HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

HERE AND THERE.

The oldest English book is Caxton's " Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye." It was printed in Bruges in 1475, two years before Caxton set up his printing press in Westminster. In a field by the ancient town of Tomi, near the mouth of tho Danube, has been unearthed a tomb of tho Roman poet Ovid, born the year after Julius Caesar died, but living still in his influence on the lives of thousands.

Several of the more important journals of London, in reviewing Mr. Beverley Nichol's " Evensong," do not assume that the chief character, Mine, Irela, is intended for Dame Nellie Melba, as has been suggested by some critics. Mr. W. B. Mcintosh, librarian of the Cunard liner Aquitania, who has. retired, crossed tho Atlantic 1300 times. He was once described by Sir Percival Phillips as "a library steward who looks like a minor canon, and displays his books with a regal air." What are the duties of the poet laureate ? He has no duties. He ranks as a member of the Royal Household, and he receives a salary of £IOO and an additional sum of £27 in lieu of a butt of wine, which was one of tho perquisites from which his medieval predecessors received inspiration.