LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13859, 23 March 1907, Page 13

LITERATURE.

special Reviews, and .'Gleanings from Various Sources,

Mrm r hundred sleepless . MGHTS,' < \ A NEW EDITION- OF A GLORIOUS V BOOK. -, It is related tif Thomas de QiSincey that, when a child, his reading was varied,,and ranged from the Bible to " ; Tlie Arabian Nights," and this experience'was common enliugh liinongst (lie boys and girls of the fir® half of the Nineteenth Century. The complaint is' often heard that the children of to-day hick tlio imagination .which alone can! render' fairy tales ami modern books palatable (ind attractive.. ltacognising the lorce of tlio complaint, wo hail as tlm 3-ight; sort of remedy this new edition of " The'. Arabian Nights Entertainments," whicli Altars (leorgo lldl and Sons havo just Ridded to their -Bolm's Standard Library. In Baldwin's "Book Lover" (published by Putnrans) there-is an interesting chapter 011 " Books for Children to lk-ud," in which the. following occurs: — Very early in child life mines the period of ,1 belief in fairies, and the reading of fairy stories is, to children, n very pfoper, nay, a very necessary thing. 1 pity the boy or girl who must grow up without having made intimate acquaintanco with "Mother Gome," and the delightful stories of "Little lied Hiding Hood" and "Cinderella," and those other strange tales as old as tlio • raee itself, and yet new to every succeeding generation. They are a part of the, inheritance of tlie Lnglish-speakiii"' people, and belong* as a kind of birthright to "every intelligent child. As your little reader advances in knowledge and reading ability, he should bo. treated to stronger food. Grimm's •'Household' Stories" and tlio delightful " Wonder Stories" of Hans Christian Andersen, should form part of tlio library of every child, as lie passes through the " fairy story" period of his life; nor can wc well omit- to give him Alice'!/ "Adventures in Wonderland" and Charles Kingsley's "Water Babies." And now or later, as circuin--stances shall dictate, we may introduce -him to that prince of all wonder bo'oks The Arabian Nights Entertainments," an edition carefully adapted to children's reading. The tales related in this hook "are not ours by birth, but they have nevertheless taken their place -amongst the similar things of our own which constitute the national inheritance. Altogether it is a glorious book, and ono to which we cannot well show

enough of respect." The, edition now before us is from 'the translation mado by William Edward Lane, the lirst complete translation and perhaps tho most scholarly, of "The Arabian Nights," made direct from the Arabic into Ejiglislii and lirst. published in 1839-11, In his preface the editor (Mr' Stanley Lane-Poolo) pints out that "Lane's translation is 'intended for the general public of both sexes, and it was absolutely necessary to Excise a number of words, phrases, and passages on the score of decency. Even, a few complete' tales.:had to be omitted, because they could not be purified without . destruction. The 'Arabian Niglits' is not u prurient book, but. in the original it often frankly describes things that lye/do not talk about', mid'it was inevitable that it must be citrefully cleansed of such details if it were to be placcd in everyone's hands." Considering tho extraordinary popularity enjoyed-by "The Arabian Nights" during the last two centuries, contributed to by adult, readers and children alike, it is remarkable that so little is known concerning tho origin and history of the book. The earliest mention of what is believed to bo the " archetype " of the " Thousand and Ono Nights" was discovered by tjie learned Von Hammer in the ehronie'e* of a ■well known Arabian historian writing about the year 945. This author, whose names are (no long to rehearse, in a casual referonce (of which ho can little have foreseen the-importance), to certain current stories of the time, remarks that educated peoplo looked upon them as mere inventions, "liko the, Thousand Fanciful Talcs." The argument in favour of these " Fanciful Tales" being considered as synonomous with the "•Nights" is elaborated in the critical revlow appended to the fourth volume of this new edition.

