in the same sale, of
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments.
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments.
Athenaeum - London - 1912a
” And so
of its freedom and energy, and to ally
this incorrigibly romantic divinity pro- itself with a brother-in-arms only partially We think, however, that Mr. Ransome
ceeds in his dialectical subtleties, telling congenial to it. This is the more re considerably over-estimates the force of
us—under the delightfully impertinent grettable in that its pellucid and crystal the discussion, enchanting as it is. M.
masquerade of unveiling profound dis- qualities illustrate with peculiar fidelity de Gourmont belongs to the dragon-flies
coveries--of the illusion of truth, of the what is perhaps the finest product of the of literature, iridescent but ephemeral.
French literary genius—the masterly ex-
A Night in the Luxembourg. By Remy
position of its prose. Its transparent
de Gourmont. With Preface and Ap. clarity is a more appropriate medium
pendix by Arthur Ransome. (Swift & Co. ) I for the spirit than the substance of the
were
66
verse as
66
## p. 587 (#439) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
587
in
SO
a
wife and his dear babies. But the key where near Belfast. For here the sturdy
to his life is given in his own words :- Presbyterians were the real strength
TWO IRISH REBEL-PATRIOTS.
“For my own part, I think it right to of the so-called “United Irish Society,”
We cannot say that we welcome the re- mention, that, at this time, the establish and these men could be easily drilled
publication of Tone's memoirs, for reasons
ment of a Republic (in Ireland] was not
into a dangerous fighting force. This
man who
to be given presently, but it is our first [as it was with Napper Tandy) the immediate conclusion, though that of a
object before me.
duty to criticize the value of the work, and the independence of my country under be modified in the light of subsequent
My object was to secure had thought it out with anxious care, must
the way in which it has been edited. As any form of government, to which I was history. Tone rightly considered that the
regards the latter, we consider that Mr. led by the hatred of England, so deeply South-Western Irish would never make
Barry O'Brien has done his work better rooted in my nature, that it was rather
an impromptu army to help a sudden
than at first sight appears. For the daily an instinct than a principle. "
notes of Wolfe Tone are full of repetitions, If so, it was not an early instinct, but with careful drill and strict discipline,
invader, but it is only fair to add that,
the same arguments being addressed over
and over again to the people he met from lashed, by that turgid eloquence which done as brilliant service as any in the
created by lashing himself, and being Munster and Connaught regiments have
day to day. From the point of view of was the bane of all the Nationalist clubs. British Army.
the impatient reader, these repetitions If the English Government could have
should have been cut out. Excision would foreseen the future, he might have been have wholly overlooked another part
It is more curious that Tone should
have made the book far more readable secured by a good promotion in early of Ireland, which proved even to him
and less tedious. But if the editor had youth, as he was not above valuing wealth that there were fine rebels to be found
shortened it, a certain quality in it would and dignity very highly in compari- outside Ulster. The men of South-East
have been lost, and it would not have
been nearly so convincing as it now is. embark in politics, he became a most of Bargy and Forth, east of the Slaney,
son with ideal objects. When he did Wexford, especially from the baronies
For the artless, setting down day by day active and dangerous foe, and more than showed in 1798 that with extempore
of what the author said, and what was
once brought England into very great leaders-most of them Roman Catholic
said to him, by its very monotony and peril. That was the opinion of the Duke priests—they could behave with signal
perfect consistency of character, comes of Wellington, whom the editor quotes.
to be so persuasive that we cannot believe
valour. Had Humbert's little expedition
the harsh judgments which make him
If we inquire how a man without money landed here, instead of at far west Killala,
or influence could effect such important there would have been a different story to
an impostor and a villain. This was
the opinion of the late Duke of Argyll, things in the politics of Europe, we must tell
. The point of likeness between North-
who in his Irish Nationalists set him attribute it to his persuasiveness in urging East Ulster and South-East Leinster, in
down as a pure Jacobin, bent on up-
a deep conviction, and his good fortune both of which the people were brave and
securing important
setting all society, and ready to commit
man sturdy, is also most suggestive. In both
any crime in the process. He did, in-
as Hoche, whose death was fatal to these tracts the body of the population was
deed, when little more than a boy, and
his hopes. For the rising Bonaparte, not Irish, but either Scotch or English,
des perately poor, offer to Pitt to occupy not take up his ideas, but adopted the
who was very jealous of Hoche, would with some admixture, perhaps, of North-
men. For the Roman Catholic peasantry
Spaniards, and he says his real object attacking England, not through Ireland, through the eighteenth century under the
Spaniards, and he says his real object far wilder and more hopeless scheme of in Bargy and Forth, who prospered all
was to turn buccaneer, this type being but through India. It has always been penal laws, are known to be an early
not be taken seriously. He passed through recognized that at this moment Ireland English settlement,
that did not tolerate
Trinity College, Dublin, with considerable
was England's weak spot. The narrative
an Irish population among them. The
credit, being not only Auditor and Medallist of the various attempts of the French English fleet was, of course, more likely
of the famous Historical Society, but also a these attempts, through the dilatoriness east coast of Ireland, but in those days
and Dutch to invade it; the failure of to check any attempt to land on the
scholar of the House. His daily writing and incompetence of the French War it seems that it was a mere chance whether
frequently from the classics and from Department, through the miserable state the
guarding ships would find the
invaders.
,
Shakespeare, and the friends he made of the French finances, and lastly through Most of the attempts made by the French
in college were highly respectable-George in favour of England—all this, over which fleet.
the marvellous interference of the elements
were not balked by meeting a hostile
Knox (Lord Northland's son), Whitley Tone frets and fumes in his diary like
Stokes (a Nationalist of high character),
&c. It is interesting to add that in the if the French and Dutch could have before us. It is a cheap reprint of part
a caged lion, is deeply interesting reading.
now to the second book
list of scholars elected in 1784, his name
appears next above that of William Magee, Nore, when they were nearly, but not in 1907 in two thick volumes by Mr.
invaded Ireland during the Mutiny of the of the memoirs of Miles Byrne, published
grandfather of the Archbishop of our quite ready, it seems possible that Ireland Stephen Gwynn, when it was duly noticed
would have been, for a time at least, in these columns (Sept. 7, p. 264). The
time. But not only had he most re-
spectable friends; he also enjoyed their lost to England. But here the winds present extract concerning the author's
society, and he speaks with affection of again interfered, and it was the thirty, adventures in Ireland in°1798, and his
his old college all through his life. Yet five days of “ foul wind ” at the Texel escape to France, might appear to be
that college was then considered the which exhausted the patience, the supplies, very similar to the diary of Tone. But
preserve of the ascendancy party. Though and finally the discipline of the Dutch the likeness is superficial, so far as the
there are hints in his confessions that he armament, and caused the expedition method of the two books is concerned.
was not very strict in his conduct during battle of Camperdown, which Tone wonders
to be abandoned a fortnight before the
“It is to-day (says Tone) upwards of
two months since I made a memorandum,
his family (which he had left in America), at as an unnecessary, and therefore fatal, which is downright scandalous. For many
he was a most affectionate husband and blunder. He himself had already left important circumstances have happened
father, always thinking of his beloved the fleet, as the chance of invading Ireland in that time. The only good in my journals
had passed away.
is that they are written at the moment, and
Autobiography of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763– If we consider Tone's estimate of the represent things exactly as they strike me,
whereas, when I write after the interval
1798. Édited, with an Introduction, by probable success of a landing, we find that of some time
R. Barry O'Brien. 2 vols. (Dublin, more than once he speaks with contempt
Maunsel & Co. )
of the fighting qualities of the South-Exactly so, and here is the vital difference.
Some Notes of an Irish Exile of 1798 : being Western Irish, and thinks the only Byrne's recollections were set down years
Chapters from the Memoirs of Miles Byrne good chance is to make for the North- after the events, when he had become a
relating to Ireland. (Same publishers. ) East, and begin the campaign some. I distinguished soldier, and no doubt a
We
come
## p. 588 (#440) ############################################
588
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
mere
very popular talker
in Paris, and Elizabethan literature was confined to tion was paid to Bacon's works in Oxford
delighted his friends with the account of two main outlets for its expression, right up to half a century before the
his early adventures. But his reminis- poetry and the drama : the period of Reformation, and we should be grateful
cences were not accurate—such things English prose had not yet arrived. This to any one who would make a serious study
never are, as Goethe pointed out long ago. is, of course, not to say that no great of this legend with a view to determining
its sources and relation to Bacon himself.
most of the facts ; the memory fails, and written had not great qualities; but In the meantime Miss Senior has given
omits others; the result is that the temper the normal rhythm of our prose was not us a charming book, well designed and
and feelings of the diarist control them, so established in the popular ear as to
so established in the popular ear as to well printed, though somewhat carelessly
and he produces an untrustworthy picture. create a standard for those who had “ read ”—one that may be confidently
There is plenty of evidence of these something to say, but no rule as to how to recommended to the ordinary reader.
omissions and commissions in Byrne's say it. Writers of some education, as is
memoirs. He sets down at length every- their wont, seized on the non-essential
thing discreditable to the English; he and more obvious characteristics of style Modern Democracy: a Study in Tendencies.
glozes over the crimes of his own friends. in the fashionable works of the time, and Modern Democracy: a Study in Tendencies.
