Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/445

 ii s. iv. NOV. 25, mi.) NOTES AND QUERIES.

439

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S DAY : 17 NOVEMBER (11 S. ii. 401, 453). In the Chapter Library at Westminster is a manuscript volume of 'Poems to Q. Elizabeth,' of about 1587. Among the writers are John Packer, Peter Smart, and John Whit gift : see Robinson and James, ' Manuscripts of West- minster Abbey,' 1909, p. 90.

Packer himself wrote a volume of Greek and Latin verses, ' Elizabetha, sive Augus- tissimae Anglorum Principis Encomium,' for which see ' D.N.B.,' xliii. 32 b.

The book on ' Clymactericall Yeeres,' by T. W., 1604 (11 S. ii. 401), was written by Thomas Wright (' D.N.B.,' Ixiii. 128 b).

There is an illustrated article on this day in * The Book of Days,' ii. 588-90.

W. 0. B.

' ENGLTSCHE SCHNITZER ' (11 S. iv. 368). Hiebslac, Esq., M.A., Fellow of the German Athenaeum in London, &c. It was first published at Strassburg in 1884. A second edition was issued soon after, which bears the date at the end of the preface, " London, November, 1884." My copy, which is a third edition, is dated " London, Mai, 1886." It is worthy of the attention of every student of German and English, and especially so if one is interested in " howlers."
 * EnglischeSprach-Schnitzer' wasbyO'Clarus

THOMAS WM. HUCK.

Saffron Walden.

'HOWDEN FAIR' (11 S. iv. 325). MR. EDWARD PEACOCK, who so frequently con- tributes dainties to the banquets of ' N.& Q.,' has already served up this song (7 S. v. 345). There are slight differences in the versions, due, no doubt, to tricks of memory on the part of the narrators. I do not know who wrote the song, which suggests by means of words the fuss and clatter of a country horse-fair almost as well as Rosa Bonheur did with her pigments. ST. SWITHIN.

[W. C. B. also thanked for reply.]

JESSIE BROWN AND THE RELIEF or LUCKNOW (11 S. iv. 328, 416). ' Jessie Brown ; or, the Relief of Lucknow : a Drama in Three Acts,' was written by Dion Boucicault for Wallack's Theatre, New York, where it was played for over eighty nights. It was first given in England in November, 1858, at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, under the management of J. R. Newcome. It was described in the pre- liminary announcements at Plymouth as being " a new, great, and original play, founded on a beautiful episode in the present Indian War " ; and that episode was set

out at full length from " an account taken from the letters of a lady, one of the rescued on the 26th September [1857] when Luck- now was relieved by the forces under Sir Colin Campbell." ALFRED F. ROBBINS.

on

The Cambridge History of English Literature*

Edited by A. W. Ward and A. B. Waller.

Vol. VII. Cavalier and Puritan. (Cambridge

University Press.)

STUDENTS have by this time, we imagine, found this history invaluable. It is full of facts, and remarkably accurate. The arrangement of the chapters, too, is so made as to group successfully some writers who generally escape the notice of the literary critic.

The selection of contributors shows a wide and catholic knowledge of the world of scholar- ship, and, though they have their differences in style and manner of presentment, every one of them is a capable judge of his subject.

In the special sections which lie a little outside belles - lettres the choice of the editors is par- ticularly good. The chapters, for instance, of Prof. Sorley on ' Hobbes and Contemporary Philosophy ' and Prof. Foster Watson on ' Scholars and Scholarship, 1600-60,' should satisfy at once the advanced reader and the ordinary man of education who takes a general interest in their themes.

The pleasantest chapters to read, and not the least learned, are Dr. Ward's two on ' Historical and Political Writings.' Prof. Saintsbury's extra- ordinary dialect, which spreads over three chapters, we tolerate for the sake of his erudition. He dealt with Shakespeare in an earlier volume, and in this he is entrusted with Milton, and gives a satisfactory estimate, though to our mind unduly scorning tradition and controversy. Thus he says

" His college sojourn begins the Milton legend and controversy tedious and idle like all con- troversial legends, and to be kept down as much as possible."

The bookman has, it seems to us, an exaggerated contempt for oral tradition, which may contain some valuable hint of fact or likelihood. In this case of Milton, Johnson makes at least a definite statement which " may safely be rejected," according to Dr. Bass Mullinger in his masterly volume of Cambridge history issued this year. Whether any of Johnson's conclusions here can be accepted is doubtful, but they have been followed by a host of commentators and writers who make no original research, and therefore it seems to us that the evidence was worth exhibiting and appreciating at its proper value.

On the verse of ' Paradise Lost ' Prof. Saints- bury is at once concise and judicious, and his comments on the influence of Milton on English letters are excellent. When, however, he adds that Milton " has had few admirer? out of Eng- land," we recall more than one piece of evidence that ' Paradise Lost ' is a familiar classic in Russia. In dealing with Milton's education the Professor introduces us to a new adjective which we like, " Blimberian."