LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2776, 20 May 1916, Page 9

LIBER'S NOTE-BOOK

Ordeal by Battle, An abridged and cheaper edition of Mr. F. S. Oliver's remarkable much-dis-cussed' book,--, "Ordeal by Battle"- -. (Mae-millaii),-should be welcomed by a.wide circle of readers who could not afford .to. buy the book when,it was first published.. lii a new introduction the author makes; it'clear that he does not consider the'-Coalition'.,Government in England n really'-A'at'ional Govoriiinent. Ho is an.' ■adyoealo of greater freedom of. criticism of Ministerial. actions, but although,, in the section headed,.',' The. Paralysis of a Nation","- lie would si-em. to hint- at - anecessity ■ for changes in the Ministry's personnel, hp opposes the notion that "we need a more ingenious and imaginative intellect,- to conduct a great war than we •do tcr govern -the country in time of peace. ■The boot, as .most:. of my readers are' aware, is one long and well argued pica 'for greater national and individual efficiency, and for universal compulsory sorvviee.,'Much'.lias jhapppned since the hook first appeared and many of the author's, contentions- and anticipations—prophecies would hardly be a correct term to use in this connection—have been verified by events. As an indictment •of that.strange combination of apathy, egotism, ignorance and 'refusal' to perceive the:'true inwardness ', of: the signs' of .. the times, . which found: 1 expression by: the. Little England and ultra-Radical Press, and by so many British jsoliticia-ns before, the'" war—and which still, ; _if is clear, exists in the Loudon "Daily News" office and similar .mischief-making' quarters, 'Mr. Oliver's book, in.-Its'now and, revised form,- in 'as; powerful .and .striking as ever. At •the.,present;.juncture; a.perusal of ; Part ' Service," w^W»^s^^^'y :i fC<Hiife'eiided :i t6 ourj.nipiiibers .•-••of./iParliament ' and to all' ■thpnghtfiii JpublicVrnien':'- The low nricei ■'lfi..:Cd.;,""at whicli'the book is .-now oftain-abliVishould-gain- for it still wider and well .deserved attention as one of tho most, important and useful* works for which tho war has-yet been responsible; Stray Leaves. , ', ■ . Mrs. ,Maud;Diver,-the-author'of "Cap"taiii D«v;iuond, V.C.," and other popular novels describing Anglo-Indian an<l military life, • has written a new Indian romance, "Desmond's- Daughter," in which • Captain Desmond reappears, though in a subsidiary.-role- , , ' ' '

Hodder and S tough ton announce a ntiit story by Ifiat most industrious novelist, Mr. B. F. Benson.' .The slory deal** with'.tbo; public, . E0.linol : arid schoolboy of : torday ): ;and is "David Blaize." Hilavre Belloc's new historical work, "The Last; Days of -tb» French , Monarchy," was .about, to, be-published when th« last mnil 'loft London. Mrs.- Julia Frankau,: whose death was {recently of "a ■ very .'clover ; family, Her'brother, James Davis,' who ..wrote-' under tlio pseudonym of "Owen _lrall," : was a clever playwright, the author of more than - one successful musical comedy, and her son, Gilbert: Frankau, is well .known as the author of that brilliant parody or imitation of "Don Juan," entitled "One of Us." and__ the grimly pathetic fragment "Tid-apa," -which oreivtod such u sensation- Mien it appeared in "The English Review." 'Mrs.' -FrankauV "Baccarat," "Pigs iii Clover,'' and other novcln, are well'known, but sho must have nupprossod her earliest and, in my opinion, cleverest, story, "Dr; Phillips, a Maida Vale Idyll,'' for it has-long ago disappeared from 'ho publishers' lists, and it is difficult to yet hold of u. copy. \ Another: wellJiiiown novelist, very popular ,with, New Zealand '■' readers, who has recently joined, the great majority, is M). Jufitih Miles Fprman. Severer of .his novels first appeared in s&ria] form in the columns of "The 'Windsor' MagaKilie." which .has _ always been famous for tho excellence "f it« (i'-ti-n, Forman lived "much in Paris, but ■>. few years ago visited Samoa and Fiji,'and rpont a feir weeks in. New Zealand. , Yet another, writer,'this, time a litterateur of no 6intiU utandirig, who has reoently passed away, is Dr. Stopford Brooke, the famous preacher and literary critic. There are niany of my readers, I daresay, who can remembor the appear.anco of. Stopford Brooke's ndmirablo littlo : book; "A Primer of English Literature," published, if I remember Tightly, in tho earlier 'oigbties, as .tho opening volume in , "Macmillan's Literature Primers." a pioneer, shilling, series, which' justly attained great popularity. Brooke was a frequent lecturer on the poetry of Tennyson and Browning. . , I am glad to notice that a free translation of some of' the best songs of.Theodore Botrel, the Breton poet, who has the distinction of being the officially recognised "Chansonnier do I'arniee Franraise," has' been made by Mis* Winifred Byers. To all who can read French J warmly commend Botrel's Inst published volume," Chants du Soldat." There are several good Australian yarns in Lndy Pooro's ,'itecollections of an Admiral's Wife," recently published by Smith, Elders. Some may bo old, but they were well worth retelling. Here is one-of Sir George Tie id. "On one occahis anclioncc booed and hissed so vigorously the very moment he began to speak that he was some time before he could get a hearing. Then he wailed in his curiously high nasal tones: "I don't sec what I havo done to deserve this treatment. I only addressed you n.s "Gentlemen." '" Another lieid story relates liig answer to a woman in his audience who, being very angry at something he had said, shouted: "If you were my hus,band, I'd iako poison." "Modem," retorted the ever-resourceful Eeid, "if you wero my wife I'd take it." Again from Lady. Poore's Jsook. A Sydney doctor, Dr. Scott-Skervinp, told her of a Scottish, immigrant maid who had been remonstrated with by her mistress for having so many followers: "Weel, mum," she protested, "a" buddy lies their hobbies; mine's Ten." Added to my. list of curious novel titles, "The Bivet in Grandfather's Neck." A jocular London journal suggests that a title much nior<s appropriate to the moment would bo "The Income-tax on Father's Shoulders."