In only one feature the two books are served our language by making them
By Brougham Villiers. (Fisher Unwin. )
perfectly agreed. They are both animated first ridiculous, and then impossible. As we said in our short notice of Mr.
with a deadly hatred against England, and Writers less well equipped were forced Villiers's book, its chief utility will be in
regard absolute separation from her as the to put more reliance on their own re- consolidating and giving articulate form
only chance of making Ireland great sources, supplemented by the popular to the thought underlying the progressive
and free.
educator of the day—the stage.
spirit of the age. In order to crystallize
We will not argue
whether this * Thomas of Reading 'is a good example tendencies into one word, our author
view is justified or not, reasonable or of the book produced by men of this terms the new policy“ Guarantism," by
unreasonable, but surely the present class. It is composed in two quite dis- which we understand him to mean the
moment is the most inopportune for such parate veins—the realistic and the ro- insuring to each member of society (with
publications as these. They are likely to mantic. In the former the author is a small 8) the possibility of living, in
call forth reprints of equally prejudiced writing from his own experience, going to contradistinction to
existence.
loyalist accounts of the rebellion of 1798 popular tradition for his characters, to. This policy, as he says, pervades every
by way of reply, and cannot but tend to a well-known everyday life for his action stratum of society, and is not the preserve
exacerbate the feelings of mutual dislike and dialogue, and the result is excellent of any particular “ism,” though it is
which we had hoped recent legislation was
--so excellent that one of our most dis- the driving force of many; rather is it
beginning to allay. In the larger edition tinguished critics is able to mention the evidence of the growing and democratic
of Miles Byrne Mr. Gwynn tells us he last hours of Master Cole beside Macbeth. will of the people.
was encouraged to publish it by the His style is simple, direct, and clear ; We are not sure that Mr. Villiers
recommendation of Mr. John Dillon, who his old wives' chatter admirably heard sufficiently appreciates the need for ex.
thinks it one of the best books on Ireland. and reported. But, as soon as the story tremists, and a more exact knowledge of
We think it one of the very worst, unless escapes from the narrow field of Deloney's statistics relating to the poor of our
it be the object of politicians to encourage personal experience and becomes romantic, large towns would enable him to
sourness and rancour, instead of mutual he is forced to rely on the theatre, and strengthen his case; but his warning
toleration, and deep contrition at the the result is pure bombast. Miss Senior, that, until the minimum level of sub-
faults of the past on both sides. We for example, seems to think highly of the sistence has been raised, we must expect
believe there are but few Irish politicians Margaret episodes ; to our mind, the sole the individual to be a great deal keener
who will not agree with us in regarding endurable one among them is that of on what affects his own class, how-
the promoters of ill-feeling as the active her engagement as a servant to Gray ever small it may be, than on schemes
enemies of their country.
of Gloucester. M. Jusserand's account which affect the whole body politic, is
of the English stage and its action on well timed. Incidentally, our author
even so great a mind as that of Shake- sums up for us the reason why Campbell-
speare is still fresh in the recollection of Bannerman never became a great man;
the student of literature; its effect on he had intense sympathy, but he certainly
FORERUNNERS OF THE ENGLISH that of a simple soul like Deloney was in- was not in his latter years “a great
comparably greater and more destructive, thinker”-or, we should be inclined to
NOVEL.
in style as well as in matter : indeed, of add, while admitting his other great
Miss SENIOR has given us, under an in-
all the tales in this book it may be said qualities, at any other time.
appropriate title, an interesting selection that the story-telling is contaminated by
Mr. Villiers does good service in pointing
of the popular stories of late-Elizabethan
the stage.
out in his chapter on 'l'he Single Tax
times—the true forerunners of the English While we know who wrote ' Thomas of that the profits from commerce are now
novel. They have long been familiar to Reading,' we can form no probable guess higher than from the land, ergo that the
readers through the reprints of Thoms, even at the authors of George a Green,' idle shareholder is in a better position than
and the best of them, Thomas of Read Roger Bacon,' and 'Friar Rush,' the the idle landlord, though we think he
ing,' is included in Mr. Mann's admirable other tales reprinted here. They are, no might have given more attention to one
edition of Deloney's Works,' recently doubt, mainly strings of anecdotes strung contributory cause - the abnormal cost
published by the Clarendon Press. The together on a very slender framework; of of distribution, one of the great and
editor's Introduction and notes are inter- ballad tradition in the case of George rapidly increasing evils of our modern
esting in themselves, as showing the a Green’; of University memories quick-
frame of mind in which she undertook ened into life by the enthusiasm of Dr. however, strongly point out the possibilities
her task, rather than likely to be of Dee in that of The Famous History of inherent in the decentralizing power of
use to the general reader. It is, perhaps, Friar Bacon
Friar Bacon’; and of German chapbooks electricity, and advocates the immediate
unfortunate that the publication of the in that of Friar Rush. The most socializing of this force, so that it may
edition referred to so nearly synchronizes interesting of them is undoubtedly the be made truly beneficent before its utility
with her own, since a comparison of Bacon story, and even after we have is circumscribed by private ownership.
editorial treatment, which she would be removed from it the Faust contaminations We fear that he shows lack of knowledge
the last to desire, is inevitable.
and the folk-tale anecdotes, a certain sub- in his assertion as to the uniform level of
stratum is left testifying to the existence prices. They are no more level than the
Some Old English Worthies. Edited, with of a popular tradition of Bacon. We rate of wages, though in the former case
Notes and Introduction, by Dorothy know that, contrary to the ordinary the inequality is far more to the advan-
Senior. (Swift & Co. )
notion, a considerable amount of atten- 'tage of the poor. Another matter in
## p. 589 (#441) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
589
once
we
one
which we think Mr. Villiers wrong is severe to the end will be rewarded by his any copy now in existence of any sub-
in stating that
chapter on ‘Nation-Building. ' Here the stantial part of the Bible. ”
idealist, the enthusiast, is allowed
" the typical Liberal or Socialist who gets
The importance of a Biblical MS. which
into Parliament becomes more and more
to encourage visions of the future in point of date takes rank with the three
conformed to the likeness of his master, with its international co-operation, and great uncial codices known as the Vatican,
the average British working man. "
the fulfilment of the idea, now dimly the Sinaitic, and the Alexandrine can
The atmosphere of what was
entering men's minds, that if a divine hardly be over-estimated; but there is
called the best club in London will purpose be granted in the making of our
even more in it than may appear at first
want changing before that can be true. world, then surely it was made for man-
sight. The codex bears valuable and
Mr. Villiers's statement on p. 131 that not man for it.
decisive testimony to the high antiquity
“the man who enters politics will end Our differences with the author are of the Coptic version of the Holy Scrip-
-a politician " is more to the point. those of opinion. Of actual mistakes tures, and it also strongly supports the
He puts very fairly, too, what case have not detected any, though general accuracy of certain traditions
there is for those who are always here and there the author is hardly regarding the history of Christianity in
clamouring for more work for the people sufficiently up to date-for instance, in Egypt, which a number of critics have
without specifying the sort of work, and giving prominence to The Morning Leader, been much inclined to doubt. On the
who advocate as the first essential the circu- and omitting all mention of new Labour former point Dr. Kenyon, whose contribu-
lation of money_rather than the right dailies.
tion to the present volume will be specially
spending of it. Here are his words :- -
referred to presently, writes as follows :-
“ If there be any slackening in the demand
Since the character of the mistakes in
for an anti-social thing, the people employed Coptic Biblical l'exts in the Dialect of bility of its being an original translation,
this Codex is such as to preclude the possi.
.
There will be unemployment and poverty,
Upper Egypt. Edited by E. A. Wallis it is fair to argue that the version itself must,
all the weight of which will fall upon them ; Budge. (British Museum. )
in all probability, have come into existence
while even if the money saved be spent Egypt is the land of literary discoveries
before the end of the third century; while
in some more useful ways, other people
it may, of course, be yet older. ”
and not they will get the benefit of it. par excellence. Besides the mummies,
Their interests, their personal and immediate the monumental inscriptions, the pyra of certain traditions, Dr. Budge, with
On the question of the authenticity
interests at least, are bound up with the mids, and the stelæ, which it possesses in
evil thing; the success of their lives depends such rich abundance, that ancient land
equal emphasis, declares that
upon its growth and prosperity: When holds embedded in its soil, or secreted in the evidence afforded by our papyrus
their daily bread is threatened, it is no use
talking platitudes to them about the
its antique buildings, large quantities of Codex tends to confirm early monastic
'interest of one being the interests of all. priceless papyri capable of throwing floods traditions concerning the spread of Chris-
They see clearly how a change will affect of light on topics in which humanity tianity in Egypt,”
them, only dimly the good it may do to will never cease to be deeply interested. so that there is, to take the most salient
the world as a whole. They know very | At
time a
new papyrus of the instances,
well that if their trade is ruined, they and Book of the Dead comes to light; at
those they love will be ruined also ; and another an ancient mathematical work is
good reason for believing that Anthony
the very strength of the Guarantist instinct unrolled before our eyes ; on another
did hear the Scriptures read in his village
within them, the instinct on which we must
church in his native tongue, and that many
normally depend for the advance of demo- occasion, again, compositions like the of the earliest monks in the deserts of
cracy itself, will compel them to resist. ” Aristotelian treatise on the Constitution Nitria, the Red Sea, and Upper Egypt,
of Athens or the poems of Bacchylides learned to repeat the Psalms and whole
Such sentimental pleading is hard to
are added to our literary treasures ; and Books of the Bible by heart from Coptic
eradicate, but people do not deserve to be
considered educated until they realize Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B. C.
