418
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io< s. i. MAY 21, UM.
might have been altered and modified in some
respects. Mr. Hassall, to whose care and judgment
is attributable their appearance, has, however
hesitated before making important alterations in
work entitled to so much consideration, and has
confined himself, as he states, to the addition of a
few notes, the insertion of some genealogical tables,
and the removal of some (not all) colloquialisms
This was doubtless the most expedient as well as
the most respectful course, though it might, with
advantage, have been carried further. Almost
in limine we encounter references to boyhood, it
development and its opinions, which have no direct
connexion with the subject. That subject, disposed
under three headings, is European history between
1519 and 1648, a period which witnessed the growth
of the Reformation, that of the anti-Reformation,
and the conflict between the two. The whole is
held by Mr. Hassall to constitute one historical
drama, the first act in which consists of the reign of
Charles V., the second the period between his
death and the beginning of the seventeenth century,
and the third the Thirty Years' War. It would be
futile to complain that no prologue gives us the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the growth of
the Inquisition, and the extirpation of that Iberian
reformation which seemed to be in the air, and
would presumably have commended itself more
readily to Latin races than did the teaching of
Luther or that of Calvin. It is not easy to find
within a similar space a more orderly and
systematic disposition and description of the forces
which led straight up to modern history, and found
their culmination in the triumph of revolution and
the ultimate extinction of " the Empire." It is
obviously impossible to give an idea of the general
treatment of the great themes with which Stubbs
deals.
Once more we find ourselves compelled to admire the accuracy and insight displayed in the character- painting. Now and then a few allusions to the politics of the last generation are traced. Who can mistake the reference when we find in an analysis of the character of Henri IV. the words, " Like the statesman of the present day, he had not the slightest difficulty in training his conscience to believe that the course most expedient for him at the moment was the one which his higher nature recommended to him, which the development of his own views showed him to be the right, nay, which, under a different form, was the course which he had always intended to hold. How far the analogy holds good we are scarcely prepared to say. What is said about the relations of Henri IV. to women has to be read by the light of Stubbs's own position and the audience lie had to address. For his excesses Henri, says our author in guarded language, "cannot claim the excuse of youth, if there be any truth in such excuse." Altogether successful are the short sketches given of the more important characters. More than once Bishop Stubbs dwells on the influence in clearing the European board of the years 1558 and 1559 Charles V. dying in September and Queen Mary and Cardinal Pole in November of the former year, and Pope Paul IV. in August and Henri II. of France in July of the later. There are few works which present a more condensed and trustworthy view of the epoch. A history in the full sense of the word the_ work does not form, and traces of the constitutional historian are found in the absence of detail concerning the
murder of Henri IV. or the assassination of (Juise
or Wallenstein. In philosophic grasp and in con-
densation the volume is most noteworthy. It is,
however, welcome in all respects, and is commended
to general use by a fairly comprehensive index.
The added pedigrees, consisting of those of the
House of Hapsburg and of the Houses of Valois
and Bourbon, increase the value of the work.
Sir Thomas More's Utopia. Edited by J. Churton.
Collins. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) A CRITICAL edition of the 'Utopia' is a boon to the student. References to the work are abundant ; but those who have read it/ either in the transla- tion of Robynson or in that of Burnet, remain few,, even though modern reprints by benefactors such as Prof. Arber and William Morris have com- mended it to two classes of collectors or readers, and though there is, we are told, a class of Com- munists who have made of the 'Utopia' a text- book. Those who know it not can scarcely make its acquaintance in a form more convenient and attractive than now it assumes. Of the numerous editions which have appeared during late years Mr. Churton Collins awards justly the palm to Dr. Lupton's edition of the Latin text with Robynson's translation, which, however, is more ambitious in scope than his own, and is not, like his own, intended to be of service to the junior student. In praise of an edition by Dr. Lumby for the Pitt Press Series he also speaks. Mr. Collins- himself reprints Robynson's translation, supplying a preface, a life of More, and essays on the ' Origin- and Inspiration of the Utopia,' on its framework and models, its plot, its purpose, and on early editions and translations. That the source is in Plato none will deny. Mr. Collins traces, how- ever, a very probable source of inspiration in Erasmus, the close friend of the author. The notes are excellent, and there is a serviceable- glossarial index. More's ' Utopia ' is generally taken a little too seriously, since^ in spite of its philo- sophical and satirical purpose, it is, as Robynson calls it, "afruteful and pleasaunt Worke." It is- a playful satire on the world of his day, and to- some extent an adaptation of Plato's ' Republic,' with reminiscences of the ' Civitas Dei ' of St. Augustine and other Christian works.
BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.
THE catalogues for May are as numerous as those during April, and are equally full of interest.
From Oxford we have Mr. B. H. Blackwell's- atalogue, opening with books of Alpine travel, ollowed by Art and Architecture, where we ind Fulleylove's 'Holy Land'; Foster's 'Minia- ,ure Painters,' 2 vols. folio, 51. 5s. ; Jameson's- History of our Lord,' 1857-94, 61. 6s. ; Parker's Terms used in Architecture,' 1850, 31. 7s. 6d. ;. Turner and Ruskin,' by F. Wedmore, 2 vols. folio, 900, 151. 15*. Under Biography, Dante, Shake-
- peare, are many interesting items. Folk-lore
ncludes Budge's 'Book of the Dead,' 3 vols., 30*., 898; Early English Text Society, 1864 to 1870, 01. 10-s. ; Nutt's 'Legend of the Holy Grail,' 1888, Ms. Under General is a copy of ' Memoirs (Secret ind Private) of the Various Courts of Europe,' \ichols, 1895-9, 45 vols. 8vo, uncut, 10. 10s.
Mr. Cadney, of Cambridge, chooses for the motto f his catalogue " My library a dukedom large
