LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 253, 23 October 1909, Page 12

LITERARY.

Mr. Kipling has returned with oldtime energy to the writing of short stories. He begins in the current "Harper" a two-part story, "The House Surgeon," which turns upon a supernatural motive. For "The Delineator" he has prepared a. series of five stories, which he has entitled "A Doctor of Medicine," "The Wrong Thing," "St. Wilfrid," "Cold Iron," and "Gloriana." Admiral Robley D. Evans has written a new book, which, under the title of "Admiral Evans , Reminiscences: An Admiral's Log," continues the narrative set down in an earlier volume, "A Sailor' 3 Log." It is to be illustrated from photographs. The A"ppleton Company -will publish St. The indefatigable traveller, Mr. Douglas Sladen, has gone to Egypt for the material for his latest book. This will appear under the title of "TKk Tragedy of tSe Pyramids." A popular work on that subject ougbi not to come amiss. "The Pun of the Fair," the book which Mr. Eden Phillpott has just brought out, is a collection of short stories, all of them concerned with the Dartmoor country. He has abandoned that region in his latest novel, "The Haven." This is a story about a family in a Devon fishing village. It is a long time since we have heard from the author of ''How to be Happy Though Married." That observant army chaplain, the Eev. E. J. Hardy, has recentfy been on service in the Far East, and there it appears that he was struck by the greater importance attached to manners than is attached to them in the West. As a consequence, he has written a volume on "How to be Happy Though Civil."

It is said that Mr. H. Buxton Forman is writing a life of Edward John Trelawny, that adventurous soul who was interesting in himself, and who, as "the friend of Shelley, has a peculiar immortality. Mr. Forman has never conveyed the impression of a literary artist, but he is an industrious enthusiast, and. if we may judge from his dealings with Phelley and Keats, his book about Trelawny ought at all events to be an authoritative storehouse of facts.

Two years ago Mr. G. 1L Trevelyan, the clever son of Maeaulay's brilliant biographer, produced an excellent book on "Garibaldi's Defence of the Roman Republic." He made thereby an interesting and useful contribution to modern Italian history, and it is good news that he has been pursuing further researches in the same field. The fruits of these will presently be published by the Longmans in a volume on ''Garibaldi and the Thousand." Mr. Henry James has been plying his pen with all his early industry. He ha 3 given to "Putnam's" a serial story with the suggestive title of ''The Bonch of Desolation." The scene is laid beside the sea in England, and the hero is significantly described as "gentlemanlike. ■' The first of the four parts of the novelette will appear in the October number of '■Putnam's." In the October "Harpers" also w e are to find some of Mr. James' work. ThU is a story, a social study, bearing the odd title of "Crapy Cornelia."

■When ilr. Ltewis Mielrille—who ds known in private life as Lewis S. Benjamin—published his "Life of 'William Makepeace Thackeray" in IS'J9, it seemed as if he had done enouarh in a

field which the novelist himself had hoped no one would enter. But it appears that that book was only in the nature of a preliminary stud}". It is now announced that he has Tor several years been collecting material for a new biography of Thackeray, gaining access to many new gathering much fresh information, and profiting by the assistance of "'numerous Thackeray experts."' His compilation, which is presently to be published, will contain, among other tilings, a collection of Thackeray's speeches. How the great man would have rejoiced if he had known of the delicate consideration which was to be shown to his wishes by biographical writers, including his own daughter!

The October "Windsor Magazine" contains complete stories by Justus Miles Forman, Barry Pain, Florence Warden, Charles G." D. Roberts, Kate Jord.nn and other distinguished authors, in addition to a long instalment of Max Pemberton's picturesque new serial. "White Walls." Fifteen of Mr. George Hitchcock's beautiful pictures of sacred themes, and the more modern flower fields of Holland, which the artist has made his own, are finely reproduced with a biographical article: and the second paper in the important series on the Canals of Great Britain carries a number of interesting illustrations. An article on '"Brothers of the Cricket Field" is contributed by Sir Home Gordon, Bart., with a wealth of anecdotes and many excellent portraits. As usual, the magazine is well illustrated.

"Great Thoughts" for September contains an interesting interview with Mr. H. TV. Xevinson, the well-known writer. traveller, and champion of freedom. Describing hi~ recent experiences in Ru??ia. Mr. Xevinson says: "It is difficult to convey to you an adequate idea of the horrors one saw. The men and women went 'like dumb-driven cattle , in front of their military escort, or were brought up against the ends of the fartorie- which they had held, and 6hot down there. As a rule, no disturbances ever took place. The people saw that it iras useless to do anything, for the military forces employed were too strong. Often, the women who were looking on at this terrible procession going to the shambles would scream. .... The Russians are as bad as the Turks. Though the former are really a tender-hearted people, they seem subject to outbursts of cruelty. Prince Kropotkin has brought out a pampMet on the present hidjeou/' conditions 'Of the prisons in Russia, and the cruelties and persecutions, which, in my opinion, made the reluctance of Eno-li>h people to welcome the Czar justifiable. Till the other day he wore the cross of the Black Hundred, ■which is the badge of the extreme reactionary party in Russia. If he chose to do so. he could put down all the present cruelty against which the civilised word has inveighed, as well as all the brutality to which the Jews have been subject." The number also contains a characteristic contribution on "England's Peril" from G. K. Chesterton; a fine centenary sketch of Tennrson; an interesting biographical sketch of Mr. Ajithouy Hope, the novelist; and many other literary features, with photographic illustratioae,

The centenary of John Stuart Blackie, one of the most effective and picturesque of Scotch professors, is to be celebrated by the publication of a volume of his letters to his wife. This correspondence, which covers the period from 1828 to 1895, contains reminiscences of most of the notables of the last century. Blackie was something of an egotist, and one of the many droll stories told about him relates to. the manifestation of his self-esteem he gave while visiting the master of Balliol. "I suppose," he said, "you say all kinds of things down here about our doings up in Edinburgh?' , Said Jowett, "We never mention you." He had his foibles, but he was nevertheless a lovable man, and his letters will be awaited -with sympathetic interest.

