Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/482

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NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vn. MAY is, 1907.

Literary Essays. By Jonathan Swift. Edited by

Temple Scott. (Bell & Sons.)

THIS is the penultimate volume of the edition of Swift's Prose Works which has already, and justly, secured the praise of criticism for its thoroughness of presentment and annotation. Owing to the editor's absence in America, Mr. W. Spencer Jackson writes the short ' Preface ' to this volume, which has been produced with the usual care, being, indeed, an excellent specimen of the new series of "Bonn's Libraries." The reader will find here the 'Polite Conversation' and the 'Directions to Servants,' both pieces of note for the student of manners ; and, further, a number of smaller pieces which complete the picture of Swift's life. The bons mots of Stella cannot be called exces- sively diverting to a modern student of humour, but there is much which cannot fail to interest as well as amuse the lover of eighteenth-century letters, while the great and sad figure of the Dean has a jjerennial fascination.

The Edinburgh Review : April. (Longmans & Co.) ' SANCTA SANCTORUM ' is a most attractive paper relating to the discovery of a great number of precious objects in what the writer justly calls " the most impenetrable shrine in the Christian world." The chest containing these treasures has all along been known to be kept in the chapel of the old Lateran palace formerly known by the name of St. Laurence in Palatio, but now for many centuries as the Sancta Sanctorum. How long these relics have been preserved in the chest where they still repose cannot be told, and it would be rash to guess. It is probable that, so far as archaeo- logical interest is concerned, this is the greatest discovery of Christian relics that can be made, unless some day the river Busento should be diverted, and the grave of Alaric, with its treasures of heathen and Christian Rome, should be brought to light. We probably understate the matter when we say that at least some of them were objects of reverence long before Charlemagne intervened in favour of the Papacy. The chest which contains them, called the area cypressina, is known to have occupied its present place beneath the altar of the chapel as early as the time of Leo III., and many of the precious objects which have now once more been seen were doubtless there at that time ; but there seems evidence that the treasures were added to as late as the beginning of the fourteenth cen- tury. From the time when the Popes were in exile at Avignon the Babylonish Captivity, as it was named in sorrow or sarcasm this store seems to have been left almost entirely undisturbed. Pilgrims and antiquaries knew of some of the

Erecious objects contained in the chest, and mani- isted their devotion according to such feelings as animated them ; but no one ever saw within.

Some four years ago a learned Jesuit, who was engaged on a biographical work relating to St. Agnes, the girl-martyr of the Diocletian per- secution, was anxious for the chest to be opened that he might assure himself as to the identity of the head of St. Agnes, which was said to be among the relics enclosed therein. His request was ac- ceded to. The relics of Agnes were found, along with many other objects of priceless value. Since that time the area c?/?9re.s.s?'j/o, has been opened on two occasions, and some of the more valuable things therein photographed. Two of these are repro-

duced here. The first is a reliquary in the form of a cross which cannot be later than the time of Pope Sergius I. (687-701), and may well, in our opinion, be two centuries earlier. The second object re- produced is still more beautiful in its work- manship. It has been conjectured to be of the fifth or even of the fourth century, but others mistakenly, as we believe attribute it to the time of Charlemagne. Both these crosses seeni to bear witness to Oriental influence. Many of these treasures show artistic and commercial intercourse between East and West of a far more intimate character than has hitherto been recognized. The writer has dwelt on this subject with great care, and, as we hold, has established his conclusions.

The paper on John Evelyn displays knowledge, not only of the subject to which it is devoted, but also of the manners of the time in which he flourished. Two editions of the diary have been issued recently. The one edited by Mr. Wheatley has the advantage of containing the correspondence also. We believe that neither of the editors has enjoyed the advantage of access to the original manuscripts. If this be the case, a time will pro- bably come when a new edition will be called for. Evelyn is not so amusing as nearly every one finds Pepys, but he is equally important for the student of history. That Evelyn haa a vein of humour in his nature is evident from an incidental notice fur- nished by his friend Pepys, but he was a man of stronger moral fibre. His regard for the house of Stuart, and even for Charles II. himself, was little diminished by the career of that king of many concubines. The critic of Evelyn does full justice to Charles. He does not try to hide or extenuate his failings, but he sees that there was a better- side to his character that even in his vices the "ponderous vulgarity" of George IV. was absent.

' The Menace of the Desert ' is by some one who knows Arab nature well, and appreciates one side fully. We feel, however, that another view may be taken, and that the children of the desert are even now more picturesque than they have been repre- sented. Their love of fighting for mere sport will hardly arouse sympathy in times like ours, when commercial industry is regarded as an end in itself. Could, however, a picture of the Arab have been put before the Irish chieftain, the Celt of Scotland, or the Border reiver, he would have seen it in a far different, and it may be a truer, perspective. The Light-hearted raider might find a good deal to say tor himself, if his life were compared with the present materialistic industrialism, with its atten- dant squalor, i>overty, and mean crime.

THE seven hundredth anniversary of the founcla- ion of Liverpool is to be celebrated by an exhibi- tion in July and August next at the Walker Art Gallery. The Hon. Secretary, Mr. R. D. Radcliffe, it the Athenaeum, Church Street, Liverpool, will DC glad to hear of suitable items for the exhibition, tt is proposed to include ancient documents, maps, plans and views, books by Liverpool authors., specimens of local bookbinding, book - plates of Liverpool men, old newspapers and playbills,, watch-cases and clocks, local furniture, pottery, coins, tokens, portraits, and historic relics of all iinds. A special part of the exhibition will con- sist of models of Liverpool vessels, ranging from the old sailing pilot boats to the latest Atlantic