The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 21, 1897, Page 23

e ——————— | HENRIK IBSEN’S NEW DRAMA. | ) JUOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN' will proba- | d bly be a disappointment to many read- | ers of Tbsen. The last hign wave of | realism seems to have carried him far ashore and left him on a desolate and verdure- less land, almost out of sound of the great sea | music which thrilled us in *‘Brand” and “Peer | Gynt.” Tbsen is a terrible pessimist. Hisisnot the flerce melancholy of youth, born often of a-| noble discontent and begeiting the fine wish | to shatter this worid to bits*‘and then remold it nearer to the heart's desire.” | ion of the awful prob- | e, and no belief that ow good | al work of ill. He sees with a | sed and pitiless vision those moral | ies which eat into our arvilization to- e and the | great obvious errors of menkind as the subtle | sof the heart—selfishness, hypocrisy, cant. ere was enough in Ibsen’s early life toac- count for his temper of mind. While he was still a 1ad his father, who had been the most wealthy and influential citizen of abruptly lost bis fortune and with it his social | position. The family was compelled to move an object lesson in the ins! weather friendships, which he The 01d, gay, hospitable life was a thing of the past, and with it had gone the friends of that time. This change deepened the gloom | of the boy’s temperament, aud began that em- | bittering process which later years were to | intensify. | The family poverty prevented him fro studying painting, &s he wished, and a few years later he was apprenticed 1o & chemist in G hotbed of cant. Perhaps it was here that grew 1o loathe chat particular vice, and per- P8 even then he resoived to strip off some layer after layer of hypoerisy and ons of his tim al life of Grimstad was as restricted the moral horizon ss narrow as that of remote Puritan village Yy YEars ago. youag poet soul, already tremulous creative power, feit itself feutered, repressed, misunderstood on every side. It is small wonder that, ochafing under & constant repression, came an_almost frantic apostie of individu- slism. Years afterward in a speech to the siudents of CHristiania he said: “All soeial and domestic institutions which hamper the free growth ot the individual are evil.” His first dra *Catalina,’” published atthe expense of an optimistic friena, was & com- plete failure. After he had gone to Christiania 10 study medicine the whole edition was sold for waste paper to buy food for sn empty stomach. His second word, “The Heroic Mound,” fared & littie btetter and made him resolve to forsake medicine and live by his pen. Itishard to say how he might have iared during the last few years had it not been for Ole Bull, who procured him the posi- tion of director to the theater in Bergen. This was a Government appointment, which gave He retained this position | though it must have been e to him. He was more | with for seve intoieral y irkso than ever fetiered. He was a servant of sears old before he really began his career as & dramatic satirist with ‘“Love's Comedy."” . | This drama, which discusses the question as | ther “marriege is incompatible with The poet found himself an object of aversion and distrust. Worst of all he was lashed by the eritics, who failed to see sny genius or even promise of genius in his work. He felt him- self mentally suffocated in that air of censure, and it s pot surprising that as soon st be- came possitle he shook, as he said, the dust of that country forever from his feet. Ever since that time he has lived & voluntary exile, first in Italy and later in various German catfes. After the writing of “Brand,” “Peer Gynt" and “Emperor and Galilean’” had made him famous, the Norwegians were proud to cele- | brate Ibsen’s greatness aud to remember him #s their countryman. But tnat triumph was | of small value to the msn who had come to regard motive as the supreme test of human | conduct. A great ovation was given hi when he revisited his country for a short | time, ten years after leaving it. In & speech which ne made on that occasion he said: “‘What is needed is a*revolutlon of the spirit of man."” The prose dramas which followed the three | poetical dramas showed a marked change in | Ibsen’s method. The themes were not unlike. He still satirized convention and made his strong ples for the “divine right of individu- ality,” but his manner was strikingly differ- ent. Instead of treating his subject symboli- cally, 88 in “Brand” snd ‘Peer Gynt,” he treated it with great literalness, as in “The Doil's House,” and became a realist. But stiil individuslism is the keynote of all. In “Brand” we have the idealist and dream- er who tries to live a literal Christian life and | whose creed is “all or nothiug.”” He fails of | nis ideals and of his divine individuality, be- cause, though he sacrifices himsell to the ut- termost, he has never realized that God is God of love.” In “Peer Gynt” we have the antithesis of | Brand. The hero symbolizes the spirit of com- | promise. He hedges even in hisethics. Ho | makes & fortune in the slave trade, and to easo | his conscience exports Bibles and mission- | aries. When he besrs a lion roering in the | wilderness he *trusts in the Lord,” but, “all the same,” he would like to get up & tree. His solfloquy when he sees his yacht with his | treasure and faithless friends aboard standing out to sea is one of the bitterest satires on in- sincere religion ever penned. Peer Gynt, | though thinking consiantly of self, has never found his true self at all. If Brand through his blindness and Peer Gynt through his selfishness have failed of | their true individuality, Nora in *The Doll's House” has becn chented of hers, because by reason of ber artificial life she has never been allowed to have any. Sho is first’ her father's pet and then her husband’s. Ouly when she, guite unwittingly, commits & legal crime that involv. s her husband in alsgrace is she held to account as a responsible human being. Adter this crisis in her life she resolves to lesve her busband’s home and find—herself! When he reminds ber of her duties to her hus- band and children she answers, I have other Quties equally sacred.” He reiorts, “No, you heve not. What do you mean?” and she says, ““Dutles toward myselL” When he reminds her that before all else she is a wife and & mother she answers: 4] no louger think so. I think that before all else I am a human being.” In the succeeding dramas, no matter what the subject, we find variations of the same theme. In “Ghosts” the obvious motif is the curse of heredity, but the keystone of the whole ethical structure is the sin of ylelding, as Mrs, Alving did, the individual sense of right to the social or conventioral. Those wko heve watched Ibsenic develop- ment as the prophet of individuslism bave great interest 1n finding what phase of the question is presented in the new drams, “John | Gabriel Borkman.” Al first glance the old fire &nd power seem lacking. The atmosphere is o leaden gray. There s a deadly common- place about the whole. The unlovely char- | racters ere almost brutally drawn. The total effcct seems negative. A sort of wan | an eclipse. astad. This little seaport 1own was a very | nam | The | Ibsen be- | | obligations | character ‘‘to live his own life.” | character is relentlessiy seifish —a sort of deadiy satire on that “indiv.dualism” which Ibsen no doubt sees quite often in the world horrified the good people of Cnristiania. | Qéspair pervades the whole, There is no high tragic note “to purge the mind by pity and by fear,” as the ancient poet hath it. On the conirary, we seem to see a dreary | morass, stretchin: out endlessly under a bleak sky. But after reflection we come to the con- ciusion that this effect is the result of consum- mate art, because it more perfectly than any other illustrates that phase of his subject which Ibsen dwells upon here. In thisdrama he considers the most subtle feature of the whole question, namely, the voluniary de- struction of one human creature, of another s possib.e soul development, joy, and fullness of individuality. John Gabriel Borkman is & man who has saerificed everything to mouey- getting, not to mere vulgar acquisition but in desite of the power and splendor o money which fire his imsgination. To advance his purpose he gives up the WO he loves and who loves him. Years afier, when he, having staked all and faled, hes become a broken and dishonored man, and she an unhappy and loveless women, she tells him that he has committed the one mor- | tai sin, the crime for which there is no for- glveness. And when bhe, seli-centered as of old, and stidl nursing his dream of power, wonders what she means, she tells him: You are a murderer. You have killed the love-life in me. Do you understand what that means? The Bible speaks of & mysteri- ous sin for which there is no forgiveness. 