THE monument to Virgil at Pietole (which is supposed to be the Andes of
the Romans), near Mantua, was unveiled lately.
* * * * *
THE death of a popular Russian novelist, B. M. Markievich, on the 30th
of last month, is reported from St. Petersburg.
* * * * *
THE original autographs of the love-letters addressed by John Keats
to Miss Fanny Brawne in the years 1819-20 will be sold by Messrs.
Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge the first week in March, together with six
unpublished autograph letters of Charles Lamb.
* * * * *
A PAMPHLET by Madame E. Coulombe is announced for immediate publication
by Mr. Elliot Stock. This lady was associated with Madame Blavatsky
for some years, and in this _brochure_ tells what she heard and saw of
Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophists with whom she came in contact in
India and elsewhere.
* * * * *
TRINITY COLLEGE, Dublin, is about to start a new paper with the
title _The Dublin University Review_. The first number will appear
on February 1st, and the issue will be bi-monthly, except during the
long vacation. The paper will contain literary articles as well as
university news of every description, and will be owned by a limited
liability company.
* * * * *
THE Incorporated Society of Authors propose to send a deputation to the
Prime Minister to urge the codification of the Copyright Acts, which
are fourteen in number. Several of the chief publishers, not of books
only, but also of prints and music, will be asked to join.
* * * * *
A CONFERENCE of elementary teachers, international in its character,
has been summoned to meet at Havre. This is the first conference of the
kind which has been organized in France, and it is expected that the
Government will make a grant in aid of the expenses.
* * * * *
THE article on Polish history and literature in the next volume of the
“Encyclopædia Britannica” will be from the pen of Mr. Morfill, who will
also contribute the articles on the Emperor Paul, and on Peter the
Great.
* * * * *
MR. LOWE, correspondent of the _Times_ at Berlin, is engaged in writing
a biography of Prince Bismarck, which will appear next spring.
* * * * *
M. SCHLUMBERGER, the well known numismatist, and M. Benoist have
lately been elected members of the Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres.
* * * * *
AN exhibition is to be held in the Imperial Library at Constantinople
of Turkish writing, bookbinding, and illumination, for which prizes are
to be given.
* * * * *
ONE of the most important scholastic reforms now in progress in Turkey
is that relating to the study of the Arabic language. As now conducted,
this study absorbs years in a desultory way which might be applied
to the acquisition of other branches of knowledge. With the view to
abridge the course of study without impairing its quality, the Sultan
has determined on founding a special medresseh for teaching Arabic
on a scientific basis, and for this purpose has purchased from the
funds of the civil list the property of the Guedik Pasha Theatre at
Constantinople.
* * * * *
THE long lost and often found commentary on the “Atharva-veda” seems at
last on its way to publication. The whole of the commentary has not yet
been found, but two-thirds of it are now in the hands of the pandits
of Poona, who will prepare a critical publication of both text and
commentary. The text of the “Atharva-veda” was published in the early
days of Vedic scholarship by Roth and Whitney, and the latter scholar
has lately published a very useful index.
* * * * *
WE are enabled to state, says the _Athenæum_, that a popular edition of
Her Majesty's recent work, “More Leaves from the Journal of a Life in
the Highlands,” is in the press, and will be ready for publication in
the course of a few weeks. The new edition will contain all the woodcut
illustrations which appeared in the original edition, together with
wood-engravings of the portraits, and will be uniform with the popular
edition of the Queen's previous work, “Leaves from the Journal of our
Life in the Highlands.”
* * * * *
MR. ALEXANDER DEL MAR, according to the _Academy_, formerly Director
of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States, whose _History of
the Precious Metals_ was published in 1880, has in the press a work
on _The History of Money from the Earliest Times to the Middle Ages_,
upon which he has been occupied for many years past. It will shortly be
published by Messrs. Bell & Sons.
* * * * *
FROM the _Academy_ we quote the following amusing paragraph:
“The _Magazin für die Literatur des In- und Auslandes_ continues to
be unfortunate when it meddles with the English language. Many of
our readers will be acquainted with Victor Scheffel's charming German
song—referring, we believe, to Heinrich von Ofterdingen—which has the
refrain, 'Der Heini von Steier ist wieder im Land.' The _Magazin_ of
January 10 publishes an 'English' translation of this poem, by Johanna
Baltz, from which we quote the following specimen:—
“'To finches and swallows tells sweet nightingale:
“The song of a violin fills woodland and vale!
Ye twitt'ners, ye singers, now silence your cant—
Hark, Heini von Steier returned to his land!”
“'Shoemaker is waving his furcap in glee:
“The merciful heaven forgets neven me!
Now shoes will be costly, soleleather gets scant—
Hark, Heini von Steier returned to his land.“'”
* * * * *
THE eighty-ninth birthday of Dr. Ranke (December 21st) has excited
interest throughout Germany, and elicited many expressions of the
respect universally felt for him. The strength of the venerable
historian defies the increase of years, and he works daily at his home
in Berlin on the history which he hopes to complete.
* * * * *
MR. C. E. PASCOE has issued a prospectus on the publication of
English books in America. He says in effect that, though the lack of
international copyright is one reason why English authors derive but
little profit from the sale of their works in America, another and
graver reason is, that as a class, they are in ignorance of the means
for getting the best out of existing conditions. The usual method of
procedure is for the English publisher to make proposals to an American
publisher, or for the representative of an American firm in London to
submit proposals to his principals in the United States. Mr. Pascoe
points to the danger of losing a lucrative sale that this method
entails. His prospectus, which is accompanied by letters from American
publishers and some well-known English authors, is worth attention. Mr.
