CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16032, 25 September 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

&OTES ON NEW BOOKS. Ai")'■ *' 6 *"" ♦ i. ,— "•■'■' BT CUTIC. . The methods of Germany would disgrace ».Mediaeval Italy, although men were not over nice in those days. Even in Mediffival Itaily there is really only one family, the Borgias, as unscrupulous as the Hohenzollerns, and of them we catch ..glimpses in every tale of Italy of the renaissance. That all their plans and schemes came to nought predisposes many a student of history to believe that Justice rules among the nations, and for -«uch villainy never triumphs in the end. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. " Life and Letters in the Italian Renaissance," by Christopher Hare (Stanley Paul, London) is a finely-illustrated volume which at any other time would attract general attention from lovers of belles lettres. Here we follow the rise of the Medicis in Florence and the effect upon art and learning exercised by Lorenzo the Magnificent. From Florence the wonderful revival of art and letters in Italy is surveyed; the fruit of that great period is known to the world. In Florence appeared Machiavclli, who would find so many points of agreement with German statesmen of to-day. Of him Mr. Hare says:— " We all know what a chorus of abuse lias been heaped upon Machiavclli for bis cold impassive treatment of terrible events, but it' is perhaps not so well realised how common in Italy of that day was the carelessness concerning human life, -and the spirit of aticcious perfidy End crime. We can scarcely believe, for instance, that the cultivated Isabella d'Este, looked up to as the ' perfect lady of the Italian Renaissance/ should have written a most effusive letter of congratulation to C«sa: Borgia, on the occasion of his masterpiece of iniquity at Sinigagiia. She dwells upon her, joy and deligh-. on hearing of ' his fortunate progress and his glorious victory/ she rejoices in his welfare and shares his triumph. She also sends him a costly present of ..'a hundred masks.' (Csesar seems to,have always worn a mask on his face in the streets of Rome.) No opinions expressed in "The Prince' regarding the guile and violence needful for the game of statecraft, are inconsistent with the general' tone of Italian morality." "THE CLEAE CALL." One of tie best collections of patriotic verse yet . published in the colonies is The,, Clear Call," by Dorothy Frances McCrae : (Robertson, Sydney). This is typical:—,

Killed at the front! Triumphant death! ho disease has stopped his breath, •'■2fq"wasted'chances mock our grief, Only a courage past belief. • Only » , manhood brave and high, . That dared to suffer and to die,. -> Though in his heart "their swords th«y o.*i,Msheath, .-:W ':' :•£■». •' ■. ' - Yet he lives on! - Triumphant death 1 Killed at the front!" Glad' sacrifice! "Pride dries the tears in yearning eyes, i Had he stayed sheltered in your arms, . .And shut his ears to-warts-alarms,. , Then he had 5 died to you, indsed- ; -i But by his death he lives to lead "More men to greater victories. " - .;■ Oh-noble. end! Glad sacrifice! ■ •^^^Ll^A3£ -DEMjOCKAOY. ; "The war;ls teaching the world much .of 'fflariy.- things before ignored. «. We have ".realised the meaning of . German militarism. -We are gradually learning that • the so-called revolutionary movements in Russia is simply the result of a struggle between the national spirit of the people aha the.^ bureaucratic methods which have been introduced by Germans and from Germans. In a sentence, the Germans have been trying to do in Russia what they have done in Austria and in ' Turkey. r vHad they succeeded we should have-heard no mdre :of the German fear • oi -Panslavism,. for ; Russia would have bscome-a tool as have Turkey and Austria- ': Hungary. In " Russia and Democracy: The; ; German s Canker in Russia,". Mr. G. de , Wesselitsky (Heinemann, London), tells us the' pathetic story of his country .and in.the, book there is a store of knowledge from which many popular ideas will be re-formed.. .We are told, for instance, ' that:-^- f pi '-.',.- "The mighty revolution of Peter the Great made,rather for division than for i union among the Russians.. That swashing blow at. custom and tradition was too swift to be profound or abiding, and the Master's need for intelligent foreigners to i execute his, plan* sowed germs of a disease which came near to suffocate the '«»% national life he thought to establish, was divided and in some sense has remained divided until to-day. There has been a Russia looking out of the .window, and a Russia inhabiting the house, but the face has not interpreted the body.. It has given a false presentment of the truth behind it, and in ■ifealien, blood has circulated. To shift the image, the stream of the people's life bas flowed on and in time brought flower and fruit to birth, a generous harvest for the world to wonder at and seek to understand. The true character of the Russians silently enlarged and fixed .its type. .; Late learners they were, but their character was founded deep in sheer simplicity, and brought . simplicity's attending * dangers. For simplicity may most easily be led astray into the perverse paths of cunning and weakness, before -it shall find at last its natural and inevitable •. heritage of sincerity and strength. Russia, half in blindness, half in compulsion, wandered under perfidious guidance from the way, and has to-day regained it.

. "And so it is that you find the Russia of. to-day as has been sketched above. For to-day Russia is getting rid of Germany. Two hundred years of tyranny, of suppression, of paralysis are being •realised almost for the first time, and in that realisation are being swept away. Two long centuries of reaction, of intrigue, of exploitation, of perfidy, and of false sacrifce, are going up in gunpowder along the banks of the San-. And millions of men feel a new hope in a new heart, and lift undazzled eyes to a dawn which they had grown at last to believe would never break. The mighty work of Peter is purged of the long slow poison it trailed in its traces, and Russia comes to her own at last. And how this fell, this book is written to relate."

