300
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. OCT. 12, 1907.
clay makes the best of the rather visionary results
of ' The Second Hague Conference.' The Rector of
Exeter College, Oxford, has a well-reasoned and
eminently sensible article on 'Some Problems of
University Reform,' with special reference to the
Oxford passman. His paper should be read by
all the good wild people whose zeal exceeds their
knowledge. Prof. Churton Collins deals favour-
ably with ' The Poetry of Crabbe,' who may now
be said to have come to his own in the shape of
critical praise. K. M. Goring gives a further view
of Ruskin's delightful correspondence concerning
The Friends of Living Creatures,' which, however, rather approaches the sickly sentimental. Sir George Arthur in 'The Soldier as Student' talks about " biographing" people, and has an odd view of tests of ability if ne really thinks that "it evidences no mean degree of mental alertness to succeed in solving the time-honoured arithmetical conundrums about the hands of a watch, and the cost of papering a room." Major Martin Hume writes well on ' The National Significance of "Don Ouixote"' ; Mr. Binyon has a skilful poem on 'The Crusader ' ; Miss Constance E. Maud writes in gusjiing style about ' A Greek Play at Orange ' ; and Mr. R. S. Garnett has in ' The True History of Monte Cristo' an excellent subject of which he makes good use.
The Nineteenth Century is full of good and arrest- ing matter this month. Mr. G. W. E. Russell quotes from that delightful book 'Friendship's Garland' in reference to Deceased Wives' Sisters. Bishop Welldon has in ' The Authenticity of Ancient Literature, Secular and Sacred,' touched a subject on which scholars receive frequent queries. It is a fact that the MSS. of the New Testament compare favourably with those of several famous classical authors in point of age. The number of MSS., where these are of inferior character, may sound imposing, but offers little support to the critic. Mrs. Creighton is, as usual, admirably sensible in ' Some Modern Ideas about Woman's Education.' Dorothea Gerard writes at length on three French novels : ' Monsieur et Madame Moloch,' by Marcel Prevost;
- L'lle inconnue,' which is a diary of English life
rather than fiction, by Pierre de Coulevain ; and Abel Hermant's 'Les Grands Bourgeois,' a book which may be compared in its bitter incisiveness with Mr. Galsworthy's masterly study ' The Man of Property.' ' The American Sunday Newspaper ' is depressing reading, but its effect can be removed by ' A Fete Day at Avignon,' by Miss Rose Bradley. Mr. J. A. R. Marriott, who ends the number with ' Oxford and the Nation,' wastes time in going through history, and strikes us as more ver bose than practical.
The Burlington Magazine this month opens with the picture of ' A Little Girl ' by Velazquez one of the great things from the Rodophe Kann Collection now belonging to Messrs. Duveen. Mr. Harold Child writes an interesting article on ' Attila ' and stage production ; Mrs. Ellen Duncan has a good paper on ' The Irish National Art Collection ' ; and Mr. Claude Phillips and Mr Campbell Dodgson show their expertness as connoisseurs. The plates of the number are, as usual, attractive and varied.
MB. JOHN S. FARMER asks us to announce that in future the u Tudor Facsimile Texts" (including the Fasimile Series originally announced by the Early English Drama Society) will be issued by Messrs.."
T. C. & E. C. Jack. Amongst issues almost ready
for delivery are the four recently recovered and
hitherto unknown (or supposedly lost) editions of
' King Darius,' ' Lusty Juventus,' ' Nice Wanton,'
and Heywood's 'Ray of the Weather.' The fac-
simile reproductions of the Macro Plays are also
approaching completion, and will shortly be issued.
The most forward item for delivery, however, is
the facsimile of the only MS. of an Elizabethan
play which we have in the author's handwriting,
viz., 'Believe as Ye List,' by Massinger. A new
illustrated prospectus is in preparation, including
many scarce plays and some unique examples of
Tudor literature.
HANNAH LIGHTFOOT. We have received the following, which deals with a mystery much dis- cussed in ' N. &; Q.' :
" Some years ago, after a minute inquiry, W. J. Thorns decided that not only was Hannah Lightfoot not the wife or the mistress of George III., but that she never even existed. An American lady, Mrs. Aline Shane-Devin of Washington, D.C., now comes forward with the following statement ad- dressed to Lord Sackville (owner of a reputed Reynolds portrait of Hannah Lightfoot), who has handed it on to Mr. Beckles Willson, who has just published a work entitled ' George III. as Man, Monarch, and Statesman.'
" ' My father's mother was Hannah Lightfoot Rex, daughter of George Rex, son of the third George of the Hanoverian line, and of Hannah Lightfoot, the Quakeress. My great-grandfather, George Rex, came to America during the Revo- lutionary War, and was from first to last a devoted Royalist. He married in Pennsylvania a woman of German birth, and by her had a large family. His oldest son was called George, his oldest daughter, my grandmother, receiving her grandmother's name. The origin of the family has always been known and accepted by its members, though the circumstances connected with it were felt to be of so discreditable a nature to both sides that it was very seldom mentioned, and then as something to be deplored and concealed.
" ' We of this generation, however, are far enough removed from the scandal to appreciate the romantic interest that in most minds attaches to the love affairs of a prince, even when they reach their consummation "without benefit of clergy": a conclusion which, according to some authorities, is in this particular case open to question. The very little confirmatory evidence obtainable upon this .point, however, does not seem to me to be of a convincing character; even though one may heartily wish to be persuaded.' "
A. H. (" Shakespeare and the Musical Glasses ").
See Goldsmith's ' Vicar of Wakefield,' chap. x.
J. S. CRONE ("Hayley") and W. E. WILSON ("Authors of Quotations ). Anticipated by replies already in type.
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