Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/453

 9»> S. IV. DEC. 9, '99.] 489 NOTES AND QUERIES. I curious as well as interesting, almost all of them having more or less an antiquarian flavour. It sounds strange to hear of a journey to London of forty miles, undertaken in the present century, occupying an entire day, and of children being all made ill with the motion of the coach. Much of the information supplied is intended to serve the purpose of tuition, arithmetic and other kindred subjects being taught by mnemonical systems of rather dubious value. Some, such as ' The Dandy's Ball,' are frankly comic, and others, such as ' Town and Country Tales,' preach lessons the present generation is not likely to regard as wholly edify- ing. The versification in the case of those which are divided into lengths, and supposed to constitute poetry, is independent of considerations of metre and rime. In ' The Mint,' intended to show the value of money, we tind as a distich, Here's Sixty shillings or Three Pounds Then who's afraid of Fortune's frowns. And again, in ' Marmaduke Multiply's Merry Method of Making Minor Mathematicians,'— Twice 10 are 20 My Purse is almost empty In addition to these papers is an account of 'The War in South Africa' (unsigned), with a map. Mr. Herbert Spencer has some trenchant observations on 'Prof. Ward's Remarks on "Naturalism and Agnosticism.'" Mr. Sidney Low depicts ' The Darkest Hour for Eng- land,' which was, of course, May, 1797, when, with a fleet in mutiny, we had to face a terrible combination of the powers. The Baron Pierre de Conbertin finishes his very interesting and im- portant account of ' France since 1814." Sym- pathetic papers on ' Robertson of Brighton ' and 1 Grant Allen ' are respectively by Mr. T. H. S. Escott and Mr. Richard Le Gallienne. Mr. Hamilton ' 'Joe Dobson,' a species of parody of ' John Gilpin,' embodying a well-known folk-tale, is perhaps the most interesting of (he stories in verse. The musio to this is given from memory by Lady Cavan. On the whole, the designs, reproducing the quaint fashions of the beginning of the century, constitute the most interesting feature. Some of the best of these are reduced from drawings by Adam Buck, a Cork artist, to whom are owing ' Paintings from Greek Vases.' These make good use of the classical costume in vogue early in the century. The designer of ' The Proud Boy,' one of the two illustrations forming the frontispiece, is a humourist of the first water. Besides being very amusing, the collection has anti- quarian value. Mr. Tuer supplies a short and entertaining introduction, which the reader must be careful not to miss. Fifty Hithtrto UnpubltKhul Pen-and-ink Sketches. By Phil May. (Leadenhall Press.) MB. PHIL MAY is a genuine humourist, and quite unequalled in depicting London street life. His sketches now first given to the world are mar- vellously faithful, and have, as all such things must have to retain their vitality, a vein of underlying pathos. If a hundred years hence antiquaries wish to know what was the life of to-day, these sketches will depict it for them with unqualified sincerity. IT is scarcely a matter of surprise, considering the tension of public feeling, that a considerable portion of the contents of the reviews and magazines deals with military subjects or analogous themes. Some excitement will be caused in the best-informed circles by the statement of Diplomaticus in the Fortnightly that Count Muraviefi sounded both the French and Spanish Governments as to the feasi- bility of intervention in our quarrel with the South African republics. The article in which this action is exposed is entitled ' Count MuraviefPs " ludis- in the final settlement of taking no fresh risk. Jn 1 Sir Harry Smith: a Reminiscence of the Boer War of 1848,' Mr. G. J. H. Berkeley describes the earliest conflicts of the Boers with British troops. . prints ' A Gleam in the Darkness,' a play which, in a French rendering, has been given by Madame Bernhardt. ' A Lost Principle of Beauty in Architecture,' by Mr. Julian Moore, is very full of suggestion. We commend it heartily to our readers, but dare express no opinion upon it. —The article in the NinetetJith Century which first arrests attention is that of Mr. Sidney Colvin on Mr. Stephen Phillips's tragedy of ' Paolo and Fran- cesca.' No uncertain sound aoes our reviewer give forth. After saying that Dante's story of the loves of Paolo and Francesca is " the most perfect passage of love poetry, or at least of poetry telling of the pity and tragedy of love, in the world," he declares that Mr. Phillips's rendering of the subject is "a thing of surprising beauty and j>ower. Indeed, while striving to resist the temptation to the use of superlatives, Mr. Colvin praises the work with a rapture rare in modern criticism. We have not yet read the drama, but are scarcely convinced by the extracts that we have perused. A noteworthy article is that by Mr. J. Horace Round on 'Crom- well and the Electorate.' A study of the carefully guarded records of Colchester leads Mr. Round, by processes we cannot possibly show, to the conviction that " the sheer despotism of Cromwell exceeded anything attempted even by Charles the First.' He holds, moreover, that Cromwell, like some later statesmen, was able to convince himself " that the principles of eternal righteousness required the triumph of himself and his faction." Sir Wemyss Reid teaches us, in ' The Newspapers,' the lesson of patience with regard to the conduct of the war by giving an account of the varying emotion; experienced by the passengers on a (P. and 0., presumably) steamer, who received occasional in- formation as to events at Dundee, Glencoe, anc Ladysmith. ' South African Problems and Lessons are discussed by Mr. Sidney Low and Sir Sidne> Shippard. Mr. E. F. Benson has an essay on the inexhaustible subject of ' Plagiarism.' Mr. D. E Tobias writes as 'A Negro on the Position of thf Negro in America,' which he seems to regard ac sad, but not hopeless. The Hon. J. D. Rees give* an animated and attractive picture of residence ' In a Hindu Home.' The interior he shows is pleasing, though we find some difficulty, in the case of the fairest maiden, in reconciling ourselves to nos rings.— An admirable number of the Pall Mall hat for frontispiece an excellent photogravure of the delightful picture of ' Indecision ' of Mr. G. H. Boughton, R.A. Mr. Frederick Wedmore has o capital article on ' Turner Prints,' with reproduc tions of many well-known pictures, including tw views of Oxford, one of ' London from Greenwich, 'The Junction of Severn and Wye "in two states, and others, of no less interest, from the ' Libet Studiorum and other works. Mr. Archer con