LITERARY NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6120, 5 March 1898, Page 6

LITERARY NOTES.

[Prom Our Correspondent.] LONDON, Dec. 24. J "Kiplings" are "hardening" in the j. literary mart. At a book sale the other 0 day, four copies each of "The Phantom 0 Rickshaw," "in Black and White," " The , Story of the Gadsbys" and "ITnder the $ Deodars," in the pictorial paper covers, j fetched from nine shillings to a guinea „ apiece. . I The first manuscript of Tennyson's "In c Memoriam " has been presented by Lady c Simeon, whose husband received it from a the Laureate, to Trinity College, Cam- , bridge, on condition that the variations in * it from the published text of the poem c shall never be published. . . f The new volume of the useful " Diction- a ary pf National Biography " that appeared c just before Christmas, with its 198 Smiths i and more aristocratic Smyths and Smythes, c shows that this family has left a good record in the Empire's history. There are ( several famous names between Adam, the „ economist, who heads the list, and Sydney, i the reverend gentleman who ends it, notably W. H. Smith, of bookstall and parlia- \ mentary fame, Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, , the Brothers Smith of f the "Kejeeted ] Addresses/' and Baird Smith, the com- < panion of Nicholson in the capture of , Delhi. The letters which Rossetti wrote to his ] friend William Allingham form a scrappy , record of the poet-painter!s ideas for about \ sixteen years. But reading them is like listening to a conversation of which you j hear the remarks of ' only one speaker, for < Eossetti destroyed all : AlHngham's letters. , This necessitated the copious commentary ! of Dr Birkbeck Hill. • Pre-Raphaelite \ admirers will find 'many interesting j references to Millais, Holman Hunt and • the other members of '.that much abnsed : brotherhood as .well as an appreciative and prophetic crititicism, written in 1853. of • Loighton's Cimabue. : Rossetfci says:— : "The R.A.'s have been .gasping for years '. for someone to back against Hunt and Millais, and here they have him. *• * * , It (the picture) was very uninteresting to ( me at first eight, but, on looking more at . it, I think there is great richness of ■ arrangement, a quality which , when really . existing, as it does in the best old masters, '. and perhaps hitherto in no living man, at any rate in England, ranks among the [ great qualities. * ' * * The choice of i the subject, though interesting in a cer- , tain way, leaves one quite in the dark as to . ■what faculty the man may have for .; [representing incident or passionate ■ emotion." '. In a somewhat pointless triangular duel • in the Morning Posts, popular novelist, •'■ professional critic and a leading publisher none of whose names are divulged, fire some random shots on literary grievances at each other. The author considers the publisher a sheep, who follows the lead of the latest "boom" and has no idea of how to push or advertise his wares, and the critic " a rudderless ehip on the hurried ocean of journalism." The critic complains of the mediocre author whose works cannot be enthused over ov slanged. The publisher delivers himself of some sen- i sible remarks on booksellers' discount, : a peculiarity of the trade which no '. layman can understand. "The book," he says, " must have a published price < attached to it ; to publish it without a price would lead to endless confusion. To i advertise a book at a fixed price, and tell buyers that that is not the price, is a sham ■ and a delusion. The price at which the '. book is published and advertised is the price the public should pay for it. The '. true solution is to fix a net price which the public must pay, and from which no bookseller can make any allowance whatever." Some " sniping* " from tke hook- : sellers may be expected shortly. Boys who love adventure, and what boy does not, will find plenty of hairbreadth - escapes and picturesque fighting in Bloundelle Burton's "Clash of Arms." Albert ■ Lee's " Black Disc," and Manville Fenn's "Frank and Saxon," which treat respectively of the times of Charles the Second, • the Conquest of Granada and the struggles between Spanish nobles and cruel Moors, and the days of the St Bartholomew Massacre. Those who wish for an exciting sea yarn should get P. M. Holmes's " Gold Ship," a tale of their own times. Caroline Ticknor describes American naughty children as vivaciously as Ethel Turner does the young Australians. The mad pranks of " Miss Belladonna " and her companions Chamomilla, Ipecacuanha and Mercurius will take a lot of beating even by the little larrikins of Sydney and display all the ingenuity of the youthful Yankees. The best shilling's worth of the month is Henry Newbolt's "Admirals All," around dozen of poems in Elkin Mathews' Shilling Garland which has already reached a third edition. Newbolt has all the fire and swing of Kipling without the latter's coarseness. His sea-songs " Admirals All," "San Stefano" (a ballad of the Bold Menelaus), "The Fighting Temeraire," " Hawke," and best of all " Drake's Drum " have the true patriotic ring about them that make the reader's cheeks glow with pride at England's prowess on "the realm of the circling sea." The simple directed ness and rhythmical lilt of the lines should appeal to all colonial readers. The first verse of " Drake's Drum," which seems by some strange perversion to have changed places with the second is a good example of his style : — Drake he's in his hammock an' a thousand miles away, (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below ?) Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay, An' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. Yonder lames the island, yander lie the ships, Wi' sailor lads a-dancin' heel-an'-toe, An' the shore-lights flashin' an' the night-tide dashin', He sees et arl so plainly as he saw et long ago. "The Fighting Temeraire " was inspired by Turner's picture, and is full of melody. — It wob eight bells ringing, For the morning .watch was done, And the gunners' lads were singing As they polished every gun. It was eight bells ringing, And the gunners' lads were singing, For the ship she rode a-swingiag, : As they polish«d every gun, Oh ! to see the linstock lighting, Temeraire ! Temeraire ! Oh ! to hear the round shot biting, ' Temeraire ! Temeraire ! Oh ! to see the linstock lighting, ' And to hear the round, shot biting, ; For we're all in lore with fighting ■ On the fighting Temeraire. There's a far bell ringing ( At the setting of the sun, . And a phantom voice is singing _ Of tne great days done. ' There's a far, bell ringing And a phantom voice is singing Of renown for ever clinging To the great days done. Now the sunset breezes shiver, ' Temeraire ! Temeraire ! < And she's fading down the river, 1 Temeraire! Temeraire! j Now the sunset breezes shiver, And she's fading down the river, < But in England's song for ever ] She's the fighting Temeraire. j What, too, could be better than this - picture of the return of the victorious l Menelaus? " It was evening at St Helens in the great and gallant time, And the sky behind the down was flushing far ; ] And the flags were all a-flutter fand the bells were all a-chime, . „ j When the frigate cast her anchor off the toar. • ' But when one begins quoting it is hard to know where to stop. This New-bolt J will not be shot for a long while yet, and l his flight should be followed. Seasongband sea stories are quite the fashion. W. W. Jacobs, Cutckffe Hyne j< and Joseph Conrad are a trio on whom *' there is a run at present. Conrad is the th T S Gordon's biography of Sir James o <amS2£ in "The Meters of Medicine" g Simpson,. m^ intensely interesting, a thitrSLphofSce over Pain, and the. a Itwa* ,

