New-York tribune., 1906-06-02
BOOKS and AUTHORS.
Current Talk About Things Pres
ent and to Come.

CHt UHI W COMt.
The fifth and final volume Of Herbert Paurs
History of Modern England" will not be ready
| this month, as expected. its publication having
been postponed until the fall. Another Mac
milan work. the two-volume edition OF the
Poems and Plays of W. B. Yeats" has also been
deferred until the autumn.
In article describing IAN Americans I'm
pressicns OF English Bird Life" Frank NJ Chan
man, in the current number Of "Scribners
Magazine" enlarges upon the debt that the birds
OF England 10 the poets of that country
Next TO national birds" he writes there
are probably none of more general interest to
the average American nature lover than the
birds of England" adding that;
This longing TO meet English birds at home is in
part due TO the fact that they live in England. in
part 10 the place they occupy in English literature
own bir 4 meeting with the same birds in France
aqga9ce not IN Ssand h S s4Hr Il Of n an
an. that we know and have read of English birds
leads US 10 associate them with pastoral England,
thatehed roof and gray spire For these attractive
SS4e5eX, GS,tolePidge COwper and other makers of
largely attribute the widespread interest in English
Setfsr Sfs knoR qM h Teeen ~ nat at Least have been
were our cOmmOnest native species. So far as birds
uate our desires without gratifying them. and
eonparson of English birds with ours is obviously
both '''' S9'''' 1-''-- '''' mas seen anu He'''u
new novel. by Mary E. wilkins Freeman.
entitled by the Light Of the Soul" will be
published a serial in "Harpers Weekly dur
ing the summer. The story tells Of the devel-
opment of the character of an emotional and
sensitive American girl. with personality 'as
lovable as IL is haunting and pathetic
Five Fair Sisters" is the title of volume
which the Putnams announce for publication
this month. The book is written by Hugh
Noel Williams, author of Madame Recamier
and Her Friends and similar biographical
studies of Nine du Pompadour. Nine. de
Montespan and Nine du Barry. The forthcom-
ing work deals with the lives OF Laure, Olympic,
Marie. Hortense and Marianne Mancni the
celebrated nieces of Cardinal Mazarin. Brought
from Rome TO France as children. all FIVE made
brilliant marriages, and. with the exception of
the eldest sister, who died at a comparatively
early age. all had exceedingly romantic careers
The romance OF Louis XIV and Marie Mancin
which, but for the determined opposition Of
Mazarin. would undoubtedly have ended in
Marie becoming Queen of France. is related
at length by the author. Scarcely less interest
attaches to the careers of the clever and un-
scrupuIous Olympic Countess de Soissons), "a
woman formed for great crimes. whose true
place would have been at the palace OF the
Csssars or the Vatican of the Borgtas"; OF
Marianne duchess de Bouillonl. who, with
Olympic was implicated in the famous poison
trials In 1880 and of the lovely Hortense
Duchess de Mazarin). who fled from her jeal-
Gus and bigoted husband TO England, where she
became one of the reigning beauties Of Charles
lis court.
John It McCutcheon. the cartoonist, and au-
thor and artist Of THE Mysterious Stranger"
has decided to enlarge his views Of life by means
Of foreign travel and has started on an unusual
and interesting journey. He is now IN Paris
whence he will go TO Constantinople. then
through Odessa, Tiflis. the Caucasus Mountains.
the Caspian Sea- Niyrrh and Andijan. and then
by caravan To China. whence a thousand mile
Journey northward will take him into Siberia,
10 proceed either east or west-Which he has
not yet deceived on--over the Transsiberian Rail-
way. The trip is not made in the interest Of
any newspaper or periodical, but is pleasure
trip pure and simple.
Upton Sinclair's somewhat hysterical novel
The Jungle" which appears. nevertheless. 10
have stimulated a very lively interest in beef
packing methods. is being translated into
French German, Yiddish. bohemian. Lithu-
anian and Polish.
Burton E Stevenson is at work on a new
novel. which will be published next fall by
Henry Holt & Co 1t will be called Affairs
Of state" and will relate the adventures OF a
group OF democratic Americans with some
European diplomats at Dutch watering place.
The various tributes 20 James whltcomb
Rfev which were read or spoken at Tomiinson
Hall Indianapolis. last December. at the gather
ing In honor of the ''Hooser poet" have been
themselves gathered into little volume.
titled in Honor of James Whitcomb Riley"
which has lust been issued by the Bobbs-Afer-
rin Company.
DESCRIPTIONS OF the ways that authors write
continue TO have curiously fascinating appeal
10 people who read To those who write il makes
little difference how others dispose themselves
for composition since each one must follow his
own method. and can gather little or no help
from the idiosyncrasies OF even the greatest
men of letters. Alphonse Daudet's habits of
writing his novels and plays are thus related by
Robert Marlborough Sherard in Daudets own
words in his biographical study OF the French
author. recently published by the John Lane
Company:
! write slowly, very slowly. and revise and revise
am never satisfied with my work My novels 1
always write myself. never could dictate a A4VtL
had a certain talent In nv legs just as Napoleon
had a certain amount OF senus IN the Iegs or MS
S%iueIs. T & Ny o2osS s5, go .IoIsn many I! o, %
il is used is scratched out in blue or red pencil
From these written notes and the tablets OF my
memory-the delto OF my memory-l write out IN
first copy "a alternate pages OF my copybooks and