Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/445

 III. JUKE 3, '99.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

439

1 Beneath the centre of the dome repose
 * fapoleon's remains. As I looked down

nd admired the superb sarcophagus in -hich the body reposes," &c. I too did this wenty years ago, and as I stood awed I was )ld tnat the body actually lay in a vault ear by, and not in the sarcophagus with its mte guard about. I remember thinking at .ie time, " How very French ! " Was I mis- iformed ? Where is the body 1

W. REED LEWIS.

Jsjimtllmtam.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

lloman Life under the Ccesars. By Emile Thomas.

(Fisher Unwin.)

WE do not know why no indication is given on the title-page or in the introduction that this is a translation of ' Rome et PEmpire,' especially as the anonymous translator's work reads easily and seems capably done. Still, there remains a pre- ference in the notes for French scholars and French translations of indispensable German authorities which may not appeal to the English reader. The book is, we may say, a lively and entertaining, if

I somewhat summary, account of Roman life and thought from the time of Augustus onwards, which is nothing like so unreadable and so backed by authorities as Becker's 4 Gallus.' It ^is just the thing to interest the student who will fill in his out- lines later. With its generalizations and its easy way of regarding every document of the time as authentic it is not always possible to agree, and it is to be hoped those who read it will go to the original sources for more exact knowledge. M. Thomas seems fonder of the ' Historia Augusta,' a

! compilation later in date than Cyprian and Ter- tullian, than such authorities as Tacitus and Juvenal, whose third Satire offers much towards a

Eicture of life in the streets, a point not touched on ere. Topography, baths and games (under which section M. Thomas is surprised and grieved that the Romans went in for racing so much), country life, art, morals, and the army are all considered. Pliny the Younger as "a typical Roman of the Empire" concludes the whole. The industrious, self-conscious, fussy, good-natured pedant, who tells with obvious self-satisfaction how he wrote out select passages from Livy during the awful night of the eruption of Vesuvius, is hardly a typical Roman of any age. Still his very weak- nesses, his patronizing tone to Tacitus as a fellow- immortal, are highly entertaining. M. Thomas " cheerfully abandons " the intricate identifications of the archaeologists in topography. This is a short way, and an easy one, which makes, perhaps, for the comfort of the reader. There are piquanl references to our own times, which might, of course, havebeen a good deal multiplied. What could be more modern than much of Petronius or Apuleius. who calls a girl "festivitas mea," imitated by Mr. Swin- burne in ' The Sundew ' ?

The face of her Who is my festival to see.

But are^we so much better than the Romans as M Thomas's tone implies ? Juvenal says that fashion able Rome had a fad for frequenting the Temple o:

sis. Fashionable Paris, we read, was doing the ame thing yesterday ! The Emperor Aurelian vrote " that no joy could equal that of the Roman jeople after a good meal." It is a little hard to ind them described on that account as unworthy of our regard. The crimes and follies of the Empire are, in fact, exaggerated ; while little is said of the onderful administration of Augustus, the "Neronis Quinquennium," and the freedom of speech and -bought for which Tacitus expresses himself so ihankfuL A specimen of the writer's style and methods is the following statement : "In no other iterature do we find the two characters represented ay the words rusticm and urbanus so violently contrasted with one another as in the Roman. Sorace has even carried the contrast so far as to apply it to the very rats." In view of dartlo^ and dypotKOQ we cannot admit this, and the example s Horace's fable of the town and country mouse ! Borne of the translations of the Latin passages quoted are needlessly clumsy and lengthy, and we really cannot seriously entertain the idea that " strencK is merely a contraction of Saturnce ferice." This is the sort of philology which was given up some time ago.

The Chiswick Shakespeare. Hamlet ; The Merchant

of Venice. (Bell & Sons.)

A FASCINATING little edition of Shakspeare is issued by Messrs. Bell & Sons, with a clear type, a few pretty illustrations, and an artistic cover. The text is, by permission, that of the 'Cambridge Shake- speare, the introductions and notes are by Mr. John Dennis, the title-pages are designed by Mr. Gerald Moira, and the illustrations are by Mr. Byam Shaw. The numeration of the lines follows, natur- ally, that of the 'Cambridge Shakespeare,' a con- venient arrangement for those who seek to follow the newest concordance. No edition can be better suited for carriage in the pocket to the theatre or elsewhere. Notes and explanations are few and serviceable. In some cases, as in "tickle o' the sere" or "Miching Mallecho," those who have no other edition might be benefited by a rather fuller explanation. On the whole, however, the edition is excellent. No books of poetry appear to us more delightful than those which can, with no sensible addition to weight, be carried in the pocket, and yet afford a legible and trustworthy text.

The Children's Study. Spain. liams. (Fisher Unwin. )

By Leonard Wil-

WRITTEN partly in prose and partly in ballad metre, Mr. Williamss book may give a boy a glimpse at the picturesque history of Spain. The historian is conscientious in presenting the Cid as the Robin Hood of Spain. His book is more trust- worthy in its dealings with some portions of Spanish history than more ambitious works with which we have recently dealt.

Woodstock. By Sir Walter Scott. Edited by

Andrew Lang. (Nimmo.)

THAT ' Woodstock ' was written by Scott under circumstances of peculiar difficulty and suffering is well known. Few of the Waverley novels, how- ever, answer better the rather formidable require- ment of pleasing alike youth and age. It was one of our favourites in early years, and we have now with undiminished pleasure read it in the handsome "Border" series, to which it is the latest addition. Alice, Kerneguy, Sir Henry Lee, Joceline Joliffe,