Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

APPOINTMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK.

disposed to hesitate before accepting the dicta
of extra-classical specialists who are found
fashioning strange stories

όθεν κέ τις οὐδὲ ἴδοιτο.

popp
They may have the uopon év; but have
they the φρένες ἐσθλαί too?
Even the poppy πéwv, however, is not
always forthcoming in German books, or
books translated from the German. The

MONDAY, Feb. 18, 4 p.m. Asiatic: "The Si-yu-ki," by present separately edited translation of the

Prof. Beal.
5 p.m.
London Institution: "An Ideal Uni-
versity," by Prof. Bryce.
8 p.m. Royal Academy:
inside Buildings," by Mr. G. Aitchison.
"Colour applied
8 p.m. Society of Arts: Cantor Lecture, "Build-
ing of London Houses," I.. by Mr. Robert W. Eddis.
8 p.m. Aristotelian: "Hume's Treatise of Human
Nature," III., by Mr. A. F. Lake.

8 p.m. Victoria Institute: "Buddhism: its Rise and Early History," by the Rev. R. Collins. TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Scenery

of the British Isles," IV., by Dr. A. Geikie.

latter part of Prof. Duncker's History
of Antiquity does not read well.
build of the sentences and paragraphs is often
The
not English, and sometimes the version is
incorrect. Thus, while the translation has
Crete at all, need not have borrowed, as
(p. 372) "Lykurgus, had he borrowed from
Aristotle says, from Lyctus," we find in the
German text konnte nicht.
with this error, which wrecks an argument,
In comparison
it is venial to translate Kalkfelsen by "chalk
cliffs" (p. 437), though there is, we believe,
no chalk in the Aegean Islands. On p. 77,
"We must call to mind those intuitions, those
evidences of civilisation which they brought
with them from the common Arian store," is
but a poor equivalent for "so müssen wir uns
8 p.m. Society of Literature: "Pagan Divini-iener Anschauungen, iener Kulturänsatze erin-

7.45 p.m. Statistical: "Electoral Statistics: a Survey of our Electoral System from 1832 to 1881 in

view of Prospective Changes," by Mr. J. B. Martin.
6 p.m. Civil Engineers: "Speed on Canals," by
Mr. Conder.
8.30 p.m. Zoological: "Contributions to the

Systematic Arrangement of the Asteroidea-II.,
The Species of Orcaster," by Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell;
"Description d'une Espèce nouvelle de Gerbilline
Lataste.

d'Arabie (Meriones longifrons)," by M. Fernand WEDNESDAY, Feb. 20, 8 p.m. British Archaeological: The History of the Castle of Devizes," by Mr.

W. H. Butcher.

ties," by Sir P. de Colquhoun. 8 p.m. Geological.

THURSDAY, Feb. 21. 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Music

for the Pianoforte," VI., by Prof. Pauer.

7 p.m. London Institution: "The Doctrine of

Evolution applied to the Solar System," by Prof.

R. S. Ball.

7 p.m. Historical: Annual General Meeting; "The Tchong-Yong of Confucius, edited by his Grandson Tchhing-Tse," by Dr. G. G. Zerffi.

8 p.m. Royal Academy: The Monuments of Ancient Art which have been discovered between the Time of Winckelman and 1850," by Prof. C. T. Newton.

8 p.m. Linnean: "West African Hyperaceae," by Mr. H. N. Ridley; "Penetration of Animals' Bodies by Stipa spartea," by Mr. R. Miller Christy; "Flora of Patagonia," by Mr. J. Ball; Variation in Structure of Corals," by Mr. S. O. Ridley. on the North-western Coast of England," by Mr.

8p.m. Society of Arts: "Reclamation of Land

Hyde Clarke.

8 p.m. Civil Engineers: "Gas- and! Caloric

Engines," by Prof. Fleeming Jenkin. 8 p.m.

Chemical: An Analysis of Spotley Bridge Spa Water," by Mr. H. Peile. FRIDAY, Feb. 22, 7 p.m. Civil Engineers: "The Qualities of Metal for Various Purposes," by Mr. E. J. M. 8 p.m. Browning: "Waring," by Mr. A. C. Benson; "Some Prominent Points in Browning's Teaching," by Mr. W. A. Raleigh.

Davies.

8 p.m. Quekett.

Henry Morley.

nern."

The awkwardness of some of the sentences is really grotesque, as on p. 125: Hellenes undertook to give a concise account "In the seventh century the poetry of the of the rich contents of their heaven, which had already been considerably enlarged by the colonies of the Phoenicians." We would suggest that the translator would find it a useful plan to have her version read aloud to her some months after writing it.

[ocr errors]

[FEB. 16, 1884.-No. 615.

But

are to go outside classical authorities, geology and anthropology have at least a claim to be heard. But neither Prof. Duncker nor any other writer on classical antiquities whom we have seen makes any use of the anthropological work of Dr. Tylor, Sir J. Lubbock, or Mr. Spencer. They all seem unaware that the Greeks, like the Romans, preserved in their most civilised days many traces of the lowest mental picture of the Greeks so long as our savagery, and that we have not a proper historians represent them to us as a unique who never were savages. The Greeks are not people, who may have been barbarians, but what Hume would have called "a singular effect," and the business of a writer who should be to point out the threads which really wishes to go back to the beginning connect them with the savage state. upon for an early picture than such meagre, Prof. Duncker appears to have little else to go and perhaps weak, evidence in the way of linguistic palaeontology as has been available now for many years. To this, however, he would no doubt claim to be adding the contents of the earlier tombs in Hellas, with which some twenty pages are occupied. these do not seem to bring much that is new. They "confirm the legends" (p. 124).__ Monumental evidence outside continental Hellas is a little more valuable (pp. 140, 333, 334). Cyprus, syllabic and not alphabetical, leads The character of the old writing found in Prof. Duncker indirectly to the conclusion that the Phoenicians must have vacated the coasts of Hellas by about 1100 B.C., and therefore occupied those coasts from about 1250. This fixing of the date is important, if it can be trusted.

