The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 25, 1897, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1897 23 AN — By George du Maurier, Harper & Brother , publishers. ;(xr_s;le in this Chy at all Loosstores; price Having the advantage to be aead, George du Maurier is to-day spered the pain of witness ing the end th m in his literary plunge. The end would ave been the same had he lived, since in the dark scheme out of which “The Martian” grew he had no thought of leaving tha world 1o escape its consequences. His exit was not apartot the underiaking, it was accldental, and, as hoe been intimated, a saving interven- u against the inevitable loss of reputation which “The Martian” was destined to cover him with i it caught him smiling in the flesh at his authorship of it. he Martian” 1s not, of course, what the hor hoped without reason it would bein point of effect, but it is what a good serving mortals unhandicepped by ing glare of personal authors: to be, 1o wit. an unsuccessful effort to repeat the success of ‘Trilby.”” It was not written was {nevitably to overtake | p expected it | because Mr. du Maurier had a story to tell—it | r had was written becausc Mr. du Maur written “Triiby,” and his publishers were providently aware that any other book by the author of “Trilby” would be read n more than oie other wou t a hor of “*Trilby him. Any subsequent work of an author sudder famed by & freak ot success has one chance i a hundred to be good—the chan author will fo that he has wr 1) 1 actually try 4 depenc tul predecessor. Fame and f the author rarely { are the rewards h s for, and havir one dazzling bewl d flash attained t he neglects to undersiand that the contem of the few beings who admire merit and rid cule pretense greet any attempt on his part to perpetuate his sudden distinction by i profession of it who of popula mos negle book that composure. of what he the g which has entous to him is too heavy. affair called *The Martian” prodigious for even com ainment it is be! is a bit are those Who T Trilby” wrote 8 man who wre that one. Independently atisfaction at fit auditors of use he wrote 1 evoke nc e construction Is complex, ere indistinguishable, the who LITERARY .;{[éIPES. following is res reciy e Romenc h now. Take the languag es of the last three ce Having s s hero oi superhuman strength, a f young titled heroiy 1 the obtainable, and wh onsible for e s very popular manners and es and m.x lect half & dozen well- known perso give them transpare pseudonyms. beral por iquante, compounded of ma sical & phorisms and fashionable slang, and the dish will then be complete. Some author- ities are in favor of including a plot in pre Adda paring the society novel, b is canuot be recomm . g should be added to spoil in an the perfect imbecility which the distinguishing favor of this dish other of its advantages is that it can b is le by any one in an extremely short time The S one part of Gaboriau and fifty paris of w Add a lady of title, a comic official from Scotland Y 2nd a diamond bracelet. Strain the mix into twelve parts and serve up monthly in s magazine. The “Re 1dy—First boil down &s m T e stories of the divorce court as possible. Into thissyrup pour a solution of London fog, add a few unpleas- ant diseases described with detail. Mix with & little dipsomania and suicide, then slowly boil the whale. After a short time a thick scum will rise to the surface; this shouid be careiully separated off and polished. The restcan be thrown away. The Religious Novel—Take a few Biblical characters end rewrite their sayings in the language of third-rate journalism. Season with a smattering of psychology,a quantity of irreverence aud & preface declaring (hat every critic is either & fool or a knave—prob- sbly both. Serve up with puff paste. This dish fs immensely popular and can be confi- dently recommended. The Improving Book—This dish is peculiarly well adapted for children. To a hanafulof priggishness add another of imbecility, The product should be gently baked, and can then Dbe used as your juvenile hero. Add an unsym- patbetic parent, & runeway cab, & hosoital, a lingering death and plenty of maudlin pathos. Serve up between bright boards at Christmas, A LETTER OF BLACKMORE’S. ng to an American friend (who has published the latter in the Bostou Literary World) Mr. Blackmore alludes to t the publishers intend to illustrate it. *‘Naver vet saw I any illustrations,” he says, “that helped to tell my storfes.” Mr. Blackmore deutes the reports of his i1l health—he never felt better, ho assures his correspondent—and 1o judge from the vivacity of his letter he must certainly be in fine condition in his seventy-second year. Mr. Blackmore is forcible on the subject of fiction. *Nine people out of ten,” he deciares, “speak with happy contempt of & novel as a trumpery concoetion. Some man, the other dey—a leading interviewer—said o me: ‘Oh, 1 never care to review & novell A work of his- v has some interest. Facts. facts are the s to deal with.’ I asked him if was any occurrence, or any character In so-called history, about which opinions dismetrically opposite were not neld by inquirers of equal intelli- gence, and 1 told him that I had been an eye- witness of two incidents, reported the very next day in the papers, and that 1 could hardly recognize either as meant for an ac- countof what I had sean. What, then, of nar- ratives centuries after the events ana gen- erally from pens made to fit into some pocket? But for generatfons yet to come fiction will be looked upon as & dolly for an infant.” Ask to see Edition de Luxe Balzac at Doxey’s. 2 4 SERMONS. THE GROWING REVELATION —By Amory H. Bradfora. New York: The Macmillan Com- pany. Irice 1 50. This collection of sermons, through which the thought of & growing revelation runs as of psramount importance, is extremely lib- eral. They will be read with pleasure by his new novel, “Dariel,” and observes that he s sorry | | | ¢ | duty when dutyis hard he says: | | ais | every one was reminded of the miracles.of the | ers, like friend Kinglake, would haye been in- those who have religion, but feel antipathy to | thestrict dogmas of sectarianism. The preacher | is of the Congregational church, but he says that the theology of to-day is not chicfly oc- cupied with speculations concerning the per- son of Christ. It is more anxious to know | what he taught than what he was.| He says that the theology of to- day i3 ° fncapsble of sirict defini- tion, since it has almost as many forms as there are thinkers, and that this is as itshould | be, because the Spirit in his operations always | recognized individuality. MARION CRAWFORD'S LATEST. OF YESTERDAY—By F. Marlon York: The Macmilian (om- $1 25. Without any abatement of the power which has given him well-earned fame, Marion Crawford adds this novel to the long list of clever books his prolific pen has produced. Ity lsofa siruggle between love and duty so well sustained that in theend the autnor in- timates his heroine is more of an ideal than & character accordant with life’s realities. Then in his wonted forceful and beautiful langaage justifies himself for doing this, and claims t is legitimate art to create these ideal | to show cnaracters occasionally which | in conformity with human aspica- » humen scts. But notwith- standing his calling Helen Harmon an idesl, many readers will consider her perfectly true | to life and think of women they have known who coula be just as feithful to what they | deemed their duty, even when duty was aa ordeal of heart-breaking severity. “You sre fresh as a rose,” said Helen Har- mon's son to her after she had bravely en- | dured twenty years of suffering caused bya brute of a husband. “A rose of yesterday,” said Helen Harmon, and thus comes the title of the story. A strong feature of the book is the description of this son, who is a grown | young man, but with a brain undevelopea be- cause of his father's brutal beatings when he asa child. When the question of forgiving the husband and the duty of living with him comes up, the existence of this boy greatly complicates the problem, which was also made puzzling by Helen’s affection for a 1an who hed lovel ber with chivalrous faith- d purity for twenty years. | is a study of the increasing ten- odern times to seek relief from troubles by divorce. The question hardiy be said to be treated in a partissn way, for the pros and cons are given with effectiveness of appeal that might well st} advocate of either easy divorce or un- age bond | | | 1 1 an Tre solution, however, is not left to the reader, as is the case in so many novels, and | Crawiord’s appeal is to hold to the sacredness of the marriage vow even when so doing in- | voives a terrible seli-sacrifice. Differ from himas widely as they may on the specific question of divorce all readers will doubtless admire the earnestness of tne ples he puts ir for the development of Spartan strenzth of | character. Speaking of the tendency to shirk ¥ ‘We ares ardly generation, and men shrink from now as their fathers shrank from n rougher times. Soft-hearted and :d people ask why humanity should L Why should we be uncomfort- | able even foran hour when a dose of poison | can create a lazy oblivion? That is the drunk- | ard’s reasoning, the opium-eater’s defense.” | To Crawiora divorce is even such a [railty as | the drunkard’s and the opium-eater’s. | | A TRIBUTE TO MITS. OLIPHANT. | honor ea k-1 ry columus are filled with Oliphant. The following ex- Londoan Times is perhaps the and interesting: and perhaps no writer of ) long and so intimately ature of the Vie- either sex, has b associated with orian era. the From the day when her genius surprised and delighted the public—the then than now—she essing forward unobtrusively in tranks and steadily widening the readers. ‘‘Circles,” we nge of hertalent was broad, ns she was the novelist and the his- biographer, the cr: and the poet. " we say, because her head never turned by her successes,and her naffected simplicity and modesty was her greatest personal charm. Many years