Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/165

 9* S. III. FEB. 25, '99.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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.rations to the block-book are little more than enlarged copies of designs belonging to the earlier ,vork of the Master E. S. A history of copperplate jngraving becomes now for the first time possible. [t is suggested that many engravings on wood or netal, which, "from their rude method of execution, lave been attributed to the infancy of the art, are merely unskilful copies of better engravings," and i question is raised whether wood engraving is to a jertainty anterior in date to copper, as has been generally assumed. Expert knowledge such as we }o not claim, and investigations for which we have not leisure, are necessary in order to pronounce an opinion upon the subject, and the view has to be put forth on the authority of Dr. Lehrs and Mr. Gust. Our own task is accomplished in in- troducing the work to our readers, and praising the beauty of the execution, worthy in all respects of the noble Clarendon Press, of which scholars and book-lovers are alike proud.

Manual of the Hi-story of French Literature. By Ferdinand Brunetiere. Translated by Ralph Derechef. (Fisher Unwin.)

A TRANSLATION of this brilliant and paradoxical work of M. Ferdinand Brunetiere, whose theatrical criticisms a decade ago repaid attention in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and who has since been elected to the Academic, cannot be otherwise than attrac- tive and remunerative to English readers. That it is impossible within the limits of a few hundred pages, however closely printed, to give a complete and satisfactory account of a literature beginning with chansons de geste, fabliaux, and romans de la Table-Ronde, and ending with the works of " him that did but yesterday suspire," is obvious. Quite ample is the space for the purpose of sustain- ing a theory of evolution such as every new historian of a literature is bound to regard as a portion of his equipment. This M. Brunetiere has done with characteristic brightness^ in a work now, we believe, first introduced to English readers. The work itself, it is but justice to say, is put forward as the "programme" of a more exhaustive and detailed ' History,' which, if thoroughly carried out, may well occupy a lifetime and assume ency- clopaedic proportions. Its form is novel, and not wholly commendable. While about half the page is occupied with a running comment upon the literature of a given epoch or "literary period," the under portion, in smaller type, supplies infor- mation, ample and unmistakably useful, on matters such as editions and authorities. Why we pro- nounce this scheme as carried out not wholly com- mendable is because the upper and lower portions do not always synchronize, if one may so speak ; and while reading the text we have to turn back- ward or forward to seek such information as is supplied in the form of comment. There is, more- over, no index, such being held, apparently, need- less in a work written under these conditions. M. Brunetiere must necessarily be justified in substituting literary periods for centuries. Yet centuries are convenient, and, what is more im- portant, familiar ; and we like, when possible, to conform to recognized systems, and not to suppose that at our bidding the world will forget other books in favour of ours, and adopt new sequences or systems. After all, too, centuries have a phy- siognomy of their own. It was not for nothing that the period of Erasmus and Rabelais was that practically of Martin Luther. With us the seven-

teenth century is as distinguishable from the six- teenth as it is from the eighteenth, and the eighteenth century, dismissing its lurid close, is recognizable all the world over. The nineteenth century has, moreover, in England at least, a physiognomy which, while not yet outside it, we are able to recognize. M. Brunetiere would date his periods from literary events, the appearance of the ' Lettres Provinciates ' and that of the ' Genie duChristianisme.' The division is like another. How many people in France will that satisfy ? It will satisfy none here. We suppose that he would in England take the ' Faust ' of Marlowe as marking the beginning of a literary period ; and in that case we should not quarrel with him. Most people would, however, substitute a play of Shakspeare for one of Marlowe. Many of M. Brunetiere's utterances are wise as well as epigrammatic. We think him at his best in dealing with the period from the ' Lettres Persanes ' to the publication of the ' Encyclopedic.' What he says concerning Marivaux is good, and concerning Montesquieu excellent. Here is a note- worthy phrase about Beranger and others : " While Beranger, for example, was laboriously rhyming such songs as ' La Bonne Vieille ' or ' Le Dieu des Bonnes Gens 'masterpieces, it may be, but master- pieces in what would be the lowest branch of writing if the vaudeville did not exist," &c. Our author is very fond, moreover, of asking questions : "Is not this the place to recall?" &c. He is more strongly concerned with the message, ethical or theological, of literature than are most French- men ot the day. His work extorts our admira- tion by its brilliancy. We are not prepared to accept its judgments en masse or its conclusions. The task of translation seems well accomplished, so far as giving the meaning of the writer. Inaccurate English forms of speech are, however, too fre- quently employed.

The Church Towers of Somersetshire. By E. Piper, R.P.E. With Introduction, &c., by John Lloyd Warden Page. Parts VIII. and IX. (Bristol, Frost & Reed.)

GOOD progress is being made with this handsome and important work on ' The Church Towers of Somersetshire,' which worthily maintains its repu- tation as one of the best and handsomest books of its class. Mr. Piper's two etchings in Part VIII. consist of the two neighbouring towers of St. Michael's, Dundry, and St. Andrew's, Chew Magna. The former tower is at once, from its height, its strength, and its elegance, one of the most con- spicuous in the county. Standing on a hill 768 feet high Mr. Page says 790 its appearance is most commanding, while from the summit of the tower, itself a hundred feet high, as the visitor knows, the look-out, seaward and landward, is very wide, extending from the Malverns to the Wilt- shire Hills, and from the Quantocks to the coast of South Wales, with the Severn river and the Channel, Bath and Bristol, all in sight. The tower itself, erected by the Merchant Venturers of Bristol, is exquisite in grace, and the lacework

of the parapet and the clustering pinnacles sug- gest to the traveller memories of Milan. While less impressive than its neighbour, and much less prominent, the tower of Chew Magna Church has beauties of its own, which the design admirably reproduces. Both churches have undergone rather elaborate restoration, which, though in the main carefully carried out, is not always satisfactory.