LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2570, 18 September 1915, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

' <The Kaiser as a Boy. ■A friend, who is good enough to say s: hft never misses his "Liber" column, points out, ! apropos; . to'; my extracts from Grant Cuff's ( "Notes : from a Diary" last week, tHat some interesting references to the Kaiser as a small boy '' appear > in. the Autobiography of W. P. Frith, the famous Victorian artist, who ; painted': "The Derby Day" and "The . Railway .Station." I duly "turned'• up< Frith's book, and in his. account of how . he painted a picture of the wedding of .the' theii ;Prince. and Princess of-Wales —the; same .ceremony referred to in Grant Duff's .book—l find confirmation of the fact ..that" the future '.War' Lord of .the Hohenzollern was,' as a youngster, 1 a decidedly unpleasant person. : Al.luding to-the sittings-given him by the various royal personages, Mr. Frith says:— ■ ■. ■ As to Princo; William of Prussia, ' 1 of all.tho little Turks ..ho is the worst. . . . I was looking at little Prince William, 1 and talking to . Princess Helena, when the royal imp looked up in my face, and said:'' Mr. Fiff, you are a nice man, but your whiskers" ——-when - the , Pnncess stopped his mouth with her . .. . -hand. ' .. - ; '•' . ■■■' .\i V-'-; further on. Mr.'Frith writes:— The whisky fnystery was - nevdr ■ ■ revealed, but ! inflicted a very un- . intentional and regretted .: punish- • ment on the little boy which. I fancy he may remember to this day. Tho ' picture ;of- the: marriage 'was.:. ten.feet long, and I portioned off one of the lower corners : -of it—about', a , ; foot square—which I lent\ to tho . young Prince (hewas about ; seven years old, I think) to paint a picture upon, giving liim paints and brushes but telling bim to keop strictly within the boundariesi of-his': own . property. I -was working quietly at -~.i , my.; part of the picture" when I was roused by an exclamation of alarm from the lady in whose charge the Prince always came to me, who cried: ■■■ •■: ■, ■- v"Look at his -face! What has he . been doin'g-toitr" '. *■'■ - Well, ho had simply been wiping - , his.brushes upon .it, for it was streaked with vermillion, bright : blue,, and other- pigments: • ''What is to bo dono? If tho Prince3s should, nee him, she' would '[Oh," easily; re- ■ move the paint."' • . ■ And so saying I dipped some clean ram. into.turpentine,- and rubbed off the. colour,- or, to - be correct, I was. rapidly removing it, • when I .was stopped by > violent - •screams from the 1 young gentleman, accompanied •by a severe* cuff from; ; J ; his little! fist. -The turpentine ha<?j .'■ found out a, little spot orscrateh on--his jface,/and no doubt gave . him ■ great pain—great indeed if' one might take scream after , scrpam. as . a_ proof. Hef.tore away frota / me;' ' giving me^a/partihg:ki'ck,:and took;-V refuge under-;a large tablel and yell- . ed till ho was tired, his governess the i while in'iterrof." that -he; might;. be heard.: I don'tVtliinkihe .forgot- or.; ■ . forgave .-my --'remedial ; for.'.-i : he took pleasure itf-tormenting ; me - : by sittingiso.badly that-I failed .•in"---producing- anything, in .'-tho picture - : resembling him. The' youri| gentleman is now mamed,'and is a father, '. and, . I trust, a happy one.

A Precedent from Plutarch. The. fact has been recalled by the cor- ■ respondents of the. "British Weekly" that when the Afghan' War took place .Lord .Carnarvon made a speech. in which me skilfully quoted from Plutarch's, account of -the _ conversation • between ■ Pyrrhua and,his sober adviser, Cineas, who tried to dissuade him from his ambitious and aggressive schemes. Cineas . asked .Pyrrhus, in case he defeated the Romans—who were, as he'parenthetically remarked, dangerous enemies—what use he proposed to make of his victory. Pyrrhus remarked'that he should then be the master of Italy. "But," said Cineas, "when Italy is yours, ■. what : ."Why," said Pyrrhus, "there is : Sicily very near. We , should like . that. "And next," satid 'Cineas. ''Why, then," said Pyrrhus, "there are ■ . and Carthago—wg should .take them." "And; then," ' said; Cineas, "you would, of course, reconquer ; Mace-. donia and overruniGreece; but taking all'this as' accomplished, what then?" "Why, then," said Pyrrhus, "we will take our ease, and drink and be .merry." :• "And what hinders us,said Cineas, . drinking and taking our ease now, .when we have-already those things in our ])ands at which we propose to arrive through seas of blood,' "through' infinite trials and dangers^''through innumerable calamities, which we must ■ both cause and suffer?" As tho "British Weekly ""points out, "the application to. > Germany; is obvious and striking." ; .

