Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/551

 9°*‘S-VI-Dlw-8,1900-J NOTES AND QUERIES. 459 volume, which is conspicuous alike for thoroii&h~ ness of workmanship and for fulness of detail. r. Hueffer is a little precious in style and aEects a kind of phraseology of repetition which the ordi- nary writer is at some pains to shun. Within a few pages we thus find, ‘ It R215 battle of St. Mahé] had once again the Keel of a lutely crippling the French king, rega ed as a naval potentate; and had the edect, not perhaps so desirable, of Elunging England into a new war with France.” T e italics in_t is, as elsewhere, are our own. “ From Sand- unch he SlEdward] went to the battle of Crecy, from Sandum: to the siege of Calais; to Sandwich he returned after that siege.” Again: “The Ports did good service at the taking of Calais, and ded good service at the battle of Lespagnols~sur-Mer, three years afterwards.” This form of recurrence, more common in poetry than in rose, Mr. Hueffer obviously regards as a grace. (flood effect, it may be granted, attends its occasional employment, though constant use is scarcely to be commended. This is, however, a small matter on which to dwell. Eorernost among Mr. HueB`er’s qualifications for historian of the Cinque Ports must be counted his absorbing love for his subject. Antiquarian infor- mation is easily acquired by the student, and is indeed, at the command of every worker. Each ol the ports has, moreover found its own historian. Winchelsea has its Inderwick and its Holgate, while the Cinque Ports generaaly have been the subject of a careful stu? y Mr. ontagu Burrows contributed to the “ istoric Towns ’ series oi Messrs. Longman a dozen years ago. Mr. HueEer’s is, however, the first atteuivgt to deal adequately with the entire subject. e author is familiar with the antiquities and the histor generall of the Cinque Ports and their neighbourhoodi and_ is saturated with_the beauties of the district. Wntmglaa an impressionist, he succeeds in convey- ing to t e reader a sense of the atmosphere of those guaint picturesque old cities which the fickle sea as deserted, but which, in their forlorn beauty and solitude, od`eran irresistible attraction to the pefweroso, if we may repeat Milton’s misspelling of the word. To the special attractions of the rest marshes, which have a beauty of their own, he is no less sensible. He writes, in fact, of the places as a lover, and we know of no other way in which they should be treated. His method is ‘partly historical, partly descriptive. Messrs. Blac wood meanwhile have spared no expense in makin the work a thing of beauty. In all typographicall and other respects it may rank as one of the hand- somest books of the season; the cover is in itself a treat, and the illustrations la' Mr. William Hyde are admirable in vigour. r. Hydc is fond of the murky and the turbulent. The view of Dover, which constitutes the frontispiece, has suggestions of Turner. Not less fine and impressive are the views of Hythe, Folkestone, New Romney, and other slyiots of_interest and beauty. In a gentler, but sti beautiful style are the photogravure slates of Hastings, Winchelsea, Dover Cliffs, San wich Flats, an other lovely spots. The headpiece to chap. i. is a marvellous picture of early Renaissance life, and the text illustrations, presenting scenes such as Fairlight and Pevensey, are worthy of the companionship into which t ey are promoted. Incidentally we get, as was to be expected, in the text interesting sidelights as when we find among the imputations against William Chamberlyn, “a common hasedoure ’-that is, hasardour, or gambler who kept a house for men and women-the further charges of sitting up late at nights, which a gambler is apt to_ do, and ‘ keeping one ferrett for unting," which indicates that e must have been an all-round sportsmen, if of rathera vulgar t . We turn nowhere in the book without findliig matter that appeals to us. A more or less intimate knowledge of the district depicted is naturalliyhan enhancement of enjoyment and delight. at knowledge among the denizens of Southern Ens- lsnd is a common possession _and the work, accor - ingly appeals to a large public. It is not a book to be tal-ren down on a visit unless you are going for a long stay. Rather is it one to e ggar ed on the safest and most richly garnished she, and brought reverently out as a matter of supreme delectation. We, who love every mile of the country, and who are pleased in our hearts at the treachery of the sea, which has left some at least of the Cinque Ports Elaces of quiet enjotyment and contemplation, little nown or loved o the I10lB§ trgiper, have found endless enjoyment in Mr. ue er’s work. There are doubtless hundreds of ggople whom it will send, so soon as March win are over, to form or to renew acquaintance with the scenes which pen and penci present in so ravishing a guise. IN the Fortnightly the account of the German Emperor, which is written from a German stand- point and contains many Teutonxsrns, is none the ess well worth reading. A criticism by Count S. C. de Soissons of ‘ Maeterlinck’s Latest Drama’ is suiiiciently interesting. Not wholly satisfactory to us however is the explanation of the symbolism. W,e are, indeed, disposed to believe that when we are by stern necessity compelled to have symbolism, it is better to have it untranslated and unexplained. ‘Society’s Dultiy to the Tramp’ is, in the view of Mr. W1 liam arbutt Dawson, to efface him and to make him work. No sympathy is felt by our author for the nomadic life of le chemmeau as depicted by M. Jean Richelpin. The vagrant will take all you give him an give Ecu absolutely nothing in return. We have reac ed the time when measures are to be used not of regulation, but of reformation. Capt. Gambier puts in a plea for peace, to be found in an Anglo-Russian alliance. Mr. Stephen Gwynn writes on ‘ The Autumn’s Books,’-that is such ol them as appeal to him. ‘St. Gervase of Plessy, a Mysteigg’ is a curious and rather grim invention on the su ject of Jewish treatment of a Christian child. ‘From an Eighteenth-Century Escritoire has a pleasant old~world flavour. A liters sup plement gives Mr. J. M. Barrie’s latest dyrama ‘ The We ding Guest.’-Mr. Leslie Stephen draws in the Nineteenth Century a vivid picture of Thomas Henry Huxley, and explains the essential lo alty of his rather combative disposition. Mrs. §ohn Richard Green depicts ‘A Visit to the Boer Prisoners at St. He ena,’ and seeks, apparentl, to convey the impression that the_ people there detained are amongst the worthlest gpecimens of the human race. Mr. Frederick edmore in ‘The Poet’s End,' depicts the closing days and reflections of an imaginary poet expiring on the Riviera. There is much that is thou htful and something that is beautiful in this. ‘The Réle of Women in Society,’ by the Hon. Lady Ponsonby, deals admirably with the consideration for women exacted from youth in the last century. It may q surprise her to hear that in England in modern