LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 74, 28 March 1914, Page 13

LITERARY NOTES

It *used to be the task of the play, wright to dramatise our popular novels, so that the creations of our great writers might be seen living and moving on the stage. Now, owing to the vogue of cinematography, it is found necessary \xp throw dramatic works into story lorm, in order that the public may better understand the plays they witness on the theatre' screen. One such book is to hand from Messrs. Stanley, Paul, and Co., the London publishers. It tells in narrative form the plot of "A Message from Mars," one of the most successful dramas of recent years. Those who have seen the play will fina ndlhing fresh in the novel, but as an aid to spectators at picture theatres it will be found acceptable. A number of reproductions of cinema scenes of the piay illustrate the story. " War and Waste," a book just published by Professor Starr Jordan, of Stanford University, California, contains the following dedication : — To The Memory of Sir Charles Bagot and of Richard Rush, Patriots o* a hundred years ago, who. excluded warships from the Great Lakes of America, and thus secured lasting peace between two great nationb. Where there arc no soldiers, there is no v, ar; tvhen nobody is loaded, nobody explodes. Mrs. Florence L. Barclay, author of "The Rosary," is not no well known as a lecturer as a novelist. Speaking recently in Londop she told a story of a tittle old maid who lives in an oldworld village in the north. She is veTy poor, and lives in a two-roomed cottage,i but is very elegant, not only in her outward appearance but also in her diction, blie is fond of using long' words, and even 6hort words which do not always bear the meaning she attaches to them. Mts. Barclay found her reading a work of fiction — name of the book not mentioned — and remarked that she would scarcely have suspected her of reading novels. "Oh, yes," she replied; "I read all kinds of literature; books of travel, mostly, and sometjimes I peep into biography ; but novels as well. You ccc I am what is called a carnivorous /reader." And then this modern Mrs. Malaprop whom Mrs. Barclay has discovered went on to Temark, "As I often say, a little friction now and then does us a great deaJ of good." Her old friend made another remark. "Of all the books I read, the book I love best is the Bible, because the Bible is true and all other literature is only friction." There have been many marquesses and dukes named Montrose, but the title belongs pre-eminently to James Graham, who was born m 1612, and died in 1650; a Covenanter, then the a'-dent opponent of the Scottish Church as a meddler in civil life, and finally the friend and supporter of Charles, for whom he led a email Scottish army, won the battle of Kirsyth, and lost that of Phihphaugh, and was beheaded in Edinburgh. He is now the subject of a eulogistic biography by John Buchan (Scribner), who is quite Tight in saying that Montrose, a martyr to sincere convictions, has never received justice from historians;, the writers on Scotland having been first divines, and then Whigs. He has, however, been long canonised a, popular heTO by both lowland and Celtic legend^ Under him the Celt reached his apotheosis, and for one short year held the Saxon in the hollow of his hand — and no clan has ever forgotten it. As a statesman, fighter, and poet, he has deserved a shorter, more appealing record than Napier's monumental "Memorial of Montrow?." One of the most exciting chapters in "War and Sport in India, 1802-1806." is a description of the battle of Delhi. It must be remembered that the native troops who were opposed to the British vere well armed and well trained. The guns that, were captured at Delhi were cannon, mortars, howitieis. and carrouades, as Lieutenant Pester describes them, of the finest cast of a French model At the battle of Delhi the enemy ( had nearly 17,000 men and Lso cannot;

