In An Easy Chair.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13939, 26 June 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

In An Easy Chair.

BOOKS AM) WRITERS. The list of famous things that famous people did not say might bo btly supplemented by a. list ok famous phrases that famous peoplo Jiavo Iwirrawed from others. Matthew Arnold, f<r instance, was indebted to Switt for his " Sweetness and Light," whilo Jane. Austen borrowed the title of her nust famous novel, "Pride- and Prejudice," from Fanny Burney's " Cecilii." And tho germ of Maeaulays imaortal passage about tho New Zeulander and St. Paul's is surely to bo found in the following extract from a letter bv Horace Walpolo, which is dated Nov. 24, 1774:—"At last, swine curious traveller from Lima, will visit England and give a description of tho ruins of St. Paul's, like the editi»ns of Balbec and Palmyra."

The text of the modern English Bible is not the text of the original Authorised Version of 1611, and thereby hangs a tale. There were two issues in Kll, and the first of these is known to-day among bibliophiles as the He Bibl«," while the second imprint is termed the Sho Bible. This refers to the hut pronoun in Ruth iii., 15, and modern Bibles arc a variation of the latter. Numerous attempts have been made from time to time to arrive at tho ideal of perfection in translating the Scri{\turcs, and whatever may lie said a very great deal may lie "said for these, it cannot ho denied that they leave much to he desired. Consequently' a. reprint of the first text, preserving as it does many great points of inturest which otherwise have been overlooked, is an event iu Bible history worthj of note. Tliis re-issue, to prophesy quite safely, will meet with a whole hearted welcome from all who love the "book which, if everything else in out, language should perish, would alone suf-n,-e°to show the whole extent of its beauty and power."

In relating "Tho Vicissitudes tf. Flynn " Mr Barfc Kennedy is loss spasmodic than usual. There are many sentences in this liook winch run into two or more lines of print; ami tin* change of stvlc wo feci is a chanae f.-r the letter. Flynn is an artist who conic* to Loudon to conquer that .itv. He does not do it oxactlv, h.it when we take leave of hmi lie, is rroina ~, to simper on Christmas KveT ami on the tabic are ' roast Wf r«ast mutton, ham. roast chickens pies and other things too numerous to mention," whereas when we first n-et him ho is glad of a w;„„ s-ntl a run of tea. at somobodv else's pxiviw. K" on the whole T-o wa« sncossfnl. Tlis storv is a story nf persistent a"d porcelual dod'_r»r*-: he w:-s always harrieadh": ag-mst i,-.:i;ff. :>n d inl-c ],im f-r all 5- all. was '»>t, -vdlv a dishon-t f-Uow, and we lit" u:^ r " „n,l we like t«.« w:>- in wh.'h M- Kfi""" 1 '- hs" s written of hj"- ™•» -Uicr .'niiH *rW!i-r a «.„ n ;w arfUt wjfl, s-m address '"n tho >ew-*-nt. „.„*„i.i H« ;—:*~i fo t'~ j.51.1-' sv , —« «-f the "Wpef-eP'" :«« th« <ll\("-* of a ,T.,t-«. !•»»» wo f l-re-MiV f f T\"»110flr ]-,„„ l.~ff»r. and we only dpubt. wo t!« not deny.

Mr Charles Garvice is a. very i»piilar novelist, and wo quito understand his popularity. Ho tells a straightforward story in a straightforward wav, with no nonsense or suijtietj about it- His heroine, in "Queen Kate," is a thoroughly womanlj voung woman, very ignorant and inclined sometimes to he a. little obstinate and tiresome; when sho fall*, in love with a man sho takes good caro not to let him have the faintest susp?cian of the fact, but is thoroughly womanlv, innocent and pure all through. His hero is nobly bom, tall, broad, immensely strong, stupendously brave not innocent, of course; in. tact, rather siven to hoodies* seot>ering oE the wild oat, but of stainless honour all the same. His villain is a blackhearted scoundrel, a torei"ner, among other things, an Italian, with the strangely nn-Jtalian name of Yelaski. Yon might suppose from that "ski" that he, was a Pole, for there is no "k» in tho Italian tongue: hot he was an Italian, and ho was capable of anything, from pillage to panderism. These are the downright types that a large section of the novcl-realing public loves to read about, and they do the things that tho larce section loves to see them do. There is ono thing, however that one of them does whicli has Blishtlv puKzlctl us. and we cannot think how he did it. .The hero, while plaviim ecarte with lus prospective father-in-law, takes the king with the ace!