a few years ago, quite suddenly, Jewish and not from Greek manuscripts. "
For a detailed description of the codex
that fault lies in using even the minimum
were unearthed at Elephantinê in Upper we must refer the reader to the printed
of energy wastefully, when the maximum Egypt. Such finds make one wonder volume itself
, which also offers a most
used to the best advantage will not free what further things may yet be in store for useful aid to appreciation in the shape
the country of evil for many a long year us in the near or distant future. One of of excellent photographic reproductions
to come.
the several not unreasonable expectations of several pages of the MS. , including
We cannot agree with Mr. Villiers that
that may be entertained is that some the Coptic note in a Greek cursive hand
Government departments, when slack, day a pre-Massoretic form of the Old at the end of the Acts of the Apostles,
should be allowed to compete with private Testament text will be found, such as which has been a decisive factor in the
enterprise; we prefer the idea that such
was used by the Septuagint translators determination of date. Our own task
a period should be the opportunity of at Alexandria. If that should ever hap- must rather be to furnish an account,
the Development Commissioners. Perhaps pen, Bible students all over the world will together with an appraisement, of the
the fact that some of his statements are so
be presented with a great sensation in work accomplished by the learned editor
bald as to be misleading may be accounted this literary field.
and those who have given him their
for by the attempt to deal with such
The find with which we have to deal on active, scholarly support.
enormous subject in one portable
For instance, on p. 229 he says
the present occasion is neither sensational
volume.
After giving an exhaustive external
nor epoch-making, in the usual sense of description of the codex, with a clear
that,
those terms, but it is highly interesting indication of the extent to which the Book
taking the country as a whole, there are and instructive all the same. The ripest of Deuteronomy, the Book of Jonah, and
far fewer women than men eligible for and best expert knowledge available has the Acts of the Apostles are preserved
membership of Trade Unions ; this means
been brought to bear on the question of in it, Dr. Budge proceeds to a comparison
that a vast majority of the (Labour] party the date that is to be assigned to the of this form of the Coptic version with
are men. '
papyrus codex from which the Coptic other forms of it, as well as with the
Some day the shortsighted policy of version of Deuteronomy, the Book of respective Greek portions of the Bible
early trade - unionism with regard to Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles are on which it is based. The many textual
women will have to meet the fierce light here reproduced, and as a result we have facts here accumulated will no doubt be
of the examining publicist.
the emphatic declaration that it cannot scanned with great care and attention.
Many readers may become somewhat be later than the middle of the fourth On a number of critical details other
depressed whilst reading through Mr. century, and that it is, therefore, not only scholars may find themselves at variance
Viſliers's two hundred odd pages of plain “ the oldest known copy of any translation with Dr. Budge, but there can hardly be
common-sense, and may even suspect him of any considerable portion of the Greek a doubt as to the correctness of the
of lack of enthusiasm, but those who per- Bible," but also “probably as early as general results of his investigation.
an
9
## p. 590 (#442) ############################################
590
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
66
66
The comparison of “the text of Deutero- Novum Testamentum Græce,' and he In the same sale there is a long letter to
nomy as it appears in this papyrus Codex then compares extracts from the texts Jane Clairmont, produced jointly by Shelley
with such portions as are extant of the of the Apocalypse published by. Goussen, hard talk about Byron in it. The first sheet
and his second wife, with a great deal of
versions which were current between the Ciasca, and Delaporte from Sahidic MSS.
seventh and eleventh centuries” has led of various dates with the Coptic of the Shelley; the second is wholly in Shelley's
was written by Mary after consultation with
to the conclusion" that when the papyrus present volume.
writing; and the poet appears to have
was written, the Coptic text of Deutero-
In the last part of the Introduction taken a fresh sheet and gone on with a
nomy had already
been fixed. ” Regard- the learned editor supplies an historical sentence, left unfinished by his wife because
ing the Book of Jonah, Dr. Budge finds sketch under the heading Christianity there was no more room on her sheet.
that “the Coptic text agrees generally in Egypt and the Coptic Version of the
Another Byron MS.
in the same sale, of
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments. " We have very high interest as a relic, is a quarto
,
are many small variants which agree with already quoted from this part a sentence of Don Juan attacking Wellington read
sheet containing in his writing that passage
readings given by A and Q of Dr.
relative to the evidence in confirmation to Hobhouse at Pisa in September, 1822.
Swete's list. Blunders of various kinds of early monastic tradition afforded by It had been intended for the opening of the
are numerous in the Acts of the Apostles ;
the papyrus
codex. But Dr. Budge aims third Canto, but was ultimately reserved
and, as all the
three Biblical Books are sup at going beyond this. He begins his for the ninth, all but two stanzas which
posed to have been copied by the same
Apollos the Alexandrian relate to Juan and Haidee, and with a slight
scribe, it is rather difficult to explain why Jew," who had knowledge of the alteration were made to serve alone as the
the Acts should be so much
more faulty than baptism of John," and touches upon all opening of Canto JI! ! The variations from
III.
the two other Books. Dr. Budge seems the successive important data that interit seems, from a transcript thought to have
the text of the Wellington passage, printed,
to waver between attributing the mistakes vened between Apollos and the date of been made by the Countess Guiccioli, are
to the archetype from which the copy was
the papyrus codex. In referring to the not very striking; whereas the poet's
made and ascribing them to the ignorance tradition, current among the Copts
, " that aplomb in dealing with the situation created
and carelessness of the scribe.
the first Patriarch of their Church was by the temporary withdrawal of that pas.
Dr. Budge's general conclusions are Ananius, who was appointed by St. Mark, sage from Canto III. is distinctly character.
authoritatively enforced by the precision who is said to have visited Alexandria istic. After finishing with thỏ Duke, he
had written :
and cogency of Dr. Kenyon's remarks in about the year A. D. 64,” Dr. Budge says:
Part VII. of the Introduction. In addi- “ That this tradition is substantially
Now to my Epic-We left Juan sleeping, &c. ;
tion to the sentence already quoted from true there is no good reason for doubting. but when he decided to let Canto III. begin
this section, it is necessary to state that But it is only right to remark that such with the stanza of which that was the first
in Dr. Kenyon's view the collation of the a question can hardly be decided in this line, he altered it to
sixty select passages from the Acts of the
manner. The mere fact that neither
Hail, Muse! et cetera. -- We left Juan sleeping-
Apostles set out in Prof. Sanday's ' Ap. Clement nor Origen says anything about
pendices ad Novum Testamentum Ste- the supposed sojourn and work of St. which is richer metrically and much more
phanicum,' with the Coptic version con- Mark at Alexandria is, indeed, sufficient racy. .
tained in the papyrus codex, tends to to make one pause before venturing upon
confirm
an affirmative answer.
“ the evidence of the later Sahidic MSS. , Of the printing of the volume, it is THE EARLY CHRONICLES OF
on which we have hitherto been dependent, enough to say that it was done at the
SCOTLAND.
and to establish still further the character | Oxford University Press, and we believe
of this version as one of the best authorities that the photographic reproductions were
Monrieth, May 20, 1912.
for the text of the New Testament. ”
also prepared under the expert care of with my sketch of the early Scottish chro-
Your reviewer has dealt very leniently
Mr. Horace Hart.
As an object-lesson of the care with
nicles. I have not the book at hand to
which the literary treasures acquired by
refer to, but I feel that I must have expressed
the British Museum are treated, the con-
myself very ambiguously in referring to
tribution to this volume by Mr. Bell of
David Macpherson, the editor of Wyntoun,
the MSS. Department should be mentioned. SHELLEY AND BYRON AUTOGRAPHS. In stating that he was the son of a tailor
Even the cover of the important codex
in Edinburgh,” so far from suggesting, any
AUTOGRAPH collectors will have a rare disparagement, I intended it as a tribute
was made to yield some interesting little Byron and Shelley chance next Friday, to his attainments in the teeth of what
possessions, which Mr. Bell describes for when Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge must have been circumstances unpropitious
us with great clearness. A small vellum will offer at auction a well-known letter to independent study. I regret that your
fragment apparently. of the fourth century, well-known one relating to it from Byron base descent”
from
an equally reviewer should have imported the term
the handwriting being not dissimilar
into relation with the
to the Vaticanus,” is shown to contain | 1821, about the proposed burning of á entered into my head to regard, as less
to Moore. They are the letters of December, parentage of Macpherson, which it never
Theodotion's Greek version of Daniel i. sacrilegious priest described by Shelley as honourable than that of the great Orientalist,
17-18; and there are besides fifteen his " fellow serpent,”
a phrase explained by Dr. Alexander Murray, son of the shepherd
fragmentary Greek papyri in cursive Byron as a buffoonery” of his own,
of his own, of Dunkitterick in my native Galloway hills.
script of the third to the fourth century, founded on the words my aunt the re-
HERBERT MAXWELL.
thirteen of these being accounts, and the nowned snake used by Goethe in his
remaining two contracts.
