,,the ,,london      ,,mercury           
,edited by ,j4 ,c4 ,squire              
,volume ,i        #aiai ,november to    
,april #aibj        ,illustration       
,london ,the ,field ,press ,ltd         
,,printed ,,at      ,,the ,,field       
,,press      ,,windsor ,,house          
,,bream',s ,,buildings      ,,london    
,e,c#d          ,,index ,,to ,,volume ,i
    ,m,,cm,,xix ,,november ,,april      
,m,,cm,,xx      ,,regular ,,articles    
page    ,,america1 ,a ,letter from      
#bcb      ,bibliographical ,notes       
#gc1 #aid1 #cbe1 #deh1 #eha1 #gah       
,,bibliographies ,,of ,,modern          
,,authors3      ,beerbohm1 ,max         
#fbf      ,belloc1 ,hilaire             
#cff      ,bridges1 ,robert ,seymour    
#gec      ,brooke1 ,rupert              
#abc      ,chesterton1 ,g4 ,k4          
#dif      ,clutton-,brock1 ,arthur      
#cff      ,davies1 ,w4 ,h4              
#abb      ,de ,la ,mare1 ,walter        
#abb      ,flecker1 ,james ,elroy       
#bci      ,freeman1 ,john               

#dig      ,hardy1 ,thomas               
#abb      ,hewlett1 ,maurice            
#fbe      ,meynell1 ,alice              
#ged      ,saintsbury1 ,george          
#bch      ,book ,production ,notes      
#bca1 #cei1 #die1 #fba1 #geb      ,books
 of the ,month                     #gh1 
#bja1 #ccb1 #dfh1 #eic1 #gbg            
,correspondence                         
#gg1 #aih1 #cbi1 #dfb1 #ehe1 #gba       
,,drama1 ,the3      ,calvinists of the  
,drama1 ,the                            
#aab      ,candida                      
#gee      ,children's ,plays            
#dih      ,demand and ,supply           
#eja      ,duchess of ,malfi1 ,the      
#cfh      ,grierson's ,way              
#gee      ,intellectual ,drama1 ,the    
#bda      ,john ,ferguson               
#gee      ,living ,corpse1 ,a           
#aaa      ,marriage  la ,mode           
#fbg      ,materialism and ,poetry      
#bdb      ,medea                        
#gee      ,miniature ,ballet            
#gee      ,pantomime1 ,the ,change in   

the                                     
#dii      ,poetic ,drama1 ,the          
#bdj      ,pygmalion                    
#gee      ,theatre1 ,the ,influence of  
the ,existing                           
#aac      ,three ,sisters1 ,the         
#gee      ,young ,visiters1 ,the        
#gee      ,,editorial ,,notes3          
,american ,copyright                    
#aca1 #chi      ,art1 ,ugliness1 and    
,incomprehensibility                    
#che      ,auction ,room ,knock-,out1   
,the                                    
#eaf      ,literature of #aiai1 ,the1   
and the      ,prospects of ,literature  
#beg      ,ministry of ,fine ,arts1 ,a  
#eac      ,national ,theatre1 ,the      
#fda      ,objects of the ,,london      
,,mercury                               
#a1 #abi      ,,fine ,,arts1 ,the3      
,black ,country1 ,the                   
#fcd      ,comic ,drawing1 ,british     
#cgc      ,epstein1 ,recent ,sculpture  
by      ,jacob                          
#fcc      ,fine ,arts1 ,the             

#aaf      ,goupil ,gallery ,salon       
#cge      ,grant1 ,paintings by ,duncan 
#fcd      ,group-making and             
,group-breaking                         
#bde      ,london ,group1 ,the          
#bdg      ,matisse1 ,m4 ,henri          
#cgd      ,meaning of ,impressionism1   
,the                                    
#gei      ,national ,gallery1 ,the      
#fcb      ,nevinson's ,exhibition1 ,mr4 
#bdf      ,new ,english ,art ,club1 ,the
                                        
#ejd      ,renoir1 ,auguste             
#gei      ,war ,pictures at ,burlington 
,house                                  
#ejc      ,,france1 ,a ,,letter ,,from3 
,the ,present ,state of the ,french     
,novel                          #aje    
,the ,french ,poetry of ,to-day         
#cfj      ,the ,young ,reviews          
#fbb      ,learned ,societies1 etc4     
#ajh1 #bce1 #cfc1 #dfe1 #eij1 #gbd      
,,literary ,,intelligence3              
,andreef1 ,leonid1 ,death of            
#acf      ,bullen1 ,a4 ,h41 ,death of   

#fdg      ,burne-,jones1 ,lady1 ,death  
of                                      
#ebj      ,chesterton1 ,g4 ,k4          
#bfc      ,cummings1 ,bruce1 ,death of  
#ace      ,dehmel1 ,dr4 ,richard1 ,death
 of                                     
#eai      ,dial1 ,the                   
#cib      ,dobson1 ,austin1 ,eightieth  
,birthday of                            
#cia      ,flecker1 ,james ,elroy       
#bfc      ,gosse1 ,edmund1 ,seventieth  
,birthday of                            
#acf      ,hardy1 ,thomas1 ,presentation
 to                                 #ace
        ,new ,edition of his ,works     
#bfc      ,james1 ,henry1 ,letters of   
#bfc      ,micro-organisms in ,paper    
#bfd      ,osler1 ,sir ,william1 ,death 
of                                      
#cia      ,smith1 ,g4 ,d41 ,death of    
#fdh      ,thomas1 ,edward1 ,memorial to
                                    #eai
      ,,music3      ,audience1 ,the     
,function of the                        
#gfd      ,beecham ,opera1 ,the         

#bdh      ,concerts                     
#cgg      ,covent ,garden               
#cgf      ,naturalisation of ,opera in  
,england1 ,the                          
#gfc      ,promenade ,concerts1 ,the    
#aai      ,purcell and ,his ,orchestra  
#fcg      ,purcell and ,shakespeare     
#fce      ,resurrection of an ,opera1   
,the                                    
#fce      ,rubinstein's ,recital1 ,mr4  
,arthur                                 
#ejf      ,scriabin ,recital1 ,a        
#ejh      ,spanish ,music1 ,modern      
#ejg      ,surrey's ,opportunity1 ,the  
#gfd      ,publications1 ,select ,list  
of            #abd1 #bea1 #cgi1 #eji1   
#fch1 #gff      ,,occasional            
,,contributions ,,in ,,prose            
,,architecture as ,form in ,civilisation
                             #egd       
,autographs1 ,a ,collection of          
#cbj      ,barbellion1 ,w4 ,n4 ,p4      
#edc      ,blake as a ,prophet1 ,on     
#bhc      ,blind ,thamyris              
#djc      ,bridges' ,lyrical ,poems1    

,robert                                 
#gjh      ,butler1 ,samuel              
#afd      ,classic of the ,future1 ,a   
,little 7,somerville and ,ross7         
#eee      ,crane1 ,stephen3 ,a ,note    
without ,dates                          
#aib      ,creatures1 ,the              
#bge      ,crystal ,vase1 ,the          
#agf      ,donne1 ,john                 
#dce      ,eighteenth-,century ,poetry  
#aee      ,eliot1 ,george               
#cd      ,english1 ,the ,teaching of    
#fb      ,foreshore of ,london1 ,the    
#ffc      ,future ,poet and ,our ,time1 
,the                                    
#dd      ,james1 ,henry--,i             
#fgc      ,jonson1 ,ben                 
#ahd      ,mackenzie1 ,the ,novels of   
,mr4 ,compton                           
#ddh      ,misadventures                
#adi      ,music1 ,on ,interpretation in
                                        
#fid      ,particles1 ,an ,article on   
#ga      ,photography and ,art          
#cja      ,prose and ,mortality         

#cab      ,prose1 ,on                   
#fga      ,psycho-,analysis and the     
,novel                                  
#dbf      ,records1 ,a ,case for        
#fhe      ,rhyme1 ,the ,romance of      
#daf      ,satirists1 ,forgotten        
#efe      ,servants1 ,on                
#ecc      ,shelley and ,his ,publishers 
#bia      ,smile of the ,sphinx1 ,the   
#af      ,walpole1 ,horace              
#eb      ,,poems      ,almswomen        
#ebe      ,beechwood                    
#fef      ,bryan1 ,bryan1 ,bryan1       
,bryan6                                 
#cif      ,buzzards1 ,the               
#ach      ,coming of ,green1 ,the       
#ebc      ,country ,mood1 ,a            
#bgb      ,draft for ,a ,first and ,last
 ,song                                  
#bga      ,early ,chronology            
#aa      ,evening ,sky in ,march1 ,the  
#ab      ,fortunatus ,nimium            
#cic      ,gallipoli1 ,lines ,written in
                                        
#bfg      ,glimpse from the ,train1 ,a  

#bfe      ,going and ,staying           
#g      ,hippolytus1 ,the ,modern       
#ebd      ,house ,that ,was1 ,the       
#ad      ,inglis1 ,elsie                
#eca      ,intimacy                     
#ebg      ,ishak's ,song                
#acg      ,it's ,not ,going to ,happen  
,again                                  
#g      ,love's ,caution                
#ac      ,moon1 ,the                    
#aci      ,nature's ,fruitfulness       
#ebd      ,night ,rapture               
#ebi      ,nobis cum ,pereant           
#fee      ,november                     
#bfh      ,rock ,pool1 ,the             
#ab      ,scirocco                      
#bgc      ,search for the ,nightingale1 
,the                                    
#h      ,senses1 ,the                   
#eba      ,shadow1 ,the                 
#cid      ,shobeensho                   
#ffb      ,skindle's in ,poperinghe     
#fdi      ,soldier ,addresses ,his      
,body1 ,the                             
#ebg      ,sorrowing for ,childhood     

,departed                               
#ecb      ,storm and ,stars             
#ffb      ,suppose                      
#ad      ,tarantella                    
#bff      ,to ,e4 ,g4                   
#cid      ,weir1 ,by the                
#cie      ,,index ,,of ,,authors        
,armstrong1 ,martin3     ,the ,buzzards 
#ach     ,the ,senses                   
#eba     ,the ,coming of ,green         
#ebc      ,beerbohm1 ,max3     ,on      
,servants                               
#ecc      ,belloc1 ,h43     ,tarantella 
#bff      ,beresford1 ,j4 ,d43          
,psycho-,analysis and the ,novel        
#dbf      ,binyon1 ,laurence3     ,the  
,house ,that ,was                       
#ad     ,storm and ,stars               
#ffb      ,blunden1 ,edmund3            
,almswomen                              
#ebe      ,brett ,young1 ,francis3      
,scirocco                               
#bgc      ,bridges1 ,robert3            
,fortunatus ,nimium                     
#cic      ,brooke1 ,rupert3     ,it's   

,not ,going to ,happen ,again           
#g      ,burrows1 ,francis3             
,nature's ,fruitfulness                 
#ebd      ,chesterton1 ,g4 ,k43     ,the
 ,romance of ,rhyme                     
#daf      ,clutton-,brock1 ,a43     ,on 
,blake as a ,prophet                    
#bhc      ,conrad1 ,joseph3     ,stephen
 ,crane3 ,a ,note without ,dates        
#aib      ,davies1 ,w4 ,h43     ,love's 
,caution                                
#ac      ,de la ,mare1 ,walter3         
,suppose                                
#ad     ,the ,creatures                 
#bge      ,dent1 ,edward ,j43     ,music
                                  #aai1 
#bdh1 #cgf1 #ejf1 #fce1 #gfc            
,dobson1 ,austin3     ,to ,e4 ,g4       
#cid      ,flecker1 ,james ,elroy3      
,ishak's ,song                          
#acg      ,freeman1 ,john3     ,the     
,evening ,sky in ,march                 
#ab     ,the ,novels of ,mr4 ,compton   
,mackenzie                              
#ddh     ,beechwood                     

#fef      ,gibson1 ,wilfrid ,wilson3    
,by the ,weir                           
#cie      ,gosse1 ,edmund1 ,c4,b43      
,george ,eliot                          
#cd     ,henry ,james--,i4              
#fgc      ,graves1 ,a4 ,p43             
,shobeensho                             
#ffb      ,graves1 ,robert3     ,a      
,country ,mood                          
#bgb      ,hannay1 ,howard3             
,photography and ,art                   
#cja     ,the ,fine ,arts               
#ejc1 #fcb1 #gei      ,hardy1 ,thomas1  
,o4,m43     ,going and ,staying         
#g     ,a ,glimpse from the ,train      
#bfe      ,hastings1 ,major ,l4 ,m43    
,skindle's in ,poperinghe               
#fdi      ,henschel1 ,sir ,george3      
,on ,interpretation in ,music           
#fid      ,hewlett1 ,maurice3     ,the  
,crystal ,vase                          
#agf     ,elsie ,inglis                 
#eca      ,huxley1 ,aldous3     ,ben    
,jonson                                 
#ahd     ,forgotten ,satirists          

#efe      ,ingpen1 ,roger3     ,shelley 
and ,his ,publishers                    
#bia      ,jenkinson1 ,hilary3 ,a ,case 
for ,records                            
#fhe      ,kennard1 ,sir ,coleridge1    
,bart43     ,draft for ,a ,first and    
,last ,song                             
#bga      ,leigh1 ,the ,rev4 ,canon ,n4 
,egerton3     ,a ,collection of         
,autographs                             
#cbj      ,lethaby1 ,professor ,w4 ,r43 
,architecture as ,form in ,civilisation 
#egd      ,lindsay1 ,nicholas ,vachel3  
,bryan1 ,bryan1 ,bryan1 ,bryan6         
#cif      ,lynd1 ,robert3     ,horace   
,walpole                                
#eb     ,john ,donne                    
#dce      ,mason1 ,j4 ,h43              
,book-,production ,notes                
#bca1 #cei1 #die1 #fba1 #geb            
,meynell1 ,alice3     ,an ,article on   
,particles                              
#ga      ,moore1 ,t4 ,sturge3     ,blind
 ,thamyris                              
#djc      ,nash1 ,john3     ,the ,fine  

,arts                                   
#aaf1 #bde1 #cgc      ,newbolt1 ,sir    
,henry3     ,nobis cum ,pereant         
#fee      ,nichols1 ,robert3     ,the   
,smile of the ,sphinx                   
#af     ,november                       
#bfh     ,night ,rapture                
#ebi      ,rickword1 ,edgell3           
,intimacy                               
#ebg     ,the ,soldier ,addresses ,his  
,body                                   
#ebg      ,rushby1 ,kenworth3     ,the  
,modern ,hippolytus                     
#ebd      ,saintsbury1 ,george3         
,eighteenth-,century ,poetry            
#aee      ,sassoon1 ,siegfried3         
,early ,chronology                      
#aa      ,shanks1 ,edward3     ,the     
,rock ,pool                             
#ab     ,samuel ,butler                 
#afd     ,the ,shadow                   
#cid     ,w4 ,n4 ,p4 ,barbellion        
#edc      ,shaw-,stewart1 ,patrick3     
,lines ,written in ,gallipoli           
#bfg      ,smith1 ,l4 ,pearsall3        

,misadventures                          
#adi      ,squire1 ,j4 ,c43     ,the    
,future ,poet and ,our ,time            
#dd     ,the ,moon                      
#aci     ,prose and ,mortality          
#cab     ,robert ,bridges' ,lyrical     
,poems                                  
#gjh      ,stobart1 ,j4 ,c43     ,the   
,teaching of ,english                   
#fb      ,thibaudet1 ,albert3     ,a    
,letter from ,france                    
#aje1 #cfj1 #fbb      ,tomlinson1 ,h4   
,m43     ,the ,foreshore of ,london     
#ffc      ,turner1 ,w4 ,j43     ,the    
,search for the ,nightingale            
#h     ,sorrowing for ,childhood        
,departed                               
#ecb     ,the ,drama                    
#aaa1 #bdj1 #cfh1 #dih1 #fbg1 #gee      
,van ,deijssel1 ,l43     ,of ,prose     
#fga      ,williams1 ,orlo3     ,a      
,little ,classic of the ,future         
#eee      ,,reviews      ,accounts      
,rendered of ,work ,done and ,things    
,seen1 ,buchanan       #did      ,actor1

 ,problems of the1 ,calvert             
#ejb      ,addresses in ,america1       
,galsworthy                             
#dhj      ,anaphylaxis and              
,anti-,anaphylaxis1 ,besredka           
#bbh      ,appreciations of ,poetry1    
,hearn                                  
#ic      ,archaic ,england1 ,bayley     
#faf      ,argonaut and ,juggernaut1    
,sitwell                                
#bjf      ,art1 ,essays on1             
,clutton-,brock                         
#cdd      ,athenian ,days1 ,byron       
#hc      ,athletics1 ,success in1       
,webster1 ,jenkins1 and ,mostyn         
#bbd        ,balkan ,problems and       
,european ,peace1 ,buxton and ,leese    
#cea      ,banner1 ,the1 ,spender       
#gcc      ,battle ,line in ,france1 ,the
 ,romance of the1 ,bodley               
#fjf      ,before the ,war1 ,haldane    
#dhg      ,boche and ,bolshevik1 ,price 
#if      ,books in the ,war1 ,koch      
#gch      ,botany1 ,applied1 ,ellis     
#bcj      ,brooke and the ,intellectual 

,imagination1 ,rupert1 ,de la ,mare     
#bae      ,butler1 ,samuel3 ,a ,memoir1 
,festing-,jones                         
#afd        ,carmina ,rapta1 ,fairfax   
#bjg      ,catalysis in ,theory and     
,practice1 ,rideal and ,taylor          
#aja      ,catherine of ,siena1 ,st41   
,pollard                                
#dhd      ,cervantes1 ,schevill         
#gcg      ,challenge1 ,a41 ,hardyman    
#hb      ,chemistry and ,its ,mysteries1
 ,gibson                            #ceg
      ,chemistry from the ,industrial   
,standpoint1 ,thorne               #bcj 
,childhood in ,brittany ,eighty ,years  
,ago1 ,a1 ,sedgwick            #dhb     
,children of ,no ,man's ,land1 ,stern   
#ccg      ,chorus-,girl1 and ,other     
,stories1 ,the1 ,tchehov                
#dgf      ,christian ,ideas1 ,first1    
,selwyn                                 
#gdf      ,clintons and ,others1 ,the1  
,marshall                               
#eih      ,clown of ,paradise1 ,the1    
,creston                                

#bjg      ,coal ,mining and the ,coal   
,miner1 ,bulman                         
#gdd      ,colloid ,chemistry1          
,theoretical and ,applied1 ,ostwald     
#dia      ,colloids1 ,the ,chemistry of1
 ,zsigmondy                             
#dia      ,comrades in ,captivity1      
,harvey                                 
#gdc      ,cosmogony and ,stellar       
,dynamics1 ,jeans                       
#fai      ,cottage ,building in ,cob1   
,pis1 ,chalk and ,clay1                 
,williams-,ellis                        
#ced      ,country ,sentiment1 ,graves  
#gbh      ,cousin ,philip1 ,ward        
#bjh      ,coutts1 ,the ,life of        
,thomas1 ,coleridge                     
#dhb      ,critic in ,pall ,mall1 ,a1   
,wilde                                  
#ia        ,dawn and ,night1 ,poems of  
the1 ,mond                              
#hb      ,dickens1 ,reade1 and ,collins1
 ,phillips                          #fjf
      ,discovery                        
#gea      ,diversions of a ,man of      

,letters1 ,some1 ,gosse                 
#hi      ,dodington1 ,george ,bubb3     
,patron and ,place-,hunter1 ,sanders    
#cdh      ,domus ,doloris1 ,leith       
#dha      ,donne's ,sermons3            
,selected ,passages with an ,essay1     
,pearsall ,smith               #bac     
,douglas1 ,collected ,poems of ,lord    
,alfred                           #ha   
,ducks and ,other ,verses1 ,harvey      
#eif        ,easter ,island1 ,the       
,mystery of1 ,routledge                 
#cee      ,economic ,consequences of the
 ,peace1 ,the1 ,keynes                  
#dhg      ,efficiency1 ,everyday1       
,lindsay                                
#bbh      ,eli of the ,downs1 ,peake    
#gcc      ,emerson and ,his ,philosophy1
 ,hill                                  
#bbf      ,empire and ,commerce in      
,africa1 ,woolf                         
#faf      ,engineering1 ,foundations of1
 ,spikes                            #bcj
      ,engines of the ,human ,body1     
,keith                                  

#fah      ,english ,course for ,schools1
 ,an1 ,mais                             
#fb      ,europe1 ,the ,expansion of1   
,abbott                                 
#ic      ,europe1 ,fifty ,years of1     
,hazen                                  
#bag      ,every ,man in his ,humour1   
,jonson                                 
#bdc        ,far ,east1 ,the ,mastery of
 the                                    
#ih      ,financial ,problems1          
,war-,time1 ,withers                    
#ii      ,first ,plays1 ,milne          
#aae      ,fleurs-de-,lys1 ,thorley     
#gca      ,flora1 ,bianco and ,de la    
,mare                                   
#dfh      ,flowers in the ,grass1       
,hewlett                                
#gbg      ,forgotten ,places1 ,mackenzie
                                     #ha
      ,fox1 ,henry3     ,first ,lord    
,holland1 ,ilchester                    
#fjh      ,friend to ,friend1 ,from1    
,ritchie                                
#gci      ,full ,circle1 ,hamilton      

#dgc        ,galloper at ,ypres1 ,a1    
,butler                                 
#fjf      ,garret1 ,in the1 ,van        
,vechten                                
#dgg      ,general ,william ,booth      
,enters into ,heaven1 ,lindsay          
#cce      ,georgian ,poetry1 #aiah-aiai 
#bja      ,glory of the ,coming1 ,the1  
,cobb                                   
#dhf      ,gold and ,iron1 ,hergesheimer
                                    #ccg
      ,greek ,anthology1 ,echoes from   
the1 ,legge                         #hc 
,guild ,state3 ,its ,principles and     
,possibilities1 ,the1 ,taylor     #ajj  
,gyroscopic and ,rotational ,motion1 ,a 
,treatise on1 ,gray          #bbf       
,hamlet1 ,the ,problem of1 ,robertson   
#ib      ,handmaiden of the ,navy1 ,the1
 ,doorly                            #bbc
      ,heartbreak ,house1 ,shaw         
#aad      ,herschel1 ,macpherson        
#gea      ,how the ,war ,came1 ,loreburn
                                        
#ig      ,hygiene for ,training         

,colleges1 ,a ,text ,book of1 ,avery    
#gej        ,if ,all ,these ,young ,men1
 ,wilson                                
#bjh      ,illustration1 ,meynell       
#cge      ,images of ,war1 ,aldington   
#eid      ,imperfect ,mother1 ,an1      
,beresford                              
#gcc      ,india1 ,the ,government of1  
,macdonald                              
#dij      ,industry and ,trade1         
,marshall                               
#bbj      ,inflation1 ,nicholson        
#bbb      ,interim1 ,richardson         
#dgc      ,invisible ,kingdom1 ,an1     
,lilly                                  
#bbe      ,invisible ,tides1 ,seymour   
#dgc      ,ions1 ,electrons1 and        
,ionising ,radiations1 ,crowther        
#fah      ,ireland a ,nation1 ,lynd     
#cec      ,irish ,impressions1          
,chesterton                             
#bbb      ,italian ,peasants1 ,among1   
,cyriax                                 
#dgh        ,jacopone ,da ,todi1        
,underhill                              

#cdf      ,jeremy1 ,walpole             
#hd      ,jesus ,chapel1 ,cambridge1    
,the ,stones and ,story of1 ,morgan     
#gdc      ,jonson1 ,ben1 ,smith         
#ahd        ,keats' ,endymion1 ,an      
,interpretation of1 ,notcutt            
#gcg      ,kiel in the ,hercules1 ,to1  
,freeman                             #if
      ,kossovo1 ,rootham                
#gcj      ,kut ,prisoner1 ,a1 ,bishop   
#fjf        ,league of ,nations1 ,a     
,handbook of the1 ,butler               
#dhi      ,leagues of ,nations1 ,york   
#fae      ,legend1 ,dane                
#bjh      ,lehmann1 ,the ,life of ,liza1
 ,lehmann                               
#dhf      ,limbo1 ,huxley               
#eih      ,lincoln1 ,abraham3     ,the  
,practical ,mystic1 ,grierson           
#bah      ,lines of ,life1 ,nevinson    
#gbi      ,london ,venture1 ,the1 ,arlen
                                        
#dgg        ,madeleine1 ,mirrlees       
#bjh      ,man3 ,past and ,present1     
,keane1 ,quiggin1 and ,haddon           

#gdg      ,manners of ,my ,time1 ,the1  
,dempster                               
#gda      ,mansoul or ,the ,riddle of   
the ,world1 ,doughty                    
#eic      ,mask1 ,the1 ,cournos         
#bjh      ,matter1 ,some ,wonders of1   
,mercer                                 
#ceg      ,measures of the ,poets1 ,the1
 ,bayfield                              
#fja      ,middle ,life1 ,thoughts in1  
,locker-,lampson                        
#dha      ,miscellany of ,poetry1 ,a1   
,seymour                                
#dga      ,modern ,science and          
,materialism1 ,elliot                   
#dic      ,my ,kingdom for a ,horse6    
,allison                                
#if        ,napoleon1 ,trench           
#hc      ,national ,finance1 ,a ,primer 
of1 ,higgs                              
#aja      ,nationalisation of the       
,mines1 ,hodges                         
#gdd      ,nevill1 ,the ,life and       
,letters of ,lady ,dorothy1 ,nevill     
#bai      ,new ,decameron1 ,the1        

,various ,authors                       
#hh      ,new ,outlook1 ,the1 ,cecil    
#fae      ,new ,poems1 ,williams        
#bje      ,night and ,day1 ,woolf       
#ccg        ,october and ,other ,poems1 
,bridges                                
#gjh      ,over and ,above1 ,gurdon     
#hh      ,oxford ,scholar1 ,an3 ,ingram 
,bywater1 #ahdj-aiad1 ,jackson          
#cdi        ,pagan and ,christian       
,creeds1 ,carpenter                     
#gdg      ,paravane ,adventure1 ,the1   
,,cornford                              
#dhg      ,paths of ,glory1 ,the        
#gcb      ,peace in the ,making1 ,the1  
,harris                                 
#fae      ,pedlar and ,other ,poems1    
,the1 ,manning-,sanders                 
#gbi      ,peel1 ,recollections of ,lady
 ,georgiana1 ,peel                      
#faa      ,peter ,jackson1 ,cigar       
,merchant1 ,frankau                     
#eih      ,phillpotts1 ,one ,hundred    
,pictures from ,eden1 ,brewitt          
#gdj      ,physicists1 ,ten ,british1   

,macfarlane                             
#ajc      ,pilgrim in ,palestine1 ,a1   
,finley                                 
#dgi      ,playwright1 ,problems of the1
 ,hamilton                          #geh
      ,poems1 ,collected1 ,hardy        
#ccc      ,poems1 #aiaf-aiah1 ,brett    
,young                                  
#ccb      ,poems1 ,selected1 ,sackville 
#eif      ,poetical ,works1 ,excluding  
the ,eight ,dramas1 ,bridges            
#gjh      ,poland and the ,poles1       
,boswell                                
#bbc      ,poor ,relations1 ,mackenzie  
#hd      ,power of a ,lie1 ,the1 ,bojer 
#ccg      ,prelude1 ,nichols            
#eih        ,race and ,nationality1     
,oakesmith                              
#ii      ,realities of ,modern ,science1
 ,the1 ,mills                           
#ceg      ,reconstructors and           
,reconstruction1 ,oxon                  
#ajj      ,records1 ,fisher             
#fjg      ,responsibilities of the      
,league1 ,the1 ,percy                   

#dhi      ,revolt of ,youth1 ,the1      
,hobson                                 
#hh      ,reynard the ,fox1 ,masefield  
#gh      ,richard ,kurt1 ,hudson        
#hd      ,riddle of the ,ruthvens1 ,the1
 ,roughead                          #cdg
      ,roast ,beef1 ,medium1 ,ferber    
#gcc      ,r4 ,l4 ,s41 ,a ,book of1     
,brown                                  
#baf      ,romantic ,roussillon1 ,the1  
,savory                                 
#cde      ,rousseau and ,romanticism1   
,babbitt                                
#fjd      ,russia in ,rule and ,misrule1
 ,ballard                               
#fae        ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 
,bennett                                
#bdd      ,saint's ,progress1           
,galsworthy                             
#bjh      ,science and ,life1 ,soddy    
#gej      ,seals and ,documents1 ,poole 
#gdb      ,second ,country1 ,my1 ,dell  
#fad      ,september1 ,swinnerton       
#hd      ,seven ,men1 ,beerbohm         
#bab      ,seventeenth-,century ,english

 ,verse1 ,massingham                    
#dgj      ,seventeenth-,century ,life in
 the ,country ,parish1 ,trotter         
#cea      ,shakespeare1 ,contemporaries 
of1 ,swinburne                       #ib
      ,shakespeare's ,versification1 ,a 
,study of1 ,bayfield              #fja  
,side ,shows1 ,in the1 ,benn            
#cec      ,sir ,limpidus1 ,pickthall    
#ccg      ,skilled ,labourer1 ,the1     
,hammond                                
#ceb      ,skylark and ,swallow1 ,gales 
#gbi      ,smith1 ,william3 ,potter and 
,farmer1 ,bourne                        
#gdd      ,social ,theory1 ,cole        
#gde      ,soldier ,poets1 ,some1       
,sturge ,moore                          
#bae      ,soldier to ,his ,son1 ,any1  
,willis                                 
#hc      ,sorley1 ,the ,letters of      
,charles                                
#cdc      ,south ,sea ,foam1            
,safroni-,middleton                     
#bad      ,springtime and ,other        
,essays1 ,darwin                        

#fje      ,station ,platform and ,other 
,poems1 ,the1 ,mackenzie                
#hc      ,story of ,purton1 ,the1       
,richardson                             
#gda      ,submarines and ,sea-,power1  
,domville-,fife                         
#dhg      ,superhuman ,antagonists1     
,the1 ,watson                           
#gi      ,supreme ,adventure1 ,the1     
,macandrew                              
#aja      ,sussex in ,bygone ,days1     
,blaker                                 
#dgh        ,tank ,corps1 ,the1         
,williams-,ellis                        
#bag      ,tender ,conscience1 ,the1    
,lynch                                  
#hd      ,thomson of ,duddingston1 ,the 
,life of ,john1 ,napier                 
#bdg      ,time and ,eternity1 ,cannan  
#hd      ,tolstoy1 ,noyes               
#gcg      ,trade ,unionism1 ,the        
,history of1 ,webb                      
#fab      ,turks in ,europe1 ,the1      
,allen                                  
#dhd      ,twenty-fifth ,division in    

,france and ,flanders1 ,the1            
,kincaid-,smith                         
#dhf        ,ulster and ,ireland1 ,good 
#ajj      ,unhappy ,far-,off ,things1   
,dunsany                                
#cde      ,unmarried1 ,the ,great1      
,gallichan                              
#ii        ,valmouth1 ,firbank          
#dgc      ,vector ,algebra1 ,projective1
 ,silberstein                           
#bcj      ,verse1 ,kipling              
#ccc      ,verse-,craft1 ,lessons in1   
,ford                                   
#fja      ,verses1 ,meynell             
#eif      ,victorian ,recollections1    
,bridges                                
#dhe      ,village ,libraries1 ,sayle   
#gch        ,walpole1 ,letters of       
,horace                                 
#eb      ,war ,poems of ,siegfried      
,sassoon1 ,the                          
#bjf      ,war ,poetry1 ,a ,treasury of1
 ,clarke                                
#ccf      ,wheels1 #aiai                
#ccd      ,worms and ,epitaphs1 ,garrod 

#eid        ,young ,physician1 ,the1    
,brett ,young                           
#hd              ,,the ,,london         
,,mercury        ,vol4 ,i ,no4 #a       
,november #aiai          ,,editorial    
,,notes      ,with these notes we       
introduce the first number of the       
,,london ,,mercury4  ,it might1 beyond  
denial1 appear in more tranquil and     
comfortable days4  ,we have just been   
through a crisis which has brought us   
within sight  of the basic realities of 
life--food1 clothing1 housing1 security 
against violence4 ,as soon as the paper 
was projected we were forced  to        
visualise the likelihood of a time in   
which paper would be almost             
unprocurable1 printing impossible 7save 
in an amateur way at home71  and the    
distribution of literature a matter of  
passing sheets from  hand to hand4 ,we  
have had a glimpse into the abyss of    
disorganisation1  and1 for the time     
being at all events1 we have managed to 
keep on the  solid ground4 ,but1 having 

conceived this journal1 its conductors  
would  have been reluctant to abandon   
their plans whatever confusion might    
have supervened4 ,they may fairly claim 
to have formulated a scheme  which1 when
 it is perfectly executed1 will meet all
 the demands of the  public which reads 
old or new books1 and of that other and 
smaller  public which is chiefly        
concerned with the production of new    
works  of the imagination4 ,the more    
intense the troubles of society1 the    
more uncertain and dark the future1 the 
more obvious is the necessity  for      
periodicals which hand on the torch of  
culture and creative  activity4         
,literature is of the spirit2 and by the
 spirit man lives4 ,our  traditions are 
never more jealously to be cherished    
than when they are  threatened2 and our 
literature is the repository of all our 
traditions4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,we think that1 
with our list of contents before us1 we 
may reasonably  say that there has never

 been in this country a paper with the  
scope  of the ,,london ,,mercury4 ,we   
have had periodicals which have         
exercised a  great critical influence1  
such as the ,edinburgh ,review of       
,jeffrey's  and ,macaulay's day4 ,we    
have had periodicals which have         
published  an unusual amount of fine    
creative work1 such as ,thackeray's     
,cornhill4 ,we have at this day the     
,times ,literary ,supplement1 which     
reviews1 with the utmost possible       
approximation to completeness1 the      
literary output of the time2 we have    
weekly papers which review the          
principal books and publish original    
verse and prose1 and monthly  papers    
which diversify their tables of contents
 with articles on  ,molire or           
,chateaubriand1 ,byron or ,mr4 ,alfred  
,noyes4 ,but we have had  no paper which
 has combined as the ,,london ,,mercury 
will do all those  various kinds of     
matter which are required by the lover  
of books and  the practising writer4 ,in

 our pages will be found original verse 
and prose in a volume not possible to   
the weekly paper2 full-length  literary 
essays such as have been found only in  
the politico-literary  monthlies2 a     
critical survey of books of all kinds   
recently published2  and other features1
 analogues to some of which may be      
found1 one by  one1 here and there1 but 
which have never before been brought    
together  within a single cover4 ,the   
,,london ,,mercury--save in so far as it
 will  publish reasoned criticisms of   
political 7as of other7 books--will     
avoid politics4 ,it will concern itself 
with none of those issues which  are the
 field of political controversy1 save   
only such--the teaching  of ,english1   
the fostering of the arts1 the          
preservation of ancient  monuments are  
examples--as impinge directly upon the  
main sphere of its  interests4 ,but     
within the field that it has chosen it  
will endeavour  to be as exhaustive as  
is humanly possible4 ,the present number

 is an  earnest of its intentions2 in   
early future numbers other sections will
  be added which will steadily bring it 
nearer to the ideal that it has  set out
 to reach4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,that ideal     
comprehends the satisfaction of the     
current needs of all  those who are     
intelligently interested in literature1 
in the drama1  in the arts1 and in      
music4 ,we shall attempt to make known  
the best  that is being done and1 so far
 as literature is concerned1 to assist  
the process by the publication of       
original work4 ,but thus far we have    
mentioned no more than the ,,london     
,,mercury',s functions as what may be   
called a news paper1 an organ for the   
recording and dissemination  of things  
that have already happened or been done4
 ,its functions1 as  its conductors     
conceive them1 will include--and this   
will be the chief  of them--the         
examination of those conditions which in
 the past have  favoured1 and in the    

future are likely to favour1 the        
production of  artistic work of the     
first order1 and the formulation and    
application  of sound critical          
standards4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,it is not a    
matter of attempting to make universal  
the shibboleths  of some coterie or     
school1 or of carrying some technical   
stunt  through the country as though it 
were a fiery cross4 ,we do not propose  
to maintain 7to give concrete examples7 
that literature should  be didactic or  
that it should be a-moral4 ,we are not  
interested  in urging that the couplet  
is exhausted1 that the sonnet should be 
revived1 that plays should have four or 
three acts1 that rhyme is  essential or 
that it is outworn1 that lines should or
 should not be  of regular lengths4 ,we 
are tied to no system of harmony2 we    
have no  dogmas as to the dominance of  
representation in painting2 we would    
make no hard-and-fast rule about the    
desirability of drawing a vertical  wall

 as sloping at #de degrees or of        
painting a man's face magenta  and      
sage-green4 ,as convenient descriptions 
we do not object 7save  sometimes on    
grounds of euphony7 to the terms        
,futurist1 ,vorticist1  ,expressionist1 
post-,impressionist1 ,cubist1           
,unanimist1 ,imagist3 but we  suspect   
them as banners and battle-cries1 for   
where they are used as  such it is      
probable that fundamentals are being    
forgotten4 ,our aim  will be1 as        
critics1 to state and to reiterate what 
are the motives1  and what must be the  
dominant elements1 of all good art1     
whatever the  medium and whatever the   
idiosyncrasies of the artist1 even if he
 find  it convenient to draw on         
papier-mch with a red-hot poker1 and    
even  if his natural genius impels him  
to write in lines of one syllable4  ,the
 profoundest truths about art1 whether  
literary or pictorial1 are  crystallised
 in maxims which may have been more     
often reiterated than  understood1 but  

which have undeniably been so often     
repeated that  people now find them     
tiresome4 ,of such are fundamental      
brainwork1  emotion recollected in      
tranquillity1 the rhythmical creation of
  beauty1 and the eye on the object4    
,each of these embodies truths1  and    
there is indisputable truth also in the 
statements that a poet  should have an  
ear and that a painter should paint what
 he sees4 ,these  things are platitudes2
 but a thing does not cease to be true  
merely  because it is trite1 and it is  
disastrous to throw over the obvious    
merely because it was obvious to one's  
grandfather4 ,yet men--and even         
women--do such things4 ,we have had in  
the last few years art1 so  called1     
which sprang from every sort of impulse 
but the right one1  and was governed by 
every sort of conceptions but the right 
ones4 ,we  have had styles which were   
mere protests and revulsions against    
other styles2 styles which were no more 
than flamboyant attempts  at            

advertisement akin to the shifting      
lights of the electric night  signs2    
authors who have forgotten their true   
selves in the desperate  search for     
remarkable selves2 artists who have     
refused to keep their  eyes upon the    
object because it has been seen before2 
musicians who  have made1 for novelty's 
sake1 noises1 and painters who have     
made1 for  effect's sake1 spectacles1   
which invited the attention of those who
  make it their business to suppress    
public nuisances4 ,we have had also     
theories in vogue the effects of which  
on mind and heart were such1 and  were  
foredoomed to be such1 as to wither many
 talents in the bud4 ,a  single positive
 trend in ,english literature we do not 
ask and it is not  necessarily          
desirable4 ,we have heard the complaint 
from critics of the  ,gallic school that
 even in the days of the marvellously   
fertile ,english  ,romantic generation  
there was no one movement1 no ,ten      
,commandments1  and everybody was at    

sixes and sevens4 ,that is the national 
way1 and  it probably accounts for our  
possession of the greatest and most     
varied imaginative literature that      
exists4 ,nevertheless1 anarchy is  not  
desirable1 nor that worthy frame of mind
 which extends toleration  not merely to
 the good of all kinds1 but to the good 
and the bad1 the  intelligent and the   
foolish indifferently4 ,and surely this 
toleration  has been too commonly in    
evidence in this country in our time4   
,is the contention disputed8 ,is the    
fact other than self-evident8 ,is  it   
necessary to explain and to accentuate  
the confusion which for the  last ten   
years has been evident in the creative  
and in the critical  literature of this 
country8 ,there have been1 as there     
always are1  writers who have cheerfully
 continued writing as their predecessors
  have written1 serious parodists of    
,milton1 of ,tennyson1 and of ,george   
,eliot4 ,these least of all can be said 
to be in the tradition of ,english      

letters2 for that tradition has been a  
tradition of constant experiment  and   
renovation4 ,there has been a central   
body of writers--from  ,mr4 ,hardy1 ,mr4
 ,bridges1 and ,mr4 ,conrad to the best 
of the younger  poets--who have gone    
steadily along the sound path1          
traditional yet  experimental1 personal 
yet sane4 ,but there has been also a    
large  number of young writers who have 
strayed and lost themselves amongst     
experiments1 many of them foredoomed to 
sterility4 ,young men1 ignoring  the    
fundamental truth expressed in the      
maxim1 ,look in thy heart  and write1   
have attempted to make up poems 7and    
pictures7 out of  their heads4 ,others1 
defying the obvious postulate that all  
good  writing will carry at least a     
superficial meaning to the intelligent  
reader1 have invited us to admire       
strings of disconnected words and       
images1 meaningless and even verbless4  
,others1 turning their backs  on those  
natural affections and primary interests

 the repudiation of  which means1 and   
must always mean1 the death of the      
highest forms of  literature1 have      
concentrated upon the subversion of     
every belief by  which man lives4 ,they 
have sapped at the bases of every       
loyalty1 and  sneered at every code1    
oblivious to both social welfare and    
social  experience4 ,they have been1    
such of them as profess the moralistic  
preoccupation1 very contemptuous of     
clean living and no thinking1  but the  
dirty living and muddled thinking that  
they have offered as  a substitute have 
been no great improvement4 ,they have   
been1 such of  them as have the         
preoccupation of the artist1 so anxious 
to look at  the abnormal and the        
recondite that they have forgotten what 
are and  must be the main elements of   
man's life and what the most conspicuous
  features in man's landscape4 ,we have 
had an orgy of undirected  abnormality4 
,the old object of art was what oft was 
said but ne'er so  well expressed2 the  

object of many of the new artists has   
been what  was never said before and    
could not possibly be expressed worse4  
,the  tricks of abnormality have been   
learnt4 ,young simpletons who1 twenty   
years ago1 would have been writing vapid
 magazine verses about moonrise  and    
roses have discovered that they have    
only to become incoherent1              
incomprehensible1 and unmetrical to be  
taken seriously4 ,bad writers  will1    
without intellectual or sthetic impulse1
 pretend to burrow into  psychological  
7or physical7 obscurities which are no  
more beyond the  artist's purview than  
anything else1 provided he responds to  
them1  but which have the advantage for 
an insincere writer that they enable    
him to talk nonsense that honest        
unsophisticated readers are unable  to  
diagnose as nonsense4 ,year after year  
we have new fungoid growths  of feeble  
pretentious impostors who1 after a      
while1 are superseded by  their younger 
kindred2 and year by year we see writers

 who actually  have some intelligence   
and capacity for observation and exact  
statement  led astray into the stony and
 barren fields of technical anarchism   
or the pitiful madhouse of moral        
antinomianism4 ,at bottom vanity and    
pretence are the worst of vices in a    
young writer1 but they may be           
encouraged or discouraged1 even these2  
and we have seen times and  places in   
which black was called white4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,amid this luxuriant confusion the      
voices of critics at once sane and      
informed have been few4 ,for the most   
part our older critics have tended  to  
treat the younger generation as a       
howling menagerie of insensate  young   
beasts1 and have failed to keep         
sufficiently closely in touch  with     
production to discriminate between the  
traditional and the  anarchistic1 the   
sincere and the pretentious1 the        
intelligent and the  stupid1 the healthy
 and the vicious1 the promising and the 

sterile4  ,we have ourselves been       
frequently amused and irritated at      
finding  elderly men of letters alarmed 
at the revolutionism of the young1 as   
manifested in ,mr4 ,a4 or ,mr4 ,b41 or  
asking1 bewildered1 why the young  take 
,miss ,c4 so seriously1 when as a fact  
,a4 and ,b4 are merely rowdies  of whose
 foolish books even the young buy only  
fifty or sixty copies1  and the fair ,c4
 is a person taken seriously by no      
serious person of  her own generation4  
,those critics1 again1 who are          
constantly in touch  with the fruits of 
the printing press have for the most    
part got into  a state of puzzlement in 
which they are not merely afraid to make
  mistakes 7lest what looks like a frog 
may turn out to be an angel71 but  in   
which they have almost lost the habit of
 using their senses for the  purpose for
 which they were meant to be used4      
,everything is treated  with respect4   
,platitudinous rubbish--so welcome      
perhaps because it  is so easily        

understood--is treated as though        
,wordsworth had written  it2 hectic     
gibberish of the silliest kind is       
honoured1 at worst1 with  the sort of   
deferential reprimand that is applicable
 to great genius  when great genius     
shows a slight tendency to kick over the
 traces4  ,even those of our reviews    
which do not ignore the best            
contemporary  work more often than not  
allocate just as much space to the      
humbug  and the faux bon4 ,the public1  
though dull1 has not quite such a       
skull1 as ,swinburne's limerick put it4 
,many bad authors are much  talked about
 but very little read1 and critics who  
never write a line  are frequently sound
 when most of the professionals have    
gone clean  off the rails4 ,moreover1 it
 is arguable--though we should not1     
without  long consideration1 accept the 
argument--that no amount of misleading  
criticism or bad example will ruin a man
 of strong natural genius1  which       
implies perceptions which will not be   

denied1 and a well-defined  positive    
character4 ,nevertheless1 even if we do 
not exaggerate the ill  effects of      
haphazard and timid or haphazard and    
reckless criticism1  it is surely       
obvious that both artists and their     
publics must gain if  some of the       
rubbish can be cleared away4 ,the ship  
moves in spite of  all the barnacles1   
and it does not lose direction1 but its 
progress  might be less troublesome4 ,we
 have often met persons who have        
distrusted all reviews because they have
 bought books on the strength  of       
extravagant reviews and been once bit4  
,we have often met people1  too1 who    
have procured what somebody 7undeniably 
intellectual7 has  told them to be the  
latest and most vigorous and            
representative work of  imaginative     
literature1 and1 finding it distasteful1
 have come to the  conclusion that the  
poets of the day or the novelists of    
to-morrow  are not for them3 turning    
back1 then1 to their ,dickens or        

,browning  or ,dionysius of             
,halicarnassus in the mood of that      
ghastly pessimist  who said that        
whenever a new book came out he read an 
old one4 ,these  readers are typical of 
many1 and the result of their existence 
is that  the dissemination of the best  
contemporary literature is 7#a7 less    
wide than it might be and 7#b7 less     
rapid than it might be4 ,there is1  as a
 rule--in the economists' term--far too 
great a time-lag in the  making of the  
best reputations4 ,a man often writes   
for years before he  is heard of by the 
mass of the cultivated readers who are  
naturally  predisposed to like his work1
 and do like it when at last they meet  
it4 ,in a nation so large1 and with so  
immense a volume of literary            
production1 such numerous and diverse   
news-sheets1 and such congested  and    
ill-arranged bookshops1 this phenomenon 
is bound to exist in some  degree4 ,but 
it may be minimised1 and although we of 
the ,,london ,,mercury  cannot hope1 and

 do not desire1 to be judged by our     
aspirations rather  than by our         
performances1 we may at least be        
permitted to say that we  shall do our  
utmost to contribute towards that end4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,even to disclaim an ambition for an    
infallible pontificate of letters  must 
savour of impertinence4 ,we can only say
 that what our journal can  do in the   
way of affirming and applying principles
 of criticism1 and  giving a conspectus 
of the best contemporary work1 we shall 
attempt to  do4 ,our other functions we 
have already outlined1 and a beginning  
is  made in this number4 ,we have made  
no endeavour to arrange a dazzling      
shop-window of names or features for our
 first number2 whatever may  be our     
readers' views concerning this number we
 can at least assure  them that the     
contributors to subsequent numbers will 
be not less  representative than those  
here found1 and that only a beginning   
has yet  been made towards the complete 

scheme that we have in view4      ,going
 and ,staying          ,the moving      
sun-shapes on the spray1        ,the    
sparkles where the brook was flowing1   
,pink faces1 plightings1 moonlit ,may1  
,these were the things we wished would  
stay2                  ,but they were   
going4          ,seasons of blankness as
 of snow1        ,the silent bleed of a 
world decaying1        ,the moan of     
multitudes in woe1        ,these were   
the things we wished would go2          
,but they were staying4                 
,,thomas ,,hardy      ,it's ,not ,going 
to ,happen ,again          ,i have known
 the most dear that is granted us here1 
,more supreme than the gods know above1 
,like a star ,i was hurled through the  
sweet of the world1          ,and the   
height and the light of it1 ,love4      
,i have risen to the uttermost ,heaven  
of ,joy1          ,i have sunk to the   
sheer ,hell of ,pain--        ,but--it's
 not going to happen again1 my boy1     
,it's not going to happen again4        

,it's the very first word that poor     
,juliet heard          ,from her ,romeo 
over the ,styx2        ,and the ,roman  
will tell ,cleopatra in hell            
,when she starts her immortal old       
tricks2        ,what ,paris was tellin' 
for good-bye to ,helen          ,when he
 bundled her into the train--           
,oh1 it's not going to happen again1 old
 girl1          ,it's not going to      
happen again4                           
,,rupert ,,brooke    ,chteau ,lake      
,louise1 ,canada1 #aiac4      ,the      
,search for the ,nightingale            
7,to ,s4 ,s47                           
#a          ,beside a stony1 shallow    
stream ,i sat        ,in a deep gully   
underneath a hill4        ,i watched the
 water trickle down dark moss           
,and shake the tiny boughs of           
maidenhair1        ,and billow on the   
bodies of cold stone4        ,and       
sculptured clear        ,upon the       
shoulder of that aerial peak            
,stood trees1 the fragile skeletons of  

light1        ,high in a bubble blown   
,of visionary stone4                    
#b          ,under that azurine         
transparent arch        ,the hill1 the  
rocks1 the trees        ,were still and 
dreamless as the printed wood           
,black on the snowy page4        ,it was
 the song of some diviner bird          
,than this still country knew1          
,the words were twigs of burnt and      
blackened trees        ,from which there
 trilled a voice1        ,shadowy and   
faint1 as though it were the song       
,the water carolled as it flowed along4 
#c          ,lifting my head1 ,i gazed  
upon the world1        ,carved in the   
breathless heat as in a gem1        ,and
 watched the parroquets green-feathered 
fly        ,through crystal vacancy1 and
 perch in trees        ,that glittered  
in a thin1 blue1 haze-like dream1       
,and the voice faded1 though the water  
dinned        ,against the stones its   
dimming memory4        ,and ,i ached    
then        ,to hear that song burst out

 upon that scene1        ,startling an  
earth where it had never been4          
#d          ,and then ,i came unto an   
older world4        ,the woods were     
damp1 the sun        ,shone in a watery 
mist1 and soon was gone2        ,the    
trees were thick with leaves1 heavy and 
old1        ,the sky was grey1 and blue1
 and like the sea        ,rolling with  
mists and shadowy veils of foam4        
,i heard the roaring of an ancient wind 
,among the elms and in the tattered     
pines2        ,lighting pale hollows in 
the cloud-dark sky1        ,a ghostly   
ship1 the ,moon1 flew scudding by4      
#e          ,o is it here1 ,i cried1    
that bird that sings        ,so that the
 traveller in his frenzy weeps8         
,it was the autumn of the year1 and     
leaves        ,fell with a dizzying     
moan1 and all the trees        ,roared  
like the sea at my small impotent voice4
        ,and if that bird was there it  
did not sing1        ,and ,i knew not   
its haunts1 or where it went1           

,but carven stood and raved6        ,in 
that old wood that dripped upon my face 
,upturned below1 pale in its passionate 
chase4                            #f    
,and years went by1 and ,i grew slowly  
cold3        ,i had forgotten what ,i   
once had sought4        ,there are no   
passions that do not grow dim1          
,and like a fire imagination sinks      
,into the ashes of the mind's cold      
grate4        ,and if ,i dreamed1 ,i    
dreamed of that far land1        ,that  
coast of pearl upon a summer sea1       
,whose frail trees in unruffled amber   
sleep1        ,gaudy with jewelled      
birds1 whose feathers spray             
,bright founts of colour through the    
tranquil day4                           
#g          ,the hill1 the gully1 and   
the stony stream        ,i had not      
thought on when this spring ,i sat      
,in a strange room with candles         
guttering down        ,into the         
flickering silence4 ,from the ,moon     
,among the trees still-wreathed upon the

 sky        ,there came the sudden      
twittering of a ghost4        ,and ,i   
stept out from darkness1 and ,i saw     
,the great pale sky immense1            
transparent1 filled        ,with boughs 
and mountains and wide-shining lakes    
,where stillness1 crying in a thin      
voice1 breaks4                          
#h          ,it was the voice of that   
imagined bird4        ,i saw the gully  
and that ancient hill1        ,the water
 trickling down from ,paradise          
,shaking the tiny boughs of maidenhair4 
,there sat the dreaming boy4        ,and
 ,o6 ,i wept to see that scene again1   
,to read the black print on that snowy  
page1        ,i wept1 and all was still4
        ,no shadow came into that       
sun-steeped glen1        ,no sound of   
earth1 no voice of living men4          
#i          ,was it a dream or was it   
that in me        ,a ,god awoke and     
gazing on his dream        ,saw that    
dream rise and gaze into its soul1      
,finding1 ,narcissus-like1 its image    

there3        ,a ,song1 a transitory    
,shape on water blown1                  
,descending down the bright cascades of 
time1        ,the shadowiest-flowering1 
ripple-woven bloom        ,as ghostly as
 still waters' unseen foam        ,that 
lies upon the air1 as that song lay     
,within my heart on one far summer day8 
#aj          ,carved in the azure air   
white peacocks fly1        ,their       
fanning wings stir not the crystal      
trees1        ,bright parrots fade      
through dimming turquoise days1         
,and music scrolls its lightning calm   
and bright        ,on the pale sky where
 thunder cannot come4        ,into that 
world no ship has ever sailed1          
,no seaman gazing with hand-shaded eyes 
,has ever seen its shore whiten the     
waves4        ,but to that land the     
,nightingale has flown1        ,leaving 
bright treasure on this calm air blown4 
,w4 ,j4 ,,turner      ,early ,chronology
          ,slowly the daylight left our 
listening faces4                 99     

99       99       99       99           
,professor ,brown with level baritone   
,discoursed into the dusk4              
,five thousand years        ,he guided  
us through scientific spaces        ,of 
excavated ,history2 till the lone       
,roads of research grew blurred2 and in 
our ears        ,time was the rumoured  
tongues of vanished races1        ,and  
,thought a chartless ,age of ,ice and   
,stone4                 99       99     
99       99       99          ,the story
 ended4 ,then the darkened air          
,flowered as he lit his pipe2 an aureole
 glowed        ,enwreathed with smoke2  
the moment's match-light showed         
,his rosy face1 broad brow1 and smooth  
grey hair1        ,backed by the crowded
 book-shelves4                  ,in his 
wake        ,an archologist began to    
make        ,assumptions about aqueducts
 7he quoted        ,professor           
,sandstorm's book72 and soon they       
floated        ,through desiccated      
forests2 mangled myths2        ,and     

argued easily round megaliths4          
99       99       99       99       99  
,beyond the college garden something    
glinted2        ,a copper moon climbed  
clear above the trees4        ,some     
,lydian coin8444 ,professor ,brown      
agrees        ,that copper coins were in
 that culture minted2        ,but1 as   
her whitening way aloft she took1       
,i thought she had a pre-dynastic look4 
,,siegfried ,,sassoon      ,the ,rock   
,pool            7,to ,miss ,alice      
,warrender7          ,this is the sea4  
,in these uneven walls          ,a wave 
lies prisoned4 ,far and far away1       
,outward to ocean as the slow tide      
falls1          ,her sisters1 through   
the capes that hold the bay1            
,dancing in lovely liberty recede4      
,yet lovely in captivity she lies1      
,filled with soft colours1 where the    
waving weed          ,moves gently and  
discloses to our eyes        ,blurred   
shining veins of rock and lucent shells 
,under the light-shot water2 and here   

repose        ,small quiet fish and the 
dimly glowing bells          ,of        
sleeping sea-anemones that close        
,their tender fronds and will not now   
awake        ,till on these rocks the   
waves returning break4                  
,,edward ,,shanks      ,the ,evening    
,sky in ,march          ,rose-bosom'd   
and rose-limb'd1        ,with eyes of   
dazzling bright1        ,shakes ,venus  
mid the twined boughs of the night2     
,rose-limb'd1 soft-stepping        ,from
 low bough to bough1        ,shaking the
 wide-hung starry fruitage--dimmed      
,its bloom of snow        ,by that sole 
planetary glow4          ,venus1 avers  
the astronomer        ,not thus idly    
dancing goes        ,flushing the       
eternal orchard with wild rose4         
,she through ether burns                
,outpacing planetary earth1        ,and 
ere two years triumphantly returns      
,and again wave-like swelling flows2    
,and again her flashing apparition comes
 and goes4          ,this we have not   

seen1        ,no heavenly courses set1  
,no flight unpausing through a void     
serene3        ,but when eve clears1    
,arises ,venus as she first uprose      
,stepping the shaken boughs among1      
,and in her bosom glows        ,the warm
 light hidden in sunny snows4           
,she shakes the clustered stars         
,lightly1 as she goes        ,amid the  
unseen branches of the night1           
,rose-limb'd1 rose-bosom'd bright4      
,she leaps3 they shake and pale2 she    
glows--        ,and who but knows       
,how the rejoiced heart aches           
,when ,venus all his starry vision      
shakes3          ,when through his mind 
,tossing with random airs of an         
unearthly wind1        ,rose-bosom'd1   
rose-limb'd1        ,the mistress of his
 starry vision arises1        ,and the  
boughs glittering sway        ,and the  
stars pale away1        ,and the        
enlarging heaven glows        ,as ,venus
 light-foot mid the twined branches     
goes4                                   

,,john ,,freeman      ,love's ,caution  
,tell them1 when you are home again1    
,how warm the air was now2              
,how silent were the birds and leaves1  
,and of the moon's full glow2           
,and how we saw afar            ,a      
falling star3        ,it was a tear of  
pure delight        ,ran down the face  
of ,heaven this happy night4            
,our kisses are but love in flower1     
,until that greater time        ,when1  
gathering strength1 those flowers take  
wing1          ,and ,love can reach his 
prime4            ,and now1 my heart's  
delight1            ,good night1 good   
night2        ,give me the last sweet   
kiss--        ,but do not breathe at    
home one word of this6                  
,w4 ,h4 ,,davies      ,the ,house ,that 
,was          ,of the old house1 only a 
few crumbled         ,courses of brick1 
smothered in nettle and dock1        ,or
 a squared stone1 lying mossy where it  
tumbled6         ,sprawling bramble and 
saucy thistle mock        ,what once was

 firelit floor and private charm        
,where1 seen in a windowed picture1     
hills were fading        ,at dusk1 and  
all was memory-coloured and warm1       
,and voices talked1 secure from the     
wind's invading4          ,of the old   
garden1 only a stray shining         ,of
 daffodil flames amid ,april's          
cuckoo-flowers1        ,or a cluster of 
aconite mixt with weeds entwining6      
,but1 dark and lofty1 a royal cedar     
towers        ,by homely thorns3 whether
 the white rain drifts         ,or sun  
scorches1 he holds the downs in ken1    
,the western vale2 his branchy tiers he 
lifts1         ,older than many a       
generation of men4                      
,,laurence ,,binyon      ,suppose 444   
,suppose 444 and suppose that a wild    
little ,horse of ,magic                 
,came cantering out of the sky1         
,with bridle of silver1 and into the    
saddle ,i mounted                ,to    
fly--and to fly2          ,and we       
stretched up into the air1 fleeting on  

in the sunshine1                ,a speck
 in the gleam        ,on galloping      
hoofs1 his mane in the wind out-flowing1
                ,in a shadowy stream2   
,and1 oh1 when1 all lone1 the gentle    
star of evening                ,came    
crinkling into the blue1        ,a      
magical castle we saw in the air1 like a
 cloud of moonlight1                ,as 
onward we flew2          ,and across the
 green moat on the drawbridge we foamed 
and we          snorted2                
,and there was a beautiful ,queen       
,who smiled at me strangely1 and spoke  
to my wild little ,horse1          too--
                ,a lovely and beautiful 
,queen2        ,suppose with delight she
 cried to her delicate maidens3         
,behold my daughter--my dear6           
,and they crowned me with flowers1 and  
then to their harps sate                
playing1                ,solemn and     
clear2          ,and magical cakes and  
goblets were spread on the table2       
,and at window the birds came in2       

,hopping along with bright eyes1 pecking
 crumbs from the platters1              
,and sipped of the wine2          ,and  
splashing up--up to the roof tossed     
fountains of crystal2                   
,and ,princes in scarlet and green      
,shot with their bows and arrows1 and   
kneeled with their dishes               
,of fruits for the ,queen2          ,and
 we walked in a magical garden1 with    
rivers and bowers1                ,and  
my bed was of ivory and gold2           
,and the ,queen breathed soft in my ear 
a song of enchantment--                 
,and ,i never grew old4444          ,and
 ,i never1 never came back to the earth1
 oh1 never and never2                   
,how mother would cry and cry6          
,there'd be snow on the fields then1 and
 all these sweet flowers in          the
 winter                ,would wither and
 die4444          ,suppose 444 and      
suppose4444                             
,,walter ,,de ,,la ,,mare          ,,the
 ,,smile ,,of ,,the ,,sphinx    ,by     

,,robert ,,nichols      ,i4    ,long1   
long ago there dwelt in the pleasant    
,city-of-,towers a young  princess of   
immense riches and of such exceeding    
beauty that none  other could be        
compared to her4 ,so famous1 indeed1    
became the riches  of her beauty and her
 possessions1 that were only less than  
her  beauty1 that she was sought in     
marriage by every kind of personage4 ,in
  three moons the train of her suitors1 
or mounted upon gold-stencilled         
elephants1 tassel-fringed camels1       
palfries of ,arabia1 ponies of          
,astrakhan1 mules of ,nubia1 or faring  
but upon the ,sandals-of-,nature  along 
the ,road-of-,advantage1 became so huge 
that the citizens of the                
,city-of-,towers being eaten 7albeit at 
no small price7 out of hearth  and home1
 petitioned the princely father of the  
damsel to mitigate1  in whatever sort he
 should think fit1 the good fortune of  
their  city1 which1 possessing such a   
treasure as the princess ,sa-adeh1  the 

,bestower-of-,felicity1 admitted to     
finding its pleasure rather  in         
reflecting upon the value of their jewel
 than in entertaining  those who came to
 steal it4 ,the ever-benevolent ,prince 
accordingly  issued a decree that no    
suitor was to approach the ,princess    
save  on the understanding that if he   
failed to win her affections his  head  
should pay the forfeit4 ,forthwith      
ensued so remarkable a  diminution in   
the number of her suitors that1 in a    
short while1 only  those whom the       
,light-of-,love's-,eyes had guided or   
those whom the                          
,three-thonged-,scourge-of-,need had    
driven remained mounted or standing     
before the palace gates4 ,nor did these 
linger overlong1 for the heart  of the  
,princess was less easily softened than 
that of the ,executioner1  who with one 
sweep of the scimitar relieved the      
,lover of the  ,burden-of-,love or      
severed the ,needy from the             
,vessel-of-,need4 ,then the  beautiful  

,sa-adeh1 the ,bestower-of-,felicity1   
not unfatigued by such a  succession of 
maidenly preoccupations1 determined that
 for a little she  would forget the     
,bonds-of-,necessity and atone somewhat 
to the citizens  of the ,city-of-,towers
 for the inconveniences she had brought 
them4 ,to  this end she caused a special
 litter of cedar wood to be constructed1
  and1 mounting therein1 sallied forth  
to bestow upon the citizens of the      
,city-of-,towers the hitherto-unseen and
 almost-unendurable beauty of her  face4
    ,now it happened that in this city  
there was then dwelling a young  scribe 
by name ,es-siddeeh1 that is the ,very  
,veracious4 ,this youth1 the  height of 
whose beauty was almost as remarkable as
 the depth of his  wisdom1 had spent the
 greater number of his days in study2 so
 much so1  in fact1 that he had never   
cast his eyes upon a woman to love her1 
and  this in spite of the possession of 
an enchanting smile1 ,nature's gift  to 
him1 of the power of which he was hardly

 conscious4 ,surrounded by  parchments1 
having hung about his neck many little  
scrolls1 with his  tablet laid across   
his knees1 daily he sat in his window   
and1 while  the traffic flowed by and   
the crowd shrilled more loudly than a   
flock  of parokeets1 raised not his eyes
 from his papyrus nor regarded any      
sound but the squeaking of his          
stylus-reed4    ,thus1 then1 was he     
sitting when the troating of horns and  
the  bombilation of gongs proclaimed the
 nearing of the ,princess in her        
progress4 ,but ,es-siddeeh paid this din
 no attention and1 though  the fantastic
 shadows of many majestically-apparelled
 persons fell  across his page1 lifted  
not the ,gatherers-of-,knowledge from   
the  ,leaves-of-,enlightenment4         
,meanwhile ,sa-adeh1 lying in her       
litter1  enjoyed a certain satisfaction 
in the pleasurable recognition the      
gracious bestowal of the sight of her   
countenance procured the  citizens4     
,this satisfaction she told herself1 as 

the procession  advanced1 was increased 
rather than diminished by the spectacle 
of  certain bleared scribes1 who1 with  
ears already attached by cobwebs to  the
 lintels of their doors1 never lifted   
eyes as she passed4 ,for1 she           
reflected1 such insensibility affords me
 a scale by which to gauge the  pleasure
 ,i bestow elsewhere4    ,at this moment
 she arrived opposite ,es-siddeeh's     
window4    ,then the young scribe1      
feeling the gaze of another fixed upon  
him1  looked up4 ,and the eyes of       
,es-siddeeh exchanged thoughts with the 
eyes  of ,sa-adeh4 ,when he bent to the 
tablet again1 behold the words were to  
him but foolishness4 ,all the afternoon 
he sat there wondering why he  had spent
 his youth upon such things as now      
appeared to him the very  vanity of     
vanities1 colourless and the occupation 
of the myopic4 ,at  evenfall1 driven    
abroad by a terrible restlessness1 he   
wandered outside  the walls of the city1
 but the murmuring of the breeze through

 the  groves did but increase his       
distraction4 ,toward midnight he        
returned  and1 after spending the       
remainder of the night without sleep1   
informed  his parents of his intention  
to turn suitor4 ,greatly perturbed1 they
  besought him to relinquish so hopeless
 a project4 ,in vain6 at the  third hour
 he proceeded to the palace4 ,the gates 
were shut4 ,when they  did at last open 
he found himself face to face with the  
,executioner4  ,involuntarily he        
recoiled4    ,no alms will be given     
to-day1 said the                        
,reliever-of-,headaches4    ,i have not 
come for alms4 ,i wish to see the       
porter4    ,i am the porter4    ,i      
thought you were----    ,so ,i was4 ,but
 now that job is at an end4 ,the        
capacity to love as  our forefathers    
loved is passing away4 ,even a spirit of
 commercial  enterprise is lacking4 ,the
 world goes from bad to worse4          
,yesterday ,i  cut off the heads of     
princes2 to-day ,i open the door to     

mendicants4 ,on  no one is ,fortune     
harder than ,i4    ,i find that last    
reflection1 returned the scribe1 so     
general that  ,i grow convinced it must 
be true4 ,but be of good cheer4 ,strange
 as it  may seem1 ,i am the bearer of   
good tidings4 ,there is every likelihood
  of your shortly resuming your         
distinguished office--,i have come as a 
suitor to the ,princess4    ,have you1  
indeed8 ,ha1 ha1 ha6 ,the coin is as    
good as earned4444  ,however 444 excuse 
my entertainment4 ,i should not laugh2  
for  understand my heart goes out to you
 in your public-spirited endeavour  not 
to permit my office to lapse4 ,ah1 if   
there were only more men of  your       
kidney1 and yet 444 ,i regret to have to
 add that you will not  profit me much4 
,for make no mistake1 ,i am a           
,republican2 ,i believe that  handsome  
is as handsome does4 ,it is therefore my
 custom to request a  little honorarium1
 in ratio to the means of my customer1  
in return for  the service ,i render    

him4 ,for this is a service which is    
unique1 in  that he probably has no     
servant in his suite trained to perform 
this  duty for him1 and it is besides a 
service for which the requirement of    
one small fee cannot be described as    
extortionate since the duty is  one     
which being once satisfactorily         
performed does not require to be        
repeated4    ,but ,i have not yet       
incurred the penalty4    ,you will4 ,be 
reassured and1 having no troublesome    
misgivings on this  count1 hand me that 
which in a few hours it will be too late
 for me to  ask4    ,es-siddeeh smiled4 
,are you not paid by the ,court8 he     
asked4    ,i am1 replied the other1     
softening1 and a beggarly wage it is1   
too1  which compels me to make these    
requisitions4 ,however1 since you seem1 
for all your queer dress1 a pleasant    
fellow1 ,i will reduce my charge4       
,good4 ,i feared ,i should never be able
 to pay--my means are so scanty4    ,i  
should inform you that it is as well to 

pay because1 if you do  not1 my arm1    
unstrengthened by the sinews of charity1
 may not perform  its office with quite 
that address which is at once a delight 
to the  spectators and a matter of      
self-gratification to my customer4      
,your magnanimity1 replied the scribe1  
giving the man a coin1 does  indeed bear
 witness to the superiority of your mind
 to its present  situation and deserves 
a reward4 ,i hope you will see that ,i  
am not  disappointed of an interview4   
,thereupon the ,executioner conducted   
him into the palace and1 leaving  him in
 an inner apartment1 acquainted one of  
the attendant damsels with  the object  
of the scribe's visit4    ,for some time
 the maid regarded his dress dubiously4 
,i should be grateful if you would      
inform the ,princess of my arrival1  for
 ,i cannot say that ,i find the sound of
 the ,executioner in the  courtyard     
below sharpening his scimitar on a wheel
 affords me as much  pleasure as by his 
expression it affords him4    ,she      

vanished through the curtains1 and the  
following conversation was  borne to    
,es-siddeeh's ears3    ,a young man     
calling himself the ,very ,veracious has
 arrived and sues  for an interview on  
the same subject as his forerunners4    
,i cannot see him4 ,the maid returned4  
,tell her1 said ,es-siddeeh1 that she is
 as beautiful as one red rose  in a     
garden of lilies4    ,the compliment1 he
 heard the ,princess remark1 is a new   
one and is  graceful4 ,nevertheless     
dismiss him4    ,tell her1 said         
,es-siddeeh1 that her wisdom has the    
wings of the  rukh1 the eye of the      
falcon1 the talons of the osprey1 and   
the voice of  the dove4    ,it is very  
remarkable1 he heard the ,princess      
remark1 that he should  so accurately   
describe my characteristics4 ,he must be
 a diviner2 since1  as far as ,i know1  
he has never seen me nor spoken to me4  
,nevertheless  dismiss him4    ,tell    
her1 said ,es-siddeeh--but he could not 
think of anything to  tell her and was  

sadly cast down4 ,for his love1         
continuing to pain  him1 tortured him as
 a sweet fire in his bosom4 ,at length1 
bethinking  himself of his wisdom1 he   
said in as brusque a tone as he could   
summon1  ,tell her that ,i know the     
answer to all secrets and that she will 
regret it if she dismiss me4    ,how    
now8 cried the ,princess1 is he so      
clever1 and has such courage8  ,he will 
indeed be the ,very ,veracious if1      
possessing these answers1  he depart    
immediately1 for then my womanish regret
 will indeed be  sharp2 since of all    
humours1 he has had the wit to see1 this
 humour of  curiosity is the one most   
deeply implanted in us4 ,of what        
complexion is  he8    ,he is of spare   
build2 his hair is black and glossy as  
that of a black  panther2 in his eyes   
there is a dark fire4 ,his clothes are  
by no means  new1 his fingers are       
stained with ink1 and about his neck    
there is a  necklace of little scrolls4 
,a necklace of little scrolls1 did you  

say8 ,send him in4    ,then ,es-siddeeh 
stepped into her presence1 and it was to
 him as if he  were a little planet     
drawn for the first time into the orbit 
of the sun4    ,she commanded him to be 
seated and plied him with various       
questions  concerning the value as an   
amulet of this or that precious stone1  
of the pedigree of famous horses1 music 
as ,emotional ,sound or as an           
,architecture1 and many other matters of
 a similar nature4    ,all these        
questions he answered not only          
discreetly1 but with wit4    ,for some  
time she rested her eyes upon his face  
in a musing fashion4  ,then1 with a     
strange inflection1 she asked1 ,what is 
love8    ,i have but just beheld the    
cause1 he returned2 give me a little    
space and ,i infer its properties as a  
consequence4 ,at present ,i am  troubled
 to know whether the same vessel can    
contain both cause and  consequence4    
,not without haste1 she assured him that
 she would consider her question        

answered1 and enquired1 ,does it become 
thee to risk so wise a head at  the     
bidding of so foolish a heart8    ,it   
lay not1 and does not lie1 with me to   
make it becoming4    ,this answer did   
not appear to please her1 for1 moving   
her head1 she  proceeded with an instant
 change of tone1 ,one thing ,i have ever
  desired to know4 ,what is the secret  
of the smile of the ,sphinx8    ,he was 
taken aback4    ,what8 ,canst thou not  
answer1 thou who didst assert that thou 
hadst in  thy bosom the answer to all   
secrets1 ,o ,very ,veracious one8       
,seeing her smiling1 he replied1 ,i have
 not seen the ,sphinx unless ,i  see her
 now4    ,i perceive that thou canst not
 answer4 ,yet because of thy youth and  
thy beauty ,i will spare thee4    ,spare
 me not1 since before thou hast not     
spared me4    ,upon one condition3--that
 shouldst thou wish again to see me thou
  shalt bring with thee the secret of   
the ,sphinx's smile4 ,and now1 before   
thou leavest me1 because thou wert not  

as insensible as most scribes  are wont 
to be1 but wast willing to assay to gain
 some knowledge of  perfection from life
 as well as from thy scrolls1 ,i will   
give thee a  token to take with thee4   
,at these words1 as if some beneficent  
and invisible djinn had escaped  from   
his bottle1 a spirit of strange         
sweetness seemed to fill the room4      
,strength forsook the body of           
,es-siddeeh4    ,come hither1 she       
murmured4    ,so ,es-siddeeh went to her
 and bowed down with his face to the    
floor4    ,then the ,princess took him  
very gently in her arms and1 raising his
  head1 placed one hand beneath his     
locks and the other over his eyes1  and 
so kissed him4    ,now when ,es-siddeeh 
felt the touch of her hands1 cool as    
water lilies  upon him2 smelled the     
delicate smell of her bosom1 more       
mysterious than  any perfume of the     
mages2 tasted her mouth's nectar1 more  
precious than  the combed honey of the  
blessed in ,paradise1 then indeed he    

knew there  to be such a seal coldly    
pressed upon his heart that the stamp of
 it  would not be erased all the days of
 his life4    ,ah1 merciless1 said he1  
thou hast indeed not spared me4 ,now    
must ,i  inevitably return4    ,it was  
for that reason ,i gave it thee1 she    
said4      ,,ii4    ,he hurried home4   
,he sold all his belongings4    ,his    
father1 seeing him about to depart1     
cried1 ,thou wilt break thy  mother's   
heart4    ,he could not reply4    ,his  
mother1 watching him set out upon his   
mule with a slender bag of  coin in his 
hands1 cursed him and the ,princess4    
,he did not look back4      ,,iii4      
,after a journey of three moons he      
arrived before the ,sphinx4    ,his     
first impression was that her           
countenance contained no such  difficult
 riddle as he had been led to suppose4  
,the body of the ,sphinx  was huge1 her 
paws stretched in front formidable1 her 
shoulders heavy4  ,her bandeletted head 
sustained a wedge-fronted tiara4 ,all   

this he took  in at a glance4 ,then he  
turned to the face4 ,he had not expected
 it to  be so close to the ground and so
 open to inspection4 ,the forehead he   
could see was ample4 ,the eyebrows1     
albeit contracted in a slight frown1    
were high1 arched1 and wide1 which lent 
the upper part of the face a  frank     
expression2 but the reverie of the eyes1
 fixed on space1 seemed  somewhat       
dimmed--as if an impalpable hand had    
interposed itself between  the gazing   
orbs and the sun4 ,the smoothness and   
delicate moulding  of the cheeks and    
chin were remarkable4 ,the nose         
astonished by the  firm subtlety of its 
outline1 which gave to the face a       
simultaneous  expression of suavity and 
undeviating determination4 ,if the nose 
had  provoked wonder the mouth was yet  
more amazing4 ,the lips1 which might    
have been gracious and full when parted1
 were so closely compressed in  their   
smile as to modify the whole effect of  
the other features4    ,i must go       

nearer1 said ,es-siddeeh4    ,he        
established himself almost between the  
paws of the monster1 for  monster she   
had become to him who now beheld her    
mien more clearly--a  mien disfigured1  
yet seeming uncaring for its own        
disfigurement1  and--greatest horror of 
all--a mien in which the eyes possessed 
irises  but seemingly no pupils4 ,for a 
little he considered returning4 ,then he
  said to himself1 ,no2 to see her afar 
off gives a false impression4 ,one      
should see her as she is1 and earnestly 
scanning the visage wrestle  in thought 
till one discovers the secret of the    
smile4 ,in this he  instinctively knew  
himself to be right4    ,but he was not 
long in finding that the more and the   
closer he stared  the more difficult the
 problem became4 ,to begin with the     
blemishes  distracted him overmuch4 ,the
 main cast of the face appeared1 though 
subtle1 simple and grand enough1 but the
 fissures between the blocks  that      
composed it1 the discolorations1 and the

 crevices that ran from  side to side   
confused his eye4 ,if it were only      
perfect1 all would be  much easier to   
discover1 he murmured4 ,then1 too1 the  
expression of the  ,sphinx and the      
import of the smile seemed to vary with 
the changes of  the weather4 ,on        
fresh-blowing sunny days the image      
beamed on him with a  shadow-dappled1   
bleached cheerfulness of resignation4   
,but when the sun  raged the face1 too1 
raged as with an inward fury2 its       
lineaments shook  in the heat-eddies    
that arose from the sand1 and every     
grain glowed  like a particle of fire4  
,nor did its rage abate during the      
succeeding  night4 ,the rising of the   
tropic moon gave to its complexion1     
streaked  with violet shadows1 an ashen 
hue3 the pallidity of an unappeasable   
and frustrated anger4 ,on lowering days 
it blackly scowled1 and the  swollen    
nostrils and imperious mouth assumed the
 similitude of being  endowed only with 
the bitterest irony1 a constancy of     

cruelty and an  unquestionable scorn4   
,then he hated it4444    ,at last1      
perceiving that the secret was not to be
 gained in a few days  or even in a few 
moons1 he resolved to settle in the     
desert opposite  the ,sphinx4    ,three 
years passed4    ,day by day and night  
by night ,es-siddeeh watched the        
,sphinx4 ,daily  the sun1 shining upon  
the surface of the mask1 seemed to make 
it more  impenetrable1 and nightly the  
moon1 deepening the shadows in the      
crevices1 increased its mystery4 ,round 
about the knoll1 which the  pilgrim had 
selected for his station1 the sand gave 
off a glare more  deadly than the bed of
 a furnace or1 rising in                
whirlwind-spouts whose  tops spattered  
ashes upon him1 circled his island like 
monstrous and  infuriate djinns4 ,toward
 sunset the clouds1 gathered in an awful
 and  silent grandeur1 discharged1 with 
stunning clap and reverberations as  of 
mountains overthrown1 their lightnings1 
a shower of blue arrows1 to  all        

quarters of the fluttering horizon4     
,once indeed ,es-siddeeh awoke  to      
behold a body of dense vapour launch    
itself wrathfully downward  against the 
head of the brooding ,sphinx and wreath 
it with a crown of  crackling fire4 ,the
 scribe leaped up1 and1 despite the     
pressure of the  blast1 succeeded in    
gaining1 not without considerable risk  
to himself1  a position before the base 
of the monster4 ,his courage was        
unrewarded4  ,upon that obstinate mien1 
livid in the tawny light1 the rain      
glistened  as if there had indeed       
started from the stony pores a ghastly  
dew2 but  the thin lips were as tightly 
compressed as ever4 ,hideous ,sphinx6   
exclaimed the youth1 thou cruelty       
incarnate1 cannot even the ire of  the  
gods subdue thee8 ,shall ,i never1 from 
some motion of thy visage1  learn what  
secret thou hidest8    ,as the winter   
approached the wilderness1 utterly      
denuded of weed or  moss1 grew vaster   
and more bleak4 ,the nights turned      

frosty4 ,overhead  the constellations   
increased in splendour and number until 
every  quarter of the empyrean shone    
encrusted with stars4 ,against these    
brilliant galaxies and the diffused1    
pervasive effulgence of countless       
further bodies the forehead of the      
,sphinx outlined itself in desolate  and
 stubborn majesty4    ,then was it that1
 alone amid the desert1 under the gaze  
of those myriad  and so distant lights1 
facing the figure of the ,sphinx1 now   
blacker and  more impenetrable than     
ever1 ,es-siddeeh reached the           
climacteric which  is despair4 ,baffled1
 without any sensation but an           
exasperation that  gnawed his very reins
 and made giddy his temples1 he spent   
his days  and nights in complete        
dejection4 ,at length1 wishing1 to      
terminate his  sufferings once and for  
all he approached the ,sphinx and1      
vehemently  hammering its breast with   
his fists1 cried in a terrible voice1   
,what  is the secret of thy smile1 ,o   

,sphinx8    ,but the ,sphinx did not    
answer4    ,at dawn1 impotent before the
 titan1 he perceived upon the surface of
  her bosom bloodmarks hitherto         
unobserved4 ,other hands beside his own1
  then1 had knocked upon that stony     
breast4 ,he returned to his hovel and   
stretched himself down in a sleep that  
was like a stupor4 ,on waking he        
determined to climb the bandelettes of  
the ,sphinx and to cast himself  from   
its forehead4 ,he had scarcely taken a  
step when1 exhausted by  privation and  
prolonged anguish of mind1 he fell1 and 
lying helpless  found himself fronting a
 face mirrored in a pool1 the product of
 a  shower which had fallen while he    
slept4 ,the face was the face of one    
whose visage was slowly approximating to
 that of the ,sphinx1 but it  lacked the
 smile1 and in its eyes there was the   
light of imminent  insanity4 ,for a     
space he gazed without realising the    
apparition to  be but his own           
reflection4 ,then--stiffening his arms  

that he might  raise his head and       
shoulders1 extended1 as he was1 upon the
 desert  like a ,syrian puma whose      
bowels are transfixed by an arrow and   
who is  about to die--he rallied his    
strength for a last effort4 ,before him1
  a quivering tigress in the meridian   
sunshine1 crouched the colossal         
,sphinx4 ,the frustrated eyes of the    
scribe1 nigh starting from their        
sockets1 bent upon it such a glare as   
sought to penetrate its very  soul4 ,yet
 at the last1 heaving himself forward1  
with nostrils wrinkled  and teeth bared 
as if in the very coughing frenzy of a  
fighting death1  he could but ejaculate 
,sphinx1 now had ,i entreated thine     
aid6--hadst  thou not rendered me too   
proud1 who have discovered thee to be   
but  stone4    ,then the ,sphinx        
answered in a voice of thunder3    ,o   
man1 aid thyself6      ,,iv4    ,a      
company of ,bedawi1 journeying across   
the desert1 discovered him lying        
senseless4 ,him they succoured as a     

madman1 and therefore sacred to the     
gods4    ,for a while he rested in a    
pleasant city1 enjoying the support of a
  good man1 who did not understand the  
cause of his afflictions1 but at  once  
realised their intensity and the deep   
importance to ,es-siddeeh of  the search
 on which he was engaged4 ,his health   
mended at length and  undeterred by the 
solicitations of his host1 troubled to  
see him in  such haste1 he resumed his  
investigations4 ,this time he did not   
attempt  to wrestle the secret from the 
,sphinx herself1 but determined to      
prosecute his enquiries among the       
learned4    ,with this end in view he   
interrogated the chief scholars of that 
district1 but1 coming to the conclusion 
that they were too provincial1  he made 
his way to ,jerusalem4 ,here no answer  
at all was given him--save  that by the 
study of the particular law made for a  
particular tribe  and containing1 as he 
himself was obliged to admit1 the most  
admirable  rules for the preservation of

 an individual or a clan1 he would      
attain  to a knowledge of all things4   
,he determined to go to ,greece1 the    
fountain-head of knowledge4 ,but in     
,athens he fared not much better4 ,the  
majority of the inhabitants1 the        
fascination of whose minds he had       
nevertheless to admit1 seemed given  up 
to the fervour of local politics1       
money-making1 the quarrels of  the      
law-courts1 the consideration of        
athletics1 the technique of the  chase1 
and the refinement of trivial or        
voluptuous delights3 pursuits  which he 
told himself could scarcely further true
 knowledge4 ,there  were1 however1 a    
number of persons1 given to the study of
 natural law  as revealed in nature1 who
 enquired whether he had weighed the    
,sphinx  or examined her molecules      
beneath the magnifying crystal4 ,he was 
compelled to reply that he had done     
neither of these things4 ,whereat  they 
retorted that it was therefore          
impossible for them to build a  theory  

as to the constituents of her smile and 
verify it in experiment4  ,moreover1    
they continued1 even the data you have  
given us appear not  only insufficient  
but contradictory1 since you state that 
the smile  is at once sweet and sour4   
,direct opposites cannot be reconciled  
in  science4 ,we think it therefore best
 to direct you to the school of         
metaphysics opposite1 where1 if we are  
to judge from the uproar which          
occasionally disturbs our precincts1 we 
believe this feat to be daily           
accomplished4 444 ,es-siddeeh           
accordingly lost no time in entering the
  school opposite4 ,after a lengthy     
session1 the clamour of which somewhat  
bewildered him1 a young man with a high 
complexion and a shrill voice           
approached him and said1 ,as far as can 
be ascertained 7for there are  the usual
 number of qualifications and           
reservations of opinion amongst  us7 we 
are of a mind that the secret of the    
,sphinx is that she has no  secret--at  

least no secrets from us4    ,es-siddeeh
 did not stop to enquire further1 for it
 appeared to him  that he could not gain
 by it and1 moreover1 he was much       
fatigued4 ,so1  taking boat1 he sailed  
through the ,pillars of ,hercules and1  
turning  north1 descried1 after an      
arduous voyage1 the extreme ,western    
,isles  enshrouded in a perpetual       
prismatic fog4 ,on these coasts he      
landed and1  penetrating inland1 in a   
short while discovered a university     
situated  on the chief river of the main
 island4 ,having struck up an           
acquaintance  with the courteous master 
of the chief college1 he poured out his 
tale4  ,the ,disseminator-of-,truth1    
after prolonged thought1 replied1       
,without  wishing in any way to         
influence your conduct1 ,i should1 since
 you seem  to be enamoured of the lady1 
inform her that the secret is anything  
you  happen to have in your head at the 
moment 7as well it may be71 provided    
the matter be of such obscurity that    

that instinct which is peculiar  to     
females1 and which on the best authority
 7namely1 their own7 ,i am  given to    
understand is infallible1 will instantly
 assure her that she  understands it    
even better than you do4    ,but you    
would not have me deceive her8          
,indeed1 no4 ,for recollect--what she   
believes to be true will per  contra be 
true to her4    ,it seems to me1 then1  
that you are asking her to deceive      
herself4    ,not at all1 answered the   
,sage somewhat impatiently2 all is1 you 
must  know1 relative1 and any conclusion
 is as relative to enquiry as any       
other4    ,but not to truth6 returned   
,es-siddeeh with heat4    ,the great man
 smiled4 ,an irritating preoccupation   
this1 when the  search itself is so     
intriguing4    ,es-siddeeh1 the ,very   
,veracious1 experienced a curious       
sensation in  which pleasure certainly  
played a part4 ,that is perfectly true1 
he  remarked2 ,i am finding more        
interest in the search than ,i expected4

  ,nevertheless ,i wish to return to    
,sa-adeh1 the ,bestower-of-,felicity    
7and at her name he was conscious of an 
inexplicable spasm of  contrition71 and 
to present her with my conclusion--the  
,truth4    ,here ,i think we part1 said 
the other suddenly4 ,farewell4    ,then1
 as he turned away1 the elder flung over
 his shoulder1 ,for  myself1            
old-fashioned being that ,i am1 ,i am   
inclined to think the truth  is that the
 secret of the smile of the ,sphinx is  
not one that should be  repeated to a   
lady4    ,it was some time before       
,es-siddeeh recovered from the shock of 
this  interview4 ,when he had done so1  
he hastened to leave the country and  to
 betake himself to the ,furthest ,east4 
,the voyage lasted three years4  ,but1  
when he posed his question to the head  
of a ,manchu university1  what was his  
surprise to be countered with just such 
a suggestion as  had been put to him in 
the extreme ,isles of the ,western      
,hemisphere6    ,but you forget my name1

 he exclaimed4    ,no2 for indeed so    
eager have you been to enquire of me the
 secret of  the ,sphinx and to narrate  
to me the story of your quest that you  
have  forgotten to acquaint me with your
 name4    ,i am named ,es-siddeeh1      
which1 being translated1 is the ,very   
,veracious4    ,then1 my middle-aged    
young man of redoubtable veracity1 ,i   
advise you  to abandon your quest and to
 despair at once4 ,it is much quicker4  
,in  such a mood you will discover      
yourself becoming most pleasantly the   
prey of one of the unmarried maidens who
 abound hereabout and who1 ,i  assure   
you1 are not less beautiful and         
certainly less exacting than  your      
friend4 ,for women1 according to the    
sage's experience1 are much  the same   
the whole world over--a morsel of honey 
in which the bee has  left his sting3   
without the sting no honey1 and no honey
 no sting4    ,sir1 replied the scribe1 
,i am much indebted to you1 but you know
  neither ,sa-adeh nor the secret of the

 ,sphinx4    ,i do not indeed1 but ,i   
venture to think that to propose to     
oneself  a question that cannot         
immediately be answered is not the      
conduct of  a wise man and may very well
 give offence to ,powers of which we are
  becomingly ignorant4    ,utterly      
wearied by the enquiries he had         
prosecuted among the learned1           
,es-siddeeh turned over in his mind the 
many types he had encountered  in his   
wanderings and1 recollecting the lively 
intelligence of those  ,athenians who   
were not of the learned professions1 he 
determined  to live after their manner  
that perchance he might hap upon the    
secret4 ,several years were spent in    
acquiring sufficient money4 ,the        
subsequent spending taught him that his 
mind was apt to wander from  the problem
 in the mere enjoyment of the moment4   
,before1 however1 he  could make finally
 sure whether he was any nearer gaining 
a solution  he found himself ruined4    
,turned soldier1 he took part in many   

notable  engagements and distinguished  
himself not a little4 ,the itch of the  
excitement of the search was for the    
time being eclipsed by the perils  and  
responsibilities of war4 ,there were1   
too1 other distractions1 nor  were these
 invariably the bodiless preoccupations 
of the mind4444 ,it  was the somewhat   
unpleasant termination of one of these  
episodes which  plunged him into reverie
 upon the past4 ,at midnight1 silently  
rising  from his rose-strewn couch1 he  
determined there and then to bring to   
the contemplation of the ,sphinx that   
store of varied knowledge which he  had 
gathered in the course of his           
wanderings4 ,arrayed1 then1 in a dress  
similar to that which he had worn as a  
youth and encircling his neck  with a   
necklace of scrolls he set out alone for
 the desert4    ,since the way was long 
and he no longer young1 a year passed   
ere he  approached his goal4    ,then   
once again ,es-siddeeh stood before the 
,sphinx4      ,v4    ,in the moonlight  

it seemed to him that during his thirty 
years of  absence the image had grown   
larger4 ,that his eyes1 accustomed to   
watch  for unexpected perils1 played him
 no tricks he was certain1 yet he  now  
observed the brow of the ,sphinx to be  
wreathed in a faint vapour  as if its   
crest had attained the altitude of no   
inconsiderable hill4  ,the fissures     
between the stones seemed slightly to   
have filled1 but  the crevices across   
the face were both more numerous and    
more deeply  scored4 ,the pits of the   
eyes1 too1 had become immensely more    
cavernous4  ,and--could he be           
mistaken8--was not the smile less       
ambiguous8 ,surely  he did not remember 
the visage as so noble1 or had it grown 
nobler in  his absence8 ,how was it     
that1 though the aspect remained as     
unflinching  as ever1 the expression now
 seemed less hard and more magnanimously
  stern8 ,the cheeks had undoubtedly    
sunk further1 but did not the muscles   
appear tightened less in impatience than

 in endurance of suffering8 ,the        
nostrils no longer breathed scorn2 they 
laboured with the indrawing of  breath  
that1 like fire1 was at once painful and
 inspiriting4 ,to the  brow there had   
been added1 he thought1 a faint line1   
and its coming had  softened the        
contraction of the brows so that the    
creature appeared  even more majestic   
and wiser than of yore4 ,and lastly--he 
took long to  discover this--in the     
shadow under the brows the orbs seemed  
to stir  with a mysterious and darkling 
life4 ,o mighty ,sphinx1 he murmured1   
leaning his head upon her bosom1 what   
has come to thee8 ,how art thou         
changed6 ,much ,i fear thou hast passed 
beyond so small1 feeble1 and  ignoble an
 intelligence as ,i and that now ,i     
shall never learn the  secret that1     
behind thy lips1 lies locked in thy     
heart4 ,o ,sphinx1 if ,i  speak wilt    
thou answer8 ,time was when ,i came to  
thee and1 impatiently  stamping my foot 
upon the mound of thy illimitable       

desert1 beating with  my fists thine    
unanswering flesh1 conjured thee in a   
voice of thunder  to yield up thy       
secret4 ,but to-night1 nestling against 
thy bosom1 how  shall ,i speak to       
thee8--,i1 of less account among men    
than one of the  myriad morsels of dust 
out of which thou art compounded2 ,i1   
whose voice  is to thine ears hardly    
louder than the scratch of the beetles  
that  crawl about thy base2 ,i1 lost in 
the shadowy cleft between thy breasts8  
,o ,sphinx1 ,i will not cry out to thine
 unregarding face1 lost in such a       
reverie as transcends the thought of    
such as myself1 but leaning here  my    
fevered forehead against thy cool       
stones1 as in a dream and scarcely      
expecting an answer1 let me whisper to  
thy heart1 ',what is the secret  of thy 
smile1 ,o ,sphinx8'    ,then from within
 the ,sphinx arose a deep murmuring as  
of a multitude  of nigh-forgotten       
voices2 a handful of vapour parted from 
the lips to  wither in the glacial      

moonshine4    ,scarcely am ,i changed1  
said the ,sphinx4 ',tis thou art        
changed4 ,look  in thy heart3 there is  
my secret4    ,so low had been the      
sound1 so immense was the night1 so     
lonely the  desert1 that ,es-siddeeh    
doubted whether it was not his own heart
  that had spoken4 ,then1 placing both  
hands against the breast of the         
colossus1 he cried in a despairing      
voice1 ,is that thy all1 ,o ,sphinx8    
,but there was no answer4    ,with      
spirit heavy as death1 ,es-siddeeh      
wrapped him in his cloak and  laid him  
down to sleep between the paws4         
,alas1 said he to himself1 how brief1   
how obscure1 and how profitless  seem   
all the answers given to man6 ,yet1 when
 the morning came1 it  occurred to him  
that1 if the ,sphinx had indeed spoken1 
he would do well  to ponder the words4  
,so for three moons he sat pondering3   
,scarcely am ,i changed4 ',tis thou  art
 changed4 ,look in thy heart3 there is  
my secret4    ,those who crossed the    

desert marked him1 sunk in the deepest  
travail of  thought4    ,why do you not 
look at the ,sphinx8 they asked4    ,i  
begin to know something about it3 that  
is why1 he replied4 ,if ,i  gazed at it 
always in the present and never in      
memory ,i should learn  nothing4    ,one
 day a young scribe of great beauty     
approached the ,sphinx and in a  low    
tone enquired3 ,what is the secret of   
thy smile1 ,o ,sphinx8    ,speak louder4
 ,she will not hear you1 called his     
companion4    ,es-siddeeh leaped to his 
feet4    ,who sent thee hither8 he      
cried4    ,sa-adeh1 the                 
,bestower-of-,felicity1 answered the    
youth2 and turning  to his comrade1 ,if 
you wish to know why ,i do not shout1   
know that it  is because ,i have read   
the early work of a certain scribe      
,es-siddeeh4  ,it is very evident that1 
as with many persons of original mind1  
he  scarcely recognised the full import 
of what he was at the time writing4     
,had he been acquainted with more       

scholars and had more experience of     
life he would have spoken with greater  
certainty4 ,he would have also          
realised1 too1 ,i do not doubt1 that his
 work was not so vain as it  then       
appeared to him4 ,but he disappeared and
 none knows whither1 since  his parents 
never spoke of him again4 ,i1 taking up 
his work1 have  already carried it      
further1 ,i think1 than he had when he  
abandoned it4  ,nevertheless ,i1 too1   
have ceased to labour at it and am come 
hither for  the purpose thou knowest4   
,sa-adeh1 echoed ,es-siddeeh1 waking as 
if from a dream2 ,i seem to  remember   
that name4 ,tell me now1 how did you----
    ,but the stranger1 receiving no     
reply from the ,sphinx1 had departed4   
,es-siddeeh sat him down again in       
dejection4    ,that night he did not    
sleep4 ,the memory of ,sa-adeh overcame 
him with  tears4 ,all his life passed in
 review4 ,never had his reverie seemed  
so  bitter1 his questioning so futile as
 on that midnight1 yet toward dawn  he  

suddenly stood up with a shout4 ,an     
immeasurable serenity flooded his       
being4    ,i have it1 he cried2 ,i have 
solved the secret of thy smile1 ,o      
,sphinx6    ,at that moment the tropic  
sun arose1 and in its rays he beheld the
  face of the tormentor shine with an   
equable and golden splendour4 ,the      
eyes1 no longer lacking pupils1         
possessed sight1 and from the smile had 
vanished all that he detested4          
,,vi4    ,a new porter1 a garrulous and 
slipshod wastrel1 had taken the place of
  the old4 ,it appeared that nowadays   
the ,princess had but few visitors      
despite the fact that she was           
acknowledged almost as beautiful as     
ever1 albeit in a different style4 ,her 
temperament1 he learned1 was  difficult1
 her wealth greater than ever4    ,after
 but short delay he found himself in the
 antechamber4 ,he  acquainted the damsel
 with his mission4 ,she vanished through
 the  curtains1 and the following       
conversation was borne to ,es-siddeeh's 

ears3    ,an old man1 calling himself   
the ,very ,veracious1 has arrived and   
sues  for an interview on the same      
subject as his forerunners4    ,i cannot
 see him4 ,the maid returned4    ,tell  
her1 said ,es-siddeeh1 that she is as   
beautiful as one red rose  in a garden  
of lilies4    ,the compliment1 he heard 
the ,princess remark1 though graceful1  
is  not new2 in fact so old that ,i     
scarcely distinctly recollect when ,i   
made a fashion for it4 ,dismiss him4    
,tell her1 said ,es-siddeeh1 that her   
wisdom has the wings of the  rukh1 the  
eye of the falcon1 the talons of the    
osprey1 and the voice of  the dove4     
,the ,very ,veracious1 he heard the     
,princess remark1 is there very much  in
 the wrong4 ,if ,i have learned nothing 
else in my life ,i have at least        
learned that my wisdom has no such      
enviable characteristics4 ,dismiss  him4
    ,tell her1 said ,es-siddeeh1        
suddenly overcome with a novel          
misgiving1  that ,i know the answer to  

all secrets1 including the secret of the
  smile of the ,sphinx4    ,how         
original6 cried the ,princess4 ,does he 
really know the secret of  the ,sphinx's
 smile8 ,send him in4    ,es-siddeeh    
went in and bowed down4    ,though      
changed1 he said1 ,o ,sa-adeh1 you are  
as beautiful as ever4    ,your beard has
 grown so long and so white1 she        
answered1  that--surely thou art the    
7what is the name87 the ,es-siddeeh ,i  
once  knew1 are you not8    ,i am4      
,and you know all secrets8    ,i do4    
,then she plied him with various        
questions concerning the value as  an   
amulet of this or that precious stone1  
of the pedigree of famous  horses1 of   
music as an ,emotional ,sound or as an  
,architecture1 and many  other matters  
of a similar nature4    ,all these      
questions he answered with such a       
considerable wealth of  detail that     
,sa-adeh appeared confused4 ,both fell  
silent4    ,after her eyes had rested   
for some time upon his face in a musing 

fashion1 she asked with a strange       
inflection1 ,what is love8    ,he was   
dumbfounded4    ,i believe you have     
forgotten1 she said1 and in the         
intonation of her  voice there was a    
hint of the equivocal4    ,his eyes     
filled with tears4 ,i have not          
forgotten1 he said2 perhaps ,i  am only 
just beginning to learn4    ,she gave   
him a curious look2 then1 moving her    
head1 proceeded with an  instant change 
of tone1 ,well1 what is the secret of   
the smile of the  ,sphinx8    ,a wave of
 emotion swept over him4 ,he smiled and 
arose4    ,with the details of my       
enquiry ,i will not trouble you4        
,suffice it to  say that for nearly     
forty years ,i have been searching4     
,so long as that8    ,many hard early   
days ,i spent in the desert and endured 
great  privations4    ,indeed8 ,i am    
sorry4 ,forget them4    ,i would not if 
,i could--they were the price of        
knowledge4 ,at one time  ,i came near   
losing my wits4    ,so8 ,i am sorry4    

,then ,i spent some years interrogating 
the wisest of earth4    ,oh8    ,but met
 with no answer4    ,ah4    ,then ,i    
spent further years in acquiring        
money--years of misery they  were and   
years of degradation--that ,i might     
discover the secret4 ,i was  ruined4 ,i 
repeat1 ,i was ruined4    ,pardon me4   
,yes1 you were ruined4 ,i am sorry4     
,i served as a soldier4 ,i received     
wounds4 ,i was captive4 ,i was beaten4  
,i escaped4 ,i rose to power4 ,i        
exploited all modes of living and       
fulfilling myself1 but my experiments   
brought me no nearer the secret4    ,no 
nearer4444    ,then ,i set forth on a   
dreary journey to renew my memory of the
  ,sphinx's face4 ,i sat down beside    
her4 ,for a long time ,i learned        
nothing--the smile seemed hardly less   
mysterious than it had ever been4       
,then--but you are not listening4444    
,my friend1 ,i am indeed2 you were on a 
dreary journey and----    ,at length one
 day a youth--but ,i will not burden you

 with that1 though  it was strange4444  
,why do you look so at me8 ,i am        
listening4    ,that night ,i learned the
 secret of the ,sphinx4    ,at last6    
,i learned it indeed4    ,yes4 ,well1   
what is it8    ,a difficult matter4 ,you
 must listen most carefully1 so subtle  
is its  sense2 yet in its comprehension 
lies hid the whole secret of man's      
possible happiness4    ,i am listening4 
,there was a great stillness in the     
chamber4 ,es-siddeeh closed his eyes  to
 concentrate his thought4 ,then1 opening
 them1 he began3    ,i learned the      
secret--that smile is the secret4    ,so
 ,i supposed4    ,hush1 or ,i shall     
begin to think that you do not know how 
to value this  gift of my whole life1   
which ,i am making you4 ,it is very     
difficult1 but  if all men would listen 
to me their lives would be easier4    ,i
 thought the secret was for me--yet no  
matter4 ,proceed4 ,you see how  serious 
,i am4    ,i learned its secret4    ,his
 lips trembled4 ,he could hardly speak2 

at last with a great effort  he said1   
,now it comes--upon maintaining that    
smile1 which is the sign  of the power  
of her existence1 all her energy is     
bent4 ,she did not  tell me1 but ,i     
found it written in my heart4 ,for what 
is she8 ,in the  ,sphinx1 with her      
ravaged countenance and mutilated smile1
 ,i behold ,life  itself--,life in      
mysterious might1 ignorant of its own   
origin1 conscious  only of its own      
beauty1 couchant amid the wilderness of 
space and  eternity4    ,is the smile of
 the ,sphinx all that indeed8 ,i somehow
 thought it was  something more         
intimate4 ,but how serious you look6 ,do
 not frown--,i  would not offend you for
 the world4    ,should ,i not smile8 he 
said bitterly4    ,yes1 like the        
,sphinx4    ,quick6 ,how1 did you know  
that8    ,don't frighten me4 ,i was but 
speaking idly4    ,idly8    ,seriously  
then1 if you like--since you attach such
 importance to it4  ,women always work  
by miracles and never know when they    

have performed  one4444 ,excellent1 you 
are smiling1 though your smile is       
ambiguous4    ,i do but obey her4       
,not me8    ,that smile which we behold 
on her face is the smile we see         
everywhere  about us2 only in her it has
 become more august--first by reason of 
her  greater consciousness of isolation 
in the ,desert and beneath the ,stars1  
and1 secondly1 by consciousness of her  
strength4    ,will you hand me my fan8  
,thank you4    ,for what are not the    
properties of the smile--the sovereign  
beauty1  the witness of power--in       
,nature8 ,wise indeed the man who knows 
the  bounds of what it is capable4 ,when
 we are born the first thing we  behold 
is a smile3 the ,nurse smiles at us1 and
 in that smile we  should read--were we 
then capable--the self-satisfaction of  
,nature1  proud of her reproductive     
powers1 who dandles us in her hands with
  the assurance that she knows what is  
best for us4 ,ah1 how universal  is the 
smile6 ,think of the variety of smiles  

that exist4 ',tis all  for smiles this  
life6 ,and that is at once its apparent 
cruelty and  its final justification4   
,on the blackness of ,eternity it       
expands in a  smile like a rainbow--a   
rainbow whose arch begins and ends1 as  
rainbow  arches do1 uncertain where4    
,and this blossoming in ,infinity       
justifies  itself4444 ,how8 ,by the     
beauty of its smile4 ,therefore smile4  
,smile  and be in harmony with--if not  
the spirit of the ,universe 7for the    
unknown looking down from the ,hill of  
,heaven upon the ,rainbow may for  all  
we know smile also1 and on the import of
 that smile opinion may be  divided71   
and be in harmony at least with the     
beauty of that fragment  of the         
,universe which1 if we do not wholly    
comprehend1 we can at least  worship and
 imitate4444 ,but you are yawning4      
,no1 obedient to you1 ,i was--smiling4  
,and for how long8 ,until we are        
resolved--as the drops of the rainbow   
are resolved after refracting supernal  

colours4 ,yet as a raindrop  glitters1  
ere it evaporate upon the flower and be 
again 7who knows87  drawn up in the     
immense cycle1 with some reflection of  
the glory which  its passage served to  
make1 so should we maintain that smile  
to the  moment of our dissolution4 ,as  
indeed ,i1 whose stormy aerial passage  
is nearly over1 shall do till ,i attain 
to mine4 ,for what commoner  solace do  
we hear than that 'he died with a smile 
upon his face'8  ,such a smile may each 
have at his passing6 ,how happy our     
friends will  be to see it1 how         
confounded our enemies6 ,how comforted1 
too1 the  philosophers1 who will not    
fail to perceive in it the reflection of
  whatever faith they hold3 the         
ineffable joy of one whose beatified    
wings even now mingle with the wings of 
other spirits in divine  assumption2 the
 satisfaction of the racked1 whom never 
again the  torturers ,joy and ,sorrow   
will wake from endless sleep2 the       
profound  irony of one who never        

expected his pleasures to last for ever2
 and the  disdain1 too proud to curve   
itself in a full sneer1 of one who      
opposes  to the silent smile of the     
unknown a smile yet more silent6    ,he 
paused4    ,i have been thinking1 said  
the ,princess4    ,you wish to know     
more8 ,shall ,i explain8    ,no4 ,it is 
unnecessary2 all this amounts to that   
you wish to marry me1  and the          
announcement that you have earned the   
right to do so1 but ,i  should inform   
you that since you were last here a     
gentleman1 who as a  matter of fact once
 occupied a position menial enough but  
of importance  in this household1 has by
 signal honesty and perseverance arrived
 at a  position where--well1 in fact1 to
 put it shortly1 ,i have formed another 
attachment4    ,madam1 am ,i reft of my 
senses8 ,you astonish me6 ,who8    ,the 
,executioner4    ,ah1 heavens6 ,well1   
let me inform you1 madam1 that ,i1 too1 
have formed  another attachment4    ,you
 say that to my face6 ,how dare you8    

,but ,i saw directly you entered  this  
room that you had long ago forgotten    
what true love is4 ,your long  absence  
from me bears it witness4 ,who1 may ,i  
ask1 is now the object of  your         
affections8    ,do not smile--or smile1 
madam1 if you can2 ,i love the ,sphinx4 
,he had but that moment discovered it4  
,the ,princess shrieked and at the sound
 he bent upon her such a smile as  in   
memory effectually prevented her ever   
mentioning the ,sphinx and its  secrets 
again to anyone4    ,then he walked out4
      ,,vii4    ,he returned to the     
,sphinx4    ,while yet afar off he was  
puzzled beholding a mountain range      
arisen in  the wilderness4 ,as he drew  
nearer he recognised it for the ,sphinx4
 ,if  during his thirty years'          
wanderings she had appeared to increase 
in  size1 to what dimensions had she not
 attained during his brief absence6     
,the vapours of the desert1 rising about
 her1 had collected upon her  shoulders 
in a strata of billowy cloud1 and her   

head1 unimaginably  exalted1 had now    
reached such an altitude that the       
features were almost  indistinguishable 
in the blaze of the sun4    ,night had  
fallen by the time that he stood within 
the canyon of her  breasts4 ,for a      
little he rested his head upon the rock4
 ,a great  weariness descended upon him4
 ,physical infirmity1 the inevitable    
sequel  of all he had suffered in body  
and in soul1 now made him its prey4 ,his
  mind and spirit1 however1 remained    
keen and unquenchable as ever4 ,he      
wrapped himself in his cloak and lay    
down4 ,at midnight he awoke4 ,for  the  
first time the ,sphinx1 speaking in a   
voice of more than mortal  tenderness1  
had made utterance without being        
addressed1 ,art thou  returned1 my      
lover8    ,thou seest me4 ,all ,i love  
,i have given thee4    ,few have        
bestowed upon me so much as thou4 ,fewer
 still have arrived  where thou hast    
arrived1 while yet possessing the eye   
not wholly dimmed  and the tongue not   

altogether palsied4 ,one thing1 however1
 thou hast  kept from me--the seal that 
is on thy heart4    ,ah1 ,sphinx1       
replied ,es-siddeeh1 that ,i cannot     
give2 it is part of  myself4 ,nor would 
,i--for it was that which first brought 
me hither to  scan thy face and to read 
thy riddle4    ,i am a jealous lover4   
,i know it4 ,yet what care ,i8 ,thy     
jealousy is a measure of my reward2  for
 though ,i have discovered thy secret in
 general1 yet it is a secret  which no  
man perhaps will ever fathom in all     
particulars4 ,happy the  hero who       
attains as far as ,i1 happier yet he who
 can gaze unwinkingly  upon thee as ,i  
do now1 and hourly fathom something     
further6    ,i am a jealous lover4 ,thou
 hast not much longer to gaze4    ,no   
matter4 ,eyes do not perish with me1 and
 for myself ,i am rewarded4    ,then was
 it that for ,es-siddeeh the body and   
the face of the ,sphinx  achieved a     
final apotheosis4 ,her limbs throbbed   
with a deep and  terrible energy4 ,from 

her breast issued an all embracing      
warmth  similar to that of the earth4   
,her breathing became distinct as an    
august and stupendous rhythm resembling 
the ascent and descent of  waters from  
firmament to firmament4 ,her cheeks     
flushed with a youthful  elation4 ,into 
her eyes arose an immense light fixed   
upon unforetold  futurities1 and all her
 face1 so worn and beautiful1 became    
more  ravaged and even more             
beautiful--for the very deepening scars1
 wasting  and remoulding the features1  
gradually resolved the visage into an   
ethereal harmony hitherto unknown4      
,around her head1 entangling in  its    
mesh the nearer planets1 there wreathed 
itself an enormous halo1  iridescent as 
that which encircles the frosty moon4   
,her whole being  exuded a supreme      
lustre until she became one living and  
colossal  crystal which distributed in  
refraction all the colours of the       
rainbow  and which palpitated with      
powers unguessed4    ,and to            

,es-siddeeh1 who beheld her through the 
tears of one who  momentarily expects to
 be parted1 the spectra and the         
palpitance  appeared in triple4    ,o   
,sphinx1 ,o ,life the ,enchantress1 he  
cried1 my true and only love1  take if  
thou wilt my heart and the seal upon it1
 for thine am ,i only1  thee only would 
,i aid1 thee only do ,i love1 thee only 
would ,i worship6           99       99 
99       99       99    ,a band of      
,arabs1 journeying across the desert1   
found him1 when dawn  came1 lying       
between the paws of the giant--dead1    
more cold than the  stone which         
surrounded him and which now began to   
kindle in the morning  rays4 ,though    
there had been no dew1 his garments were
 deluged as with  the falling of an     
immense tear4 ,upon his face there      
lingered a fixed  smile1 and1 gazing    
upward1 they beheld its double in the   
sunlit face of  the familiar ,sphinx4   
,,here ,,ends ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the  
,,smile ,,of ,,the ,,sphinx4            

,,mayest ,,thou ,,also ,,learn ,,its    
,,secret4          ,,george ,,eliot     
,by ,,edmund ,,gosse      ,in and after 
#ahgf1 when ,i was in the habit of      
walking from the  northwest of ,london  
towards ,whitehall1 ,i met several      
times1 driven  slowly homewards1 a      
victoria which contained a strange pair 
in whose  appearance ,i took a violent  
interest4 ,the man1 prematurely ageing1 
was  hirsute1 rugged1 satyr-like1 gazing
 vivaciously to left and right2 this    
was ,george ,henry ,lewes4 ,his         
companion was a large1 thick-set sybil1 
dreamy and immobile1 whose massive      
features1 somewhat grim when seen  in   
profile1 were incongruously bordered by 
a hat1 always in the height  of the     
,paris fashion1 which in those days     
commonly included an immense  ostrich   
feather2 this was ,george ,eliot4 ,the  
contrast between the  solemnity of the  
face and the frivolity of the head-gear 
had something  pathetic and provincial  
about it4    ,all this ,i mention1 for  

what trifling value it may have1 as a   
purely  external impression1 since ,i   
never had the honour of speaking to the 
lady or to ,lewes4 ,we had1 my wife and 
,i1 common friends in the gifted  family
 of ,simcox--,edith ,simcox 7who wrote  
ingeniously and learnedly  under the    
pen-name of ,h4 ,lawrenny7 being an     
intimate in the household  at the       
,priory4 ,thither1 indeed1 ,i was       
vaguely invited1 by word of  mouth1 to  
make my appearance one ,sunday1 ,george 
,eliot having read some  pages of mine  
with indulgence4 ,but ,i was shy1 and   
yet should probably  have obeyed the    
summons but for an event which nobody   
foresaw4 ,on the  #ahth of ,december1   
#ahhj1 ,i was present at a concert      
given1 ,i think1 in  the ,langham ,hall1
 where ,i sat just behind ,mrs4 ,cross1 
as she had then  become4 ,it was chilly 
in the concert-room1 and ,i watched     
,george ,eliot1  in manifest discomfort1
 drawing up and tightening round her    
shoulders a  white wool shawl4 ,four    

days later she was dead1 and ,i was     
sorry that ,i  had never made my bow to 
her4    ,her death caused a great       
sensation1 for she had ruled the wide   
and  flourishing province of ,english   
prose fiction for ten years1 since  the 
death of ,dickens4 ,though she had a    
vast company of competitors1  she did   
not suffer through that period from the 
rivalry of one writer  of her own class4
 ,if the ,bronts had lived1 or ,mrs4    
,gaskell1 the case  might have been     
different1 for ,george ,eliot had       
neither the passion of  ,jane ,eyre nor 
the perfection of ,cranford1 but they   
were gone before  we lost ,dickens1 and 
so was ,thackeray1 who died while       
,romola was  appearing4 ,charles        
,kingsley1 whose ,,westward ,,ho6 had   
just preceded her  first appearance1 had
 unluckily turned into other and less   
congenial  paths4 ,charles ,reade1 whose
 ,,it ,,is ,,never ,,too ,,late ,,to    
,,mend 7#ahef7 had  been her harbinger1 
scarcely maintained his position as her 

rival4  ,anthony ,trollope1 excellent   
craftsman as he was1 remained           
persistently  and sensibly at a lower   
intellectual level4 ,hence the field was
 free  for ,george ,eliot1 who1 without 
haste or hesitation1 built up slowly    
such a reputation as no one in her own  
time could approach4    ,the gay world1 
which forgets everything1 has forgotten 
what a solemn1  what a portentous thing 
was the contemporary fame of ,george    
,eliot4  ,it was supported by the       
serious thinkers of the day1 by the     
people  who despised mere novels1 but   
regarded her writings as contributions  
to philosophical literature4 ,on the    
solitary occasion when ,i sat in        
company with ,herbert ,spencer on the   
committee of the ,london ,library he    
expressed a strong objection to the     
purchase of fiction1 and wished  that   
for the ,london ,library no novels      
should be bought1 except1 of  course1   
those of ,george ,eliot4 ,while she     
lived1 critics compared  her with       

,goethe1 but to the disadvantage of the 
sage of ,weimar4  ,people who started   
controversies about evolutionism1--a    
favourite  ,victorian pastime1--bowed   
low at the mention of her name1 and her 
own  sound good sense alone prevented   
her from being made the object of a     
sort of priggish idolatry4 ,a big-wig of
 that day remarked that in  problems of 
life and thought which baffled          
,shakespeare her touch was  unfailing4  
,for ,lord ,acton at her death the sun  
had gone out1 and  that exceedingly     
dogmatic historian observed1 ex cathedr1
 that no  writer had ever lived who had 
anything like her power of manifold  but
 disinterested and impartial sympathy4  
,if ,sophocles or ,cervantes  had lived 
in the light of our culture1 if ,dante  
had prospered like  ,manzoni1 ,george   
,eliot might have had a rival4 ,it is   
very dangerous  to write like that4 ,a  
reaction is sure to follow1 and in the  
case of  this novelist1 so modest and   
strenuous herself1 but so ridiculously  

overpraised by her friends1 it came with
 remarkable celerity4    ,the worship of
 an intellectual circle of admirers1    
reverberating upon a  dazzled and       
genuinely interested public1 was not1   
however1 even in its  palmiest days1    
quite unanimous4 ,there were other      
strains of thought and  feeling making  
way1 and other prophets were abroad4    
,robert ,browning1  though an optimist1 
and too polite a man to oppose ,george  
,eliot  publicly1 was impatient of her  
oracular manner4 ,there was a struggle1 
not much perceived on the surface of the
 reviews1 between her faithful          
worshippers and the new school of       
writers vaguely called preraphaelite4   
,she loved ,matthew ,arnold's poetry1   
and in that1 as in so much else1 she    
was wiser and more clairvoyant than most
 of the people who surrounded  her1 but 
,arnold presented an attitude of reserve
 with regard to her  later novels4 ,she 
found nothing to praise or to attract   
her interest  in the books of ,george   

,meredith2 on the other hand1 ,coventry 
,patmore1  with his customary amusing   
violence1 voted her novels sensational  
and  improper4 ,to ,d4 ,g4 ,rossetti    
they were vulgarity personified1 and his
  brother defined them as commonplace   
tempering the stuck-up4 ,swinburne      
repudiated ,romola with vigour as       
absolutely false4 ,i daresay that  from 
several of these her great              
contemporaries estimates of her work    
less harsh than these might be culled1  
but ,i quote these to show that  even at
 the height of her fame she was not     
quite unchallenged4    ,she was herself1
 it is impossible to deny1 responsible  
for a good  deal of the tarnish which   
spread over the gold of her reputation4 
,her early imaginative writings--in     
particular ,janet's ,repentance1  ,adam 
,bede1 the first two-thirds of ,the     
,mill on the ,floss1 and  much of ,silas
 ,marner--had a freshness1 a bright     
vitality1 which1 if  she could have kept
 it burnished1 would have preserved her 

from all  effects of contemporary want  
of sympathy4 ,when we analyse the charm 
of  the stories just mentioned1 we find 
that it consists very largely in  their 
felicity of expressed reminiscence4     
,there is little evidence in  them of   
the inventive faculty1 but a great deal 
of the reproductive4  ,now1 we have to  
remember that contemporaries are quite  
in the dark  as to matters about which1 
after the publication of memoirs and    
correspondence and recollections1 later 
readers are exactly informed4  ,we may  
now know that ,sir ,christopher         
,cheverel closely reproduces the        
features of a real ,sir ,roger          
,newdigate1 and that ,dinah ,morris is  
,mrs4  ,samuel ,evans photographed1 but 
readers of #ahfj did not know that1 and 
were at liberty to conceive the unknown 
magician in the act of calling  up a    
noble ,english gentleman and a saintly  
,methodist preacher from the  depths of 
her inner consciousness4 ,whether this  
was so or not would  not matter to      

anyone1 if ,george ,eliot could have    
continued the act of  pictorial         
reproduction without flagging4 ,the     
world would have long  gazed with       
pleasure into the camera obscura of     
,warwickshire1 as she  reeled off one   
dark picture after another1 but         
unhappily she was not  contented with   
her success1 and she aimed at things    
beyond her reach4    ,her failure1 which
 was1 after all 7let us not exaggerate71
 the partial  and accidental failure of 
a great genius1 began when she turned   
from  passive acts of memory to a       
strenuous exercise of intellect4 ,if we 
had  time and space1 it would be very   
interesting to study ,george ,eliot's   
attitude towards that mighty woman1 the 
full-bosomed caryatid of  romantic      
literature1 who had by a few years      
preceded her4 ,when ,george  ,eliot was 
at the outset of her own literary       
career1 which as we know  was much      
belated1 ,george ,sand had already      
bewitched and thrilled and  scandalised 

,europe for a generation4 ,the impact of
 the ,frenchwoman's  mind on that of her
 ,english contemporary produced sparks  
or flashes of  starry enthusiasm4       
,george ,eliot1 in #ahdh1 was bowing    
before ,george  ,sand in eternal        
gratitude to that great power of ,god   
manifested in  her1 and her praise of   
the ,french peasant-idyls was unbounded4
 ,but  when she herself began to write  
novels she grew to be less and less in  
sympathy with the ,french romantic      
school4 ,a ,french critic of her own    
day laid down the axiom that il faut    
bien que le roman se rapproche  de la   
posie ou de la science4 ,george ,sand   
had thrown herself  unreservedly into   
the poetic camp4 ,she acknowledged mon  
instinct m'et  pousse vers les abmes1   
and she confessed1 with that stalwart   
good  sense which carried her genius    
over so many marshy places1 that her    
temperament had often driven her1 au    
mpris de la raison ou de la  vrit       
morale1 into pure romantic extravagance4

    ,but ,george ,eliot1 whatever may   
have been her preliminary enthusiasms1  
was radically and permanently           
anti-romantic4 ,this was the source of  
her strength and of her weakness2 this1 
carefully examined1 explains  the       
soaring and the sinking of her fame4    
,unlike ,george ,sand1 she kept  to the 
facts2 she found that all her power     
quitted her at once if she  dealt with  
imaginary events and the clash of ideal 
passions4 ,she had  been drawn in her   
youth to sincere admiration of the      
,indianas and  ,lelias of her florid    
,french contemporary1 and we become     
aware that in  the humdrum years at     
,coventry1 when the surroundings of her 
own life  were arduous and dusty1 she   
felt a longing to spread her wings and  
fly up and out to some dim              
,cloud-,cuckoo ,land the confines of    
which  were utterly vague to her4 ,the  
romantic method of ,dumas1 for instance1
  and even of ,walter ,scott1 appealed  
to her as a mode of escaping to         

dreamland from the flatness and         
vulgarity of life under the miserable   
reign of ,mammon4 ,but she could not    
achieve such flights2 her literary      
character was of a totally different    
formation4 ,what was fabulous1  what was
 artificial1 did not so much strike her 
with disgust as render  her paralysed4  
,her only escape from mediocrity1 she   
found1 was to  give a philosophical     
interest to common themes4 ,in          
consequence1 as  she advanced in life1  
and came more under the influence of    
,george  ,henry ,lewes1 she became less 
and less well disposed towards the      
,french  fiction of her day1 rejecting  
even ,balzac1 to whom she seems1        
strangely  enough1 to have preferred    
,lessing4 ,that ,lessing and ,balzac    
should be  names pronounced in relation 
itself throws a light on the temper of  
the  speaker4    ,most novelists seem to
 have begun to tell stories almost as   
early  as musicians begin to trifle with
 the piano4 ,the child keeps other      

children awake1 after nurse has gone    
about her business1 by reeling  off     
inventions in the dark4 ,but ,george    
,eliot showed1 so far as records  inform
 us1 no such aptitude in infancy or even
 in early youth4 ,the  history of her   
start as a novel-writer is worthy of    
study4 ,it appears  that it was not     
until the autumn of #ahef that she1 in a
 dreamy mood1  fancied herself writing a
 story4 ,this was1 ,i gather1           
immediately on  her return from         
,germany1 where she had been touring    
about with ,lewes1  with whom she had   
now been living for two years4 ,lewes   
said to her1  ,you have wit1            
description1 and philosophy--those go a 
good way towards  the production of a   
novel1 and he encouraged her to write   
about the  virtues and vices of the     
clergy1 as she had observed them at     
,griff and  at ,coventry4 ,amos ,barton 
was the immediate result1 and the       
stately  line of stories which was to   
close in ,daniel ,deronda twenty years  

later was started on its brilliant      
career4 ,but what of the author8  ,she  
was a storm-tried matron of             
thirty-seven1 who had sub-edited the    
,westminster ,review1 who had spent     
years in translating ,strauss's  ,life  
of ,jesus and had sunk exhausted in a   
still more strenuous  wrestling with the
 ,tractatus ,theologico-,politicus of   
,spinoza1 who had  worked with ,delarive
 at ,experimental ,physics in ,geneva1  
and who had  censured1 as superficial1  
,john ,stuart ,mill's treatment of      
,whewell's  ,moral ,philosophy4 ,this   
heavily-built ,miss ,marian ,evans1 now 
dubiously  known as ,mrs4 ,lewes1 whose 
features at that time are familiar to us
 by  the admirable paintings and        
drawings of ,sir ,frederick ,burton1 was
 in  training to be a social reformer1 a
 moral philosopher1 an apostle of  the  
creed of ,christendom1 an               
anti-theological professor1 anything in 
the world rather than a writer of idle  
tales4    ,but the tales proved to be a 

hundred-fold more attractive to the     
general public than articles upon       
taxation or translations from  ,german  
sceptics4 ,we all must allow that at    
last1 however tardily and  surprisingly1
 ,george ,eliot had discovered her true 
vocation4 ,let us  consider in what     
capacity she entered this field of      
fiction4 ,she  entered it as an observer
 of life more diligent and more         
meticulous  perhaps than any other      
living person4 ,she entered it also with
 a store  of emotional experience and   
with a richness of moral sensibility    
which  were almost as unique4 ,she had  
strong ethical prejudices1 and a wealth 
of recollected examples by which she    
could justify them4 ,her memory  was    
accurate1 minute1 and well-arranged1 and
 she had always enjoyed  retrospection  
and encouraged herself in the           
cultivation of it4 ,she was  very       
sympathetic1 very tolerant1 and although
 she had lived in the  very ,temple of  
,priggishness with her ,brays and her   

,hennells and her  ,sibrees1 she        
remained singularly simple and          
unaffected4 ,rather sad1  one pictures  
her in #ahef1 rather dreamy1 burdened   
with an excess of  purely intellectual  
preoccupation1 wandering over ,europe   
consumed by  a constant1 but            
unconfessed1 nostalgia for her own      
country1 coming  back to it with a sense
 that the ,avon was lovelier than the   
,arno4  ,suddenly1 in that dreamy mood1 
there comes over her a desire to build  
up again the homes of her childhood1 to 
forget all about ,rousseau and          
experimental physics1 and to reconstruct
 the dear old quaintnesses of  the      
,arbury of twenty-five years before4    
,if we wish to see what it was which    
this mature philosopher and earnest     
critic of behaviour had to produce for  
the surprise of her readers1 we  may    
examine the description of the farm at  
,donnithorne in ,adam ,bede4  ,the      
solemn lady1 who might seem such a      
terror to ill-doers1 had yet a  packet  

of the most delicious fondants in the   
pocket of her bombazine  gown4 ,the     
names of these sweetmeats1 which were of
 a flavour and a  texture delicious to  
the tongue1 might be ,mrs4 ,poyser or   
,lizzie ,jerome  or the sisters ,dodson1
 but they all came from the             
,warwickshire factory  at ,griff1 and   
they were all manufactured with the     
sugar and spice of  memory4 ,so long as 
,george ,eliot lived in the past1 and   
extracted her  honey from those         
wonderful cottage gardens which fill her
 early pages  with their colour and     
their odour1 the solidity and weight of 
her  intellectual methods in other      
fields did not interfere1 or interfered 
in a negligible way1 with the power and 
intensity of the entertainment  she     
offered4 ,we could wish for nothing     
better4 ,english literature has1  of    
their own class1 nothing better to offer
 than certain chapters of  ,adam ,bede  
or than the beginning of ,the ,mill on  
the ,floss4    ,but1 from the first1 if 

we now examine coldly and inquisitively1
 there  was a moth sleeping in ,george  
,eliot's rich attire4 ,this moth was    
pedantry1 the result doubtless of too   
much erudition encouraging a  natural   
tendency in her mind1 which as we have  
seen was acquisitive  rather than       
inventive4 ,it was unfortunate for her  
genius that after  her early enthusiasm 
for ,french culture she turned to       
,germany and  became1 in measure1 like  
so many powerful minds of her           
generation1  ,teutonised4 ,this fostered
 the very tendencies which it was       
desirable  to eradicate4 ,one can but   
speculate what would have been the      
result on  her genius of a little more  
,paris and a little less ,berlin4 ,her  
most  successful immediate rival in     
,france was ,octave ,feuillet2 the      
,scenes  of ,clerical ,life answer in   
time to ,le ,roman d'un ,jeune ,homme   
,pauvre1  and ,monsieur de ,camors to   
,felix ,holt4 ,there could not be a     
stronger  or more instructive contrast  

than between the elegant fairy-land of  
the  one and the robust realism of the  
other4 ,but our admirable pastoral      
writer1 whose inward eye was stored with
 the harmonies and humours of           
,shakespeare's country1 was not content 
with her mastery of the past4  ,she     
looked forward to a literature of the   
future4 ,she trusted to her  brain      
rather than to those tired servants1 her
 senses1 and more and  more her soul was
 invaded by the ambition to invent a new
 thing1 the  scientific novel1 dealing  
with the growth of institutions and the 
analysis of individual character4       
,the critics of her own time were       
satisfied that she had done this1  and  
that she had founded the psychological  
novel4 ,there was much to  be said in   
favour of such an opinion4 ,in the later
 books it is an  undeniable fact that   
,george ,eliot displays a certain sense 
of the  inevitable progress of life     
which was new4 ,it may seem paradoxical 
to  see the peculiar characteristics of 

,zola or of ,mr4 ,george ,moore in      
,middlemarch1 but there is much to be   
said for the view that ,george  ,eliot  
was the direct forerunner of those      
naturalistic novelists4 ,like  them1 she
 sees life as an organism1 or even as a 
progress4 ,george ,eliot  in her        
contemplation of the human beings she   
invents is a traveller1  who is provided
 with a map4 ,no ,norman church or ivied
 ruin takes her  by surprise1 because   
she has seen that it was bound to come1 
and  recognises it when it does come4   
,death1 the final railway station1 is   
ever in her mind2 she sees it on her    
map1 and gathers her property  around   
her to be ready when the train shall    
stop4 ,this psychological  clairvoyance 
gives her a great power when she does   
not abuse it1 but  unfortunately from   
the very first there was in her a       
tendency1 partly  consequent on her     
mental training1 but also not a little  
on her natural  constitution1 to dwell  
in a hard and pedagogic manner on it4   

,she was  not content to please1 she    
must explain and teach as well4    ,her 
comparative failure to please made its  
definite appearance first  in the       
laboured and overcharged romance of     
,romola4 ,but a careful  reader will    
detect it in her earliest writings4     
,quite early in ,amos  ,barton1 for     
instance1 when ,mrs4 ,hackit observes of
 the local colliers  that they passed   
their time in doing nothing but swilling
 ale and  smoking1 like the beasts that 
perish1 the author immediately spoils   
this delightful remark by explaining1   
like a schoolmaster1 that ,mrs4  ,hackit
 was speaking1 we may presume1 in a     
remotely analogical  sense4 ,the        
laughter dies upon our lips4 ,useless   
pedantry of this kind  spoils many a    
happy touch of humour1 ,mrs4 ,poyser    
alone perhaps having  wholly escaped    
from it4 ,it would be entirely unjust to
 accuse ,george  ,eliot1 at all events  
until near the end of her life1 of      
intellectual  pride4 ,she was1 on the   

contrary1 of a very humble spirit1      
timorous and  susceptible of            
discouragement4 ,but her humility made  
her work all the  harder at her task of 
subtle philosophical analysis4 ,it would
 have  been far better for her if she   
had possessed less of the tenacity of   
,herbert ,spencer and more of the       
recklessness of ,george ,sand4 ,an      
amusing  but painful example of her     
,sisyphus temper1 always rolling the    
stone  uphill with groans and sweat1 is 
to be found in her own account of the   
way she crammed up for the composition  
of ,romola4 ,she tells us  of the       
wasting toil with which she worked up   
innumerable facts about  ,florence1 and 
in particular how she laboured long over
 the terrible  question whether ,easter 
could have been retarded in the year    
#adib4 ,on  this1 ,sir ,leslie          
,stephen--one of her best critics1 and  
one of the most  indulgent--aptly       
queries1 ,what would have become of     
,ivanhoe if ,scott  had bothered himself

 about the possible retardation of      
,easter8 ,the  answer1 indeed1 is       
obvious1 that ,ivanhoe would not have   
been written4    ,the effect of all this
 on ,george ,eliot's achievement was    
what must  always occur when an         
intellect which is purely acquisitive   
and  distributive insists on doing work 
that is appropriate only to             
imagination4 ,if we read very carefully 
the scene preceding ,savanarola's       
sermon to the ,dominicans at ,san       
,marco1 we perceive that it is built  up
 almost in ,flaubert's manner1 but      
without ,flaubert's magic1 touch  by    
touch1 out of books4 ,the author does   
not see what she describes  in a sort of
 luminous hallucination1 but she dresses
 up in language  of her own what she has
 carefully read in ,burlamacchi or in   
,villari4  ,the most conscientious      
labour1 expended by the most powerful   
brain1  is incapable of producing an    
illusion of life by these means4 ,george
  ,eliot may even possibly have been    

conscious of this1 for she speaks  again
 and again1 not of writing with ecstasy 
of tears and laughter1 as  ,dickens did1
 but of falling into a state of so much 
wretchedness in  attempting to          
concentrate my thoughts on the          
construction of my novel  that nothing  
but a tremendous and sustained effort of
 the will carried  her on at all4 ,in   
this vain and terrible wrestling with   
incongruous  elements she wore out her  
strength and her joy1 and it is         
heart-rending  to watch so noble a      
genius and so lofty a character as hers 
wasted  in the whirlpool4 ,one fears    
that a sense of obscure failure added to
  her tortures1 and one is tempted to   
see a touch of autobiography in  the    
melancholy of ,mrs4 ,transome 7in ,felix
 ,holt71 of whom we are  told that her  
knowledge and accomplishments had become
 as valueless  as old-fashioned stucco  
ornaments1 of which the substance was   
never  worth anything1 while the form is
 no longer to the taste of any living   

mortal4    ,the notion that ,george     
,eliot was herself1 in spite of all the 
laudation  showered upon her1           
consciously in want of some element     
essential  for her success is supported 
by the very curious fact that from      
#ahfd to #ahfi1 that is to say through  
nearly one quarter of her whole         
literary career1 she devoted herself    
entirely to various experiments  in     
verse4 ,she was so preternaturally      
intelligent that there is nothing       
unlikely in the supposition that she    
realised what was her chief want  as a  
writer of imaginative prose4 ,she       
claims1 and she will always  be         
justified in claiming1 a place in the   
splendid roll of prominent  ,english    
writers4 ,but she holds it in spite of a
 certain drawback which  forbids her    
from ever appearing in the front rank as
 a great writer4  ,her prose has fine   
qualities of force and wit1 it is       
pictorial and  persuasive1 but it misses
 one prime but rather subtle merit1 it  

never  sings4 ,the masters of the finest
 ,english are those who have received   
the admonition ,cantate ,domino6 ,they  
sing a new song unto the ,lord4  ,among 
,george ,eliot's prose contemporaries   
there were several who  obeyed this     
command4 ,ruskin1 for instance1 above   
all the ,victorian  prose-writers1      
shouts like the morning-star4 ,it is the
 peculiar  gift of all great prosaists4 
,take so rough an executant as ,hazlitt3
  ,harmer ,hill stooped with all its    
pines1 to listen to a poet1 as he       
passed6 ,that is the chanting faculty in
 prose1 which all the greatest  men     
possess2 but ,george ,eliot has no trace
 of it1 except sometimes1  faintly1 in  
the sheer fun of her peasants'          
conversation4 ,i do not  question that  
she felt the lack herself1 and that it  
was this which1  subconsciously1 led her
 to make a profound study of the art of 
verse4    ,she hoped1 at the age of     
forty-four1 to hammer herself into      
poetry by  dint of sheer labour and     

will-power4 ,she read the great masters1
 and  she analysed them in the light of 
prosodical manuals4 ,in #ahga she told  
,tennyson that ,professor ,sylvester's  
laws for verse-making had been  useful  
to her4 ,tennyson replied1 ,i can't     
understand that1 and no  wonder4        
,sylvester was a facetious mathematician
 who undertook to teach  the art of     
poetry in so many lessons4 ,george      
,eliot humbly working away  at          
,sylvester1 and telling ,tennyson that  
she was finding him useful1  and        
,tennyson1 whose melodies pursued him1  
like bees in pursuit of a  bee-master1  
expressing a gruff good-natured         
scepticism--what a picture  it raises6  
,but ,george ,eliot persisted1 with that
 astounding firmness  of application    
which she had1 and she produced quite a 
large body of  various verse4 ,she wrote
 a ,comtist tragedy1 ,the ,spanish      
,gypsy1 of  which ,i must speak softly1 
since1 omnivorous as ,i am1 ,i have     
never been  able to swallow it4 ,but she

 wrote many other things1 epics and     
sonnets  and dialogues and the rest of  
them1 which are not so hard to read4    
,she actually printed privately for her 
friends two little garlands1  ,agatha   
7#ahfh7 and ,brother and ,sister        
7#ahfi71 which are the only  rare issues
 of hers sought after by collectors1 for
 she was not given  to bibliographical  
curiosity4 ,these verses and many others
 she polished  and re-wrote with        
untiring assiduity1 and in #ahgd she    
published a  substantial volume of them4
 ,i have been reading them over again1  
in the  intense wish to be pleased with 
them1 but it is impossible--the root  of
 the matter is not in them4 ,there is an
 ,arion1 which is stately in  the manner
 of ,marvell4 ,the end of this lyric is 
tense and decisive1  but there is the   
radical absence of song4 ,in the long   
piece called  ,a ,college ,breakfast    
,party1 which she wrote in #ahgd1 almost
 all  ,tennyson's faults are            
reconstructed on the plan of the        

,chinese tailor  who carefully imitates 
the rents in the ,english coat he is to 
copy4  ,there is a ,goethe-like poem1 of
 a gnomic order1 called ,self and ,life1
  stuffed with valuable thoughts as a   
turkey is stuffed with chestnuts4       
,and it is all so earnest and so        
intellectual1 and it does so much       
credit to ,sylvester4 ,after long       
consideration1 ,i have come to the      
conclusion that the following sonnet1   
from ,brother and ,sister1 is the  best 
piece of sustained poetry that ,george  
,eliot achieved4 ,it deals  with the    
pathetic and beautiful relations which  
existed between her and  her elder      
brother ,isaac1 the ,tom ,tulliver of   
,the ,mill on the ,floss3          ,his 
sorrow was my sorrow1 and his joy       
,sent little leaps and laughs through   
all my frame2        ,my doll seemed    
lifeless1 and no girlish toy            
,had any reason when my brother came4   
,i knelt with him at marbles1 marked his
 fling          ,cut the ringed stem and

 make the apple drop1        ,or watched
 him winding close the spiral string    
,that looped the orbits of the          
humming-top4        ,grasped by such    
fellowship my vagrant thought           
,ceased with dream-fruit dream-wishes to
 fulfil2        ,myary-picturing fantasy
 was taught          ,subjection to the 
harder1 truer skill        ,that seeks  
with deeds to grave a thought-tracked   
line1        ,and by ,what is ,what will
 be to define4    ,how near this is to  
true poetry1 and yet how many miles     
away6    ,at last ,george ,eliot seems  
to have felt that she could never hope1 
with  all her intellect1 to catch the   
unconsidered music which ,god lavishes  
on the idle linnet and the frivolous    
chaffinch4 ,she returned to her own     
strenuous business of building up the   
psychological novel4 ,she wrote         
,middlemarch1 which appeared            
periodically throughout #ahgb and as a  
book early the following year4 ,it was  
received with great enthusiasm1  as     

marking the return of a popular         
favourite who had been absent for       
several years4 ,middlemarch is the      
history of three parallel lives  of     
women1 who with dim lights and tangled  
circumstances tried to  shape their     
thought and deed in noble agreement1    
although to common  eyes their struggles
 seemed mere inconsistency and          
formlessness4 ,the  three ineffectual   
,st4 ,theresas1 as their creator        
conceived them1 were  ,dorothea1        
,rosamond1 and ,mary1 and they shaped   
the thought and deed  of ,casaubon and  
,ladislaw and ,fred ,vincy4 ,middlemarch
 is constructed  with unfaltering power1
 and the picture of commonplace ,english
  country life which it gives is        
vivacious after a mechanical fashion1   
but all the charm of the early stories  
has evaporated1 and has left  behind it 
merely a residuum of unimaginative      
satire4 ,the novel is a  very remarkable
 instance of elaborate mental resources 
misapplied1  and genius revolving1 with 

tremendous machinery1 like some great   
water-wheel1 while no water is flowing  
underneath it4    ,when a realist loses 
hold on reality all is lost1 and ,i for 
one can  find not a word to say in      
favour of ,daniel ,deronda1 her next and
 last  novel1 which came out1 with      
popularity at first more wonderful than 
ever1 in #ahgf4 ,but her inner circle of
 admirers was beginning to ask  one     
another uneasily whether her method was 
not now too calculated1  her effects too
 plainly premeditated4 ,the intensity of
 her early works  was gone4 ,readers    
began to resent her pedantry1 her       
elaboration of  allusions1 her loss of  
simplicity4 ,they missed the vivid rural
 scenes  and the flashes of delicious   
humour which had starred the serious    
pages of ,adam ,bede and ,the ,mill like
 the lemon-yellow pansies  and          
potentillas on a dark ,welsh moor4 ,then
 came ,theophrastus ,such1  a collection
 of cumbrous and didactic essays which  
defy perusal2  and finally1 soon after  

her death1 her ,correspondence1 a       
terrible  disappointment to all her     
admirers1 and a blow from which even the
  worship of ,lord ,acton never         
recovered4 ,of ,george ,eliot might have
 been  repeated ,swift's epitaph on ,sir
 ,john ,vanbrugh3          ,lie heavy on
 him1 earth1 for he        ,laid many a 
heavy load on thee4    ,it was the fatal
 error of ,george ,eliot1 so admirable1 
so elevated1 so  disinterested1 that for
 the last ten years of her brief        
literary life  she did practically      
nothing but lay heavy loads on          
literature4    ,on the whole1 then1 it  
is not possible to regard the place     
which  ,george ,eliot holds in ,english 
literature as so prominent a one as  was
 rather rashly awarded her by her       
infatuated contemporaries4 ,it  is the  
inevitable result of tall talk about    
,dante and ,goethe that  the figure so  
unduly magnified fails to support such  
comparisons when  the perspective is    
lengthened4 ,george ,eliot is unduly    

neglected now1  but it is the revenge of
 time on her for the praise expended    
upon her  works in her life-time4       
,another matter which militates against 
her  fame to-day is her strenuous       
solemnity4 ,one of the philosophers who 
knelt at the footsteps of her throne    
said that she was the emblem  of a      
generation distracted between the       
intense need of believing and  the      
difficulty of belief4 ,well1 we happen  
to live1 fortunately or  unfortunately  
for ourselves1 in a generation which is 
distracted by  quite other problems1 and
 we are sheep that look up to ,george   
,eliot  and are not fed by her ponderous
 moral aphorisms and didactic ethical   
influence4 ,perhaps another generation  
will follow us which will be more       
patient1 and students yet unborn will   
read her gladly4 ,let us never  forget1 
however1 that she worked with all her   
heart in a spirit of  perfect honesty1  
that she brought a vast intelligence to 
the service of  literature1 and that she

 aimed from first to last at the        
loftiest goal  of intellectual ambition4
 ,where she failed1 it was principally  
from an  inborn lack of charm1 not from 
anything ignoble or impure in her mental
  disposition4 ,after all1 to have added
 to the slender body of ,english        
fiction seven novels the names of which 
are known to every cultivated  person is
 not to have failed1 but to have        
signally1 if only relatively1           
succeeded4          ,,the ,,future      
,,poet ,,and ,,our ,,time    ,by ,j4 ,c4
 ,,squire      ,here is our world in    
motion4    ,we see a corner of it       
through our eyes4 ,a man will march down
 a street  with a crowd1 or watch the   
politicians' cabs turning into ,palace  
,yard1  or make speeches1 or stand on   
the deck of a scurrying destroyer in the
  ,north ,sea1 or mount guard in a      
,mesopotamian desert4 ,a minute section 
of  the greater panorama passes before  
him4    ,in imagination he will1        
according to his information and his    

habit of  mind1 visualise what he sees  
as a part of what he does not see3 the  
human conflict over five continents1    
climates and clothes1 multitudes1       
passions1 voices1 states1 soldiers1     
negotiations4 ,each newspaper that  he  
opens swarms with a confusion of events 
and argument1 of names  familiar and    
unfamiliar--,wilson1 ,geddes1           
,czecho-,slovakia1 ,yudenitch1          
,shantung1 and ten thousand more4 ,for  
the eye there is a medley1 for  the ear 
a great din4 ,as far as he can1 busy    
with his daily pursuits1 a  man usually 
ignores it when it does not intrude to  
disturb him4 ,when  most unsettled1 the 
life of the world is most fatiguing4    
,the spectacle  is formless and without 
a centre2 the characters rise and fall1 
conspicuous one day1 forgotten the next4
 ,the newspapers mechanically  repeat   
that we are at the greatest crisis of   
history1 and that a  great drama is     
being unrolled4 ,we are aware that the  
fortunes of our  civilisation have been 

and are in the balance4 ,but we are in  
the wood  and cannot see it as we see   
the ,french ,revolution4 ,it is         
difficult1  even with the strongest     
effort of imagination1 to visualise the 
process  as history will record it4 ,to 
pick out those episodes and those       
persons  that will haunt the imagination
 of posterity by their colour and force 
is more difficult still4 ,an event1     
contemporaneously1 is an event2 a  man  
is a man who eats1 drinks1 wears        
collars1 makes speeches1 bandies  words 
with others1 and is photographed for the
 newspapers4    ,yet we know that a time
 will come when these years will be seen
 in far  retrospect as the years of     
,elizabeth or of ,robespierre are now4  
,the  judgments of the political        
scientist and the historian will be     
made3  these men will arrange their     
sequences and their scales of           
importance4  ,they will deduce effects  
and measure out praise and blame4 ,with 
them  we are not concerned4 ,but others 

beyond them will look at our time4  ,we 
shall have left our legacy for the      
imagination4 ,what will it be8  ,who of 
contemporary figures may we guess as    
likely to be the heroes  of plays and   
the subjects of poems8 ,which of the    
multitudinous events  of these years    
will give a stock subject to ,tragedy8  
,which of the men  whom we praise or    
abuse will seem to posterity larger than
 human1 and  go with gestures across    
their stages1 clad in an antique        
fashion8 ,for  to that age we shall be  
strange2 whether our mechanical arts    
have died  and left us to haunt the     
memory of our posterity as a race of    
unquiet  demons1 or whether progress    
along our lines shall have continued1   
none of our trappings will have remained
 the same4    ,but the soul of man will 
have remained the same4 ,those elements 
in  events and persons which fascinate  
and stimulate us when we are looking  at
 our past will stir them when they brood
 on their past1 which is our  to-day4   

,and neither contemporary reputation1   
nor worldly position1 nor  conquests in 
themselves1 nor saintliness in itself1  
can secure for a  man a continued life  
in the imagination of the race4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,contemplate our own past in the light  
of this conception4 ,who are the  men of
 whom poets and playwrights and         
story-tellers have made fictions  and   
songs8 ,augustus ,csar when he lived was
 the greatest man in the  world3 but who
 since ,virgil has panegyrised him and  
who--unless some  ingenious psychologist
 of the second-rate like                
,browning--would make  a dramatic poem  
out of him8 ,william ,wilberforce was a 
very good man1  but his deeds and his   
name have survived his personality1 and 
he will  not be the hero of an epic4    
,the ,thirty ,years' ,war was a long and
 very  devastating war2 ,gustavus and   
,wallenstein1 in their degree1 survive  
the purposeless series of its disasters2
 and of all its events that  which most 

vividly lives in the memory is the small
 thing with which  it began3 the        
flinging of two noblemen from a tower4  
,what is it in  things and men that     
gives them permanently the power of     
stirring the  imagination and the       
curiosity of the artist8 ,a quality of  
splendour and  of power that grows more 
certain when the dust that was its      
receptacle  has gone to dust4 ,the      
artist who shall succeed with a         
historical  personage may make whatever 
implicit or even explicit commentary he 
likes1 but in choosing his subject--or  
being chosen by it--moral  judgment or  
scientific estimate will not influence  
him4 ,he will be the  victim of an      
attraction beyond the will and beyond   
the reason4 ,consider  who are the      
figures that truly1 imperatively1 live  
in the political  story of the past4    
,not only and not all the ,csars who    
fought over the  known world2 not only  
such chivalric souls as saw1 and obeyed1
 the  visions of ,domrmy1 and died when 

the echoes of the last horn faded  over 
,roncesvalles4 ,the ,crusades1 as a     
whole1 were a great poem1 but few  of   
the ,crusaders won more than an         
ephemeral name in art4 ,cur de ,lion    
has been in our own time the hero of a  
romance1 but no man is likely  again to 
write of even a ,godfrey of ,boulogne4  
,the great age of historic  ,greece     
passed and left imperishable monuments1 
one nation making worth  a nation's     
pain1 but how few of her soldiers and   
philosophers recur  to the creative     
imagination6 ,those stories and figures 
from history  and pre-history which do  
so recur are a strangely assorted       
collection4  ,the ,trojan ,war and its  
leading personages are a fascination and
 an  inspiration perennially1 and among 
those personages ,helen1 ,hector1       
,achilles1 ,ulysses2 but not ,paris or  
the sons of ,atreus1 who live but as    
appendages4 ,coldly arguing1 men may ask
 now as they asked then1 why  the       
,greeks should take so much trouble to  

recover a worthless woman1  why a       
,hector should die to keep her1 why ten 
thousand should perish  in such a cause4
 ,but to the imagination ,hector1       
,achilles1 ,helen1 the  divine unreason 
of that ten years' war1 make an appeal  
that never comes  from worthier         
struggles and wiser people4 ,that is    
true also of ,antony  and ,cleopatra3   
their story to the historian and the    
moralist is one of  ruinous folly1 to   
the poet a          ,portentous melody  
of what giants wasting          ,near   
death1 on what a mountainous eminence   
,still1 in the proud contempt of        
consequence1        ,the wine of life   
with jubilation tasting4    ,the figure 
of ,st4 ,francis has been created and   
recreated in art2 like  those of ,nero1 
,philip ,,ii41 and ,mary ,stuart4 ,with 
the mythical who  are but names we can  
do what we will2 ,lear and ,hamlet      
,shakespeare  could cast in the         
sublimest mould2 with the historical we 
are tied by  the historical1 and few are

 great enough to come through the sieve4
  ,poets have attempted and failed to   
make great characters of ,becket1  of   
,wolsey1 of ,strafford1 and ,charles    
,i42 their degree of failure has        
varied1 but they have failed as         
certainly as ,keats would have failed   
with ,king ,stephen4 ,the material was  
not there4 ,cromwell and ,frederick  the
 ,great at least equalled ,philip ,,ii4 
in achievement1 and excelled him  in    
intelligence4 ,but ,carlyle's two heroes
 were no true heroes for an  artist2 we 
are too uncertain about ,cromwell's     
inner man1 his direction2  for all his  
battles he could cast no colour over his
 surroundings2 and  as for ,frederick   
there was no tragedy about him--that was
 left for  his neighbours4 ,a great     
,cromwell1 in one sense1 would be an    
invented  ,cromwell2 and we cannot      
invent a ,cromwell because of the       
documents4 ,but  ,philip ,,ii41 the     
intense1 narrow1 laborious1 dyspeptic   
bigot1 sitting  in a cell of his great  

bleak prison on the plateau1 trying to  
watch  every corner of the world1 and   
contriving how to scourge most of it2 he
  was contemptible1 full of vices1 a    
failure1 but there was that in him      
which has compelled the gaze of poets in
 seclusion from the seventeenth  century
 down to ,verhaeren and ,verlaine4 ,he  
had a virtue in excess4  ,there was a   
touch of sublimity about him4 ,the      
setting counts for much2  monarchs are  
on pinnacles4 ,but where is ,philip     
,,iv41 except for his  horse-face on the
 canvases of ,velasquez8 ,where even1 as
 against the  man he beat1 is ,william  
the ,silent1 who waged a great fight    
against  odds and died by the dagger2   
but was a cool ,whig1 excessive in      
nothing  but self-control8 ,he is       
scarcely alive2 but ,satan1 as ,milton  
saw him1  reigns in hell4 ,we must have 
splendour of a sort4 ,the normal man    
loves  a conflagration1 though he will  
lend a hand in putting it out2 and if   
he is putting it out the inmost heart of

 him will rejoice if it be  a large fire
 and there are very few firemen4 ,vivid 
force1 moral or  non-moral1 must be     
there2 a ,borgia1 though he be as wicked
 as a ,nero1  cannot compete with him   
before the imagination2 he was          
commonplace and  sordid and there is no 
response to him4    ,such passages and  
such people kindle us in the records of 
the past4  ,how1 from this point of     
view1 will the last five years1 crowded 
and  full of strife1 look when we are   
the materials for art8           99     
99       99       99       99    ,will  
the decline of ,turkey command interest8
 ,to the historian1 not to  the poet1 so
 not1 ultimately1 to the generality of  
mankind4 ,there is no  emergence there  
of the human spirit at an exalted pitch2
 very new and  surprising things must   
come out about ,enver if he is to rank  
with the  great adventurers of the      
stage4 ,men may try it--they have tried 
most  things--but ,constantinople has   
failed the artist before and will again4

  ,there is something pathetic1 there   
might be something tragic1 in the       
collapse of the ,house of ,hapsburg     
after so many centuries1 but so far  as 
we know at present 7and our statements  
are avowedly conjectures7  there was no 
incident of that fall1 compassed and    
witnessed by small  intriguing men1     
which can redeem it from squalor and    
insignificance2  and not all our        
reiterated assurances that this is a    
tremendous and  tragic catastrophe can  
invest it with the high romantic quality
 which  comes from passion in many men  
or in one man1 strength and a heroic    
struggle4 ,the ,league of ,nations may  
be the salvation of mankind1 but  it has
 come in such a way1 so slowly1 so      
reluctantly1 so haphazardly1  so        
sensibly1 that 7unless comedy7 nothing  
vital will be written of  its birth4    
,can we see a subject for a ,shakespeare
 or a ,milton in the  domestic struggle 
here1 or the fluctuations of the        
,balkans1 or the  entry of the ,east    

into the war8 ,these things made their  
differences1  but will they to the      
artist be more than facts8 ,and the men4
 ,there  have arisen from the           
populations of all countries men1 many  
of them  great by virtue of position1   
influence1 achievement2 many of them    
disinterested and ethically admirable4  
,the mind passes from one to  another2  
over some it flits1 over others it      
hesitates and hovers4 ,there  is        
something of the sublime about ,m4      
,clemenceau1 the old fighter1           
symbolising ,france at the last barrier3
 a man who1 in early novels  now        
forgotten1 formulated1 or refused to    
formulate1 a philosophy of  despair1 and
 depicted a universe without principle1 
order1 or hope1  in which the stronger  
beast1 to no end1 preyed on the weaker2 
a man1  nevertheless1 so full of vital  
energy1 and so certain of the one thing 
he loved1 that he desired nothing better
 than to continue furiously  struggling 
under the impending cope of darkness4   

,there are1 to some of  us1 disagreeable
 things about him2 stripped of the      
non-essential there  is something       
central1 that is1 elemental and fine4   
,but were he of the  kind that becomes  
legendary1 should we feel that central  
something  as still uncertain1 and would
 it have needed a war at the age of     
nearly eighty to have revealed something
 of grandeur in him8 ,is he1 at  bottom1
 clear and forcible enough2 or1         
alternatively1 does he feel with        
sufficient strength1 does he want       
anything1 plan or place or spectacle1   
with sufficient passion8 ,we cannot be  
certain3 he may be forgotten4           
,something of doubt colours also one's  
view of ,america's entry and the  career
 of ,president ,wilson1 in some regards 
a close analogue to that  of ,lincoln4  
,the lines of that story are simple--the
 watching pose1  the gradual            
approximation to war1 the ,president's  
mental struggle1  his decision to throw 
,america's weight into the scale1 his   

manifestos  to the world in the names of
 liberty1 honesty1 and kindness1 his    
determination that the war1 if possible1
 should be the last4 ,but  the man at   
the centre of this tremendous revolution
 of events1 the  mouthpiece of these    
great sentiments1 has he that last      
abandonment of  feeling which alone     
captivates the imagination of those who 
hold the  mirror up to certain aspects  
of ,nature8 ,without denying that it may
 be  a great blessing that he lacks that
 force1 without presuming to know  all  
about him that may later be revealed1 ,i
 feel doubtful4 ,death1 more            
particularly violent death1 before the  
end1 might have enabled artists  to     
impute to him something that perhaps was
 not there1 to give him the  benefit of 
the doubt4 ,but very likely for our     
good1 possibly with the  greatest       
wisdom1 he compromised at ,paris4 ,a    
more spontaneous man might  have ruined 
us all2 but if compromise is excellent  
in politics1 it is  of small use to     

poets4 ,i doubt if the ,president will  
take his place  with ,st4 ,francis1     
,philip ,,ii41 and ,nero4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,there 
will survive from the war1 and from the 
other events of our  day1 certain       
episodes which will1 as by accident1    
draw the notice of  artists and be1 as  
we speak1 immortalised4 ,a few of the   
countless  heroic and self-sacrificing  
actions which men have performed in     
every  country and by every sea will be 
snatched from oblivion4 ,tragedians1  in
 all probability1 will brood on the     
story of ,miss ,cavell4 ,the names  of a
 subaltern and an airman1 fortuitously  
selected1 will live as live  those of   
,herv ,riel and ,pheidipiddes4 ,but this
 is not what we call  history4 ,i think 
that the ,rupert ,brooke legend will    
develop4 ,he was  beautiful and a poet1 
and he died in arms1 young4 ,he had     
wandered to  the islands of the         
,pacific1 and his comrades buried him in
 an island  of the gean4 ,about him they

 will write poems1 plays even1 in which1
  their colour given by actions and     
sayings which are recorded1 he will     
pass through experiences which were     
never his1 and thoughts will be  imputed
 to him which possibly he never had4    
,two older artists have  taken a more   
prominent part in the war and its       
politics1 a part that  may indisputably 
be called political4 ,of ,paderewski ,i 
know nothing1  except that a man's      
progress could not easily have a setting
 more  superficially romantic2 the      
strength of the man may be guessed at   
by stray tokens4 ,a person of whom fame 
in art may more certainly be  predicted 
is d',annunzio1 a man not in every way  
admirable1 but of  a demoniacal courage1
 who has crowned a career full of       
flamboyant  passages with actions that1 
as a spectacle1 are magnificent3        
orations  pulsating with ardour for the 
glory and power of the ,latin genius1   
words that were pregnant of acts1 and   
following these1 after years  of        

reckless flying1 the sudden theatrical  
stroke at ,fiume4 ,as a  character he   
justified himself by that lawless blow2 
his rhetoric  finally proved itself the 
rhetoric of real passion1 a lust for    
violent  life1 self-assertion at the    
risk of death1 the flaunting of the     
,italian  name2 and1 felt as such1 it   
has moved a whole army and a whole      
people4  ,whatever the results of       
analysis applied to his character or the
  ultimate outcome of his splendid      
panache1 he cannot but become1 to the   
artists of one nation at least1 a hero1 
the material for romance4    ,there may 
be others4 ,but1 projecting myself as   
well as ,i am able1 ,i  cannot see on   
the larger stage1 amid the great        
fortunes of peoples  and their rulers1  
more than two subjects on which ,i think
 we may be  positive that they will pass
 into the company of material to which  
artists return and return1 subjects     
which already outline themselves  with  
some clarity to the imagination and have

 the air of greatness4    ,one is the   
fall of the ,german ,empire4 ,were it   
shortly to be restored1  the force with 
which its calamities will appeal to us  
would be  diminished3 for an end must be
 an end4 ,but if what seemed to happen  
really has happened there is a spectacle
 there which will appear  more          
prodigious and more moving as time goes 
on--that triply-armed  vainglorious     
kingdom pulling the world down on       
itself2 the long1  desperate1 ruthless  
fight against enemies ultimately        
superior2 the  siege2 the quality1 proud
 and assured if barbaric1 of the        
,prussian  spirit which filled the      
ruling caste and determined at once its 
fight  and its fall4 ,the tale is       
tragic1 and almost epic2 the persons are
  not yet revealed who shall be capable 
of being made1 on the stage  or in      
books1 the instruments for telling it4  
,certainly1 though men1  misguidedly1   
will attempt to make ,wilhelm ,,ii4     
sustain an artistic  load to which he is

 not equal1 the ,kaiser will make no    
great hero or  hero-villain4 ,possibly  
in some ,hindenburg or other general    
will be  found the strength1 the        
simplicity of belief or resolve1 which  
make  a great figure2 or possibly this  
will be of the tragedies in which  the  
individual humans are all pigmies       
subordinate to the main theme4          
,elsewhere1 ,i think1 is to be found a  
man who has about him the certain       
atmosphere of imaginative life4 ,he is  
,vladimir ,ulianoff1 ,lenin4    ,i      
talked a few weeks ago with a ,russian  
in exile1 a ,conservative1 an  official 
of the old regime1 and 7,i think7 a     
,baltic ,baron4 ,he was not1  therefore1
 sympathetic to the ,bolsheviks or to   
,lenin2 he hated1 though  he understood1
 them and he loathed him4 ,lenin has    
ruined ,russia1 he  said1 taking no     
pains to conceal his desire that ,lenin 
should die4  ,then the imaginative man  
in him awoke1 as it has a way of doing  
in  intelligent ,russians of all kinds1 

and he suddenly added vehemently3  ,but 
a hundred years hence a ,hero of        
,legend1 like ,peter the ,great and  the
 ,prince who first introduced           
,christianity into ,russia4    ,i felt  
immediately that he had spoken not      
merely a truth1 but an  obvious one4    
,englishmen may have all sorts of       
opinions about ,lenin2  few have heard  
much beyond rumour of him1 but even     
those who are most  avowedly ignorant of
 him or most leniently inclined to him  
would  scarcely like to find him in     
their midst4 ,yet there is that flavour 
of  vitality1 of greatness1 about him   
that is lacking in many who have  caused
 misery to none and even in some of the 
most potent benefactors  of mankind4 ,we
 feel it almost unconsciously2 the      
recognition of it is1  as it were1      
instinctive2 a picture of him1 growing  
from stray scraps  of news and rumour1  
has been forming in our minds1 a picture
 almost  from the first differentiated  
from that1 say1 of his equally active   

colleague1 ,trotsky4 ,trotsky1 one      
feels1 might disappear to-morrow and    
leave but a name and some wreckage4 ,but
 the other man1 if he be not in  the    
line of ,tolstoi 7as some of his        
adherents seem to suppose him to  be71  
is in the line of the great oriental    
despots1 of ,tamerlane and  ,genghiz    
,khan4    ,and we shall know more of    
him1 far more1 than we shall ever know  
of  ,tamerlane and ,genghiz ,khan3 as   
much very likely as we know of          
,napoleon4  ,he has no physical         
attributes and no material accoutrements
 which  might lend him adventitious aid 
as the centre of a pageant of power1    
struggle1 or woe3 a short1 bowed man in 
a black coat1 vivacious1 hedged  by no  
formalities of ceremonial4 ,yet to the  
imagination--and it must  surely be so  
when he is seen backward--this little   
fanatic1 who for  twenty years was      
hunted from exile to exile1 and returned
 to overthrow  a government and enthrone
 himself on the ruins of a great        

,empire1 is  the centre of ,russia1     
seated in the middle of that enormous   
web of  conflict and suffering like an  
impassive and implacable spider4 ,we    
hear this and that of him4 ,he is genial
 in conversation4 ,he is not  personally
 cruel4 ,he is willing to slaughter     
thousands at a blow to  realise his     
ideas1 for he looks at human affairs    
historically1 if with  but one eye4 ,he 
is a poor speaker1 but his words whip   
audiences into  enthusiasm4 ,he thought 
he would be overturned in three weeks1  
but  adapted himself with instant       
decision when a longer lease was        
offered4  ,this man and that is jealous 
of him and has tried to upset him2 he   
has  said this or that about his success
 and his failure2 he will fly2 or  he   
knows he will be executed4 ,the reports 
contradict each other1 but  the picture 
remains and strengthens1 the picture of 
a man in the grip  of an idea1 with one 
of the strongest wills in the world1    
indifferent  to the pains and pleasures 

of ordinary people4 ,that ugly little   
face1  with its swollen bald forehead1  
its slanting lids closing on straight   
penetrating eyes1 its squat nose1 its   
fleshy mouth between moustache  and     
goatee1 its smile mechanical as a       
mask's1 will be more familiar to  our   
descendants than to us4 ,they will see  
in reverie the revolution1  with vast   
ancient ,russia as its background1 and  
this doctrinaire tyrant  as its centre1 
with his ragged armies1 his spies and   
,chinamen1 his  motley gang of clever   
,jews1 brigands1 and mild1 bearded1     
spectacled  professors around him4 ,they
 will feel his magnetism1 and1 whether  
as  hero of legend or devil of legend1  
they will celebrate him4    ,of these   
things perhaps men will write two       
hundred or two thousand  years hence4   
,but the duration of human life on our  
planet is measured1  as we suppose1 in  
tens of thousands of years4    ,we go to
 the grave4 ,the sunlight comes into    
this room2 it shines on  the table and  

the books and the papers4 ,i listen to  
the twittering of  the birds1 shorter   
lived than ourselves1 and the           
intermittent rushing  of the wind1      
which1 while life lasts1 goes on always 
the same4 ,a car  moans past2 its noise 
begins1 swells1 and dies away4 ,the     
trees wave  about2 a horse's feet plod  
by2 the sunlight sparkles on the river  
and glorifies the mud4 ,clouds come     
over4 ,the sun1 unseen1 sets2 the       
evening grows bluer and lamps twinkle   
out over the misty river4 ,so1          
noiselessly1 proceeds time1 and the     
earth revolves and revolves through  its
 alternations of sun and shade4 ,these  
airs1 these lights and sounds1  will be 
the same2 but we1 alive and immortal as 
we feel1 shall have  gone and the       
clamour that we made will recede4 ,to an
 epoch we shall  be the coloured        
strutters of history and of legend2 to a
 later age1  however remote and whatever
 the accumulation of our records1 we    
must  become august shadows like the dim

 kings and fabulous empires that  passed
 before ,babylon and ,egypt4 ,truly ye  
are the people1 and wisdom  shall die   
with you4 ,the sentence was written more
 than two thousand  years ago2 the      
author is unknown and receding4 ,yet1   
obliterated in the  end though all      
remembrance of us may be1 we shall not  
even on this  earth die with our bodies1
 and for some interval1 not to be       
computed1  certain actions at this      
moment in progress will endure in a     
sublimated  state1 and certain men with 
whom we may even have spoken will       
enlarge  to a more than human stature   
and communicate1 as they could never do 
in  life1 their essence to the enduring 
tradition of men4 ,are they those  whom 
we have mentioned2 or are they1 as they 
may be1 others who to us  are           
insignificant and obscured8             
,,horace ,,walpole#a          #a        
,letters of ,horace ,walpole2 ,oxford   
,university ,press1            #af      
vols41 #ifs4 ,supplementary ,letters1   

#aiai2 ,oxford            ,university   
,press1 #b vols41 #ags4    ,by ,,robert 
,,lynd      ,horace ,walpole was a      
dainty rogue in porcelain who walked    
badly4 ,in  his best days1 as he records
 in one of his letters1 it was said of  
him that he tripped like a pewit4 ,if ,i
 do not flatter myself1 he  wrote when  
he was just under sixty1 my march at    
present is more like  a dabchick's4 ,a  
lady has left a description of him      
entering a room1  knees bent1 and feet  
on tiptoe as if afraid of a wet floor4  
,when his  feet were not swollen with   
the gout1 they were so slender1 he said1
  that he could dance a minuet on a     
silver penny4 ,he was ridiculously      
lean1 and his hands were crooked with   
his unmerited disease4 ,an  invalid1 a  
caricature of the birds1 and not        
particularly well dressed  in spite of  
his lavender suit and partridge silk    
stockings1 he has  nevertheless         
contrived to leave in his letters an    
impression of almost  perfect grace and 

dandyism4 ,he had all the airs of a     
beau4 ,he affected  coolness1 disdain1  
amateurishness1 triviality4 ,he was a   
china figure of  insolence4 ,he lived on
 the mantelpiece1 and regarded          
everything that  happened on the floor  
as a rather low joke that could not be  
helped4  ,he warmed into humanity in his
 friendships and in his defence of the  
house of ,walpole2 but if he descended  
from his mantelpiece1 it was more       
likely to be in order to feed a squirrel
 than to save an ,empire4 ,his  most    
common image of the world was a         
puppet-show4 ,he saw kings1 prime       
ministers1 and men of genius alike about
 the size of dolls4 ,when ,george  ,,ii4
 died1 he wrote a brief note to ,thomas 
,brand3 ,dear ,brand--,you love         
laughing2 there is a king dead2 can you 
help coming to town8 ,that  represents  
his measure of things4 ,those who love  
laughing will laugh  all the more when  
they discover that1 a week earlier1     
,walpole had  written a letter1 rotund1 

fulsome1 and in the language of the     
bended  knee1 begging ,lord ,bute to be 
allowed to kiss the ,prince of ,wales's 
hand4 ,his attitude to the ,court he    
described to ,george ,montagu as  mixing
 extreme politeness with extreme        
indifference4 ,his politeness1  like his
 indifference1 was but play at the      
expense of a solemn world4  ,i wrote to 
,lord ,bute1 he informed ,montagu2      
thrust in all the  unexpecteds1 want of 
ambition1 disinterestedness1 etc41 that 
,i could  amass1 gilded with as much    
duty1 affection1 zeal1 etc41 as         
possible4  ,he frankly professed relief 
that he had not after all to go to      
,court  and act out the extravagant     
compliments he had written4 ,was ever so
  agreeable a man as ,king ,george the  
,second1 he wrote1 to die the very  day 
it was necessary to save me from        
ridicule8 ,for my part1 he adds  later  
in the same spirit1 my man ,harry will  
always be a favourite2 he  tells me all 
the amusing news2 he first told me of   

the late ,prince of  ,wales's death1 and
 to-day of the ,king's4 ,it is not that 
,walpole was  a republican of the school
 of ,plutarch4 ,he was merely a toy     
republican  who enjoyed being insolent  
at the expense of kings1 and behind     
their  backs4 ,he was scarcely capable  
of open rudeness in the fashion of ,beau
  ,brummell's ,who's your fat friend8   
,his ridicule was never a public        
display2 it was a secret treasured for  
his friends4 ,he was the greatest       
private entertainer of the eighteenth   
century1 and he ridiculed the  great1 as
 people say1 for the love of diversion4 
,i always write the  thoughts of the    
moment1 he told the dearest of his      
friends1 ,conway1  and even laugh to    
divert the person ,i am writing to1     
without any ill  will on the subjects ,i
 mention4 ,his letters are for the most 
part  those of a good-natured man4      
,it is not that he was above the        
foible--it was barely more than         
that--of hatred4 ,he did not trouble    

greatly about enemies of his own1  but  
he never could forgive the enemies of   
,sir ,robert ,walpole4 ,his  ridicule of
 the ,duke of ,newcastle goes far beyond
 diversion4 ,it is the  baiting of a    
mean and treacherous animal1 whose teeth
 were tumbling  out1 and whose mouth was
 tumbling in4 ,he rejoices in the       
exposure of  the dribbling indignity of 
the ,duke1 as when he describes him     
going to  ,court on becoming ,prime     
,minister in #aged3      ,on ,friday    
this august remnant of the ,pelhams went
 to ,court for the    first time4 ,at   
the foot of the stairs he cried and sunk
 down2 the    yeomen of the guard were  
forced to drag him up under the arms4   
,when    the closet-door opened1 he     
flung himself at his length at the      
,king's    feet1 sobbed1 and cried1 ,god
 bless your ,majesty ,god preserve your 
,majesty6 and lay there howling and     
embracing the ,king's knees1 with    one
 foot so extended that my ,lord         
,coventry1 who was luckily in           

waiting1 and begged the standers-by to  
retire1 with1 ,for ,god's sake1         
gentlemen1 don't look at a great man in 
distress6 endeavouring to    shut the   
door1 caught his grace's foot1 and made 
him roar with pain4    ,the caricature  
of the ,duke is equally merciless in the
 description of  ,george ,,ii4's funeral
 in the ,abbey1 in which the burlesque  
,duke is  introduced as comic relief    
into the solemn picture3      ,he fell  
into a fit of crying the moment he came 
into the chapel1 and    flung himself   
back in a stall1 the ,archbishop        
hovering over him with    a             
smelling-bottle2 but in two minutes his 
curiosity got the better of    his      
hypocrisy1 and he ran about the chapel  
with his glass to spy who    was or was 
not there1 spying with one hand and     
mopping his eyes with    the other4     
,then returned the fear of catching     
cold2 and the ,duke of    ,cumberland1  
who was sinking with heat1 felt himself 
weighed down1 and    turning round found

 it was the ,duke of ,newcastle standing
 upon his    train to avoid the chill of
 the marble4    ,walpole1 indeed1 broke 
through his habit of public decorum in  
his  persecution of the ,duke2 and he   
tells how on one occasion at a ball  at 
,bedford ,house he and ,brand and       
,george ,selwyn plagued the pitiful  old
 creature1 who wriggled1 and shuffled1  
and lisped1 and winked1 and  spied his  
way through the company1 with a         
conversation at his expense  carried on 
in stage whispers4 ,there was never a   
more loyal son than  ,horace ,walpole4  
,he offered up a ,prime ,minister daily 
as a sacrifice at  ,sir ,robert's tomb4 
,at the same time1 his aversions were   
not always assumed as part of a  family 
inheritance4 ,he had by temperament a   
small opinion of men and  women outside 
the circle of his affections4 ,it was   
his first instinct  to disparage4 ,he   
even described his great friend ,madame 
du ,deffand1 at  the first time of      
meeting her1 as an old blind debauche of

 wit4 ,his  comments on the men of      
genius of his time are almost all       
written in a  vein of satirical         
intolerance4 ,he spoke ill of ,sterne   
and ,dr4 ,johnson1  of ,fielding and    
,richardson1 of ,boswell and ,goldsmith4
 ,goldsmith he  found silly2 he was an  
idiot with once or twice a fit of parts4
  ,boswell's ,tour of the ,hebrides was 
the story of a mountebank and  his zany4
 ,walpole felt doubly justified in      
disliking ,johnson owing  to the        
criticism of ,gray in the ,lives of the 
,poets4 ,he would not  even1 when       
,johnson died1 subscribe to a monument4 
,a circular letter  asking for a        
subscription was sent to him1 signed by 
,burke1 ,boswell1  and ,reynolds4 ,i    
would not deign to write an answer1     
,walpole told the  ,miss ,berrys1 but   
sent down word by my footman1 as ,i     
would have done  to parish officers with
 a brief1 that ,i would not subscribe4  
,walpole  does not appear in this       
incident the sweet-tempered creature he 

had  earlier claimed to be4 ,his pose is
 that of a school-girl in a cutting     
mood4 ,at the same time his judgment of 
,johnson has an element of truth  in it4
 ,though he was good-natured at bottom1 
he said of him1 he was  very ill-natured
 at top4 ,it has often been said of     
,walpole that1 in  his attitude to      
contemporary men of genius1 he was      
influenced mainly  by their position in 
society--that he regarded an author who 
was not a  gentleman as being           
necessarily an inferior author4 ,this is
 hardly fair4  ,the contemporary of whom
 he thought most highly was ,gray1 the  
son of a  money broker4 ,he did not     
spare ,lady ,mary ,wortley ,montagu any 
more than  ,richardson4 ,if he found an 
author offensive1 it was more likely to 
be  owing to a fastidious distaste for  
low life than to an aristocratic        
distaste for low birth2 and to him      
,bohemianism was the lowest of low      
life4 ,it was certainly ,fielding's     
,bohemianism that disgusted him4 ,he    

relates how two of his friends called on
 ,fielding one evening and found  him   
banqueting with a blind man1 a woman1   
and three ,irishmen1 on some  cold      
mutton and a bone of ham1 both in one   
dish1 and the dirtiest  cloth4 ,horace  
,walpole's daintiness recoiled from the 
spirit of an  author who did not know   
how to sup decently4 ,if he found       
,boswell's  ,johnson tedious1 it was no 
doubt partly due to his inability to    
reconcile himself to ,johnson's table   
manners4 ,it can hardly be denied  that 
he was unnaturally sensitive to surface 
impressions4 ,he was a  great observer  
of manners1 but not a great portrayer of
 character4 ,he  knew men in their      
absurd actions rather than in their     
motives--even  their absurd motives4 ,he
 never admits us into the springs of    
action in  his portraits as             
,saint-,simon does4 ,he was too studied 
a believer in  the puppetry of men and  
women to make them more than ridiculous4
 ,and  unquestionably the vain race of  

authors lent itself admirably to his    
love of caricature4 ,his account of the 
vanity of ,gibbon1 whose history  he    
admired this side enthusiasm1 shows how 
he delighted in playing with  an        
egoistic author as with a trout4    ,so 
much1 he concludes1 for literature and  
its fops4 ,the comic  spirit leans to an
 under-estimate rather than an          
over-estimate of  human nature1 and the 
airs the authors gave themselves were   
not only  a breach of his code1 but an  
invitation to his contempt4 ,you know1  
he once wrote1 ,i shun authors1 and     
would never have been one myself  if it 
obliged me to keep such bad company4    
,they are always in earnest  and think  
their profession serious1 and will dwell
 upon trifles and  reverence learning4  
,i laugh at all these things1 and write 
only  to laugh at them and divert       
myself4 ,none of us are authors of any  
consequence1 and it is the most         
ridiculous of all vanities to be vain   
of being mediocre4 ,he followed the     

,chinese school of manners and  made    
light of his own writings4 ,what have ,i
 written1 he asks1 that  was worth      
remembering1 even by myself8 ,it would  
be affected1 he  tells ,gray1 to say ,i 
am indifferent to fame4 ,i certainly am 
not1 but  ,i am indifferent to almost   
anything ,i have done to acquire it4    
,the  greater part are mere             
compilations2 and no wonder they are1 as
 you say1  incorrect when they were     
commonly written with people in the     
room4    ,it is generally assumed that1 
in speaking lightly of himself1 ,walpole
  was merely posturing4 ,to me it seems 
that he was sincere enough4 ,he  had a  
sense of greatness in literature1 as is 
shown by his reverence  of ,shakespeare1
 and he was too much of a realist not to
 see that his  own writings at their    
best were trifles beside the monuments  
of the  poets4 ,he felt that he was     
doing little things in a little age4 ,he
 was  diffident both for his times and  
for himself4 ,so difficult do some      

writers find it to believe that there   
was any deep genuineness in him  that   
they ask us to regard even his          
enthusiasm for great literature as  a   
pretence4 ,they do not realise that the 
secret of his attraction for  us is that
 he was an enthusiast disguised as an   
eighteenth-century man  of fashion4 ,his
 airs and graces were not the result of 
languor1 but of  his pleasure in wearing
 a mask4 ,he was quick1 responsive1     
excitable1  and only withdrew into the  
similitude of a china figure1 as        
,diogenes  into his tub1 through        
philosophy4 ,the truth is1 the only     
dandies who  are tolerable are those    
whose dandyism is a cloak of reserve4   
,our  interest in character is largely  
an interest in contradictions of  this  
kind4 ,the beau capable of breaking into
 excitement awakens our  curiosity1 as  
does the conqueror stooping to a humane 
action1 the  ,puritan caught in the net 
of the senses1 or the pacifist in a rage
 of  violence4 ,the average man1 whom   

one knows superficially1 is a formula1  
or seems to live the life of a formula4 
,that is why we find him dull4  ,the    
characters who interest us in history   
and literature1 on the other  hand1 are 
perpetually giving the lie to the formul
 we invent1 and are  bound to invent1   
for them4 ,they give us pleasure not by 
confirming us1  but by surprising us4   
,it seems to me absurd1 then1 to regard 
,walpole's  air of indifference as the  
only real thing about him and to        
question  his raptures4 ,from his first 
travels among the ,alps with ,gray down 
to  his senile letters to ,hannah ,more 
about the ,french ,revolution1 we see   
him as a man almost hysterical in the   
intensity of his sensations1  whether of
 joy or of horror4 ,he lived for his    
sensations like an  sthete4 ,he wrote of
 himself as ,i1 who am as constant at a 
fire as  ,george ,selwyn at an          
execution4 ,if he cared for the         
crownings of kings  and such occasions1 
it was because he took a childish       

delight in the  fireworks and           
illuminations4    ,he had the keen      
spirit of a masquerader4 ,masquerades1  
he declared1  were one of my ancient    
passions1 and we find him as an elderly 
man  dressing out a thousand young      
,conways and ,cholmondeleys for an      
entertainment of the kind1 and going    
with more pleasure to see them  pleased 
than when ,i formerly delighted in that 
diversion myself4 ,he  was equally an   
enthusiast in his hobbies and his       
tastes4 ,he rejoiced  to get back in    
,may to ,strawberry ,hill1 where my two 
passions1  lilacs and nightingales1 are 
in bloom4 ,he could not have made his   
collections or built his battlements in 
a mood of indifference4 ,in  his love of
 medival ruins he showed himself a      
,goth-intoxicated man4  ,as for         
,strawberry ,hill itself1 the result may
 have been a ridiculous  mouse1 but it  
took a mountain of enthusiasm to produce
 it4 ,walpole's  own description of his 
house and its surroundings has an       

exquisite  charm that almost makes one  
love the place as he did4 ,it is a      
little  plaything house1 he told        
,conway1 that ,i got out of ,mrs4       
,chenevix's  shop1 and is the prettiest 
bauble you ever saw4 ,it is set in      
enamelled  meadows1 with filigree       
hedges3          ,a small ,euphrates    
through the piece is roll'd1        ,and
 little finches wave their wings in     
gold4    ,he goes on to decorate the    
theme with comic and fanciful           
properties3      ,two delightful roads  
that you would call dusty supply me     
continually    with coaches and chaises2
 barges as solemn as barons of the      
exchequer    move under my window2      
,richmond ,hill and ,ham-walks bound my 
prospect2    but1 thank ,god1 the       
,thames is between me and the ,duchess  
of    ,queensberry4 ,dowagers as plenty 
as flounders inhabit all around1 and    
,pope's ghost is just now skimming under
 my window by a most poetical           
moonlight4 ,i have about land enough to 

keep such a farm as ,noah's    when he  
set up in the ,ark with a pair of each  
kind4    ,it is in the spirit of a child
 throwing its whole imagination into    
playing with a ,noah's ,ark that he     
describes his queer house4 ,it is  in   
this spirit that he sees the fields     
around his house speckled  with cows1   
horses1 and sheep4 ,the very phrase     
suggests toy animals4  ,walpole himself 
declared at the age of seventy-three3   
,my best wisdom  has consisted in       
forming a baby-house full of playthings 
for my second  childhood4 ,that explains
 why one almost loves the creature4     
,macaulay  has severely censured him for
 devoting himself to the collection of  
knick-knacks1 such as ,king ,william    
,,iii4's spurs1 and it is apparently    
impossible to defend ,walpole as a      
collector to be taken seriously4        
,walpole1 however1 collected things in a
 mood of fantasy as much as  of         
connoisseurship4 ,he did not take       
himself quite seriously4 ,it was  fancy1

 not connoisseurship1 that made him hang
 up ,magna ,charta beside  his bed and1 
opposite it1 the ,warrant for the       
execution of ,king  ,charles ,i41 on    
which he had written ,major ,charta4    
,who can question  the fantastic quality
 of the mind that wrote to ,conway3     
,remember1  neither ,lady ,salisbury nor
 you1 nor ,mrs4 ,damer1 have seen my new
 divine  closet1 nor the billiard-sticks
 with which the ,countess of ,pembroke  
and ,arcadia used to play with her      
brother1 ,sir ,philip1 and ended3 ,i    
never did see ,cotchel1 and am sorry4   
,is not the old wardrobe there  still8  
,there was one from the time of ,cain1  
but ,adam's breeches and  ,eve's        
under-petticoat were eaten by a goat in 
the ark4 ,good night4 ,he  laughed over 
the knick-knacks he collected for       
himself and his friends4  ,as to        
snuff-boxes and tooth-pick cases1 he    
wrote to the ,countess of  ,ossory from 
,paris in #agga1 the vintage has        
entirely failed this year4  ,everything 

that he turned his mind to in           
,strawberry ,hill he regarded  in the   
same spirit of comic delight4 ,he stood 
outside himself1 like a  spectator1 and 
nothing gave him more pleasure than to  
figure himself  as a master of the      
ceremonies among the bantams1 and the   
squirrels and  the goldfish4 ,in one of 
his letters he describes himself and    
,bentley  fishing in the pond for       
goldfish with nothing but a pail and a  
basin  and a tea-strainer1 which ,i     
persuade my neighbours is the ,chinese  
method4 ,this was in order to capture   
some of the fish for ,bentley1 who      
carried a dozen to town t'other day in a
 decanter4    ,among the various        
creatures with which he loved to        
surround himself1  it is impossible to  
forget either the little black spaniel1 
,tony1 that  the wolf carried off near a
 wood in the ,alps during his first     
travels1  or the more imperious little  
dog1 ,tonton1 which he has constantly to
  prevent from biting people at ,madame 

du ,deffand's1 but which with  ,madame  
du ,deffand herself grows the greater   
favourite the more people  he devours4  
,t'other night1 writes ,walpole1 to whom
 ,madame du ,deffand  afterwards        
bequeathed the dog in her will1 he flew 
at ,lady ,barrymore's  face1 and ,i     
thought would have torn her eye out1 but
 it ended in biting  her finger4 ,she   
was terrified2 she fell into tears4     
,madame du ,deffand1  who has too much  
parts not to see everything in its true 
light1  perceiving that she had not     
beaten ,tonton half enough1 immediately 
told us a story of a lady whose dog     
having bitten a piece out of a          
gentleman's leg1 the tender dame1 in a  
great fright1 cried out1 ',won't  it    
make him sick8' ,in the most attractive 
accounts we possess of  ,walpole in his 
old age1 we see him seated at the       
breakfast-table1  drinking tea out of   
most rare and precious ancient porcelain
 of  ,japan1 and sharing the loaf and   
butter with ,tonton 7now grown almost   

too fat to move1 and spread on a sofa   
beside him71 and afterwards going  to   
the window with a basin of bread and    
milk to throw to the squirrels  in the  
garden4    ,many people would be willing
 to admit1 however1 that ,walpole was an
  excitable creature where small things 
were concerned--a parroquet  or the     
prospect of being able to print original
 letters of ,ninon de  l',enclos at     
,strawberry1 or the discovery of a poem 
by the brother of  ,anne ,boleyn1 or    
,ranelagh1 where the floor is all of    
beaten princes4  ,what is not generally 
realised is that he was also a          
high-strung and  eager spectator of the 
greater things4 ,i have already spoken  
of his  enthusiasm for wild nature as   
shown in his letters from the ,alps4 ,it
 is  true he grew weary of them4 ,such  
uncouth rocks1 he wrote1 and such       
uncomely inhabitants4 ,i am as surfeited
 with mountains and inns as if  ,i had  
eat them1 he groaned in a later letter4 
,but the enthusiasm was  at least as    

genuine as the fatigue4 ,his            
tergiversation of mood proves  only that
 there were two ,walpoles1 not that the 
,walpole of the romantic  enthusiasms   
was insincere4 ,he was a devotee of     
romance1 but it was  romance under the  
control of the comic spirit4 ,he was    
always amused to  have romance brought  
down to reality1 as when1 writing of    
,mary ,queen of  ,scots1 he said3 ,i    
believe ,i have told you that1 in a very
 old trial of  her1 which ,i bought for 
,lord ,oxford's collection1 it is said  
that she  was a large lame woman4 ,take 
sentiments out of their pantoufles1 and 
reduce them to the infirmities of       
mortality1 what a falling off there  is6
 ,but see him in the picture-gallery in 
his father's old house at  ,houghton1   
after an absence of sixteen years1 and  
the romantic mood is  uppermost4 ,in one
 respect1 he writes1 speaking of the    
pictures1 ,i am  very young2 ,i cannot  
satiate myself with looking1 and he     
adds1 ,not  a picture here but calls a  

history2 not one but ,i remember in     
,downing  ,street or ,chelsea1 where    
queens and crowds admired them4 ,and1 if
 he  could not satiate himself with     
looking at the ,italian and ,flemish    
masters1 he similarly preserved the heat
 of youth in his enthusiasm  for        
,shakespeare4 ,when1 he wrote1 during   
his dispute with ,voltaire on  the      
point1 ,i think over all the great      
authors of the ,greeks1 ,romans1        
,italians1 ,french1 and ,english 7and ,i
 know no other languages71 ,i set       
,shakespeare first and alone and then   
begin anew4    ,not that it is possible 
to represent him as a man with anything 
,dionysiac in his temperament4 ,the     
furthest that one can go is to say  that
 he was a man of sincere strong         
sentiment with quivering nerves4        
,capricious in little things1 he was    
faithful in great4 ,his warmth of       
nature as a son1 as a friend1 as a      
humanitarian1 as a believer in          
tolerance and liberty1 is so unfailing  

that it is curious it should  ever have 
been brought in question by any reader  
of the letters4 ,his  quarrels are      
negligible when put beside his ceaseless
 extravagance of  good humour to his    
friends4 ,his letters alone were golden 
gifts1 but  we also find him offering   
his fortune to ,conway when the latter  
was in  difficulties4 ,i have sense     
enough1 he wrote1 to have real pleasure 
in denying myself baubles1 and in saving
 a very good income to make a  man happy
 for whom ,i have a just esteem and most
 sincere friendship4  ,blameable in ten 
thousand other respects1 he wrote to    
,conway  seventeen years later1 may not 
,i almost say ,i am perfect with regard 
to you8 ,since ,i was fifteen have ,i   
not loved you unalterably8 ,i am1  he   
claimed towards the end of his life1    
very constant and sincere to  friends of
 above forty years4 ,in his friendships 
he was more eager to  give than to      
receive4 ,madame du ,deffand was only   
dissuaded from making  him her heir by  

his threat that if she did so he would  
never visit  her again4 ,ever since his 
boyhood he was noted for his love of    
giving  pleasure and for his            
thoughtfulness regarding those he loved4
 ,the  earliest of his published letters
 was until recently one written at the  
age of fourteen4 ,but ,dr4 ,paget       
,toynbee1 in his supplementary volumes  
of  ,walpole letters1 recently          
published1 has been able to print one to
 ,lady  ,walpole written at the age of  
eight1 which suggests that ,walpole was 
a  delightful sort of child1 incapable  
of forgetting a parent1 a friend1  or a 
pet3      ,dear mama1 ,i hop you are    
wall1 and ,i am very wall1 and ,i hop   
papa is    wal1 and ,i begin to slaap1  
and ,i hop al wall and my cosens like   
there    pla things vary wall and ,i hop
 ,doly phillips is wall and pray give my
    ,duty to papa4            ,,horace  
,,walpole4      and ,i am very glad to  
hear by ,tom that all my cruatuars are  
all wall4    and ,mrs4 ,selwen has      

sprand her ,fot and gvis her ,sarves to 
you and ,i    dind ther yester ,day4    
,at ,eton later on he was a member of   
two leagues of friendship--the          
,triumvirate1 as it was called1 which   
included the two ,montagus1 and  the    
,quadruple ,alliance1 in which one of   
his fellows was ,gray4 ,the  truth is1  
,walpole was always a person who        
depended greatly on being  loved4 ,one  
loves to find people care for one1 he   
wrote to ,conway1  when they can have no
 view in it4 ,his friendship in his old 
age for  the ,miss ,berrys--his twin    
wives1 his dear ,both--to each of whom  
he  left an annuity of #djjj1 was but a 
continuation of that kindliness  which  
ran like a stream 7ruffled and sparkling
 with malice1 no doubt7  through his    
long life4 ,and his kindness was not    
limited to his friends1  but was at the 
call of children and1 as we have seen1  
of animals4  ,you know1 he explains to  
,conway1 apologising for not being able 
to  visit him on account of the presence

 of a poor little sick girl at          
,strawberry ,hill1 how courteous a      
knight ,i am to distrest virgins of     
five years old1 and that my castle gates
 are always open to them4  ,one does not
 think of ,walpole primarily as a squire
 of children1 and  certainly1 though he 
loved on occasion to romp with the      
young1 there  was little in him of a    
,dickens character4 ,but he was what is 
called  sympathetic4 ,he was sufficient 
of a man of imagination to wish to see  
an end put to the sufferings of those   
poor victims1 chimney-sweepers4  ,so far
 from being a heartless person1 as he   
has been at times  portrayed1 he had a  
heart as sensitive as an                
anti-vivisectionist4  ,this was shown in
 his attitude to animals4 ,in #agfj1    
when there was a  great terror of mad   
dogs in ,london1 and an order was issued
 that all  dogs found in the streets    
were to be killed1 he wrote to the ,earl
 of  ,strafford3      ,in ,london there 
is a more cruel campaign than that waged

 by the    ,russians3 the streets are a 
very picture of the murder of the       
innocents--one drives over nothing but  
poor dead dogs6 ,the dear1              
good-natured1 honest1 sensible          
creatures6 ,christ6 how can anybody     
hurt them8 ,nobody could but those      
,cherokees the ,english1 who desire     
no better than to be halloo'd to        
blood--one day ,samuel ,byng1 the next  
,lord ,george ,sackville1 and to-day the
 poor dogs6    ,as for ,walpole's       
interest in politics1 we are told by    
writer after  writer that he never took 
them seriously1 but was interested in   
them  mainly for gossip's sake4 ,it     
cannot be denied that he made no great  
fight for good causes while he sat in   
the ,house of ,commons4 ,nor had he  the
 temper of a ruler of men4 ,but as a    
commentator on politics1 and a  spreader
 of opinion in private1 he showed       
himself to be a politician  at once     
sagacious1 humane1 and sensitive to the 
meaning of events4  ,his detestation of 

the arbitrary use of power had almost   
the heat  of a passion4 ,he detested it 
alike in a government and in a mob4 ,he 
loathed the violence that compassed the 
death of ,admiral ,byng and the         
violence that made war on ,america4 ,he 
raged against a public world that  he   
believed was going to the devil4 ,i am  
not surprised1 he wrote in  #aggf1 at   
the idea of the devil being always at   
our elbows4 ,they who  invented him no  
doubt could not conceive how men could  
be so atrocious  to one another1 without
 the intervention of a fiend4 ,don't you
 think1  if he had never been heard of  
before1 that he would have been invented
  on the late partition of ,poland8     
,philosophy has a poor chance with  me1 
he wrote a little later in regard to    
,america1 when my warmth  is            
stirred--and yet ,i know that an angry  
old man out of ,parliament1  and that   
can do nothing but be angry1 is a       
ridiculous animal4 ,the  war against    
,america he described as a wretched     

farce of fear daubed  over with airs of 
bullying4 ,war at any time was1 in his  
eyes1 all  but the unforgivable sin4 ,in
 #agha1 however1 his hatred had         
lightened  into contempt4 ,the ,dutch   
fleet is hovering about1 he wrote1 but  
it is a pickpocket war1 and not a       
martial one1 and ,i never attend to     
petty larceny4 ,as for mobs1 his        
attitude to them is to be seen in his   
comment on the ,wilkes riots1 when he   
declares3      ,i cannot bear to have   
the name of ,liberty profaned to the    
destruction of the cause2 for frantic   
tumults only lead to that    terrible   
corrective1 ,arbitrary ,power--which    
cowards call out for as    protection1  
and knaves are so ready to grant4       
,not that he feared mobs as he feared   
governments4 ,he regarded them  with an 
aristocrat's scorn4 ,the only mob that  
almost won his tolerance  was that which
 celebrated the acquittal of ,admiral   
,keppel in #aggi4 ,it  was of the mob at
 this time that he wrote to the         

,countess of ,ossory3  ,they were1 as   
,george ,montagu said of our            
earthquakes1 so tame you  might have    
stroked them4 ,when near the end of his 
life the ,september  massacres broke out
 in ,paris1 his mob-hatred revived      
again1 and he  denounced the ,french    
with the hysterical violence with which 
many  people to-day denounce the        
,bolshevists4 ,he called them           
inferno-human  beings1 that atrocious   
and detestable nation1 and declared that
  ,france must be abhorred to latest    
posterity4 ,his letters on the  subject 
to ,holy ,hannah1 whatever else may be  
said against them1 are  not those of a  
cold and dilettante gossip4 ,they are   
the letters of the  same excitable      
,horace ,walpole who1 at an earlier age1
 when a row had  broken out between the 
manager and the audience in ,drury ,lane
 ,theatre1  had not been able to        
restrain himself1 but had cried angrily 
from his  box1 ,he is an impudent       
rascal6 ,but his politics never got     

beyond an  angry cry4 ,his conduct in   
,drury ,lane was characteristic of him3 
,the whole pit huzzaed1 and repeated the
 words4 ,only think of my    being a    
popular orator6 ,but what was still     
better1 while my shadow    of a person  
was dilating to the consistence of a    
hero1 one of the    chief ringleaders of
 the riot1 coming under the box where ,i
 sat1 and    pulling off his hat1 said1 
,mr4 ,walpole1 what would you please to 
have us do next8 ,it is impossible to   
describe to you the confusion    into   
which this apostrophe threw me4 ,i sank 
down into the box1 and    have never    
since ventured to set my foot into the  
playhouse4    ,there you have the fable 
of ,walpole's life4 ,he always in the   
end sank  down into his box or clambered
 back to his mantelpiece4 ,other men    
might  save the situation4 ,as for him1 
he had to look after his squirrels and  
his friends4    ,this means no more than
 that he was not a statesman1 but an    
artist4  ,he was a connoisseur of great 

actions1 not a practiser of them4 ,at   
,strawberry ,hill he could at least keep
 himself in sufficient health  with the 
aid of iced water and by not wearing a  
hat when out-of-doors  to compose the   
greatest works of art of their kind that
 have appeared  in ,english4 ,had he    
written his letters for money we should 
have praised  him as one of the busiest 
and most devoted of authors1 and never  
have  thought of blaming him for        
abstaining from statesmanship as he did 
from  wine4 ,possibly he had the        
constitution for neither4 ,his genius   
was a  genius1 not of ,westminster1 but 
of ,strawberry ,hill4 ,it is in         
,strawberry  ,hill that one finally     
prefers to see him framed1 an           
extraordinarily  likeable1 charming1 and
 whimsical figure4    ,back in          
,strawberry ,hill1 he is the ,prince    
,charming among  correspondents4 ,one   
cannot love him as one loves ,charles   
,lamb and men  of a deeper and more     
imaginative tenderness4 ,but how        

incomparable he  is as an acquaintance6 
,how exquisite a                        
specimen--hand-painted--for the         
collector of the choice creatures of the
 human race6          ,,the ,,teaching  
,,of ,,english    ,by ,j4 ,c4 ,,stobart 
,there is no doubt whatever about the   
need for it4 ,search high or low in  our
 social world1 you will find it full of 
laments and dissatisfaction4  ,in the   
,services ,commanding ,officers complain
 that their subalterns1  even though    
they have been through the ,classical   
course at ,public  ,schools and         
,universities1 cannot write a clear     
report4 ,headquarters  themselves issue 
their orders and regulations in         
barbarous1  unintelligible jargon4      
,government ,departments1 manned by     
,greatsmen1  wrap themselves in phrases 
of pompous obscurity1 and ,cabinet      
,ministers  couch their decisions or    
agreements in terms of such ambiguity as
 to  leave nobody certain of their      
meaning4 ,it would1 however1 be unjust  

to  attribute bad ,english entirely to  
upper-class education1 classical or     
modern4 ,the business man in his        
esteemed favours1 though he may be  more
 terse and polite1 is not always able to
 convey what he intends4  ,he lays the  
blame1 when he fails to do so1 upon the 
faulty education  of his clerks and     
stenographers4 ,the masses of the public
 too often  show in practice that they  
simply cannot understand printed rules  
and  directions4 ,it is naturally too   
much to expect a universal diffusion of 
taste or elegance in the use of our     
language2 but even when we feel the     
need of fine words to express deep      
feeling we choose for an obituary  lines
 like these3          ,there's a lonely 
grave somewhere1          ,where our    
dear and brave boy sleeps2              
,there's a little home in ,england1     
,where mother and all of us weep4    or 
these3          ,who knew that when he  
went away1          ,departing from his 
door1        ,how or when he would come 

back1          ,or whether never more8  
,for he who went away in health1        
,in battle soon waylaid1          ,which
 took him in the prime of life1         
,to lie in a distant grave4    ,no1     
there is little doubt of the need for   
teaching clearness and  improving taste4
 ,as for correct and grammatical        
writing1 one week's  study of a popular 
daily newspaper yielded the following   
excerpts from  a collection of          
two-score3      ,in the last resort we  
have to depend upon a jury drawn from   
the    people to convict the scoundrel  
who has tainted our public life1 and    
unless that jury does not do its duty1  
unless it is backed by the    public    
sentiment of the people4444      ,the   
accused was ordered to pay #c1 or a     
month's imprisonment in    default4 ,at 
,paignton1 in ,devon1 a gigantic        
plum-pudding is made and    distributed 
to the poor1 which in #ahig weighed #bej
 lb4      444 the officers closed on    
him4 ,in throwing him to the ground the 

revolver dropped from his hand4         
,the charge is #ej per cent4 higher than
 the same sheet may be bought    in the 
street just outside4 ,but what is a     
penny to an ,american8      ---- ----   
had an unfortunate experience4 ,while   
seated in his    greenhouse it was      
wrecked by the wind1 and on being       
extricated it    was ascertained that   
both his legs were broken above the     
knee1    necessitating his removal to   
the infirmary4      ,provocation has    
been given by the hostile and shifty    
conduct of the    ,tibetan authorities1 
since the signing of the ,treaty of     
#ahjj1 which    would have justified    
earlier punishment4      ,while riding  
in a hansom at ,southport a runaway     
horse dashed into the    conveyance1 and
 the shaft of the trap penetrated her   
body1 pinning    her to the hansom1 and 
causing almost instantaneous death4     
,but if you come to estimate a day's    
work--even in foot-pounds--the    woman 
who cleans1 bakes1 washes1 and takes to 

school six children1    carries water   
and tramps upstairs and down for sixteen
 hours a day1    need not fear          
comparison as to kinetic energy even    
with a miner    working eight hours4    
,what is the schoolmaster doing about   
it8 ,he is teaching a great variety  of 
languages ancient and foreign1 sciences1
 arts and crafts1 and among  other      
things he is believed to teach ,english4
 ,he has found out that  it does not    
come by nature1 and that a mastery of   
the ,english language  cannot be assured
 by teaching something quite different4 
,but as to the  best method of teaching 
boys and girls to write1 read1 and      
appreciate  good ,english there is a    
controversy4 ,just as in most other     
branches of  education there is a       
traditional method and a reformed       
method4 ,upon the  latter some of us    
build hopes of extraordinarily great    
achievements1  and if these hopes lead  
us into impatience we must ask for      
pardon4    ,though ,mr4 ,mais#b justly  

claims credit for originality  in       
departing occasionally from the fixed   
lines of ,english  teaching as it is    
practised in the ,public ,schools1 his  
,course  mainly follows the traditional 
modes and is directed to the            
preparation of pupils for the orthodox  
type of examination4  ,the nature of the
 course is indicated by the             
chapter-headings2  for example3 ,grammar
 and ,syntax--,analysis1 ,parsing and   
,synthesis--                            
,punctuation--,vocabulary--,letter-writi
ng--,reproduction--,paraphrase--        
,dictation--,prcis--,prosody--,figures  
of ,speech--,indirect ,speech--         
,essay-writing--,examination ,papers4   
,there are1 beside these  thoroughly    
normal chapters1 six pages on           
,elocution1 ,debating1  ,lecturing1     
,acting1 etc41 a useful list of cheap   
books for a home  library1 more than    
fifty critical pages on ,shakespeare1   
and a  regrettable#c twenty-page chapter
 entitled ,short ,history of ,english   

,literature4 ,i think the author is     
trying to shake off a yoke which is  not
 entirely congenial to him4 ,but if he  
will make boys write essays  on         
,scandinavia1 explain ,synecdoche1      
paraphrase ,keats1 condense the  ,vision
 of ,mirzah to #cjj words1 he cannot    
complain if he is mistaken  for one of  
the old regime and guillotined in       
distinguished company4          #b ,an  
,english ,course for ,schools4 ,by ,s4  
,b4 ,p4 ,mais1            ,assistant    
,master at ,tonbridge ,school and       
,examiner in            ,english to the 
,university of ,london4 ,grant ,richards
            ,ltd42 #fs4 net4          #c
 e4g4 ,r4 ,l4 ,stevenson represents the 
incurably            romantic and is    
followed by ,kipling and ,conrad4       
,the traditional method begins with the 
copy-book and proceeds by  way of       
dictation and formal exercises to its   
goal in the essay4  ,dictation is the   
core and kernel of it1 for even when the
 exercise is  called composition the    

subjects are so chosen that the pupil   
needs  detailed guidance throughout and 
the results are practically uniform4    
,the writing is accompanied by reading  
and grammar1 but the reading  is        
severely limited and the text is        
obscured by comment and minute          
explanation4 ,poetry is not only studied
 with notes3 it is analysed  and        
paraphrased and parsed4 ,the grammar1   
which is also traditional1  is alien    
both in its method and terminology4 ,the
 people who invented  ,english in the   
middle of the nineteenth century were   
the classical  grammarians who knew only
 one way of teaching a language1 and had
  been forced under pressure from       
indignant parents to put ,english  on   
the syllabus4 ,they gave it an hour a   
week3 they spent that hour  in parsing1 
in declining uninflected nouns1 in      
conjugating1 in  insisting that because 
the complement of a ,latin or ,greek    
copulative  verb is in concord with its 
subject therefore ,it's me must be      

wrong in ,english4 ,they did violence to
 our tongue in other ways to  make a    
,teutonic language fit a ,latin system1 
introducing all sorts  of unnecessary   
complications of gender1 mood and case1 
which do not  exist4 ,they transferred  
to ,english the whole cumbrous system of
 ,latin  grammatical terminology and    
then set harmless ,english children to  
explain their hideous technicalities4   
,all because they had an hour  to waste 
and were determined to waste it in the  
manner to which they  were accustomed4  
,they were assisted in this ambition by 
the ,scotch  professors of rhetoric who 
were especially strong in figures of    
speech4    ,and then they remarked with 
pain and surprise that their method did 
not  succeed4 ,their scholars did not   
appreciate good literature when it was  
taught to them4 ,they lacked originality
 in their composition4 ,they were       
tongue-tied in their speaking and       
muddled in their writing4 ,there was    
once a man who determined to teach his  

monkey to sing ,voi che sapete1  an air 
of which he was inordinately fond4 ,so  
he took an old stocking  with a hole in 
the toe and two holes in the heel and   
turned it inside  out in order to       
conceal the holes1 and crammed it full  
with shavings  and breadcrumbs and fried
 it carefully and fed the monkey on it4 
,when  he complained that the monkey's  
voice was no better at the end of the   
course1 his friends used to explain that
 it was because he was an old  man and  
had lived in the reign of ,queen        
,victoria4    ,remember that this       
,english teaching has been well tried   
for more  than fifty years4             
,substantially1 the course we are       
considering now  does not differ in its 
methods from books like ,dalgleish's    
,english  ,composition in ,prose and    
,verse based on ,grammatical ,synthesis 
of  #ahfd or ,dr4 ,william ,smith's     
,english ,course4 ,the subject subsists 
as  a shuttlecock in a perpetual game of
 ,badminton between examiners and       

teachers4 ,if you ask the examiner of   
,english why he continues to set  such  
stupid questions1 he replies quite      
rightly that he is forced to  do so by  
the stupidity of the schoolmasters who  
teach it4 ,if you ask  the schoolmaster 
why he makes his ,english the dullest   
subject in the  syllabus1 he will       
probably answer that he is preparing for
 the ,london  ,matriculation4 ,if you   
look for an explanation of the method1  
you might  surmise that the aim is to   
secure accuracy in grammar at all costs4
  ,but that is not the aim4 ,mr4 ,mais  
explains it in a paragraph which he     
might well set for analysis of pronouns3
 ,of all our failings as a  nation1 this
 is the most marked4 ,in our talk we are
 reticent2 in our  writing we are       
incoherent and slipshod4 ,every         
schoolmaster knows from  sad experience 
that the average boy cannot produce a   
readable essay on  any subject1 however 
hard he may try4 ,he strives by every   
means in his  power to instil a sense of

 originality in his classes1 to teach   
his  boys and girls to observe4444      
,originality and observation6    ,to    
take the second first1 every scoutmaster
 knows that observation can  be taught1 
but not by dictation4 ,probably there is
 no faculty of the  mind which responds 
so readily to training and practice4 ,by
 systematic  questioning a young child  
can be taught to notice the common      
objects  by the wayside on his morning  
walk1 the goods in the shop windows1 the
  flowers in the garden1 to remember    
them and describe them afterwards  with 
great fidelity4 ,a good teacher of      
infants can easily teach a  child of six
 or seven to observe minute differences1
 to compare and  contrast similar       
objects1 such as the bulb of the iris   
and the corn  of the crocus4 ,this kind 
of observation is commonly appropriated 
by  science1 and it is indeed the same  
faculty which the physicist employs     
afterwards with his fine balances and   
test-tubes4 ,but it is also1 when       

reproduced in language1 the beginning of
 good ,english4 ,words are the          
balances4 ,careful description in words1
 written and spoken1 of things  actually
 seen is1 when developed fully1 more    
than half of the business  of poets1    
journalists1 and novelists4 ,a few      
gifted mortals like ,balzac1  ,gissing1 
or ,hardy may possess the faculty by    
nature1 but any one may  acquire it     
through early training and continuous   
practice4 ,it can be  lost almost as    
easily as it is won4    ,can originality
 be taught8 ,less easily perhaps than   
observation4 ,real  originality1 in the 
sense of creative power1 or what in its 
highest  form we call ,inspiration1     
cannot be taught in school4 ,who taught 
,blake to see the tiger burning bright  
in midmost eighteenth-century  ,london8 
,there are some men born1 apparently1 to
 be our masters4 ,ideas  flow not into  
them but out of them4 ,they are the     
mainsprings of our  mechanism4 ,we      
attribute their origin to the wandering 

breath of some  holy spirit4 ,but in a  
humbler sense children can certainly be 
trained  to be original1 just as they   
can be trained by opposite methods to   
be commonplace1 slavish1 imitative1     
genteel1 conventional1 correct1  and    
accommodating4 ,these virtues are taught
 with great diligence and  success in   
many schools1 public and private4 ,in   
the earliest stage  you copy in a       
beautiful copperplate handwriting words 
like ,england  ,expects ,every1 and you 
read aloud very slowly from a little    
book  which contains these words in     
immense type3 ,,shun ,,that ,,ox ,,he   
,,is ,,shy4 ,you  recite in chorus after
 teacher1 you correct your speech by    
mimicking  her accents and gestures4    
,you sit1 stand1 or march to numbers at 
the  word of command4 ,in the next stage
 you are promoted to dictation1 and     
once a fortnight you write a            
composition4 ,but as the theme is ,duty 
or  ,the ,elephant or something about   
which you can hardly be expected to     

have connected notions1 you are given   
the headings1 told what to say1  have   
your mistakes carefully underlined1 and 
are then presented with a  model or fair
 copy4 ,any departure from the normal1  
whether in spelling  or in ideas1 is    
heavily penalised1 and no credit is     
given for positive  merit4 ,in the next 
stage you learn the art of              
letter-writing by  studying celebrated  
models1 you paraphrase good poetry into 
bad prose1  you analyse and parse and   
explain grammatical terms1 you summarise
 and  expand1 you turn direct into      
indirect speech and generally feed your 
mind with a generous diet of cold minced
 hash4    ,if ,i were a little boy      
trained for years and years according to
 this  plan1 ,i hope ,i should be       
grateful to my teachers for all the     
trouble  they had taken with me4 ,but1  
if they then turned round upon me and   
reproached me with not being original1  
,i should be sorely tempted to  commit a
 breach of good ,english and say ,that  

is the limit6    ,in the pedagogical and
 psychological sense these methods are  
twenty  years behind the times4 ,they   
have been exploded in theory and        
disproved  in practice4 ,each subject in
 its turn has fought its battle with    
the ,dictation ,method1 and everywhere1 
except perhaps in religious             
instruction1 the principle has been     
decided4 ,in drawing1 the freehand  copy
 has given place to direct observation2 
in mathematics1 mechanical  working of  
rules and examples has been replaced by 
intelligence and  problems4 ,even       
physical exercises are no longer mere   
drill4    ,perhaps it is in the primary 
school that we shall find the right     
principles most clearly marked1 if only 
because with the younger  children the  
teacher is nearer to ,nature and        
mistakes punish themselves  more        
visibly4 ,there also the dead weight of 
tradition has been less  oppressive4    
,before ,madame ,montessori's star had  
risen above the  firmament the best     

teachers in ,english infant schools had 
solved the  fundamental problems of how 
to teach good ,english4 ,the principle  
is that what the child speaks or writes 
shall come from its own  brain4 ,the    
first medium of expression is1 of       
course1 the tongue4 ,no  children1 not  
even ,english children1 are tongue-tied 
by nature1 but  they are generally timid
 and sensitive4 ,if they find their     
adult world  discouraging               
communicativeness with anger1 or        
sarcasm1 or pedantry1  they will close  
down upon the rock of silence like the  
limpet which  you must smash before you 
move4 ,probably before he comes to      
school the  child has already been      
silenced by a mother or father whose    
love will  bear anything for the child  
except to listen to him4 ,it is         
wonderful  to watch the skilled teacher 
of infants repairing this mischief1     
re-establishing confidence between      
innocence and wisdom1 unlocking  hearts 
and tongues1 creating an atmosphere of  

freedom in which she  possesses1 in     
reality1 absolute control4 ,instead of  
limpets you  behold sea-anemones full   
open4 ,the children talk at great length
 in  co-ordinate construction about     
their mother and the baby's tooth1 and  
when they have finished they sit quiet  
listening to others4 ,sometimes  the    
teacher takes up her parable and tells  
them about ,cinderella or the  ,king of 
the ,golden ,river4 ,in other lessons   
other mediums of expression             
appear--pencils1 chalk1 plastic clay1   
music1 dance1 drama4 ,the teacher       
continues unobtrusively feeding the     
children with beautiful things1 she     
sings and plays to them1 shows them     
pictures and exhibits gentleness1  calm1
 and love4    ,amid all the fog of      
controversy and all the noise of        
disputing  cheap-jacks that surrounds   
the art and practice of education ,i    
see some of these infants' class-rooms  
as clear beacons showing  the           
incontestably true course4 ,i cannot see

 any limit of years to  its progress4   
,many boys' and girls' schools have     
grasped the same  principles and        
extended them to the age of fourteen    
with the same  undeniable success in the
 results4 ,naturally1 as the child grows
 the  method has to be adapted1 but the 
principle remains steadfast4 ,i would   
not describe it as freedom1 because the 
child is not free1 though he  feels     
free4 ,one never doubts the existence of
 a controlling will4 ,but  what is      
encouraged is authentic expression4 ,in 
writing1 topics are set  which draw out 
of the child's own world the child's own
 thoughts4 ,he is  guided to think for  
himself and to speak his thoughts       
fearlessly4 ,the  skill of the teacher  
is shown mainly in the choice of        
subjects and the  discretion with which 
corrections are made4 ,observation is   
translated  into description1 first in  
speech and then1 when the pencil has    
been  mastered1 in writing4 ,a child of 
nine may be asked to describe a corner  

of the class-room so that a blind man   
could understand exactly what  is there 
and what it looks like4 ,a child of     
twelve may be asked to  describe the    
prettiest room she ever saw4 ,a child of
 fourteen may be  asked to describe the 
,harrow ,road 7a7 on a ,saturday night1 
7b7 on a  ,sunday morning4 ,why stop at 
fourteen8    ,as well as observation and
 description1 the infant school trains  
the  elements of imagination and        
invention4 ,cannot the child who at     
eight  years old wrote on ,if ,i were   
the ,king4444 profitably be asked to    
write on ,if ,i had been ,oliver        
,cromwell4444 at eighteen8 ,in one      
girls'  school the teacher merely wrote 
on the blackboard ,when the ,moon went  
out and left the rest to the class4 ,in 
the same way children can  be trained to
 argue pro and contra about problems of 
their own  lives which clearly admit of 
argument1 like ,would you rather be six 
or sixteen8 ,would you rather be a boy  
or a girl8 ,people new to  the method   

might suppose that1 although the        
brighter children could  possibly attack
 such themes with success1 the ordinary 
or dull child  would be left staring4   
,it is not so4 ,whole classes of        
children trained  in this way produce   
work which is pleasant to read4 ,the    
essentials seem  to be stimulating      
topics1 authentic expression without    
dictation1 and  constant practice4 ,to  
one who has seen the elementary steps   
there is no  magic in the ,perse ,plays 
or the ,draconian ,poems4 ,they are     
natural4 ,it  is dullness that is       
artificial4 ,real dullness1 such as one 
finds in  ,common ,rooms1 ,mess ,rooms1 
,pulpits1 and ,government ,offices is   
the fruit  of a long1 careful1 and      
generally expensive education in that   
quality4    ,in teaching a young person 
to speak and write you are also teaching
  him to think1 because words represent 
thoughts4 ,the adult may be able  to    
think connectedly in silence1 but the   
child generally cannot4  ,the child's   

world is1 however1 at the largest a     
little one1 and it  is necessary to     
enlarge it by various means1 including  
stories and  pictures1 songs and books4 
,the book gradually becomes more        
prominent  as the art of reading is     
mastered4 ,a child constantly encouraged
 to  express himself freely1 always     
giving out and seldom taking in1 would  
develop a number of unpleasant          
qualities4 ,therefore reading is only   
second to writing in its importance4 ,a 
generous supply of good books is  the   
second fundamental necessity of sound   
,english teaching4 ,so far as  ,i know1 
no school has ever reached the limit in 
this direction4 ,there  is an excellent 
society which bases its method of       
teaching mainly on  copious reading and 
has been able to multiply seven-fold the
 usual  reading programme of primary    
schools4 ,but they seem to put the book 
a  little too much into the foreground4 
,it is citizens that we seek to         
educate4 ,for them books should be the  

background of real life4 ,we do  not all
 possess those opulent libraries into   
which ,ruskin would turn  his princesses
 to browse at will2 but ,i subscribe to 
his doctrine in  principle4 ,mere       
quantity of reading is a great thing4   
,the more children  read1 the better    
they will choose their books4    ,now   
these two things alone1 authentic       
expression and copious reading1  are    
capable of producing good ,english4     
,children taught well in these  methods 
can1 without any formal instruction in  
spelling or grammar1  write correctly as
 well as pleasantly4 ,something more is 
needed for  those who seek to become    
scholars in ,english1 and still more if 
they  aim at the study of language4 ,for
 such as these the teaching may         
gradually and progressively develop a   
scientific character4 ,in the  earliest 
stages fluency was itself a chief aim1  
and the teacher was  compelled to be    
very sparing of interruptions and       
corrections4 ,she  had to use discretion

 and to judge for herself what mistakes 
were  dangerous4 ,she might not         
interpose though twenty successive      
clauses  were joined together by and1   
because she knew that it is natural  for
 language to begin with co-ordinates and
 that mere mental growth  combined with 
practice in reading and writing will    
cure the fault4  ,she corrected         
vulgarisms1 like he done it1 not with   
any grammatical  disquisition but       
dogmatically4 ,even where the children  
come from homes  where the ,king's      
,english is never spoken1 systematic    
speech-training  in the infants' school 
can correct and refine language before  
pen is  put to paper4 ,these infant     
years seem to be intended by ,nature for
  the learning of language4 ,ears are   
sharp and memories retentive4 ,but      
habits once formed at that age1 whether 
good or bad1 are very difficult  to     
eradicate later on4 ,perhaps            
pronunciation is best taught through    
disguised phonetics in the singing      

lesson and elocution in the poetry      
lesson4    ,in the first written work it
 may be found that the spelling is all  
wrong4 ,great controversies rage on this
 subject4 ,but it seems right  to regard
 bad spelling as a disease which needs  
careful individual  diagnosis in the    
earliest stages1 when it can be cured so
 as to give no  more trouble4 ,most     
often it springs from some fault in the 
method by  which the child has learnt to
 read4 ,some people are allowed to grow 
up  incapable of spelling because they  
make out the printed word by some       
process of guesswork and never fix the  
letters upon their memory4 ,good  or bad
 spelling very rapidly becomes          
automatic4    ,much the same is true of 
grammar4 ,as ,i have said before1       
accurate  use of language can be        
attained by purely empirical and        
dogmatic  methods4 ,grammar is no       
essential preliminary to good ,english1 
but  nevertheless there may be a good   
case for teaching it later on to  those 

who can afford the time4 ,it is well    
that ,english boys and girls  should    
know something of the history and       
structure of their language  as well as 
their constitution4 ,it may be necessary
 for the linguist to  understand the    
common grammatical technique of all     
languages4 ,moreover1  teachers         
naturally seek to limit the domain of   
mere dogma and to give  explanations    
where they can4 ,thus a child can easily
 be cured of saying  ,between you and ,i
 merely through the teacher's command1  
,say me4  ,he can be cured of saying    
,like ,i did in the same way4 ,he will  
of  course be on surer ground if he     
understands the reason4 ,only let it be 
,english grammar and not ,latin grammar 
that is used4 ,the reason why the  child
 should say ,i am taller than he is1 if 
a reason must be given1  that than is   
historically identical with then1 not   
that quam  takes the same case after it 
as before it4    ,if we could only keep 
our eyes steadily fixed on the goal and 

discard  formalism1 tradition1 and      
antiquated examinations1 there is in the
 work  of the best infants' and         
elementary schools a broad enough base  
for us  to build a sound structure of   
,english up to the ,university and      
beyond4  ,perhaps some day a progressive
 ,university may try the experiment of  
an  ,english ,arts ,course in which the 
first part would consist solely of      
,advanced ,reading and ,writing1 and the
 second part of options between         
,english ,philosophy1 ,english          
,philology1 ,english ,poetics1 or       
,english  ,criticism4 ,it need not be   
any lower in standard than an ,oxford   
,greats  course4    ,we could not well  
spare the scholars4 ,on the contrary1   
those who  believe with me that ,english
 contains all things necessary to       
culture  will be most anxious to enlist 
for its service the finest scholarship  
of the day4 ,some will think the fare   
provided in such a course as ,i  have   
outlined too rich in sugar or fat and   

wanting in the tougher  constituents    
which produce bone and muscle4 ,it is   
essential to require  more and more     
precision and accuracy as the child     
passes through the  phases of           
adolescence4 ,this was the real virtue  
of the old classical  training1 and it  
is too often wanting on ,modern ,sides4 
,we must  contemplate something very    
like the best of classical teaching     
applied  to ,english ,classics for big  
boys and girls4    ,i write as a        
,pharisee of the ,pharisees1 brought up 
at the feet of  ,gamaliel4 ,a man like  
,robert ,whitelaw loved the literature  
of ,greece  and ,rome with such devotion
 that its very forms were sacred to him4
  ,a false quantity or a false concord  
was to him a personal affront3  it      
caused him physical pain4 ,accents and  
particles mattered to him  and so they  
mattered to us4 ,there was a right and a
 wrong4 ,we did not  understand why1 but
 we knew and felt his scorn of anything 
careless or  superficial4 ,he read      

,sophocles aloud with an intensity that 
at first  puzzled and then infected us4 
,occasionally1 but all too rarely1 it   
was  his task to do the same with       
,chaucer or ,browning4 ,why not8    ,but
 at this point ,i labour with a sense of
 unreality4 ,is it possible  to capture 
for our language a tithe of that old    
classical fervour8 ,we  have buried our 
,grammarian upon his peak1 fronting the 
sunrise4 ,he  settled hoti's business4  
,i have heard him lecture for an hour   
upon  the future sense of the optative  
with an enthusiasm that was drawn from  
some pure source in the depths4         
,doubtless he survives in disciples4 ,is
  it the mere mystery and power of the  
,word that inspires them8 ,i will  not  
believe that it is any inherent virtue  
possessed by ,propertius but  denied to 
,shelley that inspires the classical    
scholar4 ,but where are  our inspired   
teachers of ,english8 ,i have an        
impression of critical1  quizzical      
gentlemen1 deeply learned in            

,elizabethan drama or ,saxon  dialect1  
but all the same terribly mild4 ,i      
cannot picture one of their  disciples  
seriously moved by a misplaced and which
 or an unrelated  participle in         
,english4 ,something is missing4        
,there are thousands of genuine lovers  
of ,english literature scattered  up and
 down the country1 people who feel the  
thrill of delight in  verbal beauty     
quite as keenly as any classical        
scholar4 ,but they  want leaders and a  
voice4 ,we suffer our fools too gladly  
in ,english  studies4 ,any lunatic is   
allowed to criticise1 traduce1          
misinterpret  ,dryden1 ,carlyle1        
,addison1 even ,shakespeare1 as if they 
were our private  playthings4 ,they are 
not4 ,they are worthy of their pedestals
 of worship  just as much as ,homer and 
,aristotle4    ,the issue of the ,war   
has established more firmly than ever   
the  predominance of the ,english       
language in the world4 ,if our schools  
would rise to their opportunity and     

raise ,english into a culture  worthy of
 its qualities there seems no reason why
 it should not become  the universal    
medium of civilisation for the world4   
,the richness and  variety of its       
literature and the simplicity and       
flexibility of its  structure render it1
 as a language1 amply sufficient4       
,whether this  is visionary or not1 it  
is no longer safe for those who cherish 
the  humanities in education to rely    
upon the old impregnable position of    
,latin and ,greek4 ,the world has       
received one of those secular shocks in 
which tradition crumbles to dust4       
,,an ,,article ,,on ,,particles    ,by  
,,alice ,,meynell                       
,inconquerable--,,bacon    ,a general   
good habit might long ago have been     
ruled for our national  literature in   
the use of two negatives--un or in1 and 
less4  ,a good rule once made known1    
long ago1 would surely have lasted4  ,we
 might set about it even yet1 though    
with much to chastise4 ,let  us try4    

,the fault of un and in is of long      
standing4 ,that of a  misapplied less is
 probably quite modern4 ,what ,i have to
 suggest is  an obvious enough          
correction1 but the offence is          
broadcast1 therefore  correction cannot 
surely be inopportune or importunate4   
,for who is  there who does not give the
 teutonic un to the ,latin or ,romance  
word1  writing unfortunate or           
ungracious8 ,or who now is careful to   
write  inconquerable8 ,any man to-day   
would certainly write unconquerable4    
,it may not be that ,bacon is always    
consistent2 nor is ,landor1 who had     
something--but that something has proved
 altogether ineffectual--to  say on this
 question of good ,english4 ,we must own
 the incorrect use of  the ,german      
particle to be the commonest thing in   
the world1 but the  incorrect use of the
 ,latin or ,romantic derivative1 on the 
other hand1  does not occur4    ,the    
,teutonic un comes more readily to the  
,english pen than the ,latin  in1 and   

thus is joined habitually to the wrong  
kind of adjective  and verb and adverb4 
,not only1 moreover1 to the ,romantic   
word1 but  also to the ,greek4 ,we have 
learnt to write asymmetry1 but not to   
avoid unsymmetrical4 ,there is also a   
very frequent jumble1 so that  uncivil  
appears in the same phrase with         
incivility1 and unable  with inability1 
undigested with indigestible1 ungrateful
 with  ingratitude--but ,i need cite no 
more4 ,it is worth noting that these    
confusions are not due to a kind of     
reluctance in the use of un for  nouns4 
,we have many nouns with the un 7not    
otherwise to my purpose73  unrest1      
unbelief1 unfaith1 unhappiness1 untruth1
 unthrift1  unskilfulness1 and so forth4
    ,now ,i know well that the reader   
has been courteously waiting until ,i   
should draw breath for a paragraph in   
order to say ,undiscovered3             
,shakespeare4 ,it is all too true4 ,i   
can only repeat1 murmuring1             
,inconquerable3 ,bacon4    ,there is    

nothing in ,english that we should prize
 more dearly than  our right negative   
particles of both derivations1 and      
especially  our particle of ,german     
derivation in its right ,teutonic place4
 ,that  un implies1 encloses so much1   
denies so much1 refuses so much1        
point-blank1 with a tragic irony that   
,french1 for example1 can hardly        
compass4 ,compare our all-significant   
unloved1 unforgiven1 with any  phrase of
 ,french4 ,there are abysses1 in those  
words1 at our summons1  deep calling to 
deep1 dreadful or tender passion1 the   
thing and its  undoing locked together1 
grappled4 ,but in order to keep these   
great  significances the un should not  
be squandered as we squander it4 ,and   
neither should the less closely embraced
 in be so neglected4 ,it has  its right 
place and dignity and is1 as it were1   
more deliberate4 ,it is  worth while1   
furthermore1 to enhance the value of    
both our negative  particles 7one of    
them1 of course1 shared with ,french7 by

 considering  how poor a negative that  
last-named tongue has often and often to
 use  for lack of a better2 not even a  
particle1 but a thing unfastened1  a    
weak separate word1 a half-hearted      
denial--peu4 ,let us try to  keep our un
 in its right place by considering how1 
for instance1 it  makes of undone a word
 of incomparable tragedy1 surpassing    
defeated  and ruined and all others of  
their kind4 ,undone has the purely      
,english faculty1 moreover1 of giving to
 a little familiar word a sudden        
greatness1 such greatness as leaps to   
,lear's every inch4 ,this was  found to 
be intranslatable when ,rossi acted     
,king ,lear in ,italian2 he  had to     
speak the phrase in ,english4           
,wonderfully well furnished as  we are  
for all adventures1 is it not then time 
that we reviewed and  revised our       
habits1 and restored to their proper    
lineage the great  contemporary         
histories of our language by a right and
 left distribution  of the in and the   

un8 ,our incorrect ways were never      
standardized1  or they standardized     
themselves by precedent4 ,no1 it is all 
too late4  ,we shall never undo the     
habit now1 or cease to be unconscious in
 our  custom4    ,but for the other     
particle--the less--there is hope or    
there might  be1 but for ,shakespeare's 
strange and slightly ambiguous viewless4
 ,we  might at least check new coinings4
 ,less is in the construction here  to  
be considered1 though not in other      
combinations1 fairly equivalent  to the 
,teutonic without4 ,it has great value4 
,it also locks close  meanings with its 
word4 ,but that word should be a noun1  
and not a verb4  ,yet it is a verb at   
the present day1 not only in hasty      
column after  column1 but in page by    
deliberate page1 and especially in      
stanza by  deliberate stanza4 ,for no   
doubt the perfervid poets have spread   
that  fashion4 ,you will find relentless
 scattered in modern verse1 and         
quenchless and tireless frequent4       

