Mr. Disraeli's work, entitled _Commentaries on the Life and Reign of
Charles the First_, has been pronounced by one of the great critical
authorities of our own days, "the most important work" on the subject that
modern times have produced. Those who differ from Mr. Disraeli's view of
the character of the king and the part he played in the great drama of his
age may, in some degree, dissent from this eulogy. None will, however, deny
that the work, looking to its anecdotical character, and the great use made
in it of sources of information hitherto unemployed, is one of the most
amusing as well as interesting histories of that eventful period. While
those who share with the editor, Mr. B. Disraeli, and many reflecting men,
the opinion that in the great questions which are now agitating the public
mind, history is only repeating itself; and that the "chapters _on the
Genius of the Papacy; on the Critical Position of our earlier Protestant
Sovereigns with regard to their Roman Catholic Subjects_, from the
consequences of the oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy; _on the Study of
Polemical Divinity prevalent at the commencement of the Seventeenth
Century_, and kindred themes, are, in fact, the history of the events, the
thoughts, the passions, and the perplexities of the present agitated
epoch," will agree that the republication of the work at this moment is at
once opportune and acceptable.
We have received a copy of Dr. Rimbault's _Musical Illustrations of Bishop
Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: a Collection of Old Ballad
Tunes, chiefly from rare MSS. and Early printed Books, deciphered from the
obsolete Notation, and harmonized and arranged according to Modern Usage_.
If any thing could add to the extensive popularity which Percy's work has
continued to enjoy ever since its first appearance, (for have we not
Washbourne's handsome reprint of it, published within this year or two?) it
must be the quaint and racy melodies, the "old antique strains," to which
these fine old ballads were anciently sung. Dr. Rimbault, who combines
great musical acquirements with a rich store of antiquarian knowledge, in
giving us these, has produced a work as carefully executed as it is
original in its character; one which can only be exceeded in interest by
the _Musical Illustrations of Shakspeare's Plays_, which we are glad to see
promised from the same competent authority.
We are at length enabled to announce that _The Treatise on Equivocation_,
so often referred to in our columns, is about to be published under the
editorship of Mr. Jardine, whose attention has long been directed to it
from its connexion with the Gunpowder Conspiracy; and whose intimate
acquaintance with that subject, as shown in his _Criminal Trials_, is a
sufficient pledge for his ability to do justice to this curious and
important historical document.
We regret to learn, from the _Catalogue of the Museum of Mediæval Art,
collected by the late Mr. Cottingham_, which has been very carefully drawn
up, with a preface by Mr. Shaw, that, if the Family are disappointed in
disposing of the Museum to the Government, or by private contract, it will
be submitted to Public Sale in April next, and a Collection of the most
ample and varied examples of Mediæval Architecture ever brought together,
which has been formed at a vast outlay both of labour and cost, will be
dispersed, and be thereby rendered inaccessible and valueless to the
architectural student.
The Rev. W.H. Kelke has published some _Notices of Sepulchral Monuments in
English Churches_, a work which is not intended for professed antiquaries,
but for that large class of persons who, although they have some taste for
the subject of which it treats, have neither time nor inclination to enter
deeply into it, and as will, we have no doubt, be very acceptable to those
to whom it is immediately addressed.
We regret to announce the death of one of our earliest and most valued
contributors, Professor T.S. Davies of Woolwich. "Probably few men in
England," says the _Athenæum_, "were better versed in the methods of the
old geometers, or possessed a more critical appreciation of their relative
merits." His death is a great loss to geometrical science, as well as to a
large circle of friends.
We have received the following Catalogues:--Stacey and Co. (19. Southampton
Street, Strand) Catalogue of Books chiefly relating to History, Commerce,
and Legislation; G. Bumstead's (205. High Holborn) Catalogue of Interesting
and Rare Books on the Occult Sciences, America, Asia, &c.
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