LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3065, 28 April 1917, Page 13

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dlqkens's SlsteMri-Law. : A one-line cablegram published last Monday recorded the death of Miss Georgina Hogarth, sister-in-law to tlie late Charles • Dickens. Miss Hogarth must have reached a great ago, for sho was the second x>f three sisters, tho eldest o fwhom, Miss Catherine Thomson Hogarth, was married to "Bpz" as far baok as April, 1836, a few days' after tho appearance of the first number of the 1 immortal "Pickwick Papers." Dickens, as all Dickehsians now know, had previously been dosperately in lova with a young lady named Beaduall, who stood for ' tho portrait of Dora iii "David Copperfield." Many years afterwards tho then successful novelist was to meot his old flamo again, and to put on record (in a letter made public a few years ago by its American possessor) that he was terribly disappointed witli her appearance and conversation. As a matter of fact it is this lady who? .figures as the vapid and silly Flora Fincliing in "Little Dorrit." The Hogarth girls wore daughters of Mr. George Hogarth, with whom Dickens was.a colleague on the literary staff of the "Morning Chroniclo," and who, so the story goes,; helped the young reporter into a seat in the Parliamentary Press Gallery of that day. Of Dickens's marriage and its unhappy ending i wrote at some length, "in anotherplace," at tho time of tho Dickens Centenary, five years ago, and I need not again go into details. Tho third sister, Mary Hogarth, to whom Dickens was. quite passionately, attached, whom he loved, so he wrote to bis friend, Harrison' Ainswortb, the- novelist. - "After, my wife, more deeply'and fervently than anyone on earth," died with tragic suddenness on - the eve of the publication of the fifteenth number of "The Pickwick Papers." Dickens was so upset by the occurrence that he was for a-; time quite unable to do any original literary work, and the issue of "Pickwick" was temporarily interrupted. It inky interest Dickensians to know that Miss Mary Hogarth was the original of tho charming Rose' Maylio, in "Oliver Twist." As to Miss Catherine Hogarth; she remained Dickens's faithful friend and adviser until his death, often acting as his amanuensis. A cruel and utterly untrue story, started by somo_ American penny-a-liner at the time of Dickens's separation from his wife, made it appear that Mrs. Dickens lelt her husband out of jealousy .of her sister. The story was a vile and cruel slander, long ago proved bv the evidence of competent authorities to have teen completely, unfounded. Miß^

Catherine Hogarth was at Gad's Hill when the novelist was seined with the apoplectio fit which caused his death a few hours later. Previous to her death she had lived for ' many years with Dickens's sole surviving son, Mr. (now Judge) Henry Fielding Dickens. Some fourteen or fifteen years ago "Liber" had the pleasure of being introduced to tho old lady in London. She was then a bright, hearty old dame greatly interested in the Dickens Fellowship and its doings, and expressed herself delighted to hear that tho writings of her famous broth er-in-Taw were so perennially popular with colonial readers. Only one of Dickens's three daughters now survives, in the poisnn of. Mrs. Kate Peruginj, who, like her husband, .is a well-known artist. ! A "Punoh" Editor. Sir Francis Burnand, formerly editor of "Punch," has passed away/ at the ripe old age of eighty-one! , Burnand was a student at the famous ■ Cuddesdon College, that homo of Puseyites and Ritualism, and afterwards left the Anglican for the Roman Communion. He was for many years a successful writer of light comedies and burlesques. In. 1880, he succeeded the somewhat stodgy Tom Taylor as oditor of "Punch," to-which" no contributed the; once famous "Happy Thoughts" series. They-had a big vogue at the'time, but turning up ono of them, "Vory Much Abroad," the other night, the . fun seemed to /me to be rather forced, and I could only struggle through an odd chapter or two." Burnand was at his best in his burlesques of popular novels. Hi's skit on ono of Ouida's stories was ■ screamingly funny, and I also recall a comic version of that torment of mid-yictoriau children, "Tho History of Sandford and Merton," as being a firßt-rate_ mirth-producer. Like Tom Taylor, bis worst fault as editor of "Punch" was that he waß too afraid of offending th&'prejudices of tho British bourgeois. Even now "Punch" has no cartoonist worthy tho name Phil May used to gramblo that Burnand spoilt I half his pictorial jokes, but that is a 'way artists have, for Charles Keene used to say the same thing of Tom Taylor, just as "Dicky" Doyle had remarked of Taylor's predecessor, Shirley Brooks. The "Red Page" on Arthur Symons. The supercilious Superior Person who now "does" the "lied Page" ior tho "Bulletin"—-it surely can't be Mr. Arthur Adams who is now editing the page—has been pleased to sneer at andhelittle a collection of literary portraits, "figures of Several Centuries," recently published by Arthur Symons, a critic who has probably forgotten more about- literature than all the "Bulletin" • writers who ever lived. The "Red Page" artist in sneers refers to Mr. Symons as "a maggot." ■ Here is an example of how the so-called '"maggot" can write—it is,from an article on the : author of "Mafius tho Epicurean": Everything in Pater was-in harmony, when you got accustomed to its particular forms of expression; tho heavy fraino, so:slow,and. deliberate in movement,.,so