Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/25

 9 th S, III. JAN> 7, '99,]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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.hat of Tostig, by the Rev. W. Hunt, is one of the nost important. A short life of Tyndall, by his wife, prepares the public for the more important life in contemplation. The life of William Tyndale is by Mr. E. Irving Carlyle. Very interesting lives of Trelawny, the companion of Shelley and Byron, and of Anthony Trollope are supplied by Dr. Garnett. In addition to his medical biographies, Dr. Norman Moore deals with Mrs. Turner, among other quali- fications for a place, the murderess and the dis- coverer of yellow starch. Sir Ernest Clarke is responsible for a capital life of Tusser, and a second of Jethro Tull. Mr. Aitken writes on Jacob Torison, Mr. Thomas Bayne on President Tulloch, Mr. Henry Davey on Christopher Tye, Mr. Rigg on Sir Travers Twiss, Mr. A. F. Pollard on Cuthbert Tunstall, Prof. Laughton on Admirals Troubridge and Tryon. Mr. W. P. Courtney, Mr. Lionel Cust, Mr. C. H. Firth, Prof. Lane Poole, Mr. F. M. O'Donoghue, Miss E. Lee, and Mr. Thompson Cooper are among the contributors.

The Sportsman's Year-Booh Edited by C. S. Colman

and A. H. Windsor. (Lawrence & Bullen.) THIS book, intended to form a collection of the rules of the chief English sports and games, sprang out of ' The Encyclopaedia of Sport,' which Messrs. Lawrence & Bullen have just brought to a successful termination. The idea seems good in its class, and well, if at present tentatively, carried out. The contents of the volume are, however, not such as to appeal very directly to the majority of our readers.

An Almanack for 1899. By Joseph Whitaker, F.S. A.

( Whitaker. )

WHAT more remains to be said in favour of ' Whitaker ' ? The language of eulogy is exhausted, and the tribute accorded it now is that of constant use and of anxiety for the appearance of each succeeding number. Nobody can afford to be with- out ' Whitaker.' Once more it appears, extended in shape, though portions of the ' Historical Peerage ' have been removed en bloc to ' Whitaker's Titled Classes.' It is impossible, as Mr. Whitaker says, to fix a limit to expansion which shall be final. New features are 'The Employers' Liability Act,' ' The National Debts of the World,' and ' A Muni- cipal Directory of Scotland and Ireland.' There are also maps of Egypt, the Soudan, China, and other places in which English interests are involved. In the index alone appear 550 new entries. Of books for the desk 'Whitaker' remains, perhaps, the most indispensable.

MR. CHARLES WHIBLEY, writing in the Fort- nightly, constitutes himself the interpreter of 'Semantique or Semantics,' a word derived, it is to be supposed, from CTTJIJUIVTIKOQ, for the full sig- nificance of which as now used the reader is referred to the article. To the same source he must turn to estimate the value of the laws of " Speciality" and " Repartition." There is much that will repay read- ing in the article, though we are disposed to think of the eminent man in ' Hudibras,' who

by geometric scale

Could take the size of pots of ale ;

And wisely tell what hour o' the day

The clock does strike, by algebra.

Mr. Basil Worsfold writes on ' Charlotte Bronte,'

a propos of the recently published book upon her

and her circle, and finds reason to doubt whether

she was so universally unhappy and ill-treated as a

governess as she thought herself. He deals also with the influences upon Charlotte Bronte, among which he includes her knowledge of French litera- ture. A perusal of the ' Letters of Horace Walpole ' las developed in Mr. G. S. Street a tendency to deal in airy impertinences, quite in the style of tiis model. Prof. Max Miiller writes on ' Dean Liddell : as I knew Him,' and supplies a few Letters of remarkable interest. A piece of fine criticism is supplied by Fiona Macleod in 'A Group of Celtic Writers.' Much of it will be, however, wholly intelligible and significant to the esoteric only. It is pleasant, now that peaceful thoughts are coming once more into men's heads, to see a large space accorded to literary matters. Webster the dramatist is the subject of two articles, if they may be so called, in the Nineteenth Century. Under the heading of 'Vit- toria Accoramboni,' Miss Margaret Maitland tells the true story of the woman she holds Webster in 'The White Devil' to have misrepresented, or rather, indeed, to have outraged. The real Vittoria is, it is held, " very human." Hers is, however, but a sorry, albeit romantic story of frailty and crime. Mr. Swinburne's ' Prologue to " The Duchess of Malfy " ' does not err in any want of recognition, seeing that it bids Webster's

light of fiery fame

Endure with England's, yea, with Shakespeare'? name.

Prof. Gardner's ' Impressions of American Univer sities ' is encouraging on the whole. It deals with the question of American residents in an English university, a thing that, frequently as Americans flock to Germany, has scarcely yet been tried. Con- demnation seems implied of the familiarity between the sexes at Chicago, where boys and girls "wander about in pairs." Philandering and study, it is held, " are not compatible." In ' Savage Gods and Mysteries,' Mr. Lang, always welcome in this field, combats successfully the hypothesis that "the higher religious ideas of American and Australian savages are borrowed from missionaries." It is natur- ally impossible for us to advance Mr. Lang's argu- ments, out the whole paper deserves careful study. Mr. Joseph Jacobs supplies ' Some Recollections of Sir Edward Burne-Jones,' which show, as might be expected, in the great painter a widely varied eru- dition and also an excellent memory. Perhaps the most significant expression of Burne-Jones that is quoted is : " Whatever I do in art, even if I deal with Greek or Norse legends, I treat it in the spirit of a Celt." In 'The Alps in 1898' Mr. Reginald Hughes protests solemnly against solitary climbing. Always the most spirited and enterprising of American magazines, Scribner's has secured a series (to last through the year) of Stevenson letters, edited by Mr. Colvin. The first instalment con- sists of Stevenson's domestic correspondence during his early engineering excursions, and is illustrated by drawings from photographs by Peix- otti of Lerwick, Kirkwall, Wick, and other spots visited or dwelt in by Stevenson. The letters dated 1868 and 1869 are characteristic, and show Steven- son heartily sick of the cold, "gray, grim, sea-beaten hole " in which he was compelled to reside. The opening paper is by Col. Roosevelt upon 'The Rough - Riders,' and is accompanied by an excel- lent portrait of the Colonel. Two articles are on English military subjects, one by Capt. Cairnes on the 'British Army Manoeuvres,' a second by