240
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. n. SEPT. 17, im.
to very few. Their appearance in so attractive and
oheap a guise should bring them many readers.
Alcuin: his Life and Work. By C. J. B. Gaskoin.
(Clay & Sons.)
To this monograph upon Alcuin, in a " somewhat different form," was awarded the Hulsean Prize for 1899. The first four chapters are devoted to supply- ing an account of the history of letters in Britain in the time of Alcuin, or Albinus, and especially of the ^schools of Jarrow and of York. In chaps, v. to vii. a chronological history of Alcuin's career is attempted, and in chaps, yiii. to x. his achievements, theo- logical, educational, liturgical, and Biblical, are summarized. Those who wish to study Alcuin's share in educational controversy and his relations with Charlemagne, and to obtain an introduction to his writings, cannot do better than consult the present book, which is a product of sound scholar- ship and penetrative insight. On such disputed points as, Was Alcuin a monk? no very certain -utterance is pronounced.
'The Poems of Algernon Charles Swinburne. In
Six Volumes. Vol. II. (Chatto & Windus.) 'THE second volume of Mr. Swinburne's poems is occupied with the ' Songs before Sunrise,' with its title reminiscent of the 'Chants du Cre'puscule' .and the ' Songs of Two Nations.' It will be found, we suppose, to be the most purely political volume of the series. As such it is the most outside our cognizance, and we shall not attempt to deal with it at any length. For once, however, departing from our practice in the case of modern verse, we will quote a stanza descriptive of the Bacchic rout, and ask if anywhere in the world our readers can find so masculine and masterly a description of rites that conveyed the very spirit of one phase of Hellenic religion :
We too have tracked by star-proof trees The tempest of the Thyiades Scare the loud night on hills that hid The blood-feasts of the Bassarid, Heard their song's iron cadences
Fright the wolf hungering from the kid, Outroar the lion-throated seas,
Outchide the north-wind if it chid, And hush the torrent-tongued ravines With thunders of their tambourines. We could, an it were our cue, dilate on the beauty and power of these lines, but we refrain. The lover of poetry and the worshippers of classic literature can never forget them.
Tom Brown's Schooldays. By Thomas Hughes.
Introduction and Notes by Vernon Kendall.
(Methuen & Co.)
A LOVELY miniature edition of * Tom Brown's ^Schooldays,' with a clear text and a limp morocco binding, appears with an appreciative introduction by Mr. Vernon Kendall, himself a Rugbeian. Among the causes of extreme popu- larity in the case of this work may be noted the absence of serious rivalry, and the fact that it is not the work of a clever writing man, the English schoolboy, like the British public, always suspecting cleverness. All lovers of the book will find a new attraction for it in Mr. Kendall's bright and sparkling introduction.
Hamlet has been added to the " Pocket-Book Classics" of Messrs. Bell & Sons. Its inclusion
should enable hundreds to acquire familiarity with
the greatest and most philosophical of dramas, not
in the sadly impoverished text in which alone it is
generally known, but in its complete shape. He
who carries this little gem in his waistcoat pocket
is proof against any temporary siege of dulness. In
praise of the series we have already spoken.
To Messrs. Methuen's series of " Little Guides " has been added a serviceable and brightly illus- trated guide, by George Clinch, to the Isle of Wight.
Wonderland, 1904, by 0. D. Wheeler, issued by the Northern Pacific Railway Company, gives a striking account, literary and pictorial, of the veritable wonderland into which the Yellow- stone Park line introduces the traveller. Among the contents is the account by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, of his journey through the North-West, and a short bibliography of works on the district.
Holidays in Eastern Counties, by Percy Lindley, is warmly to be commended. Holidays on the South Coast and the Isle of Wight is in German, French, and English.
THE third instalment of Sir Walter Besant's magnum opus ' London in the Time of the Tudors ' will be published immediately by Messrs. A. & C. Black. In the person of the great queen who domi- nated this epoch Sir Walter found a subject after his own heart. Elizabeth's character, her weak- nesses, her greatness, her love of display, and her hold on the hearts of her subjects, are described. Like its two predecessors, this volume is illustrated from contemporary prints, and contains a repro- duction of Agas's map of London in 1560.
3txrtijc.es to
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ERRATUM. P. 146, col. 1, 1. 17, for 1902 read 1904.
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