The earliest history of Arabian literature (about. 987 a.d.); assigns die "Fanciful Tales," wliicli wis regarded in the Tenth Century as a " corrupted collection of silly (literally cold or tame) narratives" to a Persian origin. An Arabian version existed as early as the twelfth or thirteenth century, and it seems to be agreed upon that the work, as we know it, is an Arabic compilation, made and augmented at- various (lutes, Jrom.perhaps tho tenth or eleventh, up to tho sixteenth century, and chiefly in Egypt: for while the famo of Haroun K1 Rasqhid, to whose reign most, of the stories purport, lo refer, extended from Bagdad. All the 3ISS. contain frequent and exact descriptions of Cairo. Jn a ■word, the "Thousand ai|d One Nights"'.is, so modern commentators tell us, "as much an Arabian work as Virgil's ' .■Kneid' is a Latin." '.flieir original source of sources it is in moat cases impossible now to discover 'or disentangle. Tho task might literally in judicious—that is in sufficiently learned—hands " extend from here to Mesopotamia," and embrace, as Von Hammer remarks, oven Homer himself in an early lyric version, lint - then Iloincr, we know, in spito of Mr Andrew Lang, was himself probably "put together" from earlier materials-in "the eighth century h.c., and ■\\'lu> really wrote him no one rfcally knows. How far then must, tho wearied student look backward for finality? Scarcely, it SBoms, shall lie find it in the grand simplicity and primeval calm of a Vedic hymn.

But tq take up the matter of the "Arabian Nights" from its other chronological end, no existing text is known to be earlier than 1518, the date which clinweil to be inscribed upon the imperfect MSS. from which Galland worked, which'MSS.. by tire way, does not contain 11 of the most famous of the tales, including " Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" ai|d " Ali Baba. and the Forty Thieves." It, was never discovered until quite recently, after nearly two centuries of'douilt, wonder, and suspicion, where Galland had obtained these; anil all that we know now. from an entry (March 25, 1709) iu the translator's journal unearthed in 1888, in the Bibliotheijue Nationals, is that lie derived the 11 tales from one "Hanna,"'a Maronitc of Aleppo, who is thought to have Orientalised European folk-tales. ; The delightful French version of Gallaud was the source of all the earlier English translations, amongst which the most popular has always been that of Jonathan Scott, LL.I)., originally published ill 1811. But Lane's Knglish version has largely taken the place of Scolt's, especially iii view of the tremendous dimensions of the great Burton translation, II has been said that Uurton's ton volumes of the "Nights," with six volumes of supplement comprising extraordinarily frank notes and dissertations, recall too realistically the original conception of ,an endless serial which never stopped even with a Christmas number. As one writer wittily puts it: "Halfhours of light fiction pass very well, but who can face 'Ten Hundred Sleepless Nidits' with the best authors!" There can be little doubt that Burton's audaciously literal translation of the " Arabian lights," published in 1885-8, has done much to discredit the hook in many circles, although the price was so high as to- place it beyond the reach of the average man. A now but abridged edition in twelve volumes at £6 6s .was subsequently announced, and Lady linvton, after her husband's death, issued an expurgatedi edition, The circumstances which caused Sir Richard Burton to engage upon his task are capitally summarised in an article in the Bookman for

-May of last year. Burton, at the nge of 50, was dismissed from the Consulship at Damascus. Some, years earlier, while at. Scind, at the request of Sir Charles Napier, lie undertook a secret inquiry into certain vicious practices of the inhabitants of Karachi. As a result of his investigation Burton collected much nil-i----ons lore, but he misused his material. In later days it led to his famous, or .infamous, annotations to the 5 ".Arabian Nights," and to a melancholy waste of energy over the " Scented Garden." The immediate consequence, however, was that liurton became, the object of suspicion, and, his dismissal from the Consulate soon following, he was almost penniless. The Government cam;* to the rescue with an offer of the Consulate at- Trieste. The pay was only £700 a year, hut it was accepted. It was then that Sir-Richard liurton found leisure, to carry out a. project which lie had entertained for many years—an ample and unexpurgatcd translation of the "Thousand" and One Nights." Mr .John Payne had forestalled him, but while he admired Mr Payne's work, lie considered that much ground" Mas left to be covered, and that none could cover it but himself, The second translation possessed a wealth of notes, Mito which linrlon poured his full store of curious knowledge. Whether those notes were a blessing 01- curse to humanity is a nice point- for discussion between' the scholar and tlis moralist. The pecuniary result was all the author could wish. Money poured'into his pockets as it had novcr poured before. ]|« was- relieved of all anxiety regarding .ways and means, 'The scholar and explorer, who bad sought fame and fortune in four continents, .struggled for them will: all the strength of his strong nature, and won them riot, produced a book wherein much wit and wisdom were mingled with an intolerable deal of tilth, and Immediately received dazzlim; assurances that at last be had given (lie world something it wanted— something it was willing to pay for. Well might the ironies chuckle!

