BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 19197, 13 March 1926, Page 14

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

VERSES. THE RETURN. Once to tliis spot with fear and grief I came. The summer sky gleamed ■ blue; And, like, a sword, each glittering leaf . With beauty pierced me through. “ Some day,” I vowed, “ when by God’s grace I can enjoy His world again, I will return to this same place And, happy, walk this lane.” At last I come. Sorrow no more Is ray companion. But somehow, Though the sun shines just as before, It ,is less lovely novvi —Gilbert Thomas, in the ‘ Observer.’ FOUR CHILDREN. As I lay quietly in the grass, Half dreaming, half awake, I saw four children barefoot pass Across the tufted brake; The sky was glass, the pools were glass, And not a leaf did shake. The autumn berries clustered thick, Seldom I met with more; I thought these children came to pick, As many picked before; Each had a long and crooked stick, And crowns of ash they wore. But not one berry did they take; Gliding, I watched them go Hand in hand across the brake With sallies to and fro. So half asleep and half awake j I guessed what now I know. They were not children, live and rough, ■ Nor phantoms of the dead, But spirits woven of airy stuff By wandering fancy led, Creatures of silence, fair enough, No sooner scon than sped, j —Robert Graves, in the ‘ Spectator.’ I LAST YEAR’S BOOKS. A total of 13,202 books is recorded by the ‘ Circular ’ as having been published during 1925. This is an increase of 496 over the total for 1924

- The following list shows the total number of publications in each class for 1925 and 1924:

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. An appeal lias been made to President Cosgrave, of the Irish Free State, by Mr Edward Pago Gaston, of the Museum Galleries,, London, to restore the early home of Oliver Goldsmith at Lissoy, county of Westmeath. Goldsmith’s early home was the parsonage of his father, the original of the rural preacher in ‘ The Deserted Village.’ It has fallen into ruin, and is in danger of collapse. It is suggested that the Irish Free State should acquire about five acres of land and restore the parsonage for use as a guesthouse for tourists, together with the enclosure “ where once a garden smiled.” It is estimated that the land could be purchased and the work completed for £5,000. It is also suggested that ‘‘Goldsmith’s Country ’’ might be the scene of a notable pilgrimage. Mr Gaston has further suggested to President Cosgrave that a new effort bo made to obtain a Goldsmith’s window, or other memorial, for the early nineteenth century successor to “ the decent church that topt the neighboring hill ” in ‘ The Deserted Vii'age.’ There the poet’s father officiated, and was “passing rich on £4O a yearn'’ It is also proposed that the dilapidated churchyard (where some Goldsmiths lie) and the now-abandoned church of Goldsmith’s time should be put hi order, and that a tablet should be erected at the tree marking the centre of the village life of “ Auburn,” as pictured by Goldsmith, where grew— The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made. Mr Gaston is the gentleman who three years ago attempted to recover the long-lost remains of the American Indian Princess Pocahontas, who died and was buried at Gravesend, Kent* in 1616.

“YOUNG” BOOKS. FAVORITES OP CHILDREN OF TWO NATIONS. The United States Board of Education has compiled a list of forty books that “ all children should read before they are sixteen,” but the education officials of the London County Council do not believe in restricting a child’s choice of literature by any arbitrary standards. “We have over 40,000 titles on our approved reading list for elementary and secondary scliools,” said a London County Council official, and 2,500,000 volumes are in circulation. A child is left to choose for himself what he shall read, within certain broad limits set by the council and its standing Advisory Committee of Teachers.” A list of fifty books mo?t popular among children up to fifteen years of age has been compiled, and it largely resembles the American list.

The books which they like in common are: ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ ‘Andersen’s Fairy Tales,’, ‘ Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘ Treasure Island,’: ‘ Arabian Nights,’ ‘Tales of Robin Hood,’ ‘Legends of King Arthur,’ ‘lvanhoe,’ ‘HUsop’s Fables ’ Kingsley’s ‘ ‘ Water Babies,’ ‘ Gulliver’s Travels,’ and ‘ Grimm’s Fairy Tales.’ English children seem to prefer ‘ Robinson Crusoe ’ to all others, as copies of the book are worn to tatters many times a year, while American experts place ‘ Little Women,’ by Louisa M. Alcott, at the head of their list.

