BOOKS and AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 51, 23 November 1929, Page 30

BOOKS and AUTHORS

A Weekly Survey

By ‘

“Liber”

BOOKS OF THE DAY “’Hop,” of the “Bulletin.” For over forty years Livingston Hopkins was the principal cartoonist of the Sydney “Bulletin,” and his biography, “‘Hop,’ of the ‘Bulletin,’” by his daughter, Dorothy June Hopkins (Angus and Robertson), is bound to awaken memories of one of the most originally gifted and technically gifted comic artists the world has ever seen. Born at Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1816, Livingston Hopkins received the usual primary education prior to serving as a volunteer in the great American Civil War. An American—he always refused to be naturalised—he remained until the day of his death in 1827, but though American by birth, he was a keen Australian democratic patriot, and much of the credit due to the “Bulletin” for the stand it took on so many national problems is due to him. Early developing a talent for draughtsmanship, he drew for the “Toledo Blade,” “Scribner’s Weekly,” “Bob Burdette’s Weekly,” “St. Nicholas,” and'dually in 1883 came to Australia at the invitation of Traill as chief pictorial artist for the “Bulletin” at £BOO a year. Miss Hopkins gave an amusing picture of Traill, who engaged first Hopkins and then some years later Phil May for that journal. Hopkins was fortunate enough to be associated with some very clever men on the “Bulletin”—Archilbald, the editor, William McLeod, the manager, and others—and although he always preserved an original outlook on men and things political, was greatly aided by the suggestions he received. One of the greatest hits ever made by “Hop” was his creation of the G. 11, Reid type of caricature. Reid, with his ever present monocle, his short stumpy moustache, his pleasant protuberance of stomach, lent himself admirably to caricatures and the pictorial legend of G.H.R. created by Hopkins became at once popular and no doubt as much contributed to the politician’s celebrity as did Hop’s pictorial fun-making; Hopkins personally was a delightful conversationalist. The present writer will not easily forget meeting Hopkins, with Archibald—at first not too well pleased at the disturbance of his usual Saturday afternoon’s fishing—together with “Toby” Barton, at that time leader of the opposition, at the old Athenaeum Club in Castlereagh Street some time in 1897 or 1898 when on a visit to Sydney and Hop’s interest in a couple of drawings by the Frenchman Forain, which, torn out of a number of “Gil Blas Illustre” I had in my pocket at the time. It was an afternoon which ended for the writer in a very pleasant jaunt out to Randwick, where, introduced by Mr. Barton, I made acquaintance with Mr. James Inglis, the author of “The Humour of the Scot” who had been Minister of Education. The old Athenaeum Club is to-day closed for ever, but it was a most enjoyable club, with an excellent library. Hopkins had dozens of good stories to tell. He was one of the most generoushearted of artistic critics and never tired of praising the work of Phil May, with whom for a -time he shared a studio in George Street. To the end some of the most favourite drawings in “Fernham,” Hop’s suburban home at Mosman, were those by Phil May. It was of an old veteran in talkative mood. “Yez,” he said, I was at Waterloo.” “Did you ever see Wellington?” “Why, of course I did. I was lying on the ground when I heard the sound of ‘osses’ ’oofs, and sound of a voice called out—‘ls that you, Saunders?’ I knowed that voice in a hinstant. It was the Hook of Wellington. ‘Come here,’ sez the Dook. I riz reluctant from the ground, for I was tired out. He sez to me when I come near him—‘Saunders, I want you to go back home.’ ‘Why?’ sez I. ‘Because you’re killing too many people,’ sez the Dook. And ’ome I went.” The other, which might have been told of a Phil May irony, was of a husband who arrived home much later than usual “from the office.” He took off his boots and stole into the bedroom, but despite his precautions his wife began to stir. Quickly the panic-stricken man went to the cradle of his first-born and rocked it vigorously. “What are you doing there?” queried the wife. “Oh, I’ve been sitting here for nearly two hours trying to get the baby asleep,” he growled. “Why, I’ve got him in bed with me.” “It was just the sort of thing poof May would have done,” said Hop. Miss Hopkins’s chatty and most readable life of her clever father has full-page reproductions of a number of drawing by Hop, and of several excellent caricatures by the New Zealand comic artist son of Archibald McLeod, and other “Bulletin” celebrities, as well as a fine pencil sketch by Frank Mahony, of the late Henry Lawson. This is a book which is not only a pictorial guide to “Bulletin” art, but casts incidentally, many interesting sidelight upon Australian political history. (21/-.)

RELIGIONS Doubts and Difficulties. “Doubts and Difficulties,” by Cecil Alington, headmaster of Eten (Longmans and Co.), with an introduction by the Archbishop of York, deals in its first part, by way of dialogue, with doubts as to religion and revelation generally which arise in the mind of a man whose whole training has been on the scientific side. The second section deals by way of letters with the difficulties in religious belief experienced by his wife, a religious woman without any special religious knowledge. The author’s general purpose is to interest in religious topics those who do not read the larger books in which the subject of religion is dealt with in a more adequate manner. (65.)

