Literary Chat

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 12, 1 September 1900, Page 957

Literary Chat

By Danveus Hambuk

Messrs. G. P. Putnam and Sons, of London and New York, have recently added two more volumes to their Heroes of the Nations series. Charlemagne, by Mr. H. W. Oarless Davis, M.A., is one, and Alexander the Great, by Mr. Benjamin, [do Wheeler, is the other. Mr. Davis lias written an extremely fascinating book about one of the moat impressive figures in history, Charlemagne, the first Western Emperor and creator of modern Europe. Mr. Wheeler's monograph of the young warriorEmperor is sympathetic in sentiment, terse and emphatic in style and admirable as regards historical value. Alexander was only thirty-two years of age when he died, but he had already earned undying fame as a military genius Mr. Wheeler describes his marvellous career excellently, and he makes a splendid picture of Alexander's dazzling pei'sonality.

In writing of Mr. Leicester Ford's Janice Meredith last month, I mentioned that tlie book contained an excellent pen portrait of that gallant but unfortunate officer, Major Andre. The other day I came across some interesting information anent a memorial which was raised on the spot where the Major's body had lain before removal to England for burial in Westminster Abbey. The late Dean Stanley was staying with a friend on the Hudson JRiver, and at the Dean's request a search was made in order to identify the place of burial. The temporary resting place was found, and a memorial stone erected bearing the following inscription written by the Dean : — Here died, October 2, 1780, Major John Andre, of the British Army, Who, entering the American lines, on a Secret Mission to Benedict Arnold

For the Surrender of West Point,, Was taken prisoner, tried mid condemned as a Spy. His dentil, though according to tin; stern Code of War, Moved even his enemies to pity, And both Annies mourned the t'ato of one so young and ho bravo. In IS2I his remains wero removed to Westminster Abbey. A hundred years aftor his execution, This stone was phicod above the spot where ho lay, By a citizen of the Statos against which ho fought ; Not to perpetuate tho record of strife, But in token of those better feelings Which have since united two nations One in race, in language, and in religion ; With the earnest hope that this friendly union Will never be broken. Arthur Ponrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster.

Mil .John Mcuhav, the well-known publisher, recently told the Copyright Committee of the Mouse of Commons that the introduction of pirated copies of books into the colonies through the Customs had largely increased. Mr. Murray suggested that a very convenient manner of meeting the difficulty would be to have one form of registration which would carry with it a proper entry in the Customs throughout the Empire.

Fkom Messrs. Wild man and Lyell, of Auckland, comes Mr. liidor Haggard's Black Heart and White Heart, his latest addition to Longman's Colonial Library. The volume contains three stories, talcing the title from the first, a tale of Zulu life in the days of Cetowayo. The one white man in tho story, Philip Hadden, is not a prepossessing creature, and he meets with the righteous doom his treachery to the Zulus who trusted him deserves. Told with Mr. Rider

Haggard's well-known vigour and in Ms usual entertaining style, the story is a welcome addition to his already long list of tales of African life. The second story, Missa, or the Doom of Zimbabwe^ is a romantic and dramatic sketch of the life and times of that ancient Phoenician city in the heart of Africa, Zimbabwe or Zimboe. In the author's note it is stated that Mr. Wilmot's researches have proved that in the Middle Ages Zimbabwe was the seat of a barbarous empire whose ruler was the Emperor of Monoinotapa, and that for some years the Jesuits ministered in a Christian church beneath the shadow of its ancient towers. The late Mr. Theodore Bent's studies also go to show that Zimbabwe was once an inland Phoenician city. They certainly prove that it was a city whose inhabitants were of a race which practised Phoenician customs, and worshipped the Phoenician deities. Though there is no actual proof of the foregoing, the numerous old workings in Rhodesia tell the tale that it was the presence of payable gold reefs worked by slave labour which tempted the Phoenician merchants and small traders to travel so far from the sea, and establish themselves inland. Mr. Rider Haggard says, " However tliese things may be, there remains ample room for speculation, both as to the dim beginnings of the ancient city and its still dimmer end, whereof we can guess only, when it became weakened by luxury and the mixturo of races, that hordes of invading savages stamped it out of existence beneath their blood-stained feet, as, in after ages, they stamped out the Empire of Monomotapa. In the following romantic sketch the writer has ventured — no easy task — to suggest incidents such as might have accompanied the first extinction of Zimbabwe. The pursuit indeod is one in which he can only hope to fill the place of a humble pioneer, since it is certain that in years to come the dead for tress- temples of South Africa will occupy the pens of many generations of the writers of romance, who, as he hopes, mayliave more ascertained facts to build upon than are available to-day."

