BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 3, 28 September 1907, Page 5

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

CURRENT LITERATURE AND ; \: ■;-■: ;"•." COMMENT. ■'■' -•-• THE STORM WIND. ' ■ 'I am' the Wind, I ani the Wind, 'Tho great Voice of the Lord. ■'■""■. / Then: wheroforo aro yo deaf and blind And list not what I toll your kind? ' Of tho deep workings of Sis. mind,' Of:' daedal : mazes Ho designed ( To wreck-again by'swoi'd. / I wail of priests in Anatkoth, OfLovi and of Shorn/. • ,'■' Or quickly whirring as a moth I sing of brawls 'twist Hun and Goth, And shako like cones' of Ashtaroth, ) ■''"-. , 'Or. whispor of -oldKhem.; .-. I fluto of half-gods:in strange guiso, Of barrows on high tors, /•■ Of Merlin weeping 'ncath: tho rise, Of Pan-pipes skirling to the,skies, Of Bacchus and Pentheian cries /.'vArid,primal.satyr/wars. • ,•/*■ . " I chant of stars .that fell "to. Naught, •'. - Of wav'os I-'bade subside,/. > ... ■"; Of eontinents'which lie' unwrougbtjV '-'■■'' Of tropic isles-where Saurians fought, Ofhidden'mincs the Titans sought, ,' Of Krishna-and fhis bride. .-/.'■ •/"••- ''.. I'thunder'of:volcanic throes,. .■'■■'■■•■_."/■ .Of storms :hi, green sea-stills. - : /. /' ■ Of wild bush-fires and prairie-glows, Of : elfin laughter on palp floes, :.-;- , ■ ! 'Of rain-gusts on, Caucasian snows / And Hiinalayau hills.'-. / . '" ; .: ; ,-; I am tho. Blast,- T am the -Blast/-. - ■ ''•'■'.-.■'• I scourge,tho: maddened flood. •:. ■.. ■;',,' The stellar silenc'6 flees, aghast, / * ••■ I whip : the'cosmic .gases past, ,<' ; I mould and-break; and build and cast, '"•-• I shako.the.world'from Vast to Vast— ' The iTrumpet-Voicd of God. ~ //.' -.'.' '■..—Regina-Miriam Bloch, in the "Spee-..■/-tator.",' ;-.:••::::- /•/.; -,/*/;■; ■'' V PICKWICK ENGLAND. '// ; ADDRESS vBY MR< CHESTERTON. ■ His .study of Dickons last year gave Mr. 'Chesterton immediato tpre-'emi- .-• nence amongst modern "Dickcnsians,": and it was natural therefofe.that the : 'Pickwick■. Exhibition, being--held last, month in Londoii,' should, be made tho .'occasion for'an-address by him upon /' his best'topic..:-' .-' :'/..:•'::/' His subject was "The Superiority of Pickwick; England." . He chose''it, "/ - Ho 'said,. through 'his indignation. at tho patronising tono/bf the: nows- , papers with ; ;regard : to' the exhibition ' of Pickwick'relies, .by ;thcir; assumption: that we must in a', sense'excuse these;things' because they were;done : in a time, which, had .not'reached: our ■;'.,■ modern /finality .-i of .refinement in morals: and. manners: .But wo ought' to- make,'' a:, distinction; 'there are ;/ things-'wrong .absolutely and inthem- ' 'selves,-like'malice,', sneering,'cruelty/ . ': and ■so ifbrth,: arid "there;/are- things. ''"' wrong'only: relatively :td' ! tho. human; '-'■■ 'conditions' wo- actually live/'in,-such ,'.-. as, throwing .pcopld out of' 'top';, bed-'. "'■'• room windows, .or drinking teir-bottles of brandy. . With these last tiling's' a ■ poem can dispeh'so/, and "Pickwick" is a poem. 'In'somp better, world-: wo ' may be able to drink:our..ten bottles -of/brandy; without harm; or ' wrong; meanwhile "Pickwick" is'that better world. It must bb remembered'; that .'■'■'. Dickens never;says it; is, right.' to -bo '"' 'drunk; hd'simply;conceives his'drink- .'.- ing characters./on/a: ! higher.;scale 'of ~■;■ capacity for'holding .drink"than''.we' ':/ actually findjiri ; life. Mr.: Chestor'tori . .'. said ; that' as, for himself 'he was-in. /.,,.//sympathy.; with.:. tliraQ/joc.ufjd'Pickwickiah.mordls,:but',ho really belonged to ■ ■) ft still /older/school which/• believed /that it.was hot what went intp.a man; • that defiled" him, /but/what'wentlout1 out . of. a man/.sucni as, the /vast majority; '•''. of modern : fictipii, : and philosophy,.'"We must then,note that,the;Pickwickian manners/arid .morals are a heroic con- . vention, really, an imagining of life oh . a higher- humorous : 1eve1.., ; -Arid as for the absolute sins.or crimes,' liko . ;,sneering, /all must feel/that this '.List •. . curse..'of Jntellectualism "was/ utterly ; left'out/of. anything written/by/Dick-' :, ; .