Dickens anti Scott are the authors found most frequently on tlie English list. The order of popularity is: ‘ Robinson Crusoe,’ 1 Arthurian Legends,’ ‘ Peter . Pan,’ ‘ David Copperlield,’ ‘ Tale of Tv.-o Cities,’ ‘ Christmas Carol,’ ‘Water Babies,’ ‘lyanhoe,’ ‘ Tales of Robin Hood,’ ‘ Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ ‘Treasure Island,’ ‘Westward Ho!’ ‘John Halifax, Gentleman,’ ‘ Tom Brown’s Schooldays,’ ‘ Grimm’s Fairy Tales,’ Arabian Nkhta,"

A LITERARY CORNER

SHAKESPEARE’S WILL. So meagre are the positive facts about Shakespeare’s life that any fresh light thrown upon them is always welcome. Mr S. 0. Addy has published an article in ‘ Notes and Queries ’ inviting the world to revise what is generally an unfavorable inference from bbakcspeare’s treatment of his widow in his will. According to the will Shakespeare left his wife nothing but his “ second best bed ” —in itself an inadequate, if not contemptuous, provision, and usually interpreted, as Sir Sidney Lee interpreted it, as evidence that Shakespeare wished to exclude Ills wile from tho enjoyment of his possessions after his death. Mr Addy, however (says ‘The Times’) would have us think better of Shakespeare’s intentions towards her. It is not a question whether she should more appropriately have had the best bed (though ingenious commentators have suggested various reasons why the second best should have been preferred for her), but whether she was left, except for that solitary article of furniture, without anything to call her own while she continued to live at Now Place with her daughter and son-in-law, Susanna and John Hull

Mr Adcly appeals to the doctrine of the “reasonable part',” and quotes numerous authorities to prove its prevalence in law or in custom in the England of Shakespeare’s time. By it a widow was entitled to one-third of her husband's personal estate, and , it was not necessary for a testator in making his will specifically to mention this share: and in Mrs Shakespeare’s case, Mr Addy suggests, Shakespeare, in leaving his widow the bed, was merely leaving her something over and above what he knew would come to her as her reasonable part. “The very fact,” says Mr Addy ; “ that Shakespeare made such a trifling gift to his wife, and gave her nothing else, is in itself a, strong presumption that she had a right to a far larger portion of his goods.” To what extent a widow’s right to the “ reasonable part ” rested on _ common law. as some authorities maintain, or on local custom, ns others hold, seems to bo none too clear. Mr Addy, however, cites wills from various parts of England, though not, indeed, Warwickshire, where the custom held locallyand where, in consequence, bequests in themselves as trivial as Shakespeare’s to his wife were made to other wives _on the understanding, tacit or explicit, that a third part would also be theirs. NONSENSE VERSE. Ho excludes, quite rightly, wit and the epigram (says Mr a. f. Herbert, reviewing in mo ‘ Observer ’ ‘ llm Poetry of Nonsense,’, by Emile Curamaerts) j but he makes the surprising assertion that there is no nonsense in Mr Stephen Leacock’s ‘ Nonsense Novels ’ (on the ground that they are ail more or loss parodies). Ho is oven doubtful about numbering Gilbert among the nonsense pogts, and is inclined to allow the real virtue to Lear, Carroll, and the nursery rhyme alone. But if there is not nonsense, by any definition, in—shall we say?— And though you’d have said that head was dead, For its owner dead was ho, It stood on its nock with a smile well-bred, And bowed three times to mo,

and all that epic narrative, then heaven knows what nonsense is.

