Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/308

This page needs to be proofread.

300


NOTES AND QUERIES.


[9* s. n. OCT. 8,


is given, and consists of a striking picture of Mrs. George Plumstead. Able designs are furnished to an article called 'The Pony Express.' describing a bold and dangerous experiment. ' Personal and Collected Impressions' of Bismarck are sent by Mr. W. M. Sloane, with a fine portrait. ' Home of the Indolent ' is the title assigned by Mr. Frank D. Millet to a description of the isle of Capri. ' The Oxford and Cambridge Race ' includes, in addition, Henley Regatta, which is not in the title. The illustrations by Mr. Joseph Pennell are good, though one or two of them are so badly taken off as to be almost unintelligible. The author of ' The Cat and the Cherub ' sends ' The Yellow Burgee : a Yarn of the Spanish War.' Once more Scnbner's is almost wholly occupied with papers upon \vars, recent or remote. The stories, even, are concerned with volunteering, and the social article is repre- sented by ' Afloat for News in War Time.' ' The New York Day : Evening ' is, however, peaceful, and shows that life in New York is pretty much the same as in London. Aline Gorren writes on 'American Popularity.' We have read her paper with interest, but cannot understand its title. It is rather concerning American unpopularity that she writes. The frontispiece to the Pall Mail consists of an etching after Meissonier's fine picture ' The Sen- tinel.' Antiquarian interest attends both the letter- press and the designs of ' How the Dukes of Coburg Hunted Three Hundred Years Ago.' Holland House is described by the Hon. Caroline Roche, and is accompanied with " special" and most inter- esting photographs. ' The Land of the Lord of the White Elephant,' by Mr. John Foster Fraser ? is also accompanied by photographs. It is disappoint- ing to find that the author, though he has seen a dead donkey, has never, in spite of his advantages, contemplated a white elephant. There seems to be none to contemplate. Sir Walter Besant con- tinues his ' South London,' and Mr. Quiller Couch his ' From a Cornish Window.' ' America and the English Language' is a thoughtful and suggestive paper by Mr. Archer. In ' Fights for the Flag,' in the Cornhill, the Rev. W. H. Fitchett depicts the two famous cavalry charges in the Crimea. The Baron de Malortie supplies a few a very few ' Bismarckiana.' ' The First Lady Novelist,' by Miss C. J. Hamilton, deals with Aphra Behn. The writer says that her first tragedy was " taken from the French novel of La Calprenede." This sounds as if La Calprenede was a novel instead of a novelist. Miss Hamilton would have avoided mistakes had she said from an episode in ' La Cleopatre ' of La Calprenede. Mr. Michael MacDonagh writes amusingly on ' Great Men : their Simplicity and Ignorance.' ' The Etchingham Letters ' are agreeably continued. Dr. Hillier sends to Macmillan's a picture of Alpine travelling entitled 'My First Mountain.' To all but a professed mountaineer it is very creepy. 'The Siege of Denbigh,' by Mr. A. G. Bradley, is a capital historical sketch. ' A Grandmothers Tales ' are agreeable and altogether noteworthy. ' Private Hook, V.C.,' is a record of remarkable heroism.' The Love Story of Lucy Hutchinson' is told afresh in Temple Bar. It is said that the life "is on the long list of good books more often alluded to than read," which we sincerely hope is not true. A very readable account is given of the city of Laon, a place which, like Amiens, many people pass and few see. O'Higgins : Dictator of Chili,' is a true history. In the Gentleman's Mr. W. J. Johnston turns back


to 'Charles Reade and his Books,' a subject of unfailing interest. Mr. Bradbrook writes satis- factorily on ' Parish Registers.' Mr. St. Clair writes on ' The Argonautic Expedition.' ' A Basketful of Dropped Hs' is philological. Under the title of

An Unsolved Mystery' Major Martin Hume sends to the Enylixh Illustrated an account of the murder of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey. 'The Early Home of our Princess ' deals with royalty in Denmark, and, of course, refers to the Queen of Denmark as still Hying. ' Count Hatzfeldt and the German Embassy' is illustrated by photographs. A. K. H. B. writes in Longman's ' Concerning People who Disappointed One.' Mr. Rider Haggard con- tinues ' A Farmer's Year,' and Mr. W. H. Hudson writes on 'Branscombe and its Birds.' Chapman'* is once more entirely composed of fiction.

THERE is nothing in the Antiquary for September that calls for any especial comment. The most interesting feature in it continues to be ' Notes of the Month.' This part of the magazine is exceed- ingly well done ; but of late the longer articles have been of slight value to those who possess anti- quarian tastes. There is an illustration given of a powder tester, in the possession of Mr. W. B. Red- fern. We believe that these objects are becoming very rare, and we think that the publication of this sketch may be the means of bringing other examples to light.

WE wish that we could praise the Genealogical Magazine the number of which for September is before us but it is impossible to do so. We hoped great things from it when it started, but it is dull and uninteresting as a rule, and is fitted neither for the learned nor the unlearned.

WE hear with regret of the death, in his seventy- seventh year, at his residence, 77, Brunswick Square, W.C., of our old contributor Dr. Maurice Davis, J.P. Particulars of his distinguished career will doubtless appear in the medical papers in which he wrote. His ripe and varied erudition was always at the disposal of our contributors.

txr 0msg0tt;bmts.

We must call special attention to the following notices :

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate."

T. R. F. M. ("N. orM. in Church Services"). See 5 th S. vii. 80; x. 513; 7 th S. iii. 105, 217, 315, 417 ; v. 513; vi. 113.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries ' "Advertise- ments and Business Letters to "The Publisher" at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.G.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return vjommunications which, for any reason, we do not print ; and to this rule we can make no exception.