Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/502

 530 NOTES AND QUERIES. [Q-s.iv.Dw.sa.'wi the work gives the succession of bishops in each of the Anglo-Saxon sees down to the Conquest, with references for the dates of their consecration, accession, translation, and death. Here Mr. Searle has been able to follow in the steps of Bishop Stubbs's ' Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum,' adding some further references to charters of land grants than were given in that work. The second and next largest part of the book is devoted to the genea- logies of the several dynasties of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and principalities, including also the houses of Earl Godwine, of the Earls of North- umberland, and of Ragnar Lodbrog. The third division deals with the pedigrees of some of the Anglo-Saxon nobles, such as Earl Leofric and Lady Godiva. The supplementary pedigree, by the way, for which we are referred to p. 461, is not to be found there, but on p. 463. The serious student of early English history will doubtless find Mr. Searle's tables a useful addition to his apparatus, but to the more general reader it will seem so much caviare, as all matters of human interest lie outside the scope of his work. Who's Who, 1900. (Black.) The fifty-second annual issue of this best of exist- ing biographical records no longer bears the name as editor of Mr. Douglas Sladen. It is corrected up to 31 October. Constant use of ' Who's Who' enables us to declare by experience that it is in- dispensable as a work of reference, is more fre- quently consulted than almost any other on editorial Bhelves, and enables us to dispense with half a dozen compilations previously held necessary. Marathi Proverbs. Collected and translated by the Rev. A. Manwaring. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) As a missionary coming into daily contact with all classes and castes of people in Western India, Mr. Manwaring had peculiarly favourable opportunities of becoming acquainted with the folk-saws and national proverbs which he has here collected. Unfortunately the ideas and idioms of the Marathi are so utterly diverse from our own that they lose much of their force and pith by being clothed in an English garb; or, to mix our figures, in decanting the foreign liquor its spirit and aroma evaporate, and there only remains a caput mortuum of unintelligible verbiage, like " Divali and Dasara, but only able to stretch his limbs," which some- how does not much impress an Occidental reader. The editor might have done more to interpret these enigmatical sayings, and to match them with parallels taken from our own proverbial lore. For purposes of classification and reference he has wisely distributed his collection into groups under the headings of 'Agriculture,' 'Animals,' 'Reli- gion,' ' Relationship,' ic. Each proverb is printed in the Marathi character, with a transliteration and translation attached, and an occasional note of comment to explain obscurities. As favourable specimens we may take the following: "To steal oil from one temple in order to light a lamp in another," paralleled by " Robbing Peter to pay Paul"; "As the gift, so the circumambulations, which recalls our " No penny, no paternoster "; "If we so regard it, it is God: if not, it is a stone "; " Give the priest the small verandah and he will by degrees take the whole house," recalling our own adage about the inch and the ell. Another easily matched from our own store is " Fate is propitious to courage"; and this, again. " If you throw a hand- ful of stones one at least will hit. Very suggestive is the concise dictum, only two words in the original, " At the end of effort is God." Equally fine is this, " The poet has seen what the sun has not seen." How shrewd, too, is the saying " Marriage says, ' Try me and see': a house says, ' Build me and see. Mr. Manwaring^ volume is a useful addition to the already large literature of paroemiology. Messrs. James Nisbet & Co. have issued At Old as Adam ; or, the First Principles of Religion* Metrical Symbols and Alphabetical Characters, a book we will name to our readers, allowing them to estimate its value, which is beyond our ken. Mr. Alban Doran, F.R.C.S., has issued Shake- speare and the Medical Society, being the annual oration delivered before the Medical Society of London on 15 May last. It shows an intimate knowledge of Shakespeare's work, and is full of interest and pleasant suggestion. The publishers are Harrison & Sons. Mr. John C. Nimmo promises the first volume, by Prof. Sayce, of " The Semitic Series," an import- ant new series of standard handbooks intended to impart a knowledge of the history, religion, govern- ment, language, customs, &c, of the Babylonians, Assyrians, and allied Semitic races. The first volume is ' Babylonians and Assyrians—Life and Customs (with Special Reference to the Contract Tablets and Letters),' by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, Professor of Assyriology at Oxford. Other volumes will follow at regular intervals, each being complete in itself. $atittt tor &0rrfsp0Bumts. We must call special attention to the following notices:— On all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith. We cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate." Iunotus (" I 'm the sweetest of sounds in the orchestra heard ").—Practically unanswerable. See 7th S. i. 449, 517; xi. 380, 39a Your references to " Is it alone on a rock " are wrong. Ajax.—See Pope, 'Essay on Criticism,' part ii. 1. 15. You should look in a book of familiar quotations before sending such queries. W. H. R. C—" Davus sum, non CEdipus." But international law seems against A on the whole. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries'"—Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher"— at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E. C We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.