ROYALTIES WHO WRITE BOOKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 55

ROYALTIES WHO WRITE BOOKS.

H.R.H. AS AN AUTHOB,

Plow many people have any idea as to the extent to which royalties have achieved success in the current literature of the day ? — a success, be it observed, won solely by the intrinsic merit of the work they have done, and not from any glamour arising from thsie position What » charmiDg insight into the beauty and joy of a simple life' the book the Quesn is known by as an authoress give 3 I " Easy writing," said Sir Walter Scott. " is, as a rule,very bard reading " ; but assuredly this is not true of " Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highland?." Though it tells only of simple incidents, it is pregnant with interest, and one reads it sgain and again with undiminished absorption. Years after it had been penned her Majesty presented a copy cf ib to Charles Dickenp, ~sayipg"that the bnmbiest wxiter in her realm' was almost afchamed to offer her work to the greatest." But, indeed, it may be doubted wtiether the great novelist himself could have described with more felicitous humour the scene' that occurred -when ncr Majesty and the Prince Consort, travelling incognito, were "given away" by the obsequiousness of an attendant.

The hand of death never seemed more merciless than when, to the nation's grief, it cut down, with all the promise of his youth unfulfilled, the late Duke of Clarence, and it adds now to our regret to think that thatpromise indicated no little literary skill. It was in a now defunct; periodical, Ageis, I that there appeared & story from his pan ea- j titled ! " A PRINCE WITHOUT A FfiIEKD," ; which he contributed under the norn deplume J of " Nixes." It told of the sorrows of a youcg man who, in olden days, was called to i tbe throne of an important State, only to j fiod himself surrounded by flatterers and sycophants. The psople are disaffected, and yet, though h« is anxious to improve their lot, be scarce knows what to do. At last he i meets with a farmer's daughter, whom he > woos and wins as a simple scholar, and j learne much from her of the real state of bis i people. At last, his identity disclosed by an accident, they are married, abuses in the Government are remedied, and the prince ar><? people alike are bappy. A plucky littls ruse on the part of Kirg ' Oscar II of Sweden placed his literary talent j beyond all question some few years ago. The j Stockholm Academy offered substantial prizes for the best essay on " Liberty," and, disdaining to curry favour, his Majesty contributed a paper under an assumed jame. ' This did not, however, prevent it carrying eff ! the second prize; and from that day his | reputation as an author has been assured. '< He has also written and published some volames of poetry, and, strarge contrast, works on political economy. But his best work is, appropriately enough, on " The ] Mission of Sovereigns." A volume of speeches is, as a rule, bat j a'endf-r foundation fox reputation as an anther to rest on ; but when the volume* con- ' tains so many clear and masterly expositions, so many happily-expressed sentiments thar are almost; universally felt, acd so much strong common sense as does the recentlypublished "Speeches of the Prince of Wales," then its author's reputation will be a high one. And the Prince's fame bas been both expended and cemented by the work. Very remarkable indeed are the jwoiks on German poetry which tha Empress of Austria not only writes, but also " sets up " herself. She hands her private printing press with consummate skill, and rather prefers to "com p." her own MS. than give a garrulcuß piinter a chance of spreading its contents before ifc is published ; and ,<n this she is wise. Her daughter, the Archduchess Valeric, contributes not a little striking verse to a favoured Vienna periodical, aud devotes the money she rece'ves !n return tc helping the aged employees of the State. -Bat perhaps the most ta'entsd of this very clever royal literary family was the late Crown Prince Rudolf, whose suicide but a few years Ego caused so painful a sensation. He left behind him an MS. 'on 'natural history, and another on his " Impressions of a Visit to Bosnia," and these, wbich have sitce been published, showed both literary and scientific abilities. Not many peopls know how great were the literary gifts and attainments of the late Pricce Consort. Even his memoranda to the j Cabinet are models of pure, good Eoglish ; ; bis speeches are, in their way, veritable touis de force. But -even Prince' Albert wes excelled by bis brother, King Leopold I of ; Belgium, whose brilliant letters to his brother sovereigns won him the title of the best correspondent in Europe. Very few modern authors have displayed the same Versatility as has the Marqais of Lome, the Queen's son-in-law, who has published a lot of vcises, more than one sensational story, and some valuable articles on | the colonies, ail of which have a distinct i individuality. Then, to mention a few more royal writerp, there are " Carmen Sylva," most popular of all, perhaps ; Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who writes tolerably frequently in the reI views; the late Due d'Anmale, whose hisj torical works won him admittance to the French Academy ; and Princes Jerome and I Lucien, who have written largely and well — the one on natural history, the other on their great-great-uncle. I Worthy a kiog, indeed, was the task to which the late Dom Luiz, King of Portugal, devoted 25 years of his life -namely, the translating of Shakespeare into that lani guage. The work is carelully and thoroughly carried out, and must bave cost his Majesty tan infinity of pains. They could not have been better expended for hia subjects' benefit.