LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2360, 18 May 1899, Page 54

LITERARY NOTES.

Mr Ignatius Donnelly, who will be remembered for his book on the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy, entitled "The Great Cryptogram," has prepared another volume on the subject. It will be published this spring on both sides of the Atlantic under the title of " The Cipher in the Plays and on the Tombstone."

Lord Harlech haa just attained the age of 80. He has had a seat in Parliament ever since 1841', first as a member for several Irish constituencies, and since 1876 as a peer.' It is probable that there have never been so many octogenarians in the House of Lords as there are at present. No fewer than 33 peers are in or have passed their eightieth yea-.

The writer of the New York letter in the Boston Literary World writes : "Mr Zangwill has left behind a reputation for ability, character, and dignity, and has carried away a good reward for his work, not to speak of the benefit he derived from extensive travel in a world full of interest and literary material for co keen an observer."

The " Recessional " did for Rudyard Kipling's fame what all the gifts of the storyteller, all the audacities of the pride of life in prose and verse would have failed to achieve. It was just that kind of humble petition which has moved the hearts of a domineering and head-strong race since the days of Cromwell. It is akin to the spirit which made the prophets of Israel abase themselves in prayer and then rise with new vigour to smite the Amalokites. — Speaker.

Messrs William Blackwood and Sons are publishing a volume on " Holland and the Hollanders," by Mr David S. Meldrum. The book ia intended to give an account of the Dutch people of to-day— the present social, agricultural, industrial, and commercial conditions. The imperial and municipal methods of Government, education, and the elaborate protective and draining system directed by the Waterataat are dealt with in separate chapters, while one section treats in greater detail of the special interests of each of the 11 provinces. Mr iEneas Mackay, of Stirling, iB about to publish a volume on " The Lake of Menteith : Its Islands and Vicinity," from the pen of Mr A. F. Hutchison. For several months Queen Mary of Scots lived In seclusion on one of the islands in this small Perthshire lake, and it has other claims o( a. historical interest. Lord Robert? hm written m introduction

for " From Cromwell to Wellington— Twelve Soldiers,"' which, will "shortly ~be published. The twelve soldiers are Cromwell, Marlborough, Peterborough, Wolfe, Clive, Coote, Heathfield, Abefcrombie, Lake, Baird, Moore, and Wellington, and their lives are written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cooperi* Key, Hon. J. W. Fortescue, Major F. E. Cooper, R.A., General Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., G.C.8., Col. F. Adam, Lieutenant-colonel S. O. Pratt, 8.A., Lieutenant-colonel Adye, R.A., Brevet Lieutenant-colonel A. Court, Major E. B. May, R.H.A., Captain Count Gleichen, Major O. B. Mayne, R.E., and Major-general F. Maurice, C.8., R.A. The general editor is Mr Spenser Wilkinson.

Mrs Flora Annie Steel, the rival of Mr Kipling as the portrayer of Indian life and character, is the youngest daughter of the late Mr George Webster, who was born in 1800, became a Writer to the Signet, and took up his residence in Edinburgh in 1821, and died on his Highland estate of Invercrevan in 1882. His father had been minister of Inverarity. Mrs Steel married an Indian civilian, and spent some 20 years of her life in the Punjab, where eh& acquired a number o£ Indian dialects.' Since her husband's retirement from the service Mrs Steel has made her permanent home in England, but has nrore than once revisited the scenes -of her early married life in India, generally with a camera.

"Lnmsden of -the Guides-" should be full of ii-terest to students of Indit£n > * military history. Sir Harry Burnett Ltunsden served- with great distinction during the Afghan. Sutlej, Punjab, and frontier campaigns 3' he "will always be remembered as the organiser 'of -the famous Corps of Guides. The biography is written by General Sir Peter Lunisden, who has spent the best part of his life in India, and Mr Geo. i<. Elsmie. Another book dealing with India is Sir Alfred Lyall's " Asiatic Studies," which, has been for some time out of print. Sir Alfred Lyall has given his work some final revision, and added a second series of kindred studies. Sir Alfred Lyall is one of the most distinguished of Indian civilians, and has published not only a " Life of Warren Hastings," but a volume of verses.

