ing part of an English entertainment. Philomela's Ode that she Sung in her Arbour,' by R. Greene, uses very effectively the stanza in which Wither subsequently excelled; and

Gay hair, more gay than straw when harvest lies, by Sir Philip Sidney, appears to anticipate the famous comparison of Musset:

Que je l'adore, et qu'elle est blonde

Comme les blés.

Many points of extreme interest are raised by Mr. Bullen in his graceful and appreciative preface. One is the amount of indebtedness to foreign poets of our English songsters. Lodge acknowledges a portion at least of his obligation. Many instances of borrowing from Desportes are supplied, and his lyrical measures are said frequently to possess a flavour of Ronsard. Is not the same true of Robert Greene? The refrain to a lyric from 'Never too Late,' 1590,

N'oserez vous, mon bel ami?

is very Ronsardian in suggestion. With justice, however, Mr. Bullen points out that the English verse is generally an improvement upon the original. Mr. Bullen has our

warmest thanks for another volume of which the lover of poetry will never tire.

Essex Papers. Edited by Osmund Airy. Vol. I., 16721679. (Printed for the Camden Society.) IN publishing, under the eminently competent supervision of Mr. Osmund Airy, a selection from the Essex Papers in the Stowe Collection of MSS. in the British Museum, the Camden Society is adding greatly to the value of its new series. It is only to be regretted that the collection cannot be printed in its entirety. In his very able digest of the contents, given in the guise of preface, Mr. Airy owns that what has been necessarily omitted is in some respects more worthy of notice than what is printed. The correspondence covers the period of Essex's viceroyalty of Ireland from 1672 to 1679, and the selection has been principally made with the view of showing the condition of Ireland and the personal character of Essex. So far as the first aim is concerned, we know of no source whence so true and depressing a view of Ireland is obtained. The political despatches with which the volume opens may surely be trusted. Nowhere is so sad a revelation of incompetence on the part of the rulers and discontent on that of the governed to be found as is shown in the opening letters to Lord Essex from Roger, first Earl of Orrery, who, by a curious slip, is said to have died in 1629, instead of 1679. In the first letter the new viceroy is told that if any rebellion or invasion should be made he will find it "hardly possible to draw any foot out of ye Garrisons to repel it"; and soon afterwards Lord Essex tells how he had lived at Ballymartin, because "ther is noe Toune or Villadge about it," and has mounted six iron guns for his better security while dwelling there. Whatever is most instructive or interesting in the first volume is indicated by the editor, both as regards the official and the private correspondence. In the latter further revelations are afforded as to the state of affairs in the Court of Charles II. Nell Gwyn is brought on the tapis, and there is a very striking picture of the reception of the Duchess of Modena upon her arrival in England. The most important passages, consisting of those written in cipher, are printed in italics. Especially to be commended to perusal is Lord Conway's description (p. 161) with regard to the address of the House of Lords concerning the banishment of Papists. "I beseech Yor Excelce to consider the last part of King speech. It was the consultation of many days and nights that produced it. He fumbled in delivering it, and made it worse then in the print; yet

there you may observe 'tis incoherent, and all this is for fear of D. of Yorke."

WITH No. 6 Le Livre Moderne completes its first volume. In the present number the most interesting article consists of a correspondence, hitherto unpublished, between Alfred Delvau and M. Soulary, the Lyons poet. When a friendship, wholly confined to correspondence, began Delvau was stricken with the illness soon to prove fatal. The whole correspondence is very touching. Other portions of this very attractive work are decidedly fin de siècle,

The Men of the Time Birthday Book, compiled by John Fred. Boyes, F.S.A. (Routledge & Sons), gives opposite every date the names of four persons of more or less eminence born on the day, and leaves the customary space open for fresh signatures. A new and tempting, but difficult, form of autograph-hunting might be the effort to get the most possible signatures of those included in Mr. Boyes's book.

A NEW volume of Manx folk-stories, by Mrs. J. W. Russell, entitled Shadow Land in Ellanvannin,' is announced by Mr. Elliot Stock for early publication.

Notices to Correspondents.

We must call special attention to the following notices: ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate."

W. M. E. F. ("Shick-shack Day-May 29").-See under 'Shig-shag Day,' 1st S. xii. 100; 5th S. iv. 129, 176, and under Shick-shack,' 6th S. i. 474; ii. 16. The origin of the name remains undetermined.

known in the British Pharmacopoeia.' A brewage of GEORGE ELLIS ("Valerian Tea ").-Valerian root is this is a popular remedy for certain ailments.

T. W. C. ("De omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis ").— Smalgruenius is said to have first written a book entitled De Omnibus Rebus' and then a second' De Quibusdam Aliis.' The same story is fathered on Thomas Aquinas, So says Riley's 'Dictionary of Latin Quotations.' Authorities for these statements or further information will gladly be published.

ANON. ("Concordance to the Poems of Shakspeare"). Such was compiled by the late Mrs. Horace Howard Furness, and is issued uniformly with the 'American Variorum Shakespeare,' of which several volumes have appeared. The concordance has been, and probably is, obtainable in London. The publishers are J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia.

E. L. G. ("Beating the Bounds").-See 5th S. vii, 365, 517; viii. 117, 158.

CORRIGENDUM.-P. 446, col. 2, 1. 11, for " Montserrat" read Montferrat.

