Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/467

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apart from its other claims, furnishes the student with a guide to the differences between English and German heraldry. In the main these are small. In France, whence heraldry is supposed to have sprung, its fundamental laws have of late been neglected. In England and Germany the beauty of heraldic representation had for a time declined, but in both countries the last quarter of a century has wit- nessed a return to earlier styles. Among the points in which the heraldry of the two countries differs it will serve to cite one. In Germany the logical rule is observed that a crest cannot exist alone, and must not be represented without the helmet and lambrequin. It is, indeed, supposed to be screwed to the helmet, as in practice was the case. It is the exclusive custom of England, on the other hand, to place the crest, " with wreath, directly on the shield, or even floating in the air above it." More than two hundred plates, many of them of highest interest and rarity, and covering the period between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, are given in the volume. Some of these are in colours. Among the designers whose works are reproduced are artists such as Albrecht Diirer, Hans Holbein, Lucas Cranach, HansBurgkmair, and HansBaldung Grim. Our author speaks of the earliest ex-libris as a mark of possession being in the British Museum and being some 3,300 years old a sufficiently re- spectable antiquity. It is a light blue piece of pottery, with an inscription in dark ^blue showing that it belonged to the library of Amenophis III. about 1400 B.C. A full bibliography, a subject index, and much information of interest to students and collectors are included in a book the appeal of which will meet with a ready response from those for whom it is intended.

The Alfred Jewel: an Historical Essay. By John

Earle, M.A. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) KNOWLEDGE concerning the Alfred Jewel is not a general possession. Since its discovery in 1693, and its subsequent lodgment in the Ashmolean Museum, one of the treasures of which it is, this gem has been the subject of much discussion among archaeo- logists, and its origin and significance have con- stituted a crux. During fifty years' study Prof. Earle, who has been in the habit of lecturing upon it, has contemplated it with increasing wonder and curiosity. The result of his conclusions concerning it he gives in a handsome and most scholarly volume, issued, with numerous and excellent illus- trations, from the Clarendon Press. A difficult volume is it upon which to pass an opinion. A mere account of the jewel itself, its discovery, and the speculations to which it has given rise cannot be furnished within a reasonable compass. In con- futing the views of his predecessors, and supplying his own interpretation, Prof. Earle explores many fields, archaeological and philological ; and the con- clusions at which he arrives will be authoritative only to those who can follow closely a skilfully woven argument and can appreciate the firmly held balance of probabilities. In order to say anything at all in the space at our disposal, we must assume on the part of the reader some knowledge of a jewel which, as Prof. Earle indicates, would cast lustre upon any collection. His first conclusion is that the epigraph or legend round the sloping sides, which we cannot attempt to reproduce, runs "Aelfred mec heht gewyrean" (" Alfred me ordered make "), and refers to our royal Alfred, not to some other bearer of the name ; that the beautiful workman-

ship is not Byzantine or further East, but a product of these islands ; and that the work is not, as has been supposed, an amulet, a pendant to a collar of state, the top or handle of a stylus, a decorated umbilicus, a military standard, the tip of a sceptre, or (as Bishop Clifford conceived) the costly handle of a pointing stave or baculm cantorum, but a jewel from the kingly helmet or cynehelm of Alfred. Its discovery near the Isle of Athelney and its preser- vation in Fairfield House give rise to the theory that the jewel was buried by Alfred in the period of his greatest straits from Dane and Welshman, and that, through the obliteration of markings or other causes, it was not recovered by the monarch or again seen until it was found in 1693. The value of these and other conjectures must be decided by those competent to form an opinion. We can but express our admiration for the erudition displayed not only in the conduct of the main argument, but in dealing with separate portions. Take, for in- stance, the disquisition on ' The Boar's Head ' in chap, vi., an apparent boar's head which is, as it seems to us, distinctly wrought into the composition of the work, and the illustrations from early litera- ture, notably from 'Beowulf,' of its significance. In the explanation of the symbolism of the entire gem Prof. Earle shows much ingenuity, though we are unable to pronounce an opinion upon his reading. Very interesting is the historical treatment. In short, in whatever light it is regarded, the work is calculated to delight the soul of the antiquary. The illustrations to the volume, some of them in gold and colours, have much beauty and interest, and a folded map of Athelney will be of service to the student.

IN the Fortnightly Mr. Arthur Symons descends into the fray between Mr. Churtpn Collins and the " English bards and Scotch reviewers " whom he has assailed. On whose side is the descending deity we are not quite sure, since he seems to administer his blows with admirable impartiality upon Greek and Trojan alike. But the blows themselves are doughty, and some among those who have to be removed on stretchers or left on the field took no part in the fray, but might almost be regarded as helpless bystanders. ' A Censor of Critics ' is the title Mr. Symons bestows on his article, with some of the conclusions of which we agree. Writing on ' The Conditions of Franco-British Peace,' the Baron Pierre de Coubertin gives good advice, but is any- thing rather than reassuring in view. To read his article beside 'A Fool's Paradise,' by Col. Wil- loughby Verner, with which we are forbidden to deal, will give thoughtful Englishmen a mauvaia quart d'heure. Mr. Courtney's ' Sonnet of Revolt ' is a bid for a fuller life. ' Eros in French Fiction and Fact ' is by the author of ' An Englishman in Paris.' This is smartly written, and tells brightly some fairly familiar truths. Some additions to M. Jusserand's 'Shakespeare in France' might be obtained from the narrative how ' Othello ' has been treated or received when produced in Paris. Mr. Heathcote Statham writes on ' The Salon and the Royal Academy.' In the comparison between the two exhibitions England comes off better than we expected. There is a greater proportion of good pictures at the Academy than at the Salon, but the same heights are not reached. To the majority of readers of the Nineteenth Century the most interesting and the most consoling article will be that of Mr. Andrew Carnegie on ' British Pessimism,