LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1899, 13 April 1888, Page 36

LITERARY NOTES.

The literary publis, who talk and criticise, and the people, who read, are, as Wordsworth has pointed out in one of his letters published in the "Memorials of Coleorton," entirely distinct classes. — St. James' Gazette.

The first edition of the " Life of Darwin," consisted of 7000 copies, all of which have been sold ; and the demand for the work is still so brisk that another large edition is about to be published.

. The "g" in "margarine" is hard, as in " Margaret." The word was first used for a peculiar pearly substance extracted from hogs' lard, called also margarite. The artificial butter to which it is now applied is a mixture of animal fat and oil.

An original copy of " Dame Wiggins of Lee and her Seven Wonderful Cats," published at the beginning of the century at a shilling, was sold recently by Messrs Christie, Manson, and Woods for 2gs. The same auctioneer also sold animperfecb copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare for £100.

,A London correspondent says that for many years Lord Beaconsfield kept every scrap of paper in the form of letters addressed to him. As they were dealt with he dropped them in a wooden box, without order other than they might accidentally fall into. When one box was full he started another. These were handed over to Lord Koyton, his old secretary and nominated biogiapher. " He," speaking metaphorically, " sat down upon one in blank despair."

After reading a few scores of ballades the curiosity in the -writer's manipulations of his rhymes flags. After reading a few hundreds of ballades what was before simply wearisome becomes intolerable, till at last the very sight of a ballade on the page of a magazine gives the reader a sense of pain. The trick which at first seemed interesting gradually appears pejune and worse than worthless. — Athenaeum .

Mr Wemyss Reid's " Life of W. E. Forster " will (the World says) appear in May. Mr Gladstone has given his consent to the publication of his letters, and the correspondence between the two satesmen on the Irish question, as read by the light of recent events, will excite the keenest interest. The book will contain several portraits, and possibly a view of the picturesque cottage at Bradpole where Mr Forster was born. He to the very last retained a warm affection for the Dorsetshire village] in which he passed his childhood, and where some memorial of him might very appropriately be erected.

It is, perhaps, not generally known that the witty and accomplished anthor of "Alice in Wonderland" is a mathematical tutor at Christ's College, Oxford. Besides writing his famous " Nonsense " books and verses, he is the author of several books, more useful than amusing, on the science of mathematics. This bizarre combination, the Echo says, has given rise to a very amusing story. Whether true or not, it is worth telling. The Queen, so the story runs, was so pleased with " Alice in Wonderland," that she wrote to the author and asked him to be sure and send her the very next book he produced. As in loyal duty bound, of course he did so. Imagine her Majesty's surprise when she received a learned work on Algebra.

At once the strongest and most sympathetic motive of a story is love. Love is the most interesting problem of life, and its most proper as well as pleasant solution, from the strictly British point of view, is marriage. To succeed in their vocation, novelists must cater for the tastes of their readers. Hence, the chief personages of English novels are dismissed by their creators to a life-long enjoyment of conjugal bliss ; those of German romance "kriegen sich," or become legally possessed of one another, at the end of the third volume ; whilst French heroes and heroines devote their unstinted energies throughout several hundred pages to breaking the marriage tie with more or less frequency and ingenuity, and, as a rule, come to a bad end. — Telegraph. The library of Eoman Catholic books published in England during the last 50 years, and now being sent to Rome as a jubilee offering to the Pope, the Athenaeum states, consists of some 1500 volumes. Translations, prayer books, school books, and minor fiction have been excluded as a general rule. Apart from this, the library is thoroughly representative. Theology naturally predominates, Cardinals Manning and Newman being by themselves responsible for some 50 volumes; history is presented by many students, from Dr Lingard to Father Stevenson, S.J. ; poetry by Mr Coventry Patmore, Mr Wilfrid Blunt, Mr Aubrey de Vere, Mr R. S. Hawker, Miss Procter, and many others; natural history by writers- so diverse as Charles Waterton and Dr Mivart ; travel by Sir William Butler, Lady Burton, Lady Annie Blunt, and Mrs Mulhall ; nor has there been any index expurgatorius for. the works of Messrs Burnand, A'Beckett, and Clement Scott, or of the author of " Jim the Penman." Periodical literature is represented by sets of the Dublin Eeview, the Month, the Weekly Register, and the Tablet. The whole of the books are bound in white leather and stamped with the papal arms. The bulk of the collection has already reached Rome; but, as it still awaits additions, the presentation has not been formally made to the Pope. His Holiness when he distributes the multitudinous offerings made to him, will, it is supposed, assign this library of English books to the English College in Rome, or to some other institution where it will be accessible to English residents and visitors.

—One of Sir Boj'le Eoche's invitations to an Irish nobleman was amusingly equivocal. " I hope, my lord, if ever you come within a mile of my house, you'll stay there all night."

A Good Remedy fob a Coijo.— On going to bed take a dose of Freeman's Chlorodyne in water. The diaphoretic, or sweating action of this excellent remedy, speedily produces a general glow, followed by a free perspiration, during which the pulse improves in character from a feeble to a full elastic one. a good night's sleep is obtained, and on waking' tv the morning the Cold will be found to have,disappeared. No greater proof of the certainty of the curative action of Freeman's Original Ohlorodyne can be adduced than the steady increased sale of it in New Zealand, where it is now looked upon as a household remedy for. all forms of Fever, Ague, Dysentery, and other bowel affections. In all parts of therOofony iWe .rapidly- superseding Quince* as.it' has alreafly-'dbne ifi 'the tea-gardens apd" cq'ffee estates iq,ilndia; t Insist. upon*:hfivirig! «-• Freeman's ' only. Trade Mark, an Elephant. — Sold everywhere. Obtainable from all chemists aud storekeepers,