. The death of " A.K.H.8." is a sad loss to letters. As a diarist ho was, perhaps, mimatched " among his contemporaries, the quaint, pawky style of his writing lending itself exactly to the matter of his work. He had a marvellous memory and a. ready tongue, and, having met everyone of importance, his stock of stories was unlimited. Referring to a friendly letter from the United States, telling how its writer each Sunday morning went to his room and read aloud one of Dr Boyd's sermons, " A.K.H.8." once told this amusing story against himself :— As one greatly needing help, I am thankful if it helps him. But I recall what a dear old sufferer in my Edinburgh congregation told me, with the kindest intention: "When I can't sleep at night J say to my husband, ' Oh, read me one of my dear minister's sermons !' And he has not read five minutes when I. am sound asleep!" I said I was delighted to hear it, though ifc was not wholly for that purpose the sermons were published. .* Rev. Charles F. Aked, of Liverpool, has written a; forcible criticism of Mr Sheldon's famous book, "In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?" in a recent Christian World. He points out the faultiness of the formula, '"What would Jesus, do if he "were in your place?" for the answer is that "Jesus would »not be in your place; He would leave your place. He would do as He did before; He would go about preaching." Perhaps the trouble ha* arisen from the use of a misleading phrase. Mr Sheldon apparently meant, not "What would Jesus do?" but "What would Jesus say?" The answer to that would be a very different one from the answer to tho other question. Mr Aked objects to Mr Sheldon that he dare not " face the position of a man who has his living to earn, as millions of men have to earn it to-day, yet tries to walk ' In His steps ' !" Fpr Mr Sheldon arranges that his oharacters shall be well off to start with, and always have a soft place to fall on when in a difficulty. Thus the " millionaire girl " turns up to restore the fortunes of the newspaper proprietor who has courted bankruptcy by doing what he thought " Jesus would do" ac regards the reports of prize fights, etc. As Mi Aked puts it:—"Millionaire girls are all very well. I should u.se to make the acquaintance of two or three myself. But the clevk, the shop assistant, the small tradesman struggling against the big men in the cut-throat competition — these are nearer to hand."

Mr Kay Robinson, an old colleague of Mr Rudyard Kipling, contributes some interesting reminiscences of their Indian days to Literature. Mr Robinson prints a letter which shows that conceit was not a failing of Kipling in his youth, a period, when it might not unnaturally be expected to ippear. The letter was in reply to one from Mr Robinson, telling Kipling that. " a man who could write as he could should go. home, to England, to London, where fame could be won." The reply was as follows : "You ought to know better at your time o' life than to knock a youngster off his legs in this way. How do you expect any one will be able to hold me after your letter? . . . Would you be astonished if I told you that I look forward to nothing but an Indian journalist's career? Why should I? My home's out here; my people are out here ; all the friends I know are out hero ; and all the interests I have are out here. Why should I go home? Any fool can put up rhymes, and the market is full of boys who could undersell me as soon as I<put foot in it. ... Let us depart our several ways in amity. You go to Fleet street (where I shall come when I die if I'm good) and I tp my place, where I find heat and {smells of oil and spices, and puffs of temple incense, and sweat, and darkness, and dirt, and lust, and cruelty, and— above all— things wonderful and fascinating innumerable. Give me time, give me sevan years and three added to them, and abide the publishment of 'Mother Maturin.' " " ' Mother. Maturin,' " says Mr Robinson, " is the great work by which for many years Kipling p ur POBe<lP OBe< l *° ma ke his name. In 1886 he had 350 foolscap pages of its manuI'oripfc— which means much in his neat writing, though it was not so small in those days ai it is now— lying at the bottom of a ' bruised tin teabox-' It was, he said, ' the novel which is always being written and gets no furrarder.' "

— Carlyle says, "Laughter means sym.pathy." This will bring comfort to the man who has inadvertently trodden on some orange peel.

Remarkable 'Cube of Dtsentret. In 1887 Mr Thomas M'lntosh, of Allentown, Term., had an attack of dysentery which became chronic. "I was treated by the best physicians in East Tennessee without a cure," he says. " Finally I tried Chamberlain's Colic, Cholera, and Diarrhoea Remedy. After using about 12 bottles I- was sound and well." For sale by ail leading chemists.