ifficult and dangerous for Sinvwon to dis- n over chloroform, and to experiment on t timself and his colleagues, but, true tbilauthropist that he was, he at once >üblished his discovery to the world 0 hat the suffering might at once >biain relief. Mr Gordon gives a vigor- y ms and humorous description of the vay in which Simpson had to defend his iiscovery against the attacks of his own )rofession, the clergy and the "unco j juid." He was overwhelmed with argu- r nents from jealous colleagues that pain at e ihildbirth was "a desirable, salutary and e sonversative manifestation of life force," ind with texts from Genesis as to the )rimeval curse of women. But Simpson, vith dry humour, hoist his foes with their >wn petard, for he proved incontestably f torn Scripture that woman was' created in .. i hypnotic operation. "And the Lord laused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and * le slept, and he took one of his ribs and ilosed up the flesh instead thereof." " The players are come " is the theme cf « j£ John Bennett's "Master Sky-Lark," * which relates the adventures of Nick c ittwood of Stratford, who, going to see the 1 players in ■ that historic town, develops a ' wonderful voice and is carried off to Lon- 3 ion by the master player. The boy, despite J bis carollings in St Paul's and before j Queen Bess, pines to be back in his quiet * oountry town and flies to the Chamberlain's players where one William Shakspere l comes to his relief. With its dainty i pictures this is the very book for children i of a romantic disposition. ( Volumes on Napoleon are legion. Pro- , i lessor Sloan's (Princeton University) i "Life of Napoleon Bonaparte" is the lase, { and is both imposing and philosophical. ] There are four -volumes of it, but plenty of 1 illustrations to beguile the political and i military complications. It is published in i New York by the Century Company and in 1 London by Macmillan. i If you want a handy naval history get Hannay's " Short History of the Royal Navy from 1217-1688." A second volume will bring it up-to-date. ( The reviewers do not have it all their ' own way in France. By French law every i one attacked in a journal is entitled to the < right of reply in its columns to a length of twice the hostile criticism, and as much' ' more as he likes if he pays for it at the' ] rate for -official announcements. M. ' Lemaitre recently criticised in the Bevue > des Deux Mondes M. Dubout's play Frede- < gondc. M. Dubout replied with a long l defence, including a whole scene of the play. The editor thought if he got many i of these replies, two worlds would be quite i insufficient for their review, and returned i it. Hence litigation. Here is a chance < for the Authors' Society to get even with i their critics. ]