Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/414

 340 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.ix.ocr.22.i62i. general character of Frankish life, its degree of culture, the influence upon it of women, the condition of the people under Frankish or Vene- tian rule, and the part played by the Church. Nor is he less successful with the history of the Venetian and Genoese possession, alike on the personal and on the social and political side. He addresses himself also to some smaller problems of scholarship, e.g., disposing finally of Hopf 's absurd derivation of Navarino from the j Navarrese Company, and in this instance sup- j porting Fallmerayer ; and giving a careful discus- sion of the Frankish inscription at Karditza. Full j lists of authorities are supplied, and we can but hope, as we even expect, that many a reader will make use of these for further study and ; many a writer too. Our literature is growing ; both hectic and languid. We refuse the old j device by which Shakespeare himself gave space, j light and fundamental truth to his portraiture | of the men and women about him : that of setting them in the past or in a distant scene. The refusal perhaps comes from a weariness of [ the old scenes and stories. The history of the Latin Orient might be a new and great inspiration. Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research. Vol. i., No. 1. (Published at the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall.) BUT for the war the Society of Army Historical Research would long since have taken up its position among historical societies, and the Journal, of whicjh the first number lies before us, would, by now, be a familiar friend to those who j are engaged on military history. The object ! of the Society is stated to be " to encourage ' research into Army Antiquities, into matters connected with Regimental History, Uniform Dress and Equipments of the past, Old Military Customs and Traditions . . . and other subjects of similar interest." As Lieutenant- Colonel Sir Arthur Leetham truly says, the want of such a society of a centre of information for the past history of regiments, and a journal which should make such information available has been recognized for some time. This is shown also by the membership of the Society, already amounting to well over 150. We may- be allowed knowing very well what we are talking about to congratulate the committee on having persuaded Lieutenant-Colonel Leslie to be the editor of their Journal. He starts off himself on a subject which all our readers know him to have studied with extraordinary close- ness, that of old printed Army Lists ; and gives a first instalment of the list dated 1684. Lieut- tenant-Colonel Butler contributes a letter on the fiasco of Ticonderoga, purporting (as he believes, truly) to be from an English officer to his Colonel, and now deposited in the Pennsyl- vania State Library. Major Bent (under the title 'A " Royal American " ') gives extracts from the letters home of a young officer who died at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1803, illustrating the regimental life of the time. The Battle of I Culloden, as described in the letter of an English soldier to his wife, makes a very interesting item. Major Parkyn has an article on two old regi- j mental jackets ; Mr. Baldry contributes an i instalment of a list of Regimental nicknames ; j and, at the end, comes a section of ' Notes, i Questions and Replies.' In this we learn from the editor that the title page of the Journal is copied from the English translation published in 1560 of Machiayelli's ' Art of War.' It is a fine, flourishing design ; is there any possibility of discovering the artist ? The Print Collector's Quarterly for October well sustains its character. We begin with Mr. H. S. Reitlinger's paper on Goudt and Elsheimer a subject full of the highest interest whether art or the two artists be considered. M. Clement- Janin's study of Albert Besnard's work brings out, with a delicacy of precision not unlike Besnard's own, that artist's originality and the relation of his thought and work to human life, especially to the underlying tragedy of human life. Mr. Herbert Furst, continuing his discussion of the modern woodcut, illustrates this by examples of the work of some dozen artists. Alihusen has a pleasant subject in Sir J. C. Robinson's etchings and to which he does full justice. Of the merits of Mr. Percy Smith's ' Dance of Death ' we cannot judge so favourably as Mr. Campbell Dodgson seems to do from the one example provided. The illustrations throughout the number are, as always, a real delight. ENGLISH ARMY SLANG. IN our next number that for Oct. 29 we shall offer our readers a first instalment of English Army Slang, inviting them to assist us in the compilation of materials for an English war-slang dictionary, by sending us words, by supplying derivations and illustrations, and also by contributing the names of books or articles which treat of or contain any con- siderable amount of Army slang. We were incited to this early last September by MB. A. FORBES SIRVEKING, the Librarian of the Imperial War Museum, who, in an Introductory Article, will set out the present state of the inquiry, especially as compared with similar inquiries in France and Germany, and the best methods for pursuing it. The first list of words has been kindly contributed to 'N. & Q.' by members of the staff of The Times who served in the Great War. to EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries v " 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.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion in our columns should bear the name and address of the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. 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.