9 th S. II. DEC, 10, 'OS.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
479
We are not disposed to enter upon the question of
the existence of Arthur. Sir James knows as well
as we that Nennius, and not Gildas, is the historical
source, if such exists, and that the accepted views
of Arthur present him as the nephew of Ambrosius
Aurelianus. Indulgence is claimed for the view
that Claudia, the wife of Pudens, celebrated by
Martial, may have been the daughter of the hero
Caractacus. The question is also raised whether
Pudens and Claudia, mentioned by St. Paul as send-
ing greeting to Timothy, " Salutant te Eubulus, et
Pudens, et Linus, et Claudia, et fratres omnes"
(2 Tim. iv. 21), can be the same as the Claudia and
Pudens of Martial. In matters such as Celtic swords,
of which illustrations are given, the 'Ancient
Bronze Implements' of Sir John Evans is followed.
Sir John is also an authority for Celtic antiquities.
Rhys' s 'Celtic Britain' and his Hibbert Lectures
have been frequently consulted in the early chapters,
and especially concerning Celtic worship. A for-
midable list of authorities is given at the end of the
first volume. These Sir James has used wisely and
well. As he advances in his task he has, neces-
sarily, to use the Record Office publications, the
importance of which is not to be over-estimated.
In his sixth chapter Sir James deals with the dis-
appearance of the ninth Roman legion, known as
the York legion. This he holds was presumably
" used up in petty warfare, perhaps finally over-
thrown in some sudden catastrophe." Some few
sentences are devoted to the fact that during the
later days of Roman occupation and subsequently
the landed gentry up to the oanks of the Clyde called
themselves by Latin names and spoke Latin. It
is held again that a Christian church existed in
Britain so early as the year 300. Under the reign
of Edward the Confessor we hear a good deal of
Macbeth, or Macbeth mac Finlay, and the murder
of Duncan, and also of Malcolm Canmore. The
most animated portions of the work, and the most
readable, consist of the account of the Norman
invasion and the incidents generally depicted in
the Bayeux tapestry. Sir James's sympathy for
Harold is strong, and he is consequently severe in
his judgment of William. His consent to the
execution of Waltheof is declared to be "the
meanest and most discreditable act of an unlovely
life." In the summary of William's character he is
called " a most masterful man of blood and iron,"
and again it is said, " He was a man more hated than
loved, and probably even more feared than hated."
Dealing with the death of William Rufus, Sir
James contrives to burden Shakspeare with an
impossible line :
With all his horrible imperfections on his head. The character of William Rufus is admirably depicted.
We have touched incidentally upon a few points in this fine and magisterial work. With equal ease might we have selected hundreds of other points of no less interest and value. It is impossible in a review to do justice to a work so monumental. We content ourselves with recommending it to our readers as broad in view, interesting in perusal, and encyclopaedic in information.
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Edited by Temple Scott. Vols. III. and IV. (Bell & Sons.)
THE third and fourth volumes of the convenient and authoritative edition of Swift which, under
the competent supervision of Mr. Temple Scott, is
being added to "Bohn's Standard Library," consist
of Swift's ' Writings on Religion and the Church.'
Readers of 'N. & Q.' are not likely to be led by
this title to expect an addition to the huge and
not always too edifying mass of formal theology.
Eminently controversial are Swift's religious works,
and the author presents himself more frequently
as a pamphleteer than as a parson, and is more in-
terested in discipline than in dogma. Tlie so-called
religious writings are, however, a characteristic
and an important portion of Swift's baggage,
and, though dealing with a state of affairs which
the close student alone can realize, may still be
read with interest. Swift's style is in itself an
unending delight, and the study of his pessimism
is sure to attract or repel, never to leave the reader
indifferent. The quaint title-pages of Swift are in
some cases reprinted from the fine collection of
tracts of Col. Grant. Each of the volumes has,
moreover, a portrait of Swift one from a picture
by Francis Bindon in the possession of Sir F. R.
Falkiner, the second from another by the same
artist at Howth Castle. Those who wish to enjoy
afresh Swift's humour, satire, and wonderful
polemical subtlety cannot do better than reread
his abstract of Collins's 'Discourse of Freethink-
ing,' which is less known than his scathing invective'
against Burnet in his preface to ' The B p of
S y's Introduction,' &c.
To the Fortnightly Mr. Andrew Lang supplies an estimate of Charles Dickens, which is also con- tributed to the "Gadshill" edition of Dickens'a works issued by Messrs. Chapman & Hall. It is an excellent piece of work, and we find ourselves in accord with most of the writer's decisions. Against the assertion often made that Dickens could not depict a gentleman, Mr. Lang advances Pickwick, asking, If Pickwick is not a gentleman, who is ? This is all very well ; but it evades the point. The same might doubtless be said of either of the Brothers Cheeryble, who are nature's gentlemen. This is not what the slanderers of Dickens for Mr. Lang holds the assertion a slander meant. The excesses in " the bowl" in which Pickwick and other characters indulge are "to be taken in a Pickwickian sense." This, again, is right ; but the constant drinking in Dickens impairs the value of his work. Mr. St. George Stock supplies a very readable paper upon ' The Diary of the Bishop of Killalla.' The 'Narrative of Killalla by an Eye- witness ' of Dr. Stock, presumably an ancestor of the writer, is a document of historical value. Dr. Stock himself is a pleasing and, on the whole, a conspicuous figure. Mr. and Mrs. Pennell send a readable and an important article on ' The Centenary of Lithography,' which may be supposed to date from the discovery, in 1798, t>y Aloys Sen ef elder of flat-surface printing. ' A Vindication of Vedanta,' by "A Student in Vedanta," aims at refuting the assertions of Dr. Cro/ier. The pleasantest con- tribution to the Nineteenth Century is 'French Views of an English University,' by Mrs. Margaret L. Woods. It is satisfactory to find that intelligent Frenchmen are as much struck by the moral atmo- sphere pervading Oxford and Cambridge colleges as by the beauty of the places. As regards the senti- mental relations of English men and women, Mrs. Woods fears the French observer has been imposed upon "by the stiff-collared hypocrite of a young Briton," of whom she again speaks as a scandalous
