Literary Notes.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1037, 15 January 1892, Page 13

Literary Notes.

Edited by T. L. Mills. Readers of tho Mail who are interested in literary subjects and who meet with any difficulties in the study thereof, are invited to put their trouble into a question and send it to this column and an answer will be ftiveu herein us .early as convenient. Publishers nnd booksellers are invited to send books aud publications of general interest for notice in th s column, thereby enabling country readers to to be in touch with the latest works in the Colony. As an encouragement to literary beginners the editor will raiiiy and honestly criticise any writings sent to him for that purpose and short contributions from readers will be welcomed for publication. Address all communications for this column to the Literary Editor, New Zealand Mail.’ ANSWERS TO QUERIES. CELESTIALS. How came the name ‘ Celestials ’ to be applied to lie Chinese nation ? Chang. Tho name ‘ Celestial Empire ’ was bestowed upon their country by the Chinese themselves, because the first emperors weie ‘celestial deities’—as Puon-Ku (‘highest eternity’), Tien Hoang (‘Emperor of Heaven’). Ti-Hn&ng (‘.Emperor of Earth’), Giue-Ho&ng ( Emperor of Men ’). Hence the t6rin ‘ Celestial.’ GUV BE MAUPASSANT. Can you give myself and others interested in your column in tho Mail a few particulars concerning the French novelist, Guy de Maupassant, of whom the cable message told us last -week that ho had boen incarcerated in a lunatic asylum for attempting to commit suicide ? L.G. He-.ri Bene Albert Guy de Maupassant wa3 born on the sbh August, 1850. His parents lived in Normandy, and were people of position ; but when, in 1870, the war with Prussia broke out, Guy, then ju3t twenty, buckled on his sword and served his country as a common soldier. When the war was over he became acquainted with Gustave Flaubert, and the brilliant author of ‘ Salammbd ’ introduced him to the world of letters, in which he quickly won himself a foremost place. He was not (for the cable tolls us he is hopelessly insane) a very prolific writer, but the quality of his work is very fine, and he takes a foremost place among living writers of short tales. The nearest comparison for English readers to his style are the tales of Bret Harte. He has drawn largely from his experiences as a soldier for the basis of his stories. EPOCHS IN THE AMERICAN PRESS. An article on the American press states that in its history there have been six epochs, and also says that there are 17,000 pipers in the United States. Can you inform me upon tho epochs, and toll me whether the latter statement is correct, as the figure is a very large ©ne ? Printer. In the history of the American press there have been so far six epochs, each marking well-defined eras in the advance of the country and of the press. These may be indicated in this way (1) The first American newspapers, 1699-1704; (2) the colonia 1 pres?, 1704 1755; (3) the revolutionary press, 1755-1783 ; (4) the party, the religions, the agricultural, the sporting, aud the commercial press, 1783-1833 ; (5) the cheap press, lass-iso’s; (6) the telegraph and independent press, 1835-1891. The statement oonoerning the number of journals is perfectly correct, being the latest return, and is not surprising when one considers the nation as essentially a newsy one. Journals are devoted to every interest and order of importance —trade papers, iiterary weeklies and monthlies, and other periodicals. Every settled county in every state and territory has now two weeklies, at least, which represent the two prominent political parties, while nearly every township of 1000 inhabitants has its own local publication. It is estimated that 220,000 people find employment in the production of these periodicals, and that £40,000,000 is invested in those enterprises. GEORGE. —The queen of the fairies is Titania, not Queen Mab, although Shelley represents the latter as being suob. J.S.T. —Nemesis was a Greek divinity, worshipped as the Goddess of Vengeance. According to Hesiod, she was the daughter of Night, and was represented as pursuing with inflexible hatred the proud and ininsolent. Temples were erected to her honour not only in Greeo3, but throughout the Roman Empire. Hib iRNIA. —The phrase, ‘Home Rule,’ was invented fay Professor Galbraith, of Trinity College, Dublin. According to the Professor’s own statomant, it took him two days, in May, 1870, to finl a namo for the new movement. Typo. —ln 1748 the first book was printed from German type, in 1761- the first religious newspaper, and in 1755 the first daily newspaper. BE THOROUGH. There lived, some years ago, a distin. guishe’• printer and author, whose name was known wherever literature was enjoyed. In hia early life he upon one occasion, found himself in the dilemma of the young man who finds himself for the first time set down in the midst of unknown and mysterious woods, and when speaking in after life of that time he said the watchword ‘Thoroughness ’ had pulled him through and brought the crown of success. Whatever he did he did with his whole heart aDd strength to attain thoroughness he spared no pain. ‘My level best’ was his criticism of whatever he did. The success he achieved showed the wisdomof the determination hehad made, to have no other way of progress than the one I have indicated. To youth I recommend Pope’s lines in his ‘ Essay on Criticism ’ :

A little learning is a d-mgerou3_thing. Drink deep or taste not llio Pierian spring ; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking deeply sobers us again. From an article upon the words which head this article I take tho following : —A distinguished English nobleman, when asked by a well-educated young man for his best advice as to starting upon a literary career, was answered by the rather surprising reply, ! Young man, verify your quotations.’ When asked for an explanation of this he merely repeated, * Verify your quotations.’ The young man pondered over the advice. He did more—he followed it. To-day he is one of the most distinguished literary men in Great Britain, noted especially tor the exactness of his English and tho absolute trueness of whatever reference he makes to

modern, mediaeval or ancient authors. He is thorough—he ha 3 verified his quotations. Tho young man was Andrew Fang, who, after John Ruskin, is probably the most just, poetical, eloquent and correct critic to-day in the world’s broad realm of letters. Verifying his quotations proved to him a more liberal and exact education than even a distinguished college career. The inference or moral is obvious—Be thorough.

