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Miss Constance Hill has written a book, entitled “Maria Edgeworth and Her Circle in the Days of Bonaparte and Bourbon." The experiences of Miss Edgeworth during her visits to Paris in the first twenty years of the last century were often interesting, and Miss Hill has devoted herself to that period.

"The Life of Sir Isaac Pitman," the inventor of phonography, by Alfred Baker, has been published by Isaac Pitman & Sons, New York.

Mrs. Ethel Romanes has written to the New York Herald to say that the only life of her husband, G. G. Romanes, was written by herself, and that the late Miss Yonge never wrote anything about him.

The late M. Brunetière's "Histoire de la Littérature Française Classique" will probably be completed from notes and plans left in his desk. A third part has just appeared. Archibald R. Colquhoun has just written his autobiography, under the title, "Dan to

Beersheba."

Professor Charles Macaulay Stuart, D. D., has been elected editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate (Chicago), to fill the place made vacant by the death of Dr. D. D. Thompson.

The first number of a monthly magazine entitled Travel and Exploration was issued in January by Wetherby & Co., 326 High Holborn, London. S. Carter Gilmore, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, is the editor.

The Englishwoman is a new monthly journal to be published in England, and "intended to reach the cultured public and bring before it in a convincing and moderate form the case for the enfranchisement of women." There will be articles by experts on trades in which women are engaged, stories, art criticisms, contributions in French, and translations from the German and the Italian. The committee of management consists of Lady Frances Balfour, Lady Strachey, Miss Cicely Hamilton, and Mrs. Grant Richards.

The Forum now prints poetry and fiction.

Short Stories becomes a "large-print ” magazine with the March issue. Its object is to save the failing eyesight of the nation." A Parisian literary journal has just founded a prize of 3,000 francs, to be awarded by a jury of Academicians for the best novel by a young author produced during the past two years. The prize is to be given annually, in order to encourage the writing of the novel in France.

A publishing house of Moscow promises a complete edition of the works of Tolstoy, numbering about twenty-five volumes. Hitherto a complete edition has not been possible, owing to the censorship and the difficulties in paying royalties. Under the arrangements of the publishers, royalties to the amount of $250,000 will be paid in annual installments of $25,000. This edition is said to have the approval of Premier Stolypin.

Martha Finley died at Elkton, Md., January 30, aged eighty-one.

Grover Flint died at Newport News, Va., January 31, aged forty-one.

John Gilmer Speed died at Mendham, N. J., February 5, aged fifty-five.

Catulle Mendès died near Paris February 7, aged sixty-seven.

Russell Sturgis died in New York February 11, aged seventy-two.

James MacArthur died in New York February 11, aged forty-two.

William Mathews died in Boston February 14, aged ninety-one.

Hon. Carroll D. Wright died in Worcester, Mass., February 20, aged sixty-eight. John Boyd Thacher died at Albany February 24, aged sixty-one.

Abram English Brown died at Bedford, Mass., February 25, aged sixty years. Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, D. D., died in Brooklyn February 26, aged eighty-seven. Emmanuel Poire ("Caran d'Ache") died in Paris February 26, aged fifty-one.

James A. LeRoy died at Fort Bayard, N. M., February 28, aged thirty-four.

Roy Farrell Greene died recently, aged thirty-five.

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.

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No. 4.

Chinese than superstition, something which is not necessarily the predicate of are; as, 'Chinese not only are superstitious, but they persecute those who do not put faith in Confucius."

Never say seraphims, for the plural of seraph, but seraphim; the same rule holds with cherubims. Cherubs and seraphs are proper plurals, suiting a familiar style of speaking or writing, while cherubim and seraphim are to be used only in more dignified and solemn discourse.

"The most eminent scholars will, on some points, differ among one another"; say, among themselves.

"I found him better than I expected to have found him"; say, to find him.

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COMMON ERRORS IN WRITING

CORRECTED.-III.

"He is a person who I respect greatly"; say, whom. "Be careful who you trust ; whom you trust.

The word only is often wrongly placed in the sentence, and made to express an idea which is not designed to be conveyed. "Not only Chinese are superstitious," implies that others besides the Chinese are superstitious. "Chinese are not only superstitious," implies that in addition to being superstitious, they have some other characteristics. "Chinese not only are superstitious," leaves room for something still further to be implied of the

Seven lads were present, and he gave them all a book"; say, gave them each a book. All refers to a number of persons or things taken collectively, as one body; each refers to every individual, separately considered.

