DOI Heft:
No. 165 (December, 1906)
DOI Artikel:Reviews and notices
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20716#0298
Reviews and Notices
influence; notes how great an effect the passing of
the praise of gardens into literature had on the
culture and discovery of plants, and comments on
the causes of the great changes in taste that have
come about during the last century. A true lover
of the old-fashioned formal garden, he mourns over
its decline. He for one can see little to admire
in the styleless plantations of the present day, in
which he says "flowers run riot and no bedding
system is followed." There are beautiful flowers
and lovely green grass still, he admits, but no
modern grounds can compare with Nonsuch, Moor
Park, Sheen, Hampton Court, and other fine crea-
tions produced " when people wrote and thought
about and planned their gardens, not only grew
flowers in them." Beginning with the monastery
garden at Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire, and ending
with Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, the latter designed
by Le Notre, Mr. Gloag passes in able review a
considerable number of historic gardens, and spares
a few pages to those of certain humble country
cottages, to which he pays a just tribute of admira-
tion, recognising " that the passion for flowers and
the love of colour which is born of their beauty is
to be seen in them more than anywhere else."
Early English Prose Romances. Part II.—
Robin Hood. Text after Wm. J. Thoms. Illus-
trated and ornamented by Harold Nelson.
(Edinburgh : Otto Schulze & Co.) 12^. 6d. net.—
No less attractive as an example of fine printing
than the first part of this work, which contained
" The Lyfe of Robert the Deuyll" (reviewed in
The Studio for June 1905), this reprint of " The
Noble Birth and Gallant Achievements of that
Remarkable Outlaw, Robin Hood," will perhaps
appeal to a wider public, for there must be few
indeed who as children have not been deeply
fascinated by this tale of the olden time. The
same admirable qualities which distinguished Mr.
Nelson's drawings in the first part are here in
evidence, and are completely in keeping with the
spirit of the narrative. The borders and the head
and tail pieces are especially meritorious, and we
think are marked by more assurance than some of
the full-page illustrations, where a certain amount
of hesitation is observable.
Picturesque Brittany. By Mrs. Arthur G.
Bell, with illustrations in colour by Arthur G.
Bell. (London: Dent.) icy.6if.net.—This attrac-
tive book is a record of a trip in Brittany of
several weeks' duration, supplemented by a general
account of the whole of the province. Mrs. Bell
deals in an interesting manner with the characteris-
tics of the Bretons, and touches the historical and
278
legendary side of her subject with her accustomed
insight into its results, as shown in the present-day
characteristics of the peasantry. Her descriptive
powers find their true channel in such a work as
this, and the charm of her writing entirely dispels
from her pages, full of carefully-acquired informa-
tion as they are, that suggestion of the guide-book
which is not always inseparable from works of this
kind. It is refreshing as the impressions of a
student and lover of beauty whilst travelling
through a province so essentially interesting as
Brittany, both in regard to its inhabitants and the
character of the country. The illustrations of
Mr. Arthur Bell display his sense of colour and
highly-skilful draughtsmanship in dealing with the
difficulties of street architecture, and in composing
his pictures as effective illustrations to such a
brightly-written book.
Westminster Abbey : Its Story and Associations.
By Mrs. Murray Smith. (London: Cassell.) 6s.
net.—As the daughter of Dean Bradley, who passed
away soon after the Coronation of King Edward
VII., at which he assisted, Mrs. Murray Smith has
had exceptional facilities for studying the beautiful
building that was under her father's care for so many
years and with which she has been familiar from early
girlhood. Her "Annals of Westminster Abbey,"
published some thirteen years ago, at once took
rank amongst the standard works on the subject,
but it is now necessarily to a certain extent out of
date, and the new condensed edition just issued
under a different title, that contains all that was
essential in its predecessor, and brings the story
of the Abbey down to 1906, will be gladly
welcomed by all who are interested in the grand
old church that has been for centuries so inti-
mately associated with the national life.
Saunterings in Spain. By Frederick H. A.
Seymour. (London : T. Fisher Unwin.) 105. 6d.
—Although he lays no claim to original research
and has given to his interesting volume so very
unpretentious a title, Mr. Seymour has evidently
been a most thoughtful student of the history of
the Moors in Spain, an able summary of which he
gives before describing the towns visited by him,
where their influence is still most clearly seen.
