BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 126, 25 February 1928, Page 27

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

.(By •'

"LIBER.")

Give a man a pipe he can smoTce, Give a man a hook he can read: And his home is bright with a calm delight Though the room be poor indeed.

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Lord Balfour's Speeches. That the Balfouriau mind, the mind of a great Englishman, who is now quite an old man, is still amazingly alert, that the line intellect, whose brilliant achievements in the later years of the Victorian reign, is still as acute as ever, will be seen at once b.v those who peruse some of the speeches and addresses delivered by Lord Balfour of quite recent years, as set forth in a volume entitled, “Opinions and Arguments from Speeches and Addresses of the Earl of Balfour, 1910—1927” (Hodder and Stoughton). It is rather curious that the very first speech in the book, the contents of which have been selected and edited by Lord Balfour’s niece, Airs. Edgar Dugdale, a speech delivered on his resignation of his party’s leadership in 1911, should contain the great statesman's declaration that he was nearing an age when he could hardly hope to adapt himself to changing times, conditions, and circumstances. For, although much water has flowed under Westminster Bridge since 1911, his subtle and mobile mind has clearly been newly attuned to new conditions. The speeches recorded cover only the period since 1910, but they constitute a splendid record of solid work, sane thought, a warm patriotism, and a wide grasp of not onlj’ purely British and Imperial, but most international questions. The salient quality of sound thinking, is still allied to outbursts of that destructive criticism evidenced so prominently at an earlier age, when Lord Balfour was the pride of the Conservatives, although there were times when his philosophic turn of mind was scarcely grasped by not a few members of what his and their political opponents were wont to style—for the most part ver,y unfairlj-—"the stupid party." The speeches, addresses, etc., here collected are grouped into various sections, including "Personal and Other Memories,” “A Political Miscellany,” "The Modern State,” “Imperial Affairs," and last, but assuredly not least, "Zionism." His fine tribute, at the opening of the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, a little over two years ago, to the singular quality of the Jewish mind, may well be recalled by an extract from what on all sides was greeted as a memorable piece of oratory In the last few years there have been three theories, all relating to different branches of science. . . .. One of these is the philosophic theory known generally as the theory of creative evolution, and the author of that is my friend Air. Bergson, a great philosopher and a Jew. Another theory much talked of, or, rather, another group of theories, constitute what is called the new psychology. The author of that is my friend, also a Jew. The third theory, the most comprehensive, the most original and the most important of all, is the theory of relativity. That, as we know, is largely the work of Air. Einstein, a mathematical genius of the first order, who is also a Jew. The volume should find a place alongside that published last year recording some of the more important and best speeches of the late Lord Oxford, as Mr. Asquith. (New Zealand price, 165.). Malaya. A most usefully informative description of what is, to many New Zealanders, a little-known part of the world, is given in “Malaya; An Account of its People, Flora, and Fauna,” by Alajor C. AL Enriquez, F.R.G.S., 2/20 Burma Rifles ("Theophilus"), which has just been published by Hurst and Blackett. Alajor Enrequcz gives a very compact, and, for most purposes, sufficiently de-