But

The account of the traces of the Phoenicians in Hellas and the islands, in the way of traditions, names, and local cults, strikes us as particularly full and good. So does the recognition of the fact that the Dorian and other migrations made a great breach in Greek civilisation.

The Greece which "Homer " depicted is in many things more civilised than that later Greece of which we have glimpses down to the Persian wars.

The author begins with a chapter on the land of the Greeks, which hardly brings the physical geography and its influences so vividly and fully before our eyes as the corresponding chapter of Dr. Curtius did. The immigration to this land, Prof. Duncker thinks, took place neither by the islands nor by the coast of Thrace, but from the northwest. Of the settlers, "the Pelasgi, Achaeans, change of abode, civilisation had to emerge "Out of the destruction wrought by war and and Hellenes were not three distinct races, anew and to assume fresh shapes. Life on the 9 p.m. Royal Institution: "London Below but their names rather indicate three stages peninsula must have been impoverished in these Bridge, North and South Communication," by Sir in the development of the one Greek people. long struggles; and the leaders of the conF. Bramwell. SATURDAY, Feb. 23, 3 p.m. Royal Institution: "Life This may well be so; but the following argu-querors had not the resources which had been and Literature under Charles I.," VI., by Prof. ment is hardly conclusive: "That the penin- at the disposal of the Princes of Mycenae and 3 p.m. Physical: "The Adjustment of Resist-sula was populated before their arrival seems Orchomenus" (p. 283). ance Coils and a Modified Resistance Balance." by improbable from the unmixed character of Prof. S. P. Thompson; "The Difference of Potential required to give Sparks in Air," by Prof. G. C. their language.' While there are so many Foster. Greek words whose origin is unknown or uncertain (see Mr. Wharton's Etyma Graeca), unmixed; and, knowing what we do know both full and bold. He grapples with Grote it is premature to say that the vocabulary is Prof. Duncker's account of early Sparta is of the antiquity of man, the arguments must on the division of the land ascribed to be very strong which are to make us believe Lykurgus (p. 410), and he has his own theory that the peninsula of Greece remained without of the double kingship. It arose, he thinks, human inhabitants down to the comparatively from there having been two Doric communilate arrival of the historical or semi-historical ties in the territory of the Eurotas, the one Greek tribes. If, too, Hellas was not popu- under the Agidae at Sparta, the other under lated before by a different stock-a question the Eurypontidac on the Upper Oenus. on which there is still, perhaps, something to latter were heavily defeated by the men of be learned from place-names-it must have Tegea, and sought aid by amalgamation with been Hellenes who used the stone tools the lower town. Under these circumstances reports of whose existence are coming in; Lykurgus "founded the double monarchy." and this hardly fits into that picture of Arian Now, the having two kings is not development at the moment when the ances-lutely unparalleled as the author seems to tors of the Grecks branched off, which is think; two princes are found to one country drawn upon the indications of language. in the Catalogue of the Iliad, and the Chaones However that may be, if in these enquiries we appear in Thucydides with two commanders

SCIENCE.

History of Greece. By Max Duncker. Translated by S. F. Alleyne. Vol. I. (Bentley.) THE present writer is entirely unversed in Oriental history, in tomb-exploration, and in comparative philology as specially applied to the Levant. Accustomed to approach Greek history from the classical side only, he feels, when he takes up such a work as Prof. Duncker's account of the early Greeks, that the question for him is, What definite information can I get here additional to my Greek authorities, and not inferior to them in probability? For, after all, criticism of Sources is not applicable to classical authors lone; and, if we have learned to call Herolotus or Plutarch in question whenever we cannot see their vouchers, we shall be equally

The

so abso

The chapters on religion are among the
most interesting, though there is a somewhat
old-fashioned air in their extreme concession
to the solar myth theory and similar views.
It is hard to take seriously the notion that
the punishment of Sisyphus

"in the infernal regions is probably nothing
but a poetical view of the unwearied labour of
the sea-waves, which roll up from East and
West to the cliffs of the Isthmus, without
being able to reach the heights of the shore"
(p. 100).

All this line of thought wants to be revised
by someone with a sense of humour (Mr.
Andrew Lang, for instance); and, when that
is done, whatever may be left of the solar
theory of the origin of myths needs to be
adjusted to the animistic theory, which, if it
have not all the truth on its side, is at least
the more fertile in important and verifiable
consequences. The diffusion of myths is quite
another question.

To sum up our impressions. Prof. Duncker's
book does not seem to add much to the know-
ledge of the subject, and it would be a bad
book to learn from-at least, in its English
dress. There is too much combination in it
and too little plain statement. The author is
always talking about a thing instead of telling
you plainly what the thing is or what the
facts are.

ἐπ ̓ ἐτησίῳ προστασίᾳ ἐκ τοῦ ἀρχικοῦ γένους.
(2.80). That, however, is a small matter.
But nothing, we believe, is said to show that
the author's explanation is pure conjecture,
and we are certain that not enough is said to
warn learners of the moment when they pass
from facts to colligation of facts; and that is
not a small matter. At p. 389 we read, "If
the will of the sovereign people was not
clearly discernible from the voices for and
against the proposals of the Gerousia, the
kings made the assembled members divide."
For this we are referred to Thuc. 1.79, 87;
whereas the former chapter says nothing
about it, and the latter ascribes such a
measure to an ephor, not a king, and clearly
indicates that it was unusual. But in insist-
ing that many of the rules attributed to
Lykurgus are essentially anachronistic Prof.
Duncker has, we think, done good service.
It is a duty to point out the risky way in
which inferences are turned into certainties
in writing of the kind before us.
It may
easily happen that some of the nuances
evaporate in translation, and that an author
qualifies some assertions which are not found
qualified in the English. But we doubt
whether this is often the case here. The
book begins with the confession that the out-
lines are drawn here and there more firmly
than the uncertain foundations allow; and we
Much of this is merely German
notice that a point is laid down with growing style; German lends itself to telling a story
confidence as the book goes on. That the indirectly, while English does not; but, at all
Phoenicians founded and named the Athenian events, it is a drawback for learners. The
deme of Melite is a theory on p. 68; it is a most instructive, and also the most fair and
certainty on p. 153; indeed, it is a "known judicial, of all Greek Histories is that of
fact" on p. 113. At p. 460 the author Thirlwall. The present work, if we may
speaks of the landing of Odysseus on the judge it by the first instalment, comes not
peninsula of the Propontis quite as if only below Thirlwall, but also below Grote
Homer had said in so many words that he and below Curtius. The final History of
landed there, or as if it were an acknowledged Hellas, if ever we have one, must be of
fact. Surely it is an inference only, and a manageable bulk (Prof. Duncker takes 1,075
very shaky one. We can
"infer" that Prof. pages of close German print to get down to
Ihancker has read Kirchhoff with far more the fall of Sestos, beyond which he does not
certainty than he or Kirchhoff can infer any-go); it will begin on the hither-side of all the
thing about the Propontis from the mere
ime of the fountain Artakie in Hom. Od.
10.108. Is there any further evidence? We
believe not; and, if there were, still the land-
ing of Odysseus would not be a certainty.
When will historians and Homeric students
arn that it is their duty to prefer (in M.
Penan's phrase) "ces jugements tempérés de
'peut-être où réside bien souvent la vérité?"

