LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 59

LITERARY NOTES.

— It is not often chat we hear of a jnaga/ine that is sincerely anxious to limit it 3 civ' culation ; but the Ladies' Home Journal of Philadelphia is seriously stated to be in tbis happy case. The monthly, which it edited by Mr Edward Bok, and issued by the Curtis Publishing Company, has a circulation of 850,000 copies, und beyond thai it seems it is not possible i,o go without a proportionate loss accruing. — Messrs Metfiuen and Co. will publish in a low days "Rose a Oharlitte.'' by Marbhall Saunders, . a romantic story ot Acadie. It is well knowt that the French inhabitants qI Nova Scofcia were treated with the greatest cruelty by their English conqueror*, and he memory of these outrages has always lingered among a high-spirited and resentful race. This story brings into close intercourse descendants of the victors and victims. — Messrs Jarrold and Sons have in preparation a translation, by Mr Nisbel Bain of Jckai's novel, "The Poor Plutocrat*." In this connection it is interesting to note that the Hungarian novelist is having a collection of these translations made for exhibition at tho coming Paris Exposition. The collection v-,'ll necessarily bs a large one, foi Muuruu Jokai has ovor 300 novels standing to hisr name, and many of them have, been translated all over .Europe. — Messrs David Bryce and Son, of Glasgow, have in the press a reproduction of "The Clans of the Scottish Highlands," by R. R. M'lan. This work on the Scottish (-\ip,L>iands wab published half a. century ago, m -™, t o Urge quarto volume, anil is one oi the most artistic, sumptuous, and costly of our national literarj pxiblicationg. It _ce,n only be purchased -\t priced whiclfpraotically put it beyond the reach of private individuals, and the new one- volume edition at a reasonable price phould be welcome. — There is no more arresting circumstance in the history of Greek thought than the fact that Plate banished poetry from his ideal commonwealth, not because the poetry ol his own day was becoming dissolute and decadent, but because poetry, of its own essential and definitive nature, was untrue; a lie and a blasphemy against the divinity of supreme truth, winch is one with supreme beauty. That is to oarry Puritanism in doctrine and conduct beyond the lengths of Savonarola "or of Knox ; yet what name in the world has been more perfectly synonymous and identified with that of beauty than the name of the starry and enraptured Plato. — Chronicle. — Attempt to translate Morcutio's Queen Mab speech into prose, and see what you will make of it. Ot take a serious passageOthello's famous image : Like to tho Politick sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er knows retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontick and the Hellespont; t Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall iio'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, Till that a capable and wide revenge Swallow them up. Reduce -this to prose and it would be impossible tc read it with* a sober face. It is the metre, the lightning, dance -of it, that lays common sense under a spell. To say it slowly would almost be to translate it into prose. — John Davidson. — Messrs Hutcbinson and Co. have in the press for immediate publication an illustrated work in two volumes by the late Mrs Hilda Gainlin, entitled "Nelson's Friendships," which presents Nelson among his friends rather than aB a naval hero, and gives a fresh view of his life obtained by the help of authentic matter mostly hitherto unpublished. For many years prior to her death, which happened shortly after she had placed her MB. in the hands of the publishers, Mrs Gamlin had been collecting material for her work, which will contain many new letters, documents, and portraits. — Daudet wrote each manuscript three times over, without counting the rough notes with which he began ; and Madame Daudet'a quick eyes and fine taste were called more and more into requisition as the task approached completion. Tacitus lay on his table at the side of Montaigne. They, like Madame de Sevigne, were authors whom he turned into personal friends. He read widely, and, for a man of his temperament, with surprising method, and though always ready to confess his ignorance, his knowledge was both more wide and more accurate than was commonly supposed. He saw everything in literature, as in life, from tlie standpoint of the artist. Long-winded theories annoyed him. "Letvw got forward to the picture," he would 'ay with an impatient sweep of hie hand. — Speaker. — Captain Bertram!, a translation of whose Iravol book on the Upper Zambesi, entitled ' The Kingdom of the Barotpi," is being pub■jished by Mr T. Fisher Unwin, is a little over 40, and is in the Army Reserve. He is 'a Helvetian Frenchman, speaking three language*. He ulludo te his ase«nts of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, and the Matterhorn as mere frolics. Ho did the tour ox the world in 1878-79. la 1883 he went to Kashmir; for

three week's He was at an altitude of ore*, 13,000 ft, and for five days at ar altitude oi 14. 000. Sinco writing the boo.c about^tha Barotsi, he has been made a corresponding, member of the Geographical Society at Lisbon. — Mrs Lala Fisher, who made her debut sr»England as an Australian poet with a book entitled "Twilight Teaching," is to figure as the editor of a volume of specially contributed representative Australian stories, en* titled "By Creek and Gully," which M*< T. Fisher Unwin will publish. Among the authors are the Hon. Wm Pember Reeves, Mr H. B. Marriott Watson, Mr E. W. Hornung, Mr and Mrs Patchetl Martin, •'lota," Mrs Campbell Praed, Mr Louis Beoke, and Mr Douglas Sladeu. The editor herself contributee a poem and a story, and her portrait appears a& frontispieoe. The volume, sayu Literary World, should excito interest as being a sort of test of Australia's literary capacity. — The movement among publishers in th« direction of cheapening books seems to havi got somewhat out of hand. The drop from, a guinea and a-half to 6s seemed severe, and manj questioned its wisdom. But quit* suddenly a far bigger drop was taken to 6d, and now we are coming to tho irreducible mini* tmum of Id. In this fresh departure MessrsO. A. Pearson, Limited, ar^e determined to> bs in the front rank, and we learn that they are bringing out, finder Mi Peter Kearey'a editorship, two series of penny books,. Ons of these will contain" novels by Ouida, John Oliver Hobbes, Robert Buchanan, Grant Allen, Mrs Hungerford, Louis, Becke, Clark Russell, "'Rita," and otHer popular- novelists. ■The other will. consist of books like "How to be Happy Though Married," "Helen's Babies,'.' "Trooper Halket of Mashonaland," etc. — The attempts made to discover the identity of " Fiona Macleod " in the person of Mr William Sharp has called forth, through tho agency of Messrs Constable and Co., th« following protest from the holder of the namt or pseudonym, who writes: — "Dear Sirs,—* I am much annoyed at this continued identification of myself with this or that man or woman of letters — in one or two instances •»vith people whom I have never seen 'and dcj not, even know by correspondence. For what seem to myfcelf not only good, but imperative, private reasons, I wish to preserve absolutely my privacy. It is not only that tempera^ mentally I shrink from and dislike the public city of reputation, but that my very writing depends upon this privacy. But in one respecl. <o Batisfy those who will not be content to tn.ke or lea-ve, to read or ignore my writings, I give you authority to say definitely that ' Fiona Maoleod ' is not any of thosa with whom she has been ' identified ' ; that she writes only under the name of Fiona Macleod ; that her name is her own : and that all she aske is the. courtesy both of good breeding and common sense- -a courtesy which in the right of all, and surely imperatively of a woman acti lg by and for herself. — Believe mo sincerely yourfe, Fiona Macleod."