tailed, account of Alalayan history, of the rise of Malacca, of the part played in the history of the Peninsula by the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and British, and, by no means least, by the pirates who for so many years fairly swarmed in the adjacent waters. The author also sketches the fascinating story of Borneo, Perak and Selangor, and writes at some length upon the curious fauna and the often very gorgeous flora of the region ; of the Malays themselves and of the general progress of the Peninsula and its industries in British Alalaya. Accompanying the author's evidently carefully compiled historical record and descriptive account of the country and people, are a lengthy series of illustrations taken from photographs, many of which are extremely beautiful. (N.Z. price 275. Gd.) A Great Composer’s Letters, There is no questioning the fact that Richard Wagner was a musical genius of outstanding ability, and as such there has probably been no modern composer to whose letters a more intense interest has ever attached. The publication, therefore, of “The Letters of Richard Wagner,” an English translation of the selection edited by Wilhelm Altmann, made by AL AL Bozinau, and nowpublished by Alessrs. J. AL Dent and Sons, in two volumes of their excellent “International Library of Books on Alusic,” was very desirable. Herr Altmann has been guided in the choice of material for the work by the primary intention that the “Letters" should form a supplement to Wagner’s own great autobiography, “Aly Life.” lhe autobiography closes prematurely with Wagner’s summons to the Court of King Ludwig the Second of Bavaria, but the selector and editor of the “Letters” has wisely considered it desirable to include letters illustrating Wagner’s life after May, 1864. In a prefatory note, Air. A. Eaglefield Hull says that by means of the “Letters" in the two volumes now published, we now have the great composer’s life illustrated right up to the end of ISS3. Wagner, he says, "was, as a man, by no means as seraphically white as he and his friends would have us believe, nor was he so black as recent denigratory biographers have painted him.” The "Letters," apart from the ever-interesting light thrown upon the musical views and work of the Alaster, illustrate his manysided character, alike as husband, lover, and in many other phases of his much varied character. The illustrations, of which there are a large number, include portraits of members of the Wagner family, his friends, of both sexes, his musical acquaintances, etc. Printed in fine clear large type, “The Letters of Richard Wagner” constitute one of the most important contributions to musical literature ever published. (Two vols., 275. Gel.) Two Great Englishmen.

Two excellent biographical and critical works, on Sir Isaac Newton, whose bicentenary was celebrated last year, and Chaucer, the first of our great English poets, have already been published by the firm of Alethuens, wliosc very name on a title page of a new book, the wise reader has learnt to connote closely with good editing, and typographical and literary excellence. "Newton’s Life,” a brief account of his life and work, is written by .Dr. S. Brodetsky, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Leeds University. His object has been to combine an account of the life and personality of Newton with a clear and easy statement of his great scientific achievement, his wonderful discoveries of the germ of universal gravitation, his fine work "Puncipia,” both so widely famous, and whose services to the nation, of which he was so distinguished a son, as guardian of the Nation’s Courage, were so great, and whose recognised position

during his later life as "Doyen of British Science,” lent such undying honour to his name. (New Zealand price

'1 he University of Leeds has also been honoured by the authorship of Air. George 11. Cowling, Lecturer in English at the Northern University, of an exhaustive study of “Chaucer” (Methuen and Co.). Air. Cowling provides a biographical account of Chaucer and a critical examination of the poet’s work which, it is claimed, is indispensable to the student of English literature. Air. Cowling re-creates Chaucer as a man of affairs, and, as a student, drinking deeply of the wells of mediaeval poetry and philosophy. The author’s criticism of Chaucer’s poetry— I am glad to see Air. Cowling is duly and properly appreciative of Dr. Walter Skeat’s fine Oxford edition of the poet —is both interpretative and stimulating, containing several new Chaucerian discoveries, amongst which an explanation of the symbolic meaning of the “Comphiintc of Mars” is of special interest. The illustrations, including a facsimile, much reduced, of course, of a page of the famous Ellesmere .Manuscript, arc well chosen, but I should have liked to see included a reproduction of either Blake’s or Stothard's fine engraving of “The Canterbury Pilgrims.” (New Zealand price Bs.)’ In Central Asia. How self-sacrificing and truly noble in character can be some of the many devoted European ladies who have deemed it their mission in life to carry the “good news” of the Christian religion into the “furthermost parts of the Earth,” as workers of the China Inland Mission, those who have read details of the chaos which has, alas, reigned in China of late years must surely have recognised. The writers of a recentlypublished book of travel, “Through the Jade Gate and Central Asia” (Constable and Co.), Alisses .Mildred Cable and Francesca French, who had long worked at Hwochow, in the service of the China Inland Mission, describe how they journeyed to England in 1923 in company of Aliss Evangeline French, by way of the Gobi Desert, Turkestan, Southern Siberia, and Moscow. At first their journey, full of incident and punctuated by obstacles, met and overcome with admirable patience and true British pluck, was by mule litter, Peking cart, and the Siberian and Turkestan taraiitass. The length of their journey can be seen by a note on their arrival at Kanchow: “We had already come about 1500 miles since leaving the railhead," and they had still quite a similar distance, and more, to travel. On the whole, their journey made them appreciative, of the friendly, helpful character of the peoples with whom they. made close acquaintance on their way across Central Asia. That they came across customs and beliefs, strangely foreign to all Western ideas, goes without saying, hut their naturally high intelligence, truly Christian character, and unfailing patience, helped them not a little in seeing good underlying what were at first inexplicable views and ways. Also all three ladies were evidently endowed with a keen sense of humour. Dr. Stuart Holden, of the China Inland Alission, contributes an introduction, and there are many interesting illustrations from photographers. (N.Z. 12s. (id.)

