LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 1 July 1903, Page 73

LITERARY NOTES.

— Me==rs Chapnynm and Hall have added '■A T.>!o of Twc Cities" and "Great Exp^ctatioiio' 1 to the biographical edition of Dickon*'.-; «ork=. The former was the first story puhli-hcd in All the Year Round, urtl winch Dickens founded to take the place of Household Word- The story also marked a new departure in its author's methods of ?tory-writing. It proved one of ll.p most Mii.cc-.-ful of his publications in s-erial form.

—Mr Chailpg Booth's '"Life tnd Labour in London" cc~itains one passage which has expose/I him and the publishers lo an action for libel and damages. It is brought by tii"' propiieror of *omc hou=e propcity to which referenoe is made in the first \ohime. However. Mr Justice Bucknill refii'-p<l rlie appkeation for restrammcr the nubhc'tion of the boole pending thp tna 1 of the action.

— Mcs«rs Mcthuon brue in prrparaticiti a series of recoups in a. Mnall foirn of some of the famous illustrated "books in Knc;li'-li l'teriture. The first six books which, are r^adv end -which will be published imm<v dntely, are Nimrod's "John Mvtton," with co'ouiPtl iHn«t rations by Aikrn and Rawlins; "The Vicar of Wakefield." with 24i ofourod rlarp-3 by P owl i> nelson : "The First T<'iir of T)t SynfciT." with 30 coloured plates by Rowlnndscn: William Blake's "Illustrations of the Book of Job." reproduced in photogravure. ; Harrison Ainsworbh's "Wind"or Cattle." wirh all the oricinal illustrations by Gn-ortre Omk=.hank : and /E^op's Fables, with ">RO woodcuts by Thorna.« Bewick.

— The curious work' of that quaint writer Z.( v<i iiy Bovd, the- seventeenth-century mininPT of th<* Barony Kirk of Glastrow, who had th-p. t'Mn-eritv to flout Cromwell to hi.<= facp and un 3 puniebed by the Protector tn fitinsj 1 mi to Mil op hours of prayers, continue to comirnmi tall price?. In an Edim'nppli nook c iM!M-\- catalogue we seP two of hU hooks enf^-pd at ncrurris (=avs Hip \Vc=tn imtfr (J arc-He) which only a vcrv rabid collector could afford to gr'ne. Zarhary himn"lf would Imn considerably Mirpmed could ho revi-.it the, glimpses of the moon and lenin low his writings aro hrld in swell o--to.pm

— "A= a Trcp F.illr," the vokuv * with wliir!) Mr Fi-'ti- T'mvin rr -opened liis "P-fiiflo'iym Library " ho& hf^en we 1 ' ref>iw] by tlm public, an-rl haa passed a <*>cvr.<] orhtiop. A surveyor fo it hofi iusfc appealed. "A Ne'or do WpII" is it" titlo, find it= inthor's norn f 1 * trin»rrp- is "Yal«*ntiae Cirvl " Tb<* contract br>tw<»e-n mn=ic a=; a nnftual unborn /net hod of exprp<*>Mon and its production hv treJinicnl skill is Hie. Hipmoof M>p «tory Tim "Vt do Well" is an nntaiiT'it ri-r-v v. ho is di'-fov-rpd by an imprrfjarir 1 Ho h"f? in ""im to make of him an nrti«t in rlw* technical «pir=f». and fcho ant.-Mroni*-in of the two infhiPmee < : — nature ver^n.° art—forms a psychological morive.

• — Amon<r rlic popular hooki= whirh are br*in^ rp-is=uP(l by M-es¥r.«! Maomillnn in new piifl a't>- riivf form*; m-nv H> noted Sir Walter Bezant's "Life of Captain Cook,"

now included im tha "Prize Library," witM illustrations by Mr J. Maofarlane; and in the series of "Illustrated Pocket Classics, "• Kingeley's "Water Babies," with pictures by! Mr Linley Sambourne, and Miss Edgeworth's "Castle Raekrent" and "The Ab> eentee" (in one volume), with drawings by Chris. Hammond, and an introduction, mi which Mrs Richmond Ritchie writes with her habitual charm of the Edgeworth family, their home, and their views of life.

