LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8812, 27 February 1892, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

The Illustrated London News completes its fiftieth year on May 9, 1892. Mr. Alma Tadema was on December 26 elected Foreign Associate of the Academy of Fine Arts at Paris. A miniature of Warrc.i Hastings, painted I on ivory by Richard Cosway, was sold at Christie's rooms the other day to Mr. Edward Joseph for the unusually large amount of two hundred and fifty guineas. The veteran journalist, Mr. G. A. Sala, has rejoined the ranks of the novelists— after a somewhat lengthy absence therefrom. He has written a story, entitled "The Potter of Pfefferkuchenstein," for Messrs. Tillotson and Son. It is broadly humorous, and purports to .describe the discovery of porcelain. Lloyd's News has just commenced its fiftieth year, and claims to have reached a circulation three times that of any other paper. It started in 1842 as Lloyd's Illustrated London paper, price twopence, but soon gave up the illustrations in consequence of difficulties in their production. In 1861 the stamp duty on paper was removed, largely as the result of the energetic opposition of Mr. Edward Lloyd, the proprietor, anil Lloyd's was reduced to one penny on the loth September in that year. " Every book its own cataloguer," may be taken as a new device of the fertile

American brain. An extra fly leaf, inserted in each important new book, gives tho brief title, place of publication, name of publisher, description of book, size, number of pages, number of plates and maps or illustrations, and the number of volumes. This labour-saving device is for the benefit of the librarian, who simply detaches it and pastes it upon the card of the library catalogue wherein the book is to be entered.

Mr. Christie Murray has written an article on the Renaissance of the Stage, in which he argues that henceforth novels will be impossible, and that literary men will concentrate their attention upon writing for the stage. His principal reason for coming to this conclusion is that writing for the stage appeals to a much larger public, and pays so much better. The best answer to Mr. Murray's theory is to be found in his own experience. He has for years made a steady income from his pen, but his only drama, "Neil's Chum," has landed him in the Bankruptcy Court. "'Ere yer are, sir ; fust number of .The Barmaid, twelve page 3, a penny." An accomplished fact, indeed, and one to be pondered over. There are, it seems, about 93,000 barmaids in the British Isles, for whom no special trade organ has hitherto existed. The want has, therefore, been supplied. It would be curious to know if any other trade or calling is without a special newspaper? The interview with Mr. E. Daoust, general manager of Messrs. Spiers and Pond (Limited), is interesting for the information it gives as to the classes from which barmaids are recruited and the discipline enforced with regard to them.

Mr. Walter Blackburn Hartc, in an American periodical, has taken up the cudgels on behalf of his literary brethren who are being elbowed out of business by an army ol unprofessional writers. According to"Mr. Harte things have come to a terrible pass. In his prophetic wrath he exclaims: The day of literary men in literature is over, and it is now the triumphal hour of the imbecile millionaire ; the rich society woman, who has nerves, hysteria, a vast deal of impudence, a store ot proverbial platitude, and a continual itch for notoriety ; actresses who have more gowns than brains; English lords and ladies, and some asinine royalties." A bust of Matthew Arnold has been unveiled in Westminster Abbey. Out of a block of Carrara marble the sculptor, Mr. Bruce Joy, has reproduced the strong, intellectual, and pleasant face of the great essayist and poet. The memorial finds a suitable place in the Baptistry, near the west entrance. Separated by the length of the nave from the crowded Walhalla of English literature, this sequestered corner is almost shut in by a large double monument commemorative of a naval hero, and of James Craggs, the Secretary of State who, according to Pope's epitaph, " broke no promise, served no private end," and none the less had his name down for a fictitious investment of £650,000 on the subscription lists of the South Sea Bubble.