LITERARY NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 71, 20 September 1930, Page 21

LITERARY NOTES

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

The staging of a "Lorna Doone" pageant in the Exmoor Village of Selworthy shows that Blackmorc's flue romance is not yet forgotten.

"I liavc acquired an unmerited reputation for being a hard worker," says Arnold Bennett. "I am not a hard worker j I am merely an organised worker. I have not worked in the evening more than a couple of times in twenty years, and I have regularly slept after lunch for a quarter of a century."

If poetry is not much read to-day, it is sold. Of the "Testament of Beauty," by Dr. Bridges, the late poet laurette, more than 20,000 copies have been sold. A new edition is now promised, incorporating some corrections made by Dr. Bridges shortly before his death.

"Celebrated Musicians, Past and Present," by Mr. Herbert Whelbouru, is published by T. Werner Laurie. It contains about 200 very short biographies of the most famous musicians from the 10th century, to the present time. Mr. Whelbourn rightly suggests that the increasing use of wireless has stimulated an interest in the lives and works of both composers and oxecutants, and this book is designed to meet the wants of those in search of information. It should, also prove useful as a work of reference.

Rupert Brooke, had he 'lived, would now be in his 40 th year. To commemorate his achievement as a poet a committee was recently formed to further the erection of a memorial to him at Skyros, in the Aegean. There it was, in April, 1915, that Brooke suffered blood poisoning from the bite of a fly, and there he was buried. Many tourists visit the grave every year. A rough cast of the memorial has been made by Michael Tombros, the Greek sculptor, and it is hoped that it will be ci<(?**!& next year.

The German publishers of "All Quiet on the Western Front" report that in iifteen months ending iv June more than a million copies have been sold in Germany alone, this being claimed as a worlds' record. The sales of translations up to June were as follows:— France 440,000, United States 325,000, England 310,000, ■ Cfecctio-Slovnkia Sl,----500, Spain 75,000, Norway and Denmark 70,000 Holland 70,000, Sweden 67,000, Japan 50,000, Lettland 23,000,. Finland 22,000, Hungary 21,000, Poland 20,000, Eumania 6000, Bulgaria 5500, Greece 3000, Eussia 2000. ■ Of an Esperanto edition 2400 copies, have been sold, and 670.0 of a Yiddish edition. Italy is the only country in Europe in which the book has been prohibited.

The story of the famous MarchCadogan match is retold in Mr. Horace Wyndham's "Romances of the Peerage." Lady Sarah Cadogan was married at the age of fifteen to the seven-teen-year-old Earl of March, the match having been arrangod to cancel a gambling debt between their fathers. After the ceremony, against which both bride and bridegroom had bitterly protested, Lady Sarah returned to her governess, and her husband was packed off to the Continent with a tutor. "After an absence of three years, during which interval the couple ncith'er saw nor wrote to.one another, Lard March returned to England. On the night of his arrival he chanced to visit Iho opera. Happening to notice v very beautiful young woman in a box, ho inquired her name. "She is the Countess of March," was the unexpected answer. Thereupon her husband, feeling they had been separated long enough, hurried ofE to the box and introduced Mmself, to its occupant* \ For thirty years they lived together1 in the greatest happiness."

.By permission of. : the Duke of Monrose, a contributor to the "Countryman" took extracts from an old book of-records lately found in the library at Buchanan Castle. Among the contents are "Directions for the Household of Henry ye Eigth," beginning with'one for country house visits:— .; His Highness's attendants are not to stealany Lock or Keys, tables, forms, cupboards, or other furniture, out of Noblemans or Gentlemans Houses where he goe's to visit.

.. Master Cooks shall not employ such scullions as go about naked, or "lie al) Night on the ground before the Kitchen fire.

■ No dogs to be kept in the Court, only a few spaniels for the Jadies. Dinner to be at ten and Supper at four. The Officers of his Privy Chamber shall bo loving together—-no grudging nor-•mumbling; nOr1 talking of the King's Pastime. '. .

■ 'Coal only to be allow'd to the King's, Queen's and Lady Mary's chambers. . .The Brewer not-to Put any Brimstone in the Ale. .

Among the fishes for the table, the Porpoise, if too big for a Horse-Load an extra allowance to tho Purveyor. Twenty-four Loaves a day' allow'd for His Highness's greyhounds.