Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/26

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pénv- - -- -1 v- _Y.._, ? im _*ii i 20 [9“* S. l7I. JULY 7, l9U). of this convenient and scholarly edition of his ‘ Essays! No lover of English literature with room for books will, if he can help it, be without the com lete works, including even the dramas, though these do not at present stand very high in gzaiblic favour. However valuableas possessions may complete editions, they do not always promote the study of special works, and it is well for the student to have, in addition, portable and well- annotated editions of the works that _ best renay study. Dryden’s poems are included in all co ections of the English poets his plays have been frequently reprinted, and his misce laneous works have long been popular in an edition which is incomplete, and in other respects leaves much to be desired. It is satisfactory to have in the form they now assume his collected essays. We have long found the separate editions of the essays, especially those on ‘ Satire’ and ‘ Dramatic Poetry, the most convenient form in which to study these works. Such are now, fortunately accessible. Among them Mr. Ker’s, which in dition to the loerager essays, includes most of’ Dryden’s prcfaces, d neat-ions, &c., is one of the best. Mr. Ker has modernized the spelling, which in the original represented, he ho ds, not Dryden’s own views on ort~hograpg‘yi but “ the cagrices of various printers between and 1700 ”; e has altered freely the punctuation, and he has adopted, as a rule, the earliest text accessible. Close study of Dryden’s prose works is warmly to be commended. His decisions have little interest for the present genera- tion but his views are always forcibly urged and lucidly expounded. His treatment of the works of such great dpredecessors or contemlporaries as Shake- speare an Milton is not to be efended, and his comedies deserved the lashing they obtained from Jeremy Collier. His prose, however, has rarely, if ever, been surpassed, and his views on poetry and satire though they will now convince none, are readable an , in a sense, valuable. It is difficult to overpraise Mr. Ker’s editorial labours. His notes display a remarkably varied erudition. The Parish and Church of Godalming. By S. Wel- man. (Stock.) THOUGH the present volume falls in many] ways short of our conception of what a parish istog should be, we welcome it as one further step towar the realization of an ideal which we rave long desiderated-that every parish in England shoul have its chronicle compiled and gublis ed byisome competent hand. Mr. Welman as underta en to be t e historian of the parish as well as the church of Godalming, but we find, to our surprise, that thedparochia record is all but a blank. We could ha 5 have deemed it possible that an ancient paris , which had a church of its own so far back as the eleventh century, has never apparently since that time been the birthplace or home of a single man of mark, nor has ever been associated with any historical or other event deserving of mention. Yet so it is, if we are to accept the negative evidence of Mr. Welman’s record. t seems that the only persons with the slightest claim to distinction that this ill-starregfiaris can produce are Dr. J ohnson’s friend Gene Oglethorpe and the Rev. Owen Manning, who was vicar here from 1763 to 1801, and was one of the joint authors of ‘ The County History of Surrey.f The nearest approach to a matter of historic interest that the author could disinter from the church muniments is the small- beer chronicle that Geo III. passed th Godalmingnon his way to lggrtsmouth in the 1773 and 1 8. It would be better than this, even to_ have noted that worthy Mr. Pepys, with his wife and Mr. Creed, (paid a visit to what he uaintl sgglls Godlyman. an_ lay all night there, on 2% April? 1 l._ If lack of history is conclusive evidence of happiness, what a hagpy place Godalming must have always been! T e greater part. of M;-_ Wet- man’s th_m quarto is taken up with a full account of the architectural features of the church fabric and the successive stages of alterations through which it has passed during the nine centuries of its exist- ence. There are_a goodly number of illustrations, more or less pertinent to the text. A Exhibition Paris. (Heinemann.) BETTER uide to Paris and its h`b`t° th that hir. Heinemann is xiotrlolbh hgfpecteag or desired. t is crammed with useful information, much of it never before given in a similar work. We should puzzled to put the finger on a defect or an omission. DB. MURRAY has reprinted The Evolution 0 English L phy, which, as the Romanegl Lecture for l , was delivered at the Sheldonian Theatre_on 22 June. As the work of an eminent phtlological expert it has, naturally, great, value, t is moreover, profoundly interestin , and we can recall few, if any, similar works the perusal of which is equally productive of amusement and delight. It is issued from the Clarendon Press. Though but a short dpamphlet, it is a work tn b¢ preserved and studie . gstirn tu Gnrrzsynnlmxta. Wemustcallspecialattcntiontothefollowing notices :- ON all communicat' ns t be 'tw th and of the sghdegzlhsot xiehglssarilly fgrngxillf hcation, but as a guarantee of good faith. Wm cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip oipaper, with the signature of the writer and such as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the Eaper, contributors are requested to Hut in parent eses, immediately after the exact eading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correslpondents who repeat queries _are requested to ead the second com- munication “ Duplicate.” R. M. Srsscs (“Church of St. Mark, West Hackney ”).-We find no such church mentioned in the ‘Clergy Directory? A clergyman with the name you give is vicar of Holy Trinity, Paddington. NOTICE. Editorial Communications should be addressed to “ The Editor of ‘ Notes and Queries’ ”-Advertise ments and Business Letters to “The Publisher”- at the Ofiice, Bream’s Buildings, Chancery Lane, E. C. We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not

print; and to this rule we can make no exception.