LITERARY NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1266, 4 June 1896, Page 11

LITERARY NOTES.

"1 -.v.-ml.l rather be a poor man in r. carrel with pli.nty of hookn than a king who did oct lore rer.dirt,-."—Lord M.'.caulay.

Address nil commnnicatiotifl for this column to "TiiP Editor, Nkw Zi.ai.AND Mail.." Publish 1 rs and hool<s n llcrs are invited to send hooks and publications of general interest for notice in th's column, thereby enabling country readers to be In touch with the latest works in the Colony.

Publishers fending books for review arc requested to mention tlidr price,

WITH PAPER-KNIFE AND PEN.

''Beautiful Britain." (fondon and Chicago : The Werner Company. Wellington: 11. and J. Baillie, Cuba street. During tho last twelve months or so several scries of photographs have been published depicting the "beauty spots" of the Old World and the New, but none of these has surpassed in artistic value and pictorial charm generally tho work now under notice. "Beautiful Britain" deals with " tho scenery and the splendours of the United Kingdom." Here we have photographic views of the various royal icsidonces, of tho palaces and castles, the parks and forests, tho bowers and hunting lodges, the river banks and islets, the stately homes of the British Isles, and a truly superb panorama these make. Tho series consists of 12 numbers, each sold at tho moderate price of Gd, and each number contains 10 views. Wo have tested the scries by specially looking into thoso of the photographs which represent buildings and places familiar to us personally, and have been more than pleased with the faithful way in which the artist has dono his work. Idly turning over the pages of this collection of exquisitely produced views, wo have roamed in imagination through Hampton Court, rowed in imagination past tho glorious woods of Cleveden, sauntered through the superb galleries of Chatworth, and many another " lovely pleasure house." We have wandered through many great parks and by beautiful rivers, have let tho oyo dwell in loving reverence upon the beautiful architecture of the fine old abbeys, the moss-covered castles, and have had, indeed, a delightful littlo journey through tho loveliest scenery in the good old Mother Land. Colonists who "hail from the Old Country will buy these Hue pictures to remind them pleasantly of early days, and colonists who are native born will no doubt find equal charm in them as representing scenes of which they havo heard an read so often. "Beautiful Britain" in its compact issue of twelve paits and published at so low a price, ought to have a large sale.

Tin; Fkkdixo and Management of Aus tkalian Infants," by Philip 10. Muskett (London and Sydney: Lyre and Spoltis woode.)

This is the fourth edition of a little work which, on its first appearance, wo warmly commended to tho attention of New Zealand parents. Dr Muskett's work, "The Art of Living in Australia," a treatise of great practical value, has also boon favourably noticed in these columns. In his preface to tho neat little volume before us tho author refers to the terribly heavy percentage of infant mortality in the four Australian capitals. Ho points out that the total number of deaths of infants under two yours of age in the four capitals—■ .Sydney, Melbourne, Adedaide and Brisbane —during tho nine years from 18S7 to 18!)o, inclusive, amounted to over GO,OOO. Of these, Dr Muskett claims that least 30,000 might havo been saved—" Thirty thousand of those littlo Australians who have passed into their early graves should be alive today, with every prospect of reaching nature ago." Tho principal cause of this heavy mortality is, so Dr Muskett contends, an ignorance of tho common-sense methods and principles of infant feeding, and his present work is intended to remove this ignorance and supply parents with a handy and reliable reference book for consultation on all infantile disorders and diseases. Technical terms give place throughout to those more comprehensible to tho ordinary reader, and tho thoroughly practical character of the advico given cannot bo too highly praised. This is a little work which should be found in every household where

"The Provost" and "The Last of the Lairds," by John Gait. 2 vols. (Edinburgh : Wm. Blackwood and Sons.)

With the above-mentioned stories Messrs Blackwood bring to a conclusion their in many ways interesting and valuable new edition of Gait's best works. We have already spoken in high praise of the neat format, the excellent illustrations by Mr John Wallace, the editing of Mr Storrar Meldrum and the "introductions" of Mr S. R. Crockett, which are all features of the nr« sent edition. (fall has never been so satisfactorily presented to the reading public, and the present must now rank as the standard edition. Those who have found pleasure in the " Kailyard crew"—as Messrs J. M. Barrio, "lan Maclaren" and S. h'. Crockett have been facetiously entitled—should not fail to make or renew acquaintance witli Gait. Now and again he is prosy and rather long-winded, but his pictures of Sots life at the beginning of the century contain many beauties peculiarly their own, and he has a keen sense of humour, of that pawky, essentially Scots kind, of which Dr Ramsay is to English readers a much bettor known, but by no means superior, exponent. "The Last of the Lairds" is hardly equal in general incident to other of (.fall's stories, but " The Provost " we havo enjoyed immensely. The English price of these volumes is 3s each, nett.

