THE SYSTEMATIC EPIGRAM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11727, 20 January 1900, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE SYSTEMATIC EPIGRAM.

Ik recent fiction there are (says the Bookman) signs that epigram-making has sunk from an art to an industry. From " Dodo ' and " The Gr;en Carnation " to " Concerning Isabel Carnaby " and " The , j Dublin Thread," there have been a good , | mauy novels and plays in which the epi- ! grammatic manaer has been cultivated with what is popularly regarded as success. The writers have very naturally profited by each other's example. Not that they have naturally copied, for that was unnecessary, put they have unconsciously co operated in developing a uniform method. In seekicg their end along the line of least resistance, they [ have hit upon a mechanical device, what yon might almost call an' epigram mould, by which raw material may be ca^t in epigrammatic form as readily as melted lead into bullets Thu* :— " Accuracy is the one unpardonable I defect." " A husband who committed crimes I might lovo, but a husband who made mistakes I should assuredly loathe." " People with proper pride are as diffi^ cult to deal with as people with dulicate digestions." •' What we want is a muzzling order for all sincere and truth-speaking persons." Here wo have method ; we Bee the pulae of the machine, us Wordsworth Maid about the yoni>g lady. They are all taken from the first few pages of Mist Kowler's " Double Thread,' and each has a score of counterparts in every chapter. Each is merely the denial of a commonplace with intent surprise. And does it

really surprise ? .Vot in the least. Therein lie* the danger of literary system latisation. Yon grow angry at. the "identity of the product. > ,