LITERARY NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1264, 21 May 1896, Page 12

LITERARY NOTES.

“ l would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of hooka than a king who did nut love reading.”—Lohu Macaulay.

Address all communications for this column to " The Kdllor, New Zbai.and Mail.” Publishers and booksellers are invited to send books and publications of general interest for notice in til s column, thereby enabling country readers to lie in touch with the latest works in the Colony. Publishers sending books for review are requested to mention their price,

WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN. The Works of Rudyard Kipling. MacIndian's Colonial Library. (London : Macmillan and Co., Limited. Wellington : S. and W. Mackay.) The number of good IvipMngites should bo speedily increased in these colonies now that Messrs Macmillan and Co, havo done us the excellent service to re-issue the works of the popular young writer in their cheap and handy Colonial Library. A few weeks ago we referred to the appearance in this library of Mr Kipling’s most pretentious but hardly most successful effort, “ The Light that Failed,” and of a volume of his collected stories, “Life’s Handicap." Today we have to acknowledge receipt of three more volumes of collected stories by the same writer, entitled respectively, “ Soldiers Three,” “ Wee Willie W inkio ” and “ Many Inventions.”

In “ Soldiers Three ” are included a number of stories of Anglo-Indian military stories, in which we meet those true Iriends and delightful comrades, the “ three musketeers” of the cantonments, Messrs Mulvaney, Learoyd and Ortheris. Wherever, however and whenever wo moot this famous trio, wo always find its members the same reckless, refreshingly original characters. Mulvaney, the old, well-seasoned hand with his wealth of military experience, alike of barrack-room and battle, is ever the same rollicking Patlander, full of quaint “quip and crank and quiddity.” Learoyd, the big, stolid Yorkshireman, whose heaviness of hand is renowned from Calcutta up to Peshawar, and Ortheris, the comically ingenious little Cockney, generally crop up in Mulvaney’s company and are always welcome. All three are types that will live. The soldiering stories in this volume include some old favourites, notably “ The ISig Drunk Draft” and “ In the Matter of a Private,” which those who are acquainted with Kipling will bo glad to read once moro, whilst by newcomers not a single story should he missed. The second portion of the volume is taken up with “ The Story of the Gadsbys," a story told in dialogue, and full of humour and pathos alike in its faithful description of AngloIndian life. The chapter headed “The Vallloy of the Shadow,” where poor little Mrs Gadsby lies for days ’twixt life and death, shows how strong is Kipling’s com. mand of true pathos.

The title story in “ Woe Willie Winkio ” is, to our mind, by no means the host presentment of Kipling’s genius, but four of tlie stories included in this volume—to wit, “The Phantom ’Kickshaw,” “ My Own True Ghost Story,” “ The Strange Hide of Morrowbie Jukes,” and "Tho Man Who Would Pe King”—exhibit in the most strikingly powerful manner tho author’s wonderful gdt for dealing with the supernatural and weirdly horrible. “ The Strange Ride of Morrowbio Jukes” has always struck us as being one of the most ghastly pictures in fiction; in “creepiness” it transcends oven tho same writer’s “At the End of tho Passage.” There are touches of relieving humour, however, in “The Man Who Would Re King,” with its famous description of an Indian newspaper oiiico by night and tho almost incredibly strange adventures of tho two Englishmen who, disguised us fakirs, go forth to conquer fame and fortune in Kafkistan. Not to be passed by without special notice in this collection is the fine story of the two brave lads in “ The Drums of tho Fore and Aft,” and again, in “ Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” there is a charming little study of child-life in India. Tho series of skotches of life in Simla, originally published under the title of “Under the Deodars,” wo do not care for so much. The prevailing tone of cynicism and the samenoss of the everlasting “hill”

flirtations and intrigues end by becoming !

just a little monotonous; but no writer can always be at his best, and “ Tho Man Who Would Be King” is alone well worth the price of the wholo collection.

In “Many Inventions” we havo. the latest published collection of Kipling s stories, excepting the two “Jungle Books, and in this volume we find some of tho best things Kipling has ever written. The contents of the volume are unequal, it is true, indeed, we would go so far as to dismiss two or threo of them, notably “ The Finest Story in the World,” “Judson and tho Empire,” and especially “ The Children of tho Zodiac,” as rank failures, but, on tho other hand, tho book contains examples of Kipling at his best. Thus “Tho Disturber of Traffic,” a story of a lightship-keeper in tho Java Seas who gradually grows mad from his isolation and the monotony of his work and mixes his signals up in the most ludicrous and dangerous way, is an excellent example of tho author’s marvellous capacity for making himself acquainted with the most minute technicalities of a little-known occupation; in “My Lord tho Elephant,” Mulvaney is to the front again and as funny as over, and the story of Ortheris’ vindication of “ His Private Honour ” is a little gem. In “A Matter of Fact,” Kipling turns the sea-serpent legend to very humorous use. “ Brugglesmith,” the story of a drunken man and the efforts of his sober friend to get rid of his amusing incubus, borders on the farcical, but is mainly remarkable for tho intimate knowledge shown of London streets and the astonishing solitude of London by night. It is hardly worthy of the author, however, but the extraordinary, but the extraordinarily powerful and pathetic story of East End life, “ Tho Record of Badalia Horodsfoot,” originally published as the Christmas number of the bet roll Free Frets and now included in this collection, is one of tho author’s triumphs. “In the Kukh” appears to have strayed away out of the Jungle Book series, and exhibits a command of the semi-supernatural which Kipling sometimes so successfully uses, whilst “ One View of tlio Question” is a scathing satire on tho Indian National Congress and the Exeter Hall party.

As old and staunch Kiplingites we have dipped into those three volumes with tho greatest pleasure. To those who have not yet made the acquaintance of what aro, in our opinion, the most brilliant short stories English fiction lms yet known, our advice is that they should go forthwith and buy tho above three volumes, together with “ Life’s Handicap,” which completes tho set. The purchasers are not likely to regret the modest outlay involved. C. Wilson.