— Many o£ our novelists go to Irokftfor? inspiration and, ideas instead of going ta life. Ifc is much easier to go to books, bu& thab is not the way to prodnce work which! may here and there stir a reader to actual cmofciop, here and there touch some hidden or sub-con6cious spring of the soul. It isr, N 010 doubt, given to few writers to unveil even bhe smallest mysteries of the terrible! and beautiful spirit of man, but it is tho business of every writer to strive after the highest that is in him. He may not have much to. say, but he should at least endeavour to aay it well, and he should not attempt to say it at all unless from some impulsion of knowledge or temperament. This is a hard sayiner, but it represents the only way of art. — Academy.

— The- Edinburgh edition of the "Waverley Novels" and Loekhacfs Life of Scott, which Messrs Jaet have beem issuing atf regular intervals for tlie past two years, hav<" now been comprstedy the last volume in each series having- just been issued; The piatea in these volumes form a col?6otion which ia in many respecta quite unique^ Selected! by Mr James L, Caw; iCurator of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, they repro* due© authentic porrraits of Scott's relatives, friends, and? contemporaries, besides no fewer than 20' portrait^ of Sir Walter himself from known origimafe. An interesting 1 feature,, too, ie the inclusion of portraits- of noted prototypes of the wonderful characters created by the great Wizard of the North. The two- editions consist in aIL of 58 volumes. They are beautifully printed on unloaded paper direot from the type — one of Constable's luxurious "fafefaced" founte — and l the edition is limited to 1000 signed, andl numbered copies.

— Decor&tJng and' symbolical art in book illustration cannat be treated as an innovation of the past decade or so. Ifc frraeea its origin, like- *o much «.lse. to the influence! of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and to fcha volume of Tennyson illustrated by RossettJ, Hunt, and Millais in 1857. But ifc wad Walter Ocane whose lofty ideals joined to his romantic vision and his exquisite art gave more than anything 1 elsp direction to the future of decorative art. Another powerful influence was that of William Morris, who found his CJorhic ideals bean> lifii'ly incorporated in the work of A. J4 fJaskin, of the "Birmingham "Guild of Han* dicraft " From these beginuing.3, not for9rp>tting the remoter influences of Blato andi DnrcT, evident, for example, in the work of Lawrence Housman, we advance to the rioW linr\"esfc of blie 'SOu, to which Byam Sha,w, Aiming BpII, Chnrles Ricketts. Charles S'hahnon, Sturge Moore. Granville Fell — < v ho has, greatly daring, challenged Blake in illustrating '"Job"— and others have ecm* tribufcod.— Daily Xews.

— "Jehb Junior" in Vanity Fair onco eoneluded the biopp-aphy of a famous states < man by reminding us that he was an authority upon German literature and wore check! trouper? When th^ same writer comos to spe^ak of Mr Bloundelle-Burtcm he might tfub it that he is bix feet two and grows cabbagps. Gardenin.s n-ppearg to bo a liobby o.f this adventurous novelist. Ho lives aff Barnes, and rid-ps a bicycle. Wisely, his work is done before lunch, from, half -past 9 until half-nast oiip. The midniffht oil necessarily stinks in the nostrils of a man used* to Channel breezes. Besides, as Mr Bloun* delle-Burton would probably say, there are shorter cuts to suieids. Re- has been so nearly 'kille-d on so many occasic<n» that no one will bfi£?rudgie him the compa.rativw security of his homestead at Barnes. He- i 9 not. even stopped on the hieh road by the critics, who admit to a man that they* cannot nut; his books down until they have! &ni«-hp<i them. Phis '« penerous, but dofprvnl. Of how many books would you' nr^fe-r to *.ay that you cannot put them! down until you jiave begum them? — Men and W o in Mi.

