A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8130, 25 May 1912, Page 10

A LITERARY CORNER

(BY "LIBER.")

A LITERARY LETTER

Wisdom for the Week. Fear nothing but four. —Carlyle. The stare of our fortune arc in ourselves. —Heine. Tho beginning of wise living lies in the control Of the brain by the will.— Arnold Bennett. A man must refuse opportunity to every importunate notion.—Montaigne. Nature suffers nothing to remain In her kingdoms which cannot help itself.— Emerson, No art can be supremo art if it does not consider beauty us its highest aim.— Arthur 3vmono. Ho who could understand himsolf could understand tho world. —OUo VVeiningor. Greek art expressed tho aspiration of % race toward tho divinely beautiful and tho divinely wiso.—Lafcatlio Hearn, Hope is for fishers with a float, who ns they sit, watcliing it boh about, may chance, when they pull in their lino, to find tho body of a cat, or a blind puppy, in which their hook lias stuck, when they had hope of lish. — 11. li. CunuiugUame Graham. Crowded Out. ' I had hoped to have given this week ft lengthy notice of Air Jenkins's new and excellent Life of George Borrow, recently publisued by Meiuuens, in which thero is much new ami curious Information coucenuilg that brilliantly gifted but personally must eccentric writer, tho author of “Tho Bible in Bpain" and ‘‘Laveugro," etc. This, however, 1 am obliged to hold over, together with notes on bir Sam del Griffiths s new translation of Haute and much other blatter. Poloruj Jack. Whitcomb© and Tombs have done a real service to New Zealanders, in commissioning Air James Cowan, whose interesting ‘‘Notes on tho Marlborough Bounds" woro so loadable, to write a brief account of "I’elorus Jack," his habits, and tho native legends attaching to this and other famous "big lichee.” Tho result is a well illustrated booklet of some fifty pages, entitled "Pelorus Jack, tho White Holphiu of French Pass, New Zealand, with some Alaon Legends." Mr Cowan has evidently gone bo a good deal of trouble to gather together much interesting information and many curious stories about 'lie row famous “Jack" and tho Maori le.art's are a specially good feature. A sketch map of “Jack’s” sCa-habitat is given, and at the end of tho book will be found tho latest Government Ordor-m-'kmucil, not, as - Mr Cowan reminds us, an Act of Parliament, os is so frequently and Incorrectly stated in Australian and English papers, protecting all fish or mammals of "Jack’s” species in tho waters Of Cook Strait. Amongst tho illustrations is A photograph of Krpa Homi Whiro, tho lost of the tohungns or wise men of tho ancient Ngati-Kuia tribe, who gave Mr Cownti tho Bootle legends of "Pelorus Jack," or Kalkul-a-wnro, as the Maoris call him, and who claims to bo ‘‘Jack's" rangatira or chief and owner. The illustrations include a photograph of ‘‘Jack" and views of tho Sounds. The booklet, which only costs a shilling, should be in great demand by tourists and is in many ways a very interesting contribution to Now Zealand literature.

•“The Fasting Cure.” ' Mi' Lloyd Jones, of Wanganui, wlio aas taken such a keen interest in what is popularly known as tlio ‘’fasting cure,” has Compiled and published a little work entitled "A Plea for Health Reform,” In which is sot out in great detail certain evidence and testimony in favour ol "The No-Breakfast Plan and the Pasting Cure/’ Although I should hardly cans to accept, without considerable xceervation, the claim that "disease is abolished” and "old ago vanquished” by means of the panaceas so warmly advocated by Mr Jones, it is only fair to say that tho evidence of many respectable and well-known New Zealanders, ns set forth in the booklet, is not easily to bo explained away. Mr Jones Is tremendously' in earnest and marshals the arguments and facts in favour of his ‘'health reform” system with 1 considerable skill. Sufferers, from indigestion especially will find much to interest them in Mr Jones’s booklet, tho contents 0 i which are at times of so convincing a character as to make oven such a hardened conservative (in matters of health) as "Liber” soy, “Almost thou persuadest me to be—a no-breakfast w»n and a faster.” The pamphlet is sold ofc sixpence, a price which, so we ore informed on the cover, "barely covers tho cost of printing.”