Air Lionel James, th<- " Intelligence Officer" whose exciting adventnres during tho Boer war, detailed in Blackwood'* "Maga." kept us amused in a lively manner, lias now given ns another entertaining to - ~..,0 " Side Tracks md Bridle 7>a*l,s. His' metier .is a* far removed from Hie world of Suburbia we. have just been experiencing as well as coxua K, Ho takes us to Persia, India. TTii«sia. South Africa. Germanv and Turkey, and writes for ns with Ins virile "nen experiences of tho men pnd adventures met in those ver> different spheres. The crack of rifles and the shriek of bombs rcverborate through his pages: and the meanness, the madness, nnd the heroism of mankind are amply illustrated. He has a pretty facultv for the mateins of good prose, and, having seen what he has to describe, is able to toll his talcs with a sort <>* ivipfervour and resource. Me writes with so fresh a pen. and has «=» interesting a story to deliver, that, be as jaded and weary as you may, the**- pases will bring you refreshment. Having visited and squeezed rnmnmo out of the countries aforesaid Mr James conies to England and shows us something of our own places and people —at the westernmost edge of Cornwall, and then on Epson Downs. What a contradictory world „,. live in! and yet under our skins -whether we he Persians squabbling at Tabriz, proi.d amorous 1 atharu,, stolid, unawakened Russians, ofhcialridden Germans, or pertinacious iniurrtinent Cockneys —how like to one Sl'er we may be! A strange world mr master! as full of wonder as an eg*g is full of—egg I

We (KngUsb P»P , - ,r) 1,,:, -\ Si,y ," f ? UsS Brake's literary style what s ho her-«-lf savs of her heroine, that its n I n Xraeteristic is " harmonious"e" as of something very <,u.ct, ainted in subdued tints.» AJo «uiy sav also of her book as a whol- what .she .savs of a certain piet~ <;| »»r----niture'which plays a part-in it, that it is "the work of »" artist who has mused long and silently over Lis creation, labouring in leisured contempt and tranquillity . . with a craftv hand, a care for detail, and an unfaltering sense of decorative hoautv." The chief Fault in .the -.re.'t majoritv of contemporary novels is the Feeling of hurry they convey. J he authors of them appear to write m brepthle*'; haste, and therefore n>e r?relv able to sustain the high levl Trhieh thev not infrequently Of +n n. sad'v of+en. we feel that the authors when they began their work"

knew as little what was to happen, to their characters in tlio end as the reader knows when ho begins to read. Miss Brooko quite evidently thinks a story out heforo putting pen to paper, and the consequence is wo open :i novel of hers with the assurance that there will ho uo sudden lapses in tlio workmanship and no startling incongruities of action; that there will he development, and not a series of jumps. "The Story of Hauksgarth Farm " is the story of a family of suficiently well-to-do. hut by no moans wealthy, people of tlio farming class iu AVostmorland,, people of the sound, solid, and inarticulate sort, people who feel as deeply as their more talkative fellows, but who seldom give expression to their deepest emotions. This ingrained habit of reticence of the Whinnerys is vital to their story. Again and again a littlo more outspokenness would have cleared things un and prevented catastrophe, but at crises they never said all they thought. The heroine, bv tlio wav," is most aptly named Silence. The motive of the story is the disintrcgating force of love, or, let us call it, of romantic passion. Romantic passion broke un the Whinnerv familv. wrought distress and tragedy and"almost ruin. Ruin itself to all concerned had been wrought but for tho existence of another sort of love, the love in which passion is an almost. negligible factor On" woman, Silence, by loving truly and holding fast to her lovo through all, defeated passion, saved a situation almost lost, and achieved salvation lor herself and tho man sho loved.

There is uo trouble with odcvelopnient, natural or otherwise, about tiie characters of Mr Guy Thornc in "Tho Socialist"; they just do things; probable or improbable, possible or impossible, as suits the immediate purposes of their creator, or, let us say, of their manufacturer. The Duko of Paddingtou, a youthful peer, who owns a great portion of London, containing some of its worst slums, on his way from Oxford meets with a railway accident. Ho is not much hurt, hut while resting after the shock ho is kidnapped, carried off to a slum cellar (in his own property) thcro held to ransom, and gently tortured, just to bring liim to reason. In the vtry midst of the torture, ho is rescued by Mr Bernard Shaw, or, at any rate, by a celebrated dramatic author, who dresses and looks like Mr Shaw, but vcho talks just like anybody else. At thr? .particular moment, Mr Shaw, otherwise Mr Fabian Rose, is bringing out a new and tremendous play that, in tho Socialist interest, is to take London by storm, and put an end for ever.to landlords, capitalists, and all otlpr noxious persons, including, of course, dukes. But Mr Rose has diseovoro;! a new actress, of marvellous genii* and unsurpassable beauty, with a voice that on the first night" "came with the force and power of a. mighty avalanche that rushes dovii the sides '- f a high Al*». sweeping forests Mid villages away in its tremendous force." Tlmt wps the. sort of voice the Dnkc of Paddmgton liked, and di<-retlv lie' heard it he know that " this was the woman he had loved from their first meeting—had loved, loved now. hopelessly for ever and a day!" although hj" was eii«P"ed to the oaughtor of a bishop. ""However, he went over there ;.nd then, bag and bngznrro. or. rather ground rents and cilt-cdeod securities, to the Socialist cause, and married the actress. In the c'<d, we are sorrv to sav. he ws S just the least bit disappointed both in the cause and tho lady.