NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15453, 4 December 1915, Page 9

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

SLANG, SENTIMENT, AND SWINBURNE. Another of the innumerable "bards" who may ono day lie heavy on tho conscienco of the Sydney "Bulletin" has issued his volume —Mr C. J. Dennis, singing the "Jsongs of a Sentimental Bloke." In a series of fourteen sets of verses ho traces the love storv of "the bloke," whose "dilly feelin'," compound of springtime fever and a conviction that his "name is mud," is tho prelude to a ''knock-down" to Doreen —a "bonser peach"—to whom, after what one presumes is the usual experience of Sydney larrikins courting their girls, ho is ultimately married. Mr Dennis is a clever writer, and he is completely successful in obtaining rich effects from the Australian slang in which his sentimental bloke discusses his joys and sorrows. Of course, the trick is not new. Henley has been even more successful with his rondeaus in tho dialect of tho London cockney. It was from Henlcv that Mr Dennis learned that slang can be made very effective in verse; it is invaluable for producing the "punch" which "Evoe" and Owen Seaman obtain with their acrobatic rhvnie*, and Charlie Chaplin with his artful little walking-stick. Mr Dennis began, wc susyect. the momeifEThe happened to read iiion s straight Tip to all Cross Coves,;' or, more probably "Culture in tho Slums" :

For in such rorty wise doth Lovo express His blooming views, and asks lor your n<ldress, , n , And makes it Tight, and does the gay and * rec - . ,■ i I kissed her—l did so! And lerand mo Was Pa l *- And if that ain ' t s businc6a ' O crikey. Bill! Forthwith the Australian bard takes his own clever pen in hand: Somethm' or someone —I don t Tightly know. But. teems to me. I'm kinci er icoim for A tart I knoo a 'undred years ago. Or, niavbe mere. _ Wot's tliia I've 'enrd them call that thing? . . . (Ice whizz! Tlie. idcel bit o' ekirt! That's wot it is! The notion of making a serial of the verses came, one judges, from \\ allace Irwin's "Lovo Sonnets of a Hoodlum, written in the fascinating argot of the Chicago tough—a more finished argot than comes from "Little Lon." "Last night—ah! yesternight' —begins one of Irwin's sonnets, deft and ludicrous wink at lirnest Dowson s "Cynara"— Last night—ail! yccternigh. I flagged. my queen . . . . , , ~ Steering for Gninekj- S lcc-crcam joint lull r ■■■' t

I tip and braced her. breezy ns a ga!c.

And the was the' ever eeon

Just then Brick ilurphy butted in between, Hushing my funny sor.~ and dance to jail, My syncopated con-talk no avail, Fo r Murphy was the only nectarine. . . .

In adapting Henley and Irwin to Australian requirements, Mr Dennis has done no more than " ; Omer" did, if Mr Kioling is to be believed, and lie has ' smote - 'is bloomin' lyre" very sucessftillv an<L amusingly. We have one caution for the reader: the slang loses its picturesque quality —its "punch''—if one reads more than one or two of the jwems at a sitting. Taken in small doses, as it should be in order to do 'Mr Dennis justice, tho effect of the slang—tho sentiment is worthless—is distinctly pleasant. (Sydney: Angus and Rol>ertson. Christchurch: (Simpson and Williams.)

Very different in manner from Mr Dennis is' Miss Nina Murdoch, who. in her little book, "Songs of the Open Air," reveals the fact that Swinburne lias goho to hrr head. Her verses are clever of their kind, but very empty. .Swinburne, as many a sensitive young writer has pathetically proved for us over and over again, i» inimitable. His metre, his passion, his characteristic phrases, are alluring but fatal things; nobody can use them but ho; they will hold no wine but tho blood of his own .sanguine grapes: those who try to pour their own new wine into Swinburne's vessels find that it cannot be done. Miss Murdoch has so thoroughly steeped herself in the "Poems and ISallads" (first series) that she uses—clearly without knowing it—the very words and phrases of the -opulent master, and as she sees kisses everywhere—kisses and seductive love—we need not further describe her work. Lovers of poetry may lind it a mildly amusing exercise to detect the echoes of other poets besides Swinburne. That is, if they can bear to see a line of the "Lotus-Eaters" turn into

tender kisses dropped on sleeping eyes,

Tlu> lovers of Francis Thomson will give a jump, just like the Tennysonians, two verses later when they find that Miss Murdoch has taken tho cowl from Night and put on—n hood! There are somo pleasant little war verses at the end, but Miss Murdoch's heart is not really at home excepting with "lips kissed red" and "bodies touching amorously." (Sydney: William Brooks and Co.).

