LITERARY NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 9721, 1 June 1895, Page 3 (Supplement)

LITERARY NOTES.

[Fbom Oob Special Correspondent.]

London, April 19. All Osoar Wilde'a books have been withdrawn from circulation, and are already worth well-nigh their weight in silver as "curios." Copio3 of ' Dorian Gray-' in its original magazhio form in ' Ljp t vincottV easily fetched #3 to.£s apteoo, arid should be carefully preserved. Ot ooiirse, J refer to tho untxpurgated issue, and not to the revised version, whioh till a fortnight ago Ward, Look published. Tho value of the • Chamoleon,' the objcotlonablo periodical produood by tho Osoarian oliquo, and strangled by its publishers cro fifty numbers had been sold, Is probably £2;3. I know, indeed, this sum was recently refused for ono by Messrs Gay and Bird, who havo the balance of the issuo looked away in tho rooesses of their private safo. Apart from the single story of «The Priest and the Acolyte,' the ' Chameleon' was the usually wishy-washy " fC3theria," and indistinguishable from other Bhort lived periodicals of its school. The fact that Wildo latterly derived his mental pabulum chiefly from the •YellowBook,' and tucked a copy under his arm when removed to " durance vile," will not, I fear, increase that edifying quarterly iu popular estimation. If Mr Lano is wise he will suppress it without delay. The vogue for that unwholesome class of literature has received its death-blow. " Tho Philistine " wounded the morbid sex-maniac sorely, and Oscar has given him his de grace. Art with a big A has, like Humpty Damply, had a great fall, and never again can the misbegotten fetish exenvse the influence it did over us. In the words of Arthur Roberts,

