LITERARY NOTES

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 8

LITERARY NOTES

In reply to a letter from the firm of V. A. .Broekhauß, in Leip?ig, offering to publish any work which he may write on his experiences in Africa, Emm Pasha has accepted the offer, but Bays that ho is afraid that they will have to wait Bomo time for his manuscript, as he doubts very much whether he will find time for the work during his new expedition. Ho commissions tho Leipzig publishers to forward to him a copy of Stanley's new work. A work on Etnin Pasha, containing a collection of his letters and reports from the Equatorial Provinces, and edited by Schweinfurth and Ratzel, was published in 1888, but up to the present time Emm has not yet received a copy of it.

What are tho best books of the Jast hundred years ? Tho. Bishop of Ripon suggested this question at the dinner of the Eoyal Literary Fund, but did not attompt any systematic answer. Here, however, are tho rough hints of his own preferences which he threw out: — Gray's " Elegy," Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner," Tennyson's "In Mc.noriam" aud "Idylls," Sir E. Arnold's "Light: of Asia," Morris's" Earthly Paradise," Buskin, Browning, Scott's " "Waverley," Shorthouse's •' John Inglesant," Dickens's " Pickwick," Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" and " Nevvouies," 11. James's "Daisy Miller," G. Eliot's " Adam Bede," Mrs. Burnrtt'e " Little Lord Fauntleroy." The list ia interesting, but curious — especially in its omissionfi.

According to a London correspondent it \vns arranged between Sir A. Sullivan and Mr. Gilbert that " The Gondoliers" waa to be the last of their joint works, at least for the prescut. Immediately after <% The Gondoliers" was fairly started Sir Arthur Sullivan sot to work upon a grand operu, which is now in a forward state, and *vill bo brought out at Mr. DOyly Carte's new theatre early in the winter. "Sir I Arthur Sullivan has left town for a quiet place in the country, the address of which ho is inclined to keep secret. There he will fall earnestly to work, and does not mean to return to town till his opera is practically completed. He bos been fortunate in finding a comparatively now singer to take the leading part in the piece. This is Miss Esther Palliscr, whom Mr.D'-Oyly Carte discovered as a student in Paris, and whom he engaged to play with " Tho Gondoliers" Company that went to America. As usual, bir Arthur Sullivan makes a secret both of the title aud of tie plot of hia new opera, but it is believed that it will mark not only a new doparture but a fresh triumph.

The report that a syndicate of rich Jews has offered no less a sum than £40,000 for the Vatican copy of the llebrow Bible is confirmed. The history of previous negotiations for the furchaso of ilus very book is interesting. In 512, when rope Julius 11. was desperately in need of fun<is in onlcr to kcop up tho " Holy League" against Louis XII. of Fumce, ho was approached by the Jews as his successor in the chair of St. Peter in now. They offered a comparatively small sum at first, but subsequently increased the amount, lendering at tho same time a blank ordur on one of their numlwr in Venice to be filled up in ducnts according to the woigbt of tho Bible, ns against au equal weight ot puro gold. Tho Pope got so far as to weigh tho precious volume, and"" found that it scalud 3251 b. avoirdupois, or Kiolb. odd troy, which at £4 the ounce, then about tho value of gold, represented tho enormous sum of jE'20,781 and a fraction. This amount iv its equivalent the Jews pressed on the Pope, who, however, either because ho found himself unable to part with property in which ho would not soem to have moro than a lifo interest, or on account of tho pressure brought to bear on him, declined after much hesitation to part with tho volume. Should the present negotiations be more successful, the amount now offered will be the largest sum ever paid for a book, whether in manuscript or in print. Tho nearest approach was the 250,000 f., or £10,000, paid by the Gorman Government in 1884 for tho Missal formerly given by Pope Leo K. to Henry VIII. , along with a parchment conferring on that Sovereign the titlo of "Defender of the Faith." The Missal was given by Charles 11. to the then Duke of Hamilton, in whose family it remained for more than 200 years.