LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1818, 2 August 1913, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Maurice Hewlett in Fairyland. Maurice Hewlett has always • been a favourite of mine, although of late, in his Meredithian vein (in "Sanchia" and "Best Harrow," for instance), he lias delighted 1110 less-than jn-"l'li© Forest Lovers," in "Hichard Yea and Nay," and the never-to-be-forgotten. "Little Nov'efs" of Italy/' Mr. Hewlett; has now made yet ■another new departure. He has been sojourning in fairyland, or thinks he has, and' in "Lore of Prosperino" (Macmillan) gives a very strange, and curious, but assuredly most 'charming, account, of his experiences. Honestly, I cannot make up my mind whether Mr. Hewlett really believes ho has'seen thp fairy nymphs, the dryads, and oreads of his book, or whether lie has deceived himself into that beliefit' ho holds it. In his introduction to a book which is quite one of the surprises as it is, in England, one of the most widely discussed productions of the publishing wason, ho says: "I hove nobody will ijsk whether tho things in this book are trua, for it will then be my 'humiliating duty to reply that I don't know. They seem to be so in writing them; they seemed to be so when'they occurred." Tho use of the word "occurred" is significant. If it means anything at all, it means that Mr. Hewlett's eyes have seen, or that he is firmly convinced they have seen, creatures which tho practical and not a littlo sceptical world of to-day refuses to accept as even possible realities. And the worst of it is that Mr. Hewlett's descriptions of thess curious ami (sometimes) charming creatures (of his fancy?) are so detailed. A fairy which (or who?) can bo captured arid kept in a gentleman's dog kennel,. thereby giving linn ris much anxiety as one. of. Mr. 11. G. .Wells's visitors from - another, world, caused a, certain country, parson to experience, is—always-granted a belief.;in ■ fairies—a very real tiling. ', And . yetwell, I, for ono, simply cannot bring .myself to believe that .Mr. Hewlett really, believes, ill the actual visible fairy. Then there is a young woman,'a vulgar London, drab, who suddenly. at intervals, .becomes transformed into a beautiful, virtuous nymph—Stevenson himself has-given us nothing more.bizarre. But I must not be tempted into aii enumeration of one-tenth even of the strange happenings which Mr. Hewlett'records. ,If they are but daydreams, mero creations of a fantastic vision, they aro none the less imbued with a strange, all-pervading charm. .The book,i3 0110 to bo read,-if only to discuss that [piestion which enforces repetition—doe 3 Mr. Hewlett really, believo these things? The literary style of the book is subtly, charm, inrf; with inuch;grace of verbal expression, artistically impeccable.

Another Fairy Bool:! " For \ Mr. Hewlett.., despite that earlier book, "Pan and Young. Shepherd," to invite his readers to hobnob with.fairies, is a 'new departure. But fur Mr. .Algernon Blackwood, the author of "A Prisoner in • Fairyland" (Macmillan and Co.),.it is no new thing to dabblo iu the supernatural— or what most of us deem to be such. Mr. B':ackwood can, 011 occasion, give his patrons a first-class thrill by his Rubtle suggestion of tho uncanny in the sinister side of tho supernatural! I remember one book of short stories by him which I certainly could not honestly commend to a nervous friend for perusal late at night.-To-day, however, in his latest story, ho is quite cheerfully, quite gaily, fantistic. tike Mr. Hewlett, ho takes us into fairyland, but his are good, not' bad, fairies, and the influence they exercise over tho character of a retired Loudon business man, and the benefits tliev reap indirectly, but with pleasantly coiicreto result, upon tho poor relations of that gentleman, aro most laudable. The scene is laid almost wholly in a quiet little Swiss village, un in the Jura Mountains, where Ilcnr.r Uogers goes to stay with a cousin, an unsuccessful author, and his wife, and a family of positively tho most delightful children I think I have ever met with in tho pages of a novel. Mr. Blackwood is always happy in his description of child joys and sorrows, escapades and merriwitness those capital stories, "Jiiubo" and "The Education of Undo Paul." Tho Campden children in the book are simply adorable kiddies. Again, thero is a singular wealth of clover character drawing—outside the Campden family—in this book. Tho small ambitions and anxieties and jealousies of the little community at Bourcelles, especially Madame and her ponsioiiaires, are most humorously, and yet good naturally, described. For this little gallery of human oddities, even thoso who cannot' bring themselves to accept "The Starlight Express" and tho "Star Cave," which mean so much to Mr. Rogers and his relatives, should feel grateful to the author. And thero is, too, a fine yet simple, and essentially spiritual, lesson in this beautiful story. By all means, a story to l:c read. Stray Leaves. To Mothiion's "Shilling Library" the latest addition is "The Parish Clerk," by. P. IT. Ditchlield. a book originally published at' 7s. fid., and full of quaint stories ■ . ' ■

