LIBER'S NOTE BOOK.
Ambrose Bierce's Stories,
A New York firm, whose name, Boni and Liveright, is new to me, is issuing a well-printed edition of that remarkable book of war etorics-war episodes would perhaps bo a bettor term— "In the. Midst of Life," by Ambroso Biercc. Bierce's stories arc -unadulterated realism, those of the American Civil War being the most notable. As far back as tho Victorian- 'seventies his books were pirated in England. I remember rejoicing, as a boy reader, in a book of grim humour by him, written under the nom de plume of "Dod Grile.'' rive or six years ago a collected edition (six volumes) of bis work was published in Amctica in rather expensive form, but much of the work was mere journalism, clever journalism, no doubt, but scarcely worth preservation in book form. The new edition is to consist of four or five volumes containin.? his best work._ Some of his political satires were positively ferocious, but they treat so much of ephemeral subjects as to be rather dull reading nowadays. Bierce, who, if he bo still living, would be seventy-six, disappeared from San Francisco in 1914, it being rumoured that lie had joined Villa's forces in Mexico. In 1015 he was reported dead, but since then rumour has credited him with being engaged on special work for the British General _ Staff, with being special "military adviser to the Mikado of Japan," and, finally, with being hale and hearty in Paris, where he has placed his -military knowledge gained in the Civil War at the disposal of the French Government. Be he dead or alive, Bierce's books contain some of the finest short stories ever written, and if the new American edition be only reasonably priced it should havP a good sale out here, where Bierce's fine work is still far less known than it might bo. For the Bookman's Scrap Book. Few who read the essentially realistic fiction of Mr. Jiupert Hughes, whoso stories of New Yorlc life havo in particular been so popular, know that in Lis earlier literary career ho devoted far moro attention to verse than to fiction. ] n the course of an interesting survey of latter-day American verse, published in a New York journal recently, Professor Lyon l'helps reprints tho following imaginative and delightful lilies by Mr. Hughes, entitled "With a First Bender"': Dear little child, this little book la less a ]>rinier than a key To sunder gates where, wonder waits Tour "o]>eu Scsauic!" These tiny syllables look largo; They'll fret your wide, bewildered eyes; But "Is tho cat upon tho mat?" Is passport to tho skies. For, yet awhile, and you shall turn From Mother Goose to Avon's swan; From Mary's lamb to grim Khayyam, And Jlancha's mad-wise Don. You'll writhe at .Tcan Yaljcan's disgrace; And D'Artagnan and Ivnnlioe Shall sttfal your sleep; and you shall weep At Sidney Carton's -woe. You'll find old Chaucer young once moro, Beaumont and Fletcher fierce with fire; At your demand, John Hilton's hand Shall wake his ivory lyre. And learning other tongues, you'll learn All times are one; all men, one race; Hear Homer sneak, as (Ircok to Circeli; See Dante, face to face. Anna virnnuiuc shall resound-, And his rhymes afresh; You'll rediscover Laura's lover; Meet flretchen in the flesh, Oh. could I find for the first lime Tho "Churchyard Elegy" again I Kctaeto tho sweets of new-found Keats; Itoad Byron now as thont
Make haste to wander these old roads, 0 envied littlo parvcuu: For <til things trite shall leap alight And hloom again for you 1 Slray Leaves. Those who know their Pepys will remember how frequent are tho Diarist's references to the trouble ho had with his eyesight—a troublo which was eventually responsible for the cessation of tho task in which tho gossiping Samuel took such unfeigned delight. In the firstvolume of "Papers of tho Pepys Club" (for, liko Omar Khayyam and Johnson, tho Diarist has had a club founded ill his honour) there is an interesting statement l>y a Air. Po«vr that had Pepys chanced (o sit upon iho "lube speciacall" of paper which his oculist provided so that ho must read through,
lie would then liavo found his eye strain removed; his acute mind would havo set itself to detcrmino tlio cause; lie would liavc pasted slips of hlack paper on each Eido of his glasses, and the Diary might havo been continued to the end of his life; whilst tile paper ho would certainly have read upon the subject before the Koyal Society would have added still greater Justro to his name, and might Juivc revolutionised the laws of dioptrics. As to what Pepys himself thought as he closed his Diary all may read for themselves in tlio last pago or that immortal ' human document. To cease writing up his Diary "was almost as much as to seo myself go into lny grave." As a matter of fact, Samuel Ihed on for over thirty years, dying in 1703, five years after Dutch William had como lo reign at that: AVhitehall whore the keeueved and keener-Kired Secretary; to the Admiraltv had waited upa.'i his chief, the Duko" of York, and witnessed tlio gay dalliance of the Merry Monarch with tlio fair Castlemainc, the lovely lonise do Quorouaillo, and others of that host ot fair but frail ladies whose portrait.? by Sir Peter Lely hang to-day at Hampton Court. 'Thero has recently been published at Milan a volume of Casanova s correspondence, fhe editor being the famous Italian litterateur, Professor M.olmeuu, whose books on Venice arc so well known. 'When the war is over we shall probably have an Knglish translation ot flie nook* The complete Knglish translation of the famous—or in.famou>s? —"Mcliioii es do Casanova" (said to havo been done by the poet Ernest Dawson), now brings as much as twelve to fifteen guineas.
