Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/148

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io. s. v. FEB. 10, 1900.

in English Possession ' and ' Pictures obtained by the Metropolitan Museum of New York ' are of high interest. The latter gives a very fine plate of Watts's ' Ariadne ' and a remarkable study in oils by Etty. 'There is also a notable portrait by Velasquez. The entire number is of exceptional interest.

IN the midst of the startled, unenlightened, and puzzled comment produced by the revolution in politics appear in the various reviews a few articles on literary and social themes. In The Fortnightly Leo Tolstoi gives the second part of his ' End of the Age,' while Mr. Henry James begins 'New York : Social Notes,' observations the drift of which we wait to see. Mr. H. M. Paull writes ' Critical Notes on " As You Like It," ' and draws an interesting and important parallel between ' The Cokes Tale of Gamelyn ' (sometimes wrongly as- signed to Chaucer), ' The Golden Legacie ' of Thomas Lodge, and Shakespeare's play. That Shakespeare was indebted to Lodge is known. There seems some Teason for supposing that he had read ' The Cokes 'Tale of Gamelyn,' which, however, had in his time not been published. ' Ebenezer Elliott, the Poet of [Free Trade,' is dealt with by Mr. H. C. Shelley. In rspite of the praise of Lytton, "famous" is a less appropriate word to apply to him than " for- igotten."

ACCORDING to a paper contributed by Florence

,ry, ' Th( of the Modern Girl ' is terrible. Inquiries among

B. Low to The Nineteenth Century, ' The Reading

over two hundred girls in secondary schools re- pealed some distressing particulars. In paper No. 1 a girl of sixteen has never read any Thackeray, Dickens, Jane Austen, or Mrs. Gaskell; has read part only of ' Ivanhoe ' ; and knows no stories of Charlotte Yonge, Miss Mulock, or Miss Thackeray. Her ignorance is surpassed by that of No. 2, who knows virtually nothing and nobody, but reads as many magazines as she can. Mrs. S. Arthur "Strong advocates 'An Official Registration of Private Art Collections.' We could tell her stories of Government purchases, with which incidentally she deals, which would, we think, make her arch her evebrows. Mr. C. Vernon Magniac describes ' A Visit to the Court of the Tashi Lama.' Mr. Blchard Bagot deals with * The Reviewing of Fiction,' with which he finds much fault, some of it justifiable enough. He fails, however, to suggest any practical remedy.

RECENT English politics occupy a fair share of 'The National Review, but two of the most impor- tant articles are occupied with the relations be- tween England and Germany. This much-debated subject we will not further discuss, but will mention .as a coincidence that the views as to the origin of the difficulties between Bismarck and the Emperor seem practically the same in the communication of a writer, presumably English, hiding himself as Jgnotus and that of Herr Maximilian Harden. Miss Edith Balfour has much to urge in 'Shaw and
 * Super-Shaw ' against the recent play of that per-

fervid genius G. B. S. She all but presages for G. B. S. greater work than he has hitherto given us. It is somewhat curious to find an article \yith the title ' Home Rule, Rome Ruin,' and the signature " An Irish Nationalist." ' Some Candid Impres- sions of England,' by a German Resident, have been reprinted in pamphlet form from the June number of the Review.

IN The Cornhill 'Society in the Time of Vol- taire,' by S. G. Tallentyre, scarcely rises to the

height of its ambitious title. This is, however, but the opinion of a single person, and the contribu- tion shows at least some knowledge of the period. Mr. VV. H. Draper describes George Eliot's Coventry friends. 'Grandeur et Decadence de Bernard Shaw' is amusing, but proves that its subject is losing some of his hold on his juvenile admirers. In his 'Freeman versus Froude ' Mr. Andrew Lang is just and even generous to Froude, but does not fail to indicate his defects as an historian. No. X. appears of ' From a College Window.' The lighter contents are very good.

A SPECIAL number of The Pall Mall opens with a portrait of the Right Hon. John Morley, which is good as a likeness, but scarcely happy in expression. A more pleasing design shows the same writer with his dogs. 'The Centenary of William Pitt,' 'At the Shrine of Jane Eyre,' and ' The Last of a Great Highland Chief ' are all, for different reasons, worthy of attention.

MR. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. Mr. J. T. Page writes : " 1 shall be glad to be allowed to add a few words to the notice of the death of Mr. Coleman. Although he had attained the great age of eighty- eight, he was a contributor to ' N. & Q,.' to the last : his final contribution will be found at 10 th S. iv. 447. Concerning his long connexion with ' N. Q.' see 9 th S. v. 197- He will be missed by numberless readers of *N. <k Q.,' to whom he was always ready to afford assistance. Nothing delighted him better than to be of service to those in need of literary help ; and he spared no time or trouble in his endeavours to impart information gained either from his own well-stocked library or from the public libraries of London. As far as my own experience goes, I had only to tell him that I was interested in a subject, and I was sure to receive, in course of post, a budget of references thereto. His knowledge of the contents of 'N. & Q.' and kindred periodicals of many of which he possessed complete sets was remarkable."

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ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.

J. D. H. ( " Breaking a bottle of wine at the christening of a ship").- See the articles at 9 th S. i. 317, 373.

T. RATCLIFFE ("Mrs. Parting! on"). See the entry in Cobham Brewer's 'Reader's Handbook' or that in Smith's ' Cyclopaedia of Names.'

LEO C. ("Get in the shire what one loses in the hundred"). See 10 th S iv. 88.

E. ("Chin -a- chin -a- chop -sticks, Feast of Lan- terns"). You will find the lines ante, p. 64. NOTICE.

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