An English translation of Pierre Loti's last book, "Siam," has been published by IVamer Laurie. But of . all nioivn French writers, Loti is the most to translate.

A now novel by Olivor Onions, a writor I hold in great favour, is announced. Tho title is "Louie." The story is, I expect, :i scqiwl to tliat grim but wonderfully clever novel, "The Debit Account," which, in its turn, ■.ivas a sequel to Mr. Onions's "In Accordance with the Evidence,"

: Alfred Noyes, the English poet, whise , "Drake" and "Tales of the Mermaid Tavern" have won their author -no small fame, is to dolivor the Lowell Lectures at Harvard next year. Yale University has just. mado him an honorary "Doctor of Letters.

A new book by Richard Dehan (Messrs. Clo. Graves), the author of "The Dip Doctor," is annouced by Heinomann. The title is "Tho Headquarter Recruit."

"V.V.'s Eyes," by H. S. Harrison, the author of that highly successful novel, "Queed;" is fretting some quite enthusiastic' reviews in English 03 well as American papers. (Constables.)

A new volume in the well-edited "Wisdom of the East". series (John Murray) .'is entitled "The Diwan of Zeb-Un-Nissa the First fifty Ghazals," rendered from the Persian' by Mogan Lai and Jessio Westbrook. Zeb-Un-Nissa, a Suffist poet, was a daughter of the Mogul 'Emperor Aurungzebe.

A title which attracts me in the latest additions to Hodder and Stoughton's Shilling Library, is "Odd Craft," by W. ,W. Jacobs. ■ I should like to make up a cheap complete set of Jacobs*s amusing stories, as a resource against ennui in my old a=je. Other additions to the same series include "A Girl of the Limberlost," "The Harvester," and others of Gene Stratton I'orter's popular stories. Amongst Hodder and Stoughton's new "sevenpenuies" I note 11. Dela Pasture's (Lady Clifford nowadays; "Catherine of Calais."

, There has been so much rumour, and possibly exaggeration, as to the strength of the German Navy, that a special interest will attach to a new work, "German' Sea Power; Its Rise, Progress,. and .Economic Basis," which has been written by Messrs. Archibald Hurd and Henry Castle, and has juist been published by Mr. Jolin Murray. The object of the authors has been to tell the exact truth, without. having any political object in viow whatsoever.

The' editorship of Mtf. John Murray's quarterly, "Science Progress," has been taken over by Sir Ronald Boss, F.K.S. The quarterly appeals to both, the man of science and to the educated section of the general public. Amongst the contents of the. July' issue, I note contributions on "Volcanoes" and "Scientific Military Defence," the latter from the pen of an 'expert military writer.

-A recent addition to Hodder and Stiougli ton's "Useful Knowledge" series (per.S. and W. Mackay) is a second edition of "The Sclnr System," described for general readers by G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. As a guide to popular astronomy Mr. Chambers's book has enjoyed a widespread popularity; -Illustrations and diagrams and an excellent index aro all good features of the new edition.: (Price, a shilling.)