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

The Homeric poems receive no small attention from Prof. Duncker. He sees a great deal of patchwork in them, but, at all events, he is conservative enough to refer "the ancient Iliad" to something before 800 B.C. and to put "the ancient Odyssey" before 750, whatever be the amount and the dates of later cretions. "The demonstrably latest portion of the Odyssey" mentions "as a usual custom that men should gird themselves before athletic contests (24.88); this custom had, at any rate, been abandoned at the Olympic games in the year 720." Another welcome admission is that the traits presented by the Epos may be ed within certain limits as a "faithful "flection;" and as such he uses them-not, Lowever, as we should do, to show the condition of Achaean civilisation before the Dorian road, but to depict the life of the peninsula er the irruption of the Thessalians into the basin of the Pencus, and of the settlers on the cost of Asia.

legends and the migrations; and it will, before
all things, not palm off the unknowable as
known and inferences as facts.

FRANKLIN T. RICHARDS.

CORRESPONDENCE.

A FIXED DATE IN INDIAN CHRONOLOGY. Elphinstone College, Bombay: Dec. 22, 1883. Sanskrit scholars at home may be glad to have early information of an important discovery that has been made by Pandit Bhagvanlâl Indraji, whose paper on the Hâthigumpha inscriptions was received so cordially by the Aryan section of the recent Oriental Congress.

In his note on the Renaissance of Sanskrit Literature (India: What can it Teach us? p. 285) Prof. Max Müller has shown reason for doubting the correctness of the theory which would refer the figure 486 (Prof. Max Müller's 430 is the reduction to our era) in the Kâvi grant (Indian Antiquary, v. 109) to the Vikrama era. If that theory were correct, the grant in question would, as pointed out by Dr. Bühler, Vikrama era before A.D. 544, at, or about, which who published it, establish the existence of the time Mr. Fergusson, followed by Prof. Max Müller, believes it to have been framed. Pandit Bhagvanlâl is now able to show that this hesitation was justified, and that the word samvatsara, or year, on the Kâvî grant, and on the two other genuine grants of the Gurjara

princes, refers neither to the Vikrama nor to the S'aka era, but to an entirely distinct method of reckoning which was in use among the Gurjaras, and which is probably also referred to in many of the grants of their Châlukya

overlords.

66

In a copper-plate recently obtained at Nâvsari, near Surat, in Gujarat, the donor describes ‘Jayabhata who am the son himself as of Dadda, called Bâhusahâya, . who was the son of Jayabhata, . . . who was the son of Dadda." These are the names of four Gurjara princes, although it is to be noted that they are princes the earliest in time is here said "to have not so styled in this grant. Of these four come to the rescue of the Lord of Valabhi, when that monarch had been defeated by the Emperor S'rî Harsha." The year of the grant made by this prince's great-grandson, the fourth on the list, is given simply as samvatsara 456, "in the year 456."

[ocr errors]

Royal Asiatic Society, N.S., i. 248) gives three The Kheda Gurjara grant (Journal of the princes- Dadda, whose son was Jayabhata, called Vitarâga, whose son was Dadda, called Pras'ântarâga. The year in which this last made the grant, is, as in the previous case, given simply as samvatsara 380. The similarity of the letters, the respective dates, and the apparent identity in the method of reckoning justify us in putting the two grants together, when we get in regular succession of father and

[blocks in formation]

be referred (1) Most of the Gujarat Châ-
To what era are the figures in these grants to
lukya grants hitherto found give in the same
way the year of the transaction to which they
refer, without designating any particular era.
Among others, a prince, S'ilâditya Yuvaraja
S'ryâs'raya, is found making grants under a
cousin and overlord Vinayâditya Satyâs'raya
"in the year 421," and again "in the year 443."
The S'aka date of this Vinayâditya is known to
have stretched from 602 to 618. A comparison
of these figures gives (602 or 618 -443) S'aka
159 to 175 (A.D. 237 to 253) as the period
within which must be sought the initial year of
the indeterminate era. (2) We have seen that
Dadda, who "in the year 380" of that era
made the Kheda grant, was a contemporary of
Sri Harsha. And the year 380 of an era which
began somewhere about A.D. 245 would be A.D.
655, or about the middle of Harsha's reign
(A.D. 607-642). (3) An unpublished Chalukya
grant belonging to the Bhao Dâji collection
gives S'aka 653 (A.D. 731) as the date of a
grant made by a prince, Vinayaditya Man-
galarâja, who was the younger brother and
successor of the Silâditya S'ryas'raya we have
seen making grants "in the years 421 and
443. S'aka 653, in an era counting from A.D.
245, would be "the year 486,"

argument without anticipating, to a greater
It has been difficult to compress the Pandit's
extent than I desire to do, the paper he is
preparing for publication. But I hope I have
given sufficient indication of the bearing the
new grant has upon a most important moot
question in Indian chronology, and of the
reasons for which Pandit Bhagvanlâl invites

scholars to believe that the word samvatsara in Gurjara and Gujarat Châlukya grants refers to an era whose initial year must be set down at A.D. 245, or thereabout. I should not omit to say that the Pandit thinks he can show that the Ameta and Ilao Gurjara grants, in both of which a different method of reckoning the S'aka is employed, are forgeries.

