The times., 1898-01-23
LITERARY NOTES.

| The London Punch, which a young
business man once said that he perus-
| ed for year and a half be-
fore ever discovering that 1t
| was comic paper, does oc-
casionally contain something bright.
/ 1t has for some time been publishing
| gently satirical burlesGues on the liter
/ ary celebrities of the day, in the shape
| Of a mock coat Of arms and quarter
ings 1t has lately gotten around TO
| Marie Corelli, and the result is this:
Artns: Quarterly, first, ON ground
/ sable of reserve, Invlnciple to the last,
| log proper Constitutionally ayerse 10
| being roIieu under a column and half;
| second, IN d servants 'Orle, n cog Scared
| volume, ineiouranatic and transpontne
| to the full, circulating urgent; third two
| wiz HORSES at 5hpceu, tfdilaiu from Il
| studio d startling portrait or a talented
| autnoress, painted under pnttest and eX-
| hlulled WhJ Obvious reluctance by the
| viclin tneibers OF the press ana aris-
| totracy moscow eicoine, 4:3u TO ~; iourtn,
hiuden under busfel proper tof plate
glass light of literature, shining in
| rcciuine, over an I'm escutcieon oil retl-
ceIce, Trumpet or glory, usually rloWn
| antomaticaily, bat quite az the service OF
ths press, gratis. Crest. A started fawn,
p.opei Oi tFiild,ly, seeking shelter urgent
| from wreath OF laurels issii;i mt from the
| oopui Us supporters: Dexter, a curate
] habited sable proper and piIiieiess to ms
We nsieg er 81 manly ,7assa ut i'll perusal proper
| Va Inc Bolherai IONS OF BeelzeDub" +" sin
isler c1ok-generai proper guttee-ac-
.aiiies ..E paip;taIit III pa atnos, absorbent the
,i ouileIs sytn.'t Seconu motto: "Ir
| am forgotten, IL won: iJe MY fanlt ;,
| The New York Sun. in an unusuaI
| nisht OF imagination, asks us to think
| ol the glorious tales of adventure-of
| ioNe ana nattie and the perfls of the
| aeep- might have had il ONLY one of
| iio"eis great great grandmothers
| had gone on honeymoon trip with a
pirate to the Spanish Main. The sun
| shouid be careful. The average mans
| imagination can be strained il too much
| is put upon it.
| me jungle Books seem to have
| started an epidemic of animal stories
| and that is not a bad thing The ami
| mals cannot read what is written about
tnem, so they do not object: and they
usually do not talk dialect, which is
happy thing from the printers point of
view. The latest contribution in this
llne Is The Story of Red Deer" by
| }. W. Fortescue. The scene is laid in
EXmoor Forest, and the characters,
among whom are the badger the rabbit
and the gray hen, talk in the Devon
SHIRE language, made familiar to US in
Lorna Doone. This departure should
receive attention
Rider Haggard is writing a new
story, the scene of which will be laid
in Holland, and the time be medieval.
1t is rather to be regretted that Mr.
Haggards muse seems to have wan
dered away from Africa He was very
much at home there, and it was good
setting for the wild barbaric riot OF his
imagination.
Theodore Mommsen, the historian.
lately celebrated his eightieth birth
day in Berlin. He is familiar figure
on the streets of that metropolis, and a
pretty story is told by an American
lady who happened TO be in room
fuil OF German students when the great
man entered The students were seat
ed at tables. drinking, chatting. and
singing. Suddenly there was a hush
A slender, slightly bent, brilliant-eyed
old man entered and passed TO a seat
Then, with one voice, the greeting went
forth, Mommseni" And that was all
Pierre Lott has just completed his
term of command of the gunboat Jave-
lot, at Hendaye, and will presently un-
dertake journey to the far East
Those who saw The Middleman' re-
member the device employed by Blen-
karin to keep himself secluded from Wis
itors Lott works in queer little study
where he cannot be disturbed for very
much the same reason. The only way
to get in is to climb a rope ladder
which. while the novelist is at work, is
not there TO climb. o7 a
Conan Doyle is an ardent admirar of
Reade's novel, t'The Cloister and the
Hearth He says that the highest
qualities of head and heart go togeth-
er in this book, and that he has never
found SO much accurate knowledge
and ripe wisdom and passionate hu-
man emotion within the covers of any
single volume.
And by the way, people who will
take the trouble TO compare Mr..
Reade's novel and 1.-The White Com
pany," by Conan Doyle, will discover
quite a decided similarity in the plot
and treatment of the TWO, and will
understand clearly that the younger
author had one of those things which
Howells calls literary passions" when
he wrote his story of adventure.
An enterprising London editor invit-
ed an author, a critic and a publisher
to contribute each an article TO his
paper on the subject OF literary griev-
ances. The consequence was that the
Morning Post, of London. has three
very interesting specimens of candor.
The author had the most to say He
said the publishers We're so timid that
they were killing literature. The crit
les chief trouble seemed to be that
publishers would not provide their vol
urnes of biography, and so on, with an
index. The publisher was diplomatic
He said that he had no grievances-to
speak of. He had known bad authors
who promised work and accepted pay
for it, and then failed to come to
time, but they were the exceptions
He was diplomatic to the last degree.
Amateur Champion H ]. Whigham
has written book on How to Play
Golf which will be issued during Feb
ruary. 1t has been delayed owing to
therdifficulties of the picture work. for
the book is illustrated with chrono-
photographic pictures showing the posi-
ton of player, club and ball at every
point in the swing.
Mr. Ebert Hubbard still continues
his little journeys to the homes of IA
nous people, and the series of 1898 will
be to the homes of statesmen. The
twelve are Washington, Franklin.
Hamilton, Samuel Adams, Hancock,
John Quincy Adams, Jefferson, Web
ster, Clay, Jay, Seward and Lincoln
The first paper has appeared in the
usual dainty style of these essays, and
is an extremely interesting glimpse
into the home life and private actions