LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 223, 8 June 1918, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

The Froude Centenary. The centenary of James Anthony Froudo was celebrated oil April 23. The famous historian and his work aro honoured in tho April issue of "The Bookman" (Hodder and Stoughton) )>.y nn exceedingly well written, agreeably informative, aud most interesting article from tho pen of Dr. "William Barry. Not for many a long day have I rend an article dealing nocessarily, if indirectly, with many debatable matters which exhibits a greater spirit of fairness and tolerance of oilier people's views than does, this article of Canon Barry's. Fronde has often been accused, mainly by people who nevor read his works, of having wilfully distorted facts whero he utilised the Slalo records. Pr. Harry says that, his abridgments of letters and ether documents cannot be trusted, and that as "a Iranslator he took li.npardonable liberties with Spanish, Trench, and Latin originals," "but "ho did not mean lo deceive or bo deceived." Ifo went hack "to the sources and fpent years upon their perusal or deciphering in London, Simancas, Vienna. But for this very trying work—which, after ill, is instrumental and attorney-like—ho was never well qualified. In transcribing manuscript evidence lie made many slips, whether dealing with Philip II (whose handwriting, says Major Hume, was the worst in Europe) or with Carlyle's 'Ueminiseences." As Dr. Barry says: "Of Froudo's Ihirty and moro volumes I count in my library twenty-eight. Wo should havo lx'on of minds opp<»od on many points, vol. I ndmiro and, in a shadowy sort; of ray duo to incidental strokes and little tilings known to me, feel what may bo called an affection for this Anthony who delivered so grand an over Caesar's dead "body." An . arly and specially interesting passage in this rjuito notablo article reads as follows-.—

H (Devonshire, Fronde's natal county) is the homo of heroic traditions, from which old sea rovers, pirates, conquerors for England in her struggle with fipnin, wont forth in their cor.lilo-shells of boats iiiitl iipjwn Ihe dominion of (he sea*, v.lierehy in thin our very life's extremity -wo are Mivinp ourselves, our Empire, tlie laws of good King Edward, freedom for Britain and. ttas world. Myself Irish, Catholic, Eoman, X never was or could bo

"Hispaniolaled"; and the defeat or (ho Armada in 1588 1111b me with profound reverence of tho wayß of God. I would fay boldly, "Flavit Dens ct dissipavit, cos"— "The winds of Deity scattered them"; for J believe that England has yet a' mighty Ohrietian work to do. Such is my faith; such tho keynote I would strike in these brief sentences on a. man whom I must often differ from, and whose reading of tho details of history I find not seldom a trial to honesty and patience. But in that he thought England was worth saving from Philip of Spain I am wholly with hira. And in this mood of sympathy between us I write. There is another very notable article on tho Fronde Centenary ill "Tho Times'' Literary Supplement (April 18), but: from this i have not spaco to qnoto to-day. Stray Leaves. Airs. Heleno Cross, of Cliiistchurcli, whoso admirablo manual, "Soldiers' Spoken French," is now in its' third *:dilion, has boon paid a very practical compliment by the publishers of the American edition of her work. Tho firm in question, Messr.s. E. P. Duttoii and Co., have requested Mrs. Cross to prepare an o.xtended French conversation manual on the same phonctical system of pro--I.uiiciation as that adopted ir. her "Soif'iers' Spoken French." Airs. Cross hopes to got tho manuscript away to New York in a couplo of months or so, and a New Zealand edition of the work will, later on, be placed on tho market. The April "Bookmnn "(Hodder and Stoughton) is a "Spring Announcement Number," and contains a largo number of publishers' lists, together with criticisms of many of the most important new books of the season. The illustrations aro specially numerous and interesting. In addition to Dr. Barry's remarkable article on the Froude Centenary (allusion to which is made under a separate heading), tho ''Bookman" contains articles on Thomas Hardy's poetry, on Arthur Symons's latest poem "Tristram and Iseult," and on "Tlio Hawarden Letters." An excellent number.

