Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/127

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9*s. xii. AUG. s, 1903.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


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foot-notes, of the texts of the Folios and the Quartoes, where such exist, and the suggested readings of more or less responsible editors. Expe- rience revealed, however, the advantage of accept- ing as the basis the First Folio, with its orthography, its punctuation, its capital letters, and its italics. In this spirit 'Macbeth' has now been treated. While a new edition was in progress it was natural inevitable, even with a conscientious labourer that use should be made of the exegesis of the past

Suarter of a century. The writings of Mr. T. S. aynes, Mr Corny ns Carr, Prof. Dowden, Mr. F. G. Fleay, Dr. Furnivall, Mr. Kinnear, Mr. (Sidney Lee, Mr. R. G. Moulton, ' N. & Q.,' Mr. Spalding, and innumerable others English, American, German, French have been laid under contribution, to the notable enrichment of the comments. Numerous articles on the practical mounting of Shakespeare's plays and kindred subjects have been consulted in magazines and periodicals. As a rule, no moderniza- tion of orthography is permitted in the second Variorum Edition. In Act III. sc. ii. 1. 18, all the Folios, Rowe, and Pope read, " We have scorch'd the snake, not killed it." In common with Hud- son, Theobald, and all the modern editors, Dr. Furness, in his first edition, read " scotch'd." The reading of the Folios is now, of course, restored. Again, for the "natures gerraens " of Dr. Furness's first edition we have " Natures Germaine," which is the reading of the Folio, but is "amended" by most subsequent editors. No need exists further to describe the nature of the changes that have been made. With scholars the later edition will, necessarily, have the preference. We congratulate both Dr. Furness and Shakespearian students generally upon the spurt that is given to a work the importance of which obtains full recognition.

IN the Fortnightly Mr. Vernon Blackburn writes on ' William Ernest Henley.' His utterances are those of a disciple rather than a judge, but his eulogy, though excessive, is in some respects merited. ' Some Unedited Letters of Mrs. Thrale' have pleasant domestic interest and an agreeable, if occasionally stilted style. They are, naturally, quite of their century. Miss Girard gives "an appreciation " of Pierre de Coubertin, with whose political writings the student of the Fort- nightly is familiar. ' A Century of " Newdigates " ' is a fresh subject. Heber's ' Palestine ' is the one poem selected, deservedly, for praise. The writer advances from this the three lines about the build- ing of the Temple

No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm, the noiseless fabric sprung, Majestic silence

which is good for a minor poet. In a similar and preceding vein a major (or maximus) poet said : Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet. That Novocastrian Minos, Mr. Walter Frewen Lord, deals, in the Nineteenth Century, with 'Charles Reade's Novels,' and graciously concedes Reade great merit of a kind. Miss Camilla Jebb gives some interesting 'Facts about Mademoiselle de Lespinasse.' 'Some Recollections' of Jowett, by Cornelia Sorabji, an Indian lady, are fresh and pleasing. ' Civilization and Babylonia ' is a little article on a great subject. 'The Lost Art of Singing' is concluded. There is abundant


interest in the number, but few of its contents are of a kind with which we can deal. Mr. Frederick Wedmore gives, in the Pall Mall, an account of Fantin Latour. Maarten Maartens sends 'The Nod: a very Dutch Story.' "An interpretation" of Leo Tolstoi follows. Mr. Wil- liam Sharp's 'Literary Geography' is concerned with the Lake of Geneva. * Letters of Bismarck to his Wife ' are translated. ' The Round Table ' is interesting this month. Sir Algernon West de- scribes, in the Cornhill, 'The Cosmopolitan Club.' Many of the most distinguished members of this are naturally dead, but not a few still live and belong to similar institutions. ' Who killed Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey ? ' attracts Mr. Andrew Lang, but his acute intellect, even, cannot solve the problem. ' Prospects in the Professions ' deals with art. Mrs. Archibald Little describes ' How the Court came back to Pekin.' ' Rupert, the Captive of Linz,' and ' Garibaldi's Englishman ' are interesting, and seem historical. Mr. Allan Fea sends to the Gentleman's ' Realistic Peeps into the Past.' A notice of Mr. Swinburne's ' Early Dramas and Poems' is appreciative, perhaps a little juve- nile. ' An Elizabethan Tourist ' is, of course, Fynes Moryson. The magazine improves arjace, and ' Peak- land Jottings,' 'Sleep,' and 'William. Combe 'are all worth perusal. In 'At the Sign of the Ship,' in Longman's, Mr. Lang discusses, among other matters, the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, on which subject, as has been said, he writes in the Cornhill. He also alludes, incidentally, to the appearance of Mr. Chesterton's recent volume discussing Browning. ' A Seventeenth-Century Duellist ' deals with the romantic adventures and sad end of the Comte de Boutteville, an aristocratic Cyrano, who, at least, did his best to merit the fate he incurred.

  • Australia as the Flowery Land ' and ' A Summer

Morning' are both readable. The fiction in a Mid- summer number of the Idler is blended with some natural description. The August Scribner's is called a fiction number, and so is outside our pro- vince. All we find fitting to say concerning it is that the coloured illustrations, which constitute a special feature, are seen to advantage in the description of ' The Sea Fight off Ushant.'


BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. THE fifth part of the catalogue of Messrs. J. & J. Leigh ton, covering the letters I to M, is no less rich in rarities and illustrations than the previous parts. Among the gems are the ' Liber Intrationum,' by Pynson, 1510, with some defects ; a Latin transla- tion of an Italian collection of voyages, Legnano, 1508 (30.); various editions of the 'Basilicon Doron ' ; first editions of Johnson's ' Dictionary,' 1755 ; the ' Plan,' dedicated to Lord Chesterfield, 1747; 'Irene,' 1749; 'Rasselas' (Wl. 10s.), with other early works ; Ben Jonson's ' Workes,' 1640 (18. 18s.); the 'Meditationes Jordani,' Antwerp, 1491 (211.) ; first German edition of ' Josaphat and Barlaam,' Augsburg, Zainer, 1476(150^.); fine editions of Josephus; Josselyn's 'New England's Rarities Discovered ' ; Kip's ' Nouveau Theatre de la Grande Bretagne' (40.) ; Lactantius, printed by Vindelin de Spira, 147*2 ; Lamb, first collected edition, 1818 ; Langland's 'Vision of Pierce Plowman,' 1550 and 1561 ; some fine ecclesiastical MSS. ; ' La Le'gende des Flamens ' ; Le Fevre's ' Recueil des Histoires de Troy,' 1544 (35M; a 'Lirar Chronicle,' Ulm,