LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 10, 6 October 1917, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Britlingland. In the American "Bookman" (Aujrust number) there is a long and interesting article entitled "Brillingland," which should be read by all who have read and enjoyed Mr. H. G. Wells's very popular novel "Mr. Britling Sees It Thro'ujh." The writer, a, Mr. E. Blunt, tolls us that what ho calls "Britlingland," the background of Mr. Wells's story, is, in reality, the Dunmow distriot in the uplands of Essex, on,- the borders of Cambridgeshire.- Mr. Wells has a country house at Little Easton, the "Matchings Easy" of the novel, and most ■ of tho characters in the book are taken from originals ivho are the novelist's nelgliTiburs, friend's, or acquaintances. Thus, ffie "Mr. Laurence Carmine" of the is identified with Mr. Lancelot Cranmer-Byng, who, eays Mr. Blunt, lived for some years at Horham Hall, and "began twenty years ago to lay the foundation , of Britlingland by having al fresco house parties at hie picturesque mansion, where ghost stories were acted and their foine was spread to literary circles in ton'tTon." The "Colonel Rendezvous" of the story is Lieut.General the Hon. Sir Julian. Bjng, 'K.C.8., end "Mr. Manning," the journalist, is none other than Mr." R. D. Blumenfield, editor' of'the "Daily Express," whose country week-end retreat is at Cjrpat where.also resides another well-knoirn. literary man. Mr. S. L. Benfiuson. people well known in Flout Street who have found rest in Bvitlingland are Dβ Vero Sfaepoole, the inithor of "The Blue Lagoon," lU>. Gwynne, at one time editor of the "Morning Post," and Robertson Scott; whilst amongst Mr. Wolls's neighbours were Conrad Noel, the Christian Socialist, and the Countess of Warwick, who has a fine country seat at Easton Lodge. Mr. Blunt says:

Mr. Wells Jias taken his characters literally by the scruff of the neck otit of his neighbours houses and put them in ,his book. From this one he has taken something:, to that he has added, but, all found, they aro as God made them, to bo recognised by all and sundry, though, of coursei their conversations aTe not thoir own, but Mr. Wells's. His own "house, at tittle Baston, is described as faithfully as if it had been photographed—the lawn where the famous hockey matches arc played, the old barn with its lovely beams, the water garden, and tho park beyond jSelonginE to Easton Lodge, where lives "Lady Homaiton," who may or may not be Lady Warwick. Mr. Blunt also .tells us that "Gladys," the famous American motor-car which figures so prominently in the openinj? chapters, -was Mr. Wells's own motor. The whole article is most interesting, and I is illustrated with some charming photographs of Britlingland scenes.

John Buchan's Verso. Colonel John Buchan, publishers' inana. ger, novelist, historian of the war, and soldier, has recently published a volume of verse, "Poems, Scots, and English, dedicated "to 'my * brother '• Alastair Buchan, Lieutenant Eoyal Scota, Fusiliers, who fell at Arras on Easter Monday, 1917, under bis country's, triumphant ilag." The Scots poems are, like those of Mr. Charles Murray, of "Hamewith lame written in "braid Scots," the dialect of the hill, country of tho Lowlands, from the Cheviots to Galloway. In an appreciative note on Colonel Buchan'e poems, that exceptionally com-petent-judge of Scots poetry, "Claudius Clear," otherwise Sir William Robert; son Nicol, of the "British Weekly,, selects for special praise a war poem, "On Loave," in which a soldier, after eighteen months of the war, gets home for a week. Ho sleeps two days m his bed, and the third day he -tanes bis child. Then he wanders out to tho hill and meditates: "TJp frae the' howe o' the glen Cam the murmur o' wells that creep To swell the heids o' tho burns, And the kindly voices o' sheep. "And tho cry o' a whaup on the wing, - And a plover seekin' its bicldAnd oot o , my crazy luge Went the din o tho battlefield. "I Hang me doun on my knees, And 1 prayed as my hert wad break, And I got my answer sune, For oot o' tho nicht God epake: "As a man that wanks frae a. stound And kens but a, single thoclit, Oot o' the wind and the nicw. I got tho peace that I socht. . ■ "Loos and the Lammerlaw, Tho battle was Jeucht in birth. Death was roond and a'bune, But life in tho hert o' death. "A' the warld was a grave, ' But the graßß on the graves was Rieen, And the stance were biolde tor hemes, And tUs laddies played atween. ."Kncelin' aside the cairn On the heather and thymr spd. The place I had kenned «» a bairn, I made my peace wi' God. Prom oue of Colonel Buchan's English poems-"high-hearted and melodious they aro styled by Claudius Clear-1 take tho following fine strong lines, written before tho war: "■Breasting Uw serried spears of fate. Broken and spent, yet joyous »"»■ Matching apiinet the blind wprW s hate Tho stark battalions of hie will:— "Whoeo hath ears, to him shall fall. When stars are hid and hopes nre dim, To hear tho heavenly voices call. And, faint aud far, tho cosmic liymn"Tbat hymn of peace when wars ore done. Of joy which brcake through tears or pain, Of dawns beyond the westering Bim, Of skica clear shining after rain.

