The times., 1897-09-12
MISS LILLIAN BELL.

There are half dozen critics stamping
about in the arena. The Chap Book is the
arena.
An English critic hits the nail squarely
oa the head whe he replies to the querYo OF
the queFelous question mongers who re-
Gently demanded why Tennyson and other
poets bad failed as dramatists. Because,
ne, Teanyson, in his haste TO eea dramatist.
forgot tn be pia aywright. There it is in
nutsaeil Study it. Mr.. Hov,sIls.
Stephen Crane S writing series of ar
Gtclesror the London Saturday Review. His
first article is on London Impres sions''
and described his entrance into London, the
scenes at the railroad station, and his
drive in cab to theShotel. Speaking OF
his baggage, and the necessity of hunting
pockets filled with bread and cheese and
had no baggage at an What viii the
Saturday Review readers make Of that
word laves?''
1t Is said that the highest price per word
ever paiC to an aathor was paid by Messrs
scribner To Mr.. Rudyard Kipllng fUr his
railorad story, No. 0o7," published in
the August number of Scribner's Maga-
zine. ne story numbers over Z COO words,
aud the price paid " asabout 81 800. TINS, as
one might suppose, covers all serial rights.
Twenty cents a word is said TO he the
high.wateI mark in authors pay, so far.
Mr. Kipling gets no such prices in his own
country. AS rule, he is bought out
right by an american publisher OF editor.
and resold to England.
The current volume of the Town and
Country Library reproduces a novel by
Allen Riae, by name "Mifanwy, u W elsh
Singer" tits an attractive story and move!
In presenting tie rarity of a story of the
Welsh Mifanwy was at first a herd girl.
but she leaves the Welsh mountains and In
the wide world size becomes a great singer.
But the world is small and In the end she
came back To the beginning and married
her fist companion, Ieuan, the companion
Of her free, untutored childhood tNew
York: d. Appleton & Co. Washington:
w oodward & Lothrop.)
1t is said that Ibsenism is on the wane.
aud with it is declining Bjornsonism.
Well, so it. Put What a power the Loary-
headed Norwegian has been. AS Hei neuian
said: ut is not a literary evolution which
has burst under the aegis of liter ature. Al.
ready ythatrevolutionhas done itswork The
victory is complete. Ibsenism, B5ornson's
theories, are become part of the COM
mon law. They are no longer disputed.
they are living! (vecuesl What a
howl says Kielaud. when THE Dolls
House" appeared! Today all our women
think as Nora thought
1t is announced that the title of Mark
Twain's boak has been changed from The
Surviving Innocent Abroad" to Follow
ing tile Equator" 1t is said on reliable
authority that the price paid to Mr. Glenn
ems for this book is $4,000, in payments
Of $4,000 each, and that he win make the
WHOLE of it over to his creditors, to whom
be owes about $4,000 more. At the rate
Of $4,000 a book, ii will not take Mr..
Clemens long to pay off this inde bt eduess.
Ma ior Pond has recently made him an Of
fer Of $4,000 for a series of lectures in
this country, but the offer has not be en- ac-
cepted, as yet.
French review ers are finding someamuse-
ment, we hope, in their lengthy, and, il
may be added, tardy arraignment of
America Tor lack Of anprecia tion for Poe's
genius. Perhaps but the French would not
appreciate it, they may lave taken their
cuefroIn the Ir3selt widespreadre drenaissanca
Of Poeism in the United States. Such an
undercurrent is certainly in evidence in
numerous white caps on the surface of
events. His books are still selling well; !.
some care has been given to his various
residences: drama of his life was re
Gently written and finally statue has been
erected, Or is this last as yet a plan EN-
bryonic9
We are threatened with an interminable
list OF letters" Letters are good
enough in their way; some are very excel
lent They throw light on obscure points
of biography orcharacter; they correct his
tory and readjust mistakes. but the letter
hunting fever has driven every one to the
garret and the chests, and more trash
is undusted than worthy material. The
mere fact that 4 conspicuous name is signed
to a letter does not give value to its whole
weary length. This is all apart from the
injustice done the departed writer OF
the letters, In which he has pfobably con
cealed much that he wished hidden from
all the rest of the world except himself
and The person to whom he eeenfides it.
A German monograph on Thomson, the
author OF THE Seasons, = describes him in
the title as "a forgotten poet of the eight
eenth century," but an English exchange
points out that So far is ne from being for.
gotten that during the present century
there have been no less than twenty edi
tions of his poems, to say nothing of sepa-