LITERARY WORLD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 52

LITERARY WORLD.

«, ■ A monograph of Cardinal Manning will be issued shortly by Mr Heinemann. Its author, M. de Fressense, is a well-known French journalist, who has an intimate / acquaintance with English life and literature. M. de Pressense writes the " Bovne » dv MMoms n for Oosmopolis, a survey of international politics from the French standpoint, similar to that from the British point j of view which Mr Henry Norman contributes' ; to the same magazine. • . • A really pathetic paper in a recent number of Blackwood's Magazine is " A , Product of the P.oor Law," a typical work- ; house girl, tolerably well educated, but still , without the semblance of an awakened soul, j For the first few weeks after coming to her i flew abode she did nothing but stare at the gardens full of unknown things growing, the lively movements and games of the children, the comings and the goings about her. Even j 'the oabbages were wonders to her, and she ' Jbad no notion that they were things to be teaten; while salad, rhubarb, and the commonest herbs were unknown and regarded \ With suspioion — a suspicion whjch she did pot surmount for a long time. She did not t know what an egg was ; such luxuries, as j well as vegetables— everything but pota- '• jtoes — being unknown in the monotonous jdaily care of tho great prison-like house in ;wbioh she had been bred. All that she knew o'jC fruit was represented by half an orange which she had been used to receive bn Christmas Day. She had never eaten bacon. In fact, the very commonest actions )&nd Bights of the poorest home-reared ohild were quite strange and unknown to her. t

, *.* There has recently been published In fcwo volumes the "Life and Correspondence jot Archbishop Magee," one of the most | eloquent men who ever sat on the Eogllah | episcopal benoh. Canon Macdonnell is the j Author of the work, or rather its editor, for the greater part of it oonsists of Dr Magee'a letters. A singular passage ooours in one of j the letters bearing npon the position of the | bishops in the House of Lords. ' No one at ! all familiar with the Upper House can have helped being impressed with the f aot that the bishops are only tolerated by the peers. Here is Dr Magee's allusion to this notable phenomenon :—" lam thoroughly sick of episcopal life in Parliament, where we are j bated by the peers as a set of parvenus < brhom they would gladly rid themselves of if | tbej dared, and only allowed on janfEeranoe j to speak now and then on ohuroh questions Wfter a timid and respeotful sort of way." The status of the English clergy hat been ! considerably elevated since the days of which Shielding wrote, when the olergyman was jplaced on the level of the servants' ball. But, for all their devotion to the Ohuroh of England, the attitude of the English aiistocraoy jto its clergy Is still compounded of hauteur Wnd good-humoured contempt. Contrast Swith this Mr Gladstone's unquestioning reverence, and bis notorious deference even to a curate, be he ever so young and callow. ) • . • If proof were wanting of the fertility of Miss Braddon'a imaginative resource, it ■would be found in her latest novel, " London jPride," whioh has just been published by Slmpkin, Marshall, and Co, Some 30 years jßgo her "Lady Audley's Seorefc" oreated a Bchool of sensational fiction, while her latest Iwork presents us with ajrioture of historical ■romance. The reign of Charles II is the period during which the web of this interesting story is woven, and some of the moßt prominent oharaoters of the time are brought before the reader, recalling "episodes upon which the student of history will delight to clwell. The scenes whioh embrace a fife ab Whitehall during that picturesque age when Charles II lived there, the Fire of London, jand others whioh Miss Braddon introduces With her accustomed dramatic effect must, to necessity, be fruitful of attraction to a wide feirole of readers. The story circles round the fortunes of two daughters of Sir John Kirkland, a faithful adherent of the House of jßtuart. In following them there are glimpses given of such notable personages as Lady Castlemaine, Clarendon, Pepys, Rocheeter, Wnd hosts of others who loomed largely on the horizon of the political and intellectual life of the time. Towards the end of the ißtory we find ourselves in the Court of "King's Benoh in Westminster Hall, witsoessing a trial, whioh suggests that in the matter of legal procedure we have since that jjbime made considerable progress for the fetter. The Btory is told in Miss Braddon's »est style. *, ■ Mr H. LinoolnTangye'B book, " In New South Africa" (Horace Oox), Is the personal experiences of the author during his travels In the Transvaal and Rhodesia. Starting ■with the s.s. Soot, the writer gives an Interesting account of the journey and life on board the vessel until its arrival at Capetown* where he leaves it and prooeeds norms tni

