Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/299

 ii-s. xii. OCT. 9, MIS.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Frodsham, writing 011 ' Public Economy and Educa- tion,' wishes us presently to substitute Russian, Spanish, and Chinese for French and German as languages to be taught our youth. We should certainly regret any diminished attention to French. Prof. Morgan's ' More Leaves' trom a Field Note-book ' adds yet another little series to those pictures of the war humorous, grim, or terribly poignant which are accumulating on all hands. These are good as goes almost without saying. Miss Sellers has some curious, as well as important, things to relate about our Belgian friends in this country and the result of their reception among us. Dr. Moyes, in several eloquent pages, defends the silence of the Pope in regard to the German atrocities upon the principle " audi alteram partem," and Mr. R. B. C. Sheridan taking the other side ventures some interest- ing predictions as to the future of the Christian Church as a whole.

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL'S careful, well -docu- mented, and vigorously written description of the campaign of Agincourt is the article in the October Cornhill which most obviously belongs to the province of ' N. & Q.' The marvel of the battle grows with every new consideration of it. Sir Herbert opens with a remark upon the simplicity of believing that men are now mere humane than their forefathers ; we may, however, surely congratulate ourselves upon having attained a greater severity of judgment as to what con- stitutes fair justification for making war. Mr. Boyd Cable's ' Between the Lines ' is this time entitled 'A Hymn of Hate.' It is good, though a little heavier in the handling than his papers are wont to be. ' A Frenchwoman's Letter Bag,' by LadyjRitchie and Miss Hester Ritchie though as a whole not remarkable contains touches and small episodes worth having. Mr. Hesketh Prichard, whose article on ' The Grey Seal' and the effect produced by it may be counted as one of the triumphs of The Cornhill, writes on 'The Unprotected Common Seal ' a perfectly delightful paper. He has some excellent general notes upon the use of the senses in animals and its relation to their habitat. Mr. Algernon Gissing's ' New*Rural Rides Northum- berland,' again, is not only topographically in- structive and pleasant, but contains some wise suggestions concerning rural education, occasioned by observation of the lack of point and direct reference in the education given at present/ Mr. William Warfield's ' By Pilgrim Roads to Babylon' among other most interesting matters gives us a learned Herr Professor's scientific explanation ol the writing on the wall at the feast of Belshazzar.

A LARGE monochrome reproduction of a picture of SS. Fabian and Sebastian by Giovanni di Paolo forms an excellent frontispiece to the October number of The Burlington Magazine. The noble head of the old Pope and the delicate drawing of the figure of St. Sebastian are very attractive. The picture is in the possession of Mr. Robert Ross, and has not hitherto been re- produced. Mr. Tancred Borenius has a short note on its authorship. Mr. Herbert P. Home contributes some notes on Luca della Robbia with reference to the recent study of this artist by Prof. Allan Marquand. Mr. Campbell Dod^son describes two new Diirer drawings in the British Museum, both of the artist's earliest period. The

reproduction of 'Knights Riding and Tilting r sho\vs a great deal of Diirer's characteristic vigour- Sir Martin Conway begins an account of some of the treasures formerly belonging to Bamberg Cathedral, but now at Munich, and gives a^ reproduction of a series of extremely fine Byzantine ivory diptychs from the bind- ings of two Graduales of the tenth century^ An article on * The Tapestries at Eastnor,' by Mr. A. F. Kendrick, is accompanied by photo- graphs of two panels of the ' History of Artemisia ' executed for Catharine de Medicis. These exhibit the characteristic faults of taste of the Classic Renaissance not because they are pagan, but because they are insincere and artificial. A fine piece of genuine paganism is reproduced in ' A Satyr and Nymph,' by Dosso Dossi, concern- ing which some descriptive remarks are offered by Mr. F. Schmidt-Degener. The picture was recently cleaned with happy results. It belongs- to the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam.

BOOKS ON HERALDRY AND GENEALOGY.

OP these a good store is available, and the items mentioned below form only a small part of the descriptions which have come under our notice* Taking Heraldry first, one turns naturally to see whatj copies of Guillim may be on the market. Messrs. Sotheran have four : a first edition (1610) which they offer for 18*. 6rf., and three sixth editions (1724), of which the best is a large-paper copy in old mottled calf, and costs- Wl. 10s. Mr. Commin ot Exeter offers another good copy of the 1724 edition for 81. 8s. ; and Messrs. Parsons have the fifth edition (1661) a copy priced 11. 18s.

Other more or less important seventeenth- or late sixteenth - century works described in the catalogues before us are Feme's ' The Blazon of Gentrie' (1586), of which Messrs. Sotheran have an interesting copy, formerly in the possession of Lord Amherst and having the unusual imprint " JohnWindet for Andrew Maunsell," 121. ; Bosse- well's ' Workes of Armorie ' (1597) in black- letter, also Messrs. Sotheran's, 51. 5ft. ; Ralphe Brooke's ' Catalogue and Succession of the Kings, Princes, Dukes.... of this Realme of England, since the Norman Conquest to this present yeare 1619. Together with their arms ' again an interesting copy, of which Messrs. Myers tell us that an inscription on the title shows that it belonged in 1760 to the library of the Irish College at Louvain (11. 10s.) ; Sylvanus Morgan's ' Armilogia sive Ars Chromocritica ' (1666), which Mr. Francis Edwards off ers for 11. 15s. ; andacopy ot Yorke's ' The Union of Honour ' (1640), which, being somewhat battered, is to be had of Mr. James Miles of Leeds for 12s. Qd. We may also mention among these early books ' A Synopsis of Heraldry,' and ' The Achievements of the Kings of England since King Egbert,' published in 1682, now in the possession ol Mr. Ed\vard Baker of Birmingham (11. 5ft.). Eighteenth - century I books worth mention occur in the list of Messrs- Simmons & Waters of Leamington, Dallaway's ' Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry' (1799), II. 10s. ; and in that cf Mr. Commins, Nisbet's ' System of Heraldry,' described as stained, but a gcod working copy (1722), 11. 10*.