LITERARY CHAT.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 01, Issue 9, 1 June 1900, Page 74

LITERARY CHAT.

By Danveks Hamber.

Messrs. Wildman and Lyell, of Auckland, have sent me Mr. Henry Lawson's latest collection of short stories. The volume is entitled On the Track, and forms one of the Commonwealth Series published by Messrs. Angus and Robertson, of Sydney. The author of While the Billy Boils has gathered together in this unpretentions-lookingbooklet some stories which have previously appeared in colonial journals, and has added some fresh yarns. The mixture of old and new forms a delightful whole, for Mr. Lawson writes so naturally and so simply, yet always with such telling effect, that one experiences a sort oE exhilaration after reading one or two of his stories. Humour and pathos Mr. Lawson uses with a master hand, and now and then he writes with such a breezy, out-of-door tone that one feels transported hundreds of miles away from the confines of a city. "Mitchell," who discourses on Women and on Matrimony, is a very amusing fellow, with a heap of good sound common sense running through his conversation, and in "A Vision of Sandy Blight" there is a Wend of the pathetic arid the humorous which is truly artistic. There are two or three tales of New Zealand, and these are quite as attractive as the others. Mr. Lawson, who is evidently as much a student of mankind as he is a lover of Nature, must be congratulated heartily, for On the Track is a bright and welcome addition to colonial literature. I lieard some little time back that Mr. Lawson intended travelling to England, in order to offer his wares in the Mecca of all writers. With the growing- demand for short stories

descriptive of colonial life, he should have little difficulty in attaining that success to which his merit justly entitles him. Those who enjoyed the terseness, the vigour and the truthfulness of the stories in While the Billy Boils, will find the same delight in reading On the Track. 4. Ouida's latest story, The Waters of Ed-era, differs essentially from most of her works. It is very slight in plot, and has virtually nothing of that human passion which has marked so many of the talented writer's novels. Italian customs and manners, local government and politics, and a peasantry ruled over by a tyrannical authority, are written of with the author's well-known power of description. The life and the country are admirably depicted, and the characters are drawn with the artistic skill which has ever been a prominent feature of Ouida's work. The Waters ofEiera is not so brilliant or so striking as The Massarenes— the author's 1897 triumph— but it possesses a great charm, for it is thoughtfully written and it is full of observation. Considering thafc Ouida's first work, Held in Bondage, was published in 1863, and that since then she has written thirty-nine books, her vigour and imagination must he considered wonderful. Her latest novel is published by T. Fisher Unwin, of Paternoster Square. *- Some friends of the late Mrs. Lynn Linton are desirious that her memory should be kept

green in her native place, Keswick, Cumberland, and with that object in view they propose to present a portrait of the novelist, painted in oils by the Hon. John Collior, to the Keswick Museum. Mrs. Lynn Linton was born at Malvern, and Mr. G. S. Layard, of Lorraine Cottage, Great Malvern, is engaged in writing a life of the deceased writer. I mention Mr. Layard's address because he has consented to receive and acknowledge subscriptions to the memorial fund, and I thought that perhaps there might be some New Zealanders who would wish to contribute to the proposed memorial.

Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, better known as "Mark Twain," was a witness last month before the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider the Literary and Artistic Copyrights Bill. In his evidence the famous humourist gave his opinion on the copyright laws of England and America. He said they were nearly all right, but there was an amendment, trivial from a commercial point of view, but gigantic in other respects, necessary to make them perfect, namely, that instead of forty-two years' copyright, there should be perpetual copyright vested in the author and the artist.

Already is the history of the Boer War being published ! And the first part of Messrs Methuon's The History of the Boer War has reached us through Messrs Wildman atid Lyell, of Auckland. This foremost military history of the present campaign in South Africa is being issued in fortnightly parts. It is well illustrated — judging from the first part — by portraits, maps, sketches and plans. The text is founded on official reports and despatches, private letters, and letters from the war correspondents of the first rank, and then also, the best foreign criticisms, especially those emanating from German authorities, have been made use of. Undoubtedly this promises to be a bright and useful work. It is well printed, large

readable type and good papor are used, and evident pains have beon taken with the reproductions. Each part will consist of forty pages crown quarto size. If every succeeding uurnber is up to the standard of the iirst, the publishers will have to bo sincerely congratulated, for the work bids fair to bo a highly interesting narrative of England's latest great war — the (irst in which the Empire generally has had a hand. Tho matter in the first part is excellent. Tho Boer forces and armaments aro dealt with, and we are taken as far as the Battle of Talana Hill and the retreat of Colonel Yule. This is a work that should be widely known and owned. The young New Zealauder should make a point of getting every number, for ho will learn many things from a study of this history of the war which has welded together in a few months such an Empire that a century of peace could not have mado so singleminded. I must draw attention to tho fact that each part is published at ono shilling. That may sound rather like — commerce, but I know tho young Now Zealander to bo practical, inasmuch as he likes to know the cost of things, and when he learns that he can so cheaply obtain a splendid history of tho war wherein his own flush and blood have taken such a gallant part, I am sure he will lose no time in procuring a work that in bound to be a valuable addition to military literature.

Thkkk arc 'Varsity lecturers and 'Varsity lecturers. The late Floury Hurt M ilnian, Dean of St. Paul's, whose biography, written by his son, Arthur Milman, LL.D., has lately been published by John Murray, found that out as soon as ho became an undergraduate of Brasenose. Writing from Oxford to hit* sister he says:—" What I am to learn here pu/.zles me at present, for of our three tutora one can lecture and does not, another cannot and always does, and the third neither can nor does !" At any rate Milman becamo a poet and a fino prose writer. He won the Newdigate prize with an ode to Apollo described by Christopher North as "sploudid,

beautiful, majestic." His religious dramas, "■The Fall of Jerusalem" and "The Martyr of Antioch," contain many beautiful lyrics and hymns, and his historical tragedy, " Anna Boleyn," aroused the intense enthusiasm of clever men of his day. Perhaps his greatest work in prose was " The History of Latin Christianity." He was picturesque in his ■writings, he read and preached enchantingly, and as a valuable adjunct to his great talents he had what Bacon said was the " letter of recommendation," handsome and impressive face and figure.

Me. Winston Spencer Ciiukciiill may certainly say that success is a charm. We all have a liking for the dashing, impetuous and clever son of the late Lord Randolph Churchill. As correspondent for the London Morning Post daring the Boer War he has earned golden opinions for his pluck and endurance as well as for his

vivid, terse, and accurate unpainted pictures of the scenes he has looked upon. In Savrola : A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania, a volume in Longman's Colonial Library, which has come to me from Messrs George Robertson and Company, of Melbourne and Sydney, the author is quite in his element. He writes well of land fights and battles on the sea. He has a vivid imagination, and he excels in telling of deeds of war. He has a great command of vigorous language and a pungent tongue withal. Savrola is essentially a book of battles,' and the best of it is to be found in the fighting pages. Mr Churchill has a pretty taste too, he makes dramatic scenes for his heroine and hero with great skill, and he has the ability to write smart dialogue. Savrola is certainly a book to read and to be enjoyed, but a perusal of it makes one wonder whether it would ever have been written had Anthony Hope never produced " The Prisoner of Zenda " and " Phroso."