400
NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vii.Nov.i3,i92o.
delicacy and simplicity. This_ is most to be
regretted in the ' Auto da Alma,' "where the intru-
sion of dull cliches and of words out of tune some-
times makes a painful disparity between the
English and the Portuguese. To' take but one
example the Angel's words,
A hospeda tern grai;a tanta faruosha tantos fauores, become
Such grace is hers that nought can smirch, Such favours will she show to thee, That innkeeper.
(The discerning reader will perceive at once that smirch' is wanted to rhyme with 'Church.) It was a pity to entangle oneself in a scheme which required such filling out as this.
Mr. Aubrey Bell compares the 'Auto da Alma' to the 'Dream of Gerontius,' aptly, we think, though the comparison, after the correspondences have been seen, resolves itself into a contrast.
Vicente's qualities and limitations as a dramatist and something of his character as a man, are more plainly to be seen in the other three plays of this volume. His patriotism, his skill in expressing magnificence, his pleasant roughness, and his lyrical eloquence come out in the ' Exhortation to War ' : in the farce of ' The Carriers ' we have his turn of satire, sharp and yet good-humoured, having for its object the poor nobleman who strives to keep up an appearance of grandeur. The pastoral i-> a simple production which owes its charm to the peculiar quality of Vicente's genius. None of these has plot; and in all the characters are types rather than individuals : but types very vividly portrayed.
Mr. Bell supplies a few good notes, a bibliography and a list of the proverbs which appear in Gil Vicente's works.
Johnson Club Papers. By Various Hands. Second Series. (Fisher Unvvin, 10s. Qd. net.)
WE have read these papers with great interest and cordially commend them to the innumerable lovers of the great Doctor outside that body- guard of nis memory, the Johnson Club.
True members of the Club all the writers approve themselves, first by their affectionate study of him and all topics and persons connected with him, and secondly by the success with which each in turn carries over to the reader the familiar, but yet ever-fresh, sense of Johnson's genius and character. Perhaps no old student will find much that is new to him in these pages so far as hard facts go but he will find a con- venient account of many subjects, one or two interesting originals not very easily accessible otherwise, as well as pages of pleasant reading.
Of the contributors to this volume the Club has to mourn the loss of three. Henry B. Wheatley's paper on ' Johnson's Monument and Parr's Epitaph on Johnson ' is one of the first that readers will turn to. It contains the text of a letter from Parr to Boswell, of December, 1791, not hitherto printed. A study of Johnson's expletives could not but furnish entertaining material, and this composes the essay by Spencer Leigh Hughes. Sir George Radford had contributed a most interesting account of the making of the Dictionary.
Dr. Johnson's relations with persons are
represented here principally by papers on ' Dr.
Dodd ' (bySirChartresBiron), ' Lord Monboddo '
(by Mr. Edward Clodd), and ' Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds ' (by Mr. L. C. Thomas). His opinions on
Ireland and on the nature of Liberty have a
peculiar interest at the moment : they are dealt
with respectively by Mr. John O'Connor and
Mr. E. S. P. Haynes. What Johnson might have
done or been if the course of his life and opinions
had taken a slightly different turn, is a more
interesting question than it proves itself in most
cases more profitable too, for the unfulfilled
possibilities of Johnson make up a great part of
his force. Mr. Roscoe's ' Dr. Johnson and the
Law,' and Sir Charles Russell's ' Dr. Johnson and
the Catholic Church ' illustrate this well. Mr.
A. B. Walkley discusses ' Johnson and the
Theatre ' with all the liveliness, suggestiveness
and abundance of information that his readers
have learned to expect of him. The most
intimate of the essays is that by Mr. H. S. Scott
on ' Johnson's Character as shown in his Writings '
by which is intended the actual self-portraiture
therein detected or confessed.
bituarg.
LOUISE IMOGEN GU1NEY. WITH very deep regret do we learn the death of this accomplished writer of verse and student of literature, who has been for many years i con- tributor and a warm friend to 'N.&Q. Itoccurred at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, on the 2nd inst., in her 59th year. The only child of General P. R. Guiney, she was born in Boston. U.8.A , and educated in America, but has resided much in England, connecting herself especially with Oxford. Her original work, from 1885 onwards, runs to several volumes both of prose and verse of the latter, " England and Yesterday,' may be specially mentioned; and she has edited se'ections from James Clarence Mangan, Dr. T. W. Parson's Translation of Dante, and Vaughan's ' Mount of Olives.' Her keenness as a scholar was not greater than her generosity as a critic ; she had the gift of bracing praise; and there must be many whose literary efforts will lose half their zest for the lack of her ready sympathy.
EDITORIAL communications should be addressed
to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' "Adver-
tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub-
lishers" at the Office, Printing House Square,
London, EC 4. ; corrected proofs to the Athenaeum
Press, 11 and 13 Bream's Buildings. E.C.4.
ALL communications intended for insertion i our columns should bear the name and address of the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
CORRIGENDA. Ante p 320, col. 1, 1. 27, for " Bishop Branlingham " read Bishop Brantingham P. 358, col. 1. 1. U. for "thruinmers" read thrummes. P. 378, col. 2, 1. 5 from bottom, for "Bernhard Bar, &c." read Bench and Bar, &c.
