LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1922, Page 17

LITERARY NOTES

Eecaivod—"Something for Tokens," by Frederick T., Macartney, from 8. J. Endaeott, Melbourne. "Contemporaao-

ous Origin of the Gospel—the Synoptic Problem," by Professor Palmer,' from. Australian Baptist Publishing House, Sydney. ■. \

There is an air of enduring about the latest Shakespearean Quarterly, edited by Mr. Hector Bolitho, and published in Sydney. Its predecessors were fujl of promises—the third number fulfills ttiem^ Itshows how seriously Shakespeare is /being taken by a few but increasing numhor of enthusiasts in Australia. At their head is Mr. Allan Wilkie, _ whose faith in Shakespeare as a theatrical business venture continues unshaken—and that with reason. The July Quarterly contains critical and other matter by competent authorities and records of readings, discussions and performances of Shakespeare in Australia and New ZeaJand— with special reference to that earnest Shakespearean student, the late Mr. T. W. Whiteon, of Dunedin;, also to Mrs. Hardinge-Mftltby's efforts jn Wellington. It is interesting, too, to read that Mr. Shayle Gardner, a member of Mr. Oscar Asche's "Cairo" company, and a successful New Zealand actor, would like to give recitals of Shakespeare in New- Zealand, but is prevented by contracts keeping him in London. Verse on Shakespeare, by Prank Morton, W.F.J., and H. Neele appears. The illustrations include the Chandos portrait of Shakepeare, the monument in Trinity Church, and etchings of Shakespeare's birthpJace at Stratford-on-Avon. The style of the quarterly improves with every issue.

The longest novels of recent years are pygmies in comparison with some that enjoyed' great popularity in the seventeenth century. Mile, de Scudery^s "Le Grand Cyrus," for instance, as "Englished by, ayPerson of Honour," filled five folio volumes of over 500 pages each, whilst another novelist of the period, La Calprenede, was even more diffuse, one of his works, "Cleopatre," running into 23 volumes folio! That their length did not appal tho novel readers of their day is evident from the fact that the Paris publisher of "Le Grand Cyrus" made 100,000 crowns ont of the first edition alone.

From Hannibal, Missouri, comes the report that Becky Thatcher, known to thousands as the little schoolgirl in the adventures' of "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn," is a real person and is alive to-day. She is Mrs. Laura Frazier, 86 years old, matron of / the Home for the Friendless in Hannibal. It is said that Mrs. Frazier knows more about Mark' Twain's youth than any other living person. She say^: Mark and I started going to school the- same year. He was 7 and I was 6. Our houses were across the street from each other here in Hannibal. Mark had long, golden curls hanging over his shoulders. He used to carry my books to school every morning and carry them home in the afternoon. And he'd- treat me to apples arid oranges and divide his candy with me. In the winter, Mark spent most of his time on the ice.' I couldn't skate, but ho always arranged for me to go along. He used to push me along the ice on a split-bottomed chair. He was a fine skater, too—in fact, he was good at anything he undertook. The first time I ever saw Mark was on a hot summer day. He came out of his house and started showing off, turning handsprings and oiitting capers. His heel hit me and I, was thrown'to the gronnd and knocked unconscious. I recall' hearing the children talking about how scared Mark was.

The private diaries of tie Empress Marie Louise, which the Murraye are publishing, have a curious history. They are in the possession of Lady Thompson, whose grandmother, Mrs. Smyth. Windham, in 1836 became acquainted with a Swiss governess, from whom she ( purchased them. All the governess knew, of their history was that" her brother, 'M. Muller, was tutor to one of the Empress's pages when she escaped from the Tuileries. This page picked up , the diaries from the floor and gave them to his tutor some time afterwards. They never seem to have been printed before, anyhow, in the English language..

' "The dollar fc our financial unit" wrote Owen Wister in New York Times. "What is our intellectual unit?", he asked,; and went on "not the book. It is the periodical or the morning paper. In most American towns the book, if sold at all, has no house of its own, but is a boarder with soda water,' cough drops, stockings and other merchandise. Books are beginning to be sold by troy weight. I saw lately an advertisement of a work in several volumes, - each volume guaranteed 2 pounds, 4 ounces. If such is to be the plight of the book in our country, what gifted man of sense with his way to make will write one ? He will turn to tho newspaper or the magazine, hoping some day to he free. Freedom will not come soon, but age and loss of inspiration ■will. These aare external menaces. Deep beneath them lies the fact that America has known but little adversity. Before Moliere and Shakespeare came, their countries had I suffered much. Still deeper Ihan this lies oiir, chief American quality, restlessness. What nomadic, race has ever produced a great literature? Dickens, Scott, and Thackeray did not move to Canada: "Emerson lived in Concord. Is there then no comfort? Is it all as black as that? Is the Sunday newspaper to be our. Paradise Lost J I hope notl"

Lord Randolph Churchill -was wayward to a degree, a creature of suden impulse, acute, eloquent, capable of great concentration of purpose, but, to quote Lord George Hamilton, in his "Parliamentary Reminiscences" (Murray): "His' tantrums and outbursts of animosity against individuals made him an impossible chiefor colleague." Lord George adds: — "Churchill became in the meantime more and more difficult. He was constantly speaking in public, and he had socially surrounded hiinseli with a coteiie of 'able go-aheads' and 'damn-the-cdnse-quences' > young men. He was *' extraordinarily attractive when he pleased, but offensive to the last degree to those he disliked, or whom he suspected of being opposed to him. He told me that he felt hia relations to Salisbury were those of Peel towards Wellington, and that it was his intention to drive Salisbury into a more democratic policy." Churchill's famous jfesign;ition was writ--ten to Lord Salisbury from Windsor Castle and on the Royal nctepaper, and this, Lord George tells, was a. terrible breach of etiquette —a thing thau Queen Victoria was the very last peTsonage to forgive. "By sending in his resignation from Windsor,- and not informing the Queen that night of what be had done, he was guilty of a. serious 'breach of official etiquette; and by sending his resignation to The Times before it had been accepted by the Queen he greatly aggravated his offence in the ©yes of Her Majesty."

A singular honour is accorded to the memory of Emanuel Swedenborg. Over 100 sets of photographed facsimiles of his theological works have been prepared, with a.'view to distributing- them among the Stats-supported libraries of the world. This unique undertaking—for never has anything resembling it happened boiore^comes as an expensive item to the Swedenborg Society, for the cost amounts to about £12,000, over, a space of 12 years. The British Museum is to have a specially picked set; because, of conrae, the socioty bears well In mind the fact that London save the Swedish

Bavon his liisfc home, and from here, after many years of rest, liia bones were sent back, for final interment, to Sweden. This took place in 1908.

The economic axe is affecting free libraries, . and librarians are' finding great difficulty in persuading town councils to. provide the funds for new books, observes John O'London, This economy has moved one well-known librarian to the following:— "A library without the books'. A paradox complete. ■ A baker's shop without the bread, A butcher's without meat!" The prize which Sir J. M. Barrie, when he was elected Lord Rector of St. v Andrew's University, offered to the students for the best essay on "The Three Roberts (Burns, Fergusson, Stephenson)," was awarded to Mr. Eugene O'Brien, who hails from Dundee, seems not to be altogether of the • race of the three Roberts, for he Dears tho name of Mr. Eugene O'Brien.