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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. I. FEB. 5, '98.

with a little badinage. "Je vous embrasse" rendered in English "much love to you "is the ordinary conclusion of a letter to Flaubert. Address- ing George Sand, he ends, " He [Flaubert] loves you dearly, and I, too, love you dearly, and I kiss your dear hand, and am for ever Your faithful Iv. Tour- gueneff." The letters from Russia are few, since, so soon as he braved the rigours of his own climate, Tourgueneff seems to have been tortured with gout. They are principally from his Paris residence, from Bougival, or from Carlsbad, whither he often betook himself to drink the waters. An idea of the letters can scarcely be given without quotations, for which we have no space. The book, indeed, is one to be read, not criticized. To those interested in literature it may be warmly commended. The translation, issued under favourable conditions, is quite excellent.

The English Catalogue of Books for 1897. (Sampson

Low & Co.)

THE latest issue of this catalogue on the value of which it is superfluous to insist contains fourteen hundred more titles than the catalogue of the pre- vious year, and is twelve pages thicker than that volume. A conspicuous portion of the increase is in works dealing with politics and commerce. In fiction, theology, and education there is also an advance. The present volume claims to be the sixtieth, or Diamond Jubilee, of the Publishers' Circular. It gives all the books published up to the last week in December, and is another instal- ment of the only continuous record of the books published in Great Britain during the last sixty-one years. Those who observe the few and simple instructions for use that are inserted in the volume will have no difficulty in learning all that is to be learnt concerning the past year's publications. A set of these catalogues constitutes a valuable pos- session to all interested in letters.

Saint George. The Journal of the Ruskin Society

of Birmingham. No. I. January. (Stock.) THIS is the first issue of what is meant to be a quarterly journal devoted to the study of Ruskin's works and kindred subjects. We think that the admirable reproduction of the portrait of Ruskin, painted by Herkomer, will induce many people who are not members of the Society to purchase a copy of this number. Whether it will pay as a magazine we are doubtful, but are glad to see the experiment tried. It is exceedingly well got up, and some of the articles in it are of wide general interest. We think the best thing in the number is ' The Ideal Women of the Poets,' by the Dean of Ely; but there is a very thoughtful and suggestive notice of ' William Morris,' by Aynier Vaflance, though we are distinctly told that it is not a "life" in the ordinary sense of the word. Saint George repro- duces three illustrations from the volume.

PERHAPS the most interesting article in the January number of the English Historical Review is a series of letters from Richard Cromwell. The originals are in the possession of the Rev. R, E. Warner, Stoke Rectory, Grantham, and the Rev. T. Cromwell Bush, both of whom are descendants of Richard Cromwell. They begin before 1676, and the last one is dated 1708. They throw little light on historical questions, but present a pleasing pic- ture of the man himself. Evidently he was always very careful that nothing in his correspondence or conduct should draw down upon him or his rela-

tions any especial attention. It has been said he was at heart a Royalist ; but in spite of all the care taken never to allude to the past or to public matters, the writer every now and then seems to give indications that this was not the fact. On 27 January, 1699, he is writing to his daughter Elizabeth Cromwell, and, in alluding to a present of a turkey and chine that he had received, he says, ' ' I intend to make a Royal Feast on the Royal day in snight of the hangman that burnt the covenant. Is this an allusion to 30 January ? In another letter to the same daughter, written in the August follow- ing, he says, " I pray God England's professours doe not loose the oldT serious Pure tan spirret."

THE January number of the Reliquary is very good. All the articles in it are of interest, but we are especially pleased with Mr. H. Swainson Cowper's Some Old-fashioned Contrivances in Lakeland'; it is fully illustrated, and by this means the appearance of the object is brought home to every one ; mere description fails to do so, except- ing in cases where readers have some knowledge upon the point already. The horse patten is most curious, as is also the wooden mortar. We should advise readers of the Reliquary who know where such objects as are here treated of yet remain to send notes upon them to the author of the article. Mr. Edward Lovett gives us a third paper upon ' Tallies '; this time he deals with beer and labour tallies, and his paper is full of interest. We trust that when he has dealt with the subject exhaustively in the pages of the Rdiqiwtry he will see his way to republish the matter in volume form. There is a very good note upon ' Irish Rushlight Candlesticks,' illustrated, and also one upon the 'Sundial at Lelant Church, Cornwall.' It is a very curious one, having a figure of Death in pierced work on the gnomon of the dial. The Reliquary is rapidly coming to the front as the best antiquarian maga- zine of the day. We wish it could be issued monthly.

Ijfotos to &jwm$fm'bmh.

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