The Literary Page.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10680, 29 January 1913, Page 1

The Literary Page.

NOTES ON feOOKS AND WRITERS OF THE DAY.

> Lord Rosebcry < who has an admirable appreciation of Burns—-not a new one, however—prefixed to an edition of the poet's songs' which l has just been'issuod by Mr Foulis, has now a wonderfully long list of publications appended to his name in the catalogues. With the possible exception of Lord Morley, ho can boast of a longer list than" any of our living statesmen who unite an' interest in politics and letters. On© of Lord Rosebery'e earliest, if not, in fact, his earliest, appearances in print was in June, 1870—over forty-two years ago ! —when he wrote a loiter to the " Times " complaining of the difficulty experienced by young speakers in catching the ear of the House of Lords. Delane, the famous editor of the "Times," who was then off duty for a few days, directed Dasent, his locum tenens, to > publish the letter in large print, adding:-"I won £2O from him, which makes me anxious to oblige him I" Of all Lord, Rosebery's writings perhaps the most generally, popular has been his monograph on Pitt in . the i " Twelve v English - Statesmen "■ Series. Its. popularity is abundantly borneoutby the'frequency with which it has been reprinted; in this respect it';is easily first in the series to which it belongs. It is also the only one of the series to be furnished with an in- . dex. This may or may not be - due 'to his lordship's own instructions, but it certainly adds to the value , of an admirable sketch. . The extension of the Bodleian Library ■(says the "Westminster Gazette") ■ made necessary by the steady accumu- *" lation of volumes' at the rate of two hundred per day, might have been , avoided, as was pointed out in the debates on the new Copyright Act, : by the authorities consulting thespublisliere' catalogues, and only sending for books suitable;for the library. ; It is a mistake to suppose that publishers are , bound to send copies of all books pub- , lished to the five great libraries mentioned in ,the Copyright Act. This ■ < compulsion only applies to the British • Irfuseum : Library; In the case of the other libraries only those books asked - for heedbe sent. / But, as Viscount . Haldane said, these other insfcitu tions . " put in a sort of omnibus demand for every book that appears."

The announcement that Professor W. < ! Knight is preparing for early publica- ' tion a work to be entitled "Coleridge and Wordsworth'in the West Country " ' will recall to readers who know their . Haslitt one of that writer's most' delightful essays, "My First Acquaintance with Poets." 1 For Coleridge and ; "Wordsworth are the poets ivith whom : Hazlitt deals' in his essay, the main ■' portion of which is concerned, as* must . the work of Professor Knight he, with " that'life of Coleridge at Net her Stowey, and of Wordsworth at AllrFoxden near . by, which Hazlitt had a brief experi- • epce of :lrhen he stayed with Coleridge for three weeks in the spring of 1798. V -At Stowey Hazlitt had one of tins hap- , piest times in his life. He was introdnced to. Wordsivorth,. and heard him " chaunt " his verses'; he engaged, with ■■'•: him in metaphysical argument ; he saw the "Lyrical Ballads!' in ,manuscript; ■ . he went walking and talking with Cole-, ridge, and towards the end of his visit ! went with the poet'and John Chester, an all-but-silent -worshipper of Coleridge, ,on a three days' jaunt on the coast of the Bristol. Channel. Hazlitt • aever forgot this visit'to Coleridge and Wordsworth,! and twenty-eight.years after he wrote: '' I; may date my in--1 „ ■ 1 right .into the" mysteries of poetry froni • the. commencement of my acquaintance with the authors of'the 'Lyrical Ballads.'"