This, it may be objected, is a Pliilistinisli way of stating the case. Tho apologists urge that Burton was rapt in a scholarly enthusiasm. Having knowledge which 110 other Englishman possessed, he felt it must not- dje with him. Somehow it should be set down in imiperishablo print. Other opportunities had failed; this last could not 1,6 let slip. From the good motive lie took of it. From the good motive flso lie sold his book at a prohibitive price, jn order that scholars, and scholars fllone, should have access to it. True! Burton was a scholar. 'Ho had deluded himself into the belief that this peculiar branch of learning was of inestimable value. lie had previously endeavoured to' make other men as wise as himself. But lie had not omitted to notice that "curious" literature had a high market value, nor was he so innocent as to suppose that only scholars could and would afford the guineas asked' for tho volumes. The man who writes a book unfitted for the vulgar eye and publishes it at a big price in. order that only scholars shall read It, either ignores the fact that scholars arc not invariably millionaires, or forgets that there are millionaires who are not scholars. That Burton regarded the transaction like a man of the world becomes apparent from Ills letters—rather nauseous letters,—-in which he gloats over the largo demand , fcr tlie "Nights" among femininereaders. Ilis conviction was that ''all the women in England will read it, and half the men will cut me." When that, portion of tlie British public which coold and cared to pay tho money for the "Nights" had shown its appreciation of his learning, Burton was encouraged to deal with other -works in similar fashion. No bound could now be set- to his scholarly and money-making energy.' He worked laboriously, grudging the time for meals; and it is an old story that, after his death, the manuscript of'his "Catullus" and "Scented Garden" proved too strong even for the taste of Lady Burton; inured, as she must have been, to the discussion of csoteric indecencies, and were solemnly burnt, by her in sacrifice to the proprieties.

Yet no one has recognised the inherent cliann of the " Thousand and One Nights," and voiced the popular opinion in more vivid fashion than has Sir Thomas Wright in his "Life of Pir Richard Burton," as witness this finciyworded eulogy:— « Did ever tale-teller compare with Shahrazad? Who does not sympathise with the trader who killed the invisible son of the jinni? Who has dreamt of the poor fishcrmnn and the pot that was covered with the seal of King Solomon? The story of Dubaii, who cured King Yumnn of leprosy and was sent home on the royal steed, reads like a verse out of Esther, and may remind us that thcro is no better way of understanding tho historical portions of the Bible than by studying "The Arabian Nights." King Yu'maii richly deserved the death that- overtook him, if only for his dirty habit of wetting his thumb when turning over the leaves of the Bool;. What a rare talc is that of the Ensorcslled Prince, alias The Young King of the Black Isles, who. though he sat in a palace where fountains limbccked water "clear as pearls and diaphanous gems." and wore "silken stuff purllcd with Egyptian gold," was, from his midriff downwards, not man. but marble? Who is not shocked at the behaviour of the Three Ladies of Baghdad? In what (earful peril the caliph and the Kalendars placed themselves, when, in spite of warning, they would ask questions? How delightful are the. verses of the "Nights," whether they have or have not any bearing upon the text? Says the third Kaleudar, apropos of nothing: How many a weal trips on the heels of ill,' Causing the mourner's heart with joy to thrill. What an army of figures—bountiful, revolting, sly, fatuous, witty, bravo, pusillanimous, mean, generous—meets the eye as we recall one by rue tlcsc famous stories: beautiful and amorous, but mercurial, ladies with henna-scented feet and black eves—often with a suspicion of .kohl, and more than a suspicion of Abu Murreli in tliein,—peeping cautiously through the close palosies of some lattice: love-sick princes overcoining all obstacles: executioners witb blood-dripping scimitars: princesses of blinding beauty and pensive tpiidoruiss, who playfully knock out the* "jawteeth " of their eunuchs while " the thousand-voiced bird in the coppice sings clear"; hideous genii, whether'"of tho amiable or the vindictive Hjrt, making their appearance in unexpected moments; pious beasts—nay, the very hills—praising Allah and glorifying his vice?regent: gullible saints." giitcd scoundrels; learned men with camel loads of dictionaries and classic thieves with camel loads of plunder: warriors, necromancers, masculine women, feminine men, ghouls, lutists, negroes, court poets, wags— jtlie central figure being the but truculent Haroun Al ftascliid.

