LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 86

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICE. "Laura." By Caroline Grosvenor. London: W. Tleinemann. Melbourne, etc.: G. Robertson and Co. (3s 6d, 2s 6d.) Laura Cardow, as she appears in the pages of Ail's Urosvenor's new novel, is a most attractive being. Deep analysis and a wide study of human nature have gone to this piece of work, which may truly be entitled a human document. The chosen motto from the pen of R. L. Stevenson admirably defines the trend of the tale: —"They are condemned to some nobility: all their lives long the desire of good is at their heels, the implacable hunter." Laura, like the. rest of the human race, is a seeker after happiness. She seeks it in many ways —in money, in power, in the good opinion of her fellow men. And being born poor, in a secondrate, middle-clafs position, she has great difficulty in giving scope to her ideals. She is unusually handsome and unusually clever and 'capable:—"Unlike many women, Laura knew clearly what she wanted, and meant, if possible, to get it. She knew that she had beauty, cleverness, distinction. She was resolved that in the world's market these should fetch their value. She would allow no foolish sentiment to divert her from the path she had marked out for herself. She had a fine youthful scorn of the women who hamper themselves with such impediments as these in the race of life. . . . She imagined all sorts of possible combinations and events; but hi all these dreamings and imaginings, love, emptyhanded and unendowed, was given no place." It was perhaps natural that under the conditions of her life Laura should set an undue value on the possession of money as the means by which her desired end could be obtained. There vtfas nothing mean in her ambition: she did not wish to hang herself with jewels, to excite the passions of men, or the envy of women ; but she wanted to lead a full life. A life full of interest, occupation, influence, power —the life of a great lady. " T want to have heaps of things to do—absorbing things, things that mean a great deal to a great many people.' " To obtain these, "a balance at one's bankers" appears essential to Laura, though a wise friend assures her, " 'You certainly can't go far without money. It's not the motive power, but it's the fuel for the engine. All the same, I sometimes wonder if one can't pay too high for it.' ' Money means so much besides the material things,' sighed Laura. ' In some cases money means independence—not material independence, but independence of soul, of opinion, of all the things that matter. It would bi dreadful to cut oneself off from them for ever, and then repent. Intimately connected with Laura's history, far more so than any members of her own family, are the family of Oummings. This family consists of three generations —the grandfather, a self-made manufacturer of immense wealth; the widow and son of his eldest son i a second son and his daughter; a third son, unmarried. The characters if all these persons are very finely individualised and carefully drawn. Old Mr 'Gumming loves money for the power that it gives him; he refuses to make a will until just before his death in order that he may hold the disposal of his property as a threat over every member of his family. Lawrence, the second son, who with his daughter lives with the old man, also loves money ; but he loves other things more, and cheerfully rfesigns it for the things which seem to him more worth while. Mike, the youngest son, is .a curious mixture of philosopher and mechanician : he cares nothing for money, but seeks ever the "divine spark" which, according to his thought, animates the machine as truly as the man:—"One makes a machine of steel and iron with every part complete, and there it stands as dead as mutton —a dead weight. Then comes the electric spark—and pfft!—. off it goes as alive as you or I. . . . You may say there's the man and the man's brain behind. That's what makes the engine. But what starts it? There's got to bs a spark somewhere. ... Of course she's got to be properly made: bolts and rivets rightly fitted, everything clean and trim, and well looked after, or the spark won't work. . . . Money is the petrol of the engine, but not the spark. You can get another fuel, but you can't do without the spark.' " • The two young people of the third generation also find something more desirable than money : " David might have had everything if he would have given up his religion and ceased to be a Roman Catholic; Cynthis gives up all her chances for love of David." Only Laura holds fast to her faith, that money'is first, and, as if to test this faith to the utmost, the old man makes her his heiress with the one proviso that she shall not marry Lawrence. Laura has now all that she desired—great wealth, absolute independence. She is presented at Court, and becomes a great lady. She has