ago, for her modesty contended with her hospitality, she was persuaded into giving a birthday garden party on Magna Charta Island, to which all the habitual con- tributors to “Maga” were bidden. Among | se who assembied to do her honor were : and Hanley, Mr. Blackmore and Sir odoie Martin, Henry Reeve, Colonel Lau. | ce Lockhart and very many others. John | sckwood rose to proppse, in an admirable | cch, the health of the hostess. | She had kept hersell characteristically in | ) { | admiring 2 B ST the background, and was only induced to say a few graceful words in acknowledgment. But Blackwood’s speech, delivered frankly from | long and closs personal kunowledge, made a profound impression on the hearers who were interested in literary methods. Inevitably author of “Waverly.” For the speaker said that, often as he had the pleasure of enter- taimug Mrs. O.iphant in Edinburgh or at Sirathtyrum, he had never yet discovered how or when she did her writing. There was the {llustration of her rare facility and the secret of her sustained successes. L ke Scott, she was 1ndifferent to the hyper- refinements of siyle. To use the file and the sandpaper, to the consternation of the print- tolerable drudgery. Yetstyle she has, and a style of the best. Itbreathes the freshness of the sea winds, of the hills, the fieids and the heather, and the unsullied purity of tranquil and orderly households, where the passing gales that blow up in domestic tronbles have none of the taint of pruriency and corruption. Yet we are ungrateful enough to grudge her departure, for until the other day neither the indomitable energy nor the fine fancy had i d. She was still busy over the annals of the Blackwoods, which involved labor, re- search and careful drudgery. To Black- wood for June she contributed the leaging article, “’Tis Sixty Years Since”—a sparkling retrospect of the sixty years’ reign—and the finale of the following number {8 “The 22d June,” an animated lyric of triumph and congratulation on the Diamona Jubilee of the iaay to whom she was devoted. To the last she remained leagues removed from the *“new woman,” who sells her books in a muitiplicity of editions by creating scan. dal or sensation. To the last she did sound work, and indefatigable work, and varied work, and brilliant work; the mass of her writing in volumes and magazines is simply stupendous. She began to write for Black- wood in 1852, and since then few numbers have appeared in which she had not a story or an article—very frequentiy both. She may we!l have feit then that her work was done and that now she might murmur in peace and content her Nunc Dimittis. But scarcely more than a month agoa cou- ple of her stories were published by Messrs. Smith & Eider. Foreseeing nothing we were struck by the consensus of discriminating praise with which they were received by all sortsof critics. All agreed that the material was of the slightest; all added that the author had pever been more gracefully ingenious and that the sober interest throughout was sus- tained at the highest pitch. Rudyard Kipling’s American novel, “Cap- tains Courageous,” will be published by the Century Company in October. Go to Doxey’s for the best books. | recommends to GEORGE DU MAURIE_R.’ TO ELUCIDATE SHAKESPEARE. PLE FOR WHOM SHAKESPEARE 'E—By Charles Dudiey Warner. New : Harper & Bros Price 81 25 The scholarly pen of Cbarles Dudley War- ner has given us as the result of a study of the old chroniclers an accountof the manner of life and the habits of mind of the British peopie in the time that the great dramatist wrote his plays, which will help to throw light on those immortal works. The author the studen: whu takes np Shakespeare’s plays, either for swmdy amusement, that he throw aside the whoie load of commentary and speculation and dis- | quisition and try to find what was the London | and Eugland of Shakespeare’s day. By this means it is claimed thatShakespeare will be- come & new thing to him and his mind will be enlarged to the purpose and scope of the great genius. This little book is an introduction and & stimulus to such study. Those who are ever asking the old question of what new books they shall read can be safely advised to put this one on their list. Such a subject treated by a writer of widely recognized literary taste assures the reader of profit in cultivation as well as entertainment. The work, aside from its main purpose of the illumination of Shakespeare, is well worth reading. The se- lection of curious facts ebout our ancestors of those early days is interesting, and it 1s made doubly entertaining by the quaint language of the old chroniciers, from whom som= of the quaintest sentences are quoted. No restraints of patriotic pride prevented these old writers from relating with perfect impartiality the vices as well as the virtues of their own coun- trymen. The English eat all they can buy, we are told; the Welsh had learned to eat like the English, and the Scotch exceeded the latter in “overmuch aund distemperate gormandize.” Mr. Warner