GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1693, 12 May 1883, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

Tom.-— What have you been doing with yourself^ I hav'nt seen you for months. Diek — Study, my dear fellow, study. To'm'-^Study ? Dick— Legal study— l'm trying to pass a mother-in-law. o WHfIN Rabelfcis was on his , death-bed, a consultation of physicians was called. "Dear gentlemen," said the wit to the doctors, raising his languid head, "let me die a natural death." r .MrFroude has just issued the*con- ,, eluding volume of his series of " .Short Ltudies on Great Subjects," Speaking of the whole series, he contends that a unity of purpose is present throughout, all the essays having a reference moro or less direct to the problems by which the present generation have been most perplexed, i , The World for Dec. 30 gives its' usual summary of the work done in the -/various branches of literature during the year just ended, as w ell as a 1 review of the chief publications in the principal , nations of the world. It is . valuable jis a matter of reference and is , written with much judgment. A countiiyman, seating himself in a fashionablo restaurant with the intcution Of having a hearty dinner, summoned tho waiter and mado known his purpose. Tho latter skipped briskly away, and soon returned with a handsomely-bouud bill of fare, which he opened and placed before • the guest, who, however, pushed it away scornfully, observing " Oh, come now, I don't want no literature ! Vittals is what I want — vittals — and pretty quick, too ! " Macmillan and Co. say that Mr Crawford has been strongly uiged to dramatise his novel, "Mr Isaacs," the chief incidents of the story — the scene in Isaacs' chamber, the interview with Miss Westenburg, the episode at Polo, the fight forSheie Ali and the final scene with Ram Lai— lending themselves greatly, it is thought, to diainatio treatment. Lord Lytton has, so it is stated, nearly completed, as tho fast instalment of his fathci's "Life, Letters, and Literary Remains," three volumes, which Will be ready for publication dining the course of the appioachiug spring. It is said that the work will consist of the late Lord Lytton's autobiogtaph), the narrative, continued by Ins son, being illustrated by selections from the author's unpublished writings. The life of the late Archbishop of Canterbury is to be written by his &on-in« law and private secretaiy, the Rev Randall T. Davidson in conjunction with the Rev W. Bcnham, formerly vicar of Addington, and much in his Grace's confidence. The biography will be founded on abundant material left by Archbishop Tait, in the form of letters and diaries. Messrs Macmillan and Co will be the publishers. Mudie's famous circulating library occupies eight adjoining house*., and gives employment to eighty poisons. Its importance* to the leading Englishmen is shown by the fact that it en ciliated 2400 colics Macaulay's Histoiy of England, 2000 of Livingstone's iiiat Tia\cN in Africa, 2.100 of "Enoch Arden" and 1500 of "Lothair,"' and th.it it circulates 6000 copies of the Eilmbiti <jh and (linn tcrhj Jicviru •>, and 100 copies of the Id via dcs Dem Minifies. HoiNiHTON", Ml ITU V AM) Co. have ill press tho journals of Lieutenant Do Long of the ill-fated .feanncttc expedition, which were bi ought homo by Engineei Melville, and have boon edited by Mrs Do Long. The story told m the journals will be supplemented by n.niatnc of the survivors, and an mtroduotoiy sketch will describe the plan of tho voyage and the pieparations for it, and give a bnef biography of Commander De Liong. " Cut u hurt Bed n" recently delivered an interesting lcctnie on " Light Liteiature," in the course of which he .stated that the publisher of "Verdant Giecn" had told him that tho book would not pay for adveitising, wheioas 170,000 copies had been sold. In alluding to the difficulties of rising authois, he mentioned the l ejections by publishcis of "Vanity Fair," Carlyle's " French Revolution," and the " Rejected Addiossos." He might have added " IVlham' 1 to the list, for it was on tho point ot being ictumcd to its author w hen Mr Colbm n happened to take up the M.S., and, having lead the first two chaptcis, at once leveiscd the verdict of his " taster." And of more recent date there is the case of " Vice Versa," which was l ejected by at least one, if not by two publisher, befuie Mr J. Payn accepted it of Mcssis. Smith, Elder and Co. M. Ri-.van has been interviewed, to verify an item of liteiaiy news, by a icporter of the I'ultmn: It had been statcfl in anothoi Pans newspapoi that he vas editing the liiemoiis of IJilini 1 , Coiini, tlio foster-sister of Napoleon JII. The facts, however, aic these : Mdme Cornu, who died in ISTo, ha& left no wntings whatever; but tlicro does exist, in tho Bibliothdcpie Nationale, a bundle of letters addressed to her by Napoleon when he was confined in the fortioss of Ham ; and these letters arc not to be published until ten years after her death, i.e., in 18S5. M. Ilcuan lias seen them, and bears witness to their extreme interest as illustrating the chai.icter ot Napoleon, for they were written m familiar confidence, without any thought of publication. Politics proper arc raioly lefened to ; but thcio aic constant iefjuest& of books dealing with political econfnny and socialism, and comments upon them when received.