Of course, chacun a son gout, but some editors do scorn to make miriniis selections. Thus, in a volume of ' Century Essays," edited by tJiat clever and. as a .rule, soundly ciiticnl writer, Georgo Sampson, I fiiul !Macanlay represented by his essay on "Kantes History of tho Popes," Buskin by 'Mr Joshua and Holbein," Newman by "Literature, Matthew Arnold by "Mareus Aura hus, Onrlylo by tho essay "On .IFis'iotj, Stevenson* by "A Penny Pliun and Jwo« nonce Coloured." But surely Macaulay is scarcely at his best in his essay on Iho Papaov. Rather would I choose the way on "Milton," on "Johnson," or on "Warren Hastings." In Carlvle I would voio for "The Diamond jSeclclaec, with its marvellous presentment of t.»o ancion regime in tho period of its decadence. From Newman I would tnko a part of "The Grammar of Assent," or a long extract from tho "Apologia" and.from Matthew Arnold a selection Iron-. •Literature and Dogma." In Stevenson my choi'cc would lay between Ordered South," 0110 of tho earliest and most beautiful of all Picvenion's essays, or hw biographical study, "Some Aspects of Robert Burns," 'or the delightiul <jo--sip on iiomaiice." Hut, after all, all books of selections, all anthologies. serve a pood purpose, if only th~y stimulate their readers to dip more, deeply into tho works of men who luvc prcduced good and noble literature. And how deep and rich, how little explored by tho averago, evoryday reader. is tho mine of English literature of t lie past. I«'or nearly ninety years General von Clausewitz'a work on "\\ar' has been a classic very litllo read in Lnglish countries, mainly because tho translation is involved and heavy, to say nt liing of the fact that the work, in it : unabridged form, runs into five volumes. MajorGeneiral T. D. Pilcher, C.8., has just completed a precis of tho book, under the title of "AVar According to Clansewitz, in which tho editor offers his own comments, with tho object of clarifying many of tho moro difficult passages. Gissells aro tho publishers.
■When Walter Savage Laiulor was a young nuin ho served as a volunteer with Don Joachim Blanke's army in Northern Spain, and describes his adventures in a series of letters, afterward published in a very small edition (tlierf is only one copy known to exist to-d.r.A, entitled "Letters to liiquelme." Sonic one lias recently inspected the vol we, which is in the South Kensington Museum, and noted the fact thnt lander refers 111 one letter to "The King of Prussia, in whose familv tliera never was a gentleman'! Certainly AYillielm of Hohcuollern is living up io tho family tradition.
. "India Under Experiment" is tho title of a work, written by Mr. George M. Chosney, and published "by John Murray, which 'is of special concern lo all who tiro interested in the fuitur© of Britain s great Eastern Empire. A measuro involving fawroacliing changes in the system of government of India was mentioned in the cable messages last week as being about to ba brought forward by the Imperial Government. The purpose of Mr Chesney's book is to forecast, and explain tho nature of the contemplated changes, with their possible serious consequences.
No man in England has written more pungently and convincingly about tho base trea'clierv and general defiance of all the laws of humanity of the Huns than has Bobert Blatchford, editor of the well-known Socialist journal "The Clarion." Mr. Blatchford's book "General von Sneak," is a strong indictment of Prussian military methods. This latest study of tho Great "War "by a peaceloving man who detests war, but who, nevertheless, is a bitter opponent of the half-and-half peace that tho Philip Snowdens and llamsay Macdonalds would fain liavo tho Allies accept, has made a great Kit in the Old Country.
AVhatevcr AV. 11. Malloelc writes on poiilico-economic questions is worth reading, although his books usually provoke wide discussion from different points of view. The author's recentlypublished lrcatise,\"Tho Limits of Pure Democracy," is to be followed by a new book, ontitled "Capital, AVar, and Wages: Three Questions in Outline, the arguments of which aro applications to current events of tho general principles set forth at length in tho first-mentioned work.
