LITERARY NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13811, 26 January 1907, Page 4

LITERARY NOTES

— Princess Henry of Kattonlier" ha* written an account of the Isle of 'Wight. — A fifteenth-century Book of Hours hV, been sold at Sotheby's for £545. A copy of> Chapman's translation of Homer's Iliail (IS9B)_ brought. £2H. — Dr Horatio F. Brown, who has a translation of -Malnionti's "History of Venice" coming out almost immediately with Mr Murray, has had a curious experience c f losing: Jio fewer than four of the manuscripts of his books by fire.

— The city of Berlin has inherited from the lately deceased bookdealer, Gohn, a valuable Sluikespeare bibliography, which, however, is si ill fragmentary-, ' although Cohi, iiad sirai the titles of more than 30,000 books and articles. The authorities oF tho city have, determined to complete this list, and the managers of the city libraries at a late meeting made arrangements with the indefatijiaiiie Herman Shakespeare Society to ha.ve. the work done. According to the New York .Nation, 10 t.r 12 years' work will probably bo recjitircd for this task.

— ''The woman of tho house reads for half an hour after the midday meal, and for 20 minutes after supper. The daughter of the house devours tho serial and tlie. fashion articles, in wimo myetcrioiw way, before noon, ami the rest of tho da-y. when she, is not at work, she spends in, eating, giggling, dressing, doing lier hair, ami flirt ing. Whenever she has sixpence to spare, or lief young wan has a. (shilling to spare, she prances off to the theatre." It is rather childish of Mr Hall (.'■Kinn io μ-rumblo becau.se tho sale of novels is not in proporiiuu i<> tho inhabitants of ihc T'.rilish Isles. If j| were in |in>portinn, noveli.-is would become sn horribly rii-li iliat there would lie no hearing with them As ir is. T note that some of them am inclined to crowd on rather more "siilo" than they can carry with dignity.—Kcblo Howard. ii\ ilio fikcleh.

-Mr C. K. Shorter, in the Sphere, niakoe the sensible mitgesiion ib.it young students of literature should make ?, hobby of ono or tv,'o subjects, or of oiio or two iwKoiioliiii'i, Iμ imaginative and critical iitnrafurf , : '.Tor example, lie should try to acquire every book dealing with a. special author as, lor example. Swift or Goldsmith, Har.liit or Leigh Hunt, some writer with whom thori aro certain difficulties in the task of collecting but not necessarily any vovy pronounced extravagance of'outlay." Tho same with history; it is worlh. while ma-kinjr a collection of books about ona man—Washington or Nelson, ■Wellington or Napoleon, or I might nalne a hundred other heroes. There is always oonsklerablc excitement in the quest, and Micro are few hooks that cannot by patient watching bo acquired for a, few shillings although in tho lordly catalogues of certain secondhand booksellers their value is estimated in pounds." -rln his introduction to "The Christma-) Carol" Mr Hall Caino remarks:"Thero is an aspect of tlic genius of Dickens which cannot lie overlooked in a book containing , ' The Christmas .Carol '— the attitude of his mind towards Christinas. Among those who have felt how great is the value to humanity of the festivals that unite mankind, and how incalculable is the benefit of that day which celebrates the greatest event that over happened in t|io world, Dickens stands first- as tho exponent of the generous emotions that for the moment make all men kin. I try in vain to think pf any possible additioli to'the ecnlimcnt of charity and brotherhood which his genius gathered round Christmas. In this way, as in oilier ways, '10 spoke out of his own heart, to tho hearts of his fellowraen. Though his eoul had 1 known son-owe (especially tho elepp and abiding sorrow of childhood), it was never tired of showing that dark as life might bo tho sun shone sometimes, and never so brightly as at Chrietnws. Therefore, it is among tho beautiful books of Hie worldthere are few or none more beautiful than a book like this, which tells Ihe rich that jn tile midst of their plenty they must' not not forget the poor." — Mwsrs Hodgson, of Chancery Lane (says T.r.'s Weekly), were luoky enough to find two yoare ago among a heap of garde g books a-frasmcut of Caxton's "The llirrour of i| ie World." It was included in a. bundk- of old papers bought for a few ponce, and was told at auction' to Mr Quariicn for £100. Messrs Hodgson Jiavo now minlo an additional iind, in iho shape 01 a volume / eoiilainimf thro works printed by William Caxlon. The works era "The Hnyal Book or Book- for a King," "The Bool; of Hood Manners, ' 1487, and "The Doctrinal of Sapience,' HB9. All threo are imprlcct, tho pa-uea of tne first and third having boon torn out. apparently for with ruthlcfa stupidity, in view of tiie fact that each page is worth several pounds. Tho second, "Tho Book of Good Manners," however, wjvs in vho middle oi' tho volume, and retains 60 out oi Us original 66 pages. Aβ far as is_ known, only three other copies of Ibis book aro in existence, one being ft Lambeth Palace, a second at Cambridge, and iho third in the- Kojat Palace at Copenhagen. '■ 'i'iioro is an additional interest attached io tiic present discover { n thft fact that tho binding is contemporary, pro. Imblyjho work of Caxton or his assistants. — Wordsworth penetrated into depths of tho human soul which no man of scicneo oE his sge could glumb, and with an incomparable insight which few of his critics even now appreciate. He did nor, perhaps, throw any new light, on tho question of. it future existence, hut ho illuminated one of the most obscure matter of psychology, and his point of view, moreover, has been adopted by many of the advanced psychologists of tlip inoderu school. Ur Stanley Hall, for instance, who scorns to bo ignorant of his work, has recently developed in a ipmarkablo study of "Addles, cenco" tho main idea, of the "Ode on Intimations of Immortality." Men ore only dwarfs (-landing on tho shoulders of their former solves. Children aro the real intellectual giants.

