400 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"d S. X. Nov. 17, '60. 



tunately, the Utopias of revolutionists cannot always last, 

 and in the year 1807 the new French government de- 

 cided upon continuing the publication of the Histoire 

 Litteraire de la France. M. Daunou was one of the gen- 

 tlemen selected to prosecute the work, and he took a 

 most active part in the performance of these interesting 

 duties. Besides composing separate biographical articles 

 on Saint Bernard, Otho Frisingensis, Maurice de Sullj', 

 Philip Augustus, Geoffrey de Villehardoin, Thomas Aqui- 

 nas, Vincent de Beauvais, and a host of other writers, he 

 drew up, on the state of literature. during the thirteenth 

 century, the brilliant and comprehensive sketch which is 

 now reprinted in M. Ducrocq's collection. A morceau like 

 the one we are now alluding to may deserve notice from one 

 of two causes which are not necessarih' connected toge- 

 ther. In reviewing the works of mediasval writers, in 

 descanting upon the qualities of an idiom now well-nigh 

 forgotten, or of institutions which have quite disap- 

 peared, it is perfectly possible to display all the plodding 

 patience of a book- worm, all the discrimination of a sa- 

 gacious historian, combined with a tedious stj'le and a 

 lifeless, colourless system of composition. Note may suc- 

 ceed note in an uninterrupted chain, valuable discoveries 

 may even be made, and a fresh light shed over facts or 

 personages hitherto badly'or imperfectly understood; still 

 the book will be comparatively unknown from the clumsj', 

 repulsive way in which it has been composed, and none 

 but sauawfe will ever think of referring to it. With M.Dau- 

 noM's Discours sur VE'tat des Lettres, it is quite otherwise : 

 we are at a loss whether we should admire most his deep 

 learning or his elegant style of expressing himself, and 

 the lucid, agreeable manner in which he unfolds the re- 

 sults of his investigations is only equalled by the real 

 value of those investigations. 



The Dlscours begins by a general sketch of the ecclesi- 

 astical and political state of Europe during the thirteenth 

 century. M. Daunou characterises in a few words the 

 crusades, the wars of the Guelfs and Ghibelines, the con- 

 dition of England, the reigns of Louis IX. and Philip the 

 Bold in France ; then turning to the state of society he 

 gives us a brief account of the institutions connected with 

 chivalry; the history of the University of Paris follows 

 afterwards, leading naturally to the more immediate sub- 

 ject of the essay, viz. a survey of the progress made in 

 the various branches of science, art, and literature. It is 

 not difficult whilst reading this Discours to see that M. 

 Daunou's sympathies are by no means in favour of 

 medieval institutions : he writes still under the influence 

 of the sensationalist philosophy which Condillac had ren- 

 dered so popular ; he dislikes scholasticism as a form of 

 ecclesiastical despotism, and his admiration for the classi- 

 cal models embodied in the works of Boileau, Racine, and 

 Corneille prevents his enjoying Guillaume de Lorris, Jean 

 de Menng, or the poetry of the troubadours. Still his 

 appreciations are generally correct, and if they are not 

 made from the laudatory point of view which some other 

 historians would have adopted, they seem to us at the 

 same time extremely impartial. In conclusion, M. Dau- 

 nou's Discours will preserve its place as one of the most 

 valuable items in the collection so judiciously begun by 

 M. Ducrocq. 



Catalogue de la BiUiotheque de M. Filix Solar. 8vo. 

 Paris, Techener. 



O fortunatos nimium ! .... Thrice happy the modern 

 Dibdins, the rivals of Debure, Charles Nodier, Peignot, 

 and Van Praet, who, well supplied with the sinews of 

 war — and of bibliomania — will be able to visit M. 

