LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 46

LITERARY NOTES.

sjwMr Jerome X.. Jerome has in the press n bsw volume of essays after the style of ps " Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow," one Si the most popular of his books.

— London Truth is responsible for the assertion that there are only three living gjritisb writers whose works have any chancs of becoming classics — to wit, Swinburns, Lecky, and Ruskin. — Mr Max Pembertori's ne_w story, " Kronstadt," which is now running in the pages of the Windsor Magazine, will be published in book form by Messrs Cassell and Co.

— One circumstance must always be remembered in the discussion of Dickens'* plots. His stories were mainly written for publication in parts. Each part had to possess an interest of its own, and thus the author was led to put many characters upon his stage who had very little to do with the main thread of his action. — Sketch.

. — In setting the price of their -new magazine, London, at threepence, Messrs Harmsworth Bros, are inaugurating a schema which may revolutionise magazine publica T tion. It will . bo interesting to note the result, though in the case of papers and reviews the result has generally proved disastrous. —Mr Aubrey Bearclsley s death will have come as a sad shock to many, though every one srJw mw hisk at fiiSBBS test mium\

felt that he was doomed. Be thought so himself — if we may judge by one of his contributions to the Savoy, " The Death of Arlequin." The poor jester lies dying, and his fellow mummers — pierettes and what not — are stealing to his bedside to take leave of him. The figure in the bed was a portrait of Beardsley himself.

—Mr Henry Hess is giving a series of interesting articles in The Critic on "My Experiences of the Libel Law." In one instance he paid £1605 10s lOd in three libel proceedings brought by an undischarged bankrupt. Mr Hess claims that by plain speaking he prevented the public from bein| robbed of £300,000, and that the law exacted fiom him £1600 for doing his duty. He ar<ks, as we often have asked, how long this state of things is to last.

— " Mungo Park " will be the next issue of Messrs Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier's " Famous Scots " series. Wifeh. the story of the great Scottish traveller is interwoven the history of the Niger and of the British and French settlements there. The author, Mr T. Banks Maclachlan, gives a short but complete sketch of the spread of French dominion in that region, and the history of this movement is brought down to the piesent day.

— The author of "The Confession o£ Stephen- Whapshare," Miss Emma Brooke, has been led by circumstances and a strong mental bias to become a novelist, and a successful one, but she is equally- devoted to literary pursuits of a very different character. She is a student at the -London School of Economies and Political - Science and a member of the Economic Students' Union — a debating society founded by the students of- the school, — and is devoted to research work aa.d to questions of social ;eform.

— The Scots Pictorial, dated March 5, contaias an excellent portrait with a brief sketch of Mr John A. Steuart, whose very able and interesting new novel, " Ths Minister of State," raises him to a high position among modern writers. Mr Kteaart is, as he himself phrases it in his prettilyworded dedication, " a son of the heather " — a native of Aberfeldy, where lie was born some 37 years ago, ancj that he lias not forgotten his Gaelic is quite apparent from the new story, the Scottish "locale" of which will be readily recognised by those who know the author's disti'ict.

" BREAMEUS OF THfi GHETTO."

Mr I. Zangwill's " Dreamers of *he Ghetto" has been published in no fewer than seven different editions, including Continental versions. The author has been at work on the story for over three years. Tbe following lines appear on the back of the title page : —

MOSES AND JEStTS.

In dream I saw two Jews that met by chance, One old, stern-eyed, dsep-browed, yet garlanded "With living light of love orotund his head, The other young with sweet seraphic glance, Aiciind went on the town's Satanic dance; Hunger a-griping while at heart he bled. * " Shalom Aleichem," mournfully" each said. Nor eyed, the other straight but lookect* askance. , Sudden from the church cutrolled an organ hymn, From. synagogue a loudly chaunted air, : Each, with Us proi>liet's high acclaim, instinct. Then for the first time met their eyes swift linked In one strange, silent, piteous gaze and dim With bit&ar tears of agonised despair. JOE MILLER.

The most famous, the type of all jesfcbooks, is the immortal Joe Miller. Now tlie'book, " Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wit's Yade Mecum," is a double fraud. In the first place, Joe Miller had nothing to do witn it, nor with any of its contents, though this, of course, was merely the usual thing. But a further fact was that poor Joe himself never made a joke in his life, and could not see one when it was made. He was a comedian, it is true, and a man fond of bright company. - Nevertheless, he seldom spoke and lie never laughed, no matter how mirthful the company might be. He could neither read nor write, and he learned his parts (he played with ability at old Drurv Lane) by the assistance of his wife. He had a habit" of spending Ms afternoons at the "Black Jack" in Portsmouth street, where a sort of club of neighbouring tradesmen met. Here his immovable gravity and his lack of humour became a joke, and whenever any particularly funny thing wals repeated his companions ironically • ascribed it to -his facetious invention. - ;

This fact, and the other fact of his success as an actor, caused his name to be noised about, so that after his death, one Read, a small publisher of chap-books, having got together a shilling book of jests, -with the aid of a poor hack, Mr John Mottley, laid hands on the dead actor's name to give popularity to his venture. Thus "Joe Miller's Jests" came into the Tvorld in 1739, with vast success. Second and third editions vreca published in the same year, another in the year succeeding, and a fifth in 1742-. After that scarce a year parsed without a new edition till almost the end of the eighteenth century. It is the fashion to speak of " Joe Mille/a Jests" as thought thei-b'obk were familiar ct> everybody. • 'But how many have seen a cony of any edition? Copies of the first, edition, indeed, are rare and difficult to find ; though the jokes in them are the same old jokes easy to find always, anywhere* The book, indeed, is but a compilation from the jest-books of the preceding* two centuries, brought lip to date. > The ane> dotes throw much light on contemporary habits and manners, and the jokes are still found useful. — Strand Magazine.