has culled many odd expressions from the old records, and some of the facts t0ld, which would be trivial enough in ordi- nary modern language, become hugely enter- taining when told in antique phrase. Seekers after either cultivation or amusement will be thoroughly pleased with this little volume, A REPRINT. BETWEKN TWO WORLDS—By Mrs. Calvin Kryder Reifanider. St Louls: The Anna C. Reifsolder Book Company ~ Price 31 25, A quotation from Bulwer is used to explain this novel: “It is a romance, and it is nota | romance. Itisa truth for those who can com- prehend it, and an extravagance for those who cannot.” The story has appeared before as a serial in the Arena magazine. It tells of & renowned teacher of oratory who is training & very ambitious girl for the stage and a young infidel for the bar and lecture platform. The girl'writes a great play after the death of her instruetor, which was mysteriously prompted by him. Reiigious views are hung upon a slim thread of fiction, and these are antago- nistic to the dogmas of orthodoxy. The book is written with good purpose, but asa novel is extremely crude. NORSE MYTHS. THE STORY OF THE Anna Alice Chapin. Brothers. Price $1 25, The story of the Nivelungenlied is here told in a condensed and simplified way, principally for young people. The objectis to give a clear and accurate account of the complicated series of Norse legends from which Wagner made his operas, Some of the music of the operas Is in- terwoyen with the story, and part of the de- sign of the work is to enable the reader to un- derstand the various motifs of the great musical genius’ compositions, The volume 18 beautifully {llustrated. RELIGIOUS. Btl)dol‘}lol" }?AgLYkFAFMILY PRAYFR — By adeline H. Lissak. For sale atthe pri bookstores of the Ci y. e A lady of San Francisco has composed this little pamphlet of daily prayers for family use. She has found them so satisfactory in her household that she publishes them in the be- lief that they will benefit otners. Each prayer has prefaced to it a selected text from the Bible, a briet sentence designed to be commit- :Ied to memory and repeated oiten during the ay. “Tre Lark Is Dead; Long Live the Lark.” Inquire at Doxey’s, L4 MINGLED PATHOS AND HUMOR. IN SIMPRINSVILLE — By Ruth McEne, giu;;& N York: Harper & Brothers. Pflz A collection of character tales sbout the RHINEGOLD — By New York: Harper & | or | 1 | South, told in dialect with considerable talent for pathos and humor. One of the best is called “*The Unlived Life of Little Mary Ellen,” which tells the pathetic story of a young girl | who was jilted at the altar and lost her mind | in consequence. She awakcs from a swoon | fancying that she is married, and later takes loving possession of & large wax doll, believing | it1s her baby, The tender respect with which | the villagers treat this vagary is wellde- | seribea. | ABOUT AMELIE RIVES. | | | The Princess Troubetskoy, Amelie Rives, has | entirely recovered from the nervous a:tack | which prostrated her some time ago. She has | recently returned to her home, Castle Hill, | Va., and is now hard at work upon a new | | novel, which, she hopes, will surpass any- | | thing she has ever attempted. While she was hard at work finishing & book in the latter part of last May the Princess was | removed to & sanitarium in Philadelphia for | treatment. Her collepse was attributed pri- marily to hard work during the winter and spring in writing and finishing the novel, but her ill-nealth was indirectly traceable to & nervous affliction which had its origin in the violent discussion and personal abuse that followed the publication of “The Quick or the Dead?"” It is said that at that time, though she was only 22 years of age and personally ignorant of theworld and its ways, she received over 2000 scurrilous letters, commenting in the most indelicate manner upon the book and its author. Bhe fell very ill and was confined to her bed for weeks. Soon after her recovery and when her liter- ary success was assured beyond a aoubt, she met and became engaged to John Armstrong Chanler, s great-grandson of the original John Jacob Astor. ¥ He:r friends declare that within three months aiter her marriage to this gentleman she knew that she had made a mistake, but she lived with him for four years, Mr. Chan- ler, becoming aware of his wife’s feeling toward him, took the steps necessary for a divorce. During’all this time Amelie Rives’ health was not particuiarly good, and her removal to Paris did not benefit it. Although there was never a breath of scandel about the | matter, she met Prince Troubeizkoy a year before she was divorced. They were not in any way associated with each other up to that time, but were married shortly afterward. The Princess declares that her happiness was compieted then, but she worked very hard al last winter and she hes not until now fairly recovered from her prostration over her first successful book. STORIES OF MOUNTAINEERS. HELL FOR SARTAIN, AND OTHER STORIES—By John Fox Jr. New York. ar- per & Brothers. For