Bookmaking Biographers. I wonder when wo are to witness a halt in that tyiceasing outpouring of what I may call royal and princely biography which has been the feature of tho last two or three publishing seasons. The spring announcements of tho English publishers include a largo crop of this sort of bookmaking. Por instance, “An Injured Queen, Caroline of Brunswick,” by Lewis Melville; “The Comedy ot Catherine tho Great,” by Francis Gribble; “The Married Life of Anne of Austria,” by Martha Walker Freer; "A Forgotten Prince of Wales, or Prince Frederick Louis and the Days of George the Second,” by Captain Henry Curtis; "The Daughters of Louis XV.,” by Casimir (Strigeneki; "Tho Empress Josephine, ” by D. D, Fraser. After the royalties a royal “favourite” follows quite naturally. In this class is "The Lady of Beauty” (Agnes Sorol). by Prank Hamel. Amongst the literary biographies are “Lives of Victor Hugo,” by A. P. Davidson; "Goethe,” by Joseph McCabe; "George Borrow,” by Edward Thomas; and "A Groat Russian Realist” (Tolstoy), by J. A. T. Lloyd. In this class, too, I suppose I may include “Goethe and his Women Friends,” by Mary Caroline Crawford: and "Dr Johnson and Fanny Burney,” by 0. Brewster Tinker. In almost every instance all that has been worth writing —and reading—about tho subjects of these now biographies has been said and read years ago. But tho crowd of “bookmakers” must be kept employed, and 1 suppose there must bo some market for this sort of literary catmag or it wouldn’t be published. A NOW Life of Oscar Wilde. Many books have there been on the work and personality of Oscar Wilde— Mr Stuart Mason’s. Mr Sherard’s, M. Andre Gide’s and others might be mentioned—but apparently there was room (or, shall 1 say, a more philosophical view of the misguided genius who wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." Mr Arthur Ransome’s book, “Oscar Wilde, a Critical Study,” is wejl reviewed by the Horae papers. The supreme egotism of the man is very happily hit off by Mr RansomO: Wilde was a kind of Wainewrighl. to whom his own life was very important. He saW art as self-expres-sion and life as self-development. Ho felt that his life was material on Which to practise his powers of creation. and handled it and brooded over it like a sculptor planning to make a dancing figure out of a pellet of clay. Even after its catastrophe he was still able to speak of his life ns a work of art. ns if he had seen it from tho outside. Indeed, to a surprising extent, ho had been a spectator of his own tragedy. In budding ills life his strong sense of the pic-

l.urcsquo was not without admirable material, and ho was able to lace tho street with a decorative and enter taiuiug facade, which, unlike those palaces in Genoa, was not contradicted by dulness from within. Ho made men see him as something of a dandy among authors, an amateur of letters in contrast with tho professional maker of books and plays. If ho wrote books he did not allow people to presume upoi’ uic fact, hut retained tho status of a gentleman. At the Court of Queen Joan of Naples, he would have been a rival to Boccaccio, himself an adventurer. At the Court of James he would have crossed "characters" with Sir Thomas Overbury. In au earlier rei”u ho would have ‘corresponded in sonnets with Sir Philip Sidney, played with Euphuism, been very kind to Jenson at tho presentation of a masque, and never set foot in Ihe Mermaid. Eater, Anthony Hamilton might have been his friend, or with the Karl of Rochester he might have walked up Long Aero to belabour the watch without dirtying the fine lace of his sleeves. In no age would he have been a writer of the study. Ho talked and wrote only to show that ho could write. His writings are mostly vindications of the Ixslicf he had m them while still unwritten. It