NOTES

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 407, 16 January 1909, Page 9

NOTES

. Tho following poem from the .Toronto "Free Lance" gives some idea, of the majestic imagery, of'the American language:—. . "GET WISE." ' 0f all. punk guff inspired by; gall, v The limit is this:- "! know it all." Tho yaji that springs. it always is. ■ Y'. A'dead one. in his line of biz: ! , ■'. His nut is swelled; his brain is shrunk;:. . , His trolleys broke; his talk is bunk; : He may.be boss;'but.you ..can bet > • 5 ' ■ 5 'He'll finish in the junk-lieap. yet. And that's no .'dream Take it from.me, ; He's got his-number—23,. . The way they .plays-.the 'game to-day, . It's Mr.. Wise Guy gets the pay; . No swell head; gees. The guys that - 'se •..' , Is":,them : . as hustles to get wise. In,his .'volume'-of .reminiscences, "Old and Odd the Hon. Lionel Tollemacho siiys of Lewjs Carroll-that he was. by no means a brilliant.....conversationalist,' "Tho topics on which he loved to dwell were such as.' ♦ would -i bore'-i 'many -persons." . "'Again; • "though .he' delighted children, he ■has tfi'enTwith'""afithmet'i-;. ■oal, puzzles."''f:\One of confessions to ...Mr. 'Tollemache' throws -an. interesting .light ~ on his character:— ... : -.' ."He'mentioned that he took 110 great interest in. little boys, and that.once on receiving a letter'from , a child with au hermaphrodite name,' Sydney or. Evelyn, he supposed'tho writer to be a boy, and answered, somewhat curtly. . Learning ..afterwards that' his small correspondent was a girl, lie made his peace by writing- to .her with : great: cordiality and. with a. mock-serious', playfulness..-. His letter , concluded with the postscript: 'If you; . see nobody .come /into the: r00m,., pleaso give- him: a kiss from .me.' .., . -."At-all events;- beiiigsorely perplexed as to the; manner of bestow-, ing a ghostly cmbrace on visible and incarnate nothingness, the poor, child acknowledged her embarrassment in a charmingly, naive' letter, which• 110 read-aloud to. me.

Mr! Dodgson's': orthodox disiiko . of . attyV .thing 'that savoured of profanity comes out in another,anecdote:—"An|authoress said-iu : his. presence that -sho brought up her child-, ren on 'fij.ith, soap, and charity.'- Not content with showing -by his manner that he was shocked, ho afterwards wrote to tlio lady letter of reproof." We are to]d. _ too, :how in "Alice in Wonderland" he substituted the tiger-lily for the passion-flower in order that no possible- suggestion of irreverence might be taken from it.

Mr. Justice Darling, who contributes; to the Decembor "Cornhill" a couple of sonnets under the'title "In the New Forest," is one of the. very ■ few judges who have successfully cultivated, the. field of poetry as well as tho moro prosaic domain of law; The late Lord Bowen (the "Westminster Gazette" remarks) was .another .instance,, although, as he hints in ono of his letters, the .fact that he wrote verse was not regarded -in. sdine guarters as altogether : compatible with the dignity of a Lord . Justice. He mentions that, having- left behind 1 him .one evening at the Athenaeum Club the manuscript of his translation of Virgil, ho found-'a-day or'two later the following notice in the hall:"l i 'ouiid, in the Library, a MS.', Quarto. Book, . containing poetry," and he adds, "I had to go and claim my. beloved waif-and-stray with my tail between my legs; and now I feel, that even the hall porter says to himself, 'That a Lord Justice I—why, he writes poetry.!' "

There are readers (remarks an exchange) who are finding the enthusiasm of Swinburno's "Age of Shakespeare" rather over*, 'whelming than contagibus ' or stimulating. The points which the poet.selects for. praise are so obviously praiseworthy and the- fervours. of eulogy which hp pronounces, upon them; aro so' absolutely spontaneous, and unforced, that'; they reproach themselves with being able to. feel so feebly, and fall:into'a distrust of their own critical faculty. ■ To the same effect contributes Swinburne's practice from time tq timej of dismissing peremptorily, opinions after which they have had a hankering. Consequently the total, effect of tho book on such, readers is one' of intimidation, and it is possible that it may bo years'before those who'have fallen under the spell of that remarkablo volume of criticism will be able with confidence to . think their own thoughts on the dramatists of whom it treats. ' After, the clangour, as of golden trumpets and golden gongs of Swinburne's prose, such a judgment as that which, in one of his- epigrams, William Watson expresses on Marlowe sounds cold 1 and rationalistic. I'close your Marlowe's page, my Shakespeare's 1 ope ■ , i ■ How welcomes—after gong arid cymbal's din The continuity, the long slow slope And vast curve of tho gradual violin., There are ways of selling books in'tho Canadian North-West, the "Book. Monthly" points out, which havo not yet boon learned in England., Olio way is to introduce a "soda •fountain" into your book shop, .only this implies'tliat. you inust have customers who care for soda water as a drink. Several Western, booksellers'and stationers, wo are told liy. a Canadian book-trade paper,\ have . installed fountains with gratifying results. ' "Thero. is; really,": we "-read- further, "no moro reason why a stationer should not. operato a fouii-,. tain 'than.' r an'y'' other, business nihil, arid if. .'it'helpsto sell -.'goptls..'in .tho"'store thiik-.js' ill that'is; nccessary." , Soda and literatuyo, o\ir ' contemporary. thinks, do seoui/rather: a.lioiv i crj.