LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 205, 27 August 1904, Page 10

LITERARY.

A collection of "Essays on Life, Art md Science." by Samuel Butler, autho if "Erewhon." has been published ir _rant Richards' Colonial Library. Tht :ditor, Mr. R. A. Streatfield, in his in reduction, draws special attention tc ;hc three essays entitled "The Beadlocl n Darwinism." which may be regardec is a postscript to Butler's four book: on .volution- He says: "AJthougl learly fourteen years have elapsed sinci .bey were published in the 'Universal Review,' I have no fear that they wil .c found out- of date." In proof of thb ie refers to the heated controversy oe •asioned in May, 1903, by Lord Kelvin* claim to a recognition of the tact that v organic nature scientific thought i= impelled to accept the idea of some and of directive power. . . • Al .volutionists agree that the diflerenc-es .etween species are caused by the ac simulation and transmission of varia .ions, but they do not agTee as to the •auses to which the variations are due [be view held by the older evolutionists, Buffon, Erasmus. Darwin, and Lamarck ,vho have been followed by many mod >m thinkers, including Herbert Spencet tnd Butler, is that the variations occui nainly as the result of effort and de sign-, "the opposite view, which is advo -ated by Mr. Wallace in 'Darwinism.' ii ■hat the variations occur merely as thi •esult of chance. The former is some times called the teleological view, be ■ause it recognises the presence in or ? anic nature of design, whether it be 'ailed creative power, directive force, iirectivitv, or vital principle; the latter dew in "which the existence of desist s absolutely negatived, is now usually iescribed as Weismannism, from tho tame of the writer who has been it. n-incipal advocate in recent years." We .re indebted for a copy of these essays to Gordon and Gotch. "The Whirl of the Risi ,g," by Bertram Vlitford, is a story of the Matabele war. Hie hero docs not commend himself to Lhe reader's good opinion by the excuse ie offers to his fiancee for not assisting v the. rescue of a drowning boy who had broken through the ice. "If," he «iid "your people see fit to throw open he mere to tbe rabble, the rabble must ■ake care of itself. I daresay I can risk ny life, with an adequate motive, lhat .-n't one." After loading the man with his fair justification for the charge of ••owardice, and adding other incidents that lend colour to the accusation, the .uthor enters upon the task of showing rom his conduct in tbe war that he is really a. brave but prudent man. There ire *ome stirring stories of massacre md fierce reprisal, together with mcilental descriptions of life, in Rhodes.a. The book is issued in Mcthuen st olmial Library, and reaches us through vVildman and LyelL "A Dead Beckoning." by John blouu-lelle-Burton (Bell's Colonial Library) is ..the approved shocker type. Lady Bottrell, the beautiful daughter of a Mirrey vicar, secretly marries the stereotyped villain of melodrama, a gambling ,VniV Officer. He is disgraced, leaves Kmdand, and is supposed to have been lost at sea. Twenty years later an .mericaii lawyer turns up and blacknail's the. unfortunate wife, who married a~ain eighteen months after her liusband's supposed death. She is driven [o despera-tion. attempts suicide, and is finally delivered from all her troubles by an old admirer. Of its kind, the .tory is well told. We have received a -opy from Gordon and Gotch. __ "The Ragged Messenger," by "V.. B. Maxwell (Grant Richards' Colonial Libra rvi, is a novel distinctly above the average in literary merit. 'Hie Rev. Tohn Morton, au enthusiast of dohn Storm's type, and known in the East End of London as the "Mad Messiah, preaches to an aristocratic circle into which be has found his way the unpal.tablc doctrine of selling all to follow Being unexpectedly left ten mil fions sterling he proceeds to practise svhat he preaches, with rather disastrous -fleet upon his domestic pence. Tlie disappearance of his great, fortune in philanthropic schemes of doubtful utility, despite the remonstrances of friends, is an instructive story- The subsidi-try .haraeters are mostly well drawn, and the narrative, without any striving after sensationalism, sustnins the reader s interest throughout, The well-meaning enthusiast comes to a tragic, end. but in this respect there are many eminent precedents among great religious te: cher«. We have received a copy of lhe book through Gordon and Gotch. A dozen capital sketches of Parisian life and character, by Constance El -a bcth Maud, have been collected in a volume issued in Unwin's Colonial Library. The attractions of the French restaurant, the sights of the Feast of Toussaint, an amusing story of an Ameri can heiress and a fortune-hunting Mr gui?, a dinner en famille. a French duel, and a scene in the Chamber of Deputi-s, are all treated with a deft hand. The writer evidently speaks with knowledge and with warm sympathies for the French people, among whom she has spent many pleasant years. An interesting book is "The Animals of New Zealand." an account of the colony's air-breathing vertebrates, by Captain F. W. Hutton and Jas. Drummond, which Messrs Whiteombe and Tombs publish. This work is to be regarded on the scientific side as a third edition of the "Descriptive. Catalogue of the Birds of New Zealand," published by Captain Hutton over thirty years ago. The author's hicth reputation as a naturalist, and the work he has done as Professor of Natural Science at Canterbury College and Director of the Christchurch Museum, are a sufficient guarantee that, on the technical side this book is both complete and accurate. The descriptive and general literary work appears to have been left to Mr Drummond, who has succeeded in making his, share of the book both entertaining and instructive. The authors acknowledge their obligations to many forerunners in the field of natural science, among whom Mr T. H. Potts, the author of that fascinating picture of our natural history. "Out in the Open." is singled out for special eulogy. The introduction is probably the part of the book that will prove most attractive to the unscientific reader. It deals briedy. but. clear'y. with the origin of our fauna, the mi_ntions of our birds, the ch-mr"* produced in the natural history of New Z<-al nd by the coming of th« Vrori nnd the white man. and other kindred subjects. Moreover, the seievtifir ,!.-• ■•■■ r'ptions of our indigenous 1 bird- aid r<'piles are varied by interest ing rncdofes and fragments of bush lore. The illustrations, of winch there are about 150, are, on the whole, excellently produced, and the publishers, Messrs Whiteombe and Tombs, may fairly be congratulated on the appearance of one of the hand=omest books yet published in the colony. The chief value of the book, of course, lies in the scientific work or Captain Hutton; but its general attractiveness will render it the standard book of reference, not only for the naturalist, but for those who do not desire to confine their knowledge of our natural history to purely technical detail.

