BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1675, 15 February 1913, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

VERSES OLD AND #EW.. THE MAKING OP WOMAN. W^' nw tho high gods; had perfected The making thereof woman they began; But no material durable was left, weft Bl ' Bht nnd Subtl ° sho wos And they took counsel; for her soul was drawn The mystery and the moment of the dawn/ . And for her fragile face they sagely took loo?" 1111050 op€ning pal ° w ' th u P w »r<l And for her motion stayed a fleeting star, •therefore so bright she seems, and so afar! They gaTB her the first leap of and loosed ■ deer, . '{hen rustling secret of the fringed more, And elfin mischief of the guilty glade. Lighting whereon a mortal grows afraid.— The dance of fays upon illumined bank, Iho frolic and the freak and moonshine prank. > . The trembling of first dew upon tho grass, The yearning of the moon as sho doth

pass; Ken the suspense of the o'er-brimming billow, ...'.■■'•■ And dream of noon-breeze upon wild- ' ilower pillow., They gave her golden music's dying strain, ■■ . The quiet prattling mercy of the rain. They stole, her .heavy sorrow from the sea, • . And yet from running brooks their laughing glee. And thus jvlth subtle touch, and yet most sure, / > They fashioned a. frail thing that shall . endure. ... —Stephen Phillips, in the "Westminster Gazette.". , . ; ,' . THE HOMECOMING.: Bare and grey is tho old quay side Where the ruined lighthouse stands; Far in the channel the tall ships pass. For the-wind-swept jetty,is thick with ■i gra55,.",.....,.. -..', .- ". - ■'■•'. '■'. • • ■'■ And the harbour gates lie deep in the i sand ' !.. "' ■ ;■:;...>'■ ■ ; Whe're.tho barques once swung to the f tide. ,■...- Black stand the piles 'at. the harbour, 'mouth .'■'./, ..'. - -.-'.v '...>.■■.,, Where the long weeds eddy anditrail; K I .can hear the swirl that' the swift'tide ' ■ makes ■ ' :';;VV/'i/.'..'.,,' ; - As the sea runs .back'from .tho mooring ■■': stakes,-- ■ l .?io''"''/'" :'i.,''-.'; A .;- ■■ t Where once the'iships'rbde safe from'the'. '.'; gale /' • ■•"•." ".-■ '; > When the storm .winds shrieked-from-the ; . .'■ South;- ..•'.'■'. ~'.'-;'. :. ;.'■■ '-....'.' -'V : ;!i-

But.there comes-a, timo ; when the hlack '."'■ f night .foils ' ■■;",". Aid the singing tide" runs high. When all the village is wrapped in sleep, That'tho ships como sailing back from, ' the deep— Ffara' the deep where their rotting timbers lie. Home to the harbour walls. The foam leaps white on the dim Seashore Aid the gates awing'wido to the sea; Down the channel tuo tall ships ride To the broken pier and the jetty side, To the resting-placo .'.whore,: they fain would bo .When the storm and strifo aro o'er, i t I .havo soen the gleam of their Tiding ', lights Palo in the yonng moon's glow. And hero was a great ship home from , the line, / And a clipper thero from the Argentine, And a ftorth Sea schooner curtseying i low, i When- the night wind-stirred from tho , heights. And ohl I have seen tho ghost-ships pass When the wan clouds flush to the day; «, Like mists -from the Channel tho tall c— , ships-fade -. -- - — 'In the hungry seas whero their bones aro laid, t -. And only tho dawn hangs heavy and grey. Aid. tho chill wind stairs in th© grass. ■ .1 -T.L.B.