pleased him to pretend that hie . plays woro written for wagers. Wilde’s Special Quality. Ransorno does not disguise the fact that Wilde was frequently a .plagiarist, but thero is no doubt some truth in lus apology that "Wilde often mounted other men’s jewels so well that they are better in his works than in their own. He wrote with tho pen of Flaubert stones that might have been imagined by Anderson.” But although Flaubert and, perhaps, Baudelaire also, counted tor not ,-a little in the origins of Wildes prose, -there was, says Ransoino, a personal. illusive, but unmistakable quality contributed by Wild© himsolf.’ Uk special genius was for decoration. There is, says Wilde’s latest biographer and critic, a round mellowness of voice, a smooth solidity of suggested movement, a delight in magnificence; and, primarily, a wonderful feeling for decorative effect. This last, is Wilde’s peculiar contribution to literature. His .contribution to thought, his exegesis ot tho critical attitude, is another matter. But this feeling for decoration, that made him see life itself as a tapestry of ordered and beautiful movements caught in gold and dyed silk, that made him incapable of realising that life , was not so, until at hast it became too strong and tore his canvas, was itself enough to prevent the picturesque figure of tho dandy from obliterating the artist in tho minds of posterity. It is scarcely twenty years since Wildo wrote Ills books, and, in poetry as well as in prose, their influence is already becoming so common as not to be recognised. Tho historian of the period will have to trace what ho may call "Tho Decorative Movement in Literature,” to the’works of Wilde, and through them to tho Prc-Eaphaelito pictures and poems, whose ideals ho eo fantastically misrepresents. How to . Advertise a Novel. It is hard in these days to find a new cry for a , new novel. ’The public got a little tired of being told' that every suecossivo story is tho best story that everhas been written. There is an original suggestion,, however. In Mr John Laiio’s bright little literary monthly, “Theßodleian." "Our advertisement manager” it says, "has devised a new scheme for announcing novels which should prove both popular and effective. He means to call one lot ‘Books that will make no one blush’; another, ‘Novels for tho uov-i ice’; a third, ‘Novels for nice people’; a fourth. ‘Volumes for the virtuous’; and a fifth, ‘Literature for the livid.’” A Pen Picture of Dizzy. G; W. E. Russell (author of ‘‘Collections and Recollections')-,- the “Ono who Kept a Diary," is responsible for yet another collection of the amusing estays and sketches which he contributes to the "Manchester Guardian," the "Cornhill Magazine." and other publications. The title of the now volume is "Our Look Backward." Aa usual, there are nomo amusing pen portraits of Victorian celebrities. Here is one* oR Dizzy what time ho had translated himself, as Lord Beaconsfleld, to tho House of Lords: His strango-appearanCe —un-English features, corpse-like'pallor, blackened locks, ami piercing eyes —marked him out as someone quite aloof from the common population of the House . of Lords. When ho sat, silent and inline vablo, on his crimson bench, everyone kept watching him as though they were fascinated. , When ho roso to speak, there was strained and awe-stricken attention. His voico was deep, his utterance slow, his pronunciation rather affected. Ho had said in early life that there were two models of style for the two Houses of Parliament —for tho Commons "Don Junn”: for the Lords "Paradise Lost.” As the- youthful Disraeli, lie had out-Juaned Juan: when, as tho aged Beaconsficld, ho talked of “stamping a deleterious doctrine with tho reprobation of the peers‘of England,” lie approached the dignity of tho Miltonic Satan.

