CURRENT COMMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14441, 6 February 1909, Page 13

CURRENT COMMENT

Mr Andrew Lang, Mr \V. L. Courtney, •mil -Mr Civment .shorter, tiie adjudicator in the Lik-iary Agency's 2HJ guinea |Hi/.e novel ci'iiipctifiuii, h;t\c awarded ihc priie to the author of a novel entitled "'i'lie l-iiitii of his Fathers." it will b'.' published by Mr Andrew Melrose.

the ceniciiary of .the birth of Kiigar Alian Pue tailing iji January, tlu February i.*Uf oi " ihc jiuokiiiuii : is to (.'(.mliiin ii. spuuial arucie on ''Pue and his Friends." by John it. jngr.nn. Mr Ingram is said lo bo the greaUM living authority oil whatever relate.-; lo the life awl character of L'oe; ho has edited various ciiitjons of liis works, has written the standard "Liti" of l'oe, and was the iirst to inquiro thoroughly into and clear up certain dark, and therefore doubtful, phases in Poo's chequered career. Amongst his invaluable collection ol relics and memorials of Edgar Allan Poe, Milligram has a unique sol of portraits of lliu poet ami liis iriemis. and a selection oi llieso will illustrate his article and a second article on the work of Poe thai will be included ill the same issue.

The well-known bookselling establishment of Ilutcimnl-s. in Piccadilly, is to conio down, and will be rebuilt" oil the old situ during this year. Happily, however, Hutch,inis, which has liecn ill? rendezvous o( the bouk-lover for ai century., is not to be lost. A shop has been opened at *13 l'ictadiily, almost opposite the doomed 187, and here the business wiil be transacted until the new Hatehards, which will reproduce the premises o! (he middle oi the last century period, is ready lor occupation. Tin- firm was founded by .Mr John llatchard in 1797. When lie commenced his business he luid oi my own properly less thciil £5. but Cio'ii blessed my industry and good n.en encouraged it, with the result that ho died' in ifrli) worth r.uiriy £i'uo,Goo. The business wa» continued by Mr Thomas llatchard. " Ihe serious illness of Mr Edward Marston, tho " .Amateur Angler," wiil be noted with ivgiet by all who have lKen associated v;ill) liim during bis long liie among books. He dates back to Si.

\alentinc's Day, in 1825, and since then ho ha? been gathering reminiscences, and now has so many that they would lill many volumes, and be better worth reading than much now published under that title, Besides, his xvorl: as an angling editor entitle liim to grateful remonbranco. Honours have come to Mr Marston, but perhaps ihat- which lie values most i L > the gold medal and diploma awarded by the " Orde do la Librarie" iur his share i\i wlieving the distress of Paris booksellers and printers during the Ut'i'iniiii stege. A sum o( fil'loo was collected, and Mr Marsloti, as secretary of the committee, invested the money in hams, cheeses, butter, tea, coffee, and plum puddings which were duly sent over to Paris. Much to his chagrin the I'rench Customs levied a heavy duty oil the <;ift belore it was allowed to cuter the city. ill's Gertrude Athertou, who has resolved to leave Munich because it is too distraiting, and never havtj a homo again, has been explaining to an interviewer her novel, "The Gorgeous Isle," the chief

coa/acter of which is a drunken poet,. Viarner. Mtv> Atheiton says that the original of Warner is to he found ill two ot whom onc« is living, and therefore impossible to identify. The other was hrnest Dowson, whom Mrs Athertou met- in a IJreton village. He was in abject circumstances at tiie- time. "There Was nothing prepossessing in the features of his face; his front- teeth wore parlly gone, his hair was dishevelled, his lips had the parched, vivid look that comes Willi conlirineil absinthe drinking, but his eyes they were curiously .spiritualmost curiously so in such a face." Mrs Ailiertoii is to write a novel of Munich life and a history of California,

the other Saturday must have been to iir (1. K. Chesterton one of the proudest days of his life, for it was on that day that a very flattering t'lmouncemvnl was made about him. This anuotmcement was to the effect that he had won i prize of one guinea, which is o*iwed week by week by a London news-P'io-jr. Mv Chesterton earned his guinea fo.: a irinslntion ot some verses from the French of Charles Giierin, and the honour came to him quite fairly, for the judges I ward the guineas in these conipc-" titions are not allowed to know the names of the competitors. The only blot on Mr Chesterton's achievement is that he 'did not rcccivc Ills entire prize, but will have v> fiivide 't with another person whose luniH ]y not given, and who mav be, for .1' wo know, ilr Bernard Shaw or George Mrredith.

fi*orj-;B Meredith, by the way, has just ,oiit«ci, in sympathy if not in fad, the rank.i which Bernard Shnw captains—viz., tlio mighty army of vegetarians. Mr Meredith has just expressed his view,- on the *nuy as follow?:—"] ;nu unworthy lo Iv. umoii'! you, for I drink wine and I smoke. J low preach to sinners when one ir- guilty of these vices and unrepentant? Eating nf meat lias never been to mv tasu. Rut an ftndish cook who can mjiku (ti piivour will not com" to a country cottage oven on liberal so T have in some, degree to conform to the national habit, excess in which .•(■counts for numerous maladies, to s,;y nothing of captious tempers. Thereloivj I v/isfj well to four crusade, though mif'., to j i.iin it'.' 1