Tlio foreging dearlv'demonstrates tlie value of tlio present edition, which, while preserving all tlio essential features <-i tlie original, omits only tlie objectionable. In tlio original preface to his translation, Lane remarks:—"T have thought it. right to omit such tales, anecdotes, etc.. as are comparatively .uninteresting, or on any account objectionable. In other words, I insert nothing tlv.it ' deem greatly interior ill interest to tlie tales in the old version. Certain passages which, in the original work, are- of an objectionable nature I liavu slightly varied; but in doing (Ms 1 liaye been particularly careful to reniL'r ibein so as to tie perfectly agreeable with Aval) milliners and customs." Resides the tales themselves, there are numerous anecdotes interspersed among tlie longer stories, some of which i)re decidfdly nauseous. Lane wisely omitted nearly half of them. Altogether bis translation contains about two-thirds of the complete text from which lie worked, and by fav the best part of tlio "Arabaiu Nights.''

Gallatul, the earliest- translator of the "Nights,", omitted .1 third more tnan Lane did. and it is probable that the Frenchman's line literary instinct- guide;! him more surely, and'that Lane cried, rather an the side of redundance I ban <if reduction Some characteristics of this edition are thus referred to by the editor towards the close of his interesting preface This edition faithfully reproduces the text of the edition of 1859. which was laboriously collated, even to a comma, by my fat her, .Kdward Stanley Poole, with Lane's own annotated copy of tne first- edition, Beyond vciy careful collation, my father added, only, a few brief notes, chiefly historical, to his uncle's work. Part- of his preface, which was based.up Lino's original preface, is incorporated iu brackets'in the review at the end of Volume IV, where the sources and history of the " Tliousund-and-Onn Nights" are considered. Later "0searches have contributed something to our knowledge of the sources, but very little to the clearing up of the history'; but such new lights as arc thrown upon' the subject- are referred to iu my additions to the Review. Two stories not included iu Line's translation, because they were not in his Arabic tat, arc appended to this edition, in deference more, to their universal popularity, than to any title to belong to the book -of the "Thousand-and-One Nights." They uceur in no manuscript or printed text of the collected tales, and though 11. Zotenbcrg discovered an Arabian MS. of "Ala-ed-din," 110 one has yet lighted upon the original of Oal'.and's famous story of "The Forty Thieves." There are many other talcs which have as much, or as little, right to be. regarded as part of the "Nights," and which are published in-various texts and translations; but it is generally understood that without "Aladdin" and "AH liaba" the "Arabian Nights" must be held incomplete.

Quite apart from the literary history it voltmio might easily !>e written on "the origin of the " Thousand-and-One Nights." anil their parallels in Eastern .ami folk lore. Many of them aro as old as tlio hills and as. widespread as tho seas. Mr Jacobs, who is a master of the subject., suvs that ninety-four variants of the story of the fisherman and tho jinni have been collected by Dr Krone. In a most interesting work," repeatedly cited by Lano (Remarks on the "Arabian Nights,'' tlie origin'-of "Sinbad's Voyages," etc., by Richard Hole, LL,B., Cadell, 1797) the relation of Sinbad's adventures to the actual experiences recorded by European and Oriental explorers in India, China, and Japan, and to the professed fictions of earlier classic writers is discussed with considerable learning. Sinbad is of course frequently in accord with Marco Polo and other travellers. Luciiin, in. the second century, had already produced a rival to the "Roc," as bit? as seven vultures! Tho Old Man of the Sea is really a well ascertained Omaiig-Outang; and Benjamin of Tndela, who travelled late in tho twelfth century, either borrowed from or furnished to Sinbad his method of escaping by the assistance of an eagle from the Valley of Diamonds.

Wo welcome Messrs Bell and Rons' latest edition of "The Arabian Nights." The text is unobjectionable, whilst the scholarship is perfect, preface, notes, reviews, and index being all complete and of a- high order. The one defect in tho edition is the lack of illustrations, and it is a pity that the publishers could not ?eo theii' way to include a set of, pictures such as those by Stanley Wood, which beautify the dainty edition of tlie " Nights," published by Dent, and Co. This by the way, however. We trust, that this edition will do much to popularise a delightful and glorious book amongst tlm rising generation of New ZeaJanders. No home is complete without a copy accessible to every member of the family. For, to conclude with an eulogy by an authority on the subject: "Embedded in its stories we find all the mysterious supernaturalism of India, ail the vivid and picturesque social life of China, all the learning and culture of Persia, all the unknown terrors and nameless dread attaching in the dark and Medieval Ages to Africa. The book has : given delight to countless millions in days gone by, audits p'.easure-giving attributes seem ever on the increase. May the sun of its popularity never sot."