-ens.'' •'■;; ! ""■.:■/'•/ '/■':,/vv/ /•'.•v'! The Modern Middle Class./ / But how; was this Pickwickian England superior to modern: England ? It . was superior/by- the virtuo of its , middle class,-which•■■".■Pickwick." crystallised,' and: which is disappearing,, or has disappeared.'He supposed that ■ -'.;■ if you were to look for .'a good man of the middle class and a; good man 1 , of the proletariat you could.find nowhere better-men than Samuel Weller arid Mr". Pickwick. "What had. come to the modern proletariat-ho did not , know, but he would explain'what had • come:-;tq''the'middle/class. V.Ono^sec-- ■ tiori of ; it'had taken to'wearing single eye-glasses; and the other section had to wearing' double, eyeglasses. '.- /What -ho meant'v/a's.that -: ..one.part had tonded'- towards 'tlie . stockbroker type, had becomo 'persons •whose: dress was, as■ Stevenson' had . •-id, of a mercantile brilliancy.- Tho': ;;; '.er part,had tended towards Jaeger, 1 ;etarianism, and' all that-'was - led the higher, life. That was to - ■;;••.. they had adopted kinds 0fidea1...... ...... worthy .enough, perhaps, but -'-.'. .riiich .Mr. Pickwick would' have 'conceived as insane. So/if England we.ro •■'.to'follow, out (which, he did not believe) its modern course, of develop- ■'• ■ merit,.historians would speak'-of the Pickwickian England 'as the last date they could find "before the English middle classes lost their common- .. sense..- ..... A Mistake of .tho Decadents! '.' ' And not .only in this way was .: modern England decadent from the / Pickwickian England. George Gissing had called the Pickwickian,times •;.and scheme of life hard and; cruel, but ,'.■'■ it: was'modern, times'which had invonte'd and' rejoiced- .in cruelty. Cruelty meant" gloating over the def: it of a man in tho battle of agonies .we all -'had to fight.. -Arid of such ' gloating or analysis of huriiilintion the modern realistic novel was full. ' In the" times.' when: he himself had grown" up it was tho'fashion tb'say '■/' that .'virtue -was. dull,, that -w;ickcd - men were tho more amusing. But, the so : called. decadents who said! this ; 'had tho -whole humorous -literature of tho world'against them.-.Uhclo Toby, Dr. Primrose, Sir Roger do • Coverloy, Pickwick—all these great - humorous characters wore against the deca'donts' dictiim. Of course on tho other side thore was Falstaff, hut Falstaif.was a man. who, would break any rule. In fact, tho Pickwickian ■times wero superior in. humour to modern times because they, were . superior .in .heroism; because tho Pickwickiaus- took sbravely tho agonies . which came to them in their fight upward to tho ideal—did not ;mako their, agoa'.os'by subtle queries for the ideal, which should seem worth their ■■following,-'and then tako them /like cowards, as moderns did.'■'; of Dialect. A3'to tho riches of Hie English dia- :. lect. "there .'arc approximately 1350 •v. ' : wor:!s meaning 'to give a pnrson a thrashing': .1300 monru'nrj 'a' fool': 1050 meaning 'a slattern'; and an almost ' irinnmerablc ' quantity meaning 'to die,.' and .. 'to get druu!;.'' Among the animals nossessinß n largo variety nf names,,'the -smallest' pifc .'■■ a litter' hohh'a very jirnmiii'.-nv.iilrieo .- with .12! I tiths to dist :, .ictio:i; that haiidsnp.R-'binl. the hickv.'ali, or

