LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2758, 29 April 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Held Over. Reviews of Anatole France's ; latest book, ."The. Path' to Glory," anoV'of Boveral hovels,;- are held over until next week.- ■ "* ■■'.-. ' A Woman in the Wilderness. That clever .writer, Winifred James (Mrs. Henry do. Jan), to whom we owe some excellent/novels —"Patricia Baring," "Bachelor Betty," and the delightful "Letters to My' Son," may be remembered —and who,' a year .or two ago, gave us a very amusing book ("The Mulberry-Tree")-on the' West Indies, now presents her admirers with a highly humorous account, of .her life at a small Central American port, the centre pf.a banana".trade region. In "A • 'Woman in the'Wildnerhess" (Chapman < and Hall ;■ per-Wliitcombe and Tombs) | the author again displays her special j gifts of satire and humour.'The coloured } population (negroes, half-breed. Spanish, i and Chinese),, the small troubles, .and, .: on occasion, quite.exasperating woes of. house-keeping in the tropics,the peculiar conditions under which/commercial .and social'life proceeds.in a;Central. American. State, the. r author's ; .r>et animals, the amusements--scanty : land crude enough in all conscience these latter— of the small town, all l serve as'subjects upon wljjcli Mrs. de Jan can exercise her wit. The result is a very readable volume. When war breaks out the author indulges in some curious speculations as to What her English) friends are doing. Some reflections as to~ the local sympathies and upon the general German character are worth-quoting: Except for a handful of Germans, the svmpathy here is all for the Allies. A few of the Germans, are cuite decent,_and do not come to. gloat over you _ every time their country achieves a victory; but the rest ore not so delicate.; Of all tho offenders old von Schneider is the worst. He comes to -William (the author's American husband) regularly for the bulletins, takes whatever papeTS he oan get beside, and having got all. he can. turns round and -blackguards the English. This morning he went into the office and found a bulletin rather well seasoned with British, reverses. Hot content with that,'he stood and poured out his .joy'and hatred till 'lvia breath was spent'. "And I hope dcy vill.go on till not von Britisher iss left," he foid. _ ' William oamo upi to', lunch irate. "The 3eho\lahAcond*3mnied son_ of an illicit union." he said, only a little more concisely; "he comes to me for what he wants, and then stands up and hands that out to me. I was going to give him some quinine, but I'nrdurned if 111 do it any .more." , Elsewhere, the author comments upon the curious cantakerousness of the aver age Hun: The few German men I have met abroad have all been the same: pleasant enough when' there was : no opposition, but no use 'at keeping their end np with any degreo of tranouillity or courtesy when they were put to it. If you argued with them and won, you cou'-d. see them .hating you fiercely for having dared to discomfit them.; if you argued, and lost, they stamped you into the. ground with excited ferocity. ... One swallow doesn t make a summer, I daresay, bat one swallow is generally regarded as the harbinger of spring. • I have' never met a German yet I would have liked to play a game with. But you mustn't suppose, that "A ■ Woman in the Wilderness" is a very serious book. For. the most part—it is written in the forms of letters to an English friend—it is composed of quite sparkling- sketches of tropical life and humanity, and; it is .the lighter side of life which is niainly chosen for description and comment. A very readable book. .(N.2. price, 7s. 6d^

Love (Made In Germany). One of those, extraordinary creatures, the Hun Profcsaoren, Professor Ilhcinhold Seoborg, lias recently favoured the world, per medium of the "Berliner Tageblatt," with new definitions of love ami hate. He says: "Wo do not hate our enemies, When we kill them, when we burn their homes and over-run their territories, we are performing a labour of love." Tliis extraordinaiy explanation of Love a. la Bosche has moved, t notice, an anonymous British poet to the following neat rejoinder (in "Books of To-day. and Books of Tomorrow") :— Dear Enemies 1 When we o'enrun your lond, .„ . „ When from your homes with bayonets wa ehove you, /Tis not from hate; it is, please understand, Because we love you. In Belgium we have doubtless done some elaughter K . , - . " . But we assure those who revile as - blindly . At having lost a sweetheart, wife, or ■ daughter,. ■. We meant it kindly. When liners full of women we torpedo ind watch . their helpless struggles in. the ocean, '. ; Gut laughter is to hide—it is indeed, ohl— | Our deep emotion. | •■■"•■' -' I Tho use. of poison gaa which we first , started Against the soldiers of'a, rival nation • Showed unmistakably our tender-hearted 1 Consideration. When on a city with its teeming millions Our Zeppelins discharge in each direction Their' deadly bombs on innocent civilians, 'Tis pure affection. What! hate you? No, our Eagle is a bird Mors fti the nature of the dove than vulture; •. To call our conduct "Hunnish" is absurd, It's simply "Culture." An Authority on London. Outside the late Sir Walten Besant, it is doubtful whether anyone nad such aii extensive knowledge of London as Sir, Laurence Gomme, who died early in February. Gomme was for many years Clerk tothe Common Council of the City of London, and was an ardent archaeologist'. It was to his happy idea that was due the placing of memorial tablets on London houses famous as. having been the residences of authors, artists, and others. He was also the founder of the Folk Lore Society, and a frequent contributor to the magazines' on antiquarian subjects."' Some years ago "Liber" had the pleasure of meeting Sir, then Mr.; Laurence. Gomme, at the Sav'ille. Club, in Piccadilly, and can well remember the kindness shown to the : colonial visitor by the. Londoner, who, after gossiping pleasantly upon Robert Louis Stevenson's connection- with the club, was good-natured enough' to show .me over the famous London Library, in Hanover Square, the. library with the foundation of which Carlyle had so much to do. . . The Lato John Payne. English papers received by the last mail announce the death of -Mr; John .Payne, who, some years ago now, published some very pleasant imitations of the old French versical forms, .-the. rondeau, the villanelle, the triolet,, and the ballade. Payne was' also an' industrious translator, and editor, being responsible for a complete and unexpurgated translation of Villon's, poems. For: the Villon' Society, of which, so I believe, he was the founder, he edited a new edition of "The Arabian Nights" (almost, if not quite, as "free' as that of Sir Richard Burton), and also gave the world a new and 1 admirable translation of "The Decameron."

