BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1907, 15 November 1913, Page 9

BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

. VIEWS AND REVIEWS. The Log of a Lady Journalist. Mrs.' Malcolm Ross's little book, "'Round tho World with a Fountain Pen—tho Log of a Lady Journalist" (Wellington, Blnndell Bros.), is, mainly, a reprint of tho niany admirablywritten travel sketches which the author contributed to the coloumns of the "Evening Post" last year. As we all know, Mrs. Ross is an exceptionally able journalist, and her chatty, agreeably allusive, and, at times, vory witty style has found quite notable exemplification in those light uud decidedly entertaining impressions de voyage. Colombo, The Canal, Brindisi to London; —the well-worn route has often been described, but Mrs. Ross has, her own point of view , , and succeeds in telling' a twice —a two hundred and twice-told tale with much agreeable novelty. Her descriptions of London at tho time of King Edward's death are in excellent taste. Later on she gives us a lively account of Paris, where she was tho guest 1 of good-natured Madame Melba, and of a great variety of English, Irish, and Scots scenes, the concluding chapters dealing with a trip on tho Continent. Not only are Mrs. Ross's pictures of travel most entertaining, but tho book contains evidence of keen observation and careful thought on tho part of its author. To those who have visited tho Motherland the book willrrecall many pleasant memories, whilst those who have still in store tho. joys of asHomo trip, will.find in Mrs. Ross's agreeably-written sketches many useful hints as to what to see and how to see it. ' The print is small but clear, and. Mr. Hiscocks contributes a very attractive cover design. The Old Time Victorian Police. A volume which should provo a welcome addition to any library, private or public, in which there is a "colonial history shelf," is Mr. John Sadler's "Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer" (Melbourne, Georgo Robertson and Co.). Mr; Sadlor, who joined the Victorian police in 1852, a few days after arriving in Melbourne from his native Country, Ireland, spent forty years in the force, being, at the time of his retirement, an inspecting, superintendent, and his recollections cover a long series of interesting and important events in the history of Victoria. His descriptions of life, in Melbourne and Ballarat iii the fifties,' of his service at Beechworth, and in the Western District of Victoria, make capital reading, as do his recollections of Melbourne and the Molbourne Courts and Bar of the sixties. Naturally { Mr. Sadler has many exciting stories to tell about the early goldfields ■ and tho' bushrangers. Tho story , of tho famous Kelly Gang and thoir daring exploits is related at some length, a detailed'and authoritative acociint being given of the sonsational. scenes at Glenrowan. The author has much to say upon the management of police matters, both in city and country, and pays a special tribute to the ability and loyalty, of tho blacktrackers. The book contains a series of brief but pithily-written sketches of the various Chief Commissioners of the Victorian Police from 1853 to 1902, and appreciative' testimonies' Vto tuergood' work done by several subordinate officers. .A list of police cadets and officers, in which,' by the way, I notice soveral names not unknown in New Zealand, is given as an appendix, and there is a full index. One of the most welcome features of a work of no small historical interest is tho long series or portraits and other' illustrations, someof which aro from photographs and prints now extremely rare. The volume is, I notice, ono of tho "Told to the Pioneers" series, which is being published by Messrs. George Robertson and Co., Melbourne. It is a pity that, we have not some similar series in course of publication in New Zealand. The history, for instance, of the New Zealand police force should be well worth tho telling. Dante Gabriel Rossettl. The latest addition to that admirable series, "The Oxford edition of standard authors" (London: Humpnroy Milford, the Oxford University Press) is a stout and comely volume, containing practically, tho whole of Dante Gabriel Ros T setti's poetical' work which is worth preserving. The' volume includes tho "Poems," the "Sonnets and Songs of tho House of Life,", tho "Sonnets for Pictures," and tho "Translations from Dante and the Early Italian Poets." A welcome addition is a reprint of tho short story, "Hand and Soul," ' contributed by Rossetti to that short-lived periodical, "Tho Germ," in which the literary and , artistic doctrines