Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/425

 gt S. III. MAY 27, '99.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

419

Mr. Newman maintains, "a man of high spirit md wenerous sympathies, acutely sensitive both to is wn miseries and those of others, but quite ica >able of thinking any social problem out, or of

y anything more than offer the most a priori ^ 'ions of it." In his method of dealing with rot lems of the philosophy of history he merely eel lims a number of pseudo-propositions that ex- )laii simply nothing. "No one with a grain of ihil >sophical ability will set about the business he annulling of the State, &c.] in the manner of Vainer, retailing empty platitudes instead of rguing, verbalizing instead of thinking, and mu idering for pages together about those precious itiiies 'the State,' 'Society,' and 'the individual.'" propos of a letter to Roeckel Mr. Newman says : The man who is capable of a performance of this ,ncl had really better leave metaphysics alone ; ie begins to wonder whether he did not see some- ing rather profound in the multiplication table or . Euclid's 'Elements.'" All these forcible utter- nces or heresies, as the Wagnerite will call them re written concerning ' The Ring of the Nibelung.' ^e have nothing whatever to say upon this ques- on. Music, except so far as regards its history, s antiquities, and similar matters, does not )me under our ken, nor do we claim a right or a ipacity to speak on the subject. We like, how- l-er. the vigour and outspokenness of Mr. New- Ian s work, which must have already "fluttered the bvecotes," if such there be, of Wagnerian circles. I/ may be that Wagner, when he dealt with the [ibelungen Lied, was under the most pathetical illusion when he thought that he was contributing iiythingof the slightest value to the intellectual store f the race. It is at least certain that views such 1 the praise that is bestowed witness the eulogy ! 'Parsifal,' in which, in regard to the imaginative pects of his art, the touch is said to be "quite lierring." Those of our readers who are inter- ted in music will turn to the book without our dding. It is a work that none can afford to is admirable in all typographical respects.
 * i these will not pass unchallenged. Equally high
 * glect. Like other books issued by Mr. Dobell,

\odern England before the Reform Bill. By Justin McCarthy, M.P. (Fisher Unwin.) j: the present volume, and in a second by which is to be succeeded, Mr. McCarthy aims at giving something like a picture " of social and political velopment in England during the present century ther than a chronicle and a record. In this effort has succeeded. Like his ' History of Our Own ies,' the present volume is luminous, interest- and impartial. From what point of view McCarthy writes most are aware. We know, wever, few writers so fair in statement and sc oiassed as he, and few whose opinions command re respect. His style is admirable in lucidity, 1 far superior to that of most writers of the day. is but a glimpse that he gives us, the scheme oi work admitting of no more, but it is a sketch which dimensions and perspective are admirably served. Quite excellent ai-e the portraits of the ee monarchs : George III., George IV., anc lliam IV., much fairer and more convincing than >se furnished by writers of accepted authority n by Thackeray. Of George IV. Mr. McCarthy s : "It is out of all reason to suppose that sucl n as Fox and Sheridan could have clung to the npanionship of a mere worthless profligate simplj

>ecause he happened to be a Prince Regent or a ing." A model of justice is the appreciation f George III. Not one whit exaggerated is the )opular mistrust and hatred of the then Duke of Cumberland which is depicted, and the account of lie " Peterloo Massacres " is sustainedly moderate. Mr. McCarthy's brilliant pictures of Pitt, Fox, Wellington, Canning, Sheridan, and others are iccompanied by reproductions of pictures which end fresh value to the book. Some of them may, perhaps, be regarded as superfluous, no reference >o them being found in the book. None, however, will object to their presence.

Winchester Long Rolls, 1653-1721. Transcribed and edited by C. W. Holgate. (Winchester, Wells.) B. HOLGATE has already done good service to Winchester by his two books on ' Winchester Com- moners,' 1800-35 and 1836-90, and other publi- cations. This edition of the Long Rolls, from the earliest now extant to the time when the series Becomes complete, is a similar labour of love, and 's carried through with the same patient thorough- leas. The Long Rolls are lists of the whole school written, during all this period, on scrolls of vellum. The titles are, of course, in Latin, including in 1653, imong the fellows, an Equitator, or Outrider to the Warden, and, among the boys, a Prsefectus Ollae, or Prsefect of Tub, neither of which offices is now existent. But in the bulk it is remarkable how little the Winchester of the seventeenth century differed from the Winchester of to-day. The first roll on the list would appear to be the earliest in existence of any school ot note ; Eton has nothing to show till 1678, though Westminster goes back to 1655. The history of Winchester is hinted at, if not explicitly written, in the rise and fall of its Commoner element (Commensal en), which varies during this period from 8 to 137. Altogether the lists throw many sidelights upon the past of our oldest public school.

The appearance and printing of the volume do credit to editor and publisher. The editor ex- presses a pious wish, which we heartily second, that the twenty-five missing rolls (after 1653) may be still discovered. They are for the years 1654-67, 1669, 1671, 1682, 1687, 1689, 1703, 1705, 1711, 1713, 1715, 1718, 1722. If any of our readers can supply any of these, they will no doubt communicate with Mr. Holgate. The volume contains an ela- borate introduction and some interesting appendices relating to other schools. Mr. Patey, the well- known school marshal at Rugby, is, we regret to say, no longer living, as the account here might imply.

The Betrothed and The Talisman. By Sir Walter

Scott. Edited by Andrew Lang. (Nirnmo.) BY including under one cover of the " Border Edi- tion " the two " Tales of the Crusaders," Mr. Nimmo gives us much the longest and bulkiest volume of the series. With the preliminary matter and the glossary there are, indeed, no fewer than a thousand pages. Something of the boyish pleasure experienced in reading ' The Talisman ' still clings to the reprint. Mr. Lang, who late in life made the acquaintance of ' The Betrothed,' declares his preference for it over ' The Talisman,' though he ranks neither of them as a masterpiece. We think differently. Admitting that the love of Damian and Edith is " pathetically honourable," we are more than usually annoyed at Scott's treatment of