Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/578

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s, v. JUNE ie, isoe.

Foresteries' of Vauquelin de la Fresnaye deserve mention, but the idyls of Gessner and other Germans are outside the scheme of the book. What is said about the English drama, and notably about Randolph, is excellent. We read with some regret the limitations upon the praise of ' The Faithful Shepherdess ' and the repetition of the heresy that the verse of ' Comus ' reveals " technical imma- turity." On these and other points, did time permit, we might join issue. Having but little space, however, we prefer devoting it to the eulogy to which the work is entitled.

The Bible in Spain. By George Borrow. The Poetical Works of Chaucer, from the Text of Professor Skeat. Vol. III. Walden ; or, Life in the Woods. By Henry David Thoreau. (Oxford, University Press.)

IN the series acquired from Mr. Grant Richards entitled "The World's Classics" Mr. Frowde enters into the competition for the supply, at a nominal price, of works of acknowledged excel- lence. As is but natural in the case of a publisher of so much resourcefulness and enterprise, he takes at once a foremost place, if he does not distance rivals. Thoroughly representative of a fine series are the works now before us. Sorrow's * Bible in Spain,' the characteristic work by which the repu- tation of a great writer was established, is revived, sixty-four years after its first appearance, to con- stitute vol. 75 of the series, and the third volume of the works of its author, concerning whom it comprises an important bibliographical note. Vol. III. of the Chaucer supplies, in Prof. Skeat's authoritative text, the whole of 'The Canterbury Tales.' 'Walden,' meanwhile, one of the finest works of that great nature-worshipper Thoreau, forms the first volume of his works. It is ushered in by a critical, and in the main appre ciative, introduction by Mr. Theodore Watts Dunton.

The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited by

George Sampson. 5 vols. (Bell & Sons.) IN place of the three-volume set of Emerson whicl: has long been a conspicuous feature in " Bohn's Standard Library " is now issued an edition in fiv volumes, with a revised, rearranged, and enlarged text, and in the handsome brown cloth covers which are assigned recent publications of the series. Vol. i. contains the ' Essays ' and ' Re presentative Men,' and has a portrait of Emerson taken in 1857; vol. ii., 'English Traits,' 'The Conduct of Life,' and ' Nature,' which dates from 1836 ; vol. iii., ' Society and Solitude,' ' Letters and Social Aims,' and 'Addresses'; vol. iv., 'Essays and Lectures,' a few of which (such as the ' Senses and the Soul,' the editorial preface to The Dial and the 'Essay on "Saadi"') are now firs reprinted. In this edition, for the first time, th< original text is strictly followed, and so much new matter is included as compelled the publication o a fifth volume, containing the poems. The work of this edifying and instructive writer take now ; final and authoritative shape.

On the Spanish Main. By John Masefielc

(Methuen & Co.) IF there is anything in a title, that selected by Mr Masefield should be of happiest augury. The mer mention of the Spanish Main carries with i deeds of reckless valour antf historj

enown ; of Drake putting forth to singe the King F Spain's beard ; of manifold adventure, the ecords of which are enshrined in the pages of [akluy t and of Purchas ; and of bravery hardly leas verpowering on the part of the buccaneers whose ruelty and heroism are chronicled by Esqueme- ng. On these and kindred authorities Mr. Mase- eld has drawn, and his fascinating pages have for leir principal subject the exploits of Drake and tie adventures of Morgan. These are illustrated y portraits of Capt. William Dampier and Sir lenry Morgan ; views of scenes of interest, such as Nombre de Dios and Cartagena, and of battles ; nd representations of an Elizabethan warship, A Buccaneer's Slave with his Master's Gun,' &c., tie whole constituting a work that may be read ith interest and studied with advantage.

transformation ; or, the Romance of Monte Beni. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Bell & Sons.) HAWTHORNE'S 'Transformation,' or, to give it the ame under which it appeared in America, his Marble Faun,' has a grace and distinction such as ew American works (including its author's more >opular novels 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'The louse of the Seven Gables ') possess. Its inclusion n "The York Library" is accordingly judicious, nd does something to strengthen the claims of one i the most attractive and handy of series, to which t forms a noteworthy addition.

History of the Liberty of Peterborough and the Jurisdiction of the Justices of Gaol Delivery for the Hundred of Nassaburgh. By Louis B. Gaches. (Peterborough, G. C. Caster.)

THIS is a useful book, though on several subjects urther details would have been of service. A /erritorial franchise which has come down from the days of the Saxon Abbots is assuredly worthy of careful study. Peterborough is the last of these lurisdictions which remain, though there were several others in existence in comparatively recent times. The magistrates of this one liberty still retain the power of nominating from their own number persons to " deliver the gaol " ; but by an enabling Act passed upwards of eighty years ago, they can hand over any one charged with a capital crime to be dealt with by the judges of assize. This was a great advantage for many reasons among others, if the chairman of the liberty were in holy orders, it would be impossible for him to preside on any trial where the life of the prisoner was in question, by reason of the Canon Law rule, still held to be in force, that " Ecclesia non novit san- guinem." Mr. Gaches quotes some interesting facts as to the wretched condition of the Liberty prison about a hundred years ago. The most pessi- mistic'of his readers must admit that the condition of our gaols, though not all that can be wished, has improved in the interval.

The International Directory of Booksellers. Edited

by James Clegg. (Rochdale, Clegg.) THE seventh issue of Mr. Clegg's useful compilation is more comprehensive, and consequently more useful, than previous numbers. The additions almost double the dimensions of the work.

A FOURTH and enlarged edition of M. De V

Payen-Payne's French Idioms and Proverbs has

been issued by Mr. David Nutt. It is equally Useful and entertaining,