LIBER’S NOTEBOOK Arthur .Symons has in preparation a book of essays on French painters from Toulouse Lantree to Rodin. Besides a series of illustrations which will show the work of the two artists, Mr. Symons will give some personal recollections of Paris in the nineties. Lord Birkenhead has written a length}’ preface to “The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall,” which has been written by Mr. Edward Major!banks, M.P. The volume will be illustrated by reproductions from Marshall Hall’s rare collection of criminal implements. Jonathan Cape is to publish an autobiographical trilogy by the Russian novelist, Max Gorki, the first instalment of which, “A Bystander for Forty Years,” is to present a picture of the Russian intelligentsia from the assassination of Alexander the Second to the coronation of the last Tsar. There seems to be a curious revival of interest in eighteenth century classfi& lb addition the jiey, illuslrat-

cd edition of Defoe’s “Moll ■ Flanders,” . which in addition I to pictures by Johu Austen, will have an introduction by the poet, John H. Davies, John Lane’s Christmas list will include Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews,” with an introduction by J. B. Pressley and pictures by Norman Tealby. There is to be an entirely new life of George Meredith, by Robert Gencourt, who will, it is said, dispose once and for all of the many legends about the novelist’s youth. “Freckles Comes Home” is a sequel to the famous “Freckles,” by the late Gene Stratton Porter, by the novelist’s daughter, Jeannette Stratton POrter. Mrs. A. Hamilton has largely rewritten and brought up to date her biographical sketch of the new British Premier, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, and Cape will re-issue the book in a new and cheaper edition. Thackerayans will be interested in an announcement made by John Murray, the publisher, who is shortly to issue “The Thackeray Alphabet,” a little book of verses and pictures, illustrated by the author of “Vanity Fair,” nearly a hundred years ago, for the beguilement of a small boy who found it hard to learn his letters without tears. Those who have been privileged to see the superb view of London to be had from the Highgate Archway, from an inn on which poor Morland, that drunkard of genius painted some of his best pictures of London, will be interested in the following letter contributed to the London “Sunday Times” by Gilbert Dalziell, who claims that George R. Sims, the playright, took the idea of his “Lights of London,” ■ which had so great a success when Wilson Barrett produced the drama of that name, which was so popular at the London Princess in 1881, and which ran: Oh gleaming lights ot London That gem the City’s crown What fortunes lie beneath you Ye lights of London Town. Oh cruel Lights of London! If tears your light could drown Your victim’s eyes would weep them Oh Lights of London Town. The yarn goes that it was on Highgate Archway that the future Mayor of London first rested with hi? wallet. Hutchinsons announce a new “Life of Jerome K. Jerome,” by Alfred Moss, with an introduction by Coulson Kernahan. That always welcome essayist, Mr. Robert Lynd, is editing a new edition of “Elia,” which Dents are to bring out at Christmas and which will include a number of miscellaneous criticisms and sketches not usually published in the “Elia” books. Mr. O. ID. Brock will do the illustrations, and the extensive notes will be from the pen of the late William Macdonald, Kipling’s uncle. A new play by Rodolf Benzier, who collaborated, it may be remembered, with Mr. H. G. Wells in dramatising “Kipps,” will deal with the love story of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. Two additional verses of “Home, Sweet Home” have come to light in the United States, in a manuscript copy of the poem presented to the Library of Congress. The text is as follows:— To us. in despite of the absence of years. How sweet the remembrance of home still appears! From allurements abroad which but flatter the eye The unsatisfied heart turns and says with a sigh: Home, home! Sweet, sweet home! There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! Your exile is blest with all fate can bestow— But mine has been chequer’d with many a woe! Yet though diff’rent our fortunes, our thoughts are the same, And both, as we dream of Columbia, exclaim: Home, home! Sweet, sweet home! There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! The familiar “Home, Sweet Home” was written in 1822 by John Howard Payne as an incidental song in his opera, “Qari, the Maid of Milan.” The newly-found verses were written by Payne in 1829 in the album of Mrs. Bates, who was the wife of Mr. Joshua Bates, a wealthy London banker. Bates was born in Massachusetts and contributed generously to the founding of Boston Public Library. Mrs. Bates asked Payne to write for her an autograph copy of the song, and he. added the verses quoted with this note, “I have added a few words more, addressed to you . . . What this trifle wants in poetry you will do me the justice to believe is made up in truth.” Payne died in Tunis in 1852 at the age of 60.

