LITERARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 31, 5 February 1916, Page 14

LITERARY.

Mr. R. M. Leonard's "Songs for Music" will be ready immediately. Mr Leonard is an energetic member of the staff of the Oxford University Press.

In the United States Mr. C. M. Robinson enjoys a very special reputation as an authority on town-planning, or, as it is there known, city-planning. Under this title he has expounded his theories on the subject in a book published by Messrs. Putnam.

Messrs. Macmillan are adding to their Sevenpenny Series "The Oaravaners," by the author of "Elizabeth and her German Garden." The book describes the adventures of a holiday party of Ger-m-tans in England, and is specially notable for the keenness of its criticism of German characteristics.

Mr. Tighe Hopkins is preparing for publication by Mr. ,-John Murray a history of the most remarkable escapes from prisons, forts, and other places of internment. Mr. Tighe Hopkins is one of our authorities on criminology. The romance of escapes is a phase of the subject, and we may expect his narrative to read like a romance done with a style. ° A two-volume book by the late Lafcadio Hearn is forthcoming. Its contents are the lectures on English literature which he delivered to the students of the Japanese University at Tokyo. They are an interpretation of the rich stores of our authorship, as he saw these all down the ages, from Chancer to Swinburne. Sir Sydney Lee's "Life of William Shakespeare" has been Te-written and enlarged- "My endeavour," 6ays the author, "has been to present in a just perspective all the trustworthy and relevant information about Shakespeare's life and work which has become available up to the present time." New documentary evidence which scholars have recently discovered about the intricate 6tage history of Shakespeare's era, has proved of especial service. "Joan's Handful," by Amy le FeuvTc (Cassell), is a good -wholesome story of English life. Joan was tbe daughter of the vicar of a -al parish, and the responsibility of managing her father and looking after the affairs of the parish she found to be no small undertaking. With the capacity for. occupying a wider sphere she unselfishly devoted herself to a monotonous round of duties, and found happiness for herself in the work and abundant opportunities of helpfulness for others. Among recent publishers' tannouncements is a volnme of detective stories by Miss Anna Katharine Green. She wrote "The Leavenworth Case," a detective tale which has rivalled in popularity Sherlock Holmes himself, and her public have kept her on the same trail ever since. Mr. G. H. Putnam tells us in his "Memorie*s" that one afternoon in the winter of 1880 a young lady and her father walked in on him with an enormous packet of manuscript. It was the arrival of "The Leavenworth Case," and : his house goes ~m publishing its suc-'----cessors, though, indeed, Miss Green has done nothing to match it in success. In "Fantomas," by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain (Stanley Paul's Empire Library), the authors have created a character that catches the imagination of the world. To find Fantomas, the "genius of crime," to know whether he is an individual or the directing spirit of a highly organised company, is the lifework of a detective, Jnve, a character possessing as much actuality as Sherlock Holmes or Le Cog, or any of the famous figures in tho fictional annals of crime. And when the6e two men are set against each other—Fantomas with his daring and his cleverly planned and executed criminal operations, and Jure, with his deductive reasoning and his dogged, silent weasel-like pursuit of the man whom it is his fixed intention to run down —we have a story of imaginative ingenuity and strength that wUI rank with the achievements of Gaboriau. "Bonnie Prince Charlie" has figured pretty extensively in song and story. It is a curious characteristic of the worthless Stuarts, from the unscrupulous if unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots to the Young Pretender, that they were capable of commanding a remarkable degree of fidelity; and this was bestowed in special measure upon the last claimant to the British throne. Escott Lynn is responsible for telling the story of the Highland rebellion, the sensational march into England and disastrous retreat, for the benefit of boys in his entertaining romance "For Bonnie Prince Charlie." It opens with the march of 'tbe Highlanders through a north of England county, and he describes the adventures of a. boy and girl, children of a squire, who were drawn into the ranks of the Pretender's ■followers, The publishers aTe Cassell and Co"Carnhill Magazine" for January contains the opening chapters of "The Tutor's Story," by the late Charles Kingsley, -revised and completed by his daughter, Lucas Malet. The publication of this story is due to the recent discovery of a hundred and fifty foolscap pages of an uncompleted story by the famous novelist, which his daughter, in developing the plot and connecting up scenes and incidents, has extended to double the original length. She states that in completing this work she has "tried to .preserve the peculiarities of style, and maintain a moral and emotional unity throughout." A sympathetic sketch of 'the late Lord Welby is contributed to the January "Cornhill" by Sir Algernon West. The other contents comprise contributions by Boyd Cable, George A. Birmingham, *Dr. W, H. Fitchett, Marjory Bowen, Sir Herbert Maxwell, and Judge Parry. "The Mountains of tire Moon" by J, D. Beresford (Qassejl), works out very ingeniously the story of Gray, a convinced Socialist, born in Canada as the result of a clandestine marriage between i tire heir of an important English peerao-e and a girl clerk. Gray's mother, being deserted soon after ■ marriao-e, I brings up her son with an intense hatred of 8,11 his father's class. The father, dying soon after his return'to ! England, the peerage being unclaimed on behalf of the Canadian, passes to his i uncle. In manhood, Gray, having inherited a competence on the death ol his mother decides to make himself personally acquainted incog, with his aristocratic relations, .who are wholly •unaware of his existence. In England he obtains an invitation to stay at the family seat, and this leads to a number of complications, which in the end are settled to the satisfaction of aU parties.

