LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9229, 17 June 1893, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

Ma. Edmund Gossk's next Yolame of essays is to bo called "Questions at Issue." The Earl of Onslow will bo a contributor to tho forthcoming volume of the Badminton Library series on " Yachting." There is great depression in the London book trade. Indeed, in the opinion of some of the chief publishers, business has nob boon duller for very many years. Edna Lyall, whoso stories have mado her famous on both »ides of tho Atlantic, is in reality named Ada Ellen Bagly. Sho is described as having a fine complexion and lovely eyes. The festival of tho " Women Writers" took place on Wednesday, Way 31, ofc the Criterion, London, under a commit too of management, which included Mrs. Moles worth, Mrs. L. T. Meade, Mrs. E. Robins Penned, Mrs. William Sharp, Mrs. Graham It. Toiusom, and Miss Clementina Bluett, while Mis* Honor Morton fulfilled tho duties of honorary secretary. "Tho Sceptics of tho Italian Renaissance" is the title of a work by tho Rev. John Owen, Rector of Anstey, Devon, which ought to receive some attention. Its author, though a clergyman, dares to declare that " the sceptic may bo defined as a seeker after ultimate truth," and affirms that the "supposed conflict of the dictates of Christianity with reasonable inquiry after truth is nothing else than an ecclesiastical fiction." This is not tho usual no to struck in pulpit oratory. It is reported that Jules Verne is engaged on his seventy-fourth novel. The report may readily bo credited, seeing that for several years past the '*scientific storyteller" has produced a volume every six months. Though tho literary world docs not seem to know it, "Jules Verne" is only a pen name. The novelist is by birth a Pole —a native of Warsaw—and his real name is Olchekitz. When on land, ho resides at Amiens ; but he lives most of the year in his yacht, and does a great part of his writing in is. The death of Mr. Vicab Colo brings the total number of deaths among members of the Royal Academy since last year's banquet up to three. A sculptor, a portrait painter, and a landscapist—all U.A.'s— havo passed away since May, 1892. The number of vacancies among members is also three. That caused by Mr. Woolner's death was filled up by tho election of Mr. Alfred Gilbert; but Mr. Faed having recently retired, a successor to him from among the Associates will havo to bo found, as also will successors to Mr. Petlie and Mr. Vicat Cole. Tho next election at Burlington House is likely, therefore, to prove one of the most interesting of those that have taken place there in recent years. Mr. Marion Crawford says he has made many friends in tho United States during his recent visit, and the American papers overflow with expressions of goodwill and admiration for him. Better still, from a business point of view, he has taken back to his home in Sorrento a budget of orders for novels and essays that will keep him busy for many months. Ho is credited with having said to one of his hosts: " It is a curious fact that I have been in several railroads accidents since I came here ; nearly every time I havo mado a long journey there has been a breakdown of some kind. This experience has not been altogether now to me, for I seem to be fated to have it pretty often. Ten years ago, when I came to this country, I was shipwrecked. But I always come out of those little catastrophes unscathed." Dean Jacobs, of Christchurch, New Zealand, proposes shortly to publish a volume of poems. The volume will consist of (1) a poem in five cantos, in the Spenserian stanza, entitled "A Lay of the Southern Cross ;'' and (2) a number of hymns and occasional poems. Ho has accepted an offer from the well-know London publishers Messrs. Skeffington and Son to publish the volume, and has already despatched the MS. of tho longer poem to England, hoping to forward the MS. of the shorter pieces by tho June mail. " Tho Lay of the Southern Cross" is a poetic rendering of the romantic history of tho evangelisation of Mow Zealand, and is tho offspring of the charm and fascination exercised upon the mind of tho writer by the early records of the missionary period which he was bound to read when preparing tho materials for his History of the ftew Zealand Church.