118
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. FEB. 10, igoe.
own bat, for a play and a novel running
through the volume bear his name in full,
and along biography and several long reviews
are signed with his initials. The review is
very laudatory ; the good clergyman, we are
assured, " has neither the general grossness
of Parson Adams, nor the occasional imbe-
cility of the Vicar of Wakefield." There is a
set of the magazine in the Bib. Nat. The
"quote," or press-mark, of this particular
volume is Z. 33,962.
ROBERT B. DOUGLAS. 64, Rue des Martyrs, Paris.
The review of ' Rebecca' is in The European Magazine, vol. liii. (1808), pp. 198-202. A set of the magazine is in the Library of the British Museum, and it is also in the Glad- stone Library of the National Liberal Club. FRANCIS G. HALEY.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
The Enterlude of Youth ; with Fragment of the
Plans of Lucres and of Nature. Edited by W.
Bang and R. B. McKerrow. (Louvain, A. Uyst-
pruyst; London, Nutt.)
THIS interesting work, the joint product of Prof. Bang and Mr. McKerrow, constitutes the twelfth volume of the admirable " Materialien des Alteren Englischen Dramas," to the merits and value of which we frequently recur. The principal feature in it consists of 'The Enterlude of Youth,' a morality following closely in the tracks of an even better-known work, * Hycke-scorner.' Somewhat curiously, this play was, for the first time on record, presented on the stage towards the close of last year. It is an eminently pious and agreeably written work, accessible to the general public in the second volume of Hazlitt's 'Dodsley'; has much in common with the earlier morality of ' Hycke-scorner,' and has a subject naturally allied with that of 'Lusty Juventus.' It is to be ex- pected, indeed, that the lessons of the moralities, tending as they do to edification, should have a species of generic resemblance.
Of ' Youth ' two early editions and a fragment of a third are known. None of these bears any date. Copies of one edition, printed by John Waley, are in the British Museum and the Bodleian ; and a second edition by William Copland, is also in the British Museum. The fragment comes from the Lambeth Palace Library. All these works are produced in facsimile, with admirable comments and elucidation in German and English. The woodcuts three of which are reproduced belong to what are called factotum woodblocks, and did duty for many sixteenth-century productions. Their origin is found in the famous "grant therece en francois," published circa 1500, for which see Brunet. Different names being placed beneath them, the figures serve for any one. Charity, for instance, with her sword and bow and arrow, has little that is suggestive of that ardent reformer of youth. In the Lambeth Palace fragment this figure once more appears. The fragment of the
' Plays of Lucres ' consists of only four pages ;
that of ' Nature ' of but a dozen lines. Very
welcome is this work, which, so far as its extends,
is exhaustive. As we have before said, the series
is doing yeoman service to lovers of the drama.
Swinburne 8 Tragedies. Vols. IV. and V. (Chatto
& Windus.)
WITH the appearance of these two volumes the reissue of Mr. Swinburne's 'Tragedies,' and, so far as we can judge, the complete collection of his poetical writings, is accomplished. Vol. iv. consists of 'Mary Stuart,' the third work in the great trilogy concerning the Queen of Scots, the pre- vious portions of which are 'Chastelard' and ' Bothwell,' the latter occupying itself two volumes. Besides being a gratification, the consecutive re- perusal of the separate works enables us to appre- ciate and admire the linked workmanship as well as to realize in its entirety the view Mr. Swin- burne forms concerning that great queen who occupies a share in human thoughts only exceeded or equalled by that of Helen of Troy or Cleopatra. A noteworthy feature in vol. iv. consists of the prose estimate of Mary Stuart, written in part as an answer to the defence of the queen by eccle- siastical authorities. The action of the drama ex- tends from 14 August, 1586, to 18 February, 1587, or from the detection by Walsingham of Babington's plot to the execution of the Queen, on which Mary Beaton comments, as formerly she commented on the death of Chastelard.
Vol. v. meanwhile contains no fewer than four plays, viz., 'Locrine,' 'The Sisters,' 'Marino Faliero,' and ' Rosamund,' one of which, we fancy the first has known a species of representation. This interesting volume opens with an admirable reproduction of the portrait in oils of the poet by G. F. Watts. It is useless to criticize afresh four noble works which take now, if they had not taken before, permanent and highest place in literature. One only of these, ' The Sisters,' is modern in sub- ject, and this even, by its interlude, is linked with heroic times. The others observe fully the obliga- tion of the " sceptered pall," and conform to the eternal laws of tragedy.
The Folk-lore of Women. By T. F. Thiselton-
Dyer, M.A. (Elliot Stock.)
MR. TIITSELTON - DYER is possessor of a name honourably associated with the branch of study he now takes up. He has written an amusing and interesting book, which, as is acknowledged, is in part suggested by M. Quitard's ' Proverbes sur les Femmes,' &c., and owes something to ' N. & Q.' It is limited in scope by the requirements of English prudery ; much that a French writer would un- hesitatingly accept as a product of the e-^prit gaulois having to be omitted. It contains much also that is fairly outspoken and humorous. Half a dozen further volumes on the same theme might be easily forthcoming, and we feel as if, without reference, we could supply one such volume from memory. Far too many errors often mere coquilles have slipped in, and the best of existing versions is not always given. For instance, " All lay load on the winning horse" should surely be "the willing horse." " Frailty, thy name is woman," is assigned to "a German proverb." 'Hamlet' is a source nearer at hand and more obvious. ' ; So wise, so young, they say, do never live long." is misapplied. " Beauty draws us with a single hair" is from ' The