I -.Now' that the ■ London; 'bus-driver is 1 practically extinct l -petrol has' administered to; him the 'coup do grace—Mr Pett Ridge worthily enshrines his mem-ory-in the pages of the "Cornhill." " A vanished humoristhe calls this Jehu, whose palmiest, days Were, • 'of course, wfyen he was trussed to his lofty perch with men only beside him (who had perilously climbed.'into position by a strap), long before the time when garden seats replaced the ' '■ knifeboard" and allowed ladies access to the omnibus roof. John Leech and Charles Keene found, much material in the native humour of the top-hatted, sliawl-wrapped 'bus-driver. • Now and again—but rarely (writes Mr Pett Ridge)—he came into opposition with the police,. and argument ensued between box-seat and roadway. A 'bus-driver was once kept on the east .side 01 Oxford Circus for a longer time .than he thought necessary by',a cori-' s table who had not been lucky' in the selection of features. The driver made no. protest ; but . when the signal was at last given for him to proceed he leaned down and spoke to the policeman. 1 . "You never sent .me that .photygraph!" he said, reproachfully. : Speed was not reckoned of any importance. A. pull-up at Marble Arch meant that the conductor stepped off' his monkey-board ' and came ; along to have a leisurely chat with his colleague, ■a"talk about old times and the friends that, were ; occasionally a discussion !of a' strained na|ure' on some topic that, threatened ; to sever friendship; Contrary weather ,always, brought a grievance on which they could exchange sympathy. ~ ■' "How do you..like' itP" inquired a 1 conductor,, in ,the bliiiding rain, of his driver. - . - ' ' , ..' -. "I wish I ..was in •'Eaven! M '.'. " I wish I was in a declared the .conductor. • . . • ' ' , . Yes! ' said the' 'driver ■ bitterly. I "You always want' the .best of every-: thing!" - .. . ' ■ . , . ; . Any want of dexterity on the part of other drivers (continues Mr Fett llidge) ar °4 US the'most bitter criticism. •> ' i At Hyde - Park corner a brougham and a, pair of greys were being conducted, with some" difficulty, a'cro'sii the road. . -" u '] o j gardener!" said the. omnibus driver,' leaning down kindly,; "Coachman ill again?" .He could be impressive when he thought it necessary. It was a driver ■ who once gave me special arid exclusive information concerning the Roval Family. (I found it lacked the element of truth.) " you," he said, behind his ii- ' must treat this what I'm telling you as strictly infra-dig. 1 What J, m ea?i to say is, it mustn't go any further! Both the-driver and th© conductor were eminent legal" advisers; never bettor pleased than when some nice point was submitted; always ready to give counsel's opinion; I shiver to think of what happened in the cases where their advice was followed. The laws regarding landlord and tenant had for'them no secrets. " You sue him," they would generally decide; "that's all you've got to do Or else lock him up. Failing "that, push his face ml In a lesser, degree they were medical advisers and political experts ; at times of trouble abroad thev had plans which never reached the folk at the War Office. I remember durine the time of the South African war a driver of a favourite omnibus had a wonderful scheme for cornering General Be Wet; and I recollect thnt. when neace was declared, he assured me that if he had been in charge of the British troops the war would not have lasted iive minutes. This view was announced i in Chancery Lane; in Clrav's Tnn Road he seemed to fear he had under-stated the length of time, for he turned and said. " Wei).*, certainly not moro than half a bower!" Probably the most nncient instance of ! hunger striking has been unearthed!

Just now, when so many are' recalling. the personality , and influence of Dr Joseph Parker, it should not be forgotten that the great preacher, who was laid to rest at ; Hainpstead ten years .ago, was also . a voluminous ' author. Always true* to "himself, none of his later, works is more characteristic than those early, volumes which were largely ■ autobiographical, particularly v Tyne.Chylde,"- "Tyne Folk," "|Ecce - Deus" \ and -"Springfield Abbey." Though;an appraiser of important contemporary works, Dr Parker could not • be called a great book'collector, but • he had : a justifiable; pride in: his Ey r lands Library ate the 'City.. Temple, furnished from a gift of £SOO handed to hirti' for this purpose by Jbhxi'Rylands, of Manchester. ; < . : The executive committee charged • with -the decision "confcerni'ng ;tlie -fbrm ' of a memorial to Sin W.v S. Gilbert ! lias recommended, the ejection, in a public ' plaoe in London,' of an artistic monument illustrating his work, including a' bust, medallion or other presentment,: The "Note" which Mr Watts-Dun- . toil contributed to' Shakespeare in the . World's Classics, appropriately finds a place. in the very neat * and attractive . three-volume edition of the dramatist which Mr Henry Frowde has just is- . tued. Here is an extract:—" It, is a . singular .fact in regard to the king of . dramatists that although- his representations of life were written to be acted, the most delightful. way of enjoying them is,not to see them on the stagewhere too often the obtrusive person- , olity of the actor blurs or is mingled with Shakespeare's own vision 'of the ■ character—nor even to study them in the closet, but to read them fa tlie ■ open air, along the banks of a rivor—the Avon, say, or the Ouse, or the Upper Thames—or under the wavering . shadows of English trees, with' the music of the summer birds and the dis-

