ABOUT BOOKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12427, 16 February 1901, Page 3

ABOUT BOOKS.

“ Campaign Pictures,” by A. G. Hales. London : Cassells and Co. ; Christchurch ; Simpson and Williams. 3s 6d. Mr Hales is one of the few war correspondents who have made or added to their reputations in the. South African campaign. Exactly why he “ caught on ” with the-great British public has never been satisfactorily explained. His work is not more lurid than that of ha.lf-a-dozen other specials at the front, and in the matter of the description of military operations, Mr Winston Churchill and veterans like Mr Bennet Burleigh, leave him far behind; while accuracy and thoroughness have never been his. Buthe had a splendid confidence to begin with ; or, if he was at all nervous, he concealed the fact with marvellous skill. AH his work, too, has the quality of dash and vigour. He is a West Australian, who has bird plenty of rough experience in the backblocks on both sides of the great island continent, and this colonial life has left him with a remarkable bv<vdth of mind. He did not need to scratch the Boer to find his good and bad qualities. The weight of evidence is probably against Mr Hales in his estimate of the Boer character, buthe seems to have been thoroughly well treated during his brief detention as a prisoner of war, and his generosity of mind has perhaps led him to paint the farmer of the veldt with a kindly brush. These war letters, reprinted from the “ Daily News,” are refreshingly tolerant in their treatment of the Boer in camp and home; but one must not accept, Mr Hales as an infallible guide, or always as a trustworthy witness. The value of his earlier work, from a purely journalistic point of view, was undeniably great. He speedily grasped the fact that the reading public did not want elaborate and incomprehensible accounts of military movements—Mr- Hales, in any case, was hardly the man to supply them—and leaving the actual events to the cablegrammer, he devoted himself to the making of readable descriptions of South Africa as he found' it, of the Boers and their‘life, of Tommy and bis ways, and of that new element in war, the colonial soldier. His style has often been described as “purple,” and too often it has the quality of gorgeous highfalutin. It is overloaded with metaphors and similies, most of them inapt, a few strikingly epigrammatic. But . it lacks purity, words are used in their wrong sense, and the English is not always beyond reproach. The volume, however, is well worth reading, if only because of the interesting side-lights it throws on avar in general and that in. South Africa in particular. " The Duke,” by J. Store? (Houston. Longman’s Colonial Library. Auckland: Upton and Co. “ The Duke ” is quite an-attractive story of society life. It was intended in'the first place, doubtless, as a satire on the ways of superior .people, but Mr Clouston soon discovered that his plot was full of real humour and in the end be completely dropped the serious vein. On the death of. the sixth Duke of Grandon, so the story runs, the estates and title passed to an unknown and distant cousin, Lambert, Harelle, who was supposed to he somewhere in the wilds of Australia. The new Duke, however, appeared in London unexpectedly, and having a grudge against society for its treatment of his father, he determined to play a trick upon it. An Irish scapegrace whom he had. known in his colonial days turned up opportunely, and Haselie decides to let the world worship Jack Kavanagh as the Duke for a month, while he, the real Duke, watches the fun from the safe position of the false Duke’s secretary. The plan works well enough, save that Kavanagh finds the life to his liking, and threatens to ignore the terms of the contract. There '“To, of course, the inevitable female relations, who want to secure the peer for themselves; and Kavanagh, in his .hearty,.way, gather;; . around him quite an army of worthless and profligate young .men.. These all co'nt-rjWlfi to lilt) fill). The real Duke meanwhile falls in love with a charming girl—a serious episode which saves the novel from degenerating into broad farce.

One of Ourselves,” bj- Mrs L. B. Walford Longman’s Colonal Library. Auck land:. Up ton and 00. -

Mrs Walford has written at least a dozen enjoyable novels, and her admirers will find “One of Ourselves" as readable as the best. It has something of the flavour of the old-fashioned three-decker, with its numerous characters and its wealth of domestic" detail; but the characters are all well drawn, and the situations are effectively handled- Here is a typical, example of-Mrs Watford's sentences :—“So that even before coming to Henham, Lionel, half-ashamed of his strictures, as well as realising their futility. had almost decided on a step .which would settle the difficulty—namely, that of raising the wall which, by its lowness, permitted too much publicity ; and lie could now assure himself that ho was about to have this done forthwith.” But the story is interesting enough to-make one enjoy a wet afternoon.

Who origi.natedthat familiar.phrase, “The man in the street?” Was it Mr John Morley? The account of the “Fortnightly,” which appears in the December issue, shows that he used it as far back as October', 1882. It appears in his valedictory as editor of the “ Fortnightly.” “ They have,” he said of it and 1 like- reviews. “ brought abstract discussion from the library down to the parlour, and from the serious student down to the first man in the street.” The point has its interest.

’ By way of introduction to the new century the “Fortnightly” has an article on its own origin and history. . This is, a very interesting story, in a. literary - sense, for the ■** -Fortnightly ” was the’first 1 , of the reviews of- its type- . Before-its publication English reviewers had identified ihririselves with one side of polities or the other, and they had been, written by ,the.".great.ahonymoiis." -When the “ Fortnightly ” appearedin the year 1865, it changed all this, for its pages were open to all parties and its articles were, signed. Anthony Trollope was one of the founders, and 1 George Henry Lewes the first editor. Mr John Morley followed him.

The publishers and booksellers of America, contrary to the experience of their brethren in Great Britain, have fca'd a very good autumn season. In fact, the book trade is said never to have been brisker in America than it has been during the past three months. "Wo are very prosperous,” ‘an American in London remarked recently, “and so the people have .had plenty of money with which to buy books.”. He was asked how the book trade escaped hurt from the ’Presidential, election. “ Well,”, he answered, “ we all know that an election does, 'affect the sale, of hooks—generally speaking. But, you see, there was -never any doubt that M’Kinley would be, elected. Thus, the vines;. whi-eh kills -books: never earns into ousrarioi;.’’ ..

It is interesting to learn, through tbs London branch -of the firm- of Hachette, that the autumn publishing season in France has been very active. There was -a- -great demand on French printers and -bookbinders, the result in some measure, perhaps, of the E’xhibit.ion. Accordingly, a -number of important books were not, got out. until December was Vavimr on, and tint civcnnirian-c 0 injured ihei’- Kales. “ Docs the demand by England for French literatur* crow year by year, or is it a fairly steady thing?” asks a London journal. The answer, it appears, is to the latter effect; the market- in Britain for French literature has limits. Once- the supply to America went via. London; hue America now buys direct from Paris, and bu vs. largely.

■Down in, Chelsea, -within a stone’s throw of Gheyhe 'Row, says the'London “ Chronicle,” there, is a tobacconist who used to supply Carlyle wifcb bis /favourite weed. Carlyle was a. constant .and a heavy, smoker.

Sir Charles Gava.n Duffy once suggested to him that one who suffered so much from sleeplessness and indigestion ought not to smoke so constantly. Carlyle replied that he had once given up smoking for an entire year at the instance of a> doctor, who- assured him that his only ailment was too much tobacco. At the end of the. year he was walking one evening in the country, so weak that he was hardly able to crawl from tree to tree, when he sudrloniv determined that, whatever was amiss with him, “ that fellow at least did not.understand it,'’ and he returned to tobacco, tod smoked afterwords without let or hindrance. In his latter days he used a clay pipe made in" Dublin and known as the “Repeal." He was unable to -renew the supply, and Sir ’ Charles,' Duffy .assured.him that these pipes were.’stri’ctly icserved. for true believers in Irish .nationality, and promised him a supply if he’qualified in the ordinary manner. Carlyle never qualified.