sale in this City by A. M. Robertson, Post street. Price §1. These short stories of mountaineers are told in aialect, and deal with the manners and customs of the ignorant classes of the moun- tainous parts in West Virginia and Kentucky. They are humorous, and une called ‘‘Preachin’ on Kingdom ¢ .me” tells in rough mountain eloquence of the reconciliation of men who had long been at ‘deadly fend. The stories were originally published in some of the lead- ing magazines. THE VENDETTA. MR. PETERS — By Riccardo Stephens. York: Harper & Brothers —For sal City by 4. M. Robertson, Post streer. Pri $150. New It A story of vendetta in which the long-de- layea vengeance is mede to fall in a most dramatic way upon an honored Judge, and is s0 executed that by no humen justice could the avenger ever be punished. Mr. Peters is the son of an Italian who was lynched in a Western town by mistake. The Italian's widow taught the boy to wait patiently for re- venge. Many of the scenes are well described and of a thrilling nature. Unfortunate was the youth who volunteered to give the parentage of Trojan Ganymede, ”’ said he, “the son of Mount Olympus and an eagle.” Some doubt being expressed #s to the exactness of this biological state- ment he proved his faith in authorship and shocked a drowsy room into clamorous ap- plause by reading triumphantiy from the preface to his “Ovid”: ‘“And Ganymede was porne to Mount Olympus by an eagle,”’—Yale Yarns, in Scribner’s. Doxey's Guide to San Francisco just published. > PERSONALS Bram Stoker, Henry Irving's manager, has written another novel. It is called “Dra- cula.” Alexander Gardener of London has just pub- lished “American Humorists, Recent and Liv- 2,” by Robert Ford. Jules Verne is busy with a new series;of stories, whose scenes are lald in varionslands. He says that the plot is always the last thing he thinks of, letting it form itself in his mind while he studies geographical, historical ana sclentific books on the particular country he intends to treat of. William Le Queux, whose novel, “Devil’s Dice,” has just come out, is at present living in Nice, where be is writing & new story of mystery for serial purposes. The scenes will be laid in England and at Monte Carlo, and it will propably appear uuder the biblical title of It Sinners Entice Thee.” It is under- stood that the story will be entirely English in character, although its climax occurs on | the Mediterranean shore. Richard Harding Davis has been lately the recipient of letters concerning his best-known character, the incomparable Van Bibber. The inquirers wished to know if Van Bibber was imaginary or a presentment of Mr. Davis him- self. The reply is that Van Bibber is imagi. nary. A doctor at Baltimore, however, where Mr. Davis once studied, probably supplied the name. Anyway, it seems that this gentleman is obliged to spend a good deal of time in assuring questioners that he is not tne origi- nal of Mr. Davis' hero. Miss Lombroso, the daughter of the Italian professor, has written & voiume, the title of | which is, *On the Happiness of Women.” The lady has made the study of a hundred women, married and unmarried, and comes to the con- clusion that women generally mre happier than men. There are two phases in women's lives the lady believes she has determined— one is that love-making and maternity are the essential and decisive elements of happiness; the-other is that moderale means are more conducive to bappiness than riches. Fall In love, then, young women, and find content. ment in & modest flat. Dr. Robertson Nicoll is able to state with au- thority that no less than $15,000 worth of Thackeray manuscripts were sold to America last year, It has, he adds, ‘‘got to be more and more the case that America secures the most valuable manuscripts that come into the mar- ket.” Since this was written the manuseript of Keat’s Endymion has beer: bought for Amer- fea at §3475. It is theoriginal autograph manuseript and was sold at auction in London on the 10th of March. It consists of 181 leaves, ail but one in the handwriting of the poet. Atthesame sale the autograph manu- seript of Lamia sold for $1523, Mrs, Margaret Deland’s literary reputation is so identified with New England that it will probably surprise most readers to learn that her early years were spent in Western Penn- sylvania. Since her marriage to Lorin F. De- land she bas livad in Boston and has acquired the local cast of thought and expression so completely that her stories convey the im- pression of her being a native New Englander. Her Boston home js on Mount Vernon street and is filled with art treasures and rare books, Her summer residence is at Kennebunkport, on the coast of Maine. Mrs. Deland’s envia- ble fame as & writer has been achieved in the last ten years. Her first book was a volume ot poems, “The Old Garden,” published in 1886. Miss Marie Corelll has been celebrating the twelfth anniversary of her debut as a novelist, and it appears that tHe royalties of her initial volume, her celebrated “Romsnce