The keynote of The 1 Book," which Messrs. »*£&s* Sto-ughfjon -will publish nnmediX aid of Queen Mary's Ckin-valescenhA '* liary Hospitals, is to be fonnd • W " phrase from Mr. Balfour's "Th *'■*■• * snres of Reading" with which.tha opens: "The best method of onarf* against the danger of readin* useless is to read only what is haS-* ing." In a most moving and dan,.* preface John Galsworthy tells oft? work among those who have lost «i----limbs in the war—the work for »W the book is published. The need is great, for on November Ist last 2SI cases were on the Hospital Register j 1250 patients ready or nearly -ieaJs-K be admitted. These numbers do * t take into account the amputation ca since August last, of which it'jj f ea ?! there are a great number. Among ft contents are a deliciously hinnoion story by Sir J. M. Barrie entitled "n New Dramatist," a stirring pi ccc j ' romance by John Buchan, and a \JI touching picture of cat and doi fif wliich will appeal to all animal lovers in the famous novelist E. F. Bensbh,. a nj l whimsical sketch of country life by J. 1? Buckrose, author of "Down Our Street • Hall Caine's poem, "Woman," is sure*, be widely quoted:— "Hers the conflict, hers the conquest hers the flag of life unfurl'd, ; . , Hers the sorrow, hers the suffering, hers the love that rules the'worja,'while the accompanying painting >jy *-*f Hatherell, R. 1., is one of the most strik ing pictures in the book. The value of silence as a spiritaal agency is further expounded in TV Fruits of Silence," by Cyril Hepher, ft which an extended preface on'the subject of Silence in religion is contributed by George Congreve, of the Society: of St, John the Evangelist, Cowley. 'Iheboo*. takes the form of twelve disconreej dealing with various aspects of the subject—Consciousness of God, the InnerLife, Penitence and Power, Fello-iv-Bhin Self-surrender, Peace, Movements of,the Spirit, the Intercession of Silence, ■ tit Making of the Intercessor, the Directun of Public Worship, a Silent Requiem, aa Instruction in Silence. The subject* treated with great earnestness, and illustrated by abundant quotation and narrations of personal experience. The writer's conclusion is that "if the chnrdi is to be a great spiritual power in thii Dominion it will not be through a "mnlti. tude of reorganisations and. restlesV activities, but through prayer, meditation, and many quiet, silent meetingin the presence of God. Thus, and thia only, can our whole life be lifted up to a higher plane of spirituality, of -power, and of influence." The docs ia pnblishej by Macmillan and Co. ■ "-"_ ■Mr. Hamilton Drummond hasfoin-Jji congenial theme for his nistorifal romance "Greater Than the Greatest," in the struggle for power bet-ween Pope Gregory the Ninth, and Frederick tie Second, Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, who stands out as oni of the most remarkable figures in theMiclile Ages. The author takes as the -basis <*f his story the beginning of the quarrel between Frederick and Gregory oyer tie Emperor's •failure to fulfil its oath to embark on a crusade to the Holy Land. Among the many kings and princes who ruled Roman States, Frederick was the only one, xmtil recent times, who showsd .i»pacity ;fpr the task of ereatiiig a united Italy.- His enlightened opinions and love of art really prepared tike way for the Renaissance, which came a century later. It is a faseinating'i'tejry, in •which love and intrigue abound.' The novel appears in Stanley Paul's Empire Library. "Out of Her Depth," by Gopjlie Stanton and Heath Hoskin (Stanley Paul's Empire Library) follows the fortunes of Delphine Tower, the wife of a fascinating scoundrel who supported, himself by victimising rich and emotional women. Delphine, having been robbed and deserted, supports herself as a typist, in the employ of a London lawyer, whose business brings her once "more in contact with her worthless hwband at a moment when he has another victim in his toils. The process of la*ving the SMundrel by the heels proveß difficult owing to his effrontery and adroitness, and incidentaßy there are a number of sensational episodes. .-.•"' "A Tall Ship: On Other Naval Occasions," is the -title given to ten capitals nautical stories, by "BaTtimeus." ■ The author declares that the majority Of the characters sketched are etched in with the ink of pure imagination, but. a "few are composite sketches of a large number of originals, with whom the author has been shipmates in the past,, and whose friendship he is grateful to remember. All have a fresh flavour of the sea, and the series includes .storie» relating to the world war. The pia> lishers are Cassell and Co. '■'-. \- :- ; :

