NEW PUBLICATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2322, 23 February 1892, Page 3

NEW PUBLICATION.

We have received a bulky little pamphlet entitled “ Stray Thoughts,” by W. Hutchison. Mr Hutchison is one of the members for Dunedin, and formerly represented a Wellington constituency in Parliament. He is also the father of the Sf famous Mr George Hutchison, M.H.R. for Waitotara, but in politics he disagrees with his very clever, though somewhat erratic, son, and is one of the most reliable followers of the present Government. Mr Hutchison is a journalist of repute—perhaps one of the best read and best informed in New Zealand —and at one time he owned and edited papers in Wan-

gaixui and Wellington. The book with which he has favored us appears to be

made up of articles contributed from time time to newspapers, and as such we can only say they are perfect models of that class of literature,. The articles are on various subjects, all of which are dealt with in a thoughtful, masterly manner, but what strikes the reader first of all is the inexhaustible fund of quotations, witticisms, and anecdotes on which the writer is able to draw apparently without an effort. The pages are literally crammed with quotations; some classic, some witty, A some humorous —and the book is worth for the sake of them alone. In all our experience we have not come across any author who has shown a wider range of reading than Mr Hutchison exhibits in this little book. He has most ySpt quotations, from the most varied 'sources, with which to embellish every subject, and he has a happy and clever way of applying them. By this means the author is able to make the dullest subject exceedingly pleasant to read, and the articles, or essays, or whatever they may be called, cannot fail to delight whosoever may read them. We are notin a position to say whether the book has been put on the market for sale or not; no price is fixed for it. It looks as if published for private circulation amongst the author’s friends, but, be that as it may, we have no hesitation in commending it to our readers.

It would take up too much space to review in a manner that would do justice to the various articles in this book. We can, therefore, do no more than mention a few of the leading ones, the first of which is the very pathetic tale of the sufferings of a wife and mother of |a gentle and refined nature, whose UttSfortune it was to have been married a “ cross-grained, idle fellow.” She worked hard to earn sufficient to keep her children from starving, but it was not the hard work that killed her. “It was sympathy and love she needed,” and these she did not get, and she died. Her story is told in a sympathetic and kindly manner, and every line betrays the goodnatured disposition of the writer. There are also articles on Henry Hallam, the great historian, Samuel Johnson, and Robert Burns. These are critical essays in which the virtues, faults, and failings of these eminent men are dealt with in a manner that shows the author is intimately acquainted with their works. Religion, prophecy, unseen novel-reading, the Empress Eugenie, and a large number of other subjects are dealt with in that delightfully lucid, concise, and often epigrammatic style so peculiarly Mr Hutchison’s own, and on the whole an exceedingly readable book is made up. We have to thank Mr Hutchison for his kindness in forwarding us a copy of the book, and can assure him we shall value it as a treasure-house to which we shall frequently turn when we want to “ point a moral or adorn a tale ” with an apt and telling quotation.