,keats1 instigated indirectly if  not   
directly by ,leigh ,hunt1 has utterless4
 ,the misuse of less is  even somewhat  
more to be resisted than that of un     
because in the  case first named the    
grammatical construction of our ,english
 words  7and we have not too many laws  
of construction7 is violated4 ,and      
beautiful words that are neglected for  
quenchless and relentless  pass out of  
use2 the words that have less for their 
lawful negative  are cheapened2 and     
writers of talent learn to dash and as  
it were to  gesticulate4                
,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,and ,,news  
,correspondence from readers on all     
subjects of bibliographical  interest is
 invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the best
 of his ability1  answer all queries    
addressed to him4      ,,general ,,notes
    ,we are glad to see that the        
,clarendon ,press has published ,mr4    
,percy  ,simpson's edition of ,every    
,man in ,his ,humour1 a pioneer volume  
to  the complete edition of ,ben        

,jonson's ,works1 which the same editor1
  in conjunction with ,professor        
,herford1 has been for many years       
preparing4 ,their edition should1 we    
think1 be definitive 7we use ,sir       
,eric's magical word with extreme       
caution for fear of provoking the       
,national ,union of ,textual ,editors to
 down books and refuse to continue      
their researches74 ,a new edition of    
,ben ,jonson's work is certainly        
needed3 ,gifford1 re-edited by          
,cunningham1 is sadly inadequate2 the   
text is bad and the notes explain       
nothing that one wants to know4  ,one   
walks darkling through the ,discoveries4
 ,take ,ben's remarks  about            
painting--they are ,hermetic4 ,what1 for
 instance1 does this  mean8 ,parrhasius 
was the first won reputation by adding  
symmetry  to picture4444 ,eupompus gave 
it splendour by numbers and other       
elegancies4 ,we shall indeed be grateful
 to the new editors if they  can tell us
 exactly how ,eupompus gave splendour to

 art by numbers--and  other elegancies4 
,the secret might be whispered along the
 galleries of  ,burlington ,house4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,another interesting book that should   
soon1 though there is no news of  its   
immediate arrival1 be coming from the   
,clarendon ,press is the third  volume  
of ,mr4 ,saintsbury's ,caroline ,poets4 
,the first two volumes  of this massive 
anthology opened up a whole province of 
literature  hitherto almost unknown to  
the general reader4 ,in the last this   
great  work of excavation and           
exploration should be completed4 ,with  
the  exception of ,chamberlayne and the 
,matchless ,orinda the ,carolines of    
,mr4 ,saintsbury's choice have been very
 obscure4 ,in the last volume1  we      
understand1 he intends to soar to the   
dizzy heights of eminence on  which     
,cleveland stands4 ,a good critical     
edition of ,cleveland will be  welcomed 
by all lovers of seventeenth-century    
literature4 ,the early  editions of his 

works are a piratical sort of           
publication4 ,some of his  poems were1  
even in his own life-time1 attributed to
 other writers1  notably his            
,hermaphrodite1 which was fathered on   
,randolph1 and which  he claimed as his 
own in an amusing little poem appended1 
later on1  to the stolen piece4 ,and    
yet1 in spite of ,cleveland's claim to  
his  own property1 ,carew ,hazlitt1 in  
his reprint of ,randolph1 continues to  
attribute the ,hermaphrodite to its     
wrongful owner4 ,a very unnecessary  and
 supererogatory blunder4           99   
99       99       99       99    ,while 
we are on the subject of the ,caroline  
,poets we would like to  express a pious
 hope that some day1 when we are all    
immensely rich1  the ,clarendon ,press1 
or some other great publishing          
institution1 will  bring out a complete 
corpus of ,english poetry4 ,more than a 
century has  elapsed since ,chalmers    
issued his ,english ,poets1 and the     
book1 in  spite of bad editing and very 

imperfect--indeed non-existent--critical
  apparatus1 is still an extremely      
useful one4 ,it contains a complete     
,gower1 a complete ,lydgate1 a complete 
,hawes1 and a complete ,skelton4  ,the  
text of these older poets is indeed     
atrocious2 but the fact remains  that   
they are there1 reprinted and easily    
accessible in ,chalmers's  stout        
volumes4 ,for any study of the          
eighteenth century ,chalmers is         
invaluable2 everything is in him1 from  
the ,ruins of ,rome to the  ,pleasures  
of ,digestion--or is it the ,art of     
,preserving ,health8 ,a  well-edited    
,chalmers would be a work of immense    
value4 ,and if the  ,clarendon ,press   
would go on1 in the same edition1 from  
the ,carolines to  the ,georgians and   
back1 through the ,elizabethans and     
,tudors as far as  the ,brutians 7the   
contemporaries of our first ,trojan     
king71 we should  be for ever grateful4 
,but before that comes to pass we must  
all1 as has  already been hinted1 be    

immensely rich           99       99    
99       99       99    ,a rather       
battered ,purchas's ,pilgrim minus its  
title-page came into  our hands         
recently4 ,it appears to be the second  
edition1 but the only  actual indication
 of date that we can discover is to be  
found in the  following passage1 on     
which by a happy chance we lighted while
 turning  over the pages of the book4   
,sultan ,achmet is now1 ,anno #afac1    
five and  twentie yeares old3 of good   
stature1 strong and active more than any
 of  his ,court4 ,he hath three thousand
 ,concubines4 ,we cannot help believing 
that someone had been pulling the       
,reverend ,samuel ,purchas's leg on the 
subject of young ,sultan ,achmet's      
harem4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,the other day we bought 
a charming little first edition of      
,candide  7#agei74 ,the title-page is   
amusing3 ,candide1 ou l',optimisme1     
traduit  de l',allemand de ,mr4 le      
,docteur ,ralph2 no publisher or place1 

but the  date ,,mdcclix4 ,it was often  
,voltaire's custom not to acknowledge   
his  publications till they were a      
success4 ,zadig 7#agdi7 is similarly    
without author's or publisher's name4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,perhaps some of our readers may be able
 to throw some light on a  curious and  
interesting book1 ,specimens of         
,macaronic ,poetry1  published by ,j4   
,richard ,beckley in #ahca4 ,the volume 
contains epics  written on a single     
letter1 like that which begins3         
,cattorum canimus certemina clara       
canumque1    ,odes in this style3       
,emma6 fer chartam1 calamos1 et inkum1  
,and the old ,scottish ,testament of    
,mr4 ,andro ,kennedy1 of which the first
  stanza runs3          ,i ,master      
,andro ,kennedy1        ,a matre quando 
sum vocatus1        ,begotten with some 
incuby1        ,or with some freir      
infatuatus2        ,in faith ,i can     
nocht tell redely1        ,unde aut ubi 
fui natus1        ,but in truth ,i trow 

trewely4        ,quod sum diabolus      
incarnatus4    ,no author's name is     
given and we have had no time or        
opportunity to  make researches4 ,but   
perhaps1 as we have suggested1 some of  
our readers  may be able to give us the 
information desired4           99       
99       99       99       99    ,we    
were fortunate in recently securing a   
very fine copy of ,certaine  ,learned   
and ,elegant ,workes of the ,right      
,honourable ,fulke ,lord ,brooke1       
written in his ,youth and familiar      
,exercise with ,sir ,philip ,sidney1    
,henry ,seyle1 #afcc4 ,it is high time  
that a new edition of these very        
interesting and1 by moments1 very great 
poems was published4 ,grosart's  reprint
 is faulty and is1 furthermore1         
practically unprocurable4 ,as a  matter 
of fact a new edition was1 we           
understand1 in process of being         
prepared by a very able young scholar of
 ,christ ,church1 when the war  broke   
out and the would-be editor was         

unhappily killed4 ,mr4 ,rose had1  we   
believe1 made considerable researches   
and had even discovered a  certain      
amount of new material1 but he had not  
committed the results  of his labours to
 paper2 so that the possible new edition
 of ,greville  has perished with him4   
,if the rest of ,greville's works could 
be edited  as well as his ,life of      
,sidney has been by ,mr4 ,nowell ,smith 
we should be  very well pleased4 ,but   
the prospect of getting any new edition 
at all  seems now extremely unlikely4   
,,recent ,,additions ,,to ,,libraries   
,some early printed books of            
considerable interest have recently     
been added to the ,library of the       
,british ,museum1 among them a copy  of 
,sannazaro's ,arcadia1 ,venice1 #aejb1  
in a contemporary binding  of boards    
covered with designs printed from       
woodblocks4 ,terentius3  ,comedi cum    
interpretatione ,donati1 ,baptista de   
,tortis1 ,venice1  #adhb4 ,elegantiolae1
 by ,augustinus ,datus1 produced at     

,verona by  an unidentified printer in  
#adhc4 ,ptolemaeus1 ,liber quadripartit1
  ,ratdolt1 ,venice1 #adhd4 ,maurice de 
,sully1 ,bishop of ,paris3 ,les         
exposicions des euungilles en romant1   
,antoine ,neyret1 ,chambry1 #adhd4      
7,only four fully authenticated         
incunabula of ,chambry are known1 of    
which this is the earliest and rarest4  
,it is printed in large ,gothic  type   
and adorned with woodcuts4 ,the ,museum 
possesses specimens of  the second1     
third1 and fourth ,chambry books1 and   
this is a perfect  copy of the first47  
,jo3 ,balbus ,januensis3 ,catholicon1   
,jean du ,pr1  ,lyon1 #adib4 ,several   
examples of early ,spanish printing have
 also been  presented1 as well as two   
first editions of ,swinburne1 ,laus     
,veneris1  ,moxon1 #ahff1 and ,dolores1 
,hotten1 #ahfg1 with ,the ,devil's      
,duel3 a  letter to the editor of ,the  
,examiner1 an attack on ,robert         
,buchanan1  written by ,swinburne under 
the pseudonym of ,thomas ,maitland1 and 

printed for private circulation in      
#ahge4      ,,items ,,from ,,the        
,,booksellers' ,,catalogues    ,with the
 present boom in seventeenth-century    
literature one is  unlikely1 to judge   
from the catalogues of the better-known 
booksellers1  to pick up many bargains  
in ,caroline literature in ,london4 ,the
  collector's only hope will be chance  
or the oversight or ignorance  of the   
vendor4 ,we know of someone who recently
 had the good fortune  to find a copy of
 the extremely scarce ,lyric ,poems of  
,philip ,ayres  7#afhg7 in a parcel of  
miscellaneous rubbish4 ,but that was a  
stroke of  luck not likely to be        
repeated1 and collectors must be        
prepared to pay  pretty heavily for     
their seventeenth century now4 ,the     
following items  from various catalogues
 will indicate the current scale of     
prices for  early editions of ,jacobean 
and ,caroline books4 ,we shall be       
interested  to see the prices fetched in
 the sale of the third portion of the   

late  ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,leighton's stock1 at
 ,messrs4 ,sotheby's in the last days of
  ,october4 ,the catalogue makes mention
 of many extremely interesting          
seventeenth-century books as well as    
important manuscripts and early  printed
 books4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,messrs4 ,dobell offer   
eight first editions of ,richard        
,brathwaite4  ,barnabee's ,journall1    
published by ,john ,haviland in #afch1  
is priced  at #dh1 and ,ar't ,asleepe   
,husband8 ,a ,boulster ,lecture1 #afdj1 
at  #be4 ,two more copies of this last  
work are included among the books  at   
the ,leighton sale4 ,the second edition 
of ,carew's ,poems 7#afdb71 in  the     
original calf1 is offered at ten        
guineas2 and a first edition of         
,dekker's ,tragi-,comedy1 called ,match 
,mee in ,london 7#afca71 at #ad4 ,a     
copy of the #aggb edition of ,carew's   
,poems1 originally the property of      
,mrs4 ,browning1 with her maiden name   
and date1 #ahdb1 on the title-page1  is 

on sale at the ,serendipity ,bookshop1  
price four guineas4 ,another  book of   
,mrs4 ,browning's at the ,serendipity   
,shop is ,samuel ,daniel's  ,history of 
the ,civil ,wars1 #agag4 ,this is one of
 those odd reprints  of ,elizabethan    
poets that are to be found scattered up 
and down the  eighteenth century4       
,perhaps the most unexpected of them is 
the folio  ,works of ,michael ,drayton1 
,esq42 ,a celebrated ,poet in the       
,reigns of  ,queen ,elizabeth1 ,king    
,james ,i41 and ,charles ,i41 printed by
 ,j4 ,hughs  and sold by ,r4 ,dodsley1  
#agdh4 ,among other valuable            
seventeenth-century  books at the       
,serendipity ,shop are ,crashaw's       
,carmen ,deo ,nostro in  the original   
vellum1 printed at ,paris1 #afeb1 #dj1 a
 second edition of  ,herbert's ,temple1 
and a first edition of ,hesperides1 or  
the works1  both ,human and ,divine1 of 
,robert ,herrick1 ,esq41 #adj4          
99       99       99       99       99  
,it is interesting to note what high    

prices the works of ,surtees can  always
 command4 ,in ,mr4 ,frank ,hollings's   
catalogue a set of the ,sporting        
novels1 with ,leech's illustrations1 one
 of them a first edition and the  others
 early issues1 is offered for #cg #ajs4 
,on the other hand1 a first edition of  
,friendship's ,garland can be  bought at
 ,messrs4 ,dobell's for #ajs4 #f;d41 and
 a first edition of  ,buchanan's ,book  
of ,orm for half-a-crown4    ,people    
still seem prepared to pay high prices  
for odds and ends from  the nineties4   
,mr4 ,hollings has a complete ,savoy at 
#g #ajs4 and two  first editions of     
,oscar ,wilde at nearly four pounds     
apiece4    ,a first edition of ,trilby  
7#ahie7 can be purchased for #gs4 #f;d4 
at ,messrs4 ,dobell's1 and of ,daniel   
,deronda 7#ahgf7 at #ahs4 ,evan         
,harrington1 in the twelve original     
parts of ,once a ,week1 is offered  at  
#bes4 at the ,serendipity ,shop4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,mr4 ,everard ,meynell has a curiosity  

of nineteenth-century literature  for   
sale in the shape of ,coventry          
,patmore's ,odes1 dated #ahfh1 but      
never published1 for the following      
reason3 ,early in #ahfh he had  written 
nine odes1 which in the ,april of that  
year he printed for  private            
circulation4 ,afterwards1 keenly        
mortified at the coldness of  their     
reception by friends1 he made a fire in 
the hall and cast on it  7as he thought7
 all the copies remaining in his hand1  
while he calmly  sat and watched them   
burn4 ,a friend1 who had heard of the   
intended  bonfire1 persuaded his        
daughter ,emily to abstract a copy or   
two1 and  these1 with the few which had 
been sent to friends1 were all that     
remained of the edition4 ,the price of  
this soul saved from the burning  is #h 
#ajs41 and a first edition of ,the      
,unknown ,eros 7#ahgh71 with            
inscription from the author to ,richard 
,garnett1 is priced #b #ajs4            
99       99       99       99       99  

,having recently picked up cheap a third
 edition 7#ahgb7 of ,fitz,gerald's      
,omar ,khayym 7,quaritch1 #ahgb71 we are
 interested to see that a copy  of the  
fourth edition 7#ahgi7 is for sale at   
three guineas4 ,we suspect  ourselves of
 having made a bargain1 but are not yet 
quite sure4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,messrs4 ,dobell
 have an interesting collection of first
 editions of  works by ,victor ,hugo1   
most of them presentation copies1 with  
,hugo's  autograph inscription1 to      
,mademoiselle ,louise ,jung4            
,a4 ,l4 ,h4          ,,correspondence   
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7      ,,sir1--,on the         
assumption--,i hope justified--that you 
propose to have a  ,correspondence      
,column in your paper1 ,i write to plead
 that you should  devote some of your   
attention to the subject of what is1 ,i 
believe1  called book production4 ,that 
your guidance as to the contents of     
books will be valuable ,i do not doubt2 

but ,i feel that an organ such as  yours
 might be of considerable service if it 
would determine to devote  some         
consideration to their physical form4   
,it may fairly be said1 ,i think1 that1 
as a body1 ,english publishers  produce 
their books as respectably as any       
publishers in the world4  ,the ,germans 
produce--or produced before the war--a  
larger number of  agreeable-looking     
cheap books1 and a larger number of     
finely-printed  and bound editions de   
luxe1 such as were specialised in by    
firms  like ,langen of ,munich4 ,but the
 ordinary ,german book of commerce was  
frequently very shoddy and the          
pseudo-romantic ,albert ,memorial       
tradition had never been entirely shaken
 off4 ,the ,french presses issue  many  
books which are a delight to possess4   
,their tradition is an old  one4 ,it can
 be traced through the delicate         
eighteenth-century editions1  with their
 unequalled engravings1 back to the     
,estiennes and the ,torys1  who were    

infinitely superior to the printers of  
their time4 ,throughout  the last fifty 
years ,french publishers and societies  
of bibliophiles  have issued editions of
 poetry and of old rarities exquisite in
 their  taste3 beautifully printed on   
the best paper and never eccentric4     
,but the ordinary ,french novel or      
political book1 printed in blunt        
unattractive type and bound in yellow   
paper covers1 which fall in  pieces at a
 touch1 is certainly not a model that   
anyone would wish to  copy4 ,much may be
 said against our wood-pulp paper and   
our common cloth  bindings2 but1 on the 
whole1 we certainly clothe most books in
 garments  more durable than the books  
deserve2 and the same thing holds good  
of  ,america1 though there the types and
 bindings are1 as a rule1 uglier  than  
ours4    ,the fact remains that not one 
book out of twenty that we produce can  
be called beautiful1 and that fifteen   
out of twenty are indisputably  ugly4   
,that the public will ever demand an    

improvement is a fantastic  dream4 ,the 
ordinary reader likes a nice book when  
he sees it1 but will  never make an     
effective demand on his own account4 ,we
 have to rely on  the initiative1       
largely disinterested1 of 7#a7 the      
publishers1 7#b7 the  authors1 and 7#c7 
the critics4    ,publishers1 we know1   
must earn their living like other men2  
their  chief attention must be given to 
procuring saleable matter4 ,but they    
have to get their books printed1 and    
they have to get them bound2 and  while 
they are about it they would lose       
nothing1 and we should all  gain        
something1 if they would see to it that 
the work was done by  someone who cared 
about types and was anxious to make the 
best of the  materials available at a   
specified price4 ,authors1 again1 may   
often  be heard complaining that they do
 not like the look of their books2  but 
does any author 7except ,mr4 ,bernard   
,shaw and a few bibliophiles  who       
patently supervise the job themselves7  

ever take any steps to  secure a        
production of which he would approve8   
,finally1 though the  critics           
occasionally praise a book for being    
beautifully printed or  tastefully      
bound1 not one of them seems to make a  
regular practice  of commenting on the  
physical design of books--which1 after  
all1 is an  ingredient in our           
civilisation just as much as the design 
of cottages4    ,i should1 as ,i say1 be
 relieved to hear that the ,,mercury1   
from which we  all hope so much1 intends
 to do its bit in this                  
connection4--,yours  faithfully1        
,,original ,,subscriber4    ,we think   
our correspondent is a little hard on   
,english publishers4  ,some of them1    
though a minority1 seldom produce an    
unattractive book2  and the             
book-production of them all is on a     
higher average level than  it was ten   
years ago1 or has ever been in our time4
 ,but we agree that  there is room for  
improvement1 and scope for commendation 

or the  reverse2 and we purpose in our  
next issue to institute a regular page  
of ,book ,production ,notes1 which we   
hope will give our correspondent        
satisfaction4--,,ed4 ,l4,m4             
,,books ,,of ,,the ,,month      ,,poetry
    ,,reynard ,,the ,,fox4 ,by ,,john   
,,masefield4 ,heinemann4 #es4 net4      
,it is an agreeable thing to find a man 
whose work has been overpraised  writing
 better than he has ever done before4   
,mr4 ,masefield's earlier  narrative    
poems were panegyrised for their vices3 
their unreal plots1  their bad          
psychology1 their sentimentality1 their 
jog-trot metres4 ,he2  wiser in his     
generation1 appears to have realised    
that the best parts  of them were the   
descriptions3 details of vivid imagery1 
pictures of  scenes and brief incidents2
 and that where he was dealing with a   
person  he was at his best when the     
person was alone and in one self-centred
  mood4 ,the picture of the widow alone 
in her cottage was worth all that       

incredible plot in the ,widow in the    
,bye ,street2 the public-house  scene   
and the birds following the plough      
remain in the memory when ,saul  ,kane's
 spiritual struggles have faded away2   
,dauber was little more than  a means of
 arriving at that peaceful entry when   
the ship trod the quiet  waters of the  
harbour like a fawn2 and landscapes were
 the only excuse  for ,the ,daffodil    
,fields4 ,mr4 ,masefield 7who very      
likely realises  that ,biography1 a poem
 that will not die1 is the best thing he
 has  done7 seems to have discovered his
 bent4 ,in ,reynard the ,fox there is   
only one leading character1 the fox1 and
 he is shown in no complicated          
relationships4 ,it is the description of
 a chase and of a fight for  life1 and  
we could not hope to see it better done4
 ,mr4 ,masefield's  faults of writing   
are still evident4 ,lines like          
,he1 too 7a year before71 had had       
,a zest for going to the bad    might   
have come out of one of the numerous    

parodies which have been  perpetrated at
 his expense2 he is unscrupulous in     
rhyming1 he takes  pot-shots with words1
 and he is occasionally grossly         
sentimental4 ,but  none of these faults 
is bad enough in this poem to get in the
 way4 ,it  is a poem to read again as   
soon as one has forgotten it1 and it    
will  give equal enjoyment every time4  
,the opening section1 which describes   
the meet1 is a little too  drawn out2   
too much time is taken up with          
describing a multitude of  characters1  
once seen and then forgotten4 ,but no   
,dutch painter ever  gave a better idea 
of the bustle about an inn than ,mr4    
,masefield does1  and the approach of   
the ,hunt is done deliciously4 ,we would
 spare little  of the long description  
of the hounds who come round the corner 
in  front of the red-coats3             
,intent1 wise1 dipping1 trotting1       
straying1        ,smiling at people1    
shoving1 playing1        ,nosing to     
children's faces1 waving        ,their  

feathery sterns and all behaving1    and
 then draw round ,tom ,dansey on the    
green in front of the ,cock and  ,pye3  
,arrogant1 ,daffodil1 and ,queen        
,closest1 but all in little space4      
,some lolled their tongues1 some made   
grimace1        ,yawning1 or tilting    
nose in quest1        ,all stood and    
looked about with zest1        ,they    
were uneasy as they waited4    ,byron   
said the octosyllabic metre is the      
easiest to write4 ,it is1  unvaried1 the
 most monotonous to read4 ,mr4          
,masefield1 who breaks into  anapstic   
passages when hounds are in full cry1   
pulls it off all the  way4 ,it was not  
an easy thing to supply enough bite to  
descriptions of  earth1 tree1 and sky1  
to invent enough novel incidents1 to    
enable us to  follow without fatigue a  
ten or fourteen miles chase across      
country4  ,but it has been done1 and    
,mr4 ,masefield has also succeeded in   
intensely  interesting us in the fox    
without 7as a rule7 making him any less 

an  animal4 ,when he finds one earth and
 then another stopped the reader's      
feelings are what they are when a hero  
of romance walks blind along  the plank1
 and it is with an immense relief that1 
in the end1 we find  the fox 7at the    
expense of another7 escapes4 ,the final 
description of  the rested fox's        
nocturnal hunt and the hounds going home
 is admirable  fresh painting4 ,here is 
the close3          ,then the moon came 
quiet and flooded full        ,light and
 beauty on clouds like wool1        ,on 
a feasted fox at rest from hunting1     
,in the beech-wood grey where the brocks
 were grunting4                 99      
99       99       99       99           
,the beech-wood grey rose dim in the    
night1        ,with moonlight fallen in 
pools of light1        ,the long dead   
leaves on the ground were rimed1        
,a clock struck twelve and the church   
bells chimed4    ,it is just the end of 
such a day4      ,,the ,,superhuman     
,,antagonists4 ,by ,,sir ,,william      

,,watson4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4  #fs4    
net4    ,nobody could accuse ,sir       
,william ,watson of over-colloquialism1 
morbid  violence1 or carelessness4 ,a   
slight infusion of those vices might do 
him good4 ,he is determined to be as    
lofty and orotund as ,milton1 as  grave 
as ,matthew ,arnold1 as sage as         
,wordsworth1 if he can manage it2  and  
the result is often a cold and carven   
monument of respectable but  uninspired 
verse akin to the better of the large   
tombs in ,westminster  ,abbey4 ,on every
 page of his title-poem 7a debate       
between ,ormuzd and  ,ahriman7 we find  
lines like          ,legible haply in   
that brow benign4        ,rashnu and    
,vayu and great ,mithra1 sons           
,with the huge monster's dragon         
armature1        ,out of the pregnant   
and parturient dust        ,large       
hereditaments of bliss and woe1         
sentences1 however mighty their mould1  
which are to modern poetry what  ,lord  
,chaplin's speeches are to modern       

oratory4 ,this much1 however1 can  be   
said for ,sir ,william1 that his brain  
is always working in spite  of his      
lordly panoply of words outworn1 and he 
who can penetrate his  language will    
arrive at some sort of argument4 ,the   
shorter poems  are also magniloquent1   
and1 like the longer one1 barely escape 
commonplaceness by a certain activity of
 mind4 ,but the language would  not have
 been poorer had none of them been      
written4      ,,more ,,translations     
,,from ,,the ,,chinese4 ,by ,,arthur    
,,waley4 ,allen  ,unwin4  #cs4 and #ds4 
#f;d4 net4    ,mr4 ,waley's #agj        
,chinese ,poems 7,constable7 was one of 
the most  memorable books of recent     
years2 and1 what is more1 was instantly 
recognised as such4 ,even those of us   
7and we can certainly claim to  be a    
majority7 who do not know ,chinese could
 tell at sight that they  were accurate 
beyond the wont of translations4 ,they  
were obviously  beautiful poems in the  
original tongue1 and they became        

beautiful  ,english poems through ,mr4  
,waley1 who has handled unrhymed verse  
as  skilfully as anyone alive or dead1  
with a variety of rhythm and a flow  of 
sound correspondent to sense1 which is  
amazing in translations4 ,the  new      
collection should not be missed by      
anyone who has the old one2  those who  
have not should get the old one 7which  
contains a historical  sketch1 and      
which1 on the whole1 covers better      
poems7 before this one4  ,in his second 
collection ,mr4 ,waley still devotes    
most of his space to  ,po ,chu'i1 really
 a greater poet than ,li ,po1 of whom we
 have heard so  much4 ,the poems from   
him are again very diverse in subject   
and mood2  and the more we see of him   
the more his personality attracts us4   
,we  may quote two shorter examples4    
,one is ,the ,cranes1 which has the     
terseness1 the melancholy1 the          
directness of the best of ,verlaine3    
,the western wind has blown but a few   
days2        ,yet the first leaf already

 flies from the bough4        ,on the   
drying paths ,i walk in my thin shoes2  
,in the first cold ,i have donned my    
quilted coat4        ,through shallow   
ditches the floods are clearing away2   
,through sparse bamboos trickles a      
slanting light4        ,in the early    
dusk1 down an alley of green moss1      
,the garden boy is leading the cranes   
home4    ,po ,chu'i's mild humour is    
seen in ,the ,lazy ,man's ,song 7,a4,d4 
#haa73          ,i have got patronage1  
but am too lazy to use it2        ,i    
have got land1 but am too lazy to farm  
it4        ,my house leaks2 ,i am too   
lazy to mend it4        ,my clothes are 
torn2 ,i am too lazy to darn them4      
,i have got wine1 but ,i am too lazy to 
drink2        ,so it's just the same as 
if my cellar were empty4        ,i have 
got a harp1 but am too lazy to play2    
,so it's just the same as if it had no  
strings4        ,my wife tells me there 
is no more bread in the house2        ,i
 want to bake1 but am too lazy to grind4

        ,my friends and relatives write 
me long letters2        ,i should like  
to read them1 but they're such a bother 
to open4        ,i have always been told
 that ,chi ,shu-yeh        ,passed his  
whole life in absolute idleness4        
,but he played the harp and sometimes   
transmuted metals4        ,so even he   
was not so lazy as ,i4    ,the finest   
thing in the book is perhaps ,ch'u      
,yuan's ,the ,great  ,summons4 ,that is 
too long to quote2 but we cannot resist 
,mr4 ,waley's  version of a brief lyric 
by ,li ,po1 ,self-,abandonment3         
,i sat drinking and did not notice the  
dusk1        ,till falling petals filled
 the folds of my dress4        ,drunken 
,i rose and walked to the moonlit       
stream2        ,the birds were gone1 and
 men also few4    ,these translations   
may be not without their influence on   
,english  poetry2 and though the        
,chinese spirit is not ours1 the example
 of their  exactitude and economy will  
not be thrown away4      ,,collected    

,,poems ,,of ,,lord ,,alfred ,,douglas4 
,secker4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,in a note  
,lord ,alfred ,douglas observes that all
 great art is founded  on morality2 and 
that good poetry is made up of two      
things3 style  and sincerity4 ,these    
apophthegms are brief and unelaborate   
but  indisputable4 ,unfortunately he    
proceeds to say that poetry has never   
sunk so low as now1 and that there is   
not a good poet among the lot1  which   
suggests that he does not know where to 
look for poetry4 ,he is  out of touch   
with the time1 and it is unfortunate for
 him4 ,again and  again as we read his  
collection we feel that he is the last  
of the  pre-,raphaelites1 clothing      
genuine feelings in a faded vesture1 and
  images and words gone stale4 ,he has  
improved4 ,his earliest poems might     
well have been left out2 his latest     
include several sonnets 7notably  that  
beginning ,i have been profligate of    
happiness7 which have  been1 and deserve
 to be1 in the anthologies4 ,but the    

last exactitude  of statement he seldom1
 as yet1 has achieved2 and his feelings 
about  persons come out much more       
strongly and convincingly than his      
feelings  about ,nature or the eternal4 
,this edition has a portrait4           
,,forgotten ,,places4 ,by ,,ian         
,,mackenzie4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #cs4 #f;d4
 net4    ,in the last four years many   
young men have died who would have      
helped  to make our age--as it will in  
any case be--glorious in song4 ,brooke  
and ,flecker and ,edward ,thomas had at 
least partly expressed themselves2      
others1 such as ,wyndham ,tennant and   
,julian ,grenfell1 had written one  or  
two perfect poems and justified the     
muse2 but there were some1  whose       
talents only their friends knew1 who    
might have ranked with the  first of    
these1 and died before they had outgrown
 their boyhood4 ,ian  ,mackenzie was one
 of these4 ,he was in the ,h4,l4,i42 had
 a breakdown  in ,england 7he had       
outgrown his strength7 and died of      

pneumonia on  ,armistice night1 after   
hearing that peace had come4 ,he was    
just twenty4    ,the present volume 7his
 second7 gathers up what was left over  
from his  first1 and is prefaced by a   
memoir by ,arthur ,waugh1 every word of 
which  will be echoed by those who knew 
,mackenzie1 one of the handsomest1      
sunniest1 most candid boys in the world4
 ,he was twenty2 and as yet  too young  
to hammer into form the large visions of
 his precocious  imagination1 and the   
queer thoughts that engaged his         
intellect4 ,the  reader who knew him    
will see in every line the promise of a 
great  maturity2 the reader who did not 
know him will probably fail to see  more
 than a tumble of confused thoughts and 
images obscurely worded  in rhythms that
 are often ungainly4 ,but even he may be
 arrested here  and there by a phrase   
beyond the common range of eighteen or  
nineteen4  ,there are several such in   
,eyes3          ,eyes swim out like     
strange blue fishes        ,recovering  

beauty from the dark4    ,and several   
also in the poem which arises out of the
 childlike  reflection3          ,what a
 strange marvel is the telephone4       
,the whole of the second section of     
,friends is clear and passionate1  and  
there are lines at the beginning in     
which he makes the comparison  of a     
thinker with a child looking at pebbles 
in a pool1 which are of  the last       
simplicity and completeness4 ,he        
oscillated between an extreme           
analytical habit and a profound love for
 ordinary things4 ,the first  mood may  
be illustrated by his strange poem on   
,words3          ,i watch you talking1  
catching mouthfuls of air1              
,which you twist around till you throw  
them out        ,in various shapes1 such
 that each is clear4          ,patterns 
of sound3 some soft1 some you shout2    
,some are round and soft or dimpled and 
thin1          ,some writhe and quiver  
fantastic about1        ,some slip      
through the lips1 and turn whispering   

in1          ,till the waves of silence 
shut them out4        ,so1 if we could  
not hear any sound1          ,but could 
see air moving like waves in a pond1    
,and the shape of every word had been   
found          ,till they faded away in 
the air beyond1        ,and words came  
twisted in breaths of air1          ,you
 could tell each one by a careful stare4
    ,the other is navely expressed in   
his phrase3          ,there is as much  
of beauty in one breath        ,as there
 could be upon the largest star6    ,he 
was immature2 but he need not have      
troubled to cross-examine himself  about
          ,these three last years of    
fraudulent        ,subconscious         
plagiarism1    ,for there never was a   
person so unable to be anything but     
natural4      ,a ,,challenge4 ,by       
,,maitland ,,hardyman1 ,lt4-,col41      
,d4,s4,o41 ,m4,c4 ,allen   ,unwin4 #bs4 
#f;d4 net4    ,col4 ,hardyman was a     
young civilian soldier who believed in  
peace1  was on the committee of the     

,union of ,democratic ,control1 and died
 at  twenty-three at the head of his    
regiment4 ,i have never seen or heard   
of a man1 says ,mr4 ,n4 ,h4 ,romanes1 in
 his introduction1 to whom not  merely a
 lie1 even a harmless one1 but any kind 
of misrepresentation1  was so abhorrent4
 ,he wrote his own epitaph thus3 ,he    
died as he lived1  fighting for abstract
 principles in a cause which he did not 
believe  in4 ,the verse of the man      
described here cannot but be            
interesting4 ,but  it would be an       
affectation to call it poetry4 ,genuine 
feeling often  comes through1 but in an 
amateur way4 ,the nearest thing to good 
poetry  in the book is ,via ,crucis1    
which begins3          ,lord ,jesus of  
the trenches1          ,calm1 'midst the
 bursting shell1        ,we met with    
,thee in ,flanders1          ,we walked 
with ,thee in hell2        ,o'er ,duty's
 blood-soaked tillage          ,we      
strewed our glorious youth2        ,yes1
 we indeed have known ,thee1            

,for us the ,cross is ,truth4           
,,poems ,,of ,,the ,,dawn ,,and ,,the   
,,night4 ,by ,,henry ,,mond4 ,chapman   
,hall4 #cs4  #f;d4 net4    ,youth's a   
stuff will not endure1 and in a year or 
two ,mr4 ,mond will  probably not be    
talking of storming the battlements of  
,heaven1 and will  not care to begin a  
poem with          ,an aged filthy hag1 
with bloated face1        ,upon her     
haunches1 wrapped in bloody rags1       
,there squats ,bellona--splashed with   
entrails--    --words which do not      
really horrify us1 and did not really   
horrify him4  ,he shows certain gifts4  
,there is observation at the end of ,the
 ,silver  ,corpse1 and in parts of ,the 
,fawn4 ,but he strains after effects and
  misses them4 ,honest vision and honest
 feeling may be later discoveries4  ,he 
would do well1 for a time1 to subject   
himself to a strict discipline          
formally4      ,,napoleon4 ,by ,,herbert
 ,,trench4 ,oxford ,university ,press4  
#bs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this is a cheap     

reprint of ,mr4 ,trench's play1         
previously published at  #ajs4 #f;d4    
net1 and recently acted by the ,stage   
,society4 ,with the  exception of ,the  
,requiem of the ,archangels and one or  
two other poems  it is certainly the    
finest thing he has done4 ,unfortunately
 the finest  things in it are probably  
those which are least suitable to the   
theatre4      ,,athenian ,,days4 ,by ,f4
 ,,no,l ,,byron4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #bs4  
#f;d4 and #as4  #f;d4 net4    ,mr4      
,byron seems to have read the classics1 
and is obviously fond of  ,greece4 ,the 
unfortunate moon has been compared to   
many things2 this  time it is a         
beckoning courtesan4 ,there are few     
notable blemishes about  ,mr4 ,byron's  
poems2 but he never ends them properly1 
and it is seldom  clear why he begins   
them4      ,,any ,,soldier ,,to ,,his   
,,son4 ,by ,,george ,,willis4 ,allen    
,unwin4 #as4 net4    ,a volume of lively
 verses1 some of them in the military   
vernacular4 ,the  speaker in the title  

poem1 after long service in the         
trenches1 sums up  his feats thus3      
,i never kissed a ,french girl and ,i   
never killed a ,hun1        ,i never    
missed an issue of tobacco1 pay1 or rum1
        ,i never made a friend and yet  
,i never lacked a chum2        ,i never 
borrowed money1 and ,i never lent--but  
once4    ,not a bad record4 ,the        
conventional poems at the end are       
competently  written2 ,bed has something
 of the neatness1 and something of the  
allusiveness1 of ,prior4      ,,the     
,,station ,,platform ,,and ,,other      
,,poems4 ,by ,,margaret ,,mackenzie4    
,sands1  #bs4 #f;d4 net4    ,these      
,verses are not all sad--indeed1 ,i hope
 that in a very real sense  none of them
 are that4 ,they are poems of sorrow and
 consolation1  decently worded and      
written with a sincerity and simplicity 
that is  sometimes moving4 ,the author  
has a habit of being too simple4 ,it    
takes some time to recover from a       
beginning like ,i think maybe the  souls

 of men are bulbs4      ,,echoes ,,from 
,,the ,,greek ,,anthology4 ,by ,j4 ,g4  
,,legge4 ,constable4 #bs4 #f;d4  net4   
,mr4 ,legge has long been known as one  
of the most competent and  comprehensive
 of the many who in our time have tried 
their hands on  the ,epigrams of the    
,greek ,anthology4 ,this selection is   
based on that  given in ,mr4 ,mackail's 
excellent little book4 ,mr4 ,legge says 
that many  of his versions were made on 
the top of a municipal tram4 ,he must be
 a  self-possessed man4 ,he never       
touches the level of inspiration reached
  in ,lang's or in ,shelley's few       
translations from the ,anthology1 but no
  translator1 so far as we know1 has    
done so many so well4 ,he is always     
smooth1 neat1 perspicuous2 his principal
 lack is music4 ,he gives what  is      
perhaps the best extant version of the  
epitaph on the dead of  ,thermopyl4     
,,novels    ,,jeremy4 ,by ,,hugh        
,,walpole4 ,cassell4 #gs4 net4    ,,the 
,,young ,,physician4 ,by ,f4 ,,brett    

,,young4 ,collins4 #gs4 net4    ,,poor  
,,relations4 ,by ,,compton ,,mackenzie4 
,secker4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,,the       
,,tender ,,conscience4 ,by ,,bohun      
,,lynch4 ,secker4 #gs4 net4             
,,september4 ,by ,,frank ,,swinnerton4  
,methuen4 #gs4 net4    ,,time ,,and     
,,eternity4 ,by ,,gilbert ,,cannan4     
,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 net4    ,,richard 
,,kurt4 ,by ,,stephen ,,hudson4 ,secker4
 #gs4 net4    ,the literary arena of    
,england is at this moment strewn with  
the forms  of discouraged novelists who 
were hailed as coming great men and who 
have never yet been able to make any    
adequate reply to the hail4  ,the       
arrival of ,mr4 ,conrad1 ,mr4 ,wells1   
and ,mr4 ,bennett1 as writers           
concerning whom1 in whatever tenor1 our 
questions are answered1 is  within      
recent memory4 ,soon after that event a 
new generation rose4  ,henry ,james     
stooped from ,olympus to examine them2  
and there was a good  deal of excitement
 abroad as to their future performance4 

,but where are  they now8 ,mr4          
,walpole's latest book carries the      
history of a child up  to his first     
departure from school4 ,mr4 ,compton    
,mackenzie shows us a  popular dramatist
 struggling for life in the midst of a  
farcical crowd  of relations4 ,mr4      
,swinnerton produces punctually one book
 a year in  time for the autumn         
publishing season4 ,but meanwhile what  
is happening  to the ,english novel8 ,is
 anything happening to it8    ,it is    
certainly true that there is no         
perceptible curve of development  or    
change4 ,there are fashions4 ,two of the
 books before us illustrate  one of the 
most popular of them1 a fashion begun   
and now abandoned  by ,mr4 ,mackenzie4  
,mr4 ,walpole pushes the novel of       
adolescence to its  extreme1 or beyond  
the extreme1 by the tender age at which 
he takes his  hero4 ,mr4 ,brett ,young  
goes through with it in conventional    
fashion1  conducting ,edwin ,ingleby    
from early years at school to his final 

medical examination and the beginning of
 life4 ,mr4 ,walpole's ,jeremy  is a    
very faithful and exact record1 and yet 
it is not easy to say why  he should    
have written it4      ,mary1 however1   
was there1 and in the very middle of her
 game1    searching for him1 as she was 
always doing1 she found him desolate    
under the shadow of the oak4 ,she       
slipped away1 and1 coming up to him     
with the shyness and fear that she      
always had when she approached    him1  
because she loved him so much and he    
could so easily hurt her1    said3      
,aren't you coming to play1 ,jeremy8    
,i don't care1 he answered gruffly4     
,it isn't any fun without you4 ,she     
paused and added3 ,would you mind    if 
,i stayed here too8      ,i'd rather you
 played1 he said2 and yet he was        
comforted by her1    determined1 as he  
was1 that she should never know it6     
,i'd rather stay1 she said1 and then    
gazed with that melancholy    stare     
through her large spectacles1 that      

always irritated ,jeremy1 out    across 
the garden4      ,i'm all right1 he said
 again2 only my stocking tickles1 and ,i
    can't get at it--it's the back of my
 leg4 ,i say1 ,mary1 don't you hate     
the ,dean's ,ernest8    ,a not too      
exigent reader might still fail to be   
surprised or delighted  by that passage 
or by a hundred like it1 and of such    
passages the book  is made up4 ,if ,mr4 
,walpole continues the child's career on
 the same  scale his followers will     
groan2 and yet perhaps as ,jeremy grew  
older  he might grow more interesting4  
,for it is unlikely that1 except in     
rare cases1 a grown man will remember   
enough of childhood to make the         
material of a long novel4 ,and the      
character of even the most remarkable   
child is not1 after all1 sufficiently   
broad1 sufficiently varied1 to  bear the
 weight of this exhaustive description4 
,mr4 ,brett ,young's less unusual design
 gives him better opportunities  for the
 use of his talent1 but not often the   

opportunities his talent  deserves4 ,he 
came into notice a little later than    
that younger  generation which we have  
mentioned1 and in some ways his gifts   
are  superior to those of any novelist  
of his own age4 ,but it is a matter  for
 doubt whether they are strictly the    
gifts of a novelist4 ,in the  row of his
 books1 all sincere1 all well written1  
all with obvious  merits1 the best is   
undeniably his account of the ,east     
,african  ,campaign1 ,marching on       
,tanga1 the second his collection of    
poems1  ,five ,degrees ,south4 ,in these
 two1 landscape and his delight in it   
had  an uncontested supremacy4 ,in his  
novels up to now that supremacy has     
been contested by the characters1 who   
have1 however1 faded away in the  end   
against the background like puffs of    
smoke4 ,this certainly allowed  the     
author's best talent to be displayed at 
advantage1 and yet it is a  doubtful    
recommendation of a novel to say that   
the persons in it can  hardly be        

noticed4    ,in ,the ,young ,physician  
the persons are not so unobtrusive1 and 
the  hero1 if we had not been aware of  
him before1 would have forced himself   
on our attention by committing          
manslaughter in the last pages of the   
book4 ,he does1 however1 live and move  
before that1 and the characters  around 
him at home1 at school1 at the          
university where he studies  medicine1  
are living and moving human beings4 ,but
 the more clearly we  see ,edwin and his
 surroundings the less1 very            
unfortunately1 we see  of those poetical
 qualities to which we have grown       
accustomed in ,mr4  ,brett ,young4      
,certain of the human relations are     
indeed very well drawn4  ,edwin's love  
for his mother and his grief at her     
death make moving  passages4 ,the       
episode in which he is drawn closer to  
his lonely father  is excellently done4 
,but the second part of the book1 where 
,mr4 ,brett  ,young voluntarily confines
 himself in ,north ,bromwich1 is not1 on

 the  whole1 a distinguished piece of   
work4 ,here the author is without his   
hills1 trees1 and clouds1 and is        
compelled to exert himself in the       
observation and delineation of          
character4 ,but though he does his work 
here cleanly and honestly1 as we have a 
right to expect from him1 he  does it   
lifelessly and without enthusiasm4 ,w4  
,g41 ,boyce1 even ,rosie  ,beaucaire are
 alive and credible1 but it is hard for 
the reader not  to suspect that ,mr4    
,brett ,young takes but little interest 
in them and  impossible1 with that      
suspicion in his mind1 to take much     
interest in  them himself4 ,much the    
best part of the book is the description
 of the  journey made by ,edwin and his 
father to the deserted mining village in
  the ,mendips1 which had been the      
father's home4 ,here ,mr4 ,brett ,young 
has  his opportunity for description and
 uses it well in a dozen passages4      
,and1 from a final crest1 the road      
suddenly fell steeply through the       

scattered buildings of a hamlet4 ,an    
inn1 with a wide space for carts    to  
turn in1 stood on a sort of platform at 
the right-hand side of    the highway1  
and in front of the travellers lay the  
mass of ,mendip3    the black bow of    
,axdown with its shaggy flanks1 the     
level cliffs of    ,callow1 and a bold  
seaward spur1 so lost in watery vapours 
that it    might well have claimed its  
ancient continuity with the islands that
    swam beyond in the grey sea4 ,in the
 light of his new enthusiasms    ,edwin 
found it more impressive than any scene 
that he remembered2    more inspiring1  
though less vast in its perspective1    
than the dreamy    plain of the         
,severn's upper waters that he had seen 
so many times    from ,uffdown4 ,for    
these hills were very mountains1 and    
mightier in    that they rose sheer from
 a plain that had been bathed in water  
within the memory of man4 ,and more than
 all this 444 far more 444    they were 
the home of his fathers4    ,this       

quotation does not indicate1 a dozen    
such could not exhaust1 the  grace and  
charm of the episode in the ,mendips4   
,here1 perhaps1 for a  moment in the    
midst of an unsatisfactory book ,mr4    
,brett ,young has  attained a higher    
level of achievement than ever before4  
,his persons  do not here fade into the 
landscape1 but rather blend with it into
 one  picture1 of which they are as     
essential a part as the hills and       
clouds4  ,there is still1 it must be    
confessed1 a certain lack of vigour in  
the  presentation1 but if the author    
could compose a whole book in this      
manner it would be a very fine and      
remarkable performance4 ,perhaps he  may
 still do so4 ,it would be very rash to 
decide at this moment that  the novel is
 not the form of art which he ought to  
pursue4 ,but even  if we reserve        
judgment on this point1 there can be no 
doubt that the  scheme of ,the ,young   
,physician is in any case not well      
adapted to his  particular gifts4       

,mr4 ,compton ,mackenzie1 however1 who  
invented and popularised this  kind of  
novel1 has1 in his latest production1   
thought fit to drop it4  ,it was indeed 
desirable1 after the unfortunate affair 
of ,sylvia and  ,michael1 that he should
 attempt to break new ground2 but we    
think that  many of his admirers will   
read ,poor ,relations in a mood of      
pleasure  mingled with dismay4 ,one     
critic observed of ,guy and ,pauline    
that the  future of the ,english novel  
was1 to a quite considerable extent1 in 
,mr4 ,mackenzie's hands4 ,but the future
 of the ,english novel does not  really 
lie in the direction of rattling books  
for railway journeys1  where humour is  
derived from cows1 comic clergymen1 and 
an overwhelming  hair-wash4 ,those who  
fixed ,mr4 ,mackenzie with solemn       
expressions of  expectation on the      
ground of ,carnival and ,sinister       
,street will  probably be hard put to it
 to know what to make of this romping   
and  boisterous piece of work4 ,it      

contains little more of what the author 
has been praised for than his           
vitality--which was much diminished in  
,sylvia and ,michael--and his verbal    
ingenuity4 ,but it does show high       
spirits and an eye not blind to those   
obvious humorous effects1 such  as bad  
wine1 mischievous and inquisitive       
children1 the nervous author  with his  
secretary1 and so forth1 which when they
 are whole-heartedly  embraced are1     
after all1 still humorous4 ,if the      
future of the ,english  novel really is 
in ,mr4 ,mackenzie's hands and if he    
continues in his  present mood1 the     
,english novel is going to have a queer 
time of  it4 ,but if he has done nothing
 else1 he has proved himself free of    
priggishness4    ,among these novelists 
only two1 ,mr4 ,swinnerton and ,mr4     
,lynch1 much  concern themselves with   
what was once an urgent topic of        
conversation1  with the business1       
namely1 of giving the novel shape and   
compactness4  ,this1 it was at one time 

announced1 was the direction in which   
,english  fiction was moving1 and       
perhaps it is still the most significant
  movement1 though it is accidentally a 
little veiled at present4 ,but  ,mr4    
,swinnerton1 who is a novelist pure and 
simple1 who follows no  extravagant     
theory1 has no doctrinaire axe to grind1
 seems bent on  making shipwreck of his 
powers4 ,some novels can be written1 as 
was  ,mademoiselle de ,maupin1 in six   
weeks4 ,but ,mr4 ,swinnerton has not    
yet written a novel like ,mademoiselle  
de ,maupin1 nor does it appear  probable
 that he will do so4 ,he seems to have  
fallen into the habit  of producing a   
cross between a good book and the       
commercial article  in good time for the
 autumn publishing season once a year4  
,thus are  the hopes raised by ,nocturne
 disappointed2 and those who were       
disconcerted but cheerful last year     
under the stroke administered by  ,shops
 and ,houses will possibly falter in    
despair this year under  the more       

poignant blow of ,september4 ,it is the 
theme of a beautiful  woman1 whose      
placid life does not flower into passion
 until she is  nearing middle age4      
,cherry ,mant1 who hardly hurts ,marian 
,forster by  tampering with the         
affections of her good fellow of a      
husband1 wounds  her deeply by making   
off with her youthful lover1 ,nigel     
,sinclair2 and  both acts of rapine are 
cleverly introduced by a silly joke     
about the  name of a brand of           
cigarettes4 ,it is true3 ,mr4           
,swinnerton knows his  business4 ,and if
 he has not the final fusing fire of    
genius1 he has  talent in great         
quantities1 experience1 and knowledge   
and cleverness4  ,he has learnt his art1
 but rather than apply his learning he  
gives  us once a year the irritating    
phantom of a good book4 ,his theme and  
his conception of its treatment are     
excellent4 ,but he will not pursue      
sufficiently deeply his researches into 
character1 and unless he can  resign    

himself to missing the season now and   
again1 he will be lost to  the ,english 
novel4 ,his is not one of those talents 
that shine in rash  and careless        
brilliance4 ,it requires intensive      
labour to make the best  of it4    ,the 
same judgment applies with equal force  
to ,mr4 ,lynch's talent4 ,the           
difference between him and ,mr4         
,swinnerton is that he has taken the    
trouble to make the best he can of his  
theme1 which is exiguous and yet        
sufficient4 ,the story turns on ,jimmy  
,guise's gradual discovery of his       
wife's worthlessness2 and the hasty     
reader might complain that in a  short  
book ,mr4 ,lynch has spent a great deal 
of time over a very small  matter4 ,but 
those who range through contemporary    
fiction1 anxious to  be hopeful1 will be
 more interested in the care which he   
has spent  on every facet of the tale4  
,the device1 by which ,jimmy is at once 
presented1 full length and in detail1 to
 the reader1 while ,blanche is          

gradually discovered1 is one of those   
solid and sufficient inventions  which  
immediately command respect4 ,the exact 
and measured discovery  of her          
worthlessness takes place by slow1      
inexorable degrees which  show that the 
author has never once relaxed his       
vigilance over his  composition4 ,there 
are1 it is true1 irrelevancies even in  
so short a  work4 ,jessie ,carruthers   
was not really necessary as a foil to   
,blanche4  ,the ,new ,department1 though
 it is deliciously sketched1 takes too  
prominent a place4 ,but these           
irrelevancies do not noticeably distort 
the general scheme1 and are in fact     
probably the result of ,mr4 ,lynch's    
unconscious recognition that his plot   
was a little too slender for even  so   
brief a novel4 ,but1 in spite of this   
initial difficulty1 ,the ,tender        
,conscience is a very creditable and    
satisfactory performance and gives      
grounds for looking forward with much   
interest to ,mr4 ,lynch's future        

development4    ,the novels of ,mr4     
,gilbert ,cannan and ,mr4 ,stephen      
,hudson are of the  sort in which an    
attempt is made to simulate distinction 
by gratuitous  eccentricity4 ,some      
painters1 in order to improve the       
landscapes with  which nature has       
provided them1 screw up their eyes until
 the scene  before them runs into a     
confused blur4 ,mr4 ,cannan and ,mr4    
,hudson  make this grimace before the   
spectacle of life4 ,it is a fashion like
  another1 but it has less usefulness   
and1 we imagine1 less durability  than  
the novel of adolescence4    ,mr4       
,cannan's book contains a gentleman     
named ,perekatov with a massive  ,jewish
 face1 thick1 sensitive lips1 a heavy   
blue chin1 and tragic1  short-sighted   
eyes1 another gentleman named ,stephen  
,lawrie1 whose  characteristics are not 
so obvious1 and a young lady named      
,valrie  du ,toit1 who appears to be the
 incarnation of all that ,mr4 ,cannan   
considers glorious4 ,the thesis of the  

story1 so far as we have been  able to  
discern it in the gyrations of these and
 other characters1 is  that the true    
,england was not in the war1 but sat    
unheeded1 forgotten1  alone1 in a little
 garret until the fighting was over4    
,mr4 ,cannan is  plainly dissatisfied   
about something1 but he lacks a brain   
sufficiently  clear to make the reader  
understand what it is or what he wishes 
done4  ,meanwhile he creates unreal     
scenes of physical and mental misery and
  squalor through which the stoutest    
hearted could not drag themselves       
unyawning or undepressed4 ,their yawns  
and their depression are1 it is  true1  
in some sort a tribute to ,mr4 ,cannan's
 powers4 ,he creates these  scenes with 
a certain vigour and finish1 but his    
qualities will be for  ever wasted      
unless he can raise himself out of his  
present state of  aimless gloom4    ,mr4
 ,hudson1 perhaps even more than ,mr4   
,cannan1 has forgotten the  limitations 
imposed on him by his material1 which is

 life4 ,in this  story of ,richard      
,kurt1 his shallow and philandering     
wife1 ,elinor1 and  his crafty young    
mistress1 ,virginia1 he seems to suppose
 that nothing  more than his bare word  
is needed to carry off impossible events
  and unnatural psychology4 ,but the    
novelist's task is not so easy as  this4
 ,he cannot secure originality by       
willing it or by producing an           
unexpected situation out of the void4   
,the unusual situation must be          
justified1 not only by itself1 but by   
all that has preceded it4 ,the  novel   
effect which is obtained by suddenly    
altering a character already  defined is
 below childishness4 ,as for the rest1  
this is a tale of the  idle and indigent
 rich and their experiments in adultery4
 ,richard  ,kurt appears to be a        
perfectly worthless person1 so          
irritating in his  sins and weaknesses1 
that it is easy to understand the       
feelings of  his disagreeable father and
 his frivolous1 selfish1 restless wife4 

,virginia1 unfortunately1 does not in a 
strict sense1 exist4 ,the maiden1  whose
 one desire it is to be seduced without 
appearing to consent or  even to be     
aware of the incident1 may live         
somewhere in the case-books  of the     
pathologists2 but ,mr4 ,hudson has not  
delivered her from that  prison-house4  
,he tells us that such was her behaviour
 and such her  motives1 but the reader  
involuntarily declines to accept the    
assertion4  ,nor is it likely that the  
reader would much care if it were true4 
,,over ,,and ,,above4 ,by ,j4 ,e4       
,,gurdon4 ,collins4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4     
,this is a curiously nave and artless   
story of the adventures of an  airman1  
as seen through the eyes of one ,warton1
 whom we meet crossing  to ,france for  
the first time and leave going back to  
,england on  transfer to home service1  
with a ,military ,cross and two bars4   
,it is  written with evident knowledge  
and covers most of the typical incidents
  in an airman's life at the front4 ,it 

is written1 too1 with complete          
sincerity1 and it is easy to discern the
 author's personality behind  the       
speeches of his characters and his own  
asides4 ,yet for all this it  is hardly 
a success1 hardly so convincing or      
informing as a number of  books that    
have been built on a much slighter      
foundation of first-hand  knowledge4    
,the fights described are not clear or  
lucid1 the persons  introduced never    
become real4 ,all this goes to show that
 both some  natural gift for1 and some  
practice in1 literary composition are   
necessary for any book as well as       
experience of the life it depicts4      
,,the ,,new ,,decameron4 ,by ,,various  
,,authors4 ,blackwell4 #fs4 net4    ,the
 ,new ,decameron is a fascinating title 
which covers a disappointing  book4 ,the
 greatness of the original ,decameron   
springs1 after all1 in  the first place 
from the extraordinary beauty of the    
introduction1  which sets the reader in 
a proper state of mind for the stories  

that  follow and which lingers with him 
ever afterwards if he reads a story     
here and there at random4 ,but the state
 of mind produced by the setting  here1 
in which a miscellaneous collection of  
rather disagreeable  persons is becalmed
 in mid-,channel in an excursion        
steamer1 by no means  recalls the magic 
of the ,tuscan garden4 ,the stories vary
 greatly in  quality1 but none of them  
is entitled to be considered very       
seriously4  ,the best would make        
pleasant patches in our magazines1 and  
the worst  would be bad anywhere4 ,the  
jokes at the expense of ,german dullness
  in the ,professor's ,tale are made    
with neatness and point4 ,the  ,stone   
,house ,affair is not a bad detective   
story4 ,the ,upper ,room is  a decadent 
effort of a somewhat antiquated kind1   
but it is not too  ill-written4 ,there  
is no reason why these stories should   
not have been  both written and         
published4 ,but the great name under    
which they are  announced and the       

elaboration of their frame make them    
seem perhaps  more insignificant than   
they really are4    ,,the ,,revolt ,,of 
,,youth4 ,by ,,coralie ,,hobson4 ,werner
 ,laurie4 #fs4 net4    ,the squalors of 
theatrical touring companies seem to be1
 and no doubt  are1 capable of          
indefinite exploitation by novelists4   
,readers who care  to be mildly harrowed
 by these topics will find in this      
volume all the  pabulum to which they   
have been accustomed in innumerable     
other books4  ,but those who have no    
particular taste for this sort of thing 
beyond  moderation will confine         
themselves to wondering in what the     
revolt of  youth here consists and in   
what way they are expected to find it a 
moving performance4 ,louie breaks away  
from home1 goes on the stage1 is  a     
failure1 returns and marries her cousin4
 ,there is a suicide and a  good deal of
 illicit love-making1 and at the end the
 heroine behaves  with conventionally   
noble unconventionality4 ,but these     

things are  wearisome if one has no     
special taste for them4                 
,,belles-,,lettres ,,and ,,criticism    
,,some ,,diversions ,,of ,a ,,man ,,of  
,,letters4 ,by ,,edmund ,,gosse1 ,c4,b4 
,heinemann4  #gs4 #f;d4 net4            
,diversions8 ,in a sense they are all1  
they have always been1 diversions4  ,mr4
 ,gosse has never allowed the chains of 
the critical vocation  to weigh heavily 
upon him4 ,it has been consistently his 
especial  characteristic that he has    
approached the most difficult problems  
in  literature with undaunted courage   
and vivacity4 ,where others have sat    
down to the difficult siege of ,donne or
 ,swinburne with the pedantic  long     
faces of writers determined not to      
flinch even though all their  readers   
fall asleep during the fray1 ,mr4 ,gosse
 advances lightly1 blows  a pleasant    
blast on the trumpet of his familiar    
prose and topples the  most obdurate    
walls over before him1 without ever     
losing the least  part of his dignity4  

,this it is which makes his reputation  
one of the  assets of modern ,english   
literature4 ,he represents among us a   
school  of critics of which the         
disciples in this country are by no     
means too  numerous4 ,during a long     
career he has found and continually     
practised  the secret of being almost   
always sound and never dull1 invariably 
vivacious1 and hardly ever superficial4 
,his critical essays have always  the   
gay1 untrammelled air1 if not the       
frivolous substance1 of pure            
diversions4    ,in his new collection he
 ranges among a variety of subjects and 
takes  now a well-worn road1 now a path 
that has tempted few enquirers4  ,the   
,songs of ,shakespeare is not precisely 
a subject to attract the  dealer in     
literary fireworks4 ,it is1 on the other
 hand1 a subject  ripe for the most     
portentous1 the most meaningless1 the   
most tedious  aberrations of the pedant4
 ,yet how delicately does ,mr4 ,gosse1  
in no  more than five pages1 steer      

between these extremes and plant the    
arrow  of his comment exactly on the    
necessary spot6 ,benjamin ,disraeli1 in 
his capacity as novelist1 makes a theme 
not much less forbidding to  the critic 
who doubts his own ability to be        
original4 ,but ,mr4 ,gosse  is1 with    
justice1 serenely confident in the power
 of his style to  overcome this         
difficulty4 ,there is perhaps little in 
this essay which  has not been both     
perceived and expressed before4 ,but it 
is ,mr4 ,gosse  who crystallises mature 
opinion on the novels of ,disraeli in a 
passage  which might be taken as a model
 of discrimination and style or critical
  prose3      ,disraeli began his       
career1 as ,i have pointed out in the   
earlier    part of this essay1 as a     
purveyor of entertainment to the public 
in a popular and not very dignified     
kind4 ,he contended with the    crowd of
 fashionable novelists whose books      
consoled the leisure of    ,mrs4        
,wititterly as she reclined on the      

drawing-room sofa4 ,he found    rivals  
in ,bulwer and ,mrs4 ,gore1 and a master
 in ,plumer ,ward4 ,his    brilliant    
stories sold1 but at first they won him 
little advantage4    ,slowly1 by dint of
 his inherent force of genius1 his books
 have not    merely survived their      
innumerable fellows1 but they have come 
to    represent to us the form and      
character of a whole school2 nay1 more1 
they have come to take the place in our 
memories of a school which1    but for  
them1 would have utterly passed away and
 been forgotten4    ,disraeli1          
accordingly1 is unique1 not merely      
because his are the only    fashionable 
novels of the pre-,victorian era which  
anyone ever reads    nowadays1 but      
because in his person that ineffable    
manner of the    thirties reaches an    
isolated sublimity and finds a permanent
 place    in literature4 ,but if we take
 a still wider view of the literary     
career of ,disraeli1 we are bound to    
perceive that the real source of    the 

interest which his brilliant books      
continue to possess is the    evidence  
their pages reveal of the astonishing   
personal genius of    the man4 ,do what 
we will1 we find ourselves looking      
beyond ,contarini    ,fleming and       
,sidonia and ,vivian ,grey to the       
adventurous ,jew who1    by dint of     
infinite resolution and an energy which 
never slept1    conquered all the       
prejudices of convention1 and trod      
,english society    beneath his foot in 
the triumphant irony of success4 ,it is 
the living    ,disraeli who is always   
more salient than the most fascinating  
of his    printed pages4    ,we have    
chosen this passage1 not because it is  
the most remarkable in  the book1 but   
almost at random1 and in preference to  
some which are  more brilliant and more 
highly wrought4 ,but it is a fair       
example not  only of the grace1 but also
 of the precision1 with which ,mr4      
,gosse  habitually uses his pen4 ,his   
,three ,experiments in ,portraiture are 

specimens of the same skill in          
delineation with the added advantage    
that the author knew his subjects       
directly4 ,this is an art in which he   
has always excelled4 ,his slighter1 and 
his more elaborate1 portraits  of       
,swinburne stand easily among the first 
things of the kind in our  language2 and
 though perhaps ,lady ,dorothy ,nevill1 
,lord ,cromer1 and  ,lord ,redesdale did
 not offer material so variegated or so 
unusual1 it  may be for that reason that
 ,mr4 ,gosse's portraits of them are    
even  more interesting as studies by a  
virtuoso4 ,when we come again to pure   
criticism1 we find in ,the ,message of  
the ,wartons1 a lecture delivered       
before the ,british ,academy1 the same  
graceful and distinguished gesture  with
 which ,mr4 ,gosse points to the        
interesting and useful traits to  be    
discerned in his subject4 ,mr4 ,gosse   
will never be a true or a  factitious   
fanatic elevating some spark of genius  
in a neglected worthy  above the true   

fire discovered in others by the just   
sense of mankind4  ,he makes no         
exaggerated claim for the ,wartons1 but 
he does see in them  what has not been  
sufficiently insisted on before4        
,they struggled for a little while1 and 
then they succumbed to the    worn      
verbiage of their age1 from which it is 
sometimes no light task    to disengage 
their thought4 ,in their later days they
 made some sad    defections1 and ,i can
 never forgive ,thomas ,warton for      
arriving at    ,marlowe's ,hero and     
,leander and failing to observe its     
beauties4 ,we    are told that as       
,camden ,professor he suffered the      
rostrum to grow    cold1 and he was an  
ineffective ,poet ,laureate4 ,his       
brother ,joseph    felt the necessity or
 the craving for lyrical expression1    
without    attaining more than a muffled
 and a second-rate effect4      ,all    
this has to be sadly admitted4 ,but the 
fact remains that between    #agdj and  
#agej1 while even the voice of ,rousseau

 had not begun to    make itself heard  
in ,europe1 the ,wartons had discovered 
the fallacy    of the poetic theories   
admitted in their day1 and had formed   
some    faint conception of a mode of   
escape from them4 ,the ,abb ,du ,bos had
    laid down in his celebrated         
,rflexions 7#agai7 that the poet's      
art consists of making a general moral  
representation of incidents    and      
scenes1 and embellishing it with elegant
 images4 ,this had been    accepted and 
acted upon by ,pope and all his         
followers4 ,to have been    the first to
 perceive the inadequacy and the falsity
 of a law which    excluded all         
imagination1 all enthusiasm1 and all    
mystery1 is to    demand respectful     
attention from the historian of         
,romanticism1 and    this attention is  
due to ,joseph and ,thomas ,warton4     
,they had a faint conception3 they      
demand respectful attention4 ,these  are
 indeed the accents of moderation1 but  
then1 as ,mr4 ,gosse knows1 to  praise  

the ,wartons with enthusiasm would be   
unjust4 ,it is the centre  of his       
critical talent that he is always       
moderate and precise in his  estimates1 
and this fact gives his commendation    
more value1 his blame  more weight1 and 
makes his judgments more readily        
acceptable4    ,it is possible to bring 
forward charges against ,mr4 ,gosse4    
,the two  essays in this book on        
contemporary literature1 ,some ,soldier 
,poets  and ,the ,future of ,english    
,poetry1 suggest that1 at least when    
they  were written1 the author was not  
fully acquainted with the buds of the   
new spring4 ,the opinions expressed in  
them are1 within the limits of  his     
apparent knowledge1 equally acceptable  
to both older and younger  critics2 but 
these limits are somewhat narrower than 
they might have  been4 ,but it would be 
ungracious1 as well as disproportionate1
 to make  much of this point4 ,what is  
important is that ,mr4 ,gosse is a      
veteran  of ,english criticism1 who has 

enriched our literature with a body of  
work which has no parallel and whose    
powers show no signs of flagging4  ,when
 we consider his latest1 we             
involuntarily turn our eyes back to his 
earlier books1 and we cannot resist the 
conclusion that he has rendered  to     
,english letters a very remarkable      
service indeed4 ,the latest is  a       
continuation of the earliest1 and this  
is1 after all1 the most  important thing
 which can be said of it4      ,a       
,,critic ,,in ,,pall ,,mall4 ,by ,,oscar
 ,,wilde4 ,methuen4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4     
,this volume appears1 rather            
regrettably1 with no indication of how  
it  came into existence1 how ,wilde     
wrote the essays of which it is composed
  or who chose them for republication   
and on what principle4 ,but the         
references given at the heads of the    
essays show that they are reviews       
collected from the ,woman's ,world1 the 
,pall ,mall ,gazette1 and other  papers4
 ,wilde did not gather them together    

nor1 so far as we know1  even           
contemplate such a book4 ,it is probable
 that he would be a little  dismayed by 
it if he could see it4    ,in some of   
these pieces there occur phrases and    
judgments which are the  genuine ,wilde 
at his best1 witty and well turned if   
not always wise4  ,there is1 for        
example1 a pleasing pertness in his     
remark on dialect  poetry3      ,to say 
mither instead of mother seems to many  
the acme of    romance4 ,there are      
others who are not quite so ready to    
believe in    the pathos of             
provincialism4    ,there is a long essay
 on ,lefbvre's ,embroidery and ,lace    
which is very  characteristic1 and has1 
we think1 been quoted before4 ,there is 
a short  essay on ,dinners and ,dishes1 
from which the following passage may be 
extracted3      ,there is a great field 
for the philosophic epicure in the      
,united    ,states4 ,boston beans may be
 dismissed at once as delusions1 but    
soft-shell crabs1 terrapin1 canvas-back 

ducks1 blue fish1 and the    pompons of 
,new ,orleans are all wonderful         
delicacies1 particularly    when one    
gets them at ,delmonico's4 ,indeed1 the 
two most remarkable    bits of scenery  
in the ,states are undoubtedly          
,delmonico's and the    ,yosemite       
,valley1 and the former place has done  
more to promote a good    feeling       
between ,england and ,america than      
anything else has in this    century4   
,these are worth having1 if ,wilde is   
worth having at all1 because they  are  
characteristic4 ,there would have been  
no great occasion for weeping  if they  
had been lost or if they had never been 
clipped from the papers  in which they  
appeared4 ,but since someone has had the
 industry to  collect them1 and since   
there is a sufficient demand to warrant 
their  issue in volume form1 we may     
receive them with a moderate pleasure4  
,the greater part of the volume1        
however1 does not rise to this level4   
,even the most brilliant and versatile  

of writers cannot consistently  display 
his individual powers in journeyman     
work2 and ,wilde1 though his  wit was   
irrepressible1 almost involuntary1 was  
no more conscientious  than any other   
reviewer4 ,when the good sentences came 
they came3 when  they did not1 he made  
no particular effort to maintain either 
his style  or his ideas on any very     
elevated plane4 ,there is no great value
 for  the reader of to-day in a picture 
of ,mrs4 ,somerville in a review of a   
book on her by a ,miss ,phyllis ,browne4
 ,and no reader is likely to take a     
very vivid delight in ,wilde's comment  
on a book called ,how to be ,happy      
though ,married1 that      ,most young  
married people nowadays start in life   
with a dreadful    collection of ormolu 
inkstands covered with sham onyxes1 or  
with a    perfect museum of             
salt-cellars4 ,we strongly recommend    
this book as    one of the best of      
wedding presents    or in the jokes that
 ,wilde quotes from the book4           

,unfortunately it is  by no means clear 
that the anonymous compiler has realised
 how much  uninteresting matter he is   
reprinting4 ,he closes the volume with  
twenty-odd pages of ,sententi1 selected 
from reviews in which the  gems of      
thought and language were detachably    
scattered4 ,but these gems  include such
 remarks as ,no one survives being      
over-estimated1 and ,no  age ever       
borrows the slang of its predecessor4   
,we cannot therefore  excuse him on the 
ground that he knew he was dragging     
lumber into the  light1 and did so from 
a pious if mistaken motive4             
,,contemporaries ,,of ,,shakespeare4 ,by
 ,,algernon ,,charles ,,swinburne4      
,heinemann4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,,the    
,,problem ,,of ,,hamlet4 ,by the ,,rt4  
,,hon4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,robertson4 ,allen      
,unwin4  #es4 net4    ,swinburne's book1
 as ,mr4 ,gosse explains in his         
introduction1 is the  complement of his 
work ,the ,age of ,shakespeare4 ,he had 
intended  a comprehensive survey of the 

whole of the ,elizabethan drama1 the    
glories of which he spent a great part  
of his life in celebrating4 ,he  did    
enough of it to show what the complete  
work would have been2 the  outlines are 
all here1 but they are only filled in   
patches4    ,that1 carrying on as he did
 the ,lamb tradition1 and expressing it 
in  his own language1 he was sometimes  
over-enthusiastic1 every reader of  his 
sonnet on ,tourneur knows4 ,that he was 
liable to say incompatible  things on   
different pages1 where his purposes were
 different1 is  also common knowledge4  
,we do not go to him for an exact       
placing of  men or for temperate        
statement2 it might be roughly said that
 he was  willing to regard any minor    
,elizabethan writer as a master1 unless 
he  desired to use him to point a       
contrast with someone else1 in which    
event the unfortunate playwright might  
be treated as a buffoon1 an             
incompetent1 and an impostor4 ,yet even 
of just and balanced criticism  there is

 much in this book4 ,no critic before   
him has so acutely  dissociated the     
great ,marlowe from the ,greenes1       
,peeles1 and ,lodges1  who are          
indolently classed with him4 7,it is    
characteristic that in  making this     
dissociation he says of one of ,peele's 
plays that it is  a riddle beyond and   
also beneath solution how a man of any  
capacity  could have dropped upon the   
nascent stage an abortion so monstrous  
in  its spiritless and shapeless misery 
as his villainous play of ,edward  ,i47 
,and the essay on ,chapman1 here        
reprinted1 is one of the finest         
panegyrics and most illuminating pieces 
of imaginative criticism in the         
language4 ,he may1 when he turns his    
searchlight on little men1 illumine     
them too much2 but ,chapman was not a   
little man1 and with space to move  in  
and time to think in ,swinburne here    
produced a masterpiece4 ,the long       
passage on ,browning and his obscurity  
is almost as good1 so good that a       

digression1 otherwise unpardonable1 is  
self-excused4    ,the book as a whole is
 among ,swinburne's best prose books4   
,his writing  is what it ever was4      
,almost every word and sentence is      
duplicated4  ,he would write3 ,no man   
and no woman who has ever ridden on a   
bus or  driven on a cab down the quiet  
bye-streets and crowded thoroughfares   
of ,paris or of ,london could fail to   
have noticed with interest and  to have 
condemned1 or at least deprecated1      
without hesitation or  afterthought1 the
 design of the posters displayed on the 
hoardings or  exhibited in the windows1 
even as1 with no greater hesitation and 
no  less microscopic afterthought1 he   
would have1 c41 c4 ,we feel that the    
sentences might have been split into    
halves and two books of precisely       
similar meaning made out of the one4    
,yet his manner is a part of him4  ,even
 his most serpentine sentences have     
vigour and directness when they  are    
read aloud2 and his invective is as     

entertaining as ever4 ,swinburne  had a 
very small vocabulary as a poet1 but a  
very large one as a writer  of          
denunciatory prose4 ,he refers to a play
 of ,james ,howard's as a  piece of     
noisome nonsense which must make his    
name a stench in the  nostrils of the   
nauseated reader1 and through a series  
of laughing  jackasses1 howling         
dervishes1 and things ignoble1 impure1  
infamous1  and abominable he reaches the
 climax of his abuse with the beautiful 
appellation1 verminous pseudonymuncule4 
,mr4 ,robertson also has planned a large
 work on the drama1 but his  is         
restricted to ,shakespeare4 ,he proposes
 to complete a series1  of which his    
,shakespeare and ,chapman was an        
instalment1 on the  canon of            
,shakespeare4 ,he has more concentration
 and more industry  than ,swinburne1 and
 he may complete his task4 ,he is not an
 inspired  critic and1 unlike           
,swinburne's1 his manner does not       
contribute to  the readableness of his  

books4 ,he is often--though an          
engagingly  acrimonious                 
controversialist--heavy-footed2 and he  
has a passion for  words like theorem   
and confutation which is almost         
incomprehensible  in a man who obviously
 loves the simplest and most beautiful  
art4 ,in  the present volume he tackles 
the problem of ,hamlet4 ,he ridicules   
those who think that ,hamlet was very   
vacillating2 who would not be  upset if 
he discovered that his father had been  
murdered by his uncle  and his mother1  
and who would not hesitate before       
killing a man on  the word of a ghost8  
,but he admits1 as we all must admit1   
that there  are inconsistencies in the  
play1 and he argues1 with what we think 
conclusive force1 that these are derived
 from ,kyd's lost ,hamlet1  which       
,shakespeare used as a basis4 ,here1 as 
elsewhere 7in ,othello  and ,the        
,merchant of ,venice for example71      
,shakespeare was handicapped  by his    
sources4 ,mr4 ,robertson sometimes      

pushes his arguments too  far1 and he   
exaggerates1 we think 7where he finds it
 convenient71  the inexplicability of   
,hamlet's character4 ,but he has spent  
immense  industry on the book1 and it is
 a contribution to ,shakespearean study 
that no scholar will be able to ignore4 
,we wish1 by the way1 that he  would not
 spend so much of his time1 here and    
elsewhere1 arguing with  people1 ,german
 and other1 who are not worth arguing   
with4      ,,appreciations ,,of         
,,poetry4 ,by ,,lafcadio ,,hearn4       
,heinemann4 #aes4 net4    ,hearn was a  
sensible critic4 ,but it is a fact--and 
a pity--that his  criticisms of ,english
 literature were addressed to an        
audience of  ,japanese students4 ,in    
examining a few of them 7and we have    
already  had two immense volumes7 we get
 some instruction and entertainment     
from observing what he selects for      
,japan and how he explains it--a        
comparison and a contrast of the        
,eastern and ,western points of view4   

,here and there1 too1 trying everything 
on the dog1 he reveals  unexpected      
merits in ,english writers4 ,in the     
,interpretations he  demonstrated not   
merely the worth of ,longfellow1 but the
 intermittent  genius of ,mrs4 ,norton4 
,but we can have too much of a rather   
interesting  thing1 and it is inevitable
 that these lectures on ,tennyson1      
,rossetti1  ,swinburne1 ,browning1      
,matthew ,arnold1 ,morris1 and various  
minors should  be too elementary1       
however sound they may be1 and however  
happy the  quotations1 to give serious  
,english readers much satisfaction4 ,we 
note  with pleasure that many years ago 
,hearn was pointing out to ,japan the   
great qualities of ,robert ,bridges as a
 poet of landscape4      ,,history ,,and
 ,,biography    ,,the ,,expansion ,,of  
,,europe 7#adae-aghi73 ,a ,history of   
the ,foundations  of the ,modern ,world4
 ,by ,w4 ,c4 ,,abbott1 ,professor of    
,history in ,yale  ,university4 ,bell4  
,two vols4 #cjs4 net4    ,every         

schoolboy1 in the ,macaulayan sense1 has
 at some time or other  determined to   
write a history of the world in twenty  
volumes from the  earliest times to the 
present day4 ,achievement is fortunately
 given  to few4 ,omniscience becomes    
yearly more impossible1 and1 since the  
human mind can no longer single-handed  
cope with the accumulations  of human   
knowledge1 in history1 as in so many    
other things1 we have  reached an age of
 intensive specialisation4 ,these are   
truths which  are continually being     
impressed upon us by the schools of     
modern  history1 and that they are to a 
great extent truths will be shown by  a 
glance at any well-loaded shelf in a    
library devoted to the output  of the   
modern historian4 ,yet there is distinct
 evidence of a reaction  against this   
meticulous specialisation2 there are    
signs that several  most learned        
historians are discarding the historical
 microscope for  the historical         
telescope and are yielding to the old   

fascination of  writing histories of the
 world4 ,the free airs of the ,new      
,world seem  to encourage this new phase
 of an old fascination4 ,it is not very 
long  ago that ,professor ,hayes of     
,columbia ,university took a large brush
  and a large canvas and produced two   
excellent and impressive volumes  which 
he called ,a ,political and ,social     
,history of ,modern ,europe4  ,these two
 volumes were in effect a world history 
from #aejj to #aiae4 ,the  mere thought 
of such a venture would produce a       
feeling of intellectual  vertigo in most
 historians of the old world4 ,but now  
,professor ,abbott  of ,yale ,university
 comes along with two great volumes1 and
 a promised  third1 in which he         
approaches world history with an even   
larger  canvas and larger brush4 ,he    
tells us himself that he is presenting  
us  with a new synthesis of modern      
history4 ,we confess to as profound  a  
distrust of the word synthesis as some  
people have of the word  definitive1 and

 when a professor tells us that he has  
produced a new  synthesis of history we 
are inclined to believe that this is    
another  way of admitting that          
,providence has not granted him the gift
 of clear  thinking or clear writing4   
,but ,professor ,abbott's preface does  
him and  his book an injustice4 ,some   
doctors1 if you go to them with a       
swollen  arm1 will tell you that you    
have dema of the arm2 but there is no   
need to be frightened--the doctor is    
only telling you1 what you know         
already1 that you have a swollen arm4   
,so1 too1 there is really no need  to be
 frightened by the historian who assures
 you that his book has a  synthesis2 he 
probably only means1 what you know      
already1 that his book  has a subject4  
,we have not discovered the synthesis in
 ,mr4 ,abbott's #ajjj pages1 but  we    
have discovered that he has a very good 
subject and has written1  in many       
respects1 a very good book4 ,the book   
itself proves that he is  well equipped 

with knowledge and has made full use of 
the intensive  and microscopic study of 
the modern historian4 ,but he approaches
  history from the standpoint of        
enthusiastic and large-minded youth4    
,he has thrown away his microscopes and 
determined to look back at  history     
through a telescope4 ,immediately a     
large and dominating fact  has attracted
 his attention4 ,the age we live in is  
pre-eminently  the ,european ,age4 ,the 
world is dominated by ,europe and       
,europeans3  there have in the past been
 eras in which a race or races have by  
migrations and conquests spread         
themselves and their civilisation and   
government over wide spaces of the      
earth1 but never before has there  been 
so universal and permanent a domination 
and expansion from one  small quarter of
 the globe4 ,professor ,abbott1 seizing 
his historical  telescope1 has looked   
back and tried to discover the origin1  
the  causes1 and the courses of this    
amazing phenomenon4 ,and the more one   

investigates the phenomenon the more    
amazing it appears4 ,take the case  of  
migrations4 ,the ,european ,age or the  
modern world1 as ,professor  ,abbott has
 no difficulty in showing1 began in the 
fifteenth century4  7,in history1 of    
course1 there is really never any real  
beginning  or any real end2 there are no
 abrupt transitions1 only faster or     
slower currents in the stream of change2
 nevertheless there are  periods in     
which the movement quickens so          
perceptibly that they are  clearly      
turning-points in human history2 and the
 fifteenth century is  undoubtedly such 
a turning-point47 ,now one of the most  
striking facts  in the modern world has 
been the migration of ,europeans4 ,in   
,north  ,america1 ,northern ,asia1      
,australia1 ,south ,africa1 and to some 
extent in  ,south ,america we see the   
,europeanisation of vast regions of the 
earth  still being accomplished by the  
most ancient form of migration and      
colonisation4 ,at the same time ,europe 

has sent out a continual stream  of     
conquerors and traders by whose efforts 
practically the whole of  the rest of   
the world1 where the inhabitants were   
not exterminated1  has been subjected to
 ,european rule and the ,european's     
political and  economic system4 ,as     
,professor ,abbott points out1 this was 
a complete  reversal of the rle of      
,europe and the ,european in history4   
,between  the fall of the ,roman ,empire
 and the discovery of ,america ,europe  
had been rather the passive than the    
active element in that great  shifting  
of population to which we give the name 
of folk-wandering or  migration4 ,and it
 is a curious fact that the new period  
of history1  of the expansion of        
,europe1 and of the modern world begins 
with  an event--it is the event         
mentioned in the very first sentence of 
,professor ,abbott's book--which        
involved not the expansion but the most 
notable shrinking and invasion of       
,europe and was characteristic of the   

old world4 ,to the ,european of #adec   
the fall of ,constantinople before  the 
victorious ,turk seemed to portend one  
more desperate and disastrous  struggle 
against a horde of ,asiatic invaders1   
and the inevitable  and universal       
blindness of contemporaries to the great
 movements  and currents moulding their 
destiny and history could not be better 
illustrated than by this fear and       
foreboding of the ,european in #adec4   
,within a hundred years of the fall of  
,constantinople1 instead of ,europe     
fighting desperately against the        
non-,european world of invaders1 the    
non-,european world was already engaged 
in a hopeless struggle against  the     
swarm of ,european invaders4 ,in fact1  
however1 the movement1 which  within a  
generation was to send ,portuguese and  
,spaniards ranging  over ,africa1 ,asia1
 and the ,new ,world1 had already begun 
in #adec4  ,contemporaries thought the  
end of a ,european world had come with  
the  capture of ,constantinople2 they   

should have seen that the fall of ,ceuta
  to the ,portuguese prince in #adae and
 the discovery and colonisation of  the 
,madeiras in #adah marked the beginning 
of a new ,european world of             
colonisation1 conquest1 and territorial 
expansion4    ,it is the story of this  
expansion1 this change from the medival 
to  the modern world1 which ,professor  
,abbott seeks to unfold in his two      
volumes4 ,the estimation of his success 
or failure raises an important  question
 for the historian4 ,he is clearly right
 in his view that a  proper basis for   
the understanding of what has happened  
during the  past five hundred years     
cannot be found merely in the history of
  territorial expansion4 ,if you look at
 the past through his historical        
telescope you soon see that you cannot  
isolate the voyage of ,columbus  from   
the break up of the feudal system and   
medival institutions1  or the exploits  
of ,hernando ,cortez from those of      
,martin ,luther4  ,consequently         

,professor ,abbott attempts1 as he says 
in his preface1 to  combine three       
elements into a narrative of ,european  
activities from  #adae to #aghi4 ,the   
three elements are described by him as  
first the  connection of the social1    
economic1 and intellectual development  
of  ,european peoples with their        
political affairs2 second1 the progress 
of events among the peoples of ,eastern 
,europe1 and of the activities of       
,europeans beyond the sea2 and third1   
the relation of the past to the         
present--the way in which the various   
factors of modern life came into  the   
current of ,european thought and        
practice1 and how they developed  into  
the forms with which we are familiar4   
,the real question for  the critic of   
,professor ,abbott's book is how far he 
has succeeded in  this tremendous       
undertaking4 ,the undertaking is so     
tremendous and the  attempt so gallant  
that we hesitate to give an answer which
 is in fact  so easy4 ,with all its good

 points1 its wide learning1 its         
scholarly  arrangement1 its great       
interest and enthusiasm1 the book cannot
 really  be said to succeed in its chief
 aim4 ,to judge from our personal       
experience1 the reader1 when he is about
 a third of the way through the  two    
volumes1 begins to have an uncomfortable
 sense of having lost his  way1 and this
 feeling gradually grows stronger and   
stronger4 ,the man  who writes a history
 of the world which is not to be a mere 
catalogue  of facts1 but is to          
illustrate and explain the present by   
the past and  is to keep us on the track
 of great world movements1 has to select
 his  facts1 and it is mainly upon his  
intuition for relevant facts and his    
skill in selection and presentation that
 the success of his enterprise  depends4
 ,professor ,abbott's failure to keep   
our vision clear and our  feet steadily 
upon the right path comes from a failure
 to select and  an error in method4 ,his
 book as it proceeds tends to become    

more and  more a catalogue of facts1    
divided into chapters and labelled with 
such  labels as ,europe beyond the ,sea 
and ,social and ,intellectual ,europe2  
the general theme which should connect  
these innumerable facts becomes  lost   
and forgotten1 or at least no longer    
visible to or present in  the           
consciousness of the reader4 ,the       
measure of this failure is the          
frequency with which ,professor ,abbott 
makes the connection between his  facts 
purely one of time1 for it is almost a  
confession of failure on  the part of a 
world historian with a synthesis when he
 has to point  out to us that the       
summoning of the ,imperial ,diet at     
,nuremberg1 the  conversion of ,john    
,calvin1 and the conquest of ,peru all  
happened in the  same year4 ,professor  
,abbott's mistake seems to us to consist
 largely  in having overloaded his book 
with detailed facts4 ,as it stands it is
  invaluable as a mine of facts bearing 
upon the change from medivalism  to     

modernity and upon ,europe's conquest of
 the world2 but an immense  number of   
these facts are irrelevant to his       
general theme and purpose4  ,open the   
book at random and this immediately     
becomes apparent4 ,here  is page #chd in
 a chapter called ,the ,rise of         
,holland1 and on it we  find ourselves  
immersed in the details of the ,thirty  
,years' ,war4 ,here  ,professor ,abbott 
has failed to decide whether he is      
writing a text-book  of history in which
 the military exploits of the ,margrave1
 ,john ,george  of                      
,brandenburg-,jgerndorf are relevant1 or
 a wide survey of the great  currents of
 history in which ,john ,george had but 
a microscopic place4  ,here the author  
abandons his telescope and world history
 for the  microscope and ,john ,george1 
with the result that the feet of his    
reader  wander from the path and his    
eyes are clouded4 ,it is fatal to       
attempt  to use a telescope and a       
microscope at the same time on the same 

object4      ,,boche ,,and ,,bolshevik4 
,by ,,hereward ,t4 ,,price4 ,murray4    
#fs4 net4    ,the author of this book   
was born an ,englishman1 but at the     
outbreak of  war he was living in       
,germany1 a naturalised ,german4 ,he was
 called up  and served in the ,german   
,army on the ,eastern front1 was taken  
prisoner1  sent to ,siberia1 and was a  
witness of the ,russian revolution      
there4  ,the book is a record of his    
personal experiences and views4 ,he is  
as  bitterly hostile to his adopted     
country as he is to ,bolshevism and     
,bolsheviks4 ,his book does not add very
 much to our knowledge of the war  or   
the revolution1 and his own knowledge   
may be measured by the fact  that he    
apparently thinks that the secret       
treaties published by the  ,bolshevik   
,government were made by ,kerenski4     
,,to ,,kiel ,,in ,,the ,,hercules4 ,by  
,,lewis ,r4 ,,freeman4 ,murray4 #fs4    
net4    ,mr4 ,freeman was ,official     
,correspondent with the ,grand ,fleet1  

and he  accompanied ,admiral ,browning  
to ,kiel after the surrender of the     
,german  fleet as ,keeper of the        
,records to the ,allied ,armistice      
,commission4  ,the book contains an     
interesting record of the various       
inspections and  of conditions in       
,germany immediately after the          
armistice4      ,,my ,,kingdom ,,for ,a 
,,horse6 ,by ,,william ,,allison4       
,richards4 #bas4 net4    ,if he never   
sacrificed a kingdom1 ,mr4 ,allison at  
least abandoned a  first-class in his   
schools for the sake of horses4 ,that   
day was1  indeed1 evidently the         
turning-point of his life4 ,he was an   
admirable  writer of ,latin verse1 and  
when he was in for ,moderations at      
,oxford  the ,latin verse paper fell on 
the same day as the ,derby4 ,he left    
his composition unwritten to go and see 
whether ,prince ,charlie had  won the   
,derby4 ,mr4 ,allison1 with the modesty 
proper to heroes1 now  calls his action 
extremely silly1 but few readers of this

 book  of recollections will agree4     
,many men get firsts2 few men pursue    
horse-breeding and racing with the      
poetic fervour which ,mr4 ,allison      
brought to them4 ,his recollections are 
of ,rugby under ,temple and  ,balliol   
under ,jowett1 and this part of his book
 is an amusing mixture1  recalling now  
,tom ,brown's ,schooldays 7for ,rugby   
still kept the ,arnold  stamp7 and now  
,ruff's ,guide4 ,when he left ,balliol  
he was called to  the ,bar1 but never   
gave it undue preference over the       
paddock4 ,he ran  a famous breeding     
establishment1 and when the ,stud       
,company ,limited  failed ,mr4 ,allison 
combined practice at the ,bar with      
journalism4  ,as editor of ,st4         
,stephen's ,review1 which was started   
with #ejj  capital in #ahhc and lasted  
till its famous conflict with the       
,hansard  ,union in #ahia1 ,mr4 ,allison
 deserves praise for one notable act--he
  discovered ,phil ,may4 ,the cartoons  
of ,may's which he reproduces will  not 

compare with the artist's later         
drawings1 but it is not possible  to    
estimate the value to ,may of the       
training he obtained in this early      
political work4 ,the ,fleet ,street of  
the '#hj's1 when ,romano's was a  place 
the quieter journalist entered with     
trembling1 is portrayed  in a dry1      
matter-of-fact way far more effective   
than any elaborate1  highly-coloured    
description4 ,there may be people who   
are not interested  in horses or        
journalism2 to them we can recommend the
 pleasant tributes  to ,bacchus which   
lace engagingly the more serious        
chronicle4 ,as a boy  ,mr4 ,allison was 
not strong1 and a good old-fashioned    
doctor ordered  him a glass of port     
every morning at eleven2 this advice was
 followed  scrupulously1 both at home   
and when ,i went to school1 and ,mr4    
,allison  never actually says that he   
has abandoned the prescribed dose4      
,mr4 ,allison writes with no pretensions
 to literary art1 and he  sometimes     

chronicles very trifling occurrences2   
but he has an engaging  modesty and a   
genial take it or leave it attitude     
which redeem his  book from the charge  
of triviality4 ,my ,kingdom for a       
,horse6 should  be invaluable to the    
historian of social manners and to the  
novelist  who is anxious to get material
 for the reconstruction of a time which 
already seems historical4 ,there are    
plenty of illustrations--mostly  process
 reproductions of old photographs and   
examples of ,phil ,may's  work4 ,we     
wish1 by the way1 if ,mr4 ,allison owns 
the copyright1 that he  would persuade  
some publisher to issue a new and       
worthier edition of  ,may's ,the ,parson
 and the ,painter1 which first appeared 
in the ,st4  ,stephen's ,review4        
,,politics ,,and ,,economics    ,,how   
,,the ,,war ,,came4 ,by the ,,earl      
,,loreburn4 ,methuen4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4   
,there is very little disagreement      
to-day1 we suppose1 as to who were  the 
prime authors of the ,war4 ,but on the  

minor question1 whether any  blame      
attaches to the ,entente ,powers1       
opinion is1 as it was from the          
beginning1 far more divided4 ,the       
controversy as to our own position in   
the crisis1 which had almost faded out  
of the public mind1 is sharply  revived 
by ,lord ,loreburn's book4 ,lord        
,loreburn1 let us hasten to say1  does  
not deny the guilt of ,germany4 ,indeed1
 he is at pains to show how  the        
,bismarckian tradition1 improved upon by
 chauvinistic professors1  a more or    
less demented monarch and a ruthless    
military caste1 had  sapped the morality
 of the ,german nation and made it all  
too ready to  follow its rulers into a  
deliberate attack on the peace of       
,europe4 ,nor  does he lend any support 
to the suggestion that the ,british     
,government  or the ,british people     
wanted war with ,germany4 ,he pays a    
tribute to  the efforts made by the     
,foreign ,secretary to avert the        
disaster at  the eleventh hour4 ,and yet

 ,viscount ,grey cannot1 in his mind1   
escape  a large share of responsibility 
for the final conflagration4 ,for what  
made the war inevitable1 he asserts1 was
 our entente with ,france4  ,that       
entente was a departure from the        
traditional ,british policy of  holding 
aloof from all ,continental             
entanglements4 ,it was developed by     
,sir ,edward ,grey1 with the assistance 
of ,mr4 ,asquith and ,lord ,haldane1    
behind the backs of ,parliament1 and    
even of the ,cabinet1 from the end  of  
#aije onwards4 ,not only was ,sir       
,edward ,grey working in secret2 he was 
committing this country to the support  
of ,france 7and through ,france  of     
,russia7 without taking the necessary   
steps to increase the army so  as to    
make that support effective4 ,and1 worst
 of all1 he had nothing  in black and   
white to define exactly to what amount  
of support we were  committed4 ,the     
result was seen on ,august #dth1 #aiad1 
when it became  manifest that we were   

under an obligation of honour to join   
our arms  with the ,french against      
,germany4 ,sir ,edward ,grey1 of course1
 maintained  that we were not so bound1 
that we were free to decide whether to  
declare war or not4 ,and it is certain  
that a large part1 if not the  whole1 of
 the nation1 was convinced that it was  
the attack on ,belgium  which did       
finally bring us in4 ,but this1 says    
,lord ,loreburn1 was a  delusion1 which 
flowed from the arch-delusion of ,sir   
,edward ,grey that  our hands were free4
    ,lord ,loreburn's case1 it will be  
seen1 clearly has two heads4 ,he did    
not like the policy of the ,french      
,entente1 and he did not like the       
methods by which it was promoted4 ,on   
the first point most readers will       
disagree with him1 and1 in any event1   
the matter is now of merely  historic   
interest4 ,on the second point1 public  
opinion will be more  interested in his 
criticisms4 ,some will say that ,lord   
,loreburn's old  hostility to the       

,liberal ,imperialists inclines him to  
magnify the  faults that were committed 
between #aije and #aiad4 ,some will say 
that he  exaggerates the ignorance under
 which we are alleged to have laboured  
in regard to our relations with ,france4
 ,his opponents will certainly  suggest 
that everybody knew where we stood1 as  
towards ,france1 and that  the secrecy  
was secrecy in name only4 ,but these are
 not matters for  discussion in these   
columns4 ,lord ,loreburn thinks that the
 persistent  danger of secret diplomacy 
is hitherto tolerated and abused in this
  and other countries is one that the   
nations ought to lose no time in  taking
 to heart4      ,,the ,,mastery ,,of    
,,the ,,far ,,east4 ,by ,a4 ,j4 ,,brown4
 ,bell4 #bes4 net4    ,this massive     
volume 7it runs to some #fej pages7 is a
 very interesting  account of the       
,japanese and ,korean peoples1 their    
customs1 their  religions1 their        
politics1 and the influence of          
,christian missions in  their countries4

 ,dr4 ,brown is an ,american with an    
agreeable style1 a  sense of humour1    
and1 in general1 a nice critical        
faculty1 and1 though  we are very       
doubtful of some of his conclusions1 we 
do not hesitate to  say that his book is
 a valuable contribution to the         
literature of the  ,far ,east4    ,from 
a political point of view the ,far ,east
 means to-day--and it will  mean more   
and more in the future--,japan4 ,every  
schoolboy knows the  story of ,japan's  
rapid emergence from feudalism to the   
position of a  first-class modern       
,power1 of her successful struggles with
 ,china and  ,russia1 of her mastery of 
the ,korean peninsula1 of the great part
 she  played in the late war4 ,and      
schoolboys1 as well as statesmen1 may   
presently watch the effects upon world  
politics of her status in ,asia4  ,dr4  
,brown is a candid friend of the        
,japanese4 ,he is not under the         
illusion that they are a model people1  
nor is he of those who describe  them as

 varnished savages4 ,he comments        
severely on the lamentable  labour      
conditions that prevail under their     
newly-created industrial  system4 ,he is
 no lover of the autocracy of their     
government4 ,he does  not deny the      
faults of their diplomacy4 ,nevertheless
 he is their  friend1 who believes in   
them4 ,he expresses his sympathy with   
,korea  and with ,china in their        
subjection4 ,but he takes what he calls 
the  large way of viewing ,japan's      
,korean policy4 ,the large way1 he says1
  is to note that1 in the evolution of  
the race and the development  of the    
plan of ,god1 the time had come when it 
was for the best  interests of the world
 and for the welfare of the ,koreans    
themselves  that ,korea should come     
under the tutelage of ,japan4 ,as for   
,china1  she is an enormous and backward
 country 444 like a ship without a      
captain or pilot1 helplessly drifting on
 the high seas1 apparently  unable to   
right herself and1 in her present       

water-logged condition1  a menace to    
other ships4 ,and so he sympathises with
 the feeling of  the ,japanese that they
 cannot ignore this incontestable       
situation4  ,he is an enthusiastic      
believer in ,christian missions1 and he 
hopes  that ,christianity will be the   
salvation of ,japan4 ,japan's great     
need1  he says1 is to be spiritualised4 
,neither ,buddhism nor ,shintoism have  
the necessary moral influence4 ,but     
,christian missions are a great         
reconstructive force--economical1       
social1 intellectual1 political1        
spiritual1 international4 ,what1 then1  
is the position of ,christianity  in    
,japan8 ,dr4 ,brown produces statistics 
to show that it has made  enormous      
strides1 and quotations from ,japanese  
statesmen and publicists  as evidence   
that its growth is welcomed by the      
rulers of the country4  ,yet all the    
public schools are forbidden to teach   
religion2 ,buddhism  has been driven to 
reform itself2 ,shintoism1 as he admits1

 is a waxing  rather than a waning      
force4 ,in another passage he says that 
the old  religions of ,japan are losing 
their hold on the educated classes4     
,thus a recent census in the ,imperial  
,university of ,tokio showed fifty      
,buddhists1 sixty ,christians1 #aejj    
atheists1 #cjjj agnostics4 ,it would    
appear1 therefore1 that the missionaries
 have a long row to hoe before          
,christianity becomes the general       
religion of the ,japanese4      ,,race  
,,and ,,nationality4 ,by ,,john         
,,oakesmith1 ,d4,litt41 ,m4,a4          
,heinemann4  #ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,there 
is some chance1 now that the heat and   
passion of the war are  past1 that the  
vexed questions of nationality and      
nationalism will  be discussed with a   
little more intelligence and            
discrimination4 ,dr4  ,oakesmith        
certainly sets a good example4 ,he tells
 us that he was  formerly one of those  
7they were the vast majority1 we think7 
who had  but a vague idea of what they  

meant by nationality1 till he set       
himself  to study the question and      
classify his mind4 ,the results appear  
in this  very interesting book4 ,he     
criticises alike the theory that        
nationality  is based on race1 and the  
opposing theory that there is no such   
thing as nationality at all4 ,in his own
 view nationality develops as  an       
evolutionary process1 and the full-grown
 thing may be defined as  organic       
continuity of common interest4 ,he      
argues strongly against the             
internationalist pacifist's contention  
that nationality is the cause of  war1  
and that peace is to be obtained by the 
spread of cosmopolitanism4  ,on the     
contrary1 he avows1 nationality is      
actually the one instrument  destined1  
if wisely directed1 to secure lasting   
and universal peace4  ,this is a        
statement which most sane persons to-day
 will accept easily  enough4 ,but the   
crux is the wise direction4 ,dr4        
,oakesmith does  not give us much       

practical guidance on this point4       
,generalities and  fine words are not   
very helpful1 whether they come from the
 side of  passionate enthusiasts for the
 ,league of ,nations or from those who1 
like ,dr4 ,oakesmith1 are a little      
doubtful whether the world is quite     
ripe for it4 ,however1 the book is well 
worth studying1 especially on  its      
critical side4      ,,war-,,time        
,,financial ,,problems4 ,by ,,hartley   
,,withers4 ,murray4 #fs4 net4    ,mr4   
,hartley ,withers is not only a         
financial expert2 he is also a  really  
interesting writer4 ,even though one may
 not agree with all his  views1 one can 
enjoy this collection of vigorous essays
 on war finance1  company law and       
banking1 currency problems at home and  
abroad1 the  conscription of wealth1 the
 theory of ,guild socialism4 ,mr4       
,withers does  not spare his criticism  
of the ,government's financial policy1  
which has  brought us to the verge of   
bankruptcy4 ,he dismisses the capital   

levy  as impracticable2 but he advocates
 a high income tax1 with super-tax      
beginning at a much lower level1 and    
with skilful differentiation  according 
to the circumstances of the taxpayer4   
,,the ,,great ,,unmarried4 ,by ,,walter 
,m4 ,,gallichan4 ,werner ,laurie4 #fs4  
net4    ,this book is a painstaking     
attempt to show the evils of celibacy   
7including the common state of          
pseudo-celibacy7 both to society and  to
 the individual4 ,mr4 ,gallichan        
arraigns the false ideals and the       
economic pressure of our industrial     
system1 the perverse influence of       
ecclesiasticism1 and the other causes   
which produce the myriads of            
involuntary or voluntary celibates in   
the western world4 ,he advocates  no    
fancy remedies1 such as free love1      
polygamy1 or the taxation of  bachelors1
 but rather an attack on poverty1 the   
spread of education1  the moralisation  
of the marriage laws4 ,the book is not a
 profound or  scientific study1 but it  

might be instructive to those who have  
never  given any thought to the subject4
      ,,ulster ,,and ,,ireland4 ,by     
,,james ,,winder ,,good4 ,maunsel4 #fs4 
net4    ,this little volume is one of   
the clearest and the most interesting   
books that we have seen on the ,irish   
problem4 ,mr4 ,good gives us a  survey  
of ,ulster history from the seventeenth 
century1 which shows the  unifying      
influence of the genuine democratic     
ideals common to both the  contending   
parties4 ,he argues that this           
unification has been1 and is1  thwarted 
by religion1 and by ,carsonism1 the     
supreme example in  modern times of the 
triumph of the influences that make for 
divisions  in ,ireland4 ,sinn ,fein1 in 
,mr4 ,good's view1 offers no practicable
 way  out of the difficulty of ,ulster4 
,if ,sinn ,fein is1 he says1 as it  can 
now claim to be1 the creed of the ,irish
 people it must propound  a solution of 
the ,ulster riddle based1 not on        
abstract theories1 but  on the realities

 of the situation4 ,mr4 ,good's         
concluding chapters  on ,ulster as ,it  
,is are excellent reading4 ,we do not   
suppose ,ulster  ,unionists will agree  
with all the views he expresses there1  
still less  with his conclusions--one of
 the chief of which is that ,ireland is 
really one nation and not two4 ,but his 
book may induce a good many mere        
,englishmen to take a more intelligent  
attitude towards ,irish politics4       
,,the ,,guild ,,state3 ,,its            
,,principles ,,and ,,possibilities4 ,by 
,g4 ,r4 ,,stirling  ,,taylor4 ,allen    
,unwin4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,mr4 ,taylor 
is an enthusiastic ,guildsman1 though a 
heretic1 in that he  stands for a       
localised system as against the orthodox
 ,national ,guilds4  ,his book is a very
 nave account of the ,guild proposals1  
and we can  hardly imagine that it will 
convert anyone to his views4 ,there is a
  vast amount of idealisation of the    
,middle ,ages--an idealisation which    
frequently verges on the ridiculous4    

,many of the historical statements  are 
extravagant4 ,we are told1 for instance1
 that ,queen ,elizabeth had  perhaps the
 most honest and most efficient         
ministers of ,state that this  nation   
has ever possessed4 ,and is it not going
 rather far to say that  the ,french    
peasant remains much as he has been for 
centuries--the most  substantial fact in
 ,european civilisation1 and perhaps its
 highest  product8 ,mr4 ,taylor's style 
would not suffer if it were less        
arrogant  and less splenetic4 ,he lets  
us know1 till we are sick of it1 that   
there  is but little wisdom in the world
 save in the common-sense simple man    
and the hard-headed ,guildsman4 ,and his
 virulence against politicians  and     
,university professors almost assumes   
the dimension of a disease4             
,,reconstructors ,,and ,,reconstruction3
 ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,common-,,sense4 ,by  
,,oxon4  ,b4,h4 ,blackwell4 #as4 net4   
,the greater part of this brochure is   
taken up with a defence of the          

capitalist against the attacks of       
revolutionaries1 impossibilists1 and    
all the tribe of intellectual high      
flyers--such as ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw1    
,mr4 ,chesterton1 ,mr4 ,orage1 and the  
late ,mr4 ,sidney ,ball4 ,the author's  
own plan is to harmonise the interests  
of capitalists and workers  in a system 
of separate autonomous industries       
co-ordinated with a  ,national ,federal 
,parliament of ,industry4 ,it is in fact
 something like  ,guild socialism with  
the socialism left out4 ,oxon hardly    
appears to  appreciate the limitations  
or the difficulties of his scheme4      
,a ,,primer ,,of ,,national ,,finance4  
,by ,,henry ,,higgs1 ,c4,b4 ,methuen4   
#es4 net4    ,this is a purely          
elementary volume which explains the    
revenue and  expenditure of the ,british
 ,government and local authorities1 the 
,national ,debt1 and the study of       
financial statistics4 ,it is clearly and
  simply written1 and might be a        
valuable schoolbook4 ,for the interested

  and courageous student there is some  
useful advice on further reading4  ,but 
,mr4 ,higgs will strike fear into the   
heart of many beginners by  telling them
 in the first chapter that the science  
of finance is so  vast a subject that   
,professor ,jze of ,paris is preparing  
twelve bulky  volumes upon it1 and that 
his elementary treatise alone consists  
of  over #aajj large octavo pages6      
,,theology    ,,the ,,supreme           
,,adventure4 ,by ,,mercedes ,,macandrew4
 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4  #f;d4 net4      
,certain ,nonconformist ministers had a 
habit--it is now fast dying--of         
interspersing the reading of the ,lesson
 in service-time with comment  and      
illustration4 ,mrs4 ,macandrew has      
applied a similar method in this        
volume4 ,writing to satisfy the needs of
 an agnostic friend1 ,mrs4  ,macandrew  
retells the story of the four ,gospels  
and supports the  narrative with        
critical expositions of her own or1     
occasionally1 of  such authorities as   

,edersheim4 ,it is not easy to see for  
whom the book  is intended4 ,mrs4       
,macandrew is frankly uncritical4 ,she  
not only ignores  the whole body of     
higher criticism1 but she makes no      
reference  to textual difficulties1 and1
 in discussing such a passage as the    
,confession of ,peter1 does not even    
mention the fact that a considerable    
controversy has gathered for some years 
around the precise significance  of the 
promise1 ,on this rock ,i will build my 
,church4    ,it will not be to          
everybody's taste to have the           
annunciation described  in this way3    
,god the ,father sent an angel called   
,gabriel to that city of                
flowers--,nazareth in ,galilee--sent him
 to a sweet and good and lovely    but  
quite poor girl called ,mary who was    
soon to be married to a man    much     
older than herself1 called ,joseph4     
,and when we tried to read ,mrs4        
,macandrew's paraphrases of the parables
  we recalled with a sigh ,mr4          

,birrell's complaint against ,canon     
,farrar1  who elongated the ,gospels4   
,it no doubt gave ,mrs4 ,macandrew some 
months of happiness to write the book1  
but we think she was ill-advised  in    
submitting it to the public4            
,,science    ,,catalysis ,,in ,,theory  
,,and ,,practice4 ,by ,,eric ,k4        
,,rideal and ,,hugh ,s4 ,,taylor4       
,macmillan  ,co4 #ags4 net4    ,in spite
 of the difficulties which war-time     
placed in the way of  publishers1 the   
production of scientific books1 both in 
,england and  ,germany1 has been        
astonishingly large during the past five
 years4 ,the  greater number of them    
have--naturally enough--been devoted    
either  to technical subjects or to     
branches of science having an immediate 
technical application4 ,the field of    
industrial chemistry1 especially1  has  
been well tended by the writers1 and not
 only new books1 but new  series of     
books--such as ,messrs4 ,longmans'      
,monographs on ,industrial  ,chemistry1 

,messrs4 ,churchill's ,textbooks of     
,chemical ,research1  and ,messrs4      
,baillire1 ,tindall1 and ,cox's         
,industrial ,chemistry  series--have    
appeared to bear witness to the activity
 of the ,english  chemists4 ,certain    
subjects in particular have been        
extensively treated2  we may instance   
synthetic colouring matters1 colloid    
chemistry1 and  catalysis1 the          
last-named subject having books devoted 
to it in all  the series just specified4
 ,in these the subject is handled from  
the  industrial point of view1 but it is
 frequently seen that the commercial    
and the theoretical developments of a   
science are mutually stimulating1       
discoveries made in the laboratory      
without any object but the wresting  of 
knowledge from nature finding commercial
 application1 and the  commercial       
processes suggesting fresh theoretical  
problems4 ,the great  industrial        
importance of catalysis has led to a    
revived interest in the  scientific     

theories of the process1 and the latest 
book on the subject1  by ,drs4 ,eric    
,rideal and ,hugh ,taylor1 deserves     
praise for having devoted  considerable 
attention to the historical and         
theoretical aspect of the  subject1     
which has been rather neglected of late4
    ,there are many chemical reactions  
which are promoted or accelerated by    
the addition of a small quantity of some
 foreign substance which is not  used up
 in the process and does not appear in  
the final products4 ,thus  one of the   
romances of chemistry was the discovery1
 occasioned by the  chance breaking of a
 thermometer in the vessel1 that the    
presence of a  small quantity of mercury
 greatly hastens the oxidation of       
naphthalene  to phthalic acid1 a process
 of great importance in the manufacture 
of synthetic indigo4 ,similarly the     
presence of finely divided metals       
accelerates many reactions1 such as     
oxidations and hydrogenations--for      
example1 asbestos impregnated with      

particles of platinum promotes  the     
oxidation of sulphur dioxide to the     
trioxide in the manufacture  of         
sulphuric acid4 ,the researches of      
,baker and others1 showing that  certain
 gas reactions1 which ordinarily take   
place rapidly1 proceed  very slowly     
indeed if the gases are thoroughly      
dried1 point to a  catalytic action of  
small traces of moisture4 ,the enzymes  
of the  human body which accelerate the 
chemical processes of digestion and     
assimilation constitute another class of
 catalysts1 and ,drs4 ,rideal and       
,taylor class under catalytic action the
 effect of radiant energy in  promoting 
such combinations as that of hydrogen   
and chlorine1 although  it is perhaps   
rather extending the usual conception of
 the term to do  so4 ,these examples    
will indicate the wide range of the     
subject and  help to make intelligible  
,ostwald's famous generalisation that   
there  is probably no kind of chemical  
reaction which cannot be influenced     

catalytically1 and there is no          
substance1 element1 or compound which   
cannot act as a catalyser1 which is no  
doubt true if very slight  accelerations
 of reaction be taken into account4 ,of 
course a catalyst  cannot affect the    
final state of equilibrium1 but only    
quicken or  institute 7the discussion as
 to whether1 in some cases1 the catalyst
  initiates or merely accelerates a     
reaction already taking place           
imperceptibly slowly seems to us        
pointless7 a reaction theoretically     
possible4 ,other1 the so-called         
negative1 catalysts hinder reactions2   
other substances poison1 or stop1 the   
action of ordinarily activating         
materials2 others again1 the promoters1 
increase the efficacy of the  catalyst4 
,the phenomenon is a complex one4    ,by
 no means the least interesting and     
valuable feature of the book  before us 
is the exposition of the historical     
development of the  subject4 ,we who are
 apt to look on the feminine scientist  

as a product  of the last twenty years  
are reminded that there was at least one
 woman  chemist of ability in the       
eighteenth century1 ,mrs4 ,fulhame1     
whose  ,essay on ,combustion1 published 
in #aggd1 emphasised the importance of  
the presence of moisture in gaseous     
reactions4 ,faraday1 the prince of      
experimenters1 also worked on catalysis1
 and1 in fact1 originated the           
adsorbtion theory of the process1 which 
attributes the action to the  extended  
compressed film formed at the surface of
 a porous solid4 ,it  is not only in the
 chapter expressly devoted to the early 
history that  we find an account of the 
original workers2 the advances made by  
them  receive recognition throughout the
 book in connection with the branches   
in which they experimented4 ,the        
treatment of the various theories of    
catalysis--the intermediate compound1   
the adsorbtion1 electrochemical1  and   
radiant energy theory--might have been  
extended with advantage4  ,the          

mathematical exposition of the          
adsorbtion theory is one of the  weakest
 things in the book1 and ,mc,lewis's    
work is not very clearly  handled4 ,the 
difficulties of giving an adequate      
summary of this part  of the subject are
 undoubted1 but the need of it is so    
marked that we  regret that the authors 
have not spent more energy on the task4 
,this  is not the place to deal in      
detail with the account of the practical
  applications of catalysis1 which is   
excellently done and includes the  most 
recent work1 some of it1 such as        
,partington's improvements in  oxidising
 ammonia1 only made public last year4   
,the use of catalysts in1  to take a few
 examples at random1 surface combustion1
 the hardening of  oils by hydrogenation
 7used so extensively in margarine      
making71 the  fixation of nitrogen1 and 
electrolysis is well described1 and     
there is  a good chapter on ferments and
 enzymes1 and another on the ,grignard  
reagent4 ,omissions may be noted here   

and there1 but the book is not1  of     
course1 intended to give detailed       
instructions to the commercial  chemist4
 ,rather1 we believe1 is it meant to    
supply to chemists in  general1 and even
 to the lay reader1 an idea of the      
nature of the  process of catalysis1    
which is becoming more important every  
day1  and the extent of its             
applications1 with sufficient detail to 
make  the reactions clear1 as far as    
they are at present understood4 ,as a   
general exposition of the subject the   
book is really needed1 and will         
undoubtedly find a place on the shelves 
of all who follow the advances  of      
science4      ,,ten ,,british           
,,physicists4 ,by ,,alexander           
,,macfarlane4 ,john ,wiley  ,sons1 and  
,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4        
,writing of the life of ,rankine1       
,professor ,p4 ,g4 ,tait gave as his    
opinion that the life of a genuine      
scientific man is1 from the common      
point of view1 almost always uneventful1

 and1 if the man in question  has no    
interests but science1 this is1 in      
general1 true4 ,engaged in  researches  
on the laws of nature1 the most that he 
demands from life  is that he shall have
 his study1 his laboratory1 food1       
shelter and  peace1 and such an attitude
 does not lead to high adventure or     
romances  of passion4 ,consequently1 in 
writing biographies of physicists it is 
advisable not to dwell too long on their
 everyday life1 marriages and  meals1   
for there is a certain monotony about   
the material lives of  these great men4 
,in the lives before us1 which are      
little more than  sketches1 the author  
has rightly laid most stress on the     
scientific  achievements of his ten     
physicists1 but he has a tendency to    
reduce  his account to a catalogue of   
the discoveries and advances made4 ,an  
estimate of the place of each man in the
 thought of the time1 and of  his       
scientific character1 of the general    
tendencies of his work and the  place it

 now occupies in the history of the     
science1 deserves to take a  rather     
larger place in these short biographies 
than it has received4    ,happily many  
of the ten are men of very interesting  
personality4  ,the selection--,james    
,clerk ,maxwell1 ,w4 ,j4 ,m4 ,rankine1  
,p4 ,g4 ,tait1  ,lord ,kelvin1 ,charles 
,babbage1 ,william ,whewell1 ,sir ,g4   
,g4 ,stokes1 ,sir  ,g4 ,b4 ,airy1 ,j4   
,c4 ,adams1 and ,sir ,j4 ,f4 ,w4        
,herschel--if based on no               
clearly-defined plan1 has the merit that
 it includes one or two men who  have   
been unduly neglected4 ,rankine1 in     
spite of his important work on          
thermodynamics1 does not receive much   
attention from the physicists of        
to-day1 possibly owing to his           
unattractive molecular vortices1 and    
,babbage is known to most people rather 
from the sneer in the ,ingoldsby        
,legends3          ,master ,cabbage1 the
 steward1 who'd made a machine          
,to calculate with1 and count noses--,i 

ween        ,the cleverest thing of its 
kind ever seen1    than for his really  
great1 though imperfect1 achievements4  
,why ,babbage  is set down as a         
physicist1 when his whole effort was    
devoted to the  perfecting of           
calculating machines1 we do not know1   
but the life is  one of the most        
interesting1 and makes an attempt to    
expound the  causes--obvious enough1    
perhaps--of his misfortunes4 ,it is a   
generous  appreciation of an ill-starred
 genius1 now seldom heard of4 ,whewell1 
again1 is scarcely known as a physicist1
 but rather as the historian  of        
inductive science2 we suppose that his  
writings on the tides have  secured him 
his place4 ,joule is mentioned in early 
life1 and was  certainly one of the     
leading physicists of the century1 yet  
he is not  among the selected           
ten--neither1 for that matter1 is       
,faraday1 so it is  evident that        
scientific prowess has not been the test
 of admission4    ,on the whole the ten 

are versatile men1 although no one of   
them could  come near in diversity of   
performance to the great ,thomas ,young1
 who  was not only a physicist of the   
first rank but also a physician1 a      
classical scholar1 and one of the first 
successful decipherers of  ,egyptian    
hieroglyphics4 ,rankine and ,whewell    
were fair poets1 and ,clark  ,maxwell   
deserves higher praise for his verses4  
,his description of  ,kelvin's          
reflecting galvanometer1 in the form of 
a parody of ,tennyson's  ,blow1 bugle1  
blow1 illustrates the ease and finish of
 his light verse3            ,o love6   
you fail to read the scale1             
,correct to tenths of a division4       
,to mirror heaven those eyes were given1
            ,and not for methods of     
precision--        ,break1 contact1     
break1 set the free light-spot flying1  
,break contact1 rest thee magnet1       
swinging1 creeping1 dying4    ,the poem 
is quoted in the life of ,kelvin1 and   
two of ,rankine's  songs are given4 ,we 

hope that physicists can still show the 
same  accomplishment4    ,the lives are 
well written1 and1 while not a very     
profound contribution  to the history of
 the science1 make very pleasant reading
 for scientist  and layman4 ,there is1  
however1 occasionally a lack of         
proportion1 as  when ,clark ,maxwell's  
work on electro-magnetic waves receives 
little  attention compared to his other 
far less important achievements4        
,a ,,letter ,,from ,,france    ,,the    
,,present ,,state ,,of ,,the ,,french   
,,novel      ,paris1 ,october1 #aiai4   
,in ,france as much as1 and perhaps more
 than1 in ,england the novel has  been  
since the eighteenth century the central
 massif of literature4  ,while in       
,england the poets and the novelists    
formed two quite distinct  groups1 while
 the poets ,byron1 ,shelley1            
,wordsworth1 ,burns1 ,tennyson1         
,swinburne remained pure poets1 in      
,france there have been few poets  who  
have not wished to write novels4        

,lamartine1 ,hugo1 ,musset1 ,vigny1     
,gautier have done so4 ,a pure critic   
like ,sainte-,beuve wished1 with        
,volupt1 to try his hand at the novel4  
,taine left in manuscript  the novel    
,etienne ,maylan and ,renan the novel   
,patrice2 they did  not publish these   
books because they recognised them to be
 mediocre1  but both wished to obtain   
the glory of the novelist4 ,the novel is
 in  ,france the highest object of      
literary ambition4 ,it alone assures a  
position of material and social         
importance4 ,thus it is that a novelist 
who is read by the upper and middle     
classes is necessarily admitted  to the 
,academy while a historian or a         
philosopher is admitted only in         
exceptional circumstances1 and great    
poets like ,baudelaire1 ,gautier1       
,banville1 ,paul ,fort remain outside   
unless they have certain connections    
and certain sources of support4 ,the    
prosperity of the novel at a given      
moment may then be considered1 in       

,france1 as the most obvious mark of  a 
powerful literary activity4 ,no form of 
literature addresses a larger  public1  
provokes more discussion1 or gives more 
of its own colour to a  generation or to
 an epoch4 ,i will endeavour to indicate
 here in a few  pages the condition of  
the ,french novel on the morrow of the  
war4    ,beyond doubt it is passing     
through a moment of mediocrity4 ,this is
 not  because its public is beginning to
 break up4 ,publishers and readers      
demand novels4 ,in default of genuinely 
new novels many old ones are  reissued  
and read again and cheap reprints are   
swarming4 ,every new  novel in which any
 grain of originality can be perceived  
is discussed  and brought into the light
 and sells satisfactorily4 ,and yet     
nothing  so far has told us of the      
appearance of the ,flaubert1 the ,zola1 
the  ,maupassant of to-morrow4          
,naturalism proves to have been the last
 great school1 massive1  compact1 and   
powerful1 of the ,french novel4 ,well1  

the survivors of  the naturalist        
movement1 such as ,,mm4 ,card1          
,hennique1 ,descaves1 have  ceased to   
write novels or else1 if they still     
write them1 have given  up completely   
the methods of naturalism1 and seek1    
without success1 to  adapt themselves to
 new tastes4 ,it is not1 however1       
impossible that in  a little time from  
now naturalism in several ways may again
 be somewhat  in fashion4 ,there is a   
tendency among young writers and critics
 to  revise the judgment given in the   
case of ,zola1 as the judgment on       
,dickens has been revised in ,england1  
and to consider that the poverty  and   
emptiness of his last books has unjustly
 thrown a shadow on the  profound and   
powerful works of his maturity4 ,those  
works1 born of the  war1 which have been
 most favourably received1 have been on 
the whole  inspired by naturalist       
methods of observation and composition4 
,the  ,european success of ,le ,feu is  
due in large part to the fact that the  

author applies to the great war the     
point of view and the methods of  ,zola4
 ,it was also from the point of view of 
the story of a squad that  ,zola wrote  
,la ,dbcle4    ,so far the novel of     
manners and psychology born of the war  
has only  been attempted by writers of  
the older generation1 that which knew   
the  masters of the naturalist novel1   
which lived their life1 which took      
part1 from one side or another of the   
barricade1 in their struggles4    ,i am 
here thinking especially of the works   
written during the war by  the doyen of 
the ,french novel1 ,m4 ,paul ,bourget4  
,m4 ,bourget occupies  to-day in the    
novel a position analogous to that of   
,zola in his  last years4 ,the young    
literary generation is hostile to him or
  regards him with contemptuous         
indifference1 except that part of this  
generation which is grouped round ,m4   
,maurras1 whose political ideas  he has 
adopted4 ,he is justly reproached with a
 painful style1 with  conventional      

psychology in upper and middle class    
surroundings1 with  laborious intrigues 
carried out according to antiquated     
formul4 ,he  must be regarded1          
nevertheless1 with respect as a great   
worker1 who  seeks conscientiously to   
extend the limits of his manner1 and1   
above  all1 as the sole representative  
to-day of the old tradition of the      
,french novelists of the nineteenth     
century--that of ,balzac1 of ,sand1  of 
,flaubert1 of ,maupassant1 of ,zola4    
,perhaps he marks the irremediable      
decadence of this style which the       
twentieth century will replace by one   
more supple and more precise4    ,the   
war novels of ,m4 ,bourget1 ,le ,sens de
 la ,mort1 ,nemesis1 are  mediocre1     
though showing always the same technical
 qualities of solid  construction4 ,but 
he has written a short nouvelle of      
profound beauty1  ,le ,justicier1 on a  
great theme of human peace and          
reconciliation  within a divided family2
 and this sketches perhaps the general  

lines of  to-morrow's reconciliations on
 our torn planet4    ,among the         
innumerable books written by combatants1
 in which novels  abound1 no novel has  
achieved the powerful interest of       
certain  collections of letters and     
journals which render1 without literary 
modelling1 fresh1 authentic1 and        
actually seen impressions4 ,the         
generation which has lived through the  
war as an immediate and tragic  reality 
has not written and certainly will not  
write the novel of the  war4 ,the       
,thackeray1 the ,balzac1 the ,tolstoi of
 to-morrow have probably  been born1 but
 are hardly out of the nursery4    ,the 
two forms of the novel preferred by the 
young generation of to-day  are the     
novel of adventure and the little novel 
of irony and sentiment4  ,neither has   
yet produced any great result4 ,the     
first1 after a year1 is  already out of 
fashion1 and the second will probably   
follow it in a few  months4 ,and the    
writers of value who have passed through

 these phases  are now passing through  
some other4    ,the ,english novel of   
adventure has been in favour in ,france 
for some  time4 ,the novels of ,wells   
have found here for twenty years1 like  
those  of ,kipling1 great numbers of    
ardent readers4 ,before that1 a long    
time ago1 in symbolist circles1 it was  
the fashion to speak with the  greatest 
admiration of ,stevenson4 ,and the      
novels of ,chesterton1 the  influence of
 which was visible in ,andr ,gide's ,les
 ,caves du ,vatican1  have been         
appreciated by a narrower1 but select1  
circle4 ,nevertheless  it was only      
during the war that the younger writers 
were tempted  systematically to compose 
romantic novels of adventure4 ,the two  
novels  of ,m4 ,pierre ,benoit1         
,knigsmarck and l',atlantide1 are clever
 books1  in which old methods are       
enhanced by a true novelist's           
temperament4 ,an  ,englishman will find 
little in them which ,stevenson1 and    
even ,rider  ,haggard1 have not already 

given him4 ,the ,matre du ,navire of ,m4
 ,louis  ,chadousne seems to introduce  
in addition a note of irony which shows 
that the author writes to amuse himself 
and does not believe in his  adventure4 
,and this note of irony is still more   
obvious in ,le ,chant  de l',equipage of
 ,m4 ,pierre ,mac-,orlan1 which parodies
 the novel of  adventure4 ,the ,french  
novelist is a rationalist who pretends  
to believe  in his mystery and does not 
believe in it4 ,between the adventure of
  the ,english novel and the adventure  
of the ,french novel there is the  same 
difference as between the ghost in      
,hamlet and the ghost which  ,voltaire  
brings on to the stage at full noon1    
without deceiving anyone1  in           
,semiramis4 ,the novel of adventure     
proves to have been a season's  fashion 
which those who launched it abandon in  
the following season4    ,what ,i have  
called the little novel of irony and    
sentiment has had a  longer1 a more     
vivacious1 and a more durable existence4

 ,it is almost  peculiar to ,french     
literature and produces every year a    
good harvest of  agreeable books4 ,it is
 generally an invertebrate composition1 
made up  of humorous episodes and       
reflections1 the slight daily           
impressions of a  man of letters1       
delicate and fatigued1 in ,parisian     
surroundings4 ,it is1  as it were1 the  
chronicle-novel of ,french literary     
life4    ,a great number of the works of
 ,m4 ,abel ,hermant belong to this      
style1  and among them1 in particular1  
the ,anglo-,french novel1 half of       
,paris1  half of ,oxford1 which he is   
now publishing1 and the first two parts 
of  which are called ,l',aube ,ardente  
and ,la ,journe ,brve 7the latter  in   
course of publication in the ,revue de  
,paris74 ,these are1 like ,m4           
,hermant's books1 the elegantly but     
frigidly written compositions which     
come only from a literary and           
conventional atmosphere and appear to   
have been developed in the author's mind

 as in an artificial incubator4    ,the 
true novel of this sort comes into      
existence under freer and more  fanciful
 conditions than obtain in the          
intelligent and tidy1 though  somewhat  
melancholy1 manufacture of ,m4 ,hermant4
 ,a young writer1 who  died a score of  
years ago1 ,jean de ,tinan1 produced    
masterpieces in  ,pense-tu russir8 and  
,aimienne1 which have not been          
surpassed4  ,to-day this type of novel  
has a right and a left--elegance on the 
right and ,bohemianism on the left1 the 
latter as a rule being more  picturesque
 and more highly flavoured4 ,on the     
right there is what  one might call1    
using the word in the sense in which it 
is used by  historians of medival       
literature1 a littrature courtoise--,i  
mean  a literature of the court with    
some refinement and some sensuality4    
,here the author describes his little   
amatory adventures1 endeavouring  to    
relieve their inevitable banality with a
 certain piquancy in the  introduction  

of portraits of his men and women       
friends1 chosen among  an elegant       
society4 ,les ,papiers de ,cleonthe1 by 
,m4 ,jean-,louis  ,vaudoyer1 and ,le    
,diable a l',htel1 by ,m4 ,emile        
,henriot1 which  have just appeared1    
though they fall sometimes into         
banality1 make  agreeable reading4 ,on  
the left there is the little ,bohemian  
novel1  which deals with ,montmartre as 
ancient stories dealt with ,miletus4    
,its  characters are artists and their  
more or less interesting friends1  young
 women and their more or less interested
 friends4 ,the novel of  ,montmartre1 in
 which style ,charles-,louis ,philippe  
wrote the earliest  masterpieces1 is    
practised to-day in the most agreeable  
fashion by ,m4  ,francis ,cares1 author 
of ,bob et ,bobette1 ,m4 ,mac-,orlan1   
author of ,la  ,clique du ,caf ,brebis1 
and ,m4 ,andr ,billy1 the author of     
,scnes de  la ,vie ,littraire4          
,nevertheless these sometimes shady     
cabarets1 where  boredom is chased away1

 must not be confused with the higher   
spheres of  literature4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,the   
,french novel1 regarded as a whole1 is  
at the present moment going  through a  
crisis4 ,the qualities of original1     
free1 and vigorous  creation which were 
the causes of success from ,balzac to   
,maupassant  have become rare4 ,the     
novel no longer produces those real and 
living  characters round whom1 as ,taine
 said1 it is possible to walk4 ,but it  
is  remarkable for qualities of         
intelligence4    ,alphonse ,daudet      
somewhere makes a distinction between   
creative  novelists and essayist        
novelists4 ,the distinction is very     
just4 ,we lack  to-day creative         
novelists1 but we have a number of      
essayist novelists4  ,our contemporary  
novelists are very intelligent persons1 
who are often  admirable in their       
knowledge of human nature1 but who      
rarely succeed in  making it live4 ,it  
is nevertheless probable that there is  

nothing to be  gained by retracing our  
steps4 ,we shall no doubt reach         
something new by  continuing to the end 
this exercise of the intellect1 by      
applying it  to an increasingly profound
 and refined psychological analysis4 ,if
 we  take examples from the ,english    
novel1 the sign-post of our ,french     
novel  of to-day would not be such a    
name as that of ,dickens or of ,eliot or
  of ,kipling but rather that of        
,meredith4 ,this is what is indicated by
  the great success now enjoyed by two  
complex and delicate writers1 ,m4       
,marcel ,prevost and ,m4 ,jean          
,girandoux4 ,a l',ombre de ,jeunes      
,filles en  ,fleur and ,simon le        
,pathtique are both novels of rich and  
fugitive  personalities1 who are        
absorbed in the contemplation of        
themselves1  and who thus find a real   
world of inward adventures4 ,it seems   
that the  ,french novel is now moving by
 choice in this direction1 and that the 
public is assisting the movement4 ,this 

should not be astonishing in a  country 
which has always regarded psychological 
analysis as the supreme  goal of        
literature4            ,,albert         
,,thibaudet          ,,learned          
,,societies1 ,,etc4      ,,society ,,of 
,,antiquaries    ,stonehenge was        
formally handed over to the nation on   
,october #bfth1  #aiah1 and ,h4,m4      
,office of ,works at once made plans to 
secure some of the  standing stones in  
danger of cracking1 and to excavate the 
entire area  without disturbing the     
monument4 ,the archological supervision 
of the  work was entrusted to the       
,society of ,antiquaries1 and the       
programme was  to have a season of about
 three months for several consecutive   
years on  the same lines as in #aija1   
when the great leaning stone was raised 
with  interesting results4 ,professor   
,gowland's health1 however1 prevented   
his participation in the scheme1 and his
 successor1 ,lieut4-,colonel  ,hawley1  
unfortunately met with an accident1     

which1 with a strike among  the         
contractor's men1 prevented any but     
preliminary work being carried  out on  
the site this year4 ,if funds are       
available--and the opportunity  of      
solving the riddle of ,stonehenge must  
appeal to all interested in             
antiquity--there is a good prospect of  
starting in earnest next summer1        
without prejudice1 it is hoped1 to the  
society's enterprises at ,old  ,sarum   
and ,wroxeter1 the ,roman town near     
,shrewsbury1 on both of which  sites    
considerable progress had been made     
before the outbreak of war4  ,the recent
 death of ,professor ,haverfield is one 
of many severe losses  incurred by the  
society during the past summer4         
,,society ,,for ,,the ,,protection ,,of 
,,ancient ,,buildings    ,for years the 
,society for the ,protection of ,ancient
 ,buildings has been  associated with   
the work of protesting against the      
destruction or  spoiling of good        
examples of the building art of the     

past4 ,this year  it is developing the  
more constructive side of its           
activities4 ,the  following instances   
will suffice to illustrate this         
development4    ,first1 the ,society is 
endeavouring to show that the humbler   
forms of  ,english architecture--the old
 cottages--should not only be saved1 but
  used1 and how they can be made        
decently habitable1 though much injured 
by time and neglect4 ,works replete with
 old-time building lore should  not be  
permanently condemned because they lack 
damp courses1 proper  ventilation1      
larders1 or upstair fireplaces4 ,instead
 of building new  at #hjj or so1 the    
,housing ,committees should acquire     
cottages of this  kind and repair them  
at1 say1 #bej or #cjj4 ,to draw         
attention to this  subject the ,society 
has issued a well-illustrated booklet   
7,batsford1  #id ,high ,holborn2 #bs471 
which it hopes to follow by a practical 
demonstration on a pair of old cottages1
 proving the possibility of  remedying  

common defects4 ,it hopes to publish the
 results in a second  booklet which     
would in fact be a pictorial            
specification4    ,the second           
illustration of the ,society's          
constructive activity is the  offer to  
give lectures on the objects and work of
 the ,society1 in which  special        
emphasis is to be laid on what may be   
learnt in matters of  economy and       
beauty1 from old buildings4      ,,the  
,,royal ,,numismatic ,,society    ,the  
,royal ,numismatic ,society has removed 
from #bb ,albemarle ,street to  #bb     
,russell ,square1 ,w4,c4#a1 where       
meetings will be held and the library   
is housed4 ,on ,october #afth1 ,sir     
,henry ,howorth1 ,vice-,president1 in   
the ,chair1 ,mr4 ,lawrence read a note  
on some of the difficulties of          
distinguishing halfpence from farthings 
during the period between #adfe  and    
#aebc4 ,parliament in the latter year   
directed some alteration of  type of the
 farthings1 as it was shown that        

halfpennies and farthings  were with    
difficulty distinguishable owing to both
 denominations having  been struck from 
the same coin4 ,a discussion was also   
raised on the  profile half-groats of   
,henry ,,vii4 bearing the mint-marks    
martlet and  rose4 ,some of these have  
keys below the shield on the reverse and
  others are without the keys4 ,the     
question raised was whether these  later
 coins were to be considered as having  
been struck at ,york in  consequence of 
the martlet mint-mark1 previously only  
known at ,york1  or whether the absence 
of the keys denoted their issue at      
,london4 ,mr4  ,brooke and ,col4        
,morrieson urged that these coins were  
sede vacante  issues of ,york4    ,mr4  
,h4 ,mattingly read a paper entitled ,a4
 ,vitellius ,imp4 ,germanicus1  in which
 he attempted to determine the reasons  
for the variations  in ,vitellius's     
obverse legends1 between the forms ,imp4
 ,germ4 and  ,germ4 ,imp4 ,after        
distinguishing clearly the class of     

coins on which  these titles appear1 he 
brought evidence to show that the title 
,imp4  ,germanicus is characteristic of 
the non-,roman coins of ,vitellius  and 
of the early period of the reign before 
the victory over ,otho4  ,it implied a  
definite challenge thrown out by the    
,german armies to  the rest of the      
,empire1 and in consequence when        
,vitellius became  constitutional       
,emperor at ,rome the title was deftly  
deprived of offence  by inversion to    
,germanicus ,imp41 a normal form of     
title already borne  by ,claudius and   
,nero4      ,,the ,,library             
,,association    ,the forty-second      
annual meeting of the ,library          
,association was notable1  not by reason
 of its bibliographical or literary     
interest1 for either  was to seek1 but  
as marking a definite cleavage between  
librarians  and the ,board of ,education
 upon a matter of national importance4  
,were  it not that education in this    
country has always been the province of 

the amateur1 one might say that the     
cleavage was between amateur and        
professional opinion4 ,the third interim
 report of the ,adult ,education        
,committee to the ,ministry of          
,reconstruction proposed to hand over   
the control of the ,public ,library to  
the ,local ,education ,authority2  the  
,library ,association1 as a body        
possessed of a charter for the  support 
and advancement of the public library   
movement1 opposed the  main             
recommendations of that report and      
returned to the ,minister of  ,education
 a memorandum of counter argument4 ,the 
four points of the  memorandum were3    
7#a7 ,that1 with the already heavy      
responsibilities  of the ,education     
,authority1 an additional duty--problems
 requiring  detached consideration--will
 result in the convenient relegation of 
the library to a mere appendage of the  
school2 7#b7 that1 although             
co-operation between school and library 
does exist1 the initiative  has come    

almost wholly from the latter1 and that 
assimilation by the  comparatively      
untried and empirical #aiah model       
education will be  fatal to its general 
usefulness2 7#c7 that the interest of   
the public is  the main interest of the 
library1 and that this is subordinated  
by the  ,adult ,education ,committee to 
the special interest of the school2 7#d7
  that the recommendations upon the     
provision of technical and commercial   
books were unduly extravagant and       
wasteful as regarding the first1 but    
unduly parsimonious and wrongly         
conceived in the case of the second4 ,to
  this document1 beyond a bare          
acknowledgment1 no reply has been given4
  ,its form and tenor were unanimously  
approved by the ,association at         
,southport4      ,,the ,,bibliographical
 ,,society    ,the ,bibliographical     
,society opens its #bhth ,session on    
,november #agth1  with a paper by ,mr4  
,r4 ,f4 ,sharp1 of the ,british ,museum1
 on ,travesties  of ,shakespeare's      

,plays4 ,the ,society has not only kept 
up its normal  output of books during   
the war1 but has produced some volumes  
of  exceptional importance1 notably ,mr4
 ,gordon ,duff's wonderfully complete   
record of ,english ,fifteenth-,century  
,books1 with facsimiles of all  the     
types used in them2 ,mr4 ,e4 ,f4        
,bosanquet's illustrated ,monograph  on 
,english ,printed ,almanacks and        
,prognostications2 the first volume  of 
,professor ,carleton ,brown's ,register 
of ,middle-,english ,religious  ,verse2 
and two exceptionally interesting       
volumes of ,transactions4 ,a            
,bibliography of ,landor1 by ,mr4       
,stephen ,wheeler and ,mr4 ,t4 ,j4      
,wise1  will shortly be issued1 and the 
second volume of ,professor ,carleton   
,brown's ,register should be ready early
 next year4 ,the books of the  ,society 
are only printed for its own members1   
and until #aiad it was  a close         
corporation1 with an ,english and       
,american membership limited  to #cjj4  

,in the ,january before the war it      
opened its ranks in order to  obtain a  
hundred additional members and further  
increase its output4  ,it is still open 
to book lovers to join at the old       
subscription of  a guinea1 but unless   
the ,annual ,meeting in ,january next   
decides  otherwise1 the roll of the     
,society is due to be closed on the     
third  ,monday of the new year4 ,that   
the ,society has done so well during the
  war is largely due to its genial      
,president1 ,sir ,william ,osler1 who   
has  held office longer than any of his 
predecessors and is soon further to     
help the ,society by producing for it a 
,monograph on the ,medical books        
published by the earliest printers1 i4e4
 not later than #adhj4 ,among  the      
earlier presidents were ,dr4 ,garnett   
and ,mr4 ,fortescue1 of the  ,british   
,museum1 the late ,earl of ,crawford1   
,mr4 ,h4 ,b4 ,wheatley1 and ,mr4  ,a4   
,h4 ,huth1 owner of the splendid library
 which has already furnished  material  

for eight sales at ,sotheby's4 ,mr4 ,a4 
,w4 ,pollard1 the present  ,keeper of   
,printed ,books at the ,british ,museum1
 has been its ,hon4  ,secretary since   
#ahic1 and was given some years ago a   
notable partner in  ,mr4 ,r4 ,b4        
,mc,kerrow1 the ,editor of ,nashe4      
,,the ,,folklore ,,society    ,during   
the war the ,folklore1 like other       
societies1 has suffered by  the absence 
of some of its most active members on   
service1 but the  work of the ,society  
has not been interrupted1 its meetings  
have been  regularly held1 many valuable
 contributions have been received1 and  
the attendance has been well maintained4
 ,folk-lore1 the quarterly              
,proceedings1 has retained its position 
as one of the leading  authorities on   
popular beliefs and superstitions of    
races in the lower  stage of culture4   
,its principal function is to publish   
papers read by  members at the          
,society's meetings1 and to review the  
more important  literature on subjects  

in which it is interested4 ,but it also 
welcomes  from the general public notes 
and queries on ,british and foreign     
folklore and beliefs4 ,the foundations  
have been laid for two important  works 
which1 it is hoped1 will soon be ready  
for publication4 ,as  regards the       
folklore of these islands1 the leading  
authority is the  ,observations on      
,popular ,antiquities1 by ,john ,brand1 
subsequently  edited by ,sir ,h4 ,ellis4
 ,large collections have been made under
 the  supervision of ,miss ,s4 ,c4      
,burne1 an ex-president of the society  
and  author of a valuable book on the   
folklore of ,shropshire1 with a view  to
 the compilation on the basis of        
,brand's work of a cyclopedia of        
,british folklore4 ,the second work now 
in progress is a general index to  the  
long series of special books and        
,proceedings issued by the society      
since its foundation1 the work of       
compilation having been entrusted to    
,mr4 ,a4 ,r4 ,wright4      ,,the        

,,society ,,of ,,pure ,,english    ,the 
,society of ,pure ,english1 which was   
founded shortly before the war1  and    
which during the war was temporarily    
suspended1 has now begun to  carry out  
its original purpose1 and probably      
before this note appears  its first two 
pamphlets will have been published4     
,pamphlet ,no4 #a will  contain a list  
of the members of the ,society and a    
reprint of the  original prospectus1    
which was privately printed in #aiac1   
and which  contains a statement of the  
,society's aims in general terms4       
,pamphlet  ,no4 #b will consist of a    
discussion by the ,poet ,laureate of a  
curious  and hitherto almost unnoticed  
phenomenon of contemporary speech1 the  
great increase1 namely1 of homophones1  
or words of the same sound but          
different meanings1 in the ,english     
language4 ,as the original prospectus   
shows1 the ,society does not in the     
least aim at the absurd project of      
fixing the language--its conception is  

rather that1 since all living  languages
 change and must change as life changes1
 an attempt should  be made to guide    
this necessary process by acknowledged  
principles of  tradition and taste4     
,,drama    ,a ,,living ,,corpse         
,this section opens amid a furore for   
improving the ,drama in this  country4  
,leagues have sprung up1 with imposing  
committees of enormous  length1 and are 
canvassing for money and members with   
considerable  success4 ,a ,conference of
 the ,theatre1 lasting a fortnight1 was 
held in  the summer at                  
,stratford-upon-,avon for the first time
 in history1 at  which actors1 dramatic 
critics1 trade unionists1 authors1      
publishers1  newspaper proprietors1     
theatrical managers1 voice trainers1    
poets1  scenic artists1 school teachers1
 clergymen1 and one bishop expressed    
day after day their intense             
determination to have more drama and    
better drama than we have ever had in   
,england before4 ,this assemblage  of   

people1 whom as one of them ,i may      
perhaps be permitted to call  without   
offence fanatics1 may have appeared to  
the detached onlooker  to have been of  
very little use4 ,the ,conference melted
 away1 leaving  the ,british ,drama     
,league and the ,arts ,league of        
,service still without  sufficient money
 to do any of the practical things      
without which the  gathering of         
conferences and the sitting of          
committees are merely  occasions for the
 ventilation of private grievances4     
,but the ,conference could never have   
been held if there were not1  widespread
 through the country1 a genuine passion 
for the theatre  far more extensive and 
far stronger than it had ever been in   
,england  during the whole of the       
nineteenth century4 ,there are no       
statistics  available to give us the    
percentage of the population who were   
regular  theatre-goers during the last  
century1 but it was certainly very      
small1  and everyone knows that it has  

increased enormously during the last    
ten years1 and has probably even doubled
 again during the war4 ,this  is a fact 
which is generally overlooked1 but which
 really provides us  with the soundest  
basis for hope4 ,what is the matter with
 the theatre  in ,england is mainly that
 there is not enough of it4 ,nearly all 
its  faults and shortcomings may be put 
down to deficiencies of matriel1  both  
structural and human4 ,there are not    
enough theatres1 those in  existence are
 obsolete1 cranky1 ill-ventilated1      
absurdly constructed1  badly placed     
buildings1 an eyesore to passers-by1 a  
hell of discomfort  for #ij per cent4 of
 the audience1 a death-trap for actors4 
,only a  fanatical human passion for the
 theatre could drive people into such   
places away from the comparative comfort
 of their own firesides4 ,there  are not
 enough actors1 and those that survive  
the barbaric tortures  of rushing week  
by week from one cold and slatternly    
apartment-house  to another1 always     

arriving in their next provincial town  
on the  dismallest of ,sundays1         
generally find that they are the one    
spark of  life in the place1 and end1   
like ,sir ,henry ,irving1 by expiring in
 their  miserable and draughty          
dressing-rooms4 ,the ,english provincial
 town in  its dreariness and dirt awaits
 the coming of the actor much as the    
,esquimaux in winter await the coming of
 the sun1 but the actor during  the day 
when he is free wanders through its     
streets as ,virgil wandered  by the     
banks of the ,styx--forlorn1 and like a 
man among shadows who  have no commerce 
with him1 but belong to another world4  
,it is no wonder  that they become more 
and more divorced from their            
fellow-creatures1  more and more        
inefficient1 more and more lacking in   
zest for experiment  and enterprise1    
until neglected and isolated the        
profession sinks1 with  bright          
exceptions1 to a level of illiteracy1   
incompetence1 and sloth  that lately    

even in ,london moved a commercial      
manager like ,mr4 ,cochran  to express  
his astonishment4    ,but the municipal 
councils1 which are the civic committees
 of the  townspeople entrusted with     
organising their social life1 cannot    
remain  for ever indifferent to their   
duty in face of a growing popular demand
  for the theatre2 that is why ,i point 
to the enormous increase in the  number 
of habitual theatre-goers as our        
strongest basis of hope4 ,or if  they do
 so persist private enterprise will     
inevitably step in1 as it  did in the   
case of so many electric-lighting1      
tramway1 gas1 and water  undertakings1  
build up a profitable theatrical        
business1 mulct the  town annually of   
thousands of pounds in profits1 and     
ultimately will  have to be bought out  
by the municipality at an inflated      
price4 ,as ,mr4  ,granville ,barker     
pointed out in an extraordinarily able  
speech at the  ,shakespeare ,memorial   
,theatre1 the people's greatest need is 

to become  articulate4 ,art means       
nothing if it does not mean giving      
speech to  the people1 and the art of   
the ,drama is the most democratic1 the  
most  popular1 the most wide-reaching1  
the most easily understood1 and the     
most stimulating1 because the most      
social of all the arts4 ,there was  a   
time1 and it is not so very long ago1   
when primary education in its  most     
rudimentary1 that is to say1 its school 
form1 was left to private  enterprise1  
and if private enterprise could have    
done it at all it  might possibly have  
done it better than the nation2 but     
every argument  that can be used in     
favour of teaching everyone to read and 
write  applies still more forcibly to   
giving the people a real education4 ,it 
is far too important and too urgent to  
be left to the chance provision  of     
speculators out merely to make profits  
for themselves1 and it is  to enlighten 
public opinion on the subject that these
 leagues have  primarily been founded4  

,but let me not be mistaken4 ,there can 
be no  intention of priggishly educating
 the people in the higher drama4 ,we    
must carefully discriminate between     
advocating for theatres--municipal1  if 
possible1 but if not1 private--and      
advocating for the performance of  plays
 by any dramatist or school or coterie  
of dramatists4 ,the ,drama is  a much   
bigger thing than ,mr4 ,shaw1 ,ibsen1   
,chekhov1 or anyone else1 and  what has 
always prevented these movements from   
gaining popular sympathy  has been their
 lack of breadth1 their curious         
fascination for pedants  and cranks4    
,almost every decent1 sane human being  
will appreciate and  support a demand   
for a theatre to enlighten the dismal   
misery and  boredom of the winter       
evenings of his native town and to take 
him out  of the narrow groove into which
 he will inevitably stick if left alone 
with his books and his relations2 but he
 will not support a scheme to  ram down 
his throat obvious propaganda4      ,the

 ,calvinists of the ,drama    ,i have   
sat for hours in the ,national ,gallery1
 ,trafalgar ,square1  watching the      
people4 ,the most heterogeneous         
collection of persons  imaginable       
assemble there4 ,washerwomen1 soldiers1 
artisans1 clerks1  clergymen1 navvies1  
all classes and ages4 ,some wander      
aimlessly about1  some stand petrified  
before one picture for a quarter of an  
hour1 some  look only at portraits1     
others search for familiar landscapes1  
others  again are attracted by          
historical interest4 ,there is hardly   
one of them  that would not probably    
earn the contempt of ,mr4 ,clive ,bell  
if he were  to give ,mr4 ,bell the      
reason of his enjoyment2 but ,i assert  
with all the  emphasis ,i can command   
that there is not one of them who has   
not gained  by even ten minutes within  
that building something impossible to   
value  and precious1 beyond estimation4 
,can any human being go out of the      
dirt1 the indignity1 the ugliness1 the  

noise1 the formlessness of the  modern  
city into the serenity1 the colour1 the 
dignity1 the peace1 and  the beauty of  
the rooms of the ,national ,gallery     
without a quickening of  the spirit1    
however imperceptible8 ,what is there in
 ,trafalgar ,square  apart from the     
,national ,gallery which in any degree  
witnesses that man  is more than an     
animal8 ,true1 there is ,st4 ,martin's  
,church1 but the  associations of the   
church--irrelevant if you               
will--adulterate and  weaken its        
spiritual influence on men's minds      
to-day4 ,but the ,national  ,gallery    
exerts a completely catholic and        
irradiating power on all who  enter4    
,so does the theatre1 even exactly as it
 stands to-day4 ,i am in profound       
disagreement with those who raise up    
their hands in horror at the  present   
state of the theatre where it exists4   
,what causes me to join  the chorus of  
,jeremiahs is the scarcity of theatres1 
their complete  and utter absence in    

hundreds of large towns where they      
should exist1  and the smallness of     
their numbers in our largest cities4 ,my
 mention  of ,mr4 ,clive ,bell in       
connection with the ,national ,gallery  
was doubly  relevant1 for there is a set
 of high-brows connected with the       
theatre  who have set their eyes so     
fixedly on an unreal and abstract       
perfection  that they have become blind4
 ,they talk about ,serious ,drama in the
  same solemn1 pompous and hopeless way 
that the ,calvinists used to  talk about
 salvation1 and the mass of the people1 
cheerfully ignoring  them1 continues to 
go tranquilly to perdition4 ,ask anyone 
of these  apostles of ,serious ,drama to
 show you one serious drama1 and the    
odds  are that they will say1 ,man and  
,superman or ,ghosts or ,justice4       
,well1 there is something to be said for
 the authors of these three  plays1     
although not one of them is a really    
first-rate dramatist1 the  equal of     
,shakespeare1 ,sophocles1 ,euripides1 or

 even ,racine1 but for  their           
followers--the dealers in the doleful   
realism of ,manchester1  ,birmingham1   
,liverpool1 ,glasgow1 and the ,london   
suburbs--there is in  the main nothing  
to be said whatever4 ,their works are   
for the most  part immeasurably inferior
 to the average ,london ,revue1 and to  
accuse  the theatre of sinking into     
degradation because it prefers the wit1 
humour1 beautiful dressing1 vivacious   
dancing1 and high spirits of an         
,ambassador's1 ,vaudeville1 ,pavilion1  
or ,alhambra ,revue to a serious1       
machine-made play by ,mr4 ,sutro or two 
hours of mechanical dulness from        
someone ,i had better not name is simply
 to accuse it of preferring life  to the
 undesirable seriousness of the tomb4   
,influence of the ,existing ,theatre    
,it is not as if there were no drama    
better than the ,revue or the  ,musical 
,comedy1 but the stupidity of the       
high-brows1 their dull  acceptance of   
the solemn and the pompous1 of anything 

in fact that is  not bright or          
imaginative or stirring1 but is         
sufficiently pretentious1  does         
incalculable harm to that annually      
growing fraction of the  public which1  
fully appreciative of ,revue and        
,musical ,comedy1 is yet  unsatisfied   
and is really thirsting for finer       
things4 ,this public is  continually    
essaying samples of the drama of the    
high-brows and is  continually being    
driven back from such dry1 unprofitable 
verbiage to  those theatres where there 
is humour1 wit1 charm and beauty4 ,and  
for  this evidence of good taste it is  
roundly abused4 ,i frequently wonder    
whether anyone of these misguided       
zealots has ever been inside the        
popular theatre1 the theatre of the     
,musical ,comedy4 ,have they any idea   
what a revelation of beauty it is to    
large numbers of the population8  ,i    
dare to assert that in ,london the      
popular theatre has done more  to       
develop and educate the taste of the    

masses in dress1 furniture1  and        
decoration than fifty years of          
propaganda from ,ruskin1 ,william       
,morris1 and all their disciples4 ,the  
theatre1 of course1 has learnt  from the
 artists of all countries1 but it has   
been the great cultural  organisation   
which has taken the fruits of the       
artists' work to the  people and opened 
their eyes4    ,in educating the senses 
the popular theatre has done and is     
still  doing invaluable work2 it is when
 it comes to educating the finer        
emotions that it fails so lamentably1   
though hardly so utterly as the         
high-brow theatre1 in which there are no
 emotions but those of despair1         
disillusionment and derision4 ,and yet  
it is strange that in spite of  the     
general abuse of the low standards of   
,london plays1 on the rare  occasions   
when a really fine play is put on it is 
generally met by the  critics with a    
chorus of disapproval or the praise that
 damns4 ,we have  had a good example in 

,london recently4 ,mr4 ,henry ,ainley1  
by common  consent our finest actor1    
begins his management of the ,st4       
,james's  ,theatre with ,tolstoy's ,the 
,living ,corpse1 the title being changed
  to ,reparation1 in consideration of   
the mental state of a public  frightened
 out of its wits by the high-brows and  
the cranks4 ,tolstoy  was a great man1  
and ,the ,living ,corpse is a fine play1
 a play that  ought to have a great     
success2 but do the critics say1 ,here  
at last is  a magnificent play1 a play  
which everyone must see8 ,not a bit of  
it4  ,the general spirit of their       
notices is one of chilly respect for the
  famous name of ,tolstoy1 with an      
insinuation that the play would have    
been much better if it had been handled 
by a competent dramatist like  ,sir     
,arthur ,pinero or ,mr4 ,sutro4 ,what is
 the central theme8 ,we are not  quite  
sure1 says the critic of the leading    
,london daily4 ,is it a mere            
coincidence that on the same page that  

journal's musical critic1 in  reference 
to ,prometheus1 the work of ,tolstoy's  
compatriot1 ,scriabin1  one of the      
greatest of modern composers1 says he   
does not understand it  and1 asking     
himself whether ,scriabin was sane or   
deranged1 declares  that he does not    
know8 ,here is a lesson for ,drama      
,leagues1 for it is  almost certain that
 when we do get good drama scarcely     
anyone will know  it4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,a     
society called ,the ,phnix1 with        
headquarters at ,dudley ,house1         
,southampton ,street1 ,strand1 has been 
formed to revive plays of  ,elizabethan1
 ,restoration1 and later times4 ,the    
following plays have  been selected for 
early production3    ,the ,duchess of   
,malfi 7,john ,webster71 ,marriage  la  
,mode 7,john  ,dryden71 ,the ,fair ,maid
 of the ,west1 ,part ,i4 7,thomas       
,heywood71 ,don  ,carlos 7,thomas       
,otway71 ,volpone 7,ben ,jonson74 ,the  
,duchess of ,malfi  will be given on    

,sunday1 ,november #afth4               
,,dramatic ,,literature    ,,heartbreak 
,,house1 ,,etc4 ,by ,,bernard ,,shaw4   
,constable4 #gs4 #f;d4    ,mr4 ,shaw is 
one of the most consistent authors      
living4 ,his readers know  almost to a  
comma what he is going to give them     
every time they open  his latest book4  
,that is perhaps the chief reason why   
there has been  such a falling off in   
,mr4 ,shaw's popularity of recent years4
 ,another  reason is1 of course1 the    
war2 but it is strange that ,mr4 ,shaw's
  opinions1 or his particular way of    
expressing his opinion1 during the  war 
should have alienated and even made     
bitterly hostile men of wide  knowledge 
and experience of his writings and his  
character who1 if they  could be        
persuaded momentarily to reflect without
 prejudice1 would have  to admit that   
what offends them now was precisely what
 offended so many  others in the years  
before the war1 when they on the        
contrary were ,mr4  ,shaw's ardent      

champions or1 at the very least1 his    
apologists4 ,it only  goes to show how  
very far anyone of us is from being able
 to judge a  man's work rationally once 
our own particular prejudice is touched4
 ,we  are all raw somewhere1 and woe to 
the man who touches us on the raw1  for 
then all hope of dispassionate          
criticism1 of ,christian toleration     
even1 is gone4 ,it has been ,mr4 ,shaw's
 most vivid characteristic that  he has 
never lost his intellectual integrity4  
,it is easy to be honest  among one's   
enemies1 but to be honest among one's   
friends is a virtue  so rare1 so        
uncomfortable1 and outwardly so contrary
 to the spirit of  fair play that it is 
not surprising it should be generally   
detested4  ,mr4 ,shaw has always        
retained what he believes1 perhaps      
conceitedly1 to  be his right to say the
 worst that can be said of his dearest  
friends1  and of the advocates of       
whatever cause happens at the moment to 
be  nearest to his heart4 ,however      

ruinous such conduct may appear to be to
  the immediate interests of the        
movement he is supposed to support1 he  
will not abandon his right to forge     
weapons for the enemy more damaging     
than any discoverable by their own      
brains4 ,when life or one's country  or 
one's family is at stake1 such conduct  
appears little less than  devilish1 yet 
,mr4 ,shaw has his right to express his 
opinions as lucidly  and as pointedly as
 he can1 and it may be that when we are 
far enough  removed from the heat and   
blinding dust of the moment's conflict  
we  shall realise that ,mr4 ,shaw has   
been faithful to the truth that is in   
him1 and if we have any reason to       
complain it is certainly not of ,mr4    
,shaw1 but of the ,god who made him4    
,it may seem that what the ordinary man 
would call1 and call wrongly1  ,mr4     
,shaw's unreliability does not square   
with the assertion that he  is          
consistent1 and that his readers know   
beforehand exactly what ,mr4  ,shaw is  

going to give them4 ,but ,mr4 ,shaw's   
consistency lies in his  artillery1 not 
in his object of attack4 ,the enemy     
varies1 but the same  guns are always   
going off4 ,in ,heartbreak ,house there 
is at times  all and more than all the  
old brilliancy4 ,the dialogue of the    
first  and third acts is concentrated1  
savage1 and burns with an intensity     
that casts a dull imaginative glow over 
the play4 ,the characters of  the       
,hushabyes1 of ,captain ,shotover1 of   
the sham millionaire ,mangan1  of       
,mazzini ,dunn1 and the fluteplayer are 
drawn with a pen steeped in  vitriol    
and1 exaggerated as they are1 they have 
a genuine imaginative  reality deeper   
than most ,shavian figures4 ,there is a 
moral passion in  this play gloomier and
 more savage than in anything ,mr4 ,shaw
 has yet  done1 and an absence of that  
childish and inconsequent flippancy     
which  so often mars his work4 ,the     
other plays in the volume vary in       
quality  from some excellent fooling in 

,great ,catherine to a depressing       
mechanical liveliness1 almost utterly   
without humour1 in ,augustus  ,does ,his
 ,bit4 ,the best of them is             
,o',flaherty1 ,v4,c42 but although it   
frequently makes one laugh one finds    
oneself1 at the end1 closing the  book  
with that tired yawn that seems to be   
the fatal consequence of  reading a     
great deal of ,mr4 ,shaw at one time4   
,,first ,,plays4 ,by ,a4 ,a4 ,,milne4   
,chatto  ,windus4 #fs1    ,i am not sure
 that ,i do ,mr4 ,milne any injustice by
 asserting that  the best thing in his  
first volume of plays is the            
,introduction1  describing how the five 
plays came to be written4 ,it is turned 
with  that inimitable grace and         
lightness of touch which have made ,mr4 
,milne  famous as a journalist4 ,mr4    
,milne's charm and quaint humour need a 
certain space in which to display       
themselves4 ,it would be fatal to  hurry
 him or to try to straighten his        
meanderings and digressions1 but  that  

is exactly what the dramatic form does  
do4 ,it is not that ,mr4  ,milne cannot 
express himself in a few sentences1 he  
can2 but however  few the sentences they
 will be allusive1 indirect1 full of    
parabolas  and curves that seem to lead 
away but really come back to the point4 
,these qualities are difficult to       
transfer to dialogue1 especially when   
one is hampered by the consciousness of 
theatrical convention1 and in  his first
 effort1 ,wurzel-,flummery1 after       
inventing that wonderful  name1 ,mr4    
,milne fails entirely to get his own    
individual qualities  into the play4    
,the dialogue is in short1 flavourless  
sentences that  seem to have been shot  
out of a popgun1 and the characters     
being mere  lay-figures1 the play is    
simply dull4 ,the ,lucky ,one is a much 
more  ambitious and more successful     
experiment4 ,the people are alive1 but  
,mr4 ,milne is probably right in seeing 
no hope of its being produced4  ,it is  
intelligence without frills or          

decoration2 and1 as he says1 the  girl  
marries the wrong man4 ,it is in        
,belinda that ,mr4 ,milne is most       
successfully himself4 ,mr4 ,milne calls 
it an ,april ,folly in three  acts4 and 
that describes it exactly4              
,w4 ,j4 ,,turner          ,,the ,,fine  
,,arts      ,it may be of interest at   
this juncture1 now that the close time  
for artists between the spring and      
autumn exhibitions has come to an  end1 
to review past events in artistic       
circles1 and attempt to place  readers  
au courant with events to come4 ,the war
 has not been without  its effects on   
some branches of artistic development4  
,the supporters  of ,burlington ,house1 
it is true1 pursue their way more or    
less  undisturbed by the startling      
incidents of the last four years2 ,i    
would  be inclined to rank with them the
 greater part also of the members of    
the ,international ,society of          
,painters1 ,sculptors1 and ,engravers1  
whose  twenty-sixth exhibition is now   

being held at the ,grosvenor ,galleries4
    ,it is only fair to say1 however1   
that the so-called revolutionary in  art
 can sometimes find a place for his work
 even on these august walls4    ,the    
,new ,english ,art ,club has been       
handicapped by the commandeering of  its
 gallery by the ,government4 ,still1    
here again the god-fathers and          
professors still hold the sway1 and it  
is only in such bodies as the  ,allied  
,artists ,association1 the ,friday      
,club1 and the ,london ,group1  that the
 new blood can be more or less assured  
of a place to exhibit  their work and   
obtain their share in the business of   
acceptance for1  and arrangement of1    
exhibitions4 ,all these societies are   
now firmly  established1 though the     
last-named has sustained a great loss by
 the  death of its admirable president1 
,harold ,gilman4 ,the ,allied ,artists  
is  a thoroughly democratic institution 
and a step towards a trade union of     
artists1 if such a thing is possible3   

that some step in that direction  is    
needed there can be no doubt1 as the    
artist suffers very severely  indeed    
from the middleman4 ,these societies1   
then1 in their exhibits  generally1 show
 renewed signs of energy and development
 in art4    ,the employment of younger  
men in an official capacity as war      
artists  instead of such ,academicians  
as were not too infirm to bear the      
weight  of a steel helmet1 showed       
unusual wisdom and perspicuity on behalf
  of the responsible bodies concerned4  
,the direct result was a fine           
collection of paintings by men who1 for 
the most part1 had been able to  depict 
their impressions of war in war's       
surroundings1 or record their           
experiences1 not easily forgotten1 after
 they had been freed from the  ranks4   
,an exhibition of these paintings held  
in ,america was attended  with marked   
success1 and helped to make known the   
work of young ,english  artists in that 
country4 ,c4 ,r4 ,w4 ,nevinson1 ,paul   

,nash1 ,wyndham ,lewis1  and ,eric      
,kennington1 to mention only a few1 have
 produced some fine  and lasting records
 of their impressions in medias res4    
,the public  will have an opportunity of
 seeing the fine collection of paintings
  commissioned and collected by the     
,imperial ,war ,museum this winter4 ,the
  effect of this official employment is 
particularly noticeable upon the  more  
extreme body of painters known as the   
,vorticists with ,wyndham  ,lewis at the
 head3 they have voluntarily or         
involuntarily made certain  concessions 
to representation 7compromise is in bad 
odour now7 in  their work1 but these    
concessions have in no way weakened the 
results  of their toil1 as appeared     
evident at the ,canadian ,war ,memorials
  ,exhibition this spring4    ,turning  
to other events--the exhibition of      
foreign artists at the  ,mansard        
,gallery1 which has recently closed1 is1
 ,i believe1 the first  one of its kind 
since the post-impressionist ,exhibition

 at the ,grafton  ,galleries before the 
war4 ,now1 as then1 ,i fancy1 it will be
 found  to be a case of a little garden 
in a patch of wilderness4 ,mr4 ,clive   
,bell would perhaps have us bow         
unreservedly before the lions of the    
continent1 but ,i feel that some of the 
artists are only repeating with         
variations the themes given out by their
 forerunners4 ,even the work  of the    
accepted masters1 such as ,picasso and  
,derain1 and so forth1  does not seem   
quite convincing at first sight1 but    
perhaps these  were acting purposely as 
foils to their younger contemporaries4  
,the  ,exhibition was1 nevertheless1 of 
great interest1 especially if we may    
take it to show roughly the various     
tendencies of continental art4    ,the  
,memorial ,exhibition of the works of   
,harold ,gilman at the ,leicester       
,galleries deserves special notice4     
,harold ,gilman died suddenly of        
influenza this spring4 ,to everyone who 
knew him his death must have  come as a 

severe shock2 his unfailing courtesy and
 true gentleness of  manner had endeared
 him to many4 ,as an artist1 the sane   
outlook and  sincere purpose in his work
 were valuable assets to whatever       
movement  he was connected with4 ,it is 
difficult at this time to estimate his  
value as a painter1 but ,i am inclined  
to think it will be considerable4  ,he  
had elaborated a fine sense of colour   
which was as effective in his  painting 
as it was useful in his teaching4 ,his  
work1 hung all together  in this        
exhibition1 seems far more striking than
 when seen in isolated  examples1 the   
drawings forming a decidedly important  
part of the whole4  ,he was not         
accustomed to show these drawings nor   
did he seem to value  them very much1   
except as a means to the end2 and ,i am 
surprised by  their excellence4 ,no4 #bc
 is a design for a large painting       
commissioned  by the ,canadian          
,government1 and left unfinished at his 
death4 ,no4 #cg  is one of the gems of  

the collection4 ,an illustrated memorial
 volume  of ,gilman's work will be      
published shortly4 ,other picture shows 
forthcoming in ,london during the autumn
 and winter are--an exhibition  of the  
works of ,matisse1 ,mr4 ,marchant's     
,salon1 open for the first  time since  
the war at the ,goupil ,galleries1 the  
,imperial ,war ,museum  ,exhibition1 and
 the ,london ,group at the ,mansard     
,gallery in ,november4           99     
99       99       99       99    ,to the
 most hardened critic the sounding title
 of the ,international  ,society of     
,sculptors1 ,painters1 and ,engravers   
may seem a little  overaweing2 each     
time1 as the ,society's exhibition comes
 round1 he must  feel this peculiar     
thrill2 the catalogue also1 with its    
crescendos of  lay members1 honorary lay
 members1 and deceased honorary lay     
members1  has a conscious feeling of    
well-to-do-ness which is very           
impressive1  and may tend to undermine  
impartial judgment4 ,the twenty-sixth   

exhibition of this ,society is1         
notwithstanding1 very like many others  
which have gone before4 ,a long search  
for instances of any serious  purpose1  
with a few exceptions1 meets with       
nothing but superficial  cleverness or  
work of a purely negative value4 ,as in 
the exhibitions  of ,burlington ,house1 
so here1 the artists seem entirely      
concerned with  the portrayal of the    
anecdote for itself1 without the least  
regard for  design1 in fact with the    
least amount of solid purpose or        
feeling1 and  with the free use of cheap
 bravura painting4 ,there are1 of       
course1  the well-known stand-bys who   
provide what is expected of them with   
satisfactory regularity4 ,mr4           
,mac,evoy's portraits of the nobility   
and  gentry seem more and more          
evanescent1 and one would hardly credit 
them  with a drop of red blood1 let     
alone blue--but they have their charm4  
,the portraits in general are not       
peculiarly interesting1 characterised   

as they are by good but uninspired      
painting4 ,mr4 ,frampton's ,no4 #bi is  
a case in point4 ,the only bright       
exception1 both as a portrait and a     
work of art1 is ,mr4 ,alvaro ,guevara's 
portrait of ,miss ,edith ,sitwell1      
which alone is worth paying #as4 #f;d4  
to see4 ,the painting throughout is     
curiously realistic1 the colour is very 
fine1 and the arrangement of  the figure
 so as to present a view looking down   
upon it1 together with  the placing of  
the mats on the floor1 make a most      
interesting design4  ,placed as it is   
among the portraits of ,mr4 ,mac,evoy1  
the contrast is  startling and a little 
cruel1 not unlike a bird of paradise    
amongst a  batch of ring-doves4 ,i am   
surprised to see that the perseverance  
of the  firm of ,nicholson and ,son1    
though the business is now mostly       
carried on  by ,mr4 ,benjamin           
,nicholson1 has not yet been awarded by 
royal warrant4  ,no one1 ,i hope1 will  
be so obtuse as not to distinguish the  

filial from  the paternal jug4          
,considerable mention has been made of  
the landscapes  in water-colour by ,miss
 ,frances ,hodgkins1 and though ,i      
cannot  quite agree with all that has   
been said1 ,i think her work has charm  
and a strong sense of pattern4 ,no4     
#bad1 ,threshing1 is especially         
attractive4 ,the drawings of ,j4 ,d4    
,revel will repay attention1            
particularly ,no4 #aid4 ,mr4 ,keith     
,baynes contributes two pleasing        
drawings1 one of which has an           
interesting design of boats1 while ,mr4 
,william ,rothenstein has a good but    
very war-like self-portrait4 ,i  feel   
glad my acquaintance with him has been  
so far only in a civilian  capacity4 ,it
 would appear that sheep-skin jerkins   
are regulation dress  for official      
war-artists4      ,,artistic            
,,publications    ,art and ,letters     
,with the autumn number of ,art and     
,letters the periodical completes  its  
fourth publication since the beginning  

of the new series4 ,art and  ,letters   
was first published in ,july1 #aiag1    
under the editorship of  ,frank ,rutter1
 ,harold ,gilman1 and ,charles ,ginner1 
and was devoted to the  reproduction of 
the graphic arts and the publication of 
short essays1  stories1 poems1 and      
reviews4 ,after the first four numbers  
the magazine  came under the management 
of ,mr4 ,frank ,rutter and ,mr4 ,osbert 
,sitwell1  who changed the cover from a 
set design to one of a varied pattern   
each  quarter4    ,art and ,letters has 
continued to supply a certain demand as 
an  artistic quarterly1 and indeed1 with
 the exception of ,colour1 it  seems to 
be the only periodical which reproduces 
the works of younger  contemporary      
artists4 ,the first numbers contained   
some excellent  drawings by ,walter     
,sickert1 ,harold ,gilman1 and ,charles 
,ginner1 with  woodcuts by ,lucien      
,pissaro2 later1 work by ,paul ,nash1   
,mac,knight  ,kauffer1 and ,therse      
,lessore formed a pleasing contribution4

 ,with the  inception of the new series 
in #aiah1 the paper was given fresh     
impetus  and still maintains its high   
level4 ,a criticism which applies to    
many  other like publications may be    
also applied to ,art and ,letters3 it is
  too precious4 ,there is need of a     
wider scope and more general appeal to  
the public4    ,the chief item of       
artistic interest in ,volume #b1 ,no4   
#d1 of ,art and  ,letters1 which has    
just appeared1 is the drawing by        
,modigliani1 who  was one of the most   
promising exhibitors at the recent      
exhibition of  ,continental ,artists    
held at the ,mansard ,gallery1 and      
referred to above4  ,this is really a   
beautiful drawing1 delicate and         
sensitive2 the artist1  while relying   
chiefly on the rhythmic value of his    
line1 has introduced  ever so slightly  
into the face the literary interest1 so 
to speak1  of a subtle expression which 
is the quintessence of placid kindness4 
,there are also excellent drawings by   

the late ,gaudier ,brzeska and  ,wyndham
 ,lewis1 and a wood-cut by ,paul ,nash  
which1 at the risk of being  censored   
for partiality1 ,i venture to think is  
of interest in another  branch of his   
art4 ,the drawing by ,miss ,anne        
,estelle ,rice is competent  and        
decorative4 ,a new periodical entitled  
,the ,owl was hatched in the  early     
summer1 in which the excellence of the  
literary contributions  greatly         
outweighed the value of the artistic    
reproductions4 ,i hope in  the future   
that the art editor will range a little 
wider in his choice  of drawings4       
,the ,poetry ,bookshop    ,mr4 ,harold  
,monro is publishing a series of monthly
 chap-books1 which  has already run into
 three numbers2 it purports to be a     
record of the  poetry and drama of      
to-day4 ,in so far as it bears upon     
these columns1  ,volume #b is of        
interest as containing reproductions of 
,mr4 ,albert  ,rutherstone's theatre    
designs for ,bernard ,shaw's play1      

,androcles and  the ,lion1 produced at  
,st4 ,james's ,theatre before the war4  
,this is  altogether an admirable and   
valuable little book4 ,the most recently
  published number is entitled ,poems   
,newly ,decorated1 and contains some    
charming and effective designs by the   
younger artists4            ,,john      
,,nash          ,,music      ,,the      
,,promenade ,,concerts    ,,it has been 
good to see the ,queen's ,hall filled   
once more with a  happy crowd1 after the
 thin and uncertain audiences which     
listened to  the ,promenade ,concerts   
during the war4 ,even to a jaded        
professional  critic there is a peculiar
 sense of pleasure to be derived from   
them  which no other concerts can       
convey4 ,one is free to smoke1 to begin 
with1 and free to move about and see    
one's friends2 for that is one of  the  
pleasant things about a ,promenade      
,concert1 that one always finds  friends
 there4 ,and just as one finds          
unexpected old friends on the  floor of 

the house1 so one finds them in the     
programme4 ,there are many  works from  
which the hardened concert-goer flees   
when he sees them put  in to fill up    
time in an ordinary symphony concert4   
,at the ,promenades  he may find himself
 listening to them in the company of    
someone who has  never heard them       
before1 and suddenly discover that they 
have taken on  a new aspect in relation 
to all the music which memory has       
accumulated  since the last time that he
 came across them4 ,the more            
heterogeneous  the programme1 the more  
delightful it is1 and one wonders what  
goes  on in the minds of those listeners
 who crowd to the evenings that are     
given up to ,wagner alone or to ,bach1  
,beethoven1 and ,mozart4 ,it is on a    
,wagner night that one begins to be     
conscious of how badly the band is      
playing4 ,they are trotting through the 
old stock extracts1 which they  are     
supposed to know by heart4 ,the old     
hands are bored to death1 the  new ones 

do not yet know their way about4 ,at    
least so one is tempted  to think for   
the moment4 ,and on a classical night   
one is tempted to  quarrel with some of 
,sir ,henry ,wood's interpretations4    
,such judgments are unprofitable1 even  
if one could be sure that  they were    
true4 ,it is the homogeneous programme  
that alters one's  critical angle4 ,the 
last new versification of a suburban    
house-agent's  advertisement in the     
second half of the programme restores a 
juster  balance4 ,to judge from old     
,promenade programmes1 the one-style    
night  must be a relic of earlier       
tradition4 ,when ,mr4 ,robert ,newman   
first  started the concerts1 in #ahie1  
there would be a ,scottish night1 an    
,irish night1 a ,military night1 and1   
besides a ,wagner night1 a ,gounod      
night4 ,the ,irish night meant a        
programme of ,stanford1 ,balfe1 ,wallace
  and ,sullivan4 ,sullivan still figures
 in our programmes2 the others have     
dropped out1 and so has the ,gounod     

night4 ,the programme of a ,military    
night does indeed seem a curiosity      
to-day4 ,here it is3 ,military  ,march  
7,schubert71 overture ,les ,dragons de  
,villars 7,maillart71 ,the  ,german     
,patrol 7,eilenberg71 ,trumpet ,overture
 7,mendelssohn71 ,the ,red  ,hussar     
7,solomon71 ,the ,british ,army         
,quadrilles 7,jullien71 ,the ,drum      
,polka 7,anonymous71 and the ,soldiers' 
,chorus from ,faust4 ,maillart's        
overture still figures in this year's   
list2 but probably no one wants  a      
military programme in these days1 even  
if it were made up from the  classics4  
,it is interesting to note that what we 
called a ,popular  night differed very  
little from the ,saturday programmes of 
this year1  in spite of the number of   
novelties that have in the course of    
time  been gradually added to the       
repertory4 ,the operatic selections were
  dropped a long time ago1 but such     
things as ,handel's ,largo1 ,grieg's    
,peer ,gynt1 the overture to ,william   

,tell1 and ,bizet's ,l',arlsienne  have 
probably been played once or even twice 
in every season4    ,the book of        
programmes may be regarded as a fair    
index of average  taste1 and as such is 
instructive4 ,english people1 on the    
whole1 have  had too much common sense  
to allow their musical interests to be  
distorted by the war4 ,it is true that  
modern ,german music is no longer       
heard1 and that the names of modern     
,french1 ,russian1 and ,italian         
composers figure largely on the         
programmes4 ,but it is probably also    
true that the accident of the war has   
merely helped to consolidate  a tendency
 that was apparent some time before4    
,brahms was never a  composer for the   
man in the street4 ,what the ordinary   
man wants in  music is a clear-cut tune1
 a vigorous rhythm1 and an exciting     
volume  of sound4 ,he gets these in     
,william ,tell and ,l',arlsienne4 ,in   
the  presence of these and other old    
favourites we are all ordinary men4     

,they are the things which the man in   
the street enjoys at a first  hearing1  
the things which the cultivated musician
 never ceases to  enjoy4 ,it is through 
such music that the average man has     
gradually  learned to enjoy ,beethoven's
 ,symphonies and the ,brandenburg       
,concertos1  for they too possess those 
essential qualities4    ,on the other   
hand1 there is a very large section of  
the public which  demands a more        
sensuous and emotional type of music4   
,the emotion which  these people seek is
 not necessarily erotic1 nor is it      
consciously  religious1 though the      
prelude to ,tristan and ,handel's ,largo
 7with  harp and organ7 are among the   
works which appeal to them most4 ,it was
  they who made the popularity of       
,tchaikovsky and ,richard ,strauss1 and 
it  is they who will establish the      
popularity of ,scriabin4 ,together with 
this desire for sensuous emotion there  
is often combined a delight in  curious 
and amusing orchestral effects4 ,this   

was another factor in the  enjoyment of 
,strauss1 and it can be satisfied not   
only in such works as  ,scriabin's      
,prometheus1 but in ,sir ,henry ,wood's 
ingenious orchestral  transcriptions of 
,moussorgsky4 ,brahms has always been   
too difficult of  understanding for the 
,william ,tell public1 and too austere  
for what  one may call the wallowers4   
,he is hardly a composer for the        
,promenade  ,concerts at all2 the       
,requiem1 the chamber music1 and the    
songs are  his best works1 and those can
 always be heard in their proper places4
    ,the complaint is frequently made   
that the music of the modern ,english   
composers is crowded out1 not so much by
 foreign contemporaries as  by the      
classics4 ,new works by ,english        
composers are played once1 it  is said1 
but never again4 ,yet even if we leave  
out ,elgar1 as being a  classic as      
surely established as ,saint-,sans1     
there are several ,english  works which 
are played over and over again4         

,sullivan's ,in ,memoriam is  one of    
those which might well be laid on the   
shelf2 but like ,walford  ,davies'      
,solemn ,melody it brings in the organ1 
and to many ,english  people music of   
this kind would appear to offer all the 
spiritual  advantages of church-going   
without its discomforts1 intellectual or
  physical4 ,besides these there are    
,mackenzie's ,benedictus and ,edward    
,german's ,henry ,,viii4 dances1 as well
 as various pieces by ,balfour          
,gardiner and ,percy ,grainger1 which   
undoubtedly possess those desirable     
qualities of tune1 rhythm1 and a jolly  
noise4 ,in one case ,sir ,henry  ,wood  
has managed to add the attractions both 
of organ and batterie de  cuisine1 thus 
combining mirth with devotion4    ,it is
 perhaps because a ,promenade audience  
is so kind and so  undiscriminating that
 these concerts have become the         
recognized trial  ground for new works4 
,this year's novelties have been1 on the
 whole1  of little interest4            

,malipiero's second set of ,impressioni 
dal ,vero  was the most original1 ,roger
 ,quilter's ,children's ,overture the   
most  attractive4    ,the want of       
discrimination shown by the audience is 
most apparent in  the case of the vocal 
and instrumental soloists4 ,a few years 
ago1 it  is related1 the students of the
 ,paris ,conservatoire used to make a   
hostile demonstration against every     
concerto on the ground that the         
concerto was of its nature a bad form of
 art4 ,there are indeed a fair  number  
of musicians in this country who in     
private conversation will  confess to   
much the same opinion4 ,generally1      
however1 if pressed1 they  will make    
four or five exceptions1 such as the    
favourite concertos of  ,mozart and     
,beethoven1 together with ,schumann's   
and the ,b flat concerto  of ,brahms4   
,as regards the rest1 they at least     
afford proof of the good  manners       
inculcated at our music schools4 ,the   
more recent ones1 such as  those of     

,rachmaninov and ,tcherepnin1 are no    
better than the others4  ,that of       
,delius alone stands out as a work of   
real beauty4 ,the real  disfigurement of
 the ,promenade ,concerts is provided by
 the singers4  ,one might have supposed 
that a public which had enjoyed a scena 
of ,wagner or ,verdi would refuse to    
tolerate the vapid domesticities  of the
 second half of the programme4 ,but1    
alas6 it is probably this  very         
domesticity that evokes the applause4   
,the promenaders will  admire ,isolde's 
,death ,scene or ,eri tu1 but they must 
worship at a  distance4 ,when they hear 
the other stuff they know that it is    
something  which they themselves can    
sing successfully in their own suburban 
drawing-rooms4 ,sir ,henry ,wood was    
once heard to express the hope that     
some day there might be a ,promenade    
,concert in ,london every night of  the 
year4 ,could that hope ever be realized 
it would be the noblest  monument to the
 man who for our generation at least has

 created the  ,promenade ,concerts4 ,but
 must there always be those songs8 ,they
 are  symbols of bondage to commercial  
interests4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,after five     
years of absence ,busoni has returned to
 ,england1 and his  recital at the      
,wigmore ,hall on ,october #aeth showed 
that his playing  has lost none of its  
former strength and vitality1 whilst it 
has  undoubtedly gained in dignity and  
serenity4 ,his audience consisted       
mainly of musicians1 and his programme  
was evidently intended for  serious and 
cultivated listeners4 ,he began with the
 first prelude and  fugue from ,bach's  
,forty-,eight1 producing a wonderful    
effect at the  end of the fugue by a    
continuous haze of pedal1 through which 
the  counterpoint yet stood out with    
perfect clearness4 ,his reading of the  
,goldberg ,variations was startling1    
both in its quality of tone and  in its 
departures from the text4 ,but it was   
clear that there was a  considered      

reason for everything that was done1 and
 as a commentary  on ,bach the          
performance was of singular interest4   
,busoni was at his  best in ,beethoven's
 ,hammerklaviev sonata4 ,it is probably 
the most  difficult work in all the     
literature of the pianoforte4 ,when     
,busoni  plays one does not take        
technical difficulties into account2 but
  this sonata is both supremely         
difficult to understand and supremely   
difficult to interpret to an audience4  
,to grasp its vastness of  conception   
and to present it without the least     
appearance of struggle  in perfect      
balance of poetry and philosophy is a   
task which ,busoni  alone of living     
pianists can accomplish4 ,it was evident
 from the  behaviour of the audience    
after the end of the sonata that they   
all  realised how in comparison with    
,busoni most other pianists1 despite    
their admirable qualities1 are very     
small fry4            ,,edward ,j4      
,,dent4          ,,bibliographies ,,of  

,,modern ,,authors#d          #d ,in    
this section we propose to give monthly 
skeleton            lists of the works  
of modern authors3 where feasible       
of contributors to the issue current4   
,,thomas ,,hardy      ,poetical works   
only4 ,full information as to all his   
writings may be    obtained from the    
bibliographies by ,a4 ,p4 ,webb and ,h4 
,danielson4    ,,collected ,,poems4     
,macmillan4 #aiai4    ,this volume and  
that containing ,the ,dynasts1 mentioned
 below1 give a  full collection of ,mr4 
,hardy's work in verse4 ,the ,wessex and
 ,mellstock  editions of his complete   
works include his poems in several      
volumes4    ,,selected ,,poems4         
,macmillan4 #aiaf4    ,in the ,golden   
,treasury ,series4    ,,wessex ,,poems4 
,macmillan4 #ahih4    ,this volume      
contains illustrations in pen and ink by
 the author4    ,,poems ,,of ,,past     
,,and ,,present4 ,macmillan4 #aija4     
,,the ,,dynasts4 ,macmillan4 ,part ,i41 
#aijc4 ,part ,,ii41 #aijf4 ,part ,,iii41

 #aijh4    ,now published in one volume4
    ,,time',s ,,laughing ,,stocks4      
,macmillan4 #aiji4    ,,satires ,,of    
,,circumstance1 with miscellaneous      
pieces4 ,macmillan4 #aiad4    ,,moments 
,,of ,,vision4 ,macmillan4 #aiag4       
,certain poems and small collections    
have been published in very small       
editions1 mainly by ,,clement ,k4       
,,shorter4 ,these include ,song of the  
,soldiers 7#aiad71 ,when ,i ,weakly     
,knew 7#aiaf71 ,in ,time of the         
,breaking  of ,nations 7#aiaf71 ,the    
,fiddler's ,story 7#aiag71 ,call to     
,national  ,service 7#aiag71 and        
,domicilium 7#aiah74      ,,walter ,,de 
,,la ,,mare    ,verse    ,,songs ,,of   
,,childhood4 ,longmans4 #aijb4          
,reissued in ,longmans' ,pocket         
,library4    ,,poems4 ,murray4 #aijf4   
,a ,,child',s ,,day4 ,verses to         
pictures4 ,constable4 #aiaa4    ,,the   
,,listeners ,,and ,,other ,,poems4      
,constable4 #aiab4    ,,peacock ,,pie4  
,constable4 #aiac4    ,reissued with    

pictures by ,,heath ,,robinson4    ,,the
 ,,sunken ,,garden4 ,beaumont4 #aiah4   
,a limited edition de luxe4    ,,motley 
,,and ,,other ,,poems4 ,constable4      
#aiah4    ,embodies the whole of the    
material in the last-named4    ,prose   
,,henry ,,brocken4 ,murray4 #aijd4      
,,the ,,three ,,mulla ,,mulgars4        
,duckworth4 #aiaj4    ,,the ,,return4   
,arnold4 #aiaj4      ,w4 ,h4 ,,davies   
,verse    ,,collected ,,poems4 ,with a  
portrait by ,w4 ,,rothenstein4 ,fifield4
 #aiaf4    ,this volume contains a      
selection of what the author considered 
the  best of his poems up to that date4 
,,the ,,soul',s ,,destroyer4 ,alston    
,rivers4 #aijg4    ,this book was       
published in the ,contemporary ,poets'  
,series1 after a  privately published   
issue by the author from the            
,marshalsea4 ,it has  since been        
reissued by ,mr4 ,fifield4    ,,new     
,,poems4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #aijg4        
,,nature ,,poems ,,and ,,others4        
,fifield4 #aijh4    ,,farewell ,,to     

,,poesy4 ,fifield4 #aiaj4    ,,songs    
,,of ,,joy4 ,fifield4 #aiaa4            
,,foliage4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #aiac4      
,,the ,,bird ,,of ,,paradise4 ,methuen4 
#aiad4    ,,child ,,lovers4 ,fifield4   
#aiaf4    ,,raptures4 ,beaumont4 #aiah4 
,a limited edition de luxe4    ,,forty  
,,new ,,poems4 ,fifield4 #aiah4         
,contains the poems in the last entry   
and ten additional pieces4    ,prose    
,,the ,,autobiography ,,of ,a           
,,super-,,tramp4 ,fifield4 #aijh4       
,with an introduction by ,bernard ,shaw4
    ,,beggars4 ,fifield4 #aiji4    ,a   
,,weak ,,woman4 ,fifield4 #aiaa4    ,a  
novel4    ,,the ,,true ,,traveller4     
,fifield4 #aiab4    ,,nature4 ,batsford4
 #aiac4    ,an essay in the ,fellowship 
,books4    ,a ,,poet',s ,,pilgrimage4   
,melrose4 #aiah4      ,,rupert ,,brooke 
,verse    ,,the ,,collected ,,poems ,,of
 ,,rupert ,,brooke4 ,with a memoir by   
,,edward ,,marsh4    ,sidgwick          
,jackson4 #aiah4    ,the memoir was     
separately printed by the same          

publishers in the same  year4           
,,selected ,,poems4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4
 #aiag4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,,poems4 ,sidgwick       
,jackson4 #aiaa4    ,this1 ,brooke's    
first book1 has gone into an enormous   
number of  editions1 and the first is so
 scarce as to cost #d or more in the    
second-hand market4    #aiad ,,and      
,,other ,,poems4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4   
#aiae4    ,this appeared with a portrait
 shortly after ,brooke's death4    ,,the
 ,,old ,,vicarage1 ,,grantchester4      
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #aiaf4    ,a poem  
from the last volume1 separately        
published4    ,prose    ,,letters ,,from
 ,,america4 ,with a preface by ,,henry  
,,james4 ,sidgwick   ,jackson4 #aiaf4   
,james's preface was the last of his    
published writings4 ,the letters        
originally appeared in the ,westminster 
,gazette2 one or two stray  papers are  
added4    ,,john ,,webster ,,and ,,the  
,,elizabethan ,,drama4 ,sidgwick        
,jackson4 #aiaf4    ,brooke's fellowship

 thesis at ,king's4 ,there exists in the
 ,british  ,museum in typescript an     
essay that ,brooke wrote in #aiaj for   
the ,harness  ,prize4 ,the subject is   
,puritanism as represented or referred  
to in the  ,early ,english ,drama up to 
#afdb4          ,,select ,,list ,,of    
,,publications      ,,anthropology      
,,the ,,central ,,arawaks4 ,by ,,william
 ,,curtis ,,farabee4 ,plates and a map  
of ,southern ,british ,guiana and       
,northern ,brazil4 ,philadelphia4       
,published by the ,university ,museum4  
,,art      ,,russian ,,ballet4 ,by      
,,david ,,bomberg4 ,hendersons4 #bs4    
#f;d4      ,,the ,,english ,,rock       
,,garden4 ,two vols4 ,by ,,reginald     
,,farrar4 ,t4 ,c4 and ,e4      ,c4      
,jack4 #c #cs4      ,,the ,,country     
,,life ,,book ,,of ,,cottages4 ,by      
,,laurence ,,weaver4 ,second            
edition4 ,revised and enlarged4 ,country
 ,life4 #is4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the      
,,society ,,for ,,the ,,protection ,,of 
,,ancient ,,buildings4 ,report on the   

treatment of old cottages4 ,by ,a4 ,h4  
,,powell1 ,f4 ,w4 ,,troup1 ,c4 ,c4      
,,winmill1 and the ,,secretary4 #bj     
,buckingham ,street1 #bs4               
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,contemporaries
 ,,of ,,shakespeare4 ,by ,,algernon     
,,charles ,,swinburne4      ,heinemann4 
#fs4 net4      ,,proceedings ,,of ,,the 
,,british ,,academy4 ,for the ,british  
,academy4 ,milford      #djs4 net4      
,,more ,,literary ,,recreations4 ,by    
,,sir ,,edward ,,cook4 ,macmillan4 #gs4 
#f;d4      net4      ,,dublin ,,essays4 
,by ,,arthur ,,clery4 ,maunsel4 #ds4    
#f;d4 net4      ,,echoes ,,old ,,and    
,,new4 ,by ,,ralph ,,nevill4 ,chatto    
,windus4 #abs4 #f;d4      net4          
,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,hamlet4 ,by the  
,right ,hon4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,robertson4 ,allen
       ,unwin4 #es4 net4      ,,some    
,,diversions ,,of ,a ,,man ,,of         
,,letters4 ,by ,,edmund ,,gosse4        
,heinemann4      #gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,a
 ,,critic ,,in ,,pall ,,mall4 ,by       
,,oscar ,,wilde4 ,methuen4 #fs4 #f;d4   

net4      ,,traherne 7an ,essay74 ,by   
,,gladys ,e4 ,,willett4 ,heffer4 #bs4   
#f;d4 net4      ,,some ,,winchester     
,,letters ,,of ,,lionel ,,johnson4      
,allen  ,unwin4 #gs4 #f;d4      net4    
,,the ,,measures ,,of ,,the ,,poets4 ,a 
new system of ,english ,prosody4 ,by ,m4
 ,a4      ,,bayfield4 ,cambridge        
,university ,press4 #es4 net4      ,,by 
,,the ,,waters ,,of ,,fiume4 ,a ,story  
of ,love and ,patriotism4 ,by ,,lorna   
,,de      ,,lucchi4 ,longmans4 #cs4     
#f;d4      ,,the ,,inner ,,court4 ,by   
,h4 ,c4 ,,mason4 ,heath ,cranton4 #es4  
net4      ,,gullible',s ,,travels ,,in  
,,little ,,brit4 ,by ,w4 ,,hodson       
,,burnet4 ,illustrated      by ,,thomas 
,,henry4 ,westall4 #bs4 #f;d4      ,,the
 ,,anonymous ,,poet ,,of ,,poland1      
,,zygmunt ,,krasinski4 ,by ,,monica ,m4 
,,gardner4 ,cambridge ,university       
,press4 #abs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the     
,,mystical ,,poets ,,of ,,the ,,english 
,,church4 ,by ,,percy ,h4 ,,osmond4     
,society      for ,promoting ,christian 

,knowledge4 #abs4 #f;d4 net4            
,,norse ,,myth ,,in ,,english ,,poetry4 
,by ,c4 ,h4 ,,hereford1 ,m4,a41 ,litt4  
,d      ,longmans1 #as4 net4            
,,appreciations ,,of ,,literature4 ,by  
,,lafcadio ,,hearn4 ,heinemann4 #aes4   
net4      ,,geographical ,,dictionary   
,,of ,,milton4 ,by ,,allan ,g4          
,,gilbert4 ,yale      ,university       
,press4 ,milford4 #aes4 net4            
,,biography ,,and ,,memoirs             
,,memories4 ,by ,,lord ,,fisher4 ,hodder
  ,stoughton4 #bas4 net4      ,,samuel  
,,butler1 author of ,erewhon            
7#ahce-aijb74 ,memoir by ,,henry        
,,festing      ,,jones4 ,two vols4      
,macmillan4 #dbs4 net4      ,,memoirs   
,,of ,,edward ,,earl ,,of ,,sandwich1   
#ahci-aiaf4 ,edited by ,,mrs4 ,,steuart 
,,erskine4 ,murray4 #afs4 net4          
,,ingram ,,bywater4 ,by ,w4 ,w4         
,,jackson4 ,oxford ,university ,press4  
,,from ,,mud ,,to ,,mufti4 ,by ,,bruce  
,,bairnsfather4 ,grant ,richards4 #fs4  
net4      ,,alexander ,,henderson1      

,churchman and ,statesman4 ,by ,,sheriff
 ,,robert ,,low      ,,orr1 ,r4,c4      
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #aes4 net4         
,,the ,,end ,,of ,a ,,chapter4 ,by      
,,shane-,,leslie4 ,constable4 ,new      
edition4 #bs4      net4      ,,william  
,,blake ,,the ,,man4 ,by ,,chas4        
,,gardner4 ,dent4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4       
,,the ,,life ,,of ,,liza ,,lehmann4 ,by 
,,herself4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #ajs4 #f;d4  
net4      ,,the ,,man ,,called ,,pearse4
 ,by ,,desmond ,,ryan4 ,maunsel4 #ds4   
#f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,life ,,and      
,,letters ,,of ,,lady ,,dorothy         
,,nevill4 ,methuen4 #ahs4 net4          
,,classical      ,,lucretius ,,on ,,the 
,,nature ,,of ,,things4 ,translated into
 ,english verse by      ,,sir ,,robert  
,,allison4 ,humphreys4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4  
,,the ,,greek ,,orators4 ,by ,j4 ,f4    
,,dobson1 ,m4,a4 ,methuen4 #gs4 #f;d4   
net4      ,,speeches ,,from             
,,thucydides4 ,oxford ,university       
,press4 #as4 net4      ,,drama          
,,every ,,man ,,in ,,his ,,humour4 ,by  

,,ben ,,jonson4 ,edited by ,,percy      
,,simpson4      ,milford4 #es4 net4     
,,the ,,marriage ,,of ,,ilario4 ,by ,a4 
,,hugh ,,fisher4 ,selwyn  ,blount4 #as4 
#f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,clouds ,,of     
,,aristophanes4 ,acted at ,athens at the
 ,great ,dionysia1      ,b4,c4 #dbc4    
,translated into corresponding metres by
 ,,benjamin ,,bickley      ,,rogers1    
,m4,a41 ,hon4 ,d4 ,litt4 ,bell4 #cs4    
#f;d4 net4      ,,napoleon4 ,a ,play4   
,by ,,herbert ,,trench4 ,milford4 #bs4  
#f;d4 net4      ,,fiction      ,,richard
 ,,kurt4 ,by ,,stephen ,,hudson4 ,martin
 ,secker4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the    
,,old ,,contemptibles4 ,by ,,boyd       
,,cable4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #fs4 net4 
,,the ,,dominant ,,race4 ,by ,f4 ,e4    
,,mills-,,young4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4   
#gs4      net4      ,,an ,,honest       
,,thief and ,other ,stories4 ,by        
,,fyodor ,,dostoevsky4 ,heinemann4      
#fs4 net4      ,,his ,,majesty',s ,,well
 ,,beloved4 ,by ,,baroness ,,orczy4     
,hodder  ,stoughton4      #gs4 net4     

,,felix ,,morgaine4 ,by ,,josephine     
,,pitcairn ,,knowles4 ,methuen4 #fs4    
net4      ,,the ,,great ,,house4 ,by    
,,stanley ,j4 ,,weyman4 ,murray4 #gs4   
net4      ,,time ,,and ,,eternity4 ,a   
,tale of ,three ,exiles4 ,by ,,gilbert  
,,cannan4 ,chapman       ,hall4 #gs4    
net4      ,,the ,,tender ,,conscience4  
,by ,,bohun ,,lynch4 ,martin ,secker4   
#gs4      ,,the ,,substance ,,of ,a     
,,dream4 ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,,bain4 ,methuen4  
#fs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,deadham ,,hard4  
,by ,,lucas ,,malet4 ,methuen4 #gs4 net4
      ,,madeleine4 ,by ,,hope           
,,mirrlees4 ,collins4 #fs4 net4         
,,old ,,man ,,savarin ,,stories4 ,by ,e4
 ,w4 ,,thomson4 ,werner ,laurie4 #gs4   
,,tiranogue4 ,by ,,dorothea ,,conyers4  
,methuen4 #gs4 net4      ,,the ,,lion',s
 ,,mouse4 ,by ,c4 ,n4 and ,a4 ,m4       
,,williamson4 ,methuen4 #cs4 #f;d4      
net4      ,,living ,,alone4 ,by ,,stella
 ,,benson4 ,macmillan4 #fs4 net4        
,,the ,,young ,,physician4 ,by ,,francis
 ,,brett ,,young4 ,collins4 #gs4 #f;d4  

net4      ,,up1 ,,the ,,rebels4 ,by ,g4 
,a4 ,,birmingham4 ,methuen4 #gs4 net4   
,,youth1 ,,youth4444 ,by ,,desmond      
,,coke1 with illustrations by ,h4 ,m4   
,,brock4      ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4     
#f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,one ,,who       
,,forgot4 ,by ,,ruby ,m4 ,,ayres4       
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #fs4 net4          
,,the ,,veil ,,of ,,silence4 ,by ,r4 ,h4
 ,,clarke4 ,heath ,cranton4 #cs4 #f;d4  
net4      ,,the ,,candidate',s          
,,progress4 ,by ,j4 ,a4 ,,farrar4       
,fisher ,unwin4 #gs4 #f;d4      net4    
,,love ,,and ,,mrs4 ,,kendrur4 ,by      
,,eleanor ,,howell ,,abbott4 ,heinemann4
 #bs4 net4      ,,second ,,youth4 ,by   
,,warwick ,,deeping4 ,cassell4 #gs4     
,,the ,,minx ,,goes ,,to ,,the ,,front4 
,by ,c4 ,n4 ,,and ,a4 ,m4 ,,williamson4 
,mills       ,boon4 #fs4 net4      ,,the
 ,,irrational ,,knot4 ,by ,,bernard     
,,shaw4 ,constable4 #bs4 net4      ,,the
 ,,taming ,,of ,,nan4 ,by ,,ethel       
,,holdsworth4 ,herbert ,jenkins4 #gs4   
net4      ,,all ,,sorts4 ,by ,l4 ,a4 ,r4

 ,,wylie4 ,mills  ,boon4 #fs4      ,,the
 ,,booming ,,of ,,bunkie4 ,a ,history4  
,by ,a4 ,s4 ,,neill4 ,herbert ,jenkins4 
#fs4 net4      ,,the ,,princess ,,of    
,,the ,,roses4 ,by ,,luigi ,,motta4     
,stanley ,paul4 #gs4 net4      ,,green  
,,ladies4 ,by ,,douglas ,,newton4 ,hurst
  ,blackett4 #fs4 #i;d4 net4      ,,the 
,,master ,,mind4 ,by ,,fergus ,,hume4   
,hurst  ,blackett4 #fs4 #i;d4 net4      
,,enchanted ,,hearts4 ,by ,,darragh     
,,aldrich4 ,jarrolds4 #gs4 net4         
,,the ,,golden ,,scorpion4 ,by ,,sax    
,,rohmer4 ,methuen4 #fs4 net4           
,,september4 ,by ,,frank ,,swinnerton4  
,methuen4 #gs4 net4      ,,the          
,,betrayers4 ,by ,,hamilton ,,drummond4 
,stanley ,paul4 #fs4 net4      ,,little 
,,pitchers4 ,by ,,oliver ,m4 ,,hueffer4 
,stanley ,paul4 #gs4      ,,saint',s    
,,progress4 ,by ,,john ,,galsworthy4    
,heinemann4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,if   
,,all ,,these ,,young ,,men4 ,by ,,romer
 ,,wilson4 ,methuen4 #gs4 net4          
,,welsh ,,love4 ,by ,,edith ,,nepean4   

,stanley ,paul4 #fs4 net4               
,,syllabub ,,farm4 ,by ,h4 ,t4          
,,sheringham4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4 
,a ,,pair ,,of ,,idols4 ,by ,,stewart   
,,caven4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 net4     
,,new ,,wine4 ,by ,,agnes ,,and         
,,egerton ,,castle4 ,collins4 #gs4 net4 
,,the ,,escape ,,of ,,the ,,notorious   
,,sir ,,william ,,heans4 ,,william      
,,hay4 ,allen       ,unwin4 #ajs4 #f;d4 
net4      ,,gastronomic      ,,wine     
,,and ,,spirits4 ,the ,connoisseur's    
,text ,book4 ,by ,,andrea ,l4 ,,simon4  
,duckworth4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4             
,,history      ,,the ,,expansion ,,of   
,,europe4 ,a ,history of the            
,foundations of the ,modern      ,world4
 ,by ,,william ,,cortez ,,abbott4 ,two  
vols4 ,bell4 #cjs4 net4      ,a ,,brief 
,,history ,,of ,,poland4 ,by ,,julia    
,,swift ,,orvis1 ,associate ,professor  
of ,history in ,wellesley ,college4     
,constable4 #fs4 net4      ,,historical 
,,nights' ,,entertainment4 ,by ,,rafael 
,,sabatini4 ,second series4             

,hutchinson4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the 
,,importance ,,of ,,women ,,in          
,,anglo-,,saxon ,,times4 ,by the ,right 
,rev4 ,g4 ,f4      ,,browne4 ,society   
for ,promoting ,christian ,knowledge4   
#gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,palmerston ,,and 
,,the ,,hungarian ,,revolution4 ,by     
,,charles ,,sproxton1 ,b4,a41           
,m4,c41 ,cambridge ,university ,press4  
#gs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,benedictine      
,,monachism4 ,studies in ,benedictine   
,life and ,rule by the      ,right ,rev4
 ,,cuthbert ,,butler4 ,longmans4 #ahs4  
net4      ,,bolingbroke ,,and ,,walpole4
 ,by the ,right ,hon4 ,j4 ,m4           
,,robertson4 ,fisher      ,unwin4 #abs4 
#f;d4 net4      ,,law      ,,excess     
,,profits ,,duty and the ,cases ,decided
 ,thereon4 ,by ,r4 ,j4      ,,sutcliffe4
 ,stevens4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4              
,,medical      ,,reminiscences ,,of     
,,three ,,campaigns4 ,by ,,sir          
,,alexander ,,ogston1 ,k4,c4,v4,o41     
,,ll4,d41 ,surgeon in ,ordinary to the  
,king in ,scotland4 ,hodder             

,stoughton4 #afs4 net4      ,,dementia  
,,pr,,cox ,,and ,,paraphernia4 ,by      
,professor ,,emil ,,kraepelin1 of       
,munich4 ,translated by ,,mary          
,,barclay4 ,edited by ,g4 ,m4           
,,robertson1      ,lecturer on ,mental  
,diseases in the ,university of         
,edinburgh4 ,e4 and      ,s4            
,livingstone4 #aes4 net4      ,,letters 
,,to ,a ,,young ,,man ,,on ,,love ,,and 
,,health4 ,by ,,walter ,m4 ,,gallichan4 
,werner ,laurie4 #ds4 #f;d4 net4        
,,military      ,,my ,,war ,,memories1  
#aiad-aiah4 ,by ,,general ,,ludendorff4 
,two vols4      ,hutchinson4 #cds4 net4 
,a ,,private ,,in ,,the ,,guards4 ,by   
,,stephan ,,graham4 ,macmillan4 #ajs4   
net4      ,,escaping ,,from ,,germany4  
,by ,,edward ,,page 7,private           
,r4,m4,l4,i474 ,melrose4      #ds4 #f;d4
 net4      ,,philosophy      ,,emerson  
,,and ,,his ,,philosophy4 ,by ,j4 ,a4   
,,hill4 ,rider4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4         
,,poetry      ,,reynard ,,the ,,fox4 ,by
 ,,john ,,masefield4 ,heinemann4 #es4   

net4      ,,more ,,poems ,,from ,,the   
,,chinese4 ,translated by ,,arthur      
,,waley4 ,allen       ,unwin4 #cs4 and  
#ds4 #f;d4 net4      ,a ,,muse ,,at     
,,sea4 ,by ,e4 ,,hilton ,,young4        
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #bs4 #f;d4         
net4      ,,poems ,,in ,,captivity4 ,by 
,,john ,,still4 ,lane4 #gs4 #f;d4       
,,the ,,pharsalia ,,of ,,lucan4         
,translated by the ,right ,hon4 ,,edward
 ,,ridley1      sometime ,fellow of ,all
 ,souls ,college1 ,oxford1 and one of   
the ,judges      of the ,high ,court of 
,justice4 ,two vols4 ,a4 ,l4 ,humphreys4
 #b #bs4      net4      ,,the ,,gift4   
,by ,m4 ,,cecilia ,,furse4 ,constable4  
#bs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the ,,collected  
,,poems ,,of ,,lord ,,alfred ,,douglas4 
,martin ,secker4 #gs4      #f;d4 net4   
,,forgotten ,,places4 ,by ,,ian         
,,mackenzie4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #cs4 #f;d4
 net4      ,,poems ,,newly ,,decorated4 
,the ,poetry ,bookshop4 #as4 net4       
,,poems ,,of ,,the ,,dawn ,,and ,,night4
 ,by ,,henry ,,mond4 ,chapman  ,hall4   

#cs4      #f;d4      ,,the ,,superhuman 
,,antagonists4 ,by ,,sir ,,william      
,,watson4 ,hodder       ,stoughton4 #es4
 net4      ,,politics1 ,,economics1     
,etc4      ,a ,,primer ,,of ,,national  
,,finance4 ,by ,,henry ,,higgs1 ,c4,b4  
,methuen4 #es4 net4      ,,britain',s   
,,oversea ,,trade4 ,by ,w4 ,h4 ,,hooker4
 ,effingham ,wilson4 #cs4 net4          
,,industry ,,and ,,trade4 ,by ,,alfred  
,,marshall4 ,macmillan4 #ahs4 net4      
,,the ,,mastery ,,of ,,the ,,far ,,east4
 ,the ,story of ,korea's ,transformation
 and      ,japan's ,rise to ,supremacy  
in the ,orient4 ,by ,,arthur ,,judson   
,,brown4      ,bell4 #bes4 net4         
,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,government4 ,by   
,,hugh ,,taylor4 ,blackwell4 #ajs4 #f;d4
 net4      ,,the ,,unfinished           
,,programme ,,of ,,democracy4 ,by       
,,richard ,,roberts4 ,swaithmore        
,press4 #fs4 net4      ,,speechings     
,,and ,,writings ,,of ,,lord ,,sinha4   
,madras1 ,g4 ,a4 ,natesan  ,co4         
,rs4 #c4      ,,the ,,great ,,adventure4

 ,present-day ,study in ,american       
,nationalism4 ,by      ,,theodore       
,,roosevelt4 ,murray4 #fs4 net4         
,,bolshevism4 ,the ,enemy of ,political 
and ,industrial ,democracy4 ,by ,,john  
,,spargo4 ,murray4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4      
,,cattle1 ,,and ,,the ,,future ,,of     
,,beef ,,production ,,in ,,england4 ,by 
,k4 ,j4      ,j4 ,,mackenzie1 ,reader in
 ,university of ,cambridge4 ,preface and
      ,chapter by ,f4 ,h4 ,a4           
,,marshall1 ,fellow and ,tutor of       
,christ's ,college      and ,university 
,lecturer in ,agricultural ,physiology4 
,cambridge      ,university ,press4 #gs4
 #f;d4 net4      ,,europe ,,in ,,the    
,,melting-,,pot4 ,by ,r4 ,w4            
,,seton-,,watson4 ,macmillan4 #ds4      
#f;d4 net4      ,,religion      ,a      
,,commentary ,,on ,,the ,,bible4 ,edited
 by ,,arthur ,s4 ,,peake1 ,m4,a41       
,d4,d41      ,rylands ,professor of     
,biblical ,exegesis in the ,university  
of      ,manchester4 ,with the          
assistance for the ,new ,testament of   

,a4      ,j4 ,,greene1 ,m4,a41 ,d4,d41  
,principal of the ,congregational ,hall1
      ,edinburgh4 ,t4 ,c4 and ,e4 ,c4   
,jack4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,studies  
,,in ,,the ,,confessions ,,of ,,st4     
,,augustine4 ,by ,r4 ,l4 ,,attley1      
,canon      of ,christ ,church1 ,hon4   
,fellow of ,pembroke ,college1 ,oxford4 
,robt4      ,scott4 #gs4 #f;d4          
,,the ,,primitive ,,tradition ,,of ,,the
 ,,eucharistic ,,body ,,and ,,blood4 ,by
      ,,lucius ,,waterman1 ,d4,d41      
,rector of ,st4 ,thomas' ,church1       
,hanover1 ,new      ,hampshire4         
,longmans4 #is4 net4      ,,idealism4   
,by ,,william ,,walker1 ,a4,k4,c41      
,rector of ,pattiswick4 ,heath          
,cranton4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4      ,,the    
,,secret ,,of ,,happiness1 or ,salvation
 through ,growth4 ,by ,,edmond          
,,holmes4 ,constable4 #abs4 #f;d4       
,,the ,,london      ,,mercury           
,editor--,j4 ,c4 ,,squire               
,assistant-,editor--,,edward ,,shanks   
,vol4 ,i ,no4 #b                        

,december #aiai          ,,editorial    
,,notes      ,our last notes in this    
place were written in the dark4 ,we     
sketched1  in a general way1 our        
attitude1 our intentions1 and our hopes 
whilst  we were still without more      
evidence than our private enquiries     
could  produce as to the degree of      
confidence that our proposals would     
inspire  and the amount of support that 
we should receive4 ,we are now more     
fully  informed2 and we may honestly say
 that1 although our expectations were   
not1 perhaps1 coloured by an excessive  
diffidence1 they have been more  than   
realised4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,the              
extraordinarily cordial reception given 
us1 both by critics in  the ,press and  
by our readers1 has proved that there is
 a demand for a  paper on the lines     
which we have laid down1 and that our   
first number  was regarded as a         
satisfactory beginning4 ,we must express
 our profound  gratitude to those--there

 are hundreds--who have written to us in
 terms  of unqualified appreciation and 
benevolence1 and to the reviewers1      
whose kindness is more encouraging than 
they probably know4 ,it now  remains for
 us to attempt to live up to the        
promises we have made4           99     
99       99       99       99    ,one   
more thing we must add before we turn to
 detail4 ,editors do not  normally      
discuss the economics of their          
enterprises in public1 and  nobody      
wishes that they should4 ,but before the
 ,,london ,,mercury appeared1  we made a
 special effort to start it on a firm   
basis by securing a  large number of    
,original ,subscribers4 ,that effort was
 remarkably  successful2 thousands of   
persons subscribed for a year before    
they had  seen a copy of the paper4     
,these proved by their willingness to   
buy a  pig in a poke that they were     
thoroughly interested in our scheme2    
and we are entitled to assume that they 
will be interested to hear  that our    

initial success has been so great that  
our immediate future  is securely       
guaranteed4 ,in other words 7though much
 ground remains  to be won71 we have    
been spared the wearing and worrying    
struggle to  obtain a position and a    
hearing which so often embarrasses      
literary  and artistic periodicals4 ,a  
direct result of this is that we shall  
be  under no necessity to experiment    
hastily1 but shall be able to give  due 
consideration to every possible         
development that occurs to us4 ,a       
direct implication of it is that should 
we1 in the long run1 fail to  satisfy   
the public1 we should have nothing and  
nobody but ourselves to  blame4 ,either 
our conception would have been proved   
unpopular or our  execution would have  
been deemed inadequate4 ,it is the most 
comfortable  of situations4 ,that is all
 we need say on the subject4 ,we have   
spoken  frankly about it 7rather than   
affect an impassive indifference7 simply
  because we think our readers would    

like us to do so4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,we have as yet 
received no great number of detailed    
criticisms or  suggestions for          
improvement4 ,but there have been some1 
both in  the ,press and in the letters  
from our correspondents4 ,some of the   
suggestions that have been made we shall
 adopt2 some we shall not2  one or two  
of the most interesting are based on a  
misunderstanding4  ,the most noticeable 
of these derive from the notion that the
 ,,london  ,,mercury was intended to be 
an exact analogue of the ,mercure de    
,france1 and borrowed its title from    
that excellent paper4 ,we may as  well  
explain1 once and for all1 that the     
similitude with the ,mercure  de        
,france1 happy though it may be1 was    
reached by accident2 our own  title was 
derived directly from the ,mercuries    
which were the earliest  products of the
 ,english periodical ,press2 and for our
 scheme we are  indebted to no paper1   
,british or foreign4 ,a ,scottish critic

 observes  that ,belgian literature owed
 its notable capture of ,europe largely 
to  its the ,mercure's whole-hearted    
welcome1 and the new movement in        
,germany associated with the names of   
,rilke and ,zweig found its first       
foreign recognition in its pages4       
,moreover1 it surveyed the whole field  
of human intellectual                   
achievement--philosophy1 science1       
religion--in  its articles4444 ,the name
 of ,m4 ,davray at the foot of a        
,mercure  article has made more than one
 ,british writer's reputation in ,paris1
  and ,europe would have been entirely  
ignorant that there was a new and  rich 
literature in ,spanish-,america had not 
the ,mercure discovered  it and blazoned
 forth its merits4 ,we might1 if we     
would1 make some  remark on the detail  
of this4 ,rilke is not a major poet2    
,zweig is an  unimportant1              
over-exuberant critic who tried1 in     
vain1 to persuade the  late ,emile      
,verhaeren that he was a ,german2 the   

fame of ,spanish-,american  literature1 
trumpeted though it may have been by the
 ,mercure1 has not  yet reached ,london4
 ,but we prefer to concentrate on the   
more important  point1 and that is that 
our functions1 as we conceive them1 are 
not  those of the ,mercure de ,france4  
,we have already published letters  from
 ,french and ,american correspondents2  
we shall shortly publish  letters from  
,italian1 ,russian1 and ,german         
correspondents2 we shall  from time to  
time publish fuller articles about      
recent developments  in foreign         
countries4 ,but there are certain limits
 to our space1  and there is a centre in
 our plans4 ,it is an admirable thing to
  disseminate the works of good ,belgian
 and ,spanish-,american authors1 and  we
 hope that we shall not overlook        
anything really important that comes    
from any quarter of the globe4 ,but our 
principal object is to assist  people to
 read the good ,english authors of the  
past1 and to stimulate  the popularity  

of good ,english authors of the present4
 ,there are those  to whom any          
foreigner1 writing in some mysteriously 
wonderful language1  like ,french or    
,polish or ,spanish-,american1 is a     
portent2 but we are not  amongst them4  
,we desire to keep the ,british public  
in touch with all  foreign developments 
that may be considered likely to be of  
special  interest to the ,british       
public2 but we certainly do not intend  
to  devote to the study of foreign      
authors space that might more profitably
  be given to the examination of a dead 
or living man who has written  in our   
own tongue4 ,the ,mercure bestows a     
great deal of attention  on foreign     
authors2 it publishes political         
articles2 it concerns  itself largely   
with problems of philosophy and         
religion4 ,some of these  questions will
 be ignored by the ,,london ,,mercury4  
,some it will discuss2  regarding some  
its functions will be purely that of a  
recorder4 ,but it  does not propose to  

deflect from its original purpose1 which
 was to  publish the best contemporary  
creative work that it could obtain1 to  
criticise new books and old1 and to     
minister to the other needs of the      
,british reader and the ,british        
book-collector4 ,it is just as well that
  this should be clear4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,in the
 present number one or two slight       
changes are to be observed4  ,there is a
 minor1 but not insignificant1          
typographical change1 and two  new1 and 
we hope welcome1 features have been     
added4 ,these had already  been         
premeditated1 but we made them with all 
the more satisfaction  in that several  
correspondents had recommended--we had  
almost said  demanded--them4 ,we hope1  
in an early issue1 to add to these a    
section  on ,architecture1 similar to   
the sections on ,art1 ,music1 and the   
,theatre4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,several          
correspondents have written to ask us   

whether we propose to  devote any       
attention to the economics of           
authorship1 and two of them  7persons   
whom we conceive to have a direct and   
immediate interest  in the subject7 make
 special reference to the question of   
,american  copyright4 ,to all of them we
 can reply that1 although economics in  
general1 like politics in general1 come 
within the sphere of our                
self-abnegation1 we shall throw what    
light we can on the economics  of       
authorship1 just as we shall hold       
ourselves free to trespass on  politics 
when politics touch art4 ,american      
copyright1 as a fact1 we had  already   
marked out as one of the matters to     
which we intend to return  again and    
again until ,america puts her laws      
straight4 ,the ,british  copyright laws 
are now1 so far as they affect the      
author1 on a very  satisfactory footing4
 ,the principal countries of the world  
have signed  the ,berne ,convention1 and
 even ,russia1 had there been no        

,revolution1  would by this time have   
agreed that the works of ,british       
authors should  be automatically        
copyrighted in ,russia4 ,the more widely
 the civilised  custom spreads the more 
glaring becomes what1 without offence1  
we  may call the offence of ,america4   
,there only--and it is the largest      
,english-speaking and ,english-reading  
community in the world--is the  ,british
 author defenceless1 there only may he  
be robbed with impunity  of the fruits  
of his labour4           99       99    
99       99       99    ,let us         
recapitulate the elements of the        
,american copyright law as they  at     
present stand4 ,copyright in ,america is
 defined by a law of #aiji4  ,that ,act 
lays down that a book1 to secure legal  
protection1 must be  manufactured in the
 ,united ,states of ,america2 the       
stipulation was  carried on from an     
earlier statute4 ,a book published in   
the ,english  language may obtain       
interim protection for one month from   

the date of  publication if a copy is   
forwarded to an office in ,washington2  
but at  the end of the month protection 
lapses4 ,copyright is lost unless a     
book 7or a newspaper contribution7 has  
been set up in the ,states and  issued  
there within a month of its publication 
in ,great ,britain4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,now we
 have no hesitation in describing the   
present copyright  arrangements as      
between ,england and ,america as immoral
 and unjust4 ,they  do not greatly      
handicap authors of international       
reputation1 so far as  their new books  
are concerned4 ,if--he will forgive us  
for using his  name as an               
illustration--,mr4 ,rudyard ,kipling has
 written a new book1  he will have no   
difficulty whatever in getting an       
,american publisher  to put it into type
 in ,america and issue it at a date     
approximate to  that of the ,english    
publication4 ,but even the eminent and  
the arrived  are put to some trouble and

 expense by the necessity of securing   
copyright1 and on those who are not so  
eminent the law presses very  hardly    
indeed4 ,there are famous ,english      
authors whose early books are  not      
copyright in ,america2 there are young  
,english authors who have to  go through
 the anguish of seeing ,american        
copyright expire whilst some  ,american 
publisher is debating whether or not he 
shall take sheets  of a book from       
,england2 and first books of any        
character published  in ,england can    
virtually never be copyrighted in       
,america4 ,it may1 and  should1 be      
granted that as a body ,american        
publishers are more just and  generous  
than their laws4 ,we know of many cases 
in which the ,english  authors of       
non-copyright books have obtained from  
,american publishers  precisely the same
 royalties as they have obtained from   
their ,english  publishers4 ,we know    
also of cases--relatively few1 we gladly
 admit--in  which the works of ,english 

authors have been pirated by ,american  
editors and publishers without sanction1
 thanks1 or payment4 ,but the  mere fact
 that in most instances ,american       
publishers are ashamed to  take         
advantage of the law1 and that in other 
instances they do the  handsome thing in
 order to secure favours to come1 is no 
palliation  of the law4 ,it is a harsh  
and a selfish law2 a law unworthy of a  
great  nation1 a nation which is second 
to none in its professions and in its   
intentions with regard to the welfare of
 humanity at large4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,the   
state of the law is commonly ascribed to
 the typographical unions4  ,protection 
for ,printers3 books should have no     
rights in ,america  unless ,american    
typographers have been employed upon    
them4 ,beneath this  argument lies the  
naked1 brutal fact that at present1     
,america having  not yet produced the   
great universal literature that she is  
destined  to produce1 ,america imports  

much more from us than we do from her4  
,if  sheets were copyright1 whenever    
sent1 we should get the better of  the  
exchange2 we produce ten ,masefields for
 one ,o4 ,henry1 and ,england  would    
print far more for ,america than        
,america would for ,england4 ,this  may 
determine the printers' attitude2 though
 even the printers might  realise that a
 time might come when the boot would be 
on the other  leg1 and ,british         
publishers will be in a position to     
squeeze ,american  authors to any       
extent1 and ,british printers will      
insist on printing  books which might   
more conveniently and economically be   
printed in  ,america4 ,but surely1 in a 
matter like this1 the law ought not to  
be  dictated by the selfish and         
shortsighted conceptions of a trade4 ,we
  have never met an ,english author who 
has had1 or who has contemplated1       
relations with ,america who has not been
 bitterly contemptuous of the  ,american
 attitude towards the copyright law4 ,we

 have never spoken  to an ,american     
author or publisher who has not admitted
 that it was  a disgrace to ,america4   
,authors may be a small body1 but they  
are as  entitled to their rights as     
anybody else2 these1 also1 are ,god's   
creatures4 ,president ,wilson himself1  
for all we know1 may under the  present 
regime have lost ,english copyright in  
his early works2 and  the irony of the  
law is that it presses most hardly on   
those who have  still their fortunes to 
make1 for the celebrated1 or their      
agents1 can  successfully cope with it4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,these lines will1 as we are happy to   
know1 meet the eyes of many  ,americans 
who write and many who do not4 ,we      
appeal to them to agitate  for a change 
in their law4 ,that the ,american       
copyright law should be  placed on      
precisely the same basis as the ,english
 copyright law we do  not ask1 and have 
no right to ask4 ,but that ,english     
authors should  automatically enjoy in  

the ,united ,states the same privileges 
as are  enjoyed by native authors is a  
reasonable proposition4 ,cannot somebody
  move the ,legislature8           99   
99       99       99       99    ,we    
shall return to this subject at greater 
length4 ,meanwhile1 if we  may hark back
 for a moment to the point from which   
our digression  started1 may we say that
 we shall welcome any suggestions our   
readers  may make as to the development 
of the paper within the limits we have  
defined8 ,particularly we desire to     
hear--though we should not be human  if 
we pretended to enjoy--objections1      
provided they are conceived  in a       
friendly spirit1 to anything in our     
present arrangements which  may strike  
readers as unsatisfactory4 ,it was      
another god who sprang1  perfect and in 
full panoply1 from the head of ,jove4   
,,literary ,,intelligence      ,the     
death of ,mr4 ,bruce ,cummings on       
,october #bbnd1 at the age of thirty1   
brought to an end a literary career     

which was singular alike in its         
character and in its brevity4 ,he did   
not expect to live to see the           
publication of his book1 ,the ,journal  
of a ,disappointed ,man1 and  himself   
inserted the last and the only falsity  
in it1 except the  name he gave himself3
 ,barbellion died on ,december #cast4   
,but he did  actually witness its       
remarkable success on its appearance in 
the early  part of this year2 and it is 
impossible not to feel that this must1  
to  some extent1 have alleviated his    
disappointment4 ,he was remarkable1  not
 only in his personality and his gifts1 
but also in the fact that  he was fully 
and frankly conscious1 at all events for
 some years  before his death1 that his 
journal would be published and would be 
examined as a literary composition4 ,he 
compared it with the journals  which    
were already famous1 he speculated on   
the reception it would  have1 he        
experienced a thrill in discovering a   
sister-soul in ,marie  ,bashkirtseff4   

