New-York tribune., 1910-06-25
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Current Talk of Things Present
and to Come.

Smith will be written by Mr- Arnoio
Haultain, who for the last elghteeh
years was his private secretary. orortS
before his death Professor Smith slgned
an agreement making him his sole inter-
airy executor. and put into his hands all
of the necessary manuscripts. Among
| these. 1t appears. is a COLLECTION OF rellii-
niscences covering the whole or the
authors lifetime and containing descrip-
tions and anecdotes of many eminent
men.
Miss Murfree, better known as Charles
Egbert Craddock, has not been heard
from in current fiction for some llttie
time. It is pleasant, therefore TO note
that she is contributing to The Cen
tury'' another Of her stories OF the Ten
nessee Mountains. 1t is called Inc
Man in the Tree"
The Putnans are publishing in this
country the novels recently submitted
! in London competition. They nave
brought out the prize winner, "A Mar
riage Under the Terror" by Patricia
Wentworth. and have just issued the
story which gained the second place.
"vera of the Strong Heart" by Marion
Mole.
There is to be a '"rhaekeray Diction-
ary." uniform with the compilation pre-
pared some time ago in honor OF
Dickens Mr.. ]. @. Nudge and Mr.. II.
z. Sears have put the new book to-
gether. A rare bit of Thackeray's writ
ing, by the way, has lately fetched p
good price In a London auction room.
A copy of his "F'lore ct Zephyr. ballet
Mythologiaue, par Theophile wagstaff,"
| sold for $fS5
A new portrait of Mr.. Henry James
has lately been painted by an English
artist. Mrs Swynnerton. The news rec
minds us that the physiognonay of our
distinguished countrymap has been
made fairly we'll known. There are
drawings of him by Mr.. Sargent and
Mr. Rothenstein. and 1t is not long since
NJ Blanche painted his portrait There
are also, of course, several photographs
! The thirteenth and fourteenth volumes
| in the new Memorial" edition of the
writings of George Meredith make
special appeal to the reader Of that nov
elist They are devoted to The Egoist."
This book has worn about as we'll as any
of Meredith's, and. by the same token. it
| has had particular good fortune. Far
more promptly than some Of its prede-
cessors. it took the right readers cap
| tive, and these readers in some thirty
odd years IL has never lacked. The late
William Ernest Henley, hailins il with
something like rapture on it's first ap-
pearance, set down a good saying about
the author. Like Shakespeare" he re-
marked. -'he is man of genius who is
clever man as well; and he seems to
prefer his cleverness to his genius"
Every one knows how truly this criti-
eism applies TO The Egeist." and every
enc knows, like Henley, how perfectly
unharmed it leaves the essential bril-
lance and fascination of the book. One
is sorely tempted on receiving this new
edition, so beautifully printed by the
Seribners. to abandon familiar tasks and
to re-read every one of those beguiling
pa ges. The plates include a good profile
portrait from a photograph taken in
Meredith's sixticth year and view of
the Surrey cottage which he made his
home during the last forty years of his
life.
Apropes of the statue of Francois Cen-
pee, which has just been unveiled near
the Invalides. many anecdotes about the
poet have been finding their way into
print. One of them, which recalls his
benevolence, describes him as the prey
OF interviewers. being too good hearted
ever to turn one away. Whenever an
evidently young reporter called who
seemed to be a beginner Coppee, an old
journalist himself, would shake him
warmly by the hand and say: Tell me.
my young friend. are you on salary or
on Space" If he answered the former,
the poet would talk to him for half
minute, and then dismiss him cheerily
with. And now am busy" and hand
shake. If, however, the young reporter
replied On space" Cepnee would say
at once: sit down there" showing him
his own writing table, and write" and
he would dictate him a column inter-
view.
LoHgmans, Green s. Co promise for
the autumn another velunne in THE Po-
litical History of England" In IL the
subject is carried from sthe accession of
Edward VI to the death of Elizabeth
The author is Professor A F. Pollard.
The volumes in this series have been
published out of their historical Sc
quence, but with the appearance of this
one the record is made continuous to
1901. The Political History as a |
whole traverses the annals of England
from the earliest days down to the close
of the Victorian reign
The new poem by Schiller which has |
turned UP in a manuscript book belong |
ing to collector in Prague. is an elegy
on the sudden and premature death of |
a young Wurtemberg officer Antoine !
Willmaister, He was captain of the regi- /
nlent of which Schiller was the surgeon.
a volume which we hope will appear |
in an American edition has been nut |
forth under the title of Gathered Leaves |
from the Prose of Mary E. Goleridge" |
The editor. Miss Edith Sichel opens il |
with q. short memoir of the author of |