LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1794, 5 July 1913, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

(To Correspondents. COUNTRY (Masterton) wishes to know 'any work_of fiction in which Claude Duval or Dick Turpin appear as characters." Dick Turpin's famous rido to York on his mare Black Bess is introduced in Harrison Ainsworth's novel "Rookwood." Claude" Duval, another gentleman of the "High .Toby" profession, appears in a half-forgotten but by no means badly written novel "White Friars, by Miss Robinson. "Country" c ? n ,S e t a copy "Of:Ainsworth's story (Houtledge's edition),' but. ".White Friars has, I think, been out of print for years past. Write to any of tho booksellers advertising in this page.

He "Biblon's"- question, a week or two Bgo, as to when the "f"-like or long "s" disappeared from British' topography, D. correspondent (G. Mitchell, Wanganui) informs me that he possesses, a book, published in 1813, in which the long "s is bs«l. In a copy of FeildingV "History of 1 Foundling" ("Tom Jones"), published In 1839, ana possessed by the same corespondent, both forms of "a" are used. Mr. Mitchell says: "The capital 'S' is as we use it, while's' oeeuring at tho beginning or in the centro of a word, as in 'suspect,' is shown as %' but the V of plural nouns is as we now writo it. . . . It would look as though the printer of ' the book followed, perhaps, a rule of his own, which was that all words in large or 'black' type'in . which 's' was placed had the latter-day form, and tho f-liko form was retained in all other instances, jinless occurring at tho end of a word. .... This noto may not assist your correspondent 'Biblon' mucn, but w.ithout any reliaUo evidence for my assertion, I think we may safely say that an attempt to affect an alteration commenced in tho early part of tho century, and the object Was achieved beforo or about 1810—I mean universally adopted about that time." Austin Dobson's Poetry. . An interesting feature in the May number of "Tho Bookman" (Hodder and Gtoughton) is an admirable article, biographical, bibliographical, and critical, by Francis Bickley, on Austin Dobson. D'obson' is gotting an old nuin now, for lie was born as far back as 1810. Painting was his earliest mistress, and ..as a mere youth ho studied at South Kensington. in 1858 ho joined the English Civil Service, and served the State, at tho Board of Trade, foT close upon forty years. A ninth edition of his "Collected Foams"- was published a few weeks/ago. No Victorian poet ever more successfully #te?pod himself in ei;hts6jit.h penturr

