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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 3

Literature

page 29

Literature.

It is a good sign that so much attention is being paid to the early history of the colonies. According to the Christchurch Church News, the history of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, the writing of which was entrusted by the Bench of Bishops, with the approval of the General Synod, to the Very Rev. the Dean of Christchurch, is now on the eve of being issued. The advance sheets have reached the Dean, and are now on their way back for publication. The work is comprised in three parts:—I. The Missionary Period, down to 1841. II. The Period of Organization, down to 1857. III. From 1857 to the resignation of the Primate. The Dean is the author of 424 pages of the work; the material for the remaining GO pages on the seven Dioceses has been contributed by the respective bishops, or persons appointed by them. The work is the first of a series of colonial Church Histories.

The Church of Rome has also a very similar work in hand. It is being prepared by Bishop Pompallier, one of the early French missionaries, and is announced under the title of Early History of the Catholic Church in Oceania. The earliest history of the Pacific islands is chiefly a record of devoted mission work, and these forthcoming works, if their design is conscientiously carried out, will be of great historic value. It will be very interesting to collate the two when they appear.

For our own part, we regret that this work was not taken iu hand earlier—say ten or fifteen years ago. Within that period many of the grand old pioneer missionaries have been called to to their reward; and of those who remain, few would be able to undertake such heavy and exacting work. Moreover, every year there has been more or less loss, by destruction and decay, of old and authentic records. The Wesleyan Church was early in the mission field, and did noble work, but so far as we know, no history of its labors has ever been compiled. Even if there is no one to take it in hand, there are many who could contribute materials for such a work, and our excellent contemporary, the New Zealand Methodist, would, we doubt not, readily find space for records of the kind, which would add avery interesting department to its pages. Until a good record of Wesleyan mission work in New Zealand appears, one of the most interesting chapters in the early history of the colony remains unwritten.

The first volume of a new history of New South Wales, edited by Mr G. B. Barton, barrister, formerly of Dunedin, will shortly be published by the Government Printer, New South Wales. The history, which will extend over fifteen volumes, will be the most complete work of the kind ever published. The first volume will deal with the period from 1788 to 1792, and will contain full copies of all the official despatches relating to the establishment of the colony, copies of which have recently been received from the Colonial Office.

It is much to be regretted that the early MS. and other records, preserved and treasured for years by many early settlers, have so often been treated as rubbish after their death. We have already referred to the fate of the Rev. R. Taylor's collection of early printed works. But the greatest difficulty of the future historian will lie in the utterly reckless manner in which garbled and misleading narratives are permitted to appear in print, and pass into currency as genuine facts. Many instances could be given.

During the recent Te Kooti excitement, an Auckland paper published extracts from an anonymous pamphlet entitled « A Dark Chapter in the History of Poverty Bay, by a Survivor » —evidently supposing it to be a genuine record of facts. On the contrary, the book was one of the most mendacious ever published in the colony. The writer, who professed to be « a survivor » of the massacre, lived a hundred miles away, and was a literary hack, subsidised to write the book in the interests of a political party. Every settler who has been over twenty years in the island could point out many of the absolute fabrications and perversions of fact which the book contains. It fell flat from the press when it appeared; but now, when the memory of the facts is growing dim, this wretched and nearly forgotten production is revived—and may even one day be reprinted!

When we copied into our columns the newspaper accounts of the late Mr Bevans, the oldest journalist in the colony, early colonists drew our attention to numerous errors in the alleged facts. And very few of the obituary notices of old settlers will bear examination. Some time ago we sent the biography of an old lady deceased, ( « lhe first white woman in the Bay of Islands » ) to an old friend, thinking it would be of interest. He said: « It bristles with falsehoods! » The year of her arrival was stated, and at that time there were not less than fifty European women in the Bay of Islands, some of whom are living to-day. Not only this, but there were inexcusable blunders as regarded localities, and facts relating to the general history of the time. Such being the case, the value of early correspondence, diaries, and other memoranda of transactions made at the time, becomes apparent.

