LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2675, 22 January 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

"The Home University Library." Although recent batches of that admirable series, "Tho Home University Library." (Williams and Norgate), have necessarily been smaller, it is good to', see , that'they still appear with regularity.. The two latest additions to a series which has always found many purr chasers and interested readers in the Dominion are "Poland," by W. Alison Phillips, M.A., Lecky Professor of Modern History at the University of Dublin;. and "Political Thought in England; the Utilitarians from Bentham to John Stuart Mill," by W. L. Davidson, M.A. In some 250 pages Mr. Phillips gives us a compact and most useful resume of the . history of what is to-day one of the most unfortunate and,unhappy of European' countries. A perusal'of this unpretentious but valuable little book will give tho reader a much clearer insight into the complicated problem, of Poland's present'and future than perhaps could be obtained by the study of a host of more exhaustive works on the subject. Mr. Phillips scoffs at the vain illusion of the Huns that after treating the Poles with a ruthlessness almost' equal to that displayed in unhappy- Belgium, they can now "conciliate them. He is convinced- that in case of victory over the Allies, Germany. has determined to have all Poland, and not to 6hare it with Austria. "If," he say 6, "Poland, once more dismembered and crushed, be absorbed, int-o the German system, there will be no Power left in Europe strong enough, to resist Germany's will to power." For Russia's Allies,- then; the liberation of Poland from the German hosts is an object as important as for Russia herself. The volume contains several useful maps, and an excellent feature is a carefully compiled and exceptionally rich bibliography. Mr. Davidson's volume on the "Utilitarians",;'is a sequel, in "The History of Political Thought in England," to Mr. Gooch's admirable little book (mthe same series) which covered the period between Bacon and Halifax. After an interesting exposition of the utilitarian positioil (Bentham defined' utilitarianism as ''the greatest happiness of the greatest number," or, again, as "enlightened benevolence"), " the author gives, an accountiof the. great Jeremy,'his life and writings, and deals ; at -some'; length with his social and political ideals and theories, and with his work -as jurist and law reformer.. The major part of the volume, however, is devoted l to the' life, writings, theories, and teachings of John: Stuart Mill, a final chapter introducing - less famous utilitarian ;philosophers, snch as '. George Grote, John Austin, and Alexander Bain. Altogether an exceptionally useful little book for the student of political, and social reformers. The bibliography is brief but fairly adequate. Hie New Zealand price: of these volumes is eighteen'pence. They are astonishingly good value. , ' "

Cllbert Cannan : , as, Poet. ' • Mr. Gilbert Carman,; of whose excellent novols, "Roima.the,Corner," "Mr. Mole," and others ;I Save grateful.remembrance, and who is. also a .literary, critic and essayist of high reputation 1 amongst the younger school of writers, "rioSv,-'blossoms forth,as..aypoet in a volume: entitled "Adventurous Love, and ; Other Verses" .(Methuen and Co.). The book consists mainly, of- a series, or ' sequence," - "'of . fifty sonnets, in which the ; history of' tlie poet's love -experiences is set forth and the varying relationship of the lovers analysed. The Quality of the verse varies, and too often the suspicion is borne : npon the reader that the- poet is over-anxious to make clear hisVmastery. of the choicest form of literary expression and that the underlying subject or basis is, after all, just a little-thin.. ; He, is less-cramped, both in subject andform, in the other verses, arid therefore, to my. mind, more successful. From . the sonnet so-, quence I select for quotation No. XVI, ' which seems to me to . be. a- trulj'. graceful and dignified composition, without so much trace of that over-emphasised effort after a purely literary, effect which is present in certain of the poems: We are like drops of water trembling down 'From branches of a tree and scatter-ed And lost. We shiver into form, the dead Releasing: us a while to don the gown Of being to sustain the high renown Of liove, that through the realm of death has shed 1 Its glory on this fclace, and ripened The spirit in 'the clay to wear-its crown. From earth Love brings the ceaseless rise and fall Of forms wherein we live and struggle on. To knowledge that we live before the pall Of death once more enshrouds. When wo are gone If wo have won that knowledge ere the call, j 1 There shineth love in our rebellion. . In the other poems there is at times a fine lyrical -touch, as in the distinctly musical "Top of,the Mill": .: We are high above the earth Rapt into a dream; We are-songs, of joy and mirth Dancing in a gleam, Upward cast by life .to show The sun.what joy the earth can know. A gay and wholesome fancy is evidenced when the poet, in his "Dedication" (the final poem) sings of the world of his imagination: . Sun and moon and stars and earth Water, wind, a or two, Women and a little child; There's the world I give to you. Mr. Carman may never he a great poet, but it cannot be denied that much of his verse has a very pleasant ring in the ear. (N.Z. price, 4s. 6d.) James Huneker, I make a point of buying each and everyone of James Huneker's books as they appear. Ilimekcr is easily first amongst American writers on purely modern art, literature, and music, and has done much to introduce to the transatlantic reading public such European writers as Ibsen, Maetcrlinck, Sudormann, and D'Annunzio, to say nothing of throwing many new lights on Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola. In art he is a devotee of- the Impressionist | colt, and in-nrnsio of Chojjinj -Wajjner,

