Straparola's Satyr into a blue Centaur. Many years ago, in trying to get through the 'Cabinet des Fées,' I read much of the works of M. Gueulette. He seemed to me to be a poor writer. E. Yardley.
The ' D.N.B.': Additions and Corrections (10 S. ix. 182, 231, 272, 313, 372, 410, 473, 516).—Platt, Sir Hugh.—His will is proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in 1608, and, as he is shown to be alive 2 July, 1608, he must have died in that year. He was baptized 3 May, 1552, at St. James's, Garlickhithe, and knighted 22 May, 1605, being then "of London." G. E. C.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
This handsome volume will be welcomed by all lovers of Cambridge. It is a careful and studious collection of details concerning a period which is now little known, and which offers some interesting differences from the Academic life of to-day. The book is, indeed, an essential aid to that historian of Cambridge in the nineteenth century who will, we hope, appear some day. Many formal details given may appear tedious, but there are few pages that do not throw some valuable light on the University, particularly in its relations to the town. There are but few prominent survivors of the fifties still with us; the venerable Master of Clare is, however, still occupying the position he attained in 1856. It was in 1851 that King's College relinquished their privilege of exemption from University examinations.
'Additions and Corrections' to previous volumes, and an admirable Index to the whole work, occupy pp. 244 to 656. All this is close print, and the mere consideration of the space occupied will suggest the industry and research which have gone to enrich this part of the record. The two Coopers, father and son, must have laboured incessantly, and collected and annotated with a zeal equalled in our time by only one or two enthusiastic specialists.
The new matter is full of entertainment and interest. There is much concerning commands by, and appeals to, royalty. The University sent an appeal to their Chancellor, asking that Hobson might use a four-wheeled waggon in spite of the King's proclamation that "any common carrier" should not "travel upon the common highways with any wain, cart, or carriage having above two wheels." Some letters by a member of the University whose name is not known give an interesting view of Charles I. at Childerley and Newmarket in 1647. A token of the size of half-a-crown was struck in 1799, having a figure of Hobson on horseback. A whole monograph might be made out of the history of Sturoridge Fair, which was proclaimed as a "Scarlet Day" as late as the nineteenth century, and was the occasion of many disputes as to the theatrical performances. Some sets of verses are included, the meaning of which is now beyond recall. The Latin concerning Dr. Gostlin (1626) is clearly miswritten, for we can hardly believe that it was so faulty in scansion as the MS. transcriber has made it. In the same year Mr. Mead of Christ's College secured a small book out of the maw of a codfish, "almost turned into a gelly," and "with a tender lifting with my knife" separated some of the pages, and found a treatise of 'Preparation to the Crosse' of Henry VIII.'s day. Distinguished members of the University had their death in earlier times celebrated by a collection of verses. In the case of Bacon, though an ex-Chancellor, the University did not sanction such public honours. But a number of Cambridge scholars, the majority from Trinity College, were rightly impressed by Bacon's greatness, and their collection of poetry "bore all the exterior marks of an academical effusion, except that it was not headed by the Vice-Chancellor, and that it was printed in London instead of Cambridge."
We have selected but one or two points from this remarkable book, but they are sufficient to show its wide scope and interest.
We took up this book expecting to find a discussion of the old Globe Theatre and limitations of the actual stage used by Shakespeare—a subject which has been amply discussed, and generally in an arid fashion. Here we have no heavy archæology, but various views of the modern staging of the poet, and criticisms of acting which are both lively and full of practical points worth considering. Mr. Fitzgerald writes in a diffuse style which shows carelessness, leads to bathos, and rather spoils our pleasure. We think that he is largely justified in his criticism of details, though some of the remarks on illusion do not commend themselves to us. We are well satisfied, for instance, with the modern arrangements of ghosts, apparitions, &c., on the stage, and think that they are an advance on earlier methods. Such, at any rate, was the opinion of a critic of unexampled experience concerning the drama.
The attempt to equalize the characters of any given piece, and "thus present a perfect all-round performance, as is found in German theatres," is one which the author does well to commend to public notice. The sad distortion of the figure which the actor-manager happens to play is notorious in England. He dwarfs the other characters, and occupies so much time that they have to hurry through their parts. Some day we shall go to the theatre and time his speeches and grand pauses with a stop-watch, which might produce surprising results.
The question of music to Shakespeare is difficult, but it seems a little hard that Mr. Fitzgerald should object to a conductor as "a link with the prosy outer world." He praises justly Mendelssohn's music to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' but "he cannot conceive of an overture to 'Hamlet.'" The play should, he thinks, begin without "such noisy heralding." But human nature, being what it is, requires to be attuned to the occasion. An overture by Beethoven would aid us to appreciate the high and troubled theme of 'Hamlet'; some portion even of the 'Eroica' or the c Minor Symphony would give us great pleasure as a prelude.
