New-York tribune., 1903-07-19
LITERARY NOTES.

memorial tablet is about to be placed on
the house at Thornton in which the four Bronte
children were born. A butchers shop is now
maintained on the premises.
The discussion over the troubles Of the cOun-
try bookseller which has been going on in some
English papers has brought out one suggestion
which is quaint enough. 1T would be a most
excellent plan," writes country bookseller. If
the publishers would all agree to make a two
months close time when books would be
issued Out of that time each of them should
spend month in assisting country book
seller to dispose OF his stock The experience
gained by the publishers being brought into
communication with the book buying public
might lead to much good" In our minds eye
We can perceive the heads of the great houses
of Murray. Macmillan LOngmans. and on.
rushing with eagerness to carry out this de-
lightfuI plan.
1t is reported that the works of Mr. a E W
Mason author of The Four Feathers Mi
randa of the Balcony and several other capital
novels will henceforth be published in this
country by the Harpers.
statstician of leisure might probably turn
his attention to interesting point in Contem-
porary Ietters-the length of time elapsing be-
fore Il widely popular book begins 10 suffer
from a reaction in public taste What is the
average where novels are COuCeTned2 Sometimes
the craze lasts for several years. and, again. II
passes in three or four months. The first note
inimicaI TO the vogue of that excellent book.
The House with the Green shutters" has been
sounded by a critic who not only calls IL i
tour de force " but asks, After all, as crafts
manship. what more is that novel than sixth
rate Nine BOvary'? Nor is it less a libel
the true Scot than ISLANDERS OF that good
man the 'pecnin and hOastin'-thrOw in sob
bing if you like-Of Ian. in the bield OF 4 very
ragged briar bush
Lady Betty BaIfour is editing volume OF
the correspondence Of her father, the late Earl
OF Lytton. 1t is said that it will show Owen
Meredith" in his more intimate moods
Eighteen of Pope's letters to Lady Mary
WOrtley MOHtagu were sold in a London auc-
ton room the other day for SlZJO In one or
them the poet says: You have no way of max
ing me amends but by continuing an Asiatic
when you return to me. whatever English airs
you may put on to other people. 1 prOdigiOusly
long for your sonnets your remarks your ORR
entail learning, but 1 long for nothing so much
as your Oriental self In another letter he
says: L am capable of following one 1 love not
only to ConstantinOple. but to those parts OF
India where they tell the women best like
the ugIicst of fellows as the most admirable pro-
ductions of nature. and look upon defOrmitieS as
the signature of Divine favor" which, coming
from Pope, has very pathetic sound
The Athenrurr'' reviewing Miss WormeIeys
version of the Letters of Mile de LeSpinaSSe,
declares we are glad to see. its sympathy with
the translator lin her protest against the asper-
sions which French critics. in their light hearted
fashion, have freely cast upon the moral char
aCteT Of this remarkable woman Ine writer
goes on to say;
so far as her relations with D'AlembeTt and
tha MarduiS de Mora are concerned these in
gratuitOus. but regards Guibert. we fear the
case is otherwise Certainly, however, she be-
lieved that an impossible barrier was raised be
tween them by his marriage. and for an eISh-
teenth century Parisienne this was good deaf
1t seems improbable also, that a woman with
an habtuaIly low moral standard, or those
hereditary vicious tendencies insisted upon by
Mrs. Ward. should have suffered the aSonIes OF
renorse which undoubtedly shortened her life.
though it would be idle TO deny that these were
caused rather by regret for her Inconsistency to
Mora than by any more abstract consideration
A new series of editions of classical English
writer's Is announced by the Cambridge Uni
versity Press to be begun in the fall, and we
rejoice to observe that at present at least no
prefaces or notes other than purely teNtuai ana
bibLographical are contemplated The text VIII
be given either from the last edition of each
work as revised by the author, or from the nrst
or most authentic pOsthumOus edition Neither
spelling nor punctuation will be altered one
of the first issues Will be a reprint OF HOobeSs
'I.eviathan." CrashaW'S Poems VIII be IN
cIuded in the SERIES and the early poems or
Crabbe are also to be given
NJ Frederic Mason. we'll known in lighter
NapoleOlic literature. has been elected to the
chair in the French Academy left vacant by NJ
CASTOR Paris. and the place OF NJ LeSOuVe has
been filed by VI. Rene Bazin, a popular novelist
and the author of two books OF travel