Be careful to use the hyphen correctly; it joins compound words, and words broken by the ending of a line. The use of the hyphen will appear more clearly from the following example: "many colored wings" means many wings which are colored; but "many-colored wings" means wings of many colors."

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"Every child should obey their parents"; say, his parents. The pronoun must agree with the noun in number, etc.

"Too free an indulgence in luxuries enervate and injure the system"; say, enervates and injures, etc. The plural, luxuries, standing directly before the verb (which should be enervates, in the singular), deceives the ear. Errors of this kind are very common, though a moment's thought would correct them. The verb must agree with its subject in person and in number; if the noun is in the

singular, the verb that belongs to it must also be in the singular.

"This will serve as a preventative"; say, preventive.

"A summer's morning," should be, A summer morning.

"Equally as well," is a very common expression, and a very incorrect one; the adverb of comparison, "as," has no right in the sentence. "Equally well," "Equally

high," "Equally dear," should be the construction; and if a complement be necessary in the phrase, it should be preceded by the preposition "with," as, "The wall was equally high with the former one," "The goods at Smith's are equally dear with those sold at the shop next door," etc. "Equally the same" is tautology.

NEW YORK, N. Y.

Walton Burgess.

EXTERNAL NATURE IN SCOTT'S "LADY OF THE LAKE."

Descriptions of natural scenery and allusions and imagery drawn from the same source are as profusely scattered through "The Lady of the Lake" as is the heather over the Scottish highlands where the story is laid. They supply the atmosphere of the poem. Through them the verse breathes the freedom of the mountains, the purity of their lakes, the wildness of their torrents, the fragrance of their roses. In the latter part of the poem, where the scene changes, this imagery is dropped. But wherever the action is in the highlands, such descriptions and images adorn and beautify.

There are no generalities; each object is individualized; all are true to the highlands. There are no mountains; but Benvoirlich's summit catches the first red ray of the morning, a glimpse is given of "the wild heaths of Uam-Var" and "the bold cliffs of Benvenue." There are no trees; but oak, ash, and pine all show their own characteristics, also "mountain fir with bark unshorn,"

"Where weeping birch and willow round

With their long fibers swept the ground." There are no flowers; only harebell, heather, clematis, wild rose. No birds fly or sing; the owlets start, the "lark's shrill fife may come," "the bittern sounds his drum,” the wild duck's brood" appears upon the lake. The boar, the stag, the wolf, the wild

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"Now eve, with western shadows long, Floated on Katrine bright and strong." On Loch Katrine the poet's thought loves to dwell. Of her ever-changing beauty once and again he catches a glimpse:

"No Katrine in her mirror blue

Gives back the shaggy banks more true."
The mountain eagle soared from the cliffs of
Benvenue,

"And, high in middle heaven reclined,
With her broad shadow on the lake,
Silenced the warblers of the brake."

Again, this is the "lonely lake."

Of Loch Katrine Scott has painted three complete pictures, every one an exquisite bit of art, a charming medallion, portraying a mood of the lake. She dazzles imagination when she is first presented in all the splendor of sunset, with surface

"One burnished sheet of living gold," the islands and indented shore line glorious in purple, while to the north towers Ben-an,

rugged and treeless, and on the south stands "huge Benvenue" wild with its mountain forest. In the third canto the lake is shown resting calm in the restrained joy of the dawn. On her trembling bosom lie white water-lilies. All around the grass is dewy, and overhead the sky is flecked with clouds, and everywhere animate life is astir. From sky, and fern, and shrub are heard the note of lark, and speckled thrush, and cushat dove. Once more, in the minstrel's description of the battle, the lake is painted. In the twilight, on the eve of the conflict, a glimpse is caught of her waters inky black beside "gray Benvenue" and beneath a scowling heaven. A little later the lightning's flash shows her waters lashed to fury by the wind, while the storm pours down.

Canto I opens with a brief invocation, in which Nature seems sad in sympathy over the decay of minstrelsy. In sharp contrast with this opening note is the joyousness of the canto, and the gladsome spirit is introduced chiefly through the use made of external nature. The whole atmosphere is quivering with light; sound is everywhere, and its echoes unceasing; stir, movement, energy, life abound.

