Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/389

 i2S. viii. APRIL is, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 319 THE RABBIT IN COMPARATIVE RELIGION! (12 S. viii. 269). In the magnificently! decorated cathedral of St. Vladimir at Kiev, in Southern Russia, Vasnetzov and j other famous painters have married the j spirit of nineteenth-century art in France and Italy to the old Byzantinism. One ! of the many frescoes represents the Garden | of Eden. In the middle is the Tree of Life. | To the right of it stands Adam, near to a lion, suggestive of his strength ; to the left is Eve with a doe, a type of gracefulness, and, at her feet, in the grass, starred with Easter daisies, there are two rabbits, to j symbolize timidity. Their presence there may be due to the painter's fertile fancy, but Byzantine art is extremely rich in symbolism, and it is more probable, perhaps, that the rabbit has had its recognized place there for many a long century. T. PERCY ARMSTRONG. The Author's Club, Whitehall Court, S.W. GRAY'S 'ELEGY' (12 S. viii. 294). I can see no reason why " the even tenour of tneir way " should, in popular speech, have superseded Gray's " noiseless tenour." Your correspondent thinks it " smoother," but I cannot agree. There is no disputing in matters of taste ; still, I must hold with Pope that " the ear the open vowels tire." Gray would, I fancy, dissent strongly from the suggestion that his verse could be im- proved in this way. There are other expressions in the this, but are not improved thereby. " The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea " is often turned into " the lowing herd winds slowly," &c. ; and " awaits alike the in- evitable hour " becomes " await alike the inevitable hour," which completely alters the poet's meaning. Dr. Bridges, in ' The Spirit of Men ' (notes), objects to the English of "If chance, by lonely contemplation led." May one be allowed to ask whether stanza xii. is strictly grammatical : Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire ; Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd. . . The relevancy of the line Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth in the Epitaph is not very apparent to me, coupled as it is by " and " with " Melan- choly mark'd him for her own." C. C. B. on A New Book about London : A Quaint and Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore. By Leopold Wagner. (George Allen and Unwin, 10s. 6cZ. net.) WE would not be understood to regard ungrate- fully, still less severely, Mr. Leopold Wagner's blithe attempt to re-discover for us forgotten, or half-forgotten, bits of London. We have, nevertheless, three protests to make concerning his book. First, as to its title. We consider it misleading, in that he does not treat of London in general, but of old London taverns and other houses of enter- tainment an excellent subject, as to which the ordinary guide-book is indeed neglectful and which does not at all require to be " camouflaged." Nor, we think, is the information Mr. Wagner has to supply very entertaining information though it be aptly characterized by the word " lore." This last small criticism brings us to a greater of the same kind. It seems to us that Mr. Wagner takes frequent and indefensible liberties with the English language. For example, we cannot like the expression " food-fare," which he uses for the food supplied at inns. When he tells us that " places in the Metropolis " are " enshrined to the memory of Charles Dickens " we guess what he means, yet with a shiver ; but when he says that a certain historic guest-house, " while still featuring its valuable old oak furni- ture," has been brought thoroughly up to date, we shiver without quite knowing his meaning. Our third protest concerns the subversion of some- of our " landmarks " (a word which Mr. Wagner much affects) in history. Thus we learn that there was a time when Henry IV. was Prince of Wales ; that the " famous Savoy Con- ference " took place under Cromwell ; and that it was Sir Francis Drake who beat van Tromp. Our author must not quarrel with us if we warn his readers not to take everything he tells them as agreeing altogether with the best or best-known authorities. These protests being made, we admit that this work has added some zest to our love of London, and inspired a wish to visit the old houses, of which Mr. Wagner writes so eagerly, with this book correctis corrigendis as our companion. Don Quixote. Some War-time Reflections on Its Character and Influence. By Herbert J. C. Grierson. (Humphrey Milford for the English Association, 2s. 6d. net.) THIS study has greatly charmed us. It is not easy to find anything, of a popular character, new to say about Don Quixote ; nor does novelty form any appreciable element in the appeal of this book. Our author relies on something more persuasive, on the enthusiasm of a grateful admirer who proclaims ' Don Quixote ' as facile princeps among the books men turned to in the worst stress of war to furnish them with " armour of proof against outrageous fortune." The qualities which made it so are not merely described here ; to some degree they seem to have been transferred into these pages. Their effect on the wr ter of the study is also convincingly though implicitly conveyed. There is much pleasant literary allusion and good suggestion. We.
 * Elegy ' that are oftener misquoted than