Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/368

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NOTES AND QUEEIES. [9 th s. i. APRIL so,

many conjectures. The latest editor holds it pos- sible that as the folio "was printed at the charges of four stationers, and throughout its pages proofs are abundant that the plays were set up by various groups of compositors, possibly by journeymen printers in their own homes," the blank page " may indicate nothing more than an instance of badly joined piece-work." Lilly, the second-hand book- seller, who owned more Shakspeare folios than have ever, probably, been in the possession of any other individual, made out that there were many im- portant variations we forget how many. It is not probable that so many folios as he owned will ever again be brought together. It is very desirable, however, that a collation of all the first folios that are accessible should be made by some competent scholar. To a certain extent this has been attempted. Many interesting points are raised in Dr. Furness's introduction. Matters such as the source of the play, the time occupied by the action, and the like, are given in the later part of the volume, in which also Greene's 'Dorastus and FawmV is reprinted. As in previous volumes, a selection of the principal criticisms, English, American, German, French, and Scandinavian, is supplied. Dr. Brandess work, recently published in Munich, has been for the first time available. Mr. Archer's translation appeared too late to be utilized. The difficulties that beset those dealing with Shakspeare to whom English is not the native tongue are dwelt upon in the case of this as of other works. We cannot attempt to deal with the general method of the edition, with which our readers are familiar. The readings and variations of successive editions of importance are once more given at the foot of the text, and the conjectural emendations many of them, naturally, from our own pages appear as foot-notes. Dr. Furness remains an ideal editor, and discourages, as in duty bound, the alterations for alteration s sake in which critics indulge. Each succeeding volume of this noble work adds to our gratification and delight, and the only saddening thought is that it is impossible that we i.e., the present writer can hope for many more delights of the kind.

Folk-lore. March. (Nutt.)

THE Journal of the Folk-lore Society is always pleasant reading, and hardly ever fails to contain new knowledge on the more obscure branches of the science to which it is devoted. The present is an exceptionally good number, containing as it does two articles of permanent value. The President, Mr. Nutt, treats his subject freshly in his address on ' The Discrimination of Racial Elements in the Folk-lore of the British Isles. 5 It is impossible to give anything like an analysis of its contents in the limits at our disposal, but we may remark that the author has broken new ground in several instances, and when he has not done so has discussed the sub- jects of which he treats with a calm rationality such as we have sometimes failed to observe in the writings of other skilled experts. Mr. Nutt is seldom discursive, and when for a time he passes beyond the strict limits of his science he never lets a word escape him with which the most sen- sitive can find fault. The other paper to which we would draw attention is a contribution to the folk-lore of Syria, gathered by Mr. Frederick Sessions on Mount Lebanon. It is discursive, as such things must in their nature be, but its interest Is none the less on that account, The folk-lore of

Palestine and its neighbour lands is, we regret to say, but little known as yet. We need not point out its great importance ; much has no doubt come down from the times of Judaism, and, if we are not mistaken, some of it from a far earlier period. It seems that in Syria to call a child after a relative is highly improper, because equivalent to saying, "I wish you may soon die, and this child fill your place. We do not remember that such a belief is found in Western Europe. Every one knows that to call a son after his father is, and has been for a long period, a common practice ; the genea- logies of the royal lines of Europe prove this, and the evidence is supplemented by the pedigree of almost every one of our old noble and knightly houses for example, the Maurices and Thomases among the Berkeleys are so many as to be almost past counting.

THE Clarendon Press will shortly issue the Armenian text of ' The Key of Truth, a Manual of the Paulician Church of Armenia,' edited and translated, with illustrative documents and intro- duction, by F. C. Conybeare, M.A.

Miss CATHERINE M. PHILLIMORE is about to publish, through Mr. Elliot Stock, a study on ' Dante at Ravenna.' It will treat of the less- known part of Dante's life, and will show how much the poet was influenced by the place of his residence during the closing years of his life.

$fotkes 10

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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."

JAEGER ("Shakspeare and Bacon"). The book you seek is Donnelly's ' Great Cryptogram : Bacon's Cipher in Shakespeare,' 2 vols., Sampson Low, 1888.

JOHN HEBB ("Prinzivalle di Cembino "). See 8 th S. xii. 108, 297.

CORRIGENDUM. P. 329, col. 1, 1. 37, for "North- ampton " read Bedford.

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