LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 110, 26 January 1918, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Some Cassell Gift Books. . A holiday absence from Wellington and pressure on my space must be Jield .responsible for a somewhat .belated notice of some excellent gift books pub-, lished by the famous House of Cassell, which reach >me per Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs.. Tho Australasian Boys' Annual for 1918 is a , handsomely produced, substantial volume, containing a wealth of. literature specially written for youthful readers. Amongst tho authors represented are Sir Harry EL Johnston, Captain F. S. Brereton, Captain F.' , 11. Shaw, Captain Charles Gilson, and Messrs. D. H. Parry, S. Walkloy and, Eric Wood. Besides stories of military and naval adventure, school lifo is well represented, and_ there are many, excellent articles oil-hobbies and other . subjects of interest to boys. Tho pictures, as Mrs. Gamp said of tiie "drinks" on a certain occasion, .."is all good," and include a number of.well executed illustrations, in colour. .. The holiday season, is approaching.its close, but hero is a book which will be welcome at any

season- of the year.' Parents and friends , of boys please' note. ■' ' .y Some months ago I referredlin'.dc'tail to that excellont publication "Princess Marie-Jose's Children's Book," which is published by Messrs. Cassell in aid of the Vestiaro Marie-Jose, a society founded under the patronage of Princess Marie-Jose-of Belgium for providing milk, fobd, and clothee to the babies behind the firing-line in Flaridcrs. The literary and artistic contents, for which leading English and Belgian ' authors and illustrators are responsible, nro of a very novel and interesting character. This is,, perhaps, the most beautifully illustrated of . all the special "War Books" published m aid of benevolent purposes. . .. . Two recent additions to "The Girls' Favourite Library," one of the many successful series of'gift books published by Cassells, are "The Girl Without Ambition," by' Isabel' Stuart -Rohson, and "The Lass of Riclimohd-Hill," by Augusta H. .Seaman... London and rural England are in turn 'tho background- of Miss Robson's story, in which a very charming love interest is developed,- While Miss .Sonman takes us across tho Atlantic,. + <\ New York, and introduces us to .some very jolly American pirle. the plat-of-the story turning upon iho- discovcrv' of an old manuscript which, wliei . its eryrjtic characters are deciphered,- is found to refer, to a I'.nriour. "and romantic episodn.in.the life, of George Washington. Both stnrios nro well writtrn, and.will lie fnur.d almo'sl-. ns internstinp , by adult as by' the youthful' readers for whom thny ni'o primarily intended. I ha"O also lo a<'l:no'.vledac ootids (if reCKtt- isSUPS of tVfIC nf Co^Sfill's serial publication. "CasseH's Magazino of Fiction. ,, "TlioNewMnga.ziiio," and "Tho Story Teller," containing a liberal simply of wliMesomo fiction and light reading generally.

Stopford Brooke. Tho late Stopford Brooke, the famous Anglican clergyman whoso private chapel—for in time he left tho official church—was generally so crowd')d,.. was. an intense book-lover. He was an ardent collector of --rare' editions, and his love of books was a passion, which romained with him to tho end. His biographer—his son : in-law, Dr. Jacks—tellst us how, when over eighty, and the war came, tho old man was not seriously perturbed. "Read me nothing about the war," ho said to his daughter, "road tho passages about- art and literature." I possess a copy of his "Essays on Four English Poets," a finely discriminative . and useful piece of literary criticism and appreciation. Stopford Brooke was as keen an art lover an a bookman. 11 o married a very wealthy lady who shared his tastes, and had a splendid collection of Turner's water-colours and etchings by Meryon, Whistler, and Seymour Iladcn in his houso in Manchester Sauare. Referring to tho desorip-

turn of his luxurious homo as given in tho biography, "Claudius Clear" in 'The British Weekly," si\ys:—

This reminds mo of tjio 'New England ucacou whoso minister lmd i procured u new carpet tor his test room'.. "Can you have all this and Heaven too?" said, tho deacon, There is j always that-; problem. Nobody has solved the problem of Heaven and tho carpet, but it niay be said with confidence that luxury dicPnot dull .Stopford Brooke's fine-spirit. ■'■■;■'

Brooke's clue'f literary production was his "Life of Robertson',—Kobertson of Brighton. In politics ho was a, strong Liberal, and one of tho first to lull the. rising star of Lloyd George. John Wilkes. ■ . English papers speak highly of the new "Life of John Wilkes," by Mr. Horace Blcackley, in which much new and interesting information is given (is to tho political and social life of tho famous Georgian demagogue and editor of tho "North Briton." -•--Mγ. Bleackley calls Wilkcs, the first English Radical. Ho gives an interesting aceoutt of Wilkes's relations with Dr. Johnson. Wilkes, it appears,' was responsible for a very clever retort to ii statement in Johnson's famous dictionary that- "the-letteiv,H seldom,-]>er-haps never, begins any.but tho first syllable." To this Wilkes replied:

