"7 --‘;_f_.f+--*_ ~~ii_f-- ___ _ _ i ,__ iiri.. - `..`-`,¢.»~ - _ ;,__'_<1-`_L .i._ 62 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ss s. v1. Jun 23, um, which has been kindly lent me by Mr. Aldis Wright for the urpose, I find that it entirely differs from tlie text of Mr. Quaritchs collected edition, which was apparently reprinted from the third edition of 1879. As the only copies of this edition which have come under my notice contain alterations and corrections in FitzGerald’s handwriting there can be little doubt that it was printed with his sanction, and probably by his in- structions.* 1879. [Readings in Crabbe.] Collationz- . [iv unnumbered] and 242, con- sisting of: Half-title, ‘ Readings i in I Crabbe’s “Tales of the Hall ”’ | p. [i, ii bank]; Intro- ductory Note, pp. [iii, ivl); Text, pp. [1]-242. At the bottom of p. 242 is the Imprint “Billing & Sons, Printers, Guildford, Surrey.” Issued in red cloth boards, lettered upwards along the back, ‘ Readings in Crabbe.’ This is the first issue of the ‘ Readings# of which a few copies were presented by Fitz- Gerald in 1879 to his more intimate friends. The copy from which the foregoing collation is made was given to the late Sir W. Frederick Pollock. The Introductory Note, consisting of one leaf, contains the extract from Jefl`rey’s article in the Edinburgh Review, 1819, which was reprinted in the later revised ‘ Introduc- tion,’ and also the following remarks :- “ In this abstract of the poem some readings of the poet’s oirgginall MS. E quoted in his son’s edition, ° t t. have been opte in t e ex “ Many omissions, and some transposal of the text, have here and there occasioned the change of some pronoun, or particle, connecting one paragraph with another originally separated from it. “And some words have inadvertently slipped from my ‘ copy ’ into the text, of which (as of some other errata) subjoin the right reading, marked in italics.” Here follow the nineteen errata printed in a note at p. xi of the 1883 issue. The ‘ Readin s in Crabbe’ remained in this state until February, 1881, when, as I am informed by the printers, Messrs. Billing & Sons, fifty-six copies of the ‘ Introduction in its ori inal state were printed, and the work, with tliis ‘ Introduction,’ constituted the 1882 issue which I have previously described. In June, 1883, 200 copies of the revised ‘ Intro- duction ’ were printed, and it is in this form that the work is most commonly met with. It may, in conclusion, be interesting to note that FitzGerald wrote a notice of Bernard Barton’s death, which appeared in the Ipswich. Journal for 24 February, 1849. I ' A cop of this edition, bound up with the third edition ofy the ° Rubaiyat, and containing MS. notes by FitzGerald, sold for l3l. 58. in Mr. Virtue Tebbs’s sale at Sotheby’s on % June. may also refer readers interested in the g_rowth of FitzGerald’s mind and the forma- tion of his habits of thought to an interesting account of _a commonplace book formerl in his possession, which originally ap red’ in the Bookman for May, 1892, anffegvgs pe- printed in ‘ Literary Anecdotes of the N ine- teenth Century,’ ii. 387. W. F. PRIDBAUX. _ --_.~._l_ “OWEN MEREDITH” AT THE DEVIIJS BRIDGE, LUCHON. _ONE of_ the curiosities in the Wigan Public Library is a book of views of the French town of Luchon, in the Haute Garonne.* This contains the autograph of the brilliam, Earl of Lytton and his eccentric mother ROSIHR5 Lady Litton, whose relations with her husband an son were not of the friend- liest. On the fly-leaf is the following :-- “S€uen§r of 0% (IiIioneydMoon on the aniver- sary ssc o our ° , A _ Bagmeres [siczl de Lubhoigg-Igdlbertuflyttooxlley' l858° Tcigether t-hro’ the mountain pass e watch’d the torrent flow. The rock above how hi h it was! How deep the gulph below! A single plank the torrent spann’d From mountain ridge to ridge; And, in the language of the land ’Twas call’d ‘ The Devil’s Bridge.” Alas ! in life ’tis ever thus. God shows with mountain ridges Th <1 an 1. fd , 1F"h’L“f>%‘if11”i?ui1d`2°1`I§ billdiest? “° But you and I belov’d ! were not So bent on elevation, As. arm in arm in that sweet spot, To wish to change our station. Unless I read life’s moral ill, ’ wo ' A.l<'§‘f.§i'$'i1l1f’°h bi’d5’i`i.ii’h 1 With deference: tosthlagDd)v1?lcl,s sun’ _ These verses are a mere jeu d’esprit, but it is a little strange to find such unambitious sentiments expressed by one who afterwards touched life at so many points, who lived to impress the Oriental mind with the magni- Hcence of his spectacular display as Viceroy of India, and later, when Ambassador tp France, helped by his social charm and intel- lectual sympathy to promote good feeling
- The Wigan Library is distinguished amongst
municipal 11 ranes by the extent and value of its literary possessions. The catalogue, compiled b the excelent librarian, my friend Mr. H. Folkard, F.S.A._, has now reached the end of the letter L, and registers the interesting relic described in the present note. The Wigan catalo e when completed will make a uarto of more than 3,(X)0 pages and will be prized by bibliographers for its usefulness and painstaking accuracy.
