NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 9

NOTES.

Reference is : niado/' in an article in th( 'Country Home" on Miss Corelli's \house al stratford-on-Avon, to' the Peter' Heylin MS n Miss Corelli's possession, which contains c ■eference to "Venus and Adonis." No allulion: to Shakespeare appears in Heylin's pub ished.'. works, but the authenticity of th< WiS. is assured, as it bears HeylinV signature, r'and 'is dated; 1618. • > Many: collector: lave made, tempting ofieTs for this -valuabk iterary ,"find," but Miss Co'relli''has ho 'in:«ntion of. parting. with it or-of publishing is contents at present. '.'You see, shesaic aughirigly, '. "the learned dry-as-diists whc •ank;as Shakospearean scholars in this country havo made up their minds that T knew lotting' about anything! So it is pleasanl <o feel that 1 may perhaps have some' facts o add to Shakespearean scholarship and gome Shakespearean discoveries' of my own some lay."' ■ '- , In Euskin's letters, just art >ome: curious literary criticisms. Writing tc Sossotti, he, says"Your. sister (Christina; should cxcrciso herself in the severest comnonplace of metre .until she can write.as tl« lublic like. , Then, if she |>uts in her. oblervation* and passion'all will become', prenous, v But she riuist'haye the form first." It is almost incredible . that Buskin is si itterly uuable to appreciate Christina Roslettiy exquisite: senso of rliythm. and metre. 'I think Aurora Leigh,'" .Jib' writes to Browning,, "the greatest .poem in the Engisli language. . '.. . not surpassed bj Shakespeare's sonnets." : ■ Of .Dickons; he vroto:—"Ho was -, a■ : pure modernist—a eader of the steam-whistle jiarty par excelerice—and he had ho understanding of any lower.of antiquity, - except a. sort of jackdaw ;entiment for .catnedral towers." ' -Arthur Vlachen, quoting this -'--passage in .•".TiP.'t SVeekly," has the; following comment"The act is, I suppose, that there was a continual contest in. Dickons betweon what he liked in lis heart' and what he thought; that ho ought so like. In-'hii;-heart,';-I believe that:ho.had he deepest love of antiquity,- of old abboys, if old cathedral" towns, of ancient taverns, if mouldering ancient streets.. But Dickens iad\no wish .to .be ;thought eccentric, and /hoh lie heard everybody Ruskm excepted -proclaiming that the - - steam-whistle' and he Crystal Palace had brought' in the Golden Ige: between •: them, . he . acquiesced readily inough. But I think that he,had, now ana hen, .uneasy-doubts as to the fineness of the ;old." '.' , _ . ' A little editorial 'from the London "Dailj yews" : "Vex not thou, the poet's mindj" :aid: Tennyson, ,mariy» years, ago—and: Sir, .'lowdon. ought to' have remembered it—"foi ■hoi! canst not fathom it. : , Clear, arid'.tiriglif t - should-: be ever,. flowing, .like a.. crystal ■iver."-. On Thursday a', man, giving the lame of William Shakespeare, ; was -.charged rith drunkenness at Marylebono. . YcsterIdyi he ' was charged again, and gave the lame 'bf ' John Milton. - "Come,"':said..-the Magistrate;. '"what : is v your : real.'.'name?" Thus appealed • to, the: prisoner ' averred thai 10 was '.Thomas Moore; and tho-Magistrate ■omaniled. him for inquirios; It seems' tc is that the -matter could have' been verj >asily | settled on , the spot. Mr. Plowdeii leed only have asked the prisoner to comlose, (say) a sonnet to the Metropolitan Poice /'Force. The result would immediately lave revealed to any man of the slightest iterary discrimination which of the three ihe prisoner really was, : and' set at. rest a mrassing doubt _ which probably . torments :he poet's; own mind as much as anybody's. It is , eminently fitting (says tho "Westninstei 1 Gazette I ').'that the'order forprintng the new. edition ,of tho "Encyclopaedia Uritanhica". should have been placed with an Edinburgh, firm. of_ printers,, in view of the :raditional connection' between the Northern ;apital.;and .this great literary undertaking. According to . a' memorandum- prepared by Archibald Constable." in 1821, .-'-.tho laedia'.'was. projected' by Colin 'M'Farquhar, in Edinburgh printer, and the first two and part of .the third editions were issued by nm and his-partner, Andrew Bell. The first xlition ran to'threo volumes, and about 3000 :opies were. sold. Subsequent editions retired considerably-more volumes, tho second, running into 'ten and the third into wenty: volumes. ' In-18.12 the work was ac-quired-by Constable for between. £13,000 and ei4,000, and very soon lie'sot about the issuo of' a supplement, tho editorship of vhich, after being declined, by Dr. Thomas Jrown, who, says Constable, "preferred writng trash of poetry to useful and lucrative employment," was accepted by Macvey Napier, iftenvards;the editor of the "Edinburgh Renew." ~ Lockhart :has told us how, when Vapier brought Scott £100 for his first coninbution to the Supplement, the ■ greataearted novelist said,. ."Now, tell -mo frank-ly,-if I don't-take this money, does it'go into your pocket or yQur publisher's, .for it .s impossible for me'to-accept a penny of it :rom a: literary brother"; and it was only a-hon'assured that Napier had nothing to do ivitk the fund destined for contributions, ihafc Scott pocketed the money, With tho jocose observation ■ that "he had trees', to plant, and no conscience as to the -purse )f his fat friend"—Constable. Mr. Horace Vachell defends Mr. Galsvorthy's new novel, "Fraternity," from the :riticisms. of the "Saturday Review.."* He >ayß: "Mr. Galsworthy shivers his lance igainst the - crass . ignorance, fatuity, cocksureness, and insularity, which have made .is, as a people, so beloved'by other nations. I'hackeray pilloried, certain types of tho apper class, without prejudice to good men ind truo of that class; There aro thousands if just such people in London alone. It is impossible to talk with- rmy-foreigner of intelligence without' his arraigning, more or less politely, the: types of English men and ivomen whom Mr. Galsworthy delineates 'so lelicately and unmistakably."