The record-union., 1899-01-15
RECENT LITERARY NEWS.
"RECoRD-uNIoN" NOTES OF
BOOKS AND AUTHORS.
Historic Matters-New Works
Bookmen OF the World
Critical Comment.

GRANDSON, Barton II. Wise, Wnlch ~ Ia
press, will cover the period OF Gov
ernor Wise's service in Congress Qs55-
~, his career as United States Minis
ter to Brazil QS44-O, his work in the
Virginia Constitutional Convention OF
1S5O-1, and in the Virginia Convention
OF 1861, which passed the act of seces-
sion, and also his career as Brigadier
General in the Confederate army. There
are also included many personal anee-
dotes and "reminiscences Of public men,
The play 'Ingomar," der Sohn der
Wildness,'' familiarly known in Eng
1ish as 'Ingomar, the Barbarian" or
''Ingomar. the Son of the Desert" was
written under the nom de plume OF
Friedrich Helm by Elegius Franz
Joseph, Freyherr Won Munich-Belling-
hansen. The first edition appeared in
Germany in 1S43, and the drama speed
fly made it's way to the English and the
American stage, and has long been
popular piece.
New York Times: 1t might look to
an outsider as if the Omar cult in Eng
land was becoming rather farcical
business. Nevertheless the Persian was
no acetic but, as far as we can tell,
he was real jolly fellow. Did he al
ways sip sherbet, or did he not, when
he had a chance, make merry with
many goblet of sound Shraz wine? At
a recent Omar function, held in Lon
don, the club sang the praises of the
poet, and Barry Paine recited a coster
monger doggerel, the last two verses of
which were:
: A song Can chorus) in a well-lit bar,
Pot o best bitter an two d. cigar
Thet an frien'ly barmides all yer
Pleasure? Why, books won't tike yer 'arf
as far.
Come, fill my glawss! The liquor ERE is
Don't worry me abart no Ugh surblime-
Yer know, we amt gort all the night ter
An in a little while it's closin' time.
Did the poet of the Rubiayat turn in
his grave at such incongruities? Or
what would Fitzgerald have said? 1t
is scohing world, and with but little
reverence.
In talking with Professor Norton Mr..
Wilson once esssayed the guess that
Froude's Carlyle" contained "as many
errors as pages-about 1900" Pro-
volume of the biography containing his
own pencil corrections, which showed
far more than an average of one error
per page. In some parts the average
was about one error per sentence
+
Notes and Queries: To cut his stick,
In the sense of going. away in hurry,
has long been a common expression,
iS
so frequently as it was forty and fifty
years ago. ''Hey's cut his stick" equals
run away. Nov, then; cut yer stick,"
equals be Off In playing cricket when
I was a boy, the record of runs for
each player was notched on a long
stick. and runs We're only known as
notches'' in those days. have seen
the records of bigger matches also re-
corded on sticks by means of notches, |
say. forty-five years ago.
Apropos of new edition of Niche
let's book, "L'Olseau," the authors
widow is quoted as saying that when
he had finished the closing chapter of
his history of the Revolution he showed
serious symptoms of over work For
complete change Of thought she there
upon suggested to him that he should
write sort of prose poem on the birds.
In reply he urged her to write the book
herself. When she set about doing it
he became interested, added touch
here and there. and sprinkled gold
dust over the whole"
A curious feature of the nature of
American literary criticism, as William
Dean HowellS points out in his Ameri-
can letter in Literature is that while
literary criticism of the easier variety
has largely increased in the newspa-
pers. nearly all literary criticism has
disappeared from the magazines. This
may be because of the rise Of several
critical weeklies and monthlies which
supply the demand of magazine read
ers; but it is certain that one magazine
alone remains constant to itself in this
respect.
: AS ten days profit on the Bismarck
memoirs amounted to half million
marks, it is pretty certain that the
German publishers will get back in
Germany alone the original. cost
], 100000 marks-of the manuscript.
The book about the last DAYS of
Shelley. which DR.. Biagi has just pub
lished, tells nothing new except a few
unimportant facts about the disposal
of the poets remains The author dis
credits some of Trelawny's most pic
turesque statements. especially that in
which he represents himself as snatch
ing Shelley's heart from the flames
during the cremation of the body.
80
Austin Dobson is quoted as having
recently written these peculiar lines in
a COPY of the works of Poe:
That much her greatest bard is Edgar
/ say this reminiscent and defiant
OF Boxer. Tabb, and Longfellow and Bry-
ant.
Lord Curzon's book on the Indian
frontier-the result of his travels in
that region-was all ready for publica- /
ton when he sailed for India the other
day. But we are not to see it for some
time to come, as it has been concluded
that it is unwise for the viceroy to
publish a book on the subject at pres
ent
The Russian authorities are greatly
incensed against To1stoi, as the recent
disturbances in connection with vari-
Gus heterodox sects are ascribed to his
influence. 1t is said that every strike,
every conspiracy, every approach to
political activity on the part of the
masses is attributed to him. A semi
official organ says: There can be no
liberation of such views, and not only
A. l. G<~~ yTx< IT fx.y