Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/387

 ii s. i. MAY 7, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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unequalled elsewhere, and worthy of imitation in this country. We doubt, however, if any one could be found ready to risk the capital necessary to educate the public of to-day up to reading something better than its present popular delights. Mr. Archer regards the law of libel as inefficient in America and over-efficient in England. Mr. T. H. S. Escott in ' Sword and Pen ' has a well- written, but somewhat scrappy article. Mr. Escott overdoes the praise of some of his military writers, and omits others who have won dis- tinction, and, we think, deserve notice even in a brief article. Mr. P. A. Vaile, who writes on ! Imperial Scholarships,' continues a subject he started in October. If Mr. Vaile were a little less proud of his own ideas, he would be more convincing, and certainly more agreeable to read. The sportsman may well regard the two articles that conclude the number as the best. Mr. E. H. D. Sewell on ' Rugby Football,' and Sir Home Gordon on ' Youth in Cricket ' deal frankly and skilfully with matters which have been the subject of frequent discussion in the press, and on which the ordinary man is in need of expert guidance.

The Nineteenth Century for May opens with four articles on ' The Political Situation.' Under the title ' Our Masters ' Mr. W. S. Lilly reviews Mr. F. H. O'Donnell's ' History of the Irish Parliamentary Party,' an interesting book which fully deserves attention, and which is singularly outspoken concerning Parnell and his associates. Mr. Herbert Ives unearths the details of the ' Trial of William Blake for High Treason.' Sedition was the crime, and Blake w r as lucky to get off in view of the severe punishment meted out at this period (1803) to people who " damned the monarchy " or initiated what would now be regarded as Parliamentary reform.

' England and Germany : How not to Make the Crisis,' is a timely rebuke by Dr. T. Hodgkin to the writer of the extraordinary article of last month, Sir E. Cox. It was unworthy of The Nineteenth Century, and, as Dr. Hodgkin says, " filled many of its readers with astonishment." The step proposed, he adds, would be " a gigantic blunder and an unpardonable crime." ' The Insufficiency of Official Statistics,' by Mr. A. L. Bowley, and ' The Possibilities of an Income Tax according to the Scheme of Pitt : a Reply,' by Mr. L. G. Chiozza Money, are two articles which show the insufficiency of Mr. W. H. Mallock's article ' The Possibilities of an Income Tax according to the Scheme of Pitt ' in the March number of The Nineteenth. Statistics are undeniably workable for one side or another, but at least they should be left to the expert, and we are much more inclined to trust an authority like Mr. Bowley than Mr. Mallock. If The Nineteenth Century is to maintain its reputation, a more rigorous selection of articles seems necessary in an age w f hen many people write with fluency on subjects which they have but in- differently mastered. Miss Rose G. Kingsley has a pleasant article on ' Shakespeare in Warwick- shire-,' but there is little of novelty in it, while it includes some statements which will certainly not satisfy the expert student of Shakespeare. Mr. J. H. Longford's second article on ' Epochs of Japan ' is decidedly attractive ; and Mr. H. A. Brydeii is entertaining on the subject of c French Hunting.'

Ix The Cornhill ' Arcadians All ' is a bright and entertaining sketch from Mr. J. C. Snaith. In ' Jan Kompani Kee Jai ' Major MacMunn recalls an" episode of the Mutiny in a style full of effective detail. Sir Hugh Clifford's story of capturing wild elephants in Ceylon, ' How Bondage came to the Jungle,' is excellently done. Sir James Yox all's fantasy called ' The Abbey Meadows ' is a wayward piece of writing which demands more gifts than he possesses as a stylist. Mrs. Bosanquet on ' The Old-Age Pensions Act of 1908 ' is both entertaining and serious, and obviously gives us the results of ample know- ledge as well as sympathy. Mr. John Barnett tias a stirring article on ' Prince Rupert on the Sea ' ; and the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield has un- arthed and edited a striking letter from a sur- vivor of ' The Earthquake at Lisbon ' in 1755. Mr. D. K. Broster in ' The Black Cockade : Un- published Reminiscences of a French Emigre",' lias produced a very readable sketch, somewhat too elaborate, we think, in style. Mrs. M. L. Woods begins a series of ' Pastels under the Southern Cross,' which, as the title may suggest, represents impressions also in a rather elaborate form. The form, however, in this case is justified, for Mrs. Woods has an admirable command of English. Here she deals with ' The Steerage Entertainment ' in a style w r hich recalls Steven- son's experiences on board ship. A play of sheet lightning, " the reflection of a thunderstorm which must be raging over the deserts and marshy jungles of Senegambia," recalls a vision of Mary Kingsley surprised by such another storm, and seeking shelter behind a rock within a yard or two of a magnificent leopard. The animal has a reputation for ferocity, but was, apparently, on this occasion too terrified to attack the intrepid traveller.

As we are confronted with the title * The Cocoa Press and its Masters ' in red on the cover of The National Review this month, we assume the editor wishes us to regard this article as the most important. We join wholeheartedly with him in wishing that commercial undertakings, especially where large profits are allocated to benevolent objects, should be able to stand close examination, and we view with horror the appalling slavery existing in the cocoa plantations of San Thome ; but we fear that the indictment before us, being obviously based on political feeling, will not carry much weight with people of moderate views. The National Review suggests neither calm nor moderation ; it is in fact, trenchantly partisan in its outlook on two or three topics ot the day. ' Mr. Lloyd-George as Financier.' by A. H. D. Steel-Maitland, M.P., shows this clearly. We are glad to see work by one of the ablest of the younger Tariff Reformers. Sir W. B. Richmond in ' " Expert" and Performer' discusses the fuss about the ' Rokeby Venus,' which, as is well known, he has long regarded as unworthy of Velasquez. In * Mr. Fielding,' by M., we hoped to find an account of the author of ' Tom Jones ' ; the appreciation, however, is concerned with the Hon. W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance in Canada. A series of letters ' From Delia in the Country to Clementine in Town,' strikes us as distinctly "preachy." Mr. A. Maurice Low writes well, as usual, on 'American Affairs,' and Mr. George Gascoyne covers a good deal of travelling ground in ' East of Suez.' Incidentally he compares Canada and Australia, and hints that the former is over-