The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-02
Literary Notes.

arts.-Ihe Pail Mall Budget
Literary Notes.
Varncr & Bros. viii Issue "A Tour
Around NSw York and My Summer
Acre" by Felix Odboy, and the follow.
ing other illustrated volumes: Gurus,
''prue and T.; James DAISY Mi1Sl
and IAN International Episode In
tie Swiss Sojourn," by W; ~. lioWeiis y,
Prime: THE West from Car Wln-
dow" by Richard Harding Davis: The
Praise Of Paris" studies Of the French
canital. and London" by Walter
| Besant
The number of those who inscribed
their names last year in the visitors boOk
| in the house at Ecclefechan IN which
Thomas Carlyle first saw the light, was
| $40. twenty-three of whom were Amerl-
cans. There were two VISITORS from
Canada. one from South Australia, one
from the East Indies, one from New Lea-
land. three from Belgium, one from the
West Indies. aud two from the Cape Of
| Good Hope The visitors in 1877 up to
the present date, number 2J4, including
one from Australia, one from Maurluus,
two from Canada and two from the East
Indies.
1t was while returning home from Eu-
rope in 1899 that Emma Willard wrote
| the famous ballad, Rocked in the Cradle
of the Deep" In mid-ocean terrific
storm set in and the frail ship was tossed
| about by the waves. The passengers
were ali badly frightened, except Miss
| Willard, who seemed to undergo the
whole experience with a feeling of graft
tude Soon after the storm had abated
she appeared in the main cabin and read
the first verses of the ballad. The Due
| de ChOiseul was among the passengers,
and he went into ecstasies about the
piece He prevailed upon Miss Willard
10 finish it. She did SO, whereupon the
Due set the words to music, but the air
| is not the familiar one known now.
Emma Willard wrote many other poems,
| but none of them ever became so popu-
lar rs this one.
Mr.. Ruskin is one Of the few authors
| of the world able to determine with lord
ly certainty the way in which their books
shall be printed. 1t appears that he per
mits no deviation on the part of the print
| er from his own rule of punctuation
| happy MAINLAND in the matter of uni
| f0rmly open spacing is so insistent that
| on several occasions when the compost
| tors disregarded his instructions in this
| respect proofs of an entire volume have
| been returned to the printer in order that
whole paragraphs might be oyerrun from
beginning to end. 1t is observed that
Mr.. Ruskin's printed page is ''as nearly
as an Oblong square can be made, so
modelled on the proportions which artists
have assigned TO the finest types of the
human countenance'; and that the
authors reason for placing his printed
page $50 much out of the center" is his
| desire to give students of his works
ample margin for Ms. notes.
A paragraph is running the rounds OF
the press in which Mr.. Joel Chandler
| Harris, the Southern dialect writer, is
said to thiLk Of sailing for Africa in
| December, "in order to revisit the little
town of Joel, where he was born OF mis-.
sionary parents on January -, lS42.
The village of EatOnton, in Middle
| Georgia" is given in Authors at Home
as Mr. Harris birthplace; and as the
sketch was written for the Critic by MIR.
| Erastus Brainerd who had been for
| some time associated with Uncle Re
mus" on the Atlanta Constitution, there
is good reason to believe that the prince
of American folk-lorists was born on
American soil, and is, therefore, eligible
| IF called upon) to serve his country as
| her chief magistrate.
Mrs. Richmond Richie is writing two
series of "reminiscences in Macmilan's
Magazine One she calls MY Witches
| CauldrOn," the other Chapters from
Some Unwritten Memories" The eighth
instalment of the latter series appears
| in the current number, and is delightful
| reading Mrs Richie describes her
| fathers first delivery of his lecture on
| the English humorists:
Zone day Jackson drove the blue fly
up to the door. and my father looking
rather smart, with packet OF papers III
his hands, and my grandmother, who had
| come over from Paris, and my sister and
j all got in, and we drove away, ner-
vous company, to Willis Rooms TO hear
| the first of the lectures upon the Eng
| lsh humOrists. My father was, of course,
| very nervous, but as we drove along he
| made little jokes TO reassure us all; then
together we mounted the carpeted stair
case leading to the long empty room, and
| after time he left liz"
They sat for while in anxious expec-
tationa ard then Thackeray appeared upon
| the platform.
| Ills voice sounded strange and odd
| for an instant, and didn't recognize it.
In treating of the English humorists OF
| the eighteenth century, it is OF the men
| rather than of their works, so the
| strange voice began, and then almost i'm
mediately it softened and dcepened and
| became his own. and at the same time
as he stood there / realized that he
| looked Just like himself; there was his
waistcoat and his watch-chain, ana my
vague youthful spnnings and choklngs
and confusions began to subslde.
| don't believe that they were ever
aroused again, for as q lecturer mack
| cray was decidedly successful.
Mrs. Richie gOssips pleasantly of the
| "Old House in Cheyne Row." which is
among the earliest of her recollections.
| Its stiffness, its dimness, its panelled
walls. its carved bansterS and the quiet
| garden behind. where at intervals III the
| brickwork lay the tobacco pipes all
ready for use; little Nero the doggie,
! in his little coat, barking and trembling
| in every limb" are as clearly before her
| eyes to-day as they were when they ac-
| tually existed. With Mrs. Carlyle, she
and her sister were on the best Of terms;
| but the appearance OF the sage III the
! drawing-room was the signal for their
departure. Mrs. Carlyle she says, was
never weary of discoursing of Carlyle
of his genius, his dyspepsia, of quoting
his sayings. If you wish for a quiet
life she used TO say, never you marry
| a dyspeptic man of genius
| Here is letter addressed to Thacke-
ray in 1.-THE philosophers handsome
cramped handwriting:
Chelsea, oath May, 1S60.-Alas, dear
| Thackeray. i burst as soon undertake to
dance a hornpipe on the top of Bond
| Steeple as to eat whitehall dinner IN
my present low and lost state. Never
| in my life was / at such a pass. You
are a good brother man, and | am CRATE
full Pray for me, and still hope for me
! if you can. Yours ever, L Carlyle.
| Thackeray was great admrer OF Car
| I.-lo T., q Letter IN his mothar Urittan in