j QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BOOK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 20

j QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BOOK

Anton Mepsing discovered a book Queen Elizabeth once possessed, and he took it to Amsterdam. Now he is dead, and the book returns to England, to be auctioned next month. It is to be hoped it will stay here. The book is bound in brown calf and em« bellished with a Tudor rose, a crown, and the initials E.R. It contains the Queen's favourite speeches in Latin by Isocrates the Greek. All the legends about Isocrates help us to understand how his qualities would attract the lion-hearted Queen. During the reign of the Thirty Tyrants Critias denounced Theramenes, and Isocrates was the only man brave enough to beg for his life. When he lost his fortune he opened a school, which became famous, but he only took fees from aliens, and taught his fellow Athenians for nothing. He was no dreamer, but wrote in stirring terms about the questions of the hour and the burning need of Greece to unite under one leader to defeat poverty, class hatred, civil war, and the menace of Asia. His hopes were crushed when the Battle of Chaeronea laid Greece at the feet of Philip of Macedon, and he died four days later, some say because he refused to eat, and others because the shock killed him. Milton believed this: As that dishonest victory At Chaeronea,.fatal to liberty, Killed with report the old mani eloquent. Such patriotism went straight to the heart of the Queen who faced the Armada. Isoci'ates was born in 435 8.C., and Elizabeth in 1533, but they were kindred spirits. It would be pleasant if the book she loved were to stay for ever in the country she loved.

THE PERFUME PEDLAR. (Original.) Buy, come and buy, Sweet fairies all, Here Is »Spring's sweet perfume, From the violet small* Fresh from the woodland gi&de*, From the fairies' secret bowers. Fresh as the early sunlight—A perfume from Spring's own flowers, Buy, come and buy, Fairies bright and say, Here is the Summer's perfum% Sweet as a blossom in May. With the-fragrance of a rose. Mingled every summer flower. Perfume you will cherish. Or treasure every hour. Buy, come and buy. Fairies younß and old, For hero is Autumn's perfume. Scent from her heart of gold. Kach phial holds its message, Breathes Its scent so fair. Come! For 'tis the time to buy. This perfume—sweet and rare. Buy, come anil buy. For in each tiny bottle. Winter sends Iter token. Fresh as the yellow wattle. Telling of wintry sunshine. Flooding the woods and dells. Winter's only fragrance Made from fairy, spells. "LILAC? (lS)w