BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3888, 18 September 1928, Page 72

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Sir Harry Lauder’s book of recollections will be published -within a few weeks.

* *. * Mrs Alfred Noye z s, the wife of the poet, has given birth to a son.

Arnold Bennett is writing a new play for Sir Gerald du Maurier.

A new collection of miscellaneous poems by Alfred Noyes is to be published. '

John Drinkwater’s study of Charles •James Fox is to be issued in the near future.

Mr Gerald Bullett, who until recently was a partner in a well-known firm of publishers, has decided to devote himself entirely to writing.

Following a conference of missionaries and administrative officers in New Guinea, a grammar and dictionary of pidgin-English are to be prepared.*

Lord Hewart. the r • • who is completing a book on “ Power

and the People,” was at one time a leader writer on the Manchester Guardian and the Morning Leader.

Jeffery Farnol’s new story is entitled “ Gyfford of Weare.”

The identity of “ Ephesian,” the wittv biographer of Lord Birkenhead and Mr Churchill, has just been revealed. He is Mr Bechofer Roberts, the critic and journalist.

Mr “ Tim ” Healy, late Governorgeneral of the Irish Free State, is to publish his reminiscences under the title “ Letters and Leaders of Mv Dav.”

It will be news to many of his readers that Mr D. If. Lawrence has ambitions as an artist. An exhibition of his paintings is to be held in London shortly.

Miss Elsie Pain, the young authoress of “ That Fierce Light,” won the open acting competition at the Haymarket some years ago and afterward*s acted with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She is the author of a Grand Guignol thriller.”

From the Humorist.—Mrs Smith (respecting definite house-breaking noises below) : “No, you stop where you are, Mr Brown, and let Harold investigate it alone. He’s read everything of Edgar Wallace’s, and it’s just the chance he wants.”

Miss Mar jorie Bowen has returned to the historical novel, and •“ The Golden. Roof” deals with- Emperor Maxmilian * 1 of Austria.

The Baroness Orczy and her husband, Mr Montague Barstow, have built a house on the Italian sea coast at Lerici. The setting of the Baroness’s'new story, which she has just finished, is a Canadian one—in the wilds.

Lady Byng, wife of Lord Byng, the new chief of police, is the authoress of several novels.

'I he holy office in Rome, which 17 years ago banned certain works of the poet D’Annunzio, has now added to the list a number of later publications “ which offend the faith and morals of the Catholic Church.”

The Romans, according to a lecturer at the Soroptomist Club, London, used wax tablets bound with rings in ■ exactly the same way as the modern looseleaf notebook.

Dr Robert Bridges, whose small output since his appointment as Poet Laureate has often been the subject of comment, is working on a long poem which will probably be issued before the end of the vear.

Madam Litvinoff, the English wife of the Soviet Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, who lives in Moscow, has written a crime novel which will shortly be published in English.

Mr James Sykes, who has just completed a book on the wife of Disraeli, was for many years assistant editor on the Yorkshire Post. * * * In 30 years Mr W. J. Locke has produced exactly 30 stories. His latest, which will issue in a few weeks, is called “ Joshua’s Vision.” * * * “ Gone to Earth,” with a preface by John Buchan, is the first volume in Cape’s collected edition of Mary Webb’s works, which have been greatiy in demand since the Prime Minister praised them two or three months ago. * * * Mr Sidney H. —Ray, who has been awarded a civil list pension for his ethnological research and writings, began to study the languages of Oceania while teaching in an Ilford elementary school. * * * Mr J. B. Priestley, who has been living in the country for the past two years and is shortly returning to London, finds that lip can work better in town. Nevertheless, he has half-finished his new novel, which is to contain no fewer than 250,000 words.

Few actress have had a more crowded life than Constance Collier. She has been on the stage since she was six, and has known most of the famous actors of her time. Her reminiscences under the title “ Harlequinade ” should be interesting reading.

St. Mary’s Hall at Coventry, which has been re-opened as a police court after an interval of nearly 90 years, is the original of the room in which George Eliot placed the trial of Hetty Sorrel.

Miss Edna Ferber, the author of “ The Show Boat,” who recently visited England, has set out for the West in company with the famous American author William Allen White and his family. She is collecting material for her new novel.

