Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
We have here a cheaper edition of the second issue of a work of laudable completeness. Messrs. Sonnenschein's 'Dictionaries of Quotations' are among the most useful of helps for inquirers, because they contain indexes of both authors and subjects. Here we find 237 pages of quotations duly translated, and our search for the source of many quotations at random has, on the whole, had satisfactory results. "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien," which our late Editor was fond of quoting concerning literary revision, is Voltaire's; and that brilliant penman is well represented here with six items from 'Candide,' fourteen from the 'Epîtres,' ten from the 'Essai sur les Mœurs,' and thirty-nine from the 'Lettres,' not to mention numerous others from the 'Théâtre,' or classed as "Various." Besides La Bruyère and La Rochefoucauld, the less-known Vauveriargues supplies, we are glad to notice, some excellent maxims. A favourite modern quotation, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," is duly cited as from 'Les Guêpes' of Alphonse Karr. There is nothing from Zola, though one might almost expect to find his "J'accuse." Maupassant has two phrases, one of which is "L'histoire, cette vieille dame exaltée et menteuse." Does not Musset's 'On ne badine pas avec l'Amour' deserve inclusion? We have been told that the "psychological moment," now become an almost meaningless vulgarism in the hands of journalists, is French in origin, which seems likely. It does not figure here; is it, perchance, from the drama of Dumas fils? The "defects of their qualities" is noted as from Balzac's 'Lily in the Valley,' and many other admirable maxims of his are included.
From 'Illusions Perdues' is given "Le journal tient pour vrai tout ce qui est probable." Balzac has this in a simpler form in his 'Monographie de la Presse Parisienne': "Pour le journaliste, tout ce qui est probable est vrai." We fail, however, to find in the pages before us the "enchanted cigars" which stand for literary dreams; the essential irony of Providence, in which Balzac and Tacitus agree; and two ideas which Disraeli may have stolen concerning the gondola of London and critics as literary failures.
Another very striking epigram not recorded here is, "Le despotisme tempéré par l'assassinat, c'est notre Magna Charta." This was, we believe, a comment by a Russian general on the strangling of the Tsar Paul in 1801.
The folk-lorist will be disappointed in this book, as he will look in vain for any new and first-hand information. Miss Simpson has read some of the ordinary books on Scottish customs and superstitions, and is content to work up her acquired learning in pages rich in descriptive adjectives, but signally deficient in new facts and in the scientific spirit. The first chapter, 'Beltane and the Vanished Races,' prepared us for the worst, as it proves that the writer has not got beyond the era of Vallancey and Bryant and Faber. She still holds that Baal and Moloch once gambolled over Caledonia as on their native heath. Beltane is Baal's fire (p. 29), and when loyal Scots kindled bonfires in honour of the late Queen's Jubilee, "despite the lapse of ages, we adhered to the practice learned by our ancestors from the priests of Baal" (p. 32).
It is somewhat characteristic that there are no references to any authorities, no foot-notes, no index. There are many points on which these helps would have been useful; e.g., a Scottish "sin-eater" referred to on p. 206; a Roman "festival called Fernalia" (p. 12); and an ancient Egyptian belief that the anemone was "the emblem of sickness and suffering" (p. 153). Here, indeed, we are referred to Mrs. Miller Maxwell's 'Children's Wild Flowers,' but we like not the security; a reference to Brugsch or Erman or Wiedemann would be more to the purpose. "Maunday" (p. 123), "eucaliptus" (p. 97), and "naves," a ship (p. 76), may be passed as misprints; but deisual (p. 55) and brock for brough or halo are, to say the least, unusual spellings of Gaelic words. "John Brounger used to beg of some of the able-bodied boys in blue oysters from their catch" (p. 133) is an enigmatical sentence, the meaning of which eludes us. However, the book is readable, if not authoritative.
My Story, by Hall Caine, is published by Mr. Heinemann for Messrs. Collier & Co. We remark at the outset that there is no sign given that the contents of this volume have previously appeared in the press, and that the title is too large for the occasion. We are not particularly attracted by the more or less sensational personalia of which some fugitive publications make a special feature. Mr. Caine's autobiography is mainly a revision and enlargement of his 'Recollections of Rossetti,' published in 1882. He adds some details of his early days and of his relations with other notable figures of the world of letters, and it is not surprising that he is a principal character in his own drama, as he says. Mr. Caine's ideas of reticence and good taste are not ours. As he is by way of appealing, like another popular novelist, to his great public, and has permitted himself language concerning the critics of his work which we regard as most unbecoming, we may leave that public to enjoy, without any further word of ours, the fare set before them.
Politics occupy the preponderating position in The National Review for this month. 'Episodes of the Month,' which leads off the number, gives occasion, as might be expected, for some pungent writing. It is contended that "National Defence remains the supreme question of the day, but our Parliamentary Podsnaps are, as usual, immersed in trifles." The statement of 'Unionist Policy' made in The Morning Post of 12 October is reprinted, and said to represent "some of the most active supporters and influential members of the Unionist Party, both in and out of Parliament." The Review recognizes that the return of the "old gang in the old places" is not a prospect which makes for elation. Mrs. Ivor Maxse, discussing 'Votes for Women,' thinks that the women are competent to advise, influence, and inspire men with regard to affairs of State, but not to vote themselves. Mr. A. M. Low in 'American Affairs' fails, like most of the prophets, to forecast the result of the Presidential Election. Miss Eveline Godley writes on 'Ballads and the Border,' and Col. de la Poer Beresfordon 'Paris under the Empire,' but neither article can be called important.