' tant bleat, of the sheep lending an accompaniment to the music of the poet's * verse." 'Some people may be inclined to deny this, but .others will at once ; bear testimony to its truth. Mr ; Watts-Dunton goes on to point out " that while Shakespeare was toiling in JU>ndon there was, beneath the conaciousness of .whatsoever he was working upon " the mirror of youthful memory " :—" This mirror was bright with the shimmer of Avon as it wound through the meadows he loved—meadows coloured with the tints of the Warwickshire flowers. Whenever he was in need of a poetical image to illustrate the passage he had only to look down into this mirror and there ■was the picture he wanted When he wants an adjective that shall ®zpress in one word all the charm of the violet he has only to look down into the mirror to find it. Violets dim. But Bweetor than the lids of Juno's oyea Or Oytherea's breath. In the Avon-side meadows the dimmer the violets the more exquisite is the perfume.'' _ Shakespeare, Mr WattsPonton thinks, stands alone among poets as a painter of woodlands, meadows, wild flowers, etc. " He alone can make us see and smell them." Hence the appropriateness of a special " open-aid edition," which the present po doubt is. ! The "Poetry Review," after the' December number, will be ( issued guar-

terly instead of monthly, under the name of " Pootry and Drama," The scopG of the periodical will be widened to include the appreciation and criticism of modern drama. Otherwise the policy will remain the same. Mr Murray has found it,necessary to put in hand a reprint, of Captain Amundsen's valuable volumes on " The South Pole." ' A students' facsimile edition of Old English Plays is being brought out under the general editorship aiid supervision of Mr John S. Farmer, the facsimiles being reproduced by the photographer and printer of the Tudor Facsimile Texts, and under the Binne conditions. . The volumes are to bo issued to subscribers each month, three volumes at a time. ' " ? Two volumes which should prove of, the utmost value in the-home have been •issued by ISveleigh NaSft, London, at the moderate price of 2s Gd each. The i first of these bears the title, " Before tho Doctor Comes," and is from the pen of the late Dr Andrew Wilson. In terms which cahbe understood by all, tho work gives information regarding tho treatment not merely of the accidents from which all are liable to suffer, but also sufficient instructions concerning what should be done in emergencies due to the onset of disease, so that, in the absence of the doctor those in attendance may be able to treat the patient properly,, and ,so possibly avert the consequences which neglect and ignorance combined are sociable to produce. It is undoubtedly, a matter of as much importance to be able to detect and treat the preliminary symptoms of illness before tho doctor comes as it is to be able to relieve a choking, dress a burn, or stop bleeding, and, consequently; the information contained. in this book will be found invaluable in every household. Ordinary ambulance work is also dealt*with, whilst the claims of hygiene and the rules of healthy living are considered in separate chapters. , ■ ' L The second volume, "The Care of Children," is by Dr Arthur Miller, a well-known specialist on the troubles incidental 'to childhood.- In it the author has set forth most of the'<thingsi mothers want to know; and lias endeavoured to correct some of the falsa ideas and wrong procedures that are prevalent where* children are concerned.. -.The work, it is explained, is not intended to* obviate the necessity, for the attendance of a medical man when occasions .for his servioes arise, bnt to indicate the proper methods . ofupbringing-necessary to ensure health .in the child, and, consequently, to save tho little ones ■of those ,who read it-from.some of-the 'diseases and disorders that-ape preventable. The principles'-of dieting and hygiene are dealt with', and parents and 41urs.es '-are instructed how - most effe'ctively to :act in . any _of the .emergencies brought about by ill;'tkSs' 6r accident. Altogether, the work is a most, valuable one .for those in charge of the young.

