LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2714, 21 March 1906, Page 69

LITERARY NOTES.

— A series of little volumes selected from the works of John Ruskin are to be published by Mi George Allen. They will gne Ruskin'b best pieces on life, art, | literature, economy, and such subjects, i Thu6 the first volume has to do with "Wealth.," while the title of the second will be "Women ' and Dress." | — Bosvvell's "Johnson" is to be a new! volume in the series of standard biographie-3 which Messrs Hutchiason publish. It has been edited and abridged by Mr Robert Ingpen, but even so it runs to 500 pages. The parts and -passages left out are those which have little bearing upon Johnson, or upon his friends — in other words, the generalities. _ I — The literary element in the House of Commons will receive a welcome accession by the return of Mr Hilaire" Belloc for South Salford. Mr Belloe's humour .is characteristic and original, as readers of those diverting volumes "The Bad Child's Book of Beasts" and "Tho Moral Alphabet" can bear witness. The new member, who is not yet 55, is of Franco-Irish birth. —Mr Murray's new edition of "The Poetical Works of Lord Byron" (price 6s) has the diotinction of being the only complete and copyright text in one volume. The whole of the text has been collated v ith the original MSS. wherever they are available, and the bopTc contains several , pc-ems, ,or portions of poems, which are still copyright, and whioh have not hitherto been published -except in larger editions. The present editfijji— dedicated by permis- j sion fcjjjSthe E5«% ,gijfe ne Hellenes— has been prepaFetf by Mr^xjcnest Hartley Coleridge, ! who furnishes.,-a3p§^ntroductory memoir. —As a xaaMer of literary interest, it is noted that the authors of the three most remarkable political biographies of recent years^— Mr Morley, Ldd Edmond Fitzmaurice, and Mr Winston Churchill, the biographers of Gladstone, Lord Granville, and Lord Randolph Churchill respectively — are all members of the present Government If, as is reported, Mr Winston Churchill received £5000 down for writing the "life" of his father, together with half the profits, he is ljjrely to become one of the best paid authors either of the past or the present. — A famous autobiography of the eighteenth century is to be reissued by Messrs Headley Brothers. It is that of Thomas Ellwood, the friend of John Milton and of William Pcnn, the founder of Pennsylvania. It was first issued in th<> year 171 a, and it gives an extremely vivid description of life in England during the stormy period of the Restoration. To Elhvood's friendship with Milton the world ovos the conception of "Paradise Retainer!." as a complement to "Paradise Lost." For this j;rint Mr W. H. Summers has written an introduction. ' — The Oxford University Press is about to issue "S(n?pc« from Old Playbooks," i arranged as an mti eduction to Shakespeare, by Mr Percy Simpson. This book is an ai tempt to solve in practical form some of the difficulties invoked in a first reading of Shakespeare, and it has been edited srlely with an eve to young,, readers, l'.ie only notes are stage notes, and these have been lavishly supplied. Mr Simpson thinks that thoir helpfulness in a school edition seems as yet to be imperfectly recognised A glossary is, ii. course, provided. — Foreign criticism, and especially German criticism, of British military achievements being always interesting, and often irstructivo, it will be learned with satisfaction (says the World) that the second part of "The German Official Account of the War in South Africa." prepared in tl-o Historical Section of th-3 Great General Staff. Berlin, is to be issued by Mr John ilurrav. The \olume. whioh has bc-en fpnslated b\ Colonel Hubert dv Ca-io, takes up the mrrjtne of the \var at the brginnirivr of I on! Roberta's memorable advance to Pr f ona after the capture of C'onje's armj at Paardeberg. — Althoigli i lie making of speeches in pul he ,s a duty from which comparatively few of us aie exempt (says the Field), oratory is but little sultivated by English-

* men, -ttnd.- the Subsidiary •«- art of ~i;oic<U management is -neglected even by many preachers and platform orators, to the detriment of their health as well -- theit effectiveness. In a -little ' work "- itled "Elocution. Its First Principles " W. H. Breare pleads convincingly Hs subject, and gives a number cf simple rules concerning voice production, -promm* ciation, inflection, and expression, which' are very ea6ily understood and mastered. The book is emphatically, one for beginner* and for those who do not as yet aspire to shine a 6 reciters, tut it may easily encourage its leaders to further inquiries in more abstruse handbooks. U' — The Cambridge University Press are about to issue an important" new work by Dr J. L. E. Dreycr, director of the Armagh Observatory, on the "History of the Planetary Systems from Thales to Kepler," Dr Dreyer in this book attempts to trace the history of man's conception of tho universe r roin the earliest historical ages to the completion of the Copemican system by Kepler in the seventeenth century. showing' tha gradual emancipation from pri,rai< tive ideas during the rise of Greek philosophy and science, the relapse daring" the ages following the destruction of the seats of «?re?k culture, and the rapid advance of knowledge after tho revival of learning at the end of the Middle,, Ages. _. N — The inevitable change;; of a century have been effected in the London publishing houses. Some of these still retain the names of. and c]e«onnd directly from, ihe houses of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. John Murray I reigned in the eighteenth eentTTry from, 176 Si to 1793. John Murray IT 'from 1793. ae a xninor in connection with S. HigMey. and afterwards alone, til 1 1843, when he died" at the age of 65. He was called by Lord Byron "tho Emperor of the West." His sen. John Murray 111. ascended the throne, and reigned about 50 years. He died at' a good old age, and was succeeded by John Murray IV. who now reigns. May the time be far distunt when John tha Fifth is called upon tc fill the throne of hi& forefathers !— Edward Marston, in the Chronicle. / - — "Famous Sisters of Great Men,"" \>f M. Kirlew (Thomas Nelson and Sons. London and New York), is a useful book fcr ' girls, giving short biographies of fhe talented women whose sympathy and help did much for the brothers to whom they devoted their cares. Caroline Herschel in aetronomy and Fanny Mendelssohn in. music each attained an eminence' of her own, as did Mary Lamb in the literature of her day. yet they are chiefly known in. connection with their brothers. DorothyWordsworth, whose fine taste and strong feeling for natural beauty was as important t3 her brother's years of struggle as her careful housekeeping, is less widely known. Still less familial to English readers is~ Henrietto Renan, whose industry provided} the means for her brother's education,' aridf whose sympathetic advice prevented him from entering Ihe priesthood wljon he found himself a doubter.— Montreal* W't T ness. _ '

> — A new type of war vessel being' considered by the United States Navy, is' to be globuloid in shape, and intended principally for harbour and coast defence— in reality a floating fortress. It is designed, to carry sufficient armour to render ifc practically impenetrable, and it is to bo four times as powerful iIV any existing battleship. The designer proposes io use four 6erew propellers, dnV-en by -engines of 14,000 horse-power, and these, he concludes, -will give the vessel a speed of about nine knote an hour. — Heating water without applying the heat to the exterior of the containing bowl is a very ancient idea. The. immersion o£ hot pebbles, for instance, is obviously recalled. A modern adaptation to heat the contents of a bath or other receptacle is provided by an American inventor. A 1 copper bowl supported by a wocd or other rim is fitted interiorally with gas burners, the flames from which impinge on. the side of the bowl. Flexible tubing connects the heater to a gas bracket. It is claimed for this device that when immersed in the water the heating of the latfeer is both rapid and effective.

— "Well-train* d Spanish women learn to I handle the sword from then- earlier years, I end as a resv); iVioy ha\^ admirable figures I aiid aoi easj '/*alls. •

— Sea anemones are able to exist for thiee or four years wi'&out nourishment beyond that which they extract Irom, the water.