Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/487

 ii s. i. JUNE 11, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

479

fruit culture, and the elimination of disease and disagreeable flavours, and the hygienic treatment of fruit trees. We feel sure that by attention to such advice as this much more might be done in the way of fruit-growing in England.

The Nineteenth Century is a well-varied number, covering a wide range of subjects. ' King Edward the Seventh : an Appreciation,' by the Bishop of Ripon, is a worthy, but somewhat wordy tribute. Mr. J. A. R. Marriott writes well on ' The Crown and the Constitution,' leading off with a striking quotation from Bagehot as to the powers of Queen Victoria. Very different in style is the long quotation from one of Glad- stone's three reviews of the ' Life of the Prince Consort,' which, in spite of the praise bestowed on it, adds nothing to the reflections of the ordinary reader on the subject. In ' Should Britain take part in International Exhibitions ? ' Sir Swire Smith pleads for a method of advertise- ment which has not appealed to the modern generation of Englishmen. The patriotic reasons alleged will, we fear, not carry much weight nowa- days. Sir Harry Johnston's paper on ' The Negro and Religion ' is well worth reading, being critical, yet moderate in tone. He points out that the prominence given to the lamb in the Bible is not suitable for Bantu Africa. Sir Leslie Probyn in ' Alcohol and the African ' deals with another important problem. Mr. George Strachey's discussion of ' An Unsolved Mystery of Waterloo ' should be of particular interest to readers of ' N. & Q.,' for it discusses the authen- ticity of Cambronne's celebrated mot. There is little to be added to Mr. Strachey's able summary. We make, however, two remarks. The " eloquent rhetorical finish," of which " Cicero or Burke might have been proud," seems rather an over- statement of the merits of the apocryphal remark. Men of action do say these terse, effective things occasionally, as well as the orators who elaborate them. Secondly, human memory is singularly fallible, as is clear from the history and memoirs written concerning the Indian Mutiny. That " history " has often proved to be fictitious. Preference must, therefore, be given on all such points as this of a military detail to recollec- tions not merely of the actual actors, but also known to have been recorded at the time or shortly afterwards, before vainglory, national pride, or fallible memory has contaminated the story. In ' The Call of the Theatre ' Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton points out that poor children spend their scanty pennies on theatrical entertainment of the music-hall order. She tells us that " in London alone there are something like 300 theatres. Every provincial town possesses one, many have two or three." The last part of this statement needs, we think, some modification. The article leads up to a plea for the repertory theatre, and specially the National Theatre scheme associated with Shakespeare. Other notable articles which we can only note briefly are ' Some Tendencies in Picture-Making,' by Mr. Frederick Wedmore ; ' Hymns,' by Mr. Norman Pearson ; and ' The General Election in France,' by the Abb Dimnet.
 * A Fortnight in Seoul,' by Sir Francis Piggott ;

IN The National Review ' Episodes of the Month ' are as trenchantly criticized as usual. ' Thoughts after Empire Day,' by " An English-

man," is a valuable and enlightening commentary on the state of public opinion and feeling between the mother-country and the dominions as testified by judgments passed (often unwisely) by both. In ' Rousseau or Burke ? ' Dr. William Barry has a plea for the retention of the House of Lords as a check on wild democracy. The article has a thoughtful and philosophic tone which commends it. Mr. Austin Dobson has one of his always attractive ' Vignettes,' on ' Lyttelton as Man of Letters.' Mrs. G. Lloyd- Jones in ' On a Canadian Farm ' seeks to convey to English youths what the west really means, and supplies some correc- tions of the views of the Head Master of Bradfield on the subject. Mr. Harold Russell makes ' The Natural History of Fleas ' really interesting. They have an important aspect as bearers of plague- infection. Miss Beatrix Tracy in ' Is the New Woman helping woman ? ' seems to infer that all women working for better conditions of life for their sex fall under the displeasing category of " New Women." This is to mistake the fly for the ointment. Miss Tracy's argument is full of things which show that she has hardly mastered the ideals of Feminism. ' A King of Manuscript Collectors ' is Sir Thomas Phillipps, and Mr. W. Roberts gives us several noteworthy details of his life as "for upwards of sixty years an assiduous collector." Selections of his wonderful library are constantly being sold, and foreign Governments have bought unique records from it more than once. In ' A Poet's Prose ' Mrs. T. A. Trollope deals with the garden books of Mr. Alfred Austin and his recent volume ' The Bridling of Pegasus.' The praise of this last collection of criticisms- seems to us overdone, but we welcome a recog- nition of the charm and excellence of ' The Garden that I Love ' and its companions, which give us cultivation of mind as well as flowers. The four persons who appear in these books are examples of that prose fiction for which, says the writer, Mr. Austin has "an almost jealous antipathy." Her remarks t>n this point and the popularity of poetry are sound, if somewhat obvious to the- literary critic. The space awarded to American and Colonial politics is, as usual, well occupied. We read Mr. A. Maurice Low once more with pleasure on ' American Affairs,' while Mr. Frank Fox gives a glowing account of ' The Australian Labour Party,' its success and its dangers.

The Cornhill for June opens with an excellent tribute to ' King Edward VII.' by Mr. A. C. Benson. Mrs. Woods devotes the second of her vivid ' Pastels under the Southern Cross ' to ' A Night View of St. Helena.' Judge Parry has a pleasant story entitled ' Circe and the Pig,' in which Circe is a hardworking actress of the earlier days when burlesque flourished. Mr. E. D. Morel, whose strenuous work for the improvement of the Congo is well known, writes on ' Liberia and the Powers.' Mr. H. Warner Allen has in ' The Real Cyrano, " Chantecler," and " The Birds " ' an interesting and entertaining com- parison between the work of M. Rostand and Aristophanes. Col. Charles Callwell is amusing, as usual, in his campaigning sketch from South Africa, ' The Intelligence Merchant ' ; and besides the ' Circe ' above mentioned, there are two capital short stories ' Wah-sah-yah-ben- oqua,' by Miss J. N. Mcllwraith, and ' The Lights of Jerusalem,' by Mrs. Violet Jacob. Both end with proposals of marriage.