Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/164

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NOTES 'AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIIL AUG. 17, uoi.

everything was being shaken by the decadence of imperial Rome, and the greatest change the world of thought has ever seen was close at hand.

THREE articles in the Edinburgh Review will remain of permanent value as an index of the state of knowledge and feeling at the beginning of the century. In ' Greece and Asia ' are gathered in narrow compass the prominent facts relating to the early Hellenic civilization. It is a difficult sub- ject whereon to write one, indeed, on which few persons think clearly. We have been so accustomed to believe, in spite of the evidence that has always existed to the contrary, that our progress has been solely due to the influences of Semitic and Greek thought, that it will come as something like a shock to many good people to learn how much Hellas was in its beginnings indebted to races regarded as in every way inferior to the Aryans. We do not feel called upon to question this self-satisfying piece of optimism, but must draw attention to the facts that the alphabet itself has probably come from Hittite rather than Phoenician sources, and that true alphabets, as distinguished from cuneiform and hieratic, were the work of busy merchantmen and traders rather than of grave and thoughtful students struggling after logical simplicity. The sum of the matter is here said to be "that Greek civilization was mainly derived from the non-Aryan population of Asia Minor, and thus indirectly from the Mongol race in Babylonia, which first established art and a written character in Cappadocia." ' Temporary Stars ' has gathered up all that is at present known, or which rests on a wide basis of probability, regard- ing those strange suns which burst upon the sight for a short time, and then, so far as human vision is concerned, sink into nothingness or become mere points of light. Until the spectroscope came into use nothing was known regarding these phenomena beyond their mere presence and that almost all of them had been seen among the great nebulae of the Milky Way. Now their chemical nature is to a great degree ascertained, and an important step has been taken towards solving the mystery of planet formation. We imagine that ' The Time-Spirit of the Nineteenth Century' will furnish many texts for controversy. With its main outlines we are in full sympathy, but on such a subject no two persons capable of abstract thought can be found who are in absolute agreement. The estimates of the sur- vivors from the eighteenth century, several of whom continued to our own time, are especially good, as are also the remarks on the revived scho- lasticism which has been a distinctive character- istic of these latter days. The review of Mr. Corbett's books on Drake furnishes pleasant and instructive reading. The hero has been so long the victim of romance that it is delightful to have the truth, or what is a very near approach thereto, set before us in a form which will attract readers. The notice of Tolstoi is written with feeling by one who understands his subject. It is at present, however, far too early to come to definite con- clusions.

PROF. MAITLAND has contributed to the English Historical Review an excellent memoir of the late Bishop of Oxford. It must give pleasure to every one who has a genuine love of knowledge, as dis- tinguished from the vague generalizations which pass current among those who feel aggrieved if they do not find in the histories they read the excitement which a novel gives them. We have

heard such misguided people say that the late bishop's writings are dull, a statement indicating that they are not only devoid of the historical instinct, but also are deficient in power of appreciating a style remarkable for excellence. ' Europe and the Ottoman Power before the Nine- teenth Century,' by Mr. W. Miller, is an instructive paper, as it contains information not elsewhere to be found in English. It is not easy to account for the decay of a great military power which was for so long a terror to the Christian West. The writer does not endeavour to do this, but he furnishes some details which may be helpful to any one who ventures upon this intricate subject. Mr. F. Baring writes on the New Forest, and shows, as we believe conclusively, that the cruelty of William the Norman in clearing that region for the purpose of making it a great game preserve has been exaggerated. We think, indeed, he might have gone further in the way of extenuation. The removal of rural popula- tions from one site to another was not in the Middle Ages a great hardship, certainly not so cruel as the clearances in the Scottish High- lands which have in recent days met with ardent defenders. We wish Mr. Baring would devote his attention to William's devastations in the north of England. Have they also been exaggerated by chroniclers and historians ? Mr. C. Bonnier gives from a Douce MS. a list of English towns with what he calls their attributes, which he regards as more complete than the others which are known to have come down to us. We believe it to be identical with a similar catalogue which appeared in our pages some years ago (6 th S. viii. 223).

THE LATE DR. SYKES, OF DONCASTER. Will those readers of ' N. & Q.' who happen to have on loan any books belonging to the late Dr. Sykes kindly communicate with the Rev. W. C. Boulter, Norton Vicarage, Evesham ?

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