Strauss' (the younger), and Debussy. .Everything he writes is usefully suggestive, ah 3 lie has a briuiant- literary style. Amongst his best-known books are "Icouoclasts," in which ho deals with the works of. Ibsen, Strindborg, Shaw, Sudermami, D'Annunzio, Gorky, and Maeterlinck; and "Egoists: A Book of Supermen,'" in which he gossips pleasantly and profitably on Stendhal, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Anatole France, Nietzsche, Huysmans, Maurice Barres, and others. In his "Promenades, of an Impressionist" and "The Pathos of Distance," the interest is mainly artistic. His latest collection of essays,'on literary and artistic subjects principally, bears the curious title of "Ivory, Apes, and Peacocks." Werner Laurie publishes the English editions of Huncker's work,' which, as a rule, makes its first appearance in the New York and other New York dailies, and in various American magazines. Huneker's bboks are somewhat expensive (6s. each), but he is a wonderfully "meaty" writer, one who always deals with his subjects in a novel and eminently attractive manner. His collective work constitutes a corpus of criticism, such as few other writers have produced. Dumas as Historian. Very few people, even those best acquainted with the works of Alexandra 'Dumas, are aware that lie great French novelist once tried his hand at history, and wrote a history of France from the: accession of Louis Philippe in 1830 to the .Revolution of 1848—a most curious period to choose, for it was one of the most uneventful or all periods of French history. Dumas's work has now been translated, for the first time, into English by .B. S. Garnett,'. under the. title "The Last King, or the New France," and published by Stanley Paul and Co. In, .its original French' form the work, which, though thrice reprinted, has not been reissued in France since 1853, ran into eight volumes. . Mr. Gannett's translation,. I notice, makes only one volume, from which 1 assume that there-has. been some considerable compression. If, however, Dumas were aa lively as an historian as a novelist, the work should make good reading. Even in his least popular novels "Alexandre the e Groat" was never, dull. Stray Leaves. Despite the war, quite a number of works of importance are bein?- published." In Mr. Edward Arnold's list, which contains many really excellent 'books, I notice "The Recollections of an Irish K.C.," by His Honour Judge John Adye Curran,' of which I hope to give a review nest'week. Mr. Arnold also • publishes "Tho Capture of Do Wet," by P. J. Sampson, which will also be reviewed in. these columns in duo course. • From Messrs: Stanley, Paul and Co. I have received copies of the late Mr. Arkwright's fine translation of St. Simon's "Memories" (vols. 11l and IV), and Alexandre Dumas's. historical work , (alluded to elsewhere), "The Last King, or The New France"; from Messrs. G. Bell and Sons, "A Tiger Slayer to Order," by C. E. Gouldsbury; from Messrs. Methuen, "The Romance of Sorcery," by Sax Rohmer; and from Mr. Werner Laurie, Mak Gorki's "Autobiography"; also "Jerusalem," by Pierre Loti, and "Japan" ("Madamo Chrysanthemo"), by the same popular French author. Reviews will follow as space will allow. -

The success which attended the project of making Wordswprtli's residenco, Dove Cottage, at Grasmere, into a Wordsworth Museum, has, no doubt, suggested the setting apart of a room in the Lincoln Public Library to become a home for Tennyson manuscripts, early and other editions of the poems, portraits, busts, and personal relics generally.-... ..- •

'In view of certain present-day happenings, an illustrated book of travel and adventure, "Across Asia Minor on Foot," -written b.v ,W. J. .Childs, and published by Blackwoods,- should be interesting. - ■ ■

;. Admirers of Neil Lyons's clever stor'ies of London life, "Arthur's," "Clara," and others, - will be glad to know that Mr. John- Lane is about to publish another collection of these humorous sketches. ' The titlo is "Moby Lane • and-Thereabouts." '

'Amongst'other interesting announcements in Mr. John Lane's latest list is a "fantastic, tale,".' "Biliiad the Quill Driver," by -William Caine, whose "Hoffmann's Chance," and other humorous stories," may be remembered. The same publisher announces a new novel, "The- Individual," by Muriel Hine. whose "Earth" and "April Panhasard" were so popular.

Lovers of good poetry—and lam glad to hear from more than one bookseller that New Zealanders are nowadays, buying books of verse much more freelv than they were once wont to do—should make , a point, of securing copies of the two series of "Georgian Poetry," published at 3s. 6d. each (English price), at the Poetry Book Shop, London. The poets represented include John Masefield, the late Rupert Brooko, Walter de la Mare, John Drinkwater, James Stephens, Wilfrid Gibson. Ralph Hodgson, and others. ; All the poems are copyright, and the books are beautifully printed. " .

The compiler of "Really and Truly: A Bo9k of Literary Confessions," tells a 6tory which shows that good literature has its votaries in .the trenches. Outside Ypres there was quartered a dour and rather sulky young Scot, who seemed to resent all overtures to friendship, even to conversation, made to him by his brother officers. At- last, one morn-, ing, gazing at the,battered old Belgian city, he wa.s heard to, miirmur, half aloud, to-himself, Antonio's lines in "The Duchess of Malfi" (Act. V. Sc. 3.). I do love these ancient ruins; We never tread upon them but, we set Our foot upon some reverend History. A young Englishman near him *mmodia'tely took up the quotation with the end of the speech: . Churches and eities, which have diseases like men, Must have like death that we have. ; The Scot was sulky no longer, and the pair became great friends. Thus a common interest in literature achieved that which even the terrible realities of war had failed to bring about.