Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/74

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. v. JAN. 20, iwa.

full history. A good instance occurs in * Comus, 1.617:-

How durst thou then thyself approach so near

As to make this relation ? For re/o^Ve=pertinent is quoted Hamlet's He haue grounds

More Relatiue then this.

For relator= relater 'Rasselas'is advanced as an authority. Relay has an interesting history. Re- liable came into current use only about 1850, and was at first perhaps most frequent in American works. Dependable, with which it is compared, is similarly aggressive, though dispensable and laughable perhaps are not. Religion is said to be of doubtful etymology. Cicero connected it with relegere, to read over, and later writers with religare, to bind. Religiosity is found even in Wycliffe. Relish dates from 1530. Hamlet's "has no relish of salvation in it" is, of course, quoted. Relish, vb., to sing, to warble, is curious. Looking at remainder, under which is much valuable information, we recall in ' As You Like It '

Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit After a voyage.

A good instance of use of remediless, said to be now rare or obsolete, may be found in * Samson Agonistes,' 1. 648 :

Hopeless are all my evils, all remediless. Specially good illustrations of remember are supplied. Renaissance springs into use about 1840-50. Renascence in the same sense is almost a generation later. For renascent a good quotation would be found in Swinburne's ' The Sun Dew ' :

Least weed renascent in the sea. Rencian is some kind of cloth now untraceable. Well-illustrated histories are given of rend and render. Renegue, in its various forms and senses, rewards study, though it is now rare in current use. Rennet, in its two or more senses, is also interesting. Repartee, s.b., is not found earlier than 1645, when it is used by Howell. Repeal (of the Union) is first mentioned in Eraser, 1831. Repeater of a watch appears in 1770 as "a Paris repeater." Replevin has a full explanation. Republic, is first mentioned in 1603 by Drayton, or in 1604 by R. Cawdrey. Rescue also repays study.

Archaeology and False Antiquities. By Robert

Munro, LL.D., F.S.A.Scot. (Methuen <fc Co ) IT was a happy thought of the editor of " The Anti- quaries' Books " to devote one volume of the series to the subject of bogus antiquities, and assign it to the competent hands of Dr. Munro. It is a well- known fact that even acknowledged experts like Sir John Evans and the authorities of the British Museum have sometimes not often fallen victims to the skilful arts of the modern coiner ; and there are few collections of any size which do not contain some trophies of this successful villainy. The author himself, as he confesses, has cherished an Egyptian scarabseus which turned out, after all, to be a modern fraud ; and not a few of such plausible impostures have passed muster. Even a veteran like Prof. George Stephens, of Copenhagen, suc- cumbed to the impudent claims of two Runic inscriptions that were arrant forgeries, and allowed them harbourage in his great repertory of the old Northern Runic monuments. Everybody remem- bers how egregiously the authorities of the Louvre were taken in a few years since by the tiara of a

Scythian king Saitapharnes an elaborate bit of workmanship which was traced home to a Russian goldsmith, Rouchounowsky. A good plate is given. of it here.

Some eminent antiquaries have thought that the production of these pseudo-antiques is not altogether an unmixed evil, as they develope a. wholesome scepticism, and serve as a touchstone of the wits for any rising Monkbarns. They are not without a positive value in helping todetermine- the canons on which archaeological conclusions are founded.

As might be anticipated, we get a full account of the achievements of Edward Simpson, better known as "Flint Jack," who could boast with, truth

Quse regio in terris nostri non plena laboris.

One chapter relates the heated controversy which was maintained concerning the Calaveras skull. It is now held to be no relic of Tertiary man, but the head of a modern Indian. Another gives some account of the recent Clyde controversy, discussed by Mr. Lang in his book noticed by us- on 30 December.

It will be seen that the volume presents rather the humorous and human side of what many may regard as a dry-as-dust science, but at the same time it forms a useful contribution to the long annals of human error and fallibility. We notice a- blemish on p. 4, where a word seems to be misused. Man's arms, being set free by his erect attitude, can hardly be called his " eliminated fore-limbs." Probably "emancipated" is intended.

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Translated by Charles Cotton. 3 vols. (Bell & Sons.) OTTON'S is the accepted translation of Montaigne. In the revised edition supplied by Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt who also furnishes a biographical sketch of the essayist and a few short notes, given with Lhe translations of the quotations at the bottom of the pages it is equally pleasant and serviceable to read. Its inclusion in the excellent " York Library" is accordingly a matter on which the student is to ae congratulated. A more convenient and agreeable [orm in which to study Montaigne is not to be hoped, and we are inclined to regard the work as one of the chief attractions of a good series.

The Seven Deadly Sinnes of London. By Thomas

Dekker. (Cambridge, University Press.) Underwoods. By Ben Jonson. (Same publishers.) WE have here the two latest additions to the iovely series of Cambridge University reprints,, which began with Earle's 'Microcosmographie,' and includes Sidney's 'Defence of Poesie ' and Browne's ' Christian Morals.' Like those works, ihe new volumes are printed in a strictly limited edition (225 copies only for sale), in small 4to, upon land -made paper, and with an exquisite and specially designed type. As in their case also, the best and earliest text is followed, and no departure in regard to spelling or punctuation is permitted. The books remain, accordingly, unique, and it is a gratification to the book-lover to see the gradually expanding row.

Dekker's prose works are all curious and exces- sively rare. It is not very long ago that the men- tion of Dekker caused elevation of eyebrows, even n reputedly literary circles. Cambridge now re- prints one at least of his works in unique form. Dekker's ' Seven Deadly Sinnes ' is one of his less-