Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/267

 ii s. i. MAR. 26, 1910. j NOTES AND QUERIES.

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NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

Eighteenth Century Literature : an Oxford Mis-

cellany. (Oxford, Clarendon Press. ) WE find no introduction to this volume, and there is, apparently, no general editor controlling the whole. Editorial and prefatory apologies and explanations being much overdone nowadays, we are not ill pleased at starting after a table of contents straight on the eight essays which make up the book. None of the authors represented is known to us, but we imagine that most of them are young in that state of studentship, perhaps, when cleverness appears particularly desirable, and a thing seems the better for being smartly said. Certainly, the book is remarkably bright in style throughout, and a tribute to that art of neat expression which is cultivated at Oxford, and wins credit for young essayists.

We do not, however, wish to convey the im- pression that there is a want of 3ound work and thought in these pages. On the contrary, they impress us favourably when compared with more important criticisms of an older day, e.g., that of Bagehot on Lady Mary Wort-ley Montagu, and that of George Eliot on Edward Young, whose ' Night Thoughts ' are here considered by Michael West. Young's verse is discussed with con- siderable ingenuity, and derived from the heroic couplet of Pope. Indeed, it is shown that some of the blank verse, with the change of a single word which suggests itself at the end of the line readily, can be resolved into the characteristic Popian metre. At the beginning of this essay too much is said in praise of Young's style, if we may trust a re-reading we attempted in favourable circumstances last autumn. The depreciation which follows, however, reduces this impression. We doubt if an author who is ' ' unreadably great ' ' is really great at all. Young was a deliberate poKciir, and rhetoric in skilful hands almost deceives the elect into regarding it as poetry. That seems to us a plain statement of the case.

' Steele and the Sentimental Comedy,' by M. E. Hare, shows considerable powers both of criticism .-iiul epigram. ' Lady Winchelsea,' by Elsie Dn-w, recognizes Wordsworth's regard for the 1 MX 'toss, and gives a pleasant picture of her. Fielding's " Jonathan Wild," ' by G. T. Bispham, is a little commonplace here and there, but shows tlii night, though it does not always satisfy us in its analysis.

' Horace AValpole's Views of Literature,' by J. E. Fairfax, seems to us weaker than the other a pi-re, being more of a summary than a criticism. ut we are grateful for a recognition of Walpole's p'il sense and critical power. The writer evi- dently knows Leslie Stephen's essay on the subject, and is sevr-2 on Macaulay's " insuffer- al>le " view. Growing doubts in many quarters aa t<> the soundness of Macaulay's splendid and i in] losing fabric of prose criticism here find out- spi.ken expression. He is accused of " incom- p'-tnice " ; and we are informed that " an age that has ceased to admire the rhetoric will pay Dtri scant honour to the caprice that in Macaulay's literary arsenal does service for good sense."

' Enthusiasm ' as understood in the eigh- oenth century, by J. E. V. Crofts, is one of the

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most interesting papers of the series ; but the analogy " between the Greeks and Queen Anne's men " seems to us far-fetched and unsatisfactory. We are told 'that " Homer's ' Iliad ' and Pope's version of it are symptomatic of the same desire," which, we gather, is the desire of Greek sculpture, to be " cool, restrained, and of exquisite finish." The zeal for analogies carries this writer, like others, beyond the natural scope of the subject. Greek religion as compared with Christianity demands more serious notice than is here accorded. Quoting Byrom's line,

Despair is a cowardly thing,

the writer adds : " For the use of ' thing ' in the first line compare Wordsworth, ' old, unhappy, far-off things.' " If the suggestion is that the later poet was indebted to Byrom for the word " thing " in this connexion, we may say that we do not believe it. The phrase in both cases is a natural piece of English which needs no pedigree in style. If one is needed, we might quote the Bible, " Wisdom is the principal thing." The people who write the affected prose of to-day might do worse than study the Authorized Version, as well as such a model as R. L. Stevenson.

The author of the last essay, on ' William Lisle Bowles,' T. E. Carson, might express himself more naturally, but brings out satisfactorily the import- ance of Bowles, which is rather as an inspirer of others than as a poet. Still, the skilful selection of his verse shows that he could write really well at times.

The volume is excellently printed, and the quotations made are usually accurate, though a famous line of Horace (' Ars Poetica,' 185) has got its words in the wrong order.

Upper Norwood Athenceum : the Record of the Winter and Summer Excursions, 1909. (Pri- vately Printed.)

WE have found in this little volume, as in all previous ones issued by the members of the Upper Norwood Athena3um, reading both useful and pleasant. The papers read show careful pre- paration, and a real desire to produce as far as possible fresh information regarding the places visited. Although the past year was not favour- able for outdoor excursions, the ramblers were singularly fortunate in having only one wet day.

The first winter visit was to Austin Friars Church, when Mr. Frederick Higgs read a paper. The community is well-to-do, and supports a pastor, who consented to the ancient building being inspected, and the " well-informed verger, Mr. Bus, was quite delighted to show the build- ing to visitors." Afterwards the members visited Carpenter's Hall, where they saw Wardens' caps or crowns dating from 1561, the Master's silver drinking cup dated 1611, and other plate. Another winter ramble, undertaken by Mr. Jona- than Downes, was to places of interest in Fleet Street and the Strand.

The summer excursions opened with Penshurst Place, where the visitors were shown the original spinet presented by Elizabeth. The paper read by Mr. Charles Wheeler traced the history of Penshurst and the Sidneys. Rochester had been visited in 1899 ; but as that visit had been de- voted chiefly to Dickens's residence at Gad's Hill, a second visit was made, conducted by Mr. W. T. Vincent. Mr. T. C. Thatcher took the ramblers to Godalming, and Mr. G. H. Lindsey-Renton