LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 230, 26 September 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY.

We alluded the other day to the report that an American magazine editor was trying to persuade Mr Thomas Hardy to write a new no.veL It is now announced that he hae definitely declined the proposal. Count de Svissons, in the "Pall Mall Magazine" for September, gives an intimate account of the Austrian Emperor and his family. There is no more pathetic figure among Exiropean royalties than the aged Emperor Francis Joseph, whose life for a great many years has been darkened by a series of family troubles and tragedies. Major Powell Gotton describee .more adequately than we have yet found, and Illustrates by snapshots the life of the cave-dwellers of Mount Elgon, near Lake Victoria }§yanza. In this magazine Frederick Lees has an article on "Pierre Loti: the Man and His Books," and William Archer an appreciation of W. E. Henley. In William Sharp's series on literary geography the country of R. L. Stevenson is dealt with. Besides Maurice Hewlett's and John Oliver Hobbes' serials, interesting fiction ia contributed by E. Nesbit, Dorothea Deakin, Rosaline Masson, R. Neish, Evelyn Mills, Sarah Jeanette Duncan and the Earl of Iddesleigh.

Emily Crawford's "Victoria, Queen and Governor," which Mr. T. Fisher Unwin publishes, is a capital book. The author sets herself right with her readers at the outset by the statement that she attempts no biography of the Queen, but confines herself to "a volume of sketches, making no pretence to be a complete biography of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, much less an account of the events of .tor reign. - ' Mire Crawford's .influential position as a Paris correspondent proved to be one giving singular opportunities for the collation of reminiscences of the late Queen, and these she seems to have availed herself of to the fullest extent. Mrs. Crawford has dealt with her material to the best advantage, and has put together a book of anecdote, reminiscence and gossip about Queen Victoria which serves not only to interest but also to present a portrait of Her Majesty, instinct with life, no mere artificial picture, whether ac sovereign or woma"n.

"Zack," we fear, will hardly add to the considerable reputation that she earned by some of her earlier books by bar laiteait excursion inifco tihe (realms of fiction. "The Roman Road" is not convincing; the specimens of the upper classes who parade its pages are a trifle unreal, and it is only in occasional ekeibcb.es of some peasant oharactea , , such as Jakes, that we are afforded glimpses of the insight into character which the writer possesses, who gave us "Tales of Dunstable Weir." Messrs. A. Constable & Co. are the publishers.

A pleasant and entirely wholesome novel is Mrs. Aubrey Richardson's "A Drama in Sunshine," which Mr. T. Fisher Unwin publishes. Apparently it is a first effort, and as such should receive some allowance; but really it requires nothing of the sort. Hotmburg is Uhe scen£*anxl the bustling life of the famous European Spa is cleverly depicted, the characters are lifelike, and the plot ingenious.

Mr H. B. Marriott Watson has written a new romance entitled "Captain Fortune," dealing with the adventures of a young lady who becomes involved in the Cornish rising during the civil war in 1643.

The latest catalogue of Sotheran, the London bookseller, contains among its entries, "a library of political economy on the woman question," consisting of 18,000 volumes and 13,000 pamphlets in English and foreign languages.

It is stated that a Japanese novelist has completed a story which occupies ninety volumes. This leads the "London Morning Post" to tell of "one very wellknown writer," presumably an Englishman, who has frequently said that if he were entirely free, he would select a group of characters, and at the end of three years would have produced a tale dealing with all that happened to them in a single twelvemonth. In the next two years he would carry matters on for another twelvemonth, and so on to the end.

Mr Joseph Hatton, in the "Cigarette Pa>per3" of "The People," tells an amusing story of how Mr Barries early literary ambitions were frowned upon by friends. "The malignity of publishers," he says, "could not turn me back; from the day on which I first tasted blood, in the garret my.mind wae made up; there could be no humdrum dreadful profession for me; literature was my game. It was not highly thought of by those who wished me well. I remember being asked by two maiden ladies, about the time I left the University, what was I to be, and when I replied brazenly, 'An author,' they flung up their hands, and one exclaimed reproachfully, 'An' you an M.A.!" ,

In view of the present day revival of pedestrianism, it is interesting to learn of a walking match in which Charles Dickens took part. It came about the time Dickens was in America giving readings from his novels. His health was so poc-r that his manager, George Dolby, feared he would break .down. Perhaps the reason that he did not break down was that his high spirits were so inexhaustible. He waa able to throw off care and indulge in boyish fun, like this prank in which he played a leading part. 'At Baltimore Dickens, his manager, and the Boston publishers arranged a walking match between Dolby and Osgood, to take pla-ee on their return to Boston at the end of the month. Dickens drew up the articles of agreement, and gave his services as trainer. The articles were solemnly and formally signed by Massachusetts Jemmy (James T. Fields), the Gad's Hill Gasper (Dickens), and the two competitors, the Man of Ross (Dolby) and the Boston Bantam (J. R. Osgood). The "Great International Walking Match" over a twelvemile course was won by ithe Boston Bantam. Dickens wrote a "sporting narrative" of the event, and took the chair at a dinner given to c&lebrate the victory. The fight between Oliver Goldsmith and Evans, the publisher, was recalled at a recent sale by Messrs. Christie (London) of the portrait of an eye-witness, John Harris, bookseller. Harris , pjace of business was in St. Paul's Churchyard, and in the latter half of the 18th century waa the rendezvous of the leading literary men of the day. The fight he witnessed originated in «i letter which appeared in the "London Packet," which Goldsmith considered was a libel on him. He went to the publisher and struck him on the back with a cane, and in the scuffle the publisher sustained a black eye and the author had his face scratched. The portrait of Harri* was sold for 28/.