There can be no doubt that the author has succeeded in his object, and that he has written a very fascinating romance. The remaining story in the book, The Wizard, is a tale of the conversion to Christianity oil the Sons of Fire. This too is excellent in matter and in the telling. Black Heart and White Heart is also sent by Messrs. Upton and Co., of Auckland.

Miss Olive Tilly has written and illustrated a poem entitled The Battle Angel. It is dedicated to the memory of the New Zealanders who have fallen in the Transvaal. The Angel who has enjoyed the bloodshed grieves ultimately about the loss of men and " Aloft on her throne in the white, white snows With her sable wings hung low, And the scarlet crown, At her feet flung down, The Angel of Battle weeps Tears of blood, that flow Through the mists and snow To the slain on the veldt beneath, For the woe and the pain From across the main Had melted the heart of ice."

Me. H. Sutherland Edwards, a journalist and playwright of some fifty years' standing, has through Messrs. Cassell and Co. published his Personal Recollections. Mr. Sutherland Edwards has during his time come in contact with many literary and artistic personages, and though, as he • says, these recollections are incomplete, they are nevertheless extremely interesting. There are many amusing anecdotes in the volume. I quote the following as an example of the dramatic criticism furnished by an eccentric actor and singer when he wanted to pay off old scores : — " Wynn was the inventor of a new, simple, and comparatively safe method of defamation for the use of theatrical critics nurturing a grudge against some leading actor. It consisted in an ambiguous employment of the personal pronoun ' he,' so presented that it might be considered

applicable either to a certain character in the piece, or to the actor impersonating this character, the grammatical consti'uction lending itself rather to the latter view. This is how it once worked out in the case of Macready, whom Wynn had taken under his own personal persecution : — ' Mr. Maoready, the great performer, came out last night as Macbeth, and showed himself thoroughly at home in the character of the atrocious villain. He is, indeed, a monster. With a long experience of the stage we can call to mind no one so base, so brutal, so bloodthirsty. It is difficult to see him without at once perceiving that he is a miscreant of the worst species ; while to hear him speak is at once to understand that not the slightest confidence can be placed in the rascal. The wretch will appear again to-morrow evening, and will again be hissed and hooted (as happened to him several times last night) by an indignant public which hates treachery and execrates murder. At the end of the performance Mr. Macready received several summonses.' " Vivier, the famous hoi'n-player whose friends were almost as numerous as the sands of the sea, and who were of all ranks, was well known to the author, who tells the following amusing story about him : — " Vivier could not bear to see people in a hurry. According to him, there was nothing in life worth hurrying for ; and living on the Boulevard just outside the Rue Vivienne, he was much annoyed at seeing so many persons hastening, towards six o'clock, to the post-office on the Place de la Bourse. He determined to pay them out> and for that purpose bought a calf, which he took up to his apartments at night and exhibited the next afternoon at a few minutes before sis o'clock, in the balcony of his second floor. In spite of their eagerness to catch the post, many persons could not help stopping to look at the calf. Soon a crowd collected, and messengers stayed their steps to gaze at the unwonted apparition. Six o'clock struck, and soon after a number of men who had missed the post returned in an irritated condition, and, stopping before Vivier's house, shook their fists at him.

Vivier went down to thoin, and asked tho meaning of this insolence. 'Wo wore not shaking our lists at you,' replied tho fingered ones, ' but at that, calf.' 'Ah ! you know him then,' returned Vivior. ' I was not aware of it.' " Mr. Sutherland Edwards lias not been able in the present volume to toll half his recollections of tho notabilities of his time, but there are signs that a Noooud volume will shortly bo forthcoming. Whenever it makes its appearance it is sure to be warmly welcomed.

In the coining autumn season Mr. Fisher Unwiu will publish several books of special interest to Australians. Conspicuous among them is The Devil's Half Acre, by " Alum," an author who is extremely popular both in Australia and England, which deals with New Zealand life in the days of the gold era. Mr. Louis Becke, the novelist of tho Southern Seas, places the scene of his first long novel, Edward Barry, South Sea Pearler, in thoso brilliant lands, and again lays before us tho loves of white men and brown women, often cynical and brutal, sometimes exquisitely tender and pathetic. This book, perhaps, is of a more exciting character than Mr. Becke's former works, and the element of adventure enters into it as much as tho element of love. A tale of Australian tramp life by Mr. J. Le Gay Broreton, entitled Landlopers, should attract a large public, both for its interest as fiction and as a special study of life in the bush. Much of the book is based upon the author's own personal experience, and the various incidents, humours, and hardships of the tramp are described in the form of a diary, as they were encountered from day to day. A very pretty book for children is Bubbles^ Ilia Book, by an Australian author, 11. P. Irvine. It is just a string of bright fancies, with a proper proportion of vague imaginations, giants, and monsters. There are illustrations in black and white, and colours oq almost every page to help the childish imagination, -while the print is large and the language simple.