Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/88

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. IIL Fm *,

the new edition of Chalmers's * Biographical Dictionary ' is announced, 32 vols. 8vo.

' Morte d' Arthur,' reprinted from Caxton's edition of 1485, "with an introduction and notes by Robert Southey, Esq., price 81. 8s.," is announced in July. The stirring times of 1817 are brought to view in the ' Political Record.' We have the account of the attack on the Prince Regent on his way to open the Houses of Parliament; the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; the trial of Mr. T. J. Wooler, of the Black Dwarf, for libelling Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning ; also the

Thistlewood, Hooper, and Preston should not be proceeded with) ; mention is made of the coinage of sovereigns in place of the old guineas ; the crossing of the Irish Channel in a balloon ; the report from St. Helena that Bonaparte is in good health and looking well "less bloated than ordinary" but com- plaining much of Sir Hudson Lowe and of his being detained a prisoner, for which he knows no law; and that Russia is cultivating peace with all her neighbours and making extensive reductions of her army, but still with an eye to the Dardanelles. We have the Pacha of Egypt preparing to dispute the sovereignty of that province with the Otto- man Porte. We are also informed that the Paris census, taken in June, shows that the population exceeds 860,000, being 20,000 more than that of London ; and it is recorded that Dr. Esquirql has read a paper to the Academy on a kind of mental derangement to which he gives a new term, "hallucina- tion." A presentation to the Duke of Wellington of plate of the value of 200,000/. by the Prince Regent of Por- tugal is also noticed, as is the first survey of the wreck of the R-oyal George by means of the diving bell. Even a fire at Bankside is reported, at which, the water being low in the Thames, a tank of lime water was emptied into the engines, and it was remarked that the material thus wetted did not again take fire. It is also announced that the medals of the Royal Society have been pre- sented to Sir Humphry Davy, and that a Committee of the House of Commons reports that steam engines of some construction may be applied with perfect safety, even to pas- senger vessels. In Germany animal magnet- ism is in favour as a remedy for disease. All these, and many other things, are recorded in the ' Chronicle of Events.' Many of the ages among the deaths are indeed startling, six- teen during the six months being stated as over

one hundred years, one being given at 130, and another at 117 ; but this was before the careful investigations of Mr. Dilke, Mr. Thorns, and Sir Cornewall Lewis. Those who seek for information as to the founding and progress of Blackwoods will find full details given in Mrs. Oliphant's ' William Blackwood and his Sons'; in the notices of William and John Blackwood, ' Dictionary of National Biography 5 (vol. y.) ; the memoir of Christopher North, by his daughter Mrs. Gordon ; the obituary notice of William Blackwood, by Lockhart, in the Magazine for October, 1834; or in Curwen's 'History of Booksellers.' Christopher North, in the 'Noctes ' (vol. iii. p. 70), said that "my chief, if not sole object in writing for 'Maga' is the diffusion of knowledge, virtue, and happiness all over the world." If a like spirit be main- tained, we may expect " Maga " to live to add another "M." to its title-page ; and in such a hope we may join heartily in the toast " To ' Maga': her history is a glorious one. Long may she flourish, and may she ever be true to her old traditions !"

JOHN C. FKANCIS.

UNWRITTEN HISTORY. DOES any one take the modern picture- book magazine seriously? The Quarterly Review noticed an "article" on the Shake- speare-Bacon "controversy" in the Christ- mas " extra " of a popular monthly for 1897. In the 1898 Christmas number of the same periodical there is a contribution which merits similar treatment. A writer has been hunting up the traditions of our fights with France, and displays his results, in the latest fashion, on a pair of flags. England, we find, has won thirty-two battles on land Crecy, Poictiers, Agincourt, Crevant, Roverai, Namur, Malaga, Blenheim, Ramillies, Ouden- arde, Almanza, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Min- den, Quebec, Acre, Vimiera, Corunna, Tala- vera, Busaco, Barossa, Fuentes d'Onoro, Albuera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Sala- manca, Madrid, Vittoria, Orthes, Toulouse, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo ; and twenty on sea Daunne, Dover, Channel, Sluys, Har- fleur, North Foreland, La Hogue, Lagos, Quiberon Bay, Finisterre, Grenada, Ushant, L'Orient, St. Vincent, Nile, Alexandria, San Domingo, Dominica, Basque Roads, and Trafalgar. France has won nine on land Bruges, Bou vines, Beauje, Verneuil, Landen Steenkirk. Fontenoy, Bergen-op-Zoom, and Duquesne ; and six on sea Beachy Head St. Dennis, Minorca, Boulogne, La Rochelle and Lakes.