BOOK CHAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14002, 7 September 1907, Page 7

BOOK CHAT.

Mr F. Marion Crawford, the novelist, has returned to.ltaly. Tlic>pul)lic did not get a chance to see Mr Crawford often while lie was in America. It is said that the firet volume of liis " History of Rome" will appear in . the coming winter. There will'bs'four volumes. General Booth is one of the busiest men of the time, yet, according to a," writer in the Daily Mail, part- of each day is given to reading. He.will study anything that can.shod a light on iiis knowledge of man. He is a close student- of history, ancient a-nd -modem;',. Of the two books he has 'from Mndie's, ; one will usually be a review- and 'the other historical, biographical, or military. Roberts's "Fort-y----ono -Years in India," lan Hamilton's " Diary of a Staff Officer," and similar books appeal strongly to him. ■ He is not a wry great newspaper reader. The two-liundrdeth number of the Strand Magazine -will shortly -be published, ami will contain a most interesting history of the magazine. Among other things'the story of the Slicrlock Holmes stories will be told. The Strand wa6 the pioneer of the new magazines, and still stands at the bead with a considerable lead over all competitors. Mr Greenhough Smith has been the editor from the beginning. It has been decided to erect in St. Giles's Cathedral a. memorial to the late Mrs Oliphant, and a lengthy list of influential names indicates the commit-tce in charge of the movement. Included among those on this side of the Border are Professor Cooper, Sir John Stirling Maxwell,' and Mr Neil Munro. Though it is now tan years since Mrs Oliphant passed away, the committee affirm that-she still holds honourable rank among the miters of the Victorian era as probably the most distinguished Scotswoman of letters' the country has. produced. Mr J. H. Millar. Edinburgh, known as the 'critic of the "Kailyard School" of fiction, is acting as honorary secretary.

"A cynic," wroic Oscar Wilde,is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." Mr Ambrose Bierce has, compiled a.dictionary ("The Cynic's Word Book"; Arthur j. Bird; 3s 6d net) which admirably illustrates the truth of this aphorism. Here are one or two specimens of Mr Bierce's wit: — Comfoht.—A state of mind produced by the contemplation of our neighbour's uneasiness. Congratulation. — The civility of envy. ■ ' ■ . Gaut.—A physician's namo for the rheumatism of a rich patient. Liberty.—One of Imagination's most precious possessions..... Eatrkd,—The sentiment appropriate to tho occasion of another's success or

superiority. The book is amusing in its way. It ends with "Lord." We are 1 promised, or threatened 1 with, a second volume.

Among the many to. whom W. E. Henley opened the gates of literature (remarks the Daily. Mail) wis Mr H. G, Wells. Even •the pampered readers of. that magnificent failure, "The New' Review,'" felt a new thrill when, they came upon the first chapters of "The Time Machine" in its pages. At a. time'.when the fame of the poet and critic is lively in connection with the newly-unveiled memorial we may quote the singular tribute that occurs in Mr Wolfe's " Modern Utopia," There, it may be remembered, each earthly being had ilia Utopian double, and in the " Book of the Sanmrai" was induded some of the Utopian Henley's work:—"'l knew that man on •earth,' says the visitor. 'He was a great, _ red-faced man, with fiery hair, a noisy, intolerant- maker of enemies, with a tender heart. ... He was a great man with wine. He wrote like wine; in our world lie wrote wine—red wine with the sun 'shining through.'" Mr Wells so rarely indulges in literary judgments that this appreciation has a higher quality of praise than might appear. Once again William Shakespeare has been proven to be the author of a slang phrase of the day. If the average man were asked where the phrase "He handed me a lemon" came from, he would probably have replied that it must- have originated with some of the baseball writers of the United States. But as a. matter of fact, it is to be found in "L-ove's Labour Lost," act 5, scene 2. Don Adriano de Armado (a Spaniard) comes on the stage armed as Hector and says mock-heroically: "The armipotent Mare, of lances the almighty, gave Hector a gift." Dumain then interrupts him and says: "A gift nut-meg?" Biron. corrects him, and suggests "A lemon?" Here we have the expression that "Mars gave Hector a lemon," and it coincides strangely with the now popular saying. The credit for this discovery belongs to Dr George Murray, of the Montreal Star, and it is an interesting addition to the explanation of tho slang phrases of the day. It also shows that, after all, there is nothing new under the sun, and that- the slang of one generation is oft reborn for the use of a succeeding generation.