Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/202

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. v. JULY. 1919.

accompanied Pedro Alvarez Cabral in his ex- pedition of 1500, and settled as a writer at Cochin and afterwards at Cananor. Piqued at not achieving the promotion his abilities warranted, he returned to Portugal in 1517, and it was probably during this voyage that the narrative was compiled. On his return he joined Magel- haes, his brother-in-law, in Seville, and set out with him, Serrao, and other disappointed men on his enterprise of 1519. He soon gave proofs of his ability, became captain of one of the ships, and fell soon after Magelhaes at the Isle of Sebu, a victim of native treachery. This was ia 1521.

He was a remarkable man. He had that lust for acquiring information which distinguishes the greatest geographers, and combined with it a faculty for minute observation of native lore and custom. He was a remarkable linguist, and on his first arrival in the East acquired proficiency in Malay al am. This led to his employment by Alboquerque as interpreter in his effort to convert the King of Cochin an abortive attempt.

A bibliography of books dealing with the early history of India completes a volume which is worthy of the Society's highest traditions.

Selections from James BoswelVs Life of Samuel Johnson. Chosen and Edited by R. W. Chap- man. (Oxford, Clarendon Press. 3s. 6d. net.) DR. BIRKBECK HILL, Johnson's greatest editor, published, it' we remember right, a selection of Boswell's book : but it has been ?ome while out of print. We noticed in June the collection of John- sonian matter by Mr. S. C. Roberts. But the world of readers cannot have too much of a wise and noble master of life, like Johnson, and we welcome Mr. Chapman's selections. His notes at the end reveal his expertness and good taste, and his Pre- face provides a firm and needed reduction of false views of Boswell. M acaulay 's travesty and Carly le's patronage are alike out of place. The world should read Boswell, not his reviewers, and Johnson's own writings. The great biography, as Mr. Chap- man remarks, contains more than half a million words; but what of that? It can betaken up anywhere, and is the best of bedside books.

Mr. Chapman's selection should tempt many readers to seek the mine whence these good things come. No competent student of life and letters can fail to perceive, for instance, the inimitable way in which the meeting of Johnson and Wilkes at dinner is told. Mr. Chapman has, how- ever, not confined himself to brilliancies, but given a fair record of letters and anecdotes which are characteristic, but not sparkling. There are people who think that because Johnson was the greatest man of his time, he was perfect in every wav and the greatest writer. We know his pre- judices so well, thanks to Boswell, that we are apt to think too much of them. Mr. Chapman has in- eluded his remarks on soldiers and sailors. He was very far from the typical John Bull in his views of the latter. His intense desire for the truth, and his standard in maintaining it, present an ideal which many men in public life might well follow to-day. His feelings about the Whigs re- mind us of the distortions of history which have been produced by that powerful sect of politicians. The notes at the end are especially interesting, and always to the point. Regarding extract 62 we think that Johnson knew much more about mediaeval Latin than about ancient Greece.

yEsehylus (144) is almost above translation, but '-.he versions of E. D. A. Morshead might have been mentioned. We are glad to find Mr. Chap man recording recent research in the metre of prose, which is well illustrated (127). Mr. Chapman does not annotate the use of orange peel which Johnson would not give away to Boswell ; but we think Dr. Birkbeck Hill discovered it.

The book has reproductions of two excellent portraits, showing Reynolds's view of Johnson and Dance's of Boswell, while Boswell's crest figures to* advantage on the cover.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

WE have received from Messrs. Maggs Bros. 34 and 35 Conduit Street, New Bond Street, their Catalogue No. 379 of Early English Literature,, which comprises only poetical and prose works by authors born prior to 1700, and contains 690 items- of this description. The most interesting book included seems to be a Chaucer manuscript of the- Canterbury Tales, written during the first half of the fifteenth century on 616 pages of vellum ; a reproduction of a page of this is given in the cata- logue. It is to be hoped that this manuscript may- find a place in one of our great public libraries. There are no less than 54 tracts and books referring to Quakers, including a collection of 300 tracts and broadsides by members of the Society of Friends, published 1654-57, and bound in 9 volumes by Bedford. The rarest book described is undoubtedly the first edition of Skelfr n's complete poems, pub- lished in 1568 "in Flete Streate neare unto Saint Dunstones Churche." There was no copy in either the Huth or Hoe Library. One of the "cokes"" contained in the volume is entitled " Speake Parrot," and is chiefly aimed at Cardinal Wolsey. "Bo-ho doth bark well, but Hough-ho he ruleth the ring," is the burden of the poem, Bo-ho being the king and Hongh-ho Woleey. Wolsey retaliated by sending Skelton more than once to prison. Skelton was the third English poet laureate.

Many other notable items are to be found under the following headings : Witchcraft, Political Economy, Newspapers, Medical and Military, Lon- don, Ireland and Law, Queen Elizabeth, James I, James II, Book of Common Prayer, Bibles, Charles 1, Charles II, Civil War and Commonwealth' Some very interesting early grammars printed by Caxton's successor Wynkyn de Worde are bound in one volume and are described under No. 1620. The catalogue, as all Messrs. Maggs's catalogues are, is well printed, and there are not too many items on one page. Many booksellers make the mistake of overcrowding their pages, and it is refreshing to meet with a catalogue that does not tire the eyes.

JSflifos to C0rastr0tt5enf*

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately* but we will forward advance proofs of answers received if a shilling is sent with the query j nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.

W. D. READ. Forwarded to REV. T. LLECHID- JONES.

CORRIGENDUM. Ante, p. 160, col. 2, 1. 23, for "grime " read grimr.