1 bave never understood what it could b now I understand. The great, unpardonable sin is 10 murder the love-lile in & human sout.” And agnin she says to him: “Youhave done to death all the giadness of life inme. From the day when your image began to dwindle in my mind I have lived my life as though under Duringall these yearsithas grown harder and harder for me, and at last utterly impossible to love any human creature. Hu- man beings, animals, plants—I shrank from all—from ail but one—" Thet one is his son and her nephew. For Borkman, after giving up Eila Rentheim for the sake of gaining tbe support of the man necessary 10 his success, had married her sister. His wife is a hard woman who cannot for- give him for her humiliation, and for eight years atter his return from prison he livesin the upper partot the house and she below. He spends his time pacing up and down the long gallery “like a hungry woll,” and the two never meet. To have Erhart, her nephew, with her is the one desire of Ella Rentheim’s | life. His mother, on her part, has dedicated his life to the building up of the family nonor. The aunt longs to make his life haypy, but it must be as an adjunct of her own. Both of these women wish to dominate thelife of the young man with small regard of his own Tight of self-freedom. Meanwhile Master Erhart has formed quite other plans for nimself, and, gayly shaking all b.lities from his | shoulders, departs with & lady of uncertain Erhart’s and respon, abouthim. Itisas it hesaid to his resders: “Don’i Hatter yourselves, O pleasure-loving generation, that by individuaiism I mean & selfish following of desire regardless of all | otner claims. You see what that comes to in his instauce and how hideous it is."” At the same time ne makesus feel that those others had no right to make such claims upon Erharts life. Thers is nothing wholly ad- mirable and no character wnoily unseifish in the drama. We look for something fine in the loyalty of the one ola frieud who 1s still faithful to Borkman, but we are shown that even that friendship resison a basis of decelt and seli-interest. Th standing between the two thet each shall pro- fess a belief in the other's success. The old clerk desires to be a poet, to Borkman alone he confides the fact that he has written a tragedy. Borkman encoursges the clerk in order that the cierk may encourage him In his fantastic hope. for the future. And each conmscious of his own insincerity doubts the other and yet clings wita all the strength of vanity to the delusion. Tne scene between the two is de- pressingiy unlovely. In the closing act the dialogue becomes more impassioned end lits some- what from the dead level of real ism. Borkman, strangely excited, leaves the house and wanders out into the night, saging ne must begin to climb those heights he has vowed to reach. Eliagoes with him. The two come out on & platesu overlooking the valley. His mind dwells upon his one dominant thought. He speaks of his “kingdom'—the kingdom he was on the point of tonquering. “1 seem to touch them, the prisoned mii- lions; 1 can see the veins of metal stretch out their winding, branching, luring erms to me. Isaw them beiore my eyes like living shapes that night I5t00a in the 5trong-room with the candlein myhand. * * * Iwiil whisper it 10 you here in the stillness of the night. I love you as you lie there speilbound in the decps and the darkness! I love you, life- craving riches, with all your shiniag train of power and glory! I love you, love you, love youl” When he falls, stricken to death, Ella says, “It was the coid that killed him,” and the wife answers, “The cold—that had kiiled him long 8go,” and Ella returns, “Yes, and changed us into shadows—a dead man and two shadows—that is what the cold hes made of us.” The sister says, “Yes, the coldness of hea; which is a fitting last word for a most power- ful and somber study of hara and_selfish and unlovely lives. GRACE 8. MUSSER, P S e LAND OF LEONIDAS. A SMALLER HISTORY UF GREECE. By iilam Smith. Harper & Bri thers, New York. Erice i1 For sals by a.2M. Kobertson, Post street, G Car.eton L. Bronson, instructor in Greek in Yule University, has here revised, enlarged and in part rewriiten the popular work of Dr. Smith which was published about thirty years ago. Since that time the knowledge of Greek bi tory hus been much eniarged by investiga- tions, end especially by the discovery of Aris- totle’s work on the constitution of the Athenians. That part of the work which deals with the history of Greek literature, the con- stitutional history of Athens and the topograpny and the monuments of the city has been entirely rewritten. A leature of the book is & description of the architectural and artistic reasures of Athiens. The maps, plans and illusirations have all been prepared fr for the revised edition. The short history is admirable for those who have not the time or the patience (o read the more elaborate works about the famous couutry from which we have derived 50 large a portion of our civilization. The research of these students of history has induced them 1o give the verdict that Alex- ander the Great wasa humane leader, a true friend end & man of great purity and upright ness of character. STUDY OF THE STARS. ELEMENTS OF DESCHIPTIVE ASTRONOMY —By Herbert A. Howe Silver, Burdett & Co. New York, Hoston, Chicazo. Price 81 50, An accurate and yet popular treatise on star study s bere given by & man who has been an astronomer for twenty years, and who has had ten sears’ experience in the art of impuarting his thorough know!edge of the subject to those Who wish tounderstand it. The book is very handsomely got up and has colored plates, & number of fine lithographs and some constellation maps of the heavens. The work was designed for students who have some but | is & tacit under- | | | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, ‘SUNDAY, MARCH 21, HENRIK IBSEN. 