SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as tare not been reserred for review in other forms.] What Great Men have Said about Great Men. By William Wale. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 7s. 6d.)—This "Dictionary of Quotations," containing some five hundred names, each of them the text, so to speak, for a number of quotations, is likely to be a very useful book. At the moment of writing we have the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy in mind. Let us see whether Mr. Wale will help us with his "Dictionary." It has been said by Baconians that Shakespeare was little noticed by contem- poraries or writers of the next generations. Note, then, how his list stands,—Ben Jonson, William Besse, the Duke of Buckingham, Denham, Milton, Dryden. Now for Francis Bacon,—only Ben Jonson and Dryden. Why should we not turn the tables and declare that Shakespeare wrote what is attributed to Bacon ? —Another volume of quotations may be mentioned at the same time,—Ideals of Life and Citizenship, chosen by C. E. Maurice (F. R. Henderson, 2s. Gd.) "The object of this present selec- tion is to interest students in the higher ideals which may be learned from our greatest writers." So Mr. Maurice, and what could be a better aim ? He does not take Mr. Rudyard Kipling% view. To him the soldier's life is not the "lordliest upon earth!' Indeed, there is obvious disposition to depreciate war and extol peace. This may be very serviceable just now. But we cannot help thinking that Mr. Maurice does not always represent the whole mind of all the writers whom he quotes.
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