v* s. v. JUNE 9, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
467
are more trustworthy than are the utterances of
Shakespeare, which, when they are not essentially
dramatic, are at least sufficiently reserved to baffle
conjecture. As a rule, the dean is as anxious to acquit
Dante of the charges brought against him by wicked
men, such as Boccaccio, as was any biographer of
Shakespeare Halliwell-Phillipps or another to
repudiate the assumption that the dramatist ever
shot the king's deer. Apropos of the mention by
Dante of Gentucca, the dean arraigns " the unclean
birds of literature, that scent carrion everywhere,
the * apes by the Dead Sea,' who make mouths at
every prophet as he passes by," and who, after their
manner, have pounced upon it. When he dwells
upon the not incredible hypothesis that Dante,
attracted by the fame of Peter Lightfoot, may have
visited Glastonbury, and may even have worshipped
within the walls of his (the dean's) own cathedral,
we sympathize with the aspiration that led to the
utterance ; but there are too many hypotheses
"probable" or "not incredible" and there are
also too many " I seem to sees." The book is,
however, a work of much scholarship, and gives an
interesting and readable, if not wholly unprejudiced
view of the influences under which Dante passed.
Researches into the Origin of the Primitive Con- stellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians, and Baby- lonians. By Robert Brown, Jun.,F.S. A., M.R.A.S. Vol. II. (Williams & Norgate.) WE noticed the first volume of this interesting work (which appeared early last year) in 9 th S. iii. 259 ; in this our author continues his researches, accord- ing to the scheme there propounded, of "tracing the constellation - figures backward from the era of Alexander until their first appearance in the dawn of history." For this purpose it was, of course, necessary to make as much use as possible of the astronomical tablets in the British Museum, and, though a great amount of cuneiform literature is still unpublished, yet enough is available to furnish a fairly complete list of Euphratean stars and constellations. The general conclusion is that it was by the star-gazers in Babylonia that the greater part of the ancient constellations were formed ; the system there constructed was adopted in Western Asia and carried by the Phoenicians into Greece, the main foundations of the science having been laid in the country of the Two Rivers before Greek civilization began.
A TEACHER of youth (or perhaps we ought to say man) who can write words and music of a cheery and effective, if not hedonistic sort is to be com- mended. Hence we are glad to notice the songs which Mr. E. H. Griffiths, a well-known Cambridge coach, calls Lyra Fumosa (Cambridge, Heffer & Sons). More especially associated with Sidney College, the collection also appeals to the ordinary 'Varsity man as suitable for cheerful occasions. The metre is not always superfine, but the meaning is clear.
MB. CECIL T. DAVIS (Librarian and Clerk to the Commissioners) has issued a Dictionary of Wands- worth, with illustrations. It is entirely produced in Wandsworth, and was sold at the Empire Bazaar in aid of the Wandsworth Technical School. Mr. Davis is a well-known enthusiast concerning the district with which he deals.
IN a number of the Fortnightly of altogether exceptional interest and importance three or four
articles stand prominently forward. First among
these is 'The Evolution of Mystery' of M. Maurice
Maeterlinck. To some extent this is a defence of,
and an apology for, the writer's methods of labour
and choice of themes. Who better fitted than a
mystic to deal with the question of mystery ? In his
treatment of the subject Maeterlinck stands at the
opposite pole from Goethe, and. if something like a
bull may be pardoned, from Rabelais also. Goethe
holds that subjects to which no definite response is
obtainable are to be left to dilettanti; a man with
work to do in the world must fight shy of them
On the other hand, M. Maeterlinck shows that
attempts to pierce the mystery in which our lives
are enveloped are the primary duty of the responsible
intellect. Between these two men, at a point in a
triangle equidistant from each, stands Rabelais,
with his declaration that " le rire est le propre de
1'homme." We will contribute nothing of our own
to the question, the opportunity not fitting. Mr.
Arthur Symons gives a striking description of
Ernest Dowson, recently deceased, showing us a
man who had much in common with the Villons,
the Theophiles, and the Chattertons of the past.
The article is well written, and shows us many
aspects of an attractive, but hopelessly erratic
individuality. Miss Helen Zimmern deals with
Eleonora Duse, and besides d\velling upon her
histrionic and expository gifts supplies us with
particulars, previously unpossessed, of her early
life. She shows us through what squalid portals
there reached the stage one who now counts among
its most conspicuous ornaments. Mr. Ernest Rhys
deals with 'The New Mysticism' as it is exem-
plified in the writings of Miss Fiona Macleod and
Mr. W. B. Yeats. Mr. F. Edmund Garrett depicts
to us Paul Kruger in his inner as well as his outer
life. Other excellent papers, apart from those on
polemical subjects, consist of 'The Government
Factory Bill,' by Miss Gertrude M. Tuckwell, and
an account by Mr. J. A. Marriott of Sir William
Hunter. Mr. Heathcote Statham's 'At the Royal
Academy' contains some just criticism, and is, as
was to be expected, not too optimistic in view.
The summary of the month's news contributed to
the Nineteenth Century by Sir Wemyss Reid con-
tains a summary of the proceedings on "Mafeking
Day" which constitutes very stimulating reading.
We were ourselves witnesses of the spontaneous
and overmastering outburst on the Friday night,
one of the most thrilling and wonderful and, let
us add, creditable exhibitions ever made by
Englishmen. So far as we were able we avoided
the subsequent day's crowd, but we like to read of
it in these vigorously descriptive pages. More
than usually controversial are many of the articles
which appear, one especially by Mr. Wilfrid Ward,
on which he bestows the repellent title of
' Liberalism and Intransigeance.' We should have
preferred almost any amount of circumlocution to
the foisting on our language of such a gallicism as
the latter word. It is pleasant to turn from
questions of warfare, national or ecclesiastical,
to Mrs. Stephen Batson's meditations on 'The
Vogue of the Garden Book.' For the words "garden
books " she would herself suggest diaries " written
in or suggested by a garden." Some banter is
bestowed upon the Laureate's 'The Garden that
I Love,' though the Veronica of the conversation
is said to have about her "something very lov-
able." ' Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden ' suggests
that the heart of the writer, Mrs. Earle, is in the