The worthy Pandit was much gratified with the account I was privileged to bring him of the special vote of thanks awarded to him, at the instance of Prof. Roth, by his European confrères assembled at Leiden. He has since been elected, as the lamented Dr. John Muir was, an honorary member of the Royal Institute of the Philology, Geography, and Ethnology of the Dutch Indies. May I express the hope that the London Royal Asiatic Society may ere long, and before it be too late, confer on this unassuming veteran Bombay scholar a distinction which, if not more honourable, would at least be more appropriate? PETER PETERSON.

OBITUARY.

THOMAS CHENERY.

SEMITIC scholars will deplore greatly the loss of Thomas Chenery, who died on Tuesday last, in his fifty-eighth year. Modest as he was in every respect, only his friends knew what a perfect scholar he was in Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. The Koran was as familiar to him as the Bible; and, in fact, he knew both books by heart in the original as well as any Ulema and any Rabbi. He had mastered alike the exegesis of the Korân and Rabbinical learning; but his predilection always was for Arabic and Hebrew poetry and rhymed prose. As early as 1867 he made an attempt to give for the first time a complete English translation of the famous "Assemblies," (Maqamahs) of Hariri from the original Arabic, with copious philological notes comparing them with classical writers. There had been several previous efforts at a partial translation, into Latin and French, of this most difficult poetical book, but without great success. The Latin translation of Peiper is incorrect and unintelligible; the German translation by Rückert is too poetical to represent the original for the general reader; and the English trans

por

From the translation of extracts from the kind. Several of the natives whom he en-
Midrash which appeared in the Miscellany of countered we remarkably tall, and of quite
the now defunct Society of Hebrew Literature European aspect. A report on Mr. John For-
we see how well acquainted Chenery was with rest's explorations in the Kimberley district is
Talmudic writings. Lastly, his inaugural lec-illustrated with a map. The translation of
ture on the Arabic language, delivered as Lord tions of Col. Przewalski's account of the Nan
Almoner's Professor at Oxford in 1869, gives Shan and Tibet is continued.
a fair sketch of its subject. Personally, I
cannot but regret that Chenery did not confine
himself to his speciality, in which, to judge
from what he did produce, he would undoubt-
edly have taken a foremost place.

A. NEUBAUER.

IN the death, on February 11, of Dr. John
Hutton Balfour, Emeritus Professor of Botany
in the University of Edinburgh, botanical
science has lost one of its veterans. But his
fame was as a teacher rather than as an original
worker. Born in 1808, he occupied for about
thirty-five years the Chair of Botany at Edin-
burgh, which he resigned from ill-health only a
few years since. During these years his lec-
tures have been attended by many thousands of
medical students, among whom are not a few
of the most distinguished of the botanists of the
present generation. His text-books, especially
his Manual of Botany, have probably had a
larger circulation than any others written in
our language. He had also devoted himself
especially to the palaeontological side of the
science, and was always eager to reconcile the
claims of science with those of orthodox reli-
gion. Only a few days before his death, his
son, Dr. J. Bayley Balfour, who has added
greatly to our knowledge of the natural history
of the Island of Socotra, was elected to the
Chair of Botany at Oxford.

NOTES OF TRAVEL.

MR. E. G. RAVENSTEIN has been commissioned by
the Royal Geographical Society to execute a map
of Western Africa on the same scale as that
which he has just completed of Eastern Equa-
torial Africa. In order to complete his materials
he is about to visit Portugal to consult the
wealth of cartographical material for West
Africa possessed by the Government of that
country.

AT last authentic news has arrived of the

A THIRD edition of the late Mr. Keith John

ston's Africa, revised by Mr. Ravenstein, has just been issued by Mr. Stanford.

SCIENCE NOTES.

[ocr errors]

A DEEP boring at Richmond, in Surrey, under-
taken by Mr. Homersham with the view of
obtaining water, and carried down to more
than thirteen hundred feet, has been carefully
studied by Prof. Judd, in whose hands the cores
from the boring have lately yielded results of
singular interest to geologists. Below the
gault, at a depth of 1,141 feet, comes a small
series of beds, probably of Neocomian age;
but beneath these, which are only ten feet thick,
are about eighty-seven feet of Oolitic strata,
consisting mainly of limestones, but including
a thin band of clay peculiarly rich in fossils of t
age of the Great Oolite. Herein lies the
great interest of the boring, for it was not
previously known that Oolitic strata existed
beneath London. It appears now that much of
the rock in Meux's boring in Tottenham Cout
Road, hitherto regarded as Neocomian, is really
of Oolitic age.

the

The oolites of Richmond rest

directly on red and variegated strata probably belonging to the Trias, though their Devonian age has been suggested. It is notable that pebbles of coal-measure sandstone, and even small fragments of anthracite, have been found in the Oolitic series in this boring. Prof. Judd has therefore the satisfaction of being the first the coal is only in the form of transported fragto find coal actually beneath London, though ments of insignificant size.