ilt is good to get something in lighter vein from South Africa after the grim realities of the past few years, and there is humour in plenty in '"Old Hendrik's Tales," by Captain A. 0. Yaugkan. The tales are supposed to be told by an old Hottentot to the children of the farm, and what Kipling did with the animals .of the jungle is here achieved with those .of the veldt. Captain Vaughan shows the 'same happy skill in giving his animals those ludicrously human attributes which ! are the charm of the heroes of the "Jungle Books." Old Hendrik's natural hisI tory may be open to question, but there lis no doubt about his humour. His explanation of why Old Baboon has the kink in his tail, of why the tortoise has no hair on. and why Old .lackal slinks his tail, and so on, will lie accepted with delight by children and grown-up alike. The spirit of the humour is caught with conjsuinmate skill oy Mr. J. A. Sheppard in ; his illustrations." When that clever artist iputs a jackal into pantaloons you may ibc sure that the result is irresistibly ! comic. Old Hendrik tells his tales in broken English, though he does so with a. <dgh. "It don*t soun' de same in you' Englis' somehow," he says plaintively. English is not fond enough, nor has diminutives enough, for a kitchen tale as a j house Kaffir loves to tell it. Ncverthclless the old Hottentot's homely diction ]and bis quaint similes are likely to amuse rather than weary the reader. The cenjtral figures are Old Wolf, "all de time so quiet, and all de time a-workin' an' adoin sometin' for bisse'f": and Old Jackal, "all de time so slim, an' all de time never a-workin' nor a-doin' anythin' 'cept to get out o' workin' an' doin' sometin' for hisse'f." 1-ongman, Green & Co. are the publishers, and Messrs. Upton & Co. forward us a copy. Tlie latest issue oi Marmillan's "English Men of 1-etters" :>eries is a biography of Maria Kdf-owortn, by the Hon. Emily Lawless. The authoress sketches the main features of Miss F.dgeworth's life, and incidentally records some of the most stirring evenU oi the Irish Rebellion of ninety-eight nnd the French invasion, the. Edge.worth* being resident throughout, on their ancestral estate in Ireland. The visits of the family to France during Bonaparte's regime, and subsequently, also afford interesting glimpses of life in Paris at that, period. Among the plcasantcst episodes are those describing the personal association between Miss Edgeworlh and Sir Walter Scott, an intercourse that conveys a. vivid impression of the personal characteristics of both these distinguished lights in the literary firmament nearly a ceutury ago. The biographer gives decided precedence among Miss Edgeworth's works to "Castle Rackrent." a judgment in which most critics will concur. Through the courtesy of a niece of Miss Edgeworth's several of that lady's letters hitherto unpublished are now printed, and they are so vivacious (hat one cannot but feel gTateful that, they have been rescued from oblivion.