LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 10

LITERARY.

A memorial to Mrs. Oliphani. is to be erected in St. Giles's at Edinburgh, where St. Gaudens's " Stevenson " is placed. She was not a brilliant writer, but her stories have a singular genuineness and sweetness, and she was, besides, pos: sessed of a true feeling for literature. As a woman she impressed all those who knew her with a sense of strong character and traits in every way lovable.

A sub-committee appointed by the Committee on Psalmody and Hymns of the Church of .Scotland and the Praise Committee, of the United Free Church has just issued a selection of psalms and paraphrases for school use. The tonic solfa notation is used, and an endeavour has been made to obtain a suitable selection for use along with one or the other of the existing collections of hymns. Mr Henry Frowde is the publisher.

The features of "Cassell's Magazine" for October are a story by R, W. Chambers—one of the most effective of pre-sent-day short story writers —some account of the dramatic career of Mr and Mrs Forbes Robertson, an amusingly illustrated article on "Humours of the American Tramp," and Conan Doyle's eleventh article on books, in which he ranges from the works of Darwin to stories of sea adventure. Max Pemberton's "Wheels of Anarchy" is an exceptionally dramatic novel. Besides the complete story to which special reference has been made, brief fiction is contributed by E. R. Punshon, Stuart Wesling, Arthur Halifax, E. White. M. E. Potter, Arthur Ransome. and Elizabeth Tree.

The picture in our local Art Gallery by Margaret Dicksee will be found as one of the illustrations to an article on that •artist in the September ''Windsor Magazine." a notable autumn number includI ing stories by Anthony Hope, Eden PhillI polls, .lock London, Kebble Howard, i Kthcl Turner and Vred. M. White. An ' article of topical interest is contributed Iby Walter Wcllnian describing his preparations and hopes tor the present expedition "By Airship lO the North Pole," which is accompanied by many interesting illustrations; and the other articles ■ include vorj pictorial treatments of subjects as varied as "The Xaval Bases of the Empire"—in this instance dealing with Sydney and Auckland —and "Paderewski at Home." Other interesting features go to complete an excellent budget.

An article that will attract some attention is that on tin: Imperial German navy, by L. Cope Cornlord, in the "Pall Mall Magazine" for October. The writer is very enthusiastic about the Kaiser's fleet as a fighting force, after receiving considerable facilities to observe it critically. Harold Speuder. in the course of a sketch of Baron Airedale, writes interestingly of the steel industry round Leeds. An illustrated account is given by J. E. Patterson of the voyage of the ship Port Jackson, on the occasion when last year a large number of orphan boys were shipped by the Marine Society to carry furtner forward a nautical education commenced on the Warspite. In "The Makers of Books" series, the famous Clarendon Press of Oxford is dealt with. Marie Van Vorst's story, "The Pardon," is completed in this issue, and capital snort stories are contributed by H. C. Bailey. .Tack London, Albert Dorrington, Dorothea Deakin.. G. M. Foster, Rosamond Marriott Watson, and Barry Pain. That Max Pemberton is one of the most skilful of present-day weavers of sensational romance ho has amply proved, and his latest book will not in any way detract from his reputation. "The Lodestar," which Messrs Ward Lock publish, after it has run through the pages of the ••Windsor."' is a dramatic and clever story. Its most sensational scenes are laid in revolutionary circles in Warsaw, but it also deals picturesquely with such divergent scenes as are to be found in the Ghetto in Whitechapel. Piccadilly. Ranelagh, and Newmarket. A Polish revolutionary, to provide for. the future of tltc young man who is to marry his daughter, forces his adoption by a London banker millionaire, over whom he has obtained a hold. But the banker does not take this successful elVort at blackmail altogether meekly, and it is through his instrumentality that the Pole and his beautiful daughter come within the ruthless clutch of Kussian officialdom. The plot is ingenious, the situations extremely dramatic, and the reader gets good value for his money, whether he buys the novel outright or pays twopence for its loan from a circulating library. Our copy is from Messrs. Wildman and Arey. The September "National Review' , opens with a very favourable statement of the present British foreign policy. The "Review" is the mos.t strongly anti-Her-man of the periodicals, and the substitution of a gener?) entente for a practically exclusive Anglo-German understanding is a consummation which it has urged for several years. A thoughtful article is that by Sir Rowland Blennerhassett on "National Purblindnoss." He deduces from the history of the eighteenth century the conclusion that in every case it was the unwillingness of nations to show in great crises that they were prepared to go to war that precipitated the conflicts of the century. J. L. Oarvin draws up an indictment of free trade as the premier plank of the Socialist programme. The fact that German South-west Africa may easily become a menace to the vast British possessions in South Africa is dealt with by M. Beer, who indicates on what lines he considers precautions should be taken to minimise the national danger from this quarter. The existence of a feeling in Canada against the English immigrant affords a text for C. Frederick Harrison :to show how, economically as well as politically, the. Dominion is independent of the Motherland. It is the opfnion of Archdeacon Cunningham, D.D., and he sets it out at some length, that it is a mistake for the Church to tolerate the cant of being "above party," and that "the clergy will best do their duty as citizens by honest acceptance of the party system, and the endeavour to use it honourably." In the course of his article on George Meredith, Professor Pelhnm Edgar devotes some attention to the accusations of obscurity that have been made against the novelist's style. Professor Pelham Edgar puts the ense admirably when he attributes Meredith's obscurity to his effort to find expression for every restless thought that hovers in his head. In other words, it may almost be said that much of Meredith's difficulty arises from his desire to be patently clear. He will pursue an explanation through a chain of metaphors in the attempt to make every shade of it luminous to the reader, and doubtless there are those who find themselves more and more bewildered as the explanation continues. An amusing little sketch illustrative of woman's vanity is contributed by the Hon. Mrs Alfred Lyttelton in "Aspasia's Statue."