"Culchah, deat boys, i 3 a bit off." That Wilde was not unconscious of the descent to Avernus, down which his unbridled and morbid passions were surely leading him, the ' Portrait of Djrian Gray' shows us. Therein he boldly drew himself and forecast his terrible degradation. Unfortunately, physically 03oar Fiiigall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde is a coward,or he might have put himself partially right with "society" and saved us these ghastly revelations by committing suioide Deforo his arrost. A3 he professes to ba an Atheist, this would have been a logical conclusion to his career of uubridled self-indulgence. But of course Wilde isn't an Atheist. He's too intelligent for that, and prefers tho worst man can do to him to facing Go.l. Mr Ernest Parke, the manager of the ' Star,' smile 3, I should imagine, somewhxt cynically over the virtuous indignation of the public in the Wilde case. For trying to expose membirs of this very clique Mr Parke got twelve months' imprisonment. You see, instead of having rich men on his side to shepherd his witnesses and help him to get up his case, he had rich men to fight against. And, of course, a big blunder wa3 made in introducing Lord Button's name. After the object lesion of Mr Parke's reward for a public-spirited attempt to expase a notorious scandal, both public and police held their hands. We know now that hundreds of person? were cognisant of Wilde's clique's doing?, and, revolted though they were, tacitly winked thereat. The new edition of 'Alain Bede,' just issued by Black\vood3 at 2s Gd a volume, is in every way handy and attractive, being, in fact, a reprint of the cabinet edition originally published at double the price. ' Adam Bede ' appeared first on February 1, 1859, and at once hit the bull's eye of fame, ' The Times' leading the way and starting a vogue which led to Hi,ooU"copics (in three volume i) being sold in a year. Those whohave read George Eliot's life will remembar that during this period a parson named Liggins audaciously claimed to be the author of the now novel everyone was talking about, and had to be vigorously suppressed by Blackwoods. Other notable reprints are the new "Kuebworth" edition of 'Pelham' (3s (i.l) and Macmillan's 'Tom Cringle,' illustrated by J. Symington (.'is (>1). Of 'Pelham,' Routledge3 alone have fciuee 18">o sold 200,000 eopie?, and it remiins to-day ono of Lord Lytton's most popular efforts. 'Tom Cringle's L.>g' is the latest addition to Macmillan's "Standard" novels, and is as admirably got up in all respects as its predecessors. ' Eve's Ransom' is a rather depressing love story, written in George Gissing's mojt pessimistic vein. I like neither the l.ero nor the heroine, and the subsidiary characters are much less successful than in the author's previous books. I think Mr Gissing would be wise to stick to the three-volume form of publication. His are not the sort of novels folks care to buy, and six shillings is a good deal for such a short story as ' Eve's Ransom.' The next addition to Chatto's sixpenny series will be ' The Moonstone,' which I note Mr Swinburne agrees with me in considering the best of all modern detective stories. Ho says: "The skill of construction is so exquisite, so complete, so masterly that we follow the thre.id of the story with unflagging enjoyment and a perpetually changeful and delightful perplexity i f conjecture a3 to what the upshot will bo ; and when this upshot comes, it is all that sympathy could have desired and more than ingenuity could have conceived." 'The Tremlelt Diamonds,' by Alan St. Aubyn (best known as the author of ' A Fellow of Trinity' and Other readable but not otherwise remarkable novels of 'Varsity life), relates how Dora Tremlett lost a valuable diamond necklace on her wedding day, and how her bridesmaid, Edith Gunning was accused of .stealing it. The author does his best to pile on coincidences so that poor Edith may be suspected, but the reader who fails to guess the real culprit in the first half-dozen pages must be a delightfully ingenuous and inexperienced person. Miss Violet Hunt, who has achieved a onsiderable measure of fame with a novel in dialogue entitled ' A Maiden's Progress,' was one of Mr Oswald CrawfurJ's discoveries. She has written a considerable number of the social sketches which have appeared week by week in ' Black and White' since its beginning, and still contributes frequently to that journal. Miss Hunt is a hard-working and painstaking craftswomau, who considers her work is better for every fresh revision of the MSS. Messrs Chapman and Hall have recently accepted a novel from M 133 Hunt's pen, the story of which is more or less in dialogue. Whether this form of novel will charm more than ephemerally is an open question. Personally, whilst appreciating short sketches in that form, I hud long stories told so infinitely tiresome. Lady Colin Campbell tells a good story in the 'Realm' about the late Robert Louis Stevenson and Mr George Meredith. Stevenson had been reading ' Diana of the Crossways,' and came across one scene which he could not doom natural. Straightway he hied him to the author's house, and so boon as he was in Meredith's study began : "She couldn't havo done it "—pacing up and down—" George, I tell you she couldn't have done it. It wasn't in her." Then, stopping suddenly at Meredith's aide and tapping him on the shoulder, Stevenson said gravely : " My friend, you've been misinformed !" Another Stevenson yarn. When Robert Louis was grinding for the Bar at Edinburgh he used to be a frequent visitor to Stillie's book mart in George street. One line day, as he plunged into the shop, he collided with an elderly man, and was rewarded with a few choice objurgations in broad Scotch. " Who was that peppery old stick tasked Stevenson of Mr Stillie when the old man was gone. " Thomas Carlyhy' was Stillie's short and startling answer. This is the only meeting between Carlyle and Stevenson on record. Messrs admirable uniform edition of Mr Thomas Hardy's works wilh*the much-discussed ' Tess.' In his preface to the opening volume of the scries Mr Hardy gives a list of the places popularly identified with the fictitious place-names of his novels, and, while not contradicting the suppositious, accepts the popular identifications as an indication of his reader.*' real aud kindly interest in the scenes. There 'A also a new map of " Wessex," which helpi one greatly in following the wanderings of Sir Hardy's creatures. Tnc author'.! completed works, from ' Desperate Remedies ' to ' Lite s Little Ironies,' will make fifteen volumes, but probably 'Hearts Insurgent,' now running serially in an American magazme, will see book form uniform with Messrs Osgood s edition, which is in every way satisfactory. Coincidently Messrs Blackwood arc produc

ing a uniform edition of George Eliot's works, commencing with * Adam Bede.' Touching again on the question of boya and authors, I note that whilst Mr Lang gives Rider Haggard the .pride of place, an examination into the l borrowing from the house library of one of our. great public schools gives evidence of the fact that Mr G. A. Hcuty can alill claim to be favored by his ."dear lads" above all other writers. The following list of the actual number of times whioh various., books have been taken out of the hoijao library in question is instructive to paterfamilias i-*Henty 203, Ainsworth U4, Haggard 58, Captain Marryab 56, Jules Vorne 49, Dickons 43, Edna Lyall 41, Sir Walter Soott 23, Hume Niabet 25, James Granb and Rolfo Roldrewood 24, Ballantyne and Lytton 23, R, L. Steven, son and "Q> 17; MVhyto Melville; Ifi, Kingston .14, Klngsloy 12, Fennimoro Cooper and Lever 11, 'SpongoV Sporting Tour' and R. D. Blackmore 10. No other author reaches doub'o figures, but it is only fair to Rudyard Kipling to state that his works have only just been added to the library. Probably a term or two henoe he will have distanced most of those mentioned above, But the Anglo-Indian cau hardly hope to deprive Mr Henty of his proud position, for in almost every school literary census the author of' Bonnie Prince Charlie' has " come out on top," or very nearly so. The surprises to me in the above list are the positions of Ballantyne and Hume Nisbet. The Anglo-Australian must feel flattered to find himself bracketed with the great Scotoh author, and taking precedence of the late R. M. Ballantyho, who wrote for boys and boys, alone.