(about the second century) by a corre- ' spundenfc of -the "Spectator," who writes: " r ln the Oxyrhynclms Papyri, recontly discovered, thero is a letter from a bad boy to his father. The boy wants to go to Alexandria with his father. The father has managed, by some ruse, to get away without him. Tho bov sends a most petulant fetter to }m father, of which the climax is: 'lf you don't send for me I won't eat and I won't drink. I moan it.' "

The amount of misplaced ingenuity that has been expended. in the attempt to convince a sceptical world that Shakespeare's plays were written by Francis • Bacon or another is enormous. It has, however, generally been confined to England or America. At times Germany has lent a. credulous ear; but so far Franco has been fairly faithful to "Will Shakespeare and tradition. But in a recent number of "La Depeche' appeared a lengthy letter from M. Celestin Demblon, a Belgian professor and member of -Parliament, m which he gives a summary of the argument of a large volume of 580 pages, " Lord Rutland and Shakespeare," written by himself. As the title Shows, M. Demblon has discovered the new Shakespeare in. Lord , Rutland, whom no other 'writer has yet endeavoured to suspect. IV]L Demblon, who has devoted "twenty years of, disinterested work in the, great libraries of Western Europe" to his researches, is confident that his theory will find universal acceptance. , * • •

M. Demblon will lure nothing to do with the Baconians. " Their arguments," ■ ho - says, " sometimes seductive at first sightj are in reality only specious. But they proved at, least that there was a snake in the _ grass, and often suggested some inkling of tho truth wliich they helped me finally to discover." His confidence is at times touchingly naive:-—''ln all this there is not a shadow of an assumption, but facts which leave no possible doubt. It is iio question of one of those so-called ' sensational discoveries' of'which the public is tired. . . . It isa matter of common knowledge that I have never published a book or even "1a page in Belgium which could ' make me blush, nor a page of speculation. . . . Before commencing my book I have not only studied the four thousand documents cited above (the Shakespearian bibliography), but, I have collected 3500 pages of notes, or ten ordinary volumes. . . . There .iw 110 need to insist upon,the. capital importance of tho question in the land of Corneille, Moliere, Voltaire, etc., when we are concerned with the. incomparable poet who has gained a popularity without parallel in ,the two hemispheres, _ on whose . false tomb 50,000 pilgrims prostrate - themselves every year at Stratford." " MARCH OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN." JThe \fact of tiny Montenegro striking the first blow" in the Balkan strr ggle has appealed strongly to the British imagination. With, characteristic slow r ness Englishmen have begun to realise that -within a few days little Balkan States, at whose pretensions they had smiled good,naturedly, had piit in tho. field some 600,000 armed and discipline ed men. . • . • . _ Taking the : courageous action of the little Mountain kingdom as his . text, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the author, writes ,a fine sermon in verse to«his fellowcountrymen,;which he,calls "The March of the Black Mountain." It follows ."What will there /bo to remember Of us in. tho days to be, Whose faith was. a trodden ember i And even our doubt not free? •'Parlii.msnts built of paper And tho soft swords of gold That tw at like a wnsen taper In the weak aggressor's hold, A hush around 'Hunger slaying. A city of eerfs unfed, — What shall we leave for & saying ••'•/To praise ua when wo are dead? But men shall remember the Mountain • That broke its forest chains, . , And men shall remember the Mountain When it-marches against the plains, And christen their children from it. And 3<3a,soh and ship and street, "When the Mountain came to Mahomet . And looked small, before his feet. His head was high as the crescent Of the moon .that seemed bis crown, And on glory oi past and present The light of his eyes looked down. One. hand went out to the morning Over Brahmin and Buddhist slain, : And one to tho west in scorning i To point to the scars of Spain. One foot on the hills for warden By . the little Mountain trod, And one was in a garden, 7 And stood on the-grave of God. But men shall remember the Mountain, •• Thoueh it fa 1 ! down like a tree;They shall see tho of the Mountain •Faith cast into the sea. • Though.the crooked nwords overcome it, ; . And the Crooked ,Moon ride free,.' When the Mountain comes to Mahomet It .has more life than he. But what will there be to remember, "Or.what .will there be to roe.' ' Tho'Hi our town through a long November, Abide to the end and be. • • 1 Strength of. slave and mechanic, Whose iron'is ruled by gold, Peace of- immortal panic. Love that is hate grown coldAre these a, bribs or a warning, . That we turn not to the sun. Nor loqk on the lands of. maiming, "Where deeds at last are do"f>? For man shn.'l remember the Mountain When truth forgets the nlain, A.n<3 wa-'k in the "-av of the Mountain That did not fall in vain. Tlenth and eclinse and eoinet. Tliurider and sen's that rend When t'ie Mountain to Mahomet Because it was the end. IMPERIAL HISTORY. A scheme for the establishment of a school for the study of Imperial history and institutions was submitted by Mr Sidney Low in a paper on " The Organisation of Imperial Studies in London,"'which he read recently at a meeting' of the British Academy. . Expressing the hope that the British Academy, following its own precedent in the case of Oriental studies, would use its influence to establish an organ-1 isation for the study of Imperial history and institutions in London; Mr j Low suggested that it might be a sub- j section or a department of the ; Academy, but no doubt it would find its j eventual place in the academic scheme as a school or faculty of the University of London. The University would need little persuasion to establish such a faculty and a Board of Imperial Studies • if the means were at its disposa l for adequately ■ remunerating the staff.. Even-in the absence of sucli resources, the University might do a great deal towards that end. It should make the detailed study of T mperial history and of the development and institutions of the British Empire compulsory for all students who offered modern history in tlie examina- I ; fcion for arts degrees, or in the faculty j of economics and political science. The University, continued_ Mr Low, ' , should institute a special diploma for , Imperial studies. There should be a University professor of Imperial history or of Indian and colonial history, who should be ex officio director of the School of Imperial Studies. He should