literature, as may be seen by all who read his delightful "Eighteenth Century Vignettes," but it ia as the author_ of light but ever graceful verse that'his name will be best remembered. There is an undercurrent of. tenderness in Dobson's verse—see, for eiample, "Tho Cure's Progress," which is very delightful, and no one, not even Andrew Lang, has given us more engaging versical praise of the charm of books. I Tecall. for instance, those dainty rhymes: "My Books," from which I copy out the last three verses: — For the row that I prize is yonder Away on tho unglazed shelves, Tho bulged and the bruised octavos. The dear antb dumpy twelves. Montaigne with his 6heepskin blistered, , And Howell the worse for wear, And the worm-drilled Jesuit's Horace, And the little, old-cropped Moliere; And the Burton I bought for a florin, And the Rabelais foxed and flea'd— • For the others I never have opened, But those are the books I read. Dobson had a specially happy knack for writing what are called "Memorial Verses." When the bust of Fielding was unveiled ai. Taunton some years ago the biographer of Fielding (the best life of the author of "Tom Jones" is that by Dobson in the "English Men of Letters" scries) waa invited to writ© some verses appropriate to the occasion,' I quote a few lines:— Our English novel's pioneer! - His was the eye that first saw clear How, not half-effaced , ■ By cant of Fashion and of Taste, Not in the circles of the Great, Faint-blooded and exanimate — Lay the true field of Jest and Whim, Which we to-day Teap after him. No-.—he stepped lower down, and took The piebald People for his Book! —Ah, what a wealth of Life there is In that large-laughing page of his! What store and stock of CommonSense, Wit, Wisdom, and Experience! How his keen Satire flashes thjough And cuts a sophistry in two! How his ironic lightning plays Around a rogue and all his ways! Ah, how he knots, his lash to see That ancient cloak, Hypocrisy! Mr. Bickley's article''is illustrated by a number of reproductions Of the pictures, many by Hugh Thomson, in Dobson's separate works. In the 6amo number of-"The Bookman"-is a. short article on Thomsohj who, with his pencil, has made a special study of t'hA period Dobson has written so much-about. The June "Bookman" will have a special article by Thomas Seccombe, ono of the sanest of English critics of to-day, on Dobson's great friend, Edmund Gosse. "Gutter Babies." "Gutter Babies," by Dorothea Slade (Heinemann's; per George Robertson and Co.) is a collection of short stories and sketches of juvenile life in the London slums. Miss Slade is no sentimentalist, nor does she on the other hand willingly pick out and illustrate the grimmest, most sordid,. <md„ most .pathetic features in the gre.y," : drafi. Jifd a«l by Aoo.' Hfaay children, of. this poor in " the streets of London. But she has worked in an atmosphere in which over tHe' unpleasant dominates, an atmosphere too frequently charged with poverty, misery, and almost hopeles3 suffering, and she makes it clear that from, the very start the slum child is terribly handicapped. Still, though th& pathetic predominates in- her book, there are many touohes of happy humour, for the slum child is the keenest .of juvenile, philosophers, and. not even the veriest apology for olothing and the emptiest of stomachs can daunt his naturally high spirits, and, considering his environment, optimistic outlook. How good, how true, how kind and thoughtful can 'be these gutter children to their like everyone who knows anything of slum life in London can and will cheerfully testify.. Still, the New Zealand father or mother who reads these stories cannot fail to feel sore at heart that in the great and wealthy capital of the Empire tho lot of so many tens of thousands of children should be so comparatively hopeless and miserable. Lady Stanley, who befoTe her marriage wias famous for her pictures of tho ohildren of the London poor, contributes a series of admirably drawn sketches of the poor "kiddies,' concerning whom Mis 3 Slaxle writes eo cleverly and sc sympathetically.

Rare Books and their Value, I am glad to 6ee that a correspondent of the Publishers' ■ Circular has drawn attention to tha "Books Wanted" advertisements inserted in so many literacy magazines by a Birmingham firm. It is pointed out that the firm in question include in these lists many books the actual maiket value of which is as high as X3O. The catalogues in which these offers a're made circulate freely in New Zealand, but those who possess copies of any of the works advertised for at the prices offered therein would do well to have their books valued by some competent authority before, accepting the generous (?) offers of these' smart Birmingham people. There is a publication in existence, "Book Prices Current," which is published annually, and which gives the prices brought by raro books at the auction sales'- of Sotheby's, Hodgson's, Christie's; and other great London firms. Reference to these volumes, of which, I believe, the Parliamentary Library has a set, will show the actual currcnt commercial value of most: of the books advertised for by English firms, and I have no doubt that should the possessor of any volume deemed to be of value apply to the Parliament Librarian, on a day when the House is not sitting, Mr. Wilson would be glad to give the required information. The White Slave Traffic. I am afraid the White Slave traffic is going to be Tosponsiblo for a flood of fiction, the "writing and publishing of which is done more with the. idea, of ; moneymaking—for the prurientrminded section of the public is by no means numerically insignificant—than with the. object of bringing about the extinction of a pecur liarly ghastly phase of. the social evil. Two or .three new novels are announced, I sck, which deal with tho entrapping of English girls into Continental and South American deps of vico, but I do not propose to give itheso books any extra publicity in this column. Scott's Great Writers' Series, The English price of the volumes in Scott's Great Writers' Series has, I see, been reduced from cighteenpence to a shilling. The series is unequal in literary merit, but it contains' some excdllcnt little biographies. The following are all specially good value at tho new price (New Zealand) of fifteenpcnce:—Balzac, by Frederick AVedmore; Congreve, by Edmund Gosse; Schopenhauer, by Professor Wallace; Thackeray, by H. Merivalo and E. T. Marzials; Dickens, by E. T. Marzials; Cervantes, by 11. E. Watts. The Lone Hand. Tho editor of "Tho Lono Hand" is doing good work in recalling forgotten, or half-forgotten, episodes in Australian history. In the July issue, Mr. J. 11. M. Abbott has an excellent article, "The Tom Thumb and Her Voyages," bciw; a chapter from the lives of Captain Matthew. Flinders, lt.N., and Surgeon Georce Bass, R.N. The article is supplemented bv a poem on "The Death of Flinders," by Bernard Ingleby. Norman Lindsay contributes a strongly-drawn illustration of Flinders clipping the black . fellow's beard, fl.nd a portrait of Flinders and a reproduction of tho inscription on tho obelisk to tiis memory at Stamford Hall, near I'nrt Lincoln, S.A.. are also interesting features. Another noUblQ articlsu