LIBER’S NOTE BOOK

To Correspondents. "J.AL” (Wanganui).—Nearly all Austin Dobson’s prose writings, the three scries of “Eighteenth Century Vignettes,” and others, can be got in “The World's Classics.” “A Bookman’s Budget,” a delightful "dipping book" for all of literary tastes, is also published, in another format, by the Oxford University Press.

“ALC.D.” (Nelson).—l have alwavs found Chambers’s Encyclopaedia _ the best for all ordinary use. A new edition was completed a few months ago, when Angus and Robertson added two volumes, similar in get up, devoted to purely Australasian subjects.

Mea Culpa. When correcting a mistake into which a New Zealand journalist recently fell, when writing _ about Blasco Ibanez, he coupled Le Sage, a Frenchman, with Cervantes, as Spain's two greatest writers. “Liber” will here humbly confess that he himself fell into a sad blunder. For he wrote —the tricks accursed that a faulty memory will play one!—that “Spain can boast of Ccivantes, the novelist, of Calderon, the dramatist, and Camoens, the author of ‘The Lusiad’.” I had no sooner seen my “Notebook” in print last Saturday than I saw at once that when correcting another’s error, I mvself had committed a “sad bloomer.” For Camoens was not a Spaniard, any more than Le Sage, but one of the most famous, figures in Portuguese history, a poet with a chequered career, bejjig banished to India, having many adventures there,. and thence being banished to Alacao. 1 here he made a” fortune, returning to Goa, and so, after an exile of sixteen years, to Portugal. In his old age he published his great epic poem the “Lusiad," the best English translation of which was done bv a Scotsman, \\ illiani Mickle, himself, though in a minor degree, a man of some mark. Mickle wrote the fine ballad of “Cumnor Hall,” and is credited with the song “There’s Nae Luck A boot the Hoose.” How I tripped about Camoens is, I confess, all the more unpardonable, that for some years I had possessed a much tattered quarto edition of Mickle’s translation, but there, in. perceiving the mote in another’s eye, I curiously ignored the beam in my own. That is the way of the world.

