LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

In the summer number of- Country Life, just published, there is printed a hitherto unpublished poem of Robert . Browning, called "A Forest .Thought;" .This' was' written in a lady's album nearly seventy* years ago. _ ' '■ .

Most Loudon publisher*; have' now made • up their minds that there will be''no. general election this autumn. Accordingly', they are getting ready their usual crops ; autumn books, with, however, reservations which; would permit of changes. ''. . ; :v .

It is understood that Sir Henry /Irving has had various invitations from ■ publishers • to write hie reminiscences. lie gives nfe en-, couragement to the idea, but it will be a pity if lie does not one day consider it:. The book would have the warmest of welcomes on both sides of the Atlantic, a " ' • •

How do they grow Vases in Germany, and can they, teach English ' rosegrowers ■ anything? The .double inquiry will; find an answer in »'volume translated from the German, which: Messrs. Lmigmans arc bringing out.. The writer was the Into Dr. Julius Hoffmann,'.and his book has been, translated by Mr. John Weathers... .

A book whose title, "The Child and Religion," alone suggests interest is. being published by Messrs. Williams and Norgate. It is a study of the young mind in reference to the- greatest of subjects. Among the contributors to it are Dr. Agar Beet, Dr. Morton, Professor Henry Jones, and an American scholar, Dr. Ladd, of Yale University.

The stir made by that realistic novel, " The House with the Green Shutters," will be i remembered. Mr. George Morton, of Edinburgh, announces that lie has taken over its publication, and that he will issue ii, shilling edition of it. The author, Mr. Douglas, left a striking study of Shakesperc's "Hamlet," and it will eventually appear. ' ■ 1 .

■ Just before Whitsuntide there was a great demand for sixpenny reprints on. the part of Londoners. No doubt those who went away wanted to talcs them with them, while those .'who stayed at home wanted something to keep them company. - The trouble, from . the bookseller's point of view,' is that the profit. on jeven . a large sale' of " six- ' pennies" is very small. . A complete edition of " Pcpys' Diary" at three ami [sixpence— to, speak of. the usual discount—is surely: " Prodigious, as a famous character in Sir Walter Scott would have said. 'It is about to appear in. Mtelnillan's Globe Library, which . has long had a." Shak'espere";6f the same bountiful value. The "Pcpys" has been edited' by Dr. Gregory Smith,- of' Edinburgh University. '

It was Dr., James Cantlie; who .launched the theory that Cockneys disappear after the third or fourth generation, lie is one of our first, if' most modest, , authorities on the whole subject of physical degeneration and regeneration. He has -just'•finished! a book on it for publication in England and America, by the Put-nums. Coming .from a pen so well informed it should attract wide attention. '\ \

It is pleasant to hear of the success, of Lord Burghclero'a. blank verso translation of the "Georgies." A second, edition of the volume has been called for, and his lordship has taken advantage of this to revise its contents. Perhaps he will now think of doing further good service to the classics and to English readers.j The Muse and Cabinet auk in politics meet less frequently than they once did.

Mr. Ernest Newman's volume or musical studies will be published in a few days by Mi'. John Lane, who is just back from & visit to America. One long essay is on Berlioz and the Romantic Movement, and another is a full analysis of. programme music, past and present. Other papers treat, of. " Faust" in music, of Herbert Spencer, and' the origin of music, of Maslerlinck and music, and of Richard Strause and the music of the future.

There is a chapter by Mr. John M'ovley in a volume, " Books and How to Bead Them," which .will shortly appear. The volume is to be an introductory one to a jet of twelve containing the masterpieces of our best prose writers. Bacon, Addison, Johnson, Lamb, De Quincey, Emerson; and Carlyle are all drawn upon by the editor, Mr. William Stead, jup. Mr. Morley's essay discusses the " great commonplaces of reading." ' - '

The endurance of the Japanese troops ,has directed closer attention to the' Japanese system of physical training, jiu-jitsu. Several books on it by Mr. H. Irving Hancock have been published by the Putnams. ■Tlicy now announce a. further one by him, containing the system of jiu-jitsu as sanctioned by thb Japanese Government. It is the full and final word on the subject, and those who master it need no further instruction in this ; remarkable sclicme of physical culture.

Progress is being made by Mr. Murray with the series of little volumes containing "The Wisdom of the East." ' The Classics of Confucius are to be included in it five volumes, one of which lias appeared. Another, containing the "The film King,".'or " Book of History," is about to appear, edited by Mr., Gorn Old. The general object is to convey to the English reader an adequate view of the man who was so vast a power in the earlier days of the Yellow Empire. - . '*

'An interesting "serial" from the deft pen of Mr. C. Lewis Hind is to be a slimmer feature of the" World's Work. It is culled " The Education of an. Artist," and it will consist of so many " adventures among mas-, terpicces.''. The hero is one Claude Williamson Shaw, who, at the ago of; 33, has •glimmerings that life i> a, larger tapestry than the pattern woven by the author .of " Self-Help." He seeks the gleam by studying art in Cornwall and Paris,' and by travel 011 the Continent.

Two volumes which present the record of a journey through the Jordan ■ Valley, and hence southward to the almost, unknown region of P.eira, are appearing with Messrs. Putnam. There tire two authors,' Dr. Libbey, who holds the chair of Physical' Geography ■- at Princeton University, and Dr. Hoskins, -who has been a missionary im Syria for.a.,number of years, and is familiar with the language and the people. The. Work is not addressed merely to archaeologists, but will be read by those interested in travel in ' little-known ''paths."-- ; '

Polish novelists hold their own in literature, even if the fates have dealt unkindly by their nation. : One of them,, Gasiorovski, recently.wrote a striking story founded' on what is believed to be a true incident in Napoleon Bonaparte's career. A translation of it is being published by Mr. Duckworth, under the title "Napoleon's Love. Story." The scene of the novel is laid in Polish .society a century ago. . Surely somebody would now be doing a service by preparing a bibliography of the books which have been written about Napoleon. Oi is there one?

■ There have been many books, about our English counties and shires, but further 1 volumes seem always to be .welcome. , Mr. Percy Cross '■ Standing- has gathered much fresh material into the book on " Old Hertfordshire which he is publishing with Messrs. ; Bemrose. Hertfordshire lias been called 1 flat, ; but that, op the other hand, means lush meadow and woodland and goodly streams. The Colne and the Lea are two ■ of these,' and they, at once suggest the name of Iza-ak Walton. But, indeed, Hertfordshire is rich in its association with'men and affairs. ' ; • •

Some .copies of Mr. Geoffrey Drake's recent book on " Russian Affairs" went to Russia in the ordinary course. They have been politely returned by the censor, who put his mark against such passages as these: —" The chief occupation of the police consists 'in spying on honest and respectable citizens, whilst the maintenance of order and the detection of crime are treated .'as of secondary importance. In the course of the last five years Finlanders have thus witnessed the complete destruction of their constitutional rights, and of all the liberal.in-', i-.titntious of .which they' were so ; .justly