LITERARY GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12683, 22 December 1906, Page 7

LITERARY GOSSIP.

The first performance on any stage of "Tom Jones,", the new light opera which has been based upon Fielding's story by Alec M. Thompson, wi-tb lj-rics by Charles Taylor and music by Edward 'German, will be given at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester, on the erenin§ of Saturday, March 29tih Here it wilt- bo played for two, Or pos■ibly three, weeks after which it' Will oome to Apollo Theatre, London^

■ Bir Alfred Lyall has been elected vice-president of the Omar Khayyam Club, which, in spite of the satire, levelled-at it from time to time "still oontinuesVto be the resort of "intellectuals" who indulge in literary epicureanism with an Oriental flavour Sir Alfred Lyall, however, is more than an amatojir of Orientation. During his distinguished career in the Bengal Civil Service he made a close study of Indian history and literature, and hif "Astatic Studies" were full of knowledie.

Here is a rather staggering announcement by Professor Skeat in a letter to the '-Academy ,, :--« < T1» reason why spelling reform is so far off is that there is no general scientific study of our spelling. . —V - I think most people are wholly unaware of. the terrible inconsistencies snd anomalies of the present'svstem. Just consider the following facts:—(l) There are 21 ways,of representing the a in fate. (2) There are 24 way* of representing the cc in feet. (3) There are 26 ways of repre-» seating the aw in hawk. That is, there are 71 spellings of only three vowelsounds. Those who doubt these facts catt find them tabulated in Miss Soames's 'Introduction to Phonetics.' "

An instance is given of Tennyson's epicureanism as a smoker in the reminiscences of W. M-. Rossetti, jurt published. Woolner. who is the authority quoted, tells how, in the course,of a trip with friends to Italy, tobacco, such as Tennyson could smoke, jave out at Florence, whereupon the poet packed up his portmanteau and returned home, breaking up the party. Tbe "Atheneum" re-newer is awe to vouch,for the truth of thi-i,* having heeard it, not only from but from Tennyson's brother Septimus.

Shakespeare in fiction!—Sophus Bandits, th+j popular Danish novelist, re-' cently published a story, "A Comedy on Kronberg," whose principal character ia William Shakespeare. According 'to the story, in .1586 the Earl of Leices-ter's-company of actors go. to Denmark. One of the actors, "Will." meets with an accident on the boat they travel hy, andon landing at Elsinore is nursed by Iver Kramme, a schoolmaster, and his sister Christence. During his convalescence he reads > the Latin Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, and is greatly interested in the story of Prince Aml.pt. There'are love pasaßges between "Will" and Christenoe, who, learning that he has a wife and family in England, dies, ■like Ophelia, by drowning. Kramme doees not know the surname of "Will" (who returns to England immediately after the death of eChristence), and does not suspect his identity with Shakespeare until years afterwards, when the captain of a Danish ship presents him with a copy of tbe 1(30-. quarto edition of "Hamlet."

English papers have higji praise for tbe recently collected pen portraits in the Parliamentary reports oi the fifties, by E. M. Whftty. Here is a portrait of Macaulay at th* end of his H<&uae pf Commons career. "What can be the Inatter? Doors open, members rush out; members are tearing post you from all points, in one direction—towards the House. ITben wigs and gowns appear; -they tell you with hapoy faces their committees have adjourned; and then come a third <-a«* tbe gentlemen of the proa, "hilarious. Why, vAat's the matter? Matter 1 M-_»i--.y ia up. You join the runners in a moment. . • It was an announcement one hadn't heard for years; and the passing of the wood 'Macaulay's uo emptied poimrattee-roemis now as before it emptied dubs. Tlie •dd voice, the old manners, and the old style—glorious speaking. Well prepared, carefully elaborated, confessedly easays-b, but spoken with perfect art and consummate management. . . • The grand conversation of a man of

the worW kw rwiiHectkms and hia log«o to a party S-nSSES: and jug £»smg km SSL ATthe House, filled fi, «* ™_der and mete oratorical; and then Cpoured out _« speech witji rapidity, Ming became a torrent of the n cjurving his hearers witi turn into «n- ---♦,\«_» *» Ahnnr . • Tm groat orator SSZt of^iss___-! and he had scaroely tbe to acknowledge the eager praises whioh otbere in hia neighbourhood. The 1 - joint authori.of "Some Irish Y«terdays," Messrs E. Somemll© and %-Mt-_R«a. «* «e* ere n P°? TiM • or * of brogue tnWlly put into the mouths of the Irish. "There are alive" they remark "many excellent people who will never, on this aide of the grave, X Evinced that the Irish peasant say 'indsdo' for 'indeed, 'bolave' for -believe/ or ewape for 'sweep' Inborn .and ingrained knowsuch points is essential; if, anwng many anomalies, a rule can be found, it seems to be that in an Irish brogue the diphthong W changes to 'a' aa in 'cay' for 'sea' whdo the double c remains unhampered witii; thus you might hear a person my ' I waa very wak© last *oek. Writers of fiction have <lono much that is painful in dealing with Irish people. Thackeray's Captain Costignn 6poke like a stage edition of a Dublin car-driver, which is not What one would expect in a gentleman who, according to his own acoount. 'bore his Majesty's Commission "in the foighting Hundtherd and Thiid.' and his introduction of Arthur 'Pendennis as 'a person. of rofoined mind, cmiable manners, and a sincare lover of poethry' is not convincing or even very amusing. It is strange that the error of making Irish ladies ! and gentlemen talk like their servants should to this hour have a fascination for novelists. It is not so very long - since rthat, in a magazine, I read a high-born Irish Captain of Hussars, who, in a moment of emotion, exclaimI ed: 'Howly Mither ay Hivenl'"