SOME RECENT FICTION

Some Detectives. Those who, a vear or two ago, read Cleveland Moffatt's “Through Wall,” and recognised it as one of the best written “detective” stories of the past decade, will be pleased to .meet once again in “The Alaster Mind” (Appleton) tint clever Parisian “crime investigator,” AL Coqnenil., Gaboriau himself, even in his fascinating figure, Lecocq, never invented a detective more subtle in his analysis of a crime, more ingenious in assumption of disguises, than Air. Aloffatt’s hero. A series of extraordinary happenings begins when a saxophone player at a Parisian night club sees a man and a woman climb down from a balcony, leaving a rope of pearls hanging on to a balcony on the next house to' his own. Coquenil’s conflict with a master criminal and his filial breaking up of a gang of jewel thieves, blackmailers, and scoundrels generally, is related with great spirit. I shall alwavs think that Air. J. S. Fletcher, to whom we owe so many ingeniously planned “mystery” stories, 'is at his best when his background is laid in some quiet country town, lhe plot of his very latest. “detective,” “I'he Murder in the Pallant” (Jenkins), turns upon the murder of a higlilv respectable family lawyer and the disappearance of certain valuable papers. Quite a number .of clues are followed up by the police, only to set them exploring blind alleys and the denouement is as unexpected as it is ingenious. Two Green Label stories (Herbert Jenkins and Co.) can be classed under this heading. Sefton Kyle’s “Guilty— But—” is a thrilling story of adventure, with a murder, committed in the Harrowby house, and at first supposed to be an hallucination. A rising young journalist, a Scotland Yard officer, a pail of ingenious scoundrels, and a charming voting girl, all play leading parts in the mvstery of the Harrowby murder. “Gentlemen of the Jury,” by P. Leyton and Arthur Compton Rickett is a storv of how a beautiful but criminal woman can fascinate men, and how a brilliant criminal advocate can save her from the verdict of guilty, much to the horror of his own wife, only, later, to fight against her in order to save his own step-son from her clutches. Juanita Merrick is a rather stagev creation, but the story is one of deep interest, vividly presented.

Th- action of Frances Boeding's highly exciting romance, “The House of Dr. Edwards" (Hodder and Stoughton), is laid in an old castle in the Savov mountains, used by Dr. Edwards as an asylum for wealthy “bordei line’’ cases. The old doctor .goes awav for a rest cure, and the place is in charge of young Doctor Murchison, who has acquired an abnormal influence over the patients. A young lady doctor, Constance Sedgwick, goes to the castle as assistant—a series of strange events follows, and, gradually entertaining a terrible suspicion, the girl herself at last confronted with an awful fate — and saved at the eleventh hour. A lunatic who believes in the Devil plays a tragic part in the Chateau Landry drama, which is enfolded in a thrill>ng story exceptionally written. “The Castle Fenhani Case,” by Ma-jor-General Charles Ross, C.B. (John Murray) is a very readable story. Clifford Hartley, otherwise “Jumps,” and his war-time chum, Janies Orthorp Saunders, rescue a young lady from her kidnappers, combat bogus detectives, thwart the evil designs of a malicious and money-seeking lady hypnotist, and even become involved in a murder case. Lots of adventure, pome pretty love-mak-ing, together witlf some exciting motoring experiences, help to make up an exceptionally readable story, which goes with a swing from first to last, and is hereby warmly commended. “'l'he Black Ink Mystery,” by Gareth H. Browning (Hutchinson), commences with the murder of a popular actor. Prussic acid, an ink-stained mouth, a mysteriously cut bell rope, and black velvet spots stuck to the bottom of the fatal vessel, together with the part played in the crime by a Hindu secret societv, are features of a crime the sequel to which keeps Inspector Marpleton of Scotland Yard very busy, but in the long run, to the great relief of a charming young widow, the mystery is solved, the identity of the murderer—executioner he would call himself no doubt—being ingeniouslv hidden until the close of a clever story. Here Comes an Old Sailor. That Mr. Alfred Tresidder Sheppard, the author of “Here Comes an Old Sailor” (Hodder and Stoughton) is gifted with something near akin to positive genius in throwng himself into the past and reproducing with great naturalness, not only figures of a bygone age, but the very atmosphere of the period in which they live, he has j'.roved by his many fine semihistorical novels, such as the “Red Cravat,” “Brave Earth,” “ 1 mining Horse Inn,” and the two so cleverly-told yarns as those in which Ledger Dunstan is so prominent. Taking his cue, perhaps, from Chaucer’s “Shipman’s Tale,” he is now again to the lore with the most stirring of stories based upon an old monkish legend of Henry the Third’s time, a storv in which the lover of gallant adventure and British braverv must surely find delight exceeding. The old sailor’s wild yarn is so packed with curious experiences, exciting incidents, so many weird suggestions of the occult, that once started this quaint romance of mediaeval days is not easily relinquished. Mr. Sheppard's latest novel should be one ofthe fictional successes of its season.