•BROWSINGS IN BOOKLAND

By Constant Rbadeh. I have been considering the domestic servant problem, moved thereto by the telegram from Mcllioumo relating the latest Golution in" tlie shape of the house boys and house men who are usurping tho place so long cccupicd by tho " general" and the "lady help.", A feeling of irresistible melancholy steals over me as I contemplate the passing one by one of time-honoured British customs. The omnibus has given way before the motor 'bus, and sqon, alas! there will he 110 more "Mary Anne." The advent of the taximeter and tho motor cab must inevitably mean, so far as Loudon is concerned, tho downfall of the omnibus—a change which regretfully recalls that Table Talk paragraph of Charles Lamb's treating of "Omnibuses and Optimism": — Amidst the complaints of the wide spread of infidelity among us, it is consolatory that, a sect is sprung up in the heart of the metropolis, and is diiily on the increase, of teachers of that healing doctrine which Pope upheld, and against which Voltaire directed his envenomed wit. We mean those practical preachers of optimism, or the belief that whatever is is best —the Cads of Omnibusses, who, from their little backpulpits, not once in throe or four hours, as those Proclaimcrs of " God and His prophet'' in Mussulman countries, but every minute, at the entry or exit of it brief passenger, arc beard, in an almost prophetic tone, to exclaim (Wisdom crying out, as it were, in the street's) "All's right." But tho disappearance from the scene of the domestic servant is infinitely more serious than the passing of the omnibus; for though tho London 'bus driver is a (historic character, yet he does not affect the life of the nation to the same extent as does the domestic servant. And at first blush it seems impossible that a race of beings who have become part and parcel of our existence, so-to speak, should bo superseded by bouse bovs and house men. It may be objected that a perfect servant is seldom to be found, but, on the other band, when she is perfect, she is aii indispensable treasure. : Listen to what George Gissing has to say oil tho subject in " The Private Papers of Henry Kyecroft." : — My house is perfect. By great good fart lino I have found a housekeeper no ■less to my mind, n low-voiced, lightfooted woman of discreet age,, strong and (teft enough to vender mo all the service 1 require, and not. afraid of solitude. She rises very early. By my bi'eakfast time there remains little to be done under the roof save, dressing of meals. Very rarely do I hear even a clink of crockery : never the closing of a door or window. Oh, blessed silence!

Gissing too, gets at the crux of the servant girl problem, and his conclusions may well bo studied by politicians and people who. fancy that the passing of so many standards and the preparing for so many examinations is education enough for the girls of to-day.. Gissing remarks that lie was accustomed to judge the worth of a person by his intellectual power and attainment; but lie came to distinguish between two forms of intelligence—that of

Hie brain and tli.it of the heart—until at length lie regarded the second as by far the more important. [ guard n'lvselt against saying lliat intelligence does not matter; the fool is ever as noxious as ho is wearisome. Vet assuredly the -bestpeople 1 have known were saved from folly, not by the intellect, hut. by tho heart. They eome before us, and 'I see them greatly ignorant, strongly prejudiced, capable of the absurdest misreasoning; jet their facts sfiiiio witli the supreme virtues, kindness, sweetness, modesty, generosity. Possessing these qualities. I hey at the same time inulijistand how to use them ; they have the intelligence of tho heart. And then Gissing again makes relereucc to his housekeeper: — This poor woman who labours for me in my house is even such a one. From the firstl thought Iter :in unusually good servant; after three years of acquaintance "1 find her one .of the few women who merit the term excellent. Sin; can read and write—that- is all. Mure instruction would, I am sure, have harmed her, for it would have confused her natural moiives without supplying any clear ray of mental guidance. ' She is fulfilling I he offices for which slm was born, ami that wit 1* a grace of contentment. a joy of conscientiousness, which puts her high among civilised beings. Her delight, is in order and peace. What greater praise can be given to any of iiie children of .men? The other day she I old me a story of the days gone by. Her mother, at the age of twelve, went into dbmcstie service, but. on what conditions, think you? 'Die girl's lather, an honest labouring mail, paid the person whoso house she entered one shilling a. wee); for her instruction in the duties she wished to undertake. What- a grinning, stare would come to the face of any labourer nowadays who should he asked to do tlie like! Ino longer wonder that my housekeeper so little resembles the average of lier kind.