In "Afore Songs of tho Fighting Men" (Erskino Macdonahl) are included several war poems by the lato Lieutenant Charles J. B. J[a6etield, a coiLsin of the wellknown John Masefield. Lieutenant Masefield died of wounds received at the front in July of last year. Mr. Howard Evans, whose novel, "A Girl Alone," is one of the books of the season, has had a personal acquaintance with the ecainy side of London life, with which his 6tory so largely deals. In his very early days he served as a porter in Covent Garden Market, and was for some time a "bookmaker's runner." He made good as a journalist, and won a ,£IOO prize offered by the Red Magazine for the best short story. He is also a successful playwright. The big riso in the price of paper has had tho effect of very considerably increasing the price of soveral well known series of reprints and popular works generally. Before tho war the Oxford Standard Authors series cost Is. Gd. a volume. Now they are 2s. Gd. net, which means 3s. Gd. here.

In the recently published "Correspondence of Sir Arthur Helps" (Helps was a pernianont ollicjal with Privy Council office, and a trusted adviser of Queen Victoria), is a letter from Froude, dated 1872, which is not inapplicable to later times. Froude fays:

"Surely in theso difficult days, when naval mid military matters have boconio a. science for England, to trust the Admiralty and tho War Office to Parliamentary actors who go in nnd ( out of oQlco every two or three years is downright midsummer madnees." A new volume of essays by Arnold Bennett,.entitled "Self and oell'-Maiiage-ment," is due very shortly. I presume it is an addition to the series in which "llow to Livo on Twenty-four Hours a Day," "Literary Taste," and "Mental Efficiency" were issued.

Sir Thomas Barclay, who W many years worked hard to bring about the Entente Cordialo with France, and has lived to witness tho establishment ol what is destined to become a permanent alliance, has written a new work, en-, titled "New Methods of Adiusling Inteinational Disputes," wjliich Constables are publishing. • The reminiscences, entitled Both Sides of tlio Curtain," of tlit' veteran actress, Miss Genevieve \Yan[, should provide some good reading, although my personal experience has been that biographies and autobiographies of actors and actresses aro mostly very dull stull. Miss Ward has had the advantage of tho collaboration; in her book, of that c* perienccd writer Mr. Richard Whiting, of "No. 5 John Street" fame. Tho Ixiolt. which Cassells aro publishing, includes reminiscences of King Edward, Gladstone, Tennyson, Irving and Ellen lerry, Georgo Augustus Sala, Svdntv Grundy, the Kendais, Madame Jiislori, and many other celebrities.

Mr. H. G. Wells contribute an introduction to a volume of "Keeling Letters and Recollections," in memory of a voung Cambridgo scholar, Frederic Hillorsdon Keeling, killed . In action, who, before the war, was a most enthusiastic research worker in connection with the employment of children, lie declined a commission on joining the Army, and when killed was a sergeant-major. 'Those who remember lliat delightful book, "My Tropic isle," in which there was such a happy blend of adventure and natural history, will bo interested to know that the author, Frederic Banifield, has written a companion volume, to bo enHtled "Tropic Days." The volume of "Occasional Addresses, by tho ex-British Prime Minister, Mr. Asqu'ith, proves that he, _ liko so many other prominent English statesmen, has a cultivated mind, and takes a deep interest in art and literature. Included in tho collection are memorial tribute* to King .I'Mward. Sir Henry Campbell Banncnuan, Lord Kitchener, Jowett cf Balliol, and even a political opponent, Alfred Lytlellon._ The Bible, the Royal Society, Omar Khavyam, the English Bar. Biography, Culture, and Character, Classical Studies and Archaeology aro among other subjects dealt with in the book.

English and liish newspapers ''alike speak highly of some new Irish stories, "Marv of the Wind" and Other Tales," by a writer who calls himself— or herself—Enedeen. Murray is issuing a colonial edition.