MEN OF LETTERS IN PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8097, 30 April 1906, Page 4

MEN OF LETTERS IN PARLIAMENT.

The nen" British Parliament w remarkable, among other tilings, for the number of men who hare either distinguished themselves in letters or, at any rate, have won respectable reputations as authors, ftlr Morley'.s achievements as biographer and essayist are too well-known to need recalling, Mr Birrell's " Obiter Dicta " and his various Lives and critical essays are also familiar to bookish folk. Mr Bryce has earned the regard of readers by his " Holy Roman Empire," " American Commonwealth," " Studies in Contemporary Biography," and other words. Air HnJdaue's " Essays in Philosophical Criticism," " Life of Adam "Smith," ''.Education and Empire," and " The Pathway to Reality," appeal perhaps to a more special and limited audience. Mr George Wyndham has written on Plutarch and on Shakespere, and will shortly be admitted to the " Eversley Series," as author of •'" Rpnsard and 'La Pleiade,' with Examples of Rousard's Verse and Some Translations into the Original Metres." Sir W. R. Anson is the author of sonie well-known s .;■■ •.!■>, and Sir Philip Magnus has .. t L..! ijme useful scientific and educational works, illr P. 11. Thornton is the author of a book on Harrow School, and of several historical works. Sir Gilbert Parker a?d illr A. E. W. Mason represent British fiction; Mr Hilairu Bclloc, Mr R, C. Lehmann, Mr J. H. loxail, and Mr Geoffrey Drage have also written fiction, but not to any con. siderable extent, while the last is an authority upon labour questions. MiHerbert Paul has mado his mark as historian of modern England and a* author of a number of biographies; Mr Winston Churchill, as biographer, has lately been in danger of winning all liK.i'.; praisa, while his earlier works on the P-jiith African campaigns and other wars ai'o almost forgotten. Dr S. H. Butcher, who has followed the late Sii Richard Jebb in the representation of Cambridge, is joint-author, with MiLang, of a prose translation of the " Odyssey," and author of several works on Greek literature and life. Three members of the staff of the " Daily Xews " have won the suffrages of metropolitan constituencies, and two of them—'Mr p. F. G. Masierman and Mr Chiozza Money—are authors.- Mr Herbert \-17ian is a busy journalist and author of a number of books on the Balkan Peninsula. Sir Henry J. Sted. man Cotton and iMr D.'ll. Smeaton have written extensively on Indian affairs. The list could ha greatly extended, but the above suffices to show how strong is the' literary element in the new House of Commons.