Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/266

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. m. MARCH 31, 1917.

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The Thirty-third Novel of ' II Novellino ' of Masuccio : Mariotto and Giannozza. By Maurice Jonas. (Davis & Orioli, 6s. net.)

MB. MAURICE JONAS has rendered a good service to students of Shakespeare. He acquired for two guineas, he tells us an early edition of the novels of Masuccio, a writer of the latter half of the fifteenth century, in whose hands the " novel " was chiefly a lash for the vices and follies of the ecclesiastical characters of the day ^,nd frail ladies. The story of the thirty-third novel which occurs in the fourth of the five divisions of the book is not, however, of that ast, but is a love-story which, it is now believed, served as the basis of Luigi da Porto's ' Giulia e Borneo,' and is thus the first origin of Shake- speare's ' Romeo and Juliet.' Mr. Jonas gives us a pleasant introduction, setting out all necessary facts though it sorely needed both the file and a revision of the proofs before being made up in book-form. There follows an account of the several editions, each on a separate page, -to which the same remarks apply. Then we come to what is the raison d'etre of the volume, .a photographic reproduction from a facsimile photograph of the text as it is found in Mr. Jonas's copy (with a new translation from the pen of Mr. Davis), which belongs to the undated fourteenth edition. The first edition is dated 1476 ; the thirteenth, 1541 ; the fifteenth was issued in the eighteenth century. In the biblio- graphical note on his copy Mr. Jonas mentions that it contains the book-plate of our late editor, Joseph Knight.

In Masuccio's tale the lovers are called Mariotto Mignanelli and Giannozza Saraceni. They are secretly married, and separated through the sentence of exile passed on Mariotto for slaying a, man in a brawl, but it is not suggested that their families were at enmity. The facsimile is interesting in itself, and has come out well ; and the translation reads easily, and, so far as we have tested it, renders the original satis- factorily. As Mr. Jonas truly says, Masuccio's tyle can hardly be praised for its elegance.

The Journal of Second Lieut. Henry Hough, Royal Artillery, 1812-13 (Peninsular War). Prepared for Publication by Major J. H. Leslie, B.A. (Retired List). (Royal United Service Insti- tution.)

THIS is a reprint from the number for last November of the Journal of the Royal United .Service Institution. Henry Hough, whose MS. diary is the property of the Institution, was born .at Gloucester in 1791, received his commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1809, and served in the Peninsular War from March, 1812, till its conclusion. He also served for a time in Ceylon, and was there married ; and he died in Ireland at the age of 42.

The best part of the diary is the account of the siege of Burgos ; but the notes of the movements before and after that contain plenty of interesting matter. Henry Hough was plainly an intelligent and determined youth, who had a good grip of what he was about, and could enjoy whatever pleasant things fell to his lot in the course of a

pretty arduous campaign. He writes less re- flectively than the young officer of the present day is inclined to write ; but he pays some atten- tion to the cities he visits. He admires the cathedral of Segovia more than that of Salamanca, and, going to hear Mass there, is " highly pleased with the females." He also writes critically of the dancing of the Fandango and Bolero. Hard- ships are diversified by good [dinners occasionally, and it is duly recorded that on Saturday, Decem- ber 12, 1812, he " dined with the other mess and got three sheets in the wind."

The editing and annotation of the diary have been very satisfactorily accomplished. In par- ticular the identification of the different officers mentioned has been carried out most thoroughly. There is a sketch plan of the Castle of Burgos by an officer of the Royal Engineers, as well as a sectional elevation of it. The whole makes a brochure worth having on the part of the student of military history.

The Hanmer 8 of Marion and Montford, Salop. By Calvert Hanmer. (Lane, 10s. 6d. net.)

THE most conspicuous line of this family is that of the Hanmers of Hanmer, but their kinsmen of the Fens and of Marton and Mpntford do not come very far behind them, either in the splendour of their alliances or in the space they fill in local history, and the share they bore in the public life of their day. The part of this volume dealing with the subject denoted by the title is surprisingly small ; the greater part of the book consists of an ' Appendix of Extracts ' and half-a-dozen Supplements. The more interesting extracts are taken from records of various kinds, of which the earliest is from the Chancery Town Depositions, concerning Newton Bassechurch, Salop, taken at Easter, 1550. The Supplements are concerned with the other Hanmers, and with the families of Calvert, Underbill, and Lanyon Owen. The book is a piece of straightforward compilation, of which the author states that virtually the whole has already appeared in print, but which is none the less likely to prove of service to genealogists as bringing together facts for which some extended consultation of memoirs and genealogies migh otherwise have to be undertaken.

The Athenaeum now appearing monthly, arrange ments have been made whereby advertisements o posts vacant and wanted, which it is desired t publish weekly, may appear in the intervening weeks in *N. & Q.'

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CORRESPONDENTS who send letters to be forwards to other contributors should put on the top left hand corner of their envelopes the number of the page of 'N. & Q.' to which their letters refer, so that the contributor may be readily identified.

MR. R. C. BAIGENT. Forwarded. CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 216, col. 1, line 10 fron foot, for " Boz " read Boys.