The Late Sir Clement Markham. f . Sir Clement .Markliam,. who died .in January last from shock following injuries'at a fire in his.house, .was famous as a' geographer. He translated and edited- a number of. old : Spanish and Portuguese manuscripts for the Hakluyt Society, and wrote on the ancient civilisation of the Aztecs..,' Markham didvery good service to; India by introducing the Cinchona from Peru, where he had travelled very extensively; ' ' : ■■■■■' ■ \' ■ ' Stray Leauas. The "Cornhill Magazine" for February publishes a posthumous 6tory . by Charles-Kingsley.V'"Tlie Tutor's. Story is the title. Sir William Robertson Nicol finds -fault, I notice, with the Scotch conversation in the '.story. Itis.he says, "shockingly badworse even than it is in 'Alton Locke. (lan'Hay Beith), "The First Hundred Thousand;" a realistic and characteristically vivacious account of ■Kitchener's men in-training and at the front, is having an enormous sale in England. One Wellington book firm's first order was for 350 copies. Captain Beith recently received the Military Cross. Mary Johnston's famous romance of early Virginia, "To Have and to Hold,"' is now being prepared for moving picture production. Over a thousand, actors and actresses are being employed in the roles of early Virginian settlers,, Indians, etc.

It is some time now since the veteran American novelist, William Dean Howells, gave the world a new story. A novel by. his pen,, entitled "The Leatherwood," is announced for serial pub-, lication in "The Century." :The story deals with the.career of a religious impostor in the back woods of Ohio and with early pioneer life generally. This is quite a new departure .for Mr. Howells, most of whose novels have had Boston, New York, or Washington as their background. Constables announce, another volume of Bernard Shaw's plays, containing"Androcles and the Lion," "Overruled,!' and "Pygmalion." As usual there is a long preface, in this instance of over a hundred Dages in length, and j entitled "Why not Rive Christianity a I Trial?" Shaw is quite capable of trying to patronise the.Almighty. The Military Cross, for gallantry on the field, in Flanders, has, I notice, been -awarded to Second-Lieutenant George William Lewin Meredith, a grandson of the famous novelist and a son of William Masse Meredith, of the publishing firm of Constable and Co. % A good idea. Italy has established a special Commission to collect documents relating to the war. A complete collection of newspaper matter concerning the part played by Italy in the war is to be a special feature. Local committees have been' appointed to undertake the task of preserving portraits and biographical details, of those who have lost their lives in the various districts. "George Birmingham" (Canon Hannay), whoso "Gossamer" was recently' reviewed in these columns, is serving as a chaplain at the front. His elder son is also "somewhere in France," with the Irish Guards. . The great American.- "slanguage" .is developing. "Lids for Kids," in fiveinch high type, was the heading of an advertisement recently appearing in "Now York World." "Hats for Children" is, I suppose, the correct translation. ■'. . Some industrious English literary worker has compiled a bibliography of "Unfinished Books." Amongst these, so it maybe remembered, wore Dickens's "Edwin Drood," "Thackeray's Denis Duval," Jarie Austen's "The AVatsons." ' and Mrs. Gaskell's '"Wives and Daughters." - Another unfinished novel of oui day is Georgo Gissing's '"Veranilda." Mrs. Humphry Ward's latest story, "A Great .Success," which has beeii running as a seniil in the "Cornhill | Magazine," will be out in volume form very shortly. Gertrude Atherton is one of the few i American novelists who really count JFUv latest story, Baifaue, • will

be published .by Jolm Murray • this month.

That most amusing of literary critics, our old friend the "Baron de Book Worms," of "Punch," offers some suggestions on titles:—Nearly three years ago Mr. E. C. Benfcley wrote an excellent detective story called "Trent's Last Case." We now see amongst the latest literary announcements, "Bent-ley's Conscience*," by Paul Trent. This retaliation prepares 'us for a whole series of recriminatory works of fiction. Among those shortly to be expected arc the following:—"'The Delusions of Doyle," by Anthony Hope, and "Hope's Hallucinations," by Conan Doyle. "Hewlett's Downfall," by G. K. Che* terton, and "Chesterton's Catastrophe," by Maurice Hewlett. "The Curse of Cain," by Marie Corelli, and "Marie the Malevolent," by Hall Caine. .- "Dexter Street," by Compton Mackenzie, and '"The Meandering? of Mackenzie," by G. S. Street