Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/222

 298 f9"8. IV. OCT. 7,'99. NOTES AND QUERIES. AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (9th S. iv. 230, 258) — An anonymous correspondent kindly sends me, from Kingsley's 'Water-Babies,' the song to which MR. BOUGHTON referred :— When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every copse a swan, lad. And every lass a queen : Then hey for hoot and horse, lad, And round the world away; Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day. EMILIA F. S. DILKE. NOTES ON BOOKS, to. Dictionan/ of National Bioijraphi/. Kdited by Sidney Lee.—Vol. LX. Watxon- Whtwdl. (Smith, Elder & Co.) INCLUDING as it does the first Duke of Wellington, the family of Wellesley—without classing with it that of Wesley—monopolizes the lion's share of the latest volume of Mr. Lee's monumental' Dictionary.' Col. Lloyd's biography of the Duke is, indeed, the longest as well as the most ini]>ortaiit in the present issue. So long as it deals with the period of Wel- lington's active service—that is, up to the occupa- tion of Paris in 1815 by the allies—it presents a stimulating record of generalship. So early as 1809 Wellington had wrung from Napoleon th then ungrudging tribute, "II parait que c'est ui homme ce Wellesley." Seven more years had t< elapse before a French smu-offieier should attempt the murder of Wellington, and so induce the ex emperor to leave him a legacy of ten thousam francs, duly paid to his heirs by Napoleon 1.1 I lolds that his sonnets were closely studied by Shakespeare, and must be counted the work of a iultivat«d and highly read scholar. Thomas Weaver, 616-1663, twice described as a poetaster, stood his .rial for high treason, and was acquitted. Mr. Lee, with good reason, denies him the authorship of Plantagenet's Tragicall Story,' frequently assigned him. A profoundly interesting biography is that of John Webster. Mr. Lee, though describing as extravagantly eulogistic Mr. Swinburne's article in he Nineteenth Century, yields to few in his admira- .ion for his subject, and quotes with approval Lamb's fine pronouncement on 'The Duchess of Vlalfi.' Gildon's assertion that Webster was clerk of the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, Mr. Lee questions. It is just possible that some light on the subject may yet be forthcoming. John Weevor, better known by his ' Funerall Monuments' than by his verses, is treated as a poet, though the editor ad- mits that his epigrams are "in crude and pedestrian verse." Sir George Wharton, astrologer, royalist, and poet, is rescued from the oblivion which was settling upon him. His works, once common enough, are now seldom seen. Another quaint individuality on which Mr. Lee throws a light is George Whet- stone, poet and dramatist, &c., concerning whom much information is obtained. The distinction assigned him is doubtless due to the fact that some of his work was known to Shakespeare. Prof. Whewell, the " Billy Whistle" of Cambridge days, is in the hands of Mr. Leslie Stephen. Full justice is done to his magnanimity, and also to the beneficial influence he exercised upon Cambridge education. Whewell, it is sairt, "scarcely becanie a philosopher." One or two of the excellent stories concerning him are told; others—wisely, no doubt —are suppressed. The life of John Wesley is by the Rev. Alexander Gordon. It is fairly sym- pathetic and moderate in tone, and deals gently with his squabbles in his Georgian mission and his conjugal relations. Canon Leigh - Bennett's Isaac After'Wellington's final retreat from the pursuit j Wa'tts is good, but scarcely does full justice to_his "It would I ' Horu; Lyricae.' A fine biography of of party, we find his biographer saying, have l>een well, perhaps, for his reputation if he had stood aloof from party altogether." Still, Palmer- ston could sav that no man ever lived or died in the possession of more unanimous love, respect, and esteem from his countrymen, and Tennyson could leave the best picture of him in his 'Ode' on Wellington's death. Of only inferior interest is the brilliant account of the Marquess Wellesley, the Governor-General of India, given by Sir Alexander J. Arbuthnot. For what appears a little confusion in this the writer cannot be held responsible. In regard to a combat against Tippu Saib, fought in 1799, immediately before the battle of Malavelly^ it is said, "See under 'Stuart, James,' d. 17U3." This apparent mistake is due to two James Stuarts appearing under the same heading. In cases such as this a double reference would be convenient. Turning to the literary biographies, that come more naturally within our scope, we find the first life by the editor, that of Thomas Watson, who, according to Hey wood, wrote Able to make Apollo's self to dote. Mr. Lee has been able to accumulate many inter- esting particulars concerning this poet, whose works were once so scarce we were compelled to copy some of them in MS., and who, moreover, stood singularly high in the estimate of his contem- poraries. In spite of Watson's frigidity, Mr. Lee James Watt H supplied by Sir Frederick Bramwell. Mr. C. H. •'mil deals in admirable fashion with the warriors i in I statesmen of late Stuart times, and Dr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner has what is perhaps the most mportant historical life in the volume, that of Thomas Wentworth, the first Earl of Strafford. We have left ourselves no space to speak of Mr. Seccombe's miscellaneous biographies of people of importance—James Watson, John Richmond Webb, and others, for which see under Weld, Wells, and Wentworth; Mr. Tedder's R. Watt, the biblio- grapher; Dr. Garnett's Charles Jeremiah Wells and Alaric A. Watts; Miss Lee's Augusta Webster, and other articles we had noted for comment. The rate of progress is admirably kept up, the work remains scholarly in all respects, and, so far as can IKS judged, a couple of years will see the whole delivered with the conspicuous and honourable punctuality hitherto observed. Lore, and Letiend of the. Enylixh Church. By the Rev. (!. S. tyock." (Andrews & Co.) MR. ANDREWS'S press is prolific of works on ecclesiastical folk-lore and "bygone" things gener- ally. All "old, unhappy far-off things " are fish for his net, and when he issues a new volume we know pretty well what to expect—nothing very recondite or original, but a careful compilation of matters more or less antiquarian, treated in a light and