* Faust' to describe the serpent who tempted
Eve. In his letter to Moore, Byron appears
Besides the contents of the papyrus to have spelt the demon's name Mephis-
BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.
codex, which formed the chief raison tofeles,” not“ Mephistofilus” as in Byron's
d'être of this publication, the volume
· Letters and Journals' (1901, v. 496), or
ON Thursday and Friday in last week Messrs ·
includes the Apocalypse of St. John in Mephistopholes " as in Medwin's Life of Sotheby held a sale of books and manuscripts
which included the library of the late Sir J. D.
Coptic, printed from a paper MS. of the Shelley' (ii. 230). But the point for the
Hooker, &c. , the most important lots being the
British Museum, written in a fine bold autograph collector is that in this “lot,” in following:
A Collection of over 2,000 pamphlets on
four
hand of the twelfth century. A facsimile concerned, the holograph letters of Shelley the Birds of Europe, 9vols, 1871-96, 62. Apabering
French , 501. Dresser, History of
of a page of this MS. is shown on plate x. , and Byron are on one and the same piece of Platonicus, Herbarium, printed at Rome, c. 1884
the nine other plates representing dif- paper, Byron having written and signed his 53. Milton, Areopagitica, 1644, 211. gloamne sie
ferent pages of the papyrus codex. The note to Moore on the back of Shelley's to
Cuba, , &. , 1491, 351. Sir
W. J. Hooker and others, Icones Plantarum,
treatment of this part of the Coptic his lordship. A note on this composite 30 vols. , 1837-1911, 671. Edwards's Botanical Re-
. , signed “M. ," says
Aunt gister, 33 vols. , 1815-47, Sir J. D. Hooker,
taken from the papyrus codex. Dr. Muhme : surely Byron was justified in Botany, 1845; Flora Nova Zelandiæ, 2 vols. , 1853-
1855; and , 2 . , 1860
Greek text printed in Prof. Suter's equivalents of that word.
, a vols. , 1840, 201. The
total of the sale was 1,4881. 14s.
>
66
>
66
.
1
## p. 591 (#443) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
591
THE ATHENÆUM
sense
verse
numerous
element they all have in common, and this,
A Witch, a Witch is sleeping. . . . "
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. as might have been foreseen, reduces itself
The shrillness ebbed away;
to the affirmation of the existence of
And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,
Hard on the track of day.
(Notice in those columns does not preclude longer God, with the conviction that it is not
review. )
In the poem 'Arabia,' in Where,in a
Tbeology.
by reasoning, but by a holy life, that
man can attain to Him. The most interest-
score of the briefest and lightest of lyrical
Bardsley (Rev. J. U. N. ), THE CHURCH OF ing papers are those by Father Hetherington pieces, he achieves exquisite musical effects,
ENGLAND AND HER ENDOWMENTS, 2/ net.
on the Roman Church, and Mr. Grubb on
He has an effective simplicity:-
Skeffington the 'Friends. "
A very old woman
Lives in yon house-
Six sermons with special reference to the
The squeak of the cricket,
Welsh Disendowment Bill, preached in the
Poetry.
The stir of the mouse,
Lancaster
Are all she knows
Parish Church, January and
Of the earth and us.
February, 1912. They form an excellent state- Anderson (J. Redwood), THE MASK, 4/ net.
ment of the position of the Church of Eng-
Oxford, Thornton ; At present his poetry is all lightness and
land in regard to endowments, and should
London, Simpkin & Marshall fancifulness. But he has charin, and a
do good service in correcting the widely These productions of Mr. Anderson's are beauty of form rare enough to-day, com-
prevailing misconceptions on the subject. in some cases positively unreadable, owing bined with a definite vision.
The author's attitude towards the Reforma- to their wilful ugliness, poor wording, and
tion, and his doctrinal statements, will here undue length. If his 'Hymenæal Ode?
Henderland (George), THE HEART OF BRUCE.
and there provoke dissent on the part of had been purified by a rush of real passion,
Paisley, Gardner
those members of the English Church who, we might pardon its lack of reticence.
This story of the Bruce in alternately
if they cannot submit to the Papacy, yet Buckeridge (E. G. ), SPINDRIFT, 3/6 net.
rhymed decasyllabics is a model of neat
hold by the full Catholic tradition.
and correct versification, of measured and
Stock subdued rhythm. But the whole poem is
Case (Shirley Jackson), THE HISTORICITY OF The author of 'Spindrift' has imagination dull and monotonous.
It dozes through
JESUS, A CRITICISM OF THE CONTENTION and a perception of the beauty of nature, nearly sixty pages in somnolent grace,
THAT JESUS NEVER LIVED, A STATEMENT together with a
of rhythm. He and lacks the spice of life and imagination.
OF THE EVIDENCE FOR HIS EXISTENCE, gives us the impression of being facile,
AN ESTIMATE OF HIS RELATION TO but this facility will, unless he is severe
Herbert (A. P. ), Play HOURS WITH PEGASUS,
CHRISTIANITY, 6/ net.
on himself, tend to become his chief danger.
1/ net.
Oxford, Blackwell
Illinois, University of Chicago; Some of the is sentimental, but
Mr. Herbert's light verse is of the con-
London, Cambridge University Press scattered through the volumne are several ventional University type. Its effect de-
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere. It is a pity unusual rhymes, topical allusions, and a
Jesus from the point of view of “liberal ? that in more than one instance Mr. Bucker- blend of colloquialism and “ literary lan-
theology, i. e. , without recourse to the super- idge has spoilt his poem by putting in too guage.
With deftness above the ordinary:
natural. We could wish the first part of the many verses.
he sings of his Bath, of Airmen, of “ Toggers,
book had been somewhat longer and fuller.
of Compulsory Greek, and so on, in such a
No line of attack has been omitted, nor is De la Mare (Walter), THE LISTENERS, AND
way as to raise continual faint smiles, but
there failure to indicate the line of reply ;
OTHER POEMS.
Constable never a peal of laughter.
two or three points have, indeed, been ade-
In metrical skill Mr. De la Mare is scarcely
quately discussed, and we are glad to ac-
surpassed, or indeed equalled, by any of Kelleher (D. L. ), POEMS 12 A PENNY.
knowledge that the
foot-notes
the younger English poets. He can turn
Liverpool, ' The Liverpool Courier. '
show the reader where to go for verification
from one metrical form to another with The author makes an anthology of his
of what has been told him. Still, the effect confidence and success, and shows rightness verse, which with sublime self-con-
of the critical portion of the work is, on the But there is something much more than
and certitude in his rhythm and diction. fidence and in large lettering he calls 'The
whole, that of something more hurried and
Fine Melody of my Feelings. We can only
slight than it need have been. The state prosodical excellence in his poetry. He is dimly surmise the quality of the rejected
ment of the evidence for the traditional view not a philosopher like Mr. Abercrombie. pieces.
seems to us much better and more forcibly He is not a reformer like Mr. Masefield. Nor,
done.
on the other hand, is he one who sings with Lounsbery (G. Constant), POEMS OF REVOLT,
the bird-like spontaneity of Mr. Davies. But AND SATAN UNBOUND, 3/6 net.
Ferguson (G. A. ), How A MODERN ATHEIST there is in his poetry much of the sweetness
Gay & Hancock
FOUND GOD.
Lindsey Press of song; in its musical quality it is direct,
The writer of ' Poems of Revolt' is a slave
A not very successful expression of the concrete, sensuous. But purely spontaneous, to his desire to make rhymes, and has an
personal experience of one of whose artless poetry has limitations which with unfortunate habit of selecting unpoetic and
sincerity there is as little doubt as of the hold from the poet the widest exercise of his ugly words. The theme of the play 'Satan
repellent egotism which colours the story gift. Mr. De la Mare could not achieve his Unbound' is no less a one than the divinity
of his “almost unique experience. "
variety and wonderful modulations of metre of discontent; but, owing to a lack either
Isaacs (Abram S. ), WHAT IS JUDAISM ? A if poetry had not been for him a technical of technical accomplishment or critical
SURVEY OF JEWISH LIFE, THOUGHT, study as well as an inspiration. It is im- perception, Mr. Lounsbery never rises to
AND ACHIEVEMENT, 5/ net.
possible not to recognize the subtle influence the height of his argument, and is sometimes
Putnam's
of Rossetti-both in matter and form—and grotesque.
A collection of a number of essays con-
in a more obvious way that of Coleridge.
tributed within recent years to various He gets something of that wistfulness, Meyrat (Emile Louis), EURYDICÉAN, A POEM.
periodicals, presenting along different lines
Boudry, Switzerland, Baillod
that shy spirituality, which Rossetti loved,
the message and meaning of the Jew's something also of the mingled grotesque- M. Meyrat scours heaven and earth for
religion and history. What the author has
ness and sweetness of Coleridge.
metaphors, analogies, and similes, Alinging
to say in vindication of Jewish character and
Mr.
of its freedom and energy, and to ally
this incorrigibly romantic divinity pro- itself with a brother-in-arms only partially We think, however, that Mr. Ransome
ceeds in his dialectical subtleties, telling congenial to it. This is the more re considerably over-estimates the force of
us—under the delightfully impertinent grettable in that its pellucid and crystal the discussion, enchanting as it is. M.
masquerade of unveiling profound dis- qualities illustrate with peculiar fidelity de Gourmont belongs to the dragon-flies
coveries--of the illusion of truth, of the what is perhaps the finest product of the of literature, iridescent but ephemeral.
