AMONG THE BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 28

AMONG THE BOOKS AND MAGAZINES.

(By The Gatheker.) ♦#* With the rather unattractive title of "Underwoods," a new book of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson has been issued by Chatto and Windus. The poems are in two equal parts— one "in English," and the other "in Scots." A large portion of the short pieces consist of addresses to the author's friends, written in a light and colloquial style, with a good deal of sportive humour. The lyrical portion of the English part is in many respects excellent, and in it may be found the light allusiveness and reflectiveness blended with humour which are found in Mr Stevenson's prose works. In the Scottish portion he is found at his best, and even English reviewers admit that, though composed in that "illustrious and malleable tongue," the Lothian speech, the reader will find no serious drawbacks to his enjoyment. Of course, here and there, a I word or a phrase may give him pause, as Mr Stevenson himself admits in " The Maker to Posterity " :— It's possible— it's hardly mair— That some ane, ripin' after lear — Some auld professor or young heir, If still there's either—' May find an' read me an' be sair Perplexed, puir brither ! ( ' What tongue does your auld bookie speak ? " He'll spier ; an' I, his mon to steik : " Ho bein' fit to write in Greek, I wrote in Lallan, Dear to the heart as the peat reek, Auld as Tantallon. But Southron and Scot (according to the Saturday Review) may equally delight in the capital song, "A Mile ana Bittock," in

" The Spaewife," in the " Lines to Dr John Brown," and in "The Scotsman's Return from Abroad " — an incredible circumstance, treated with considerable satirical humour. Many of us, in diverse circumstances, have experienced the charm of the convivial exercise' celebrated with exquisite gusto in the first-named song: — * A mile an' k bittock, a mile or twa, Abune the burn, ayont the law, Davie an' Donal' an'Cherlie an' a', An' the mune was shinin* clearly I Ane went hame wi' the ither, an' then The ither went hame wi' the ither, twa men, An' baith wad return him the Bervice again, An' the mune was shinin' clearly !

True to the life and very diverting are the various philosophic views on Providence in " The Blast," " The Counterblast," and " The Counterblast Ironical." There is wit, moreover, as well as humour, in "My Conscience ! " The persuasive and delicate sophistry of this poem will certainly be condemned in certain quarters as demoralising, •• though, after all, a people supposed to be addicted to the study of metaphysics ought to find this remonstrance peculiarly fascinating 1 . To be very keen in the chill and silence, of the night, and to be absent, like a policeman, when wanted, that's " My Conscience I " : —

My conscience ! whan my han'a were fu' ( Whaur were ye then ? I ken it fine ; just waitin' hero, To gar the evil waur appear, To clart the quid, contuse the clear, Mis-ca' the great. My conscience ! an' to raise the steer When a's ower late. Altogether, there can be no sort of doubt that it is in these Scots poems that Mr Stevenson is revealed, both as poet and artist.

%* The " Life of James Quin, Comedian, with the History of the Stage, from his Commencing Actor," which has just been reissued, though interesting and entertaining enough to the general reader, will only be appreciated by those who take an interest in the history of the stage. Among the somewhat shadowy figures of Garrick's predecessors and contemporaries, Quin stands out a bluff, stalwart, recognisable individuality, resembling in that respect Dr Johnson, with whom he has indeed something in common. His manliness was of the same order as Johnson's, and his style of address was not dissimilar. " Like Johnson, he was a" warm friend and a good hater. Like him, too, he had a species of sensualism which is not unattractive, since it was generally under the control of his intelect. His witticisms are the best attributed to any actor ; his famous declaration, in reference to the death of Charles I, that " on the Ist of January every king in Europe would rise with a crick in his neck," being judged worthy of ' approbation by Lord Auchinleck, who said of Cromwell, " he gart kings ken that they had a lith in their neck." His generosity was spontaneous and noble. His behaviour to Thomson, author of " The Seasons," was something unexamplsd. Hearing that Thomson was in prison for. a debt of £70, he repaired to the place and introduced himself to the bard, whom he had never seen

before. After supper, which Thomson, under the circumstances, had very little heart in ordering, Quin said : "Mr Thomson, the pleasure I have had in perusing your works I cannot estimate at less than £100, and I now insist on acquitting the debt." On saying this he put down a note of that value, and took his leave, without waiting for a reply. Other stories scarcely less attractive are told concerning Quin. gome of the best epigrams of the day were written by him or concerning him, for, like Falstaff, of whom he was an unequalled exponent, he was not only witty in himself, but "the cause that wit is in other men." ~

*i* For some time past Baron F. yon Mueller has been engaged in preparing a popular work on the flora of Victoria in connection with the binary or dichotomous system of Lamarck, by which students of Viotorian botany may be enabled to find out the names of indigenous plants, and finally to refer them to their respective places in the systematic arrangement of the vegetable kingdom. The key which the Baron proposes to furnish is simply a series of salient characteristics arranged in pairs, the members of each pair being as nearly as possible opposed in their terms, and each giving rise to a new pair in like manner, until the series of characters is exhausted and the name of the plant revealed. Different opinions are held by scientific men as to the value of the dichotomous system of Lamarck, and some contend that plants may be found out as easily by short diagnoses as by the gradual elimination of all characters foreign to the specimen under examination. The system, however, is very ingenious, and as revised and amplified by the eminent botanist of Victoria, ifc may prove useful to those who are now often perplexed about the names of Australian plants, and who, for want of leisure to study the larger works on our flora, despair of making themselves acquainted with the peculiarities of native vegetation. The Baron's book is devoted to the flora of Victoria, but, as most of the species are common to New South Wales it will be applicable to a great extent to that colony also, but unfortunately will prove of little service for New Zealand. The Baron (says the Sydney Morning Herald) has now for many years been employed in the elaboration of our flora, and his labours are highly appreciated by men of science in all parts of the world ; but this last work (which is designed to popularise the study of botany, and to give additional impetus to the collecting and arranging of specimens) will cause his name to become a household word in the educational seminaries of Australia.

V " The Growth of Church Institutions." By Mr Edwin Hatch, M.A. Though a conscientious effort to make a sciqntific study of the constitutional history of the Christian Church, and a very valuable work at the same time, will be read rather than agreed with. Congregationalists and Presbyterians, rather than Episcopalians, will welcome the statement that in early days the " greater part of the Christian world each community was complete in itself," nor will the champions of the divine right of tithes be pleased to be tol^ that in their first institution " tithes were regarded as a legitimate rent for church lands, and nothing more." Mr Hatch's studies have not, however, led him to resist the institution of diocesan episcopacy or the policy of church endowments. Ecclesiastical dress, cathedral establishments, the architectural arrangement and of church buildings, are among the kindred subjects dealt with in his remarkably interesting volume.