green woodpecker' (Gecinus viridis), figures under almost every lotter of tho. alphabot; whilo tho sparrow and tho stickleback also rank high on tho list.' /Among flowers, tho foxglove and the ox-oyo daisy have tho largest number of recorded names." " British", Weekllness.',' ■'•-.-. At the end of a severe robuko of American tasto in novels, a writer in a London weekly recently remarked: "Yet it would-be churlish'to deny that Amorica lias produced: great writers who can hold i their own with any European or Asiatic.',' Upon this •the Now York' "Bookman" "rises to state": "Why 'churlish,' we wonder, and to whom?:. Is this ' country, then, so tendor, or are British piiraso Olympian that tho cruel words must bo withhold for fear of crushing? Would they riot be tho words of a simple, harmless/unknown, perspiring man withispaco to fill arid possibly a printer's devil waiting and ideas hanging back? Why, then, that Atlantean manner, as if responsible to tho man iiv tho moon for lotting tho world slip? ' Surely readors must understand the situation. Thero is nothing papal about that well-worn editorial-, chair wherein "ho wriggles,nor is ho by" any magic transformed into an oecumenical council, vox populi, 'enlightened public'- opinion, consensus of tho learned,'fourth estate; moral bulwark, or anything elso more representative or ' apostolic or numerous thania man with a'pen and an inkpot." One must add • "Whoop!" i Simplified 'Spelling.'-'. A correspondent! of an English paper records tho progress- of. spelling." Dr. C. P.' G.-.Scott, secretary ~ to- tho Simplified .Spelling Board, reports that tho.simplified, spelling movement: is steadily increasing. The: number of .persons.-.who' havo .signed tho agreement to use.-.tho simplified spellings'■'- is more. than 16,000 —3000 more since the annual meeting of tho board, in April. /Tlie,National Education. Association has just adopted -.resolutions- approving the principles and tho: policy of tho Simplified Spelling Board, and directing the use of\ tho 300 words in tho publications of (tho.Association. ■,:,,-. ■ bid-Time .'.Letter-Writers.: : .'. , ; ,- A charming: article on. the'decay of, letter-writing appears iri tho August "Harper" by Agnes Repplier. /She says: : ."When.Mrs. Montagu writesto: 'Mr. Gilbert West, that/'miraclp' of tho Moral W6rlcl,';'t6 condole: with his gout;' she 1 laments' that his 'writing hand, first dedicated'to tbs Muses/then with maturer- judgment consecrated to the- Nymphs -of Solyma, should bo led "captive by-:tho cruol foe.';".'. If Mr. West:. chanced riot to,' know' "who .'or 'what', thorNymphs of Solyiha w ; ero, ho.' had' the intelligent ''pleasure/'of. finding out. Miss Seward Klbscrih'es Mrs. Tighe's; sprightly, charms as 'Ao-, niariinspir'atiori.added,to tho cestiis' of ..Venus'; and/speaks of tlio.'elderly 'ladies of Langollen'' as, '.'ini"' airbu't tho' voluptuous sense,:Armidas: of its bowers.', ; Duelling/is, to her. 'tho Imurdorous '/punctilio'/ of : . Lucifcrian 1 honour.' /.A Scotch .gentleman/who writes verse is ' a Cambrian Orphous;; /a;Lichfield gentleman- who sketches is"'our Lichfield'Clo'ude,''; and a budding clerical.writer.is I'our young sacerdotal Marcellus.', . ./When tho ' Swan ' wished to apprise Scott;.of.Dr. Darwiri's/leath; it..never .occurred to her to. write,.as,we in this,drill ago should do: 'Dr. Darwin died/last night,': or, ■ 'Poor B;r.;/ Darwin - died /last night.' She wrote:;■:',,A-, bright' luminary. in' this neighbourbbod /recently: shot from his sphere with' awful .and dfvnlor.iblo,, suddenness'—thus-prjeking,.Sir : Walter's, imaginhtioii.;to ;tUqlwriu,dp.i'4point-.i before descending,to..the .facts." ■■, . / CHRONICLE;'AND/COMMENT.' The Now York" "Bbokman" for"Ari- : gust has.'-■ ,a ,'riotc; on a 'rare ; bit of Kiplingiana. ':. (the '-, v/ord•.- is tho "Bookman's!'-; own). , Kipling's early stories;-wero "published, in 1898 in thin grey paper volumes by. A. H.; Wheclor and Company, at Allahabad, and wero sold at the-,railway stations" there. A few/years later these.: tales' filtered through- the' English ' and " American Press, and Kipling was a made author, 'Ho, began the preparatou' of an English edition. Ho took tho littlo books arid revised, them - : by .