LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2664, 8 January 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

'A: special and very interesting feature of 'the November, issue of "The Bookman" (H'odder and Stoughton) is a long article on "Hilaire Belloc alio . His Work," by_ Thomas Seccomlie. Mr. Seccombe' gives a' detailed account of Mi'. Belloc's mixed French and British descent. Four of his great-uncles were generals under Napoleon, the best known of them, General Chasseriau, being killed at Waterloo at the; head or his Cuirassiers, at the 'age of thirtyfive. Another, General Habert, was lost in the retreat from Moscow; Belloc's mother, Bessie R-ayner Parkes, was a daughter Joseph Parkes, a ..familiar figure among tho philosophical' Radicals of the Mill, Grote, and Lord John Russell era, his father being Louis Swanton Belloc—the Swanton representing an Irish strain from. an ancestor who was in the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy. ,The future poet, essayist, an<l historian was born at Lacelle St. Cloud, near Marly-le-Rci, in the "terrible year" 0f.1870, and was an only soil. The only brothers I ever knew Were , the meh who laughed and quarrelled with me. After his father's death his mother settled at Slindon, in Sussex, young Hilaire being educated at the Oratory at Edgbaston, the famous school established by Cardinal Newman. Although exempt as the son of a widow, he volunteered for ■ service in. tho French Army, and served for a year, as a gunner in the French Field" Artillery'm a regiment stationed at Toul, an experience of which ho has, so my readers may ,remember, so much to say in i that delightful story of a pedestrian journey, "The Path to Rome," and in some of his essays. Next he went to Oxford and won a-Balliol Scholarship/ Mr. Seccombe gives a-lively 'and ineresting account of. Belloc's university career, and a resume of the fine historical work he has done in his "Danton," "Robespierre,". "Marie Antoinette," and other: books ! on tho French revolutionary period. The articlo throws, much new light upon an intensely interesting personality. Thero are other good things ! in the November number of "The Bookman,".notably, an article by Katharine Tynan, on the poems of the, late Lionel Johnson (a collected edition in one volume, is just out),, and criticisms of Mr. Balfour's Gifford Lectures,. "Theism and Humanism."

-. An eighteenpenny reprint of a. took of American humour which has achieved no small popularity in the country of its origin is entitled "Cobb's Anatomy" (Hodder and Stoughton', per S. and W. Mackay).. The author,, Mr.' Irvin : S. Cobb,' has |a great reputation as a humourist, and whether, he ; is . discoursing on ''tummies l ';;!''(dyspepsia tiis ' the'-'naH. tional Yankee' .complaint)', teeth';' :hair, or hands and fdet, ; lie'is vastly amusing. Mr. Cobb docs not get liis fun out of dialect,'; but by a .'.gay extravagance in the description of quito every clay mat-! tor*. • His »«m'arks upon adiposity,, to' take one ouly of his subjects, can be. safely recommended as a euro for the blues, and when, in the courso of his cliapt'or on "Hair," ho dilatcß upon tbo peculiarities of the barber tribe; it would be difficult for any man who does not shave himself to restrain his chuckling. • ,The .book- contains.a- ; number of . oxcellent \ illustrations- by ;one'; of the most,genuinely humorous, of 'American comic'artists, Mr. ' Peter Newell. For these drawings alono'the Look/ is well worth .buying.

Amongst -the many Gift- Books which have been, produced in order, to" benefit various .patriotic "and " philanthropic funds established ,in ; connectidn ; -with the "Great War," V Soldiers' and Sailors' Gift Book,!' which has been published by Messrs. Jarrold and Co. specially desorves the attention of patriotic readers. The contributors include many leading writers and artists, including among the former Messrs. H. G. Wells, John Galsworthy, G. K. Chesterton, Austin Dobson, Arnold White, Arnold Bennett, and Sir Gilbert Parker; and amongst the latter Messrs. Frank Brangwyn, Hugh Thomson, Walter Emmanuel, and Sir • Luke Fildes. The whole of the profits from the book, tho English price of which is three shillings, will be devoted to the St. Dunstan's Hostel-:for Blinded Soldiers and Sailors, _ which has been established in a mansion ' given by himself by Sir Arthur Pearson, President of the National Institute of the Blind. Copies of the book will shortly be' on sale in New Zealand, when I trust and feel sure the book will find many purchasers.

Quite a number of British novelists are now on active service. Others. I hear, have been at the front studying warfare at close quarters, with a view, no doubt, to making professional use of the knowledee so gained when the war is over. Tho following extract from the London "Observer," of a hundred years ago, to bo exact, of September 10, 1915, is in this connection rather interesting: . Mr. Walter Scott is expected at Dover on his return from the ensanguined field of Waterloo, whither he has been to obtain a uian of the positions of the contondinc armies, and to collect the materials of his intended epic poem, in commemoration of this glorious national achievement. Personally, 1 confess I do 'not liko the idea of our novelists watching the fighting for money-making purposes later on. A complete edition of the. late Rupert Brooke's poems is shortly to be published by Mr. : John Lane, who will also, publish a selection of letters written by Brooke on an American trip ho took a couple of years ago. "With the First Canadian Contingent" is the title of a volume to be published by Hodder and Stoughton to lielp the funds of the Canadian Field i Comforts Commission. The book, illustrated- by a large number of photographs, tells tho story of the First Canadian Contingent, from its training camps at Val Cartier and Salisbury Plain to Neuve Cliapelle—and after. It is a pity that some similar work cannot be published in connection with New Zealand's First Expeditionary Force, its training in Egypt, and its brave deeds at the front. "The Bystander," a London illustrated wockly, quotes the following joke, which'first appeared, in tho "Fliegendo Blatter," a German comic periodical, as instancing tho "Dawn of Humour in Germany'!: First Gorman: Oh! Then your wife was born in London? Second German: .Yes—Gott etrat'e .TCtttt'antJ.k