10 S. X. July 18, 1908] NOTES AND QUERIES.
59
The present state of our stage justifies in the main, as we have said, the criticisms of this volume, but its author demands too much—is so concerned with ideals as to be in a mood of dissatisfaction with everything. It would be regrettable if this led readers to put the book down, recalling 'Candide': "Quel grand génie que ce Pococurante! rien ne lui peut plaire."
We promise ourselves the pleasure of going over Mr. Fitzgerald's book again at leisure, and adding it to our store of select volumes on a subject of constant study.
'Fénelon's Flock' is a paper that deserves careful attention. Few are well acquainted with the religious movements that agitated France during the reign of Louis XIV. Of the needless wars he waged and the religious persecutions in which he indulged much has been written; but the mysticism of Madame Guyon and Fénelon is not attractive to most English folk; so it is commonly passed by without study, or even without a thought. When dwelt upon at all, these typical French thinkers are usually compared with the dreamers of the Middle Ages. This notion, though plausible enough, is a mistake. The Renaissance had so deeply affected the whole thought of France that it was impossible for the idealism of those days to model itself on the mysticism of the Middle Ages. The Archbishop of Cambrai was a noble and a courtier, while his predecessors were for the most part far removed from the influences which acted on his life. Of Madame Guyon the writer speaks with admirable justice; weak as she may have been, there can be no doubt that her powers of thought, strange as were their results, were highly trained. "We must never forget," the writer points out, "that her mind's eye perceived existence on two planes. Above reached eternity, simultaneous, infinite; below, the world of Life and Time, where things act in succession." Such double consciousness exists in only the few, and for them it is a gift fraught with danger, from the great difficulty of keeping the two spheres apart. Fénelon was much admired in England, and his 'Télémaque' was used as a schoolbook a hundred years ago. This, we fully believe, was on account of its power and intrinsic reasonableness; but at the time there were those who persuaded themselves that it was because he had had a conflict with Bossuet and the Roman authorities.
The paper on Anna Maria Schürmann, whom the writer speaks of as a Dutch bluestocking and a Quaker of the seventeenth century, is an interesting sketch of a linguist of extraordinary power and compass, and a many-sided artist of great ability, whose works are still treasured by collectors. All her life she appears to have been a devout Protestant, but it was not till after middle age that she became an ardent devotee. This, it would appear, arose from her admiration of a religious teacher named Labadie, who in early life had been a priest in the Roman Communion. The body he founded was highly unpopular with Lutherans and Calvinists alike. It is to be deplored that before her death she destroyed many of her literary and artistic treasures.
'Ugliness in Fiction' is not only a powerful article, but also one calculated to be of service to literature, as it exposes the offensive side of several popular novels of recent date.
Booksellers' Catalogues.—July.
Mr. Thomas Baker's Catalogue 528 contains some rare items. Among these we find Walsh's 'Vindication of the Irish Remonstrance,' 1674, 6l. 6s. Another work of Irish interest is Beling's 'Vindiciarum Catholicorum Hiberniæ, Libri II. 1641 ad 1649,' Paris, 1650, both parts, full red morocco, 2l. 15s. Among general works are 'Biographie Universelle,' 52 vols., 1811, 2l. 18s.; Max Rooses's 'Dutch Painters,' 12s. 6d.; Finden's 'Illustrations to Byron,' 3 vols., Murray, 1833, 1l. 1s.; Molière, translated by Waller, 1l. 5s.; Sharp's 'Church Windows,' 2 vols., 16s.; Skeat's 'Dictionary,' 4to, 1l. 2s.: Smith's 'Dictionary of Christian Biography,' 4 vols., 4l. 4s.; and Ware's 'Antiquities of Ireland,' Dublin, 1764, folio, calf, 1l. 8s. Under Wales is 'The Myvyrian Archaiology,' by Owen Jones, Williams, and Pughe, 1870, 1l. 15s. There is a collection of Italian poets, Dante, Arioato, Tasso, and Petrarch, 11 vols., half-vellum, full gilt, 1l. 10s.
Mr. P. M. Barnard, of Tunbridge Wells, issues two Catalogues (Nos. 22 and 24) simultaneously. Catalogue 23, Alpine, &c., is to be delivered shortly. No. 22 is devoted to Foreign Literature, and contains items under French, Italian, Spanish, and Scandinavian. There is a fine set under Béranger, 10 vols. in 9, half-morocco, 1860, 3l. This is made up of 'Correspondance,' 4 vols., 'Œuvres anciennes,' (53 steel illustrations), 'Musique des Chansons,' &c. Under Commines is his history of Louis XI. and Charles VIII., with excellent impressions of the plates, 4 vols., 4to, 1747, 5l. 15s. There is a special vellum copy (with bookplate of the Earl of Sheffield) of 'La Constitution Française, présentée au Roi le 3 Septembre, 1791,' red morocco, 10l. 10s. Under Boccaccio is the rare and finely printed edition of the 'Laberiuto di Amore,' 1487, four missing leaves being supplied in loose MS., 6l. 15s. In the Spanish section are the four books of 'Amadis de Gaula,' folio, Venice, 1533, 7l. Under Carranza is the 'Libro de Hieronimo de Carança,' 3l. 3s. This is a rare book, and Mr. Barnard tells us it is difficult to get accurate information about it. Cervantes referred in laudatory terms to it in his 'Galatea,' VI., 292. There is also a fine copy of the 1780 'Don Quixote,' 4 vols., large 4to, 7l. 7s. A copy of Ticknor's 'Spanish Literature,' 3 vols., half-calf, uncut, is priced 1l. 16s. It is the first edition, 1849.
We are sorry we cannot spare for Catalogue 24 the space it merits: it is devoted to Bookbindings, many of them of the choicest. There are English, Scotch, French, German, and Italian bindings, including books bound for Louis XIV., XV., XVI., and XVIII., Charles X., and Anne of Austria. Mr. Barnard generously offers to supply rubbings of bindings on receipt of stamp.
Mr. Andrew Baxendine's Edinburgh Catalogue 111 contains a good list under Burns, including Reid's 'Concordance,' 7s. 6d. The words of the Concordance number 11,400, while the quotations exceed 52,000. Under Cowper is Wright's edition of the 'Correspondence,' 4 vols., 1l. 5s., and Southey's edition, 8 vols., 12s. 6d. There is the Oxford De Foe, 20 vols., a handsome set in half-morocco, 9l. 9s. Under Scott we find Napier's 'Homes and Haunts,' very scarce, 2l. 10s. 6d., also the Novels, 25 vols., new, 2l. 2s. This edition was published by A. & C. Black in 1901. A copy of Prof. Knight's 'Wordsworth,' 12 vols., cloth, new, is 1l. 4s.