of tho Pre-Raphaelites found such interesting exposition. Practically the whole of tho poems and translations in the "Siddal Edition" (in seven volumes, at three and sixpence each), are contained in the 482 pages of this new Oxford edition, which, at its modest price of two shillings, deserves a specially cordial welcome. Much hns been written' as to' the alleged pversehsuousness of Rossetti's verse, and the mysticism affected , , by the author of "The Blessed Damozel," , but the beauty of this and many other of the earlier poems will always gain them admirors. Tiwt Rossetti could be something more TJian a mystic, that he could uso, with brilliant effect, tho simplest ballad measures, can bo seen in his narrativo poems. , Take, for instance, "bis "Rose-Mary": . And lo! on the ground Rose-Mary lay With a cold snow like tho snows . _ ero May .', With a cold breast like the earth till Spring— With such a smilo as the Juno days bring . When the year grows warm for harvesting. Here, so that excellent judge of poetry, Georgo Saintsbury, thinks, "tho eternal and immortal commonplaces i of poetry are touched to' newness as only a master touches, and the turn of the phraso and verso is impeccable and supremo." And how human, how essentially modern, Rossetti could be, you can eee by the much-criticised "Jenny": Lazy laughing languid Jenny, Fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea, which might well have suggested .ono of the. equally discussed poems in Arthur Symons's "London Nights." llossotti complete, or almost complete, in ono volume, a volume of nearly 500 well-printed pages, neatly bound in red buckram, without any vulgar excoss of gilt on the back, and all for a modest florin,'is a decided acquisition to any bookmau's library. Mainly About Diet. From Mr. T. C. Lothian, tho Melliourno publisher, I have received a copy of the third—a revised and greatly enlarged edition—of "Eating for Health," an interesting work on dietary experiments by Dr. 0. L. M. Abramoweki, which has attracted considerable attention in Australia. A notice on the cover gives the advice; "If you are not fooling thoroughly fit, this is, the book for you." Many, vory many, other • lxjoks have been prefaced by a similar injunction, but on matters of diet, when how, and what to est, theiomust always

UT "LIBfcK." Give a man a pipe, he can smoke, Give a man a book he can read; And his home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed. —James Thomson.

be no small diversity of opinion. A second work on tho subject of dieting is entitled "Fletcherisni: What It Is?" by Horace Fletcher (London, Ewart, Seymour and Co). Whereas Dr. Abramowski is, or rather was —for tho doctor is no.v dead —insistent upon tho valuo of a fruit and vegetable diet, on tho folly of eating meat, and on tho importance of only eating when, you are hungry—and not for tho mere pleasure of eating—Mr. Fletcher, who hails from tho States, and is/the author, amongst other works, of, "The Now - Mentieulture," and "The New Glutton or Epicure,", is an ardent advocate of i Gladstonian principle of thorough mastication. This, however, is not tho only plank in the Fletcherian dietary platform, and his book contains much, sensible advice, often conveyed in a racy, entertaining manner, as to what to eat, drink, and avoid if wo desire to be free from dyspepsia and the all too many other illstto which over-eating mankind is notoriously subject. Personally, in theso matters, I follow tho example of Mr. Jingle, and do not "presume to dictate." I merely signal the appearance of the two works. The price cf Dr. Abramowski's , book is 2s. 6d. net. The doctrines of ."Flctcherism" can be studied at a. shilling less outlay. "Do Something. Be Something!" Those good people who take pleasure in beplastering the walls of their offices or dwelling-rooms with flamboyant injunctions to "Get Busy," or "Do It Now," will no doubt be vastly delighted with a little volume entitled "Do Somotihing! Bo' Something," by Herbort Kaulman, (Hodder and Stoughten; per S. W. Mackay and Whitccmbo aud Tombs). -Mr. Kauffman's book, which is described in its sub-title as containing "A now p'liilosophy of efficiency," does not seem to mo to say much that is now, or at least that has not already been said by that shrewd American philosopher, and shrewder man of business, Mr. Elbridgo Hubbard. Mr. Kauffniann preaches industry, unremitting industry, determination, push, "hustle,". indeed, "hustle" is tho very key-note of the book. On the cover a Mr. Cosmo Hamilton is quoted from "The Academy" as having expressed the opinion that "as a figure, a personality, a