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NOTES AND QUERIES. ui s. vm. DEC. e, ma

rise of sentiment alism, which was destined to become a favourite excess of the English people This vice (or virtue, as the reader prefers) is noted here and there, but, so far as we can dis cover, nothing definite is said of its origin. Leslie Stephen went into the matter carefully, anc his theory, if wrong, at least deserved discussion. The use of the words " enthusiasm " and " en- thusiast " is part of the same inquiry. Here they are put in inverted commas, but not ex- plained. Possibly the knowledge is taken for granted ; but it would have been well, we think, to explain the depreciatory meaning of terms now no longer so used. A Cambridgeshire church that of Whittlesea would have supplied a clear indication, for one of its bells (1758) bears the inscription, " Prosperity to the Established Church, and no encouragement to enthusiasm."

That Church was, indeed, for the most part sluggish and inactive, but the good sense of the century protested against the frenzy and excesses of more lively preachers for whom Hell Avas an ever-present reality. Even miracles were felt to be undesirable if they raised a riot.

We mention naturally points on which we differ from the learned contributors to this volume. It would take much more space to exhibit our pleasure at their erudition and their clear exposition of tendencies essential for a proper understanding of the period, and even of the literature of to-day. For this century saw the rise of the novel, and, if it did not invent it, gave 'it that freedom of scope and outlook which made it dominant in the nineteenth century, and, perhaps, oppressively predominant in the twentieth. In these pages the reader will find many neat summaries of this man and that in fiction. ' The Castle of Otranto,' ' The Spiritual Quixote,' ' The Female Quixote,' and ' The Fool of Quality ' all have justice done to them. The last named, in spite of its excesses and longueurs, is a noble book.

To turn again to the greater figures, M. Caza- mian perhaps overdoes the influence of Richard- son, far-reaching as it was, but his summary is both apt and learned. Mr. Harold Child treats Fielding and Smollett well, and his comments on the realism of the former are specially noteworthy. Prof. Vaughan appreciates Sterne thoroughly, and, admitting on one page that his pruriency on the next which is more ingenious than con- vincing. Mr. A. Hamilton Thompson has a full and careful chapter on Thomson, whose style is treated at greater length than that of other writers in the volume with equal claims. But Thomson's attitude to nature was worth examining in detail. The chapter on Gray by the late D. C. Tovey is, as might be expected, admirable, and makes us regret anew the loss of so accomplished a sc*holar. Prof. Saintsbury on ' Young, Collins, and Lesser Poets of the Age of Johnson ' is not easy reading, but we have not missed a word. Mr. H. B. Wheat ley on the ' Letter- Writers ' shows a mastery of great and small alike, but hardly emphasizes points of style as we should. We cannot suppose that Walpole's conversation was equal to his letters, which, though among the first things of their kind, are clearly not spontaneous. We should not have thought that the Sir John Chester of Dickens was sufficiently well known as a cruel parody of
 * ' justly gives offence," attempts a defence of it

Chesterfield to injure his fame. Fanny Burney here and elsewhere secures just and unusual praise, but Ave cannot echo the contemporary eulogy Avhich Mr. Wheatley quotes of the letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. If the lady sparkles, it is chiefly in the moral line, as a recent perusal assures us. Sir A. W. Ward's ' Gibbon ' is one of the best chapters, particularly illuminating on the insidious charm of the historian's style. Prof. Sorley deals faithfully Avith philosophers, reducing the claims of Paley, Avho "had no taste for metaphysics " ; and Archdeacon Hutton writes trenchantly on ' Divines.' He puts Butler too high as a A\-riter : on such a point we prefer Bagehot's vieAv to Gladstone's. As for Hoadly, "he had no coherent idea of a religious- society at all," and it " cannot be said that he- rendered any service to the Church." We should not go so far as that, but the Avriter reminds us- that " Divinity is the most progressive of the sciences." Dr. W. A. Shaw on ' The Literature of Dissent (1660-1760)' seems to us a more judicious critic. A special Appendix to this chapter shows the wonderful energy of Noncon- formists in teaching.

Mr. Previt^-Orton closes with ' Political Litera- ture,' and is almost inclined to acknoAvledge the claims of Francis to be Junius. That crux is- noAV probably insoluble, but the present writer, who heard Fraser Rae dissertate on the point, or rather points, more than once, is not satisfied with the Franciscan evidence.

The Bibliographies are, as usual, wonderfully complete. We make a few criticisms, rather as shoAving Ave have paid them the compliment of close attention than as adding anything material. We should have mentioned H. D. Traill's essay on Richardson in ' The NCAV Fiction, and Other Essays,' 1897; and under Sterne Bagehot's brilliant essay in ' Literary Studies,' Mr. Herbert Paul's in ' Men and Letters,' 1901, and Edmond Scherer's, a revieAv of the book by Stapfer, in his ' Essays in English Literature,' translated by Prof. Saintsbury, 1891. Readers may be glad bo knoAv of a neat edition of ' The Fool of Quality * in Mr. Lane's " New Pocket Library " (1909). Not only ' The Old English Baron ' and ' The Castle of Otranto,' but also ' The Man of Feeling,' ' The Man of the World,' and ' Julia de Roubigne/ appeared in 1823 with memoir by Walter Scott. Arnold's essay on Gray is not mentioned in its Dest-known form. It figures in ' Essays in Criti- cism, Second Series.' The Bibliography of Johnson is a remarkable piece of Avork. Here we only add that ' Dr. Johnson and Fanny Burney,' with Introduction and notes by Mr. Chauncey B. Tinker (1912), is a convenient collection of all D'Arblay.
 * he Johnsonian material in the works of Madame

We have found the Index very useful, but not qual to all our demands.

A Bookman's Letters. By W. Robertson NicolL

(Hodder & Stoughton.)

READERS of The British Weekly will have pleasant remembrance of the many among the^e delightful etters which have appeared in its pages. Others have been published in The North American Review, Blackwood, and The Contemporary. The A 7 olume contains only a selection from some mndreds, but Mr. A. St. John Adeock, who is argely responsible for it, has chosen well.