Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/245

 ii s. in. M AR. 25, MIL] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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QUEEN'S REGIMENT : SHEFFIELD PLATE DISH (11 S. iii. 70, 138). Through the courtesy of Heralds' College, I can answer my own query relative to the Sheffield plate dish in. the possession of the Queen's Regiment. The crest and motto were granted in 1623 to Edward Rolt, who resided at Picton Hall, co. Bedford. Lieut. -General Sir John Rolt, K.C.B., was Colonel of the Queen's 1853-6 ; therefore the plate in question must have been presented by him to the officers' mess at that period.

W. MACKIE, Lieut. -Col.

About Edwin Drood. (Cambridge University

Press.)

No name appears on the title-page which precedes these notes on the mystery of Dickens's last plot, but it is known that the " H. J." who signs the Preface is Prof. Henry Jackson. Here he has pro- vided an admirably clear marshalling of the evi- dence which can be brought forward to support one theory or another. The book, in fact, should become a permanent handbook without mastering which no one should dogmatize. The Professor gives us some conjectures of his own as to details he would not be human if he failed to do that but it is his clear and logical statement of the case as Dickens put it, or as one may reasonably suppose Dickens to have put it, which gives the book a place apart from much rather sloppy Dickensian literature. Dickens's intentions as revealed or deliberately clouded by his artistry are part of the case, and here we have the greatest confidence in Prof. Jackson's discrimination. Generally he sides with Mr. Cuming Walters in supposing that Datchery was Helena Landless disguised, and is against Proctor and Mr. Andrew Lang in affirming that Edwin Drood was really murdered, and did not turn up again suddenly to confute his assailant, as might seem to be indi- cated by the pictured cover of the original issue. That cover is, we think, with our author, not decisive, but we certainly hold that Drood was murdered, and think it probable that Helena Landless was Datchery. At least that seems the best solution of the matter we have got before us. Dickens completed twenty-three chapters only, and may have been meditating a surprise by the introduction of a novel character of importance. ' Bleak House,' it is pointed out, is a mystery in which the characters concerned behave irrationally -even absurdly. In his latest story, however, Dickens took more pains, for he " had learnt that a story ought to be plausible and consistent." Vic remark that it was so easy for Dickens, with his devoted public, to attain plausibility that he need not have been a determined follower after the other virtue. Were his powers in his last days at their best ? That is a query that might enter into the argument.

But there are so many queries and objections to be started that the settlement of the case seems hopeless. Mr. Andrew Lang and the Professor

destroy points in each other's theories with alarm- ing facility. Confusion is increased by the section offered here on the manuscript of the extant chapters of the book, which offers " de- cisive evidence that neither the order of the com- position nor the order of the manuscript, nor the agreement of the order of composition and the order of the manuscript, proves the order of events and the order of publication."

While inspecting the MS. of ' Edwin Drood,* the Professor discovered a misprint of " tower " for " town " in the second sentence of the book* and another hi chap. xix. This is characteristic of his vigilance.

Dodsley's Collection of Poetry : its Contents and Contributors. By William Prideaux Courtney* (A. L. Humphreys.)

THE elegantly bound little volume before us is one of 75 copies printed for private circulation,, and its contents need no introduction here, for they are a revision and enlargement of a series of articles from our own columns.

Mr. Courtney is one of our soundest guides in all matters of bibliography, and not surpassed in thoroughness and research by any of his con- temporaries. He tells us that his interest in the collection began as a schoolboy, and since then his long and varied wanderings in the byways of literary anecdote and history have produced many fruitful results. The work he has done here is done once for all, and will probably get the sincere compliment (not unknown to our- selves) of being frequently used with the slenderest of acknowledgment or none at all. To the genuine student of letters, however, the pleasure of the work is the thing, and we hope that Mr. Courtney will illumine many a dark corner for the book-lover as he has done here and in his ' Eight Friends of the Great.'

The Book of Decorative Furniture : its Form, Colour, and History. By Edwin Foley. Vol. I. (Jack.)

MR. FOLEY'S work has been coming out in parts of which this first volume represents seventeen. It has already received the applause of competent critics, which, indeed, it amply deserves. The illustrations are a special feature, including lavish reproductions in colour of the author's drawings (which alone would be sufficient to render the book fascinating), and text illustrations, which are very much to the point. Mr. Foley's letterpress shows alike excellent taste and very wide knowledge, and we have little doubt that his handsome and well-printed volume and its successor, which will complete the scheme, will be treasured everywhere. Once seen, it will cer- tainly attract all lovers of beautiful furniture.

The present volume begins with the earliest times, the furniture of Egypt, Babylonia, Greece and Rome being lightly sketched, and ends with the William and Anne and George I. Period, 1688-1727. Before we reach the end, which, by the way, is muddled in the list of ' Contents,' we have had a deal of information pleasantly im- parted to us, including chapters on British Homes. and on ' Collecting,' with hints against forgeries as well as some philosophic considerations which interest us concerning the forms of furniture and the rival claims of fashion and convenience.