LITERARY NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCV, Issue 10889, 24 February 1896, Page 7

LITERARY NOTES.

[CORRESPONDENT “ CANTERBURY TIMES.”] London, Dec. 21.

The extinction of the three-volume novel is, as I predicted months ago, sweeping away dozens of-mediocre writers whose efforts we had no objection to borrow, but certainly should never dream of buying. Booksellers will not subscribe for these peojjle’s productions in one volume, and the support of the libraries is not enough to pay the expenses of publication. Henceforward the path of the novice will be more difficult than ever. Unless a book promises to be a big hit publishers will not touch it. On the other hand, readers will benefit, as the average level of excellence of books brought out will be higher than before. The year just closing has been specially rich in biographies and reminiscences, some of which, such as tho lives of. Professor Blackie, Sir James Fitejames Stephen, Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Richard Church, the Vailima Letters and tho Letters of Matthew Arnold, ought to find a permanent place on the shelves of all colonial public libraries. Of poetry, real poetry, the year has little to, show though bardlets of every' variety have been fearfully and wonderfully active. Mr Swinburne and Mr W. Morris were silent. Mr Davidson is no “ forrarder.” The “ Ballad of the Artist’s Wife ” was but a slight variant on the “ Ballad of the Nun,” and the second volume of “ Fleet Street Eclogues ” falls short, in several respects, of the first. The poetry of 1895 is, indeed, chiefly contained in William Watson’s slim volume, “The Father of the Forest,” of which the “Hymn to the Sea” and trio “ Apologia ” are the finest samples. Who, indeed, J reading those last four superb lines in the hymn can ever forget them ? «• 'WLen, from this threshold Of being, these steps of the Presence, this precinct Into tho matrix of Life dirk! ,■ divinely resumed, hlan and his littleness perish, erased like an error and cancelled, . Man and his greatness survive, lost in tho g eatnoss of God;*' The novel of 1895 is, I consider, « Trilby;” whidh, though published • last year, did not really begin to boom in this country'for' some months If, however,'not strictly Dti Maimer’s day, it is “ lan Maclaren’s,” whose two books are now in their highest hey-day of popularity. Barrie, Blackmore and Black gave us nothing this year, whereas Mr Crockett brought out three new works, Stanley Weyman two, and Kipling, Meredith, Anthony Hope, Thomas Hardy, Conan Doyle,?and Mrs Humphry Ward one each. Of this crowd, Kipling with his “ Second Jungle Book,” and Stanley Yv oyman with the “ White Cockade,’’ may be said to have fairly maintained their considerable reputations. Opinions differ as to the “Men of Moss Hags,” but “Sweetheart Travellers ” is an idyll which will endear its author to thousands. Dr Doyle and Mrs Ylard would not, I imagine, care to be judged by the “ Stark Munro Letters,” and “Bessie Caatrell.” Let us, however, not forget that though, as yet incomplete, the exploits of “Brigadier Gerard ” and the story of “ Sir Geo. Tressady ” show both to be in the prime summertime of very exceptional powers. Of those at the head of the second rank of. novelists are H. S. Merriman, Frankfort Moore, Mrs Caffyn and Guy Boothby, all of whom have left conspicuous marks in the " bookland ” of 1595. Marriage seemed to temporarily dry up Barrie and Kipling. Let us hope it may not be so with Mr Boothby. His record for the past twelvemonth has been amazing. .The most notable new novelists whom 1895 has given us are H. G. Wells, Miss Mpntrcsor, Louis Becke, W. Pott Ridge, Eliza Orme White and Stephen Crane. There is also a Scotch scribe, one Neil Roy, whose “Horseman’s Word” I have just read ecstatic notices of in several weeklies. Mr Wells’s books ‘you have heard enough (and perhaps to spare) about, and Miss Montresor’s “In the Highways and Hedges ” and “The One Who Looked On ” also received ample puffing. Do not, however, overlook “The Coming of Theodora,” "A Clever Wife,” or “The Red Band of Dourage.” .’Theology, philosophy and, travel are not amongst my strong points. The miscellaneous reader who desires to know something about every notable book may, however, like to look through the notorious “Degeneration,” Balfour’s “Foundations of Belief,” “Dean Stanley’s Letters,” Dr Brooke Herforcl’s “Forward Movement,” and “ The Relief of Chitral.” Death has in 1895 deprived us of Huxley, Stevenson. Sala, Sir John Seeley, Christina Rossetti, Professor Blackie and Walter Pater.