Somersotshlre. Somerset’s a County rare (Haymakers nil in a row), Somerset that undulates Beside the Channel’s' flow; With here and there a hill or two. And hove and there a cove— The hills for happy hunting men, Tho coves for making love. Somerset for churches old With many a tapering spire. And bolls that toll the "Curfew" still At towns throughout the shire; Whore still tho shepherd wears a smock And the maiden “curtseys”, low. Making a I‘chcese” with ample skirt Upon tho floor below. Zummerzct vor zeen’ry vrilr. Of water, wood, and land; Zummerzet where volk do speak Zo volk Can understand: Whore volk are still good honest volk— All open, brave, and vree. Good-hoarted' volk, and simple volk. The same as you and me. —Felix Larkin, in "T.P/s ■Weekly.’” Shelleyana. Among tho eayly books to como from Mr Murray after Easter will be “The Diary of Prances Lady ' Shelley, 178?1817,” edited by her grandson, Richard Edgciuube. Lady Shelley’s journals were written as a private memento of scenes and 'events that deeply impressed her. and without thought of publication; They include intimate glimpses of the Empress Marie Louise, the Duke of Wellington, the Duke and Duchess de Bcrri. tho Countess of Albany, ‘Metternicfr, Cauova. Sir Waiter Scott, whom she visited at Abbotsford, Sir Robert Peel, arid Lord Cnstleieagh. She has much to say also of Shellev. Byron, and Mr Leigh, arid of continental travelling a century ago. Some OasseP Magazines. It is difficult to predict where publishing enterprise will stop when one comes across such an amazing sixpennyworth of reading matter as is provided in Cassell’s new monthly venture.; “CasscU’s Magazine of Fiction and Popular Literature." which (he publishing claim (o be tho largest magazine in the world. The number before mo consists of SCI

pages. Tint contents are chiefly short stories, most of them of a sensational character, and tho number also includes a complete long novel of 30,000 words besides several illustrated articles. The new magazine succeeds the .well known "Cassell’s Magazine," and will no doubt enjoy a Largo circulation. Alessrs Cassells also send me (per &. and W. Mackay) copies of tho April numbers of their popular publications, iho New Magazine” and “Tho Girls Realm. "The Studio.” Art lovers who have been interested in tho exhibition of coloured etchings recently added to the delightful Baillie Collection should noto the aPfivarancc, in the April number Of “Iho Studio, of nu article by jV3nuri.ee C. oulcinitiii, A. New School of Colour Printing fur Artists." Tho illustrations to'the article include reuroductious of colour etchings by W. and Mabel Leo Hankey, examples of two of which aro on view at tho Baillie Exhibition, and a colour print, ‘‘Scarborough,” by Nelson Dawson, an example or which is also in tho now ruinous sli&iL YLr btoildurt Walkerwrites on "The Portraits of Sir George dead,'’ of the 11.5. A.; Max Eisler de«crih»a tho Barhizon school pictures in the Van Randwyk Collection: and that sane and able critic, Selwyn Brinton, deals with tho work of an American sculptor, Daniel Chester Trench. ~ "Studio Talk" this month is specially interesting, including, as it does, letters from Paris, Philadelphia, Berlin, and other art centres. The supplemental plates include specimens of the art of ilie two Lee Hankeys, Nelson Dawson, Robert Little, Charles W. Gere, and Laurence Davis. I may hero note that dining tho last three weeks, whilst wandering round tho Baillie Gallery, 1 have heard, quite frequently, the expression: "Oh, T saw that in the ‘Studio.’ ’ As a matter of fact, most of the Brangwyus (oil, water-colours, and etchings), the Arnesbv Brown, and quite a number of other pictures Mr Baillie has brought out, have been reproduced* hi "The Studio." To anyone who desires to keep in touch with tho modern, shall I say tho latter-day movement in art, not only British, but European, ‘.’The Studio" is an absolute necessity. A New Whietler Book. Thomas R. Way. who was responsible for tho mechanical production of Whistler’s lithographs, and who for years wa* one of tho closest friends of tho brilliant but erratic “Jimmy," has written a volume of "Memories of James McNeill Whistler,” to ho published shortly by John