1897. FLOWERS OF YERSE GATHERED FROM THE NEWSPAPER FIELD. A Ballade of Parted Lives. Princess, a song above the tides, Above the wintry winds that blow, Above the wave that quickly glides And dashes madly to and fro; Sing me of other days to know, Of souls that in & garden reap Their wage of duty done below; Loose thou these memories in sleep. Tell me what dark, eternal Ides Across the space their shadows throw, Clouding the happy light that rides Unto these lands of pain and woe; Brotber and sister gone, forego Fairy hilitops and valleys deep; Come, o if tnis be never so, Loose ye these memories in sleep. Ab, welll A splendid city hides The little boy of long ago; Beneath a village church wall bides A slender mound above the snow; And thus the fleet yoars come and go. Poor bands of mine that cannot keep Backward the waters' ebb and flow; Loose ye these memories in sleep. ENVOL Princess, for all the world besides Guard yet the vines that softly creep Over dead Chi1dhood’s loves and brides; Loose thou theso memories in sleep! JoHN JAMES MEEHAY, in New York Sun. To a Blank Sheet of Paper. Paper, inviolate, white, Shall it be joy or pain? Shall 1 of fate complain Or shall I laugh to-night? Shall 1t be hopes that are bright? Shall it be hopes that are vain? Paper, inviolate, white, Shall it be joy or pain? A dear little hand so light. A moment in mine hath lain; Kind was its pressure again— Ah! but it was so s:ightl Paper, inviolate, white, Shall it be joy or pain? 080 MONKHOUSE. The Destroyer. With care ana skfll and cunning art She parried Time’s malicious dart, And kept the years at bay, Till passion entered in her heart And aged her in a day! ELLA WHEELER WILOOX in New York Sun. Worth While. "Tis easy enough to be pleasant. When life flows along Like s song; But the man worth while s the one who will smile When everything goes desd wrong; For tne test of the heart is trouble, And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is rth the praise of earth 1Is the smile that comes through tears. | It is easy enough to be prudent, | _ When nothing tempts you to stray; | When without or within no voice of sin Is luring your soul away; But it’s only a negaiive viztue | Untilitis tried by fire, And the life tuat is worth the honor of esrth 1s the one that resists desire. By the oynic, the sad, the falle Who had no strength for the strife, The world’s highway is cumbered to-day; They make up the item of life. But the virtue that conquers passion, Apd the sorrow that hides in a smile— It i8 these that are worth the homage of earth, For we find them but once in & while. ELLA WHEELER WILCOX in The Congregstion- alist. e g e e b S e g g ey e BRI G knowledge of algebra and geometry, but there 1s very little in it which will be beyond she un- derstanding of those who are not familisr with those studies. The mathematical portion has been restricted as much ss possible. Much attention has been given to observation study and careful directions are furnished for con- ducting observations. A great deal can be learned in this without the use of a telescope, good opera-giass is quits an effective as- sistant. The author says the study is be- wildering at first, but pupils s00n learn to de- light in it, and the knowledge gained isa life- long source of pleasure. AN ICONOCLAST. THE DESCENDANT. Anonymous. Harper & Brothers, New York. FPrice $1 25. For sale by A. M. Koberison, Post street, City. Michael Akersham, the principal character of this story, is reared in a {armers family, where his youth is made bitter by the fact that heis constantly upbraided with his illegiti- mate birth, He grows up to be a talented and rabid socialistic writer and wages savage war against all the established customs of the civilized world. Inasiuch as be has been so- cially ostracised on accountof his birth he thinks all social laws are wrong. Marriage, Be says, is not so much a failure as a fake. Ho meets Rachel Gavin, an art sudent, sud they form a close friendship, but do not marry. He tires of Rachel after she bas learned to love him passivnatery and deserts her.. The scorner of socia laws then falls in love with a girl who bolongs to the respecta- ble social world. To understand the strong and subtle ways in which these two women infiuence his life the book must be read. LIFE IN A WAGON. THE VOYAGE OF THE RATTLETRAP—By Hayden uarruth. Harper & Bros., New York. Price #1 25, For sale by