PAPERS, BOOKS, AND AUTHORS. Mr G. A. Sala is about to bring out a weekly miscellany, somewhat on the lines of the old Household Words. It fs to be oalled Sala’s Weekly. It is stated that the Indian authorities desired te see the proof sheets of Mrs Grim*wood’s new book upon the Manipur affair before it went to press, but the request wa® declined. M. Paul da Chaillan3 writing a novel in which the manners and customs of the Norse folk of to-day are to be depioted. Bunyan’s ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress ’ has been translated into eighty-one languages, the last being a Japanose translation, with illustrations by a native artist. Before issuing the beautifully got up shilling monthly parts of Green’s Bhorfc History of the English People, Messrs; Macmillan and Co. sold 160,000 copies of.; the regular edition of the work, which i 3 st clear proof of its popularity. j The moat original modern authors are not so because they advance what is new, but simply because they know how to out what they have to say as if it had never been said before. The title of Mrs Humphry Ward’s forthdoming novel is ‘ The History of David Grieve.’ it will bo published simultaneously in England and the United States. There has been great discussion in some of the American papers on the old aud much written-upon subject, ‘Authors as Husbands,’ attempting to prove that the domestic life of literary families was unhappy. The general conclusion arrived at is that authors their wives get along as comfortably together as any other section of a community. The names of Eugene Field, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Margaret Deland, W. D. Howell, George William Curtis, and George Parsons Fathrop, for America, and Mrs Humphry Ward, Mrs Richmond Richie, Max O’Rell, Sir Edwin Arnold, and ‘ Mrs Alexander,’ for outside writers, are among others, quoted as examples of those whose married life has not been a failure. Readers of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Plain Tales from the Hills ’ will be pleased to hear that he promised upon his return to India (and he is there now) to tell in full the story outlined in one of his short tales of the drunkeu English scholar and gentleman who sank into Hinduism and into all the enervations of the East. Of such a theme Mr Kipling should make one of the most powerful novels ever written. The late Mr W. J. Thoms, a noted English bibliophile, was au interesting character, and collected many oddities in the book line. Being asked one day as to his identity, he set forth his chief points in the following stanza, which he wrote on the back of his photograph— If you would fain know more Of his whose photo here is, He coined the word ‘ Folk-lore ’ And he started ‘ Notes and Queries.’ Mr Augustine Birrell, the clever Engish essayist, lecturing a short time ago in Sootland on Books and Libcaries, said that in the public libaries of Europe there were more than twenty one million printed volumes. In those of America there were fifty million books, while in those of the Australian colonies there were a trillion more. If we added to those the books in private collections in the countries named, Mr Birrell could not resist the conclusion that we had a hundred million books. The late Richmond Heber, who had houses in London,-"' Oxford, Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, and other places, was supposed to have had a million books altogether. While Mr Birrell was in favour of large collections, he admitted that an increase in men’s libraries had not increased their wits. All Shakespeare’s library oould be packed in a Gladstone bag. It was a mistake to suppose a man was well ooenpied because he was reading. He had often much better have been knitting a sock. There were far more wellbound books than well-written ones, and it was much better to bind a book well than to write oue badly, The great thing was to become a go >d judge of a book, just as some men were good judges of a horse—to know a good book when they read it. Carlyle said Mr Birrell, waa an enormous reader, and an critic of a book. In an article upon what Edinburgh reads, the London Star says : —During the last twelve months 806,697 volumes were lent by the Edinburgh Free Library. Of the total, 352,453 were works of fiction, or a, percentage of 43 of the whole issue. During the summer months the demand for fiction was greater than at any other time since the opening of the library, and this was especially marked daring July and August, when books of light reading were extensively enquired for. In fiction it is found that Rider Haggard’s ‘ Revenge ' was lent out no fewer than 95 times, while Moser’s ‘ Dectective Stories ’ and John Strange Winter’s ‘ Houpla ’ have been out 108 and 101 times respectively. Such books as * Adam Bede ’ and ‘ Vanity Fair ’ have records of 48 and 55, while Stevenson’s * Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and Kingslev’a ‘Westward Ho’ have each been out 83 time*. Theße numbers are only interesting for the reason that very many other books of a higher standard have been out as often as it.waa possible to have them exchanged by the different readers. In the class of art and science Simpson’s ‘ Golf ’ and Spon’s ‘ Mechanics’ Book 1 have each been lent out 54 times, and they are closely followed by Webb’s ‘ Swimming ’ and Spencer’s ‘ Art of Playing the Piano.’ In scienoe Darwin is foremost, his ‘ Origin of Species ’ and his ‘Descent of Man ’ being out 54 and 51 times respectively. After works of fiction, general literature ranks next in point of favour with 12 per cent, history, biography and travel ooming third with 9 per cent. Science and art represent 9 per cent of the readers also.