Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/485

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s. m. JUNE 17, mi NOTES AND QUERIES.

479

wearisome, especially as it is usually accom- panied by a complete ignorance of the un- doubted merits of the Jesuits as missionaries, explorers, and schoolmasters.

With regard to anything Prynne may have said about them, it is not worth consideration. The cruel treatment that he underwent makes him, I confess, a picturesque and interesting figure amid the crowd of sombre fanatics that England produced in the seventeenth century. But " no man was ever sent to prison before or since for such a sheer mass of nonsense," says Greene, referring to Prynne's writings. Baxter, no doubt, was a more reputable per- sonage, but he lived in such an atmosphere that his statements about the doings of the Jesuits are best received with a certain amount of judicious scepticism.

T. P. ARMSTKONG.

Putney.

PRINTING m IRELAND (9 th S. iii. 288). Has your correspondent referred to a similar question in ' N. & Q.,' 2 nd S. vii. 48, and to the long reply given by the Editor ? A chapter on this subject appeared in the Dublin Penny Magazine, 1833, ii. 354.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Shakespeare in France under the Ancien Regime.

By J. J. Jusserand. (Fisher Unwin.) NOT the least valuable is this of the contri- butions made by M. Jusserand to the knowledge of our early literature. No living writer is, by knowledge of the early drama of the two coun- tries, France and England, so fully equipped as is M. Jusserand for the task he has undertaken. In the original French the book saw the light some six months ago, when its merits won general recog- nition. It is the good fortune of the English student that, whereas his French rival is provided with one of the ordinary volumes in yellow paper, published at four francs, he is himself supplied with a trans- lation by the author's own hand which is, if any thing, rather ampler than the original, and brims over with illustrations, most of them new and curious, and many of them extremely helpful. In its English shape, then, M. Jusserand's book may be regarded as one of the most important contri- butions that have been made to our knowledge of dramatic literature and of the. stage. It matters little that the title of the book, without being exactly a misnomer, is apt to convey a wrong im- pression. Shakspeare in France was, until well on in the eighteenth century, simply non - existent. Then, even, the purpose he served was that of the helot who, according to the ' Lycurgus' of Plutarch, taught the Spartan youth repugnance to drunken ness. It was on the eve of the extinction of the ancien regime that the French Academy heard with approval the protest of Voltaire agains"

he worship of " Gille Shakespeare," and the declaration that the play of 'Hamlet' is full of abominable vulgarity. Not, indeed, until the amous outburst of romanticism, a generation ater than the ancien regime, did men such as Hugo, -.amartine, Gautier, Nodier, Musset, Berlioz, and >he rest establish a cult of Shakspeare which is now ilmost as much out of date as that of Richardson and Sterne during the previous century. It seems tartling at a moment when the greatest of Parisian Actresses is among us, teaching us how to act rlamlet, to state that Shakspeare exerts next to 10 influence upon the French stage, but it is the "act. M. Jusserand himself bears witness that " To )elieve that he [Shakspeare] has become accli- matized in France, that his genius has penetrated ind transformed the French mind, is an error/' M. Jusserand gives an account animated, as is his entire work, and written in a vein of pleasant banter of the influence on the French mind of the know- edge of English literature that was disseminated ay men such as 1'Abbe Prevost and Voltaire ; of the influence of Voltaire's early teaching, when he was the discoverer and patron of Shakspeare, and did not see his own supremacy assailed ; and of -the Anglomania that prevailed in France in the days of the Encyclopaedists. More than half his work is, however, occupied with proof of the all but com- plete ignorance concerning English literature that prevailed across the Channel at a period when the social intercourse between the two kingdoms was close as it could well be, and when men of high distinction in letters belonging to one country were constantly visiting the other.

While as a history of Shakspeare in France M. Jusserand's book leaves to be desired what, in fact, cannot be supplied, as illustration of the state of the stage in the two countries it is a work of high value and interest. We know of no other work that furnishes in so acceptable a form information so important and previously so in- accessible. A flood of light is, indeed, cast upon the English stage. We are familiar with the many illustrated books on the stage which have recently been given us by Frenchmen. None of these does for us quite what is done in the present volume, which casts, often from remote, original, and trust- worthy sources, a bright light upon our stage repre- sentations during the period from the production of the miracle play to the interruption of theatrical performances by the Commonwealth. On the mere strength of the illustrations, which are numerous and excellent, the work has strongest claims on attention. It is, moreover, as ail familiar with the former work of M. Jusserand will be prepared to believe, a work brilliant in style and of solid erudition.

Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers. By F. J.

Britten. (Batsford.)

How fascinating a subject is that of old clocks and watches a reference to our columns will serve to prove. To Mr. Britten long known for his con- tributions to the history of horology we are at length indebted for a book worthy of the theme. His ' Watch and Clock Makers' Dictionary and Guide ' and his ' Watch and Clock Makers' Handbook ' are authoritative, and have gone through many editions. Less than three years ago a ninth edition of the two works incorporated saw the light, while a practical work on the springing and adjusting of watches was published last year. The