Lane. A Special feature will bo tho reproduction of a number o. the artist’s drawings and etchings hitlKrto unpublished. Icarus—To the Pioneers of Aviation. Oil, dauntless bird-men, -beating through the blue, Bent on your conquering quest of time and space. Glory shall give her golden mouth to you And starry wonders Of a n©w ; born race Shall spring from bliss of your enamoured eyes. And from the deathless flame-song of he. breast! Intrepid children, balonced, grave and wise. ■’ - Controlling energy, with power to rest. To rest, and dream of things beyond desire, Of mysteries through which the Cosmos wrought. To dream of faces dead, and living thought. Whose immortality- of cleansing firm Delivering man from, spells -of ancient Earth, , . ' • Through Death, gave the Ethereal Sci euco birth! —From "Tho Pagan Trinity,” hy Beatrice Irwin (Lane.) A Poem of Sea Technique. Personally, when a writer of sea yarn, gets too technical, I indulgo'in eome judicious “skipping," but it is astonishing how a writer of really good, "sea verse"; call manage'; to' )iM£ri&tßhia readers in what is purely thb sailbrman’s, phraseology. I am reminded of this i fact by reading some verses first published in '•Harper’s Magazine" over forty years ago, and recently republished with a. noto that they were frequently quoted Jjy tho late Clark© Russell as embodying both poetry and true seamanship. The author (Walter Mitchell) ho extolled as “the only poet I ever heard of who could 1 handle a ship without ‘getting her in irons.’ ’’ The verses described in detail, as follows, tho operation of “Tacking Ship Off Shore":

The weather-leech of the topsail shivers, Tho strain and the lee shrouos slacken. The braces are taut, the lithe boom quivers. And tlie waves with the coming sqUallcloud blacken. • - , Open one point on tho weather-bow Is tho lighthouse tall on Fire Islami Head, There’s a shade of doubt on the captain’s brow. And the pilot watches the heaving lead. I stand at tho wheel, arid with eager eye To sea, and to sky and to shore; I gate. Till t' n muttered order of “Full and by!”, Is suddenly changed for "Full for stays!" The ship bends lower before the breeze. And her broadside fair to the blast site lays; And tho swifter springs to the rising seas. As the pilot calls, "Stand by for stays:” It is silence all, as each in his place, With tho gathered coil in his hardened, hands, By tack and bowline, by sheet and brace, Waiting the watchword impatient stands. Arid the light on Fire Island Head draws / near, ' As, trumpet-winged, the pilot’s shout Prom the bowsprit’s heel 1 bear. With tho welcome call ot "Read'! About!” No time to spare. It la touch and go: And the captain growls, "Down helm! Hurd down!" As my weight on the whirling spokes 1 throw While tho heaven grows black With tl - storm-cloud’s frown. Hisrh o'er the knight-bead flies the sprit , As we meet the shook of the plunging And my’shoulder stiff to the wheel I 1 As 1 answer, “Ay, ay, sir! Hri-rilrd ft-Ieel" With tho swerving leap Of a startled steed, The s' ;• os - -el ‘n the eye of the wlria. ThC dangerous ahoalS on the lee recede And I'm headland white wo have left behind. Tho topsails flutter, the jibs Collapse. And belly and tug at the groaning cleats. The spanker slats, and the mainsail flaps; And thunders the order, "Tacks and sheets!" ’Jlid the rattle of blocks and the trainp of the craw. . . . . Hisses the rain of the rushing squall; The sails are aback from clew to clew. And now is the moment for “Mainsail, haul!" And so off shore let the good ship .fly; Little care I how tho gusts may ; blow. In mV bunk. IB ri Jacket dry. Bight belts have Struck, afld iriy write' Is below, Mribergrti Or Ambre-flrls? Wairima Write*; Many, thanks for. your Careful note on Kipling’s rise of the Word "ambergris.” You half, apologise for being wish out Of a dictionary, out you cannot do A country mouse, it better tun than Wheh you unlock for him the treasures Of libraries he may riot himself enter. My- reason for my question was partly that I Wrinted to ©how him hard it ‘is for country teachers ti popularise really good modern work. They are always stuck up by difficulties such as the "ambefgns” present question is a harder oile. What does Locko mean, in “The Glory ot Clementina Wing,” by “ambergris’? I quote p. 813, Gold silk ..gleaming through ambergris net”; p, 345. “ambergris grapes”: “A symphony in ambergris geld and black.” Now tho col-

