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LITERATURE.
MISCELLANEOUS REVIEWS.
" l' UlESIDE and UAMP - FIRE SONG AND
SrOKl." — This is the title of a compact
volume of 220 pages, written by Mr. U. J.
White, a South Australian journalist, printed
by Webb & Son, and published by George
Robertson & Oo. This is not the first or the
eeoond book wbioh the author has submitted
to publio oritioiBm, but it is by far
the largest and the best. Some of tbo poems
before us have been, if we are not mis
taken, printed on other occasions; but it is
evident that Mr. White is blessed with the
advantage of a oonBtant discontent with
his literary work, and consequently with
a never - satisfied determination to revise
it and to make progress fairly. good to
better. This latest speoimen of his "Song
and Story" represents a remarkable advanoe
upon the quality of his first modest little
pamphlet, whiob we reviewed some years
ago. The wonder then, considering the peouliar
difficulties under wbioh the work had to
be done, waB that the writer should find
himself m the mood to write verse or with
the heart to publish it. Even the present
volume, with its strongly marked improve
ments, must be regarded, aB its pioneer fore
runner was—not only on aooount of its in
trinsic merit, but because it represents a
triumph of unsparing and undaunted per
severance. With a tnnefnl ear, a copious
vocabulary, the will to observe, and the
opportunity of watohing Nature in many
varying moods, Mr. White has put his
Sen to paper to some purpose. The quality of
is literary style owes muoh to his possession
of what may be termed that sentimental light
and shade whose brightness is spontaneous :
and infeotiouB humour, whose gloom is pathos
deepening into melancholy. Some of hie more
ambitions poems, as well as hiseimple melodies,
are marred here and tbere by structural de
ficiencies, but the general effect from a literary
point of view is good, and the lessons which
the author seeks to oonvey in his rhythmical
lines are undoubtedly helpful and wholesome.
Some of Mr. White's opinions seem to be af
footed by the comparatively limited eooial
horizon to whioh any man who a panda muoh
of his time in country solitudes ib inevitably
subject), and his means to the end of a general
uplifting of mankind may be more ideal than
practical; but then every poet ie an idealist,
and Mr. White is therefore one. Tory and
pemoorat alike must aoknowledge that
the truly humanitarian spirit inspires
his verses, and every Australian will welcome
the almost aggressive oountry-love—patriotism
—whioh distinguishes the lines that have
a national bearing. Altogether "Fire
side and Oamp-fire Song and Story"
is a book whioh may be recommended
to the book-reader and to the book-buyer for
the reasons already adduoed, and also because
of the variety of itB contents and the versati
lity whioh the author has displayed in bis
work, whether he be judged by his intro
ductory " Problem Solved" or by his conclud
ing epigrammatic " Fhilosophio Truths." I
"The Stoby ov a Modem Woman."—
Sy Ella Hepworth Dixon. William Heine-1
mans, publisher, London. Tbis is an ex
tremely well-written book, abounding with
dalioate descriptions and powerful analyses of j
obaraoter. These merits, indeed, are so irre
sistible as to atone for the generally depres- I
sing nature of the arises up to whioh the j
gifted authoress works. For, brilliant as her
literary style undoubtedly ie, its sparkle has
the ooldness of the ioeberg'e glitter; and a
discouraging sort of oynioism runs through
the half-eketoh half-story whioh the book i
contains. The presentment given of London
sooiety is rather repellent, and the " modern
woman" is depioted- by onr authoress as
doomed to endure a decidedly bad time.
True, the lesson of her " story" is that virtue
is triumphant after a fashion, but vice seems
to have a monopoly of the fun. The lives of |
the "most lovable—^or rather, the letot un
lovable—characters end for the reader either {
:in death "or indreaiy hopelessness, and the,
experiences - ot the worst appear to be thB
most varied and the/happiest, albeit in a
blate and unedifyitigsort of way. --Set the
"Story of-a Modern .Woman" deserves to be
read for its literary exoellenoe, and beoauae of
the light whioh it' oaata upon the highly
placed men and women of to-day, as they are
seen by a coldly oritioal pair of keenly scruti
nizing eyes.
"Tan Stobt op Australian Exfloea
TION,"—By R, Thynne, with illuatrations and
map. T. Fisher Unwin, publisher, London. In
this very readable workMr. Thynne has, under
the thin guise of personal association with the
various inoidente, retold the story of Aus
tralian exploration as related in explorers'
journals with muah more detail, and in suoh
boolu as "Australia's Heroes," by Obarles H.
