LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9124, 4 August 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

Few books reach a sale of 200,000. Mrs. Henry Wood's " East Lynne" has done so. The work was first published in 18G1. The Queen has been pleased to accept a copy of " The Coming of the Great Queen," the book on Burmah recently written by Major Edmond Browne, of the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

The Princess Christian, whose interest in nursing is so well known, will contribute an article on " Nursing as a Profession for Women" to the April number of the Woman's World.

Dr. Garnett's "Life of Emerson," announced as the Juno issue of the "Great Writers" series, will be followed by a monograph upon Goethe" from the pen of Mr. James Sime. Mrs Oliphant's biography of the late Principal Tulloeh will be published in a few days. The Queen has sent a special order that an early copy of the volume is to be forwarded to Balmoral.

It is announced that Colonel Knollys has undertaken to write a history of the Scots Guards, making use of the ample materials which were collected for that purpose by the late Sir William Knollys. Messrs. Chapman and Hall have just ready a new treatise bearing on the question of religion and science. It deals with " Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought." Mr. Joseph de Conto, Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of California, is the author. A suggestion made in New York Life may be quoted The Art Review has this interesting and instructive paragraph : " A bibliopogist is a bibliophile with a special regard for book-bindings. A bibliotaph is a book miser. A bibliopole is a bookseller for bibliophiles. A biblioklept is a stealer of valuable books."

Those who are interested in the study of Polybius will be glad to know that Mr. J. L. Strachan-Davidson, of Balliol College, Oxford, will very shortly issue his Selections from Polybius," through the Clarendon Press. It will form a substantial Svo volume, and has been well furnished with prolegomena and appendices. It has been proposed to organise a Pope Festival at Twickenham to celebrate the '200 th anniversary of the poet's birth. A leading feature of the celebration, the Academy says, will probably be an exhibition of pictures and engravings of Old Twickenham and of Pope and his neighbours, as well as of Popean editions and curiosities.

The late Mr. J. R. Green's "Short History of the English People" has been translated into French by M. Auguste Monod, and the editor of the Revue Historique has written a preface to the translation discussing the historical and material conditions which bring about changes in races that were at one time closely alike in their characteristics.

There is some hope that the BaconShakspere heresy will now be finally extinguished. An old chamber has been discovered in the Guildhall at Strut ford-on-Avon in which several thousands of ancient documents have lain mouldering for many years. Some of them are dated 1579, and a large number range from the time of Queen Elizabeth to that of Queen Anne. Surely there will be some among them having reference to Shakspere. The new White Wing at the British Museum has been opened to the public. It is chiefly devoted to Chinese and .Japanese paintings and to an extensive collection of glass and pottery. The White Wing is so named after Mr. William White, a barrister, who died in 18*23, leaving the reversion of his property to the trustees of the Museum for building purposes. The bequest, on its falling in in 1579, amounted to over £70,000, and with this sum the trustees were enabled to make the present substantial addition to the space at their disposal. Dr. Schliemann, whose reputation as a discoverer is already widely known, has commenced excavations at Ramleh, a place, it will be remembered, which was last, brought into prominence by the events which followed the bombardment, of Alexandria, a few years back. These excavations are in order to discover if possible the remains of the Palace of Cleopatra. The work has been continued to a depth of about fifty feet ; but its progress has been much hindered by local springs. Some stonework has already been discovered which is believed to belong to the building sought for.