: 1 TENNYSON'S FOREVISION. Tennyson' is apt to be out of>favour with a many people who feel that the poet's special power, consisted less in the exorcise of'the creative imagination than in a, gift for catching and setting down in verse'the current'ideas of ths day. That (observes a commentator >ln ! -the New, York "Post") is doing him injustice. Even if Tennyson be regarded as'-only an interpreter, the ideas ho dealt with were not tho orthodox thought of the time, but tho ideas, that were just looming into being; ho had forovision, he j.was a popnlarisor rather than a popular writer.''-, Thus a., contributor to the /'Spectator" cites.a parallel to the.wellknown 'lines in. "Locksley Hall,'', which, foresee ,tho triumph of/the airship and' the, aeroplaho. In tho early volume of Eosrnis published in, 1830, . this writer nds" a remarkable anticipation fof the present vogue of pragmatism.,' Tho verses nave not been republished, and appear to,bo generally forgotten. Tennyfon was evidently under the influence of-Hera-clitua when'he wrote:.;, •.:"•',-0. ■■

All thoughts, all creeds, all dreams are :■ ■ \ : true, v ■ , All••.visions wild and strange; Slrtn is tho measure of all truth ■'■■:'■• . Unto himself. All truth is.ohango: All men do walk in sleep, nnd'nll .Have faith in that 'they, dream: - For all things 'arc as they 6eom to all, And all.things, flow like a stream. There is'n'o'rest, no calni,' no pause, •■ _Nor good nor ill, nor. light nor shade, Nor essence nor eternal laws:- >'.'- _For nothing.is, but' all is made, ■!'■" But if I dream that all these are, ' '"' They are to me for that I dream: For ail things are as they seem to all, . And all things flow, like a stream.'

W .■'■■■ FINE BOOKS. '; ; : , In the latest addition to the excellent ■'•;.' ' and ;useful Connoisseur Series (London: Methuen and Co.) Mr. Alfred W. Pollard has- provided o fascinating guide and handbook indispensable to those'who lovo to build up a worthy library. We car) imagine, no.task moro ideal than that of following the lines he has laid downwithout deviation (so farjas the possibili- ' ties of the market permit) to begin with- , His list: of "Pino Bcoks," and that ap. preciation. of them which would accompany the accumulation of them, would Bervo as a most thorough apprenticeship to the calling of the bibliophile. And no onß is better qualified to lead the youthful millionaire than tho anther. For Mr. PollnriJ is far more than a mere nrchaeo- . ];&?«:' " IS I»Te is not only for the'book that- is rare, but for that which.is•bam- , tiful; and threughmit tho volumo before 5,3 v 2 fin[ J stress laid on tho essential . (lalihesof good typerraphy, suitable and i- .artistic illustration, and the like. Mr. ".',•■ .PoUnnl-vhns. treated a subject of over- :,. .wh'.lming majnituds with extremo skill ■... and judgment. He, in his preface, con-;;-.'icwm .-that-.'ho:.had;.reached -his-limits :.• about tho year 1780. leaving to nnc/i.'her U;:. : hnud the task of■ dealing with tho ninei;?;V.teenth contury-bnt with tho exception of.an admirable summary of the' revival y of'gflodi printing due, in the first \}lneo ; .to the Whittinglmms and, later, to If or-' - ris,'and his followers. But'we do not .■■* know anyone who could have covered the . % wide -field from tho famous St. Christo- , \ phjr ffs the Rylands Library to tho do : Vn/>.ent_ efforts of Bodoni so compl-tely and w;.f|h interest' so ' sustained. .He: writes witth a keen oye to the main point, and an loccnsional and refreshing touch of dry hn*iour; while his chapter on "Collator's ftndl Collecting" is sound and practical. ; ■ \J}" ) °f "t ne unusually bad &>W he is csnccially worth ntioting. "Jw collector," says he, "should leave ' lt-yievercly r.lono, partly because such :.'wrtrlting copies', are the riehtfnl per,,'nnjfsite of poor scholars, partly because, : as jbc presumably, buys books for his he defeafe his own object if, ex- ;•;•'. cept in the case of the very rarest, ho ;■' buysTotiie? at which he cannot look without regretting that their headlines am out off or tho r/aner rotten through bad cleaning." That plea for the poor scholar Is very elu-irnnteristic—and Mr. Pollard •' means it! Tho illustrations aro well pro- - duite!, though we could have wished for more of them.—"Manchester Guardian."