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Although these maps are of the eighteenth century the fundamental characteristics of the cities carry back well into the preceding age. A particular aspect of Evelyn's wide interests is treated, also, by Mr. W. Barclay Squire in Evelyn and Music (T. L. S., Dec. 10). Students of seventeenth-century literature too often pass by the musical enthusiasm of the period, and this article serves an excellent purpose in calling attention to an often neglected subject.

Finally may be noted a number of miscellanea which deal with minor features of Restoration literature. Professor Mario Praz has been doing excellent work lately on the metaphysical poets, and in his articles on Stanley, Sherburne, and Ayres as Translators and Imitators of Italian, Spanish, and French Poets (M. L. R., July and Oct.) he has at least touched on Restoration ground, for Philip Ayres produced his Lyric Poems Made in Imitation of the Italians in the year 1687. Professor Praz's skill in detecting literary parallels is well-nigh amazing, and he has succeeded in tracing almost all the sources of Ayres's verses. Marino, Preti, Achillini, Tassoni, de la Vega, Quevedo, Abati, Guarini, and Petrarca are all imitated or translated here, and we seem to see in this collection a relic of the old sonneteering fashion when Petrarca, Serafino, and Desportes lorded it over whole realms of English literature.

In R. E. S. (April) Mr. Thorn-Drury has notes on an unrecorded issue of Jordan's Money is an Asse, under the title Wealth out-witted: Or, Money's an Ass, and on an equally unknown Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1686) by Thomas Flatman. Another note by Mr. Thorn-Drury in the same periodical for January announces the discovery of the burial record (20 March, 1684) of Matthew Stevenson. Mr. Dennis Arundell endeavours (T. L. S., June 4) to identify the play of Squire Trelooby with The Gordian Knot Untied, bringing forward some facts which go far towards proving his theory, although Mr. W. J. Lawrence (June 11) finds himself dissatisfied with the evidence.

These last scattered notes indicate the many diverse minor problems which are being attempted by various students. The research work goes well ahead with the literary appreciation, and out of the two a clearer and still clearer view of the period as a whole is slowly being obtained.

X

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

[By EDITH J. MORLEY]

In this survey of last year's work bearing upon the eighteenth century the first place is given to reprints.

The Abbey Classics' are among the most attractive of these at a cheap rate, and Roxana1 is as welcome as the others of the series. Defoe's romances are interesting documents and it is well that they are being made accessible to a wider public.

In a biographical note at the end of his beautiful reprint 2 of The Rape of the Lock, Mr. Hugh Macdonald says that while it is based typographically on the octavo of 1714, and reproduces its illustrations, it is not intended to be a facsimile. On the contrary, the text has been set up from an octavo of 1718 which gives ... the text of 1717, while preserving the format and illustrations of 1714' and incorporating the altered readings of 1735 and 1751.

Dr. Teerink has for the first time accurately reprinted The History of John Bull 3 from the original pamphlets and carefully collated the text with that of the 1727 edition, from which he also adds the foot-notes. Further, he has made an exhaustive investigation into the disputed authorship, which has led to the conviction that the evidence in favour of Swift is overwhelming. 'In the manner of thought, style or expression', he writes, 'there is hardly a page in the five tracts where we do not meet

1 Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress, by Daniel Defoe, ed. by R. Brimley Johnson. Simpkin Marshall. pp. xii+322. 3s. 6d. net.

2 The Rape of the Lock, by Mr. Pope. Haslewood Reprint. Etchells & Macdonald. pp. 60. 7s. 6d. net. Limited edition of 725 copies.

The History of John Bull for the first time faithfully reissued from the original pamphlets, 1712, together with an investigation into its composition, publication and authorship, by Dr. H. Teerink. Amsterdam: H. Paris. pp. 250.

with some indication of Swift's hand. The parallels, drawn chiefly from The Examiners, The Conduct of the Allies, and A Tale of a Tub, are clear and unmistakable.' Dr. Teerink disposes of Swift's 'definite assertions in the Journal that Arbuthnot is the writer' by the theory that Arbuthnot supplied certain 'hints' which his friend worked out, e. g. the allegorical treatment of the war as a lawsuit of long duration, entailing great expenses and debts'. It is known that Arbuthnot made similar suggestions in other cases, inter alia, A History of the Maids of Honour since Harry the Eighth, and the same example shows that Swift thought that not the author, but the originator of the idea, ought to pass for the father of the piece'. The modern practice is different, and Dr. Teerink has fairly established the case for Swift's authorship, and at the same time settled a longstanding critical difficulty.

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Of the Golden Cockerel edition of Swift's Directions to Servants no criticism is required beyond the statement that it is equal to the best of the series—a true édition de luxe. Paper, print, spacing, are alike beautiful, and the illustrations are worthy of their setting.