Gissing brings out yet, another aspect of the character of this wonderful housekeeper of his; iiiul it- is worth quoting for two reaons: first as a side light upon the practical utility of Sabbath observance, and secondly as evidence of the prominent part winch domestic. servants play in the affairs of the world. Ho starts by saying thai 011 Sundays he icomes down later than usual and- makes a. change of dress, " for it is fitting that the day of spiritual rest should lay aside the liviry'of the laborious week." An argument for the use of Sunday clothes which I do not remember having yeon advanced elsewhere. "For me, indeed," Kissing admits, "there is no labour at any time, but nevertheless does Sunday bring mo repose. I share in the common tranquillity ; my thought escapes tlio work-inlay world more completely than 011 other dtiys." Then lie proceeds to show how, in a house which at all times is well-nigh soundless, and. wherein a Sunday quiet would appear an impossibility yet each recurring Sunday marks the difference, subtly yet decidedly: — My housekeeper comes into the room with her Sunday smile; she is happier for the day, and the sight of her happiness gives 1110 pleasure. She speaks, if possible, in it softer voice; she wears 11 garment which reminds me there is only the lightest and cleanest housework to bo done. She will go to church morning and evening, and T. know she is better for it. During her absence, I sometimes look into rooms which 011 other days I never enter: it is merely to gladden my eyes with the shining cleanliness, the perfect order I am sure to find in the good woman's domain. Nut for that spotless and sweet-smelling kitchen, what would it avail me to range my books and hang my pictures? Alt the tranquillity of my life depends upon the honest care of this woman, who lives and works unseen. And lam sure that (lie money T pay her :'s the least part of her reward. She is such an oldfashioned. person,' thai; tho mere discharge of what she deems a duty is in itself an end to her, ane'i the work of her hands in itself a satisfaction, alike.

Still it lias sadly to be admitted' that paragons of the quality of Gissing's housekeeper are fen - and far between; the average domestic of to-day is of quite another order. Indeed, in many respects, there is little difference between the maid servant of tho twentieth century and the maid servant of the first half of the nineteenth century as pictured by Leigh Hunt. . Allowing for tho change of fashion—for the maid servant is always ill the fashion,—Hunt's picture of (lie outward semblance of the servant would 1 pass muster to-day:— ' The maid servant in her apparel is eitliei' slovenly and fine by turns, and dirty always; or slm is at all times neat and tidy and dressed according to her station. In tho latter case, liev ordinary dress is black stockings, a stuff gown, a cap, and a neck handkerchief pinned cornerwise behii'd. If yon want a, pin, sho feels about her, and has always one to give you. Oil Sundays and holidays, and perhaps of afternoons, she changes her black stockings for white, puts 011 a gown of ,1 better texture and tine pattern, .sets her cap and her curls jauntily, and lays aside tho neck handkerchief for a high body, which, by the way, is not half so pretty. And if it he possible to trace a similarity in the outward appearance between the maid servant, of to-day and of a hundred 1 years ago, what shall we say of her manners? Here again Leigh Hunt lias somewhat to remark: — In her manners, the maid) sc-rvant sometimes imitates her young mistress; she, puts her hair .in papers, cultivates a shape, and occasionally contrives to be out. of spirits. Dut- iier own character and condition overcome all sophistications of this sort; her shape, fortified by the mop and 'scrubbing brush, will make its way; and exercise- keep her healthy and cheerful. 'Froiii t.his same cause her tamper is good, though she . gets into little beats when a stranger is over saucy, or when she is told not to go so heavily down-stairs, or when some unthinking person goes up her wot steps with d:rtv shoes, or when she is called away often from dinner; neither" does she much like to be seen scrubbing the street doorsteps of, it morning; and sometimes she catches herself saying, "Drat that butcher!"' but immediately adds "(lod forgive me!" ... If the maid servant is wise, the best part of her work is done by dinner time; and nothing else :s necessary to give perfect zest to the meal. . . . Sucli being the maidservant's life indoors, she scorns, when abroad, to be anything but a creature of sheer enjoyment. . . . And may her " cousin"' turn out as true as he says he is; or may she get home soon enough and smiling enough, to be as happy again next time.