of Two Worlds,” would be ample for her support, even if she had no other sources of income. And yet, a8 in so many historic cases, the pub- lisher’s readers, who seem to be called readers on the lucus a non principle, rejected the story as romantic rubbish., Pernaps it w and {s, but the public has paid so many dollars for it and the other progeny of its author's prolific pen that Marie Corellils, in point of income, far and away the richest woman writer ot the time. She is physically much the style ot woman the lamented Duchess was, small and blonde—a singular fact, consid- ering her Italian blood, which appears to show itself chiefly in her imagination rather than in her physique. Miss Corelli isone of the numerous literary people of Kensington, 1 London. Buccess has merely stimulated her pen and her of a truly Marfon Crawford-like rage for writing, Du MAURIER, the Martian, at Doxey’s, * | | well Catherwood’s novel, *“The Days of Jeanne | the Macmillan Company is to publish a “Dic- | | illustrated. | kuown | the Century Company 1s to bring out in the | of young people to all the famous battlefields LITERARY NOTES. The publicaticn in £ngland is announeced of Sir Walter Besant’s “A Fortune Sealed,” and of Dr. George MacDonald's new novei, “‘Salted With Fire.” Professor James of the chair of psychology in Harvard University has published a volume of essays entitled “The Will to Believe.” The author is a brother to Henry James, the novelist, Giibert Parker's admirable long story, ‘The Pomp of the Lavilettes,” and Charles G.D. Roberts’ equally admirable romance of old Canada, he Forge in the Forest,” have gone each into a second edition. Lamson, Woliffe & Co., Boston, are the publishers. A et of the works of Aristotle, printed on vellum (1483), brought £800 at the Ashburn- ham sale on June 26. Two days later the Mazarin or Gutenberg Bible, aiso on vellum, fetched £4000. Tne first Latin Bible, with the date 1500, and several others, sola for over £1000 eagh, The Bowen-Merrill Company of Indianapo- iis will bring out Mrs. Elizebeth Cady Stan- ton’s new volume of recollectlons, “Eighty Years and More.” The same firm is to publish Miss Susan B. Anthony’s reminiscences, speeches, ete.,, which will form two volumes of 500 pages each. The Century Company has in preparation a child’s book on Joan of Arc, iliustrated in color by Boutet de Monvel and printed in Paris by Boussod, Valadon & Co. Mary Hart- @’Arc/’ now appearing in tne Century, will also be issued in the autumn, “His Majesty's Greatest Subjec.” is the titie | of adramatic romance in India, the scene of which is laii in the future. It is full of exeit- ing adventure, and possesses, at the same time, some historical significance, Itis the work of | & new English author, 8 S. Thorburn, and will | | be published shortly by the Appletons. } Under the direction of Mr, Russell Sturgis, | tionary ol Architecture’ in three large octavo volumes, It will include many special arti- cles by architects, sculptors, engineers, mural painters and other authorities. It will be ex- | tensive in scope, and it will be generously Little, Brown & Co. are bringing out shortly the ficst volume of the “History of the Royal Navy,” an important work upon which | s.veral English specialists have been engaged forsome time. At the same time it is made that Commander Jerrold Kelley’s “American Navy, Its Growth and Achieve- ments” s in press. The biography ot the late Lord Tennyson by his son will be published in this country by the Macmillan Company, the anthorized pub- lishers of Tennyson’s works. The book will be brought out in the late sutumn, and will contain & number ot hitherto unpublished poems. The statement, recently made, that Messrs. Harper & Bros. had secured the Ameri- can rights was incorrect. “The Century Book of the American Revo- lution" :s a work by Elbridge S. Brooks which autumn. It describes a trip made by party of the Rsvo:uqon.lnll it is to he illustrated with more thax' 200 pictures. This ought to be a unseful book for boys and girls, and one into which their elders will not mind looking, Dodd, Mead & Co. announce 8 new and uni- form edition of the works of Hamilton W. Mabie, each volume to contain a frontispiece in photograyure. They will also issue in | October a “‘History of American Book Clubs,” a work likely to be of interest to bibliophiles. | It contains accounts of all known publishing | book clubs which have been organized in Americs, with descriptions and collations of their various publications. The Century Company will soon issue John La Farge's “An Artist's Leiters From Japan,” iltustrated by himself. The same company has in preparation “Impressions of South Africs,” by the Hon. James Bryce, M.P., which was announced for issue several months ago, but has been kept back by the author during the changes that have been taking place so rapidiy in that country. Some of Mr. Bryce's chapters were published in the Cen- tury, but these have been rewritten and aboat twenty new chapters have been added. Bishop Potter