Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/445

 12 S. I. MAY 27, 1916.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

439

0n

The Self-Discovery of Russia. By J. Y. Simpson. (Constable & Co., 6s. net.)

MB. SIMPSON is inclined slightly to apologize for a tone of " dogmatism " in the passages of this book which deal with foreign affairs ; and then takes occasion to remark that the passages in question are based upon conversations he has been privileged to hold with one or two of the highest Russian authorities. Such indications of unusual opportunity, and the fact that a great proportion of the material which makes up the book has quite clearly been gathered at first hand, prompt the wish that the author had seen fit to construct a more thoroughgoing and con- nected account of what he knows. We must not, however, be ungrateful for what he has here given us ; and those who are " reading up " Russia, or putting together a library of works on the great nation whom we have so recently begun to appreciate, should make a note of this work.

The first essay is upon the organization and the multiple activities of the Zemstvos in the present war : a good and clear account of one of the most remarkable national developments of which there is any record.

Constantinople ' are, perhaps, the two essays which have the most direct interest for English readers. It would seem to be of the first im- portance that the feeling which animates Russia in respect to Constantinople should be well and widely known, accurately and sympathetically understood among us ; and Mr. Simpson has no small contribution to make towards this. He quotes largely from the work of Prince Eugene Trubetzkoy, one of the leaders of Russian popular thought and aspiration, who on the subject of Constantinople develops not merely the political and economic argument which, doubtless, to most Western political thinkers appears the main and serious part of the matter but also the argu- ment from the new and vivid consciousness of the Russian people, in which they see themselves charged with a religious mission of liberation to the whole of Europe. A few years ago there might have appeared to be nothing more in this than ignorance and fantasy ; but a nation which, at one stroke, and disregarding pecuniary loss, can free itself from what seemed a hopelessly inveterate canker, may claim respect, not only for those political aims which the materialist allows to be natural and proper, but also for national ideals which the ordinary Western financier or diplo- matist can but regard as an amiable madness if, indeed, they are genuine. Mr. Simpson has a good deal that is interesting to say about the prohibition of vodka. ' The Future of Poland ' also furnishes a useful popular statement of the factors in an immense problem. Interspersed are one or two sketches of scenes in the Russian lines, and there is also a good chapter on religion in Russia, where, in addition to the general state- ments about Russian religiousness which have been repeated now to wearisomeness, there are welcome details given as to the recent history and the actual position of the Russian Orthodox Church.
 * Some Economic Problems ' and ' Russia and

Ancient Liturgical MS. discovered in Exeter'

Cathedral Library. By Ethel Lega-Weekes.

(Reprinted from Devon and Cornwall Notes and

Queries, April, 1916.)

THE REV. R. W. B. LANGHORNE, Sub-Librarian of Exeter Cathedral Library, is the discoverer of the remains of an old manuscript of a liturgy,, which consists of eight strips of parchment, 12 in. by 2 in. or 12 in. by 4 in., together with a number of small scraps making eighteen pieces in all. They had been used for lining the backs of the volumes of ' Works ' of Galen. Miss Ethel Lega-Weekes, being asked to examine the " find " and give an opinion upon it its discoverer lacking the requisite leisure has come to the conclusion that the MS. is Continental work of the last quarter or so of the ninth century, which, it may be taken, was brought into England by Leofric, who came in 1042. Miss Lega-Weekes has identi- fied twenty-four of the collects, &c., which (in- complete) appear on the fragments, and is of opinion that their variety points to the MS. having been a plenary Missal, such as began to- be written about 900.

Miss Lega-Weekes is so competent to form an.v opinion that, in the absence of present oppor- tunity to investigate the matter directly for our- selves, we can only say that her account of the matter appears to us very probable, and that we- should expect to see it confirmed by further expert work. There are portions of the MS. which she has not been able as yet to identify, and this, in her opinion, leads to a hope that we may here possess a clue to very early sources, whence possibly we may get some light on the problem of the Sarum Missal. This little brochure should, certainly receive the attention of students.

MISCELLANEOUS JOTTINGS FROM THIS MONTH'S CATALOGUES.

MR. FRANCIS EDWARDS'S latest Catalogue (No. 363) describes a miscellaneous collection of rare books, and includes a number of tempting items, especially under the headings 'Architecture ' and ' Italian Art and Literature.' Under the former is offered for five guineas a copy of Viollet- le-Duc's ' Dictionnaire Raisonn4 de 1' Architecture Francaise,' 10 vols., with three thousand en- gravings from the author's drawings ; under the second from among nearly forty works we may mention 5 vols. of the original editions of Crowe and Cavalcaselle's works on the subject, the the Seventeenth Century,' 1864-6, and the History of Painting in North Italy,' 1871, which, together with a second edition of the ' Early Flemish Painters,' are to be had for 11. Under the subheading ' Rome ' will be found a series of; over one hundred copperplate views of the antiquities of* Rome by Rossini, 2 vols., folio,, 1820-23 (91.) ; and under the sub-heading ' Dante,' the folio volume of Stradanus's illustrations, pre- face by J. Aldington Symonds, 1892 (4L). There are several important works on natural history and science : e.g., King and Partling's ' Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya,' 3 vols., 1898 (81. 10*.) ; and vols. 11 to 20 (Wl. 10s.), and vols. 5 to 10 (III.), of the Transactions of the Zoological Society, con- taining together nearly one thousand plates. Those who are interested in costume may like to
 * History of Painting in Italy from the Second to