5

How Cibber would have rejoiced to finger the sumptuous Golden Cockerel edition of his Apology, with its beautiful type and paper, finding in it, doubtless, full compensation for the neglect of his other writings and even for Pope's attacks. But indeed the Apology cannot be neglected, even in the shabby calf bindings to which we are accustomed, for it gives us the very stuff of the comedy of manners, and a series of stage portraits which no lover of theatrical history would willingly let die.

We are not altogether clear why the reprint is from the 1756 instead of one of the 1740 editions. Possibly this accounts for the absence of the sub-title-With an Historical View of the Stage during his Own Time-which casts real light on the contents of the book.

Directions to Servants, by Jonathan Swift, with Decorations by John Nash. The Golden Cockerel Press. pp. 36. 18s. 6d. net.

An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber, written by Himself. The Golden Cockerel Press. Two vols. pp. xii + 160 and 164. Limited edition of 450 copies. 36s.

Nor are we reconciled to the modern modifications of spelling and punctuation', which spoil the flavour of a book so typically of its own age that we grudge even the loss of an old-fashioned capital. Moreover, it would not be difficult to show that the 'modern modifications' are only partially carried out and leave one in doubt whether they are even intended to be consistent. These are, however, minor points which do not seriously detract from the beauty of this edition.

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6

In a Textual Note' at the end of the beautiful Porpoise Press reprint of Fergusson's Scots Poems, Mr. Bruce Dickins calls attention to the universal corruption of the text in editions subsequent to the author's death in 1774. This is due in part to carelessness of editors or printers, in part the result of attempts to reduce what we have every reason to believe is Fergusson's own language and orthography to a real or fanciful standard'. In the present edition the original text is restored, the poems being reproduced in the traditional order and as exactly as may be from the latest print which the author could possibly have overseen'.

The Garrick Playbook edition of Tom Thumb the Great is one of a series of old plays designed for amateur production on an improvised' Elizabethan' stage with the simplest of curtain'scenery' and properties. The scenes are very slightly shortened to fit them for modern production and there are full directions for the production, and 'considerably amplified' stage directions. There are also notes on the life and work of Fielding and on Tom Thumb. The edition should help to revive interest in a play which used to be extremely popular and which is still full of vitality while the heroic drama, which it burlesques, is forgotten by all but students.

8

Mr. Beresford's handy and excellent selection of Gray's Letters &

Scots Poems, by Robert Fergusson, faithfully reprinted from The Weekly Magazine and the editions of 1773 and 1779. Porpoise Press. Limited edition of 550 copies. pp. xii+ 92.

Tom Thumb the Great, by Henry Fielding. Ed. by John Hampden. Wells, Gardner & Darton. pp. xxxviii+50. 2s. net.

8 Letters of Thomas Gray, selected by John Beresford. O.U.P. pp. xxii+ 396. 28. net.

ranges over the whole and actually contains about one-half of all Gray's letters', and, like other volumes in the World's Classics, it is obtainable for two shillings. There seems little to add to this bald statement of fact, except an endorsement of the editor's summary that 'The letters ... contain not only the most charming, but the only really adequate account of a personality fascinating in an extraordinary degree'. Mr. Beresford includes Gray's Journal of his visit to the Lake District in 1769, and bases the text of the letters on Tovey's standard edition and on Dr. Paget Toynbee's Correspondence of Gray, Walpole, West, and Ashton.

9

Mr. Rice Oxley has edited another volume of SmollettHumphry Clinker-for the World's Classics, and in an introduction of not quite ten pages manages to compress a large

amount of excellent criticism.

A very useful reprint of Peter Wilkins,1o which first appeared anonymously in 1751, will be welcome to all who are interested in those tales of adventure in imaginary lands which followed in the wake of Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver. It would have been still more serviceable had it contained an adequate introduction dealing with the author's life and the bibliography of his book.

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The story begins in the familiar fashion. The hero, after many adventures, is shipwrecked by himself near the South Pole. He is carried thro' a subterraneous Cavern into a kind of new World', where he lives alone until he mates with a flying woman and goes with her among her people, of whose laws, customs, and manners he gives an account. He introduces new schemes of government, which are fully described and are extremely interesting, their date and purport being taken into consideration. The Utopian plans are a foretaste of the Revolutionary ideas which were already becoming popular, while the story itself shows great powers of imagination.

• The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, by Tobias Smollett. L. Rice Oxley. O.U.P. pp. xx + 440. 2s. net.

Ed. by

10 The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornishman by R. S. a passenger in the Hector, by Robert Paltock. Dulau. pp. 416. 8s. 6d. net.

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