Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/28

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9^8.1. JAN. 1,'98.

connexion with church briefs, may be studied with advantage. The use of cot as a yerb=tw/M> is not confined to Lincolnshire and Warwickshire. Apropos of canker, many meanings of which are supplied, it may be of use to say that there was, and probably is, in Leeds a street called Caukerwell Lane, derived, we fancy, from a chalybeate spring. An interesting and a valuable article appears on cantrip. Many words for which no authority can yet be given, and some the significance of which is not yet known, are included in the prefatory matter. The first volume ends at Byzen, and the pages in Part III. which are occupied with C are so arranged as to be capable of being detached. The pagination is, how- ever, continuous, six hundred double - columned quarto pages having appeared. We can but end with commending once more this noble work to the attention and support of our readers.

Reviews and Essays in English Literature. By the

Kev. Duncan C. Tovey, M.A. (Bell & Sons.) FEW and short, for the most part, as they are, these reviews of the Cambridge Clark Lecturer cover a considerable space in English literature, extending from Sir Thomas More to Coventry Patmore. They are, as a rule, agreeable and readable rather than profound, and the first only, and perhaps the last, can justly be regarded as brilliant. For this the fact that they were written for a popular publica- tion may be held in a great measure responsible. Far away the most entertaining and also the most slashing is the first paper on the ' Teaching of English Literature,' for which a species of apology is proffered. This is unneeded. What is said is mainly just, if vigorously spoken, and our only fault is with the title, which seems rather to promise a paper on the lessons to be learnt from English literature than the manner in which it is taught. We have read all the papers on More's ' Utopia,' Fuller's 'Sermons,' Chesterfield's 'Letters,' &c. popular and attractive subjects and find but one sentence which we should like to see removed. Speaking of Foote's very indecent caricature of the wooden leg of Admiral Faulkner, Mr. Tovey says : " He was properly punished by an accident which led to the amputation of his own [leg]." This is a hard saying, and we recommend the excision of the word " properly," which is too presumptuous. Let him remember the words of Hamlet : " Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whip- ping ? "

Medieval Oxford. By H. W. Brewer. (Builder

Office.)

FEOM the Builder office we have received a finely executed and cleverly reconstituted view of Oxford as it appeared in 1510. when it was, as it now is, the loveliest of cities. It has been designed by Mr. D. Fourdrinier, and a description and key have been supplied by Mr. H. W. Brewer. To lovers of Oxford and who dares call himself otherwise ? it will ear- nestly commend itself, and it is a work which every antiquary with wall space would love to procure and keep for constant reference. The authorities for the reconstitution are given in Mr. Brewer's pamphlet.

The Campaign oj Sedan. By George Hooper.

(Bell & Sons.)

IN some respects this work marks a new departure in " Bonn's Standard Library." Good as it is and admirably as it fulfils its purpose, Mr. Hooper's work cannot yet claim to rank as standard. It gaw

the light but ten years ago, and deals with events with which all but the youngest of our readers are familiar, and it is now issued with no alterations or additions except a most serviceable index. It has, like the original edition, maps, by aid of which the reader can study closely the progress of what is called " the thirty days' campaign." Never, surely, was a short month fraught with issues so tremendous with results, after the full significance of which we are still groping. More knowledge of Avar than we can claim is requisite to grasp fully the progress of events, or the manner in which the French were outwitted, out-manoeuvred, conquered, and captured. Very little effort would, however, be necessary to appreciate the scientific beauty of the whole, and the story is at least told in a manner that renders it impossible to quit the work till Sedan has sur- rendered and the great wind-bag of the Second Empire has been pricked. Bacon, Swift, Defoe, and Goethe may marvel at the companionship into which they are being brought. To the reading public, how- ever, this volume will be neither the least interesting nor the least valuable of the " Standard Library."

Norse Tales and Sketches. By Alexander L. Kiel- land. Translated by R. L. Cassie. (Stock.) ON the first appearance of these Heine-like sketches we spoke in warm approval of their rather fantastic teaching and their humour (see 8 th S. xi. 80). They now, in a cheap edition, appeal to and will doubtless secure a wider public.

ME. E. W. PREVOST, Ph.D., of Newnham, Gloucestershire, promises by subscription a ' Glos- sary of Cumberland Words and Phrases,' issued in connexion with the * English Dialect Dictionary ' of Profs. Wright and Skeat. It consists of a re-edited and enlarged edition of Dickinson's ' Glossary of Cumberland Words and Phrases,' first published by the English Dialect Society. Intending subscribers may communicate directly with Dr. Prevost.

We must call special attention to the following notices :

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate."

JEKMYN (" Man eats the fruit," &c.). This is the last line of a poem which appeared in the Spectator, 1 Nov., 1891. See ' N. & Q.,' 8 th S. ix. 409; x. 19.

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