The ,£IO,OOO paid Du Maurier for his new novel is by no means a record. Daudet received .£40,000 for “ Sappho,” Disraeli .£IO,OOO each for “Lothair” and “Endymion,” George Eliot <£Booo for «Middlemarch,”Dickens .£7500 for “Edwin Drood,” and Wilkie Collins .£SOOO for “ Armadale.”

At the age of twenty-five the late George Augustus Sala imagined himself to be suffering from a mortal disease, and wrote to Dickens to announce approaching dissolution. Dickens chaffed him into a cheerful frame of mind, and then said, “ Why, my dear man, you are one of those robust beggars I shall have to congratulate on mens sana in corpora sano twenty-five years hence.” At that time Sala, in truth, fulfilled the prophecy, hut Dickens himself was gone; G.A.S. had, like Edmund Yates, an immense veneration for Dickens, and would not be drawn about him. His wrath when he heard that an unknown liitterateur, a Mr Wright, of Olney, was adventuring on a fresh life of the novelist was tremendous, and he let fly some exceedingly , acrimonious “ pars ” , about tho impertinence of the procedure. Unlike the callow beginner, Sala had no objection to editors tinkering his “ copy ” providing they paid his price. “Dabby” once had occasion to ask him if he minded a few alterations. Sala replied:—"l have fulfilled my contract in delivering to you the required weight of raw meat. How you cook it, whether you roast, boil or even —hash it, I neither care nor desire to know.” gala’s last book, “The Thorough Good Cook,” was delivered •to him a few weeks before his death. “I filled in niches of leisure,” he said, “with that book for years and years. The recipes have been tested and improved again and again. I shouldn’t be surprised if it outlived everything else I’ve done.”

A vigorous attempt is, I see, being made to put new life into the Argosy, which was once a very successful upper middle-class magazine, but has been going down-hill ever since Mrs Henry Wood’s decease. Miss Eosa Nouchette Carey, the. most popular of family circle novelists, has been engaged to do the chief serial a story called " The Mistress of Brae Farm,” and Sarah Doudney will supply a second “ Pilgrims of the Night.” In addition the editor (Charles W. Wood) is to do a series of papers, and Miss Jessie Leete, Miss Lizzie Alldridge and others supply short stories, &c. This enterprising policy might have answered if the price had been kept down to sixpence, but raising it to a shilling in these days of severe competition was a fatal blunder.

Pearson’s monthly is like the Windsor, an avowed attempt to rival the Strand, and it will, no doubt, obtain a sufficient amount of patronage, especially from those who like very short articles and tales. The features of the first number to which it is worth while directing attention are Archibald Forbes’s “ Bravest Deed I Ever Saw ” —a description of Lord “ Bill ” Beresford’s qualifying t for the; T.C.—and, a paper stuffed full of facts about the London and North Western Railway. _ There are also several readable short stories.

Miss Lily DougalTs “ Madonna of a Day,” which has been running through Temple Bar, is the latest addition to Bentley’s favourite series, and will also bo published forthwith in the colonies. It relates the adventures of a sleep-walking damsel who tumbles olf a CanadianPacific express into a snowdrift in the midst of the Rockies. She manages to find her way to a mming camp slose by, where, however, the terrified Jiggers mistake her for the Madonna. Dther startling experiences follow before he her friends, but these you

must discover yourselves. Next to “ Beggars All,” this is Miss Dougall’s most satisfactory work. Mr E. L. Godkin, the Henley of America, will next week publish, through Constables, a collection of his essays from the New York Nation. Appropriately enough, the first is on “ Panics.”

Mr W. E. Norris and Mr Marion Crawford fairly rival one another in fertility of imagination and general excellence of workmanship. Barely a month ago the latter’s “ Casa Braccio ” excited the unanimous approval of the critics, and now the inner circle of literary experts are saying equally kind things of an English story of his due in January. Mr Norris also published two successful novels last year, and in January Cornhill commences another one entitled “ Clarissa Furioso.” ........ .

The death is announced, at the age of twenty-five, of Mr Walter Ending, whose novel, “ An- Evil Motherhood,” appeared not , many weeks ago, and was. severely criticised. Its tone was ultra-pessimistic, but the book had many promising points, and his friends quite expected Mr Ruding’s future work to make its mark.