does not believe that it is the oftice of a minister to organize parties, nor to devise policies, nor attempt 10 manipulate a caucus or & cauvass, but he feels that the minister may strive to lift loeal questions into # higher atmosphere. The resuit of his en. deavors will be found in a yolume, “The Scholar and the State,” which the Century Company will issue in the autumn. The book takes its title from the opening chapter,which was Bishop Potter's Phi Beta Kappa oration at Harvard in June, 1890. A translation of Stendhal’s “Rouge et Noir” is announced for early publication by the George H. Richmond Company. It will be called “Red and Black,” and will be issued in & handsome edition, with etched iilustrations, aniform with the “Chartreuse de Parme,” publisned last year. Stendhal, whose name was Henri Beyle, was a contemporary and friend of Balzac, and predicted that Baizac's work—which had no vogue at the mo: wouid be highly appreciated forty years after his death. HERE AND THERE. “Ouida’s” latest book is said to deal with the problem of social equality. It isentitled “The Altruist,” Charles Whibley’s Book ot Scoundre’s hasa cover designed by Whistler. The prineipal mo- tive of the design is a gallows, with the letters of the title around it and the death’s-head and crossbones below. The London Telegraph asks a question that many of us have asked. Noting & novel In which the herone iy named Aglae, the Tele- graph says “‘why is the ill-used heroine of fic- tion never valled Jane or Ellen?” The Mailand Express advises Conan Doyle and Stanley Weyman to look to thelr laurels, and suggests that Robert Barr is their for- midable rival, It seems that Mr. Barr has writien a powerful romance called “Countess Tekls,” the scene of which is laid in the Nor- man period of Germany. A London publisher is about to bring out “a coliection of speeches delivered in England by American embassadors and ministers on occasions when persons of the two nation-- alities were met to honor a personality belong ing to both.” The address delivered in West- minster Abbey by Colonel John Hay at the unveiling of the bust of 8ir Walter Scott is a case in point. Many such were mede by Mr. Lowell, Mr. Phelps and Mr. Bayard, It s announced in London that H. S. Nichols will presently publish a volume of high interest to students of Omar Khayyam. ; This will be a photographic fac-simile of the { Rubaiyat in the Bodleian Library, » manu- script that was used by Fitzgerald in his first workings on the subject. The book will in- clude a transeript of the Rubaiyat into mod- ern Persien type, with a literal translation | ana notes by Edward Heron-Allen. It has been stated that Thomas Hardy has another new novel on the stocks. That, how- ever, is not so. The revision of his writings for the uniform edition occupied him until recently. Since then he has thought of gath- ering into a volume some short stories that have only appeared serially. Whether ne will do so remains to be seen, but in any case no new book need be expacted from him for awhile. Mr. Hardy believes in taking a res'. Robert Hichens, whose new novel, “Flames,"” has just been publisbed, was st one time a student at the Royal College of Music until he gave up thestudy and became a critic of music. His early literary career was begun under the tutorship of a gentleman who haa a school for journalists, but it was not unul his “Green Carnation” was published that the reading public gave him due recognition. Mr. Hichens has had some success as a dramatist and he is now engaged on a pley with a colleborator. The book pub!isher’s press agent is almost 23 reckless as the theatrical press agent. The Whiteball Review of London announced the other day that a certain firm “have just issnea a dramatic poem by that ripe scholar and fin- ished writer, Matthew Arnold, entitled ‘Em- pedocles on Etna.” The new volume will by no means detract from Mr. Arnold’s reputa- tion.” As the poem in question was first pub- lished in 1849, the whole affair is very inex- cusable, By the way, it may be added that ‘‘Empedocles on Etna’ was omitted by Arnoid from the latest edition of his works, which may be the cause of the advance agent’s ignor- ance, Admirers of decadent poetry, who have gone into raptures over Steve Crane’s “‘death demon chattering in the tree tops” and Yone Noguchi's “soporific odor of colors,” have re- cently transferred their affections to Francis Thompson, Francis sometimes writes poetry | which can be understood and sometimes he writes like this: Most prond When utterly bowed; To feed thy self and be His dear nonentity. Caught beyond human thought In the thunder-spout of Him Until thy being dim, And be Dead deathlessly. Nobody knows what that means except Francis Thompson, and he knows only that it is selling his book. There is a row in the housa of Moliere, and that over no less distinguished a person than the director of the Comedie Francaise, M. Jules Claretie. Eachof the twenty-two part- ners in the theater, including the novelist, receives $8000 a