"Miss Grace of Ai,;, Souls," by W. 10. 'J irehuck, Ifeinnenmn's Colonial Library, i London : Wm. lleinncinan ) Mr Tirebuck has evidently a very keen sympathy with and love lor the miners, and is fully in touch with their simple humble lives, full, as all lives, of mingled lightness and pathos, of comedy and tragedy. In "Miss Grace of All Souls" he has given us a story which is evidently based to a large extent upon the great coal strike which occurred in England some two or three years ago. He has taken many of his characters from the pithead or from the low stone cottages in which the English colliers live, and he has given us some vory striking and intensely pathetic pictures of their struggles. As for his heroine, Miss Grace, she is altogether a most charming heroine, reminding us not a little of Charles Kingsley's heroine of the same name in " Two Years Ago." As to the general style and sco];c' of Mr lircbuck's story it reminds us of Mrs Haskell's " Mary Barton," to which, however, we hold it on the whole a much superior and more artistic piece of worlc. There is a line moral, truly Christian, tone running through the story, and in the dramatic and general interest of its incidents it is decidedly one. of the best novels of the year. There is not a little in the story which proves Mr Tirebuck to be heartily disgusted with the selfishness of Capital and its indifference to the lives of the workers so long as fat dividends keep rolling in. Here and there, however, the author, so it seems to u<, is a trifle unfair, but even Ids faults are evidently engendered by well-meant zeal in the bringing home to the average English reader the lessons to be derived from the colourless, wretched life led by so many of the workers; and then: are passages in the book so completely charming' as to make one forget its very infrequent blemishes. This is a book to buy and to read without disappointment.

SOME .MAGAZINES.

The May issue of the ['all Mall Magazine is the best number we have sjen for some time past. 'The pictures in the rail Mall arc always good, but, as wo have pointed out on more than one occasion, the literary side of the magazine is often far from brilliant. In the number before us, however, there are several good things, notably MiMarriott Watson's highwayman story, "The Lady in the Coach," Mr Aldeu's very comical "Practical Mahatma," and .Mr Cutclyffo Ilyne's "Paradise Coal Boat." Sir Walter Bcsant's serial story, "The City of Refuge," is continued, and waxes more interesting with each instalment; the famous Continental reformer, Karl Blind, contributes an able article on '•The Rhine Frontier," and Mr Demetrius Boulgersomo veiy readable personal reminiscences of General Gordon. Mr Zangwill's "Withoul I'rcju bee" i : ;■ ; usual, < xe'dhmt. The illustrations are all -01, and a special , Woid of praise is duo to tie- frontispiece, | an etching of a Florentine scene. j The April Windsor, which roaches us from 11m) publishers (Messrs Ward, Lock and Bowden, London), is hardly up to the high water marl: of excellence to which tho conductors of this popular monthly havo accustomed us. To re.-.urrcel tho gi iic'souie story of tho [nvineibles and of Irish revolutionary history generally, as ."Mr Tighe Hopkins does in his " Kilmaiuham Memories," is surely a mistake. Mr Snowdeni Ward's article on " The Marvels of the .Vow Light," however, with its personal gossip about Professor Rbntgen makes tim.dlyand interesting reading, and a word of praise is due to Mr Adrian Boss for his article on " St. Petersburg and its People." Mr Morrison continues hi.; "Martin Hewitt" detective stories, and -Mr Boothby's " Dr Nikola " is growing moro interesting', though still a little, disappointing, but, there is a general atmosphere of undue " serappiness " about the Wiiuhv? this month which wo don't like at all. The pictures, too, are not so clear as they ought to be. Process blocks when indifferently executed give even worse results than bad line worlc, and some of the blocks in this month's Windsor are very bad indeed. La Monde Modcrnc for April is a very good number. Wo have frequently directed the attention of such of our readers who can understand French to the merits of this excellent magazine, which is practically a French Harper's. 'The number before us contains a gre.it variety of stories and articles all most liberally and artistically illustrated. The topographical articles in Le Monde Modcrnc are always

and household notes assist in making up a most admirable family magazine. For colonial students of French Le Monde Modcrnc should prove invaluable. C. Wilson.