Pascoe's address is 6 Southfields Road, West Hill, Wandsworth, S. W.
* * * * *
AN early and hitherto unknown Arabic work has lately been added to
the Museum Library. It is entitled “Kitāb al-Mohabbir”, and contains
various historical notices and traditions relating to the ancient
Arabs and to the time of Mohammed and his immediate successors. The
author, Abu Sa'id al-Hasan al-Sukkari, lived in the third century
of the Hijrah, and is well known as one of the earliest editors and
commentators of the old poets, but the present work appears somehow to
have escaped notice; it is neither mentioned in the Fihrist, nor by Ibn
Khallikan or Soyuti. The two last-named authors state that Al-Sukkari
died A.H. 275; but according to Ibn Kāni' (Leyden Catalogue, vol. ii.
p. 8) he lived on to A.H. 290. The present work would show that the
former date is decidedly wrong; for it contains a brief sketch of
the Abbasides brought down by Al-Sukkari himself to the accession of
Al-Mo'tadid, _i.e._, A.H. 279.
* * * * *
AMONG other recent additions to the Arabic collection, the following
are especially deserving of the attention of scholars: the earliest
extant history of the Moslem conquest of Egypt, Africa, and Spain,
by Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, who died A.H. 257, a twelfth century copy;
“Zubdat al-Tawarikh,” a history of the Seljuk-dynasty, written shortly
after its extinction, about A.H. 620, by Sadr al-Din Abul Hasan Ali
Ibn Abul Fawaris Nasir Husaini, a fine and apparently unique copy of
the thirteenth century; “Kitab al-Osul,” an extensive and hitherto
unknown work on Arabic grammar by one of the earliest writers on the
subject, Ibn al-Sarraj, who died A.H. 316, handsomely written, with all
vowels, A.H. 651; a fine and valuable copy of the “Makamat al-Hariri,”
written by a grandson of the author, A.H. 557 (_i.e._, forty years
after Hariri's death), and consequently earlier than any copy of that
standard work known to exist in European libraries.
* * * * *
THE numbers of ladies attending the King's College classes at
Observatory Avenue have been very high during the term that has just
ended. The entries were nearly 600, which is a larger number than has
been reached since the first year, 1878, when the classes started, and
the present house hardly affords room for such numbers.
* * * * *
IT is not generally known that the _Times_ attains its hundredth year
on the 1st of January, 1885. The prevailing notion is that the year in
which it was founded was 1788, the truth being that the 940th number
of the journal appeared on the first day in that year. The mistake is
due to confounding a change in the title with the foundation of the
journal. The actual facts are set forth in an article which Mr. Fraser
Rae contributes to the January number of the _Nineteenth Century_.
Amongst other things which will attract notice in that article is a
verbatim copy of the inscription on the tablets affixed in honor of the
conduct of the _Times_ in the case of Bogle _v._ Lawson in 1841, by a
committee of bankers and merchants of the City, in the Royal Exchange,
and over the entrance to the _Times_ printing office. As these tablets
are placed where the inscriptions on them cannot easily be read, and as
copies of these inscriptions are not given in the works dealing with
the City, the copy in the _Nineteenth Century_ is a piece of historical
information which will be novel to most readers.
* * * * *
THE last number of _Shakspeariana_ contains the somewhat surprising
statement that Prof. Kuno Fischer is a convert to the Bacon-Shakspere
theory, and will lecture upon it at Heidelberg this winter. From the
same periodical we copy the following curious paragraph:—
“A very remarkable discovery has been placed on record by the Hon.
Ignatius Donnelly, who claims to have proof positive that Bacon was
the author of Shakspere's plays. This is accomplished by means of
a cipher which Bacon twice describes, whereby one writing could be
infolded and hidden in another. The words of the hidden story have
a definite relation to the acts and scenes of the plays, which is
determined by counting. Attracted by 'I. Henry IV.'; II., i., ii.,
iv., and IV., ii., in which he found the words 'Francis,' 'Bacon'
(twice), 'Nicholas' (twice), 'Bacon's,' 'son,' 'master,' 'Kings,'
'exchequer,' 'St. Albans'—the name of Bacon's place of residence—and,
in IV., ii., 'Francis' repeated twenty times on one page, Mr. Donnelly
applied his key to it, with the following result:—Elizabeth during
the Essex troubles became, as is known, incensed at the use made of
the play of 'Richard II.,' in which is represented the deposition and
killing of the King; and she made it one of the points of prosecution
which cost Essex his head, that he had hired the company of players
to which Shakspere belonged to represent it more than forty times in
open streets and in tavern yards, in order to prepare the public mind
for her own deposition and murder. History tells us that she caused
the arrest of Haywarde, who wrote a prose narrative of the deposition
of Richard II. and dedicated it to Essex, and he narrowly escaped a
State prosecution. Mr. Donnelly shows that at the same time Shakspere
was arrested as the author of the plays; he was threatened with the
torture, and disclosed to the officers of the Crown the fact that Bacon
was the real author of the plays. Bacon threw himself on the protection
of his uncle, Lord Burleigh, the great Lord Treasurer, who saved him
from exposure and prosecution, but revealed the truth to Elizabeth; and
this is the explanation of the fact, that, as long as Elizabeth lived,
she kept Bacon out of office and in poverty.”