LADY LIVERPOOL'S GIFT BOOK

The Countess of Liverpool's Gift Book of Art and Literature, - ' the entiro profits of which are to be utilised for tho benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers, has now made its appearance, and the publishers, Messrs AVhitcombe arhl Tombs, who arc reaping no financial benefit from tho undertaking, are to bo cordially congratulated on having produced a volume which in noint of artistic production will hold its own with any of the gift books published in connexion with the war. It is well bound, well printed, and beautifully illustrated. Tho frontispiece, is a fine coloured portrait of the Countess of Liverpool. -New Zealand artists have been very liberal in their contributions. Tho volume is enriched with coloured reproductions of paintings by John Gully, Cecil ,F. Kelly. George Walton, John Ford Paterson, and Charles Conder. There arc cartoons by W. A. Bowring, K. M. Ballantyne, L. ID. Booth, J. McDonald, E. Thompson, H. Mann. J. C. Blomficld, J. H. Gilmour, W. Macbeth, David Low, and E. Brodie Alack. Illustrations to the stories aro furnished by L. 11. Booth, Richard "Vlallwork, and Trevor Lloyd, and decorations by Trevor Lloyd, Arnold F. Goodwin, Ethel S." Jones, Eileen Cowan, and J. McDonuld. There are also manv fine photo reproductions of pictures by some of the artists named, and also by W. L. Wylie, R.A ; (The Battle Cruiser New Zealand), "William Greene, P. Van der Volden, C. F.. Summers, Amy B. Dawsou, W. Menzies Gibb. Violet Nelson, A. Elizabeth Kelly, Tom Glover, Esther Paterson, and C. N. Worsley, 1t.8.A. Photographs of the Carnival Queens, and photographs , connected with the return of the Willochra supply a note of present interest. Mention might also bo made of. tho portrait of a typical young New Zealand soldier drawn by Miss Amy B. Dawson, and christened "Tonuny Fernleaf." The pictures are sufficient to make the book attractive, but the literary contents are certainly such as to "do no discredit to New Zealand. Hbr Excellency the Countess of Liverpool contributes a brief autographed introduction, in which she expresses hor sincere thanks to the publishers, and to all the authors and artists who have so kindly -lent their support- to the undertaking. Most of the contributors aro coiumendably brief, and poetry as well as prose is well represented. It would be invidious to criticiso individual efforts, but all arc on a high level of excellence, anfi as will be seen from tho list of contributors which wo append, a very representative selection of writers responded to the invitation of the editor, Mr As W. Shrimpton, to contribute to this notable work. sThc contributors comprise: Sir Robert •Stout, Captain W. Manning, Dr. W. E. Thomas (a charmino- little song with musical setting), Mona Mackay, Lilla G. McKay, James Cowan, F. Carr Rollett, B. E. Baughan, Arnold Wall, W. F. Alexander, Barrio Marschel, E. D'Esterre, Ethel S. Jones, Ernest ' Currie, James Drummond, Johannes C. Andersen. A. I>. Wylie, L. ,S. Fanning. J. J. YV. Pollard. W. Douglass Andrews, Jessie McKay, A. A. Grace, Margaret A. Sinclair, W. H. Triggs, Edith Howes, Dulce Carman, Will Lawson. L. M. Eastgate, T. Chevne Farnie, Clara Breward. E. N. G. Poulton, Ethel B. Beauchamp, Thomas 11. Young. Robt. 31. Laing, Dick Harris, Isabel Aland Peacocke, Mary Colborne-Veel, Elsie K. Morton, Arthur H. Adams, Alice Forrester, Helene Cross, Grace E. Marsden, Ernest Denis Hoben, Charles F. Salmond, W. H. Joyce, M. L. Chalmers, S. Eichelbaum, Esther Gien, J. L. Mortimer, H. GuthrieSmith, and "Amerikophile." At tho conclusion the editor very appropriately. reproduces Sir Charles Bowen's poem, entitled "Tho Battle of the Free," written in 1861, but remarkably appropriate to the present time. The book is issued in two styles, a limited edition de luxe, published at one guinea, bound in full velvet caif, and the ordinary edition in cloth at 4?:. It is to be hoped that it will have a very large sale. Apart from hencnting a good object, every purchaser can rely on getting good value for the money paid, and we have little doubt that it will be in largo demand >as an anpropriatc gift book at this season of I the year.

