Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/205

 n s. m. MA*. 11, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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The Literary Paper this month is on Lewis Carroll. The previous one of Browning has, it appears, been answered correctly by six people. We are not surprised, and think it would be well to have a certain amount of questions which demand critical ability rather than the mere knowledge of facts and references which assiduous search can secure.

IN The Nineteenth Century, as in many other of the magazines, there are articles ' For and Against the Declaration of London.' Mr. Noel liuxton has an interesting account of ' Young Turkey after Two Years,' and is able to find solid advance in civilization of various kinds as the result of the new rule. An important point for the foreigner is that " freedom of travel is immensely enlarged." The Vice -Provost of Eton, considering ' The Position of the Laity in the Church of England,' would have them hold a stronger position in parishes as a check on autocratic clergy. But we doubt very much if the ordinary layman of the English Church is keen enough to belong to a board or select vestry which holds frequent meetings. It is this apathy which renders desirable plans inoperative. ' The Censor, and other Tales,' by Dr. Max Meyerfeld, exposes once more, from a foreign point of view, the futility and stupidity of the present

Practice of licensing pieces for the stage. Dr. oseph Jastrow writes interestingly on ' The Will to believe in the Supernatural,' and Sir Bay Lankester as militantly as usual on ' Compulsory Science versus Compulsory Greek.' This last article would gain by a more moderate tone. It is full of " question -begging " epithets and phrases. ' Yeoman Hopkins : One Asset in our Armour,' by Major-General Sir W. G. Knox, gives an account of the sort of thing expected from a raw young farmer turned Territorial, and inci- dentally touches on the dangers of invasion of this country. An elegant article in French on ' Charles Baudelaire et FEsth^tique de la Deca- dence ' is by M. Andre Beaunier.

IN The Fortnightly, after some political articles, we come on ' Christina Rossetti,' by Mr. F. M. Hueffer, who writes with just appreciation of the powers of that remarkable poetess. He says that he told her of a very strong feeling that after Tennyson's death she should become Laureate. Mr. Hueffer abuses Ruskin roundly, and we trace here, as elsewhere in his writing, a bitter- ness which is unpleasing. Mr. Filson Young has an elaborate article on ' The Musician as Com- poser,' which should attract attention. We cannot, however, accept his division of music into "vertical" and " horizontal," which seems to us fanciful, and also to ignore the scientific principles of sound as developed, for instance, by Helmholtz. His summary of the sorts of modern music as musical translations of literary ideas, " absolute " music, and musical hypnotics, seems much more effective. ' Some Criticisms on the < 'ollection of Income Tax ' is well worth study, for Mr. A. M. Latter shows that officials deliberately claim more than they have a right to by law, and arc otherwise prejudiced against the taxpayer who has not a chance of being heard and judged by an impartial authority. Mr. G. C. Nuttall on ' Eugenics and Genetics ' writes very good sense : unfortunately, it is sense that has not yet reached tin? ear of the general public, which is hardly

encouraged by seeing the excesses of those who should know better. Doctors and teachers of science, men of light and learning, are not de- terred from forming unsuitable unions. Mr. T. A. Cook has an interesting account of ' The Develop- ment of Swordsmanship ' among Englishmen, while Miss Elizabeth Robins is enthusiastic in ' A New Art of Travel ' about two books by Miss Gertrude'JL. Bell. We share the enthusiasm, though we see no advantage in Miss Robins 's fantastic staccato style. Mr. Francis Gribble is very enter- taining in his account of ' The Theatre Franc,ais in the 'Fifties,' run by ArseneHoussaye, appointed by his friend Rachel in spite of the protests of comedians. Further interesting articles in a well- varied number are ' Bjornstjerne Bjornson,' by Mr. Robert Machray ; ' How Primitive Round Houses became Square and Oblong,' by Mr. W. Shaw Sparrow, and ' Memories of Fort Chabrol,' by Mr. J. F. Macdonald, to whom the Sidney Street affray has suggested a record of the defence by Jules Gu^rin of his massive house as an Anti- Semite protest. The siege actually lasted thirty- seven days in 1899.

IN * The National Review, ' Episodes of the Month ' are treated with the usual vigour of expression, and a " Unionist Free Trader " pro- ceeds to find holes in ' A Democratic House of Commons, 1906-1910.' Mr. Austin Dobson, has one of his elegant and informative articles on ' Eighteenth-Century Stowe,' and Miss H. Rein- herz discovers that ' The Girl Graduate in Fiction ' has been inadequately pictured. So has the man graduate, and the reasons are not far to seek. Mr. H. C. Biron has a commendation of ' The Genius of Mr. Thackeray,' in which he deprecates the views of some modern critics. His article is well phrased, but we should hardly call it critical. It is rather the pleasant exposi- tion of an old admirer who does not care to analyze his faith. Mr. D. C. Lathbury in ' Ele- mentary Education ' puts some questions which seem to us much to the point.

Ix The Burlington Magazine the Editorial articles deal with ' Recent Appointments ' and the announcement of the authorities of the Bedford General Library that they intend to sell, for purely pecuniary reasons, Bunyan's copy, in three volumes, of Foxe's ' Martyrs,' used by him in Bedford Gaol. It is pointed out that these volumes were purchased in 1841 by public subscription and presented to the Bedford Library, and we agree in thinking it " astounding " that public property of the sort should be put on the market. Mr. Roger Fry ' On a Profile Portrait of Baldo- vinetti,' shows his admirable powers of connoisseur- ship, while Sir Martin Con way has an interesting and well illustrated article on ' Diirer and the Housebook Master.' The drawings considered are of special moment as belonging to the period of Diirer's Wandcrjahre. Mr. F. W. Hasluck's ' Genoese Lintel-Reliefs in Chios ' and Dr. C. H. Read's 'Plato's "Atlantis" Rediscovered' are both also well illustrated. The latter refers to the discoveries of a German traveller, Dr. Frobenius, in Ife, the sacred capital of the Yoruba country, in the English colony of Southern Nigeria. The sacred heads figured are of interest, and seem to indicate a technique beyond the negro ; but the article offers little to justify its title, which is due, apparently, to the German explorer. Herr Perzynski continues his noteworthy articles