528
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9- s. v. jt*. so, im.
Pausanias arrived in "the nick of time." The \
plunder of Greece by Rome had begun, and the j
decline of Greece had set in. it was the time, |
however, of Lucian, the most modern and advanced
in thought of the early Greeks, and of the Anto-
nines. Hadrian had enriched Greece, and Herodes
Atticus, besides giving the ungratetul Athenians
the magnificent tneatre of Kegilla and numerous
other treasures, had extended his munificence to
Corinth, the Peioponnese, and Boeotia. Concerning
Pausanias, more noticeable for the information he
conveys than for style in which, indeed, he is
notably deficient it may be said, as was said of a
much earlier and infinitely greater traveller,
Herodotus, that he is almost always trustworthy
when giving the results of his own observation, and
only or chiefly misleading when he takes informa-
tion at secondhand. We will not deal with the
defence undertaken at many points, and notably
with that concerning the Enneacrunus fountain in
Athens, which Pausanias apparently supposes to
have been on a wrong site. There is, indeed, no
call for detailed criticism of Dr. Frazer's work.
Our purpose is only to bring before public attention
a book which will be read with pleasure by those
interested in Greek mythology and antiquities, and
one which must add to the enjoyment of the best
equipped traveller in Greece. 'Pausauias' con-
stitutes one of the " Eversley Series."
Studies in John the Scot (Erigena). By Alice
Gardner. (Erowde.)
Miss GARDNER has contributed an admirable mono- graph on that mysterious personage J ohn the Scot, otherwise J ohn the irishman. Headers of ' N. & Q. ; may be supposed to be much above the average in erudition. We doubt, however, if very many even among these know much more concerning this Neo- Platonist mystic than they know concerning the real author of the works attributed to " Diony- sius Areopagitica," which he translated for Charles the Bald. The little that can be said con- cerning the man is principally negative. He was not the man he is held to have been ; was not, in fact, " the other fellow." He was a little, merry man, whose companionship Charles prized, but neither his mirthfulness nor the smaliness of his stature preserved him from enemies or suspicion of heresy. That by calling him a Scot an irishman was intended is, ol course, known to all who are aware that Scotland at this time had no such culture as existed in ireland. The root of the name " Erigena," moreover, is found in Erin. Curiously enough he was apparently not an ecclesiastic, "Nullis eccle- siasticee dignitatis gradibus insignitum," says Pru- dentius. The mass of myth that has surrounded him has been carefully sifted by Miss Gardner, whose chief object in writing the book has been to show the relation of the philosophy of Scotus to the thought of his times. Tnere is much that still repays attention in the mystical significance which Jolin the Scot assigned to Christian doctrine. Scotus, his biographer maintains, was not natur- ally controversial. He succeeded, however, in becoming engaged in some heated arguments con- cerning his mystical interpretation of predestination the sacraments, &c., taking part in wiiat our author calls "a dull, interminable war of words, wagec with a perverted faith, an unjustified hope, anc a conspicuous absence of charity." We cannot follow Miss Gardner in her task. We can only say
that her book will prove eminently attractive to
a class of readers, and will introduce to many a
curious and interesting individuality, and perhaps,
also, a little- studied epoch.
Storyology. By Benjamin Taylor. (Stock.) MR. TAYLOR'S not too happily named work should it not be storiology ? gives a readable and popular account of folk-lore, in talking of those who claim to have been up to the moon, Mr. Taylor mentions only Lucian and M. Jules Verne. Surely Cyrano de Bergerac is sufficiently in evidence just
iow to merit mention, in his ' Etats et Empires de la Lune' he describes the means by which he iscended or was exhaled to the moon, as well as what he saw when he arrived there. We meet with some curious slips: "the learned author of
Pseudodosia Epidemica'" for ' Pseudodoxia Epi- demica,' "John Andrey " for John Audrey, <fcc. in
ts unpretentious way the book merits recognition.
THE Quebec Diocesan Gazette for March contains
an appreciative obituary notice of Dr. Aspinwall
dowe, and records the great services he rendered
,o the McGill University at Montreal, as well as
lis work as Rector of the High School during forty-
three years. Dr. Howe was an old friend of
N. & Q.,' and has bequeathed his beautifully
sound copy to the High School, the condition
3eing that the work be regularly subscribed for
in future. Dr. Howe died on 13 February at the
age of eighty-five.
Jtotoa t0
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SCRUTATOR. The feathery forms of frost are due to a particular formation of crystals. Consult a scientific manual.
CORRIGENDA. P. 471, col. 1, 1. 18, for " Charles I." read Charles V. ; p. 48b', col. 1, 1. 19 from bottom, for "lime" read carbonate of lime.
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