The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-11-19
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.


 arhe Literary GaiIiotIne''-"The Art of che Pltti Palace" Tine CAIhsdraIS of Northern FFAncs"-"In the Days of Queen viciorIa''-"Randya and Prne" -"Little Betty BIus'-"The GirI Who Kept Upn-"Dont's for Mothsrs'- Other Books.
 'aThe Literary Guillotine" recites the proceedings of literary emergency court" for the trial of offenders against literature which have been recorded from month to month in the Reader, New York periodical. It is published by John Lane, New York, and is sa- tirical consideration of the present con- dition of the book market, in the form of arraignments of various authors or popular acceptance before a tribunal consisting of Mark Twain. Oliver Her ford and Myself" with Charles Battell Loornis as prosecuting attorney. The cases tried are practically an- nounced as follows: 'The people against Richard Harding Davis" James versus Eddy" civil suit for infringement of patent on ''the obscure sentence;" "The people against John Kendriclz Bangs and James Brander Matthew's" wards in Chancery'-the Wards being Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward and Mrs. Mary Augusta ward-the latter only on trial; "The Corel-li-ing of Caine;" '"The People Against vandyke ct al.;" "The Apollo naris Poets;' Historical Novelties" in which certain characters in current his- toric fiction are subjected to an inquiry in lunacy::" 'sThe Otherwise Men," in which the editors of magazines are raked over. The book is undeniably clever in spots and on the whole both readable and amusing, and is far more enjoyable than when it's contents were appearing in installments, The lack of criticism applied is in most cases severe, but justifiable, and the kindly humor pervading the pages mitigates the sharpness of the sting. In some. cases the failure of the attempt is apparent. Thoroughly bright and amusing among the various trials is that of Mrs. Eddy on the complaint of Henry James that she had infringed his patent on the ..sententia obscura," which MT. James is made to expatiate upon in this wise:
 .'The object of the obscure sentence Is manifold. It is useful, mainly, as the repository of weak and impotent thoughts. But it is more than that. Talleyrand claimed that language was invented for the purpose of concealing thought; have carried the process to it's ultimate conclusion, and invented a form of language for the concealment not only of thought, but of the lack of thought. Beyond that it is impossible to go. But the obscure sentence sub serves a further purpose. It is a Blue beard castle in which all sorts of impro- pfieties are committed, but into which the young person, that arch enemy of fictionists brought up in France, has never been known to penetrate. No one under twenty years of age can by any possibility gain adnlittance into one of these chambers of horrors unless ac- companied by an older person. For in stance what, seemingly, could be more innocuous than this statement on page 50 of What Maisie Knew, as she had been with the great alterrla- tive of the proper, she felt that her gov- erness and her father would have a substantial reason for not emulating that detachment I depose, you might let any youthful mind loose on that sen- tence, even that of Anthony Comstock, and the result would merely be that of dogs worrying an armadillo. |. The scientific name of my invention is the sententia obscura, and like the ca mera obscura of the photographers, it serves for the projection of certain ideas and images, not safely to be pre- sented immediately to the Anglo Saxon mind.'
 From the reply vouchsafed to Mrs Eddy the following brief but pertinent extract is taken: "You will find my obscurity of a different nature,-much more subtle. Like my students, doubt less, you will imagine that you under stand what shall read to you, while in reality remaining blissfully ignorant of its meaning. That is the true obscuri- ty." For example: "A man respects the reputation of woman, but a mouse will gnaw in the dark at spotless gar ment. Think of myself as an orange just eaten, of which only the pleasant idea is left The spiritual He, She and It are mind, and minds ideas" And the verdict was that there was no in- Engagement on MT. James patent, be- cause ian examination of the works of the defendant shows clearly that her < obscurity is of her own invention, and beyond the mental capacity of mere man"
 Tn the case of the people against Rich- ard Harding Davis, MT. Davis was found guilty of lese majeste to the cause of letters, and he is thus sen- tenced by Mark Twain:
 Tt is therefore the decision of this court that you be led from this room and confined by yourself with set of Balzac's works accessible to hand, so that you may be given chance to see how a man writes, and that within sun- rise and sunset two weeks from to-day you be taken to the place of execution and there, in the presence of the pro- per officials and witnesses, your literary head be struck from your shoulders"
 As he disappeared through the door, Herford leaned over and said: There's only one trouble about carry ing out that sentence; how the deuce are you going to chop off the literary