,and it is hardly doubtful that his     
expectations will be  realised4 ,his    
career was one of struggle under almost 
overwhelming  difficulties4 ,his        
earliest ambition was to be a           
naturalist2 and  without training or    
assistance of any kind he had almost    
achieved  it1 when the breakdown of his 
father compelled him to earn a more     
substantial1 though still meagre1 living
 as a reporter on the staff of  a       
provincial newspaper4 ,he struggled out 
of this pit1 and eventually  succeeded  
in obtaining a position at ,south       
,kensington1 which1 in view  of the     
obstacles in his way1 was an            
extraordinary performance4 ,through  all
 this battle against odds he was        
handicapped by an ill-health  which     
seems to have affected almost every     
organ in his body--a weak  heart1       
susceptible1 if not actually tubercular1
 lungs1 dyspepsia1 and  disordered      
nerves2 and these ailments were         
accompanied and intensified  by a       

perpetual brooding over his health      
which1 had it had no basis1  might have 
been called acute hypochondria4 ,but it 
was only after  his marriage that he    
discovered1 by a dramatic and           
extraordinary  accident1 that he was    
already condemned to death by a more    
terrible  malady than any of these4     
,under the rapidly-approaching shadow of
 this  end1 he continued his work and   
his journal as long as his strength     
permitted1 and survived1 though but for 
a little and in a state of  complete    
collapse1 the success which had been so 
persistently denied  him before4 ,his   
journal tells an extraordinary story and
 reveals an  extraordinary person4 ,its 
confessions are frank1 quiet1 and       
obviously  truthful2 and neither his    
introspective habit of mind nor his     
belief  that his journal would be       
published seems ever to have vitiated   
his  powers of observation and notation4
 ,but he was something more than a      
remarkable personality and a veracious  

reporter of himself4 ,he was also  a    
writer and a critic of great ability4   
,his notes on literature and  music1    
here and there through the diary1 show  
considerable penetration  and judgment2 
and his descriptions of persons and     
places are vivid1  fascinating1 and     
often humorous4 ,a volume of his remains
 has just been  issued under the title1 
,enjoying ,life1 and ,other ,essays2 and
 this  includes the paper on the great  
journal-writers to which he alludes     
more than once in his diary4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,as a token of their admiration for a   
master in their craft1 a number  of     
poets recently united to make a         
presentation to ,mr4 ,thomas ,hardy1    
,o4,m41 on the occasion of his entering 
his eightieth year4 ,their tribute  took
 the form of a manuscript volume in     
which each of the poets wrote  one of   
his own pieces and which was prefaced by
 an address written1  it is understood1 
by the ,poet ,laureate1 with whom are   

joined in the  volume the ,hon4 ,maurice
 ,baring1 ,mr4 ,hilaire ,belloc1 ,mr4   
,laurence  ,binyon1 ,mr4 ,g4 ,k4        
,chesterton1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies1 ,mr4 
,walter de la ,mare1  ,mr4 ,austin      
,dobson1 ,mr4 ,edmund ,gosse1 ,mr4      
,maurice ,hewlett1 ,mr4 ,ralph          
,hodgson1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,e4 ,housman1 ,mr4   
,rudyard ,kipling1 ,mr4 ,john           
,masefield1  ,mrs4 ,alice ,meynell1 ,mr4
 ,sturge ,moore1 ,professor ,gilbert    
,murray1 ,sir  ,henry ,newbolt1 ,mr4    
,alfred ,noyes1 ,sir ,arthur            
,quiller-,couch1 ,mr4 ,g4 ,w4  ,russell 
7,a4 ,e471 ,mr4 ,arthur ,symons1 ,mr4   
,herbert ,trench1 ,sir ,william         
,watson1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,b4 ,yeats1 and many  
of their younger fellows4 ,a sentence   
from the address1 ,we would thank you   
for the pleasure and increasing  delight
 that your art has given us1 explains   
the purpose of the gift  and supplies a 
text on which a discourse might be      
pronounced4 ,for if  it is a delight for
 an established master to receive the   

homage of his  juniors1 it should be1   
and is1 an especial delight for them to 
be able  to offer it4 ,we think it      
probable that some of the younger       
contributors  to this volume will live  
to remember with wonder and gratitude   
the fact  that they were able1 while he 
still lived1 to express their gratitude 
to one of the greatest of modern        
,english poets4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,mr4 ,edmund    
,gosse1 the doyen of ,english critics1  
celebrated his  seventieth birthday in  
,september1 and1 through ,lord ,crewe1 a
  presentation was made to him          
accompanied by a memorial of almost     
unexampled length and distinction4 ,each
 of the signatories has since  received 
a beautifully printed memento4 ,those   
who saw ,mr4 ,gosse's  paper on ,george 
,eliot will not need to be told that his
 powers seem1  if anything1 to increase 
with age4 ,great and diverse as have    
been  his services to literature since  
his first book was 7when he was in  his 

early twenties7 published1 his finest   
work1 both original and  critical1 has  
appeared in recent years2 and it is     
easily conceivable  that the decade     
between his seventieth and his eightieth
 birthdays  will be his most productive4
 ,a man of letters can be paid no higher
  compliment3 ,mr4 ,gosse has retained1 
and will retain to the end1 the  energy 
and the freshness of youth1 whilst his  
knowledge and experience1  in the       
natural course of things1 broaden and   
deepen4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,the death of ,leonid    
,andreef removes the most savage        
pessimist of all  the pessimists who    
have come out of modern ,russia4 ,but   
the author of  ,the ,life of ,man1 ,the 
,seven that ,were ,hanged1 and ,the ,red
 ,laugh  was not a pessimist for        
pessimism's sake3 he suffered and he    
expressed  his suffering sincerely4 ,one
 of his short stories--that which tells 
of a student and his girl who were      
overtaken by a band of ruffians in  a   

wood--is perhaps the most ghastly story 
that has ever been written2  yet the    
most revolted reader could not suppose  
that the author had been  less revolted 
than himself4 ,andreef had refused      
enormous offers to work  for the        
,bolsheviks1 and died1 in great poverty1
 from shock induced by a  rain of       
,bolshevik bombs near his house4        
,,poetry      ,ishak's ,song#e          
#e ,this song comes from ,flecker's     
unpublished drama            ,hassan1   
which those who have seen it consider   
immeasurably the finest thing that he   
ever wrote4 ,it            has remained 
in manuscript since his death1 awaiting 
stage production4 ,his ,yasmin is       
another song from            the play1  
and his well-known ,golden ,journey to  
,samarkand is its epilogue4 ,ishak is   
the ,court poet            of           
,haroun-al-,raschid4          ,thy dawn1
 ,o ,master of the ,world1 thy dawn1    
,the hour the lilies open on the lawn1  
,the hour the grey wings pass beyond the

 mountains1        ,the hour of silence 
when we hear the fountains1        ,the 
hour that dreams are brighter and winds 
colder1        ,the hour that young love
 wakes on a white shoulder1        ,o   
,master of the ,world1 the ,persian     
dawn6          ,this hour1 ,o ,master1  
shall be bright for thee3        ,thy   
merchants chase the morning down the    
sea1        ,the braves who fight thy   
fight unsheath the sabre1        ,the   
slaves who toil thy toil are lashed to  
labour1        ,for thee the waggons of 
the world are drawn--        ,the ebony 
of night1 the red of dawn6              
,,james ,,elroy ,,flecker      ,the     
,buzzards          ,when evening came   
and the warm glow grew deeper1          
,and every tree that bordered the green 
meadows        ,and in the yellow       
cornfields every reaper        ,and     
every corn-shock stood above their      
shadows        ,flung eastward from     
their feet in longer measure1           
,serenely far there swam in the sunny   

height        ,a buzzard and his mate   
who took their pleasure        ,swirling
 and poising idly in golden light4      
,on great pied motionless moth-wings    
borne along1              ,so effortless
 and so strong1        ,cutting each    
other's paths together they glided1     
,then wheeled asunder till they soared  
divided        ,two valleys' width 7as  
though it were delight        ,to part  
like this1 being sure they could unite  
,so swiftly in their empty1 free        
dominion71        ,curved headlong      
downward1 towered up the sunny steep1   
,then1 with a sudden lift of the one    
great pinion1        ,swung proudly to a
 curve1 and from its height        ,took
 half a mile of sunlight in one long    
sweep4          ,and we1 so small on the
 swift immense hillside1        ,stood  
tranced1 until our souls arose uplifted 
,on those far-sweeping1 wide1           
,strong curves of flight--swayed up and 
hugely drifted1        ,were washed1    
made strong and beautiful in the tide   

,of sun-bathed air4 ,but far beneath1   
beholden        ,through shining deeps  
of air1 the fields were golden          
,and rosy burned the heather where      
cornfields ended4          ,and still   
those buzzards wheeled1 while light     
withdrew        ,out of the vales and to
 surging slopes ascended1        ,till  
the loftiest-flaming summit died to     
blue4                                   
,,martin ,,armstrong      ,the ,moon    
7,to ,maurice ,baring7                  
#a          ,i waited for a miracle     
to-night4          ,dim was the earth   
beneath a star-swept sky1        ,her   
boughs were vague in that phantasmal    
light1          ,her current rippled    
past invisibly4        ,no stir was in  
the dark and windless meadows1          
,only the water1 whispering in the      
shadows1          ,that darkened nature 
lived did still proclaim4        ,an    
hour ,i stood in that defeat of sight1  
,waiting1 and then a sudden silver flame
          ,burned in the eastern heaven1

 and she came4                          
#b          ,the ,moon1 the ,summer     
,moon1 surveys the vale3          ,the  
boughs against the dawning sky grow     
black1        ,the shades that hid those
 whispering waters fail1          ,and  
now there falls a gleaming1 lengthening 
track        ,that lies across the wide 
and tranquil river1        ,burnished   
and flat1 not shaken by a quiver4       
,she rises still3 the liquid light she  
spills        ,makes everywhere quick   
sparkles1 patches pale2          ,and1  
as she goes1 ,i know her glory fills    
,the air of all our ,english lakes and  
hills4                            #c    
,high over all this ,england doth she   
ride2          ,she silvers all the     
roofs of folded towns1        ,her      
brilliance tips the edge of every tide1 
,her shadows make soft caverns in the   
downs2        ,even now1 beyond my tree 
serenely sailing1        ,she clothes   
far forests with a gauzy veiling1       
,and even as here1 where now ,i stare   

and dream1        ,standing my own      
transfigured banks beside1          ,on 
many a quiet wandering ,english stream  
,there lies the unshifting image of her 
beam4                            #d     
,yes1 calm she mounts1 and watching her1
 ,i know          ,by many a river other
 eyes than mine        ,turn up to her2 
and1 as of old1 they show               
,their inward hearts all naked to her   
shine3        ,maids1 solitaries1 sick  
and happy lovers1        ,to whom her   
dear returning orb discovers            
,for each the gift he waits for3 soft   
release1        ,the unsealing of       
imagination's flow1          ,her own   
sweet pain1 or other pain's surcease1   
,the friendly benediction of her peace4 
#e          ,i gaze as they3 as kind she
 is1 as fair1          ,as when long    
since a younger heart drank deep        
,from that sweet solace1 while1 through 
summer air1          ,her lucid fingers 
hushed the world to sleep4        ,o as 
,i stand this latest moon beholding1    

,her forms unresting memory is moulding2
          ,beneath my enchanted eyelids 
there arise        ,visions again of    
many moons that were1          ,fair1   
fleeting moons gathered from faded      
skies4          ,greeted and lost by    
these corporeal eyes4                   
#f          ,unnumbered are those moons 
of memory          ,stored in the       
backward chambers of my brain3          
,the moons that make bright pathways on 
the sea1          ,the golden harvest   
moon above the grain2        ,the moon  
that all a sleeping village blanches1   
,the woodland moon that roves beyond the
 branches1          ,filtering through  
the meshes of the green        ,to      
breast of bird and mossy trunk of tree2 
,moons dimly guessed-at through a cloudy
 screen          ,the bronze diffusion  
shed by moons unseen2                   
#g          ,moons that a thin prismatic
 halo rings1          ,looking a        
hurrying fleecy heaven through2         
,the fairy moons of luminous evenings1  

,phantoms of palest pink in palest blue2
        ,large orange moons on earth's  
grey verge suspended1        ,when trees
 still slumber from the heat that's     
ended1          ,erect and heavy1 and   
all waters lie        ,oily1 and there  
is not a bird that sings4          ,all 
these ,i know1 ,i have seen them born   
and die1          ,and many another moon
 in many a sky4                         
#h          ,there was a moon that shone
 above the ground          ,where on a  
grassy forest height ,i stood2          
,bright was that open place1 and all    
around          ,the dense discovered   
treetops of the wood1        ,line after
 line1 in misty radiance glistened1     
,failing away4 ,i watched the scene and 
listened2          ,then1 awed and      
hushed1 ,i turned and saw alone4        
,protruding from the middle of the      
mound1          ,fringed with close     
grass1 a moonlight-mottled stone1       
,rough-carven1 of antiquity unknown4    
#i          ,a night there was1 a crowd1

 a narrow street1          ,torches that
 reddened faces drunk with dreams2      
,an orator exultant in defeat2          
,banners1 fierce songs1 rough cheering1 
women's screams2        ,my heart was   
one with those rebellious people1       
,until along a chapel's pointing steeple
          ,my eyes unwitting wandered1  
and ,i found        ,a moon1 and clouds 
a swift and ragged sheet2          ,and 
in my spirit's life all human din       
,died1 and eternal ,silence stood       
within4                            #aj  
,and once1 on a far evening1 warm and   
still1          ,i leant upon a cool    
stone parapet4        ,the quays and    
houses underneath the hill              
,twinkled with lights2 ,i heard the     
sea's faint fret2        ,and then above
 the eastern cape's long billow         
,silent there welled a trembling line of
 yellow1          ,a shred that         
quickened1 then a half that grew        
,to a full moon1 that moved with even   
will4          ,the night was long      

before her1 well she knew1              
,and1 as she slowly rose into the blue1 
#aa          ,she slowly paled1 and1    
glittering far away          ,flung on  
the silken waters like a spear1         
,her crispd silver shaft of moonlight   
lay4          ,the lighthouse lamp upon 
the little pier        ,burned wanly by 
that radiance clear and certain4        
,waiting ,i knew not what uplifted      
curtain1          ,i watched the        
unmoving world beneath my feet          
,till1 without warning1 miles across the
 bay1          ,into that silver out of 
shadows beat1          ,dead black1 the 
whole mysterious fishing-fleet4         
#ab          ,these moons ,i have seen1 
but these and every one          ,came  
each so new it seemed to be the first1  
,new as the buds that open to the sun1  
,new as the songs that to the morning   
burst4        ,the roses die1 each day  
fresh flowers are springing1            
,last year it was another blackbird     
singing1          ,thou only1 marvellous

 blossom1 whose pale flower             
,beyond mankind's conjecture hath begun1
          ,retain'st for ever an        
unwithering power          ,that stales 
the loveliest stranger of an hour4      
#ac          ,but ,o1 had all my infant 
nights been dark1          ,or almost   
dark1 lit by the stars alone1           
,had never a teller of stories bid me   
hark          ,the promised splendours  
of that moon unknown3        ,how       
perfect then had been the revelation    
,when first her gradual gold            
illumination          ,broke on a night 
upon the conscious child3        ,my    
heart had stopped with beauty1 seeing   
her arc          ,climbing the heavens1 
so far and undefiled1          ,so large
 with light1 so even and so mild4       
#ad          ,most wondrous ,light1 who 
bring'st this lovelier earth1           
,this world of shadows cool with silver 
fires1        ,drawing us higher than   
our human birth3          ,to whom our  
strange twin-natured kind suspires      

,its saddest thoughts1 and tenderest and
 most fragrant        ,tears1 and       
desires unnameable and vagrant3         
,watcher1 who leanest quietly from      
above1        ,saying all mortal wars   
are nothing worth3          ,friend of  
the sorrowful1 tranquil as the dove1    
,muse of all poets1 lamp of all who     
love4                            #ae    
,alone and sad1 alone and kind and      
sweet1          ,but always peaceful and
 removed and proud1        ,whether with
 loveliness revealed complete1          
,or veiling from our vision in a cloud3 
,our souls' eternal listener1 could we  
wonder        ,that men who made of sun 
and storm and thunder          ,the     
awful forms of strong divinity1         
,heard in each storm the noise of       
travelling feet1          ,should1      
gazing at thy face with hearts made     
free1          ,have felt a pure1       
immortal ,power in thee8                
#af          ,selene1 ,cynthia1 and     
,artemis1          ,the swift proud     

goddess with the silver bow1            
,diana1 she whose downward-bending kiss 
,one only knew1 though all men yearned  
to know2        ,the shepherd on a hill 
his flock was keeping1        ,the      
night's pale huntress came and found him
 sleeping3          ,she stooped3 he    
woke1 and saw her hair that shone1      
,and lay1 drawn up to cool and timeless 
bliss          ,lapt in her radiant     
arms1 ,endymion1          ,all the still
 night1 until the night was gone4       
#ag          ,by many names they knew   
thee1 but thy shape          ,was       
woman's always1 transient and white3    
,a flashing huntress leaving hinds      
agape1          ,a sweet descent of     
beauty in the night3        ,yet some1  
more fierce and more distraught their   
dreaming1        ,brooded1 until they   
fashioned from thy seeming1          ,a 
lithe and luring queen with fatal       
breath1        ,a witch the man who saw 
might not escape1          ,a snare that
 gleamed in shadowy groves of death1    

,the tall tiaraed ,syrian ,ashtoreth4   
#ah          ,and even to-night in      
,african forests some          ,there   
are1 possessed by such a blasphemy2     
,through branching beams thy fevered    
votaries come          ,to appease their
 brains' distorted mask of thee4        
,there in the glades the drums pulsate  
and languish1        ,men leap and wail 
to dim the victim's anguish          ,in
 the sad frenzy of the sacrifice4       
,they are slaves to thee1 made mad      
because thou art dumb1          ,and    
dumb thou lookest on them from the      
skies1          ,above their fires and  
dances1 blood and cries4                
#ai          ,so these2 but otherwhere1 
at such an hour1          ,in all the   
continents1 by all the seas1            
,men1 naming not the goddess1 feel thy  
power1          ,adoring her with       
gentler rites than these3        ,the   
thoughts of myriad hearts to thee       
uplifted        ,rise like a smoke above
 thine altars drifted1                  

,perpetual incense poured before thy    
throne        ,by those whom thou hast  
given thy secret dower1          ,those 
in whose kindred eyes thy light is      
known1          ,whom thou hast signed  
and sealed for thine own4               
#bj          ,for thee they watch by    
,asian peaks remote1          ,where thy
 snows gleam above the pointing pines2  
,entranced on templed lakes is many a   
boat          ,for thee1 where clear thy
 dropt reflection shines2        ,on the
 great seas where none but thou is      
tender        ,rising and setting1 unto 
thee surrender          ,all lonely     
hearts in lonely wandering ships2       
,and1 where their warm far-scattered    
islands float1          ,through forests
 many a flower-crowned maiden slips     
,to gaze on thee1 with parted burning   
lips4                            #ba    
,o thus they do1 and thus they did of   
old2          ,our hearts were never    
secret in thy sight2        ,ere our    
first records were thy shrine was cold  

,that speechless eyes went seeking in   
the night2        ,beyond the compass of
 our dim traditions        ,thou knewest
 of men the pitiful ambitions1          
,their loves and their despair2 within  
thy ken        ,all our poor history has
 been unrolled2          ,thou hast seen
 all races born and die again1          
,the climbing and the crumbling towers  
of men4                            #bb  
,black were the hollows of that         
,emperor's eyes          ,who paced with
 backward arms beyond his tents1        
,lone in the night1 and felt above him  
rise          ,the ancient conqueror's  
sloping1 smooth1 immense1               
,moon-pointing ,pyramid's enduring      
courses1        ,heard not his sentries1
 nor his stamping horses1          ,but 
thought of ,egypt dead upon that air1   
,fighting with his moon-coloured        
memories          ,of vanished kings who
 builded1 and the bare          ,sands  
in the moon before those builders were4 
#bc          ,restless1 he knew that    

moon who watched him muse1          ,had
 seen a restless ,csar brood on fame    
,amid the ,pharaohs' broken avenues4    
,and1 circling round that fixed         
monition1 came        ,woven by         
moonlight1 random1 transitory1          
,fragments of all the dim receding      
story3          ,the moonlit water      
dripping from the oars        ,of       
triremes in the bay of ,syracuse2       
,the opposing bivouacs upon the shores1 
,that knew dead ,hector's and ,achilles'
 wars4                            #bd   
,he saw fall'n ,carthage1 ,alexander's  
grave1          ,the tomb of ,moses in  
the wilderness1        ,the moonlight on
 the ,atlantean wave          ,that     
covered all a multitude's distress3     
,cities and hosts and emperors departed 
,under the steady moon4 ,and            
sullen-hearted          ,he turned away1
 and1 in a little1 died1        ,even as
 he who hunted from his cave            
,and struck his foe1 and stripped the   
shaggy hide          ,under the moon1   

and was not satisfied4                  
#be          ,for in the prime1 thy     
influence was felt2          ,when eyes 
first saw1 thy beauty was as this2      
,thy quiet look bade hope1 fear1 passion
 melt          ,before men dreamed of   
empire4 ,the abyss        ,of thought   
yawned through their jungle then1 as    
ever        ,dark past1 dark future1    
menaced their endeavour3          ,yet1 
on thy nights1 stood some by hill and   
sea        ,naked2 and blind impulsive  
spirits knelt1          ,not questioning
 why they knelt1 feeling in thee        
,thought's strangest1 sweetest1 saddest 
mystery4                            #bf 
,still ,moon1 bright ,moon1             
compassionate ,moon above1              
,thou shinedst there ere any life began1
        ,when of his pain or of his     
powerless love          ,thou heardest  
not from heart of any man2              
,though long the earth had shaken off   
the vapour        ,left by the vanished 
gleams of fire1 the shaper1             

,old1 old1 her stony wrinkled face did  
grow        ,ere aught but her blind    
elements did move2          ,dumb1 bare1
 and prayerless thou saw'st her go1     
,and afterwards again shalt see her so4 
#bg          ,a time there was when     
,life had never been1          ,a time  
will be1 it will have passed away2      
,still wilt thou shine1 still tender and
 serene1          ,when ,life which in  
thy sister's yesterday        ,had never
 flowered1 will have drooped and faded2 
,passed with the clouds that once her   
bosom shaded4          ,she will be     
barren then as not before1        ,bared
 of her snows and all her garments      
green2          ,no darkling sea by any 
earthly shore          ,will take thy   
rays3 thy kin will be no more4          
#bh          ,pale satellite1 old       
mistress of our fires1          ,who    
hast seen so much and been so much to   
men1        ,symbol and goal of all our 
wild desires1          ,not any voice   
will cry upon thee then2        ,dreamer

 and dream1 they will have all gone     
over1        ,the sick of heart1 the    
singer and the lover1          ,an end  
there will have been to all their lust1 
,their sorrow1 and the sighing of their 
lyres2          ,o all this ,life that  
stained ,earth's patient crust1         
,time's dying breath will have blown    
away like dust4                         
#bi          ,gone from thine eye that  
brief confusd stir1          ,the       
rumours and the marching and the strife2
        ,earth will be still1 and all   
the face of her          ,swept of the  
last remains of moving life2        ,the
 last of all men's monuments that defied
 them1        ,like those his valiant   
gestures that denied them1              
,into the waiting elements will fade1   
,and thou wilt see thy fellow traveller1
          ,a forlorn round of rocky     
contours made1          ,a glimmering   
disk of empty light and shade1          
#cj          ,ah1 depth too deep for    
thought therein to cast2          ,the  

old1 the cold companions1 you will go1  
,obeying still some long-forgotten past1
          ,and all our pitiful history  
none will know2        ,still shining1  
,moon1 still peaceful1 wilt thou wander1
        ,but on that greater ball no    
heart will ponder          ,the thought 
that rose and nightingale are gone1     
,and all sweet things but thou2 and only
 vast          ,ridges of rock remain1  
and stars and sun2          ,o ,moon1   
thou wilt be lovely alone for none4     
#ca          ,and so1 pale wanderer1 so 
thou leavest me1          ,passing      
beyond imagination's range1        ,away
 into the void where waits for thee     
,thy inconceivable destiny of change2   
,and after all the memories ,i have     
striven        ,to paint1 this picture  
that thyself hast given          ,lives1
 and ,i watch1 to all those others      
blind1        ,thy form1 gliding into   
eternity1          ,fading1 an          
unconjectured fate to find1             
,the last1 most wonderful image of the  

mind4                            #cb    
,moon1 ,i have finished1 ,i have made   
thy song1          ,i have paid my due  
and done my worship1 ,moon2        ,yet1
 though ,i truly serve and labour long1 
,thou givest not1 nor do ,i ask1 one    
boon2        ,that peace which clings   
around thee where thou goest1           
,which many seek from thee and thou     
bestowest1          ,did never this most
 faithful heart invest2        ,even now
 thou shinest clear and calm and strong1
          ,and ,i1 and ,i1 the heart    
within my breast1          ,troubled    
with beauty1 ,moon1 and never at rest4  
,j4 ,c4 ,,squire                        
,,misadventures    ,by ,l4 ,,pearsall   
,,smith      ,at ,solemn ,music    ,i   
sat there1 hating the exuberance of her 
bust and her high-coloured  wig4 ,and   
how could ,i listen to the music in the 
close proximity of  those loud          
stockings8    ,then our eyes met3 in    
both of us the enchanted chord was      
touched2 we  both looked through the    

same window into ,heaven4 ,in that      
moment of  musical1 shared              
delight--these awful things will        
happen--our souls  joined hands and sang
 like the morning stars together4       
,the ,platitude    ,it's after all1 the 
little things in life that really       
matter6 ,i  exclaimed1 to my own        
surprise and the general consternation4 
,i was as  much chagrined as they were  
flabbergasted by this involuntary       
outbreak2  but from my reading of the   
,chinese mystics1 and from much practice
 in  crowded railway carriages1 ,i have 
become expert in that ,taoist art  of   
disintegration which ,yen ,hui described
 to ,confucius as the art of  sitting   
and forgetting4 ,i have learnt to lay   
aside my personality in  awkward        
moments1 to dissolve this self of mine  
into the ,all ,pervading2  to fall back1
 in fact1 into the universal flux1 and  
sit1 as ,i now sat  there1 a blameless  
lump of matter1 rolled on1 according to 
the heaven's  rolling1 inert and        

unconcerned1 with rocks and stones and  
trees4      ,the ,communion of ,souls   
,so of course ,i bought it6 ,how could  
,i help buying it8 ,then lifting  the   
conversation1 as with ,lady ,hyslop one 
always lifts it1 to a  higher level1    
,this notion of free will1 ,i went on1  
the notion1 for  instance1 that ,i was  
free to buy or not to buy that rare     
edition1  seems1 when you think of      
it--at least to me it seems--a wretched 
notion  really4 ,i like to think ,i must
 follow the things of desire as--how    
shall ,i put it8--as the tide follows   
the moon2 that my actions are due  to   
necessary causes2 that the world inside 
isn't a meaningless chaos1  but a world 
of order1 like the world outside1       
governed by beautiful  laws1 as the     
,stars are governed4    ,how ,i love the
 ,stars6 murmured ,lady ,hyslop4 ,what  
things they say to  me6 ,they are the   
pledges of lost recognitions--the       
promise of ineffable  mitigations4      
,mitigations8 ,i gasped1 feeling a      

little giddy4 ,but it didn't  matter3   
always when we meet ,lady ,hyslop and ,i
 have the most wonderful  conversations4
 ,and is not their greatest charm       
precisely the fact that  neither of us  
understands a word the other says8      
,disenchantment    ,life1 ,i often      
thought1 would be so different if ,i    
only had one2 but in  the meantime ,i   
went on fastening scraps of paper       
together with pins4    ,opalescent1     
infinitely desirable1 tinged with all   
the rainbow hues of  fancy1 inaccessible
 in the window of a stationer's shop    
around the  corner1 gleamed the         
paste-pot of my day-dreams4 ,every day  
,i passed  it1 but every day some       
inhibition paralyzed my will2 or my     
thoughts  would be distracted in a      
golden dream or splendid disenchantment1
 some  metaphysical perplexity1 or giant
 preoccupation with the world's woe4    
,so time rolled on2 the seasons followed
 in each other's footsteps4  ,empires   
rose and fell2 and still that paste-pot 

hung1 a dragon-guarded  fruit of the    
,hesperides1 in the window ,i walked by 
every day4    ,then one morning1 one    
awful morning1 my pins gave out4 ,i met 
this  crisis with manly resolution3 ,i  
was the master of my fate6 ,summoning   
all the forces of my moral nature1 ,i   
put on my hat and went calmly out  and  
bought that paste-pot4 ,i bought three  
paste-pots1 and carried them  with me   
calmly home4 ,at last the countercharm  
was found1 the spell  was broken1 and   
the ,devil finally defeated--but1 oh1 at
 what a cost6  ,in the reaction1 which  
immediately followed1 ,i sat1 facing    
those pots  of nauseating paste1        
unnerved and disenchanted1 beyond the   
reach of  consolation1 with nothing to  
wait for now but ,death4      ,the      
,listener    ,the topic was one of my   
favourite topics of conversation1 but ,i
 didn't  at all feel on this occasion   
that it was ,i who was speaking4 ,no1 it
  was the ,truth shining through me2 the
 light of the ,revelation which ,i  had 

been chosen to proclaim and blazon to   
the world4 ,no wonder they  were all    
impressed by my moving tones and        
gestures2 no wonder even the  fastidious
 lady whom it was most difficult to     
please kept watching me  with almost    
ecstatic attention4    ,as in an eclipse
 the earth's shadow falls upon the moon1
 or as a cloud  may obscure the sun in  
his glory1 so a shadow fell1 so from    
some morass  of memory arose a tiny mist
 of words to darken my mind for a       
moment4  ,i brushed them aside3 they had
 no meaning4 ,sunning myself in the     
lovely mirror of those eyes1 never1 for 
a moment1 could ,i credit that          
devil-suggested explanation of their    
gaze4    ,and anyhow--thus ,i laughed   
away the notion--how could she do it    
anyhow1  even if she tried8 ,other      
people perhaps--but me8 ,no1 that phrase
 ,i had  heard1 ,i had heard1 was a     
nonsense phrase2 the words1 ,she mimics 
you  to perfection1 could be nothing but
 a bit of unintelligible jabber4  ,for  

who can turn the rainbow or the         
lightning-flash into ridicule1 make  fun
 of the moon's splendour1 or mimic the  
,daystar in his shining8      ,shrinkage
    ,sometimes my soul floats out beyond
 the constellations1 then all  the vast 
life of the universe is mine4 ,then     
again it evaporates1  it shrinks1 it    
dwindles1 and of all that flood of      
thought which  over-brimmed the great   
,cosmos there is hardly enough now left 
to fill a  teaspoon4      ,the ,lift    
,what on earth had ,i come up for8 ,i   
stood out of breath in my bedroom1      
having completely forgotten the errand1 
which1 just as ,i was going out1  had   
carried me upstairs1 leaping two steps  
at a time4    ,gloves6 ,of course it was
 my gloves which ,i had left there4 ,but
 what did  gloves matter1 ,i asked      
myself1 in a world bursting with misery1
 as ,dr4  ,johnson describes it8    ,o  
stars and garters6 how bored ,i am by   
this trite1 moralizing way of  regarding
 natural phenomena--this crying of      

vanity on the beautiful  manifestation  
of mechanical forces4 ,this desire of   
mine to appear out  of doors in         
appropriate apparel1 if it can thus defy
 and overcome the  law of               
gravitation--if it can lift twelve stone
 of matter thirty or  forty feet above  
the earth's surface2 if it can do this  
every day1  and several times a day1 and
 never get out of order1 is it not as   
remarkable and convenient in the house  
as a hydraulic lift8      ,the ,danger  
of ,going to ,church    ,as ,i came away
 from the ,evening ,service1 walking    
home from that ,sabbath  adventure1 some
 neighbours of mine passed me in their  
motor laughing4  ,were they laughing at 
me8 ,i wondered uneasily2 and as ,i     
sauntered  across the fields ,i vaguely 
cursed those misbelievers1 remembering  
some  maledictions from the ,prophets1  
and from the ,psalms we had sung that   
evening4 ,yes1 yes1 their eyes should be
 darkened1 and their lying lips  put to 
silence4 ,they should be smitten with   

the botch of ,egypt1 and a  sore botch  
in the legs that cannot be healed4 ,all 
the teeth should be  broken in the      
mouths of those bloody men and daughters
 of backsliding2  their faces should    
become as flames1 and their heads be    
made utterly  bald4 ,their little ones  
should be dashed to pieces before their 
eyes1  and brimstone scattered upon     
their habitations4 ,they should be led  
away  with their buttocks uncovered2    
they should stagger to and fro as a     
drunken man staggereth in his vomit4    
,but as for the ,righteous ,man who kept
 his ,sabbaths1 his should be the       
blessings of those who walk in the right
 way4 ,these blessings--the  words came 
back to me from the ,evening            
,lesson--these blessings shall  come    
upon thee and overtake thee4 ,and       
suddenly1 in the mild summer  air1 it   
seemed as if1 like a swarm of bees      
inadvertently wakened1  the blessings of
 the ,old ,testament were actually      
rushing after me4  ,from the hot1       

remote1 passionate past of ,hebrew      
history1 out of the  ,oriental climate  
and unctuous lives of that infuriate    
people1 gross  good things were coming  
to reward me with benedictions for which
 ,i had  not bargained4 ,great oxen and 
camels and concubines were panting close
  behind me1 he-goats and she-goats and 
rams of the breed of ,bashan4  ,my barns
 should burst their doors with plenty1  
and all my paths drop  fatness4 ,my face
 should be smeared with the oil of      
rejoicing2 all  my household and the    
beasts of my household should beget and 
bear  increase2 and as for the fruit of 
my own loins1 it should be for          
multitude as the sands of the sea and as
 the stars of heaven4 ,my sons  and     
daughters1 and their sons and daughters 
to the third and fourth  generation1    
should rise up and call me blessed4 ,my 
feet should be  dipped in butter1 and my
 eyes stand out with fatness2 ,i should 
flourish  as the ,cedar of ,lebanon that
 bringeth forth fruit in old age4    ,my

 ,prayer ,book began to smoke in my hand
 from the hot lava embedded  in it2 the 
meadow was scorched by the live coals of
 cursing and still  more awful          
benediction ,i had so thoughtlessly     
raked out of the church  furnace and    
brought down in a hot shower on myself  
and my neighbours4      ,the ,wrong     
,word    ,we were talking of the        
,universe at tea1 and one of our company
 declared  that he at least was entirely
 without illusions4 ,he had long since  
faced the fact that ,nature had no      
sympathy with our hopes and fears1  and 
was completely indifferent to our fate4 
,the ,universe1 he said1  was a great   
mechanism2 man1 with his reason and     
moral judgments1 was  the chance product
 of blind forces1 which1 though they    
would so soon  destroy him1 he must yet 
despise4 ,to endure this tragedy of our 
fate  with passionless despair1 never to
 wince or bow the head1 to confront  a  
hostile universe with high disdain1 to  
fix with eyes of scorn the  ,gorgon face

 of ,destiny1 to stand on the brink of  
the abyss1 hurling  defiance at the icy 
stars--this1 he said1 was his attitude1 
and it  produced1 as you can imagine1 a 
very powerful impression on the         
company4 ,as for me1 ,i was completely  
carried away by my enthusiasm4 ,by      
,jove1 that is a stunt6 ,i cried4       
,interruption    ,life1 said a gaunt    
widow1 with a reputation for being      
clever--life  is a perpetual toothache4 
,in this vein the conversation went on3 
the familiar topics were  discussed of  
food-restrictions1 epidemics1 cancer1   
and so on4    ,near me there sat a      
little old lady who was placidly        
drinking her tea1  and taking no part in
 the melancholy chorus4 ,well1 ,i must  
say1 she  remarked1 turning to me and   
speaking in an undertone1 ,i must say ,i
  enjoy life4    ,so do ,i1 ,i          
whispered4    ,when ,i enjoy things1 she
 went on1 ,i know it4 ,eating1 for      
instance1  the sunshine1 my hot-water   
bottle at night4 ,other people are      

always  thinking of unpleasant things4  
,it makes a difference1 she added1 as   
she got up to go with the others4       
,all the difference in the world1 ,i    
answered4    ,it's too bad that ,i had  
no chance for further conversation with 
that  wise old lady4 ,i felt that we    
were congenial spirits1 and had a lot   
to tell each other4 ,for she and ,i are 
not among those who fill the  mind with 
garbage3 we make a better use of that   
divine and adorable  endowment4 ,we     
invite ,thought to share1 and by sharing
 to enhance1 the  pleasures of the      
delicate senses2 we distil1 as it were1 
an elixir  from our golden moments1     
keeping out of the shining crucible of  
consciousness everything that tastes    
sour4 ,i do wish that we could  have    
discussed at greater length1 like two   
,alchemists1 the theory and  practice of
 our art4      ,the ,rationalist        
,occultisms1 fairyisms1 incantations1   
glimpses of the ,beyond1  intimations   
from another world--all kinds of        

supernaturalisms are most  distasteful  
to me2 ,i cling to the world of science 
and common sense and  explicable        
phenomena2 and ,i was much put out1     
therefore1 to find this  morning a      
cabalistic inscription written in       
letters of large menace  on my bath-room
 floor4 ,,tam ,,htab--what could be the 
meaning of these  cryptic words1 and how
 on earth had they got there8 ,like     
,belshazzar1  my eyes were troubled by  
this writing1 and my knees smote one    
against  the other2 till majestic       
,reason1 deigning to look downward from 
her  contemplation of eternal causes1   
spelt backwards for me1 with a pitying  
smile1 the homely1 familiar1 harmless   
inscription on the ,,bath ,,mat1  which 
was lying there wrong side up4          
,justification    ,well1 what if ,i did 
put it on a little at that              
luncheon-party8 ,do ,i not  owe it to my
 friends to assert now and then my      
claims to consideration2  ought ,i      
always to allow myself to be trampled on

 and treated as dirt8  ,and how about   
the ,saints and ,patriarchs of the      
,bible8 ,didn't ,joseph  tell of the    
dream in which his wheatsheaf was       
exalted1 and ,deborah sing  without     
blame how she arose a mother in ,israel8
 ,and didn't ,david boast  of his       
triumph over the paw of the lion and the
 paw of the bear8 ,nay1  in his         
confabulations with ,his chosen people1 
does not the ,creator of  the universe  
,himself take every opportunity of      
impressing on those  ,hebrews ,his      
importance1 ,his power1 ,his glory8     
,was ,i not made in ,his image8         
,day-dream    ,yes1 as you say1 life is 
so full of disappointment1 disillusion6 
,more  and more ,i ask myself1 as ,i    
grow older1 what is the good of it all8 
,we  dress1 we go out to dinner1 ,i went
 on1 but surely we walk in a vain  show4
 ,how good this asparagus is6 ,i often  
think asparagus is the most  delicious  
of all vegetables4 ,and yet ,i don't    
know--when one thinks  of fresh green   

peas4 ,one can get tired of asparagus as
 one can of  strawberries--but tender   
green peas and peaches ,i could eat for 
ever4  ,and there are certain pears1    
too1 that taste like heaven4 ,it's one  
of  my favourite day-dreams for my      
declining years to live alone1 a formal1
  greedy1 selfish old gentleman1 in a   
square house1 say1 in ,devonshire1  with
 a square garden1 whose walls are       
covered with apricots and figs  and     
peaches2 and there are precious pears1  
too1 of my own planting1 on  espaliers  
along the paths4 ,i shall walk out with 
a gold-headed cane  in the autumn       
sunshine1 and just at the right moment  
pick a delicious  pear4 ,however1 that  
isn't at all what ,i was going to       
say----          ,,eighteenth-,,century 
,,poetry    ,by ,,george ,,saintsbury   
7,a paper based on1 but not identical   
with1 a discourse delivered at  what may
 be called the headquarters of the      
subject--the ,pump ,room1  ,bath1       
,october #ast1 #aiai7      ,the effect  

of convincing anyone against his will is
 sufficiently  familiar1 but it may be  
questioned whether there is not another 
state  of mind which is still more      
insusceptible of real conviction1 which 
it  is still more of a labour of        
,sisyphus to convince4 ,in this state   
there  is too much mere inertia for the 
word will to come in4 ,there is no      
intention of relapsing into the same    
opinion2 there is indeed no need  of    
any1 for the opinion is never disturbed4
 ,the attempts at convincing  need not  
be resisted or contemned2 they may even 
be listened to and  enjoyed like a very 
pleasant song1 but they are at once     
forgotten4    ,something of this sort1  
it may be feared1 is the case with the  
subject  of this present paper4 ,people 
have made up their minds that there was 
no eighteenth-century poetry or1 at     
best1 that such as there was was  not   
properly eighteenth-century poetry at   
all1 but merely a survival  or an       
anticipation4 ,the present writer had a 

perhaps accidental but  certainly       
curious illustration of the fact in     
reference to the origin  of this very   
paper2 for having expressed his         
intention of discussing                 
eighteenth-century poetry1 he found the 
subject announced at  first as          
eighteenth-century verse4 ,in face of   
such a popular  attitude--let us be bold
 and give it its proper name3 such a    
vulgar  error--it may not be quite idle 
to make a fresh attempt against it4 ,i  
am not sure that in some of the versions
 of the ,pagan ,apocrypha it is  not    
recorded that ,sisyphus did get that    
stone lodged at last4 ,at any  rate it  
is worth trying1 even at the risk1 which
 is almost a certainty1  of the very    
illogical suspicion that if you like    
eighteenth-century  poetry1 you don't   
like--or don't sufficiently             
understand--seventeenth  and nineteenth4
 ,on that point the present writer may1 
he thinks1 slap  his sword home and     
decline duello with any man4 ,but he    

will take the  liberty firstly1 in order
 to confine the matter within reasonable
  limits1 of leaving ,pope almost       
entirely out4 ,obviously the famous and 
much-argued question1 ,was ,pope a poet8
 can be answered1 even in the  negative1
 without deciding our general point     
here4    ,there is1 of course--the fact 
has been already admitted by glance--a  
division of the poetry of #agjj-ahjj to 
which1 in a more or less  grudging way1 
the poetical franchise is generally     
granted4 ,scraps  of ,lady ,winchilsea  
and ,parnell quite early2 ,dyer and     
,thomson at the  beginning of the second
 quarter2 ,collins and ,gray in the     
middle2 ,blake  and ,burns and          
,chatterton if not also ,cowper and     
,crabbe1 in the last  division are      
admitted1 if only to a sort of          
provincial or proselyte  membership4    
,gray1 indeed1 has always been granted  
special grace1  even1 as some think1 to 
an unfair comparative extent1 and       
perhaps  ,mr4 ,swinburne's exuberant    

championship was never less wasted than 
in  the cases of ,collins and ,blake4   
,but ,blake really does belong to no    
time at all except in a few fragments1  
and most of the others are too  well    
known for further comment4 ,let us in   
the very limited space here  available1 
before passing to other aspects of the  
subject1 take two  poems1 one of the    
earlier1 one of the later time1 as      
examples of pure  poetry charged with   
special eighteenth-century              
difference--for that  is the point at   
issue4 ,they shall be ,dyer's ,grongar  
,hill and ,mrs4  ,greville's ,prayer for
 ,indifference4 ,the one is a picture of
 that  external nature to which as a    
rule the century is supposed to have    
been blind1 yet charged with an         
inwardness to which that century is     
equally supposed to have been callous4  
,the other is a poem of mood1  almost a 
pathological poem1 possessing the same  
inwardness1 but charged  with a flutter 
of feeling1 again supposed to be quite  

unknown to the  age of prose and sense4 
,both are curious examples of what is   
called the  conventional phraseology of 
the time1 flushed and animated by       
something  additional--a characteristic 
which also appears in ,collins1 but is  
more  disputable in ,gray1 save perhaps 
in the remarkable ,vicissitude ode4     
,grongar ,hill ought to be given whole1 
but it is not difficult of  access2 the 
,hymn is not so easy to get at1 but it  
suffers less from  sampling4    ,there  
is not the slightest extravagance1 from 
any catholic point  of view over poetry1
 in calling ,grongar ,hill simply       
beautiful4 ,i  think it deserves that   
term better than anything of ,gray's1   
though  not perhaps quite so well as    
some things of ,collins's in the first  
half of the century2 while nothing      
outside them can touch it1 and it  came 
before both4 ,its attractions1 to a     
somewhat close student1 are  manifold1  
not the least of them being the fashion 
in which1 for the  first time since     

,milton1 and in a way not directly      
imitated even from  him1 it moulds the  
couplet of mixed eight and seven        
syllable lines4 ,but  one need not      
neglect the late ,mr4 ,lowell's remark  
that when ,edgar ,poe  talked of iambs  
and pentameters he made other people    
d----n metres4  ,the poem has plenty of 
other attractions for the most          
untechnical  reader4 ,dyer1 who was     
himself a painter1 invokes the ,muse of 
,painting  as well as ,her of ,poetry1  
and it is really remarkable how1 at this
  time when hardly anybody is supposed  
to have had his eye on nature  except   
,thomson1 and in the very year of       
,winter itself1 full eighty1  too1      
before ,scott provoked from ,pitt his   
famous surprise that verse  should be   
able to express the effect of           
painting--how visual as well as  audible
 effect is produced4 ,the exordium to   
the          ,silent nymph with curious 
eye1        ,who in the purple evening  
lie        ,on the mountain's lonely    

van2    the following description of the
 landscape in general with its unusual  
and extraordinarily true conclusion3    
,and swelling to embrace the light1     
,spreads around beneath the sight1    in
 which everybody who has after climbing 
a hill turned round and seen  the       
prospect must acknowledge the felicity  
of swelling1 though he may  never have  
formulated the appearance before2 the   
details of wood1 and  ruin1 and river1  
with the sudden and just sufficient     
moral3          ,a little rule1 a little
 sway1        ,a sunbeam on a winter's  
day2    for the castle1 and for the     
rivers3          ,sometimes swift1      
sometimes slow1        ,wave succeeding 
wave they go1        ,a various journey 
to the deep1        ,like human life to 
endless sleep2    the fillings in of    
various detail and the penultimate      
passage formed  into a sort of roundel3 
,now1 even now1 my joys run high        
,as on the mountain turf ,i lie1        
,while the wanton ,zephyr sings         

,and in the vale perfumes his wings2    
,while the waters murmur deep1          
,while the shepherd charms his sheep1   
,while the birds unbounded fly1         
,and with music fill the sky--          
,now1 even now1 my joys run high2       
with the finale to ,peace and ,quiet1   
close allied to ,pleasure--all these    
and all the rest of the #aej lines or so
 of the poem have their own  appropriate
 agreeableness4 ,and it will be very    
dangerous for anyone to  try the usual  
sneer at eighteenth-century convention1 
lest haply he be  thought to be blinded 
or hoodwinked by conventions of another 
sort4  ,he has1 for instance1 been      
taught to think wanton ,zephyr very bad4
  ,but has he quite realised the        
simplicity and perfection with which the
  single word sings distinctively       
characterises the rush of the wind      
aloft1 and the next line brings before  
the mind's senses the flowers  and crops
 and woods1 from which the perfume is   
derived below8 ,is  unbounded1 in the   

particular and yet fully legitimate     
sense1 quite  what ,edmond de ,goncourt 
used disdainfully to call everybody's   
epithet  for the apparently limitless   
freedom of the birds' flight8 ,without  
quoting the whole piece it would be     
impossible to show the singular         
uniformity of pictorial and musical     
skill which distinguishes it2 but  this 
can be left1 with complete security of  
mind1 to anyone who gives  it an        
impartial reading to discover for       
himself4 ,even the impartial  reader is 
not recommended to proceed from ,grongar
 ,hill to ,the ,ruins  of ,rome1 as the 
poet in this latter piece most unwisely 
invites him to  do--still less to ,the  
,fleece4 ,but no attempt is being made  
here to  prove that the eighteenth      
century never produced bad poetry3 one  
merely  endeavours to point out that it 
sometimes produced good4    ,the ,prayer
 for ,indifference is much less varied  
in kind1 and much  more limited in      
degree1 of attraction1 but it is perhaps

 subtler4 ,the  personal application of 
it can escape no reader of ,fanny       
,burney's  ,diaries1 but is not         
necessary to appreciation4 ,the idea is 
that of an  appeal to ,oberon for a balm
 slightly different from that which     
plays  so important a part in ,a        
,midsummer ,night's ,dream--a spell     
causing  neither love nor hate1 but only
 indifference4 ,the metre is ordinary   
ballad or common measure2 the language  
not very different from the  ordinary   
poetic diction of the time4 ,you are    
not1 as in ,grongar ,hill1  made to     
believe that you are not in the         
eighteenth century at all1  or1 if at   
all1 as far from its usual and central  
ways and thoughts as  ,grongar itself   
was and is from ,london4 ,but1 by a     
quaint and pleasing  paradox1 the       
suppliant infuses into her prayer       
qualities which were  the very opposite 
of that which she prays for1 and which  
in a certain  sense might be said to be 
the quality of the century itself at    

least  on the common estimate4          
,indifference--in the sense of          
abstinence from  enthusiasm--certainly  
was affected by many1 and positively    
approved  by some1 in those days4 ,but  
when the lady says3          ,i ask no  
kind return in love1          ,no       
tempting charm to please--        ,far  
from the heart such gifts remove        
,that sighs for peace and ease1    there
 is a quiver in verse and phrase and    
sense alike which indicates  and        
expresses very effectively aspirations  
quite different from  indifference4 ,and
 the quiver becomes a throb1 emphasised 
by the  repetition of that potent word  
far1 as she goes on3          ,nor ease1
 nor peace that heart can know          
,that1 like the needle true1            
,turns at the touch of joy or woe1      
,but1 turning1 trembles too4            
,far as distress the soul can wound1    
',tis pain in each degree2        ',tis 
bliss1 but to a certain bound1          
,beyond1 'tis agony4    ,and there is   

not much less real passion1 though the  
expression has  become ironic instead of
 direct1 in the concluding stanza3      
,and what of life remains to me         
,i'll pass in sober ease3               
,half-pleased1 contented ,i will be--   
,content but half to please4    ,now it 
is probably hopeless to expect readers  
who have been thoroughly  broken to     
other styles of poetry themselves to be 
contented1 to be  even half-pleased with
 this4 ,the metre will seem to them     
jog-trot1  the language hopelessly      
prosaic1 the expression1 as ,nietzsche  
says of  ,john ,stuart ,mill1           
offensively clear2 the absence of any   
attempt at  elaborate ornament or       
elaborate ugliness almost more offensive
 still4  ,and it may also seem idle     
boasting or sheer mendacity to observe  
that  there are people who delight in   
intricate versification1 who love  even 
metaphysical ambiguousness and          
obscurity2 people for whom ,blake  is   
not too uncommonplace or ,rossetti too  

flamboyant1 or--to come to  more recent 
days1 while keeping to the equal waters 
of the dead--,mary  ,coleridge too      
problematic1 who yet can enjoy this     
verse very much  indeed1 and feel that1 
having known it1 they could not do      
without it1  which some have held to be 
the great test of poetry4 ,indeed1 to   
them1  not the least interesting point  
about it is that it does take the  form 
and colour of the time to so large an   
extent and vindicates its               
indispensableness thereby4 ,on the other
 hand1 if anyone says1 ,but ,i  do not  
perceive the quiver1 or feel the throb  
of which you talk1 why1  of course1     
there is nothing more to be done or     
said4 ,for that person  ,mrs4           
,greville's work is undoubtedly not     
poetry4 ,but whether his or her  state  
is the more gracious1 because of the    
fact1 is a further question1  though one
 on which we need not enter4 ,the whole 
purport of this paper  is once more to  
make an effort to establish the old     

position that there  are many mansions  
in the ,heaven of ,poetry1 and that the 
mere fact that  some one does not care  
to live in or to recognise the existence
 of this  or that among them does not   
prove that they ought to be pulled down 
or  that they do not exist at all4      
,it may1 however1 be admitted--in fact  
no admission or confession  is required1
 no idea of contesting or denying having
 been  entertained--that neither the    
qualities of ,grongar ,hill nor those   
of the ,prayer1 that still less the     
general characteristics of  the group of
 romantic precursors from ,collins to   
,blake distinguish  eighteenth-century  
poetry generally4 ,and it may in the    
same way be  further allowed that some  
of the actual characteristics of this   
poetry in general are not strictly      
poetic at all4 ,its didacticism  is     
perhaps the chief of these2 but there   
are undoubtedly others4  ,and we are    
busy not with what is not poetical in   
eighteenth-century  verse1 but with what

 is poetical in eighteenth-century      
poetry4 ,there  are two departments in  
which it is almost pre-eminent1 in which
 it is  certainly very distinguished4   
,the strict poeticalness of both of them
  has indeed been denied by extremists4 
,all of us probably have heard it  said1
 perhaps some of us have said it        
ourselves1 that rhetoric is not  poetry2
 and 7though here there may not have    
been so much agreement7  that light     
verse1 whether regularly satiric or not1
 is at best poetry  by allowance and1   
short of the best1 not poetry at all4   
,now undoubtedly  some rhetoric is not  
poetry1 and a good deal of light verse  
is poetry  only by extremely generous   
allowance4 ,but the complete ostracising
 of  either kind from the poetical city 
involves two propositions which are     
contentious in the extreme1 and which ,i
 and those who think with me  hold to be
 abominable heresies4 ,the one is that  
,all depends on the  subject in poetry1 
and the other is that ,verse is not an  

essential  feature of poetry4 ,we       
maintain that anything can be treated   
poetically1 though some things are very 
rebellious to such treatment1  and that 
though rhetoric is strictly a           
characteristic of prose1 it cam  be1 so 
to speak1 super-saturated with poetry   
when it adopts poetical  form1 the same 
contention extending to the subjects of 
satiric or of  merely light verse4 ,a   
great deal of the abundant rhetorical   
verse of  the eighteenth century is no  
doubt not poetry1 or not very poetical  
poetry1 and a good deal of its abundant 
satire1 not a very little of  its vers  
de socit and trifles is not poetry or   
not very poetical4  ,but1 on the other  
hand1 not a very little of both kinds is
 poetry1  and the reason and origin of  
its poetical character are by no means  
uninteresting to trace4 ,there is no    
room1 and indeed not much occasion1  to 
do this at length here4 ,suffice it to  
say that for its rhetorical  verse the  
century was very much indebted to       

,dryden1 and that for its  light verse  
it was still more indebted to ,prior4   
,the positions of the two were indeed   
different1 for ,dryden was a dead  man  
when the century opened1 though he had  
died on its very eve1  while ,prior was 
an actual member of its first great     
literary group4  ,and1 further1         
,dryden's influence1 though it continued
 to some extent  directly through the   
whole time1 was largely exercised at    
second-hand  through ,pope1 while       
,prior's was first-hand all through4    
,for which  reasons we need not say     
anything more here on ,dryden himself1  
while we  must say something on ,prior4 
,but the rhetorical influence which had 
produced such great poetry 7for great it
 is1 let who will gainsay7  as the      
finest passages of ,dryden's satires1   
the opening of ,religio  ,laici1 the    
wandering fires paragraph in ,the ,hind 
and the ,panther1  and not a few things 
in the neglected plays1 was well        
justified of its  children in the       

following century4 ,i have never seen   
any successful  attempt to deny the name
 of poetry to such magnificent things as
 the  close of ,the ,dunciad and the    
close of ,the ,vanity of ,human ,wishes4
 ,i  have never seen any real fight at  
all made for this denial except the     
endeavour to turn them1 as scapegoats1  
into the wilderness of rhetoric4  ,and  
that1 as ,i have said already1 is really
 a begging of the question4  ,most      
certainly there is rhetoric which is not
 poetry--there is a very  great deal of 
it--in fact most of it2 as certainly    
there is rhetoric  which is4 ,and the   
passages which may claim that name in   
the eighteenth  century1 if never quite 
so great as the two just mentioned1 are 
very  numerous4 ,there is that fine one 
in ,tickell's epitaph on ,cadogan       
which1 after the eclipse of             
eighteenth-century verse in the earlier 
nineteenth1 ,thackeray was the first to 
rediscover3          ,ah1 no6 when once 
the mortal yields to fate        ,the   

blast of ,fame's sweet trumpet sounds   
too late--        ,too late to stay the 
spirit on its flight        ,or soothe  
the new inhabitant of light1    with its
 later address to ,fame herself3        
,thou music1 warbling to the deafened   
ear6        ,thou incense1 wasted on the
 funeral bier6    ,there is ,akenside's 
still finer ,epistle to ,curio1 which   
,macaulay  laughed at rather ignobly as 
unpractical4 ,well1 ,akenside1 like     
,macaulay  himself1 was a ,whig1 and ,i 
am a ,tory2 nor are the ideals expressed
  in the following lines by any means   
mine4 ,but if they are not fine  lines1 
if they are not1 though in one of the   
outer provinces no doubt1  poetical1 ,i 
will acknowledge that ,i know nothing at
 all about poetry3          ,ye shades  
immortal1 who by ,freedom led1          
,or in the field or on the scaffold     
bled1        ,bend from your radiant    
seats a joyful eye1        ,and view the
 crown of all your labours nigh4        
,see ,freedom mounting her eternal      

throne1        ,the sword submitted1 and
 the laws her own2        ,see public   
power chastised beneath her stand1      
,with eyes intent and uncorrupted hand1 
,see private life by wisest arts        
reclaimed1        ,see ardent youth to  
noblest manners framed1        ,see us  
acquire whate'er was sought by you1     
,if ,curio6 only ,curio6 will be true4  
,well1 once more1 ,curio1 alias         
,pulteney1 was not true1 but deserted   
,akenside's party and became ,earl of   
,bath and possessor of no small part    
thereof4 ,and private life and ardent   
youth were not reclaimed much in  the   
days of the historic ,charteris and the 
fictitious ,lovelace4 ,and the          
practical realisation of something like 
,akenside's undoubted principles  and   
aspirations was the ,french ,revolution 
fifty and the ,russian  ,revolution     
nearer two hundred years later4 ,but all
 this has nothing  to do with the       
question whether in this passage also   
rhetoric1 which  hardly anybody will    

deny to it1 has not passed under the    
influence and  received the transforming
 force of poetry4 ,i say it has1 though 
,i am  perfectly willing to admit that  
it is not the best or the most poetical 
form of poetry1 and that it is very far 
indeed from the forms that ,i  myself   
like best4 ,but one of the cries which  
the critic should never  be tired of    
uttering1 whether in the streets or in  
the wilderness1  is that nothing is bad 
merely because it is different from     
another  thing which is good1 and that  
in this world there is no equality or   
fixed standard to which everything must 
be cut down or stretched out4  ,the best
 rhetorical poetry of the eighteenth    
century is not the best  poetry1 but it 
is poetry in its own way1 exhibiting the
 glow1 the rush1  the passion1 which    
strict prose cannot1 and which poetry   
can1 give4    ,there is less specific   
prejudice against light poetry on the   
part  of poetical highfliers than there 
is against poetical rhetoric1 but  there

 is some4 ,once more ,i venture to      
disallow this prejudice in  toto as far 
as kind is concerned1 though1 of course1
 each individual  specimen of that kind 
must pass its individual muster as a    
piece of  intenser thought or feeling1  
expressed in appropriate language and   
inspired by the charm of verse-music4   
,for that1 though no one ever has       
defined or will define poetry1 is one of
 the divers good approaches  to a       
description of it4 ,now here1 as was    
briefly said above1 the  eighteenth     
century possessed1 for nearly the whole 
of its first quarter  as an actual      
living practitioner1 and for the whole  
of the rest of  it as a past            
contemporary of still living persons1 an
 unsurpassed  general of light verse in 
,matthew ,prior4 ,on the whole ,i know  
few  ,english poets who have so seldom  
had full justice done to them4 ,no      
competent judge1 indeed1 has ever denied
 ,prior's excellence in pure  lightness1
 but there have been frequent failures  

to allow for that  undercurrent of      
seriousness1 sadness1 and almost        
passion--that feeling  in earnest while 
thinking in jest1 according to the best 
definition  of humour--which            
characterises him4 ,thackeray has1      
indeed1 equalled1  but in obvious and   
even frank following1 the great lines   
written 7or  not written7 in ,mzeray's  
,history of ,france2 but hardly anyone  
else  has come near them in irony and   
melancholy and music1 blended as three  
appeals in one4 ,there is even a touch1 
though more than a touch would  have    
been out of place1 in the famous ,child 
of ,quality1 and a great  deal more1 not
 quite so perfectly expressed1 in the   
,lines to ,charles  ,montague4 ,if the  
touch of sadness be for the moment      
unwelcome1 there  is ,daphne and ,apollo
 or the famous ,english ,padlock1 with a
 dozen or  several dozen others ready to
 hand4 ,and to go to yet another nuance1
  the recent discovery at ,longleat of  
,jinny the ,just1 with its touches  of  

sincere sorrow and the three unequalled 
stanzas of kindly irony3          ,thus 
still1 while her morning unseen fled    
away1        ,in ord'ring the linen and 
making the tea1        ,that she scarce 
could have time for the psalms of the   
day--          ,and while after dinner  
the night came so soon        ,that half
 she proposed very seldom was done1     
,with twenty ,god bless me's1 how this  
day has gone6          ,while she read1 
and accounted1 and paid1 and abated1    
,ate and drank1 played and worked1      
laughed and cried1 loved and            
hated1        ,as answered the end of   
her being created1    especially with   
that last unsurpassable line2 all these 
and many  more exemplify and illustrate 
that indescribable raising of the       
expression--that making the common as if
 it were not common--which is  the      
essence of poetry and the privilege of  
verse4    ,how this side of the matter  
was produced 7in the mathematical sense7
  and maintained throughout the century 

would take many times the space  of the 
present paper to show in anything but   
the briefest and barest  epitome4       
,almost all ,prior's own shorter later  
poems would have to be  quoted2 ,swift1 
though so much greater in prose1 and    
though best in  verse on the severer    
side1 especially in the magnificent and 
quite  sufficiently authenticated       
,judgment ,day verses1 could not be left
  out2 and it might be possible to make 
more fight than even lovers of  the     
eighteenth century have recently made   
for ,gray4 ,but perhaps the  scraps and 
orts of lesser men of letters--though   
sometimes not lesser  men--show the     
strong point of the century even more   
convincingly4  ,where will you find more
 musical lightness of a certain easy but
 far  from unpoetical kind than in those
 verses on ,strawberry ,hill in which   
,pulteney almost paid his rather heavy  
debts in more serious ways to the       
,house of ,walpole8 ,or than in the     
others in which he and ,chesterfield    

combined to estimate ,hanover ,bremen   
and ,verden1 that is to say1 the  whole 
continental dominions for which ,george 
the ,second was making  ,england fight1 
as worthless compared with the charms of
 ,molly ,lepell8  ,go lower still1 take 
a professional littrateur and laureate  
like  ,william ,whitehead1 to whom      
hardly anybody save ,mr4 ,austin ,dobson
 7and  it is certainly no small         
exception7 has been favourable1 and read
  the piece on ,celia1 which is a more  
or less independent expansion  of       
,ausonius on ,crispa4 ,it begins with a 
sort of pettish avowal of  ignorance how
 the mischief of love came1 and goes on 
with rather rude  depreciations of the  
lady's face1 figure1 air1 and even      
sense4 ,then it  slides rapidly into a  
sort of grudging allowance3             
,her voice1 her touch1 might give the   
alarm--          ',twas both perhaps or 
neither1    and then capitulates        
headlong3          ,in short 'twas that 
provoking charm          ,of ,celia     

altogether6    ,trivial1 of course1 but 
then it ought to be trivial1 and the    
trivial  can be1 and is1 here           
super-trivialised4    ,one might go on1 
even in this skipping fashion1 for a    
long time till  one came to the great   
political satires of the close of the   
century1  but once more time and space  
forbid4 ,as it has been frivolously     
said3          ,you have only to search 
,in ,dodsley and ,pearch    7the        
standard ten volumes of                 
eighteenth-century miscellaneous poetry7
  and you will find2 though1 of course1 
if you only look for bad things  you    
will find them1 too1 in plenty4 ,but    
even this collection is by  no means    
exhaustive1 and with some of the more   
famous verse-writers  it does not deal  
at all2 while we have in this survey    
confessedly  left most of them alone4   
,what has been intended is to show that 
making of the common uncommon by means  
of treatment in verse was not  an       
unknown thing between #agjj and #ahjj2  

that it was attempted and  achieved in  
various kinds4 ,finally1 if the attempts
 were rarely and the  achievements      
hardly ever in kinds that can be called 
the very highest1  one may at least urge
 that there is not an absolute vacuum   
between the  loftiest mountain-tops of  
poetry and the actual plain of          
prose--that  ,parnassus has lower       
slopes1 some of which are not so very   
low          ,,samuel ,,butler#f        
#f ,samuel ,butler3 a ,memoir4 ,by ,h4  
,festing ,jones4 #b vols4               
,macmillan4 #dbs4 net4    ,by ,,edward  
,,shanks      ,samuel ,butler was a     
philosopher whose favourite doctrine was
 expressed  in the words pas trop de    
zle2 and he spent a great part of his   
life  complaining a little too eagerly  
that the world was not sufficiently     
zealous in the appreciation of his      
works4 ,his reception and his           
reputation did indeed deserve a         
considerable part of the almost         
excessive attention which he lavished on

 them2 for at this moment1 now  that the
 first is accomplished and the second   
enormous1 they make a  very curious     
subject for study4 ,in his notebooks    
they occur again and  again as themes   
for his meditation4 ,i am the enfant    
terrible1 he  says1 of literature and   
science4 ,if ,i cannot1 and ,i know ,i  
cannot1  get the literary and scientific
 big-wigs to give me a shilling1 ,i     
can1 and ,i know ,i can1 heave bricks   
into the middle of them4 ,i  have chosen
 the fighting-road1 he says elsewhere1  
rather than the  hang-on-to-a-great-man 
road1 and what can a man who does this  
look for  except that people should try 
to silence him in whatever way they     
think  will be most effectual8 ,in my   
case they have thought it best to       
pretend  that ,i am non-existent4 ,there
 is something pathetic in the spectacle 
of a man pursuing the fighting-road with
 no one to fight him and  heaving bricks
 into the middle of persons who         
obstinately continue to  ignore his     

existence4 ,there is something more     
pathetic in the spectacle  of an        
original thinker and a great wit sitting
 down in isolation to  pen these        
apologies for his obscure position1     
always affecting to  be indifferent to  
it and never deceiving anyone4 ,for     
,butler was not  indifferent to his lack
 of success4 ,had his been a true and   
not an  assumed indifference he could   
not have returned to the subject so     
often as he does and in so many keys4   
,he betrays himself again and  again    
beyond mistake4 ,he was an intensely1 a 
morbidly sensitive man1  one to whom    
success would have been very pleasant4  
,he was damaged1 and  confirmed in      
oddity1 by the want of it4 ,he missed it
 because of what  first started him in  
oddity--that is to say1 an unfortunate  
childhood4    ,the subject of this      
memoir1 so ,butler once suggested that  
his  biography ought to begin1 was the  
son of rich but dishonest  parents4     
,dishonest they may have been3          

respectable they certainly  were4 ,dr4  
,butler1 the first distinguished member 
of the family1 was  for twenty-seven    
years headmaster of ,shrewsbury1 a man  
with all the  attributes of the great   
schoolmasters of the early nineteenth   
century1  an imposing figure1 who1      
towards the end of his life1 became     
,bishop  of ,lichfield4 ,his son was not
 so distinguished4 ,his sole claim to be
  remembered1 if his canonry be         
disregarded1 is the fact that somehow   
or other he became the father of ,samuel
 ,butler4 ,there is much detail1  in    
,mr4 ,festing ,jones's enormous book1 on
 ,butler's early life and his  relation 
to his parents2 but there is nothing    
quite so significant as  an anecdote    
which occurs in the second volume3      
,at ,saas he made the acquaintance of   
,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,mac,carthy1 who were    
staying in the hotel with their son1 an 
,eton boy4 ,one day the father    and   
son had been for an excursion and the   
father returned alone4 ,the    anxious  

mother1 hearing that her boy preferred  
speculating in short    cuts to         
accompanying his father1 borrowed a red 
umbrella to make    herself conspicuous1
 and went out to look for ,desmond4     
,presently    she came upon ,butler     
loaded up with his camera and toiling   
along on    his way back after a        
fatiguing day4 ,he told her he had seen 
a little    white figure among the trees
 on the mountain-side and had no doubt  
it    was her son who1 he assured her1  
would be all right1 and he himself      
was loitering1 intending to be overtaken
 so that they might arrive at    the    
hotel together4      ,you see1 he       
explained1 ,i know he will be late for  
dinner1 and it    may make things a     
little easier for him if he does not    
come in alone4      ,years afterwards   
,mrs4 ,mac,carthy told me that she had  
been reading    ,the ,way of ,all       
,flesh1 and had remembered this incident
 and had    for the first time          
understood why ,butler thought that her 

son would    require the presence of an 
elderly gentleman to protect him from   
his    parents if he came in late for   
dinner4    ,this throws a curious and   
unexpected sidelight on ,butler's       
childhood  from the effects of which he 
never recovered4 ,his parents learnt the
  art of bringing up children from a    
book which adjured them to ,break  your 
child's will early or he will break     
yours later on4 ,they did  not break it1
 but unquestionably they deformed it4   
,this may have been  done on principle4 
,to ,butler1 however1 it sometimes      
seemed to spring  from other motives4 ,i
 have felt1 he once said of his father1 
that  he has always looked upon me as   
something which he could badger with    
impunity4 ,he said that1 like ,ernest   
,pontifex1 with regard to his  father he
 could remember no feeling during his   
childhood except fear  and shrinking4   
,nor was this life of terror and pain   
lightened by any gracious or  liberal   
influences4 ,the world which ,mr4       

,festing ,jones exhibits to us  in his  
opening chapters is full of the drabbest
 and most depressing  horrors of ,early 
,victorianism4 ,its measure can be taken
 by a single  story which ,butler       
preserved3      ,archdeacon ,bather was 
lunching with my grandfather some two or
 three    years after the ,archdeacon   
had lost his first wife4 ,dr4 ,butler   
dearly    loved a hard crust of bread   
baked nearly black1 and it so happened  
that a piece was set by his plate with  
hardly any crust1 and what    little    
there was1 very thin4 ,my aunt1 then    
,miss ,butler1 observing    what had    
happened1 at once said3      ,oh1 ,papa1
 this won't do at all6 ,i will find you 
a piece more to your    liking4 ,whereon
 she went to the kitchen and returned   
with a crust    baked exactly to ,dr4   
,butler's taste4      ,when ,archdeacon 
,bather saw this he said to himself3    
,that is the    young woman for me2 and 
shortly afterwards he proposed and was  
accepted4    ,readers will remember the 

scene in ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh in    
which  ,theobald1 driving away for his  
honeymoon1 insists that ,christina shall
  order their dinner at the first stop1 
and in which ,christina protests  with  
tears her nervousness1 and ,theobald    
replies1 ,it is a wife's duty  to order 
her husband's dinner2 you are my wife1  
and ,i shall expect you  to order mine4 
,a sensitive child1 neglected or even   
ill-treated by its  parents1 might1 if  
the relations of the parents between    
themselves had  anything beautiful or   
kindly1 see some possibilities of       
happiness in  the institution of the    
family4 ,but ,samuel ,butler was brought
 up in a  world where no such           
possibilities seemed to exist4 ,he came 
to believe1  ,mr4 ,festing ,jones tells 
us1 that1 like ,habakkuk1 le pre de     
famille  est capable de tout4 ,it has   
often been maintained that the greatest 
poets and artists do nothing throughout 
life but draw on those fresh  and lovely
 impressions which they have gathered in

 childhood4 ,when  he was a child       
,butler acquired habits of suspicion    
against all those  surrounding him who  
were not connected with him by          
freely-chosen bonds  of friendship4     
,canon ,butler bullied him on moral     
grounds2 and he grew  to suspect every  
claim made on him1 every exhortation    
addressed to  him1 on moral grounds4    
,ernest ,pontifex is described on one   
occasion  as assuming the expression of 
a puppy which is being scolded for      
something it does not understand2 and   
,butler did indeed develop some  of the 
habits of an ill-treated dog4 ,he shied 
and snarled at a lifted  hand1 which    
might have been lifted in kindness or in
 ignorance of his  existence4 ,having1  
as he supposed1 penetrated the fraud of 
the family1  he felt a distrust of all  
human institutions4 ,he suspected the   
world of  being in a conspiracy to      
pretend that parents were naturally kind
 to  their children1 that ,christ rose  
from the dead1 and that ,tennyson was a 

great poet4 ,and1 turning from all these
 discredited shows1 he devoted  himself 
in isolation to the care of his own     
idiosyncrasies and the  companionship of
 a very few1 very intimate friends4     
,here1 where he might in one case have  
suspected with justice1 he was  all     
blind trust4 ,the story of ,charles     
,paine ,pauli is one of the most        
extraordinary that have been brought to 
light in human records in  recent years4
 ,a correspondent who knew him and      
admired him wrote not  long ago to the  
,times1 not to controvert ,mr4 ,festing 
,jones's account  of the relations      
between him and ,butler1 but to protest1
 in an almost  agonised manner1 that    
there must be some explanation of it2   
and this is  precisely what the reader1 
who did not know ,pauli1 feels when he  
comes  upon these pages4 ,but there     
seems to be no explanation4    ,in #ahei
 ,butler rebelled against his father1   
and finally decided that he  could not  
take ,orders1 basing his refusal on     

doubts1 which in after  years seemed to 
him no less absurd than the doctrines   
against which  they were directed4 ,as a
 result of this1 he emigrated to ,new   
,zealand1  taking with him an allowance 
from ,canon ,butler and a promise of    
support  in capital1 in order that he   
might establish himself as a            
sheep-farmer4  ,in this occupation he   
was1 against all the probabilities1     
moderately  successful and1 largely     
owing to the rapidly-developing         
condition of  the colony1 managed to    
turn an original capital of #ddjj into  
the sum  of #hjjj4 ,but finding the life
 uncongenial1 he concluded that it would
  be wiser to invest his money in ,new  
,zealand1 where the current rate of     
interest was #aj per cent41 and go home 
and live on the proceeds4 ,while  he was
 making preparations to this end1 a     
previous slight acquaintance  with      
,pauli developed into an intimate       
friendship4 ,pauli was handsome1        
fascinating1 well dressed1 ineffably    

well mannered4 ,he was1 in fact1  the   
,towneley of ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh1  
though ,providence1 not doing  as well  
by him as by ,towneley1 had omitted to  
make him rich4 ,he was  actually poor   
and in ill-health1 and anxious to go to 
,england in order  that he might        
recover4 ,he then proposed to get called
 to the ,bar and  to return to ,new     
,zealand to practise4 ,butler1 who      
believed himself  to be worth about #hjj
 a year1 promptly lavished on this      
creature  the generosity and tenderness 
which had found no outlet during his    
childhood4 ,he offered to lend him #ajj 
for his passage1 and to allow  him #bjj 
a year for three years--that is1 until  
his return to ,new  ,zealand as a       
barrister4 ,they accordingly made the   
passage together2  and ,butler kept his 
promise1 and more than kept it1         
extending the  allowance1 even through  
the time of his acutest financial       
difficulties1  until ,pauli's death in  
#ahig4 ,it was then discovered that at  

one time  ,pauli had been earning #ijj a
 year1 and that even at the last he     
earned  between #ejj and #gjj4 ,he left 
a fortune of #ijjj2 but ,butler was not 
mentioned in the will and received his  
invitation to the funeral from  the     
undertaker4    ,a singular and          
enlightening circumstance in the        
intercourse between  ,butler and ,pauli 
unhappily prevents ,mr4 ,festing ,jones 
from making this  astonishing but       
veracious narrative entirely lifelike4  
,the charming  young man did not        
reciprocate the feelings of his pathetic
 and somewhat  uncouth adorer4 ,i had   
felt from the very beginning1 says      
,butler1  that my intimacy with ,pauli  
was only superficial1 and ,i also       
perceived  more and more that ,i bored  
him4 ,pauli confessed that he had never 
been more miserable in his life than    
once when he spent a holiday with       
,butler at ,dieppe4 ,consequently it    
soon came about that the essential  part
 of the relations between them was the  

punctual payment of the  allowance4     
,latterly1 they only met three times a  
week1 when ,pauli  lunched in ,butler's 
chambers4 ,he discontinued informing    
,butler of his  changes of address1 so  
that at the end ,butler did not know    
where he was  living1 and ,mr4 ,festing 
,jones met him only on business1 for he 
would  have nothing to do with any of   
,butler's friends in any other way4     
,butler learnt of his death from an     
announcement in the ,times4    ,truly a 
mysterious creature6 ,and his friend is 
very comprehensible in  supposing that  
there must be some explanation4         
,possibly ,mr4 ,festing  ,jones1 if he  
had met him otherwise than purely on    
business1 might have  given us some     
impression of his personality which     
would have let in  light on this dark   
business4 ,as it is1 we must content    
ourselves with  wonder at the           
extraordinary situations which human    
nature is capable of  creating4 ,but    
this unhappy friendship is worth        

examining1 apart from  its intrinsic    
curiosity1 because it presents in       
extremity an essential  and determining 
part of ,butler's life4 ,his devotion   
and loyalty to his  friends were perhaps
 the most beautiful things in his       
character and do  much to redeem his    
somewhat unlovely attitude of snarling  
and suspicion  towards all strangers4   
,life might be thought to have treated  
him savagely in following up  his       
parents with the hardly less cruel      
,pauli4 ,he disguised the shock  of his 
discovery on ,pauli's death by remarking
 that he would now save  not only #bjj a
 year1 but also the cost of those three 
lunches a week  in ,clifford's ,inn4    
,yet a nature that opened itself so     
trustingly1 so  defencelessly1 must have
 suffered on finding its bounty abused4 
,but in  his other friends1 in ,miss    
,savage1 in his clerk1 ,alfred ,emery   
,cathie1  and in ,mr4 ,festing ,jones he
 had ample compensations4 ,he was a man 
who  at first sight was not readily     

liked4 ,he was awkward and nervous in   
the company of strangers1 and it is     
likely that he did not disguise  so well
 as he supposed his grave misgivings    
that they were either  pretentious      
scoundrels or conceited hypocrites4 ,he 
was always badly  and carelessly        
dressed2 and though his portraits1 when 
one is used to  them and can associate  
them with the best one knows of his     
mind1 become  attractive1 there can be  
no denial that his appearance was on the
 most  lenient showing decidedly        
grotesque1 that of a difficult1         
taciturn1  maliciously observant gnome1 
roughly carved in a hard wood4 ,it took 
some time and some degree of intuition  
to penetrate behind this mask4  ,those  
who did so were rewarded and rewarded   
him4 ,miss ,savage1 who used  to meet   
him first at ,heatherley's art-classes1 
was not attracted by him  for a         
considerable time4 ,when at last she    
was1 it was by a flash of  remarkable   
intuition4 ,in commenting on one of his 

books1 she writes3      ,i like the     
cherry-eating scene1 too1 because it    
reminded me of your    eating cherries  
when first ,i knew you4 ,one day when ,i
 was going to    the gallery1 a very hot
 day1 ,i remember1 ,i met you on the    
shady side    of ,berners ,street eating
 cherries out of a basket4 ,like your   
,italian    friends1 you were perfectly 
silent with content1 and you handed the 
basket to me as ,i was passing1 without 
saying a word4 ,i pulled out a          
handful and went on my way rejoicing1   
without saying a word either4 ,i    had 
not before perceived you to be different
 from anyone else4    ,it is not certain
 whether ,miss ,savage became a         
,butlerian or whether  ,butler acquired 
something of what we consider his       
characteristic  attitude of mind from   
her4 ,if it was not so1 then her spirit 
leapt at  once to answer his as soon as 
she had perceived the possibility of    
common interests between them1 for her  
first letters to him are written  in his

 own vein4 ,she entered immediately into
 his concerns1 read all  his books in   
manuscript1 criticised them1 gave them  
more praise than  they received from    
anyone else1 and abused his enemies with
 a gusto  equal to his4 ,the only       
trouble between them in their long      
connection  was his gnawing fear that   
she wanted to marry him4 ,and he did not
 want  to marry anyone1 let alone her   
who was              ,plain and lame and
 fat and short1        ,forty and       
overkind4    ,but if all these          
disabilities had been removed1 he would 
still have  been disinclined to marry   
her4 ,he did not believe in marriage1   
had a  hatred of the family2 and he     
slunk away snarling from the danger like
 a  terror-stricken wild animal at the  
sight of a trap1 only to reproach       
himself in after years for unkindness to
 his friend4 ,but his relations  with   
women were not1 and he did not intend   
that they should be1 of the  sort that  
lead to marriage4 ,he had mistresses1   

whom he visited4 ,mr4 ,j4  ,b4 ,yeats1  
in a recent paper of reminiscences1 has 
repeated his avowals  on this point in a
 manner which conveys well enough       
,butler's view that  his lapses were    
caused by a necessity of the flesh4 ,mr4
 ,festing ,jones  reinforces this       
impression4 ,one of his mistresses1     
referred to as  ,madame1 was1 after a   
long connection1 allowed to visit his   
chambers  in ,clifford's ,inn4 ,no other
 gained this privilege2 and ,butler     
extended  it to her as he might have    
done to an old and well-tried servant4  
,butler did not love these women1 he    
frequented them4 ,he was insensible  to 
the notion that there might be anything 
beautiful in the relations  between the 
sexes1 as he was insensible to the      
notion that there might  be anything of 
value written in verse4 ,theobald and   
,christina pretended  to like poetry3   
,theobald and ,christina pretended to   
love one another  and him4 ,it was all  
of a piece with their pretence that     

,christianity  was a religion of        
kindliness and enlightenment4    ,so he 
remained a bachelor1 and1 when ,miss    
,savage was dead1 contented  himself    
with the intimate companionship of ,mr4 
,jones and ,alfred1 his  clerk4 ,after  
he had resigned the ambition of becoming
 a painter1 after  his odd and          
disastrous excursion in the world of    
business1 his daily  life was that of an
 eccentric gentleman with a small       
independent  income4 ,he read and wrote 
in the ,british ,museum1 he went for    
walks in  the country and took holidays 
in ,italy1 he published his books at his
  own expense1 and he scrambled out of  
invitations to dinner as best he  could4
 ,for a hobby he wrote music in         
collaboration with ,mr4 ,festing        
,jones1 oratorios which were to be as   
much like ,handel's oratorios as        
possible4 ,the first of them1           
,narcissus1 was inspired by his own     
misfortunes in business1 and the final  
chorus ran3          ,how blest the     

prudent man1 the maiden pure1           
,whose income is both ample and secure1 
,arising from consolidated ,three       
,per ,cent4 ,annuities1 paid quarterly6 
,we remembered ,handel's treatment of   
'continually1' says ,mr4 ,festing       
,jones1 and thought we could not do     
better than imitate it for our  words   
'paid quarterly4'    ,and so his life   
went on and his interests drifted       
through the theory  of evolution1 the   
authorship of the ,odyssey1 the life of 
his  grandfather1 and the meaning of    
,shakespeare's ,sonnets4 ,the sales of  
his  books pursued a course by no means 
so varied1 but steadily declined4 ,in   
#ahii1 when he drew up a statement of   
profit and loss1 the average sales  of  
his eleven books1 excluding ,erewhon1   
which was the first1 amounted  to #cjf  
copies each4 ,of his ,selections from   
,previous ,works1 #abj copies  were sold
 in fifteen years4 ,of ,the ,authoress  
of the ,odyssey1 #afe  copies were sold4
 ,he might well have added              

discouragement to his first  cause of   
bitterness4 ,the religion of ,christ    
produced ,canon ,butler1 the  religion  
of science produced ,darwin1 the        
religion of good looks and  good        
breeding produced ,pauli4 ,on paper he  
was indomitable4 ,he swore he  had      
enjoyed life1 that on the balance his   
good luck overbalanced the  bad4 ,but he
 swore a little too often1 he explained 
a little too much  in detail for this to
 have been quite true4 ,and then1 at the
 very end  of his life1 the luck turned1
 and his last book1 by a strange irony1 
was produced at the publisher's own     
risk1 the greatest triumph in his       
literary career which ,butler was able  
to see since the success of his  first  
book4 ,after he was dead his reputation1
 magically assisted with  incantations  
by ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw and others1      
sprang up to an amazing  height1 like   
the plant grown from the ,indian        
enchanter's bean4    ,now the world is  
confronted with a situation in which the

 neglected  philosopher of ,clifford's  
,inn has attained an importance he never
  dreamt of and perhaps would not have  
approved4 ,above all things1 he  said1  
let no unwary reader do me the injustice
 of believing in me4  ,this useful motto
 was printed on the menu of the first   
,erewhon dinner2  but a great number of 
his disciples have disregarded the      
admonition4  ,i was once the witness of 
one undergraduate trying to proselytise 
another and telling him that it was a   
worthy ambition to desire to  be like   
,christ4 ,i don't want to be like anyone
 else1 replied the  second              
undergraduate1 but if ,i did1 ,i        
shouldn't choose ,christ1 ,i  should    
choose ,samuel ,butler4 ,this is at once
 an extreme instance and  one strictly  
guarded against ,butler's own           
disapproval3 for the kernel  of the     
remark would meet with his applause4    
,but it illustrates the  direction in   
which many of his admirers have more    
frenetically rushed4  ,it is an ironic  

fate for so ironic a philosopher that   
his teaching  should have become a sort 
of ,tom ,tiddler's ground for so many   
solemn  and ridiculous persons4         
,what1 after all1 is his total          
achievement8 ,he himself summed up  what
 he considered to be his life-work in a 
statement which is not  dated but which 
must have been written in #ahii or      
later4 ,it begins  with 7#a7 ,the       
emphasising the analogies between crime 
and disease  ,erewhon1 and ends with    
7#ag7 ,the elucidation of ,shakespeare's
  ,sonnets ,shakespeare's ,sonnets      
,reconsidered4 ,the foregoing1 he       
continues1 is the list of my            
mares'-nests1 and it is1 ,i presume1    
this  list which made ,mr4 ,arthur      
,platt call me the ,galileo of          
,mares'-nests  in his diatribe on my    
,odyssey theory in the ,classical       
,review4 ,the  two to which he probably 
attached most importance1 to judge from 
the  bitterness of his remarks on their 
reception1 were his intervention  into  

the great evolution dispute and his     
great discovery that the  ,odyssey was  
written by a female inhabitant of       
,trapani in ,sicily4  ,with regard to   
the second he continually complained    
that no classical  scholar had ever     
replied to his arguments4 ,it was once  
remarked in  answer to this1 that if a  
classical scholar published a book      
arguing  that no player of ,rugby       
football ought to be allowed to pass the
  ball to another without obtaining a   
signed receipt for it1 the great        
community of ,rugby footballers1 intent 
on other matters1 would  probably ignore
 his suggestion4 ,butler's claim may    
perhaps be left  there4 ,yet he did     
apparently take it seriously1 in spite  
of his failure  to deal with the        
singular fact that no scrap of          
confirmation of his  theory has survived
 from the writings or the traditions of 
antiquity4  ,his mares'-nests1 he said1 
were simply sovereigns which he found   
lying in public places and which people 

would not notice and be at  the trouble 
of picking up4 ,they were mostly1       
however1 one cannot  help suspecting1   
recommended to him less because they    
seemed to be  sovereigns than because   
other people would not pick them up4    
,they were1  in fact1 the notions of a  
crank1 who1 having acquired a distrust  
of the  rest of the world1 took pains to
 differ from it as much as he could4    
,his theories of evolution hold a       
different position4 ,darwin's theory    
has now been so greatly modified1 as    
much by his supporters as by  his       
opponents1 that it cannot be said any   
longer to hold the field  as he first   
presented it2 and ,butler's attitude has
 been in a manner  justified4 ,but this 
change has been accomplished not by the 
acceptance  of ,butler's views but by   
the work of experimental biologists4 ,he
  did1 in fact1 offer many general      
principles1 some well founded1 some     
mistaken1 all stimulating1 for the      
consideration of practical workers2  and

 it would not be possible to assert1    
without an exhaustive enquiry  into the 
history of the matter1 that his writings
 have had no influence  on the          
development of science4 ,but ,charles   
,darwin and his followers  were         
practical men--men no doubt with faults1
 with the intolerance and  impatience of
 the laity that are often to be found in
 the scientific  investigator4 ,it is   
not hard to see why they received       
,butler with  tepid interest1 and       
finally ignored him when he forsook     
their path  of enquiry4 ,for they did   
ignore him3 they did not1 as he         
supposed1  conspire to silence him4 ,he 
seems to have believed that ,darwin was 
a  sort of ,anti-,christ malevolently   
determined to force on humanity a       
diabolical belief of his own invention2 
and he was only too ready to  suspect   
him of unscrupulous dealing and         
machinations4 ,when he conceived  that  
,darwin had engineered an attack on him1
 though he obtained an  expression of   

regret for an accident1 he flung        
violently into print1  and did1 though  
he remained ignorant of the fact1 get   
from ,darwin and  his friends the       
attention as an enemy which they would  
not bestow on  him as a scientist4 ,his 
letter to the ,athenum seriously        
perturbed  ,darwin1 who drafted two     
replies to it1 and submitted them for   
advice to  the members of his family and
 to ,professor ,huxley4 ,the advice     
given was  against replying2 and ,butler
 was accordingly confirmed in his       
opinion4  ,but this was an opinion which
 a less suspicious man would have been  
slower in forming and readier to        
discard4    ,darwin was not1 in his     
career or in his handling of ,butler1 a 
model of  the urbane virtues4 ,butler   
did right to protest against the        
sacerdotal  attitude which ,victorian   
men of science frequently adopted4 ,but 
he did  wrong not to realise that       
,darwin did not take him altogether     
seriously1  and why this was so4        

,butler's challenging manner of writing1
 the  prickly defensiveness which he    
developed on the smallest provocation1  
must have been disagreeable to the great
 investigator who had spent  years of   
careful research into the problems which
 ,butler airily  settled at his         
writing-table in the intervals of other 
pursuits4  ,darwin is perhaps to blame1 
but not so greatly to blame as ,butler  
contended1 if he regarded ,butler at    
first as a well-disposed1 and then  as  
an ill-disposed1 amateur2 and that was  
in effect his view of the  whole matter4
 ,when he sent ,evolution ,old and ,new 
to ,dr4 ,krause1 he  expressed the hope 
that the ,german writer would not expend
 much powder  and shot on ,mr4 ,butler1 
for he really is not worthy of it4 ,his 
book is  merely ephemeral4 ,and it was  
in fact ephemeral or nearly so4         
,butler's  works on evolution contain   
many inspired guesses2 but the inherent 
value of these ceases to have much more 
than a historical interest  when they   

are confirmed by practical observation4 
,if they are not so  confirmed they     
remain open to question1 though they may
 have their uses  in suggesting paths   
for research4 ,butler's place in science
 is somewhat  below that of ,goethe1 who
 did after all make a practical         
discovery  which remains valid to-day4  
,some of his mares'-nests1 then1 were   
mares'-nests from the  beginning4       
,others1 neglected when they might have 
been useful1 had  begun to be           
superannuated when they first attracted 
attention4 ,but  ,butler1 apart from his
 theories and his discoveries1 remains  
as an  observer of life and a teacher of
 conduct4 ,passages of this nature      
exist in all his works2 but1 generally  
speaking1 his claim to be  accepted as a
 philosopher rests on five books1       
,erewhon1 ,erewhon  ,revisited1 the     
,note-books1 ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh1  
and ,mr4 ,festing  ,jones's biography4  
,mr4 ,festing ,jones observes that ,i   
was struck by his uncompromising        

sincerity4 ,if a subject interested him1
 he took infinite pains to  find out all
 he could about it first-hand1 thought  
it over and formed  an opinion of his   
own1 without reference to what anyone   
else thought  or said4 ,in demonstration
 of this1 ,mr4 ,jones relates the       
following  reminiscence3      ,we talked
 about ,charlotte ,bront2 ,butler did   
not like her2 ,i said1 as    though     
taking the odd trick with the ace of    
trumps3      ,well1 at all events1 she  
wrote three splendid novels4      ,he   
replied in a low voice1 reluctantly but 
decidedly3 ,they are not    splendid4   
,these four words shifted the subject   
under discussion from the    splendour  
or otherwise of ,charlotte ,bront's     
novels to the sincerity    or otherwise 
of my opinion4    ,it was no doubt well 
that ,mr4 ,jones's sincerity should be  
probed2 and  this is in fact what       
,butler does at his best4 ,he challenges
 established  opinions and forces those 
who hold them to consider whether they  

have  any good ground for doing so4 ,but
 the reader who is not dazzled by       
,butler's originality of judgment in    
this instance will ask himself  whether 
the sentence which ,mr4 ,jones quotes is
 anything more than a  very facile      
assertion4 ,he will then perhaps ask    
himself how often  ,butler's original   
pronouncements on established           
reputations are of the  same order4 ,he 
will certainly find some4 ,in the       
,note-books there is  an elaborate      
arraignment of ,raphael4 ,it may not be 
convincing2 but the  critic has produced
 his arguments4 ,here1 also1 may be     
found ,butler's  explanation of his     
hostility towards post-,handelian music4
 ,but one  may search the two volumes of
 the biography for a considerable time  
without finding his appreciation of any 
book published in his own time4  ,here1 
again1 we must be just3 ,butler did like
 one book4 ,it was called  ,pusley1 or  
,my ,summer in a ,garden2 its author was
 ,charles ,dudley  ,warner2 and ,butler 

said1 ,i like ,pusley very much and have
 read it  all4    ,but the majority of  
his opinions are on the model of the    
much-quoted  passage in the ,note-books3
      ,talking it over1 we agreed that  
,blake was no good because he learnt    
,italian at sixty in order to study     
,dante1 and we knew ,dante was no       
good because he was so fond of ,virgil1 
and ,virgil was no good because         
,tennyson ran him1 and as for           
,tennyson--well1 ,tennyson goes without 
saying4    ,that is an exceedingly witty
 way of expressing an indolent          
prejudice2  and those who share that    
particular chain of prejudices may well 
rejoice in it1 without supposing that it
 proves their case4 ,but this           
particular form of humour and ,butler's 
independence of attitude would  be      
slightly more entertaining if he had    
occasionally replaced the  reputations  
he smashed with these hammer-strokes by 
some discovery of  his own4             
,unfortunately1 it is not easy to       

remember any unknown author  whom he    
brought into the light--unless ,nausicaa
 be taken as an example4    ,but this   
is1 in a way1 the defect of his         
qualities4 ,it is easy1 too  easy1 to   
grow incensed with him when he inanely  
doubts any convention  or opinion that  
comes in sight4 ,it is possible to      
remark of him1  adapting the remark made
 of ,dr4 ,johnson1 that he may have been
 very  sensible at bottom1 but that     
there was a great deal of nonsense on   
top4 ,but the fact remains that by      
challenging everything he did detect  a 
great many frauds1 and he did let the   
light of scepticism into a  great many  
topics where scepticism is a healthy    
attitude4 ,if his view  of family life  
was bigoted and unreasonable1 there is a
 great deal of  use in the reminder that
 family life is not necessarily perfect 
and  needs a deal of watching to keep it
 from being very imperfect indeed4      
,some of the assumptions he challenged  
have now disappeared4 ,we no  longer    

believe that good looks and good manners
 are the unmistakable  indices of an ill
 heart2 and we are becoming convinced   
that it is  better to have these        
attributes than to be without them4 ,but
 these  lessons can be enforced as      
,butler continually enforces them4 ,it  
was  his fate that life made him a      
suspicious man4 ,but suspicion made him 
a doubting1 questioning1 and therefore  
enquiring man4 ,and his natural  gift of
 humour taught him what he has ever     
since been teaching others1  that it is 
possible to be serious without being    
solemn4 ,this was  perhaps the most     
valuable thing he had to say to a       
society emerging  from the ,victorian   
era and passing over into another that  
was to be  as desperately serious as we 
are now realising4 ,it is a reflection  
pathetically ironical that his loudest  
followers in these days should  be      
persons whom he would very likely have  
described as ,simeonites of  the        
intellect4    ,of the value of his      

writings judged as literature it is not 
so easy  to speak with confidence4      
,erewhon is not so much a novel as a    
collection of essays roughly pressed    
into a common mould4 ,they are  not     
merely disconnected1 they are also      
composed on different planes  of satire1
 at different removes from reality1 so  
that the reader as  he goes from chapter
 to chapter has an uncomfortable sense  
of being  jolted from level to level4   
,yet the satire1 on its varying levels1 
is  extraordinarily easy1 ingenious1 and
 penetrating2 and1 in another key       
again1 the opening chapters make one of 
the best introductions to a  story of   
exploration ever written4 ,erewhon      
,revisited is the book of  an old man2  
and it has much of the beauty so often  
to be found in such  compositions4 ,the 
manner of its writing was very different
 from that of  its predecessor1 and it  
is impossible to complain of any        
unevenness in  its structure4           
,nevertheless the satire is not so easy4

 ,it is a little  strained1 a little too
 ingenious1 a little too closely        
calculated to  make good reading4       
,butler himself picked out the best part
 of the book  when he complained that   
none of his critics had noticed the idea
 of a  father attempting by noble       
conduct to deserve the good opinion of a
  newly-found and adored son4 ,thus1 at 
the end of his life1 still haunted  by  
early memories1 he attempted to fashion 
in imagination what should  have been   
and completely to invert the facts of   
his own childhood4    ,the ,way of ,all 
,flesh is precisely the opposite of     
this4 ,it has  long been known to be of 
the photographic order of novels2 but   
how  minutely photographic it is we     
could not know until the appearance of  
,mr4 ,jones's book4 ,this need not1 and 
should not1 affect our judgment  of it1 
even when we are informed that          
,theobald's delightful letters  are     
almost literal transcriptions from those
 of ,canon ,butler4 ,we can  very well  

continue to admire the inimitable       
accuracy and vividness  with which these
 real scenes are described1 while we    
suffer from the  painful bitterness of  
this exhaustive improvisation on the old
 theme  of parents and children4 ,but   
the whole book is not of equal merit4   
,it begins to weaken at the point where 
,ernest's career diverges from          
,butler's own experience2 and when it   
reaches the catastrophe it sinks  into  
improbabilities from which it never     
recovers4 ,the ,ernest1 whose  thoughts 
and feelings at ,cambridge have been    
described1 and who was  ,butler1 would  
never have made that disastrous mistake 
over ,miss  ,maitland's real profession4
 ,butler did not in fact ever make it1  
nor  did he ever develop into the       
super-prig which ,ernest became after   
his  release from prison4    ,butler's  
reputation will probably rest more and  
more1 as time goes  on1 on his          
,note-books and on ,mr4 ,jones's        
biography1 which might be  described    

together as the story of a distrustful  
man4 ,indeed1 posterity  reading these  
alone1 will probably miss little of what
 it should  retain3 for ,butler was     
careful of his best things1 and most of 
them  are to be found here as well as in
 the books in which he enshrined  them  
among more perishable material4 ,on the 
strength of these two  books he will    
remain a definite and unforgettable     
character1 though  he may1 probably     
will1 recede in importance1 perhaps even
 to the  level of those wits whose      
table-talk is read by the curious in    
every  generation4    ,but even so1     
there he will be still3 a man whom fate 
tortured into  such distrust of his     
fellows as to make him question         
everything and  teach others to do the  
same4 ,he suffered intensely in the     
process  that made him what he was3 he  
suffered again1 much more than he would 
ever admit1 from the ineffaceable       
results of the process4 ,i do not  deny1
 however1 he bursts out1 that ,i have   

been ill-used4 ,i have been  used       
abominably4 ,this cry rings truer1      
echoes longer in the memory1  than the  
assertion which follows that he         
considered the balance of  good fortune 
to have been on his side4 ,by one of    
those contrivances  of events with which
 fate marks the lives of distinguished  
men1 an  atmosphere of distrust followed
 him on to his death-bed and beyond it4 
,for the doctors disagreed during his   
last illness1 and ,mr4 ,festing  ,jones 
doubts the accuracy of the causes given 
in the certificate of  death4           
,,the ,,crystal ,,vase    ,by ,,maurice 
,,hewlett      ,i have often wished that
 ,i could write a novel in which1 as    
mostly  in life1 thank goodness1 nothing
 happened4 ,jane ,austen1 it has been   
objected1 forestalled me there1 and it  
is true that she very nearly  did--but  
not quite4 ,it was a point for her art  
to make that the  novel should have     
form4 ,form involved plot1 plot a logic 
of events2  events--well1 that means    

that there were collisions4 ,they may   
have been  mild shocks1 but persons did 
knock their heads together1 and there   
were stars to be seen by somebody4 ,in  
life1 in a majority of cases1  there are
 no stars1 yet life does not on that    
account cease to be  interesting2 and   
even if stars should happen to be struck
 out1 it is  not the collision1 nor the 
stars either1 which interest us most4   
,no1 it  is our state of soul1 our      
mental process under the stress which we
 care  about2 and as mental process is  
always going on1 and the state of the   
soul never the same for two moments     
together1 there is ample material  for a
 novel of extreme interest1 which need  
never finish1 which might  indeed be as 
perennial as a daily newspaper or the   
,annual ,register4  ,why is it1 do you  
suppose1 that anybody1 if he can1 will  
read anybody  else's letter8 ,it is     
because every man-,jack of us lives in a
 cage1 cut  off from every other        
man-,jack2 because we are incapable of  

knowing what  is going on in the mind of
 our nearest and dearest1 and because we
 burn  for the assurance we may get by  
evidence of homogeneity procurable from 
any human source4 ,man is a creature of 
social instinct condemned by  his nature
 to be solitary4 ,creatures in all      
outward respects similar  to himself are
 awhirl about him4 ,they cannot help    
him1 nor he them2 he  cannot even be    
sure1 for all he may assume it1 that    
they share his hope  and calling4       
,ensphered in flesh we live and die1    
,and see a myriad souls adrift1         
,our likes1 and send our voiceless cry  
,shuddering across the void3 ,the truth 
,succour6 ,the truth6 ,none can reply4  
,that is the state of our case4 ,we can 
cope with mere events1 comedy1  tragedy1
 farce4 ,the things that happen to us   
are not our life4 ,they are  imposed    
upon life1 they come and go4 ,but life  
is a secret process4 ,we  only see the  
accretions4    ,the novel which ,i      
dreamed of writing has recently been    

done1 or rather  begun1 by ,miss        
,dorothy ,richardson4 ,she betters the  
example of ,jane  ,austen by telling us 
much more about what seems to be        
infinitely less1  but is not so in      
reality4 ,she dips into the well whereof
 ,miss ,austen  skims the surface4 ,she 
has essayed to report the mental process
 of a  young woman's lifetime from      
moment to moment4 ,in the course of     
four1 if  not five1 volumes nothing has 
happened yet but the death of a mother  
and the marriage of a sister or so4 ,she
 may write forty1 and ,i shall  be ready
 for the forty-first4 ,mental process1  
the states of the soul1  emotional      
reaction--these as they are moved in us 
by other people are  ,miss ,richardson's
 subject-matter1 and according as these 
are handled  is the interest we can     
devote to her novels4 ,these flitting   
things are  ,miss ,richardson's game1   
and they are the things which interest  
us most  in ourselves1 and the things   
which we desire to know most about in   

our  neighbours4    ,but of course it   
won't do4 ,miss ,richardson does not1   
and cannot1 tell  us all4 ,a novel is a 
piece of art which does not so much     
report life  as transmute it4 ,she takes
 up what she needs for her purpose1 and 
that may not be our purpose4 ,and so it 
is with poetry--we don't go to  that for
 the facts1 but for the essence of fact4
 ,the poet who told us  all about       
himself at some particular pass would   
write a bad poem1 for  it is his affair 
to transfigure rather than transmute1 to
 move us by  beauty at least as much as 
by truth4 ,what we look for so wistfully
 in  each other is the raw material of  
poetry4 ,we can make the finished       
article for ourselves1 given enough     
matter2 and indeed the poetry  which is 
imagined in contemplation is apt to be  
much finer than that  which has passed  
through the claws of prosody and syntax4
 ,the fact1  to be short with it1 is    
that literature has an eye upon the     
consumer4  ,whether it is marketable or 

not1 it is intended for the public4 ,now
  no man will undress in public with    
design4 ,it may be a pity1 but so  it   
is4 ,undesignedly1 ,i don't say4 ,it    
would be possible1 ,i think1 by         
analysis1 to track the successive waves 
of mental process in ,in  ,memoriam4    
,again1 ,the ,angel in the ,house       
brought ,patmore as near to             
self-explication as a poet can go4      
,shakespeare's ,sonnets offer a more    
doubtful field of experiment4    ,what  
then8 ,shall we go to the               
letter-writers--to ,madame de ,svign1 to
  ,gray1 to ,walpole and ,cowper1 ,byron
 and ,lamb8 ,a letter-writer implies  a 
letter-reader1 and just that inadequacy 
of spoken communication  will smother up
 our written words4 ,madame de ,svign   
must placate her  high-sniffing         
daughter1 ,gray must please himself2    
,walpole must at any  cost be lively1   
,cowper must be urbane to ,lady ,hesketh
 or deprecate  the judgment of the      
,reverend ,mr4 ,newton4 ,byron was      

always before the  looking-glass as he  
wrote2 and as for ,charles ,lamb1 do not
 suppose  that he did anything but hide 
in his clouds of ink4 ,sir ,sidney      
,colvin  thinks that ,keats revealed    
himself in his letters1 but ,i cannot   
agree  with him4 ,keats is one of the   
best letter-writers we have2 he can be  
merry1 fanciful1 witty1 thoughtful1 even
 profound4 ,he has a sardonic  turn of  
language hardly to be equalled outside  
,shakespeare4 ,were it  in my device1 ,i
 would reject a ,petrarchal             
coronation--on account of my  dying day1
 and because women have cancers4 ,where 
will you match that  but from ,hamlet8  
,but ,keats knew himself4 ,it is a      
wretched thing to  confess1 but it is a 
very fact1 that not one word ,i can     
utter can be  taken for granted as an   
opinion growing out of my identical     
,nature4 ,so  ,i find him in his        
letters1 swayed rather by his fancies   
than his states  of soul1 until indeed  
that soul of his was wrung by agony of  

mind and  disease of body4 ,revelation1 
then1 like gouts of blood1 did issue1   
but  of that ,i do not now write4 ,no   
man is sane at such a crisis4    ,parva 
componere magnis1 there is a letter     
contained in ,the ,early  ,diary of     
,frances ,burney 7ed4 ,mrs4 ,a4 ,r4     
,ellis1 #ahhi7 more completely          
apocalyptic than anything else of the   
kind accessible to me4 ,its writer  was 
,maria ,allen1 daughter of ,dr4         
,burney's second wife1 therefore        
half-sister to the charming ,burney     
girls4 ,she was a young lady who  could 
let herself go1 in act as well as on    
paper1 and withal1 as  ,fanny judged    
her1 flighty1 ridiculous1 uncommon1     
lively1 comical1  entertaining1 frank1  
and undisguised--or because of it--she  
did  contrive to unfold her panting and 
abounding young self more thoroughly    
than the many times more expert4 ,you   
have her here in the pangs of a  love   
affair1 of how long standing ,i don't   
know1 but now evidently in  a bad state 

of miss-fire4 ,it was to end in         
elopement1 post-chaise1  clandestine    
marriage1 in right eighteenth century4  
,here it is in an  earlier state1 all   
mortification1 pouting and hunching of  
the shoulder4  ,i reproduce it with     
,maria's punctuation1 which shows it to 
have  proceeded1 as no doubt she did    
herself1 in gasps3    ,i was at the     
,assembly1 forced to go entirely against
 my own  ,inclination4 ,but ,i always   
have sacrificed my own inclinations to  
the  will of other people--could not    
resist the pressing ,importunity        
of--,bet  ,dickens--to go--tho' it      
proved ,horribly stupid4 ,i drank tea at
 the  ---- told old ,turner--,i was     
determined not to dance--he would not   
believe me--a wager ensued--half-a-crown
 provided ,i followed my own            
,inclinations--agreed--,mr4 ,audley     
asked me4 ,i refused--sat still--yet    
followed my own ,inclinations4 ,but four
 couple began--,martin 7c'etait  ,lui7  
was there--yet stupid--nimporte--quite  

,indifferent--on both  sides--,who had  
,i--to converse with the whole          
,evening--not a female  friend--none    
there--not an acquaintance--,all        
,dancing--who then--,i've               
forgot--nimporte--,i broke my           
earring--how--heaven knows--foolishly   
enough--one can't always keep on the    
,mask of ,wisdom--well n'importe  ,i    
danced a ,minute a quatre the latter end
 of the ,eve--with a  stupid            
,wretch--need ,i name him--,they danced 
cotillions almost the  whole ,night--two
 sets--yet ,i did not join them--,miss  
,jenny ,hawkins  danced--with who--can't
 you guess--well--n'importe----         
99       99       99       99       99  
,there is more1 but my pen is out of    
breath4 ,nobody but ,mr4 ,jingle ever   
wrote like that2 and in so far as ,maria
 ,allen may be said to have had a  soul1
 there in its little spasms is the soul 
of ,maria ,allen1 with all  the         
malentendus of the ballroom and all the 
surgings of a love affair  at           

cross-purposes thrown in4    ,as for    
,fanny ,burney's early diary1 its       
careful and admirable editor  claims    
that you have in it the only published1 
perhaps the only  existing record of the
 life of an ,english girl1 written of   
herself1 in  the eighteenth century4 ,i 
believe that to be true4 ,it is a       
record1 and  a faithful and very        
charming record of the externals of such
 a life4  ,as such it is1 to me at      
least1 a valuable thing4 ,if it does not
 unfold  the amiable1 brisk1 and happy  
,fanny herself1 there are two simple    
reasons why it could not4 ,first1 she   
was writing her journal for the         
entertainment of old ,mr4 ,crisp of     
,chessington1 the ,daddy ,crisp of her  
best pages2 secondly1 it is not at all  
likely that she knew of anything  to    
unfold4 ,nor1 for that matter1 was      
,fanny herself of the kind that can     
unfold to another person4 ,yet there is 
a charm all over the book1 which  some  
may place here1 some there1 but which   

all will confess4 ,for me it  is not so 
much that ,fanny herself is a charming  
girl1 and a girl of  shrewd observation1
 of a pointed pen1 and an admirable gift
 of mimicry4  ,she has all that and     
more--she has a good heart4 ,her sister 
,susan is  as good as she1 and there are
 many of ,susan's letters4 ,but the real
  charm of the book1 ,i think1 is in the
 series of faithful pictures it         
contains of the everyday round of an    
everyday family4 ,dutch pictures        
all--passers-by1 a knock at the front   
door1 callers--,mr4 ,young1 in  light   
blue embroidered with silver1 a bag and 
sword1 and walking in the  rain2 a jaunt
 to ,greenwich1 a concert at home--the  
,agujari in one of  her humours2 a      
masquerade--a very private one1 and at  
the house of ,mr4  ,laluze 444 ,hetty   
had for three months thought of nothing 
else 444 she  went as a ,savoyard with a
 hurdy-gurdy fastened round her waist4  
,nothing  could look more simple1       
innocent1 and pretty4 ,my dress was a   

close pink  ,persian vest covered with a
 gauze in loose pleats4444 ,what else8  
,oh1 a  visit to ,teignmouth--,maria    
,allen now ,mrs4 ,ruston2 another to    
,worcester2  quiet days at ,king's      
,lynn1 where ,i have just finished      
,henry and  ,frances 444 the greatest   
part of the last volume is wrote by     
,henry1  and on the gravest of grave    
subjects1 and that which is most        
dreadful  to our thoughts1 ,eternal     
,misery4444 ,terrific novel3 but need ,i
 go on8  ,there may be some to whom a   
description of the nothings of this our 
life will be as flat as the nothings    
themselves--but ,i am not of that       
party4 ,the things themselves interest  
me1 and ,i confess the charm4 ,it  is   
the charm of innocence and freshness1 a 
morning dew upon the words4    ,the     
,burneys1 however1 can do no more for us
 than shed that auroral  dew4 ,they     
cannot reassure us of our normal        
humanity1 since they needed  reassurance
 for themselves4    ,where1 then1 shall 

we turn8 ,so far as ,i am aware1 to two 
only1 except  for two others whom ,i    
leave out of account4 ,rousseau is one1 
for it is  long since ,i read him1 but  
my recollection is that the ,confessions
 is  a kind of novel1 premeditated1     
selective1 done with great art4 ,marie  
,bashkirtseff is another4 ,i have not   
read her at all4 ,of the two who  remain
 ,i leave ,pepys also out of account1   
because1 though it may be  good for us  
to read ,pepys1 it is better to have    
read him and be through  with it4       
,there1 under the grace of ,god1 go a   
many besides ,pepys1 and  among them    
every boy who has ever befouled a wall  
with a stump of  pencil4 ,we are left   
then with one whom it is ill to name in 
the same  fill of the inkpot1           
,wordsworth's exquisite sister1 as      
,keats1 who saw  her once1 at once knew 
her to be4    ,in ,dorothy ,wordsworth's
 journals you may have the delight of   
daily  intercourse--famigliarmente      
discorrendo--with one of the purest  and

 noblest souls ever housed in flesh2 to 
that you may add the  reassurance to be 
got from word and implication beyond    
doubt4 ,she tells  us much1 but implies 
more4 ,we may see deeply into ourselves1
 but she  sees deeply into a deeper self
 than most of us can discern4 ,it is not
  only that1 knowing her1 we are        
grounded in the rudiments of honour and 
lovely living2 it is to learn that human
 life can so be lived1 and to  conclude 
that of that at least is the ,kingdom of
 ,heaven4    ,these journals are for    
fragments only of the years which they  
cover1  and as such exist for           
,jan4-,may1 #agih 7,alfoxden71          
,may-,dec41 #ahjj1  ,oct4-,dec41 #ahja1 
,jan4-,july1 #ahjb3 all these at        
,grasmere4 ,they have been  printed by  
,professor ,knight1 and ,i have the     
assurance of ,mr4 ,gordon  ,wordsworth  
that what little has been omitted is    
unimportant4 ,nothing is  unimportant to
 me1 and ,i wish the whole had been     
given us2 but what we  have is enough   

whereby to trace the development of her 
extraordinary  mind and of her power of 
self-expression4 ,the latter1           
undoubtedly1  grew out of emotion1 which
 gradually culminated until the day of  
,william ,wordsworth's marriage4 ,there 
it broke1 and with it1 as if by  a      
determination of the will1 there the    
revelation ceased4 ,a new life  began   
with the coming of ,mary ,wordsworth to 
,dove ,cottage1 a life of  which        
,dorothy records the surface only4      
,the ,alfoxden fragment 7#bj ,jan4-#bb  
,may1 #agih71 written when she was      
twenty-seven1 is chiefly notable for its
 power of interpreting  landscape4 ,that
 was a power which ,wordsworth himself  
possessed in a  high degree4 ,there can 
be no doubt1 ,i think1 that they egged  
each other  on1 but ,i myself should    
find it hard to say which was egger-on  
and  which the egged4 ,this is the first
 sentence of it3      #bj ,jan4--,the   
green paths down the hillsides are      
channels for    streams4 ,the young     

wheat is streaked by silver lines of    
water running    between the ridges1 the
 sheep are gathered together on the     
slopes4    ,after the wet dark days the 
country seems more populous4 ,it peoples
    itself in the sunbeams4    ,here is 
one of few days later3                  
#bcrd4--,bright sunshine1 went out at #c
 o'cl4 ,the sea perfectly calm    blue1 
streaked with deeper colour by the      
clouds1 and tongues or    points of     
sand2 on our return of a gloomy red4    
,the sun gone down4 ,the    crescent    
moon1 ,jupiter and ,venus4 ,the sound of
 the sea distinctly    heard on the tops
 of the hills1 which we could never hear
 in summer4    ,we attribute this partly
 to the bareness of the trees1 but      
chiefly to    the absence of the singing
 birds1 the hum of insects1 that        
noiseless    noise which lives in the   
summer air4 ,the villages marked out by 
beautiful beds of smoke4 ,the turf      
fading into the mountain road4    ,she  
handles words1 phrases1 like notes or   

chords of music1 and never  gets her    
landscape by direct description4 ,one   
more picture and ,i must  leave it3     
#bf4-- 444 ,walked to the top of a high 
hill to see a fortification4    ,again  
sat down to feed upon the prospect2 a   
magnificent scene1    curiously spread  
out for even minute inspection1 though  
so    extensive that the mind is afraid 
to calculate its bounds4444             
,coleridge was with them most days1 or  
they with him4 ,here is a curious  point
 to note4 ,dorothy records3      ,march 
#gth4--,william and ,i drank tea at     
,coleridge's4444 ,observed    nothing   
particularly interesting4444 ,one only  
leaf upon the top of    a tree--the sole
 remaining leaf--danced round and round 
like a rag    blown by the wind4    ,and
 ,coleridge has in ,christabel3         
,the one red leaf1 the last of its clan1
        ,that dances as often as dance  
it can1        ,hanging so light1 and   
hanging so high1        ,on the topmost 
twig that looks up at the sky4          

,william1 ,dorothy1 and ,coleridge went 
to ,hamburg at the end of that  year1   
but in #ahjj the brother and sister were
 in ,grasmere2 and the  journal1 which  
opens with ,may #ad1 at once betrays the
 great passion of  ,dorothy's life3     
,william and ,john set off into         
,yorkshire after dinner at half-past    
two o'clock1 cold pork in their pockets4
 ,i left them at the turning    of the  
,low-,wood bay under the trees4 ,my     
heart was so full ,i could    hardly    
speak to ,w4 when ,i gave him a farewell
 kiss4 ,i sate a long    time upon a    
stone at the margin of the lake1 and    
after a flood of    tears my heart was  
easier4 ,the lake looked to me1 ,i know 
not why1    dull and melancholy1 and the
 weltering on the shore seemed a heavy  
sound4444 ,i resolved to write a journal
 of the time till ,w4 and    ,j4 return1
 and ,i set about keeping my resolve1   
because ,i will not    quarrel with     
myself1 and because ,i shall give       
,william pleasure by it    when he comes

 again4444    ,because ,i will not      
quarrel with myself6 ,she is full of    
such  illuminations4 ,here is another3  
,sunday1 ,june #ast4--,after tea went to
 ,ambleside round the lakes4    ,a very 
fine warm evening4 ,upon the side of    
,loughrigg my heart    dissolved in what
 ,i saw4    ,now here is her account of 
a country funeral which she reads into1 
or  out of1 the countryside3            
,wednesday1 #crd ,sept4-- 444 a funeral 
at ,john ,dawson's 444 ,i was           
affected to tears while we stood in the 
house1 the coffin lying    before me4   
,there were no near kindred1 no         
children4 ,when we got out    of the    
dark house the sun was shining1 and the 
prospect looked as    divinely beautiful
 as ,i ever saw it4 ,it seemed more     
sacred than ,i had    ever seen it1 and 
yet more allied to human life4444 ,i    
thought she    was going to a quiet     
spot1 and ,i could not help weeping very
 much4444    ,the italics are mine4     
,william was pleased to call her weeping

 nervous  blubbering4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,and   
then we come to #ahjb1 the great last   
year of a twin life2 the last  year of  
the five in which those two had lived as
 one soul and one  heart4 ,they were at 
,dove ,cottage1 on something under #aej 
a year4 ,poems  were thronging thick    
about them2 they were living intensely4 
,john was  alive4 ,mary ,hutchinson was 
at ,sockburn4 ,coleridge was still      
,coleridge1  not the bemused and futile 
mystic he was to become4 ,as for        
,dorothy1  she lives a thing enskied1   
floating from ecstasy to ecstasy4 ,it is
 the  third of ,march1 and ,william is  
to go to ,london4 ,before we had quite  
finished breakfast ,calvert's man       
brought the horses for ,wm4 ,we had a   
deal to do1 pens to make1 poems to put  
in order for writing1 to settle  for the
 press1 pack up4444 ,since he left me at
 half-past eleven 7it  is now two7 ,i   
have been putting the drawers into      
order1 laid by his  clothes1 which he   

had thrown here and there and           
everywhere1 filed two  months'          
newspapers1 and got my dinner1 two      
boiled eggs and two apple  tarts4444    
,the robins are singing sweetly4 ,now   
for my walk4 ,i will  be busy4 ,i will  
look well1 and be well when he comes    
back to me4 ,o  the ,darling6 ,here is  
one of his bitter apples4 ,i can hardly 
find it in  my heart to throw it into   
the fire4444 ,i walked round the two    
lakes1  crossed the stepping-stones at  
,rydalefoot4 ,sate down where we always 
sit4 ,i was full of thought of my       
darling4 ,blessings on him4 ,where  else
 in our literature will you find mood so
 tender1 so intimately1 so  delicately  
related8    ,a week later1 and ,william 
returned4 ,with him1 it seems1 her      
descriptive  powers4 ,monday morning--a 
soft rain and mist4 ,we walked to       
,rydale for  letters4 ,the ,vale looked 
very beautiful in excessive simplicity1 
yet1  at the same time1 uncommon        
obscurity4 ,the church stood alone1     

mountains  behind4 ,the meadows looked  
calm and rich1 bordering on the still   
lake4  ,nothing else to be seen but lake
 and island4 ,exquisite landscape4 ,for 
its like we must go to ,japan4 ,here is 
another4 ,an interior4 ,it is the  #bcrd
 of ,march1 about ten o'clock1 a quiet  
night4 ,the fire flickers1  and the     
watch ticks4 ,i hear nothing save the   
breathing of my beloved as  he now and  
then pushes his book forward1 and turns 
over a leaf4444 ,no  more1 but the peace
 of it is profound1 the art             
incomparable4    ,in ,april1 between the
 #eth and #abth1 ,william went into     
,yorkshire upon  an errand which she    
knew and dreaded4 ,her trouble makes the
 words  throb4 ,monday1 #abth4444 ,the  
ground covered with snow4 ,walked to ,t4
  ,wilkinson's and sent for letters4    
,the woman brought me one from ,william 
and ,mary4 ,it was a sharp windy night4 
,thomas ,wilkinson came with me to      
,barton and questioned me like a        
catechiser all the way4 ,every question 

was like the snapping of a little thread
 about my heart4 ,i was so full  of     
thought of my half-read letter and other
 things4 ,i was glad when he  left me4  
,then ,i had time to look at the moon   
while ,i was thinking of  my own        
thoughts4 ,the moon travelled through   
the clouds1 tinging them  yellow as she 
passed along1 with two stars near her1  
one larger than  the other4444 ,at this 
time ,william1 as ,i found the next day1
 was riding  by himself between         
,middleham and ,barnard ,castle4 ,i     
don't know where  else to find the vague
 torment of thought1 its way of         
enhancing colour  and form in nature1   
more intensely observed4 ,next day3     
,when ,i returned  ,william was come4   
,the surprise shot through me4 ,this    
woman was not  so much poet as crystal  
vase4 ,you can see the thought cloud and
 take  shape4    ,the twin life was     
resumed for yet a little while4 ,in the 
same month  come her descriptions of the
 daffodils in ,gowbarrow ,park1 and of  

the  scene by ,brothers ,water1 which   
prove to anybody in need of proof  that 
she was ,william's well-spring of poesy4
 ,not that the journal is  necessarily  
involved4 ,no need to suppose that he   
even read it4 ,but  that she could make 
him see1 and be moved by1 what she had  
seen is  proved by this3 #agth4444 ,i   
saw a robin chasing a scarlet butterfly 
this morning2 and ,sunday1 #ahth4444    
,william wrote the poem on ,the  ,robin 
and the ,butterfly4 ,no2 beautiful      
beyond praise as the journals  are1 it  
is certain that she was more beautiful  
than they4 ,and what a  discerning      
illuminative eye she had6 ,as ,i lay    
down on the grass1 ,i  observed the     
glittering silver line on the ridge of  
the backs of the  sheep1 owing to their 
situation respecting the sun1 which made
 them  look beautiful1 but with         
something of strangeness1 like animals  
of  another kind1 as if belonging to a  
more splendid world4444 ,what a  woman  
to go a-gipsying through the world with6

    ,then comes the end4444 ,thursday1  
#hth ,july4444 ,in the afternoon1 after 
we had talked a little1 ,william fell   
asleep4 ,i read ,the ,winter's  ,tale2  
then ,i went to bed1 but did not sleep4 
,the swallows stole in  and out of their
 nest1 and sat there1 whiles quite      
still1 whiles  they sung low for two    
minutes or more at a time1 just like a  
muffled  robin4 ,william was looking at 
,the ,pedlar when ,i got up4 ,he        
arranged  it1 and after tea ,i wrote it 
out--#bhj lines4444 ,the moon was       
behind4444  ,we walked first to the top 
of the hill to see ,rydale4 ,it was dark
 and  dull1 but our own vale was very   
solemn--the shape of ,helm ,crag was    
quite distinct1 though black4 ,we walked
 backwards and forwards on the  ,white  
,moss path2 there was a sky like white  
brightness on the lake4444  ,o beautiful
 place6 ,dear ,mary1 ,william4 ,the hour
 is come4444 ,i must  prepare to go4    
,the swallows1 ,i must leave them1 the  
wall1 the garden1  the roses1 all4 ,dear

 creatures1 they sang last night after  
,i was in  bed2 seemed to be singing to 
one another1 just before they settled to
  rest for the night4 ,well1 ,i must go4
 ,farewell4    ,next day she set out    
with ,william to meet her secret dread1 
knowing  that life in ,rydale could     
never be the same again4 ,wordsworth    
married  ,mary ,hutchinson on the #dth  
,october1 #ahjb4 ,the secret is no      
secret now1  for ,dorothy was a crystal 
vase4          ,,ben ,,jonson#g         
#g ,ben ,jonson4 ,by ,g4 ,gregory       
,smith4 7,english ,men of               
,letters ,series47 ,macmillan1 #aiai4   
#cs4 net4    ,by ,,aldous ,,huxley      
,it comes as something of a surprise to 
find that the niche reserved for  ,ben  
,jonson in the ,english ,men of ,letters
 series has only now been  filled4 ,one 
expected somehow that he would have been
 among the first of  the great ones to  
be enshrined2 but no1 he has had a long 
time to wait2  and ,adam ,smith1 and    
,sydney ,smith1 and ,hazlitt1 and ,fanny

 ,burney have  gone before him into the 
temple of fame4 ,now1 however1 his      
monument has  at last been made1 with   
,professor ,gregory ,smith's qualified  
version of  ,o rare ,ben ,jonson6 duly  
and definitively carved upon it4        
,what is it that makes us1 almost as a  
matter of course1 number ,ben  ,jonson  
among the great8 ,why should we expect  
him to be an early  candidate for       
immortality1 or why1 indeed1 should he  
be admitted to the  ,english ,men of    
,letters series at all8 ,these are      
difficult questions  to answer2 for when
 we come to consider the matter we find 
ourselves  unable to give any very      
glowing account of ,ben or his          
greatness4 ,it  is hard to say that one 
likes his work2 one cannot honestly call
  him a good poet or a supreme          
dramatist4 ,and yet1 unsympathetic as   
he is1 uninteresting as he often can be1
 we still go on respecting  and admiring
 him1 because1 in spite of everything1  
we are conscious1  obscurely but        

certainly1 that he was a great man4     
,he had little influence on his         
successors2 the comedy of humours died  
without any but an abortive issue4      
,shadwell1 the mountain-bellied ,og1    
from a treason tavern rolling home1 is  
not a disciple that any man  would have 
much pride in claiming4 ,no raking up of
 literary history  will make ,ben       
,jonson great as a founder of a school  
or an inspirer of  others4 ,his         
greatness is a greatness of character4  
,there is something  almost alarming in 
the spectacle of this formidable figure 
advancing  with tank-like               
irresistibility towards the goal he had 
set himself to  attain4 ,no sirens of   
romance can seduce him1 no shock of     
opposition  unseat him in his career4   
,he proceeds along the course           
theoretically  mapped out at the        
inception of his literary life1 never   
deviating from  this narrow way till the
 very end--till the time when1 in his   
old age1  he wrote that exquisite       

pastoral1 ,the ,sad ,shepherd1 which is 
so  complete and absolute a denial of   
all his lifelong principles4 ,but ,the  
,sad ,shepherd is a weakness1 albeit a  
triumphant weakness4 ,ben1 as he  liked 
to look upon himself1 as he has again   
and again revealed himself  to us1 is   
the artist with principles1 protesting  
against the anarchic  absence of        
principle among the geniuses and        
charlatans1 the poets and  ranters of   
his age4      ,the true artificer will  
not run away from nature as he were     
afraid    of her3 or depart from life   
and the likeness of truth2 but speak to 
the capacity of his hearers4 ,and though
 his language differ from    the vulgar 
somewhat1 it shall not fly from all     
humanity1 with the    ,tamerlanes and   
,tamer-,chams of the late age1 which had
 nothing in them    but the scenical    
strutting and furious vociferation to   
warrant them    to the ignorant gapers4 
,he knows it is his only art1 so to     
carry it    as none but artificers      

perceive it4 ,in the meantime1 perhaps1 
he is    called barren1 dull1 lean1 a   
poor writer1 or by what contumelious    
word can come in their cheeks1 by these 
men who without labour1    judgment1    
knowledge1 or almost sense1 are received
 or preferred    before him4    ,in     
these sentences from ,discoveries ,ben  
,jonson paints his own                  
picture--portrait of the artist as a    
true artificer--setting forth1  in its  
most general form1 and with no          
distracting details of the  humours or  
the moral purpose of art1 his own theory
 of the artist's  true function and     
nature4 ,jonson's theory was no idle    
speculation1 no  mere thing of words and
 air1 but a creed1 a principle1 a       
categorical  imperative1 conditioning   
and informing his whole work4 ,any study
 of the  poet must1 therefore1 begin    
with the formulation of his theory1 and 
must go on1 as ,professor ,gregory      
,smith's excellent essay does indeed    
proceed1 to show in detail how the      

theory was applied and worked out in    
each individual composition4    ,a good 
deal of nonsense has been talked at one 
time or another about  artistic         
theories4 ,the artist is told that he   
should have no theories1  that he should
 warble native wood-notes wild1 that he 
should sing1 be  wholly spontaneous1    
should starve his brain and cultivate   
his heart and  spleen2 that an artistic 
theory cramps the style1 stops up the   
,helicons  of inspiration1 and so on1   
and so on4 ,the foolish and sentimental 
conception of the artist1 to which these
 anti-intellectual doctrines  are a     
corollary1 dates from the time of       
romanticism and survives  among the     
foolish and sentimental of to-day4 ,a   
consciously practised  theory of art has
 never spoiled a good artist1 has never 
dammed up  inspiration1 but rather1 and 
in most cases profitably1 canalised  it4
 ,even the ,romantics had theories and  
were wild and emotional on  principle4  
,theories are above all necessary at    

moments when old traditions are         
breaking up1 when all is chaos and in   
flux4 ,at such moments an artist        
formulates his theory and clings to it  
through thick and thin2 clings  to it as
 the one firm raft of security in the   
midst of the surrounding  unrest4 ,thus1
 when the neo-,classicism1 of which ,ben
 was one of the  remote ancestors1 was  
crumbling into the nothingness of ,the  
,loves of  the ,plants and ,the         
,triumphs of ,temper1 ,wordsworth found 
salvation by  the promulgation of a new 
theory of poetry1 which he put into     
practice  systematically and to the     
verge of absurdity in ,lyrical ,ballads4
  ,similarly in the shipwreck of the old
 tradition of painting we find  the     
artists of the present day clinging     
desperately to intellectual  formulas as
 their only hope in the chaos4 ,the only
 occasions1 in  fact1 when the artist   
can afford entirely to dispense with    
theory  occur in periods when a         
well-established tradition reigns       

supreme and  unquestioned4 ,and then the
 absence of theory is more apparent than
  real2 for the tradition in which he is
 working is a theory1 originally        
formulated by someone else1 which he    
accepts unconsciously and as  though it 
were the law of nature itself4    ,the  
beginning of the seventeenth century was
 not one of these  periods of placidity 
and calm acceptance4 ,it was a moment of
 growth  and decay together1 of         
fermentation4 ,the fabulous             
efflorescence of  the ,renaissance had  
already grown rank4 ,with that          
extravagance of  energy which           
characterised them in all things1 the   
,elizabethans had  exaggerated the      
traditions of their literature into     
insincerity4 ,all  artistic traditions  
end1 in due course1 by being reduced to 
the absurd2  but the ,elizabethans      
crammed the growth and decline of a     
century into a  few years4 ,one after   
another they transfigured and then      
destroyed every  species of art they    

touched4 ,euphuism1 ,petrarchism1       
,spenserism1 the  sonnet1 the           
drama--some lasted a little longer than 
others1 but they  all exploded in the   
end1 these beautiful iridescent bubbles 
blown too  big by the enthusiasm of     
their makers4    ,but in the midst of   
this unstable luxuriance voices of      
protest  were to be heard1 reactions    
against the main romantic current were  
discernible4 ,each in his own way and in
 his own sphere1 ,donne and  ,ben       
,jonson protested against the           
exaggerations of the age4 ,at a time    
when sonneteers in legions were         
quibbling about the blackness of  their 
ladies' eyes or the golden wires of     
their hair1 when ,platonists  protested 
in melodious chorus that they were not  
in love with red and  white but with the
 ideal and divine beauty of which       
peach-blossom  complexions were but     
inadequate shadows1 at a time when      
love-poetry had  become1 with rare      
exceptions1 fantastically unreal1 ,donne

 called it  back1 a little grossly      
perhaps1 to facts with the dry remark3  
,love's not so pure and abstract as they
 use        ,to say1 who have no        
mistress but their muse4    ,there have 
been poets who have written more        
lyrically than ,donne1  more fervently  
about certain amorous emotions1 but not 
one who has  formulated so rational a   
philosophy of love as a whole1 who has  
seen  all the facts so clearly and      
judged of them so soundly4 ,donne laid  
down  no literary theory4 ,his followers
 took from him all that was relatively  
unimportant--the harshness1 itself a    
protest against ,spenserian  facility1  
the conceits1 the sensuality tempered by
 mysticism--but the  important and      
original quality of ,donne's work1 the  
psychological  realism1 they could not1 
through sheer incapacity1 transfer into 
their  own poetry4 ,donne's immediate   
influence was on the whole bad4 ,any    
influence for good he may have had has  
been on poets of a much later  date4    

,the other great literary ,protestant of
 the time was the curious subject  of   
our examination1 ,ben ,jonson4 ,like    
,donne he was a realist4 ,he had  no use
 for claptrap1 or rant1 or romanticism4 
,his aim was to give his  audiences real
 facts flavoured with sound morality4   
,he failed to be  a great realist1      
partly because he lacked the imaginative
 insight to  perceive more than the most
 obvious and superficial reality1 and   
partly  because he was so much          
preoccupied with the sound morality that
 he was  prepared to sacrifice truth to 
satire2 so that in place of characters  
he gives us humours1 not minds1 but     
personified moral qualities4    ,ben    
hated romanticism2 for1 whatever may    
have been his bodily  habits1 however   
infinite his capacity for drinking sack1
 he belonged  intellectually to the     
party of sobriety4 ,in all ages the     
drunks and  the sobers have confronted  
one another1 each party loud in derision
  and condemnation of the defects which 

it observes in the other4 ,the          
,tamerlanes and ,tamer-,chams of the    
late age accuse the sober ,ben of  being
 barren1 dull1 lean1 a poor writer4 ,ben
 retorts that they have  nothing in them
 but the scenical strutting and furious 
vociferation  to warrant them to the    
ignorant gapers4 ,at another period it  
is the  ,hernanis and the ,rollas who   
reproach that paragon of dryness1 the   
almost fiendishly sober ,stendhal1 with 
his grocer's style4 ,stendhal  in his   
turn remarks3 ,en paraissant1 vers      
#ahjc1 le ,gnie de  ,chateaubriand m'a  
sembl ridicule4 ,and to-day8 ,we have   
our sobers and  our drunks1 our ,hardy  
and our ,belloc1 and ,chesterton4 ,the  
distinction  is universally and         
eternally valid4 ,our personal          
sympathies may lie  with one or the     
other2 but it is obvious that we could  
dispense with  neither4 ,ben1 then1 was 
one of the sobers1 protesting with might
 and  main against the extravagant      
behaviour of the drunks1 an intellectual

  insisting that there was no way of    
arriving at truth except by             
intellectual processes1 an apotheosis of
 the ,plain ,man determined  to stand no
 nonsense about anything4 ,ben's        
poetical achievement1  such as it is1 is
 the achievement of one who relied on no
 mysterious  inspiration1 but on those  
solid qualities of sense1 perseverance1 
and  sound judgment which any decent    
citizen of a decent country may be      
expected to possess4 ,that he himself   
possessed1 hidden somewhere in  the     
obscure crypts and recesses of his mind1
 other rarer spiritual  qualities is    
proved by the existence of his additions
 to ,the ,spanish  ,tragedy--if1 indeed1
 they are his1 which there is no cogent 
reason  to doubt--and his last fragment 
of a masterpiece1 ,the ,sad ,shepherd4  
,but these qualities1 as ,professor     
,gregory ,smith points out1 he seems    
deliberately to have suppressed2 locked 
them away1 at the bidding  of his       
imperious theory1 in the strange dark   

places from which1 at  the beginning and
 the very end of his career1 they       
emerged4 ,he might  have been a great   
romantic1 one of the sublime inebriates2
 he chose  rather to be classical and   
sober4 ,working solely with the logical 
intellect and rejecting as dangerous the
 aid of those uncontrolled  illogical   
elements of imagination1 he produced    
work that is in its  own way excellent4 
,it is well-wrought1 strong1 heavy with 
learning  and what the ,chaucerians     
would call high sentence4 ,the emotional
  intensity and brevity excepted1 it    
possesses all the qualities of  the     
,french classical drama4 ,but the       
quality which characterises the  best   
,elizabethan and indeed the best        
,english poetry of all periods1  the    
power of moving in two worlds at once1  
it lacks4 ,jonson1 like  the ,french    
dramatists of the seventeenth century1  
moves on a level1  directly towards some
 logical goal4 ,the road over which his 
great  contemporaries take us is not    

level2 it is1 as it were1 tilted and    
uneven1 so that as we proceed along it  
we are momently shot off at a  tangent  
from the solid earth of logical meaning 
into superior regions  where the        
intellectual laws of gravity have no    
control4 ,the mistake  of ,jonson and   
the classicists in general consists in  
supposing that  nothing is of value that
 is not susceptible of logical analysis2
  whereas the truth is that the greatest
 triumphs of art take place in a  world 
that is not wholly of the intellect1 but
 lies somewhere between  it and the     
inenarrable1 but1 to those who have     
penetrated it1 supremely  real1 world of
 the mystic4 ,in his fear and dislike of
 nonsense1 ,jonson  put away from       
himself not only the ,tamer-,chams and  
the fustian of the  late age1 but also  
most of the beauty it had created4      
,with the romantic emotions of his      
predecessors and contemporaries  ,jonson
 abandoned much of the                  
characteristically ,elizabethan form of 

their poetry4 ,that extraordinary       
melodiousness which distinguishes the   
,elizabethan lyric is not to be found in
 any of ,ben's writing4 ,the poems  by  
which we remember him--,cynthia1 ,drink 
to ,me ,only1 ,it is ,not  ,growing     
,like a ,tree--are classically well made
 7though the cavalier  lyrists were to  
do better in the same style72 but it is 
not for any  musical qualities that we  
remember them4 ,one can understand      
,ben's  critical contempt for those     
purely formal devices for producing     
musical  richness in which the          
,elizabethans delighted4          ,eyes1
 why did you bring unto me these graces1
        ,grac'd to yield wonder out of  
her true measure1        ,measure of all
 joyes' stay to phansie traces          
,module of pleasure4    ,the device is  
childish in its formality1 the words1 in
 their obscurity1  almost devoid of     
significance4 ,but what matter1 since   
the stanza is a  triumph of sonorous    
beauty8 ,the ,elizabethans devised many 

ingenuities  of this sort2 the minor    
poets exploited them until they became  
ridiculous2 the major poets employed    
them with greater discretion1  playing  
subtle variations 7as in ,shakespeare's 
sonnets7 on the crude  theme4 ,when     
writers had something to say1 their     
thoughts1 poured into  these copiously  
elaborate forms1 were moulded to the    
grandest poetical  eloquence4 ,a minor  
poet1 like ,lord ,brooke1 from whose    
works we have  just quoted a specimen of
 pure formalism1 could produce1 in his  
moments  of inspiration1 such           
magnificent lines as3          ,the mind
 of ,man is this world's true dimension1
          ,and knowledge is the measure 
of the mind2    or these1 of the        
nethermost hell3          ,a place there
 is upon no centre placed1        ,deepe
 under depthes1 as farre as is the skie 
,above the earth2 darke1 infinitely     
spaced3        ,pluto the king1 the     
kingdome1 miserie4    ,even into comic  
poetry the ,elizabethans imported the   

grand manner4 ,the  anonymous author of 
,tee-hee1 tee-hee6 ,oh sweet delight6   
,he tickles this age1 who can           
,call ,tullia's ape a marmosite         
,and ,leda's goose a swan1    knew the  
secret of that rich1 facile music which 
all those who wrote  in the grand       
,elizabethan tradition could produce4   
,jonson1 like ,donne1  reacted against  
the facility and floridity of this      
technique1 but in a  different way4     
,donne's protest took the form of a     
conceited subtlety  of thought combined 
with a harshness of metre4 ,jonson's    
classical  training inclined him towards
 clarity1 solidity of sense1 and economy
  of form4 ,he stands1 as a lyrist1     
halfway between the ,elizabethans and   
the cavalier song-writers2 he has broken
 away from the old tradition1  but has  
not yet made himself entirely at home in
 the new4 ,at the best  he achieves a   
minor perfection of point and neatness4 
,at the worst he  falls into that       
dryness and dullness with which he knew 

he could be  reproached4    ,we have    
seen from the passage concerning the    
true artificer that ,jonson  fully      
realised the risk he was running4 ,he   
recurs more than once in  ,discoveries  
to the same theme1 ,some men to avoid   
redundancy run into  that a thin1       
flagging1 poor1 starved style2 and while
 they strive  to have no ill-blood or   
juice1 they lose their good4 ,the good  
that  ,jonson lost was a great one4 ,and
 in the same way we see to-day how a    
fear of becoming sentimental1 or        
chocolate-boxy1 drives many of the      
younger poets and artists to shrink from
 treating of the great emotions  or the 
obvious lavish beauty of the earth4 ,but
 to eschew a good because  the          
corruption of it is very bad is surely a
 sign of weakness and a  folly4         
,having lost the realm of romantic      
beauty--lost it deliberately and of  set
 purpose--,ben ,jonson devoted the whole
 of his immense energy to  portraying   
and reforming the ugly world of fact4   

,but his reforming  satiric intentions  
interfered1 as we have already shown1   
with his  realistic intentions1 and     
instead of re-creating in his art the   
actual  world of men1 he invented the   
wholly intellectual and therefore wholly
  unreal universe of ,humours4 ,it is an
 odd new world1 amusing to look  at from
 the safe distance that separates stage 
from stalls2 but not  a place one could 
ever wish to live in--one's neighbours1 
fools1  knaves1 hypocrites1 and bears   
would make the most pleasing prospect   
intolerable4 ,and over it all is        
diffused the atmosphere of ,jonson's    
humour4 ,it is a curious kind of humour1
 very different from anything  that     
passes under that name to-day1 from the 
humour of ,punch1 or  ,a ,kiss for      
,cinderella4 ,one has only to read      
,volpone--or1 better  still1 go to see  
it when it is acted this year by the    
,phnix ,society  for the revival of old 
plays--to realise that ,ben's conception
 of a  joke differed materially from    

ours4 ,humour has never been the same   
since ,rousseau invented                
humanitarianism4 ,syphilis and broken   
legs  were still a great deal more comic
 in ,smollett's day than in our own4    
,there is a cruelty1 a heartlessness    
about much of the older humour  which is
 sometimes shocking1 sometimes1 in its  
less extreme forms1  pleasantly         
astringent and stimulating after the    
orgies of quaint pathos  and sentimental
 comedy in which we are nowadays forced 
to indulge4  ,there is not a pathetic   
line in ,volpone2 all the characters are
  profoundly unpleasant1 and the fun is 
almost as grim as fun can be4  ,its     
heartlessness is not the brilliant1     
cynical heartlessness of the  later     
,restoration comedy1 but something      
ponderous and vast4 ,it reminds  us of  
one of those enormous1 painful jokes    
which fate sometimes plays  on humanity4
 ,there is no alleviation1 no purging by
 pity and terror4  ,it requires a very  
hearty sense of humour to digest it4 ,we

 have reason  to admire our ancestors   
for their ability to enjoy this kind of 
comedy  as it should be enjoyed4 ,it    
would get very little appreciation from 
a  ,london audience of to-day4    ,in   
the other comedies the fun is not so    
grim2 but there is a certain  hardness  
and brutality about them all--due1 of   
course1 ultimately to  the fact that the
 characters are not human1 but rather   
marionettes  of wood and metal that     
collide and belabour one another1 like  
the  ferocious puppets of the ,punch and
 ,judy show1 without feeling  the       
painfulness of the proceeding4          
,shakespeare's comedy is not  heartless1
 because the characters are human and   
sensitive4 ,our modern  sentimentality  
is a corruption1 a softening of genuine 
humanity4 ,we  need a few more ,jonsons 
and ,congreves1 some more plays like    
,volpone1  or that inimitable ,mariage  
la ,mode of ,dryden1 in which the       
curtain  goes up on a lady singing the  
outrageously cynical song that begins3  

,why should a foolish marriage vow1     
,that long ago was made1                
,constrain us to each other now         
,when pleasure is decayed8    ,too much 
heartlessness is intolerable 7how soon  
one turns1 revolted1  from the          
literature of the ,restoration671 but a 
little of it now and  then is bracing1 a
 tonic for relaxed sensibilities4 ,a    
little ruthless  laughter clears the air
 as nothing else can do2 it is good for 
us1  every now and then1 to see our     
ideals laughed at1 our conception of    
nobility caricatured2 it is good for    
solemnity's nose to be tweaked1  it is  
good for human pomposity to be made to  
look mean and ridiculous4  ,this should 
be the great social function--as        
,marinetti has pointed  out--of the     
music halls1 to provide this cruel and  
unsparing laughter1  to make a          
buffoonery of all the solemnly-accepted 
grandeurs and  nobilities4 ,a good dose 
of this mockery1 administered twice a   
year  at the equinoxes1 should purge our

 minds of much waste matter1 make       
nimble our spirits and brighten the eye 
to look more clearly and  truthfully on 
the world about us4    ,ben's reduction 
of human beings to a series of rather   
unpleasant  ,humours is sound and       
medicinal4 ,humours do not1 of course1  
exist in  actuality2 they are true only 
as caricatures are true4 ,there are     
times  when we wonder whether a         
caricature is not1 after all1 truer than
 a  photograph2 there are others when it
 seems a stupid lie4 ,but at all  times 
a caricature is disquieting2 and it is  
very good for most of us  to be made    
uncomfortable4          ,,stephen       
,,crane    ,a ,note ,without ,dates     
,by ,,joseph ,,conrad      ,my          
acquaintance with ,crane was brought    
about by ,mr4 ,s4 ,s4 ,pawling1  partner
 in the publishing firm of ,mr4 ,william
 ,heinemann4    ,one day ,mr4 ,pawling  
said to me3 ,stephen ,crane has arrived 
in ,england4  ,i asked him if there was 
anybody he wanted to meet and he        

mentioned  two names4 ,one of them was  
yours4 ,i had then just been reading1   
like  the rest of the world1 ,crane's   
,red ,badge of ,courage4 ,the subject of
  that story was war1 from the point of 
view of an individual soldier's         
emotions4 ,that individual 7he remains  
nameless throughout7 was  interesting   
enough in himself1 but on turning over  
the pages of that  little book which had
 for the moment secured such a noisy    
recognition  ,i had been even more      
interested in the personality of the    
writer4 ,the  picture of a simple and   
untried youth becoming through the needs
 of  his country part of a great        
fighting machine was presented with an  
earnestness of purpose1 a sense of      
tragic issues1 and an imaginative  force
 of expression which struck me as quite 
uncommon and altogether  worthy of      
admiration4    ,apparently ,stephen     
,crane had received a favourable        
impression from  reading the ,nigger of 
the ,narcissus1 a book of mine which had

 also  been published lately4 ,i was    
truly pleased to hear this4    ,on my   
next visit to town we met at a lunch4 ,i
 saw a young man of medium  stature and 
slender build1 with very steady1        
penetrating blue eyes1 the  eyes of a   
being who not only sees visions but can 
brood over them to  some purpose4    ,he
 had indeed a wonderful power of vision1
 which he applied to the  things of this
 earth and of our mortal humanity with a
 penetrating  force that seemed to reach
 within life's appearances and forms the
 very  spirit of their truth4 ,his      
ignorance of the world at large--he had 
seen  very little of it--did not stand  
in the way of his imaginative grasp of  
facts1 events1 and picturesque men4     
,his manner was very quiet1 his         
personality at first sight interesting1 
and he talked slowly with an intonation 
which on some people1 mainly            
,americans1 had1 ,i believe1 a jarring  
effect4 ,but not on me4 ,whatever  he   
said had a personal note1 and he        

expressed himself with a graphic        
simplicity which was extremely engaging4
 ,he knew little of literature1  either 
of his own country or of any other1 but 
he was himself a  wonderful artist in   
words whenever he took a pen into his   
hand4 ,then  his gift came out--and it  
was seen to be much more than mere      
felicity  of language4 ,his             
impressionism of phrase went really     
deeper than the  surface4 ,in his       
writing he was very sure of his effects4
 ,i don't think  he was ever in doubt   
about what he could do4 ,yet it often   
seemed  to me that he was but half aware
 of the exceptional quality of his      
achievement4    ,this achievement was   
curtailed by his early death4 ,it was a 
great loss  to his friends1 but perhaps 
not so much to literature4 ,i think that
 he  had given his measure fully in the 
few books he had the time to write4     
,let me not be misunderstood3 the loss  
was great1 but it was the loss of  the  
delight his art could give1 not the loss

 of any further possible  revelation4   
,as to himself1 who can say how much he 
gained or lost by  quitting so early    
this world of the living1 which he knew 
how to set  before us in terms of his   
own artistic vision8 ,perhaps he did not
 lose  a great deal4 ,the recognition he
 was accorded was rather languid and    
given him grudgingly4 ,the worthiest    
welcome he secured for his tales  in    
this country was from ,mr4 ,w4 ,henley  
in the ,new ,review and later1  towards 
the end of his life1 from the late ,mr4 
,william ,blackwood in his  magazine4   
,for the rest ,i must say that during   
his sojourn in ,england  he had the     
misfortune to be1 as the ,french say1   
mal entour4 ,he  was beset by people who
 understood not the quality of his      
genius and  were antagonistic to the    
deeper fineness of his nature4 ,some of 
them  have died since1 but dead or alive
 they are not worth speaking about  now4
 ,i don't think he had any illusions    
about them himself2 yet there  was a    

strain of good-nature and perhaps of    
weakness in his character  which        
prevented him from shaking himself free 
from their worthless  and patronising   
attentions1 which in those days caused  
me much secret  irritation whenever ,i  
stayed with him in either of his        
,english homes4  ,my wife and ,i like   
best to remember him riding to meet us  
at the  gate of the ,park at ,brede4    
,born master of his sincere impressions 
he  was also a born horseman4 ,he never 
appeared so happy or so much to         
advantage as on the back of a horse4 ,he
 had formed the project of  teaching my 
eldest boy to ride and meantime1 when   
the child was about  two years old1     
presented him with his first dog4    ,i 
saw ,stephen ,crane a few days after his
 first arrival in ,london4 ,i saw  him  
for the last time on his last day in    
,england4 ,it was in ,dover1 in  a big  
hotel1 in a bedroom with a large window 
looking on to the sea4  ,he had been    
very ill and ,mrs4 ,crane was taking him

 to some place in  ,germany1 but one    
glance at that wasted face was enough to
 tell me that  it was the most forlorn  
of all hopes4 ,the last words he        
breathed out  to me were3 ,i am tired4  
,give my love to your wife and child4   
,when  ,i stopped at the door for       
another look ,i saw that he had turned  
his  head on the pillow and was staring 
wistfully out of the window at the      
sails of a cutter yacht that glided     
slowly across the frame1 like a dim     
shadow against a grey sky4    ,those who
 have read his little tale1 ,horses1 and
 the story1 ,the ,open  ,boat1 in the   
volume of that name1 know with what fine
 understanding he  loved horses and the 
sea4 ,and his passage on this earth was 
like that  of a horseman riding swiftly 
in the dawn of a day fated to be short  
and  without sunshine4                  
,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,and ,,news  
,correspondence from readers on all     
subjects of bibliographical  interest is
 invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the best

 of his ability1  answer all queries    
addressed to him4      ,,general ,,notes
    ,one of the great autobiographies1  
and a very important document for any   
one who undertakes the most rudimentary 
study of the ,english romantic          
movement1 is the ,life of ,b4 ,r4       
,haydon1 drawn from his journals4 ,he   
was the friend of ,keats1 ,lamb1        
,wordsworth1 ,leigh ,hunt2 he moved in  
many different spheres1 among ,dukes and
 politicians1 and artists1 and  the     
debtors in ,king's ,bench ,prison4 ,a   
man of boundless energy1 an able  writer
 capable of rendering his impressions   
vividly and with force1 he  was1 indeed1
 everything but what he believed himself
 with passionate  faith to be1 what he  
even succeeded in persuading others that
 he was--a  great painter4 ,he was      
convinced--as firmly convinced as of the
 fact  that two and two are four--that  
he was a genius as overwhelmingly great 
as ,michael ,angelo4 ,he was1 as a      
matter of fact1 one of the second-rate  

romantic painters of the early          
nineteenth century1 in some things a    
little better1 in others a good deal    
worse1 than his contemporaries in  the  
same line of trade4 ,the book is a      
fascinating study in psychology  as well
 as one of the most vivid pictures of an
 interesting society4  ,it is1          
therefore1 unfortunate that it should   
now be a matter of some  difficulty to  
lay one's hand on a copy4 ,the first    
edition of the book  appeared in #ahec1 
the second and last some ten years      
later--more than  half a century ago4   
,we venture to express the pious hope   
that some  beneficent publisher will    
reprint what is certainly one of the    
most  peculiar human and historical     
documents of the nineteenth century4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,we learn from ,mr4 ,leslie ,chaundy1 of
 ,oxford1 that he has purchased  intact 
the whole library of the late ,provost  
of ,worcester4 ,dr4 ,daniel's           
collection comprises a great number of  

rare and interesting books1  including1 
of course1 all the volumes issued from  
the famous ,daniel  ,press4 ,a catalogue
 is1 we understand1 in course of        
preparation and will  be issued shortly4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,october #cast saw the     
publication of the first number of the  
,bookman's  ,journal and ,print         
,collector1 qualified in a sub-title as 
,the ,journal  for the ,trade1 for      
,collectors1 and for ,libraries4 ,our   
aim1 we read  in the editorial1 is to be
 useful1 not ornamental4 ,booksellers1  
publishers1 librarians1 and collectors  
alike from all parts of the  country    
have agreed with the need for such a    
journal as this1 and  have given us     
generous support4 ,the magazine contains
 reviews1 a  library supplement of ,new 
,publications and ,reprints of the      
,week1  miscellaneous articles and notes
 on books and booksellers1 prints  and  
engravings4 ,a useful feature of the    
journal will be the series  of complete 

bibliographies of modern authors which  
it is proposed to  publish4 ,the first  
is devoted to the works of ,hubert      
,crackanthorpe1  who died in #ahif1 aged
 only twenty-six4 ,similar              
bibliographies of  ,masefield1          
,galsworthy1 ,conrad1 ,gissing1 ,george 
,moore1 and ,merrick are  in            
preparation4 ,those who wish to buy or  
sell books will be interested  in the   
,books ,wanted and ,books for ,sale     
columns of advertisements4  ,altogether1
 we think that this little paper will   
have no difficulty  in substantiating   
its claims and will prove very valuable 
to all  book-lovers4    ,another        
interesting event in the world of books 
is the opening of the  ,chelsea ,book   
,club at #fe ,cheyne ,walk4 ,it is being
 founded1 we are  told1 in the belief   
that in bookselling selection and       
specialisation  are essential4 ,it will 
aim1 therefore1 at having a stock of    
those  books1 new and second-hand1      
,english and foreign1 dealing with      

,belles ,lettres and ,art which appear  
to be most worthy of study and          
appreciation4 ,a reading-room for the   
use of members will be attached  to the 
club1 in which lectures and exhibitions 
of works of art will be  held from time 
to time4 ,those who wish to have further
 particulars as  to membership1 country 
book-service1 lectures and exhibitions  
are asked  to apply to the ,secretary1  
#fe ,cheyne ,walk1 ,london1 ,s4,w4#c4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,at the sale1 by ,messrs4 ,sotheby1 of  
the late ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4 ,leighton's       
stock1 to which we referred last month1 
a copy of ,walton's ,compleat  ,angler  
7#afee7 fetched #ba #ajs42 ,the ,pricke 
of ,conscience1  fifteenth century      
,m4,s41 #ej2 ,myrrour and ,description  
of the ,worlde1  printed by ,laurence   
,andrews1 circa #aecj1 #gb4 ,important  
auction sales  in the month of ,november
 were ,messrs4 ,sotheby's sale of the   
late ,sir  ,frank ,crisp's library and  
the sale of ,mr4 ,christie ,miller's    

library on  the #bhth of the month4 ,we 
shall have gone to press before the     
results  of the sale are known4 ,what   
will be paid for ,lot #ha1 we           
wonder8--,mr4  ,william ,shakespeare's  
,comedies1 ,histories1 and ,tragedies1  
the first  edition1 folio1 #afbc4       
,the ,christie-,miller library contains 
many other books of extraordinary       
interest1 among them three unique copies
 of works by ,nicholas ,breton3  ,a     
,smale ,handfull of ,fragrant ,flowers1 
,selected and ,gathered out of  the     
,lovely ,garden of ,sacred ,scripture2  
,a ,floorish upon ,fancie1  ,as ,gallant
 a ,glose upon so ,triflinge a ,text as 
ever was ,written2  and ,the ,workes of 
a ,young ,wit ,trust up with a ,fardell 
of ,prettie  ,fancies4 ,robert ,greene  
is represented by three unique copies1  
one of  ,gwydonius1 and another of      
,arbasto1 ,the ,anatomie of ,fortune2   
and  the third of the earliest edition  
of ,a ,quip for an ,upstart ,courtier1  
containing the passage1 suppressed in   

all the later editions1 in abuse  of    
,gabriel ,harvey and his brothers1 which
 started the literary war  between      
,greene and the pedant of ,cambridge4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,,items ,,from ,,the ,,booksellers'     
,,catalogues    ,it is possible1 with a 
bundle of booksellers' catalogues1 to   
waste  more time more pleasantly than in
 any other way4 ,as one idly turns the  
pages1 catching sight here and there of 
a strange title or a book on  some      
impossibly queer subject1 one realises1 
more fully than one could  do in years  
of social intercourse with one's        
fellow-men1 how fantastic  a thing is   
the human mind--a stable full of        
prancing hobby-horses for  crochety     
horsemen to ride about the world4 ,we   
can speculate pleasantly  on the        
character of the practical parson who   
wrote the ,clergyman's  ,intelligencer2 
or1 a ,compleat ,alphabetical ,list of  
all the ,patrons  in ,england and       
,wales1 with the 444 ,benefices in their

 ,gift and their  ,valuation ,annexed   
7#agde71 for which ,mr4 ,mayhew asks    
#es4 ,in the same  catalogue is offered 
that curiosity in the history of        
science1 ,p4 ,h4  ,gosse's ,creation    
7,omphalus72 an ,attempt to ,untie the  
,geological ,knot1  published in #aheg1 
two years before the ,origin of         
,species4 ,the title1  ,ode to the ,duke
 of ,wellington and ,other ,poems1      
,written ,between the  ,ages of ,eleven 
and ,thirteen ,years1 by ,robert        
,charles ,dallas 7#ahai71  calls up     
visions of some tight-trousered infant  
prodigy2 and we wish  that the book were
 not an example of fine binding1 and    
that ,mr4  ,chaundy could part with it  
for less than #cjs4 ,just above the     
infant1  alphabetically and perhaps also
 in order of merit1 we find the name  of
 ,d',adelsward1 the author of a volume  
of poems 7of which1 in our  ignorance1  
we had never heard7 entitled ,les       
,cortges ,qui ,sont ,passs4  ,the       
volume1 which was published in #aijc1 is

 bound in pink watered  silk1 and costs 
four guineas4 ,we have a vision of      
something even more  prodigious than the
 infant of #ahai4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,mr4 ,chaundy   
has a number of first editions of       
,disraeli's novels for  sale4 ,the very 
scarce ,contarini ,fleming 7#ahcb7 is   
priced at #f2 ,the  ,voyage of ,captain 
,popanilla 7#ahbh7 at #ces42 ,vivian    
,grey 7#ahbf7 at  #bas42 ,venetia       
7#ahcg7 at #bjs4 ,a first edition of    
,borrow's ,wild  ,wales1 in three       
volumes 7#ahfb71 is offered by ,messrs4 
,heffer1 of  ,cambridge1 for #i #is4 ,it
 is almost worth paying that for the    
sake of  the description1 at the        
beginning of the book1 of the negro who 
sat on  the walls of ,chester1 spitting 
into the void4 ,you can have ,george    
,eliot  for a good deal less4 ,mr4      
,james ,miles1 of ,leeds1 has a ,silas  
,marner  7first edition1 #ahfa7 for     
#bes4 ,first editions of ,robert        
,bridges are1  we notice1 priced a good 

deal higher than the later firsts of    
,robert  ,browning4 ,eros and ,psyche   
costs #aes4 at ,messrs4 ,heffer's1 and  
,prince ,hohenstiel-,schwangan only #es4
 ,the four volumes of the first  edition
 of ,the ,ring and the ,book 7#ahfh7    
cost one #cbs4 at the same              
bookseller's4    ,similarly ,conrad     
firsts are more precious than ,bennetts1
 if we may  judge from the fact that    
,hilda ,lessways 7#aiaa7 costs #gs4 at  
,mr4  ,chaundy's shop1 while ,chance and
 ,victory 7novels of ,mr4 ,conrad's     
corresponding period71 at ,messrs4      
,heffer's1 are priced at #abs4 and  #is4
 respectively1 and the precious         
,almayer's ,folly of #ahie costs #c     
#cs4           99       99       99     
99       99    ,mr4 ,p4 ,j4 ,dobell has 
already done good work in the field of  
bibliography4 ,the catalogue published  
by him last year1 under the  title1 ,the
 ,literature of the ,restoration1 was a 
useful guide for all  students of the   
period4 ,he has now issued a            

supplementary catalogue of  works       
connected with the ,popish ,plot4       
,most of the pamphlets which he offers  
for sale are unknown to us2 but  here   
and there we light on an old friend4 ,we
 can remember laughing  heartily over ,a
 ,modest ,vindication of the ,earl of   
,shaftesbury1 in  a ,letter to a ,friend
 ,concerning ,his ,being ,elected ,king 
of ,poland4  ,the ironical eulogy of    
,shaftesbury with which the pamphlet    
begins is  an admirable piece of satire4
 ,the ,earl is praised for his unshaken 
obedience to every ,government he has   
been concerned in or lived under2  his  
steady adherence to every religion that 
had but hopes to be  established4 ,it is
 interesting to note that in this       
pamphlet1 written  after the production 
of the ,spanish ,friar1 and before the  
publication  of ,absalom and            
,achitophel1 ,dryden is regarded as a   
,whig poet4 ,for  the new ,king of      
,poland appoints ,jean ,drydenurtzitz to
 be our ,poet  ,laureate for writing    

panegyrics upon ,oliver ,cromwell and   
libels against  his present master1     
,king ,charles ,,ii4 of ,england4 ,the  
deputy ,laureate  is no less a person   
than ,tom ,shadworiski1 or ,shadwell1   
,dryden's most  bitter enemy in the     
later years of the ,plot4 ,mr4 ,dobell's
 price for  the pamphlet is #gs4 #f;d4  
,two pamphlets in this collection refer 
to  the fantastic rector of ,all        
,saints'1 ,colchester--,edmund          
,hickeringill1  one time chaplain in the
 ,scottish regiments of the             
,commonwealth1 and  the author of the   
first retort to ,the ,medal1 ,the       
,mushroom1 which  was written and sent  
to press on the day following the       
publication of  ,dryden's poem--a feat  
of composition which he modestly        
suggests was due  to divine inspiration4
    ,great ,news from the ,old-,bayly1  
,mr4 ,gar's ,recantation2 or1 the ,true 
,protestant ,renegade1 the ,courantier  
,turn'd ,tony1 sounds interesting4      
,henry ,care had the distinction of     

being the first to reply to ,absalom    
and ,achitophel4 ,his ,towzer the       
,second was published three weeks  after
 the appearance of the ,tory ,satire1   
for ,care was a true blue  ,protestant  
in those days4 ,his breeding1 says      
,anthony ,wood1 was in  the nature of a 
,petty ,fogger1 a little despicable     
wretch 444 a poor  snivelling fellow4   
,he was a poor literary hack1 and at    
,james ,,ii4's  accession1 for bread and
 money sake1 and nothing else1 he went  
over  to the side in power and turned   
his pen against the ,protestants4       
,three pamphlets deal with ,roger       
,l',estrange1 or ,towzer1 as he was     
nicknamed by his enemies4 ,but there is 
one enchanting ballad entitled  ,a ,new 
,ballad on an ,old ,dog 7,towzer7 that  
,writes ,strange-lee1 of  which ,mr4    
,dobell does not seem to have a copy4   
,we could wish that we  had space to    
quote it4 ,but we have embarked on a    
subject which needs  treating at length4
 ,the literary history of the ,popish   

,plot remains to  be written4 ,a volume 
of extracts joined together by          
explanatory notes1  biographical1       
political1 and critical1 would be a     
thing of absorbing  interest4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,we notice1 by the way1 in ,mr4         
,dobell's catalogue that ,the ,london   
,mercury1 or ,moderate ,intelligencer1  
from ,december #bdth to #bgth1 #afhh1   
may be purchased for #es4 ,it is to be  
hoped that the intelligence of  its     
namesake of to-day will prove more than 
moderate4            ,a4 ,l4 ,h4        
,,correspondence      ,,the ,,teaching  
,,of ,,english    7,to the ,editor of   
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7               
,,sir1--,all schoolmasters and          
schoolmistresses will be grateful to you
  for your services to a great cause in 
allowing ,mr4 ,j4 ,c4 ,stobart to  talk 
at length on the teaching of ,english1  
but ,i was surprised to find  myself    
selected as his scapegoat and           
guillotined in distinguished  company   

7that of the old rgime74 ,my colleagues 
will be amused at  that4 ,unfortunately 
,mr4 ,stobart is not a very skilful     
executioner4  ,he tries to show that in 
my ,english ,course ,i have followed the
  traditional methods in thoroughly     
normal chapters4 ,and yet he does  allow
 that ,i am trying to shake off a yoke  
which is not entirely  congenial to me4 
,it is more than ten years since ,i     
shook off the yoke  which he describes  
as uncongenial4 ,the traditional method1
 he says1  begins with the copybook and 
proceeds by way of dictation and formal 
exercises to its goal in the essay4 ,i  
do not advocate the use of  the copybook
 for the simple reason that copybooks   
insist on the ,vere  ,foster type of    
handwriting1 while ,i require from my   
pupils an artistic  caligraphy which is 
opposed in every particular to the      
uniform ugliness  of the old ,board     
,school and present ,army ,council      
standard4    ,dictation ,i use most     
sparingly1 though ,i certainly do prefer

 a boy  to leave me with an elementary  
knowledge of punctuation and a slight   
acquaintance with the more normal forms 
of spelling rather than with  a contempt
 for or slavish adoration of stops1 and 
a phonetic system  of spelling which is 
intelligible and phonetic to no one but 
himself4  ,the reading that ,i advocate1
 both in my book and in practice1 is    
not limited 7has ,mr4 ,stobart himself  
read all the books that ,i  recommended 
as useful for boys871 and the text is   
never obscured with  comment4 ,where did
 he get this false information from8 ,to
 definite  grammar ,i assigned four and 
a half pages out of #ejj1 which exactly 
expresses my opinion of its importance4 
,having misrepresented me in  every     
detail so far1 ,mr4 ,stobart proceeds to
 attack me on two sides at  once4 ,if   
you ask the schoolmaster why he makes   
his ,english the dullest  subject in the
 syllabus1 he will probably answer that 
he is preparing  for the ,london        
matriculation4 ,i am both a schoolmaster

 and the ,english  examiner for the     
,matric4 ,i will pay ,mr4 ,stobart's    
first-class return  fare from his home  
to ,tonbridge and board him for a week  
if he will  visit my ,english classes   
and at the end of his stay retain that  
word  dullest in all sincerity4 ,i      
cannot believe that it is only ,i who   
enjoy these ,english hours so           
whole-heartedly4 ,i certainly should    
find  them dull if ,i were proceeding on
 traditional lines1 either in my  book  
or in the class-room4444 ,i am next     
taken to task for daring to  teach      
observation and originality4 ,mr4       
,stobart rather rudely 7,i wish he      
would practise gentleness and love      
himself7 calls my methods here a        
generous diet of cold minced hash4 ,it  
is up to him to prove it4 ,the  point   
is1 do ,i or do ,i not achieve          
observation and originality by my       
methods8 ,come down to ,tonbridge1 ,mr4 
,stobart1 and ,i will let you judge  for
 yourself4    ,when1 therefore1 you     

suggest that every boy should learn how 
to express  himself freely and to read  
widely1 ,i can only reply that every boy
 has  been doing so with very great     
advantage for years4 ,you cannot picture
 a  ,public ,schoolmaster so zealous for
 the purity of his own tongue that he   
treats a misplaced and which or         
unrelated participle as a personal      
affront4 ,you cannot have been inside a 
,public ,school class-room for  donkey's
 years4 ,i can show you scores as       
devoted to our classics as  ,whitelaw   
was to ,latin and ,greek8--,yours1 etc41
                ,s4 ,p4 ,b4 ,,mais4     
,tonbridge4      ,,macaronic ,,poetry   
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,the author of    
,specimens of ,macaronic ,poetry1       
published by ,j4  ,richard ,beckley in  
#ahca1 is ,william ,sandys1 ,f4,s4,a4   
7#agia-ahgd74 ,he  was a barrister of   
,gray's ,inn1 and a member of the law   
firm of ,sandys  and ,knott1 of ,gray's 
,inn ,square4 ,he was born and died in  

,london1 and1  in addition to the book  
mentioned above1 was the author of ,a   
,short  ,history of ,freemasonry        
7#ahbi71 ,christmas ,carols 7#ahcc71 and
 a few  other books1 a full bibliography
 of which will be found in ,bibliotheca 
,cornubiensis4 ,he was an enthusiastic  
musical amateur from youth1 and  further
 biographical particulars will be found 
in the ,dictionary of  ,national        
,biography4--,yours1 etc41              
,,winifred ,,sparke4      ,bolton4      
99       99       99       99       99  
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,specimens of     
,macaronic ,poetry1 to which reference  
is made on  page #gd of your last issue1
 is chiefly remarkable for its          
interesting  introduction to the subject
 and to the fact that most of the       
specimens  printed are1 or were at the  
date of publication1 rarely met with4   
,the epic which you mention first is    
discussed on page #ag of the            
introduction1 where it is said to be an 

imitation of ,folengo4 ,i have  not been
 able to trace the author1 but it bears 
many evidences of  having been written  
by ,folengo himself4 ,the ode was       
written by ,dr4  ,geddes1 and the author
 of the old ,scottish ,testament was    
,wm4 ,dunbar1  whose name is printed at 
the end of the verses in my copy4       
,macaronic ,poetry creates but little   
interest in these days1 though  there   
are still students who appreciate some  
of its qualities4    ,if ,a4 ,l4 ,h4 is 
interested1 ,i am sure that an article  
on the subject  would be read with very 
great appreciation even if that quality 
be  confined to very few in             
number4--,yours1 etc41                  
,b4 ,,bagnall4      #dc ,chancery ,lane1
 ,london1 ,w4,c4#b4           99        
99       99       99       99    7,to   
the ,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7
    ,,sir1--,what does ,a4 ,l4 ,h4 mean 
by no author's name is given8 ,the      
editor's of the book--or the author's of
 ,mr4 ,andro ,kennedy8    ,the latter   

is1 of course1 my compatriot1 ,william  
,dunbar1 but neither  of my editions of 
him mentions this poem's having been    
printed in that  particular book4       
,also1 your reviewer of ,wilde1 on page 
#ia1 begins1 quite in error1  saying    
that the book has no indication of how  
it came into existence or  who chose    
them for republication4 ,the wrapper1   
cover1 and title-page1  all three1 say1 
,being extracts from ,reviews and       
,miscellanies 7one  of those large white
 volumes on hand-made paper that smelt  
so of bad  paste1 published by ,methuen 
in #aiab72 while behind the title-page  
is1  ,this selection has been made by   
,mr4 ,e4 ,v4 ,lucas4 ,the best thing in 
it is1 ,i think1 the charming paragraph 
on ,balzac1 ,a steady course of  ,balzac
 reduces our living friends to shadows  
and our acquaintances to  the shadows of
 shades--,yours1 etc41            ,c4   
,k4 ,s4 ,m4           99       99       
99       99       99    7,to the ,editor
 of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7           

,,sir1--,with regard to your query in   
,no4 #a1 as to who was the author  of   
,specimens of ,macaronic ,poetry1 ,i    
think ,i can supply the answer4  ,after 
reading your paragraph on the subject ,i
 took down the book from  its shelf and 
found that my father1 the late ,dr4     
,henry ,b4 ,wheatley1  had pencilled on 
the title-page the name of ,sandys4 ,i  
then turned  to ,lowndes and found the  
book under the name of ,william ,sandys4
 ,the  ,dictionary of ,national         
,biography states that the author was   
born in  #agib and died in #ahgd1 and   
that he is best remembered for his share
 in  ,sandys' and ,forster's ,history of
 the ,violin1 #ahfd4 ,the ,specimens1   
published in #ahca1 was his second      
venture in authorship4 ,my father       
evidently bought the book when he was   
engaged in writing his own first  book  
,of ,anagrams1 containing in the        
introduction 7,i quote from the         
title-page7 numerous specimens of       
,macaronic poetry1 ,punning ,mottoes1   

,rhopalic1 ,shaped1 ,equivocal1 ,lyon1  
and ,echo ,verses1 ,alliteration1       
,acrostics1 ,lipograms1 ,chronograms1   
,logograms1 ,palindromes1 and ,bouls'   
,rimes4 ,to any one interested in queer 
forms of verse this book is full  of    
entertainment4 ,it was published in     
#ahgb1 and is now out of print4    ,in  
the first of your ,bibliographical      
,notes1 in which you notice ,mr4  ,percy
 ,simpson's edition of ,every ,man in   
,his ,humour1 you say1 ,a new  edition  
of ,ben ,jonson's work is certainly     
needed3 ,gifford's1 re-edited  by       
,cunningham1 is sadly inadequate4 ,i    
have not yet had the pleasure  of       
reading ,mr4 ,simpson's book1 but ,i    
would point out that ,gifford's  edition
 was not the only predecessor4 ,an      
edition of ,ben ,jonson's play  was     
edited1 with an introduction and        
critical apparatus1 by my father  in    
#ahgg1 for the ,london ,series of       
,english ,classics1 edited by ,j4 ,w4   
,hales1 ,m4,a41 and ,j4 ,s4 ,jerram1    

,m4,a41 and published by ,longmans1     
,green   ,co4 ,the excellent            
introduction contains1 besides the facts
 of ,jonson's  life1 a lucid explanation
 and examination of the ,comedy of      
,humours1  together with a critical     
comparison of the various editions4 ,the
 notes  are adequate1 and placed at the 
end of the book4 ,it was a labour of    
love1 and1 although doubtless           
scholarship has advanced since it was   
published1 my filial partiality compels 
me to think that it still ranks  as a   
worthy edition of this classic of our   
literature4--,yours1 etc41              
,,geo4 ,h4 ,,wheatley4      #hc         
,salisbury ,road1 ,harrow4              
,,voltaire',s ,,candide    7,to the     
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,a ,bibliographical ,note in    
your first number makes reference to  a 
charming little first edition of        
,candide 7#agei71 and the writer  of the
 paragraph1 commenting on the absence of
 the author's name and  of any          

particulars concerning the publisher and
 place of publication1  states that it  
was often ,voltaire's custom not to     
acknowledge his  publications till they 
were a success4    ,there lies before me
 as ,i write1 however1 a copy of an     
edition also  published in #agei1 but   
which contains the author's name and    
particulars  as to publication4 ,as it  
may interest some of your readers1 as   
well  as ,a4 ,l4 ,h41 ,i venture to     
transcribe the title-page1 which is as  
follows3--    ,candidus3 or1 the        
,optimist ,by ,mr4 ,de ,voltaire4       
,translated into  ,english by ,w4       
,rider1 ,m4,a41 ,late ,scholar of ,jesus
 ,college1 ,oxford4  ,london3 ,printed  
for ,j4 ,scott1 at the ,black ,swan1 in 
,pater-noster-,row1  and ,j4 ,gretton1  
in ,old ,bond-,street4 ,,mdcclix4 ,price
 ,one ,shilling and                     
,six-,pence4--,yours1 etc41             
,,lewis ,h4 ,,grundy4      ,highgate4   
,,particles    7,to the ,editor of ,,the
 ,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,mrs4   

,meynell has the support of a great     
master in the niceties of  the ,english 
language when she takes exception to the
 particle less  being tacked on to a    
verb4    ,writing to ,bernard ,barton   
7,february #gth1 #ahbf7 in              
acknowledgment of his  ,devotional      
,verses1 ,charles ,lamb says3 ,one word 
,i must object to in  your little book1 
and it recurs more than once--,,fadeless
 is no genuine  compound2 loveless is1  
because love is a noun as well as a     
verb1 but  what is a fade8--,yours1     
etc41                7,mrs7 ,g4 ,a4     
,,anderson4      ,the ,moorlands1       
,woldingham1 ,surrey          ,,books   
,,of ,,the ,,month    ,,poetry          
,,georgian ,,poetry1 #aiah-aiai ,edited 
by ,e4 ,m4 ,the ,poetry ,bookshop #fs4  
net4    ,the new collection of ,georgian
 ,poetry contains specimens of the  work
 of nineteen poets1 fourteen of whom    
have appeared in one or more  of the    
previous volumes of the series1 while   
five are represented  for the first     

time4 ,the fourteen are ,mr4 ,lascelles 
,abercrombie1 ,mr4  ,gordon ,bottomley1 
,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies1 ,mr4 ,walter de la
 ,mare1 ,mr4 ,john  ,drinkwater1 ,mr4   
,john ,freeman1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,w4 ,gibson1   
,mr4 ,robert ,graves1 ,mr4  ,d4 ,h4     
,lawrence1 ,mr4 ,harold ,monro1 ,mr4    
,robert ,nichols1 ,mr4 ,siegfried       
,sassoon1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,c4 ,squire1 and ,mr4
 ,w4 ,j4 ,turner4 ,the five are ,mr4    
,francis ,brett ,young1 ,mr4 ,thomas    
,moult1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4 ,c4 ,pellow1 ,mr4  
,edward  ,shanks1 and ,mrs4 ,fredegond  
,shove4 ,on account of their editorial  
connection with the ,,london ,,mercury1 
the contributions of ,mr4 ,squire and   
,mr4 ,shanks will not receive further   
mention in this notice4    ,i hope1     
observes ,e4 ,m4 in his preface1 that   
the present volume  may be thought to   
show that what for want of a better word
 is called  ,peace has not interfered   
with the writing of good poetry4        
,certainly  many critics have supposed  
that war was the prime generator of what

  they admit to be a new movement in    
poetry4 ,but the anthologist's hope  is 
justified1 on a priori grounds at least1
 by the fact that the  movement began1  
however tentatively1 before the late    
war4 ,the first  collection of ,georgian
 ,poetry appeared in #aiab1 when the    
title  expressed an act of faith1 based 
on an act of divination1 which has      
since been confirmed4 ,a comparison of  
the four members of the series  suggests
 that what1 for want of a better word1  
has received this name1  is still in a  
state of slow development towards a     
certain community  of spirit and        
attitude1 which does not however connote
 any uniformity  of style4 ,in the third
 volume the nebula appeared to be taking
 shape1  and in the fourth the process  
has advanced a stage4 ,e4 ,m4 may be    
issuing the fourteenth before that shape
 can be accurately defined and          
described4 ,the curve has not been drawn
 far enough for us to say what  course  
it will trace2 but there is already     

enough of it to look like a  curve and  
not merely like a wavy line4    ,that   
remote first volume1 which was of course
 a symptom and a  rallying-point or the 
new tendencies1 not their origin1 seems 
now to  have been somewhat chaotic and  
lacking in direction4 ,it included such 
older poets as ,mr4 ,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton1
 ,mr4 ,sturge ,moore1 and ,sir ,ronald  
,ross2 and some of those who appear     
to-day the most characteristic had  not 
then shown themselves4 ,at that time the
 most powerful tendency  seemed to be   
leading towards the realism1 sometimes  
informed with a  conscious brutality1 of
 ,mr4 ,masefield1 ,mr4 ,gibson1 and ,mr4
 ,abercrombie4  ,in #aiai this sort is  
fully represented only by ,mr4          
,abercrombie's  ,witchcraft3 ,new       
,style1 a poem principally in dialogue  
which is  realistic in method1 if its   
conception has a fairy-tale brutality   
about  it4 ,such lines as the following 
are in a familiar style3          ,a    
little brisk grey slattern of a woman1  

,pattering along in her loose-heel'd    
clogs1        ,push't the brass-barr'd  
door of a public-house2        ,the     
spring went hard against her2 hand and  
knee        ,shoved their weak best4 ,as
 the door poised ajar        ,hullabaloo
 of talking men burst out1        ,a    
pouring babble of inflamed palaver4     
,in spite of their vividness and        
exactitude1 they make us think of a     
good passage of prose slightly spoiled4 
,mr4 ,gibson has not continued in  the  
vein1 and is confined here to a few     
momentary impressions1 mostly  in the   
sonnet form4    ,but if we dismiss this 
tendency from those we imply when we    
speak of  ,georgian1 poetry1 if we admit
 too that ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies is often 
not  characteristic but a poet who might
 have appeared at almost any time  7as1 
in another way1 is ,mr4 ,john           
,drinkwater71 what are we to take for   
our definition8 ,if we are ever to      
devise one1 we must somehow reconcile   
and bring under one heading a bundle of 

qualities1 which seem to have  but      
little in common when they are          
separately described4 ,yet that there   
is some common term1 some central       
motive1 is suggested by the fact  that  
the pieces in this book which may be    
thought to be on a lower  level than the
 rest1 those by ,mr4 ,moult and ,mrs4   
,shove1 are yet not  wholly out of      
place4 ,these writers have been touched 
in some degree  by the spirit of the    
time1 which manifests itself with more  
power and  originality in poets so      
diverse as ,mr4 de la ,mare1 ,mr4       
,sassoon1 and ,mr4  ,turner4 ,but it is 
likely that for some time we shall have 
to content  ourselves with such vague   
recognitions of spirit1 without         
attempting to  be more precise in       
definition4    ,we must at all events   
include ,mr4 ,monro's curious and good  
poem1 ,man  ,carrying ,bale1 which by   
its title gives a faint suggestion of   
some  sorts of modern painting1 and is  
actuated by the same desire1 to flash   

suddenly a light on a familiar thing    
from an unfamiliar angle3          ,the 
tough hand closes gently on the load1   
,out of the mind1 a voice        ,calls 
,lift6 and the arms1 remembering well   
their work1          ,lengthen and pause
 for help4        ,then a slow ripple   
flows from head to foot        ,while   
all the muscles call to one another3    
,lift6 and the bulging bale             
,floats like a butterfly in ,june4      
,with this may be associated ,mr4       
,davies' remarkable piece1 ,a ,child's  
,pet3          ,when ,i sailed out of   
,baltimore          ,with twice a       
thousand head of sheep1        ,they    
would not eat1 they would not drink1    
,but bleated o'er the deep4             
,inside the pens we crawled each day1   
,to sort the living from the dead2      
,and when we reached the ,mersey's      
mouth1          ,had lost five hundred  
head4          ,yet every night and day 
one sheep1          ,that had no fear of
 man or sea1        ,stuck through the  

bars its pleading face1          ,and it
 was stroked by me4          ,and to the
 sheep-man standing near1          ,you 
see1 ,i said1 this one tame sheep3      
,it seems a child has lost her pet1     
,and cried herself to sleep4            
,so every time we passed it by1         
,sailing to ,england's slaughter-house1 
,eight ragged sheep-men--tramps and     
thieves--          ,would stroke that   
sheep's black nose4    ,yet of how      
different a quality is the whole        
admirable selection of  eight poems from
 ,mr4 de la ,mare1 to illustrate which  
we quote the  exquisite ,fare ,well3    
,when ,i lie where shades of darkness   
,shall no more assail mine eyes1        
,nor the rain make lamentation          
,when the wind sighs2        ,how will  
fare the world whose wonder             
,was the very proof of me8              
,memory fades1 must the remembered      
,perishing be8          ,oh1 when this  
my dust surrenders1          ,hand1     
foot1 lip1 to dust again1        ,may   

those loved and loving faces            
,please other men4        ,may the      
rusting harvest hedgerow          ,still
 the ,traveller's ,joy entwine4         
,and as happy children gather           
,posies once mine4          ,look thy   
last on all things lovely1              
,every hour4 ,let no night        ,seal 
thy sense in deathly slumber            
,till to delight4        ,thou have paid
 thy utmost blessing2          ,since   
that all things thou wouldst praise     
,beauty took from those who loved them  
,in other days4    ,we come again upon  
another manner in the poems of ,mr4     
,robert ,nichols4  ,here an inadequate  
passage from a long and very lovely     
piece called  ,the ,sprig of ,lime will 
serve to suggest his qualities3         
,sweet lime that often at the height of 
noon        ,diffusing dizzy fragrance  
from your boughs        ,tasselled with 
blossoms more innumerable        ,than  
the black bees1 the uproar of whose toil
        ,filled your green vaults1      

winning such metheglyr4        ,as      
clouds their sappy cells1 distil1 as    
once        ,ye used1 your sunniest     
emanations        ,towards the window   
where a woman kneels--        ,she who  
within that room in childish hours      
,lay through the lasting murmur of      
blanch'd noon        ,behind the sultry 
blind1 now full1 now flat1              
,drinking anew of every odorous breath1 
,supremely happy in her ignorance       
,of ,time that hastens hourly and of    
death        ,who need not haste4       
,these poems are not realism1 but       
passages of reality imaginatively       
seized and transfigured by passion2 and 
the same description may be  applied to 
a number of pieces in this book as      
different from these  as these are from 
one another4 ,if we attempt to map out  
the whole  achievement and promise which
 the book represents1 we must refer to  
the originality and beauty of rhythm    
displayed by ,mr4 ,john ,freeman in     
such a poem as ,the ,alde1 which begins3

          ,how near ,i walked to ,love1 
,how long1 ,i cannot tell2        ,i was
 like the ,alde that flows              
,quietly through green level lands1     
,so quietly1 it knows        ,their     
shape1 their greenness1 and their       
shadows well2        ,and then          
undreamingly for miles it goes          
,and silently1 beside the sea4    ,we   
must refer also to ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4         
,turner's noble and largely conceived1  
if a little chaotic1 poem ,death2 and to
 ,mr4 ,sassoon's extraordinarily        
economical and finished pictures of     
impressions at the front and in         
,england4 ,there is moreover ,mr4 ,brett
 ,young's graceful and delicate  talent4
    ,if we say that in all these it is  
possible to perceive reality            
imaginatively seized and transfigured by
 passion1 even if we add a  general     
curiosity to penetrate behind the       
appearances of things to  their         
substance1 we say no more than we ought 
to say of any poetry  which we are      

disposed to praise4 ,perhaps if we could
 say much more we  should distinguish   
the literature with which we are dealing
 as one  which has forsaken the proper  
traditions of the art for qualities of a
  merely temporary interest4 ,it is not 
necessarily the business of new  poets  
to discover new objects for poetry2 it  
is their business to bring  to bear on  
the old objects their own new           
personalities and whatever has  accrued 
both to the language and to general     
human experience4 ,we are of  opinion   
that the ,georgian poets are doing this2
 and though to give  them that title    
still requires something of an act of   
faith1 it is one  much easier to make   
than it was seven years ago4    ,the    
survival of the word as the name of a   
period is1 of course1 not  yet assured4 
,many of these writers are still        
extremely young4 ,some of  them will    
develop in ways which cannot yet be     
foreseen4 ,mr4 ,nichols and  ,mr4       
,turner1 both of them capable of        

grandiose conceptions and engaged  in   
making a style to sustain them1 will    
very likely attempt the drama1  where an
 empty throne is waiting4 ,mr4 de la    
,mare1 who is probably the  oldest of   
the distinctively ,georgian writers1    
grows every year deeper  and solider1   
and it is impossible to say what will   
become of him4 ,mr4  ,robert ,graves is 
producing a body of work almost every   
line of which is  as sweet and sound as 
a nut1 and is an influence against the  
obscurity  from which a good many of his
 contemporaries suffer4 ,the author of  
,a  ,ballad of ,nursery ,rhyme1 which   
begins3          ,strawberries that in  
gardens grow         ,are plump and     
juicy fine        ,but sweeter far as   
wise men know          ,spring from the 
woodland vine4          ,no need for    
bowl or silver spoon1          ,sugar or
 spice or cream1        ,has the wild   
berry plucked in ,june1          ,beside
 the trickling stream1    may perhaps   
have done a service by writing these    

lines at the same time  as ,mr4 ,turner 
was writing such a fine but involved    
stanza as this from  ,death3            
,that sound rings down the years--,i    
hear it yet--        ,all earthly life's
 a winding funeral--          ,and      
though ,i never wept1          ,but into
 the dark coach stept1        ,dreaming 
by night to answer the blood's sweet    
call1          ,she who stood there1    
high-breasted1 with small1 wise lips1   
,and gave me wine to drink and bread to 
eat1          ,has not more steadfast   
feet1        ,but fades from my arms as 
fade from mariners' eyes          ,the  
sea's most beauteous ships4    ,and     
others no doubt will appear who are now 
no more thought of than  were ,mr4      
,nichols or ,mr4 ,graves or ,mr4 ,turner
 in #aiab4    ,at least this            
movement--we do not use the word in the 
sense of  organised movement or         
school--has had the luck of early       
recognition  and careful fostering4     
,there are faults to be found with this 

as with  the three earlier volumes of   
the series1 but1 in a world which has   
produced no faultless anthology1 we     
ought not to expect the first to be  a  
collection of contemporary verse4 ,no   
one will be able to look through  the   
book without objections rising to his   
lips4 ,every reader will want  this or  
that poet omitted1 this or that         
included4 ,there are few readers  of    
anthologies who do not find1 on mature  
consideration1 that they  could have    
done the work better themselves1 and    
this would be just if1  in fact1        
anthologists worked only for themselves4
 ,but to ,e4 ,m4 we must  assign the    
credit of having carried through an     
exceedingly difficult  task with as few 
mistakes as could be thought possible4  
,he has the  extra distinction of having
 foreseen seven years ago the beginning 
of a  liveliness which has justified him
 by enduring until at this moment  it   
shows no signs of recession4 ,he would  
be no doubt the last person to  claim   

the invention1 or even the discovery1 of
 the ,georgian movement4  ,but he might 
reasonably claim1 and1 if he does not1  
the honour must be  thrust upon him1 to 
have provided it with a means of growing
 naturally  and without undue           
extravagance4      ,,new ,,poems4 ,by   
,,iolo ,,aneurin ,,williams4 ,methuen4  
#cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,mr4 ,williams' first
 book of poems1 published four years    
ago1 was a  quite little book1          
noticeable for some polished little     
songs with a  ,caroline or ,queen ,anne 
air4 ,his tastes have remained the same2
 his  capacity for writing has          
developed2 he paints miniatures1 and his
  ingenuity expends itself on the       
elaboration and variation of the        
frames4 ,the frontier between success   
and non-success is narrow in  this kind 
of work2 a slight flaw ruins all1 and   
,mr4 ,williams does  not always escape  
collapse4 ,but ,alice and ,song are of a
 neatness  and completeness which would 
do credit to the best of the ,queen     

,anne  practitioners4 ,the ,country     
,songs is a fragment of what may become 
a really excellent celebration of our   
folk-songs1 and ,rocks and  ,astronomy1 
though still with something of the song 
in them1 let  delicate plummets into    
deeper waters4 ,the image of the rock1  
doomed to  decay1 yet          ,the     
lizard's immortal friend1        ,and   
deathless to the flower1    is happy    
,astronomy we quote in full3            
,jupiter may be that or this            
,of stars that shine in heaven1         
,neptune a mere hypothesis1             
,and ,saturn one of seven4              
,they will not make the dark less       
bright1          ,for names ,i do not   
know2        ,nameless the stars across 
the night          ,in nameless beauty  
go4          ,over my head their vault  
is bent--          ,a mirror and a      
screen--        ,an ever fresh          
prefigurement          ,of glory past   
the seen4    ,it is an unambitious and  
uneven but very pleasant little book4   

,,the ,,war ,,poems ,,of ,,siegfried    
,,sassoon4 ,heinemann4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4  
,this volume contains fifty-two poems   
selected from ,mr4 ,sassoon's  previous 
volumes1 and twelve new ones4 ,the      
former are far too well  known to need  
description at this date2 but we think  
that even in  these1 and still more in  
the new poems1 there is ground for the  
conjecture that those who think of ,mr4 
,sassoon primarily as a savage  realist 
and satirist are likely in the future to
 be surprised4 ,it was  a genuine and   
profound sensibility1 tenderness1 and a 
cheated passion  for beauty that        
produced his war poetry2 not an innate  
predilection for  violence1             
vituperation1 or caricature4 ,now the   
storm has gone over he  seems to be     
becoming more and more a poet of nature4
 ,the transition is  perhaps symbolised 
in the most beautiful of the new poems  
here printed4  ,it is called ,everyone  
,sang1 and concludes the book1 so full  
of blood  and corpses1 rats1 evil       

smells1 and all the turmoil and dbris of
 war3          ,everyone suddenly burst 
out singing2        ,and ,i was filled  
with such delight        ,as prisoned   
birds must find in freedom              
,winging wildly across the white        
,orchards and dark green fields2 on2 on2
 and out of sight4          ,everyone's 
voice was suddenly lifted1        ,and  
beauty came like the setting sun4       
,my heart was shaken with tears and     
horror        ,drifted away4444 ,o but  
every one        ,was a bird2 and the   
song was wordless2 the singing will     
never be                done4    ,the   
book contains much that1 however        
sincere1 can only be described  as      
journalism in excelsis1 but it is all   
inextricably mixed with  genuine poetry1
 and the collection as a whole1 we      
suspect1 will have  a permanent interest
 and value4 ,better than from a hundred 
histories  posterity will get from these
 poems a picture of how men felt and    
looked in that world of          ,sad1  

smoking1 flat horizons1 reeking woods1  
,and foundered trench-lines volleying   
doom for doom4    ,their merits are     
never more clearly displayed than when  
they are  compared to the poems of the  
imitators who have sprung up like       
mushrooms since ,mr4 ,sassoon began     
publishing4 ,these have taken his       
brutal words1 his more obvious          
attitudes1 and the senile and complacent
  objects of his satire2 but in the     
copies the life is lacking4             
,,argonaut ,,and ,,juggernaut4 ,by      
,,osbert ,,sitwell4 ,chatto  ,windus    
#es4 net4    ,at first sight this book  
looks like a revolutionary manifesto4   
,its  title is vehement and original1   
and its paper jacket is decorated  with 
the photograph of a negro head          
surmounted with a towering and  tapering
 wickerwork structure4 ,it has no       
bearing on the contents1 and  we can    
only assume that the author put it there
 because he liked it  or to arrest      
attention4 ,attention having been       

arrested1 expectation  is disappointed4 
,it is true that ,mr4 ,sitwell often    
writes in vers  libres1 and that he     
opens with a challenge and hearty       
proclamation in  the key of             
,let us prune the tree of language      
,of its dead fruit4        ,let us melt 
up the clichs        ,into molten metal2
        ,fashion weapons that will scald
 and flay        ,let us curb this      
eternal humour        ,and become witty4
        ,let us dig up the dragon's     
teeth        ,from this fertile soil2   
,swiftly1        ,before they fructify4 
,and that1 at a later stage1 he observes
 that          ,the world itself        
,dances        ,to make us dance        
,in cosmic frenzy4    ,but his frenzies 
have a very calculated air2 he has not  
got rid of  those clichs1 and that wit  
does not emerge4 ,he cannot really play 
the revolutionary with gusto1 so1 as    
,queen ,victoria said1 ,we are not      
amused3 and when he lapses into more    
ordinary forms and more connected       

statements he is revealed as an ordinary
 immature writer of verses4 ,he  has    
some gift of observation which he will  
waste unless he treats it  more         
conscientiously1 but observation will   
not make a poet4      ,,carmina ,,rapta4
 ,by ,,griffyth ,,fairfax4 ,elkin       
,mathews4 #cs4 #f;d4 and  #bs4 #f;d4    
net4      ,mr4 ,fairfax's volume        
consists of ,verse translations from the
 ,french1  ,spanish1 ,italian1 ,german1 
,greek1 ,latin1 with a few ,arabic1     
,japanese1  and ,armenian renderings    
from ,french prose versions4 ,mezzofanti
 and the  monk ,calepino1 in another    
sphere1 must be alarmed for their       
linguistic  laurels4 ,some of ,mr4      
,fairfax's translations are neat2 but we
 hope those  from the ,armenian--our    
,armenian wants rubbing up--are nearer  
the spirit  of the originals than are   
some of those from ,european languages4 
,he  is at his neatest in some brief    
poems from the ,spanish4 ,his versions  
of ,hrdia and ,baudelaire are especially

 lifeless2 and he inflicts an           
additional injury upon the latter by    
attributing the famous ,don ,juan  in   
,hell to ,hrdia4      ,,the ,,clown ,,of
 ,,paradise4 ,by ,,dormer ,,creston4    
,heath ,cranton4 #cs4 net4      ,we     
notice this volume merely in order to   
record a neologism which we  commend to 
the notice of the editors of the ,oxford
 ,dictionary4 ,it is  found in this     
passage3          ,my tearful soul did  
slip into those silver pools1           
,and1 bathing in that stillness1        
,was oned with ,god4    ,in the ,court  
of ,sir ,henry ,duke1 we may continue1  
people are twoed4      ,,novels         
,,cousin ,,philip4 ,by ,,mrs4 ,,humphry 
,,ward4 ,collins4 #fs4 net4             
,,saint',s ,,progress4 ,by ,,john       
,,galsworthy4 ,heinemann4 #gs4 #f;d4    
net4    ,,if ,,all ,,these ,,young      
,,men4 ,by ,,romer ,,wilson4 ,methuen4  
#gs4 net4    ,,madeleine4 ,by ,,hope    
,,mirrlees4 ,collins4 #fs4 net4         
,,legend4 ,by ,,clemence ,,dane4        

,heinemann4 #fs4 net4    ,,the ,,mask4  
,by ,,john ,,cournos4 ,methuen4 #fs4    
net4    ,it seems probable that a long  
time must elapse before the novel       
escapes  altogether from the spell of   
the war2 and the reasons why this should
  be so are fairly obvious4 ,it is not  
only that the novelists1 like  all of   
us1 have received in their minds an     
indelible impress of that  great event4 
,we must recognise that the last five   
years have made a  gulf between us and  
preceding time only comparable to a long
 interval  of history4 ,the manners and 
habits of #aiac are not connected in an 
imperceptibly changing fabric with our  
own4 ,they are already a matter  of     
archological interest1 and definitely to
 place the action of a  novel in that   
year requires a course of archological  
research--say  among old numbers of     
,punch4 ,in #aiai the war is still so   
vivid a  thread in the web of our minds 
that we are constantly influenced by    
it1 constantly referring to it1 in our  

actions1 our conversations1  and our    
thoughts4 ,when we meet a character1    
whether in a novel or a  drawing-room1  
it is still our instinct to enquire     
where he has been1  what he has been    
doing since ,august1 #aiad1 and the     
present moment4  ,this is natural       
indeed2 but its tendency in the novel is
 to produce  ephemeral work4 ,the tidal 
wave may have subsided1 but it has left 
the  mental waters exceedingly muddy4   
,mrs4 ,humphry ,ward's novel1 ,cousin   
,philip1 is an excellent example of  the
 work which this state of affairs       
elicits from even the most serious      
authors4 ,it is a study1 careful and    
detailed1 of the sort of young  woman   
who has emerged from the war4 ,helena   
,pitstone1 aged nineteen1  arrives at   
the house of her guardian1 ,lord        
,buntingford4 ,she looks like  ,romney's
 ,lady ,hamilton2 but the beautiful head
 was set off by a khaki  close cap1     
carrying a badge1 and the khaki uniform1
 tunic1 short skirt1  and leggings1     

might have been specially designed to   
show the health  and symmetry of the    
girl's young form--all this though she  
has been  demobilised4 ,she naturally   
begins her stay with ,lord ,buntingford 
by  quarrelling with him over one of her
 men friends1 whom he refuses to  allow 
her to invite to his house4 ,this       
gentleman had run away with the  wife of
 a friend1 not for any base motive--,he 
didn't mean anything  horrid1 says      
,helena--but for a lark1 and to show her
 husband that  she was not to be        
bullied4 ,in the end ,helena marries a  
politician1 who  says to her1 ,are you  
mine--are you mine at last8--you wild   
thing6--a  remark which has been made by
 other lovers in other novels4 ,in      
between  these two points lies ,mrs4    
,humphry ,ward's study of the girl of   
the  period1 in order to make which1 it 
may be supposed1 she wrote this  novel4 
,an idea of its quality and usefulness  
may be gained from the  following       
specimen of ,helena's conversation3     

,the chauffeur here is a fractious      
idiot4 ,he has done that                
,rolls-,royce car of ,cousin ,philip's  
balmy1 and cut up quite rough when    ,i
 spoke to him about it4      ,done it   
what8 said ,mrs4 ,friend faintly4       
,balmy4 ,don't you know that expression8
 ,helena1 on the floor1 with    her     
hands under her knees1 watched her      
companion's looks with a grin4    ,it's 
our language now1 you                   
know--,english--the language of us young
    people4 ,the old ones have got to   
learn it as we speak it4    ,mrs4 ,ward 
would no doubt be shocked by a writer   
who delivered his1 or  her1 views on the
 ,french people with an obvious         
ignorance of the ,french  language4 ,she
 would despise the affectation of an    
author who used  ,latin tags            
incorrectly4 ,but it is only fair to say
 that her views on  the younger         
generation are rendered slightly        
ridiculous by her obvious  ignorance of 
its idioms4 ,she would perhaps have been

 better employed  in a detailed picture 
of the manners of #aiac1 a period to    
which she  doubtless looks back as to a 
lost paradise of decorous behaviour4    
,mr4 ,galsworthy's ,saint's ,progress   
suffers less from insufficient          
documentation4 ,his heroine ,noel1 with 
her short hair1 is the daughter  of a   
clergyman1 and follows the course       
gloomily foretold for so many  young    
girls during the war-period to the      
predestined end of bearing  a war-baby4 
,she and her sister ,gratian are forced 
by the pressure of  events to think and 
act for themselves4 ,gratian1 safely    
married to a  doctor1 delivers herself  
as follows3      ,dad1 said ,gratian    
suddenly1 we can only find out for      
ourselves1    even if we do singe our   
wings in doing it4 ,we've been reading  
,james's    ,pragmatism4 ,george says   
the only chapter that's important is    
missing--the one on ethics1 to show that
 what we do is not wrong till    it's   
proved wrong by the result4 ,i suppose  

he was afraid to deliver    that        
lecture4    ,but1 while ,mr4 ,galsworthy
 is much superior to ,mrs4 ,ward in the 
accuracy  of his information1 he can    
hardly be said to be superior to her in 
the justice and clearness of his        
presentation4 ,the traits of his        
persons are correctly observed and      
generalised1 but they are not shown     
through the medium of living            
individuals4 ,we feel of ,noel that many
  girls of such a disposition found     
themselves in such circumstances and    
behaved thus2 and so far1 regarded as a 
sociological study1 the book  is        
deserving of praise4 ,but what we never 
feel is that the individual  girl1      
,noel1 ever existed2 and by the         
deficiency it is condemned as a  novel4 
,this book will be a serious            
disappointment to those who imagined    
from ,five ,tales that ,mr4 ,galsworthy 
had recovered the original  freshness of
 his talent and was about to begin a new
 and a sincerer  period4    ,but perhaps

 the desire to depict1 and to comment   
on1 phenomena so fresh  and living in   
the mind as these1 which has been fatal 
to experienced  craftsmen of the order  
of ,mrs4 ,ward and ,mr4 ,galsworthy1 is 
one which  will ruin any novel in which 
it is attempted4 ,miss ,romer ,wilson   
has  not the experience of either2 but  
as her first book1 ,martin ,schuler1    
demonstrated1 she has really            
extraordinary natural gifts4 ,these     
gifts are still obvious in her second   
book1 which is nevertheless             
disappointing and all but a complete    
failure4 ,it describes a circle  of     
non-combatants during the last year of  
the war1 young people1 of  whom ,mrs4   
,ward has hardly heard1 who sway between
 cynical disgust with  the world around 
them and cynical disgust with their own 
natures4 ,no  man1 it has been wisely   
said1 is uninteresting1 and these       
persons1  regarded from a sane and      
tolerantly humorous point of view1 might
 have  been the theme for a good book4  

,but since the thoughts1 or actions1    
the manners through which they manifest 
themselves not being genuine  or        
spontaneous1 are important neither for  
good nor evil1 the method  of treating  
them seriously results in making them   
appear thin and  tedious4 ,affectations1
 except in the rare event of their      
producing  serious consequences1 are a  
topic only for satire2 and here the     
loves  of ,josephine and ,sebastian1 of 
,james ,blanchard and ,susan and        
,amaryllis1  are expressed purely by    
affectations1 which overlie and conceal 
whatever genuine feelings these persons 
may have possessed4 ,this type  has had 
in recent years a curious attraction for
 young novelists1 who  have as a result 
produced many books which are not worthy
 of attention4  ,but the author of      
,martin ,schuler must sin deeply before 
we can refuse  to read any book of hers1
 however unwillingly we may persevere in
 it4  ,and even here her special        
qualities are altogether beyond mistake4

 ,she  can still1 even in this dreary   
and pointless tale of people we should  
prefer not to meet1 astonish us with    
vivid and enchanting fragments  of      
pictorial beauty4 ,a couple of these    
passages1 which are all that  redeems   
the book from dullness1 may be given as 
specimens3      444 ,at the turn of the 
night it began to rain1 and at daybreak 
the    whole country was grey with      
driving rain1 which spluttered against  
the bedroom window and beat upon the    
thatch4 ,the noisy sparrows    under the
 eaves shook themselves angrily and     
fluttered up and down    in the garden  
after worms4 ,the tom cat1 who had been 
out all night1    gathered himself up on
 the doorstep and brooded there with one
 eye on    the sparrows1 waiting for the
 door to be opened4 ,the draught under  
the door made his paws cold1 so he blew 
himself out and crouched    down with   
his paws folded up underneath him4 ,he  
was angry and tired1    and his fur was 
covered with minute drops of water that 

in places    had penetrated to his skin1
 but he sat there patiently dosing and  
dreaming for two hours until half-past  
eight1 when the bolts were    drawn4 ,at
 the sound of the bolts being shot back 
he at once stood    up and mewed1 and   
the door was hardly opened before he ran
 into the    kitchen1 where a stick fire
 roared in the grate and a frying-pan   
gave    out an odour of frying fat4     
444 ,the people came out of the house   
door1 mysterious in the fading    light 
like a procession of ,boccaccio's women 
and a clerk of the    ,decameron seen   
through the romantic distance of seven  
hundred    years4 ,they lit the candles 
in the dark garden-room and sat down    
as if waiting for somebody to begin a   
story4 ,overhead the blue sky    gleamed
 through the gathering darkness1 and in 
the west a rosy glow    spread up behind
 the delicate aspens and maples and     
acacias of the    little plantation     
above the yew garden4 ,up in the mazy   
blue sky the    transparent half moon   

and a few bright planets gleamed beneath
 the    outermost heavens1 where faint  
white constellations began to appear    
as the darkness quickly gathered upon   
the earth4    ,we do not quote these    
descriptive passages as proving ,miss   
,wilson's  aptitude for the novelist's  
multifarious task4 ,they represent only 
one  of the many gifts of which she must
 dispose2 and they are themselves in    
several details open to criticism4 ,they
 do moreover represent almost           
everything in this book which can be    
distinguished for commendation4  ,they  
suggest1 however1 that ,miss ,wilson    
possesses one of the most  important    
gifts of the novelists1 namely1 a sense 
of the scene2 and  it remains for time  
to show whether she can imagine persons 
and a  situation worthy of her          
background4    ,it is a relief to recede
 from the tangled epoch1 which has      
spoilt and  hindered all these writers1 
into the seventeenth century in ,france4
  ,miss ,mirrlees has written1 not a    

wholly satisfactory or very agreeable1  
but a very strange book1 one far removed
 from the historical romance of         
commerce4 ,she has combined what appears
 to be a close knowledge of her  period1
 of the time of the ,jansenists1 the    
,prcieuses1 and ,mademoiselle  de       
,scudry1 with a desire to study a       
curious case of mental pathology4       
,madeleine1 her heroine1 is a provincial
 girl who removes to ,paris  with her   
family and is consumed by an intense    
longing to enter that  fantastic circle 
of elegance and galanterie which        
revolved round  ,mademoiselle de ,scudry
 and was depicted by her in ,le ,grand  
,cyrus4  ,but her awkward shyness       
forbade that this longing should ever be
  satisfied2 and when she sought to     
pacify it by the familiar device of  the
 endless story1 she exacerbated it into 
madness4 ,this is a brief  and          
inadequate account of a most unusual    
composition1 but it will  serve to show 
how ,miss ,mirrlees has loaded the      

historical novel with  a heavier freight
 than that ornamental craft is          
accustomed to carry4  ,but she has not  
developed either the psychology or the  
descriptive  detail at the expense of   
the other4 ,she dissects ,madeleine's   
mind with  almost morbid closeness and  
makes of it a terrifying spectacle1 but 
at  the same time she has contrived to  
make her setting in time and place      
convincing4 ,her picture of mind and    
manners may or may not be strictly      
accurate2 but it is certainly not       
conventional1 it is original1 it  bites4
 ,there are certain crudities apparent  
both in the style and in  the           
construction of the book1 as well as in 
the choice and development  of subject2 
but it will be very interesting to see  
the next production  of a mind so       
unusual4    ,miss ,clemence ,dane's     
,legend touches ,miss ,mirrlees' work   
fleetingly at  one point4 ,it too       
describes a literary circle1 dominated  
by women1  of the sort which draws      

weaker characters into it and causes    
them to  deteriorate4 ,but it interests 
not so much as a study of this          
particular  phenomenon as in that it is 
an extraordinary attempt1 the only one  
among these books1 to carry on the      
history of the novel1 to give that  form
 a new task1 to enlarge its range and   
its adaptabilities4 ,it  consists of one
 long conversation2 and the principal   
character1 ,madala  ,grey1 makes no     
appearance1 unless the regrettable      
introduction of her  ghost towards the  
end be counted as such4 ,madala is a    
woman-novelist  who has contracted what 
seems to her friends an inexplicable    
marriage  with a dull country doctor4   
,she is in child-bed2 and her circle    
meets  to await news1 hears of her      
death1 and discusses her4 ,their views1 
all mistaken1 are reported by the one   
person present who had never  seen her  
and who deduces the true and simple     
explanation--that she  was actually in  
love with her husband4 ,this is1 it may 

be objected1  merely jumping through a  
series of hoops2 and in a sense the     
objection  has its justification4 ,for1 
when the story should reach its climax1 
when ,madala herself begins to emerge   
from the mists of misjudgment  and      
misinterpretation1 she is revealed as   
being only a lay figure4  ,this does not
 mean that ,miss ,dane's singular device
 in the end misses  its aim4 ,on the    
contrary she accomplishes what she set  
out to do with  perfect precision4      
,nevertheless1 the fact remains that she
 has locked  in a very complicated      
cabinet1 and thence extracted again by  
very  subtle means1 not a living woman  
but a doll4 ,hence her book is not the  
masterpiece it might have been4 ,but we 
are almost brought to overlook  this    
fact by the amazing skill with which she
 manages her invention2  and her jumping
 through hoops1 whether it be regarded  
as an unrelated  exhibition of agility  
or as an experiment in a new method of  
progress1  deserves all attention even  

though it leads only to disappointment  
at  the end4 ,miss ,dane's first novel1 
,regiment of ,women1 was much praised   
not long ago2 her second1 ,first the    
,blade1 did not receive so much  notice4
 ,this reveals in her originality1      
daring and ingenuity which  could hardly
 have been predicted from her earlier   
work2 and there is no  doubt that it    
will be widely discussed1 since it is in
 fact rare for  any really remarkable   
display of these qualities to miss its  
reward4  ,but ,miss ,dane has yet some  
distance to advance if she is to do more
  than win fame as a conjuror or open up
 paths for other novelists4  ,for an    
artist capable of so distinguished a    
conception her style is  strangely flat 
and undistinguished2 and the            
introduction of some very  bad and banal
 passages from the works of ,madala     
,grey is a curious lapse  of tact4      
,mr4 ,john ,cournos's ,the ,mask1 which 
is perhaps the most satisfactory  of all
 these books1 though it is not so       

dazzling and exciting as  ,legend1 is   
one which has very little to say to the 
development of  the novel4 ,we generally
 reckon it impertinent to see in any    
book not  avowed as such the            
autobiography of the author2 but in this
 story of  a ,jewish boy in ,russia and 
,america1 without knowing anything of   
,mr4  ,cournos1 we are forced to make   
the inference4 ,its tone and flavour are
  those of autobiography2 and its       
softened reminiscences of things not    
always pleasant give it its peculiar    
charm4 ,it reveals1 at all events1  more
 than most novels1 a temperament2 and   
this temperament1 whatever  turn the    
story may take1 is always agreeable and 
gracious4 ,vanya  ,gombarov1 the little 
boy1 was brought up in ,russia by a     
stepfather1  who wasted all his money in
 mechanical researches and was obliged  
to  emigrate with his family to         
,america4 ,here ,vanya added to the     
family  income by selling papers1 and in
 other ways1 and saw many horrible      

things4 ,the family experienced many    
misfortunes2 and at the end ,mr4        
,cournos abruptly leaves it moving from 
one house to another4 ,we have  here no 
pyrotechnics of construction2 nor does  
such a book offer any  opportunities for
 them to the author4 ,but he is able to 
show himself  an artist in the softening
 veil which his narrative throws over   
his  incidents without in any way       
distorting them4      ,,belles-,,lettres
 ,,and ,,criticism    ,,seven ,,men4 ,by
 ,,max ,,beerbohm4 ,heinemann4 #gs4 net4
    ,it is a common ground of complaint 
against ,mr4 ,max ,beerbohm that he     
publishes too little4 ,but the very     
fastidiousness which makes him1         
compared with the word-fountains of our 
time1 so notable an example  of         
limitation of output is what makes the  
work he does print so  surpassingly     
good4 ,economy is a word freely used and
 much abused4 ,it  is sometimes applied 
to writers whose only claim to it is    
that they  use short sentences or that  

they omit everything except             
inessentials4  ,but ,mr4 ,beerbohm      
deserves more than any artist of our    
time the epithet  economical4 ,always1  
and increasingly so with the passage of 
time1 he  has taken pains to print no   
sentence and no word that does not help 
his effect2 and the five stories in this
 book1 even were their other  merits    
less than they are1 might serve as      
models of simple and exact  expression1 
the cunning accumulation of telling     
detail1 the complete  avoidance of      
detail which does not tell4    ,of the  
five stories one1 ,james ,pethel1 is a  
study of the gambling  temperament      
localised in an attractive but          
terrifying man1 and one1 ,a4  ,v4       
,laider1 is an astonishingly clever     
fantasia on the theme of lying4  ,the   
other1 and more ambitious1 three are    
studies1 we might almost call  them     
historical studies1 of literature1      
literary men1 and the literary  life4   
,they all relate to that remote period1 

now faded and therefore a  little       
charming1 the nineties2 they give us    
types of writers1 second  or third or   
tenth rate1 whose reputations die1 but  
who are interesting  enough to be       
celebrated as types1 if not as          
individuals4 ,savonarola  ,brown--the   
obscure man who spent his life on an    
unfinished tragedy on  the best         
blank-verse models--is the most slightly
 sketched of them2  but here what the   
portrait lacks--perhaps that shadowy    
figure offered  no more lines for the   
pencil to seize--is more than made up   
for by the  best parody that even ,mr4  
,beerbohm has written4 ,remove the      
burlesque1  the comic stage directions1 
the juxtapositions of ,lucrezia ,borgia1
 ,st4  ,francis1 ,andrea del ,sarto and 
,pippa 7who passes in her own inimitable
  way71 and the more extravagant        
convolutions of the plot1 and you will  
see that ,mr4 ,beerbohm could quite     
easily have manufactured a play  better 
than most modern poetic dramas1 and     

written in verse at once so  fluent and 
so reminiscent of the best masters as to
 command the respect  of the reviewers1 
and possibly a production 7for a few    
nights7 by some  manager ambitious to   
show that he desired to reunite         
,literature and the  ,stage4 ,at times  
we forget that we are reading a         
burlesque3          ,,pope4 ,of this    
anon4              ,stands over body of 
,gaoler4        ,our present business   
,is general woe4 ,no nobler corse hath  
ever        ,impressed the ground4 ,o   
let the trumpets speak it6              
,flourish of trumpets4        ,this was 
the noblest of the ,florentines4        
,his character was flawless1 and the    
world        ,held not his parallel4 ,o 
bear him hence        ,with all such    
honours as our ,state can offer4        
,he shall interred be with noise of     
cannon1        ,as doth befit so        
militant a nature4        ,prepare these
 obsequies4              ,papal         
,officers lift body of ,gaoler4    ,did 

,mr4 ,beerbohm write this8 ,or was it   
,brown1 fresh from ,the ,duchess  of    
,malfi or ,the ,broken ,heart8    ,the  
two stories that remain are more        
elaborate4 ,in ,enoch ,soames we  are   
given the picture of the kind of        
sepulchral1 costive1 dedicated1         
fame-gluttonous minor poet who has      
haunted the by-ways of literature  in   
all ages2 we are given1 as well1 a      
realistic picture of what those  by-ways
 were twenty years ago1 and a plot      
7which races between the  future and the
 past7 the intricacies of which are     
followed with equal  ingenuity and      
imperturbability4 ,but there can be     
little dispute that  ,maltby and        
,braxton is the great achievement of the
 volume4 ,these two  were rivals who had
 a brief vogue in the nineties2 the very
 scent of  the time comes back with the 
titles of their masterpieces1 ,ariel in 
,mayfair and ,a ,faun in the ,cotswolds4
 ,maltby in a weak moment cheated       
,braxton out of a week-end at the       

,duchess of ,hertfordshire's1 and when  
the hapless ,maltby got to ,keeb ,hall  
,braxton's ghost haunted him1  driving  
him into perpetual solecisms and        
misadventures4 ,there is the            
background3 the gossiping coteries of   
,london1 the fleeting fashions of       
literature1 the first vogue of the      
bicycle1 the dabbling great dames1  the 
house-parties1 soires1 dinners1         
church-goings4 ,and in front of it  the 
most comic of tragedies1 the most tragic
 of comedies is played4 ,the  story is  
written with such skill that the cruelty
 is never quite cruel1  the laughter    
never quite flippant1 the extravagances 
always anchored  to reality3 at the end1
 in spite not only of the caricature but
 of the  tallest fiction about a ghost  
that we remember1 we feel that we have  
been reading a plain statement of fact4 
,and this is what1 at bottom1  the story
 is3 it is more realistic than any      
naturalist novel3 it is  the work of one
 who1 for all his fantastic invention   

and wit1 has a  prodigiously keen pair  
of eyes and a profound understanding of 
human  nature4 ,we hope1 by the way1    
that ,mr4 ,beerbohm's passage about     
literary  fauns will finally expel these
 overworked creatures from our midst4   
,,donne',s ,,sermons3 ,,selected        
,,passages ,,with ,,an ,,essay4 ,by     
,,logan ,,pearsall  ,,smith4 ,milford4  
#fs4 net4    ,donne's reputation as a   
poet1 very high for some time after his 
death1  sank almost to nothingness for  
two centuries4 ,in the last thirty years
  he has1 by virtue partly of his       
occasional splendours of passion1       
imagery1 and even music1 partly of a    
modernity in him which is attuned  to   
the spirit of our own time1 regained his
 old position4 ,much has  been written  
of him2 ,mr4 ,gosse has written his     
,life in two volumes1  ,professor       
,grierson has edited him in one of the  
most exhaustive and  scholarly of the   
,oxford editions of poets2 he has       
exercised a traceable  influence on men 

now writing4 ,but the revival has been  
confined to his  poems4 ,his prose1     
contained in three huge folios and      
several small  pamphlets1 has remained  
unread2 and it is significant that until
 a few  years ago he who wished to      
possess 7for none thought of perusing7  
the  ,dean's sermons was likelier to    
find them at a theological bookseller's 
than in one of those shops which cater  
for the collector of fine  literature4  
,the neglect was doubly explicable4 ,not
 only were ,donne's  ,sermons sermons1  
and therefore liable to fall into the   
disregard into  which the sermons of    
,south and ,tillotson1 and even those of
 ,jeremy  ,taylor1 have fallen1 but they
 were sermons so voluminous as to be    
terrifying to the most insatiable       
reader1 and 7for the most part7 so      
involved1 so stuffed with scholasticism1
 theological hair-splitting1  debate    
about texts and about commentaries on   
texts1 that a first  attempt at perusal 
might have made the bravest quail4 ,but 

the few who  have dared the darkness of 
the great mine have never been          
disappointed2  all over it1 sparkling   
magnificently to the explorer's touch1  
are great  jewels of imagination cut    
with the craft of a master of language4 
,mr4 ,pearsall ,smith1 performing for   
his readers the labour they would  have 
shirked1 has gone through the whole of  
,donne's ,sermons and  extracted a      
hundred-and-fifty passages1 short and   
long1 illustrating  his character and   
his genius4 ,not quite the whole of the 
ground is  covered2 the editor has      
chosen nothing of which the principal   
claim  to distinction was that it       
conveyed1 with great justice or great   
force1 a doctrine of the ,church or an  
edifying lesson4 ,he has made  his      
anthology as a poet and a student of    
character would make it2  and the result
 is a volume of passages which exhibit  
that strange  vehement man of genius    
more clearly than could any biography1  
and  which substantiates his claim to be

 considered as being1 at his best1  a   
writer of ,english prose that has never 
been surpassed for music and  richness4 
,his greatest passages--and this holds  
good of all ,english  prose--are those  
in which he is contemplating large      
elemental things4  ,a roll like the roll
 of the prophetic books comes into his  
voice  when he speaks of the majesty of 
,god1 the powers of ,death and of       
,evil1 the passage of time1 the justice 
that waits for sin1 and the  decay that 
will overtake beauty2 when he stands in 
the attitudes and  assumes the voice of 
adoration1 of accusation1 or of grief4  
,but even  in his dialectics the        
restless intellectual in him was        
continually  striking out sparks of wit2
 the insatiable observer in him was     
noting  small things1 sticks1 straws1   
and insects1 puddles and ponds2 the     
insuppressible poet pouring out images  
copious enough to furnish out  a hundred
 minor men4 ,this is a long-needed book1
 done with competence  and exquisite    

taste4 ,his greatest1 loveliest things  
are as good as ,sir  ,thomas ,browne's2 
his grandest are grander than ,jeremy   
,taylor's4 ,there  is probably no       
sentence in our language so long as that
 in which he  depicted ,eternal         
,damnation1 yet it swells and swells1   
never breaking  its back1 always borne  
up by the mighty mind of his spirit4    
,hell is  deprivation of ,god4 ,that    
,god1 begins this great passage1        
that ,god should let my soule fall out  
of his hand1 into a bottomlesse    pit1 
and roll an unremoveable stone upon it1 
and leave it to that    which it finds  
there 7and it shall finde that there1   
which it never    imagined1 till it came
 thither7 and never think more of that  
soule1    never have more to doe with   
it4 ,that of that providence of ,god1   
that    studies the life of every weed1 
and worme1 and ant1 and spider1 and     
toad1 and viper1 there should never1    
never any beame flow out upon    me2    
that that ,god1 who looked upon me1 when

 ,i was nothing1 and called    me when  
,i was not1 as though ,i had been1 out  
of the womb and depth of    darknesse1  
will not looke upon me now1 when1 though
 a miserable1 and    a banished1 and a  
damned creature1 yet ,i am his creature 
still1 and    contribute something to   
his story1 even in my damnation4444     
so it proceeds in tremendous crescendo  
describing1 or failing to  describe1    
what it must mean to fall out of the    
hands of the living ,god  444 a horror  
beyond our expression1 beyond our       
imagination2 and this  is but the       
sublimest of many sublime utterances in 
these sermons of the  greatest of the   
,church's poets4 ,we commend ,mr4       
,pearsall ,smith's book1  and shall     
return to it and its subject at length  
in an early number4      ,,south ,,sea  
,,foam4 ,by ,a4 ,,safroni-,,middleton4  
,methuen4 #fs4 net4    ,the sub-title of
 this book1 ,the ,romantic ,adventures  
of a ,modern ,don  ,quixote in the      
,southern ,seas1 gives the clue to a    

quality in ,mr4  ,safroni-,middleton    
that might repel a fastidious reader4   
,he is a little  too effusive1 a little 
too self-conscious in his               
adventurousness4 ,but  the reader who is
 repelled early will miss something2 for
 with all its  defects ,south ,sea ,foam
 is a full and exciting and often       
beautiful  book4 ,mr4 ,middleton has not
 the technique of the artist2 he does   
not  write well4 ,but he has the        
artist's sensibility1 and his writing is
 at  its most vivid when the greatest   
demands are made upon it4 ,my greatest  
literary effort in the following pages1 
he says1 has been to keep  to the truth 
of the whole matter1 even though such   
frankness should  leave me1 at the end  
of this volume1 with a blackened name4  
,he need  not be anxious about his name2
 but if this book is all true he has had
  adventures as wild and strange as any 
man alive4 ,his book is a medley  of    
,polynesian legends1 and the most       
extraordinary events on the ocean  and  

among the islands2 storms1 moonlight    
dances1 abductions of dusky  maidens    
from chiefs' palaces1 orgies in saloons1
 chases and shots1  canoes1 sharks1 and 
love-songs3 a great flood of            
brightly-coloured  reminiscence tumbled 
out in language which is never quite    
right but  always picturesque4 ,at any  
page one is liable to come across some  
passage that thrills or deeply touches2 
and occasionally there is an  episode   
narrated so well that criticism is      
silent4 ,such an episode is  that of the
 old dog ,moses1 which falls overboard  
on a murky night4  ,he barks amid the   
waves to guide the boat2 but there comes
 a scream  that means a shark and no    
more is heard4 ,next night the old      
bearded  sailor-men sit on their chests 
in the fo'c'sle puffing out smoke1      
drinking rum in silence1 brooding over  
the dog3 and no scene could  be more    
vividly painted4 ,the last adventure 7in
 a castaway boat with  a brown girl71   
which we should call incredible were it 

not for ,mr4  ,middleton's assurance1 is
 the loveliest and most terrible of all4
 ,we  think that anyone who reads this  
book once will make a habit of reading  
it4      ,,rupert ,,brooke ,,and ,,the  
,,intellectual ,,imagination3 ,a        
,,lecture4 ,by ,,walter ,,de  ,,la      
,,mare4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #bs4 #f;d4 
net4    ,the lecture here printed was   
delivered before ,rugby ,school on the  
occasion of the unveiling of a memorial 
there to ,rupert ,brooke4  ,mr4 de la   
,mare1 as he recalls1 was chosen to go  
to ,america as ,mrs4  ,brooke's         
representative to receive the first     
presentation of the  ,howland ,memorial 
,prize1 the posthumous award of which to
 ,brooke was an  act of international   
courtesy and generosity1 too little     
noticed in  this country at the time4   
,it was fitting that ,mr4 de la ,mare   
should  be again associated with the    
dead poet2 and in this short paper he   
outlines his character and his          
achievement with as much affection as   

discernment4 ,brooke1 he is insistent to
 make plain1 was a happy man1  a        
vigorous1 healthy creature1 who found   
the world teeming with food  for his    
multifarious appetites4 ,it is with this
 fact in mind that  all his poems1 not  
omitting those which are disquieting to 
read at  meals1 must be judged4 ,he     
desired truth at all costs2 and if1     
unlike  ,methuselah1 he did not live    
long enough to see life whole1 he at    
least  confronted it with a remarkably  
steady and disconcerting stare4 ,the    
theme of his poetry1 says ,mr4 de la    
,mare1 is the life of the mind1  the    
senses1 the feelings1 life here and now1
 however impatient he may  be with      
life's limitations4 ,its longing is for 
a state of consciousness  wherein this  
kind of life shall be possible without  
exhaustion1  disillusionment1 or        
reaction4 ,this essay is short1 but it  
is full both  of wise judgments and     
beautiful sayings4 ,it conveys a sense  
not only of  the value of ,brooke's     

poetry but also of the charm of his     
personality4  ,more1 much more1 will be 
written about him2 and we shall have his
  character carefully examined and      
defined1 both by those who knew him  and
 those who did not4 ,but this brief     
study1 at once an exposition and  a     
ceremonial and moving eulogy1 will      
retain its place in the literature      
collecting around his name4      ,,some 
,,soldier ,,poets4 ,by ,t4 ,,sturge     
,,moore4 ,grant ,richards4 #gs4 #f;d4   
net4    ,this volume contains short     
essays on the poems of ,julian          
,grenfell1  ,rupert ,brooke1 ,robert    
,nichols1 ,robert ,graves1 ,siegfried   
,sassoon1 ,r4  ,e4 ,vernde1 ,charles    
,sorley1 ,francis ,ledwidge1 ,edward    
,thomas1 ,f4 ,w4  ,harvey1 ,richard     
,aldington1 and ,alan ,seeger3 with a   
paper on ,the ,best  ,poetry at the end4
 ,a casual student of the list of       
contents might make  several hasty      
criticisms4 ,he might suppose that he   
was going to find  here a series of     

short lives1 manufactured because of an 
accidental  connection between them4 ,he
 might be fortified in this suspicion by
  the fact that one or two poets are in 
the list who have no claim to  rank with
 the others4 ,but he need only begin to 
read the book to  remember that ,mr4    
,sturge ,moore is a poet1 a sound       
critic1 and a writer  incapable of      
hackwork4 ,there is one obvious defect2 
he has omitted a  few poets 7,edward    
,wyndham ,tennant is an example7 who had
 better claim  to admission than some in
 his list4 ,but there is little else    
that can  be urged against him4 ,mr4    
,sturge ,moore wastes no space over     
biography4  ,he takes1 seriatim1 the    
books of these young poets and confronts
 them  in a generous but not an         
undiscriminating mood1 asking himself   
what is  their spirit1 what their       
technical qualities and defects and     
which are  their best poems4 ,these     
essays are not 7even when their subjects
 are  unworthy of effort7 facile        

journalism2 they are considered         
criticism  written in the prose of a    
poet1 prose rich with novel and         
beautiful  images and embodying the     
results of profound reflection upon life
 and  art4    ,mr4 ,sturge ,moore's     
essay on ,brooke is too brief to be a   
final  estimate2 the main fault of all  
his essays is that they are not  long   
enough to include sufficient quotations2
 otherwise they would  certainly be of  
permanent value4 ,but it is a           
penetrating essay1  full of interesting 
obiter dicta1 such as the statement that
 the  fallacy of impressionism has      
tainted modern sthetic thought1 and  the
 more disputable statement that failure 
in love and war is much  more inspiring 
to the poet than success2 when the real 
world has  rejected a man he feels freer
 in the ,muses' house2 he no longer has 
any interests that conflict with theirs4
 ,julian ,grenfell's ,into  ,battle he  
describes 7and we think he is right7 as 
the best poem of  the war4 ,of three    

poets commonly linked together1 he says 
that ,those  who shall gaze back a      
century hence may discern rather in     
,nichols than  in ,sassoon or ,graves   
the poet's mind that is independent of  
time and  approaches all human          
circumstance with the kinsman's joy and 
pain1  though he admits that the race   
has only just begun1 and another runner 
may outstrip the others4 ,he is         
admirable on ,sorley1 whom many think   
the greatest loss to literature of all  
who fell in the war1 and he has         
found--and no one before has1 we        
believe1 so celebrated this poem--in    
,mr4 ,harvey's ,the ,bugler something   
like an isolated great poem4 ,the  one  
chapter which we find relatively        
inadequate is that which deals  with    
,edward ,thomas4 ,every time ,i read    
them ,i like them better1 he  says2 and 
he quotes in full ,thomas's superb      
welcome to death2 but  the reader misses
 here all the rest of the poet's most   
beautiful  poems and passages4 ,they are

 even yet not known as they should be2  
we wait for a collected volume to reveal
 to most ,english readers how  profuse1 
in his last two years1 ,thomas was of   
exquisite poems crowded  with           
characteristic ,english landscape1 and  
often profoundly moving  by their       
sincere expression of universal         
emotions4 ,he died resigned1  and       
fulfilled at last4 ,in ,mr4 ,moore's    
words1 ,our house was not well  ordered2
 he should not have had to write hastily
 for his own and his  children's bread2 
we have lost the chance of using him to 
the best  advantage2 yet he leaves us   
more than we deserved1 something that   
will be treasured by posterity for ever4
 ,as his body fell1 its cloak  melted   
off the soul and we caught a glimpse    
which confounded our poor  recollections
 of the man1 and words of his still     
tolling round our ears  make us aware   
that for him this dark casualty had a   
different meaning4      ,a ,,book ,,of  
,r4 ,l4 ,s4 ,by ,,george ,,brown4       