year, In return for this, which is supplemented by a retiring pension and an occasional benefit, members are pro- hibited from appearing on any other stage. No such restriction is imposed on the man- ager, who, besides his duties behind the cur- tain, pours forth novels, reviews, prefaces, lectures and articles in endless profusion. At the present moment he 1son a journalistic tour at Stockholm. This distinction between the company and its chief has led the former to address a petition to the Minister of Public Instruction, M. Raimbaud, under whose juris- diction, logically enough, the domain of the drama falls, The matter has notyet been ettled. ELEGANT Doxey’s. The French Government has bestowed upon few American women the purple ribbon that indicates rank as an officer of the Academy. Miss Kate Field and Miss Marie Van Zandt stock. Fine editions at ‘We have received from the publishers, the Macmillan Company, New York, the third volume of Gibbon’s *‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” The volume starts with the government and death of Jovian, and its last chapter treats of the invasion of Gaul by Attila in 451 A. D, and of Italy the following year. The work under review will be com- pleted in seven volumes, at the price of $2 per volume. Notes and appendices are sup- plled by J. B. Bury, M. A, editor of the Edition. Eugene Field’s sougbook, published last year by the Bcriboers, with music by De Koven and others, is to have a companion vol- ume this year in & book similarly planned and made up of selections from Rob:rt Louis Stevenson’s ‘‘Chlid’s Garden of Verse’' The book will conteln twenty songs, The music for nine of these has been composed by Dr. Villiers Stanford, the composer of the opera #“Shamus O'Brien.” The restof the music will be the work of Ethelbert Nevin and others, It will be issued by the Scribners early in the fall Henry Frowde of the Oxford University Press (New York) announces that he is about to publish for the Egyptian exploration fund part of a papyrus book of the sayings of Christ found at Behness, the ancient Orynxhynchas, some 120 miles south of Cairo on the edge of the Libyan desert, by Bernard P. Grenfell of Queen's College aud A, 8. Huunt of Magdalen College, Oxford. There will be much contro- versy as to the antiquity of the logia, but it is not improbable that the collection was made at the begining of the second century of the present era or even earlier, and the writing of the sentences may date from the second cen- tury. The sayings are detached, without con- text, and each begins with the words ‘‘Jesus saith.” These are preserved on s page of papyrus b4 inches by 3)4 inches, the writ- {ngs—uncials—being very clear. In uddition to reproducing the leaf by collotype process, 1t has been decided to printa cheaper edition for a few cents, so that the treasure may be brought within the reach of every one. are a.aong those who have been thus honored, and Miss Elizabeth Marbury is another. Her work as the purveyor of French dramas to the American stage and ner zeal in protecting the interests of the playwrights are fully appre- ciated by the French Government, and the form their recognition has taken is partly due to the fact that this particular honor 1s, as & rule, awarded to those who have been in some way engaged in educational work, Miss Marbury’s success in making French plays known to the American public is evidently considered as an educational labor. She has the reputation of being a keen woman ot business, and as the accredited representative in this country of the French Dramatic Au- thors’ Society she is able to attend to all the details of the authors’ interests, and is the only ene through whom the works of the great French dramatists, such as Sardou and the like, can be obtained. There is an Irish proverb to the effect tha ‘“there are more ways of killing a dog than by stuffing his mouth with butter.” So it anpea that there are more ways of getting into print than by submitting your manusecript to the editor with an address and stamped envelope inclosed for return if not availablo. One of the phenomensa of the Queen’s jubilee was the ap- pearance of a poem in the personal column of the Times of London addressed to ‘‘Victoris, Queen of Britain: Hall! all hall! Victoris, Queen of Britain! Thy reign the longesr, the most glorious and most “dlest; Thy fame the proudest, uneqnaled by the res! Thy name the grandest and the best. And this In future ages when true hist'ry shall be writtea Ackpowledged will be by all nations from north, south, east sud west. And so on for four verses. Whether the post was laboring under an excess of patriotism or an excess of vanity it is hard to say, and perhaps it doesn’t matter. He has gotinto p:ict, even if it was at his own expenss. For the rest of his life he will be able to tell his friends casually about his verses ‘‘that the Times printed in the jubiles week.” Just published, ‘Missions of Califor- nia,” at Doxey's. . SieNgiEWICZ Quo Vadis. . Complete stock at Doxey's. »