Those who hesitate as to the pronunciation of the name of M. Maeterlinck mar like to know the authoritative method as announced by his latest biographer, M. Gerard Harry. You mustcut in two the final syllable, he says, that syllable not being treated as a diphthong. Hence the pronunciation must be " Matterli-nk." A robust if shy recluse is the Maeterlinck described by M. Harry. He hates notoriety, and wiil have no dealings with " interviewer?." His writings have assured to him a very comfortable existence, and he works with his pen only when he feels like it. At other times he is busy -with his garden, his orchard and his beehives . or he is reading. The London " Chronicle " says that he Is a prodigious and laborious reader, " distilling from the author in hand the utmost of his lore":

"He delights in exercise — cycling, skating, fishing, motoring. His winters are spent for the most part in a paradise of the South near Grasse, and summer finds him in the ' marvellous old Norman Abbey of St. Wandrille.' purchased by Maeterlinck after its evacuation by a company of 400 Benedictines. Here he works beneath a porch, or in a flagged cell, or in the ' happy walks and shades,' which the monks fashioned for themselves.

"On one brown wall is graven the dis tich:

O beata solltudo. O sola beatitudo!. ... which, as Gerard says, might be the chosen device of Maeterlinck himself. The Tennyson centenary has brought to the surface many anecdotes of the poet. One of these, related by a distinguished tragedian, is quoted by the

" Manchester Guardian." He had intimate dramatic and literary relations with Tennyson and was often with him. One day after dinner the conversation turned to the homely subject of sandwiches. " I should like to ask you, Lord Tennyson," said his visitor, "whether an anecdote I heard about you and a sandwich is correct. You are credited with having once replied to an invitation to take a sandwich at a garden party: ' I don't like sandwiches, they are like old boots.' Did you ever say that sandwiches were like old boots?"' " No, replied the poet in his most serious manrier, " I never did. I said they v.ere like old shoes."

There be heretics in these days as regards the infallibility of Tennyson. A correspondent of the " Pall Mall Gazette,'" for example, finds it surprising that the poet should have written " Enoch Arden.'' It seems to be implied, he »ays,

" that Enoch performed n noiile act of self-sacrifice in concealing the fact of his return. Had ho concealed it com pietely. after his death as before it, it -would have boon admirable. And he could have concealed it had ho =o willed. Instead of that he arranged that his unhappy wife should know all about his suffering as soon n= he was deid; who does not see that this meant lons years of sorrow and self-reproach for ;he poor woman?" The critic mentions a wellknown novel in which a similar situation occurs, adding: " The wife, when she finds out. too Rite, that her husband was still alive when she married again, puts an end to herself in self-reproach. That husband, a truly noble man. took the utmost precautions that his being alive should never come to her ears, but they fail"d. And yet Tennyson calls Enoch Arden a ' strong heroic soul,' an,l winds up with that climax of vulgarity. 'And when they buried him the little port had seldom seen a costlier funeral." "

"IK THE HOUR OF DEATH." (A Xote on the Authorship of a Wellknown Poem.) (From the London "Athenaeum.") The question is often asked in newspapers and magazines: "Who wrote the poem beginning In the hour of death, after this life's whita?

The answer is given that nothing is known of the authoT. It is true this poem was published with only the initials of the writer in "The University Magazine" in 1879; but I hold the manuscript of the poem, and I have also Blackmore's letter that accompanied it. Blackmore has been so long dead, I do not feel that there can be any harm in giving his letter to the public. I subjoin an exact copy of it, also of his poem.—AGNES E. COOK. Teddn.. January 5, 1879. My Dear Sir.—Having lately been at the funeral of a most dear relation. I was there again lin a dream| last nijrht. and hpard the mourners sing the lines enclosed, which impressed mc so that I was able to write them without change of a word this morning. I never heard or read them before to my knowledge. They do not look so well on paper as they sounded; but if you like to print them, here they are. Only please not to put my name beyond initials or send mc money for them. With all good wishes to Mrs. Cook and yourself.— Very truly yours, R. D. BLACKMORE. K. "Cook," Esq., LL.D. Dominus illuminatio mea.

In the hour of death, after this life's whim When the heart beats low, and the eyes grow dim, And pain has exhausted every limb — The lover of the Lord shall trust In mm. When the will has forgotten the life-long aim. And the raind can nn'.y disgrace it? fame, Aud a man is uncertain of his own name The power of the Lord shall fill this frame. 3. When the last sigh is heaved and the last tear shod. And the coffin is waiting beside the hod, And the widow aud child forsake the rlead. The angel of the Lord shall lift this head. 4. For even the purest delight may pall; T'ue power must fail, and the pride must fall. And the love of the dearest friends grow small — But the glory of the Lord is all In all. —E. D. 8,, in mtmorlam M, F, Q,