Hazlitt has .1 capital essay on "Footmen," which in the main agrees with the sentiments expressed by his contemporary Leigh Hunt, Tlazlilt opens with the statement that while footmen are 110 part of Christianity, they are a very necessary appendage to " our happy constitution in Church and State.'' He argues thai nothing exists in the. world but by contrast, and that a foil is necessary to make the plainest truths self-evident. He makes his point clear uy inquiring: "Whatwould be the good of having a will of our own if we had not others about us, who are deprived of all will of their own, and who wear a badge to say 'I serve"'? Again, he asks: "How c<m we show that we are the lords of creation but by reducing others, to the condition of machines, who never move but at the beck of our caprices?" Then follows this vivid, caustic picture: — What a pleasant farce is that of hinh life below stairs! What, a careless life do the domestics of the great lead! For, r.iit to speak of the reflected self-import-ance of their masters and mistresses, and the contempt- with winch t.liey look down upon tho herdi of mankind 1 , they have only to eat and drink their fill, talk the scandal of, the neighbourhood, laugh at the follies or assist in the intrigues of their betters, till tliey them-

selves fall in lovo. marry, set up a publichouse (the only thing they are lit for), and without habits of industry, resources in themselves, or self-respect, ami drawing fruitless comparisons with the past, are, of all people, the most miserable. Service :s no inheritance, and when ii fails, there is not-a more helpless, or more worthless set of devils in the world. Kvery one of the social problems over which the politicians anil philanthropists of the present day are perplexedly puzzling are the heritages of Ihe mistakes of the (last. This is eminently true of the domestic service problem ; the. experience of high life below stairs spoiled and pampered the footmen and ladies' maids, ill the fashion hinted at- by Hazlitl, and depicted by Thackeray and other contemporary novelists. At the oilier end of the domestic servant scale we have Hie lodging-lions;; "slavey" inimitably limned in bv Dickens. J have always thought' that there was a line field for an industrious anthology-maker in "The Domestic Servant in Fiction.'' What a magnificent range of characters could be collected under this head. Who that has ever read "The Old Curiosity Shop'' will ever forget the small servant who always remained somewhere in the bowels of tho earth, wlio never had a clean face, or look off her coarse apron, or had any rest or enjoyment whatever. It is many years since I first read the book, but- the impression stamped upon my mind by the description of the scene between Sally Brass and the Marchioness is indelible. From thiit moment 1 shared Buskin's prejudice against cold mutton. JI. G. Wells, in his latest novel, has drawn a masterly sketch of the back scullery, but Dickens's description of the back kitchen which Sally Brass entered, bearing a. cold leg of multon, is realistic in the extreme: — It was a very dark, miserable place, very low and very damp; the walls disfigured by a thousand rents and blotches. . The water was trickling out of a. leaky butt, and a most wretched cat was lapping up the drops with the sickly eagerness of starvation. The grate, which was a wide one, was wound and screwed up tight, so as lo hold no more than a little thin sandwich of tire. Everything Was loeked up—the coal cellar, the candle box, the salt box, the meat safe, were all padlocked. There •was nothing that a beetle could have lunched on. The pinched and meagre aspect- of the place would have killed a chameleon ; he would have known, at the first mouthful, that the air was not eatable, and must have given up the ghost in despair.

The formation of servants and mistresses' unions in our midst, and.the difficulty of getting "iris to engage in domestic service is the direct heritage of the perpetuation in greater or lesser degree of the Sally Brass menage. Dickens conveys the same idea—that anything is good enough for the kitchen—in the Smallweed household, where Judy Smallweed prepares "Charley's" meal in the shapo of a basiu of tea. drains, and a " Druidical ruin of bread a*d butter." Sterne gives us another picture in "Tristram Shandy''—that.of the faithful Susannah, always ready to do battle with Dr Slop, and flip, staunch ally of her mistress; but then Susannah is an almost lost type. This is a large subject bristling with debatable matter, but as Buskin is all the rage just now, I will conclude with a quotation from the threepenny reprint- of "Unto This Last": — Treat tho servant "kindly, with the itiisi of turning his gratitude to account, and yon will get,, as you deserve, 110 gratitude, nor any value for your kindness ; but treat hiin kindly, without any economical purpose, and all economical purposes will be answered. In this, as in all other matters, whosoever will save his life shall lose it; whoso loses it shall find it.

