s. viii. SEPT. 14, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
235
eldest of whom died young and unmarried.
Of the remaining four daughters, the eldest,
Emily, married Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
while he was yet a layman, and died 10 March,
1841, three weeks before her grandmother, at
whose decease the bishop inherited the estate
in right of his wife. F. DE H. L.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.
.A History of Modern Europe. By T. H. Dyer and
A. Hassall. Vols. 1. and II. (Bell & Sons.) MR. ARTHUR HASSALL, an Oxford scholar of repute, has revised with evident care and knowledge this, the third edition of a book which starts from the fall of Constantinople (1453), and is to reach, when all the six volumes are out, as late as 1900. The volumes before us coyer the period 1453-1585, which our readers will readily recognize as one of the most nteresting in history, producing as it did so many ideas that are still ruling the world, such masterful men as Pope Julius II. (a figure worthy of the satire of Erasmus and the art of Michael Angelo), Henry VIII. , Francis L, Charles V., and the men who " made a combustion in Germany about reli- gion." Geographical discoveries and military changes are duly recorded, and the estimate of men and their doings, though too brief to be entirely satisfactory in some cases e.g., that of Savonarola seems judicious where we feel competent to pro- nounce on it. Abundant references are addea at the bottom of the page, and the volumes seem unusually free from the bias which always puts England in the right.
Since Hallam's solid contributions to the period are prejudiced in regard to the Reformation and Ranke's works are not easy reading, while other excellent writers, such as the late Dr. Creighton, go into too much detail for the ordinary man, many will be glad to have this able summary. To those who are more interested in the humanists than in humanity, or the princes who oppress humanity and make history, these pages may be a little disappoint- ing. Why, for instance, are no authorities given for the life of Erasmus in the section devoted to him, which is really too brief for so subtle a character? It would, however, be unfair to deny the interest of this history even for the common man, who will find a reasonable infusion of good things said by Popes and princes to enliven the lump. Thus " All is lost save honour" is included, though its authenticity is denied. Many of the dicta are in brief and biting Latin. To mention but a few of the things which have attracted our eyes, we have followed the rise of the word " Pro- testant," Magellan sailing round the world, the battle of Mohacs (in which a modern Hungarian musician, Korbay, has made us feel an interest), the decline of Venice, and more than one set of Gueux whose influence was worth gold in plenty. The writing is not brilliant, but not as a rule irritating. We have noticed a few trifling slips in the printing, but the Latin and French quoted are unusually free from error. The index is, we suppose, reserved for the last volume.
Familiar Butter/lies and Moths, by Mr. W. F. Kirby (Cassell & Co.), is one of the best cheap
volumes of natural history that we have seen for
some time. The writer is an authority to be
trusted, and there are several pages of coloured
illustrations, which will assist the process of iden-
tification. Though we do not ourselves collect
specimens, preferring to see the butterfly free and
alive, we have often marked his course and colour
when
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew,
and remember our delight on first learning a little entomology. The colours of the plates are occasion- ally not so bright as they might oe, but in any case they must be far behind nature. Tennyson well suggests brilliance when he says that his college ladies should " move as rich as Emperor-moths." It is pleasant to know that some of the haunts of rare specimens, such as the Fens, have been pre- served against the improving hand of man, which destroys so much that is obsolescent and beautiful.
DEMANDING, in the Fortnightly, whether men desire immortality, Mr. F. C. S. Schiller seems disposed to answer the question in the negative. We will commend to him the words of Milton :
Who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being, Those thoughts that wander through eternity ? To perish rather, swallowed up and lost In the wide womb of uncreated night ? The speaker is Belial, but the thought is the poet's. Mrs. Marshall gives a good account of Gerhart Hauptmann, accompanied by an analysis of many of his plays. Under the title ' A Censor of Modern Womanhood ' George Paston deals with the late Mrs. Lynn Linton, the judgment on whom does not err on the side of leniency. Mr. W. Roberts, writing on ' Book Collecting as an Invest- ment,' advances the prices brought in the recent sale of the Ashburnham books and MSS. The rise in price of many of these is astounding. It is roughly estimated that books which cost less than 60,000^. brought 175,000^. Not less remarkable than the rise in value of some of the lots is the decline in others. The influence upon prices of the American purchaser is strongly felt. Mr. L. Marillier writes on ' Social Psychology in Contemporary French Fiction,' with special relation to Emile Zola and J. H. Rosny. A literary supplement contains ' A Long Duel : a Serious Comedy in Four Acts,' by Mrs. W. K. Clifford. In the Nineteenth Century Mr. Walter Frewen Lord writes on ' Lord Lytton's Novels,' and makes a fantastic attempt to find the secret of their popularity in Bulwer's classical education. The novelist is said to have "deliber- ately debauched his intelligence by writing down to the level of a public which he despised." Much eloquence is expended on explanations of the causes of Bulwer's failure to contribute to our literature anything of permanent value. He could have done this had he so willed, holds Mr. Lord, but he would not take the trouble, since it did not pay. The secret of failure we are disposed to place in a total absence of sincerity. In his writings, as in his life, the first Lord Lytton was a poseur. Our recol- lections of the man are fresher than those of his books. We did not find his supernatural writings so impressive as does his latest critic, and are astonished to hear that his ' The Haunters and the Haunted 'which, however, we do not recall to have read is "the most terrifying ghost story ever
