LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 227, 19 June 1920, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

.Thomas Hardy celebrated Lis eightieth birthday-,.last Veek (Juno' 7).' ' The veteran novelist confines his -literary Mdoura and-activities in' these later days ,to .the, writing, of poetry, and some time ago inoTCVinformed the. public that no fnf W?r,fl<ition (in prose at feast).may be ?? j t from him> But -how heavy-is the debt ofigratitude lovers.of good fictions owe'to:tho famous author of the-Wess-ax novels!-"He'can well" afford to rest- upon -his.laurels. \ "Liber's"- devotion, to. Hardy, began'when, as,a youth,' JL 8 . re i?,:that delightful pastoral, • "Par irom the-Madding Crowd," then running as a serial in the "Cornhill Magazine, with iltastratone by- (I'' think) George du Maurier.'- I can well femoto- • ««* finding, as a .Yorkshireman; the Dor9et' lal M,;(iri ,the,.fambus.hialtfhouse scene) a little puzzlingi':. For sorae v year.i I never jea'd another: Hardy storyfo But when most of them came' out in-Mnc-milum's -.Colonial-HLibrary—howl many Roort_books came out'in thnt series'—l found a new ;ioy in life.. For me, the best Hardys will always be 'Tar From the Maddin?;:.Crowd/' ( ,,!'The- Return of the Wpi' f 5, d - , the ' bloomy. but, powerful *~ Mafcor- of Casterbridge." There* aTS'-some fine•'•passages in '-Tea,of■ ihe' D'Hrber-;vUles;-.,>but;.l''shall never forgive Hardy : 'f,?^°H-?PA rin )f''as the' tragic" horror of •viiß'hnale. ■ Just recently' I started to rm Jude the Obscure," but found it ..altpg6ther..,to6., dismal to finish. "As to ilwdy'svpoetry; I find,th'e ; !ifteri domiuatrngnote of .irony -somewhat . repellent, 'to s «SS eHo '4 r 4 ma > on ' the Napoleonic Wars,-,. The .Dynasts," is a- irarvelloufl Jiteraw tour'.de.forc©, and must-surely liye. 4s Hardy, read 1 muclvV. nowadays'? -We'J,- as- to -that, the' best'r.nswer ;is ' "That ;new..editions of- his works seem no.published every ,twa or three"years'. Tn-ipv o*n modest ccilection' various irahlishers are reoresented, but t.ere I to buy a -Am set I think I should invest m Macmlllan's pocket: edition. •''.. ■.A- correspondent '-"("EiF.H,,"" Wangamuj.asks'me in. what book appears a " entitled '• Mr. Tittlebat, Tit-' •m6tis'e?>>:The .'answer'• is easiJy;given- : Tittlebat'Titmoupe is the leading qh'iwuv ire,in'.Samuel.,Warren's ;novel, "Ten -Thousand a "Yeah"' .Titmouse is a..vulgar, ignorant, would-be dandy and .roan •of':fashion, -who,';previous 'to inheriting■a fortune, of .'sfilO.OflO a year, is a .draper's assistant;.. There is.a.certairi rough hu;moiir in ,tlie etory, which had a great ■ •.yogue. in .the earlier Victorian 'days, ' many- people Warren, who,' after studying medicine, took to- law ■ .and, became >E«corder.-.of Hull, and; a.' 'Master'iri lunacy,'a,greater writer than- ' ■Dickens... : Warren also wrote "The Diary ;;,of r a Late Physician.",, .Both his nova's , ero,:,;l* think, still in:print, and procurable. ' '•'... •:.. ■ -

-iThose -who have read that vriry ie.niarkable' 'book, "The Moon' aiid . Six--'pence," by-W, Somerset Maugham, in which the. story ci' Paul Gauguin, the French'. artist .who' settled in Tahiti, : ia retold," with Gauguin.transformed into u London stockbroker, may be .interested' to know..that in one. of Maugham's ewlier novels,' "Of Human-Bondage," there is an eccentric artist, wbois a post-impression-ist 1 patnfor,'*aitd. who, like the Charles Slfioklan'd/of the Cutter story,'. deserts his .wife;,,and'.family ond goes off to (he Soiith':Sea^.•,.','.. .' - ■ ■ : -Uobin Blochairn's" last published collection ..of versa -written in 'Ibraid Scots," "The Fireside .Clime" (reviewed in. these columns recently), has, I notice, been very warmly'praised by many leading !.Scots journals. .The Glasgow "Herald,", a journal of, high reputation for the" excellence of its reviews, is specially laudatory. , Says the "Herald":—*• Only genius can re-illume what Is overfamiliar and for the majority of poets the moments of genius como but as flashes ■•In-the ordinary light of day. Two such, at least, are evident hero. One in •"A .■Mlther's'Sang'ih Exile," where the poet :has.-felt with the soul of a mother for away from all that makes the ''North Oountrie"; another .in "A Waesome' Weird,",a Btory of bereaved motherhood; with a'-movim* traffio end. There are many fine poems, in Mr, Bloohairn's volume, .but th?s6 best justify .it; v.A-,.complete edition- of Marion Craw-ford's,-hovels is announced -by' an Ame•rican publishing firm. Crawford's stories 'had'a'great vogue'in'the 'eighties, and some of..them, notably the fine. "Sara..flinesoa" series, are" well worth ro--reading..'.'fA Cigarette Maker's Eo- : liianoe," "Dr. Isaacs," and "A Roman'. Singer" were also very popular, and there:,waa. a. powerfully written story of Sicilian brigandage, Corleone," which .is. worth looking up. Crawford 1 was a 'born story-teller. An American by birth, he lived for many years at Sorrento, near Naples. There seems-to be some doubt a 9 to the,, identity pf E. T.' Raymond,. whose 'clever'studies of contemporary public figures, "Uncensored Celebrities," havo been so popular. One London weekly r£ contly published a portrait, said to bo that of E. T. Raymond. As a matter of fabt, it was a portrait of Mr. J. T. ..Squire, until recently literary .editor of Statesman," and author of the delightful'essays signed "Solomon -Eagle." : .-and-,collected under the title'-'Books, m General."." Mr. Squire promptly • gavo the report a denial. Meanwhile, the well-known • London weekly, "The Out--] look,""has :the name of E. T. Raymond I on its first page as editor. 1