Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/47

 9* s. v. JAN. is, i90o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.

Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sidney Lee. Vol. LXl. Whichcord Williams. (Smith, Elder & Co.)

THE year now begun, whether it be, as Lord Kelvin and some others think, the first of a new century or the last of the old, will witness before its con- clusion the completion of Mr. Lee's great task. Two volumes more will conclude the alphabet, and a further two the supplement of those entitled to a place who have died while the work was in progress. We thus get four quarterly volumes which will make the conclusion synchronize with the termination of the century. We count con- fidently upon the maintenance of the rate of pro- gress, so highly creditable to all concerned with the production, which has been kept up until now. For once, since the volume contains the four kings of the name of William, royalty occu- pies a considerable share in it. Of these four monarchs, long since retired from business, William the Conqueror is dealt with by the Rev. William Hunt; William II. is in the hands of an historian no less faithful and exemplary, Miss Kate Norgate ; the third William is assigned to Dr. A. W. Ward, of Manchester ; while the fourth of the name, the sailor monarch, is dealt with by Prof. Laughton, who has enjoyed a practical monopoly of our great naval captains and admirals, and whose work is, in this instance, to some extent different from that he ordinarily executes. In Mr. Hunt's admirably condensed account the temptation to expand over the battle of Hastings or Senlac is resisted, the information conveyed being simply that "the Norman victory was complete and Harold was slain." Full references to the most recent autho- rities on the subject are, however, given. A like reticence concerning the Red King is observed by Miss Norgate, who quotes the opinions concerning his character of the English chroniclers, and says that the life is exhaustively treated by Freeman in his ' Norman Conquest.' A graphic account is given by Dr. Ward of the troubles by which the early life of William of Orange was clouded, and of his election as Stadtholder. Dr. Ward also defends William from the charge accepted by Lord Stan- hope in consequence of a misinterpretation of the words of Burnet. Of the fourth William's good- hearted, boisterous, and undignified career Prof. Laughton gives an admirable account. Of half-a- dozen biographies, all brief, by the editor, the most interesting is that of George Wilkins, the author of ' The Miseries of Infant Marriage.' Mr. Lee accepts as " a likelihood " that Wilkins might be responsible for the rough and unedifying drafts "of a play- house hack y ' used by Shakespeare in ' Timon of Athens,' and thinks " there is less doubt that Wilkins is largely responsible for the inferior scenes of ' Pericles.' " He finds, from a consultation of the burial records of the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, that Wilkins died 19 August, 1603, at Holywell Street, Shoreditch, of the plague. In the case of Henry Kirke White, amusingly overpraised by Byron and Southey, Mr. Lee openly qualifies him as a poetaster, a severe, though possioly not an unjust verdict. Edward Whitchurch, the Protestant printer, one of those responsible for the Great Bible, who married the widow of Arch-

bishop Cranmer, is in Mr. Lee's hands, as is Edmund Whitelocke, compromised in the Essex rebellion, and to some extent in the Gunpowder Plot. His longest contribution is that on Arch- bishop Whitgiit, and next to that the animated life of Sir Roger Williams. Mr. Leslie Stephen has an excellent biography of Blanco White, the author of the immortal sonnet, whose curious and diversified career constitutes very interesting read- ing. Thelife of Samuel Wilberforce, " Soapy Sam," is a model of judicial fairness. Mr. C. H. Firth's most important contribution is the life of Bulstrode Whitelocke.^ That Whitelocke paid 50,000^. to Charles II. for his pardon is not believed, though Mr. Firth thinks that he paid something to the king. The interesting account of Gilbert White, of Selborne, is by Prof. Newton ; that of W'hyte- Melville is by Sir Herbert Maxwell, who does full justice to the lofty tone of chivalry which pervades his writings. Mr. James Tait denounces the legends concerning Lord Mayor Whittington, which have of late obtained further vogue owing to their acceptance by Sir Walter Besant. Mr. Austin Dobson contributes a characteristically graceful account of Sir David Wilkie. We had almost omitted mention of many excellent biographies by Mr. Seccombe, among which those of Thomas Whincop, the author of ' Scanderbeg,' Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and Caleb Whitefoord, call for special notice. Mr. Henry Davey gives high eulogy to John W T ilbye, the great madrigal com- poser; Whitefield, the evangelist, occupies the Rev. Alexander Gordon, and John Wilkes Mr. J. M. Rigg. Some of the printers and publishers Whitaker, Whittingham, &c. are assigned Mr. Tedder. Among other contributors to this capital volume are Dr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner, Mr. W. P. Courtney, Dr. Garnett, Col. Lloyd, Mr. Lionel Cust, Dr. Norman Moore, Mr. Thompson Cooper, Mr. Thomas Bayne, Mr. Fraser Rae, Mr. F. M. O'Donoghue, and many others.

The Bride's Mirror or, Mir-dtu I'Arus of Maulavi Nazlr Ahmad. Edited in the Roman Character, with a Vocabulary and Notes, by G. E. Ward. (Frowde.)

IT would be a bold thing to demand even a tem- pered enthusiasm for Hindustani literature from a person of taste and tolerably wide reading, in whom the critical faculty is not quite undeveloped. The present writer, having studied Hindustani side by side with Persian and Arabic, will freely confess that he has come to " conclusions of disgust." Cer- tainly there is nothing in the younger language at all comparable to the masterpieces of the Moham- medan classics, though imitations of these master- pieces abound. Hence it is only from the stand- point of practical utility that we share the editor's hope that the study of Hindustani will some day be placed on the same level in England with the study of modern European languages. His main object is to furnish a suitable text-book for English ladies who desire to learn Hindustani. ' The Bride's Mirror,' which appears to be a moral but amusing tale on the lines of ' Sandford and Merton,' is well adapted for this purpose, and deserves (may it command !) success. Mr. Ward's book is hardly a model of scientific accuracy, but under the circum- stances this is no great matter, and we feel sure that the ladies will pardon him. We cannot agree with his theories of transliteration, which merely make confusion worse confounded. Why did he not