,methuen4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this work 
is really a ,stevenson ,encyclopdia     
reminiscent of that  colossal ,browning 
,cyclopdia which still goes into new    
editions4 ,mr4  ,brown arranges1 in     
alphabetical order1 the names of        
,stevenson's books1  characters1        
friends1 critics1 dwelling-places1 etc4 
,we have tested him  with several       
questions and not found him to fail4 ,he
 gives more than  the facts he might be 
expected to give2 for example1 when a   
book is  under notice he enters the     
latest prices paid for its first edition
  in the sale-room4 ,he also lightens   
his pages with compact but pungent      
comments4 ,for instance1 he describes   
,mr4 ,swinnerton's able but hostile     
study of ,stevenson as the kind of study
 which it can be imagined ,dr4          
,clifford would write of ,ignatius      
,loyola4 ,a good book of its kind and   
one that should be bought by everyone   
who has a ,collected ,stevenson4  ,the  
illustrations do not greatly add to its 

charms4      ,,history ,,and ,,biography
    ,,fifty ,,years ,,of ,,europe1      
#ahgj-aiai4 ,by ,c4 ,d4 ,,hazen4 ,bell4 
#ads4 net4    ,professor ,hazen ends his
 survey of the last fifty years of      
,european  history with the words3 ,the 
evil that men do lives after them4  ,the
 remark is not original1 but it is none 
the less historically  true and         
melancholy4 ,upon page #dad of this book
 it refers to ,wilhelm  ,hohenzollern1  
but as the final note struck in a       
text-book of ,european  history it has a
 wider significance4 ,after reading     
,professor ,hazen one  is tempted to    
ponder the question whether the good men
 do is interred  with the bones of      
history1 and only the evil done by them 
lives after  them and their time4 ,here 
is the story of fifty years in #dad     
pages1  and indisputably the story is   
concerned far more with the evil that   
men have done than with the good4 ,what 
is the reason of this8 ,the  question is
 extraordinarily difficult to answer1   

and1 though the  reviewer ex cathedra is
 officially supposed not to admit       
anything but  infallibility1 we confess 
to be at a loss for a prompt and        
unhesitating  answer4 ,the cause may be 
subjective rather than objective3 the   
historians may look at history from a   
wrong angle1 so that the shadows  are   
exaggerated or intensified4 ,on the     
other hand1 it may really be1  as       
,shakespeare seemed to think1 that the  
effects of evil are actually  more      
permanent than those of good4 ,and there
 is a third alternative  which the      
philosophical historian and the         
historical philosopher cannot  dismiss  
out of hand3 history is the tale of     
men's communal actions1  and it may be  
that man is so incompletely a political 
animal that his  communal actions are   
more often evil than good4    ,we cannot
 answer these questions1 but they rise  
naturally from a  consideration of      
,professor ,hazen's volume4 ,the first  
question which a  reviewer has to put to

 himself is ,what is the object of this 
book8  ,the object of ,professor        
,hazen's is obvious3 it is a text-book1 
a rapid  survey of a period of history  
which1 as he rightly says1 possesses  a 
unity that is quite exceptional among   
the so-called 'periods' of  history4 ,as
 a text-book it has great merits2 it is 
accurate and  brief1 it runs with great 
rapidity through all the more important 
facts of its period1 and the author's   
opinions and prejudices are  severely   
repressed4 ,it has some obvious faults3 
the author seems to us  ill-advised to  
have added his last chapter in the form 
and size adopted  by him4 ,this chapter 
deals with the actual events of the     
world war1 and  occupies nearly a       
quarter of the entire book4 ,this throws
 the whole  of his book out of shape4   
,the war in itself had1 of course1      
enormous  importance1 but the details of
 its progress are of little importance  
in a survey like this4 ,in the previous 
pages we have been whirled from  the    

,balkan question to the ,irish1 from the
 ,irish question to the rise  of ,japan1
 from the rise of ,japan to the ,russian
 internal struggle1  and many of these  
immense complicated problems have       
necessarily been  dismissed in a few    
pages4 ,there is no room in a book on   
this scale for  a description of the    
campaigns of the war1 and ,professor    
,hazen's volume  loses rather than gains
 by his attempt to deal with them4 ,but 
as a  text-book it has merits above the 
average4 ,one great merit is inherent   
in it--it looks at history not from a   
national but a ,european or world       
angle4 ,we are inclined to believe that 
for use in schools no histories  of     
,france1 ,england1 or other individual  
countries should be  tolerated1 that all
 history should be either of ,europe1   
,asia1 of some  continent or era1 or of 
the world4 ,and then1 perhaps1          
historians might  be able to deal a     
little more with the good that men do   
communally than  with the evil4         

,,the ,,tank ,,corps4 ,by ,,major       
,,clough ,,williams-,,ellis1 ,m4,c41 and
 ,a4  ,,williams-,,ellis4 ,with an      
,introduction by ,,major-,,general ,h4  
,j4 ,,elles1  ,c4,b41 ,d4,s4,o4 ,country
 ,life4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this is1 if
 not an official1 at least a            
semi-official history of  the ,tank     
,corps2 and if the other arms of our    
fighting forces get  histories as good  
they will be fortunate4 ,it contains the
 whole story  of the machine and of     
those who manned it--invention1         
manufacture1  organisation1 training1   
use--from the nebulous beginnings in the
 minds  of the various gentlemen whose  
claims to paternity are now being       
disputed to the last battle of #aiah4   
,the information has an air of  final   
authority3 official reports are backed  
with copious personal  narrative4 ,there
 is no attempt at fine writing2 the book
 is a long  series of short paragraphs  
containing essential facts4 ,yet1 when  
occasion demands1 the authors' terse    

sentences are far more vivid and  more  
full of emotion than are the elaborate  
pages of the professional               
battle-painters4 ,this is never more    
noticeable than in their chapter  on the
 ,battle of ,cambrai1 where the fortunes
 of the whole ,tank  experiment were at 
stake4 ,nothing is elaborated1 yet we   
see very  vividly the whole panorama of 
those days of intense surreptitious     
preparation1 and the final overwhelming 
advance against the enemy1  whose       
suspicions had been aroused too late4   
,the authors finally dispose  of the    
story that the ,general's last order to 
his ,tanks told them to  do their       
damnedest4 ,that spurious fosterling he 
hated the more the  more he perceived   
its popularity4 ,the authentic ,order is
 given3 a  brief restrained document    
ending #e4 ,i propose leading the attack
 of  the ,centre ,division4 ,this he    
did1 in the ,hilda1 which reached the   
outposts line in the van of the battle1 
,general ,elles standing with  his head 

through the hatch picking up targets for
 the gunners4 ,the  ,hilda's flag was   
several times hit1 but not brought down4
 ,it was at  this battle that sixteen   
,tanks were knocked out by one gun1     
served  single-handed by a ,german      
officer1 who died at his post4 ,the     
story of  the ,tanks that crossed a     
canal on the back of another does not   
seem to  be verified4 ,the authors'     
conclusion is that in the phase at which
  military science has arrived1 and at  
which it will probably remain for  a    
generation1 a superior force of ,tanks  
can always top the scales of  the       
military balance of power4 ,the         
illustrations are many and well  chosen4
 ,we recommend the book1 both as a work 
of reference and as a  book to read4    
,,abraham ,,lincoln3 ,,the ,,practical  
,,mystic4 ,by ,,francis ,,grierson4     
,with an  introduction by ,john         
,drinkwater4 ,john ,lane4 #es4 net4     
,mr4 ,grierson states that ,abraham     
,lincoln was the greatest practical     

mystic the world has known for nineteen 
hundred years1 thus  unnecessarily      
challenging comparisons with ,saint     
,teresa and others4 ,his  book1 both as 
an effort to sustain this thesis and as 
a book to read1  is something of a      
disappointment4 ,some of his earlier    
works--notably  the beautiful ,valley of
 ,shadows--are closely thought and      
admirably  written2 the best have never 
had in full the credit they deserve4    
,but  the present volume is little more 
than a small scrap-book of other        
people's impressions and anecdotes of   
,lincoln1 sprinkled with ,mr4           
,grierson's not very profound comments  
and assertions to the effect that  we   
are now at the end of a dispensation1   
and are emerging into the  mystical dawn
 of a new day4 ,that ,lincoln was a very
 great and a very  good man we know1 and
 that he lived in the light of          
conscience4 ,of such  we can never be   
told too much1 and the book might well  
serve as an  introduction to more       

elaborate biographies4 ,but we cannot   
say that ,mr4  ,grierson adds anything  
to our knowledge4 ,he tells us of       
,lincoln's sense  of duty1 his          
dedication to the service of his kind1  
his premonitions4  ,one of the most     
memorable mystical demonstrations ever  
recorded in any  epoch occurred in the  
little town of ,salem1 ,illinois1 in    
,august1 #ahcg1  when ,lincoln was only 
twenty-three years of age1 and some of  
his  deepest thoughts on the mysteries  
of life and death were never voiced  by 
this man1 who never spoke unless he     
deemed it imperative to speak4  ,the    
,new ,york ,times says this or that1 the
 ,spectator says so-and-so2  ,lincoln   
was a unique manifestation of the       
,supreme ,mind1 like ,moses4  ,the      
,american people were at that time      
practical1 democratic seers1  without   
whom the greatest practical mystic could
 not have existed4  ,these passages are 
not cheering4 ,there is an introduction 
by ,mr4 ,john  ,drinkwater1 who says    

something and says it clearly4          
,,men ,,and ,,manners ,,in ,,parliament4
 ,by ,,sir ,,henry ,,lucy4 ,fisher      
,unwin4 #ajs4  #f;d4 net4    ,sir ,henry
 ,lucy's reprint of his notes on the    
,disraeli ,parliament of  #ahgd will    
find a place in that world-museum where 
a bottle containing  the ,bruce's spider
 stands next on the shelf to the        
original kettle  which inflamed the     
young imagination of ,george            
,stephenson4 ,they were  published      
serially in 7how distant it all seems67 
the ,gentleman's  ,magazine1 and a set  
of bound volumes of that venerable      
periodical  found its way 7by the       
steam-packet1 no doubt7 to the young    
republic  of the ,united ,states4 ,there
 in the beautiful new-world calm of the 
,chancellor ,green ,library1 at         
,princeton1 the old printed words in    
their quaint black-letters met the young
 eye of ,woodrow ,wilson1 a  smart      
student of his seniors1 ,chatham1       
,burke1 and ,brougham1 of the  more     

recent writings of ,lord ,macaulay1 then
 recently dead1 and of the  positively  
burning message of the still more       
topical ,mr4 ,bagehot4 ,but  it was ,sir
 ,henry ,lucy1 not yet dubbed a ,knight1
 who produced1 if we may  believe the   
official biographer--and ,sir ,henry    
does--an influence 444  on his          
broadening thought4 ,the debt was very  
gracefully acknowledged  by the         
,president long afterwards in a letter  
which pays tribute to the  interest you 
stirred many years ago in the action of 
public affairs in  ,great ,britain4 ,he 
added that he would always think of ,sir
 ,henry as one  of his instructors4     
,the whole story is one more example of 
the ineradicable romanticism of  the    
,new ,world which led ,henry ,james to  
the belief that great leaders  in       
,england conversed intelligently 7if not
 always quite intelligibly7  and drew   
,whistler to dramatise the ,thames4 ,one
 sees the ,american  undergraduate      
hanging spellbound over ,sir ,henry     

,lucy's parliamentary  notes1 and rising
 from the table with bright eyes and    
burning cheeks  to mutter1 as he walked 
out among the chipmunks and prairie     
foxes1 ,i  too will hold assemblies in  
the grip of my eloquence like the ,right
  ,honourable ,george ,sclater-,booth2  
in me ,mr4 ,knatchbull-,hugessen shall  
have his transatlantic counterpart4 ,and
 one is inclined to wonder1 as  one     
rambles through the pages of what the   
,president1 remembering his             
constitutional obligations to the       
,american language1 described as ,the   
,syndicated ,london ,letter1 which of   
these amiable pages of political  gossip
 it was that finally tilted the young   
,wilson on to that inclined  plane which
 led to ,washington and the ,galerie des
 ,glaces4 ,was it the  picture of ,mr4  
,disraeli on the ,treasury ,bench1      
impassive1 arms folded1  forelock well  
in evidence1 or the more vivacious      
scenes in which ,mr4  ,bright1 ,mr4     
,gladstone1 and ,mr4 ,lowe chased one   

another across the  ,mid-,victorian     
stage8 ,no one except ,mr4 ,wilson can  
say4 ,but the anecdote  lends point to  
the reissue of ,sir ,henry's notes1     
which always possess a  high interest   
for political historians1 apart from the
 addition which  the story makes to     
their intrinsic value4      ,,the ,,life
 ,,and ,,letters ,,of ,,lady ,,dorothy  
,,nevill4 ,by ,,ralph ,,nevill4         
,methuen4  #ahs4 net4    ,this is a most
 disappointing book4 ,of ,lady          
,dorothy's charm and  intelligence we   
have had evidence in the two volumes    
published in  her lifetime1 and edited  
by ,mr4 ,nevill4 ,she certainly deserved
 a  biography which should preserve for 
posterity a true portrait of one  who   
typified what was best and most likeable
 in a state of society  that became     
historical even in her lifetime4        
,unfortunately1 ,mr4 ,nevill  has been  
content to give us merely gleanings of  
his mother's notebooks  and post-bag4   
,he makes no effort at all at formal    

biography1 keeps  no sequence1 and      
betrays no sense of proportion4 ,the    
writing of the  book is slack and       
formless1 as1 for instance1 in such     
sentences as the  following3      ,no   
one probably knew more about the inner  
social history of her time    than ,lady
 ,cork2 a very clever woman1 who long   
after she had ceased    to be able to   
leave her couch1 owing to her numerous  
visitors1 kept    herself excellently   
posted as to everything of interest     
which was on    foot4 ,at the time of   
the ,druce case1 being a confirmed      
invalid1 her    evidence1 which would   
have completely put any claimant out of 
court1    was taken on commission4      
,the book is full of writing as careless
 as this1 and is1 in  consequence1 very 
trying to read4 ,all one can do is to   
search through  the volume for amusing  
stories of the world ,lady ,dorothy     
,nevill  adorned1 and to make some guess
 at the character of the woman who      
could number among her friends ,lord    

,clanricarde1 ,father ,dolling1 ,lord   
,beaconsfield1 ,mr4 ,chamberlain1 ,lord 
,lytton1 and ,mr4 ,john ,burns4    ,the 
second task is difficult4 ,one knows her
 better from that glowing  portrait by  
,watts--which we wish ,mr4 ,nevill had  
reproduced--than from  any of her       
letters given here4 ,she was not a good 
letter-writer1 though  better than some 
of her correspondents4 ,she had both    
generosity and an  aptitude for         
mischief1 stout prejudices1 but a       
lovable curiosity which  prevented her  
being their slave4 ,her ,toryism was of 
the ,young ,england  variety1 and never 
stopped her from making friends where   
she could4 ,her  wit seems to have been 
a wit of personality rather than of     
mind1 almost  a spiritual glow which is 
rarely apparent in the printed page4 ,of
 her  family life we are told           
practically nothing--not even the date  
of ,mr4  ,reginald ,nevill's death is   
given4    ,many of the anecdotes in the 
book are old1 but we have not met this  

before4 ,lady ,pollington1 ,lady        
,dorothy ,nevill's sister1 adored       
dancing1  her love of which may be      
realised when it is stated that the     
night  before her only son was born she 
was at ,lady ,salisbury's dance in      
,arlington ,street till one-thirty and  
her son was born at three4 ,new  to us  
also is the story of the petition       
presented to the ,united ,states        
,congress by some zealots who           
entertained strong religious objections 
against the use of oil4 ,mr4 ,nevill    
does not assign its precise date1  but  
gives it as an instance of              
mid-,victorian bigotry4      ,the       
signatories to this remarkable document 
prayed that a stop    might be put to   
the irreverent and irreligious          
proceedings of    various citizens in   
drawing petroleum from the bosom of the 
earth1    thus checking the designs of  
the ,almighty1 ,who1 they said1 had     
undoubtedly stored it there with a view 
to the last day1 when all    things     

shall be destroyed4    ,mr4 ,nevill     
tells us one thing about his mother     
which possibly reveals  her character   
and the temper of her time more truly   
than anything else  in the book3 it     
seems to belong to the ,england of      
,general ,gordon and  ,lady ,burton4    
,lady ,dorothy practised illumination1  
presumably as taught  in the once       
popular ,owen ,jones' volume4      ,one 
of the works she executed was ,hood's   
,song of the ,shirt1 another    was ,the
 ,service for the ,burial of the ,dead1 
which she finished and    signed in     
#ahdh1 when twenty-two years of age--a  
curious instance of    the strange      
mixture of seriousness and vivacity     
which went to form a    highly original 
mind4      ,,politics ,,and ,,economics 
,,industry ,,and ,,trade4 ,by ,,alfred  
,,marshall4 ,macmillan4 #ahs4 net4      
,dr4 ,marshall's well-known ,principles 
of ,economics was published as  long ago
 as #ahij4 ,for many years he continued 
to work at the volume  with which he    

designed to follow that1 but weak       
health1 as well as  heavy professional  
duties and much time devoted to the     
public service1  made his progress slow4
 ,it is only now1 therefore1 after an   
interval  of nearly thirty years1 that  
he has been able to complete the present
  book4 ,and even so his scheme is not  
yet complete1 for there is still  a     
companion volume to come1 which will    
deal with influences on the  conditions 
of man's life and work exerted by the   
resources available  for employment2 by 
money and credit2 by international      
trade2 and by  social endeavour4        
,industry and ,trade is a monument of   
lucidity and carefulness4 ,every        
student of economics will read it with  
interest1 even though it does  not      
appear to throw much new light on the   
problems it discusses4 ,dr4  ,marshall  
traces out for us in a general way the  
technical evolution  of industry1 both  
in this country and elsewhere4 ,we have 
an analysis  of the conditions which    

produced in turn the industrial         
leadership  of ,britain1 of ,france1 of 
,germany1 of the ,united ,states4 ,we   
have a  minute discussion of the        
dominant tendencies of business         
organisations1  the expansion of the    
unit1 the application of scientific     
method1 the  problems of joint-stock    
companies1 of banking1 of marketing4    
,and  finally the question of monopolies
 is examined--the ,american and  ,german
 experience of trusts and cartels1 the  
great movement towards  aggregation1    
federation1 and co-operation in ,british
 trade4 ,dr4  ,marshall writes          
throughout in a spirit of large and     
rather fatherly  benevolence1 here      
reproving some anti-social practices of 
trade  unionism1 there gently censuring 
abuses of power by a trust4 ,it is      
admirable1 of course1 but there are     
times when his elaborate avoidance  of  
partisanship and his cautious           
non-committal attitude leave the  reader
 a little perplexed4 ,dr4 ,marshall     

tells us that his aim has  been to      
present as accurate a picture as he can 
without advocating  any particular      
conclusions4 ,this is very well in a    
general way1 but  where an economic     
problem becomes an ethical problem a    
conclusion may  not be an altogether bad
 thing4 ,there are two chapters devoted 
to a  consideration of ,scientific      
,management1 in which the author has    
certainly achieved an almost superhuman 
impartiality4 ,he thinks1 as  everyone  
does1 that there is much that is        
valuable in the application  of         
efficiency methods in industry4 ,he does
 not think that the worker  need be     
unduly strained by scientific           
management4 ,he is apparently  doubtful 
about the danger of monotony that it    
introduces4 ,finally1 he  suggests that 
though it be true that scientific       
management diminishes  the need of the  
operative for resource and judgment in  
small matters1  it may help him 444 to  
estimate the characters of those who    

bear  large responsibilities4 ,unless   
and until he can do that1 democratic    
control of industry will be full of     
hazards4 ,true1 but some bolder  critics
 will turn back a few pages and refer to
 a quotation given of  some of ,mr4 ,f4 
,w4 ,taylor's principles3 ,all possible 
brain-work should  be removed from the  
shop and centred in the planning        
department1  leaving for the foreman and
 gang-bosses work strictly executive in 
its nature4444 ,each man must 444 adapt 
his methods to the many new  standards  
and grow accustomed to receiving and    
obeying directions  covering details    
large and small1 which in the past have 
been left to  his individual judgment4  
,will a manipulation of human beings on 
these  lines really make ideal          
democratic controllers of industry8     
,leaving  the desirability or           
undesirability of such control out of   
the question  it will certainly be      
argued that ,mr4 ,taylor's is not the   
way to get  it4 ,however1 ,dr4 ,marshall

 admits that ,american methods of       
scientific  management will need to be  
somewhat modified before they can obtain
 a  very wide acceptance in ,british    
industry4 ,he does not discuss how they 
are being modified in their application 
in this country1 where a good  many     
experiments are actually being made4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,in general1 the book presents us with a
 pretty bright picture of  capitalist   
industry4 ,there is much that needs to  
be altered1 yet  progress1 we are       
reminded1 has been great3 education has 
spread1 the  standard of comfort of the 
working-class has risen enormously1 and 
both competition and combination in     
,anglo-,saxon countries generally  have 
been more inclined to construction than 
to destruction3 emulation  has often    
given an incitement to exertion stronger
 than that which  was derived from the  
desire for gain4444 ,we are not to be   
led away1  therefore1 by large          
socialistic schemes of reform4          

,collectivism  would be unfavourable to 
the best solution of men for the most   
responsible work in industry2 ,national 
,guilds look only at the surface        
difficulties of business and promise to 
lead us into nothing but  chaos4        
,,inflation4 ,by ,j4 ,,shield           
,,nicholson1 ,m4,a41 ,sc4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 
,f4,b4,a4  7,professor of ,political    
,economy in the ,university of          
,edinburgh74 ,king4  #cs4 #f;d4 net4    
,until the other day we all thought we  
were threatened with national           
bankruptcy1 and a great many people     
think so still1 despite the recent      
rapid conversion to optimism of the     
,government and the ,house of  ,commons4
 ,professor ,nicholson1 we are sure1 is 
not one of those who are  impressed by  
the change4 ,his interesting and        
outspoken little book may  be summed up 
in two sentences--,the principal cause  
of the disorder of  the body politic is 
the abuse of paper money1 and ,our      
present need  is to get back to a sound 

monetary system and to get rid of the   
mirage  of inflation4 ,he does not      
believe in the theory that an internal  
debt  makes no difference3 that it is   
merely a transference from one set  of  
pockets to another4 ,and he does not    
think that the burden of the  debt can  
be removed either by a capital levy or  
by a continuance of  inflation1 which1  
as he gloomily observes1 is a popular   
remedy1 both  with the industrial and   
commercial classes4 ,if that continues1 
its  evils will continue--high profits1 
high wages1 higher prices1 and a        
general scarcity4 ,the great practical  
difficulty is to stop the rise  in      
prices4 ,it may be done partly by       
greater output and lower profits1       
partly by reduced public expenditure1   
but1 above all1 by a reduction in  the  
volume of paper currency4 ,for that1    
,professor ,nicholson observes1  moral  
courage is needed1 and also hard        
thinking4      ,,irish ,,impressions4   
,by ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,collins4 #gs4

 #f;d4 net4    ,these are the notes of a
 visit to ,ireland during the dark days 
when  a last effort was made to undo the
 blunders that had wrecked the  great   
promise of ,irish recruitment4 ,mr4     
,chesterton1 in lamenting the  fact that
 a large section of the ,irish          
population remained neutral in  the war1
 blames both sides4 ,the case against   
,england and the ,british  ,government  
is familiar2 but1 he argues1 however    
badly ,ireland may  have been treated in
 the past1 and however the ,irish       
situation was  mishandled in the early  
days of the war1 the ,sinn ,feiners are 
still to  be blamed4 ,they were as men  
who should have abstained from ,marathon
  because of a quarrel with some archon1
 or refused to fight ,attila  because of
 a grievance against tius4 ,all         
civilization was at stake2  that being  
so1 even the claims of nationality      
should have been1 if  necessary1        
postponed--though1 in fact1 they would  
have been actually  assisted had        

,ireland made the plunge4 ,mr4          
,chesterton states with  characteristic 
force the existence of a definite ,irish
 nationality1 a  thing to be perceived  
in any ,irish home4 ,as a practical     
politician he  believes that the extreme
 demand for separation can still--though
 time  presses--be effaced if ,dominion 
,home ,rule is offered4 ,the bargaining 
peasant lives in the fighting rebel2 and
 when even the last ,home ,rule  scheme 
was postponed a genuine disappointment  
was to be seen throughout  ,ireland4    
,this is his central case4 ,he argues it
 characteristically3 that is  to say1   
his method of exposition1 by means of   
rapid generalizations1  digressions1    
witticisms1 allusions1 will fascinate   
those who believe  there is great       
sagacity behind his fireworks1 and      
irritate or bore  those who habitually  
dislike him4 ,in making out a case for  
,ireland he  also makes out a case for a
 rural1 a ,catholic1 and a distributive 
civilisation4 ,everywhere there are     

quotable sayings4 ,he speaks of the     
brilliant bitterness of ,dublin and the 
stagnant optimism of ,belfast4  ,modern 
industrial society1 he says1 is fond of 
problems1 and  therefore not at all fond
 of solutions4    ,arguing that on the  
outbreak of war ,england abjured her    
pro-,teutonist  delusions1 he says the  
,sinn ,feiners fatally played with the  
thing they  had always denounced3       
,that is why the ,easter rising was     
really a black and insane blunder4      
,it was not because it involved the     
,irish in a military defeat2 it was     
because it lost the ,irish a great      
controversial victory4 ,the rebel       
deliberately let the tyrant out of a    
trap2 out of the grinning jaws    of the
 gigantic trap of a joke4               
,imperialism1 he observes1 is not an    
insanity of patriotism2 it is  merely an
 illusion of cosmopolitanism4 ,such     
epigrams--and there is  always something
 in them--are all over the book2 but in 
two places1  where he is talking of the 

war and of ,kettle's death and where he 
celebrates the ,christian virtues of    
charity and humility1 he reaches an     
eloquence almost comparable to that of  
the magnificent passage at the  close of
 his ,short ,history of ,england4 ,that 
passage deserves to go  into all        
anthologies of ,english prose henceforth
 compiled4      ,,the ,,handmaiden ,,of 
,,the ,,navy4 ,by ,g4 ,s4 ,,doorly4     
,williams  ,norgate4 #fs4  net4         
,there are still two books which ought  
to be written about the war4  ,one is a 
real novel of the adventures and        
sufferings of the ,merchant  ,service1  
and the other is a historical account of
 the partnership  between the ,navy and 
the ,merchant ,service1 and that        
marvellous convoy  organisation which   
unobtrusively won the war4 ,mr4 ,doorly 
ought to help  with the latter1 but we  
hope he will not attempt the former4    
,these  stories1 collected under a      
cumbrous and not too accurate title1 are
 a  painstaking but disappointing       

attempt to deal with both4 ,mr4 ,doorly 
has not the literary gifts necessary to 
do complete justice to the  human side  
of his subject1 though he faithfully    
pictures the very real  camaraderie     
which the convoy established between the
 naval officer and  the mercantile      
marine4 ,all his sailors are of the     
hearty type made  familiar by ,bartimeus
 and the ,press4 ,his troopships plough 
their way  across the leagues of ocean  
towards the great-little island home4   
,the  sinking of a ship is another foul 
victory for the wretched ,hun4 ,it is  a
 pity1 because ,mr4 ,doorly has clearly 
had a wide experience1 and gives  the   
fullest account we have yet seen of the 
intricacies and anxieties  of convoy    
organisation and escort work1 though the
 convoy of his  stories is a primitive  
affair compared with the perfected form 
of #aiah4  ,he is technically accurate  
and very thorough1 and does not shrink  
from  explaining such complexities as   
the methods of zigzagging1 and he has   

an eye for the humorous sides of        
submarine warfare4 ,but his accounts of 
exciting moments frankly do not excite1 
and the merchant captain who  says      
',tut-tut1' swallowing a lump in his    
throat1 does not move us as  perhaps he 
should4 ,yet it is an interesting little
 book1 and until the  theme receives the
 treatment it deserves1 we hope it will 
be read4      ,,poland ,,and ,,the      
,,poles4 ,by ,a4 ,,bruce ,,boswell4     
,methuen4 #abs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this is a
 useful and interesting book4 ,it is1 as
 ,mr4 ,boswell says  in his ,preface1 a 
series of essays4 ,in these essays he   
deals with  the ,polish people1 their   
national characteristics1 their country1
  history1 literature1 music1 and art1  
their industry and commerce1 and  their 
future4 ,poland1 which has for centuries
 exercised a fascination  over the      
romantic mind1 always makes good        
reading2 and ,mr4 ,boswell  communicates
 his enthusiasm4 ,he is perhaps not     
altogether untouched  by that           

partisanship which seems almost         
inevitably to fall upon the  foreigner  
who becomes intimately associated with  
any nation4 ,the truth  is that all the 
peoples of the earth have so many good  
qualities that  it is impossible for    
anyone who is brought into contact with 
any one  of them not to feel for it     
occasionally as a lover or a child4 ,mr4
  ,boswell certainly feels for ,poland  
as a lover1 and his book is none  the   
worse for that4 ,at first1 however1 we  
thought that he was to  prove one of    
those whose love of a particular nation 
engenders hate  of other nations4       
,indeed1 we hardly think that he is     
altogether fair  to ,russians1 ,jews1   
and others4 ,but his prejudices are mild
 compared  to those of most historians1 
and1 despite his frank bias towards the 
,polish outlook1 when he comes to deal  
with so vexed a question as that  of the
 ,ukraine he displays a praiseworthy    
impartiality4      ,,sport              
,,success ,,in ,,athletics ,,and ,,how  

,,to ,,obtain ,,it4 ,by ,f4 ,a4 ,m4     
,,webster1 ,t4 ,j4  ,,pryce ,,jenkins1  
and ,r4 ,,vivian ,,mostyn4 ,sidgwick    
,jackson1 #ajs4 #f;d4  net4    ,every   
man is more or less an athlete1 and     
training begins in the cradle  and ends 
with the grave--at least it should do4  
,unfortunately many  people of our      
generation were brought up in the       
languid atmosphere of  ,victorianism    
where ill-health was tolerated1 almost  
worshipped4 ,in due  time we went to    
school--if it was summer we played      
cricket2 if winter1  we played football2
 if spring1 we ran races and jumped     
jumps and threw  hammers2 but as for any
 real education in physical culture or  
athletics  we had none4 ,every young    
athlete should read ,success in         
,athletics1  for in it he will find very
 simple and very excellent advice as to 
how to train for every branch of field  
sport4 ,the elements of success  upon   
which stress is laid are as follows3    
,first1 to choose a branch of  athletics

 suitable to the build of the           
individual4 ,second1 to build up  the   
necessary muscles by training at home   
and in the gymnasium long  before       
practices are carried out on the track4 
,third1 to study the  scientific side of
 the particular sport chosen1 so as to  
acquire a  perfect style and to         
economise energy to the utmost extent4  
,the book begins very properly with a   
tribute of respect to athletes  who have
 fallen in the war2 then chapters follow
 on running1 jumping1  hurdling1 and    
throwing weights of all descriptions2   
there are also  chapters on diet1       
massage1 and clothing1 and an appendix  
on leg  exercises4 ,the book is         
illustrated with admirable photographs1 
but  it is a pity that these are not    
placed more in accordance with the      
text4 ,the chapter on ,hurdling is among
 the best4 ,the hurdler must  be tall1  
fairly slim1 and well 'split up1' which 
being interpreted  means that his height
 must be contained in his legs rather   

than in his  body4 ,he must build up the
 strength of his legs by special        
exercises1  such as high kicking1 the   
splits1 and skipping2 and there is yet  
another admirable exercise--the athlete1
 in a sitting position1 puts  himself   
into the attitude of a hurdler topping a
 hurdle1 the left leg  is stretched     
straight out1 the right leg is at right 
angles to it1 the  knee is bent and the 
inside of the leg is resting on the     
ground4 ,the  exercise consists in      
raising the body so that only the left  
heel and  the inner side of the right   
calf are resting on the ground4 ,it is a
  most painful and excellent exercise4  
,we are glad to see that in the chapter 
on diet athletes are warned  against an 
excess of meat2 one good meat meal a day
 is all that is  recommended4 ,meat1    
besides its nourishment1 contains many  
poisonous  substances which are with    
difficulty eliminated from the system4  
,many  a good athlete has been wasted   
through inattention to this fact4 ,the  

chapter on massage is to our mind       
inadequate4    ,in the last chapter the 
following passage occurs3 444 it is felt
 that  a new epoch of athleticism in    
,great ,britain is about to             
commence--that  an entirely new breed of
 athletes will arise or be recruited    
from the  ranks of those who through    
four and a half years of war have       
learned  the true meaning of discipline 
and the importance of close attention to
  the least little detail of            
instruction4 ,now we all feel that      
something  good must come after all this
 suffering and slaughter2 the ,briton   
has  proved that he is possessed of true
 greatness2 how can this greatness  be  
turned to full account8 ,let us give up 
once for all this idea of               
record-breaking and producing freaks who
 can jump an inch higher than  any other
 man or throw a hammer a foot farther4  
,at best that is a  very low ideal1 and 
such over-specialisation produces       
ugliness and  unhealthiness4 ,the only  

kind of athlete that we want to         
contemplate is  the all-round athlete   
who can run fast and far1 jump high and 
broad1  and have sufficient strength for
 heavy events4 ,an instance of what  we 
mean occurs in this book--the pictures  
of ,a4 ,e4 ,flaxman show a  magnificent 
athlete of about eleven stone2 such a   
man would have to  compete in heavy     
events with mountains of flesh weighing 
twenty stone2  hence all ,flaxman's     
symmetry and grace and style are wasted1
 and the  mountain wins the points for  
his side4 ,this is all wrong4 ,we should
  abandon the practice of selecting one 
athlete for one event4 ,we should  have 
teams composed of all-round athletes1   
each of whom competes in  all events2   
these athletes will not break records1  
but they will be  super-athletes such as
 a great nation should aim at producing4
 ,when we  have got rid of this odious  
specialisation it will be time to aim   
still  higher1 and produce not only the 
all-round athlete but the all-round     

man1 made up of mind1 character1 and    
muscle1 all developed to the  utmost    
extent4      ,,philosophy    ,,an       
,,invisible ,,kingdom4 ,by ,w4 ,s4      
,,lilly4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #aes4 net4    
,the late ,mr4 ,lilly was a ,roman      
,catholic journalist who combined       
attachment to his faith with adherence  
to a benevolent paternalism  in         
politics4 ,this posthumous volume1      
edited by ,dr4 ,william ,barry1 is      
partly concerned with political and     
sociological problems1 though  there are
 two essays on ,memory and ,sleep which 
do little but  review current opinion on
 those two functions4 ,the political    
essays  suffer from their date4         
,although fond of appeals to history1   
,mr4 ,lilly  discusses the affairs of   
the moment from the angle of the moment2
 there  is much talk of universality1   
but very little application4 ,indeed at 
times one doubts if he could have seen  
the precise significance of his         
opinions4 ,for instance1 he was a       

determined opponent of democracy1  and  
quotes with approval ,mill's statement  
that ,equal voting is in  principle     
wrong2 and he proceeds to state a       
doctrine of political  justice which    
does not differ in principle from that  
stated by ,trotsky4  ,where ,mr4 ,lilly 
and ,trotsky would differ is1 of course1
 on the question  into whose hands      
political power was to be put4 ,also one
 finds it  difficult to understand how a
 ,roman ,catholic can agree--as ,mr4    
,lilly  does--with ,ibsen's creed1 ,the 
minority is always right4 ,here are ,mr4
  ,lilly's words3      ,if there is one 
lesson written more legibly than another
 in the    annals of the world it is    
that majorities are almost always wrong2
    but that is the prerogative of      
minorities--nay1 it may even be of a    
minority of one4 ,that is the verdict of
 history4 ,it holds good of all    ages4
    ,mr4 ,lilly might contend that he is
 not bound to square his opinions  with 
,st4 ,augustine's ,securus judicat orbis

 terrarum2 but how can his  statement be
 reconciled with the practice of his    
,church8 ,all ,general  ,councils1 which
 decide ,catholic dogma1 have come to   
their decisions  by taking a vote and   
accepting the verdict of the majority4  
,this has  been so from the ,council of 
,jerusalem to the ,vatican ,council4    
,are we to  believe that only in matters
 ecclesiastical the minority is wrong8  
,mr4 ,lilly was also rather apt to      
substitute mere statement for  argument4
 ,thus1 in discussing the modern        
position of women1 he writes3      ,of  
course reason itself declares that on   
the physical and psychical    inequality
 of the sexes1 and on the willing       
obedience of the weaker1    the         
happiness of both depends4 ,it is the   
lesson which ,shakespeare has    worked 
out1 with consummate art1 in the ,taming
 of the ,shrew4    ,it is evident that1 
whatever may be thought by a modern man 
or woman  about the equality of the     
sexes1 no satisfactory argument can be  

based on the premise that women's       
physical and psychical inferiority  is  
an axiom4 ,in his discussion on         
,socialism and on ,trades ,unions1  ,mr4
 ,lilly displays the same incapacity to 
understand his opponent's               
starting-point4 ,he has plenty of sense 
and a desire for fairness which  makes  
him quote ,aquinas' declaration on      
riches--that they are only  lawful if   
they are possessed justly and used in a 
proper manner for the  owner and        
others--and apply it to modern fortunes4
 ,his last essay is on  ,newman1 and is 
rather inadequate1 as it appears to have
 been written  without reference to ,mr4
 ,wilfrid ,ward's life4 ,it is too early
 to  write about that excessively human1
 lovable spirit in the artificial       
language of the official hagiographer3  
there are1 however1 sentences  which    
arouse interest4 ,we do not remember    
seeing it stated before  that1 late in  
life1 ,newman perused translations of   
,the ,critiques of  the ,pure and ,the  

,practical ,reason1 pen in hand--that   
was his usual  way--and made some notes 
on them4 ,it would be interesting to see
 these  notes4      ,,emerson ,,and     
,,his ,,philosophy4 ,by ,j4 ,,arthur    
,,hill4 ,w4 ,rider4 #cs4 #f;d4  net4    
,this brief essay on ,emerson is marked 
by enthusiasm1 and shows  evidence of a 
wide acquaintance with ,emerson's works1
 but is otherwise  unremarkable4 ,mr4   
,hill gives a brief biography of his    
hero1 and then  discusses him in        
relation to his views on religion1      
science1 with  chapters on ,emerson's   
style1 poetry1 and criticism4 ,his last 
chapter is  a brief rsum of ,english    
,traits and ,representative ,men1       
treating  those very readable books as  
if they were essays in some unknown     
language4 ,mr4 ,hill's own opinions     
hardly inspire one with confidence in   
his capacity to interpret emotions4     
,beautiful language1 true poetry1 often 
contains little truth and not    much   
passion2 we feel that the poetry is in  

the beauty of the images    evoked1 or  
in the sheer unanalysable charm of the  
words as sounds1    or--more            
generally--both combined4 ,the more     
thought there is in    poetry the less  
poetical it is4    ,there is much virtue
 in inverted commas1 and no doubt       
thought is  absent from the ,antigone1  
the ,divina ,commedia1 ,hamlet1         
,paradise  ,lost1 ,tintern ,abbey1 and  
,the ,ring and the ,book2 but we cannot 
follow ,mr4 ,hill in his contention that
 these poems lack truth or  passion4    
,nor indeed can we remember any poem of 
which his remark  would be true4 ,mr4   
,hill's observations on ,emerson's style
 and his  biographical portions of the  
essay are not quite so off the mark4    
,few  readers will accept his very high 
estimate of ,emerson1 and he fails  to  
remove our suspicion that the great     
,american writer1 who was never  known  
to laugh1 was at times perilously near  
being an ordinary prig4  ,as to         
,emerson's influence on his             

contemporaries and successors1 it  is   
generally underestimated4 ,the ,essays  
in particular are always  a delight to  
youth1 and are read with avidity by boys
 at the most  impressionable age4 ,a    
great deal of modern individualism1 of  
modern  defiance1 which is often put    
down to the discredit of ,ibsen1 or     
,nietzsche1 or ,blake1 is really due to 
,emerson4 ,he was the first eminent  man
 to preach disobedience as an ethical   
duty2 his conscience was  always uneasy 
if he caught himself conforming2 and    
this uneasiness1  which a more vigorous 
man in a more natural society would have
  recognised as an emotional mood1      
,emerson distorted into a kind of       
council of perfection4 ,whoso would be a
 man must be a nonconformist1  he       
proclaims exaltedly1 not seeing that    
this sentiment has1 as a                
generalisation1 already been            
contradicted by his birth and his       
marriage1 and is to be finally quashed  
by his death4      ,,science    ,a      

,,treatise ,,on ,,gyroscopic ,,and      
,,rotational ,,motion4 ,by ,,andrew     
,,gray1 ,f4,r4,s4  ,macmillan4 #dbs4    
net4    ,it was quite time that we had  
in ,english a standard treatise on      
gyroscopic motion4 ,space is1 of course1
 devoted to the subject in  various     
well-known text-books on rigid dynamics1
 and there are one  or two good little  
books of an elementary nature1 such as  
,perry's  ,spinning ,tops and           
,crabtree's ,spinning ,tops and         
,gyroscopic ,motion1  but hitherto the  
man in search of detailed information on
 problems  concerning tops in the widest
 sense has had to go to ,klein and      
,sommerfeld's ,theorie des ,kreisels1 if
 he could not find what he  wanted in   
,sir ,george ,greenhill's ,report4 ,that
 ,professor ,gray should  be the man to 
supply our want is only fitting4 ,at the
 ,university of  ,glasgow1 where he     
succeeded to the chair of ,natural      
,philosophy left  vacant by ,lord       
,kelvin's death1 an interest in         

gyroscopic motion is  traditional1 and  
,professor ,gray inherited a collection 
of apparatus  for experiment in this    
field which he has extended by many     
ingenious  and convenient forms of      
gyroscope described in the book before  
us4  ,his own researches on the general 
dynamics of gyroscopic systems have     
added clearness to that branch of       
applied mathematics1 and his son  is an 
expert in the design and application of 
practical gyrostats4 ,a  judicious      
combination of experimental and         
theoretical treatment forms  the great  
attraction of ,professor ,gray's book4  
,the problems of gyroscopic motion range
 from the behaviour of the  schoolboy's 
top to that of this great top1 the      
earth1 and include a  great number of   
engineering applications4 ,the torpedo  
is kept in its  course by a gyroscope2  
the gyroscopic compass1 which makes no  
use  of magnetic properties1 has        
rendered possible the navigation of a   
submerged submarine2 ,schlich invented a

 gyroscopic apparatus1 which  has been  
tried successfully in small ships1 for  
keeping a vessel from  rolling in a     
rough sea2 with ,brennan's monorail the 
car is kept upright  by means of a      
gyroscopic device2 and many other       
ingenious uses have  been made of the   
seemingly paradoxical properties of     
spinning tops4 ,the  gyroscopic compass 
is1 unfortunately1 not treated in       
,professor ,gray's  book1 nor is there  
any account of other naval and military 
applications  of the gyroscope1 since   
the author1 finding that the official   
secrecy1  necessarily imposed at the    
time of writing1 would prevent him      
giving  anything but a fragmentary      
account1 has preferred to reserve his   
discussion of these appliances to a     
promised second volume4 ,very little  is
 said of the monorail 7in fact1         
,brennan's name is not mentioned71      
which is less explicable4 ,many         
practical applications of gyroscopic    
theory to such problems as the drift of 

projectiles1 golf balls1 and  boomerangs
 7the last-named treated necessarily in 
a very general  manner7 come up for     
consideration1 and the forgotten        
diabolo1 child of  a passing craze1 is  
resurrected to provide an example of the
 effect  of equality of the principal   
moments of inertia on the stability of  
rotation of a body under no forces4     
,most attention is1 however1 given  to  
the first two subjects mentioned        
above--the top spinning on a flat       
surface1 and the earth spinning through 
space--which are1 of course1  the       
classical problems in rotational        
dynamics4 ,it need scarcely be said     
that ,sir ,george ,greenhill's work is  
abundantly cited4    ,in the present    
work my aim has been to refer1 as far as
 possible1 each  gyrostatic problem     
directly to first principles1 and to    
derive the  solutions by steps which    
could be interpreted at every stage of  
the  progress1 says the author in his   
preface1 and he has followed this aim   

with considerable success4 ,it is1 of   
course1 impossible to treat many  of the
 problems of rotational dynamics without
 mathematical analysis of  some         
complexity1 and a knowledge of elliptic 
functions and such-like  weapons of the 
applied mathematician lies1 perhaps1    
outside the scope  of the average       
engineer and inventor4 ,professor ,gray1
 who deplores the  present ignorance of 
inventors in the matter of gyroscopic   
motion1 has  kept the needs of this     
class before him1 and has taken care to 
arrange  his matter so that those who   
cannot always follow the mathematical   
exposition given can1 at least1 gain a  
clear knowledge of the results4  ,the   
first chapter1 which contains no        
mathematical symbols1 forms an          
excellent introduction to the subject   
and is quite elementary1 and  elsewhere 
in the book1 when practical problems1   
such as the drift of  a projectile1 are 
being discussed1 the nature of the      
investigation is  stated as simply as   

may be4 ,throughout the inquiry is      
illustrated1 as  far as possible1 by    
experiment and diagram4    ,les ,anglais
 enseignent la mchanique comme une      
science exprimentale2  sur le continent1
 on l'expose toujours plus ou moins     
comme une science  dductive et a priori4
 ,ce sont les ,anglais qui ont raison1  
cela va  sans dire4 ,in these words1 the
 late ,henri ,poincar1 the greatest     
mathematician of his generation1 praised
 the ,british tradition of  teaching    
dynamics as an experimental subject1    
which is so well  maintained in this    
book4 ,some specialists1 no doubt1 will 
find minor  omissions in their subject1 
but1 on the whole1 with the exceptions  
already noted1 the book is very         
complete4 ,it is printed with the       
well-known elegance in all that pertains
 to mathematical symbols of  the firm of
 ,robert ,maclehose1 and the general    
production is very good4  ,we do not    
understand1 however1 why the            
illustrations in the first  chapter are 

nearly all reproduced a second time     
further on in the book1  especially as  
they are mostly photographs of          
apparatus1 which do not  necessitate    
frequent reference4 ,and--the question  
that has to be asked  so often with     
,english books--why is the index so     
defective8      ,,everyday ,,efficiency3
 ,a ,,practical ,,guide ,,to ,,efficient
 ,,living4 ,by ,,forbes  ,,lindsay4 ,w4 
,rider  ,son4 #ds4 #f;d4 net4    ,it is 
stated in the preface that the material 
of this ,practical ,guide  to ,efficient
 ,living has been used extensively as a 
correspondence  course1 so that anyone  
who is thinking of paying pounds to be  
taught  by post how to be efficient can 
save most of his money4 ,all the most   
notable authorities on ,efficiency--,ike
 ,marvel1 ,buddha1 ,arnold ,bennett1    
,walter ,dill ,scott1 ,prentice         
,mulford1 ,yoritomo-,tashi1 and         
,baudelaire 7to  what the last-named    
said is added what he might have        
said7--are quoted1  and many varieties  

of type and a liberal use of capital    
letters add to  the strenuousness of the
 book4 ,there is much about ,ideals     
7,ultimate  and ,other ,ideals7 and much
 about ,money1 much about ,character    
,formation  and much about ,vocational  
,efficiency4 ,we attribute our own      
inefficiency  largely to the fact that  
we cannot whistle1 for this seemingly   
trivial  accomplishment is of           
far-reaching use--,whistle and wear a   
smile for  fifteen minutes1 and you will
 most assuredly begin to feel cheerful2 
,sing and whistle as you dress4 ,but1   
again1 we have not done the  essential  
thing1 which is1 we are told1 to read   
the lessons of the  ,course again and   
again1 and to devote close thought to   
them4 ,alas1  we fell a victim to       
,waning ,will1 a fault early handled in 
the book1  and although somewhat        
comforted to learn that it is a common  
form of  weakness1 we could not bring   
ourselves to adopt the cure1 which is   
,when a resolution is formed1 record it 

definitely in your file under  the head 
of ,ideals1 ,aspirations1 ,tasks1       
,duties1 or other appropriate           
designation4 ,the appropriate           
designation for the reading of this book
  is undoubtedly ,task4 ,the author1 who
 has also written books entitled        
,efficiency and ,the ,psychology of a   
,sale1 is a man who has evidently       
obeyed his own great precept1 ,don't    
admit any limit to your attainment  and 
capacity4 ,his intense self-respect will
 prevent him feeling hurt  on learning  
that a smile is the only aid to         
efficiency which we have  derived from  
his book4      ,,anaphylaxis ,,and      
,,anti-,,anaphylaxis4 ,by ,,dr4 ,a4     
,,besredka4 ,english ,edition  by ,s4   
,roodhouse ,gloyne4 ,heinemann4 #fs4    
net4    ,medical research bears so      
directly on the well-being of every one 
of  us that it is astonishing that more 
people do not take an interest  in it4  
,the existing indifference may be       
attributed partly to the  lack of good  

popular books describing recent advances
 in an easily  comprehensible way1      
partly to the nomenclature adopted by   
the medical  profession1 which is apt to
 frighten the layman into imagining that
  the exotic polysyllables in question  
can be used only for phenomena  of      
unimaginable complexity and obscurity4  
,complex they always are1 of  course1   
with the complexity of all natural      
manifestations1 but very  often the main
 lines of the problems which have       
arisen1 and the methods  of attack1 can 
be stated in plain language4 ,the book  
before us1 which  deals with the        
profoundly interesting subject of       
anaphylaxis1 is not  avowedly written   
for the enlightenment of the public1 yet
 it is in  most parts accessible to     
anybody with a slight knowledge of      
medicine1  and1 not being a popular     
book1 it has the advantage of being free
  from the erroneous generalisations so 
often introduced in presenting  a branch
 of science to the lay reader4 ,the     

subject is described as one  still in   
the course of development1 and is not   
given that false air of  completion so  
dear to the populariser4    ,the        
phenomena of anaphylaxis are among the  
most striking in medical  science1 and  
have only recently been investigated1   
for although  isolated cases of what we 
should now call anaphylaxis had been    
previously noted1 ,richet was the first 
to show the significance and  extent of 
the subject in his memoir of #aijb1 in  
which he established  many of the most  
important points4 ,the essence of       
anaphylaxis is that  the injection into 
an animal of a small quantity of one of 
certain  substances--which in some cases
 are1 and in others are not1 poisons    
7with a poison the dose must1 of course1
 be less than the fatal  one7--puts the 
animal in a particular sensitive state1 
so that a very  small second injection  
produces fatal results of a very violent
 and  well-marked character4 ,some time 
must elapse after the first injection   

for the sensitive state to establish    
itself1 and the second injection  must  
be of exactly the same nature as the    
first1 this latter fact  constituting   
the so-called specificity of the        
anaphylactic effect4  ,this specificity 
has been applied for identifying blood  
of a doubtful  source1 since an animal  
which has been sensitised with an       
injection  of blood from a given species
 is sensitive only to blood of the same 
species4 ,further1 the blood of an      
animal in the sensitive state can  be   
used to render another animal sensitive1
 a result known as passive  anaphylaxis4
    ,the important bearing of           
anaphylaxis on clinical practice is     
obvious4  ,with therapeutic sera        
accidents have been fairly common in the
  past1 grave effects following a second
 injection2 this is a pure  anaphylactic
 phenomenon4 ,much research has been    
done to find out  methods of preventing 
the anaphylactic shock1 and the most    
important  advances in the field of     

anti-anaphylaxis are due to ,dr4        
,besredka4 ,his  book naturally devotes 
much space to this aspect of the study1 
and  gives details of the successful    
technique which he has developed4 ,he   
worked mainly on guinea-pigs1 having    
obtained extreme regularity of  reaction
 with these animals4 ,his most important
 result1 both from the  theoretical and 
the practical standpoint1 is that       
vaccination against  anaphylaxis can be 
produced by a system of gradually       
increasing doses1  starting with the    
injection of a very small amount of the 
substance in  question4 ,this has led to
 a routine for serum injection by       
graduated  doses1 which has been        
successful in averting serum sickness4  
,besredka's  interpretation of his      
results is against ,richet's theory that
 the  second injection combines with a  
substance1 the toxogenin1 present in    
the serum as a consequence of the first 
injection1 and so produces a  poison1   
the apotoxin4 ,he considers rather that 

the reaction of the  injected substance1
 the antigen1 with the substance already
 formed  7which he calls sensibilisin7  
itself produces the fatal result by     
disturbing the equilibrium of certain   
nerve cells where the combination  takes
 place4 ,by graduating the doses the    
reaction is watered down  into a series 
of slight shocks1 so that the great     
shock produced by a  single injection is
 spread over a comparatively large time1
 and becomes  innocuous4 ,he finds an   
analogy between the effect and the      
mixing of  water and sulphuric acid4 ,if
 the water is poured in quickly there is
 an  explosive action1 but if it is     
added gradually the combination takes   
place without violence4 ,in our opinion 
the anaphylactic poison does  not exist4
    ,there are a great number of        
interesting experiments cited in the    
book  which we cannot mention here4 ,the
 translator has done his work well1     
although we do not like some of his     
importations from the ,french4 ,it      

should not be impossible to find        
expression more ,english than titre of  
toxicity and fulminating cases4 ,he has 
added an excellent chapter on  ,recent  
,work on ,anaphylaxis4 ,we are glad to  
see at last a short work  in ,english on
 the subject1 which is one of the most  
fascinating fields  in modern medicine4 
,somebody should translate and bring up 
to date  ,richet's excellent little     
book4 ,it is a pity that the            
nomenclature of  the subject cannot be  
made uniform4      ,,the ,,new          
,,teaching ,,series ,,of ,,practical    
,,text-,,books3    ,,applied ,,botany4  
,by ,g4 ,s4 ,m4 ,,ellis4                
,,foundations ,,of ,,engineering4 ,by   
,w4 ,h4 ,,spikes4      ,,chemistry      
,,from ,,the ,,industrial ,,standpoint4 
,by ,p4 ,c4 ,l4 ,,thorne4      ,hodder  
,stoughton4 #ds4 #f;d4 net each4        
,this new series is rather pompously    
announced as striving to build  up the  
,new ,humanism on the basis of the      
student's immediate economic  interest  

and environment 7which implies a        
considerable modification of  the       
accepted meaning of ,humanism74 ,we     
translate this as meaning that  it is   
intended to give the reader some idea of
 the various sciences  and arts as they 
find application in industry and        
commerce4 ,this is a  worthy object1    
and1 on the whole1 the books are simple 
and interesting  expositions of the     
utilitarian aspect of the sciences in   
question4  ,there is1 perhaps           
inevitably1 a tendency to hurry over    
fundamental  difficulties which will    
not1 we think1 leave an intelligent     
student  satisfied4 ,for instance1 to   
say that a force is whatever changes    
motion1 without further explanation1 may
 well puzzle the reader1 who  knows that
 he can push against a heavy stone      
without producing any  apparent motion4 
,however1 there is a distinct place for 
books of this  general character1 which 
do good work by showing to a wide       
audience  the peaceful achievements of  

science and its practical aspects2 they 
act as a counterblast to the deadening  
tradition of rule of thumb4  ,the       
industrial chemistry is particularly    
comprehensive1 and has an  excellent set
 of original diagrams of industrial     
plant4 ,the series is  well printed and 
well illustrated1 and1 for present      
times1 moderately  priced4 ,it deserves 
wide recognition4      ,,projective     
,,vector ,,algebra4 ,by ,l4             
,,silberstein4 ,g4 ,bell  ,sons4 #gs4   
#f;d4 net4    ,it is not often that a   
book appears describing an essential    
advance  in pure mathematics which is   
intelligible to the man of moderate     
attainments in that science--by moderate
 attainments we mean such  knowledge of 
mathematics as is picked up in one or   
two years at  a university4 ,dr4        
,silberstein1 who is well known in this 
country  for his original work1         
especially in connection with the theory
 of  relativity1 has1 in his ,protective
 ,vector ,algebra1 developed his  latest

 researches in geometry in a form which 
is attractive and free  from pedantic   
formalities1 and has throughout aimed at
 simplicity of  expression1 in contrast 
to certain modern mathematicians who    
endeavour  to lend importance to minor  
conventional problems by a bewildering  
display of definitions and theorems4    
,the essential novelty of the book1     
from which the whole theme is developed1
 is the generalised definition  of the  
addition of vectors1 which does not need
 any construction of  parallel lines1   
but depends solely on a straight line   
construction  making use of the points  
where the vectors cut an arbitrary fixed
  straight line4 ,dr4 ,silberstein's    
definition is a generalisation of the   
,euclidean one1 to which it reduces if  
the arbitrary line just mentioned  is   
moved away to infinity1 and if the space
 is ,euclidean4 ,the knowledge  of      
geometry which is demanded is little    
more than the usual postulates  of      
projective geometry and ,desargues'     

theorem4 ,from his definition the       
author proceeds to prove the associative
 law1 and then1 after dealing  with the 
equality of non-coinitial vectors1 gives
 many interesting uses  of the          
generalised vector algebra4 ,the proof  
of ,pascal's theorem gives  a striking  
example of the power and simplicity of  
the new method1 and  the whole treatment
 of conics will delight the student of  
projective  geometry4 ,altogether the   
book is a very original and striking    
contribution to a fascinating branch of 
mathematics4                            
,,book-,,production ,,notes    ,by ,j4  
,h4 ,,mason      ,the important work    
done by the private presses of the last 
twenty-five  years will probably be     
found to be in its results more         
far-reaching  than that done in any     
other artistic craft4 ,for1 in addition 
to giving  the world monumental editions
 of chosen works1 such as the ,kelmscott
  ,chaucer1 the ,doves ,bible1 and the  
,ashendene ,dante1 they have set  up the

 right standards in type lettering1     
margins1 spacing1 paper1  illustration1 
and binding4    ,even in binding they   
have set a standard that can be widely  
applied2  for the linen back and paper  
sides that were good enough for a       
,kelmscott ,press book set an example of
 wholesome plainness that has  done a   
great deal to improve the task of       
publisher and public4 ,the  publisher of
 this generation is in strong reaction1 
as a rule1 against  the cloth gilt extra
 of his father and grandfather4 ,the    
,artistic  ,crafts ,series1 edited by   
,professor ,w4 ,r4 ,lethaby1 is a       
notable example  of such a plain1 useful
 cover4 ,one of the earliest1 the first 
,i think1  of this series was that      
dealing with ,bookbinding1 and doubtless
 this  was largely the cause of the     
series starting right in the matter of  
covers4 ,one regrets that there wasn't a
 printer available to have  influenced  
the choice of type and dimensions of the
 page--the series  that is satisfactory 

in both respects has not yet been       
published4    ,type1 paper1 proportions 
of printed page and margins1 and finally
  the cover1 are the chief matters to be
 considered in producing a  satisfactory
 book1 and all of these cost no         
more--with the exception of  paper--when
 right than when they are               
unsatisfactory4 ,even in the matter  of 
paper1 there is a wide range of choice1 
in normal times1 at every  price above  
the very cheapest4    ,one generally    
sees the best attempts at               
book-production in small  volumes of    
verse4 ,some of them are very attractive
 and show that care  and thought have   
been spent in producing them4 ,yet1 as a
 rule1 they  show some weakness1 some   
lapse1 to which the amateur is liable4  
,the  little book of verse1 ,arcades    
,ambo1 by ,lily ,dougall and ,gilbert   
,sheldon1 published by ,blackwell of    
,oxford1 is an instance4 ,a pleasant    
type1 based on that of ,jenson1 the     
,venetian printer1 pleasing both in     

design and weight 7the thin lines are   
not in strong contrast to the  thicks71 
predisposes us in favour of the book at 
first glance4 ,the  normal margins are  
good without being excessive1 but they  
are spoilt on  most openings by the     
dropped beginnings of each poem4 ,thus1 
on pages  #bb1 #bc1 instead of the tail 
margins being three-quarters of an inch 
more than the head margins 7the normal71
 they are practically equal4  ,the      
result is that the type appears         
uncomfortably low on the page4 ,yet  the
 good ,venetian capital lines would have
 given an excellent line to  the top of 
the page4 ,the three-line initials are  
not in keeping with  the capitals of the
 text2 for their thin strokes are in too
 great a  contrast with their thick     
strokes4 ,moreover1 they are of a       
different  shape--note the ,t in the    
text1 and compare with the initial on   
page  #bb4 ,the little black ornament in
 the headlines and the arrangement of   
the title-page and the label are also   

unsatisfactory4 ,the press work  is     
good1 the inking of the type being full 
and even1 and does the good  design of  
the type full justice4    ,another book 
with pleasant margins--perhaps a little 
more at the  head would have been an    
improvement--is ,max ,beerbohm's ,seven 
,men1  published by ,wm4 ,heinemann4    
7,miss ,dane's ,legend is1 roughly1     
uniform  with it47 ,to secure a good    
foredge margin without unduly shortening
 the  line the book is half an inch     
wider than the ordinary crown octavo2   
this gives a squarer format1 which is   
much preferable to the ordinary  octavo4
 ,such a format1 too1 gives the binder1 
in case the book is  thought worth a    
leather binding1 a chance to make a good
 design for the  sides--the ordinary    
octavo precludes certain good designs4  
,i cannot  commend the modern type which
 has been chosen for this book2 but ,i  
will discuss modern type on some other  
occasion4          ,a ,,letter ,,from   
,,america              ,new ,york1      

,november1 #aiai    ,american life1 as  
it now is1 would seem to make original  
literary  production almost impossible4 
,energy here cannot work distinctively2 
it is forced at its very birth into one 
or the other prepared channel4  ,no one 
who has not lived in this country can   
have any conception of  the unrelenting 
and unremitting drive that would subdue1
 and does  subdue1 all thought1 all     
feeling1 to mediocrity4 ,it is a drive  
of vast  circumference3 no single       
activity1 whether political or artistic 
or  religious1 can escape it4 ,religion1
 indeed1 it has destroyed2 there is  no 
religion in ,america4 ,the experiences  
of religion can only be felt  by the man
 who has realised himself as an         
individual terribly separate  and       
distinct from all others--an individual 
whose soul has awful  significance as a 
thing-in-itself1 a thing eternally      
unmatched1 forever  recognisable by     
,god4 ,such conceptions cannot breathe  
the ,american air3  neither terror nor  

awe nor mystery have room within the    
borders of this  sceptical and          
destructive continent4 ,the implacable  
rule prevails3 that  the soul may have  
no adventures of its own4               
,adventures1 indeed1 there are1 and     
many4 ,you can go in for anything  you  
like--everybody does--provided that you 
go in for it in groups4 ,you  may       
present yourself for the smearing of a  
particular brush1 you may  band yourself
 with those who have received a similar 
treatment4 ,you may  become a society   
man1 a church worker1 a ,bolshevik      
revolutionary1 a  philanderer1 a writer 
of vers libre1 a realistic sex-novelist1
 a  ,cubist1 or a ,futurist2 but        
whatever you become1 you will always    
know  precisely where you are and       
precisely what will come of your being  
there4 ,every square inch of your region
 will be defined4 ,and the              
conventionalities of every cult are     
essentially identical2 the set  phrases 
of the man about town or the church     

worker have the same ring  as the set   
phrases of the littrateur4 ,the raisers 
of the standards of  artistic or        
political revolt will expound their     
theories in just the  same way1 except  
for the mere words1 as the business man 
will expound  his4 ,the various samples 
of modern ,american free verse resemble 
one another quite as closely--they keep 
quite as deliberately clear  of         
individual distinction--as do the       
articles in the magazines of  culture or
 the jokes in the comic sections of the 
,sunday papers4 ,their  own conventions 
weigh no less heavily on the            
unconventional than the  most hidebound 
provincial's do on him4 ,even the wicked
 know what is  expected of them1 and    
they1 no less than the virtuous1 answer 
public  expectation4 ,conventional or   
unconventional1 virtuous or wicked1  all
 enact their ordered and calculable rles
 according to schedule2  there can be   
nothing unexpected anywhere1 nothing    
that can startle or  embarrass or       

discomfort or strike wonder4    ,can we 
say1 then1 that literature1 like        
wickedness and virtue1 like             
religion--and1 of course1               
education--does not1 and cannot1 exist  
at  all in ,america8 ,is it really true 
that nothing at this moment can  be     
expected from the land of ,edgar ,allen 
,poe and ,walt ,whitman8 ,has  ,america 
no authentic poet now writing1 no       
novelist8 ,even granting that  ,american
 conditions are intolerable to the man  
of artistic impulse1  and that most     
artists must be paralysed by them or    
forced to a sterile  cleverness1 must   
there not be some1 at least1 who will   
react8--react  violently and at least   
interestingly and with a certain        
distinction  against the pressure of    
their period8 ,how about ,mr4 ,theodore 
,dreiser and ,mr4 ,edgar ,lee ,masters8 
,what of the novels of ,mr4 ,joseph     
,hergesheimer8 ,is not ,mr4 ,dreiser at 
least original8 ,have not critics of    
well-reputed judgment written1 strongly 

moved1 of his deep original             
mysticism--that mysticism which         
penetrates the rough chaotic surface  of
 ,american life and lays bare its       
primitive foundations8 ,has not  the    
genius of ,mr4 ,dreiser been credited   
with the impetus of a huge  cosmic      
plough8    ,yes3 and in ,america one can
 understand an enthusiasm for ,mr4      
,dreiser1  but only in ,america4 ,this  
writer has courage1 that is undeniable3 
the courage to look with the naked eye  
at as much of ,american life  as he can 
bring within his heavily-blinkered      
vision4 ,it is not a  slight thing to   
have achieved so direct a gaze in a     
country where  sentimental make-believe 
triumphs more amazingly and more        
comically  than in any other country    
under the sun4 ,on this account we can  
forgive  ,mr4 ,dreiser his unequalled   
incapacity for artistic selection1 his  
unvarying preference for making fifty or
 a hundred sentences do the  work of    
one2 we can forgive him the dullness of 

his sthetic nerve1 his  mountainously   
heaped banalities of phrase1 his        
grinding tediousness1  his incoherence1 
his clumsiness that produces the        
distressing effect of  some obtruded    
physical deformity4 ,at least he has    
done something3 he  has given us a sense
 of the ,middle ,west that is almost as 
depressing1  almost as spiritually      
devastating as any that actual contact  
with  the ,middle ,west itself can      
produce4 ,he is a realist3 and it is an 
extraordinary feat of heroism to be a   
realist in ,america4 ,but if ,mr4       
,dreiser had written in any ,european   
country1 he could not have been  read4  
,the tremendous strain that he imposes  
on his readers is only  tolerable       
because they feel that he is doing      
something1 or1 with the  throaty groans 
and gastric rumbles of an elderly       
,hercules badly out of  condition1      
trying to do something that no one else 
has found the nerve  or the stomach to  
attempt4    ,it will be asked if ,mr4   

,edgar ,lee ,masters has not also the   
distinction  of having dared to tell the
 truth in a land where1 whenever truth  
shows itself1 public opinion is         
instantly on the alert to suppress it4  
,does not the author of the ,spoon      
,river ,anthology expose1 powerfully    
and memorably1 the vices of the         
respectable provincial bourgeois1 the   
,pillars of ,society8 ,but again the    
question may be raised--did the  ,spoon 
,river ,anthology enjoy its vogue on    
account of its power and  distinction as
 a work of art1 or on account of the    
unusualness that  lay in the subjection 
of ,american material to treatment of   
the kind8  ,guy de ,maupassant had1 long
 since1 the same idea as ,mr4 ,edgar    
,lee  ,masters1 and de ,maupassant      
executed it with genius4 ,if a          
,european1  coming after de ,maupassant1
 after ,ibsen1 had written such an      
,anthology  from1 say1 the ,potteries1  
with so much less than de ,maupassant's 
or  ,ibsen's power1 would his work have 

made any noticeable impression8  ,time  
will show--indeed it has done much to   
show already--how much less  formidable 
,mr4 ,masters's power is4 ,and how      
unfortunate that1 induced by  the       
success of ,spoon ,river1 ,mr4 ,masters 
should have committed himself  to other 
verse--rhymed verse1 schoolboy exercises
 limping after models1  otiose in       
expression1 commonplace in thought4 ,mr4
 ,masters writes in  ,america3 there is 
nothing to keep him back4    ,mr4       
,dreiser1 it is true1 has never done    
anything quite so deplorable as  the    
later verse of ,mr4 ,masters3 the       
tendencies of the author of ,the  ,titan
 and ,the ,genius go another way4       
,intrigued by the fantasies of          
pseudo-scientific speculation he has of 
late taken to writing queerly  and      
embarrassingly juvenile plays and       
stories about energies that  form the   
subject-matter of ,physics3 he makes    
ponderous ,teutonic play  with electrons
 and the like4 ,or1 stung by the crass  

persecution of  ,american ,puritanism1  
he writes grimly and solemnly and       
staidly about  lust1 turning            
pornographer out of a quaint and        
harassed sense of  moral duty1 or1 it   
may be1 merely out of obstinate         
combativeness1  under impulse to        
retaliation4 ,mr4 ,dreiser is at least a
 phenomenon of  psychological interest4 
,there are no poets who are in any way  
observable1 but there is ,mr4  ,joseph  
,hergesheimer1 whose novels have been   
highly commended on both  sides of the  
,atlantic4 ,indeed1 his style1          
self-conscious though it  is1 has an    
unquestionable claim to serious regard4 
,his honesty in  characterisation1 his  
vigour1 his sense of the running sap of 
human  existence1 his energy in         
narrative1 all mark him out4 ,we can    
hardly1  after our later experience of  
them1 expect any new values1 any        
development1 from ,mr4 ,dreiser or from 
,mr4 ,masters2 we can justifiably       
expect a good deal more from ,mr4       

,hergesheimer than we have yet had1  for
 he has only begun4 ,the ,three ,black  
,pennys and ,java ,head point  the way  
perhaps to much more considerable       
novels4 ,mr4 ,hergesheimer1  far less   
unsurely than any other ,american writer
 of to-day1 gives us  hope for the      
future of ,american literature4 ,to     
anyone familiar with the  conditions of 
,american life1 it is amazing that he   
should have been  able to write so well1
 to advance so far under so heavy a     
handicap4  ,but1 of course1 no          
conditions of life are all-powerful4    
,the individual  will in the end escape 
from under the blight and the burden of 
any  general mass whatsoever2 partial   
evasions herald complete release4  ,in  
ten years time1 maybe--or in            
twenty--there will be very different    
letters to be written from ,america4    
,news there is little4 ,mr4 ,nicholas   
,vachel ,lindsay1 the one ,american     
writer of verse who shows signs of      
genius1 is projecting a visit to        

,england1 and ,mr4 ,hugh ,walpole1 ,lord
 ,dunsany1 and ,mr4 ,drinkwater are     
touring the country as so many of their 
,british colleagues have done  before4  
,mr4 ,walpole's addresses are very      
popular4 ,mr4 ,drinkwater has  been more
 than once to ,springfield1 the shrine  
of ,abraham ,lincoln1 in  whom he now   
has a sort of property1 and ,lord       
,dunsany has been lecturing  to a large 
audience at the olian ,hall in this     
city4 ,his reception was  marred by     
excited interruptions from patriotic    
,irishwomen who wanted to  know why he  
had ignored the grievances of his       
country4 ,in a despairing  way he       
repeated again and again1 ,i am a poet1 
not a politician4            ,r4 ,e4 ,c4
          ,,learned ,,societies1 ,,etc4 
,,the ,,society ,,of ,,antiquaries      
,the influence of the war is plainly    
seen in the ,society's programme  for   
the coming session1 and the prospect of 
exploring the ancient  seats of         
civilisation hitherto under ,turkish    

rule will give general  satisfaction4   
,the ,latin monastic buildings of the   
,church of the ,holy  ,sepulchre will be
 described and illustrated1 and a mosaic
 pavement  found at ,um ,jerar during   
the advance in ,palestine will be       
discussed4  ,in ,mesopotamia official   
excavations have been carried out at ,ur
 of  the ,chaldees1 ,abu ,shahrain1 and 
,el-,obeid2 a ,sumerian figure has been 
found1 dating from the pre-,semitic     
period2 and a marble slab of  about     
#abjj ,a4,d41 carved with a             
double-headed eagle1 has found its  way 
to the ,british ,museum from the        
neighbourhood of ,diarbekr4 ,the        
heraldry of ,cyprus and recent          
excavations in that island are other    
items from abroad2 but discoveries at   
home will not be neglected4 ,the        
megalithic monument known as ,wayland's 
,smithy 7caricatured by ,scott in       
,kenilworth7 was thoroughly examined    
last summer2 a report is promised  on   
excavations at ,templeborough1 a ,roman 

camp between ,sheffield and  ,rotherham2
 and a small ivory carving of the later 
,anglo-,saxon period  from ,st4 ,cross  
will take rank as a rarity of peculiar  
charm4 ,it reached  ,winchester ,museum 
unprotected among a miscellaneous       
collection of  fossils4      ,,the      
,,philological ,,society    ,the        
,society was just preparing to recover  
from the loss it suffered by  the death 
of ,dr4 ,furnivall when the war broke   
out4 ,the officials had  to do their    
best to keep the ,society going whilst  
many members were  away4 ,a tentative   
unofficial revival of the annual report 
was made  official and permanent1 but   
several winter meetings were suppressed 
on  grounds of war economy4 ,the        
question of a proposed official phonetic
  transcription came before the         
,council1 which also considered that  of
 adhesion--as a section--to the ,british
 ,association4 ,in #aiag the            
seventy-fifth anniversary of the        
,society's foundation was celebrated4   

,recent publications include ,the ,tale 
of the ,armament of ,igor1 ,a4,d4       
#aahe1 translated from the ,russian by  
,leonard ,a4 ,magnus2 an address on     
,jacob ,grimm2 and a paper by ,sir      
,james ,wilson1 ,k4,c4,s4,i41 on ,the   
,dialect  of the ,new ,forest in        
,hampshire 7as spoken in the village of 
,burley74  ,the ,president this year is 
,sir ,israel ,gollancz1 and the         
secretary ,mr4  ,leonard ,c4 ,wharton1  
of #ca ,greville ,road1 ,n4,w4 #f4      
,forthcoming meetings  7at ,university  
,college7 will be held on ,december     
#eth1 ,january #ith1 and  ,february     
#fth1 the subjects being ,existing      
,parts of ,speech ,distinctions  have no
 ,topical ,basis 7,mr4 ,h4 ,o4          
,coleman71 ,a ,middle ,english ,topic   
7,sir ,i4 ,gollancz71 and ,the          
,perception of ,sound 7,dr4 ,w4         
,perrett74 ,new  members are wanted4    
,the subscription is a guinea4          
,,the ,,society ,,for ,,the ,,protection
 ,,of ,,ancient ,,buildings    ,we are  

hearing at the present moment a good    
deal about the ,enabling  ,bill1 and    
considerable interest has been evinced  
at the large majority  which approved   
its second reading4 ,this is not without
 its bearing on  a matter in which the  
,society for the ,protection of ,ancient
 ,buildings  feels very strongly--i4e41 
that the laity should not only have a   
voice in church legislation1 but that   
where church buildings 7which  may      
legitimately be looked on as national   
possessions of the highest  value7 are  
concerned the public has a right to know
 of improvements or  additions which may
 be in contemplation1 and to express its
 approval or  disapproval of any such   
scheme4    ,two cases which have come to
 the notice of the ,society within the  
last  two months have brought this      
subject again to the fore4 ,in the      
present  condition of things the ,dean  
and ,chapter of a ,cathedral can        
exercise  an arbitrary ruling over the  
structure under its charge which none   

can  gainsay4    ,in certain cases1     
doubtless1 no great harm may result even
 from the  arbitrary decision of a small
 body of men who may or may not have    
any architectural or archological       
knowledge1 but the past bears  many     
glaring instances in which succeeding   
generations have had good  reason to    
deplore that in a preceding age a ,dean 
and ,chapter has held  undisputed sway  
and worked its will4    ,what is needed 
is that it should be made illegal to add
 to or alter  a cathedral--in fact1 to  
do anything beyond ordinary works of    
upkeep 7which do not involve removing   
stones or timbers from the              
structure7--without the permission of   
either the advisory board set up  under 
the ,ancient ,monuments ,act 7#aiac71   
or1 if the church would prefer  it1 some
 advisory board on which the opinion of 
such societies as the  ,society of      
,antiquaries1 the ,royal ,institute of  
,british ,architects1  and this ,society
 would be represented equally with the  

dignatories  of the church4 ,this is a  
case about which the public should      
express  its opinion so strongly that a 
revision of the existing system would   
inevitably follow4      ,,the ,,egypt   
,,exploration ,,fund    ,the ,egypt     
,exploration ,fund is arranging a series
 of lectures to be  given in the rooms  
of the ,royal ,society1 ,burlington     
,house 7by the kind  permission of the  
,president and ,council74 ,the lectures 
are primarily  for the benefit of its   
own members and subscribers1 but others 
will be  admitted by tickets1 which can 
be obtained gratis by application to the
  ,secretary of the ,egypt ,exploration 
,fund1 #ac ,tavistock ,square1 ,w4,c4#a4
  ,the first of these lectures was      
delivered on ,friday1 ,november #bast1  
at #h4cj p4m4 ,the chair was taken by   
,professor ,percy ,g4 ,newberry1 and    
the lecture1 entitled ,the ,egyptian    
,origin of the ,alphabet1 was given  by 
,mr4 ,t4 ,eric ,peet1 who urged the view
 that both the ,north ,semitic  and     

,south ,semitic alphabets1 from which   
together the ,greek alphabet  was       
derived1 were derived in their turn from
 a common source which  was taken1 on   
the acrophonic principle1 from ,egyptian
 hieroglyphics4  ,this argument is      
largely based on the inscriptions       
discovered in #aije  at                 
,serbt-el-,khdim1 in the ,sinai         
peninsula1 by an expedition of the      
,egypt ,exploration ,fund4 ,the fund has
 recently published a pamphlet  dealing 
with its aims and accomplishments1 in   
which it is pointed out  that           
,egyptology to-day demands more precise 
and scientific methods than  were       
formerly employed1 and that1 as ,egypt  
is now a protectorate of  the ,british  
,empire1 the responsibility for         
safeguarding the records of  its history
 must be accepted by this country in a  
fuller measure than  heretofore4        
,,the ,,royal ,,numismatic ,,society    
,at a meeting of the ,royal ,numismatic 
,society on ,november #bjth1 ,mr4       

,harold ,mattingly read a paper on ,the 
,republican ,origins of the ,roman      
,imperial ,coinage4 ,his main contention
 was that the ,imperial coinage  was the
 direct successor not of the ,republican
 mint of ,rome1 but of  the coinage of  
the ,imperator in the provinces1 as     
issued from about  #hc ,b4,c4 onwards4  
,he traced the history of military      
coinages under the  ,republic and       
brought evidence to show that it was not
 till about the  time of ,sulla that the
 ,imperator himself exercised the right 
of  striking coins4 ,he then showed how 
out of this provincial coinage the      
coinage of the triumvirs naturally      
developed1 and again from that  coinage 
of ,augustus4 ,augustus chose to found  
his system on this basis  in view of the
 failure of the triumvirs1 following in 
the steps of  ,julius ,csar1 to         
establish a personal coinage at the     
,republican mint of  ,rome4      ,,the  
,,geologists' ,,association    ,this    
,association celebrated its sixtieth    

anniversary on ,december #gth1  #aiah1  
when a ,lecture was delivered by ,major 
,sir ,douglas ,mawson1 in the           
,architectural ,theatre1 ,university    
,college1 ,gower ,street1 ,w4,c4#a1 on  
,the ,glaciation of ,antarctica4 ,during
 #aiai several important papers  have   
been read1 including the ,annual        
,address by the ,president1 ,mr4 ,j4    
,f4 ,n4 ,green1 ,b4,a41 ,f4,g4,s41 on   
,the ,vulcanicity of the ,lake ,district
  and a paper on ,old ,age and          
,extinction in ,fossils1 by ,dr4 ,w4 ,d4
 ,lang4  ,three parts of the            
,proceedings for #aiai have already been
 published  containing a full report of 
,dr4 ,lang's paper1 another paper by the
  same authority on ,the ,evolution of  
,ammonites1 and the ,presidential       
,address by the ,past-,president1 ,mr4  
,george ,barrow1 ,f4,g4,s41 on ,some    
,future ,work for the ,geologists'      
,association1 which is an interesting   
and exhaustive study of the post-,eocene
 deposits of clays1 sands and  gravels1 

older than the ,river ,terrace deposits4
 ,the ,proceedings also  contain        
accounts of the excursions made to      
certain places of geological  interest  
during the year4 ,at ,easter an         
excursion was conducted to the  ,bristol
 ,district by ,professor ,s4 ,h4        
,reynolds and ,mr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,tutcher1 and
  at ,whitsuntide the ,association      
visited the ,isle of ,wight1 under the  
guidance of ,mr4 ,g4 ,w4 ,colenutt and  
,mr4 ,r4 ,w4 ,hooley4 ,llangollen was   
selected as the district for the ,long  
,excursion in ,august1 and about  forty 
members spent a week in the study of the
 ,ordovician1 ,silurian  and            
,carboniferous systems of the           
neighbourhood4 ,mr4 ,l4 ,j4 ,wills1     
,m4,a41  ,f4,g4,s41 was the ,conductor4 
,excursions were also made to           
,sevenoaks1  ,farnham1 ,berkhamstead1   
,codicote 7,herts71 ,st4 ,george's ,hill
 7,weybridge71  ,box ,hill1 ,headley    
,heath and ,epsom4 ,the first meeting of
 the ,winter  ,session was held at      

,university ,college on ,november #gth1 
which was  followed by a conversazione4 
,many exhibits were made of ,fossils and
  ,flint ,implements4 ,mr4 ,llewellyn   
,treacher showed a fine specimen1 one of
  the largest known1 of a flattened1    
pear-shaped late ,chellean implement1   
#ab inches long1 recently found in the  
,maidenhead gravels2 a slab of  shale   
studded with ,graptolites1 from the     
,tarannon of ,peebleshire1 was          
exhibited by ,mr4 ,r4 ,j4 ,a4 ,eckford2 
and ,mr4 ,j4 ,francis showed many fine  
examples of ,jurassic ,ammonites and    
,belemnites1 illustrating chambers1     
septa1 siphuncles and sutures4          
,,bibliographies ,,of ,,modern ,,authors
      ,,george ,,saintsbury    ,this    
list is a selection4    ,a ,,primer ,,of
 ,,french ,,literature4 ,clarendon      
,press4 #ahff 7fourth edition1  revised1
 #aiab74    ,,john ,,dryden4 ,macmillan4
 #ahgh4 7,english ,men of ,letters      
,series47    ,a ,,short ,,history ,,of  
,,the ,,life ,,and ,,writings ,,of ,,le 

,,sage4 ,privately printed1  ,london1   
#ahha4    ,a ,,short ,,history ,,of     
,,french ,,literature4 ,clarendon       
,press4 #ahhb 7,current  edition1       
#aiag74    ,,french ,,lyrics4 ,kegan    
,paul4 #ahhb4 7,parchment ,library47    
,,marlborough4 ,long4 #ahhe4 7,english  
,worthies47    ,a ,,history ,,of        
,,elizabethan ,,literature4 ,macmillan4 
#ahhg 7ninth edition1  #aijg74      ,the
 material in this volume deals with the 
larger ,elizabethan    period from      
,wyatt and ,surrey to the ,restoration4 
,,manchester3 ,a ,,history ,,of ,,the   
,,town4 ,longmans4 #ahhg4    ,,essays   
,,in ,,english ,,literature1 #aghj-ahfj4
 ,percival4 #ahij4    ,,the ,,earl ,,of 
,,derby4 ,dent4 #ahij4 ,prime ,ministers
 of ,queen ,victoria4    ,,essays ,,on  
,,french ,,novelists4 ,percival4 #ahia4 
,,miscellaneous ,,essays4 ,percival4    
#ahib 7second edition1 ,rivington1      
#ahie74    ,,the ,,cookery ,,of ,,the   
,,partridge4 #ahic4 7,watson's ,fur and 
,feather ,series47    ,,the ,,cookery   

,,of ,,the ,,grouse4 #ahid4 7,watson's  
,fur and ,feather ,series47             
,,corrected ,,impressions4 ,essays on   
,victorian ,writers4 ,heinemann4 #ahie4 
,,essays ,,in ,,english ,,literature1   
#aghj-ahfj4 ,second ,series4 ,dent4     
#ahie4    ,,inaugural ,,address ,,at    
,,edinburgh ,,university1 ,october      
#aeth1 #ahie4  ,blackwood4 #ahie4       
,,sir ,,walter ,,scott3 ,a              
,,biographical ,,sketch4 ,walter ,scott 
,co4 #ahif4 7,famous  ,scots ,series47  
,a ,,history ,,of ,,nineteenth ,,century
 ,,literature1 #aghj-ahie4 ,macmillan4  
#ahif4    ,,the ,,flourishing ,,of      
,,romance ,,and ,,the ,,rise ,,of       
,,allegory4 ,blackwood4 #ahig4          
7,periods of ,european ,literature47    
,a ,,short ,,history ,,of ,,english     
,,literature4 ,macmillan4 #ahih4        
,,matthew ,,arnold4 #ahii4 7,modern     
,english ,writers47    ,,history ,,of   
,,criticism ,,and ,,literary ,,taste    
,,in ,,europe4 ,from the earliest  texts
 to the present day4 ,three volumes4    

,blackwood4 #aijj-d4    ,,the ,,earlier 
,,renaissance4 ,blackwood4 #aija4       
7,periods of ,european  ,literature47   
,a ,,history ,,of ,,english ,,prosody   
,,from ,,the ,,twelfth ,,century ,,to   
,,the ,,present  ,,day4 ,two volumes4   
,macmillan4 #aijf4    ,,the ,,later     
,,nineteenth ,,century4 ,blackwood4     
#aijg4 7,periods of ,european           
,literature47    ,,historical ,,manual  
,,of ,,english ,,prosody4 ,macmillan4   
#aiaj4    ,,the ,,historical ,,character
 ,,of ,,the ,,english ,,lyric4 #aiab4   
7,from  ,proceedings of the ,british    
,academy47    ,a ,,history ,,of         
,,english ,,prose ,,rhythm4 ,macmillan4 
#aiab4    ,,the ,,english ,,novel4      
,dent4 #aiac4 7,channels of ,english    
,literature47    ,a ,,first ,,book ,,of 
,,english ,,literature4 #aiad4    ,,the 
,,peace ,,of ,,the ,,augustans4 ,a      
,survey of ,eighteenth-,century         
,literature  as a place of rest and     
refreshment4 ,g4 ,bell4 #aiaf4    ,a    
,,history ,,of ,,the ,,french ,,novel   

,,to ,,the ,,close ,,of ,,the           
,,nineteenth ,,century4  ,macmillan4    
,vol4 ,i41 #aiag4 ,vol4 ,,ii41 #aiai4   
,,loci ,,critici4 ,passages             
,illustrative of ,critical ,theory and  
,practice  from ,aristotle downwards2   
selections1 part translation1 and       
arrangement4 ,ginn4 #aijc4    ,,caroline
 ,,poets4 ,clarendon ,press4 ,two       
volumes4 7,the complete works  of       
certain minor ,caroline ,poets with     
reproductions of first edition          
title-pages1 etc41 and introductions to 
thirteen poets4 ,a third volume  is in  
preparation47 #aije4                    
,chamberlayne's ,pharonnida1 ,ayres's   
works1 and other rarities are    here to
 be found4    ,,thomas ,,love ,,peacock4
 ,maid ,marian and ,crotchet ,castle2   
,melincourt2  ,gryll ,grange2 ,headlong 
,hall and ,nightmare ,abbey2            
,misfortunes of  ,elphin and            
,rhododaphne4    ,he has also edited    
various series3 the works of ,dryden1   
,fielding1  ,goldsmith1 ,herrick1       

,montaigne1 ,racine1 ,donne 7,poems71   
,longfellow1  ,shadwell1 ,thackeray1    
,richardson1 ,smollett1 ,sterne1 ,swift1
 and numerous  collected or selected    
works of ,english and ,french authors4  
,he has written prefatory memoirs to    
,pride and ,prejudice1 ,merope1  ,a     
,calendar of ,verse1 ,gil ,blas1 ,j4 ,b4
 ,b4 ,nichols' ,words and ,days1        
,scott's ,lives of the ,novelists1      
,stal's ,corinne1 and various  separate 
works of ,thackeray1 and he contributed 
many chapters to the  ,cambridge        
,history of ,english ,literature4       
,,james ,,elroy ,,flecker      ,verse   
,,the ,,collected ,,poems ,,of ,j4 ,e4  
,,flecker4 ,edited with an introduction 
by ,j4  ,c4 ,squire4 ,secker4 #aiaf4    
,contains several poems not published   
before ,flecker's death4    ,,selected  
,,poems4 ,secker4 #aiah4           99   
99       99       99       99    ,,the  
,,bridge ,,of ,,fire4 ,elkin ,mathews4  
#aijh4      ,in the ,vigo ,cabinet      
,series4    ,,thirty-,,six ,,poems4     

,adelphi ,press4 #aiaj4    ,,forty-,,two
 ,,poems4 ,dent4 #aiaa4      ,a reissue 
of the last with additions4    ,,the    
,,golden ,,journey ,,to ,,samarkand4    
,goschen4 #aiac4      ,this book1 which 
contains ,flecker's ,parnassian preface1
 was    subsequently taken over by      
,martin ,secker4    ,,the ,,old ,,ships4
 ,poetry ,bookshop4 #aiae4              
,published just after ,flecker's death4 
,,the ,,burial ,,in ,,england4 #aiae4   
,,god ,,save ,,the ,,king4 #aiae4       
,each of these was privately printed in 
a very small edition by    ,clement ,k4 
,shorter4      ,prose    ,,the ,,last   
,,generation4 ,new ,age ,press4 #aijh4  
,a short satire4    ,,the ,,grecians3 ,a
 ,,dialogue ,,on ,,education4 ,dent4    
#aiaj4    ,,the ,,scholar',s ,,italian  
,,grammar3 ,an ,introduction to the     
,latin origin of  ,italian4 ,d4 ,nutt4  
#aiaa4    ,,the ,,king ,,of ,,alsander3 
,a ,,novel4 ,goschen4 #aiad4      ,now  
published by ,allen  ,unwin4            
,,drama    ,,the ,,poetic ,,drama       

,the question1 ,is there or is there not
 a future for poetic drama8--that  is to
 say1 drama wholly or principally in    
verse--is very much like  the question1 
,is there a future for sport8 ,there are
 times when  everybody seems to be      
talking about sport1 times when even    
bookworms  begin to play ping-pong2     
there are other periods--one thinks of  
the novels of ,george ,eliot and        
,thackeray--when the world seems to     
have been without sport1 and in the     
,england of ,jane ,austen and the       
,bronts 7contemporaries of ,chopin7 the 
sportswoman-composer1 the  horsy        
musician revealed in the pages of ,miss 
,ethel ,smyth's recent  ,memoirs is a   
figure less conceivable than the ,phnix4
 ,but through the  darkest of ages sport
 has persisted1 often as nothing more   
than the  eccentricity of a few cranks1 
who in the eyes of the world about them 
have neglected serious affairs idly to  
knock about a ball4    ,it was          
characteristic of a utilitarian age that

 sport and the poetic  drama should have
 been abandoned together for what the   
unhappy people  of that time1 caught in 
an unimaginative and rigid scientific   
theory1  thought to be real life4 ,the  
spirit of the age was like the sudden   
seriousness that seizes a young man when
 he first realises that he has  great   
ability and that he must improve the    
universe4 ,it is a state of  mind that  
rests upon the conviction that one knows
 everything1 and  that what ought to be 
done is always as plain as a pikestaff4 
,once the  bottom is knocked out of that
 omniscient self-confidence the whole   
policy and fabric of the time crumbles  
to pieces1 and that is exactly  what    
happened towards the beginning of the   
twentieth century when the  scientists1 
like the decent fellows they are1 began 
to realise that the  great clarity and  
understanding which had fallen upon the 
middle of  the nineteenth century was in
 reality a thick fog4 ,but the old      
mental  attitude persisted well into the

 present century1 and is by no means    
yet dead4 ,owing to the way in which it 
brought the young intellectuals  into   
practical affairs and set them studying 
economics and political  policy1 chiefly
 under the influence of that great      
spiritual survival of  the nineteenth   
century1 ,mr4 ,bernard ,shaw--who       
happened by a freak of  nature which    
suggests the comic chuckle of an        
all-seeing ,god1 to have  a passion for 
writing plays--that utilitarian         
influence continued to  pervade the     
drama when it had almost faded from the 
rest of literature4  ,mr4 ,shaw's plays 
are really a sort of inverted ,smiles'  
,self-,help1  and might well be called  
,plays for ,paralysing the ,puny        
,emotions--all  emotions being puny to  
,mr4 ,shaw and ,mr4 ,samuel ,smiles     
compared with  the necessity of getting 
on--with the job6 ,with ,mr4 ,smiles the
 job  is one's own career1 with ,mr4    
,shaw the career of the universe--that  
is the only difference4 ,the young      

intelligentsia of to-day1 having  almost
 all of them become materialists under  
the influence ,i have just  mentioned1  
have at last1 however1 begun to realise 
that the universe  is not only not going
 to have the career planned for it by   
,mr4 ,shaw  or any other group of       
thinkers1 but also that to plan a career
 for  the universe is like planning an  
occupation for the ,sun4 ,to imagine    
that in a ,daylight ,saving ,bill you   
have set the course of the ,sun is  to  
imagine exactly what this               
social-political school of realists has 
imagined in its programme for the       
universe6 ,naturally1 when one knows    
what the world ought to be1 and knows   
one has the power to produce that       
ideal1 one has no time to spare for     
sport or for letting one's feelings     
interfere with one's business4          
,supermen1 like self-made men1 have no  
time for sentiment4 ,it is here that we 
find the link--which might  escape the  
superficial glance--between ,samuel     

,smiles and ,nietzsche1 who  has had    
such an influence on the ,shavian       
school4 ,it explains1 also1 why  this   
school was so largely pacificist during 
the war1 for really its  intellectual   
sympathies were with the ,prussians1    
whose philosophic  justification was    
that they alone had the right           
conception--the  conception of an       
efficient world--and that it was their  
task1 in  fact1 their duty1 to bring    
this conception forcibly into being4    
,such  ideas always bring in their train
 a morality wholly opposed to sport  and
 to poetry--a morality whose essence is 
the duty of preaching to  the           
unenlightened4 ,the drama became        
suddenly useful as a vehicle for        
intellectual propaganda4      ,the      
,intellectual ,drama    ,the young      
intellectuals began to go to the theatre
 for the pleasure of  hearing their     
theories preached at a public unable to 
answer back or  easily to walk out1 but 
dumbly conscious that it had paid its   

money to  be entertained1 and was having
 its head punched4 ,it is no wonder that
  the drama suddenly became so popular  
with the intelligentsia4 ,here was  an  
end to crying in the wilderness1 to     
preaching your world panacea in  dull   
tracts and essays6 ,they had hit upon a 
method of getting the man  in the street
 actually to pay to be instructed in the
 true doctrine1  thinking that he was   
going to see the drama of the modern    
,shakespeare  or of one who was greater 
than ,shakespeare4 ,this1 of course1 was
  hailed as a great dramatic revival1   
and in so far as it brought the         
intellectuals back to the theatre which 
they had deserted1 it was  a revival4   
,that is to say1 it was a revival of the
 intellectuals1  not of the theatre4    
,you do not revive the drama by pouring 
into it  a mass of sociological or      
philosophical theories1 any more than   
you  could be said to have revived      
poetry by suddenly writing verses about 
machines4 ,one of the chief objects of  

art is to keep alive in our minds  the  
realisation of the extraordinary depth  
and complexity of life4  ,all the       
greatest dramatists do this2 that is why
 people write books  called ,the        
,problem of ,hamlet2 but the            
characteristic of this modern  school of
 realists is not only that they are     
propagandists--that is  to say1         
expounders of a certain point of        
view--but that they really  believe that
 they understand the world4 ,with that  
amazing certainty  which is the         
hall-mark of the materialistic mind1 the
 mind to which  everything presents a   
hard1 distinct superficies1 they have no
 doubts  about anything1 and they       
display a set of characters who1 to use 
a  horrible but expressive phrase1 are  
all there4 ,these characters  are worthy
 inhabitants of the world as it appears 
to their creators4  ,a world whose      
stupidity and wrong-headedness is so    
extraordinarily  obvious--a world in    
which it is always so patent what ought 

to be done1  that when one lives in it  
for the space of two or three hours     
during  the play's performance one feels
 like a higher mathematician with a     
child's problem out of ,euclid4 ,this   
outrageous simplification and           
externalising of life is an intellectual
 mania fatal to great drama4  ,it is the
 antithesis of poetry1 just as we have  
seen war become the  antithesis of      
sport1 thereby offending the soundest   
instincts of the  ,english people who1  
though they could find no arguments     
against the  ,prussian intellectual     
logic1 yet felt dumbly but intensely    
that this  simplification of war to     
something which shut out all ethics and 
all  play made war damnable and finally 
unendurable4    ,we find now the war is 
over that this drama1 whether written to
 get  slums abolished1 to expose        
prostitution1 to draw attention to our  
prison laws1 to expound socialism1 to   
influence our marriage customs1  to kill
 conventions1 to explain strikes1 or    

merely to be witty at the  stupidity of 
mankind1 is no longer in demand4 ,there 
will always be a  place for comedy1     
however bitter1 savage1 and loveless1   
and all the  subjects named are         
traditional and excellent for the comic 
dramatist2  but a comedy which is cold  
at heart1 a comedy in which there is no 
love1 occupies a very insignificant     
position in dramatic literature4 ,at    
this moment the stage is mainly held by 
the stage play1 which is little  more   
than the bare bones of drama1 the       
actors' device for entertaining  an     
audience1 resembling conjuring and the  
displays of acrobats4 ,this  kind of    
thing will always be more plentiful than
 poetic drama1 for the  simple reason   
that it is easier to obtain and easier  
to appreciate4  ,mr4 ,sutro's ,the      
,choice1 as well as ,the ,voice from the
 ,minaret1 by  ,mr4 ,robert ,hichens1   
and ,mr4 ,arnold ,bennett's ,sacred and 
,profane ,love  belong to this category4
 ,i find them often much more           

entertaining than  the drama of ideas   
which to-day lives on the first ghost of
 its former  self1 in such a play as    
,mr4 ,maltby's ,a ,temporary ,gentleman1
 which  has naturally won the approval  
of no less a person than ,mr4 ,william  
,archer4 ,mr4 ,archer has lately had the
 courage to declare that he has no  use 
for the poetic drama of the             
,elizabethans 7,shakespeare excepted74  
,this is not surprising4 ,mr4 ,archer   
has been the champion of the school  of 
modern ,english dramatists gathered     
around ,ibsen and ,mr4 ,shaw4 ,it  is   
natural to most ,scotsmen to prefer     
argument to poetry1 and ,mr4  ,archer's 
animadversions on the ,elizabethans only
 reveal ,mr4 ,archer's  limitations4    
,but he will find that whereas a quarter
 of a century ago  what he wanted to say
 was exactly what the young men and     
women wanted  to hear1 now nobody has   
the slightest interest in discussing    
social  problems on the stage1 and ,a   
,doll's ,house and ,man and ,superman   

are more absolutely dead than           
,tennyson's ,becket4 ,it is amazing to  
feel the change4 ,i was at ,oxford a    
short time ago1 and ,i found that  the  
forthcoming performances by the         
newly-formed ,phnix ,society of         
,webster's ,duchess of ,malfi and other 
,elizabethan plays aroused the  same    
interest and excitement there as ,i had 
felt myself4 ,it is evident  that the   
last wave of ,victorian materialism is  
rapidly ebbing4 ,the ,age  of ,drains is
 past4 ,this does not mean that we shall
 sink back into the  diphtheric state   
from which the ,victorians rescued us2  
it is simply  that after two or three   
decades during which the young          
intellectuals  have been annually sucked
 into a frenzied enthusiasm for social  
reform  there has come a reaction in    
which we have suddenly had quite another
  vision of life--a vision far more     
profound and closer to reality than  the
 one concentrated in the famous saying3 
,what is the matter with the  poor is   

their poverty--which has been the social
 slogan of the last  decade4            
,materialism and ,poetry    ,it is      
important to stress this connection of  
the drama with life1  because if we are 
going to have1 as ,i believe1 poetic    
drama in the near  future1 it will be   
because it is the best dramatic form for
 expressing  what we feel1 and as the   
demand must come in the first place from
 the  intellectuals--since in them alone
 are the common desires sufficiently    
conscious--it was impossible to get a   
flowering of poetic drama until  the    
intelligentsia had recovered from the   
epidemic of materialism1  and had begun 
to feel the need of something more      
satisfying than  glittering theories of 
reforming mankind by pure economics4    
,the leaders  of materialistic thought  
have always been uncomfortable about    
art1  and have never been completely    
honest4 ,in their uneasiness as to its  
practical value they have explained it  
on the ground that art develops  and    

trains the senses--pictures train the   
eye1 music trains the ear1  drama       
presumably trains both4    ,to knock the
 bottom out of this ridiculous nonsense 
one has only to  ask3 ,what drama would 
you give a man in order to train him to 
pick up  pins in the dark8 ,is it any   
wonder that the leaders of this precious
  substitute for thought could not      
appreciate ,shakespeare1 and is it any  
wonder that under their influence poetic
 drama has been extinct8 ,the  deadening
 influence of this utilitarian          
materialism has not only been  felt in  
drama1 it has been present in the whole 
life of the community2  but the masses  
have been less subject to it than the   
intelligentsia1  that is why the masses 
on the whole have stayed away from the  
intellectual theatre and have patronised
 the purely sporting1 purely  poetic1   
utterly useless ,revue1 ,musical        
,comedy1 and ,farce4 ,and their         
instinct has been sound1 as sound as it 
is when they ignore the offer  from the 

same quarter of a social millennium to  
be obtained merely by  the exercise of  
logic4 ,but the result has been a wider 
cleavage between  the people and the    
intelligentsia than has ever existed    
before1 and  most of the dissatisfaction
 with the present state of the theatre  
is  due to this fact4    ,it is a       
curious thing1 but ,mr4 ,herbert        
,trench1 in his fine play  ,napoleon1   
which was produced last month at the    
,stage ,society1 and  made a strong     
impression1 occasionally touches on the 
very idea ,i have  been setting forth4  
,his ,napoleon is a type of the         
materialistic  intellectual who has a   
routine plan for the universe1 and he   
harps  continually on order1 as if order
 were something simple1 something  he   
had invented to enable the universe to  
run smoothly3 ,your tide-work  taught   
you poetry4 ,i seek order1 he says to   
,wickham--and it sounds  like ,mr4 ,shaw
 or some intellectual dramatist         
speaking4 ,i will quote  one passage    

from the central scene--the scene       
between ,napoleon and  ,wickham--which  
really puts the case against the        
intellectuals3          ,wickham3       
4 4 4 4 4 4 4        ,because you have  
no love you have no eyes2        ,your  
naked energy1 working lovelessly1       
,be it balanced like a planet is not    
wise4                 99       99       
99       99       99          ,how we   
have suffered from you1 ghosts of ,csar1
        ,suffered through concentrations
 of our hope1        ,age after age     
about your glittering figures1          
,that have polarized and crystallized   
and chained        ,awake6 ,rome left   
our tribes one great bequest1           
,her law4 ,that's in our blood1 absorbed
 for ever4        ,but is then ,europe's
 many-fountained forest        ,bubbling
 with ten thousand springs of           
life--clans1 nations1        ,coloured  
by the ruddy soils from whence they     
spring1        ,is this multi-coloured1 
insuppressible world        ,to be      

controll'd from one centre8 ,not again6 
,to be twice ,roman'd8 ,never6          
,the grass will lift you as it lifts the
 stone4    ,mr4 ,trench's play is a     
beginning4 ,if we had--what is an       
elementary  requirement of              
civilisation--a ,national ,theatre1 we  
would certainly see  ,mr4 ,trench's play
 there1 and ,i should not be in the     
least surprised to  find it a popular   
success4 ,the public will never demand  
,mr4 ,trench's  play2 but then the      
public never demanded compulsory        
education1 much as  it needed it4 ,i    
have little doubt but that what the     
public needs in the  theatre to-day is  
poetic drama4           99       99     
99       99       99    ,the ,phnix     
,society produced ,webster's ,the       
,duchess of ,malfi on  ,november #bcrd4 
,the performance will be noticed next   
month4 ,the date of  the production of  
,dryden's ,marriage  la ,mode has not   
yet been fixed4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,a series of    

,french ,classical ,matines is being    
given by ,mlle4 ,gina  ,palerme at the  
,duke of ,york's ,theatre on ,tuesdays  
and ,wednesdays at  #b4cj4 ,the plays   
will be produced as at ,la ,comdie      
,franaise1 with  original music by      
,lully and other old masters4 ,the list 
of plays is as  follows3 ,le ,bourgeois 
,gentilhomme 7,molire71 ,le ,malade     
,imaginaire  7,molire71 ,les ,prcieuses 
,ridicules 7,molire71 ,le ,barbier de   
,seville 7,beaumarchais71 ,les          
,romanesques 7,rostand71 ,le ,voyage de 
,mr4  ,perrichon 7,laliche74            
,,dramatic ,,literature    ,,ben        
,,jonson',s ,,every ,,man ,,in ,,his    
,,humour4 ,edited by ,,percy ,,simpson4 
,clarendon ,press4 #fs4    ,this is a   
pioneer volume to a complete edition of 
,ben ,jonson's works1  projected by     
,professor ,c4 ,h4 ,herford and ,mr4    
,percy ,simpson1 and its  excellence is 
such that it is fervently to be hoped   
that we shall not  have to wait long for
 the companion volumes4 ,when these     

appear nothing  more will be needed1 and
 it will be possible for the ordinary   
person to  read ,jonson without         
floundering hopelessly among the maze of
 queries  which the text at present     
available raises1 and which its paucity 
of  notes does nothing to explain4 ,mr4 
,simpson's admirable introduction  deals
 with the quarto and folio texts1 the   
date of the play's revision1  and the   
general question of the portraiture of  
humours4 ,it contains  some excellent   
criticism of ,jonson's revisions1 and   
,mr4 ,simpson comes  to the conclusion  
that ,jonson began preparing the folio  
edition in  #afab1 and his reasons are1 
on the whole1 convincing4 ,there are    
sixty  pages of notes4      ,,sacred    
,,and ,,profane ,,love4 ,by ,,arnold    
,,bennett4 ,chatto  ,windus4 #cs4 #f;d4 
,a writer of ,mr4 ,arnold ,bennett's    
eminence and great sagacity would  be   
the last person to expect us to take    
this play seriously as a  contribution  
to dramatic literature4 ,although it is 

a play of modern  life in the most      
colloquial prose1 it has less reality   
than the wildest  and most              
phantasmagoric drama of the             
,elizabethans4 ,we may not expect  ,mr4 
,arnold ,bennett to create for us an    
imaginative world of his own in  which  
there is an inner and satisfying truth1 
but we look to him to  mirror in his own
 peculiarly brilliant fashion a part of 
contemporary  life with that precision  
which has so often delighted us4 ,there 
is  nothing in this play that could not 
actually have happened1 but it  is      
impossible to believe in it as it is    
happening4 ,mr4 ,bennett has  not       
visualised his people intensely enough2 
they are mere puppets  borne along by   
the machinery of the play4 ,this        
machinery is from the  theatrical point 
of view effective1 and it leaves the    
creation of the  illusion of life to the
 flesh and blood of the actors1 so that 
on the  stage the play may have an      
effect which it can never have when     

read4  ,the play1 of course1 has        
absolutely nothing to do with sacred or 
profane love2 no hint of the tremendous 
reality of love in any sense  appears   
between its covers4            ,w4 ,j4  
,,turner4          ,,the ,,fine ,,arts  
,group ,making and ,group ,breaking     
,there is a distemper prevalent amongst 
artists of to-day4 ,i refer to  the     
mania for group forming4 ,we are told by
 grave scientists that  we carry in us  
the germs of various diseases2 the      
latent microbe is  in our system1 apt to
 be shaken into active life by some     
unforeseen  circumstance4 ,artists1 it  
would appear1 have the germ of group    
making  inborn in their systems2 less   
quiescent than other microbes1 it awaits
  the often trivial cause for its       
activity--in some cases too much fame1  
in other cases the gall of unnoticed    
mediocrity4 ,given1 then1 one or  other 
of these causes1 a series of events is  
set in motion4    ,mr4 ,maguilp gathers 
round him various fellow-brushmen of    

whose work he  approves and1 if he is   
wise and is conversant with the recipe  
of group  making1 he will exclude from  
the number any one who will be likely   
to offer serious rivalry to his own     
position2 he may also luckily  procure  
someone who can make play with the quill
 as well as the brush  to boost him and 
his band of worthies with the public4 ,a
 manifesto is  next issued in which the 
faithful band begs to be entirely       
dissociated  from any form of art       
movement prior to its own1 and its      
members  present themselves purged from 
original influences1 risen like several 
phnixes from the fire4 ,they offer1 so  
to say1 a firm breakwater to the        
untiring waves of mediocrity4 ,good6    
,after a few exhibitions of their       
united work the brothers may be         
considered established and perhaps  not 
unnoticed by the critics4 ,but now1 mark
 the subtlety of the evil  genius which 
haunts artistic circles1 the group      
begins to think of  self-aggrandisement4

 ,let us have other members1 let us     
enlarge1 let  us1 in fact1 become 7fatal
 word7 representative4 ,but these good  
men  do not really mean representative1 
their exact intentions are rather  to   
increase their numbers by a process of  
eclecticism4 ,alas6 ,the most  carefully
 selected members may develop different 
ideas after their  election4 ,what      
trouble might not be averted if we could
 see the mental  condition1 as it were1 
of every chicken's egg through the      
shell2 to  emphasise this point1 however
 carefully you choose your cabbage there
  may always be a slug in it4 ,so1 in   
this little band1 which has now  become 
a group1 there are already forces of    
unrest1 as the papers  say4 ,the stages 
of dissolution from this point are very 
rapid3 the  undesirables multiply1 they 
question the authority of our original  
worthies1 they manage to introduce other
 undesirables1 and on all sides  there  
is mutual suspicion and distrust of each
 other's motives4 ,i  fear he intends to

 swamp us with the work of his          
followers1 or ,he  intends to try and   
get control of the ,group is whispered  
round4 ,then  the rot sets in4 ,one     
member1 for convenience ,a41 refuses to 
show in the  same room as ,b41 as if the
 mere presence of the latter's work     
would  corrode the gilt on his frames4  
,another disagrees with the gallery1  a 
third has been maliciously hung4 ,worse 
follows1 for one of our  original       
friends secedes and forms another group1
 drawing others away  with him3 fresh   
manifestos are issued1 and all original 
ideas revised1  ,we shall burst upon the
 public1 and so on1 da capo al fine4    
,the  public6 ,what do they think of it 
all1 does it interest them2 do our      
friends1 the artists1 fancy that their  
petty strife is watched with  eager     
anxiety8 ,surely to the public this     
formation and dissolution  of groups    
must be as puzzling as were the military
 categories of the  war4 ,a layman1     
having once become accustomed to one    

artistic movement1  has his attention   
diverted to another2 on refixing his    
attention to  the first he finds it     
split up into other formations4 ,he is  
as a man  watching a parade of soldiers1
 he sees each battalion form and reform1
  wheel and turn1 flaunting the while   
their separate banners as they  march1 a
 bewildering kinetic display4 ,samuel   
,butler used to wonder  why curates     
could not be hatched fully fledged in   
surplice and gown1  without the         
troublesome prelude of ordination4      
,could not artists be  allocated at     
birth in a system of unchangeable       
groups8 ,now all this  lamentable state 
of affairs is largely due to            
cliquishness1 and in a  lesser degree to
 an inherent distrust of each other     
which all artists  seem to possess4     
,there is also another contention which 
hampers them in  their deeper divans4   
,one man regards the exhibition of      
pictures as a  purely business concern1 
whereby he hopes to sell his work2      

another man  imagines it to be an       
opportunity of displaying1 for the      
education of  the uncultured1 the       
results of his own deep inspiration4    
,the possible  difference in their      
position may be that the former has to  
live by what  work he sells1 the latter 
has very likely a private income4 ,if1  
for  the sake of convenience1 we        
introduce our alphabetical friends      
again1  ,b4 will despise ,a4 for what   
appear to him to be mercenary feelings1 
while ,a4 holds ,b4 in contempt for     
amateurishness4 ,of the two ,i prefer   
,a4's idea because1 once he has carried 
out his painting1 his next idea  7a very
 sensible one too7 is to sell it2 while 
,b4 affects indifference  and thinks ,a4
 has been calculating his possible      
assets between his  brush strokes4 ,this
 idea is neither just nor relevant4     
,what can be  done for us all8 ,we all  
want to sell our pictures2 what need is 
there  for pretence1 and why are we at  
the mercy only of a few members of the  

intelligentsia8 ,after all1 ,i suppose  
group forming is in a sense  a          
protective instinct against the dealer1 
though the results are so  inadequate4  
,what then is the alternative to group  
making1 the remedy  for group breaking8 
,at the back of my mind ,i have visions 
for the future4 ,a huge emporium  for   
pictures1 run on business-like lines1   
and on a scale which will  put ,mr4     
,gattie's warehouse scheme completely in
 the shade4 ,here each  artist may have 
his work shown in his turn1 not one or  
two isolated  pictures disseminated     
among the exhibits of fifty other       
artists1 but  each man's work hung in a 
group that all may see his development1 
note  his improvement1 and criticise his
 faults4 ,why not a ,selfridge ,emporium
  for the pictorial arts8 ,woodcuts1    
,madame1 fourth floor4 ,orders for      
drawings and paintings and sculpture    
might be received1 and commissions  for 
decorations undertaken in any possible  
style4 ,then imagine the  satisfaction  

of procuring a ,lewis or a ,nevinson in 
the ,bargain  ,basement3 and the sales6 
,things were cheap6 as ,little ,tich    
says1  especially after the failure of  
the spring shows4      ,mr4 ,nevinson's 
,exhibition at the ,leicester ,galleries
    ,i do not imagine that ,sisyphus in 
,hades ever wantonly let his stone  roll
 down to the bottom of the hill after   
his laborious ascent1 yet  this is what 
,mr4 ,nevinson appears to have done in  
his passage up  the incline of artistic 
endeavour4 ,the simile is perhaps not   
quite  applicable because1 to be just1  
his work has seldom shown outward       
evidence of great stress3 perhaps it    
were better if it had4 ,he seems  to    
have reached with extraordinary ease a  
position in contemporary art  which was 
entitled to our respect4 ,we are grieved
 then1 rather than  angry1 to see his   
descent from that position4 ,if this is 
his ,peace  work then give me his ,war  
pictures4 ,i suppose we are all         
conscious  that reconstruction is very  

slow in realising our anticipations2 the
  business of changing from war to peace
 makes this inevitable1 but ,mr4        
,nevinson seems to have rushed1         
over-hurriedly1 from one to the other4  
,i think he has not considered          
reconstruction enough1 for his outlook  
at present is chaotic and rather vulgar4
 ,this might be excused on the  ground  
that he was pulling the public's leg1   
but the diversion is worn  rather       
threadbare now4 ,there are a few        
exceptions in the show1 and  moreover   
his colouring remains good1 even shows  
improvement1 and no  one can deny his   
skill4 ,see1 he cries1 how versatile ,i 
am4 ,i have  catered for all sorts of   
people6 ,yes1 but what sort of people8  
,no1 we would speak more in sorrow than 
in anger2 as ,ruskin addressed  ,millais
 in his decline--,if ,mr4 ,nevinson were
 to paint nothing but  apricots for four
 years1 etc4444 ,but we feel sure his   
relapse is only  temporary4      ,the   
,london ,group    ,the eleventh         

exhibition at the ,mansard ,gallery does
 not differ greatly  from previous      
exhibitions4 ,probably most people have 
ceased to expect  any great surprise1   
pleasant or otherwise1 though there may 
be still  a few who mount by lift to the
 gallery with the feeling rather of an  
airman approaching some planetary terra 
incognita4 ,i was assured the  other day
 by a candid friend that your ,london   
,group was as dull as  the ,academy4    
,this uncomfortable sort of person must 
give us a moment's  heart-searching1 but
 ,i think nevertheless that the ,london 
,group still  holds its own pretty well 
amongst art exhibitions of to-day4 ,with
 these  hopeful feelings uppermost let  
us examine the works displayed for  our 
notice4 ,the absence of ,charles        
,ginner's work is to be regretted1  and 
the rather alarming tendency of some    
artists to fasten on the                
characteristics of other artists' work  
and mould them rather obviously  to     
their own use is more marked this year  

than formerly4 ,i feel sure  that       
several of the members will have to try 
and throw these ingenious  people off   
their trail1 for it is disconcerting to 
the highest degree  to find the         
plagiarist out-doing the original worker
 at his own job4  ,one would have       
thought that ,mr4 ,gertler's apple      
painting was the last  word in that     
line1 but some people appear to differ  
and you will find  many feeble echoes of
 these rare fruit and many paintings    
also of the  chipped corner variety ad  
nauseam4 ,i do not really know to whom  
most  sympathy should be extended3 to   
,mr4 ,gertler for his apples1 to ,mr4   
,fry who is very hotly pursued by his   
admirers1 or to the landscape  painters 
who1 ,i think1 might almost seek the    
assistance of the patent  law4 ,mr4     
,bomberg has returned in great force1   
and his ,barges1 ,no4  #ca1 is indeed an
 earnest of further excellence2 all his 
paintings have  distinction4 ,mr4       
,dickey has presented us with a very    

fine effort in  his ,kentish ,town1 a   
careful and refined painting1 very      
beautiful  in colour4 ,mr4 ,gertler's   
paintings at the ,goupil ,gallery are   
more  interesting than his exhibit here4
 ,no4 #cf1 ,still ,life1 by ,mr4 ,coria1
  is a painting of note1 despite its    
cold flatness of texture4 ,the          
exhibition deserves more detailed       
criticism than space permits4 ,there  is
 great character in the two paintings of
 ,caledonian ,market1 by  ,therese      
,lessore1 whose exhibition at the ,eldar
 ,gallery is now open4 ,mr4  ,duncan    
,grant's pleasant ,farmyard painting    
should not go unmentioned1  and there is
 other good work by ,a4 ,p4 ,allinson1  
,mrs4 ,bashford1 ,keith  ,baynes1       
,ethelbert ,white1 and ,bernard         
,meninsky4      ,,artistic              
,,publications    ,,the ,,life ,,of     
,,john ,,thomson ,,of ,,duddingston4 ,by
 ,r4 ,w4 ,,napier1 ,f4,r4,s4,a4  ,oliver
  ,boyd4 ,price #dbs4    ,this is a vast
 book4 ,besides the usual foreword and  

introduction  there are six chapters in 
which ,mr4 ,napier most anxiously       
assures  us that ,thomson's evangelical 
labours and lack of artistic training   
in no way interfere with the exercise of
 his genius4 ,this seems a  little      
unnecessary2 for we are quite ready to  
take him on his merits4  ,then comes the
 biography proper1 and there are also   
five indices1 a  three-part appendix1   
and six separate catalogues of his work1
 besides  numerous illustrations1 etc4  
,all this immense labour and care over  
an  artist who ,i think was not a very  
significant figure among ,british       
painters4 ,perhaps he was overshadowed  
by his contemporaries ,turner and       
,constable4 ,he was not free1 it        
appears1 from the landscape tradition of
  ,claude and ,poussin1 which he applied
 to his own ,scottish scenery1 and      
there would also seem to be a strong    
influence of ,richard ,wilson in his    
work4 ,for all this1 ,i think we may    
call him a great little man1 and  ,mr4  

,napier's book will be most valuable to 
the student of the history  of ,british 
art4    ,,john ,,nash          ,,music  
,,the ,,beecham ,,opera    ,the season  
of opera in ,english at ,covent ,garden1
 which opened at  the beginning of      
,november1 offers a programme of unusual
 interest4  ,tristan and ,prince ,igor  
are its oldest classics2 ,mozart1 so it 
is  rumoured1 is being held in reserve  
for a special season of his own4 ,the   
list contains hardly a single work that 
is not either a masterpiece  or at least
 a novelty4 ,wagner is represented only 
by ,tristan and  ,parsifal1 ,verdi by   
,otello and ,falstaff4 ,except for a few
 ,puccini  operas on ,saturdays1 the    
commonplace popular operas that are     
obliged  to form the backbone of every  
continental opera-house's repertory have
  been struck out altogether4 ,it is    
certainly to ,london's credit that  for 
so uncompromising a choice the response 
of the public has been  enthusiastic4   
,as long as ,sir ,thomas ,beecham was   

fighting the battle of ,english opera   
with dogged persistence and unstinted   
expenditure of material in the  face of 
apathy and indifference1 and possibly   
the hostility of vested  interests as   
well1 there was a very general feeling  
that his courage  and high idealism     
should not be hampered by a too         
searching criticism  of his             
performances4 ,the ,beecham opera has by
 now become an established  institution1
 and it is inevitable1 now that it has  
taken possession of  ,covent ,garden1   
that it should be considered in a more  
impartial spirit4  ,it need not fear    
comparison with the imported opera of   
the summer  season4 ,it has made its own
 high standards2 but it follows that its
  performances must be judged in general
 by the standards of its highest        
individual achievements4    ,the present
 season has so far been something of a  
disappointment4  ,several of the operas 
to be seen have been given over and over
 again  in the provinces if not in      

,london4 ,in the case of an absolutely  
new  opera insufficiency of rehearsal   
may be pardoned2 but it is not a  sign  
of good management when the performance 
of stock classics is  allowed to become 
slack and indifferent4 ,sir ,thomas has 
not been  seen very often at the        
conductor's desk1 and this is the more  
to be  regretted1 since he has a most   
remarkable genius for pulling through  a
 performance which in other hands would 
be always trembling on the  verge of    
disintegration4 ,he has very little     
sympathy with singers1 it  seems4 ,he   
always tends to regard the orchestra as 
the main thing1 and  the singers as mere
 adjuncts to it1 so that an opera under 
his beat  might easily become a symphony
 with voices ad libitum unless1 as1  for
 instance1 in ,trovatore1 the composer  
has understood voices and  written for  
them in such a way that nothing could   
ever dominate them4  ,mr4 ,goossens     
follows in the steps of his master1 but 
with less genius4  ,the performance of  

,falstaff was instructive on this       
problem4 ,compared  with that in the    
other ,verdi operas1 the treatment of   
the orchestra  is so complex as to make 
it almost symphonic in character4 ,none 
the  less1 it is an opera in which the  
voices must lead and the band           
accompany1 for if this is not done the  
work at once becomes patchy and         
formless4 ,it requires1 in fact1 that   
the singers should have a strong        
symphonic sense1 should feel themselves 
all parts of a continuous vocal         
ensemble which must be kept going not by
 the conductor but by their  own        
co-operative efforts4 ,the orchestra can
 then accompany1 and it must  also play 
its part with a sense of vocal          
expression and individual  personality4 
,this is the real difficulty of         
,falstaff4 ,as it was1 the  singers had 
little or no feeling for ensemble4 ,i   
use the word in a  large sense1 meaning 
not merely the passages where several   
voices are  singing simultaneously1 but 

all those in which the phrase of one    
voice  is answered directly1 or even at 
some bars' distance1 by another4 ,mr4   
,goossens did his best to hold the      
singers to a steady beat1 but he        
allowed the orchestra to get very much  
out of hand4 ,mr4 ,percy ,pitt has      
probably suffered too much from the old 
conventional ,covent ,garden  routine4  
,he lets the singers do more or less    
what they like1 and allows  the         
orchestra to play ,wagner and           
,rimsky-,korsakov as if their music     
were no more interesting than that of   
,bellini and ,donizetti4 ,the one       
salvation of the opera season will be   
,mr4 ,albert ,coates1 who1 even         
considered merely as a concert          
conductor1 is in a different category   
from any of our ,english conductors4 ,he
 adds to this a real knowledge  and     
understanding of the stage1 and a       
personality which has the quality  of   
being able to get the best possible work
 out of every single person  under his  

control4 ,that quality is as rare as it 
is important4    ,the stage-management  
of the season has been1 on the whole1   
good4  ,falstaff went with plenty of    
activity and comic business1 if with    
nothing else4 ,indeed1 there seems to be
 a pretty general tendency to  romping1 
which might well be put under restraint4
 ,romping may pass  with some audiences 
as a substitute for acting1 but it can  
never1  even in ,english opera1 quite   
take the place of singing4 ,singers1 it 
must be frankly admitted1 are the weak  
point of the ,beecham company4  ,covent 
,garden1 partly by its own acoustic     
properties1 partly by its  traditions1  
which no one who enters the house can   
quite forget1 shows  up vocal deficiency
 only too severely4 ,sir ,thomas        
,beecham possesses  only one really     
first-class operatic artist--,mr4       
,frederick ,ranalow4 ,he  is a real     
actor1 equally at home in comedy or     
tragedy1 and always a  real singer4 ,it 
is because he is a real singer1 singing 

all the time1  that one never misses a  
single word that he says4 ,he is a      
musician with  a large understanding of 
the deeper things of music4 ,his        
,falstaff forms  a continuous line2 as  
,king ,mark he makes what with most     
singers is a  tedious recitative into a 
perfect song of rare beauty4 ,mr4       
,frederick  ,austin is a good second2   
but whereas ,mr4 ,ranalow is a singer   
who is  also a musician1 ,mr4 ,austin is
 a musician who also sings4 ,of the     
other  male singers there is not much to
 be said4 ,some have voices1 some can   
sing1 a few can act and throw their     
words out4 ,at the best they may  in    
certain cases do remarkably good work in
 one or two special parts4  ,among the  
ladies the most interesting is ,miss    
,sylvia ,nelis4 ,at present  she is     
little more than a singer4 ,as a singer 
she goes on steadily  improving1 in     
accomplishment of technique1 in diction1
 and in quality  of tone2 indeed1 there 
can be little doubt that if she         

continues at her  present rate of       
progress she will from about #aigj      
onwards be annually  enrapturing the    
,albert ,hall with ,home1 ,sweet ,home4 
,as an actress  she has a good deal to  
learn1 but with her intelligence and    
undoubted  capacity for hard work there 
is no reason why she should not develop 
in this direction4 ,sir ,thomas ,beecham
 has hitherto confined her almost       
exclusively to coloratura parts2 it     
would be well to give her a  chance in  
some part that required bright and      
vivacious acting rather  than vocal     
agility4 ,miss ,agnes ,nicholls has     
worked so hard to become  an operatic   
actress that one regrets bitterly the   
non-existence of the  ,beecham company  
in the days when she made her first     
appearance4 ,as it  is1 she has         
obviously sung too often in oratorio4   
,that is the great  fault of ,english   
singing4 ,it has only two styles 7apart 
from the ballad  concert                
style7--oratorio or                     

,gilbert-and-,sullivan4 ,neither of     
these will  take a singer through       
,falstaff4 ,miss ,nicholls did not      
happen to be  in her best vocal form    
that evening2 but her acting was        
surprisingly  good--indeed1 she was the 
only character on the stage1 except ,mr4
  ,ranalow and sometimes ,mr4 ,percy    
,heming as ,ford1 who gave one a real   
impression of a ,shakespearean          
character4 ,miss ,rosina ,buckman has   
also  improved1 but is very unequal in  
different styles4 ,as ,isolde she sang  
with a firmer sense of rhythm than      
before1 and if she did not act very     
convincingly1 at least looked--in a     
black dress with a long white veil  and 
a small crown--a figure of so queenly a 
dignity that it was not  surprising to  
see ,mr4 ,mullings as ,tristan keeping a
 respectful distance  even in the most  
passionate moments4    ,stravinsky's    
,the ,nightingale was the nearest       
approach to a novelty  that has yet     
appeared4 ,evidently it had been very   

inadequately  rehearsed4 ,the           
performance fell far below the level of 
the ,russian  production at ,drury ,lane
 in #aiad4 ,miss ,nelis as the          
,nightingale seemed  to be the only     
singer who was certain of the notes to  
be sung1 and  almost the only singer who
 was taking the opera seriously4        
,stravinsky's  music is a good deal less
 bewildering now than it was five years 
ago4  ,the first act has a good deal of 
beauty3 so has the third4 ,the second   
seemed merely bizarre--but the          
performance did not do the composer much
  justice4 ,a modern opera of such      
intricate difficulty ought to be staged 
properly and conscientiously or not at  
all4    ,there has not yet been time    
since the end of the war for foreign    
artists to visit ,england in the large  
numbers which were inevitable  five or  
six years ago4 ,yet even though the     
givers of concerts are at  the moment   
almost exclusively natives of this      
country1 or foreigners  who have        

definitely made ,england their home1 the
 scarcity of concert  halls is being    
very acutely felt4 ,almost every day    
there are three  concerts at the olian  
and ,wigmore ,halls1 and when operas    
begin at #g4de  or earlier1 music-lovers
 have often to choose between their     
first act  or their dinner4 ,what is to 
happen when travelling conditions become
  easier and the annual foreign invasion
 reaches its full tide8    ,a new and   
very attractive series of ,sunday       
evening concerts has been  inaugurated  
at the ,lyric ,theatre1 ,hammersmith1   
under the direction  of ,mr4 ,arthur    
,bliss4 ,the programmes have been       
generally of a simple  and informal     
character1 with a liberal admixture of  
seventeenth and  eighteenth century     
music1 either for chamber combinations  
or for what  may be called a chamber    
orchestra4 ,designed originally to      
supply the  artistic needs of the       
,hammersmith neighbourhood1 these       
concerts have1  as a matter of fact1    

attracted a great many of the habitual  
frequenters  of the more central        
concert-rooms4 ,mr4 ,bliss intends to   
continue his  concerts after ,christmas1
 and has announced for performance      
several  works1 both modern and ancient1
 which are of exceptional interest4     
,the ,patrons ,fund1 originally founded 
by ,sir ,ernest ,palmer1 has resumed    
its concert-giving activities1 but on   
new and much improved lines4  ,instead  
of giving performances of new ,english  
works at public concerts1  the          
programmes of which contained nothing   
else but the music of  unknown or almost
 unknown composers1 it is proposed to   
hold a series  of semi-private          
rehearsals in the hall of the ,royal    
,college of ,music1  at which the works 
selected are tried over and properly    
studied1 as  far as is possible within  
the limits of a single morning4 ,the    
first of  these rehearsals took place on
 ,november #acth1 and it was very       
generally  agreed that the new system   

was an undoubted improvement on the old4
 ,one  could not help feeling that the  
atmosphere was both more friendly and   
more genuinely critical4 ,there is      
undoubtedly a very strong feeling  among
 all lovers of music in this country    
that the young ,british  composer       
deserves far more encouragement than he 
gets1 although it  must be admitted that
 the young ,british composer is actually
 getting a  great deal more than he did 
twenty or thirty years ago4 ,rehearsals 
of  this kind are also of great         
educational value to the representatives
 of  the ,press1 for in the struggle for
 publicity it is not always the most    
serious and genuinely original composers
 who receive the most attention  in this
 period of violent and natural reaction 
against the overcharged  emotionalism of
 the last generation4                   
,,edward ,j4 ,,dent          ,,select   
,,list ,,of ,,publications      ,,art   
,a ,,brief ,,description ,,of ,,the     
,,holy ,,sepulchre1 ,,jerusalem4 ,by    

,,george      ,,jeffery1 ,f4,s4,a4      
,cambridge ,university ,press4 #ajs4    
#f;d4      ,,small ,,country ,,houses   
,,of ,,to-,,day4 ,second ,series4 ,by   
,,laurence ,,weaver4      ,country      
,life4 #bes4      ,,the ,,caliph',s     
,,design4 ,by ,,wyndham ,,lewis4 ,the   
,egoist4 #cs4      ,,robbia ,,heraldry4 
,by ,,allan ,,marquand4 ,princeton3     
,university ,press4      ,london3       
,milford4 #dbs4      ,,modern ,,woodcuts
 ,,and ,,lithographs4 ,by ,british and  
,french ,artists4      ,edited by       
,,geoffrey ,,holme4 ,with ,commentary by
 ,,malcolm ,c4 ,,salaman4      ,the     
,studio4 #ajs4 #f;d4                    
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,avowals4 ,by  
,,george ,,moore4 ,werner ,laurie4 #dbs4
      ,,outspoken ,,essays4 ,by ,,wm4   
,,ralph ,,inge1 ,c4,v4,o41 ,dean of ,st4
 ,paul's4      ,longmans4 #fs4          
,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,conflict4 ,by 
,,havelock ,,ellis4 ,second ,series4    
,constable4 #fs4 #f;d4      ,,irish     
,,books ,,and ,,irish ,,people4 ,by     

,,stephen ,,gwynn4 ,dublin3 ,talbot     
,press4      ,london3 ,fisher ,unwin4   
#es4      ,,romances ,,of ,,old ,,japan4
 ,by ,,madame ,,yukio ,,ozaki4 ,simpkin1
 ,marshall4      #cjs4      ,,the       
,,embroidery ,,of ,,quiet ,,and ,,other 
,,essays4 ,by ,m4 ,,hardy4 ,skeffington4
      #ds4      ,,patrick ,h4 ,,pearse3 
,,storyteller4 ,by ,,james ,,hayes4     
,dublin3 ,talbot ,press1      #bs4      
,,society ,,for ,,pure ,,english4 ,tract
 ,no4 #a4 ,preliminary ,announcement4   
,list of ,members1 ,october1 #aiai4 #as4
 ,tract ,no4 #b4 ,on ,english           
,homophones4 ,by ,,robert ,,bridges4    
#bs4 #f;d4 ,clarendon ,press4           
,,shakespeare ,,and ,,the ,,welsh4 ,by  
,,frederick ,j4 ,,harries4 ,fisher      
,unwin4      #aes4      ,,literary      
,,studies4 ,by ,,charles ,,whibley4     
,macmillan4 #hs4 #f;d4      ,,moments   
,,of ,,genius4 ,by ,,arthur ,,lynch4    
,philip ,allan4 #ajs4 #f;d4             
,,selections ,,from ,a4 ,c4 ,,swinburne4
 ,edited by ,,edmund ,,gosse1 ,c4,b41   

and      ,,thos4 ,j4 ,,wise4 ,heinemann4
 #fs4      ,,some ,,soldier ,,poets4 ,by
 ,t4 ,,sturge ,,moore4 ,grant ,richards4
 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,buchanan1 ,,the      
,,sacred ,,bard ,,of ,,the ,,scottish   
,,highlands4 ,by ,,lachlan              
,,macbean4 ,simpkin1 ,marshall4 #es4    
,,what ,,is ,,man8 ,,and ,,other        
,,essays4 ,by ,,mark ,,twain4 ,chatto   
,windus4 #gs4      ,,unhappy ,,far-,,off
 ,,things4 ,by ,,lord ,,dunsany4 ,elkin 
,mathews4 #es4      ,,donne',s          
,,sermons4 ,selected ,passages1 with an 
,essay4 ,by ,,logan ,,pearsall          
,,smith4 ,clarendon ,press4 #fs4        
,,thoughts ,,in ,,middle ,,life4 ,by    
,,godfrey ,,locker-,,lampson4           
,humphreys4 #cs4      #f;d4             
,,things ,,seen ,,in ,,london4 ,by ,a4  
,h4 ,,blake4 ,seeley ,service4 #cs4     
,,seven ,,spiritual ,,songs 7of         
,shakespeare's time74 ,words and ,music 
by      ,,thomas ,,campion1 ,m4,d41     
#aefg-afbj4 ,cambridge ,university      
,press1 #as4      #f;d4      ,,an       

,,essay ,,on ,,comedy ,,and ,,the ,,uses
 ,,of ,,the ,,comic ,,spirit4 ,by       
,,george      ,,meredith4 ,constable4   
#fs4      ,,book ,,auction ,,records4   
,edited by ,,frank ,,karslake4 ,vol4    
#af1 ,part ,,iv4      ,karslake1        
,hampstead1 ,n4,w4#c4      ,,biography  
,,and ,,memoirs      ,,sir ,,victor     
,,horsley4 ,by ,,stephen ,,paget4       
,constable4 #bas4      ,,impressions    
,,that ,,remained4 ,memoirs by ,,ethel  
,,smyth4 ,in two volumes4               
,longmans4 #bhs4      ,,mid-,,victorian 
,,memories4 ,by ,,matilda               
,,betham-,,edwards4 ,murray4 #ajs4      
#f;d4      ,,memories ,,of ,a ,,marine4 
,by ,,major-,,general ,,sir ,,george    
,,aston1 ,k4,c4,b4      ,murray4 #abs4  
#f;d4      ,,ben ,,jonson4 ,by ,g4      
,,gregory ,,smith4 7,english ,men of    
,letters ,series47      ,macmillan4 #cs4
      ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,general      
,,pershing4 ,by ,,everett ,t4           
,,tomlinson4 ,appleton4      #fs4 #f;d4 
,a ,,second ,,chronicle ,,of ,,jails4   

,by ,,darrell ,,figgis4 ,dublin3 ,talbot
 ,press4      #as4 #f;d4      ,,miss    
,,eden',s ,,letters4 ,edited by her     
great-niece1 ,,violet ,,dickinson4      
,macmillan4 #ahs4      ,,patron ,,and   
,,place ,,hunter 7,bubb ,dodington74 ,by
 ,,lloyd ,,sanders4 ,john      ,lane4   
#afs4      ,,fifty ,,years ,,in ,,the   
,,royal ,,navy4 ,by ,,admiral ,,sir     
,,percy ,,scott1 ,bart4      ,murray4   
#bas4      ,,john ,,redmond',s ,,last   
,,years4 ,by ,,stephen ,,gwynn4 ,arnold4
 #afs4      ,a ,,childhood ,,in         
,,brittany ,,eighty ,,years ,,ago4 ,by  
,,anne ,,douglas ,,sedgwick4            
,arnold1 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,classical   
,,the ,,ajax ,,of ,,sophocles4          
,translated by ,r4 ,c4 ,,trevelyan4     
,allen  ,unwin4      #cs4 #f;d4         
,,the ,,agamemnon ,,of ,,schylus4       
,translated by ,,rushworth ,,kennard    
,,davis4      ,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #ds4 
#f;d4      ,,the ,,ichneutae ,,of       
,,sophocles4 ,edited with a translation 
by ,,richard      ,,johnson ,,walker4   

,burns  ,oates4 #c #cs4      ,,drama    
,,the ,,spoiled ,,buddha4 ,a ,play in   
,two ,acts4 ,by ,,helen ,,waddell4      
,dublin3      ,talbot ,press4 ,london3  
,fisher ,unwin4 #as4      ,,sacred ,,and
 ,,profane ,,love4 ,a ,play in ,four    
,acts1 founded upon the novel      of   
the same name4 ,by ,,arnold ,,bennett4  
,chatto  ,windus4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,,red 
,,owen4 ,by ,,dermot ,o',,byrne4        
,dublin3 ,talbot ,press4 #bs4      ,,the
 ,,fight ,,for ,,freedom4 ,a ,play in   
,four ,acts4 ,by ,,douglas ,,goldring4  
,daniel4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,,fiction      
,,the ,,mask4 ,by ,,john ,,cournos4     
,methuen4 #fs4      ,,night ,,and ,,day4
 ,by ,,virginia ,,woolf4 ,duckworth4    
#is4      ,a ,,damsel ,,in ,,distress4  
,by ,p4 ,g4 ,,wodehouse4 ,herbert       
,jenkins4 #fs4      ,,allegra4 ,by ,l4  
,,allen ,,harker4 ,murray4 #gs4         
,,all ,,roads ,,lead ,,to ,,calvary4 ,by
 ,,jerome ,k4 ,,jerome4 ,hutchinson4    
#fs4      #i;d4      ,,an ,,awfully     
,,big ,,adventure4 ,by ,,bartimeus4     

,cassell4 #gs4      ,,the ,,world ,,of  
,,wonderful ,,reality4 ,by ,e4 ,,temple 
,,thurston4 ,hodder       ,stoughton4   
#gs4      ,,the ,,power ,,of ,a ,,lie4  
,by ,,johan ,,bojer4 ,hodder            
,stoughton4 #gs4      ,,the ,,plough4   
,by ,,mary ,,fulton4 ,duckworth4 #gs4   
,a ,,servant ,,of ,,reality4 ,by        
,,phyllis ,,bottome4 ,hodder            
,stoughton4 #fs4      ,,catherine       
,,doyle4 ,by ,,anthony ,m4 ,,ludovici4  
,hutchinson4 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,tales    
,,that ,,were ,,told4 ,by ,,seumas      
,,macmanus4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #fs4        
,,the ,,whale ,,and ,,the ,,grasshopper4
 ,by ,,seumas ,o',,brien4 ,dublin3      
,talbot      ,press4 ,london3 ,fisher   
,unwin4 #fs4      ,,seven ,,men4 ,by    
,,max ,,beerbohm4 ,heinemann4 #gs4      
,,responsibility4 ,by ,,james ,e4       
,,agate4 ,grant ,richards4 #gs4         
,,robin ,,linnet4 ,by ,e4 ,f4 ,,benson4 
,hutchinson4 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,mrs4     
,,marden4 ,by ,,robert ,,hichens4       
,cassell4 #gs4      ,,abbotscourt4 ,by  

,,john ,,ayscough4 ,chatto  ,windus4    
#gs4      ,,the ,,purple ,,jar4 ,by     
,,mrs4 ,,alfred ,,sidgwick4 ,hutchinson4
 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,tales ,,of ,a ,,cruel
 ,,country4 ,by ,,gerald ,,cumberland4  
,grant ,richards4 #gs4      ,,true      
,,love4 ,by ,,allan ,,monkhouse4        
,collins4 #gs4      ,,the               
,,two-,,stringed ,,fiddle4 ,by ,g4 ,e4  
,,mitton4 ,murray4 #gs4      ,,berringer
 ,,of ,,bandeir4 ,by ,,sydney ,c4       
,,grier4 ,blackwood4 #fs4      ,,the    
,,builders4 ,by ,,ellen ,,glasgow4      
,murray4 #gs4      ,,the ,,lost ,,diary4
 ,by ,horace ,bleackley4 ,eveleigh      
,nash4 #gs4      ,,the ,,sun ,,in       
,,splendour4 ,by ,,bernard ,,turner4    
,melrose4 #gs4      ,,the ,,old         
,,indispensables4 ,by ,,edward ,,shanks4
 ,secker4 #gs4      ,,the ,,outlaw4 ,by 
,,maurice ,,hewlett4 ,constable4 #fs4   
,,legend4 ,by ,,clemence ,,dane4        
,heinemann4 #fs4      ,,the ,,human     
,,circus4 ,by ,j4 ,,mills ,,whitham4    
,collins4 #gs4      ,,the ,,quietness   

,,of ,,dick4 ,by ,r4 ,e4 ,,vern,,de4    
,collins4 #gs4      ,,star ,,of ,,india4
 ,by ,,alice ,,perrin4 ,cassell4 #gs4   
,,two ,,men4 ,being the ,first ,part of 
a ,romance of ,two ,worlds4 ,by ,,alfred
      ,,ollivant4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #gs4  
,,the ,,treasure ,,of ,,the ,,isle ,,of 
,,mist4 ,by ,w4 ,w4 ,,tarn4 ,with six   
illustrations by ,,somerled ,,macdonald4
 ,philip ,allan4 #fs4      ,,the ,,face 
,,of ,,the ,,world4 ,by ,,johan ,,bojer4
 ,translated from the ,norwegian      by
 ,,jessie ,,muir4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4  
#gs4      ,,the ,,edge ,,of ,,doom4 ,by 
,h4 ,f4 ,,prevost ,,battersby4 ,john    
,lane4 #gs4      ,,requiem4 ,by ,r4     
,,allatini4 ,secker4 #gs4               
,,keith',s ,,dark ,,tower4 ,by ,,eleanor
 ,h4 ,,porter4 ,constable4 #fs4         
,,children ,,of ,,no ,,man',s ,,land4   
,by ,g4 ,b4 ,,stern4 ,duckworth4 #gs4   
,,old ,,people ,,and ,,the ,,things     
,,that ,,pass4 ,by ,,louis ,,couperus4  
,translated by      ,,alexander         
,,teixeira ,,de ,,mattos4 ,with a       

,preface by ,,stephen ,mc,k,e,n,n,a4    
,thornton ,butterworth4 #gs4            
,,light4 ,by ,,henri ,,barbusse4        
,translated from the ,french by         
,,fitzwater      ,,wray4 ,dent4 #fs4    
#i;d4      ,,the ,,golden ,,barque ,,and
 ,,the ,,weaver',s ,,grave4 ,by ,,seumas
 ,o',,kelly4 ,dublin3      ,talbot      
,press4 ,london3 ,fisher ,unwin4 #cs4   
#f;d4      ,,cathy ,,rossiter4 ,by      
,,mrs4 ,,victor ,,rickard4 ,hodder      
,stoughton4 #gs4      ,,falling         
,,waters4 ,by ,,winifred ,,graham4      
,hutchinson4 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,sisters4 
,by ,,kathleen ,,norris4 ,murray4 #gs4  
,,history      ,,the ,,riddle ,,of ,,the
 ,,ruthvens ,,and ,,other ,,studies4 ,by
 ,,william ,,roughead4      ,edinburgh3 
,w4 ,green  ,son4 #bes4      ,,the      
,,religious ,,policy ,,of ,,the         
,,bavarian ,,government ,,during ,,the  
,,napoleonic      ,,period4 ,by         
,,chester ,,penn ,,higby4 ,p4 ,s4 ,king4
 #abs4      ,,the ,,royal ,,government  
,,in ,,virginia1 #afbd to #agge4 ,by    

,,percy ,,scott      ,,flippin4 ,p4 ,s4 
,king4 #abs4      ,,the ,,study ,,of    
,,ecclesiastical ,,history ,,to-,,day4  
,an ,inaugural ,address by      ,,james 
,,pounder ,,whitney1 ,dixie ,professor  
of ,ecclesiastical ,history in      the 
,university of ,cambridge4 ,cambridge   
,university ,press4 #bs4 #f;d4          
,,the ,,making ,,of ,,modern ,,wales4   
,by ,w4 ,,llewellyn ,,williams1 ,k4,c4  
,macmillan4      #fs4      ,,the        
,,making ,,of ,,modern ,,england4 ,by   
,,gilbert ,,slater4 ,constable4 #gs4    
#f;d4      ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,south    
,,africa4 ,by ,g4 ,e4 ,,cory4 ,vol4     
,,iii4 ,longmans4 #bes4      ,,fifty    
,,years ,,of ,,europe1 #ahgj-aiai4 ,by  
,,charles ,,downer ,,hazen4 ,bell4      
#ads4      ,,the ,,making ,,of          
,,america4 ,by ,f4 ,c4 ,,de             
,,sumichrast4 ,p4 ,s4 ,king4 #fs4       
,,the ,,parish ,,gilds ,,of ,,medi,,val 
,,england4 ,by ,h4 ,f4 ,,westlake4      
,s4,p4,c4,k4      #aes4      ,,the      
,,empire ,,of ,,the ,,amorites4 ,by     

,,albert ,t4 ,,clay4 ,new ,haven3 ,yale 
,university ,press4 ,london3 ,milford4  
#ajs4 #f;d4      ,,law      ,,the       
,,relation ,,of ,,custom ,,to ,,law4 ,by
 ,,gilbert ,t4 ,,sadler4 ,sweet         
,maxwell4      #gs4 #f;d4      ,,naval  
,,and ,,military      ,,salonica ,,and  
,,after4 ,by ,h4 ,,collinson ,,owen4    
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #ajs4      #f;d4   
,,some ,,tommies4 ,by ,,maurice         
,,dekolera4 ,translated from the ,french
 by      ,,alpha ,,wilson4 ,stanley     
,paul4 #fs4      ,,the ,,struggle ,,in  
,,the ,,air1 #aiad-aiah4 ,by ,,major    
,,charles ,c4 ,,turner4      ,arnold4   
#aes4      ,,british ,,campaigns ,,in   
,,africa ,,and ,,the ,,pacific1         
#aiad-aiah4 ,by ,,edmund      ,,dane4   
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4 #f;d4         
,,the ,,american ,,air ,,service4 ,by   
,,arthur ,,sweetser4 ,appleton4 #ajs4   
#f;d4      ,,the ,,dover ,,patrol1      
#aiae-aiag4 ,by ,,admiral ,,sir         
,,reginald ,,bacon1 ,k4,c4,b4      ,two 
volumes4 ,hutchinson4 #cds4      ,,the  

,,navy ,,everywhere4 ,by ,,conrad       
,,cato4 ,constable4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,a 
,,sea-,,lawyer',s ,,log4 ,by ,,william  
,,lang4 ,methuen4 #fs4      ,,submarine 
,,warfare ,,of ,,to-,,day4 ,by ,,chas4  
,w4 ,,domville ,,fife4 ,seeley          
,service4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,last  
,,four ,,months4 ,by ,,major-,,general  
,,sir ,f4 ,,maurice1 ,k4,c4,m4,g4       
,cassell4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,a ,,shepherd 
,,among ,,wolves4 ,war-,time ,letters of
 ,,cardinal ,,mercier4 ,faith           
,press4 #fs4      ,,my ,,memoirs4 ,by   
,,grand ,,admiral ,,von ,,tirpitz4 ,two 
volumes4 ,hurst       ,blackett4 #bhs4  
,,the ,,tank ,,corps4 ,by ,,major       
,,clough ,,williams-,,ellis1 ,m4,c41 and
 ,a4      ,,williams-,,ellis4 ,country  
,life4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,merchantmen   
,,at ,,arms4 ,by ,,david ,w4 ,,bone4    
,drawings by ,,muirhead ,,bone4         
,chatto  ,windus4 #bes4      ,,poetry   
,,the ,,complete ,,poems ,,of ,,francis 
,,ledwidge4 ,with introductions by      
,,lord      ,,donsany4 ,herbert         

,jenkins4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,collected   
,,poems ,,of ,,thomas ,,hardy4          
,macmillan4 #hs4 #f;d4      ,,the       
,,death ,,of ,,man ,,and ,,other        
,,poems4 ,by ,r4 ,c4 ,,trevelyan4 ,allen
  ,unwin4      #cs4 #f;d4      ,,songs  
,,in ,,cities ,,and ,,gardens4 ,by      
,,helen ,,granville ,,barker4 ,chatto   
,windus4 #es4      ,,camelot4 ,by       
,,benjamin ,,gilbert ,,brooks4          
7,adventures ,all ,series74             
,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #bs4 #f;d4         
,,the ,,splendid ,,days4 ,by ,,may      
,,wedderburn ,,cannan4 ,oxford3         
,blackwell4 #cs4      #f;d4      ,,mad  
,,moments4 ,by ,,egbert ,,sandford4     
,maunsel4 #cs4      ,,new ,,poems4 ,by  
,,iolo ,,aneurin ,,williams4 ,methuen4  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,curtains4 ,by ,c4 ,h4 
,b4 ,,kitchin4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #as4
 #f;d4      ,,some ,,greek              
,,masterpieces ,,in ,,dramatic ,,and    
,,bucolic ,,poetry ,,thought ,,into     
,,english ,,verse4 ,by ,,william        
,,stebbing4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #gs4 #f;d4  

,,arcades ,,ambo4 ,verses by ,,lily     
,,dougall and ,,gilbert ,,sheldon4      
,oxford3      ,blackwell4 #cs4 #f;d4    
,,jesus ,,of ,,the ,,scars ,,and ,,other
 ,,poems4 ,by ,,edward ,,shillito4      
,hodder       ,stoughton4               
,,hurricane ,,and ,,other ,,poems4 ,by  
,,richard ,,church4 ,selwyn  ,blount4   
#bs4      #f;d4      ,,reflections ,,in 
,,verse4 ,by ,v4 ,t4 ,,pemberton1 ,m4,c4
 ,grant ,richards4 #cs4      #f;d4      
,,black ,,marigolds4 ,being a rendering 
into ,english of the ,panchasika of     
,chauras4 ,by ,e4 ,,powys ,,mathers4    
,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #as4 #f;d4         
,,gleanings4 ,by ,d4 ,f4 ,,brundrit4    
,grant ,richards4 #cs4 #f;d4            
,,profiles ,,from ,,china4 ,by ,,eunice 
,,tietjens4 ,new ,york3 ,albert ,a4     
,knopf4      #a4be4      ,,carmina      
,,rapta4 ,by ,,griffyth ,,fairfax4      
,elkin ,mathews4 #bs4 #f;d4             
,,politics1 ,,economics1 ,etc4      ,,in
 ,,the ,,world ,,war4 ,by ,,count       
,,ottokar ,,czernin4 ,cassell4 #bes4    

,,piece-,,rate1 ,,premium1 ,,and        
,,bonus4 ,by ,j4 ,e4 ,,prosser4         
,williams  ,norgate4      #fs4          
,,british ,,war ,,administration4 ,by   
,,john ,a4 ,,fairlie4 ,oxford           
,university      ,press4 #es4           
,,europe ,,in ,,the ,,melting-,,pot4 ,by
 ,r4 ,w4 ,,seton ,,watson4 ,macmillan4  
#ds4      #f;d4      ,,millions ,,from  
,,waste4 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,talbot4      
,fisher ,unwin4 #bas4      ,,from       
,,liberty ,,to ,,brest-,,litovsk4 ,by   
,,ariadna ,,tyrkova-,,williams 7,mrs4   
,harold ,williams74 ,macmillan4 #afs4   
,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,government4 ,by   
,,hugh ,,taylor4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4   
#ajs4      #f;d4      ,,the ,,next      
,,step4 ,by ,,alfred ,,ollivant4 ,allen 
,unwin4 #ds4 #f;d4      ,,poland ,,the  
,,unknown4 ,translated from the ,french 
of ,k4 ,,waliszewski4      ,heinemann4  
#ajs4 #f;d4      ,,parliament ,,and     
,,revolution4 ,by ,j4 ,,ramsay          
,,macdonald4 ,national ,labour          
,press1 #as4 #f;d4      ,,modern        

,,china4 ,by ,,sih-,,gung ,,cheng4      
,oxford3 ,clarendon ,press4 ,london     
,milford4 #fs4 #f;d4      ,,home ,,rule 
,,through ,,federal ,,devolution4 ,by   
,,frederic ,w4 ,,pim4 ,fisher           
,unwin4 #as4      ,,the ,,peace         
,,conference4 ,by ,,dr4 ,e4 ,j4         
,,dillon4 ,hutchinson4 #bas4            
,,poland ,,and ,,the ,,poles4 ,by ,a4   
,,bruce ,,boswell4 ,methuen4 #abs4 #f;d4
      ,,the ,,covenant ,,explained4     
,with an ,introduction by ,,professor   
,,gilbert      ,,murray4 ,for the       
,league of ,nations ,union4 ,educational
 ,publishing ,co4      #as4             
,,seventeenth ,,century ,,life ,,in     
,,the ,,country ,,parish4 ,by ,,eleanor 
,,trotter4      ,cambridge ,university  
,press4 #ajs4      ,,inflation4 ,by ,j4 
,,shield ,,nicholson4 ,p4 ,s4 ,king4    
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,irish ,,impressions4  
,by ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,collins4 #gs4
 #f;d4      ,,the ,,government ,,of     
,,india4 ,by ,j4 ,,ramsay ,,macdonald4  
,swarthmore ,press4      #ajs4 #f;d4    

,,behind ,,the ,,scenes ,,at ,,the      
,,peace ,,conference4 ,by ,,vernon      
,,bartlett4 ,allen       ,unwin4 #es4   
,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,socialism4 ,by   
,j4 ,,bruce ,,glasier4 ,with an         
,introduction      by ,j4 ,a4 ,,hobson4 
,national ,labour ,press4 #cs4 #f;d4    
,,past ,,and ,,future ,,of ,,the ,,right
 ,,of ,,national ,,self-,,determination4
 ,by ,,dr4      ,,ern ,,wittmann4       
,amsterdam3 ,van ,holkema  ,warendof4   
,,the ,,politics ,,of ,,the             
,,proletariat4 ,by ,,malcolm ,,quin4    
,allen  ,unwin4 #es4                    
,,anglo-,,american ,,relations1         
#ahfa-ahfe4 ,by ,,brougham ,,villiers   
and ,w4 ,h4      ,,chesson4 ,fisher     
,unwin4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,before ,,and  
,,now4 ,by ,,austin ,,harrison4 ,john   
,lane4 #fs4 #f;d4      ,,an ,,irishman  
,,looks ,,at ,,his ,,world4 ,by ,,george
 ,a4 ,,birmingham4 ,hodder              
,stoughton4 #fs4      ,,the ,,linguistic
 ,,survey ,,of ,,india ,,and ,,the      
,,census ,,of #aiaa4 ,by ,,sir ,,george 

,,grierson4 ,calcutta3 ,government of   
,india ,press4 #as4      ,,religion     
,,and ,,philosophy      ,,christ ,,and  
,,woman',s ,,power4 ,by ,,edith         
,,picton-,,turbervill1 ,o4,b4,e4 ,morgan
       ,scott4 #cs4 #f;d4               
,,materials ,,for ,,the ,,study ,,of    
,,the ,,apostolic ,,gnosis4 ,part ,i4   
,by ,,thomas      ,,simeon ,,lea1 ,vicar
 of ,s4 ,austell1 and ,,frederick       
,,bligh ,,bond4 ,oxford3                
,blackwell4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the      
,,divinity ,,of ,,christ4 ,by the ,rev4 
,,vernon ,f4 ,,storr4 ,longmans4 #bs4   
,,the ,,pastoral ,,epistles ,,of ,s4    
,,paul4 ,the ,greek ,text with          
,commentary by      the ,rev4 ,a4 ,e4   
,,hillard4 ,rivingtons4 #ajs4           
,,modern ,,science ,,and ,,materialism4 
,by ,,hugh ,,elliot4 ,longmans4 #gs4    
#f;d4      ,,prophecy ,,and ,,authority4
 ,by ,,kemper ,,fullerton4 ,macmillan4  
#fs4 #f;d4      ,,both ,,sides ,,of     
,,the ,,hedge4 ,by ,,sydney ,,smith4    
,allenson4 #es4      ,a ,,soldier ,,to  

,,the ,,church4 ,by ,w4 ,p4 ,,young4    
,stud4 ,christ4 ,movement4      #cs4    
#f;d4      ,,the ,,counter-,,reformation
 ,,in ,,the ,,church ,,of ,,england4 ,by
 ,,spencer ,,jones4      ,skeffington4  
#bs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,faith ,,of      
,,isaiah4 ,by ,,alex4 ,r4 ,,gordon4 ,j4 
,clarke  ,co4 #fs4      ,,the ,,making  
,,of ,,humanity4 ,by ,,robert           
,,briffault4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #abs4      
#f;d4      ,,broad ,,church ,,theology4 
,by ,w4 ,j4 ,,sparrow ,,simpson4 ,robert
 ,scott4 #cs4      #f;d4      ,,an      
,,invisible ,,kingdom4 ,by ,,wm4        
,,samuel ,,lilly4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #aes4
      ,,science      ,,birds ,,in ,,town
 ,,and ,,village4 ,by ,w4 ,h4 ,,hudson4 
,dent4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,book    
,,of ,a ,,naturalist4 ,by ,w4 ,h4       
,,hudson4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #abs4    
,,the ,,mind ,,of ,a ,,woman4 ,by ,a4   
,t4 ,,schofield4 ,methuen4 #cs4         
,,iron ,,bacteria4 ,by ,,david ,,ellis1 
,d4,,sc4 ,methuen4 #ajs4 #f;d4          
,,accounts ,,rendered ,,of ,,work ,,done

 ,,and ,,things ,,seen4 ,by ,j4 ,y4     
,,buchanan4      ,cambridge ,university 
,press4 #bjs4      ,,elements ,,of      
,,vector ,,algebra4 ,by ,l4             
,,silberstein4 ,longmans4 #es4      ,a  
,,naturalist',s ,,sketch ,,book4 ,by    
,,archibald ,,thorburn4 ,longmans4 #f   
#fs4      ,a ,,geographical ,,dictionary
 ,,of ,,british ,,ornithology4 ,by ,w4  
,h4 ,,mullens1      ,h4 ,,kirke ,,swann1
 and the ,,rev4 ,f4 ,c4 ,r4 ,,jourdain4 
,part ,i4 ,witherby4      #fs4          
,,travel      ,,round ,,the ,,world ,,in
 ,,any ,,number ,,of ,,days4 ,by        
,,maurice ,,baring4 ,chatto             
,windus4 #fs4      ,,the ,,romantic     
,,roussillon ,,in ,,the ,,pyrenees4 ,by 
,,isabel ,,savory4 ,fisher      ,unwin4 
#bes4              ,,the ,,london       
,,mercury        ,editor--,j4 ,c4       
,,squire    ,assistant-,editor--,,edward
 ,,shanks        ,vol4 ,i ,no4 #c       
,january #aibj          ,,editorial     
,,notes      ,the first whole year of   
peace has ended1 and it is natural to   

throw a  backward look upon its literary
 production4 ,it is certain that to the 
historian it will be a year in which    
various tendencies continued to  act2 it
 is possible that his eye1 in long      
retrospect1 will observe in  it the     
appearance1 the sudden appearance1 of   
new literary developments  and important
 personalities4 ,but it is1 as a rule1  
only in long  retrospect that such      
portents are recognised as such2 and    
though we  think that during the year   
certain movements which have been for   
some  years in existence have been      
continued1 that there are drifts which  
are easier to perceive than to analyse1 
we cannot persuade ourselves  that #aiai
 added more than the normal amount to   
the existing volume  of good ,english   
literature4 ,it was1 in fact1 as a      
literary year very  much like one of the
 war years4 ,perhaps it should properly 
be regarded  itself as a war year4 ,the 
principal physical factor which1 in our 
present relation1 operated during the   

war was the absence on service  of the  
great majority of those young men who   
would have been beginning  to write4    
,these were1 with rare exceptions1      
precluded by sheer force  of outer      
circumstances from literary enterprises 
of a sustained kind2  and1 as most of   
those who survived have left the ,army  
within the last  year1 we could scarcely
 expect so soon as this to find them    
producing  large and ambitious books4   
,it may also reasonably be argued that  
the  war-atmosphere still prevails4     
,peace has come--and it has not yet come
  universally or conclusively--not      
suddenly but with the slowness of a     
northern dawn4 ,problems from which even
 the most self-sufficing mind  cannot   
escape harass the intellect and weigh on
 the spirit of the  civilised world4 ,we
 are not yet in a position to estimate  
post-war  literature1 for we have not   
yet got post-war literature4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,the opinions of intelligent men may    

differ to some extent as to which  were 
the most remarkable novels of #aiai2    
that they were very few is1  we         
conceive1 a matter of general agreement4
 ,of the older novelists1  ,mr4 ,conrad 
produced in ,the ,arrow of ,gold 7a work
 begun long ago and  recently completed7
 a book which1 though not among his     
masterpieces1  was worthy of him4 ,mr4  
,wells1 in ,the ,undying ,fire1 a       
modernisation  of the ,book of ,job1    
wrote an imaginative1 an exciting1 and  
an eloquent  book4 ,it was much better  
shaped and trimmed than has lately been 
usual  with his books1 and1 for the     
first time since he abandoned scientific
  romance1 he concentrated entirely on  
doing what he can do better than  other 
people instead of trying to do what he  
cannot do4 ,the other elder  novelists  
did nothing that was unexpected and     
little that was good2 and  their        
successors have not appeared4 ,a        
,fielding or a ,dickens is a rare       
product2 but we see no young novelists  

of whom it can be predicted with  any   
assurance that ten years hence they will
 occupy places such as are  now occupied
 by ,mr4 ,wells and ,mr4 ,bennett4 ,it  
seems certain that they  will not be    
found amongst that pre-war group whose  
merits ,henry ,james  examined with such
 generous consideration1 whose defects  
he indicated  with such delicate        
diffidence1 in a famous article which   
betrayed  rather than stated his alarm1 
even his pity1 for the ,english ,novel4 
,there have been a few books which have 
attracted attention by their  qualities 
of construction and detail or by touches
 of original genius2  but of most of    
their authors we could not be sure that 
they will  become even habitual1 much   
less great1 novelists4 ,the book which  
more  than any other appeared to us to  
be notable1 both for its workmanship    
and for its imaginative power1 was ,mr4 
,joseph ,hergesheimer's ,java           
,head--and ,mr4 ,hergesheimer is an     
,american4 ,it was not so good a  book  

7we think ,java ,head was the earlier   
written7 as ,the ,three  ,black ,pennys2
 but the two books are certainly the    
work of a born  novelist4 ,miss ,romer  
,wilson1 whose ,martin ,schuler 7#aiah7 
was a vivid1  vigorous1 and original    
book1 published another1 and a dull1    
novel1  ,if ,all ,these ,young ,men1 the
 subject and setting of which offered   
less scope to her peculiar gifts3 but   
she is clearly capable of doing         
something surprising4 ,miss ,dane's     
,legend was a remarkable technical      
achievement2 and ,mr4 ,cournos's ,the   
,mask1 ,miss ,macaulay's fantasia1      
,what ,not1 and ,mr4 ,brett ,young's    
,the ,young ,physician were all1 in     
their degrees1 notable for a poetic     
quality4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,mr4 ,beerbohm's ,seven  
,men could scarcely be classed with     
novels4 ,it  was ,mr4 ,beerbohm's best  
book1 than which those who appreciate   
him  could pay no higher compliment2 but
 ,mr4 ,beerbohm is an artist who  stands

 outside contemporary movements1        
literary and other1 and one of  whose   
charms arises from that very detachment4
 ,w4 ,n4 ,p4 ,barbellion's  ,journal of 
a ,disappointed ,man was a full and     
poignant record  which will probably    
continue to be read in a narrow circle  
as ,marie  ,bashkirtseff's memoirs are  
read2 his posthumous essays1 ,enjoying  
,life1 are even more convincing evidence
 of what their author might  have done  
had he not been stricken by disease4    
,amongst works of  critical and         
miscellaneous literature those which    
will continue to be  enjoyed1 or--in    
some cases--used1 are ,mr4              
,festing-,jones's ,life of  ,samuel     
,butler1 ,professor ,gregory-,smith's   
,ben ,jonson1 ,mr4 ,gosse's  ,diversions
 of a ,man of ,letters1 the late ,george
 ,wyndham's ,essays  in ,romantic       
,literature1 certain books on the old   
,drama 7,swinburne's  ,the              
,contemporaries of ,shakespeare1 and    
,mr4 ,j4 ,m4 ,robertson's study of      

,hamlet especially71 and ,miss ,ethel   
,smyth's ,impressions that ,remained4   
,this last is one of the best           
autobiographies that have appeared in   
our  time1 and ,dr4 ,smyth during a long
 and active life as a composer has  been
 nursing a rich and racy ,english style4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,the department--it is     
difficult in making such a summary to   
avoid  the language of the catalogue--in
 which life has been healthiest has     
certainly been poetry4 ,several of the  
best and most promising of our  living  
poets published no book in #aiai1 but   
what is incontestably a  revival has    
continued4 ,several poets of established
 reputation have  done better work than 
ever before4 ,mr4 ,hardy has published  
little1 but  his ,collected ,poems1 now 
published1 establish once and for       
all--and1  old as he is1 he belongs as a
 poet to this generation--his right to a
  place among the great poets4 ,mr4     
,masefield's ,reynard the ,fox is as    

certainly his finest book1 as ,mr4      
,herbert ,trench's play ,napoleon1      
whatever its defects on the stage1 is   
,mr4 ,trench's4 ,there is the  largeness
 about this long and ambitious piece    
that there was about  some of his       
earlier and shorter poems1 and supremely
 in his ,requiem  of ,archangels4 ,mr4  
,binyon's ,the ,four ,years was a       
collection of the  verses its author had
 written concerning the war4 ,it        
contained several  poems made beautiful 
by the straightforward utterance of a   
noble and  suffering spirit4 ,mr4       
,yeats's ,the ,wild ,swans at ,coole it 
would be  affectation to describe as    
equal in interest to his earlier        
volumes1  but there were one or two     
lyrics in it which would adorn any      
anthology  of ,english verse2 and in    
,mr4 ,kipling's ,the ,years ,between    
there were  also flashes of genius4     
,from ,mr4 ,yeats and ,mr4 ,kipling1    
however1 we do  not now expect the      
unexpected4 ,it is in the hands of the  

young that  the immediate future of our 
literature lies4 ,the most notable      
volumes  by young poets have been 7we   
are tempted to add ,mr4 ,waley's ,more  
,translations from the ,chinese7 ,mr4   
,brett ,young's ,poems and ,mr4 ,john   
,freeman's ,memories of ,childhood4 ,but
 in periodicals and anthologies  there  
has appeared much new and genuine work4 
,a great deal is to be  found in the    
fourth volume of ,georgian ,poetry1     
which was reviewed in  our last number4 
,mr4 de la ,mare's latest poems show    
that his thought  is steadily deepening1
 whilst he is losing none of that       
delicacy of  music and beauty of phrase 
that made his early lyrics as lovely as 
any  in the language2 and both ,mr4     
,sassoon and ,mr4 ,nichols have done    
work  which makes their future a matter 
for profound curiosity4 ,scattered      
about in other volumes there have been  
many single good poems3 and it  is the  
characteristic of a prolific lyrical age
 that a few good things  are written by 

many men4 ,we would mention as          
especially interesting1  in that it is  
one of the few long successful narrative
 poems of  recent years1 ,mr4 ,aldous   
,huxley's ,leda2 the myth was difficult 
and  dangerous1 the versification often 
ungainly1 but the poem contained        
passages of great strength and beauty4  
,we may add finally ,captain            
,scott-,moncrieff's fine translation of 
the ,song of ,roland4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,we    
used the term a lyrical age4 ,opinions  
may and do differ as to  the number and 
quality of good short poems that have   
been written in  the last ten years1 but
 that the prevalent tendency amongst the
 most  intelligent young men is to write
 poems1 and short poems1 cannot be      
disputed4 ,the paucity of good novels1  
and especially good novels by  young    
writers1 is not entirely to be ascribed 
to the fact that during  the war many of
 those who might have written1 and may  
write1 good  novels were not in a       

position to write books at all4 ,the    
deflation1  temporary perhaps1 of the   
,novel has been proceeding for some     
years2 the  absence of even tolerable   
new novelists has been too nearly       
complete  to be attributable to the     
peculiar war conditions4 ,the novel of  
psychology1 the novel of minute         
observation1 the propagandist novel  are
 still produced in quantities2 but the  
best literary brains are  not going into
 them4 ,the drift towards poetry was    
noticeable before  the war2 the war     
accelerated it4 ,it is not a mere matter
 of change of  fashion1 of a form being 
worked out and becoming tedious--though 
we  do1 in fact1 believe that the next  
revival of the novel will see a  new    
development of the novel4 ,it is a      
matter of a change in attitude  towards 
life2 a return on the broader emotions2 
a desire to acknowledge  and praise the 
things men love and find beautiful      
rather than to labour  at analysis and  
at speculation--not to mention          

sophistry4 ,it is mostly  lyric poetry  
that men are writing2 and it is one of  
the results of the  war1 which has      
intensified our awareness of the old    
familiar things  around us1 which were  
in a sense threatened for all1 and the  
loss of  which was imminently before    
millions of individuals1 that much of it
 is  poetry of the ,english landscape   
and especially of the ,english landscape
  as a historic thing4           99     
99       99       99       99    ,long  
poetical works1 large essays in the     
poetic drama1 are complacently          
manufactured by mediocre writers in most
 literary epochs4 ,but it is  commonly  
remarked that in this age men of genius1
 and particularly  young men in whom    
genius is suspected1 are mostly content 
with short  pieces4 ,it is rash to      
theorise about such things1 as the wind 
has a  way of blowing where it listeth4 
,no one can desire that men should      
systematically force themselves to      
literary undertakings which are         

uncongenial and towards which they feel 
no inner impulse4 ,if a man  agree with 
that poet who--acutely conscious1 it may
 be1 of the nature  of his own          
talent--said that no good poem should or
 could be longer  than a couple of      
hundred lines1 he will serve no useful  
purpose by  manufacturing large         
patchworks in cold blood4 ,the          
presumption that any  long work is      
better than any short one by the same   
hand is made by  those 7we are referring
 to intelligent men7 who do not go to   
poetry  for the quintessence of poetry1 
the thing peculiar to it3 it is from    
those that we hear most insistently the 
demand for works on the large  scale1   
and the complaint that modern writers   
mostly insist 7these are  the stock1 if 
unjust and inaccurate1 phrases7 on      
writing sonnets to  their mistresses'   
eyebrows and carving peach-stones4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,the fact remains that by the common    
consent of mankind lyrics  alone--even  

the lyrics of a ,heine1 a ,herrick1 or a
 ,burns--will not  give a man rank with 
the greatest poetic artists4 ,it may be 
that in  ,poe's sense a work of         
thousands of lines1 which maintains the 
highest  level of poetry1 is impossible2
 that what ,professor ,quiller-,couch   
calls  the ,capital ,difficulty of      
,verse is insuperable3 but this does not
  invalidate the claim of the ,iliad or 
,paradise ,lost to be considered        
greater than ,lycidas or the songs of   
,meleager4 ,that they share in  some    
measure the defects of ,the ,purple     
,island and ,pharonnida  does not       
prevent ,the ,fairy ,queen and ,faust   
being the greatest of  their respective 
authors' works4 ,from a poet as from    
another we want  something beyond jewels
 five foot long1 the loveliest          
impressions  of the most beautiful      
particular scenes1 reflections of moods1
 verbal  chamber music1 momentary       
vision1 sensibility1 song4 ,by the      
common  consent of mankind the greatest 

things in the world are those works     
which1 while full of beautiful details  
and informed with the poetic  spirit1   
are moulded to a larger conception and  
attempt a larger picture  of the        
,universe1 of the destiny of man1 or of 
the moving life of  the world4 ,we can1 
therefore1 to some extent sympathise    
with those1  however broody and         
disgruntled1 who1 when they meet a      
volume of new and  exquisite lyrics1    
complain that the author has not written
 an epic or  a tragedy4 ,is it likely   
that the present imaginative revival1   
assuming  it to exist1 will produce     
tragedies or epics1 or works on the     
scale of  such8           99       99   
99       99       99    ,to us it is    
difficult to believe that it will not3  
unless the nervous  unrest1 the absence 
of leisure and of the inclination so to 
employ  leisure1 are worse even than we 
suppose them to be4 ,we see in much  of 
the work of the younger men a vigour1 a 
passion1 a catholicity of  interest1 a  

zest for all life1 that nothing but the 
most ambitious  tasks could satisfy4    
,but when we ask of what nature such    
works are  likely to be we cannot       
answer4 ,this one observation may be    
made3 the  demand for long poems is     
commonly coupled with a demand for      
doctrine4  ,the poets are to add to     
scientific knowledge or to contribute   
new  notions towards political or moral 
development3 they are to dogmatise1  to 
enlighten1 to direct4 ,well1 poets have 
done such things4 ,but not  all poets   
have considered it their business to be 
religious teachers1  political          
liberators1 or contentious              
intellectuals4 ,the question3 ,what  did
 ,shakespeare stand for8 is disputed to 
this day4 ,they have read  many theories
 into him but got very few out of him4  
,that he admired  fidelity1 hated       
cruelty1 believed in honour1 and loved  
his country1  might be postulated of    
him2 but the truths he stated there were
 old  truths1 and he stated them only   

incidentally3 he did not write his      
plays with the primary object of        
illustrating principles1 above all      
principles invented by himself4 ,milton 
has been called the poet of             
,puritanism1 and ,shelley the poet of   
,liberalism1 but there is no ism  for   
,shakespeare1 and a very1 very small one
 for ,keats4 ,the very persons  who most
 insistently demand ismatic poetry are  
most contemptuous  of the didactic1     
informative and disputatious parts of   
the works of  the late ,lord ,tennyson1 
who began as a pure ,keatsiam poet4 ,non
 omnia  possumus omnes3 and1 over and   
above this1 it is most important to     
remember that poets1 like other men1 are
 affected by the intellectual           
conditions of their own times4 ,if there
 is a clear tendency some of  the poets 
will be caught up in it4 ,but the men   
are very rare who  generate their own   
spiritual revelations in some secluded  
corner of  an antipathetic world4       
,wordsworth and ,shelley were what is   

called  philosophic poets1 but their age
 was the age of ,rousseau and ,godwin1  
of the ,libertarian movements that were 
part cause and part effect of  the      
,french ,revolution4 ,if the human      
spirit is moving in one definite        
direction at this moment we can only say
 that we do not know what that  is4 ,a  
generation of thorough and often        
conscienceless scepticism1  followed by 
a breakdown of civilisation1 has        
produced a mental and  moral chaos1 a   
welter of doubt amid which numbers of   
the doubters make  random and mutually  
contradictory affirmations4 ,something  
concrete  will1 if the race is to live1 
emerge2 but we are not yet in a position
  to see it4 ,nor are we1 as mere       
holders up of the mirror of nature1 in a
  position as yet to see the vast events
 in our own material world4 ,for  the   
great philosophic poem we have probably 
still many years to wait2  for the epic 
of the ,german war we may have a century
 to wait2 for a  great drama we may     

arguably1 owing to the peculiar         
conditions of the  theatre1 have to wait
 for a generally accepted scale of      
values which  does not at present exist4
 ,but the imaginative temper is abroad1 
and  the next generation may be a great 
era in ,english literature4             
,,literary ,,intelligence      ,the     
announcement of a new and especially    
sumptuous edition of the  works of ,mr4 
,thomas ,hardy1 to be known as the      
,mellstock1 reminds us  that there are  
other authors to whom the same process  
might be applied  with equal benefit to 
themselves and to their readers4 ,the   
collected  edition presents a writer's  
career in an orderly shape and in proper
  perspective3 it first permits a sober 
and probable judgment to be  passed on  
his achievement4 ,we understand that the
 works of ,mr4 ,joseph  ,conrad will    
shortly be collected and issued as a    
whole2 and this will  certainly reveal  
in a definite manner what is now vaguely
 felt as to  his greatness4 ,we believe 

also that a definitive issue of the     
writings  of ,mr4 ,max ,beerbohm is in  
contemplation4 ,it is to be hoped that  
it will  be found possible to include   
the full list of his drawings1 in some  
shape not too incompatible with the rest
 of the volumes4 ,the ,collected  ,poems
 of ,mr4 ,walter de la ,mare have been  
announced as in preparation2  and this  
will1 we think1 mark a definite stage in
 the career of a poet  whose real value 
is not yet fully appreciated4 ,but there
 are authors1  concerning whom no       
announcement is made1 who might be added
 to the list  with advantage4 ,what     
might be called selected-collected      
editions  of ,mr4 ,belloc and ,mr4      
,chesterton would very likely secure for
 these  writers a much higher place in  
contemporary literature than current    
opinion is always ready to give them4   
99       99       99       99       99  
,mr4 ,chesterton will shortly start for 
the ,holy ,land4 ,he intends to  write a
 book about it4 ,the book may1 and      

probably will1 be his best1  for obvious
 reasons4 ,it is commonly remarked even 
by those who think  him one of the      
greatest natural geniuses and1 at       
bottom1 one of the  wisest men of our   
time that he has never yet written the  
books of  which he is capable4 ,his best
 books1 such as ,the ,ballad of the     
,white  ,horse and ,a ,short ,history of
 ,england1 are1 for all their fine      
qualities1 too slight to give his powers
 full room for display4 ,as a  rule1    
though he cannot be accused of a lack of
 energy1 he has seemed  never to put    
into a whole book that last effort which
 is necessary if  a work is to be       
completely satisfactory2 he has bothered
 too little1  content to waste his      
imaginative largesse on hastily-written 
romances  and polemical articles4 ,how  
good ,the ,flying ,inn might have been  
had  a little more trouble been taken   
with it6 ,in ,palestine1 away from      
politics and journalism1 with a new and 
romantic landscape around him1  in the  

home of our religion and on the fields  
of the ,crusades1 he may  provide the   
last answer to those who do not see an  
artist in him4           99       99    
99       99       99    ,mr4 ,percy     
,lubbock's edition of ,henry ,james's   
letters will1 it is  expected1 be       
published in the spring4 ,mr4 ,edmund   
,gosse1 with the  letters as a          
starting-point1 has written his memories
 of ,james4 ,these  will be published1  
in two instalments1 in the ,,london     
,,mercury4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,it is five     
years since ,james ,elroy ,flecker died 
and over three since  his ,collected    
,poems were published4 ,some of his     
other literary  remains will probably   
appear this year4 ,there will be a      
collected  volume of prose studies and  
critical articles1 and another volume   
containing his play ,hassan1 which is   
awaiting production by ,mr4 ,basil      
,dean4 ,some of those who have read this
 play say that it is the best  tragedy  

since ,shakespeare4 ,the claim is not so
 large a one as it may  appear at first 
sight4 ,there are ,ford and ,webster4   
,there is ,venice  ,preserved and there 
is ,the ,cenci1 which last is not a     
great acting  play1 though it has       
magnificent scenes in it and contains   
sublime  poetry4 ,he who reflects on the
 history of the ,english drama since the
  age of ,elizabeth and ,james ,i will  
be surprised at the paucity of plays  of
 permanent interest1 other than         
comedies1 that have been produced4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,monsieur ,yves ,delage has presented   
before the ,acadmie des ,sciences  a    
most interesting note by ,monsieur ,v4  
,galippe on micro-organisms in  paper4  
,it was1 of course1 known that          
paper-making materials of all  kinds    
abounded with these low forms of life1  
but it was generally  assumed that they 
were destroyed by the chemicals and heat
 employed  during the processes of      
manufacture4 ,monsieur ,galippe's       

exhaustive  experiments prove that this 
is not the case1 and1 moreover1 the     
micro-organisms retain their vitality   
even in printing paper1  apparently     
irrespective of the lapse of time4      
,ovoid bacilli were found  both free in 
the mass and in the fibres of papers of 
all ages4    ,the method of examination 
employed was the following3 ,the paper  
was  reduced to fragments and steeped in
 sterilised distilled water1 being      
frequently stirred4 ,the paper was then 
dried and again steeped for  several    
hours in sterilised water saturated with
 ether4 ,after once more  drying1       
cultures were taken from the paper4     
,eighteenth-century paper thus treated  
gave positive results within            
twenty-four hours1 microscopic          
examination revealing large numbers of  
rodlike organisms as well as ovoid      
diplo-bacilli4 ,a leaf from a printed   
book of #adif gave a quantity of large  
micrococci1 those from the  mass being  
endowed with movement1 and those from   

the fibre remaining  immobile1 though   
preserving the faculty of               
multiplication4 ,old ,chinese           
manuscripts and ,egyptian papyri dating 
back ten centuries gave similar         
results4 ,it is to be noted that        
exposure to light and air does not      
appear to have the slightest influence  
on these organisms4    ,although the    
bibliophile is more particularly        
concerned in problems  relating to      
fox-marks and the ravages of the borer  
insect1 nevertheless  these experiments 
are of great interest4 ,these           
investigations1 if  carried further1 may
 well furnish some explanation of the   
processes  leading to the ageing of     
paper4 ,from such a vantage-point the   
technologist might possibly go forward  
to discover a palliative against  the   
decay of documents and printed paper4   
,pessimists would probably  consider    
this a doubtful blessing1 but1 on the   
whole1 it would prove a  great boon4    
,,poetry      ,a ,glimpse from the      

,train          ,at nine in the morning 
there passed a church1        ,at ten   
there passed me by the sea1        ,at  
twelve a town of smoke and smirch1      
,at two a forest of oak and birch1      
,and then1 on a platform1 she4          
,her ,i could see1 though she saw not   
me3        ,i queried1 ,get out to her  
do ,i dare8        ,but ,i kept my seat 
in my search for a plea1        ,and the
 wheels moved on4 ,o could it but be    
,that ,i had alighted there6            
,,thomas ,,hardy      ,tarantella       
,do you remember an ,inn1               
,miranda8        ,do you remember an    
,inn8        ,and the tedding and the   
spreading        ,of the straw for a    
bedding1        ,and the fleas that     
tease in the ,high ,pyrenees1           
,and the wine that tasted of the tar8   
,and the cheers and the jeers of the    
young muleteers        7,under the dark 
of the vine verandah78        ,do you   
remember an ,inn1 ,miranda1        ,do  
you remember an ,inn8        ,and the   

cheers and the jeers of the young       
muleteers        ,who hadn't got a      
penny1        ,and who weren't paying   
any1        ,and the hammer at the doors
 and the ,din8        ,and the ,hip6    
,hop6 ,hap6        ,of the clap         
,of the hands to the twirl and the swirl
        ,of the girl gone chancing1     
,glancing1        ,dancing1             
,backing and advancing1        ,snapping
 of the clapper to the spin        ,out 
and in----        ,and the ,ting1 ,tong1
 ,tang of the ,guitar6        ,do you   
remember an ,inn1        ,miranda8      
,do you remember an ,inn8               
,never more2            ,miranda1       
,never more4            ,only the high  
peaks hoar3            ,and ,aragon a   
torrent at the door4            ,no     
sound            ,in the walls of the   
,halls where falls            ,the tread
            ,of the feet of the dead to 
the ground4            ,no sound3       
,only the boom            ,of the far   
,waterfall like ,doom4                  

,h4 ,,belloc      ,lines ,written in    
,gallipoli#h          #h ,the author of 
this poem1 a ,fellow of ,all ,souls1    
went            out to ,gallipoli in the
 ,royal ,naval ,division with           
,charles ,lister1 ,rupert ,brooke1 and  
,denis ,browne4 ,he            was      
afterwards killed in ,france4           
,i saw a man this morning          ,who 
did not wish to die1        ,i ask and  
cannot answer          ,if otherwise    
wish ,i4          ,fair broke the day   
this morning          ,against the      
,dardanelles1        ,the breeze blew   
soft1 the morn's cheeks          ,were  
cold as cold sea shells4          ,but  
other shells are waiting                
,across the gean sea1        ,shrapnel  
and high explosive1          ,shells and
 hells for me4          ,o ,hell of     
ships and cities1          ,hell of men 
like me1        ,fatal second ,helen1   
,why must ,i follow thee8               
,achilles came to ,troyland1            
,and ,i to ,chersonese3        ,he      

turned from wrath to battle1            
,and ,i from three days' peace4         
,was it so hard1 ,achilles1          ,so
 very hard to die8        ,thou knowest 
and ,i know not1          ,so much the  
happier ,i4          ,i will go back    
this morning          ,from ,imbros over
 the sea4        ,stand in the trench1  
,achilles1          ,flame-capped1 and  
shout for me4          ,,patrick        
,,shaw-,,stewart      ,november         
,as ,i walk the misty hill        ,all  
is languid1 fogged and still2           
,not a note of any bird1        ,nor any
 motion's hint is heard        ,save    
from soaking thickets round             
,trickle or water's rushing sound1      
,and from ghostly trees the drip        
,of runnel dews or whispering slip      
,of leaves1 which in a body launch      
,listlessly from the stagnant branch1   
,to strew the marl1 already strown      
,with litter sodden as its own4         
,a rheum1 like blight1 hangs on the     
briers1        ,and from the clammy     

ground suspires        ,a sweet frail   
sick autumnal scent        ,of stale    
frost furring weeds long spent1         
,and wafted on1 like one who sleeps1    
,a feeble vapour hangs or creeps1       
,exhaling on the fungus mould        ,a 
breath of age1 fatigue and cold4        
,oozed from the bracken's desolate      
track1        ,by dark rains havocked   
and drenched black1        ,a fog about 
the coppice drifts        ,or slowly    
thickens up and lifts        ,into the  
moist despondent air4          ,mist1   
grief1 and stillness everywhere4444     
,and in me1 too1 there is no sound      
,save welling as of tears profound      
,where in me cloud1 grief1 stillness    
reign1        ,and an intolerable pain  
,begins4                ,rolled on as in
 a flood there come        ,memories of 
childhood1 boyhood1 home        ,and    
that which1 sudden1 pangs me most1      
,thought of the first-beloved1 long     
lost1        ,too easy lost6 ,my cold   
lips frame        ,tremulously the      

familiar name1        ,unheard of her   
upon my breath3        ,elizabeth6      
,elizabeth6          ,no voice answers  
on the hill4        ,all is shrouded1   
sad and still 444        ,stillness1    
fogged brakes and fog on high4          
,only in me the waters cry        ,who  
mourn the hours now slipped for ever4   
,hours of boding1 joy and fever1        
,when we loved1 by chance beguiled1     
,i a boy and you a child2        ,child6
 ,but with an angel's air4              
,astonished1 eager1 unaware1        ,or 
elfin1 wandering with grace             
,foreign to any fireside race2          
,and with a gaiety unknown        ,in   
the light feet and hair back-blown2     
,and with a sadness yet more strange    
,in meagre cheeks which knew to change  
,or faint or fired more swift than      
sight1        ,and forlorn hands and    
lips pressed white1        ,and fragile 
voice and head downcast        ,to hide 
tears1 lifted at the last        ,to    
speed with one pale smile the wise      

,glance of the grey immortal eyes4      
,how strange it was that we should dare 
,compound a miracle so rare        ,as1 
twixt this pace and ,time's next pace1  
,each to discern th' elected's face2    
,yet stranger that the high sweet fire1 
,in hearts nigh foreign to desire1      
,could burn1 sigh1 weep and burn again1 
,as oh1 it never has since then6        
,most strange of all that we so young   
,dared learn but would not speak love's 
tongue1        ,love pledged but in the 
reveries        ,of our sad and dreaming
 eyes4444          ,now upon such       
journey bound me1        ,grief1        
disquiet and stillness round me1        
,as bids me where ,i cannot tell1       
,turn ,i and sigh1 unseen1 farewell3    
,breathe the name as soft as mist1      
,lips1 which nor kissed her nor were    
kissed1        ,and again--a sigh1 a    
death--        ,elizabeth6 ,elizabeth6  
,no voice answers1 but the mist         
,glows for a moment amethyst        ,ere
 the hid sun dissolves away1        ,and

 dimness1 growing dimmer gray1          
,hides all 444 until ,i nothing see     
,but the blind walls enclosing me1      
,and no sound and no motion hear        
,but the vague water throbbing near1    
,sole voice upon the darkening hill1    
,where all is blank and dead and still4 
,,robert ,,nichols      ,draft for ,a   
,first and ,last ,song          ,deep in
 the harvest of the night the sickle of 
the moon is                sweeping1    
,we have sowed1 ,o my desire1 now is the
 time for reaping6          ,turn not   
your face1 ,o heart1 give not your love 
,to aught of heaven or the stars above1 
,these dauntless robbers purloined long 
ago        ,the crown of ,kaous1 the    
belt of ,kai ,khosro2        ,and what  
have we to search for in the skies      
,who have the blue pavilion of your     
eyes8        ,or what need of the gold  
gates flung apart        ,having the    
crimson portals of your heart8          
444 ,so shall it be when some day by and
 by        ,you mount the glitt'ring    

ramparts of the sky1        ,loud to the
 wheeling heavens you shall boast3      
,o sun and moon and ,pleiads at the most
        ,you're worth a wisp of barley  
or of straw        ,unseen1 unheeded1 on
 ,love's threshing floor3        ,and   
,god the praises that your angels sing  
,are all celestial but can never bring  
,the simple wonder of a mortal's doubt  
,upon those faces upturned and devout   
,that every blessing of ,your work      
recall1        ,nor ever need to ask3   
,what means it all8          ,be peace6 
,the hour is passing4 ,here or there    
,the curtain swings to lay life's secret
 bare4        ,ah1 when the dawn of     
ending breaks around1        ,be it that
 in ,love's garden ,i am found4         
,to immortality ,i leave but this3      
,your head reclining in a swoon of      
bliss1        ,your hand uplifted to    
pour out the wine1        ,the minstrels
 singing this one song of mine4         
,,coleridge ,,kennard      ,a ,country  
,mood          ,take now a country mood1

          ,resolve1 distil it3          
,nine ,acre swaying alive1              
,june flowers that fill it1             
,spicy sweetbriar bush1          ,the   
uneasy wren        ,fluttering from ash 
to birch          ,and back again1      
,milkwort on its low stem1              
,spread hawthorn-tree1        ,sunlight 
patching the wood1          ,a          
hive-bound bee1          ,girls riding  
nim-nim-nim4          ,ladies1          
trot-trot1        ,gentlemen hard at    
gallop1          ,shouting1 steam-hot4  
,now over the rough turf                
,bridles go jingle1        ,and there's 
a well-loved pool          ,by ,fox's   
,dingle          ,where ,sweetheart1 my 
brown mare1          ,old ,glory's      
daughter1        ,may loll her leathern 
tongue          ,in snow-cool water4    
,,robert ,,graves      ,scirocco        
,out of that high pavilion        ,where
 the sick1 wind-harassed sun        ,in 
the whiteness of the day        ,ghostly
 shone and stole away--        ,parchd  

with the utter thirst        ,of        
unnumbered ,libyan sands1        ,thou1 
cloud-gathering spirit1 burst           
,out of arid ,africa        ,to the     
tideless sea1 and smote        ,on our  
pale1 moon-coold lands        ,the hot  
breath of a lion's throat4          ,and
 that furnace-heated breath        ,blew
 into my placid dreams        ,the heart
 of fire from whence it came3           
,haunt of beauty and of death           
,where the forest breaks in flame       
,of flaunting blossom1 where the flood  
,of life pulses hot and stark1          
,where a wing'd death breeds in mud     
,and tumult of tree-shadowed streams--  
,black waters1 desolately hurled        
,through the uttermost1 lost1 dark1     
,secret places of the world4            
,there1 ,o swift and terrible           
,being1 wast thou born2 and thence1     
,like a demon loosed from hell1         
,stripped with rending wings the dense  
,echoing forests1 till their bowed      
,plumes of trees like tattered cloud    

,were toss'd and torn1 and cried aloud  
,as the wood were rack'd with pain3     
,thence thou freed'st thy wings1 and    
soon        ,from the moaning1 stricken 
plain        ,in whorld eagle-soarings  
rose        ,to melt the sun-defeating  
snows        ,of the ,mountains of the  
,moon1        ,to dull their glaciers   
with fierce breath1        ,to slip the 
avalanches' rein1        ,to set the    
laughing torrents free        ,on the   
tented desert beneath1        ,where men
 of thirst must wither and die          
,while the vultures stare in the sun's  
eye2        ,where slowly sifting sands 
are strown        ,on broken cities1    
whose bleaching bones        ,whiten in 
moonlight stone on stone          ,over 
their pitiful dust thy blast            
,passed in columns of whirling sand1    
,leapt the desert and swept the strand  
,of the cool and quiet sea1             
,gathering mighty shapes1 and proud     
,phantoms of monstrous1 wave-born cloud1
        ,and northward drove this       

panoply        ,till the sky seemed     
charging on the land4444          ,yet1 
in that plumd helm1 the most        ,of 
thy hot power was cooled or lost1       
,so that it came to me at length1       
,faint and tepid and shorn of strength1 
,to shiver an olive-grove that heaves   
,a myriad moonlight-coloured leaves1    
,and in the stone-pine's dome set free  
,a murmur of the middle sea3        ,a  
puff of warm air in the night        ,so
 spent by its impetuous flight          
,it scarce invades my pillar'd closes1--
        ,to waft their fragrance from   
the sweet        ,buds of my            
lemon-coloured roses        ,or strew   
blown petals at my feet3        ,to kiss
 my cheek with a warm sigh        ,and  
in the tired darkness die4              
,,francis ,,brett ,,young    ,anacapri  
,,the ,,creatures    ,by ,,walter ,,de  
,,la ,,mare      ,it was the ebbing     
light of evening that recalled me out of
 my story  to a consciousness of my     
whereabouts4 ,i dropped my little red   

book to  my knee and glanced out of the 
narrow and begrimed oblong window4 ,we  
were skirting the eastern coast of      
cliffs1 to the very edge of which  a    
ploughman1 stumbling along behind his   
two great horses1 was driving  the last 
of his dark furrows4 ,in a cleft far    
down between the rocks a  cold and idle 
sea was soundlessly laying its frigid   
garlands of foam4 ,i  stared over the   
flat stretch of waters1 then turned my  
head1 and looked  with a kind of        
suddenness into the face of my one      
fellow-traveller4    ,he had entered the
 carriage1 all but unheeded1 yet not    
altogether  unresented1 at the last     
country station4 ,his features were a   
little  obscure in the fading daylight  
that hung between our four narrow walls1
  but apparently his eyes had been fixed
 on my face for some little time4    ,he
 narrowed his lids at this unexpected   
confrontation1 jerked back  his head1   
and cast a glance out of his mirky glass
 at the bit of  greenish-bright moon    

that was struggling into its full       
brilliance above  the dun1 swelling     
uplands4    ,it's a queer experience1   
railway-travelling1 he began abruptly1  
in  a low1 almost deprecating voice1    
drawing his hand across his eyes4  ,one 
is cast into a passing privacy with a   
fellow-stranger and then is  gone4 ,it  
was as if he had been patiently awaiting
 the attention of a  chosen listener4   
,i nodded1 looking at him4 ,that        
privacy1 too1 he ejaculated1 all  that6 
,my eyes turned towards the window      
again3 bare1 thorned1 black  ,january   
hedge1 inhospitable salt coast1 flat    
waste of northern water4  ,our          
engine-driver promptly shut off his     
steam1 and we slid almost  noiselessly  
out of sight of sky and sea into a      
cutting4    ,it's a desolate country1 ,i
 ventured to remark4    ,oh1 yes1       
'desolate'6 he echoed a little wearily4 
,but what always  frets me is the way we
 have of arrogating to ourselves the    
offices  of judge1 jury1 and counsel all

 in one4 ,for my part1 ,i never forget  
it--the futility1 the presumption4 ,it  
leads nowhere4 ,we drive  in--into all  
this silence1 this--this 'forsakenness1'
 this dream of  a world between her     
lights of day and night time4           
,consciousness6444  ,what itching       
monkeys men are6 ,he recovered himself1 
swallowed his  indignation with an      
obvious gulp4 ,as if1 he continued in   
more  chastened tones--as if that other 
gate were not for ever ajar1 into  ,god 
knows what of peace and mystery4 ,he    
stooped forward1 lean1  darkened1       
objurgatory4 ,don't we make our world8  
,isn't that our  blessed1 our betrayed  
responsibility8    ,i nodded1 and       
ensconced myself1 like a dog in straw1  
in that basest of  all responses to a   
rare1 even if eccentric1                
candour--caution4    ,well1 he          
continued1 a little weariedly1 that's   
the indictment4 ,small  wonder if it    
will need a trumpet to blare us into    
that last ',family  ,prayers4' ,then    

perhaps a few solitaries--just a        
few--will creep out of  their holes and 
fastnesses1 and draw mercy from the     
merciful on the  cities of the plain4   
,the buried talent will shine none the  
worse for  the long1 long looming of its
 napery spun from dream and desire4     
,years ago--ten1 fifteen1 perhaps--,i   
chanced on the queerest specimen  of    
this order of the 'talented4' ,much the 
same country1 too4 ,this--he  swept his 
glance out over a now invisible         
sea--this is a kind of dwarf  replica of
 it4 ,more naked1 smoother1 more sudden 
and precipitous1  more 'forsaken1'      
moody4 ,alone6 ,the trees are shorn     
there1 as if with  monstrous shears1 by 
the winter gales4 ,the air's salt4 ,it  
is a country  of stones and emerald     
meadows1 of green1 meandering1 aimless  
lanes1 of  farms set in their clifts and
 valleys like rough time-bedimmed       
jewels1  as if by some angel of         
humanity1 wandering between dark and    
daybreak4    ,i was younger then--in    

body3 the youth of the mind is for men  
of an  age--yours1 maybe1 and mine4     
,even then1 even at that1 ,i was        
sickened  of crowds1 of that            
unimaginable ,london--swarming          
wilderness of mankind  in which a poor  
lost thirsty dog from ,otherwhere tastes
 first the  full meaning of that idle   
word 'forsaken4' ',forsaken by whom8' is
 the  question ,i ask myself now4       
,visitors to my particular paradise were
 few  then--as if1 my dear sir1 we were 
not all of us visitors1 visitants1      
revenants1 on earth1 panting for time in
 which to tell and share our  secrets1  
roving in search of the marks that shall
 prove our quest not  vain1 not         
unprecedented1 not a treachery4 ,but let
 that be4    ,i would start off morning 
after morning1 bread and cheese in      
pocket1  from the bare old house ,i     
lodged in1 bound for that unforeseen    
nowhere  for which the heart1 the       
fantasy aches4 ,lingering hot noondays  
would  find me stretched in a state     

half-comatose1 yet vigilant1 on the     
close-flowered turf of the fields or    
cliffs1 on the sun-baked sands  and     
rocks1 soaking in the scene and life    
around me like some pilgrim  chameleon4 
,it was in hope to lose my way that ,i  
would set out4 ,how  shall a man find   
his way unless he lose it8 ,now and then
 ,i succeeded4  ,that country is large1 
and its land and sea marks easily cheat 
the  stranger4 ,i was still of an age1  
you see1 when my 'small door' was  ajar1
 and ,i planted a solid foot to keep it 
from shutting4 ,but how  could ,i know  
what ,i was after8 ,one just shakes the 
tree of life1 and  the rare fruits come 
tumbling down1 to rot for the most part 
in the  lush grasses4    ,what was most 
haunting and provocative in that        
far-away country was  its fleeting      
resemblance to the country of dream4    
,you stand1 you sit1  or lie prone on   
its bud-starred heights1 and look down2 
the green1  dispersed1 treeless         
landscape spreads beneath you1 with its 

hollows  and mounded slopes1 clustering 
farmstead1 and scatter of village1 all  
motionless under the vast wash of sun   
and blue1 like the drop-scene  of some  
enchanted playhouse centuries old4 ,so1 
too1 the visionary  bird-haunted        
headlands1 veiled faintly in a mist of  
unreality above  their broken stones and
 the enormous saucer of the sea4    ,you
 cannot guess there what you may not    
chance upon1 or whom4 ,bells  clash1    
boom1 and quarrel hollowly on the edge  
of darkness in those  breakers4 ,voices 
waver across the fainter winds4 ,the    
birds cry in  a tongue unknown yet not  
unfamiliar4 ,the sky is the hawks' and  
the  stars'4 ,there one is on the edge  
of life1 of the unforeseen1 whereas  our
 cities--are not our desiccated jaded   
minds ever continually  pressing and    
edging further and further away from    
freedom1 the vast  unknown1 the infinite
 presence1 picking a fool's journey from
 sensual  fact to fact at the tail of   
that he-ass called ,reason8 ,i suggest  

that  in that solitude the spirit within
 us realises that it treads the         
outskirts of a region long since called 
the ,imagination4 ,i assert we  have    
strayed1 and in our blindness           
abandoned----    ,my stranger paused in 
his frenzy1 glanced out at me from his  
obscure  corner as if he had intended to
 stun1 astonish me with some violent    
heresy4 ,we puffed out slowly1          
laboriously1 from a ,halt at which  in  
the gathering dark and moonshine we had 
for some while been at a  standstill4   
,never was wedding-guest more           
desperately at the mercy of  ancient    
mariner4    ,well1 one day1 he went on1 
lifting his voice a little to master    
the resounding heart-beats of our       
steam-engine--one late afternoon1  in my
 goal-less wanderings1 ,i had climbed to
 the summit of a steep  grass-grown     
cart-track1 winding up dustily between  
dense1 untended  hedges4 ,even then ,i  
might have missed the house to which it 
led1 for1  hair-pin fashion1 the track  

here abruptly turned back on itself1 and
  only a far fainter footpath led on    
over the hill-crest4 ,i might1 ,i  say1 
have missed the house and--and its      
inmates1 if ,i had not heard  the       
musical sound of what seemed like the   
twangling of a harp4 ,this  thin-drawn1 
sweet1 tuneless warbling welled over the
 close green grass  of the height as if 
out of space4 ,truth cannot say whether 
it was of  that air or of my own        
fantasy4 ,nor did ,i ever discover what 
instrument1  whether of man or ,ariel1  
had released a strain so pure and yet so
  bodiless4    ,i pushed on and found   
myself in command of a gorse-strewn     
height1  a stretch of country that lay a
 few hundred paces across the steep  and
 sudden valley in between4 ,in a        
,v-shaped entry to the left1 and        
sunwards1 lay an azure and lazy tongue  
of the sea4 ,and as my eye slid  softly 
thence and upwards and along the sharp1 
green horizon line  against the         
glass-clear turquoise of space1 it      

caught the flinty  glitter of a square  
chimney4 ,i pushed on1 and presently    
found myself at  the gate of a farmyard4
    ,there was but one straw-mow upon   
its staddles4 ,a few fowls were  sunning
 themselves in their dust-baths4 ,white 
and pied doves preened  and cooed on the
 roof of an outbuilding as golden with  
its lichens as  if the western sun had  
scattered its dust for centuries upon   
the large  slate slabs4 ,just that life 
and the whispering of the wind1 nothing 
more4 ,yet even at one swift glimpse ,i 
seemed to have trespassed upon  a peace 
that had endured for ages2 to have      
crossed the viewless border  that       
divides time from eternity4 ,i leaned1  
resting1 over the gate1 and  could have 
remained there for hours1 lapsing ever  
more profoundly into  the blessed       
quietude that had stolen over my        
thoughts4    ,a bent-up woman appeared  
at the dark entry of a stone shed       
opposite  to me1 and1 shading her eyes1 
paused in prolonged scrutiny of the     

stranger4 ,at that ,i entered the gate  
and1 explaining that ,i had lost  my way
 and was tired and thirsty1 asked for   
some milk4 ,she made no  reply1 but     
after peering up at me1 with something  
between suspicion and  apprehension on  
her weather-beaten old face1 led me     
towards the house  which lay to the left
 on the slope of the valley1 hidden from
 me till  then by plumy bushes of       
tamarisk4    ,it was a low grave house1 
grey-chimneyed1 its stone walls         
traversed by  a deep shadow cast by the 
declining sun1 its dark windows rounded 
and  uncurtained1 its door wide open to 
the porch4 ,she entered the house1  and 
,i paused upon the threshold4 ,a deep   
unmoving quiet lay within1  like that of
 water in a cave renewed by the tide4   
,above a table hung a  wreath of wild   
flowers4 ,to the right was a heavy oak  
settle upon the  flags4 ,a beam of      
sunlight pierced the air of the         
staircase from an  upper window4        
,presently a dark long-faced gaunt man  

appeared from within1  contemplating me1
 as he advanced1 out of eyes that seemed
 not so much  to fix the intruder as to 
encircle his image1 as the sea contains 
the  distant speck of a ship on its wide
 blue bosom of water4 ,they might  have 
been the eyes of the blind2 the windows 
of a house in dream to  which the inmate
 must make something of a pilgrimage to 
look out upon  actuality4 ,then he      
smiled1 and the long1 dark features1    
melancholy yet  serene1 took light upon 
them1 as might a bluff of rock beneath a
 thin  passing wash of sunshine4 ,with a
 gesture he welcomed me into the large1 
dark-flagged kitchen1 cool as a cellar1 
airy as a belfry1 its sweet air         
traversed by a long oblong of light out 
of the west4    ,the wide shelves of the
 painted dresser were laden with        
crockery4 ,a  wreath of freshly-gathered
 flowers hung over the chimney-piece4   
,as we  entered1 a twittering cloud of  
small birds1 robins1 hedge-sparrows1    
chaffinches fluttered up a few inches   

from floor and sill and  window-seat1   
and once more1 with tiny starry-dark    
eyes observing me1  soundlessly         
alighted4    ,i could hear the          
infinitesimal tic-tac of their tiny     
claws upon the  slate4 ,my gaze drifted 
out of the window into the garden       
beyond1 a  cavern of clearer crystal and
 colour than that which astounded the   
eyes  of young ,aladdin4 ,apart from the
 twisted garland of wild flowers1 the   
shining metal of range and copper       
candlestick1 and the bright-scoured     
crockery1 there was no adornment in the 
room except a rough frame1  hanging from
 a nail in the wall1 and enclosing what 
appeared to be a  faint patterned       
fragment of blue silk or fine linen4    
,the chairs and  table were old and     
heavy4 ,a low light warbling1 an        
occasional skirr  of wing1 a haze-like  
drone of bee and fly--these were the    
only  sounds that edged a quiet         
intensified in its profundity by the    
remote  stirrings of the sea4    ,the   

house was stilled as by a charm1 yet    
thought within me asked no  questions2  
speculation was asleep in its kennel4 ,i
 sat down to the  milk and bread1 the   
honey and fruit which the old woman laid
 out upon  the table1 and her master    
seated himself opposite to me1 now in a 
low  sibilant whisper--a tongue which   
they seemed to understand--addressing   
himself to the birds1 and now1 as if    
with an effort1 raising those  strange  
grey-green eyes of his to bestow a quiet
 remark upon me4  ,he asked1 rather in  
courtesy than with any active interest1 
a few  questions1 referring to the      
world1 its business and transports--our 
beautiful world--as an astronomer in the
 small hours might murmur a  few words  
to the chance-sent guest of his solitude
 concerning the  secrets of ,uranus or  
,saturn4 ,there is another1 an          
inexplorable side  to the moon4 ,yet he 
said enough for me to gather that he1   
too1 was  of that small tribe of the    
aloof and wild to which our cracked old 

word 'forsaken' might be applied1       
hermits1 clay-matted fakirs1 and        
such-like1 the snowy birds that play and
 cry amid mid-oceanic surges1  the      
living of an oasis of the wilderness1   
which share a reality only  distantly   
dreamed of by the time-driven1          
thought-corroded congregations  of man4 
,yet so narrow and hazardous ,i somehow 
realised was the brink of  fellow-being 
7shall ,i call it87 which we shared1 he 
and ,i1 that again  and again fantasy   
within me seemed to hover over that     
precipice  ,night knows as fear4 ,it was
 he1 it seemed1 with that still         
embracive  contemplation of his1 with   
that far-away yet reassuring smile1 that
  kept my poise1 my balance4 ',no1' some
 voice within him seemed to utter1  'you
 are safe2 the bounds are fixed2 though 
hallucination chaunt its  decoy1 you    
shall not irretrievably pass over4 ,eat 
and drink1 and  presently return to     
life4' ,and ,i listened1 and1 like that 
of a drowsy  child in its cradle1 my    

consciousness sank deeper and deeper1   
stilled1  pacified1 into the dream amid 
which1 as it seemed1 this soundless     
house  of stone now reared its walls4   
,i had all but finished my meal when ,i 
heard footsteps approaching on  the     
flags without4 ,the murmur of other     
voices1 distinguishably shrill  yet     
guttural1 even at a distance1 and in    
spite of the dense stones and  beams of 
the house which had blunted their       
timbre1 had already reached  me4 ,now   
the feet halted4 ,i turned my           
head--cautiously1 even perhaps          
apprehensively--and confronted two      
figures in the doorway4    ,i cannot now
 guess the age of my entertainer4 ,these
 children--for  children they were in   
face and gesture and effect1 though as  
to form  and stature apparently in their
 last teens--these children were far    
more problematical4 ,i say 'form and    
stature1' yet obviously they were       
dwarfish4 ,their heads were sunken      
between their shoulders1 their hair     

thick1 their eyes disconcertingly       
deep-set4 ,they were ungainly1 their    
features peculiarly irregular1 as if two
 races from the ends of the  earth had  
in them intermingled their blood and    
strangeness1 as if  rather animal and   
angel had connived in their creation4   
,but if some inward light lay on the    
still eyes1 on the gaunt1  sorrowful1   
quixotic countenance that now was fully 
and intensely bent  on mine1            
emphatically that light was theirs also4
 ,he spoke to them1  they answered--in  
,english1 my own language1 without a    
doubt3 but an  ,english slurred1 broken1
 and unintelligible to me1 yet clear as 
bell1  haunting1 penetrating1 pining as 
voice of nix or siren4 ,my ears drank   
in the sound as an ,arab parched with   
desert sand falls on his dried  belly   
and gulps in mouthfuls of crystal water4
 ,the birds hopped nearer1  as if       
beneath the rod of an enchanter4 ,a     
sweet continuous clamour arose  from    
their small throats4 ,the exquisite     

colours of plume and bosom  burned1     
greened1 melted in the level sun-ray1 in
 the darker air beyond4    ,a kind of   
mournful gaiety1 a lamentable felicity1 
such as rings in the  cadences of an old
 folk-song1 welled into my heart4 ,i was
 come back to  the borders of ,eden1    
bowed and outwearied1 gazing out of     
dream into  dream1 homesick1 'forsaken4'
    ,well1 years have gone by1 muttered 
my fellow-traveller deprecatingly1  but 
,i have not forgotten that ,eden's      
primeval trees and shade4    ,they led  
me out1 these bizarre companions1 a he  
and a she1 if ,i  may put it as crudely 
as my apprehension of them put it to me 
then4  ,through a broad door they       
conducted me--if one who leads may be   
said  to be conducted--into their       
garden4 ,garden6 ,a full mile long1     
between  undiscerned walls1 it sloped   
and narrowed towards a sea at whose     
dark unfoamed blue1 even at this        
distance1 my eyes dazzled4 ,yet how  can
 one call that a garden which reveals no

 ghost of a sign of human  arrangement1 
of human slavery1 of spade or hoe8      
,great boulders shouldered up1          
tessellated1 embossed1 powdered with a  
thousand various mosses and lichens1    
between a flowering greenery of  weeds4 
,wind-stunted1 clear-emerald1           
lichen-tufted trees smoothed and        
crisped the inflowing airs of the ocean 
with their leaves and spines1           
sibilating a thin scarce-audible music4 
,scanty1 rank1 and uncultivated  fruits 
hung close their vivid-coloured cheeks  
to the gnarled branches4  ,it was the   
harbourage of birds1 the small          
embowering parlour of their  house of   
life1 under an evening sky1 pure and    
lustrous as a water-drop4  ,it cried    
',hospital' to the wanderers of the     
universe4    ,as ,i look back in        
ever-thinning1 nebulous remembrance1 on 
my two  companions1 hear their voices   
gutturally sweet and shrill1 catch      
again their being1 so to speak1 ,i      
realise that there was a kind of        

,orientalism in their effect4 ,their    
instant courtesy was not ,western1  the 
smiles that greeted me1 whenever ,i     
turned my head to look back at  them1   
were infinitely friendly1 yet infinitely
 remote4 ,so ungainly1  so far from our 
notions of beauty and symmetry were     
their bodies and  faces1 those heads    
thrust heavily between their shoulders1 
their  disproportioned yet graceful arms
 and hands1 that the children in some   
of our ,english villages might be moved 
to stone them1 while their  elders      
looked on and laughed4    ,dusk was     
drawing near2 soon night would come4    
,the colours of the  sunset1 sucking its
 extremest dye from every leaf and blade
 and petal1  touched my consciousness   
even then with a vague fleeting alarm4  
,i remember ,i asked these strange and  
happy beings1 repeating my  question    
twice or thrice1 as we neared the surfy 
entry of the valley  upon whose sands a 
tiny stream emptied its fresh waters--,i
 asked  them if it was they who had     

planted this multitude of flowers1 many 
of a kind utterly unknown to me and     
alien to a country inexhaustibly  rich4 
',we wait2 we wait6' ,i think they      
cried4 ,and it was as if their  cry woke
 echo from the green-walled valleys of  
the mind into which ,i  had strayed4    
,shall ,i confess that tears came into  
my eyes as ,i gazed  hungrily around me 
on the harvest of their patience8       
,never was actuality so close to dream4 
,it was not only an unknown  country1   
slipped in between these placid hills1  
upon which ,i had  chanced in my        
ramblings4 ,i had entered for a few     
brief moments a  strange region of      
consciousness4 ,i was treading1 thus    
accompanied1 amid  a world of welcoming 
and fearless life--oh1 friendly to      
me6--the paths  of man's imagination1   
the kingdom from which thought and      
curiosity1  vexed scrutiny and lust--a  
lust it may be for nothing more impious 
than the actual--had prehistorically    
proved the insensate means of his       

banishment4 ',reality1'                 
',consciousness'3 had he for 'the time  
being'  unwittingly1 unhappily missed   
his way8 ,would he be led back at length
  to that garden wherein cockatrice and 
basilisk bask1 harmlessly1 at  peace8   
,i speculate now4 ,in that queer1 yes1  
and possibly sinister1 company1         
sinister only because it was alien to   
me1 ,i did not speculate4 ,in their     
garden1 the familiar was become the     
strange--'the strange' that lurks  in   
the inmost heart1 unburdens its riches  
in trance1 flings its light  and gilding
 upon love1 gives heavenly savour to the
 intemperate bowl  of passion1 and is   
the secret of our incommunicable pity4  
,what is yet  queerer1 these beings were
 evidently glad of my company4 ,they    
stumped  after me 7as might yellow men  
after some ,occidental quadruped never  
before seen7 in merry collusion of nods 
and wreathed smiles at this  perhaps    
unprecedented intrusion4    ,i stood for
 a moment looking out over the placid   

surface of the sea4  ,a ship in sail    
hung phantom-like on the horizon4 ,i    
pined to call my  discovery to its      
seamen4 ,the tide gushed1 broke1 spent  
itself on the  bare boulders4 ,i was    
suddenly cold and alone1 and gladly     
turned back  into the garden1 my        
companions instinctively separating to  
let me pass  between them4 ,i breathed  
in the rare1 almost exotic heat1 the    
tenuous1  honeyed1 almond-laden air of  
its flowers and birds--gull1 mandrake1  
plover1 wagtail1 finch1 robin1 which as 
,i half-angrily1 half-sadly  realised   
fluttered up in momentary dismay only at
 my presence1 the  embodied spectre of  
their enemy1 man4 ,man8 ,then who were  
these8444    ,i lost again a way lost   
early that morning1 as ,i trudged inland
 at  night4 ,the dark came1 warm and    
starry4 ,i was tired1 dejected1         
exhausted  beyond words4 ,that night ,i 
slept in a barn and was awakened soon   
after  daybreak by the crowing of cocks4
 ,i went out1 dazed and blinking into   

the sunlight1 bathed face and hands in a
 brook near by1 and came to a  village  
before a soul was stirring4 ,so ,i sat  
under a thrift-cushioned1  thorn-crowned
 wall in a meadow1 and once more drowsed
 off and fell  asleep4 ,when again ,i   
awoke1 it was ten o'clock4 ,the church  
clock in its  tower knelled out its     
strokes1 and ,i went into an inn for    
food4    ,a corpulent1 blonde woman1    
kindly and hospitable1 with a face      
comfortably resembling her own sow's1   
that yuffed and nosed in at  the open   
door as ,i sat on my stool1 served me   
with what ,i called  for4 ,i            
described--not without some vanishing   
shame1 as if it were a  treachery--my   
farm1 its whereabouts4    ,her small    
blue eyes 'pigged' at me with a fleeting
 expression which ,i  failed to         
translate4 ,the name of the farm1 it    
appeared1 was ,trevarras4  ',and did you
 see any of the ,creatures8' she asked  
me in a voice not  entirely her own4    
',the ,creatures'6 ,i sat back for an   

instant and stared  at her2 then        
realised that ,creature was the name of 
my host1 and ,maria  and ,christus      
7though here her dialect may have       
deceived me7 the names  of my two       
gardeners4 ,she spun an absurd story1 so
 far as ,i could tack  it together and  
make it coherent4 ,superstitious stuff  
about this man  who had wandered in upon
 the shocked and curious inhabitants of 
the  district and made his home at      
,trevarras--a stranger and pilgrim1  a  
'foreigner1' it seemed1 of few words1   
dubious manners1 and both               
uninformative4    ,then there was       
something 7she placed her two fat hands1
 one of them  wedding-ringed1 on the    
zinc of the bar-counter1 and peered over
 at me1  as if ,i were a delectable     
'wash'71 then there was something about 
a  woman 'from the sea4' ,in a 'blue    
gown1' and either dumb1 inarticulate1   
or mistress of only a foreign tongue4   
,she must have lived in sin1  moreover1 
those pig's eyes seemed to yearn1 since 

the children were  'simple1'            
'naturals'--as ,god intends in such     
matters4 ,it was useless4  ,one's       
stomach may sometimes reject the cold   
sanative aerated water of  'the next    
morning1' and my ridiculous intoxication
 had left me dry but  not yet quite     
sober4    ,anyhow1 this she told me1    
that my blue woman1 as fair as flax1 had
  died and was buried in the            
neighbouring churchyard 7the nearest to1
  though miles distant from1            
,trevarras74 ,she repeatedly assured me1
 as if  ,i might otherwise doubt so     
sophisticated a fact1 that ,i should    
find her  grave there1 her 'stone4'     
,so indeed ,i did--far away from the    
elect1 and in a shade-ridden  northwest 
corner of the sleepy1 cropless acre3 a  
slab1 scarcely  rounded1 of granite1    
with but a name bitten out of the dark  
rough  surface1 ',femina ,creature4'    
,,on ,,blake ,,as ,a ,,prophet    ,by   
,a4 ,,clutton-,,brock      ,men have    
always lost their heads over prophets1  

and prophets have often  lost their     
heads over themselves4 ,the word itself 
expresses a common  misunderstanding4   
,the prophet is not a tipster--if he has
 any power of  foretelling1 it is only a
 part of his wisdom2 he is a man in whom
 the  universal man speaks1 not the     
lower or generic or animal universal1   
but that higher universal to which      
individuals and societies sometimes     
attain4 ,you may1 of course1 disbelieve 
in it altogether1 in which case  the    
prophet is to you merely one who talks  
nonsense2 but he himself is  aware of it
 when it speaks in him1 and it makes him
 vehement1 hasty1  impatient both of his
 own medium of language and of all      
opposition or  failure to understand4   
,it is to him an absolute which forces  
him to  utter that1 true always and     
everywhere2 but he has to express it in 
human language1 a medium relative to    
human wants and human conditions4  ,so  
his expression is always imperfect and  
cannot be understood except  with the   

goodwill of the hearer4 ,this goodwill  
he demands1 not from  egotism1 but      
because he is uttering the universal1   
and the refusal of  it exasperates him4 
,i have piped to you and you have not   
danced--is  always the cry of the       
prophet4 ,argument he hates and the     
dialectic of  ,dons1 because his        
universal is not to be proved1 its      
convincing power  is in itself4 ,it is  
the truth which1 like beauty1 is        
believed when  seen2 and1 if you will   
not believe it1 that is because you     
refuse to  see or hear it4 ,you are like
 the deaf adder that stoppeth its ears1 
and  you are refusing to see your own   
truth as well as his2 you are refusing  
to find yourself in the universal4 ,who 
are you1 says ,whitman1 that  wanted a  
book to encourage you in your nonsense8 
,your nonsense is your  private         
opposition to the universal1 the        
obstacle which you set up in  yourself  
to your own wisdom and happiness2 and   
with this the prophet  has no patience4 

,he will make no terms with it2 he will 
not attempt a  worldly lucidity or even 
the contrivance of the artist4 ,it is   
not he  who speaks but the universal    
that speaks in him1 often beautifully   
but  careless even of beauty1 finding   
what human words it can2 and men must   
not look this gift-horse in the mouth1  
must not criticise him1 for it  is not  
he who speaks as an individual but--my  
father that speaketh in  me4    ,so many
 men1 whether they stone the prophet or 
accept him1  misunderstand him always2  
after they have stoned or ignored him1  
they  worship him as a magician4 ,in the
 past he was to them one who foretold   
the future2 now they find an equal value
 in all that he says and does4  ,any    
words of his have a biblical authority1 
and he is the one genuine  prophet1     
compared with whom all others are       
impostors4 ,they do not know  that the  
chief reason for believing prophets is  
that they all say the  same thing1 that 
this universal of theirs is a real      

universal1 quod  semper1 quod ubique1   
quod ab omnibus4 ,when they assert that 
their  particular prophet has a monopoly
 of the truth1 they are depriving  him  
of his chief authority1 turning his     
universal into a particular2  and this  
they do because they will not be at the 
pains to seek the  universal in his     
works4 ,it must be recognised by its own
 quality1 and  every man must recognise 
it for himself2 but they1 flinching from
 the  effort of recognition1 seek a     
gospel made authentic by the name of its
  author2 the prophet has said it and it
 must be true4    ,unfortunately the    
prophet himself often shares this       
infirmity and  believes that he is      
always a prophet2 he becomes a disciple 
of himself1  and sets himself above     
criticism1 not from mere egotism and    
conceit so  much as because he too      
flinches from the task of discerning his
 own  universal4 ,the prophetic         
vehemence becomes a habit with him2 and 
he  despises the artist's patience and  

contrivance2 he may even believe  that  
he is a prophet because he himself does 
not clearly understand  what he says2 he
 may mistake the automatism1 which lies 
in wait for  everyone who constantly    
practises any art1 for the universal    
speaking  in him and imperiously        
snatching at language to express itself4
    ,now ,blake was artist as well as   
prophet1 a great artist in two arts2    
but everything conspired to make him    
confuse the functions of artist  and    
prophet1 which indeed are easily        
confused4 ,a man is helped to           
understand himself by the understanding 
of others2 and ,blake had no  one to    
understand him1 as artist or as prophet4
 ,his masters were in  the past2 his own
 achievements belonged to the future2 he
 lacked that  contemporary education    
which is best worth having4 ,there was  
no one  even for him to talk to1 but    
only a few listeners who were not sure  
that he was sane4 ,as artist1 he was a  
prophet in the literal sense2  he did   

what men were going to do as well as    
what they had done long  ago4 ,naturally
 he believed that1 as artist1 he was    
always right1 while  ,reynolds and the  
other popular ones of his own time were 
always wrong4  ,he had a blood-feud with
 them1 and was in love with his own     
work2 he  believed that the universal1  
which sometimes possessed him1 possessed
  him always1 because his writing and   
his drawing were unlike those of  other 
men of his time4 ,so he made a myth     
about himself to express his  lack of   
criticism1 namely1 that his works were  
dictated to him by an  angel1 they were 
not his1 and it was not his business to 
improve or  judge them4    ,in his own  
time he was neglected2 but now he is    
subject to the other  kind of           
misunderstanding4 ,he has disciples who 
are as uncritical of his  works as he   
was1 for whom he is always prophet1     
never artist1 or rather  an infallible  
artist because a prophet4 ,they tell us 
that1 if we enjoy  his poems as poems or

 his pictures as pictures1 we have not  
found the  key to them4 ,with the key of
 his symbolism we can enter a sanctuary 
beyond beauty in which the secrets of   
the universe are revealed4 ,but  they   
cannot tell us what these secrets are   
any more than ,blake could2  and ,i     
would rather believe that he told us all
 he could by the methods  proper to a   
writer1 and that the faults of the      
artist are not the  virtues of the      
prophet2 that where in verse that begins
 beautifully  he becomes incoherent1    
uses catchwords not to be understood    
except by  reference to other writings  
and often not then1 he is himself       
confusing  the artist with the prophet  
and making the mistake of his disciples4
    ,if you are in danger of believing  
in the magic of ,blake1 of treating  him
 as our pious grandparents treated the  
,hebrew prophets1 you may  recover your 
senses by considering his other art2 for
 in that the  difference between his    
artistic failures and successes is      

plain4 ,i  myself believe that ,blake   
was the greatest master of design among 
all  modern artists1 that for the       
shaping imagination you must go back to 
,tintoret to find his equal4 ,but1      
whereas in poetry he freed himself      
easily from all influences foreign to   
his own character and genius1 in  his   
other art he was free only              
intermittently and blindly4 ,there are  
two kinds of drawing which ,i will call 
rhythmical and constructional1          
although1 of course1 there is rhythm in 
all good constructional  drawing and    
some construction in all good rhythmical
 drawing4 ,but the  difference is one of
 kind1 it is the difference between     
,cimabue and  ,michelangelo4 ,cimabue   
expresses himself mainly in rhythm to   
which the  descriptive shapes of things 
are subordinate--it is enough if you can
  recognise them4 ,michelangelo's line  
itself constructs1 it tells us  how     
things are made and insists upon their  
functions4 ,it is the line  natural to  

an age eager for consecutive thought2 it
 is1 as it were1  an arguing line4 ,now1
 ,blake was by nature1 by conviction1 by
 habit1  a rhythmical draughtsman1 and  
all his best work is rhythmical rather  
than constructive2 he is not arguing    
with us1 he is telling us1 in line  as  
in words4 ,it is enough for him if we   
can recognise his shapes for  what they 
are2 he expresses his real content in   
the sway of lines1 as  if it were a     
dance or a gesture1 and he is most at   
his ease when his  shapes are like      
flames blown in the wind1 almost        
transformed by his own  emotion4 ,and   
yet he was not often at his ease in     
drawing1 for all his  life he was1 like 
,fuseli1 haunted by the ghost of        
,michelangelo1 whose  actual works he   
had never seen4 ,even he was subdued by 
the prestige of  a master whose method  
was poison to his genius4 ,in poetry he 
could be  inspired by the past art of   
his own country1 and in his earliest    
poems  alone does he speak for a few    

words1 in the language of his time4 ,and
  ,phbus fired my vocal rage2 but his   
drawings are infested by formul  taken  
second-hand from ,michelangelo4 ,it is  
only now and then1 in the  decorations  
to books which he printed himself1 in   
the magnificent  woodcuts for           
,thornton's ,pastorals1 in some of the  
,dante illustrations1  that he quite    
frees himself from a pretence of        
constructional drawing4  ,if you would  
excel in that1 you must study the       
particular fact  passionately1 you must 
get your construction from the fact1 not
 from  your own mind2 but ,blake1 like  
so many imitators of ,michelangelo1 did 
not study the fact2 he gives us a       
pretence of constructional drawing  in  
formul often struggling to be rhythmical
 and failing because they  are formul of
 construction4 ,there he is like ,st4   
,paul1 who sometimes  spoils matter that
 should be prophetic with a pretence of 
,greek  dialectic1 who makes a bad      
argument for the ,resurrection out of an

  image4 ,even in his most famous       
design1 the ,morning ,stars of the ,book
 of  ,job1 the rhythm of the wings and  
garments is cramped by the drawing1     
anatomical without freshness1 of the    
bodies4 ,compare this with the last     
drawing but one of the series1 where    
rhythm is master of all1 and you  will  
see how ,blake1 even in his great       
maturity1 only practised his true       
method by accident1 and when there was  
no association to mislead him2  the nude
 was a snare to him1 and seldom could he
 find a method of his  own for it4      
,often he was merely an inferior        
,fuseli2 and bits of ,fuseli  obtrude   
even in his finer works4 ,nothing could 
be more tiresome than  the drawing of   
some of his faces1 and no one could for 
a moment suppose  that there was any    
prophetic infallibility in these        
failures2 they are  as dull as late     
,roman sculpture or the efforts of      
,reynolds in the grand  style4    ,but1 
if ,blake is not infallible as a        

draughtsman1 he is not infallible  at   
all2 for he himself would sometimes     
claim infallibility in all  his works2  
by the common infirmity of prophets1    
when they cease to  be prophetic1 he    
assumed a status different from that of 
the artist1  and so was induced to set  
down whatever came into his mind1 as if 
an  angel were dictating to him or he   
had command of the pencil of the ,holy  
,ghost4 ,but the artist and the prophet 
are both what they are by effort  not by
 status2 if they rely on status they    
become bores or charlatans2  and that is
 true of all human beings1 of ,blake no 
less than of  ,habakkuk4 ,if ever he    
seems to have written nonsense1 then we 
must take  it to be nonsense until we   
find sense in it2 we must pay no heed if
 we  are told that the seeming nonsense 
is symbolism4    ,even in his finest    
poems we must not assume a clearer      
purpose than we  find4 ,take1 for       
instance1 the third verse of the ,tiger3
          ,and what shoulder1 and what  

art1        ,could twist the sinews of  
thy heart8        ,and when thy heart   
began to beat1        ,what dread hand8 
and what dread feet8    ,we may persuade
 ourselves that there is some peculiar  
virtue in the  two broken questions of  
the last line2 but the original draft of
 the  poem#i proves that ,blake did not 
at first mean them to be broken         
questions at all4 ,they were continued  
in the next stanza3          #i ,the    
original draft is given in the excellent
 ,oxford            edition of ,blake's 
,poetical ,works1 published by ,mr4     
,milford1 and edited by ,mr4 ,john      
,sampson1 at the price1            in   
#aiac1 of #as4 #f;d4 net4 ,in spite of  
the price1 it is            the most    
complete edition of the poems1 and      
contains            all the shorter     
,prophetic ,books1 including the ,french
            ,revolution1 with extracts  
from the longer ones4          ,could   
fetch it from the furnace deep          
,and in thy horrid ribs dare steep      