desert, describing in a very comprehensive' manner the various matters of interest he encounters in his travels. He tells us that "in size the Transvaal is about equal to the total area of the Britißh Isles, and its population, white and native, is about 800,000, of which probably 170,000 are white. It is admirably watered, being bounded on the I south by the' broad Vaal River and the less important Buffalo. The Olifants River pierces to tho centre, while for 300 miles and more, on its northern and western frontier the great Lempopo flows, fed by six great arteries on the Transvaal side alone." Part II of hiß book Mr Tangye entitles " Rumbles in Rhodesia." It gives a pleasing sketch of that vast country which has been added to the empire by the enterprise of Mr Cecil Rhodes. In tha chapter "Gold-mining Ancient and Modern" Mr Tangye gives many pictures of mining life and its surroundings. He thus describes an evening in one of the district! :— " We have a glorious sunset this evening, and it demonstrates the benefit of living an absolutely outdoor Ufa in South Africa during its winter, for one misses none of Nature's sights. Over the mountains of Victoria (I fondly believe that they ara at length before my eyes), the clouds are for a brief space blood-red, changing to darkness. I cannot halp dreaming that tome, the white man of the party, it jb telling the story of the first spilling of blood daring the late war, which ocourred olose to my baiting place, and which resulted finally in the death of Wilson, Borrow, and many other*?, and that it is warning my friends, the blaok men, of the destruction whioh came to so many of their hostile brethren and their unhappy unfortunate king, Lobengula." The book* on the whole is a welcome contribution in oonnection with a region whioh has attraoted so great an amount of attention lately, and whioh promises at no distant date to again loom largely on the political horizon. It is very neatly illustrated, well bound, and printed in capital style. *.* "A man, some morbidness, and muoh music" This would be a fair summary of the impression derived from Mr John Davidson's " New Ballads " (Lane). Mr Davidson has looked some fretful and ugly facts of life in the face; he has handled some of the wilful and weary materials of a disillusioned world ; he has moulded a few masterly things out of the unpromising matter; he hai touched them with some of the undying spiritual fire that vitalises the heart of things; he has sung to them in resonant music ; so the impression of a manful man and a clear spirit is apparent throughout, even though he oannot always free himself from the morbid atmosphere and the dotted earth by whioh he has passed. To be sure, only three or four of the ballads reveal him near his best ; but probably these three or four will be reckoned in the ultimate estimate of his work. Strong work, work that has tneant muoh travail of spirit, it ; undoubtedly Is — work also which shows a | few triumphant moods ; yet to call It great | work were vanity. Mr Davidson has included much immaterial matter in the collection. Occasionally in bis glimpses of | Nature he can set a true touch, a sudden vision, to fine- voiced mußic ; but that gene- : rally happens when he is a-thrlll with some high human mood, and the dear eight and the fitting word oome almost unsought. In the colder — what we might call the haphazard — moods of his spirit the nature poems he essays are only ordinary. One of the best illustrations of his new work is " A Ballad of a Poet Born." In the festive hall a blushing youth sang a wonderful new song. The delighted guests thrged him to go forth, and sing by land and sea. " The world is wide for errant minstrelsy." He answered that he had to toil for home ; My father's dead, my mother's eyes Are overcast with woe, I hear my sister's hungry eries — 1 dare not rise and go. They mocked him for a Philistine I Nevertheless, he gave up the dreams of fame and love, and toiled for the beloved ones at home. His mother died, his sisters were wooed and wed; when he took up his harp anew his knotted hands could win no music from the rusty strings. He wandered far and near, a hopeless wreok, begging in silence. After long years, upon a ruddy amber eve, the broken old man sat down without anyone's leave in the festal hall. A oonscious youth sang a new ditty. He cursed the " canting moralist"; the earth was to him a flying tamour ; man was the scum of matter. The old, indignant man rose, trembling, seized the harp and smote the chorda; his skill came baok at last t And 10, as searching-sweet as musk The words were and the tune The while he sang of dawn and dusk, Of midnight and of noon ; Of heaven and hell, of times and tides, Of wintry winds that blow : Of spring that haunts the world and hides Her flowers among the snow|

Of summer rustling green and glad With blossoms purfled fair ; Of autumn's, wine-stained raouth and sad, Wan eyes and golden hair ; Of love, of love, the wild, sweet scent Of flowerfi, and words and lives, And loyal Nature's urgent bent Whereby the world survives ; Of magic love that opes the portß Of sense and soul, that saith The moonlight's meanuiß, and extorts The fealty of death. He sang of peace and worth that bless The simple and the sage ; He sang of hope and happinessHe sang the Golden Age. The " shamed listener* " knew the " spell that still enchants the years." They roie to crown him, bat he was dead 1