Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/396

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NOTES AND QUERIES. to* s. v. MAY 12, 1900.

' Woman's Brain,' holds that man has in weight an advantage of about 10 per cent., but draws no very important conclusions therefrom. A good many articles are by or concerning women. Mr. Baillie- Grohman laments the decline of marksmanship. The same indefatigable writer sends to the roll Mall the second portion of his ' Arts and Crafts in the Sixteenth Century,' the very interesting illus- trations to which are drawn as before from the ' Nova Reperta ' of Joannes Stradanus, otherwise Giovanni della Strada, otherwise Jan van der Straet. The designs of an early printing office not, of course, the first we possess of ' The Navigator at Home,' ' Taking an Observation,' ' A Sugar Plantation,' &c., are of remarkable interest. One wonders that the entire work is not reproduced. 'The Passage to the Great North- West' gives some admirable illus- trations of wild scenery and engineering accom- plishment. ' Hampton Court Palace,' which of late has been made familiar to us, is depicted with pen and pencil in a good article. As a frontis- piece to this Vandyke's portrait of Cornelius van der Geest is reproduced. 'The Army and its Badges' is a valuable contribution, of which the first half only appears. In ' In Milton's Hand,' the latest instalment of Mr. W. E. Henley's delightful " Ex-Libris," the writer has some things equally true and valuable to say concerning Mr. Beeching's text of Milton. Scribner's is more occupied with British wars than are most of our magazines of home growth. The most important portion of its contents consists of the continuation of Mr. Theodore Roosevelt's 'Oliver Cromwell.' Part V., dealing with 'The Commonwealth and Protectorate,' is the pen- ultimate portion. Among the illustrations is a facsimile, now first issued, of a letter from Crom- well to Sir F. Hartopp. The work will, of course, be reprinted in volume form. 'An Artist's Impressions of the Paris Exhibition' repays study. Mr. G. M. Harper writes on ' Balzac,' necessarily an inexhaustible subject. 'Rapid Transit in New York' should commend itself to civic authorities. It deals with some all-important plans of locomotion. k Cripple Creek ' gives illustrations of many develop- ments of a mining town. In the Comhill Mr. Sidney Lee gives his important adhesion to the experiment tried by Mr. Benson in establishing a Shakespearian drama. We agree with many of Mr. Lee's points, and attach, naturally, great weight to what he says. His is, however, to our thinking, a rather sunny estimate of what Mr. Benson is accomplishing. Lady Gregory, writing on ' The Felons of our Land,' deals with modern Irish verse concerning the active opponents of English so-called tyranny or wrong. As to the patriotism of the utterances we will not speak; as poetry they do not greatly impress us. Mr. Godlejrs parody which follows is not specially humorous. Mr. Parkinson's 'Great Birds of the Southern Seas 'is to be commended. 'The Man who Died' is touching. Sir John Robinson's ' South African Reminiscences' are continued. ' Old Crabb' in Temple Bar deals brightly with that interesting and eccentric individual Henry Crabb Robinson, through his long life the friend of all the most celebrated men of his epoch. It is capital in all respects. 'A Mem Sahib in Plague-Stricken Bombay' supplies some terribly grim pictures. Admirers of Mr. Hardy will appreciate Woolbridge Manor, the home of the Turbervilles (sic). ' Other Indiscretions and the Browning Letters ' deal with the publication of Keats's letters to Fanny Brawne, Mr. Froude on Carlyle, and similar matters.

Mr. W. Roberts in the Gentleman's traces the career of Marat in England, concerning which he supplies many interesting particulars. He also undertakes the rehabilitation of Marat, a task he is not the first to attempt, and in which he is not more successful than his predecessors. Mr. Cooke- Trench has a good paper in Longman's 'On the Study of Plant Life.' In ' At the Sign of the Ship ' Mr. Lang breaks a lance with C. K. S., bewails the death of Xady John Scott, a " song-writer of remark- able merit," and deals with some experiments in diet by Mr. Miles, the author of ' Muscle, Brain, and Diet.' The English Illustrated has an account, accompanied by a portrait, of M. Edmond Rostand, the author of ' Cyrano de Bergerac' and ' L'Aiglon,' with other pieces. Much of the information in this has been drawn from M. Coquelin. ' The Picture- Backs of Old Watches ' is an interesting bit of anti- quarianism. ' Old London Coffee-Houses ' is also a good subject. The covers and the illustrations are bright, and there is abundance of good fiction.

THE words, necessarily patriotic, of The Defence of Ladysmith, a song, are By the Rev. Cecil Deedes, a contributor to our columns. Mr. Norman Richards supplies the music.

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KATHLEEN WARD.

God bless the king ! God bless the faith's defender I God bless no harm in blessing the pretender. Who the pretender is and who the king, God bless us all, is quite another thing. These lines, which differ slightly from yours, and" are quoted from memory, are by John Byrom, 1691-1763, a Manchester poet and Jacobite, for whom see 'Diet. Nat. Biog/

F. " Housemaid's knee " is a swelling over the knee, due to an enlargement of the bursa in front of the kneepan ; so called because usually found in domestics who have much work to do on their knees.

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