French literary genius—the masterly ex-
A Night in the Luxembourg. By Remy
position of its prose. Its transparent
de Gourmont. With Preface and Ap. clarity is a more appropriate medium
pendix by Arthur Ransome. (Swift & Co. ) I for the spirit than the substance of the
were
66
verse as
66
## p. 587 (#439) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
587
in
SO
a
wife and his dear babies. But the key where near Belfast. For here the sturdy
to his life is given in his own words :- Presbyterians were the real strength
TWO IRISH REBEL-PATRIOTS.
“For my own part, I think it right to of the so-called “United Irish Society,”
We cannot say that we welcome the re- mention, that, at this time, the establish and these men could be easily drilled
publication of Tone's memoirs, for reasons
ment of a Republic (in Ireland] was not
into a dangerous fighting force. This
man who
to be given presently, but it is our first [as it was with Napper Tandy) the immediate conclusion, though that of a
object before me.
duty to criticize the value of the work, and the independence of my country under be modified in the light of subsequent
My object was to secure had thought it out with anxious care, must
the way in which it has been edited. As any form of government, to which I was history. Tone rightly considered that the
regards the latter, we consider that Mr. led by the hatred of England, so deeply South-Western Irish would never make
Barry O'Brien has done his work better rooted in my nature, that it was rather
an impromptu army to help a sudden
than at first sight appears. For the daily an instinct than a principle. "
notes of Wolfe Tone are full of repetitions, If so, it was not an early instinct, but with careful drill and strict discipline,
invader, but it is only fair to add that,
the same arguments being addressed over
and over again to the people he met from lashed, by that turgid eloquence which done as brilliant service as any in the
created by lashing himself, and being Munster and Connaught regiments have
day to day. From the point of view of was the bane of all the Nationalist clubs. British Army.
the impatient reader, these repetitions If the English Government could have
should have been cut out. Excision would foreseen the future, he might have been have wholly overlooked another part
It is more curious that Tone should
have made the book far more readable secured by a good promotion in early of Ireland, which proved even to him
and less tedious. But if the editor had youth, as he was not above valuing wealth that there were fine rebels to be found
shortened it, a certain quality in it would and dignity very highly in compari- outside Ulster. The men of South-East
have been lost, and it would not have
been nearly so convincing as it now is. embark in politics, he became a most of Bargy and Forth, east of the Slaney,
son with ideal objects. When he did Wexford, especially from the baronies
For the artless, setting down day by day active and dangerous foe, and more than showed in 1798 that with extempore
of what the author said, and what was
once brought England into very great leaders-most of them Roman Catholic
said to him, by its very monotony and peril. That was the opinion of the Duke priests—they could behave with signal
perfect consistency of character, comes of Wellington, whom the editor quotes.
to be so persuasive that we cannot believe
valour. Had Humbert's little expedition
the harsh judgments which make him
If we inquire how a man without money landed here, instead of at far west Killala,
or influence could effect such important there would have been a different story to
an impostor and a villain. This was
the opinion of the late Duke of Argyll, things in the politics of Europe, we must tell
. The point of likeness between North-
who in his Irish Nationalists set him attribute it to his persuasiveness in urging East Ulster and South-East Leinster, in
down as a pure Jacobin, bent on up-
a deep conviction, and his good fortune both of which the people were brave and
securing important
setting all society, and ready to commit
man sturdy, is also most suggestive. In both
any crime in the process. He did, in-
as Hoche, whose death was fatal to these tracts the body of the population was
deed, when little more than a boy, and
his hopes. For the rising Bonaparte, not Irish, but either Scotch or English,
des perately poor, offer to Pitt to occupy not take up his ideas, but adopted the
who was very jealous of Hoche, would with some admixture, perhaps, of North-
men. For the Roman Catholic peasantry
Spaniards, and he says his real object attacking England, not through Ireland, through the eighteenth century under the
Spaniards, and he says his real object far wilder and more hopeless scheme of in Bargy and Forth, who prospered all
was to turn buccaneer, this type being but through India. It has always been penal laws, are known to be an early
not be taken seriously. He passed through recognized that at this moment Ireland English settlement,
that did not tolerate
Trinity College, Dublin, with considerable
was England's weak spot. The narrative
an Irish population among them. The
credit, being not only Auditor and Medallist of the various attempts of the French English fleet was, of course, more likely
of the famous Historical Society, but also a these attempts, through the dilatoriness east coast of Ireland, but in those days
and Dutch to invade it; the failure of to check any attempt to land on the
scholar of the House. His daily writing and incompetence of the French War it seems that it was a mere chance whether
frequently from the classics and from Department, through the miserable state the
guarding ships would find the
invaders.
,
Shakespeare, and the friends he made of the French finances, and lastly through Most of the attempts made by the French
in college were highly respectable-George in favour of England—all this, over which fleet.
the marvellous interference of the elements
were not balked by meeting a hostile
Knox (Lord Northland's son), Whitley Tone frets and fumes in his diary like
Stokes (a Nationalist of high character),
&c. It is interesting to add that in the if the French and Dutch could have before us. It is a cheap reprint of part
a caged lion, is deeply interesting reading.
now to the second book
list of scholars elected in 1784, his name
appears next above that of William Magee, Nore, when they were nearly, but not in 1907 in two thick volumes by Mr.
invaded Ireland during the Mutiny of the of the memoirs of Miles Byrne, published
grandfather of the Archbishop of our quite ready, it seems possible that Ireland Stephen Gwynn, when it was duly noticed
would have been, for a time at least, in these columns (Sept. 7, p. 264). The
time. But not only had he most re-
spectable friends; he also enjoyed their lost to England. But here the winds present extract concerning the author's
society, and he speaks with affection of again interfered, and it was the thirty, adventures in Ireland in°1798, and his
his old college all through his life. Yet five days of “ foul wind ” at the Texel escape to France, might appear to be
that college was then considered the which exhausted the patience, the supplies, very similar to the diary of Tone. But
preserve of the ascendancy party. Though and finally the discipline of the Dutch the likeness is superficial, so far as the
there are hints in his confessions that he armament, and caused the expedition method of the two books is concerned.
was not very strict in his conduct during battle of Camperdown, which Tone wonders
to be abandoned a fortnight before the
“It is to-day (says Tone) upwards of
two months since I made a memorandum,
his family (which he had left in America), at as an unnecessary, and therefore fatal, which is downright scandalous. For many
he was a most affectionate husband and blunder. He himself had already left important circumstances have happened
father, always thinking of his beloved the fleet, as the chance of invading Ireland in that time. The only good in my journals
had passed away.
is that they are written at the moment, and
Autobiography of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763– If we consider Tone's estimate of the represent things exactly as they strike me,
whereas, when I write after the interval
1798. Édited, with an Introduction, by probable success of a landing, we find that of some time
R. Barry O'Brien. 2 vols. (Dublin, more than once he speaks with contempt
Maunsel & Co. )
of the fighting qualities of the South-Exactly so, and here is the vital difference.
Some Notes of an Irish Exile of 1798 : being Western Irish, and thinks the only Byrne's recollections were set down years
Chapters from the Memoirs of Miles Byrne good chance is to make for the North- after the events, when he had become a
relating to Ireland. (Same publishers. ) East, and begin the campaign some. I distinguished soldier, and no doubt a
We
come
## p. 588 (#440) ############################################
588
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
mere
very popular talker
in Paris, and Elizabethan literature was confined to tion was paid to Bacon's works in Oxford
delighted his friends with the account of two main outlets for its expression, right up to half a century before the
his early adventures. But his reminis- poetry and the drama : the period of Reformation, and we should be grateful
cences were not accurate—such things English prose had not yet arrived. This to any one who would make a serious study
never are, as Goethe pointed out long ago. is, of course, not to say that no great of this legend with a view to determining
its sources and relation to Bacon himself.
most of the facts ; the memory fails, and written had not great qualities; but In the meantime Miss Senior has given
omits others; the result is that the temper the normal rhythm of our prose was not us a charming book, well designed and
and feelings of the diarist control them, so established in the popular ear as to
so established in the popular ear as to well printed, though somewhat carelessly
and he produces an untrustworthy picture. create a standard for those who had “ read ”—one that may be confidently
There is plenty of evidence of these something to say, but no rule as to how to recommended to the ordinary reader.
omissions and commissions in Byrne's say it. Writers of some education, as is
memoirs. He sets down at length every- their wont, seized on the non-essential
thing discreditable to the English; he and more obvious characteristics of style Modern Democracy: a Study in Tendencies.
glozes over the crimes of his own friends. in the fashionable works of the time, and Modern Democracy: a Study in Tendencies.
