200
NOTES AND QUERIES. LII s. i. MAR. 5, 1910.
include a skilful use of verbal and grammatical
archaisms at certain points of (by no means
throughout) the narrative ; the combination of
homely language with a somewhat formal syntax ;
and the avoidance of everything exclusively
modern, such as a coloured vocabulary and
rhetorical forms of construction. Where Thacke-
ray departs furthest from his prototypes is in his
abundant resources for delineating and dra-
matically presenting emotion. Whenever he
modulates into a passionate key, his language is
frankly modern ; and the dialogue too is ' ' modern
in tone and feeling," despite its carefully old-
fashioned diction. The reason is that " Thacke-
ray's imagination works most intensely in his
conversations. His figures come to him like this,
talking like this ; he can just subdue their vocabu-
lary to the historical level, but not their emotional
tone or the course of their thoughts."
Amongst the notes presenting various points of interest are those on " parasite," " pandour,"
- ' Pegasus," " guinguette," " merchant," " toy-
shop," and " Darby and Joan." A ' Biographical Appendix ' aims at setting in their true light some of the leading historical characters of the story. Thackeray's estimate of these was largely formed under the influence of Macaulay, whose judgments have in these latter days been often modified, and sometimes reversed. Of Prof. Saintsbury's glowing tribute there is no need to speak : " A greater novel than ' Esmond,' " he writes, "I do not know; and I do not know many greater books." There is an excellent Index.
THAT boon to all interested in the world of newspapers, Mitchell's Neicspaper Press Directory, has reached its sixty-fifth annual issue, and is conducted with increased enterprise and vigour. Nothing is forgotten to render this Whitaker of the press thorough and complete, and the pro- prietors are justified in stating in the preface that the work " forms a reliable guide not only to the press of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, but to the leading newspapers and publications of foreign countries." The obit- uaries include E. E. Peacock of The Morning Post and Frederick Greenwood, the first editor -of The Pall Mall Gazette. The number of papers in the United Kingdom is 2,331. Of this number, 414 are within the London radius, of which 23 are morning dailies, and 7 evening. The great feature in newspaper history during the past year was the assembling of the first Imperial Press Conference, at which Lord Burnham presided.
AMONG people noticed in L' Intermediate lately .are the children of Munoz and Queen Christina of Spain the illegitimate, children of Napoleon III., and the enigmatical Monseigneur Baur, who, being born an Israelite, became a Christian, and, taking the frock, excited the enthusiasm of fashionable Paris by the eloquence of his preaching. This "complex and -disconcerting figure " was the .director of the consciences of the Empress Eugenie .and the " great ladies of the imperial decameron." At the commencement of the Franco-German War he rushed in theatrical fashion to the out- posts, where apparently he did his duty, for he was subsequently decorated. Then, later, in the new era which followed on the downfall of the Empire, he unfrocked himself, and finally married. It is strange to read in L" Intermediate for 10
January that, by custom, usage, and long posses-
sion, the regular canons of St. Augustine still held
slaves in the seventeenth century on property
situated in the Combrailles country, on the
frontier -of Auvergne. Up to what date these
slaves were retained seems uncertain.
When envelopes for letters came into use has been discussed in ' N. & Q.,' and a correspondent of our French contemporary notes that the royal declaration of 11 April, 1676, establishing a new tariff for letters confided to the " ferme des postes," charged a super- tax of a sou for letters with an envelope. Another subject familiar to readers of ' N. & Q.' is treated under the title ' Mur4 vif.' A story is related of the Pere de Ravignan being taken blindfold to confess a man who was about to be walled up alive. This mysterious and gruesome adventure, which is confirmed in the number for 10 February by an account of the mason who was terrorized into doing the work, is supposed to have happened some sixty years ago.
The origin of the phrase " perfide Albion " is demanded ; and an interesting account is given of the metal breast-plates or forehead- plates which used to be commonly worn by mules, many of them being ornamented with an engraved representation of the coat of arms of the owner.
MB. S. FLETCHER WEYBURN has been at work on ' The Weyburn Genealogy ' for some years, and has secured sufficient data to justify publica- tion in book form, which, however, depends on subscribers. His address is P.O. Box 494, Scranton, Pa., U.S. The book will include de- tails of Samuel Weyburn, sen., who settled in New York State before 1790, and Thomas Wey- burn (Wyborn), who went from England in 1638 to Boston, Mass. ; and early extracts con- cerning the family in Kent and Sussex, including their arms and manor house.
10
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