Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/488

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. xn. DEC. 12, 1903.

it is intended to publish will possess a singularl fine and representative collection. The Dutcl and English schools seem likely to occupy the most space. In the former we shall afford a special welcome to the ' Dutch Courtyard ' o De Hooghe, from the National Gallery, with it customary and indescribable atmospheric effects.

THE strange and fascinating personality of Hecto Berlioz forms the subject of the most interesting and valuable contribution in the Fortnightly. Much is known concerning this self-educated musician but it is always delightful to read about him. On one of the saddest occasions ever chronicled, Heine -said to him, with a sigh, "Ah! Berlioz, you were always original " ; and so, indeed, he was. If no jaew story is told concerning the musician, many pleasant things are recalled to the memory, and are welcome. Mr. Garstaug deals with * The Love
 * 8ongs of a Bygone Day.' What is said is right

enough, but we find our author speaking with some- thing like an apology not only of Wither, but ol Herrick. In his ' D'Annunzio's "LeLaudi" 3 Mr. J. C. Bailey speaks eloquently concerning the Italian poet's gift of language. In the Nineteenth Century Mr. R. Boswprth Smith, continuing a series of bird studies previously begun, undertakes the defence and rehabilitation of the magpie. His task is, it is to be feared, hopeless. Lovers of bird life will always regard with affection the magpie and the jay, but these creatures will, until we reach a time when we are more human or less ignorant, be the objects of the special aversion of the gamekeeper. .Many interesting stories of the bird are told, ing the efforts of the male bird to secure a mate to bring up his offspring after his chosen partner has been shot. Quite insatiable is, however, the .greed of slaughter of man, while the vanity and absence of imagination of woman are not less destructive in effect. In ' A Visit to the Wise Woman of Lisclogher' Mrs. Greville-Nugent pre- serves some interesting bits of folk-lore. ' English Style and some French Novels ' may be read with interest. Lady Sarah Wilson describes in the Pall Mall a six weeks' incursion into North-Western Rhodesia, a part of the world in which Lady Sarah, without being a pessimist, sees trouble ahead. ' The Rebuilding of London ' has some good views of the City by Hedley Fiston. Mr. Ernest M. Jessop sends an account, with illustrations from photo- graphs, of Lansdowne House. In his 'Master Workers ' Mr. Harold Begbie gives an account of Mr. John Morley, whose portrait, with a couple of dogs, is affixed. An anecdotal account of the latest Pope is also supplied, together with views of his unpretending domestic surroundings. Lady Broome, in the Comhill, continues her colonial reminiscences. It is curious to find that in New .Zealand, as in England, servants constitute the greatest plague of life. Mr. Mortimer Menpes writes on 'Whistler the Purist,' and speaks from the depth of a close personal intimacy. Had his fami- liarity with his subject been less we should have been disposed to question some of the estimate formed of Whistler the man. Mr. Godley's * Lines written in Depression ' are very humorous. The Rev. W. H. Hutton has a judicious paper on Samuel Rawson Gardiner. In The Grouse and the Gun- Koom Mr. Alexander Innes Shand seems to promise the story told by Squire Hardcastle, the absence of which we constantly deplore. It proves, however,
 * and some sad experiences are narrated concern-

to be no such matter. Mr. W. A. Shenstone writes of 'Ferments and Fermentation.' Dealing with Mr. Whibley's ' Thackeray,' Mr. Andrew Lang advances some instances of contradictory state- ments, and offers a capital defence of the great novelist 'against modern precepts of criticism. Dr. Launcelot Dowdall sends to the Gfentlematfs an interesting 'Chapter on Names,' which forms a valuable summary of a great subject. Col. Los- combe's * Jamaica Wit and Wisdom ' contains some folk-lore speech. Mr. John T. Curry gives an esti- mate of Abraham Cowley, and Mr. H. S. Clapham one of Francois Villon. Mr. Philip Sidney writes on 'History in Fiction.' In 'At the Sign of the Ship,' in Longman's, Mr. Andrew Lang is instruc- tive concerning the relation between reviewers and the reviewed. The subject is inexhaustible. It is, however, deftly handled. Among other miscel- lanea he quotes a wonderful beginning of a novel. If Mr. Lang wants it, we will give him another, far more startling, but not quite quotable. The general effect of the number is very bright. In a pleasant list of contents the Christmas Idler has a characteristic story of M. Anatole France. With a very gay cover, depicting the bearing of the boar's head and the playing of ancient music, Scribner's for December is emphatically a Christmas number. It has many coloured illustrations, the most attractive of which are the pictures of * Holland from the Stern of a Boeier. 3 Views of Buda and Pest are not in colours, but are ample and very effective. In the Atlantic Monthly appear a further instalment of Sir Leslie Stephen's 'Journalism ' and a deeply interesting article, by Mr. George P. Baker, on ' Some Recent Books on the Elizabethan Drama.'

$oticts is C0r:fspanfoBts.

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NASCOT LAWN ("La Tentation de Saint An- oine"). We suppose you refer to Gustave Flau- aert's book so entitled, but many writers have lealt with the subject.

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