Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/484

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NOTES- AND QUERIES. [9 th s. VIIL DEC. 7, IDOL

ever, to talk about a " Sybil " (sic). ' Tchelkache,' with which the number concludes, is a translation from Maxinie Gorki and is inexpressibly grim and terrible. The most remarkable article in the Nineteenth Century is that by Mr. W. H. Mallock, called 'A New Light on the Bacon-Shakespeare Cypher.' We own to not having time to work out the theory Mr. Mallock advances, or to comprehend what is called the bi-literal cypher excogitated by Bacon. No doubt this might be done by the expenditure of a moderate amount of labour. We cannot all of us do all things, however, and in days when claims upon attention are so numerous and so urgent, one is compelled to limit one's interest. When we say, accordingly, that what commends itself to Mr. Mallock, and is declared to be " of pathetic and dignified beauty," does not similarly impress us, we own that our negative utterance is of little value or interest. At the same time, we are Mailing to grant that a mystery which so warmly commends itself to a mind so logical as that of Mr. Mallock deserves to be studied, even though the result, if we accept the deduction, would be to beget a species of infidelity, the result of which who shall foresee? The mystery of Mary Stuart, on which Mr. Lang has tried to throw light, would be pale and insig- nificant indeed beside that of Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Bacon, and Margaret of Navarre. We cannot avoid a little dubiety whether Mr. Mallock is quite serious. A comparatively small portion of the review is occupied with questions concerning the war. In ' Marriage and Modern Civilization ' Mr. W. S. Lilly finds that Roman Catholic views as to marriage and divorce are preferable to those accepted by other ecclesiastical communities. Sir Robert Anderson's views as to the way in which to treat professional criminals commend themselves to us, but we despair of seeing their adoption. Sir Wemyss Reid has been in America, and his monthly communication gains in interest from what he has seen and heard. Mr. Justice Grantham's ' Plea for the Circuit System' is a novelty in its way. Earl Nelson's article on 'Back to the Land' may be read in connexion with Mr. Trevelyan's ' The White Peril.' Mr. John Coleman advocates ' A National Theatre.' ' Sketches in a Northern Town,' Part II., 'Child-Settlers for South Africa,' and other con- tents repay perusal. Attention in the case of the Pall Mall is almost monopolized by the article of Mr. W. E. Henley on Robert Louis Stevenson, simply headed ' R. L. S.' This has been the sub- ject of attack or defence in nearly every literary periodical. We will contribute nothing to a con- troversy which concerns us not, but will only protest against the growing habit of using initials for persons or things. It is a time rather to make names more precise. Everybody will know, per- haps, who is intended by P. B. S. or E. B. B., but surely M. F. T. is beginning to be forgotten, and we do not wish under C. M. to be perplexed between Christopher Marlowe and, say, Cosmo Monkhouse. Under the heading 'A Literary Friendship' Mr. William Sharp describes the sustained intimacy between Mr. Swinburne and Mr. Theodore Watts- Dunton. Col. Newnham Davis writes on 'Good Form ' at school and university, in barracks, and elsewhere. 'A Popular Illustrator' deals with Steinlen. ' The Rebuilding of London,' with Lon- don as it is, is capital. Mr. Sime's illustration to 'Hey-diddle-diddle' is very comic. General James Grant Wilson gives in the Oomhill

a most readable account of ' Thackeray in the United States,' and, besides supplying many in- teresting anecdotes, reproduces two water-colour sketches of the novelist. Mr. Austin Dobson gives in his ' Ombres Chinoises ' a characteristically good picture of last-century life. An exceedingly in- teresting paper on the ' Reading Public' is the joint production of Mr. Andrew Lang and a working man. The statements advanced are discouraging enough, but a few genuine readers are to be found. We can point to a working man who knows more about the Tudor dramatists than ever a professor at either or any university. Mrs. Henry Clarence Paget describes a daring visit to ' The Ruby Mines of Upper Burma.' A ' Londoner's Log-Book ' re- mains very amusing, and ' The Tale of the Great Mutiny ' is finished. In the Gentleman' 1 s M r.Brether- ton scolds Defoe for his narrative of ' The Apparition of Mrs. Veal.' Miss Amy Tasker answers in the negative her inquiry ' Did Mary Stuart love Both- well?' and raiher airily dismisses the Casket Letters as forgeries. The questions concerning Mary Stuart are not to be settled just yet. Surely the Camille Domet mentioned in M. Maurice Daumart's 'Censorship of Plays in France' should be Camille Doucet. Another article is on ' Marriage and Music in China.' The most interesting paper in Longman's is that by the Rev. John Vaughan on ' Some Additions to our Native Flora,' showing what new plants have spread from cultivation into wild growth and are doing something to compensate for the destruction of our native species. Miss C. Fell Smith writes on ' The Love Affairs of Frances Cromwell,' Miss Dempster on the ' Letters of Lady Louisa Stewart to Miss Louisa Clinton,' and George Paston on ' The Eighteenth-Century Felon.'

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DEVONIAN ('Pomeroy Family of Devon,' ante, p. 424). Send address. We have a letter for you.

CORRIGENDUM. P. 423, col. 2, 1. 2, for " Howard" read Havard.

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