heaps of admirers and of sycophants. She entertains freely, and gives freely. Gradually the hollowness of the whole thing forces itself upon her consciousness. Like all who have much to give, she makes matiy mistakes and many enemies; and cannot aid those whom she would most orladly help. Like all who entertain freely, she finds herself surrounded by amiable, self-seeking, well-mannered " slackers." She misses the force and fire that was inherent in the Oummings. She misses the energy, the manliness, the love of work for its own sake, the instinct of courage, the power to overcome which was in each of them. She begins to think a little wearily of her life. The responsibilities of a great estate, of much money, begins to weigh heavily upon her. Against her will a doubt of the wisdom of her choice enters her mind. She re'views her life. " Twice the choice between love and riches had been offered to her. She had tried to secure both, and had lost the more precious." Rarely

is it given to any person to attain the summit of their ambition so easily, and while still so young. She had got all that she once desired. She was rich, beautiful, much sought after, the source of prosperity to many persons, and her heart sickens at the thought "of long years devoted to the entertainment of amiable degenerates." whose one aim in life is to "kill time." Once more the choice between love and riches is put before her. Once more, for the third time, she is on her trial. But she has learned wisdom. Hitherto "Fate had quietly frustrated her. Not thus was she ' to earn the immortal garland. Cloudberries are not to be gathered in the flat valleys or on the green slopes, but by hard climbing only, over slippery rock and treacherous snow." The third* choice ' is wiser than the two which have preceded it. Laura has learned her lesson. " Money is the petrol that works the engine, but not the motive power." The "Implacable Hunter" has marked her for his own. She cannot escape "the desire for good" that is deeply implanted in her soul. She marries Lawrence, and resigns the big fortune.

LITERARY NOTES. made several interesting contributions to literature, chiefly, although hot exclusively, in the field of biography. His name was perhaps best.known in connection with the Great Writers Series, ot which he was jointeditor, and for which he wrote several volumes. That series introduced two novelties of undoubted excellence—an index of matter and an extremely copious bibliography. - Mr Werner Laurie has published an important new novel by Henry Sienkiewicz, author of " Quo Vadis?' It is a romance of the time of the Mahdi, and is entitled "Through Wilderness and Desert." Although the novel is full of action, the keynote of the wild and desolate African country is woven into the central theme in the author's description of the desert, its moods, its strange and terrible surprises, its mysteries, and its daily and hourly sleeping menace of danger and death. The late Taylor lnncs, the eminent Edinburgh advocate, had made some progress with an autobiographical record, which includes an account of his relations, chiefly in matters political and ecclesiastical, with Mr Gladstone and Principal Rainy. Written with a view to publication after his death, Taylor Innes, by his will, requested Principal Alexander Whyte and Mr David Oswald Dykes, son of the late Principal Dykes, bo co-operate with his sister in dealing with his literary remains. Messrs Methucn announco the issue of a 2s edition of Mr Eden Phillpotts' celebrated novel, "The Secret Woman." The play of the same name, the banning of which by the censor is the literary sensation of the day, is a dramatisation of this powerful romance. The play goes no further than the book, we are told, and yet on its issue early in 1905 not a single review condemned the work, and the majority were loud in their praises. The book in its original form has had a remarkable sale, and now that Messrs Methuon announco the issuo of a chcai>er edition the demand for copies is so great already that another printing has been called for. Mr Edward Marston has reached his eighty-eighth year, and the Athenamm recalls that ho and the late Mr Sampson Low were originally responsible for the establishment and issue of the " English Catalogue of Books," an offshoot from the Publishers' Circular. The " London Catalogue," which preceded the " English Catalogue," gave a list of 42,340 works for the 25 years, 1831-55. The "English Catalogue," volume I (1835-62), added 5300 titles which had been omitted from this, and gave the rest up to 1862. The Publishers' Circular itself was nine years old when Mr Mniston began his connection with it, which lasted for 58 years. A new novel by "Frank Denby " is alivays something of a sensation. Its title, "Joseph in Jeopardy," to some extent foreshadows the story, which is that of a brilliant young athlete, and international ciieketer, exposed to