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NOTES AND QUEEIES. [9 th s. xn. NOV. 7, 1903.

illustrations, a series of books which may well find a conscientious reader with pabulum for the winter, and brings within his ken more strongly marked and recognizable characters than are to be found anywhere else outside Shakespeare. The appear- ance of the books fits them to be placed on the shelves, but the epicure may obtain the volumes in handsome bindings at a slight additional cost.

IN the Fortnightly Mr. G. K. Chesterton under- takes the defence of ' The Political Poetry of Mr. William Watson.' He holds that Mr. Watson's poetry is English, just as Walt Whitman's is American. Almost any view concerning poetry may be de- fended from some point or other ; but Mr. Chester- ton's paradox does not specially commend itself. Mr. Andrew Lang, in ' Tribe and Family,' leans at length, with various qualifications, to the Dar- winian theory of the origin of marriage. Whatever he says on questions of the kind is worth reading, though he as far from being conclusive or positive as he is in dealing with the historical mysteries he affects. Mr. Lewis Melville writes agreeably enough on * Thackeray as a Reader and Critic of Books,' and Count Rusconi, on ' The Alfieri Cen- tenary,' deals with the singular romance between the great Italian dramatist and the Countess of Albany. Woman occupies more than her due share in the non-controversial or political portion of the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Marriott Watson shows first 'The Deleterious Effect of Americanization upon Woman.' The American woman is more than independent, "she is anarchical/'' Once more our author declares that "the defects of American civilization are such as derogate from the virility of men and the fecundity of women.'' Mrs. Ady furnishes a pleasing contrast by depicting for us ' The Ladies of the Italian Renaissance,' as exhibited by the late De Maulde la Claviere. Mary L. Breakell, meanwhile, deals with ' Women in the Medical Profession.' Lord Burghclere translates, in mellifluous verse, ' The Story of Aristceus ' from the ' Georgics ' ; and " Newcastle journalism ! ' is once more on the war-path, this time as regards Dickens. A real conversation in the Pall Mall Mayar.tne between Mr. William Archer and Mr. Sidney Lee is accompanied by a good portrait of Mr. Lee. The interviewed scholar maintains that the Americans are far from being such believers in the Bacon-Shakespeare theory as is supposed this side of the Atlantic, and holds that there is nothing like spending a few months in America for teach- ing the futility "of some of our stock jokes at their expense/' Mr. Meynell's article on James McAeill Whistler is accompanied by many admir- able designs, one of which, a ' Street at Saverne ' serves as frontispiece. M r. William Hyde's 'Autumn near London is illustrated by the author in views which attain some fine atmospheric effects. Mr. William Sharp sends a second study of the English lakes under the heading 'Literary Geography ' Mrs. Richmond Ritchie contributes to the Conihill a further instalment (No. vii.) of 'The Blaokstick Papers.' At the risk of being held non-receptive or even stupid, we must confess that the witticisms attributed in it to Miss Horace Smith strike us as very poor. That she was a dear, sweet old lady we are prepared to accept ; that her sayings illustrate that enchanting, evanescent thing, good talk " is another matter. The author of ' Provincial Letters ' writes from Hertfordshire, and seems to reveal herself as feminine, a matter for which, for reasons

of our own, we are thankful. * Midnight in Cloud- land ' records an interesting experiment in nocturnal ballooning. Some verses of Mrs. Charlotte Smith give specimens of the poems of a not very inspired, and now forgotten poetess. A paper appears on 'Chateaubriand and his English Neighbours.' In the Gentleman's Prof. Foster Watson writes on ' Schoolmaster Followers of Bacon and Comenius,' and Mr. M. Turnbull on 'Two Delineators of Wessex,' who are Thomas Hardy and William Barnes. ' An Eccentric Leader of Society ' is the late Lady Cork, concerning whom much more might be told. In addition to his 'At the Sign of the Ship,' which deals de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis. Mr. Andrew Lang, the most indefatigable of men, has in Longman's a good article on 'The Nemesis of Froude,' a subject on which enough seems now to have been said.

AN admirably representative series of designs by Phil May is issued as a supplement to the Pall Mall Magazine.

As a supplement to the Clarendon Press fac- simile reproduction of the Shakespeare Folios, Mr. Sidney Lee will publish facsimile reproductions of 'Pericles,' 1609; 'Venus and Adonis,' 1593; 'Lucrece,' 1594; the 'Sonnets,' 1609; and 'The Passionate Pilgrim,' 1599, the poetical miscel- lany which, though containing poems by other hands, was attributed to Shakespeare by its first editor. These constitute all the works of Shake- speare not comprised in the First Folio. Those possessing any of these works are invited to com- municate with Mr. Lee at 108, Lexham Gardens, Kensington.

otitt& ict &0n*s#0Btots.

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G. GILBERT ("Story of the Willow - Pattern Plate"). See the Family Friend, vol. i. p. 124 (Houlston & Stoiieman).

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