Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/530

 440

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIIL NOV. so, 1007.

In the ' Appendices ' and ' Notes,' which extend from p. 221 to p. 603, will be found many details of interest to students of the period as well as family matters. Prof. Mackail, an excellent judge, is cited as a witness for the excellence of Fanshawe's classical renderings. Here, by the by (p. 230), an extra "de" has slipped into Horace's text. Sir Henry Fanshawe's college at Cambridge (p. 284) has not been identified, but it is stated in the 'D.N.B.' under Attersoll that he was at Jesus, though nothing is said on the point under his own biography. The oldest of Cambridge colleges should be called Peterhouse, or St. Peter's College, not ' ' Peterhouse College " (p. 585). Nicholas ' ' Ferrer " of Little Gidding should be Ferrar, of course. We mention these trifles, not as being of any import- ance, but rather to show that we have read the Notes ' with the attention which they deserve. It should be said in conclusion that Mr. Fanshawe defends his ancestress with spirit against three un- fair references made to her. The whole book is an admirable monument to her memory, and should be sure of applause from all good judges. It is clearly a "labour of love," to use a phrase which is seldom justified in these commercial da vs.

The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and Minor Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer. Done into Modern English by Prof. Skeat. (Chatto & Windus.) IT is not generally remembered, probably, that Prof. Skeat was a poet before his name became a household word for a philologist. His 'Tale of Ludlow Castle,' 1866, and other poems preceded his work done for the Early English Text Society. He here reverts to his first love, and happily reconciles the muses of poetic grace and linguistic learning. We can imagine that he has felt something of protest and indignation that it should be neces- sary thus to translate English into English for his countrymen. There is no doubt, however, that a large number of indolent people will consent to make the acquaintance of Chaucer in this graceful modern version who would hesitate and DC dis- mayed at the threshold by the "shoures sote" of " Aprille."

Prof. Skeat is of course less paraphrastic than Dryden in his parodies, but sometimes even he seems to depart unnecessarily from his text. One characteristic of the portly Somnour (' Prologue,' 1. 626),

As hoot he was, and lecherous, as a sparwe, from motives of prudery appears thus in the modern version :

Quick he was, and chirped like a sparrow. Surely no one need have taken offence if this had appeared in some such form as this :

Full amorous he, and wanton as a sparrow. To say that this Falstaffian personage was " quick" and chirping " hardly seems true to the portrait. We venture, too, to object to the pretty prioress being thus caricatured : " Her nose was long ! " <'Prol.,' 1. 152). Tretys need only mean well-pro- portioned, delicately made, finely moulded, slender. Cotgrave has " nez traictif, a nose of a gracefull length." We therefore propose as an amendment " Her nose was fine." Again,

So had I spoken with them every one

That I had joined the genial throng anon seems to miss the point of the line (' Prol.,' 1. 32),

That I was of hir felowshipe anon.

If we mistake not, the meaning is that Chaucer quickly became intimate, or " quite at home," with his new acquaintances, as we might say,

That I good friends with all became anon. The book has a pithy introduction, full of matter, and is one of " The King's Classics."

The New Quarterly (Dent), edited by Mr. Desmond MacCarthy, combines literature and science, and is competent and interesting in both ways. There ought to be a public for it, if it maintains its present level, and makes no concessions to the fluent and idle verbosity of the average magazine contributor.

WE welcome with special pleasure a cheaper edition of The Diary of Master William, Silence (Longmans), which on its appearance in 1897 we recognized as worthy of the attention of all serious students of Shakespeare. Vice-Chancellor Madden has now put us further in his debt by a Preface which is an admirable revie%y of recent literature on the subject, and touches with assured sanity and insight on the question whether the Shakespeare in whom most men believe wrote the poems and plays generally attributed to him. Dr. Madden suggests that if the lives of Dickens and his contemporaries had been obscured by the mist of three centuries, his novels would certainly have been attributed by higher criticism to Lord Brougham, in consequence of the knowledge of law shown arid the zeal for legal reform. In the same vein we might fairly suppose that students ignorant of the education of Keats would inevitably proclaim him a scholar deep in Greek. We are convinced that most of the critics who are perturbed about Shakespeare's early life know nothing of the country or country sports; and if critics ever had to pass examinations on our great poets, the book before us would certainly be recommended for study indeed, it recommends itself, as it combines wide learning with entertain- ment.

MESSRS. ROUTLEDGE are keeping up the excellent standard of their "London Library, to which they have just added two books which may fairly be described as classics : Lamb's Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, with his extracts from the Garrick Plays, and Dasent's Popular Tales from the Norse,

ta

We must call special attention to the following notices :

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.

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.

T. F. D. ("Fighting like devils for conciliation"). See 8 S. x. 273, 340, 404; xi. 13, 255, 371.

ANDERIDA ("Bell Legends"). One of the best books about bells is the late Dr. Raven's ' Bells of England,' published last year.

NOTICE.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print, and to this rule we can make no exception.