LITERATURE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

LITERATURE AND ART.

"The Viper of Milan-," by the young authoress, Marjorie Bowen, has had a great sale, both in England and America. Mr. Alston Rivers announces a new work from the same pen, entitled "A Glen of Weepin*;."'

A new novel by Mr. Frankfort Moore r who entitles it "Captain Latymer," will be ready with Cassell shortly. It opens just after the fall of Drogheda, and is, altogether, a romance of Cromwell's day and power. There is a fight with pirates,'which is thought to be an excellent piece of description.

Another novel by the American Mr. Winston Churchill, whom some English readers !still confuse with the English politician, is promised for the autumn. It is a historical story on the broad, vital lines which distinguish Mr. Churchill's work. Mr. Churchill's last book, " Coniston," will be remembered by colonial readers.

! " Sir Elyot of the Woods'' is a new novel by Miss Emma Brooke,"which Mr. Heine-, Imann published in London last month. It will be remembered that Miss Brooke's first story, " A Superfluous Woman," made a hit. The present novel tells of an English bride whose dowry included some famous woods. It also tells how a young baronet, Sir Elyot, "managed to save'them from destruction. . / * .-•'■' ,

Mr. Murray is publishing a volume of letters written at : one time ,or another, by Schumann, .the famous musician and composer. They have been translated from the German by Miss Hannah Bryant, and are of exceptional interest. Necessarily, because they illustrate the lives', of two really interesting people, Schumann and his wife. But apart from that, they have a decided literary merit. " • '.-?'(

Mr. Edward Whymper, the veteran mountaineer, and Mr. W. J. Gordon are the authors of a book, " Round About the North Pole," which Mr. Murray announces. It is an account of Arctic travel, ranging over a thousand years, from Ingolf to Commander Peary. Each part of the Arctic circle is dealt with separately, and the history of the discovery of each, and the adventures connected therewith, are related.

The story of a strange career will be told in -a book by Mr. J. W. Sehultz, which Mr. Murray is to publish under the title, "My Life as an Indian." The author describes bow. as a young man. he went to the' Blackfoot country, near Fort Benton, at the head of navigation on the Mississippi River, and how, falling in love with the wild life of the plains, he joined the tribe and became, to all intents and purposes, an Indian. For years Mr. Schultz led this life, joining the natives in the chase, on the warpath, and in the more peaceful pursuits of farming and trading. He even won the hand of an Indian —Xat-ah-ki by namewho appears to have proved a devoted wife. _;.:.

' Mr. F. C. Selous has just finished a work on which he has been engaged for a number of years, and in the preparation 1 , of which he has received assistance-: and encouragement from President Roosevelt. The book deals with his personal experiences in hunting African big game, and • contains very full notes made in the field and from !personal.observation of the natural history iof a .largo section of the African fauna. 'It will probably be entitled " Leaves From a Hunter's' Notebook in Africa." Mr. Selous is also preparing for press another work on his recent hunting trips in British North America. ' For the past few years he has been travelling in search of game all over the. American continent, and has visited places so far apart as Newfoundland and the Yukon. ' " . ~ i

There are anecdotes of other literary lights in the diary of William Allingham, which Messrs. Macmillan are about to publish. Tennyson told Allingham about a meeting he had with some members of the Royal Family, when he read aloud "The mother." Allingham ' aslieir" him' why he read that piece, and was told that the Princess of Wales--now Queen Alexandra—asked for it. Tennyson added: " The wind came through an open, window, aTid the Princess whispered, ' Put on your hat,' but I said I ought, if possible, to make myself balder than ever before so manv Royalties. She said again, 'Oh, put 'it on"!' So I did, and I heard afterwards that the King of Denmark's Courtfool (they really keep a Court-foot- remarked, He may.'be a Laureate, but he has not learned "Court manners." .

In "In the Days of Scott," recently published, there are* two anecdotes about Sir Walter Scott's children in connection with hi? poem, "The Lady of the Lake." One day his daughter was met by James Ballaiityne, the publisher, in her father's library, and was asked what she thought of the poem. She replied that she had not read it, and added: "Papa says there is nothing so bad for young people as reading bad poetry." Scott's son. Walter, returned from school one day with evidence of having been engaged in a fight. His father asked him what he had been fighting about. He replied that he had been called a "lassie," and had resented it. A little questioning showed that young Walter's schoolfellows had nicknamed him "The Lady of the Lake." which name the boy did not understand except as a reproach to his manliness. ;

Concerning the vast number of cheap editions of the classics that are published— and boughtnowadays, a correspondent of the Academy gives an interesting estimate. He thinks that these classics are purchased by the skilled mechanics in the large industrial centres and by the colliers of the Welsh hills. He says that if we were to enter those low, mean houses which form the streets of the working-class quarters in each large town, we should be pleasurably surprised to see rows of well-worn, cheap reprints, and to make the acquaintance of men keenly alive to the beauties of English literature and the problems of existence. " Believe me. it is not among- the middle classes that the search for genuine readers must be made, but among the toilers— men and women who are daily brought face to face with the grim realities of life, and who snatch a living from the jaws of death."

" Sound literature" is a term about which there would be dispute, declares a London literary exchange. Austere persons would perhaps, not allow it to novels, even yet. Some scorn will probably be spent on the hapless fiftv of Lady Bell's two hundred who read " only novels." It is certainly not a state of grace, but much depends on the kind of novel. There are people who, like' Miss Austen's John Thorpe, cry " Novels? 0. Lord. I never read novels. T have something else to do," and confine themselves to the newspaper and magazines. Tnerc does not seem any real intellectual superiority in this. We have in the last few years seen a quick growth in the popularity of memoirs of the light and amusing order, seasoned with some scandal and many illustrations. These have probably attracted some proportion of novelreaders, but they do not seem to demand thought much deeper or more careful than Mr. Meredith.

The bicentenary of the birth of Henry Fielding, the author of " Joseph Andrews," " Tom Jones," " Amelia," and other works, and sometimes spoken of as the founder of the English novel, was celebrated in England a few weeks ago, as he was born on April 22, 1707. His literary career began as a playwright, a.nd ' his published playsare about 27 in number. At the mature age of 36 he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple and practised as a barrister on the Western Circuit, obtaining later a seat at Bow-street as a magistrate, by the friendly offices of a person of high rank. His life has been written by Mr. Austin Dobson in the " English Men of Letters" series, and that gentleman contribute.-: an article entitled " Fresh Facts about Fielding" to the current issue of Macmillan's Magazine. These concern Fielding's early academical career at Leyden University, his first marriage (to the beautiful Miss Cradock), and his possession of a library that sold after his death for £364 7s Id.