New-York tribune., 1906-10-19
MISCELLANY.

Mr. Henry Newbolt. the clever minor poet
mas taken to novel writing and is about 70
prihg out book. entitled THE Old Country,
Romance" THE idea of the story ID" .. q, a,a
is that England she is and as she will h.
cannot De understood without an Unborn knowI-
Neo 0i' ana sympathy with, her past" which
- an idea in accord apparently with that of
| Mr Kipling in his latest volume
MAJOR Martin Hume. whose books have de-
| hshted American as well as British readers Is
writing volume Of his impressions of Portugal.
d country which is generally neglected by trav-
ellers and is comparatively nttle known. II Is
10 be hoped that he will include notes on visit
| 70 those interesting Portuguese possessions the
azores. There is opportunity there for many
picturesque chapters. historical and descriptive
a poem in which by reading the lines in a
certain manner meaning the reverse Of the
| apparent one can be given is preserved as the
| work Of the Irish rebel squire Arthur Connor.
| the friend Of Lord Edward Fitzgerald At first
sight the lines seem a conventional royaIist
tribute. but If the first line OF the second verse
De read after the first line of the first verse and
SO on the poem becomes very different thing.
the ne,z pomP . OF Courts a1 s and pride of Kings
love my country, but the King,
Tbovs APO 8 al all men ZEN his his praise sing;
And may success the standard aid.
fain would Danish far from hence
The Flights of Man, and Common Sense;
Conf Confusion sdo - to his odioTs 2G reign
OF France. its liberties and iawsl
Sir Francis Burnand late Editor Of Punch"
is giving public recitals Of his "reminiscences of
the earlier days of that paper-days IN which it
was genuinely amusing. He tells many delight
full stories of Thackeray, Leech and other IA
nous contributors.
Sir Francis's former assistant, Mr.. Arthur
Beckett, says IN recently published article
that he really thinks there is too much fuss
about jokes-that good story is always
a good story:
The, other day the editor of famous magazine
thought humor growing in the United kingdom
whether there was greater sense Of fun at this
The question suggested by an attack made by
British love of laughter was on the wane re-
piled in the affirmative and gave as the opinion Of
appesed to as "a leading humoFist" be:
tests which appeared in 'Punch' in the 4O's were
having the same points: nowadays in the columns
of The London Charivari.
In the correspondence Of two brothers-Ed-
ward Adolphus. Duke Of Somerset Oborn 1775),
and Lord Webb Seymour (born 177T-a corre-
spondence which has Just appeared there are
two memorable items. One OF these is letter
found among the Dukes papers Ghough how
1t got there is unknown) from the Grand
Duchess Catherine Of Russia to her brother the
Tsar Alexander in which she beseeches him to
desist from his project Of marrying her to the
Emperor Napoleon, and expresses with elo-
ouent passion her horror of him a moral
monster The other consists Of a considerable
variety Of opinions casually expressed by peo-
pie of high literary culture, to several of the
Waverley Novels, at the time Of their first ap-
pearance. One critic, in particular, observes as
to "Waverley' itself that the overminuteness
of it's local colorng will probably confne its
popularity ito the north side Of the Tweed"
What becomes of old books? An English
bookseller takes a novel way of getting rid of
his surplus miscellaneous books. He offers to
sell them by weight-one hundredweight for
II shngs, FIVE hundredweight for 80 shfllings.
Notes and Queries commenting this odd
ity mentions that II knew, some half century
ago. of Leeds bookseller who had another
queer way Of dsposing of his stock-selling it
by the yard. 1t is easy to think Of many books
which might Justly be sold in this fashion.
SJSTEP,S HOURAGE