I in this month is "Old Tirao Australian Shipping," by the late Louise Beeke. "The .Australian Calendar," to which admirable feature I hare made allusion before, is continued. Reprinted in separate form 'The Australian Calendar" would bo a most useful and interesting work of reference. Stray Leaves. To republish the following, from a tookmtHy pen in "The Australian Book Buyer me," as Pooh Bah remarks in The Mikado," but like that eminent son of Nippon, "I do it":—"Since Llzevir, of the 'Argus/ shed the qmlls of literary journalism, and be« came a ful-feathered Professor of Literature, the most noteworthy of Australasian critics has been 'Liber,' of th© New Zealand press, who is a journalist of culture frnd a critic of discrimination." Quite mc ? - Ret conceited of this sort of thing, goeg on. • i « Shakespeare's birthday celebration at Elsmore this year included; a recital of scenes from "Hamlet," by. Mr. Wil- » a Dickens reciter. English is now so widely studied in Scan,dinava that Mr. Utiles was able to jjive ms recitals in quite a number of the larger centres. •W ' * • Caine's admirers in New Zealand will bo,glad to know that the Manx novelist's latest story, "The Woman Inou Gavesfc Me," bein? the narrative of Mary 0 rseill, which, has been running I o, rr Ser , Nash's Magazine and in ?.i« •? ai ! « Journals in America, is to be published by Heinemann's in August. "Tho Heal Martyr of St. Helena," by Mr. Dundas Pillans, Is the latest , addition to the already colossal mass of Napoleonana. The author defends Sir HudLowe against the attacks of Bonapartist writers, _ both French and Eng- * , , a . n ? examines the many intrigues of which St. Helena was the centre. (Melrose, publisher.) The new Irish literary movement, and especially the .poems and plays of the late John Millington Synge, have attracted much attention in French literary circles. Several of Synge's plays have teen translated into French and a study of his work and its influences has been written* by Maurice Bourgeois, .One of the ablestv of present-day French literary (Titles. * * • - \ Talking of Syngo and the Irish thei"■o- x , remind my readers that a capital Jitle book on this writer and his works appears in Constable's excellent Little Biographies" (Is. 3d.). Syages plays are produced in neat little volumes at 2s. 6d. eaoh. * # # addition to the "Scott Library," ™~ despite much rivalry, one of the best of the many reprint series, is to be Newman's "Apologia pro Vita Sua," which will be in two volumes, and mil include the famous controversy in letters •with Charles Kingsley. John Murray was to publish last month a posthumous work by W. F. Moneypenny, the brilliant journalist who wrote the first two volumes of a "Life of Disraeli," but unfortunately did not live to complete the work. "'l'ho Two Irish Nations" is the title of the now work, which contains the series of articles on the Ulster question contributed by. Mr. Money penny to "The Times." .... * •*■■##. ■ Two important' biographical works were to be publishied in London early last month. One is "The Life of John Bright," by G. M. Trevelyan (Constables's); the other "The Early Correspondence of Lord John Russell," edited by his son, -Rollo Kussell {(Jnwin).