a chronicler in Gunning, whose reminiscences are unique, and ought to be reprinted. In 1819 it took a student of Law or Physic six years to take his degree. He was allowed, however, to wear the B.A.'s full-sleevet gown when the men of his year took their degree and was " stiled a Harry-soph." There were " ten year men," too, in those days, of the age of twenty lour and upwards, toiling pretty leisurely after a B.D. ! We cannot deal with the very different aspect o: modern Cambridge as revealed by its present 'Calen dar.' The wonderful advance of science is, of course! a leading feature of the University. It is a feature of the age in general. What, however, we expecl and need from the universities is a reinforcement of the taste which has become that of an honourable minority almost stunned by the forces of vulgarity and advertisement. We want, in fine, as many good men and good books to leaven the lump as can be procured, and we look for signs of literary activity in this 'Calendar.' So we regret to see that ('.tins announces the following among its records of this year: " English Sway, No essay sent in : French Emmy Prize, ditto ; German E*say Prize, Not awarded " ; and " Natural Science E*»ay Prize, No essay sent in." We notice, further, that at Christ's no exercises were sent in for the Prize in Memory of Calverley, and that Prof. Skeat's English Prize was not awarded. Every educated person should cultivate his powers of expression, or he may have before long to yield his heritage of liberal education to the loud Philistine. It is no time to Sit as safe as in a Senate-House, for Milton's simile has lost its aptness. We hope that this 'Calendar' may have a wide circulation outside the special circles it immediately concerns, if only to supply the daily press of the wilder sort with corrections of some of its ill-founded state- ments and conclusions. The Letter* of Horace Walpole. Chronologically arranged and edited by Mrs. Paget Toynbee. Vols. XIII., XIV., and XV. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) THE labour so spiritedly* undertaken and con- scientiously pursued by Mrs. Paget Toynbee of S'ving us. in chronological sequence, the letters of orace Walpole trembles on the point of comple- tion. Her task is, indeed, accomplished. Of the sixteen promised volumes fifteen are in the hands of subscribers, and with the appearance, now im- minent, of the sixteenth, consisting of index, the augmented price with which the timid and the recalcitrant have been menaced will come into operation. Attention has been drawn by us to the increased number of letters now accessible to the public. Of the 3,061 letters included in the fifteen volumes which have appeared, a consider- able percentage are printed for the first time. The number is, in fact, much larger, many of the num- bers being given in duplicate. Lettera_ published for the first time are in no respect inferior in interest or importance to those with which the public is already familiar. Some of them are- indeed, short—mere notelets. Others, however, are- of sustained interest; see No. 2518, to the Due d& Nivernais, which reaches Mrs. Toynbee from th& Princeton University Library. Besides showing- Walpole in his most complimentary vein, this con- tains some fairly important criticiam. No. 2558*. ad- dressed to some one unknown, has also an admirable piece of appreciation of literary flunkeydom. It is needless to say that reference is, in innumerable instances, facilitated, and will bo so to a further degree when the index is issued. Among the illus- trations to the present volumes are those of Mary Berry and her no less lovely sister Agnes: Mrs 1 itzherbert, the wife of George IV., after Gains- borough; Mrs. Piozzi, by George Dance; Edmond Malone, by bir Joshua; Dr. Burney and James 5°"W«J1' both by Dance; Warren Hastings, by J illy Kettle; Mary Bruce, Duchess of Richmond;. Marshal Conway; and others. There are also in- teresting facsimiles. If Mrs. Toynbee's edition be not definite and final, which it may well be, it is that to which the scholar will turn by obligation as- well as by preference. There are three aspects in which this work may be viewed : it is indispens- able to the knowledge of the eighteenth century- it is a book to be dipped into and consulted with advantage and delight; and it resembles the memoirs of St. Simon and a few others, the thought of perusing which in their entirety all but reconciles us to the period of enforced leisure into which, ia the end, the busiest of us have to decline. LOUEY CHISHOLM is preparing for publication a. Hook of Poetry for Children,' and invites sugges- tions of unfamiliar pieces. Her address is c/o- Messrs. T. C. & E. C. Jack, Causewayside, Edin- burgh. THE publication of Mrs. Paget Toynbee's edition of Horace Walpole s Letters will be completed on the llth inst., when the sixteenth volume will be- issued from the Oxford University Press. Tins- volume will consist of indexes of persons, places, and subjects, including matters of art and. arb criticism. The subscription list will close when it is published. BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.—DECEMBER. MR. T. CARVER, of Hereford, sends two lists- one of Theological Works, and the other of Ancient md Modern Literature. A copy of The Ancestor^ 12 vols., is priced 40*. lonica ' (containing the scarce second part), 2f. 2*.; In Memoriam,' 41.4*.; Westmacott's ' English Siw ' 241. 10*.; and ' Don Juan,' SI. 8*. Other items in- clude David Garrick's copy of ' Nouveau Theatre Italien,' Paris, 1733, 6'. 6*. ; also a collection of >lays from his library, 41. 4*. : and Ryley's ' The tinerant; or, Memoirs of an Actor,' 9 vols., 1808- 827. The catalogue states that " Mr. Knight has written a note in this copy The scarcest thea- rical work he knows." A complete set of the >riginal 271 numbers of The Toiler from 12 April 709, to 2 January, 1711, folio, is 81. 8a.; and Stow's-
 * Bertram Dobell has among first editions-