"THE SPELL OF AEPOI"J asi "THE VAGABOND VICAB," by J. Christie. .. i-J''.-

Even in these rushing times of war some space may be found for these;'tw> meditative little works by an old $«» Zealand pressman. They both port us not unpleasingly into the serious and quiet atmosphere of the ««ty Nineteenth Century poets and essayhrta"The Spell of Alpin" is a rhymed vision of the writer's entry into the -spirit world and his meeting there with h) 8 lost wedded love. If the atmoßpbera suggests a past era, there is something entirely modern in the conception »t the transition state of conscience' in wliich the soul lives with remorse »H its sine over again before it can. meet with the dead, "spirit to spirit: ghost to ghost.

"The Vagabond Vicar" is -a . pfpee series of philosophic reflections' by f» seeker of truth," whose Views cop-bins Christianity with Rationalism. In'thu Jhttlofbook, too, the New Age mmgles"'***ita the past, for many of the ideas and ideals are peculiarly characteristic of tie present epoch, e.g., the reciprocal obligations of love amongst members of tl l9 human race; the necessarily perfect nature of a world that emanates from a perfect Creator. The book should appeal to those who wish to hold fast Christian principles, while discarding dogma. The conclusion affords the best specimen of the style and argument: "Seek, and ye shall find; for behold, the Kingdom of God is within yau; Love ye one another; and when ye'verily do so ye shall surely find that love means not only active goodwill and cordial po-' operation in humane aspiration, effort and welldoing, but,resolute abstention from everything which is inconsistent with love—from enmity. uncharitableneßi ttnalignant opposition, from gain at tfie expense of another, from luxury while any living creature within reach suffereth privation; and from all forms of self gratification wliich involve tlie anhappiness or abasement of man or woman. What a gc-oaly and pleasant place the earth would he were this gospel rightly read and faithfully'applied by mankind!"