LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 80

LITERARY NOTES.

! — A posthumous volume by "Allen ' Raine," " All in a Month, and Other Stories," is announced. , — Count Bernstorff was a conspicuous figure among tho diplomatists and statesmen of the nineteenth century. He belonged to that race of Germans, of which ; i Count Gaprivi was the last representative, who sincerely end intelligently desired that cdrdial relations should . exist between their - country and Great Britain. Messrs Longmans .hope to issue shortly the authorised translation of "The Bernstorff Papers : Being the Life of Count Albrecht yon Bernstorff," by Dr Karl "Ring--hoffer. — " The King Who Never Reigned" ie the title of a volume published by Mr Eveleigh Nash, which deals with the fate of the unfortunate Dauphin, Louis XVII. It is a composite book to some extent, being made up of two distinct and almost opposite, parts, as the editors point out. The I first part comprises the "Memoirs" by I Eckard, and the second comprises the "Recollections" of Naundorff. To these is added Joseph Turquan's solution of the historical problem. — Mr' Joseph Bennett has written his reminiscences of "Forty Years of Music" in a book which Messrs Methuen are publishing. The period covered is 1865-1905. Mr Bennett passes in review all the lead- ' ing musicians he has known, who include [ everyone of importance. There are recollections of all the leading critics of the time, and of operatic managers. The book J is designed to give as vivid a picture as I possible of the persons and events of the , period. I —Mr Alfred Noyes has written a monograph on " William Morris," which Messirs j Maemillan will publish in their well-known I "English Men of Letters" series. Mr I Noyes's own work would have led us to' j expect that he would be in full sympathy i with his subject, and it is no surprise to ! find him summing up Morris's poetical position in such words as these — "There is, perhaps, no poet whose work is so marvel- j lously sustained in auality. The very worst of his writings bears upon it the j unmistakable hall mark of the artist; the poorest of hi& singing robes will have some gold feather clinging to it that shows what paradisal floor it lately swept." —In his new book, " Over Bemerton's," ' Mr E. V. Lucas makes his chief character, • a man who has returned to London after ; ' 30 years' ahsencc abroad, confess that tho ■ most noticeablp change that has struck ' him in his countrymen is the increase of ' -arcastic facetiousness. London, he re- j niaiks, hut, always indulged in this dis- j cCinse of it^> real feelings — this armour against fate — but the habit seems to be * moie diffused. "I think I discern also j * au increase of genuine cynicism — . . . I 1 cynicism rather than pessimism, I should j ' .say ; by cynicism meaning a national ec- ' ceptance.of the ilk of life without grain- s bhng at them." — St. James's Gazette. —Mr Winston Churchill's "My African ( Journey," which ran serially in the Strand * Magazine, is to b«» one of the big books v of the autumn publishing season. No fewer tliia eight publishers were anxious to accept the work and it was ultimately disposed of at a very high figure indeed, c As a bookman, Mr Churchill's reputation ; rests chiefly at present on the "Life" of his father, which is said to Jiave brought him ££000 down and a substantial royalty in addition Novels by the American Winston Churchill urn often attributed to ' the PreMd?nt of the Board of Trade. One day, it Is baid, the American Winston had a discussion with a London bookseller on the subject. "I ha\e thought a good deal about it," he remarked, "'and I ha\e come to the conclusion that the world can hold two of us, but no more." — Nbvoli-sU u^e cats and dogs chiefly for decoratne purposes. A cat meanders r-hrough some chapters of "Daniel Deronda,'" but it is a cat of high intelligence; and Dickens makes no reference to ihe j musical pioclivities of either Bill Sykes's dog or Hugh--. — even Grip the raven is not alleged to have doiu> any singing. Play- ' Wrights touch neither dogs nor cats. Ex- ! ccpting under the eye of a -e\ere trainer j they cannot be relied on. The dog that played the piano i:in away when someone shouted "rats" and the piano proved to 1 be a mechanical one. We have hraid of 1 a play written round a poodle, but who has . seen it? Mr Shaw ought to study animals { and do something in that line, if he i§ not occupied in dramatising the fortyoiiventli mminsition of the fitfii. book of '

—Mr Alfred Noyes hae written a monograph on " Morris," which Messrs Maemillan will publish in their well-known "English Men of Letters" series. Mr Xoyes's own work would have led us to' expect that he would be in full sympathy with his subject, and it is no surprise to find him summing up Morris's poetical position in such words as these — "There is, perhaps, no poet whose work is so marvellously sustained in auality. The veryworst of his writings bears upon it the unmistakable hall mark of the artist; the poorest of hi& singing robes will have some gold feather clinging to it that shows what paradisa! floor it lately swept." —In his new book, " Over Bemerton's," Mr E. V. Lucas makes his chief character, a man who has returned to London after ] 30 years' ahsencc abroad, confess that tho ■ most noticeablp change that has struck him in his countrymen is the increase of -arcastic facetiousness. London, he remaiks, hut, always indulged in this diacCinse of it^> real feelings — this armour against fate — but the habit seems to be moie diffused. '"I think I discern also j au increase of genuine cynicism — ... I cynicism rather than pessimism, I should j .say ; by cynicism meaning a national acceptance, of the ilk of life without grumbling at them." — St. James's Gazette.

— Mr Winston Churchill's "My African Journey," which ran serially in the Strand Magazine, is to b«» one of the big books of the autumn publishing season. No fewer tliia eight publishers were anxious to accept the work and it was ultimately disposed of at a very high figure indeed. As a bookman, Mr Churchill's reputation rests chiefly at present on the "Life" of his father, which is said to Jiave brought him ££000 down and a substantial royalty in addition Novels by the American Winston Churchill urn often attributed to the Pre*.id?nt of the Board of Trade. One day, it Is baid, the American Winston had a discussion with a London bookseller on the subject. "I ha\e thought a good deal about it," he remarked, "'and I ha\e come to the conclusion that the world can hold two of us, but no more."

