New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-02-03
LONDON GOSSIP.
NOTES ON LITERARY TOPICS.

|
| HISTORY or NAPOLEON III. BY DUVERNois
| pRoMIsED-TIIRRE NEW FRENCH NOVELS AN
NoUNCED.
| lFnoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE fHi'uSh'i
LONDON JAN ia "cabnct" edition-the sixth
of Mr. Kiupakc's History of the Invasion OF the
| Crirrea" is announced by McSsrs. Blackwood, and
the first volume clearly printed in crown Syo mas
appearcd IL is the first in which the text has been
revised, Mr.. Kinglake having heretofore contentcd
| himself with putting into the form OF notes such
corrections and additions as he Thought lit 10 MAKE
upon the issue of each new edition. This course he
followed so long the History was subject OF
active controversy; at the end of sixteen years he
| rightly thinks the text may assume its dehnltive
form. An exception has been made in favor OF the
farnous XIyth chapter. This chapter, to use Mr..
KingakeS words concerns the action and the char-
acter of a sovereign who, although at the hight OF
his power when the chapter was published was des-
tined to meet dire rcverses, and is now no more. lie
has therefore judged it light to let what he SAID OF
him i'm 1868 reappear without the change of word
This volume contains q most interesting Preface.
with some remarks on the year 1858 and the year
1876 suggested of course by what is now going on
in the East with the following bit of truthful ro-
nance showing how sentiment once more mingled
with political action and piece of chivalrous devo-
ton set fire to the souls OF imaginative people:
The young Col. Nchola Kire:f was a noble whose ,
birth and possessions cohcele nun VIII, d hniur nv ma
tuTc Of enthusiastic disposition WIN roihao
example before n IN the lie "l DIS iaiael' M I no
outbreak Prince Milaus insurrccton nc wcnt on 70
Serya with the design OF acting simply under the ban
ne of the Red Cross and had already entered upon his
humane task whep he found himself calico upon u! ei
Tchernayef accept the command OF what we may call
alrigadc-a force 5000 inTantry, consisting Oh
volunteers and mtaIncn supported IL seems, ny hSe
guns and before long lie not only had To take ms pse
into action but to the means OF assang an III,
trenched position ut RokOwz: Young hlrc,n very wei
understood that the irregular force hirstj W n mn
far from being that could be commanded Il. CIV. n
of battle by taking look with aheldghs ana uterus
| n few words 10 aidde-camp; so lie determined 10
carry forward his men by the sln lie ana pfinlNe ~
pedent Of personally advancing IN iront OF thcln
features and. whether owing To the midsummer neat or
chos, IA he had done from the first, be clothed alto
geher in white. While advancing III front oil ms tO1ls
against the Turkish battery he was struck rTt W shou
passing through ms lett arm then presently Dy another
one Which struck him in the neck aud then AGAIN ny yet
m TO drop his sword but despite all these wounds ne
was still continuing his reNOiutc advance Whch Iou,h
shot passed through his lungs and brought him AT lclst
70 the ground yet did not prevent MN lpn nttgIhe az
though with great effort the cry OF h ro
Thc brrndc me had com handed fell back aud his body
yaiuly issed aftcrward by Cen lchcrhi9eh-
remained III the hands OF the turks
These arc the facts told with that charm OF style
which is Kingakes own. but ont OF them grew with
singular rapidly kind of legend in which the
Kir6cif's exploit was magnfed into the slaughter OF
hecatombs If Turks, and the story was everywhere
told and believed and everywhere set the Russians
to volunteering in aid of Serya. Hence the num-
bcrs Of Russian recruits who poured H. and henfe II
came about that the Gar without having made war,
found himself enduring, it were, the shame OF de-
feat when the Servians were beaten; and hence,
finally the famous ultimatum to Turkey.
book was published in London some months
tl,a
and Passion or Life in Mayfair" the author, the
Duke de Medina-pomar. Whether it had any lit
erary merits cannot say, but 1t became known ut
once as a novel which was not all Il novel az, III
fact collection of the gossip and scandaous stories
which had been whispered in good society during
the last year or two. The iutrigucS the t0SOa', the
copcnents were there; the names SO thlnly dis
guiscd that they were readily known by those
who knew the people themselves and the
circles in which they moved. The heroes and
hcroines of the Duke's plquant anecdotes, to-
gether with their brothers and cousins, were
not pleased with the publicity thus suddenly thrust
on them. They may may not have cared Tor the
talk which had gone on, bat they could i'll endure
that the talk should get into PRINT and that any
world less brilliant than their own should be per-
mitted glimpse inside the social mysteries OF May
fair So il happened one day that " Fashion and
Passion" was suppressed. Who suppressed it, or
who paid for suppressing it, never heard, but for
some time il was quite believed chat the book had
really been withdrawn. Iou would find however, on
inoiring at your library, that the copies belonging
TO 1t had not been reclaimed by the publishers they
were. Won would he told politely, in the hands of
customers who had not returned them. II would be
intilnated to you with equal politeDess that many
copies were not to be returned at all that those
who CHANGED to possess them would keep Them and
had in fact, paid for them, sometimes as much as
$15 or 500 Hence the difficulty in promising yOu
the book though the first that came in should surely
be reserved for you If, however, the conversation
stopped there You would find the book not sent
YOU; 1t was sent only to those who might care for it
enough to agree to keep it at something like the
price mentioned. III you asked yOur bookseller you
would be told, in perfectly good faith, that the
market value of the book really the sum named,
and that it not easily to be had A
good part of the first edition disposed
Of in this way, to the great profit OF
somebody. Then, 20 more copies or no
more purchasers being procurable, second edition
quietly made its appearance; the price 81 % The
publishers have not thought il worth while TO offer
any explanation of these curious facts. 1t may not
be the first time such thing has happened; for
WAYS that are dark and tricks that are vain the
Heather Chlnee ~ is peculiar Pray accept my
account as that of an admring and perfectly impair
tal observer. did not buy the first edition, and
my copy of the second is borrowed II looks well
enough as you dip into it here and there It's author
nevertheless, is a real duke who really was iii Lon
don last year, and might have been met at many
great houses where he will never again be met.
There are things which society does not pardon,
even TO duke: telling too much truth being ap-
parently one of them 1t should none the less he
said plainly that the book is, If one-haf that is said