A. AL Robertson, Posi street, ¢ ity. The author of the “Adventures of Jones' glves in this little book a humorous aceount of the incidents and accidents oz a trip across the prairies in an old wagon. Two men and & boy start out from & small town in Dakot simply because they were tired of doing & small business in a dull village. The merit of the book is merely 18 the amusing way of tell- ing of events that might happen to aay one out on such a journey. One of the best yarns initis about the man who tried to milk the buffalo cow. Farmer Hawkins had & tame buffalo cow. One day he hired a green hand, and sent him out to the barn 10 milk, forgetting’ to tell him sbout the buffalo. Soon there was & terrific Com- motion down at the barn. After & while the hired man slowly hobbled up to the house and said to Hawkins: “Old man, that there high-shouldered heifer of yourn out there has busted the barn and haif kiiled me, and I reckon T'il quit and go back East where the cows don’t kick with four feet at once.’ SOME SHORT STORIES. THE COMING OF THKE KING—By Walter Ma- loe. From the presses of the J. B. Lippincott Comoany, Philadel;hia. Walter Malone has never accomplished much that was good in & literary way, and he probably never will His latest book 1s made up of & collection of short stories, {rom the first of which the title for the volume was taken. From this one is led to expect much from the book, but he is doomed to disap- pointment. There are eigbt stories in the book and it is dedicated to Edgar Fawcett. Why, the author does not state. Mr, Malone’s English 18 not good. -In astory entitled “Fore- closing the Mortgage,” ke has written: ‘“‘As Wolcott that morning rode along the country lane, gray-haired and proud and handsome, mounted on his spirited coal-black horse, he was, indeed, & striking figure.” Mr. Malone has some excellent ideas, but he seems td lack the abliity to express them in a manner that would please the public. HAUNTS OF FAMOUS MEN OF LETTERS. LITERARY LANDMARKS OF ROME — By Laurence Hutton. Harper & Bros., New York. Price 81 For sule by A. M. Robertson, Post street, City. Mr. Hutton has in thisgiven usa companion ‘book to the “‘Literary Landmarksof Florence,” and 1t is one of a series which so far has cov- ered besides these two, Venice, Jerusalem, London and Edinburgh. It describes historic Louses of ancient times, and also some of the residences and other spots made interesting by their associstion with men of letters of modern timos. Mention is made of the lovely situation which the poet®Keats chose for the 1ast resting-plsce of his body. Shelley spoke of this spot as “making one in love with death to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.” The Piezzo Poli house in which Hawthorne wrote the, ‘“Marble Feun” is de- scribed, and also Hilde's tower of that taie. The interesting statement is made that the light in Hilda's tower is still kept ceaselessly burning day and night. SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE CIVIL WAR. THE C)NFEDERATE SOLDIER IN THE CIVIL WA k—Editeq by Ben La Bres. Courler- Journal Job Priniin '« ompaoy, Louisville, Ky. Price 4b cents per number. The first number of the people’s pictorial edition of “The Confederate Soldler in the Civil War” has just been fssued under date of March 15. There will be a number each week 111 the serles is completed in thirty-one parts. The subscription price is $12 per annum. It will be an swply iliustrated history of the tormation of the Confederacy and the promi- nent parts taken therein by the most noted Southern statesmen; of the campaigns, bat- tles, sieges, etc., of the most famous com- manders, and the naval engagements, block- ade running, etc,, under Admirals Buchanan and Semmes, and Captains Tucker, Page and others, There have already been published pictorisl histories of the Civil War as seen from th Federal side, and this work will be a valuable supplement to them by giving the impartial student of history an opportunity of view- ing those momentous events from a Southern standpoint. The editor points out.that no un- Prejudicea account of the military achieve- ments of & people can be written until time | bas cooled the passions and enabled us to comprehend more fuliy and charitadly the actions of others. The best minds of both North and South seem now agreed that the heroiem of the soldfers in blue and gray is the common heritage of the reunited country, and all who take this view will like to learn how the great conflict was seen through Southern ’l’!!. MANY. SUBJECTS BRIEFLY TREATED. BOOK AND HEART—By Thomas Weniworth izginson, Hi & Bros,, New York. Price 81 50. For sale by A. M. Robertson, Post street, Gy, Thirty-five briet and bright essays make up this entertaining volume. Many of them have ‘appeared before in the magasines, but