—Of intere-stine books a considerable! number is -promised shortly. Ye ar© to have T/adv BufrW« "Lotterf from tlio Wolv Tand " Sir Alfred Lvall's "Life of hh& MnrrmU of Dnffprni and Avn." Mr B. K. OliambersV ''T'lw» Modiafval St.a;?e\" and ml fWiein vet ari^HT-"- new )>~nk from IT-etiry Jam*-: Dr William Barry's "Th-> Day* ivrinir" ;mi/1 Mr Oorec Moore's "The Urny ti'Wl TV Id": in <;poit *he notes whfeh Mj? Ci Ilrrr Jp^son i» to write on th« game- o£ n-'ckp.t. nnd from Pf-cy Standing a new liiotrraphv of Rnniitainhji. Of new writers flit most <Miferti!nin.<r nowUflt. Charles "F'ldr. is to 1-ave ""other deal in th<>- cif-.v. Hi* la«t work- "Winifred and rhe Stocfchmk"»r." ! " lf the. Hot'<w> by the- ears. Ifc W3.= nlakJlnt a "chi^l" was a.mongsft them t-aViiicr lK^es. Mr Charles EddV. I may nnt-n. ,'s a brilliant voirric financial iournalist who has written Ui^ financial columns in s^voral new^oanors A.9 some two Iran* flfvi lib,°-l aebiow misrli't lie oxpppted to follow the revelation of his idenHtVv, he wi«>lv ndonts a vom ie rlump. If lii° n«w 'V>--ok i-s as anwrmc: as rfve old. ifc will do. JTlip nitv is already anxious nhoufc it. — "One of Them," in Men and Wom&n.

—Tt is offcpn said fehat liprlifc is nece<=«ary I for the formation of chlorophyll, or greenI colourini? matter, in vouiir plants, and the ' white sprout* in a dark cellar appear to nrove it Afr Bereer^tein. in the Tnltccl Sftes "Kxr>erimeut Station Record," shows, nevprthele-ss. that vouncr (jymno<^>erm« tjrow (O-een ' without the help of light, and the rapidity wirh which they produce Hie ehlorophvll va-ie= with the temperature. Cvcas .md 7nmia.?. on Hie contrary, do not produce cli'nroplivH if the liaht is absent. In f-nmo conifers, particlnrly the Cyprus, chlorophyll i« produced without li?ht. and in all parb. of the young plant Tn the arauoanai cli'ornn'ivll exists in branches de\ eloped in I the dank. Advtcb ao Mothers.— Are you broken in ycur roHt by a sick clul'l suffering •with the I pain of cuttinE teetk? Go at once to a. i chemist and get a, bottle of Mrs Winslo'w's I Soothtsg Stbot. It ■will Teiiev* the poos sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harnileM and pleasant to -taste, it produces natural, qiriet sleep, by relioring the child from pain, and the little cherub Kwakea " as. bright as a button." It soothes the child, it softens tha gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulate* ••.he boWels, and is the best-known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea, whether arising front teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow'a Soothing Syrup 23 fold by HmUsm* &c?l*r« every whero.

—An elderly and namoleta tiamp who | was recently knocked down by a motor and killed in Arkansas had tattooed on tho right j breast the lutteis "B C." This s-Lownd that he had been discharged fiom tho British army with ignominy, tomo time prior to 1870, wlkiq the puirshment of thus jnarking a delinquent was abolished.

The yakamik, a bird of the crano family, is u=ed by the natives of Venezuela in place of a shepherd-dog for guarding and hording their flocks. It is said that howo\er far the yakamik may wander with the fiock«, it never fills to find ita way safely homo at ruj;ht, driving before it all the cicatures intjusitirtl to its care.