LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12593, 8 September 1906, Page 7

LITERARY GOSSIP.

Mr H. "W. Eve. the representative of the New Zealand University in London, writes to the Westminsterr Gazette:—"Permit mc to enter a protest against a barbarism sanctioned by several of your contemporaries, if not by yourself. Suffragette is neither good English, nor good French. If it means anything at all, it should stand for 'a little vote. , A very short Act of Parliament would remove it from the English language, and substitute a genuine Shakespearian word, 'voteress.'"

A letter written by her late Majesty, and testifying to the invigorating aii of Balmoral, appeared at Sotheby s re cently. Dated October lGth, 1573, an; addressed to Prince Arthur, it contain the statement: "The eun has such pone I am able to take suck long walks a:ii to climb Cam! Alas! I shall ios? thn when I go South.* , Mr Sothoran gavi £10 los for this. Between 185.5 an-. 18(32 Charles Darwin wrote many lettei. to Mr "W. B. Tegetmeier (the pate: patratus of the Savege Club) on sue. scientific and biological subjects as Xt Cells, the Origin of Breeds of Ducks.

Orchids, Influence of Colours in Birds and Breeds of Pigeons. These were offered, -with a few presentation volumes from Darwin, and realised £128 (Quaritoh). Tennyson manuscripts are always much appreciated, and a single page of "Harold" brought £25 (Sotheran). On the other hand,. eighty-nine letters by Ruskin, written between 1857 and 18G0, fetched only £21 10s (Maggfi). In one of theee he says, "I am doing nothing myself, being for th© present stran«ted after twenty years' work in deliberating what to do next. "Whether to take up Natural History, or Literature (namely shall I paint—or write—or do neither the remainder of n:y days}? Or shall I take up politics? Or shall I take up nothing, but amuse myßoif, if I can?" A letter by Washington on recruiting made £18, ami nine pagos of verso by Oecar Wilde £16 loa (Quaritoh).

There was also a most interesting autograph letter of Robert Burns, addres&ed to the Rev. John Skinner, of Peterhead. in which he expressed regret fehat when in the north he had not the pleasure of paying a young brother's dutiful respects to the author of '•The best Scotch song Scotland evor saw — Tollocligorum's ' My Delight.' " '•There is,' , the letter continues, ,"a certain something in the old .Scotch wings of wild happiness of thought and expression, which peculiarly marks them, not only from English songs, but also tho modern efforts of songwrights in our native manner and language.' . The letter brought £'110. Another Burns item was a short poem addressed to '"Mjr Lovely Nancy,"' which Mr J. Thomson purchased at £3(3 for his Burns Museum at Dumfries.

An American weekly has recently published some correspondence on tho relative merits of the drama and the novel from the financial point of view. The result (hays an English paper) has been to remove some of the gilt from the theatrical gingerbread, as it is stated that despito tho golden stories of the earnings of so popular an American dramatist as Mr Clyde Fitch, he has never netted £20,000 from the htnge in any one year. Ho seems, howovtT, to come frequently within pifflit of that annual total, and, on the whole, we may presume he has been decently paid for all he has ever written.

But tho correspondence to which we lefer brings out very clearly a point one is apt to overlook in contrasting the financial result of a successful play with that of a Piiceefisfiil novel. Tho dramatist never establishes himself wjth the public. Within recent years we are told Mr Fitch has had plays refused by all the leading New York theatres. And if we reflect for one moment w<* shall realiiso that most of our own playwrights who have scored big successes have subsequently produced plays which hay« been utter failures.

Several dramatists are etill living who, years ago, each made one greet hit and reaped "a small fortune" at one stroke, but who have* never contrived to produce , ' a really successful play. With tho novelist it is otherwise-. Once he lias established his reputation, provided ho gives of his best to his art. his later books will never lack a publisher, and will always prove valuable properties. After all, tho innumerable literary men and women who are at the moment striving after theatrical succe.se may bo pursuing a mero will-o'-the-wisp.

One. of the most interesting especially to Americans—which "will soon appear (•■ays the New York correspondent of ''The Tribune") is that of the "Letters and Recollections of George Washington." There are ninety letters written by the first President to Mr Tobias. Lear, who was his private (secretary for many years. They have never been in print before, and undoubtedly were never meant by their author to be published. The chief interest that the letters have is in showing the extremely shrewd business qualities of the Revolutionary patriot and I his remarkable fondness for managing ! the details of his household. The picture of Washington that the letters preisent is decidedly unheroic, as he discusses his many trials in dealing with servants. For instance, Hyde, the major domo of the Washington establishment, expressed dissatisfaction , with the? status of affairs, and General Washington did not see the propriety of bearing the expense of Hyde's transj portation and that of his baggase. The j letter shows, however, that Hyde was i not displeased at General Washington), ] but at the letter's servants, who made his pceitioii unhappy. When all of the I letters are read, one is curious to know, jin view of Washington's attention to j the smallest household details, -what Airs Wellington found to do with her I time. This much is certain, Washington was the real master of % K!e household, and was not a "hen-pecked" huei band, while Tobias Lear must have been j exceedingly patient and loyal under the I load of various responsibilities with i their fretting details.

From a newly-published, novel: "They pressed their burning c/heeks together so that their wet eyelids touched and flickered. They had reached finality in sorrowful expression, and having stammeredl so prodigally, «lt exhausted after vain ineffectual endeavours to articulate emotion unutterable in the smaller compass of windy speech, so that it were wiser to squander no further confidence in such intrepid labonra after verbal emissions of the ineffable but to make an end." This sort of sentence leaves mc- limp.