The great and good man who the 'Review of Reviews' is coming out as a novel writer. He has in hand at the present moment a work' entitled ' A MoJern Maid in Modern Babylon,' the same being the story of tho experiences of a young girl who c\me to London some years ago, and whose adventures, passing strange as they are, havo been faithfully transcribed for the public benefit by Mr W. T. S'ead. That rather effeminate decadent artist Aubrey Beardsley, who, like Lord Alfred Douglas, was a dear friend of Oscar Wilde, finds the air of America so agreeable to his constitution that he is attempting to arrange a series of lectures in Boston and New York. Of course; he will talk of ait, and also of " ugliness," if he can get anybody to listen to him. Beardsley has bsen telling a Transcript' interviewer that the offensive and ugly faces which he depicts are drawn from life. He finds "most people ugly" and "-the sensual face dominant," but he seems to have studied physiognomy chiefly at a certain West End restaurant much patronised by ladies of flexible ethics and men of uunameable reputations, so it is not strange that he should conceive sensuality and offensive ugliness to be. the prevailing characteristic of the human face. 'The Curee of Intellect' contains the materials for a powerful satire, which the author has, unfortunately, onlj succeeded in making grim. The real hero is not a man but a monkey, whom Reuben Power has beaten and mesmerised into a creature possessed of intellect. The ape at first i 3 filled with enthusiasm for God-like man, and grateful to his mister for his mental reformation. Master and monkey acquire each othet's language, and the beast learns to write. As, however, the ape learns more ofhuman beings he changes his views, and decides that man is a vile creature and reason merely a quality calculated to increase natural vice. In proportion as the monkey grows to detc3t men he hates Power, who, by forcing him to exchange instinct for reason, his caused him to lose the past happy sense of unity with nature. There is a mysterious tie between the man and the beast, and as the latter grows keener and cleverer the former becomes weaker and flabbier. The rest you must discover for yourselves. With regard to the late Sir George Chesnoy's works, you may like to know ' Tho Battle of Dorking' is to be found in volume 5 of the second series of ' Tales from Blackwood,' and ' The Dilemma' amongst tho sime (inn's half a crown novels. 'A True Reformer,' 'The Private S crtt.iry,' and ' Tiie Listers ' never emerged from their three-volume condition. Mr Charles Baxter has arrived in England with R. L. Stevenson's liteiary remains, which are to be given to Professor Si lney Colvin for arrangement and publication. G'.iy Boothby's ' Marriage of Esther' is being very well reviewed, as I anticipated, and but for the price being to absurdly high might have "boomed " a hit. Ada Cambridge's ' Fidolis''fulls far short in interest and workmanship of the St. Kild-i novelist's ' Marked Man '; but you will rind it quite readable. The moral would seem to be that it is not well for ugly men to be sensitive about their appearand'-. Ugliness, brains, and virtue go together, and are accompanied by good luck, so that when taunted with your monkeylike physiognomy you may con3olo yourself with the reflection that you will probably end up it, millionaire. Mrs Biker's 'Majesty of Man' is described by the 'British Weekly' as a novel of very unusual merit. The story is intense and interesting, vividly conceived and graphically written. The characters are fresh and unworn types ; indeed, the leading figures are entirely original. The person who does not read this novel at a sitting and who does not feel better for it must be of exceptional temperament. A cordial welcome will be accorded to Miss Ethel Turner's new book, 'Growing Up,' which carries on the story ' Savon Little Australians ' —"slipping a little space of years." The volume may be looked for in July or August. She has also in the press a tale for older folk, although entitled 'The Story of a Baby.' A Loudon critic says of this : " A graceful little story : very good reading ; the character of Dot'is very bewitching." Ward, Lock, and Bowden will publish both books.