while the British troops had only 6000 men and 8 cannon. The battle was won by a frontal attack at the point of the bayonet, and Lieutenant Pester avows that it could have been won in no other way. It was the indomitable courage of the troops, who marched towards the enemy with their rifles on their shoulders, that filled the natives with dismay, so that they believed that they had to deal with demons and not with men. They must have seen," writes the gallant diarist, " the havoc their shot made among us, but still they found that those who remained came on with -redoubled vigour. It was imagined," adds the lieutenant proudly, " that in history there is not a single instance recorded of so formidable a force, aided by an even more formidable train of artillery, being so completely annihilated by a handful of mon." At Christie's .the sale took place of the library of the late Mr. W. Hale White ("Mark Rutherford"). Many of the books contained notes in the 'late author's handwriting, but small prices were the rule. Mr. Eeinemann is about to introduce a well-known Danish writer to British readers. This is M. de Jessen, who for many years has enjoyed great popularity in his own country. During the last twenty yeaiss he has travelled over the greater part of the globe, in fact, wherever large events were engaging the world's attention. Sir Charles Dilke formed a fkie collection of Keats relics and bequmthed it to the public library at Hampstead. There it forms a joint memorial to Keats and to his friend, Charles Wentworth Dilke, the grandfather of Sir Charles. The collection comprises some most important and interesting letters written by and to the poet between 1817 and 1820. People in the habit of noting their candid opinions in diaries should be careful when showing them to other people. Shirley Brooks records that "Delane, the editor of The Times, Sir 'William Russell, and Lord Hartington were in a railway carriage, when some dispute arose about a date Russell affirmed that he knew, having *made an entry in his diary. This was in his travelling case, and he produced it. He found the page, but, not being able to read — his glass having slipped into his trousers — he gave it to Delane to read, who read, 'John Delane' tells me such is the case, but then he is such a d — d liar that one doesn't know !' " Among the letters of Jane Welsh .Carlyle that have just' recently come to light is One about a cat. " I wish she were dead !" Mrs. Carlyle says, and then continues: "Well! There she is — and as long as she attends Mr. C. at ,his meals (she doesn't care a snuff of tobacco for him at any other times !) so long will Mr. C. continue to give her bits of meat* and driblets of milk, to the ruination of the carpets and hearthrugs ! — I have over and over again pointed out to him the stains she has made — but he won't believe them her doing ! And the dining-room ca-rpeK was so old and ugly — that it wasn't worth rows with one's husband about ! Now, however, that nice new cloth must be protected against the cat-abuse. So what I wish is that you would shut up the creature when Mi. C. has his breakfast, or dinner, or tea. And if he remarks on her absence say it was my express desire. He has no idea what a selfish, immoral, improper beast she is, nor what mischief sire does to the carpets." Lecturing on Style in writing to a large audience at Cambridge, Professor Sir A. T. said whenever they felt an impulse- to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing|4hoy should obey it — but should tear up what" they had written before sending their manuscript to the press. " Murder your darlings " was a practical rule. All literature being personal and men various — even the Oxford Dictionary was no canonical book — a man's use or defiance of the dictionary depended for its justification on nothing but his success. Literature must needs take account of all manner of Writers How much the Irish Theatre owes to the Celtic movement is acknowledged by Lady Gregory in her recently-published autobiography. She states that it was in May, 1899, that the Irish Literary Theatre produced Yeates's "Countess Cathleen" and Edward Martyn's "The Heathen Field." How much the theatre owes'to others besides the Gaelic League Lady Gregory graciously acknowledges, but of the league itself she writes: — "It was a movement for keeping the Irish language a spoken one, with, as chief end, the > preserving of our own nationality. That does not sound like the beginning of a revolution, yet it was one. It was the discovery, the disclosure of the folk-learning, the folk-poetry, the folk-tradition. Our Theatre was caught into that current, and, it was that curfnt, as I believe, that has brought it on [ triumphant way. . . It has been ade a living thing, by the excitement of that discovery All our writers, Mr. Yeates himself, were inAaenced by it. Mr. Synge found what he lacked before — fable, emotion, style." Mr. -William Heinemann, the wellknown publisher, when interviewed by the New York Times, remaiked that "the j publishing business is changing every flay. One very regrettable thing about it is that the life of books is shorter than it used to be. Everywhere it is the same thing. A book die 3so much more quickly than it used. As a matter of fact, very few books survive live years. The number that live after the iirst twelve months is relatively very small. I should say that out of a • whole year's output of imaginative literature not more than twenty books are called for at the end of five years. To what is this due? To constant production — the feverish 'haste to get the latest and newest. And while 1 think that in one way the newspaper is a tremendous adjunct to the diffusion of literature, it must not be forgotten that it is the greatest rival a book has got. People nowadays have just so much time in which to read. Most of them want the news of the day. They are paiticulaily interested in actualities. They read the newspapers in preference to books, especially those books of the kind that require a. bit of mental effort." In a most interesting work on "The Railways of Great Britain," by Lord Monks well and just published, the author refuses to follow the prevailing fashion of decrying everything English in ovder to exalt i'rench and iieiinan or American institutions. He declares emphatically that British railways "give their customers more for their money than do those of any other country." He believes, too, in, the value of competition between different railways serving the same area, and this in spite of the efficiency of the Great Northern in its large exclusive territory. As a result of competition, he says, "the train service is more complete than anywhere else, and faster than anywhere else c:: cept in France, and the passenger fares are by no means particularly high." On the vexed question of railway nationalisation, Lord Monkswell points out that many of the advocates of nationalisation mix up business with philanthiopy ; and he says that, whatever other results might follow, one is quite certain, and that is, an "immense incieabe in the political £ower of railway BefvantS;."-