LITERARY GOSSIP

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4467, 21 September 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

LITERARY GOSSIP

Mrs Henry Richard Stoddard; wife of the American, poet, and■ herself the author of several works of fiction, use* the strange word “fiblet,’’ in the sense of a small fib. in an autobiography commenced in the “Literary Bra.” She says of her first attempt to write a story; —-“I put In occasional ‘fihlets’ about the respectable guests.” She ■ also adds that “it pleased the editor of ‘Harper’s Magazine,’ who accepted it, and sent .. me a check (sic) which would look wondrous small now.’’ Wo. rather hope “fiblet” will not be naturalised here, nor the American spelling of “cheque;”

Mr Seymour-Foot describes a trip to Mr Rhodes’s experimental farms, in Rhodesia, where, in addition tq breeding horses andcattle; he is carrying out an irrigation experiment on a fairly large scale. 'The farms are gome 6000 ft above sea level, and although muoh rain falls In the rainy season, yet it soon runs' off, and the want of water ie much felt dnring the remainder of the year. Mr Rhodes is having * great dam made at the mouth of a large valley, which will stop the outflow and convert the basin into a lake some four miles in extent, and from this his lands will be irrigated. There can he no reasonable doubt of the. success of the experiment, and if so, and the. movement spreads.: it is bound to have far-reaching effects on- the future of South Africa, where the want of water is one of the great drawbacks to the success ; of ' farming operations la such a thirsty land.

Mr Fisher TJnwin has arranged to j publish a volume of poems by uxadanie ' Duolaux, the wife of the director of the Pasteur Institute. This lady will perhaps be better known to English readers i as a Mary F. Robinson, the songwriter , and poetess, and as the sister of Mabel F. Robinson, the novelist. Her late , husband was Mr James Darmesteter, : the founder of "La Revue de Paris," of ! which Mr Fisher TJnwin is the English j publisher, and his talented wife, besides ' assisting her husband, used to translate his books and write articles and books j for herself.

At the recent International Publishers’ Congress, at Leipzig, Mr G. H. Putnams, speaking on the copyright relations between America and Europe, stated that he hoped before the end of the year Congress would pass an Act by which al] the Continental nations would secure copyright in America by depositing at Washington two copies of any book issued in Europe within thirty days of its publication, and if reprinted in America within twelve months copyright would be secured. It was generally agreed that this would be a great concession, but not all that was needed.

Mr John Fraser has decided to call his new novel “The Hour Glass.” At first it was to have been published by Mr Fisher Unwin under the title “Dolores the Emerald.” and then it was to haye been named “Death,the Showman.” The author is a son of Mrs Hugh Fraser and a nephew of Mr Marion Crawford. The novel is described by one who Has read it as “as a story of modern life and cosmopolitan elements.” The chief character is a middle-aged Turkish diplomatist.

“Magic and Religion.” Mr Andrew Lang’s latest book, ig a volume of essays on subjects already familiar to those who follow Mr Lang’s writings, and it is the third essay that furnishes the title to the book.: One of them ig called “The Ghastly Priest,” and, in this the author “examines” Mr Fraser’s theory of the Golden Bough of Virgil as connected with the fugitive slave_ who was King of the Wood near Acricia. There is an essay on “South African Religion,” and another on the singular rite of the fire-walk, and the alleged immunity of the performers. < .1

Two hooks which will be of great interest r to Roman Catholics are being published by Messrs Longmans. The first to appear is “The Catholic Chnrch from Within,” by Lady Lovat, with a preface by Cardinal Vaughan. Then there , is a volume entitled “Roads to Rome; Being a Series of Letters from Converts to the Roman Obedience.” Among the contributors are Lord Brampton, Sir Henry Bellingham, Dr Edward Berdoe, Lady Herbert of Lea, the'Bishops of Clifton, Emmaus, and Hexham.'the Rev. W. 0. Sutcliffe, and Mr O. Kegan Paul.