The record-union., 1899-06-04
Literature and
Literary Workers,

A taste for reading will always take
US into the best possible company, and
enable US to converse with men who
will instruct us by their wisdom, and
charm us BY their wit; who will soothe
us when fretted. refresh us when weary,
counsel us when perplexed, and sympa-
thize with US at all times-George S.
Hillard.
PROFESSOR Max Muller is about to
bring out another book of reminis-
cences, devoted to his Indian friends
and correspondents. He is also prepar-
ing to publish volume on six Sys-
TENS of Indian Philosophy
ANDREW Lang has nearly completed
the first volume of his history of Scot
land, from the Reformation, bringing
1t down to the end of the reign of James
v. The last chapter gives a sketch of
the literature and social life of Scotland
at that period. The author proposes to
trace in this history the making of the
national character and institutions Of
the country. The book will not appear
until the autumn.
The sale of the eleventh portion of
the coHectlon OF MSS. and autograph
letters of the late Sir Thomas Phillips
Will peg1n IN London on June 9Th. 1T
IS thlfty-seven years." says THE Athe-
naeum, since Phillips died TAT the
age OF SD, and thirteen years since the
dispersal of his vast collection of manu-
scripts There yet remain, it is under
stood, sufficient documents and printed
books to furnish sale annually until
Well into the next century. A writer in
The Quarterly Review for Nav. 1913.
doubted if all Europe could produce
another individual gentleman who. in
his ardor for collecting books and man
uscripts, has disbursed, like Sir Thomas
Phillips. t1O0, 900, or 100000 francs
AS the passion for collecting increased
with his age, and as he was collecting
with great keenness for about thirty
years after this was written. it is quite
Hkely that the sum total of his expend-
lture on books was not much short of
.t1oOOO0. The present writer possesses
few short letters from Phillips to his
booksellers, and in these his hatred of
HalllWell and his passion for books are
curiously blended. In one of the letters
ne enumerates about three hundred
books from recently published cata-
logue, the total amount being f156 lis
In another letter written from Thirle-
stane House, January 8, 1864, is this
passage:
The detestable scoundrel H. refuses
to come to any agreement, and so am
determined to leave M. H. Middle HID.
l hoo
forwards from NJ H. to this. The
scoundrel is such a thief that nothing
would be safe from him.
In everything relating to his son-in-
law Phillips language is more pictur-
esque than truthful. Let us hope that
they nave accomplished what the poll
tlclans call an entente cordiale in the
Elysian Fields. OF the various Eliza
bethan documents, perhaps the most
interesting is the unpublished journal
kept by Sir Henry Wotton of the
'Cheef Thinges Happened in our Jour-
nay from Deepe the 14th August"
The Crown Of Life is the title which
George Gissing has given to his forth
coming novel. 1t indicates that his
story is in a, happier vein than are his
previous productions.
Mr. Lang expresses in "Longman's"
his pleasure at the recovery of Mr.. Kip
ling, and the hope that the author will
take long holiday, for the sword
wears out the sheath, and his is a blade
unusually keen" This is not the mo-
ment," adds Mr.. Lang, "to be criticising
Mr.. Kipling, but 1 could wish that mis-
boy heroes in his school tales (and a
queer school is theirs did not despise
cricket, and, for all I know, foot ball.
lHurrah! Stalky, in the April number,
does play football. There are hopes!
That is not the right kind of boy. Even
Cowper, "a beastly poet was proud Of
his doings as a bat. Even Byron was
in (scratch Harrow eleven, and
Keats was distinguished with the
gloves, while DR.. johnson shone, to the
amazement of mankind, in the hunting
field. l am only in sympathy with Mr.
Kiphng's boys when they bully the bull
lies. Even then, unlike Stalky, I pre-
fer CRATIC directa to CRATIC obliqua the
method of Tom Brown and Harry East,
in the case of Eastman, to the meth
cd of Stalky and the Beetle. I do not
know (thank heavenly whether Mr.. Kip
ling invented all his horrible fortunes,
or whether they are in traditional prac-
tice. The danger is lest inventive boys
should try to make experiments in prac-
tice. One may not care for these
ericket-despising, strangely slangy, Sc
cretly smoking heroes of Mr.. Kipling,
but at all events he uses his pen in the
interests of the small boy bullied"
Miss Alice Brown, the author of civ
erton Tales" and other clever New Eng
land Stories has been engaged for some
years upon the staff of 1.-The Youths
Companion She was in her earlier
years a. teacher.
The Italian Poet Laureate, Carducci,
issalso Professor of Italian literature in
the University of Bologna, and in his
character was, the other day, delivering
his usual lecture. Into the lecture
room presently walked Signor Bertesi,
a well-known Roman Deputy, and be-
gan to listen and to stare at the poet
with the most intense interest. Car
ducci, irritated, exclaimed that he de-
clined to be placed on a par with fam
GUS tenors and dancing girls. who could
be stared at with IMMUNITY, and or
dered his students to turn the inquis-
tive Deputy out of the lecture room, a
request which was executed with the
greatest promptness and perhaps UNI
necessary enthusiasm. The outraged
representative of the nation immedi-
ately sent an insulting epistle to Car
ducci, who returned it,. however, mere
ly scribbling on the envelope the fol-
lowing line from Dante: "Ecortesia flu