-his own hand, altering- words. herb and there, changing the forms of 'sentences, and making marginal notes; in which ho px;pressed.his opinion on certain ty'po/graphical l -matters,"" in" language v of. a harrack-ropm vigour." Ho-also wrote a (.poom . of. eight, stanzas, i dedicating j "Wee. Willib Wiiikie".- to. his mother, ,—a.poem iieyor published. ' This was tho collection "the "Bookman", saw, and it rriade that journal's mouth "fairilywater." Tho.B"6okman" adds that. Mr Pierpbrit Morgan had paid ,17,000, I. dollars ■ for an "extra'-iilustratcd" set of ;Kipling— "how valueless a : thing liko that appears besides these slender, books."- Kipling, by. the'way,; is said to.bo the original of the hero,of , a new'story by Mr Lord Osbourne. Ho has been used in fiction before—in a book "Dingly, the Famous "Aiithor," ,by two French writers. \ ;ft. New Noto. / ■,/"','; ./. \ ■ "A new note in' Australian poetry is stniek,"-'says.the Now York tion," "in 'The Secret, Key and Other Verses',' by George Essex Evans (Sj'drioy: Angus and Robertson; London - . Australian Book; Company). ..The. 'weird melancholy', of the bush had spread like a pall.over earlier "Australian verse, ' because it was'-'sung-by. defeated men in a country whercmari had still an unequal battle to-wago with .Nature: There 'aro elegies' and threnodies in this collection, but tho pajan is now, the-measure, and'it'is raised by singers who are" confident of themselves and proud of their country. 'Mr. Evans has succeeded Brunton Stephens, as tho poot-lauroatb of 'Earth's .mightcst islo.' In a finely vtouehed 'Australian Symphony,' with 'undertones,-weird,-mournful, strong,' ho prophesies: Not as the songs 6f other lands Her songs shall bb, Where dim her purple shore-line stands ; -, Abovo the sea I '. ',) . • As erst she stood she stands alone I Her inspiration is her own. We understand tho place and function of poets when wo read such poems. They furnish their-portion of tho aesthetic/accompaniment without which the history of a country; would bo as incomplete as a ■ symphony without counterpoint." Dialect and. Purity. ; A writer in the/'Quartbrly Review" has an entertaining essay on the new "English Dialect Dictionary," which in its six volumes contains over 100,000 words. The "(juarterly" critic concludes from his study of the Dictionary that'dialect is not a "barbarous and haphazard mispronunciation of tho standard language," but rather the reverse. "It is surprising to find in what-a number of cases, it is the standard English form which is the corrupt word, while the dialects-pre-serve the correct pronunuciation. To take only a■-. few.;, examples.-. Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) in the dialects is called ..laylock, regularly corresponding to the old form / Iclacko found iii Bacon's ivisays. . When wo say lilac wo are pronouncing a form borrowed from the cr.eknoy, who says 'the bvb.v' instead of '.'tho.baby.' So. again, apricot, dialect form apricock, op. S!wkcspeare, '.U-cliard '11/ jiii. iv, 2P. 'vond dandling apriccoks' • coroner, ui-

alcct' form crownor, hence crowner's quest, ' a coroner's inquest,' cp. S'-akespearo, 'Hamlet,' V, i, <1, 'The crownor hath sato on her, and finds it Christian burial.' ■ "An interesting elucidation of tho common proverb, 'Don't spoil your ship for a ba'porth of tar,', is given by comparison with tho dialect version of it, which remains faithful to tho original. , Tho saying 'Dunnot lonz i'yow (tho ewe) for a hawporth o' tar,' i.e., 'Do not bo niggardly or over-economical in farming,' is recorded as far back as IG3G in the form Mice that will loose a sheopo (or a hoggc) for a pennyworth of tarro cannot doservo the name of a good husband.' It thus becomes clear, that our word 'ship' is hero a dialect-form of 'sheep,' and that tho 'ha'porth of tar' doos not signify tho, remedy for a leaking vessel, for whioh.it'would be wholly inadequate, but. the moans for marking the owner's initial on a sheep's back, to prevent- its. being unrecognised when found straying."