Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/487

 "8. XL JUKE is, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

479

approve, however, of his suggested substitution this work of " fugitive" for "forgetive." The latter which is derived from "forge,* is a good Shake speanan word and is unquestionably right. A note p. 403, accounts for the appearance in the presen volume of the 'Characters of Dramatic Writer contemporary with Shakspeare.' Lamb's notes ar abridgments of those in the ' Specimens of Englisl Dramatic Poets,' which are to be subsequently repubhshed. It is in order that the full text o Lamb's own 1818 edition of his works may be pre served that these appear. This excuse will to mos be valid. It is worthy of comment, ct propos of the performance of ' Timon of Athens ' at Drury Lane 28 October, 1816, to which Lamb refers, that the acting edition of this was prepared by the Hon George Lamb, with whom Lamb was often con founded. In the latest and best edition of the 'Biographia Dramatica' 'Mr. H.' is attributed to the Hon. George Lambe (sic).

Among the passages now first rendered generally accessible are many of interest. It is no longer true, as Lamb says (p. 377, Appendix) a propos of Milton's 'Comus,' that it " is not well known ; and for the little renown he [Milton] may possess he is indebted to the stage." In connexion with the 'Every Day Book' and the 'Table Book' Mr Lucas has some admirable notes. He is unques- tionably right in affirming that the letter which appears in the ' Table Book ' after the fourth instalment of the Garrick plays, and has been in- cluded in some editions of Lamb, is not by him. We hope he is right in assuming that in the ' Table Book ' Lamb's hand may be traced more frequently than is generally supposed. The notes constitute, indeed, a mine of curious and interesting informa- tion, to which there is every temptation to recur. They add greatly to the value of what, so soon as it is known, will be the most popular edition of Lamb's writings.

English Literature : an Illustrated Record. Vol. I.

From the Beginnings to the Aye of Henry VIII.

By Richard Garnett, C.B., LL.D. Vol. III.

From Milton to Johnson. By Edmund Gosse,

Hon. LL.D. (Heiuemann.)

IT is superfluous to say that no history of English literature corresponding to that two volumes of which are now issued by Mr. Heinemann has previously been published. Histories of English literature, some of which are reasonably up to date, abound, and one such is at the present moment in course of reissue. Until modern days, however, a work on the scale and of the class of the present could scarcely have been published at a price that would have left a chance of a remunera- tive result. Modern reproductive processes and other recent improvements have brought within reach things that seemed possible only in fairyland, with the result that the work before us is an accom- plished or, at least, a half-accomplished fact. We have for the first time a history of literature reproducing for us in facsimile the most priceless documents in our national collections, and assign- ing the work at its outset a splendour such as few, if any, extra-illustrated products of the period of grangerizing can rival. The result of the labours that have been carried out is a complete vivitication of the subject, and the owner of the entire work will have within reach a knowledge of our literature such as the greatest " clerks ' y of past days might have envied. So far as regards the

letterpress of a work of this importance, we might

have expected to find it due to the collaboration of what in .b ranee is called une societe de gens de lettres. The publisher has, however, been bold enough to trust the compilation to two scholars of exceptional industry and erudition, with results that are, so far as our present observations extend wholly satisfactory.

Dr. Garnett is responsible for the lar^e tract between the age of Beowulf and that of Milton, while Dr. Gosse continues the labour, and links the age of Milton with that of Tennyson. Each of these writers brings to his task special qualifica- tions, and each has accomplished half his labours. Dr. Garnett s first volume extends from the " begin- nings" to the reign of Henry VIII., leaving for his subsequent volume the whole of what is generally known as the Tudor literature; while Dr. Gosse who stops at the age of Johnson, has yet to deal with the great literary renascence of the past cen- tury, the full value and significance of which are still, perhaps, but half understood. It is easy and grateful to speak of what has been accomplished, and welcome a work which, for the reader of general culture, will enlarge immensely the bounds of knowledge, and will establish, as regards the treatment of our national stores, a precedent of the utmost importance. In order justly to appraise we must wait the appearance of the remaining volumes, the last of which will contain the indis- pensable index.

An all but impossible task awaits the reviewer who seeks to convey an idea of the wealth or the importance of the illustrations. Each volume, we may premise, contains a connected history of litera- ture during the period covered, together with brief lives and appreciations of the authors men- tioned. Portraits of writers, where such are obtain- able, are furnished, together with reproductions of pages of priceless MSS. and views of spots of interest connected with an epoch and the works the production of which it witnessed. To begin with the first volume : the frontispiece of this consists of a superb coloured illustration repro- ducing a page of the priceless Ellesmere Chaucer at Bridgewater House, containing an equestrian portrait of Chaucer. Much earlier and more naive llustrations follow from the Csedmon MS. of the at Whitby Abbey and other historical monuments are reproduced, including the ruins of Lindisfarne Abbey and the famous Jewel of Alfred the Great, the subject during recent years of more than one monograph. Other pages from famous MSS. of the Ormulum.'Layamon's 'Brut,' 'The Ancren Riwle,' The Ayenbite of Inwyt,' and ' Piers Plowman ' ollow, before we come to interesting illustrations rom the early romances the leading Arthurian netrical romances belonging to the Lancelot, Per- eval, andSanctGreal cycles being, however, undis- ussed. From 'The Pearl' many admirably inter- sting illustrations are obtained. A profoundly )eautiftil coloured design of the Canterbury Pil- rims and an illuminated presentation by Lydgate f his poem to the king are among the gems of the olume. Sir John Mandeville supplies many valu- ble illustrations, and we then come to the early 3ibles, which occupy an all- important chapter, "he Scottish poets are not neglected, and a MS. Song of Welcome,' by Dunbar, to Margaret Tudor leserves special note.
 * enth century in the Bodleian. The Ceedmon cross

Vol. iii. has for frontispiece a coloured repro-