LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

A Night in the Luxembourg,

Trollope and his Novels. ' •Mr. T. H.'Escott lias .written a new "Life of ■ Anthony..Trollope.", Trollope wrote liis .own.. f Autobiography," but those , who knew, him-best were . wont to say that it was .for .from .being an adequate account of the -clever author of the famousßarsetsliire novels, and was. chiefly' remarkable . for its omissions. _So there may be''room: for a ' new life; but I. doubt "whether it' will find many readers., But the/Trollope. novels—that is quite-, a different matter. To me, the Barsetshire novels give > pictures of. 'English country life and society .unequalled in Hie works-of any other author for their accuracy and charm. * 1 1 re-read the "Small House at 'Allington" " only the other day, and found it as full of quiet charms as ever. And Bishop J.'roudie and the inimitable Mrs. Proudie, and Archdeacon Grantly, and the jolly and sensible lady (I forget her name) whom Dr. Thome married—they are all, to my mind, worthy of Thackeray- himself. Theji, too, there are the two long—rather too long—poetical novels, "Phineas Finn" ami "Pliineas Itedux." More intimate pictures of; English political life, were surely never penned. .By. all means look up your Trollope\ l ean assure vou he is worth a good half dozen latter-day novelists when at ,his best. His novels are rather long, but'in his day lieople liked a long hovel.. And there are some of us to-day who like them too, or William De Morgan's ("Joseph Vance" and "Alice For Short" would never have had such a large sale. Tou can bu ( v the best of Trollope in "Everyman's Library." Verb sap.

Dickens's Last Plot. "People expert in Greek, mathematics, popular paradox, juicy sentiment, journalese, and platitude have all had a go at the mysteries of 'Edwin Drood.'" That is tho way in which our good old friend.. "The Saturday Review," true* to its.. "Saturday. Reyilor" nickname, .commences an article on Mr. Cumtning/Walter's , recently-published book on "The Mystery." The "Saturday,": although.it makes fun of'Mr, Walters, practically accepts that gentleman's, theory, recently accepted by' Sir IVm. Robertson Nicoll, that Datchery was,' in reality, Helena Landles*. The critic does not care very much- for Dickens's last bcok, holding the author's fancy to be "apt to be overloaded with sensations, tricked out with moralisings," but ho praises its excellent grotesques. As to Mr. Sapsea's. "reverential wife, -Et'helinda," the "Saturday" wonders if Dickens got a hint of her from a tablet in Rochester .Cathedral recording the virtues • of, a nolable person Vho "tres duxerat uxorcG satis elegantes."

A Book About Glencoe. : A volume,,-which sfioukl be of. considerable interest to those of my readers who are of Scots birth lias recently been published by,a Stirling firm (Eneas Mackay), entitled "Glencoe. and the Campbells of Glenlyon;" The work, ■which is published at-_tho modest price of two shillings, comprises a paper oh the Massacre of Glencoe, from the of the Rev. George''Gilfillanrbest"kn(>wn as the editor of tho : library edition. of .tho "British Poets"; an account of the Campbells of' Glenlyon, by Mr. ..Punc.an Campbell; and Professor 1 Bliickic's mils ballad; on Glencoe. . .Mr. Campbell's contribution should prove particularly useful. to the antiquarian ; student, for,- it uks material, from « scarce- volume privately printed'ill, ISSC,' the "lairds , of Glenlyon,'.' showing -why Campbell' of Glenlyon and tho Earl of Breadalbane hated the Mac Donalds of Glencoe with true Highland hate. ' A creaeli of 1689 is printed, giving a "list of goods and gear" "taken in a cattle-raid by 001 l Macdonald of Keppoch from the Laird of Gknlyon. This doaument, which was unearthed by the writer, is thought to be unique of its kind.

Arthur- Ransome, -one of the cleverest of the English younger critics and essayists.of tho day, has translated Remy de Gourmont's curious story, "Une Nui't an' Luxembourg," for an American publisher. The : Story originally appeared in the

"Mercure de France," far and away the, most brilliant of all the numerous French reviews, and caused quite a sensation. It has been described as.a mixture of Edgar Allen Pod- and Anatole France, but there is far more of 'the clever Frenchman's, influence in it than any suggestion; of Poe. To most Anglo-Saxon readers certain passages in this , extraordinary ■ combination of mysticism and heroticism must be extremely repellant, but from such Teviows as I have read the offence of the book is rather aesthetic than moral. Its author ranks high amongst French writers of to-day. As a literary critic his fame' is European, and the_ fortnightly article, , "Epilogues," which ho contributes to the "Mercure do Franc 6," is a . marvel ,of erudition. Do Gourmont lives the life of a recluse on his fourth floor of an old house, in tho ltue des Saints, Peres, a queer old street which many who have gone on an exploring expedition on tho.left bank of tho. Seine will, remember as being specially affected by second-hand . booksellers anil curiosity-dealers. There is an interesting portrait of him in the .January :numbei of the "New \York Bookman." De Gourmont, so Mr. IJansome tells us in his interesting. preface to his translation of "Une .N.uit au Luxembourg," was a close friend,of the late .T, K. Huysman, whom ho assisted in working up the horrible "Messo Noire," or "Black Mass," - incidents in his friend's extraordinary book "La-Bas," the last of Huysman's works before the author 'abjured 'his freethought (and found a refuge, in the Church. -\ De Gourmont. asserts that the result of his researches was the conclusion that 110 such diabolical ceremony had over been celebrated, in the Middle Ages, and that Huysman's idea that some half-cracked Parisians were resuscitating what had been a real thing merely a delusion.

