LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 102, 30 April 1921, Page 15

LITERARY NOTES

After discussing many of Mr. Lloyd George's great triumphs, ' Mr. leaao Marco*6on, in "Adventures in Interviewing" (John Lane), comeo to what he describes as "his largest spiritual hour— an episode that the world, with its usual disregard for such things, has overlooked in the contemplation of his spectacular performances." It was at the death of his lunele in the spring of 1917 :— "Lloyd George was in the throes of one of his many crises. Downing-street waa a smouldering volcano. Italy, France, Russia^—all clamoured for the ear and service of the little Welshman who had made himself such an indispensable first aid to the conduct of the" war.

"Overnight Lloyd George suddenly dropped out of this maelstrom of events, and made a pilgrimage of affectionate rememranee to the bier of the man who had saved hia childhood from poverty, and perhaps worse. Richard Lloyd was laid to rest in the little cemetery at Criccieth. In that simple 'rural community they called him the cobbler of Criccieth. ■

"The day of the funeral was grey with flurries of rain. In the eaet brooded the crags of Snowden. You could hear the boom of the sea in that secluded churchyard, where an unforgettable ecene was being enacted. Bare-headed in the rain, with his long white hair playing in the wind, the then most out-standing Eng-lish-speaking figure, and Britain's hope in the war, stood at the grave of a' village shoemaker."

Richard Bullock, widely known to readers of "Wild West" literature as "Deadwood Dick," died in a sanatorium at Glendale, California, Few of the boys who used to read accounts of Bullock's adventures in rounding up and arresting highwaymen and other outlaws knew th~at their favourite hero was an Englishman, yet such was the fact. He was born in Cornwall over seventy-five years ago, and went to the United States at the age of 21. For a time he was engaged in mining in the Blaok Hills,.but the stages running from the mines to the settlements were" robbed so regularly and persistently that the miners were in deepair. Bullock gave up mining, buckled a "six-shooter" to his side, and "went after" the "road agents." Later he was one of the famous "Home Stake Guards," which guarded bullion\from the Home Stake Mine, belonging to the late Senator Hearst. It was while so employed that he put out of business "Lame Johnny," one of the most daring of the desperadoes on the Cheyenne route. "Lame .Johnny" stepped out into the road to hold up the*stage which! Bullock was guarding. Bullock "got his man" before he could move.

"The Letters of William James" (Longmans) have been edited by his son, who bears the same name as his famoua uncle, Henry James, the novelist. Here is his picture of his father, the great psychologist: — "As a teacher at Harvard for thirtyfive years he influenced the lives and thoughts of more than a generation of students who sat in Iris classes. To many of them he was an adviser as woll as a teacher, nnd to some he was a lifelong friend. Such was the character of his books and public discourses that people of n.ll sorts and conditions from outside the university came to him or wrote to him for encouragement and ccnnsel. The burden of his message to all was the bracing text which, he himself loved and lived by: 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak unto thee.' " '

The new Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, records the success of the appeal made by the John Rylands Library for books to replace the Louvain University Library,, which the Germans wilfully destroyed; 35,639 volumes have been collected and sent to Louvain, and 5000 more will be despatched later.

The " Publishers' Circular and Booksellers' Record " announces an increase of 2382 publications in 1920 in Great Britain, as compared with the total for 1919. The largest proportion of increase is in books on fiction, which have risen by 887, the lowest rises being in books on science, history, and law respectively, whilst books on religion have decreased by 87.

In "My, Varied Life," by Mr. F., C. Pliilips, the well-known journalist, is a story of Serjeant Wilkine. He had originally been a clown in a country circus. He was possessed of immense a&ility, and one evening he so delighted a member of the audience that he waited for him, and after the entertainment was over introduced himself to him, and told him that with his ability he ought to go to the Bar, and if he would agree to do so lie would provide the necessary money. Wilkins at once agreed, thinking that the Bar referred to the next public-house, and feeling quite ready for

a drink after his late exertions. They' did adjourn to the nearest hostelry, and his new friend explained ,to him what he really meant. Wilkinß consented. At that time it was not necessary to pass an examination to be called to the Bar. Wilkins got on very well in his new profession, and was soon making £7000 or £8000 a year. But he was extravagant, and when briefed to defend William Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner, was obliged to remain at Boulogne for fear of arrest for debt.

In the Emperor of Japan's .annual poetry competition,' in which many scores of native poets joined, the fourth prize was awarded to Mra. Charles Burnett, wife of the American military attache at Tokio.

" The History of the World was a fine achievement. lam told it will bring Mr. Wells quite £20,000," writes Desmond MacOarthy in the New Statesman. " And who would grudge it him? It was a book we wanted, and no one else could have written it. There seems, therefore, to have been in his case no very pressing necessity for writing pot-boilers, and we must conclude that the Wonderful Visit is part of his message to the world as an artist."

Messrs. Cassell's announcements 'include " My Own Affairs," by the Princess Louise of Belgium, daughter of Leopold 11., who was married, for Teasons of State T>oliey, to Prince 1 Philip of Coburg at the age of 18, and, besides her own story, has much to tell of the men and women who dominated the o.>art3 of Europe before tho war.

William Johnston gives a mew glimpss of 0. Henry in The Bookman. Johnston was editorial disciplinarian ovetr the aliort-story writer on the New York Sunday World.' Of 0. Henry's correspondence he says : "Nearly always his loiters would be written in his round, regular band, sometimes in pencil, more often with ink, and generally they were signed "Sydney Porter" ; but there is one in the writer's collection, typed, and signed merely with the initials 0.H., that is perhaps th« brightest gem of aiß. It was written undler the following circumstances : His weakly story bad been delivered, late, as nsuail. It was 'The Guilty Party,' since become on.c of the most celebrated of his tales, describing an episode before the judgment bar. X)m receiving it, I wrote him to this effect: "There was once a celebrated author who appeared, before the judgment bar. , A host of people were there saying nica things about him, , when up spoke a weary editor, and said, "'Ho never kept a promise in his life.' " In reply to this there came from him by special messenger a' note, whioh readl: 'Guilty, m'lud. And yet . Some time ago a magazine editor, to whom I had promised a story at a certainN minute (and, strangely enough, didn't get there 1 with it) wrote to me : "I am coming down to-morrow to kick you thoroughly with a pair of heavy-soled shoes. I never go back on my promises." Andl I lifted up my voice, and said unto him : "It's easy to keep promises that can be pulled off ; with your feet." 1 "

Louis Cotrperua, the dietinguishedi Dutch novelist, whose works have recently been reviewed in this column,, lived as a child in Java, and spent tih« greater part of his manhood in Greece, Italy, and the South of France. 'He' is of Scottish ancestry. Hio name, originally Gowper or Cooper, was Latinised into Couperus in Friesland', where hia forebeots, banished for political reasons, tool: refuge during the reign of Mary Stuart. He claims a collateral kinsmanship with the Earls Cbwper, boasts a similar pedigree, and bears the same coat-of-arme. The sun and! the classics are what Oouperus loves beat in this world. His character, as reflectedl in his novels, appeals to bo a curious mixture of the gray melancholy engendered by the moist skies of his native Netherlands, and the radiant joy of life derived from his long following of the sunshine.