240
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. MA*. , me.
little interest. Thus Mr. Tyler has wisely in-
cluded a lengthy and absorbing account penned,
he thinks, by an engineer of the taking of
Therouanne the narrative of a typical siege of
the tune ; and we have the entertaining business
of the taking of Sark by Capt. Adrian Crole, a
Dutch privateer, who thought to get to himself
fortune a-nd favour thereby, either from the
Emperor or the English, and found he had cap-
tured if the expression may be pardoned a
white elephant. Again, there is the letter of
Francisco Duarte to Philip, describing the state
of mind and health of the Emperor, mentioning
the well-known facts of his strange inertia and
his preoccupation with his clocks.
'The translation runs very well, though two opportunities of judging it afforded by verbatim quotations in the text give some reason for think- ing it drops a little of the force of the original.
- l Sans prandre 1'eauve de plus hault " is rendered
- without dragging in anything else"; but the
meaning is that Renard is to act on the basis of certain letters before him, and not go behind them ; and " to force her to take a husband who would not be to her liking would be to cause her death," misses the sarcastic point of Mary's expression, " Ce seroit procurer 1'inconvenient de sa mort," though perhaps it is ungrateful to say so, since we owe the quotation of the words to the trans- lator's appreciation of that.
Few of the Calendars are so likely as this one to appeal to the general reader, and the volume might also serve as well as any we have seen to give a student a first insight into the methods of secret diplomatic correspondence. Amentet : an Account of the Gods, Amulets, and Scarabs of the Ancient Egyptians. By Alfred E.
Knight. (Longmans & Co. and Spink & Son,
12. Qd. net.)
THIS book is worth noting on the part of all those -who care for Egyptian mythology and antiquities, and desire information as to details without intending to make any very profound study of the subject. Its principal design is to serve as a compendium of facts for collectors, and the accounts and illustrations of gods and of sacred animals have been put together chiefly with direct reference to their archaeological interest.
The bulk of the book is arranged in three alpha- bets : Gods of the Egyptians, Sacred Animals, and Amulets, each preceded by a brief but sufficient general introduction. There follows a section on scarabs, which includes one of the most valuable bits of work in the volume, a chronological list of the royal scarabs due regard being, of course, paid to the doubtful Character of these previous to the Twelfth Dynasty. The writer acknowledges, both in his Preface and in the Text, his obligations to M. Daressy, Prof. Petrie, and Dr. Budge, and his debt to the last- named is indeed almost too obvious; but we think he would have added considerably to the usefulness of his book if he had more often gone behind these authors, and, especially in his notices of the gods, given systematically some indication as to where the classical representations are to lae found upon which these eminent Egyptologists have based their work. Again, seeing that the took is addressed to the comparatively unlearned, a glossary of terms would have been as desirable sus it was easy to furnish, for we think there will be readers puzzled to make out what is the pchent
or what the atef crown, and they will not get any
help in this matter from the Index. Yet, again,
though Mr. Knight calls attention to the fact
that the cuts are intended not as decoration, but
as illustrations of the text, we found the corre-
spondence between the two by no means invari-
ably satisfactory, while the want of reference to
source in the case of the cuts is also a blemish.
These are imperfections which might more readily
be pardoned in a general essay than in a book of
reference, and which we quarrel with the more
because they were surely not difficult to avoid.
So much having been said, it remains, after all. to thank Mr. Knight for what, in its main sub- stance, is a careful piece of work which should prove of real utility to those for whom, in the first instance, he intends i.t, and of great interest also to the curious general reader. Alpha- betical books of reference are apt to be stodgy reading ; but Mr. Knight, by means of a lively, though not affected, way of writing, of a deft use of quotation, and of his own keen enjoyment of the subject, which is everywhere evident, has quite avoided stodginess. He gives many good hints about methods of preservation and the detection of forgeries, and we noticed in the former connexion his fling at Rathgen, whose drastic advice as to " skinning a bronze " he bids the amateur follow with caution as being Teutonic in its recklessness of beauty. Useful, too, are the notes as to the collections in which specimens of the various amulets may be seen, though there, again, it would have been a good thing to have a short conspectus of these matters as well as the scattered references under each heading. This is, in fact, one of those books which are so good that it is a great pity that they are not even better.
POUT ARTHUR. His Honour Sir Sherston Baker writes to us as follows :
"It is not generally known that Port Arthur was so named by the captain of the exploring frigate H.M.S. Acteon, after Lieut. William Arthur, who as lieutenant was in charge of the gunboat Algerine, attached to the Actaeon for surveying service in June, 1860. On the 30th of that month Mr. William Blakeney, Hydrographer in the Royal Navy, and one of the surveying officers of the Actaeon, standing on the summit of the Liantishaw, saw from there this then unknown and unnamed port. The Algerine was sent to examine and chart it. On her return to the Actaaon, then at anchor in Pigeon Bay, the captain of the Actaaon directed Mr. Blakeney to name the port * Port Arthur,' which was accordingly done."
The origin of the name has been discussed in ' N. & Q.' more than once. See 9 S. i. 367,398, 437 ; ii. 78, 111 ; 10 S. i. 407, 457 ; ii. 212, 251.
REV. A. B. BEAVEN. Forwarded.
E. B. We do not undertake to give an opinion as to the value of old books.
MR. ALECK ABRAHAMS (' London Directory,' 1677). MR. HERBERT E. NORRIS writes that there is a copy in the Bodleian Library. Press- mark : Arch. Bodl. A. I. 35.
