Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/78

 60 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S.X.JAN. 21, 1022. ' Broad Grins,' and its authorship is attributed to George Colman himself. ' The Newcastle Reciter ' omitted the first part and partly altered the verse here and there. RICHARD H. HOLME. [The verses kindly written out have been for- warded to our correspondent.] on Authors' and Printers' Dictionary. By F. Howard Collins. (Humphrey Milford, 3s. &d. net.) F. HOWARD COLLINS died in 1910 ; the fourth edition of this admirable little work (1912) was supervised by the late Horace Hart, Controller of the Oxford University Press. That edition seemed but little short of perfection however, here is a fifth, which shows a yet further im- provement, besides taking cognizance of words and dates and persons and other matters which time and the war have brought into the general current of thought and writing. We do a little regret that those who acquire this new edition will not have the compiler's original preface, a pleasant piece of writing and instructive withal. Comparing our own well-used copy with the new exemplar we find sundry traces of con- sideration for brethren weaker in the matter of spelling thus " accommodate " has been in- serted. Many now unnecessary names have been omitted and also several technical terms, which some pleasant fancy rather than their utility must have made the compiler insert such as " bewet, leather attaching bell to hawk, not -it.*' A few indications of pronunciation have been modified. Several new entries from foreign languages appear, and, naturally, a crop of new scientific and military terms. The publisher mentions his regret at not having been able to adopt any great proportion of the numerous suggestions he has received owing to the expense of altering the plates : it would therefore be futile to make any of our own. We have but to express anew our gratitude for a most useful compilation, and our satisfaction at having it thus brought "up to date." A Dictionary of English Phrases. (Routledge, 12s. 6d. net.) WE dipped into these pages with great interest and some pleasant expectation. The amount of work and patience which went to the making of them entitles the compiler to considerable respect. The phrases include most of our modern catchwords and cliches, as well as the great mass of familiar locutions and, with these, an array of old or rare expressions which cannot be said to have maintained themselves in the general currency of the language. These last are often supported by references, but sometimes not so, and in cases where we should have welcomed a reminder. Thus " as inaccessible as Abaton " seems to want some justification, considered as an English phrase. Sometimes the origin of a well-known sentence or quotation is rather too imperfectly given as when we read on Delenda vst Carthago that this was " stated to have been uttered in the Senate by Cato after a visit to Carthage," or are referred for " Tweedledum and Tweedledee " to John Byrom, when the current use of these comic names is certainly derived from Alice ' Through the Looking-glass.' To have " Be sure your sin will find you out " referred to the Odyssey instead of Deuteronomy is curious, as is also the form given to the phrase. These instances are taken' at random and might be added to indefinitely. The chief use of this collection, in fact, might be to serve as a suggestive nucleus for a more correct and thorough work. THE new Quarterly Review is largely devoted to international politics and recent foreign history. The literary articles are not of special importance, though essays from the pens of Mr. Edmund Gosse and Mr. John Drinkwater must count for much on whatever subject these graceful writers discourse. Mr. Gosse 's theme is Austin Dobson, to whom he brings a pious tribute such as no one but himself is in the position to offer. Mr. John Drinkwater gives us a study of Henley, in which Henley is none the less effectively discussed for being something of a stalking-horse. Sir James Frazer depicts London life as Addison knew it, and by his own vivid visualization imparts real freshness and interest to a well-known subject. On the border- line between history and present politics are two papers, each in its way striking : Dame Una Pope-Hennessy's criticism of recent somewhat extravagant accounts of the French Revolution and Mr. John Buchan's sympathetic portrait of the late David Henderson. The first place in the number is allotted to the second instalment of Mr. C. R. Haines's ' Recent Shakespearean Research,' which sets out chiefly the present position of inquiry as to the doubtful plays. Mr. Haines adopts in regard to these a rather sanguine view. CORRIGENDUM. At 12 S. ix. 393 (< Astley's Circus ') for " W, H. C. Nathan" read W. H. C. Nation. J?oticeg to Correspondent. EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' "Adver- tisements and Business Letters to "The Pub- lishers " at the Office, Printing House Square, London, B.C. 4 ; corrected proofs to The Editor, ' N, & Q.,' Printing House Square, London, E.G. 4. ALL communications intended for insertion 'in our columns should bear the name and address of the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. WHEN answering a query, or referring to an article which has already appeared, correspondents are requested to give within parentheses im- mediately after the exact heading the numbers of the series, volume, and page at which the con- tribution in question is to be found. A. A. MORGAN (' THE TRUSTY SERVANT '). This is an emblematic painting at Winchester College. A most interesting discussion of it will be found at 11 S. xii. 193, 267, 342.