Stray Leaves. John Galsworthy's new story, "Tho Freslands," which has been running as a serial in; an American monthly, was to be , published last month 'in: ' hook form. .Heinemann is the publisher. The same firm announces a new edition of George- Moore's "nasty" . but powerful story, "A. Drama in Muslin,'.' which has been, out of print for somo years. At the author's request the story will now be entitled "Muslin." , A third and equally interesting Heinemann publication is \V. Somerset Maughan's new story "Of Human Bondage." Compton Mackenzie, the clever young novelist' whose "Carnival" and "Sinister Street" have had'such a vogue, is now acting as war correspondent ,at 1 the Dardanelles for London,, "Daily News," and is sending that journal some very fine stuff. His new novel, ']Guy and Pauline," was due for publication in London last month. " Even the -"American, novelists' -can't resist the. call of the war. Henry Syndor Harrison, the author of "Queed" (his latest novel, "Angela's' Business," was reviewed ,in these columns a few n 'eoks ago), is now in Flanders,. busy with the good, work of a .Red Cross assistant. Practically every American .novelist of any repute. is strongly on our side, that is, if one may judge by the opinions credited l to them in various 'American and English journals. I read in the Literary Supplement of a New York'paper'that "ITie name of the young English novelist, Oliver Onions, should not be pronounced as is that.of the vegetable, whose spelling it -imitates, but in three> syllables, to

rhyme .with '.'Lyons." This may: be so, .-but in "Liber's" youth there was -a well-known Yorkshire family- named Onions, and they pronounced their name as that of • the vegetable. In any case .!what's ,in (the pronunciation " of) •; a name? An onion by. any other namo would, smell as—strong; and I;shall go on reading Mr. Onions's clever novels, so long as they.continue to be so good as the trilogy of; which "In. Accordance the Evidence" was the-first- volume, with _ just the same zest, be the pronunciation of his name Onions or "Onyonsj" with the accent on tho "y." . _ I thought I knew most of Maeterlinck's work, but it appears a translation of a hitherto unpublished and very early story of the great Belgian writer is shortly to be published. The title is , "The Massacre of the Innocents." The publication .of-a book so entitled is certainly moat'appropriate to recent and present conditions in Maeterlinck's unfortunate country. Those of my readers who are lucky enough to possess a full set of Kiplinp's works should make a point of securing a copy of : die very useful "Kipling Index," published'by Macmillans at sixpence. It is simply' invaluable whiin ono wants to. turn up a reference,to any .particular .character or incident; in the stories and . poems." , .; A similar index, to the works of 0. Henry (the late Sidney Porter), has been .issued by .the publishers, of his works, VMessrs. Doubleday,' Page, and Co. The booklet, which is issued gratis to anyone who chooses, to apply for it, also contains _ a sketoh of 0. Henry!s life by. his friend, ;Richard Duffy, and a bibliography of criticisms of his works;" New Zealand admirors of 0. Henry's works might perhaps get, a copy of the; index through their' booksellers, paying fos.- the. necessary; postage ofcourse.

Admirers, and they should be very numerous, of Professor Mackail's excellent 'English prose versions ! of the Eclogues and Gcorgics of. Virgil, should note the_"fact that a- oheaper edition, has now heen published, as a volume-of Longman's prettily, produced Pocket Library. ■ (Cloth 2s. 6d., leather " 3b. 6d.) u.; : :

A reajly good dictionary of universal biography has long heen required!; The want is _ now. to :, be; met. by - Messrs. Koutledge and Sons, who announce the publication next month of such a dictionary, uniform in sizo with Mr. Sonnensfihein's ■ Guide to the Best' Books ' and Baker's Guide to Fiction. The work has been in - preparation for ■ ten years past.