our of ambergris is so utterly imknown to the ordinary reader, as it is never told retail, that I at first accepted an explanation very kindly furnished mo by Messrs Kirkcaldie and Stains, who say it is a colour-shade recognised in their trade. But on reflection, this docs not go quite far enough. What wholesale firm would ever have named a tint after ambergris? Will you hunt up a very large French dictionary and see whether the real French word is "a mb re gris,” and whether this docs not also mean "cloudy amber," If it does, wo can understand tho whole matter. Kipling meant “cloudy amber”; he knew it was “ambre gris," and carelessly wrote it ambergris." Similarly the french colour shade was ‘‘ambre gris,” and tho English trade translated it “ambergris.” Perhaps also the dictionary may afford some other explanation. Do not rest until you discover whether there is any French word for cloudy amber. It is much, more satisfying to tho eye than the transparent kind, and in my young days I was inordinately prouu of a cigar-holder about three inches long which cost mo 30s. Referring “Wairima’s" letter to Mr Wilson, of tho Parliament Library, that gentleman sends me the following note: Ro ‘‘ambergris’’ and "ambre gris," I think ‘‘Wairima" is right in assuming that Kipling’s “ambergris” was really meant to be ‘‘ambre gris,” that is to say, he was referring to in© colour or shade and not the matter or article, or thing. Littre’s Dictionary gives "ambre—nom donno a deux substances differentes (I’ambro proprement dit, ou ambre gris; matiero concrete, etc.; second, I’amhre jauno ou succin.” But Hatzfeldt’s Dictionary quotes in its exemplicative phrases, ‘T’haLit fashions et d’ambregris sotipoudro" Hubert—Fab. I’lmbit et I’oroiller, and • makes allusion to ambre gris as ‘‘couleur do cendre.” I think thero can be little doubt that both Kipling and Locke were referring to a colour or a shade and ilot a material. Some years ago, it may interest "Wairima" and "Liber” (o know, a fisherman at Port Aijuriri, Napier, brought me (when 1 was editing the Napier "Evening News") a small bit or particle of what ho said some local scientific authority had pronounced to he ambergris. It was of a spongy, gelatinous nature, a dirty cioncicd* grey in colour, and smelt—oil, it did smell! My fisherman visitor / had heard it was worth .£lO0 —or there-abouts—-an ounce, and dreamt, no doubt, of unlimited beer. Ho left the office to send the sample to tho Marine Department, and 1 never saw him again. The Wild, Wild West. Mr Roger Pocock, the author of “JeSse of Cariboo," has written more than ono exerting story of life in the far west of Canada. His latest novel stonild please his old admirers and make him many new friends. Jesse Smith is a Labrador lad by birth.' and before ho finds his way to far away Cariboo, onem famous as a Canadian goldfield, but now a stock-raising legion, had supped full of adventure in the Atlantic fisheries and on a Texas rauche. A giant in statue, a child in simplicity, no is entrapped into marriage with a vile "dance house" creature, whose death is false.y reported to him. The scene changes td Cariboo, where, after a time, tne nardy, rougn-spokeii, but goldeu-hearted pioneer marries again, tills time a singer from ■Europe, tkion, however, the wretched Polly- turns up; and makes Smith's Trio a perfect heif. How tho. story em.s would bo unfair to Mr Pocock to say. it Is a story packed full ot ‘ exciting incident; indeed, almost too liberally provided with sensations, . The fact, too. that tho narrative is divided between two or three persons is a trilling baffling at times. But the vigour of tho yarn is decidedly fascinating, “LIBER'S”: .NOTE-BOOK, -"T- ; A “Life of Sir Charles Dilko,” edited by his niece. Miss Gertrude Titckweii, will bo published shortly. HcincmahU is publishing a new life Oi Nietzscae, written by his .*■■■,-ter, Frail i'oerstei-riietzselie. The work is translated from tlie original by Mr Ludbvitl, wnoflo ‘ Spirit of Nlctzscuc” hits hud a Large ettle.

