LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

Messrs. Lemebcif.r and Co. have secured the contract to print the Official Catalogue of the Paris Exhibition of 1900, paying to the French Government the sum of £18,120. The highest bid for the catalogue of the Exhibition in 1889 was £8,280.

The Athenaeum says:-Some years ago we announced the intention of the citizens of Kempen to erect a monument of Thomas a Kempis. Since then the project seems to have been kept in abeyance, but recently the town authorities agreed to assign the sum of 10,000 marks from the "Thomas fund" as a contribution towards the expenses of the monument, the erection of which is, in consequence, secured.

The John Rylands Memorial Library at Manchester, the erection of which was hegun nine years ago, will be formally opened in October. It will be remembered that Mrs. Rylands purchased the Altliorp Collection in 1892, and she had added thereto a considerable number of volumes, making up a total of about 65,000. This splendid tribute to the memory of the late Mr. Rylands is vested in trustees, and will be managed by a council of governors.

Messrs. Cassell and Co. will shortly add another volume to their series of books for upper standards and evening schools, entitled " Founders of the Empire," by Philip Gibbs. The book treats of the history of the Empire in a biographical manner, relating the lives of the greatest Englishmen, from Alfred, "the model of English kings," to Nelson and Wellington. It illustrates those personal traits of character which are inseparable for greatness. At the present time, when " Imperialism" is such a popular subject, this volume should prove popular. It will contain four original coloured plates and numerous illustrations.

An interesting and amusing document, which exhibits the " Sage of Chelsea" in the character of a polite letter-writer, has (says the Westminster Gazette) just been unearthed by an autograph collector, who purchased it for a fancy sum. Carlyle thus writes to a local tradesman who supplied the Cheyne Row household with milk: —" Send in your bill for the abominable stuff nicknamed milk (ugh!) which you have supplied to me. We wouldn't feed swine with the stuff in Scotland. Instruct your manager to wait for the money, and don't send any more. I've arranged to be supplied direct from a dairy at Hammersmith." The latter was written in 1858— before the advent of the übiquitous County Council Inspector !

At a recent farm sale in Pembrokeshire one of the lots included a bundle of books and MSS., among the latter being a history of the county, by the Rev. Josiah Williams, a Nonconformist minister who flourished in the early part of the century. This work sheds a good deal of fresh light upon the successive Flemish settlements in South Wales, and contains some entertaining anecdotes relative to the so-called " French Invasion" of Trolignard in Napoleon's time. The " invading" force, it may be remembered. dismayed at the sight of the red petticoats of hundreds of patriotic Welsh women, which they mistook for soldiers' uniforms, surrendered at discretion. The work, which is written in the vernacular, has fallen into the hands of a London barrister, and is being translated with a view to publication.

The important work, " The Life of FieldMarshal the Duke of Wellington: the Restoration of the Land Forces of Great Britain." by the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, M.P., Bart., will be published by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. in the autumn. Sir Herbert Maxwell has received much assistance from the present duke, and among those who have permitted him to make use of the unpublished correspondence, journals, etc., are the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord De Ros, the Hon. Mrs. Swinton, and others. In addition to other illustrations, battle plans, etc., there will be full page photogravure portraits of the Duke and distinguished soldiers who fought with him, or against him, including Napoleon, Soult, Nev, and Blucher. Some of the orders pencilled by Wellington during the battle of Waterloo will be rendered in facsimile for the first time.