bo assisted by a staff, which need not, in tho first instance at any rate, be a large one. Oriental languages, tropical medicine and hygiene and colonial industries and products, being dealt with already, could be left out of their present scheme, thou ,T h ho hoped that there would bo a closo relation and intercommunication between their teachers and those of the proposed faculty. They could confine themselves more particularly to academic, historical, i political and philosophical development. The professor should have the support of a minimum of five lecturers or readers, who should deal with (1) Indian history, (2) colonial history, the la.vs and institutions of the British Empire, (4) Imperial economics and (o) Imperial ethnology and geography. _ A larger number could, no doubt easily be suggested, and, indeed, they might hope that if the resources were sufißcient all these lecturers would be elevated to_ the full- professorial dignity and provided with wistants or readers of their own. It would, 110 doubt, be necessary to engage a number of teachers of special • subjects,,and to arrange for occasional courses 'of isolated lectures by 'profes--1 sors from colonial; universities or from . eminent authorities' living in London who would be willing to offer their services from time to time without being permanent members of the academio : staff. , i Referring to the question of cost, Mr Sidney Low said that, while as a nation they were lavish in so many other things, they wero prudent to the point | of penuriousness in their contributions to higher education. ;But no prohibitive sum was required for this schemeThe main expenditure would come under the heading of salaries to the teaching staff. A competent professor ana director of studies of recognised authority i cduld be obtained for about £BOO a ■ year. *He was advised that capable young scholars of high academic distinc- [ tion would be willing to accept posi- ' tions of readers and lecturers at a salary of about £3OO a year, with a : share of the fees paid by their pupils. A sum of £BOO was put down for the .provision of occasional lecturers and social classes, and £7OO for the library I and the expense of the seminary. The total cost of tho scheme was, therefore, to be estimated at £3BOO. That amount should not be beyond the resources of I the metropolitan community and the 1 Empire at large. Under due pressure I from the British Academy, the London I University and public opinion, half _of the amount required might be supplied by, the India Office, the Colonial OQce .and the Governments of tho self-got;- • erning dominions. He supposed that for. the remainder they must look to private generosity, but he could not entertain the idea that they would look ' in vain.' •• • I