1 hero is no art in tho real nursery rhyme % It grow like the daisies. And there is, confessed} - , no conscious art in Lear’s _ limericks. He could—and, indeed, did—write them standing on his head. But there is a great deal of conscious art, of hard work and careful technique in that wondrous poem about tho “ aged man a-sitting on a gate ” :—■

And now whene'er I chance to put My fingers into glue, Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot Into a left-hand shoe; Or if I drop upon mv toe A very heavy weight, I weep, for it reminds me so Also, I venture to say, it is better nonsense. There was more art still in Gilbert, and, if it was worth saying, I would say that Gilbert was a greater man than Lear as a nonsense poet. Certainly he is not to bo excluded because lus nonsense had often sense in it.

THOMAS THE .RHYMER. ‘ The old Scottish ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, or True Thomas (that gentleman who has lately come into prominence as the alleged author of this prophecy, among others; —■ Tide, Tide, whate’er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside) gives us the best description of Faeryland proper and the road thereto. Thomas having unfortunately put himself under the power of the Faerieswo need not go into details of this episode, as they are not particularly creditable, either to Thomas or the Queen of the Faeries—-was bidden by the Queen to take leave of the sun, of the green grass, and of the leaf that grew on the tree and follow her. Ho has no option, and needs must do this, so he prepares for the journey, and they set out. First they enter a grim cavern, wherein they travel for three days in utter darkness, sometimes hearing the boom of a distant ocean, sometimes wading through rivers of blood, for all the blood shed on earth flows through this land, which crossed their subterranean path, till at length they arrive in the twilight again and come to a goodly orchard, whore there_ are plentiful fruit trees laden with lusciouslooking fruit. True Thomas, famishing: with hunger and parched with thirst after his long travail in the gloom, stretches forth his hand to pluck and partake of this fruit, when he is forbidden by the Queen, who tells him that these were tlie fatal apples which once grew in Eden and caused the fall of man, and if lie touches them he can neve; hope to return to earth. —krona an address by Alex. Allan, F.R.C.S. (Edm.). THE MEYNEI.L FAMILY. Mr Everard Meynoll, whose death is reported from Genoa, was a member of one of those distinguished families which sometimes decorate English letters (observes tho 1 Evening otandHis mother was Alice Meynoll, who at one point was regarded by good judges as a strong candidate for the Lanreateship. This sister, Miss Viola Meynell, is the author-of several remarkable novels. Liko his father, Mr Wilfred Meynell, who wrote very successfully’, but not under his own name, during the war, he was not primarily a man of letters. But to him was entrusted the difficult and delicate task of writing the biography of Francis Thompson, which he did with conspicuous succes

THE LATE C. M. DOUGHTY. “ For many readers, here and in America, it is a book so majestic, so vital, of such incomparable beauty of thought, of observation, and of diction, as to occupy n place apart among their most cherished literary possessions,” says the ‘ Observer ’ of ‘ Travels in Arabia Deserta,’ the great book of the late 0. M. Doughty. “And this often_ after it has been begnnwith indulgence and continued with irritation until, the magic of the style being iclt and understood, the subsequent steps have brought nothing but absorbed enthusiasm and delight.” A stammer prevented Doughty from entering the Navy, which was his first idea of a profession. In his travels in Arabia, which included sojourns at Teyma, Hayil,_and other towns, ho consistently proclaimed himself to be a Christian, _ and ran some extreme risks. But his dignity, his helplessness, and his transparent sincerity always gained him friends and defenders in his direst straits. Moreover, he practised medicine, and with simple remedies cured the sick and won their hearts. All but penniless, he often lived on the charity of wanderers nearly ns indigent as himself. Ho thus got to know them, both the men and the wonion folk, with an intimacy that is utterly denied to the wealthy traveller. and that has probably been permitted to no other European. Many times lie was in danger of his life. To a fanatical assailant who shouted “Dreadcst thou not to die!” ho returned the brave answer: “ I have not so lived, Moslem, that I must fear to die.” Little did the weary man then think that ho had nearly half a century of life before him.

