240
NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. m. MARCH 25, was.
of Shakespeare multiply, the present occupies a
unassailable place.
Paradise Lost. By John Milton. Illustrated b
W. Strang. (Routledge & .Sons.) ILLUSTRATED editions of the 'Paradise Lost' ar not common, the only one that has obtained con siderable popularity being that of John Martin i 1826-7, with its marvellous effects of distance. Th first illustrated edition appeared in folio in 1688 and one with plates by Bartolozzi in 1802. Th present edition belongs to the " Photogravur Series," in which has already appeared the illus trated edition of Omar Khayyam. Its twelv illustrations include a rather grim portrait wit coarser hair than the poet generally wears ; a viev of him playing the violoncello to his daughters, wh are singing ; and ten other designs more remarkabl for robustness and power than grace. There are som few notes. We should prefer a better text. " Mad at pregnant," bk. i. 1. 2'2, for Modest it pregnant "Under the lea" for Under the lee, 1. 207, am other errors are to be noted. The type is Ballan tyne, but is not the best of those fine printers Much may be said in favour of the illustrations following precedent, Mr. Strang presents th< -Creator of the world as a being of venerable years.
JMethueris Standard Library. The Meditations q, the Emperor Marcus Aurelitis Antoninus. Trans lated by R. Graves, M.A. Pilgrim's Progress, By John Bunyan. The Works of Shakespeare^ Vol. I. The English Works of Francis Bacon. Vol. I. The History of the Decline and Fall oj the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon. Vol. I. The Novels of Jane Austen. Vol. I. Sense and Sensibility. (Methuen & Co.) WE have here the opening volumes of a series called " Methuen's Standard Library," which is likely to prove an inestimable popular boon. It consists of acknowledged masterpieces, issued under "the editorship of Mr. Sidney Lee, at a price which "brings them within the reach of all who can dream of the possession of any books at all. So far as the present issue is concerned, the volumes are in three .shapes. What may be called the norm is shown in the first volume of the works of Bacon and that of the novels of Jane Austen. These, issued in six- penny volumes, are excellent in type and size, and are vastly superior to the average productions at double the price. In their neat blue covers they are quite as fitted to the shelves as the three-and- a-half-franc French volumes of Charpentier or Hachette. Bacon's works now given include the 'Essays' and 'The New Atlantis,' the latter a "book not too easily accessible. In the case of Jane Austen, 'Sense and Sensibility' first appears. A second form, kindred with the first, is illustrated in the first volume of Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall.' This is in a pretty green cover, and is published at a shilling. It has more than double the number of pages, and has Gibbon's notes, to which additions Tiive been made by Prof. Bury, bringing the in- formation up to date. Prof. Bury has also revised the text. The first volume includes all up to chap, xiv., equal to about a volume and a half of the ordinary twelve-volume booksellers' edition. This reprint will, presumably, be in seven volumes, like the larger edition published by the same firm. The third form, priced also a shilling, is in a highly ornamental and artistic cover, and is eminently satisfactory in type and attractive in appearance.
'Marcus Aurelius' is issued in a capital render-
ing by Mr. R. Graves, M.A. The 'Pilgrim's
Progress' is in a very legible edition; while the
first volume of the Shakespeare contains five
comedies. Of this edition we have already said
that it brings works that every man of taste
delights or desires to possess within the reach of all
who can afford to have any books at all. We would
go further, and say that it should convert into book-
buyers almost all book-readers. To a searcher after
knowledge or entertainment it is immeasurably
cheaper to have an edition of his own at the price
at which it can now be obtained than to pay to a
circulating library a weekly sum for a thumbed,
and perhaps greasy, copy. A volume of Gibbon
such as that before us will last a thoughtful reader
for weeks. It will not be easy, we know, to con-
vert the average artisan into a reader. A series
such as this is likely, however, to win over some,
and so to let a certain measure of light into dark-
ness. Among the books the promise of which we
hail with pleasure are the prose works of Milton and
the plays of Ben Jonson and Marlowe. Fielding and
Smollett seem, as yet, likely to be seen in single
novels. The 'Tom Jones' of the one and the
' Humphry Clinker' of the other are promised.
to
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R. PIERPOINT ("A shoulder of mutton," &c.). All the references you mention are given under ' Nursery Rimes.'
PROF. STRONG ("Manuel's 'Count Lucanor' and he Invisible Cloth"). The story was related at ength by MR. YARDLEY at 7 th S. vi. 289. See also th S. vi. 353 ; vii. 55, 156 ; xi. 40.
COL. FismyiCK (" Introduction of School Slates "). This question was raised by PRINCIPAL SALMON 1 10 th S. ii. 488. Much information will be found i the replies ante, p. 14.
NOTICE.
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