LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2582, 9 September 1903, Page 70

LITERARY NOTES.

Among t th- 'ixninny no\cl* recently i--.ucd 1.-s "Dor m Gini.ge,' 1 a <=tory m outhiii-, b> Dr G. H. 11. Dabb-. (Horace Co.\), the ccutor of "Vlc i,." It 13 pmut&d in excellent type, and liar, t'-.o distinct achantago of bci i<r fo Ijou.kl that tJid leader js not engaged in a continual .struggle to keep In-, P-tge oi.cn, as is the ra-e with tho object enable who- bound publication-. — •'Pig-, in Clove* ," by Frank Danby (110. Kniann, 6-), iia-= h? n n Kirrew licit harshly criticised ,ii a (ji.c^t'onablo book. It is not at all, loue-.i". "f tho iln^s often referred lo a- the ]n'°M°m. novel. Tho title Ls not veiy ft i-lun<ito, tor ?omo of the miHionaue .South Afiu'an ma^intcs v.'".o are kj vry f't-'-Iy linndlfd ore not more piggish than lruny oih r p^'i;i!o v. ho In© in closer. It 1-, a <-ni utly-wiitfen book, and the w liter ]- cmcl r.tlv frmi''ar \Mth the ways of K:m-bMc-v -""1 t! > Caro. — l"c!l'.\vi:i? thL r'.i«m of "Helen," M r^sr- Mrcnu'l m ha\c low publish-ad ilaria Edcjev.ort'ii'.i '"lii'linda " in the>r two--)iil!ing seue.s of Illustrator] Pocket Clu.wi.}, uitli introtiix tiorw by Mrs Thackeray Ritchie. Tlu=, I'kc other Edgewcrth novel-, h illiiptratcd by Cn- Hf mmo;ul. The fourtli of Ihn, "pockft novels by f.'ivminto author 5 ," from to tamr firm, li:i<» app'-aroc', bmng Mrs Gcrtiude Atherton'o siiort, story, "ills

