NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
If among the writers of the present day there is one whose opinion with regard to Robin Hood and the cycle of ballads of which that renowned outlaw is the hero would be looked for with anxiety and received with respect, it is the Rev. Joseph Hunter, a gentleman in whom are happily combined that thorough historical and antiquarian knowledge, and that sound poetic taste which are required to do justice to so interesting a theme. The announcement, therefore, that the fourth of Mr. Hunter's Critical and Historical Tracts is entitled The Great Hero of the Ancient Minstrelsy of England, Robin Hood. His Period, real Character, &c., investigated, and perhaps ascertained, will be received with welcome by all who rejoice "that the world was very guilty of such ballads some three ages since," and who, loving them and their hero, would fain know something of the history on which they are founded. Mr. Hunter dissents, and we think rightly, from two popular and recent theories upon the subject,—the one, that which elevates Robin Hood into the chief of a small body of Saxons impatient of their subjection to the Norman rule; the other, that which reduces him to one among the "personages of the early mythology of the Teutonic people." Mr. Hunter, on the other hand, identifies him with one "Robyn Hood" who entered the service of Edward II. a little before Christmas 1323, and continued therein somewhat less than a twelvemonth:
"Alas then said good Robyn,
Alas and well a woo,
If I dwele longer with the kynge
Sorowe wyll me sloo:"
and the evidence which he adduces in favour of our popular hero having been one of the Contrariantes of the reign of the Second Edward; and the coincidences which he points out between the minstrel testimony of the Little Geste and the testimony of records of different kinds and lying in different places, will, we are sure, be read with great interest even by those who may not think that our author has quite succeeded in unmasking the "Junius" of those olden times.
Richmondshire, its Ancient Lords and Edifices: a Concise Guide to the Localities of Interest to the Tourist and Antiquary; with short Notes of Memorable Men, by W. Hylton Longstaffe, is a pleasant, chatty, and amusing guide to a beautiful locality, which the author describes as "the capital of a land whose riches of romance are scarcely exceeded by any other in England, the chosen seat of its own Earls, the Scropes, Fitzhughs, Marmions; and those setters up and pullers down of kings, the richest, noblest, and most prudent race of the North, the lordly Nevilles:" and which as such may well tempt the tourist and antiquary to visit it during the coming autumn. Those who do will find Mr. Longstaffe's little volume a pleasant companion.
Books Received.—The second volume of Charlotte A. Eaton's Rome in the Nineteenth Century, containing, a Complete Account of the Ruins of the Ancient City, the Remains of the Middle Ages, and the Monuments of Modern Times, which completes this lady's excellent guide to the Eternal City.—The second volume of Miss Thomasina Ross's well-executed translation of Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America during the Years 1799-1804, is the new volume of Bohn's Scientific Library.—The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature; to which are added Two Brief Dissertations; on Personal Identity, and on the Nature of Virtue; and Fifteen Sermons, by Joseph Butler, D.C.L., late Lord Bishop of Durham.—The new volume of Bohn's Standard Library is deserving of especial mention. It is a reprint of Bishop Halifax's Standard Edition, with the addition of Analytical Introductions, and Notes by a Member of the University of Oxford; and we have no doubt will be found a really useful popular edition, such as may allure to the careful study of one of the best works in our language those minds which, without such help, might shrink from the task.