poems and essays of his earlier period many of my readers will gratelully remember, makes tin excursion into what is, ior him, an entirely new world, .His stow is a full-blooded, well-written nairative of it treasure-hunting expedition to the Bahamas. Mr. Le Gallienuo ifive.s his readers a ricli feast of exciting adventure, ami puts to good uso what: is evidently a close and intimate knowledge of tho lovely tropical islets' onco the resort, stud refugo of Kidd, Morgan, and other o'kl-liuto buccaneers, and no r higiily favoured as a- held tor yachting excursions by wealthy Americans. Unlike Stevenson, Mr. La CiaLlienno does not tear "tho intruding petticoat,'' and his heroine, a girl of 1: rencli extraction, tho daughter of a but cccentric philosopher-recluse, who lias retired front tho busy wurld or cities .mil crowds to lead a mnro peacotul esisienco on a lovely coral island, is an exceedingly charming character. Ute villain of the story, an educated negro, who is consumed by hatred of the wiiite race, and who dreams of a negro lic to embrace tho whole oi tho i.e-.i .Indie", j s a strongly-drawn hsure, m ho delineation of which the au.lii'i displavs a hitherto unsuspected insight into human psychology. The local colour of tho storv is wholly delightful. ..I lie publishers are to be congratulated tipon tho fnto clear print and tin- excellent paper of-tho bonk. Apparently they at least are not sttUeriiig Iroui shui'iau'.' ot high-cas-s paper.
A second Collins "fenny Scot's ; Treasure." is from tho woil-praeiis.-d pen of Frederick Xiven, whoso "Ellen Adair, "Juslico of tho .Peace," and, in a very dill'erent vein, "The Porcelain Lady, wero all three novels oi quita ciceptional literary merit. Jn his latest slory -Mr. Xiven takes us to tho Canadian Xort.iWest. The story oldains ils tilio from a rich vein of gold discovered by an ececntric, wmulering Scotsman, kmiivii to his ftllow-prospectora and fur-irappers as I'enny Scot and who' ltacl mysteriously disappeared. Tho two heroes ol the story, who set themselves tho apparently hopeless task of finding tho old prospector—and his treasure - are both tine fellows, who richly deserve the reward they reap. The 'chief villain of the fitory lind a subordinate rascal, who follow closely on the track of' the Irca-siire-hiintcrs, of whose exact mission they are, however, unaware, are even more powerfully drawn than are tho heroes, il'oor I'enny Scot had, it appears, been foully murdered by tho elder of the scoundrels, and with tho discovery of the treasure came that of the murderer's guilt, a guilt which eventually drives him lo insanity and a tragic ond. The story is less * thickly packed with lurid incident than is usual villi this class of iiction, and there is a welcome p.bscnen of any savour of melodrama. The strength of tho story lios moro in its analysis of human character and in its quiet though intensely impressive exposition of tho workings of human passions Like' Mr. Le Gallienne, Mr. Xiven introduces a sentimental interest. But it is quito subsidiary to the main story. Tho devotion, of a young Indian girl, of which one of tho adventurers is the object, is very delicately but convincingly suggested. Mr. ftiveii'a story may seem to some readers to sulVor from an cxcess of restraint, but it is a lino pieeo of work, and is specially strong in its characterisation.
Another story of the Canadian Far North is Mr. Jackson Gregory's "WolfBreed," a title which may seem to suggest a. canine hero of the type made familiar by Air. Oliver Cunvood (in "Kazan, the Woir-Dog"), and tho late. Jack London, It deals, however, with human hoiugs and human passions, and not with canine psychology. Its hero, "No Luck" Urenneu, from whom Damo Fortune had long averted her face, eventually ''strikes it rich," so "rich" indeed tlmt he •can. alford to defy successive cajoling and bullying by tlio' representative of a wealthy mining trust, which vainly endeavours to get control of the Cud. Drcnucn has a bard fight to keep his treasure and to win tlie love of the beautiful French girl, Ygerue, for men of the "wolf-breed" are all too numerous at M'Leod's Settlement. Ho triumphs, however, over two sinister desperadoes, gamblers, thieve 3, and ruffians generally, named Lcmare and Scfton, finding ' some good mid true ' friends in the rough but good-liearled "Kootamc George,' a giant backwoodsman, and in the genial and kiiullv old French h'torekeeper, Pore Marquette. Also he is aided, all unaware for a time of his friend's identity, by his own long-lost: father, thc'TOiuanee of whose eiirlv life becomcs intenvined with that of lr'i.s son. Mr. Gregory's story goes willi a fine swing throughout, and is generously productive of the in which lovers of fiction of this kind find delight.
Reviews of Mr. Bernard Capcs's new novel, "Where England Hatli Her Feet" (Collins ami Co.). Sir Eider Haggard's Infest story, "Love Eternal" (Cased Is), and Miss Isabel Pcacoek's "Cinderella's Suitors" (Ward, Lock), are hold over until next week.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 288, 24 August 1918, Page 11
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2,505LIBER'S NOTE BOOK. Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 288, 24 August 1918, Page 11
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