Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/529

iv. NOV. 25.1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. missed with slight mention or none at all. Such omission is, however, as the title of the series indicates, inherent in the scheme. Any attempt to deal in extenao with the work is, of course, impossible, a pamphlet being necessary to convey an idea of the manner in which the various subjects, from the pacification of England after its subjugation by the Conqueror to the signature of Magna Carta, are treated. Few chapters are more interesting or more signi- ficant than the first, dealing, inter alia, with that policy of gradual confiscation by which a Norman landed aristocracy was substituted for an English, and England was subjected to that political feudal organization which for near two centuries was to be "the ruling system in both public and private law." All that is said of feudalism as it existed under the Duke of Normandy is weighty and ser- viceable. As is shown by Mr. Round, however, the feudal change introduced by the Normans into England affected but a comparatively small class: the whole number of knights "due the king in service seems to have been something less than five thousand." Under early Norman sway develop- ments of ecclesiastical and monastic life brought with them a new era of learning; the histories of Eadmer and William of Malmesbury were superior to anything produced in England since the days of Bede, while "Norman ideals of massive strength speak to us as clearly from the arches of Win- chester or the piers of Gloucester as from the firm hand and stern rule of William or Henry." With the closing days of the Conqueror comes the formation of what was popularly known as the Domesday Book, with its complete register of the occupied lands of the kingdom, their holders and their values, bearing a name signifying that the sentences derived from it were final and without appeal aa those of the Day of Doom. Doubt is thrown upon the assumption that it was the arrow of Walter Tirel, a French baron, that caused the death of William Rufus, Tirel's statement to the contrary effect winning acceptance. It is, natur- ally, a subject of complaint that we know so little of the growth of institutions under Henry I., one of the ablest of English kings. What is said of the beginnings of Oxford as a place of education deserves close attention. The time of Henry is regarded as an introductory age, interrupted by a generation of anarchy. Passing over the reign of Stephen, we come to that of Henry II. and the struggle with Becket. and the great question of regal—that is, lay—judgment over ecclesiastical offences. Much of the blame of forcing on the quarrel is laid on Henry. Unlike the attempted coronation, by will of Stephen, of his eon Eustace and other precedents among Capetian kings, that of the crowning of young Henry by his father, with its plentiful crop of disorders, is described as " unaccountable." Few writers, it is said, of the time discerned behind the attractive manners of young Henry his frivolous character. Reaching Richard, the history becomes more stimulating, it is insisted upon that Richard Cceur de Lion belonged by nature to France rather than England, and that England must have seemed a foreign land to him. Words, meanwhile, are lacking, it is said, to describe, in the case of John, the meanness of his moral nature and his utter Here we are compelled to draw rein. Though, of course, all unlike its predecessor, the volume is worthy of it, and furnishes happy augury of the' manner in which the entire work is to be executed. GiUliver's Trawls. By Jonathan Swift, D.D. Edited. by G. Ravenscroft Dennis. (Bell & Sons.) AN opportunity, of which we have gladly availed ourselves, of rereading in a convenient and attrac- tive guise Swift's immortal satire is furnished us by its inclusion in this delightful series. It is con- soling to find the work published, as of course it is, in an unabridged and unexpurgated form, the text* like the portrait, &c., being the same as in the Svo- edition of Swift's prose works issued by the same publishers. It is the pocket size and the clear type that specially recommend the volume to us, and we once more exclaim, "What a companion- for a journey ! What a mass of seventeenth and- eighteenth century literature is suggested by the collocation of names on the title-page !" The- work is assured of an eclectic welcome, and should- be a popular success. The Work* of Heinrich Heine. Translated by Margaret Armour. Vol. XII. (Heinemann.) THE twelfth and concluding volume of Heine's- works consists of the third book of the ' Romancero' (the first and second parts of which appeared in. vol. xi.) and minor poems. Miss Armour's rendering, is as good as is to be hoped of Heine, whose- verses really defy translation. In the Hebrew poems, or as, after Byron, they are called, ' Hebrew Melodies,' is some of Heine's best and most satirical work. The possession of a complete translation of Heine is a thing on which the world is to be con- gratulated. It is very edifying to compare with Mr. Swinburne's Heine's telling (p. 25) of the story of The singer of old By the tideless, dolorous midland sea. Heine's translation from Luther (p. 89) may lie noted:— Luther's motto is your guide : He who, soured by pious pride, Loves not women, wine, and song, Lives a fool his whole life long. 'Kobes I.' is well translated. The bitterness of" ' 1(H9 -1793-? ? ?' is preserved. One or two poems are omitted—whether as a concession to Mrs. Grundy or on account of their difficulty we know not. The Magazine of Fine Arts. Vol.I.No. 1. (Newnes.)- YET one more is added to the list, now long, of art periodicals. Published by the enterprising firm of Newnes, this latest bid for popular support has some special features. Most distinguishing among these is the manner in which, instead of a miscel- laneous collection of plates, one or two artists are thoroughly illustrated. Twelve illustrations thus accompany Prof. Max Rooses' 'Development of the Art of Jakob .Jordaens.' First among these comes a suberb reproduction of the artist's 'Triumph of Bacchus.' Aided by the exhibition of the works of Jordaens recently held in Antwerp, the Professor undertakes the difficult task of settling the chrono- logy of his works. Dated pictures by Jordaens are known, but are not common. 'The Triumph of Bacchus' is quite in the artist's best style. From various sources the Professor has derived a repre- sentative collection, including many well-known pictures. Nine illustrations follow to Donatello,