360
NOTES AND QUERIES.
n. OCT. 29,
<now eagerly sought, and that those works which
constitute what Mr. Slater calls " the aristocracy
-of the bookshelf " mount in price, and pass out of
the reach of all but our collector princes. How
long this state of things will last, and whether with
brightening commercial days average books will
regain their value, are matters on which it is not
safe to prophesy. We could furnish suggestions as
to the cause of the falling-off in prices were the
occasion apposite, or were it our cue so to do.
'Considerations of space prohibit, however, such
indulgence, and existing conditions as chronicled
by Mr. Slater must be left to preach their own
lesson. The average price per lot of the sales in
1904 has fallen from 31. 7*. 10d. in 1901 to 21. 9s. 3d.
-Since 1901, indeed, the declension has been steady,
and the point now reached is lower than it has
been since 1896, when the average was 11. 13s. IQd.
The item of most importance in the year's sale was
the original MS. of the first book of the 'Paradise
Lost,' which was bought in for 5,000?. in January.
It came with a direct pedigree from Jacob Tonson,
the bookseller, by a deeply interesting letter from
whom it was accompanied. This contains an excel-
lent arraignment of Bentley for his edition of Milton,
and supplies curious information as to the rela-
tions between the poet and Sir William D'Avenant.
It is very interesting to find Tonson in 1731 describ-
ing Milton as " the admiration of England and its
- greatest credit abroad." Much matter of hardly
less significance is to be found in a volume that is inferior in interest to none of its predecessors.
The Poetical Works of John Milton. By the Rev.
H. C. Beeching. (Frowde.)
POUR and a half years ago we drew attention to this edition of Milton as the best, in all respects, for the lover and the student of Milton (see 9 th S. v. 198). It is reprinted from the first edition, with facsimile title-pages, and with the original text. We spoke of it also as "an unmistakable boon," and have since had it in constant use, to the virtual exclusion of all other editions. It is now included in the Oxford two-shilling edition of the poets, and
- so is brought within the reach of all classes. No
lover of poetry can afford to be without it in one of the shapes in which it has appeared.
NEWS of the death of Lady Dilke, which occurred
on the 24th inst. at Pyrford Rough, Woking, came
as a profound shock to ourselves, and will be received
as such by very many of our readers. Born at
Ilfracombe on 2 September, 1840, the fourth
daughter of Major Henry Strong, H.E I.C.S., and
/granddaughter of Samuel Strong, U.E.L., of
Augusta, Georgia, and educated by a sister of
Thomas Edward Bovydich, of Ashantee fame, Emilia
Francis Strong married first, in 1862, Mark Pattison,
the celebrated Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford,
and secondly, in 1885, the Right Hon. Sir Charles
Wentworth Dilke, Bart., M.P. She developed at an
early age literary ability and artistic appreciation,
was a contributor to the Saturday Review in its best
days, and wrote chiefly on fine art in regard to which
she was an expert in many periodicals, English and
foreign, including the Gazette des Beaux- Arts and the
Art Journal. During some years she was art critic
to the Academy. Her publications include a life
of Lord Leighton, contributed to "Dumas' Modern
.Artists," ' Renaissance of Art in France,' ' Art in the
Modern State,' ' Claude Lorrain d'apres des Docu-
ments inedits,' ' Shrine of Death and other Stories/
4 Shrine of Love and other Stories,' ' French Painters
of the Eighteenth Century,' ' French Architects
and Sculptors of the Eighteenth Century,' ' French
Decoration and Furniture in the Eighteenth
Century,' and * French Engravers and Draughtsmen
of the Eighteenth Century.' The four works last
named constitute her chief accomplishment in
a line in which she had, in this country, no
rivals, are admirably illustrated, and form a
brilliant history of that delicate eighteenth-cen-
tury art which attained in French painting,
sculpture, architecture, and designs its highest
development.- An active part was taken by her in
the Women's Trade Union League, of the com-
mittee of which she was an indefatigable member.
In our own columns she wrote on her special
themes, and on subjects such as the 'Chevalier
Servandoni,' ' Jinrikshas,' ' Pin-pricks as a Political
Phrase,' * Perelle's Etchings,' * Pyramus and
Thisbe,' ' When all the world was young, love ! '
and 'Strong's Bluff.' She was very proud of her
connexion with the United Empire Loyalists, and
of the sufferings undergone by her grandfather and
her great-uncle in the Southern States. Those privi
leged to enjoy her intimacy know how great was
the range of her knowledge and how wide that of
her social sympathies. Under her sway her draw-
ing-room perpetuated the attractions and advan-
tages of the salons of past days, she herself pre-
siding with admirable tact and distinction over
brilliant and delightful gatherings, and pouring
a flood of illumination over the themes discussed.
We may, perhaps, on her behalf alter Steele's
celebrated declaration concerning Lady Elizabeth
Hastings, since to have known her, which was equal
to having loved her, " was a liberal education."
Lady Dilke was an enthusiastic bibliophile, and,
besides the priceless French Elzevirs in which she
delighted, had a collection of early French poetry.
s iff
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