sottlod in repose; tho timid and 'yet scrutinising eyes; tho mannered, yet so personal, voice; the precise, pausing speech, with its urbanity, its almost pain, fill conscientiousness of utterance; the whole outer mask, in short, worn for protection and out of courtesy, yet moulded upon the inner truth of nature liio a mask moulded upon the features which it covers. And tho books aro the man, literally the man in many accents, turns of phrase. . . . But, part of his secret was in the gift and cultivation of a passionate tompcrance, an unrelaxing attentiveness to whatever was rarest and most delightful in passing things. As an authority on the priceless literary effusions of Bill BloggS; of Bumgaraboo Flat, or Joe Jinkins,, of Jurrumjerilda Gully, the editor of the "Red Page" may probably be accounted a high authority. But ho should leave the work of men like Arthur Symons severely alone. The Spiritual Significance of a Battlefield. > Much has been written, much that is eloquently and nobly worded, on ibe spiritual significance of a battlefield, but I am grateful to the Hon. James Beck, the eminent New York lawyer, who. so enthusiastically expressed tho Allies' cause, whilst 1 yet the-war was young, for reminding us of Lincoln's splendid speeoh at Gettysburg. Mr. Beck makes tho quotation in the course of a-preface he: contributes to a new war book, "To Verdun from the Somme," by an American writer, Harry Brittain. Standing amidst the ruins of Fricourt, Mr. Beck recalled, as ho says, the'words of "a great leader who voiced for air time the spiritual significance of a battlefield, when speaking at Gettysburg above the graves of martyrs whose ranks he was soon to join: ;■■.'"■.-; / "But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave mon, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far aboie our poor power to add or detract. The world 'will little know, nor long remember, what we say' here; but it can nover forget what they did here. It is rather for us to bo hero dedicated to tho great task remaining before us; that from these honoured dead wo take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of dovotion; that we hero highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God. shall havo a new birth of freedom, and that tho government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." , ' Some Stately Lines. "Whatever other quality be possessed by Mr. William Watson's verse that of a fine 6tateliness can nover be denied it. The author of "Wordsworth's Grave" has recently published a new volume of poetry, entitled "Retrogression and Other Poems." From the poem entitled "Shakespeare"-I quote the following lines, instinct, so it seems to me, with a combined beauty and dignity rarelv to be encountered- in latter-day English poetry:0 let mejeave.the.plains behind, And let me leave tho vales below! Into the highlands of tho mind, : Into tho mountains lot me go. •My Keats, my Spenser, loved I well; Gardens and statued lawns were these; Yot not for ever could I dwell In arbours and in pleasances. Here are the heights, crest beyond crest, With Himalayan dews iinpearlcd; And I will watch from Everest The long heave of tho surging world. The book is,published by John Lane, from whoso lively little monthly, "Tho Bodleian," I have transcribed Mr. Watson'-s lines. A Geltio Singer. Tliero is some good stuff in Miu> doch M'Loan's "Songs of a Roving Celt." The author, a Highland peasant, is, I read, tho son of a man .who championed' tho cause of the crofters. He came'south, entering a lawyer's office, and won a three years] bursary at Edinburgh University. Like many another -patriotic; joung Soot, he re-

linquished his etudies to tackle war work, and is now engaged as a machine man in a munitions factory on the Clyde. Hero is a sample stanza from M'Loan's "Song of the Munitions Workers": Tho glamour and tho grinding and the glare, Iho tireless wheels revolving in their flight; ■ ' The giant engines turning where a thousand arcs are burning, •■ And the furnace fires a-glowing in the night! We've left the outer regions of the earth, With their pious lays of charity and thrift, .■■'•' For the slacker moral tension and the • manly unconvention Of the grimy boys a-toiling on the shift. Stray Leaves. A friend of miuo who makes a point of getting a few new French books ou? direct "from Paris' every few months warmly recommends me to order a volume of short stories by Claude Farrere, "Quatorze Histoires do Soldats," also a new book, "Sous' Je Ciel do France," by Rene Benjamin, an English- translation of whose fine book, "Gaspard le Poilu," has had a big sale in the Old Country.Students of shorthand should noto that Pitmans are issuing Couan Doyle's popular book, "Tho Return of Sherlock Holmes," in the "Advanced Style of Pitman's System." Novels hearing the imprint of Mr. Edward Arnold have been, comparatively rare, but are usually'of a high standard of literary merit. Mr. Arnold is increasing his fiction output, and has issued a list of several novels for forth- ! coming publications. Readers who remember Raobel Sweto Ma'cnamaras story, "The Awakening," will be interested to learn that Mr. Arnold announces a new story from this author 8 pen—"A Marriage Has Been Arranged." English and American papers alike speak well of Mr. E. 