Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/487

 9 th S. II. DEC, 10, 'OS.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

479

We are not disposed to enter upon the question of the existence of Arthur. Sir James knows as well as we that Nennius, and not Gildas, is the historical source, if such exists, and that the accepted views of Arthur present him as the nephew of Ambrosius Aurelianus. Indulgence is claimed for the view that Claudia, the wife of Pudens, celebrated by Martial, may have been the daughter of the hero Caractacus. The question is also raised whether Pudens and Claudia, mentioned by St. Paul as send- ing greeting to Timothy, " Salutant te Eubulus, et Pudens, et Linus, et Claudia, et fratres omnes" (2 Tim. iv. 21), can be the same as the Claudia and Pudens of Martial. In matters such as Celtic swords, of which illustrations are given, the 'Ancient Bronze Implements' of Sir John Evans is followed. Sir John is also an authority for Celtic antiquities. Rhys' s 'Celtic Britain' and his Hibbert Lectures have been frequently consulted in the early chapters, and especially concerning Celtic worship. A for- midable list of authorities is given at the end of the first volume. These Sir James has used wisely and well. As he advances in his task he has, neces- sarily, to use the Record Office publications, the importance of which is not to be over-estimated. In his sixth chapter Sir James deals with the dis- appearance of the ninth Roman legion, known as the York legion. This he holds was presumably " used up in petty warfare, perhaps finally over- thrown in some sudden catastrophe." Some few sentences are devoted to the fact that during the later days of Roman occupation and subsequently the landed gentry up to the oanks of the Clyde called themselves by Latin names and spoke Latin. It is held again that a Christian church existed in Britain so early as the year 300. Under the reign of Edward the Confessor we hear a good deal of Macbeth, or Macbeth mac Finlay, and the murder of Duncan, and also of Malcolm Canmore. The most animated portions of the work, and the most readable, consist of the account of the Norman invasion and the incidents generally depicted in the Bayeux tapestry. Sir James's sympathy for Harold is strong, and he is consequently severe in his judgment of William. His consent to the execution of Waltheof is declared to be "the meanest and most discreditable act of an unlovely life." In the summary of William's character he is called " a most masterful man of blood and iron," and again it is said, " He was a man more hated than loved, and probably even more feared than hated." Dealing with the death of William Rufus, Sir James contrives to burden Shakspeare with an impossible line :

With all his horrible imperfections on his head. The character of William Rufus is admirably depicted.

We have touched incidentally upon a few points in this fine and magisterial work. With equal ease might we have selected hundreds of other points of no less interest and value. It is impossible in a review to do justice to a work so monumental. We content ourselves with recommending it to our readers as broad in view, interesting in perusal, and encyclopaedic in information.

The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Edited by Temple Scott. Vols. III. and IV. (Bell & Sons.)

THE third and fourth volumes of the convenient and authoritative edition of Swift which, under

the competent supervision of Mr. Temple Scott, is being added to "Bohn's Standard Library," consist of Swift's ' Writings on Religion and the Church.' Readers of 'N. & Q.' are not likely to be led by this title to expect an addition to the huge and not always too edifying mass of formal theology. Eminently controversial are Swift's religious works, and the author presents himself more frequently as a pamphleteer than as a parson, and is more in- terested in discipline than in dogma. Tlie so-called religious writings are, however, a characteristic and an important portion of Swift's baggage, and, though dealing with a state of affairs which the close student alone can realize, may still be read with interest. Swift's style is in itself an unending delight, and the study of his pessimism is sure to attract or repel, never to leave the reader indifferent. The quaint title-pages of Swift are in some cases reprinted from the fine collection of tracts of Col. Grant. Each of the volumes has, moreover, a portrait of Swift one from a picture by Francis Bindon in the possession of Sir F. R. Falkiner, the second from another by the same artist at Howth Castle. Those who wish to enjoy afresh Swift's humour, satire, and wonderful polemical subtlety cannot do better than reread his abstract of Collins's 'Discourse of Freethink- ing,' which is less known than his scathing invective' against Burnet in his preface to ' The B p of S y's Introduction,' &c.

To the Fortnightly Mr. Andrew Lang supplies an estimate of Charles Dickens, which is also con- tributed to the "Gadshill" edition of Dickens'a works issued by Messrs. Chapman & Hall. It is an excellent piece of work, and we find ourselves in accord with most of the writer's decisions. Against the assertion often made that Dickens could not depict a gentleman, Mr. Lang advances Pickwick, asking, If Pickwick is not a gentleman, who is ? This is all very well ; but it evades the point. The same might doubtless be said of either of the Brothers Cheeryble, who are nature's gentlemen. This is not what the slanderers of Dickens for Mr. Lang holds the assertion a slander meant. The excesses in " the bowl" in which Pickwick and other characters indulge are "to be taken in a Pickwickian sense." This, again, is right ; but the constant drinking in Dickens impairs the value of his work. Mr. St. George Stock supplies a very readable paper upon ' The Diary of the Bishop of Killalla.' The 'Narrative of Killalla by an Eye- witness ' of Dr. Stock, presumably an ancestor of the writer, is a document of historical value. Dr. Stock himself is a pleasing and, on the whole, a conspicuous figure. Mr. and Mrs. Pennell send a readable and an important article on ' The Centenary of Lithography,' which may be supposed to date from the discovery, in 1798, t>y Aloys Sen ef elder of flat-surface printing. ' A Vindication of Vedanta,' by "A Student in Vedanta," aims at refuting the assertions of Dr. Cro/ier. The pleasantest con- tribution to the Nineteenth Century is 'French Views of an English University,' by Mrs. Margaret L. Woods. It is satisfactory to find that intelligent Frenchmen are as much struck by the moral atmo- sphere pervading Oxford and Cambridge colleges as by the beauty of the places. As regards the senti- mental relations of English men and women, Mrs. Woods fears the French observer has been imposed upon "by the stiff-collared hypocrite of a young Briton," of whom she again speaks as a scandalous