RECENT NOVELS. George Acorn, author of "One of the -Multitude, ' is far less successful with a later novel ''The Driving Force." He brings too many characters upon the .stage; he encumbers himself with too many family histories, lost or erring parents, and strayed children left to the care of benevolent philosophers. The "Driving Force" is described as "a seed of moral energy that is sown in youth and grows as we get older until at last it acquires a dynamic force and drives us along the straightcst and noblest path through life's difficulties and handicaps." Bv the action of this force, certain children of the slums rise to better things, and by its absence as a ruling power,' certain others inevitably sink to tho m spite of all helping hands. This is tee spirit of a story which is always at its best when dealing with slum scenes. (London : John Long, Ltd. 2s (id.) "Tho Despot," who is hero of a new novel by Mary Ellen Smith, is no

European potentate or power. He is simply an immensely clever medical expert, who has discovered the secret of curing mania by certain guarded doses of a highly poisonous' drug. He has "the footstep of fato and a beautiful voice," says a girl character in tho book, and with these advantages he contrives to play the despot over the lives of various men and women who can in some way help his research. It is a well-written volume, though few of its chapters can bo called cheerful reading. (London: John Long, Ltd., i?s Gd.)

In "The Pernetual Choice,"' by Constance Cotterell, we follow the story of a woman from the early days of her childhood, through school life and adolescent love-making, tip to fullgrown efforts to earn her living as a writer, and leave her happy at last after several more or less tempestuous romances. The most trying quality of the book i« self-conscious effort at realism. Miss Cotterell dwells upon details until she completely spoils tho larger artistic effect, and her determination that no character shall be unnaturally agreeable, ends by allowing us no character that can be anything but disliked. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 3s Gd.)

'"Demi-Royal,'' by Asliton H'illiers, is a romantic-historical novel. The story is too long, and not well constructed. The events, as related by a great uncle to his younger relatives, seem presented with some of the dnlness of "age. But the plot is a good one, and tho heroine ("de mi-royal," being tho daughter of Mrs Fitzherbert and her Regent), is a young woman of such interest that we grudge her to that highly uninteresting commoner, the Quaker Abel. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 2s Gd.)

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS. In spite of the war, the makers of Christmas cards and souvenirs this year have adopted the motto "Business as usual," but their wares aie not quito the same as in previous years. Judging by the specimens sent to us by Messrs Raphael Tuck and Sons, tho direct allusions to the war are few and far between, but there is a chastened note both in the greetings and pictorial execution, while it seems to us that, artistically, both cards and calendars arc m?re beautiful than ever. In the former the Wedgwood series and the Potpourri series (scented) are particularly charming. As before, this firm has the honour of producing the Christmas cards used by the King and Royal Family, and the selection of subjects is more than usually interesting. Tho King's is a reproduction of Bernard Gribble's painting, "A Glorious Chapter in Britain's History" (the "Revenge" in action). The subject of the Queen's card is Queen Matilda, daughter of the Count of Flanders, and wife of William the Conqueror, enibroiderinc the Baycux tapestry. The Prince of Wales selected Berna r d Cribble's painting of '"The Iron Duke," Sir John Jellicoe's flagship, while Queen Alexandra's bears a reproduction of "Queen Margaret, of Scotland praying for the victorv of the Scottish Army," painted bv J. Finnemore, R.I. The calendars produced by this firm are veritable works of art. Special mention nif>v be made of a reproduction of "God Have You in His by Hal Ludlow, renresentine a British officer in ldmki bidding his youner wifo farewell. Tho selection of children's books, puzzles, etc.. is as varied and attractive as usual.