,in the well of sanguine woe1 etc4      
,blake seeing1 what was obvious1 that   
this did not promise well and  was      
leading nowhere1 gave it up and changed 
the punctuation of the  preceding stanza
 which had run simply--,what dread hand 
and what dread  feet--to its present    
form1 so as to finish off the stanza to 
the eye1  if not to the mind4    ,it is 
a masterful way out of a difficulty1 but
 it takes the risk that  we shall ask   
what the dread hand and feet are there  
to do8 ,the original  draft tells us--to
 fetch the tiger's heart from the       
furnace deep2  but in the poem as we    
know it we may guess for ourselves1 and 
there  is no answer4 ,this is not the   
dark sublimity of the prophet1 but the  
wilfulness of the poet1 who1 having hit 
upon a fine sounding line1  prefers it  
to sense4 7,there is also another       
reading which may come  from ,blake     
himself--,what dread hand forged thy    
dread feet8 ,it is not  prophetic1 but  
it does make sense47    ,it does not    

matter much1 for the rhythm of the poem 
carries one through  obscurities of     
detail2 but the broken questions are not
 an added beauty  or sublimity1 they are
 merely ,blake's way out of a difficulty
 that may  beset any poet4    ,so ,i    
come1 gradually and cautiously1 to the  
,prophetic ,books themselves1  and to my
 contention that they too are to be     
judged1 like the works  of the ,hebrew  
,prophets1 as literature1 since they    
were written for  men to read4 ,we must 
make a reasonable allowance for all     
mystics2  they try to say what is very  
hard to say1 what they have seen as in a
  glass darkly4 ,if you think them worth
 reading at all1 you believe that  they 
are concerned with a reality men do not 
perceive naturally and  immediately with
 the senses1 a reality that we are aware
 of1 if at all1  only by hints and      
whispers4 ,there are no commonly        
accepted sense-data  for this reality1  
upon which we can reason as we can      
reason about the  movements of the      

stars4 ,men are most fully aware of it  
when they are  in an exalted state of   
mind--a state which expresses itself in 
images  rather than in syllogisms4 ,you 
may say1 of course1 that this state  of 
mind is purely subjective and therefore 
only of artistic value2  but the mystic 
himself denies that4 ,he believes that  
he is aware of a  reality not himself1  
though himself is a part of it2 and     
aware of it1  not by the normal use of  
the senses1 but by a more immediate     
perception  of the spirit4 ,he knows it1
 perhaps1 through sense perceptions1 but
 by  means of a faculty beyond them2 he 
knows it with the whole of himself1     
that self which is not often enough of a
 unity to attain to this kind  of       
knowledge4 ,this you too must believe1  
or at least not refuse to  believe1 if  
you are to take him seriously2 but the  
mystic1 even if he  does speak to us of 
an independent reality1 speaks with a   
personal  expression of his own1 like   
the artist4 ,lo-tsze has put it better  

than anyone3 ,it is the way of ,heaven  
not to speak1 but it knows how  to      
obtain an answer4 ,when he says ,heaven 
he implies an independent  reality2 but 
men make other men aware of it by the   
answer they give to  it1 and this answer
 is personal to them4    ,so a man must 
convince us of his experience of this   
,heaven1 this  reality not perceived by 
the senses1 by his own expression of it1
  his own answer4 ,he must say what     
moves us by the ordinary means of       
expression2 he must not pretend that he 
has a secret to tell us which  we can   
understand only if he will play his game
 with his counters1 his  symbols1 and   
allegories4 ,if he has seen heaven1 then
 it knows how to  obtain an answer from 
him1 exoteric in its power if esoteric  
in its  meaning1 and leading men into   
its meaning by its power4 ,the power is 
in the answer1 if the meaning is in the 
heaven he has seen1 and that  heaven is 
to be known by its fruits4    ,you must1
 of course1 read a mystic with          

attention2 but you should be  able to   
gather his meaning as you read2 it is to
 be found in each  sentence and in the  
whole of each work1 not by reference to 
some  other work2 for it is the mark of 
a bad writer not to be able to say  what
 he has to say in the sentence he is    
writing1 to give us always  jam         
yesterday1 or jam to-morrow1 but never  
jam to-day4 ,yet that is  what the      
,blake-fanatics offer us in the         
,prophetic ,books4 ,you cannot          
understand this unless you know that the
 key to it is in that4 ,you must  grasp 
,blake's system if you are to profit by 
him4 ,they are like the  ,gnostics for  
whom nothing in the ,gospels meant what 
it seemed to mean2  they alone could    
give you the key to ,christ's inner     
meaning4    ,master ,eckhart says that  
the eternal birth which ,god the father 
bore  and bears unceasingly in eternity 
is now born in time and in human        
nature4 ,st4 ,augustine says this birth 
is always happening4 ,but1 if it  happen

 not in me1 what does it profit me8     
,what matters is that it shall  happen  
in me4 ,so what matters for the mystic1 
and his readers1 is that  the eternal   
truth shall happen and be expressed in  
him1 in his actual  words4 ,we must not 
be told that we can find it by turning  
from one work  to another and by piecing
 them all together4 ,he must utter it   
sentence  by sentence1 and it must      
happen in his sentences1 with pain and  
labour  perhaps1 but still here and now 
and in these very words4    ,in ,blake's
 ,prophetic ,books sometimes it happens 
and sometimes it does  not1 and often   
,blake by his very method seems to      
prevent it from  happening4 ,he has the 
weakness of many mystics1 the desire for
 a vast  geometrical system equivalent  
to the reality he believes himself to be
  aware of4 ,such a system1 if once a   
man will abandon his mind to it1  can   
unroll itself almost automatically1 like
 a fugue4 ,but many fugues  are empty of
 content2 they persuade the composer    

that he is saying  something with the   
mechanical inevitability of their form2 
and they  may also persuade the hearer4 
,it is the very mechanism that prevents 
him from saying anything and the hearer 
from seeing its emptiness4 ,we  do not  
yet understand that automatism of the   
mind which can produce  form without    
content so easily2 the automatism of    
improvisation in  many arts1 which you  
find in some cubist pictures1 in much   
music1  and in ,prophetic ,books of all 
ages1 especially in the ,bible4 ,blake  
himself speaks of it1 with seeming      
inconsistency1 in his preface to        
,jerusalem3 ,when this verse was first  
dictated to me1 ,i considered a         
monotonous cadence like that used by    
,milton and ,shakespeare1 and all       
writers of ,english ,blank ,verse1      
derived from the modern bondage of      
,riming1 to be a necessary and          
indispensable part of verse4 ,but ,i    
soon  found that in the mouth of a true 
,orator such monotony was not only      

awkward but as much a bondage as rime   
itself4 ,i therefore have produced  a   
variety in every line1 both of cadences 
and number of syllables4  ,every word   
and every letter is studied and put into
 its fit place4  ,you may ask how there 
could be this choice and study where the
 verse  was dictated2 but ,blake means1 
no doubt1 to describe a process of      
writing half-conscious and              
half-unconscious1 as a composer might   
choose  to write a fugue and then let it
 write itself4 ,we may use ,sheridan's  
words of this method3 ,easy writing     
makes damned hard reading2 and          
,jerusalem is not easy to read4    ,yet 
it contains great passages and ideas1 of
 which ,messrs4 ,maclagan  and ,russell 
give a very clear account in their      
edition of it4 ,like all  the great     
mystics1 ,blake was a foreteller of the 
discoveries of modern  psychology2 he   
knew the evils of suppression--,sooner  
murder an infant  in its cradle than    
nurse unacted desires--and his story1 in

 so far as  there is one1 is the story  
of the human mind in its effort to reach
  unity1 not by suppression but by      
sublimation4 ,yet it seems to me that   
his ideas often lost their way in the   
myth which he made about them2  it is   
like allegorical painting in which there
 is a conflict between  the allegory and
 the people and things represented1 and 
a sacrifice  of one conflicting element 
to the other4 ,in ,blake's story you    
have  to remember that the characters   
are not men and women but different     
parts or faculties of the human mind2   
this requires a kind of double          
attention fatal in itself to the        
experience of a work of art1 a double   
attention like that sometimes demanded  
by symphonic poems1 in which you  have  
to remember the story while you are     
listening to the music4 ,if you  are    
writing about the faculties of the human
 mind it must be best1 both  for        
yourself and for your readers1 to call  
them by their names and to  see them as 

themselves2 so will you think most      
clearly and so will the  reader         
understand most easily4    ,the         
subject-matter of ,jerusalem is really  
philosophy and psychology1  and it is   
better expressed in the prose sentences 
of the ,marriage of  ,heaven and ,hell  
than in myth4 ,this should be read first
 by those who  wish to understand       
,blake's ideas4 ,like ,nietzsche1 he    
went beyond good  and evil4 ,good       
according to the religious1 he says1 is 
the passive  that obeys reason2 evil is 
the active that springs from energy2 but
 for  ,blake himself the conflict       
between this active and passive is the  
real  evil2 it is what makes men prefer 
dreams to reality4 ,by the ,marriage  of
 ,heaven and ,hell he means the         
reconciliation of reason and energy  and
 the destruction of the delusive1       
dreamer's1 sense of a sin which  yet    
allures4 ,he who desires but acts not   
breeds pestilence4 ,if the  fool would  
persist in his folly he would become    

wise4 ,the pride of the  ,peacock is the
 glory of ,god4 ,exuberance is beauty4  
,energy is eternal  delight4 ,those who 
restrain ,desire1 he says1 do so because
 theirs is  weak enough to be           
restrained2 and the restrainer or       
,reason usurps its  place and governs   
the unwilling4 ,to ,blake ,christ means 
the harmonious  man in whom desire is   
master1 and uses reason as an           
instrument4 ,from  this follows his     
belief1 which is the belief underlying  
all religion1  that true1 supreme and   
harmonious desire is for reality1 and   
that from  it alone can reality be      
discovered4 ,everything possible to be  
believed  is an image of the truth4     
,but1 of course1 belief to ,blake means 
real  belief1 belief of the whole self1 
belief that is acted upon1 not the      
acceptance of anything on authority4 ,i 
asked--,does a firm persuasion  that a  
thing is so1 make it so8 ,he            
replied--,all poets believe that  it    
does1 and in ages of imagination this   

firm persuasion removed  mountains2 but 
many are not capable of a firm          
persuasion of anything4  ,firm          
persuasion is that unity of the self    
which1 for ,blake as for all  mystics1  
is salvation4    ,blake is united to    
,christianity by his mystical doctrine  
of  forgiveness2 that is what makes him 
one of the great designers or  creators 
of ,christianity1 those who know what   
,christ himself meant1  in whom his     
passion is born anew1 and to whom his   
theology is natural  truth4 ,this       
doctrine expresses itself in ,blake's   
poetry without symbol2  we need no key  
to understand it1 and1 whenever it      
possesses him1 it  lifts him to its own 
height and clearness4 ,the evil of      
unforgivingness1  to him1 is in the     
remembrance of sin which keeps the sin  
itself alive3          ,to record the   
sin for a reproach1 to let the ,sun go  
down        ,in a remembrance of the    
sin1 is a woe and a horror1        ,a   
brooder of an evil day1 and a ,sun      

rising in blood4        ,come then1 ,o  
,lamb of ,god1 and take away the        
remembrance of sin4    ,that is so1     
whether a man remembers the sin of      
others or his own2 and  he who remembers
 the sin of others will remember his    
own4 ,the sense  of sin comes of the    
conflict between reason and desire2 what
 we have  to do is to end that conflict 
and attain to supreme desire and firm   
persuasion2 thinking of the conflict    
only perpetuates it4 ,the religion  of  
,jesus was for ,blake freedom from the  
past1 and we attain to it by  forgetting
 the sins of others2 then we can        
forgive1 and forget1 our  own past      
selves4 ,hence his doctrine that ,jesus1
 the child of desire1  was born in the  
forgiveness of sin2 and the most        
beautiful passage in  ,jerusalem is the 
forgiveness of ,mary by ,joseph and her 
song that  follows1 ,o ,forgiveness and 
,pity and ,compassion6 ,if ,i were pure 
,i  should never have known ,thee3 ,if  
,i were unpolluted ,i should never have 

glorified thy ,holiness1 or rejoiced in 
thy great ,salvation4 ,there is  the    
same doctrine in the last section of the
 ,everlasting ,gospel1 and  it runs all 
through the ,songs of ,innocence and    
,experience4 ,god ,himself  for ,blake1 
as for ,christ1 is1 by the very logic of
 the idea ,god1 ,he  who pities and     
forgives1 ,he who blots out the past2   
the divine energy  pours itself out in  
pity and forgiveness1 making life and   
growth and  beauty out of sin itself1   
justifying even evil1 since1 by the     
forgiving  and forgetting of it1 it is  
changed into a good more subtle1 more   
entrancing1 more assured of an infinite 
increase than any pure good  that needs 
no change or forgiveness4    ,in his    
expressions of this doctrine ,blake     
rises above all our poets  by reason of 
the richness of his mastered content4   
,he is simpler and  deeper1 more        
passionate and more philosophic1 and    
attains in art to  that harmony which he
 foretells in life4 ,when ,i think of   

it1 ,i am in  danger myself of seeing in
 him the one prophet1 the one poet1 the 
infallible4 ,i am sure1 at least1 that  
he will seem greater through all  the   
new discoveries and enlarged experience 
of posterity4          ,,shelley ,,and  
,,his ,,publishers    7,with ,some ,new 
,letters7    ,by ,,roger ,,ingpen       
,shelley's transactions with his        
publishers were numerous2 the books  of 
no great ,english poet1 and certainly   
none whose literary career at  the most 
extended for not more than thirteen     
years1 can have borne  the names of so  
many separate firms4 ,until he placed   
his poems in the  hands of the ,olliers1
 almost every book was issued by a new  
publisher4  ,every one of his works was 
a failure1 and only one went into a     
second  edition2 his wide fame as a poet
 was entirely posthumous4 ,although     
none of ,shelley's publishers was       
sufficiently interested to repeat the   
experience of issuing a second book by  
him1 he was not discouraged  by this    

want of sympathy4 ,he continued until   
the end to write and  to print his works
 at his own expense1 and1 if possible1  
to find  publishers for them4 ,in the   
absence of a publisher he issued them   
himself4 ,he began and ended by         
verse-writing1 but in the interval his  
work was varied enough1 comprising      
novels1 drama1 philosophy1 satire1      
religious polemics1 and politics4 ,in   
recalling some facts connected  with    
,shelley's literary enterprises a       
curious repetition of names and         
incidents will be noticeable4 ,there    
were two separate publishers of  the    
name of ,stockdale with whom he treated1
 one in ,pall ,mall and the  other in   
,dublin4 ,there was an ,eton and an     
,eaton1 the former a printer  in        
,dublin1 and the latter the publisher of
 the ,third ,part of ,paine's  ,age of  
,reason1 on behalf of whom ,shelley     
wrote his ,letter to ,lord              
,ellenborough4 ,stockdale1 of ,pall     
,mall1 and ,munday1 of ,oxford1 both    

listened with astonishment to his       
unrestrained conversation on matters  of
 religion1 and endeavoured to lead him  
into an orthodox frame of  mind4 ,his   
boyish appearance and engaging          
enthusiasm undoubtedly made  a strong   
appeal to them4 ,there was a prolonged  
similarity in the fate  of some of his  
early productions4 ,practically the     
whole edition of the  ,victor and       
,cazire volume was destroyed at the     
author's request1 and  ,the ,necessity  
of ,atheism and the ,letter to ,lord    
,ellenborough shared  a like fate1      
though without ,shelley's consent4      
,in the year #ahji ,shelley and his     
cousin1 ,tom ,medwin1 wrote a poem  in  
the style of ,scott's narrative verse on
 ,the ,wandering ,jew4 ,it  was sent to 
,scott's publisher1 ,ballantyne1 of     
,edinburgh1 who replied  that it was    
better suited to the character and      
liberal feelings  of the ,english than  
the bigoted spirit which the writer     
declared  yet pervades many cultivated  

minds in this country4 ,even ,walter    
,scott is assailed on all hands at      
present by our ,scotch spiritual  and   
evangelical magazines and institutions  
for having promulgated  atheistical     
doctrines with ,the ,lady of the ,lake4 
,this astonishing  statement was        
evidently an excuse for declining ,the  
,wandering ,jew1  which found no        
publisher during ,shelley's lifetime4   
,he was1 however1 at  that date busily  
occupied with his novel ,zastrozzi1     
which he offered  to ,longmans4 ,he may 
have been drawn to that firm as the     
publishers of a  romance1 which he is   
said to have admired and indeed to have 
imitated  in ,zastrozzi1 entitled       
,zofloya1 or the ,moor1 by ,mrs4 ,byron1
 or  ,charlotte ,dacre1 better known by 
her pseudonym1 ,rosa ,malilda4 ,although
  rejected by ,longmans1 ,zastrozzi was 
published while ,shelley was still  at  
,eton by another ,paternoster ,row firm1
 ,wilkie and ,robinson4 ,we are  told   
that the young author received #dj or   

#ej for the book1 apparently  the only  
money he ever earned by his pen1 which  
sum he spent in  providing a farewell   
banquet to twelve of his schoolfellows4 
,there is a tradition that ,shelley's   
grandfather1 ,sir ,bysshe1 paid for  the
 printing at ,horsham of some of the    
boy's earliest writings1 but  apparently
 none of these efforts has survived4    
,local printing offices  seem to have   
had an attraction for ,shelley2 we shall
 see later that he  printed books at    
,dublin1 ,barnstaple1 ,oxford1 ,leghorn1
 and ,pisa4    ,shelley's selection of  
,worthing1 rather than ,horsham1 for his
 next  venture may have been determined 
by his desire for secrecy4 ,he made  a  
selection of seventeen poems by himself 
and his sister ,elizabeth  with the     
title of ,original ,poetry by ,victor   
and ,cazire1 and put it  into the hands 
of ,c4 and ,w4 ,phillips1 of ,worthing4 
,a daughter of the  printer1 an         
intelligent1 brisk young woman1 was the 
active member  of the firm1 with whom   

,shelley was on very good terms4        
,shelley took  great interest in the    
technical side of the business1 and     
spent hours  in the printing office     
learning typesetting4 ,some months later
 when  at ,oxford he had occasion to    
find a printer for his pamphlet1 ,the   
,necessity of ,atheism1 he again        
resorted to ,messrs4 ,phillips1 who both
  printed and added their names to the  
tract4 ,when ,shelley got into  trouble 
in connection with ,the ,necessity1 his 
father's solicitors  drafted a letter   
warning the printers of an impending    
prosecution1 and  recommending them not 
to proceed with the printing of any     
manuscripts  that they might have by    
,shelley4 ,apparently the letter was    
never sent1  and no prosecution was     
instituted against the printers1 as     
,munday1  the ,oxford bookseller1 who   
had been an unwilling agent in selling  
the  pamphlet1 sent a similar warning to
 them4    ,before the printing of the   
,original ,poetry of ,victor and ,cazire

 was  completed1 ,shelley called on ,j4 
,j4 ,stockdale1 a publisher in ,pall    
,mall1  and persuaded him to publish the
 volume4 ,stockdale was a man with a    
doubtful past1 who had issued a good    
deal of verse on commission for  obscure
 verse-writers1 besides the scandalous  
,memoirs of ,harriette  ,wilson4 ,in    
later years he described1 in            
,stockdale's ,budget1 a  curious        
publication which is to be seen in the  
,british ,museum1 how he  received #adhj
 copies of the ,original ,poetry1 and   
how he discovered1  after some of them  
had been sent out to the press1 that the
 volume  contained a poem by ,m4 ,g4    
,lewis4 ,on inviting ,shelley to explain
  this circumstance1 the poet expressed 
the warmest resentment at  the          
imposition practised upon him by the    
coadjutor1 and instructed  ,stockdale to
 destroy all the remaining copies2 only 
three or four are  now known to have    
survived4 ,in the meantime ,stockdale   
had undertaken  to revive and publish   

,shelley's second novel1 ,st4 ,irvyne3  
or1 the  ,rosicrucian4 ,the author's    
expectation to get at least #fj for this
  romance from ,robinson1 the publisher 
of ,zastrozzi1 was not realised1  as the
 terms arranged with ,stockdale were    
that the book should be  published at   
the author's expense4 ,the publisher    
mournfully recorded  the fact some years
 later that the romance did not sell1   
and that  he was never paid for the     
printer's bill4 ,while ,st4 ,irvyne was 
going through the press ,shelley used to
 call at ,stockdale's shop4  ,the       
publisher became alarmed at the tone of 
,shelley's conversation1  and1 in the   
hope that his intentions would be well  
received1 he  communicated his          
suspicions to ,shelley's father4 ,mr4   
,timothy ,shelley1  however1 only       
snubbed ,stockdale for his pains4       
,shelley was furious at  the            
interference1 and all hopes of obtaining
 a settlement of his bill  vanished4    
,when ,mr4 ,timothy ,shelley took his   

son up to ,oxford in ,october1 #ahaj1   
he called with him at the shop of       
,munday  ,slatter1 the booksellers1     
where he advised him to get his supplies
 of books and stationery4  ,then1       
turning to the bookseller1 he said1 ,my 
son here has a literary  turn1 he is    
already an author1 and do pray indulge  
him in his printing  freaks4 ,a month   
later ,shelley took some of his verses  
to ,munday1 who  agreed to publish them4
 ,his friend ,hogg saw the proofs and1  
ridiculing  their intended sincerity1   
suggested that with some corrections    
they  would make burlesque poetry4      
,shelley somewhat reluctantly agreed1   
and  the verses were altered to fit the 
title of ,the ,posthumous ,verses  of   
,margaret ,nicholson1 edited by her     
nephew1 ,john ,fitzvictor4 ,the  lady in
 question was a mad washerwoman1 who had
 attempted the life of  ,george ,,iii4  
in #aghf1 and was in #ahaj still an     
inmate of ,bedlam1 though  nominally    
dead as far as the world was concerned4 

,the fictitious nephew ,fitzvictor was  
apparently a son of the ,victor who  had
 but recently collaborated with the     
peccant ,cazire4 ,when ,shelley         
informed the bookseller that he had     
changed his mind about publishing1  and 
showed him the altered verses1 ,munday  
was so pleased with the idea  that he   
offered to publish the book on his own  
account1 promising  secrecy and as many 
gratis copies as might be required4 ,the
 book was  issued as a bold quarto1 and 
it became the fashion1 says ,hogg1 among
  gownsmen to be seen reading it in the 
,high ,street1 as a mark of nice        
discernment of a delicate and fastidious
 taste in poetry and the very  criterion
 of a choice spirit4 ,shelley was       
frequently in ,munday   ,slatter's shop1
 where he was in the habit of talking on
 his favourite  subjects4 ,the          
booksellers1 like ,stockdale1 became    
uneasy at the tone  of his conversation 
and endeavoured to reason with him4     
,failing to  make any impression1 they  

persuaded him to meet a ,mr4 ,hobbes1   
for  whom they afterwards published a   
poetical work called ,the ,widower4     
,mr4 ,hobbes undertook to analyse       
,shelley's arguments1 and endeavoured   
to refute them philosophically4 ,but    
,shelley was not convinced2 he  declined
 to reply in writing to ,mr4 ,hobbes'   
arguments1 and declared  that he would  
rather meet any or all of the           
dignitaries of the ,church  than one    
philosopher4 ,if ,mr4 ,hobbes' arguments
 were no better than his  verses1       
,shelley was fully justified in his     
objections4 ,mr4 ,slatter1  who has left
 a record of these facts1 tells us that 
when some months  later ,shelley strewed
 the windows and counters of ,munday's  
shop with  copies of ,the ,necessity of 
,atheism1 which he had caused to be     
printed  by his ,worthing friends the   
,phillips1 he instructed their shopman  
to  sell the pamphlet as fast as he     
could at a charge of sixpence each4 ,the
  result was magical4 ,mr4 ,walker1     

,fellow of ,new ,college1 dropped into  
the  shop and examined the tract and    
drew the booksellers' attention to its  
dangerous tendency4 ,they resolved to   
destroy the copies1 and promptly  made a
 bonfire of them in the back kitchen4   
,shelley's expulsion from  the          
,university followed in due course4     
,shelley's activities in ,dublin1 in    
,february and ,march1 #ahab1 made  it   
necessary for him to employ a printer1  
or printers1 for his two  pamphlets1 ,an
 ,address to the ,irish ,people and     
,proposals for an  ,association of      
,philanthropists1 but neither of these  
tracts bore  the name of a publisher1   
and there are no details forthcoming of 
the  circumstances connected with their 
production4 ,shelley1 however1 placed  a
 collection of his poems in the hands of
 a firm of ,dublin printers1  ,messrs4  
,r4 and ,j4 ,stockdale1 but they refused
 to proceed with the book  until they   
were paid1 and it was never issued4 ,the
 manuscript was  recovered after        

,shelley left ,dublin1 and remained     
unprinted for seventy  years1 until     
,professor ,dowden included some        
selections from it in his  ,life of     
,shelley4    ,i can find no record of   
when or how ,shelley first met ,thomas  
,hookham1  but his earliest published   
letter to him1 ,july #bith1 #ahab1 was  
evidently preceded by others that have  
not been preserved4 ,hookham's  ,library
 was an old-established business in ,old
 ,bond ,street1 and about  the year     
#ahaa ,thomas ,hookham the younger and  
his brother ,edward started  publishing 
on their own account at their father's  
address4 ,they issued  the second       
edition of ,peacock's ,the ,genius of   
the ,thames and ,the  ,philosophy of    
,melancholy1 and ,hogg's novel1         
,memories of ,prince ,alexy  ,haimatoff1
 of which ,shelley subsequently wrote a 
review4 ,shelley sent  ,thomas ,hookham 
copies of his ,letter to ,lord          
,ellenborough1 which he  had printed at 
,barnstaple1 but the tract shared the   

same fate as ,the  ,necessity of        
,atheism1 and was destroyed by the      
printer as a dangerous  publication4    
,one copy was preserved by ,hookham1 the
 only one now known  to exist2 it is in 
the ,bodleian ,library4 ,in ,march1     
#ahac1 when ,shelley  was in ,dublin for
 the second time1 he sent ,hookham the  
manuscript of  ,queen ,mab1 and added   
that he was preparing the notes to be   
printed  with the poem1 which was to be 
long1 philosophical1 and                
anti-,christian4  ,do not1 he said1 let 
the title-page be printed before the    
body of  the poems4 ,i have a motto to  
introduce from ,shakespeare and a       
preface4  ,i shall expect no success4   
,let only #bej copies be printed in a   
small  neat quarto1 on fine paper1 and  
so as to catch the aristocrats4 ,they   
will not read it1 but their sons and    
daughters may4 ,nothing further  seems  
to be known about the printing of the   
poem4 ,it was issued as a  small octavo1
 with a title-page bearing the name of  

,shelley as author  as well as printer1 
and the address of his father-in-law1   
#bc ,chapel  ,street1 ,grosvenor        
,square4 ,the late ,mr4 ,edward         
,hookham1 ,thomas ,hookham's  nephew1   
stated that ,queen ,mab was the cause of
 ,shelley's quarrel  with ,hookham4 ,a  
coolness was certainly evident between  
the poet and  the publisher after       
,shelley came to ,london in #ahac4      
,queen ,mab may  have been placed in the
 printer's hands before ,hookham saw the
 notes1  and when he saw them he        
probably declined to go on with the book
 or  allow it to bear his name4 ,but    
,shelley's connection with ,hookham1    
which  previous to this rupture had been
 friendly1 was not entirely severed1    
for ,hookham's imprint1 with ,ollier's1 
appears on ,the ,history of a ,six      
,week's ,tour1 #ahag4 ,thomas ,hookham  
was a cultivated and well-read man  and 
the author of an anonymous little record
 of foreign travel which  he undertook  
during the same year as ,shelley's visit

 to the ,continent1  and published as ,a
 ,walk through ,switzerland in          
,september1 #ahaf4 ,he  is said to have 
written the ,shelley ,memorials1 which  
is described on  the title-page as by   
,lady ,shelley1 the wife of ,shelley's  
son4 ,thomas  ,hookham's brother1       
,edward1 was the friend and             
correspondent of ,thomas  ,love         
,peacock1 whose letters to him have been
 lately printed4    ,the ,vindication of
 ,natural ,diet1 ,shelley's vegetarian  
tract1 was  reprinted in #ahac from one 
of the notes to ,queen ,mab4 ,as the    
text  of the pamphlet differs in some   
respects from that as given with the    
poem1 it is evident that ,shelley was   
responsible for the reprint1  which was 
issued by ,j4 ,calow1 a medical         
bookseller in ,soho4 ,nothing1  however1
 is known of the circumstances connected
 with the publication  of this tract1   
and there are no references to it in    
,shelley's published  correspondence4   
,john ,murray was not one of ,shelley's 

publishers1 but he had some             
correspondence in #ahaf with the ,great 
,cham of ,albemarle ,street4 ,in  his   
first letter he described himself as a  
total stranger and  offered ,murray the 
publication of ,alastor1 of which he had
 printed  #bej copies at his own        
expense4 ,the offer was declined1 and   
the book  was subsequently published by 
two firms1 ,baldwin1 ,craddock  ,joy1 of
  ,paternoster ,row1 and ,carpenter     
,son1 of ,old ,bond ,street4 ,in the    
summer  of that year ,shelley was in    
,switzerland with ,byron1 who requested 
him  to correct and see through the     
press the third canto of ,childe ,harold
  and ,the ,prisoner of ,chillon4       
,shelley brought the ,,ms4 of the       
,childe  with him to ,england1 and when 
he saw ,murray he reminded him that he  
wished to see the proofs4 ,from a later 
letter it appears that ,murray          
announced the poems without sending the 
proofs to ,shelley1 who at once  wrote  
urging him to carry out ,byron's        

request4    ,the names of the ,olliers1 
,shelley's last publishers1 first appear
  on the title-page of his ,hermit of   
,marlow pamphlet1 ,a ,proposal  for     
,putting ,reform to the ,vote throughout
 the ,kingdom1 #ahag4 ,this  tract must 
have been one of the first publications 
of ,charles and  ,james ,ollier to bear 
their imprint1 for they commenced       
business at  #c ,welbeck ,street1       
,cavendish ,square1 in the year #ahag4  
,the ,ollier  family was of ,french     
descent1 but they had been settled in   
the ,west of  ,england for many years4  
,charles ,ollier1 ,shelley's            
correspondent in  his negotiations with 
the firm1 was born at ,bath in #aghh1   
came up to  ,london and entered a       
banking house4 ,at an early age he      
showed a liking  for literature1 and    
developed a taste for collecting and    
reading old  books4 ,he subsequently    
became an author and the friend of      
authors1  among whom was ,leigh ,hunt1  
who probably introduced him to ,shelley4

  ,ollier and ,hunt were both devoted to
 the theatre and to music4 ,hunt        
addressed his verses1 ,a ,thought on    
,music3 suggested by a ,private         
,concert1 ,may #acth1 #ahae1 to ,ollier1
 who published some volumes of  ,hunt's 
poetry4 ,one of the earliest of the     
,olliers' publications was  ,keats's    
first volume of ,poems1 #ahag4 ,the     
book1 unhappily1 was not  well received1
 and ,keats1 who attributed its want of 
success to the  neglect of his          
publishers1 took his next volume1       
,endymion1 to another  firm4 ,the       
,olliers published besides ,lamb's works
 in two volumes1 #ahah1  and ,ollier's  
own stories1 ,altham and ,his ,wife and 
,inesilla1 all  of which are mentioned  
in the letters printed below4 ,shelley  
followed  up his pamphlet with a more   
ambitious venture1 namely1 ,laon and    
,cythna1 which he printed at his own    
expense1 and arranged for it to be      
published jointly by ,sherwood1 ,neeby1 
,jones1 and the ,olliers4 ,before  the  

book was published1 but after some      
copies had been sent out1 ,ollier       
discovered in the poem certain passages 
which he regarded as too frank  for     
circulation1 at least by his hands4     
,shelley agreed1 though not  without    
some vigorous protests1 to tone down the
 offending expressions1  and the book   
was issued1 with the names of the       
,olliers alone1 as ,the  ,revolt of     
,islam4 ,the correspondence relating to 
this and other matters  has been        
published1 but the following letters to 
,ollier have not1 so  far as ,i am      
aware1 been printed1 except portions of 
the first and last4  ,ollier apparently 
kept all the letters that he received   
from ,shelley1  but when ,mrs4 ,shelley 
asked for the use of them1 he declined  
on the  score that they were valuable to
 him and he had been offered no money4  
,to conclude these remarks on ,ollier1  
it may be mentioned that he also        
published for ,shelley ,the ,cenci1     
second edition 7#ahba71 ,rosalind and   

,helen 7#ahai71 ,prometheus ,unbound    
7#ahbj71 ,epipsychidion 7#ahba71 and    
,hellas 7#ahbb74 ,he also issued a      
publication called ,olliers' ,literary  
,miscellany 7#ahbj71 to which ,peacock  
contributed an essay on ,poetry4  ,this 
essay prompted ,shelley to write as a   
reply his eloquent ,defence  of ,poetry1
 which was intended for a later issue1  
but the first was the  only number      
issued4 ,the ,olliers abandoned         
publishing in #ahbb1 the year  of       
,shelley's death4 ,their want of success
 was attributed to a lack of  business  
capacity on the part of the partners and
 insufficient capital4      ,to         
,,charles ,,ollier4                     
,great ,marlow1                  ,march 
#ad1 #ahag4    ,,dear ,,sir1--,be so    
kind as to let the ,books ,i ordered 7so
 far as you have  completed them7 to be 
sent together with my prints            
immediately--by the  ,marlow ,coach4    
,mr4 ,hunt has1 ,i believe1 commissioned
 you to get me a proof  impression of a 

print done from a drawing by ,harlowe of
 ,lord ,byron3 ,i  said that it should  
be framed in oak1 but ,i have changed my
 mind and  wish it to be finished in    
black4    ,how does the pamphlet sell8  
,dear sir1 yours very truly1            
,p4 ,b4 ,,shelley4    ,send in addition 
,mawe's ,gardening ,calendar4           
,marlow1                  ,april #bc1   
#ahag4    ,mr4 ,shelley requests        
,messrs4 ,ollier will have the goodness 
to send the  books and the little       
pictures as soon as they can4           
,in great haste1                  ,bagni
 di ,lucca1                      ,june  
#bh1 #ahah4    ,,dear ,,sir1--,i write  
simply to request you to pay ten pounds 
on my  account to a person who will call
 on you1 and on no account to  mention  
my name4 ,if you have no money of mine  
still pay it at all  events and cash the
 enclosed at the bank4                  
,ever most truly yours1                 
,p4 ,b4 ,,shelley4    ,the person will  
bring a note without date signed ,a4 ,b4

    ,it is of so great consequence that 
this note should be paid that ,i hope   
if there is any mistake with ,brookes   
you will pay it for me1 and if you  have
 none of mine in your hands1 that you   
will rely on my sending it  you by      
return of ,post4              ,postmark 
,f4 ,p4 ,o41 ,sep4 #a1 #ahah4    ,,dear 
,,sir1--,oblige me by honouring a draft 
of #bj that will be presented  to you   
signed ,a4 ,b4 ,if there should be any  
mistake with the bankers it  shall be   
rectified by return of ,post1 but ,i    
earnestly intreat you to  pay the draft4
    ,of course these letters are put to 
my account4                ,sir1 yours  
very truly1                      ,,percy
 ,b4 ,,shelley4    ,i had just sealed my
 other letter when ,i discovered the    
necessity of  writing again4            
,probably ,august #bj to #bd1 #ahai4    
,,dear ,,sir1--,yesterday evening came  
your parcel1 which seems to have been   
above a year on its voyage4 ,be good    
enough to write soon1 instantly1  about 

my books1 etc41 and how the eclogue#aj  
sells1 and whether you  wish to continue
 to publish for me4 ,i have no          
inclination to change  unless you wish  
it1 as your neglect might give me reason
 to suppose4 ,i  have only had time to  
look at ,lamb's works1 but ,altham and  
,endymion  are both before me4          
#aj ,rosalind and ,helen4    ,i have two
 works of some length1 one of a very    
popular character1 ready  for the press4
    ,be good enough to pay for me seven 
pounds to ,mr4 ,hunt4    ,with best     
wishes for your literary and all other  
success4                ,i am1 yours    
truly1                      ,p4 ,b4     
,,shelley4    ,pray send a copy of my   
,poem or anything which ,i may hereafter
 publish  to ,mr4 ,keats with my best   
regards4#aa          #aa ,shelley had   
cancelled here ,if ,i should say when ,i
             have read it that ,i admire
 ,endymion he probably4    ,accept my   
thanks for ,altham and ,his ,wife3 ,i   
have no doubt that the  pleasure in     

store for me this evening will make me  
desire the company  of their cousin     
,inesilla4              ,postmark ,may  
#cj1 #ahbj4    ,pray tell me--are there 
any differences between you and ,mr4    
,hunt1 and  if so1 do they regard the   
advance either made or proposed to be   
made to  him on my quitting ,england8   
,you know ,i pledged myself to you to   
see all right on that subject1  and if  
any dispute should have arisen without  
giving me an opportunity  of arranging  
it1 ,i have reason to think myself      
slighted--,i imagine you  cannot mistake
 the motives which suggest this         
question4 ,mrs4 ,shelley is  now        
transcribing for me the little poems to 
be printed at the end of  ,prometheus2  
they will be sent in a post or two4     
,pisa1          ,april #cj1 #ahbj4      
,,dear ,,sir1--,i observe that an       
edition of ,the ,cenci is advertised as 
published in ,paris by ,galignani4#ab   
,this1 though a piracy both upon  the   
author and the publisher1 is a proof of 

an expectation of a certain  demand for 
sale that probably will soon exhaust the
 small edition ,i  sent you4 ,in your   
reprint you will be guided of course by 
the apparent  demand4 ,i send a list of 
errata2 the incorrectness of the forms  
of  typography1 etc41 which are         
considerably numerous1 you will be so   
obliging as to attend to yourself4 ,i   
cannot describe the trouble ,i had  with
 the ,italian printer4          #ab     
,this edition was never published4    ,i
 request you to give me an immediate    
answer to the questions of my  last     
letters4 ,reynell the printer has sent  
in his account for the  ,six ,weeks'    
,tour1 which of course ,i counted upon  
to pay from the  profits--and ,i        
therefore suspend my answer until ,i    
receive yours and  ,hookham's accounts4 
,i do not particularly care about an    
account item by  item4 ,i only wish to  
possess a general idea of our mutual    
situations  in regard to profit and     
loss--and this will be afforded by your 

reply  to my late letters1 which ,i     
reiterate my request that you will be   
good  enough to attend to4    ,mr4 and  
,mrs4 ,gisborne1 my particular friends1 
are now on the point of  leaving ,italy2
 they will call on you2 and any         
politeness in your power  to them ,i    
shall regard as a particular favour to  
myself4 ,be kind enough  to present them
 with copies of whatever ,i have        
published4 ,they only  propose to stay  
in ,england a few weeks4    ,i beg you  
to send me all the abuse4               
,dear ,sir1              ,your obliged  
faithful ,servt41                       
,,percy ,b4 ,,shelley4    ,address      
,pisa4    ,i have just heard from ,mr4  
,hunt1 who tells me that you propose    
publishing ,peter ,bell4 ,this ,i have  
no objection to provided my name  is    
entirely suppressed1 not that ,i am not 
ready to answer to anything  that it    
contains1 but that ,i think it a trifle 
unworthy of me seriously  to            
acknowledge4                            

,naples1              ,february #bi1    
#ahah4          ,postmark ,f4,p4,o41    
,mr4 #bj1 #ahai4    ,,dear ,,sir1--,pray
 let me hear from you addressed to ,rome
 on the several  subjects of my last    
letter1 and especially to inform me of  
the name of  the ship and the mode of   
address by which my box was sent4 ,as   
yet ,i  have no tidings of it4          
,your obliged servant1                  
,,percy ,b4 ,,shelley4    ,n4,b4--,if   
you do not write within three months    
after the receipt of this  address as   
before1 ,mr4 ,gisborne1 ,livorno4       
,pisa1          ,june #af1 #ahba4       
,,dear ,,sir1--,i am requested to       
propose to you1 for publication1 a work1
  of which the accompanying sheets are a
 specimen1 on the terms stated  in the  
enclosed paper2 that is that you should 
defray the expenses of  printing1 etc41 
and divide the profits with the         
author4#ac ,should you  object to this  
arrangement1 be kind enough to tell me  
on what terms1  short of the author's   

entire risk1 you would be inclined to   
engage in  it4          #ac ,this work1 
a commentary by ,taafe on ,dante1 was   
printed1 like ,adonais1 at ,pisa by a   
printer who used             the types  
of ,didot1 the celebrated ,french       
typefounder4             ,byron         
interested himself in the book1 and it  
was             subsequently published  
by ,john ,murray4 ,professor            
,dowden printed the middle paragraph of 
this letter4    ,the more considerable  
portion of this work will consist of the
 comment4  ,i have read with much       
attention this portion1 as well as the  
verses1  up to the eighth ,canto2 and ,i
 do not hesitate to assure you that the 
lights which the annotator's labours    
have thrown on the obscurer  parts of   
the text are such as all foreigners and 
most ,italians would  derive an immense 
additional knowledge of ,dante from4    
,they elucidate  a great number of the  
most interesting facts connected with   
,dante's  history of his times2 and     

everywhere bear the mark of a most      
elegant  and accomplished mind4 ,i know 
you will not take my opinion on ,poetry1
  because ,i thought my own verses very 
good1 and you find that the public      
declare them to be unreadable4 ,show    
this to ,mr4 ,procter1 who is far       
better qualified to judge than ,i am4   
,there are certainly passages  of great 
strength and conciseness2 indeed the    
author has sacrificed  everything to    
represent his original truly1 in this   
latter point pray  observe the great    
beauty of the typography2 they are the  
same types as  my elegy on ,keats is    
printed from4    ,you cannot do me a    
greater favour than in making some      
satisfactory  arrangement with the      
author4 ,of course ,i cannot expect1 nor
 do ,i wish1  that you should undertake 
any thing that should not fairly promise
  to promote your own interest4 ,but    
pray allow my recommendation to         
overbalance1 if your determination      
should be in equilibrium4 ,i feel       

persuaded that ,i am recommending a most
 excellent work1 and one without  which 
the history and the spirit of the age of
 ,dante as relates to him  will never be
 understood by the ,english students of 
that astonishing  poet4            ,dear
 sir1 your obliged and obt4 servt41     
,,percy ,b4 ,,shelley4      ,pisa1 ,june
 #af1 #ahba4          ,,photography     
,,and ,,art    ,by ,,howard ,,hannay    
,i    ,ever since ,plato reluctantly    
condemned art on the ground that it was 
mere imitation of superficial outward   
appearances the problem of art  has been
 disputed on this basis4 ,plato did not 
allow the artist any  initiative except 
to imitate1 and his conception of ideal 
beauty had  no connection with the      
activities of the poet1 painter1 and    
sculptor3  it was not concerned with    
sthetic beauty1 but with intellectual   
and  moral fitness and perfection4      
,aristotle gave a slightly different    
interpretation to the work of the       
artist1 defining it as a description  of

 the possible as contrasted with history
 which determines what has  actually    
happened4 ,plotinus introduced the      
element of the ideal3 the  artist does  
not so much imitate natural reality as  
externalise an  archetype existing in   
his mind or soul4 ,plotinus partly      
identified art  with ,plato's ideal     
beauty4    ,these three alternative     
views constitute the starting-point for 
the  three chief divergent explanations 
of art which have been developed  during
 the last two thousand years4 ,in modern
 terminology they would  be designated  
as theories of art1 respectively as     
reproduction1  as imagination1 as       
idealisation4 ,the extent of their      
mutual  discrepancy varies according to 
the exact meaning attached to the  last 
two conceptions1 imagination and        
idealisation4 ,for instance1  if the    
latter ultimately amounts to selecting  
certain particularly  attractive real   
forms and events1 it is virtually merely
 an eclectic  process of reproduction4  

,imagination1 again1 may be regarded    
simply as  a composite memory4 ,samuel  
,butler said1 ,imagination is mainly    
memory1  but there is a small percentage
 of creation of something out of nothing
  with it4 ,it is only in so far as     
imagination is creative that it is      
different in kind from reproduction1    
from perception and history4 ,and  if   
idealisation is not a selection of given
 realities but a making  articulate of  
an inner vision it also is a kind of    
imagination1 only it  is confined to the
 pleasantly beautiful1 the attractive4  
,the importance  of all three           
definitions tends to be diminished when1
 as is often the  case with modern      
theories1 the chief emphasis is laid on 
the feeling  or emotional element in    
art4 ,natural objects and real events   
can  presumably excite emotion as much  
as imaginative creations1 and this  fact
 appears to lend a new value to the act 
of reproduction4 ,the centre  of        
interest is transferred from the        

knowledge content to the feeling of  the
 subject and the knowledge content1 the 
consciousness of the object  is regarded
 simply as a cause which brings about   
that for which art  exists1 viz41       
emotion4 ,the aim of reproduction is no 
longer intrinsic1  but falls outside in 
the resultant subjective feeling4 ,but  
this  means a somewhat arbitrary        
distinction between the emotion and the 
representation4 ,in actual concrete     
experience the two are so closely       
linked together that they appear almost 
identical3 the emotion inheres  in the  
representation4 ,it cannot1 therefore1  
be regarded as an instance  of cause and
 effect3 it is not analogous to the     
process of a pin and  the ensuing prick1
 where the cause1 the pin1 is quite     
distinct from and  independent of the   
feeling of pain4 ,mere associations of  
ideas are1  on the other hand1 nearer to
 the cause and effect sequence4 ,a      
certain  scent recalls a whole chapter  
of one's past history4 ,mr4 ,bosanquet's

  portmanteau reminds him of            
,florence4#ad ,for this reason a        
tendency  is apparent to connect emotion
 more definitely with imaginative and   
idealistic art4 ,mere reproduction is   
cold and bald and only evokes  an       
emotion by a fortuitous association of  
ideas3 whereas the genuine  product     
expresses or contains the emotion2 and  
in doing so it is  thought that it      
inevitably alters the natural or        
historical fact1  distorting1           
transmuting it4          #ad ,three     
,lectures on sthetics1 p4 #di4    ,the  
applicability of these various theories 
appears on the surface1 at  any rate1 to
 differ according to the different arts4
 ,no one can be a  thorough-going       
realist with regard to music1 which is  
so indisputably  a self-contained       
independent construction4 ,it may be    
debatable whether  music expresses      
experiences which are not of music1 but 
music certainly  does not imitate or    
reproduce them unless they are in the   

first place  sounds1 and for the most   
part they are not4 ,the problem1        
therefore1 is  not whether music        
reproduces but whether it expresses     
anything except  itself4 ,literature1   
again1 can only directly imitate        
conversations  between people3 for the  
rest it can only reproduce indirectly   
either  by symbolising or expressing4   
,the symbol is purely arbitrary1 it is  
entirely a referring to something other 
than itself4 ,letters of the  alphabet  
have become symbolical4 ,the expression1
 on the other hand1  contains something 
of the object expressed1 it carries a   
world in  itself and of its own4        
,literature is admittedly expression1   
and here  the problem takes the form of 
a contrast between history and fiction1 
whether at bottom literature only       
expresses historical fact 7realism7  or 
imagined fact1 the possible4            
,painting and sculpture are for the     
sthetic theorist in many ways the  most 
complex of the arts4 ,as has been       

pointed out1 neither music nor          
literature can be said to reproduce     
directly if they reproduce at all1      
because they employ a different medium1 
namely1 sounds and words4 ,but  painting
 and sculpture apparently employ as a   
medium the very objects  to be          
reproduced or expressed1 viz41 colours  
and lines4 ,in literature  the word     
refers to a reality that seemingly is   
not itself a word4 ,in  painting the    
picture and the reality can apparently  
be matched so  that here literally the  
picture imitates reality4 ,outside and  
around  us are already colours and      
forms1 but there are no words1 and only 
the  crudest sounds4 ,and so painting is
 easily regarded as par excellence  the 
imitative or reproductive art1 and of   
all arts to have the easiest  and most  
direct criterion3 resemblance to        
external reality4      ,,ii    ,these   
are the premises with which the realists
 and the romanticists1  cubists1        
futurists1 etc41 start4 ,they all assume

 rather navely the  existence of an     
immediately perceived natural reality of
 given colours  and forms4 ,their       
divergence is in their views as to the  
activity of the  artist in respect of   
this natural reality4 ,the realist      
considers that  the painter's function  
is to transcribe it1 to copy it on to   
canvas4  ,he may select certain aspects 
which appeal to him1 in fact he paints  
a particular scene exactly because that 
scene gives him more pleasure  than     
others4 ,but his creativeness is limited
 to this selection of given  scenes and 
to their skilful and accurate           
reproduction4    ,the opponents of this 
view 7and they include the majority of  
persons  who have any serious           
acquaintance with painting7 maintain    
that the  essential element in a picture
 is not its resemblance to something    
else1 but its intrinsic interest1 and1  
this being the case1 so long  as the    
painting contains and conveys an emotion
 that is inherent in  its line and      

colour it does not matter if there is   
not a literal  resemblance to real      
objects4 ,in fact1 it is thought that   
the very  effort to express a subjective
 mood centring round an external        
situation1 to project one's own         
imaginative life into that which  itself
 has no life1 inevitably results in a   
certain distortion of the  natural      
reality1 in a deliberate emphasising of 
certain features4 ,the  line vibrates   
with feeling1 the colour is grouped and 
blended so as to  conform to the emotion
 of the individual mood1 irrespective of
 whether  out there the artist can      
actually see such an arrangement4 ,the  
photograph has tended strongly to       
confirm this theory4 ,back in the       
eighties ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds wrote1 ,the   
artist cannot avoid modifying his       
imitation of the chosen object by the   
impression of his own subjective        
quality4 ,human art is unable to        
reproduce nature except upon such  terms
 as these4 ,it cannot draw as accurately

 as the sun does by means  of the       
photographic camera4 ,art will never    
match the infinite variety  and subtlety
 of nature2 no drawing or painting will 
equal the primary  beauties of the      
living model 444 yet art has qualities  
derived from the  intellectual selective
 imaginative faculties of man which more
 than  justify its existence4 ,walter   
,pater went a step further and asserted 
that ,art constantly aspires towards the
 condition of music4 ,for while  in all 
other works of art it is possible to    
distinguish the matter from  the form   
and the understanding can always make   
this distinction1 yet it  is the        
constant aim of art to obliterate it4   
,the cubist and futurist art theories   
are a logical development of  certain   
implications contained in arguments such
 as these3 they are an  attempt to make 
pictorial and plastic art identical with
 what music  is supposed to be to get   
rid altogether of the irrelevant incubus
  of representation4 ,they are quite    

distinct from the explanation  often    
advanced for the primitive              
simplificatory character of             
,post-,impressionist art4 ,the latter   
retains and is not a bit afraid of a    
representative content2 it merely       
advocates a revolt from tradition and   
from the inclusion of facts which we    
know to be there in the objects         
depicted without actually seeing or     
perceiving them4 ,its purpose is  not a 
musical elaboration of our vision1 but a
 clarification and  purging of it of all
 derivative and merely intellectual     
elements4 ,hence  the stress laid on the
 art and vision of the child and the    
primitive4  ,there is no doubt1 however1
 that the explanations offered of the   
art of  ,gauguin1 ,van ,gogh1 and       
,czanne gradually led to the cubist     
theory4 ,it  was felt that not only were
 these artists breaking away from       
tradition  in order to attain clearness 
and directness of vision1 but that their
  vision was expressive rather than     

representative4 ,primitive art1 like    
the art of children1 consists not so    
much in an attempt to represent  what   
the eye perceives as to put a line round
 a mental conception  of the object4    
,like the work of the primitive artist1 
the pictures  children draw are often   
extraordinarily expressive4#ae          
#ae ,catalogue1 ,post-,impressionist    
,exhibition1 ,grafton                   
,galleries1 #aiaj-aa1 pp4 #aa-ab4    ,it
 should be noted that the early         
,post-,impressionists were artists      
first and theorists afterwards1 and they
 did not themselves produce  the        
theories which attempt to explain their 
art4 ,the later men1 on  the other hand1
 appear to have consummated a remarkable
 marriage of  philosophical reflection  
and artistic expression4 ,their art is  
the  conscious execution of their       
argument4 ,there is no a priori         
objection  to this luminous rationality4
 ,the only essential is that the        
argument  should be correct4 ,therefore1

 while one cannot condemn the art of    
,van  ,gogh1 ,gauguin1 and ,czanne on   
the ground that the explanatory theories
  subsequently put forward are          
fallacious1 a great many of the cubist  
experiments live or fall with their     
theory4    ,while ,cubism and ,futurism 
had a similar origin they very soon     
parted  ways1 and each followed the     
light of its own peculiar               
interpretation4  ,the difference of     
opinion concerned not the departure from
  verisimilitude to persons and natural 
objects1 about which both were  in      
agreement1 but the content and character
 of the expression4 ,the  futurists     
wanted1 so to speak1 programme music1   
the cubists pure music  without any     
taint of worldly and literary           
associations4 ,it is curious  that these
 two movements which started so near    
together should diverge  to either      
extreme1 ,cubism to enshrine itself in a
 pure inhuman emotion  which possesses  
an absolutely divine in itselfness1 but 

is totally  unrelated to the rest of    
life1 and can1 therefore1 only be       
ejaculated  about1 and ,futurism to     
introduce brutally life into art1 to    
combat the  old ideal sthetic1 static1  
decorative1 effeminate1 precious1       
cynical  that loathed action4#af ,cubism
 is fugitive1 mystical1 averse to       
science and the world of raw human      
passion4 ,futurism is explosive with    
mundane energy2 it is not merely a      
theory of art1 literature1 music1 it  is
 a new orientation embracing the whole  
of life2 on every question1  in         
,parliament1 in communal councils1 and  
in the market-places1 men are  divided  
into lovers of the past 7passatisti7 and
 futurists4 ,yet it  is not so much the 
whole of life that the futurists wish to
 express as  that part of it which is   
peculiarly modern1 its movement1 its    
flux1 its  dynamism4 ,any theory of a   
disruptive1 hurly-burly aspect is grist 
to  the mill of ,futurism4 ,with what   
acclamation will ,professor ,einstein's 

relativism be greeted3 except that space
 should be angular rather than          
gracefully curved6 ,and it is again     
curious how the extremes tend to  meet4 
,the ,futurist's state1 nous aspirons   
la cration d'un type  inhumain en qui   
seront aboli la douleur morale1 la bont1
 la tendresse  et l'amour4#ag ,man must 
become metallic1 mechanical1 and        
dynamical4  ,mr4 ,clive ,bell aspires   
7if only in art7 after an inhuman       
emotion  crystallised in abstract       
plastic form1 in intricate relations of 
masses3 a sort of divine mathematical   
matter4          #af ,noi ,futuristi6   
,milan1 #aiag4          #ag ,le         
,futurisme1 by ,maxinetti and others4   
#aiaa4    ,recently an interesting      
controversy has taken place in the      
,burlington  ,magazine between ,mr4     
,roger ,fry and ,mr4 ,d4 ,s4 ,maccoll on
 the question  of representative and    
abstract or purely decorative form4 ,mr4
 ,maccoll  stands for the older school  
of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds2 ,mr4 ,roger ,fry   

would  assimilate pictorial art to music
 and deprive it altogether of a world   
outside itself4 ,both are in agreement  
as to art being non-photographic1  and  
as to the existence parallel with or    
prior to visual emotional art  of a     
photographic visual consciousness4 ,art1
 they both admit1 is not  reproductive2 
to reproduce is the function of         
photography and of the  photographic    
side of our minds4    ,art is           
temperamental1 the expression in line   
and colour of emotion4 ,but  while ,mr4 
,maccoll thinks that the emotion lies   
mainly in the rhythm  of the objects    
represented1 ,mr4 ,fry considers that we
 are wrong in  concerning ourselves     
either with the ideas and sentiments of 
the artist  or with his interpretation  
of objects4 ,we must appreciate and     
judge  a drawing solely according to the
 degree of beauty the lines set up      
among themselves4 ,mr4 ,maccoll shrewdly
 points out that ,mr4 ,fry and his      
school always lay great emphasis on     

mass1 volume1 plasticity1  etc41 which  
are definitely characters of objects    
and1 therefore1  representative4 ,it is 
possible1 however1 to go further3 even a
 line and  a colour are natural objects1
 and if we are able to find enjoyment in
  simple arrangements of lines and      
colours1 why should we not find equal   
enjoyment in trees and clouds and hills 
and people8 ,stated thus these  are     
generalities1 but so are lines and      
colours3 in a picture1 however1  or a   
decoration they are endowed with        
individual life1 with a unique  tone and
 significance4    ,in order to be       
absolutely logical1 neither ,mr4 ,roger 
,fry nor ,mr4 ,clive  ,bell should      
attempt to describe or explain a picture
 at all4 ,it is a  world in a watertight
 compartment entirely severed and shut  
off from  the ordinary world4 ,it either
 throws us into an ecstasy or it does   
not1  but these ecstasies are so many   
discrete units1 and if they differ  we  
cannot articulate the difference4 ,we   

ought not1 for instance1 to  describe   
early ,italian art as ascetically       
religious1 ,botticelli as  pagan and    
lyrical1 ,hogarth as satirical4 ,for    
this would be ascribing  to art a       
content extracted from life1 it would be
 turning art into  literature4 ,even    
literature1 however1 at its best is     
devoid of meaning4  ,in great poetry1   
writes ,mr4 ,clive ,bell1 it is the     
formal music that  makes the miracle4   
,the poet expresses in verbal form an   
emotion but  distantly related to the   
words set down4 ,and he quotes          
,shakespeare's  poetry as an instance of
 this great meaningless word music4     
,this surely  is the reductio ad        
absurdum of the whole theory4    ,mr4   
,clive ,bell defines art as significant 
form4 ,at first sight it would  appear  
as though the delimitations set up by   
the reduction of art to  abstract form  
were swept away by the admission of     
significance which  might include in its
 range the whole world4 ,but the        

significance is  indescribable except in
 terms of form itself4 ,hence there is a
 certain  justification in ,mr4         
,maccoll's contention that ,mr4 ,clive  
,bell really  means insignificant form4 
,in his reply ,mr4 ,bell falls back on  
the  conception of emotion4 ,the        
significance is emotional1 it is not    
only  incommunicable except by means of 
the actual work of art1 but is  also    
totally unrelated to life in general3 it
 is an intelligible and  self-contained 
department of its own1 and does not     
require the liaison  work of the        
critical guide and commentator4    ,the 
fact is that in their most legitimate   
preoccupation of ensuring  that the work
 of art shall be a world in itself1 a   
unity whose  essential significance and 
content does not lie outside itself in a
  world of which it is merely a         
superfluous copy1 but is firmly grasped 
and held in its imaginative synthesis so
 that the content is identical  with the
 form4 ,messrs4 ,roger ,fry1 ,clive     

,bell and ,co4 have gone  absolutely to 
the other extreme and deprived the work 
of art of all  content and significance2
 they have rendered it a discrete unit  
instead  of an individual unit4 ,now1   
there is only one mental activity which 
deals with discrete units1 and that is  
mathematics4 ,hence we can detect  a    
gradual assimilation in their critical  
terminology to the language of          
mathematics and physics4 ,the mysticism 
of art is becoming the mysticism  of    
planes1 angles1 cubes1 surfaces and     
relations of lines and masses4    ,but  
,mr4 ,clive ,bell has another and       
equally legitimate preoccupation4 ,he   
has observed that he experiences the    
same kind of pleasure from a fine  piece
 of architecture1 a specimen of pottery1
 a decoration on a carpet1  as from a   
painting inside a frame which ostensibly
 refers to people and  objects existing 
independently outside the frame4 ,and he
 concludes that  all these works must   
admit of reduction to a common          

denomination1 they  all have that in    
common which induces us to call them    
works of art4  ,obviously as            
architecture is non-representative in   
the ordinary sense1  we must excogitate 
a general definition which does not     
necessitate  representation4 ,and so by 
a simple classificatory abstracting     
process  he arrives at the formula of   
significant form4    ,now this expressly
 refers only to pictorial art and does  
not pretend to  be a definition of      
music1 literature1 dancing1 etc4 ,these1
 however1 all  come under the heading of
 art1 and any formula for any single    
branch of  art must contain something of
 the universal essence of art in        
general4  ,this cannot lurk in the      
conception of form1 because by form ,mr4
 ,bell  means not the logical concept1  
but the spatial physical image4 ,it     
must1  therefore1 inhere in the         
conception of significance4 ,pictorial  
art is  something significant expressed 
in the medium of spatial form4 ,but here

  we come up against the first          
preoccupation of eschewing all so-called
  literary content4 ,the significance of
 ,rembrandt's dramatic masterpiece1  for
 instance1 ,christ and the ,woman taken 
in ,adultery1 must consist  in the      
relation of the colours and lines to    
each other and not in its  intensely    
dramatic human expression1 which is an  
illegitimate literary  association of   
ideas4 ,the significance is wrapt up in 
the abstract  spatial image and1        
therefore1 so far from defining the     
essence of all  art1 including          
literature and music1 it will not even  
cover dramatic  representational        
painting4 ,in his preoccupation of      
including decorative  art in his        
definition ,mr4 ,bell has excluded all  
other kinds of art1 and  has simply     
universalised the idiosyncrasy of       
decorative art4    ,he has not1 however1
 really achieved that1 because even     
decorative  art has what ,mr4 ,bell     
would call a literary significance4 ,no 

one can  seriously reflect upon         
,egyptian1 ,greek1 and ,gothic          
architecture without  admitting how     
profoundly they are charged with        
historical meaning1 and  that it is     
precisely this meaning which            
differentiates them and gives  them     
their individuality4 ,they are the      
spirit of their respective ages1  caught
 up and embodied in what by an          
abstractive process of thought we  refer
 to as abstract form4 ,actually it is   
only abstract when thought of  apart    
from a particular instance3 in any given
 instance1 e4g41 the  ,cenotaph in      
,whitehall1 it is as concrete and       
individual as an ordinary  picture or   
statue3 it is a manifestation and       
expression of the human  mind in a      
particular set of circumstances4    ,the
 foregoing analysis brings out two      
facts4 ,the new art of abstract         
significant form is not1 strictly       
speaking1 anything new3 it is as  old1  
if not older1 than representational art1

 and it is equally  pregnant with       
literary meaning4 ,until quite recently1
 however1 it has  never been condensed  
into the form of a picture and          
surrounded with  a frame2 it has almost 
without exception been connected with   
objects  of utility4 ,this does not     
detract from its value in the slightest2
 it  may mean that abstract art will    
outlive the picture2 it is simply a     
statement of historical fact4 ,nor can  
we draw the immediate inference  that   
abstract art is inappropriate in a      
frame4 ,certainly the contrary  would be
 inappropriate3 that is to say1 if we   
built a house in the form  of an        
,assyrian lion or made a hearthrug after
 ,rembrandt's picture of  an old woman4 
,but it is significant that the cubist  
and futurist art  has so far exercised a
 far greater and more beneficial        
influence in  the direction of curtains1
 upholstery1 and dresses than of        
pictures4  ,moreover1 one of the leading
 ,english apostles of futurist art1 ,mr4

  ,wyndham ,lewis1 is beginning to      
realise the immense field which lies    
open to him in the sphere of            
architecture1 and is growing impatient  
with the limitations and narrow confines
 of the picture frame4#ah          #ah  
,the ,caliph's ,design4 ,the ,egoist    
,ltd4 ,a brilliant             piece of 
destructive writing4    ,however this   
may be1 the lovers both of              
representational art and of  abstract   
art must live and let live1 and the     
wrangle as to which is the  most        
perfect1 the purest kind of art1 is as  
sterile and futile as the  dispute over 
prose and poetry1 opera and chamber     
music1 tragedy and  comedy4      ,,iii  
,the problem1 however1 of photographic  
reproduction and of imagination  still  
awaits a satisfactory solution4 ,we have
 seen that no objection  whatsoever can 
be raised against the marvellous        
representative detail  of1 say1 ,jan    
,van ,eyck's ,jan ,arnolfini and ,his   
,wife4 ,nor can we  explain the joy and 

love expressed in the picture by        
reference merely  to the forms and      
colours in abstraction from the objects 
and persons4  ,for that would be        
transforming the living and individual  
unity of  artistic vision into the      
abstract schemata of scientific thought4
 ,and  art is not science1 although it  
might very well express the delights    
and struggles of the scientist4 ,but1 on
 the other hand1 there are  pictures    
which1 at any rate1 appear to represent 
objects with the  same accuracy and     
detail as ,jan ,van ,eyck1 and yet      
definitely fail to  rank as works of    
art4 ,they may often give us pleasure1  
they are often  informative1 but a      
little introspection reveals that that  
pleasure  is due to our being reminded  
of something that is not itself in the  
picture1 and that the information is not
 about our emotion but about an         
historical or a scientific fact4        
,similarly with the photograph which    
has still greater precision of          

scientific 7not artistic7 observation1  
and for that very reason is artistically
 still more jejune and barren4  ,but    
there is yet another visual product     
which is neither photographic  nor      
artistic reproduction1 namely1          
imaginative representation4  ,from      
internal as well as external evidence we
 can infer that certain  pictures were  
painted by the artist out of his head1  
and others from  the models1 and we find
 that artists like ,velasquez1 who      
painted  masterpieces from the model1   
often failed miserably in their attempts
  at imaginative work4#ai ,of course1 it
 is doubtful how far this  distinction  
can be carried2 for we have no direct   
proof that many of  the most realistic  
pictures were not pure inventions1 and  
that much  of the apparently imaginative
 work1 such as ,blake's1 was not simply 
composite memory4 ,imagination is just  
as dangerous and ambiguous a term  as   
reproduction4          #ai ,cf4 ,la     
,couronnement de la ,vierge4 ,a         

voluminous mass             of pompous  
clothing floating on some well-fed      
babies'             heads4    ,these1   
then1 are the facts to be explained4 ,on
 the one hand1 we  have undeniably a    
reality of perception and photography   
which is not  that of art but often     
extraordinarily akin to it2 on the other
 hand1  we have a visual art which      
divides itself into three groups1 each  
of which qua art is of equal value3     
realistic1 imaginative1 and1  thirdly1  
formal1 decorative1 or abstract art4    
,what is desired is some  synthetic     
conception which will make intelligible 
the similarities  and differences and   
contradictions dwelling in these1 at any
 rate1  superficially different kinds of
 vision4    ,behind the conception of   
thinkers like ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds there    
always lay  the photographic reality    
which was the common reality of         
everyone1 and  supplied all the         
materials for the artist's reality3 the 
framework  of forms and colours1 of     

objects and persons4 ,it was regarded   
from  the sthetic point of view as      
rather a nightmare1 for it was so       
unemotional1 so much the same all       
through1 so unpliable4 ,and the         
explanation of art was that it consisted
 of this same reality1 but as  seen     
through the temperament of the artist   
and1 therefore1 somehow1 by  some       
mysterious wizardy1 coloured with       
emotion1 electrified into all  kinds of 
subjective illuminations1 a fascinating 
mirage4 ,or instead of  the word        
temperament one substituted the phrase  
creative imagination4  ,this means      
substantially the same thing1 but it    
leads us away a bit  further from       
photographic reality1 widening the gulf 
between the two4  ,we cannot create the 
outer world1 but we can create an inner 
world of  imagination1 and actually     
bring into our life something intimately
 new1  shedding a light of its own that 
never was on sea or land4 ,drive this   
argument a little further and we arrive 

at ,cubism and ,futurism4    ,this is   
the philosophical view which dominates  
most art criticism  of to-day1 and      
probably quite rightly so4 ,it is fairly
 safe1 and it  corresponds to the facts 
with tolerable accuracy4 ,it is         
sufficiently  eclectic not to offend    
either an ardent philosophical realism  
or an  ardent idealism4 ,and it does not
 fall into the error of condemning  one 
kind of art and exalting another1       
although our sthetic taste  when        
unprejudiced by theory proclaims both   
kinds equally delightful4  ,this1       
however1 is no reason why we should not 
attempt to deepen the  theory with a    
view to giving it a closer organic unity
 and explaining  facts which it does not
 seem at present to take into account4  
,needless  to say1 we may get entangled 
and strike out on a wrong track4 ,for   
thinking1 like everything else1 is      
experimental4      ,,iv    #a4 ,the very
 first observation to be made is that   
ordinary vision is not  photographic3 it

 is shot through and through with       
emotional elements  which are part and  
parcel of every concrete colour and form
 that is  seen4 ,the photographic       
reality is obtained by a process of     
thinning  down1 so that only the        
skeleton of similarities remains4 ,it   
consists of  a consciousness of general 
facts--this is a tree1 it has leaves    
with  clearly delineated edges1         
underneath it is a brown and white cow4 
#b4 ,nevertheless1 even if the normal   
man in the street were to depict        
precisely the semi-emotional reality    
which he sees1 it would not  necessarily
 be a work of art4 ,the ,royal ,academy 
is a convincing proof  of this fact4    
,but this is not because the normal     
man's vision is  essentially different  
from that of the artist2 the reason is  
just the  opposite3 his seeing is       
borrowed from the artist1 it is         
second-hand  property4 ,considered in   
connection with the co-ordinated        
arrangement  of the ordinary man's life 

this borrowed vision is absolutely      
correct  and in its place1 just as is   
his borrowed knowledge of science1      
mathematics1 history4 ,but if he tries  
to isolate it and put it apart in  a    
frame1 claiming for it an original      
independent value1 it immediately       
becomes false1 pretentious1 sentimental4
 ,it still1 however1 is not             
photographic3 it is an emotion out of   
place4 ,there is1 of course1 also  in   
,academy pictures a great deal of       
photography1 that is to say of  general 
statement4    #c4 ,the artistic disvalue
 of such statements lies not in the fact
 that  they are reproductive and true to
 nature1 but in the deliberate          
stripping of all emotional content4 ,so 
far from giving a completer  and truer  
account of reality1 the photograph gives
 a thoroughly  impoverished account4#bj 
,it must not1 however1 be inferred that 
art  should assist or take the place of1
 say1 geological drawings1 because      
these drawings are intentionally        

confined to similarities and general    
facts4          #bj ,the cinematograph  
drama might become genuine art1         
because one can look through the        
generality of the             photograph
 into the human imaginative synthesis4  
,it             is on a par with a      
photograph of a picture or of a         
building4    #d4 ,the conception of the 
creative imagination is liable to lapse 
into a false kind of mysticism4         
,imagination is always about reality4   
,rembrandt possessed a marvellous       
imagination1 yet for that very reason   
he has considerably increased and       
enhanced the human consciousness of     
reality4 ,in the same way the interior  
of a beautiful church evokes  and       
deepens our consciousness of religious  
emotion1 and1 therefore1  of the        
profound significance of life4 ,and it  
is not the life of some  abstract       
mysticism1 but of man in the travail of 
history4 ,all art is  imaginative1 but  
it is equally real and objective1 it    

adds to our  consciousness of the world 
in which we live4 ,we need not even     
object to  the metaphor about holding   
the mirror up to nature1 for we cannot  
see  ourselves except in a mirror4      
,it might be possible1 therefore1 to    
overcome the apparent distinction       
between painting from the model and out 
of one's head1 and to  show that they   
are both the same kind of activity4     
,there is no doubt  that imaginative    
work has its roots in ordinary          
perception2 even the  creator of pure   
designs is using lines and colours which
 are visible1  and he gets his          
suggestions from the external world4    
,and even though  in the process of     
creating the artist seems to move away  
from external  reality into his inner   
being1 the created product is definitely
 about  external reality4 ,the ,cenotaph
 in ,whitehall is our mourning over the 
dead3 ,goya's etchings ,the ,disasters  
of ,war are part of our concrete        
consciousness of war4 ,blake1 too1 where

 he is not lost in impossible           
symbolism1 is always referring back to  
life4    ,on the other side1 every piece
 of ordinary perception is shot through 
with imagination1 as with emotion4 ,the 
mind is not a tabula rasa1  but a most  
marvellous and intricate activity4 ,and 
there is another  explanation possible  
of the difference between the art1 say1 
of  ,velasquez and of ,fra ,angelico    
than that the one was reproductive1 the 
other the work of fantasy4 ,at the time 
of ,velasquez the whole interest  and   
value of life centred round man and     
pre-eminently round the life  of kings  
and nobles4 ,on these people was        
focussed the emotional  imagination of  
the age4 ,to ,fra ,angelico the world   
was altogether  different2 its          
quintessential value lay outside it in  
our experience  after death3 this life  
was but a preparation for the next1 and 
art  was as it were the imaginative     
anticipation of the loveliness of       
heaven4 ,nevertheless1 this anticipation

 spoke in terms of the most  refined    
delights of this world1 and the pan to  
heaven was but a pan  to the beauty of  
life4 ,or if one may diverge from the   
artist to an  appreciator of art1 it is 
clear from ,mr4 ,clive ,bell's book1    
,art1  that at the back of his mind     
there is a mystical metaphysics1 a sort 
of  conviction that the objects and     
events of this muddled material world   
are contemptible1 and that we must seek 
for the reality of realities  in some   
aloof inhuman state of consciousness4   
,this is his third and in  many ways    
most interesting preoccupation4    #e4  
,each of the three definitions of art   
referred to at the beginning  of this   
essay1 those of ,plato1 ,aristotle1 and 
,plotinus1 sets up claims  which must be
 satisfied if we do not want to be      
continually dogged by  their importunate
 ghosts4 ,one of the strongest          
objections to ,plato's  premise that the
 artist imitates is that it does not    
allow any element  of novelty4 ,it is   

true that in the physical act of        
painting the  artist reproduces his     
vision1 and that this act requires      
considerable  technical accomplishment4 
,but throughout the principal1          
all-powerful1  radiating influence is   
the vision4 ,this cannot correctly be   
called  reproductive2 it is just the    
unmediated consciousness of something1  
and of that something for the first     
time4 ,for instance1 the artist         
apparently works with a limited number  
of colours just as the musician  with   
notes2 but out of these he produces     
entirely new colours in  combination    
7colours are never really out of        
combination71 just as the  musician     
produces literally new sounds4 ,and this
 production is not a  mere abstract     
physical fact1 it is emotional and can  
contain the whole  significance of a    
given period of history4 ,the seeing of 
the colours  and the emotional impulse  
coincide3 it is an act of creation4 ,nor
 do  the colours belong1 so to speak1   

merely to the artist's palette and      
canvas1 they are seen out there in      
nature4 ,it is a new vision of  nature4 
,it is1 however1 futile for the man in  
the street1 when he  sees the picture   
for the first time1 to refer back to his
 own past  experience1 because this is a
 new experience1 a new vision4 ,at the  
same  time1 although the picture is hung
 up indoors in a room or gallery1  the  
vision pierces1 as it were1 right       
through the canvas and walls and  comes 
to a halt out there in the mysterious   
and infinite world4 ,we have  seen that 
this process of consciousness is        
undoubtedly imaginative1  even if the   
completed product is almost historically
 real4 ,it is not  a mere statement of  
fact1 but it always includes facts1     
surrounding  them with concrete living  
individuality4 ,further1 it always      
contains  an element of the ideal1 of   
aspiration1 not of an abstract          
schematised  ,utopia or stereotyped     
moralising1 but of a pulsating          

individual love  and hate4 ,in all art1 
even in the most realistic1 this is     
transparent4  ,it is1 in a sense1 the   
goodwill bending over the present and   
dreaming  of the future4    ,briefly1   
pictorial and plastic art is the        
creation of the visual  feeling or      
emotional consciousness of the human    
mind4 ,as such it is  inseparably bound 
up in real objects1 actions1 and events4
 ,remove it  7speculatively in thought7 
and you get the bare though magnificent 
framework of science and the stark      
matters-of-fact of history4             
,,prose ,,and ,,mortality    ,by ,j4 ,c4
 ,,squire      ,in recent years several 
editors have put together anthologies of
  ,english prose passages1 among them   
,mr4 ,s4 ,l4 ,edwards 7,an ,anthology of
  ,english ,prose2 ,dent71 ,messrs4     
,broadus and ,gordon 7,english ,prose2  
,milford71 ,mr4 ,treble 7,english       
,prose2 ,milford71 and ,professor ,cowl 
7,an ,anthology of ,imaginative ,prose2 
,simpkin74 ,only the last of these      

books has much in common with the       
treasury#ba now presented by ,mr4       
,logan ,pearsall ,smith4 ,there are many
 kinds of good prose1 of which  ,samuel 
,butler's is one1 ,jane ,austen's       
another1 ,cowley's another3 but  the    
last two of these authors do not appear1
 and the first is only here  by favour4 
,a few exceptions are made1 presumably  
owing to personal  predilections or a   
feeling that such and such a great prose
 name  should not be omitted4 ,swift is 
an instance4 ,his prose1 the faithful   
reflection of his mind1 has many        
qualities1 but it is out of place  here4
 ,generally speaking1 to satisfy ,mr4   
,pearsall ,smith1 in his present        
capacity1 it is not enough--in fact1 it 
is not anything--that prose  should be  
adequate to its purpose1 neat1 easy1    
vivacious1 well-knit4  ,it must be prose
 on what by common consent is the       
highest level of  prose1 prose          
impeccably written1 and prose with a    
dignity1 a richness1  a sonority or a   

sweetness of flow that rival the        
attributes of great  poetry4 ,almost all
 his examples come into this category3  
he has no room  here for the most       
vigorous pages of ,scott or the most    
amusing chapters  of ,dickens4 ,his     
extracts are to be detachable jewels1   
gorgeous or  exquisite4 ,on his fly-leaf
 he quotes ,keats3          #ba ,a      
,treasury of ,english ,prose4 ,edited by
 ,logan ,pearsall             ,smith4   
,constable4 #fs4 net4      ,i had an    
idea that a ,man might pass a very      
pleasant life in this    manner--let him
 on a certain day read a certain page of
 full ,poesy    or distilled ,prose1 and
 let him wander with it1 and muse upon  
it1    and reflect from it1 and bring   
home to it1 and prophesy upon it1    and
 dream upon it3 until it becomes        
stale--,but when will it do so8         
,never--,when ,man has arrived at a     
certain ripeness in intellect    any one
 grand and spiritual passage serves him 
as a starting-post    towards all the   

two-and-thirty ,palaces4 ,how happy is  
such a voyage of    conception1 what    
delicious diligent indolence6           
,distilled ,prose1 grand and spiritual  
passage3 the editor gives no  other     
explanation than this second-hand one1  
but that is enough4    ,we must grant   
,mr4 ,pearsall ,smith his ground1 but on
 that ground  every reader is sure--as  
an anthologist's readers always will    
be--occasionally to quarrel with him4   
,his earlier selections1 from  the      
,bible1 ,donne1 and ,jeremy ,taylor1    
could not1 ,i think1 have been  better4 
,he was bound to fill a good deal of his
 space with the  seventeenth-century    
religious writers4 ,he does not overlook
 ,south2 and  he gives a numerous and   
glittering selection from ,milton1 one  
of the  few ,english writers who have   
contrived to keep their singing-robes   
about them1 with whatever effort1 when  
writing about every sort of  mundane    
subject4 ,he has found almost everything
 that he could have  wanted in the      

writers of the eighteenth century1 and  
he gives many  perfect passages from    
,coleridge1 ,shelley1 ,keats1 and       
,landor4 ,but to  some of the ,victorian
 writers1 and to some of our            
contemporaries  7though he has quarried 
some exquisite things from unlikely     
places7  he does1 if he will allow me to
 say so1 less than justice4 ,we could   
have spared some of the eleven pages of 
,emerson for the sake of some  of the   
best paragraphs of ,ruskin1 who is given
 only two pages4 ,the  single extract   
from ,cardinal ,newman 7whose ,idea of a
 ,university  should have been searched7
 does not represent him1 and no single  
extract could4 ,there are two--there    
might well have been more--extracts     
from ,mr4 ,doughty's ,wanderings in     
,arabia4 ,the passage from ,samuel      
,butler is more sustained than ,butler's
 wont1 but scarcely worthy of           
inclusion1 though the reader would      
appreciate in any surroundings  his last
 sentence1 ,i am not very fond of       

,milton1 but ,i admit that  he does at  
times put me in mind of ,fleet ,street4 
,mr4 ,shaw appears  and ,henry ,james2  
there are good extracts from ,mr4       
,santayana and ,mr4  ,lowes ,dickinson4 
,but ,mr4 ,conrad's works--both his     
,reminiscences  and his novels--should  
have yielded many more than two pieces1 
and  some admirable modern writers of   
coloured1 musical1 and affecting  prose 
are omitted altogether4 ,mr4 ,hardy is a
 curious omission4 ,mr4  ,chesterton1 as
 a rule1 troubles too little to be a    
good subject for  this anthologist2 the 
journalist and the tumbler are always   
breaking  in2 the poet appears          
arm-in-arm with the politician1 an      
exasperating  contiguity4 ,but ,i think 
that exploration would have been        
rewarded even  had our collector gone no
 farther than the splendid last pages of
  ,the ,short ,history of ,england4     
,from ,mr4 ,hudson's books1 especially  
from ,a ,crystal ,age and ,far ,away and
 ,long ,ago1 passages1 ,i think1  could 

have been taken which would have        
competed respectably with many  that are
 here2 ,mrs4 ,meynell's essays and ,mr4 
,bertrand ,russell's last  book should  
be drawn on2 and where is ,mr4 ,belloc8 
,rupert ,brooke said  that ,mr4 ,belloc 
had a better prose style than any man   
alive4 ,i should  not dispute that3 it  
is a clear1 a precise1 an economical    
style that  serves admirably all the    
diverse uses to which its owner puts it4
 ,and  it often rises1 always quietly1  
where some poignant thing is clearly    
seen1 into sentences of noble beauty4   
,these are liable to occur almost       
anywhere2 for instance1 in a digression 
during an article on strategy4          
,possibly because he began his career   
with public facetiousness about  purple 
patches he often seems to allow a       
promising passage to break  its back    
because he will not seem artificial or  
affected4 ,he fetters  his              
consciously-exercised powers and he can 
seldom let himself go1 as  it were1     

unconsciously4 ,in his books it would   
therefore be far more  easy to find     
short passages than long ones of the    
kind included in  this anthology2 for   
any other sort of prose anthology his   
work should  be thoroughly ransacked4   
,nevertheless there are long ones4 ,my  
memory  is that there are certainly     
several in ,the ,four ,men and in the   
books  of essays4 ,to hunt for examples 
which one will have no room to quote    
would be tiresome2 there is a long      
passage in ,the ,absence of the ,past   
which begins3      ,there was a woman of
 charming vivacity1 whose eyes were ever
 ready    for laughter1 and whose tone  
of address of itself provoked the       
noblest of replies4 ,many loved her2 all
 admired4 ,she passed 7,i will          
suppose7 by this street or by that2 she 
sat at table in such and such    a      
house2 ,gainsborough painted her2 and   
all that time ago there were    men who 
had the luck to meet her and to answer  
her laughter with    their own4 ,and the

 house where she moved is there1 and the
 street in    which she walked1 and the 
very furniture she used and touched with
    her hands you may touch with your   
hands4 ,you shall come into the    rooms
 she inhabited1 and there you shall see 
her portrait1 all light    and movement 
and grace and beatitude4    ,but it is a
 stupid thing to spend much time talking
 about the omissions  from a good book2 
only less so than it would be to        
complain that it is  one sort of book   
and not another sort4 ,mr4 ,pearsall    
,smith set out to  collect prose        
passages of a certain1 the most poetical
 and resounding1  kind2 and he has made 
an admirable and a learned choice4 ,a   
perusal of  his specimens confirms in me
 an opinion previously formed as to the 
nature of this kind of prose in         
,english4 ,it is that we have a         
canonical  style for such prose1 and    
that such prose most frequently arises  
from  meditation on a definable kind of 
subject4    ,in great writers and small1

 in those whose prose marches always    
with  majesty and in those with whom    
eloquence is infrequent1 in the graceful
  and the ungainly1 in the magisterial  
and the familiar1 this thing  is to be  
discerned3 that their prose is least    
personal when at its  highest flights4  
,the observation is common that we have 
in ,england no  standard and accepted   
prose style1 but a medley of manners    
which are  continually increasing in    
number4 ,this is true4 ,but it has not  
been  generally noticed that amongst    
those passages of ,english prose1 drawn 
from authors of all our literary ages1  
which are received as being  the most   
sublime and the most musical--passages  
which have been1 and  must be1 the first
 resort of all anthologists of our prose
 who are  in search of those attributes 
of power and beauty--there is a strong  
likeness of form and feature4 ,there is 
more3 the resemblance is often  so close
 that the differences1 normally marked1 
between the styles of  writers divided  

by a great gulf of time are in such     
sentences not to  be distinguished4     
,styles so various on the lower plane   
meet1 as it  were1 on the higher3 there 
is an established1 an inevitable1 manner
  into which an ,englishman will rise   
when his ideas and images lift into     
grandeur4 ,it is the style of the       
,authorised ,version1 a style in process
  of formation long before the date of  
that ,parthenon of our prose1 but       
reaching in that its perfection1 and by 
means of that made an element  of the   
air we breathe1 and many generations    
before us have breathed1 in  childhood4 
,even in writers who never entirely lose
 the marks of their  eccentricity the   
most eloquent purple patches are always 
reminiscent4  ,emotion deepens suddenly1
 or reaches an expected climax2 the     
results  of reflection are summarised2  
by whatever route1 the author comes to  
a place at which his expression assumes 
a sublimity of imagery and a  perfection
 of rhythm2 and with the emotion he     

communicates is always  mingled the     
throe of recognition4 ,the note has been
 struck and a  hundred neighbouring     
strings respond4 ,the writer has stepped
 off the  common road and into that     
chapel where there is one ritual and one
 mode  of incantation4 ,man that is born
 of a woman1 hath but a short time  to  
live1 and is full of misery4 ,he cometh 
up1 and is cut down like a  flower2 he  
fleeth as it were a shadow1 and never   
continueth in one  stay4 ,it is the     
,prayer-,book of #aedi4 ,thou hast drawn
 together all the  far-stretched        
greatness1 all the pride1 cruelty1 and  
ambition of man1  and covered it all    
over with these two narrow words1 ,hic  
jacit4 ,it  is ,sir ,walter ,raleigh4   
,these wait upon the shore of death1 and
 waft  unto him to draw near1 wishing   
above all others to see his star that   
they might be led to his place2 wooing  
the remorseless ,sisters to wind  down  
the watch of their life1 and to break   
them off before the hour4  ,it is       

,bacon4 ,a memory of yesterday's        
pleasures1 a fear of to-morrow's        
dangers1 a straw under my knee1 a noise 
in mine ear1 a light in mine  eye1 an   
anything1 a nothing1 a fancy1 a chimera 
in my brain1 troubles  me in my prayer4 
,it is ,john ,donne4 ,methusalem1 with  
all his hundreds  of years1 was but a   
mushroom of a night's growth to this    
day2 and all  the four ,monarchies1 with
 all their thousands of years1 and all  
the  powerful ,kings1 and all the       
beautiful ,queens of this world1 were   
but  as a bed of flowers1 some gathered 
at six1 some at seven1 some at          
eight--all in one morning in respect of 
this day4 ,that too is ,donne1  and his 
subject ,eternity4 ,since the brother of
 ,death daily haunts  us with dying     
,mementoes1 and ,time that grows old    
itself bids us hope  no long duration1  
diuturnity is a dream and folly of      
expectation4  ,that is ,sir ,thomas     
,browne4 ,they that three thousand years
 agone died  unwillingly1 and stopped   

death two days1 or stayed it a week1    
what is  their gain8 ,where is that     
week8 ,that is ,jeremy ,taylor4 ,when   
all is  done1 human life is1 at the     
greatest and the best1 but like a       
froward  child1 that must be played with
 and humoured a little to keep it quiet1
  till it falls asleep1 and then the    
care is over4 ,that is ,sir ,william    
,temple4 ,the present is a fleeting     
moment1 the past is no more2 and  our   
prospect of futurity is dark and        
doubtful4 ,that is ,gibbon4 ,the  stars 
that still sojourn1 yet still move      
onward2 and everywhere the  blue sky    
belongs to them1 and is their appointed 
rest and their native  country and their
 natural homes1 which they enter        
unannounced1 as lords  that are         
certainly expected1 and yet there is a  
silent joy at their  arrival4 ,the      
argument to the ,ancient ,mariner needs 
no specification4  ,laodameia died2     
,helen died2 ,leda1 the beloved of      
,jupiter1 went before4  ,it is better to

 repose in the earth betimes than to sit
 up late2  better1 than to cling        
pertinaciously to what we feel crumbling
 under  us1 and to protract an          
inevitable fall4 ,that is from a        
dialogue of  ,landor's4 ,and it would   
not taste of death1 by reason of its    
adoption  into immortal palaces2 but it 
was to know weakness1 and reliance1 and 
the shadow of human imbecility2 and it  
went with a lame gait2 but in  its      
goings it exceeded all mortal children  
in grace and swiftness4  ,that is       
,charles ,lamb4 ,in her sight there was 
,elysium2 her smile was  heaven2 her    
voice was enchantment2 the air of love  
waved round her1  breathing balm into my
 heart3 for a little while ,i had sat   
with the  gods at their golden tables1  
,i had tasted of all earth's bliss4     
,they  have quoted that passage from    
,hazlitt's ,liber ,amoris a thousand    
times4 ,like ,god1 whose servants they  
are1 they utter their pleasure  not by  
sounds that perish1 or by words that go 

astray1 but by signs in  heaven1 by     
changes on earth1 by pulses in secret   
rivers1 heraldries  painted on darkness1
 and hieroglyphics written on the       
tablets of the  brain4 ,that is de      
,quincey4 ,and again the sun blinks out1
 and the poor  sower is casting his     
grain into the furrow1 hopeful he that  
the ,zodiacs  and far ,heavenly         
,horologes have not faltered2 that there
 will be yet  another summer added for  
us and another harvest4 ,that is        
,carlyle4 ,to  what port are we bound8  
,who knows8 ,there is no one to tell us 
but such  poor weather tossed mariners  
as ourselves1 whom we speak as we pass1 
or  who have hoisted some signal1 or    
floated to us some letter in a bottle   
from far4 ,it is from ,emerson4 ,not to 
discriminate every moment some          
passionate attitude in those about us1  
and in the brilliancy of their  gifts   
some tragic dividing of forces on their 
ways1 is1 on this short  day of frost   
and sun1 to sleep before evening4 ,that1

 if modern in  conception1 altogether   
traditional in cadence and in the       
phrasing of  its close1 is from ,pater's
 ,renaissance4 ,we can therefore be     
happy  in our sorrows1 happy even in the
 death of our beloved who fall in the   
fight2 for they die nobly1 as heroes and
 saints die1 with hearts and  hands     
unstained by hatred and wrong4 ,a       
peroration3 the peroration  from the    
,poet ,laureate's ,spirit of ,man4 ,and 
in the autumn before  the snows come    
they have all gone--of all that         
incalculable abundance  of life1 of all 
that hope and adventure1 excitement and 
deliciousness  there is scarcely more to
 be found than a soiled twig1 a dirty   
seed1 a  dead leaf1 black mould or a    
rotting feather4 ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells1   
never a  careful artist or fully aware  
of what language can be1 permits himself
  some looseness in the phraseology of  
the passage from which that  sentence   
comes1 but he too falls1 as it were     
unwittingly1 into the old  music4 ,and  

here1 from another living author is a   
piece of declamation  which contains1   
indeed1 sentiments and words which would
 have been  foreign to the seventeenth  
century1 but is a true child of its     
loins3      ,we survey the past1 and see
 that its history is of blood and tears1
    of helpless blundering1 of wild     
revolt1 of stupid acquiescence1    of   
empty aspirations4 ,we sound the future1
 and learn that after a    period1 long 
compared with the individual life1 but  
short indeed    compared with the       
divisions of time open to our           
investigation1 the    energies of our   
system will decay1 the glory of the sun 
will be    dimmed1 and the earth1       
tideless and inert1 will no longer      
tolerate    the race which has for a    
moment disturbed its solitude4 ,man will
    go down into the pit1 and all his   
thoughts will perish4 ,the uneasy       
consciousness1 which in this obscure    
corner has for a brief space    broken  
the contented silence of the universe1  

will be at rest4 ,matter    will know   
itself no longer4 ,imperishable         
monuments and immortal    deeds1 death  
itself1 and love stronger than death1   
will be as though    they had never     
been4 ,nor will anything that is be     
better or be worse    for all that the  
labour1 genius1 devotion1 and suffering 
of man have    striven through countless
 generations to effect4    ,this        
passage1 summarising the conclusions    
that natural science unaided  has been  
able to reach1 is detached from a longer
 one3 it occurs in ,mr4  ,balfour's ,the
 ,foundations of ,belief4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,there 
is one music and one speech in all these
 extracts4 ,it is not the  result of    
deliberation1 but it is not an accident1
 that they have so  much else in common1
 that their very subjects are analogous4
 ,chosen1  however genuinely1 at random 
and without afterthought1 if they are   
chosen from the best1 they will be      
variations on but a few related  themes 

and half of them will be inspired by the
 direct contemplation of  death4 ,there 
are innumerable subjects which engage   
the attention1 and  they may be seen in 
countless aspects2 but that large       
utterance comes  chiefly to ,english    
lips when things1 of whatever nature    
they may be1  are regarded sub specie   
ternitatis4 ,whatever a man's philosophy
 and  whatever his mood1 when he speaks 
with this music1 he speaks with the     
voice of mankind1 awed and saddened by  
its inscrutable destiny4 ,time1  ,death1
 ,eternity1 ,mutability3 those words1   
the most awful that we know1            
insistently recur4 ,it is they1         
unuttered yet present1 which give their 
grandeur to pronouncements of many kinds
 which do not relate directly  to the   
general operations of ,time or of       
,death3 to ,burke's passage on  ,marie  
,antoinette1 to ,johnson's ,preface to  
his ,dictionary1 to ,gibbon's  moonlight
 reverie on the conclusion of his       
,history4 ,those names1 those  figures  

with their skirts of thunder and doom1  
trail through all our  literature with a
 majesty that no others possess4        
,apostrophising those  our shadowy      
tyrants1 celebrating them1 rebelling    
against them1 we may  clothe our        
conceptions in many images1 though even 
here1 for the most  part1 we must       
observe a tendency1 natural and         
spontaneous1 to choose  as tokens and   
ornaments a few1 in the earthly sense1  
universal and  perennial things4 ,but   
those shapes tower over our whole world4
 ,anything  we look at in the sunlight1 
a wave1 a weed1 a travelling insect1 may
  be like a window opening out to them2 
and at night1 under the dark  sky1 so   
actual and so symbolical1 the reflective
 man is always aware  of them4 ,we have 
our activities and our distractions4 ,we
 must satisfy  our carnal cravings1 eat1
 drink1 and sleep2 between birth and    
death1  under that immense and          
unresponsive heaven1 we build and dig1  
hunt and  dance1 carve and paint1       

intrigue1 copulate and kill4 ,but       
whenever the  moment comes that we turn 
round from our toys it is one spectacle 
that  we see3 life proceeding from      
darkness to darkness1 change1           
dissolution1  and death4 ,and the       
greatest utterance of our tongue is a   
chronicle1  again and again resumed and 
repeated1 of the wonder and dread1 the  
certain regret and the wavering hope    
which that spectacle arouses in  hearts 
which have immortal longings but have   
loved transient things3  a chronicle of 
grass that withers1 leaves that fall1 of
 girls like  flowers who fade like      
flowers1 of conquerors who are dust1    
blown about1  of tough oaks that decay1 
of stone temples and pyramids that as   
surely1  after a few more years1 fall   
into dust1 of the world's past1 and the 
past of the individual which cannot be  
recovered1 the innocence and  the       
illusions of childhood1 the loss of     
which typifies all loss and  their      
beauty that ,eden to which1 with the    

shadow approaching1 we  pitifully       
aspire3 all framed by the most abiding  
things that our senses  know1 the sea   
and the wind and the hills1 the seasons 
which come for  all generations in their
 order1 the stars1 constant1 silent1    
vigilant  over all3 those also          
transitory after their own kind1 arching
 to their  fall in epochs beyond our    
computation or guessing1 but in relation
 to  us steadfast and immutable4        
,they say 7though ,i do not believe it7 
that an age1 even if it be still  far   
distant1 is coming in which the present 
preoccupations of man1 both  physical   
and mental1 will have vanished and new  
passions and new hopes  will have taken 
their place4 ,our contact with each     
other is as yet  imperfect2             
psychological discovery is only         
beginning2 the gates between  mind and  
mind will all be broken down2 it will   
not be a question of  universal candour 
but of automatic communication and      
sympathy4 ,the  individual will be      

identified with the race1 will live only
 in the life  of the race1 will not     
merely not fear but will not even think 
about  any death which does not involve 
the death of the race4 ,the race will   
be one animal2 its members1 sloughed and
 replaced1 will want no more            
immortality than that qualified         
perpetuation which the race can give2   
no two persons will be more to each     
other than any other two2 ,man will     
really be ,man and will cease to be men4
 ,should that time come 7which1         
speaking diffidently1 it will not7 the  
voice of ,man may change4 ,his  most    
eloquent words may be other than they   
are now1 and even though1  in his       
corporate form1 he is still most deeply 
stirred by frustrations  that we cannot 
conjecture1 the range of his imagery    
will have altered1  he will have new    
symbols for his regrets1 and new        
comparisons for his  ideas4 ,pending    
that change there is no reason to       
suppose that the  essential1 or to a    

large extent the incidental1 material of
 our poetry1  or of such of our prose as
 aspires to the condition of poetry1    
will  substantially alter4 ,we speak    
most sublimely of what moves us most    
deeply4    ,but this is not to say that 
we should wish that such speech1 at the 
cost of such experience1 should be more 
than intermittent4 ,sun1 sheep1  and    
children may take a sober colouring from
 the eye that has been much  busied with
 such watchings1 but they were not put  
there solely for  that purpose2 even if 
we profess ignorance of the reasons for 
their  existence1 we shall employ       
ourselves better if we act on the       
assumption  that they were not4 ,the    
last word1 after so prolonged a         
meditation on  the incomprehensible1 may
 lie with ,stevenson who1 not           
unaccustomed  to the thought of death   
and not incapable of poetry1 wrote an   
essay  on the subject which might not   
supply passages distilled enough  for   
this book1 but contains many so sensible

 that they might well be  reprinted in  
others4 ,the changes wrought by death1  
he said1 are in  themselves so sharp and
 final1 and so terrible and melancholy  
in their  consequences1 that the thing  
stands alone in man's experience1 and   
has no parallel upon earth4 ,that       
opening might have led to a piece  of   
great orchestral prose2 but he turned on
 himself and wrote instead  some pages  
of cheerful colloquial prose1 sprinkled 
with fine sentences4  ,in all views and 
situations there is but one conclusion  
possible3  that a man should stop his   
ears against paralysing terror1 and run 
the  race that is set before him with a 
single mind2 and as a matter of  fact1  
although few things are spoken of with  
more fearful whisperings  than this     
prospect of death1 few have less        
influence on conduct under  healthy     
circumstances4 ,but notice1 even in this
 essay1 the old lift1  the old attitude1
 the old accents1 when momentarily he   
looks out over  the other wall3 ,into   

what great waters1 not to be crossed by 
any  swimmer1 ,god's pale ,prtorian     
throws us over in the end6          ,a  
,,collection ,,of ,,autographs    ,by   
,,canon ,n4 ,,egerton ,,leigh      ,my  
collection of autographs was begun by   
,lady ,sitwell1 of ,rempstone1  who     
married1 #agih1 ,sir ,sitwell ,sitwell1 
,bt41 ,m4,p41 who died in #ahaa4  ,she  
married secondly1 as his second wife1 my
 grandfather in #ahba1 and  died in     
#ahfj4 ,lady ,sitwell knew everybody1   
and entertained a good  deal4 ,she was a
 blue-stocking in the days of their     
power1 and most of  the letters were    
written to her by the eminent men and   
women of the  day4 ,but her friends     
supplied her with other autographs--for 
instance1  ,longfellow sends her ,george
 ,washington and ,benjamin ,franklyn4   
,the  following remarks by ,washington  
are interesting at the present time3    
,at the beginning of the late war with  
,great ,britain1 when we thought        
ourselves justifiable in resisting to   

blood1 it was known to those best       
acquainted with the different conditions
 of the combatants and the  probable    
cost of the prize in dispute that the   
expense in comparison  with our         
circumstances as ,colonists must be     
enormous1 the struggle  protracted1     
dubious1 and severe4 ,it was known that 
the resources of  ,britain were1 in a   
manner1 inexhaustible1 that her fleet   
covered the  ,ocean1 and that her troops
 had harvested laurels in every quarter 
of  the globe4 ,not then organised as a 
nation1 or known as a people upon  the  
earth1 we had no preparation4 ,money1   
the nerve of war1 was wanting4  ,the    
sword was to be forged on the anvil of  
necessity3 the treasury to  be created  
from nothing4 ,if we had a secret       
resource unknown to our  enemy1 it was  
in the unconquerable resolution of our  
citizens1 the  conscious rectitude of   
our cause1 and a confident trust that we
 should  not be forsaken by ,heaven4    
,the people willingly offered themselves

 to  the battle1 but the means of       
arming1 clothing1 and subsisting them1  
as well as of procuring the implements  
of hostility1 were only to be  found in 
anticipations of our future wealth4     
,paper bills of credit  were emitted1   
monies borrowed for the most pressing   
emergencies1 and  our brave troops in   
the field unpaid for their services4 ,in
 this  manner1 ,peace1 attended with    
every circumstance that could gratify   
our reasonable desires1 or even inflate 
us with ideas of national  importance1  
was at length obtained4 ,but a load of  
debt was left upon  us4 ,the            
fluctuations of1 and speculations in1   
our paper currency  had1 but in too many
 instances1 occasioned vague ideas of   
property1  generated licentious         
appetites1 and corrupted the morals of  
men4 ,to  these immediate consequences  
of a fluctuating medium of commerce may 
be joined a tide of circumstances that  
flowed together from sources  mostly    
opened during and after the war4 ,the   

ravage of farms1 the  conflagrations of 
towns1 the diminution---- ,here the     
,,mss4 abruptly  stops1 but we can      
imagine what would follow4    ,mr4      
,herrick1 of ,beaumanor ,park1 gave     
,lady ,sitwell the earliest  autograph  
in the collection1 a letter of ,robert  
,herrick from ,st4  ,john's1 ,cambridge1
 which ,i lent to the late ,professor   
,moorman for his  life of ,robert       
,herrick4 ,a curious entry in his       
uncle's account books  discloses the    
fact that while the impecunious student 
was finding  infinite difficulty in     
obtaining his quarterly allowance of    
#aj1 the  wealthy uncle was borrowing   
hundreds of pounds from the nephew4 ,i  
pass  on to a letter of ,lord ,byron's  
accepting an invitation to dinner with  
,lady ,sitwell4 ,in it he says1 ,the    
song you have been good enough to  send 
had escaped my observation or my memory 
when in ,greece4 ,i will  endeavour to  
comply with your request4 ,the copy has 
a few errors which  ,i will try to      

expunge1 though ,i have nearly forgotten
 my ,romaic4 ,i  believe the words      
should be thus arranged4 ,he arranges   
them1 and then  sends her1 doubtless    
knowing her penchant for autographs1 the
 following  lines3                      
#a          ,i wander near that fount of
 waters        ,where throng my         
country's virgin daughters1        ,and 
yet that haunt ,i might forego          
,will she--my ,love be there8 ,ah6 ,no6 
#b          ,all1 all are there save her
 alone1        ,yet once along that     
fountain shone        ,her imaged eyes  
within the stream        ,that glittered
 with the borrowed beam4                
#c          ,yet--yet that fount is calm
 and clear1        ,nor less to ,hellas'
 daughters dear1        ,but there      
,reflection ne'er shall grace           
,those waters with so fair a face4      
#d          ,she comes not there1 yet   
linger still        ,my steps around    
that sacred rill1        ,nor know ,i   
wherefore there ,i stray--        ,but  

cannot tear myself away4                
,albany1 ,april #aeth1 #ahad4           
,another manuscript1 to which an        
especial interest attaches at this      
time1 is the following letter from      
,george ,eliot3                #af      
,blandford ,square1 ,london1 ,n4,w4     
,my dear ,friend--,i was delighted to   
have your letter this morning           
bringing me good news not only of a     
literary but of a personal kind4    ,it 
is pleasant to know that your labours on
 ,adam have been so far    appreciated2 
but ,i think it is pleasanter still to  
know that ,maman    has had the comfort 
of seeing her son ,charles this         
,christmas1 and    that your prospects  
concerning him are hopeful4 ,i begin1   
you know1    to consider myself an      
experienced matron1 knowing a great deal
 about    parental joys and anxieties4  
,indeed ,i have rather too ready a      
talent    for entering into anxieties of
 all sorts4      ,mr4 ,lewes is very    
much obliged to you for sending him the 

prospectus    and additional            
information1 which he has already       
dispatched to ,mr4    ,trollope4 ,it    
will be a valuable widening of his      
opportunities for    choosing a foreign 
school4 ,i was not aware till ,i        
gathered the fact    from your letter   
that ,emile ,forgues had analysed the   
,mill for    the ,revue des deux        
,mondes1 for ,mr4 ,lewes1 knowing that  
it would    vex me1 had carefully       
concealed it4 ,it is an impudent way of 
getting    money--this cool             
appropriation of other people's property
 without    leave asked--which seems to 
have become a regular practice with     
him4 ,pray consider me responsible for  
nothing but what you find    in the     
,tauchnitz edition4 ,i never alter my   
books after they are    printed--never  
alter anything of importance even in the
 course of    printing1 and ce n'est    
point mon histoire que j'cris1 or       
whatever    else you may find in ,m4    
,forgues' edition that is not in the    

,english    is due to the gratuitous    
exercise of his own talents in improving
    my book4 ,i can well imagine that   
you find the ,mill more difficult    to 
render than ,adam1 but would it be      
inadmissible to represent    in ,french1
 at least in some degree1 those         
intermdiaires entre le    style commun  
et le style lgant to which you refer8   
,it seems to    me that ,i have         
discerned such shades very strikingly   
rendered in    ,balzac1 and occasionally
 in ,george ,sand4 ,balzac1 ,i think1   
dares to    be thoroughly congenial1 in 
spite of ,french strait-lacing4 ,even in
    ,english this daring is far from    
being general3 inferior writers are     
hardly ever capable of it1 and in the   
great mass of ,english fiction1    from 
,bulwer down to the latest young lady   
scribbler1 you find    scarcely anything
 but impossible dialogue--the character 
speaking    as no man or woman ever     
spoke1 except on the stage4 ,the writers
 who    dare to be thoroughly familiar  

are ,shakespeare1 ,fielding1 ,scott     
7when    he is representing the popular 
life with which he is familiar71 and    
indeed every other writer of fiction of 
the first class4 ,even in    his        
loftiest tragedies1 in ,hamlet1 for     
example1 ,shakespeare is    intensely   
colloquial4 ,one hears the very accent  
of living men4 ,i am    not vindicating 
the practice1 ,i know that is not       
necessary to you    who have so quick a 
sensibility for the real and the        
humorous1 but ,i    want to draw your   
attention to what you may not have      
observed--the    timid elegance 7alias  
unnaturalness7 of inferior ,english     
writers4    ,you may not have observed  
it1 because naturally you don't read our
    poorer literature4 ,you1 of course1 
have knowledge as to what is or    can  
be done in ,french literature beyond any
 that my reading can have    furnished  
me with4 ,i am glad that you think there
 are any readers who    will prefer the 
,mill to ,adam4 ,to my feeling there is 

more thought    and a profounder        
veracity in the ,mill than in ,adam3 but
 ,adam is    more complete and better   
balanced4 ,my love of the childhood     
scenes    made me linger over them in   
epic fashion1 so that ,i could not      
develop    as fully as ,i wished the    
concluding ,book in which the tragedy   
occurs1 and which ,i had looked forward 
to with much intention and              
preparation from the beginning4 ,my     
books don't seem to belong to me        
after ,i have once written them1 so ,i  
find myself delivering opinions    about
 them as if ,i had nothing to do with   
them4 ,i am not afraid that    you will 
be unable to distinguish that frankness 
from conceit4 ,i    cannot write very   
boastfully about our health2 both ,mr4  
,lewes and    ,i are very middling1     
easily upset1 easily put out of order4  
,but in    all other respects our       
happiness grows daily4 ,our dear boy    
,charles    is more and more precious to
 us1 and seems to delight in pouring all

    his young affection out in          
tenderness to me4 ,thornton1 the second1
 is    going on well and happily with   
his studies at ,edinburgh1 and seems    
to have profited morally and physically 
by the change4 ,i don't know    how to  
describe our locality otherwise than by 
saying that it lies    very near        
,regent's ,park1 westward4 ,it is a     
quiet situation for    ,london--alas1   
not quiet for me1 who dream of still    
fields6 ,london is    hateful to me1 and
 ,i sometimes think we shall hardly have
 come to    stay in it three years4 ,mr4
 ,lewes and ,i constantly recall        
,geneva--and    for us ,geneva means all
 that is associated with you and ,maman4
 ,it was    a vivid pleasure to me that 
he felt his liking and admiration go out
    to you both quite apart from the    
fact that you were my friends4 ,he      
desires to share in all assurances of   
affection that ,i send you4 ,but    ,i  
send you few assurances4 ,are they      
necessary8    ,lord ,houghton once said 

that the ,personal is always the        
interesting4  ,this gives one of the    
great interests to a collection of      
autographs1  it illustrates the         
,personal4 ,take ,tennyson's4 ,there is 
not one word  in a long letter to show  
that he was ,poet ,laureate4 ,he begins 
with  ,trouble not yourself about the   
half-crown4 ,i am very glad to pay my   
debts1 however small1 tho' ,milnes      
asserts that nothing under five         
shillings should ever be refunded4444   
,it is not all ladies who would  have   
tolerated my fumigation so mildly2      
forgive my seeming roughness  at        
parting2 there is something in the      
farewell shake of hands that  often     
breaks me down and makes me seem other  
than ,i am4 ,my letter from  ,rudyard   
,kipling has in it the sentence1 ,i was 
a chorister once1 but  somehow they     
managed to agree to get on without me   
after a while4  ,samuel ,smiles1 of     
,self-,help1 etc41 writes1 #ahia1 ,i    
think nothing the  less of you because  

you are a ,dominie4 ,you have a great   
mission for  training the intellects and
 hearts of the coming generation4 ,i    
hope you  are kind to the children4 ,my 
,dominie1 he was a hard man1 though he  
had  favourites2 told me ,i was only fit
 'to sweep the streets of my native     
borough1' and threatened to 'dash my    
brains against the wall4' ,this  was his
 ordinary way of speaking of those who  
were not his favourites4  ,but ,i       
understand that he became better as he  
grew older4 ,still he left  a very bad  
taste in my mouth4 ,leigh ,hunt writes a
 kind letter to a  budding poet with the
 postscript1 ,send your sonnets by all  
means to  periodicals1 but have no mercy
 in them on superfluous words4 ,with    
equal kindness ,southey writes to ,mr4  
,ragg in #ahce1 ,i do not remember  to  
have seen a more beautiful little piece 
than ',why ,does the ,sun ,go  ,down8'  
,it ought to find its way into all      
popular selections4 ,southey  wrote out 
for ,lady ,sitwell1 in #ahac1 ,the      

,march to ,moscow4 ,from these  kindly  
letters let us turn to ,robert ,lowe3 ,i
 am a candidate for the  ,greek         
,professorship of ,glasgow 444 a most   
excellent appointment1 and  one which   
above all ,i should be anxious to       
obtain4444 ,my chance is  not a bad one1
 as there is no candidate with whom they
 are content1  and to me there is no    
objection except my politics1 and they  
are1 you  know1 not very furious or     
indeed in any way practical principles  
to  me4444 ,this is the fairest chance  
that has ever offered to me of making   
myself independent and affluent for the 
rest of my life4 ,it is one of  the few 
appointments ,i am able to fill4 ,this  
was written in #ahch4 ,in  #ahea he     
writes to the same person1 ,i am a      
candidate for the ,chair  of ,political 
,economy at ,oxford4 ,i have every hope 
of success as my  reception in ,oxford  
has been very flattering4444 ,the       
contest seems to  lie between me and    
,neate of ,oriel1 a very good man1 ,i   

believe1 but not  very popular4 ,another
 politician1 ,john ,bright1 wrote in    
#ahfe1 ,i fear  it would not suit your  
object for any ,englishman to interfere 
in the  course that may be taken in     
reference to ,jeff ,davis4 ,i have      
privately  said all ,i can or ought to  
say1 and from what ,i hear ,i incline to
 think  that he will escape the         
punishment which so many men have       
suffered for  crimes of infinitely less 
guilt4 ,i am opposed to capital         
punishment for  political or social     
crimes4 ,autographs from ,prime         
,ministers include  the ,duke of        
,portland1 ,your ,parishioner named     
,bradley tried to usurp  one of my      
houses4 ,i do not consider that an      
amiable weakness1 and ,lord  ,salisbury1
 ,la ,donna e ,mobile1 given to a lady  
during an important  conversation1 when 
she asked for his autograph4 ,lord      
,rosebery heads  his letter ,waterloo   
,day4 ,mr4 ,gladstone shows his kindly  
feeling for  ,sir ,stafford ,northcote1 

but from ,melbourne onwards the ,prime  
,ministers  content themselves with few 
words4 ,so does ,thackeray1 ,dear ,sir  
or  ,madam--,where does ,mr4 ,ritchie   
live with whom ,i dine in #b hours4     
,please  tell4 ,john ,hay says our visit
 to ,eton will be for ,helen and me one 
of  our pleasantest memories of         
,england4 ,eton is again mentioned by   
,mr4  ,justice ,coleridge writing to his
 relation there1 one of the masters1  ,i
 should like very much to know whether  
there is any prospect of  the ,college  
making any movement towards changes4    
,eton does not like  changes2 to parody 
,lord ,curzon's motto1 ,let ,eton hold  
what ,eton held1  is as true now as in  
the past4 ,i will conclude with a       
pathetic letter  from ,matthew ,arnold1 
,i lead such a bothered and hard-driven 
life  that ,i forget what ,i wrote in   
better days4 ,i wonder if he remembered 
writing in an autograph book3           
,of little threads our life is spun1    
,and he spins ill who misses one4       

,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,and ,,news  
,correspondence from readers on all     
subjects of bibliographical  interest is
 invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the best
 of his ability1  answer all queries    
addressed to him4      ,,general ,,notes
    ,the ,christie-,miller sale at      
,messrs4 ,sotheby's1 postponed from     
,november  #bhth to ,december #afth1    
realised the enormous total of #aaj1cef1
 thus  more than doubling the previous  
record for a single day's book-sale     
achieved at the ,yates-,thompson sale   
last summer1 the total of which  was    
#eb1jjj4 ,the great majority of the     
items were acquired by ,mr4  ,g4 ,d4    
,smith1 the ,american buyer1 who seemed 
to have learnt to think  so imperially  
about book prices that very few ,english
 dealers or  collectors were able to    
compete with him4 ,for the most part the
 bidding  resolved itself into a duel   
between ,mr4 ,smith and ,mr4 ,quaritch1 
,mr4  ,smith being almost invariably the
 victor4           99       99       99 

99       99    ,the highest price for a 
single lot--the highest price ever given
 for a  single book or manuscript--was  
#ae1ajj1 which was paid for the minute  
vellum-bound volume containing ,venus   
and ,adonis1 ,the ,passionate  ,pilgrim1
 and ,epigrammes and ,elegies1 by ,j4   
,d4 7,sir ,john ,davies7 and  ,c4 ,m4   
7,christopher ,marlowe74 ,the ,venus and
 ,adonis is the only copy  known of the 
fourth edition of the poem2 six copies  
of the first three  editions exist1 all 
of which are in public libraries4 ,the  
,passionate  ,pilgrim is one of the     
three known copies of the first edition 
7#aeii71  while only two or three copies
 are known to exist of the ,epigrammes  
and ,elegies1 published at              
,middleborough 78 #aeih74           99  
99       99       99       99    ,other 
,elizabethan books fetched very large   
prices4 ,greene's ,arbasto  7#aehd71 a  
unique copy1 went for #hbj2 ,gwydonius  
7#aehd7 for #ggj2  ,morando 7#aehd7 for 
#fhj2 ,planetomachia 7#aehe7 for #ijj2  

and the  unique copy of ,a ,quip for an 
,upstart ,courtier 7#aeib7 for #abjj4 ,a
  copy of ,tottel's ,miscellany1 second 
edition1 fetched #bdjj2 ,nash's         
,unfortunate ,traveller 7#aeid71 #fhj2  
and the first edition of ,the  ,paradyse
 of ,dainty ,devises1 #agjj4 ,copies of 
the ,arcadia 7#aeij7 and  of ,astrophel 
and ,stella 7circa #aeie7 were sold for 
#ajjj and #bgjj  respectively4          
99       99       99       99       99  
,the other ,shakespeare lots were sold  
at less astonishing figures4 ,a  copy of
 the ,first ,folio1 slightly defective1 
sold for #bcjj2 #bdjj was  given for a  
fine copy of the ,third ,folio1 ,much   
,ado ,about ,nothing1 the  ,quarto of   
#afjj1 sold for #bbjj2 and ,the ,true   
,tragedie of ,richard the  ,third1 the  
anonymous play used by ,shakespeare in  
producing his own  ,richard ,,iii41 for 
#bjjj4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,the ,heber ,collection  
of broadsheets and ballads was purchased
 by ,mr4  ,smith for #fdjj4 ,this       

collection1 comprising eighty-eight     
pieces1 is  a portion of the great      
collection1 a larger collection1 half of
 which  passed1 under the terms of ,mr4 
,huth's will1 to the ,british ,museum4  
,it  contains many pieces of remarkable 
beauty and interest4           99       
99       99       99       99    ,other 
interesting items in the sale were three
 minor works of the  ,laureate1 ,john   
,skelton1 printed by ,pynson1 the three 
bound together  in a single volume1     
which was bought for #aghj2 the         
,amoretti and  ,epithalamium of ,spenser
 7#aeie71 #abjj2 ,the ,shepheardes      
,calendar  7#aegi71 #abhj2 ,reynard the 
,fox 7,caxton1 #adha71 #eijj2 ,the      
,cordyale1  or the ,four ,last ,things  
7,caxton1 #adgi71 #aijj2 ,tullye of ,old
 ,age  7,caxton1 #adha71 #ahjj2 ,gray's 
,elegy 7#agea71 #gej2 ,paradise ,lost   
7#affg71 #dfj4           99       99    
99       99       99    ,this sale marks
 the triumph and the reduction to the   
absurd of  book-collecting4 ,the        

absurdity of picture-dealing is already 
manifest2  prices have long ceased to   
have the least relation to the merit of 
the  work purchased4 ,it is out of mere 
snobisme and not from any love of  art  
that people will give fifty thousand    
pounds for a picture by a  second-rate  
eighteenth-century artist4 ,the same    
spirit has invaded the  book-collecting 
world4 ,the amateur who collects books  
out of a genuine  love of literature had
 better retire as gracefully as he may4 
,there is  no place for him in the      
topsy-turvy universe where fifteen      
thousand  pounds is paid for a little   
volume of poems4 ,one left the sale with
 a  curious feeling of bewilderment and 
indignation1 almost vowing that one     
would never look at an old book again4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,the centenary of ,george ,eliot was    
celebrated at ,messrs4 ,hodgsons'  by   
the sale of a first edition of ,scenes  
of ,clerical ,life1 a fine  uncut copy4 
,it went for #ag4 ,the library of the   

late ,james ,nicol ,dunn  was disposed  
of at the same rooms4 ,mr4 ,dunn was a  
journalist whose  career included the   
editorship of the ,morning ,post and    
that of the  ,johannesburg ,star4 ,in   
earlier years--he always retained some  
flavour  of that association--he was    
,henley's assistant on the ,national    
,observer4 ,he was thus in a position to
 obtain books1 manuscripts1 and         
autograph letters which have since      
become valuable4 ,his ,edinburgh set  of
 ,stevenson 7accompanied by a note from 
,charles ,baxter1 ,louis will  have nett
 complete about #ebjj over this7 went   
for #fe1 and a set of  the ,scots       
,observer and ,national ,observer for   
#dg4 ,an inscribed copy  of ,whistler's 
,gentle ,art of ,making ,enemies sold   
for ten guineas1 and  three first       
editions1 with letters1 of ,john        
,davidson #e--which suggests  that      
,davidson is at last getting a little   
notice from collectors4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,among 

the autographs were several corrected   
proofs and typescripts of  ,mr4         
,kipling's4 ,a freely corrected         
typescript of ,tomlinson fetched  #ha1  
the ,,ms4 of ,fuzzy-,wuzzy #ej4 ,three  
manuscript poems of ,henley's1  with a  
letter from ,mr4 ,yeats thrown in1      
brought only #f #ajs4 ,still  more      
surprising was the sale of ,mr4 ,yeats's
 ,,ms4 of ,the ,lake ,isle of           
,innisfree1 with another1 for #e #aes4  
,in a sale on the following day  a first
 edition of ,the ,shropshire ,lad turned
 up3 it was sold for #d4           99   
99       99       99       99    ,the   
,arbury ,library1 a portion of which is 
to be sold at ,sotheby's on  ,january   
#bbnd1 has an interest apart from the   
high rarity of many of  the books which 
are to be sold2 for these found their   
way to ,arbury1  not at the fancy of any
 individual collector of rare           
volumes--none  of the ,newdigates have  
been great book-collectors in this      
modern  sense--but simply as current    

literature of the period in which they  
were published4 ,the ,first ,folio      
,shakespeare1 for instance1 which is    
described as probably the largest       
available1 has been at ,arbury since    
#affj1 when it belonged to ,serjeant    
,newdegate1 who was ,chief ,justice     
under ,cromwell and was made a ,baronet 
at the ,restoration2 and it is  likely  
that it came into his possession or into
 that of the elder  brother whom he     
succeeded soon after its publication in 
#afbc4 ,sir  ,richard ,newdegate's      
mother was ,anne ,fitton1 sister to     
,mary ,fitton1  ,queen ,elizabeth's     
frolicsome and wayward maid-of-honour1  
whom a modern  edition of ,shakespeare's
 ,sonnets has sought to identify with   
the ,dark  ,lady4 ,family papers at     
,arbury give no support to the late ,mr4
 ,tyler's  theory1 and ,mary ,fitton's  
portraits there show her to have been   
fair  rather than dark4 ,it is probable 
that some of the volumes which are to   
be sold at ,sotheby's were at ,arbury   

when ,mary ,fitton found a home there   
with her sister1 ,lady ,newdigate1 after
 her disgrace at ,court4 ,no one  whose 
interest in old books lies in their     
character1 their history1 and  their    
associations rather than in the price   
which they may fetch under  the hammer  
can fail to regret the fate by which    
these precious volumes  are at length   
taken from the home in which they have  
stood side by side  for some three      
centuries4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,sounds unheard 
are the sweetest1 and the books that    
were never written  and the books that  
once existed and have been lost are by  
far the  world's best books4 ,those     
chapters on ,chambermaids and           
,buttonholes  would have been the most  
amusing in ,tristram ,shandy2 ,milton's 
epic on  ,king ,arthur1 great and       
glorious in itself1 would also have     
nipped ,the  ,idylls of the ,king in the
 bud1 thus earning our gratitude as well
 as  our admiration4 ,the lost books of 

the ,satyricon were the best things     
,petronius ever wrote1 and the vanished 
poems of ,sappho--one dare not  think of
 them4    ,and now we have news of yet  
another little work that has joined the 
great army of the lost4 ,but not1 we    
hope1 for ever2 for the volume can      
hardly fail to turn up some time1 sooner
 or later1 in some bookseller's  shop or
 some collector's library4 ,the history 
of this lost volume is  not             
uninteresting1 and we propose to quote  
at some length from an  account of it   
furnished by the owner1 ,miss ,e4 ,m4   
,green1 of ,modbury1 ,ivy  ,bridge1     
,south ,devon3    ,in #aiac a ,,ms4 book
 fell into my hands1 thought first to be
 a  manuscript of ,little ,gidding1     
which proved1 however1 to be the work   
of the ,rev4 ,richard ,white1 ,chaplain 
to the ,english nuns of ,st4 ,monica  in
 ,louvain from #afcj to #afhg4 ,this ,i 
published with ,messrs4 ,longmans  under
 the title of ,celestial ,fire4 ,this   
volume contains in the  preface an      

account of these ,louvain ,manuscripts1 
which are singularly  beautiful         
specimens of seventeenth-century script4
 ,consequent on this  publication1 the  
community of ,st4 ,augustine's ,priory1 
,newton ,abbot1  who fled to ,england   
during the ,french ,revolution1 sent me 
a similar  manuscript1 ,cordial ,prayer1
 to be published also4 ,it was a leather
  volume1 #d inches by #b inches1 #a    
inch in depth1 bound in holland with    
quaint brass clasps1 and the top of the 
pages was a beautiful blue4  ,taking it 
from the inspection of the ,keeper of   
,,mss41 ,british ,museum1  and from the 
,,mss4 ,room home with me1 ,i found on  
entering an omnibus in  ,sloane ,street 
that ,i had lost it4 ,it was tied in    
white paper with my  address on the     
outside4    ,all efforts have so far1   
,miss ,green tells us1 proved           
unavailing1 and no  word can be heard of
 the lost volume4 ,perhaps some of our  
readers may  have seen or heard of this 
interesting little manuscript4          

99       99       99       99       99  
,the hand-press and type used by the    
late ,dr4 ,daniel in the production  of 
the well-known ,daniel editions have    
been presented by ,mrs4 ,daniel  to the 
,bodleian ,library4 ,the press has now  
been set up in the ,picture  ,gallery of
 the ,library with the chase1 containing
 the last pages set  up1 still in place4
 ,a small collection of some of the more
 interesting  books printed on it has   
been arranged on an adjoining table4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,we recently had the fortune to come    
across a copy of that very  interesting 
edition of ,louise ,lab's works1        
published at ,lyons in  #ahbd4 ,printed 
at the expense of a local literary      
society1 the edition  was limited to    
#fjj copies1 a number of which were     
printed on coloured  paper4 ,our copy   
was one of the four coquille rose4 ,one 
copy exists in  which the colour of the 
paper varies at every sheet4            
,,items ,,from ,,the ,,booksellers'     

,,catalogues    ,collectors interested  
in the ,restoration ,drama will find    
much in  ,messrs4 ,pickering and        
,chatto's catalogue to engage their     
attention4  ,sir ,william ,davenant is  
represented by ,first ,editions of ,the 
,siege  of ,rhodes 7#afef71 ,the ,cruell
 ,brother 7#afcj71 ,the ,unfortunate    
,lovers 7#afdc74 ,a copy of the first   
collected edition of ,davenant's  ,works
 7#afgc7 is offered for sale by ,mr4    
,francis ,edwards4 ,aureng-,zebe        
7#afgf71 the opera ,king ,arthur        
7#afia71 and ,the ,duke of ,guise       
7#afhc7  are all first editions of      
,dryden4 ,pordage's ,siege of ,babylon  
7first  edition1 #afgh7 is priced at #d 
#ds42 ,sir ,charles ,sedley's ,antony   
and ,cleopatra 7#afgg7 at #h #hs4       
,shadwell is well represented by his    
,virtuoso 7first edition1 #afgf71 a     
comedy that was regrettably not         
included in the ,mermaid series reprint 
of the dramatist's works1 ,the          
,lancashire ,witches 7#afhb71 and ,bury 

,fair 7#afhi74           99       99    
99       99       99    ,there are      
moments when one's literary sense gets  
the better of one's  purely             
bibliophilous instinct--moments when a  
profound irritation  seizes one that    
people should be so stupid as to collect
 books because  they are rare and not   
because they are worth reading4 ,one    
wonders1  for instance1 if human labour 
and ingenuity might not be expended in  
some more profitable undertaking than   
the compilation of a catalogue  of about
 one hundred-and-fifty editions of ,the 
,picture of ,dorian  ,gray1             
bibliographically described4 ,collectors
 of the works of that  second-rate      
literary man who was the author of this 
,dorian ,gray  may be interested to hear
 that this catalogue is at present being
  prepared at ,the ,bungalow1 #h        
,abercorn ,place1 ,london1 ,n4,w4#h1    
where they  will also find a number of  
,wilde's books1 in every kind and shape 
of  edition1 for sale4           99     

99       99       99       99    ,a     
curiosity of #ahij literature1 in the   
shape of ,the ,blue ,calendar3  ,praises
 of ,twelve ,saints1 written by ,john   
,gray1 may also be seen at  ,the        
,bungalow4 ,this little book1 by the    
author of ,silverpoints1 was  privately 
printed at #ib ,mount ,street in #ahif1 
and may be bought for two  guineas4     
,a4 ,l4 ,h4          ,,correspondence   
,,surtees    7,to the ,editor of ,,the  
,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,in your 
admirable columns on ,bibliography ,a4  
,l4 ,h4 writes  7,november issue73 ,it  
is interesting to note what high prices 
the works  of ,surtees can always       
command4 ,they certainly do2 but is it  
not ,leech  rather than ,surtees who    
gives them their value8    ,handley     
,cross is doubtless immortal because of 
the creation of  ,jorrocks and ,james   
,pigg1 the best portrait of the         
hard-riding1  reckless1 witty           
,northumbrian since ,shakespeare's      
,hotspur1 but ,plain  or ,ringlets1 ,ask

 ,mamma1 and the rest are surely only   
valuable on  account of ,leech's        
illustrations8    ,i imagine that the   
original ,handley ,cross1 in three      
volumes1 #ahdc1  ,london1 will not fetch
 as much as the later and expanded      
,handley  ,cross1 with ,leech's         
illustrations1 published ,london1 #ahed4
    ,i have recently inherited a set of 
the five ,surtees-cum-,leech issue      
7usually styled first editions71 and ,i 
am in doubt as to what to insure  them  
for in view of the present high prices4 
,still more so in the case of other     
still greater treasures3 early          
,aldines1 ,jensons1 first editions      
,jonson1 ,spencer1 ,milton1 etc41 but   
above and beyond all in the case of a   
first folio ,shakespeare1 a  splendid   
copy and intact4    ,according to ,sir  
,sidney ,lee1 out of #adj known copies  
twenty only are  perfect 7with          
,shakespeare's portrait printed on      
title-page71 other  twenty are intact   
7with portrait inlaid71 and the         

remaining #ajj are  all deficient in one
 way or another4    ,well1 suppose by   
some dreadful dispensation my library   
was burned down  and this gem consumed1 
what would it cost to procure another8  
,my bookseller tells me to insure it for
 #aejj1 but would this procure  another8
    ,i feel certain it would not4 ,what1
 then1 is the proper                    
insurance8--,yours1 etc41            ,a 
,,pursuer ,,of ,,books ,,and ,,foxes4   
,we certainly think that figure far too 
low1 but the prices of  first folios    
vary greatly4 ,perhaps some reader can  
give insurance  information4--,,editor4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,,american ,,poetry    7,to the ,editor 
of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7            
,,sir1--,the writer of your ,letter from
 ,america1 in the ,december number1     
commits himself to the astonishing      
statement that ,mr4 ,nicholas ,vachel   
,lindsay is the one ,american writer of 
verse whose work shows signs of  genius4
 ,such a statement should not pass      

unchallenged4 ,it is as if  an ,american
 writer1 visiting ,england1 were to     
remark that ,mr4 ,rudyard  ,kipling is  
the only ,english writer of verse with  
signs of genius4  ,the parallel is quite
 exact4 ,lindsay has the same           
free-and-easy  facility1 the same       
preference for ragtime rhythms1 the same
 tone of  vulgar optimism1 the same     
desire to preach a gospel1 as the author
 of  ,mandalay4 ,the only difference is 
that ,lindsay is rather more limited  in
 his range1 if anything4 ,he has never  
succeeded in doing but one  type of     
poem--the ragtime exhortation4 ,to say  
that he and he alone in  ,america shows 
genius is preposterous4    ,what about  
,robert ,frost1 whose work and influence
 were paramount in the  development of  
,edward ,thomas8--a fact admitted by a  
recent biographer4  ,what about ,edwin  
,arlington ,robinson1 a poet who comes  
nearer to  ,hardy than anyone in        
,america8 ,what about ,conrad ,aiken1   
,carl ,sandburg1  ,wallace ,stevens1    

,alfred ,kreymborg1 ,maxwell ,bodenheim8
 ,all of these  authors have shown signs
 of genius1 each in an entirely         
different  and quite individual way4    
,they have not repeated themselves into 
tedious stereotype as the magazine      
writers of vers libre1 or as ,mr4       
,lindsay has4 ,without any desire to    
belittle ,mr4 ,lindsay's clever but     
superficial talent1 ,i should           
respectfully suggest to ,r4 ,e4 ,c4 that
  some of his remarks about the         
conventionality of ,american writers    
apply  very strongly to ,lindsay4 ,they 
do not apply to the men ,i have just    
mentioned4--,yours1 etc41               
,,john ,,gould ,,fletcher4    #cg       
,crystal ,palace ,park ,road1 ,sydenham4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,,tam ,,htab    7,to the   
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,may ,i point out what seems to 
me a very curious literary  coincidence8
    ,in ,no4 #b ,mr4 ,l4 ,pearsall      
,smith1 in his delightful collection of 

,misadventures1 describes a cabalistic  
inscription written in letters  of large
 menace on my bath-room floor4 ,,tam    
,,htab 444 ,like ,belshazzar 444  my    
knees smote one against the other4 ,it  
was 444 ,,bath ,,mat1 lying there  wrong
 side up4    ,in the second chapter of  
,forster's ,life of ,dickens1 among some
 notes  on the hardships of ,dickens'   
childhood1 the novelist himself thus    
describes a coffee shop in ,st4         
,martin's ,lane3 ,in the door there was 
an oval glass-plate1 with ,,coffee      
,,room painted on it4444 ,if ,i ever    
find  myself in a very different kind of
 coffee-room now1 but where there is    
such an inscription on glass1 and read  
it backward on the wrong side  ,,moor   
,,eeffoc 7as ,i often used to do then1  
in a dismal reverie71 a shock  goes     
through my blood4--,yours1 etc41        
,j4 ,j4 ,,biggs4    #gj ,west ,side1    
,clapham4    ,these public inscriptions 
are responsible for much distress4      
,there was  a woman named ,jones who had

 her child christened ,nosmo ,king1     
having  been taken by those names on two
 glass doors1 which stood open4 ,when   
she passed again the doors were drawn   
together4--,,editor4           99       
99       99       99       99           
,,sensible ,,at ,,bottom    7,to the    
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,may ,i point out a small       
inaccuracy in ,mr4 ,shanks's exceedingly
  interesting essay on ,samuel ,butler8 
,mr4 ,shanks writes1 ,it is possible  to
 remark of him 7,butler71 adapting the  
remark made of ,dr4 ,johnson1  that he  
may have been very sensible at bottom4  
,the passage in ,boswell  referred to1  
,i think1 is a remark made by ,johnson  
of a printer's  devil who had married a 
very respectable author4--,yours1 etc41 
,a4 ,h4 ,,scott4      ,kelstone1        
,charterhouse1 ,godalming4              
,december #aeth1 #aiai4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,,some 
,,corrections    7,to the ,editor of    
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7               

,,sir1--,the ,,london ,,mercury sets so 
refreshing a standard of ,english1 by   
precept1 and still more by example1 that
 it is with some temerity that  ,i      
venture 7#a7 a correction1 7#b7 a       
criticism1 and 7#c7 a query4    #a4     
,major and minor ,elizabethan and       
,georgian poets receive full and        
correct designation4 ,could not the same
 be spared for ,canon ,ottley1  of      
,oxford1 who on p4 #abh appears as      
,attley8 ,it might be granted in        
recognition of his ,chancellor's ,prize 
for ,latin ,verse1 the award of  which  
demands1 ,i imagine1 a certain measure  
of poetical feeling in  addition to the 
mathematically stressed rhythms of our  
schooldays4    #b4 ,there may be subtle 
and political humour intended in the    
word  dignatories 7p4 #bcf71 but with my
 last breath ,i would protest the       
better 7and only7 spelling to be        
dignitaries1 take it derivatively or    
euphonically as you will4    #c4 ,is the
 sentence considerable interest has been

 evinced at the large  majority 7p4     
#bce7 ,english at all8 ,should it not be
 either3    ,considerable interest has  
been evinced in the 444 ,or             
,considerable interest has been evinced 
by the 4448    ,but here1 like ,rosa    
,dartle1 ,i merely ask for              
information--not being a  competent     
grammarian--and leave it to fair        
judgment4    ,could you not follow up   
the article on ,particles with one on   
,split  ,infinitives8 ,we were always   
taught that they were the unforgivable  
sin4 ,yet ,i have just found two        
unblushing examples in one of ,mr4      
,thomas  ,hardy's novels4 ,if he may use
 them1 why may not the children in our  
village school8--,yours1 etc41          
,c4 ,a4 ,,tait4      ,meopham1 ,kent4   
,december #acth1 #aiai4    ,in answer to
 the first and second charges we plead  
guilty to  misprints2 the third error   
was due to a slip of the pen4--,,editor4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,,john ,,thomson ,,of      

,,duddingston    7,to the ,editor of    
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,a 
material error occurs in the review of  
my book1 ,john ,thomson  of             
,duddingston1 in your journal for       
,december4 ,the price is given as       
#dbs41 whereas the published price is   
#cas4 #f;d4 net2 edition de  luxe1 #c   
#cs4 net4 ,the correct title of the book
 is3 ,john ,thomson  of ,duddingston1   
,landscape ,painter2 with some ,remarks 
on the ,practice1  ,purpose1 and        
,philosophy of ,art4 ,some reviewers    
express a high opinion  on the latter   
department of my book2 the full title   
ought1 therefore1  to be given--in      
justice to the volume4--,yours1 etc41   
,,robert ,w4 ,,napier4    #bf           
,bruntsfield ,place1 ,edinburgh4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,,the ,,moon    7,to the ,editor of     
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,i 
do not know whether the scope of your   
,correspondence pages  is intended to   
admit small criticisms of the original  

pieces of poetry  and imaginative prose 
which you publish4 ,if it is1 ,i would  
beg leave to  offer two perhaps niggling
 comments upon ,the ,moon4    7#a7 ,in  
,stanza #bb1 ,emperor is a fine word and
 perhaps inevitable3 but  would it be   
merely pedantic to remind the poet that 
when ,bonaparte was  in ,egypt in #agih 
he was not yet ,emperor1 nor even ,first
 ,consul8    7#b7 ,in ,stanza #cj1      
eighth line1 does not grammar require   
the reading  but thee instead of but    
thou8 ,but here is a preposition1 not a 
conjunction--in spite of the ,boy on the
 ,burning ,deck4 ,burns 7,i think7  has 
a line somewhere that clearly shows the 
true usage3          ,live but thee ,i  
canna----    i4e41 without thee4 ,i do  
not think but in such a phrase can      
rightly be construed as merely          
equivalent to and not4--,yours1 etc41   
,a4 ,f4 ,g4          ,december #abth1   
#aiai4          ,,books ,,of ,,the      
,,month      ,,poetry    ,,poems1       
#aiaf-aiah4 ,by ,,francis ,,brett       

,,young4 ,collins4 #es4 net4    ,mr4    
,brett ,young's ,marching on ,tanga was 
the best written of all the  books      
produced during the war by men on active
 service4 ,its imaginative  quality and 
the charm of its style were no surprise 
to those who knew  his early novels1 of 
which ,the ,dark ,tower was the most    
notable4 ,it  has been succeeded by two 
other prose works1 ,the ,crescent ,moon1
  an ,african story1 the melodrama of   
which is veiled by the beautiful        
descriptive writing1 and ,the ,young    
,physician1 a more naturalistic  essay  
which was noticed in our first number4  
,unobtrusively1 amid these  other       
activities1 he published two or three   
years ago a little book of  verses1     
,five ,degrees ,south2 and in this new  
volume are gathered the  contents of    
that book and the poems that their      
author has written more  recently4      
,the volume is characteristically       
,georgian4 ,there are hints1 here  and  
there1 of musings which may develop into

 a general conception  of the universe  
and of man2 there are points of contact 
with the  problems which vex the        
reflective spirit4 ,but1 generally      
speaking1  ,mr4 ,brett ,young is content
 to sing1 briefly and with deep feeling1
  of a few things securely loved3 and   
those points of contact are  points of  
departure4 ,he writes of                
,england--friends1 landscapes1 and  a   
woman--before he leaves ,england4 ,when 
he is in ,africa the blood  and         
struggle1 the fell tropical scenery1    
seem but to make acuter the  response to
 the ,england that is lost2 and when he 
comes home again he  sings again of home
 recovered and loved with a new         
intensity4 ,the  ,gift gives the keynote
 of the book3          ,marching on     
,tanga1 marching the parch'd plain1     
,of wavering spear-grass past ,pangani  
,river1        ,england came to me--me  
who had always ta'en        ,but never  
given before--,england1 the giver1      
,in a vision of three poplar-trees that 

shiver        ,on still evenings of     
summer1 after rain1        ,by ,slapton 
,ley1 where reed-beds start and quiver  
,when scarce a ripple moves the upland  
grain4        ,then ,i thanked ,god that
 now ,i had suffered pain1        ,and1 
as the parch'd plain1 thirst1 and lain  
awake        ,shivering all night       
through till cold daybreak4        ,in  
that ,i count these sufferings my gain1 
,and her acknowledgment4 ,nay1 more1    
would fain        ,suffer as many more  
for her sweet sake4    ,that is from    
,africa1 where he rides through marshes 
swarming with cruel  life and admires   
the sickly beauty of the fever tree1 but
 always as an  alien4 ,then he returns3 
,i saw a thrush light on a hawthorn     
spray1          ,one moment only1       
spilling creamy blossom1          ,while
 the bough bent beneath her speckled    
bosom1        ,bent1 and recovered1 and 
she fluttered away4          ,the branch
 was still2 but in my heart1 a pain     
,than the thorn'd spray more cruel      

stabbed me1 only          ,remembering  
days in a far land and lonely1          
,when ,i had never hoped for summer     
again4    ,all his deepest              
feelings--patriotism1 love1             
friendship--are interwoven  with natural
 beauty4 ,in ,testament he leaves to his
 friend the  common memory of a summer  
in the ,cotswolds3 sunlight on the      
gables  of ,evesham1 a boat on the cool 
water of ,avon1 sunsets over ,bredon1   
evening stocks and the scent of hay2 and
 in the most eloquent close1  putting   
the most beautiful scenes of earth      
behind him to sing of  spiritual beauty1
 he lingers on them to describe them4   
,but his  descriptions are always       
prompted and suffused by emotion3 like  
,brooke  in ,the ,happy ,lover and ,mr4 
,masefield in ,biography1 he catalogues 
the scenes1 the fields1 trees1 flowers1 
and faces that live sweetly  in his     
memory1 and his affection is            
communicated4 ,he is poles away  from   
the careful nature poet who makes a neat

 drawing of anything  that at all       
interests him4 ,emotion selects his     
subjects2 he does  not manufacture4 ,he 
writes clearly too and unaffectedly4    
,except in  ,thamar--the most ambitious 
poem in the book1 but promising a       
greater  success than it achieves--he is
 never obscure for a moment4 ,and his   
simplicity of expression conceals a good
 deal of technical effort4 ,the  longer 
pieces--such as ,the ,leaning ,elm--are 
elaborately musical1 and  an examination
 of the first poem quoted above will    
reveal studied1  though not obtrusive1  
assonances and internal rhymes which    
show that  ,mr4 ,brett ,young 7it might 
be deduced elsewhere from his metres7   
has  not read his ,bridges in vain4     
,there is scarcely a bad poem in the    
book1 or one without an interest        
peculiar to itself4 ,several beyond     
those we have mentioned--the best are   
the exquisite ,prothalamion and         
,invocation--are to be found in the     
recent ,georgian book4 ,the poem on     

prehistoric remains on the battlefield  
might well have been added1 and  ,bte   
,humaine3          ,riding through ,ruwu
 swamp1 about sunrise1        ,i saw the
 world awake2 and as the ray            
,touched the tall grasses where they    
dream till day1        ,lo1 the bright  
air alive with dragonflies1        ,with
 brittle wings aquiver1 and great eyes  
,piloting crimson bodies1 slender and   
gay4        ,i aimed at one1 and struck 
it1 and it lay        ,broken and       
lifeless1 with fast-fading dyes4        
,then my soul sickened with a sudden    
pain        ,and horror1 at my own      
careless cruelty1        ,that where all
 things are cruel ,i had slain        ,a
 creature whose sweet life it is to fly3
        ,like beasts that prey with     
bloody claw3 ,nay1 they        ,must    
slay to live1 but what excuse had ,i8   
,this is a book which excites great     
curiosity about its author's future2    
but at present his verse1 beautiful as  
it is1 lacks energy4      ,,collected   

,,poems ,,of ,,thomas ,,hardy4          
,macmillan4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4    ,,rudyard
 ,,kipling',s ,,verse3 ,,inclusive      
,,edition1 #ahhe-aiah4 ,three vols4     
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #fcs4 net4    ,it  
is always a satisfaction to have in one 
volume--or in two or three  uniform     
volumes--the verses of a poet which we  
have previously had to  search for in   
self-contained books4 ,the publication  
of a collected  edition of ,mr4 ,hardy's
 poems is welcome for another reason4   
,in the last  few years his reputation  
as a poet--quite apart from the fact    
that he  has continued1 right up to his 
eightieth year1 to produce novel and    
beautiful work--has greatly increased4  
,critics may now be found who  even hold
 that ,mr4 ,hardy's chief claim to      
greatness will rest1 in the  eyes of    
posterity1 upon his poems 7including    
,the ,dynasts7 rather  than upon those  
novels which in themselves made him one 
of the two or  three most conspicuous   
writers of his generation4 ,but even now

 we do  not think that his stature as a 
poet is widely realised1 the volume  and
 quality of his poetical work generally 
known3 and there will  probably be many 
who1 in perusing this collected volume1 
will be  struck for the first time with 
the fact that here alone1 leaving all   
the prose out of the question1 is work  
sufficient1 and sufficiently  good1 to  
place its author among the greatest     
,english writers of the  last century4  
,there are hundreds of pages of short   
poems1 some of them  exquisitely        
beautiful1 and all of them so direct and
 fresh that even  the most faulty are   
worth having4 ,faults--though we might  
rather call  them idiosyncrasies--,mr4  
,hardy certainly has4 ,his language is  
sometimes  bald and sometimes cumbrous2 
his consistent pessimism sometimes leads
  him1 in the dramatic poems1 to        
extremes of deliberate gloom4 ,but can  
we  regret a sad philosophy which has   
enabled a sweet and sensitive spirit  to
 shine with such uninterrupted          

brightness amid that gloom8 ,and can  we
 regret a habit of phraseology which has
 enabled ,mr4 ,hardy to win  some of his
 greatest technical triumphs 7for he    
makes music out of  scientific or       
journalistic words which would ruin an  
ordinary lyrist7  and which will        
probably have direct results in the way 
of enlarging  the poetic vocabulary1    
which is in constant need of            
oxygenation8 ,it is  inevitable that a  
collected edition in one volume should  
be printed in  smaller type than is     
entirely comfortable1 and the text of   
this edition  is not so attractive as   
that of the separate volumes4 ,but it is
 all  here1 and when the reader compares
 the volume to some of its companion    
,macmillan collections 7,clough1 for    
instance1 falls into nothingness7 he    
comprehends that in the history of      
,english literature ,mr4 ,hardy will    
rank above many of the supposedly       
established classics4 ,he is a great    
poet4    ,the ,kipling collection is    

luxuriously got up1 but unfortunately   
the covers are not all they might be1   
and the reader is irritated  throughout 
by the presence on the top of every     
right-hand page of  ,inclusive ,edition 
in large black capitals4 ,mr4 ,kipling  
would show up  far better in a selection
 than in a complete edition1 so much of 
his  verse is at best vigorous          
journalism4 ,were a good selection made 
we  believe that some of those who      
depreciate him would admit for the first
  time that he has a fine poet in him2 a
 collected edition merely shows  that he
 does not know the poet in him from the 
rhymer4 ,the greater  one's admiration  
for his best work the greater the       
irritation one  sustains when reading   
through the great body of his jingling  
journalism  and pompous sermonising4    
,had he written nothing but the ,ballad 
of  ,east and ,west1 the songs from     
,puck and a few more he would be as well
  remembered as he will be now with all 
this mass of versification to his  name4

      ,,wheels #aiai3 ,a ,,fourth       
,,cycle4 ,blackwell4 #fs4 net4    ,the  
end-papers of this volume bear a        
charming design of athletes  throwing   
darts at targets1 and it is to be       
observed that no one of  them as yet has
 hit the bull's-eye4 ,we do not know if 
the symbolism  was deliberate1 but it is
 apt1 for the volume is full of potshots
 so  wayward that we are usually        
uncertain as to which target these      
erratic  slingers wish to hit4 ,music at
 least is not desired3 most of the      
verses  consist of strings of           
statements--if they are not disconnected
 the  connections between them are not  
apparent to us--interesting neither     
severally nor jointly1 and entirely     
without beauty of sound4 ,miss ,edith   
,sitwell's verses1 though               
incomprehensible1 contain a good deal of
 vivid  detail1 pleasant because it     
reminds us of bright pictures4 ,there is
 one  poem by the late ,wilfred ,owen   
7,strange ,meeting7 which has a         

powerful1  sombre beginning3            
,it seemed that out of the battle ,i    
escaped        ,down some profound dull 
tunnel1 long since scooped1             
,through granites which ,titanic wars   
had groined4        ,yet also there     
encumbered sleepers groaned1        ,too
 fast in thought or death to be         
bestirred4        ,then1 as ,i probed   
them1 one sprang up1 and stared         
,with piteous recognition in fixed eyes1
        ,lifting distressful hands as if
 to bless4        ,and by his smile1 ,i 
knew that sullen hall4        ,with a   
thousand fears that vision's face was   
grained2        ,yet no blood reached   
here from the upper ground1        ,and 
no guns thumped1 or down the flues made 
moan4        ,strange1 friend1 ,i said4 
,here is no cause to mourn4             
,none1 said the other4 ,save the undone 
years1        ,the hopelessness4        
,whatever hope is yours1        ,was my 
life also4    ,there are several other  
poems by him which have all the         

earnestness1  and much of the force1 of 
,mr4 ,sassoon's illustrations of the    
beastly  cruelty of war4 ,but the one   
poet included who is always arousing    
interest and curiosity is ,mr4 ,aldous  
,huxley4 ,mr4 ,huxley1 when these  poems
 were written 7though1 in ,leda1 he     
seems already to be partly  recovering71
 seems to have been in the same sort of 
revulsion against  sentimentality as    
,rupert ,brooke was in when his first   
book was being  composed4 ,he is anxious
 that we should not overlook the facts  
that  there are noisome smells in the   
world1 that many people are disgusting  
to see1 and that even the most touching 
episode may be interrupted by  an       
eructation3 though1 unlike ,brooke1 he  
does not usually even try to  sing4     
,there is something very familiar about 
the restaurant poem3          ,what     
negroid holiday makes free        ,with 
such priapic revelry8        ,what      
songs8 ,what gongs8 ,what nameless      
rites8        ,what gods like wooden    

stalagmites8        ,what reeking steam 
of kidney pie8        ,what blasts of   
,bantu melody8        ,ragtime 444 but  
when the wearied band        ,swoons to 
a waltz1 ,i take her hand1        ,and  
there we sit in blissful calm1          
,quietly sweating palm to palm4         
,there is always strength about ,mr4    
,huxley's epithets3 he observes         
accurately and his language is hard1    
clear1 and original4 ,he conveys  his   
unpleasing ruminations with such force  
that in several places  we were         
incommoded by a rising in our gorge4    
,but it is not in order  to obtain      
sensations of that kind that we read    
poetry1 and we shall  not in idle hours 
beguile our leisure by repeating over   
and over the  much-loved syllables of   
,the ,betrothal of ,priapus4 ,mr4       
,huxley can see  things with his own    
eyes1 and has a powerful intelligence1  
and when he  has discovered something to
 write about he may become a very good  
poet4      ,,general ,,william ,,booth  

,,enters ,,into ,,heaven1 ,,and ,,other 
,,poems4 ,by ,,nicholas  ,,vachel       
,,lindsay4 ,with an ,introduction by    
,,robert ,,nichols4 ,chatto   ,windus4  
#es4 net4    ,mr4 ,vachel ,lindsay is   
best known as the author of poems1      
notably poems  inspired by negro        
camp-meetings1 which are meant for      
recitation2 they  have intoxicating     
rhythms and the language full of gusto4 
,the ,congo1  ,the ,daniel ,jazz1 and   
others should certainly be introduced to
 the  ,british public1 and perhaps      
,messrs4 ,chatto propose to follow up   
this  volume with another containing    
,mr4 ,lindsay's later work4 ,it is a    
pity1  however1 that the present        
collection should have come first1 for  
it  contains little that is             
characteristic of ,mr4 ,lindsay at his  
best1 and  little1 therefore1 that will 
show readers here how good he can be4   
,the  title-poem1 though not as good as 
some of its successors1 is the only  one
 now published which shows what ,mr4    

,lindsay can do4 ,it describes the      
entrance of the late ,general ,booth    
into ,paradise at the head of the       
motley army whom he has saved3          
,booth led boldly with his big bass     
drum--        7,are you washed in the   
blood of the ,lamb87        ,the ,saints
 smiled gravely and they said ,he's     
come--        7,are you washed in the   
blood of the ,lamb87        ,walking    
lepers followed1 rank on rank1          
,lurching bravoes from the ditches dank1
        ,drabs from the alleyways and   
drug fiends pale--        ,minds still  
passion-ridden1 soul-powers frail3      
,vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath1
        ,unwashed legions with the ways 
of ,death--        7,are you washed in  
the blood of the ,lamb87    ,the other  
poems are far more ordinary in form and 
banal in language4  ,mr4 ,lindsay1 at   
this stage1 was writing like other      
people1 and his  verse was redeemed from
 commonplaceness only by its sincerity  
and  high spirits4 ,he is an uplifter   

who is as jovial as ,falstaff2 he is    
probably the only poet on record1 except
 ,shelley1 to be a teetotaller1  and    
certainly the only one to take an active
 part in an anti-,saloon  campaign4 ,the
 second best poem in this book is an    
elegy1 in couplets1  on ,o4 ,henry2 an  
elegy both romantic and truthful4 ,of   
the others an  address to the ,u4,s4    
,senate is decidedly racy4 ,a senator   
whom ,mr4  ,lindsay regarded as         
undesirable was elected4 ,his verses on 
the occasion  begin3          ,and must 
the ,senator from ,illinois        ,be  
this squat thing1 with blinking1        
half-closed eyes8        ,this brazen   
gutter idol1 reared to power            
,upon a leering pyramid of lies8        
,that is what met the eyes of the       
newly-elected when he opened his local  
paper on the morning after the poll4    
,a ,,treasury ,,of ,,war ,,poetry1      
,,british ,,and ,,american ,,poems ,,of 
,,the ,,world ,,war3  #aiad-aiai4       
,edited by ,,george ,,herbert ,,clarke4 

,hodder  ,stoughton4 #ajs4  #f;d4 net4  
,if this be a treasury it contains not  
merely gold and silver1 but  copper1    
nickel1 ,britannia metal1 brass1 and    
lead4 ,even if all the  good poems      
inspired by the war were brought        
together they would not  make a book of 
over four hundred closely-printed pages4
 ,mr4 ,clarke is  ,professor of ,english
 in the ,university of ,tennessee4 ,his 
collection1  amongst those who are      
sufficiently undiscriminating to like   
it1 may  promote ,anglo-,american       
friendship2 if it does it will have     
justified  its existence4 ,otherwise its
 only value consists in its reproduction
  of certain poems which are not1 we    
think1 to be found elsewhere4 ,we       
believe that the ,poet ,laureate's      
,wounded 7which appeared in the  ,times7
 is one of these4 ,it is a very lusty   
poem inspired by ,trafalgar  ,square in 
sunshine3 wounded lads lolling by the   
lions and ,nelson  standing above4 ,it  
ends3          ,the gentle unjealous    

,shakespeare1 ,i trow1        ,in his   
country grave of peaceful fame1         
,must feel exiled from life and glow1   
,if he thinks of this man with his      
warrior claim1        ,who looketh on   
,london as if 'twere his own        ,as 
he standeth in stone1 aloft and alone1  
,sailing the sky1 with one arm and one  
eye4    ,this poem--it is not the only  
one--was overlooked by those who were   
recently yelping at ,mr4 ,bridges for   
having written nothing about the  war4  
,,novels    ,,children ,,of ,,no        
,,man',s ,,land4 ,by ,g4 ,b4 ,,stern4   
,duckworth4 #gs4 net1    ,,sir          
,,limpidus4 ,by ,,marmaduke ,,pickthall4
 ,collins4 #gs4 net4    ,,night ,,and   
,,day4 ,by ,,virginia ,,woolf4          
,duckworth4 #gs4 net4    ,,the ,,power  
,,of ,a ,,lie4 ,by ,,jonas ,,bojer4     
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4 net4    ,,gold
 ,,and ,,iron4 ,by ,,joseph             
,,hergesheimer4 ,heinemann4 #gs4 net4   
,the question how far the novel can be1 
or should be1 a criticism of  society1  

not of life in ,arnold's sense1 but of  
the forms in which  life manifests      
itself at given times and places1 is one
 that has been  discussed but is never  
likely to find a general settlement4    
,there will  always be purists1 of the  
art for art's sake order1 who will      
maintain  that the discussion or even   
the exposition1 as such1 of practical   
social problems is out of place in      
fiction4 ,there will always be those    
who maintain1 as did ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells
 some years ago1 that if the novel  is  
to be recognised as something more than 
a relaxation1 it has 444  to be kept    
free from the restrictions imposed upon 
it by the fierce  pedantries of those   
who would define a general form for     
it--writers  and critics1 in fact1 who1 
like ,mr4 ,wells himself1 are prepared  
to  use the novel as a means to any     
practical end1 whether transient  or    
eternal1 of which at the moment it seems
 capable4 ,nor is it  particularly      
desirable that any such settlement      

should be arrived at2  but the dispute  
suggests a distinction which has some   
usefulness4 ,mr4  ,wells has picked up1 
with the forceps of fiction1 and        
examined by turns  politics1 religion1  
education1 and the relations between the
 sexes4 ,mr4  ,bennett1 portraying      
modern society of all kinds no less     
closely1 has  no special suggestion to  
make to this age or this civilisation3  
his  lesson1 if his books contain one1  
is of universal applicability4 ,mr4     
,conrad1 so unlike him in all else1 is  
with him in this4 ,mr4 ,conrad1  the    
novelist1 has no views on the treatment 
of subject races or the  reform of the  
merchant marine4 ,these two are of the  
older tradition3  for the novel dealing 
with social questions is a thing of     
comparatively  recent growth4 ,formerly 
only one artist was allowed1 and even   
expected1  to be didactic--that artist  
in whom to-day preaching is most        
bitterly  resented1 namely1 the poet4   
,he was the bard1 the seer1 the prophet1

 who  thundered out of a cloud and      
instructed the nation4 ,the dramatist   
and  the novelist were by comparison    
mere providers of entertainment and     
were required at most to give their work
 a flavour of good morals as a  proof of
 decent intentions4 ,the drama led the  
way2 and1 in the hands of  ,ibsen and   
his disciples1 it became an instrument  
for the examination  of topical         
problems4 ,the novel soon followed suit1
 so that we are now  confronted with a  
category of works of fiction in which   
the divided aim  by no means destroys   
all artistic interest4    ,such a book1 
in a high degree1 is ,miss ,stern's     
,children of ,no ,man's  ,land1 which   
examines alternately the position of    
naturalised ,germans  and their families
 in ,england during the war and the     
position of those  members of the       
younger generation who have been left by
 parental  indulgence to drift between  
the enforced morality1 which is spared  
them1 and the easy immorality1 from     

which their instincts withhold  them4   
,in both cases the meaning of ,no ,man's
 ,land is perfectly clear4  ,it is the  
barren and abhorred territory in which  
wander those who are  rejected by both  
the contending nations2 and it is the   
land of the  demi-vierges or1 as ,miss  
,stern somewhat awkwardly calls them1   
the  demi-maids4 ,both problems are     
clearly presented and examined2 but it  
is not obvious what purpose is served by
 thus combining them and giving  to them
 a common symbolism1 or by making a     
brother suffer in one tract1  while his 
sister strays in the other4 ,they are   
not problems in the  same category or on
 the same plane2 and their alternate    
treatment here  hardly conduces to      
continuity or clarity of thought4       
,but it must be admitted that ,miss     
,stern1 having thus handicapped         
herself1 carries the unnecessary burden 
with great dexterity4 ,the whole  book  
is written with a hard1 brilliant       
cleverness that never flags and  is     

conducted through a remarkable variety  
of incidents and with the  help of a    
remarkable variety of characters4 ,the  
study of the behaviour  of the          
half-,english during the war has an     
inherent air of reality and  moderation4
 ,but it is not on this that ,miss      
,stern lavishes her fullest  powers of  
description and reasoning4 ,she is      
actually more concerned  with the       
development of ,deb ,marcus1 the        
beautiful ,jewish girl1 who is          
discovered at the opening of the book   
being kissed by a middle-aged  and      
unattractive ,german whom she does not  
like but whom her fear of  seeming      
foolish forbids her to repulse4 ,we     
leave her in comfortable  wedlock       
declaring that her daughter will be     
brought up ,as strictly as  ,i can1     
right and wrong1 good and bad 444       
signposts wherever she may  stop and    
wander4 ,i'm going to superintend her   
morals2 ,i'm going to  say 'don't1' and 
,i'm going to ask questions1 and forbid 

her things4  ,and be shocked whenever   
it's necessary ,i should be shocked---- 
,you  little reactionary6 her friend    
replies2 and this1 in fact1 is the      
plain moral of ,miss ,stern's book1 that
 modern laxity has rendered  reaction   
necessary4 ,but the moral lesson1       
however just it may be1  would not be   
acceptable unless it were supported by  
sound observation  or palatable without 
good writing4 ,miss ,stern provides both
 these  necessities1 and her pictures of
 both the half-worlds are extremely     
convincing and entertaining4 ,she makes 
real and keeps distinct a great  variety
 of characters1 who1 as one thinks over 
the book1 reappear  unmistakably in the 
mind--,manon1 the marketable ingnue1    
daughter of  an operatic singer2        
,antonia ,verity1 a ,diana whose        
virginity is almost  imperceptibly      
changing into spinsterhood2 ,winnie1    
stupid1 sluggish and  greedy1 in whom   
inconsistent but rigid conventions have 
quite taken the  place of morals1 a     

jumble of puritanism and prejudice and  
incurious  sensuality1 and a host of    
others4 ,her men are equally well done1 
but  perhaps with a care less intense   
and less from the inside4 ,but it is  a 
sign of ,miss ,stern's thoroughness that
 both men and women should be  there in 
such numbers1 so delicately             
differentiated1 so intricately  taking  
their places in her prolonged and       
exhaustive argument4 ,if1  of course1   
she had done no more than provide a     
gallery of typical  portraits to prove a
 thesis1 her work would hardly be worth 
discussing  at so much length4 ,but she 
has managed to avoid the pitfall of the 
social critic in fiction1 and1 without  
ever losing sight of her main  purpose1 
to compose a book in which no passage is
 mere argument4 ,the  story proceeds    
levelly through all its multifarious    
scenes1 continuing  to present incident 
and character as a novel must do4 ,the  
skill is  perhaps even too great4 ,the  
reader's attention is sometimes diverted

  by it2 and it must be said that       
juggling with cups invites praise       
rather of the juggling than of the      
china4 ,but1 in one way and another1    
,miss ,stern keeps interest vividly     
alive through a long book1 the theme  of
 which is by no means wholly pleasant4  
,her wit and vivacity are  really       
remarkable2 and the conversations of her
 persons are unusually  animated4 ,she  
is without great depth of feeling or    
perception4 ,the  types with which she  
deals are shallow2 and it is noticeable 
that the  less shallow they are the more
 she tends to deal with them from the   
outside4 ,but ,children of ,no ,man's   
,land is nevertheless an admirable      
performance in a difficult kind4    ,sir
 ,limpidus1 by ,mr4 ,marmaduke          
,pickthall1 is another essay in social  
criticism1 for which the author has     
somewhat disappointingly deserted  the  
,levant4 ,his hero is a member of the   
ruling classes1 the son of a  wealthy   
baronet1 who is trained from early youth

 to follow the code  of his peers1 in   
evil-doing and well-doing alike4 ,this  
leads him1 by  way of public-school and 
university1 one entanglement and        
another1  including a breach of promise 
case and a suitable marriage1 to a seat 
in the ,cabinet and the reverence of his
 fellow-countrymen4 ,on the last  page3 
,suddenly he was recalled to ,london4   
,there was war in ,europe and           
,england might at any moment be involved
 in it4 ,how would the people    take   
it8 was the question of the hour4 ,sir  
,limpidus was of the    opinion that war
 just then would be a godsend4 ,it would
 rouse the    ancient spirit of the     
people and dispel their madness4 ,they  
would    once more rally to their       
natural leaders1 who1 for their part1   
would    throw off the mantle of        
frivolity4 ,even defeat as a united     
nation    would be better than ignoble  
peace with the anarchic mob supreme4    
,but ,mr4 ,pickthall's final verdict on 
,sir ,limpidus occurs earlier than      

this1 and is put into the statesman's   
own mouth or rather mind4 ,sir          
,limpidus has delivered an address at   
his old school1 and is told by  his     
disappointed son that the fellows 444   
wanted you to talk about  yourself1 the 
things you've done1 in ,parliament and  
foreign countries1  and all that4       
,i've not done anything to make a speech
 about1 said ,sir ,limpidus1    after a 
moment's hesitation4      ,his triumph  
as a statesman was not one of doing4 ,it
 was the natural    consequence of being
 what he was4 ,if it came to doing1 he  
had fought    a duel in his youth1 and  
in ,albania had assisted to burn down a 
village4 ,those incidents in his career 
were not fit subjects for a    speech to
 schoolboys2 and besides them in the way
 of doing there was    nothing but      
pursuit of women and field sports4 ,so  
it was with a smile    over the double  
meaning of the words that he repeated3  
,i've done    nothing to make a speech  
about4      ,the headmaster1 following  

his distinguished guest1 happened to    
overhear this mild disclaimer1 and he   
laughed aloud1 calling his    colleagues
 round him to enjoy the classic joke4   
,these two extracts will serve better   
than any analysis to explain both  the  
direction and the method of ,mr4        
,pickthall's satire4 ,it has the        
doubtful merit 7in a satire7 of being   
consistently moderate2 and ,sir         
,limpidus1 who is never quite a figure  
of truth1 also misses ever being  quite 
a figure of fun4 ,social criticism on   
these lines may put forward  quite      
adequately the author's point of view2  
but unless it has some  imaginative     
vigour it cannot be said to justify the 
form in which it is  cast4 ,mr4         
,pickthall's book is a presentation1 by 
means of characters  instead of by      
abstract arguments1 of certain lines of 
thought regarding  politics1 education1 
and other questions2 and in so far it is
 an essay  in the same genre as ,miss   
,stern's novel4 ,where it differs is in 

the  fact that the lines of thought have
 remained to the author incomparably    
more interesting than the means of their
 presentation4 ,these figures  are      
painted in the flat3 they have little   
imaginative life3 and1 as a  work of    
creative fiction1 the book must be      
regarded as a failure4    ,with the     
remainder of the books on our list1 we  
return to the older  tradition of the   
novel1 the tradition which seeks to     
produce a work  of art1 the lessons     
deducible from which 7if any7 are1      
roughly1  applicable to human nature in 
general4 ,in this sort1 ,mrs4 ,virginia 
,woolf has written a very extraordinary 
story4 ,katharine ,hilbery1  after much 
hesitation1 engages herself to ,william 
,rodney1 a precise  ,civil ,servant1 who
 writes plays in verse4 ,he develops    
doubts of their  love simultaneously    
with hers1 and is not sure whether he is
 not in  love with her cousin1          
,cassandra1 as1 after some curious      
experiments  in emotionalism1 he        

discovers himself to be4 ,he therefore  
disengages  himself from ,katharine and 
engages himself to ,cassandra4          
,meanwhile  ,ralph ,denham1 a brilliant 
and more vital1 if less polished1 young 
man1  in love with ,katharine1 seeing   
her given to ,william1 proposes to ,mary
  ,datchet1 who loves him but refuses   
him4 ,when ,katharine is free he        
proposes to her and is accepted4 ,this  
story ,mrs4 ,woolf tells in nearly  five
 hundred-and-fifty pages of fairly close
 print4    ,the taste for her writing is
 decidedly an acquired one2 and1 as we  
have  proved by experiment1 it is       
possible to read some two hundred pages 
without acquiring it4 ,but when a       
certain saturation point is reached1  a 
remarkable change takes place in the    
reader's sensibility2 and  what before  
he thought amazingly tedious and        
thin-spun he then finds                 
delightful--delightful enough for it to 
be worth while turning back to  the     
beginning and reading again the two     

hundred pages which wearied  him at the 
first attempt4 ,mrs4 ,woolf has indeed  
proved a truth which  undoubtedly exists
 but which few writers are capable of   
establishing1  namely1 that no          
character1 properly ascertained and     
portrayed1 can ever  be uninteresting4  
,it is not by vivacity or humour that   
she maintains  the readableness of her  
innumerable scenes and conversations4   
,perhaps  the most vivacious passage in 
the book is the description of          
,cassandra1  as she appears in          
,william's memory3      ,cassandra      
,otway had a very fine taste in music1  
and he had charming    recollections of 
her in a light fantastic attitude1      
playing the flute    in the morning-room
 at ,stogdon ,house4 ,he recalled with  
pleasure the    amusing way in which her
 nose1 long like all the ,otway noses1  
seemed    to extend itself into the     
flute1 as if she were some inimitably   
graceful species of musical mole4 ,the  
little picture suggested very    happily

 her melodious and whimsical            
temperament4    ,mrs4 ,woolf is not a   
satirist1 not even so much as was ,jane 
,austen2 and  she avoids humour for its 
own sake1 not so much because she is not
  capable of it as because that is not  
here her concern4 ,the outstanding      
quality of her book is its consistent   
wealth of minute and accurate           
observation1 both of behaviour and of   
states of mind1 by means of which  the  
persons are at length fully revealed4   
,extracts from work of this  sort are   
unfortunately1 as a rule1 not very      
convincing3 it is like a  liquid which  
has no colour when it is seen in a      
tea-spoon and a great  deal when it is  
seen in a bucket4 ,but a specimen may be
 given4 ,here  ,katharine and ,rodney1  
sitting together in silence1 are        
considering for  the first time the     
possibility of breaking their           
engagement3      ,she would have spoken1
 but could not bring herself to ask him 
for    signs of affection which she had 

no right to claim4 ,the conviction      
that he was thus strange to her filled  
her with despondency1 and    illustrated
 quite beyond doubt the infinite        
loneliness of human    beings4 ,she had 
never felt the truth of this so strongly
 before4 ,she    looked away into the   
fire2 it seemed to her that even        
physically they    were now scarcely    
within speaking distance1 and           
spiritually there    was certainly no   
human being with whom she could claim   
comradeship2    no dream that satisfied 
her as she was used to be satisfied2    
nothing    remained in whose reality she
 could believe1 save those abstract     
ideas--figures1 laws1 stars1 facts1     
which she could hardly hold to    for   
lack of knowledge and a kind of shame4  
,when ,rodney owned to himself the folly
 of this prolonged silence and    the   
meanness of such devices1 and looked up 
ready to seek some excuse    for a good 
laugh or opening for a confession1 he   
was disconcerted by    what he saw4     

,katharine seemed equally oblivious of  
what was bad or    of what was good in  
him4 ,her expression suggested          
concentration upon    something entirely
 remote from her surroundings4 ,the     
carelessness    of her attitude seemed  
to him rather masculine than feminine4  
,his    impulse to break up the         
constraint was chilled1 and once more   
the    exasperating sense of his own    
impotency returned to him4 ,he could not
    help contrasting ,katharine with his
 vision of the engaging1 whimsical      
,cassandra2 ,katharine undemonstrative1 
inconsiderate1 silent1 and yet    so    
notable that he could never do without  
her good opinion4      ,she veered round
 upon him a moment later1 as if1 when   
her train of    thought was ended1 she  
became aware of his presence4    ,this  
is woven of gossamer threads1 and so    
indeed is the whole novel2  but these   
threads make together a consistent1     
flexible1 and beautiful  fabric4 ,there 
is one further observation that is      

perhaps worth making4  ,writers who go  
so deeply into the minutenesses of      
psychology and  behaviour as ,mrs4      
,woolf commonly tend to obscurity not   
only in their  material but also in     
their presentation of it4 ,in the pages 
of this  book there is not one thought  
or one sentence that is not impeccably  
lucid4    ,the ,power of a ,lie1 by ,mr4
 ,jonas ,bojer1 a ,norwegian author1    
whose book1 ,the ,great ,hunger1 has    
already attracted attention1  is        
preceded by an introduction by ,sir     
,hall ,caine2 and indeed the  farmers   
and peasants with which it deals do a   
little recall the  ,manxmen of that     
writer's early work4 ,but there the     
suitability of this  sponsorship ends2  
and we must enter a protest against the 
practice  of handicapping a book with a 
preface by a critic who is evidently    
incapable of understanding it or of     
expressing himself intelligently  upon  
it4 ,the story is sufficiently simple4  
,knut ,norby1 a wealthy1  simple1       

good-hearted1 irascible old farmer1 has 
allowed himself in a  weak moment to be 
cajoled into backing a bill for ,wangen1
 who is an  unbalanced1 incompetent1 and
 rather unamiable person4 ,wangen fails2
  and ,norby is reduced to panic terror 
by the thought of what his wife  will   
say when she hears of his folly4 ,he    
therefore puts off the moment  of       
confession by speaking so evasively as  
to give the impression that  he denies  
having signed the bond1 and ,fru ,norby1
 indignant against the  man who has     
sought to defraud her husband1 takes the
 matter into her  own hands and lays a  
charge of forgery against ,wangen4 ,the 
innocent  man1 who is guilty enough in  
other particulars1 having brought many  
persons who trusted him to destitution1 
is elevated into a condition of         
excessive self-righteousness by this    
unjust accusation4 ,norby struggles  for
 some time to put matters right1 but his
 courage always fails him  at the point 
of confession2 and gradually he comes to

 regard ,wangen as  a wicked man and as 
the tool of unscrupulous persons4       
,wangen1 always  weak and shifty1 at    
length forges a letter to prove his     
case1 which  he cannot do otherwise1 as 
the only witness to the signature is    
dead4  ,his forgery is detected1 and he 
is sentenced to a year's hard labour4   
,meanwhile ,norby has argued himself out
 of the truth and back into  the        
condition of benevolent justice1 which  
is his natural state4 ,the  book ends   
with a banquet given to him by his      
neighbours to show their  sympathy with 
him in his trials4    ,on this very     
remarkable composition ,sir ,hall ,caine
 has the following  observations to     
make3      ,this book says1 if ,i do not
 misunderstand it1 that the sense of    
innocence in an innocent man may be     
corrupting and debasing2 that    to     
prove himself guiltless a man may make  
himself guilty1 and that    nearly every
 good and true impulse of the heart may 
be whittled away    by the suspicion and

 abuse of the world4      ,i confess1   
though ,i am here to introduce this book
 to ,english    readers1 and do so with 
gladness and pride1 that this is        
teaching of    which ,i utterly         
disapprove4 ,it conflicts with all my   
experience of    life to think that a   
man may commit forgery1 as ,wangen does1
 to prove    himself innocent of        
forgery1 and that a man may become      
unselfish1 as    ,norby becomes         
unselfish1 by practising the most       
selfish duplicity4    ,if ,i had to     
believe this ,i should also have to     
believe that there    is no knowledge of
 right and wrong in the heart of man1 no
 sense of    sin1 that conscience is    
only a juggling fiend1 and that the     
presiding    power in the world not only
 is not ,god1 but is the devil4    ,this
 passage is worth quoting because it    
suggests what ,mr4 ,bojer has  avoided4 
,sir ,hall ,caine demands1 to all       
intents and purposes1 a book  like one  
of his own1 in which there are definite 

and distinguishable  categories of good 
men and bad men1 in which virtue is     
ranged  uncompromisingly against vice4  
,but ,sir ,hall ,caine's books1 as this 
preface would suggest1 even if we had   
never seen one of them1 are1  since the 
very earliest of them1 negligible both  
artistically and  morally4 ,mr4 ,bojer  
has attempted something different and   
has succeeded  in writing a most unusual
 and interesting novel4 ,he makes the   
perennial  discovery that good and bad  
are mixed in all men and he adds the    
discovery that the sufferings of bad men
 are not always the results of1  or     
proportionate to1 their sins4 ,he has   
done these things in a story  which     
astonishes the reader by its            
straightforwardness and simplicity4     
,the characters are presented by means  
of the barest lines2 and no  incident or
 theme is elaborated beyond a few pages4
 ,nevertheless the  central idea is     
adequately worked out1 and the whole    
novel leaves a  distinct and vivid      

impression on the mind4    ,in ,mr4     
,joseph ,hergesheimer discriminating    
,english readers found over a  year ago 
an ,american novelist whom1 alone of his
 generation1 they were  able to admire  
and to consider seriously4 ,this may    
have been partly  because he has learnt 
something1 but not so much as to seem   
ridiculous1  from ,english models1 and  
because he writes with a restraint1     
moderation1 and detachment which are    
rare in his literary compatriots4  ,but 
there was certainly also a definite and 
individual virtue in him to  which      
critical opinion in this country        
responded4 ,he had a lively and  exact  
visual gift and a power of rendering    
great passion without risk  of bombast2 
and these qualities were rightly held to
 redeem many faults  and weaknesses in  
,the ,three ,black ,pennys4 ,in ,java   
,head1 published  in the middle of last 
year1 the first of these qualities was  
still  perceptible1 but1 as regarded the
 second1 ,mr4 ,hergesheimer's avoidance 

of rant appeared to have become a       
paralysing inhibition4 ,we do not know  
quite what to make of his third book1   
,gold and ,iron4 ,in the absence  of any
 information to the contrary it would be
 natural to suppose that  it is a later 
work than the other two2 but this seems 
to us almost  impossible and1 if indeed 
it be so1 decidedly regrettable4 ,it    
consists  of three nouvelles or         
long-short stories1 of which the first1 
,wild  ,oranges1 describing the rescue  
of a girl from a household living in    
isolation and terrorised by a homicidal 
man-servant1 is1 except for a  few      
passages of description1 a negligible   
piece of the magazine order4  ,in the   
second and third we do discover traces  
of the ,mr4 ,hergesheimer  whose talents
 excited us in #aiah4 ,one deals with   
the resuscitation1  by a cold1          
contained1 and determined man1 of a     
deserted blast-furnace  and his attempt 
to establish himself as a magnate4 ,the 
other describes  the return of a        

gold-miner1 rich but with hands reddened
 in one of  the incidents of            
,forty-,nine1 from ,california to his   
prim and sleepy  native village on the  
coast of ,massachusetts4 ,in both of    
these ,mr4  ,hergesheimer's object is to
 discover to the reader the interior    
passions of intense but reserved and    
hardly articulate personalities4  ,this 
is an ambition worthy of a novelist of  
the first rank2 and indeed1  both in    
setting himself such a task and in his  
methods of approaching  it1 ,mr4        
,hergesheimer reveals himself as a      
writer of more than common  powers4 ,but
 it can hardly be said to be            
successfully accomplished  here4 ,in    
glimpses both ,alexander ,hulings and   
,jason ,burrage are grasped  and shown  
as living men4 ,hulings comes vigorously
 and convincingly to  life in his duel  
with ,partridge ,sinnox1 the dangerous  
gentleman from  ,new ,orleans2 it is    
possible to see ,burrage1 smoking a     
cheroot1 feet  up on the brass rail of  

the hearth1 with the refined and yet    
original  ,honora ,canderay beside him1 
at his first visit to her4 ,but between 
such  glimpses as these both figures    
disappear1 as though in a moving mist1  
behind ,mr4 ,hergesheimer's attempt to  
describe them4 ,he will describe  them  
only in the precise and rigid way which 
he has chosen1 a way which  involves    
omissions1 reticences1 and silences1    
subtle appeals to the  reader's         
understanding2 and1 in these stories at 
least1 he has by no  means mastered it4 
,it was used with much more success in  
,the ,three  ,black ,pennys and in ,java
 ,head1 and is probably capable of much 
further development4 ,if we are right in
 our surmise that these stories  are    
early work1 there is a possibility that 
,mr4 ,hergesheimer may yet  show himself
 to be a very remarkable novelist       
indeed4      ,,belles-,,lettres ,,and   
,,criticism    ,,the ,,letters ,,of     
,,charles ,,sorley4 ,cambridge          
,university ,press4 #abs4 #f;d4  net4   

,the value set on irony by the ,greeks  
might well be studied by us  moderns4 ,a
 proper sense of irony teaches both     
humility and patience1  and it will not 
lead to cynicism unless the basis of the
 soul be  cynical4 ,it teaches1 above   
all1 proportion1 which is the lesson    
needed  most1 perhaps1 by modern artists
 and sociologists1 philanthropists and  
theologians1 business men and           
politicians4 ,these letters of ,charles 
,sorley's1 the letters of a young1      
eager1 cultivated boy1 are rendered     
ironical by circumstance4 ,after the    
ordinary life of a public schoolboy  at 
,marlborough he went1 in #aiad1 before  
going to ,oxford1 for an  educational   
holiday in ,germany4 ,he stayed in a    
,german family1 he was  enthusiastic    
about ,german things and ,german people 
as compared with the  ,english1 and he  
reached ,england only just in time to   
escape being a  prisoner of war in      
,germany4 ,the letters are lively1      
intelligent rather  than terse1         

good-humoured1 shrewd and full of that  
enthusiasm which was  ,charles ,sorley's
 great natural talent4 ,it is not1      
however1 the essays  on ,masefield and  
,housman which give the book its        
interest4 ,it is the  pages on his life 
in ,germany and a few passages on life  
in the ,army  which make the volume one 
of the most remarkable records of the   
young  ,england which bore the brunt of 
the war4    ,how delightful is this     
passage on the ,german supper--,sorley  
lodged in  an academic household at     
,schwerin3      ,the people come at     
seven1 and talk about the rise in the   
price of    butter till #h4 ,from #h    
till #i4cj they eat and drink and talk  
about the    niceness of the victuals1  
and ask the hostess their cost4 ,from   
#i4cj    to #aj4cj they talk about the  
scarcity of eggs4 ,from #aj4cj to #aa   
they    drink beer and cross-examine me 
about the ,anglo-,german crisis4 ,from  
#aa till #ab they make personal remarks 
and play practical jokes on one         

another4 ,from #ab to #ab4cj they eat   
oranges and chocolate and declare       
they must be going now4 ,from #ab4cj to 
#a they get heavy again and sigh    over
 the increased cost of living in        
,schwerin4 ,at #a they begin to         
scatter4 ,by #b ,i am in bed4    ,that  
is not the only passage which takes the 
reader straight into the  atmosphere of 
the ,caravaners4 ,there is this         
anecdote1 too3      ,a friend of sorts  
of the ,bilders died lately2 and1 when  
the ,frau    attempted to break the news
 to ,karl at table1 he immediately said1
    ,don't tell me anything sad while   
,i'm eating4    ,charles ,sorley remarks
 on this that an exact parallel may be  
found  in the ,odyssey where the        
gentleman expostulates      '   ou gar  
eg ge terpom' oduromenos                
metadorpios--,i hate being forced to    
grieve in the middle of supper4    ,the 
letters are full of casual literary     
criticism1 and provide a  curious       
contrast to the letters of ,lionel      

,johnson recently published4  ,charles  
,sorley strikes one as having a far     
clearer idea of the position  of        
literature in life than had ,johnson1   
but he shows little sign of  that fine  
critical intelligence which mark        
,johnson's best judgments4  ,sorley     
passes passionately from ,masefield to  
,housman1 from ,housman  to ,hardy1 from
 ,hardy to ,ibsen and ,goethe4 ,it seems
 odd that a boy  of his temperament     
should think ,faust greater than        
anything of  ,shakespeare's1 and by     
implication greater than ,peer ,gynt2   
elsewhere  he passes a really witty     
judgment on ,goethe3 ,if ,goethe really 
died  saying ',more light1' it was very 
silly of him3 what he wanted was  more  
warmth4    ,his life in the ,army was   
not long4 ,after a hard training in     
,england he  left for ,france in ,may1  
#aiae1 and was killed by a sniper on    
,october  #acth4 ,the books he had over 
there were ,faust and ,richard          
,jefferies4  ,to some of us ,jefferies  

is chiefly lovable and remarkable       
because of  the men who have loved him2 
and that he could charm ,sorley and     
bring  to him1 amid the disgust of the  
battlefield1 something of the ,english  
countryside1 gives him an additional    
claim on our gratitude3      ,i read    
,richard ,jefferies to remind me of     
,liddington ,castle and the    light    
green and dark green of the ,aldbourne  
,downs in summer4    ,the book is edited
 by ,professor and ,mrs4 ,sorley1 and   
,mrs4 ,sorley  contributes a brief      
biographical chapter4 ,there are one or 
two  references to living persons which 
would1 perhaps1 be better away1  though 
we cannot imagine any person of humour  
objecting to the fun  of this           
high-spirited1 generous boy4            
,incidentally1 in its picture of        
,marlborough and ,sorley's literary     
activities1 the letters provide  a      
useful counterpoise to the rather       
reckless attacks made on the  uncultured
 public schools of ,england4            

,,essays ,,on ,,art4 ,by ,a4            
,,clutton-,,brock4 ,methuen4 #es4 net4  
,shall we ever have a satisfactory      
sthetic8 ,sometimes1 in moments of      
hopefulness1 one believes that there may
 be a few points of agreement  in       
ethics1 in politics1 in metaphysics1    
even in economics3 but to  read a new   
book on sthetic is to wonder again      
whether we shall ever  get beyond the   
old tag1 that it's a mere waste of time 
arguing about  taste4 ,certainly ,mr4   
,clutton-,brock's book1 interesting1    
acute1 and  charmingly written as it is1
 does not show us how to reconcile1 let 
us  say1 ,tolstoy's ,what is ,art8 with 
,whistler's ,ten o',clock3 or either    
with the great and unjustly-despised    
body of criticism to be found in        
,ruskin's works4 ,his essays are        
provocative3 at times he appears to     
clear up certain matters1 and then the  
reader finds himself wondering4    ,in  
the very first essay ,mr4               
,clutton-,brock discourses on nature and

 art4  ,there is one beauty of nature   
and another of art4 ,nothing kills  art 
so certainly as the effort to produce a 
beauty of the same kind  as that which  
is perceived in nature4 ,in the beauty  
of nature1 as we  perceive it1 there is 
a perfection of workmanship which is    
perfection  because there is no         
workmanship4 ,natural things are not    
made1 but  born2 works of art are made4 
,there is the essential difference      
between  them and between their         
beauties4 ,now is there any truth in    
those  statements8 ,take1 for instance1 
the simplest kind of beauty1 the beauty 
which appeals to touch3 is there any    
essential difference between the        
sensations of beauty given by stroking a
 sable and stroking a piece of          
exquisite silk velvet8 ,again1 is the   
beauty conveyed by the sight of  ,cader 
,idris really different in kind from the
 beauty conveyed by the  sight of       
,amiens ,cathedral8 ,is a singer's      
appeal fundamentally different  from the

 appeal of the nightingale8    ,mr4     
,clutton-,brock goes on to say that all 
great works of art show  an effort1 a   
roughness1 an inadequacy of             
craftsmanship which is the  essence of  
their beauty1 and distinguishes it from 
the beauty of  nature4 ,that sentence   
betrays what seems to us his saddest    
error4 ,he  is confusing1 we think1 art 
and craft4 ,it simply is not true that a
  work of art must show inadequacy of   
craftsmanship4 ,what is essential  is   
that the artist should not seem to be   
satisfied with his mere  technical skill
 of craft4 ,he should1 somehow1 convey  
to us that he  knows there is a beauty  
which no craft can render perfectly4 ,he
 must1  in short1 be humble4 ,for lack  
of that humility ,blake refused to call 
,rubens a great artist4 ,yet ,rubens1   
superb craftsman as he was1 was not  the
 superior of ,velasquez1 who yet        
preserves in all his work that sense  of
 something desired yet                  
unachieved--unachieved not because      

,velasquez's  craft was inadequate1 but 
because his vision was interpretative   
rather  than imitative4 ,it is important
 that the distinction between craft  and
 art should be recognised1 otherwise    
,mr4 ,clutton-,brock's perfectly  sound 
contention that the beauty of art is    
produced by the effort to  accomplish   
the impossible will be made a mere      
excuse for slovenly  workmanship4 ,this 
sort of discussion1 however1 is         
unsuitable for a  review2 even where    
space is1 for practical purposes1       
infinite 7e4g4  in a conversation71 it  
seldom leads to agreement4 ,we can only 
say  7what everybody knows7 that ,mr4   
,clutton-,brock is the sanest of all    
professional art-critics and that to    
differ from him is to doubt one's  own  
opinions4      ,,unhappy ,,far-,,off    
,,things4 ,by ,,lord ,,dunsany4 ,elkin  
,matthews4 #es4 net4    ,lord ,dunsany's
 fancy can generally be trusted to      
discover many odd  prettinesses for our 
pleasure1 but as in old ,battersea      

enamel the  prettiness is liable to chip
 off and show the dull metal beneath2   
and  in these twelve sketches there is  
little of fancy4 ,they were written  to 
show1 so the ,preface tells us1         
something of the extent of the  wrongs  
that the people of ,france had suffered1
 and the cultivated lack  of vigour in  
style does serve1 somehow1 to illustrate
 the desolation  of towns laid waste1   
and--which more peculiarly touches ,lord
 ,dunsany's  sympathy--gardens4 ,the    
monotony of the scene is1 too1 well     
typified by  the same quality in        
description4 ,frequently1 as in ,the    
,real ,thing1  when he sets out to be   
fantastic he is merely trivial2 and     
throughout  he draws from a wealth of   
ingenious but ungainly metaphor4        
,however1 the  author well understands  
that the utmost terror of desolation can
 be  inspired by the sound 7rather than 
the sight7 of man-made things gone  to  
rust4 ,out in the dead land1 where      
villages are to be conjectured  from    

scattered heaps of stones1 he was much  
impressed--for he refers to  it again   
and again--by the mournful sound of iron
 flapping on broken  things1 and--this  
was the sound that would haunt the waste
 for ever4  ,on the other hand1 in      
,bermondsey versus ,wurtemburg1 he      
observed that  a ,german soldier had    
chalked up the name of his regiment on a
 wall--the  #aefth ,wurtemburgers4      
,subsequently a ,british soldier had    
prefaced  this with ,lost by1 and added 
after retaken by the ,bermondsey        
,butterflies4 ,this might have served to
 point the less serious moments  of a   
special correspondent to one of the     
lighter newspapers1 but it  scarcely    
warrants preservation in an admirably   
printed book with a  strong binding in  
excellent taste4      ,,the ,,romantic  
,,roussillon4 ,by ,,isabel ,,savory4 ,t4
 ,fisher ,unwin4 #bes4 net4    ,the     
thought of 'the picturesque' repels me1 
writes ,miss ,savory in  extenuation of 
her offence in the kind of sightseeing  

which less  sophisticated tourists1 for 
whom she accuses ,nature of touting1    
joyfully regard as inevitable4 ,but     
though from time to time she is  careful
 lest the reader should associate her   
with the organisations  of ,cook and    
,lunn1 this superiority to the obvious  
is not always  implicit4 ,whether the   
ideal book of travels should satisfy us 
by our  own firesides or should merely  
stimulate us to go and see things for   
ourselves is a question that ,miss      
,savory has not helped to decide4 ,her  
vision is uneven1 but on the whole she  
provokes and does not satisfy           
curiosity4 ,the book is a record of an  
exhaustive 7and one would say           
exhausting7 exploration of the ,eastern 
,pyrenees1 with ,perpignan1             
,ille-sur-,tet1 ,estagel1 and other     
places as centres for radiating         
expeditions1 and we did many wanders at 
,salses1 she says4 ,she climbed  high   
mountains1 and admired the views2 she   
visited forgotten villages1  and raked  

up their history2 she lingered--none too
 long--under groined  roofs and in      
panelled salles4 ,but in her frank      
delight in good wine  and food there is 
real vitality and emphatic1 if          
unconscious1 art4  ,we picked bunch     
after bunch 7of grapes7 hot in the sun1 
buried our  faces in the warmness of    
them 444 bit not one but mouthfuls1     
sweet and  juicy4444 ,and then she goes 
on to tell us that at the same moment   
there would be a little sad1 sour1 tight
 bunch not a quarter grown  on a house  
in ,gower ,street1 and that nobody was  
ever quite so dead as  ,queen ,anne4    
,however1 ,miss ,savory need not fear   
lest we should fail to recognise her    
appreciation of the beautiful things she
 saw1 more especially as many  of       
them--carvings1 chateaux1               
plaster-work--are admirably reproduced  
as  illustrations in collotype from the 
drawings of ,miss ,m4 ,l4 ,mac,kenzie3  
but our recognition would have been     
quicker if she had been at less  pains  

to impress us with her originality4     
,,jacopone ,,da ,,todi4 ,by ,,evelyn    
,,underhill4 ,dent4 #afs4 net4    ,in   
the preface to her life and letters of  
this remarkable man1  ,miss ,underhill  
says3 ,three types of mind should find  
pleasure in  ,jacopone's work and       
personality4 ,first1 those interested in
 ,christian  mysticism4444 ,next1 lovers
 of poetry4444 ,last1 those who care for
 the  ,italy of ,st4 ,francis and his   
descendants4 ,the last two aspects of an
  arresting personality will doubtless  
make the wider appeal1 admirably  as his
 biographer has traced and explained the
 spiritual development of  the man she  
calls the first great ,italian religious
 poet4    ,so sympathetically has ,miss 
,underhill treated the religious        
experiences  of ,jacopone that in the   
light of her exposition1 extravagance1  
futility1 seeming madness even1 seem to 
take their rightful place in  the       
spiritual history of a man who expresses
 that history in strangely  beautiful   

poems4 ,born probably about #abcj1 soon 
after the death of ,st4  ,francis1      
,jacopone da ,todi followed very closely
 in the steps of his  more famous       
master4 ,like ,st4 ,francis1 he belonged
 to a noble ,umbrian  family2 like ,st4 
,francis1 he turned from a gay worldly  
existence to the  worship of ,lady      
,poverty4 ,his conversion1 however1     
compared with that  of the founder of   
the ,franciscan rule1 was a late one4   
,st4 ,francis was  only twenty-four1    
,jacopone was nearly forty when he left 
the world and  its ways to begin the    
quest for perfection4    ,a legend 7not 
perhaps entirely legendary1 since it is 
in some respects  supported by the      
self-revelations of his laude7 grew up  
about his  name1 and was embodied1 years
 later1 in the so-called ,vita1 a       
manuscript of the fifteenth century4    
,here it is related that ,ser           
,jacomo--to give him his worldly        
title--was  passionately devoted to his 
young wife1 who was ascetic at heart1   

yet  to please her husband wore the rich
 clothes he gave her1 and took  part in 
all the gaieties of the town4 ,a tragic 
ending to ,ser ,jacomo's  happiness was 
brought about when1 on the occasion of a
 marriage  festival1 his beautiful      
,vanna was killed by the fall of a      
balcony4    ,and when 7says the ,vita7  
they took off those garments of vanity  
which she had upon her in order to make 
her ready for the grave they  found at  
last1 next to her bare flesh1 a harsh   
shirt of hair4    ,the legend goes on to
 relate that the shock of his wife's    
death1  together with the discovery of  
her pious fraud1 led first to madness   
and then to the conversion of ,jacopone4
 ,nowhere in his subsequent poems  is   
there to be found a reference to his    
marriage4 ,but this in itself  is no    
proof of the falsity of the story1 for1 
as with most medival  penitents1 the    
casting off of his old life meant to him
 the abjuration  of earthly ties and    
memories4 ,jacopone the saint remains   

nevertheless  ,ser ,jacomo the          
passionate lover4 ,no songs in praise of
 an adored wife  or mistress could be   
more fervid1 more palpitating with      
emotion than  those addressed to his    
,saviour4    ,it is by means of these   
religious poems--laude1 as they were    
called--that the successive stages in   
the progress of the mystic may  be      
traced4 ,but leaving the mystic aside1  
we may feel grateful to ,miss           
,underhill for having placed the poet   
before us4 ,many of his laude1 in  the  
,english translation of ,mrs4 ,theodore 
,beck1 are given at length in  this     
book1 and very beautiful they are4 ,to  
forget their theme and to  consider only
 their form and imagery is to be        
reminded of secular ,italy  of the      
thirteenth century--its troubadours1 its
 ,court poets1 its ,courts  of ,love4   
,for nearly forty years after all       
,jacopone had lived in the  world1      
enjoying its laughter1 its gaiety1 its  
sunshine1 and the poems  of the saint1  

indicate that he had not forgotten all  
he learnt as a  sinner--that is as an   
ordinary man of the class to which he   
originally  belonged4 ,o ,queen of all  
,courtesy1 he begins in an address to   
the  ,blessed ,virgin--and we are       
immediately transported in thought to a 
fair  garden and a lover with his lute4 
,,history ,,and ,,biography    ,,the    
,,riddle ,,of ,,the ,,ruthvens ,,and    
,,other ,,studies4 ,by ,,william        
,,roughead4 ,with  thirteen             
,illustrations4 ,william ,green  ,son   
,ltd41 ,edinburgh4 #bes4 net4           
,whether we may consider the reading of 
criminal annals a profitable  occupation
 or otherwise1 it is an unquestionable  
fact that they often  possess a human   
interest1 for the imaginative person at 
all events1  far in excess of the       
records of the intrigues and policies of
 kings1  statesmen1 generals1 and       
priests4 ,and there is a well-nigh      
unique and  special interest attaching  
to ,scottish causes clbres which places 

them in importance far above the general
 run of the great trials of all  the    
other nations of ,europe4 ,this is      
accounted for by the strangely  complex 
psychology of the average and typical   
,scotsman4 ,he is a being  in whom the  
emotions are strictly subordinated to   
the government of his  reason4 ,he is   
deeply metaphysical1 and there is a     
powerful forensic  strain in his        
composition4 ,it is seldom indeed that a
 ,scotsman pleads  guilty to any charge1
 even when he has been caught           
red-handed4 ,to do  so would simply     
spoil for him all the pleasure of the   
trial1 and there  is probably no one in 
court who follows the evidence and      
pleadings  more carefully or with       
greater zest than the prisoner himself4 
,were it  possible for him to be        
closeted with the jury1 it is quite     
conceivable  that he should be found    
arguing the pros and cons of the case as
  forcibly and with as great detachment 
as any good man and true among  them4   

,but there is a fatal flaw in the       
character of the ,scot which  detracts  
to a large extent from the interest that
 one feels in his  other traits1 namely1
 the theological tendency which in      
persons of  evil life at last           
degenerates into pure cant4 ,the        
condemned prisoner  on the scaffold     
exhorting the multitude to avoid the    
heinous crime of  disobedience to       
parents1 inattention to ,holy           
,scriptures1 of being idle  and         
disorderly1 and especially of           
,sabbath-breaking1 is by no means  an   
edifying spectacle4 ,the existence and  
prevalence of this trait is  all the    
more curious when one considers that the
 ,scot generally is not  lacking in a   
keen sense of humour4    ,the special   
value of this collection of historic    
criminal trials and  other juridical    
studies by ,mr4 ,roughead1 however1 lies
 in the fresh  light he has been able to
 throw upon the respective characters of
 ,king  ,james the ,sixth of ,scotland  

7,first of ,england71 the most          
despicable  poltroon that ever disgraced
 a ,british throne2 and of ,lord        
,braxfield1  the prototype of ,robert   
,louis ,stevenson's ,weir of ,hermiston4
 ,an old  ,edinburgh ,university        
,professor of ,constitutional ,law and  
,history used  to say that ,charles     
,,ii4 was the most iniquitous ruler that
 ,england  ever had1 but ,james ,,ii4   
was still worse4 ,it was badly          
expressed1 but  there was something in  
it4 ,its special application was        
,constitutional1  however1 although it  
might easily be extended to apply       
universally  if we allow the addition of
 the proviso that ,james ,i4 was the    
worst  of all4 ,he was a liar1 a coward1
 and a hypocrite1 full of pedantry  and 
cant4 ,this is conclusively demonstrated
 in ,the ,riddle ,of the  ,ruthvens1 and
 in other sketches that deal with the   
witchcraft  prosecutions that were      
conducted with such a degree of         
vindictiveness  and fury throughout the 

whole of his reign4 ,but perhaps the    
greatest  service of all that ,mr4      
,roughead has done in the cause of truth
  and justice is his vindication of the 
respective characters of the            
much-maligned ,lord ,braxfield and      
,robert ,fergusson the poet from so     
many of the absurd eccentricities which 
have been attributed to them  by        
incompetent biographers and unscrupulous
 scandalmongers1 and have  in course of 
time1 by constant repetition1 become    
traditional4 ,it is a  far cry from the 
,gowrie ,conspiracy to ,antique ,smith1 
the forger of  the autograph letters of 
great literary and historical           
personages1 who  is still well          
remembered in ,edinburgh1 but these are 
,mr4 ,roughead's  limits1 and between   
them there is such a mass of history and
 criminal  psychology as the student of 
either will delight in1 while the       
curious1  or merely general1 reader will
 find it very good entertainment4       
,,george ,,bubb ,,dodington3 ,,patron   

,,and ,,place-,,hunter4 ,by ,,lloyd     
,,sanders4 ,john  ,lane4 #aiai4 #afs4   
net4    ,here is a case of book-making  
of a somewhat explicit kind1 since there
  is little to say1 and nothing to      
print1 of ,dodington which he has not   
said of himself4 ,there is1 of course1  
no more harm in making books than  there
 is in making bricks2 but if the one    
wants straw1 as ,moses says it  did1 the
 other wants humanity4 ,god made ,bubb  
,dodington1 and therefore  let him pass 
for a man4 ,in his own day he passed for
 a coxcomb2 in  ours1 which is more     
censorious1 he would certainly have     
passed for a  rascal4 ,in either aspect1
 if he is to be treated at all1 he      
requires a  more philosophical study    
than ,mr4 ,sanders has been able to     
supply4    ,of mean origin1 some ability
 and unbounded impudence1 ,dodington    
inherited both money and land4 ,with the
 land there accrued to him              
,parliamentary interest--to wit1 in some
 four seats in ,dorset and  ,somerset1  

which he spent the rest of his life in  
hawking from faction  to faction with a 
flagrancy and success which even his own
 age found  shocking4 ,from first to    
last--and he lived a long time--there   
were no  illusions about him4 ,pope     
scoffed at him until he found metal more
  attractive1 and changed ,bubo for     
,bufo2 ,walpole remarked to ,lord       
,hervey upon the second time that worthy
 has proposed to rise by  treading on my
 neck2 ,hervey himself1 who seldom had a
 good word for  anybody1 never had a    
worse than for him4 ,hanbury ,williams1 
who was  never malevolent1 wrote of him 
that he was          ,to no one party1  
no one man1        ,nor to his own self 
tight2        ,for what he voted for at 
noon        ,he rail'd against at night4
    ,horace ,walpole called him a       
political journalist1 meaning by that   
that  he was daily in the market-place1 
and for the highest-bidder4 ,lord       
,chesterfield thought that ,god made    
,dodington the coxcomb he is2 mere      

human means could not have brought it   
about4 ,he is a coxcomb superior  to his
 parts1 though his parts are superior to
 almost anybody's4 ,these  are ,bubb    
,dodington's best credentials except    
those which he supplied  for himself4   
,with those1 with colossal impudence and
 four boroughs1 he  set up in trade1 and
 did pretty well4 ,he miscalculated the 
odds more  than once3 first on the      
accession of ,george ,,ii41 when he     
dropped ,sir  ,robert for ,spencer      
,compton2 next when ,frederick ,prince  
of ,wales enticed  him over to ,carlton 
,house for the second time1 and promptly
 died4 ,slips  like those kept him out  
in the cold until near the end of the   
reign4  ,just in the nick of time he    
made friends with ,lord ,bute1 and on   
the  accession of ,george ,,iii41 a year
 before his own death1 was made a peer4 
,there is evidence that he died a       
contented and complacent man4    ,mr4   
,sanders proposes to explain ,dodington1
 but fails for lack of  matter4 ,there  

is really nothing to explain4 ,there    
would have been a  good deal to expose  
had not the creature done it for himself
 in his  egregious ,diary4 ,that to be  
sure is an unexampled document4 ,men1   
before it and since1 have written       
themselves down rogues and peasant      
slaves of various kinds1 some for       
amusement1 some for edification4  ,but  
few--,i think no others--have written   
themselves down in the act  and         
intention of writing themselves up4     
,casanova occurs to the mind2  but      
,casanova neither wrote himself up nor  
down1 whereas ,dodington's  complacency 
in the act to be a scoundrel is his most
 remarkable  feature4      ,i desired   
,lady ,aylesbury to carry you ,lord     
,melcombe's ,diary4 ,it    is curious   
indeed2 not so much from the secrets    
that it blabs1 which    are rather      
characteristic than novel1 but from the 
wonderful folly    of the author1 who   
was so fond of talking of himself that  
he tells    all he knew of himself1     

though scarce an event that does not    
betray    his profligacy2 and 7which is 
still more surprising that he should    
disclose7 almost every one exposes the  
contempt in which he was held1    and   
his consequential disappointments and   
disgraces6    ,that is ,horace ,walpole1
 writing to ,conway in #aghd1 when the  
,diary  was out4 ,lord ,hervey1 long    
before it was written1 gave him a       
pungent  paragraph4 ,mr4 ,dodington1 he 
says1 whilst some people have the  je ne
 sais quoi in pleasing1 possessed the je
 ne sais quoi in  displeasing in the    
strongest and most universal degree that
 ever  any man was blessed with that    
gift4444 ,his vanity in company was so  
overbearing1 so insolent1 and so        
insupportable that he seemed to exact   
that applause as his due which other    
people solicit1 and to think  that he   
had a right to make every auditor his   
admirer4 ,and so indeed  it is1 in this 
,diary of his dealings between the      
,prince of ,wales  and the              

,administration1 that he solemnly       
records all his disgustful  traffickings
 of himself and his boroughs1 as if they
 were negotiations  between high        
contracting powers1 and in every page   
declares himself  both knave and fool in
 a way which would afford pleasant      
reading if  it were not so long and so  
dull4 ,it is enlivened by one delicious1
  but entirely unconscious1 gleam4 ,in  
,april1 #aged1 he went down to          
,bridgewater to an election1 having done
 his best to sell the seat  to the ,duke
 of ,newcastle4 ,he spent #bejj on it1  
and he lost it4 ,the  fourteenth and two
 following days1 he records1 were spent 
in infamous  and disagreeable compliance
 with the low habits of venal wretches4 
,those wretches naturally were burgesses
 whom it was necessary that he  should  
buy in order that he might afterwards   
sell himself4 ,it is the  only good     
thing in the book1 but it is good       
enough4 ,the next best thing  is the    
nave excuse of its editor of #aghd for  

publishing it1 that by  its means       
politicians might be advised how not to 
conduct their and the  country's        
affairs6    ,mr4 ,sanders has done his  
part of the business with industry and  
candour4 ,he says the best he can for   
his subject1 and has left nothing  of   
importance out1 either for or against   
him1 except the account of  the         
trouncing which he received in the      
,house of ,commons for his speech       
against ,sir ,robert in #agdb4 ,it is   
told by ,horace ,walpole1 with gusto1   
as is only natural1 but with obvious    
accuracy4 ,mr4 ,sanders should  not have
 let him off the chastisement of an     
insolence and hypocrisy  paralleled only
 by ,disraeli's attack upon another ,sir
 ,robert4 ,on the  credit side of the   
account he rightly selects the defence  
of ,admiral  ,byng as the most          
disinterested action of ,dodington's    
long career4 ,add  to that that ,lady   
,hervey really liked him1 and that he   
used a steel  machine with which to pick

 up his handkerchief4      ,,an ,,oxford
 ,,scholar3 ,,ingram ,,bywater1         
#ahdj-aiad4 ,by ,w4 ,w4 ,,jackson1      
,d4,d4  ,clarendon ,press4 #aiag4 #gs4  
#f;d4 net4    ,there are probably a good
 many people who know something about   
,jowett  and have read several works of 
,gilbert ,murray's1 and yet could not   
even  guess who was the ,regius         
,professor of ,greek at ,oxford who     
bridged the  gap4 ,it was ,bywater4     
,between two great popular influences   
the pendulum  took a swing towards      
scholarship in the strictest sense1 and 
from #ahic  to #aijh the chair was      
filled by one of the most learned       
,hellenists of  his day in any land1 a  
man less great indeed than ,scaliger and
 ,bentley  and the present ,professor of
 ,latin at ,cambridge1 but assuredly of 
their  type4 ,those three rank even     
higher1 not so much because they are    
more  brilliant as because their        
interest in the classics is primarily   
the literary one4 ,they apply their     

criticism and interpretation to  the    
more purely literary authors1 and their 
style has a quality not  relevant to    
scientific scholarship1 however welcome 
there--it has the  creative writer's    
zest4 ,bywater's learning ranged1       
certainly1 over  the whole field of     
,greek prose and poetry2 he had1        
moreover1 a keen  interest in literature
 as such1 read the chief contemporary   
poets and  novelists1 and had views     
about them2 he was master of an         
admirable  ,latin style2 but his ruling 
passion was not literature so much as   
knowledge1 and it was in the philosophic
 writers that he found his  special     
field4 ,for that reason his most        
characteristic work may be said  to be  
his edition of ,aristotle's ,ethics1    
published in #ahij4 ,at the  same time1 
that by which he is deservedly best     
known is an edition of a  work on the   
borderland between philosophy and       
literature1 ,aristotle's  ,poetics1 to  
which he supplied1 in #aiji1 an ,english

 paraphrase and a  fully explanatory    
commentary1 both the best things of     
their kind for  any student of that     
work2 and as these will always be many1 
the book's  future seems assured4       
,bywater1 writes a relative1 was always 
studying2 and again1 in  words of       
insight1 but if he were not actually a  
genius he was far from  being merely a  
learned man4 ,his enlightenment and     
humanity are brought  out in ,dr4       
,jackson's admirable little biography1  
which1 as the story  of a scholar who   
died soon after the ,european ,war      
began1 seems worth  commending now4     
,though he disliked what we know as     
,liberalism1 the word  is the right one 
for his educational views2 he supported 
the abolition  of ,university religious 
tests1 and was against compulsory       
,greek4  ,further than that it is not   
applicable2 he was a ,tariff ,reformer4 
,as an  undergraduate he belonged to the
 famous ,old ,mortality ,club4 ,he was  
a friend and disciple of ,mark          

,pattison1 and1 like him1 married a lady
  who was an excellent scholar and at   
the same time humane and charming4  ,of 
,walter ,pater he was a friend and no   
disciple2 his style ,i do not  like3 it 
seems to me affected and pretentious and
 often sadly wanting  in lucidity4 ,in  
congenial company one of the most       
sociable of men1 he  showed much        
kindness to promising young scholars4   
,some of the mots  ascribed to him are  
rather donnish1 but not all3 ,i often   
think that  modern education is a       
conspiracy on the part of schoolmasters 
and dons  to keep men babies until they 
are four-and-twenty is profounder than  
it looks2 and he realised that those who
 care for manuscripts per se  are       
usually dull dogs4    ,all through his  
life he was a great bibliophile1 and    
even in this  respect happily mated4    
,few wives would pack their husbands off
 to ,paris  immediately after breakfast 
to inspect a copy of the editio princeps
  of ,homer1 and when they returned with

 it the following evening give  it to   
them for a birthday-present4 ,but he    
possessed something even  more          
remarkable than that 7for of ,homer     
there are1 after all1 other  editions72 
in his copy of ,melanchthon's ,de ,anima
 was an autograph of  ,rabelais4        
,,seventeenth-,,century ,,life ,,in     
,,the ,,country ,,parish4 ,by ,,eleanor 
,,trotter1  ,m4,a4 ,cambridge           
,university ,press4 #ajs4 net4    ,this 
book has one serious fault3 there is not
 enough of it4 ,miss  ,trotter gives a  
feast of good things1 suggests so many  
interesting  happenings of the period1  
that she might have expanded almost     
every  page into three1 and still we    
might ask for more4 ,it is1 however1    
confined strictly to showing how the    
ordinary business of government  was    
carried on during this troubled century4
 ,readers will find good  exercise for  
the imagination in filling in the       
outlines4 ,take this for  example3 ,the 
beadle's chief work was of a punitive   

nature2 he was  expected to help the    
constable in apprehending and punishing 
rogues2 he  wore a special dress1 and   
carried a whip or wand in his hand with 
which  he drove the dogs out of church4 
,a footnote says3 ,in #ahhg at ,wensley 
,church the wands were still to be seen4
 ,they were six in number1 and  were    
attached to the front of the            
churchwardens' high pews4 ,the vestry   
book at ,pittington1 page #ajd1 shows   
this entry3 ,maie #c1 #afdf1 ,john      
,lazing was appointed to be bedel for   
driving doggs out of the church  in time
 of public worship1 and other necessary 
dutys4 ,the office of  church-warden was
 then of great importance1 and carried  
with it the  dignity of a special high  
pew1 a matter of moment when the seating
  arrangements in church almost created 
a table of precedence4 ,but why  did the
 dogs of those days show such a         
church-going disposition8 ,the  beadle's
 office to-day would be a sinecure1 for 
during many years of  regular attendance

 the writer has only twice seen a dog in
 church4    ,the next page refers to    
,rogue ,money1 the colloquial term for a
  contribution not exceeding #f;d4 or   
#h;d4 a week levied on ,sunday on  the  
parish for the maintenance of poor      
prisoners in the county gaol4  ,a       
further levy of not less than #bjs4 per 
annum from the whole ,north  ,riding was
 made for the relief of poor prisoners  
of the ,king's ,bench  and ,marshalsea4 
,even taking into account the greater   
value of money  then1 this would not go 
far among destitute prisoners1 but it is
  somewhat surprising to find that any  
provision at all was made in those  hard
 days4    ,the temptation to go on      
extracting these vignettes is great1 but
 must  be resisted4 ,surprises of this  
sort1 however1 are numerous1 and when we
  remember the lack of hard roads1 the  
absence of any postal facilities1  and  
the difficulties and cost of any sort of
 communication1 it is  astounding to    
find how well acquainted the local      

justices were with the  statutes1 and to
 what an extent they succeeded in       
administering them4  ,miss ,trotter's   
investigations have evidently much      
impressed this upon  her1 and her       
preface gives an excellent summary of   
the conclusions at  which she has       
arrived4      ,the great majority of the
 men who took their share in the        
government    of ,england in the        
seventeenth century had neither learning
 nor    culture2 some probably were not 
able to write their own names2          
nevertheless1 through being made        
responsible for the well-being    and   
good order of the little community to   
which they belonged1    they gained a   
considerable amount of political        
education4 ,the work    of local        
government1 carried on voluntarily from 
father to son    through untold         
generations1 has produced certain       
characteristics--a    moderation of     
outlook1 a reasonableness and sanity of 
mind1 an    intensely critical faculty  

and a political insight--which are      
typical    of our race4444 ,there is a  
fear lest the masses through ignorance  
of the work of their forefathers may    
demand a centralisation of              
governmental functions1 which is alien  
to the character of the    ,english     
,constitution4    ,the author has earned
 public thanks for bringing to light    
these  interesting records of an        
interesting period4 ,it should be       
compulsory  for every education         
authority to use this and similar works 
as part of  the historical instruction  
given in all our schools4 ,such books   
would  clothe the dry bones of history1 
as ordinarily taught1 in a so much  more
 attractive garb that lessons might     
become a pleasure instead of  a penance4
 ,the ,royal ,commission on ,public     
,records received a letter  from ,m4    
,paul ,meyer1 of the ,ecole des         
,chartes1 in which he says3 ,en         
,angleterre tout est en dsordre1        
referring to our widely scattered  and  

unorganised records4 ,this ,royal       
,commission is doing a great service  in
 trying to bring order out of chaos1 but
 it is not its function to do  for the  
general reader what a book like this may
 do--bring to life in a  handy and      
digested form some of the buried records
 of our past4      ,,politics ,,and     
,,economics    ,,balkan ,,problems ,,and
 ,,european ,,peace4 ,by ,n4 ,,buxton   
and ,c4 ,l4 ,,leese4 ,allen   ,unwin4   
#ds4 #f;d4 net4    ,among all the       
ignorances of the ,british public there 
is none more  calamitous than its       
ignorance of the ,balkan peoples and of 
their  importance in ,european politics4
 ,we persist even now in lumping them   
together as a set of semi-savage tribes1
 who may be manipulated by the          
civilised ,powers in this way or that1  
but who ultimately will have  to fight  
it out among themselves like the        
,kilkenny cats4 ,any book  that is not  
mere partisan propaganda1 that will     
throw light on that  dark corner of     

,europe1 is to be welcomed4 ,and this   
little volume1  slight though it is1 is 
all to the point4 ,its authors are      
experts1  and practical experts1 in     
their subject4 ,mr4 ,noel ,buxton       
especially  has known the ,balkans1 as  
few ,englishmen have known them1 for    
twenty  years1 and in the early days of 
the war he went there as the accredited 
agent of the ,british ,government to try
 to attach ,bulgaria to our  cause4 ,the
 story of our diplomatic failure is     
sketched for us in rapid  outline4      
,allied diplomacy1 ,messrs4 ,buxton and 
,leese say1 exerted  no comprehensive   
activity1 but at intervals made isolated
 efforts to  please one ,state or       
another by promises1 some of which      
proved only  contradictory and          
embarrassing to action in another       
direction demanded  by circumstances a  
little later4 ,we were handicapped1 they
 say1 by  the policy of ,russia4 ,we    
were handicapped also by ill-grounded   
fears  of alienating ,serbia and        

,greece4 ,the final chapters of the book
 deal  with the future prospects in the 
,balkans4 ,they were written before the 
conclusion of the ,bulgarian ,treaty1   
and most of the things which they       
deprecate have found a place in that    
,treaty4 ,many ,englishmen will not     
regret this2 but no reader of ,mr4      
,buxton will believe that his plea  for 
,bulgaria is based on hostility to      
,serbia or ,greece or ,rumania1 or1     
indeed1 on anything but a single-minded 
desire for lasting peace in the         
,balkans4      ,,the ,,skilled          
,,labourer1 #agfj-ahcb4 ,by ,j4 ,l4     
,,hammond and ,,barbara ,,hammond4      
,longmans4 #abs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this    
book is the third of ,mr4 and ,mrs4     
,hammond's important studies  of that   
period of ,english history which fell   
between #agfj and #ahcb4  ,together with
 ,the ,village ,labourer and ,the ,town 
,labourer it makes  a remarkable        
trilogy4 ,it is marked by the same      
scholarly research1  the same vividness 

of presentation1 the same polished style
 as its  predecessors4 ,some readers may
 perhaps find it of slightly less       
general  interest3 if it is so1 it is   
simply because its scope is rather more 
limited4 ,in ,the ,village ,labourer the
 authors gave an account of the         
enclosures of common lands and of the   
agricultural labourers' rising  of      
#ahcj2 in ,the ,town ,labourer they drew
 a very striking picture of  the        
civilisation of the time1 of the        
governing classes as well as  of the    
poor1 of the new social and economic    
conditions4 ,the present  volume gives  
us the history of certain selected      
bodies of workers  during the same      
period4 ,it is1 in fact1 a detailed     
account of the  ,northumberland and     
,durham miners1 the cotton and woollen  
and worsted  operatives1 the            
,spitalfields silk-weavers1 and the     
framework knitters1  together with a    
very full description of the ,luddite   
risings in the  ,midlands and in        