Among many recruiting and training publication! is "The Selection of the Recruit," by Captain Beggs, R.A.M.C. (Balliere, Tiudall and Co., Henrietta Street, London) which is interesting reading to others than recruiting officers, being full of statistics and facts. For instance, we aro told that in 1909 no fewer than 33 per 1000 would-be recruits were rejected for heart weakness, that the bones grow until a man is 25, and that " flat feet"' are now leniently dealt with. Among popular novels of recent issue are:—"An 111 Wind," by Mrs. Lovett Cameron; "The Bohemian Girl," by Florence Warden; "The Crimson Cryptogram," by Fergus Hume; " Alix the Glen," bv Curtis Yorke; "Good at the Game," by Nat Gould; "Left in the Lurch," by Nat Gould; " Tlio Inevitable Marriage/' by Dorothea Gerard; "The Romance of a Maid of Honour," by Richard Marsh; "The Tocsin," by A. and C. Askew; and "Nurse Charlotte," by L, T. Meade (Long, London). A German editor recently apologised to his readers for employing the word "copyright," which belongs to the "forbidden" language, on the ground that it is required by law —is, in fact, an American rat-her than an English word. A further development of the same eclecticism now manifests itself. German agriculture is to be purified of the English words involved in the names of pure-bred stock. There are two proposals. The less stringent is to keep the English names, but to "purify" the spelling, thus: Schorthorn, Scheier, Klaidsdel, Schropshir, Kotsuold. But the rigorists wish to go further, calling the Shorthorns German beef cattle: the Clydesdales, Scottish Cold-bloods; the Shire horses, English Cold-bloods; and so forth, in German, of course. English breeds of swine are to be divided into " noble" pigs and " notnoble" pigs. These are, presumably, the equivalents of Hocbwohlgeboren and its contrary, a distinction, already familiar in Germany, which classes the enormous majority of Germans as "unborn." The well-known entertainer, Miss Helen Mar, has brought the art of story-telling to' perfection. In her book, " May I .Tell You a Story," is one which is somewhat of a satire on the Yankee love of the "almighty dollar." "A very rich American came to London," she says,

"and met an Englishman, who, strangely enough, liked him and asked him to his house. The Englishman was a great collector of antiques and curiosities, and showed the American, among other things, a table and chair, and pointing to them said, 'That table and that chair once belonged to Milton.' ' Really,' said the American, and kneeled down and reverently kissed both table and, chair. 'And.' continued the Englishman, 'that table was the,very one on which that immortal classic, "Paradise Lost," was written. 1 'What was written?' questioned the guest. 'Paradise Lost.' was the reply. 'Who wrote it?' again questioned the American. ' Milton,' replied the host. 'Who did you say owned that table?' 'Milton,' again answer « th « host. Gosh!' exclaimed the rich one in a tone of disgust, 'I thought you said Lipton.' "

London's Doomsday Book, the huge "round plan of the metropolis which the London County Council has been preparing for a number of years, is not to be brought to a standstill on account of the war. It .was. proposed ' that - the work, which involves the enormous task of identifying every, building" in London and indicating its ownership, should be suspended, but the committee which is concerned with it has come to the conclusion that the value of .the undertaking justifies its continuance, and in this opinion the council has concurred.' The monster map was originally started on 25-inch ordnance sheets, but : this scale was found' to be too small, largely .owing to the -immense number of estates consisting of one house only, -and the sft to the mile scale was adopted. The area ;of the county is 116 square miles, and even now, although the work: was started in the nineties, the whole of the county has not yet been covered in the initial stage. The map is for the private information of the council only, and is not available for the public.

An action brought by Mrs. Ellen Buckingham ReeTes, better known as Helen Mathers, against Messrs. Stanley Paul and Co., publishers, of Essex Street, Strand, was heard >'n the Chancery Division. Mrs. Reeves asked for the rectification of an agreement of* May 6, 1909, made between her and defendants. Mr. Hughes, K.C., said the lady was well known as the author of 'Coming Thro' the .Rye" and other books. Early in 1909 she. had ready for publication a novii, entitled "Love, the Thief," and negotiated with Messrs. Stanley Paul and Co., to whom she had in the previous year sold the publishing rights m " Gay Lawless " for five years. Her case was tbat.tr. e negotiations with regard to ''Love, the Thief," were on the same, footing, and the draft agreement submitted for her approval limited the assignment of her rights to five years. It was only shortly before the expiration of the five years that -he discovered that the agreement which she executed contained no time limit. Mrs. Reeves, who is very, deaf, said that she had been writing novels - for 40 years. Her firs book. Coming Thro' the Rye," she wrote when she was 20. She sold that for 30 guineas and thus lost £20.000. The judge said it was an unpleasant case, because it depended on the oath of one party against the other. The onus of proof was on Miss Mathers,,who alleged what amounted to a charge of downright and outrageous fraud against defendants. She was a lady of experience, and if she did not read the, agreement she ought to have done so. Ho was satisfied that her memory was entirely at fault, and that no draft had been prepared. The action would be dismissed with costs. Mr. Ward Coleridge, KC ' for Mr. Stanley Paul, said that now that his clients' characters had been cleared, he was at once prepared to hand back to plaintiff the copyright in the book.