LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 35

LITERARY NOTES.

Four papers in London are printed in the ' German language. • The State of Texas has sold nearly 300,000 acres of land for the benefit of the school fund. Lewis Morris, the English poet; thinks that Lord Tennyson has iost £150,000 by the non-existence of interrational copyright. Prominent women of Paris are signing a petition for the suppression or restriction of impure literature, and a League of Public Morals has been formed. • Theodore Irwin, of Oswego, N. V., is the owner of a Bible in 63 folio volumes, the only* one of its kind in the world It is illustrated with 20,000 engravings.. : ■" < Urbain Olivier, the Swiss novelist, who recently died at the age of 78, conscientiously produced one book a year and at the same time cultivated a farm. He was a very suc£ cessful farmer. . " ;' . The advertisement of a book sale lately contained the following :— " And included.in, this .sale is an accumulation of recent books,' mostly with the edges unopened as published, thetproperty of r a well-known critic." ; ,■-• - ' These are hard-times for the poet. There are so many pretenders to his office thaf; the public, 'once oredulous and perhaps too eager to discover merit ,amdrig the, -newcomers,, is now disposed^to give them scant hearing.—' Academy. ' ' llt is iprobable, -writes the - St. James'Gazette, 4 that Lord- Stanhope will publish his father's notes of conversations with the Duke of Wellington, which were recently printed for private circulation, after having been preserved at Chevening for . nearly 40 years. '-, „ " •,•"'■' ' \ There iii a- possibility of another work of travel by the late Lady Brassey appearing, i sha having left sufficient materials for that purpose,, i The work will probably be edited by her husband, and published by Messrs Longmarii& Co." in October next. i ' The t colossal' work undertaken 30 years ago by the Record office, of publishing documents oonneoted with the history of England prior to the reign of Henry VIII, is now approaching completion. The series already extends beyond 200 volumes, of which over 45,000 copies have been sold.

He who would keep up with the progress of the age must not look to general literature, but to science ; must not lose time on the antiquities of classical courses of universities, but study science. Progress is the tail of the great, comet of science, therefore keep an eye on .the. comet. — "Social Science Review."'

. A new "Slang Dictionary" is to be published for private circulation under the editorship of Professor A. Barrere and Mr Leland. Among the contributors' are Lord Suffolk, Sir P. Colquhoun, Major A. Griffith, Rer. J. W. Horsley, Mr Egerton Castle, Mr Hollingahead, Mr D. B. W. Sladen, and Dr C. Mackay. — Athenaeam. Those of us who are only in early middle age, and who were not given to oritical leading in the year 1852, will learn from Mr Henry , Taylor's letters — not with surprise, iperhap3, but_ certainly with bewilderment — • that the laureate's magnificent "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" was greeted with a unanimous howl of depreciation from the literary* tasters of the day. — Academy. "Carmen Sylvia" (Queen of Roumania) has given another proof of her talents in liierary work by writing a book in admirable French, entitled " Les Pensees dune Heine." To show their appreciation of the book the French Academy have awarded the royal authoress a medal struck in gold, silver, and bronze, bearing' the tse of her book and date." As a rule the Academy prize consists of a sum of. money! which is rarely bestowed npon foreign authors.

Lord D,ufferin is. about to publish a memoir of his mother, the •la.te Lady Gifford; with selections from her correspondence. This lady— one of the most brilliant members of the gifted Sheridan family — wrote and composed naanyj of the songs with were favourites with a former generation. Some of these, lifte her pathetio ballac} " The Irish Emigrant^ 11 still regain their charm.

To my fanoy the three best of Moore's songs, and three of the finest" songs in any language, are " Oft in the stilly night," " When in death I shall calm recline," and " I saw from the beach." They all exemplify the complete adaptation of words to music and music to words, coupled with a decidedly high quality of poetical merit in the verse, quite- apart from the mere music. — George Saintsbury

How many volumes will the " Canterbury Poets " reach ? The fiftieth volume of that admirable series has been issued, and there is no sign of exhaustion. Whittingham's "Chiswick" edition reached 100 volumes, Johnson's 60, Bell's 109, and, Sharpe's 86. There is plenty of scope for Mr "yyilliam Sharp to give us at leastlOO, and every additional volume we count so much gain.

It is understood, says the St. James' Gazette, that if the American Copyright Bill should become law our publishers will send to America the manuscripts of well-known authors whose books are certain' to' command a sale on both sides of the Atlantic, and Will receive back 'the 1 stereo moulds. In this way the loss tothe English printing business will be minimised. Of J courss, books by unknown writers . which 'attain unexpected popularity will have to be p'rinfced.twice. ' We are promised, a most interesting book written by ( a veritable temat.e"" Robinson Oiusoe," the daughter of , a missionary stationed at" China"'afr the time of the~ lady's birth, and^af tervfrar'ds following his' calling in the Sandwich arid F,i]Tislands. Whilst crossing from' one island to anofcfiefin a baric' canoe a terrific storm overtook .them', 1 arid the occupants, consisting of r the- missionary, his wife," and' young daughter!, were/wrecked on a reef. Both father ans mother were drowned, and their child fouricl herself on an uninhabited island, where her only was cocoanuts^and wild berries, which Sustained j her until' a party of friendly' natives found I her and took her to ftandaba. Pqnsiderable^ attentionlias beeri" drawn to. a recent robbery of a Burns volume, and the sufferer is Lord Rpsebery, wHo certainly has not carried bis political success into his book collectings It is but two years ago, since be [ pa^d overi£2oo tor poemi supposed to be unpublished and to be Burns^! arid thky iirfiaed •

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out to be neither the one nor the otherr^Re^" cently he purchased a 1793 Burns, and tfils was stolen from his London house by a carpenter' The thief sent his brother to dispose of it, and he called on Mr Parsons, of Brompton road. Mr Parsons, jun., suspecting- it to be stolen property, promptly, locked the.book up, arid told the 80-called owner "to call in the evening, when his father would be at home. Meanwhile, the book was traced) the police called in, and the parties sacscessfdlly arrested. Too great praise cannot be given to young Mr Parsons for his promptitude and decision, but if this goes on tfie ? .EoseberyBurns MSS. . are. likely to addr a singular chapter to bibliographical romancer

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