In only one feature the two books are served our language by making them
By Brougham Villiers. (Fisher Unwin. )
perfectly agreed. They are both animated first ridiculous, and then impossible. As we said in our short notice of Mr.
with a deadly hatred against England, and Writers less well equipped were forced Villiers's book, its chief utility will be in
regard absolute separation from her as the to put more reliance on their own re- consolidating and giving articulate form
only chance of making Ireland great sources, supplemented by the popular to the thought underlying the progressive
and free.
educator of the day—the stage.
spirit of the age. In order to crystallize
We will not argue
whether this * Thomas of Reading 'is a good example tendencies into one word, our author
view is justified or not, reasonable or of the book produced by men of this terms the new policy“ Guarantism," by
unreasonable, but surely the present class. It is composed in two quite dis- which we understand him to mean the
moment is the most inopportune for such parate veins—the realistic and the ro- insuring to each member of society (with
publications as these. They are likely to mantic. In the former the author is a small 8) the possibility of living, in
call forth reprints of equally prejudiced writing from his own experience, going to contradistinction to
existence.
loyalist accounts of the rebellion of 1798 popular tradition for his characters, to. This policy, as he says, pervades every
by way of reply, and cannot but tend to a well-known everyday life for his action stratum of society, and is not the preserve
exacerbate the feelings of mutual dislike and dialogue, and the result is excellent of any particular “ism,” though it is
which we had hoped recent legislation was
--so excellent that one of our most dis- the driving force of many; rather is it
beginning to allay. In the larger edition tinguished critics is able to mention the evidence of the growing and democratic
of Miles Byrne Mr. Gwynn tells us he last hours of Master Cole beside Macbeth. will of the people.
was encouraged to publish it by the His style is simple, direct, and clear ; We are not sure that Mr. Villiers
recommendation of Mr. John Dillon, who his old wives' chatter admirably heard sufficiently appreciates the need for ex.
thinks it one of the best books on Ireland. and reported. But, as soon as the story tremists, and a more exact knowledge of
We think it one of the very worst, unless escapes from the narrow field of Deloney's statistics relating to the poor of our
it be the object of politicians to encourage personal experience and becomes romantic, large towns would enable him to
sourness and rancour, instead of mutual he is forced to rely on the theatre, and strengthen his case; but his warning
toleration, and deep contrition at the the result is pure bombast. Miss Senior, that, until the minimum level of sub-
faults of the past on both sides. We for example, seems to think highly of the sistence has been raised, we must expect
believe there are but few Irish politicians Margaret episodes ; to our mind, the sole the individual to be a great deal keener
who will not agree with us in regarding endurable one among them is that of on what affects his own class, how-
the promoters of ill-feeling as the active her engagement as a servant to Gray ever small it may be, than on schemes
enemies of their country.
of Gloucester. M. Jusserand's account which affect the whole body politic, is
of the English stage and its action on well timed. Incidentally, our author
even so great a mind as that of Shake- sums up for us the reason why Campbell-
speare is still fresh in the recollection of Bannerman never became a great man;
the student of literature; its effect on he had intense sympathy, but he certainly
FORERUNNERS OF THE ENGLISH that of a simple soul like Deloney was in- was not in his latter years “a great
comparably greater and more destructive, thinker”-or, we should be inclined to
NOVEL.
in style as well as in matter : indeed, of add, while admitting his other great
Miss SENIOR has given us, under an in-
all the tales in this book it may be said qualities, at any other time.
appropriate title, an interesting selection that the story-telling is contaminated by
Mr. Villiers does good service in pointing
of the popular stories of late-Elizabethan
the stage.
out in his chapter on 'l'he Single Tax
times—the true forerunners of the English While we know who wrote ' Thomas of that the profits from commerce are now
novel. They have long been familiar to Reading,' we can form no probable guess higher than from the land, ergo that the
readers through the reprints of Thoms, even at the authors of George a Green,' idle shareholder is in a better position than
and the best of them, Thomas of Read Roger Bacon,' and 'Friar Rush,' the the idle landlord, though we think he
ing,' is included in Mr. Mann's admirable other tales reprinted here. They are, no might have given more attention to one
edition of Deloney's Works,' recently doubt, mainly strings of anecdotes strung contributory cause - the abnormal cost
published by the Clarendon Press. The together on a very slender framework; of of distribution, one of the great and
editor's Introduction and notes are inter- ballad tradition in the case of George rapidly increasing evils of our modern
esting in themselves, as showing the a Green’; of University memories quick-
frame of mind in which she undertook ened into life by the enthusiasm of Dr. however, strongly point out the possibilities
her task, rather than likely to be of Dee in that of The Famous History of inherent in the decentralizing power of
use to the general reader. It is, perhaps, Friar Bacon
Friar Bacon’; and of German chapbooks electricity, and advocates the immediate
unfortunate that the publication of the in that of Friar Rush. The most socializing of this force, so that it may
edition referred to so nearly synchronizes interesting of them is undoubtedly the be made truly beneficent before its utility
with her own, since a comparison of Bacon story, and even after we have is circumscribed by private ownership.
editorial treatment, which she would be removed from it the Faust contaminations We fear that he shows lack of knowledge
the last to desire, is inevitable.
and the folk-tale anecdotes, a certain sub- in his assertion as to the uniform level of
stratum is left testifying to the existence prices. They are no more level than the
Some Old English Worthies. Edited, with of a popular tradition of Bacon. We rate of wages, though in the former case
Notes and Introduction, by Dorothy know that, contrary to the ordinary the inequality is far more to the advan-
Senior. (Swift & Co. )
notion, a considerable amount of atten- 'tage of the poor. Another matter in
## p. 589 (#441) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
589
once
we
one
which we think Mr. Villiers wrong is severe to the end will be rewarded by his any copy now in existence of any sub-
in stating that
chapter on ‘Nation-Building. ' Here the stantial part of the Bible. ”
idealist, the enthusiast, is allowed
" the typical Liberal or Socialist who gets
The importance of a Biblical MS. which
into Parliament becomes more and more
to encourage visions of the future in point of date takes rank with the three
conformed to the likeness of his master, with its international co-operation, and great uncial codices known as the Vatican,
the average British working man. "
the fulfilment of the idea, now dimly the Sinaitic, and the Alexandrine can
The atmosphere of what was
entering men's minds, that if a divine hardly be over-estimated; but there is
called the best club in London will purpose be granted in the making of our
even more in it than may appear at first
want changing before that can be true. world, then surely it was made for man-
sight. The codex bears valuable and
Mr. Villiers's statement on p. 131 that not man for it.
decisive testimony to the high antiquity
“the man who enters politics will end Our differences with the author are of the Coptic version of the Holy Scrip-
-a politician " is more to the point. those of opinion. Of actual mistakes tures, and it also strongly supports the
He puts very fairly, too, what case have not detected any, though general accuracy of certain traditions
there is for those who are always here and there the author is hardly regarding the history of Christianity in
clamouring for more work for the people sufficiently up to date-for instance, in Egypt, which a number of critics have
without specifying the sort of work, and giving prominence to The Morning Leader, been much inclined to doubt. On the
who advocate as the first essential the circu- and omitting all mention of new Labour former point Dr. Kenyon, whose contribu-
lation of money_rather than the right dailies.
tion to the present volume will be specially
spending of it. Here are his words :- -
referred to presently, writes as follows :-
“ If there be any slackening in the demand
Since the character of the mistakes in
for an anti-social thing, the people employed Coptic Biblical l'exts in the Dialect of bility of its being an original translation,
this Codex is such as to preclude the possi.
.
There will be unemployment and poverty,
Upper Egypt. Edited by E. A. Wallis it is fair to argue that the version itself must,
all the weight of which will fall upon them ; Budge. (British Museum. )
in all probability, have come into existence
while even if the money saved be spent Egypt is the land of literary discoveries
before the end of the third century; while
in some more useful ways, other people
it may, of course, be yet older. ”
and not they will get the benefit of it. par excellence. Besides the mummies,
Their interests, their personal and immediate the monumental inscriptions, the pyra of certain traditions, Dr. Budge, with
On the question of the authenticity
interests at least, are bound up with the mids, and the stelæ, which it possesses in
evil thing; the success of their lives depends such rich abundance, that ancient land
equal emphasis, declares that
upon its growth and prosperity: When holds embedded in its soil, or secreted in the evidence afforded by our papyrus
their daily bread is threatened, it is no use
talking platitudes to them about the
its antique buildings, large quantities of Codex tends to confirm early monastic
'interest of one being the interests of all. priceless papyri capable of throwing floods traditions concerning the spread of Chris-
They see clearly how a change will affect of light on topics in which humanity tianity in Egypt,”
them, only dimly the good it may do to will never cease to be deeply interested. so that there is, to take the most salient
the world as a whole. They know very | At
time a
new papyrus of the instances,
well that if their trade is ruined, they and Book of the Dead comes to light; at
those they love will be ruined also ; and another an ancient mathematical work is
good reason for believing that Anthony
the very strength of the Guarantist instinct unrolled before our eyes ; on another
did hear the Scriptures read in his village
within them, the instinct on which we must
church in his native tongue, and that many
normally depend for the advance of demo- occasion, again, compositions like the of the earliest monks in the deserts of
cracy itself, will compel them to resist. ” Aristotelian treatise on the Constitution Nitria, the Red Sea, and Upper Egypt,
of Athens or the poems of Bacchylides learned to repeat the Psalms and whole
Such sentimental pleading is hard to
are added to our literary treasures ; and Books of the Bible by heart from Coptic
eradicate, but people do not deserve to be
considered educated until they realize Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B. C.
