io s. x. SEPT. 5, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
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NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Cambridge History of English Literature. Edited by A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller. Vol.11. The End of the Middle Ages. (Cambridge, University Press.)
THE second volume of this ' History ' will confirm the good opinion expressed of the first, reviewed in our number for 30 Nov., 1907. The selection of authors for the special sections seems to us for the most part admirable ; and the reduction of the number of writers an advantage, as it lessens the disparities of view and style, which naturally jar on readers of sensitive taste. Thus Prof. Gregory Smith has three chapters on Scottish subjects, and Prof. Saintsbury two on 'Chaucer' and ' The English Chaucerians ' respectively. Miss Alice D. Greenwood writes one chapter on 'The Beginnings of English Prose ' and two on ' English Prose in the Fifteenth Century.'
The opening article on '"Piers the Plowman" and its Sequence ' has already received most enthu- siastic recognition from Dr. Furnivall, and its conclusion that the poems are not the work of a single author is cogent enough to demand con- sideration in any future study of the subject. Prof. Gregory Smith is one of the soundest scholars we have, and his work here is excellent. Prof. Saintsbury, equally erudite, has got into a tortured and tortuous style of diction which is irritating. Miss Alice Greenwood vindicates her right to a place among her distinguished colleagues, though ner writing seems to us occasionally rather jejune and thin.
Two or three chapters are in the hands of acknowledged specialists whose work could pro- bably not be bettered anywhere. Such are the account of John Gower by Mr. G. C. Macaulay, of ' The Introduction of Printing into England ' by Mr. E. Gordon Duff, and ' Ballads ' by Prof. F. B. Gummere, who is perhaps a little pedantic, but always worth reading. Dr. T. A. Walker's account of ' English and Scottish Education ' and ' Univer- sities and Public Schools to the Time of Colet ' is a piece of highly compressed work which shows both care and ability. Dr. Walker is able to throw con siderable light on his subject by special reference" to the constitution and ancient library of his own college, Peterhouse.
The volume teems with debatable questions ; the mere names of Chaucer, Malory, and Huchoun suggest long- waged battle ; but we cannot afford the space for discussion, which usually depends on a number of rival probabilities or possibilities not to be marshalled in a brief space. Our own pre- possessions, so far as we have formed them, do not move us to dispute the learning here laid before us.
The style of the present volume, which is too informative to be easy reading, seems to us to be in advance of that of the previous one, nor is the clumsiness of expression which often, alas ! goes with erudition at all prominent. As a book for serious students, then, this ' Cambridge History ' should be in great favour. The Bibliographies are laudably full, and even refer to forthcoming books as well as fugitive papers of value, which are often difficult to find.
Johnson on Shakespeare. Essays and Notes selected
and set forth with an Introduction by Walter
Raleigh. (Frowde.)
THIS most attractive reprint should be peculiarly welcome to all students of English criticism. Johnson's attitude * towards Shakespeare was- singularly in advance of his time, as was also his conception of one portion at least of the duties of a commentator. "It has been," he says, "my settled principle, that the reading of the ancient books is probably true, and therefore is not to be disturbed for the sake of elegance, perspicuity, or mere improvement of the sense." Every reader must needs be at one with Prof. Raleigh, the- present editor, when in his able Introduction h& laments that these notes on Shakespeare are "all too few." The Doctor's dictatorial tone is refresh- ing ; so top is his keen eye for inconsistency, how- ever trivial ; while there is something almost humorous in his honest inability to appreciate that which most of us have learnt to love as " Shake- sperian humour " for example, when, in comment- ing on the flaming nose of Bardolph, he observes ^ " The conception is very cold to the solitary reader,, though it may be somewhat invigorated by ex- hibition on the stage."
The volume is admirably printed and neatly bound, and is a characteristic work both in respect of excellences and limitations of the most typically English of critics.
IN The Gornhill for September there is an excellent story of rustic life, ' The Ploughin r Match,' by M. E. Francis. Mr. Lucy's capital reminiscences of his journalistic career are con- tinued, and form most interesting reading. He- recalls his editorship of Mayfair, a brilliant periodical which did not succeed like Yates's paper The World. Mr. J. H. Yoxall, writing on ' Salomon Gessner and the Alps,' indulges in an amount of reverie and fine writing which bores us His claims to be a stylist are slender. ' A Commen- tary,' by Mr. Galsworthy, is reviewed by Lady Robert Cecil, whose remarks are more improving than diverting. The Rev. G. S. Davies has a capital article on 'Rome Then and Now,' the " Then" representing 1870. ' Military Small Beer, by an anonymous writer, is excellent, especially with regard to the strong language of some old military authorities ; but E.V. B. on ' The Duke ' is disappointing; here is "small beer" indeed, but a pleasant exhibition of hero-worship.
Two articles on ' The Problems of the Near East ' occupy the beginning of The Fortnightly. Mr. Francis Gribble follows with a keen examination of ' Tolstoy and the Tolstoyans,' which seems to us to make some fair points against the Russian and his disciples. Mrs. Stopes has a well-reasoned and learned article on ' The Constitutional Basis of Women's Suffrage.' Mr. E. H. Cooper is both practical and amusing in ' English Railways and Summer Holidays.' Mr. E. H. D. Sewell has a good account of ' The Cricket Season, 1908,' but he has not noticed the fact that the champion county is nowhere in the batting averages, having won chiefly by its bowlers. ' Mark Rutherford : an< Appreciation,' by Miss Frances Low, is welcome,, for this really great writer has not yet come to his- deserved fame, partly, perhaps, owing to the- restricted and unfashionable setting of his stories. Applauding Miss Low's sentiments as a whole, we must add that they are somewhat wildly expressed.
