LITERARY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 158, 28 March 1908, Page 12

LITERARY NOTES.

. There were published. in London this nioritli . the; . thirteen; volumes bf Messrs. Methueri's uhjform . d'ditibri of' thb works, 6f Os'c'af Wilde. The first six volumfeseoiisist .of "The ; Duchess of Padua" (iiever before published ,in book .forni),. "Salorite, and: Otlior,,Plays,". . "Lady . AVindermere's Fan," "A Woman of No: Importance;" "The Importance of ..Being Earnest,"' . and.. "Aii Ideal Husband." Many .of,those, course, Have .been oiit of print for some years;, arid miiclv:. material gathered : iiitb /:' the .';, later Volumes .lias .hover been identified-as Wilde's except: by; his' own, memoranda, tho 'albums bf. jiis friends,; and,the .recollection of vtiribus editor's ■in ;wnbso, periodictils it appeared;, :

' The-announcement of ttelahe's correspondence recalls incident illiistTativo. of seine of tho worries to whdcb'.'di^i' "'tlW greatdSt : of 'editors are. subjcct;-, Oiie of his leader-writers was James Macdoriell, an Irian, whose remarkable , .tileiii '.bad . at'ilength brought him to what lie regarded as the riidst hondur'ilbld of all. jouriialistiS positions.' Deldiio was .Staying'at DUnrobiri Castle' during the war betti ; fc'dii Russia arid Turkey, and Macdbiiell; wht> wits tfr'itiiig the leaders 'on the Eastern .was, rinxibiis to com-; niifc. "l'lio Tinics' t-o Gladstone's policy of sympathy,ivith Russia- He at last succeeded in getting in a leader committed his .paper to i/ho side, of Russia, arid felt greatly' satisfied, . Probably - , his satisfaction ,was mitigated by the receipt of a telegram that he; was to write'fib' iridre/bii. the Eastern. Question;, but was to. bo/shunted to safer isuljj&ts./. Delano subsequently : to /Macdonell that, ho; "would- rather havo .crawled , on -his 'bands and; knees from Dunrobin to London- than. that . that' dreadful loader _ shciuld .liavo gone..-in.". Dr. soil Nicoll tolls,lis that Macdonell "was not riiiich..perturbed: by this catastrophe." . Less friendly critics take the view that Macdonell had betrayed his-trust;'' . - ■

Aii . interesting leetiiro., upon" .wad delivered by Mr. J.; T ; , Br'owii,, of, Glasgdw, •: recently,'.; before the.Royril Philosophical ,e'^y|df.Glasgow. Pbrtiori.of the' le6tiiror'& -ostiriiatd". of" Boswell. iis'a writer is ' worth, quoting; -For such, itri estiniate• to bo just, tho lecturer , clhiriied tliat' the early years df Boswell must botakdri iiito. agebuht: It was dtiring 1 that, pbribd.- tliat Boswell recognised his decisive literary; bentj which lie pursued ■without., hesitation. ' xWliritGarlyld called "the -iririer. : .diviiie,'secret- df tllfi- mail" was far .riibre'icle'arlj'' discdrnibld iii tiid iriirist arid thd* Letters to Temple' than . iii ■ the • Biographer.." .'/.That. ..Boswell was foolish and .w'ayward, said Mr. Browri; was as clear as the suii in : 'tho heavens; ,to say thit lie was. a fool and a diirieo, and . that the Bibgraphy was. struck',off bv ohanco, as mr.iiy critics even now woiild hai'o us.boiieyd; was P r .°ef-bf t' lo foolishness which ofton •Passed for .criticism: - Moritaignd was;one of Boswell's favbiirito .. aiithofs—"pouring myself out like_ old. Montaigne" was a recurring l phrase, of .his. Mr. Brown quoted 'from the preface of the "Journal of a Tour -in Corsica," ..arid; remarked oil it tliat ' nothing could be moro .explicit or dignified. In. that preface. Ikswoll' . expressed his . views ,011. authoi ship. He writes : ; - ; -"For. riiy.. part I should bd proud to be kriown as an .author, and I liavo an ardeiit ariibitibii for literary Of all possessions I should iinagine literary fame, tb be the most valuable/ A man who has been an author arid furnished a book which- has tfe6ii. approved by the world his established . himself as a respectable character in dlstarit society, with 110 danger, of. having that character lessened by the/observation of hir -iveakriesses. To preserve a \tinifdrni. dignity those- whb ■see lis, every, day is hardly possible, arid to aim at it must put iis uiider .tlie fetters of perpetual . The author of. an approved 'book' iriay allow .his liatural disposition easy, play.; . s . To those who know him as an author he never; ceases to bo recdiyed. .Such an atithor in his hours of arid discbritent may have the cohsola' *1??*, - *°-think that his writings ard at that time giving pleasure to ntimbers, and such an author may cherish tho hope of . being remeiribered after death; which has been a great object of the 'rioblesfc minds in all ages Whether I may. merit any portion of literary fame .the public will judge. - /Whateyer my ambition may be, I trust that. Diy coufidencs is not too great nor .iny hopes too ; tiiiiguino."

It is cuhotis to ; reriieriiber that' George Meredith .had published three of them being tho riow rare "Poems"—before George Eliot's "Scenes of Clerical Life" ftbpe&fed. Ooncef'hiitg "The Shaving of Shacpat, issued in 1885, the author of "Adam Bede" has this-note in her journal under the date December 30: "Read '.The Shaving of Shagpat,'" and the next day, 'Wrote a review of 'Shagpat.' " Tliat review, says "T.P.'s Weekly," appeared in the "Westminster Review" for April, 1856, and began, "The first work of fiction that presents itself as worth riotico is 'Tho Shaving of Shagpat,' an admirable imitation of Oriental tale-tolling which has given lis far liioie pleasure thiin we remember to have had even in younger days. 'The Shaving of Shagpat' is distinguished from tho common run of fiction in tho fact that its model has been chosen from rio incidental proinpting, from no wish to suit the popular mood, but from genuine love and mental afliuity. Perhaps wo ought to say that it is loss an imitation of 'The Arabian Nights' than ti similar creation'inspired by a thorough-'and admiring study." Later she adds that to many tho book will be "tho thousand and second night which thoy perhaps longed for in their childhood. Tho author is alivo to every eleiiielit in "his models; lie reproduces their humour arid practical senso as well as their wild imaginativeness." This, from George Eliot, is remarkable.