BITS FOR' BOOK LOVERS. Mr H. G. Wells, the novelist, has been made a J.P. for the borough of Folkestone. From tho Auckland Star of Saturday, March 16:—"An article in the new Fortnightly reminds us that the centenary of tho birth of Longfellow is immiment." Henry Fielding was born near Glastonbury 011 April 22, 1707, and the Society of Somerset Men in London will celebrate t.lie bi-centciiary by a public dinner in London on April 22 this year. Sir Arthur Cumin Dovle will preside. Mr Percy L. Parker, editor of the The Daily Mail Yej.r Book, has bought Public Opinion—an old-established weekly journal which sets itself to focus the opinions of the daily Press as Mr Stead's Review of Reviews 1 focuses the opinions of the monthlies. Mr Parker proposes editing the papei; himself. Messrs Mctlnien announce that they will presently begin to issue a collated and uniform" edition of the works of Oscar Wilde. This will include the " Duchess of Padua," a five-act tragedy in blank verso, produced in New York in 1891, and printed since Wilde's dentil in German, but never yet in the English original. Messrs Methuen's edition will include "A Florentine Tragedy," written in 1895. This fragment will appear in the third or fourth volume along with "Salome" and "Vera." The twelve volumes will contain all the published writings of the author except " Dorian Gray," while several unpublished poems and interesting additions to "De Profnndis" aw among the new features of the edition, the only one authorised. The smnpkous edition of Shakespeare, in forty folio volumes, which has been in preparation for many years at the University Press, Cambridge, Mass., is starting now at last. The principle of this edition is that each play is to form a separate volume, and to be in. the cha-rge of 41 particular critic. Tho first instalment is to contain a general introduction by Mr •Sidney Lee, all tho prefatory matter from the first- folio, a critical introduction to the "Comedy of Errors," by Mr Gosse, and then the text uf that play, with Mr Lees's notes.

'J'o the third edition of his "Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton " (76 6d net. Constable and Co.): Mr Walter Sichel lias added, in an appendix, some interesting materials. He proves, for tin; first time, that his heroine was born on April 26, 1765 ; he prints twelve unpublished letters from Lady Hamilton to Nelson ; and a considerable number of new letters from Nelson himself and personages concerned with his history. Poor Emma is ssen, unfortunate, but not undignified, in her ultimate neglect, only recollecting, without anger, the time when "I served my country, and many basqued [sic] in my sunshine." When J. B. Trolter, Fox's private secretary, published, in 1811, .his "Memoirs of the latter years of Charles .fames Fox," tho book displeased friends and enemies alike. Among those who attacked it was Walter Savage Landor, who wrote a "Commentary,' ' of which a few copies were

privately printed in 1812. The only specimen of this suppressed work, usually ijuotcd as " Landor's Observations on the Character of Fox." now known Ui exist i? that which belonged lo the late Lord Houghton. The Marl of Crewe has permitted it to be reprinted, under the care of that enthusiastic Landor expert. Mr Stephen Wheeler, ami ii will shortly be published by Mr John Murray. The reckless at lacks which Tolstoi has been making, r/d for llie first time, oo tho character and genius of Shakespeare, have met with a vigorous rejoinder from M. Maurice Maeterlinck. The Belgian poet does not spare Tolstoi. He accuses him of hading upon the profound ignorance of Shakespeare, which exists mi the Continent, and he shows his strictures lo bo totally devoid of critical value. M. Maeterlinck doses his very spirited rebuff by asking why the old age of Tolstoi is not protected by those around liini. There should be someone to perform the obyious duty of preventing I lie great Prussian from exposing the decay of his mental powers. It is interesting to note that Mark Twain has written a book on ''Christian Science.'' which will be published immediately. Wo are told by the publishers that "ill this great- work the author devotes himself seriously and logically to a. serious theme. His book is a profound and extended criticism, the result of years of lionest investigation, biit at the 'same time it. is not without touches of humour that make, it deeply entertaining." Mark Twain's autobiography, which is appearing in the North American Review, promises to be a, really good book. Jt will not be published in volume form till after Ihe author's death.