a few years ago, quite suddenly, Jewish and not from Greek manuscripts. "
For a detailed description of the codex
that fault lies in using even the minimum
were unearthed at Elephantinê in Upper we must refer the reader to the printed
of energy wastefully, when the maximum Egypt. Such finds make one wonder volume itself
, which also offers a most
used to the best advantage will not free what further things may yet be in store for useful aid to appreciation in the shape
the country of evil for many a long year us in the near or distant future. One of of excellent photographic reproductions
to come.
the several not unreasonable expectations of several pages of the MS. , including
We cannot agree with Mr. Villiers that
that may be entertained is that some the Coptic note in a Greek cursive hand
Government departments, when slack, day a pre-Massoretic form of the Old at the end of the Acts of the Apostles,
should be allowed to compete with private Testament text will be found, such as which has been a decisive factor in the
enterprise; we prefer the idea that such
was used by the Septuagint translators determination of date. Our own task
a period should be the opportunity of at Alexandria. If that should ever hap- must rather be to furnish an account,
the Development Commissioners. Perhaps pen, Bible students all over the world will together with an appraisement, of the
the fact that some of his statements are so
be presented with a great sensation in work accomplished by the learned editor
bald as to be misleading may be accounted this literary field.
and those who have given him their
for by the attempt to deal with such
The find with which we have to deal on active, scholarly support.
enormous subject in one portable
For instance, on p. 229 he says
the present occasion is neither sensational
volume.
After giving an exhaustive external
nor epoch-making, in the usual sense of description of the codex, with a clear
that,
those terms, but it is highly interesting indication of the extent to which the Book
taking the country as a whole, there are and instructive all the same. The ripest of Deuteronomy, the Book of Jonah, and
far fewer women than men eligible for and best expert knowledge available has the Acts of the Apostles are preserved
membership of Trade Unions ; this means
been brought to bear on the question of in it, Dr. Budge proceeds to a comparison
that a vast majority of the (Labour] party the date that is to be assigned to the of this form of the Coptic version with
are men. '
papyrus codex from which the Coptic other forms of it, as well as with the
Some day the shortsighted policy of version of Deuteronomy, the Book of respective Greek portions of the Bible
early trade - unionism with regard to Jonah, and the Acts of the Apostles are on which it is based. The many textual
women will have to meet the fierce light here reproduced, and as a result we have facts here accumulated will no doubt be
of the examining publicist.
the emphatic declaration that it cannot scanned with great care and attention.
Many readers may become somewhat be later than the middle of the fourth On a number of critical details other
depressed whilst reading through Mr. century, and that it is, therefore, not only scholars may find themselves at variance
Viſliers's two hundred odd pages of plain “ the oldest known copy of any translation with Dr. Budge, but there can hardly be
common-sense, and may even suspect him of any considerable portion of the Greek a doubt as to the correctness of the
of lack of enthusiasm, but those who per- Bible," but also “probably as early as general results of his investigation.
an
9
## p. 590 (#442) ############################################
590
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
66
66
The comparison of “the text of Deutero- Novum Testamentum Græce,' and he In the same sale there is a long letter to
nomy as it appears in this papyrus Codex then compares extracts from the texts Jane Clairmont, produced jointly by Shelley
with such portions as are extant of the of the Apocalypse published by. Goussen, hard talk about Byron in it. The first sheet
and his second wife, with a great deal of
versions which were current between the Ciasca, and Delaporte from Sahidic MSS.
seventh and eleventh centuries” has led of various dates with the Coptic of the Shelley; the second is wholly in Shelley's
was written by Mary after consultation with
to the conclusion" that when the papyrus present volume.
writing; and the poet appears to have
was written, the Coptic text of Deutero-
In the last part of the Introduction taken a fresh sheet and gone on with a
nomy had already
been fixed. ” Regard- the learned editor supplies an historical sentence, left unfinished by his wife because
ing the Book of Jonah, Dr. Budge finds sketch under the heading Christianity there was no more room on her sheet.
that “the Coptic text agrees generally in Egypt and the Coptic Version of the
Another Byron MS.
in the same sale, of
with the received text,” though“ there Old and New Testaments. " We have very high interest as a relic, is a quarto
,
are many small variants which agree with already quoted from this part a sentence of Don Juan attacking Wellington read
sheet containing in his writing that passage
readings given by A and Q of Dr.
relative to the evidence in confirmation to Hobhouse at Pisa in September, 1822.
Swete's list. Blunders of various kinds of early monastic tradition afforded by It had been intended for the opening of the
are numerous in the Acts of the Apostles ;
the papyrus
codex. But Dr. Budge aims third Canto, but was ultimately reserved
and, as all the
three Biblical Books are sup at going beyond this. He begins his for the ninth, all but two stanzas which
posed to have been copied by the same
Apollos the Alexandrian relate to Juan and Haidee, and with a slight
scribe, it is rather difficult to explain why Jew," who had knowledge of the alteration were made to serve alone as the
the Acts should be so much
more faulty than baptism of John," and touches upon all opening of Canto JI! ! The variations from
III.
the two other Books. Dr. Budge seems the successive important data that interit seems, from a transcript thought to have
the text of the Wellington passage, printed,
to waver between attributing the mistakes vened between Apollos and the date of been made by the Countess Guiccioli, are
to the archetype from which the copy was
the papyrus codex. In referring to the not very striking; whereas the poet's
made and ascribing them to the ignorance tradition, current among the Copts
, " that aplomb in dealing with the situation created
and carelessness of the scribe.
the first Patriarch of their Church was by the temporary withdrawal of that pas.
Dr. Budge's general conclusions are Ananius, who was appointed by St. Mark, sage from Canto III. is distinctly character.
authoritatively enforced by the precision who is said to have visited Alexandria istic. After finishing with thỏ Duke, he
had written :
and cogency of Dr. Kenyon's remarks in about the year A. D. 64,” Dr. Budge says:
Part VII. of the Introduction. In addi- “ That this tradition is substantially
Now to my Epic-We left Juan sleeping, &c. ;
tion to the sentence already quoted from true there is no good reason for doubting. but when he decided to let Canto III. begin
this section, it is necessary to state that But it is only right to remark that such with the stanza of which that was the first
in Dr. Kenyon's view the collation of the a question can hardly be decided in this line, he altered it to
sixty select passages from the Acts of the
manner. The mere fact that neither
Hail, Muse! et cetera. -- We left Juan sleeping-
Apostles set out in Prof. Sanday's ' Ap. Clement nor Origen says anything about
pendices ad Novum Testamentum Ste- the supposed sojourn and work of St. which is richer metrically and much more
phanicum,' with the Coptic version con- Mark at Alexandria is, indeed, sufficient racy. .
tained in the papyrus codex, tends to to make one pause before venturing upon
confirm
an affirmative answer.
“ the evidence of the later Sahidic MSS. , Of the printing of the volume, it is THE EARLY CHRONICLES OF
on which we have hitherto been dependent, enough to say that it was done at the
SCOTLAND.
and to establish still further the character | Oxford University Press, and we believe
of this version as one of the best authorities that the photographic reproductions were
Monrieth, May 20, 1912.
for the text of the New Testament. ”
also prepared under the expert care of with my sketch of the early Scottish chro-
Your reviewer has dealt very leniently
Mr. Horace Hart.
As an object-lesson of the care with
nicles. I have not the book at hand to
which the literary treasures acquired by
refer to, but I feel that I must have expressed
the British Museum are treated, the con-
myself very ambiguously in referring to
tribution to this volume by Mr. Bell of
David Macpherson, the editor of Wyntoun,
the MSS. Department should be mentioned. SHELLEY AND BYRON AUTOGRAPHS. In stating that he was the son of a tailor
Even the cover of the important codex
in Edinburgh,” so far from suggesting, any
AUTOGRAPH collectors will have a rare disparagement, I intended it as a tribute
was made to yield some interesting little Byron and Shelley chance next Friday, to his attainments in the teeth of what
possessions, which Mr. Bell describes for when Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge must have been circumstances unpropitious
us with great clearness. A small vellum will offer at auction a well-known letter to independent study. I regret that your
fragment apparently. of the fourth century, well-known one relating to it from Byron base descent”
from
an equally reviewer should have imported the term
the handwriting being not dissimilar
into relation with the
to the Vaticanus,” is shown to contain | 1821, about the proposed burning of á entered into my head to regard, as less
to Moore. They are the letters of December, parentage of Macpherson, which it never
Theodotion's Greek version of Daniel i. sacrilegious priest described by Shelley as honourable than that of the great Orientalist,
17-18; and there are besides fifteen his " fellow serpent,”
a phrase explained by Dr. Alexander Murray, son of the shepherd
fragmentary Greek papyri in cursive Byron as a buffoonery” of his own,
of his own, of Dunkitterick in my native Galloway hills.
script of the third to the fourth century, founded on the words my aunt the re-
HERBERT MAXWELL.
thirteen of these being accounts, and the nowned snake used by Goethe in his
remaining two contracts.