The Windham Papers. Eord Kosebery may havo retired permanently from politics, but .lie still re-tains-his interest in biographical literature. He has, I see, written a long introduction to "The Windham Papers." In an age. rich in men. the age of Burke, Fox, Canning, and Pitt, Windham played a very important 'part in politics ' The "Papers" now published for the first time include many hitherto: imprinted letters from .Pitt and other great men of the time. Lord Hosebery's verdict on Windham is "the finest English gentleman of his and perhaps of all time." Tho' Brontes. I am afraid that few people, certainly very few Now . Zea- - landers; read the Bronte novels nowadays, although they may bo obtain ed in various cheap.editions. Personally, although a Yorkshireman, I never cared; very much for "Jane Eyre," in which' Rochester always struck me as l>eing ii terriby stagey figure. "Villette" seems to m'e a much better novel, and there is a special smack and savour of Yorkshire in "Shirley," which necessarily appeal? to all who are natives of what enthusiastic Tykes call the "biggest, bonniest, and best of tho shires." For my own part, I am heretical enough to think that quile as film a study of the independent woman can be found in more than one novel by May Sinclair (who, by the way, has written nu excellent monograph on the three sisters of Haworth and their work) as peer appeared in the Bronte novels. In-Eng-land, however, especially in the north country, thero is a perennial interest in anything and 'everything concerning tho Brontes, and, even here in Wellington, there arc those who, I know, will bo interested to learn that just recently an early poem by Charlotte Brnnte, "liicliard Coeur do Lion and Blondol," written

when tlio future author of "Jane Eyro" was only seventeen, lias been unearthed and printed for private circulation. Auothor Bronto book, of whose publication 1 read in the "Library Letter" of tlio London "Sphere" (February 15) is entitled "A Spring-time' Saunter Bound and About Bronte - Land," by Whiteley Turner, published from the office of the "Halifax Courier." Mr. Turner claims to have brought together much new material in connection with the Bronte family. Mr. Clement Shorter, himself an enthusiastic member of the Bronto cult, commends the book, but unfortunately omits to mention the price. A Tennyson Story. In the / recently-published "Lifo of George_ Frederic Watts," the great painter, there is a Rood story of "Dicky" Doyle. Doyle met Tennyson at Holland House, and expected to hear the poet declaim in eloquent upon 'some lofty subject in literature or ethics. He found, however, that there is a purely mundane side to the rrjost spiritually minded of .men, foi ho afterwards was wont to describe, with great glee how

he luid wa'itcj.._w.ith 'bated breath to catch and treasure up the first syllables that should fall from his ■ lips, expecting at least that such words would now as: "We clasped the'erag with hooked/hands," but 110; the poet spoke—he said: "legs of mutton, should always be cut in wedges." Stray Leaves. A week or two . ago I gave two or three specially attractive new titles in "The Home University Library" (Is. 3d.). To these may now be added "The Newspaper," by G. B. Dibleo, a prominent member of the literary staff of that excellent journal, the "Manchester Guardian." Young 3 journalists ought to make a note of this volume. Anatole France, of all men, has written an introduction to a book entitled "Fifteen Years of a Dancer's Life," being the recollections of Loie Fuller, the famous "Serpentine Dancer." A curious role for the creator of the philosophic Monsieur Bergcretv and.biographer of Joan of Arc to play. Students of French should no to the facc that Nelson's have published in their shilling French library a translation— "Simples Contes des Collines."—of Kipling's "Plain Tales from the Hills." **. * ■ Maurice Baring, whose "With the Russians in Manchuria" will be remembered as one of the best of the Far Eastern war books, will have a new book on Turkey and the Balkans out very shortly, with Smith Elder. Many who have read and admired that, beautiful little'' fantasy, "The Road Mender," and other 'works by the lady Who used the nom-de-plume. of "Michael 'Fairless," may. bo-interested to learn that a life lof the author has been written "Michael Fairless, Her. Life and "Writings" (Duckworth, 2s. 6d.). It is published in the same format as, ihe volumes of the "Roadinender" series. ' Blackie and Son publish a new and cheaper edition (2s. net) of Dr. Holland Hose's excellent little work oil the evolution of the British political system—"The Rise of Democracy. It has been brought up-to-date, and includes a lengthy relereiicc to the Insurance Act.