LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 81

LITERARY NOTES.

— Sir Theodore Martin's earlier literary 1 work iiSgluded, "in collaboration"" ' "with j Aytoun, of poems .and ballads * by Goethe. The volume has not had the i. vogue of " the "'Bon'^-Gaultier "* Ballads-^ j which appeared under the same -auspices, ! but it m^alwaytfibeen-in^ demands -Now; I in his green old age Sir Theodore Martin j has been revising the book for a new cdi- ' | tion which'^Messrs- Blackwood,wiil;publish.. -4 I t —-Mr 'Unwin announces " the' ap-'j pearance- o£ a new monthly review. The ' title will be " The International : a Review • of the World's Progress," and the editor, ! Dr Rodolphe Broda, of Paris; -With a"View f to its establishment the editor has been j travelling fforw several years,- and has now , secured a permanent < staff of about 250 cor- i | respondents" in" all countries", 'who will con I "}' j tribute reports of significant events. There I will be DOies.on pofitical.aijd^economic re- [ F forms, oriSlauour movements, on .scientific \ j progress., -and on "new dSp^rtinW in., the artistic, literary, and . religious worlds. ' _, —Mr ittseph Hocking' 6 admirers expect from him 'in all his novels a strong flavour of dissent, but the best part of. ''The Trampled Cross" (Hodderj 6s) deals with ; Carew's behaviour when caught by Arab fanatics in Palestine. To save himself from > death and- secure a respite , for the father ' of hi 6 love, he tramples on crossed sticks and" pretends to accept the Moslem faith. ■ Carew is -an Agnostic, and Mr Hocking's standpoint- 'would^have been ' been a '_Obrist&n>i ■' Hjs~7* t !?on*ej>sion:V '/• Hah; : duly described, ; and -coiw ' ceived. „ ■*/''■ ?' $ <\ ''*"*"..' „" ' — The p'oetiry,, -it v-isv -is clear w , in--: valves more*;;thougKfet and , research.' moi-e knowledge and imagination, than . appear to be requisite at first sight". As Mr Frederic Hanrisen>-has said "in -his, -essay /on•rThe Choide of Books,' 1 "the -immortal and universal poets are 40 be and ; re-read till their ' music and 1 th"eir~ spirit are a. part of our -htrtnre; they are. to bei thought over and digested till we live 'in' the world they created for us ; they ace to be read devoutly,' as devout^ men read , tbeir Bible and fortify their hearts wit* yigalms." — More books been written abc-st Stevenson than about any .other modern writer, and still they m come. The latest is - "In the Track 6f , R»' L. Stevenson and Elsewhere in Old France " (Arrowsmith ; 1 6s), by J. A. EEammerton, whose "Steven--^ eo-niana" was ''published-' some time- ago. This volume, however, has 'an interest quite apart from Stevenson;'" tfie author has observation and a ' pleasant "style, a-nd he gives us many-- entertaining -"^pictures 01 men and things.. TKe-re/ is an* excellent account of a faii'^at Orleans, and a good description 0/, 'Le ' Puy^ " which JVft^ Joseph Pennell described ><'as » " the "'mbsjfc picturesque town' 'in/ Europe." The calked rai of Le Puy glories in, a curioui. relic'; no ' less, according to the sacristan, than a piece of the wing of the angel who visited:. ', Joan of Arc." 'Mit is, .oi'sieu,"., §aid x the sacristan "ah object of the greatest Veneration, and has attracted pilgrims from far paris of France. It has cured " the; < most -terrible diseases ;^ ifr^ liasg.-brpughfS : .riches to those who were/poor; •- "it nas brought children to barren women." * — William Allingham's Diary has been edited by his widow, »nd^ r Mr--Radford, j and published by Messrs- Macmillan." It j is a. substantial — volume, and quite read- j able. William Allingham's own output was • slender enough. H^e r >' published some volumes of poems which, are now forgotten,.