Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-01-19

shakespeare fairy play. Inen
bigger hoy seemed to discover all
worldly wisdom in 1.-The Newcomes"
and VANITY Fair" wisdom, kindness,
true love, religion, inexhaustible
hGmor, style that was n song and an
enchartment. Mr.. Edmund Yates 1
regarded at the mature age of fourteen
with feelrgs-well, with feelings that
never altered. On the inner wall of an
old chapel on the Loire are scratched
the words "Bayard is Deid." Some
sentimental archer OF the Scottish
Guard had written them in 1924, when
he heard Of Bayards death-with such
emotion rs I heard of the death Of
Thackeray, whom I had never seen
Andrew Lang in the Cornhill Magazine
Writing upon books Of the year in tho
London Telegraph. w. l.. Courtney SAYS.
What is the general character of the liter
airy harvest Of the year? 1t is not very
easy to summarize the total result. but
certain aspects are obvious. 1909 has been
strong in the regions of biography and
history: it has been relatively weak and
deficient in those works of art, poetic or
noveliStic. which give distinction and no.
more. unfortunately, it is necessary to
say that no great poetic work has an
pearcd during the last twelve months.
Mr.. George Meredith has not broken ST.
tributed anything new TO his past record
In the latter case, it is true. we are
appear within the course OF the next few
weeks. I;n;t Mr.. Hardy's poetry does not
apneal to everybody, and the announce
mixod feelings. The poet laureate has
given us meanwhile a play entitled
''Flodden Field which was produced on
the boards of His MajeSty's Theatre. an
erestins but not in any sense an epoch
making work. Mr.. Rudyard Kipling has
been in evidence with a heterogeneous
collection of songs and verses. which he
is one poem included within these covers
likely to endure. the beautiful poem on
Sussex. as fun of tender and exquisite
grace as anything that has appeared since
the famous Professional. But Mr..
Kipling'S volume is marked. as ind ed We
have now learnt to expect. by Il good deal
of that crude violence which is not always
strength. ard it contains some pieces
which even the admirers of this exceed
! insly virile genius will have to pass by
with n sigh. There is also slight book
of poems from the pen of Mr.. William
WatSon-pocmS which the author him
self confesSeS are written under Il sense
| of diScOura cement and exile, because he
| found himself in sentiment and feeling
| so entirely estranged from his country
mon during the course of the Boer war
iotHoNu THESE lew specimens little enough
| Is found to record. with one notable eX-
| ception, profoundly moving and stately
| poem by Mr. Laurence Bnyon on the
Death OF Adam. When We turn. how
ever. 10 the department of biography and
history we are in Il much more fruitful
| field The great book of the year has
beer undoubtedly Mr.. John Morleys Life
| Of Gladstone task worthily performed
| by man who has had exceptional Oppor-
| tinities to understand and interpret the
| career of a statesman with whom he was
closely i'll sympa thy. The first of the three
| volumes is one Of perennial interest for
| there are few things more fascinating
than the detailed analysis of a somewhat
| beWildered biographer attempting to ex-
| plain the religious elements entering so
| powerfully into Mr.. Ciladstone's character
| The other two volumes have, of course
| to deal with the more acrimonious topics
! of political and partisan struggle But
] whether read by friend or foe the life of
one Of the greatest statesmen of the Vic
| toiian era Is one which deserves Il place
| on our shelves: dignifed and stately
| memorial to a man who helped to make
or as some would say. mar recent Eng
| liSh history. In the closing months of the
. Near appeared a book of which we are
| likely I" hear good deal more than we
| have already heard, The Creevev Pa
! pcrS CreeTey is a sort Of appendix or
supplement to Groville. a society Journal
| list. as he would now be called with rare
| opportunities of seeing and describing the
| infirmitics of his age. 1t is all delightful
| reading. albeit. that We do not rise from
the rcrusal of these volumes with any
| great regard for the author. Neverthe-
| less. the Creevey Papers. as edited by Sir
| Herbert Maxwell. give no little dstinc-
| ton to the past year. The historian of
| the future can hardly do without his
more or less veracious record and all who
! desire to recOnstitute in any sense the
4 social life of our ancestors are bound to
| law his pages under heavy contribution
| These two books. The Life of Glad
stone" and The Creevoy Papers" al
| though they tend to dwarf other similar
| works, by no means exhaust the bios-
| ia phic al record. The Life of Mr.. Cham
| herlain' has been written by Mr.. S. H.
Jeyes; an unconventional biography of
| Disraeli has been composed by Mr.. Will
| frid Mcynell. but most people will prefer.
| in the latter case. to wait for the atthori-
Zed biography of the great Lord Beacons-
! field. which, at last. after many delays.
seems likely TO see the light. perhaps some
| two years hence.
| Ainslee's for February presents, as the
novelette,. "A Natural Divorce" by Eliza