LITERARY COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 11

LITERARY COLUMN.

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. "Planta of New Zealand." By R. M. Laing, B.Sc., and E. W. Blackwell. Christchurch : Whitcombe and Tombs. The fauna of New Zealand having already been treated of in a valuable illustrated handbook, the same publishers have now issued a sfiill larger work dealing with the native flora,' the most important publication they have yet issued. The whole range of organic nature (the special field of the cryptogams excepted) in these islands is thus brought in convenient form beforo the student or popular reader, who has hitherto been confined to expensive and scattered publications, aften highly technical in character*. The worK, which consists of over 450 large octavo pages, is beautifully printed and profusely illustrated. The 160 illustrations nj:e all from photographs, and as they have all been prepared by the same hands expressly for the work, there is that unity of style throughout so highly prized by the book-lover. There is a particular mterestt attaching to the natural pioducts of, these islands, inasmuch as, lying so far i-emote from other Lmds, they form a zoological and botanical province by themselves. 'Ihe range of the present volume is limited to the lloweriug plants, which chiefly interest the genera] reader. The ferns and seaweeds, the delicate and often microscopic mosses, lichens, and hepaticae, to which the late Rev. W. Colenso in particular devoted such patient and loving study, belong to a region of botany into which few save scientific stu dent 6 enter. The frequent redistribution of species and ev|n of genera is a little perplexing to those who know the scientific designations of native plants only from the older books. The authors necessarily follow the latest nomenclature. Names should not be changed without good reason While ugly and meaningless forms like "toumatou" still encumber the books, it is not easy to find an adequite reason to warrant a change like that of "Piper excelsum" into "Macropiper excelsum." One result is, that in anj alphabetical list a well-known plant is effectually concealed from those unacquainted with the alteration unless the earlier name is retained for cross-refer-ence. The general plan of the zoological volume is followed in this book. There is a brief but sufficient technical description in small type, followed by a popnlar account of the plant, its characteristics, and its uses. Dimensions are all given in the familiar national standard measures. Lastly, the illustrations, besides being beautiful from the merely decorative aspect, are characteristic representations of the subjects selected. A full index completes the work. We note in the index a slight slip, the Rev. t W. Colenso being erroneously described as "Dr." "His Beautiful Client." By George Griffith. London : George Bell and Sons. Mr. Griffith in the present novel has departed from the fieljl of more or less scientific sensation and essayed a new line. A young barrister, who has always held- rigidly aloof from any kind of suspicious or shady practice and is noted for his integrity, successfully defends a lady accused of having compassed the death of a wealthy man who has made a will in her favour. Her remarkable beauty and personal charm have not only to some extent obscured her advocate's judgment, but have shaken his allegiance to his betrothed. After her acquittal she confesses to him that she is guilty, having acted as the agent of a gang of conspirators. The plot is slight, but the story is deveolped with the author's wellknown skill, and the interest is maintained ib the end.

"A Village Mystery." By Mrs. Coulson Kernahau. London : George Bell and Sons. The "mystery" is an eccentric miser who chooses to live in squalid solitude, despised by all. Sectarian polemics is fatal to the artistic success of a story, even in the hands of a strong writer, t which Mis.- Kernahan certainly is not. The novel narrates the conversion of a young girl to the Roman Catholic faith through being entrusted by her guardians to a convent school ; also tJhe successive conversion of her friends by various influences- The caricature of a creed of which the author apparently knows little is not in good taste. As a. propagandist book, if not as a sttory, the work may please some readers, but the author's intolerance will irritate others. Steele Ruda's Magazine for June is not up to the usual mark. The editor's own contribution aeems to indicate .that the "Selection" vein is about worked out. "Dad" appears in one of his fits of profane fury, kicking and cudgelling a young calf. Grant Hervey is permitted to run amok over nearly twenty wild and lurid pages. He advocates th© union of all forces of revolution under an absolute leader to play a "scientific game" for "the heaviest side-wager in history." First, find a head, with the financial genius of/ Rockefeller and the political theories of the' French Revolutionists. "Jap or German, American or French, "British or Australian," to federate an international "Trust." He must be absolutely without scruple, and be blindly and implicitly followed. In three years the "white iceberg" should have succeeded in smashing the world's commerce and all existing institutions I An anonymous poem, "A Song of Joy," is good, and some other verses, though lacking in strength, are- not bad ; but with one exception, a vigorous drawing of a rider leaping a gate, the numerous original illustrations are ugly or weak— or both. One drawing, "Settled on the Land," signed and dated by the pirate, is "cribbed" bodily from A. B. Frost. "Steve Hawthorne" is the story of a horse-thief and "cattleduffer," who outwitted the police by the assistance ot his confederate and paramour, the wife "of a selector, "lota" has a jaundiced and abusive attack on English magazines and English readers ; but his critical equipment appears to be little more than a prejudice against the imported article. His own style is coarse and crude. A Melbourne contributor takes up a similar parable. Punch, he describes a^ "unspeakable." The Australian reader, ,he 6ays, demands "a mixture of blood aid vitriol." Whether this is tho editor's ideal, we know nofcj it is obviously not a wholesome one. The April issue of the Transvaal Agricultural Journal (quarterly) is as usual full of interesting and valuable matter. Its many plates aro worthy of all praise. They include a beautiful representation in colour of the nativ* wild apricot, and two striking illustrations of geological denudation from the Barberton district. This great and irreparable lOS 3 of fertile soil, the deposit of many ages, has occurred in recent years, and is traced to "the pernicious habit of veldt ourning and the reckless cutting of firewood." The book is in every way a credit to the Agricultural Department and the Government Printer of Pretoria. The "decadenti" novels of the Yellow Book period — mostly the work of women — are happily out of fashion ; but a belated example sometimes appears. One, just publishc' under tflie pseudonym of "Frank Danby," has the following unwomanly dSEication to the author's brother: — "Because you hate and loathe my book and its subject I dedicate ifc to you. For, incidentally, your harsh criticism has intensified my'ionviction of the righteousness of the cause I plead, and revolt from your narrow judgment! has strengthened me against any personal opprobrium that such pleading may bring upon me." Professor Haeckel (of the "Riddle") though for a German professor a compara-

