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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. VH. FEB. ie, 1901.

to guard against further descents of the Spaniards. Among the duties assigned our sea captains was that of preventing the importation of French wines, spoken of again as Rochel wine. The pre- cinct of the Black Friars is said to be " noisom ' to her Majesty's subjects, on account of the "great heapes of soil and filth laid there, which in hot weather is very dangerous to breed infection. Leave under certain restrictions is given to Har- man Buckhold, a goldsmith, to erect there an edifice. A noteworthy coincidence is that William Hacket is tortured to make him confess his crimes,

and that -Udall is condemned as guilty of felony.

Thomas Hacket was the publisher of the ' Ralph Roister Doister ' of Nicholas CJdall, that rarest of books. There is just a possibility that the intimacy between the fathers was continued in the children. Among the miscellaneous contents is a romantic abduction in Wales.

The Letters of Cicero. Translated by Evelyn S.

Shuckburgh, M.A. 4 vols. (Bell & Sons.) THE latest addition to " Bohn's Libraries " in every way worthy of the companionship into which it is thrust is a complete translation of Cicero's letters, comprising the whole extant correspond- ence, arranged in chronological order. So early as 1561 some of the epistles of Cicero were translated into English. Since then there have been seen the well-known renderings of William Melmoth and Dr. William Heberden and the selection by Mr. Jeans. None of these is, however, absolutely com- plete, the Brutus letters having been brought to light since the time of Heberden, and the present will henceforward be regarded as the authoritative edi- tion. Each volume is ushered in by an introduction explaining the historical conditions existing at the time when the letters were written, and com- municating such particulars as are known concern- ing Cicero's correspondents. We have not to dwell afresh upon the character of the letters, important for the light they cast upon history at the most dramatic and important period in Roman annals, and profoundly interesting for the revelation of character which they furnish, nor have we to judge again the personality of a man who, though he inspires conflicting sentiments, is never regarded with indifference. Mr. Shuckburgh apologizes for not giving a rendering into French of the passages of Greek with which Cicero was accustomed to interlard his letters to Atticus. An apology is surely unnecessary, for the plan is unreasonable and inept. It may justly be pleaded in defence of this habit of quoting Greek, that to Atticus, who lived many years in Athens, Greek was practically a mother tongue, and it is possible that the passages Cicero quotes may be from the writings of Atticus himself. Apart from their inherent importance, the letters must be studied by all interested in Renaissance literature. Their influence upon the epistolary style of the humanists is abundantly evident. The translation is admirably executed.

The History of Early Italian Literature to the Death

of Dante. Translated from the German of Adolf

Gaspary by Herman Oelsner, M.A. (Bell & Sons.)

WE have here yet another important addition to

"Bohn's Standard Library" in a translation of

part of the opening volume of Herr Gaspary's

admirable history of early Italian literature. Now

that a close knowlede of Dante has become an

important part of a literary equipment, it is pro-

bable that the works of the predecessors of that reat writer will receive the attention hitherto lenied them in this country. Some familiarity with the early Italian poets is, indeed, indis- pensable to all who seek to follow the renaissance of letters. It may furnish some encouragement to the study to say that the Italian language of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries offers no such difficulties as beset the English and French of the same epoch. What will specially commend the volume to a large class of readers is the fact that nearly half of it is occupied with the study of Dante. This portion forms an excellent introduc- tion to a knowledge of the ' Commedia,' though rather, perhaps, to its plan and execution than to its poetical merit. The volume contains the author's latest bibliographical and critical notes, 1887-99. In behalf of it it is claimed that, though a portion only of a larger work, it is complete in itself. A translation of the remainder of the work is, it is pleasant to learn, in contemplation.

PHILOLOGY has suffered a serious loss by the death of Dr. Fitzedvvard Hall, under the signature F. H. our frequent contributor. He was born in the State of New York, and educated at Harvard. In the course of a wandering and singularly adventurous life, which included six months' imprisonment with a small garrison in Saugor during the Indian Mutiny, he acquired an exemplary knowledge of Sanskrit and Persian. Of the former language he was pro- fessor at Government College, Benares, and after- wards at King's College, London. He also became librarian at the India Office. The degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him on 7 July, 1860. For thirty years he has lived in retirement among his books, rendering inestimable service to philology generally and to the ' New English Dictionary ' in particular.

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