'H. Sothorn's book, . "My ■ Remembrances.' Tho author is a son of the famous "Dundreary" Sothorn, and, like his. father, an actor. He has been a popular figure on the American stage for many years. A feature of tho book is the specially interesting account gjven of the elder Sothern, who was an immense favourite with trans-Atlantic audiences. _ ' The American novelist, Will Leving-ton-Comfort, is a trifle too staccato in his stylo for mv ta-ote, but his "Routledge'Rides Alone," and others of his novels, have always been popular with New Zealand readers. Mr. Comfort is publishing a now story, "Red Fleece, through Heinemann's. The Tagoro boom is, to us© an accepted colloquialism, being "worked for all it is worth." Tho latest volume of the Indian mystic poet's work is entitled "Stray Birds." It consists of less than a hundred .pages, mostly containing poems in two-line stanzas, and printed ii: very largo type on thick paper. For this the New Zealand pneo is six shillings. Too dear. A votumo of well-chosen selections, from the Indian poet would bo welcome. Somo ten volumes of his poems have been published, hut if printed h> smaller typo and less generously "spaced" out, the whole contents would go into a single reasonably-sized book. "Tho Times" Literary Supplement (February 15) contains a two-column review of a new book, "I/a France, Pays Ouv'rier," of which, I trust, an, English translation -will soon be forthcoming. The book is apparently a thoughtful and able discussion of some very serious after-war problems which will have to bo solved on both sides of tho English Channel. Another new hook in which students of labour.problems will bo interested is by the Fabia.n writer, Sydney. Webb. The title is "The Restoration of Trado Union Conditions," Now. Zoalanders having present-day"'unionist developments in mind might wall he tempted to pray, not so much for the restoration, but rather tho abolition of "certain trades union conditions." It is more than doubtful. I should say, that either Mr. Sydnoy Webb, or Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, would approve of tho absolute insanity of somo recent "trade union'conditions" in this country. Hoddcr and Stougliton have added Mr. W. W. Jacobs's full-length story, "Dialstone Lane,"_ to their fifteenpenny reprints series (N.Z. price, Is. 9d.). Mr. Jacobs is not at his best in his long stories.butauything he writes is well worth reading. Amongst new Bodley Head novels announced in Mr. John Lane's Spring List are inoluded "Tho Bigamist," by F. Mills Young, who stories have generally a South African background; "Autumn," by Muriel Hine, who wrote "Earth" and "April Panhasard" ; and "Giddy Mrs. Goodlett," by Mrs. Horace Tremblett. Mr. Lane also announces nn English translation, "The Amethyst Ring," of Anatole Franco's "L'Annenu d'Amcthysle." Coulson Kernahan, at one time well known as a journalist and novelist, but of late somewhat in the background, has written his reminiscences. The title is "In Good Company," Mr. Kernahan is giving us personal recollections of Swinburne, Lord Roberts, Watts-Dunton, Oscar Wilde, Edward Whympor, Stephen Philips, and many other more or less famous people he has known. Mrs. Barbara Baynton, whoßO "Bush Stories" and "Human Toll" proved that this author possesses a singularly shrewd perception of the real spirit of Australian life, has a new hook, called Cobbers," coming out with Duckworths. Somo of the yarns in "Bush Stories" are reprinted, but other new ones are added. Cunningham Graham contributes an appreciative introduction, and Sir George Reid gives the book a puff preliminary. SoMeof the brightest and best writing done on the war has appeared ia "Blaokwood's Magazine," a periodical which would bo much hotter known, as it well deserves to be, in New Zealand, did not its publishers remain conservatively and as, I think, shortsightedly faithful to tho old price of half a crown instead of coming dowti to the moro popular and less prohibitive shilling. Regular readers of "Maga" will be glad to know that Blackwoods are reprinting in volume form the capital articles called "Tales of a tiaspipe Officer." Tho author is, I read, Major W. H. L. AVatson, who had already produced an admirable series of war sketches, "Adventures of a Dispatch Rider." A life of the late Mis. Robert Louis Stevenson is in course of preparation, the author being Mrs. '. Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, the late Mrs, Stevenson's sister. It is understood that the work is being undertaken with the full sanction of Mrs. Stevenson's son and daughter, Mr. Lloyd Osbourno and Mrs. Salisbury Field (formerly Isobol Strong). But surely wo havo heard quite enough, by this time, of Stevenson's wife and her relations. It was largely to support these latter that Stevenßon worked so hard—too hard— in the later years at Samoa, and it has long been an open secret that his clcatii was hastened thoroby. Sir Charles P. Lucas, the eminently correct old, gentleman, for many years at the Colonial Office, who visited New Zealand three or four years ago, has, I. read, a new work in hand for the Oxford .University Press, on "Tho Beginnings of English Overseas Enterprise." , The hook is to be largely coucerned with the ' history _ of'the Merchant Adventurers. But if one wants to read tho history of tho daring, if at tunes doubtfully moral (exploits of the pioneers in British overseas trading, why not go to first sources autl dip into "Hakluyt's Voyageß." Tho other cvoning 1 turned up one of tho eight handy little volumeoof the "Everyman Library" edition of the great Elizabethan, and

camo across an account of the adventures of' certain British merchant adventurers who made their way to Archangel. The story made specially interesting reading in these davs of a British-Russian alliance.