tively wealthy man, is described, as a striking example of the connection between high thinking and plain living. Last summer (it is said — but a ,similar story was told many years ago of an Englishman) he was found by a friend on .the very bare boards of a Bavarian thvM-cl 8158 carriage. The friend expressed his surprise. "Oh !" said Haeckel, "I'm only sorry there isn't a fourth, classy as in Prussia." He "was, he explained, on on© of his summer tramps, when he lives like a gypsy, despite his seventy years, and so preserves his extraordinary vitality. On the anniversary of Goldsmith's death, before 10 o'clock in the morning, some admirer had piid a tribute to his memory. Upon the stone slab on the north side of tho Temple Church, which is supposed tomark his burial place, lay a tiastefully-arranged bunch of daffodils, lilies, and violets, to which was attached by a ribbon a card bearing the inscription : "In memoriam. Oliver Goldsmith, died 4th April, 1774. 'Even his failings leaned to virtue's side.' " The death is announced, at) tho age of 81, of the Rev. Dr. Cunningham Geikie, the well-known writer on Biblical subjects. He was a native of Edinburgh, and had been missionary, a preacher, and a parish clergyman at home and abroad. His chief works showed scholarly thought and research, and an extensive acquaintance witOi German literature. They include "Hours with the Bible" (10 vols.) ;, "The Life and Words of Christ," "The English Reformation," "Landmarks of Old Testament History," and "The Vicar and His Friends." His books dealing with tfhe Holy Land have also had a large circulation. How good a thing it is, in schoolboy phrase (says the candid Mr. Andrew Lang), "to have tie cheek taken out of one" 1 This has just been my lot, in an unusual way. There is a very sttange and melancholy event in the history of Scotland. By an accident I was led last week to look into it closely, by the process of grubbing in manuscript Toyal account books and other records. Having found out what actually did happen, I wrote a paper about it all, giving first tflie statements of several old and modern historians, who- were all in the wrong. When I had finished my essay it 00curred to me to look at what I myself had written on the matteT in my "Histtory." Mine was the most erroneous version of the lot !" An astonishing feat of "coaching," or rather "cramming," practised upon Matthew Arnold, is related of Dr. Temple (the late Archbishop) in his biography just published. It' was when Temple was a Fellow of Balliol. "Matthew Arnold got leave, at the last moment, to take logic for responsions, instead of Euclid, which ho could never mastei. The day before the examination he went to Jowett, who was his tutor, and asked how he could learn the subject in time, as he was wholly ignorant of it. Jowett said his only chance was to go to Temple, and see if he would try to teach him in one day. Temple consented ; and, starting about nine o'clock in tho morning, talked continuously, allowing two pauses of half an hour each for meals, till past two o'clock next morning. Arnold had been provided with paper, but took no notes. He lay back in his chair wibh tho tips of his fingers together, saying, from timo to time, 'What wonderfu' fellows they wore I' Soon after 1 two o'clock a.m. , Temple sent Arnold away to get some sleep ; after which he satisfied the examiners in logic. Ho answered every question." Old readers of Good Words, and their number is still considerable, will hardly regret (says tho Academy), as the time is past for this, that with tho current number the once popular periodical appears for the last time as a monthly. Established in 1860 by Mr. Alexander Strahan, who began shortly afterwards the publication of* its companion periodical, the Sunday Magazine, Good Words was edited for a longer period by one editor, Mr. Donald Macleod, who succeeded his famous brother, Dr. Norman Macleod, than has been the case with any other English monthly. Altered tastes in reading have_ adversely affected both magazines, which passed, about two years ago, from the publishing firm which succeeded the original proprieton, to Messrs. Pitman and Sons, and a short time ago, it wil' bo remembered, they became the property of the Amalgamated Press. Of the early group of contributors to Good Words Mr. John At. Ludlow, C.8., is the only survivor. Mr. John Malcolm Ludlow must be one of tho oldest living English writers, as he is 85 years of ago.