Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/26

20 Mr. Ian Malcolm's 'Rothenburg and its Festival,' are graceful and lively bits of writing which make a series of successful pictures in the reader's imagination. Mr. Hesketh Prichard's 'Grey Seals of Haskeir,' besides its obvious interest as a contribution to natural history and an account of sport, embodies an appeal with which we would gladly associate ourselves. In November, "while the young are helpless, mothers nursing, and the big bulls often lying with their families," takes place, with circumstances of revolting brutality, the annual "clubbing of the seals." This is not justified by the value either of the skins or the oil obtained, and will lead ere long to the extermination of a fine creature which is both interesting and harmless. What is needed—the writer is not sanguine as to its being effected—is the establishment of a close time for the grey seal. Mr. E. V. Lucas's delightful paper on 'Old Crome's Hobbema' should send a number of people to the National Gallery to refresh their memories of both these painters as well as of Ruysdael. An important and suggestive article, which we trust will bear fruit in the work of oncoming historians, is Sir. J. K. Laughton's 'Historians and Naval History.'

The Nineteenth Century for July starts with a paper by Lord Cromer on ' The Capitulations in Egypt,' designed to turn attention towards devising " some plan which shall take the place of the present Egyptian system of legislation by diplomacy." Dr. Georges Chatterton-Hill hails '-with an exultation which is, perhaps, a little premature, seeing how new as yet are the phe- nomena he describes, the ' Re-awakening of IFrance.' Still, one cannot but read his pages with hope and pleasure. Mrs. Bennett brings to a conclusion the account of her truly terrible experiences as a captive after the Massacre of Cawnpore. Mrs. W. K. Clifford in ' A Remem- brance of George Eliot ' has little that is definite -to relate, and there is something perilously near akin to the ridiculous in the solemnity of the scenes she describes, yet she has succeeded as well as any one who has written of George El ot in conveying a sense of the curious thrilled .atmosphere that surrounded her. Miss Emily Hickey's study of Mrs. Browning, if somewhat -drawn out, makes good reading as it were an echo from older methods of criticism. One of the most charming and instructive papers is Mrs. March-Phillipps's ' Old Italian Villas and their Lesson,' devoted chiefly to the construction of the garden. The true Italian garden, with its comparative indifference to flowers and its tendency towards architecture, is more nearly allied to the Japanese idea of a garden than to our own. Canon Lyttelton in ' Eugenics, Ethics, and Religion ' sets forth the compatibility of eugenics and Christianity. Lady Blake gives us .a rapid, slight, but rather engaging sketch of Irish life in ' Tir-na-bes.' Other good papers less in the line of ' N. & Q.' deal with agriculture, military efficiency, and problems of nationality.

IN the July Fortnightly Revieic " the play 's the thing " \Ve have the third instalment of the Editor's discussion of ' Realistic Drama,' in which not only is the criticism, alike of the temper of the time and of modern dramatic methods, acutely driven home, but also a scatter- ing of well-pointed epigrams is offered for the

delectation of the discerning. Mr. S. R. Little- wood's ' Intellect and the Actor ' again is a suggestive essay by way of discrimination. Mr, P. P. Howe writes on ' The Dramatic Craftsman- ship of Mr, Bernard Shaw ' with verve and inci- siveness, and makes sundry good hits. ' The Centenary of Richard Wagner,' by Mr. Clement Antrobus Harris, is a good outline study, within narrow limits, of Wagner's work and position. Mr. de Vere Stacpoole, after some pages of allusive introduction, gives us translations from Villon, clever enough for the most part as to the riming and versification. But we could not deny that, like " les neiges d'antan," Villon himself has proved elusive and regrettable as ever. Still, it is one of the best papers of the number. Mr. Horace Samuel revives judiciously the claims of Stendhal to the gratitude of lovers of litera- ture. No doubt one of the articles that will be read with special interest is Dr. Elkind's estimate of the Kaiser. The political papers deal with imperial questions and the Near East.

READERS of ' N. & Q.' will learn with satisfac- tion that on Tuesday, 24 June, Lord Beauchamp carried his amendment to the Ancient Monu- ments Consolidation and Amendment Bill to substitute a fine of 100?., or imprisonment not exceeding three months, for a fine of 201. as the maximum penalty to which the owner of an ancient monument, reported of national import- ance, shall be liable if he commence any operation of demolition, removal, alteration, or addition, without giving a month's notice to the Com- missioners of Works 201. being considered an inadequate deterrent.

In the discussion as to the desirability for a separate board for Scotland, Lord Beauchamp mentioned the interesting fact that more people in Scotland had taken advantage of the old Act, and that more monuments in Scotland were under the care of the Office of Works than was the case in England and Wales.

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CORRIGENDUM. For FRANCIS N. RELTON (11 S. vii. 513) read FRANCIS H. RELTON. We apologize to our correspondent for the slip.