-'■■r .]. Coiuyns Cai'r has produced a l";o'-.. " imminent Victorians,'' nnii.vjrlly lull of gnod stories of celebrated people. Here are one or two:—The late '■■n X nine Tebbs called on tlosselti one day frc.sli from a:i exhibition at Burlington Ylunsn twl full of enthusiasm for'", P«':nw_ by Turnsr, Which "n rrtred to go and see. " Vvmil vT it csfeiasked llosseltf. '">k fbrpiWhile Bathing." 'j^bbs. "trnpli!' retnmod Eossetti. "Yes, J ♦ devilishly surprised i.o see uirnsr has imule of t-h'vn/' Sir Ed-mi 3«rae-Jonos once consisted his

shout his health. " How many tißm tin ?n ft fm „| <e ( ;„ Y v" ], p ir |_ «;i'Twi: ?nd ihe artist replied', " Oh, per- •' 'lown." The doctor advised. " I you had better limit "ourself "The fact is." said'liurne•">nrr. t'j Carr, when he told the story. "I h..a ivv,-r .-moKed more than three-.'" Jant.eisls will be interested lo learn the full character and extent of Profesor L' K-iijhetti's evitience tending io prove the eleventh canto of the " Inferno" is a forgery hf : Jacopo Dante, who, in a dream alter Ins father's death, is said to have discovered ihe hiding-place of the lost eaulos of the " i'aradiso.'' The fact that, the "Inferno" contains 34 canto?, while the " Purgatorio" and " Pivradiso " contain 3.5 each, has long ptt-zzled scholars wim arc. aware of the poe : ;= craze ior 3 am! its multiples, as vrell ss h;s matiieniatieal idea of form (\en in the number o! lines to a canto. Still his words in " Purgatorio" XXXIIT. l?o-l4t, Pender, had I move ample .■pace tor writing, I would sing, at least ill part, of that sweet draught whereof 1 could never have had enonijh: h\Yu swing that all the sheets assignee 1 to this Leeo'.Hi Cantica are filled, the instvuet'ous of my art suffer inc. to proceed no fuvvhe-." >re not entirely cmivineing, and Uanieists have usually aceepted Ihe first canto of the " Infpi'iio" as an introduction io the cniii'B " Commedia "and tlius have maintained the mystic uniformity.

.j'hv, - living men can boast an acquaintance v/ith so many eminent linglish writers e.s did Sir George Trcvoiyan in his Bpecch at the recent dinnev of the Publishers' Circle! at tlic Trocadero, ,':i London, a week or two ago. (riie (korgo Remarked:—"! have ridden with V«r Carlyle a good many of the 30.000 miies which he rode while he was engaged upon 'Frederick the Ureat.' When he was no longer eijttal to horse exercise we tool; long walks together round and round the pr.rlw, and on one occasion, all of a Hidden, apropos of nothing, he began slowly to pay out for my benefit ail ?:■ temporary biography of Lord Chatham, 1:1.: most wonderful soliloquy to which J have ever listened, i have been shown oyer Venice by Mr Ruskin as cicerone in hi., own gondola. Often have I piously revisited the scones and objects of his preference, which I then visited with him. 1 was introduced by .Mr Hubert Browning to Waring, a sad disenchantment, when the hero of the inimitable poem had become a weary-looking old man like any other. ! was present at a family dinner

where Thackeray discoursed to n delighted audience of young people about, the ' Virginians/ which he was then writ-

ing. and which seemed to fill his mi ml to the. exclusion of everything else. Among oilier matters, he asked us. all around the table, wdiat was the widest jump any of us had ever known, and when we agreed upon 21ft, he said, ''then 1 must make George Washington jump lft more.'"

R. C. Lehniann's " .Memories of Half a Century '' is crowded with anecdotes ot Lie Vii torian worthies. " There are many interesting letters from Wilkin Cnllihs, who was a personal friend. Jn one ot them, written to Mr Lehniann's greatw.t, there is the announcement of his discovery of the title " The Woman 'n White," " in the course of a night '-vail; to i':!!' Morlli Foreland." He sends the fir-; instalment for publication in Household Words, and writes : " It- is ail uvUilly long number— between eight and niii'? page;;;, but 1 must stagge/' the jiublic with attention, if possible, at.ihe outset. They shan't drop a number when T bogin, it I r;:i help it." This was just- upon sti

ago, and "The Woman in White'' h.:s become a classic. We read of Cieorgc yiiov, of Thackeray, Charles Rondo, lord Houghton—nil of whom, with the exception of Thackeray, were intimates. Bvo'vii.ir.g was especially so, and there is ;•;! account from Mr Lehmaun's father of

sadden quarrel over the dinner table b-->:\cen him and John l''orstcr, who had intuited liw in svme way s-iißvontly without knowing it. Mr T.eliiiir.nii's father writes a description of a visit to KiU'bworth to liulwer Lytton, in which a vivid picture is given of the novelist, then getting old and rather deaf, but still; as Dickens said of him, " the grcate-t conversationalist of the age." There are reminiscences of (he witty James Payn, with his great, hearty laugh. '' That man," said Bernal Osborne, "laughs like a cannibal." Like a (lash came the retort. "At- anyrate, Mr Osborne, I've never been able to swallow you." Which reminds one of the late Mr Ahlridt's reply to Dr Holmes's qiiestio.i, " WL I would yi"i do, Mr Aldrich. if ynu met a cannibal in Beacon street?" " 1 should beg him not to ;}ick cu ;cc;uaintssor.-'