Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/527

 s. xii. DEC. 2G, i9oa] NOTES AND QUERIES.

K. Alexandre, in his ' Musee de la Conversa- tion,' traces the former to " Le Cuisinier Francois, par le sieur de La Varenne, escuyer de cuisine de M. le marquis d'Uxelles" (first edition, 1651, p. 40). He quotes the recipe as follows : " Give de lievre. Prenez un lievre, descoupez-le par morceaux," &c.

The phrase " Voulez- vous faire un civet, prenez un lievre," seems to be used in a similar sense (figuratively, of course) to "First catch your hare," and probably the Prince de Ligne had the French words in mind. Whether he knew the English form of the idea or not I do not know, nor am I aware of the date of the English cookery- book whence it is derived.

EDWARD LATHAM.

["First catch your hare" is commonly, but erroneously, attributed, to Mrs. Glasse, whose cookery-book was published in London in 1747.]

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S POCKET PISTOL (9 th S. xii. 368, 456). It looks very much as if this piece of ordnance had received its jocular name from her loyal people during Queen Elizabeth's lifetime. Walter Harrison in his 'New History, Description, and Survey of London,' p. 89, mentions

"a fine twisted brass cannon, twelve feet long, made in the reign of Edward VI., called Queen Elizabeth's Pocket Pistol, which the warders [i.e., of the Tower of London] tell you, by way of joke, she used to wear on her right side when she rode a-hunting."

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

La Maison de Victor Hugo. Par Arsene Alex- andre. (Hachette Cie.)

LAST year, as all worshippers are aware, was the centenary of the birth of Victor Hugo, who saw the light at Besangon on 26 February, 1802. Among the acts of homage which the occasion brought with it was the purchase of the house of Victor Hugo in the Place des Vosges, and its dedication to the French nation. At the time of Hugo's death a scheme had been formed by admirers of the poet to obtain the same edifice. This fell through at the time, only to be realized in later days, when the movement became national in character. The building in question, which belongs to the early seventeenth century, was in 1639 the property of Louis de Rohan, Prince de Guemenee. The fact is not without interest that one of the pavilions which formed part of the Hotel de Rohan-Guemenee has been indicated as the residence of Marion Delorme, the heroine of one of the best-known plays of Hugo, and even the scene of her death. It was here that Hugo wrote ' Lucrece Borgia,' ' Marie Tudor,' ' Angelo,' ' Ruy Bias,' ' Les Burgraves,' ' Les Chants du Crepuscule,' 'Les Rayons et les Ombres,' 'Les Miserables/ ' Les Contemplations,' and ' La Legende des-Siecles,' and that he received a brilliant crowd, including, to mention a few names only, Montalem-

bert, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Arago, Garibaldi, Kossuth, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Delacroix, Soult, Rachel, Mile. Mars, Frederick Lemaitre, Macready,. Guizot, Thiers, Palmerston, and royalties innumer- able. In this house which the visitor to Paris wilL do well to see, since few more interesting shrines, are in existence are collected souvenirs, many of them priceless, of the poet. From these have been, derived most of the illustrations to the present volume, which, besides being the most artistic and! beautiful of the Christmas productions of the great house of Hachette, is one of the noblest volumes that have ever been dedicated to a poet. The frontispiece consists of a reproduction of the marvellous head in crayons by Bastien Lepage, facing which on the title-page is a design by the poet of a vessel beaten by the storm. These designs abound in the volume, and constitute one of its most attractive and significant fea- tures. In many of them can be traced the most grandiose and fantastic aspects of his genius. A picture of 'La Cathedrale' is fine and impressive, and as clear cut as an etching by Rajon, and many others are conspicuous in beauty and power. Reproductions of pictures, busts, and photographs of Hugo at different stages of his. life abound. Two are taken after death. There are also portraits of Madame Hugo, of her chil- dren, and of the grandchildren who taught him Vart d'etre grandpere. Houses occupied by the poet at home or abroad, in Jersey or Guernsey, are dis- tributed through the volume, which contains also some cleverly executed caricatures, and there are a few drawings of domestic subjects by Madame Hugo. Of illustrations of the works, many are by Louis Bou- langer, two by Tony Johannot, and the remainder by Celestin Nanteuil, Brion, Cabanel, and others, including Daniel Vierge. As was to be expected,, the letterpress of M. Alexandre is sufficiently eulogistic, and we listen with respect to the state- ment that Victor Hugo contains Homer as well as Dante, and is to be compared to Shakespeare. This is not, perhaps, exactly what we should find to say, but the poet of 'La Legende des Siecles' and of 'Les Chansons des Rues et des Bois,' the inventor of Quasimodo, Jean Valjean, Esmeralda, and even Gastibelza we abstain from a mere recapitulation of names has touched almost every chord of the lyre of life and ranks with the greatest. The work now dedicated to him is worthy of its subject, and is in its exquisite binding one of the noblest and most striking of the season's productions. We can imagine no lovelier or more distinguished present to a cultured recipient, and no more attractive' addition to one's own shelves.

Slang and its Analogues. Past and Present. By John S. Farmer and W. E. Henley. Vol. VII. Part II. and Vol. I. Part I. (Privately printed.) CONCURRENTLY with the appearance of the penul- timate part of the 'Slang and its Analogues' of Messrs. Farmer and Henley comes the first part of the promised reissue of the first volume. The second part of the seventh volume carries the work up to tzing, leaving only the last six letters of the alphabet, the greater portion of which are for dictionary pur- poses virtually non-existent. The concluding part is to be immediately forthcoming, and with it a work of large and conscientious labour will be accom- plished. Our readers have been kept au courant with the book, and many of them will, to our know- ledge, be gratified with the assurance of its ap-