Evidently C&loncl Ruchan's latest book should not be overlooked by lovers of good poetry. Anatolo France, Mi 63 Miircello Loroy recently visited Anatole Francfc, now living in retirement at his beautiful oighlcenth-century country house at St.. CyMur-Loiro, a short distanco from the ancient city cE Tours. Sho writes to Mr. John Lane-'a always

entertaining monthly, "Tie Bodleian," lhat though getting on in years she found the Master us keen and siert as ever, and deeply interested in the 7iew3 from across tlio Channel. Ho loves to be surrounded by his friends. Among hie guests were the Paris correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian," Itobert Dell, and If.' Salvador, a wounded Trench poilu, who has been staying , for some time, with Anatole France, and who is not anxious to get well too soon and to have to abandon his warm-heart-ed hospitality. Miss Leroy, I notice, gives an authoritative denial to the rumour which has been going abroad that Anatole France "is contemplating a return to tho Church of-Koine." On the Threshold of the Unseen.

In a volume bearing the above title Sir William Barrett, who, thirty-live years ago was one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research, gives many curious, and : somo quite astounding, instances of alleged communication "with the dead. He devotes special attention to what he styles "automaticwriting." He admits that the greater pnrt of these communications received in "automatic writing" are "probably traceable to tho subliminal self," andi ho compares them, appositely, with the interesting records of "muliiplo personality." Some of the special cases quoted (and warranted to bo "carefully verified") by Sir William Barrett ajs evidence of the survival of personality after death aro oven more extraordinary than those, sot forth in Sir Oliver Lodgo'e much-discussed "Eaymond, or Lifo After Death." I quote two of these- cases :-~ A sitter received a message from ber cousin, an officer recently killed in Prance: "Tell mother to give my pear) tie-pin to tho girl I was going to marry/' Then tho nnino. and surname were sndi out, one a very unusual ' name; The sitter was unaware of her cousin's'engagement, but. the names aiul facts, were found to be correct, and a pearl tie-pin was duly found in the. officer's effects. Another very interesting case, though less evidential, is that of Sir Jlngh Lane, who was drowned on the. At a sitting on the evening of llio disaster a message was. received: "Pray for the soul of Hugh Lane," followed by account of the sinking- of the ship. The sitters knew, that the Lusitania wan sinking , , but. they did not know that Sir Hugh lane was on board!

R.L.S. on Mrs. Humphrey Ward's Novel 3. I should scarcely have thought, of Rohevt Louis Stevenson as an admirer of Mrs. Humphrey Ward's novels, but it .appears that he had a high opinion of one of tho earlier of Mrs. Ward's stories, "Marcella." In. a. catalogue of autograph letters on sale by Messrs. Moggs. Brothers there was recently published an extract from a letter of Stevenson's to Mrs. Ward, acknowledging a copy of "Maycella" sent him by tho author. Stec:n. Eon writes: —

"I have to thank you very much," prote Stevenson to Mrs. Ward, "for the kind, attention you ha-vo paid mo, not only in sending me your hook, but in writine a. dedication with your own hand. . . . I need not eay'l have read 'Marcolla with pleasure, but upon ouo point it is necessary I should express my admiration. _ I mean-X am afraid to seem so stunid-tho moral. You have infinitely more courage than I. and (I should think) more morals. 1 have devised and even attempted modern novels before now-and always tot aground in the siime shpdl. Tho business plunges you immediately into the problems of the future, and I cannot touch upon these without bccomine—what is the word? unsettling, let us say :t»« wish to be polite-immoral; we , may. no aled to admit in -private Morals are a traditional thine; wo can. only bo.ll.oral on what wo thoroughly understand; we can only know our ancestral mmda in what is not only, liquid but eoIkK And, indeed, I "very much admired :tho art— or is it the virtue?-by which you'seem to have touched on all these biirninc matters with, equal justico and "discretion. I not only admired. I envied it; but It was an impotent envy."