i Pendleton's Fonr-in-Hand." The team is uot wl'ai we genorally umderaiand as a four-in-hand, but is a quartet of American gentle, men who allow themseJvcs to be. befooled; by a smart American widow. — The deplorable Oarlyle controversy has now parsed out of the- domain of literary gcs--ip into daily news. "We only hope (says a Homo pape-r) that it will cau=e a reactionary sympathy with Carlyle> the WTiter, and that we shall occasionally hear some mention of ''Sartor Resartus." Reviewing thft book which has been put forward in Fronde's* in tei eat, tho Tnnes's Literary Supplement remarks that it recalls only too vividly Teni^'son's stanzas in the "Dead Prophet" : She tore the prophet after death, And the people paid her well. Lightnings flicker'd along the heath. One shnek'd, " The fires of He.l." — The delegates of the Clarendon Press propose to supplement their facsimile of the Shakespeare First Folio by publishing facsimile reproduction of the earlie-st accrssibl? editions of that portion of Shakes^ pear's v/ork which femd no p'.aos in the Fiift Folio. The excluded portion consists of the four poetical quarto volumes : "Venus and Adonis' (1593). "Lucrece" (1594), "Tho Passionate Pilgrim"' (1599), and the Sonnete (1609), as wa-11 as the play of "Pericles." whic 1 ! was first published an quarto in 1609, bxit was not included m a collected -edition, of Shakespeare's Plays before the third folio edition of Ib 6*. This reprint will 'be executed under the direction of Mr Sidney Lee, who will contribute full introductions containing the> latest results of his researches with rcgaid to the bibliography of Shakespoare's '"Poems" and of the play of "Peri* cle-3." — Sunday, July 5. was tho hundredth anlmercary of the birth of George Borrow, whose books, part.cularly the "Bibls in Spain"— one of R. L. Stevenson's especial favourites — and "Lfucm-rro,"' continue to exercise as great a fascination as ever. Mr Birrell, in his capital paper on Borrow, originally contributed to the "Reflector," aud now included in "Res Judicatae," speaks of the- author of "Lavongro" as one of tho kings of literature, whoso personality will always secure him an attendant comprary. A year or two ago, it will be remembered, his books had a groat boom, and although that has in large measure passed -away, fhft ranks of staunch Borrovians then received! a notable accession in point of number*. — One of the authors whose birthdays fall in June d^alt with in the currtati English Illustrated Magazine is Mr Thomas Bardy. Mr H. W. Nevinson's brief summary of Mr Hardy's outlook and work is quite admirable. Ho writes: — "To comparo the- man who has created such poignanb soenes of pity and terror as the meeting off Troy and Batlisheba over Fauny's coffin, op the discovery of Tess at Stcmehenge, or Knight clinging to the sea-pinks upon the cliff without a name, n- Jude and Sue turn'ng back unmarried' from the altar — to compare such a writer with so undramatio a poet as Wordsworth may seem strange, but the comparison is inevitable. The resemblance has little to do with the obvious 'lo\e of both for tho face of external nature, and their intimate knowledge of all her aspects in beneficence or desolation. It 13 not here their secret lies. In spite of their country life aud country themes, neither of the-in has any connection with idyllic art. To them nature is uot tbe home of prettir.ess and rustic peace, amd their men and women have nothing whatever in common with nymphs and swains. Both lov© the mankind that lies close to the breast of earth, and is as truly eprung from her as the grass and trop.=. In speaking of ms.nkind, they never lose sight of this ancient world, so full of siiange history, so full of unconsoious influences and associations, which for generation^? have nurtured tho duldicn of nvm, and form the se-ttiug of theit lives." The analogy v certainly interesting, though tho difference in temperament between the two writers lesulted in very different final conclusions. —In an article in the North American Review on Sir Alfred Lyall's "Tennyson," Mr Frederick Harrison says: — "Like almost all our roet-"*, except Milton, Gray, Coleridge, and Arnold, he published a great deal more than he need have done. Tennyson, no doubt, published far less of careless, j ill-digested, and poor work than almoot any of oui poets. All of them, except Milton and Gray, sank at times into bathos unworthy of them. This Tennyson never did. But he published much in his later career | which is inferior to Ida best. The future will, no doubt, be content to remembor little more than half, or even a third, of his immense output. Most of liis poems would be more effective if they were only half as long as ihey are." Those few sent.nces contain (remarks The Academy), many disputable statements. Coloridgc, mi spite of his small poetic production, published some woik which the world could very wHI have done without; and surely all our poets, except Hilton and Gray, did nob .-■irJk into bathos. We could name a dozer* who never became bathetic, though it would br- difficult to name one who w-as not -sometimes weak. And the last S'lat-enoe quoted we can by no mean.? accept ; it is one of tho c e generalisations which ore so easy to make, so difficult to substantiate. R-emem- | bering tho best of Tennyson's works, we are convinced that it would liav-e lost immeasurably if it had been shortened' by haJf. TLcro are times when Mr Harrison seems to cc.ifcund the methods proper to philosophy with tho methods proper to pootry. — Although tho accounts of the condition of Mr Gocrgo Meredith se&m. to have been, exaggerated, it was known some tim© ago (tayx a writer in the- Locda Mercury) thafe lie had written his last look, and that nothing more was to be expected from his pen. Certainly hi 3 life's work) has been a great one, for few men. of our day can point to their works a* he cam, and say with truth that each vo'ume represents their highest! effort. His books are not numerous, but each one is a masterpiece. Ke has never written a careless book, or chapter, or line; ho has never caml for fam»; he has never been puffed in tho ncw-p-apers, or been; considered like Shakespeare, or ecrrametl aloud that ho would not bo interviewed. Ho i«, in fac*, a great man, with a great! soul, as v.'oll as a great wrilf-r. Though hi<* pro=o work i^ far bettpr known and! more wid'lv read (ban his vor?o, he always con«ider«d hi 1 - chief pxee-llence to lie in tha writing of pootry. Mr Rioharco Lo Gallionno, nof aivaio of this little weakness', o'ic^ aikr-'l '"the maeter," with whom he w&3 dining ;tt BnxhiJ], for a jjieeo of his maau=cr p^ as a momento. "I don't mesui anything of importnnce, you know, such as 'R'thard Fevcrcl,' or nnvthinK"*you care muc-h rbout; ju?t sorrir-tbinjr trifling — could you j.'i\ o me a po^m?" Mr Mcrpdith could! eiaiceJv hide Ida displeasure at the implied!

disparagement of his muse. It has often been said that George Meredith lived with Eosaetti and Swinburne in Cheynewallr, Chelsea, before going to Boxhill. The truth is that he took rooms in Rossetti's house; but on his first visit to 'his prospective homo paid a quarter's rent to gc,t out of Lie bargain. "It was past oooon, on a glorious day," he said, "ar.d Rossetti hadn't risen. On the breakfast table I found a huge dish, with five thick slabs of baoon and five rigid eggs in it, which seemed to Lave been there for hours. By-and-bye Kossetti cam© ■down, in his dressing-gown, ■with slippers down at heel, and devoured the sumptuous repast like an ogre. And that decided me!"'