LITERARY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2394, 12 November 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY NOTES.

|na>M (tfll lIW.V om!!K“IVN!>KSI.I Pauls, Sep'-mbor U). j ■ lofuxw. 1< KS Savavrs. (Impiinn-rie \ .--, ,i,- 1 ;.• i Rudolph I),rest-, an Maim nt, ! j ni'. on nil, takes tin: “ Ancient Raws of 1 j rrl mi, ’ al■xl to i-ompaf them with | tji ~i ,f Paeiagne, Male; and Se.aiael, the Ar.-hives of each . .atmrv. St, I’attiek \ 1 .1 If. 1 tail, ah,ml Itw yif I.'!'-’. V, h- a T.e >. hue had heeoe.e etnp'-ror, alike of lli- Wi s! and List. St. I’.ilriek piie-iei fergiv.iwss for injuries. To hi-do'-trine. King I/fghaire, ordmed <1 Ihr.in, -St. Patrick's eo e-hinaa, to he klilel, to discover it Die s iia! Weald forgive til-assassin. St. I’.Prick s-h-etel -t Breton, one Dublilh :edi, as arbiter ; he i oh-d, 11 that th" murderer he put to death lot that, 1 led would pa’don his snal." The king then h-eane- emiverted la Chi is ti a idly as well as all hi' people, and the laws were made to harmonize with Christianity.

Re-peeting .-ei/nre fur Debt, the creditor, mi giving notice a few days in advance, nonhl, in company with minions of the law, seize eiltle, and keep them in pound, for the amount, of the debt. The debtor eonhl give hail ; if the latter was escheated before the period fixed, the debtor could challenge his creditor to mortal combat for breach of contract. An illegal seizure was subject to a penally of live head of cattle ; a wrong denial of debt, to a lino of ten head. If the debtor had no goods be was dragged before the cieditor, feet manacled aval a chain round the neck. The crcditmr was hound to give this uewelcntned guest, one howl of gruel daily. Jf the debtor was of high rank, the ereditor was to go fasting-, and ait before his door, and if the creditor died of starvation while awaiting settlement, the debtor was held to he guilty of murder. There were rules where the laud was to he seized prior to cattle, and both before the debtor himself. The seizure of fees was subjected to a special law If a debtor had nothing the ereditor did not, like royalty, lose his right ; he could seize any member of the debtor’s tribe instead. Children generally were not reared at home. They Were hoarded out, and brought up by a third person for a fixed payment, varying from three to thirty head of cattle. However, this was a practice also common to the .Scan dinaviaiis. In the seventh century a law prevailed substituting individual for collective right of property. This plan was followed by pestilence and famine, and so relinquished. Before the introduction of Christianity, marriage in Ireland could he contracted for a year. At Bagdad they can be undertaken for a week. When a wife and husband brought a like fortune they had equal rights, and whoever brought most ruled the home. A judge who delivered bad judgment was liable to he lined. As in the Caucasus, all children horn of a wife during marriage, thom/li separated, belonged to the husband. If a man was stung by a neighbour's bee he had a right to he indemnified, hut if he killed the bee he was honed to compensate the owner. The boundary of a domicile was limited by the distance a lane-; could lie. thrown, following tile social sc tie, there were persons who wore entitled to two, three, Ate., lanee-spaoes. A king had sixtyfour.

Every crime could he compounded ; if a man were killed ids value was equal to seven female slaves, or 21 mileli cows. If ho violated honour, the penalty was seven female slaves, or doing penitence during seven years. \Vmnen could alienate no properly without the express permission of their relatives, save tile furniture. The funeral expenses had precedence over all other liabilities. Tito ehiireb could claim a cow, a horse, a coat, a bed quilt, and the vessel in which the defunct had last drank. If a debtor was living, lie had live or fifteen days to pay; lint, any d Jay was ,-nbj 'rJ to 20 per rent interest per month. M, Dares)c concludes; The Irish, as belonging to the great Indo-European faintly, are connected by language with the Sanscrit, nud by institutions with Brahndnio India, and in I heir special traits they eonneot with the Germains and Slav.

