New-York tribune., 1910-11-05
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Current Talk of Things Present
and TO Come

u
and to Come.
The sportsman of the present day is
we suppose. more interested in the modes
and manners Of the baseball field than
in the Homeric games. But he must in
many instances care for the sort of book
that Professor Gardiner has just writ
| ten on Greek Athletic Sports and Fes-
| tivals' It traverses the history of the
subject from the earliest times down to
| 1913. a. D., and provides detailed an
alyses Of many Of the Greek athletic ex-
| ercises. There are numerous illustra-
tions in the volume, which bears the i'm
print of the Macmillan Company.
! Repeatedly we have called attention
to the inimitable Irish stories of E. &c.
| Somerville and Martin Ross, but it is a
| pleasure to reiterate our appreciation of
them. They are as uproariously funny
| as they are true to the color and move
ment of fox hunting life and to the peas
| ant humors with which they deal,
| Longmans, Green &. Co. have brought
out new editions of Some Experiences
of an Irish R. NJ" Further Expert
ences of an Irish r. NJ" Some Irish
Yesterdays" and "All on the Irish
Shore" In their uniform binding Of red
and gold they make a little set to be
priced.
The publication of a new book on Ma
poleon is a matter always more or less
exciting to collectors and readers and it
has to be noted not once or twice in a
season, but almost every week. Our
Paris correspondent reports couple Of
books on the subject just issued in Paris,
and two are announced here. The
HOughton Mifffin Company is bringing
out a work that should prove OF alb
| sorbing interest in The Corsican: A
Diary of Napo1eon's Life in His own
Words" The compiler and translator OF
this. Professor r. M. Johnston, has con-
trived to put together something like an
autobiography from the Emperor's let
| ters. speeches, notes, etc. 1t is a fas-
cinating idea, and one is impatient to see
| how it has been worked out. The vivid
quality of the book may be judged from
| these fragments:
! 7, a rovaI maggot. am a soldier, come
/ from me people. ! have made myself Am
/ | to be compared with Louis XVI? l listen
! 10 everybody. but my own mlhd Il my ,,s u..dS
counsellor. There are some men VINO nave
dome France more harm than the widest
revOlutionaries-the takers and the ration
aIists Vague and false thinkers, Le"
lessons in geometry would do them good
/ Death is nothing, but to live defeated ana
| ingloriously IS TO die every DAY NAV fall
sario,,sly in love. she dOesn { realZe tIlaJ
love was not made FOR me. tor & &WnaL -
love? passion that leaves ssd Ine o,,e on the
other, And surely such an exclusion Is
ho1 IN nig fSev v'''i1 have dared 10 say could
not write.
We have also to welcome Mr.. {. h'
shorter's compilation, Napoleon IN MS
own Defence" 1t contains the letters
aast,re, with his career and his captivity
which the Emperor sent to Lady cav
er,uy and which were published ahonS
r,,,,sl,- at the time Theodore Hook re-
v,1iad +o the letters, and his reply is IN
al,,dea in this volume Mr.. Shorter has
added an essay on Napoleon as Man
of Letters" The book. which mas 1our
mates. is coming from the Casseh press
u-e are reminded that Lord Rosebery'
,,b,sa ..Sapoleon: The Last Phase Is
ono of the most treasured volumes OF
/ oo1,octors is about 10 bring out new
work the hero of which is the great
Lord Chatham. It is TO be ehulled
"Chatham: His Early Life and Con-
nexione." 1t is largely based on ma
terial hitherto unpublished.
Mr.. Arthur Ransome's critical study OF
! Mitchell
! Eennerley. Special attention is given
in this volume to what French authors
/ have written about Poe.
The Queen Of Rumania Will produce
her "reminiscences this month under the
| titIe Of From Memory's Shrine The
hook is full Of talk about interesting
neopIe. In her preface the Queen says:
! II am about to throw open the sanctu-
arv 1 have SO long jealousy guarded
rom the world, the private chapel
within whose inches my memories are
| aushrined. Those to whom I pay con-
stant tribute of love and gratitude were
either the idols of my early youth or the
friends Of riper years. To my youthful
enthusiasm many OF them became types
| 81 nerfection in whom l could discern no
! human weakness
Thomas Hardy is one of the few men
oe genius who have been prophets in
tbe5r own land The Dorchester Town
Council has actually decided TO confer
fbe honorary freedom of the borough
mon him ''in recognition of his brilliant
.a-,.ioas to English literature" The
| ,orer4ony will take place this month,
-,,ben the Dramatic Society OF Dor
nbester win perform, for the first time,
liz et,qe version of Mr.. Hardy's charm
ino novel. Under the Greenwood Tree,
The third and fourth volumes of En-
.rson,s journals are coming from the
r,i,,arside Press at once. They are full
of interesting material
,r.ara is exceeding good sense in the
Letter which the late Julia Ward Howe
aont not long before her death TO the
author of Marion Harland's Auto
e'Na,by" II am sincerely sIad j." she
Dlosi 10 learn from your book that
WroII, been so healthiIv hannv al
1