 Solar's Hotel in Paris, on the 19th of the present month 

 et jours suivants, and there to bid for, purchase, and carry 

 away some of the book-wonders just now accumulated in 

 that gentleman's sumptuous library. From the adver- 



tisements contained in the various" daily and weekly 

 papers we perceive that the season of bibliographers is 

 now commencing, and certainly it could not begin more 

 brilliantly than by the dispersion of the extraordinary 

 collection here alluded to. It is not our business to 

 inquire why M. Solar has been induced to part with 

 literary treasures the gathering together of which must 

 have cost him such labour and such expense ; but a mere 

 glance at the descriptive list compiled by M. Paul La- 

 croix will give an idea of the strong temptations held out 

 to the lovers of scarce and valuable works, and artistic 

 bindings. The Catalogue of M. Solar, comprising 3148 

 articles, is peculiarly rich in the department of French 

 literature ; poets, dramatists, romances of chivalry, fa- 

 cetia3 of unfrequent occurrence, are here judiciously 

 assembled; ten old editions of Montaigne, four (exceed- 

 ingly rare) of Villon, six of Bonaventure des Periers' 

 Joyeux Denis, fifteen of Clement Marot. Except M. Solar 

 we know of no other amateur whose library can boast of 

 a complete set oi first editions of Racine, Corneille, Boi- 

 leau, La Fontaine, La Bru}'fere, La Rochefoucauld, Bos- 

 suet, Molibre. The bindings, we have already hinted, 

 are almost all specimens of real art, and the names of 

 Groslier, de Thou, Padeloup, Boze'rian, Bauzonnet, Ni^- 

 dr^e, occur at every page. 



GUSTAVE MaSSON. 

 Harrow-on-the-Hill. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO PUaCHASE. 



Farticniars of Price, &o. of the following Books to be sent direct to 

 the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and ad- 

 dresses are given for that purpose : — 



Bertin, Capt. Joseph. The Noble Game of Chess. Small 8vo. Lon- 

 don, 1735. 



Bland, N. Persian Chess. London, 1850. 



BRtTisH Miscellany. 1839. 



C(azenove), J. A Selection of curious and entertaining Games at Chess. 

 London, 1817. 



Game OK War ; or, improved Game of Chess. 8vo. London, 1793. 



Head, W. S. The New Game of Social Chess. Small 8vo. London, 

 1834. 



Kassim, Gholam and Jas. Cochrane. Analysis of the Muzio Gambit. 

 Small 4to. Madras, 1839. 



Painter, W. Companion for the Draught Player. 8vo. London, 1787. 



PoHiMAN, J. G. Polish Draushts. 1st Ed. London. 



The Game of Draughts. 8vo. London, 1823. 



SoovENiR of the Bristol Chess Club. 8vo. London, 1815. 



Saul, Arthur. The famous Game of Chess-play. 8vo. London, 

 1614, 1672. 



Singer, S. "W. Researches 5;»to the History of Cards. 4to. London, 

 1816. 



Stratagems of Chess. 1st, 2nd, and 5th Editions. London, 1817— 26. 



Thkory of Chess. 8vo. London, 1801. 



Thevanoadacharta Shastree. Essays on Chess. 4to. Bombay, 1814. 



Twiss, Richard. Miscellanies. 8vo. London, 1805. 



Walker, Geo. New Variations on the Muzio Gambit. 12mo. Lon- 

 don, 1831. 



New Treatise on Chess. 3rd Ed. Small 8vo. London, 



1841. 



Wanted by Williams fy N'orgate, 14. Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 

 London, W.C. 



The Bidle in Dutch. Large folio. Leyden. By de weduwe end 



erffgenamen .van Johan Elzevier. 1663. Perfect or imperfect. 

 ^I^T0RIES OF Cumberland. 

 Books in Tudor or other early English bindings. 

 Wanted by Rev. J. C. Jadcson, 5. Chatham Place East, Hackney, N.E . 



^atittS t0 C0r«;S|i0ntrcnt^. 



Mr. Gardineh's article on James I. and the Recusants will appear in 

 our next. 



Jonathan Oldbuck is thanked for his cominunication ; he will find he 

 has been anticipated in our last number. 



" Notes and Queries" t» published at noon on Friday, and is alio 

 issued in Monthly Parts. The subscription for Stamped Copies for 

 Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers {including the Half- 

 yearlji Index) is Us. 4d., which may be paid by Post Office Order tn 

 favour of Messrs. Bell and Daldy,186. Fleet Street, E.G.; to whom 

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