NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 514, 22 May 1909, Page 9

NOTES.

Some time ago a volume of poems was published by an Australian (says the Melbourno "Booldovor"), and ho was callcd' " a decadent.", A..relative of .-his, ;who signs the name. "Bauldcdaire," '.' . averred that sucli verses were easy to indite, and sat down and produced tho.following poems:-?- : : . NIGHT. Out of the sombre blackness of the night, • • The faint mysterious moon looms cold and ■ wan,' '• •' ' "■■ •' - Tho gaunt trees trembls in the ghostjy. lisiht . : Where, fnrtivo,' forms lurk; darkly—and are gono. The sea moans loudly on : tha stricken shore, The wind shrieks wildly like'a-soul in nain, . ghosts ;of haunted hours, that bum no '[■ ■ more; .■ Pass .wearily, return, and .pass again. DAWN. The noisome night gives' place to dreary, dawn, ■ No sullen snn pierces tho sodden sky;.;. Grey , mists arise—chill breaks another, morn, Tho winds wail wearily—a shuddering sigh Comes from the trees whose livid leaves asweat, : With poisonous dows, glitter;like tired eyes,. The trailing robes of sinister regret Drift over the pale dawnas'darkness'dies. . Which is an excellent parody:of much current Australian verso. ' ; In tlio intimate arid congenial society of a tew brother poots and artists, 'Mr.'- Swinburne celebrated his seventy-second birthday ' at Tho'- Pines, tho famous house on Putney Hill in which lie has jivod for thirty years with his "friend of friends," Mr. Theodoro Watts-Dun ton. "Tho day" (says tho "Daily Nows") "found, Mr Swinburne as full of the vigour and. joy'ousness of life as spring; iself. According to his daily custom, which ho has not brokon for twenty-fivo years, he went for a six-milo walk on Putney Heath and Wimtledon Comrno.i at ,_an amazingly rapid pare for a septuagenarian. As is known, ho has an inveterate hatred of overcoats, gloves, and umbrellas, and invariably goos out, bo It ; iret or fino, in the'serge, suit and soft felt hat' familiar to all people in and around Putney. Nothing, indeed, exhilarates him bo much .is a brisk walk in a beating rain or a cold piercing wind. :. By contrast, Mr. WattsDunton had a predilection ;for umbrellas. Tho ono hcy particularly favours, if we may believe his friend and biographer, Mr. James Douglas, is as picturesque as tho famous green umbrella which George, Borrow carried in Richmond Paik." Inside tho week tho poet was dead. • '-.