NOTES. While writing ‘ Arabia Deserta ’ it is said that Hougiity made a resolution to use no books tnat contained words that were not in Chaucer or Sponsor. The work that he studied most assiduously was 1 Haiiluyt’s Voyages.’ Hence the antique style, which has been a stumbling block to many, liobertson Smith did his best to ease it, but Doughty was wisely adamant, and would Have no correcting from outside. On the other hand, he rewrote voluminously in proof and drove the Press to despair. Laboring incessantly, he brought his work at last to a finish, having packed into it every single word that ho had it in him to say. When, thirty-three years later, it was reprinted in extenso, ho could only add or omit a comma. But tho price was Bgs, at that day unheard of and prohibitive, and the sale was very slow. In spite of enthusiastic recognition here and there (William Morns and Burne-Jones were ardent admirers), it was not for anther twenty years, when Edward Garnett edited an abridgement for tho firm of Duckworth, that Doughty’s fame began. It has since grown steadily, and editions of the complete work published by Jonathan Capo have found a ready sale, first at 9gs, with an introduction by Colonel T. E. Lawrence, Doughty’s greatest follower, and subsequently at the original price, at which it is now obtainable. _ The first edition can hardly be met with at any price.

.It is nearly, forty years ago since Mr Fergus Hume’s vastly popular ‘ The Mystery of a Hansom Cab’ was published, but Mr Hume is still active. Messrs Hurst and BJackett have just published a now story from his pen, ‘ The Caravan Mystery,’ This popular author recently suffered a serious breakdown in health, but ho is now on the road to recovery.•

Tho death has occurred at East Malvern (V.) of Miss Marion Downes, the Australian writer. Miss Downes’s best known works are ‘ Wayside Hongs For Women,’ and ‘ Swayed by tho Storm ’ and ‘ Flower of tho Bush,’ two stories of the Australian bush. Miss Downes was a member of the Australian Literature Society and of the London Literature Society.

Twenty-eight years ago Mr T. Fisher Unwin founded the Library of Literary History, of which eleven volumes have been published. Among the first to appear was the ‘ Literary History of Persia,’ by the late Professor E. G. Browne, of Cambridge, who recently passed away. Tire book was published in 1902, and four years later Prolcssor Browne wished to add a second volume. This was published with success, and, indeed, both volumes had remarkable sales. They were reprinted three or four times, and considerably over 2,001) sets have been sold.

“ Mudic’s,” tho famous Loudon lending library, is undergoing extensive alterations and improvements, including the “open access” to tho books which New Zealanders have long enjoyed. When Charles Edward Mudie, the founder, instituted the library from hjs private collection in 1842 in a. small shop in Upper King street (now Southampton Bow) ho did not deal in fiction at all. Even in 1852 one small cart was sufficient lor taking books round to subscribers’ houses. From such small beginnings _ developed the present business, which deals with 2,000,000 volumes and employs a staff of 300 at headquarters alone.

In his retirement, M. Clemencean is busy with more than -one literary project. Apart from his essays cm tho life of Demosthenes, he has now written a large book to ho published in four volumes, embodying his philosophy of life, it is not likely to see tho light until another year has passed.

One of the very interesting books of the year will be 1 My Apprenticeship,’ by Mrs Sidney Webb, who, with her famous husband, has taken such an active part in the Labor movement and written so many economic treatises. The new book, which combines an intimate autobiography with a contemporary account of Victorian society, is based' on extracts from her personal diary, extending from 1868 to 1892. Many important figures of the Victorian era', including Herbert Spencer, will make their appearance in these pages.

