MEREDITH AND AUSTRALIA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 461, 20 March 1909, Page 9

MEREDITH AND AUSTRALIA.

MEREDITH AND. AUSTRALIA. - >

Mr ._ /Walter -Murdoch has an • account in the "Argus" a talk which ho had 'with George Meredith on his recent visit to England. \ I ',

'Mr: Meredith's first question (he writes) related to Australian politics, and to his friend, Mr. Dealcm. ' As' the English newspapers give but ir.eagije accounts of Australian doings, I was more than usually Ignorant of the state of affairs, and was able to, givo' him but little information. Next he,asked about our wines; and on the subject of wine, as becamo the creator of Dr.

Middloton and tho oulogist of Old Veuve, ho spoke wisely and Well. Thence, by an easy transition, we passed the buckwhcat cakes and maplo sugar, of which he spoke with enthusiasm, adding that he had never visited America. I asked if 110 had ever thought of visiting Australia, and he said that when 110 had been young enough to ( travel he had never been able to afford it; and -ho gave, mo an account of his early strugglos, when his books wero ignored, and he: had had to turn his hand to everything —reporting, editing, leader-writing, reading for publishers, and what not. Nobody would read my books then," lie said, and from what I know of my dear countrymen, 1 don't think they would ever liavo been persuaded to look at them, if the Americans had not lead the way." Ho went 011 to tell tho story of his sudden popularity 111 America; how certain American■ critics had "discovered" his work, and how a certain publisher had brought out a co'J'P' 0 } 0 American edition of his novels. .That publisher had had tho decency to give Mm a royalty. He had never called' the American publishers pirates; ho had often been asked to join in that cry, but lie never would. Thev wero hard-headed business meii, and had" behaved generously in paying him something at a time when no law required them to pay anything at all. x ' rr He asked about Australian literaturo. He ith'ought wo had somo promising young men, but,ho was not enraptured with what he had seen of our verse. Wo scorned overfond of the glorification of sport, of horses, and of oijr own vernacular. We wero tryin" to force the Muse along a path she .would never tread. 1 "Trv.to get your young men to know their English classics to rend their Shakespeare, .. Milton, lope, and Wordsworth. Not, ,of course, to imitate ithese'; but to be well- grounded in the , greatest literary traditions. It seemed to striko'him as an afterthought that his ]nelusion of Pope required defending. lope 'is our greaest master of the rapier-thrust. He had as littlo imagination as any man tliat ever-lived; but'ho had great wit, and enormous industry, and ho polished and polished: Some of his couplets will last with the'language. 'That's a great, thing to havo done, , and a great - quality—lncisiveness. In tliat, lie is our great; model." Mr. Meredith seemed interested in the account I gavu him of a ( ' Molbourno poet, Mr. Bernard 0 Dowd.