Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/510

 420 NOTES AND QUERIES. r 12 s.ix. NOV. 10,1021. It might appear almosu an impertinence to say of the Spartan authorities who had it written up this in the case of so well-known a writer as Sir on the tomb. Moreover, Simonides is not known Adolphus Ward, were it not that manner of this to us as a writer of stinging things far from it> particular quality suggesting massiyeness and and though it is possible to lay a subtle, sinister em- sufficiency to the task in hand is hot always i phasis on rfjSe this hardly would occur in a assumed even by those who have a natural right to it. True a nemesis waits upon it. It is frequently inclined to disregard the minutiae of style, and this neglect will betray one here into dullness, there into unintelligibility. Rapid writing from a full and ready mind, not after- wards scrutinized, will give us such a phrase as " soused in flat pedestrianism." But, in our author's company, a resolute reader will defeat this nemesis and surmount these difficulties without overmuch pains, be refreshed by following a treatment of literary matters and the lives of men of letters larger and simpler than that now usual among younger men, and perhaps find himself grateful for a total absence of any subtle pugnacity. The writer's kindly philosophy displays itself, in fact, both towards the persons he writes cf and the persons he writes for. These he never button- holes, and those he touches with a most pleasant but dignified courtesy. Some ot these essays are chiefly interesting as giving us Sir Adolphus Ward's mind on such or such a matter ; but a large proportion of them are excellent studies on out-of-the-way subjects which will be permanently useful on their own account, and which students as well as general readers will be glad to have to their hand. straightforward reading of the Greek. Finally, we do not agree that the usual interpretation of the epitaph makes it a " namby-pamby thing "- but this is to open up the well-worn question of how the old Greek feeling for epigram differs from our modern feeling, a question too large to be dealt with in a brief review. Another instance of too great cleverness on Mr. Torr's part but then we do not suppose Small Talk at Wreyland. Second Series. By Cecil Torr. (Cambridge University Press. 9s. net.) IT is not to be wondered at that Mr. Torr should have set himself to the composition of a second series of Wreyland ' Small Talk,' nor will the chorus of praise which welcomed his first series fail to be repeated in honour of this new volume. We would have joined in it with just one degree greater heartiness if Mr. Torr had but seen lit to provide an index. The range of subjects upon which he touches is again delightfully wide and of the most varied interest, combining the traditions of the culti- vated world of Victorian days with a shrewd and occasionally severe judgment on the life and being of the present day. Local history, topography, and rural customs are most amusingly illustrated, and particulars which in many contexts would taste dusty and dry gain pleasantness from the crisp style and the disjointedness of method. But local matters, whether antique or modern, furnish but one part of Mr. Torr's material. Some of the best of it is derived from his extensive foreign travel, and many a good paragraph has been suggested by his reading. One could not lightly differ from him on a question of classical scholarship, yet we cannot believe that he is right in his interpretation of the Thermopylae epitaph. A " stinging thing ? ' he calls it, and into the word rfjSe reads " her'-. in an untenable position with a flank that could be turned," making it a reproach to the Spartans that in compliance with their orders the lives of the three hundred were thrown away in such a place. But this is to ignore the Spartan ! ethos, to forget the whole history and topography j of the pass, and to disregard also the fact that ! Simonides composed the epitaph at the request j 11J. U.CACCtU I XTJ.A. -L_/J.jL o J^CHA L' JLJIAU laj-CXA WC _H_f 11WU r5U|-'J_H_OO occasional | he means to be taken seriously is his supposition He will that Pythagoras, in his philosophy of numbers, was merely working on old childish fancies in which numbers had been personified. From the personification of numbers we arrive by easy stages at figures seen in dreams and optic illusions till we come to a woman near Widdi- combe, who, in a fog, being asked the way by a Rural Dean, mounted on a black horse, mistook him for the Devil whom legend does in truth credit with a visit to her cottage nearly 300 years ago. These pages record a good many anomalies and absurdities on the part both of the Government and of local authorities in recent years, especially on the subject of ploughing up land and food pro- duction during the war. They give some ex- amples, also, ot war folk-lore in the making. Mr. Torr has clearly a strong distaste for our Propaganda and an equally strong impulse to throw his shield over the injured and maligned German. He pillories our " great Propaganda lie of the Destruction of Louvain," affirming the perfect safety of the Louvain Hotel de Ville ; but, while the destruction of the University Library was made much of, we do not remember that the Hotel de Ville was ever said to have been destroyed. We have a severe but very amusing account of the ' Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ' as attempted to be reconstituted in England. It is singular that the adoption of ambulance work and the invention of ' Knights of Justice,' and ' Knights of Grace,' should both have their origin in a misunderstanding of Latin. Though such excursions are well worth while, we like Mr. Torr best when he is dealing with the oddities or antiquities of Wreyland itself. Of notes on these he seems to have so large a store, and the energy displayed in .this book is so un- flagging, that we find oxirselves, upon closing it, beginning to look forward to yet a third series. JJottceS to Corregpontrente. 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, but as a guarantee of good faith. CoRBiGENDtJM : Ante, p. 358, col. 2, for " Barbara San dam " read Mary Sandam.