,lancashire and ,yorkshire4 ,mr4 and    
,mrs4 ,hammond have  made very large use
 of the ,home ,office ,papers1 and they 
have been  able to throw a great deal of
 new light on their subject4 ,their tale
  is1 of course1 a gloomy one--a tale of
 desperate struggles against  grinding  
poverty and serfdom1 of wages1 often    
family wages1 of #ajs4  a week or less  
in times of dear living1 of a working   
day of anything  from twelve to eighteen
 hours1 of tiny children in the mines   
and the  mills1 of passionate strikes   
and brutal repressions4 ,the chapters on
  the ,luddite riots are of especial    
importance3 they are the best1 if  not  
the only1 connected account of that     
little-known episode in the  annals of  
industry4 ,they will remove the wrong   
impression1 which1 as  ,mr4 and ,mrs4   
,hammond say1 is widely prevalent1 that 
these troubles  originated in           
,nottingham over the introduction of new
 and improved  stocking-frames4 ,in     
fact1 the cause was not new machines at 

all1 but  the adaptation of old machines
 to the manufacture of a new and        
inferior  kind of article4 ,and the     
workmen had the sympathy and support of 
many  of the employers in their campaign
 against the degradation of the         
industry4 ,not the least remarkable     
feature of the story of ,luddism is  the
 part played by spies and agents        
provocateurs4 ,the military1 the  local 
magistrates1 and the ,government all had
 their spies1 and the wide  extent of   
the mischief done by those vile         
creatures is very thoroughly  exposed by
 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hammond4 ,one of them1 
by name ,oliver1 alias  ,richards1 alias
 ,hollis1 has a chapter all to himself4 
,he was a  person of genteel appearance 
and good address1 nearly six feet high1 
of erect figure1 light hair1 red and    
rather large whiskers1 and a  full face1
 a little pitted with the small-pox4    
,his usual dress was  a light           
fashionable-coloured brown coat1 black  
waistcoat1 dark-blue  mixture           

pantaloons1 and ,wellington boots4 ,he  
was a special pet of  ,lord ,sidmouth1  
and in #ahag he performed the           
inestimable services of  fomenting      
sedition in the ,midlands and the ,north
 and of getting quite a  number of poor 
and ignorant men hanged1 transported1 or
 imprisoned4    ,altogether1 ,the       
,skilled ,labourer is a book which puts 
every student  of history very deeply in
 the debt of ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hammond4   
,,in ,,the ,,side ,,shows3              
,,observations ,,by ,a ,,flier ,,on     
,,five ,,fronts4 ,by ,,captain          
,,wedgwood ,,benn1 ,m4,p41 ,d4,s4,o41   
,d4,f4,c4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #abs4    
net4    ,captain ,wedgwood ,benn's      
experiences in the side shows may well  
fill  with envy those whose lot was cast
 in the main theatre of the war4  ,we   
confess that we took up his book rather 
doubtfully--for who was  not long ago   
surfeited with stories from the front8  
,but we found it1  after all1 full of   
diverting adventures in many lands1 as  

well as in  the water and the air4 ,it  
is written straightforwardly1 without   
that  straining after effect which      
marred so many of its kind4 ,captain    
,benn  began his military career in     
#aiad in the ,middlesex ,yeomanry4 ,he  
was  bored1 like every one else1 at     
,ismailia3 he fought and was bored again
  at ,gallipoli4 ,then he was fortunate 
enough to get into the ,naval ,air      
,service4 ,he flew in the ,mediterranean
 and the ,red ,sea4 ,he bombed the      
,turks near ,aden1 passed the time of   
day over the telephone to the ,king  of 
the ,hedjz at ,mecca1 made a brief      
,cook's ,tour to the ,sudan and was     
presently observing in ,palestine1      
blowing up portions of the ,bagdad      
,railway1 and commanding an astounding  
mixed force of ,british soldiers  and   
,french sailors in ,castelorizo1 near   
,adalin4 ,after this he comes  home on  
leave1 gets his wings1 and is off to    
,taranto to join the  ,adriatic         
,barrage1 the aerial force whose task   

was to keep the ,austrian  submarines   
out of the ,mediterranean4 ,finally1    
after ,caporetto1 he is  on the ,piave  
fronts attached to ,general ,plumer's   
force4 ,he apparently  managed from     
there to do a good deal of sight-seeing 
up and down ,italy1  and he has some    
amusing tales of the people and places  
he visited4 ,he  also took part in the  
melodramatic adventure of ,alessandro   
,tandura1 the  ,italian spy who was     
dropped from an aeroplane in the        
,austrian lines4  ,this is the best     
adventure in the book1 and must be read 
to be properly  appreciated4    ,now and
 then ,captain ,benn interrupts his     
narrative to discuss an idea  or a      
problem4 ,the most notable of these     
interludes is his criticism of  our     
military system4 ,he can find little to 
say in praise of it4 ,the  much-vaunted 
discipline seems to him to mean only    
mechanical obedience4  ,the system puts 
a premium on waste of time1 on the spit 
and polish  spirit2 it discourages      

ideas1 imagination1 initiative4 ,and    
most of  the higher officers are        
monuments of stupidity and ignorance4   
,in all  this there is no doubt much    
truth4 ,but a good many of his readers  
will  suspect that ,captain ,benn was   
exceptionally unfortunate in the senior 
officers he met4      ,,ireland ,a      
,,nation4 ,by ,,robert ,,lynd4 ,grant   
,richards4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,many     
,englishmen are now sick of the ,irish  
,question2 many are ashamed  of it4     
,some have argued an inconsistency      
between our attitude to ,poland  or     
,czecho-,slovakia or ,jugo-,slavia and  
our attitude to ,ireland4 ,others  have 
come to feel that damage is done to our 
reputation abroad1 both  among friends  
and enemies1 by our ,irish policy4 ,mr4 
,lynd knows how  to gauge public opinion
 here as well as in ,ireland1 and he    
seizes  the opportunity to press home   
the point that the ,irish problem is an 
international problem4 ,his argument1   
which is as closely reasoned as  it is  

eloquent1 is that ,england can save     
herself and save the world  only by     
saving ,ireland4 ,what does saving      
,ireland mean8 ,it means1 says  ,mr4    
,lynd1 the immediate surrender of       
,ireland into the hands of the  ,irish  
people1 to rule it either as a republic 
or a dominion1 according  as the people 
themselves decide4    ,many1 of course1 
made up their minds on the matter long  
ago2 but  ,mr4 ,lynd is by no means     
satisfied with all who profess          
themselves  friends of ,ireland4 ,he has
 some pungent remarks on what he calls  
the hesitating sort of ,liberal who     
wants to give ,ireland a                
carefully-conditioned measure of        
self-government which will prevent  her 
from abusing her liberty or             
inconveniencing ,england4 ,but there are
  others who are still baffled by       
,ulster4 ,it is not that they think of  
the ,irish as a mob of ,celts instead of
 as a nation4 ,the trouble is  that we  
are apparently confronted by two        

nations--two irreconcilable  nations4   
,what has ,mr4 ,lynd to say to that8 ,he
 says firstly1 bluntly1  that ,ulstermen
 are ,irishmen1 and that the ,ulster    
question is an  invention of ,british   
,statesmen4 ,cabinet ,ministers have no 
moral  objection whatever to coercing   
,ireland4 ,if they have any objection   
to coercing ,ulster1 it is not on moral 
grounds1 but because ,ulster  provides  
them with a plausible palliation for    
their guilt in denying  freedom to a    
race of white men4 ,he cannot1 of       
course1 disregard the  ,ulstermen's fear
 of ,home ,rule4 ,he can only argue that
 it is an utterly  unreasonable fear2   
for ,ulster is much more likely to      
dominate an ,irish  ,parliament than to 
be dominated by it4    ,mr4 ,lynd does  
not confine himself to the mere         
politician4 ,he has much  that is of    
profound interest to say on the ,irish  
soldier1 on ,ireland's  record in the   
war1 on ,irish literature1 and ,irish   
poetry4 ,his book is  one which ought to

 be read by everyone who cares for      
,ireland--and still  more by those who  
do not4      ,,agriculture ,,and ,,rural
 ,,life      ,,cottage ,,building ,,in  
,,cob1 ,,pis1 ,,chalk1 ,,and ,,clay3 ,a 
,renaissance4 ,by    ,,clough           
,,williams-,,ellis1 with an             
,introduction by ,mr4 ,,st4 ,,loe       
,,strachey4    ,published by ,country   
,life1 ,london4 #fs4 net4    ,this      
little volume of unassuming proportions 
marks a period in the  evolution of     
housing the people of this country4     
,perhaps the word  revolution is more   
apt in this connection1 for it indicates
 either  a reversal of the wheel of     
time1 taking us back to ancient methods1
  or a completion of the circle1        
bringing us round again to the use  of  
building materials which ,nature has    
provided to the hand of the  builder4   
,the author addresses himself           
particularly to those who  have in the  
past built only with stone1 brick1      
concrete1 timber1 and  plaster1 etc41   

but there are many people to-day        
thinking of building  who never thought 
of it before2 for the scarcity of houses
 7not merely  of the five-roomed cottage
 but of the ten or twelve-roomed        
middle-class  house71 with the          
consequent inevitable increase in rent1 
to say nothing  of the contumely of     
house-agents and their kind1 are giving 
rise to a  wonder if there is no        
alternative to tenancy4 ,to all such    
this book  will be of value1 for not    
only will it widen the field of         
possibility1  but it is packed with     
definite facts1 which have involved much
 labour  in their compilation4 ,to build
 with either of the materials named in  
its title will appear to the            
uninitiated1 i4e41 to all those who only
  think of brick and stone houses1 as   
being worthy of the man who built  his  
house upon the sand2 but plenty of      
instances are given to show  that if    
proper though simple methods of         
construction are followed1 such  houses 

will last for many generations4 ,we well
 remember our surprise  when1 some      
twenty years ago1 we first saw in       
,leicestershire and  ,warwickshire a    
number of what were locally termed mud  
cottages1 and  found on enquiry that    
many of them were from two to three     
hundred years  old4    ,building by-laws
 effectually put a stop to the use of   
any such  materials as those under      
consideration1 wherever by-laws were in 
operation4 ,they were looked upon by the
 officials of many local  authorities   
and by other well-meaning but           
short-sighted people as a  gleam of     
sunshine on a dark world3 they were to  
check jerry-building  and prevent bad   
housing4 ,though this ray of light first
 shed its  beams upon a startled world  
so long ago as #aheh1 through the ,local
  ,government ,act of that year1 we are 
now discovering that jerry-building  is 
as rampant as ever1 housing conditions  
are1 in very many places1  execrable1   
and that by-laws sometimes only act as a

 deterrent to men  who want to build4   
,parliament in its wisdom has passed    
quite a number  of ,acts since the year 
named dealing with the subject1 which   
might have  been admirable if they could
 have been administered by supermen4    
,as1  however1 this duty fell to the lot
 of ordinary mortals1 by-laws have      
actually prevented the use of improved  
methods and materials1 which  happened  
to be unknown at the time the old ones  
were drawn up4 ,these  have been        
somewhat relaxed in recent years1 but   
even to-day it is to be  feared that a  
serious proposal to build with ,pis1 or 
,cob1 might cause  the sudden death of  
many respected representatives of       
,bumbledom4 ,the  ,ministry of ,health  
have expressed the view that further    
relaxation in  the direction of allowing
 such materials might be permitted1 but 
many  local authorities would1 we       
suppose1 require more than that to      
induce  them to adopt the suggestion4   
,for the moment cost is of even more    

importance than longevity1 and if  the  
usual materials are to be insisted upon 
the building of cottages  and small     
houses on economic lines is impossible4 
,transport is one of  the large items in
 the cost of construction2 but if the   
heaviest and  bulkiest materials are on 
the spot1 this item can be almost       
entirely  eliminated4 ,it is1 therefore1
 not unreasonable to hope that local    
authorities will give every facility1   
nay1 encouragement1 to use any  suitable
 material1 rather than insist upon the  
letter of their by-laws4  ,the author's 
view is as follows1 but it must be borne
 in mind that the  builder is not always
 a free agent3    ,formerly he who      
carried bricks into ,merioneth or the   
,cotswolds1 or  slates into ,kent1 or   
ragstone-rubble into ,middlesex1 was    
guilty of  no more than foolishness and 
an sthetic solecism4 ,under present     
conditions such action should render him
 liable to prosecution and  conviction  
on some such count as wasting the       

shrunken resources of his  country in a 
time of great scarcity4    ,mr4 ,st4    
,loe ,strachey contributes an           
instructive and amusing preface1  the   
humour of it giving point to his own    
experiences4 ,no one has done  more than
 he in trying to find the cheapest      
suitable material for  cottages2 in ,pis
 he has rediscovered the very thing he  
wanted4 ,as one  who served under his   
chairmanship on the ,committee of the   
,first ,cheap  ,cottage ,exhibition at  
,letchworth ,garden ,city in #aije1 the 
present  reviewer is glad to offer a    
tribute to his persistence and success4 
,the  illustrations in this book are    
both interesting and instructive4       
,,anthropology      ,,the ,,mystery ,,of
 ,,easter ,,island3 ,,the ,,story ,,of  
,,an ,,expedition4 ,by ,,mrs4           
,,scoresby ,,routledge4 ,sifton1 ,praed1
  ,co4 #cas4 #f;d4 net4    ,any map of  
the ,pacific will show a minute dot     
standing by itself  far to the eastward 
of any other island south of the line1  

yet some  #bjjj miles away from the     
,american coast4 ,this is ,easter       
,island1 long  famous as a land of      
archological wonders4 ,apart from these 
it is an  unattractive place1 consisting
 of a triangular patch of volcanic rock1
  grass-covered1 bare of trees1         
waterless but for the rain that collects
  in the craters of its extinct         
volcanoes1 and1 of course1 wind-swept   
and harbourless4 ,at present it serves  
as a cattle-ranch managed in  the       
interests of a ,chilian company1 the    
natives1 no more than #bej in  all1     
being huddled into a single village on  
the west coast in order  to keep them   
out of mischief4 ,formerly1 however1    
there were enough of  them to form ten  
clans1 who kept things merry with their 
local feuds4  ,the navigators of the    
eighteenth century1 ,roggeveen1 who     
discovered  the island1 ,gonzalez1      
,cook1 and ,la ,prouse1 estimate their  
number at  anything from #gjj up to     
#bjjj souls4    ,how1 then1 in such a   

solitary spot1 inhabited by a handful of
 savages1  does it happen that hundreds 
of giant statues of stone are to be     
found1  not to speak of smaller statues 
of wood1 curious rock-carvings1 and     
finally a script8 ,a few passers-by had 
pleasantly trifled with the  problem1   
but a serious attempt to solve it had   
not been made until  ,mr4 and ,mrs4     
,scoresby ,routledge gallantly resolved 
to take the matter  in hand4 ,the task  
before them was no light one2 for in    
order to study  ,easter ,island one must
 first get there4 ,so a yacht1 the      
,mana1 was  built for the purpose4 ,the 
,polynesian word means luck1 and luck   
certainly attended the little vessel on 
its long run of #ajj1jjj miles4  ,quite 
apart from the account given of ,easter 
,island itself1 the log  of the voyage  
provides the matter for a fascinating   
book1 proving  as it does that there are
 many odd corners of the                
much-betravelled  earth which still     
await exploration4 ,this becomes        

apparent as soon as  ,magellan ,strait  
is traversed1 and the ship hazardously  
works her way  north through the        
intricate uncharted channels that run up
 the western  coast of ,patagonia4 ,it  
was hereabouts1 by the way1 that the    
,dresden1  after the ,falkland fight1   
played hide-and-seek with our gunboats  
for  several months4 ,helped by many    
striking illustrations1 we are enabled  
to picture to ourselves the deep gorges 
overlooked by snowy peaks1 and  the     
gaunt half-naked ,indians that these    
waters precariously support4            
,afterwards ,selkirk's ,island1 ,juan   
,fernandez1 was visited1 and when the   
,easter ,island investigations were     
complete1 the expedition went on to     
,pitcairn1 the home of the descendants  
of the ,bounty mutineers1 an  incidental
 consequence being that ,king ,george in
 due course received  at ,buckingham    
,palace two loyal representatives of    
this1 the smallest  of ,british         
,colonies4 ,but space would fail if we  

dwelt further on the  nautical side of  
the adventure1 complicated as it was by 
the fact that  during the greater part  
of the three years and four months      
during  which it lasted there were      
,german foes above and below water to be
  circumvented4 ,even ,easter ,island1  
it must be added1 proved no haven  of   
refuge1 for first von ,spee's squadron  
and subsequently the armed  cruiser     
,prinz ,eitel ,friedrich paid a call    
there1 though luckily ,mana  was away on
 both occasions4    ,passing to the     
archology1 we must begin by gratefully  
recording  the fact that at length an   
adequate description is available of    
the monuments as they exist to-day4     
,thanks to the maps1 plans1 and         
pictures1 every detail is brought home  
to the reader2 while he cannot  complain
 that ,mrs4 ,routledge's commentary1    
precise though it be1 is  ever dull4    
,she is indeed to be congratulated on   
having composed a  popular account that 
is likewise as far as it goes           

scientifically  sound2 though it is to  
be hoped that the whole collection of   
evidence1  of which but a digest is     
presented here1 will hereafter be       
published4  ,the expedition was         
evidently at great pains to survey1     
catalogue1  measure1 photograph1 and1 so
 far as was necessary1 actually         
disinter1  the entire mass of remains1  
despite their great number and the      
considerable extent of country over     
which they are distributed4 ,and        
fortunately the stonework is still there
 to be studied1 since it cannot  be     
easily removed or destroyed1 as has     
mostly been the fate of the  woodwork1  
namely1 the carved human figures1 twenty
 to thirty inches  high1 with their     
characteristic goatee beards and        
prominent ribs1 and  the tablets on     
which the script was carved4 ,yet1 if   
not altogether  demolished1 the statues 
are in large part dethroned4 ,those at  
least  that decorated the burial        
platforms of ,cyclopean architecture    

that  border the coast are all          
overthrown2 how and why we can but      
guess4 ,on  the other hand1 there is a  
certain volcanic hill with many huge    
figures  still standing1 both within the
 crater and along its outer skirts4  ,it
 was here that all the images were      
quarried2 and many exist in a           
half-finished condition1 while some1    
including the largest of all1  sixty-six
 feet in length1 were perhaps never     
meant to be completely  detached from   
the parent rock4 ,excavation at these   
quarries revealed  the whole process of 
manufacture1 and proved that with stone 
tools  it was possible to hew the soft  
rock into shape1 though the precise     
manner of the transportation and        
erection of the unwieldy monsters1      
while plainly creditable to human       
muscle1 remains by no means easy to     
discern4    ,who were the makers8 ,what 
did they mean to represent8 ,at this    
point  we pass from description to      
explanation1 from the ascertained to the

  purely conjectural4 ,certain it is    
that the present natives have no  use   
for the statues1 and are not only       
ignorant but likewise incurious  about  
their origin4 ,even by ,cook's time1    
namely1 in #aggd1 though  still         
standing1 they were apparently ceasing  
to be respected2 whereas  ,roggeveen1 in
 #agbb1 rightly or wrongly1 saw in them 
objects of an  existing worship4 ,thus  
we seem to get at least a downward limit
 for the  epoch during which they were  
part of the living culture1 and this    
view  is borne out by the relatively    
unweathered condition of some statues4  
,it would look1 then1 as if the direct  
and not very remote ancestors of  the   
present islanders were the image-makers1
 and not some mysterious  extinct race1 
such as has often been postulated4      
,further1 the pendant  ear-lobes of the 
statues recall a practice hardly yet    
obsolete among  the population of       
to-day4    ,the best argument of all1   
however1 amongst those making for a     

connection with the indigenous culture  
is derived from the study of  a         
remarkable bird-cult which it is a chief
 triumph of the expedition  to have     
rescued from oblivion4 ,not only can it 
be thus shown to the  point of          
demonstration that the rock-carvings    
occurring in a deserted  village of     
stone houses on the south-western       
headland of the island  represent the   
annual bird-man who got the first egg of
 a sacred  bird1 and so became himself  
highly sacred2 but it can also be made a
  probable corollary that the statues of
 the image-mountain are memorials  of   
bird-men1 since it was close by that the
 bird-man must abide in  strict         
seclusion for the five months in which  
his sacredness was at  its height4      
,indeed1 many are the clues which are   
afforded by a close  examination of this
 curious custom4 ,thus it seems certain 
that the  present cult which centres    
round the ,sooty ,tern is derived from  
the  worship of the ,frigate ,bird as   

practised in far-off ,melanesia4 ,the   
,frigate ,bird1 too1 seems to have      
suggested various symbols belonging to  
the script4 ,the inference is that there
 is a ,melanesian stratum in the        
population2 though1 as a ,polynesian    
immigration must also be assumed  in    
order to account for the language1      
responsibility for the culture  as a    
whole must somehow be divided between   
the two parties4 ,all these  difficult  
questions1 we fear1 cannot be thrashed  
out within the limits  of a brief       
review4 ,yet perhaps enough has been    
said to induce every  student of the    
wider history of man not to miss a      
golden opportunity of  learning that    
anthropology and romance are sisters4   
,,science      ,,some ,,wonders ,,of    
,,matter4 ,by the ,,right ,,reverend ,j4
 ,e4 ,,mercer4 ,society    for          
,promoting ,christian ,knowledge4 #es4  
net4      ,,chemistry ,,and ,,its       
,,mysteries4 ,by ,,charles ,r4 ,,gibson4
 ,seely1 ,service     ,co4 #es4 net4    

,,the ,,realities ,,of ,,modern         
,,science4 ,by ,,john ,,mills4 ,the     
,macmillan    ,company4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4
    ,england has a high tradition in    
books on popular science4 ,men like     
,faraday and ,tyndall did not consider  
it beneath them to write for  children  
and laymen1 and their books on the      
elementary facts of science  are models 
of their kind4 ,strangely enough--or    
naturally enough--the  best expositors  
of the elements of a science are1 in    
general1 those  who have themselves     
contributed to the advances of that     
science1 while  those who are           
professedly popularisers present the    
subject not only  less correctly and    
logically but also less simply and      
pleasantly4 ,the  books before us       
confirm this opinion4    ,mr4 ,gibson is
 a practised hand at writing books for  
children1 the  volume before us being   
the sixth of a series4 ,he has the merit
 that  he attempts to bring before the  
reader the experimental basis of the    

science of chemistry and some of its    
historical aspects1 and does  not make a
 series of dogmatic statements without  
reference to the  researches on which   
they rest1 as does ,bishop ,mercer4 ,he 
describes many  experiments1 and gives  
diagrams to illustrate them4 ,the book  
covers a  wide field of interesting and1
 for the most part1 elementary chemical 
phenomena4 ,the chief fault which we    
have to find is with the style in  which
 it is written4 ,we find the imaginary  
questions put to the writer  by boys and
 girls distinguished as big1 little1    
facially peculiar1 and  so on1          
irritating1 and we very much doubt if   
his patronising manner  will find favour
 with most boys1 who1 we believe1 prefer
 to be treated  as friends who happen   
not to know4 ,we do not pretend to ,mr4 
,gibson's  knowledge of children1 but   
base our criticism on the fact that     
,faraday  and most of his successors at 
the ,royal ,institution have managed to 
interest and instruct their juvenile    

audiences without this painfully        
evident condescension4    ,bishop       
,mercer's method of striving to excite  
the wonder of his young  readers is     
based upon a liberal use of notes of    
exclamation 7seldom  less than three on 
a page1 and sometimes three together1   
for extra  effect7 and of the words     
wonder and wonderful1 together with the 
constant citation of very large numbers1
 which fill him with awe--,a  million is
 bad enough with its six cyphers4 ,but  
eighteen of them--that  is awful--it is 
a million million million6 ,the         
machinery of nature1  as revealed by    
modern science1 does not impress him as 
do these rows  of cyphers4 ,if there    
were any serious attempt to show how    
they have  been arrived at we should    
think more highly of the educational    
value of  the book4 ,as it is1 the      
information is often incorrect on quite 
simple  matters--water does not occupy  
exactly 7or approximately7 the same     
space as before after sugar has been    

added to it2 hydrogen is not  often     
regarded1 in these days when it has been
 solidified1 as a metal4  ,often the    
book is most misleading1 as in the      
description of how the  author saw a    
man's ribs by ,x-rays when the machine  
was put the other  side of the man in   
question4 ,no mention is made of any    
phosphorescent  screen1 and the         
inexperienced reader is led to infer by 
the analogy  given that he actually saw 
through the man4 ,the style is vague and
  slipshod in the extreme1 a typical    
sentence being1 ,the elasticity of  the 
atoms is so perfect that they always    
bang about just the same4  ,we will not 
criticise the ,bishop's theology1 or his
 philosophy1 which  insists that what   
you really see is not the matter of the 
tree1 but  the ether-quiverings which   
that matter throws off4 ,we will1       
however1  take it upon ourselves to     
suggest that1 if he should decide to    
write  another book on elementary       
science1 he should model himself rather 

upon  ,faraday's ,lectures ,upon the    
,physical ,forces than upon an ,american
  temperance lecture4    ,mr4 ,mills'   
book on ,the ,realities of ,modern      
,science is in a different  class from  
the two already noticed1 and is intended
 for adult readers4  ,it gives a sketch 
of modern conceptions of the composition
 of matter1  the electron theory1 and   
the recent experimental work on the     
magnitude  of molecules and electrons4  
,the early chapters of the book are     
devoted  to a very brief but excellent  
treatment of certain aspects of the     
history of physical science4 ,a great   
merit of the book is that it  devotes   
particular attention to the recent      
important advances in  molecular        
physics1 which are neither yet included 
in the text-books nor  easily available 
in popular form4 ,we may mention        
especially the work of  ,millikan on the
 electronic charge1 that of the ,braggs 
and ,moseley on  ,x-ray spectra1 and the
 photographs taken by ,c4 ,t4 ,r4       

,wilson 7whose name  is not1 however1   
mentioned7 of the paths of  a and  b    
particles  and of ,x-rays4 ,the style is
 simple and sober1 and the author1 who  
hails  from the research laboratories of
 the ,western ,electric ,company1 wisely
  leaves the results which he describes 
to produce their own impression4  ,the  
book is1 of course1 written for more    
advanced readers than the  others here  
noticed1 but1 all the same1 an          
intelligent schoolboy with a  smattering
 of scientific knowledge would1 in all  
probability1 prefer it  to the books    
written expressly for his benefit4 ,the 
adult reader is not  likely to find a   
better presentation of the more striking
 aspects of  modern physics4            
,,book-,,production ,,notes    ,by ,j4  
,h4 ,,mason      ,last month1 in laying 
down the chief matters to be considered 
in  producing a satisfactory book1 ,i   
began with type4 ,and as if the subject 
were in the air1 as it were in solution1
 ,i find it precipitated in the  form of

 an important article in the pages of   
the ,saturday ,review4 ,an  illustrated 
article1 too1 with specimens of the     
chief types referred  to4 ,this is all  
to the good2 if this example is followed
 by other  literary journals we shall   
soon form a right opinion in the lay    
public  on what is a good type4 ,the    
appearance of our books will be         
improved1  the offensive                
advertisement--,i am speaking           
typographically--will lose  its         
vulgarity1 and public lettering in      
posters1 shop names1 and street  signs  
will reflect the improvement4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,it is interesting to note that my view 
on the importance of the work  of the   
private presses is also confirmed by the
 article referred to1  and that their   
work is beginning to influence the      
typefounders1 however  tardily4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,it is quite frequently said that it    
costs no more to print from good  type  

than from bad4 ,we might go further in  
the case of certain bad  types and say  
that their use sends up the cost of     
printing4 ,for when  modern type of the 
extreme form is used1 as ,de ,vinne     
pointed out1  their hair-lines are soon 
battered by any inequality in the paper 
and  print imperfectly1 or involve a    
loss of time in changing the damaged    
letters4 ,the attempt to emulate the    
hair-line of the engraver of plate      
lettering is altogether misplaced in    
relief or letterpress printing4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,the ,victorian greyness of page led    
some printers and publishers to  resort 
to the use of heavier type to give their
 pages a richer black4  ,but almost all 
the heavier types at their disposal had 
been designed  for display lines in     
advertisements1 and went too far in the 
thickening  of the line4 ,even ,morris's
 ,golden type1 excellent as it is in his
  use of it1 is too heavy to be adopted 
as the staple type-face of our          

printing4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,not till quite   
recently have type-faces of the right   
weight for  bookwork been designed and  
placed on the general market4 ,the work 
of  the ,american ,goudy1 the type cut  
by ,mr4 ,prince 7who cut the punches    
for the ,kelmscott1 the ,doves1 and     
other celebrated founts7 for ,messrs4   
,shanks and christened ,dolphin1 and    
some of the modern versions of          
,venetian founts are pretty satisfactory
 and generally available4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,with  
the exception of the ,monotype ,company1
 who designed an excellent  modified old
 style type for the ,imprint1 the       
composing machines  that produce our    
newspapers1 journals1 and a large       
proportion of our  books have repeated  
the stock designs originally made for   
movable  or hand-set type4 ,it is very  
desirable that they should not limit    
themselves to these1 and the instance   
mentioned above is a most  encouraging  

one to follow up4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,the ,studio has
 just issued a special number dealing   
with modern  woodcuts and               
lithographs--,british and ,french4 ,this
 is the first  attempt to collect       
representative work of modern artists   
who practise  wood-cutting4 ,the revival
 of the woodcut in book illustration    
demands  special discussion4 ,this will 
form the subject of next month's ,notes 
propos of the ,studio ,woodcut ,number4 
,a ,,letter ,,from ,,france    ,,the    
,,french ,,poetry ,,of ,,to-,,day       
,paris1 ,december1 #aiai    ,french     
poetry has not been renewed since the   
,symbolist ,movement by any  new and    
powerfully original poet4 ,besides1 the 
,symbolist ,movement is  not finished1  
and it is in its spirit1 in its         
influence1 in its metric1  that our     
poetry still lives to-day4 ,the majority
 of the best ,french  poets have passed 
the age of forty and come from          
,symbolist circles4  ,the influence of  

the four ,symbolist masters1 of after   
#ahgj1 ,rimbaud1  ,laforgue1 ,mallarm1  
and ,verlaine1 is still visible4 ,a     
sleeper1 like  ,wells's character1 who  
fell asleep in #ahih and woke up twenty 
years  afterwards1 would find poetry    
much as he left it and with the same    
essential names4    ,he would see only  
that a reign has ended and that another 
head wears  the crown on the coinage2   
but this by itself is not in the        
ordinary way  a capital event4 ,in his  
time the name of the prince of the poets
 was  ,mallarm4 ,to-day his name is     
,paul ,fort2 and it is very obvious that
  there is hardly any resemblance       
between the two4 ,but our sleeper would 
very well remember having known ,paul   
,fort at the ,thursdays in the rue  de  
,rome and in the ,mercure1 and having   
once read five or six volumes  of       
,ballades1 among them what was perhaps  
the poet's masterpiece1 the  astonishing
 ,roman de ,louis ,,xi4 ,the prince has 
nothing absolutely  novel to show except

 his crown4    ,the sleeper would then  
ask news of the prince who reigned in   
his time1  and would learn that in the  
year when he closed his eyes for twenty 
years ,mallarm closed them for ever4    
,one of the numerous surprises of the   
war was the sudden return of the  purest
 and most authentic of the disciples of 
,mallarm1 ,m4 ,paul ,valry1  to the     
poetry which he had abandoned for twenty
 years4 ,m4 ,valry then  produced that  
admirable pendant to ,mallarm's         
,hrodiade which is  called ,la ,jeune   
,parque1 and he published in reviews a  
few poems that  connoisseurs cut out and
 keep jealously as once they did the    
sonnets of  ,hrdia4 ,the volume1 which  
will doubtless appear in a short time1  
will  be published by the ,nouvelle     
,revue ,franaise1 and will be a jewel   
of the same kind as the poems of        
,mallarm1 and will make the second  peak
 of a double snow-covered ,parnassus4   
,another disciple of ,mallarm1  ,m4     
,jean ,royre1 has published a collection

 of poems1 ,par la lumire  peints1 that 
the master of ,valvins would have loved4
 ,one finds in them  a curious contrast 
between a somewhat cold and ,parnassian 
form and a  beautiful mobility of images
 which change without ceasing one into  
the  other4    ,the sleeper1 happy to   
see that the spirit of ,mallarm is still
 alive1  would ask news of the two poets
 who were in #ahih the leaders of the   
,symbolist school1 ,m4 ,henri de ,rgnier
 and ,m4 ,vil ,griffin4 ,they  still    
make an honourable figure1 we should    
answer1 but the twenty  years during    
which you have been asleep have not     
added much to what is  essential to     
their work4 ,in #ahih they had already  
written all their  most beautiful       
verses1 those that your generation knew 
by heart1 which  made indeed two        
original visions of the world4    ,i    
remember1 also1 the sleeper would       
continue1 two other poets who  were     
frequently named together and who1 if   
they did not resemble one  another in   

their inspirations1 resembled one       
another in their life  apart and their  
solitary work4 ,one of them lived in a  
little town of  the ,pyrenees1 and      
painted there with a naive fervour like 
that of  ,francis of ,assisi1 and also  
with the irony of a shrewd observer1 the
  things and the faces of his quiet     
life1 the animals and the people  of his
 small countryside4 ,this was ,francis  
,jammes4 ,the other had  made at the age
 of eighteen or twenty two tragic masks 
shining with  genius1 ,tte d'or and ,la 
,ville4 ,then he went as consul to      
,china and  elsewhere4 ,we received     
sometimes from him strange things1      
printed at  ,fou-,tcheou by a widow     
named ,rosario4 ,this was ,paul         
,claudel4 ,are they  still of this      
world8 ,of this poetical world and of   
another world  still3 these are to-day  
our two great ,catholic poets4 ,these in
 the last  twenty years have1 all the   
same1 produced new works that you could 
not  have looked for in #ahih4 ,but they

 also belong to the generation that  you
 knew1 and all of ,claudel was already  
potentially in ,tte d'or1 as  all of    
,jammes was potentially in the trilogy  
of the ,pote4    ,am ,i myself1 the     
sleeper will ask1 an image of this      
poetry8  ,has it1 like me1 been asleep  
for twenty years or repeating itself    
indefinitely8 ,not altogether1 but it   
has added nothing essential1  except    
this little in ,claudel and ,jammes1 to 
what was germinating  or flourishing in 
the garden of #ahih4 ,i understand4 ,you
 must have  been for twenty years one of
 these happy people who have no history4
  ,france has lived peaceful days4 ,and 
this united and undisturbed life  has   
proved favourable to the continuity of  
the poetic routine8 ,not  at all1 ,o    
,epimenides4 ,you went to sleep         
precisely when ,france was  beginning   
the ,dreyfus affair1 which was a famous 
earthquake1 and you  wake at the moment 
when we are emerging from a world-wide  
war which has  killed a dozen million   

men on our planet1 and which has given  
to ,europe  the appearance you can see  
here1 on the wall1 on this map4 ,and all
  this has not yet produced any new     
poets8 ,and1 in #aiai1 when my eyes     
open again to the light1 you send me    
back where ,i was in #ahih1 you give  me
 again all my old poets and none but    
them1 and the great news is that        
,mallarm's workshop is open again1 that 
the attention of the poetical  world is 
hung on the new ,hrodiade1 which ,m4    
,valry is exhibiting  there6 ,that is a 
stupefying thing which is enough to wake
 up a sleeper1  which might even wake up
 a dead man6    ,well1 my dear sir1     
poetry has its own logic4 ,the war has1 
we know1  been favourable for those who 
trade in iron2 learn also that it has   
been an age of gold for those who trade 
in diamonds4 ,it has pleased us  to hold
 in our hands the diamonds of former    
times4 ,but be reassured4  ,the war has 
sometimes brought into the poetic light 
a kind of iron  which is not without    

beauty4 ,we have had true war poets4    
,the ,hymns  of ,joachim ,gasquet make a
 superb book4 ,he is certainly not      
attached to  the ,symbolist ,movement4  
,gasquet is a southerner1 a classic1 a  
man with  sonorous lungs1 with an       
unquenchable abundance of oratory4 ,the 
book of  this poet from ,aix seems as   
though it were written by a ,mirabeau of
 the  trenches4    ,but in #ahih ,i knew
 ,gasquet pretty well1 ,i read his      
verses4 ,they  resembled most closely   
those of ,emmanuel ,signoret1 and they  
were very  beautiful4 ,can you only     
quote to me these ghosts of my own time8
 ,are  there1 then1 no young men8       
,here are the poems of ,henri ,ghon1    
delicate in their harmony1 pure in      
their emotion1 ,foi en la ,france4    ,i
 remember ,ghon very well4    ,the      
devil6 ,i forgot that he also was of the
 group of #ahih4 ,all the  same1 here   
are some that will be new to you4 ,here 
is ,europe1 by ,jules  ,romains1 in     
which we find again the powerful and    

vigorous poet of the  ,vie ,unanime4    
,here is a charming little book which   
,louis de ,gonzague-,frick wrote  in    
pencil on his military postcards3 it is 
called ,sous le ,blier de  ,mars4 ,in   
that book we find again the succulence  
and verve of ,laurent  ,tailhade4 ,and  
you will find them again1 in a different
 form1 in ,fernand  ,fleuret's          
,falourdin4 ,it is a pity that ,georges 
,duhamel has written  nothing during the
 war except some admirable books of     
prose2 but that  will not prevent me    
reminding you of his earlier1 beautiful 
poems in  ,compagnons4 ,you would also  
like ,charles ,vildrac's ,livre         
d',amour4  ,you should certainly also   
read the poems1 sometimes rather awkward
  but very original and robust1 that    
,jules ,supervieille wrote in ,south    
,america4 ,and as dessert ,i will keep  
for you that exquisite confection       
,l',appartement des ,jeunes ,filles1 by 
,roger ,allard4 ,together these make  a 
charming bouquet1 but ,i grant you it is

 a small one4    ,here ,i end this      
dialogue1 designed to show ,french      
poetry stationary in  the positions of  
twenty years ago4 ,we may end by saying 
that in thus  remaining alive and       
healthy1 in thriving for a longer period
 than the  ,parnassian movement1 ,french
 symbolism has made a place for itself  
which  will deserve the respect of      
posterity4 ,the poetic form which will  
take  its place is not yet in sight4    
,but that form will surely appear when  
the generation of our sleeper has gone  
down1 to the last man1 into  slumber    
irrevocable4            ,,albert        
,,thibaudet          ,,learned          
,,societies1 ,,etc4      ,,the ,,society
 ,,of ,,antiquaries    ,the ,near ,east 
has been opened up by the war1 and      
reports are coming in4  ,the            
,augustinian ,priory of the ,holy       
,sepulchre1 a complex of buildings1     
including the ,calvary1 ,st4 ,helen's   
,chapel1 and the ,prison of ,christ1    
has been described by ,mr4 ,a4 ,w4      

,clapham1 who1 being on military duty   
in ,jerusalem1 recently surveyed the    
ruins1 and succeeded in making  an      
almost complete plan of the ,latin      
monastery1 founded in #aaad4            
,architectural features1 both ,western  
and ,byzantine1 were noticed1 and  the  
hope expressed that cleaning and repair 
would soon be undertaken  now that the  
,holy ,places are under ,british        
protection4 ,in ,babylonia  ,mr4 ,h4 ,r4
 ,hall has been excavating for the      
,british ,museum at ,eridu and  ,ur of  
the ,chaldees4 ,work on the former site 
was begun by ,mr4 ,campbell  ,thompson  
last year1 and buildings of the ,first  
,dynasty at ,ur have been  discovered1  
dating about #bdjj ,b4,c4 ,still earlier
 finds of ,sumerian  origin1 dating from
 pre-,semitic times1 have come to light 
at ,tell  el-,obeid near ,ur1 including 
heads of lions and panthers in copper1  
on  a bitumen foundation1 with inlaid   
tongues1 eyes1 and teeth of coloured    
stone and shell2 and a lion-headed eagle

 in copper relief1 flanked by  stags1   
the group being #h feet long and #d feet
 high4 ,nearer home ,mr4  ,reginald     
,smith has brought forward evidence to  
prove that flint daggers  belong to the 
early ,bronze ,age in ,britain1 but to  
the last phase of  the ,stone ,age in   
,scandinavia4 ,the earlier daggers point
 to connection  between the two areas   
about #bjjj ,b4,c4      ,,the ,,society 
,,of ,,genealogists ,,of ,,london       
,since ,her ,majesty the ,queen         
graciously consented to become a ,patron
  membership has considerably increased1
 and now stands at #cgg4 ,during  the   
winter papers have been read as follows3
 ,by ,mr4 ,watson-,taylor on  ,joan of  
,arc1 ,her ,relatives and ,descendants2 
by ,mr4 ,austen-,leigh on  ,editing a   
,school ,register1 ,eton to wit2 by ,dr4
 ,g4 ,c4 ,peachey on  ,bookplates2 and  
by ,mr4 ,george ,sherwood on ,pedigrees 
and ,next-of-,kin  ,cases1 all of which 
were well attended1 and the papers      
recommended  for publication4 ,a paper  

is promised by the ,rev4 ,t4 ,c4 ,dale  
on ,durham  ,records4 ,the last ,report 
of the ,royal ,commission on ,public    
,records  has been much discussed1 and  
measures suggested for getting its      
recommendations put into practice4      
,recognition has been accorded by  the  
,british ,museum authorities1 with the  
result that the genealogical  papers of 
the late ,r4 ,w4 ,twigge1 ,f4,s4,a41    
have been added1 with the  consent of   
,mrs4 ,twigge1 to the ,society's        
collection4    ,the ,society's aim is   
simply to facilitate research3 by making
 records  more accessible1 by forming a 
collection of printed books1 documents1 
and ,,mss41 and by making a great index 
on the card-index system to the         
less-known records of biographical fact4
 ,application should be made for  the   
latest ,annual ,report to the           
,secretary1 at the ,society's ,rooms1 #e
  ,bloomsbury ,square1 ,w4,c4#a4        
,,the ,,vasari ,,society    ,the        
,committee of the ,vasari ,society have 

decided to resume the  publication of   
their annual ,portfolio in #aibj if     
enough subscribers  are forthcoming4    
,the ,society's aim is to reproduce in  
facsimile fine  drawings by the ,old    
,masters from both public and private   
collections4  ,while attempting in the  
first place to publish less-known       
drawings  from private collections1 it  
will not forget that the essential aim  
is to reproduce masterly drawings rather
 than secondary pieces of  historical   
interest1 and on that account will draw1
 as in the past1 to  a considerable     
degree on the better-known works in     
public collections4    ,in the first ten
 years of the ,society's work an annual 
,portfolio  was published with an       
average of thirty reproductions1        
covering the  fourteenth to the         
eighteenth centuries4 ,the new series   
may be somewhat  broader in scope in    
admitting the nineteenth century1 and   
allowing ,old  ,masters to include any  
deceased master of acknowledged         

excellence in  draughtsmanship4         
,moreover1 it is desired to give ampler 
representation  to draughtsmen of the   
,british ,school than has been done in  
the past4    ,to continue the annual    
publication at the same subscription of 
one  guinea1 it has been decided to     
reduce the size of the ,portfolio from  
#ah  by #ae to #af by #aa inches1 and it
 is thought that this will be welcomed  
by members who have little space for the
 larger folios4 ,it will not  imply     
reduction in size of the reproductions1 
which will continue to  be as far as    
possible facsimile in size and colour1  
and every effort  will be made to keep  
up the standard of quality4 ,intending  
subscribers  should communicate with the
 ,hon4 ,secretary1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,m4 ,hind1  
at the  ,british ,museum1 ,london1      
,w4,c4#a4 ,subscriptions for #aibj will 
not be due  until ,may #ast1 and those  
who have intimated their willingness to 
become  members will be informed before 
that date if the number of subscribers  

promised does not justify the committee 
in issuing the publication4      ,,the  
,,bibliographical ,,society    ,the     
,annual ,report of the ,bibliographical 
,society announces that the  ,society's 
,transactions will henceforth be        
published in quarterly  parts1 and that 
with a view to lessening the cost it is 
proposed  to allow copies to be         
purchased by non-members and to accept  
advertisements4 ,it is hoped also that  
,the ,library1 founded by ,sir  ,john   
,mac,alister in #ahhh and edited during 
recent years by ,mr4 ,a4 ,w4  ,pollard1 
the ,keeper of ,printed ,books at the   
,british ,museum1 and the  ,honorary    
,secretary of the ,bibliographical      
,society1 may be brought into  the      
scheme1 and that the quarterly numbers  
may be gradually worked up  into a full 
bibliographical magazine4    ,at the    
,december meeting of the ,society a     
point of great bibliographical  interest
 was raised by a paper read by ,mr4 ,f4 
,w4 ,bourdillon on  ,some ,french       

,romances4 ,he showed how many of the   
woodcuts used in  illustration were     
reproduced by one printer after another 
with a marked  fall in quality by a     
method of transfer on to wood-blocks    
called by the  technical name of pocher1
 which1 he submitted1 may be an ancestor
 of  the modern ,english verb to poach4 
,mr4 ,bourdillon urged the importance   
of the comparative study of such        
woodcuts1 and suggested that a ,society 
should be formed for reproducing early  
book illustrations in facsimile4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,,discovery    ,a ,conference was called
 last ,january by the joint invitation  
of the  ,president of the ,royal        
,society1 the ,president of the ,british
 ,academy1  and a large number of       
others1 interested both in the          
production and  distribution of         
knowledge1 to frame1 if possible1 a     
scheme for a  journal which should      
present in popular form the most recent 
results  of research in all the chief   

subjects of knowledge4 ,this ,conference
  appointed a committee to frame a      
scheme1 and their report was presented  
and adopted at the adjourned meeting of 
the ,conference held recently  in the   
rooms of the ,royal ,society1           
,burlington ,house4 ,professor ,r4  ,s4 
,conway1 of ,manchester1 has acted      
throughout as ,secretary of the         
movement4 ,the meeting approved the name
 ,discovery for the new  journal1 and   
established a trust for its maintenance1
 the first  trustees being ,sir ,joseph 
,j4 ,thomson1 ,o4,m41 ,p4,r4,s41 ,sir   
,frederic ,g4  ,kenyon1 ,d4,litt41      
,k4,c4,b41 ,p4,b4,a41 ,professor ,a4 ,c4
 ,seward1 ,sc4,d41 ,f4,r4,s41           
,professor ,r4 ,s4 ,conway1 ,litt4,d41  
,p4,b4,a4    ,the meeting further       
approved of the agreement made          
provisionally by the  ,executive        
,committee1 with ,mr4 ,john ,murray as  
,publisher1 and of his and  the         
committee's joint recommendation of     
,captain ,a4 ,s4 ,russell1 ,m4,c41      

,d4,sc41 recently of the ,r4,g4,a41 now 
of the ,university1 ,sheffield1 and     
,reader-elect in ,chemistry at ,christ  
,church1 ,oxford1 as ,editor4 ,the      
first number will be issued on ,january 
#aeth1 #aibj1 at the price of  sixpence4
    ,the ,conference further considered 
in detail and adopted the committee's   
scheme for the management of the        
journal1 of which the chief principles  
may be mentioned4 ,the control of the   
trustees is final1 but they  undertake  
to exercise it through a managing       
committee1 which they will  appoint on  
the nomination of a large number of     
bodies1 the chief of  whom are the      
,conjoint ,board of ,scientific         
,societies1 who will nominate  five     
members1 the ,classical1 ,historical1   
,english1 and ,geographical1  each of   
whom will nominate one member1 and the  
,modern ,language  ,association1 if1 as 
is hoped1 that also adheres to the      
scheme4 ,further  the ,british          
,psychological ,society and the ,royal  

,society of ,economics  will appoint one
 member4    ,this1 however1 is only one 
side of the committee's constitution4   
,it will comprise also representatives  
of the great ,associations  which       
represent different bodies of students  
and teachers1 and the  public libraries4
 ,those that have already pledged       
themselves to  take part are the        
,national ,union of ,teachers1 which is 
to nominate  two representatives2 the   
,co-operative ,union2 the ,associations 
of  ,headmasters and ,headmistresses1   
who will appoint one member4 ,similar   
co-operation is hoped for from the      
,royal ,society of ,literature1 the     
,library ,association1 the ,young ,men's
 ,christian ,association1 the  ,workers'
 ,educational ,association1 the         
,associations of ,assistant ,masters    
and ,assistant ,mistresses1 and the     
,association of ,education ,committees1 
all of which have expressed sympathy    
with the movement4                      
,,bibliographies ,,of ,,modern ,,authors

      ,,arthur ,,clutton-,,brock        
,,eton4 ,bell4 #aijj4 7,handbooks of    
,great ,public ,schools47    ,,shelley3 
,,the ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,poet4         
,methuen4 #aiji4    ,,description ,,in  
,,poetry4 ,english ,association4 #aiaa4 
,,william ,,morris4 ,williams  ,norgate4
 #aiad4 7,home ,university ,library47   
,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,war4 ,methuen4  
#aiad4    ,,more ,,thoughts ,,on ,,the  
,,war4 ,methuen4 #aiae4 ,several times  
reprinted4  ,collected from the ,times  
,literary ,supplement4    ,,simpson',s  
,,choice3 ,,an ,,essay ,,in ,,verse ,,on
 ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,omega ,workshops4 
#aiaf4      ,a ,,modern ,,creed ,,of    
,,work4 ,design and ,industry           
,association4 ,miscellaneous            
,publications4 #aiae4    ,,the          
,,ultimate ,,belief4 ,constable4 #aiaf4 
,,studies ,,in ,,christianity4          
,constable4 #aiah4    ,,what ,,is ,,the 
,,kingdom ,,of ,,heaven8 ,methuen4      
#aiai4    ,,essays ,,on ,,art4 ,methuen4
 #aiai4 ,reprinted from the ,times      

,literary  ,supplement4    7,he has also
 written ,introductions to ,shelley's   
,works 7#aiaa72 to  ,kenneth ,richmond's
 ,permanent ,values in ,education       
7#aiag72 to ,letters  of a ,soldier     
7#aiag72 and an essay on ,immortality in
 the ,rev4 ,b4 ,h4  ,streeter's         
collection of theological essays        
7#aiag747      ,,hilaire ,,belloc       
,prose    ,,danton--,a study4 ,nisbet4  
#ahii4 ,reprinted1 #aiaa1 in ,nelson's  
,shilling  ,library4    ,,paris4 ,e4    
,arnold4 #aijj4 ,second ,edition4       
,methuen4 #aijg4    ,,robespierre4      
,nisbet4 #aija4    ,,the ,,path ,,to    
,,rome4 ,george ,allen4 #aijb4 ,now     
published by ,allen  ,unwin  and by     
,nelson4 ,illustrated by the author4    
,,aftermaths ,,and ,,gleanings ,,of ,a  
,,busy ,,life ,,called ,,caliban',s     
,,guide ,,to  ,,letters4 ,duckworth4    
#aijc4 ,greenback ,library4    ,,tristan
 ,,and ,,iseult4 ,george ,allen4 #aijc4 
7,french ,romances47    ,,the ,,great   
,,enquiry4 ,duckworth4 #aijc4 ,a ,tariff

 ,reform satire with  illustrations by  
,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton4    ,,emmanuel      
,,burden3 ,a ,novel4 ,methuen4 #aijd4   
,illustrated by ,g4 ,k4  ,chesterton4   
,,the ,,old ,,road4 ,constable4 #aijd4  
,reprinted4 #aiaj4    ,,avril3 ,being an
 ,essay on the ,poetry of the ,french   
,renaissance4  ,duckworth4 #aijd4       
,,esto ,,perpetua3 ,algerian ,studies4  
,duckworth4 #aijf4 ,both the above have 
been reprinted in the ,reader's         
,library4    ,,hills ,,and ,,the ,,sea4 
,methuen4 #aijf4    ,,the ,,historic    
,,thames4 ,dent4 #aijg4    ,,mr4        
,,clutterbuck',s ,,election4 ,nash4     
#aijg4 ,now published by ,nelson4       
,,the ,,eye ,,witness4 ,nash4 #aijh4    
,,on ,,nothing ,,and ,,kindred          
,,subjects4 ,methuen4 #aijh4    ,,on    
,,everything4 ,methuen4 #aiji4          
,,marie ,,antoinette4 ,methuen4 #aiji4  
,,the ,,pyrenees4 ,methuen4 #aiji4    ,a
 ,,change ,,in ,,the ,,cabinet4         
,methuen4 #aiji4    ,,on ,,anything4    
,constable4 #aiaj4    ,,on ,,something4 

,methuen4 #aiaj4    ,,pongo ,,and ,,the 
,,bull3 ,a ,novel4 ,constable4 #aiaj4   
,,the ,,girondin4 ,nelson4 #aiaa4       
,,first ,,and ,,last4 ,methuen4 #aiaa4  
,,the ,,french ,,revolution4 ,williams  
,norgate4 #aiaa4 7,home ,university     
,library47    ,,warfare ,,in ,,england4 
,williams  ,norgate4 #aiaa4 7,home      
,university ,library47    ,,the ,,party 
,,system4 ,stephen ,swift4 #aiaa4       
7,written in collaboration with  ,cecil 
,chesterton47    ,,socialism ,,and ,,the
 ,,servile ,,state4 ,debate with ,mr4   
,ramsay ,macdonald1  ,independent       
,labour ,party4 #aiaa4    ,,british     
,,battles ,stephen ,swift4 #aiaa4 ,now  
published by ,hugh ,rees4 ,six          
,monographs on ,waterloo1 ,blenheim1    
,tourcoing1 ,malplaquet1 ,crecy1 and    
,poictiers4    ,,the ,,green ,,overcoat4
 ,arrowsmith4 #aiab4    ,,the ,,four    
,,men4 ,nelson4 #aiab4 ,illustrated by  
the author4    ,,this1 ,,that1 ,,and    
,,the ,,other4 ,methuen4 #aiab    ,,the 
,,river ,,of ,,london4 ,foulis4 #aiab4  

,,the ,,servile ,,state4 ,foulis4 #aiab4
    ,,the ,,hilaire ,,belloc ,,calendar4
 ,frank ,palmer4 #aiac4    ,,the ,,book 
,,of ,,the ,,bayeux ,,tapestry4 ,chatto 
,windus4 #aiac4    ,,the ,,stane        
,,street3 ,a ,monograph4 ,constable4    
#aiac4    ,a ,,picked ,,company4        
,methuen4 #aiae4 7,selected ,writings47 
,,the ,,two ,,maps ,,of ,,europe ,,and  
,,some ,,aspects ,,of ,,the ,,great     
,,war4 ,pearson4 #aiae4    ,a ,,history 
,,of ,,england ,,from ,,the ,,first     
,,invasion ,,of ,,the ,,romans ,,to     
,,the  ,,accession ,,of ,,george ,v4 ,by
 ,j4 ,lingard and ,hilaire ,belloc4     
#aiae4      ,mr4 ,belloc wrote a        
concluding volume to ,lingard1 covering 
the period    from #afhh4    ,a         
,,general ,,sketch ,,of ,,the ,,european
 ,,war4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,nelson4 #aiae4 ,vol4 
,,ii41  #aiaf4    ,,the ,,last ,,days   
,,of ,,the ,,french ,,monarchy4 ,chapman
  ,hall4 #aiaf4    ,,the ,,free ,,press4
 ,allen  ,unwin4 #aiah4      ,verse     
,,verses ,,and ,,sonnets4 ,ward         

,downey4 #ahie4 ,withdrawn from         
circulation4    ,,the ,,modern          
,,traveller4 ,arnold4 #ahih4    ,a      
,,moral ,,alphabet4 ,arnold4 #ahii4     
,,lambkin',s ,,remains4 ,alden1 ,oxford4
 #ahih4    ,,the ,,bad ,,child',s ,,book
 ,,of ,,beasts4 ,alden1 ,oxford4 #ahig4 
,,more ,,beasts ,,for ,,worse           
,,children4 ,arnold4 #ahih4 ,the above  
five books are  now published by        
,duckworth4    ,,cautionary ,,tales     
,,for ,,children4 ,nash4 #aijg4 ,now    
published by ,nelson4    ,,verses4      
,duckworth4 #aiaj4 ,a collection        
including certain poems from  previous  
books4    ,,more ,,peers4 ,verses4      
,stephen ,swift4 #aiaa4    7,he has also
 written numerous ,introductions1 a     
chapter in 7,oxford7  ,essays in        
,liberalism1 a number of penny religious
 tracts published by  the ,catholic     
,truth ,society1 and contributions to   
various anthologies47          ,,drama  
,,the ,,duchess ,,of ,,malfi      ,the  
production by the ,phnix ,society of    

,webster's ,the ,duchess  of ,malfi at  
the ,lyric ,theatre1 ,hammersmith1 gave 
many people an  opportunity to make an  
exhibition of themselves4 ,in the first 
place1  it was somewhat astonishing to  
find that on the ,sunday night the      
audience1 which one might have supposed 
to have been made up of people  of some 
education1 contained many persons who   
were evidently unaware  that ,webster   
wrote at the very beginning of the      
seventeenth century1  and who had gone  
to the ,lyric ,theatre expecting to find
 a classical  and not a renaissance     
tragedy4 ,perhaps this is being too kind
 to them2  perhaps they thought ,the    
,duchess of ,malfi was a ,revue1 or a   
,viennese  ,musical ,comedy by ,leo     
,fall or ,franz ,lehar1 which1 owing to 
,d4,o4,r4,a41  could not yet be produced
 on the ordinary stage4 ,but perhaps    
they did  not even think at all1 and    
their tittering and nudging was merely  
the  manifestation of the vacancy of    
their minds4 ,whatever the explanation1 

it is certainly odd that such people    
should be--as they presumably           
were--members of the ,phnix ,society4   
,it has been said to me that this       
section of the audience was composed    
largely of the profession1 to whom      
,sunday night is their one opportunity  
of the week to enjoy the role of        
spectator4 ,i hesitate to believe it4 ,i
 refuse to believe it1 although  the    
notorious and shameful ignorance of many
 actors and actresses of  the dramatic  
literature of their own country is      
difficult to forget4  ,but if this is   
the explanation--and it is an           
unpalatable one--it also  accounts for  
the reception given--again by a section 
only of the  audience--to ,mr4          
,farquharson's extraordinarily fine     
effort to grapple  with the part of     
,ferdinand4 ,the rank and file of       
actors1 like the rank  and file of      
musicians1 are notoriously poor judges  
of their own art4  ,they are sound      
enough when it is a question of merely  

conventional  skill4 ,they know in an   
ordinary way the difference between the 
professional and the amateur4 ,mere     
clumsiness1 roughness1 or smoothness  of
 technique they can discern and1 to some
 extent1 understand2 but even  in these 
matters it is the conventional1 the     
accustomed way of doing a  thing rather 
than the essentially good way of doing  
it that they judge  by4 ,the moment an  
actor goes outside routine methods he   
runs the risk  of being ridiculed2 his  
slightest faults and exaggerations and  
mistakes  are fastened upon1 while what 
there may be of insight1 imagination1   
and  power in his characterisation is   
completely passed over4    ,this is what
 happened to ,mr4 ,robert ,farquharson  
at ,the ,duchess of  ,malfi4 ,he gave an
 interpretation of the character of     
,ferdinand which  was a real creative   
effort of the actor's imagination4 ,even
 if he had  been less successful than he
 was in producing the effect he aimed   
at1  he should have met with a          

respectful attention from his           
fellow-artists  in the audience4 ,but   
such an attention would have proceeded  
from an  interest in and some glimmer of
 an understanding of the serious efforts
  of an artist2 whereas these people who
 disgraced themselves by loudly         
giggling at ,mr4 ,farquharson were not  
obviously blind to serious art4    ,of  
,mr4 ,farquharson's interpretation ,i   
will say this4 ,it was essentially      
sound and convincing4 ,in portraying    
,ferdinand as a man abnormal1           
fanatical1 and almost insane on the     
subject of sex1 we are made to          
understand all his subsequent conduct4  
,ferdinand1 as drawn by ,webster1  is a 
man of diseased imagination2 he is      
described in the very first  scene by   
,antonio as a most perverse and         
turbulent nature2 his very  language    
right from the start is more violent1   
more imaginative than  that of any other
 character in the play4 ,sex is an      
obsession with him2  his first words to 

his sister are3          ,you are a     
widow3        ,you know already what man
 is2    ,and his second3                
,marry6 they are most luxurious         
,will wed twice4 ,their lovers are more 
spotted        ,than ,laban's sheep4    
,he cannot let the subject alone1 he is 
always returning to it4 ,earlier  in the
 scene1 when he tells ,bosola that he   
does not wish his sister to  marry      
again1 he says3          ,do not you ask
 the reason1 but be satisfied        ,i 
say ,i would not4    ,mr4 ,farquharson  
said these words with just the right    
emphasis1 an  emphasis that sent a      
shudder through one's flesh1 it was so  
simple1 so  vague1 and yet so peculiar4 
,now1 for this ,mr4 ,farquharson ought  
to have been highly praised4 ,it  meant1
 first of all1 that ,mr4 ,farquharson   
had an original conception  of his part2
 and1 secondly1 that he had the         
technique to carry  his conception      
across the footlights4 ,but imagination 
must meet  imagination2 if it meets     

nothing but dullness it might just as   
well be  dull itself1 its effect is     
necessarily nil2 and1 apparently1 that  
is  what ,mr4 ,farquharson's noble      
effort did meet4 ,it was really         
astonishing  to find written in the     
daily ,press the pained little          
grumblings of men  who had been unable  
to discover an adequate motive for      
,ferdinand's  conduct1 and who expressed
 their dissatisfaction with ,webster's  
capacity as a dramatist1 after having   
been accustomed for many years to  the  
dramatic genius of ,mr4 ,walter ,ellis  
7the author of ,a ,little ,bit  of      
,fluff71 ,mr4 ,george ,r4 ,sims 7the    
author of ,the ,great ,day71 ,mr4       
,oscar ,asche 7author of ,chu ,chin     
,chow71 ,mr4 ,robert ,hichens 7author   
of ,the ,voice from the ,minaret71 and  
many others of equal greatness  but too 
numerous to mention4 ,it was perhaps an 
over-familiarity with  the works of this
 galaxy of genius that led one ,london  
newspaper to  describe ,the ,duchess of 

,malfi in headlines as ,funnier than    
,farce4  ,the atmosphere of a genuine   
tragedy might easily appear funny to    
anyone accustomed to that of the average
 ,london play4 ,one great  difficulty   
that confronted some critics was the    
impossibility--after  a war in which    
millions were slaughtered--of imagining 
the murder of  four men4 ,because       
,webster's tragedy ends in the death of 
four of the  principal characters1 it   
is1 apparently1 farcical or funny4 ,it  
never  even seems to have occurred to   
these detractors of a great work that in
  ,italy of the ,renaissance--the place 
and period with which ,webster is       
dealing--such incidents were as common  
as divorce suits nowadays2 but  it      
would1 assuredly1 be asking too much to 
expect people to exercise a  little     
historical imagination who have no      
imagination of any sort1 and  who are1  
therefore1 to be pitied for their       
inability to understand any  play that  
does not contain a telephone4    ,on the

 bulk of the audience1 however1 ,mr4    
,farquharson's ,ferdinand made  a deep  
impression1 and the wonderful fifth     
scene in the second act1  where         
,ferdinand enters with the words3 ,i    
have this night digged up a  mandrake1  
was very nearly one of the finest and   
most blood-curdling  things ,i have ever
 witnessed4 ,it was just marred by a few
 exaggerations  of gesture and crudities
 which could have easily been put right1
 but  in conception and power it was    
magnificent4 ,i have used the word      
blood-curdling1 although ,i know that   
nobody's blood curdles nowadays1  least 
of all the blood of dramatic critics4   
,but that is just what is  wrong with   
them4 ,it is no distinction to have     
blood that does not  curdle4 ,the blood 
of an ox does not curdle--not at the    
tragedy of  ,king ,lear1 nor ,macbeth1  
nor the third act of ,die ,walkre1 nor  
the ,prometheus of ,scriabin4 ,there    
must be an imagination in the  spectator
 to take fire1 and without imagination  

the work of a poet like  ,webster must  
of necessity appear incomprehensible3   
,methinks ,i see her laughing--         
,excellent hyena6 ,talk to me somewhat  
quickly1        ,or my imagination will 
carry me        ,to see her in the      
shameful act of sin4    ,to the         
unimaginative these lines of            
,ferdinand's will seem nothing1 but     
they are wonderful in their dramatic    
vividness and appropriateness4 ,i  have 
quoted them because it is the sort of   
writing ,webster gives us  on every     
page2 it is not one of his purple       
patches4 ,webster's command  of language
 is little short of marvellous4 ,to     
anyone with a sense of  words it is a   
wonderful experience to read ,the       
,duchess of ,malfi for  the first time2 
and after seeing it played one returns  
to the book and  finds it all ten times 
more wonderful still4 ,could anything be
 more  utter cant than the suggestion   
that the plays of many modern dramatists
  are superior to ,webster's even as    

literature8 ,how many of them can  be   
read at all1 even once8 ,it is so nearly
 impossible that more than  half of them
 cannot be published1 and of those that 
are published  the perusal of a few     
pages leads to their prompt consignment 
to the  dustbin4 ,as for ever attaining 
that combination of great poetry with   
perfect dramatic appropriateness        
culminating in moments when vox in      
faucibus hsit1 it is utterly beyond     
them4 ,such passages as3        ,bosola4
  ,strangling2 here are your            
executioners4        ,duch4    ,i       
forgive them3                 ,the      
apoplexy1 catarrh1 or cough o' the lungs
                 ,would do as much as   
they do4        ,bos4     ,doth not     
death fright you8        ,duch4    ,who 
would be afraid on't                    
,knowing to meet such excellent company 
,in the other world8        ,bos4       
,yet1 methinks                 ,the     
manner of your death should much afflict
 you3                 ,this cord should 

terrify you4        ,duch4    ,not a    
whit3                 ,what would it    
pleasure me to have my throat cut       
,with diamonds8 or to be smotherd       
,with cassia8 or to be shot to death    
with pearls8                 ,i know    
death hath ten thousand several doors   
,for men to take their exits2 and 'tis  
found                 ,they go on such  
strange geometrical hinges              
,you may open them both ways4    ,such  
passages are as abundant in ,webster as 
dots in the novels of ,mr4  ,h4 ,g4     
,wells4 ,the only readable modern       
,english dramatist--with the  exception 
of ,mr4 ,granville ,barker1 and possibly
 of ,sir ,james ,barrie--is  ,mr4 ,shaw2
 but one reads ,mr4 ,shaw for his wit1  
and his wit1 like  water-ices1 is1      
though tasty1 very poor sustenance4 ,yet
 the same people  who treat ,the        
,duchess of ,malfi as ,farce take ,mr4  
,shaw's amusing  buffoonery quite       
seriously2 and there is one explanation 
for both  phenomena1 and it is the one  

with which ,i began--lack of            
imagination4  ,an imaginative man does  
not need ,mr4 ,shaw to show him in a    
play that  soldiers value their lives1  
and there being nothing astoundingly    
novel  in the idea1 he is free to       
appreciate ,mr4 ,shaw's extravagant     
humour2  but the unimaginative man      
thinks1 firstly1 that it is some        
perilous  and subversive doctrine1 or   
some new and wonderful truth--according 
to his political prejudice--and then1   
secondly1 when some personal  experience
 fits ,mr4 ,shaw's formula1 looks upon  
,mr4 ,shaw as a dealer  in real         
property1 and has for him that serious  
consideration he has  for his landlord4 
,this explains the fate of such a       
brilliant piece of  extravaganza as     
,arms and the ,man1 which ,mr4 ,loraine 
has produced at  the ,duke of ,york's   
,theatre4 ,originally the darling of    
unimaginative  intellectuals--to whom it
 had brought light--and the bugbear of  
equally unimaginative ,philistines--to  

whom its light was the flame  of        
revolution--it is now accepted by the   
ordinary man in the pit as an  ordinary1
 matter-of-fact account of what war is1 
because the man in the  pit is just back
 from one and recognises the likeness4  
,the deafening  applause from           
ex-soldiers at the ,duke of ,york's     
,theatre is something  to go and hear4  
,to them ,mr4 ,shaw is no intellectual  
forerunner opening  up obscure paths of 
thought1 but a man who has described    
exactly what  used to go on in the only 
army they have ever known1 and they have
 for  him the serious respect they have 
for all retailers of materials4 ,he  is 
a dealer not in fancies1 but in real    
goods4 ,but this reality  is just as    
imaginary as the former light4 ,neither 
,bluntschli nor  ,cyrano de ,bergerac   
represents the soldier4 ,there is1 in   
fact1 no such  thing as a soldier1 there
 are only soldiers4 ,the intellectual   
has  never had his light nor the plain  
man his reality2 for1 being  without    

imagination1 they cannot have these     
things4 ,there is no way  of truth      
reaching an unimaginative man2 he is    
doomed to live under a  series of       
illusions1 only shedding one to receive 
another1 but1 by a  sublime paradox1 the
 only illusion he can never shed is the 
illusion  that poetry is an illusion1 an
 illusion of the senses4 ,it is the fate
  of poetry1 of such magnificent poetic 
drama as ,webster's1 to remain  always  
undraped in the world of imagination and
 never by any protective  mimicry to    
take the colour of its surroundings and 
put on a fashionable  dress4 ,this1 its 
unique greatness1 is in the eyes of the 
unimaginative  man its weakness1 because
 he fails to recognise in it any of the 
outward appearances of his daily        
life--in short1 he fails to see his     
washerwoman because to him she is a     
washerwoman and not a woman4    ,it is  
pleasant to think that there are actors 
and actresses who  practically1 for     
sheer love of their art1 will give their

 time and  ability for two isolated     
performances of a long and difficult    
work like  ,the ,duchess of ,malfi4 ,the
 performance1 as a whole1 was remarkably
  good1 and it seems to me worth while  
recording the cast here3                
,,ferdinand1 ,duke of ,calabria         
,,robert ,,farquharson      ,,cardinal1 
his ,brother                            
,,ion ,,swinley      ,,antonio          
,,bologna1 ,steward of the ,household   
to the ,duchess                         
,,nicholas ,,hannen      ,,delio1 his   
friend                                  
,,murray ,,kinnell      ,,daniel ,,de   
,,bosola1 ,gentleman of the ,horse      
to the ,duchess                         
,,william ,j4 ,,rea      ,,castruccio   
,,frederick ,,harker      ,,marquis ,,of
 ,,pescara                              
,,robert ,,atkins      ,,count          
,,malateste                             
,,basil ,,gordon      ,,roderigo        
,,ivan ,,samson      ,,silvio           
,,claude ,,allister      ,,grisolan     

,j4 ,,adrian ,,byrne      ,,doctor      
,,joseph ,a4 ,,dodd      ,,the ,,duchess
 ,,of ,,malfi                           
,,cathleen ,,nesbitt      ,,cariola1 her
 ,woman                                 
,,florence ,,buckton      ,,julia1      
,castruccio's wife and the ,cardinal's  
mistress                                
,,edith ,,evans      ,,old ,,lady       
,,blanche ,,stanley      ,the ,play     
produced by ,,allan ,,wade1 in a setting
 designed by ,,norman    ,,wilkinson of 
,four ,oaks4    ,of ,mr4 ,farquharson ,i
 have already spoken4 ,equally fine but 
smoother  and more accomplished was the 
work of ,miss ,cathleen ,nesbitt as the 
,duchess4 ,mr4 ,william ,j4 ,rea gave a 
fine and convincing study of ,bosola1   
whose garb of melancholy he wore with an
 exquisite naturalness4 ,mr4  ,rea has a
 beautiful voice1 and ,i hope it gave   
him as much pleasure to  speak          
,webster's wonderful verse as it gave me
 to hear it so beautifully  spoken4     
,antonio is difficult to make           

attractive1 but ,mr4 ,nicholas  ,hannen 
might have been more successful4 ,i     
thought ,miss ,edith ,evans's  ,julia   
excellent1 but the ,cardinal might well 
have been more sinister2  he has some   
splendid lines to speak1 including the  
famous3          ,when ,i look into the 
fish-ponds in my garden1                
,methinks ,i see a thing armed with a   
rake1        ,that seems to strike at   
me1    and they were not always as      
effective as they might have been4 ,it  
is to  be hoped that the ,phnix ,society
 will get a large number of new members 
through this fine production4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,the ,french ,classical ,matines at     
#b4cj every ,tuesday and ,wednesday     
afternoon at the ,duke of ,york's       
,theatre will be as follows3 ,les       
,plaideurs1 ,january #fth1 #gth1 #acth1 
#adth1 #bjth1 and #bast4            ,w4 
,j4 ,,turner          ,,the ,,fine      
,,arts      ,british ,comic ,drawing    
,i have before me the ,christmas ,number

 of ,punch4 ,after a conscientious      
perusal of its illustrated pages1 ,i was
 led to think seriously  about comic    
drawings4 ,punch has probably the       
largest circulation  of comic papers1   
its position is undeniably established1 
it is1 in  fact1 an institution in much 
the same way as the ,british ,museum3 we
  are accustomed to it1 it exacts its   
quota of mirth from hundreds  of        
thousands of people each week4 ,it      
always contains some amusing  things1   
but it is a pity that its drawings are  
not funnier4 ,as comic  drawings1 most  
of them are quite valueless2 they are   
not comic  drawings but drawings of     
persons correctly portrayed in more or  
less  amusing situations1 the whole     
greatly helped by the wording beneath4  
,even the faces joined to the           
carefully-rendered bodies1 with their   
carefully-drawn clothes 7texture is felt
 here7 and surroundings1 are  presented 
with the correct lines and expressions  
which a professor  of physiognomy would 

connect with the various human emotions4
 ,the  artist's personality behind these
 productions is rarely felt except  as a
 stumbling-block to any progress of the 
absurd or whimsical4 ,mr4  ,max         
,beerbohm sums the matter up in his     
preface to a recent book of  nonsense3  
,that a comic drawing should itself be  
comic seems to be  a reasonable demand4 
,yet it is a demand which few comic     
draughtsmen  meet4 ,comic drawings for  
the most part are but comic ideas       
seriously  illustrated4 ,we are shown an
 angry man who has just raised his      
stroke  at golf2 near him a caddie      
grinning behind his hand2 and a view of 
the golf-links4 ,admirable6 ,the man's  
stockings and knickerbockers1  his cap1 
his collar1 and tie are so rendered that
 a hosier would not  blush to sign them4
 ,the drawing of the caddie's fingers   
would satisfy  any drawing-master in any
 municipal art school4 ,the treatment of
 the  golf-links is faithful1 sensitive1
 reverent4 ,but--where does the fun     

come in8 ,through the text beneath      
maybe4 ,but only for a moment4 ,out it  
goes1 arrested1 in the grip of the      
artist's firm and laborious hand4       
,quite recently a friend of mine1 whose 
drawings were more remarkable  for their
 absurdity than for their strict        
draughtsmanship1 attempted to  obtain   
some work at the offices of one of our  
latest and most frivolous  papers4 ,the 
following conversation matured between  
him and the art  editor3      ,,art     
,,editor3 ,these drawings are too queer 
for us1 they won't go down        over  
here4      ,,artist3 ,how do you mean   
won't go down8      ,,art ,,editor3     
,people don't understand them4 ,they    
might do for ,france1        but 7mind  
you7 they'd be queer even there4        
,,artist3 ,ah6      ,,art ,,editor3 ,now
 frankly 7,i hope you don't mind my     
being        frank87--7,,artist3 ,not at
 all47--,you wouldn't say you could     
draw1        would you8      ,,artist3  
,i should not dare to be so             

presumptuous4      ,,art ,,editor3      
,well1 these are the sort of drawings   
that children do in        the suburbs  
of an evening4      ,,artist3 ,indeed6  
,,art ,,editor3 ,now1 see here1 in this 
drawing--you've only put three          
fingers on one hand4 ,people notice     
that1 you know4 ,now1 if you            
could do us something like this         
7producing a third-rate imitation       
of ,bateman figuring some gentleman of a
 pronounced ,semitic type7        we    
might be able to find you a job4        
,,artist3 ,well1 ,i think ,i won't swell
 the ranks of people who are doing      
drawings of this kind4      ,,art       
,,editor 7surprised and suspicious73    
,ah1 ,i'm sorry1 ,i fear the            
drawings are no use to us1 but ,i hope  
you don't mind my giving my             
opinion8      ,,artist3 ,no1 no1 not at 
all4 ,i shall value it4 ,and now1       
please1 how do        ,i get out of this
 building8    ,among the hosts of       
illustrators working for the comic      

papers there  are very few comic artists
 and more artists than comedians4 ,punch
  would do well to relieve the monotony 
of its pages more often with  the       
drawings of ,mr4 ,bateman4 ,there is a  
strength and subtlety in ,mr4           
,bateman's line which places him far    
above other illustrators of this        
nature1 while his knowledge and         
portrayal of types with the utmost      
economy of means is very stimulating3   
but then he can afford to be  realistic 
also because he is above all a humorist4
 ,he possesses the  faculty for letting 
himself go4 ,mr4 ,george ,morrow pleases
 us frequently  by his gentle humour1   
and ,mr4 ,haselden1 a remarkable man1   
sustains our  daily interest in the     
,daily ,mirror4 ,mr4 ,heath ,robinson is
 a master  of whimsical invention1 but  
,i am not certain if he is not a very   
skilful engineer and mechanician in     
disguise--but certainly ingeniously     
disguised4 ,of the too regular          
contributors to ,punch very little need 

be said1 and of the illustrators of the 
cheaper comic publications  still less3 
the best one can say of some of them is 
that they reproduce  drawings from      
,continental papers4 ,between the       
extremes of academic  respectability on 
the one hand and feeble vulgarity on the
 other there  would seem to be no middle
 course4 ,our humorous papers are far   
below  the level of such papers as the  
,german ,jugend or ,simplicissimus1  or 
the ,french ,le ,rire4 ,one feels that  
their draughtsmanship is more  simple   
and effective and their humour more     
spontaneous4 ,this is not  a plea for   
mere savagery of caricature1 which      
appears foreign to our  national        
temperament4 ,but what a relief it would
 be if one fine week  ,punch went quite 
mad and appeared with its print upside  
down1 or1  better still1 no print at    
all1 and if all the artists gave free   
rein to  whatever absurdity possessed   
them that week6      ,m4 ,henri ,matisse
    ,i suppose it is natural that the   

landscapes of ,m4 ,matisse should have a
  stronger appeal to me than his other  
works in the ,leicester ,galleries4     
,yet1 apart from any purely egotistical 
considerations1 ,i think many  people   
will agree that his landscapes play a   
very important1 if not  the most        
important1 part in the success of his   
exhibition4 ,in many of  them there     
seems to be no striving for the         
accomplishment of a unique  or startling
 design1 but there is a depth of feeling
 in their form  and a mystery in their  
colour that alone accounts sufficiently 
for  ,matisse's reputation in modern    
art4 ,i am extremely covetous of any    
one or all of these pictures4 ,matisse1 
in his landscapes1 is a poet  as well as
 a painter3 his intense feeling for the 
quiet and rather  awe-inspiring moments 
in ,nature1 his rendering of the vague  
profusion  of growth1 the cool grey     
horizontal clouds and subtle effects of 
light1 make him a master in this branch 
of his art4 ,i do not find this         

intensity of feeling in his other works1
 they are apt to cool one's  ardour     
after the landscapes1 and we are brought
 to think of design per  se1 and        
confronted with a flatness of handling  
that is not nearly  so intriguing4 ,his 
largest painting1 ,portrait de ,femmes  
7trois  surs71 is very noble1 and the   
drawings should not fail to satisfy  the
 diminishing 7,i hope7 body of people   
who will sniff at such an  exhibition   
and utter those well-worn and           
unpardonable remarks on lack  of        
draughtsmanship4 ,messrs4 ,brown and    
,phillips are to be congratulated  on   
procuring for us such an interesting    
exhibition1 and for giving us  in the   
catalogue a photograph of ,m4 ,matisse4 
,a glance at this likeness  might still 
the outcries of ,philistia more         
effectually than much  argument4        
,goupil ,gallery ,salon    ,mr4 ,william
 ,marchant's salons1 discontinued during
 the war1 have  come to life again1 and 
the ninth of the series has been open   

during  ,november and ,december4 ,the   
,goupil ,gallery has a large capacity1  
and ,mr4  ,marchant seems to have gone  
out into all parts of the ,united       
,kingdom  and gathered in a large crowd 
of artists1 nor has he been able        
entirely  to exclude some of the halt   
and the blind4 ,a detailed criticism    
from  picture to picture1 or even from  
one man's group of work to another's1   
would be very tedious1 for there are    
some #cjj exhibits displayed in the     
series of rooms4 ,the choice of work is 
very comprehensive1 ranging from  ,james
 ,pryde to ,pamela ,bianco1 from ,mr4   
,lewis's portrait of ,mr4 ,pound to  the
 post-,millais backwash of ,mr4 ,ranken4
    ,in the ,large ,gallery are ,mr4    
,augustus ,john and ,mr4 ,sickert4 ,the 
former  exhibits two soldier portraits  
and ,no4 #ea1 ,birdie1 all of which     
serve  to remind us of his unequalled   
position in that branch of art4 ,mr4    
,sickert1 the contemporary in age with  
most of the artists in this room1       

shines forth in his work with all the   
vigour and freshness of youth4  ,his    
,no4 #di1 ,bridge at ,bath1 challenges  
the declining interest in the  work of  
the more established artists in the     
room1 while he runs level  with1 even   
sets the pace for1 the younger          
generation4    ,in the ,first ,gallery  
,mr4 ,lewis's portrait of ,mr4 ,ezra    
,pound is apt to  blunt our             
sensibilities to the other works        
therein4 ,it is indeed a  remarkable    
painting1 standing like a ferro-concrete
 factory amidst a  peaceful and rather  
decaying village4 ,of its faithfulness  
,i am unable  to judge1 being acquainted
 with ,mr4 ,pound solely in the pages of
 the  ,little ,review1 but its hard     
compelling colour and the solidity of   
its  built-up design make it a thing    
difficult to forget4 ,mr4 ,robert       
,bevan's  landscape1 ,no4 #ajj1 has a   
reposeful design that is very telling4  
,mr4  ,ginner's sturdy realism is       
refreshing1 and his painting in this    

room  is1 ,i think1 more successful in  
design and colour than his other        
exhibit4    ,the ,third                 
,gallery4--,here1 again1 ,mr4 ,sickert's
 two charming paintings  attract our    
attention1 and ,mr4 ,mark ,gertler's    
fine portrait is  essentially a picture 
that leaves an impression in this maze  
of  paintings4 ,there are besides two   
fine wall paintings by ,mr4 ,william    
,rothenstein4    ,the ,grey ,room       
deserves its name indeed4 ,it is        
difficult to say why the  standard of   
water-colours is so low compared to the 
oils3 with a very  few exceptions1      
noticeably the drawings of ,mr4 ,albert 
,rutherston1 we  seem to have touched   
bottom in this room1 and a very muddy   
bottom too1  so that coming at last to  
,mr4 ,shackleton's ,peace ,day one felt 
there  remained nothing but to burst    
through the skylight into the air again4
  ,the absence of line in the           
water-colour drawings is very           
depressing4      ,,artistic             

,,periodicals    ,,illustration         
,foremost among the periodicals issued  
recently is ,mr4 ,gerard ,meynell's     
,illustration4 ,this is a trade         
circular1 and as such would naturally   
demonstrate within its covers the       
printer's aspirations in the            
reproduction of blocks and lettering4   
,circular is not an attractive  word1   
but ,mr4 ,meynell is no ordinary        
printer1 and his circular is still  less
 an ordinary affair4 ,to those who are  
unacquainted with it1 ,i would  hasten  
to say that ,illustration is more like a
 beautifully-coloured  fairy-tale book  
than the accepted idea of a circular4   
,this time ,mr4  ,meynell has surpassed 
himself in his efforts not merely in the
 turn-out  of his book1 which to the    
professional and the amateur glance must
 be  entirely admirable1 but in giving  
us the added interest of a ,supplement  
containing eight reproductions of modern
 art4            ,,john ,,nash          
,,music      ,,covent ,,garden    ,one  

success at least ,covent ,garden has    
achieved--,parsifal4 ,it  fills the     
house1 and it deserves to do so1 for it 
is by far the best  performance that has
 been seen this season4 ,the scenery and
 costumes1  as far as could be seen from
 the topmost proscenium box1 in which   
the  ,,london ,,mercury was             
accommodated1 were those of the original
 ,covent  ,garden production4 ,the      
,temple of the ,grail was dignified and 
beautiful1  the magic flower-garden     
ridiculous4 ,the flower-maidens1 who    
sang  extremely well and were in        
themselves quite competent to look their
  parts1 wore dresses that might have   
been discarded by a travelling          
,gilbert-and-,sullivan company1 half    
from ,iolanthe and half from ,the       
,mikado4 ,the swan was as ridiculous as 
ever4 ,that worst trap of all  for      
producers of ,parsifal1 the undressing  
and washing of the hero  in the first   
scene of the third act1 was painfully   
successful4 ,it was  a toss-up whether  

,kundry would not remove ,parsifal's wig
 along with  his helmet1 and the        
struggles of the holy knight to pull his
 white  draperies down from under his   
armour were comic in the extreme4 ,there
  are many little hitches and           
absurdities in all operas which pass    
unnoticed1 because something of greater 
importance happens at the same  moment  
and distracts the attention4 ,but these 
particular episodes are  in themselves  
the most important things happening at  
their particular  moments4 ,it is on    
them that all attention must be         
concentrated by the  audience1 and if   
they are made ludicrous by careless     
handling the  solemnity of the drama is 
very gravely impaired4 ,it is not as if 
they  depended upon elaborate machinery4
 ,what is required is forethought and   
common sense4    ,miss ,gladys ,ancrum's
 ,kundry was a very notable achievement4
 ,her  gestures would be the better for 
a little more restraint and a good  deal
 more sense of definite design4 ,her    

singing was full of colour1 and  she    
showed great dramatic power in the use  
of different qualities of  tone4 ,it is 
a part which covers a very wide range of
 character-drawing2  there are at least 
four distinct personalities in ,kundry1 
and ,miss  ,ancrum went a very          
considerable way towards distinguishing 
them and  endowing them with life4      
,parsifal is one of the most ungrateful 
parts  ever given to a hero4 ,pure fools
 may be quite attractive people in      
ordinary life1 but on the operatic      
stage1 especially when tenors1  there is
 little to be done with them4 ,van      
,dyck1 who was reputed the  greatest of 
,parsifals1 was corpulent1 and sang out 
of tune4 ,mr4  ,walter ,hyde did not    
look very boyish1 but he at least sang  
well4 ,mr4  ,langley's melodramatic     
manner was well suited to the part of   
,klingsor4  ,as ,gurnemanz ,mr4 ,norman 
,allin showed a fine voice and a        
dignified  presence2 but of all         
,wagnerian bores ,gurnemanz is the most 

boring1  surpassing even ,wolfram in    
tediousness1 and it is only a very ripe 
actor1 with that quality of vocal style 
which may be called either  unction or  
unctuousness according to taste1 who can
 make the part  really effective on the 
stage4 ,the most sympathetic character  
in  ,parsifal is ,amfortas1 and ,mr4    
,percy ,heming being one of the most    
sympathetic actors and singers in the   
company1 it was very poignantly         
realised4    ,when we read of a new     
opera by ,mr4 ,delius1 ,fennimore and   
,gerda1  having been produced recently  
at ,frankfurt with great success1 it    
was indeed a bitter disappointment that 
,covent ,garden could not  even         
resuscitate ,a ,village ,romeo and      
,juliet4 ,the ,beecham ,company         
performed it in a previous season1 so it
 cannot have presented all  the         
difficulties of a new creation4 ,it may 
well have been better to  withdraw it   
altogether than to give it badly2 but if
 more time was  wanted for rehearsal it 

might well have taken the place of      
,nail1  which reflects more credit on   
,sir ,thomas ,beecham's good nature than
 on  his artistic judgment4             
,moussorgsky's ,khovantchina had an     
indifferent performance and an          
indifferent house4 ,it is less popular  
than ,boris ,godunov1 and less          
obviously dramatic1 but it has more     
unity of purpose and contains much      
better music4 ,both operas1 however1 are
 invariably so much cut about  that the 
difficulty of following the story is    
very much increased4 ,mr4  ,norman      
,allin had a magnificent opportunity in 
the part of ,dositheus1  but it is not  
sufficient to treat it as if ,dositheus 
were one of the  conventional operatic  
ministers of religion4 ,it was one of   
,chaliapin's  most overwhelming         
creations2 but ,mr4 ,allin1 though      
undoubtedly a fine  singer1 has far to  
go before he can achieve the ease and   
perfection of  ,chaliapin's             
vocalisation4 ,our singers do not       

concentrate nearly enough  attention on 
the pure art of singing4 ,they may be   
divided roughly  into two categories3   
the clever ones who think that the      
psychological  understanding of a       
character and the vigorous declamation  
of words are  enough to carry them      
through any part1 and the stupid ones   
who think  that fine singing consists in
 imitating the external mannerisms of   
,caruso or any other ,milanese or       
,neapolitan star4 ,the clever ones are  
quite right in realising that ,english  
singing can never be achieved by  trying
 to make a bad copy of ,italian tricks4 
,many of these tricks do  not indeed    
belong to the fine art of singing at    
all2 they are merely  appeals to false  
emotion1 which excite a vulgar ,italian 
audience just  as the well-worn         
ballad-concert mannerisms excite a      
vulgar audience  in ,england4 ,a        
training in the real ,italian style is  
without doubt of  the greatest possible 
value to an ,english singer1 provided   

that it  means a thorough training in   
,italian literature and conversation1   
for  that involves a study of           
speech-rhythms and a purity of          
articulation1  which are invaluable to  
any one who makes use of his voice      
either as a  singer or as a speaker4    
,pure singing and pure speaking are     
essential  requirements to any operatic 
artist1 and the singer must grasp the   
principle that his vocal technique is to
 be the servant of his artistic  idea   
and not a hindrance to its sincere      
expression4    ,for ,bizet's ,djamileh  
,sir ,thomas ,beecham would no doubt    
have deserved  sincere gratitude had it 
not been postponed until too late for   
inclusion in this notice4 ,there was    
much that was laughable in the ,the     
,fair ,maid of ,perth1 but ,bizet even  
at his lowest has always charm and1     
what is more important1 unexpected turns
 of originality4    ,there are          
historical reasons for thinking that the
 lighter forms of  opera are those most 

suited to the ,english temperament in   
general4  ,attempts are constantly being
 made to re-establish light opera of a  
really artistic kind in this country1   
and although no one has yet  succeeded  
in rivalling ,sullivan in this field1   
,sir ,thomas is certainly  doing an     
excellent work in perpetually holding up
 ,mozart and ,bizet as  working models  
for both the ,english composer and the  
,english public to  study and to enjoy4 
,,concerts    ,when ,busoni next visits 
this country it is to be hoped that he  
will  have better opportunities of being
 heard under appropriate conditions4    
,the crowded and enthusiastic audiences 
which filled the ,wigmore ,hall  for his
 two recitals showed that he might well 
have given half-a-dozen  similar        
programmes instead of appearing as star 
turn at the ,albert ,hall  on ,sunday   
afternoons1 and there is not the        
slightest doubt that the  ,wigmore ,hall
 audiences were of the kind that he     
could play to with real  pleasure4 ,he  

appeared at one of the ,queen's ,hall   
,symphony ,concerts as  composer and    
conductor1 and also played ,mozart's    
,concerto in ,c minor4  ,here1 too1 it  
was impossible to separate ,busoni the  
pianist from ,busoni  the composer1 for 
the concerto was embellished by cadenzas
 of singular  originality and           
loveliness4 ,those inserted in the slow 
movement were  startlingly modern1 but  
with a modernity that ,mozart himself   
might  well have achieved if he had     
lived to the age of his interpreter1 for
  they were certainly designed on       
thoroughly ,mozartian principles of     
composition4 ,two fragments from a      
,faust opera1 on which ,busoni is now   
engaged1 gave the highest hopes of the  
complete work1 for they were  most noble
 and impressive musical pictures4 ,at   
his farewell recital on  ,december #fth 
he played ,liszt's ,sonata in ,b minor  
with a breadth and  dignity that placed 
,liszt almost on a level with           
,beethoven4 ,as a player  of ,chopin1   

,busoni has always been somewhat hard to
 accept2 but the  mellowing of style    
which the last five years have brought  
him was very  apparent in his treatment 
of the ,five ,ballades1 and still more  
in the  ,nocturne in ,c minor1 which of 
all the ,nocturnes is the most suited to
  ,busoni's very monumental             
interpretation4    ,of singers by far   
the most interesting has been ,mme4     
,jane ,bathori1 who  appeared at one of 
the ,classical ,concert ,society's      
concerts4 ,she has  long been known as  
the finest exponent of modern ,french   
songs4 ,she is  also an excellent       
pianist1 and often plays her own        
accompaniments1 thus  securing a perfect
 homogeneity of performance1 which the  
best pair of  partners can hardly ever  
realise4    ,the ,royal ,philharmonic   
,society1 after passing through some    
trying  moments during the war1 has made
 energetic efforts to regain its        
ancient honourable traditions4 ,with    
,mr4 ,coates1 ,mr4 ,geoffrey ,toye1 ,mr4

  ,adrian ,boult1 and ,mr4 ,landon      
,ronald as conductors1 it is quite clear
  that ,london has no scarcity of       
orchestral directors4 ,a new departure  
has been made by the establishment of   
the ,philharmonic ,choir1 under the     
management of ,mr4 ,charles ,kennedy    
,scott1 the conductor of the ,oriana    
,madrigal ,society4 ,the programmes of  
the concerts exhibit a judicious        
selection of classic and modern works1  
among which ,english music is           
prominent4 ,the general verdict on the  
first two concerts was that  some of the
 pieces chosen1 both old and new1 were  
not of first-rate  importance4 ,the     
compilers of the programmes were        
probably quite well  aware of that fact4
 ,there are1 in fact1 plenty of works1  
such as  ,holbrooke's ,ulalume and      
,meyerbeer's ,struensee ,overture1 to   
name two  examples only1 which certainly
 are not immortal masterpieces1 but are 
none the less quite interesting and well
 worth an occasional hearing4  ,even    

acknowledged masterpieces have been     
known to suffer from too  frequent      
performance4    ,a new ,italian         
composer1 ,francesco ,malipiero1 has    
been very prominent  in recent          
programmes4 ,m4 ,yves ,tinayre sang his 
,chanson ,morave1 ,mr4  ,mark ,hambourg 
played his ,barlumi for pianoforte2 of  
his orchestral  music1 ,impressioni dal 
,vero was heard at the ,promenades1 a   
,ditirambo  ,tragico at the ,queen's    
,hall ,symphony ,concerts1 and1 lastly1 
at the  second ,philharmonic1 ,le ,pause
 del ,silenzio4 ,no explanation has     
been offered of this curious title1 but 
it may possibly bear some  connection   
with an interesting passage in          
,d',annunzio's novel1 ,il  ,fuoco1 in   
which ,stelio ,effrena maintains that   
the essence of music  lies not in the   
sounds but in the silences that separate
 them4 ,it is  something of a compliment
 to ,malipiero that his last work       
succeeded in  rousing a ,philharmonic   
audience to hostility4 ,such            

demonstrations are  rare in this        
country1 though their rarity is due less
 to broadminded  receptivity than to    
courteous indifference4 ,malipiero will 
survive  his hisses4 ,his language is   
harsh and obscure1 although a study of  
his scores shows that he has plenty of  
technical skill1 for he is  evidently   
dealing with emotions which he has not  
yet been able to  express clearly1 and  
which we have probably not been         
accustomed to hear  expressed4 ,judging 
from the scores1 it seemed that the     
performances1  both under ,mr4 ,toye at 
the ,philharmonic and under ,sir ,henry 
,wood1 were  lacking in the singing     
sense4 ,there is a temptation in these  
days to  lay too much stress upon the   
strangeness of strange harmonies4 ,they 
would become clearer if more attention  
was given to the elucidation and        
intensification of the strange melodies 
which are at the foundation of  all     
modern music that is likely to last4    
,there can be no doubt about  the       

sincerity and depth of feeling in       
,malipiero's music1 though it has  not  
the more attractive qualities of        
,casella's facile ingenuity4            
,,edward ,j4 ,,dent          ,,select   
,,list ,,of ,,publications      ,,art   
,,essays ,,on ,,art4 ,by ,a4            
,,clutton-,,brock4 ,methuen4 #es4       
,,gardens3 ,,their ,,form ,,and         
,,design4 ,by ,,viscountess ,,wolseley4 
,arnold4      #bas4                     
,,personalities4 ,twenty-four ,drawings4
 ,by ,,edmond ,x4 ,,kapp4 ,secker4 #bas4
      ,,bye-,,paths ,,in ,,curio        
,,collecting4 ,by ,,arthur ,,hayden4    
,fisher ,unwin4 #bas4      ,,winchester 
,,cathedral3 ,,its ,,monuments ,,and    
,,memorials4 ,by ,,john ,,vaughan1      
,canon ,residentiary of ,winchester     
,cathedral4 ,selwyn  ,blunt4 #ajs4      
#f;d4      ,,saxon ,,and ,,norman       
,,churches ,,in ,,england4 ,by the      
,,rev4 ,e4 ,,hermitage ,,day1           
,d4,d41 ,f4,s4,a4 ,mowbray4 #cs4 #f;d4  
,,british ,,marine ,,painting4 ,with    

articles by ,a4 ,l4 ,,baldry4 ,edited by
      ,,geoffrey ,,holme4 ,the ,studio4 
#ajs4 #f;d4      ,,harold ,,gilman3 ,,an
 ,,appreciation4 ,by ,,wyndham ,,lewis  
and ,,louis ,f4      ,,fergusson4       
,chatto  ,windus4 #bas4      ,,hexham3  
,,its ,,abbey4 ,by ,,charles ,,clement  
,,hodges and ,,john ,,gibson4 ,london3  
,batsford4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,athletics 
,,fifty ,,years ,,of ,,golf4 ,by        
,,horace ,g4 ,,hutchinson4 ,country     
,life4 #ajs4      #f;d4                 
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,shakespeare   
,,and ,,the ,,makers ,,of ,,virginia4   
,by ,,sir ,a4 ,w4 ,,ward4 7,the         
,annual ,shakespeare ,lecture1 #aiai47  
,for the ,british ,academy4             
,milford4 #ds4      ,,not ,,that ,,it   
,,matters4 ,by ,a4 ,a4 ,,milne4         
,methuen4 #fs4      ,,rather ,,like 444 
,,some ,,endeavours ,,to ,,assume ,,the 
,,mantles ,,of ,,the ,,great4      ,by  
,,jules ,,castier4 ,herbert ,jenkins4   
#gs4 #f;d4      ,,addresses ,,in        
,,america1 #aiai4 ,by ,,john            

,,galsworthy4 ,heinemann4 #fs4          
,,small ,,things4 ,by ,,margaret        
,,deland4 ,appleton4 #es4               
,,ploughshare ,,and ,,pruning ,,hook4   
,by ,,laurence ,,housman4 ,swarthmore   
,press4      #fs4      ,,the ,,art ,,of 
,,writing ,,verse4 ,by ,,editha         
,,jenkinson4 ,erskine ,macdonald4       
#bs4 #f;d4      ,a ,,treasury ,,of      
,,english ,,prose4 ,edited by ,,logan   
,,pearsall ,,smith4      ,constable4    
#fs4      ,,the ,,officium ,,et         
,,miracula ,,of ,,richard ,,rolle ,,of  
,,hampole4 ,edited by      ,,reginald   
,,maxwell ,,woolley1 ,d4,d41 ,rector and
 ,vicar of ,minting and      ,canon of  
,lincoln4 ,s4,p4,c4,k4 #es4      ,,the  
,,phantom ,,journal4 ,by ,e4 ,v4        
,,lucas4 ,methuen4 #fs4      ,,enjoying 
,,life ,,and ,,other ,,literary         
,,remains ,,of ,w4 ,n4 ,p4 ,,barbellion4
      ,chatto  ,windus4 #fs4            
,,nothing ,,and ,,other ,,things4       
,longmans4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,,little     
,,hours ,,in ,,great ,,days4 ,by ,,agnes

 ,,egerton ,,castle4 ,constable4 #fs4   
net4      ,,ventures ,,in ,,common      
,,sense4 ,by ,e4 ,w4 ,,howe4 ,new ,york3
 ,a4 ,a4 ,knapf4 #a4ej4      ,,an       
,,interpretation ,,of ,,keats',s        
,,endymion4 ,by ,h4 ,,clement ,,notcutt4
      7,university of ,stellenbosch1    
,south ,africa7      ,,the ,,recreations
 ,,of ,,an ,,historian4 ,by ,,george    
,,macaulay ,,trevelyan4      ,nelson4   
#bs4 #f;d4      ,,domus ,,doloris4 ,by  
,w4 ,,compton ,,leith4 ,john ,lane4 #gs4
 #f;d4      ,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,an 
,,intellectual4 ,by ,,john ,,middleton  
,,murry4      ,cobden-,sanderson4 #gs4  
#f;d4      ,,biography ,,and ,,memoirs  
,,the ,,letters ,,of ,,charles ,,sorley4
 ,cambridge ,university ,press4 #abs4   
#f;d4      ,a ,,medley ,,of ,,memories4 
,fifty ,years' ,recollections of a      
,benedictine      ,monk4 ,by the ,right 
,rev4 ,,sir ,,david ,,hunter ,,blair1   
,bart4 ,arnold4 #afs4      ,,swinburne  
,,as ,i ,,knew ,,him4 ,by ,,coulson     
,,kernahan4 ,john ,lane4 #es4      ,,the

 ,,life ,,of ,,john ,,payne4 ,by        
,,thomas ,,wright4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #bhs4
      ,s4 ,,catherine ,,of ,,siena4 ,by 
,,alfred ,w4 ,,pollard4 7,messages of   
the ,saints      ,series47 ,sidgwick    
,jackson4 #cs4      ,,all ,,and         
,,sundry4 ,by ,e4 ,t4 ,,raymond4 ,fisher
 ,unwin4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,john        
,,porter ,,of ,,kingsclere4 ,grant      
,richards4 #cas4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,life
 ,,of ,,ronald ,,poulton4 ,by his       
father1 ,,edward ,,bagnall ,,poulton4   
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #afs4              
,,memories ,,of ,,an ,,old ,,etonian1   
#ahfj-aiab4 ,by ,,george ,,greville4    
,hutchinson4 #afs4      ,,memories ,,of 
,,george ,,meredith1 ,o4,m4 ,by ,,lady  
,,butcher4 ,constable4 #es4      ,,noel 
,,ross ,,and ,,his ,,work4 ,edited by   
his parents4 ,arnold4 #ajs4 #f;d4       
,a ,,younger ,,son4 ,by ,,george ,a4 ,b4
 ,,dewar4 ,grant ,richards4 #abs4 #f;d4 
,,john ,,murray ,,iii41 #ahjh-ahib4 ,a  
,brief ,memoir4 ,by ,,john ,,murray     
,,iv4      ,murray4 #cs4 #f;d4          

,,sir ,,robert ,,anderson1 ,k4,c4,b41   
,,ll4,d4 ,a ,tribute and ,memoir by ,his
 ,son1      ,a4 ,p4 ,,moore-,,anderson4 
,morgan  ,scott4 #cs4      ,w4 ,j4      
,,courthope1 #ahdb-aiag4 ,for the       
,british ,academy4 ,milford4 #as4       
#f;d4      ,,education      ,,the       
,,training ,,of ,,mind ,,and ,,will4 ,by
 ,w4 ,,tudor ,,jones4 ,williams         
,norgate4      #bs4 #f;d4      ,,fiction
      ,,cousin ,,philip4 ,by ,,mrs4     
,,humphry ,,ward4 ,collins4 #gs4        
,,st4 ,,john ,,of ,,honeylea4 ,by ,g4   
,i4 ,,whitham4 ,john ,lane4 #gs4        
,,blindman4 ,by ,,ethel ,,colburn       
,,mayne4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4          
,,maureen4 ,by ,,patrick ,,macgill4     
,herbert ,jenkins4 #gs4      ,,marcia   
,,rebels4 ,by ,,sarah ,,comstock4       
,eveleigh ,nash4 #gs4      ,,the        
,,messenger4 ,by ,,elizabeth ,,robins4  
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4               
,,felicity4 ,by ,,katherine             
,,harrington4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #fs4 #f;d4
      ,,simon4 ,by ,j4 ,,storer         

,,clouston4 ,blackwood4 #fs4            
,,fetters4 ,by ,c4 ,s4 ,,goldingham4    
,allen  ,unwin4 #gs4      ,,the ,,rising
 ,,of ,,the ,,tide4 ,by ,,ida ,m4       
,,tarbell4 ,macmillan4 #fs4      ,,in   
,,secret4 ,by ,,robert ,w4 ,,chambers4  
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4               
,,valmouth4 ,by ,,ronald ,,firbank4     
,grant ,richards4 #fs4      ,,evander4  
,by ,,eden ,,phillpotts4 ,grant         
,richards4 #fs4      ,,the ,,husband4   
,by ,e4 ,h4 ,,anstruther4 ,john ,lane4  
#gs4      ,,coggin4 ,by ,,ernest        
,,oldmeadow4 ,grant ,richards4 #gs4     
#f;d4      ,,the ,,end ,,of ,a ,,dream4 
,by ,a4 ,m4 ,n4 ,,jenkin4 ,john ,lane4  
#gs4      ,,sanity ,,jane4 ,by the      
,,countess ,,barcynska4 ,hurst          
,blackett4 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,interim4   
,by ,,dorothy ,m4 ,,richardson4         
,duckworth4 #gs4      ,,susie4 ,by the  
,hon4 ,,mrs4 ,,dowdall4 ,duckworth4 #gs4
      ,,old ,,wine ,,in ,,new ,,bottles4
 ,by ,,elinor ,,mordaunt4 ,hutchinson4  
#fs4 #i;d4      ,,the ,,house ,,of      

,,dreams-,,come-,,true4 ,by ,,margaret  
,,pedler4 ,hodder       ,stoughton4 #fs4
      ,a ,,thin ,,ghost4 ,by ,,montague 
,,rhodes ,,james4 ,arnold4 #ds4 #f;d4   
,,ramsey ,,milholland4 ,by ,,booth      
,,tarkington4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4 
,,sir ,,limpidus4 ,by ,,marmaduke       
,,pickthall4 ,collins4 #gs4             
,,invisible ,,tides4 ,by ,,beatrice     
,,keen ,,seymour4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 
,,john ,,brown4 ,confessions of a ,new  
,army ,cadet4 ,by ,r4 ,w4 ,,campbell4   
,chambers #fs4      ,,the               
,,luck-,,penny4 ,by ,,oswald            
,,wildridge4 ,chambers4 #cs4 #f;d4      
,,the ,,blower ,,of ,,bubbles4 ,by      
,,arthur ,,beverley ,,baxter4 ,chambers4
 #fs4      ,,the ,,margaret ,,book4 ,by 
,,alfred ,,clark4 ,john ,lane4 #es4     
,,mount ,,music4 ,by ,e4 4 ,,somerville 
and ,,martin ,,ross4 ,longmans4 #gs4    
#f;d4      ,,gold ,,and ,,iron4 ,by     
,,joseph ,,hergesheimer4 ,heinemann4    
#gs4      ,,somewhere ,,in              
,,christendom4 ,by ,,evelyn ,,sharp4    

,allen  ,unwin4 #fs4 #f;d4      ,,happy 
,,house4 ,by ,,baroness ,,von ,,hutten4 
,hutchinson4 #fs4 #i;d4      ,,bunker   
,,bean4 ,by ,,harry ,,leon ,,wilson4    
,john ,lane4 #fs4      ,,the ,,broken   
,,laugh4 ,by ,,meg ,,villars4 ,grant    
,richards4 #gs4      ,,history          
,,westminster4 ,a ,historical ,sketch4  
,by ,h4 ,f4 ,,westlake4 7,the ,story of 
,english ,towns ,series47 ,s4,p4,c4,k4  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,reformation ,,in
 ,,ireland4 ,by ,,henry ,,holloway4     
,s4,p4,c4,k4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,the      
,,emperor ,,julian4 ,by ,,edward ,j4    
,,martin4 ,s4,p4,c4,k4 #cs4 #f;d4       
,,law      ,,local ,,development ,,law4 
,by ,,harold ,,chaloner ,,dowdall4      
,fisher ,unwin4      #ajs4 #f;d4        
,,naval ,,and ,,military      ,,in ,,the
 ,,side ,,shows4 ,by ,,captain          
,,wedgwood ,,benn1 ,d4,s4,o41 ,d4,f4,c41
 ,m4,p4      ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #abs4 
,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,tyneside     
,,scottish4 ,by ,,brigadier-,,general   
,,trevor      ,,ternan1 ,c4,b4          

,newcastle-on-,tyne3 ,northumberland    
,press4 #cs4      ,a ,,popular ,,history
 ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,war4 ,by ,,john   
,g4 ,,rowe4 ,epworth ,press4      #ajs4 
#f;d4      ,,the ,,dardanelles4 ,by     
,,major-,,general ,,sir ,c4 ,e4         
,,callwell1 ,k4,c4,b4      ,constable4  
#ahs4      ,,precepts ,,and ,,judgments 
,,by ,,marshal ,,foch4 ,by ,,major ,a4  
,,grasset4      ,translated by ,,hilaire
 ,,belloc4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #is4        
,,tanks1 #aiad-aiah4 ,by                
,,lieut4-,,colonel ,,sir ,,albert ,g4   
,,stern1 ,k4,b4,e4      ,hodder         
,stoughton4 #abs4      ,,marching ,,on  
,,tanga4 ,with ,general ,smuts in ,east 
,africa4 ,by ,,francis      ,,brett     
,,young4 ,new and revised edition4      
,collins4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,green      
,,balls4 ,the ,adventures of a          
,night-,bomber4 ,by ,,paul ,,bewsher4   
,blackwood4 #fs4      ,,mesopotamia4 ,by
 ,,captain ,h4 ,,birch ,,reynardson4    
,melrose4 #is4      ,,the ,,story ,,of  
,,our ,,submarines4 ,by ,,klaxon4       

,blackwood4 #fs4      ,,the ,,turks ,,in
 ,,europe4 ,by ,w4 ,e4 ,d4 ,,allen4     
,murray4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,road  
,,to ,,en-,,dor4 ,by ,e4 ,h4 ,,jones4   
,john ,lane4 #hs4 #f;d4      ,,comrades 
,,in ,,captivity4 ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,,harvey4 
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #ajs4      #f;d4   
,,records4 ,by ,,admiral ,,of ,,the     
,,fleet ,,lord ,,fisher4 ,hodder        
,stoughton4      #bas4      ,,poetry    
,,letters ,,to ,x4 ,by ,h4 ,j4          
,,massingham4 ,constable4 #fs4          
,,the ,,wheel4 ,by ,,laurence ,,housman4
 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #es4              
,,mesopotamia4 ,by ,,captain ,,griffyth 
,,fairfax4 ,murray4 #cs4 #f;d4          
,,mystica ,,et ,,lyrica4 ,by            
,,cloudesley ,,brereton4 ,elkin         
,mathews4 #fs4      ,,rosalys ,,and     
,,other ,,poems4 ,by ,,gerald           
,,cumberland4 ,grant ,richards4 #cs4    
#f;d4      ,,argonaut ,,and             
,,juggernaut4 ,by ,,osbert ,,sitwell4   
,chatto  ,windus4 #es4      ,,walls     
,,and ,,hedges4 ,by ,,john ,,redwood    

,,anderson4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #cs4   
,,the ,,land ,,of ,,memory4 ,by         
,,lauchlan ,,maclean ,,watt4 ,hodder    
,stoughton4      #es4      ,,schoolboys 
,,and ,,exiles4 ,by ,,godfrey ,,elton4  
,allen  ,unwin4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,a      
,,tankard ,,of ,,ale4 ,an ,anthology of 
,drinking ,songs4 ,compiled and edited  
by ,,theodore ,,maynard4 ,erskine       
,macdonald4 #es4      ,,poems1          
#aiaf-aiah4 ,by ,,francis ,,brett       
,,young4 ,collins4 #es4      ,,poems4   
,in ,time of ,peace4 ,in ,time of ,war4 
,by ,c4 ,,kennett ,,burrow4             
,collins4 #es4      ,,wheels4 ,fourth   
,cycle4 ,edited by ,,edith ,,sitwell4   
,oxford3 ,blackwell4      #fs4          
,,back ,,to ,,the ,,land4 ,by ,,bernard 
,,gilbert4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #cs4    
#f;d4      ,,worms ,,and ,,epitaphs4 ,by
 ,h4 ,w4 ,,garrod4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4 
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,domestic ,,ditties4   
,by ,,guy ,,boas4 ,embellished with     
numerous elegant      designs by        
,,gabriel ,,pippet4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4

 #cs4      ,,rudyard ,,kipling',s       
,,verse4 ,inclusive ,edition1           
#ahhe-aiah4 ,three volumes4      ,hodder
  ,stoughton4 #fcs4      ,,the ,,song   
,,of ,,roland4 ,done into ,english in   
the original measure4 ,by      ,,charles
 ,,scott ,,moncrieff4 ,chapman  ,hall4  
#gs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,yellow ,,rock4  
,by ,,harold ,,child4 ,nisbet4 #bs4     
#f;d4      ,,images ,,of ,,war4 ,by     
,,richard ,,aldington4 ,allen  ,unwin4  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,snow ,,birds ,by ,r   
,,nanda ,,ch,,rya4 ,macmillan4 #gs4     
#f;d4      ,,settlers ,,and ,,sunbirds4 
,by ,,francis ,,carey ,,salter4         
,blackwood4 #ds4      ,,sonnets ,,from  
,a ,,prison ,,camp4 ,by ,,archibald     
,,allan ,,bowman4 ,john ,lane4      #es4
      ,,the ,,supreme ,,sacrifice4 ,by  
,,john ,s4 ,,arkwright4 ,skeffington4   
#gs4 #f;d4      ,,poems3 ,,second       
,,book4 ,by ,,edith ,,anne ,,stewart4   
,swarthmore ,press4 #as4      #c;d4     
,,the ,,paths ,,of ,,glory4 ,a          
,collection of ,poems written during the

 ,war1      #aiad-aiai4 ,edited by      
,,bertram ,,lloyd4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #cs4 
,,the ,,tramp ,,of ,,eternity4 ,by      
,,olaf ,,baker4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #bs4    
#f;d4      ,,ducks ,,and ,,other        
,,verses4 ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,,harvey4         
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #cs4      ,a       
,,little ,,loot4 ,by ,e4 ,v4 ,,knox4    
,allen  ,unwin4 #cs4 #f;d4              
,,politics1 ,,economics1 etc4      ,a   
,,handbook ,,to ,,the ,,league ,,of     
,,nations4 ,by ,,sir ,,geoffrey         
,,butler1 ,k4,b4,e4      ,longmans4 #es4
      ,,the ,,responsibilities ,,of     
,,the ,,league4 ,by ,lord ,,eustace     
,,percy4 ,hodder       ,stoughton4 #fs4 
,,indian ,,finance ,,and ,,banking4 ,by 
,g4 ,,findlay ,,shinas4 ,macmillan4     
#ahs4      ,,the ,,political ,,scene4   
,by ,,walter ,,lippmann4 ,allen  ,unwin4
 #es4      ,,balkan ,,problems ,,and    
,,european ,,peace4 ,by ,,noel ,,buxton 
and ,c4 ,,leonard      ,,leese4 ,allen  
,unwin4 #ds4 #f;d4      ,,unconquerable 
,,ulster4 ,by ,,herbert ,,moore ,,pim4  

,belfast3 ,r4 ,casswell       ,son4 #as4
 #c;d4      ,,the ,,housing ,,of ,,the  
,,unskilled ,,wage-,,earner4 ,by ,,edith
 ,,elmer ,,wood4 ,the      ,macmillan   
,co4 #ajs4      ,,ireland3 ,,an ,,enemy 
,,of ,,the ,,allies8 ,by ,r4 ,c4        
,,escouflaire4 ,murray4 #fs4      ,,the 
,,skilled ,,labourer1 #agfj-ahcb4 ,by   
,j4 ,l4  ,,barbara ,,hammond4           
,longmans4 #abs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,a ,b 
,c ,,of ,,the ,,federal ,,reserve       
,,system4 ,by ,,edwin ,,walter          
,,kemmerer4      ,second edition1       
,revised4 ,princeton ,university ,press4
 ,london3      ,milford4 #fs4 #f;d4     
,a ,,new ,,chapter ,,in ,,the ,,science 
,,of ,,government4 ,by ,b4 ,,branford4  
,chatto       ,windus4 #es4             
,,pan-,,islam4 ,by ,g4 ,,wyman ,,bury4  
,macmillan4 #fs4      ,,free ,,trade4   
,by the,r,t4 ,,hon4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,robertson4
 ,dent4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,,africa3       
,,slave ,,or ,,free8 ,by ,,john ,h4     
,,harris4 ,student ,christian ,movement4
      #fs4      ,,prisons ,,as ,,crime  

,,factories4 ,by ,a4 ,,fenner           
,,brockway4 ,i4,l4,p4 #b;d4      ,,the  
,,working ,,life ,,of ,,women ,,in ,,the
 ,,seventeenth ,,century4 ,by ,,alice   
,,clark4      ,routledge4 #ajs4 #f;d4   
,,ireland ,a ,,nation4 ,by ,,robert     
,,lynd4 ,grant ,richards4 #gs4 #f;d4    
,,the ,,british ,,coal ,,industry4 ,by  
,,gilbert ,,stone4 ,dent4 #cs4 #f;d4    
,,religion ,,and ,,philosophy      ,,the
 ,,idea ,,of ,,atonement ,,in           
,,christian ,,theology4 ,by ,,hastings  
,,rashdall4      ,macmillan4 #aes4      
,,where ,,the ,,argument ,,led4 ,being  
an ,alternative1 ,briefer and much      
more ,probable ,account of the          
,controversial ,parts of the ,dialogue  
,purported to be recorded in the        
,republic of ,plato1 with some          
further conversation between ,sokrates  
and others related by      ,glaukon1    
brother of ,plato4 ,john ,kirby1 #aa    
,westmorland ,street1      ,pimlico1    
,s4,w4#a4 #bs4 #f;d4      ,,the         
,,manuscripts ,,of ,,god4 ,by ,a4 ,i4   

,,tillyard4 ,cambridge3 ,heffer4 #ajs4  
#f;d4      ,,the ,,town ,,parson4 ,by   
the ,,rev4 ,,peter ,,green4 ,longmans4  
#fs4      ,,catholics ,,and ,,church    
,,reform4 ,by ,f4 ,j4 ,,edmond1 ,vicar  
of ,netherfield1      ,nottingham4 ,cope
  ,fenwick4 #ds4      ,,the ,,christian 
,,year ,,in ,,human ,,story4 ,by ,,jane 
,t4 ,,stoddart4 ,hodder                 
,stoughton4 #fs4      ,,philo',s        
,,contribution ,,to ,,religion4 ,by ,h4 
,a4 ,a4 ,,kennedy4 ,hodder              
,stoughton4 #fs4      ,,the ,,new       
,,days4 ,by ,,edward ,,shillito4        
,longmans4 #bs4 #f;d4      ,,the        
,,doctrine ,,of ,,the ,,subtle ,,body   
,,in ,,western ,,tradition4 ,by ,g4 ,r4 
,s4      ,,mead4 ,j4 ,m4 ,watkins4 #fs4 
,,first ,,christian ,,ideas4 ,by        
,,edward ,,caius ,,selwyn4 ,murray4 #is4
      ,a ,,grammar ,,of ,,the ,,greek   
,,new ,,testament4 ,by ,a4 ,t4          
,,robertson4 ,hodder       ,stoughton4  
#dbs4      ,,the ,,desire ,,of ,,all    
,,nations4 ,translated by ,,william     

,,john ,,rose4 ,student      ,christian 
,movement4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the       
,,ministry ,,of ,,reconciliation4 ,by   
,j4 ,r4 ,,gillies4 ,black4 #es4         
,,inspiration4 ,by ,j4 ,,herbert        
,,williams4 ,sands4 #es4      ,,science 
,,meteorology ,,for ,,all4 ,being some  
weather problems explained by ,,donald  
,w4 ,,horner4 ,witherby4 #fs4           
,,modern ,,roads4 ,by ,h4 ,,percy       
,,boulnois4 ,arnold4 #afs4              
,,british ,,airships1 ,,past1 ,,present1
 ,,future4 ,by ,,george ,,whale4 ,john  
,lane4      #gs4 #f;d4      ,,altitude  
,,and ,,health4 ,by ,f4 ,f4 ,,roget4    
,constable4 #abs4      ,,the            
,,psychology ,,of ,,the ,,future4 ,by   
,,emile ,,boirac4 ,kegan ,paul4 #ajs4   
#f;d4      ,,the ,,theory ,,of          
,,relativity4 ,by ,,henry ,l4 ,,brose4  
,oxford3 ,blackwell4 #as4      #f;d4    
,,travel      ,,south4 ,the story of    
,shackleton's last expedition1          
#aiad-aiag4 ,by ,,sir      ,,ernest     
,,shackleton1 ,c4,v4,o4 ,heinemann4     

#bes4      ,,the ,,mystery ,,of ,,easter
 ,,island4 ,by ,,mrs4 ,,scoresby        
,,routledge4 ,sifton      ,praed4 #cas4 
#f;d4      ,,assisi4 ,impressions of    
half a century4 ,by ,,sir ,,william ,b4 
,,richmond1      ,k4,c4,b4 ,macmillan4  
#dbs4      ,,streams ,,in ,,the         
,,desert4 ,by ,j4 ,h4 ,,morrison4       
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #ds4      ,,among  
,,italian ,,peasants4 ,written and      
,illustrated by ,,tony ,,cyriax4        
,collins #gs4 #f;d4              ,,the  
,,london      ,,mercury                 
,editor--,j4 ,c4 ,,squire               
,assistant-,editor--,,edward ,,shanks   
,vol4 ,i ,no4 #d                        
,february #aibj          ,,editorial    
,,notes      ,an interesting exchange of
 opinions about modern art took place in
 the  ,times last month4 ,the art-critic
 stated that modern ,english artists    
were afraid of ugliness2 ,sir ,sidney   
,colvin replied that so far was this    
from being the truth that the prevalent 
malady of the time1 at least  among     

those artists and critics who arrogate  
to themselves the title  of 'modern1'   
was a much less becoming form of        
cowardice--namely1 the  fear of beauty4 
,because the beauty-blind may be taken  
in by prettiness1  and because a new    
fashion in critical theory has come over
 from  ,france 7to perish1 as ,i have   
seen dozens of such theories perish in  
their day71 nothing1 in the circles to  
which ,i refer1 is attempted or         
applauded which either bears any        
resemblance to nature or records any    
predilection of the mind except for what
 is shrieking and dissonant  in colour  
and jumbled and jarring1 like a kind of 
insane geometry1 in  form4 ,of all      
things such 'modernity' is doubtless    
doomed soonest to be  ancient1 or not to
 give it so honourable a name1 at least 
obsolete1  discarded1 and unregretted4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,that there are many ,english artists   
who are in a sense afraid of  ugliness1 
in other words1 who will only make      

pretty imitations of  things recognised 
as beautiful1 is not to be denied3 it   
might almost be  said that artists may  
be divided into those who have an       
unreasonable  fear of ugliness and those
 who have a reprehensible love of it4   
,many  difficult questions are involved 
in such a discussion3 often two         
disputing parties will be found to be   
fundamentally in agreement4 ,the  ,times
 critic was emphasising the truth that  
unoriginality is bad2 ,sir  ,sidney     
,colvin the equal truth that bogus      
originality is bad4 ,but his  remarks   
reminded us of a great many observations
 we have all recently  heard with       
respect to certain tendencies to be     
observed in contemporary  art or        
pseudo-art4 ,the elderly and many of the
 soberer young are  alarmed at much that
 they see painted or published4 ,what   
does it all  mean8 they ask4 ,are the   
world's artists rushing over a steep    
place into  the sea8 ,is there some new 
revelation in what looks at first sight 

like  obscure rubbish8 ,are these noisy 
rioters really the young8 ,do they      
really hate everything that has ever    
been considered true8 ,will the  whole  
of the coming generation be captured by 
them8 ,mingled with the  dislike there  
is a great deal of bewilderment4 ,men   
doubt themselves4  ,after all1 new      
artistic developments have often been   
incomprehensible2  these things are     
undeniably incomprehensible1 so perhaps 
they are new  artistic developments4    
,those who are tired of strife shiver1  
wrap their  coats around them1 prepare  
to retire into corners where the cold   
blast  cannot reach them4 ,but we really
 do not think that they should be so    
depressed1 or that more vigorous men    
like ,sir ,sidney ,colvin should be  so 
alarmed3 a rational diagnosis of the    
situation dissipates these  apparent    
dangers4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,now we had better begin 
by premising that in the sphere of the  
fine  arts we are not 7these things are 

never taken for granted7 denying the    
value of modern developments and the    
possibility of later ones4 ,not  all the
 technical experiments of modern        
intellectual artists 7akin  to          
experiments in new media7 may be        
fruitful1 but at the centre of  most    
movements1 however extravagant1 may be  
found an original artist  who has either
 a peculiar way of looking at the world 
7,el ,greco is an  example7 or desires  
to experiment with some method in order 
to find out  what results may accrue    
from it4 ,but it is not a good thing to 
base a  theory on the mannerisms of an  
original artist2 it is still worse to   
build a convention on his unsuccessful  
experiments2 and worst of all1  perhaps1
 for an artist to paint not what he sees
 as he sees it through  the medium of   
his temperament1 but what some          
philosophical critic1 with  a distaste  
for both ,nature and humanity1 tells him
 to paint4 ,a painter  with             
intelligence1 however1 will soon tire of

 something which produces  results which
 do not interest him2 and the painting  
of foolish pictures  by people who      
desire merely to attract attention is to
 some extent  limited because anything  
that would deceive anybody involves a   
good  deal of time and trouble4 ,the    
fine arts will look after themselves2   
few members of the public will pay large
 sums for pictures that convey  nothing 
to them4 ,the printed word is in a      
rather different category4  ,the world  
is always full of ineffective people who
 have a desire to  write3 a thing which 
can be done at any moment by anyone who 
has pen1  ink1 and paper4 ,they also    
desire to attract attention by their    
writing4  ,in our time stunts for their 
assistance have been discovered which   
have never been hit upon before4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,the various stunts with which we are   
now familiar have spread over  the whole
 world with a rapidity that no genuine  
spiritual movement  or technical        

discovery has ever equalled4 ,just      
before the war that  vivacious          
,southerner1 ,signor ,marinetti1        
introduced us to the type-page1  which  
consisted of capital letters and notes  
of exclamation tumbled  about in        
apparent confusion4 ,the first large    
,english enterprise of  the             
,futurist-,vorticist-,cubist kind was   
7though it contained normal  patches7   
the magenta magazine ,blast4 ,it        
succumbed shortly after a  hostile      
critic1 consulting his ,webster1 had    
discovered the definition3  ,blast3--a  
flatulent disease of sheep4 ,but it died
 to give place to  countless smaller    
magazines and books containing          
bewildering designs  and extraordinary  
poems4 ,the drawings and1 to the eye    
which can  take in only their           
typography1 the poems are               
indistinguishable from  others which are
 being published all over the world4    
,the blagueurs  attach themselves to    
anything which will give them publicity4

 ,there  is something pathetic about the
 way in which1 wherever the political   
,bolsheviks get into office1 they print 
the verses and cartoons of the  artistic
 anarchists4 ,they don't understand     
them2 all they know is that  the        
bourgeois dislike them2 so in ,munich   
last ,easter1 and 7we daresay7  in      
,moscow now1 there is an excellent      
opening for those who1 for all  anyone  
would be able to say to the contrary1   
have only to scratch out  the old titles
 of their interlocked triangles and     
write underneath  ,uprising of          
,proletariat1 or some such thing4 ,the  
,vorticists and  verslibrists exist from
 ,spain to ,sweden4 ,we saw this month a
 most  beautifully produced volume from 
,tiflis4 ,the words1 scattered about  in
 the ,paris-and-,london style1 were in  
,georgian and ,russian2 but  no         
translation was necessary2 when one was 
supplied1 the words and  the lack of    
sense were precisely what we expected4  
,they might have  been ,italian or      

,english2 and in the illustrations1     
mingled with the  parallelograms1 could 
be seen fragments of wasp-waisted nuts  
in  opera-hats and shirt fronts1 such as
 never were seen in ,tiflis1 where      
their heads are clad with fur4 ,in a    
recent number of the ,monthly  ,chapbook
 ,mr4 ,flint1 giving specimens of good  
and bad contemporary  verse1 quoted one 
gentleman who begins a poem with3       
o    i    iu    i                  i    
io    i        ui    ui    io    i      
ao        iao4    ,and another poet who 
writes3          vrron  --  on  --  on  
--  on  --  on  --  on                  
vrrr     vrrr      vrrr                 
hihihi4    ,it isn't really serious2 but
 is any of this kind of thing serious8  
,and is this mere noise at bottom       
sillier than much of the free verse  to 
which some superficial meaning can be   
attached8 ,we quote from an  ,american  
review which1 as a whole1 is sensible   
and good these lines  from a poem called
 ,autumn ,night3          ,the moon is  

as complacent as a frog4        ,she    
sits in the sky like a blind white      
stone1        ,and does not even see    
,love        ,as she caresses his face  
,with her contemptuous light4           
,she reaches her long white shivering   
fingers into the bowels of              
men4                 99       99        
99       99       99          ,she is   
,death enjoying ,life1                  
,innocently1        ,lasciviously4      
,of that kind of thing1 usually done    
with a little less force in the  images1
 but always meandering1 stupid1 and     
utterly unrhythmical1 good  ,american   
journals have lately been full4 ,it has 
ceased to be amusing2  but we don't     
think that anybody need be alarmed2     
nobody can like it1  and in the end     
those who1 from restlessness or fear1   
have pretended to  will revolt against a
 diet of wind and sawdust and return to 
something  more palatable4           99 
99       99       99       99    ,for   
the simple truth is that the trick of   

incomprehensibility is the  best trick  
that has ever been invented for the     
benefit of writers  who1 if they can    
feel or think1 do not know how to       
translate their  thoughts and feelings  
into the language of art4 ,twenty years 
ago the  swarm of useless young writers 
discoursed on common themes in common   
metres imitatively1 after the manner of 
,tennyson or of ,swinburne or  of       
,verlaine4 ,if they favoured dignity and
 nobility they wrote sonnets  beginning3
          ,under the high invulnerable  
stars1    or plays like ,savonarola     
,brown's2 if ,nature was their theme we 
heard of          ,the blackbird's      
descant from the bough4    ,the virtuous
 wrote of love in the manner of3        
,your brows are calm and virginal1      
warming to3          ,your mouth is red 
as red1 red roses are4    ,the sham     
rake-hells festooned their hectic amours
 with references  to purple breasts1    
absinthe1 ,messalina1 and ,semiramis3   
the banality  was plain to see4 ,but    

,signor ,marinetti and his congeners--we
  had been gently acclimatised to great 
obscurity by artists like               
,mallarm--provided these poets with a   
priceless gift4 ,let rhythm go1  let    
sense go3 put down in barbarous sequence
 any incongruous images  that come into 
your head3 even1 if you like1 put down  
sheer gibberish3  if possible1 deceive  
yourself1 and you will deceive others4  
,produce  a work so opaque that it      
cannot be seen through4 ,the innocents  
will  either wildly protest against     
these dangerous revolutionaries--a  much
 more pleasing rle to find oneself in   
than that of harmless  mediocrity--or   
else they will knit their brows with the
 reflection if  this young man expresses
 himself in thoughts too deep for me1   
why what  a very1 very1 very deep young 
man this deep young man must be4 ,but we
  have noticed that most of these       
dealers in chaos soon tire4 ,those who  
have something in them 7and any young   
man is liable to be infected by a       

current fashion7 get through1 none the  
worse3 those who have not flag  and     
stop4           99       99       99    
99       99    ,in our second number we 
called attention1 as many before us have
  called attention1 to the scandalous   
state of the ,american copyright  laws  
whereunder ,british authors have been   
put to immense inconvenience  and loss1 
and which have resulted in the early    
books of almost every  important        
,british author being1 in ,america1     
beyond his control4 ,since  we wrote the
 ,american ,senate has come to a        
decision which greatly  ameliorates the 
conditions as they affect books         
published here since  the war4 ,it has  
been clear that during the war1 owing to
 the delays of  mails1 it has often been
 impossible for ,english publishers and 
authors  to secure ,american copyright  
even where ,american publication could  
easily be arranged for--copies for      
deposit could not be got across         
sufficiently quickly1 and the time-limit

 of thirty days from ,english           
publication expired4 ,under the new     
decision--which is largely due  to the  
efforts of ,major ,g4 ,h4               
,putnam--protection is secured for all  
,british books of which the ,american   
copyright has been lost during the  war4
 ,the ,act has been amended3 friendly   
alien authors have been given  ,american
 copyright on works of which copyright  
lapsed during the war2  the concession  
extends to works issued within fifteen  
months after the  war1 whatever the end 
of the war may be defined to be4 ,during
 that  fifteen months authors may take  
steps to establish their copyright2     
after that period1 as we understand it1 
,british authors and publishers  will   
have a longer period 7i4e41 four months7
 than before in which to  secure their  
rights1 provided a complete copy of the 
,english edition  has been deposited in 
the ,copyright ,office not more than    
sixty days  after publication4 ,we      
suppose1 though we await further        

information1  that the fact that a book1
 presumed non-copyright1 has been       
published  in ,america during the war   
will not prevent its being copyrighted2 
but  if this be so what will happen to a
 pirated edition 7assuming such to      
exist7 which was legally permissible    
before the new amendment8           99  
99       99       99       99    ,an    
important step has been made in the     
development of the literary  relations  
of the two countries4 ,but these are    
still far from perfect4  ,it may not be 
possible to make the domestic copyright 
laws of the two  countries the same1 but
 it should not be impossible for each   
country  to extend to the books of the  
other a simultaneous and automatic      
copyright on publication4 ,american     
books should be automatically  copyright
 here when they appear in ,america2     
,english books should be  automatically 
copyrighted in ,america when they appear
 here4 ,there is  room for discussion as
 to the length of term of copyright to  

be granted  to foreigners2 but a basis  
for mutual agreement would not be       
difficult  to find4 ,we trust that      
,major ,putnam will not flag in the good
 work1 and  that ,english authors will  
co-operate to the best of their ability4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,we printed in our last    
number a letter from ,mr4 ,j4 ,g4       
,fletcher  disputing a statement made by
 our ,american correspondent that ,mr4  
,nicholas ,vachel ,lindsay was the only 
live poet now writing in  ,america1 and 
questioning the justice of the praise   
given to ,mr4  ,lindsay4 ,on the        
assumption that our readers will be     
interested1 we are  publishing in this  
issue a work by ,mr4 ,lindsay which     
illustrates his  recent manner4 ,it is a
 poem which presents some difficulties  
to ,english  readers4 ,it evokes        
memories of a ,presidential campaign    
long gone past1  and some of ,mr4       
,lindsay's political references 7not to 
speak of his  presumably mythical       

animals7 will puzzle people2 even those 
,english  people who vaguely remember   
who ,mark ,hanna was will probably not  
have  the ghost of a vision of ,altgeld4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,a binding case for ,,the  
,,london ,,mercury is being prepared1   
and will1 we  hope1 be ready when the   
first volume 7of six numbers7 is        
complete4 ,it  would be a convenience if
 readers who are preserving their sets  
and  will desire the official binding   
7which we can promise will not be an    
offensive one7 would let us know in     
advance by postcard so that we may  have
 some basis for our first order of      
cases4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,for some time after     
publication we were obliged to refuse   
orders  for our first number4 ,we have  
recovered a very few copies1 and1 as  we
 prefer that they should go to persons  
who are really anxious to  obtain them  
in order to complete sets1 we offer them
 at #gs4 #f;d4 a  copy4 ,applications   

will be dealt with in the order in which
 they are  received4 ,no4 #b will       
shortly follow suit4          ,,literary
 ,,intelligence      ,we congratulate   
,mr4 ,austin ,dobson1 whose birthday was
 the eighteenth of  last month1 on      
arriving at the full age of eighty4 ,he 
has lived1 for  the past twenty years1  
since his retirement from the public    
service1  so noiselessly that an idle   
world1 always attentive to sensation1   
has  half-forgotten to regard his       
presence4 ,he has always preferred to   
stand  a little out of the limelight1   
being by nature unobtrusive1 and more   
conversant with books than with men4    
,such serene natures miss some of  the  
rewards of their own age1 but when they 
possess the quality of ,mr4  ,austin    
,dobson posterity gives them their      
revenge4 ,no one in our time  has       
pursued the profession of literature    
with a more disinterested  fervour than 
he4 ,mr4 ,dobson has taken no part in   
controversy1 he has  been mixed up with 

no sensational movements2 his whole     
thought has  been fixed on the study of 
past times and on the perfecting of his 
own  delicate and lapidary art4 ,he was 
not precocious in his development4      
,when his earliest volume of poems1     
,vignettes in ,rhyme1 appeared he  had  
reached his thirty-fourth year4 ,he did 
not venture upon prose until  eleven    
years later1 when he published his      
memoir of ,thomas ,bewick4  ,his latest 
volume1 ,a ,bookman's ,budget1 of #aiag1
 combined both arts in  one4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,the quality of ,mr4 ,austin ,dobson1   
both in verse and prose1 is  curiously  
out of sympathy with the general        
tendency of literature  to-day4 ,in     
prose--though we admit that his essays  
have had numerous  and distinguished    
admirers1 ,mr4 ,balfour1 if we remember 
right1 having  once praised them above  
his poems in the ,house of ,commons--in 
prose he  seems to us to sacrifice      
freedom of movement to an intensely     

meticulous  accuracy and to a desire to 
leave no fact unrecorded4 ,but in verse 
,mr4 ,austin ,dobson is1 in his own     
restricted field1 unsurpassed4 ,he      
carries on1 through the second half of  
the nineteenth century1 the  tradition  
of ,prior and ,anstey and ,praed4 ,it   
may be said that his poems  are metrical
 pastimes1 but he lifts them to the     
dignity of poetry4  ,his happiest pieces
 are so polished1 so delicate1 and so   
felicitous  that not a word in them     
could be altered2 they are1 of their own
 kind1  perfect1 and perfection is not  
relative but positive4 ,so long as the  
,english language survives there will be
 readers of ,the ,ballad of  ,beau      
,brocade4 ,we wish ,mr4 ,austin ,dobson 
many more years1 and we hope  that he   
will yet be encouraged to give us       
specimens of his graceful  penmanship4  
,the writers of the obituary notices of 
,sir ,william ,osler were strangely     
silent as to the love of books which was
 one of his most marked                 

characteristics1 and this although in   
,who's ,who8 he had put down            
,bibliography as his only ,recreation1  
and at the time of his death  had been  
,president of the ,bibliographical      
,society for seven years1  nearly three 
times as long as any of his             
predecessors4 ,in the true  spirit of   
humanism his interest in bibliography   
was first aroused by  the books relating
 to his own profession1 and widened out 
from this to  a fine catholicity4       
,within a year of his coming to ,england
 he delivered  an address on ,sir       
,thomas ,browne's ,religio ,medici      
before the ,physical  ,society of ,guy's
 ,hospital 7printed in ,the ,library for
 ,january1 #aijf71  and he was never    
tired of singing the praise of ,burton's
 ,anatomy of  ,melancholy as a great    
medical treatise 7the greatest ever     
written  by a layman71 orderly in       
arrangement1 intensely serious in       
purpose1  and weighty beyond belief in  
authorities4 ,the quotation comes from a

  paper he read before the              
,bibliographical ,society on ,the       
,library of  ,robert ,burton in         
,november1 #aiji1 in which he gave a    
summarised account  of the #ehj books of
 ,burton's preserved at the ,bodleian   
and the #dbi  in the library at ,christ 
,church4 ,unless we are mistaken1 the   
picking  out of these books1 and the    
grouping those at ,christ ,church round 
a  portrait of ,burton1 copied from the 
original in ,brasenose ,college1  was   
due mainly to his initiative4 ,he       
certainly took a keen interest  in both 
libraries1 was an enthusiastic curator  
of the ,bodleian1 and a  generous       
supporter of the admirable ,bodleian    
,quarterly1 started by  ,mr4 ,falconer  
,madan4 ,a paper he contributed to this 
on the ,bookworm1  illustrated by an    
admirable coloured plate exhibiting it  
in all its  stages1 is by far the best  
study of that elusive worm ever printed4
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,after he became ,president

 of the ,bibliographical ,society he    
gave  another stimulating address on the
 medical books printed before the  close
 of the year #adhj1 its object being to 
get an idea of the mental  attitude of  
the profession of medicine from the     
character of the books  printed4 ,he had
 then been working on this subject for  
some time1  and even amid the countless 
activities into which he threw himself  
during the war did not wholly neglect   
it4 ,the description of the books  was  
practically finished some time ago2     
whether the introduction1 in  which he  
aimed at clothing the bibliographical   
skeleton with flesh and  blood1 had been
 written is not yet known4 ,he had over 
forty medical  books of the fifteenth   
century in his own collection1 and was  
forming  a specialist library to        
illustrate the history of science1 and  
of  medicine in particular1 on a        
strikingly original plan4 ,its          
completion  should have been the        
occupation of a leisurely old age1 but  

he loved  his fellows too well to give  
himself any leisure1 and left this for  
others to complete4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,we    
welcome from ,america the first number  
of the new ,dial4 ,the ,dial  was       
founded at ,chicago in #ahhj by ,francis
 ,f4 ,browne4 ,until a few years  ago it
 remained in the ,browne family1 who    
produced fortnightly a paper1  sober1   
academic1 and informative1 somewhat     
resembling our ,athenum of  ,victorian  
days4 ,a few years ago the paper changed
 hands3 its offices  were shifted to    
,new ,york1 and it has been at one time 
primarily an  organ of rebellious       
literary youth1 and at another a        
,radical political  journal4 ,the latest
 remodelling promises stability4 ,the   
,dial appears  as a purely literary and 
artistic monthly1 in shape like one of  
our own  monthly reviews1 and           
typographically superior to most of     
them4 ,we await  its development with   
interest4          ,,poetry             

,fortunatus ,nimium                     
#a          ,i have lain in the sun1    
,i have toiled as ,i might1        ,i   
have thought as ,i would1          ,and 
now it is night4                        
#b          ,my bed full of sleep1      
,my heart of content        ,for mirth  
that ,i met          ,the way that ,i   
went4                        #c         
,i welcome fatigue          ,while      
frenzy and care1        ,like thin      
summer clouds1          ,go melting in  
air4                        #d          
,to dream as ,i may          ,and awake 
when ,i will1        ,with the song of  
the birds          ,and the sun on the  
hill4                        #e         
,or death--were it death1          ,to  
what should ,i wake1        ,who loved  
in my home          ,all life for its   
sake8                        #f         
,what good have ,i wrought8          ,i 
laugh to have learned        ,that joy  
cannot come          ,unless it be      
earned3                        #g       

,for a happier lot          ,than ,god  
giveth me        ,it never hath been    
,nor ever shall be4                     
,,robert ,,bridges      ,to ,e4 ,g4     
,were ,i to pause and hesitate          
,for something picked1 alembicate1      
,i might1 by chance1 no further get     
,than mere parade of epithet2        ,so
 ,i'll just wish to ,you and ,yours     
,strength to achieve while strength     
endures2        ,and1 when the power to 
do is done1        ,remembered radiance 
of the sun6                             
,,austin ,,dobson    ,new ,year's ,eve1 
#aiai4      ,the ,shadow                
,death1 would ,i feared not thee14      
,but ever can ,i see              ,thy  
mutable shadow thrown        ,upon the  
walls of ,life's warm1 cheerful room4   
,companioned or alone1        ,i feel   
the presence of that following gloom1   
,like one who vaguely knows             
,behind his back the shade his body     
throws        ',tis not thy shadow only1
 'tis my own6                ,i face    

towards the light              ,that    
rises fair and bright              ,over
 wide fields asleep1        ,but still  
,i know that stealthy darkness there    
,close at my heels doth creep1          
,ghostly companion1 my still haunting   
care2              ,and if the light be 
strong        ,before my eyes1 through  
pleasant hours and long1        ,then1  
then1 the shadow is most black and deep4
                                        
,,edward ,,shanks      ,by the ,weir    
,a scent of ,esparta grass--and again ,i
 recall        ,the hour we spent by the
 weir of the paper-mill        ,watching
 together the curving thunderous fall   
,of frothing amber1 bemused by the roar 
until        ,my mind was as blank as   
the speckless sheets that wound         
,on the hot steel ironing-rollers       
perpetually turning        ,in the      
humming dark rooms of the mill3 all     
sense and discerning        ,by the     
stunning and dazzling oblivion of       
hill-waters drowned4          ,and my   

heart was empty of memory and hope and  
desire        ,till1 rousing1 ,i looked 
afresh on your face as you gazed--      
,behind you an old gnarled fruit-tree in
 one still fire        ,of innumerable  
flame in the sun of ,october blazed1    
,scarlet and gold that the first white  
frost would spill        ,with eddying  
flicker and patter of dead leaves       
falling--        ,i looked on your face1
 as an outcast from ,eden recalling     
,a vision of ,eve as she dallied1       
bewildered and still1          ,by the  
serpent-encircled tree of knowledge that
 flamed        ,with gold and scarlet of
 good and evil1 her eyes        ,rapt on
 the river of life3 then bright and     
untamed        ,by the labour and sorrow
 and fear of a world that dies          
,your ignorant eyes looked up into mine1
 and ,i knew        ,that never our     
hearts should be one till your young    
lips had                tasted          
,the core of the bitter-sweet fruit1 and
 wise and toil-wasted        ,you should

 stand at my shoulder an outcast from   
,eden too4                              
,,wilfrid ,,wilson ,,gibson      ,bryan1
 ,bryan1 ,bryan1 ,bryan6    ,a ,,rhyme  
,,in ,,the ,,american ,,language        
7,the campaign of ,eighteen ,ninety-six1
 as viewed by a sixteen-year-old7       
,i            ,in a nation of one       
hundred fine mob-hearted1 lynching1     
relenting1                repenting     
millions        ,there are plenty of    
sweeping1 swinging1 stinging1 gorgeous  
things                to shout about1   
,and knock your old blue devils out4    
,i brag and chant of ,bryan1 ,bryan1    
,bryan1        ,candidate for ,president
 who sketched a silver ,zion1           
,the one ,american poet who could sing  
outdoors4        ,he brought in tides of
 wonder1 of unprecedented splendour1    
,wild roses from the plains that made   
hearts tender1        ,all the funny    
circus silks        ,of politics        
unfurled1        ,bartlett pears of     
romance that were honey at the cores1   

,and torchlights down the street1 to the
 end of the world4          ,there were 
truths eternal in the gab and           
tittle-tattle2        ,there were real  
heads broken in the fustian and the     
rattle2        ,there were real lines   
drawn3        ,not the silver and the   
gold1        ,but ,nebraska's cry went  
eastward against the dour and old1      
,the mean and cold4          ,it was    
,eighteen ,ninety-six1 and ,i was just  
sixteen1        ,and ,altgeld ruled in  
,springfield1 ,illinois1        ,when   
there came from the sunset ,nebraska's  
shout of joy3        ,in a coat like a  
deacon1 in a black ,stetson hat1        
,he scourged the elephant plutocrats    
,with barbed wire from the ,platte4     
,the scales dropped from their mighty   
eyes4        ,they saw that summer's    
noon        ,a tribe of wonders coming  
,to a marching tune4        ,oh1 the    
long horns from ,texas1        ,the jay 
hawks from ,kansas1        ,the         
plop-eyed bungaroo and giant giassicus1 

,the varmint1 chipmunk1 bugaboo1        
,the horned toad1 prairie-dog and       
ballyhoo1        ,from all the new-born 
,states arow1        ,bidding the eagles
 of the ,west fly on1        ,bidding   
the eagles of the ,west fly on1         
,the fawn1 prodactyl and thing-a-ma-jig1
        ,the hellangone1        ,the    
whangdoodle1 batfowl and pig1           
,the coyote1 wild-cat and grizzly in a  
glow1        ,in a miracle of health and
 speed1 the whole breed abreast1        
,they leaped the ,mississippi1 blue     
border of the ,west1        ,from the   
,gulf to ,canada1 two thousand miles    
long3        ,against the towns of      
,tubal ,cain1        ,ah--sharp was     
their song6        ,against the ways of 
,tubal ,cain1 too cunning for the young1
        ,the long-horn calf1 the buffalo
 and wampus gave tongue4          ,these
 creatures were defending things ,mark  
,hanna never dreamed3        ,the moods 
of airy childhood that in desert dews   
gleamed1        ,the gossamers and      

whimsies1        ,the monkeyshines and  
didoes        ,rank and strange         
,of the caons and the range1        ,the
 ultimate fantastics        ,of the far 
western slope1        ,and of prairie   
schooner children        ,born beneath  
the stars1        ,beneath falling      
snows1        ,of the babies born at    
midnight        ,in the sod huts of lost
 hope1        ,with no physician there  
,except a ,kansas prayer1        ,with  
the ,indian raid a-howling through the  
air4          ,and all these in their   
helpless days        ,by the dour ,east 
oppressed1        ,mean paternalism     
,making their mistakes for them1        
,crucifying half the ,west1        ,till
 the whole ,atlantic coast              
,seemed a giant spider's nest4          
,and these children and their sons      
,at last rode through the cactus1       
,a cliff of mighty cowboys        ,on   
the lope1        ,with gun and rope4    
,and all the way to frightened ,maine   
the old ,east heard them call1          

,and saw our ,bryan by a mile lead the  
wall        ,of men and whirling flowers
 and beasts1        ,the bard and the   
prophet of them all4        ,prairie    
avenger1 mountain lion1        ,bryan1  
,bryan1 ,bryan1 ,bryan1        ,gigantic
 troubadour1 speaking like a siege gun1 
,smashing ,plymouth ,rock with his      
boulders from the ,west1        ,and    
just a hundred miles behind1 tornadoes  
piled across the sky1        ,blotting  
out sun and moon1        ,a sign on     
high4          ,headlong1 dazed and     
blinking in the weird green light1      
,the scalawags made moan1        ,afraid
 to fight4                              
,,ii          ,when ,bryan came to      
,springfield1 and ,altgeld gave him     
greeting1        ,rochester was         
deserted1 ,divernon was deserted1       
,mechanicsburg1 ,riverton1              
,chickenbristle1 ,cotton ,hill1         
,empty3 for all ,sangamon drove to the  
meeting--        ,in silver-decked      
racing cart1        ,buggy1 buckboard1  

carryall1        ,carriage1 phaeton1    
whatever would haul1        ,and        
silver-decked farm-waggons gritted1     
banged and rolled1        ,with the new 
tale of ,bryan by the iron tyres told4  
,the ,state ,house loomed afar1         
,a speck1 a hive1 a football1        ,a 
captive balloon1        ,and the town   
was all one spreading wing of bunting1  
plumes and                sunshine1     
,every flag in town1 and ,bryan's       
picture sold1        ,when the rigs in  
many a line        ,reached the town at 
noon1        ,and joined the wild parade
 against the power of gold          ,we 
roamed1 we boys from ,high ,school1     
,with mankind1        ,while            
,springfield gleamed1                   
,silk-lined4        ,oh1 ,tom ,dines1   
and ,art ,fitzgerald1        ,and the   
gangs that they could get6        ,i can
 hear them yelling yet        ,helping  
the incantation1        ,defying        
aristocracy1        ,with every bridle  
gone1        ,bidding the eagles of the 

,west fly on1        ,bidding the eagles
 of the ,west fly on1        ,ridding   
the world of the low-down mean3         
,we were bully1 wild and woolly1        
,never yet carried below the knees4     
,we saw flowers in the air1        ,fair
 as the ,pleiades1 bright as ,orion1    
,hopes of all mankind1        ,made     
rare1 resistless1 thrice refined4       
,oh1 we bucks from every ,springfield   
ward6        ,colts of democracy--      
,yet time-winds out of ,chaos from the  
star-fields of the ,lord4          ,the 
long parade rolled on4 ,i stood by my   
best girl4        ,she was a cool young 
citizen1 with wise and laughing eyes4   
,with my necktie by my ear1 ,i was      
stepping on my dear1        ,but she    
kept like a pattern1 without a shaken   
curl4          ,she wore in her hair a  
brave prairie rose4        ,her gold    
chums cut her1 for that was not the     
pose4        ,no ,gibson ,girl would    
wear it in that fresh way1        ,but  
we were fairy ,democrats1 and this was  

our day4          ,the earth rocked like
 the ocean1 the sidewalk was a deck4    
,the houses for the moment were lost in 
the wide wreck4        ,and the bands   
played strange and stranger music as    
they trailed                along4      
,against the ways of ,tubal ,cain1      
,ah1 sharp was their song6        ,the  
demons in the bricks1 the demons in the 
grass1        ,the demons in the        
bank-vaults peered out to see us pass4  
,and the angels in the trees1 the angels
 in the grass1        ,the angels in the
 flags peered out to see us pass4       
,and the sidewalk was our chariot1 and  
the flowers bloomed higher1        ,and 
the street turned to silver and the     
grass turned to fire1        ,and then  
it was but grass1 and the town was there
 again1        ,a place for women and   
men4                                    
,,iii          ,then we stood where we  
could see        ,every band1           
,and the speaker's stand4        ,and   
,bryan took the platform1        ,and he

 was introduced4        ,and he lifted  
his hand        ,and cast a new spell4  
,progressive silence fell        ,in    
,springfield1        ,in ,illinois1     
,around the world4        ,then we heard
 these glacial boulders across the      
prairie rolled3        ,the people have 
a right to make their own mistakes 444  
,you shall not crucify mankind          
,upon a cross of gold4          ,and    
everybody heard him--        ,in the    
streets and ,state ,house yard4         
,and everybody heard him        ,in     
,springfield1        ,in ,illinois1     
,around and around and around the world1
        ,that danced upon its axis      
,and like a daring broncho whirled4     
,,iv          ,july1 ,august1 suspense4 
,wall ,street lost to sense4            
,august1 ,september1 ,october1          
,more suspense1        ,and the whole   
,east down like a wind-smashed fence4   
,then ,hanna to the rescue1             
,hanna of ,ohio1        ,rallying the   
roller-tops1        ,swivel chairs1     

bulls and bears1        ,rallying the   
bucket-shops1        ,threatening drouth
 and death1        ,promising ,mannah4  
,rallying the trusts against the bawling
 flannelmouth2        ,invading misers' 
cellars1        ,tin-cans1 socks1       
,melting down the rocks1        ,pouring
 out the long green to a million        
workers1        ,spondulicks by the     
mountain-load to stop each new tornado1 
,and beat the cheapskate1 blatherskite1 
,populistic1 anarchistic1               
,deacon-desperado4                      
,v          ,election night at midnight3
        ,boy ,bryan's defeat4           
,defeat of western silver1              
,defeat of the wheat4        ,victory of
 letterfiles        ,and plutocrats in  
miles        ,with dollar signs upon    
their coats1        ,diamond watchchains
 on their vests        ,and spats on    
their feet4        ,victory of          
custodians1        ,plymouth ,rock1     
,and all that inbred landlord stock4    
,victory of the neat4        ,defeat of 

the aspen groves of ,colorado valleys1  
,the bluebells of the ,rockies1         
,and blue bonnets of old ,texas1        
,by the ,pittsburg alleys4              
,defeat of alfalfa and the ,mariposa    
lily4        ,defeat of the ,pacific and
 the long ,mississippi4        ,defeat  
of the young by the old and silly4      
,defeat of tornadoes by the poison vats 
supreme4        ,defeat of my boyhood1  
defeat of my dream4                     
,,vi          ,where is ,mc,kinley1 that
 respectable ,mc,kinley1        ,the man
 without an angle or a tangle1          
,who soothed down the city man and      
soothed down the farmer1        ,the    
,german1 the ,irish1 the ,southerner1   
the ,northerner2        ,who climbed    
every greasy pole1 and slipped through  
every crack2        ,who soothed down   
the gambling hall1 the bar-room1 the    
church1        ,the devil vote1 the     
angel vote1 the neutral vote1           
,the desperately wicked1 and their      
victims on the rack1        ,the gold   

vote1 the silver vote1 the brass vote1  
the lead vote1        ,every vote4444   
,where is ,mc,kinley1 ,mark ,hanna's    
,mc,kinley1        ,his slave1 his echo1
 his suit of clothes8        ,gone to   
join the shadows1 with the pomps of that
 time1        ,and the flame of that    
summer's prairie rose4          ,where  
is ,cleveland whom the ,democratic      
platform        ,read from the party in 
a wonderful hour8        ,gone to join  
the shadows with pitchfork ,tillman     
,and sledge-hammer ,altgeld1 who wrecked
 his power          ,where is ,hanna1   
bull-dog ,hanna1        ,low browed     
,hanna1 who said3 ,stand pat8           
,gone to his own place with ,pierpont   
,morgan4        ,gone somewhere 444 with
 lean rat ,platt4          ,where is    
,roosevelt1 the young dude cowboy1      
,who hated ,bryan1 then aped his way8   
,gone to join the shadows with pious    
,cromwell        ,and tall ,king ,saul1 
till the ,judgment ,day4          ,where
 is ,altgeld1 brave as the truth1       

,whose name the few still say with      
tears8        ,gone to join the ironies 
with ,old ,john ,brown1        ,whose   
fame rings loud for a thousand years4   
,where is that boy1 that ,heaven-born   
,bryan1        ,that ,homer ,bryan1 who 
sang from the ,west8        ,gone to    
join the shadows with ,altgeld the      
,eagle1        ,where the ,kings and the
 slaves and the troubadours rest4       
,,vachel ,,lindsay          ,,blind     
,,thamyris    ,by ,t4 ,,sturge ,,moore  
,since my father was a hero and my      
mother a goddess of the woods1 ,i  was  
sent when twelve years old to the cave  
of ,chiron1 that he might  instruct me  
in wisdom and valour4 ,this life1       
divorced from all female  tenderness1   
appealed to my pride1 and only at night 
were my eyes ever  moistened with       
regret4 ,i was now free to follow a     
stream until1 too  weary to advance     
further1 some cradle of scented herbs   
would lure me  to rest and doze4 ,at    
length twilight brought me an energy1   

winged  with dread of the dusking       
forests1 that carried me right home to  
the  cavern4 ,the sources were always my
 goal1 the more easy descent seawards   
never tempted my morning moods3 and1 as 
he taught me the lyre or the  control of
 my voice1 ,chiron remarked that a      
similar bent was evinced by  an         
instinctive preference for those words  
and cadences that lead the  spirit away 
from the high-roads of thought and      
feeling4 ,surely emotions  well up in   
the fastnesses of tranquillity1 close   
under the blue and  white of heaven1    
more virginal than can be experienced in
 lowland  retreats8 ,as time wore on1   
,chiron1 the daily lesson being ended1  
began  to speak to me of a rhapsodist1  
former pupil and great favourite of     
his4 ,agenor1 he began1 like thyself1   
,thamyris was ever striving  to reach   
the summits before joint and sinew were 
sufficiently tough4  ,alas1 though he   
has often brought back with him the     
rarest strophes and  melodies1 men have 

refused to listen to them6 ,they prefer 
a music that  better harmonises with    
their garish sea-board towns1 and he    
wanders  shrouded in an ever deeper     
gloom4 ,with a sigh he paused1 and ,i   
waited1  expecting to be warned not thus
 to estrange myself from humanity by    
persistently climbing among the hills4  
,but he seemed unable so to  conclude1  
and presently bid me run away and       
practise throwing the spear4    ,one    
forenoon when wind1 so strong as to seem
 foreign to the settled  brilliance of  
the weather1 was bowing the fir-trees1  
and now here1 now  there1 their backs   
arched silverly1 flashing like waves on 
the dark  green ridges1 while the sound 
was that of a chorus of ,titans         
rejoicing  in violence 7so much so that 
we had to retreat well back within the  
cave before we could hear ourselves play
 or sing71 ,chiron broke off the        
lesson1 still disturbed it may be by the
 hurly-burly without1 though  it        
strained but faintly through the        

stillness held under that roof of  rock4
 ,he sat gazing forth into the sunny    
turbulence1 so grandly though  jaggedly 
framed2 and ,i1 leaning back against his
 flank1 watched his  moved visage worn  
with much living4 ,then for the first   
time he began  to recite me actual words
 of ,thamyris1 recalling how their      
public  delivery had proved that those  
who thronged round the other rhapsodists
  would never collect about him4        
,untouched white cloud1        ,like a  
task acclaimed        ,when the heart is
 young1        ,thou fliest higher      
,than the eagle deed        ,that is    
praised by men          ,unheeded       
silence1        ,in the night or at     
noon1        ,thou singest to the       
hilltops        ,a song that is richer  
,than the tales of war        ,which men
 crowd to hear4          ,magnificent   
joys        ,lie about like garments    
,amazingly broidered2        ,a god has 
discarded them        ,before launching 
upward        ,in naked loneliness4     

,but no human hand        ,lifts a      
single tunic2        ,no man's heart    
prefigures        ,the deep satisfaction
        ,of moving vested        ,in the
 pictured raiment        ,that a god    
walked the earth in4    ,chiron was     
silent1 and ,i dreamed of finding and   
putting on the slough  of ,apollo4 ,i   
saw myself in a sultry glare climbing   
boulders with grey  lichen-crusted      
cheeks1 and dark moss-bearded cavities  
down which ,i  peered in hopes of       
finding a cupful of collected dew4 ,at  
last ,i arrived  on the crest1 and      
there1 at the bottom of a crater of wild
 tumbled  blocks1 lay gleaming somewhat 
silver and violet and blue4 ,i scrambled
  down2 a pattern of scaled serpents was
 looped inextricably over white  samite4
 ,i lifted it1 and from the inside there
 slipped with a swish a  body-vest of   
pale vermilion rippled with gold in a   
device of arrows1  each drawn to the    
head in a sturdy bow3 an armoury of the 
proper size  for an host of mice had it 

been real instead of pictured4 ,i       
gasped2 and  ,chiron's eyes met mine1 so
 that ,i blushed all down my neck4      
,months later1 on my return at dusk from
 a day's ramble1 ,i learned from  our   
new pupil1 the little ,achilles1 that   
,chiron had been fetched away  by two   
other centaurs1 and expected to be      
absent all night1 perhaps  longer4 ,we  
prepared and ate our supper of chestnuts
 boiled and then  mashed in milk1 and   
were shortly rolled in separate bears'  
skins to  sleep4 ,achilles1 who was but 
just turned six1 was soon off1 but ,i   
lay hour after hour forecasting coming  
events with eyes wide open4  ,i cannot  
now revive those dreamy adventures1 and 
only recollect that  ,thamyris figured  
in no few1 and how fevered ,i was by the
 thought that1  being mysteriously like 
him1 much sadness and disappointment lay
 in  wait for me4 ,at last moonlight    
began to edge into the cave2 travelling 
along the wall it soon lit up a trophy1 
the skull and huge hooped  horns of an  

ibex2 and next the rug made of four     
chamois hides that  ,chiron hangs over  
his flanks and crupper in winter1 when  
round his  bust he wraps thick folds of 
brown knitted wool2 not long after it   
was bathing the ebony lyre inlaid with  
polished iridescent sea-shell  that has 
both its fluted pillars and their       
screw-heads enamelled with  lines of    
scarlet4 ,this wonder ,jason had brought
 back from ,colchis and  sent up by an  
embassy to ,chiron4 ,i rose and1        
stealing softly to it1  looked up1 not  
at the well-loved colours of the lyre1  
but towards the  tranquil effulgence    
that had woken them out of the darkness1
 and was  surprised to see that there   
were many swift-travelling clouds in the
  sky1 for while ,i lay in the shelter  
the night had seemed quite still4  ,at  
that moment the moon was covered1 and   
the cave became so dark that  ,i stepped
 outside and saw the moonlight fast     
growing again on the  lawn lower down1  
where we throw the spear and wrestling  

matches take  place4 ,i hurried to meet 
it and1 once there1 the terror and      
attraction  of the hills at night shook 
me2 for was ,i not brought forth by the 
regent of a bosky grove8 ,though its    
sacred safety rustled leagues from      
where ,i stood1 might ,i not brave these
 mountain forests1 being able  so to    
account for my hardihood8 ,i was carried
 away1 neither walking  nor running1 but
 at a sort of shaken trot that seemed   
dictated by the  thudding of my heart4  
,the almost level path wound along our  
valley high  above the torrent1 which it
 would meet and cross some two miles    
deeper  in this fold under ,pelion4 ,my 
limbs moved as it were unbidden2 once or
  twice ,i stopped and said1 ,this is a 
dream1 till the indescribable  reality  
of everything drove me on4 ,my teeth    
were frequently jolted1  yet the cold   
did not seem intense enough to chatter  
them1 and surely  ,i was not abjectly   
frightened8 ,this notion roused my      
self-control and  calmed me till ,i     

slipped along like a peaceful thought1  
unchallenged  yet alert4 ,the stream was
 crossed by the fallen fir-trunk1 and   
the  path returned eastward on the      
opposite side of the valley till the    
distant mouth of the cave was passed and
 the forefront of this new  ridge won4  
,here the view was immense1 embracing   
islands in the sea  and snowy ,olympus  
and the unnumbered chains of the        
mountainous coast4  ,here ,i squatted on
 the short fine turf and folded both    
arms across my  knees as a cushion for  
my chin4 ,perhaps ,i dozed1 for my head 
was heavy  when ,i lifted it to make    
sure of a sound--the trampling of       
centaurs a  great way off4 ,they are    
returning1 ,i said to myself1 and laid  
an ear  against the earth1 and then     
peered into the darkness1 for the moon  
lit  nothing now except one band of sea 
far out behind the islands4 ,all but    
certain by which track they were coming1
 ,i plunged headlong downward  through  
the brushwood as though it had been     

broad day1 intending to cut  their road 
on the moor above the cliffs4 ,how many 
times ,i floundered  into bushes or     
barked a shin against bough or boulder1 
those who have  done such things may    
imagine4 ,i at last stumbled out on the 
heather  hundreds of feet beneath1      
limping but consoled to fancy my        
troubles  ended4 ,before ,i had cleared 
a thousand yards ,i fell1 ricking my    
ankle1  and rose with difficulty1 for an
 agony like death whenever my foot      
pressed the ground routed the very      
notion of an inexhaustible endurance    
latent within me4 ,i fell again on to   
the thick springy couch of scented  ling
 and soon felt deliciously relieved4    
,violent activity had chased  the last  
vestige of night-terror1 and the wind   
moaning round me made  even that barren 
place homelike as with the movements of 
a familiar  presence4 ,the slightest    
jerk to my right foot and immediately my
 brow  was beaded with sweat1 for pain  
like a savage dog held my ankle in its  

jaws1 and would grind them anew if ,i   
stirred4 ,hooves thundered nearer  and  
nearer2 the noise so invaded my         
consciousness that to cry for  help     
seemed as useless as to halloo against  
tempestuous breakers on a  rocky shore1 
yet simultaneously there returned on me 
all that ,chiron  had taught of the     
diverse tribes of sound--how some are   
irreconcilable  while others easily     
agree1 how the loudest of one family may
 fail to  drown small ones of distinct  
origin1 and in a continuous and familiar
  uproar their different calibre may    
startle even as in silence4 ,fed  by    
these memories hope grew strong1 and ,i 
cried out1 ,father ,chiron1  ,father    
,chiron1 ,i am here1 and must die if you
 do not come4 ,then ,i  listened3 all   
was still4 ,at first ,i feared they had 
reached the hills  and entered the      
valley so that the sound of their       
trampling was walled  off4 ,just then it
 began again more slowly and            
unexpectedly near1 so  ,i shouted1      

,father ,chiron1 do not leave me to the 
wolves6 ,then his  voice answered1 and  
tears streamed over my face and sobs so 
shook me  that ,i could not make out his
 words1 yet between the spasms ,i       
gasped1  ,this way1 this way6 ,and he   
came and knelt beside me1 first on his  
fore-knees1 then settling down on his   
haunches gradually so as not to  scare  
me by the blundering of his fetlocks4   
,his large gentle hand felt  my moist   
burning brow while ,i pointed at my     
helpless ankle2 then he  lifted it      
between thumb and finger1 and with the  
index of the other  hand began to stroke
 the swelling thoughtfully4 ,then       
lifting his head  he shouted1 ,rhoetus1 
find me some sorrel or lettuce1 and if  
you see  any straight wands cut me one  
or two4 ,catch6 ,here is my knife6 and  
he  slipped the thong by which it hung  
over his head4 ,now ,i must tell you  it
 was a delicately smithied blade with   
both edges sharp1 and lived1  point     
foremost1 in a snug trough cut along the

 yellow boxwood handle  over which a lid
 of box was spliced1 the open end being 
secured by a  wedge of ebony attached by
 a thong4 ,for use1 the blade was first 
shaken  out on the palm1 then its       
heft-end replaced and secured by tapping
 the  wedge with a stone4 ,it was our   
great pleasure to borrow this knife  and
 scratch lions or eagles upon a horn1 or
 out of soft pine carve  straight-robed 
,athena with casque and spear4 ,i know  
every cut that  defines her attitude1   
but can never give her features1 either 
terrible  or beautiful4 ,but ,chiron was
 repeating to me1 ,did not ,achilles    
tell  you that ,i could not be back     
before morning8 for my mind had suddenly
  wandered to my foster-mother's farm   
kitchen in the lowlands forty miles     
away4 ,yes1 he told me1 but ,i could not
 sleep1 and at last ,i wanted to        
explore the woods by moonlight2 after ,i
 heard you coming1 in running  ,i caught
 my foot in the twisted trunks of this  
heather1 ,with a low  husky chuckle he  

said1 ,though ,i am supposed to be      
really wise1 the  simplicity of your    
explanation has surprised me harbouring 
sinister  forebodings4 ,i had no inkling
 then how he dreaded lest the violence  
of centaur-herds and the knavery of     
townsmen1 like clashing flints1  should 
cause a conflagration4 ,for ever more   
pressingly he forebodes  the violation  
of his cavern's peace1 the only spot    
left where men and  centaurs foregather 
kindly4 ,at that time ,i attributed his 
words to the  ocean of his wisdom1      
which1 like a shore-bred child1 ,i was  
accustomed  to hear murmur1 content if  
now and again the beauty of a thought   
meant  for me stranded like a dainty    
shell at my feet4 ,hitherto ,i had lain 
like one bed-rid1 haunted by the        
seriousness of that pain1 but now1      
sitting up and taking advantage of the  
licence accorded to sufferers1 ,i  dared
 to show a curiosity which every        
endeavour would have suppressed  had my 
right ankle been as sound as the left1  

and asked1 ,where have  you been1       
,father ,chiron8 ,his husky laugh       
allowed the indulgence ,i had  claimed1 
and his voice grew strained as he       
answered1 ,i was called to  the         
death-bed of my best-beloved son        
,thamyris4 ,is he very sick8 ,i  asked4 
,not now1 for he moaned me his last     
epode and ended like the  swan4 ,at that
 ,i lay back once more and looked across
 the heather at  the moon1 unwilling to 
embarrass his sorrow by staring at it4  
,and after  a pause ,chiron in a very   
low voice began to croon3               
,falcon daughters of ,apollo1        ,ye
 spur on a man to sing1        ,rend    
with pangs sharp as a sword3            
,then for his best award        ,faint  
praise and a broken wing4          ,is  
it for larks to follow        ,the      
snow-feathered cloud8        ,they are  
dusky and hot and fragile        ,and   
scarcely contain a proud                
,insanely throbbing heart3        ,ye   
are amber-eyed1 sleek and agile1        

,taloned and savagely smart4            
,when the fierce blood bursts our       
pulses1        ,darkened like ,hades at 
noon1        ,there falls from the      
towering ether        ,a mangled mass of
 feather4          ,an end to the pain  
that convulses        ,life with        
ambition is boon        ,enough for a   
soul uplifted1        ,and by each of   
you severally gifted4    ,when silence  
had nursed the memory of this for a     
space ,i glanced at  ,chiron2 his wet   
eyes stared steadily at the moon4 ,he   
roused himself  and began to shout to   
hasten ,rhoetus1 and the young centaur  
soon  approached1 bounding wildly1 a mat
 of tresses flapping like a black  flag 
about his head4 ,chiron took the knife1 
the leaves and the two  sallows1 and    
measuring these last against my leg cut 
two wands from  their stouter ends1     
split them and placed their flat sides  
against  the leaves in which he packed  
my tender joint4 ,he next cut strands   
from under his white beard as long as   

his arm2 with one he bound the  splints 
lightly round my calf and with the other
 secured them beneath  my foot4 ,rising1
 he helped me up1 and warned me not to  
put any weight  on the cage1 which      
lengthened and imprisoned my leg4 ,he   
then signed  to ,rhoetus to lift me on  
to his back1 and side by side the two   
began  walking across the heath2 the sky
 was once more almost clear and the     
moon was setting4 ,the sea1 though it   
could be heard1 was hidden by  the      
heathery hillocks which thatched its    
cliffs1 as ,olympus and the  great      
ranges were behind hills tawny and      
russet with beech and alder  but hooded 
in evergreen firs that towered dead     
black in the moonlight4  ,a whistle     
sounded1 and there was ,caudon waiting  
three hundred paces  off4 ,rhoetus      
advanced1 crying to him1 ,it is my turn 
to carry the body  now1 but his piebald 
fellow immediately heaved something on  
to his  shoulder and set off at a       
gallop4 ,what is it8 ,i said to ,chiron1

 round  whose vast waist my arms clung4 
,they shame our breed1 he replied4      
,ghosts of the dead never haunt         
centaurs1 so for them the lifeless  body
 is no more than an empty smock4 ,men   
are born with older fears and  cradled  
in whispering awe4 ,reverence is thus   
taught them1 first by  terror1 and then 
by esteem1 if they consort with         
finely-tempered minds4  ,but these rough
 colts1 deprived of the first1 scarce   
heed the second  lesson yet4 ,poor      
,thamyris1 the fair course of thy days  
was driven  about till1 willy-nilly1 it 
clashed with the coarse-grained crowd2  
and must thy body be tossed1 fought for1
 and whirled away in the fury  of this  
boisterous rivalry8 ,they were fetching 
wide curves across  the heath2 sometimes
 even ,caudon's piebald flanks were lost
 in the  darkness1 and they became a    
mere chivy of distancing sounds2 then   
again  both toiled on the skyline above 
the cliffs1 like shadows on a wall4     
,their shouts had at first betokened no 

more than horse-play1 but took  now an  
angrier accent4 ,chiron smartened his   
pace1 and ,i felt that his  spirit was  
chafing1 and when they next drew within 
earshot he shouted  commands to arrest  
them of such sternness as they were not 
sufficiently  enslaved by passion to    
disregard1 and they came severally1     
muttering1  heated1 and resentful       
towards us4 ,the old centaur reproached 
them for  thus jolting the body of his  
friend4 ,but he feels nothing1 argued   
,caudon4 ,well1 well1 had he been a skin
 of choice wine1 you should have        
carried him with more care4 ,wine can be
 spoilt with shaking--but a  corpse6    
grumbled ,rhoetus4 ,still for all he    
once was 444 ,why1 he  was so mad as to 
put out his own eyes6 grunted ,caudon1  
and ,rhoetus  continued1 ,they say he   
died because he refused to eat in a rage
 that  outlasted his life4 ,yet ,i1 who 
am old enough to be your sire's         
grandsire1 have often wished the hour   
stayed when his fingers wandered  the   

strings4 ,years ago6 they interjected4  
,last evening he kissed  my hands and   
taught me words that fly straight to the
 heart4 ,neither  colt retorted1 and the
 silence seemed so consecrated to the   
gravity of  the wise ,chiron's sorrow   
that ,i feared to break it1 though      
devoured  with curiosity about this     
unaccountable madness1 blindness1 and   
death4  ,we had entered the valley and  
were climbing at a foot-pace among the  
trees4 ,though the moon had set1 the sky
 had not darkened but greyed  with the  
dawn4 ,as the light increased the body  
absorbed my attention2  it hung wrapped 
in a coarse and torn cloak over         
,rhoetus's shoulder2 for  ,caudon had   
ceded it to him soon after they left    
arguing with ,chiron4  ,the arms dangled
 along his muscular back and the dead   
hands flopped and  turned upon the      
glossy black hide to which his brown    
skin gave place  below the loins4 ,they 
went a little in advance of us1 and at  
times ,i  could divine just how the head

 hung1 by some yellow hair that appeared
  and disappeared behind a rent in the  
cloak which1 swaying1 opened and  closed
 like the ill-hinged door of a granary  
loft that1 swinging in the  wind1 shows 
the gleam of golden grain to a          
mid-winter day4 ,my head had  dropped in
 a doze before we reached the place     
where a path branches  down to the      
bathing pool1 and ,chiron bade ,rhoetus 
and ,caudon carry the  body up to the   
cave1 build a fire1 and seethe meat1 for
 all would be  more than common hungry4 
,but me he carried down to the large    
pool that  spreads out from the foot of 
a fall in the torrent2 and at the outer 
brim of this basin1 where the clear     
water becomes shallow and escapes  in   
many minor cascades downwards1 he chose 
a bank of sward and laid  me gently down
 where the water would flow over my     
damaged foot4 ,while  ,i lounged at ease
 he himself gravely walked down under   
the pool2 the  water rose above the     
horse and only the man remained2 still  

he trod  carefully deeper1 the white    
stones being often slippery with green  
weed2 and now his beard and hair were   
floating like foam about his  shoulders1
 as though a smaller column of invisible
 water were drilling  the quivering     
surface right out in front of the       
torrent that thundered  into boiling    
suds at the foot of the dripping rocks4 
,still his hooves  felt their way down1 
till the billowy outward curves were    
sweeping  right over his head4 ,the     
white limestone lit up the depths and   
rendered  his figure clearly visible1   
though it seemed strangely stunted2 his 
chestnut crupper1 silvered as it was    
with age1 became violet by  contrast    
with the icy blue water4 ,all around    
thinned boughs hung out  long yellow    
leaves1 and the reflections of some of  
them flickered like  fish about him4    
,time seemed to have ceased and all     
hostile conditions  to have been        
suspended in favour of this             
magnificently weathered  creature1 that 

he might become divinely amphibious and 
death stand  disarmed before him4 ,far  
above1 a level shaft of sunlight from   
over the  mountain shoulder suddenly    
caught the tree-tops4 ,a naked scaffold 
of  dark trunk1 bough and intricately   
forking branch sustained each thin      
tower-like tent of brilliant leaves4    
,thus1 their grand swelling shapes      
hollow instead of dense with foliage1   
tanned or yellow instead of  green1     
these chestnuts whose flaunting camps   
reach far up the valleys  made a last   
stand against the disenchanting season  
of storms4 ,the  banks beneath were     
thick with fallen leaves interspersed   
with clusters  of nuts like hedgehogs4  
,the whole vividly coloured scene swam  
in the  limpid transparent slumber which
 tuned my breathing1 though it had not  
closed my eyes4 ,i thought1 ,he will    
stay under too long and ,i shall  never 
hear how poor ,thamyris went mad1 yet it
 seemed acceptable or  at least         
necessary that ,i should never hear and 

that he should remain  immersed for     
ever4 ,no1 he lifted his head and parted
 his hair and  rubbed his eyes1 and came
 up as slowly and solemnly out of the   
pool as  he had descended into it4      
,streaming and refreshed1 he cantered   
round  its shallow brim1 splashing with 
his hooves2 he shook and wrung from     
hair and beard streamers of diamond     
drops1 quivering the while the  glossy  
coat of his nether body to free its     
shaggy skirts1 and whisking  his tail   
against his hocks4 ,pausing beside me1  
he smiled into my sleepy  eyes and said1
 ,how goes the ankle8 ,i murmured that  
it was so cold as  to have stopped      
aching1 and ,i could not now feel       
whether it were there  or not4 ,he drew 
me a little higher up till my bandaged  
foot was out of  the numbing flow4      
,roused by this ,i could no longer      
refrain from asking  what had driven    
poor ,thamyris mad2 and the answer came1
 soothing the  terror that it stirred in
 my soul by the grave compassion with   

which it  was pronounced4 ,he could not 
endure to watch those whose attention he
  had in vain tried to capture1 grouped 
about some common rhapsodist who1  with 
shouts1 recounted how one man killed    
another in some freebooting  foray4 ,he 
must have wandered unwanted and         
uninspired for months before  at last he
 stood near the ships where fishermen   
had been chipping holes  in large flints
 in order to thread them along the      
bottom of their  great sweep-net4 ,these
 had often split before they were       
pierced1 and  fragments with knife-like 
edges lay all about4 ,suddenly dashing  
down  his lyre1 he stooped and seized   
two sharp pieces1 and sobbing out that  
his eyes should never again watch a     
crowd like that gaping upon the  wharf  
at this bawler1 he jabbed at his eyes4  
,others told me how they  heard him1 and
 turned to see blood streaming from his 
face and beard  and from the two red    
hands that he waved as he staggered1    
unaccustomed  to darkness4 ,they thought

 some goddess in the shape of a sea-hawk
 must  have struck him with her beak1   
and vanished as swiftly as she had  come
 through the twilight4 ,afterward1 when 
his broken lyre was found1  they        
concluded that the ,muses had sent her  
because he1 though a mere  mortal1 sang 
such songs as might in the halls of     
,olympus be preferred  to their own1 for
 only among the gods1 as those fishermen
 fancied1  could he have found suitable 
audience4 ,they led him to the temple of
  ,apollo2 there the priest killed a    
snake and bound its body across his     
bleeding orbits1 and the wounds healed1 
but sight did not return4 ,later  on1   
when he felt how he never knew where he 
was or who was near--when  no one could 
lead him far towards the stony peaks he 
loved1 for dread  always overtook them  
at the danger of steep places for a     
blind man  whose daimon left him totally
 unwarned--he refused food and sat all  
day on the temple steps1 and never      
begged an alms or stooped to gather     

what was thrown him4 ,at night the      
hierodules had sometimes heard him      
mutter as though he prayed for          
vengeance4 ,they even believed that he  
had challenged the nine ,muses to a     
trial of skill1 offering to yield  body 
and mind to their displeasure if he     
failed1 but should he outsing  them1    
then each of them was to submit her body
 to bear him a child4  ,for servile     
minds1 ,agenor1 ascribe the motives     
familiar to themselves  to those whose  
outstanding actions they must perforce  
canvass4 ,thus  he endured not only     
perpetual darkness1 but companionless   
solitude  where streams of men were     
constantly passing2 hearing voices but  
not  one conversable4 ,then when death  
first warned him1 he sent a message  to 
me2 this was delivered to ,rhoetus and  
,caudon1 who bore it on up  the         
shoulders of ,pelion4 ,and gazing round1
 he continued1 ,in this  spot shall he  
rest1 screened by these chestnuts from  
the cruel moons  of summer2 here shall a

 grave be dug4 ,the distance from the   
cave is  convenient1 and bathers may    
often consent to remain while ,i rechant
  one of his lays1 till1 departing1 they
 breathe a pious wish for the  peace of 
him whose life was full of strife and   
storms1 though he never  joined in      
battle1 or trod the planks of a ship4   
,when ,i stood by his  side he said1 ',o
 god-like beast1 no other ears ever     
listened to me with  pleasure as thine  
did4 ,thou hast been rewarded with      
extended life1 for  thy actions and     
customs are swayed neither by fear nor  
by greed1 but in  the eyes of the young 
and in quiet haunts thou hast sought the
 wisdom  most easily wed to divine      
melodies4 ,thou wilt understand and     
perhaps  pity these strophes born of my 
anguish4' ,his fevered reveries would   
seem so to have exalted me that he used 
an address such as gods expect1  and    
with the same trance-like utterance     
feebly and slowly delivered the  hymn ,i
 repeated to you on the heath1 but then 

the end came4 ,now you had  better lie  
here for to-day lest you should jar that
 ankle1 and ,i will  send ,achilles to  
you with some meat4 ,i wondered over all
 ,i had heard1  not without dread of a  
similar fate1 till ,achilles came and   
wanted to  know what ,i had seen in the 
night1 whether nymphs or daimons or     
,artemis  herself4 ,as ,i ate the warm  
meat or broke the brown crusts between  
sips of wine1 ,i told him4 ,then with   
all the roguish effrontery of his       
beauty1 shaking his long yellow curls1  
he laughed1 ,i should have done  as you 
did for all the rest1 ,agenor1 but ,i   
should not have sprained my  ankle1 and 
he danced off singing1 ,no1 indeed1     
indeed no6 while ,i1  dropping the      
drained horn into the empty maple bowl1 
rolled over and  slept4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,when  
,i woke the sun had passed the meridian1
 and the sound of a spade  and the thud 
of falling clods could be heard1 and    
looking across ,i saw  ,caudon working  

in a grave on a crest of the opposite   
bank2 soon the  blade rang on the rock  
and his action became that of shovelling
 out  the loam4 ,next1 ,chiron and      
,rhoetus arrived1 carrying the body     
between  them wound in a long and       
splendid pall4 ,this had been sent by   
,thetis  as a present with ,achilles    
when he joined us in ,july4 ,it measured
 six  yards by four1 and might have     
served for a temple curtain or to drape 
a royal bed4 ,the goddess herself had   
worked it far out under the sea1  aided 
by the silver-shoed daughters of ,doris4
 ,flying over a ground of  deep blue    
were seen harpies with black wings      
spread and every feather  tipped with   
white1 their brown bodies shaped like   
large eggs2 they  wore coral necklaces1 
and had the heads of women with singing 
mouths  and long streaming raven curls4 
,yet they were armless and had the legs 
and talons of a bird4 ,each of the score
 was exactly like every other1  and side
 by side and one after another they flew

 across the deep noon  sky4 ,so they    
sweep by close above some ship1 with    
sweet voices advising  mariners of a    
greater glory amid ocean than where     
sails are often met  around the coast4  
,though well they know that from the    
vacant unislanded  main the venturer has
 rarely returned4 ,chiron had no use in 
his cavern  for a cloth so splendid1 and
 he had determined to devote this to the
  honour of ,thamyris4 ,they laid his   
body1 wholly enveloped in it1 along  the
 turf beside the grave1 while they      
spread in it the autumn-tinted  bracken 
that ,achilles had been cutting with a  
sickle1 and1 armful after  armful1 had  
made a mountainous heap of4 ,next they  
lowered him in the  great blue cloth on 
to that sun-saturated couch4 ,then      
,chiron took his  lyre and sang3        
,a gentle spring was that long past     
,which brought thee to my cave2         
,for thought yet more than action brave1
        ,o daring spirit1 now thou hast 
,gleaned all that feeble mortals give   

,to those in whom intenser joy has      
sought to live        ,here woodland    
peace broods ever1 here        ,shall   
water alway carol in thine ear4         
,caudon and ,rhoetus now chanted the    
usual chorus of ,last ,farewell1        
,achilles and myself piping in as well  
as their loud voices would let  us4 ,the
 rest of the bracken was then thrown    
down and on that the dark  loam1 the    
turfs were replaced1 wine spilled in    
libation and grain  strewn4 ,the rites  
were ended3 the two centaurs shouldered 
spade and  mattock and clattered off4   
,achilles asked if he might go into the 
woods with his bow and arrow to shoot   
something4 ,chiron nodded consent  and  
came to examine my ankle4 ,while he     
uncased it and did it up again  with    
fresh leaves1 ,i asked why1 if ,thamyris
 so loved the lonely hills  and scorned 
men1 he was so angry at seeing them     
crowd about other  rhapsodists4 ,when he
 had finished with my foot he replied1  
,one of our  friend's hymns is now      

trotting in my head1 then touching his  
lyre he  chanted3          ,from the    
west upward        ,i toiled            
heavy-hearted2        ,from the east    
joyous1        ,poising his weight on   
,an arching instep1        ,came man to 
meet me4          ,and high in the      
azure1        ,where the rocks ended    
,we sat down1 friends4        ,he heard 
there how often        ,was said1 shown 
or felt        ,the thing that rebuked  
me4          ,then laughed and pretended
        ,that what the hand fashioned1  
,house1 sword or dead body1             
,alone remained2        ,thoughts and   
intentions        ,lost their existence4
          ,his glad voice inveigled     
,belief from my candour2        ,and lo6
 he was gone4        ,poising my weight 
on        ,an arching instep            
,down ,i came1 gaily        ,facing the 
sunset1        ,as though in the        
sea-port        ,that glittered beneath 
it        ,i had not yet smitten        
,the sonorous lyre4        ,as though   

the folk there        ,had come from the
 eastward        ,that very morning     
,and found empty houses        ,and     
ships abandoned1        ,needing only to
 be cleaned and repainted1        ,and  
meant to make them gay as spring        
flowers1        ,and were sure in the   
twilight        ,to gather about me4    
,there1 that is his own answer to your  
question4 ,i do not think he  craved    
just any praise1 nor did he much        
over-prize his own gift2 and  you see he
 was not thinking of this coast1 but of 
one facing the other  way1 so that the  
poet could arrive from the quarter      
opposite to the sun  and meet him at    
noon on the peak4 ,as much as to say1   
',not myself1 nor  this town's people1  
but any place1 any people1 any poet4'   
,he worshipped  man1 and it angered him 
to see homespun preferred to the skyey  
fabric  the god had helped him weave4   
,he regretted his violence and could not
  live without those eyes it had cost   
him4 ,having drawn these sentences  one 

by one from his sad heart1 ,chiron      
lapsed into silence till ,i asked1  ,but
 why did he address the ,muses as       
enemies in his last hymn1 if what  the  
folk said was quite false8 ,it is       
strange4 ,can they have appeared  to him
 smartly fledged in white plumage1 with 
dapper tail and wings  and vulture      
heart8 ,stately women clothed in        
daffodil chitons delighted  my gaze the 
only time ,i ever had a glimpse of them4
 ,when was that8  ,i was scarcely older 
than yourself1 and woke in a cave to see
 them  sitting and resting at its mouth1
 delicately grouped against the dawn4   
,i remember ,euterpe's lap full of      
flowers1 and ,melpomene1 for her hair   
was stormy1 black and unbound1 and a    
deep brown cloak had slipped from  her  
shoulders1 but still hung over her      
elbows2 it was only afterwards  that ,i 
regretted not having noted the features 
of ,urania1 but assuredly  no single one
 of them had the eye of a hawk4 ,they   
rose as ,i woke1  and strolled on4 ,i   

crept after them1 but when ,i turned the
 buttress  of rock1 no glad-robed figure
 was in sight1 though it seemed that    
choral voices floated in the air2 yet   
soon ,i found myself listening  to      
silence1 so could not be sure4 ,it must 
be sad to sing unpraised1  however      
beautiful the words4 ,yes1 boy1 and the 
ecstasy that sings is  counterfaced with
 a destroying rage2 that is perhaps why 
his darkened  soul figured the ,muses as
 birds of prey4 ,do you know any more of
 his  rhapsodies8 ,perhaps ,i can recall
 another1 and he struck some strange    
bell-like notes and then sang3          
,leap1 ,ibex1 leap3 the drop            
,from that mountain turret-top          
,is sheer two hundred feet6             
,crash head foremost to the rock2       
,those massive hoops1 thy curved horns1 
take the shock        ,and throw thee   
up6 ,albeit        ,tossed by their     
supple springs1        ,without the help
 of wings1        ,scarcely may eye     
believe        ,thou hast righted in the

 air6        ,rashness thou dost        
retrieve2        ,whence thou wast      
bounced1 even there        ,arrivest    
without let2        ,four sturdy hooves 
of jet        ,plant thee on the slab   
thine eye        ,had chosen from on    
high4          ,so melodist that haunts 
,the spirit-firing peaks1        ,and   
deep in azure chants1        ,must take 
like dizzy leap        ,back to some    
sea-board town        ,to find the      
praise he seeks4          ,and would he 
still his fervour keep1        ,as fine 
resilience will he need        ,so      
featly to light down1                   
,hoop-horned ,goat1 as thine1        ,by
 chamois herds acclaimed divine6        
,a god's grace truly will he need       
,if he be not to suffer1 not to bleed-- 
,a shattered heart and brain a-fire1    
,a trodden mantle and snapt lyre6       
,and how by headlong rapture whirled and
 blinded        ,should he know where   
'tis won or how to find it8        ,that
 unpredictable address        ,whose    

magic cleaves the rough quartz stone    
,and makes its secret crystals known    
,when the most boorish bless        ,the
 most divine        ,and flash back to  
their eyes the grace by which they      
shine6    ,this history has been written
 with ,chiron's help1 who says we have  
often found more appropriate words than 
were actually used1 yet  have not       
departed from truth as ,clio bestows it 
on those who do her  unfeigned          
reverence4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,i covered this 
sheepskin years ago in the cave and have
 kept it ever  since2 now ,i must soon  
bequeath it to the care of others4      
,achilles and  ,chiron are both long    
since dead1 and who wants to hear the   
lays of  ,thamyris now8 ,i never picked 
up the slough of any god2 though a bit  
later1 when my foot was sufficiently    
healed for me to limp about1 ,i  found  
behind some bushes1 where ,caudon or    
,rhoetus had chucked it1 the  filthy    
ragged homespun mantle of ,thamyris1 for

 when ,i spread it out  one could see   
where the blood had run down from his   
eyes by the dark  stains4 ,i folded it  
and laid it at the foot of his grave and
 raised a  pyramid of stones over it1   
bringing them toilsomely from the pool  
each  day as my ankle grew stronger1    
even as in two or three years' time ,i  
was adding crooked letter to crooked    
letter on the inside of this skin  that 
,thamyris might be remembered4 ,and as  
,i wrote ,i was persuaded1 in  spite of 
,chiron's presentiment and that vivid   
dream of a white chlamys  broidered over
 with blue1 violet1 and silver serpents1
 that such  magnificent joys would never
 be mine4 ,which secret conviction1 as  
,i grew a beard and it grew grey1 has   
been proved correct4 ,maeonides1  best  
loved of all rhapsodists1 may have found
 it1 though when ,i heard  him chant the
 war for ,troy1 he also was dressed in  
homespun and  already blind2 but old    
,agenor has kept his two eyes as safely 
as this  sheepskin4          ,,the      

,,romance ,,of ,,rhyme    ,by ,g4 ,k4   
,,chesterton      ,the poet in the comic
 opera1 it will be remembered 7,i hope71
 claimed  for his sthetic authority that
 ,hey diddle diddle will rank as an     
idyll1 if ,i pronounce it chaste4 ,in   
face of a satire which still  survives  
the fashion it satirised1 it may require
 some moral courage  seriously to       
pronounce it chaste1 or to suggest that 
the nursery rhyme  in question has      
really some of the qualities of an      
idyll4 ,of its  chastity1 in the vulgar 
sense1 there need be little dispute1    
despite  the scandal of the elopement of
 the dish with the spoon1 which would   
seem as free from grossness as the loves
 of the triangles4 ,and though  the     
incident of the cow may have something  
of the moonstruck ecstasy  of ,endymion1
 that also has a silvery coldness about 
it worthy of the  wilder aspects of     
,diana4 ,the truth more seriously       
tenable is that this  nursery rhyme is a
 complete and compact model of the      

nursery short  story4 ,the cow jumping  
over the moon fulfils to perfection the 
two  essentials of such a story for     
children4 ,it makes an effect that is   
fantastic out of objects that are       
familiar2 and it makes a picture that   
is at once incredible and unmistakable4 
,but it is yet more tenable1  and here  
more to the point1 that this nursery    
rhyme is emphatically a  rhyme4 ,both   
the lilt and the jingle are just right  
for their purpose1  and are worth whole 
libraries of elaborate literary verse   
for children4  ,and the best proof of   
its vitality is that the satirist       
himself has  unconsciously echoed the   
jingle even in making the joke4 ,the    
metre  of that nineteenth-century satire
 is the metre of the nursery rhyme4     
,hey diddle diddle1 the cat and the     
fiddle and ,hey diddle diddle  will rank
 as an idyll are obviously both dancing 
to the same ancient  tune2 and that by  
no means the tune the old cow died of1  
but the more  exhilarating air to which 

she jumped over the moon4    ,the whole 
history of the thing called rhyme can be
 found between those  two things3 the   
simple pleasure of rhyming diddle to    
fiddle1 and  the more sophisticated     
pleasure of rhyming diddle to idyll4    
,now the  fatal mistake about poetry1   
and more than half of the fatal mistake 
about humanity1 consists in forgetting  
that we should have the first  kind of  
pleasure as well as the second4 ,it     
might be said that we should  have the  
first pleasure as the basis of the      
second2 or yet more truly1  the first   
pleasure inside the second4 ,the fatal  
metaphor of progress1  which means      
leaving things behind us1 has utterly   
obscured the real  idea of growth1 which
 means leaving things inside us4 ,the   
heart of  the tree remains the same1    
however many rings are added to it2 and 
a man cannot leave his heart behind by  
running hard with his legs4  ,in the    
core of all culture are the things that 
may be said1 in every  sense1 to be     

learned by heart4 ,in the innermost part
 of all poetry is  the nursery rhyme1   
the nonsense that is too happy even to  
care about  being nonsensical4 ,it may  
lead on to the more elaborate nonsense  
of the  ,gilbertian line1 or even the   
far less poetic nonsense of some of the 
,browningesque rhymes4 ,but the true    
enjoyment of poetry is always in  having
 the simple pleasure as well as the     
subtle pleasure4 ,indeed it is  on this 
primary point that so many of our       
artistic and other reforms  seem to go  
wrong4 ,what is the matter with the     
modern world is that  it is trying to   
get simplicity in everything except the 
soul4 ,where  the soul really has       
simplicity it can be grateful for       
anything--even  complexity4 ,many       
peasants have to be vegetarians1 and    
their ordinary  life is really a simple 
life4 ,but the peasants do not despise a
 good  dinner when they can get it2 they
 wolf it down with enthusiasm1 because  
they have not only the simple life but  

the simple spirit4 ,and it is so  with  
the modern modes of art which revert1   
very rightly1 to what is  primitive4    
,but their moral mistake is that they   
try to combine the  ruggedness that     
should belong to simplicity with a      
superciliousness  that should only      
belong to satiety4 ,the last ,futurist  
draughtsmanship1  for instance1         
evidently has the aim of drawing a tree 
as it might be  drawn by a child of ten4
 ,i think the new artists would admit   
it2 nor do  ,i merely sneer at it4 ,i am
 willing to admit1 especially for the   
sake of  argument1 that there is a truth
 of philosophy and psychology in this   
attempt to attain the clarity even      
through the crudity of childhood4  ,in  
this sense ,i can see what a man is     
driving at when he draws a tree  merely 
as a stick with smaller sticks standing 
out of it4 ,he may be  trying to trace  
in black and white or grey a primeval   
and almost  pre-natal illumination2 that
 it is very remarkable that a stick     

should  exist1 and still more remarkable
 that a stick should stick up or stick  
out4 ,he may be similarly enchanted with
 his own stick of charcoal or  grey     
chalk2 he may be enraptured1 as a child 
is1 with the mere fact  that it makes a 
mark on the paper--a highly poetic fact 
in itself4 ,but  the child does not     
despise the real tree for being         
different from his  drawing of the tree4
 ,he does not despise ,uncle ,humphrey  
because that  talented amateur can      
really draw a tree4 ,he does not think  
less of the  real sticks because they   
are live sticks1 and can grow and branch
 and  curve in a way uncommon in        
walking-sticks4 ,because he has a single
 eye  he can enjoy a double pleasure4   
,this distinction1 which seems strangely
  neglected1 may be traced again in the 
drama and most other domains of  art4   
,reformers insist that the audiences of 
simpler ages were content  with bare    
boards or rudimentary scenery if they   
could hear ,sophocles  or ,shakespeare  

talking a language of the gods4 ,they   
were very properly  contented with plain
 boards4 ,but they were not discontented
 with  pageants4 ,the people who        
appreciated ,antony's oration as such   
would  have appreciated ,aladdin's      
palace as such4 ,they did not think     
gilding  and spangles substitutes for   
poetry and philosophy1 because they are 
not4 ,but they did think gilding and    
spangles great and admirable gifts  of  
,god1 because they are4    ,but the     
application of this distinction here is 
to the case of rhyme in  poetry4 ,and   
the application of it is that we should 
never be ashamed  of enjoying a thing as
 a rhyme as well as enjoying it as a    
poem4 ,and ,i  think the modern poets   
who try to escape from the rhyming      
pleasure1 in  pursuit of a freer        
poetical pleasure1 are making the same  
fundamentally  fallacious attempt to    
combine simplicity with superiority4    
,such a poet  is like a child who could 
take no pleasure in a tree because it   

looked  like a tree1 or a playgoer who  
could take no pleasure in the ,forest   
of ,arden because it looked like a      
forest4 ,it is not impossible to  find a
 sort of prig who professes that he     
could listen to literature  in any      
scenery1 but strongly objects to good   
scenery4 ,and in poetical  criticism and
 creation there has also appeared the   
prig who insists  that any new poem must
 avoid the sort of melody that makes the
 beauty  of any old song4 ,poets must   
put away childish things1 including the 
child's pleasure in the mere sing-song  
of irrational rhyme4 ,it may be  hinted 
that when poets put away childish things
 they will put away  poetry4 ,but it may
 be well to say a word in further       
justification of  rhyme as well as      
poetry1 in the child as well as the     
poet4 ,now1 the  neglect of this nursery
 instinct would be a blunder1 even if it
 were  merely an animal instinct or an  
automatic instinct4 ,if a rhyme were to 
a man merely what a bark is to a dog1 or

 a crow to a cock1 it would  be clear   
that such natural things cannot be      
merely neglected4 ,it is  clear that a  
canine epic1 about ,argus instead of    
,ulysses1 would have  a beat ultimately 
consisting of barks4 ,it is clear that a
 long poem  like ,chantecler1 written by
 a real cock1 would be to the tune of   
,cock-a-doodle-doo4 ,but in truth the   
nursery rhyme has a nobler origin2  if  
it be ancestral it is not animal2 its   
principle is a primary one1  not only in
 the body but in the soul4    ,milton   
prefaced ,paradise ,lost with a         
ponderous condemnation of  rhyme4 ,and  
perhaps the finest and even the most    
familiar line in the  whole of ,paradise
 ,lost is really a glorification of     
rhyme4 ,seasons  return1 but not to me  
return1 is not only an echo that has all
 the  ring of a rhyme in its form1 but  
it happens to contain nearly all the    
philosophy of rhyme in its spirit4 ,the 
wonderful word return has1  not only in 
its sound but in its sense1 a hint of   

the whole secret  of song4 ,it is not   
merely that its very form is a fine     
example of a  certain quality in        
,english1 somewhat similar to that which
 ,mrs4 ,meynell  admirably analysed in a
 former issue of this magazine in the   
case of  words like unforgiven4 ,it is  
that it describes poetry itself1 not    
only in a mechanical but a moral sense4 
,song is not only a recurrence1  it is a
 return4 ,it does not merely1 like the  
child in the nursery1  take pleasure in 
seeing the wheels go round4 ,it also    
wishes to go back  as well as round2 to 
go back to the nursery where such       
pleasures are  found4 ,or to vary the   
metaphor slightly1 it does not merely   
rejoice in  the rotation of a wheel on  
the road1 as if it were a fixed wheel in
 the  air4 ,it is not only the wheel but
 the waggon that is returning4 ,that    
labouring caravan is always travelling  
towards some camping-ground that  it has
 lost and cannot find again4 ,no lover  
of poetry needs to be told  that all    

poems are full of that noise of         
returning wheels2 and none  more than   
the poems of ,milton himself4 ,the whole
 truth is obvious1 not  merely in the   
poem1 but even in the two words of the  
title4 ,all poems  might be bound in one
 book under the title of ,paradise      
,lost4 ,and the  only object of writing 
,paradise ,lost is to turn it1 if only  
by a  magic and momentary illusion1 into
 ,paradise ,regained4    ,it is in this 
deeper significance of return that we   
must seek for the  peculiar power in the
 recurrence we call rhyme4 ,it would be 
easy enough  to reply to ,milton's      
strictures on rhyme in the spirit of a  
sensible  if superficial liberality by  
saying that it takes all sorts to make a
  world1 and especially the world of the
 poets4 ,it is evident enough that      
,milton might have been right to        
dispense with rhyme without being right 
to despise it4 ,it is obvious that the  
peculiar dignity of his religious  epic 
would have been weakened if it had been 

a rhymed epic1 beginning3          ,of  
man's first disobedience and the fruit  
,of that forbidden tree whose mortal    
root4    ,but it is equally obvious that
 ,milton himself would not have tripped 
on  the light fantastic toe with quite  
so much charm and cheerfulness in  the  
lines3          ,but come thou ,goddess 
fair and free        ,in heaven yclept  
,euphrosyne    if the goddess had been  
yclept something else1 as1 for the sake 
of  argument1 ,syrinx4 ,milton in his   
more reasonable moods would have        
allowed rhyme in theory a place in all  
poetry1 as he allowed it in  practice in
 his own poetry4 ,but he would certainly
 have said at this  time1 and possibly  
at all times1 that he allowed it an     
inferior place1  or at least a secondary
 place4 ,but is its place secondary2 and
 is it in  any sense inferior8    ,the  
romance of rhyme does not consist merely
 in the pleasure of a  jingle1 though   
this is a pleasure of which no man      
should be ashamed4  ,certainly most men 

take pleasure in it1 whether or not they
 are ashamed  of it4 ,we see it in the  
older fashion of prolonging the chorus  
of a  song with syllables like rumty    
tumty or tooral looral4 ,we see  it in  
the similar but later fashion of        
discussing whether a truth  is objective
 or subjective1 or whether a reform is  
constructive  or destructive1 or whether
 an argument is deductive or inductive3 
all bearing witness to a very natural   
love for those nursery rhyme            
recurrences which make a sort of song   
without words1 or at least  without any 
kind of intellectual significance4 ,but 
something much  deeper is involved in   
the love of rhyme as distinct from other
 poetic  forms1 something which is      
perhaps too deep and subtle to be       
described4  ,the nearest approximation  
to the truth ,i can think of is         
something  like this3 that while all    
forms of genuine verse recur1 there is  
in  rhyme a sense of return to exactly  
the same place4 ,all modes of song  go  

forward and backward like the tides of a
 sea2 but in the great sea  of ,homeric 
or ,virgilian hexameters1 the sea that  
carried the labouring  ships of ,ulysses
 and neas1 the thunder of the breakers  
is rhythmic1  but the margin of the foam
 is necessarily irregular and vague4 ,in
 rhyme  there is rather a sense of water
 poured safely into one familiar well1  
or 7to use a nobler metaphor7 of ale    
poured safely into one familiar  flagon4
 ,the armies of ,homer and ,virgil      
advance and retreat over a vast         
country1 and suggest vast and very      
profound sentiments about it1 about     
whether it is their own country or only 
a strange country4 ,but when  the old   
nameless ballad boldly rhymes the bonny 
ivy tree to my ain  countree the vision 
at once dwindles and sharpens to a very 
vivid  image of a single soldier passing
 under the ivy that darkens his own     
door4 ,rhythm deals with similarity1 but
 rhyme with identity4 ,now in  the one  
word identity are involved perhaps the  

deepest and certainly  the dearest human
 things4 ,he who is homesick does not   
desire houses or  even homes4 ,he who is
 lovesick does not want to see all the  
women with  whom he might have fallen in
 love4 ,only he who is sea-sick1        
perhaps1  may be said to have a         
cosmopolitan craving for all lands or   
any kind  of land4 ,and this is probably
 why sea-sickness1 like cosmopolitanism1
  has never yet been a high inspiration 
to song4 ,songs1 especially the  most   
poignant of them1 generally refer to    
some absolute1 to some  positive place  
or person for whom no similarity is a   
substitute4 ,in  such a case all        
approximation is merely asymptotic4 ,the
 prodigal  returns to his father's house
 and not the house next door1 unless he 
is still an imperfectly sober prodigal2 
the lover desires his lady and  not her 
twin sister1 except in old complications
 of romance2 and even  the spiritualist 
is generally looking for a ghost and not
 merely for  ghosts4 ,i think the       

intolerable torture of spiritualism must
 be a doubt  about identity4 ,anyhow1 it
 will generally be found that where this
 call  for the identical has been       
uttered most ringingly and unmistakably 
in  literature1 it has been uttered in  
rhyme4 ,another purpose for which  this 
pointed and definite form is very much  
fitted is the expression of  dogma1 as  
distinct from doubt or even opinion4    
,this is why1 with all  allowance for a 
decline in the most classical effects of
 the classical  tongue1 the rhymed      
,latin of the medival hymns does express
 what it had  to express in a very      
poignant poetical manner1 as compared   
with the  reverent agnosticism so nobly 
uttered in the rolling unrhymed metres  
of  the ancients4 ,for even if we regard
 the matter of the medival verses  as a 
dream1 it was at least a vivid dream1 a 
dream full of faces1 a  dream of love   
and of lost things4 ,and something of   
the same spirit  runs in a vaguer way   
through proverbs and phrases that are   

not exactly  religious1 but rather in a 
rude sense philosophical1 but which all 
move with the burden of returning2      
things to be felt only in familiar      
fragments 444 on revient toujours 444   
it's the old story--it's love  that     
makes the world go round2 and all roads 
lead to ,rome3 we might  almost say that
 all roads lead to ,rhyme4    ,milton's 
revolt against rhyme must be read in the
 light of history4  ,milton is the      
,renascence frozen into a ,puritan form2
 the beginning of a  period which was in
 a sense classic1 but was in a still    
more definite  sense aristocratic4      
,there the ,classicist was the artistic 
aristocrat  because the ,calvinist was  
the spiritual aristocrat4 ,the          
seventeenth  century was intensely      
individualistic2 it had both in the     
noble and  the ignoble sense a respect  
for persons4 ,it had no respect whatever
  for popular traditions2 and it was in 
the midst of its purely logical  and    
legal excitement that most of the       

popular traditions died4 ,the           
,parliament appeared and the people     
disappeared4 ,the arts were put under   
patrons1 where they had once been under 
patron saints4 ,the schools and         
colleges at once strengthened and       
narrowed the ,new ,learning1 making  it 
something rather peculiar to one country
 and one class4 ,a few men  talked a    
great deal of good ,latin1 where all men
 had once talked a  little bad ,latin4  
,but they talked even the good ,latin so
 that no  ,latinist in the world could  
understand them4 ,they confined all     
study  of the classics to that of the   
most classical period1 and grossly      
exaggerated the barbarity and barrenness
 of patriotic ,greek or medival  ,latin4
 ,it is as if a man said that because   
the ,english translation of  the ,bible 
is perhaps the best ,english in the     
world1 therefore ,addison  and ,pater   
and ,newman are not worth reading4 ,we  
can imagine what men  in such a mood    
would have said of the rude rhymed      

hexameters of the  monks2 and it is not 
unnatural that they should have felt a  
reaction  against rhyme itself4 ,for the
 history of rhyme is the history of     
something else1 very vast and sometimes 
invisible1 certainly somewhat           
indefinable1 against which they were in 
aristocratic rebellion4    ,that thing  
is difficult to define in impartial     
modern terms4 ,it might  well be called 
,romance1 and that even in a more       
technical sense1  since it corresponds  
to the rise of the ,romance languages as
 distinct  from the ,roman language4 ,it
 might more truly be called ,religion1  
for  historically it was the gradual    
re-emergence of ,europe through the     
,dark ,ages1 because it still had one   
religion1 though no longer one  rule4   
,it was1 in short1 the creation of      
,christendom4 ,it may be called         
,legend1 for it is true that the most   
overpowering presence in it is  that of 
omnipresent and powerful popular legend2
 so that things that  may never have    

happened1 or1 as some say1 could never  
have happened1  are nevertheless rooted 
in our racial memory like things that   
have  happened to ourselves4 ,the whole 
,arthurian ,cycle1 for instance1 seems  
something more real than reality4 ,if   
the faces in that darkness of the  ,dark
 ,ages1 ,lancelot and ,arthur and       
,merlin and ,modred1 are indeed faces   
in a dream1 they are like faces in a    
real dream3 a dream in a bed and  not a 
dream in a book4 ,subconsciously at     
least1 ,i should be much less  surprised
 if ,arthur were to come again than ,i  
should be if the ,superman  were to come
 at all4 ,again1 the thing might be     
called ,gossip3 a noble  name1 having in
 it the name of ,god and one of the most
 generous and  genial of the relations  
of men4 ,for ,i suppose there has seldom
 been a  time when such a mass of       
culture and good traditions of craft and
 song  have been handed down orally1 by 
one universal buzz of conversation1     
through centuries of ignorance down to  

centuries of greater knowledge4         
,education must have been an eternal    
viva voce examination2 but the  men     
passed their examination4 ,at least they
 went out in such rude  sense masters of
 art as to create the ,song of ,roland  
and the round  ,roman arches that carry 
the weight of so many ,gothic towers4   
,finally1  of course1 it can be called  
ignorance1 barbarism1 black             
superstition1  a reaction towards       
obscurantism and old night2 and such a  
view is  eminently complete and         
satisfactory1 only that it leaves behind
 it a  sort of weak wonder as to why the
 very youngest poets do still go on     
writing poems about the sword of ,arthur
 and the horn of ,roland4    ,all this  
was but the beginning of a process which
 has two great points  of interest4 ,the
 first is the way in which the medival  
movement did  rebuild the old ,roman    
civilisation2 the other was the way in  
which it  did not4 ,a strange interest  
attaches to the things which had never  

existed in the pagan culture and did    
appear in the ,christian culture4 ,i    
think it is true of most of them that   
they had a quality that can very        
approximately be described as popular1  
or perhaps as vulgar1 as indeed  we     
still talk of the languages which at    
that time liberated themselves  from    
,latin as the vulgar tongues4 ,and to   
many ,classicists these things  would   
appear to be vulgar in a more vulgar    
sense4 ,they were vulgar in  the sense  
of being vivid almost to excess1 of     
making a very direct and                
unsophisticated appeal to the emotions4 
,the first law of heraldry was  to wear 
the heart upon the sleeve4 ,such        
medivalism was the reverse of  mere     
mysticism1 in the sense of mere mystery2
 it might more truly be  described as   
sensationalism4 ,one of these things1   
for instance1 was a  hot and even an    
impatient love of colour4 ,it learned to
 paint before  it could draw1 and could 
afford the twopence coloured long before

 it  could manage the penny plain4 ,it  
culminated at last1 of course1 in the   
energy and gaiety of the ,gothic2 but   
even the richness of ,gothic rested  on 
a certain psychological simplicity4 ,we 
can contrast it with the  classic by    
noting its popular passion for telling a
 story in stone4 ,we  may admit that a  
,doric portico is a poem1 but no one    
would describe it  as an anecdote4 ,the 
time was to come when much of the       
imagery of the  cathedrals was to be    
lost2 but it would have mattered the    
less that  it was defaced by its enemies
 if it had not been already neglected by
  its friends4 ,it would have mattered  
less if the whole tide of taste  among  
the rich had not turned against the old 
popular masterpieces4 ,the  ,puritans   
defaced them1 but the ,cavaliers did not
 truly defend them4  ,the ,cavaliers    
also were aristocrats of the new        
classical culture1 and  used the word   
,gothic in the sense of barbaric4 ,for  
the benefit of the  ,teutonists we may  

note in parenthesis that1 if this phrase
 meant that  ,gothic was despised1 it   
also meant that ,goths were despised4   
,but when  the ,cavaliers came back1    
after the ,puritan interregnum1 they    
restored  not in the style of ,pugin but
 in the style of ,wren4 ,the very thing 
we call the ,restoration1 which was the 
restoration of ,king ,charles1  was also
 the restoration of ,st4 ,paul's4 ,and  
it was a very modern  restoration4      
,so far we might say that simple people 
do not like simple things4 ,this  is    
certainly true if we compare the classic
 with these highly-coloured  things of  
medivalism1 or all the vivid visions    
which first began to  glow in the night 
of the ,dark ,ages4 ,now1 one of these  
things was the  romantic expedient      
called rhyme4 ,and even in this1 if we  
compare the  two1 we shall see something
 of the same paradox by which the simple
  like complexities and the complex like
 simplicities4 ,the ignorant liked  rich
 carvings and melodious and often       

ingenious rhymes4 ,the learned  liked   
bare walls and blank verse4 ,but in the 
case of rhyme it is  peculiarly         
difficult to define the double and yet  
very definite truth4  ,it is difficult  
to define the sense in which rhyme is   
artificial and  the sense in which it is
 simple4 ,in truth it is simple because 
it is  artificial4 ,it is an artifice of
 the kind enjoyed by children and other 
poetic people2 it is a toy4 ,as a       
technical accomplishment it stands  at  
the same distance from the popular      
experience as the old popular  sports4  
,like swimming1 like dancing1 like      
drawing the bow1 anybody  can do it1 but
 nobody can do it without taking the    
trouble to do it2  and only a few can do
 it very well4 ,in a hundred ways it was
 akin to  that simple and even humble   
energy that made all the lost glory of  
the guilds4 ,thus their rhyme was useful
 as well as ornamental4 ,it was  not    
merely a melody but also a mnemonic2    
just as their towers were  not merely   

trophies but beacons and belfries4 ,in  
another aspect rhyme  is akin to        
rhetoric1 but of a very positive and    
emphatic sort3 the  coincidence of sound
 giving the effect of saying1 ,it is    
certainly so4  ,shakespeare realised    
this when he rounded off a fierce or    
romantic  scene with a rhymed couplet4  
,i know that some critics do not like   
this1 but ,i think there is a moment    
when a drama ought to become a          
melodrama4 ,then there is a much older  
effect of rhyme that can only be  called
 mystical1 which may seem the very      
opposite of the utilitarian1  and almost
 equally remote from the rhetorical4    
,yet it shares with the  former the     
tough texture of something not easily   
forgotten1 and with  the latter the     
touch of authority which is the aim of  
all oratory4  ,the thing ,i mean may be 
found in the fact that so many of the   
old  proverbial prophecies1 from ,merlin
 to ,mother ,shipton1 were handed down  
in rhyme4 ,it can be found in the very  

name of ,thomas the ,rhymer4    ,but the
 simplest way of putting this popular   
quality is in a single  word3 it is a   
song4 ,rhyme corresponds to a melody so 
simple that it  goes straight like an   
arrow to the heart4 ,it corresponds to a
 chorus so  familiar and obvious that   
all men can join in it4 ,i am not       
disturbed  by the suggestion that such  
an arrow of song1 when it hits the      
heart1  may entirely miss the head4 ,i  
am not concerned to deny that the chorus
  may sometimes be a drunken chorus1 in 
which men have lost their heads  to find
 their tongues4 ,i am not defending but 
defining2 ,i am trying to  find words   
for a large but elusive distinction     
between certain things  that are        
certainly poetry and certain other      
things which are also song4  ,of course 
it is only an accident that ,horace     
opens his greatest series  of odes by   
saying that he detests the profane      
populace and wishes to  drive them from 
his temple of poetry4 ,but it is the    

sort of accident  that is almost an     
allegory4 ,there is even a sense in     
which it has a  practical side4 ,when   
all is said1 could a whole crowd of men 
sing  the ,descende ,clo1 that noble    
ode1 as a crowd can certainly sing the  
,dies ,irae1 or for that matter ,down   
among the ,dead ,men8 ,did ,horace      
himself sing the ,horatian odes in the  
sense in which ,shakespeare could  sing1
 or could hardly help singing1 the      
,shakespearean songs4 ,i do not  know1  
having no kind of scholarship on these  
points4 ,but ,i do not feel  that it    
could have been at all the same thing2  
and my only purpose is  to attempt a    
rude description of that thing4 ,rhyme  
is consonant to the  particular kind of 
song that can be a popular song1 whether
 pathetic or  passionate or comic2 and  
,milton is entitled to his true         
distinction2  nobody is likely to sing  
,paradise ,lost as if it were a song of 
that  kind4 ,i have tried to suggest my 
sympathy with rhyme1 in terms true      

enough to be accepted by the other side 
as expressing their antipathy  for it4  
,i have admitted that rhyme is a toy and
 even a trick1 of the  sort that        
delights children4 ,i have admitted that
 every rhyme is a  nursery rhyme4 ,what 
,i will never admit is that anyone who  
is too big  for the nursery is big      
enough for the ,kingdom of ,god1 though 
the ,god  were only ,apollo4    ,a good 
critic should be like ,god in the great 
saying of a ,scottish  mystic4 ,george  
,macdonald said that ,god was easy to   
please and hard to  satisfy4 ,that      
paradox is the poise of all good        
artistic appreciation4  ,without the    
first part of the paradox appreciation  
perishes1 because  it loses the power to
 appreciate4 ,good criticism1 ,i repeat1
 combines  the subtle pleasure in a     
thing being done well with the simple   
pleasure  in it being done at all4 ,it  
combines the pleasure of the scientific 
engineer in seeing how the wheels work  
together to a logical end with  the     

pleasure of the baby in seeing the      
wheels go round4 ,it combines  the      
pleasure of the artistic draughtsman in 
the fact that his lines  of charcoal1   
light and apparently loose1 fall exactly
 right and in  a perfect relation with  
the pleasure of the child in the fact   
that  the charcoal makes marks of any   
kind on the paper4 ,and in the same     
fashion it combines the critic's        
pleasure in a poem with the child's     
pleasure in a rhyme4 ,the historical    
point about this kind of poetry1  the   
rhymed romantic kind1 is that it rose   
out of the ,dark ,ages with  the whole  
of this huge popular power behind it1   
the human love of a  song1 a riddle1 a  
proverb1 a pun or a nursery rhyme2 the  
sing-song of  innumerable children's    
games1 the chorus of a thousand         
camp-fires and a  thousand taverns4     
,when poetry loses its link with all    
these people who  are easily pleased it 
loses all its power of giving pleasure4 
,when a  poet looks down on a rhyme it  

is1 ,i will not say as if he looked down
  on a daisy 7which might seem possible 
to the more literal-minded71  but rather
 as if he looked down on a lark because 
he had been up in a  balloon4 ,it is    
cutting away the very roots of poetry2  
it is revolting  against nature because 
it is natural1 against sunshine because 
it is  bright1 or mountains because they
 are high1 or moonrise because it is    
mysterious4 ,the freezing process began 
after the ,reformation with a           
fastidious search for finer yet freer   
forms2 to-day it has ended in           
formlessness4    ,but the joke of it is 
that even when it is formless it is     
still  fastidious4 ,the new anarchic    
artists are not ready to accept         
everything4 ,they are not ready to      
accept anything except anarchy4  ,unless
 it observes the very latest conventions
 of unconventionality1  they would rule 
out anything classic as coldly as any   
classic ever  ruled out anything        
romantic4 ,but the classic was a form2  

and there was  even a time when it was a
 new form4 ,the men who invented        
,sapphics did  invent a new metre2 the  
introduction of ,elizabethan blank verse
 was  a real revolution in literary     
form4 ,but vers libre1 or nine-tenths   
of it1 is not a new metre any more than 
sleeping in a ditch is a new  school of 
architecture4 ,it is no more a          
revolution in literary form  than eating
 meat raw is an innovation in cookery4  
,it is not even  original1 because it is
 not creative2 the artist does not      
invent  anything1 but only abolishes    
something4 ,but the only point about it 
that is to my present purpose is        
expressed in the word pride4 ,it is  not
 merely proud in the sense of being     
exultant1 but proud in the sense  of    
being disdainful4 ,such outlaws are more
 exclusive than aristocrats2  and their 
anarchical arrogance goes far beyond the
 pride of ,milton and  the aristocrats  
of the ,new ,learning4 ,and this final  
refinement has  completed the work which

 the saner aristocrats began1 the work  
now  most evident in the world3 the     
separation of art from the people4 ,i   
need not insist on the sensational and  
self-evident character of that          
separation4 ,i need not recommend the   
modern poet to attempt to sing his  vers
 libres in a public house4 ,i need not  
even urge the young ,imagist  to read   
out a number of his disconnected ,images
 to a public meeting4  ,the thing is not
 only admitted but admired4 ,the old    
artist remained  proud in spite of his  
unpopularity2 the new artist is proud   
because of  his unpopularity2 perhaps it
 is his chief ground for pride4         
,dwelling as ,i do in the ,dark ,ages1  
or at latest among the medival          
fairy-tales1 ,i am yet moved to remember
 something ,i once read in a  modern    
fairy-tale4 ,as it happens1 ,i have     
already used the name of  ,george       
,macdonald2 and in the best of his books
 there is a description  of how a young 
miner in the mountains could always     

drive away the  subterranean goblins if 
he could remember and repeat any kind of
  rhyme4 ,the impromptu rhymes were     
often doggerel1 as was the dog-,latin   
of many monkish hexameters or the burden
 of many rude ,border ballads4  ,but ,i 
have a notion that they drove away the  
devils1 blue devils of  pessimism and   
black devils of pride4 ,anyhow ,madame  
,montessori1 who has  apparently been   
deploring the educational effects of    
fairy-tales1 would  probably see in me a
 pitiable example of such early         
perversion1 for  that image which was   
one of my first impressions seems likely
 enough to  be one of my last2 and when 
the noise of many new and original      
musical  instruments1 with strange      
shapes and still stranger noises1 has   
passed  away like a procession1 ,i shall
 hear in the succeeding silence only a  
rustle and scramble among the rocks and 
a boy singing on the mountain4          
,,psycho-,,analysis ,,and ,,the ,,novel 
,by ,j4 ,d4 ,,beresford      ,i    ,if  

the opinion of the reviewer represents  
in any degree the opinion of  the       
public1 psycho-analysis is becoming at  
once the craze and the curse  of the    
modern novelist4 ,the chief persons of  
the story1 we gather1  are no longer    
units1 recognisable illustrations of    
acceptable and  well-defined types of   
character1 but tend to split horribly   
into their  component parts1 revealing  
the workings of their unconscious minds 
with a spiritual immodesty worthy of the
 immortal ,sally ,beauchamp4 ,our       
heroes suffer from dipus complexes with 
a unanimity that must appear  altogether
 perverse to a generation reared on the 
works of ,charles  ,dickens1 who        
consistently regarded all mothers as    
criminal1 negligible1  or insane4 ,our  
heroines are become either displayed    
specimens of morbid  pathology or       
increasingly middle-aged4 ,finally1 and 
as a culminating  horror1 we            
occasionally come across a novel written
 with such a single  regard for the     

subjective emotions that the objective  
personality  appears only now and then  
as an uncompleted cast momentarily      
lifted1  for examination1 from the      
matrix4    ,moreover1 these symptoms and
 their like--,i still adapt and condense
  the current opinions of the outraged  
reviewer--exhibit an inclination  to    
multiply4 ,we picture the admirer of the
 world's most successful  novelist      
7,harold ,bell ,wright7 as arching his  
back and spitting  furiously at the     
first indication of a ,freudian thesis4 
,and1 to  conclude the indictment1 it is
 plain that unless the novel-writing    
disciples of the ,vienna and ,zurich    
schools of psychology can  promptly be  
bled to death--they have1 thank ,god1   
quite miserable  circulations6--their   
influence may permeate and vitiate that 
sane  and admirable method which has    
given us an ,ethel ,m4 ,dell1 a ,temple 
,thurston1 or a ,zane ,grey4    ,this   
indictment represents1 no doubt1 an     
extremist attitude1 the  opinion of that

 multitude which must have its heroines 
pure and its  morality undiluted2 but it
 cannot be neglected solely on that     
account4  ,and when we recognise1 as we 
must1 that authentic critics have also  
shown a bias in the same direction1 we  
have established a case that  demands   
both a literary and a scientific        
consideration4    ,our analysis1        
however1 must begin with certain        
exclusions4 ,if we are  to test the     
influence of psycho-analysis on the     
novel as an art-form  we must take into 
account not only the effect1 but also   
the manner  of the incidence4 ,for it is
 manifest that of all theories of the   
nature of man ever put forward by a     
reputable scientist1 that of  ,sigmund  
,freud is the most attractive and       
adaptable for the purposes  of fiction4 
,it was a theory of sex1 the all but    
universal theme of  the novel2 it       
emphasised various peculiarities of     
thought1 feeling1  and action that no   
observant1 and1 a fortiori1 no          

introspective  novelist could thereafter
 overlook2 it gave a new mystery to the 
human  mind2 adumbrated the suggestion  
of a freer morality by dwelling upon    
the physical and spiritual necessity for
 the liberation of impulse2  and1 last  
temptation of the enervated seeker for  
new themes1 provided  material for      
comparatively unworked complications of 
motive4    ,now1 these appeals have     
inevitably influenced the writing of    
just those  experimenters and           
opportunists whose novels ,i wish to    
exclude from  our analysis4 ,their      
productions can only be indicative of a 
passing  fashion2 their value1 at best1 
such as the future historian may find   
in the record of the epidemic symptoms  
they have documented4 ,but since  novels
 of this type have a particular         
significance1 both in relation  to our  
present purpose and to all literary     
criticism of this form of  expression1  
we must in the first place arrive at a  
clear understanding  of the quality that

 differentiates them from those other   
works which1  whatever their failings1  
have another representative value4      
,taking1 then1 an extreme and therefore 
ideal example1 ,i submit that  the      
essential difference is that between    
pure observation and pure  feeling1 or  
variously between an intellectual as    
opposed to an  emotional response to    
experience4 ,in the case of the         
experimenters  we are considering1 such 
a subject as psycho-analysis is studied 
from the surface1 the facts and general 
teachings are memorised and  then       
applied1 more or less arbitrarily1 to   
the invented or observed  characters who
 figure in the story4 ,such a method    
when brilliantly used  may produce an   
impression of truth1 may even in rare   
cases lead to  discovery1 but in its    
essence it is mechanical1 a mere        
collection and  presentation of material
 that has not been assimilated1 and     
hence very  slightly transmuted by the  
writer4    ,the opposed example is that 

in which the study of1 say1             
psycho-analysis  comes to the           
understanding of the writer as a formula
 that interprets  for him a mode of     
experience4 ,he has1 let us assume1 been
 aware of  and puzzled by a habit of    
thought or feeling which is suddenly and
  beautifully illuminated for him by the
 application of this new formula4  ,nor1
 in the truly representative instance1  
does the process halt at the  first     
discovery1 but continues to open        
resolutions of old difficulties  hardly 
recognised as such until they fall      
within the scope of the new  criterion4 
,the danger that besets the young       
disciple in the first  ecstasies of such
 an adventure is that he will inevitably
 be tempted to  apply his touchstone too
 generally1 to imagine that his formula 
will  explain all life4    ,in such a   
case as this the manner of incidence1 to
 which ,i referred1  differs markedly   
from the first example4 ,here we get a  
sense of  interpenetration and          

subsequent assimilation1 in the former  
case rather  of obliquity and           
reflection2 the true difference being   
that one writer  finds in               
psycho-analysis an aid to the           
understanding of human thought  and     
action1 the other merely a useful piece 
to add to his repertoire4  ,and1 finally
 in this connection1 one has true value 
as evidence of the  validity of the     
theory2 the other has not4    ,having   
thus cleared the ground by eliminating  
more particularly those  literary       
experiments in applied psychology that  
have had such an  irritant action on the
 nerves of the reviewer1 ,i propose to  
test the  applicability of              
psycho-analysis to fiction by a brief   
examination of  certain aspects of the  
work of a writer who had not heard of   
,freud and  never attempted to          
anticipate his method4 ,dostoevsky1 in  
fact1 from our  point of view1 may be   
regarded primarily as a patient rather  
than as a  doctor4    ,of his life up to

 the age of seven years we lack that    
information  which would provide us with
 the last triumphant detail of proof4   
,it  is exceedingly improbable that that
 detail will ever be forthcoming4  ,but 
it is a fairly safe inference from the  
later evidence that at some  time in the
 course of those earlier years he       
suffered either some  shock of terror or
 stress of misery that initiated the    
trauma which  was later confirmed and   
emphasised by his experience on the     
scaffold4  ,this inference is inherently
 probable1 and since it might           
conceivably  be confirmed by research   
and could not conceivably be disproved1 
we  may assume it as a premise1 although
 it is not absolutely essential         
pathologically4    ,for the remainder of
 his life we see him beyond all shadow  
of doubt  suffering from a neurosis     
that1 even if it were not the cause1 was
  the accompaniment and not the result  
of his epilepsy4 ,the form taken  by    
this neurosis has been provisionally    

termed an inferiority  complex4 ,in its 
milder and practically harmless forms it
 is perhaps  the commonest instance of a
 morbid inhibition1 despite the fact    
that--pace ,dr4 ,freud--it depends more 
on the power principle of  ,adler than  
on the pleasure-pain principle so       
tediously insisted upon  by the ,vienna 
school4 ,the symptoms in aggravated     
cases exhibit on the  one side an       
exaggerated humility1 and on the other  
an intolerant use  of any adventitious  
opportunity for the use of power4 ,two  
instances of  everyday experience taken 
from a text-book of psycho-analysis are3
 ,the  driver of a heavy van brutally   
threatening the temporarily inferior    
pedestrian by the threat of running him 
down2 and the ordinarily  meek woman who
 takes a delight in exerting temporary  
superiority of  position1 it may be in  
such a trivial act as keeping anyone    
waiting by  a pretence of inattention4  
,dostoevsky1 however1 has himself       
analysed the condition so perfectly     

that his study might well find a place  
in a medical library as the  ideal type 
of this particular neurosis4 ,the       
supposed autobiographer  7his name does 
not appear7 in ,notes from              
,underground#bb is1 perhaps1  too       
intelligently aware of his own          
condition1 but it is evident  that      
,dostoevsky's purpose could only be     
fully served by the form of  a personal 
confession4 ,it is1 indeed1 a confession
 that holds no  reserves4 ,in the       
earlier part of the story we see the    
assumed writer of  the notes suffering  
agonies from the consciousness of his   
humiliation4  ,this is followed by two  
attempts to assert himself1 both futile4
 ,we  then see him in a contest with his
 servant1 ,apollon1 whose condition  is 
a reflex of his own4 ,and1 finally1 we  
get the representative  instance of a   
brutal use of temporary superiority of  
position in his  dealings with the      
unfortunate little prostitute1 ,liza4   
,moreover1 the  title is conclusive4    

