New-York tribune., 1900-03-31
LITERARY NOTES.

'.Harper's Maya zine" for April is good
Der. but Of the best things in it is an an
nouncement concerning the number for May
That will contain the paper by Mr.. Alden, in
which he will traverse the history Of the maga-
zine drawing upon the experiences and men,
ories of his thirty years in the editorial chair.
In the biography of Sir Arthur Sullivan by
MI Arthur Lawrence, just published by H. S.
Stone & Co.. there is an interesting letter of
Mr. Kipling's reproduced in facsimile. 1t is
dated at The Elms rockingham, May ii. '9S.
and follows:
Dear Sir Arthur Sullivan:
Many thanks for your note If layman may
speak in the presence Of a master, quite recog-
nize the difficulty you find about Recessional
The thing is hymn in Spirit and method, and
IL seems to me should be dealt with on Hymn
lines. I wrote il to a well worn choral in An
cient and Modern, and barring American at
tempt nothing has been done to the
verses.
I generally find that L have for
mally given up the notion Of story or rhyme,
the idea | have been hunting. arrives. 1t may
be-and / shall be lucky, II this is so-that some
day you will your way to the one, inevitable
setting that be floating about somewhere.
II is far better that IL should go unset than be
badly done and 1 have nothing in the
scores of varnps sent TO for approval and
authorization that makes change my mind.
Please accept the thing as yours if you care to
use il, and when you care to use 1t. There will
be no other setting authorized by me.
Very sincerely yours.
RUDYARD KIPLING
The portrait of Lord Kitchener by Mr.. William
Nicholson Of which r. H. Russell issues repro
duction, fixed a handsome cardboard mount
is better a drawing than a portrait Com
pared with the familiar photograph OF the Sir
dar. ii seems to be portrait Of else.
Il is however, a good specimen Of Mr. Nichol-
sons original art. and for that reason is worth
having.
The Baroness de Courtot was one Of those
lucky mortals who escaped the guillotine in the
revolutionary epoch though By magic. She
rescued after having entered the death cart
A translation Of her Memoirs has been pub
ished by Henry Holt & Co. Napoleon, Jose
phine. Barras and other important figures ap-
pear in the book.
Miss Johnston's delightful romance ITO Have
and To Hold" promises to be one Of the great
successes of the decade. Within a month of
publication a record of 125 900 copies has been
reached. In one week "a 900 copies were sold
Miss X. p. Wormeley asks us TO state that a
book being sold and reviewed under the
title of Little What's His Name" was not
written or translated by her, and that she knows
nothing about il.
The German phiIologist F. Blass has called
attention TO certain fragments of a Greek trag-
edy that have been published in the collection
OF pspyri by Grenfell & Hunt, but that have
hitherto attracted little notice. After an ex-
haustive examination OF the original in the
British Museum. Herr Biass has come to the
conclusion that the fragments from the lost
tragedy "Niobe." Of Sophocles. The scientific
reasons given in support Of this hypothesis are
said to be extremely interesting.
To the series OF "Handbooks Of English Lit
erature' edited by Professor Hales and pub