Does the modern reader realise how much he owes to the men who in_ the past have perfected the art of printing i The quarterly journal of the Linotype Company reminds us of our debt to the Italian, Giambattista Bodoui, whose great achievement it was to produce the modern face in printed ty>,)e._ Bodoni, who came of a family of printers, flourished in Italy in the eighteenth century, and was given to producing books of the classical type. Unfortunately, ho was not a very good editor, and the scholars were apt to laugh at his productions; but so far as the printing was concerned his work was, in respect of clarity, in admirable, contrast to that of his* predecessors. Bodoni’s main ideals in printing were, according to his own confession, regularity, neatness, charm, and good taste. The two latter qualities are somewhat vague, to be sure, but it is to this ingenious Italian that tlm present generation, perhaps, owes its reasonably good eyesight. See how German eyesight has been ruined by the official adherence to the Gothic typel

An Interesting sign- of the times is the publication by that groat German newspaper, the ‘Berliner Tagehlatt,’ of a monthly edition jn Engb^ff.

Miss Marjorie Bowen has written a historical romance, with Nell Gwynno as the central figure.

Mr E. Y. Lucas, in an article in the ‘Sunday Times’ (London), describing his experiences in America, writes:— The American author whose work is most eagerly acquired by collectors is, 1 believe, Edgar Allan Poo, but a Herman Melville cult has set in. I don’t know how Longfellow stands, but 1 was amused by a discovery which was made while I was there that the schooner Hesperus was never wrecked. It was, during the famous gale of 1839, as far from Norman’s Woe as Boston Harbor, where it hr®, in comparative safety; but being mentioned in tho papers the next day in a paragraph near the account of the loss of a schooner with a woman roped to the windlass bitts, the poetgot the items confused, and in his diary for December 17 has this entry: “ News of shipwrecks horrible off the coast. Twenty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester. One female lashed to a piece of wreck. There is a reef called Norman’s Woe, where many of these took place, among others the schooner Hesperus. 1 must write a ballad upon this.” The skipper’s little daughter, with her hair like flax, seems, in real life, to have been a Mrs Sally Hilton, aged fifty-five years.

Mr E. M. Forster is tho author of a little book with the title ‘ Anonymity— An Inquiry,’ which deals with the question of anonymity in literary work. He concludes: —“ Creation conies from tho depths—the mj'stic will say from God. The signature, tho name, belongs to tho surface personality, and pertains to tho world of information; it is a ticket, not tho spirit of life. While the _ author wrote he forgot his name; while we read him we T forget both his name and our own. When we have finished reading we begin to ask qestions, and to study the book ami the author; we drag them into the realm of information. Now wo learn a thousand things, but we have lost tho pearl of great prico, and in the chatter of question ana answer, in tue tomans of gossip and examination papers, wo forget the purpose for which _ creation was performed. . . . Imagination is our only guide to the world created by words. Whether those words are signed or unsigned becomes, as soon as the imagination redeems us, a matter of no importance, because ive have approximated to tho state in which they wore written, and there are no names down there, no personality as we understand personality, no marrying or giving in marriage. What, then, is clown there? Ah I that is another inquiry, and may the clergymen and the scientists pursue it more successfully in the future than they have in the past.”

iM-i. 1925. New books ... ,,, ... 8,024 8,520 Translations ... ... ... 321 807 Pamphlets ... ... 1,168 1,150 Total new books ... ... 9,513 9,977 New editions ... ... ... 3,193 3,225 Total „ 12,706 13,203

Philosophy ... ... _ ... 1925. 288 1924. 317 Religion ... ... ... 981 956 Sociology ... 993 920 Law S i 230 Education ... 247 223 Military and naval 203 188 Philology Science ... 203 203 017 SB5 Technology ... ... GO!) 586 Medicine, public health, etc, .. ... 399 388 Agriculture, gardening ... 208 103 Domestic arts 85 50 Business ISO 134 Fine arts 281 325 Music (works about) ... 129 131 Games, sports, etc. 222 220 Literature .. 553 525 Poetry and drama „. 794 810 Fiction ... ... ... ... 2,709 2,801 Juvenile ... 1,124 1,010 History ... 499 408 Description and travel ... 578 574 Geography ... ... ... 91 97 Biography ... ... 693 577 Genera! works m M M , 171 220 Totals ... ... 13,203 12,706