A Sunsihli: Magivhiate.— Somo salutmy remarks wore made by a Police Magistrate at Sydney lceently, (o a bushman who chatged .ipnSonor with h<i\ing beeu ono of thiec men wlio had iobbedliuu of Bixteen £1 notes. The ptoMjcutoi liud lately come fiom Dubbo to Sydney, where he intended spending a holiday and knocking his money down, find on Satin day evening was knocked down and robbed. In his pocket, besides the -CIG of winch he was relieved, was a cheque for £180. In court the prosecutor admitted having appeared there before a similar position, and Mr Dillon addressed him in the following pithy seutenups : — "You appear to be one <-f a class of men born to to proyed upon by thieves and sharpers. They could not live without such as you. Coming to Sydney, and the coming to Couit as you have done, shows there is something wrong in jour chai.uter, It show that you go piowhng about in places and company ynu ought not to. You should stay away fiom .Sydney altogether, if when you come heic you must behave like an imbecile. You deserve to be sent to gaol youisclf for having come to tins (Joint ' The prosecutor looked foolish and unooinlui table under tho lcctutc, and muttoied feoiut'tlung about it being "only once a year."

Hei.m: -\su his "Win..-— Quite the reverse of Wagnei, Henry J Lome, whose wife has just died at Pa^y, Paiis, was a thorough Frenchman both in feeling and in talent. He lived almost all his life in France, and the best of his works are written in Fiench. He had left his widow in a somewhat precaiious state of fortune, but his publishers had settled en her an annuity of il'2oo for her subsistence. She had lo\ed her husbn,ud dcaily, but had never entered into Ins genius. At the moment of his death, weeping and sobbing, she said to him, " No, Henry, no, you must not die, it would grie\ c me too much. Have pity on me ; this morning I lost my favourite panot, and if you too were to die I should be miserable." Henry Heine, speaking one day to oue of his friends, said of her, " She has never read one of my books, nor does she know whnt is meant by the word poet. She has, however, a values idea that my name has been printed in a review, but in which she has not the slightest i! idea !" Buy the best sewing machines, packed in boxes, (vrrinpf p-nd. Homo feluittlo, £8: ■While, £d 10<: UertliPim. /MIOs; Fritter and Uoscmun'h. £i 10s : in u.ilnut u;w, £&, Kniti j nintf-m.irl)fni!s, fj\ .S'ikkci \, Jlt»w,i* v, 13,i\is ft , Jones', .Standard, <tnd all toe better oMsfcexnl inat'bini's in -.Uxk. Cosli, or ileii'rreq . D. Ji. i:bnwl"f»' 'Wliulj'h.ilc and Ki«tii»l Madi^n,, iit'put, "<), QuocnTtrt'ct oj.pisitc uv> JUnl% 'if