Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/51

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

n s. v. .TAX. is, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUEEIES.


39


Westminster is dealt with in a special article by Mrs. Murray Smith, and a good and sufficient account is given of Westminster Abbey and Westminster School. Holborn and Bloomsbury are noticed satisfactorily by the late Mr. W. J. Loftie.

The article on Kensington is somewhat weak, and one could wish that the writer had referred to the pages of Leigh Hunt's ' Old Court Suburb,' where he would have found much useful informa- tion. No mention is made of Earl's Terrace, though in former times it was the residence of Mrs. Inchbald, Leigh Hunt, and Walter Pater, and more recently of Du Maurier ; and more, we think, might have been written of Kensington Square and its old Grammar School.

The illustrations and maps which accompany the book are good, and the binding attractive.

The Burlington Magazine opens with an edi- torial on ' The Nation and its Art Treasures,' a book by Mr. R. C. Witt, who discusses with approval the suggestion (frequently made in the magazine) of a tax of 10 per cent on all important art sales. He also upholds " the idea of devoting a large sum in the near future to the ransom for the nation of a certain selected list of supreme masterpieces." This is considered together with an .increased grant to the National Gallery. Mr. Lionel Cust discusses a marble bust of Charles I. by Hubert Le Sueur, figured in the frontispiece, and acquired for the Victoria and Albert Museum about a year ago. Mr. A. Clutton- Brock has an interesting article on ' Chinese and European Religious Art ; Mr. G. F. Hill continues his ' Notes on Italian Medals,' which are admirably illustrated ; and Mr. D. S. MacColl has attached to a reproduction of ' A Portrait by Alfred Stevens,' painted about 1840 in the Venetian manner, some notes concerning the artist which should be invaluable to future biographers.

MR. MACCOLL'S article in The Nineteenth Century on ' The National Gallery : its Problems, Resources, and Administration,' has already attracted wide attention, and begins with a reference to Mr. Witt's book noticed above. He calls for a reorganization of the control of the National Gallery which would secure some training for the Directors. His other suggestions are well worth consideration. Mr. G. L. O. Davidson has a good subject in ' The Solution of the Mystery of Bird Flight ' and its application to aeroplanes. ' Is M. Maeterlinck Critically Estimated ? ' by the Abbe Ernest Dimnet, is an able article, admirably written, like the other English papers of the accomplished writer. M. Dimnet finds insuperable difficulties in accepting the popular estimate of Maeterlinck as a philo- sopher, and will have manv supporters in his objections. The Rev. A. H." T. Clarke, in ' The Passing of the Oxford Movement,' deals mainly with Liddon. His article is very readable, but it seems to us a little one-sided. It is of value as indicating the present trend of opinion among writers on the Church. ' The Church and Celibacy,' by Mrs. Huth Jackson, seems to us an ingenious piece of special pleading, while it con- tains some ideas with which we are strongly in sympathy.

' CHRISTIANITY AND CLERICALISM,' by the Rev. R. L. Gales, is a striking article in The National Revieio, which is further commended by one of


Mr. Austin Dobson's learned and charming articles, ' Loutherbourg, R.A.' Mr. C. Grahame- White should command attention as he writes on ' The Aeroplane of the Future,' but we think he is unduly optimistic in his ideas concerning the wide use of air-machines. It will be a long time, we think, before they are " independent of gales." Mr. Philip Snowden's " Socialist view " of ' The Railway Unrest ' should certainly be read, for there are few more sincere and thorough men in public life than he.


BOOKSELLKRS' CATALOGUES. JANUARY,

MR. A. BAXENDINE'S Edinburgh Catalogue 126' contains Library Editions of Standard Authors ; a complete set of the New Spalding Club ; Sin- clair's ' Old Statistical Account of Scotland ' ; Murray's "Family Library" (64 vols., full red morocco); Gilfillan's Library Edition of "British Poets"; Harvie-Brown's Natural History Works ; a complete set of the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and numerous inter- esting single volumes.

MESSRS. BOWES & BOWES'S Cambridge Cata- logue 355 contains books from the libraries of the late Prof. J. E. B. Mayor and S. H. Butcher, Litt.D., M.P., including Greek and Latin Classics with MS. notes by both scholars, and Classical Tracts ; a large collection of bound volumes of pamphlets on Education in different countries, with histories of various Universities ; Classical Review, 24 vols. ; Proceedings, Classical Associa- tion of Scotland ; Nichols's ' Progresses,' 5 vols. ; Cotton Mather's ' New England ' ; D'Ailly, ' Monnaie Romaine,' 4 vols. ; English Dialect Society, a set ; Franklin's ' Memoirs,' 6 vols., and ' Works,' 10 vols., large paper ; W. Savage Landor'g ' Works," 8 vols. ; Palaeographical Society, First Series, complete ; ' Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques,' 6 vols. ; Sadler's 'State Papers,' 3 vols., large paper; Strype's ' Works,' with index, 27 vols. ; F. S. Thomas's ' Historical Notes,' 3 vols. ; many works on Vegetarianism, &c.

MESSRS. GILHOFER & RANSCHBURG send from Vienna their Catalogue 102, entitled ' Flug- blatter, Flugschriften, Einblattdrucke, " Newe Zeitungen," Relationen, Gelegenheitsschriften, 15-19 Jahrh.' Its 1,645 entries include scarce historical writings on particular occasions of the period dealt with, many being of great rarity. In order to simplify the perusal of its contents, the Catalogue has been provided with an index of persons mentioned, a geographical index, a typographical index (indicating printers, im- prints, and publishers), and finally an elaborate subject - index. The Catalogue contains a large portion of a celebrated library reaching back to the hero of the Thirty Years' War, Octavio Piccolomini. There are about a hundred inter- esting numbers united under ' England ' in the geographical index, mostly relating to history and the Reformation. We may also draw atten- tion to the entries under ' Dreissigjahriger Krieg,' ' Hochzeitsreden und Hochzeitsgedichte,' ' Indulgenzbriefe,' ' Judaica,' ' Leichenreden,' ' Papsttum und Kirchenstaat,' ' Reformation,' ' Tiirkenkriege,' &c. In addition, there are- reproductions of scarce works.