300
NOTES AND QUERIES. no s. x. OCT. 10, im.
portant paper on ' The Chaos of London Traffic,'
which needs much more consideration than the
slow-moving ideas of the average Briton are pre-
pared to award to it. Mr. Herbert Paul has one of
his attractive classical articles this time on ' The
Method of Plato.' Mr. F. Wedmore's notes called
' The Poet in " High Alps " ' are full of " precious "
writing, and aim at a staccato style of impression
which is riot English. There is nothing of novelty
in 'The Royal Open- Air Statues of London,' by
Mr. E. Beresford Chancellor, and we do not see the
use of a short article on such a subject. There is
also in the number a pleasant appreciation of Prince
Billow.
THERE are several articles of high interest in The Fortnightly besides the usual supply of current politics. M. Augustin Filon has a summary of the brilliant career of 'Georges Clemenceau,' whose
father " took care that he did not receive any
religious instruction " at school. The future Prime Minister entered the Medical School of Paris, and became an M.D. like his father. Early in his career " he fought a duel in the woods of Clamart with a man whom he had never seen before, on account of a political joke which he had not heard and which did not concern him personally." Exclusion from political life when he was fifty- two, owing to accusations proved to be false, made him a great journalist. At present, according to M. Filon, he is the only strong man in France. In ' Some Recent Archaeological Discoveries ' Mr. D. G. Hogarth gives the plain man an idea of the wonders of pre-Homeric art and life now being laid bare, and their relation to Greek culture. It is a pity that Mr. Hogarth cannot write more simply. The first sentence in his second paragraph is both clumsy and pedantic. He does, however, give us some clear and definite dates, and his whole article is well worth reading. Mr. Edwin Pugh in ' The Decay of the Short Story' rightly dwells on the vulgarity and commercialism of present-day writing, for which the public demand is ultimately re- sponsible. Why he omits T. B. Aldrich and includes Lew Wallace in his list of American short-story writers we cannot conceive. His account of a modern magazine is severe, but, we think, justified. Whence, however, he derives the justification for " the fact that the majority of these magazines are published at a loss to their proprietors " we do not know. Does riot the enormous crowd of advertise- ments represent a big revenue? Mr. Pugh says that English humourists cannot get on, or rather into print, because Mr. Jacobs sets them so unsurpassable a standard. This writer, it appears, " in the one great matter of fertility of invention
not only transcends, but seems to unite in his
own genius all the inimitable graces of, all the world's drollest spirits." Mr. Jacobs is "absolutely unique in the literary history of the world." This laudation seems to us wildly extravagant. Mr. Jacobs has so far shown nothing like the versatility of F. Anstey. In ' The State versus the Home ' M. K. Inglis suggests " a Chair of Child-Welfare at one of our leading Universities." Mr. Laurence Binyon has an excellent poem ' Sirmione.' The reappearance of a play on Faust has led Mr. Archer to look up Goethe's 'Prologue for the Theatre,' which is not precisely a discovery for the cultivated man. His notice of ' Plays of the New Season ' is well done, especially of the pinchbeck quality of Idols.'
The National Review offers, as usual, sprightly
and forcible reading, though it is mainly concerned
with politics, which do not interest us so much as
literature and art. Lord Lamington has ' A Plea
for the Improvement of Public Houses ' which is
timely ; and there are articles on ' The Key of
European Peace,' 'Imperial Policy,' ' The Purchase
Problem in Ireland,' and other questions which are
always with us. Mr. Austin Dobson in ' The Un-
paralleled Peiresc ' conveys delightfully a fund of
information concerning an accomplished figure
whom he describes as " a walking Notes and
Queries." *' A Guest " makes some sensible remarks
' Upon Country-House Visiting,' which, if society
ever paid any attention to literary comment, would
be worth taking to heart. Mr. Maurice Low is
good, as usual, on 'American Affairs.' Mr. J.
Castell Hopkins, of Toronto, has a somewhat severe
study of Prof. Goldwin Smith as a political pes-
simist. We should like to see the veteran author's
reply. Mr. E. A. Jones writes with the knowledge
of the expert on ' The Old English Plate of the Tsar
of Russia,' while Miss Alys Hallard has a study of
' Patrice,' a little work written by Renan in 1849.
The Burlington Magazine opens with editorial articles on ' The New Hals at Trafalgar Square,' which we believe to be fully worth the price paid for it, and on the decoration of the Palace of West- minster. Prof. Holmes deals with three pictures by Turner, the quality of which is exhibited in the beautiful illustrations. The reproductions of draw- ings by Rowlandson show that his serious art is, as Mr. Selwyn Image insists, well worth study. It is high time for a critic of authority to give more than "timorous praise" to such work, and Mr. Image explains that " Rowlandson the exquisite artist was swamped in Rowlandson the pungent caricaturist." We are, as often, most grateful to The Burlington for giving us something beyond the powers of the average collector and the popular critic, whose ver- biage conveys but little beyond a sense of careless fluency. There are two articles on Oriental carpets ; and the ' Notes on Various Works of Art ' include ' Some Rembrandt Drawings,' by Sir Martin Con- way, and a learned study of ' A Portrait by Hans Holbein the Elder,' illustrated, by Mr. Campbell Dodgson. At the end of the magazine, after the first page of advertisements, will be found a repro- duction of the lovely picture of ' Lady Lilith ' by Rossetti, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and is being reproduced by the Medici Society as the special plate for annual sub- scribers to The Burlington. The announcement of ' New Medici Prints ' opposite the title-page is of importance to all lovers of art. Amongst other items a reproduction of a picture of Milton as a boy is promised.
E. M. T. (" The scent of the roses will hang round
it still"). Moore, 'Farewell! But whenever you
welcome the Hour.'
M. L. R. BRESLAR (" Little France : Little Britain "). See the long discussion at 6 S. ix. 148, 253, 295, 357, under ' Petty France.'
A. C. H. Forwarded.
ERRATUM. P. 261, col. 2, 1. 9 from foot, for " Etruvia " read Etruria.
