Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/424

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. NOV. IG, 1901.

costliest rates in the auction - rooms what the fermiers gendraux bought from the artist. The desire to possess becomes a passion, but the element of artistic appreciation remains small. Very interesting is it to read what the author has to say concerning these fermiers-generaux, whose names are seldom mentioned except with obloquy. By a list of their names we can follow up all the improvements of Paris. These men understood that it lay in their hands to develope " les Clemens du travail contemporain, d'alimenter 1'art du pre- sent et de preparer 1'art de 1'avenir." In this, holds Lady Dilke, " is to be found the apology for their reckless prodigality, but the combination of circumstances by which individual luxury rendered service to the State does not seem likely, at least in pur days, to be repeated." The volume is inferior neither in beauty nor in merit to its predecessors. Apart from the question of grace of style and general literary merit, it appeals to the reader by its superb reproductions by photogravure and other processes. Two or three of the best plates are con- fined to the large-paper copies, which are veritable objets de luxe ; but the ordinary copies are also treasures, and deserve a place in the cabinets of the bibliophile and the virtuoso.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. By Charles Dickens. (Chapman & Hall and Frowde.) WE have received a volume (query, the first?) of what professes to be for general readers the most popular edition of the works of Charles Dickens. It consists of ' The Pickwick Papers,' printed on the delightful Oxford India paper, and supplied with reduced facsimiles of the plates of Seymour and Phiz. In this shape ' The Pickwick Papers ' can be slipped into the pocket and carried on an excursion, either cycling or walking. We have tried the text with eyes no longer young, and find it a marvel of legibility, being capable of being read in almost any light ; and the book, thanks to the paper, is a mere feather - weight. A man can scarcely, under the least propitious circumstances, be dull, either in railway station or hotel, when he has ' Pickwick ' in his pocket. The character of the illustrations is fairly preserved in the reductions, and these are indispensable to the full enjoyment of the novel. It is to be trusted that the works will be completed in the same form. The cloth cover has on one side a medallion portrait of Dickens, on the other illustrations of the more popular figures and subjects in the book.

The History of Ditchliny, in the County of Sussex.

By Henry Cheal, Jun. (Lewes, Lewes and South

County Press.)

IN this year of the millenary celebration of Alfred the Great local historians are happy who can connect his name with the places in which they are interested. This little history written by the organist of the parish church, and dedicated to the vicar although going back to the time of Roman occupation, shows that King Alfred was the owner of the manor, and mentions the fact that his will, by which it was bequeathed to his kinsman Osferth, is still preserved in the British Museum. There are notes of its subsequent possession by William de Warenne and his descendants; as also of the residence in the "ancient house," still standing, of Anne of Cleves. The parish church is of much interest, with its ancient monuments, and its six Inscribed bells, which are chimed at eight o'clock

on Sunday mornings. The white owls, some ofl which have from time immemorial made their lome in the roof of the south chancel, are still to

heard on quiet summer evenings giving f orth \ iheir peculiar snoring sound. The little meeting louse, also, of the Unitarians is interesting, with ts graveyard containing tombs of old inhabitants.! The book gives much genealogical, heraldic, and anecdotic information relating to families descend- ants of some of whom are still resident in the! village, is well illustrated, and is provided with several pedigrees and an index.

The Nation's Pictures. A Selection from the Finest] Modern Paintings in the Public Picture Galleries! of Great Britain. Produced in Colours. Part 1.1 (Cassell&Co.)

MESSRS. CASSELL have issued the first part of al series of coloured reproductions of celebrated picl tures in our national or municipal collections* Part I. contains Mr. E. A. Abbey's ' Mistress Mine,! Mr. Alfred East's 'Autumn,' Mr. Maurice GreifFeid tiagen's 'Idyll,' and Mr. Orchardson's 'Napoleon on board the Bellerophon.' Altogether marvellous are the plates, considering the price at which they are published. They are, moreover, so lightly attached to the page that they may be removed for the purpose of being framed. A more remarkable instance of cheapness and value of production we do not recall.

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CORRIGENDA. P. 377, col. 2, 1. 4, and p.

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