The author of tins remark must bo a mau of quick' appre-hension and hensivo genius, but I can never forgive his un-handsome bo-haviour i»" the poor knight-hood, priest-hood, and widow-hood, nor his ■inhumanity to all .man-hood.■-,'

The offending- paragraph was afterwards cancelled. Although Wilkes was, as a politician, and in many other ways, repellant to that stout old Tory, the Lexicographer, they lived to meet at a dinner arranged by Boswell, and got on. very well together. Wilkes did tho Doctor a good turn in 1758, when-Johnson was greatly concerned that Francis Barber, his faithful black servant, had been seized by. a press gang and carried-on'board a man-of-war. Smollett, tho nevelist, .thereupon wrote to Wilkes, and asked him to intervene with the Admiralty, which tho > good-i\ature<] "Jack" at once did, and. Barber was released. Johnson was not--, the man to bear \permanent-ill-will. 'This is his , final summary: of tho famous WilkesJohnsoh'feud: -.'■ '»''"" • ;."

Did we : not hear so much sai/i of Jack Wilkes, we should think mofo highly of his conversation. Jack has; a great variety of talk, Jack is a scholar, and Jnck has the manners of a gentleman. But after hearing his fame sounded from polo to pole as the phoenix of convivial felicity, wo are disappointed in Iris company. He has always.been at me; but I would do Jack a kindness rather than not. The contest is now over.

I see by Mr. Snorter's.-notice of Mr. IHrittklcy's book in the . Sphere that, ono of Wilkes's lady friends was tho notorious Marianne Charpillon, who, .'as readers of that amusing, if morally unedifying -book,; ~thp ."Memoirs' of Casanova," may ( remehib'eiy -unmoroihiHy fleeced the famous Venetian adventurer, when, lie was in London in the days of the Regency. Stray Leaves. ■ The wur has evidently not lessened the circulation of our good old 'friend "Mr. Punch." I read that for the quarter ending June 30 the net sale of "Punch" was well over 100,000 copies, and that the advertising revenue showed an increase of over 25 per cent; for the lirst six months of 1917, as compared with the sanio period of 1916. "Punch," I read, is a. great favourite in the trenches. v Personally; I delight in. "Mr. Punch's" illustrations, although it seems to me that the- engraving is not so well dono ;,is when, say, Du .Maurier's best drawings wero being reproduced, but the letterpress I rarely look- at. It may be my bad taste, but it seems to me that tho humour of the articles and paragraphs is woefuly thin. I make an exception in the case of the Baron' de' Book Worms's reviews in brief. Thoy strike me as not only being very witty, but verv wise.

English papers record the death, late in October, of Mr. G. A.-Aitkeri, C.8,, Assistant-Secretary of £ho Home Office. Mr. Aitken, like so many other English Civil Servants, devoted his leisure to literary'pursuits, being an export on. eighteenth century literature. Hls'twbvolume "Life of Steele" is admittedly the best book ive have •. on that genial essayist. Ho also edited an edition of Defoe's works for Messrs. Dent. The fact may be recalled that Austin Dobson, Edmund Gosse, Clement Shorter, aud tho late Cosmo Moiikhou-o linve all, at one-tinio or another, bton Civil Servants. . ' ; ;\ Another death recorded in recent London papers is that of Mr. T. H. Kebbell, one of tho oldest of English journaliste—he was born as far back as 1823. /He was a ' stalwart Conserva.-'ti-ra. waiting for tho 'Tress," a paper" commonly associated with Disraeli, and later on a lender writer on the "Standard." He was also a frequent _ contributor to tho "Quarterly Review," and was a groat authority on Dβ Quincey.

The Christmas "Bookman," as usual a wonderful collection of good literature and interesting illustrations, contains an interesting biographical note on tho late Mr. G. H. Whitcombe. founder of the great bookselling and publishing firm of Whitcombo and 'I'ombs. . ■'

Thomas Hardy continues to give us hew collections of'his verse. The latest volume ig entitled "Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verse." Some of his war poems are very 'fine, but i would give tho whole of Hardy's poetic output (that splendid epic, "Tho Dynasts" not excluded) for just one short Wessex story. .Alas, the .poet-, novelist is now a very old man, and has forrually declared ho will writo no more notion.

The Bronte Society have prepared a Charlotte Bronto memorial volume, in commemoration of the centenary of the author of "Jano Eyre' , Among tho contonts aro appreciations and obher contributions by G. K. Chesterton, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Edmund Gosse,, A. O. Benson, Sir Sidney Lee, Professor Vaughan, and tho late . Richard 'Garnett. :. '■::.:/ :■: .■■:■

A second instalment of that amusing work, "The Diary of the Great Warr," by Samuel Pepys, Junior, has been published, and is warmly commended b.y English papers as a most entertaining and by no means uninstructivo picture of England in war time. Hodder and Stolighten are publishing a new volume of Lloyd George's speeches, entitled "Tbo Grcafc Crusade." Another war book which should be interesting is announced by tho samo firm. This is a collection of spceclios delivered during tho war period by Sir Robert Borden, who has shown such splendid loyalty and courage in his successful campaign for compulsory- service in Canada.