The Dial/Volume 15/Number 169/Literary Notes and News
Literary Notes and News.
Mr. W. H. Bishop has been appointed instructor in French and Spanish at Yale University.
"The Builders of American Literature," by Mr. F. H. Underwood, a work in two volumes, is announced by Messrs. Lee & Shepard.
Professor Goldwin Smith is writing a book upon "The Political History of the United States," and the first volume is announced for autumn publication by the Macmillans.
The life of Sir Richard Francis Burton, upon which his widow has been engaged almost continuously since his death, will be published soon. The first portion is mainly autobiographical. It will be in two volumes, with portraits, colored illustrations, and maps.
The final posthumous volume of Victor Hugo's poetical works is to be published immediately, with the title "Toute la Lyre, Seconde Série." M. Auguste Vacquerie and M. Paul Meurice have classified the contents into eight parts, corresponding with the seven strings of the ancient lyre, with the addition of an eighth suggested by a line of the poet's, "Et j'ajoute à ma lyre une corde d'airain."
"The Californian" for July comes to us with a new cover, probably the most beautiful that has ever adorned an American magazine. It is printed in gold and colors, and has the California poppy, in leaf, flower, and fruit, for its characteristic ornament. The cover is made particularly charming by its wayward grouping of the poppy-blossoms, which are of natural size, and in no way conventionalized.
The Trinity (Dublin) correspondent of the London "Academy" has the following about one of our recent guests: "The return of Professor Tyrrell from America has relieved the College from some anxiety, for during his stay in the West he suffered from serious illness, which, though it did not stay or spoil his lecturing this was due to his indomitable character marred his enjoyment, and caused much alarm amongst his colleagues. He is now restored to health, and he speaks in the strongest terms of the sympathy and hospitality of his American friends."
The London house occupied for over half a century by Samuel Rogers is to be sold. It may be said that there is scarcely a single representative of literature who during the first half of the present century was not a more or less frequent guest within its walls, from Lord Byron, Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge down to Thomas Campbell, Sir Walter Scott, Moore, Sydney Smith, and Mrs. Norton; and there is scarcely a single celebrity of that age in whose memoirs the hospitable breakfasts of Sam Rogers and his constant "Table Talk" do not stand recorded.
Mr. Longworth, the British Consul at Trebizond, reports that all books, pamphlets, and papers, even those for Persia, undergo the strictest censorship along that coast. Stationery is also examined for writings in invisible inks. Such as contain a likeness of the Sultan, disparaging remarks on Mahomedanism, or political reflection unfavorable to Turkey are condemned. The long list includes Greek and Armenian proscribed books, besides thirty French and four English namely,—the Koran, Byron's works, the handbook to Turkey in Asia, and the "Pacha of Many Tales," by Captain Marryat.
The subscriptions to the Shelley memorial amounted to about fifteen hundred dollars, of which more than one-fourth came from this country. It is proposed to use the money as a foundation for an annual English literature prize at the Horsham Grammar School. Lady Shelley's monument to the poet, at University College, Oxford, was formally inaugurated by the donor a few days ago. A Tennyson Memorial is now projected for Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. There are two proposals before the projectors a committee formed in Freshwater itself. One is to substitute for the existing wooden beacon on the highest part of the Freshwater Down a stone tower. The other is the erection of a granite monolith in the form of an lona cross at the corner of Farringdon-lane, along which the poet often walked. The committee ask for 500. About half that sum has already been collected.