f'mul'ihit, by .lilies Claretie (Dentn). This is an amusing satire on the polities of tho day. Tho author lias mixed a great deal in all the worlds, and has consequently much experience. At present lie is director of the Theatre Francais. Tho plot delineates the odyssey of an honest anil straight soldier—tho commander Verdier, ns he attacks politics as ho did his enemies—nnlimher the cannon and blaze away. Bat in political campaigning ho reckoned without such resistances .as baseness, infant ■ and calumny, weapons against which honesty, bravery and greatness were naahlc to struggle. His adversary is the citizen <iarotisso, a formidable rival for the seat in the Chamber of Deputies, caused by the elevation of the late member to the Senate. Verdier inarches straight ahead, ignorant of the lowin’ wire pullers of political life. For him every voter is “Hail, fellow, well met I'* lie shakes hands warmly alike with friend and foe, speaks out Ina mind, (r inmsse is tho opposite, rn-e as a fox : undermining as a. toad; a cloaked coward, and lull of pi (tidily. He covers Verdier with i very calumny, and inspires a local journal to pour out its vials of wrath on I lie (ooc/ioo', Venlier’s old orderly, threatens to do for the newsboy, who is shouting out the contents’bill of the local AVriAr. in this repulsive political medium, there is a love adventure between Verdict's niece, (iihborlo ami tho Comte de Monthura ; the young couple have not escaped the political contagion. At last the commander comprehends the tilth through which ho moves ; he throws np his o mdid itship in dignst, to live in an atmosphere more virtuouand less infected. There arc many amn-ing epi-od”- in the volume, sensational and actual. Tho beautiful scene, where (iihherte an i the Comte, are j n . vitedaiamndl.hu death cot of their little Cyprienne, goes direct to the heart of every parent.

Cimpiegne, I’.v L. Siint. Organ (S. Quintain). There is no royal residrnee mi ancient and so modern, so full of souvenirs and replete with actualities, as Compiegne. It was tho favourite country residence of kings ami emperors, it is the popular lion with tourists to-day. 'I he eistlu and Mirruundings, are linked with every epoch of French history, ancient and modern. The descriptions art) complete without being long; varied, but without ouperllmms digression. M. .St, Organ is a guide ; from the moment yon leave the railway station he indicates, a.s yon promenade, all that is interesting and historical ; every picturesque aspect has a souvenir, an instructive, record, or a piquant anecdote. Having exhausted tile, monuments, the chateau ami its transformations from Charles the Raid down to Napoleon HI., the author leads the reader through the forest, then to I’ienvponds, along the water side, and through the splendid alleys, where so many historical personages have passed, perhaps, the happiest moments of their lives. The description of court life at Comtiiegm; under Napoleon HI., and the contemporaries who there lignred, will he found verv piquant, reading. The volinmis elegantly illustrated.

he Guide du Chasseur, by 0. DigmU (Marpon and Co.) At this epx-h of the year a book on sport was as naturally to he expected as shooting stars and excursion trains. It lias been observed that of all the s lints In (lie sceptical age in which we live th it of Saint llnhert is the name most often used. M. Ilignet describes all tli** rules for sport, tin- preparations to enjoy it, and the weapons necessary. Happily for the game if lie theories were acted on the forests and pi-iins of I'Vance would he devoid of leatdiered and furred friends. M. Oiguet views life from his game hag. It is thus lie i., somewhat melancholy, as he perceives the dbappeai.mec of forests, the reclamation of foil i, the draining of marshes, ami the par. eiiings of land, lie exacts from He; novice i) coc.-m-'pr mr'-I legs, a solid ........ ... -.a; and ever-

,■ 1 y MKTL'y. 110 pruscian cj.stnmc, save h>r a a:nl lin-n oniy a hit with feathers. I’he real sportsmuii slmuhl have only a Muv‘Mnva.ss j arkel, a \r.-t with several hig p'M'hets, ai.<l a cap wit!) a gooh peak. Id rwmunvn'ls gluves, to prevent Snnnui lingers marking the hand n* tin; hronzd

gin, and above all. to • ■ observe ti, t most grand courtesy towards the game.” In" Walton's advice to put the frog lull, on the hook "as it you loved him' is tons superseded in pathos M. Dignet is in -re-dees for pnaeli'-rs Failing lire and ,sword to exterminate them. In; would niihagly he their Totqueiirel.i. Since they go ha: i;-looted, in order a lt to m die a noise, he would sow their paths with, vipers, uiiiclt might injure friends, perhaps. too.