Almost all of the first half of this canto is occupied with external nature, and a special use is made of it there in preparing the way for the introduction of the characters. First comes the chase, with its quick shifting of scene, the prominence of rugged features of the landscape, loud sounds, frequent echoes, vigorous movement, energy of animal life. All this is a prelude, supplying the feeling, the mood in which to receive the hero, the strong, bold hunter-knight. His coming is followed by an interlude in quiet strain. The eye is suffered to dwell among the mountain peaks glowing with sunset light; it lingers upon the wild flowers and the sturdy trees of the uplands; it traces the threads of tiny streams until they widen into broad channels; at last it rests upon Loch Katrine flooded with the glory of purple and gold. Into this scene glides in her little skiff the heroine, a pure, shy maiden, radiant in all the beauty and grace of her noble lineage and her sylvan surroundings. So is

the hero prepared to receive her; so, also, is the reader.

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External nature is less prominent in the third canto than in the first, but a close parallel in its use may be traced. The mood of Nature intensifies that of the characters and the action. Here, however, Nature is mournful, at times savage. She shows teardrops in dew, the yew growing above a chieftain's grave, the summer-dried fountain," "the leaves that are searest." She causes us to listen while the song of the gay warblers is hushed by fear of the bird of prey, or the eagle screams in exultation over the impending battle, or "the midnight wind" blows wild and dread." She gives visions of "black cliffs," struggling torrents, gray mist whose changing shapes suggest uncanny images.

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The opening picture of Loch Katrine in the soft light of dawn corresponds to the more splendid one of the same mountain lake at sunset in the first canto. That has been spoken of as an interlude preparing the mind for the coming of "the lady of the lake." So now the calm joy of this lonely lake is a prelude, emphasizing by its contrast the restless figure of the savage chieftain, who is presented in his impatience as the leading character of this canto.

In Canto I the rapidity of the chase was suggested by the quick shifting of the scenes presented, and its extent by the number of these scenes. So in Canto III the speed of the war messengers is imaged in a similar way, and the length of their running, as well. But in the chase the more striking features of the larger landscape were evident, the mountain, the lake, the swollen river, the level moor. Here the runners see little besides the path before them, and the reader looks with their eyes upon steep hill, difficult crag, "trembling bog," and raging tor

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THE WRITER.

Published monthly by the Writer Publishing Company, 88 Broad street, Room 414, Boston, Mass.

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All drafts and money orders should be made Stamps, or payable to The Writer Publishing Co. local checks, should not be sent in payment for sub. scriptions.

THE WRITER will be sent only to those who have paid for it in advance. Accounts cannot be opened for subscriptions, and names will not be entered on the list unless the subscription order is accompanied by a remittance.

The American News Company, of New York, and the New England News Company, of Boston, and their branches, are wholesale agents for THE WRITER. It may be ordered from any newsdealer, or direct, by mail, from the publishers.

Not one line of paid advertisement will be printed in THE WRITER outside of the advertising pages.

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Advertising in THE WRITER Costs fifteen cents a line, or $2.10 an inch; seven dollars a quarter page; twelve dollars a half page; or twenty dollars a page, for one insertion, remittance with the order. Discounts are five, ten, and fifteen per cent. for three, six, and twelve months. For continued advertising payments must be made quarterly in advance.

Contributions not used will be returned, if a stamped and addressed envelope is enclosed. THE WRITER PUBLISHING CO., 88 Broad street, Room 414, BOSTON, MASS.

P. O. Box 1905

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The new copyright law enacted by Congress in the closing hours of the recent session, and approved March 4, will go into effect July 1, 1909. Its most important provision is the extension of the period of renewal of a copyright from fourteen to twentyeight years, thus making the whole life of a copyright fifty-six years, if it is renewed when the first period of twenty-eight years expires. This provision applies to existing copyrights. Application for renewal must be made within a year before the expiration of the copyright. Under the new law, copyright may be secured for all the "writings " of an author, using the word in its most comprehensive meaning, including lectures, sermons and addresses, compilations, abridgments, adaptations, arrangements, dramatizations, translations and works republished with new matter, and also including dramatic-musical compositions, reproductions of works of art, prints, and pictorial illustrations. The foreign author is given a period of sixty days in which to make his publishing arrangements in America without endangering his copyright. The holder of a copyright has the exclusive right to translate the copyrighted work into other languages or dialects, or make any version thereof, if it be a literary work; to

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