The Picturesque Atlas scheme (says a well-informed contemporary) is, or ought to be moribund. Sir J. Vogel's idea now is to publish a sample part at a cost of £2,090. This would mean Sir Julius receiving £500 more for « editorial duties. » and it is impossible to avoid the reflection that this fact probably to some extent biases his judgement. Mr Beetham is averse to the notion, and Sir Walter Buller, when his advice was iuvited, frankly pooh-poohed it. Hutchinson, the publisher, who has a big connexion in the colonies, declared, when asked his opinion of the Atlas scheme, that he wouldn't risk five shillings in it. « In the first place, » he said, « it is by no means certain that Picturesque Australasia, even with its leviathan subscription list, will be a financial success. The expenses and percentages to paid agents have been enormous, and the number of subscribers who have cried off is far larger than anticipated. To go over the same ground with a Picturesque New Zealand would simply be to court disaster. »

Mr W. S. Gilbert appears to be as sensitive as he is sarcastic. Piqued by the non-success of Brantingham Hall, and the adverse criticisms of the press, he not only threatens Clement Scott the critic with a libel action, but announces that he will write no more dramas, and subject himself to no more « insolent gibes. » This is not bad, from the man who so mercilessly ridiculed a Cabinet Minister under the transparent disguise of Sir Joseph Porter.

At a dinner given by Professor Robertson Smith, editor of theEncyclopaedia Britannica, in celebration of the completion of that great work, it was stated by Mr Adam W. Black, one of the publishers, that the authors' corrections had amounted to what was equivalent to the setting-up of the twenty-four quarto volumes from beginning to end twice over.

Zola has tried a new line, and written a novel free from uncleanness. As he is sought after chiefly for his filth, this is a bold experiment. As to the artistic qualities of his new book, the critics differ widely. The Printers' Register's correspondent says it is « a big success. It is purity and poetry itself, and utterly refutes the idea that Zola only made his name by pornography. An English parson would be proud to be the author of Le Rêve, so high-toned is its morality. » In the Bookmart, we find Mr Julian Hawthorne's opinion. He says that the author has endeavored to show his versatility by writing a story in which everybody should be innocent and virtuous. « There is no filth nor garbage in it, from end to end. But though clean, the cleanliness is that of a desert place—of a vacuum—of the intense inane—of whatever is most empty, lifeless, and uninteresting. No one else can be so uninteresting as M. Zola is when he is not nasty. He must be a man of almost inhuman energy to succeed in completing a tale so devoid of all manner of attractiveness. How irksome must the daily task have been, especially to one just reeking from La Terre! But he accomplished it, and it is as dead as a paving stone. Let the hog wallow in his sty; it is useless to attire him in a surplice, and make him pace up and down in a whitewashed cloister. »

Mr Sala having fallen foul of Harry Furniss, the popular artist has retaliated with an outline of Mr Sala's art career. « Mr Sala, » he says, « began not only as an artist, but as a caricaturist; and he had to send in to the Academy schools three « short drawings, » as they were called, of a head, a hand, and a foot. Unfortunately for Mr Sala, he had six toes upon the foot he drew, and the examiner, having counted these toes, pointed the matter out to Mr Sala, who did not get into the schools; so now he is the art critic of the Daily Telegraph. »

Other artists than Mr Sala have been guilty of equally curious blunders. In a large engraving representing the family of the Prince of Wales, issued by a leading London illustrated paper not long ago, the Princess has six fingers to her right hand. In the original illustrations to Mr Meeson's Will, a fine sea-piece is supposed to represent a flight of « black cormorants, » but the artist has drawn white gulls! A most absurd mistake in illustration occurs in Canon Rawlinson's « Egypt » —part of a series called « The Story of the Nations. » A full-page engraving of the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid is inserted; but the printer, mistaking the side of the picture for the foot, ran the lettering up the side of the plate. The result is an incomprehensible view, in impossible perspective. There is no precise information about the Pyramid in the book itself, and no one connected with its publication seems to have known enough about the « grand gallery » to detect the mistake.

The writer of the popular American books published under the nom de plume of « Pansy, » is Mrs G. B. Alden.