force, Herbert. Kauff man has no living rival 1 . ..he has the soul of a poet." This' may bo so-rto Mr. Cosmo Hamilton—but to 'Liber" it seems that Mr. Kauffmau is a mere ehouter of platitudes. Here is a sample of this newly arisen American prophet's style: "Wake yourself, shake yourself, and DO. North and South, and East aud West, the call is sounding. For every atrophied acre of farmland in Now England there is a homestead section in a Montana Valley or a Canadian prairie. A thousand cities are about to be born. Help to make them. They will need builders, merchants, lawyers, doctors, manufacturers. Get, a, map and a time-tablo. Tho most torri- ■ fie century of all is here. Sharo "it."If you like that sort of thing you can find lots of it in Mr. Kauffman's book (price 25.). I am quito satisfied with the "Get Busy!" and "Do It Now" ■placards. I prefer..to itake--the---" hustle" gospel m smaMoses:'? r-:i? .v: , " ,^ ! That old favourite, _ "Chambers's Journal," still maintains its popularity with magazine readers. It is forty years or more since "Liber" first mado ■acquaintance with _ the yellow-backed "Journal," in which-r-when. I was a boy—l remember reading novels by Captain Mayne Reid, James Payn, and, under parental direction, .studying the articles on popular science and travel, which have always been and are still a feature of "Chambers's." Before me to-day lies the September number, a copy of which reaches me direct from "Auld Reekie." It is easy to see that "Chambers's" is as good as ever. There is an admirable article on tho Appin murder, •which Stevenson utilised so skilfully in "Kidnapped." May Baldwin, whose stories of school lifo are so popular, gives an interesting account of South African schools; tho connection between "Malaria and the Mosquito" is cleverly explained for the benefit of tho nonscientific reader; "Seven Hundred Miles iivp the Yang-tse" is a good specimen of the travel articles for which tho "Journal" is famous; and "The Public Trustee (Scotland) Bill" is anj other useful contribution. The fiction is of a thoroughly wholcsomo kind, and the keynote of tho niagazino is still'as in the past, its suitability for homo reading. Liber's Note Book. Mr. T. C. Lothian, of Melbourne, who is to Australasian poets what John Lane -and Elkiu Matthews are to English verse-makers, will shortly publish a new volume of verso by Frank Morton; entitled "Verses for Marjorio and Some Others." Mr. Morton's previously published, volume of verso, "Laughter and Tears," was, in largo part, juvenilia. The new book will contain a charming and characteristic collection of tho riper verses of the last four years. . Mr. John M'Glashan, tho well-known local musician, informs mo that ho is publishing by private subscription, a book of poems, entitled "Philosophical Thoughts in Sonnets." Mr. M'Glashan has long been known, to some of us at least, as tho writer of much interesting verso in "braid Scots." To his forthcoming book, Sir Robert Stout is, I understand, contributing a "Foreword," from which I am privileged to mako tho following extract: — It is some considerable time since Mr. M'Glashan sent me his "Philosophical Thoughts in, Sonnets." I was much struck with them. The remembranceof Alfred Dommett's eft'otte in Ranolf and Amohia to philosophise in verso was at once recalled. There has, so far as I know, been in New Zealand no other attempt to- state tho probloms of philosophy in verse. We have had many poets; but they have dwelt on our scenery, or on tho dramas of lifo as seen in our midst. It will be learned from a perusal of tho sonnets, and tho poem "Lifo" that tho position of tho poet is that of the Neo-Hegelian School, aud they crystallisft that philosophical position. That such sonnets should have been written in our midst is, I think, a cheering sign. Wo need not merely descriptivo writers, or recorders of events: we require thinkers. ine problems of tho universe aro open to us, and why should wo not cogitate on them, even if a solution at present seems impossible. 3d ay the sonnets make us think of the problems of existence. English papers by this mail record tho death, early last month, of Mr. William Carew Ha/.litt, a grandson of tho famous essayist. Mr. Ilazlitt, who was born in 1831, wrote and edited a great number of works, his most important original work being a "History of tho Origin and Rise of the Republic of Venice." Ho edited tho works of several old English poets and dramatists, and was also an admitted authority on book and coin collecting. Ho did a large amount of useful bibliographical work, ami drew up the English portion of the Huth Library Catalogue.