The San Francisco call., 1904-07-01
London Book World.
Special Correspondence.

GARDEN. LONDON. June l6.-Al-
though everybody knows that Bernadin
de st. Pierre was far from an ideal
character. ore would have expected the
euthor CT Paul and Virginia" to make,
at all events. a sufficiently. impassioned
lover. And this. even at fifty-six.
when he. was counting his twenty-year-
old hancee. Felicite; for that was only
half a: dozen. years after the publica-
ttoa 6f his. famous love-story. But St
Pierre:s letters to his betrothed. which
have just come. TO: light i'm Paris. con-
tain little: of the stuff of which Paul
and Virginia. was made. Their tone is
almost as unimpassioned as if the au-
thor had been writing to the merest
friend. Though IL is possible the fact
That the fair one. was the daughter Of:
St. PEerrT:s publisher had something to
do with this. i lay aside an important
d: MEMOIR: he begins one -epistle.. conde-
-scendingly, ..'in order to answer at once
youi. kind letter" and in absolutely
none Of his Inissives does the author of
one - 1.-THE most beautiful Of love-
stories really let himself go" He
spends a: lot Of time however. in assur-
5ag. his lady1ove. that the difference i'm
thelr- ages really. matters little. Soc
J ates 80 ne says. was older than 1
when he. married a young woman. and
he had even two. wives at one time.
s;ftef:t he custom OF the acQuntry. Sena-
ca married. PaIlina when he was very
8 old. and yet she was so much in love
). With him that when. he committed sui
y. eide she did*not wish to survive him."
= nd in another Letter, St. Pierre leaves
on quoting Epictetus--of all people-to
=. q 1clain; ''0h. what a: wonderful book
= Is. Nature. '.-...@ =.
:" He is. material enough, too. IN his
many Instructions to his. fancee as to
how she may. merit more completely
his devotion. Excessive embonpoint is.
he tells her. -distasteful. to him., and
he: asks her so avoid it by eating lessi
Nor is: her spelling what it might be,
I'm: grace, .. he says. she should write
= in. asking a favor. and not:"en grasse."
..9isr costume. also requires .-reguls ton
Her 4coeff ure causes people. to turn.
round TO look at her and she should not
wear. her brown hair without powder
together with red shoes. and al yellow
. .neckerchief.. =: -. -
But fhen. it always has beer. believed
thst...St~. Pierre, was. more or less
:.cracked'' Both his son and his broth
81 died mad. He began life. as an
army officer. on foreign service. but at
t3iirty-fi%e was kicked out of the ser
vice. and turned mp in Paris without q
cent ii his pockets. He. had discovered.
hy this time that he could write how
.. ever. and the publication Of two works
on. the Study. OF Nature kept him out.
.'cf the :poorhouse until. when his years.
Numbered half a century, the book ap-
.peared that made him world famous
and it as said, brought: him offers Of
marriage. from half. the maiden, ladies
.ofethe great world of Paris. 1t is said
tlat the unfortunate girl TO whom he
syrdte his chilly'love letters he event
uslly beat. =
Hogarth,s. house. at. .Chisw1ck, in the
Eubdrios Of london, has been. opened TO
the. public just IN time to permit the
% sa arYny.iof American. visitors. this year to
add another TO: the long list of literary
sfsines in England that our country
men seldom miss visiting. Hogarth;-
whose London house, destroyed years
ago, stood in Leicester Square, used
the chdssvick cottage as a summer
home. Visitors will be able to see his
grave, too. which is in the cemetery
near by.
There seems no chance, unluckily;
that. the house in Wandsworth, another
suburb OF London, where George Eliot
once lived. viii be available soon as a
literary shrine" 1t is about to be
marked, however, with a commemora-
tive tablet stating that the authoress.
made her home there. during 1859 and
1860. This. house-"Holly Lodge" it is
cailed-was visited often by both Her
bert Spencer and Charles Dickens and
il was .there that The aIilI on the
Floss" was written In the garden
stands a tree planted by. George Eliot,
J. NJ Barrie is not overfond of pre-
siding at dinners. but his well-knorn-
enthusiasm dyer cricket would not per-
NIT him TO refuse 10 occupy the chair
at the. bsnqqet given.the other evening
20 the team that was victorious at the
Antipodes. In the course OF his brief
speech Mr.. Bsrriesdeclared that cricket
was undoubtedly the most divine game
ever invented by man, and said he
thought the man who invented II did a
bigger thing than the man VINO wrote
Hamlet. Indeed" the author went
on. 1T was not certain that the same
man had not done both. He probably
invented the game during that year
or two when even Sidney Lee did not
seem 70 know what he was about"
Cuthbert Hadden. the biographer,
writing ir the Fortnightly Review,
says he has heard many suggestions
that there should be a tex on novels In
order to check the ever-increasing flood
of romantic rubbish that pours forth
here as persistently as it seems to in
the United States Mr.. Hadden ex.
presses the opinion, however, that an
imposition Of this kind would be of
no service. mo tax" he asserts.