Punch 1899-03-22: Vol 116

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wa : " | There can be no better device for popularising SHAKSPEARE, 2 uu! especially among the educated classes, who talk so much yet know so little of the “‘ Divine Wi1am,” than that of issuing his plays and poems in small-pocketable and, therefore, conveniently portable volumes, so clearly printed as to offer the least possible difficulty to almost any sight, with or without glasses. The travel- ling student will admit that in The Temple Edition of Shakspeare (published by Dent & Co., of Aldine House), with its historical and literary prefaces, its instructive notes and useful glossary, he has, at a merely trifling cost, the means ready to hand of insuring to himself for every journey the best companionship in the world. Quoth the Baron—‘ Read One of the Grenvilles, a novel writ by S. R. Lysaeut, and published by Messrs. Macu1Luan & Co. in one volume.” His characters, and his brief analysis of them indi- vidually in various phases of their career, ave as amusing as his story is interesting. His two principal male characters do not deserve to be enrolled in fiction as ‘‘ heroes,’’ nor has either of 2 : his “‘ heroines” any right to a rank superior to that of ordinary “aye, EEG ey girls more or less in love. But it is to the touching story of Mad PNY ft, {Pore Y; and her besotted father, the character of the philosophic Roger, iW Y ‘ with his love of gipsy-like life, and his perfect contentment with | Marcu 22, 1899.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 133 — v4 " {0 hy Ii\ (= = his freedom as a bachelor, and, above all, to the scenes on board i} fh\\ = The Pegasus, with its delightful group of characters, the old a l ] Yj Admiral and his staunch friends, the swivel-eyed lieutenant, i Zag | 4 Nance. his niece, and the obstinate old Colonel, that this novel ’ must Owe its present success and its permanent place as ‘one of the best.”” The chapter in which the warm-hearted old Captain's last cruise is described, approaches that masterpiece of simple pathos, the death of Colonel Newcome. Whilst others root out poor Louis STEvENsON’s waste-paper | basket, and publish unconsidered trifles, unfinished stories, or— according to my Baronite’s prejudice—worse still, yoke him in labour with persons who have no claim to the distinction save the incongruous one of marriage connections, Messrs. CHATTO AND | Winpus_ go back to some of his earliest and best works, reproducing them in handy and cheap form. Of these are An Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey, books which started an | unknown young man on the path of fame. There is nothing new to be said in the way of comment about these old familiar friends. Those who have read the books before will read them again in A DIVERSION OF MEANING. their new attire. Those who have never read them have joy at hand. Smart House-maid, ‘So you ARE THE NEW GARDENER, ARE YOU ? | A The Cardinal's Page (CHAPMAN AND Hatt), by James Baker. WELL, YOU LOOK PRETTY DIRTY, I MUST say !” hem! ‘Not to-day, Baker.” It is a romance, tempo 1415, Gardener. ‘AH, BUT OL LOOKS A LOT PRETTIER CLANE !” | dated within the first half of the fifteenth century ; equa | strange medieval language must bs looked for, and, when found, OUR BOOKING-OFFICE. made a note of. Of such there be, m this book, many queer examples, among which will be found the word “ squash’’: not, A Diplomatist’s Wife in Japan (Hutcutnson) has made the | however, in connection with the modern beverage concocted of world brighter by sending from home to home, as she prettily | lemon and ice imbibed per a straw, but as expressive of the conse- puts it, a batch of chatty letters. Nothing better illustrating | quence to a falling human body precipitated through space down- social life in Japan is known to my Baronite, who happens to| wards into a charnel pit. Pleasant, very. But this is only an be familiar with the people and the places, and is interested to learn | incidents] horror just to whet the appetite: and at those who that the old P. & O. Steamer Verona, in which fifteen years ago he | love to sup, dine, lunch, or even breakfast on such “ raw material,” also steamed through the Inland Sea, is yet at her post. Mrs.| the Baron winks his other eye, and says, ‘‘there’s more where Fraser has been fortunate in enlivening her own sparkling style | that comes from.” The story begins well, and during the earlier ; with the reproduction of some 250 sketches, many by Japanese | chapters the interest of the story is sustained; but anon ‘tis lost } artists. There are some delightful little things by Kyosa1, which |in the hurly-burly of fighting, shouting, butchering, banging, in their humour, vividness, and power of producing effect by the | catapulting, bowing-end-arrowing, clanging, slashing, imprison- fewest strokes, are singularly like the work of one of Mr. Punch’s|ing, escaping, re-capturing, releasing, and da capo with con- young men. If our dear Pain May had been born a two-sworded | fusing variations through which the crafty Skipper will dodge { man—which Heaven forbade—he would have done work exactly | his wily way, endeavouring amid crowds of bewildering pages like these gems by the great Japanese artist. What with the|to discover what will ultimately become of the Cardinal’s page, t | pictures and the literary style of the letters we have here wafted | and what on earth has become of the Cardinal himself who plays | across the seas, not only scenes from life in Japan, but the very | hide-and-seek throughout the volume. Tue B. pe B.-W. ng in —_ they mare _ yublishers turn out the | two handsome volumes in a style worthy their contents. . — . : | } The latest volume of The Liberal Senses (42, Parliament | PRESS DEV ELOPMENTS. (A La MopE bE Paris.) 4 Street) is what it modestly claims to be, a political record for the| The Germ—The President took a walk. Development.—The | year 1898. It is more than that. It is a storehouse of facts and | President visited the Foreign Office, from whence he dispatched figures bearing upon the questions of the day, indispensable to all | directions of a hostile character to the Court of St. James's, the who deal with public affairs. It is avowedly designed for the use | Quirinal, and Madrid. He next appeared at the War Office, | of Liberal towed wen and for those who go down to the country in | where he signed commissions in blank for ‘ simple soldiers” who trains to further the Liberal cause at by-elections. My Baronite, | had cheered the army; then to the Office of Marine, where he | looking through its pages, teeming with pointed extracts from | approved of twenty novel designs for submarine boats. Then he — speeches delivered in both political camps, believes it to be not | had a long interview with the Russian Ambassador, and arranged | ess precious to the Unionist seeker after truth and timely illus- | for the partition of China, the annexation of Egypt, and the esta- tration of his argument. It also, and this not the least service, | blishment of the Tsar at Calcutta. He ended his day by employ- teaches him what topics to avoid. A marvel and a_ model | ing the whole of his secretarial staff in taking steps for a general | of the boiling down of the political chatter of the year. Nothing | war—the Paris Exhibition, however, not to be interfered with, and ( | important seems to be left out. Yet, including a record and diary | the prosperity of France to be secured. of political events, all is compact within 580 pages. Wherein lurks| The Truth.—The President took a walk. & moral for hon. and right hon. gentlemen who think it impossible; * ; being on their legs, to deliver their message within the space of an| Business.—‘‘Acngrsz Kelk-chose,” telegraphed Sir W-Lu-m AGN-w hour. A full index crowns an edifice of rarely good design and | from the sunny South of France, in time to secure some of the workmanship. | best at a recent sale of valuable pictures. — VOL. CXVI, N