He dwells on their extraordinary administrative
ability contrasting so remarkably with the weak-
ness of the race they conquered ; declares that the
latter owed to them all that they learned of the
arts of peace and much of those of war; traces the
gradual amalgamation between the two originally
hostile peoples, and brings out very forcibly the
fact that during their seven hundred years' co-
influence; notes how great an effect the passing of
the praise of gardens into literature had on the
culture and discovery of plants, and comments on
the causes of the great changes in taste that have
come about during the last century. A true lover
of the old-fashioned formal garden, he mourns over
its decline. He for one can see little to admire
in the styleless plantations of the present day, in
which he says "flowers run riot and no bedding
system is followed." There are beautiful flowers
and lovely green grass still, he admits, but no
modern grounds can compare with Nonsuch, Moor
Park, Sheen, Hampton Court, and other fine crea-
tions produced " when people wrote and thought
about and planned their gardens, not only grew
flowers in them." Beginning with the monastery
garden at Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire, and ending
with Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, the latter designed
by Le Notre, Mr. Gloag passes in able review a
considerable number of historic gardens, and spares
a few pages to those of certain humble country
cottages, to which he pays a just tribute of admira-
tion, recognising " that the passion for flowers and
the love of colour which is born of their beauty is
to be seen in them more than anywhere else."
Early English Prose Romances. Part II.—
Robin Hood. Text after Wm. J. Thoms. Illus-
trated and ornamented by Harold Nelson.
(Edinburgh : Otto Schulze & Co.) 12^. 6d. net.—
No less attractive as an example of fine printing
than the first part of this work, which contained
" The Lyfe of Robert the Deuyll" (reviewed in
The Studio for June 1905), this reprint of " The
Noble Birth and Gallant Achievements of that
Remarkable Outlaw, Robin Hood," will perhaps
appeal to a wider public, for there must be few
indeed who as children have not been deeply
fascinated by this tale of the olden time. The
same admirable qualities which distinguished Mr.
Nelson's drawings in the first part are here in
evidence, and are completely in keeping with the
spirit of the narrative. The borders and the head
and tail pieces are especially meritorious, and we
think are marked by more assurance than some of
the full-page illustrations, where a certain amount
of hesitation is observable.
Picturesque Brittany. By Mrs. Arthur G.
Bell, with illustrations in colour by Arthur G.
Bell. (London: Dent.) icy.6if.net.—This attrac-
tive book is a record of a trip in Brittany of
several weeks' duration, supplemented by a general
account of the whole of the province. Mrs. Bell
deals in an interesting manner with the characteris-
tics of the Bretons, and touches the historical and
278
legendary side of her subject with her accustomed
insight into its results, as shown in the present-day
characteristics of the peasantry. Her descriptive
powers find their true channel in such a work as
this, and the charm of her writing entirely dispels
from her pages, full of carefully-acquired informa-
tion as they are, that suggestion of the guide-book
which is not always inseparable from works of this
kind. It is refreshing as the impressions of a
student and lover of beauty whilst travelling
through a province so essentially interesting as
Brittany, both in regard to its inhabitants and the
character of the country. The illustrations of
Mr. Arthur Bell display his sense of colour and
highly-skilful draughtsmanship in dealing with the
difficulties of street architecture, and in composing
his pictures as effective illustrations to such a
brightly-written book.
Westminster Abbey : Its Story and Associations.
By Mrs. Murray Smith. (London: Cassell.) 6s.
net.—As the daughter of Dean Bradley, who passed
away soon after the Coronation of King Edward
VII., at which he assisted, Mrs. Murray Smith has
had exceptional facilities for studying the beautiful
building that was under her father's care for so many
years and with which she has been familiar from early
girlhood. Her "Annals of Westminster Abbey,"
published some thirteen years ago, at once took
rank amongst the standard works on the subject,
but it is now necessarily to a certain extent out of
date, and the new condensed edition just issued
under a different title, that contains all that was
essential in its predecessor, and brings the story
of the Abbey down to 1906, will be gladly
welcomed by all who are interested in the grand
old church that has been for centuries so inti-
mately associated with the national life.
Saunterings in Spain. By Frederick H. A.
Seymour. (London : T. Fisher Unwin.) 105. 6d.
—Although he lays no claim to original research
and has given to his interesting volume so very
unpretentious a title, Mr. Seymour has evidently
been a most thoughtful student of the history of
the Moors in Spain, an able summary of which he
gives before describing the towns visited by him,
where their influence is still most clearly seen.
He dwells on their extraordinary administrative
ability contrasting so remarkably with the weak-
ness of the race they conquered ; declares that the
latter owed to them all that they learned of the
arts of peace and much of those of war; traces the
gradual amalgamation between the two originally
hostile peoples, and brings out very forcibly the
fact that during their seven hundred years' co-