Hppletons' /IDontblE Bulletin. 



mercial success, for in this art he had re- 

 ceived most excellent professional instruc- 

 tion, and his superb barytone voice gave 

 him a suitable instrument for adequate ex- 

 pression. In this field, as in that of bank- 

 ing, the readers of ' David Harum ' benefit 

 by the author's experiences ; for in describ- 

 ing the trials of a church choir director he 

 has undoubtedly related some of his own. 

 He possessed, moreover, a considerable 

 talent for musical composition, and many 

 songs, of which he wrote not only the words 

 and air, but the harmony as well, have been 

 published and sung by those who never 

 knew the composer's name. 



" Although during many years of his 

 life Mr. Westcott made frequent use of his 

 pen for other purposes than figuring, he 

 seldom wrote for publication, and never 

 then except upon matters of current finan- 

 cial and political interest. Some of the 

 pamphlets which have been issued by the 

 Reform Club of New York were prepared 

 either wholly or in part by him, but it was 

 not until his health entirely broke down, 

 and he saw the coming of the one Inevita- 

 ble Thing, that he began ' David Harum.' 

 At first he wrote to occupy his hands and 

 mind. At length the story took shape and 

 distinction, the work grew easier and pleas- 

 anter, and presently the author found him- 

 self taking genuine delight in it. 'I'm 

 enjoying David immensely,' he wrote. ' I 

 never have to think what he is going to do 

 or say next ; he is always ready, long before 

 it is his turn.' He had been seeking his 

 vocation all his life, and now, just as the 

 clock was about to strike the last hour, he 

 found it. Surely, this is one of life's little 

 ironies." 



The History of Japanese Litera- 

 ture, which Mr. W. G. Aston has 

 written as the sixth volume in the 

 Literatures of the World Series that 

 Mr. Gosse is editing for Messrs. D. Ap- 

 pleton and Company, differs from those 

 which have preceded it in the fact that 

 two thirds of it is translation and only- 

 one third narrative or criticism. This, 

 it is believed, will greatly add to the 

 pleasure and amusement of the general 

 reader. The Japanese have cultivated a 

 10 



voluminous literature for more than 

 twelve centuries, but forty years ago no 

 English-speaking man had read one 

 page of a Japanese book. Even now 

 no history of Japanese prose and poetry 

 exists in any European language, and 

 Mr. Aston, whose life has been given to 

 this subject, has a free field. It is be- 

 lieved that the richness and variety of 

 the ancient prose literature of Japan will 

 astonish American readers. One point 

 that is very curious is the commanding 

 place which women have taken in Japan 

 since the most ancient times. The 

 classical writers of the eleventh century 

 were all women, and Mr. Aston's 

 analysis of and quotations from their 

 works will be read with great entertain- 

 ment. This is certainly one of the most 

 remote excursions into literary history 

 which has been made for a long time. 

 Mr. Aston brings his narrative up to 

 the very latest writers, who are now tak- 

 ing advantage of the Japanese copyright 

 law in Tokio and in Yokohama. 



W. G. Aston. 



Dr. William Elliot Griffis, of Cornell 

 University, has very kindly contributed 

 the following brilliant and informing 

 sketch of his friend Dr. W. G. Aston, 

 author of Japanese Literature: 



" The wonderful city of Tokio looks 

 very differently to-day from that morning, 

 thirty-five years ago, when Mr. Aston first 

 saw it. In this penultimate year of the 

 century there are chimneys by the hundreds, 

 and great tubes of brick and iron vomit out 

 smoke to offend skies. Modern buildings 

 abound. The staring freshness of paint, 



