Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 52

LITERARY NOTES.

— Fia.li Ccf-mid Wagner has in her possession, according to a recent report, four unpublished completed woiks of her husband. — Messrs F. V. White and Co. have printed no fewer than four editions of " Scribes and Pharisees," the new novel by Mr William Le Queux, whose previous tale is at. present running through the Witness. It was first published only on May 10. — Mi Raymond TJlathwayt has written for Travel an interview with Mr Seton Karr, called "How I Discovered the Garden of Eden," dealing with Mr Scion Karr's discovery of paleolithic implements in Somaliland, which he considers the cradle of Ihe liuinun race.

— Mr Leland, although now in his seventyfourth year, is far from inactive. lie has ready or in hand no less than six volumes, mostly studies in Lore and Leirend. The

most notable are a collection of Tuscan tales similar to his "'Legends of Florence," " Wayside Wanderers," and " Songs ol Sorcery and Ballads of Witchciaft."

— Mr Hamilton Williams's nautical work, published in 1894 under the title of " Britain's Xaval Power/ has proved so popular that the author has been eneoiuaged to issue a second series, through Messrs Ahicmillan and Co., continuing the work on the same lines, from 1805 up to the present time.

— At the sale of the library and other effects- of the late " Lewis Carroll " at Oxford the undergraduates were persistent bidders, many of even the most expensive lots falling to them. Tho highest price realised was £50, at which the authoi's pi oof copy of "Alice in Wonderland,"' specially, bound, and with a MS. puem on the lly-leaf, was bought in.

— Yfcntworlh House, John streo.t, Fampstend, which Mas once the residence of Fanny Brawne, is being sold for building purpoj.es. Keal&'s house, where the Society of Arts placed a tablet, some lime ago, adjoins it, and it i.s U> be. hoped that it will not) share the same fate in the general m.<n:h of improvements and alterations over the historic portions of llampsle id.

— Captain Wellby's book, in v. hith is da-s scribed the fisst crossing ot Tibet, is published by Mr T. li'i&her Unv.in. Captain Wcllby discovered the source of the Cha Ma, River, and outlined tlie features of the country. In his book he contributes to the knowledge of China's official mismanagement, and supplies elaborate appendices of scienl ifk information.

— America- lias discovered a new poet named Morris Kosenfeld. According to Literature, public attention was first, called to him by a professor ot Harvard University, who reproduced in prose translation some of his verses, originally published in a Yiddish new.-papov of New York City. His work gives a curious revelation oi a natural talent.

— It may interest readers to learn that the Mickle referred to in these notes a week or two back as the author of " Cumnor H.dl " anJ " There's nae luck about the house," a poem which Burns siid was the finest, over wiitten, was an ancestor of Dr ITyde, of Clyde, on the matern il side. The. Hen. C. J. Micklc, of tho Canadian Government,, and Dr Mickle, of Grove Hall, London, arc also of the s ime family.

— "I heartily condemn the modem interview A person is ensnared into a light- and superficial colloquy upon a subject which demands deep thought and mature reflection. If a nan or a womanlus a mese-ige tn i«suo it cannot, be uttered furcefuUy in one of these intei views.' Interviews are abominations which accentuate the personality at th» expsnre of the principle." So said Olivo BcLrchier in reply to a reporter who called upon the author of " The Story of an African, farm "' for some expressions of opinion as to tiie state of the. uniiitry. —It hi curious hew a long life like Mr Gl d-u-M'/s links on tho present, century, in the nV.-'t decide of whk-h he was born, 'to fax away til ,l-s in the preceding century. The widow of I> f ivid <!arrick wa<: still alive when Mr Oiacht-ujc wj.s a lad of 12. The widow of Prince Civvies Edv.ard, the Yoi.;<g Pretender was also alive when Mr Gladstone WP.-5 a l,d of 1-1 The Young Pivic-idor'a brother, Ca.rdr.i<>] York, who for some time assumed the regal style as Henry IX, Kii.g of England, died only two yo.ti's before the \«ar of yh G! Ld.-tone's birth.

— " Lu<":is Mfilef,'' the clever auilic:^ of the '" Wages of Sin," is one of the fc\v „1 .\'ren of eminent writers on whom thtir Liter's Bianilc has to any degree fy|lc;i The youngest daughter of Chariot K i r, v ""ley, " Lucas Malet " (in private liio Mrs Harris son) was bora at Ever.-ley Rectory, the house hallowed by the memory of her great father. Although novels -were absolutely forbidden until she was 20, "fiction ran in her blood, 1 ' and the child -noavi'd many a story "under nature's spell !> in tho lonely wood near the rectory. It was only, however, in 1882, Avhen living at Cloveily that her first book was written. "Lucas Malet." has almost a morbid distaste for convention, and claims freedom to write and to act as her impulses dictate.

— The publication of Hip first volume of the new and revised edition of Byron's works has roused interest in the question : Is Byron read in these days, and, if not. why not'/ The Academy prints the opinions of four London and several provincial booksellers, and, on the whole, the prospect seems favourable fov the sale, the London houses being more hopeful than the country ones. The sinraft.;menua i<-sue of two editions— Mr Heinemann recently began publishing one (of the Poetical Work.-) under Mr Henley's editorship —is regarded in .some quarters as a drawback. A.' writer in another contemporary considers that Byron's comparative unpopularity may be due to the Nonconformist conscience on the one hand, and to the obsolete views regarding woman as being natm-ally and necess-arily in man's ownership on the other. We (Literary World) cannot say we see much cogency' in the argument, beyond the fact, that" writers of 70 years ago and upwards naturally tend to become archaic. — "The WiefLciv," I ho. joint work of Piobeil Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne. is i^ued in the chop uniform edition of Stevenson's works by Messrs Cassell and Co. The work, which is "now in its twenty-ninth thousand, fiivt appeared in June, 1892. If; was reprinted in July, August, September, and October of the same year, in February and April, 1893, and again the following year. The present edition is well illustrated, ond neallv and spvviccably bound. — The life of' that industrious artist and student of Reynolds, James Northcote, is just, published by Mr T. Fisher Unwin, under the title of "Memorials of an Eighteenth Century Painter. " He must have painted at; least 700 pictures (Mr Stephen Gwynn, the compiler of the "Memorials" gives a list of 654), but it is as a gossip of the first water, in spile of his touching devotion to his art, that Northcote is to-day appreciated. He wrote the life of Reynolds, and also a portion of his own, in which he speaks of himself as "James" and '"poor James." The note-, book in which he made the MS. of his autobiography was, by good luck, bought by Mr i ; ,. "W. Hennell, a friend of Mi Gwynn. irence, Mr Gwynn's inspiration for writing this volume. Northcote was nearly 85 when ha chad in 18<51»