LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8020, 6 August 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

A work by Herr Fritz Hoenlg on Oliver Cromwell, chiefly from a military point of view, is in course of issue at Berlin. It is expected to be completed by next autumn. Mr. Holman Hunt's " Two Gentlemen of Verona," which fetched a thousand guineas at Christie's a couple of weeks ago, h»3 been secured by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Two ladies have jnat been elected members of the Royal Institute of Painters—Miss Dealy and Miss Youngman. The olh«-r new members are Alfred East, Cyrus Johnson, A. W. Weedon, John O'Connor, and Yeend King. The Interest which has arisen in the din. coveries regarding the monuments and antiquities of the Ilittite Empire in Syria and Asia Minor is so great that Mr. W. St. Chad Bo,<cawen has his lectures at the British Museum. Mr George Auenstua Ssla'a wcll-knpwn "Echoes of the Week," which have for several years past been appearing in the Illustrated London News, will, it is announced, now he transferred to the pages of the Entertainment Gazette. At a meeting of Massachusetts Historical Society, the President, Dr. Georgo V, Ellis, submitted a proposal to form a society for the study of folk-lore and to establish a journal of scientific character for the collection of remains of old Knglish ballads, tales, etc. ; nergo lore In the Southern States, myths and tales of Indian tribe?, and lore of French Canada and Mexico.

The work entitled " Sedan : the downfall of the Second Empire," by Mr. George H"op?r. announced some time ago by tho Athenaeum, will bo tesnpd shortly as a companion volume to hie " Waterloo : the Downfall of the First Napoleon." The volume, which ha , ? been compiled from authentic sources, will contain a general map and plana of the principal actions. " Esoteric Buddhism : The New Gospel of Atheism," is the title of a pamphlet by Mr. Edward Heneage Doring, reprinted and enlarged from two articles which appeared in a monthly periodical. Tho pamphlet is an attack upon the recent works published by Mr. A. P. Sinnett on the oubjeet of Theosophy, the doctrines of which Mr. Heneage stigmatises as a " Propaganda of Devilry." "Wealth and Social Progress in relation to Thrift, Temperanco, and Tradr," is the title of the posthumous work of the late Mr. William Hoyle, which has been edited by Dr. P. R. Lees. It tea systemiccondeneation of tho arguments which in the latter years of his laborious life Mr. Hoyle had pressed upon tho attention of tho public. A biographical sketch of Mr. Hoyle and a portrait add to the intereit of the volume.

Concerning " King Solomon's Mines," Mr. Haggard writes to the editor of The Bookbuyer that "it was written as an experlmont in boys' books. It would be impossible for me to deGne where fact ends and fiction begins in the work, as th« two arp very much mixed ap toeether. I may add that its sncceßS was quite unexpected by me, ae the work, undertaken at haphazard, was carried out at odd hours for the most part after a iong day at chambers." It is stated that the truite»a of the British Museum ha7e called the attention of Lord Salisbury to the statue (belonging to the nation) of Rameae9 11. afr Mitrahenny, and represented to him the desirability of its removal to this country. We bolievo also that tho committee of the Birlington Fino Arts Club has memoralised tho Primo Minister to the same effect. Tho latest intelligence from Mitrahenny is tint Major Bagnold has turned the statue over oOdeg., and expecte soon to increase it to OOdeg. It is earnestly to bo desired that effectual precautions will be taken now that the front of the figure is exposed to preserve it from all damage, and aleo, it should be added, from tho direot ac-» tion of tho eun.

Almost a unique set of Bewick's works have been Bold at Sotherby'e. It included tho "Quadrupeds," "British Birda," " JEso\>," and "Seleot Fables," besidea the works of Thomson, Goldimith, and Parnell, ttomerville, and Barne, illustrated by Bewick. The books are nearly all of the choicest editions issued, printed on large paper, and first editionß. In the same sale was sold an album containing a great number of auto graph letters, including those of Horace Walpole, Tom Hood, Leigh Hunt, Rossetti, Via tor Hugo, Etty, Maclise, and others. Among the documents was an interesting indenture signed by Sir Walter Raleigh, and bearing the date Ootober 15, 1584. It i« a wine lioente granted to Jeffrey Bradahawe, of Bradford, Yorkshire, and from it may be learned that the price of French wines was in those times about £11 per tun, to be retailed at Iβ and 4d per gallon, sack, malmseys, and all other sweet winea £S the butt or pipe, about 2s the gallon retail. Another interesting document wae a letter of Lord Nelson covering three quarto pages, in which he speaks of the " oonduct likely to be pursued by the Russian Court towards the uneuepiciona (I fear) and upright Turk." In the letter Nelson discusses Bonaparte and his plane, mentioning that " the prosperity Of the Porto is aa dear to me as our own,"