NOTICE.

Editorial Communications should be addressed to " The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'"-Advertisements and Business Letters to "The Publisher"-at the Office, 22, Took's Court, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, E.C.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print; and to this rule we can make no exception.

A GRADUATED SERIES OF GERMAN READING BOOKS. Adapted for Schools and Private Tuition by DR. C. A. BUCHHEIM,

Professor of German in King's College, London.

(I.) EASY GERMAN READINGS. 1. NIEBUHR'S GRIECHISCHE HEROENGESCHICHTEN. With Notes, Questions for Conversation, and complete Vocabulary. Twenty-sixth Edition. 12mo. cloth, 28 6d.

2. GOETHE'S ITALIENISCHE REISE. (Sketches from Goethe's Travels in Italy) With Literary and Biogra phical Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary. Eighth Edition. 12mo. cloth, 28. 6d.

3. SYBEL'S PRINZ EUGEN VON SAVOYEN. With Notes, Genealogical Tables, and Index. New Edition. 12mo. cloth, 28. 6d.

Price 18. (Large Folding Sheet),

TABLES of DECLENSION of the GERMAN SUBSTANTIVE (according to Becker), to be used with every German Grammar. Arranged by A. VON BOHLEN.

12mo. 48.

A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION to

DANISH or NORWEGIAN. To which are added Extracts from Danish and Norwegian Historians. With Explanatory Notes and a Vocabulary. By J. W. FRAEDERSDORFF.

19mo. cloth, 18. 6d. each,

AHN'S PRACTICAL and EASY METHOD
of LEARNING the FRENCH LANGUAGE. (NEVEU'S Edition.)
FIRST COURSE. Tenth Edition.
SECOND COURSE. Sixth Edition.
The Two Courses, bound in 1 vol. cloth, 88.

Fifteenth Edition, 12mo. cloth, 18. 6d. BUCHHEIM'S FRENCH READER. Selections in Prose and Poetry, with Notes and Complete Vocabulary. Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged, 38. 6d.

formation needed."-Journal of Education.

(II.) DEUTSCHES THEATER.

A Collection of Modern German Plays.

Part I.-Contents: 1. EIGENSINN. 2. DICHTER UND PAGE. 3. DER HAUSSPION. With Notes and Vocabulary. Tenth Edition. 12mo. cloth, 2s. 6d.

Part II.-Contents: 1. DER PROZESS. 2. EIN THEURER SPASS. 3. LIST UND PHLEGMA. With Notes and Vocabulary. Fourth

Edition. 12mo: cloth, 28. 6d.

Parts I. and II. together in 1 vol. 48. 6d.

Part III.-Contents: DER GEHEIME AGENT. In Five Acts. By HACKLANDER. With Notes. Second Edition. 12mo. cloth, 28. 6d.

Use of English Students, to facilitate the practice of Translating from English into French. With Notes by G. A. NEVEU.-KEY to the same, 38. 6d.

19mo. cloth, 58.

A PRACTICAL GUIDE to the STUDY of the ITALIAN LANGUAGE. By A. BIAGGI, late Professor of Italian in Queen's College, London.

New and thoroughly Revised Edition, 12mo. cloth, 58. BIAGGI'S PROSATORI ITALIANI. Extracts from Italian Prose Writers (from the Thirteenth Century to the Present Time). Preceded by a Selection of Easy Sentences. With Notes for Beginners.

Twelfth Edition, 19mo. cloth, 38. MARIOTTI'S ITALIAN GRAMMAR. Revised and Improved by A. GALLENGA, late Italian Professor at King's College, London.-A KEY to the Exercises, 12mo. sewed, 18. Price 58. crown 8vo. cloth,

BILDER. Abridged from his 'Reise in die Equinoctial-Gegenden des neuen Continents' (Personal Narrrtive of Travel, &c), and 'Ansichten der Natur." With Notes, Scientific Glossary, and Biographical Notice of the Author.

"Ranks far above the ordinary run of educational books....The notes and scientific glossary are written with great care and lucidity." Public Opinion.

"We cordially recommend the book to schoolmasters in search of an

from Modern Italian Poets (from Alfieri to the Present Time). With Notes and Biographical Notices by LOUISA A. MERIVALE "The notes give the reader all the assistance which he can require. They prove, too, that the authoress possesses not only an accurate acquaintance with the Italian language, but critical powers of no common order."-Educational Times.

Third Edition, 8vo. cloth, 38. 6d.

forms."-Academy.

Introduction (on the Greek Metres, &c.), and Questions for Examination, by CHARLES BADHAM, D.D.

Price 38. 6d. 8vo. cloth,

The PROMETHEUS VINCTUS of ÆSCHYLUS. Edited from the Text of Dindorf, with English Notes, by the Rev. J. S. WATSON, M.A.

Eleventh Edition, 12mo. cloth, 38. 6d.

IHNE'S LATIN SYNTAX.

A Short Latin Syntax, with Exercises and Vocabulary, by Dr. W. IHNE. Crown 8vo. 78. 6d.

according to Dr. Becker's Views. With a Complete Course of Exercises.-KEY to the Exercises, 12mo. cloth, 38.

English Prose, with Notes and a Preliminary Dissertation by F. A. PALEY, M.A.