they will bear reresaing. * The first article is called “The Discontinuance of the Guide Board,” and points out that tae best modern novels are seldom labeled with a moral. The ten: ency is more and more to rely on “the pre- sumption of braina in tho reader.” The writer 1 sotater. states that Tolstoi's story, “Anna Karenina,’ although the whole force of it is for morality, has yet often been condemned as immoral be- cause of the absence of the guideboard. In the essay on “A Keats Manuseript” he shows what careful, painstaking and repeated cor- rections such a master of language as Keats gave to the perfecting of a single sentence. In another on “A Shelley Manuscript” the same slow moving of skill to its final achievement of s0 combining sound and sense that both brain and ear are pleased is demonstrated by the poet’s erasures and interlineations. In A World Outside of Sclence” he makes some interesting comments on the fact that the grest scientist Darwin in his later years lost the power 10 enjoy poetry and music. HERE AND THERE. The New York Worid and the New York Journal will in future be excluded from the files of the Century Club. bire through the sixty yesrs of the Queen relgn. Loyal British subjects may buy for & penny “The Life of Queen Victoria.” There are fourteen pictures, and the paper and printing are good. “Admiral Guines,” s melodrama by Robert Louls Stevenson and Willism Ernest Henley, 15 to be one of the first plays produced in London next fall. “Trilby” has had _to be altered at Vienna on sccount of the anti-Semitic agitation. Bven- gali is made up not Jew bus as & Hun- garian gypsy band leade: Phil May has just made s pictorial alphabet, ‘humorously treated, which is to be published by the Leadenhall Press. What a chance there will be here to refresh one’s memory. In English Nansen’s “Farthest North” what may be called double crews were set to_work. There were six men translating, and Willlam Archer made the revision. It was work against time. Mr. Zangwill's “Dreamersof the Ghetto"” will be ready this fail. His “Children of the Ghetto,” translated into Russian ana Hebrew, has been admitted into Russia, and the book has s large circulation there. In Engiand, Miss Marie Corelli having he: grievance with reviewers does not permit ner publishers to send round her books, and so they do not reach editorisl tables. Fancy what must be the depression of reviewers at the slight. Asecond edition of Anthony Hope's **Phroso’” is announced by the Frederick A. Btokes Co. It will be superior to the first in respect to press- work and the quality of paper. The Greek war cloud has made its appearance as & timely aavertisement of this romance. Austin Dobson is engaged in preparing & single-volume edition of his collected poems, which will contain all the verse by which he elects to be known. The volume, which will contain some 400 pages, will, the Bookman says, be published in the early autumn. Mr. Celller has l1aid hold of a good ides in his *‘Soldters’ Song Book.” The ‘book is Eng- lish and for the exclusive use of the British Our American regulsrs might not sing “Rule Britaunia,” but why does not some publisher get up a similar compilation for Yankee use? Our catalogue of vatriotic songs might be collected snd put in & nest and cheap form. Says Mr. Zangwill: “Review for art's sake and the book’s sake, mot for your own sake nor your author's sake, neither have regard for your friend nor your enemy, nor your friend's Iriend, nor your ememy's friend, mor your friend’s enemy, nor your paper, nor its pub- lisher, nor its ass, nor anything that is your paper’s.” And don't think of $10, more or less, per columa, 0f Olive Shreiner’s new novel the Athensmum remarks: Though her scornful resentment of the policy and methods of the Chartered Com- pany in South Africa finds free vent here, and though in condemning them she makes bolder use of Scriptural associations than many may like, she Mas achieved a remarkable literary success. “Trooper Peter Halket” does not com- pete with “The Story of an African Farm,” either as & narrative or as a study of charac- ters, but it is in our opinion superior in work manship. Major Pond has engaged the following lec- turers for the lyceum season of 1897-98: F. Marion Crawtord, 100 lectures on “The Early Tialian Artists,” “Iialian Home Life in the Midd e Ages” and “The I:aly of Horace,” for colleges, etc.; W. D. Howells, fifty lectures on “Novel-writing and Novel-reading; an Imper- sonal Explanation”; Hamilton W. Mabie, lite- rary leciures; Hall Caine, for a tourof the United States and Cana Artemus Ward of the Pacific Coast,” and Miss Beatrice Herford, in her original monologues. Negotiations are pending with Anthony Hope. Rudyard Kipling bas written a letter to Christie Murray anent the literary eriticisms from the pen of