LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12533, 30 June 1906, Page 7

LITERARY GOSSIP.

Mr F. R. Benson produced "Henry VI.. Part 3" at the recent Shakespeare Festival at S'lratford-on-Avon. Speaking at the close of the performance, Mr Benson said that Stratford might be congratulated on having done wdiat no other place had attempted, in producing a whole series of Shakespeare's history plays in their order, from "Richard N." to "Richard III." "Henry VI., Part 3." is unknown to the modern stage (says a London paper), and gives lit tlo dramatic pro in bo. Its crowd of disconnected incidents, lapses of timo which are not indicated, rapid changes of fortune, and multitude of characters, make it difficult to follow, but by judicious cutting and slight transposition Mr Benson gavo it considerable dramatic unity. A full a.nd critical houso received the effort with great appreciation.

To assume a " Yankee twang," and adopt tho incongruities and exaggerations of expression affected by many Americans, will no longer be fashionable, in England if Mr Whitolaw Rcid, tho United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James, can discourage it. Mr Reid, who is also the proprietor of ono of the great New York dailies, prosided at the annual dinner; of the Newspaper Press Fund last month, and in Ids address said that the English pooplo liked many things nowadays, among them somo thin<r> the Americans wero trying to get rid of. Some American now.-paper s:>emcd to be travelling across the Atlantic. In view of that, he deprecated English support of tho constant and almost incredible corruption of the English language, which v.-a* proceeding in Cel'e-gns as in tho streets, and for which some newspapers raked the country. Thb derrradation of tho common luinruago would l>o less threatening. Mr Reid said, if only the English people loss cordially admitted American slang.

Some idea of the joy? and woes of an author (<viys the "Academy"), may bo dednce:l from the following statement by Professor Ernst Haeckel. contained in a. recent letter to tho Rationalist Pros?) Association : " As many members of tho R.P.A, aro interested in my work, 'The Riddle of tho Universe,' they will bo plrnpod to hear that two hundred thousand copies havo been printed of the Gorman orijrti-al; that it has appeared in fifteen different tran.ilations, including recent translations into Japanese. Chinese, and Hebrew; and -that more than sis thousand letters havo reach rd mo in resKvrd to it in the bvt -six year?*?' It certainly requires a philosophic mind to appreciate the receipt of a thousand letters a year continuously,' and on tho same subject: oven tho largo circulation of the bcok hardly comes as a compensation fcr this affliction. The introduction to the twenty-third volume of Mr George Allen's beautiful 'Library Edition" of Ruskin is full of the most interesting matter ing tbo great man. In 1573. after various alterations. Brnntwood was ready for guests. Amongst the first wero T.ntlv' Bump-Jones and her daughter. In her "Memorials" of the great painter she wrote:—"Ono afternoon when it was too wet to ro out at all. Mr Ruskin took littlo Margaret with him into the drawing-room and played with her nt iumping over piles of books that ho built upon the floor. Of course, nothing was allowed to interfere with the ordered routine of his life, which was literary work in tho morning, bodily exercise in the afternoon, and music nnd reading aloud in the evening. Sometimes ho invited visitors into his study, to show them books an-1 minerals and roVturm. or the beautifnlview of the Old Man across Coniston Wat«r. which lay bene*>th- hi* window. Thi* ono room was lisiht and bright, and filled with his presence in a wonderful way. . . We seemed to leave him with the whole world for companion in his quiet room, and the lights of heaven for candles."

Coventry Pat-more, another welcome guest, wrote :—"Ruskin's ordinary manners are courteous and obliging, aim est to an embarransiner. de.sre/e. but a littlo scratch or contradiction will put him out -strangely. I was walking with him and Severn "among tho mountains ne-sr Coniston. and we stopped to admire tho beauty of a -wild strawberry plant, which was in fruit and flower at the same- time, in a nook by a little gully. As wo went on Ru.skin said to mc, 'I suppose, Pat-more, that we are the only thivo men in England who would have pp.-sod that plant without eating the fruit.' I, -shy of praise for such a sinP"ilir sensibility, replied. T believe, Ruskin. that you are tho only man- in Kncland who would have thought cf eating it.' He was evidantly hurt, and was quite silent for some time." Rnekin's Brantwood study was full of treasures : its vails were covered with books and cabinets—hin pictures were kept elsewhere. He had tho original manuscript of Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel," beautiful specimens of the binder's art, and figures chiselled by Nicolo PL<ano. Ruskin was probably ono of the most strenuous workers who ever lived. Go to the Ruskin Museum at Con-Vrton and sc? a few of thp things that those delicate hands could do in line and colour.