,the underground is clearly indicated as
 that of  the mind1 and if the story had
 been written within the last ten years 
the author would have been accused by   
the reviewers of having steeped  himself
 in the writings of the psycho-analysts4
 ,the opening sentences1  indeed1 would 
probably have been a little too much for
 the sensitive1  since the sketch       
begins3 ,i am a sick man 444 ,i am a    
spiteful man4 ,i am  an unattractive    
man4 ,i believe my liver is diseased4   
,however1 ,i know  nothing at all about 
my disease1 and do not know for certain 
what ails  me4          #bb ,the novels 
of ,feodor ,dostoevsky4 ,vol4 ,x4 ,white
 ,nights             and ,other         
,stories4 ,constance ,garnett's         
translations4             ,heinemann4   
,this one story would be almost         
sufficient testimony as to ,dostoevsky's
  own condition1 the essential part of  
it coming1 as it does1 not from         
observation1 but from the underground of
 the writer's own mind4  ,but if we need

 further evidence it can be found in    
almost any of  ,dostoevsky's novels3 the
 valet in ,the ,brothers ,karamazov is a
 fine  example2 ,prince ,myshkin in ,the
 ,idiot develops the theme in its  less 
self-conscious aspect2 there is more    
than one example in ,the  ,possessed4   
,but the truth is that1 once started on 
this scent1 the  student of ,dostoevsky 
cannot fail to conclude that the type   
dominates  both the characterisation and
 the atmosphere of all his works4       
,yet if our diagnosis rested solely on  
this evidence the inference would  be   
open to attack by the layman on the     
grounds that ,dostoevsky wrote of  the  
,russian as he knew him2 and has not    
,russia as a country exhibited          
precisely the symptoms of the neurosis  
we have been describing8  ,centuries of 
suppression and humiliation have been at
 work to foster  and confirm the complex
 which we now see in its typical        
expression1  although passing1 as did   
that of the ,french in the last years of

 the  eighteenth century1 towards its   
natural sublimation4    ,but our        
evidence goes beyond the examination of 
,dostoevsky's  imaginative writings--in 
which1 by the way1 he was continually   
able1  within certain limitations1 to   
sublimate his own complex4 ,indeed1 it  
was not by his novels but by a study of 
his letters that ,i1 personally1  was   
led in the first instance to attempt the
 diagnosis4 ,in the letters  we must    
look chiefly for autobiographical       
indications rather than for  the        
emergence of the unconscious wisdom that
 enriches the novels1  but would be     
checked by the realisation of addressing
 a particular  individual4    ,the first
 of them that attracted my attention was
 the adulatory tone  of the letters     
begging for patronage1 written just     
before the release  from ,siberia4 ,one 
regrets1 in reading them1 that genius   
could so bemean  itself4 ,the common    
excuse for the tone of them is that     
,dostoevsky  was ill and over-tried by  

his recent experiences1 but it is just  
in  such circumstances as these that one
 looks for the expression of  the       
dominant individuality4 ,in any case ,i 
prefer the pathological  explanation4   
,then we come to the consideration of   
his jealousy of  ,turgenev1 and of the  
unfortunate meeting of the two men in   
,switzerland4  ,all ,dostoevsky's       
resentment and his behaviour at the     
meeting in  question are readily        
explicable by the theory of his         
neurosis1 but the  need for impartiality
 demands that we should ask if a        
perfectly normal  explanation is        
forthcoming4 ,personally ,i have failed 
to find one that  is consistent with an 
unprejudiced interpretation of          
,dostoevsky's  general character4 ,apart
 from his prepossession1 he exhibits    
traits of  gentleness1 affection1 and   
tolerance that do not appear to me      
consonant  with his treatment of        
,turgenev4 ,he did not seek to belittle 
his other  contemporaries4 ,but1 in this

 instance1 like the hero of ,notes from 
,underground1 he could not resist the   
unconscious desire to try and  jostle   
his superior from the pavement4#bc      
#bc ,cf4 op4 cit41 pp4 #hg1 et seq4     
,for our present purpose1 however1 it is
 not necessary to prove that            
,dostoevsky himself was the victim of a 
particular neurosis--although  the      
argument is slightly strengthened if    
that hypothesis be  admitted--since it  
is primarily only my intention to show  
that certain  morbid conditions of mind1
 now clearly indicated and with obvious 
limitations explained by the            
psycho-analysts1 may be artistically    
treated in the best fiction4 ,another   
instance of this1 which may  be briefly 
referred to1 is that afforded by the    
writings of ,d4 ,h4  ,lawrence1 who in  
all his novels has demonstrated with the
 passionate  conviction that is a       
witness to his genius the strange and   
occasionally  dissociated workings of   
the unconscious mind4 ,in this case we  

are  confronted with just such a sex    
obsession as delights the faithful      
disciples of the ,vienna school1 but the
 particular type of complex is  not of  
any importance in this connection4      
,,ii    ,the result of our preliminary  
examination may be summarised as the    
posing of two deductions3 the first1    
that the deliberate1 intellectual  use  
in the pages of a novel of the teachings
 of psycho-analysis  produces an effect 
upon the reader that may be variously   
irritating1  unconvincing1 and          
negligible1 but is rarely1 if ever1     
psychologically  valuable2 the second1  
that a writer of genius such as         
,dostoevsky has1  in one sense1         
forestalled the conclusions of this     
branch of psychology  and used them to  
the benefit of literature4 ,at first    
sight these two  deductions may appear  
to disclose an inherent contradiction1  
namely1  that the theories of           
psycho-analysis can and cannot be used  
for the  purposes of fiction2 but this  

apparent contradiction is instantly     
resolved by a consideration of the      
manner of treatment4 ,briefly we may    
assume that1 according to precedent1 a  
true form of self-expression  must bear 
the impress of spontaneity1 and hence   
that a novelist's  learning is          
comparatively valueless to him until it 
has been so  assimilated and transmuted 
as to become a personal experience and  
conviction4    ,this last proposition1  
however1 opens the second phase of our  
thesis1  presenting as it does the      
obvious deduction that such a theory as 
that  of psycho-analysis properly       
comprehended and applied may become a   
powerful influence in the novel of the  
future4 ,but to decide that we  must    
consider1 first1 how far the theory is a
 new one1 and1 secondly1  in what       
respects it illuminates the problems of 
normal psychology4    ,the answer to the
 first question can be stated quite     
briefly4 ,the  knowledge of the facts   
upon which ,freud's pathological method 

was  founded are as old as folk-lore4   
,certain symbols that the modern        
practitioner recognises as having a     
peculiar significance in the  dreams of 
his patient are the same symbols that   
were used not only in  ,greek and ,norse
 mythologies1 but also in the most      
primitive rites of  the savage4 ,what is
 new is primarily the pathological      
method by which  the unconscious mind   
may be induced to reveal its dangerous  
secrets2  but from the study of this    
method there is arising the outline of a
  new psychology for which we have no   
true precedent4 ,glimmerings and  faint 
foreshadowings there may have been1 but 
no sure recognition or  understanding2  
and the answer to our second question   
involves some  inquiry into what this   
new psychology implies4    ,let me begin
 by saying that psycho-analysis throws  
very little light  on the problem of the
 survival of the personality1 and ,dr4  
,jung1 in  his address to the ,society  
for ,psychical ,research last ,april1   

refused  to admit the probability of any
 authentic message having been received 
from departed spirits4 ,we are able1    
therefore1 to confine ourselves         
strictly to the study of humanity in its
 normal1 that is to say1 in its         
terrestrial1 condition1 and find our    
main point of convergence from  older   
psychologies in the intensive           
observation of that element of our      
make-up which is now commonly spoken of 
as the unconscious4    ,a scholarly     
history designed to collate the main    
facts of man's  attitude towards and    
tentative realisations of his own       
duality  would make uncommonly          
interesting reading2 but outside        
religion and  imaginative literature no 
real attempt was made to characterise   
the  unconscious mind until ,freud began
 to practise a pathology that relied    
upon the interpretation of dreams as an 
essential part of the method  of        
diagnosis4 ,in the past the oneirocritic
 was solely concerned with  the         

significance of the dream in so far as  
it foretold the future2 the  ,freudian  
analysis1 before ,jung restored the     
balance of factors1 was  equally        
single-minded in relating it to the     
past4 ,and this change of  attitude--so 
startling in its implications that it   
almost makes a break  in the continuity 
of thought--tended very quickly to      
crystallise a host  of speculations that
 had awaited a unifying hypothesis4 ,for
 this method  of interpreting the dream1
 supported as it was by verifiable      
results  in the patient's nervous1      
mental1 and physical condition1 could   
only  signify that we are endowed with a
 double consciousness1 and that under  a
 suitable stimulus the deeper           
consciousness could be examined and1  as
 ,i have said1 characterised4 ,we are1  
in short1 confronted with the  theorem  
of a dual personality#bd in every human 
being1 in which the  second person has  
peculiar and essential functions1 both  
in connection  with our sanity and with 

our physical well-being4 ,what precisely
 is  the scope of these functions we are
 not yet in a position to say1 but  we  
can formulate with reasonable certainty 
various characteristic  activities1     
tendencies and modes of expression1     
common to this second  personality1 that
 are of the greatest importance to      
modern psychology4          #bd ,in     
using the term dual personality ,i beg  
an             essential question for   
the sake of a convenient image2         
but it must not be assumed that what ,i 
describe             hereafter as a     
second personality is recognised        
as such by psychologists4 ,it is        
possible that the                       
unconscious bears some such relation to 
the conscious             as desire     
bears to purpose1 instinct to reason1 or
             reflexive to deliberative  
action4 ,but see also in this           
connection ,de l',inconscient au        
,conscient1 by ,dr4             ,gustave
 ,geley1 ,paris4 #aiai4    ,we must1 for

 example1 face the deduction that the   
unconscious can  suffer from a queer and
 hitherto unrecognised form of          
ill-health4  ,a sudden fright1 for      
instance1 more particularly in          
childhood1 has  apparently the effect of
 breaking the liaison in this one       
particular  relation between the        
conscious and the unconscious minds4    
,the shock  itself1 whatever it may be1 
is not remembered by the conscious mind1
  and this failure of contact between   
the unconscious and objective  reality  
seems to produce a condition comparable 
to nervous worry4  ,speaking            
figuratively1 one may say that the      
second personality becomes  the victim  
of a growing obsession1 and begins to   
concentrate its  efforts more and more  
upon signalling its message of distress4
 ,and  surely the strangest of all the  
strange facts that have recently  been  
described concerning this amazing       
partnership of ours is that  the second 
personality cannot communicate with the 

first except in  the language of symbol4
 ,the means by which that vital message 
can  be transmitted is1 generally1 in   
the first instance by a dream4 ,but     
this dream does not picture the actual  
circumstances of the original  shock1   
but seeks to describe it by a method    
that ,dr4 ,maurice ,nicoll  has compared
 to that of the political cartoon4      
,night after night the  message of      
distress is delivered with diligent     
ingenuity in a picture  language the    
images of which are frequently taken    
from casual and  unimportant experiences
 of the dreamer's waking life1 such     
experiences  being presented in the form
 of an allegory which1 rightly          
interpreted1  has a bearing on the      
urgent cause of distress4 ,when this    
mode of  communication fails1 more      
drastic steps are taken and the physical
  actions of the body may be influenced 
in the form of a mania4 ,a youth  or a  
young woman shocked by a sudden sexual  
experience or revelation to  the point  

of conscious forgetfulness of the       
incident in question may  develop a     
mania for the continued cleansing of the
 hands--again1 be it  noted1 the message
 being conveyed by a symbol4 ,or the    
effect may be the  development of a     
phobia that in extreme cases may cause  
the death of  the patient4    ,now1 the 
points of immediate interest in this    
amazing process are1  firstly1 what may 
be called the anxiety of the unconscious
 to  communicate its distress2 and1     
secondly1 the inability to convey  its  
message by any means other than that of 
symbol4 ,from the former  observation it
 may perhaps be inferred1 inter alia1   
that it is vital  to the functions of   
the unconscious that it should have     
universal touch  with the objective     
realities of its partner2 from the      
second1 that  the existence of a trauma 
causing a breach between the two minds  
is  of such a nature that direct        
communication becomes impossible along  
that particular circuit4 ,for1 although 

it is true that the majority  of dreams 
emerge in this form1 they also contain  
now and then plain  statements that     
solve a perplexity2 and it is difficult 
to understand  why in cases of such     
vital urgency1 an image of the          
conditions  responsible for the original
 trauma should not be directly          
presented1  unless there is some nervous
 dissociation--it may be an actual      
physical  displacement or temporary     
rearrangement of cell tissue--producing 
a  restricted amnesia in the conscious  
mind4    ,proceeding now with the       
characterisation of the unconscious1 we 
come  to that aspect of it which has    
above all others tickled and excited    
the popular imagination4 ,in this aspect
 the unconscious figures as  the        
crouching beast of desire1 the primitive
 immoral instigator of  all the animal  
passions1 a thing of wonderful abilities
 and capable  of amazing physical       
dexterities1 but before all else        
unethical and  uncivilised4 ,but sorry  

as ,i am to destroy so romantic and     
intriguing  a creation1 ,i must admit   
that ,dr4 ,jung's researches do not     
uphold  this view of the unconscious as 
a universal type4 ,it is1 indeed1 well  
established in the mythologies and      
appears as the serpent1 a favourite     
symbol1 in the second chapter of        
,genesis2 but the individual may at     
once put away the fear1 or the hope1    
that he himself is harbouring so        
fearful a beast4 ,for1 if we may argue  
from those abnormal instances  that     
furnish the bolder illustrations of     
tendency1 we have excellent  grounds for
 following ,jung in the assumption that 
the unconscious  is the complement of   
the conscious4 ,is a man brutal1 then he
 is  suppressing the urgency to         
gentleness that wells up--an uncertain  
and  impeded flow1 no doubt--from the   
depths of his being2 and we remember    
the callous murderer exhibiting a tender
 solicitude for some feeble  animal4 ,is
 he a miser1 he is occasionally tortured

 by promptings to an  absurd generosity4
 ,is he a loose-liver1 he suffers from  
an unappeasable  longing after chastity4
 ,the saint is tempted by his           
unconscious being  to sin3 the sinner to
 renounce the devil and all his works4  
,in short1  the character of the        
unconscious is as various as the        
character of  man2 although in this     
civilised world of ours1 in which the   
dominant  restrictions of society are in
 the direction of sex and decency1 we   
are naturally inclined towards a        
generalisation that presents the        
unconscious as a creature of immodesty  
and lust4444    ,but it is unnecessary  
for the purposes of this article that ,i
 should  elaborate any further the      
larger inferences of the psycho-analysts
  with regard to the personal traits1   
influences1 and functions of this       
astonishing partner of ours4 ,all that  
,i wish to demonstrate is that  such a  
partner almost certainly exists and has 
an immense influence  upon our impulses1

 our thoughts1 and our actions4 ,and the
 critical  question we have to face is  
whether the agency of the unconscious1  
recognised now both by the philosophers 
and the psychologists1  can possibly be 
kept out of the novel4 ,personally1 ,i  
believe that  neither the distaste of   
the reviewer nor that more influential  
factor the distaste of the public will  
avail to bar the conclusions  of        
psycho-analysis from the fiction of the 
future4 ,we are coming  inevitably to a 
new test in our judgments upon human    
action and  thought1 a test that has    
been proved to be valid by many         
thousands of  well-authenticated        
experiments4 ,i am willing to admit that
 through all  the ages genius has       
anticipated laboratory and clinical     
methods1 and  that the basis of the     
psycho-analytical theory was firmly     
established  in literature before ,freud
 applied it as a pathological method4   
,but  once such a theory as this is     
established--a probability one can      

hardly  escape--how can any serious     
novelist afford to neglect the          
illumination  it throws upon the subtle 
problems of human impulse8 ,is it not   
already  tending to become a touchstone 
of the author's powers of observation   
and understanding1 helping us to        
evaluate the intellectual productions   
of the writer1 whether realist or       
romantic1 who relies upon the  evidence 
of his eyes and ears rather than upon   
his personal emotions  and experience8  
,i am aware that such a postulate as    
this contradicts in some respects       
certain implications ,i have previously 
made4 ,but it must be remembered  that  
while the novelist's best material      
undoubtedly comes from his  personal    
contacts1 almost infinitely extended by 
his powers of entering  with an         
emotional sympathy into the experiences 
of other lives either  presented or     
recounted1 he cannot entirely neglect   
the precedents  afforded by learning4   
,such precedents may only serve him as a

 test  and a formula for correction1 but
 should he overlook them altogether  he 
will be liable to fall into the error of
 regarding his personal  equation as a  
universal standard and generalise from  
the atypical4    ,and1 finally1 ,i would
 submit that we are at this moment      
passing through  a new phase of         
evolution that must have a              
characteristic effect on the  fiction of
 the future--if the form of the novel   
survives the change4  ,we may study the 
first evidences of this strange         
partnership of ours  in the lower       
animals4 ,in the wild what we call the  
unconscious appears  to be the single   
control4 ,it represents the genius of   
instinct1 swift1  feral1 and unethical4 
,in animals1 such as the dog and the    
horse1  age-long companions of man1 we  
can trace the incipient rivalry of what 
in ourselves we regard as the           
representative consciousness4 ,the horse
  and the dog have already learnt the   
meaning of conscious inhibition4  ,at   

our command they can deny the           
spontaneous impulses of their natural   
desire4 ,in civilised man that ability  
has been cultivated until he is  able to
 present to the world and himself so    
complete an entity that we  and he      
regard it as his proper expression4     
,but1 meanwhile1 we cannot  now doubt   
that his hidden partner has evolved with
 him4 ,the impulses of  the unconscious 
are no longer simply feral and animal4  
,we are1 a trifle  unwillingly1 coming  
to the conclusion that it is this other 
shadowed  self that is responsible for  
all that is best and most permanent in  
literature4 ,it is being associated with
 genius on the one hand1 and on  the    
other with the highest dexterity in     
games of skill4 ,and is it not  possible
 that with our growing realisation of   
this co-operation the  education of the 
subconscious--as ,varisco1 the ,italian 
philosopher1  calls it--will proceed    
ever more rapidly8 ,and to what end1    
unless it be  that in the strange       

process of our earthly evolution this   
artificial  shell of the conscious will 
be gradually broken and absorbed to     
reveal  the single and relatively       
perfect individual that has been so     
steadily  developing underground8       
,,john ,,donne    ,by ,,robert ,,lynd   
,izaak ,walton in his short life of     
,donne has painted a figure of almost   
seraphic beauty4 ,when ,donne was but a 
boy1 he declares1 it was said  that the 
age had brought forth another ,pico     
della ,mirandola4 ,as a  young man in   
his twenties1 he was a prince among     
lovers1 who by his  secret marriage with
 his patron's niece--for love1 says     
,walton1  is a flattering               
mischief--purchased at first only the   
ruin of his  hopes and a term in prison4
 ,finally1 we have the later ,donne in  
the  pulpit of ,st4 ,paul's represented1
 in a beautiful adaptation of one of    
his own images1 as always preaching to  
himself1 like an angel from a  cloud1   
though in none2 carrying some1 as ,st4  

,paul was1 to ,heaven in  holy raptures1
 and enticing others by a sacred art and
 courtship to  amend their lives4 ,the  
picture is all of noble charm4 ,walton  
speaks  in one place of his winning     
behaviour--which1 when it would entice1 
had a strange kind of elegant           
irresistible art4 ,there are no harsh   
phrases even in the references to those 
irregularities of ,donne's  youth1 by   
which he had wasted the fortune of      
#cjjj--;equal1 ,i believe1  to more than
 #cj1jjj of our money--bequeathed to him
 by his father1 the  ironmonger4 ,mr4   
,donne's estate1 writes ,walton gently1 
referring to  his penury at the time of 
his marriage1 was the greatest part     
spent  in many and chargeable travels1  
books1 and dear-bought experience4 ,it  
is true that he quotes ,donne's own     
confession of the irregularities of  his
 early life4 ,but he counts them of no  
significance4 ,he also utters  a sober  
reproof of ,donne's secret marriage as  
the remarkable error  of his life4 ,but 

how little he condemned it in his heart 
is clear  when he goes on to tell us    
that ,god blessed ,donne and his wife   
with  so mutual and cordial affections1 
as in the midst of their sufferings     
made their bread of sorrow taste more   
pleasantly than the banquets of  dull   
and low-spirited people4 ,it was not for
 ,walton to go in search of  small      
blemishes in him whom he regarded as the
 wonder of the world--him  whose grave  
mournful friends strewed 444 with an    
abundance of curious  and costly        
flowers1 as ,alexander the ,great       
strewed the grave of the  famous        
,achilles4 ,in that grave there was     
buried for ,walton a whole  age         
magnificent with wit1 passion1          
adventure1 piety1 and beauty4 ,more     
than that1 the burial of ,donne was for 
him the burial of an inimitable         
,christian4 ,he mourns over that body1  
which once was a ,temple of the  ,holy  
,ghost1 and is now become a small       
quantity of ,christian dust1 and1  as he

 mourns1 he breaks off with the fervent 
prophecy1 ,but ,i shall  see it         
re-animated4 ,that is his valediction4  
,if ,donne is esteemed  three hundred   
years after his death less as a great   
,christian than  as a great pagan1 this 
is because we now look for him in his   
writings  rather than in his biography1 
in his poetry rather than in his prose1 
and in his ,songs and ,sonnets and      
,elegies rather than in his ,divine     
,poems4 ,we find1 in some of these1     
abundant evidence of the existence  of a
 dark angel at odds with the good angel 
of ,walton's raptures4 ,donne  suffered 
in his youth all the temptations of     
,faust4 ,his thirst was  not for        
salvation but for experience--experience
 of the intellect and  experience of    
sensation4 ,he has left it on record in 
one of his letters  that he was a victim
 at one period of the worst             
voluptuousness1 an  hydroptic immoderate
 desire of human learning and languages4
 ,faust  in his cell can hardly have    

been a more insatiate student than      
,donne4  ,in the most unsettled days of 
his youth1 ,walton tells us1 his bed    
was not able to detain him beyond the   
hour of four in the morning2 and  it was
 no common business that drew him out of
 his chamber till past  ten2 all which  
time was employed in study2 though he   
took great liberty  after it4 ,his      
thoroughness of study may be judged from
 the fact that  he left the resultance  
of #adjj authors1 most of them abridged 
and  analysed with his own hand4 ,but we
 need not go beyond his poems for  proof
 of the wilderness of learning that he  
had made his own4 ,he was  versed in    
medicine and the law as well as in      
theology4 ,he subdued  astronomy1       
physiology1 and geography to the needs  
of poetry4 ,nine ,muses  were not enough
 for him1 even though they included     
,urania4 ,he called  in to their aid    
,galen and ,copernicus4 ,he did not go  
to the hills and  the springs for his   
images1 but to the laboratory and the   

library1  and in the library the books  
that he consulted to the greatest effect
  were the works of men of science and  
learning1 not of the great poets  with  
whom ,london may almost be said to have 
been peopled during his  lifetime4 ,i do
 not think his verse or correspondence  
contains a single  reference to         
,shakespeare1 whose contemporary he was1
 being born only  nine years later4 ,the
 only great ,elizabethan poet whom he   
seems to have  regarded with interest   
and even friendship was ,ben ,jonson4   
,jonson's  ,catholicism may have been a 
link between them4 ,but1 more important 
than that1 ,jonson was1 like ,donne     
himself1 an inflamed pedant4 ,for  each 
of them learning was the necessary robe 
of genius4 ,jonson1 it is  true1 was a  
pedant of the classics1 ,donne of the   
speculative sciences2  but both of them 
alike ate to a surfeit of the fruit of  
the tree of  knowledge4 ,it was1 ,i     
think1 because ,donne was to so great a 
degree a  pagan of the ,renaissance1    

loving the proud things of the intellect
 more  than the treasures of the humble1
 that he found it easy to abandon the   
,catholicism of his family for          
,protestantism4 ,he undoubtedly became  
in later life a convinced and passionate
 ,christian of the ,protestant  faith1  
but at the time when he first changed   
his religion he had none  of the        
fanaticism of the pious convert4 ,he    
wrote in an early satire  as a man whom 
the intellect had liberated from        
dogma-worship4 ,nor did  he ever lose   
this rationalist tolerance4 ,you know1  
he once wrote to  a friend1 ,i have     
never imprisoned the word religion4444  
,they 7the  churches7 are all virtual   
beams of one sun4 ,few converts in those
  days of the wars of religion wrote    
with such wise reason of the creeds  as 
did ,donne in the lines3          ,to   
adore or scorn an image1 or protest1    
,may all be bad2 doubt wisely2 in       
strange way        ,to stand inquiring  
right1 is not to stray2        ,to sleep

 or run wrong is4 ,on a huge hill1      
,cragged and steep1 ,truth stands1 and  
he that will        ,reach her1 about   
must and about must go2        ,and what
 the hill's suddenness resists1 win so4 
,this surely was the heresy of an       
inquisitive mind1 not the mood of a     
theologian4 ,it betrays a tolerance     
springing from ardent doubt1 not  from  
ardent faith4    ,it is all in keeping  
with one's impression of the young      
,donne as a man  setting out bravely in 
his cockle-shell on the oceans of       
knowledge and  experience4 ,he travels1 
though he knows not why he travels4 ,he 
loves1  though he knows not why he      
loves4 ,he must escape from that        
hydroptic  immoderate thirst of         
experience by yielding to it4 ,one      
fancies that  it was in this spirit that
 he joined the expedition of ,essex to  
,cadiz  in #aeif and afterwards sailed  
to the ,azores4 ,or partly in this      
spirit1  for he himself leads one to    
think that his love-affairs may have had

  something to do with it4 ,in the      
second of those prematurely realistic   
descriptions of storm and calm relating 
to the ,azores voyage1 he writes3       
,whether a rotten state1 and hope of    
gain1        ,or to disuse me from the  
queasy pain        ,of being belov'd1   
and loving1 or the thirst        ,of    
honour1 or fair death1 out pusht me     
first4    ,in these lines we get a      
glimpse of the ,donne that has attracted
 most  interest in recent years--the    
,donne who experienced more variously   
than any other poet of his time the     
queasy pain of being beloved and        
loving4 ,donne was curious of adventures
 of many kinds1 but in nothing  more    
than in love4 ,as a youth he leaves the 
impression of having been  an ,odysseus 
of love1 a man of many wiles and many   
travels4 ,he was a  virile neurotic1    
comparable in some points to            
,baudelaire1 who was a  sensualist of   
the mind even more than of the body4    
,his sensibilities  were different as   

well as less of a piece1 but he had     
something of  ,baudelaire's taste for   
hideous and shocking aspects of lust4   
,one is not  surprised to find among his
 poems that heroical epistle of ,sappho 
to  ,philaenis1 in which he makes       
himself the casuist of forbidden things4
  ,his studies of sensuality1 however1  
are for the most part normal1  even in  
their grossness4 ,there was in him more 
of the ,yahoo than of  the decadent4    
,there was an excremental element in his
 genius as in  the genius of that other 
gloomy dean1 ,jonathan ,swift4 ,donne   
and ,swift  were alike satirists born   
under ,saturn4 ,they laughed more       
frequently  from disillusion than from  
happiness4 ,donne1 it must be admitted1 
turned his disillusion to charming as   
well as hideous uses4 ,go and  ,catch a 
,falling ,star is but one of a series of
 delightful lyrics in  disparagement of 
women4 ,in several of the ,elegies1     
however1 he throws  away his lute and   
comes to the satirist's more prosaic    

business4 ,he  writes frankly as a man  
in search of bodily experiences3        
,whoever loves1 if he do not propose    
,the right true end of love1 he's one   
that goes        ,to sea for nothing but
 to make him sick4    ,in ,love's       
,progress he lets his fancy dwell on the
 detailed geography  of a woman's body1 
with the sick imagination of a          
schoolboy1 till the  beautiful seems    
almost beastly4 ,in ,the ,anagram and   
,the ,comparison  he plays the ,yahoo at
 the expense of all women by the similes
 he uses  in insulting two of them4 ,in 
,the ,perfume he relates the story of an
  intrigue with a girl whose father     
discovered his presence in the house  as
 a result of his using scent4 ,donne's  
jest about it is suggestive of  his     
uncontrollable passion for ugliness3    
,had it been some bad smell1 he would   
have thought        ,that his own feet1 
or breath1 that smell had brought4      
,it may be contended that in ,the       
,perfume he was describing an  imaginary

 experience1 and indeed we have his own 
words on record3 ,i  did best when ,i   
had least truth for my subjects4 ,but   
even if we did  not accept ,mr4 ,gosse's
 common-sense explanation of these      
words1 we  should feel that the details 
of the story have a vividness that      
springs  straight from reality4 ,it is  
difficult to believe that ,donne had not
  actually lived in terror of the       
gigantic manservant who was set to spy  
on the lovers4    ,but the most         
interesting of all the sensual intrigues
 of ,donne1 from  the point of view of  
biography1 especially since ,mr4 ,gosse 
gave it such  commanding significance in
 that ,life of ,john ,donne in which he 
made  a living man out of a mummy1 is   
that of which we have the story in      
,jealousy and ,his ,parting from ,her4  
,it is another story of furtive  and    
forbidden love4 ,its theme is an        
intrigue carried on under a             
,husband's towering eyes1        ,that  
flamed with oily sweat of jealousy4     

,a characteristic touch of grimness is  
added to the story by making the        
husband a deformed man4 ,donne1 however1
 merely laughs at his deformity1  as he 
bids the lady laugh at the jealousy that
 reduces her to tears3          ,o give 
him many thanks1 he is courteous1       
,that in suspecting kindly warneth us4  
,we must not1 as we used1 flout openly1 
,in scoffing riddles1 his deformity2    
,nor at his board together being set1   
,with words nor touch1 scarce looks     
adulterate4    ,and he proposes that1   
now that the husband seems to have      
discovered  them they shall henceforth  
carry on their intrigue at some distance
  from where                  ,he1      
swol'n and pampered with great fare1    
,sits down and snorts1 cag'd in his     
basket chair4    ,it is an extraordinary
 story1 if it is true4 ,it throws a     
scarcely less  extraordinary light on   
the nature of ,donne's mind1 if he      
invented it4  ,at the same time1 ,i do  
not think the events it relates played  

the  important part which ,mr4 ,gosse   
assigns to them in ,donne's spiritual   
biography4 ,it is impossible to read    
,mr4 ,gosse's two volumes without       
getting the impression that the         
deplorable but eventful liaison1 as  he 
calls it1 was the most fruitful         
occurrence in ,donne's life as a  poet4 
,he discovers traces of it in one great 
poem after another--even  in the        
,nocturnal upon ,st4 ,lucy's ,day1 which
 is commonly supposed to  relate to the 
,countess of ,bedford1 and in ,the      
,funeral1 the theme of  which ,professor
 ,grierson takes to be the mother of    
,george ,herbert4 ,i  confess that the  
oftener ,i read the poetry of ,donne the
 more firmly  ,i become convinced that1 
far from being primarily the poet of    
desire  gratified and satiated1 he is   
essentially the poet of frustrated love4
  ,he is often described by the         
historians of literature as the poet who
  finally broke down the tradition of   
,platonic love4 ,i believe that1  so far

 is this from being the case1 he is the 
supreme example of a  ,platonic lover   
among the ,english poets4 ,he was       
usually ,platonic under  protest1 but at
 other times exultantly so4 ,whether he 
finally overcame  the more consistent   
,platonism of his mistress by the       
impassioned logic  of ,the ,ecstasy we  
have no means of knowing4 ,if he did1 it
 would be  difficult to resist the      
conclusion that the lady who wished to  
continue  to be his passionate friend   
and to ignore the physical side of love 
was ,anne ,more1 whom he afterwards     
married4 ,if not1 we may look for  her  
where we will1 whether in ,magdalen     
,herbert 7already a young widow  who had
 borne ten children when he first met   
her7 or in the ,countess  of ,bedford or
 in another4 ,the name is not important1
 and one is not  concerned to know it1  
especially when one remembers ,donne's  
alarming  curse on3          ,whoever   
guesses1 thinks1 or dreams he knows     
,who is my mistress4    ,one sort of    

readers will go on speculating1 hoping  
to discover real  people in the shadows1
 as they speculate about ,swift's       
,stella and  ,vanessa1 and his relations
 to them4 ,it is enough for us to feel1 
however1 that these poems railing at or 
glorying in ,platonic love  are no mere 
goldsmith's compliments1 like the rhymed
 letters to ,mrs4  ,herbert and ,lady   
,bedford4 ,miracles of this sort are not
 wrought save  by the heart4 ,we do not 
find in them the underground and        
sardonic  element that appears in so    
much of ,donne's merely amorous work4   
,we no  longer picture him as a sort of 
,vulcan hammering out the poetry of     
base love1 raucous1 powerful1 mocking4  
,he becomes in them a child of  ,apollo1
 as far as his temperament will allow   
him4 ,he makes music of so  grave and   
stately a beauty that one begins to     
wonder at all the critics  who have     
found fault with his rhythms--from ,ben 
,jonson1 who said that  for not keeping 
accent1 ,donne deserved hanging1 down to

 ,coleridge1  who declared that his muse
 on dromedary trots1 and described him  
as  rhyme's sturdy cripple4 ,coleridge's
 quatrain on ,donne is1 without  doubt1 
an unequalled masterpiece of            
epigrammatic criticism4 ,but ,donne     
rode no dromedary4 ,in his greatest     
poems he rides ,pegasus like a  master1 
even if he does rather weigh the poor   
beast down by carrying an  encyclopdia  
in his saddle-bags4    ,not only does   
,donne remain a learned man on his      
,pegasus1 however3 he  also remains a   
humorist1 a serious fantastic4 ,humour  
and passion pursue  each other through  
the labyrinth of his being1 as we find  
in those two  beautiful poems1 ,the     
,relic and ,the ,funeral1 addressed to  
the lady  who had given him a bracelet  
of her hair4 ,in the former he foretells
  what will happen if ever his grave is 
broken up and his skeleton  discovered  
with          ,a bracelet of bright hair
 about the bone4    ,people will fancy1 
he declares1 that the bracelet is a     

device of lovers          ,to make their
 souls at the last busy day        ,meet
 at the grave and make a little stay4   
,bone and bracelet will be worshipped as
 relics--the relics of a  ,magdalen and 
her lover4 ,he conjectures with a quiet 
smile3          ,all women shall adore  
us1 and some men4    ,he warns his      
worshippers1 however1 that the facts are
 far different  from what they imagine1 
and tells the miracle-seekers what in   
reality  were the miracles we harmless  
lovers wrought3          ,first we loved
 well and faithfully1        ,yet knew  
not what we lov'd1 nor why2             
,difference of sex no more we knew      
,than our guardian angels do2           
,coming and going1 we        ,perchance 
might kiss1 but not between those meals2
            ,our hands ne'er touch'd the
 seals1        ,which nature1 injur'd by
 late law1 sets free3        ,these     
miracles we did2 but now1 alas6         
,all measure1 and all language1 ,i      
should pass1        ,should ,i tell what

 a miracle she was4    ,in ,the ,funeral
 he returns to the same theme3          
,whoever comes to shroud me do not harm 
,nor question much        ,that subtle  
wreath of hair that crowns my arm2      
,the mystery1 the sign you must not     
touch1              ,for 'tis my outward
 soul4    ,in this poem1 however1 he    
finds less consolation than before in   
the too  miraculous nobleness of their  
love3          ,whate'er she meant by   
it1 bury it with me1              ,for  
since ,i am        ,love's martyr1 it   
might breed idolatry1        ,if into   
other hands these relics came2          
,as 'twas humility        ,to afford to 
it all that a soul can do1              
,so1 'tis some bravery1        ,that1   
since you would have none of me1 ,i bury
 some of you4    ,in ,the ,blossom1 he  
is in a still more earthly mood1 and    
declares  that1 if his mistress remains 
obdurate1 he will return to ,london1    
where  he will find a mistress3         
,as glad to have my body as my mind4    

,the ,primrose is another appeal for a  
less intellectual love3                 
,should she        ,be more than woman1 
she would get above        ,all thought 
of sex1 and think to move        ,my    
heart to study her1 and not to love4    
,if we turn back to ,the ,undertaking1  
however1 we find ,donne boasting  once  
more of the miraculous purity of a love 
which it would be useless  to           
communicate to other men1 since1 there  
being no other mistress to  love in the 
same kind1 they would love but as       
before4 ,hence he will  keep the tale a 
secret3          ,if1 as ,i have1 you   
also do1          ,virtue attir'd in    
woman see1        ,and dare love that1  
and say so too1          ,and forget the
 ,he and ,she2          ,and if this    
love1 though placed so1          ,from  
profane men you hide1        ,which will
 no faith on this bestow1          ,or1 
if they do1 deride3          ,then you  
have done a braver thing          ,than 
all the ,worthies did2        ,and a    

braver thence will spring1              
,which is1 to keep that hid4    ,it     
seems to me1 in view of this remarkable 
series of poems1 that it  is useless to 
look in ,donne for a single consistent  
attitude to love4  ,his poems take us   
round the entire compass of love as the 
work of no  other ,english poet--not    
even1 perhaps1 ,browning's--does4 ,he   
was by  destiny the complete            
experimentalist in love in ,english     
literature4 ,he  passed through phase   
after phase of the love of the body     
only1 phase  after phase of the love of 
the soul only1 and ended as the poet of 
the  perfect marriage4 ,in his youth he 
was a gay--but was he ever really       
gay8--free-lover1 who sang jestingly3   
,how happy were our sires in ancient    
times1        ,who held plurality of    
loves no crime6    ,by the time he      
writes ,the ,ecstasy the victim of the  
body has become  the protesting victim  
of the soul4 ,he cries out against a    
love that is  merely an ecstatic        

friendship3          ,but ,o alas1 so   
long1 so far1        ,our bodies why do 
we forbear8    ,he pleads for the       
recognition of the body1 contending that
 it is not  the enemy but the companion 
of the soul3          ,soul into the    
soul may flow          ,though it to    
body first repair4    ,the realistic    
philosophy of love has never been set   
forth with greater  intellectual        
vehemence3          ,so must pure       
lovers' souls descend          ,t'      
affections and to faculties1            
,which sense may reach and apprehend1   
,else a great ,prince in prison lies4   
,to our bodies turn we then1 that so    
,weak men on love reveal'd may look2    
,love's mysteries in souls do grow      
,but yet the body is the book4    ,i1   
for one1 find it impossible to believe  
that all this passionate  verse--verse  
in which we find the quintessence of    
,donne's genius--was a  mere utterance  
of abstract thoughts into the wind4     
,donne1 as has been  pointed out1 was   

more than most writers a poet of        
personal experience4  ,his greatest     
poetry was born of struggle and conflict
 in the obscure  depths of the soul as  
surely as was the religion of ,st4      
,paul4 ,i doubt  if1 in the history of  
his genius1 any event ever happened of  
equal  importance to his meeting with   
the lady who first set going in his     
brain that fevered dialogue between the 
body and the soul4 ,had he been  less of
 a frustrated lover1 less of a martyr1  
in whom love's                      ,art
 did express        ,a quintessence even
 from nothingness1        ,from dull    
privations and lean emptiness1    much  
of his greatest poetry1 it seems to me1 
would never have been  written4    ,one 
cannot1 unfortunately1 write the history
 of the progress of ,donne's  genius    
save by inference and guessing4 ,his    
poems were not1 with some  unimportant  
exceptions1 published in his lifetime4  
,he did not arrange  them in            
chronological or in any sort of order4  

,his poem on the flea  that has bitten  
both him and his inamorata comes after  
the triumphant  ,anniversary1 and but a 
page or two before the ,nocturnal upon  
,st4  ,lucy's ,day4 ,hence there is no  
means of telling how far we are indebted
  to the ,platonism of one woman1 how   
much to his marriage with another1  for 
the enrichment of his genius4 ,such a   
poem as ,the ,canonisation can  be      
interpreted either in a ,platonic sense 
or as a poem written to ,anne  ,more1   
who was to bring him both imprisonment  
and the liberty of love4  ,it is1 in    
either case1 written in defence of his  
love against some who  censured him for 
it3          ,for ,god's sake1 hold your
 tongue1 and let me love4    ,in the    
last verses of the poem ,donne proclaims
 that his love cannot be  measured by   
the standards of the vulgar3            
,we can die by it1 if not live by love1 
,and if unfit for tombs or hearse       
,our legend be1 it will be fit for      
verse2          ,and1 if no piece of    

chronicle we prove1              ,we'll 
build in sonnets pretty rooms2          
,as well a well-wrought urn becomes     
,the greatest ashes as half-acre tombs1 
,and by these hymns all shall approve   
,us canonis'd by love3          ,and    
thus invoke us3 ,you whom reverend love 
,made one another's hermitage2          
,you to whom love was peace1 that now is
 rage2          ,who did the whole      
world's soul contract and drove         
,into the glasses of your eyes          
7,so made such mirrors1 and such spies1 
,that they did all to you epitomise71   
,countries1 towns1 courts4 ,beg from    
above              ,a pattern of your   
love6    ,according to ,walton1 it was  
to his wife that ,donne addressed the   
beautiful verses beginning3             
,sweetest love1 ,i do not go            
,for weariness of thee2    as well as   
the series of ,valedictions4 ,of many of
 the other  love-poems1 however1 we can 
measure the intensity but not guess the 
occasion4 ,all that we can say with     

confidence when we have read them is    
that1 after we have followed one        
tributary on another leading down to    
the ultimate ,thames of his genius1 we  
know that his progress as a lover  was a
 progress from infidelity to fidelity1  
from wandering amorousness  to deep and 
enduring passion4 ,the image that is    
finally stamped on his  greatest work is
 not that of a roving adulterer1 but of 
a monotheist  of love4 ,it is true that 
there is enough ,don-,juanism in the    
poems to  have led even ,sir ,thomas    
,browne to think of ,donne's verse      
rather as a  confession of his sins than
 as a golden book of love4    ,to the   
modern reader1 on the contrary1 it will 
seem that there is  as much divinity in 
the best of the love-poems as in the    
best of  the religious ones4 ,donne's   
last word as a secular poet may well be 
regarded as having been uttered in that 
great poem in celebration of  lasting   
love1 ,the ,anniversary1 which closes   
with so majestic a sweep3          ,here

 upon earth we are kings1 and none but  
we        ,can be such kings1 nor of    
such subjects be4        ,who is so safe
 as we1 where none can do               
,treason to us1 except one of us two8   
,true and false fears let us refrain2   
,let us love nobly1 and live1 and add   
again        ,years and years unto      
years1 till we attain        ,to write  
three-score3 this is the second of our  
reign    ,donne's conversion as a lover 
was obviously as complete and           
revolutionary as his conversion in      
religion4    ,it is said1 indeed1 to    
have led to his conversion to passionate
  religion4 ,when his marriage with ,sir
 ,george ,more's sixteen-year-old       
daughter brought him at first only      
imprisonment and poverty1 he summed  up 
the sorrows of the situation in the     
famous line--a line which has  some     
additional interest as suggesting the   
correct pronunciation of his  name3     
,john ,donne2 ,anne ,donne2 ,undone4    
,his married life1 however1 in spite of 

a succession of miseries due  to        
ill-health1 debt1 and thwarted ambition1
 seems to have been happy  beyond       
prophecy2 and when at the end of sixteen
 years his wife died in  childbed1 after
 having borne him twelve children1 a    
religious crisis  resulted that turned  
his conventional churchmanship into     
sanctity4 ,his  original change from    
,catholicism to ,protestantism has been 
already  mentioned4 ,most of the        
authorities are agreed1 however1 that   
this was a  conversion in a formal      
rather than in a spiritual sense4 ,even 
when he  took ,holy ,orders in #afae1 at
 the age of forty-two1 he appears to    
have  done so less in answer to any     
impulse to a religious life from within 
than because1 with the downfall of      
,somerset1 all hope of advancement      
through his legal attainments was       
brought to an end4 ,undoubtedly1 as  far
 back as #afab1 he had thought of       
entering the ,church4 ,but at the  same 
period we find him making use of his    

legal knowledge in order to  help the   
infamous ,countess of ,essex to secure  
the annulment of her  first marriage1   
and at the end of #afac he is writing an
 epithalamium  for the murderers of ,sir
 ,thomas ,overbury4 ,it is a curious    
fact that  three great poets--,donne1   
,ben ,jonson1 and ,campion--appear1     
though  innocently enough1 in the story 
of that sordid crime4 ,donne's temper   
at the time is still clearly that of a  
man of the world4 ,his jest at  the     
expense of ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 then  
in the ,tower1 is the jest of  an       
ungenerous worldling4 ,even after his   
admission into the ,church he  reveals  
himself as ungenerously morose when the 
,countess of ,bedford1 in  trouble about
 her own extravagances1 can afford him  
no more than #cj to  pay his debts4 ,the
 truth is1 to be forty and a failure is 
an affliction  that might sour even a   
healthy nature4 ,the effect on a man of 
,donne's  ambitious and melancholy      
temperament1 together with the memory of

 his  dissipated health and his         
dissipated fortune1 and the spectacle of
 a  long family in constant process of  
increase1 must have been disastrous4    
,to such a man poverty and neglected    
merit are a prison1 as they were  to    
,swift4 ,one thinks of each of them as a
 lion in a cage1 ever growing  less and 
less patient of his bars4 ,shakespeare  
and ,shelley had in them  some volatile 
element that could1 one feels1 have     
escaped through  the bars and sung above
 the ground4 ,donne and ,swift were     
morbid men  suffering from              
claustrophobia4 ,they were pent and     
imprisoned spirits1  hating the walls   
that seemed to threaten to close in on  
them and crush  them4 ,in his poems and 
letters ,donne is haunted especially by 
three  images--the hospital1 the prison1
 and the grave4 ,disease1 ,i think1     
preyed on his mind even more            
terrifyingly than warped ambition4 ,put 
all the miseries that man is subject to 
together1 he exclaims in one  of the    

passages in that luxuriant anthology    
that ,mr4 ,logan ,pearsall  ,smith has  
made from the ,sermons#be2 sickness is  
more than all4444  ,in poverty ,i lack  
but other things2 in banishment ,i lack 
but other  men2 but in sickness ,i lack 
myself4 ,walton declares that it was    
from  consumption that ,donne suffered2 
but he had probably the seeds of many   
diseases4 ,in some of his letters he    
dwells miserably on the symptoms  of his
 illnesses4 ,at one time1 his sickness  
hath so much of a cramp  that it wrests 
the sinews1 so much of a tetane that it 
withdraws and  pulls the mouth1 and so  
much of the gout 444 that it is not like
 to  be cured 444 ,i shall1 he adds1 be 
in this world1 like a porter in a  great
 house1 but seldomest abroad2 ,i shall  
have many things to make me  weary1 and 
yet not get leave to be gone4 ,even     
after his conversion he  felt drawn to a
 morbid insistence on the details of his
 ill-health4  ,those amazing records    
which he wrote while lying ill in bed in

 ,october1  #afbc1 give us a realistic  
study of a sickbed and its              
circumstances1  the gloom of which is   
hardly even lightened by his odd account
 of  the disappearance of his sense of  
taste3 ,my taste is not gone away1  but 
gone up to sit at ,david's table2 my    
stomach is not gone1 but  gone upwards  
toward the ,supper of the ,lamb4 ,i am  
mine own ghost1  he cries1 and rather   
affright my beholders than interest     
them4444  ,miserable and inhuman        
fortune1 when ,i must practise my lying 
in the  grave by lying still4           
#be ,donne's ,sermons4 ,selected        
,passages1 with an ,essay4              
,by ,logan ,pearsall ,smith4 ,clarendon 
,press4 #fs4 net4    ,it does not       
surprise one to learn that a man thus   
assailed by  wretchedness and given to  
looking in the mirror of his own bodily 
corruptions was often tempted1 by a     
sickly inclination1 to commit  suicide1 
and that he even wrote1 though he did   
not dare to publish1 an  apology for    

suicide on religious grounds1 his famous
 and little-read  ,biathanatos4 ,the    
family crest of the ,donnes was a sheaf 
of snakes1  and these symbolise well    
enough the brood of temptations that    
twisted  about in this unfortunate      
,christian's bosom4 ,donne1 in the days 
of his  salvation1 abandoned the family 
crest for a new one--,christ crucified  
on an anchor4 ,but he might well have   
left the snakes writhing about  the     
anchor4 ,he remained a tempted man to   
the end4 ,one wishes that the  ,sermons 
threw more light on his later personal  
life than they do4  ,but perhaps that is
 too much to expect of sermons4 ,there  
is no form  of literature less personal 
except a leading article4 ,the preacher 
usually regards himself as a mouthpiece 
rather than a man giving  expression to 
himself4 ,in the circumstances what     
surprises us is that  the ,sermons      
reveal1 not so little1 but so much of   
,donne4 ,indeed1  they make us feel far 
more intimate with ,donne than do his   

private  letters1 many of which are     
little more than exercises in           
composition4  ,as a preacher1 no less   
than as a poet1 he is inflamed by the   
creative  heat4 ,he shows the same      
vehemence of fancy in the presence of   
the  divine and infernal universe--a    
vehemence that prevents even his most   
far-sought extravagances from disgusting
 us as do the lukewarm follies  of the  
,euphuists4 ,undoubtedly1 the modern    
reader smiles when ,donne1  explaining  
that man can be an enemy of ,god as the 
mouse can be an enemy  to the elephant1 
goes on to speak of ,god who is not only
 a multiplied  elephant1 millions of    
elephants multiplied into one1 but a    
multiplied  world1 a multiplied all1 all
 that can be conceived by us1 infinite  
many times over2 nay 7if we may dare to 
say so7 a multiplied ,god1 a  ,god that 
hath the millions of the heathens' gods 
in himself alone4  ,but at the same time
 one finds oneself taking a serious     
pleasure in  the huge sorites of quips  

and fancies in which he loves to present
  the divine argument4 ,nine out of ten 
readers of the ,sermons1 ,i  imagine1   
will be first attracted to them through 
love of the poems4  ,they need not be   
surprised if they do not immediately    
enjoy them4 ,the  dust of the pulpit    
lies on them thickly enough4 ,as one    
goes on reading  them1 however1 one     
becomes suddenly aware of their florid  
and exiled  beauty4 ,one sees beyond    
their local theology to the passion of a
 great  suffering artist4 ,here are     
sentences that express the ,paradise1   
the  ,purgatory1 and the ,hell of ,john 
,donne's soul4 ,a noble imagination is  
at work--a grave-digging imagination1   
but also an imagination that is  at home
 among the stars4 ,one can open ,mr4    
,pearsall ,smith's anthology  almost at 
random and be sure of lighting on a     
passage which gives us  a characteristic
 movement in the symphony of horror and 
hope that was  ,donne's contribution to 
the art of prose4    ,excerpts of great 

prose seldom give us that rounded and   
final beauty  that we expect in a work  
of art2 and the reader of ,donne's      
,sermons in  their latest form will be  
wise if he comes to them expecting to   
find  beauty piecemeal and tarnished    
though in profusion4 ,he will be wise1  
too1 not to expect too many passages of 
the same intimate kind as that  famous  
confession in regard to prayer which    
,mr4 ,pearsall ,smith quotes1  and which
 no writer on ,donne can afford not to  
quote3      ,i throw myself down in my  
chamber1 and ,i call in1 and invite     
,god1    and his angels thither1 and    
when they are there1 ,i neglect ,god and
    his ,angels1 for the noise of a fly1
 for the rattling of a coach1 for    the
 whining of a door4 ,i talk on1 in the  
same posture of praying2    eyes lifted 
up2 knees bowed down2 as though ,i      
prayed to ,god2 and1    if ,god1 or his 
,angels should ask me1 when ,i thought  
last of ,god in    that prayer1 ,i      
cannot tell4 ,sometimes ,i find that ,i 

had forgot what ,i    was about1 but    
when ,i began to forget it1 ,i cannot   
tell4 ,a memory of    yesterday's       
pleasures1 a fear of to-morrow's        
dangers1 a straw under    my knee1 a    
noise in mine ear1 a light in mine eye1 
an anything1 a    nothing1 a fancy1 a   
chimera in my brain1 troubles me in my  
prayer4    ,if ,donne had written much  
prose in this kind1 his ,sermons would  
be  as famous as the writings of any of 
the saints since the days of the        
,apostles4    ,even as it is1 there is  
no other ,elizabethan man of letters    
whose  personality is an island with a  
crooked shore1 inviting us into a       
thousand bays and creeks and            
rivermouths1 to the same degree as the  
personality that expressed itself in the
 poems1 sermons1 and life of  ,john     
,donne4 ,it is a mysterious and at times
 repellent island4 ,it lies  only       
intermittently in the sun4 ,a fog hangs 
around its coast1 and  at the base of   
its most radiant mountain-tops there is1

 as a rule1 a  miasma-infested swamp4   
,there are jewels to be found scattered 
among  its rocks and over its surface1  
and by miners in the dark4 ,it is       
richer1 indeed1 in jewels and precious  
metals and curious ornaments  than in   
flowers4 ,the shepherd on the hillside  
seldom tells his tale  uninterrupted4   
,strange rites in honour of ancient     
infernal deities  that delight in death 
are practised in hidden places1 and the 
echo of  these reaches him on the sighs 
of the wind and makes him shudder even  
as he looks at his beloved4 ,it is an   
island with a cemetery smell4 ,the      
chief figure who haunts it is a living  
man in a winding-sheet4 ,it is1  no     
doubt1 ,walton's story of the last days 
of ,donne's life that makes  us1 as we  
read even the sermons and the           
love-poems1 so aware of this  ghostly   
apparition4 ,donne1 it will be          
remembered1 almost on the eve of  his   
death1 dressed himself in a             
winding-sheet1 tied with knots at his   

head and feet1 and stood on a wooden urn
 with his eyes shut1 and with  so much  
of the sheet turned aside as might show 
his lean1 pale1 and  death-like face1   
while a painter made a sketch of him for
 his funeral  monument4 ,he then had the
 picture placed at his bedside1 to which
 he  summoned his friends and servants  
in order to bid them farewell4 ,as he   
lay awaiting death1 he said             
characteristically1 ,i were miserable if
  ,i might not die1 and then repeatedly1
 in a faint voice1 ,thy ,kingdom  come1 
,thy will be done4 ,at the very end he  
lost his speech1 and as  his soul       
ascended and his last breath departed   
from him he closed his  eyes1 and then  
disposed his hands and body into such a 
posture as  required not the least      
alteration by those that came to shroud 
him4  ,it was a strange chance that     
preserved his spectral monument almost  
uninjured when ,st4 ,paul's was burned  
down in the ,great ,fire1 and no  other 
monument in the ,cathedral escaped4     

,among all his fantasies none  remains  
in the imagination more despotically    
than this last fanciful  game of dying4 
,donne1 however1 remained in all        
respects a fantastic to  the last1 as we
 may see in that hymn which he wrote    
eight days before  the end1 tricked out 
with queer geography1 and so anciently  
egoistic  amid its worship4    ,donne   
was the poet-geographer of himself1 his 
mistresses1 and his ,god4  ,other poets 
of his time dived deeper and soared to  
greater altitudes1  but none travelled  
so far1 so curiously1 and in such       
out-of-the-way  places1 now hurrying    
like a nervous fugitive1 and now in the 
exultation  of the first man in a new   
found land4          ,,the ,,novels ,,of
 ,,mr4 ,,compton ,,mackenzie    ,by     
,,john ,,freeman      ,wise men have    
foretold the death of imaginative       
literature4  ,spider-like1 science will 
seize the body of this gilded fly1 stab 
it  methodically into numbness1 and     
then1 feeding upon its vitals1 will     

exhaust and destroy the useless thing4  
,with sedulous precision the  scientist 
will do what the artist1 alas1 has      
failed to do more than  vaguely and     
uncertainly3 he will re-interpret life1 
he will rediscover  man's relation to a 
vaster ,universe4 ,ignoring or spurning 
all attempts  at the sthetic            
apprehension of the significance of life
 and time1 he  will at length announce  
his own positive formula by which all   
phenomena  and all relations must be    
valued4 ,it is the scientist who will   
feel  and communicate1 with a dry       
ecstasy wholly his own1 the isolation of
  man amid the meanness or the majesty  
of the world4 ,that language which  we  
yet speak1 stiff with ancestral         
associations1 will be discarded2        
obscure symbols1 their order            
intelligible perhaps to another         
scientist  but to no one else1 will be  
used to express the secrets of life and 
riddles of death ,thebes never knew4    
,the watcher of the skies will be no    

,keats3 back to his galley-pots will    
every ,keats be driven4 ,in the midst   
of that web called science the spider   
will sit with vigilant eyes1  holding   
their cunning in momentary suspense1    
swelling with vaster and  vaster        
accumulations4    ,it is not poetry     
alone that is threatened3 imaginative   
art is not  confined to poetry4 ,the    
strange thing is that when ,thomas      
,hardy has  carried an imaginative view 
of life to a finer expression than that 
of  any artist of his time1 and shown   
how easily prose may wear the strict    
shackles of scientific precision1 that  
prose itself should find no  younger    
masters ready to use and develop it2 as 
if ,hardy's forsaking  of prose for     
verse were no simple forsaking1 but     
rather a subtle  betrayal4 ,unique      
success is his in combining the         
imaginative with the  scientific1 the   
emotional with the rational1 in his     
novels2 his younger  contemporaries seem
 to have failed equally in both         

directions4    ,it would be absurd to   
charge this dereliction to any single   
novelist  or group of novelists4 ,mr4   
,conrad1 for instance1 simply evades the
  charge by being in his turn unique2   
,mr4 ,wells and ,mr4 ,arnold ,bennett   
fail in varying degrees but in both     
directions1 and of their fellows  it is 
hard to think of any who has not        
similarly failed4 ,where gifts  are     
eminent the failure is eminent3 hence   
this preface to remarks  upon the novels
 of ,mr4 ,compton ,mackenzie4 ,diligent1
 observant1  experienced1 inexhaustible1
 or at any rate unexhausted1 he has made
 his  opportunities and gained a        
hearing2 indeed1 as he reminds us in the
  second volume of ,sinister ,street1 he
 has won the greater advantage  of a    
hearing refused1 the libraries having so
 ineffably rejected the  first volume4  
,nevertheless1 from him that hath       
not---- ,what is it1 in  fact1 that has 
deprived him of the truest fruit of the 
gifts which he  has8 ,i make no attempt 

to disguise the fact that ,mr4          
,mackenzie appears  to be a writer who  
is not an imaginative artist1 yet who   
might have  been an imaginative artist2 
a novelist who has not concerned himself
  with life at all save in its external 
and mechanic motions4 ,he has not       
confined himself to a single manner3 his
 first book1 ,the ,passionate           
,elopement1 was an eighteenth-century   
story in a style familiarised by  less  
capable and less versatile              
practitioners4 ,little indeed was to be 
expected from an author whose first book
 contained such writing as3             
,presently he saw her join a blue mask  
and lose herself in the    flickering   
throng4 ,last time he had remarked      
particularly that her    vis--vis wore  
brown and gold1 yet the two figures were
 alike in    movement and gesture1 and  
he could swear the hands were identical4
 ,it    was the same without a doubt4   
,charles bit his nails with vexation1   
and fretted confoundedly4      ,my dear 

boy1 my dear ,charles1 pray do not gnaw 
your fingers4    ,narcissus admired     
himself1 'tis true1 but without carrying
 his    devotion to cannibality4        
,charles turned to the well-known voice 
of ,mr4 ,ripple4      ,a thousand       
pardons1 dear ,beau1 ,i was vexed by a  
trifle4 ,the    masquerade comports     
itself with tolerable success4    --and 
the glitter and varnish of an           
upholstered narrative casually  spangled
 with ,meredithean brightness4 ,but ,mr4
 ,mackenzie's second novel1  ,carnival1 
disappointed expectation by being       
readable4 ,like some of  its successors1
 it might be mistaken for realistic2    
while another1 ,guy  and ,pauline1 might
 be termed idyllic by those who love the
 phrase4 ,he  moves and changes2 he is a
 part of all that he has met2 and you   
wonder  at length what he is4 ,for      
myself1 ,i am reminded frequently of an 
ingenious character seen in provincial  
music-halls1 who to the eyes of  a happy
 audience swiftly and imperceptibly     

invests and divests himself  of many    
costumes of marvellous hue--one growing 
plain as another is  impetuously flung  
off1 blue gloves giving place to pink1 a
 crimson  shirt to an emerald1 a        
shooting-jacket to a                    
dinner-jacket--until ,i  laugh          
unrestrainably4    ,mr4 ,mackenzie has  
not sought a fugitive and cloistered    
virtue2 his  characters1 as ,johnson    
said of ,gilbert ,walmsley1 mingle in   
the great  world without exemption from 
its follies and its vices4 ,he loves    
their  activities2 he sets them going   
and follows their whirring motion with  
the ruthless gaiety of a child playing  
with toys1 who stops them1  breaks them1
 and sometimes sets them going again4   
,he understands  mechanics and they must
 move2 and when they are run down in one
 book  he winds them up again for       
another4 ,he hurries hither and thither1
  clutching at the skirts of perpetual  
motion like that other pageant  master1 
time4 ,his scene is the capitals of     

,europe or a railway train  between     
them4 ,he shares with his characters1 of
 whatever age1 their  brilliant youth4  
,he invents untiringly4 ,he does not vex
 himself or  his readers with           
description1 but if he pauses to paint  
he paints  with unmistakable bright     
colours4 ,he writes clearly3 there is   
seldom a  slovenly sentence1 never a    
memorable one4 ,he has a cruelly        
accurate ear  for slang1 and presents   
vulgarity with fond verisimilitude4     
,femininity  haunts him2 his flowers1   
even1 remind him of frills4 ,something  
of  extreme youth clings to his         
books--its zestfulness1 curiosity1      
indiscriminateness1 and its unregretful 
volatility4 ,but when1 you may  ask1    
remembering at once his gifts and his   
opportunities1 his gifts and  the world 
amid which they are exercised1 when will
 he grow up8 ,when1  rather1 will he    
grow down and strike first roots into   
the dark earth of  the mind8 ,when1 amid
 all his brisk preoccupations with men  

and women1  will he touch life8         
,leaving generalisation1 it is          
interesting to look at one of the       
simplest of ,mr4 ,mackenzie's novels1   
,guy and ,pauline1 published in  #aiae1 
and conspicuously dedicated to the      
,commander-in-,chief and the  ,general  
,staff of the ,mediterranean            
,expeditionary ,force4 ,it is the  story
 of ,guy ,hazlewood 7wound up again     
after ,sinister ,street7 and a  rector's
 daughter4 ,guy1 returned from          
,macedonian ,relief ,fund work1 is      
charmed by a watery ,oxfordshire house  
called ,plashers ,mead1 and settles     
there to write poetry4 ,the rectory     
family are his neighbours1 and with  the
 rector's daughters1 ,margaret1 ,monica1
 and ,pauline1 he quickly  obtains a    
brotherly footing1 and then becomes     
engaged to the youngest4  ,the rector is
 a shadowy gardener with a singular     
fondness for answering  every question1 
upon whatever subject and of whatever   
importance1 by  a reference to a        

blossoming or decaying plant2 an        
idiosyncrasy which  is supposed to      
endear him to his family4 ,and it is an 
endearing  book4 ,everybody is          
unvaryingly sweet2 the adjective is as  
common and  as adhesive as mud4 ,the    
three girls form a group of the kind for
 which  the far more finely observant   
and delicate art of ,miss ,viola        
,meynell  7among living novelists7 has  
already obtained and exhausted our      
sympathy4 ,ungracious as the comparison 
must seem to both writers1 it  is       
irresistible and fatal4 ,linked         
sweetness too long drawn out becomes    
tiresome1 and the indistinct softness of
 the style makes the book  something    
more than tiresome4      ,pauline       
hurried through a shower to church on   
,easter morning1 and    shook mingled   
tears and raindrops from herself when   
she saw that ,guy    was come to        
,communion4 ,so then that angel had     
travelled from her    bedside last night
 to hover over ,guy and bid him wake    

early next    morning1 because it was   
,easter ,day4 ,with never so holy a calm
 had    she knelt in the jewelled       
shadows of that chancel or returned from
    the altar to find her pew           
imparadised4 ,when the people came out  
of    church the sun was shining1 and on
 the trees and on the tombstones a      
multitude of birds were singing4 ,never 
had ,pauline felt the spirit of         
,eastertide uplift her with such a joy1 
joy for her lover beside her1    joy for
 summer close at hand1 joy for all the  
joy that ,easter could    bring to the  
soul4    ,elsewhere3      ,the apple    
trees were already frilled with a foam  
of blossom2 and on    quivering boughs  
linnets with breasts rose-burnt by the  
winds of    ,march throbbed out their   
carol4 ,chaffinches with flashing       
prelude    of silver wings flourished a 
burst of song that broke as with too    
intolerable a triumph3 then sought      
another tree and poured forth    the    
triumphant song again4 ,thrushes1       

blackbirds and warblers quired          
deep-throated melodies against the      
multitudinous trebles of those          
undistinguished myriads that with choric
 pan saluted ,may2 and on    sudden     
diminuendoes could be heard the rustling
 canzonets of the    goldfinches1 rising
 and falling with reedy cadences4       
,the story is clogged by ,guy's         
meditations upon poetical ambition--he  
is in the early twenties--and yet1 with 
all these grievous handicaps1  it       
survives with sufficient force to       
express the poignancy with  which an    
incomplete passion may sink to oblivion4
 ,in ,pauline ,mr4  ,mackenzie has      
succeeded in showing with simplicity and
 truth the quick  development of a child
 to a passionate1 then a despairing1 and
 at last  a forsaken woman2 and in ,guy 
the sthetic frog swollen to a fraction  
larger than his nature and then         
relapsing into insignificance4 ,i am    
not sure that the best of this          
novelist's achievement is not seen in   

the isolation of these characters1 the  
sufficiency of quiet incident1  and the 
sense--faintly yet perceptibly          
communicated--that the tragedy  of      
separation is implicit in the persons of
 his story4 ,the atmosphere  may seem   
close1 the setting fanciful1 scenes1    
characters1 and action  diminished and  
slightly prettified2 yet there is       
genuine movement1 rise  and decline4    
,the occasion of ,guy's last parting    
from ,pauline is worth  noting1 if only 
because ,guy happens to be but the      
present name of ,mr4  ,mackenzie's      
invariable young man from ,oxford2 let  
it be remembered1  however1 that ,guy   
reappears years after in ,sylvia and    
,michael as a  larger shadow and dies   
with the ,serbians before ,nish4        
,even if temporarily ,i were interested 
in another girl1 you may be    quite    
sure that she would always be second to 
you4      ,but you might be interested8 
,pauline asked breathlessly4      ,i    
must be free if ,i'm going to be an     

artist4      ,free8 she echoed slowly4  
,there remains a negative merit4 ,if the
 artist1 as a hundred critics  have     
asserted and a thousand authors         
forgotten1 is proved by what he  omits1 
it must be counted to ,mr4 ,mackenzie   
for a virtue that this book  of four    
hundred pages does not contain a single 
seduction1 and that1  despite the       
obvious piquancy of a contrast between  
,plashers ,mead and a  ,london          
night-club1 he has so easily and so     
blessedly avoided it4    ,the point is  
the more proper for remembrance inasmuch
 as such  forbearance is the last       
straining of the quality of mercy in    
this  author4 ,mr4 ,mackenzie commonly  
prefers cities to country scenes1       
although a country scene in his earliest
 novel yielded him his first            
opportunity of teasing innocent readers 
with an unsavoury interior4  ,since he  
is a cultured writer you might imagine  
that ,hogarth had  tutored him2 but     
,hogarth is immensely masculine1 and the

 origin of  our novelist's inspiration  
need be sought no farther back than the 
'nineties4 ,nothing is more surprising1 
at any rate to men approaching          
middle-age1 than the fitful             
incandescence of that spark with which  
the  'nineties were tinily illuminated4 
,the inferior intelligence and the  yet 
more inferior imagination which impelled
 certain artists--pleased  with the     
phrase decadent--to magnify the ferment 
of youthful senses1  may now seem even  
more trivial in their fruition than an  
,olympian  judgment would allow4 ,but it
 is hard to be impartial when a purely  
remote contemplation is forbidden by the
 flashing reflections from  living      
writers who are only in a narrow sense  
contemporary writers4  ,coventry        
,patmore1 chief poet and almost chief   
artist in that church  of which we hear 
so much in ,mr4 ,mackenzie's novels1    
asserted with  more force than          
originality that what is morally bad is 
necessarily  bad art2 and he proceeded  

to say1 less tritely1 that the delicate 
indecency of so much modern art was     
partly due to deficient virility  which1
 in proportion to its strength1 is      
naturally modest4 ,pleading  for        
plain-speaking1 he maintained that      
indecency 7which only a fool  could     
identify with plain-speaking7 is an     
endeavour to irritate  sensations and   
appetites in the absence of natural     
passion2 that  which passes with so many
 for power and ardour being really1 in  
his  certain and indignant eyes1        
impotence and coldness4 ,the distinction
  between plain-speaking and delicate   
indecency is to be remembered  when ,mr4
 ,mackenzie's most ambitious attempts at
 the ,english novel1  ,sinister ,street 
and ,sylvia ,scarlett1 are considered4  
,there may  be coarseness of expression1
 a fondness for trivial bluntness of    
phrase2 but it would be stupid to see in
 that more than coarseness or           
bluntness4 ,the theme of ,sinister      
,street1 says the author1 is the  youth 

of a man who will presumably be a       
priest2 a theme developed in  nearly    
four hundred thousand words by something
 like the process of  annual elongation 
which ,johnson observed in a ,hebridean 
road4 ,the  book moves upon familiar    
biographical lines--the lonely children1
  the local school and lesser public    
school1 ,oxford1 and the betrayed       
passion for a prostitute4 ,it is an     
enormous and minute chronicle--of  what8
 ,of the externals of a boy's life1 of  
the customs of school1  flirtation with 
vulgar girls1 evasions of school tasks1 
the ways of a  decrepit group surviving 
from the 'nineties1 ,catholic ritual1   
and a  little introspection here and    
there2 and then1 in the second volume1  
of the same externals of ,oxford life   
drawn to the same scale4 ,such a  scheme
 must needs attract the tens who have   
been to public school and  ,university1 
and delight the tens of thousands who   
haven't4 ,is it taking  a mean advantage
 of time's passage to compare ,sinister 

,street with  ,serge ,aksakoff's ,years 
of ,childhood and its successors8       
,aksakoff  treats childhood with a      
simplicity1 a quiet intentness1 by the  
side  of which ,mr4 ,mackenzie's        
enormous reconstruction seems loose and 
artificial4 ,sinister ,street is vast in
 size and meagre in content4 ,it  is    
packed with superfluities4              
,three-fourths of it is inessential to  
the  author's declared intention2 it is 
no more than a guide-book cleverly      
designed 7e4g41 the first week at       
,oxford7 to evoke an illusion of        
,oxford in ,pimlico and ,shepherd's     
,bush2 and concentrating upon the       
remaining fourth1 you feel that your    
author has been aware of little  more   
than the physiology of adolescence and  
the usual facile religious  reactions4  
,boys from seventeen to twenty-three1   
girls from sixteen to  any age1 may find
 in ,henry ,meats alias ,brother        
,aloysius1 in ,arthur  ,wilmot the last 
of the ,decadents1 in the ,lilys and the

 ,daisys of the  streets1 in the whole  
rank multitude of ,mr4 ,mackenzie's     
underworld1  the irritation of sensation
 which adolescents naturally seek4 ,here
 may  curiosity be half-satisfied1      
half-stimulated4 ,a ,guide to           
,prostitution  could add little to the  
informations of ,sinister ,street3 the  
dress1  the habitation1 even the        
finances of those who have gone gay1 are
  meticulously recorded4 ,passed1 ,i am 
afraid1 are the ,orient promenade  and  
the underground gilded sty1 but their   
glory is not departed1 it  is merely    
transferred1 and ,sinister ,street      
remains sufficiently  lively and up to  
date to provoke the youngest and make   
the oldest feel  young again4 ,do you   
ask why ,god gives brains for such a    
use8 ,i cannot  even guess4 ,mr4        
,mackenzie astonishingly blazons his    
book with ,keats's  famous analysis3    
,the imagination of a boy is healthy1   
and the mature  imagination of a man is 
healthy2 but there is a space of life   

between1  in which the soul is in a     
ferment1 etc4--an astonishing phrase for
  index to this book2 whether used in   
simplicity or in subtle defiance1  this 
also ,i cannot guess4 ,clear enough is  
it that what passes for  imagination is 
no other than the froth of yesty waves  
of youth4444 ,it  is a book written1 if 
offence may be disavowed and avoided1 by
 a boy  for boys4 ,mr4 ,mackenzie       
himself1 in his introductory letter1    
refers to  his study of ,russian writers
 7this in explanation of the length of  
his  novels71 and in his epilogical     
letter he apparently regards the book   
as a work of art4 ,an author's opinion  
of his own intention is to be           
respected1 for who shall challenge it8  
,it does but afford an additional       
ground for judgment and surprise4    ,to
 consider ,sinister ,street a mere      
aberration is an extravagant            
possibility1 but possibility itself is  
left panting behind ,sylvia  ,scarlett4 
,here1 again1 the author is generous of 

space1 and here he  has not been content
 to write a guide-book4 ,he has chosen a
 woman  for his central figure1 and she1
 unlike the male protagonists of  the   
other books1 is no coloured cloudy      
reflection of a reflection4  ,she is no 
minikin ,michael or ,guy or ,maurice1   
but a semblable moving  figure4         
,sinister ,street is her place of       
origin1 ,vanity ,fair her scene  of     
action--a world of music-halls where    
farce passes for fantasy and  women's   
dress for an exciting theme4 ,farce8    
,sylvia is not only farcical  in        
herself1 but is1 like ,falstaff1        
creative--the cause of farce in  others2
 and though ,book ,one opens so         
admirably with a paragraph showing  how 
well the author can follow a good model1
 farce ensues and recurs  and makes her 
chronicle an amusing thing4    ,but it  
is amusing only so long as coarseness is
 not strained through a  child's mind1  
coarseness of phrase only or more       
significant coarseness  of invention4 ,i

 say more significant1 for whether that 
worse coarseness  is intended or        
involuntary must be immaterial1 save as 
indicating the  particular code against 
which the offence is primarily          
committed1 the  code of manners or the  
code of art4 ,there is here no such     
gentleness  in the treatment of         
childhood as distinguishes the earlier  
chapters of  ,carnival4444 ,the point   
need not be stressed4 ,i dislike the    
current  practice of setting one's wits 
against the author whose work happens   
to be the subject of discussion2 ,i     
don't want to produce an artificial     
dilemma and pretend that ,mr4 ,mackenzie
 is inevitably trapped by it4 ,put  it1 
then1 that there are certain obligations
 of civilised life1 and  certain        
obligations of that flower of civilised 
life which we call art2  put it that    
coarseness of phrase or incident        
outrages the former1 and  that an       
intention to commit that outrage1 or an 
insensibility of having  committed it1  

is equally an offence against the less  
assertive but not  less imperative      
obligations of art4 ,in a word1 the sin 
is vulgarity1  two-edged vulgarity it   
may be1 an offence against both canons  
or1 if  you will1 both conventions2 and 
the further weight hangs on the charge  
that it is here committed in the person 
of a child1 and is1 therefore1  wanton4 
,shall ,i add that the immanence of     
farce just spoken of does in  a little  
degree mitigate the cruelty by          
generalising the vulgarity8  ,here is   
rude1 healthy ,smollett out-,smolletted1
 reduced to the uncostly  and only      
half-odious horseplay of a music-hall3  
,the encouragement put a fine spirit    
into ,danny's blows2 he hammered    the 
unfortunate ,cohen round and round the  
room1 upsetting table    and chairs and 
washstand until with a stinging blow he 
knocked him    backwards into the       
slop-pail1 in which he sat so heavily   
that when he    tried to rise the       
slop-pail stuck and gave him the        

appearance of a    large baboon crawling
 with elevated rump on all fours4 ,danny
 kicked    off the slop-pail1 and       
invited ,cohen to stand up to him2 but  
when he    did get on his feet1 he ran  
to the door and reached the stairs just 
as ,mrs4 ,gonner was wearily ascending  
to find out what was happening4    ,he  
tried to stop himself by clutching the  
knob of the baluster1    which broke2   
the result was that he dragged ,mrs4    
,gonner with him in    a glissade which 
ended behind the counter4 ,the confusion
 in the shop    became general2 ,mr4    
,gonner cut his thumb1 and the sight of 
the blood    caused a woman who was     
eating a sausage to choke2 another      
customer    took advantage of the row to
 snatch a side of bacon and try to      
escape1 but another customer with a     
finer moral sense prevented him2    a   
dog who was sniffing in the entrance saw
 the bacon on the floor and    tried to 
seize it1 but getting his tail trodden  
upon by somebody1 he    took fright and 

bit a small boy1 who was waiting to     
change a shilling    into coppers4      
,meanwhile ,sylvia1 who expected every  
minute that ,jubie    and her pugilistic
 brother would come back and increase   
the confusion    with possibly          
unpleasant consequences for herself1    
took advantage of    ,danny's being     
occupied in an argument with ,cohen and 
the two ,gonners    to put on her hat   
and escape from the shop4 ,she jumped on
 the first    omnibus and congratulated 
herself when she looked round and saw a 
policeman entering the eating-house4    
,sylvia herself is capable enough as    
well as universally attractive4  ,the   
citation just made is from a passage    
following the second amorous  attack    
upon her1 when ,danny ,lewis threatens  
her with a knife1 and she  parries with 
the water in her bedroom4 ,an earlier   
lover had retired  from a similar       
contest with his underlip bitten        
through4 ,when1 some  time after the    
knife-and-water episode1 ,sylvia meets  

the ,oxford type  in ,philip ,iredale1  
she is sent by him 7being still but     
sixteen7 for a  year's schooling and    
then marries him4 ,coquetting with the  
,church is  followed by flight--alone1  
it must be added2 and indeed ,sylvia's  
whole  recorded life is fugitive1 a     
pilgrimage between this world and some  
other4 ,three months later her husband's
 ,oxford composure is shocked by3       
,you must divorce me now4 ,i've not been
 able to earn enough to pay    you back 
more than this ten pounds for your bad  
bargain4 ,i don't    think ,i've given  
any more pleasure to the men who have   
paid less for    me than you did1 if    
that's any consolation4    ,adventures  
repeat themselves4 ,a huge ,russian     
officer bursts into  ,sylvia's room one 
night and is pitched out of the window  
by a  couple of acrobats4 ,the war      
begins and spreads itself over ,europe  
as a background for her passages and    
parleyings2 and maybe the               
,commander-in-,chief and the ,general   

,staff of the ,mediterranean            
,expeditionary ,force have beguiled many
 a tiresome after-war hour in  pursuing 
,sylvia's wanderings between places     
familiarised by their late  anxieties4  
,sylvia is differentiated from the other
 women of these  novels1 not only by her
 superior capacity for experiences1 but 
even  more by her superior volubility4  
,she is1 consciously1 mind as well  as  
body1 and as the narrative goes on and  
on she develops a passion  for          
monologue--terrifying in any woman1 and 
rare among women whose  occupation      
,sylvia ,scarlett's own name is perhaps 
meant assonantally  to suggest4 ,these  
monologues1 recurrent as the farce and  
more deadly1  might be called shortly   
the jargon4 ,i represent the original   
conception of the ,hetaera1 she asserts4
      ,he'll think of me1 if he ever    
thinks of me at all1 as one of the      
great multitude of wronged women4 ,i    
shall think of him1 though as a         
matter of fact ,i shall avoid thinking  

of him1 either as what might    have    
been--a false concept1 for1 of course1  
what might have been is    fundamentally
 inconceivable--or as what he was--a    
sentimental fool4    ,she meditates upon
 the art of ,botticelli1 whose appeal   
she seems  to think is only childlike1  
upon the conflict of nationality with   
civilisation4 ,she reads ,tolstoi and   
,dostoieffsky1 putting ,apuleius  by1   
goes to confession1 analyses her        
sensations1 details the errancy  of her 
parentage1 and seeks to shock the priest
 who1 when ,sylvia  acutely suggests    
that ,god is almost vulgarly            
anthropomorphic1 can  only murmur1 ,are 
not five sparrows sold for two          
farthings1 and not  one of them is      
forgotten before ,god8 ,but here is a   
brief specimen of  the almost unbroken  
monologue to which the priest of the    
wisest of the  churches can make no     
answer but a profession of the power of 
the ,church3      ,i suppose my running 
away was the direct result of my        

bringing up1    because whenever ,i had 
been brought face to face with a        
difficult    situation ,i ran away4     
,however1 this time ,i was determined   
from some    perverted pride to make    
myself more utterly myself than ,i had  
ever    done4 ,it's hard to explain how 
my mind worked4 ,you must remember    ,i
 was only nineteen1 and already at      
thirty-one ,i am as far from            
understanding all my motives then as if 
,i were trying to understand    somebody
 who was not myself at all4 ,anyhow1 ,i 
simply went on the    streets4 ,for     
three months ,i mortified my flesh by   
being a harlot4    ,can you understand  
that8 ,can you possibly understand the  
deliberate    infliction of such a      
discipline1 not to humiliate one's pride
 but to    exalt it8 ,can you understand
 that ,i emerged from that three months 
of    incredible horror with a complete 
personality8444      ,sylvia did not    
wait for the priest to answer this      
question1 partly    because she did not 

want to be disillusioned by finding so  
soon that    he had not comprehended    
anything of her emotions or actions1    
partly    because there seemed more     
important revelations of herself still  
to    be made4    --,farce at least is  
unpretentious1 but this crude jargon1   
this  retroverted intellectualism1 is   
offensive beyond farce1 odious beyond   
delicate indecency4    ,it may not be   
wholly due to perversity if the         
characteristics of  these long          
biographical novels should overshadow   
the sharp merits  of1 say1 ,carnival4   
,carnival1 even better than ,guy and    
,pauline1  may serve as a measure of    
,mr4 ,mackenzie's decline from his      
promise2  since although its conclusion 
is a disharmony1 its best chapters are  
good enough to cause a reader to sigh   
over the later novels4 ,was it1  indeed1
 quite a worthless aim to follow in the 
footsteps of ,george  ,gissing8         
,carnival suggests that a new ,gissing  
might have grown up  before our eyes1   

with a touch of the same veracity1 the  
same mordancy1  and a little less than  
the same humourless and dishumoured     
regard  for what is wry and hapless2 but
 ,carnival stands alone1 and the        
exactions of that difficult sincerity   
have been put by4444 ,or take1  again1  
,poor ,relations1 the latest of ,mr4    
,mackenzie's inventions4 ,with  its ease
 and brilliant vivacities1 with the     
comedy of its conception1  what a       
delightful play it would make6 ,but     
might not the comedy have  depended--as 
comedy must--more surely upon character 
and less upon  incident8 ,the author of 
,sylvia ,scarlett1 however1 has imposed 
a  too-swift facility upon the author of
 ,poor ,relations4 ,if practice  makes  
perfect1 then nothing was wanting to the
 completeness of ,poor  ,relations--but 
how much is wanting6 ,admirable are the 
opening notes1  but of the rest too much
 is a brisk falsetto4 ,there is excess  
in the  situations1 excess in the       
characterisation1 excess in the style3  

,when he looked at the old lady he could
 not discover anything except    a cold 
egotism in every fold of those flabby   
cheeks where the powder    lay like     
drifted snow in the ruts of a sunless   
lane4    ,it is equally the virtue and  
the fault of ,mr4 ,mackenzie that he    
provokes melancholy regrets1 even in the
 middle of frequent chuckles2  and when 
the chuckling has died away the shadow  
of ,sylvia ,scarlett  falls upon the    
book1 just as with the same unhappy     
denigration it is  flung backwards over 
the better qualities of the earlier     
,carnival4    ,yet ,poor ,relations1    
like ,guy and ,pauline1 is free from the
 worst  flaw of the longer novels1 the  
crude determination to shock1 which     
breaks most starkly through the         
superficialities of ,sylvia ,scarlett4  
,that is a breach of the code of art    
rather than the code of morals1  an     
eruptive patism which would disfigure a 
better book1 if it  could be found      
there4 ,can you conceive a more         

attractive subject1  if you are but     
three-and-twenty1 than the philosophic  
harlot8 ,or an  easier8 ,i do not       
suppose that it is less interesting to  
be on the  streets than to be in the    
,ministry of ,food2 neither occupation  
can be  objectionable as subject of a   
novel4 ,it would be untrue to say that  
the  subject of a novel is a thing of   
complete indifference1 and that the     
treatment is everything2 for a writer   
would not do wisely to forfeit  the     
advantage which a subject might offer   
him4 ,but neither would he  do wisely in
 exploiting a subject only to excite the
 curiosity or  astonish the simplicity  
of his reader4 ,merely adventitious at  
best  is the gain4 ,it is to reduce     
subject and treatment to their lowest   
terms1 and reject the implicit          
conditions which confront every writer  
who would explore the imaginative world 
where there can be no laws  save honour1
 loyalty1 and delicacy4 ,the scientific 
writer is secured  against deceiving    

himself or his readers for long2 his    
assumptions can  be verified1 his       
deductions precisely analysed1 his whole
 professions  rationally weighed4 ,the  
imaginative and the quasi-imaginative   
writer  have no such security1 nor their
 readers such protection4 ,traditional  
values may be inapplicable2 it is hard  
to discriminate novelty from            
originality4 ,a book that shocks may be 
as profoundly conceived as ,jude  the   
,obscure1 as cheaply fashioned as       
,sylvia ,scarlett4 ,incident  may be    
prodigal equally in ,dostoieffsky and   
,mr4 ,compton ,mackenzie1  but          
significance of incident may vary       
infinitely4 ,mr4 ,mackenzie's  incidents
 have no significance2 they remain      
incidents4 ,his thoughts are            
insignificant except in so far as they  
indicate a modern intellectual          
disvertebration4 ,his view of character 
is insignificant except in so  far as it
 betrays an adolescent apprehension4    
,who is ,sylvia8 you ask1  and your     

author is silent4 ,what is she8 and the 
answer is dispersed  among eight hundred
 garrulous pages4    ,yet1 it must be   
repeated1 ,mr4 ,mackenzie has           
conspicuous gifts1 and1 as  the letters 
with which ,sinister ,street opens and  
closes indicate1  he is aware of them1  
and has not undertaken these enormous   
fictions  without a sense of his task4  
,but he has accepted the easier way4 ,he
  can invest his scene with an illusion 
of activity1 if not of reality1  but he 
is unable to picture reality1 for he    
does not distinguish2  neither does he  
create a reality1 a world for himself1  
amenable to its  own laws1 establishing 
its own consistency4 ,that would be a   
wonderful  but a hard thing4 ,amid the  
booths of his ,vanity ,fair he moves1   
not  soberly and critically as          
,christian and ,faithful moved1 but as  
one  swiftly enchanted by externals4 ,he
 approaches the field of imaginative    
art1 and ,i cannot say that his powers  
and pretensions are such as  must       

discourage entry2 but for imagination he
 learns to substitute  invention1       
chooses the superficial1 and does not   
even trouble to secure  the consistency 
of his characters2 ,michael ,fane's     
mother1 for instance1  being declined   
from an irregular great lady in ,volume 
,one to a parish  imbecile in ,volume   
,two4 ,he might have chosen otherwise4  
,his alertness1  his preoccupation with 
externals1 his fullness of incident1 his
 soft  fluency of style might have been 
flogged into subordination2 he need  not
 have been very serious to have taken   
his work seriously4 ,but all  that he   
promises now is1 if the tempting        
derangement of a line by a  modern poet 
be pardonable3          ,a torment of   
intolerable tales4    ,mr4 ,mackenzie   
has divagated4 ,the task of presenting  
reality is left to  the scientific mind1
 and the task of creating another       
reality is left  to the poetic mind4    
,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,and ,,news  
,correspondence from readers on all     

subjects of bibliographical  interest is
 invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the best
 of his ability1  answer all queries    
addressed to him4      ,,general ,,notes
    ,mr4 ,septimus ,rivington's recently
 published book1 ,the ,publishing       
,family of ,rivington 7,rivington1      
#aiai2 #ajs4 net71 contains a certain   
amount of interesting information about 
the eighteenth-century book  trade4     
,charles ,rivington started publishing  
in #agaa4 ,his successor1  ,john1       
succeeded ,jacob ,tonson 7great-nephew  
of the original ,jacob ,tonson  who     
published ,dryden's works7 as managing  
partner of the institution  known as the
 ,conger1 the association of booksellers
 formed to share  the risks and the     
profits of publishing ventures4 ,in this
 volume ,mr4  ,rivington has printed a  
number of ,conger documents in his      
possession4  ,it is interesting to learn
 the trade value of well-known books of 
the  period4 ,thus1 one-eighth of       
,archbishop ,tillotson's works is bought

 by  ,tonson in #agaa for #hg #ajs4 ,in 
#agch a third part of ,watts's ,hymns   
is worth #gj4           99       99     
99       99       99    ,mr4 ,rivington 
prints several extracts from old        
catalogues in his  possession1 which    
show that a book sale in the eighteenth 
century was  a convivial affair4 ,the   
catalogue of ,thomas ,osborne's         
stock-in-trade1  consisting of books1   
copyrights1 and shares in publications1 
is issued  to a select number of        
booksellers at the ,queen's ,head       
,tavern1 in  ,paternoster ,row1 on      
,thursday1 the ninth day of ,february1  
#agdc_/d1 at  ,eleven of the ,clock in  
the ,forenoon4 ,,dinner will be served  
on the table  exactly at ,one of the    
,clock1 consisting of ,turkies and      
,chines1 ,hams and  ,chickens1          
,apple-pies1 etc41 and a ,glass of very 
good ,wine4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,another recent 
book by a member of one of our great    
publishing families  is ,mr4 ,john      

,murray's brief memoir of his father1   
,john ,murray the ,third1  the inventor 
of what was in his day an entirely new  
literary form1 the  ,guide ,book4       
,murray's first guide was issued in     
#ahcf4 ,three years  later ,karl        
,baedeker published a ,handbchlein of   
the same districts4  ,baedeker1 like    
,shakespeare1 disdained to invent his   
own plots4 ,murray's  eighteen ,european
 guides were the ,plutarch and          
,holinshed of the  ,german's stupendous 
creations4    ,those who hope1 by taking
 advantage of the present rate of       
exchange1 to  secure ,german books at an
 eighth or tenth of their value will be 
sorry  to hear that ,german publishers  
are in league to put a stop to such     
delightful bargains4 ,they are insisting
 on being paid at the rate of  about    
fivepence to the mark2 so that your     
books will cost you as much  as half    
their real price4    ,we were surprised1
 considering the blockade and the       
general shortage1  at the excellent     

get-up of such recent ,german           
publications as we have  seen4 ,among   
them were two illustrated volumes1 one  
on ,egyptian and the  other on ,negro   
art1 published during the war1 and      
produced in the most  magnificent style4
 ,almost more surprising were some      
exquisite little  volumes of ,czech     
poetry published at ,prague1 in which   
print1 paper1 and  binding were all     
equally admirable4    ,a book for which 
one may search long in vain1 but for    
which it is  worth while to take some   
trouble1 is the ,memorie di ,lorenzo da 
,ponte  da ,ceneda1 three volumes1 ,new 
,york1 #ahbi4 ,da ,ponte is well known  
as  the librettist of a number of       
,mozart's operas1 and should be better  
known as the author of some of the most 
charming of eighteenth-century  memoirs4
 ,his memoirs and poetical works were   
republished at ,florence in  #ahga1 and 
a ,french translation of the memoirs    
only was executed by ,m4  ,c4 ,d4 de la 
,chavanne 7,paris1 ,pagnerre1 #ahfj74   

,so far as we are aware1  no ,english   
translation of this work exists4 ,if    
this is indeed the case1  it is high    
time that the defect was remedied4 ,the 
,memorie ,inutili of  ,da ,ponte's      
earlier contemporary1 ,carlo ,gozzi     
7three volumes1 ,venice1  #agig71 were  
translated by ,john ,addington ,symonds1
 and published in a  very sumptuous     
illustrated edition by ,nimmo in #ahij4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,another important book on the ,italian 
eighteenth century1 and one  which it is
 not easy to find a copy of in any      
edition1 is the ,lettres  ,historiques  
et ,critiques sur l',italie of the      
,prsident ,charles de  ,brosses 7,paris1
 ,ponthieu1 ,an ,,vii41 and under the   
title ,le ,prsident  de ,brosses en     
,italie1 ,paris1 #aheh74 ,de ,brosses'  
letters make the best  possible book to 
take on a voyage to ,italy4           99
       99       99       99       99    
,londoners cannot have failed to notice 
in the past weeks the  presence of      

numerous posters--we have seen them in  
every part of the  city--bearing the    
legend3 ,the ,bishops must open ,joanna 
,southcott's  ,box and save the country 
from ruin4 ,we hope that this faint echo
  of a vanished notoriety may arouse    
among book-lovers an interest in        
,joanna's numerous literary works4 ,the 
first of them1 ,the ,strange  ,effects  
of ,faith1 was published at ,exeter in  
#agib1 and from that time  onwards she  
poured forth a stream of prophecies in  
prose and verse4 ,in  one of the latest 
of them 7the last part of ,the ,book of 
,wonder1 if  we remember rightly2 but it
 is some years since we saw the book7 is
  a superb engraving of a cradle        
subscribed for by ,joanna's disciples   
against the birth of ,shiloh4 ,shiloh1  
unhappily1 was never born1 and  ,joanna 
,southcott died three months after the  
presentation of the  two-hundred-guinea 
cot4 ,enthusiastic bibliographers will  
find plenty of  interest in the study of
 ,southcottian literature2 first        

editions are  satisfactorily scarce4 ,as
 for the box--well1 why don't the       
,bishops open  it8 ,who knows8 it might 
save us from ruin1 more effectually     
perhaps  than all the politicians       
together4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,an important     
collection of autograph letters and     
historical documents1  the property of  
the late ,charles ,fairfax ,murray1 is  
to be sold at  ,messrs4 ,sotheby's on   
,thursday and ,friday1 ,february #eth   
and #fth4 ,the  first #afc lots are     
autographs of famous artists1 and       
include four  letters of ,blake1        
,michelangelo's specification for the   
tomb of ,julius  ,,ii41 a letter of     
,benvenuto ,cellini1 a letter of        
,albrecht ,drer1  illustrated by        
charming little sketches1 letters of    
,gainsborough1  ,hogarth1 ,reynolds1 and
 ,constable1 a letter of ,titian written
 at the  age of eighty-five1 and a      
series of notes by ,leonardo on the     
flight of  birds4    ,lots #afd to #bhj 

are of historical1 literary1 and musical
 interest4 ,one  of the most interesting
 items is the ,,ms4 of ,baudelaire's ,la
 ,charogne1  with a drawing of a woman  
by the poet4 ,a beautifully written     
letter  from ,lucretia ,borgia to       
,cardinal ,d',este is another remarkable
 piece4    ,lots #bha-bhf are documents 
which will appeal to collectors of      
relics of  ,mary ,queen of ,scots4 ,the 
first is a document signed by ,bothwell2
 four  are letters of ,john ,lesley1    
,bishop of ,ross2 and the last a        
document  signed by ,william ,davison1  
,queen ,elizabeth's agent in ,scotland4 
,,items ,,from ,,the ,,booksellers'     
,,catalogues    ,messrs4 ,maggs's       
catalogue 7,no4 #chf7 of autograph      
letters and ,,mss4  contains a number of
 items which will be of interest to     
musicians4  ,in a letter to ,birchall1  
the ,english music publisher1 dated     
,october1  #ahca1 ,beethoven writes the 
following sentence3 ,i have duly        
received  the #e s1 and thought         

previously you would not encrease the   
number of  englishmen neglecting their  
word and honor1 as ,i had the misfortune
 of  meeting with two of this sort4 ,he 
goes on to offer ,birchall a ,grand     
,sonata for the ,pianoforte for #dj1 and
 a ,trio for piano1 violin1 and  cello  
for #ej4 ,the letter is priced at #ba4  
,there are also four letters  of        
,wagner1 a note in the handwriting of   
,sir ,arthur ,sullivan 7#abs4  #f;d471 a
 signed autograph piece by ,gounod 7#c  
#ajs471 letters of  ,berger1 ,spontini1 
,balfe1 ,hiller and ,heller1 ,verdi1    
,thalberg1 ,paganini1  ,brahms1 and     
,liszt2 there is an autograph musical   
,,ms4 of ,mendelssohn  dated #ahdd 7#aj 
#ajs471 and another of a ,scena composed
 by ,haydn for  ,signora ,banti 7#he74  
99       99       99       99       99  
,other pieces of the greatest interest  
are advertised in the same  catalogue4  
,a beautifully written letter in the    
hand of ,benvenuto  ,cellini is priced  
#aje4 ,another letter of slightly       

earlier date than  ,cellini's is the    
almost illegible scrawl of ,gtz von     
,berlichingen1 the  ,knight of the ,iron
 ,hand 7#cb74 ,the collection also      
includes several  very important letters
 of ,byron3 one to ,john ,murray        
7,october #bith1  #ahai71 in which he   
speaks of his ,memoirs1 entrusted to    
,moore1 and  afterwards solemnly burnt  
at ,murray's house in ,albemarle ,street
 7#aje73  one to ,kinnaird 7#ahbb7 on   
the morality of ,don ,juan4           99
       99       99       99       99    
,mr4 ,francis ,edwards has also issued a
 catalogue of autograph letters  which  
contains many items of remarkable       
interest4 ,hrothgar1 a  seventy-eight   
verse ballad 7unpublished71 by ,george  
,borrow1 is a  curious by-product of    
,beowulf scholarship1 which ought to be 
worth the  thirty pounds at which it is 
priced4 ,among the five autograph       
letters  of ,thomas ,carlyle we find one
 addressed to the ,bishop of ,chester   
7,august #bcrd1 #ahdj71 in which        

,carlyle writes3 ,may ,i apply to you   
for  a charitable service on behalf of a
 certain ,mr4 ,mazzini1 an ,italian     
neighbour and friend of mine8 ,two      
holograph manuscripts of ,john ,evelyn  
are offered for #ae and #be             
respectively4 ,ten pounds is the price  
of a  letter from ,sir ,william         
,hamilton 7,naples1 #agib7 to ,horace   
,walpole1 in  which ,hamilton remarks of
 his famous wife3 ,she is 444 most      
grateful  to me for having saved her    
from the precipice into which she had   
good  sense enough to see she must1     
without me1 have inevitably fallen1 and 
she sees that nothing but a constant    
good conduct can maintain the  respect  
that is now shown her by everybody4 ,it 
has often been remarked  that a reformed
 rake makes a good husband1 why not vice
 versa8  ,why not8 ,the answer is to be 
found in a letter from ,nelson to ,lady 
,hamilton 7,yarmouth1 #ahja2 #ba74      
,other ,nelson and ,hamilton autographs1
  the ,morrison collection1 are on sale 

at ,messrs4 ,suckling's1 of ,garrick    
,street4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,other interesting       
letters and manuscripts offered by      
,messrs4 ,edwards  are by ,dr4 ,johnson1
 ,samuel ,richardson1 ,swinburne1       
,meredith1 ,landor1  ,pepys1 ,lamb1     
,southey1 ,thackeray4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,we are
 glad to notice that a manuscript by a  
young contemporary can  command as big a
 price as ten guineas4 ,this is the sum 
asked by ,messrs4  ,davis and ,orioli   
for the autograph ,,ms4 of ,mr4 ,robert 
,nichols's ,the  ,faun's ,holiday1      
published in his volume of ,ardours and 
,endurances4  ,to buy it would certainly
 be a speculation2 but we believe there 
is a  good chance of the speculation    
turning out profitably4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,early 
,editions of ,fielding3 ,messrs4 ,bowes 
and ,bowes1 of ,cambridge1 are  asking  
#be for the first edition 7two volumes  
in contemporary calf7 of  ,the ,history 

of the ,adventures of ,joseph ,andrews1 
and of his ,friend1  ,mr4 ,abraham      
,adams4 ,a copy of the second edition1  
published in the same  year as the      
first1 is offered for #cas4 #f;d4 by the
 ,ex-,officers' ,book  ,union1 #af      
,rathgar ,avenue1 ,west ,ealing4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,messrs4 ,pickering and ,chatto are     
offering a copy of ,endymion 7,taylor   
and ,hessey1 #ahah71 in the original    
boards1 for #gh4 ,another interesting   
,keats relic is the original autograph  
,,ms4 of a portion of ,otho the  ,great1
 which is offered by ,messrs4 ,maggs    
,bros4 for #fj4 ,the ,,ms41  entirely in
 ,keats's own writing1 is a fragment of 
the first scene of  the play4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,we note that a fine copy of ,fulke     
,greville's ,poems 7#afcc71 of which  we
 recently had occasion to speak1 is for 
sale at ,messrs4 ,dobell's1 the  price  
being six guineas4           99       99
       99       99       99    ,messrs4 

,maggs ,bros4' new catalogue1           
,bibliotheca ,aeronautica1 price  #es41 
is a fascinating book4 ,it contains the 
account of some fifteen  hundred volumes
 dealing with the problem of flight from
 the earliest  times to the present day4
 ,the first section contains books      
published  prior to the invention of the
 ,montgolfier ,balloon in #aghc4 ,a fine
 copy  of ,francesco de ,lana's         
,prodromo ,overo ,saggio di ,alcune     
,inventioni  appears in this section    
7#af #afs474 ,paltock's famous flying   
novel1  ,the ,life and ,adventures of   
,peter ,wilkins1 ,london1 #agea1 is     
offered at  #ae #aes41 and the work     
which ,restif de la ,bretonne founded on
 it1 ,la  ,dcouverte ,australe par un   
,homme ,volant1 ou le ,ddale ,franais1  
at #ah  #ahs4 ,fine engravings are      
reproduced from these books4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,in the second section we find a number 
of ,blanchard's narratives1  including  
the account of the first aerial crossing

 of the ,channel2 we  find ,lunardi's   
,account of the ,first ,aerial ,voyage  
in ,england1 ,london1  #aghd 7#g #ajs472
 several books on the ,montgolfier      
brothers1 as well as  the works of the  
great ,baron ,munchausen1 so famed for  
his aeronautical  exploits4           99
       99       99       99       99    
,the third section of the catalogue     
deals with the evolution of aircraft    
from #ahea to #ahii4 ,an interesting    
item is the first edition of ,rmy  de   
,gourmont's ,en ,ballon1 ,paris1 #ahhc4 
,a large number of works by             
,tissandier1 author of the              
,bibliographie ,aronautique1 ,paris1    
#ahhg1  naturally appear4 ,we may here  
note the remarkable fact that by far the
  greater number of the volumes on      
flight are in ,french4 ,british interest
  in the problem was not aroused till a 
good deal later1 after the first        
practical difficulties had been solved4 
,a first edition of ,jules  ,verne's    
,robur le ,conqurant1 ,paris1 #ahhf1 is 

included 7#aes474 ,his  ,six ,weeks in a
 ,balloon also deserves a place4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,in the fourth section we come to       
,aeroplanes and ,dirigibles in the      
,twentieth ,century4 ,the period opens  
with the intrepid ,santos-,dumont  and  
his flights and falls over ,paris4 ,his 
,my ,airships1 ,london1 #aijd1  is      
priced at #ajs4 ,the handsomest         
aeronautical work published during  this
 period is perhaps ,la ,conqute de      
l',air1 by ,grand-,carteret and         
,delteil1 a finely illustrated folio1   
offered at #c #cs4           99       99
       99       99       99    ,a fifth 
section contains pictures of famous     
balloon ascents1 portraits  of          
aeronauts1 caricatures1 and the like4   
,a4 ,l4 ,h4          ,,correspondence   
,a ,,protest    7,to the ,editor of     
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7               
,,sir1--,your dramatic critic writes of 
my play ,sacred and ,profane  ,love1 ,a 
writer of ,mr4 ,arnold ,bennett's       

eminence and great sagacity  would be   
the last person to expect us to take    
this play seriously as  a contribution  
to dramatic literature4 ,only a certain 
ingenuousness  prevents this remark from
 being outrageous4 ,of course ,i expect 
the play  to be taken seriously4 ,your  
writer is perfectly entitled to condemn 
my play2 but he is not entitled on the  
strength of his opinion to  attribute to
 me an attitude which is not mine1 and  
which1 if it were  mine1 would render me
 odious in the sight of artists4 ,why in
 the name  of my alleged great sagacity 
should ,i publish a play which ,i did   
not  expect to be taken seriously8 ,did 
your critic perhaps imagine that  he was
 being charitable8 ,one does not expect 
from the critics of  ,,the ,,london     
,,mercury the ineptitudes which         
characterise the dramatic  criticism of 
the stunt daily ,press4 ,i mention the  
matter because ,i  think that an        
important point of principle is         
involved1 and because  this is not the  

first time that one of your critics has 
exceeded his  province4 ,in your first  
number there were references to the work
 of  ,mr4 ,frank ,swinnerton which      
amounted to a quite gratuitous          
imputation  against the artistic        
integrity of the author4--,yours1 etc41 
,,arnold ,,bennett4    #ab;,b ,george   
,street1 ,hanover ,square1 ,w4#a1       
,december #aith1 #aiai4    ,we gladly   
publish ,mr4 ,bennett's disclaimer1 but 
we think he  exaggerates the gravity of 
the supposition he repels4 ,we need     
scarcely  say that our critic had no    
intention of imputing to ,mr4 ,bennett  
anything which we supposed would render 
,mr4 ,bennett odious4 ,taking  the view 
that he did of ,mr4 ,bennett's play1 our
 critic thought he was  paying a        
compliment to ,mr4 ,bennett's           
intelligence4 ,if it is odious  to      
write1 occasionally1 things which we do 
not regard as serious  contributions to 
literature1 we can only say that a great
 many artists  have made themselves     

odious4 ,as for ,mr4 ,swinnerton1 our   
reviewer1  detecting a falling off1     
suggested that it might be due to the   
novelist  having got into the habit of  
turning novels out regularly instead of 
waiting for the impulse4 ,if a serious  
reviewer is to be precluded1 when  he   
thinks himself justified1 from making   
suggestions like that1 he  might just as
 well be muzzled4--,,editor4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,,the ,,duchess ,,of ,,malfi    7,to the
 ,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7   
,,sir1--,mr4 ,turner says he can hardly 
believe that the section of the         
audience which behaved so abominably at 
the ,phnix performance  consisted       
largely of the theatrical profession4 ,i
 think he is right4 ,i  happen to know  
that an effort was made by two actors in
 the audience to  get a request for     
order made from the stage during the    
first interval4    ,nor were these      
people entirely of the uneducated       
sort--in the  conventional sense4 ,one  

of the worst offenders was a terrible   
woman  sitting next to me1 who          
occasionally interrupted her nervous    
giggle to  remark1 ,a wonderfully       
characteristic touch6 or something of   
the kind4  ,i believe she must have been
 a don4    ,may ,i suggest that at the  
next performance by the ,phnix1 if      
similar  trouble occurs1 the matter     
should be brought to the notice of the  
management during the first interval1   
and that a request should be  made from 
the stage by the latter8 ,personal      
requests to individual  offenders were  
made by more than one member of the     
audience at the  performance in         
question1 but without result4 ,it is    
worth while making a  concerted effort  
to prevent the authentic joy of the     
theatre1 when at  last it is offered to 
us1 from being marred by the behaviour  
of vulgar  sentimentalists and          
neurotics4--,yours1 etc41               
,,victor ,,gollancz4    ,authors' ,club1
 #b ,whitehall ,court1 ,s4,w4#a1        

,january #ith4           99       99    
99       99       99      ,,tam ,,htab  
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,in vain ,mr4 ,l4 
,pearsall ,smith held out a juicy       
carrot4 ,lest ,mr4  ,j4 ,j4 ,biggs also 
be disappointed in his hope of a solemn 
ass1 ,i beg to  offer myself in that    
capacity1 and with well-feigned         
eagerness point  out that this page1 if 
held to a mirror1 will show that ,,tam  
,,htab is no  more the reverse of ,,bath
 ,,mat than ,,moor ,,eeffoc of ,,coffee 
,,room4    ,as you say1 these public    
inscriptions are responsible for much   
distress4--,yours1 etc41            ,a4 
,p4    ,january #fth4           99      
99       99       99       99      ,,the
 ,,lambkin ,,mss4 ,,and ,,mr4 ,,belloc  
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,your valued      
bibliographer classifies the ,remains of
 the  ,rev4 ,j4 ,a4 ,lambkin among the  
verse attributable to their editor4  ,i 
feel very strongly the impiety of this  

error4 ,for1 although the  influence of 
that eminent divine is traceable in the 
,dedicatory ,ode  prefixed by ,mr4      
,belloc to the ,remains of his great    
mentor1 it is  nevertheless in the realm
 of prose that we must look for         
,lambkin's main  contributions to       
knowledge and literature4 ,true it is   
that the late  ,fellow of ,burford's    
justly famed ,newdigate ,poem is        
included in the  definitive             
edition--indeed1 ,mr4 ,belloc must have 
felt the impossibility  of rejecting its
 claims to such inclusion--yet1 if ,i   
may quote a  delightful ,lambkinism     
which deserves a wider fame1 ,one       
swallow  does not make a summer2 and1 as
 one who owes a goodly part of the      
culture discernible 7as ,i trust7 in    
this letter to the author of the        
,article on the ,north-,west ,corner of 
the ,mosaic ,pavement at ,bignor1  ,i   
feel ,i should be untrue to the memory  
of my late dear tutor if ,i  allowed    
such glories to be catalogued as if they

 formed part of the  verses of a mere   
poet4 ,no1 sir1 ,lambkin is this        
,england's ,seneca1  and all who        
treasure a great cultural inheritance   
should rally to do  justice to its      
,remains4 ,the late ,dr4 ,pusey1 whose  
character held  so much in common with  
that of his younger disciple1 never     
tired of  narrating that wonderful      
instance of ,lambkin's profound yet     
finely  epigrammatic ,latinity which is 
connected with the death of the late    
,pastor of ,bremen1 ,i think4 ,i was    
present on that occasion1 and can       
testify that1 far from any library1 ,mr4
 ,lambkin1 after a short silence        
lasting perhaps for two minutes1        
whispered the words ,requiescat in      
,pace--surely the most terse and crisp  
of potential epitaphs and one  almost   
certain to secure the immediate         
popularity which it obtained1  falling  
as it did upon the receptive soil       
afforded by the ,oxford  ,movement from 
which event in our history the          

expression dates4 ,as the  fact is not  
generally known1 perhaps1 sir1 you will 
allow me to state  here that the present
 ,sir ,ezra ,crumpton-,padge of         
,whortlebury ,towers1  near ,brixton1 is
 now the sole surviving link between the
 author of  ,physiology of the ,elephant
 and our own times1 the claims to this  
honour made by ,m4 ,lamkinski1          
,president-elect of the ,kacheefucan    
,soviet1  having been expressly refuted 
by that gentleman's father-in-law1 ,m4  
,georgeovitch ,bernardenko ,shavkin1 the
 well-known big-game hunter and  editor 
of ,agap4    ,curiously enough ,mr4     
,belloc's fine monograph on the ,padge  
,system  of ,rhetoric makes no allusion 
to this interesting example of what  we 
may surely describe1 in the truest sense
 of ,lambkin's happiest  aphorism1 as a 
survival of the fittest4 ,your          
bibliographer will  doubtless wish to   
note these errata4 ,meanwhile ,i trust  
the importance  of the subject may      
condone in some measure for the length  

of this  letter4--,yours1 etc41         
,r4 ,n4 ,,green-,,armytage ,curator     
,l4,l44    ,lambkin ,library1           
,whortleboro'1 near ,weston-,s4-,mare1  
,january #ajth4           99       99   
99       99       99      ,,oned    7,to
 the ,editor of ,,the ,,london          
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,your reviewer1 in
 his notice of ,mr4 ,dormer ,creston's  
,clown of  ,paradise1 claims to record a
 neologism which he commends to the     
notice  of the editors of the ,oxford   
,dictionary4 ,unfortunately they have   
anticipated him4 ,if he will turn to the
 ,oxford ,dictionary1 vol4 vii1  page   
#abc1 the top of the second column1 he  
will find eleven examples1  the last    
from a book published as recently as    
#ahci1 of this astounding  grammatical  
invention4--,yours1 etc41               
,,gerard ,,hopkins4    ,oxford          
,university ,press1 ,amen ,corner1      
,e4,c4#d1 ,december #agth1 #aiai4       
99       99       99       99       99  
,,candide    7,to the ,editor of ,,the  

,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,it is   
interesting to learn from ,mr4 ,lewis   
,h4 ,grundy's letter in  your issue of  
,december that an ,english translation  
of ,candide1 with  the name of ,m4 de   
,voltaire as the author of the original1
 was published  in ,london as early as  
#agei4    ,according to the preface of  
the edition of the ,acadmie des         
,bibliophiles of #ahfi ,candide first   
appeared at the beginning of  ,march1   
#agei1 the ,journal ,encyclopdique of   
the #aeth of that month  containing an  
article on the book1 which is headed by 
the following3    ,we do not believe    
that this tale has a ,german original4  
,it is  attributed to ,m4 de ,v4        
,this note produced a reply from        
,voltaire signed ,dmad4    ,though the  
reply is dated ,april #aeth1 #agei1 it  
did not appear in the  ,journal         
,encyclopdique till ,july #aeth1 #agfb1 
with the following note3    ,this letter
 has been mislaid for a long time1 and  
when it reached  us we made fruitless   

efforts to discover the existence of ,m4
 ,dmad1  ,captain in the ,brunswick     
,regiment4    ,a facsimile of the       
title-page of the first edition of #agei
 is also  given in the edition of #ahfi1
 and is the same as that quoted in the  
,bibliographical ,notes of your issue of
 ,november4    ,l',ingnu was also       
published anonymously in #agfg4 ,the    
title-page runs  as follows3    ,l      
,ingnu1 ,histoire vritable1 tire des    
manuscrits du ,pre ,quesnel1   ,utrecht1
 #agfg4--,yours1 etc41                  
,,ernest ,f4 ,,gye4    #fa ,tregunter   
,road1 ,s4,w4#aj1 ,december #aith1      
#aiai4          ,,learned ,,societies1  
,,etc4      ,,the ,,society ,,for ,,the 
,,protection ,,of ,,ancient ,,buildings 
,in the recent ,housing ,supplement     
issued by the ,times the ,society for   
the ,protection of ,ancient ,buildings  
has expressed its views on the  housing 
problem in connection with old cottages4
 ,there are in this  article two main   
points worth noting4 ,the first is that 

until a subsidy  is made1 proportionate 
to the value of the work of repair1 old 
cottages  will not be readapted1 but    
allowed to fall into ruins4 ,the failure
 to  award this subsidy tends to shift  
the responsibility1 in regard to the    
upkeep of such property1 from the owner 
to the ,state1 for whilst the  ,state   
encourages and partially finances new   
building1 old cottages1  though in      
theory valued by the ,ministry of       
,health1 in practice will  hardly       
receive the attention they deserve4 ,the
 second point is this3  that the        
,society shows clearly it is no lover of
 mere decay1 or old and  mouldering     
walls1 features we are apt to associate 
with the sketches of  an early          
nineteenth century schoolgirl4    ,it   
lends no countenance to the habitual    
carping at all things new4 ,it  is as   
eager that the architecture of to-day   
should be as clean and  decent--the     
natural expression of the life of       
to-day--as it is anxious  to preserve1  

and where possible render habitable1    
those buildings of  the past embodying  
the spirit of their time4    ,but since 
words will build no walls1 if our fine  
old cottages are  to be preserved1 it   
will need something more than mere      
discussions or  eulogiums on their value
 as relics of the nation's past4 ,by all
 who are  interested more practical help
 must be given1 and it is for this that 
the ,society now makes a special appeal4
      ,,the ,,royal ,,numismatic        
,,society    ,the monthly meeting of the
 ,royal ,numismatic ,society was held on
  ,december #ahth1 ,sir ,henry ,howorth1
 ,vice-,president1 presiding4 ,mr4  ,g4 
,f4 ,hill read a paper entitled ,the    
,mint of ,crosraguel ,abbey1  written by
 ,dr4 ,george ,macdonald1 who was unable
 to be present4 ,recent  excavations at 
,crosraguel 7,crossregal7 ,abbey1 a     
,cluniac foundation  in ,ayrshire1      
founded in #abdd1 and endowed by the    
,scottish kings with  extraordinary     
privileges1 resulted in the discovery in

 a latrine-drain  of a large number of  
small objects1 some of a miscellaneous  
nature1  others evidently the remains of
 a local mint3 large quantities of      
small tags of brass1 needles1 portions  
of thin sheets1 etc41 as well  as       
objects and pieces of copper and lead1  
together with #aig coins of  billon1    
bronze1 or copper and brass4 ,the coins 
are 7a7 contemporary  imitations of     
pennies of ,james ,,iii4 and ,,iv41 and 
farthings of ,james  ,,iv41 including   
twenty which are a combination of the   
obverse of one  type with the reverse of
 another2 7b7 fifty-one pennies bearing 
a cross on one side and a regal orb on  
the other1 and the  inscriptions        
,jacobus ,dei ,gra4 ,rex and ,crux      
pellit omne crimen  variously           
abbreviated2 7c7 eighty-eight copper or 
brass farthings1 of  types not hitherto 
known1 inscribed ,moneta ,pauperum4 ,the
 imitations  of class 7a7 are the black 
money known from records4 ,the pennies  
of  class 7b7 are almost exclusively    

found in ,scotland1 though they have    
hitherto been attributed to one or other
 ,james of ,aragon4 ,they were  clearly 
minted at ,crosraguel1 the types having 
a punning significance4  ,they and the  
farthings are the only known instance in
 ,great ,britain of  an ,abbey coinage1 
such as is very frequent on the         
,continent1 e4g41  at ,cluny4 ,the      
inscription ,moneta pauperum shows that 
the coins were  intended to provide     
small change for the especial benefit of
 the poor  like the seventeenth century 
tokens4 ,the mint was probably          
suppressed  by ,james ,,iv4    ,at the  
meeting of the ,society on ,january     
#bjth1 ,rev4 ,e4 ,a4 ,sydenham gave  the
 results of his study of the ,coinage of
 ,augustus4      ,,the ,,library        
,,association    ,the passage through   
,parliament of a new ,public ,libraries 
,bill was  effected with the minimum of 
friction--one might almost say of       
interest4 ,but public libraries1        
accustomed as they have been through    

fifty years to ,legislative stonings1   
can hardly yet realise that they  have  
in their hands at length the very bread 
of life4 ,for some1 that  statement     
renews the unspeakable anguish of       
dissolution--of the day  when they      
closed their doors to the public from   
sheer inability to  exist4 ,others may  
witness to a miracle of healing1 rescue 
when in  extremis4 ,others1 again1      
survey the newly-granted means wherewith
 to  end bravely contracted debts4 ,but 
the majority become slowly conscious    
that the burden has fallen from their   
backs1 and that they may go  forward    
with a lighter step to a far brighter   
future4 ,the removal of  the rate limit 
will effect a revolution in public      
library practice2 but  its results      
cannot become at once apparent4 ,it     
rests with individual  library          
authorities to make a rate each year--to
 afford their charges  the opportunity1 
as they now possess the power1 of       
proving to all  sections of the public  

that they are necessities and not       
luxuries4 ,that  some of these ,councils
 will fail is certain--the public       
library idea  is not yet sufficiently   
commended to minds with the parish pump 
ideal2  and only external pressure and  
the education of the general public in  
library values will bring certain       
painfully parochial legislators into    
line with their opportunities4 ,in      
,london the situation is diverting2  one
 ,metropolitan ,borough has awakened    
rather late to its peril1 and  like a   
surprised bather is frantically making  
for shore2 with a  desperate            
consciousness that close behind is the  
shark-like shadow of  the ,london       
,county ,council4 ,other two ,boroughs  
must be in doubt as to  whether their   
very exiguous libraries1 possessed of   
neither service  nor system--neither use
 nor ornament--will place them out of   
reach of  attack4 ,and1 if so1 for how  
long8 ,other legislation is             
foreshadowed1  and the ,library         

,association 7deeply grateful that the  
long years in the  wilderness have      
ended7 intends to bring libraries to all
 the people as  a necessary preliminary 
to bringing all the people to the       
libraries4    ,a correspondent writes of
 a report in our first issue3 ,on page  
#aji  you state that our forty-second   
annual meeting marked 'a definite       
cleavage between librarians and the     
,board of ,education' with respect  to  
future library policy4 ,here you        
innocently place the ,association  in a 
false position4 ,the third interim      
report1 the subject of the  discussion  
to which you refer1 was that of a       
committee appointed by  the ,ministry of
 ,reconstruction1 and was addressed to  
that ,ministry4  ,the ,minister of      
,education considerately invited the    
opinion of the  ,library ,association on
 that report4 ,the ,library             
,association1 whilst  approving certain 
recommendations contained therein1      
differed from  others1 and submitted a  

reasoned statement of its views to the  
,board  of ,education1 as a reply to    
,mr4 ,fisher's request4 ,it is therefore
  obvious that there is no 'cleavage'   
between librarians and the ,board of    
,education2 and an incorrect statement  
to that effect would give a wrong  and  
damaging impression of the facts4       
,moreover1 the ,library ,association  is
 by no means exclusively composed of    
librarians4 ,a very considerable        
proportion of those present at the      
,southport meeting were members  of     
library authorities1 many of whom were  
also members of education  committees4  
,,the ,,society ,,of ,,antiquaries      
,of the three fragments of ,christian   
art described by ,mr4 ,dalton1 one is  a
 spandril of morse ivory #c inches long1
 carved in high relief with two  soaring
 angels back to back4 ,this fascinating 
example of the ,winchester  ,school of  
,art dates from about #ajjj ,a4,d41 and 
having been found in a  garden at ,st4  
,cross1 is now appropriately housed in  

the museum a mile  away4 ,the other two 
are products of the ,near ,east3 the    
first a detail  from a mosaic pavement  
in a small church of the sixth century  
at ,umm  ,jerar1 south of ,gaza1        
representing a phnix on a fire-altar1 a 
rare  instance of this motive in early  
,christian times4 ,the other is a       
marble slab in the ,british ,museum1    
apparently part of a screen1 from a     
church at ,miafarkin1 north-east of     
,diarbekr1 ,kurdistan4 ,dating probably 
from the twelfth century1 it is carved  
in low relief on both faces1  and a     
central medallion bears a double-headed 
eagle1 which had already  started on its
 eventful career4 ,a gift from ,sir     
,john ,ramsden has  enriched the        
national collection with a fine example 
of the penannular  brooch1 for a long   
time in the ,breadalbane family4 ,it was
 probably  found in ,scotland1 and falls
 into its place in the series of ,irish 
or ,scotic works of art1 the date being 
towards the end of the eighth  century4 

,the material is silver-gilt1 with gold 
filigree and glass  settings2 and even  
the back is ornamented with medallions  
of trumpet  spirals4      ,,the         
,,bibliographical ,,society    ,the     
occasion of the annual meeting of the   
,society1 which was held on  ,january   
#aith1 was saddened by the recent death 
of ,sir ,william ,osler1  the ,president
 of the ,society1 who had held that     
office for seven years4  ,during that   
time he seldom failed to preside at the 
,society's meetings1  and his courtesy  
and geniality1 no less than his keen    
interest in  bibliography1 and          
especially in the ,society's own sphere 
of work1 won  him the warm regard of the
 members4 ,for some years past he had   
been  engaged in the preparation of a   
monograph on medical works printed  in  
the fifteenth century1 which1 it is     
hoped1 will be issued by the            
,bibliographical ,society4 ,sir         
,william's successor in the ,presidency 
is  ,mr4 ,falconer ,madan1 formerly     

,bodley's ,librarian4 ,at the ,january  
meeting  he read an abridgment of a     
paper which he had written describing   
the  work of the ,daniel ,press1 which  
since the death of its founder and      
owner has passed into the possession of 
the ,bodleian ,library4          ,,books
 ,,of ,,the ,,month      ,,poetry       
,,flora4 ,by ,,pamela ,,bianco4 ,verses 
by ,,walter ,,de ,,la ,,mare4           
,heinemann4 #bes4  net4    ,miss ,bianco
 is twelve years old--at least she was  
when these drawings  were made4 ,there  
is a sameness about them4 ,almost all of
 them contain  a rather languishing     
female face1 with something of a        
primitive  ,madonna about it and        
something 7if we dare suggest it7 of the
  sophisticated 'nineties4 ,in the      
coloured and in the more elaborate  of  
the black-and-white pictures the faces  
are framed in setting of  conventional  
but charming flowers1 with1 as ,tennyson
 would put it1 here  and there a rabbit4
 ,the drawings are unreservedly amazing 

for a girl of  ,miss ,bianco's age2 if  
her future progress were to be on a par 
with her  present precocity she would   
become one of the greatest artists in   
the  world4 ,we cannot assume that2 nor1
 on the other hand1 need we rummage  in 
our notebooks for ancient               
generalisations about the fate of       
ancient  prodigies4 ,miss ,bianco is    
remarkable now2 and she will be what she
 will  be4 ,if we were predicting we    
should say that she would become a very 
skilful and charming decorator1 a more  
complicated ,kate ,greenaway4    ,she   
has at least performed one great feat   
already3 she has provided  little       
platforms from which ,mr4 de la ,mare's 
,pegasus has sprung into  the ther4 ,we 
can imagine nothing which could more    
finally illustrate  how small           
suggestions may germinate in a poet's   
mind than the verses  which ,mr4 de la  
,mare has written to these so slight1 so
 purely  decorative pictures4 ,his      
imagination has been coloured and       

excited by  every smallest hint of a    
mood2 and where1 to the passing         
observant eye1  ,miss ,bianco has left  
nothing more to be said to the little   
she has  stated herself1 anything1 a    
droop of the eyelids1 an indicated      
detail  in the background1 serves to    
send ,mr4 de la ,mare off dreaming into 
remote fairylands4 ,behind one of ,miss 
,bianco's damsels1 slit-eyed and        
straight-fingered1 is a path leading to 
a small crude building4 ,the  wind      
bloweth where it listeth4 ,on this small
 thing1 missing girl and  child and     
leafy tree1 ,mr4 de la ,mare's eye has  
rested4 ,the outlines  have filled in1  
atmosphere has trembled in1 sounds and  
lights2 and the  outcome is something of
 which ,miss ,bianco never dreamed3     
,is it an abbey that ,i see        ,hard
 by that tapering poplar-tree1          
,whereat that path hath end8            
',tis wondrous still              ,that 
empty hill1              ,yet calls me1 
friend4          ,smooth is the turf1   

serene the sky1        ,the timeworn1   
crumbling roof awry2          ,within   
that turret slim              ,hangs    
there a bell              ,whose faint  
notes knell8              ,do colours   
dim          ,burn in that angled window
 there1        ,grass-green1 and        
crimson1 azure rare8          ,would    
from that narrow door              ,one1
 looking in1              ,see1 gemlike1
 shine              ,on walls and floor 
,candles whose aureole flames must      
seem--        ,so still they burn--to   
burn in dream8          ,and do they    
cry1 and say1              ,see1        
stranger2 come6              ,here is   
thy home2              ,no longer stray8
    ,the poem ,suppose1 which appeared  
in our first number1 starts on its      
fantastic flight from a face with eyes  
of wonderment in it2 and from  another  
head--a head crowned1 a neck            
girdled--comes ,the ,comb1 perfect  in  
itself without any picture3          ,my
 mother sate me at her glass2           

,this necklet of bright flowers she     
wove2        ,crisscross her gentle     
hands did pass1          ,and wound in  
my hair her love4          ,deep in the 
mirror our glances met1          ,and   
grieved1 lest from her care ,i roam1    
,she kissed me through her tears1 and   
set          ,on high this spangling    
comb4    ,mirage is lovelier still1 and 
far more slender in its origins2 how    
,mr4 de la ,mare's imagination can fill 
out an outline that really is  given is 
shown in his delicious poem of ,master  
,rabbit4 ,there is a  charming sketch3 a
 rabbit1 and nothing more4 ,but to the  
poet a whole  scene comes up1 country   
scents1 green grasshoppers talking3     
,and wings like amber1                  
,dispread in light1        ,as from bush
 to bush          ,linnet took flight4  
,he sees the rabbit looking out from the
 shadow-rimmed mouth of his  shady      
cavern at sunset4 ,rabbit sees him3     
,snowy flit of a scut1          ,he was 
into his hole2          ,and--stamp1    

stamp1 stamp1          ,through dim     
labyrinths clear--        ,the whole    
world darkened1          ,a human near4 
,this is an extra number to ,peacock    
,pie1 and the poems as a whole  make us 
once more impatient for a collected     
volume of ,mr4 de la ,mare's  work which
 will show the bulk and the quality of  
the performance of  one of the most     
exquisite artists in words who has ever 
contributed to  the unequalled treasury 
of our ,english lyrics4 ,nevertheless it
 must be  admitted that his average     
level is higher when he is not writing  
verses  to a series of pictures4        
,,seventeenth-,,century ,,english       
,,verse1 #afaf-affj4 ,edited by ,h4 ,j4 
,,massingham4 ,macmillan4 7,golden      
,treasury ,series47 #cs4 #f;d4 net4     
,mr4 ,massingham collects here four     
hundred poems written1 with few         
exceptions1 in the forty-four years that
 followed the death of  ,shakespeare4   
,it may not be correct to describe this 
period as the  most neglected period of 

,english literature4 ,it is true that   
many of  the authors and most of the    
poems to be found in ,mr4 ,massingham's 
collection have been ignored by         
anthologists1 and are utterly unknown   
to the reading public2 but we suspect   
that the periods of ,anne and the       
,georges have been even less thoroughly 
searched1 though they would not  yield  
results so rich as those which have come
 from the claim that  ,mr4 ,massingham  
has staked out4 ,there were great poets 
in that period2  it left us many poems  
by ,milton1 ,herrick1 ,herbert ,vaughan1
 ,cowley1  ,crashaw1 ,lovelace          
,suckling1 and ,carew which are familiar
 to every  reader at all interested in  
,english poetry4 ,had the obvious best  
been  always selected ,mr4 ,massingham  
would have found himself crowded out    
with stock pieces before he began4 ,he  
has therefore--since he desired  mainly 
to give publicity to the                
unfamiliar--left ,milton and ,herrick   
out altogether and excluded some of the 

best-known poems of their  nearest      
rivals4 ,this has given him room for    
everybody1 or at least for  a hundred   
and more poets1 for ,nabbes and ,festel1
 as well as for the  poets above        
mentioned1 for ,donne1 and for such     
other respectable poets  as ,brome1     
,bunyan1 ,cartwright1 ,corbet1          
,davenant1 ,denham1 the ,fletchers1     
,habington1 ,bishop ,king1 ,massinger1  
,jasper ,mayne1 ,quarles1 ,randolph1    
,shirley1 ,t4 ,stanley1 ,traherne1      
,waller1 ,wither1 and ,wotton4 ,it is an
  imposing array2 contemplating it one  
realises that if that age could  not vie
 with the ,elizabethan in the number of 
great works produced1 it  actually beat 
it in the number of men it produced who 
wrote a few1 or  many1 good short poems4
 ,and it had1 as ,mr4 ,massingham       
rightly says1 a  quality of its own4 ,it
 may be difficult to deduce tendencies  
from  this mass of metaphysical1        
amorous1 graceful1 jocular1 scholarly1  
tripping verse4 ,but at least the age   

was no mere afterglow4 ,there are  very 
few poems in this fine selection which  
could have been mistaken  for products  
of any other generation1 and there are  
few which are mere  degenerate          
imitations of the songs of an earlier   
race4 ,there was1 under  ,charles and   
,cromwell1 a distinct civilisation with 
a colour and a mind  of its own2 less   
passionate 7save1 in some quarters1 in  
the matter of  religion7 than the last2 
less certain in its music2 more         
self-conscious  in all its ways3 but    
genuine and1 temperately1 ardent1       
cheerful1  chivalrous1 genial1 often    
tender4 ,from the one pole of           
,what a dainty life the milkmaid leads6 
to the other of          ,i saw         
,eternity the other night1    it        
covered1 in its manner1 the whole range 
of poetic experience and  expression1   
and it did many things perfectly4       
,herrick and ,vaughan were  its typical 
products1 and neither1 in his sphere1   
has an equal4    ,we find no material   

fault in this most admirable and        
enjoyable  anthology4 ,we may1 however1 
make in passing a few unimportant       
comments4 ,mr4 ,massingham1 as we have  
said1 has covered the ground more       
exhaustively than we had any right to   
expect2 and for most of his  important  
omissions he accounts satisfactorily on 
the ground that he  does not want to    
reprint poems which everyone already    
knows4 ,there are1  however1 a few      
things which he might have included4    
,the selection would  have been more    
thoroughly represented had it contained 
more of the  controversial element4 ,i  
suppose1 he says1 that my political     
temper  would urge me to declare for the
 ,parliament in the ,civil ,war4 ,but a 
bruising disunion of feeling would arise
 were such a choice forced upon  me4    
,before the ,civil ,war the middle and  
upper classes in ,england were  highly  
educated and passionately drawn to      
music4 ,turning over these  old         
,song-books1 printed fifty years after  

their ,elizabethan prototypes1  one     
feels a horror at the men who violated  
the temples of song and  learning4 ,for 
the ,puritans killed the musical soul of
 ,england and paved  the way for our    
doom--the triumph of the business sense4
 ,that is as  may be3 at all events he  
who regarded ,royalism as the devil     
would have  to admit that1 not          
forgetting ,milton and ,marvell1 the    
devil had most  of the best tunes2 and  
there is a lilt about many of the ,rump 
songs  that equals anything in ,english 
polemic verse4 ,cleveland1 in fancy1    
might have been more freely drawn on4   
,politics apart1 there are things       
missing4 ,a selection from ,joseph      
,beaumont is given1 but where is that   
beautiful poem about the sweet fury of  
,mary ,magdalen8 ,one poem of  the      
mysterious ,anne ,collins 7it is only1  
we think1 one edition of her  works of  
which a unique copy is supposed to      
exist2 there was a second7  is given1   
but not the best4 ,orinda is done scant 

justice2 and another  woman 7not a      
genius1 but as good as some of ,mr4     
,massingham's men7 who  deserved        
quotation1 however brief1 is ,anne      
,bradstreet1 the ,tenth ,muse1  the     
,female ,homer and what not1 of ,new    
,england4 ,the admission of ,philip     
,ayres1 who was twenty years out of     
date1 is not really justifiable4        
,granted that he was old-fashioned in   
style and spirit1 the same might  be    
said of some of his ,restoration        
contemporaries4 ,dr4 ,walter ,pope's    
celebrated poem1 for instance1 would not
 have been out of place in a  volume    
which contains ,thomas ,jordan and might
 have contained ,martin  ,parker4 ,a few
 of ,mr4 ,massingham's copious and      
highly entertaining notes  invite       
controversy4 ,it is cruel of him1 so    
tender as a rule towards  small poets   
who have patches of goodness1 to        
describe ,flatman as a  poetaster2 it is
 rash of him to declare that a good     
,alexandrine must  have a noticeable    

csura2 and it must surely have been a   
moment of  aberration which led him to  
detect a superb freedom of imagination  
in  the ordinary tropes of ,lord        
,herbert's ,elegy3          ,doth the   
sun now his light with yours renew8     
,have waves the curling of your hair8   
,did you restore unto the sky and air   
,the red and white and blue8            
,have you vouchsafed to flowers since   
your death          ,that sweetest      
breath8    ,these things1 however1      
matter little4    ,we note1 by the way1 
that ,mr4 ,massingham1 like his         
predecessors1 is  unable to contribute  
anything new to the discussion          
concerning one of  the noblest of the   
poems that come under his survey4 ,we   
refer to ,yet  if ,his ,majesty our     
,sovereign ,lord1 which was discovered  
by ,mr4 ,bullen  in ,christ ,church     
,library4 ,mr4 ,bullen conjectured      
,vaughan as author4 ,mr4  ,massingham1  
with all deference1 says that ,mr4      
,bullen is wrong4 ,we agree  with ,mr4  

,massingham2 but we should greatly like 
this problem to be  cleared up4      ,a 
,,miscellany ,,of ,,poetry--#aiai4      
,edited by ,,william ,,kean ,,seymour4  
,palmer   ,hayward4 #es4 net4    ,this  
miscellany is issued to the public as a 
truly catholic anthology  of            
contemporary poetry4 ,we do not quite   
gather what the author means  by this4  
,he has restricted the range of his     
selection by printing only  poems which 
have not yet appeared in book form1 and 
he certainly  cannot suppose that he has
 even half of the best living poets in  
his  volume1 or even half of the best   
poets of the younger generation4 ,mr4   
,chesterton appears1 but not ,mr4       
,belloc2 ,mr4 ,binyon1 but not ,a4 ,e4  
or  ,mr4 ,yeats2 ,mr4 ,davies1 but not  
,mr4 de la ,mare2 ,mr4 ,sturge ,moore1  
but  not ,mr4 ,freeman2 ,mr4 ,nichols1  
but not ,mr4 ,sassoon1 ,mr4 ,graves1 or 
,mr4  ,turner4 ,possibly the suggestion 
is that ,mr4 ,seymour has consulted     
other  people's tastes as well as his   

own2 this might explain the presence    
here of poets who are not known to have 
written anything of any merit  and who  
certainly contribute nothing of merit to
 this collection4    ,however1 the good 
things make the book worth having4      
,chief among  them is a long epistle by 
,mr4 ,sturge ,moore1 which contains     
pictures  as clean-cut and vivid as     
those which made his ,micah so          
peculiarly  rich a poem4 ,mr4           
,chesterton's ,ballad of ,st4 ,barbara  
has glorious  lines1 and the spirit is  
the spirit of ,the ,white ,horse1 but   
ballads  should not be obscure1 and this
 one is4 ,there is no obscurity in ,mr4 
,chesterton's ,elegy in a ,country      
,churchyard3          ,the men that     
worked for ,england          ,they have 
their graves at home1        ,and bees  
and birds of ,england          ,about   
the cross can roam4          ,but they  
that fought for ,england1               
,following a fallen star1        ,alas1 
alas1 for ,england          ,they have  

their graves afar6          ,and they   
that rule in ,england          ,in      
stately conclave met1        ,alas1     
alas1 for ,england1          ,they have 
no graves as yet6    ,the series of     
lyrics by ,mr4 ,davies are1 as usual1   
delicious1 and there  is less of        
rotundity than usual1 and more exactness
 and feeling1 in  ,mr4 ,john            
,drinkwater's ,malediction4 ,mr4 ,gibson
 contributes a series  of descriptive   
war-sonnets1 adjectival but interesting2
 and ,mr4  ,gerald ,gould eight sonnets 
very skilfully written and full of good1
  if reminiscent1 phrases1 which are    
unfortunately not as intelligible  as   
they look4 ,the editor's ,fruitage is   
too much like the more  pontifical      
octosyllabics of ,mr4 ,drinkwater1 but  
his ,siesta gives a  hot coloured       
picture vividly4 ,of the other          
contributors ,mr4 ,binyon1  ,miss       
,macaulay1 ,mr4 ,theodore ,maynard1 and 
,mr4 ,charles ,williams 7whose  ,poems  
of ,conformity1 difficult but sinewy1   

should be better known  than they are7  
are interestingly represented4 ,to these
 we may add ,mr4  ,f4 ,v4 ,branford1 who
 has almost made a good poem out of     
mathematics4 ,it  concludes3            
,for here and hence ,i sail             
,alone beyond the pale1        ,where   
square and circle coincide1        ,and 
the parallels collide1        ,and      
perfect pyramids flower4    ,obscurity  
is more excusable in this poem than in  
his others4 ,the  discriminating reader 
who has read this book once will        
probably mark  the poems he wants to    
read a second time2 there are many here 
by  authors who need not be specified   
which have given us an uncompensated    
headache4 ,if the editor means to follow
 the volume up he would be well  advised
 next time in being less catholic in    
this regard2 an anthology  of           
contemporary verse has to be almost     
uniformly good to serve any  useful     
purpose4      ,,novels    ,,interim4 ,by
 ,,dorothy ,,richardson4 ,duckworth4    

#gs4 net4    ,,valmouth4 ,by ,,ronald   
,,firbank4 ,grant ,richards4 #gs4 net4  
,,full ,,circle4 ,by ,,mary ,,agnes     
,,hamilton4 ,collins4 #gs4 net4         
,,invisible ,,tides4 ,by ,,beatrice     
,,seymour4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 net4   
,miss ,richardson's novel is her fifth  
volume in the same manner and  about the
 same person2 and a sixth volume is     
announced4 ,she has  apparently in      
effect only one novel to write and only 
one manner in  which to do it4 ,it is a 
manner distinctively her own1 and yet   
not an  isolated phenomenon4 ,this kind 
of thinking and this kind of writing    
seem to be abroad at the moment4 ,there 
are deep and genuine analogies  between 
,miss ,richardson's style and the style 
of ,mr4 ,james ,joyce2  there is a much 
more superficial resemblance between her
 work and the  fumisterie of ,mr4       
,ronald ,firbank4 ,she has influenced   
7but in this  case it was a conscious   
discipleship7 the method of ,miss ,may  
,sinclair4  ,it would not be difficult  

to find in her traits which she has in  
common  with the more sincere exponents 
of ,futurist poetry and with the theory 
an attempt to embody which was made in  
,futurist paintings4 ,she is1  in fact1 
an individual member of a school which  
is mostly posing and  pretence1 and     
which tends to discredit its very few   
genuine exponents4  ,but that ,miss     
,richardson is genuine1 whether we like 
reading her books  or not1 is a question
 beyond dispute4 ,she writes as she does
 because  she must1 because it is the   
way in which it has been given her to   
write4    ,it is her object to translate
 the memories of sensations into words  
directly and with as little change as   
possible4 ,this is a specimen3          
,miriam pulled up in front of a large   
oil-painting over the sofa2 its         
distances--where a meadow stream that   
was wide in the foreground    with a    
stone bridge and a mill-wheel and a     
cottage half hidden under    huge trees1
 grew narrow and wound on and on through

 tiny distant    fields until the scene 
melted in a soft-toned mist--held all   
her    early visits to the ,brooms in   
the ,banbury ,park days before they had 
discovered that she did not like sitting
 with her back to the fire4    ,she     
listened eagerly to the busy sounds of  
the ,brooms4 ,someone had    bolted the 
hall-door and was scrooping a chair over
 the tiles to get    up and put out the 
gas4 ,dust-sheets were still being      
flountered in    the room behind her4   
,grace's arm came round her waist4--,i'm
 so glad    you've come1 sweet1 she said
 in her low1 steady1 shaken tones4--,so 
am ,i1 said ,miriam4--,isn't that a     
jolly picture4--,yes4 ,it's an          
awfully good one1 you know4 ,it was one 
of papa's4--,what's ,o',hara    doing in
 the kitchen8--,taking ,grace by the    
waist1 ,miriam drew into    the passage1
 trying to prance with her down the     
hall4 ,the little    kitchen was        
obscured by an enormous clothes-horse   
draped with airing    linen4 ,she's left

 a miserable fire1 said ,mrs4 ,philps   
from behind the    clothes-horse4 ,she  
hasn't done the saucepans1 aunt1 scolded
 ,florrie    from the scullery4--,never 
mind1 we can't have er down now4 ,it's  
nearly midnight4    ,this is the        
reconstitution of a moment and1 for what
 it is worth1  ,miss ,richardson makes  
the moment live again4 ,but minds which 
observe  and record in her close1       
literal fashion are not normal minds2   
and  therefore her impressions of life1 
coloured as they are by her acute       
introspectiveness1 cannot correspond to 
life as normal persons see  it4 ,the    
normal person simplifies life1 not      
merely when1 if ever1 he  describes it1 
but also when he perceives it4 ,the     
world is not to him  the fragmentary    
incoherent whirl of feelings and events 
which it is  to ,miss ,richardson4      
,nevertheless1 it is obvious that this  
is how  the world appears to her2 and   
here1 again for what it is worth1 is    
her description of it4 ,with such a     

book1 a document rather than a  novel1  
the ordinary attitude of the critic of  
fiction is naturally  unsuitable and    
inapplicable4 ,he cannot assume the     
conventional position  of judgment from 
a definite and unalterable standard4 ,he
 can1 in fact1  do no more than explain 
what is the book before him and leave it
 at  that4 ,we attempt to do no more4   
,we do1 however1 think it worth while   
to establish the fact1 if possible1 that
 ,miss ,richardson's novels  are the    
real expression of a real personality4  
,on some readers they  may have         
absolutely no effect2 on some a small or
 a transitory effect2  some1 we know1   
appreciate them enormously4 ,but they   
are genuine2 they  are not stunts4 ,when
 the series is finished1 it may1 of     
course1  appear that ,miss ,richardson  
has given to the life of ,miriam        
,henderson  an artistic shape and       
moulding1 instead of making it merely an
 endless  film4 ,but this does not at   
present suggest itself4 ,what we have   

now is  the record of a particular mind 
in various states1 a mind which is not  
normal1 but is not possessed to an      
abnormal degree of either beauty or     
power4 ,that1 we confess1 is all we are 
able to say4    ,that ,miss             
,richardson's method is native and      
genuine may be seen by a  comparison of 
it with that of ,mr4 ,ronald ,firbank1  
whose ,valmouth is  worth noticing here 
in order to make the point4 ,here1      
again1 a random  specimen is necessary3 
,depositing his scrip in the outhouse1  
the cowherd glanced around3             
,where's ,thetis got8 he asked1         
addressing the small boy1 who1          
brandishing a broken rhubarb leaf1 was  
flitting functionarily about4           
,thetis8444 ,she's1 he hopped1 standing 
in the river4      ,what's she standing 
there for8      ,nothing4      444 ,must
 ,i thrash you1 ,billy ,jolly8      ,oh1
 don't1 ,david4      ,then answer me    
quick4      ,when the tide flows up from
 ,spadder ,bay she pretends it binds her

    to the sea4 ,where her sweetheart   
is4 ,her b-betrothed4444 ,away in the   
glorious tropics4      ',od6 ,you're a  
simple one1 you are6      ,me8          
,aye1 you4      ,don't be horrid1       
,david1 to me 444 you mustn't be4 ,it's 
bad enough    quite without4      ',od4 
,throughout this curious book we have   
again an attempt at an incoherent  and  
bewildering style1 a picture of a world 
which disintegrates into  a thousand    
pieces as we regard it4 ,it is indeed in
 some sort that  deliquescence of       
language and thought of which a certain 
school  of ,french writers once dreamed4
 ,but it expresses not a native1 if     
unusual1 way of seeing1 so much as a    
perverse1 deliberately assumed          
attitude4 ,mr4 ,firbank has clearly     
talents and ingenuity enough to  prevent
 any nonsense he may write being thrown 
away as pure nonsense4  ,but it is also 
clear that his aim is to write nonsense 
rather than  sense and perhaps to put   
forward under a film of absurdity a     

certain  natural perversity which would 
not be welcomed if it were more  lucidly
 expressed4 ,he has a certain gift for  
inconsequence and highly  etherealised  
frivolity2 but this may be inextricably 
connected with his  demerits1 in which  
case it would be useless to ask him to  
change4 ,if  he does not1 he will remain
 a curiosity1 mildly amusing a few      
readers1  deluding a few into a belief  
that they have found a super-genius and 
boring or displeasing the great         
majority4    ,these two books taken     
together suggest an aspect from which it
 may be  profitable to consider ,mrs4   
,hamilton's ,full ,circle4 ,neither of  
them  tells a story1 in the sense in    
which the miraculous inventors of the   
,arabian ,nights told stories4 ,miss    
,richardson has no astonishing  history 
to recount4 ,she rather describes than  
tells3 though her  heroine moves        
chronologically1 one has yet the sense  
rather of movement  in space than of    
movement in time4 ,mr4 ,firbank tells   

some story or  other1 but it is not     
possible to discern it under his        
incessant  saltimbanqueries4 ,mrs4      
,hamilton tells a definite tale4        
,certain persons  enter into relations1 
find themselves in a situation1 resolve 
it3  there is an introduction1 a        
complication1 and a dnouement4 ,it is1  
however1 the story that we miss when we 
look back on the book4  ,mrs4 ,hamilton 
has observed or imagined certain persons
 of various  characters and1 in order to
 exhibit them1 has invented the shocks  
and clashes between them which carry on 
her narrative4 ,but1 while  the persons 
are clearly observed or imagined1 the   
book suggests that  nothing more than   
invention was used for the bringing     
forth of the  incidents4 ,the writer    
might easily have been content to       
describe her  characters without showing
 them in motion4 ,the ,quihamptons1     
,iris  ,mauldeth and ,wilfrid ,elstree1 
are vivid and real1 portrayed in the    
round4 ,we should know them if we met   

them2 and1 from their presentation      
here1 we can make such estimates of and 
guesses about them as we make  in       
ordinary life--they are no less real    
than that4 ,but in ,wilfrid's  affair   
with ,bridget ,quihampton1 in his       
disappearance and return1 in  ,roger's  
marriage and destiny1 it is impossible  
not to discern a certain  lassitude and 
want of interest4 ,the incidents are not
 improbable or  ill-drawn2 but ,mrs4    
,hamilton cannot have felt very much    
about them  as incidents4 ,though the   
people have undoubtedly come to life in 
her  hands1 they have not proceeded to  
do anything of their own initiative2    
except in one instance1 we feel the hand
 of the author jogging their  elbows and
 ruling their fates4 ,when two of them1 
when ,bridget and  ,wilfrid1 are        
involved in an emotional situation1 the 
author's interest  continues to reveal  
itself in ,bridget and in ,wilfrid1 not 
in the  situation which the clash of    
their individualities has produced4 ,a  

tale need not deal with the marvellous  
and fantastic1 with genies in  bottles  
and young princes transformed into      
calves1 in order to exhibit  the special
 gift of the story-teller4 ,it may      
concern itself with themes  as slight as
 those of ,the ,spoils of ,poynton or   
,what ,maisie ,knew4  ,but it must at   
least deal not with isolated            
personalities but with  that which is   
produced by the fusion1 whether in love 
or hate or some  other emotion1 of two  
or more personalities1 or by the impact 
of events  on a single personality or   
more4 ,we do not mean to suggest that   
,mrs4  ,hamilton's novel is deficient in
 this essential3 we mean only that on   
this side of her work there are traces  
of what appeared to us to be  lack of   
interest1 even traces of boredom4 ,in   
one situation only1 in  the subtly and  
mysteriously hinted conflict between    
,wilfrid ,elstree1  the brilliant1      
untrammelled egoist1 and ,iris          
,mauldeth1 the pretty girl  whose       

commonplace character is as rigid as    
iron1 are these traces  absent2 and here
 the novelist's work is done so         
exceedingly well as to  make the        
deficiencies of the rest especially     
noticeable4    ,mrs4 ,beatrice          
,seymour's novel is also distinguished  
by one remarkable  incident4 ,it is1 we 
are informed1 a first work1 and as such 
it deserves  praise for its smoothness  
and competence4 ,but in nine parts out  
of  ten it seems to be the attempt of a 
quite clever writer to sum up in  short 
space what ,mr4 ,bennett did in the     
three volumes of the ,clayhanger        
series1 and what ,mr4 ,compton          
,mackenzie has not yet finished doing in
  the four volumes of the ,sylvia and   
,michael series4 ,it describes1 that  is
 to say1 the separate childhood and     
youth of a young man and young  woman   
and then their union1 which in this case
 is illicit and which  is terminated by 
the war4 ,much of it is a great deal too
 up-to-date  to have any depth4 ,hilary 

,sargent is a painter1 calls ,helena    
,morden  ,deirdre as soon as he sees    
her1 and1 one day when they were        
together  on the ,downs1 he read to her 
things she knew and things she didn't   
from de la ,mare1 ,drinkwater1 ,gould1  
,hodgson1 and 7most appropriately7      
,hilaire ,belloc4 ,and there was        
,flecker and ,brooke and ,frances       
,cornford  and ,lady ,margaret          
,sackville2 and ,dora ,sigerson whom    
,helena loved4 ,no  wonder that1 as the 
reader easily foresees1 they lost the   
last train  home2 they had confused     
their minds with too many styles1 and   
had far  too many books to carry4 ,this 
kind of modernity is too superficial and
  too easy of achievement3 it is        
presenting the reader with false coin4  
,for the rest the book has the slickness
 and the clicking regularity  which1    
though they are by no means common in   
novelists1 cannot be of  great interest1
 except to the subscribers to           
circulating libraries  who are wont to  

ask for a novel which will enable them  
to support the  tedium of the week-end4 
,but in one chapter ,mrs4 ,seymour      
surprisingly  faces and masters a real  
and a painful situation--that of a      
shallow  girl who1 having rejoiced that 
her husband at the front enables her  to
 be in the fashion1 collapses under the 
news that he has been made  hideous by  
injuries received in the trenches4 ,this
 is a thing which has  undoubtedly      
happened2 it is unspeakably agonising to
 contemplate2 and1  so far as we know1  
no novelist has hitherto attempted it4  
,but there is  no reason why it should  
not be used for purposes of art if the  
novelist  has the requisite skill and   
tact and1 above all1 the requisite      
courage4  ,mrs4 ,seymour looks the      
basilisk in the eyes and reduces it to  
her  service4 ,the conversation between 
,helena and ,pamela ,sand--it occupies  
less than eight pages--in which the     
whole affair is begun and ended1        
projects violently out of the book1     

makes the rest of it look rather        
emptier than it really is1 and testifies
 unmistakably to the genuine  powers    
which ,mrs4 ,seymour has not elsewhere  
employed4 ,one scene does  not make a   
novel1 much less a novelist2 but one    
such scene as this in a  first book     
persuades us to look hopefully to ,mrs4 
,seymour's future4      ,,the ,,chorus  
,,girl ,,and ,,other ,,stories4 ,by     
,,anton ,,tchehov4 ,chatto  ,windus4    
#cs4 net4    ,in the title-story of this
 volume the injured wife of ,nikolay    
,petrovitch ,kolpakov calls suddenly at 
the house of ,pasha1 a  chorus-girl1    
with whom he is accustomed to spend his 
time1 and  ,kolpakov1 who is there1 goes
 into hiding4 ,he has been ruined by his
  extravagances and is on the point of  
being arrested for embezzlement4  ,his  
wife demands the return of the gifts he 
has lavished on ,pasha1  in order that  
the missing sum may be made up and      
dishonour averted1  but ,pasha has had  
no gifts from him4 ,the wife refuses to 

believe  it1 repeats her demand1 and    
then1 without altering her attitude of  
contemptuous hatred1 implores and       
entreats4 ,pasha at last gives her the  
presents she has received from more     
generous admirers4 ,she declares  these 
are not enough and asks for more1 and   
,pasha gives her everything  she has4   
,when his wife has gone1 ,kolpakov comes
 out of his retirement  and1 expressing 
his angry remorse that she should have  
had to kneel to  a low creature1 pushes 
the girl aside and leaves her4 ,then    
,pasha lay down and began wailing aloud4
 ,she was already regretting    her     
things which she had given away so      
impulsively1 and her feelings    were   
hurt4 ,she remembered how three years   
ago a merchant had beaten    her for no 
sort of reason1 and she wailed more     
loudly than ever4    ,this synopsis     
suggests1 more accurately than any      
analysis we could  attempt in the space 
at our disposal1 why we should welcome  
the eighth  volume of ,mrs4 ,constance  

,garnett's admirable rendering of the   
tales  of ,tchehov into ,english4 ,an   
extended study might discover many      
traits  in this author which would be   
worthy of observation4 ,there is1 for   
example1 the peculiar acuteness of his  
sense of smell4 ,the air was  full of   
the smell of freshly scrubbed floors4   
444 ,as ,i mounted the  soft carpeted   
stairs there was1 for some reason1 a    
strong smell of  india-rubber 444 a     
house was half dark and mysterious and  
smelt of  mushrooms--these are sentences
 taken at random from two or three      
stories in the present volume4 ,a minute
 examination would reveal other         
characteristics by which a formal       
criticism could distinguish ,tchehov    
from other writers of the short story4  
,but it is doubtful whether any  study  
could come nearer to defining the nature
 of his genius than by  naming the      
qualities which are immediately obvious 
in ,the ,chorus  ,girl4 ,he has         
precision1 economy1 detachment1 and1 for

 all his gloom  and squalor1 charm also4
 ,he stoops as it were from an ineffable
 height1  picks up a situation1         
describes it in the smallest possible   
number of  words1 and lets it fall back 
into the welter of human lives4 ,it is  
not likely that any ,english author will
 imitate him1 nor would it be           
desirable1 but his qualities1 if they   
cannot be learnt1 can at least be  used 
to correct excesses4 ,and1 apart from   
that1 these eight volumes are  a        
monument of narrative and 7for with     
,mrs4 ,garnett's translation one  can   
say so much7 of style4                  
,,belles-,,lettres ,,and ,,criticism    
,,the ,,london ,,venture4 ,by ,,michael 
,,arlen4 ,heinemann4 #ds4 net4    ,it is
 a little hard to know under what       
classification this book ought  to be   
considered1 whether fiction1 biography1 
or belles-lettres4 ,the  same difficulty
 has occasionally arisen with the works 
of ,mr4 ,george  ,moore4 ,but since the 
author is alluded to in it by the name  

which he  acknowledges to be his own1 we
 have decided that it cannot be fiction4
  ,for a reason which has sometimes     
occurred to the critics of ,mr4 ,george 
,moore1 we beg to be excused from       
treating it as biography4 ,there        
remains nothing but belles-lettres4     
,and ,mr4 ,george ,moore's name occurs  
here very appropriately1 for not he1    
not even ,mr4 ,max ,beerbohm1 has       
written anything so characteristically  
,moore-ish as some of these pages4      
,observe how it is done3      ,but this 
letter has seemed strange to me because1
 perhaps1 ,i shall    never again       
receive a letter whose writer is dead1  
and who1 when    writing it1 dreamt of  
all material things but death4 ,were ,i 
,oscar    ,wilde ,i might wonder now if 
,englishwomen who die in ,america come  
back    to ,london2 for there is much of
 ,london in the letter3 ,i should like  
to be in ,london to-day--,bloomsbury    
,london1 ,mayfair ,london1 ,chelsea     
,london1 ,london of the small           

restaurants and large draughts of wine1 
,london of the intellectual half-lights1
 drone of flippant phrases and    racy  
epigrams1 with a thin fog outside4 444  
444 ,out of the silence of two years at 
last came a letter from her4    ,i found
 it when ,i came in very late one night1
 and for a long time ,i    stood in my  
little hall and examined the ,eastern   
stamp and postmark2    and the writing  
on the envelope was so exactly the same 
as on the    last note she had sent me  
before leaving ,england that ,i had to  
smile    at the idea of ,shelmerdene1 in
 the rush of her last pursuit of her    
perfect fate1 laying in a sufficient    
store of her own special nibs    to last
 her for the lifetime she intended to   
spend abroad2 for when    ,i opened the 
letter ,i found that1 as ,i had guessed1
 she would never    come back to        
,england1 saying1 ,i am a fugitive      
branch which has at    last found its   
parent tree4444 ,i have run my perfect  
fate to earth1    ,dikran6 more perfect 

than any dream1 more lasting than the   
most    perfect dream4 444    ,here is  
the very attitude1 here the very        
cadences of the original2 and  the      
adventures are not dissimilar4 ,now ,mr4
 ,moore has acquired his style  by long 
labour1 and it is a little amusing to   
see the flower of it  culled by a writer
 who has neither dug nor watered4 ,but  
,mr4 ,arlen will  not in so close a     
discipleship make the best of the       
talents which the  very closeness of his
 discipleship shows him to possess4 ,an 
author who  can copy so exactly the     
manner of another ought to be able to   
evolve a  manner of his own2 and we look
 forward to seeing a book in which ,mr4 
,arlen shall have done this4      ,,in  
,,the ,,garret4 ,by ,,carl ,,van        
,,vechten4 ,knopf4    ,mr4 ,van ,vechten
 is an ,american critic1 rather of the  
type of the  ingenious ,mr4 ,huneker4   
,he is quite as fluent1 not quite so    
versatile4  ,no art or aspect of life   
presents itself to ,mr4 ,huneker as     

superior  to any other2 but ,mr4 ,van   
,vechten has a great deal more to say   
about  music than about anything else4  
,he touches the theatre a great deal1   
literature a little1 and music most of  
all2 and he gulps down greedily  all he 
touches4 ,one name is as good as another
 to him and he knows a  great many names
 of all sorts4 ,george ,moore1 he says1 
apropos of ,mr4  ,moore's suggestion    
that ,robinson ,crusoe ought to be      
rewritten1 has  rewritten many of his   
own books4 ,henry ,james rewrote all of 
his novels  and tales that he cared to  
preserve for the definitive edition4 ,on
  the other hand1 ,ouida believed 7and  
expressed this belief in a paper        
published in her ,critical ,studies7    
that once a book was given to the       
public it became a part of life1 a part 
of history1 and that its author  had no 
right to tamper with it4 ,mr4 ,ernest   
,newman likes the operas  of ,isaac     
,albniz1 but ,mr4 ,marliave does not    
share his enthusiasm4 ,on  two opposite 

pages we discovered the names of the    
following persons3  ,mr4 ,cabell1 ,mr4  
,arthur ,machen1 ,george ,sand1 ,m4     
,maeterlinck1 ,mr4  ,cecil ,forsythe1   
,monet1 ,leonardo1 ,homer1 ,rabelais1   
,cervantes1 ,remy de  ,gourmont1        
,dickens1 ,huysmans1 and ,mr4 ,havelock 
,ellis4 ,this is lively  enough in all  
conscience1 and ,mr4 ,van ,vechten is   
able to keep it up  without flagging and
 to support it with an equal vivacity of
 style1 as  when he remarks that the art
 of the musician deals with clang-tints4
  ,modern ,english criticism is         
sometimes reproached with being a little
  too heavy4 ,here we have a critic so  
volatile that he bounces like a  child's
 balloon from the name of one great man 
to another4      ,,among ,,italian      
,,peasants4 ,by ,,tony ,,cyriax4        
,collins4 #abs4 #f;d4 net4    ,the brush
 rather than the pen is evidently the   
medium of expression for  ,mrs4 ,tony   
,cyriax4 ,the pictures in her book      
convey an infinitely better  impression 

of the life of the peasant in an        
,italian mountain-village  than all she 
says about it in writing1 which is      
rather crude and  colourless4 ,but the  
pictures are delightful1 and are        
sufficiently  praised in an appreciative
 ,introduction by ,mr4 ,muirhead ,bone4 
,the best chapters in the book are those
 dealing with the tending of  silkworms 
in peasant cottages1 and the greatly    
dreaded hailstorm which1  despite the   
prayers of the priest1 religious        
processions1 and the  ringing of church 
bells1 destroys in an hour the labour of
 months and  brings the villagers to the
 verge of starvation4    ,such a storm  
as the writer describes will recall     
vividly to the memory  of any one who   
has stayed in an ,italian hillside      
village the pathetic  anxiety of the    
natives when a thunderstorm is brewing4 
,all around  stretch the vineyards1     
which from dawn till dusk have been the 
care  of people to whose toil the day's 
work of an ,english agricultural        

labourer is child's play4 ,will the     
hailstones utterly ruin the vines8  ,if 
so1 the villagers will be faced with    
semi-starvation1 and yet more           
bread-winners1 in despair1 must emigrate
 to ,america1 that refuge for  the      
,italian destitute4    ,pathetic1 too1  
is an account of weeks of unceasing toil
 in connection  with the cottage        
silkworm industry4 ,the cavalleri 7as   
the peasants  call the silkworms71      
remorseless in their greed for mulberry 
leaves  and their demands for the right 
temperature1 will keep a whole family   
working for them from morning till      
night4    ,here1 as given by ,mrs4 ,tony
 ,cyriax1 is the result of the labour of
 one  such household3    ,the work from 
start to finish had covered forty days1 
and ,rosina's  cocoons had weighed      
fifty-six kilograms 444 so ,rosina had  
earned  exactly #bbd lire1 which is all 
but #i4    ,as a record of the hard     
existence that may be passed in the     
midst  of ,nature's graciousness and    

beauty ,among ,italian ,peasants is not 
without value4      ,,sussex ,,in       
,,bygone ,,days3 ,reminiscences of      
,nathaniel ,paine ,blaker1  ,m4,r4,c4,s4
 ,hove1 ,combridges4 #aiai4 #es4    ,the
 recorders of ,sussex must have a shelf 
to themselves by this time1  and there  
are many reasons for it4 ,sussex has not
 only individual  quality1 amenity and  
interest3 all counties have them4 ,but  
it is  accessible1 and it is the        
fashion4 ,not to go back to ,dallaway   
and his  likes1 the best of the moderns 
are ,mr4 ,lucas and ,mr4 ,halsham1 and  
the  better of them ,mr4 ,lucas1 as we  
think4 ,he has the mellower outlook1 a  
benevolent1 postprandial regard4 ,mr4   
,halsham is more pedagogical2 he        
regrets much1 and seldom approves4 ,he  
cannot praise a landscape without       
reminding us how much better it was     
before old ,what's-his-name cut down    
those trees4 ,taken at some             
length--indeed1 taken in series--he     
becomes  tiresome4 ,nevertheless1 he    

wrote a novel once1 called ,kitty       
,fairhall1  which contains more of the  
essence of the ,sussex peasant than ,mr4
 ,lucas  himself is likely to apprehend4
    ,mr4 ,nathaniel ,blaker1 the latest 
chronicler1 earns a place upon the      
shelf the rather because it need only be
 a little one4 ,our quarrel  with him   
would be that it did not ask a larger4  
,he has lived long and  served his      
county honourably in an honourable      
profession2 but he has  not much to say4
 ,that is a pity4 ,he has stored his    
mind1 but cannot  load his page4 ,he    
remembers mail-coaches1 he remembers the
 ox-teams1 he  remembers the days of    
reaping with the sickle1 the foot-high  
stubbles1  the threshing with a flail4  
,to some of us those memories have a    
savour  so sharp that1 with the wind1   
one might catch and transfigure it in   
words4 ,to ,mr4 ,blaker they are as the 
primrose was to ,mr4 ,bell1 and one     
feels that he puts them down rather     
because that is the kind of thing  one  

does put down in books of this sort than
 because they import a  perfume which it
 is luxury to distil upon the page4     
,lacking gusto1 ,mr4  ,blaker tantalises
 his reader4 ,the beautiful names which 
he strews about  him--,selmesten1       
,steyning1 ,hurstpierpoint1 ,ringmer1   
,fulking--flicker  like a mirage4 ,he   
tells us1 for example1 that ,steyning   
,fair in the  old days was a scene of   
great excitement and confusion1 and     
probably  as much iniquity as could be  
crowded into so small a space4 ,we dare 
say so2 but we are athirst for the      
iniquities1 and he gives us none  to    
drink of4 ,one wishes to get ,mr4       
,blaker by the fire with a matured      
cigar1 and ply him with questions4      
,gypsies now4 ,obviously he knows a     
great deal about them4 ,he says1 ,i well
 recollect1 very many years ago1  one   
rainy afternoon1 which prevented them   
working1 watching a family of  gypsies  
in a barn4 ,i think the family must have
 consisted of the father  and mother and

 several children1 one daughter nearly  
grown up1 and two  or three             
acquaintances4 ,they all sat or lay     
about upon the straw1 doing  absolutely 
nothing1 while one or two girls kept    
singing a peculiarly  plaintive and     
monotonous but soothing and agreeable   
tune in a language1  ,i believe1 ,i did 
not know1 for ,i could not catch a      
single word4 ,that  is the sort of thing
 ,mr4 ,blaker will do with a pen in his 
hand--give  us the materials of a       
picture and leave us burning4 ,his      
broken hinted  sights do but sting the  
mind4    ,of course he tells us--he     
can't help it--some interesting things4 
,one of them is a common saying that    
,sussex girls had such long legs        
because they stretched them by pulling  
them out of the mud4 ,that  must have   
been in the ,weald--but we did not know 
that feature of  ,sussex girls4 ,cobbett
 knew1 and so do we1 that they are      
remarkable  for their good looks4 ,mr4  
,blaker does not say so4 ,we regret his 

,peter  ,bell attitude to life4 ,his    
best chapters are upon the horse and the
  birch1 with both of which he is       
evidently acquainted4 ,it used to be    
considered1 he says1 a great joke when a
 lady's first baby arrived to  send her 
a carefully packed parcel containing a  
small birch rod1 with a  label1 ',to be 
used when required4' ,that is what we   
want4 ,and1 again1  he says that it was 
the custom when the cloth was laid for  
dinner in  the middle of the day1 for   
the cane1 which was kept over the mantel
 444  to be placed with the             
carving-knife and steel on papa's right 
hand4  ,excellent4 ,these scraps show   
what a handsome sack of oddments ,mr4   
,blaker must have4 ,he should have      
shaken it more liberally over his book4 
,a ,,pilgrim ,,in ,,palestine ,,after   
,,its ,,deliverance4 ,by ,,john         
,,finley4 ,chapman   ,hall4 #ajs4 net4  
,of ,mr4 ,finley's sincerity and        
enthusiasm there can be no question3 of 
his taste there is a good deal to be    

said4 ,many books have been written     
about the ,holy ,land2 but surely none  
before which deliberately puts  the     
history and the personages of ,palestine
 into the background of a  picture whose
 foreground is occupied with the events 
of the recent  campaign4 ,mr4 ,finley   
has no hesitation in viewing sacred     
history sub  specie temporis hodierni4  
,for him ,allenby's battle at           
,armageddon is  the beginning of the end
 of the battle with the ,beast4 ,the    
,german is  not1 however1 only          
,anti-,christ3 he is also ,judas4 ,here 
are ,mr4 ,finley's  meditations over the
 ,holy ,city3      ,i was an ashamed    
spectator1 standing there at the        
,gethsemane ,gate1    feeling that we   
had been sleeping when we should have   
been watching1    when we should have   
been preparing for defence against the  
,german    ,judas who had professed     
devotion to the teachings of ,him who   
spoke    the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,did
 not the great ,german ,hospice stand   

most    conspicuously on the ,mount1    
that its pilgrims might dip their bread 
in the very sop of the ,master's dish8  
,and do not the towers of the    ,german
 churches stand out most prominently    
7and offensively7 in the    ,inner      
,city8    ,most of his book is like     
that3 and if you cannot see history in  
quite  the startling black-and-white of 
,mr4 ,finley's imagination you had      
better leave the book unread4 ,mr4      
,finley was with the ,american ,red     
,cross1 and he tells one happy story of 
himself1 which it is only fair  to      
quote4 ,he was worshipping in the       
,russian ,church of the ,ascension on   
the ,mount of ,olives3      ,a woman of 
sharp1 eager face1 as of a zealot1 with 
a grey shawl over    her head1 seeing me
 standing near the door1 approached me  
and said1    in rather sharp voice1     
,quelle croix8 ,i did not at first      
understand    the import of her inquiry1
 though ,i realised that she was putting
 to    me an all-important question3    

,quelle croix8--grecque ou latine8 444  
,my answer was ,la ,croix ,rouge4    ,if
 the soil of ,palestine be favourable   
for legends1 no doubt a tale  will arise
 of a strange religion whose devotees   
cross themselves  neither in the        
,western or ,eastern manner1 but in some
 strange1 red  mode which ,mr4 ,finley's
 zealot was probably eager to see4      
,,addresses ,,in ,,america4 ,by ,,john  
,,galsworthy4 ,heinemann4 #fs4 net4     
,generalisation1 which used to be a     
philosophy1 is rapidly becoming  little 
more than a hobby4 ,during the war it   
was a hobby savagely or  amiably ridden 
by those who sought to explain the      
mentality of the  ,allies or the ,enemy4
 ,gradually individuals learnt that not 
every  ,belgian was ,belgium1 nor every 
,german ,germany3 but for propaganda    
purposes we still used great typical    
figures4 ,it saved thought1  and it     
flattered either our own pride or that  
of our friends4 ,the  propagandists'    
most delicate task was always to explain

 ,great ,britain  to the ,united ,states
 of ,america3 and certainly it was a    
wise thing to  send ,mr4 ,galsworthy    
across the ,atlantic4 ,surely he1 if    
anyone1 might be  able to justify the   
ways of the country house to ,boston and
 ,new ,york1  to ,washington and even to
 ,chicago4 ,here we have his addresses  
delivered  during #aiai in the ,united  
,states4 ,in his paper on ,america and  
,britain  he takes the line that by     
words we are saved3      ,the tie of    
language is all-powerful--for language  
is the food    formative of minds4 ,why 
a volume could be written on the        
formation of    character by literary   
humour alone4    ,it sounds not         
unconvincing1 until one remembers that  
,french is not the  language of ,alsace2
 that ,english is spoken by most of the 
inhabitants  of ,ireland2 or1 to go     
further back1 that the possession of a  
common  language did not prevent ,athens
 and ,sparta from indulging in the      
,peloponnesian ,war4    ,we like ,mr4   

,galsworthy better when he leaves his   
generalisations  and tells stories4 ,in 
the paper ,tallary at ,large he displays
 that  sweet-naturedness1 that mellowed 
irony which never lapses into satire1   
that humour which is always aware that a
 sense of pity is invaluable in  comedy4
 ,here is the true ,galsworthy3      ,in
 the fifth year of the war two men sat  
alone in a railway carriage4    ,one    
pale1 young1 and rather worn1 had an    
unlighted cigarette in his    mouth4    
,the other elderly1 prosperous1 and of a
 ruddy countenance1    was smoking a    
large cigar4 ,the young man1 who looked 
as if his days    were strenuous1 took  
his unlighted cigarette from his mouth1 
gazed at    it1 searched his pockets1   
and looked at the elderly man1 and said1
    444 ,could you give me a light1 sir8
 ,the elderly man regarded him    for a 
moment1 dropped his eyelids1 and        
murmured3 ,i've no matches4    ,the     
young man sighed1 mumbled the cigarette 
on his watering lips1    then said very 

suddenly3 ,perhaps you'll very kindly   
give me a light    from your cigar1 sir4
 ,the elderly man moved throughout his  
body as    if something very sacred had 
been thrilled within him4 ,i'd rather   
not1 he said1 if you don't mind4 ,a     
quarter of an hour passed1    while the 
young man's cigarette grew moister1 and 
the elder man's    cigar shorter4 ,then 
the latter stirred1 took it from under  
his grey    moustache1 looked critically
 at it1 held it out a little way towards
    the other with the side which was   
least burned-down foremost1 and    said3
 ,unless you'd like to take it from the 
edge4    ,and there are people who are  
surprised that the returned soldier     
occasionally commits acts of violence4  
,,thoughts ,,in ,,middle ,,life4 ,by ,g4
 ,,locker ,,lampson4 ,humphreys4 #cs4   
#f;d4  net4    ,this book is beautifully
 printed on admirable paper1 and is     
priced very  low4 ,unfortunately ,mr4   
,locker ,lampson has reached middle life
 without  learning that most platitudes 

are better unwritten4 ,no man is a hero 
to his own valet1 and the same principle
 may be applied as in part the  cause of
 our invidious comparisons between the  
men of yesterday and  those of to-day4  
,he alone has a right to be called      
successful who  has led a happy life4   
,sometimes he will enliven his platitude
 by a  pleasing derangement of          
metaphors4 ,autobiographies are of      
little value  in extending the          
personality of their authors4 ,we may   
get an occasional  glimpse below the    
surface1 but the waters are generally   
agitated by all  kinds of subsidiary    
motives1 and the eye cannot pierce them4
 ,the one  sentence which explains the  
author is to be found in the essay      
,one's  ,own ,company3 ,no man1 then1   
need ever be bored by himself1 although 
he  cannot avoid being bored by others4 
,,domus ,,doloris4 ,by ,w4 ,,compton    
,,leith4 ,the ,bodley ,head4 #gs4 #f;d4 
net4    ,in the unornamental language1  
from which even the loftiest            

intelligence  may extract apt expression
 for itself1 this little book may be    
called  a collection of thoughts in     
hospital from a patient's standpoint1   
and  an impression of the various nurses
 who attended him4 ,and yet such a      
description is unjust and utterly beside
 the point4 ,the publisher's  note upon 
the cover tells us that ,mr4 ,leith has 
a rare sense of the  value of words and 
the beauty of phrases1 and there is no  
doubt of it4  ,but the value to         
literature and humanity of phrases which
 are but the  vehicles of their own     
intrinsic beauty is to be questioned4   
,the whole  essay is precious in the    
last degree4    ,oblivion flowed up like
 evening gloom4 ,life moved with it to  
the edge  of a great deep2 it was drawn 
over2 it floated down and down1 wound in
  the arms of sleep4    ,a faint        
awareness stole into being1 like the    
grey of morning2 then  a sense of       
movement2 but whether it was a coming up
 and forth1 or a  declining1 there was  

no power to tell4    ,this sort of      
thing1 exquisite as it may be sometimes1
 constantly  reminds us1 however1 and   
with relief1 that ,henley1 with         
simplicity  and humour1 covered the same
 ground in verse4 ,from time to time an 
unpretentious passage comes to us with a
 shock1 and we ask ourselves  again and 
again1 if1 as it seems1 the writer has  
opinions to air1  observations about    
life and death to make1 what especial   
virtue there  is in the high-falutin    
obscurity of his expression4 ,one of the
 chief  and most necessary concealments 
of art lies in a well-simulated         
nonchalance to the more obvious kind of 
purple patch4 ,here the entire  robe is 
of purple1 though certainty of a royal  
shade4 ,there were  voices1 ,mr4 ,leith 
tells us on the first page 7and it was  
not until the  fifteenth that we knew   
where the voices came from71 which kept 
thought  strained after a meaning4 ,a   
light strain is no doubt good for       
thought2  but in reading this book it is

 not light3 and it is hard to say which 
strain is the more severe--the student's
 for meaning or the author's  for       
effect4      ,a ,,childhood ,,in        
,,brittany ,,eighty ,,years ,,ago4 ,by  
,,anne ,,douglas ,,sedgwick4  ,arnold4  
#ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,nowhere in         
,england1 nor even in ,ireland or       
,scotland1 could the life  pictured in  
this book be paralleled4 ,feudalism has 
lingered1 but  not in delicate or       
decorative ways3 in the ,brittany of    
which ,miss  ,sedgwick tells us1 the    
beauty1 the generous abundance1 and the 
sincere  brotherliness of life almost   
overcome one's distaste for the feudal  
system which formed its basis4 ,the lady
 whose childhood is shown us  was of a  
noble ,breton family2 her father seems  
to have been the only  ,republican she  
knew among the company of ,royalists2   
life was still so  ordered that the     
country people1 coming to ,mass1 would  
bow to the lord  and lady of the manor1 
after paying their respects to the      

altar4 ,yet  one is left with a sense of
 fraternity as genuine as that one feels
 in  reading ,chaucer1 as the story     
witnesses3      ,one peasant1 ,i        
remember1 ,paul ,simur by name1 of whom 
my father was    specially fond1 was so 
dirty and unwashed that a sort of mark  
of    dirt had formed upon his features4
 ,one day1 at a hunting-party1 papa     
called to ,paul to come and sit beside  
him1 and the other huntsmen1    with    
singular bad taste1 began to make fun of
 ,paul1 who sat much    abashed1 with   
hanging head4 ,papa affectionately laid 
an arm about    his neck and defended   
him1 until his friends finally cried out
 that    they wagered he would not kiss 
him4 ,at this1 although he confessed    
afterwards to the most intense          
repugnance1 he at once kissed ,paul     
heartily4 ,poor ,paul was quite         
overcome4 ,he came to my father         
afterwards with tears in his eyes and   
said1 standing before him and    gazing 
at him3 ,oh1 mon matre1 que je t'aime6  

,although the accounts of old ,breton   
customs--the glimpse at the ,folgoat    
pardon1 the gently critical analysis of 
the lives of the gentry1 the  sidelights
 on the peasants1 their cooking and     
their cottages--are all  full of        
interest1 the book is chiefly to be     
valued for preserving the  fragrance of 
an order of living which too many of us 
are apt to think  of as one of harsh    
tyranny alleviated by wanton luxury4    
,,history ,,and ,,biography    ,,the    
,,life ,,of ,,thomas ,,coutts1 ,,banker4
 ,by ,,ernest ,,hartley ,,coleridge4 #b 
,vols4  ,lane4 #dbs4 net4    ,thomas    
,coutts1 virtual founder of the ,bank of
 his name as it now  is1 was born in    
#agce1 and1 according to the standards  
of ,scotland1  well born1 having1 that  
is1 wise1 reputable forbears1 relatives 
with  place-names of their own--,stuarts
 of ,allanbank and the like--and a      
coat-of-arms4 ,instead of which1 as the 
old story has it1 at the  age of        
twenty-eight he married his mother's    

nursemaid1 and loved and  served her    
faithfully until1 after some fifty      
years' partnership1 she  wandered out of
 her mind and then out of his world4 ,by
 that time his  three daughters by her  
had married1 one an ,earl of ,guilford1 
one a  ,marquis of ,bute1 and one ,sir  
,francis ,burdett4 ,by that time also   
,coutts  was one of the most            
considerable bankers in ,london1 and one
 of the  richest men in ,england4 ,it   
might now be thought that his adventures
 in  life were over--but not at all4 ,at
 seventy years of age he stepped once   
more into the ,pays du ,tendre1 and took
 into his protection--which in  his     
case1 it really appears1 had no         
secondary meaning--,miss ,harriot       
,mellon1 a low comedy actress of        
abundant charm1 humble birth1 little    
education1 and excellent disposition4   
,she was then twenty-eight4 ,he  fell   
headlong in love with her and head over 
heels4 ,he endowed her with  stock and  
other movables to the amount of #ejj a  

year1 and when1 at  the age of eighty1  
he made her his second wife he settled  
the whole of  that endowment upon       
herself4 ,at his death1 ,mr4 ,coleridge 
tells us1 her  private fortune could not
 have been less than #bjj1jjj4          
,notwithstanding  the estrangement and  
unconcealed disgust of the ladies1 as he
 always  called his daughters1 she made 
him perfectly happy for nine years2 and 
when1 at eighty-nine1 he died1 very     
reasonably1 he left her practically     
everything he possessed4    ,that in    
outline is the life-history of ,thomas  
,coutts as ,mr4 ,ernest  ,coleridge     
pleasantly and ably narrates it in two  
portly volumes4 ,the  book offers a view
 of eighteenth-century manners which is 
not often1  and seldom so well1         
illustrated4 ,coutts must have been1 and
 he was1  a notable man of affairs2 but 
he was a good deal better than that4    
,he knew1 of course1 everybody who was  
anybody4 ,he was the friend and         
correspondent of ,lord ,bute1 the       

favourite of ,lord ,chatham1 of ,william
  ,pitt4 ,he lent1 mero motu ejus1      
#aj1jjj to ,charles ,fox without        
security of any kind4 ,he lent large    
sums to the ,duchess of ,devonshire1    
and forwent the interest until such time
 as her son was pleased to  pay it2 for 
her husband never would4 ,he lectured   
that great and gay  lady upon her       
follies with perfect freedom and no     
result4 ,all the  royal rips1 sons of   
,george ,,iii41 banked with him1 or1 in 
other words1  borrowed from him2 and    
they dined with him too4 ,edward ,duke  
of ,kent1  the only one of them who was 
not a rip1 made a friend of him as well 
as a convenience4 ,it is interesting to 
remark how ,coutts deals with  these    
disreputable magnates4 ,he is respectful
 of their degree in so far  as he is    
shopkeeper and they customers2 but      
outside the bank-parlour  he stands on  
level terms4 ,his children are to       
commence with their  children2 his      
wife's table is as good as their tables4

 ,servant-girl  or not1 his wife1 ,mrs4 
,coutts1 is the equal of their wives4   
,there is  nothing of ,sir ,pertinax    
,mac,sycophant in his letters1 although1
 as a  trader1 he continually has his   
eye upon business1 and is never above   
doing himself a good turn4 ,mr4         
,coleridge is to be congratulated upon  
having presented so engaging a picture  
of the sound1 cautious1 and  upright    
,scots merchant1 who kept his head and  
his balance through  the convulsions of 
the ,american and ,french wars1 and     
cultivated the  domestic virtues in the 
same social set as ,old ,q4 and the     
,duchess of  ,gordon4    ,but1 except   
for that sappy core of romance which    
twice betrayed itself  in act and once  
in word1 ,tom ,coutts was a dry stick4  
,while his views of  political affairs  
were sound and uncommonly independent1  
his expression  of them was not         
interesting4 ,he was by inheritance a   
,tory1 yet he was  staunch upon the     
,american war4 ,the idea1 he wrote in   

#agge to ,lord  ,stair1 of reducing such
 a continent to obedience 7especially   
after  letting them have so much time to
 unite7 appears to me1 so far as ,i am  
capable of judging1 to be absolutely    
impossible4 ,so1 too1 he opposed  the   
war with revolutionary ,france4 ,the war
 made against their growth  seems to me 
to be exactly the way to encourage      
instead of destroying  them4 ,there is  
no instance of opposition by force of   
arms subduing  opinions6 which by such  
manners have always grown stronger and  
more  inveterate4 ,one might be reading 
the present ,dean of ,st4 ,paul's4 ,the 
same faculty of seeing things as they   
really were allowed him to have  no good
 opinion of ,pitt's ,reform proposals of
 #aghd1 and gave him as  early as #aghe 
a plan of dealing with ,irish           
disaffection which was in  fact adopted 
in #ahjj1 to our cost4 ,as to ,ireland1 
,i apprehend it is an  aristocracy of   
about thirty nobles1 etc41 who command  
two hundred votes  in the ,lower ,house1

 and that these thirty may be bought and
 a union  accomplished more easily than 
that heap of nonsense called the ,irish 
propositions4 ,they were bought4    ,mr4
 ,coleridge prints a recently discovered
 bundle of his love-letters  to ,harriot
 ,mellon1 from which1 if one could feel 
love-letters to be  fair game1 it would 
be tempting1 and easy1 to make extracts4
 ,they are  striking by their           
extraordinary difference from his other 
familiar  correspondence4 ,coutts       
becomes emotional1 profuse1 sentimental1
 and  occasionally ridiculous4 ,few     
love-letters1 however1 will stand the   
test of examination in cold blood4 ,it  
can be said of his at least that  there 
is nothing in them which is not intended
 to honour the recipient4  ,to ,coutts  
his ,harriot was a pattern of womanly   
virtue4 ,it is ,mr4  ,coleridge's       
opinion1 as it is our own1 that she     
deserved it4 ,that she  made him happy  
is obvious2 that she returned him a     
grateful love let  this1 which was      

written by herself five years after her 
wedding-day1  bear witness3      ,i     
never lose my spirits4 ,my blessed ,tom 
said these words to me in a    dream4   
,after he had kissed me and laid his    
dear head on my bosom1 ,i    felt his   
tears on my cheek--,i was so happy1 but 
so melancholy happy4    ,he looked so   
well1 tranquil and divine4444 ,i see him
 at this moment1    upright1 beautiful  
and composed1 as in his long and        
immaculate life4    ,he looks just as ,i
 first saw his dear1 blessed face       
upwards of twenty    years ago4    ,that
 is both tenderly and prettily said4    
,tom ,coutts1 in his marriage as  in    
other things1 knew what he was about4   
,,the ,,turks ,,in ,,europe4 ,by ,w4 ,e4
 ,d4 ,,allen4 ,murray4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4 
,la ,turquie est le pays classique du   
massacres1 it has been truly  said4444  
,son historie se rsume  ceci3 pillages1 
meurtres1 vols1  concussions--sur toutes
 les chilles--rvoltes1 insurrections1   
rpercussions1 guerres trangres1 guerres 

civiles1 rvolutions1  contre-rvolutions1
 sditions1 mutineries4 ,all these things
 are the  theme of ,mr4 ,allen's        
interesting and well-written sketch of  
the ,turkish  power1 from the rise of   
,osman in the thirteenth century down to
 the  ,treaty of ,bukarest in #aiac4    
,mr4 ,allen does not1 however1 confine  
himself to a mere record of horrors4 ,he
 contrives throughout his book  to draw 
in a few lines the characters of the    
chief actors in the drama1  and1        
especially in the later chapters1 to    
expose the policies1 ,european  and     
,turkish1 which have created and        
complicated the long nightmare  of the  
,near ,east4 ,many of our troubles of   
the last forty years are  attributed by 
him to the ,treaty of ,berlin in #ahgh1 
the triumph of ,lord  ,beaconsfield's   
policy4 ,it was a treaty concluded1 he  
says1 in a spirit  of shameless bargain1
 with a sublime disregard of elementary 
ethics1  and in open contempt of the    
right of civilised peoples to determine 

their own future4 ,it was essentially a 
temporary arrangement concluded  between
 rival ,imperialist ,states4 ,a few     
years later the grim raw  races in the  
,balkans were again in a savage ferment1
 and we could  enjoy the spectacle of   
the heads of the civilised world1 in    
their  palaces in the capitals of       
,europe1 setting those same 'grim raw   
races'  to kill4 ,mr4 ,allen in his     
narrative of this later period does not 
spare his criticism of the diabolic     
diplomacy of ,berlin and ,vienna1  of   
the brilliant cunning of their agents in
 ,turkey--and notably ,baron  ,marschal 
von ,bieberstein4      ,,st4 ,,catherine
 ,,of ,,siena4 ,by ,,alfred ,w4         
,,pollard4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #cs4    
net4    ,in this little volume1 one of a
 series called ,messages of the ,saints1
  ,mr4 ,pollard has re-told the         
ever-fascinating story of ,st4          
,catherine1  ,siena's fourteenth-century
 saint4 ,in the present sketch1 says the
  author1 there is nothing original1    

save possibly its point of view and  7,i
 believe7 the chapter on ,st4           
,catherine's book4    ,its point of view
 is that of an ardent if critical       
admirer of ,st4  ,catherine1 and full   
justice is done to what after all are   
the qualities  which made of her not    
only the most lovable1 but perhaps the  
most  amazing of saintly women4 ,amor   
vincit omnia is the motto which  springs
 to the mind as most fit for ,catherine 
of ,siena4 ,in an age of  cruelty she is
 love personified4 ,it was love for her 
fellow-creatures1  concern for their    
immortal welfare1 that led her1 a poor  
ignorant  little bit of a woman1 to face
 with the simplicity of a child and  the
 wisdom born of simplicity princes and  
popes1 and force them1 not to  her own  
will1 but to what she conceived to be   
the ,will of ,god4    ,to all who have  
lived long enough in ,siena1 ,catherine 
becomes a living  personality4 ,so real 
indeed that it would scarcely be        
surprising to  meet her one evening at  

dusk in that long steep street--still   
the  street of the tanners--where six   
hundred years ago she walked with her   
lantern on her way to the sick and dying
 during the plague4 ,in ,siena  one is  
apt to forget that ,st4 ,catherine was a
 figure in politics and  the composer of
 a book about which the learned dispute4
 ,still1 on the  day of her festival the
 townsfolk sing the ,praise of          
,catherine1 to  them merely the tanner's
 daughter who1 greatly to the glory of  
their  beautiful little city1 somehow   
became a saint4    ,mr4 ,pollard's      
chapter on the ,libro della ,divina     
,dottrina1 the  treatise said to have   
been dictated by ,st4 ,catherine while  
in a trance1  is valuable because it    
summarises typical pronouncements of the
 mystic  upon the various stages of the 
soul in its pilgrimage towards a        
spiritual goal4    ,as a revelation of  
the subconscious self1 if for no other  
reason1 ,st4  ,catherine's book has its 
own intense interest4 ,those who are    

already  familiar with her story may1 by
 the help of ,mr4 ,pollard's pleasant   
sketch1 refresh their memory of its     
details1 and to those who are not  it   
should1 as he hopes1 prove a stimulating
 introduction to the life of  a         
wonderful woman4      ,,victorian       
,,recollections4 ,by ,j4 ,h4 ,,bridges4 
,bell4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,mr4 ,bridges 
deliberately adopts the attitude of the 
laudator temporis  acti se puero4 ,the  
worst of this prose is that1 just as it 
may  attract the sympathy of men of his 
own generation1 it inevitably  repels   
slightly those of a younger4 ,nothing is
 more tiresome than to  listen to       
judgments on life and manners whose     
chief point lies in the  opening words1 
,well1 ,i tell you in #ahe--we did not1 
or we did--such  criticism automatically
 provokes the retort1 ,well1 this isn't 
#ahe--1  whereat your ancient growls1 ,i
 would to ,god it were1 and youth and   
eld stand back to uncomfortable back1   
with no chance of doing any  useful     

work4    ,fortunately ,mr4 ,bridges1    
although angry at the modern            
depreciation of  things ,victorian1 is  
better than his threat4 ,he is not too  
comparative1  and although overfond of  
censure1 his blame has a humorous       
quality  which keeps it inoffensive4 ,at
 times the humour is unconscious1 as  in
 ,mr4 ,bridges' charming suggestion that
 the beauty of the primrose  is more    
noticed and more respected because      
ardent ,tory enthusiasm  associated     
,peter ,bell's flower with the late     
,lord ,beaconsfield3 but  ,mr4 ,bridges'
 essentially pawky quality of mind--we  
use the word in  an amiable sense--crops
 out not infrequently as1 for instance1 
in his  grave statement that he would be
 in favour of a law forbidding anyone   
to own more than #aej newspapers4       
,mr4 ,bridges gives an account of his   
schooldays under a flogging master1     
which adds yet another count to the     
indictment against ,victorian  methods  
of education4 ,he does not tell us much 

that is unfamiliar1  either of ,eton or 
,oxford1 though many will be glad to    
have his  description of the old-time   
,don1 and the ,dean ,gaisford's letter  
to a  noble father who enquired after   
his son's ,university progress3         
,my ,lord1 ,such letters give much      
trouble to              ,your humble    
servant1                  ,,the ,,dean  
,,of ,,christ ,,church4    ,in the late 
fifties ,mr4 ,bridges visited ,canada   
and the ,united ,states1  and he records
 his conviction that ,senator ,douglas  
was ,lincoln's  superior as speaker and 
politician1 a verdict which makes one   
wonder  a little what his standards of  
oratory are1 and how a politician1      
obviously inferior in moral character1  
who also fails to keep his  country's   
confidence can be called the inferior of
 one who wins its  trust4 ,mr4 ,bridges 
abandoned his plan to settle in the ,new
 ,world1 and  returned to ,england and  
started farming1 first in the ,eastern  
counties  and subsequently in           

,shropshire4 ,in the chapters dealing   
with his life  in rural ,england he     
sketches some village types for the     
reader with a  genuine feeling for      
character4 ,particularly good is the    
final chapter1  ,a ,survival1 with its  
touching picture of ,old ,tom1 the last 
survivor  hereabouts of the old-style   
agricultural labourer4 ,whatever one's  
political colour1 one cannot help       
sympathising with ,mr4 ,bridges and ,old
  ,tom in their lament at the decay of  
rural ,england1 and at the growth  of   
conditions which made it possible for   
more and more people to wax  rich in    
,london and in the big towns1 while no  
one can earn a living in  the country4  
,though the latter ceased to be true    
during the war1 one  is yet uncertain   
how far the prosperity then enjoyed by  
the farmer will  continue as war        
conditions slowly depart4      ,,the    
,,life ,,of ,,liza ,,lehmann4 ,by       
,,herself4 ,t4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #ajs4    
#f;d4 net4    ,born in ,london1 daughter

 of a ,scotswoman1 educated in ,italy1  
married to  an ,englishman1 ,liza       
,lehmann's heart--and she was a woman   
who always let  her heart rule her      
head--was unconsciously fixed in        
,england4 ,yet as we  turn the pages of 
her autobiography there is hardly one in
 which we do  not feel conscious that   
she belonged by unalterable temperament 
to the  land of ,die ,gartenlaube and   
,familie ,buchholz4 ,many ,english      
singers  and audiences in the happy days
 before the war have felt that for all  
their devotion to ,schumann1 the        
domestic intimacies of ,frauenliebe und 
,leben were too intensely ,german for an
 ,english sense of proportion  and sense
 of humour4 ,let them read ,the ,life of
 ,liza ,lehmann in  their own tongue1   
and they will turn with relief to the   
reticence and  dignity of ,chamisso's   
lyrics4 ,it is evident that she was a   
woman who  never did an act1 never      
cherished a thought1 that was not a kind
 one4  ,she collaborated in an opera    

with ,mr4 ,laurence ,housman2 he        
considered  that she had wrecked his    
play1 she thought that he had wrecked   
her  music2 but she records the awkward 
incident without the least trace of     
ill-will1 nay1 without the least        
supposition that he or anyone else in   
the world could have borne ill-will to  
her4 ,liszt1 ,brahms1 ,browning1  and   
,verdi were among her acquaintances2 but
 she has little to tell us  about them4 
,they counted for far less in her life  
than ,madame ,clara  ,butt1 ,mr4        
,kennerley ,rumford1 ,mr4 ,arthur       
,boosey1 and ,mr4 ,landon ,ronald2  and 
even these were unsubstantial shadows   
compared to her mother1 her  husband1   
and her sons4 ,a large proportion of her
 book is taken up with  newspaper       
criticisms and interviews1 mostly       
,american4 ,they gave the  authoress no 
little pleasure1 and they will give the 
reader no little  amusement2 indeed1 as 
studies of ,american literary style1    
they are most  instructive4 ,the final  

chapter1 dealing with the death of her  
elder  son1 so shortly to be followed by
 her own1 can hardly be touched upon  in
 a review2 it seems an intrusion to read
 it4      ,,the ,,glory ,,of ,,the      
,,coming4 ,by ,,irvin ,s4 ,,cobb4       
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4  net4    ,,the
 #be,,th ,,division ,,in ,,france ,,and 
,,flanders4 ,harrison4 #ds4 net4        
,these two war books1 extremely         
dissimilar1 belong to two well-known    
types4 ,mr4 ,cobb is an ,american       
journalist1 and he gives a lively1      
journalistic account of the coming and  
doing of the ,american armies in        
,france4 ,the other book is a detailed  
and somewhat bare record of the  doings 
of the #beth ,division1 by ,lieut4-,col4
 ,m4 ,kincaid-,smith4 ,the #beth        
,division made a great name for itself  
in the war2 this book shows that  it was
 not unearned4      ,,the ,,paravane    
,,adventure4 ,by ,l4 ,,cope ,,cornford4 
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4  #f;d4 net4   
,the story of the paravane1 the         

remarkable anti-submarine contrivance   
invented by ,commander ,burney and used 
by the ,allied navies and also  by      
merchant ships during the later period  
of the war1 is told by ,mr4  ,cope      
,cornford in a popular style and with   
considerable enthusiasm4 ,it  is        
possible that he is over-enthusiastic1  
for in a prefatory note he  tells us    
that some naval officers and also the   
,admiralty consider that  he exaggerates
 the effects of the paravane4 ,there is 
no doubt1 however1  as the official     
figures themselves show1 that paravanes 
and ,otters  7as they were called when  
fitted to merchant vessels7 did have an 
enormous success4 ,the total tonnage of 
,h4,m4 ships and merchant ships         
definitely saved by them comes to over a
 quarter of a million2 and the          
financial saving to the ,british ,empire
 is estimated at approximately          
#ajj1jjj1jjj4 ,mr4 ,cope ,cornford has a
 good deal of criticism--some open  and 
more1 we think1 implied--to make against

 the ,admiralty4 ,exactly  how far it is
 justified we cannot say2 but there are 
certainly a good  many people with      
inside knowledge who assert that the    
,admiralty were  decidedly cold about   
the paravane1 even if they did not      
actually  crab it4 ,and the rewards and 
honours bestowed on the brilliant young 
officers who devoted themselves to the  
paravane and ,otter services were  not  
particularly generous4      ,,submarines
 ,,and ,,sea ,,power4 ,by ,,charles     
,,domville-,,fife4 ,bell4 #ajs4 #f;d4   
net4    ,mr4 ,domville-,fife's purpose  
is to discuss the importance of the     
submarine arm in naval warfare of the   
future4 ,his treatment of the  subject  
is very balanced and his conclusions are
 cautious4 ,he gives us  a great deal of
 interesting information about the      
history of submarine  craft 7beginning  
as far back as #aegh7 and of the        
submarine explosive  mine4 ,in dealing  
with the tactics of submarines and their
 influence in  naval strategy1 he speaks

 as an expert2 for not only has he      
devoted  many years to their study1 but 
during the war he was in command of     
anti-submarine craft and an instructor  
at ,h4,m4 ,school of ,submarine         
,mining4 ,the economic influence of the 
submarine on this country1 ,mr4         
,domville thinks1 is summed up in the   
words of ,lord ,selborne in #aiae3      
,after the war the whole question of our
 agricultural and economic  policy of   
the food production at home will have to
 be revised in the  light of our        
submarine experience4 ,but what of the  
,league of ,nations8  ,are we not       
entitled to voice our views of the      
future of naval warfare  in the light of
 that8 ,here ,mr4 ,domville-,fife is    
guarded4 ,he looks  forward steadfastly 
and even hopefully towards the vivid    
dawn of a new  era4 ,but he is not for  
abandoning the old motto1 ,si vis pacem 
para  bellum4      ,,politics ,,and     
,,economics    ,,before ,,the ,,war4 ,by
 ,,viscount ,,haldane4 ,cassell4 #gs4   

#f;d4 net4    ,,the ,,economic          
,,consequences ,,of ,,the ,,peace4 ,by  
,,john ,,maynard ,,keynes1 ,c4,b41      
,fellow of ,king's ,college1 ,cambridge4
 ,macmillans4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4    ,these 
two books must rank among the most      
important documents yet  produced which 
bear upon the antecedents and the       
consequences of the  war in so far as   
,british policy is involved4 ,lord      
,haldane was for many  years ,war       
,minister1 and during the critical      
period of ,anglo-,german  relations he  
was also a sort of supplementary        
,foreign ,secretary whose  influence    
over the most important department of   
,foreign ,affairs was  very great1      
partly because of the weight his opinion
 carried with  ,sir ,edward ,grey and   
,mr4 ,asquith1 and partly because of his
 special  knowledge of ,germans and     
,germany4 ,his book has a double subject
 as it  has a double object4 ,he        
outlines the main elements and the      
principal  stages in our policy versus  

,germany before the war1 and he sketches
  what was done during his              
administration to perfect the           
organisation  of our ,army4 ,he defends 
our national policy 7there are          
interesting  sidelights thrown by his   
personal experiences with the ,emperor  
and  among the governing classes of     
,prussia7 on the ground that we did  the
 best we could when we combined an      
earnest effort to prevent war  with a   
resolution to be ready for it2 and in   
his personal apologia he  argues1 in    
effect1 that in the circumstances 7we   
must not forget that  the nation as a   
whole1 and ,parliament in particular1   
viewed military  expenditure with a very
 jealous eye7 his rgime did the utmost  
that  could have been expected4 ,it is  
now commonly conceded1 even by those    
who distrusted ,lord ,haldane's views in
 foreign affairs1 and those who  were   
bitterly against him because of his     
refusal to adopt universal  military    
service1 that he did a great work at the

 ,war ,office4 ,what  he says about the 
efficiency of his ,expeditionary ,force 
7,if the  warrior looked slender he was 
at least as well prepared for the ring  
as science could make him7 must be      
universally admitted2 and with  his     
great work in that department must be   
coupled the creation of the             
,territorial ,force4 ,on the point of   
compulsory service ,lord ,haldane       
defends himself by saying that in #aiab 
the ,general ,staff was allowed  to     
investigate the question whether we     
could or could not raise a  great army4 
,the outcome was embodied in a report   
made to me by ,lord  ,nicholson1 himself
 a soldier who had a strong desire for  
compulsory  service and a large army4   
,he reported1 as the result of a        
prolonged and  careful investigation1   
that1 alike as regarded officers and as 
regarded  buildings and equipment1 the  
conclusion of the ,general ,staff was   
that  it would be in a high degree      
unwise to try1 during the period of     

unrest  on the ,continent1 to commence a
 new military system4 ,we might have    
become seriously weaker before we had a 
chance of becoming stronger1  and an    
enemy might have sprung on us4 ,i quite 
agreed1 and not the less  because it was
 highly improbable that the country     
would have looked  at anything of the   
sort4 ,we imagine that the one thing    
which should  7in the light of our      
subsequent experience7 have been done   
and was not  done 7though lack of money 
would have been a severe limitation to  
the  actual accumulation of large       
stores1 whether of rifles or of         
clothing7  was to prepare a scheme      
whereunder the material for a greatly   
expanded  force would be easily and     
rapidly obtained immediately an         
emergency had  arisen4    ,lord ,haldane
 has many interesting obiter dicta4 ,he 
insists on the  need 7never more        
necessary than now7 for politicians to  
understand the  meaning of the words    
they use1 and the nature of the main    

conceptions  which are entertained by   
the nation1 and those which dominate    
their own  minds4 ,he says that his     
opinion of the ,german people remains   
unchanged4  ,they were very much like   
our own people1 except in one thing4    
,this  was that they were trained simply
 to obey1 and to carry out whatever     
they were told by their rulers4 ,i used1
 during numerous unofficial  tours in   
,germany1 to wander about incognito1 and
 to smoke and drink  beer with the      
peasants whenever ,i could get the      
chance4 ,what impressed  me was the     
little part they had in directing their 
own government1 and  the little they    
knew about what it was doing4 ,lord     
,haldane dates this  habit of mind back 
to the days of ,frederick the ,great2   
but is there not  something to be said  
for the view that it is to be traced    
back through  the period of the         
religious wars into the baronial ,middle
 ,ages8    ,lord ,haldane's conclusion  
is that the question is not one simply  

of the letter of a treaty1 but is one of
 the spirit in which it is  made4444    
,the foundations of a peace that is to  
be enduring must1  therefore1 be sought 
in what is highest and most abiding in  
human  nature4 ,these sentiments are    
eloquently supported by ,mr4 ,maynard   
,keynes1 who resigned his position at   
the ,peace ,conference 7where he        
represented the ,treasury7 because he   
felt that the negotiations were  not    
being inspired by that spirit and by    
those high and abiding ideals4  ,his    
argument1 which is supported by very    
acute reasoning1 is that the  economic  
clauses of the ,treaty threaten the ruin
 of our interlocked  economic           
civilisation2 and1 with the skill of an 
artist1 he strengthens  the gloom of his
 tale by giving in introductory chapters
 a tragic  setting3 a concourse of      
statesmen1 oblivious of the greatness of
 the  issues involved1 men of mechanical
 or cunning minds1 men obstinate  and   
narrow1 ruthless and cynical1 adroit and

 cunning1 intriguing1  hoodwinking1     
whilst their world was rolling towards  
the precipice4  ,the issues he          
considers1 the arguments he advances1   
are far too  controversial to be entered
 into here3 but it is a book which      
states  one point of view far more      
powerfully than it has been stated      
anywhere  else and1 as such1 should be  
read1 if only to be answered4 ,we take  
it  that beyond the public questions    
which engage the author's mind there    
must have been a personal one 7which is 
also1 however1 a public one7  which must
 have caused him much disquiet3 the     
question how far a civil  servant1      
whilst the events under discussion are  
still in progress1 is  morally entitled 
to divulge things he would not have seen
 save in his  official capacity4 ,he    
may--this we suppose is beyond          
dispute--resign  and conduct argument on
 the basis of facts known to the public2
 but  should he watch statesmen at      
private assemblies1 judge their         

characters  by what he sees there1 and  
then come out and attempt to blow them  
sky-high8 ,we suppose that ,mr4 ,keynes1
 who is no doubt convinced that  his    
estimates are sound and that the whole  
future of the world may  depend upon    
people realising what he believes to be 
the truth1 would  say that there was a  
conflict of obligations1 and that the   
larger one  had overcome the lesser4    
,but we do think that there is room here
 for  investigation and definition by a 
political philosopher with some         
practical experience4 ,the problem is   
not a simple one4      ,a ,,handbook    
,,of ,,the ,,league ,,of ,,nations4 ,by 
,,sir ,,geoffrey ,,butler4 ,with an     
,introduction by ,lord ,robert ,cecil4  
,longmans4 #es4 net4    ,,the           
,,responsibilities ,,of ,,the ,,league4 
,by ,,eustace ,,percy4 ,hodder          
,stoughton4 #fs4 net4    ,it would      
hardly be possible to find two more     
different books on the  same subject    
than these two4 ,hence it is            

extraordinarily instructive to  read    
them together4 ,sir ,geoffrey ,butler is
 an academic international  lawyer1 a   
lecturer in ,international ,law and     
,diplomacy in the ,university  of       
,cambridge4 ,he is therefore well       
qualified for the task which he has     
undertaken1 a short and elementary      
treatise1 which tries to place  the     
,league in its historical perspective4  
,he traces the history of  international
 relations and shows that the ,league is
 a development of  the idea of a        
,concert of ,europe as opposed to the   
idea of a ,balance of  ,power4 ,he then 
explains the constitution and machinery 
of the ,league  as it appears in the    
,paris ,covenant1 gives the text of the 
,covenant1  and adds a commentary or    
explanation of its various clauses4 ,sir
  ,geoffrey does not possess a light or 
facile pen1 and occasionally his        
meaning is singularly obscure4 ,the book
 is academically cautious and           
unoriginal1 but it sticks to its object1

 which is to explain the kind  of       
international instrument which the      
victorious statesmen fashioned in       
,paris4 ,hence it will be useful to     
those who do not possess technical      
knowledge but wish to understand the    
significance of the clauses1 or  bare   
bones1 of the ,covenant4    ,lord       
,eustace ,percy is not concerned with   
bare bones1 but with the flesh  and     
blood which may or may not one day      
clothe the skeleton which the           
victorious ,powers produced at ,paris4  
,no one could call the author or  his   
book cautious2 they are always trying to
 get back to fundamentals4  ,to ,lord   
,eustace the ,covenant of the ,league is
 a revolution1 and  he endeavours to    
show the revolution in ,british policy  
which it  implies--the ultimate1        
fundamental responsibilities which1 with
 the  signature of the ,covenant1 the   
nation and its statesmen assumed4  ,in  
order to do this1 he not only examines  
the ,league and ,covenant2  he gives a  

most interesting account of the previous
 international  position and policy of  
,britain1 the ,united ,states1 and the  
chief  ,continental ,powers2 he analyses
 and criticises the terms of the  ,paris
 peace treaties2 he deals with ,labour  
unrest2 the epidemic of  revolution1    
,bolshevism4 ,the whole forms a         
restless1 brilliant1 and  often         
paradoxical essay on international      
relations4 ,its great merit is  that the
 natural reaction to it in the reader is
 thought4 ,it is true  that the author's
 own political thinking is frequently   
much less deep  than it would appear to 
be on a cursory examination2 but at     
least if  he cannot himself go to any   
great depths1 he always tries to go as  
deep as he can1 and he carries his      
reader below the obvious surface of     
political platitudes4 ,his method is to 
appear at first to go almost to  the    
extreme limits of progressiveness and   
unorthodoxy1 and then1 by  the help of a
 paradox1 to double on his tracks and to

 show that after  all the progressives  
are out of date1 and nothing much could 
have  been done other than has been     
done4 ,thus he begins by writing about  
such terms of the ,peace as the ,saar1  
the ,balkans and ,austria1 ,shantung1   
the ,adriatic1 and the economic clauses1
 in language which we might  expect from
 the extreme ,left1 and then1 when the  
reader is beginning to  feel that he has
 been robbed of his last illusion1 he is
 headed back  from despair with the     
paradox that in a sense1 the strength of
 the  ,treaty lies in its weakest       
parts--in those provisions which are the
  least workable in practice4    ,for   
some tastes there will be too much of   
this kind of paradox in  this book4     
,lord ,eustace is1 perhaps1 at his best 
when he is dealing  either with past    
history or with the immediate subject of
 his book1  the ,responsibilities of the
 ,league4 ,the ,league1 in his view1 is 
the  one novel contribution made to the 
settlement by the ,conference at        

,paris2 it creates the conditions and   
machinery necessary if the  family of   
nations is to realise a policy of joint 
responsibilities1  and to deal          
continuously in a spirit of friendly    
co-operation with  the standing common  
interests of nations4 ,this thesis is   
explained1  worked out1 and illustrated 
with very great ability4 ,lord ,eustace 
obviously considers that those who      
framed the ,covenant produced the  best 
international framework and machinery   
which at the moment it was  possible for
 practical statesmanship to produce4    
,those who expected or  asked for more  
are1 in his opinion1 impractical        
idealists1 or1 what  is worse1 they do  
not see that the whole object of the    
,league is to  continue and develop the 
existing international system of        
absolutely  sovereign ,states4 ,his     
treatment of this extremely difficult   
and  important question of sovereignty  
is the least satisfactory part of his   
handling of the ,league4 ,he holds that 

the doctrine of communal society        
applied to the ,league of ,nations      
clearly rules out first of all any      
encroachment upon the sovereignty of its
 members4 ,but sovereignty  does not    
consist solely1 as he seems to imply1 in
 the claim of the  ,state against any of
 its members1 and surely the ,league    
might limit  or encroach upon the       
sovereignty of its members without      
necessarily  creating a ,super-,state4  
,it is a pity that ,lord ,eustace has   
not dealt  more thoroughly with this    
question1 for it is vital to another    
important opinion held by him1 namely1  
that the ,league must be the  enemy of  
and bulwark against ,bolshevik or       
,communist ,governments4      ,,the     
,,government ,,of ,,india4 ,by ,j4      
,,ramsay ,,macdonald4 ,swarthmore       
,press4  #ajs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this is   
not a mere list of criticisms and       
reminiscences written by  a             
carpet-bagger4 ,mr4 ,macdonald was in   
,india as a member of the last  ,public 

,services ,commission4 ,he has studied  
numerous official and  unofficial books 
and documents1 and has met and heard the
 views of  representatives of all       
classes and schools of political        
thought4 ,he has  stayed with           
,provincial ,governors1 ,indian leaders1
 district officers1  and heads of native
 institutions1 such as the ,gurukul of  
,hardwar and  the ,rabindranath ,tagore 
school at ,bholpur4    ,the result is a 
book of great interest1 written with an 
insight and  moderation which will      
commend it to many who do not agree with
 all  its conclusions4 ,it was written1 
,mr4 ,macdonald tells us1 before the    
,montagu-,chelmsford ,report was        
published2 but it is none the worse  for
 this4 ,references and comments on the  
,report have been added1 and  every line
 may be read with profit alike by the   
extreme reformer1 the  moderate         
constitutionalist and the firm          
conservative4    ,mr4 ,macdonald begins 
with an account of the rise of          

,nationalism and a  sketch of the       
history of ,european penetration and the
 advance of the  ,east ,india ,company  
in ,india4 ,this enables the ,british   
reader at once to  understand the       
remainder of the book1 and places him in
 possession of a  store of knowledge    
which may help to foster that interest  
in ,india and  her problems so lacking  
in ,british electors and politicians    
alike4    ,the pronouncement of ,august1
 #aiag1 the ,montagu-,chelmsford        
,report1 and  the passing of the        
,government of ,india ,act of #aiai are 
first steps  towards the establishment  
of self-government for ,india2 but the  
real  difficulty to be solved is the    
representation of the mass of the       
people4 ,mr4 ,macdonald holds that ,the 
democratic forms of the ,west are  not  
the only forms in which democracy can   
take shape4444 ,india is not  a nation  
of equal citizens so much as an         
organisation of co-operating  social    
functions4 ,the question of diversity of

 race and language  will remain even    
when primary education has become       
general1 and ,mr4  ,macdonald might have
 made clearer his views of the lines on 
which  genuine popular representation   
can be secured4 ,he does1 indeed1 in his
  account of the #ej1jjj1jjj outcastes  
of ,india give us a dim vision of  his  
hopes that with education will come     
leaders of ability to represent  them2  
but this does not solve the main problem
 of ascertaining and  giving expression 
to the will of the people4 ,with the    
,councils and  reformed administration  
,india will be somewhat in the position 
of  ,england in #ahcb1 and whether she  
is to develop under ,british tutelage1  
or to be left to work out her own       
salvation under her own bourgeois       
,government1 is a question which        
statesmen will be called on to decide   
in the near future4    ,the chapters on 
finance and on religion and ,nationalism
 are among the  best in the book1 while 
the pithy accounts of the ceaseless toil

 of  a ,lieutenant-,governor and of a   
,district ,officer should disabuse the  
minds of those who have been accustomed 
to regard ,indian civilians as          
comfortable overpaid loafers4           
,,science    ,,theoretical ,,and        
,,applied ,,colloid ,,chemistry4 ,by    
,,wolfgang ,,ostwald4 ,john  ,wiley     
,sons and ,chapman  ,hall4 #aas4 #f;d4  
net4    ,,the ,,chemistry ,,of          
,,colloids4 ,by ,,richard ,,zsigmondy4  
,john ,wiley  ,sons and  ,chapman       
,hall4 #acs4 #f;d4 net4    ,colloid     
chemistry1 for which ,dr4 ,wolfgang     
,ostwald claims to have  established the
 right to existence as a separate and   
independent  science1 is a study of very
 recent development1 which has come to  
its  own during the past twenty years4  
,in many respects its development       
offers a close parallel to that of      
catalysis1 a branch of chemistry        
recently noticed in these columns4 ,in  
both cases we have a few  brilliant1    
isolated studies1 succeeded by a long   

period during which  little attention   
was paid to the subject2 in both cases  
this century  has seen a large body of  
chemists1 especially the younger men1   
attracted to the investigation1 the     
phenomena in question1 and results  have
 been rapidly attained which have proved
 of great theoretical  interest1 and    
have already found wide application in  
industry4 ,just as  the old idea that   
there were a few special catalysts has  
been succeeded  by the belief now held  
that every substance can be made to act 
as a  catalyst in suitable              
circumstances1 so it is now stated      
freely that1  instead of there being a  
small class of colloids1 any substance  
can be  prepared in a colloid state4    
,incidentally1 colloidal preparations   
are  widely used as catalysts4          
,colloid chemistry may be said to have  
arisen some fifty years ago in  the     
researches of ,thomas ,graham1 who      
showed that a large class of  liquids or
 semi-liquids would not diffuse through 

animal membranes1  as do ordinary       
solutions of salts4 ,because many of    
these substances  were sticky he gave to
 the whole class the name which they now
 hold1  colloid4 ,since then his        
conception has been extended1 and it is 
now  realised that1 strictly speaking1  
we should talk rather of a substance  in
 a colloidal state than of a colloid1   
since typically crystalline  substances1
 such as ordinary salt1 can be prepared 
in colloidal  solution4 ,the            
characteristic of such a solution is the
 fineness of  sub-division--the         
dispersion--of the dissolved substance4 
,in a true  solution1 in the ordinary   
sense1 we have1 in general1 the         
substance  existing as separate         
molecules dispersed throughout the      
solvent4 ,in  a mechanical suspension1  
such as may be prepared from exceedingly
  fine sand and water1 the suspended    
particles1 which take some time  to     
settle1 can be easily seen with a       
microscope1 if not with the  naked eye4 

,in between these two classes of        
dispersed systems we have  solutions in 
which the particles1 while consisting1  
in general1 of  a very large number of  
molecules1 are small enough to pass     
through  filter-paper and escape the    
ordinary microscope1 while at the same  
time they do not diffuse through        
membranes and can be seen by special    
optical arrangements1 i4e41 the         
so-called ultramicroscope4 ,such        
dispersed systems are colloidal systems1
 which have only recently  been         
investigated in detail1 although        
,faraday prepared colloidal  solutions  
of metallic gold which still exist4     
,colloidal chemistry  has been          
picturesquely called the world of       
neglected dimensions1  which is         
appropriate enough4 ,of course the exact
 degree of dispersion  which constitutes
 a colloidal solution is purely         
arbitrary1 since1  as ,wolfgang         
,ostwald--the son of ,wilhelm           
,ostwald--insists in the book  before   

us1 solutions are known which show all  
ranges of sub-division  of the dissolved
 substance1 from molecular dimensions to
 visible  particles4 ,various           
distinguishing tests have led to        
solutions in which  the diameter of the 
particles lies anywhere between a       
millionth and a  thousandth of a        
millimetre being conventionally called  
colloids4    ,the scientific1           
industrial1 and medical applications of 
colloid  chemistry increase in number   
daily--we are already confronted with   
the word colloidotherapy--and there is a
 growing demand for books  on the       
subject4 ,the two before us are each by 
authors who are  celebrated for their   
researches in the subject3 ,zsigmondy   
invented the  ultramicroscope1 which has
 been responsible for the most important
  recent advances in the study of       
colloidal solution1 and ,wolfgang       
,ostwald has added clearness to nearly  
every branch of the subject4  ,ostwald's
 book1 adequately translated by ,dr4    

,martin ,fischer 7although1  we may     
remark1 the word enormity is not        
generally used as a synonym  for        
hugeness71 is based on a series of      
lectures given by him in ,america  just 
before the war4 ,publication has been   
delayed by the war1 and it is           
interesting to note that in the preface1
 written in #aiae when ,germany  was    
apparently in a good position1 the      
author looks to science to form  the    
first bridge between the peoples then at
 war1 and exclaims1 ,how  should ,i1 for
 example1 cease to admire1 to adopt1 and
 to develop the  labours of a ,w4 ,b4   
,hardy1 a ,w4 ,m4 ,bayliss1 a ,j4       
,perrin1 a ,p4 ,p4 von  ,weimarn1 and   
others1 just because they belong to a   
people hostile to my  own8 ,the book    
gives a most excellent sketch of the    
whole field1 by one  who is an          
enthusiast in his subject1 and may be   
thoroughly recommended  as an           
introduction for those who are          
beginners1 even if their general        

knowledge of chemistry is slight1 while 
even the expert will find much  in it to
 interest him4 ,as a detail we may      
mention that ,ostwald gives a  quick    
receipt for the preparation of red      
colloidal gold with ordinary  distilled 
water1 while other authors1 including   
,zsigmondy1 insist  that the preparation
 is a delicate undertaking1 requiring   
specially  distilled water and the      
greatest care4 ,the wonderful range of  
phenomena  now included in the subject  
is clearly brought out1 and the pictures
  of ,liesegang rings and the           
ultramicroscopic photograph of a setting
  cement are beautiful4 ,the treatment  
of gels1 the jelly-like form into  which
 certain colloidal solutions pass1 is   
particularly good1 and gives  much      
valuable information not hitherto       
available in popular form4  ,the last   
two chapters1 or lectures1 on scientific
 applications and  technical            
applications of colloid chemistry are of
 surpassing interest1  as indicating the

 practical importance which this young  
science has  attained4 ,all life        
processes take place in a colloid       
system1 and  the necessity to           
physiologists of the study of colloids  
is forcibly  emphasised4 ,rubber milk1  
or later1 is a colloid1 so that all the 
problems of coagulation of rubber and   
its subsequent vulcanisation are        
included in the subject4 ,the setting of
 cements is a colloidal problem4        
,these1 and many other questions1 are   
briefly but clearly discussed4 ,the     
experiments which accompanied the       
lectures are described1 and are most    
suggestive4    ,professor ,zsigmondy's  
book is more technical1 and deals mainly
 with  hydrosols and hydrogels4 ,the    
author's reputation in this field       
vouches for the excellence of the       
treatment of the many expert problems   
discussed4 ,naturally the subjects of   
ultramicroscopy and protective  colloids
 are discussed in detail--the author    
originated the gold  figure used to     

express the protective effect of a      
colloid4 ,the  theoretical discussions  
are particularly valuable1 and          
physiologists  will read with interest  
the long discussion of protein bodies4  
,there  is an appendix on industrial    
colloid chemistry by the translator1    
,dr4  ,ellwood ,spear1 in which the     
problems of rubber manufacture1 tanning1
  and other industrial processes are    
very briefly treated4 ,there is in  this
 section a chapter on smoke abatement1  
but the methods mentioned  scarcely fall
 within the province of colloid         
chemistry as generally  understood4 ,a  
final chapter1 by ,dr4 ,j4 ,f4 ,norton1 
deals with the  application of colloid  
chemistry to sanitation4      ,,modern  
,,science ,,and ,,materialism4 ,by      
,,hugh ,,elliot4 ,longmans4 ,green  ,co4
  #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,this book is an   
exposition of monism1 the philosophic   
theory that  asserts the identical      
nature of mind and matter1 as distinct  
from  the dualistic superstition--as our

 author terms it--of matter and  spirit4
 ,sir ,oliver ,lodge1 in a recent       
article1 claims that three  fundamental 
things are required to explain our      
universe3 viz41 ,mind1  with its        
rudiment ,life2 ,matter1 with its       
element the electric charge2  and       
,ether1 with its fundamental properties 
equivalent to elasticity  and inertia4  
,mr4 ,elliot will have none of this4    
,for him there is no  reason to         
postulate other things than those       
capable of investigation  by physical   
science--the ether and matter are       
essentially of the same  kind1 while all
 the phenomena of life are1 if not at   
present explained  on a physico-chemical
 basis1 yet ultimately explicable in    
terms of the  exact sciences4 ,life is a
 name for certain properties of         
protoplasm1  and the chemical reactions 
of life are more complicated1 but not   
more  mysterious1 than those of the     
laboratory4 ,as for ghosts1 gods1 souls1
  et hoc genus omne1 our author holds   

that these have long been  rejected from
 the belief of most advanced thinkers4  
,he traverses the  assertion of         
,professors ,mach and ,karl ,pearson1   
that while science can  explain how     
things occur it cannot explain why 7the 
point under  discussion depends1 of     
course1 on ,mr4 ,elliot's               
interpretations of the  words71 he pours
 scorn upon ,herbert ,spencer1 ,bergson1
 and all the  vitalists4 ,altogether the
 book is one of the most pugnacious     
defences  of monism which we have read1 
and will delight the bitter opponents   
of all spiritualistic philosophies4 ,at 
the same time the author  maintains that
 his philosophy is not materialistic1 in
 the ordinary  sense1 but a form of     
idealism1 and this1 of course1 is true1 
in a way1  of any form of monism1 it    
being possible either to say that the   
atom  of matter is as full of mystery as
 life1 or that life is as full of       
mechanism as the atom4 ,it is obviously 
impossible in the limited space  at our 

disposal to criticise the arguments put 
forward on a subject so  complicated and
 controversial1 but we think that nobody
 will admit  ,mr4 ,elliot to be as      
unbiassed as he appears to consider     
himself1  judging by his remarks on the 
bias of the vitalists4 ,his claim for   
the support of the physiologists reminds
 us that ,dr4 ,j4 ,s4 ,haldane  recently
 opened a discussion on the question1   
,are ,physical1 ,biological  and        
,physiological ,categories ,irreducible8
 by a pronouncement in the  affirmative2
 the physicists also are not all        
monists4 ,the question is  more         
two-sided than our author will admit4   
,his science is unfortunately  by no    
means beyond reproach3 to say that the  
charge on the electron is  inconceivably
 immense is either extraordinary        
inaccuracy of phrase or  extraordinary  
error1 while to state that the electron 
has weight is to  assert something of   
which we have no experimental evidence4 
,that light  is a vibrating motion of   

the same character as sound is          
incorrect1 and  such instances can be   
multiplied4 ,these things are not of    
fundamental  importance to ,mr4         
,elliot's argument1 but they show1 to   
say the least1  a deplorable looseness  
of expression4 ,nevertheless1 the book  
is worth  reading to all interested1    
either as friends or enemies1 in the    
monistic philosophy1 and may lead some  
of those who talk so freely of  souls   
and mind to be a little more precise as 
to what they mean by  these terms4      
,,accounts ,,rendered ,,of ,,work ,,done
 ,,and ,,things ,,seen4 ,by ,j4 ,y4     
,,buchanan4  ,cambridge ,university     
,press4 #bas4 net4    ,selections from  
the papers of the author have already   
appeared under  the titles of           
,scientific ,papers 7,oceanographical7  
and ,comptes ,rendus  of ,observation   
and ,reasoning4 ,this third volume1 with
 an ,english  modification of the title 
of the latter work1 continues the plan  
of  that book4 ,the papers are very     

varied in character1 including chemical 
studies1 accounts of physical           
determinations1 addresses on geography  
and oceanography1 more technical        
geographical writings1 and short        
articles on topics of general interest1 
reprinted from ,nature1 the  ,times1 and
 other periodicals4 ,many of the latter 
recall events of our  generation        
important1 but already half forgotten1  
such as the stranding  of the ,sultan   
and the wreck of ,santos ,dumont #f4 ,an
 excellent  feature of the author's     
,comptes ,rendus was the detailed       
summary1  with page references1 provided
 for every article1 and the same plan   
is followed in this work4 ,the author's 
work on oceanography is too  well known 
to need commendation--he was chemist and
 physicist to the  ,challenger          
expedition4 ,his ,retrospect1 the second
 article in the  book1 gives a          
fascinating summary of the work done on 
that expedition1  and the other papers  
on oceanographical subjects are of great

 general  interest1 and incidentally    
recall the great services of the ,prince
 of  ,monaco to that science4 ,his      
general outlook1 which lends such       
freshness  to all his writings1 cannot  
be better expressed than in his own     
words  in a former book3 ,it was        
conveyed to me through an old friend and
  former colleague that this            
contribution 444 had done much to retard
 the  standardisation of research4 ,i   
took it as a compliment4 ,to standardise
  research is to limit its freedom and  
to impede discovery4 ,originality  and  
independence are the characteristics of 
genuine research1 and it  is stultified 
by the acceptance of standards and by   
the recognition of  authority4    ,it   
throws much light on the recent increase
 in the expenses of  publishing that1   
whereas the ,comptes ,rendus was        
published in #aiag at  #gs4 #f;d41 the  
present volume of similar size and form 
is published  at #bas4                  
,,book-,,production ,,notes    ,by ,j4  

,h4 ,,mason      ,the ,studio special   
number1 ,modern ,woodcuts and           
,lithographs1 by  ,british and ,french  
,artists1 with ,commentary by ,m4 ,c4   
,salaman1 is the  first collection1 with
 any claim to comprehensiveness1 of the 
artistic  work of the present           
renaissance of the woodcut4 ,the woodcut
 has a  twofold employment3 it may be   
used for pictorial broadsides or for    
book  illustration4 ,it concerns us here
 as a means--,i wonder if ,i ought not  
to write the means8--of book            
illustration4 ,notwithstanding the great
  technical advances made in line and   
half-tone photo-process engraving1      
there is a tendency to return to the use
 of the woodcut for certain  kinds of   
catalogue illustrations1 and1 to a still
 greater extent1 for  book illustration 
and decoration4    ,the half-tone       
process involves the use of so-called   
art paper1  i4e41 a wood pulp or grass  
pulp paper as a centre1 coated over with
  kaolin or china clay1 with a high     

finish1 the glazed polish of which      
reflects the light very unpleasantly4   
,this objectionable paper1 apart  from  
the incongruity of wash drawings or     
photographs with typography1  relegates 
this method of book illustration to     
utilitarian ends4 ,the  line process is 
far preferable for book illustration1   
but in itself  it has no pleasant       
quality1 usually very much the reverse1 
and pen  drawings are no more directly  
suitable for book illustration than pen 
lettering is for use with type4 ,the    
woodcut modifies the character  of the  
drawing with a discipline which produces
 a character more  in sympathy with that
 which type has acquired at the hands of
 the  punch-cutter and type-founder in  
its passage from writing2 and the  same 
discipline modifies the artist's vision 
as well as the drawing4  ,material1 too1
 has its own character1 and when the    
user is not too  clever this character  
becomes active in the work1 not merely  
passive4  ,the wood block itself can    

contribute a valuable quality1 and      
either the  knife or the graver is a    
responsive tool4 ,the corresponding     
elements  in line process work are the  
zinc plate and etching acid1 and they do
  contribute something of their quality 
to the work2 but it is not an           
attractive quality4    ,the rediscovered
 qualities of the wood block have       
attracted many  artists to its use4     
,they are producing work of great       
variety of  interest1 but it is rather  
in the pictorial direction than as book 
illustration4 ,the work of ,valloton    
elsewhere1 and of ,jane ,bouquet and    
,brangwyn1 of ,sydney ,lee and          
,verpilleux in this ,studio special     
number  are examples of this4 ,the work 
of ,lucien ,pissaro1 of ,charles        
,shannon1  and ,charles ,ricketts shows 
the right use of the woodcut as         
decorative  illustration1 but their work
 belongs to the early days of this      
revival4  ,drer1 ,holbein1 and the      
,polyphilus printed by ,aldus are the   

great  exemplars for a pre-,bewick      
,brotherhood of the decorative woodcut4 
,where  work of a freer quality is      
desirable1 ,miss ,jackson's on page #ac 
shows  the texture that goes with type  
satisfactorily4 ,miss ,gribble has given
  the right degree of formal treatment  
to the pastoral motives she has  chosen 
for tail-pieces1 and makes them         
decorative without letting them  lose   
their interest and so become vapid      
conventions4 ,both ,miss ,jackson  and  
,miss ,gribble are pupils of ,mr4 ,noel 
,rooke1 who has done so much for  the   
right use of the woodcut for decorative 
illustration4    ,the lithographs suffer
 much more than the woodcuts by         
reproduction4 ,to  begin with1 they are 
very much reduced in size1 and they are 
printed  by a letterpress method 7i4e41 
from a relief surface7 instead of  from 
the plain surface for which they were   
drawn4 ,the loss which they  suffer by  
these changes can only be appreciated by
 those who know the  originals4 ,both   

,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hartrick's fine examples
 suffer through  the loss of the rich   
lithographic black4                     
,,bibliographies ,,of ,,modern ,,authors
      ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton      ,verse  
,,greybeards ,,at ,,play4 ,brimley      
,johnson4 #aijj4    ,,the ,,wild        
,,knight4 ,grant ,richards4 #aijj4      
,enlarged ,edition4 ,dent4 #aiad4       
,,the ,,ballad ,,of ,,the ,,white       
,,horse4 ,methuen4 #aiaa4    ,,poems4   
,burns  ,oates4 #aiae4    ,,wine1       
,,water1 ,,and ,,song4 ,methuen4 #aiae4 
,a reprint of the songs from ,the       
,flying ,inn4      ,prose    ,,the      
,,defendant4 ,brimley ,johnson4 #aija4  
,cheap ,edition in ,dent's  ,wayfarer's 
,library1 #aiad4    ,,twelve ,,types4   
,a4 ,l4 ,humphreys4 #aijb4    ,g4 ,f4   
,,watts4 ,duckworth4 #aijb4    ,,robert 
,,browning4 ,macmillan4 7,english ,men  
of ,letters ,series47 #aijc4    ,,the   
,,patriotic ,,idea4 ,brimley ,johnson4  
#aijd4    ,,the ,,napoleon ,,of         
,,notting ,,hill4 ,john ,lane4 #aijd4   

,,the ,,club ,,of ,,queer ,,trades4     
,harper4 #aije4 ,cheaper ,edition4      
,hodder   ,stoughton4 #aiab4            
,,heretics4 ,john ,lane4 #aije4         
,,charles ,,dickens4 ,methuen4 #aijf4   
,popular ,edition4 #aiac4    ,,the ,,man
 ,,who ,,was ,,thursday4 ,arrowsmith4   
#aijh4    ,,all ,,things ,,considered4  
,methuen4 #aijh4    ,,orthodoxy4 ,john  
,lane4 #aijh4    ,,tremendous ,,trifles4
 ,methuen4 #aiji4    ,,alarms ,,and     
,,discursions4 ,methuen4 #aiaj4         
,,five ,,types4 ,a4 ,l4 ,humphreys4     
#aiaj4 7,reprinted from ,twelve ,types4 
#aije47    ,,what',s ,,wrong ,,with     
,,the ,,world8 ,cassell4 #aiaj4         
,,william ,,blake4 ,duckworth4 #aiaj4   
,,george ,,bernard ,,shaw4 ,john ,lane4 
#aiaj4    ,,the ,,ball ,,and ,,the      
,,cross4 ,wells ,gardner1 ,darton4      
#aiaj4    ,,appreciations ,,of          
,,dickens4 ,dent4 #aiaa4 7,prefaces from
 ,everyman ,series of  ,dickens         
reprinted47    ,,the ,,innocence ,,of   
,,father ,,brown4 ,cassell4 #aiaa4      