Eden. Mr. Thynne, however, writes naturally
and vigorously, and possesses the happy knaok
of investing the ordinary experiences of an
exploring party with the oharm of romance.
We have previously noticed the volume, and
it is sufficient to add that it is one whiob well
unites entertainment, biatoriosl reoord, and
general instruotion regarding Australia as it
was when the explorers found it.
"TheOdckoo in the Nest." By Mrs. Oli
phant. Hutobinson&Oo., 25, Paternoster-row.
As a painter of English country eooiety and
country life this, the last of Mrs, OUphant'e,
maintains her high reputation. The motif
is of the order she has used before—
although there ie no repetition—the ways
and warfare of a clever adventuress; but
she has done few things better than
Patey Hewet, The baton in every inn
keeper's daughter's knapsaok — "to marry
the squire's heir"—Mies Patey aooompliehee
with ease, the heir in this case being a half
witted youth with a taste for beer. Her
aoute generalship oomes after the happy or
unhappy event in insinuating herself into the
"Castle," and her old father-in-law's regard
against the opposition of a country in arms.
The plot is welt and naturally developed, and,
like all Mrs. Oliphant's stories, brightly told,
with exoellent character studies in the phase
of oouutry life and society she has made her
own with such happy success and delight to
her readers. »
K-ulebs op India.—Haidsr Ah and Tipu
Sultan. By L. 13. Bowring. Rulen of
a piece of India or would-be rulers
should be the title given to some
numbers of this excellent but oertainly
long aeries. The obvious impossibility of tell
ing their story from their own point of view
detraots much from the interest of these
sketches of Indian Sultans. With a French
naval base at Mauritius there was for a time
a hope that with French aid both Haider Ali j
and Tipu might have overoome the English,but
the Nile shattered all hopes of a Frenoh expe- j
tion from Egypt for Tipu, just as the failure of 1
the Frenoh monarchy to support its offioers
abroad destroyed Haider's ambitions. Both
were interesting oharaoters, Haidar Ali the
dashing General, and Tipu, his eooentrio
son, though less a soldier, was a remarkable
man. The sketches have bean made with oare
and researoh, though as light reading suffer
from oonsoientious compression of events.
Seringapatam hoB been so completely shaded
by the terrible '57 that it is only
by suoh reading as Mr. Bowring's
capital work we are reminded what
a relief war its capture to oar Indian ,
rule. The account of this last feat of arms is
tersely but graphically written, and the
terrible Tipn, to our minds a must unpleasant
person, accorded more than his due of
sympathy. ——
The Naval Annual fob 1694.—Compiled
by Lord Brsssey, K.C.B., and F. E. Barnes,
M.I.N.A. Edited by T. A. Bratsey. J. !
Griffin & Co., Portsmouth, publishers. ThiB
number is perhaps even an advance upon its
predecessors, and is full of interesting matter
for the lay as well as professional reader. The
noble compiler deserves well of his country for |
his esrnest effortB to enoourage an interest in
its first line of defence. It is curious that
even after the late naval stir in England the
Navy Estimates were passed to empty benohea,
while matters of suoh vital moment as the
propriety of a village parson lending his
sohoolroom for secular purposes filled both
the House of Commons and the newspaper
columns. The " Annual" is oertainly the
most interesting as well as most trustworthy
guide to all things naval. The tables of guns,
diagrams of ships and armour, and gun
mountings for the professional man, tbongh
oomplete, do not oooupy a large portion of this {
year's number, the remainder being devoted
tA eritioisma and opinions of the beat ,
authorities of the day upon the larger
questions of naval and national policy.
The year 1892-3 being a period in wbioh
these were brought prominently before the j
public, the "Annual's" luoid explanations
and descriptions with criticisms of final
opinion decisions will be read with interest.
Suoh subjeots as the sad and unfortunate
loss of the Victoria, the Mediterranean
"scare," tbe Brazil Naval revolt, the
manoeuvres of the British, Frenoh, German,
Russian, and Italian Fleets, and ooast defence
foroes in their yearly war games, are dwelt
with in a manner to be understanded of
th6 people, and all are of live interest.
Lord Brassey is still a sturdy sup
porter of the medium-sized as against the
monster vessels, and adduces much that ap
pears to be conclusive in support of his plea.
Absent in India with the renowned Pick
wickian Indian Opium Commission, Lord
Brassey apologizes for any overlapping of
other contributions by his own, wbioh was
written abroad. Curiously this contribution
is almost a priei* of the whole volume, at
onoe determining bow much of the excellent
oharacter of the work is due to its noble com
piler, a point upon whiob there have not been
wanting some freely expressed and ill-natured
doubts.
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