120
NOTES AND QUERIES. P- s. vn. FEB. 9, 1901.
tion." This supremely valuable paper is an out-
come of Dr. Smythe Palmer's favourite Babylonian
studies, to which readers of *N. & Q.' are more
indebted than most of them are aware. Under
' Our Absurd System of punishing Crime,' Mr.
Robert Anderson, C.B., pleads for more severe
punishment of habitual criminals, and condemns
the hysterical pseudo - sentimentalism to which
we are subject. Prof. Fleming shows, in a paper
humiliating to an Englishman to read, what are
the official obstructions to electric progress. In
the Pall Mall the late Charles Yriarte deals with
'The Rise of the Romantic School in France.'
This is naturally illustrated from the works of Geri-
cault, Delacroix, Diaz, Rousseau, Couture, Corot,
Daubigny, and other eminent painters. An account
is given of 'The Order of "the Onions,'" which
would now be called a log-rolling society, and such
matters as the dress of the rapins are treated. Mr.
George A. Wade gives a full description and his-
tory of 10, Downing Street, a place the mention of
which is apt to produce a tingling sensation in the
cheeks of Englishmen. ' The Dress I female] of
the Nineteenth Century ' is illustrated from photo-
graphs by Mrs. Lallie Charles. Mr. A. G. Hales
depicts 'The Life of a War Correspondent.' Mr.
Quiller-Couch, writing on ' The Novel in the Nine-
teenth Century,' is bright, as he is bound to be, but
indulges in those frivolous comparisons between
things essentially unlike which are a vice of
modern criticism. Mr. Alfred Kinnear, in 'The
Ways of the World,' is amusing. 'Lawful Plea-
sures ' is the title Mr. George M. Smith gives, in the
Cornhill, to the legal trials he has undergone in his
long experience of management or proprietorship
of various periodicals. He has been singularly
fortunate. We remember being present by sub-
po2na at more than one of the legal cases he
describes, and feel that the result in one case,
at least, would have 'been different had not
the conduct of the defence grossly and griev-
ously miscarried. In none of the cases was
Mr. Smith personally responsible for any offence.
Sir Herbert Maxwell edits the second part of
' More Light on St. Helena,' by Miss Dorothy
Mansel Pleydell. The present instalment is
pleasanter reading than was the previous. Mrs.
Richmond Ritchie continues her ' Blackstick
Papers.' A vigorous and stirring account, by the
Rev. W. H. Jbitchett, of 'The Great Mutiny' is
occupied with the revolt at Delhi. ' On the Plea-
sures of Texture,' by Mr. Oscar Eve, is occupied
with the pleasures of touch. We can scarcely
agree with the writer in his conclusion that " the
employment of the touch sense as a means of artistic
pleasure" involves in its pursuit no expense, but
should hold, on the contrary, that indulgence in it
is one of the costliest of enjoyments. Much that
is of immediate and vital interest is involved in
other papers, with which we may not deal. The
contents of Scribntr'a are few, but important.
4 Russia of To-day : Central Asia,' is finished. It
ends with a gratifying, if rather unexpected, tribute
to the civilizing influence in Asia exercised by that
power. That most picturesque of existing French
mediieval cities, Carcassonne, is considered and
someadmirable illustrations offered of a place which
better than almost any other, preserves for us the
features of feudal Europe. ' Punishment and Re-
venge in China' deals satisfactorily with one of the
most terrible proofs of man's inherent cruelty ' The
Stage Reminiscences of Mrs. Gilbert' do not con-
cern us, but are of great general interest. The
number is excellent, but reaches us too late for
further comment. In the Gentleman's Mr. Clifford
Cordley writes on ' Shakespeare's Dogs,' Miss
Georgiana Hill on 'Diplomatic Etiquette in the
Seventeenth Century,' Mr. H. M. Sanders on
'The Plays of John Ford,' and Mr. Keeton on
Rubinstein. ' The Revolt of the Sisters,' by Camilla
Jebb, presents the struggles of the nuns at Port
Royal. ' Tales of the Mist ' consists of narratives
of dangers and escapes on the Cumberland and
Westmoreland hills. Madame de Stael is the sub-
ject, in Longman's, of No. V. of Mr. Tallen tyre's
'Women of the Salons.' A vivacious account is
given of this remarkable woman, so characteristic
of her epoch, whose chance of recovering the
position she once occupied depends upon a revival.
Mr. John Isabell gives a very interesting and
curious account of ' Fishes and their Ways.' In
' At the Sign of the Ship ' Mr. Lang deals briefly
with Dr. Irazer's 'Golden Bough,' a subject he
treats more fully in the Fortnightly. He also
breaks out into narrative, and tells afresh the
eminently melodramatic story of 'The Minister of
Spot,' which should surely furnish some hints to
a dramatist.
Itotoa t0
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5',?' ?A ("Disraeli").-' The Earl of Beacons- field, by 1 roude (seventh edition, Sampson Low), is probably as good as anything extant, but, of course, the real intimate biography is not yet published, though in the hands of Lord Rowton. We know of no edition of Disraeli's letters. NEMO.
Great is the crime in man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common ; But who shall plead that man's excuse Who steals the common from the goose ? Authorship unknown. See 7 th S. vii. 98 ; 8 th S. x.
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