temptation in so subtle and intellectual a form that he has scarcely time to gird on the " shining armour " of loyalty before he is reeling under the stress of an assault of which he had no prevision. Messrs Methuen published on February 29 " The Quest of Glory," the new romance by Miss Marjorie Bowen, author of "I Will Maintain." This story, which opens with the famous retreat from Prague, deals with the adventures of the Marquis do Vauvenargues, the young officer of the '•' regiment du roi," who became one of the loftiest of French philosophers and ono of the most prized writers of a decade that boasted Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot. It is an interesting fact in heredity that Miss Bowen is a descendant of Campbell, tho poet. "critical study" of Otscar Wilde and his work, a Mr Arthur Ransome makes this very comprehensive claim for that wayward genius:—"He left no form of literature exactly as he found it. He brought back to tho English stage a spirit of comedy that had been for many years in mourning. He wrote a romantic play which necessitated a new manner of production, and may be considered the starting point of tho revolution in stage management that, happily, is still proceeding. He showed, both in practice and theory, the possibilities of creation open to the critic. lie found a new use for dialogue, and brought to England a new variety of the novel." Messrs Constable will commence tho publication in April of a new quarterly scientific review, to be entitled "Bedrock," " a quarterly review of scientific thought." The review will appear as an organ devoted to the full discussion of all tho greater problems of modern science in a manner both fundamentally scientific and. the editors hope, also generally interesting to an educated public. It will further make a feature of notes on current research works an<l reviews of selected scientific books. Tho editorial committee consists of Sir Bryan Donkin. F.R.C.P., Profossor E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., LL.D., Hope Professor of Zoology in the University of Oxford, Professor 11. H. Turner, D.So, F.R.S., Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, and G. Archdall Reid, F.R.S.B. The acting-editor will be Mr 11. B. Grylls. A year after his death in 1902 we had a "Life of Bret Harto " from Mr T. Edgar Peniiberton, and in 1905 a biography wee also issued. Neither of these works, however, presented the Californian experiences of the American novelist and humor-

ist so fully as will the forthcoming Life by Henry Child Mervvin. Bret Harto went to that State from New York in 1854. When 18 he obtained an engagement on the Golden Era, to which he contributed his first sketches dealing with mining life. In I£6B he founded the Overland Monthly. His story, " The Luck of Roaring Camp." appeared in its second number ; and in 1870 iiis humorous poem, " Plain Language from Truthful James," was published in its pages. When Bret Harte heard of Dickens's death he delayed for some hours the issue of his Monthly, till he completed his exquisite poetic tribute, '"The Lost Camp." Mr James Allen, who was the author of that well-known work "As a Man Thinketh," which has had so great a sale all the world over, passed awav recently at Ilfracombe, at the early age of 47. Mr Allen was a prolific writer. His books wore very helpful in their philosophy, and they were not too erudite to prevent them from being understood by the ordinary anan and woman. Probably two of his most important books, next to " As a Man Thinketh," are " Above Life's Turmoil " and ' c The Mastery of Destiny," popular editions of which were published before his lamented death by G. P. Putnam's Sons. —ln the third instalment of his "Sixty Years in the Wilderness" (now running in the Cornhill), Sir Henry Lucy tells several stories about the superstition attaching to the number 13. It was strange, he says, to find Queen Victoria susceptible to the fetish. The subject coming up at the dinner table of the late Lord Granville, when he lived in Green street, his lordship told how, whilst still a young man. ho was invited to dine with the Duke of Cambridge to meet Her Majesty. At the last moment he was disabled by an attack of gout. On the Queen's arrival, finding, the dinner guests wero 13 all told, she positively refused to sit at table. The difficulty was got over by sending for Princess Mary, at the time too young to have been included in the original arrangement. Parnell, of all men, was a slave to this quaint superstition. There is a familiar story _of his positively refusing, during an election campaign with Tim Healy. to occupy a bedroom numbered 13. Whilst in Kilmainham, there was submitted to him by his colleagues the draft of a bill amending the Irish Land Act. On discovering that the clauses counted up to 13, he threw down the manuscript with a gesture of terror, and refused to have anything to do ■with it.