Xhe Song of the Fallen. Whilst looking up last weak Mr. Hodgson's "lime, the Caravan," m 'Poems of To-day," I happened across eomo beautiful verses by Laurence Bmyon which appeared originally, I believe, in the London "Times." but which I do not think have been repubhslied in tins country:— Willi proud thanksgiving, a mother lor her children , England mourns for her dcftd across tho Hesh S ol'her flceh they were, spirit cf her Fallen in the cause of the free. They -went with songs to the batUe.Vthey Straight of-limb, true of *ye, steady and They"were staunch to the end against odds They D feU with thpir faces to tho foe. They shall .hot grow old, as. we that are Age^BhaiTnot.weary them, nor the years condemn* At the going down of the sun and in '.he . morning, Wo will remember them. They mingle not with, their laughing comThey sit no vmoro at familiar tables ol They have'no lot in our laborir of the dayThey' Bleep beyond England's foam. But where our desires die and cur hopes, profound, '~,_., Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from To the B inncrmost heart of their own land they aro known As the stai's aro known to the night; As tho stars that shall bo ) right, when wo are dust, , Moving in marohes npon the heavenly plain, i' ' '■ . . As tho stars that are -starry in the timo •'. of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain. i more pathetic yet beautiful fiimilo than ithat expressed in tho last two verses could scarcely be imagined. And although written of the gallant English liuls who went out to France in 1914, Mr. Binyon's eloquent words are equally applicable to our own dear boys who crossed long leagues of ocean to fight in Egypt and Gallipoli, aye, and to thoso who have gone to trance.

The Twilight of the Gods. Mr.' H. G. Weils evidently has a high opinion of that curious book "The Twilight of the Go'ds," by the late Hichard Garnett so lons "Keeper of the Printed Books" at the British Museum. The boot was if I remember rightly, first published as a volume of .Mr. John.Lanes, "Keynotes" series, iu which so many clever books made tlioir first appearance. In "Tho New Machiavelh" Mr. Wells wrote "Britten's father had delighted bis family by reading aloud Dr. Garnotts •Twilight of the Gods,' and Britten conveyed the preoious volume to me. Again, in "Mr. Britlirig Sees It Through, Mr.Wolle writes: And there is a book.. I once looked into it at a, man's rooms m London; I den t Itnow the title, hut it was by Richard Gar■fia!S it was all about eofojfto-W" in but am ast Bunnyniflurcsauo scenery. Scenery without fltcel ft pX « *irc. A thing .fler the manjict of Heine's "Florentine Nishts.

Stray Leaves. ttitlgwell Cnlliim has a. good many readers in Now Zealand. His latent story, to bo published by Chapman and Hall, has the Yukon for its background.. Love and Hatred" is quite tho moving picture title of Mrs. Belloc Lowmlcs'e new story, also published by Chapman announco new stones by Mov . »X n "«' "The Ginsv KinK, and by Basil Mnjr, ■4t Hrl, Heart." Very few Chapman novels ever seen, to rood, tho New Zenland bookshops nowadays: at least, not i V;e"^ t war'be^ h fßl,c kW ood' B Sf "Eve Witness" nnd other writere have been equally popular. For som.o months

past "The Adventures of An Ensign," By "Vedette," being a record of service with the Guards on tho Western. Front, have been running in Blackwood, find have attracted much attention. They <vro now, 1 notice, to be collected, and published in book form. A new indictment of the German War Lords, bv the anonymous author of the famous J'Accuse," is to be published in an English edition by Hoddcrs.. The title is "The Crime;" The well-known Canadian novelist, Ralph Connor, who is now serving as a chaplain with the Canadian forces in Prance, has written a "war romance" entitled "The Major." Methuen's announce two new novele, "Anne Lulworth;" by Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick, and "Drones," a new comedy of artistic life, by that always amusing writer, Mr. William Caine. A recently published novel, "The Loom of Touth,"' by Alec .Waugh, is praised by several Home papers for its sensational pictures of English public school life. Mr. Seccombo, who -writes an introduction to the story, vouches for the fact that Mr. Waugh was only seventeen and still at school when he wrote it. He then went to Sandhurst and is now in France. The book is already in its second edition. Several English papers warmly commend a volume Of essays and sketches by E. B. Oshorn, entitled "The Maid With Wings, and Other Fantasies, Gravo nnd Gay." The author is a well-known writer on tho lonOon "Mornirig-Post," in which the sketches now,collected originally appeared. He was one pt "HeiiKy's young men" on Kffi "NationaT Observer," and dedicates liis book "to tiic powerful spade of WIE.H., under whom I . served a joyous apprenticSdhip inletters." It is sonie time now eince we had a now book from Mi-. A. ; E. W. Mason, whose "Open Roa-1," "Four Feathers," and so many other excellent novels have fTeen so popular. A collection of short EtoTtes "from Mr. Mason's pen is now announced under the titlo "The Four Corners of the World." Horace Vachcll's latest novel, "Fishpingle," which is having a big vogue in the Old Country, is founded on his play of tho same name. A. low weeks ago I referred to-the incidont in tho Chinese AVar of 1859, when the American' Commodore Talnall declared (as he went to Hie help of some British sailors'on the. Peiho) (haf; "blood is thicker than .water." It has now benn pointed out that Whittle!" expressed tho same Bcntiraent in ono of his poems: "Thicker than water , ' in ono rill Through centuries of elory, Onr fiaxon blood has'flowed, and still We share with yon the good and ill, Tho shadow and the glory. . The linc3 were -very felicitously quoted by Mr. Joseph. Chamberlain, on uno of his visits to the States.