THE American Ornithologists' Union, which was founded last autumn on the pattern of the British society of the same name, has decided to call its quarterly journal by the style of the Auk. It will be edited by Mr. J. A. Allen, with the assistance of Dr. Coues, Mr. Brewster, and Mr. Chamberlain; and it will be published

lation by the late Prof. Preston, of Cambridge, circumstances attending the massacre in 1882 by Messrs. Estes & Lauriat, of Boston.

is, as Chenery rightly says in his Preface,
"throughout accurate and scholarly," but "its of the French traveller, Dr. Crevaux, and his
only fault is excessive amplification, in which party by Toba Indians on the Pilcomayo River,
the rhythm and diction of Hariri are almost in Bolivia. M. Thouar, who reached Paris last
dissipated." Chenery's translation is not only week, has explored the scene of the massacre, has
accurate, but tasteful, and "aids the student to conversed with an Indian of the party who was
acquire a knowledge of the original." The Pre- saved and with the interpreter, and has brought
face contains a good sketch of Hariri's life, and of back some personal relics. It appears that the
the character and importance of the "Assem-attack upon Dr. Crevaux was made in retalia-
blies." Unfortunately, the translation gives only tion for the lives of certain Tobas who had been
twenty-six chapters out of fifty. When I met the killed in a skirmish with the Bolivian frontier
deceased last year in Paris, he mentioned to me guard. M. Thouar attributes his own immunity
that his desire was to complete the work; it is to the fact that he went among the Indians
possible (and I hope it may be the case) that entirely unarmed, and that he was careful to
a great part of the MS. may be found among pay for all provisions, &c. He made scientific
his papers. How Chenery loved his favourite observations throughout the course of his
author may be seen from his editing in 1872 journey in the interior-from Tacna on the
the Hebrew imitation of Hariri by the famous western coast to Asuncion on the Paraguay
Judah Harizi from a unique MS. in the Bod-River-which lasted from May 21 to November
leian Library. It is curious to note that this 10 of last year. On Tuesday last M. Thouar
MS. contains not more than the twenty-six
was welcomed at the Sorbonne by the French
chapters already translated by Chenery into Geographical Society.
English. Habent sua fata libelli. When I men-
tioned to him that the St. Petersburg Library
possesses a MS. which contains the other
chapters, he at once conceived the idea of
bringing them out with his second volume of
the English translation. It may be learnt how
dangerous it is to defer literary obligations too
long. The Preface (in Hebrew) to the last-
mentioned imitation is a masterpiece of Hebrew
style, worthy of the poetical era of Solomon
Gabirol, Judah Halevi, and the Ben Ezras.

A SKETCH-MAP of the country to the northeast of Khartum, by the ill-fated Dutch traveller M. Schuver, is published in Petermann's Mitteilungen for February. There are, in addition, interesting accounts of Danish explorations in Greenland, carried on during 1883, by Licuts. Hammer and Holm. The latter explored a portion of the east coast. He found the ruins of a building of supposed Northman origin which the Rev. Mr. Brodbank discovered in 1881, but failed to find other ruins of a similar

PHILOLOGY NOTES.

[ocr errors]

MESSRS. TRÜBNER have in the press an
edition of the Sopherim, with an
English
translation and a critical Commentary by Dr.
Ginsburg. The Sopherim consists of directions
to the scribes how to copy the Hebrew scrip-
tures, and may claim to be the only pala-
graphical treatise in any ancient language.
The work will be published by subscription m
a limited edition of 250 copies.
MESSRS. TRÜBNER also

announce a thir

edition of the late Dr. Martin Haug's Essas on the Sacred Language of the Parsis, edite and enlarged by Dr. E. W. West, with memoir of the author by Prof. Evans.

M. A. KOUMANOUDIS, of Adrianople, h published (Paris: Firmin-Didot) a Suppleme to the Greek Thesaurus, being a collection more han 7,000 words of both ancient a modera Greek which are not found in t lexicons. The source of each word is ca fully indicated, and the Preface, Notes, &c.. written in Modern Greek.

IN a parcel of MSS. recently brought Athens from Thessaly M. P. Pappageorg found a grammatical treatise of the fiftee century which contains a considerable num of new and valuable scholia upon Pindar.

M. H. GAIDOZ contridutes to the R

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

in Surrey, ith the T down t s been hands

alded to

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Critique of February 4 an etymological note on the name of the late Gen. Chanzy. It is a place-name formed from the Gaulish word Cantiacum." Both "Cantius" and "Cantus" are found in inscriptions as the names of men.

Germany which would have led to predominance
over the whole of that country. She missed the
opportunity because, in Joseph I.'s time, she used
all her energies to obtain a kingdom for the
emperor's brother, and on that brother's succession
to the empire, because "a Hapsburg in obstinacy
and a Spaniard by temperament, he preferred
to try and grasp the two sceptres which even
Charles V. had not been able to maintain.
When forced to relinquish his hold, it was
too late, the opportunity had passed away. A
second chance of gaining the same end offered
when Charles Albert of Bavaria proposed himself
as a suitor for the hand of Maria Theresa. The
acceptance of this offer would have united the
houses of Wittiesbach and Hapsburg and their
Its refusal entailed the ultimate loss
possessions.
of Silesia. Again, in 1777, did the weird sibyl
seem to place Bavaria within easy grasp of the
Hapsburg. Col. Malleson pointed out how, on the
very eve of the accomplishment of a long-cherished
ambition, the fears of Maria Theresa stayed the
hand of her general when victory was ensured.
Some five years later, the vacillation at a critical
moment of Joseph II. came to interfere with a
peaceful solution of the same question. The con-
sideration of these four opportunities constituted
Col. Malleson con-
the main points of the paper.
cluded by expressing a hope that, when the time
should arrive for the solution of the Eastern Ques-
tion, it might not be found that Austria, whose
advance towards Salonica indicated her as the most
fit of all the Powers to occupy Constantinople, had
missed another great opportunity.-A discussion
followed, in which Dr. G. G. Zerifi and Messrs. C.
A. Fyffe and J. Heywood took part.