— Nbvoli-sU vie cats and dogs chiefly for decoratne purposes. A cat meanders r-hrough some chapters of "Daniel Deronda,'" but it is a cat of high intelligence; and Dickens makes no reference to ihe musical pioclivities of either Bill Sykes's dog or Hugh--. — even Grip the raven is not alleged to have doiio any singing. Playwrights touch neither dogs nor tats. Excepting under the eye of a -e\ere trainer they cannot be relied on. The dog that played the piano i:in away when someone shouted "rats" and the piano proved to be a mechanical one. We have hraid of a play written round a poodle, but who has seen it? Mr Shaw ought to study animals and do something in that lino, if he i§ not occupied in dramatising the fortyouvemh piopobhion of the fix*t h^nic ©f

Euclid — {Euclid, by the way, is too much neglected by dramatists). — Saturday Review.

— The edition of Swift's Prose Worts in - ! Bohn's Standard. Library, upon which Mr | Temple Scott has been engaged for a number of years — the first volume was pubrlished^ih- 1897— is -to be -by -the hissiKJ-of Volume XII towards the~end~<j£ I this month. For a long time to come this I edition Is likely to be the standard pre- ! sentation of Swift's prose .writings, :for-_ | among its numerous merits must be in- ! eluded, first, the valuable biographical in- ! troduction from the pen of the late Mr [ Leeky; secondly, the fact that for the first time it gives its readers an accurate version of fche "Journal of Stella"; an<J, thirdly, that it will contain — when Volume XII has made its appearance — the first full bibliography of Swift's works. It is exactly a hundred years ago (saye the .Wes.tm.instej Gazette) 6inoe Sir Walter "- accepted Constable's proposal to bring out a- complete "edition of Swiff s works "*' at a fee- of £1500. In 1814 the work - - appeared, in 19 Volumes, and was reissued; " in similar form, with certain additions and corrections, ten years later. —Mr St. John Lucas, one of our younger poets, has made an anthology of English lyrics, which Mr Arnold will publish under the title, "The Rose- Winged Hours." The, special claim of the anthology is the prominence in it to the love-lyrioS of those Elizabethan and Jacobean poets whose verse, thpugh really entitled' to .rank with the finest flowers of their better known contemporaries, is unduly neglected by the ordinary reader.

— What may be called th^ place-book is a notable feature of each publishing season now. During the last ten yearsthere have been more new books on counties districts," and cities^ of the United Kingdom than appeared in double or treble" that time at any other period of English literature. England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are being discovered; and it is surprising how much 'virgin soil the stiff old writers about travel in England, the absolute guide-book compilers, left unturned. -No doubt the term literature can only be used of the majority of placebooks to-day with reservations. Many of these books are literature only in a literal sense. They are not works likely to find a permanent place in the library. Yet they serve a good purpose. TJbey help to show many a man his own country, and take him to beautiful scenes he 'woulcKnot have discovered through any of the older, orthodox guide-books. — Westminster Ga- '"" zette.

— Several musical stories occur in Mr P. H. Ditchfield's book, ' r The Oid-tin»e Parson." One is of a bishop who had suggested to a country rector that Gregoriaro were scarcely suited to an ordinary rustic choir. The clergyman ' answered, "David sang his Psalms to Gregorian melodies." "Then," 6aid the bishop, "I don't wonder that Saul cast his javelin at him." Bishop Stubbe was a great joker of jokes. "Hang your cuxtains!" was his brief reply to a parson who worried him about his chancel decorations; and "Go to Jericho !" his tersely-expressed leave of absence to another who was desirous of visiting the Holy Land. To an anti-ritualist who complained that his vicar kissed his stole, "Better than if he stole his kiss," said the bishop. "How many, articles, my lord?" asked a railway porter. "Thirty-nine," replied the bishop. " I can only find fifteen." "Then you must be a Dissenter." the name ofi one brilliant humourist is lost. A bereaved husband had inscribed on the tomb of his wife, " The light of mine eyes, has gone out," and, as is sometimes the way with, disconsolate widowers, had married again. The bishop suggested an addition, "And I have struck another match."

—In his newest book of essays, Mr Gilbert Chesterton shows himself singularly disillusioned with the Higher Culture, and would by no means encourage a taste for it in women or the proletariat. "Tho effect of it," he roundly declares; "on rich men ... is so horrible tKat it is worse than any other amusements of the million- " aire, worse than gambling-, worse even, than philanthropy. . . ." In short, ac- ( cording to our youngest seer, the higher ' culture is "sad, cheap, impudent, unkind, j without honesty, and without ease." There is, o be sure, a good deal of truth in this sweeping indictment, yet the worst result of it undoubtedly is that it tends to make people what the French call "un snob," a person preoccupied with the judgment of ephemeral coteries. Now, a female intellectual snob is of all created things the most objectionable, for tho higher culture in her case often makes her narrow, intolerant, mentally "genteel," and indifferent to the broader issues, the fundamentaf facts •of life. Therefore, Woman must not, as Mr Chesterton justly argues, be "set free for the higher ture." That far-seeing and entertaining writer would prefer to ccc his feminine contemporaries "set tree to dance on the mountains like Maenads, or worshipping some monstrous goddess." For in this way alone would they attain a certain individuality, whereas the intellectualiem of the moment withers un the soul. — Ella. Hepworth Dixon, in the Sketch.

— Eight hwndared million egge are oon« sumed every year in London.