the latter which are at present appearing in various papers under the title of “My Contemporaries in Fiction.” Kipling says he hopes the time will come when he wiil bs able to write “a real movel—not a one- volume or & two-volume, but a real aecent three-decker.” He considers that “no man this side of 40 at the earliest has secroted enough observation—not to ssy thought—to write a novel which, in spite of all they say of the short story, is, in his opinion, the real vehicle. Independent firing by marxsmen is @ pretty thing, but it is the yolley-firing of & {ull battalion that clears the front.” Poor Du Maurfer is not here to defend him- self, but his pudlishers are, and we presume they will be heard from. The Hypuotic Mage- aine clsims that by issuing “Trilby” the pub- lishers have succeeded in strengthening the hends of ali quacks and charlatans who ars finding thelr source of income fn the credulity and erroneous beliefs of others. It is, how- ever, & fact,” says the writer, “that this foolish story, first by its publication 1n book form and afterward by its dramatization, has confirmed the general misconception of what is popu- larly called ‘the power’ of the hypuotist. It should eventually prove disquieting to this eminently respectable firm of publishers to re- member that by its indorsation of this non- sense, by is dissemiuation of error, it hus ‘placed itself in the position of an elder brother to the ubiquitous impostor, and that it has done {ts best to raise vulgar sensationalism to the rank of science.” The Cincinnati Enquirer has hit upon & novel device for saving the eyesight. It pro- poses that all reading matter be setso that it may be read from ieft to right and from right 10 left. By this means the reader does not have tojump his eyes from one side of the column 1o the other, but merely drops them as he reads. The following lines 1llustrate the Enquirer's meanin “Dr. Brewer, in his ‘Dictionary of Phrase is It :story following the tells Fable and said that Spurgeon used (o practice his stu- only text & from presching extempore in dents disclosed in the pulpit, and that one of his opening and desk thereaching on men young the note containing his text read the single or minutés for thought He *Zaccheus' word twosnd then delivered himself thus: ‘Zaccheus made Zaccheus ;I am 8o ,man little a was haste and came down, so did 1’ He suited “,word the to action the LITERARY NOTES. Some time early in October the *‘Life of Lord Tennyson,’* written b. Tennyson's son, will be published. It will be in two volumes. We have received the current issue of “Har- s monthly journal published in the interests of Christian science and scientists. The third number of Charles Austin Bates® “Crittelsms,” devoted to advertising matters, is before us. Mr. Bates is an authority in his particular Itne, and his journal is bright, readable and up to date. An article by the late E. J. Glave, describing some of the new conditions in Central Africa, and especially the dawn of otvilization be- ween Lake Tanganyika and tne Congo, will appear in the April Century. G1dson, the artist, in his article on “London Parks” in the April Scribner's, pletures the famous “Church Parade.” Gibson, ss an author, is converting those who believe that & 800d artist Is usually a very poor writer. “The Theory of Socialization,” by Professor F. H, Giddings of Columbia University, s in- tended for the use of college and university classes. This book and “The Principles of Soclology"” together constitute a textbook for the advanced student of the subject. Charles Scribner’s Sons have almost ready Profe-sor Oliver J. Thatcher’s ‘A Short History of Medieval Europe.”” The volume, beginning with the first century, conciudes with the sixe teenth. The work will be used by the Chaue tauqua Reading Circle. “The Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant,” published some years ago and complled by Professor Barrere and Charles G. Leland, is o have & reissue, {n an enlarged form, and will embrace Americanism, Anglo-Indian slang, Pidgin English and Gypsy jargon, The pube lishers are the Messrs. Bell. A story of Western life by Octave Thanet, & Drumtochty story by Ian Maciaren, a group of true railroad storles by Cy Warman, & roman- tic sea story, and installments of Robert Louis Stevenson’s last novel, “St. Ives,” and of Kip ling’s fine tale of the Grana Banks ate prome ised in McClure's Megazine for April. Volume IIT of the New American Supple- ment to the ninth edition (virtually making it the tenth) of the Eneyclopedia Britannica, of which five volumes are to be issued by the Werner Company, publishers, New York, Chi- cago and Akron, Ohio, maintains the high ex- cellence and usefulness of the previous issues of the work. The article on the Aldine Club in the Febrn ary Month proved so