EDINBURGH MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY.-(Friday,
Feb. 8.)

exhibited a deed of grant by John de la Bisse to the Hospital of the Holy Cross at Reigate. This was probably on the site of a public-house called the Red Cross," to the west of the castle. The donor's seal bore a hind (biche), a crest which was afterwards disused by the family. Mr. Freshfield alluded to the caves at Reigate, which he thought might have some connexion with this hospital, and MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. in which objects of all kinds-flint implements, BROWNING SOCIETY.-(Friday, Jan. 25.) Roman and English coins, tobacco-pipes, &c.-have MISS L. DREWRY in the Chair.-A paper by Miss been found.-Mr. E. W. Godwin exhibited a Arthur was read by Mrs. Hargrave Graham on coloured tracing of a drawing on an armoire in the "Paracelsus." The writer considered that the cathedral at Bayeux, representing the apotheosis central conception which gives the key-note to of a saint, with angels censing, and, below, four "Paracelsus" is the special tendency of the age to monks, or perhaps rather canons, bearing a feretrum. which he belonged, and of which he was perhaps The date of the drawing is early in the thirteenth the most glaring, though not the most perfect, century. A small copy of it was published by example. This tendency, on what may be called Mr. Nesfield.-Mr. Ferrey exhibited tracings of its affirmative side, culminated in the Reformation wall-paintings at Catherington church, Hants. and the Renaissance to which it led; in its purely The church is transitional Norman. During some negative form it would not be better illustrated recent repairs the head of a churchyard cross was than by this life and death of Paracelsus. The discovered bearing figures of Christ and St. John, tendency is that of exalting the individual to the and another defaced, perhaps St. Katharine. The dignity of a universal-most valuable in so far paintings, of which only a pencil tracing was as the individual is universal; most dangerous in so shown, represented the weighing of Souls and the far as he is merely individual. The writer showed Trinity. In the former St. Michael stands sword in detail, by reference to the drama, how this in hand, but without armour. Through his girdle leading thought is developed. Festus (whose chief passes the beam of the scales. At one end a demon attribute is a practical reasonableness) seems tries to pull down the scale where the bad deeds intended as an antithesis to Paracelsus-the old are placed, which the Virgin Mary defeats by Aristotelian caution striving to counteract the unhooking the other scale. The painting of the inrush of Platonism. The real ground of Para-Trinity is in a much worse state of preservation. celsus's failure was his belief that he was possessed Mr. Ferrey suggested that these works might belong of universal knowledge, not by virtue of being to the thirteenth century, but Mr. Keyser and himself an integral part of the universe, but by others who spoke were of opinion that the fourvirtue of being separated from it and made the teenth was more probable. Mr. Ferrey also gave special vehicle to it of Divine knowledge-the an account of Charles II.'s stay at Catherington sure sign of a fanaticism bordering on insanity. while making his way to the coast to escape to There was along with this a hint of the Platonic France. doctrine of reminiscence, and of something analagons to the Socratic daimon, as well as a monkish scorn of the world. In Aprile we have the other side of the same error—he is the exaggerated form EARL PERCY, President, in the Chair.-The Rev. of the Renaissance, as Paracelsus of the Platonism, C. W. King communicated, through Mr. R. H. bearings of a similar philosophy and similar errors bridge. The seal is a circular one of brass, an inch and suggested various methods by which a reform of his century. They reflected respectively the Gosselin, a paper on a Jewish seal found at Wood-activity of Germany. He enumerated the probable causes which had produced this state of matters, on science and on art. The death scene of each of and a quarter in diameter, and probably of the early might be brought about.-Mr. H. H. Browning, them throws light on their past, and brings out part of the thirteenth century. The legend states it from even their errors the revelation of whatever is the seal of Nathan, son of Frederic, son of Alex- tions of Harmonic Section," and Mr. Muir drew of Glasgow, communicated a paper on "Illustrain them was true. The last speech of Paracelsus ander, the Jew. The central device is a wyvern attention to a theorem regarding the area of a is the most perfect expression anywhere of the regardant, looking at a star, which was thought to transcendental creed; and the whole work is, represent the planet Saturn, either for the owner of polygon of an even number of sides. the writer doubts not, Browning's confession the seal's horoscope, or as typifying the Jewish race. of faith philosophical-which is Hegelian.-In-Mr. W. H. St. John Hope read a paper on "The the discussion which followed, Miss Drewry said Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity at Repthat, whatever might be thought of the philosophy ton, Derbyshire," describing the arrangements of of the poem, it was one of the most perfectly the church and conventual buildings as laid bare beautiful of Browning's, and more truly dramatic tan many of his dramas. The faith of Festus in by recent excavations.-In moving a vote of thanks Paracelsus and in God, yet in the former to the spoke in feeling terms of the great loss the Instito the writers of the papers, the noble President verge of rebellion against the latter, was profoundly tute had sustained by the death of Mr. John tre to humanity and to real godliness.-One Henry Parker, C.B.; and on the motion of Mr. Paker doubted whether Festus could be condered strictly a "character" at all, but this lay- sympathy and condolence with the family was Baylis, seconded by Mr. Church, an expression of review of him was resented by others.-Mr. unanimously desired to be communicated from the ivall, and later Dr. Berdoe, avowed a greater Institute by the secretary.-The following were respect for Paracelsus than had been traditional, exhibited :-A photograph of the recent excavaConsidering that Browning had anticipated the tions at Bath, by the Rev. Prebendary Scarth; a per verdict on the man who was really the father set of photographs of the very beautiful silver what might be called the chemistry of vital vessels found at Hildesheim, Germany, by Mrs. forces. Dr. Berdoe instanced the use of quint-Kerr; a small goa stone with silk bag, by Mr. Esences, of metallic agents, and, chiefest, the Soden Smith; and plans of the vases found at dicinal use of opium as among the reforms for Repton, by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope. tich mankind was indebted to Paracelsus.-Mr. Shaw demurred to this high estimate of his disoveries. Discovery was consistent with mediocrity, ven with charlatanism.-Several speakers urged that Paracelsus had missed his meed of honour and atitude from his want of sympathy, his aim at

F

power without love.-A visitor said Paracelsus was

mply a Faust, and in some able critical remarks raced the spirit of "Goetheism" in the poem.Mrs. Sutherland Orr thought his failure was due his impatience of the limits of attainable truth. Mrs. Simpson maintained that he was not a re-Mr. Kingsland thought the work inred with hopefulness; and as art, full of poetry. "Paracelsus," p. 187, 1. 16, to p. 188, 1. 17. nothing, for instance, in Tennyson like &CIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.—(Thursday, Feb. 7.) A W. FRANKS, Esq., in the Chair.-Mr. Freshfield

There was

ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-(Thursday,

Feb. 7.)

ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-(Thursday, Feb. 7.) LORD ABERDARE in the Chair.-Col. G. B. Malleson read a paper on "The Lost Opportunities of the House of Austria." After suggesting, but declining to argue, the question whether the part taken by the Emperor Charles V. against the Reformation he was the representative, Col. Malleson passed was not a lost opportunity for the House of which rapidly to the time of Joseph I. and the War of the Spanish Succession. During the last nine years of that war, from the date of the victory of Blenheim to the signing of the Peace of Utrecht, Austria, he contended, had it always in her power to incorporate into the hereditary dominions Bavaria, with the full consent of the Elector. The incorporation of Bavaria-in exchange for the Netherlandswould have given her a preponderance in Southern

A. J. G. BARCLAY, Esq., V.-P., in the Chair. -Mr. Thomas Muir, President, delivered an address on "The Promotion of Research," in which he pointed in Scotland, contrasting it particularly with the out the backward state of mathematical research

FINE ART.

ALBERT MOORE'S PICTURE, COMPANIONS." A Photo-engraving. In progress. Same size as original-16] by 82. "An exquisite picture."-Times.

"Mr. Moore exhibits one picture-than which he never painted a better." ."-Morning Post.

"A new and exquisite picture."—Standard.

"Remarkable for its refinement of line and delicate harmony of colour." Globe.

"Mr. Moore's graceful Companions' forms an excellent bonne bouche to an attractive exhibition."-Daily News.

**The gem of this varied and delightful exhibition."-Academy. Particulars on application to the Publishers, Messrs. Dowdeswell & DOWDESWELLS, 133, New Bond-street.

DÜRER'S NETHERLANDS JOURNAL. Albrecht Dürer's Tagebuch der Reise in die Niederlande eerste vollstaendige Ausgabe nach der Handschrift Johann Hauer's mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen hrsg. von Friedrich Leitschuh. (Leipzig: Brockhaus.) AT last we have the long-sought-for text of Dürer's journal printed, not, indeed, from the original-this may, perhaps, even yet lie hidden away in some private library at Nuremberg, unless, as is more probably the case, it was in the collection of books sold by the Imhoffs to Lord Arundel in 1636-but from the copy made in 1620 by the painter John Ebner collection, was, on its dispersal, purchased Hauer. This copy, which formed part of the by H. A. von Derschau, at whose sale Joseph Heller bought it for fifteen florins. He left it, with all the other treasures he had collected, to the town of Bamberg, which sold twenty-six Antiphoners in order to pay the legacy duty, and discharge Heller's debts. Heller died June 4, 1849; but no steps were taken to catalogue the library he had left until 1878, when Dr.

Leitschuh began to put it in order. In so doing,
he discovered Hauer's copy of the journal,
which he has now published
published verbatim,
verbatim,
accompanied with excellent notes, clear and

concise, and full Indexes. The text is

preceded by an account of Dürer's MS. and of Hauer's transcript, and also by an enquiry into the reasons for which Dürer undertook the journey. On one point, I think, Dr. Leitschuh is mistaken, and that is in his belief that

Dürer was a Lutheran at heart. There is

nothing to show that he was other than a good Catholic, though, doubtless, he, like many other of the best men of his day both in Germany and the Netherlands, looked on Luther at first as a real Reformer in the good sense of the word.

W. H. JAMES WEALE.

THE ART MAGAZINES.

THE very interesting decorative heads lent by Mr. Willett to the Winter Exhibition at Burlington House are the subject of an article in the Portfolio, which is illustrated with two satisfactory photogravures by Mr. Alfred Dawson. The article is written by Prof. A. H. Church, who gives the history of their discovery at the Castle of San Martino, between Mantua and Brescia, and of their subsequent cleansing and restoration. The panels on which the heads were painted were built into a room in the castle, and formed an integral part of its decoration. When they were removed a few months ago they were covered with successive layers of colourwash, and no suspicion existed of the designs beneath. Whether regarded as works of art, or as examples of a rare kind of decoration, Mr. Willett's portrait-frieze is of much interest; and we are glad to be assured that the whole series, forty-four in number, have now been secured against further deterioration.

MR. A. EGMONT HAKE is the author of one of the best articles in the Magazine of Art. Its subject is Caffieri, the French sculptor, and the works of himself and others in the foyer of the Comédie française. It is illustrated with wellengraved busts of Piron, Rotrou, and Pierre Corneille. Mr. J. Arthur Blaikie's paper on Algiers is a lively, and at times a brilliant, piece of description.

THE most noticeable contribution to the Art Journal is an account of the Tuscan Maremma, by Eugenio Cecconi, capitally illustrated with the author. Barrias' fine group of "The Defence of Paris" has been engraved by E. Stodart for

this number.

[blocks in formation]

of current Scottish art, and include little else

painters.

WHILE the exhibitions of the Royal Scottish
Academy are representative almost exclusively
almost no Continental work, and only a few
paintings by the members and honorary memn-
bers settled in London-the Glasgow Institute
has set before itself a somewhat different and
wider aim. It has endeavoured to make its
of Continental as well as of British art, and to
yearly displays representative so far as may be
supplement the examples of contemporary
work by a few selected specimens of deceased
thus been given to the exhibitions of the
A pleasantly varied character has
Institute, and to none more notably than to the
present. The work of the Continental schools
and of their followers among our own younger
painters is this year represented with singular
completeness-with, indeed, a profusion which
rather overshadows the productions which
follow our purely national methods and tradi-
tions. Among the works of the Frenchmen of
the past we have a noble " Cattle-piece" by
Troyon, and a delicate river scene with wooded
banks by Daubigny, curious in the sparing
and selective handling by which an appearance
of finish has been attained. By Millet we have
this year no painting, but the dignity and
solemn poetry, combined always with realism and
truth to fact, which characterised his treatment
of peasant life finds only less complete ex-
pression in the canvases of Jules Breton, from
whom we have an admirable figure of "A
Gleaner." Of the treatment of humble life by
contemporary foreign painters peasant life,
seen more distinctly in its commonplace, every-
day aspects, with less infusion of poetry and
an imaginative impressiveness-we have ex-
cellent examples in works by Billet, Artz,
and Israels; while the "Interior-French
Cottage of Lhermitte is interesting, in its
clear and diffused lighting and in the definitely
portrait-like character of the faces of its figures,
to those who have hitherto known the artist
mainly by his charcoal drawings, with their
vigorous arrangements of black and white.
The study for the figure of Christ by Mun-
kacsy is slight and rapid, but excellently
direct in execution, and full of dignity.
Among the works of the younger artists which
display most marked traces of foreign influences
are Mr. F. A. Bridgman's "Bey receiving Guests,
Algeria," with its splendid rendering of
Oriental magnificence; Mr. A. Mann's brilliant
effect of sunlight in his "Tapestry Workers of
Paris;" and Mr. W. Stott's excellent little
portrait of a gentleman and his large, but less
satisfactory picture of children dancing on the
sands at twilight.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

