Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/386

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NOTES AND QUERIES. mi a iv. NOV. 4, 1911.

Templars as financiers. In an interesting dis cussion of the exact position of " ecuyers ' (esquires), who were untitled men of gentle blood It is pointed out that " noble homme " original!' meant " gentilhomme," that is, man of goo lineage, though later it was degraded in usag( till it became very often exclusive of gentle birth Other notes treat of De Seze, who defendec Louis XVI. during his trial ; of the wounds receive! Tjy Napoleon the Great, and of Louis Napoleon' escape from Ham. More than one ingenious historical explanation is offered of the proverbia expression " As vicious as a red ass," but pro bably the saying in reality indicates that a red haired donkey, like a red-haired man or a blacl leopard, is credited with an easily ruffled temper

The Cornhill opens with three articles concerning Nelson, the first speaking of the Victory, the seconc of Nelson and Lady Hamilton at Altona, anc the third of ' Nelson as Women Saw Him.' La Comtesse d'Oilliamson's account of ' The Tombs of the Plantagenet Kings' is introduced as parl of a visit to Fontevrault Abbey, but it approxi- mates to guide-book literature. Mr. W. C. D Whetham and his wife in ' The Conversion oJ the Master ' show how a Head of a College was induced to modify his views about religion and chapel services. ' Flowers of the Thames and Cam ' are flowers of scholarship and epigram, pleasantly revived for us by a veteran scholar, the Rev. W. C. Green, whose reminiscences go back a long way. There is something very attractive in the easy grace of Eton scholarship at its best. Mr. G. A. B. Dewar's article on ' The Wild Bird's Throat ' should not be missed, for it is excellent alike in matter and style. Mr. George Greenwood has two pages in reply to Mr. Lang's attack in September on his book on Shakespeare, and contends that his position and arguments have been misconceived. The lite- rary questions this time are on ' The Pilgrim's Progress,' the answers to the Kipling paper being given.

IN The Nineteenth Century the Bishop of Winchester makes an important reply to Mr. Emmet's paper of last month concerning free- dom of thought and assertion of authority in the discussion of sacred subjects. Mr. J. H. White- house, M.P., ha,s a very sensible article on ' Britain and Germany,' suggesting methods which might lessen the friction between the two countries. The greater newspapers ought "to preserve the public from vicious fictions"; members of the Reichstag ought to come over as guests of our Parliament ; and there should be a special mission to Berlin, headed by a carefully chosen man such as Lord Haldane. In ' East and West ' Sir Bampfylde Fuller enumerates some striking differences of thought. Mrs. M. L. Woods has been studying ' Shelley at Tan-yr-allt.' The poet's mysterious adventure there with a man who attacked him in the night is capable of a local explanation which would hardly occur to the writer of this paper. Mr. Norman Pearson's paper on ' The Idle Poor ' is startling, and we are quite in agreement with his views as to habitual vagrants. Sentimentalism is here, as he rightly says, a great bar to reform. The " tramp's taste for prison " is well developed, and he brings unfair odium on the genuine worker who is un- employed. Mrs. Barbara Wilson gives a clever

and critical account of ' Country - House Visits ' as now carried out. Mr. Beckles Willson writes with authority on ' The Defeat of " Continental- ism " in Canada : from a Canadian Standpoint,' and Sir Walter Gilbey has some interesting ' Recollections of Seventy Years,' dealing specially with questions of traffic, railways, cycles, &c. He mentions that his friend Mr. Tegetmeier, now in his ninety-fourth year, travelled in the old steam carriage, which was not fast enough to oust the well-appointed and well-horsed coach.

THE editorial in The Burlington Magazine is occupied with ' Our Patrimonio Artistico,' i.e., means to secure to the nation " the few remaining masterpieces which are of such importance that their loss might be considered as a national disgrace." A confidential agreement between the Government and owners is suggested which would secure a reversion of the right to buy, and eliminate the profits of the middleman. Such owners might reasonably expect to be " placed in a privileged position as regards death duties and succession duties."

Mr. Roger Fry begins an admirable account of the ' Exhibition of Old Masters at the Grafton Galleries,' and Mr. Campbell Dodgson contributes 'Some Notes on Diirer,' which are at once autho- ritative and admirably illustrated. ' The Limoges Enamels in the Salting Collection,' by Mr. H. P. Mitchell, also includes many reproductions. The frontispiece of the number presents a striking statue of Athena owned by the Duchess of Con- naught, which, Sir Cecil Smith points out, belongs to the type of ' Minerva Pacifique,' the patron- goddess of maidens rather than of war or wisdom.

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