LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.

"By the Waters of Egypt." i To New Zealanders of to-day, .the ancient land of "Egypt has'become invested, with a new and specially fascinating interest, and many people' will be glad 'to know of a well-written book, published at a moderate price, whicli will give a very readable description of the land of. the.Pharaohs as it is to-day. Such a book is Miss Norma Lorimer's "By the Waters of Egypt," originally published some six years ago. but. noiv reissued in a.'cheaper, thougli still most attractive, form, .by Messrs. Methuen andCo. Many, books have been written on Egypt and its wonders, its people, and their,.life, manners, and customs, from the big, imposing, and heavy (often as to.,contents, as well as material /bulk) tome'which enshrines the theories of the expert Egyptologist, to the professedly light gossip of the average tourist. Miss Lorimer appeals to a wider .public—a . which, though glad to have a compadt'. little, resume' of ancient Egyptian history and a description of such wonderful places as Luxor, Thebes, to say nothing of the Pyramids, is even more interested in the life of Cairo and Alexandria,rthe everyday customs of the Egyptian people, the official institutions of the country, and so forth. She writes easily and well, and! .often epices her narrative -with a pleasant touch of humour.Her contrast of .'mediaeval Cairo, with': its still -scrupulous adherence to.customs which were'in force in Saladm's day, and.the gay,, frivolous life of the Egyptian'-capital, as- it existed before the war, is decidedly clever. A •Nile journey, and an expedition to the little-visited great oasis of the Libyan Desert, aro specially interesting'features [of a'veiy readable volume, Svnich conI tains a; number of,delicately-coloured illustrations by!'Benton. Fletth'fr'. '(N.Z. price, 7s. 6d.) ■

A J. b. Cough'story.

■ There are some'good and new stories — also kome "chestnuts"—in a book entitled "The Tulse of the-World: Fleet Street Memories." The author, Mr, Malcolm Stark, was for forty years on Aie'London staff of the Glasgow "Herald," and met, in bis time, a good many celebrities. • Of John B. Gough, the famous Yankee temperance advocate,] he writes ;—A Dutchman and a companion, exclaimed Gough, went into Deinionico's- int New : York to get a lunch. They'were surprised at being ■charged;nine'dollars: ' The Dutchman tfegan to swear; . "Don't you swear," skid the other, :,"God has 'punished Delmohico'very.ibadly''already.- I've got, niy pocket, full, of; his spoons." Ceorge Moore's Latest. . George Moore,' of' all men in the world, has, I read, nearly completed a romance of the Holy Land, entitled "The Brook Keritli," which has for its prin-cipal-characters Jesus Christ, Paul of Tarsus, and Joseph of Arimithea. The story is said to be written round legends which have been current for many centuries, though not to be found in the. •Gospels, and the- local colour was drawn by the' author on the spot. "Liber" ■may.'be .deemed old-fashioned, but he has. a profound dislike for the presentation of either Scriptural characters or scenes in' novels or plays. The very idea of George Moore, the author of "A Mummer's Wife,'.' the George Moore wl;o wrote "The Confessions of a •Young Man," "Memories of My Dead Life," and fhfe "Hail and Farewell" autobiographical triology, writing a novel on a Scriptural motif is, to say the least of it, not a little' astonishing.

Literature and the British Ministry. Mr. Asquith, we are told, relieves the strain of State affairs by translating info Greek the "Barrack-Room Ballads" of Mr. Kipling;/; We seem exceptional among the nations, .says "T.P.V Weekly," in having, as a rule, a high pro•portion of members of oun Government •who find recreation in the arts. Earl Curzon, now Lord-,Privy Seal, published only last July a volume of "War Poems and Other Translations," which contained -maiiy, 'fine epigrams rendered from other languages; the following appealed to me particularly : — : In oldendays they hanged the thief, . And on the cross he clung'; . . But now we've turned another leaf— ■ • The. cross on thieves is hung; Mr. Balfour, -we' know, is a deep thinker,, and his latest .'. philosophical treatise is still being discussed; Mr. Bir■rell won fame long ago as a charming essayist Lord ' Crewo' lias written "Stray Verses" ; Sir Edward Grey is the author of a book on "Fly-fishing"; Mr.' Churchill's .hooks on- the African campaigns are weir known; Lord Haldane, though not at present in the Government, should,, be mentioned, for his studies in German philosophy are standard .works; • and there arc others. Whether such a literary leaven is good for a war-time, Council is a debatablo point. At any rate Mr. Asquith's choice seems most suitable at the present time. Stray Leaves. Mrs., Humphry Ward is certainly a most indefatigable writer. It is only the, other day that wo were reading her" last novel, "Eltham House," with its curious latter-day- reproduction of tho Lady Holland story, and yet already, so i see,, she has begun a new serial novel for "The Cornhi!l." The title is "Lady Connie," and, the scene is laid in Oxford—Oxford of thirty years ago. Louis Tracy, whose story "Tho.Finn], War," published in .-"Chambers' Journal" so far back as 18!)fi, is well worth re-readir.g, if only for the curious prescience displayed by the author, lias written another war story for "Chambers." The title is 'Tho Day of Wrath," its theme the Armageddon through which a distracted Europo is now wearily plodding. Mrs, Gaskell, .was a Victorian novelist.

who had the misfortune to be a contemporary of such giants as Dickens, Thackeray, Georgo Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte. Consequently her really fine work never received that meed of praise which was rightly its duo. Sho is well worth re-reading, however, and I am glad to • seo that there is now a completo edition of her novels available in that handy and excellent series "The World's Classics." To the concluding volume, "Right at Last, and Other Tales," Mr. Clement Shorter contributes an agreeably informative and critical introduction. . My own favourite amongst Mrs. Gaskell's novels'is. "Sylvia's Lovers," but mainly, I confess', for iihe reason that the scene is laid in the quaint old Yorkshire town of Whitby. •

The Huns may keep on shouting out their ridiculous tottlesciy, "Gott Strafe England," but when it comes to stories for their boys, they do not seem- to be governed by their customary Anglophobia.ln the German lists of Christmas gift books for boys and girls, English stories are, I notice, very prominent. "Robinsen Crusoe" is in almost every listj and nnder the Hun disguise of "Die Schatzinsel" Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" is also in'high favour. Captain Marryatt's "Seegeschichte" seem also to be in great demand. In the general Christmas book lists are illustrated editions of novels by Scott, Dickens, Kihgsley, Bulwer Lytton. Oscar Wilde has always been a favourite wit'h the Germans, and more than one edition of "Das Bildniss des Dorian Grey" is announced.

In the gift books by Hun writers, tho war is naturally a prominent feature. Thns we have "The Struggle in Enemy Land"; "March! March! Hurrah'l The Adventures of Two Volunteers in the World War, 1914-15, by Oberleutnant Hans Wellig." It is amusing, however, to notice one title, "Clear the Decks! Our Sea : Heroes in the World War," by Vice-Admiral Schlieper. Perhaps he is ,one : of those Hun naval heroes who are now "sleepers" behind the defences of'the; Kiel-.Canal.