LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 50

LITERARY NOTES.

'.* Sarah Bern hard t thinks that Hamlet, after all, was more like a woman than a man.- " Had Hamlet's nature " (she is xaported to have said) " been less feminine Jae never would, have driven himself to the verge of insanity by subjecting himself, to those 'analyses which are revealed by his In-- , spired soliloquies. Had Hamlet been more of a man he never would have resorted to the advice of the mouse ' trap.' Had he been less of a woman he would have run the King through tha heart with' his sword forthwith." * . * Mr Aubrey de Vere in bis " Recollections," which will shortly be published by Mr Edward Arnold, ia able to bring hia readers into personal touch with many of the great figures of a generation which has almost entirely passed away. Mr Aubrey de.Vere in his younger days was on more than one occasion a guest of the poet ' Wordsworth, and was admitted to, the privilege of his friendship. Of Wordsworth and of Hartley and - Sara Coleridge he has -much to. tell; while both with Cardinals Nowmau and Manning he was intimately acquainted, and a chapter is devoted to their, letters to the author and to interesting: reminiscences about, -each. ; of - | these great exponents. vof '-religions ■ ,C«usly ■ whose faith Mr'de Vere himself holds. ' - - ' . * Headers i .miliar with.- the story of - William , Oowpsr's life "as told by; bis biographers will remember that Samuel T^edon, < schoolmaster at- Oluey, was CB9 of his per- . sojaal Mends., Teedon.kept a diary which extends from October "1791 to February 179*, and amongst the entries are many references to Cowper and to Mr 6 Unwin, which of course give the diary an importance it would not otherwise possess. For many years the book was lost, bat was happily recovered in 1890 ; and recently it Was sold at Sotheby's, when it wa§ purchased by Mr W. H. Oolliugridg*, of Bcfield, who is to be congratulated on the opportunity of making so valuable an addition, to his interesting collection reia'.if g to the p:ei and his. friend the Riv. John * Newton, formerly of Olney, and afterwards incumbent of St. Miry Woolnoth. Teadon predeceased Cowper, and . died in June' 1798. ■ . ■ Mr Louis Backs, the* Australian writer, who has dene such brilliant work with the South Sea' islands as a basis for his powerful realistic stories, la (says -the Literary World) about to return to thetropic isle?, beaches, reefs, and palms that he knows - and loves so well. A sailor and trader before he took to writing, he is going ! to leave the fealcn of letters, if {not perI manently, at least for a considerable time. Writing, to him, has always been the hardest of tasks, as thoße of our readers who noticed . Mr Bscka's "frank and manlj letter will -understand. His literary output , all along has been a labour rather than.a. pleasure, and his heart is ever among the coral reefs and .- the dusky dwellers in the tropic^ Soatb, and thither he returns in his, old occupation of sup9icargo. We are indebted to the/ editor of , the Sidney" 'Bulletin for M* Becke'a fascinating South Sea at cries, for it yrxs toe alone who Bucceeded in getting the author to pat them in print. - • . • A refbimjfl geographical, nomenclature is, suggested by Mr iCiibhlert -C. Grundy, oC 32 B .-Id street^ Southjaorfc. Tae keynote of his scheme is '" Oae place, one. name." Ab* present the names of cities and ount'xisa, are both spelled and pronounced differently in diff irent countries, " Baiern," for example, ia turned iato " Bavaria " and " La B mere "; " Wien " into- " Vienna " and " Vlenpe " ; "Tournay" into "Djornik"; and "Liege" . into "Luttich," not to mention "London" jnto " Londres." Mr Grundy would have the children of each nation taught to pronounce all geographical names as they 'are pronounced in the.pUce of their origin. No one supposes that the world will go on for ever with its arbitrary nomenclatures in this direction. Mr Grundy is anxious for aaaist-' ance in setting the ball rolling that phail knock down and /level into a pleasing uniformity these meaningless and perplexing diversities of epee'oh.. * • . • " The explanation of Mr Hall Game's pessimism," according to Mr O'Dell, the phrenologist, " is apparent in the shape of Mr Hall^Caine's head. . The regions ofimagination, of artistic raote, of moral feeling are all larger than that of reason. Mr',Oaine has moral centrality. "He has not intellectual centrality. He ia by nature, an. idealist, rather than a philosopher." On , a, ' recent^ Sunday Dr Horton" preached a sermon jon. ".The ' Christian,^'' .in which, he declined; to acknowledge thViUv. Jo&n^ Storm as, a tjjrpa of the true Christian. The" Christian to-day, i said Dr Hortocwas* a man, who studied,- tq* lead a .quiet life In' all godlipess and gravity ; but he did not raveVand cry out, wearing a, fantastic garb and prophesying the end of the world. It was impossible, added the preacher, to .go about-the world without finding true Christians pursuing their daily tasks and by their lives leading others' onward ; : and how a man could 'have written a book called " The Christian " without taking these people into account he could, not imagine. - ■ .• Dealing with the large prices obtained by authors in the front rank, " Lounger," ia the New York Critic, is of opinion that "Mr Kip Hog is one oE the few authors 1 who is paid for his worth and not for his popularity. Publishers and editors want Mr } Kipling because he appeals to the best class ' of readers, and they get more compliments and more advertising by publishing his tales than those of almost any other living writer. One reason why Mr Kipling's books do not sell to the extent of thoae of -r~, for instance, is that he is not a great favourite with ! women readers. I do not mean to say that he has no admirers among *Women — that would be a reflection ripon' the lex — bat I x mean to say that he is a manls writer. ,This is due not only to the fact that he is a masculine writer, for women are devoted admirers of Hardy' and,Meredith t though, not so much of Stevenson— it is, I think, because he does not write love stories . any more than Stevenson did. A novelist, to. be popular, must make love the burden of his tale. •_'',' - ;