Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/342

 -280 NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. vm. AP ML 2, 1921. making Fortinbras instead of Hamlet personate ..James when occasion arises, that is when Fortin- bras appears as the chosen heir to the throne, coming from another and more northern kingdom. As to the parallels between minor characters, they are partly clever and partly fanciful. It can hardly be granted that the murder of Polonius resembles that of Rizzio because both took place . in the presence of a Queen, and a staircase figures in both stories and too many clues are equally slight. " There is a river in Macedon, and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth." On the whole then we cannot admit that psychologically the case is made out, especially as we are left wondering, what is the cause of the continued and present popularity of its first production to have been entirely dependent on its aptness in glancing at the questions of the day. The book however brings out many points of historical interest, and thows an un- accustomed light on Shakespeare's own political position and sympathies. . The Boy Bishop at Salisbury and Elsewhere. By the Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher. (Salisbury, Brown & Co., Gd.) THE friends who insisted on Canon Fletcher's printing his lecture on the Boy Bishop have deserved well of us all. This is a most careful and thorough- going account of a curious custom, which whether one looks at it from the historical or the psychological point of view is of quite unusual interest. The boy-bishop was abolished in England by Henry VIII. ; in France, in 1721 ; Tie still lingers on, we are told, at the Propaganda College at Rome. This is a long persistence ; and we may recollect that through many years the keeping ' of the custom was widespread and energetic. That the Saturnalia should have been taken over ' into some Christian feast is not perhaps matter for surprise : but that the special idea of topsy- turveydom, which gave the Saturnalia their peculiar zest, should have taken so firm a hold in the very inner courts of the Church, and have been enacted so elaborately in almost every way short of the actual celebration of the Mass, may well raise a manifold astonishment. Two or three separate threads of Christian legend and custom came to be interwoven with the remnant of pagan tradition ; Canon Fletcher draws them skilfully out before us. He begins his discussion with the well-known effigy at Salisbury. The assumption that this represents a boy-bishop who died during his tenure of office goes no further back than the seventeenth century. Reasonably enough, Canon Fletcher agrees with later writers who maintain that it is a wholly mistaken assumption, and that the effigy probably indicates the burial-place of some portion of the remains of a bishop whose body was buried elsewhere. English Philology in English Universities : An inaugural Lecture delivered in the Examination Schools on February 2, 1921. By Henry Cecil Wyld. (Clarendon Press, 2s. Qd. net.) IN this able and outspoken lecture, after paying a graceful tribute to his predecessor in the Merton Chair of English Language and Literature, Prof. Wyld proceeds to apply two shrewd tests to the English philological work done in English Uni- versities. The first is the amount of fresh con- tribution to knowledge made by the English Universities, the second the number and quality of the teachers they train. He does not find that English philology comes well out of it, even though the general, uninstructed interest in philological questions is considerable. The volume of research in English Philology he has no difficulty in showing to be inconsiderable if com- pared with the field and the facilities at the researcher's disposal. The great bulk of th work done must fall to German credit. The English Universities too exclusively occupied with textual work have hitherto failed in pro- ducing anything of great constructive value. They have, urged the Professor, " accepted the part of mere onlookers at the various tours de force which the foreigner has performed in the great name of English Philology." (One great exception he does not fail to mention the Oxford Dictionary.) After laying a finger on several mistakes, the Professor proceeds to out- line a new scheme, or rather mode, of study whereof the keynote is research. The lecture deserves serious attention on the part of all who are actively interested in the study of English philology. A Shakespeare Dictionary. Part III. : Macbeth. By Arthur E. Baker. (4s. net.) MB. BAKER (the Borough Librarian at Taunton) has set his hand to a useful piece of work. He does not enter upon difficult problems, nor make any tedious show of erudition for example, he leaves the question of the authorship of ' Macbeth ' severely alone, and he refuses to stray into the many by-paths classical or mediaeval which open naturally out to him. But he gives an alphabet of the names and more important words that occur in the play, sets out the history, allusions or traditions connected with each and illustrates copiously from topographical and historical works. The ' Dictionary ' is preceded by a careful outline of the play, and followed by extracts, chiefly from Holinshed, and ' The Secret History of Macbeth,' showing the historical material upon which the story is based. This work, as a whole, should prove especially service- able to readers who, not having gone through any school course on the subject, are beginning a course of Shakespeare reading for themselves. ' Julius Caesar ' and ' As you like it ' have already appeared : ' The Tempest ' and ' Hamlet ' are ready for the press. Two of the Appendices consist of contributions on ' Macbeth ' which appeared in our columns in 1903, and 1907. t0 EDITORIAL communications should be addressea to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' "Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers" at the Office, Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. ; corrected proofs to the Athenaaufa) Press, 11 and 13 Bream's Buildings, E.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion in our columns should bear the name and address ef the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
 * Hamlet,' supposing its appeal to the public on