■ : Two plays by llip llussiap -'ildveliit-- ' dramatist, i'cliourfi, "The'.sea. dull" ftlid “The Cherry Urcmml," ImVc IjWu puclishcd by Grant Jadnmls. Michael McCarthy, whose “I,’ricsts alid i'oople in Ireland' had eo large a sale, has written a new wink, -iJU! - Nonconformist Treason, or'tho Sale of tho llmjf* aid isle’' (BiackWood, lis.) Those who can read Trench should rune toe fact that Victor .Hugo's "i'enilles d’Automne” and “Bes Chants dn Cihpusouio” are now published by Ac Isons at a shilling each. A complete edition, in- an Englisa translation (by Mrs Garnett), of Dosloevsicy's novels is announced by ileineInans, whose admirable edition of -Xnrgciiiev, by tho same translator, will lie remembered. The hist volume is “Tho Brothers Karaimijsow." Speaking tor mygeif, these Russian novelists are alvugether 100 dreary and analytical. Thera is a vogue lot them just now, but outside Turgoniev, who is a classic, there is little in Russian fiction wot thy of permanent preservation. Another work called forth by the Asquitn-ltedmond Bill is “Homo Halt—homo Rule? No!”■ by Joseph Booking. Art is the order of tho day in Wellington just now, and although it were impossible that Mr Baiuie snould have hiougut us out a ivestcUi for tno solfection committee to squaublo over, it id good tor art lovers, to have an opportunity, ill the April “ Windsor“ (V,aid, Lock, per S. and \V. Mackay), of eebiug eomo very beautiful reproductions of tho best Works of the talented, if eccentric, podt-ariist who painted “Dante s Dieam” aud “Tne Blessed Damozel." Mr Aiibinx Chester's article on Rossetti is inioriualive and agreeably written, and tho illustrations are numerous and well ie* piotluced. Short stories are contributed by S. Macnaughten, Fred M. White, .Edgar Wallace, Ohalies Marriott, and others, and an article, by S. L. Ben* susan, on “London’s Musical Season," should not bo overlooked. ‘'G.K.S.,” In hie always readable "Litefafy Letter” in “The Sphere," has been holiday-making on tho Continent. He returned with tho opifiion that “Charles Gatvice is tho, most popular English author bn the Continent, and that Continental theatre audiences only know one modern, English character in fiotion*Shefloek Holmes." HoW Well Stevenson _ maintains his popularity With readers is proVed by the tact that all the 2000 sets Of the hew “Swahstoii” edition (25 Volumes at 6s each) Wefc disposed of “to the trade” before publication. The “Edinburgh 1 ' edition is ndW worth, about -650 lb ,£6O; and the “Pedtlftnd" (Cassells, ill 24 volumes at 12 guineas) is now priced, about 17 tb 18 guineas. . About twenty-two yeats ago Mr John Balllie, ixOW Of picthre gallery fame, but then a partner in the. firm Of Baiilie Bros., Cuba street, tried hard td get lae to .subscribe to the “Edinburgh Stevenson." The enterprising Mr Baiilie, always then in matters literary, as he is now in matters artistic, quick to pick a "good thing," had ordered a set. I bfclieye a Sydney bookseller .secured it, 1 wish I had. The "Swanstoh Edition’* is now quoted at frOm ,£2 to JS& premium on. the original value. . Three or four Sets have bCen sold in Wellington. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. , T. Watson (Feildiug).—Too late this week. Will publish nest Saturday.