Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/307

 ,9* s. xii. OCT. 10, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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pensate for the neglect of Irish local history till then experienced, and indicated the special diffi- culties that impeded the historian. Since that time something has been done towards the publica- tion of Irish documents, but much leeway must be made up before Ireland, as regards local histories, stands upon the same plane with the sister king- doms. During the long period that has since elapsed new information, " partly, but to no great extent, affecting lands ; but generally relating to persons," has been received from the United Kingdom and America, and has been incorporated into the text or the appendices to the work. The preface dwells rather sadly upon the indis- putable fact that more interest is taken in a book of this class in America than at home, and upon the- probability that, owing to modern legis- lation, "the parts of the two manors held by agricultural tenants will pass into their hands. During the long period that separates the two editions Lord Belmore has. in addition to various articles contributed to the Ulster Journal ofArchcuo- logy, published two works kindred in nature, ' The History of the Corry Family of Castlecoole' and ' Parliamentary Memoirs of Fermanagh and Tyrone.' The additions incorporated in the text are prin- cipally in chap, ii., on James, John, and Robert Lowry, Sen., 1665-1729. Rectifications are also made in chaps, i. and x. New pedigrees are added, always a matter of high importance in works of this class; portraits of Col. James Corry, M.P. for Fer- managh, ob. 1718, and Col. John Corry, M.P. for Enniskillen, ob. 1726, are inserted ; and there are some autograph facsimiles. Lord Belmore traces patiently the history of his domains by the aid of his own deeds and documents, and gives us a work which, in its avoidance of conjecture, sets an ex- ample to the compiler of local history and genea- logical record. More familiarity with Irish history than most can claim is necessary to estimate aright the value of the whole, and even that of the bio- graphical details. The Irish names quoted p. 84 . and passim are the most jaw-breaking to be en- countered, and would, indeed, "have made Quin- samples : Alltnedeaghserough, Loughanaskeaghan, Coraghokeelaugh. Among the new appendices is one on the family of Corrie in Dumfriesshire. A list of pictures at the present time at Castlecoole includes portraits by Lely of the first Duke oi Richmond and Louise de Querouaille (catalogued in error " Queronaille"), Duchess of Portsmouth. Other portraits of more than domestic interest are mentioned. The book naturally appeals to a limitec public, but is precious in many respects. The matter retained contains the best account yet given of the famous Beresford ghost story. A good por trait of the Earl of Belmore, dated 1903, serves as frontispiece.
 * tilian stare and gasp." Here are two or three

A Descriptive Guide to the Best Fiction, English ana American. By Ernest A. Baker, M.A. (Sonnen schein & Co.)

1 CONTRIBUTIONS to a Descriptive Guide,' &c., wouk be a better title for Mr. Baker's book than that it bears. The book is all very well so far as it goes but it does not go far enough. It is inevitable tha a work of this class should be inadequate on its first appearance, but the omissions we trace are sufficient to deprive it of authority. In a book tha gives some of the novels of Aphra Behn we look fo: .those of Eliza Hay wood. We miss favourites o

ur own immediately recalled, such as Hood's Tylney Hall ' and Westland Marston's ' A Lady n her Own Right,' and find no mention of the works of Win wood Reade. In cases where informa- ion is supplied, as under Barclay or Voltaire, it 3 inadequate. As regards the ' Argenis ' of the ormer, it is ten years out in date ; no mention s made of a translator, nor is it said that it s written in Latin. On the other hand, recent ranslations of Balzac and other writers are given .t some length. The book does not claim to be a )ibliography. We trace no work of the Baron de a Motte-Fouque", not even the immortal 'Undine.'

Selections from the Poems of George Crabbe. By

Anthony Deane. (Methuen & Co.) A SELECTION from the works of Crabbe will answer requirements of most readers. Byron, with whimsical exaggeration, called him " Though nature's sternest painter, yet the best." Interest

n him is, we are told, revived, and as a proof of it we have now two hundred and fifty pages from

The Parish Register,' 'The Borough,' 'Tales of


 * he Hall,' c., included in "The Little Library" of

Messrs. Methuen.

The Scottish Historical Beview. Vol. I. No. 1.

(Glasgow, MacLehose & Sons.) [N this attractive guise the Scottish Antiquary, established in 1886, will henceforth make its appear- ance. It is much extended from its original shape, but will cover the same wide field of history, archaeology, and literature, with special reference to Scotland and the Borders. It has a formidable list of names of writers pledged to assist in its produc- tion, including very many of those most pleasantly and appro vedly familiar to our readers. Accepting, as we may, the opening number as representative of those to follow, we predict for the new quarterly a prosperous, useful, and enduring life. Prof. Walter Raleigh supplies the opening paper on 'The Lives of Authors.' Among the works dealt with in this are, naturally, the lives written by Izaak Walton, Aubrey's 'Brief Lives,' Wood's ' Athense Oxonienses,' and others of a similar date, down to Gibber's (Theophilus) 'Lives of the Poets.' It must be remembered that this work, the prin- cipal responsibility for which is attributed to Robert Shields, belongs, so far as the Gibbers are con- cerned, to Theophilus, the son, and not to Colley, the father. Portraits of Aubrey, Walton, and Wood are given, as well as Aubrey's interesting book-plate. Winstanley and Gerard Langbaine are mentioned duly, but the recognition accorded to the * Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum ' of Edward Phillips, the nephew of Milton, is but lukewarm. ' Lislebourg and Petit Leith ' is an interesting article. We wonder how many are aware that Lislebourg was a French name for Edinburgh, and was sometimes used by Mary, Queen of Scots. This is accompanied by the reproduction of an early plan of Edinburgh. Two theories equally ingenious are supplied for the use by the French to the words Lisleboury and Petit Leith. Dr. Law, the writer, leans to the idea that the original name may have been Leith-le-bourg, altered to Lisse-le-bourg, and finally to Lislebourg. Mr. Lang sends a short note embodying a letter from William Stewart to the Regent, 5 Aug., 1569. Mr. W. Law Mathieson point out errors in Hill Burton, the Scottish his- torian. There is a short article on 'Old Oaths and Interjections,' and Mr. J. T. T. Brown writes