SOME RECENT FICTION “Roper’s Row.” “Roper’s Row,” by Warwick Deeping (Cassell and Co.), is a story of a yoqng medical man against whom there is the triple handicap of poverty and lameness, but blessed with a most admirable mother, whose good Influence counteracted the somewhat overdone “caddishness” of Christopher Hazzard, a hospital companion. Young Hazzard is a very fine character, and the story of his rise to eminence in the medical profession is made the subject of what is a very fine story, the girl who is so faithful a sweetheart and so unfailing a professional backer, Ruth Avery, the shop girl Hazzard eventually marries, being extremely well drawn. Since Maugham Barnett’s medical story—though told under very different circumstances' —“Human Bondage,” I have read no more penetrating study of character. It is quite as good a story as Mr. Deeping’s “Sorrell and Son.” “Pamela’s Spring Song.” Any story by the author of “Scissors” is bound to be readable. Mr. Cecil Roberts’s “Pamela’s Spring Song” (Hodder and Stoughton) may’be relied upon to provide amusement for au evening’s leisure. The heroine, a London office girl, is tempted by a poster into spending some of her spare money on a pleasure trip to the picturesque Austrian Tyrol and there meets with curious experiences as the paying guest of an Austrian count and countess impoverished by the war, and its aftermath is an amusing yarn. Some Recent Fiction. Messrs. Robertson and Mullen;; have secured the colonial rights of the cheap

edition (3s. 6d.) of Captain Wren’s “Beau Ideal,” that sensational and exciting story of North Africa, the concluding volume of the trilogy which began with “Beau Geste.” The appearance of this cheaper edition will no doubt secure for the story a yet furtheir increase in its popularity.

From Messrs. Mills and Boon (London) we have received a volume of short stories by that always amusing writer of studies of Cockney life and character, W. Pelt Ridge. The title is “Affectionate Regards,” and each and every one of the yarns included can be relied upon to furnish if not always hearty laughter, at least no small quiet mirth. Many years have gone by since Mr. Pett Ridge, by his “’Erb” and “Mrs. Galfir’s Business” proved himself so able an exponent of lower middle-class London life. In his short stories he is as amusing as ever.

A new “omnibus” book, a collection of the four short stories, “A Study in Scarlet,” “The Sign of Four,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” and “The Valley of Fear," has just been published by John Murray, who holds the copyright of the well-known Conan Doyle stories, the principal figures in which are Sherlock Holmes and his chum and associate in crime detection, Dr. Watson. An accompaniment to Sherlock Holmes short stories, a selection from which has, to the delight of lovers of this class of fiction, been added by Mr. Murray to his Imperial Library, the new “o’mnibus” book should find purchasers in plenty. A Novel of Psycho Analysis.

In “The Patchwork Madonna” (Duckworth), Mr. Harold Weston tells how a woman Is forced to reveal the story of her life from her upbringing in a caravan to her present position as a famous actress. It is a battle of wits between a clever man and a brillfant woman, full of dramatic crises, when she is forced to face the memory of actions and emotions which she would like forgotten. The medium is psycho analysis, and the author has devised an analytical method of his own based on the technique of various conflicting schools. (65.)

By Mrs. Allen Harker. The author of “Mr. Wycherley’s Wards” is always sure of a welcome from what must be by now a big reading public. Her latest yarn, “Black Jack House” (John Murray), is a new

and absorbing romance on the problem of concealment of the past. John would not face the consequences of Mimi’s past. Mimi took the easy path of acquiescence and faith suffered. The moral of it all is that we should all courageously face the consequence. There are, as usual, some very delightful children in the story. By P. G. Wodehouse. A novel by P. G. Wodehouse is assured of a hearty welcome. It is always sure to afford you a succession, of laughs, although it is quite possible that the reader is apt to ask himself what he has been laughing at. His “Summer Lightning” (Herbert Jenkins, Ltd.) is his last. It is certainly not his worst, for the adventures which befall Hugo Carmody and Ronnie Fish as the result of the disappearance of Lord Emworth’s prize porker are sure to keep the reader simmering over with mirth. Jeeves has disappeared for the nonce, but the efficient Barker, the butler of meaningfull monosyllable, takes his place very well. MT. EGMONT. An artistic booklet on Mt. Egmont by Miss B. E. Baughan, the wellknown New Zealand Alpine writer, has just been published by Messrs. Whitcombe and Toombs, Christchurch. The booklet, of some 80 pages, with handsome cover, is brightly written, and contains a 'wealth of information concerning the mountain which dominates the Taranaki province. “Enchanting to the eye Art thou; O Taranaki — Mantled in snowy garment, Right gloriqusly arrayed.” i “This little book,” states the author, in a foreword, “has been a labour of love on the part of several people. Dr. George Howe, of New Plymouth, first suggested it, and has since furthered its production by countless kindnesses, definite as delicate. The late Mr. Malcolm Fraser, also of New Plymouth, supplied various details. Mr. and Mrs. Lorimer and Mr. .Larsen, of Mt. Egmont, Mr. Mrs. and Miss J. Murphy, of Dawson’s Falls, have each had something of a finger in the pie; while the visitors’ book at both houses, and the general affection of the whole district for their mountain, have also contributed much quiet help.” The ilustrations are a feature of the production, which will not only make New Zealanders better acquainted with Taranaki's noble peak, but should prove a valuable means of advertising the Dominion’s scenic beauties abroad.

Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read: 'And his home is bright with.a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson.