38
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. v. JAN. 13, 1906.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
India. By Mortimer Menpes. Text by Flora Annie
Steel. (A. & C. Black.)
- INDIA ' is one of the handsomest and most interest-
ing of the many handsome and interesting volumes which are the product of Mr. Mortimer Menpes's tour in the East. This eminent painter has caught by methods which are partly his secret and partly his discovery the means o'f reproducing Indian and Japanese scenes with a fidelity and beauty until recently unattainable. Englishmen are proud of what Kinglake calls their "loved India," and there are few of us probably who could not exhibit at need a photograph of the Taj Mahal at Agra or the river front at Benares. Those most familiar with India, however the North- Western districts espe- ciallywill find an opportunity of reviving their pleasantest souvenirs. We know not which is the more exquisite, the fidelity of the designs or the beauty of the atmosphere. No fewer than seventy- five pictures are given of scenes in Delhi, Agra, Jeypore, Muttra, Benares, Peshawar, Amritsar, Ajmere, Lahore, &c., most of them of ravishing love- liness. Views are also provided of native women, brides, market women, water-carriers, bazaars, shops, grain merchants, workers in silver and gold, fruit stalls, and vegetable markets. The colour in these is wonderful.
Letterpress is supplied by Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, the novelist, whose long residence in India and whose official experiences in the Punjab lend her opinions special value. Her descriptions, sketches, and statements do not directly correspond with the illustrations, but deserve study on their own account, and will do much to correct prevalent misapprehensions about India. What is said con- cerning Indian morality and the well-known native disrespect for truth is worthy of close attention, as is the account of "1857," of the way in which "Englishmen live to make mistakes and die to retrieve them." Most interesting of all is what is said with reference to the influence of the Japanese victories over the native mind. This, however, is not the place in which to dwell upon subjects of this class, though it is difficult to shut our eyes to the ignorance that prevails in England con- cerning countries we have held for centuries. It is as a picture-book that the present volume enchants. We have spoken of its influence in stirring memories among those who recall the country. Not less attractive is the volume in inspiring a desire to visit the scenes so splendidly depicted.
The Lyrical Poems of William Blake. Text by
John Sampson. (Frowde.) Wordsworth. s Literary Criticism. Edited by Nowell
C. Smith. (Same publisher.) Poems and Extracts chosen by William Wordsworth.
(Same publisher.)
THESE three volumes constitute the opening instal- ment of a specially dainty series, to be entitled "The Oxford Library of Prose and Poetry." Each is got up in a pretty and artistically designed cloth cover, is printed in portable form with a well executed and legible text, and with, in two cases out of the three, an interesting frontispiece. Blake's
- Lyrical Poems ' are ushered in by an introduction
from Mr. Walter Raleigh, which is critical, and in that respect illuminatory, and to a certain extent
biographical ; and by a characteristic and idealized
portrait. The introduction is an important and
admirably executed piece of work, and will be
specially serviceable to the student who seeks to
realize Blake's position as poet and dreamer.
Blake's sources of indebtedness which began in
Shakespeare, and continued in Milton are
exemplified, and it is justly declared to be an
in day for him when he makes acquaintance with
Swedenborg. We have not, however, to rhapsodize
afresh on Blake, but simply to declare the edition
perfect and ideal.
The two volumes which follow are, in a sense, companions, since both are in some fashion con- cerned with Wordsworth. That poet's prose baggage is not large, but is none the less not inconsiderable. Poetry is a natural medium to him, and in his works of long breath answers most pur- poses of prose. Without being able to say of him what is true of George Wither, that he converted bis muse into a maid-of-all-work, he gave her at least a fair amount of drudgery. His preface and appendix to 'Lyrical Ballads' contain much in- telligent and valuable criticism. We may be par- doned for saying that his correspondence with those with whom we have enjoyed intimacy bridges over for us a century. In the letters to Dyce, which are neither numerous nor long, we come upon some very interesting literary comments. Dyce seems to have presented Wordsworth with many of the dramatic texts he edited.
The 'Poems and Extracts chosen by Words- worth' are printed literally from the original album presented in 1819 to Lady Mary Lowther, and have a quaint portrait of Wordsworth, almost like a Roman emperor laurel-crowned. Of the 92 pages of the MS., 32 are occupied with Lady Winchilsea. From Wither Wordsworth takes the mmortal address to poetry, and some few selected passages in praise of his mistress from ' The Mis- tress of Philarete.' Other extracts are Webster's fine dirge from 'The White Devil,' Waller's 'Go, Lovely Rose,' and poems by Marvell, Cowper, Pope,, and writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies. \Vordswort h's introductory sonnet is given in facsimile from Miss Hutchinson's script. Tha last extract is Christopher Smart's ' Lines written while confined in a Madhouse.' The reprint of this volume is a boon to lovers of literature.
The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the- Middle Ages and Modern Times. By Alfred Biese. (Routledge & Sons.)
Tins is a useful work, but far too full of quotations,, many of which have but little relation to the sub- jects treated. The love of nature in the Middle Ages, or, indeed, in any other period, cannot be- successfully dealt with without a far wider view than the author has taken. Even now,, when so many write books, there are persons who feel a deep and poetic interest in nature and her way& who have never committed their thoughts to paper. All those who have a taste for rural scenery do not love trees and flowers, hills and streams, for the same reasons. Some are attracted by form, others by colour ; and there is a third class far greater in number than is commonly thought who care for such things almost solely from their historical asso- ciations. The men of the Middle Ages must have been divided in thought as much as we are,, perhaps more. It is diffictilt to classify the direc- tions in which their imagination led them. The-
