Literature.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2197, 7 August 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Literature.

—Mr Lkonakij Coitktney, M.l',, Mr J lienniker H«'»ton, M.P., »nd Mr Arthur Locker, editor of The Graphic, have just joined tho National Association of Journalists.

—It is understood that Mr Bryce, M.l\, ha» nearly learty an impoitaut work on the nature and working 1 of the American system of Government.

—Mr Henkv Bkaulkv will henceforth bo associated with Dr. Murray aw joint editor of the Now English Dictionary, in order to aocel«r;ite the publication of future purK

A LKfJACY of about £ IT) ,000 ha« been left to the Jena University to be applied in zoological research on the basis of the Darwinian theory, the testator, Horr yon Rittor, of Bifle, behoving 1 tlie teaching of D.irwin to he the greatest fisfii of progress which the century has yet jriven

— A Frankfort wit who recently pave a newspaper reporter a .*rr<tp of t'.il-o news, was somewhat .surprised to receive from hi* victim shortly afterwards a 01-tirn of 1*2,000 marks for " damage of reputation," aud he was glad to be lot- ott' f<»r a twelfth of thr> sum. Kntrlnh journ.ilHl.s who suffer this way will now know how to protect themselves.

— Thk two popular evening 1 discourses at the annual meeting of the British Association, which will he hold this year at Birmingham, on thu firht eight days ol September, will be given by Profe^s^r Rutherford, of Edinburgh, aud by Mr A. *Y. Rucker, late professor at Leeds. The subjects will be " The oen.se of Hearing " and " Soap bubbles," renpectively.

—"I cannot conscientiously «ay," writes Julian Hawthorne in Lippinoott's Magazine, *' that I have found the literary profession — in and for itself — entirely agreeable. Almost everything 1 that I have written has been written from necessity ; and there is very little of it that I shall not be glad to see forgotten. The true rewards of literature, for men of limited calibre, are the incidental ones — the valuable friends and charming associations which it brings about. For the H.ike of the^e I would willingly endure again many passages of a life th'it has not been all rose*. Not that I would appe.ir to betitle my own work ; it docs not need it."

— In* ancient Rome the wnrk-i of authors were dictated when about to be published. Blsivea were chiefly employed in the work, though freemen and liberated slaves could iilso be had for writing books at a low r.tte of wage*. The inscription imparted in the workshops of Roman publisher-* necessitated a regular course of ♦ rriiniuir, which was to teach the apprentices an etmy and elegjnc h;tnd- writing. If a publisher had ut liis dispos.il, say,*.'» hundred writers, and reckouing the working day at ten hours, a document which took au hour to write would be multiplied in the course of a diy to a thousand copies. The writers became in time expert to such a degree that they coinbiud quickness with elegance. In oases where speed was the first consideration, the use of stenographic contractions became general, and both readers and copyists were instructed and trained, the former in the solution, the latter in the application of contraction*.

— Mk William Stf.bbincj need hardly have entered on tho defence of his father, j the late Rev. Henry Stebbinj?, D.D., against Mr Marthui Tapper's remark ihle charge of spitefullness. The Athenteuui J and The Ex.tminer declined to praise " Proverbial Philosophy/ Why? Be-; cause Dr. Stobbin«jr had, iv 183S, sought in v.Tin, " when editing The Athen;vum," Mr Tupper's consent to the insertion in its columns for that noble, but as yet imprinted, work ! Three months after its appearance, an unfavourable review was inserted in the offended journal. Nothing, of course, could be plainer than the relation of cause and effect here to Mr Tupper's mind, but oddly enough, Mr Stubbing declines to treat seriously the story that an editor of a leading literary journal should have desired to flood it with Mr {'upper's weary windy platitudes. The episode should serve as a warning to editors not to say pleasant things to youthful but incompetent literary aspirates ; for it is evident from the correspondence that ])r. Stebbing encouraged young Tupper to his own hurt.