Mr J. G. Lockhart, whose adventurous 'novel, “East All the Way,” has been recently published, is himself a partner in the publishing firm of Philip Allan and Co. He is a specialist in the mystery of the Marie Celeste. «

The pseudonym Margot Neville, which is attached to that successful novel, “ Kiss-Proof,” conceals the identity of „wo Australian sisters of the 'name of

Goyder. The name is famous in Australian history, and has been given to a street in the new capita], Canberra. * * * Yet another Life of Christ is to lie published shortly. It is the work of the late Robert Keablc, who wrote many books on religious subjects and also on Tahiti, where he died. Sir Hall Caine’s “ Life of Christ,” on which he has been engaged for a considerable time, can also be expected soon. ■f x * Mr John Buchan? probably our busiest man of letters, has just put the finishing touches to a book which has taken him 15. years to write. It is a biography of the famous Duke of Montrose. * * The Gibbs family—which already includes Sir Philip, Mr Anthon Gibbs', and Mr Cosmo Hamilton —has given yet another recruit to fiction. This is Miss Helen Gibbs, Sir Philip’s sister, who has just finished her first novel. * * * The death has occurred, at the age of 70, of the once-famous novelist, “John Ayscough.” As Monsignor BiekcrstaffeIDrc’.v (which was his veal name) he will be remembered by thousands, of British soldiers to whom lie acted as padre during the war. * * * The first attempt to present a history of British civilisation in the light of modern scientific knowledge, " a twovolume work by Dr Esrne WingfieldStratford, is to be published shortly. It lias taken nearly 10 years to prepare. * / *

Mr Austin Harrison, the well-known journalist, who has just died, was, as a boy, a pupil of George Gissing, who warned him against becoming a novelist. “ It’s the trade of the damned,” declared Gissing; “far better be a crossingsweeper.”

Mr Anthony Gibbs, author of “ Enter a Greek,” just published, and son of Sir Philip Gibbs, once had thoughts of becoming a professional singer. He has dramatised his earlier novel, “ The Elder Brother,” which may be produced by Mr Norman Loring, Marie Tempest’s son.

In the Bulletin competition for the best novel written by an Australian prizes of £5OO each have been awarded for the stories, “ A House is Built,” by Flora S. Eldershaw and Marjorie Barnard ..(Sydney) and “ Coonardoo,” by Katherine Susannah Prichard (Western Australia). The third prize was awarded for “ Men are Human,” by Vance Palmer (Queensland). There were 542 novels in the competition.

The British Drama League has decided to commemorate Thomas Hardy’s association with the Adelphi by placing on the wall of its library at 8 Adelphi terrace a panel bearing these words:— Thomas Hardy, O.M. The first floor of 8 Adelphi terrace was formerly the office of Mr (afterwards Sir) A. Blomfield, and here Thomas Hardy, aged 22-27, was in his employment as an architect in the years 186267. Here he saw ' the' Embankment being built, and wrote some of the poems that were to be published many years afterwards. His seat was by the easternmost window of the front room. * * * An interesting discussion recently took place in the London Daily Telegraph concerning the origin of “The Flowers of the Forest,” written by Jean Elliot (1727-1805), the daughter of Sir •Gilbert Elliot, of Minto. The poem, though not ancient, was included in Sir Walter Scott’s “Minstrelsv of thi Border” (1801). Mr A. C. R. Cartelquotes the following comment by Sir Walter Scott:— The following well-known and beautiful stanzas were composed many years ago by a lady of family in Roxburghshire. The manner of the ancient minstrels is so happily imitated that it required the most positive evidence to convince the editor that the song was of modern date. Such evidence, however, he has been able to procure. The editor is able to state that the tune of the ballad is ancient, as well as the two following lines of the first stanza :— I’ve heard them lilting at the ewes milking The flowers of the forest are a* wede away. Some years after the song was composed a lady, who is now dead, repeated to the author another imperfect line of the original ballad, -which presents a simple and affecting image to the mind :—

I ride single on my saddle, For the flowers of the forest are a'wede away. The song was included by David Herd, in “Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs,’’ 1776 in “A' Ballad on Flodden Field" of. 26 stanzas, “ made up from various copies of the old ballad collated,” the verse of Miss Elliot and Mrs Cockburn forming the last 10 stanzas. Mr Carter adds:— The story goes that Miss Elliot wrote the ballad after driving home in the family coach through the Ettrick Forest district with her brother, Gilbert, one evening in 1756. The two had talked of Flodden, and the brother challenged his sister to write a ballad on the theme. She lapsed into silence, blit by the end of the journey she had the draft of the poem in .her mind. The ■secret of authorship was kept for a long time, which perhaps helped the theory that it was a relic of the past instead of a miraculous inspiration.