THE WORLD OF BOOKS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14133, 12 February 1910, Page 6

THE WORLD OF BOOKS.

INTO ITS HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. (By "Wayfarer.”) ■“ In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of tho Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.”—Carlyle. THE DEATH OF A POET. The year 1909 was a devastating one to the band of English-speaking poets. England lost Swinburne, Meredith and Davidson, as well as several minor poets. America lost tho brave figure of Richard Watson Gilder, and Australia lost George Essex Evans. And now the last English mail to arrive in New Zealand brings nows of tho death of another Evans. Dr. Sebastian Evans, who died on December 9, at Canterbury, England, in his eightieth year, was a poot of no little distinction, although ho was not as widely known as ho deserved to bo. Dr. Evans was a man of much learning, of a broad mind, much taste, and remarkable versatility. Ho came indeed. from a family of much distinction in the arts and sciences, and lie worthily upheld its traditions. Born at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, on March 2, 1830, he was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, wherelie graduated B.A. in 1853, M.A. in 1857, and LL-.D. in 1868. While still at Cambridge, Evans became the secretary of the India Reform Association, and to his other distinctions he added that of being the first', person in England to receive the news of the uprising of the Sepoys which developed into the' great Inclian Mutiny. In 1857 he, left the University, resigning his secretaryship, and became manager of the artistic department of tho famous glass works, of Messrs. Chance Bros., and Co., at Oldbury, near Birmingham. During his occupation of this position he designed the Robin Hood window- exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862, and also wrote bis first volume of poems, published by Macmillan and Co. in 1865 under the title of “Brother Fabian’s Manuscript and Other Poems.”' In 1867 Evans turned his abilities into a new channel, that of journalism, _ be-: ing appointed editor -of, the Birmingham Daily Gazette .in 1867. .His attention had also been directed to politics, and he contested tho Birmingham seat in tho Conservative interest. But ho did not succeed in winning the scat, and he left Birmingham in 1870. Three years later ho was called to the Bar, and. joined tho Oxford Circuit. It was during his legal career that he published ;his second volume of poetry, “In the Studio; A Decade of Poems.” A few ydars later, in 1878, we find him returning to journalism, for from 1878 to 1881 ho was editor of Tho People, a London Conservative weekly journal. Since then Dr. Evans has been content with a rather passive attitude iu the, world of literature and art, although ho has published one or two prose works of high quality. Dr. Evans’s poetry was not of tho highest class, but it was true poetry. It was individualistic, owing little or nothing to other poets. Evans bad delicate and yet powerful expression, great and accurate knowledge that was yet not pedantic, and was lightened by considerable fancy and imagination; ho had excellent technique, much breadth of sympathy and much insight; and to all those'he added the great humanising and vivifying power of humour, but ho lacked something of the “Divine afflatus.” A reading of his poetry gives the impression tluft Evans had a rather pleasant life. He needed the spur of tragedy in his own life to make him produce really great work. Something of tragedy ho was acquainted with perhaps, for some of his shorter 'poems have a pathetic note, hut it was only the tragic fooling that comes to all poets when, in their poetic fancy, they gaze into the void of the future or look back upon dark years in the world’s history. The fact that while Evans had a remarkable power of translating poems written in foreign languages he could not himself produce groat pbetry tends to confirm this idea. Dr. Evans’s powers are best appreciated in his longer poems, but lack of space forbids my reprinting any of his verso's but one or two shorter pieces. But, as another writer has lately pointed out, Dr. Evans’s poetical outpourings were only an important part of an unusually full life, which overflowed into many artistic channels with rich success. CROCUS GATHERING. Como, gather tho crocus-cups with me, And dream of the summer coming ‘saffron hud purple and snowy white, . ■All awake to the first bees’ humming. .The while is there for the maideuiicart, ' -And tho purple is there for sorrow; Tile saffron is there for the true, true love, And they’ll all bo dead to-morrow., —Sebastian Evans. SHADOWS. Lonely o'er the dying ember 1 tho past recall, And remember in December April buds and'August skies, As the shadows fall and rise, As the shadows rise and fall. Quicker now they lift and flicker On tho dreary wall; Aye, and quicker still and thicker Throng the fitful fantasies, As the shadows fall and rise, As the shadows rise and fall. Dimmer now they shoot and shimmer On the dreary wall; Dimmer, dimmer, still they glimmer Till the light in darkness dies; And the other shadows rise,. And tho other shadows fall. —Sebastian Evans. THE BANNERS. Lordly banners, waving to the stars, Flap upon tho night-wind, heavy with the dew, Trustful youth is wending to the wars, Strong in ancient faith to battle with the new.Lordly banners, trodden in the clay, Lie upon the mountain dank with other dew ; Hapless youth hath lost tho bloody day, Ancient faith is feeble, stronger is the- new. Lordly banners, other than of yore, Flap upon the night-wind, heavy with the dew Youth to battle girdeth him once more, Now and Old aro feeble —mighty is the True! —Sebastian Evans. MR. WILLIAM WATSON. Last week I referred to tho fact that Mr. Richard Watson had reluctantly made a public statement that his hro-

thcr, Mr. AVilliani W<atson, was subject to fits of mental aberration. Mr. Richard Watson’s statement was called forth by the trouble that ensued on tho publication of bis brother’s poom, “The Woman with, the Serpent’s Tongue.” A fuller account of tho statement is brought by a later English mail. Mr. Richard Watson says that his brother’s malady first manifested itself 'in 1892, after ho had written tho famous poom, “Laclirymae Musarum,” on tho death of Tennyson. In order to write this great ode the poet shut himself up for nearly three days without rest or proper food, and was under a very severe stress all that time. The result was a severe shock to his health; and when Mr. Gladstone immediately afterwards conferred upon him a grant of £2OO from the Royal Bounty Fund, with a promise of considering his name for the Civil Pension list, the news proved too much for the poet in his shattered condition and unbalanced his mind. , Almost immediately afterwards the poet conceived a violent hatred against distinguished persons in England, and was dominated by an idea that it was his mission to speak and act against them. Later on ho was the strongest friend of these same persons. On December 11, 1892, Mr. Watson attempted to stop the carriage of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and he lived for a short time thereafter in a . sanatorium. “Ho is acting now,” declared Mr, Richard Watson, “under a similar delusion, and in this infatuation has made written ■ and verbal statements which have no justification, and of a. sort utterly at variance with his nature, statements which, when his mind returns, ho will condemn unsparingly.” Mr. Watson says that he cannot give any definite reason for the present outburst, but considers that tho clue to Ills brother’s present mental disturbance may possibly be found in his “Sonnets to Miranda.” These were written at a time of intense feeling, and contain a depth of tragic and personal interest. He asks for a suspension of judgment in regard to his brother, and bogs his friends not to: criticise him while he is in an undoubted condition of irresponsibility.