Les Derniers Chapitres de inon Louis XVII., by H. Uhantelanze (KiratinDidot). The history of Louis XVII. promises to In- as intermediate as that of the 11 Man with the Iron Mask.” M. (Jinntelan/.c claims to have cleared np tin; enigma, and feels wrath that a M. d’Kcrissou should trespass on Ids speciality, or suspect his conclusions. Hence the supplemental chapters, whi It treat of the discovery of hones in the St. Marguerite cemetery in IStit. The uncertainty as to where the Dauphin (Louis XVII. after the execution of his father) was interred, led to the legend of his escape from the Temple, and bred the usual crop nl " claimants.” Louis XVIII. also is to blame in the matter. In ISIO he directed excavations to he made in the cemetery, an I abruptly ordered their discontinuance without any explanation. His Majesty, on the faith of a beadle, and the widow of a grave-digger, who were precise in their indications as to the spot where the remains of his nephew were, interred in the St. Marguerite cemetery, later received the positive statement of a gardener that he was present at the exhumation of the Diupliiii five days after his Initial, and the transport of the body to Clamart for re-interment. Louis, thus thrown into doubt, abstained. He de dined to entomb questionable hones, in the sepulchre of all the Bourbons, at St. Denis. Tints matters remained till ISK!, when tne vie if of St. Marguerites having occasion to erect a shed in the cemetery, led to the discovery of a youth’s coilin, less deeply interred than ordinarily, it was in lead, and had ja wide Hear tie lys cut on the lid. On opening the ccltin, the bones correspondent to the description of the Dauphin's body, at the moment of decease the arms were disproportionately long, it was alllieted with rickets, and the skull had been sawn across over tile eye brows, thus agreeing with the report of the Dauphin's post mortem examination, when Ids remains had been buried in presence of the oflieial delegate. That night it seems grave digger, Bertran coat,

disinterred them, put them in a leaden colli 11 , and put them in the shallow grave, where, as is alleged, they were found in IS-lli, after nl years. Thu vicar had them buried in a side ehapel. M. Ghantelanzc does not explain, how so important a discovery in IS lb, was never made known to either Louis, Phillips, or the Comte do Chainhord, the representatives of both branches of the Bourbons, Further, are the remams still in their latest grave? La, (Inyaneet I‘Amazone, by Henri Condrean. (Chaliatncl.) Now that M. Jules Gros, president of the independent republic of French Gnyanc, intends sailing for bis capital, (Jounania, with a suite of 120 persons next month, despite the protests of Brazil, the book in question, possesses actuality. M. Condrean lias devoted live years to a topographical exploration of French Guiana, up to Vara and Manaus : he has lived with the wildest Indians, and has mapped down towns, having but four huts. He laments the situation of French Guiana, which has cost the mother country during “two centuries HO') million frs., and some hundreds of thousands of human lives.” But why is the colon}' so backward, as compared with its neighbouring colonies owned by the British and Dutch; or, wlty are French colonies failures when in the vicinity of English possessions? French Gnitna is one-fourth the area of Continental France ; it has a population of 0.1,00!) aboriginals, and apart from soldiers and militairas only 100 inhabitants of French descent, after an occupation of two centuries ! May a better success attend the e(forts of President Gros. France imports from other countries, woods to the value of 200 million francs annually, all of which could lie obtained from her Guiana possessions. M. Cundreans believes Franco snlfers in the regions for having repudiated the aid of the Jesuits, win, have a hold on the Indians But at M trr-ios, near the Amazon, is a very thriving French colony, composed of Alsatian Jews. La Kevue Internationale, article by M. Boglictti (Home), Very little that is new remains to be written about Prince Bismarck. A few pickings not generally known: Varzin is the Chancellor's pet residence ; it is full of nature, and insiidit of the s.-a—two objects of bis alfeetion. 'Lite estate, a gift of the Crown in IStiT, lias an area of 20,000 acres, planted with ash and fir, mostly by Bismarck himself. L’hc Prince maintains that politics are incompatible with the life of a true country gentleman. He is strong on history ; inis a superficial taste for music, and knows six languages. In his youth lie was guilty of once writing poetry, and was more alTectcd by the death of Ids dig “.Sultan'’ than by the holocausts his blood and iron policy engendered.