In the water-colour rooin the place of honour is occupied by Mr. A. Moore's “Advice," scheme of whites, greens, and low-toned purple-re blacks, focussed by a point of full orange. There are also a selection of five works by the late George Manson, several brilliant subjects by Mr. A. Melville, and a telling, if rather blottesque," drawing entitled "Wind," by red Mr. Jas. Paterson. J. M. GRAY.

66

CORRESPONDENCE.

s

THE LORDS AND THE WELLINGTON STATUE, Burlington Fine Arts Club: Feb. 11, 1884. You did me the favour last year to receive an esta article from me (ACADEMY, July 7) on Hyde Park Corner and its Surroundings." I shall be obliged if you would admit a few more thoughts p on this vexed question or forlorn hope.

[ocr errors]

It is amusing, as well as instructive, to an outsider or looker-on to contrast the various ideas of people on any given phase of art. We have no Minister or Council of Art, as I believe some mate other countries have, and so everybody seems adrift or "at sea on such subjects. One says this statue should be broken up (I sympathise with that view); another says no, it must be removed to Aldershot; another that it should face the Horse Guards; another that it had better be left where it is; another that it looks "ridiculous and contemptible" where it is, but that it will look beautiful viewed from a great Bey distance when the "imperfections of its details will be concealed."

[ocr errors]

as the Times says.

Lord

a

Lord Salisbury, perhaps, judges best when he gives it up in despair as a bad job, "probably expressing the views of most Londoners and Englishmen that the controversy should be ended somehow, Salisbury probably had in his mind's eye the conclusion arrived at by the late Lord Talbot de Malahide when, in presiding at a meeting of the Archaeological Society in Rome a few years ago, he threw himself back in his chair and said, "Gentlemen, I think, after all we have heard, that we don't know anything at all about the matter"-allud. ing to the various differences of opinion as t the levels of the streets and the sites, &c., the buildings of Old Rome. The Dukeď Buccleugh says the old statue of the Duk of Wellington is not the fancy affair a new MANET, the leader of the Impressionnistes, is statue would be, because both man and hors the subject of a serious study by Louis Gonze sat and stood for their portraits. But Lor in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts this month. M. Sudeley says it is a fancy affair, because th Gonze, while fully alive to his defects, regards horse died three years before the statue w Manet as one of the emancipators of art, who, Probably the most brilliant piece of painting begun, and the present Duke of Wellingt especially by his sense of the importance of in the rooms is Mr. Millais's rendering of the says his father" sat on no single occasion f "le ton clair," has enlarged the scope of paint-rich brunette beauty of an Italian girl, a paint- the likeness or the caricature." The Duke ing. The simplification of subject from an innate ing executed in 1876, and entitled, with little Buccleugh, nothing abashed, rejoins, “Ne horror of the commonplace and the conven- appropriateness, with the name of Mr. Brown-mind that, the horse is a perfect likene tional, the novelty and boldness of optical effects ing's Pippa.' Near this hangs the "Fazio's because it can be compared with a drawing resulting from the play of "colorations vraies," Mistress of Rossetti, which most readers will Lord Penrhyn's possession, and can be sho he regards as the two goals towards which the remember in last year's Winter Exhibition of to be exact in every point. But that does talent of Manet directed its course. He is " un the Royal Academy. Executed in 1863, and help us, for it only shows that the draw point de départ, le symptôme précurseur d'une repainted ten years later, it displays the artist's must have been as faulty as its bronze co révolution.' The article is illustrated with an technique at its highest, though it is hardly It is probable, indeed, that neither of the ho etching by M. H. Guérard after Manet's picture equally representative of the imaginative quali- the Duke rode at Waterloo (for I believe he of "Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère," and several ties of his art. Among the other notable figure- more than one) would be a perfect mode pictures are Mr. T. Graham's Wanderer's symmetry; but it does not therefore fo Song," Mr. Boughton's "Hesitation," Mr. C. that in our love for realistic art we sh Green's "A Fleet Marriage," Mr. D. Carr's be content with such a libel upon Nat sensational work, "At the Doors of La Force,' handiwork as Wyatt's conception of a Paris, 1792," and Mr. Pettie's "Isaac Walton; is, and which the veritable Copenhag and, in addition to a fresh vigorous picture of certainly was not. A war-horse or ch children on the beach, Mr. M'Taggart shows need not have “ something very like a two bust-portraits of very exceptional quality. snout to account for his sniffing the The landscapes include a fine Yorkshire scene and the breeze.' But in truth there by the late Cecil Lawson, "The Pebbled Shore; could be a horse with a neck thrust a carefully detailed, powerfully coloured example its chest without any consideration for w

wood-cuts.

[ocr errors]

THE name of the "Master of 1466" appears, from an article in the Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, by Alfred von Wurzbach, to have been discovered. The hand of this interesting engraver, who signed his copper-plates E.S., is traceable in the seal of the first Bishop of Wiener-Neustadt dated 1477, when the bishopric was founded by the Emperor Frederick III. In 1460 it is known that the mint-master of the Emperor there was one Master Erwein vom Stege.

66

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »