NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. MARCH ie, 1907.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.
P< ,-</</!/ him Veneri*. Latine incerto auctoris Greece
Hugonis H. Johnson. (Oxford, Black well.) Tins little pamphlet contains the remarkable poem concerning the coming of spring which has been ascribed to Hadrian's time, and a Greek version in the same metre by Mr. Johnson, an Oxford scholar now resident in France, we believe. Mr. Johnson has not succeeded in producing anything satisfactory for the famous refrain of the poem, and he allows him- self certain liberties of style and metre. But his version as a whole is distinguished for taste and resource. The repetition of the verb "tacere" at the end is no doubt tedious, but we do not think it well to introduce variety by such a phrase as el\of fi/ornjur/crag. No one without the
Latin would take this to mean " perdidi Musam
tacetido." We doubt ilKov altogether, arid should
at any rate read &v dvavSof instead of tv
To "The New Universal Library" of Messrs.
Routledge & Sons has been made an all-important
^contribution in the shape of numerous volumes of
John Ruskin's works, now first free, as regards many of them, from copyright restrictions. Even yet a portion only of them has appeared in the shilling form in which they are all oef ore long to
.appeal to the general public. Those now issued are, however, in themselves a treasury, and con- stitute the foundation of a reputation for English prose such as no previous writer has enjoyed. First in the number comes Modern Painter*, appearing, .as hitherto, in five volumes, with 315 illustrations .and plates, and one coloured plate. With this work began what was most representative in the modern teaching of Ruskin and his successors. Next, in three volumes with 173 illustrations and plates, and seven coloured plates, is the Stone* of Venice, with its warm defence of the Pre-Raphael- ites. Earlier than this came The Seven Lamp* of Architectiire, which did so much to encourage the
Gothic revival of the middle of the last century. Lecturer on Architecture and Painting has 23 illus- trations, and Elements of Drawing 48. Unto this Last and The Two Path* are among the less ambi- tious, but the more characteristic of the works now reprinted. 'The Political Economy of Art,' sub- sequently called A Joy for Ever, comes penultimate in the list of republications ; while the last (long one of the scarcest of his works and the most in demand) is the Selection* from Rnskiris Writing*.
To "The World's Classics" of Mr. Henry Fro wde, issued from the Oxford University Press, some idditions have been made. These include The Porthumou* Paper* of the Pickivick Club, in two volumes, with 43 illustrations by Seymour and Phiz ; Douglas Jerrold's Mr*. Candle's Curtain Lecture*,
and other Stories and E**a>/*, with an Introduction by Mr. Walter Jerrold, and 90 illustrations by ( 'luu-les Keene, John Leech, and Richard Doyle ; Hood's Poem*, serious and comic, also with an In- troduction by Mr. Jerrold, incorporating Poe's high, but far from exaggerated eulogy ; Dr. John Brown's Ifonr. Sub*eciv(p,, with an admirable preface by Mr. Austin Dobsoii ; and Mrs. Gaskell's Cranford, The Caije at Cranford, and The Moorland Cottarje, with
an exegetical Introduction by Mr. Clement .Shorter.
THE death, sudden and painless, on the 9th hist.,
of F. G. Stephens, the well-known art critic of
The Athenseum for many years, deprives ' N. & Q.'
of a valued contributor. Under his own signature,
or that, scarcely less familiar, of O., lie supplied
during a long period much important information,
largely, but not wholly, concerned with artistic
subjects. Four weeks ago we printed a long reply
from him on the subject of a picture by Rossetti ;
and our number for last Saturday, the day on
which he passed away, contained 'a short com-
munication from him, supplementing his former
one. His death reduces to two Holman Hunt
and W. M. Rossetti the list of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brethren, one of the original members, and to a
certain extent an historian, of which he was. A
man of wide range of knowledge, he \vas, like all
students and experts, ever ready in supplying to
others the information with which his memory was
charged, and was one of the most amiable as well
as the most erudite of men. It is difficult to
appraise the services he rendered to the most
earnest and enlightened pursuit of modern art.
Our personal loss cannot easily be estimated. He
has left a durable monument to his name in the
volumes of the ' Catalogue of Satirical Prints ' which
he edited for the Trustees of the British Museum.
DR. COPINGER informs us that he has decided to print only 150 copies of ' The Manors of Suffolk,' and not 250, as originally announced. In review- ing the first volume (10 S. vi. 16) we remarked : " The whole work is monumental in erudition and in labour. It will be nothing less than iniquitous if the encouragement required for the publication of the remaining volumes be not forthcoming." Dr. Copinger has these six volumes ready for the press, and the price on publication of any copies not subscribed for will be raised from one guinea to two guineas a volume.
THERE being five issues of ' N. & Q. ! this month, it has been found convenient to hold over the Booksellers' Catalogues till next week.
s t0 (K0msp0nantts.
We must call special attention to the following notices :
ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.
MEDICULUS ("Who shall decide when doctors disagree?"). The first line of Pope's 'Moral Essays,' Epistle iii.
ERRATA. Ante, p. 85, col. 1, 1. 16 from foot, for piif/u read p-uya; col. 2, 1. 11, insert not before "appear."
NOTICE.
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- o "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries '"Adver-
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