atiractive a feature that it is followed up in the March number with one on the Authors' Club. The former club consists mainly of publishers, and the two organizations are very iriendly rivals, seeking similar social ends by very much the same convivial means. The er is {llustrated. The Funk & Wag Company have con- cluded arrangements whereby they exclusives ly will publish for America the ‘“Pulpit Com- mentary,” the fifty-first volume (the conclud- ing yolume) of which is now in pross. This work, as the successive volumes have ap- peared during tne past few years, has achieved great reputation in England, and among many leading Biblical scholars in this country. The April pumber of What to Eat has some exceptionally interesting features. An ac- count of the late banquet of the Gridiron Club of Washington (a club made up exclusively of newspaper men) will be of particular interest to journalists. It is accompanied by & full Ppage half-tone engraving of & table at the ban- quet at which sit Vice-President Stevenson, Chauncey Depew, Senator Hill, Senator Gore man, Spesker Reed and a number of other notanles. We have received from the publishers, the Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulle« tin, 17 and 19 Beaver street, New York, a copy of yolume 2 of the Commercial Year Book for 1807. This annual is & carefully compiled and accurate work of reference far more ex- tended fn its scope than the numerous syndi- cate productions masquerading under the titles of almanacs. It can be recommended to any business man as an invalusble desk com« panion. Outing for March' isa very strong number earrying a wealthof beautiful illustratious, Prominent smong its many good things are: “Sportsmen’s Dogs—The Pointer,” by Ed W. 8audys, the second of a finely iilustrated series; “Maximus,” a complete story by Adene Williams; “Cruising Among the Salt Lake Islande,” by Ninetta Eames; “Something About Siam,” by E. M. Allaire; “Through the Land of the Marseillaise.” by Birge Harrison, and “Quick Photography Afield,” by Dr. John Nicol. Many breezy sketches of sport and ad- venture complete the long list of attraction: “Pioveers of Evolution,” trom Thales to Huxley, by Edward Clodd, is the title of & re« markable work which wiil be published shortly by D. Appleton & Co. This bock at- tempta to tell the story of the origin of the evolution idea in the works of the ancleut philosophers and its elaboration by Lucretins, its eclipse during the Middle Ages under the supremacy of ecclesiastical dogmas, and its Tenascence about . D. 1600, under the influ- ence of discovery and Lord Bacon’s philoso- phy. It then shows how new conceptions of the earth’s history were suggested by the study of geology, and of the history of life by biology. It marrates the building up of the doctrine of evolution by Spencer—who formu- Iated the theory as a whole the year preceding the publication of the “Origin of Species”— Darwin and Huxley. Reviewing the present condition of the question as to man and mind, it finally points out how the “Pioneers of Evo- lution” have led us “by ways undreamed of at the start toa goal undreamed of by the ears liest of them.” William Doxey, San Francisco, Cal,, an nounces & very fascinating book in “Letzers of Canova, the Sculptor, and Mme. Recamier,” which have been translated from the original by J. W. Laing, and have been furnished with au introduction by Professor W. H. Hudson of Stanford University. Toe book will be ilius. trated Dy photogravure reproductions of Canova's sculptures mentioned in the corre- spondence. These remarkable letters Mr. Doxey was fortunate in obtaining from a lit- erary connoisseur in London, and it is safe to sy the work will be eagerly sought for, Works of fictlon announced Include “An Itinerant House, and Other Btories,” by Emme Frances Dawson, & book of weird and mystic short stories that remind the reader of Poe and Hawthorne; and ‘Blodgett of Mariposs,” by E. H. Clough, a mining story of the Sierras, written by one who knows and who conveys much informa- tlon. “The Fiowers of California, Their Homes and Habits,” described by Mary Elizabeth Parsons; will have 150 full-pege illustrations from drawings by Margaret Buck, and of this there will be & special edition of six plates colored by haud for all who subscribe in ad- vance of publication. The second bound volume of The Lark will be brought out full of cartoons and illustrations by “Les Jeunes,” with a cover design of & reduction of “Pan Pipes,” by Florence Lundborg, which wili be printed in three colors. *A Vintage of Verse,” Dy Clarence Urmy, wilt be issued in & limited edition got up tastefully as a gifi-book for Easter, and there will ve & new edition, re. vised and enlarged, of Doxey’s “Guide (o San Franelsco and the Health and Pleasure Re- sorts of California.'