Not in entire forgetiulucas, And not in irtter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do wo come into the world. Our individual soul' ; 5 then informed by tho orer-soul of the race, and in Hβ subliminal regions there abiile those! recollections of prior states of ■existence,

Which, be (hoy vhrf they may, Are yet the fountain light of all our day, Are yet the master light of all our being. —Aeadenjy. ~ It is only some fivo years since one of. Mr Hiichens's most friendly critics expressed a fear that his "brilliant and erratic productions could not be placed in hue with thu best contemporary novels, and tllis critic, after juslifyiuit lu's opinion, expressed a doubt whether Mr Hitchens, after writing well on many subjects, would ever writo supremely well on one. But. after tho publication of "The Prophet, ol JJorkeley Square" a groat change canw over ilr Hitclicns's works. >.u Mi he gave us "Felix," in Ml "The Woman with the Pan," and in 1905 "Tlio Ebck Spaniel,' another collection of short stories, and "The Garden of Allah." Two of tlief-o-Ji'elix' und "Tho Garden of Allah"-ra.nl as probably the beet books of their respee- £ vo ,, y ?? r ? ! and Woman \yith the J-'an, if it does not qujtc como up to tlm sanio standartl. may still rank "with' tho besj; contemporary novels." ,It is ivith these last productions in mind that we approach Mr Hitclicns's latet wor£ "The Ull of the Blood," and to place it relative y to liis other lxwks. In diction and in lho foreo of its T/ritinjr it is certainly ,<s good as—perbaps better than—anything !i a has done before; but it has not "quite, thj dramatio -interest of "The Garden of A!kih,"or tho varied attractions of "Felix." —Literary World. -Wo can well believe, (says tho Field) that tho book !,y Mr 11. (J. Wells. "Tho Future in America" (Chapman and Hall, price 10s 6d) will Iw very seriously read ny the people of the United States, and by tho many Englishmen who wonder about! tlio destiny of the Great fteptiblic, Tim distinguished author of "The War of ilm Worlds" hero comes out of tho air arid goes to America in a eoaroli after realities. Uβ gives w. ;i philosophic elatemcnt of conclusions after-observations, and a calm suggestion of potentialities. • He cannot indulge in a direct forecast, but evidently believes that the energies and brains nottf so much devoted to a vulgar and some.times unscrupulous race for personal wealt! will by-aml-hye he engaged, in the nobles service of lho Stole. fu a recent novel Mr Harold JSindW drew a graphic picture of the arrival of hosts of immigrants ir.to one depot. Air Wells, in his masterly chapter on the subject of Immigration, shows that this year the influx of foreigners overtops the total of births of nativfl American parenU' children, and will considerably exceed a million persons. In one week 50.000 carno into the one port of New York. 'There i:; a chapter. "Two Studies in Disappointment," that *s nothing lese than a criminal indictment against the lying system of the American press. Another evil full of menace for the future is discussed in the chapter "The Tragedy of Colour."