Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/24

18 They were published in 1867 at Philadelphia, by J. B. Lippincott & Co. One, containing nine stories, was entitled "Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and other Stories. By 'Ouida.' Author's Edition." An Advertisement reads as follows:—

" The publishers have the pleasure of offering to the many admirers of the writings of ' Ouida,' the present volume of Contributions, which have appeared from time to time in the leading journals of Europe, and which have recently been collected and revised by the author, for publication in book-form.

" They have also in press, to be speedily pub- lished, another similar volume of tales, from the same pen, together with an unpublished romance entitled ' Under Two Flags.'

" Our editions of Ouida's Works are pub- lished by express arrangement with the author ; and any other editions that may appear in the American market will be issued in violation of the courtesies usually extended to authors and pub- lishers.

" Philadelphia, May, 1867."

The second volume of stories I have not seen, but there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the volume which EL SOLTERO says was called ' Beatrice Boville, and Other Stories.' ALBERT MATTHEWS.

Boston, U.S.

QUEENHOO HALL (11 S. vii. 430). For the origin of the name see Skeat's ' Place- Names of Hertfordshire,' 1904, p. 36. For an interesting account of the house see ' Queen Hoo Hall,' by E. E. Squires, pp. 178- 183 of the Transactions of the East Herts Archaeological Society, vol. ii., 1902-4.

W. B. GERISH.

HUXLEY ON POSITIVISM (US. vii. 288). In an essay on ' Agnosticism,' published in The Nineteenth Century for February, 1889, Huxley refers to Positivism as " the in- congruous mixture of bad science with eviscerated papistry." The article is re- printed in his ' Collected Essays,' vol. v., where the quotation will be found on p. 255. R. FREEMAN BULLEN.

THE STONES OF LONDON (11 S. vi. 429, 515; vii. 16, 77, 211). Onslow Ford Obelisk, Grove End Road, X.W. Portland stone.

Prince Imperial, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Pedestal of polished red Aber- deen granite, base of Portland stone.

Trafalgar Square fountains. Peterhead granite. *

Isaac Watts Memorial, Abney Park Cemetery. Statue and pedestal of Portland stone. t -v J. j j

Royal Xavy and Marines Memorial Greenwich Hospital School. Portland stone*

Victoria fountain, Victoria Park. Podium,. Portland and Kentish ragstone, Sicilians marble, and Aubigny stone.

J. ARDAGH.

JSotes 0tt

Horace Wai-pole's World. By Alice D. Greenwood.

(Bell & Sons.)

IT required some courage, we imagine, to under- take another book on the much-bewritten Horace,. but Miss Greenwood has amply justified the boldness of her attempt. Having already satu- rated herself in the literature of the Georgian period in writing her excellent account of the Hanoverian queens, she has found it easy to reproduce Walpole in his true milieu. Sometimes,. indeed, she might be thought to have yielded to the temptation of making unwarrantable excur- sions into the field of contemporary politics, as in her ninth chapter, on ' The Legend of C. J.. Fox,' w T ith which the lively fldneur, in his detach- ment, had little to do. But the secondary title of her book, ' A Sketch of Whig Society under George III.,' saves her from such an imputation. She has been able to impart some novelty to her narrative by making good use of the correspond- ence of the time brought to light by the Historical MSS. Commission. As a biographer she evinces a more sympathetic insight into the character of her subject than most of her predecessors, and one, therefore, more likely to be just. Notwith- standing Walpole's love of gossip and badinage,. he was at heart a good-natured man, and always- ready to do a friend a service. He had, indeed, a genius for friendship, and was inclined rathei? bo overvalue the good qualities of others ; " all his geese were swans." He was particularly happy in the society of old ladies, and the extravagant admiration he felt for his three duchesses is well known. He was singularly free from jealousy and envy ; independent and high-principled beyond most politicians of his time ; and, like- most great men, fond of children. He certainly was not the inept and empty-headed fribble that Macaulay tried to make out. We may smile at the antiquarian dilettantism which found expres- sion in the lath-and-plaster of his Thames-side castle, which he stuffed with incongruous bric-a- brac ; it was the toy with which he chose to amuse himself : he was conscious of his own virtuosity ; and it should not blind us to his sterling qualities. The writer notes in passing that the erection of this stucco pile was arrested for a time in 1762" by the carpenters going on strike for an increase of wages ; which must be one of the earliest instances of a yreve on record.

Owing to his fastidious tastes and somewhat valetudinarian state of health, Walpole was content to stand aloof as an amused spectator of the ever-interesting comedy of life. For th<- same reasons probably he was in a high degree susceptible of being bored, though Miss Greenwood will not admit this. But she herself gives an instance of his declining the proposed acquaint- ance of a Mr. Gough merely because he thought he would prove intolerably dull. The author is-