-, and, one or two j.rose books whicS never attracted attention. But he must h'ava ■ been a man of parts. He was only a Customs cfficeit'it the beginning, and very pooi\ Bufc "he tnade the acquaintance, and even the^friendship, of some of the most remarkable men of his time, including ! Carlyle, Tennyson, Browning, and Dante Rossetti. Happily, he kept a diai«y, and some of the notes in it are of interest and value. How far the confidential talk" of great men should be reported and published (says bhe Reader) is a question. But surely it is better to have this than to bo told that they talked with extraordinary hrilliancy and wit. while a1!a 1 ! the time you i are told nothing that they said. j — Among the newest enterprises of the Oxford Press is " A History of Music in J England," by Dr Ernest Walker. The purpose of his work is "to sketchy the main! features of English music from its earliest j artistic manifestations to the 'close of the nineteenth century." Dr Walker re pri- \ marily interested in the music itself, and i gives only secondary attention to biography ! and antiquarian research. Ho a&ea not f construe the term "English" in the narrow sense, for the melodies of Scotland, Ire- ; land, and Wa/es are dealt with. j — The publication of the Eversley cdi- ' lion of Tennyson's works will be (says the Westminster Gazette) a- literary event of rriore thsii ordinary interests because "t contains the author's own notes_ on his poems. The present Lord .reanysmv who edits this, edition, explains that trie notes were left by his father, "some of thpm * in Bis own " handwritinar. some'" of - rhen*;ltaken dowie from his table talk. . HeLwen]^ through the' first prcofe and, corrected ,tßetti. rancl sarclioijed their revision and publica- " tion under my editorship. But he wished" it to be clearly understood that, in hig opinion, to use his own words : ' Poetry is like shot-silk with .many .glancing colours,' and that ' every .-repder . must "find his own interpretation according to his ability, and according to his sympathy with the poet.' " Lord Tennyson adds that in answer to numerous questions, -put to him by fciends he has added here and there an additional note in brackets; and Dr Aldis Wright has supplied many inter- j 'es'ting nctes by Edward FitisGerald 1 . - ' - ' —Mr George Bernard Shaw (says P.T.0.) has at last achieved the distinction of having hisvboaks^-rfchat.is,- ».the -first editions of them — eagerly -collected. Anj.-<,-I one who has • followed his literary v career [ will that his list of. publishers, is a _

long and erratic one. It is this fact thai hats made him, from a collector's point ol J Henrj^cand'^Co. and , the "Modern „ •PreSs~ t a-re^rib^Toriger publishers: Swan ' c 'arid .Walter ,Scott issued -on's dooV each: Benjamin Tucker, of Boston, a ,-r*fr, pamphlet - ,rnu a completa Xf i^u^^bf^iis^f^uriia.l^.BibCTl3r; .. ', which i*. ( i|V:iNSssrs J^oflSile andf^r-"The°pYes&ftj ! writer rememtiara buying 5 copy ;of° I "'Caghe^^^ro^^^l^ss^n '&"frdm a: - 3 heap fetbjStefeag^B^^^Kpcoyerld remainders at "rod each -which, ioS^^Sc^^eM.^ s|ll. "Now 'it" "is woriih*. 'clean, from^ffsgl'upwayda. - Whether* the boom in first' "edition^^P^. B. S._->will last longer thanf-the similar ineßi associated with the books of 'Sjevenson and Kipling remains' to be seen. present holders of the early printed wbrics of Shaw should look for their profit to be greater j in a few years' time. America is buying I most of the copies that come into the mar- '' ket,. and that means higher, prices .for those j ti^Jio wait. At least, that is- the " opinion ' of. an astute bookseller and dealer in- firet j ■editions. "^" F — T/nder'the heading ""What Publishers 1 Read," the Book Monthly has collected tha opinions of the giants' in the'pub'j "lisnihg ■vjrprldt"' and *cry, interesting they ■ are. Mr "John Murray confesses that » most • of his reading is guided by necessity rather j than choice., but /were he .given leisure, a j longa list- wf- ' favourite books would -"claim j his attention, including "those of George , -Eliot, Thackeray," Dickens. Scott, and i Dumas. Among books which Mr F. Mac'j~nrillan reads habitually* will aleo be .found: a large selection pf Dickens, rhackeray, ! arid Scott. Mr William Heinemann finds I -Chat everything he reade bears some relarioh to whafc"~he,- does, of does 'not publish, s and business and pleasure being so closely merered in this respect, he loses all senssof distinction, and reads everything _ with a view fe' business, and a .few 'things 'with pleasure. Mr' John Lane turns to modern noetry "in his hours of ea«e," and all t books on the Enelish school of art and old china, > prints. , glass, and so on, are ol particular interest to him! Mr Eveleigh Nash chooses 1 Georore Eliot and Thackeray: while Mr .T. M. Dent admits that ha '.is a desultory reader, his chpice of fiction >lymg?'b&jfwiJen*TT»e works -of Sievenivscfn, /and rMejfedith. '"""■f- "Death '%a& iust removed a- true poet ibeXvjeirsoii; of Francis .Thompson,.",,,, says -the Daily,"jSews. "'He, w£s -Jthe 1 T 'soif<pf * " Lancashire doctor and a nephew of the Rev. E. H. Thompson, who was one of ■the Oxford" speeders to th« Roman • Catholic Church. After being educated afi' Tlshaw College", neai/ Durham, Francis ' Thompson studied medicine 'at ' Owens \ College! - Manchester, but subsequently' hs decided- to devote himself to literature- OS one of his first poenre, ' The Hound oi . Heaven,' Mr' Patmore wrote that it 'ha* so -great and passionated -and such a metrecreating motive that we , are , carried over all obstructions of the rhythmical curreut, and are compelled to pronounce it, at thaf end, one of . the very few " great " Jo'dea of which the language- can boast.'-' Mr i Traill was as enthusiastic as Mr Patmore, '- and placed him in the^-foont" rank: - ' The Hound of Heaven ' was 'describedUbv SurneJbnes as the poem that had tojSchect^hiiW most since Roasetti's * Blessed. Damosel.* Mr Thompson's volume, ' Sifters' Songs,* '* sang the >pr,aise of two of his girl jFriends, Monica and Madeleine Meynell^.and/con< tains passages of a splendour farelyjv spr- t passed in English pqetrjr. Jffis'" third volume. ' New Poems, ;> may %c : -,gaid tc have completed . his- poetical, and, ■to have embodied , *most "completely - tha mystical spirit that informed his verses" , '.from -.first .to^last." Mr Thompson was only 47. ' ' '' " — The Atlantic' Monthly, in its November number, celebrates the 50 years v p£ Hts distinguished literary career. ' "T{ ; era," says the New York Independent. ''" The elder generation of writen were passing away -and a new generation were here claiming their,- own> It was a j most extraordinary company of-authors that - followed., with"- the' Atlantic, the greatest our ' country ■-has "yet seten. ;Th£ one of them. ! all who gave especial" distinction and favour to the new magazine was Oliver Wendell • Hqlraes.yand we were' surprised to see him tifeak oufc^inr so new an-$l splendid a form. .We had known him chiefly as the writer of mirthfully extravagant and ridiculous' verses, and of others which most" skilfully joined the tender with the ludicrous. But / who had thought him capable- of that most j remarkable, successful,'* and • popular series of artie'es which appeared under the title of 'T.ho Poet at the Breakfast Table'! That was a new creation, and the charac- ' to- <= -"ho «nt together at the boarding-house *_t,T, , — .j^-f.jji.p. WP ]i outlined, as distinct as Shakespeare's creations." „_ .. ... ,i u> on foot to .form s \e><Tin!>' club in London on the lines ol ; the Union Jack Club. Major Haggard, wh< lis engineering the project, has written 1 several military novels, his literary pseu- ( donym being " Arthur Amyand. He is th« j youngest of four brothers, . all of whom ar« j well known. The eldest, William, ohese th« j diplomatic Service, and is at the present ' time the British Minister at Bueno^ Aires. I Proof of his abilities as a diplomat is sbowtf I by the fact that he has been made a- Com- ! panion of the Bath. Lieutenant-colon^ 1 1 Andrew Haggard, after serving in th» ' King's Own Scottish Borderers, went to ths . Egyptian Army. When Suakim was :n-j: nj vested by Os'man Digria the colonel had ' enough fighting to satisfy cho most bloodthirsty of mortals, for the regiment he commanded was under fire no fewer than 15Q times. In addition to being a successful soldier, the colonel is well kno-.vn as an author, historian, and poet. Last, but by no means least, is Rider Haggard, of whom >it is unnecessary to say Very much^ )i ; a tnonitt. being T one j may' say, a household -word. . Aa a young man,- he put in mun?g«f J -his time' in South Africa, and in 1877 1 h<r and an officer of. the Eoyal Engineer* hoisted the Union Jacfc over the South African Republic at Pretoria. He remaincc at Pretoria for some time, and when rhe -Zulu war broke out two years later he became- lieutenant and adjutant of the Pretoria Horse, which was laised for the c'e« fence of the capital. It is rot often or.g comes across three^ljrothers each of it bom is a soldier and a litterateur.— P.T.O.

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