Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/342

 280 NOTES AND QUERIES. ti 2 s.ix. OCT. 1,1021. on Dante Studies. By Paget Toynbee. (Clarendon Press, 16s. net.) DR. PAGET TOYNBEE was excellently inspired when he decided to collect these studies, scat- tered in numerous periodicals, and publish them in a book. They make a real contribution to the knowledge of Dante, his times and his work, and, in their var.iety and range form no bad representation of the immense wealth of external interest which attracts to the altissimo poeta even those who feel little sympathy with his views of life and the universe. Some of these papers are corrections of hoary mistakes made by former scholars such as the mistranslation (due to the wrong incidence of a comma) of the phrase omnes Tusci qui pacem desiderant, terrae osculantur pedes in Dante's letter to the Emperor Henry VII. ; or the failure to recognize the use of " Anubis " for Mercury in the same letter. We have no doubt that Baconians took to heart the note on ' honorificabilitudinitatibus ' when it appeared thirty odd years ago in Literature, and it remains amusing. ' Dante's references to flass,' ' The Sepulchres at Pola,' ' Dante and the ndex,' may be mentioned as examples of other minor lines of inquiry. A curious and careful study is that which is placed first an argument in favour of the authenticity of the ' Quaestio de Aqua et Terra,' drawn from the medieval cursus. This might be noted, not merely in relation to the ' Quaestio ' and to Dante's latinity, but also as a good exposition of the cursus itself one of the most interesting phenomena in the long-drawn transi- tion from the ancient to the modern mode of vocally articulating speech. In ' Dante and the Badia di Firenze ' Dr. Toynbee gives an account of a pleasant little discovery made by him in the pages of Puccinelli's ' Cronica ' of the Badia, to wit, a memorial Mass said for Dante in that monastery as early as 1326 the Abbate Azzone being, as Puccinelli says, " amicissimo del celeberrimo Dante Algieri." This gives occasion for a discussion of Dante's relations with the Badia and references to it in the * Divina Commedia.' The essays, however, which will probably be found most useful to English readers are those which take us to a field of study the writer has specially made his own : that on the earliest Eng- lish illustrators of Dante ; the chronological list of English translators from Dante, beginning with Chaucer and ending with Mr. Courtney Langdon's ' Purgatorio ' in blank verse published this year ; the paper on English translations of Dante in the eighteenth century ; and that on the earliest editions of the ' Divina Commedia ' printed in England. To the professed Dante student these are already known having appeared in various publications in the first decade of this century but they are now republished with additions and corrections, and may be recommended to the attention of the general reader. Dr. Toynbee has been most lavish of care in the provision of notes and references in fact, though at first sight it may seem something of a pleasant omnium gatherum, the book, after a little examination, reveals itself as one which may be used as an opener-up to the whole study of Dante. John Siberch, the First Cambridge Printer, 1521-22. By George J. Gray. (Cambridge. Bowes and Bowes, 2s. 6eZ.) MB. GRAY has already done a great deal for bibliographical study relating to Cambridge. This pleasantly written monograph adds a con- siderable item to his achievement. What is known of Siberch and his work has been pain- fully pieced together from scattered and minute data by great diligence, acuteness and ingenuity on the part of enthusiasts, among whom Henry Bradshaw takes a foremost place. Since his day, however (he died in 1886), our author and his friends have extended the discovery of Siberch' s activities, and have brought up the tale of the extant books printed by him to as many as forty- two copies being editions of eight works, of which the largest is Galen's ' De Tempera- mentis.' Each one of these is here exhaustively described, and Mr. Gray is so fortunate as to be able to illustrate some part of his description by contemporary letters. Siberch, though what knowledge we have about him is pretty definite, remains in himself a shadowy figure but Mr. Gray's brochure adds something to the general idea of him, besides being a most useful statement of the present position of the remains of his work. Bibliographies of Modern Authors. No. 3 : George Moore. Compiled by I. A. Williams. (London, Leslie Chaundv and Co., Is. 6d. net.) WE have already called our readers' attention to this excellent series (see 12 S. viii. 500). The third number before us is as accurate and well arranged as the two previous ones and contains a pleasant letter from Mr. George Moore ap- proving it and appreciating the research of which it gives evidence. to Correspondents. 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, E.G. 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, bit as a guarantee of good faith. 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. WHEN sending a letter to be forwarded to another contributor correspondents are requested to put in the top left-hand corner of the envelope the number of the page of ' N. & Q.' to which the letter refers. CORRIGENDA. MR. PIERPOINT has kindly sup- plied the following: At ante, p. 107, col. 1, 1. 16, "1723" should be 1728; and at p. 108, col. 2, 1. 17, " prdltvir " should be