* Faust' to describe the serpent who tempted
Eve. In his letter to Moore, Byron appears
Besides the contents of the papyrus to have spelt the demon's name Mephis-
BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.
codex, which formed the chief raison tofeles,” not“ Mephistofilus” as in Byron's
d'être of this publication, the volume
· Letters and Journals' (1901, v. 496), or
ON Thursday and Friday in last week Messrs ·
includes the Apocalypse of St. John in Mephistopholes " as in Medwin's Life of Sotheby held a sale of books and manuscripts
which included the library of the late Sir J. D.
Coptic, printed from a paper MS. of the Shelley' (ii. 230). But the point for the
Hooker, &c. , the most important lots being the
British Museum, written in a fine bold autograph collector is that in this “lot,” in following:
A Collection of over 2,000 pamphlets on
four
hand of the twelfth century. A facsimile concerned, the holograph letters of Shelley the Birds of Europe, 9vols, 1871-96, 62. Apabering
French , 501. Dresser, History of
of a page of this MS. is shown on plate x. , and Byron are on one and the same piece of Platonicus, Herbarium, printed at Rome, c. 1884
the nine other plates representing dif- paper, Byron having written and signed his 53. Milton, Areopagitica, 1644, 211. gloamne sie
ferent pages of the papyrus codex. The note to Moore on the back of Shelley's to
Cuba, , &. , 1491, 351. Sir
W. J. Hooker and others, Icones Plantarum,
treatment of this part of the Coptic his lordship. A note on this composite 30 vols. , 1837-1911, 671. Edwards's Botanical Re-
. , signed “M. ," says
Aunt gister, 33 vols. , 1815-47, Sir J. D. Hooker,
taken from the papyrus codex. Dr. Muhme : surely Byron was justified in Botany, 1845; Flora Nova Zelandiæ, 2 vols. , 1853-
1855; and , 2 . , 1860
Greek text printed in Prof. Suter's equivalents of that word.
, a vols. , 1840, 201. The
total of the sale was 1,4881. 14s.
>
66
>
66
.
1
## p. 591 (#443) ############################################
No. 4413, May 25, 1912
591
THE ATHENÆUM
sense
verse
numerous
element they all have in common, and this,
A Witch, a Witch is sleeping. . . . "
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. as might have been foreseen, reduces itself
The shrillness ebbed away;
to the affirmation of the existence of
And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,
Hard on the track of day.
(Notice in those columns does not preclude longer God, with the conviction that it is not
review. )
In the poem 'Arabia,' in Where,in a
Tbeology.
by reasoning, but by a holy life, that
man can attain to Him. The most interest-
score of the briefest and lightest of lyrical
Bardsley (Rev. J. U. N. ), THE CHURCH OF ing papers are those by Father Hetherington pieces, he achieves exquisite musical effects,
ENGLAND AND HER ENDOWMENTS, 2/ net.
on the Roman Church, and Mr. Grubb on
He has an effective simplicity:-
Skeffington the 'Friends. "
A very old woman
Lives in yon house-
Six sermons with special reference to the
The squeak of the cricket,
Welsh Disendowment Bill, preached in the
Poetry.
The stir of the mouse,
Lancaster
Are all she knows
Parish Church, January and
Of the earth and us.
February, 1912. They form an excellent state- Anderson (J. Redwood), THE MASK, 4/ net.
ment of the position of the Church of Eng-
Oxford, Thornton ; At present his poetry is all lightness and
land in regard to endowments, and should
London, Simpkin & Marshall fancifulness. But he has charin, and a
do good service in correcting the widely These productions of Mr. Anderson's are beauty of form rare enough to-day, com-
prevailing misconceptions on the subject. in some cases positively unreadable, owing bined with a definite vision.
The author's attitude towards the Reforma- to their wilful ugliness, poor wording, and
tion, and his doctrinal statements, will here undue length. If his 'Hymenæal Ode?
Henderland (George), THE HEART OF BRUCE.
and there provoke dissent on the part of had been purified by a rush of real passion,
Paisley, Gardner
those members of the English Church who, we might pardon its lack of reticence.
This story of the Bruce in alternately
if they cannot submit to the Papacy, yet Buckeridge (E. G. ), SPINDRIFT, 3/6 net.
rhymed decasyllabics is a model of neat
hold by the full Catholic tradition.
and correct versification, of measured and
Stock subdued rhythm. But the whole poem is
Case (Shirley Jackson), THE HISTORICITY OF The author of 'Spindrift' has imagination dull and monotonous.
It dozes through
JESUS, A CRITICISM OF THE CONTENTION and a perception of the beauty of nature, nearly sixty pages in somnolent grace,
THAT JESUS NEVER LIVED, A STATEMENT together with a
of rhythm. He and lacks the spice of life and imagination.
OF THE EVIDENCE FOR HIS EXISTENCE, gives us the impression of being facile,
AN ESTIMATE OF HIS RELATION TO but this facility will, unless he is severe
Herbert (A. P. ), Play HOURS WITH PEGASUS,
CHRISTIANITY, 6/ net.
on himself, tend to become his chief danger.
1/ net.
Oxford, Blackwell
Illinois, University of Chicago; Some of the is sentimental, but
Mr. Herbert's light verse is of the con-
London, Cambridge University Press scattered through the volumne are several ventional University type. Its effect de-
The author has set himself the task of good lines, and the latter part of When We pends chiefly on neat metrical arrangements,
defending the belief in the existence of are Old ’ is simple and sincere. It is a pity unusual rhymes, topical allusions, and a
Jesus from the point of view of “liberal ? that in more than one instance Mr. Bucker- blend of colloquialism and “ literary lan-
theology, i. e. , without recourse to the super- idge has spoilt his poem by putting in too guage.
With deftness above the ordinary:
natural. We could wish the first part of the many verses.
he sings of his Bath, of Airmen, of “ Toggers,
book had been somewhat longer and fuller.
of Compulsory Greek, and so on, in such a
No line of attack has been omitted, nor is De la Mare (Walter), THE LISTENERS, AND
way as to raise continual faint smiles, but
there failure to indicate the line of reply ;
OTHER POEMS.
Constable never a peal of laughter.
two or three points have, indeed, been ade-
In metrical skill Mr. De la Mare is scarcely
quately discussed, and we are glad to ac-
surpassed, or indeed equalled, by any of Kelleher (D. L. ), POEMS 12 A PENNY.
knowledge that the
foot-notes
the younger English poets. He can turn
Liverpool, ' The Liverpool Courier. '
show the reader where to go for verification
from one metrical form to another with The author makes an anthology of his
of what has been told him. Still, the effect confidence and success, and shows rightness verse, which with sublime self-con-
of the critical portion of the work is, on the But there is something much more than
and certitude in his rhythm and diction. fidence and in large lettering he calls 'The
whole, that of something more hurried and
Fine Melody of my Feelings. We can only
slight than it need have been. The state prosodical excellence in his poetry. He is dimly surmise the quality of the rejected
ment of the evidence for the traditional view not a philosopher like Mr. Abercrombie. pieces.
seems to us much better and more forcibly He is not a reformer like Mr. Masefield. Nor,
done.
on the other hand, is he one who sings with Lounsbery (G. Constant), POEMS OF REVOLT,
the bird-like spontaneity of Mr. Davies. But AND SATAN UNBOUND, 3/6 net.
Ferguson (G. A. ), How A MODERN ATHEIST there is in his poetry much of the sweetness
Gay & Hancock
FOUND GOD.
Lindsey Press of song; in its musical quality it is direct,
The writer of ' Poems of Revolt' is a slave
A not very successful expression of the concrete, sensuous. But purely spontaneous, to his desire to make rhymes, and has an
personal experience of one of whose artless poetry has limitations which with unfortunate habit of selecting unpoetic and
sincerity there is as little doubt as of the hold from the poet the widest exercise of his ugly words. The theme of the play 'Satan
repellent egotism which colours the story gift. Mr. De la Mare could not achieve his Unbound' is no less a one than the divinity
of his “almost unique experience. "
variety and wonderful modulations of metre of discontent; but, owing to a lack either
Isaacs (Abram S. ), WHAT IS JUDAISM ? A if poetry had not been for him a technical of technical accomplishment or critical
SURVEY OF JEWISH LIFE, THOUGHT, study as well as an inspiration. It is im- perception, Mr. Lounsbery never rises to
AND ACHIEVEMENT, 5/ net.
possible not to recognize the subtle influence the height of his argument, and is sometimes
Putnam's
of Rossetti-both in matter and form—and grotesque.
A collection of a number of essays con-
in a more obvious way that of Coleridge.
tributed within recent years to various He gets something of that wistfulness, Meyrat (Emile Louis), EURYDICÉAN, A POEM.
periodicals, presenting along different lines
Boudry, Switzerland, Baillod
that shy spirituality, which Rossetti loved,
the message and meaning of the Jew's something also of the mingled grotesque- M. Meyrat scours heaven and earth for
religion and history. What the author has
ness and sweetness of Coleridge.
metaphors, analogies, and similes, Alinging
to say in vindication of Jewish character and
Mr.