,,simplicity ,,and ,,tolstoy4 ,a4 ,l4   
,humphreys4 #aiab4    ,a ,,miscellany   
,,of ,,men4 ,methuen4 #aiab4            
,,manalive4 ,nelson4 #aiab4    ,,magic3 
,a ,,play4 ,martin ,secker4 #aiac4      
,,the ,,victorian ,,age ,,in            
,,literature4 ,williams  ,norgate4      
#aiac4 7,home  ,university ,library     
,series47    ,,the ,,wisdom ,,of        
,,father ,,brown4 ,cassell4 #aiad4      
,,the ,,flying ,,inn4 ,methuen4 #aiad4  
,,the ,,barbarism ,,of ,,berlin4        
,cassell4 #aiad4    ,,letters ,,to ,,an 
,,old ,,garibaldian4 ,methuen4 #aiad4   
,,the ,,crimes ,,of ,,england4 ,palmer4 
#aiae4    ,a ,,shilling ,,for ,,my      
,,thoughts4 ,methuen4 #aiaf4    ,a      
,,short ,,history ,,of ,,england4       
,chatto  ,windus4 #aiag4    ,,irish     
,,impressions4 ,collins4 #aiai4    ,he  
has also written prefaces to the        
following3--,carlyle's ,past and        
,present2 ,extracts from ,boswell's     
,life of ,johnson2 ,the ,autocrat of    
the ,breakfast ,table2 ,sartor          

,resartus2 ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress2   
,creatures that ,once ,were ,men1 by    
,maxim ,gorky2 ,dickens's ,works2       
,essays1 by ,matthew ,arnold2 ,literary 
,london2 ,the ,book of ,job2  ,from     
,workhouse to ,westminster2 ,ruskin's   
,poems2 ,the ,cottage ,homes  of        
,england2 ,a ,vision of ,life2 ,meadows 
of ,play2 ,selections from  ,thackeray2 
,eyes of ,youth 7an anthology72         
,extracts from ,samuel  ,johnson2 ,the  
,book of ,snobs2 ,famous ,paintings     
,reproduced in ,colour2  ,the ,english  
,agricultural ,labourer2 sop's ,fables2 
,dickens's  ,christmas ,carol2          
,bohemia's ,claim for ,freedom4    ,he  
has also illustrated the following      
books3--,nonsense ,rhymes2 ,the  ,great 
,enquiry2 ,emmanuel ,burden2 ,biography 
for ,beginners2 ,the  ,green ,overcoat4 
,,john ,,freeman      ,verse    ,,twenty
 ,,poems4 ,gay  ,hancock4 #aiji4    ,out
 of print4    ,,fifty ,,poems4 ,herbert 
,daniel4 #aiaa4 ,new ,edition1 ,selwyn  
,blount4 #aiaf4    ,,stone ,,trees ,,and

 ,,other ,,poems4 ,selwyn  ,blount4     
#aiaf4    ,,presage ,,of ,,victory ,,and
 ,,other ,,poems ,,of ,,the ,,time4     
,selwyn  ,blount4 #aiaf4    ,,memories  
,,of ,,childhood4 ,morland ,press4      
#aiah4    ,no4 #a of ,green ,pastures   
,series4 ,cover and frontispiece by     
,james  ,guthrie4    ,,memories ,,of    
,,childhood ,,and ,,other ,,poems4      
,selwyn  ,blount4 #aiai4    ,includes   
the twelve poems published in the       
last-named4      ,prose    ,,the        
,,moderns4 ,robert ,scott4 #aiaf4       
,critical ,studies of ,robert ,bridges1 
,h4 ,g4 ,wells1 ,bernard ,shaw1 etc4    
,,drama    ,,children',s ,,plays        
,the hold of the ,pantomime on the      
affections of the public is possibly  as
 strong as ever it was1 but the         
character of those entertainments  has  
been slowly changing and with it the    
character of the audience4  ,professedly
 ,i suppose the ,pantomimes are for     
children1 but except that  almost any   
entertainment will amuse children1 owing

 to their extreme  curiosity1 there is  
little in the modern ,pantomime that    
seems to have  been devised for them4   
,in fact1 the ,christmas ,pantomime has 
of late  years come to have a           
particularly sophisticated and adult    
savour1 which  is to be noticed in the  
treatment of the old fairy-tales--one or
 other  of which1 in name at least1     
still forms the basis of every          
,christmas  ,pantomime1 although in a   
shape that would scarcely be recognised 
by the  compilers of ,grimm's ,fairy    
,tales4    ,this is particularly        
noticeable in the metamorphosis of the  
,witch who1  fatigued by the possession 
of mysteriously terrible powers1        
dwindles  into the obscene-faced        
mother-in-law4 ,the sere old woman who  
turned  the seven white-horsed          
princesses into low stones1 over which  
the moss  crept slowly1 has become a    
gin-inoculated ,widow ,twankey1 who     
dances  like a man and gloats over the  
highly-successful love-affairs of her   

son as leading to more and better drink4
    ,pantomimes have always been less   
concerned with the imaginative1 the     
more-than-human1 than with the          
extraordinarily actual4 ,some will      
remember the artillery bombardment which
 was introduced one ,christmas  during  
the war into a ,pantomime at ,drury     
,lane1 which was1 if ,i remember        
rightly1 superficially the story of ,the
 ,sleeping ,beauty4 ,it was  good fun   
that bombardment1 much better fun than  
are the majority of  these topical      
excrescences1 but one felt that it had  
been introduced  because the principal  
comedian had got bored with the         
comparative sober  quietness of that    
land of imagination in which the        
inhabitants of a  fairy-tale progress as
 if seen in a glass darkly4 ,he had1    
therefore1  deliberately pulled the     
story out of its semi-supernatural      
country  into the limelight1 and was    
rewarded by instant mirth and vociferous
  applause from nine-tenths of the      

audience4 ,only a few children          
hesitated1 feeling the pangs of a       
violent up-rooting1 a being torn out  of
 a land1 through which they had been    
slowly but with intense delight         
travelling1 into a mass of gesticulating
 faces ranged in circles  watching the  
elaborate and apparently comic          
contortions of two small  grotesque     
figures on what was obviously the stage4
    ,i have no doubt at all that the    
instincts and judgment of children in   
these matters is far superior to that of
 the majority of their elders4  ,the    
steady vulgarisation in the theatre of  
fairy-tales originally  the inventions  
of adult minds of phantasy and          
sensibility superior  to the general is 
a record of the debasing influence of   
the mass of  the inhabitants of our     
large cities1 who are dissatisfied with 
less  than an instant reaction to the   
efforts of those whom they pay to  amuse
 them4 ,they are too restless to submit 
to sit quietly and by slow  degrees     

receive the heritage of beauty          
accumulated by the ambages of  minds    
whose devious and amazed wanderings are 
like the apparently  directionless      
perambulation of bees who are1 without  
pause1 gathering  honey4    ,sinbad the 
,sailor1 ,aladdin1 ,ali ,baba--whatever 
they be1 the  essence of these          
,pantomimes is something grosser than   
any fairy-tale1  and1 whether borrowed  
from the brothers ,grimm1 or ,andersen1 
or  any other source1 their fragile and 
mysterious beauty is roughly            
obliterated to give place to an obvious 
rough-and-tumble humour and  crude      
topicality of the kind that not one in a
 million could miss4  ,of course the    
somewhat hearty atmosphere of           
,christmas-time is not  conducive to    
fineness of vision4 ,the subtler        
outlines in which resides  the beauty of
 a fairy-tale1 a girl1 or a mountain are
 not to be grasped  by eyes slightly    
dazzled with the inner glow of good     
feeding--that glow  which has more heat 

than light4 ,it is a time when a joke   
has to be  obvious to be seen1 and the  
propensity to enormous girth perceptible
 in  the most popular characters of     
,pantomime may have a similar origin2   
but  ,i speak from a painful experience 
when ,i declare that for a ,christmas   
,pantomime nothing can be too crude1 too
 stale1 too trivial to be funny1  and   
that the best condition in which to go  
to the ,pantomime would be  that in     
which you could see simultaneously the  
largest number of ,moons4      ,the     
,change in the ,pantomime    ,the       
,pantomime has become a sort of         
,christmas ,revue1 and parents  in large
 numbers have ceased taking their       
children to these  entertainments1      
appealing as they almost exclusively do 
to the  grown-up4 ,in their place we    
have had of late years a large number of
  children's plays1 of which ,sir ,james
 ,barrie's ,peter ,pan is the best      
known4 ,it is years since ,i saw ,peter 
,pan1 but ,i was1 ,i remember1  greatly 

taken with it1 and went during that     
season five or six times4  ,part of the 
attraction it had for me lay in the     
charming personality  of ,peter himself1
 as played by ,miss ,pauline ,chase1    
whose postcard  portraits ,i bought in  
large numbers and gazed on adoringly for
 long  intervals in the seclusion of my 
own room4 ,but the very fact that  the  
play gave scope to a young actress to   
embody a figure of such  originality and
 charm as ,peter must be accounted as a 
virtue in the  author4    ,i know there 
are people who object to fairy-tales4   
,they have lately  been greatly cheered 
by the public confession of ,madame     
,montessori that  she belongs to them4  
,apparently the essence of their and    
also of her  objection to such seemingly
 innocent and delightful inventions of  
the  human brain is that the most       
desperate need of children is for a     
steady  inculcation of facts4 ,having   
schooled your child in facts--writes  in
 a letter to the ,observer the gentleman

 who knows the ,secret of  ,human       
,power--in the pleasantest manner       
possible up to the age of1 say1         
sixteen1 then the lessons to be derived 
from fiction may be gently  and         
cautiously dealt with4 ,the spectacle of
 an adult dealing gently  and cautiously
 with a fairy-tale is one of those which
 seem to have  been invented as a       
subject for a ,max ,beerbohm cartoon2   
but it is  curious that anyone should   
have such a narrow conception of reality
  as to think that it is compassed in   
material facts4 ,how one is to  present 
love1 honour1 bravery1 beauty1 virtue1  
daring1 adventurousness1  and all the   
other qualities of the human mind except
 by imaginative  creation1 when they are
 purely creations of men's minds1 ,i    
cannot  see4 ,perhaps these deluded     
realists imagine that they are abstract 
nouns4 ,they would have us say3 ,here1  
dear children1 are a number of  abstract
 nouns2 contemplate them as you would   
marbles1 but remember  that they are not

 marbles or even peanuts but nouns4 ,you
 cannot play  with them1 you cannot eat 
them1 and what good they are nobody     
knows1  but everybody is supposed to    
know their names1 as there is no other  
way  of distinguishing them one from    
another4 ,this same champion of ,madame 
,montessori's ,anti-,fairy-,tale        
,campaign writes further in his letter  
to  the ,observer that ,shakespeare's   
plays were not written specially  for   
children1 but as morality incentives    
distinctly for adults4 ,this  is a      
pitiful notion for any intelligent adult
 to have1 and one that no  child with a 
mind not distorted by unnatural virtue  
could be expected  to understand4 ,it is
 most expressive of that horrible       
seriousness  which seizes some minds    
like a cramp until the sufferer drowns  
himself  in an ocean of blithering      
nonsense1 refusing all the ropes which  
the  onlookers on terra firma throw him1
 because their faces are convulsed  with
 laughter4 ,morality incentives--to     

cling to the shocking  expression of    
,madame ,montessori's disciple--are of  
two kinds4 ,they are  either negative or
 positive4 ,the negative class is the   
only one that  an ,anti-,fairy-,tale    
,league could put in its syllabus4 ,it  
consists of a  series of ejaculations3  
,do not drink6 ,do not swear6 ,do not   
tell lies6  etc4 ,drawn up in an amended
 form suitable for children1 it might   
read  like this3        7#a7 ,do not    
drink your brother's ginger-beer4       
7#b7 and 7#c71 etc4 ,do not imitate your
 parents4    ,it may appear excellent   
advice1 but virtue--as many religious   
teachers  have suspected and modern     
science is proving--does not reside in  
turning oneself into a van-load of      
inhibitions4 ,virtue is wholly          
positive1 it is an expression of the    
spirit4 ,he that imagines virtue  is    
virtuous1 and no other4 ,it is a        
fairy-tale that men are trying to  live 
in the world1 and it can only be        
expressed in art4 ,there is no  virtue  

in a mere exhortation to be virtuous4   
,nobody takes any notice  of            
exhortations1 and quite rightly2 but men
 who have seen a vision  will try to    
capture it4 ,what the creative artist   
does is to give men a  vision of virtue1
 of beauty 7for beauty is virtue71 and  
it is just this  vision which the       
,montessori teachers would have us put  
behind the backs  of children while they
 glue their eyes to material things4    
,not only would this practice be        
pernicious1 it would be impossible to   
carry out1 for1 brought to its logical  
conclusion1 the theory would  demand the
 abolition of the teaching of           
mathematics and of science1 as  well as 
of poetry and of drama2 or rather it    
would reduce mathematics  to the        
counting of beads1 science to the naming
 of smells 7a return to  stinks from    
which the schools are just escaping71   
poetry to this sort  of thing3          
,last night in pulling off a sock       
,i gave my little nose a knock4         

,to-day in jumping to get up        ,i  
fell across my brindle pup4    ,that is 
to say1 poetry would vanish1 and as for 
drama1 the only drama  we could have    
would be by taking a proscenium into the
 park and putting  it up in front of two
 lovers kissing on a seat2 but the      
moment the  lovers saw us the drama     
would cease1 and we could not pay them  
to go  on with it for our amusement1 for
 that would be deception1 that would  be
 make-believe4    ,those of us who are  
not by infirmity of constitution natural
 victims  to every new fad that is      
advertised will take pleasure in        
anticipating  a great growth in the     
supply of and demand for children's     
plays4 ,they  offer great scope for     
development1 and will increasingly      
appeal to  authors who have no desire to
 write the conventional stage play--a   
thing without imagination or beauty1 a  
mere artificial contrivance to  enable  
actors to exhibit their charm and skill4
 ,there is no possibility  of getting   

literary men of the highest class to    
write the plays we  see succeeding in   
our ,london theatres during the greater 
part of  the year4 ,they could not      
possibly have any interest in work of   
that  kind1 and they could not do it    
well1 but the children's play is a  much
 more elastic and adaptable dramatic    
form4 ,to-day1 for instance1  even verse
 is used in successful children's plays1
 and managers do  not demand for this   
purpose work so conventional and        
stereotyped as  they require ordinarily4
 ,this ,christmas there were three      
children's  plays produced in the ,west 
,end3 ,peter ,pan1 ,once ,upon a ,time1 
and  ,where the ,rainbow ,ends4 ,of     
these only ,once ,upon a ,time was new1 
and it was rather a series of           
fairy-tales--connected by the device  of
 an elf telling the stories to a goblin 
who captured her--than an  original     
work2 but it was cleverly done by the   
author1 ,miss ,wildig1  and delightfully
 produced by ,miss ,edith ,craig4 ,i    

must confess to  having enjoyed ,once   
,upon a ,time far more than most of the 
plays  ,i had seen during the preceding 
year1 but it was a pastiche not a       
homogeneous invention1 and it contained 
an absurd and very irritating           
pseudo-patriotic melodrama called ,the  
,woman of the ,black ,mountain1 as  well
 as an extremely amusing and rather     
savage burlesque of certain  marriage   
customs which are not yet quite extinct 
entitled ,the ,bone of  ,contention4    
,this latter would make an excellent    
sketch for a ,revue1 or  possibly ,mr4  
,oscar ,asche will introduce it into    
,chu ,chin ,chow4      ,demand and      
,supply    ,it is a great pity that the 
,pantomime has so degenerated now when  
it  had got rid of much of the          
knock-about farcical element1 of a great
  deal of the tyranny of the            
spectacular1 and of the transformation  
scene1 because it is a form that offers 
great possibilities to the  author1 and 
if a genius came along he could do      

something wonderful  with it4 ,even     
without a genius or without waiting for 
him a great deal  could be done4 ,if    
only those responsible for the annual   
,pantomimes at  ,drury ,lane and the    
,lyceum would leave the beaten track for
 once and  get into touch with the      
younger generation of writers and       
commission  them to produce a ,pantomime
 we might get a valuable addition to our
  dramatic literature4 ,it involves very
 little commercial risk1 and  holds the 
possibility of an immense financial     
success1 apart from  other              
considerations4 ,it may be asked why do 
not these young men write  a ,pantomime 
on their own initiative8 ,but the answer
 is simple4 ,our  young writers have no 
time to spend on work which has no      
prospect of  ever being looked at1 much 
less produced2 besides1 a ,pantomime is 
essentially a thing for collaboration   
between two or three of them1  and they 
are nearly all as busy as they can be   
with bread-and-butter  journalism and   

with individual projects in those few   
spare hours that  remain to them4 ,there
 is1 however1 little doubt that they    
could produce  a ,pantomime which would 
draw all ,london for months1 just as    
there is  little doubt that the         
,pantomime and the children's play are  
the most  promising and flexible of the 
dramatic forms which confront our young 
writers4 ,the ,revue may be thought to  
offer almost equal opportunities1  and  
to be capable of development out of its 
present chaotic state1  but it is rather
 more restricted by the fact that it has
 such a large  public4 ,to have the     
largest public is to have the least hope
 of  commanding the attention of your   
audience sufficiently for them to       
appreciate what is not obvious4         
,besides1 the ,revue supplies a definite
  demand which does not change from year
 to year4 ,it is a demand for  pretty   
girls1 pretty dresses1 dancing and      
humour1 and if there suddenly  appeared 
among us a greater dramatic genius than 

any that has ever  lived he would not be
 able to satisfy that demand as well as 
,mr4 ,c4 ,b4  ,cochran1 ,mr4 ,andr      
,charlot1 or ,sir ,alfred ,butt do4 ,it 
is the minority  that is not catered for
 in drama as it is catered for in       
literature4  ,where are the thirty-five 
thousand readers of the ,times ,literary
  ,supplement in the land of theatres8  
,they are scattered in twos and  threes 
here and there1 always dissatisfied and 
disgruntled4 ,whether  at a ,pantomime1 
at a ,revue1 at a ,comedy1 or at a      
,drama they find the  entertainment a   
hundred per cent4 below the standard    
they demand1  and their only pleasure is
 an occasional ,shakespearean production
 or  a children's play4 ,but they could 
be mobilised and brought together  to   
support solidly and without the         
fickleness of the large public a        
theatre that gave them what they wanted4
 ,if the experiment were made  with     
children's plays they would be          
reinforced by the thousands of  parents 

who will not submit their children to   
the vulgarities of the  latter-day      
,pantomime4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,the next       
performance of the ,phnix ,society will 
take place on ,february  #hth and #ith1 
when ,dryden's ,marriage  la ,mode will 
be given4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,it is rumoured   
that ,mr4 ,henry ,ainley's next         
production at the ,st4  ,james's will be
 ,stephen ,phillip's ,paolo and         
,francesca1 in which ,mr4  ,ainley made 
his first success4      ,,dramatic      
,,literature    ,,problems ,,of ,,the   
,,actor4 ,by ,,louis ,,calvert4         
,simpkin4 #gs4    ,this is a book which 
can be thoroughly recommended not only  
to every  amateur but to every          
professional actor and theatre-lover4   
,it is full  of the most uncommon sense1
 and although ,mr4 ,calvert has decided 
opinions on voice-training1 gesture1    
team-work1 scenery1 dressing1  music1   
and producing1 he does not lay down the 

law with the evidence  of inexperience1 
but reasons his position from point to  
point with a  quietness that is far more
 impressive and convincing4 ,mr4        
,calvert has  also done more than he    
probably set out to do4 ,the book is1 in
 the  first instance1 a guide for the   
young actor or would-be actor1 giving   
him a good deal of wise advice on the   
technical side of his craft4  ,but in   
doing this ,mr4 ,calvert has written a  
book which should be read  by every     
theatre-goer1 since it will increase his
 appreciation of the  theatre enormously
 by opening his mind to detail of which 
he was1 in  all probability1 completely 
unaware1 although more or less conscious
 of  its cumulative effect4 ,after      
reading ,mr4 ,calvert's book he will    
find  himself itching to go immediately 
to the nearest playhouse and regard  the
 drama being enacted there with what he 
will feel are new eyes2  and since the  
standard of acting and of drama         
generally is dependent  largely upon the

 level of intelligence of its audience1 
,mr4 ,calvert's  book will be as        
beneficial to the theatre when studied  
by the ordinary  public as when studied 
by the actor4 ,finally1 this book is an 
attempt  to put the actor again in his  
proper position as the pillar of the    
drama4 ,on this point ,i am in absolute 
agreement with ,mr4 ,calvert4 ,plays    
are conceivable in which the actor may  
be no more than an instrument  in the   
orchestra4 ,i think they will be        
written1 but ,i have yet to see  them4  
,but in the plays of ,shakespeare and   
the ,elizabethans the actor  is first in
 importance1 and scenery1 dressing1     
music1 and everything  else must be used
 simply as a background and a subsidiary
 to him4  ,moreover ,mr4 ,calvert makes 
a claim--which is also made by the late 
,mr4  ,h4 ,b4 ,irving in an             
introduction--to the consideration of   
the actor in  his highest moments as a  
creative artist4 ,this claim1 in my     
opinion1  ,mr4 ,calvert makes good1 and 

if there are any people to-day who still
  cherish the old superstition that the 
actor is merely a sort of clever  but   
shallow showman1 then unless they are   
bigoted beyond the reach of             
intelligence this book will dispel it   
once for all4            ,w4 ,j4        
,,turner          ,,the ,,fine ,,arts   
,war-pictures at ,burlington ,house     
,one would have hesitated to predict    
success for a set of commissioned  war  
pictures3 meaning success in the sense  
of excellence4 ,in  commissioning any   
painting or piece of sculpture with a   
dictated  subject there is always the   
danger that the subject will be         
uncongenial  to the artist1 that it may 
have no connection with his own intimate
  experience4 ,this is one of the       
disadvantages of portrait painting4 ,the
  artist is supposed to be capable and  
desirous of depicting all kinds of      
characters1 not to speak of flattering  
them4 ,the novelist and dramatist  are  
more fortunate4 ,people are anxious to  

avoid and also tired of their           
revelations4 ,but ,mr4 ,horatio         
,bottomley still expects the ,poet      
,laureate  to boom out the appropriate  
ode4    ,besides the general objection  
there was the further feeling that the  
war was a sufficient preoccupation in   
itself1 and a disagreeable one of  such 
a kind that deliberately to set out to  
make contemporaneous art  about it would
 be not only superfluous but almost     
profane4 ,it would  amount to gloating4 
,the war was a foul and dirty job that  
had to be  gone through with1 and the   
experience of concentrating on this was 
enough4 ,it was not without good reason 
that immediately following the  war the 
most popular forms of art were the      
,revue and the ,russian ,ballet4        
,again1 one rather grudges the large    
sums of ,state money spent on           
war-pictures when one thinks of the     
comparatively small expenditure  on art 
in peace-time4 ,and those two rich and  
influential patrons who  started the    

ball rolling with large contributions1  
did they before  the war1 will they now 
after the war1 patronise art extensively
  and seriously8 ,the motive may have   
been sound1 but it was in all           
probability very mixed4    ,but doubt   
and scepticism tend to be quashed by the
 result1 which must  be admitted to be a
 very considerable success4 ,the field  
appears to  have been so wide that the  
artists have been able to select the    
themes  which had most significance for 
them1 and there is a direct continuity  
in their present with their past work4  
,even pure landscapes have not  been    
ruled out4 ,it is1 in fact1 far the best
 modern exhibition that has  graced the 
walls of the ,academy for some time1 and
 the memory of it  will still be fresh  
in the spring4    ,it is not meant1     
however1 that the ,exhibition is full of
 masterpieces4  ,it contains work that  
is representative of much of the best   
,english art  of to-day1 but the keynote
 of that art is talent1 accomplishment1 

and  not genius4 ,and this judgment does
 not exclude such well-known painters   
as ,sargent1 ,cameron1 ,muirhead ,bone1 
,francis ,dodd1 ,clausen1 ,orpen1       
,lavery4    ,i shall1 no doubt1 be      
accused of iconoclasm1 of indulging in  
easy  destructive criticism2 and the    
term ,futurist will be hurled at me with
  such a lot of prejudicial glue on it  
that1 although it is inapplicable1  it  
will inevitably stick4 ,and ,i shall be 
asked if ,i would consign the  whole of 
the past to the rubbish-heap and abolish
 all tradition1 and  so on4 ,the answer 
is1 emphatically and vehemently1 no6 ,it
 is precisely  because the past looms so
 imposing and ever watchful that the    
late  twentieth-century ,english        
painters are dwarfed4 ,place a ,muirhead
 ,bone  beside a ,meryon 7the comparison
 is not irrelevant1 because there are   
definite similarities between the two7  
and the ,muirhead ,bone will  disappear 
into the ,meryon4 ,two possible         
exceptions in the present  ,exhibition  

are ,the ,great ,crater1 ,athies 7#bhj7 
and ,deniecourt  ,chateau1              
,estres7#bhd74 ,place a ,sargent beside 
a ,manet1 ,courbet or  ,velazquez and   
,sargent's horses beside those of       
,gricault1 and the  ,sargent loses all  
vitality4 ,or1 again1 neither ,steer nor
 ,clausen  will stand very prolonged    
comparison with ,constable or even      
,monet4  ,practically the whole of      
,english late twentieth-century art is  
derived  from ,constable and from the   
,french ,barbizon and ,impressionist    
schools1  and is inferior to it4 ,the   
latter is the significant point4 ,this  
may  sound too sweeping1 and indeed it  
probably does leave out of account  the 
few gems which a complete collection    
would reveal4 ,still1 the  fact of it   
being necessary to hunt for these few   
gems and not rather  to eliminate the   
few failures would confirm the general  
judgment4  ,we have never had anything  
like the great constellation of ,french 
nineteenth-century art4    ,in reaction 

against the tendency of ,english        
,impressionism to degenerate  into the  
pleasant but slipshod stheticism of a   
,lavery there is  the crude ,vorticism  
of ,wyndham ,lewis and ,w4 ,p4 ,roberts4
 ,it had  once a negative1 destructive1 
rebellious value1 but as a permanent    
constructive effort it surely is a      
cul-de-sac1 a mere mechanical  formula4 
,before any theory comes into play the  
primary test is whether  a picture      
really moves us1 appeals to us4 ,if     
,vorticist or ,futurist  art did this1  
then no amount of argument refuting     
their abstract  theory could condemn the
 actual art4 ,but1 at any rate1 so far  
as ,i am  concerned1 this art has no    
appeal to me in a picture-frame4        
,indeed1 it  seems to me to be becoming 
increasingly stereotyped1 and it is     
amazing  that ,mr4 ,wyndham ,lewis      
should honestly believe in it himself4  
,mr4  ,wadsworth's ,vorticist design for
 a house1 which was recently exhibited  
by the ,arts ,league of ,service1       

absurdly unpractical though it was1 had 
far larger possibilities in it4    ,the 
most interesting work exhibited by the  
younger painters is that  painted in the
 more traditional manner--that is to say
 it is not  abstractionist4 ,it is      
possible that on seeing for the first   
time the  pictures of the ,nash         
brothers1 ,meninsky1 ,schwabe1 ,elliott 
,seabrooke1  one might mistake them for 
,futurist efforts4 ,this is1 however1   
not  owing to any distortion or         
abstraction1 but to the fact that they  
have  in common with the abstractionists
 a certain restlessness of design4      
,even when allied to absolute truth in  
representation1 this trait might  at    
first sight appear novel and            
revolutionary4 ,it is1 or tends to be1  
expressive of a new outlook4    ,paul   
,nash's large picture1 ,the ,menin      
,road1 is a distinct achievement4  ,it  
grips one's attention4 ,yet it is       
overloaded1 the incident1 the drama  of 
the landscape is piled on too thickly4  

,john ,nash's ,over the ,top1  on the   
other hand1 attracts attention because  
of its very bareness  and simplicity4   
,on a small section of a snow-covered   
front men are  stumbling out of a jagged
 muddy trench into rolling fog cloud4   
,yet in  spite of its success in        
convincing us that that is exactly how  
it was1  the picture lacks intensity and
 depth4 ,we are grateful to ,mr4 ,nash1 
as  also to ,mr4 ,sargent1 for having   
spared us the harassing agonies of the  
typical old-fashioned ,academy          
war-picture4 ,but neither has altogether
  succeeded in providing the real       
substitute4 ,what such a picture would  
be like still remains to be seen4 ,for  
it has not yet been painted4    ,the    
distinctive characteristics of the      
younger school1 its sense of  actuality1
 of lively conflicting movement1 its    
combination of realism  with rhythm1 are
 summed up in ,stanley ,spencer's       
,travoys ,arriving  with ,wounded at a  
,dressing ,station at ,smoll1 in        

,macedonia4 ,in spite  of certain       
possible faults of perspective1 this is 
a thoroughly good  picture4 ,but        
although about a scene in the war1 it is
 not of the war4  ,it contains an inner 
civilian joyfulness expressed in        
unhampered1  rhythmical activity4 ,equal
 praise must be bestowed on ,henry      
,lamb's  ,irish ,troops in the ,judaean 
,hills ,surprised by a ,turkish         
,bombardment1  which possesses the same 
sense of concrete 7not abstract7 dynamic
 form4      ,the ,new ,english ,art     
,club    ,there are two large pictures  
by ,stanley ,spencer at the ,new        
,english  ,art ,club ,exhibition which  
confirm the impression that there is an 
immense promise in his art and already  
considerable attainment4 ,it  has such  
depth and breadth1 such spontaneity and 
comprehensiveness4  ,boggle as we may at
 certain neo-primitive tendencies in his
 figures1  at certain humorous          
irrelevancies in their occupations1     
overriding and  almost justifying these 

eccentricities there is the fact that   
these  two pictures do immediately and  
irresistibly heighten and intensify  our
 consciousness3 they give us a silent   
and instantaneous flash  of collusion   
with beauty4 ,the picture ,swan ,upping 
at ,cookham is  freer from the static   
archaistic convention than the          
pseudo-,biblical  composition1 ,the     
,sacrifice of ,zacharias1 which is1     
nevertheless1  because of the landscape 
background1 equally fascinating4 ,in the
 former  it is the rigid mask of the    
woman lifting the cushion out of the    
punt  and the distortion of the         
shoulders of the dark-faced gentleman   
that  provoke criticism3 in the latter  
nearly all the figures are a little     
inexplicable1 except 7and here the      
realist will demur strongly7 the        
gentleman who is footing it gently      
towards ,zacharias and the ,florentine  
gentleman who is indulging in a graceful
 and somewhat reminiscent  dancing      
gesture4 ,these two are an inevitable   

part of that luxuriant  and yet         
refreshing scenery4 ,pre-,raphaelite    
will doubtless be the  derogatory term  
applied to ,mr4 ,stanley ,spencer1 and  
it is true that he  has affinities with 
that group which started with such      
promise and then  proceeded to develop  
its vices more fully than its virtues4  
,but ,spencer  has not got these        
particular vices1 an inordinate love of 
photographic  detail and a languishing  
sentimentality4 ,his work suggests1     
rather than  actually contains1 an      
infinite wealth of detail1 and it is    
swept with  fresh country air precluding
 any ,pre-,raphaelite hothouse languor4 
,nor must we fall into the error of     
demanding realistic character  studies  
from an artist who does not see people  
from that point of  view at all4 ,his   
outlook is nearer to that of ,blake3 his
 people are  embodiments of universal   
emotions1 they are penetrated with a    
sense of  religious awe and beauty4 ,or1
 rather1 this is what they would be if  

his  expression were to reach its full  
maturity and get rid of its present     
archaistic obsession4 ,his figures might
 still be stiff and intense1 but  we    
would not notice this because of their  
profound significance4                  
,,howard ,,hannay          ,,music      
,,mr4 ,,arthur ,,rubinstein',s ,,recital
    ,during the last few months the     
,wigmore ,hall has been the scene of    
some very notable recitals given by     
pianists of the first rank4 ,they  had  
several interesting points in common4   
,their audiences consisted  largely of  
professional musicians1 their programmes
 were generally  of a severe and far    
from popular type4 ,yet in spite of the 
somewhat  exclusive character of both   
programmes and audiences1 so well       
adapted1  one might think1 to the       
intimate atmosphere of a small hall1    
intimacy  was exactly the quality that  
in all cases was entirely absent from   
the  performances4 ,both with ,busoni   
and ,cortt1 and lastly with ,mr4 ,arthur

  ,rubinstein1 it was impossible to     
avoid feeling that one was at much  too 
close quarters4 ,the difference between 
such players as these and  the more     
intimate type of pianist is moral rather
 than physical4 ,some  players give the 
impression that they are playing for    
themselves alone1  and that it is by    
mere accident that we happen to overhear
 them2 the  others seem almost to assume
 that their audience will not listen to 
them unless its attention is gripped and
 consciously dominated by the           
overmastering compulsion of a powerful  
personality4 ,if we are soothed  and    
charmed by the intimate players1 we may 
indeed be uplifted and  transported by  
the men of might1 but there is at the   
same time the  chance that we may be    
crushed and exhausted4    ,mr4 ,arthur  
,rubinstein is certainly to be counted  
among the great  pianists1 but not yet  
among the greatest4 ,he is a player of  
outstanding  ability1 but not of        
outstanding personality4 ,he lacks      

,cortt's  inspiring animation1 and1     
still more1 the monumental              
intellectuality of  ,busoni4 ,a         
conventional programme1 or an almost    
conventional one1 was  the index of an  
almost conventional mind4 ,the usual    
,bach-,somebody1 the  usual heavy       
,chopin2 no ,beethoven 7thank           
goodness671 some modern ,french  and    
,spanish1 a ,liszt ,rhapsody to end up  
with4 ,what saved the programme  were   
the ,spanish pieces and ,liszt's        
,funrailles4 ,if ,mr4 ,rubinstein  had  
had the courage to offer a programme as 
individual as those of  ,busoni he might
 have given himself a better chance of  
asserting his own  individuality4    ,to
 begin with the two extremes3 the ,bach 
transcription at the beginning  and the 
,liszt ,rhapsody at the end are long out
 of date4 ,liszt's  arrangements of     
,bach's organ works may have been very  
wonderful fifty  years ago or more when 
there were not many organs in ,england  
on which  the originals could be played1

 even if there were the organists to    
play  them4 ,to-day they are familiar to
 all of us4 ,moreover1 the modern big   
pianists play them too easily4 ,they    
seek to reproduce1 as far as they  can1 
the effect of the organ1 and sometimes  
achieve a very remarkable  uniformity of
 tone1 as faultlessly regular as any    
given row of pipes  can produce4 ,but   
this uniformity of the organ's          
tone-colour is just  the obvious        
deficiency of that instrument1 and the  
exact reproduction  of it on the        
pianoforte very easily tends to         
reproduce no more than  the relentless  
accuracy of the mechanical piano-player4
 ,mr4 ,rubinstein  played his           
,bach-,liszt with intelligence and      
skill1 and even succeeded  in suggesting
 a certain organ-like effect of sonority
 by means of an  ingenious method of    
pedalling2 but in these days we should  
prefer  either a more astounding miracle
 of transcription or1 still better1 the 
direct simplicity of ,bach unadorned4   

,again1 if it is still necessary to  end
 a recital with a display of fireworks  
there are surely more showy  things     
available now than ,liszt's ,hungarian  
,rhapsodies2 and if we want  ,liszt for 
his own musical thoughts1 we want       
something that represents  him in a more
 serious mood4 ,for the ,funrailles ,mr4
 ,rubinstein  deserves sincere          
gratitude4    ,liszt's ,hungary is only 
less difficult to believe in than       
,chopin's  ,poland4 ,it is true that    
,hungary exists1 and true that in       
,hungarian  cafs one may still hear the 
tunes which ,liszt embellished1 but such
  underlying truth as the ,rhapsodies   
possess is completely disguised by      
their tawdry romantic theatricality4 ,as
 for ,poland1 if she had not  existed1  
it would have been necessary to invent  
her1 for ,paris of  the                 
eighteen-thirties4 ,that ,poland1       
populated entirely by devout and        
amorous aristocrats1 is the musician's  
,mrs4 ,harris--no1 his ,countess        

,harricka4 ,certainly the robust vigour 
of ,mr4 ,rubinstein's playing make      
short work of the languor and swagger of
 the ,scherzo in ,b flat minor  and the 
,polonaise in ,a flat4 ,all pianists are
 expected to play ,chopin2  but there   
are not many works of ,chopin that will 
stand the strain of  interpretation in  
the modern virtuoso's manner4 ,the      
,barcarole is one of  the few which by  
virtue of its serene and classical      
beauty has still  been able to survive  
it4      ,,modern ,,spanish ,,music     
,one composer stood out with unexpected 
prominence from ,mr4 ,rubinstein's      
programme--,isaac ,albeniz4 ,albeniz is 
hardly to be counted among the  moderns4
 ,his training as a composer was mainly 
,german1 and he came to  a certain      
extent under ,english influences as     
well4 ,like ,chopin1 he was  primarily a
 pianist and a composer for the         
pianoforte4 ,his songs1 a  few of which 
have been heard recently in ,london1 are
 pianoforte pieces  with a voice thrown 

in4 ,he lives almost entirely by virtue 
of the  volume of ,spanish pictures     
entitled ,iberia4 ,mr4 ,rubinstein has  
spent  a considerable time in ,spain1   
and it is clear that he has succeeded   
to a wonderful extent in absorbing the  
musical spirit of the country4  ,there  
was a depth of poetry and passion about 
his playing of the  ,evocation and      
,triana which he never attained in any  
other item of  his programme4 ,spanish  
music has at last begun to come into its
 own4 ,we  can trace its development    
clearly in the successive stages        
represented  by ,albeniz1 ,granados1    
,turina1 and ,de ,falla4 ,granados1 like
 ,albeniz1  writes on a harmonic system 
that is predominantly ,german1 in that  
,german influences are the foundation of
 almost all nineteenth-century  music4  
,turina1 a pupil of ,vincent d',indy at 
the ,schola ,cantorum1 has  affinities  
with the ,french intellectuals4 ,he is  
the chief ,spanish  representative of   
chamber music4 ,de ,falla is more       

definitely one of the  moderns4 ,all    
four are pianists--,turina less         
obviously so than the other  three4     
,it is easy to see the ,spanish element 
that is common to the whole  group4     
,anyone can recognise the rhythms and   
turns of phrase that are  derived from  
,spanish national song and dance1 the   
more so as all four  have drawn their   
principal inspiration from popular      
sources4 ,but it  is to us foreigners   
that the ,spanish local colour is most  
insistently  obvious4 ,in listening to  
the music of any particular school we   
may  approach it in two ways4 ,at first 
we are conscious of the school as  a    
homogeneous group2 we notice            
similarities and look out for more of   
them4 ,this may easily lead us into     
error1 for we are tempted thus to       
regard as essential characteristics     
things that in reality are only  tricks 
of manner or stereotyped conventions of 
a particular place or  period4 ,if we   
are to form a reasonable judgment we    

must be prepared  to ignore these and   
keep our ears open for differences4 ,we 
must note  not so much the local theme  
that is common to all the group as the  
diverse treatment of it which each      
separate composer affects4 ,if there  is
 anything really ,spanish about these   
four composers that is of vital         
importance1 it should be not the mere   
choice of a ,spanish melody or  rhythm  
as the foundation of their music1 but   
the method on which the  complete       
structure is designed and built up4     
,here begin the difficulties of         
understanding even ,albeniz and         
,granados4  ,the ,spanish themes appeal 
directly to the foreign ear1 almost too 
directly2 we might even dismiss them as 
cheap and obvious4 ,it is  the treatment
 of them that is individual4 ,one's     
first impression  of ,iberia and the    
,gozescas is that they are rambling and 
incoherent--yet it would be strange if a
 ,latin composer should lapse  into a   
,celtic indifference to form and logic4 

,mr4 ,rubinstein succeeded  in making   
the ,albeniz pieces not only poetical   
but lyrical4 ,they  tempt a pianist at  
first to play them at top speed2 their  
style of  piano-forte-writing suggests  
the rattling brilliance of the virtuoso4
  ,mr4 ,rubinstein avoided the error2   
but it takes a very skilful pianist  to 
do so4    ,it is not the local colour   
about ,spanish music that we must       
respect1  but its grave seriousness of  
intention4 ,spain has always remained   
artistically somewhat behind other      
countries1 just as ,england has  done2  
and ,spain at the present moment1 unlike
 ,england1 is not anxious  to be in a   
hurry over progress4 ,hence even ,de    
,falla1 the most modern  of the group1  
is possibly a little old-fashioned as   
compared with  the modern ,french and   
,italian composers4 ,yet he is modern1  
in the  sense that he is intellectual   
and anti-sentimental1 as compared with  
,albeniz4 ,this was very evident in his 
ballet1 ,the ,three-cornered ,hat1      

which the ,russians performed all too   
seldom4 ,but his intellectuality  and   
anti-sentimentality are distinguished   
and serene4 ,he makes no  experiments   
with the purely grotesque1 he has no    
desire to make a  complete and          
irrevocable breach with the art of the  
past1 as some of  the ,french and       
,italians appear to do4 ,even in a      
traditional idiom he  has something     
genuinely new to say4      ,a ,,scriabin
 ,,recital    ,if anyone could have     
converted me to ,scriabin it should have
 been  ,mr4 ,edward ,mitchell1 who gave 
a whole afternoon of his works on       
,january #agth at the ,westminster      
,central ,hall1 ranging from ,op4 #h to 
,op4 #gb4 ,mr4 ,mitchell is a player of 
extraordinary persuasiveness4 ,he       
evidently understands ,scriabin1 and is 
determined to make his audience         
understand him4 ,he has a very efficient
 and vigorous technique1 and  plays with
 remarkable accuracy and assurance4 ,no 
one could listen to  his programme      

without learning a great deal about the 
composer to whom  it was devoted4 ,yet  
in spite of a very well-chosen selection
 of pieces1  in spite of considerable   
variety of touch and style1 the concert 
left  only an impression of deadly and  
morbid monotony4 ,an afternoon of       
,scriabin recalled at once to memory the
 effect of a concert of ,hugo  ,wolf's  
songs1 or of ,elgar's ,the ,apostles4   
,it was morbid and narcotic1  a         
perpetual command to abrogate reason and
 abandon one's brain to  feeling1 to    
emotion1 to a mystical trance4 ,the     
emotional force of  such music is at    
times undeniable2 what it sets out to   
achieve1 the  representation of moods   
and emotions1 it achieves               
overwhelmingly4  ,scriabin has in the   
main three moods1 a mood of violence and
 pain1 a  mood of comatose oppression1  
and a mood of struggle1 the last of     
which  is well illustrated by ,vers la  
flamme4 ,perhaps this is all that some  
people require of music4 ,others demand 

a sense of dignity and nobility1  with a
 conscious beauty of formal design4     
,technically ,scriabin can be summed up 
in a few words4 ,his outlook  on music  
is purely harmonic4 ,even in his early  
works he shows a  partiality for certain
 well-known discords which he gradually 
comes  to use so often that the         
resolution of them becomes superfluous4 
,by  this road we lead on to            
,stravinsky1 ,casella1 and ,malipiero4  
,melodic  tone there is none4 ,this     
melodic poverty is very apparent and    
easily  demonstrable in the early works4
 ,here ,scriabin is obviously building1 
or trying to build1 on ,chopin4 ,but    
while comparing ,scriabin with  ,chopin1
 compare ,chopin with ,field4 ,chopin is
 clearly an advance on  ,field in every 
way--he has a much stronger melodic     
line1 and a much  deeper sense of       
harmonic values4 ,but ,scriabin is no   
advance on ,chopin1  only a             
retrogression from him4 ,he can only    
imitate ,chopin's emotional  climaxes4  

,he appears to be more interesting      
harmonically1 because he  keeps         
,chopin's discords and omits his        
concords1 roughly speaking4             
,,edward ,j4 ,,dent          ,,select   
,,list ,,of ,,publications              
,,anthropology      ,,totem ,,and       
,,taboo4 ,resemblances between the      
,psychic ,lives of ,savages      and    
,neurotics4 ,by ,,professor ,,sigmund   
,,freud4 ,authorised ,english           
translation by ,a4 ,a4 ,,brill4         
,routledge4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,an       
,,introduction ,,to ,,anthropology4 ,by 
the ,,rev4 ,e4 ,o4 ,,james1 ,vicar of   
,st4 ,peter's1 ,limehouse4 ,macmillan4  
#gs4 #f;d4      ,,art      ,,the        
,,gardens ,,of ,,italy4 ,by ,e4 ,,march 
,,phillipps4 ,edited by ,,arthur ,t4    
,,bolton4 ,country ,life4 #fcs4         
,,outlines ,,of ,,chinese ,,art4 ,by    
,,john ,c4 ,,ferguson4 ,chicago3        
,university      ,press4 ,london3       
,cambridge ,university ,press4 #c4      
,,printing4 ,a ,practical ,treatise on  

the ,art of ,typography as applied      
more particularly to the ,printing of   
,books4 ,by ,,charles ,,thomas          
,,jacobi4 ,sixth ,edition4 ,revised and 
enlarged4 ,bell4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the 
,,stones ,,and ,,story ,,of ,,jesus     
,,college1 ,,cambridge4 ,traced and told
 by      ,,iris and ,,gerda ,,morgan4   
,cambridge3 ,bowes  ,bowes4 #bas4       
,,the ,,foundations ,,of ,,music4 ,by   
,,henry ,j4 ,,watt4 ,cambridge          
,university      ,press4 #ahs4          
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,from ,,friend 
,,to ,,friend4 ,by ,,lady ,,ritchie4    
,murray4 #fs4      ,,sir ,,roger ,,de   
,,coverley ,,and ,,other ,,literary     
,,pieces4 ,by ,,sir ,,james ,,george    
,,frazer4 ,macmillan4 #hs4 #f;d4        
,,the ,,london ,,venture4 ,by ,,michael 
,,arlen4 ,heinemann4 #ds4      ,a       
,,cypress ,,grove4 ,by ,,william        
,,drummond ,,of ,,hawthornden4 ,c4 ,j4  
,sawyer4      #fs4 #f;d4      ,,the     
,,diall ,,of ,,princes4 ,by ,,don       
,,anthony ,,of ,,guevara4 7,scholars'   

,library47      ,philip ,allan4 #ajs4   
#f;d4      ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,purton4 
,a ,collection of ,notes and ,hearsay   
gathered by      ,,ethel ,m4            
,,richardson4 ,simpkin1 ,marshall4 #gs4 
#f;d4      ,,essays ,,on ,,poetry4 ,by  
,,george ,o',,neill1 ,s4,j4 ,fisher     
,unwin4 #es4      ,,the ,,cistercians   
,,in ,,yorkshire4 ,by ,j4 ,s4           
,,fletcher4 ,s4,p4,c4,k4 #ags4 #f;d4    
,,biography ,,and ,,memoirs      ,,the  
,,life ,,of ,,thomas ,,coutts1 ,,banker4
 ,by ,,ernest ,,hartley ,,coleridge4    
,two      volumes4 ,john ,lane4 #dbs4   
,,victorian ,,recollections4 ,by ,j4 ,a4
 ,,bridges4 ,bell4 #gs4 #f;d4           
,,further ,,incidents ,,in ,,the ,,life 
,,of ,a ,,mining ,,engineer4 ,by ,e4 ,t4
      ,mc,c,a,r,t,h,y4 ,routledge4 #bes4
      ,,classical      ,,thucydides4    
,with an ,english translation by ,c4    
,,foster ,,smith4 ,in four      volumes4
 ,vol4 ,i4 ,,plutarch',s ,,lives4 ,with 
an ,english translation by              
,,bernadotte ,,perrin4 ,in eleven       

volumes4 ,vol4 ,,viii4 ,,martial4       
,,epigrams4      ,with an ,english      
translation by ,,walter ,c4 ,a4 ,,ker4  
,in two volumes4      ,vol4 ,i4         
,,ausonius4 ,with an ,english           
translation by ,,hugh ,g4 ,,evelyn      
,,white4 ,in two volumes4 ,vol4 ,i4     
,,livy4 ,with an ,english translation by
      ,b4 ,o4 ,,foster4 ,in thirteen    
volumes4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,books ,i4 and ,,ii4 
,,homer4      ,,the ,,odyssey4 ,with an 
,english translation by ,a4 ,t4         
,,murray4 ,in two      volumes4 ,vol4   
,,ii4 ,,the ,,correspondence ,,of       
,,marcus ,,cornelius ,,fronto4          
,edited and for the time translated into
 ,english by ,c4 ,r4 ,,haines4 ,in      
two volumes4 ,vol4 ,i4 7,the ,loeb      
,classical ,library47 ,heinemann4 #gs4  
#f;d4 each4      ,,drama      ,,plays   
,,of ,,the ,,ridings4 ,by ,f4 ,w4       
,,moorman4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #bs4 #f;d4  
,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,actor4 ,by      
,,louis ,,calvert4 ,simpkin1 ,marshall4 
#gs4      ,,the ,,choice4 ,a ,play in   

,four ,acts4 ,by ,,alfred ,,sutro4      
,duckworth4 #bs4      #f;d4             
,,education      ,,the ,,child',s       
,,unconscious ,,mind4 ,the ,relations of
 ,psycho-,analysis to      ,education4  
,by ,,wilfrid ,,lay4 ,kegan ,paul4 #ajs4
      ,,fiction      ,,the ,,strongest4 
,by ,,georges ,,clemenceau4 ,eveleigh   
,nash4 #gs4      ,,the ,,chorus ,,girl  
,,and ,,other ,,stories4 ,by ,,anton    
,,tchehov4 7,vol4 ,,viii4 of      the   
,stories of ,tchehov47 ,chatto  ,windus4
 #cs4      ,,the ,,strange ,,case ,,of  
,,mr4 ,,jocelyn ,,thew4 ,by ,e4         
,,phillips ,,oppenheim4      ,hodder    
,stoughton4 #gs4      ,,the             
,,everlasting ,,arms4 ,by ,,joseph      
,,hocking4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #es4    
,,the ,,gael4 ,by ,,edward ,e4          
,,lysaght4 ,maunsel4 #fs4 #f;d4         
,,full ,,circle4 ,by ,,mary ,,agnes     
,,hamilton4 ,collins4 #gs4      ,,how   
,,they ,,did ,,it4 ,by ,,gerald         
,o',,donovan4 ,methuen4 #hs4            
,,pirates' ,,gold4 ,by ,,david          

,,whitelaw4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4   
,,ladies-,,in-,,waiting4 ,by ,,kate     
,,douglas ,,wiggin4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4
 #gs4      ,,farewell ,,to ,,janymore4  
,by ,m4 ,a4 ,,rathkyle4 ,fisher ,unwin  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,history      ,,some   
,,sources ,,of ,,human ,,history4 ,by   
,w4 ,m4 ,,flinders ,,petrie4            
,s4,p4,c4,k4      #es4      ,,naval     
,,history ,,and ,,national ,,history4   
,by ,j4 ,,holland ,,rose4 ,cambridge    
,university ,press4 #bs4 #f;d4      ,a  
,,guide ,,to ,,the ,,india ,,office     
,,records1 #afjj-aheh4 ,by ,,william    
,,foster1      ,c4,i4,e41 ,registrar and
 ,superintendent of ,records4 ,for the  
,india      ,office3 ,constable4 #bs4   
,,law      ,a ,,selection ,,of ,,cases  
,,illustrative ,,of ,,english ,,criminal
 ,,law4 ,by      ,,courtney ,,stanhope  
,,kenney4 ,fourth ,edition4 ,cambridge  
,university      ,press4 #aes4          
,,naval ,,and ,,military      ,,the     
,,last ,,crusade4 ,by ,,donald          
,,maxwell4 ,john ,lane4 #bes4      ,a   

,,galloper ,,at ,,ypres4 ,by ,,major and
 ,,brevet-,,lieut4-,,colonel ,,patrick  
,,butler1 ,d4,s4,o4 ,fisher ,unwin4     
#aes4      ,,the ,,defeat ,,of ,,austria
 ,,as ,,seen ,,by ,,the ,,seventh       
,,division4 ,by the ,,rev4 ,e4      ,c4 
,,crosse1 ,d4,s4,o4 ,year ,book ,press4 
#gs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,paravane        
,,adventure4 ,by ,l4 ,,cope ,,cornford4 
,hodder  ,stoughton4      #gs4 #f;d4    
,,the ,,romance ,,of ,,the ,,battle     
,,line ,,in ,,france4 ,by ,j4 ,e4 ,c4   
,,bodley4      ,constable4 #gs4 #f;d4   
,,indiscretions ,,of ,,the ,,naval      
,,censor4 ,by ,,rear-,,admiral ,,sir    
,,douglas      ,,brownrigg4 ,cassell4   
#abs4 #f;d4      ,,poetry      ,,flora4 
,a ,book of ,drawings4 ,by ,,pamela     
,,bianco4 ,with ,illustrative ,poems    
by ,,walter ,,de ,,la ,,mare4           
,heinemann4 #bes4      ,,the ,,happy    
,,tree ,,and ,,other ,,poems4 ,by       
,,gerald ,,gould4 ,blackwell4 #cs4      
#f;d4      ,,the ,,guards ,,came        
,,through4 ,by ,,arthur ,,conan ,,doyle4

 ,murray4 #bs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,new   
,,navy ,,and ,,other ,,poems4 ,by       
,,rear-,,admiral ,,ronald ,a4 ,,hopwood1
 ,c4,b4      ,murray4 #ds4 #f;d4        
,,the ,,australian ,,and ,,other        
,,verses4 ,by ,,will ,h4 ,,ogilvie4     
,sydney3 ,angus       ,robertson4       
,london3 ,milford4 #ds4 #f;d4      ,,the
 ,,young ,,guard4 ,by ,e4 ,w4 ,,hornung4
 ,constable4 #cs4 #f;d4      ,a         
,,prisoner ,,of ,,pentonville4 ,by ,,red
 ,,band4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #bs4 #f;d4    
,,the ,,pedlar4 ,by ,,ruth              
,,manning-,,sanders4 ,selwyn  ,blount4  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,twixt ,,clyde ,,and   
,,tweed4 ,by ,,gilbert ,,rae4 ,erskine  
,macdonald4 #es4      ,,politics1       
,,economics1 etc4      ,,the ,,peace    
,,in ,,the ,,making4 ,by ,h4 ,,wilson   
,,harris4 ,the ,swarthmore ,press4      
#fs4      ,,the ,,bolshevik ,,adventure4
 ,by ,,john ,,pollock4 ,constable4 #gs4 
#f;d4      ,,the ,,state ,,and          
,,revolution4 ,by ,v4 ,i4 ,,ulianov 7,n4
 ,,lenin74 ,allen  ,unwin4      #cs4    

,,clerical ,,incomes4 ,an ,inquiry into 
the ,cost of ,living among the          
,parochial ,clergy4 ,by ,eleven         
,diocesan ,contributors4 ,edited with an
      introduction by ,j4 ,,howard ,b4  
,,masterman4 ,bell4 #fs4      ,,before  
,,the ,,war4 ,by ,,viscount ,,haldane4  
,cassell4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,education   
,,by ,,violence4 ,essays on the ,war and
 the ,future4 ,by ,,henry      ,,seidel 
,,canby1 ,professor in ,yale            
,university4 ,the ,macmillan ,co4 #fs4  
#f;d4      ,,leagues ,,of ,,nations4    
,ancient1 ,medival1 and ,modern4 ,by    
,,elizabeth ,,york4      ,the           
,swarthmore ,press4 #hs4 #f;d4          
,,these ,,things ,,shall ,,be4 ,by      
,,george ,,lansbury4 ,the ,swarthmore   
,press4      #as4 #f;d4      ,,the      
,,league ,,of ,,nations4 ,by the ,right 
,hon4 ,,sir ,,frederick ,,pollock1 ,bt4 
,stevens4 #ajs4      ,a ,,short ,,primer
 ,,of ,,industrial ,,history4 ,by ,w4   
,,riddick4 ,independent      ,labour    
,party4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,peace        

,,treaty ,,and ,,the ,,economic ,,chaos 
,,of ,,europe4 ,by ,,norman ,,angell4   
,the ,swarthmore ,press4 #bs4 #f;d4     
,,the ,,dictatorship ,,of ,,the         
,,proletariat4 ,by ,,karl ,,kautsky4    
,translated by      ,h4 ,j4 ,,stenning4 
,national ,labour ,press4 #bs4 #f;d4    
,,religion ,,and ,,philosophy      ,,the
 ,,life ,,and ,,letters ,,of ,s4 ,,paul4
 ,by the ,,rev4 ,,david ,,smith4 ,hodder
       ,stoughton4 #bas4      ,,lectures
 ,,on ,,industrial ,,psychology4 ,by    
,,bernard ,,muscio4 ,routledge4         
#fs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,testing ,,of ,a 
,,nation4 ,by ,,randall ,,thomas        
,,davidson1 ,archbishop of              
,canterbury4 ,macmillan4 #fs4      ,,the
 ,,promise ,,of ,,life4 ,by the ,,rev4  
,c4 ,,harrington ,,lees4 ,morgan        
,scott4      #cs4      ,,the ,,modern   
,,craze ,,of ,,spiritualism4 ,by the    
,,rev4 ,f4 ,b4 ,,meyer4 ,morgan         
,scott4 #f;d4      ,,upon ,,god',s      
,,holy ,,hills4 ,by ,c4 ,c4             
,,martindale1 ,s4,j4 ,washbourne4 #cs4  

#f;d4      ,a ,,girl',s ,,ideals4 ,by   
,,mrs4 ,,armel ,o',,connor4 ,ludlow3    
,mary's ,meadow ,press4      #bs4       
,,great ,,french ,,sermons ,,from       
,,bossuet1 ,,bourdaloue1 ,,and          
,,masillon4 7,second      ,series47     
,edited by the ,,rev4 ,d4 ,o',,mahony4  
,sands4      ,,an ,,introduction ,,to   
,,social ,,psychology4 ,by ,,william    
,mc,d,o,u,g,a,l,l4 ,methuen4      #gs4  
#f;d4      ,a ,,fragment ,,of ,,the     
,,human ,,mind4 ,by ,,john ,,theodore   
,,merz4 ,blackwood4      #abs4 #f;d4    
,,science      ,,pleasure-,,unpleasure4 
,by ,a4 ,,wohlegemuth4 ,cambridge       
,university ,press4      #ads4          
,,psychology ,,of ,,the ,,normal ,,and  
,,subnormal4 ,by ,,henry ,,herbert      
,,goddard4      ,kegan ,paul4 #bes4     
,,applied ,,chemistry4 ,by ,c4 ,,kenneth
 ,,tinkler and ,,helen ,,masters4       
,crosby      ,lockwood4 #abs4 #f;d4     
,,outlines ,,of ,,the ,,history ,,of    
,,botany4 ,by ,r4 ,j4 ,,harvey ,,gibson4
 ,black4      #ajs4              ,,the  

,,london      ,,mercury                 
,editor--,j4 ,c4 ,,squire               
,assistant-,editor--,,edward ,,shanks   
,vol4 ,i ,no4 #e                ,march  
#aibj          ,,editorial ,,notes      
,as we write a deputation is to wait    
upon ,mr4 ,fisher1 ,president of the    
,board of ,education1 in order to press 
the claims of a ,national ,theatre4     
,why ,mr4 ,fisher8 it may be asked--a   
member of the deputation was1 in  fact1 
asked the question4 ,the ,board of      
,education cannot establish a  ,national
 ,theatre2 the ,treasury would scarcely 
allow ,mr4 ,fisher to make  a grant to  
the ,national ,theatre fund2 and        
whatever the advantages of a  ,national 
,theatre and the elevating influence    
which might conceivably  be exercised by
 the drama1 few people think of it      
primarily as  educational in the narrow 
sense of the word4 ,the answer given to 
the question was3 ,because he's the     
nearest approach we've got to a         
,minister of ,fine ,arts4           99  

99       99       99       99    ,we    
suppose that in this special connection 
the answer was a true one4  ,the        
,president of the ,board of ,education  
may be supposed to stand in a  closer   
relation with the drama than other      
,ministers1 though had other  arts been 
under consideration other ,ministers    
would have been thought  of4 ,had       
domestic architecture been the          
deputation's concern it would  have     
addressed itself to the ,minister of    
,health1 and within a narrow  range ,sir
 ,alfred ,mond at the ,office of ,works 
actually performs some  of the functions
 of a ,minister of ,fine ,arts4 ,the    
fabric of the ,houses  of ,parliament is
 under his care2 his predecessors1 ,lord
 ,harcourt and  ,lord ,beauchamp1 left  
their marks upon it4 ,it was the ,office
 of ,works  which commissioned and      
supervised the later frescoes on        
staircase and  corridor at ,westminster1
 and it is its business to see that     
alterations  are made consonantly with  

the character of the structure4 ,but    
this is a  very minor thing compared    
with the vast field in which the        
,government  does at present exercise   
functions in which sthetic              
considerations are  largely involved4   
,let us1 for a moment1 ignore the things
 which might be done--such as  the      
subsidisation of a ,national            
,theatre--and think of a few of the     
things which have been done1 or are     
habitually done4 ,at this moment  a     
,government department is supervising1  
or preparing to supervise1  the erection
 of hundreds of thousands of houses4    
,these houses will  materially affect   
the architectural landscape4 ,design1   
the suitability  of materials to local  
features and traditions1 these things   
are of  immense importance2 what is done
 depends upon the competence1 the       
information1 the industry1 the numerical
 sufficiency1 and the domestic          
influence within the ,department of the 
,ministry of ,health's experts4  ,many  

departments build1 or arrange for       
building to their own designs1  numerous
 large public structures1 or exercise1  
or could exercise1 a  determining       
pressure upon the design of buildings   
erected by local  authorities4 ,you     
cannot go many miles along the ,english 
coast without  finding a barracks1 and  
when you find it you will not like it4  
,we  have a complex of public museums   
which are the particular care of no     
,minister4 ,we have an immense          
,government printing business which is  
directly under the ,treasury2 it is no  
powerful person's concern to see  that  
its publications are well produced4 ,our
 ,mint produces coins1 our  ,post       
,office produces stamps1 our ,war       
,office produces medals4 ,the most      
important medal ever produced by the    
,british ,government is the large       
memorial bronze plaque which is to be   
given to the next-of-kin of  nearly a   
million fallen4 ,the last1 word as to   
the nature of this1 and  the process by 

which it should be made1 rested first   
7we believe7 with  the ,contracts       
,branch of the ,war ,office1 which has  
been incorporated  in the ,ministry of  
,munitions4 ,we have mentioned but a few
 typical  illustrations of the confused1
 haphazard way in which the ,state is in
  operative contact with the ,arts2 and 
even then we have not mentioned  the    
most recent and striking instances1 the 
commissioning of a large  number of war 
pictures by a ,minister of ,information 
who happened  to want to see            
contemporary art well represented in the
 ,imperial ,war  ,museum1 and the       
employment of both ,british plays and   
,british drawings  as propaganda        
abroad--the ,salome incident may be     
recalled4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,is there not an  
overwhelmingly strong case for a        
,ministry of ,fine  ,arts8 ,we know     
there are always those who1 when the    
suggestion is made1  drop the curtain in
 their minds at once with contemptuous  

remarks  about official art4 ,what they 
ignore is that we are bound to have     
official art1 that it could not         
conceivably be worse than it is1 and    
that proper organisation would at least 
give an occasional intelligent          
,minister a chance4 ,design at present  
is everybody's business and  nobody's   
business4 ,it is not to be expected that
 even the most sthetic  of ,war         
,ministers should much preoccupy himself
 with the elevations  of barracks1 that 
the best of ,ministers for ,education   
should devote  his days to the physical 
appearance of schools and training      
colleges1  that the ,first ,lord of the 
,admiralty should mind what his ,stores 
look like1 or that even new ,government 
buildings in the middle of  ,london1    
though they do engage serious attention 
sometimes1 should be  anything but bad4 
,the ,office of ,works itself1 which    
actually builds1  is principally        
concerned with seeing that ,so-and-so   
gets so many rooms  and ,so-and-so has  

his partition pulled down4 ,there is no 
specialist  authority in engraving or   
metal work4 ,ministers and officials    
sometimes  consult experts1 but it is a 
matter of chance what sort of experts   
they will consult4 ,in no capital1 not  
even in ,berlin1 are there uglier       
,public ,offices than there are in      
,whitehall1 or more pretentious  ones4  
,as for the immense amount of ,war      
,office building1 the ,guards  ,barracks
 at ,chelsea may stand as a type4 ,we   
commend them as a medicine  for anyone  
who suspects himself of exaggerated     
national vanity4 ,our  museums are      
starved4 ,readers will remember the     
ridiculous cheeseparing  at ,bloomsbury 
early in the war which1 combined with   
the ruthless  occupation and closing of 
museums and galleries1 reduced many able
 and  devoted public servants almost to 
despair4 ,had these institutions been   
under the control of a ,minister whose  
prime concern they were1 they  would    
have had a higher status in ,whitehall  

and he could have fought  for them1 as  
it was no one's interest or business to 
fight for them4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,we believe that
 in many regards a ,minister of ,fine   
,arts would preserve  us from the worst 
infamies1 and that a good ,minister of  
,fine ,arts  would have great           
opportunities of doing more than that4  
,for certain  things he should be       
directly and solely responsible to      
,parliament3  the art galleries and     
those museums which are not first and   
foremost  technological4 ,it should rest
 with his department at least to        
sanction  all designs for public        
buildings erected by the central        
authorities1  and it might act in       
consultative capacity to other          
authorities4  ,his staff should include 
men capable of originating1 obtaining1  
or  vetoing designs for any other       
department doing work in which design is
  important4 ,for the ,stationery       
,office1 though it be primarily a 7not  

very well run7 publishing business1 we  
do not see why that should  not be      
bodily transferred to him4 ,the format  
of most ,government  publications is    
disgraceful1 both from the point of view
 of appearance  and from that of        
convenience1 and were they better       
produced they might  be better marketed4
 ,we are not under the illusion that any
 ,minister  of ,fine ,arts would        
initiate great revolutions in ,art1 but 
he could  certainly greatly increase our
 facilities and add to the comfort of   
our  walks abroad4 ,and1 where a subsidy
 for some definite object such as  the  
,national ,theatre is wanted1 he would  
be as the mouthpiece of the  ,state and 
a ,minister amongst ,ministers far more 
likely to be able to  do something than 
,mr4 ,fisher or any other existing      
,minister4 ,we hope  shortly to return  
to the subject1 one of the few at all   
impinging on  politics with which we    
feel entitled to deal4    ,several      
correspondents have written drawing our 

attention to the prices  paid at the    
sale of ,lord ,foley's library and to   
,truth's comments  on them4 ,the facts  
in brief are these4 ,the ,ruxley ,lodge 
library was  sold locally2 there were   
few1 if any1 bidders for the important  
books1  except a number of ,london      
booksellers1 and the sums fetched were  
deplorably small4 ,all four ,shakespeare
 ,folios 7the third imperfect7  were    
there4 ,they fetched #ajj1 #df1 #bh1 and
 #bj respectively4  ,two months ago the 
,britwell copy of the first brought in  
#bcjj at  ,sotheby's4 ,thirteen first   
editions of ,shelley fetched #eb the    
lot1 and  ,keats's ,endymion and ,lamia 
volumes produced #g between them4 ,some 
valuable books were lumped in with      
bundles of miscellaneous books and  went
 for a song2 it is likely that1 with    
such cataloguing1 many rare  and        
valuable works may have escaped mention 
except as and others3 our  contemporary 
goes so far as to say that there is     
every probability  that in this way old 

books worth hundreds1 even thousands1 of
 pounds  were disposed of for a few     
shillings4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,it is really   
deplorable that owners1 or their        
executors and legatees1  should suffer  
thus4 ,nobody grudges dealers their fair
 profits1 nor  does any one deny that a 
dealer1 like anybody else1 is entitled  
to  pick up bargains because he knows   
what the other side doesn't know4  ,but 
for dealers to combine at an auction in 
order to prevent a vendor  from having  
more than a tithe of the known market   
value of his goods  is another matter4  
,we make no direct allusion to this     
particular sale4  ,we did not see the   
catalogue or the goods1 and it is--at   
any rate for  the purposes of           
argument--conceivable that the best     
books may have been  in very bad        
condition4 ,nor do we suggest that there
 are not dealers in  ,london who keep   
outside rings and do not take part in   
knock-outs4 ,but  everybody knows that  

there are rings in all the important    
collectors'  trades1 and that these     
rings frequently put up at auctions--and
 the  country auction gives them their  
best chance--the merest simulacrum of   
competition bidding and retire to share 
out the loot among themselves4  ,in the 
new volume of ,mr4 ,wilfrid ,blunt's    
,diary there is an account of  the      
beginnings of the late ,sir ,hugh       
,lane's career1 given to ,mr4 ,blunt  by
 ,sir ,hugh's aunt1 ,lady ,gregory3     
,she apprenticed him to ,colnaghi at a  
hundred a year1 where he learnt    his  
business of picture-dealing4 ,he began  
his fortune1 she tells me1    by an     
accident4 ,he happened to hear of a     
picture which was for sale    in some   
remote country place1 and travelled down
 to look at it1 but1    having no money 
to buy1 although there was almost no    
bidding1 he was    obliged to let it go 
for a very small price4 ,when the sale  
was over1    the bidders1 who were all  
professional dealers1 went to a public  

house1 and he with them1 and it then    
turned out that they had been           
standing in together not to bid1 and    
they held a private sale of the         
picture among themselves1 dividing the  
price realised between them1    and as  
,lane was known to belong to ,colnaghi's
 he was included in it1    and got #afj 
as his share4    ,we have heard1 we     
remember1 that the picture was a ,hals2 
at all events  this illustrates the sort
 of thing that happens4 ,not long before
 the  war there was a considerable      
disturbance about the operations of an  
alleged ring at ,christie's2 there were 
rumours of knock-outs in which          
picture-dealers shared out enormous     
sums4 ,it was widely argued that  this  
sort of operation should be legally     
defined as fraudulent and  legally      
punished4 ,that nothing came of the     
agitation1 in the light  of the fact    
that every honest man 7which includes   
dealers who have  been forced into      
rings7 sympathised with the agitators1  

suggests that  investigation opened up  
more difficulties than had been         
suspected4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,people are     
again urging a legal remedy4 ,it appears
 to us that it would  be impossible to  
enforce a law preventing rings and      
knock-out auctions4  ,nobody can compel 
men to bid against each other if they   
have an  agreement--verbal and          
private--not to1 and though large       
gatherings for  a knock-out might       
occasionally be detected 7but proof of  
guilt would  be difficult71 two or three
 are entitled innocently to gather      
together  and can easily do so for      
purposes not entirely innocent4 ,an     
occasional  bad sale in ,london is bound
 to occur so long as rich private buyers
  continue their modern practice of not 
attending sales4 ,we don't think        
anybody complained about prices when the
 ,huth ,library or ,lord ,vernon's      
rarities were sold1 and we have been to 
many quite ordinary sales in  ,chancery 

,lane or ,bond ,street at which scarcely
 anything went for less  than the owners
 had probably paid for it a few years   
ago4 ,there are  usually quite enough   
outsiders present to keep prices up1 and
 it is  only by accident that an        
agreeable little collection sometimes   
goes at  a sacrifice4 ,moreover a       
private buyer1 if he bids1 is not       
harried as  he is in some minor rooms   
where other commodities are sold2 and   
some  of the biggest dealers1 if        
present1 act entirely on their own4     
,such as  the conditions in ,london are 
we cannot see much hope of change1      
unless  and until 7as we said7 there is 
a return to the days when peers of the  
realm bid against each other for the    
jewels of the ,roxburgh ,library  and   
their friends stood by them betting on  
the results4 ,but the most  calamitous  
occurrences1 those which take place away
 from ,london1 might  easily be avoided 
if owners or executors would have a     
little sense4 ,it  is hardly conceivable

 that ,lord ,foley took really expert   
advice about  his books2 it is certain  
that if he knew anything about the      
market  in old books he would never have
 had his put up at a local auction4     
,persons disposing wholesale of         
valuables1 books1 pictures1 or china1   
from country houses should never allow  
them to be sold in the country4  ,at    
,messrs4 ,sotheby's or ,hodgson's1      
though a bad patch may now and then  be 
struck1 books would never go for the    
prices fetched at ,ruxley ,park2  and   
when a really important collection comes
 up the big ,american buyers  are almost
 invariably present1 and the only       
comment likely to be made  on prices is 
that there seems no end to their        
possible inflation4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,last  
month we stated in this place that we   
had recovered a few copies  of ,no4 #a  
of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury4 ,these are 
now exhausted4 ,we shall have  no more  
copies1 and if people send us money for 

,no4 #a we shall only be  at the pains  
of returning it4 ,we would advise those 
who are anxious to  get ,no4 #a to take 
steps to secure it privately1 by        
advertisement or  through secondhand    
booksellers4 ,we have still a certain   
stock of ,no4 #b1  and new subscriptions
 may still begin as from that issue4 ,we
 repeat our  invitation to readers who  
will be wanting binding cases for ,vol4 
,i4 to  let us know4          ,,literary
 ,,intelligence      ,the death1        
recently reported from ,germany1 of ,dr4
 ,richard ,dehmel at  the age of        
fifty-six removes after a long interval 
the second of the  two poets who were   
admiringly regarded by their            
contemporaries as  rivalling the        
literary partnership which once existed 
between ,goethe  and ,schiller4 ,the    
,freiherr ,detlev von ,liliencron1 who  
died in #aiji1  was one of the          
initiators of a new movement in ,german 
literature2 and  of this movement his   
much younger friend was often proclaimed

 the most  distinguished ornament4      
,dehmel was the son of a forest official
 in  the ,mark of ,brandenburg1 and it  
has been speculated1 without obvious    
results1 whether there was not some     
,slavonic admixture in his blood  which 
was reflected in his work4 ,but there is
 little in his career  which requires   
further brought explanation than the    
conditions of its  time and place4 ,he  
was educated at the ,university of      
,leipzig1 where he  took his doctor's   
degree with a thesis on a point in the  
business of  insurance1 and he worked   
for some years as secretary to an       
insurance  company1 a period of his life
 which he regarded as having profitably 
taught him discipline and orderliness of
 mind4 ,he developed late  as a poet4   
,he himself said that he wrote nothing  
worth having till  his twenty-sixth     
year1 and many of the pieces in his     
first volume1  ,erlsungen1 published    
when he was twenty-eight1 were          
afterwards  discarded or altered4 ,his  

works consist of several collections of 
poems1 which he continually shuffled and
 regrouped with every new  edition 7he  
was inclined to rebuff critics who      
wished to trace the  development of his 
powers72 ,die ,verwandlungen der ,venus1
 a series  of poetical visions of all   
types of love from the highest to the   
lowest2 ,zwei ,menschen1 a novel in     
verse1 describing the elopement  of a   
librarian with his employer's wife2 ,der
 ,mitmensch1 a modern  play in prose1 to
 which he himself attached great        
importance2 an  elaborate wordless play 
called ,lucifer2 ,michel-,michael1 a    
political  tract in dramatic form2 a    
collection of short stories2 a          
collection  of essays2 and a collection 
of tales and verses for children4 ,like 
most of his generation he was subject to
 many exotic influences1  ranging from  
,verlaine to ,przybyszewski and from    
,shakespeare to ,pierre  ,louys2 and his
 works contain many admirable           
translations1 those from  ,verlaine     

being among the best in the ,german     
language4 ,his own poetry is            
pre-eminently didactic and he preaches  
consistently1 in allegory1 in  direct   
narrative1 and in direct precept1 the   
doctrine of self-control  and of the    
full utilisation of all human faculties4
 ,he had passion and  vigour1 a not     
always active power of psychological    
discernment and  an occasional          
perception of beauty4 ,he is justly     
reproached with a  certain brutality and
 vulgarity and1 one might add1 with     
strange lapses  of humour4 ,his courage 
and determination are beyond question2  
but in  his erotic1 as well as in his   
mystical1 rhapsodies 7which are often   
combined7 there is too frequently a     
disagreeable element of frigid          
calculation4 ,his obscurity is sometimes
 tiresome and unnecessary1  and many of 
his allegories and symbols are          
incomprehensible without  an external   
key to their meaning4 ,some of his      
lyrics1 however1 are  extremely         

beautiful3 there are passages of insight
 and dramatic force  in ,zwei ,menschen2
 some of his epigrams and aphorisms are 
wise  and terse2 and a strain of earnest
 sincerity runs through all his         
preaching4 ,in ,august1 #aiad1 though   
his class was not called up1 he         
volunteered for service1 and1 possibly  
as a reward for a great deal of         
patriotic poetry1 he received the ,iron 
,cross4 ,he died at ,blankenese1  near  
,hamburg1 where he had lived for several
 years before the war4           99     
99       99       99       99    ,those 
many who knew the late ,edward ,thomas1 
who fell in ,france in #aiag1  will be  
glad to hear that a memorial is being   
prepared of an admirable  poet and      
essayist4 ,it will take the form of a   
volume1 biographical and  appreciative1 
of prose and verse1 and the contributors
 will include1  amongst others1 ,messrs4
 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies1 ,walter de la ,mare1  
,v4 ,locke  ,ellis1 ,edward ,garnett1   
,james ,guthrie1 ,e4 ,s4 ,p4 ,haynes1   

and ,edward ,rhys4  ,extracts are given 
from ,thomas's letters to ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4  
,hudson4 ,the book  is being printed by 
,mr4 ,guthrie1 whose beautiful work as  
draughtsman  and painter in ,root and   
,branch has not yet had the full        
recognition  it deserves4 ,it will be a 
quarto1 set in ,caslon ,old ,face type1 
and  bound in dark green cloth1 with a  
device in gold by ,mr4 ,guthrie1 who    
has also designed a frontispiece1       
title-page1 and initial letters4 ,the   
price is to be ten shillings1 and       
prospective subscribers should apply  to
 the ,secretary1 ,pear ,tree ,press1    
,flansham1 ,bognor4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,lady  
,burne-,jones1 widow of the painter1    
died early last month4 ,she was  the    
author of one of the most readable and  
delightful biographies in  the language4
 ,her ,life of her husband was written  
vivaciously rather  than brilliantly1   
and it revealed in ,lady ,burne-,jones  
no notable gift  for literary creation4 

,but her two volumes contained no dull  
page1 few  slipshod sentences1 and a    
life-like portrait of one of the most   
lovable  of men4           99       99  
99       99       99    ,the next number
 of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury will       
contain the first of two  long          
contributions by ,mr4 ,edmund ,gosse    
embodying his reminiscences of  ,henry  
,james and an article by ,sir ,george   
,henschel on ,interpretation in         
,singing4 ,either in that or the next   
number we hope also to publish a  first 
instalment of the last diary of the late
 ,w4 ,n4 ,p4 ,barbellion4               
,,poetry      ,the ,senses          ,lo1
 as a garden-wandering bee1             
,the soul seeks out her immortality     
,from all the growths and blossoms      
manifold          ,which in this life   
men hold        ,as things material3    
plying busy rounds1        ,from the    
world's odours1 sights1 and sounds      
,to fill her honied stores4             
,from the perfume acrid-sweet of dead   

leaves burning        ,when autumn      
sunsets into dusk are turning3          
,from the breath of damp stone floors   
,and paraffin1 pervading the cool       
porches          ,and aisles of village 
churches3        ,from the tepid1 flat1 
mechanic exhalations          ,of       
desolate tube-stations3        ,from    
woody savours stirred when children     
wrench        ,tufts out of deep        
moss-beds3 from the subtle stench       
,of bad cigars and household slops1     
begetting          ,delighted memory    
,of sunny towns in ,france and ,italy3  
,from the stronger1 tawnier stink of    
dust and sweat        ,and camel-dung   
which haunts the glaring ,east2         
,and the heavy1 sweet1 heart-piercing   
odours breathed        ,from pale large 
lilies and narcissus wreathed           
,round some dear head deceased4         
,such smells as these1 and of the       
sights1          ,the gleam on blue ,may
 nights        ,of the young moon in    
high ancestral boughs          ,among   

the scant young leaves3        ,and in  
the wake of the moving ploughs          
,the shining earth that1 as the straight
 share cleaves1        ,turns flowingly 
over3 and the half-seen sweep        ,of
 the high circles and the looming hollow
        ,of the dark opera-house1 where 
through the leap        ,and lapse of   
the music unseen hundreds follow        
,the curtain's slow ascent3        ,and 
the rosy apple-blossom on the bent      
,and knotted bough1 against the blue of 
heaven3          ,and the sudden        
rainbows riven        ,by the salt      
breeze from the billows many-leaping    
,in the sunny ,mediterranean4           
,and of things heard1        ,the       
cooling whisper of summer breezes       
sweeping        ,the grey-green         
barley-fields3 and the echoes stirred   
,by music interwoven in some dim-lighted
        ,cavernous cathedral3 and the   
eighteen-pounders'        ,buoyant      
drum-beats and hisses and whoops united 
,in a hurricane-barrage3 and the clear  

laughter and shouting        ,of girls  
in old green gardens playing rounders3  
,and the ripple of fountains spouting   
,over marble nymphs and dolphins        
drenched and cool          ,to the      
sun-splashed fountain-pool1             
,where golden in the ,tuscan sun        
,the age-worn palace sleeps4            
,but deep in all the immortal ,spirit   
leaps        ,unquenchably1 the         
,imperishable ,one        ,to whom      
through all this multiplicity        ,of
 scattered universes longingly          
,the ,soul1 world-wandering mendicant1  
upreaches        ,imploring hands1 and  
as an alms beseeches        ,the humble 
coin which buys that one small treasure 
,beyond all worldly measure4            
,,martin ,,armstrong      ,the ,coming  
of ,green          ,here like flame and 
there like water leaping        ,green  
life breaks out again2 in sunlight      
gleaming1        ,small bright emerald  
flames through grey twigs creeping1     
,little freshets of leafage shyly       

streaming        ,among dark tangles4   
,and sunlight grows serener             
,daily1 and wider extends the leafy     
awning1        ,and the green undying   
lawn beneath grows greener--            
,greener and lovelier with lights and   
shadows dawning        ,alternate1      
many-toned1 born of the trooping        
,of clouds o'er sun4 ,assembled ,planes 
are bending        ,long festoons       
high-hung and heavily drooping          
,from domes of luminous greenness4      
,willows are sending        ,their      
fountains live and many-shafted swooping
        ,skyward1 and lazily backward   
coolly showering4          ,like tongues
 of flame1 like water showering1        
dripping1        ,green life slides down
 the branch1 from bushes shaking        
,a verdant dew1 or1 out on a long curve 
slipping1        ,at the far extreme to 
a shivering soft foam breaking4         
,a spring in the desert1 a fire in the  
darkness leaping1        ,greenness     
comes transparently roofing and walling 

,garden ways with an indolent           
downward-sweeping1        ,or mounded   
high 444 aspiring 444 airily falling1   
,or leaning fan over fan4 ,a green and  
golden        ,lucent cave enfolds us1  
cunningly vaulted1        ,with         
delicate-screened high chambers to      
embolden        ,birds to flutter and   
sing or nest exalted        ,in swaying 
sanctuaries1 and the lime-tree's        
clustering        ,flowers to blow that 
the leafy ways be fragrant4          ,a 
dancing flood1 a wild fire              
strengthening1 mustering1        ,over  
the gardens the young green life runs   
vagrant4                                
,,martin ,,armstrong      ,the ,modern  
,hippolytus          ,not1 like poor    
monks1 with fasting and the rod         
,to mortify the flesh for fear of ,god3 
,not1 like ,sir ,galahad1 to run to     
waste        ,in sentimental worship of 
the chaste3        ,not1 like the       
,puritan1 to hug disgust        ,and    
feast on others' sins to quench his     

lust3        ,not1 like the saint1 with 
dreams of future bliss1        ,lost in 
a fancied world1 this world to miss4    
,but1 like ,hippolytus1 in pride to make
        ,the body servant for the body's
 sake2        ,spurning the ,cytheran's 
toils1 who craves        ,with servile  
heart the passion of her slaves1        
,freely to render homage unto ,her      
,who1 being free1 desires no worshipper3
        ,to render soul for soul1       
without pretence1        ,not wooing    
sense through soul1 nor soul through    
sense3        ,to shun the twilight of  
the world's mistrust        ,where ,lust
 for ,love's mistaken1 ,love for ,lust1 
,and seek ,diana's cold and hueless     
light        ,that knows no difference  
save of dark and bright3--        ,there
 lay the man's will3 but the unborn     
child        ,cried in the darkness1 and
 the old world smiled4    ,,kenworth    
,,rushby      ,nature's ,fruitfulness   
,this summer on our yard-wall there does
 swing          ,a groundsel-bush from  

one seed last year sown4        ,a      
burnet moth1 sun-wakened in the ,spring1
          ,flew out and laid its hundred
 eggs thereon4          ,an hundred     
seeds each blossom on it gives1         
,an hundred caterpillars eat its leaves4
          ,its plumed seeds scattered by
 the wind now fall          ,into our   
yard on water and on stone4             
,here too the caterpillars over blown   
,gyrate and starve1 for few can climb   
the wall4          ,next year again     
there will be one of both3        ,one  
bush of groundsel and one burnet moth4  
,,francis ,,burrows      ,almswomen     
,at ,quincey's moat the squandering     
village ends1        ,and there in the  
almshouse dwell the dearest friends     
,of all the village1 two old dames that 
cling        ,as close as any trueloves 
in the spring4        ,long1 long ago   
they passed three-score-and-ten1        
,and in this doll's house lived together
 then2        ,all things they have in  
common being so poor1        ,and their 

one fear1 ,death's shadow at the door4  
,each sundown makes them mournful1 each 
sunrise        ,brings back the         
brightness in their failing eyes4       
,how happy go the rich fair-weather days
        ,when on the roadside folk stare
 in amaze        ,at such a honeycomb of
 fruit and flowers        ,as mellows   
round their threshold2 what long hours  
,they gloat upon their steepling        
hollyhocks1        ,bee's balsams1      
feathery southernwood and stocks1       
,fiery dragons'-mouths1 great mallow    
leaves        ,for salves1 and lemon    
plants in bushy sheaves1        ,shagged
 ,esau's ,hands with five green         
finger-tips6        ,such old sweet     
names are ever on their lips4        ,as
 pleased as little children where these 
grow        ,in cobbled pattens and worn
 gowns they go1        ,proud of their  
wisdom when on gooseberry shoots        
,they stuck egg-shells to fright from   
coming fruits        ,the brisk-billed  
rascals2 waiting still to see           

,their neighbour owls saunter from tree 
to tree        ,or in the hushing       
half-light mouse the lane               
,long-winged and lordly4                
,but when those hours wane              
,indoors they ponder1 scared by the     
harsh storm        ,whose pelting       
saracens on the window swarm1           
,and listen for the mail to clatter past
        ,and church clock's deep bay    
withering on the blast2        ,they    
feed the fire that flings a freakish    
light        ,on pictured kings and     
queens grotesquely bright1              
,platters and pitchers1 faded calendars 
,and graceful hour-glass trim with      
lavenders4          ,many a time they   
kiss and cry1 and pray        ,both may 
be summoned in the selfsame day1        
,and wiseman linnet tinkling in his cage
        ,end too with them the          
friendship of old age1        ,and all  
together leave their treasured room     
,some bell-like evening when the ,may's 
in bloom4                               

,,edmund ,,blunden    #aibj4            
,intimacy          ,since ,i have seen  
you do those intimate things            
,that other men but dream of2 lull      
asleep        ,the sinister dark forest 
of your hair        ,and tie those bows 
that stir on your calm breast           
,faintly as leaves that shudder in their
 sleep3        ,since ,i have seen your 
stocking swallow up1        ,a swift    
black wind1 the pale flame of your foot 
,and deemed your slender limbs so meshed
 in silk        ,sweet mermaid sisters  
drowned in their dark hair3        ,i   
have not troubled overmuch with food    
,and wine has seemed like water from a  
well2        ,pavements are built of    
fire1 grass of thin flames2        ,all 
other girls grow dull as painted        
flowers1        ,or flutter harmlessly  
like coloured flies        ,whose wings 
are tangled in the net of leaves        
,spread by frail trees that grow behind 
the eyes4                               
,,edgell ,,rickword      ,the ,soldier  

,addresses ,his ,body          ,i shall 
be mad if you get smashed about1        
,we've had good times together1 you and 
,i2        ,although you groused a bit  
when luck was out          ,and women   
passionless1 and we went dry4           
,yet there are many things we have not  
done2          ,countries not seen1     
where people do strange things1         
,eat fish alive1 and mimic in the sun   
,the solemn gestures of their stone-grey
 kings4          ,i've heard of forests 
that are dim at noon1          ,where   
snakes and creepers wrestle all day     
long2        ,where vivid beasts grow   
pale with the full moon1                
,gibber and cry1 and wail a mad old     
song2          ,because at the full moon
 the hippogriff          ,with          
ivory-pointed snout and agate feet1     
,with his green eye will glare them cold
 and stiff          ,for the coward     
wyvern to come down and eat4            
,vodka and kvas1 and bitter mountain    
wines          ,we have not drunk1 nor  

snatched at bursting grapes        ,to  
pelt slim girls among ,sicilian vines   
,who'd flicker through the leaves1      
elusive shapes4          ,yes1 there are
 many things we have not done1          
,but it's a sweat to knock them into    
rhyme4        ,let's have a drink1 and  
give the cards a run          ,and leave
 dull verse to the dull peaceful time4  
,,edgell ,,rickword      ,night ,rapture
    ,for ,florence ,lamont          ,how
 beautiful it is to wake at night       
,when over all there reigns the ultimate
 spell        ,of complete silence1     
darkness absolute1        ,to feel the  
world1 tilted on axle-tree1        ,in  
slow gyration1 with no sensible sound1  
,unless to ears of unimagined beings1   
,resident incorporeal or stretched      
,in vigilance of ecstasy among          
,ethereal paths and the celestial maze1 
,the rumour of our onward course now    
brings        ,a steady rustle as of    
some strange ship1        ,darkling with
 soundless sail all set and amply filled

        ,by volume of an ever-constant  
air1        ,at fullest night1 through  
seas for ever calm1        ,swept lovely
 and unknown for ever on6          ,how 
beautiful it is to wake at night1       
,embalmed in darkness1 watchful1 sweet1 
and still        ,as is the brain's mood
 flattered by the swim        ,of       
currents circumvolent in the void1      
,to lie quite still and to become aware 
,of the dim light cast by nocturnal     
skies        ,on a dim earth beyond the 
window-ledge1        ,so1 isolate from  
the friendly company        ,of the huge
 universe which turns without1          
,to brood apart in calm and joy awhile  
,until the spirit sinks and scarcely    
knows        ,whether self is or if self
 only is        ,for ever4444           
,how beautiful to wake at night         
,within the room grown strange and still
 and sweet        ,and live a century   
while in the dark        ,the dripping  
wheel of silence slowly turns1          
,to watch the window open on the night1 

,a dewy silent deep where nothing stirs1
        ,and1 lying thus1 to feel dilate
 within        ,the press1 the conflict 
and the heavy pulse        ,of          
incommunicable sad ecstasy              
,growing until the body seems           
outstretched        ,in perfect         
crucifixion on the arms        ,of a    
cross pointing from last void to void   
,while the heart dies to a mere midway  
spark6          ,all happiness thou     
holdest1 happy night1        ,for such  
as lie awake and feel dissolved         
,the peaceful spice of darkness and the 
cool        ,breath hither blown from   
th' ethereal flowers        ,that mist  
thy fields6 ,o happy1 happy wounds1     
,conditioned by existence in humanity1  
,that have such powers to heal          
them6--slow sweet sighs        ,torn    
from the bosom1 silent wails1 the birth 
,of such long-treasured tears as pain   
his eyes        ,who1 waking1 hears the 
divine solicitudes        ,of midnight  
with ineffable purport charged4         

,how beautiful it is to wake at night1  
,another night1 in darkness yet more    
still        ,save when the myriad      
leaves on full-fledged boughs1          
,filled rather by the perfumes'         
wandering flood        ,than by         
dispansion of the still sweet air1      
,shall from the furthest utter silences 
,in glimmering secrecy have gathered up 
,an host of whisperings and scattered   
sighs        ,to loose at last a sound  
as of the plunge        ,and lapsing    
seeth of some ,pacific wave             
,which1 risen from the star-thronged    
outer troughs1        ,rolls in to      
wreath with languorous foam away        
,the flutter of the golden moths that   
haunt        ,the star's one glimmer    
daggered on wet sands6          ,so     
beautiful it is to wake at night        
,imagination1 loudening with the surf   
,of the midsummer wind among the boughs1
        ,gathers my spirit from the     
haunts remote        ,of faintest       
silence and the shades of sleep         

,to bear me on the summit of her wave   
,beyond known shores1 beyond the mortal 
edge1        ,of thought terrestrial1 to
 hold me poised        ,above the       
frontiers of infinity1        ,to which 
in the full reflux of the wave          
,come soon ,i must1 bubble of solving   
foam1        ,borne to those other      
shores--now never mine        ,save for 
an hovering instant1 short as this      
,which now sustains me1 ere ,i be drawn 
back1        ,to learn again and wholly 
learn ,i trust        ,how beautiful it 
is to wake at night4                    
,,robert ,,nichols    ,the ,black       
,mountains1 #aiai      ,elsie ,inglis   
,who is it lies here          ,betwixt  
the wind and the water1        ,whom all
 ,scotland mourns          ,as a mother 
for her daughter8          ,i was ,elsie
 ,inglis          ,when ,i trod the     
ground2        ,now ,i am lying here    
,in a long sleep and sound4             
,what did you do1 ,elsie ,inglis1       
,to prove your heart's worth8        ,i 

laboured all my life long          ,to  
serve women on earth4          ,and what
 was it you did        ,earned you this 
requiem8        ,when men went out to   
fight1        ,i went out with them4    
,what could a woman do          ,in such
 unholy revel8        ,men fought with  
each other1          ,and ,i fought with
 evil4          ,when men fought with   
men          ,what foe could you hold8  
,the foe they left behind them4         
,fever1 ,famine1 and ,cold4             
,which was the bitterest          ,of   
all you saw fight8        ,my foe slew  
blindly1          ,but men in broad     
light4          ,my foe slew blindly1   
,the children with the mother3          
,my foe slew men1          ,but men slew
 each other4                            
,,maurice ,,hewlett      ,sorrowing for 
,childhood ,departed          ,who is   
there among us who has found the key    
,of the treasure that is locked in the  
hearts of men8        ,only the poet    
lonely in his chamber          ,or the  

man remembering his childhood again4    
,hearing gay voices1 my heart is hollow1
          ,an empty room with bright    
colours on the walls2        ,the speech
 of my brother is no more than a traffic
          ,that remote and coldly on my 
dull brain falls4          ,i am deaf to
 the song in the speech of my fellows1  
,i have outwitted my childhood's        
desires2        ,and where have ,i      
travelled that to the far horizon       
,dead in the landscape are earth's      
bright fires8          ,didst thou ever 
murder1 ,macbeth1 thy sorrow1           
,didst thou ever murder thy soul's young
 joy1        ,thou hadst never flinched 
from the life of another1          ,thou
 hadst but with laughter stol'n from him
 a toy6          ,would that a ,spirit  
had stolen from me          ,the        
glittering baubles of my cunning mind1  
,and left me the sweet forest of my     
wondering childhood1          ,its      
transparent water in tall trees         
enshrined4          ,then was ,i happy4 

,love was my companion2          ,i was 
in communion with star and stream2      
,with bird and with flower ,i was linked
 in rapture1          ,we stared at each
 other--the valley's dream4             
,out of the mountains we were carven1   
,birds and flowers1 stream1 rock and    
child--        ,o but ,i belong there6  
,i am torn from my body1          ,in   
that far-away forest it lies exiled6    
,there falls the water transparently    
shining1          ,hangs there a flower 
that blooms in my eyes4        ,long    
have ,i been ready6 let me go thither1  
,and unloosen my limbs to those         
dream-coloured skies4          ,o that  
it were possible6 but that land has     
vanished2          ,the magic of that   
valley has crumbled away2        ,bright
 crowds are there only1 the mind's cold 
idola2          ,and my footprints on   
the dead ground startle the day4        
,w4 ,j4 ,,turner          ,,servants    
,by ,,max ,,beerbohm      ,it is        
unseemly that a man should let any      

ancestors of his rise from  their graves
 to wait on his guests at table4 ,the   
,chinese are a polite  race1 and those  
of them who have visited ,england1 and  
gone to dine in  great ,english houses1 
will not have made this remark aloud to 
their  hosts4 ,i believe it is only     
their own ancestors that they worship2  
so  that they will not have felt        
themselves guilty of impiety in not     
rising  from the table and rushing out  
into the night4 ,nevertheless1 they must
  have been shocked4    ,the ,french    
,revolution1 judged according to the    
hope it was made in1  must be pronounced
 a failure3 it effected no fundamental  
change in  human nature4 ,but it was by 
no means wholly ineffectual4 ,for       
example1  ladies and gentlemen ceased to
 powder their hair1 because of it2  and 
gentlemen adopted simpler costumes4     
,this was so in ,england as  well as in 
,france4 ,but in ,england ladies and    
gentlemen were not so  nimble-witted as 
to be able to conceive the possibility  

of a world  without powder4 ,powder had 
been sent down from heaven1 and must not
  vanish from the face of the earth4    
,said ,sir ,john to his ,lady1 ',tis a  
matter easy to settle4 ,your maid       
,deborah and the rest of the wenches    
shall powder their hair henceforth4     
,whereat his ,lady exclaimed in  wrath1 
,lud1 ,sir ,john6 ,have you taken leave 
of your senses8 ,a parcel  of ,abigails 
flaunting about the house in powder--oh1
 preposterous6  ,whereat ,sir ,john     
exclaimed ,zounds6 and hotly            
demonstrated that since  his wife had   
given up powder there could be no harm  
in its assumption  by her maids4        
,whereat his ,lady screamed and had the 
vapours and asked  how he would like to 
see his own footmen flaunting about the 
house in  powder4 ,whereat he 7always a 
reasonable man1 despite his hasty       
temper7  went out and told his footmen  
to wear powder henceforth4 ,and in this 
they obeyed him4 ,and there arose a     
,lord of the ,treasury1 saying1 ,let    

,powder be taxed4 ,and it was so1 and   
the tax was paid1 and powder was  still 
worn4 ,and there came the great ,reform 
,bill1 and the ,steam ,engine1  and all 
manner of queer things1 but powder did  
not end1 for custom hath  many lives4   
,nor was there an end to those things   
which the ,nobility and  the ,gentry had
 long since shed from their own         
persons--as1 laced coats  and velvet    
breeches and silk hose2 forasmuch as    
without these powder  could not aptly   
be4 ,and it came to pass that there was 
a great ,war4 ,and  there was also a    
,russian ,revolution1 greater than the  
,french one4 ,and  it may be that       
everything will be changed1             
fundamentally and soon4 ,or  it may be  
merely that ,sir ,john will say to his  
,lady1 ,my dear1 ,i have  decided that  
the footmen shall not wear powder1 and  
not wear livery1  any more1 and that his
 ,lady will say ,oh1 all right4 ,then at
 length  will the ,eighteenth ,century  
vanish altogether from the face of the  

earth4    ,some of the shallower        
historians would have us believe that   
powder is  deleterious to the race of   
footmen4 ,they point out how plenteously
  footmen abounded before #agij1 and how
 steadily their numbers have  declined  
ever since4 ,i do not dispute the       
statistics4 ,one knows  from the ,table 
,talk of ,samuel ,rogers that ,mr4      
,horne ,tooke1 dining  tte--tte with the
 first ,lord ,lansdowne1 had counted so 
many  as thirty footmen in attendance on
 the meal4 ,that was a high             
figure--higher than in ,rogers' day1 and
 higher far1 ,i doubt not1 than  in     
ours4 ,what ,i refuse to believe is that
 the wearing of powder has  caused among
 footmen an ever-increasing mortality4  
,powder was forced  on them by their    
employers because of the ,french        
,revolution1 but their  subsequent      
fewness is traceable rather to certain  
ideas forced by  that ,revolution on    
their employers4 ,the ,nobility had     
begun to feel  that it had better be    

just a little less noble than           
heretofore4 ,when  the news of the fall 
of the ,bastille was brought to him1 the
 first  ,lord ,lansdowne 7,i conceive7  
remained for many hours in his ,study1  
lost in thought1 and at length1 rising  
from his chair1 went out into  the hall 
and discharged two footmen4 ,this action
 may have shortened  his life1 but ,i   
believe it to be a fact that when he lay
 dying1 some  fifteen years later1 he   
said to his heir1 ,discharge two more4  
,such  enlightenment and adaptability   
were not to be wondered at in so        
eminent a ,whig4 ,as time went on1 even 
in the great ,tory houses the  number of
 retainers was gradually cut down4 ,came
 the ,industrial ,age1  hailed by all   
publicists as the ,millennium4 ,looms   
were now tended1 and  blast-furnaces    
stoked1 by middle-aged men who in their 
youth had done  nothing but hand        
salvers1 and by young men who might have
 been doing  just that if the ,bastille 
had been less brittle4 ,noblemen1       

becoming  less and less sure of         
themselves under the impact of          
successive ,reform  ,bills1 wished to be
 waited on by less and less numerous    
gatherings of  footmen4 ,and at length1 
in the course of the great ,war1 any    
,nobleman  not young enough to be away  
fighting was waited on by an old butler 
and  a parlourmaid or two2 and the      
ceiling did not fall4    ,even if the   
,war shall have taught us nothing else1 
this it will have  taught us almost from
 its very outset3 to mistrust all       
prophets1  whether of good or evil4     
,pray stone me if ,i predict anything at
 all4  ,it may be that the ,war1 and    
that remarkable by-product1 the ,russian
  ,revolution1 and the whole spirit of  
the age1 have so worked on the  minds of
 ,noblemen that they will prefer to have
 not one footman in  their service4 ,or 
it may be that all those men who might  
be footmen  will prefer to earn their   
livelihood in other ways of life4 ,it   
may even  be that no more parlourmaids  

and housemaids1 even for very           
illustrious  houses1 will presently be  
forthcoming4 ,i do not profess to       
foresee4  ,perhaps things will go on    
just as before4 ,but remember3 things   
were  going on1 even then4 ,suppose that
 in the social organism generally1  and 
in the attitude of servants             
particularly1 the decades after the ,war
  shall bring but a gradual evolution of
 what was previously afoot4 ,even  on   
this mild supposition must it seem      
likely that some of us will live  to    
look back on domestic service1 or at    
least on what we now mean by  that term1
 as a curiosity of past days4    ,you   
have to look rather far behind you for  
the time when the servant  question1 as 
it is called1 had not yet begun to      
arise4 ,to find  servants collectively  
knowing their place1 as the phrase 7not 
is1  but7 was1 you have to look right   
back to the dawn of ,queen ,victoria's  
reign4 ,i am not sure whether even then 
those ,georgian notice-boards  still    

stood in the ,london parks to announce  
that ,ladies and ,gentlemen  are        
requested1 and ,servants are commanded  
not to do this and that4  ,but the      
spirit of those boards did still brood  
over the land3  servants received       
commands1 not requests1 and were not    
obliging but  obedient4 ,as for the     
tasks set them1 ,i daresay the footmen  
in the  great houses had an easy time3  
they were there for ornament2 but the   
7comparatively few7 maids there1 and the
 maid or two in every home of  the      
rapidly-increasing middle-class1 were   
very much for use1 having  to do an     
immense amount of work for a wage which 
would nowadays seem  nominal4 ,and they 
did it gladly1 with no notion that they 
were giving  much for little1 or that   
the likes of them had any natural right 
to  a glimpse of liberty or to a        
moment's more leisure than was needed to
  preserve their health for the benefit 
of their employers1 or that they  were  
not in duty bound to be truly thankful  

for having a roof over  their devoted   
heads4 ,rare and reprehensible was the  
maid who1 having  found one roof1       
hankered after another4 ,improvident1   
too2 for only  by long and exclusive    
service could she hope that in her old  
age she  would not be cast out on the   
parish4 ,she might marry meanwhile8 ,the
  chances were very much against that4  
,that was an idea misbeseeming  her     
station in life4 ,by the rules of all   
households1 followers were  fended      
ruthlessly away4 ,her state was sheer   
slavery8 ,well1 she was  not technically
 a chattel4 ,the ,law allowed her to    
escape at any time1  after giving a     
month's notice2 and she did not work for
 no wages at  all1 remember4 ,this was  
hard on her owners8 ,well1 in ancient   
,rome and  elsewhere1 her employers     
would have had to pay a large-ish sum of
  money for her1 down1 to a merchant4   
,economically1 her employers had  no    
genuine grievance4 ,her parents had     
handed her over to them1 at a  tender   

age1 for nothing4 ,there she was2 and if
 she was a good girl  and gave          
satisfaction1 and if she had no gipsy   
strain1 to make her  restless for the   
unknown1 there she ended her days1 not  
without honour  from the second or third
 generation of her owners4 ,as in       
ancient ,rome  and elsewhere1 the system
 was1 in the long run1 conducive to much
  good feeling on either side4 ,poor    
,anne remained very servile in soul  all
 her days2 and was altogether occupied1 
from the age of fifteen  to seventy-two1
 in doing other people's wills1 not her 
own4 ,thus  wrote ,ruskin1 in           
,praeterita1 of one who had been his    
nurse1 and his  father's4 ,perhaps the  
passage is somewhat marred by its first 
word4 ,but  ,ruskin had queer views on  
many subjects4 ,besides1 he was very old
 when1  in #ahhe1 he wrote ,praeterita4 
,long before that date1 moreover1 others
  than he had begun to have queer views4
 ,the halcyon days were over4    ,even  
in the 'sixties there were many dark and

 cumulous clouds4 ,it was  believed1    
however1 that these would pass4 ,punch1 
our ever-quick  interpreter1 made light 
of them4 ,absurd that ,jemima ,jane     
should imitate  the bonnets of her      
mistress and secretly aspire to play the
 piano6  ,punch and his artists1 as you 
will find in his old volumes1 were very 
merry about her1 and no doubt his       
readers believed that his exquisite     
ridicule would kill1 or his sound good  
sense cure1 the malady in her  soul4    
,poor misguided girl6--why was she      
flying in the face of ,nature8  ,nature 
had decreed that some should command1   
others obey2 that some  should sit      
imperative all day in airy parlours1 and
 others be executive  in basements4 ,i  
daresay that among the sitters aloft    
there were  many whose indignation had a
 softer side to it4 ,under the          
,christian  ,emperors1 ,roman ladies    
were really very sorry for their slaves4
 ,it  is unlikely that no ,english      
ladies were so in 'sixties4 ,pity1 after

  all1 is in itself a luxury4 ,it is for
 the some a measure of the gulf  between
 themselves and the others4 ,those      
others had now begun to show  signs of  
restiveness2 but the gulf was as wide as
 ever4    ,anthony ,trollope was not1   
like ,punch1 a mere interpreter of what 
was  upmost in the average ,english     
mind3 he was a beautifully patient and  
subtle demonstrator of all that was     
therein4 ,reading him1 ,i soon forget   
that ,i am reading about fictitious     
characters and careers2 quite soon  do  
,i feel that ,i am collating intimate   
memoirs and diaries4 ,for sheer         
conviction of truth1 give me ,trollope4 
,you1 too1 if you know him1 must  often 
have uttered this appeal4 ,very well4   
,have you been given ,orley  ,farm8 ,and
 do you remember how ,lady ,mason felt  
after confessing to ,sir  ,peregrine    
,orme that she had forged the will8 ,as 
she slowly made her  way across the     
hall1 she felt that all of evil1 all of 
punishment1 had  now fallen upon her4   

,there are periods in the lives of some 
of us--,i  trust but few--when with the 
silent inner voice of suffering--and    
here1 in justice to ,trollope1 ,i must  
interrupt him by saying that he  seldom 
writes like this2 and ,i must also1 for 
a reason which will soon  be plain1 ask 
you not to skip a word--we call on the  
mountains to fall  and crush us1 and on 
the earth to gape open and take us      
in--when with  an agony of intensity1 we
 wish our mothers had been barren4 ,in  
these  moments the poorest and most     
desolate are objects to us of envy1 for 
their sufferings can be as nothing to   
our own4 ,lady ,mason1 as she crept     
silently across the hall1 saw a servant 
girl pass down towards the  entrance to 
the kitchen1 and would have given all1  
all that she had in  the world1 to      
change places with that girl4 ,but no   
change was possible  to her4 ,neither   
would the mountains crush her1 nor the  
earth take her  in4 ,this was her       
burden1 and she must1 etc41 etc4    ,you

 enjoyed the wondrous bathos8 ,of       
course4 ,and yet there wasn't  any      
bathos at all1 really4 ,at least1 there 
wasn't any in #ahfb1 when  ,orley ,farm 
was published4 ,servants really were    
most desolate in  those days1 and their 
sufferings were less acute only than    
those of  gentlewomen who had forged    
wills4 ,this is an exaggerated view8    
,well1  it was the view held by         
gentlewomen at large1 in the 'sixties4  
,trust  ,trollope4    ,why to a modern  
gentlewoman would it seem so much more  
dreadful to  be crushed by mountains and
 swallowed by earthquakes than to be a  
servant girl passing down towards the   
entrance to the kitchen8 ,in other      
words1 how is it that servants have so  
much less unpleasant a time  than they  
were having half-a-century ago8 ,i      
should like to think this  amelioration 
came through our sense of justice1 but  
,i cannot claim  that it did4 ,somehow1 
our sense of justice never turns in its 
sleep  till long after the sense of     

injustice in others has been thoroughly 
aroused1 nor is it ever up and doing    
till those others have begun to  make   
themselves thoroughly disagreeable2 and 
not even then will it be  up and doing  
more than is urgently required of it by 
our convenience  at the moment4 ,for the
 improvement in their lot1 servants     
must1 ,i am  afraid1 be allowed to thank
 themselves rather than their employers4
 ,i  am not going to trace the stages of
 that improvement4 ,i will not try to   
decide in what year servants passed from
 wistfulness to resentment1 or  from    
resentment to exaction4 ,this is not a  
sociological treatise1 it  is just an   
essay2 and ,i claim an essayist's       
privilege of not groping  through the   
library of the ,british ,museum on the  
chance of mastering  all the details4 ,i
 confess that ,i did go there yesterday1
 thinking ,i  should find in ,mr4 and   
,mrs4 ,sidney ,webb's ,history of ,trade
 ,unionism  the means of appearing to   
know much4 ,but ,i drew blank4 ,it would

 seem  that servants have no trade      
union4 ,this is strange4 ,one would not 
have thought so much could be done      
without organisation4 ,the mere  ,spirit
 of the ,time1 sneaking down the steps  
of areas1 has worked  wonders4 ,there   
has been no servant's campaign1 no      
strategy1 nothing  but an infinite      
series of spontaneous and sporadic      
little risings in  isolated households4 
,wonders have been worked1 yes4 ,but    
servants are  not yet satiated with     
triumph4 ,more and more1 on the         
contrary1 do they  glide--long before   
the ,war they had begun gliding--away   
into other  forms of employment4 ,not   
merely are the changed conditions of    
domestic  service not changed enough for
 them3 they seem to despise the thing   
itself4 ,it was all very well so long as
 they had not been taught to  read and  
write1 but--,there1 no doubt1 is the    
root of the mischief4  ,had the         
governing classes not forced those      
accomplishments on them in  #ahgb--;,but

 there is no use in repining4 ,what's   
done can't be undone4 ,on  the other    
hand1 what must be done can't be left   
undone4 ,housework1 for  example4 ,what 
concessions by the governing classes1   
what bribes1 will  be big enough        
hereafter to get that done8    ,perhaps 
the governing classes will do it for    
themselves1 eventually1  and their      
ceilings not fall4 ,or perhaps there    
will be no more governing               
classes--merely the ,state and its      
swarms of neat little overseers1  male  
and female4 ,i know not whether in this 
case the sum of human  happiness will be
 greater1 but it will certainly--it and 
the sum of  human dullness--be more     
evenly distributed4 ,i take it that     
under any  scheme of industrial         
compulsion for the young a certain      
number of  conscripts would be told off 
for domestic service4 ,to every family  
in  every flat 7houses not legal7 would 
be assigned one female member of  the   
community4 ,she would be twenty years   

old1 having just finished  her course of
 general education at a municipal       
college4 ,three years  would be her term
 of industrial 7sub-sect4 domestic7     
service4 ,her diet1  her costume1 her   
hours of work and leisure1 would be     
standardised1  but the lenses of her    
pince-nez would be in strict accordance 
to her  own eyesight4 ,if her employers 
found her faulty in work or conduct1    
and proved to the visiting inspector    
that she was so1 she would be  penalised
 by an additional term of service4 ,if  
she1 on the other hand1  made good any  
complaint against her employers1 she    
would be transferred  to another flat1  
and they be penalised by suspension of  
their licence  to employ4 ,there would  
always be chances of friction4 ,but     
these chances  would not be so numerous 
nor so great as they are under that lack
 of  system which survives to-day4      
,servants would be persons knowing that 
for a certain period certain  tasks were
 imposed on them1 tasks tantamount to   

those in which all  their coevals were  
simultaneously engaged4 ,to-day they are
 persons not  knowing1 as who should    
say1 where they are1 and wishing all the
 while  they were elsewhere--and mostly1
 as ,i have said1 going elsewhere4      
,those who remain grow more and more    
touchy1 knowing themselves a mock  to   
the rest2 and their qualms1 even more   
uncomfortably than their  demands and   
defects1 are always haunting their      
employers4 ,it seems  almost incredible 
that there was a time when ,mrs4 ,smith 
said ,sarah1  your master wishes---- or 
,mr4 ,smith said ,sarah1 go up and ask  
your  mistress whether---- ,i am well   
aware that the very title of this essay 
jars4 ,i wish ,i could find another2 but
 in writing one must be more  explicit  
than one need be by word of mouth4 ,i am
 well aware that the  survival of       
domestic service in its old form depends
 more and more on  our agreement not to 
mention it4    ,assuredly1 a most       
uncomfortable state of things4 ,is it1  

after all1  worth saving8--a form so    
depleted of right human substance1 an   
anomaly  so ticklish4 ,consider1 in your
 friend's house1 the cheerful smile of  
yonder parlourmaid2 hark to the         
housemaid's light brisk tread in the    
corridor2 note well the slight droop of 
the footman's shoulders as he           
noiselessly draws near4 ,such things1 as
 being traditional1 may pander  to your 
sense of the great past4                
,histrionically1 too1 they are good4    
,but do you really like them8 ,do they  
not make your blood run a trifle  cold8 
,in the thick of the great past1 you    
would have liked them well  enough1 no  
doubt4 ,i myself am old enough to have  
known two or three  servants of the old 
school--later editions of ,ruskin's     
,anne4 ,with them  there was no         
discomfort1 for they had no misgiving4  
,they had never  wished 7heaven help    
them67 for more1 and in the process of  
the long  years had acquired1 for       
inspiration of others1 much--a fine     

mellowness1  the peculiar sort of       
dignity1 even of wisdom1 that comes only
 of  staying always in the same place1  
among the same people1 doing the same   
things perpetually4 ,theirs was the sap 
that rises only from deep roots1  and   
where they were you had always the sense
 of standing under great  wide branches4
 ,one especially would ,i recall1       
who--no1 personally ,i  admire the      
plungingly intimate kind of essayist    
very much indeed1 but  ,i never was of  
that kind1 and it's too late to begin to
 be so now4 ,for  a type of old-world   
servant ,i would recall rather some more
 public  worthy1 such as that stout old 
hostler whom1 whenever you went up to   
stay in ,hampstead1 you would see       
standing planted outside that stout  old
 hostelry1 ,jack ,straw's ,castle4 ,he  
stands there no more1 and the  hostelry 
can never again be to me all that it was
 of solid comfort4  ,or perhaps1 as he  
was so entirely an outside figure1 ,i   
might rather  say that ,hampstead itself

 is not what it was4 ,his robust but    
restful  form1 topped with that         
weather-beaten and chin-bearded face1   
was the  hub of the summit of           
,hampstead4 ,he was as indigenous as the
 pond  there--that famous pond which in 
hot weather is so much waded through  by
 cart-horses and is at all seasons so   
much barked around by excitable  dogs   
and cruised on by toy boats4 ,he was as 
essential as it and the  flag-staff and 
the gorse and the view over the valley  
away to ,highgate4  ,it was always to   
,highgate that his big blue eyes were   
looking1 and on  ,highgate that he      
seemed to be ruminating4 ,not that ,i   
think he wanted  to go there4 ,he was   
,hampstead-born and ,hampstead-bred1 and
 very loyal  to that village4 ,in the   
course of his life he had bin down to   
,london  a matter o' three or four      
times1 he would tell me1 an' slep' there
  once4 ,he knew me to be a native of   
that city1 and 7for he was the  most    
respectful of men7 did not make any     

adverse criticism of it4 ,but  clearly  
it had not prepossessed him4 ,men       
and--horses rather than cities  were    
what he knew4 ,and his memory was more  
retentive of horses than of  men4 ,but  
he did--and this was a great thrill for 
me--did1 after some  pondering at my    
behest1 remember to have seen in ,heath 
,street1 when  he was a boy1 a gen'leman
 with summut long hair1 settin' in a    
small  cart1 takin' a pictur'4 ,to me   
,ford ,madox ,brown's ,work is of all   
modern pictur's the most delightful in  
composition and strongest in            
conception1 the most alive and the most 
worth-while2 and ,i take great  pride in
 having known some one who saw it in the
 making4 ,but my friend  himself set    
little store on anything that had       
befallen him in days  before he was took
 on as stable-lad at the ,castle4 ,his  
pride was in  the ,castle1 wholly4      
,part of his charm1 like ,hampstead's1  
was in the surprise one had at  finding 
anything like it so near to ,london4    

,even now1 if you go to  districts near 
which no great towns are1 you will find 
here and there  an inn that has a       
devoted waiter1 a house with a fond     
butler4 ,as to  butlers elsewhere1      
butlers in general1 there is one thing  
about them  that ,i do not at all       
understand4 ,it seems to be against     
nature1 yet it  is a fact1 that in the  
past forty years they have been growing 
younger2  and slimmer4 ,in my childhood 
they were old1 without exception2 and   
stout4 ,at the close of the last century
 they had gradually relapsed  into      
middle age1 losing weight all the time4 
,and in the years that  followed they   
were passing back behind the prime of   
life1 becoming  willowy juveniles4 ,in  
#aiae1 it is true1 the work of the past 
decades  was undone3 butlers were       
suddenly as old and stout as ever they  
were1  and so they still are4 ,but this1
 ,i take it1 was only a temporary       
set-back4 ,since peace came1 butlers    
have reappeared as they were in  #aiae1 

and maybe will soon be losing height and
 weight too1 till they  shall have      
become bright-eyed children1 with       
pattering feet4 ,or will  their         
childhood be of a less gracious kind    
than that8 ,i fear so4 ,i  have seen1   
from time to time1 butlers who had shed 
all semblance of  grace1 butlers whose  
whole demeanour was a manifesto of      
contempt for  their calling and of      
devotion to the ,spirit of the ,age4 ,i 
have seen  a butler in a                
well-established household strolling    
around the diners  without the slightest
 droop1 and pouring out wine in an      
off-hand and  quite obviously hostile   
manner4 ,i have seen him1 towards the   
end of the  meal1 yawning4 ,i remember  
another whom1 positively1 ,i heard      
humming--a  faint sound indeed1 but     
menacing as the roll of tumbrils4       
,these were exceptional cases1 ,i grant4
 ,for the most part1 the butlers        
observed by me have had a manner as     
correctly smooth and colourless  as     

their very shirt-fronts4 ,aye1 and in   
two or three of them1 modern  though    
they were in date and aspect1 ,i could  
have sworn there was  a flame of        
old-world fealty all bright4 ,were these
 but the finer  comedians8 ,there was   
one 7,i will call him ,brett7 who had an
 almost  dog-like way of watching his   
master4 ,was this but a calculated touch
 in  a merely sthetic whole8 ,brett was 
tall and slender1 and his movements     
were those of a greyhound under perfect 
self-control4 ,baldness at the  temples 
enhanced the solemnity of his thin      
smooth face4 ,it is more  than twenty   
years since first ,i saw him2 and for a 
long period ,i saw  him often1 both in  
town and country4 ,against the          
background of either  house he was      
impeccable4 ,many butlers might be that4
 ,brett's supremacy  was in the sense he
 gave one that he was1 after all1       
human--that he  had a heart1 in which he
 had taken the liberty to reserve a     
corner  for any true friend of his      

master and mistress4 ,i remember well   
the  first time he overstepped sheer    
formality in relation to myself4 ,it    
was one morning in the country1 when my 
entertainers and my fellow  guests had  
gone out in pursuit of some sport at    
which ,i was no good4  ,i was in the    
smoking room1 reading a book4           
,suddenly--no1 ,brett never  appeared   
anywhere suddenly4 ,brett appeared1     
paused at precisely the  right speaking 
distance1 and said in a low voice1 ,i   
thought it might  interest you to know1 
sir1 that there's a white-tailed magpie 
out on  the lawn4 ,very rare1 as you    
know1 sir4 ,if you look out of the      
window  you will see the little fellow  
hopping about on the lawn4 ,i thanked   
him effusively as ,i darted to the      
window1 and simulated an intense        
interest in the little fellow4 ,i       
greatly overdid my part4 ,exit ,brett1  
having done his to perfection4    ,what 
worries me is not that ,i showed so     
little self-command and so  much        

insincerity1 but the doubt whether      
,brett's flawless technique  was the    
vehicle for an act of true good feeling 
or was used simply  for the pleasure of 
using it4 ,similar doubts abide in all  
my special  memories of him4 ,there was 
an evening when he seemed to lose       
control  over himself--but did he really
 lose it8 ,there were only four people  
at dinner3 my host1 his wife1 their     
nephew 7a young man famous for          
drollery7 and myself4 ,towards the end  
of dinner the conversation had  turned  
on early marriages4 ,i1 said the young  
man presently1 shall  not marry till ,i 
am seventy4 ,i shall then marry some    
charming girl of  seventeen4 ,his aunt  
threw up her hands1 exclaiming1 ,oh1    
,tom1 what a  perfectly horrible idea6  
,why1 she isn't born yet6 ,no1 said the 
young man1 but ,i have my eye on her    
mother4 ,at this1 ,brett1 who was       
holding a light for his master's        
cigarette1 turned away convulsively1    
with a sudden dip of the head1 and      

vanished from the room4 ,his  breakdown 
touched and pleased all four beholders4 
,but--was it a genuine  lapse8 ,or      
merely a feint to thrill us8--the feint 
of an equilibrist so  secure that he can
 pretend to lose his balance8    ,if ,i 
knew why ,brett ceased to be butler in  
that household1 ,i might  be in less    
doubt as to the true inwardness of him4 
,i knew only that  he was gone4 ,that   
was fully ten years ago4 ,since then ,i 
have had one  glimpse of him4 ,this was 
on a summer night in ,london4 ,i had    
gone out  late to visit some relatives  
and assure myself that they were safe   
and  sound2 for ,zeppelins had just     
passed over ,london for the first time4 
,not so much horror as a very deep      
disgust was the atmosphere in the       
populous quiet streets and squares4 ,one
 square was less quiet than  others1    
because somebody was steadily whistling 
for a taxi4 ,anon ,i  saw the whistler  
silhouetted in the light cast out on a  
wide doorstep  from an open door1 and ,i

 saw that he was ,brett4 ,his attitude1 
as he  bent out into the dark night1 was
 perfect in grace1 but eloquent of a    
great tensity--even of agony4 ,behind   
him stood a lady in an elaborate        
evening cloak4 ,brett's back must have  
conveyed to her in every curve  his     
surprise1 his shame1 that she should be 
kept waiting4 ,his chivalry  in her     
behalf was such as ,burke's for ,marie  
,antoinette--little had he  dreamed that
 he should have lived to see such       
disasters fallen upon  her in a nation  
of gallant men1 in a nation of men of   
honour1 and of  cavaliers4 ,he had      
thought ten thousand taxis must have    
leaped from  their stands1 etc4 ,the    
whistle that at first sounded merely    
mechanical  and ear-piercing had become 
heart-rending and human when ,i saw from
  whom it proceeded--a very heart-cry   
that still haunts me4 ,but was it  a    
heart-cry8 ,was ,brett1 is ,brett1 more 
than a mere virtuoso8    ,he is in any  
case what employers call a treasure1 and

 to any one who  wishes to go forth and 
hunt for him ,i will supply a chart     
showing the  way to that doorstep on    
which last ,i saw him4 ,but ,i myself1  
were ,i ever  so able to pay his wages1 
should never covet him--no1 nor anything
  like him4 ,perhaps we are not afraid  
of menservants if we looked out  at them
 from the cradle4 ,none was visible from
 mine4 ,only in later  years and under  
external auspices did ,i come across any
 of them4 ,and  ,i am as afraid of them 
as ever4 ,maidservants frighten me less1
 but  they also--except the two or three
 ancients aforesaid--have always  struck
 some degree of terror to my soul4 ,the 
whole notion of domestic  service has   
never not seemed to me unnatural4 ,i    
take no credit for  enlightenment4 ,not 
to have the instinct to command implies 
a lack of  the instinct to obey4 ,the   
two aptitudes are but different facets  
of  one jewel3 the sense of order4 ,when
 ,i became a schoolboy1 ,i greatly      
disliked being a monitor's fag4 ,other  

fags there were who took pride  in the  
quality of the toast they made for the  
breakfasts and suppers  of their        
superiors4 ,my own feeling was that ,i  
would rather eat it  myself1 and that if
 ,i mightn't eat it myself ,i would     
rather it were  not very good4          
,similarly1 when ,i grew to have fags of
 my own1 and by  morning and by evening 
one of them solemnly entered to me      
bearing a  plate on which those three   
traditional pieces of toast were        
solemnly  propped one against another1  
,i cared not at all whether the toast   
were  good or bad1 having no relish for 
it at best1 but could have eaten  with  
gusto toast made by my own hand1 not at 
all understanding why  that member      
should be accounted too august for such 
employment4 ,even  so in my later life4 
,loth to obey1 loth to command4         
,convention 7for  she too frightens me7 
has made me accept what servants would  
do for me  by rote4 ,but ,i would liefer
 have it ill-done than ask even the     

least  mettlesome of them to do it      
better1 and far liefer1 if they would   
only  be off and not do it at all1 do it
 for myself4 ,in ,italy--dear ,italy1   
where ,i have lived much--servants do   
still regard service somewhat in  the   
old way1 as a sort of privilege2 so that
 with ,italian servants ,i  am          
comparatively at my ease4 ,but oh1 the  
delight when on the afternoon  of some  
local festa there is no servant at all  
in the little house6  ,oh1 the reaction1
 the impulse to sing and dance1 and the 
positive  quick obedience to that       
impulse6 ,convention alone has forced me
 to  be anywhere a master4 ,ariel and   
,caliban1 had ,i been ,prospero on that 
island1 would have had nothing to do and
 nothing to complain of2 and  ,man      
,friday on that other island would have 
bored me1 had ,i been ,crusoe4  ,when ,i
 was a king in ,babylon and you were a  
,christian slave1 ,i promptly  freed    
you4    ,anarchistic8 ,yes2 and ,i have 
no defence to offer1 except the rather  

lame one that ,i am a ,tory ,anarchist4 
,i should like every one to go  about   
doing just as he pleased--short of      
altering any of the things to  which ,i 
have grown accustomed4 ,domestic service
 is not one of those  things1 and ,i    
should be glad were there no more of it4
          ,w4 ,n4 ,p4 ,,barbellion#bf   
#bf ,the ,journal of a ,disappointed    
,man4 ,enjoying ,life             and   
,other ,essays4 ,by ,w4 ,n4 ,p4         
,barbellion4 ,chatto                    
,windus4 #fs4 net each4    ,by ,,edward 
,,shanks      ,when ,the ,journal of a  
,disappointed ,man was first published  
in ,march1  #aiai1 the suspicious       
circumstances that it contained an      
introduction by  ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells1   
and purported to be written by a young  
assistant in  the ,natural ,history     
,museum at ,south ,kensington1          
immediately produced  the impression    
that it was a fictitious work1 composed 
by ,mr4 ,wells  himself4 ,he was known  
at that time1 from other books          

acknowledged to be  his1 to be feeling a
 particular interest in the             
philosophical problem  of human         
suffering2 he had done something of the 
kind before1 and many  readers1 it may  
be conjectured1 unconsciously found it a
 relief to  suppose that this almost    
unbearably tragic history had been      
invented4  ,but the impression could not
 long survive a careful study of the    
book4  ,the author's identity was soon  
guessed at by a few persons who knew him
  and suspected by some who had heard of
 him2 and presently ,mr4 ,wells  wrote  
to a newspaper to say that the only     
fictitious details in the  ,journal were
 the author's name and the date of his  
death1 there given  as ,december #cast1 
#aiag4 ,this date was in fact incorrect 
by nearly two  years4 ,bruce ,frederick 
,cummings lived until ,october #cjth1   
#aiai1 that is  to say for seven months 
after the publication of his diary4     
,thus it comes about that the later part
 of it1 which has not yet been  printed1

 contains many references to his        
critics1 in whose opinions he  was      
deeply and frankly interested4 ,he      
remarks again and again on the  ordinary
 incompetence of reviewers1 the usual   
complaint of an author1  but especially 
poignant here4 ,he mentions1 once in a  
letter and once in  the diary1 an       
imbecile who thought that he was a      
social climber2 and  he welcomes with   
joy the first writer who seemed to him  
to have read  the book carefully4 ,but  
among all these references to his work  
there is  none more illuminating than   
the last entry he ever made3            
,friends and relatives say ,i have not  
drawn my true self4 ,but that's         
because ,i've taken my clothes off and  
they can't recognise me stark6    ,the  
,book is a self-portrait in the nude4   
,thus1 with this final self-explanation1
 he ends his work4 ,the last  two words 
stand alone at the top of a left-hand   
page1 and opposite  them in the book    
lies the blotting-paper he used4 ,he had

 often before  said farewell to his     
,journal4 ,once it was in a fit of      
disgust with it  and himself1 and he    
took it up again to record the discovery
 that  he was suffering from an         
incurable disease4 ,once again1 owing to
 the  paralysis of his right hand1      
writing became too painful for him1 and 
he thought this the hardest and         
shrewdest stroke of fate to deprive  him
 of his secret consolation4 ,last1 under
 the date ,may #beth1 #aiai1 he  made an
 entry of four pages1 chiefly           
supplementing earlier entries1 and      
concluded with the words1 large and     
scrawled1 but legible3 ,this is  the    
end4 ,i am not going to keep a diary any
 more4 ,then on ,june #ast1  without    
explanation1 he made a long entry1      
recalling an experience  of early life1 
and on ,june #crd the very last1 which  
,i have quoted4  ,he desired that at the
 end should be written1 ,the rest is    
silence1  for an inscription on the base
 of his self-erected monument4  ,genuine

 self-portraits in the nude occur very  
rarely in the history  of literature4   
,this is a picture of a man of genius   
superbly drawn by  himself4 ,it is an   
astonishing book about an astonishing   
man4    ,barbellion was born on         
,september #gth1 #ahhi1 and was the     
third son of  a reporter employed by a  
newspaper in a ,devonshire town4 ,he was
 able  to remember the first time a     
bird's nest was ever shown to him2 but a
  passion for natural history became    
very early the most important part  of  
his life4 ,he was articled as a boy to  
his father's unattractive and           
uncongenial profession4 ,he nevertheless
 continued to pursue his passion  with  
an extraordinary energy and strength of 
will1 and was determined  to secure     
somehow or other an entrance into the   
desired career4 ,he was  otherwise and  
exactingly occupied and he was entirely 
self-taught2  and in #aiaj1 just when by
 great good fortune he had been offered1
 and  had accepted1 a post in the       

,plymouth ,marine ,laboratory1 his      
father's  health broke down altogether1 
compelling him to renounce this dazzling
  but ill-paid opportunity4 ,but in the 
following year he won in open           
competition an appointment in the       
,natural ,history ,museum1 which        
justified the abandonment of journalism4
    ,in #aiji there first appears in the
 diary the definite indication of a     
theme which was soon to rival natural   
history in importance and at last  most 
horribly to overwhelm it4      ,feeling 
ill--like a sloppy tadpole4 ,my will is 
paralysed4 ,i visit the    ,doctor      
regularly to be stethoscoped1 ramble    
about the streets1 idly    scan         
magazines in the ,library and           
occasionally rink--with palpitation     
of the heart as a consequence4 ,in view 
of the shortness1 bitterness    and     
uncertainty of life1 all scientific     
labour for me seems futile4    ,after   
this the subject of his health is rarely
 absent for many  pages together4 ,the  

deaths of his father and mother deepened
 the  preoccupation1 and ,barbellion's  
symptoms and dreads were almost         
infinite in their variety4 ,he suffered 
from intermittent action of  the heart1 
from nervous weakness1 and from         
dyspepsia2 he feared now  paralysis1 now
 blindness1 now consumption4 ,the       
thought of death  was constantly with   
him1 but until the end he could not be  
sure in  what form it would come4       
,sometimes he longed for it to finish   
his  sufferings1 sometimes he hoped it  
would linger enough to allow him to     
complete the work he had in hand4       
,meanwhile1 amid the unescapable and    
agonising reflections which this        
condition induced1 another side of his  
nature was being developed4  ,in #aiaj  
there is an entry which again is like   
the first tentative  introduction of a  
musical theme in a symphony3      ,i    
hope to goodness she doesn't think ,i   
want to marry her4 ,in the    ,park1 in 
the dark1 kissing her1 ,i was testing   

and experimenting with    a new         
experience4    ,he was not1 of course1  
by any means so callous and inhuman as  
this  brief note might make him appear2 
but he was immensely curious  about     
himself and about other people1 and     
immensely greedy for new  sensations4   
,he dabbled a good deal in love-making1 
and his dabbling  was prompted partly by
 the natural pressure of the senses1    
partly by  curiosity4 ,at last he fell  
in love1 could not make up his mind     
whether  he wanted to marry1 made it up 
and was rejected1 felt relieved1 then   
unhappy1 renewed his suit and was       
accepted4 ,in ,september1 #aiae1 he was 
married4 ,a few weeks before1 during a  
holiday at ,coniston1 boisterously      
prosecuted with his usual reckless      
disregard of his weak health1 he  had   
fallen and jarred his spine1 and this   
had brought on a partial  paralysis     
which filled him with the gloomiest     
thoughts and seemed to  suggest the     
cancellation of all his plans4 ,but his 

doctor made light of  the matter and the
 marriage took place4    ,in the        
following ,november1 having formally    
presented himself for  recruitment1 he  
was led by curiosity to read the sealed 
certificate  written by his own doctor1 
not supposing that its being sealed had 
any particular significance4 ,thus he   
discovered1 while sitting in a          
railway-carriage1 that eighteen months  
before he had shown the first  symptoms 
of a terrible and incurable disease and 
that this had been  concealed from him1 
though it had been communicated to his  
relatives4  ,he found later that it had 
been known to his wife before their     
marriage  and also that his fall at     
,coniston had reawakened activity among 
the  bacteria and hastened the end4 ,in 
#aiaf his daughter was born1 and in     
,july of the following year his rapidly 
failing strength compelled him1  after  
ineffectual periods of sick leave1 to   
resign his appointment at  the ,museum4 
,his health varied2 he grew worse and   

recovered a little1  but never recovered
 what he had lost4 ,he prepared his     
diary for  publication1 but the         
publishers who had accepted it became   
afraid of  it when it was partly set up 
in type and asked to be relieved of the 
undertaking4 ,another publisher was     
found4 ,the book appeared1 and its      
reception did something to soften the   
miseries of his last months4    ,how    
profound and unremitting were these     
miseries1 and how he bore them1  is     
shown in the last section of the diary4 
,his disease was painful and  the end   
certain4 ,he had a wife1 who was often  
fatigued and ill1 and  a child1 and he  
had next to no money4 ,the strain of    
witnessing his  sufferings1 as well as  
the necessity of earning her living1    
made it  imperative that his wife should
 spend long periods of time away from   
him4 ,in #aiai there was an idea that a 
certain prolonged and troublesome       
treatment might possibly1 though only   
possibly1 effect an improvement4  ,but  

he did not care to be experimented with 
then4 ,he was already  dead1 he said1 it
 was too late1 he could not bear the    
burden of a  fresh hope4 ,he continued  
to be tortured by the long-drawn-out    
agony of  his dissolution1 by the defeat
 of all his ambitions1 and by the black 
prospects of his wife and child4 ,but   
the success of his book brings a        
curiously sweeter and gentler note into 
the diary1 a note most poignant  to the 
reader who could understand his refusing
 to be grateful for  anything4      ,i  
am still miserable he writes1 especially
 on ,e4's account--that    dear1 brave  
woman4 ,but ,i have suffered a change4  
,my whole soul    is sweetened by the   
love of those near and dear to me1 and  
by the    sympathy of those reading my  
book4    ,grants were made to him out of
 various funds1 and1 just before his    
death1 a committee of distinguished     
literary men was formed to see that  his
 wife and child did not want4 ,this in  
particular touched him to  gratitude1   

and he died proud and happy in the      
thought that those who  should have been
 dependent on him had so many good      
friends to serve  them instead4 ,a few  
hours before the end he said to his     
brother1 ,you  will soon be able to blow
 the trumpets and bang the brasses2 but 
his  eyes were full of a pathetic desire
 to have it denied4    ,it is not       
difficult to understand the complaint   
made by his friends  and relatives that 
he had drawn a misleading portrait of   
himself1 any  more than it is difficult 
to understand his own protest that he   
had  drawn himself with the clothes off4
 ,both points of view are exceedingly   
natural1 and perhaps it is possible for 
a disinterested observer  to see in the 
diary the whole truth which could not be
 immediately  obvious either to himself 
or to those who were closely connected  
with  him4 ,we need not involve         
ourselves very deeply in the theories of
  psycho-analysis to make the point that
 a man who keeps a journal will  use it 

very largely to put down what he can say
 nowhere else1 and to  express that side
 of him which cannot be expressed in the
 ordinary  world4 ,why else indeed      
should he keep a journal8 ,it is thus   
that  arise apparent contradictions     
between the outward appearance and the  
confession4 ,on one occasion ,barbellion
 says3      ,i have no personal courage 
and all this pride boils up behind a    
timid    exterior4 ,i quail often before
 stupid but overbearing persons who     
consequently never realise my contempt  
of them4444 ,of course1 to    intimate  
friends 7only about three persons in the
 wide1 wide world71    ,i can always    
give free vent to my feelings and ,i do 
so in privacy    with that violence in  
which a weak character usually finds    
some    compensation for his intolerable
 self-imposed reserve and restraint     
in public4 ,i can never marvel enough at
 the ineradicable turpitude    of my    
existence1 at my double-facedness1 and  
the remarkable    contrast between the  

face ,i turn to the outside world and   
the face my    friends know4 ,it's like 
leading a double existence or           
artificially    constructing a puppet to
 dangle before the crowd while ,i       
fulminate    behind the scenes4 ,if only
 ,i had the moral courage to play my    
part    in life--to take the stage and  
be myself1 to enjoy the delightful      
sensation of making my presence felt1   
instead of this vapourish               
mumming--then this ,journal would be    
quite unnecessary4    ,no man who is a  
hero to himself stands a very good      
chance of seeming  a hero to other      
people4 ,but in this passage ,barbellion
 not only shows  the difference between 
his appearance and his self-portraiture1
 but  also directs attention to one of  
the factors which make his diary so     
extraordinary a document4 ,he was aware 
of the contrast between what he  allowed
 the world to see and the rest of his   
nature2 but this contrast  remained     
profoundly mysterious to himself4 ,he   

understood himself  enough to be able to
 describe himself1 but not so thoroughly
 that the  knowledge could remove all   
curiosity2 and1 in fact1 while he knew  
much  of his own character that no one  
else knew1 there was left something     
over of which he was ignorant4    ,he   
once said3      ,i am apparently a      
triple personality3 7#a7 ,the           
respectable youth4 7#b7    ,the         
foul-mouthed commentator and critic4    
7#c7 ,the real but unknown ,i4          
,curious that these three should live   
together amiably in the same            
tenement4    ,one might also say that   
the reader of the diary discovers       
another  triple personality3 7#a7       
,barbellion as he must have seemed to   
others4 7#b7 ,barbellion as he thought  
he seemed to others4 7#c7 ,the  real    
,barbellion1 not fully known even to    
himself1 yet1 between his  appearance   
and his confessions1 for ever           
unconsciously betraying  himself4 ,in   
actual fact1 he was1 it is agreed by all

 who knew him1 a  man of enormous1      
almost dmonic force of character4 ,i    
have already  alluded to the reckless   
vigour with which he drove his failing  
body  through all manner of tasks and   
difficulties1 and this trait in him     
gives a fair idea of his spirit4 ,from  
boyhood onward he was weakened  by      
continual ill-health4 ,the diary is full
 of medical observations and            
forebodings1 but no one1 not even his   
family1 realised how constantly  the    
fear of sickness and death attended him4
 ,he never mentioned his  health save in
 a tone of cheerful cynicism3 he never  
pampered himself  or allowed himself to 
be pampered4 ,in spite of his           
palpitating heart1  he exposed himself  
to fatigues and performed feats of      
endurance which a  sound man might well 
have avoided4 ,he worked furiously and  
unceasingly4  ,he kept his balance and  
his courage under staggering blows of   
ill-fortune4 ,never was there so        
impossible an ambition as that of this  

sickly youth in a provincial town1      
already chained to the dreary work  of a
 reporter1 who desired1 without any     
help1 without even any decent           
opportunities for self-instruction1 to  
obtain a scientific appointment4  ,yet  
he overcame these obstacles and his     
ambition was fulfilled4 ,and  when this 
was taken from him1 when nothing was    
left but a few painful  months of life  
and his ,journal1 when it was infinite  
labour even to  trace a few words on the
 page1 he continued the self-portrait   
which had  become his last ambition as  
long as he could hold a pen at all4 ,the
  straggling1 irregularly-formed letters
 which sprawl across the paper  are the 
last witnesses of his invincible        
courage4    ,and to others this timid   
and cowardly young man seemed strong1   
masterful1 difficult to manage1         
frightening1 sometimes savage and       
bitter in conversation1 but always      
magnetic and fascinating4 ,i know1  he  
says1 ,i am not prepossessing in        

appearance--my nose is crooked  and my  
skin is blotched4 ,in reality his       
height1 his distinction  of bearing and 
fine hair produced an immediate effect  
of good  looks--which1 with the         
emaciation of his final days1 changed   
into an  austere and painful beauty4 ,he
 had particularly beautiful hands1 and  
his photographs certainly represent him 
as being not only noticeable  but also  
attractive4 ,the disparity between what 
he says of himself  and what others     
thought of him involves no real         
contradiction4 ,he is  writing of the   
hidden and secret personality whom no   
one else knew1 and  the fact that no one
 else could know this personality1 save 
by his own  deliberate act of           
revelation1 is another proof of his     
strength4 ,he is  describing the other  
side of the moon4    ,his ambition was  
the one part of his secret life which   
was too great  and too violent for even 
him to hide altogether4 ,he might doubt 
his own  qualities1 but he could not    

conceal from himself or from others what
 he  desired to be and to do4 ,his      
ambitions were1 he thought1 very soon   
and  very easily defeated1 but the title
 he gave to his book1 a catchpenny      
title1 as he owned1 and something       
wanting in sincerity1 confessed to  a   
graver defeat than he actually          
sustained4 ,his achievements were not   
great in bulk4 ,his scientific triumph  
was the triumph of reaching a           
self-proposed aim in spite of almost    
impossible obstacles2 but it was  worth 
less in itself than as a witness to     
character4 ,he might have  become one of
 the greatest of ,english biologists2   
but promise is only  promise1 and this1 
besides1 is promise of a kind with which
 we are not  concerned here4 ,in time1  
he once said1 ,i should have            
revolutionised  the study of ,systematic
 ,zoology4 ,but he was not allowed time1
 and his  scientific observations will  
be amplified1 superseded1 heaped under  
at  last by an accumulation of the work 

of his successors4 ,in literature  his  
position is very different4    ,when his
 book was being prepared for publication
 and while he was still  ignorant what  
reception it would have he remarked     
without hesitation  that he liked to    
look at himself posthumously as a       
writer2 and it  appears from the        
introduction to ,enjoying ,life that his
 friends had  long before expected him  
to turn his whole attention to          
literature4  ,even here his work is     
comprised in small space4 ,it consists  
of three  things3 the published ,journal
 of a ,disappointed ,man1 containing    
extracts from his diaries between #aijc 
and #aiag1 the posthumous volume1       
,enjoying ,life and ,other ,literary    
,remains1 containing1 together with  a  
number of essays and articles1 long     
passages omitted for the sake  of space 
from the previous book1 and the still   
unpublished diary from  the beginning of
 #aiah onwards4 ,even from this certain 
deductions  must be made4 ,the          

scientific articles in the second volume
 were only  just worth reprinting2 and  
the essays on journal-writers and the   
two  short stories1 though they are     
promising1 are yet no more than the     
experiments of a man who was considering
 giving himself formally to the         
profession of literature4 ,but when all 
these deductions are made there  is a   
residue which is unique in value4    ,in
 the introduction to the first volume   
,mr4 ,wells very comprehensively  lays  
stress on the circumstances of          
,barbellion's fate4 ,he represents  the 
diarist as saying1 ,you shall have at   
least one specimen carefully  displayed 
and labelled4 ,here is a recorded       
unhappiness4 ,when you talk  about life 
and the rewards of life and the justice 
of life and its  penalties1 what you say
 must square with this4 ,this is1 of    
course1 an  aspect of the matter which  
no reader could manage to overlook1 even
  if he desired 7as he might conceivably
 desire7 to do so4 ,it would be  a pity1

 however1 if we were to consider it to  
the exclusion of every  other aspect4   
,barbellion was not essentially a       
specimen who by good  luck had the      
ability to display and label himself4   
,if his circumstances  had been quite   
other than they were1 he would still    
have been a  remarkable man and would   
almost certainly have done remarkable   
work4  ,his disease and death ought to  
play the same part in our conception of 
him that they do in our conception of   
,keats1 with whom1 besides1 he  had     
certain affinities which he             
half-consciously recognised4 ,we do not 
know what part disease played in        
creating or forcing or conditioning     
,keats's genius2 we only know that it   
infuses a poignancy and a colour  into  
our picture of his life4 ,he does not   
appear to us as the diseased  poet1 but 
as a poet who1 as it happened1 was      
stricken with disease4  ,so with        
,barbellion3 he had a personality and a 
gift for describing  his experiences2   

and1 since it fell out that his         
experiences were  tragic1 therefore the 
story he tells is a tragedy4 ,but the   
tragedy is  not interesting only as     
such4 ,it is interesting because the    
principal  figure in it is ,barbellion4 
,the comparison with ,keats is natural1 
is suggestive1 and can be  supported by 
a number of particulars1 both accidental
 and essential4  ,since the fateful     
,november #bgth1 says ,barbellion1 my   
life has become  entirely posthumous4 ,i
 live now in the grave and am busy      
furnishing  it with posthumous joys4    
,keats writes in his last letter1 from  
,rome1  ,i have an habitual feeling of  
my real life having passed1 and that ,i 
am leading a posthumous existence4 ,but 
there is a closer similarity  between   
them than the superficial parallel      
suggested by their use of  the same     
word4 ,barbellion himself made the      
comparison more than once1  and once in 
a very significant context4      ,you   
can search all history he exclaims for  

an ambition more    powerful than mine  
and not find it4 ,no1 not ,napoleon1 nor
 ,wilhelm    ,,ii41 nor ,keats4    ,and 
this uncontrollable ambition in both of 
them was one manifestation  of the      
innermost ruling characteristic which   
they had in common1 the  passion for    
life in all its shapes and forms1 for   
all the sensations  life can bring1     
which inspires ,barbellion's ,journal as
 surely as it  inspires ,keats's poetry 
and letters4    ,the title of           
,barbellion's second book was not1 as it
 might seem1  intended in irony4 ,he    
enjoyed life to a terrifying degree and 
could  abandon himself to the ecstasy   
which it produced in him4      ,as you  
say he writes in a letter1 referring to 
a review of the    ,journal the rest of 
the notice distinguishing ,marie        
,bashkirtseff    from me by her zest for
 life is an astonishing and ludicrous   
misreading4 ,why1 even since ,i became  
bedridden1 as you will see    one day1  
my zest for life took a devil of a lot  

of killing--like a    sectioned worm    
with all the parts still wriggling4444  
,in the last part of the diary his      
assertion is amply proved4 ,here the    
zest for life1 in a man who could no    
longer indulge it save in memory1  is   
sublimated to a piercing but sweet      
lyrical cry1 which is one of the  most  
moving utterances in literature4        
,before1 when he was in possession  of  
all his faculties1 when the shadow of   
illness could sometimes be  forgotten1  
it is a rapturous and boisterous        
expression of infinite  energy1 high    
spirits and gusto4 ,almost any paragraph
 in the essay  called ,enjoying ,life   
would serve to demonstrate this3        
,dans littrature1 said ,m4 ,taine1      
j'aime tout4 ,i would shake    his hand 
for saying that1 and add3 ,in life1     
,monsieur1 as well4    ,all things      
attract me equally4 ,i cannot           
concentrate4 ,i am ready to    do       
anything1 go anywhere1 think anything1  
read anything4 ,wherever    ,i hitch my 

waggon ,i am confident of an adventurous
 ride4 ,somebody    says1 ,come and hear
 some ,wagner4 ,i am ready to go4       
,another1 ,i    say1 they are going to  
ring the bull--and who wants to complete
 his    masterpiece or count his money  
when they are going to ring the bull8   
,i will go with you to ,norway1         
,switzerland1 ,jericho1 ,timbuctoo4     
,talk    to me about the ,rosicrucians  
or the stomach of a flea and ,i will    
listen to you4 ,tell me that the        
,chelsea ,power ,station is as beautiful
    as the ,parthenon at ,athens and    
,i'll believe you4 ,everything is       
beautiful1 even the ugly--why did       
,whistler paint the squalor of the      
,london streets1 or ,brangwyn the gloom 
of a steam-crane8 ,to subscribe    to   
any one particular profession1 mode of  
life1 doctrine1 philosophy1    opinion1 
or enthusiasm1 is to cut oneself off    
from all the rest--,i    subscribe to   
all4 ,with the whole world before you1  
beware lest the    machinery of         

education seizes hold of the            
equipotential of your youth    and      
grinds you out the finished product6    
,you were a human being to    start     
with--now1 you are only a soldier1      
sailor1 tinker1 tailor4    ,leonardo da 
,vinci1 racked with frustrate passion   
after the universal1    is reported to  
have declared that only to do one thing 
and only to    know one thing was a     
disgrace1 no less4    ,crying for the   
,moon1 the essay which follows1 also    
extracted from the  ,journal1 is the    
obverse of the same coin3      ,i am    
passing through the world swiftly and   
have only time to live my    own life4  
,i am cut off by my own limitations and 
environment from    knowing much or     
understanding much4 ,i know nothing of  
literature    and the drama2 ,i have but
 little ear for music4 ,i do not        
understand    art4 ,all these things are
 closed to me4 ,i am passing swiftly    
along    the course of my life with many
 others whom ,i shall never meet4 ,how  

many dear friends and kindred spirits   
remain undiscovered among that          
number8 ,there is no time for anything4 
,everything and everyone is    swept    
along in the hustling current4 ,oh6 to  
sun ourselves awhile in    the water    
meadows before dropping over the falls6 
,the real tragedies    in this world are
 not the things which happen to us1 but 
the things    which don't happen4       
,there are critics who would trace the  
source of such outbursts as these  and  
of the joy in life that constantly      
appears in ,keats to the effects  of    
bacterial disease4 ,we cannot contradict
 the conclusion1 which may  have a      
certain truth4 ,we can only point out   
that the same cause does  not always    
produce the same effect1 and we must    
therefore deduce a  particular genius in
 those in whom this spirit manifests    
itself4  ,barbellion was1 from one point
 of view1 a case of pathology1 but he   
was not1 any more than was ,keats1      
nothing but that4 ,he had a fine        

temperament which he expressed very     
finely4    ,there is a temptation when  
one is considering the ,journal1 to     
which  ,barbellion's work must          
eventually be reduced1 to consider it as
 so  much raw material and to speculate 
how1 if he had lived1 he would  have    
used the many talents he displays in it4
 ,he began it as a record  of a         
naturalist's observations1 and it       
developed only very gradually  into a   
self-portrait and a repository for all  
his reflections and  impressions4 ,he   
was still1 when his last illness        
overtook him1 a  professional scientist1
 scribbling in his diary at night for a 
hobby4  ,but he was thinking of going   
over to literature2 and one cannot help 
asking whether1 if he had done so1 he   
would not have turned his genius  to    
some more formal and less miscellaneous 
method of expression4 ,it is  easy to   
discern in him any number of capacities4
 ,he might have become  a critic--a     
statement which can be proved by a few  

examples taken at  random3      ,i      
thoroughly enjoy ,hardy's poetry for its
 masterfulness1 for his    sheer        
muscular compulsion over the words and  
sentences4 ,in his    rough-hewn lines  
he yokes the recalcitrant words together
 and drives    them along mercilessly   
with something that looks like simple   
brute    strength4444 ,all this pleases 
me the more for ,i know to my cost what 
stubborn1 sullen1 hephstian beasts words
 and clauses can sometimes    be4 ,it is
 nice to see them punished4 ,hardy's    
poetry is ,michael ,angelo    rather    
than ,greek1 ,browning not ,tennyson4   
,it amuses me to discover the evident   
relish with which the author of    ,the 
,daffodil ,fields emphasises the blood  
and the flowers in the    attack on     
,achi ,baba4 ,it's all blood and        
beautiful flowers mixed up    together  
to ,masefield's great excitement4444    
,still1 to call ,gallipoli    bloody    
hell is1 after all1 only a pedantically 
exact description4    ,you understand1  

tho'1 a very remarkable book--a work of 
genius4      444 ,james ,joyce's        
,portrait of the ,artist--one of those  
books which    the mob will take fifty  
years to discover but once discovered   
will    again neglect4    ,he might have
 been a psychological or a satirical    
novelist1 a  metaphysician1 a casual    
essayist4 ,he might have been a poet of 
nature4  ,his diaries are studded with  
the most exquisite descriptions of      
landscapes and living things1 which grow
 only more vivid and moving as  the end 
approaches and they become transcripts  
from memory instead of  recent          
impressions4 ,the last long entry in the
 ,journal is one of them1  and it is so 
good and so characteristic that it      
insists on being quoted3      ,rupert   
,brooke said the brightest thing in the 
world was a leaf with    the sun shining
 on it4 ,god pity his ignorance6 ,the   
brightest thing    in the world is a    
,ctenophor in a glass jar standing in   
the sun4    ,this is a bit of a secret1 

for no one knows about it save only the 
naturalist4 ,i had a new sponge the     
other day and it smelt of the sea       
till ,i had soaked it4 ,but what a vista
 that smell opened up6--rock    pools1  
gobies1 ,blennies1 anemones 7crassicon1 
dahlia--oh6 ,i forget74    ,and at the  
end of my little excursion into memory  
,i came upon the    morning when ,i put 
some sanded opaque bits of jelly1 lying 
on the    rim of the sea1 into a glass  
collecting jar and to my amazement and  
delight they turned into                
,ctenophors--alive1 swimming1 and       
iridescent6    ,you must imagine a tiny 
soap bubble about the size of a filbert 
with    four series of plates or combs  
arranged regularly on the soap-bubble1  
from its ,north or to its ,south ,pole1 
and flashing spasmodically in    unison 
as they beat on the water4    ,but ,i   
think that this way of looking on       
,barbellion's work1 excusable  as it    
might be1 would nevertheless be         
mistaken4 ,every author writes  the book

 that it is given to him to write1 and  
,barbellion's book was  the ,journal4   
,if1 as seems very likely1 he had       
developed altogether  into a writer1 he 
might still not have abandoned this form
 which had  become by a gradual process 
peculiarly his own4 ,goethe said that   
all  his works were the fragments of a  
great confession1 and this is true1  in 
a greater or lesser degree1 of most     
authors4 ,barbellion would  have        
differed from the rest only in that his 
works would have been  ostensibly and   
formally1 as well as actually1 his      
confessions4    ,and this view is       
supported by the fact that up to the    
last he  was improving the flexible and 
accommodating method of literary        
expression which his diary had become4  
,the last eighteen months of  it seem to
 me to show an advance on the third part
 of the published  ,journal almost as   
striking as the advance of that third   
part on  the first4 ,the form fitted    
very closely to ,barbellion's many-sided

  and individual temperament2 and1 as   
time went on and he understood  better  
what he was doing1 he made it fit more  
closely still4 ,it was a  frame into    
which he could put with perfect ease all
 that his roving  perceptions picked up 
in life3 an impression of a landscape or
 an  animal1 a conversation overheard in
 the street1 a suddenly flashing  truth 
about himself or some other person1 a   
general reflection upon  humanity4 ,as a
 journal-writer he is not1 of course1   
alone2 but1 being a  strongly-marked    
personality1 he is unique even among    
journal-writers4  ,his intense interest 
in his own consciousness does not1 as it
 did with  ,amiel1 blind him to the     
actual outside world2 he has more       
humour1 more  gusto in concrete detail  
than ,marie ,bashkirtseff1 a vein of    
sheer  poetry that we do not find in    
,pepys4 ,this is not intended to rank   
him  above the writers with whom he     
loved to compare himself1 but rather to 
emphasise his individuality among them4 

,we find ourselves at last wondering not
 how he would have employed the  gifts  
he displays in the ,journal1 but to what
 pitch of excellence he  might have     
brought the ,journal itself4 ,the last  
entries are admirably  full of matter   
and admirably worded4 ,the passage ,i   
have quoted on the  ,ctenophors is of   
almost perfect lyrical beauty--not a    
random jotting1  but an impression      
seized and made permanent with all the  
proportion and  balance of a sonnet by  
,hrdia4 ,over against it there might be 
quoted  passages on the old village     
nurse who attended him for months1      
closely  and humorously observed and set
 down without the waste of a syllable4  
,or there are pages of reflections like 
this3      ,the ,icons4      ,every man 
has his own icon4      ,secreted in the 
closet of each man's breast is an icon1 
the image of    himself1 concealed from 
view with elaborate care1 treated       
invariably    with great respect1 by    
means of which the ,ego1 being          

self-conscious1    sees itself in       
relation to the rest of mankind1        
measures itself    therewith1 and in    
accordance with which it acts and moves 
and    subsists4 ,in the self-righteous 
man's bosom1 it is a molten image of    
a little potentate who can do no wrong4 
,in the egotist's1 an ideal    loved and
 worshipped by almost all men1 addressed
 with solemnity    and reverence1 and   
cast in an immutable brazen form4 ,only 
the    truth-seeker preserves his image 
in clay1 covered in damp rags--a        
working hypothesis4      ,a man towards 
his icon is like the tenderness and     
secretiveness of a    little bird       
towards its nest1 which does not know   
you have discovered    its heart's      
treasure4 ,for everyone knows the       
lineaments of your image    and talks   
about them to everyone else save you1   
and no one dare    refer to his own--it 
is bad form--so that in spite of the    
gossip and    criticism that swirls     
around each one's personality1 a man    

remains    sound-tight and insulated4   
,the human comedy begins at the thought 
of the ludicrous unlikeness1    in many 
cases1 of the treasured image to the    
real person--as much    verisimilitude  
about it as1 say1 about a bust by       
,gaudier-,brzeska4      ,heavens6 what a
 toy shop it will be at the ,last ,day6 
,when all our    little effigies are    
taken from their cupboards1 undraped1   
and ranged    along beside us1 nude and 
shivering4 ,in that ,day how few will be
 able    to say that they ever cried    
,god be merciful to me a sinner1 or a   
fool1 or a humbug4      ,the human      
tragedy begins as soon as one feels how 
often a man's life    is ruined by      
simple reason of this disparity between 
the image and    the real--the image 7or
 the man's mistaken idea of             
himself7--like an    ignis fatuus       
leading him through devious paths into  
the morass of    failure1 or worse--of  
sheer1 laughing-stock silliness4 ,the   
moral is3          gnthi seauton        

7,my dear chap1 quoting ,greek at your  
time of life47    ,the mellowness and   
sweetness of these lines are worth      
noting as  characteristic of a          
transformation which is obviously taking
 place  through all the last pages of   
the diary4 ,this transformation adds    
something in the nature of a rounding   
and a completion to the whole  work1    
which might otherwise have been merely  
an interrupted record4 ,it  enlarges too
 our conception of the author's         
character and capacities  and fills in1 
most graciously1 our picture of him4    
,barbellion was accustomed to accuse    
himself of being an egotist2 but1  on   
his own definition1 he was a            
truth-seeker4 ,his portrait of himself  
was not immutable4 ,it grew clearer as  
he understood himself better and  it    
changed as he changed4 ,it was not      
complete when he died because his  own  
development was not complete4 ,but he   
carried it as far as he could  and made 
of it a singular picture4 ,his ,journal 

is a book of an enduring  sort1 not     
merely because it is an accurate and    
candid self-portrait1  but also because 
of the inherent attractions of its      
subject4 ,barbellion  was a poet1 a     
humorist1 an observer1 a philosopher1 as
 well as a  truthful1 passionate1 and   
extraordinarily courageous man4 ,in     
drawing a  picture of the last he also  
made a picture of the world as it seemed
  to the first four and thus captured in
 it poetry1 humour1 observation1  and   
philosophy4 ,the subject is still too   
fresh1 and1 by the vividness  of its    
presentment1 too painful1 for any       
attempt at a final valuation  to be     
made4 ,a few months ago ,barbellion was 
still alive1 suffering and  hoping2 and1
 with the best will in the world1 no    
critic can avoid being  influenced by   
this fact4 ,but his book is a fair topic
 for prophecy2  and it is not very rash 
to predict that1 as it loses the        
sharpness  and painfulness of a record  
of fact1 so its qualities as a work of  

literature will come more into          
prominence and we shall realise that    
,barbellion was not only a genius       
untimely overwhelmed by an evil  fate1  
but a genius who1 before he was         
overwhelmed1 had opportunity  to do some
 at least of his appointed work4 ,then1 
whatever may be the  theoretical views  
we hold on the connection between       
disease and genius1  we shall be able to
 think less of ,barbellion as a case and
 more of  him as a writer4 ,we shall1   
perhaps1 not think that we have a       
complete  portrait of him in his        
,journal any more than we have a        
complete  portrait of ,keats in the     
,odes or even in the ,letters4 ,the     
greatest of  artists cannot entirely    
disclose himself in his work4           
,barbellion did so  no more than others4
 ,but he was an artist1 and1 between    
what he wrote  of himself and what was  
otherwise revealed1 it is possible to   
form a  picture of an extraordinary     
personality4          ,a ,,little       

,,classic ,,of ,,the ,,future#bg        
#bg ,bibliographical ,note3 ,principal  
,works by ,edith 4                      
,somerville and ,martin ,ross3 ,an      
,irish ,cousin1 #ahhi2                  
,naboth's ,vineyard1 #ahia2 ,through    
,connemara in a             ,governess  
,cart1 #ahic2 ,the ,real ,charlotte1    
#ahie2             ,the ,silver ,fox1   
#ahig2 ,some ,experiences of an ,irish  
,r4,m41 #ahii2 ,all on the ,irish       
,shore1 #aijc2 ,some             ,irish 
,yesterdays1 #aijf2 ,further            
,experiences of an             ,irish   
,r4,m41 #aijh2 ,dan ,russell the ,fox1  
#aiaa2 ,in             ,mr4 ,knox's     
,country1 #aiae2 ,irish ,memories1      
#aiag2             ,mount ,music1 #aiai4
 ,all published by ,longmans4    ,by    
,,orlo ,,williams      ,the evanescence 
of laughter is most pathetic4 ,its      
bubbles vanish from  the sparkling wine 
that held it so soon after it has been  
uncorked1  leaving a sadly flat beverage
 to the critical palates of future      

generations4 ,wit1 being a subtler and  
less easily disintegrated  essence1 does
 not so quickly pass away1 but the      
buoyant bubbles of  laughter1 except in 
some rare vintages1 survive but a moment
 the  uncorking of their bottle4 ,we may
 smile at the things that aroused the   
laughter of our ancestors1 bringing our 
intellect and our imagination  to the   
tasting1 but it is seldom that we       
experience spontaneously the  sudden    
glory of bursting sides when we read the
 words which aroused  it4 ,it is almost 
painful to look through the files of    
,punch of some  sixty years ago1 for it 
arouses that agonised shame with which  
one  witnesses the failure of an        
inferior joke injudiciously introduced  
into  superior society4 ,one blushes for
 its pitiful exposure4 ,nor is it any   
consolation to reflect that the laughter
 of our own day will1 for the  most     
part1 seem like the cracking of most    
unsubstantial thorns under  ghostly pots
 to those who come after us4 ,very      

little of the literature  of the past   
which truly survives is really          
provocative of hilarity4  ,the          
,falstaffian passages of ,shakespeare at
 once leap up as if to deny  this       
statement2 but1 in the first place1     
,shakespeare brewed one of  those rarer 
vintages whose beaded bubbles wink ever 
at the brim1 and1  in the second place1 
dramatic literature can always be       
revived by  the fresh infusion of a     
living actor's personality4 ,it is the  
purely  written word of humour which    
will not give that sudden jerk to our   
emotions which it gave on its first     
outpouring4 ,we say that we can         
appreciate ,rabelais and the comic tales
 of the ,canterbury ,pilgrims2  we      
profess to revel in ,tristram ,shandy1  
and to find the ,pickwick  ,papers      
delicious1 and we are not wrong2 but it 
is a soberer enjoyment  than that which 
these works of art gave to their first  
audiences4 ,we  pick them up1 certainly1
 when we wish to be entertained1 but    

seldom  when we wish to laugh4 ,there   
was a tutor at ,oxford--there may be one
  still--who was invariably annoyed when
 any of his pupils attributed a         
historical phenomenon to the spirit of  
the age1 averring that there  was no    
such thing4 ,but surely he was wrong in 
coupling this convenient  spirit with   
the ghosts of ,stephen ,sly and old     
,john ,naps of ,greece1  for the        
peculiar changes undergone by laughter  
are there to prove  its existence4      
,laughter is compounded of the spirit of
 the age3 it is  excited by peculiar and
 irrecoverable felicities and           
conjunctions of  temperament and        
environment1 all of which are           
ingredients in that very  real but      
intangible spirit4 ,we can guess at this
 spirit1 but we cannot  recapture it1   
any more than we can recapture the light
 effervescence of  its laughter4        
,further1 laughter is not a lofty       
emotion4 ,the beasts1 they say1 have  it
 not1 but those who are little better   

than beasts laugh heartily4  ,we        
ourselves are not so proud of our       
laughter that we wish it to echo        
through the ages1 as we would have our  
high thoughts ring and our  tears1      
perhaps1 drip4 ,the heady wine that     
moves it is often an unworthy  vintage1 
more like the champagne which ,murger's 
,schaunard christened  coco pileptique  
than the true ,hippocrene4 ,so it has   
been in the  past4 ,the shelves of      
libraries are full of these flat        
draughts from  which all the liveliness 
that alone gave them savour has         
departed4  ,yet in all ages there have  
been nobler bins of these light literary
  wines which1 for all that they no     
longer catch at the throat1 have a  more
 lasting quality and never entirely lose
 their gratefulness to  the tongue of   
the taster4 ,they may not have sparkled 
in their prime  more brightly than their
 now neglected contemporaries1 but they 
live  for certain finer essences in     
their composition1 wit1 style1 finish1  

colour1 bouquet1 or something even      
subtler than these1 that indefinable    
taste which distinguishes all that has  
been grown on a rich literary  soil1    
warmed by the sun of beauty and matured 
by a vintner who has  carefully and     
lovingly learned his trade4 ,such1 after
 exciting the  laughter of the present  
in their youth1 may in their ripeness1  
and even  in their decline1 earn the    
humour of posterity4 ,they may possibly 
be  numbered among the classics1 that is
 to say1 among the productions of  any  
age which deserve to live as models for 
the future or as peculiarly  happy      
expressions of a bygone time4 ,the test 
of a classic is what men  and women of  
any age will always call its modernity1 
which means that  it possesses some of  
those timeless qualities of greatness or
 artistic  excellence which permeate the
 spirit of any age4 ,skill in           
construction  and delineation1 accuracy 
of vision1 fine rhythm1 perfect choice  
of  language1 happy adaptation of form  

to matter1 sense of beauty1 all  these1 
like beauty itself1 do not die4 ,the    
work which holds them1 even  though     
thinly commingled1 will outlive the     
evaporation of its bubbles1  and may by 
their preservative effect become1 if not
 a great1 at least a  little classic4   
,to have done1 then1 with the bush which
 no good wine needs1 ,i would  like to  
taste again1 in the company of the      
reader1 what1 if ,i may  prophesy in    
hope rather than in certainty1 may      
become in ,english  literature a little 
classic of the future4 ,the bush would  
not have  been so thick had it not been1
 on the face of it1 unusual so to  greet
 a work that has moved so many thousands
 of us to hearty and  inextinguishable  
laughter4 ,i mean the work of ,miss     
,edith ,somerville  and her mourned-for 
second self in letters who wrote under  
the name of  ,martin ,ross4 ,few        
humorists who write merely to catch the 
passing fancy  of the day can have been 
more successful or more popular3 in the 

merely  temporary quality of            
effervescence they can compete with any 
of their  contemporaries4 ,the sportsman
 who hates art and loathes poetry has   
the  ,irish ,r4,m4 and its fellows in   
well-thumbed copies on his bookshelves2 
the man who only reads for laughter and 
never for improvement praises  these    
authors as highly as the most           
discriminating1 and those who would     
faint at the suspicion of becoming in   
any way involved in classic  literature 
will joyfully immerse themselves in     
,somerville and ,ross1  like thirsty    
bibbers quaffing a curious vintage for  
its exhilaration  rather than its       
quality4 ,appreciation has poured in    
upon them from all  sides1 from those   
who know and delight in the comic sides 
of ,irish  life1 when treated           
observantly and not fantastically1 from 
those to  whom hunting and horseflesh   
are almost the be-all and end-all of    
existence1 from those who treat their   
brains to a good story as to a          

stimulative drug1 as well as from those 
who bring more discrimination  to their 
appraisement4 ,the devotees will often  
claim that they alone  can scent the    
subtler flavour from these hilarious    
pages4 ,the ,irishman1  unless he be of 
the kind that despises all              
light-heartedness in writing  of his    
country1 will assert that none but he   
can get the exquisite  appreciation of  
comparing the work of art with the      
reality which  inspired it3 the hunting 
fraternity will find it hard to suppose 
that  one who knows not what it is to be
          ,oft listening how the hounds 
and horn        ,clearly rouse the      
slumbering morn        ,from the side of
 some hoar hill1        ,through the    
high wood echoing shrill1    can        
possibly enjoy the skill shown by these 
authors in describing  the joy of horses
 and the thrill of hunting4             
,nevertheless1 the books  of ,miss      
,somerville and ,martin ,ross are       
heartily enjoyed by a host  of readers  

who are neither ,irish nor hunting      
people1 for the simple  reason that they
 are prompted to an explosion of        
laughter whenever  they take up one of  
these stories4 ,the bulk of these       
readers would  wish to go no further in 
their appreciation3 they embrace the    
givers  of present laughter with so full
 a measure of enjoyment that it would   
seem to them unnecessary to probe any   
further into the chemistry of  such     
excellence1 nor perhaps would they deem 
it possible that any  higher praise than
 their freely-expressed enjoyment could 
be looked  for by any authors4 ,yet to  
my mind it is possible4 ,while including
 in  one's general testimony all that   
can be said by the most extravagant  of 
these admirers1 the taster who is       
considering the cellar of ,english      
literature which is being laid down for 
posterity may discern qualities  not so 
apparent to the quaffer for immediate   
exhilaration4 ,it is hard  to conceive  
it1 but the bubbles may vanish3 if they 

do1 the question  is1 what will be left8
 ,my point is that the work of ,miss    
,somerville and  ,martin ,ross has the  
qualities of a wine that will keep4     
,it cannot be a great wine1 for the     
vineyard is too restricted4 ,the  high  
winds of emotion have not swept over its
 soil1 nor has the soft  rain of        
tenderness moistened it4 ,it will always
 be bright and rather  dry like         
,vouvray1 gay but with a little bite in 
it3 posterity may  even call it curious4
 ,but they will recognise that it holds 
the  authentic flavours that distinguish
 infallibly the finer products  of      
,english literary bins4 ,the authors    
have chosen a small field1 but  they    
direct on it an accuracy of vision which
 is remarkable1 and1  seeing that they  
were two1 a unity of vision which is a  
miracle4 ,in  the expression of this    
vision they display an unfailing        
sureness of  touch and a precision which
 is perfect in its admirable economy4   
,they  handle our language with a       

deftness and flexibility which is a     
rarity  in itself1 and their style1     
though always original1 is nourished by 
a recollection of great models both in  
prose and poetry4 ,theirs is a  literary
 equipment of the first class1 solidly  
framed1 well clothed1  attractive in    
appearance1 and ornamented with taste4  
,they touch nothing  that they do not   
embellish3 events by their unflagging   
narrative power1  which goes as         
unfalteringly as one of their choicest  
hunters1 character  by their sympathetic
 insight1 scenery by their love of      
natural beauty1  dialogue by their      
dramatic sense4 ,it is not all ,ireland 
that they draw1  let that be admitted2  
they prefer to laugh1 letting others    
weep4 ,yet1  if the whole heart of      
,ireland does not beat within their     
pages1 a part  of it is there1 pulsing  
with true ,irish blood and throbbing    
with truly  ,irish emotions4 ,their     
aspect is no more that of ,mr4 ,james   
,joyce or ,mr4  ,synge or ,mr4 ,yeats   

than it is that of ,mr4 ,george ,moore  
or ,mr4 ,devlin1  but1 if they are      
justly praised for their merits1 that   
praise cannot be  diminished because    
they looked on ,ireland with laughing   
eyes through a  ,west ,carberry window4 
,their books are literature no less     
certainly than  ,castle ,rackrent is    
literature1 and for very similar        
reasons4    ,well1 let us taste4 ,it is 
a bright dry wine1 ,i have said4 ,it is 
not1  perhaps1 the quality which the    
authors would ascribe to what they      
consider their best work1 ,the ,real    
,charlotte--an estimate in which  ,mr4  
,stephen ,gwynn agrees with them4 ,this 
is a fine sombre story of  a middle-aged
 woman's jealousy1 for ,charlotte is a  
kind of ,irish  ,cousine ,bette4 ,but1  
if the subject is comparable to that of 
,balzac's  novel1 the treatment is      
certainly not so1 and that is my reason 
for  not regarding this as the work by  
which their achievement can best  be    
judged4 ,it is the work in which they   

have aimed highest1 and the  measure of 
their success is not small1 but the     
theme of ,charlotte's  jealousy and the 
havoc in other lives which it caused    
needed for its  convincing development  
all the powers of a great tragic artist4
 ,it is  with no want of recognition of 
the authors' artistic aims or want of   
sympathy with their regret at abandoning
 them for others less lofty  that this  
is said3 but the work of an artist can  
best be judged from  that part of it    
which most nearly reaches perfection4   
,miss ,somerville  and ,martin ,ross    
most nearly reached perfection in their 
lighter stories  of ,irish life1 and it 
says much for their acumen that they saw
 the line  on which their talent could  
naturally reach its maturity1           
courageously  turning their backs on    
higher and more tragic paths likely to  
tax them  beyond their capabilities4 ,at
 the same time1 it would be unjust not  
to  point out that even in their best   
work comedy does not exclude the more   

poignant feelings4 ,it would be the     
greatest mistake to regard these two    
writers as nothing more than jesters4   
,their humour is the true humour  which 
runs hand-in-hand with pity1 and the    
sympathy mingled with their  laughter   
robs it of any taste of bitterness4     
,there is a chapter in  ,some ,irish    
,yesterdays which shows how their hearts
 were touched4#bh  ,it treats of        
marriage and love1 death and birth among
 the peasantry in  the south-west of    
,ireland with a delicacy of feeling     
which is beyond  praise1 and shows that 
the writers did not observe with the    
aloofness  of an explorer among savages1
 but that for them seeing and describing
  alike were deeply-felt emotional      
experiences4 ,the chapter opens with a  
memory of a wedding in the little ,roman
 ,catholic chapel of the village1  a    
simple ceremony1 after which the        
bridegroom hauled his wife up beside    
him on to a shaggy horse and started for
 home at a lumbering gallop4  ,then1 in 

a brilliant transition by way of ,tom   
,cashen's reflections on  marriage and a
 glimpse of his married life1 we are    
introduced at ,tom  ,cashen's funeral to
 the bride of twenty-five years ago1 a  
middle-aged  stranger in a frilled cap  
and blue cloak1 with handsome eyes full 
of  friendliness1 with her ill-health1  
her profusion of children1 and  himself 
whose nose glowed portentously above a  
rusty grey beard and  beneath a hat-brim
 of a bibulous tint4 ,then listen to the
 passage  which follows3          #bh   
,in ,irish ,memories ,miss ,somerville  
says that this             chapter is   
the reprint of an article by ,martin    
,ross--a             fact which throws  
some light on the respective            
contributions of the two collaborators4 
,i should like             to mention   
another passage in which these writers  
touch the pathetic with distinction4 ,it
 is that             chapter in ,dan    
,russell the ,fox in which1 while       
tending a poisoned hound1 the ,irish    

mother tries             vainly to      
persuade her younger son to propose to  
the             infatuated young lady4  
,he rejects her suggestion as           
an outrage on the lady1 and sets his    
face towards             ,america4 ,as  
the saved hound licks her hand1 ,it's no
             good now1 poor puppy1 she  
says4      ,the sunny ,shrove ,tuesday  
in early ,march lived again as she      
spoke1 the    glare of the sunshine upon
 the bare country brimming with imminent
    life1 the scent of the furze1       
already muffling its spikes in bloom1   
the daffodils hanging their lamps in    
shady places4 ,how strangely1 how       
bleakly different was the life history  
summarised in the melancholy    ,october
 evening6 ,instead of the broad-backed  
horse1 galloping on    roads that were  
white in the sun and haze of the strong 
,march day1    with the large           
frieze-clad waist to meet her arms      
about1 and the    laughter and shouting 
of the pursuers coming to her ear1 there

 would    be a long and miry tramping in
 the darkness1 behind her spouse1 with  
talk of guano and geese and pigs' food1 
and a perfect foreknowledge    of how he
 would complete1 at the always          
convenient shebeen1 the    glorious     
fabric of intoxication1 of which the    
foundation had been    well and truly   
laid at the funeral4    ,from the       
funeral we pass again to the cottage in 
which the ,triplets  are holding their  
reception1 the three day-old babes      
cradled in the  stuffy room1 hazy with  
the smoke of the turf fire1 the crowd in
 the  doorway1 the old woman rocking the
 cradle3      ,obscure corners harboured
 obscure masses1 that might be family   
raiment1 or beds1 or old women2         
somewhere among them the jubilant    cry
 of a hen proclaimed the feat of laying 
an egg1 in muffled tones    that        
suggested a lurking-place under a bed4  
,between the cradle    and the fire sat 
an old man in a prehistoric tall hat1   
motionless    in the stupor of his great

 age2 at his feet a boy wrangled with a 
woolly puppy that rolled its eyes till  
the blue whites showed1 in a            
delicious glance of humour1 as it tugged
 at the red flannel shirt of    its     
playmate4    ,such a passage in a       
,russian novelist would warrant         
ecstasies on the  part of our           
illuminati3 let us no less highly praise
 our own art  when it is possible4 ,the 
chapter concludes with some lights on   
the  commercial methods of matrimony    
practised by the peasant class3 the     
writers do not defend them1 but call    
attention to the surprising bloom  that 
is apt to spring from them4 ,from them  
springs1 like a flower from  a dust     
heap1 the unsullied1 uneventful         
home-life of ,western ,ireland4  ,there 
is here no material1 of the accepted    
sort1 for a playwright2  no unsatisfied 
yearnings and shattered ideals1 nothing 
but remarkable  common sense1 and a     
profound awe for the sacrament of       
,marriage4  ,marriage1 humorous1        

commercial1 and quite unlovely1 is the  
first act2  the second is mere          
preoccupation with an accomplished      
destiny2 the  last is usually twilight  
and much faithfulness4 ,the dialogue is 
a  masterpiece throughout1 epigram1     
heart-piercing pathos1 with humour1     
heavenly and inveterate1 lubricating    
all4 ,of an elderly couple1  married by 
a happy thought some thirty years       
before1 it was said1 as  the authors'   
record1 their hearts were within in each
 other4 ,this  chapter1 through which   
breathes all the soft beauty and humour 
of the  soil1 is a sufficient answer to 
those who would tax these writers with  
a uniform attitude of rather heartless  
derision or with following--what  a     
blind criticism6--in the benighted      
footsteps of those who have given  us   
the dreary horror of the traditional    
stage ,irishman4    ,then1 again1 there 
is another spirit that breathes         
delicately  through these stories1      
tempering their outlines as the mists of

 the  ,atlantic those of the craggy     
western hillside4 ,it is the spirit of  
natural beauty1 which1 to the hearts of 
,miss ,somerville1 herself an           
accomplished draughtsman1 and ,martin   
,ross1 makes ever the sharpest  appeal4 
,they make the reader plainly feel that 
if the unconventional  dignity and      
penetrating wit of the ,irish folk      
clutches powerfully at  their feelings1 
the inexhaustible beauty of its         
surroundings pierces  to their very     
marrow4 ,quotation after quotation might
 be given to show  their remarkable gift
 of rendering the scenery which has so  
moved their  imaginations4 ,i can only  
choose a few1 embarrassed at the        
richness of  the field of choice4 ,the  
last chapter of ,some ,irish ,yesterdays
 opens  with an example which it is hard
 to surpass3      ,the road to          
,connemara lies white across the        
memory--white and very    quiet4 ,in    
that far west of ,galway1 the silence   
dwells pure upon the    spacious        

country1 away to where the ,twelve ,pins
 make a gallant line    against the     
northern sky4 ,it comes in the heathery 
wind1 it borrows    peace from the white
 cottage gables on the hillside1 it is  
accented    by the creeping approach of 
a turf cart1 rocking behind its thin    
grey    pony4 ,little else stirs save   
the ducks that sail on a wayside pool to
    the push of their yellow propellers2
 away from the road1 on a narrow        
oasis of arable soil1 a couple of women 
are digging potatoes2 their             
persistent voices are borne on the      
breeze that blows warm over the         
blossoming boglands and pink heather4   
,scarcely to be analysed is that        
fragrance of ,irish air2 the pureness   
of bleak mountains is in it1 the twang  
of turf smoke is in it1 and    there is 
something more1 inseparable from        
,ireland's green and grey    landscapes1
 wrought in with her bowed and patient  
cottages1 her    ragged wails1 and eager
 rivers1 and intelligible only to the   

spirit4    ,here is another landscape1  
the ,irish ,r4 ,m4's view of his own    
demesne3      ,certainly the view from  
the roof was worth coming up to look at4
 ,it    was rough heathery country on   
one side1 with a string of little blue  
lakes running like a turquoise necklet  
round the base of a firry    hill1 and  
patches of pale green pasture were set  
amidst the rocks and    heather4 ,a     
silvery flash behind the undulations of 
the hills told    where the ,atlantic   
lay in immense plains of sunlight4      
,what1 again1 could be a more delightful
 overture to the lifelike  description  
of the regatta on ,lough ,lonen than the
 short paragraph  which conveys in a few
 touches all the beauty of the scene8   
,a mountain towered steeply up from the 
lake's edge1 dark with the    sad green 
of beech-trees in ,september2 fir woods 
followed the curve    of the shore1 and 
leaned far over the answering darkness  
of the    water2 and above the trees    
rose the toppling steepnesses of the    

hill1    painted with the purple glow of
 heather4 ,the lake was about a mile    
long1 and1 tumbling from its farther    
end1 a fierce and narrow river    fled  
away west to the sea1 some four or five 
miles off4    ,in these descriptions    
there is no striving for elaborate      
effect3 the  authors simply place the   
scene before our eyes with that aptness 
of  language which is like the unerring 
needle of a master etcher4 ,to  travel  
on the wings of ,miss ,somerville and   
,martin ,ross gives one  constant       
thrills of amazement at their hawk-like 
swoops after a  telling phrase3 they    
catch an apt simile on the wing with an 
arresting  suddenness which adds moments
 of breathlessness to the already       
exhilarating flight of their rapid      
narrative4 ,instances can be picked  out
 from any of the stories like plums from
 a pudding4      ,in the depths of the  
wood ,dr4 ,hickey might be heard        
uttering those    singular little yelps 
of encouragement that to the irreverent 

suggest    a milkman in his dotage4444  
,it was a gleaming morning in mid-,may1 
when everything was young and    tense1 
and thin and fit to run for its life1   
like a ,derby horse4444      ,i followed
 ,dr4 ,hickey by way of the window1 and 
so did ,miss ,m',evoy2    we pooled our 
forces1 and drew her mamma after us     
through the opening    of two foot by   
three steadily1 as the great god ,pan   
drew pith from    the reed4444      ,old
 ,mc,rory had a shadowy and             
imperceptible quality that is not       
unusual in small fathers of large       
families2 it always struck me    that he
 understood very thoroughly the         
privileges of the neglected1    and     
pursued an unnoticed1 peaceful and      
observant path of his own in    the     
background4 ,i watched him creep away in
 his furtive1 stupefied    manner1 like 
a partly-chloroformed ferret4444        
,miss ,mc,rory's reins were clutched in 
a looped confusion1 that    summoned    
from some corner of my brain a memory of

 the ,sultan's cipher    on the ,order  
of the ,medjidie4      ,like smuts      
streaming out of a chimney the followers
 of the hunt    belched from the lane   
and spread themselves over the pale     
green    slopes4444    ,though the      
temptation is almost irresistible1 ,i   
refrain here from  displaying this      
incisive power applied to character1    
notably to ,irish  character4 ,the      
success of our authors in this respect  
is so notorious  that further testimony 
is superfluous4 ,if we have any         
appreciation of  their art at all1 the  
,major and the gentle ,philippa1 his    
wife1 ,flurry  and ,sally ,knox1 old    
,mrs4 ,knox looking as if she had robbed
 a scarecrow1  with her white woolly dog
 with sore eyes and a bark like a tin   
trumpet1 against the inimitable         
background of her ramshackle mansion  of
 ,aussolas1 scene of many wit-combats   
between her and ,flurry1 ,miss  ,bobbie 
,bennett1 the ,mc,rory family1 ,john    
,kane1 ,mrs4 ,knox's henchman1 and      

,michael the huntsman1 all are as vivid 
to us as our dearest friends4  ,it is   
worth pointing out1 however1 that an    
almost diabolical power of  delineation 
is not the only compelling quality in   
these portraits4  ,there is in their    
introduction of their characters that   
natural  dramatic instinct which they   
have so humorously observed in their    
,irish neighbours4 ,i need only instance
 the ingenuity by which ,mrs4  ,knox is 
first heard off1 easily vanquishing in  
speech that doughty  antagonist1 an     
,irish countrywoman3 or the introduction
 of ,john ,kane in  the ,aussolas       
,martin ,cat1 in two inimitable pages1  
which are followed  by another perfect  
passage of comic drama1 the entry into  
the old  demesne of ,aussolas of vulgar 
,mr4 ,tebbutts1 the would-be tenant3    
,away near the house the peacock uttered
 his defiant screech1 a    note of      
exclamation that seemed entirely        
appropriate to ,aussolas2    the        
turkey-cock in the yard accepted the    

challenge with effusion1    and from    
further away the voice of ,mrs4 ,knox's 
,kerry bull1 equally    instant in      
taking offence1 ascended the gamut of   
wrath from growl to    yell4 ,blended   
with these voices was another--a man's  
voice1 in loud    harangue1 advancing   
down the long beech walk to the kitchen 
garden4    ,as it approached the        
wood-pigeons bolted in panic1 with      
distracted    clappings of wings1 from  
the tall firs by the garden wall in     
which    they were wont to sit arranging
 plans of campaign with regard to the   
fruit4 ,we sat in silence4 ,the latch of
 the garden gate clicked1 and    the    
voice said in stentorian tones3      ,my
 father 'e kept a splendid table4       
,every gathering of their               
countrymen--the meet1 the run1 the horse
 show1  the races1 the regatta1 the     
auction--have an intensity of motion and
  character which is achieved not by the
 tiresome enumerative methods of  some  
modern realists1 but by the skilful     

selection of the practised  artist1 and 
by a clever condensation of             
observations--their only form  of       
exaggeration--gathered over a wide range
 of times and places4    ,finally--the  
word starts up all too soon--let us     
praise the powerful  sweep of their     
narrative1 for it is this rapidity and  
staying power  which sets the crown on  
their achievement4 ,when they are out   
with the  hunt1 whatever be the quarry1 
they are as crabbed leppers as ever     
moved the picturesque admiration of an  
,irish hunt following4 ,they are  off at
 the first cry of the hounds and nothing
 stops them1 they drop  over the slaty  
fences1 change feet on the banks1 thread
 the rocky  paths of steep ascents and  
career down the craggy hills1 like      
,flurry  ,knox's mounts to the          
discomfiture of staider ,saxon hunters4 
,with them1  moreover1 there is never a 
check2 they gallop hot on the scent from
  first to last1 and run the story to a 
triumphant death in an ecstasy  of      

unquenchable laughter4 ,their climaxes  
are marvellous1 led up to as  they are  
by a brilliant and sustained crescendo4 
,think of the mle  at the end of ,high  
,tea at ,mc,keown's1 or of the ,dane's  
,breechin'1  with its exquisite         
interlude of the search for the pin in  
the village  post-office2 think of the  
finale to ,philippa's ,foxhunt1 with the
  ,irish clergy and ,mrs4 ,knox pulling 
the small boy out of the drain2 or  of  
,lady ,knox's ominous arrival at the end
 of ,oh1 ,love6 ,oh1 ,fire6 and  the    
escape of ,sally in ,mrs4 ,knox's       
pony-chaise1 or of the combined         
catastrophe that fell upon the ,major's 
household in ,a ,royal ,command4  ,for  
pure art in narrative construction these
 finales are unexampled in  ,english    
literature of to-day1 all the more      
because they are free from  all         
buffoonery4 ,here is one that starts a  
movement con brio3      ,a shout from   
the top of the hill interrupted the     
amenities of the    check4 ,flurry was  

out of the wood blowing shattering      
blasts upon his    horn1 and the hounds 
rushed to him1 knowing the gone away    
note that    was never blown in vain4   
,the brown mare came out through the    
trees    and the undergrowth like a     
woodcock down the wind1 and jumped      
across    a stream on to a more than    
questionable bank2 the hounds splashed  
and    struggled after him1 and as they 
landed the first ecstatic whimpers      
broke forth4 ,in a moment it was full   
cry1 discordant1 beautiful1 and         
soul-stirring1 as the pack spread and   
sped1 and settled into line4    ,it is  
only one of many such4 ,let me send the 
reader to his shelf to  take down ,in   
,mr4 ,knox's ,country1 and read ,put    
,down ,two and ,carry  ,one1 with its   
account of the events which led to ,miss
 ,mc,rory's riding  pillion behind the  
,major into the scandalised sight of    
,lady ,knox1 or to  expire once more    
over the mingling of ,mrs4 ,mc,rory's   
golden butterfly  with ,philippa's      

hat-trimming at the harvest festival    
7,the ,bosom of the  ,mc,rorys74 ,i am  
compelled to quote1 for its rendering of
 the purely  ludicrous1 from the        
incident of ,playboy's nocturnal rescue 
in ,the  ,conspiracy of ,silence        
7,further ,experiences of an ,i4,r4,m474
 ,major  ,yeates1 as deputy master in   
,flurry ,knox's absence1 has taken the  
hounds  over to hunt with ,mr4 ,flynn1  
who1 after a run full of incident1 has  
connived at the secretion of ,playboy1 a
 fine hound of the old ,irish  breed1 in
 a bedroom at the top of the house4 ,the
 ,major is warned of  this by the       
youngest boy1 whose gratitude he has    
earned by giving him a  mount that day4 
,the pair thereupon grope their way     
upstairs to raid the  bedroom in its    
owner's absence3      ,a dim skylight   
told that the roof was very near my     
head2 ,i extended a    groping hand for 
the wall1 and without any warning found 
my fingers    closing improbably1       
awfully1 upon a warm human face4        

,it was the servant1 ,maggie ,kane1     
bringing up a drumstick of a goose    to
 pacify the hound4 ,they open the door  
of the room1 and ,playboy is    revealed
 tied to the leg of a low wooden        
bedstead4 ,he was standing    up1 his   
eyes gleamed green as emeralds1 he      
looked as big as a calf4    ,he         
obviously regarded himself as the       
guardian of ,eugene's bower1    and ,i  
failed to see any recognition of me in  
his aspect1 in point    of fact he      
appeared to be on the verge of an       
outburst of suspicion    that would     
waken the house once and for all4 ,we   
held a council of    war in whispers    
that perceptibly increased his distrust2
 ,i think it    was ,maggie ,kane who   
suggested that ,master ,eddy should     
proffer him    the bone while ,i        
unfastened the rope4 ,the strategy      
succeeded1 almost    too well1 in fact4 
,following the alluring drumstick1      
,playboy burst    into the passage1     
towing me after him on the rope4 ,still 

preceded by    the light-footed ,master 
,eddy1 he took me down the attic stairs 
at a    speed which was the next thing  
to a headlong fall1 while ,maggie ,kane 
held the candle at the top4 ,as we      
stormed past old ,flynn's door ,i    was
 aware that the snoring had ceased1 but 
the pace was too good to    inquire4 ,we
 scrimmaged down the second flight into 
the darkness of    the hall1 fetching up
 somewhere near the clock1 which1 as if 
to give    the alarm1 uttered three loud
 and poignant cuckoos4 ,i think ,playboy
    must have sprung at it1 in the      
belief that it was the voice of the     
drumstick2 ,i only know that my arm was 
nearly wrenched from its    socket1 and 
that the clock fell with a crash from   
the table to the    floor1 where1 by    
some malevolence of its machinery1 it   
continued to    cuckoo with a jocund and
 implacable persistence4 ,something that
 was    not ,playboy bumped against me4 
,the cuckoo's note became mysteriously  
muffled1 and a door1 revealing a        

fire-lit kitchen1 was shoved open4      
,we struggled through it1 bound into a  
sheaf by ,playboy's rope1 and in    our 
midst the cuckoo clock1 stifled but     
indomitable1 continued its    protest   
from under ,maggie ,kane's shawl4       
,and now1 if ,i may close with a        
recollection of what is1 perhaps1 the   
most brilliant of all these brilliant   
narratives1 ,i will call to the         
reader's mind the story of ,the         
,pug-nosed ,fox1 from the same volume4  
,every gift of language1 delineation1   
vigorous intensity1 dramatic  gradation1
 and swiftness of progress over a series
 of crises to a  perfect culmination has
 been lavished by the authors on this   
story4  ,from the misguided efforts of  
the photographer to take a picture of   
the hounds on a sweltering ,august day1 
all through the untimely chase  of the  
old fox to the discovery of ,tomsy      
,flood sewn up in a feather  mattress in
 the loft of the ,mc,rorys' stable1 and 
the raid of the hounds  upon the wedding

 breakfast at the moment of the entry of
 the guests1  there is not a moment in  
which to draw breath4 ,it is life       
itself1 with  all the added quickness to
 its revolutions and intensity to its   
vision  that art can give4 ,with this   
memory ,i must leave this little classic
 to  its future1 but so that art1 rather
 than criticism1 shall have the last    
word1 a typical passage1 showing the    
authors' ease of transition from  beauty
 to comedy1 shall close this grateful   
appreciation3      ,at the top of the   
hill we took another pull4 ,this        
afforded us a    fine view of the       
,atlantic1 also of the surrounding      
country and    all that was therein1    
with1 however1 the single exception of  
the    hounds4 ,there was nothing to be 
heard save the summery rattle of the    
reaping-machine1 the strong and steady  
rasp of a corn-crake1 and    the growl  
of a big steamer from a band of fog that
 was advancing1    ghost-like1 along the
 blue floor of the sea4 ,two fields away

 a man    in a straw hat was slowly     
combing down the flanks of a haycock    
with a wooden rake1 while a             
black-and-white cur slept in the young  
after-grass beside him4 ,we broke into  
their sylvan tranquillity    with a     
heated demand whether the hounds had    
passed that way4 ,shrill    glamour from
 the dog was at first the only reply2   
its owner took off    his hat1 wiped his
 forehead with his sleeve1 and stared at
 us4      ,i'm as deaf as a beetle this 
three weeks1 he said1 continuing to     
look us up and down in a way that made  
me realise1 if possible1 more    than   
before1 the absurdity of looking like a 
,christmas card in the    heat of a     
summer's day4      ,did ye see the      
,,hounds8 shouted ,michael1 shoving the 
chestnut up    beside him4      ,it's   
the neurology ,i got1 continued the     
haymaker1 an' the pain    does be       
whistlin' out through me ear till ,i    
could mostly run into the    say from   
it4      ,it's a pity ye wouldn't1 said 

,michael1 whirling ,moses round4        
,,forgotten ,,satirists    ,by ,,aldous 
,,huxley      ,all readers of the       
literary ,press must often have noticed 
that the  most ardently contested and   
the most prolonged controversies1 among 
all those that fill correspondence      
columns with the rumour of inkpot  wars1
 turn almost invariably upon subjects   
remote from actuality and  of a nature  
profoundly trivial4 ,questions of       
philology and spelling1  questions of   
dates and names and little odd facts--it
 is on such  circumscribed arenas that  
month-long combats clash and sway and   
would  go on clashing and swaying for   
ever if it were not for the editor's    
tyrannically-imposed peace4 ,to the     
practical man1 intent on the  immediate1
 as well as to the philosopher in his   
abstract world of  ideas1 this          
preoccupation with facts that are       
irrelevant both to the  money-maker and 
the seeker after truth seems at first   
sight quite  incomprehensible4 ,but the 

explanation is simple4 ,we have leisure 
and  we hate being bored4 ,we must find 
something that will keep our mind  busy 
without exhausting it4 ,we might1 to be 
sure1 occupy ourselves by  studying the 
,einstein theory2 but the effort1 the   
agony of trying to  think abstractly6   
,no1 decidedly the ,einstein theory is  
too much of a  good thing4 ,so we fall  
back on stamp collecting or on what is  
more  absorbing even than stamp         
collecting--on the inexhaustible past4  
,we  turn to history1 not for any       
ambitious ,wellsian ideas about         
humanity1  but for the anecdotes1 the   
innumerable bits of ,notes and ,queryish
  information which a little patience   
and curiosity can pick up like  shells  
on a dry beach4 ,how pleasant it is and 
how restful1 after an  effort of        
abstract reasoning 7if one has been     
unwise enough to make  that effort71 to 
turn to ,disraeli's ,curiosities of     
,literature or  to the ,literary        
,recreations of ,sir ,edward ,cook6 ,we 

are amused1  absorbed1 instructed1 and  
all without the least expense of spirit4
  ,what song the sirens sang1 what were 
,mr4 ,gladstone's favourite ,latin      
quotations--these things we learn and a 
thousand more1 pleasantly1              
effortlessly1 without tears4    ,this1  
then1 is my excuse and justification for
 directing attention to  an incident so 
remote as the ,popish ,plot1 to men so  
obscure as ,settle  and ,pordage and    
,flecknoe--their very names are absurd1 
,dickensian4  ,these long-dead days of  
controversy fairly bristle with         
curiosities  of literature4 ,we catch   
glimpses of odd fantastic men performing
 odd  fantastic actions4 ,we see1 thrown
 up by the storm of political passion1  
strange traits of human psychology that 
float on the surface like  grotesque    
fishes of the depths dislodged by a     
submarine earthquake4  ,and so1 as we   
cannot all be ,newtons or ,empedocleses1
 let us content  ourselves with small   
things1 finding the occupation and      

amusement we  desire in the anecdotes   
and old wives' tales of history1 so     
pleasant1  so futile1 so absorbingly    
human4    ,our purpose is to do         
justice--a little more than justice1 it 
may be--to  a few of the minor          
characters in the drama of the ,popish  
,plot4 ,but with  the best will in the  
world it is impossible not to mention   
the hero of  the piece2 ,dryden is the  
,prince of ,denmark of the ,plot1 and   
without at  least a casual reference to 
his part the play has no sense at all4  
,our curtain1 then1 goes up on the      
,autumn of #afha2 for1 in the approved  
style1 we plunge in medias res4 ,the    
,earl of ,shaftesbury is in the  ,tower 
on a charge of ,high ,treason4 ,a ,bill 
of ,indictment is to be  presented      
against him4 ,it was in anticipation of 
this event and with  the deliberate     
intention of turning public opinion     
against ,shaftesbury  that1 on ,november
 #agth1 ,dryden published ,absalom and  
,achitophel4    ,this was not by any    

means the first time that ,shaftesbury  
had been  attacked4 ,for the past two   
years the ,tory pamphleteers had made   
him  the target of their most envenomed 
shafts4 ,one at least of these          
anonymous satires1 ,a ,modest           
,vindication of the ,earl of            
,shaftesbury in  a ,letter to a ,friend 
concerning his being elected ,king of   
,poland1 is  worthy to be rescued from  
oblivion4 ,like almost every pamphleteer
 of  the time1 the author of this       
,modest ,vindication seizes on the story
  that ,shaftesbury had offered himself 
as a candidate for the throne  vacated  
by the death of ,john ,sobieski4 ,the   
pamphlet opens with an  admirable ironic
 eulogy of the ,earl for his unshaken   
obedience to  every government he has   
been concerned in or lived under2 his   
steady  adherence to every religion that
 had but hopes to be established4 ,we   
are now shown the ,polish ,diet debating
 on the choice of a king1 who  shall be 
capable not only of ruling ,poland1 but 

also of conquering and  converting the  
,turk4 ,upon these considerations you   
may imagine the  eyes of the whole ,diet
 were turned upon little ,england1 and  
there upon  whom so soon as the little  
lord of ,shaftesbury8 ,the new king1    
,anthony  ,i41 draws up a list of the   
attendants whom he proposes to take with
  him4 ,there is1 of course1 ,prince    
,prettyman ,perkinoski 7,monmouth71 to  
cure the plica or ,king's evil of this  
country1 in case our own majesty  should
 fail of that virtue2 and finally1 at   
the end of the list1 ,jean              
,drydenurtzitz 444 our ,poet ,laureate1 
for writing panegyrics upon ,oliver     
,cromwell and libels against his present
 master1 ,king ,charles ,,ii42 and  to  
be his deputy no less than ,tom         
,shadworiski 7,shadwell74 ,this tract1  
it must be remembered1 was written after
 the production of ,the ,spanish  ,friar
 and before the publication of ,absalom 
and ,achitophel4 ,the  author of the    
,protestant ,play might still be thought

 to be a ,whig4    ,the pamphlet ends up
 with the account of a vision wherein   
the  king-elect sees first the figure of
 the ,whore of ,babylon1 which changes  
into that of a murdered ,justice of the 
,peace 7,sir ,edmund ,bury ,godfrey71   
strangled by a crew of ruffians1 who    
afterwards ran him through with  his own
 sword1 that it might be thought he     
hanged himself4 ,this gives  place to a 
troop of pilgrims armed with black bills
 7these pilgrims  were one of the       
happiest products of ,oates's rich      
imagination72 and  they in turn are     
followed by the hideous vision of the   
,doctor of  ,salamanca1 ,oates himself4 
,all this so deeply impresses ,king     
,anthony  that he gives up his imperial 
ambitions1 preferring the task of       
confounding the ,pope at home to that of
 converting the ,turks in ,poland4      
,to this same ,polish legend and to a   
certain physical peculiarity1 which  was
 the delight of the ,tory satirists1    
,shaftesbury owed one of his most       

popular nicknames1 ,tapski4 ,the ski was
 ,polish1 but the ,tap was  ,english and
 had a real existence4 ,shaftesbury     
suffered from an internal  abscess1     
which had to be kept drained by a silver
 tube let into his  side4 ,for the      
,tories this tap represented all that   
was most loathsome1  most repulsive1    
most ,whiggish4 ,they exulted in        
descriptions of it4 ,when  ,shaftesbury 
wanted to make himself look important1  
so one pamphleteer  assures us1 he had  
only to turn off the tap in order to    
swell up to  a prodigious size4         
,shaftesbury's ,tap and that mysterious 
,black ,box1  reputed to contain the    
certificate of a marriage between       
,charles  ,,ii4 and ,lucy ,waters1 were 
the two symbolic objects on which public
  imagination most greedily seized4     
,dryden's satire was issued anonymously4
 ,but its authorship was  evidently an  
open secret1 for within three weeks of  
its publication  a reply1 called ,towser
 the ,second1 in which ,dryden is named 

as the  author1 made its appearance4    
,the writer of this piece was the ,whig 
journalist1 ,henry ,care1 whose         
breeding1 says ,anthony ,wood1 was in   
the nature of a petty ,fogger1 a little 
despicable ,wretch1 afterwards  much    
reflected upon for a poor snivelling    
,fellow in the ,observators  published  
by ,rog3 ,l',estrange4 ,this person had 
been the writer of  a newspaper entitled
 ,the ,weekly ,paquets of ,news from    
,rome1 an  anti-,catholic journal       
started in the height of the excitement 
caused  by ,titus ,oates's evidence4 ,he
 had been tried in #afhj for libelling  
,justice ,scroggs4 ,his later history is
 the sadly common tale of the poor      
,grub ,street hack3 at the accession of 
,james ,,ii4 for bread and ,money  sake1
 and nothing else1 he passed over to the
 side in power and turned  his pen      
against the ,protestants4 ,towser the   
,second is as little and  despicable as 
its author4 ,towser-,dryden1 brother to 
the original bad  dog1                  

,towser-,l',estrange1 suffering from a  
worm that of the ,jebusites  smells very
 strong1 runs mad1 snarls and snaps at  
all he meets1 treats  the whole world1  
the ,king included1  la mode de         
,billingsgate4    ,care's poem is only  
less stupid than the ponderous ,some    
,reflections  upon a late poem1 by a    
,person of ,honour1 which appeared a few
 days  later4 ,the ,person of ,honour   
was ,dryden's old enemy1 the ,duke of   
,buckingham4 ,goaded to exasperation by 
the onslaught made upon him  in ,absalom
 and ,achitophel1 ,buckingham set out to
 overwhelm ,dryden  under mountains of  
moral indignation4 ,he succeeded only in
 proving  conclusively that his own     
share in ,the ,rehearsal1 in its own way
 a  masterpiece1 must have been         
extremely small4    ,early in #afhb ,the
 ,reflections were followed by ,samuel  
,pordage's  ,azaria and ,hushai4 ,twenty
 years before ,pordage had proved       
himself the  possessor of a certain     
ingenuity by his feat of turning the    

philosophy  of ,jacob ,boehme into      
,english-rhymed couplets4 ,there are    
even a few  passable passages in the    
,mundorum ,explicatio4 ,but in this     
satire  of his later years he seems to  
have lost such cunning as he may once   
have possessed4 ,the sole merit of the  
piece is a certain dull restraint  of   
language1 an avoidance of the drosser   
scurrilities4 ,he is very  temperate1   
for instance1 in what he says of        
,dryden3          ,the falling glory of 
the ,jewish stage4        ,sweet was the
 ,muse that did his wit inspire1        
,had he not let his hackney ,muse for   
hire4        ,zimri1 we know1 he had no 
cause to praise1        ,because he     
dubb'd him with the name of ,bayes1     
,because he durst with his proud wit    
engage1        ,and brought his follies 
on the public stage4    ,but the next   
,whig satire to appear has real merits4 
,settle's ,absalom  ,senior is the one  
good thing produced by the ,whigs in    
their battle  with ,dryden4 ,dryden     

himself had grudgingly to admit that    
,settle was  something of a poet4       
,doeg1 though without knowing how or    
why1        ,made still a blundering    
kind of melody2        ,spurred boldly  
on and dashed through thick and thin1   
,through sense and nonsense1 never out  
nor in2        ,free from all meaning1  
whether good or bad        ,and in a    
word1 heroically mad4        ,he was too
 warm on picking-work to dwell1         
,but fagoted his notions as they fell1  
,and if they rhymed and rattled1 all was
 well4    ,this is not altogether just4 
,the verse of ,absalom ,senior does     
more than rhyme and rattle2 it has a    
music of its own1 and there  are        
passages that are curiously ,elizabethan
 in their conception and  execution4    
,take1 for example1 this character of   
the ,duke of ,york1 the  ,absalom       
,senior of the poem3          ,the mercy
 and the clemency divine1        ,those 
sacred sparks1 which in mild ,david     
shine1        ,were all put out and left

 a starless night4        ,a long       
farewell to all that's good and brave6  
,not cataracts more headstrong2 as the  
grave        ,inexorable2 sullen and    
untuned        ,as ,pride deposed2 not  
,lucifer unthroned        ,more         
unforgiving4    ,it is hardly credible  
that this should have been written in   
#afhb4  ,it reads like the work of some 
minor poet in the giant age before  the 
flood1 a contemporary of the grave ,lord
 ,brooke4 ,here again is  something no  
poet of the ,restoration has any        
business to write1 a  simile in which   
,settle compares the papist plotter to  
the alchemist3          ,who though he  
see his bursting limbecks crack1        
,and at one blast1 one fatal minute's   
wrack1        ,the forward hope of      
sweating years expire1        ,with sad1
 yet painful1 hand new-lights the fire4 
,pale1 lean and wan1 does health1       
wealth1 all consume2        ,and for the
 great elixir yet to come        ,toils 
and hopes on4    ,the poem opens with a 

history of the ceaseless ,catholic      
efforts1 ever  since the time of ,henry 
,,viii41 to recapture ,england for the  
old faith4  ,this serves as a preface to
 the main body of the piece1 which deals
  with the ,popish ,plot4 ,there is the 
usual portrait gallery1 imitated  from  
,absalom and ,achitophel1 of the most   
important figures on either  side4 ,this
 spirited description of ,lauderdale is 
worth quoting3          ,let not that   
hideous bulk of honour 'scape1          
,nadab that sets the gazing crowds      
agape2        ,the old kirk-founder1    
whose hoarse croak could sing           
,the ,saints1 the ,cause1 no ,bishop and
 no ,king4        ,by the triumphant    
,saul he was employed        ,a huge    
fang-tusk to gore poor ,david's side1   
,like a proboscis in the tyrant's jaw   
,to rend and root through government and
 law4    ,settle mentions ,dryden in    
connection with ,amiel1 the ,duke of    
,buckingham4 ,it is pleasant to note    
that1 like ,pordage1 he pays tribute1   

albeit a somewhat equivocal one1 to     
,dryden's poetical genius3          ,but
 ,amiel had1 alas1 the fate to hear     
,an angry poet play his chronicler2     
,a poet rais'd above oblivion's shade1  
,by his recorded verse immortal made4   
,no muse could more heroic deeds        
rehearse2        ,h' had with an equal1 
all-applauding verse        ,great      
,david's sceptre and ,saul's javelin    
praised4        ,a pyramic to his saint 
,interest he rais'd4    ,the rest of the
 remarks about ,dryden are not so       
edifying2 they refer to  that subject1  
so fruitful of raillery1 the poet's     
marriage with ,lady  ,howard1 whom      
,settle1 repeating scandal1 describes as
          ,laura1 in faithful constancy 
confined        ,to ,ethiop's envoy and 
to all mankind4    ,the poem ends with a
 long list of eulogies addressed to the 
chiefs of  the ,country ,party1 dull as 
such eulogies always are and are always 
bound to be4 ,for1 while we listen to   
abuse and defamation of almost  any kind

 with pleasure1 we are apt to find the  
recital of a man's  virtues extremely   
tedious2 a fact well known to newspaper 
proprietors1  for whom moral            
indignation--or mud slinging1 for the   
terms are  usually synonymous--is       
spiritual meat and drink1 as well as    
material  bread-and-butter4    ,the     
publication of ,absalom ,senior was the 
high-water mark of ,settle's  life4 ,in 
#afgc1 at the age of twenty-five1 he had
 all the appearances  of a great man3 he
 was the author of ,the ,empress of     
,morocco4 ,but he  was very definitely  
one of those who have had greatness     
thrust upon  them4 ,the success of his  
fantastic tragedy1 gravely judged by the
 most  advanced undergraduate opinion of
 the day to be superior to anything     
,dryden had written1 was wholly due to  
the prodigies of log-rolling  performed 
by that shifty and malicious patron of  
the arts1 ,wilmot1  ,earl of ,rochester4
 ,rochester1 who had for a time bestowed
 his favours  upon ,dryden1 suddenly    

threw him over and exalted ,elkanah     
,settle in his  place4 ,he had ,the     
,empress of ,morocco specially produced 
at ,court  before its appearance on the 
public stage1 and himself contributed  a
 ,prologue4 ,the boom was so well       
organised that the public for a  time   
actually took ,elkanah seriously4 ,the  
,empress and her infamous  gallant1     
,grimalhaz1 stamped about the stage     
giving rhymed utterance to  sentiments  
of an unheard of turpitude4             
,,grimalhaz3 ,have you considered1      
madam1 what you've done8                
,,empress3 ,poisoned my husband1 sir1   
and if you need               ,examples 
to instruct you in the deed1            
,i'll make my actions plainer           
understood1               ,copying his  
death on all the royal blood4    ,loud  
and prolonged applause1 bursting out    
again with redoubled fury  when the     
,empress hisses into the ear of this new
 ,macbeth3                              
and your next step t'a throne           

,must be1 dear sir1 the murder of my    
son4    ,the applause died away and with
 it the cat-calls of ,settle's three    
envious rivals1 ,dryden1 ,crowne1 and   
,shadwell4 ,then came ,absalom  ,senior1
 and for its author the deserved        
laureateship of ,whiggery4 ,but  a year 
later things took an awkward turn for   
the ,country ,party2 ,settle  recanted  
and wrote a history of the ,popish      
,plot1 in which he gave  ,oates his full
 due as a scoundrel4 ,when ,james ,,ii4 
came to the throne  he wrote a fawning  
,coronation ,ode in the hope of         
placating one whom he  had himself so   
short a time before called inexorable as
 the grave4  ,he even went so far as to 
publish a panegyric of ,judge           
,jefferies4  ,inch by inch he was       
sinking deeper into the slough of ,grub 
,street4  ,with the ,revolution he gave 
up politics 7they seemed altogether too 
unsafe7 and applied for the post of     
,city ,laureate4 ,lord ,mayor's ,shows  
were now immortalised to the extent of  

living in ,settle's numbers one  day    
more4 ,grown old and very miserable1 he 
was reduced to writing  puppet plays1   
better works of art--who knows8--than   
the proud ,empress  of his youth2 and we
 find him at last hissing in his own    
dragon at  ,bartholomew ,fair4 ,he was  
seventy-six when he died in #agbd1      
having  survived long enough to be the  
target of ,pope's barbed malice4        
,absalom ,senior closes the first act of
 the drama4 ,the second opens  with     
,dryden's ,medal4 ,this personal attack 
on ,shaftesbury roused  more fury among 
the ,whigs than even ,absalom and       
,achitophel4 ,in a  single day ,edmund  
,hickeringill wrote and sent to press a 
long retort  called ,the ,mushroom4 444 
,and if any man think or say that it is 
a  wonder if this book and verses were  
composed and writ in one day1 and  sent 
to the press1 since it would employ the 
pen of a ready writer to  copy this book
 in a day--it may be so4 ,but it is a   
truth1 as certain  as the sun in the    

firmament1 and which1 if need be1 the   
bookseller1  printer1 and other worthy  
citizens that are privy to it can avouch
 for  an infallible truth--,deo soli    
gloria--when a divine hand assists1 one 
of despicable1 dull and inconsiderate   
parts may do wonders1 which ,god        
usually performs by most weak and       
unlikely instruments4 ,hickeringill  is 
a charming character2 but he hardly     
comes within the scope of our  article4 
,he is not so much a man of letters as a
 mental case4    ,pordage once again    
stepped forward and dealt a perfectly   
ineffective  blow4 ,he was followed by a
 new and more truculent champion1       
,shadwell4  ,shadwell laid about him    
with a will4 ,of ,dryden's poetical     
powers he  says condescendingly3 ,he has
 an easiness in rhyme and a knack of    
versifying and can make a slight thing  
seem pretty and clinquant4 ,on  the     
other hand1 he is wholly lacking in     
originality1 and even in his  satires   
has done nothing but turn the           

,observator into rhyme4 ,when he  is not
 writing in rhyme1 in which he has a    
kind of excellence1 he is  completely   
insipid4 ,he has no sense of comedy4    
,thou never mak'st1 but art a standing  
,jest4    ,so much for ,dryden's        
literary reputation2 now for his        
character4 ,at  this point ,shadwell    
throws the moral indignation about so   
freely that  we are forced to hold our  
noses and to avert our eyes4    ,left   
scathless by the clumsy grossness of    
,shadwell's attack1 ,dryden  retorted   
murderously with ,mac,flecknoe4    ,but 
enough of ,shadwell4 ,he has his meed of
 fame and recognition4 ,his  body lies  
in ,westminster ,abbey and his plays    
have been resurrected in  the ,mermaid  
,edition4 ,who was ,flecknoe8 ,what     
manner of man was that  grandiose figure
 who          ,in ,prose and ,verse was 
own'd without dispute        ,through   
all the realms of ,non-sense1 absolute8 
,there must be many who1 like myself1   
have cherished a sneaking hope  that    

this is an ungenerous judgment1 that    
,flecknoe is not so bad  after all4     
,might one not even discover him1 edit  
him1 unearth buried  beauties8 ,alas1   
one has but to read a few of his many   
works to realise  that ,dryden was only 
speaking the modest truth6    ,we catch 
our first glimpse of him at some date   
about the year #afde1  when ,andrew     
,marvell1 on his travels in ,rome1      
climbed up three pair of  stairs and    
found at last a chamber1 as 'twas said1 
,but seemed a coffin set on the stair's 
head1    the lodgment of ,richard       
,flecknoe1 ,irishman1 priest1 poet1 and 
musician4  ,a strange figure3           
as thin        ,he stands1 as if he only
 fed had been        ,with consecrated  
wafers1 and the ,host        ,hath sure 
more flesh and blood than he can boast2 
,this basso-relievo of a man--          
,who1 as a camel tall1 yet easily can   
,the needle's eye thread through without
 any stitch4    ,no sooner is ,marvell  
within the basso-relievo's clutches than

          ,straight1 without further    
information        ,in hideous verse1   
he1 in a dismal tone1        ,begins to 
exorcise1 as if ,i were                 
,possessed2    and so it goes on        
,till the tyrant1 weary to persecute1   
,left off and tried to allure me with   
his lute4    ,desperate measures have   
now to be taken2 ,marvell asks the man  
to dinner  and for a little time1 at    
least1 secures a respite4 ,but not for  
long2  the poet1          ,satisfied    
with eating1 but not tame1        ,turns
 to recite2 though judges most severe1  
,after the assizes' dinner1 mild appear 
,and on full stomach do condemn but few1
        ,yet he more strict my sentence 
doth renew1        ,and draws out of the
 black box of his breast        ,ten    
quire of paper1 in which he was dressed4
    ,it is a sad example of that all too
 frequent inconsistency between a  man's
 art and life that the best poem        
,flecknoe ever wrote should be ,to      
,silence3          ,still-born ,silence1

 thou that art        ,floodgate of the 
deeper heart1        ,offspring of a    
heavenly kind1        ,frost oth' mouth 
and thaw oth' mind4    ,there is a      
certain absurd charm about this reckless
 mixture of  conceits1 a charm which    
would have melted ,marvell's heart1 if  
he had  heard the piece1 as it later    
melted ,lamb's4 ,for what is almost the 
first and the last time1 ,flecknoe's    
poetic method1 which is the method  of  
,marvell himself and of all the         
seventeenth-century metaphysicals       
reduced to the absurd1 actually comes   
off4 ,only once again was he ever  to   
produce anything faintly resembling     
poetry1 and that is in this  stanza     
about the ant3          ,that small     
republique too1 at home1          ,where
 thou'rt perhaps some magistrate--      
,little think'st thou1 when thou dost   
come1          ,there's greater in the  
world than that4    ,but this is        
exceptional2 his average poetic level is
 exemplified by  such lines as3         

,now to the woodlands1 now to th'       
champains1 where        ,with subtile   
nets and pitfalls slyly made        ,she
 innocently silly fowls betrayed1       
,while the more lofty inhabitants oth'  
skies        ,sh' allured to ground with
 brightness of her eyes1    or by that  
astonishing couplet on ,phbus1 which    
runs3          ,from 's harnessing of 's
 horses in the ,east1        ,unto 's   
unharnessing of them in the ,west4      
,from ,rome ,flecknoe carried his       
juvenile verses to ,constantinople1 to  
,portugal1 to ,brazil1 to ,flanders4    
,but no amount of travel could cure  him
 of his fatal habit of writing4         
,re-established in ,england after the   
,restoration1 he turned an unlimited    
leisure to the worst account4 ,he  was  
the author of four plays1 only one of   
which was put upon the stage1  and that 
was duly damned4 ,he contented himself  
by printing the others  with a list of  
the actors he would have liked to see in
 the different  parts1 if he had been   

able to get them performed--a touching  
piece of  navet which does much to      
endear him to us4    ,of his prose works
 the most ambitious is a little         
collection of  ,enigmaticall            
,characters1 of which perhaps the       
choicest is this on  the ,drunkard4 ,the
 ,drunkard's wit is rather the          
hog's-head than his  own1 savouring more
 of ,heidelberg than of ,helican and he 
being rather a  drunken than a good     
companion4    ,flecknoe dies1 like the  
lady on whose decease he wrote an ode1  
died as  having nothing else to do1 in  
the year #afgh4    ,such was ,flecknoe4 
,shadwell's claim to being ranked as    
,flecknoe's son  is amply substantiated 
by his own protest that in ,mac,flecknoe
 he had  been represented as an         
,irishman1 though ,mr4 ,dryden knew very
 well that  he had not set eyes on the  
country till he was three and twenty and
 had  remained in it then only for four 
months4    ,dryden followed up          
,mac,flecknoe with the character of ,og 

in the ,second  ,part of ,absalom and   
,achitophel4 ,shadwell was unable to    
reply2 he  could only faintly complain4 
,with ,part the ,second of ,absalom and 
,achitophel the drama of the  ,popish   
,plot comes to an end4 ,the curtain     
falls on this last orgy  of murder4 ,all
 the minor characters are now dead--for 
,doeg and  ,mephibosheth lie bleeding by
 the side of the monstrous ,og--and only
 the  hero remains alive4 ,turning with 
a bow to the audience1 he delivers  the 
epilogue1 in which he explains1 with the
 best of good humour1  exactly why it is
 that he1 ,dryden1 is still alive and   
all the rest lie  punctured about him4  
,how easy it is1 so runs the epilogue1  
how easy it is to call rogue  and       
villain1 and that wittily6 ,but how hard
 to make a man appear a  fool1 a        
blockhead1 or a knave1 without using any
 of these opprobrious  terms6 ,there is 
still a vast difference between the     
slovenly butchering  of a man and the   
fineness of a stroke that separates the 

head from the  body and leaves it       
standing in its place4 ,a man may be    
capable1 as ,jack  ,ketch's wife said of
 his servant1 of a plain piece of work1 
a bare  hanging2 but to make a          
malefactor die sweetly was only         
belonging to her  husband4 ,i wish ,i   
could apply it to myself1 if the reader 
would be kind  enough to think it       
belongs to me4          ,,architecture  
,,as ,,form ,,in ,,civilisation    ,by  
,,professor ,w4 ,r4 ,,lethaby           
,towns and ,civilisation are two words  
for nearly one thing2 the ,city is  the 
manifestation of the spirit and its     
population is the larger body  it builds
 for its soul4 ,to build cities and live
 in them properly is  the great business
 of large associations of men4 ,the     
outward and the  made must always be    
exact pictures of the mind and the      
makers4 ,not only  is this so at any    
given stage1 but it is so all the more  
in a going  concern1 for the outward is 
always reacting again on the inward1 so 

that the concrete becomes a mould for   
the spiritual4 ,man builds towns  so    
that the towns shall build his sons4 ,as
 the old ,greek said1 ,the  city teaches
 the man4    ,william ,morris says      
somewhere that the religions of         
antiquity were the  worshipping of      
cities4 ,it may seem strange this idea  
of city worship1  but it explains much  
in the history of art1 and we need      
something of  similar sort even now3    
this and other worships besides and     
beyond4  ,before the recognition of the 
universal and the national we require a 
much deepened sense of the civic4 ,here 
comes before the ,beyond4  ,almost the  
greatest question of the time is the one
 of finding wells  for the refreshment  
of our vitality--the inducing of        
national spirit1  town spirit1 and home 
spirit4 ,such spirit is a very subtle   
essence1  and yet it dwells in houses   
and cities are its reservoirs4 ,in the  
,army  it has always been recognised    
that the foundation of the whole vast   

violent business is spirit4 ,the        
children of war are wiser than the      
children of peace4 ,as an example take  
this scrap from the experience of  a new
 soldier3 ,the private is taught from   
the beginning that the first  duty of a 
soldier is obedience1 the second        
cleanliness1 and the third  may be      
gathered from this short dialogue       
between a drill sergeant and a  squad of
 recruits3      ,what is the third duty 
of a soldier8 asks the sergeant4        
,honesty1    sobriety1 and self-respect1
 we reply4 ,and what is self-respect8   
,keeping your buttons bright4    ,we    
know that ,jerusalem was a sacred city1 
and so was ,athens too in its  way4 ,so 
indeed were all the cities of antiquity1
 each in its proper  status4 ,in the    
later classical age every one had its   
impersonation  of sculptured image--the 
,tyche of the ,city4 ,fragments of a    
figure  of ,silchester were found in the
 ,basilica of the old ,british town2 an 
image which stood for the genius of the 

place4 ,london and ,york were  also     
sacred in those ,roman days1 and the    
figure on our pennies is a  similar     
,roman imagination for the whole        
country1 ,britannia4 ,a fine            
inscription from ,ephesus in the        
,central ,hall of the ,british ,museum  
is a delightful example of the forms and
 ceremonies observed by the  proud      
cities of antiquity--the ritual         
prescribed for their worship  in fact4  
,this marble slab1 about #g feet by #c  
feet1 bears in large  clear lettering   
the copy of a letter addressed by       
,antoninus ,pius to  the ,magistrates   
and ,people of ,ephesus c4 ,a4,d4 #adj4 
,the emperor  approved that the people  
of ,pergamon had written letters to     
,ephesus  correctly addressed with the  
prescribed titles 7,first and ,greatest 
,metropolis of ,asia1 or the like74 ,he 
thinks that the ,people of ,smyrna  had 
accidentally omitted this from a decree 
about joint sacrifice1 but  they will   
behave correctly in future provided that

 the ,ephesians use  the approved titles
 in writing to ,smyrna 7pre-eminent in  
beauty or the  like74 ,this is indeed   
politeness on a high plane4    ,one of  
the ways in which civic spirit1 pride1  
and love must be  refounded is in the   
sense of historical continuity4 ,such a 
sense of  regional reverence is being   
cultivated in ,france on a definitely   
psychological basis1 and those alert    
,americans have already begun  to work  
the ground of their antiquities4 ,a     
publication of a local  historical      
society1 issued as far back as #aijj1   
contains an account  of what they in    
,america call ,an ,old ,ipswich ,house4 
,it begins with  some words which ,i    
must quote3 ,the extraordinary          
production and large  circulation of the
 historical novel is but one of the     
consequences  of the remarkable growth  
of patriotic societies in this country  
in  the last few years4 ,one of the most
 admirable results of the movement  is  
the widespread interest in the          

establishment of local historical       
societies in the old towns of ,new      
,england4 ,older towns of ,old ,england1
  please note and copy4 ,these societies
 have a very fascinating work  before   
them in the collection of local records1
 the preservation of old  buildings1 in 
the marking of historic sites4 ,this    
soil is fertile and  delving therein    
bears rich fruit of interest1 love for  
the community1  heightened civic        
feeling1 encouragement of local         
improvement1 and a  care for the future 
of the town4 ,in not a few places the   
local society  has taken some old house 
for its headquarters1 adorning it with  
attractive historical collections4 ,such
 a collection is that of the  ,bostonian
 ,society1 to which the city long ago   
gave the use of the ,old  ,state ,house4
 ,what might our ,english towns still do
 in this way6 ,or is  it to be that for 
authentic touch with antiquity we shall 
soon have to  go to ,america8 ,in       
passing may ,i commend this idea to     

those who have the  destruction of the  
old ,dean's ,house at ,wolverhampton in 
their mind or  at least their power8    
,germany has long consciously cultivated
 this field for spirit  production1 and 
,i remember an official tract on the    
psychological value  of ,ancient        
,monuments in promoting national        
consciousness4 ,it is in  ,denmark1     
however1 that an effort to promote      
national spirit has been  most          
systematically based on a common        
knowledge of national traditions1  arts1
 and music1 and spread by means of their
 admirable ,folk ,schools4              
,monumental history is a stirring1 vital
 thing3 it can be touched4 ,in  every   
town every child-citizen should know the
 story and antiquities of  that place4  
,this has always been the way until now4
 ,what mean these  stones8 the children 
say1 and we answer1 ,i don't know4 ,the 
history  that can be seen is a strong   
and stimulating soul-food1 entirely     
different from vague and wearying       

written history4    ,the historical     
starting-post is only one of many ways  
of approach to  fine forms of           
civilisation2 we must not wait on the   
order of our going1  but go at once and 
from every point at once4 ,much is being
 thought and  said about ,housing and   
,town ,planning2 they are both of the   
greatest  possible importance1 but they 
are not all4 ,we need at least a third  
to go with them--that is a general      
cleaning1 tidying1 and smartening       
movement1 an effort to improve all our  
public and social arts1 from  music to  
cooking and games4 ,we must control and 
tax advertisements  to some order1 bring
 pressure on the railway companies to   
sweep  the microbes out of their        
stations1 and we must whitewash our own 
backyards4 ,the danger is to think of   
housing and planning as technical       
matters for experts4 ,it may almost be  
feared that current talk of town        
planning and garden cities may harden   
with a jargon-like political  formul4   

,our arts and customs are indexes and   
pictures of our inner  life4 ,fine      
bridges1 clean1 smiling streets1 liberal
 public buildings  are not merely shapes
 and nothing more4 ,they are essential  
to our  sense of order1 brightness1 and 
efficiency1 to our pride1 confidence1   
and content4 ,a sore protesting         
slapped-in-the-face feeling cannot be   
good for the temper and digestion4 ,a   
civilised life cannot be lived in       
undisciplined towns4           99       
99       99       99       99    ,more  
and more we become the victims of our   
words and live frightened  by names4    
,such a name is ,architecture4 ,in its  
mystery vague and  vain pretensions may 
be shrouded1 in its shadows hide many   
minor  superstitions about correct      
design1 the right style1 true           
proportions4  ,high priests arise who   
are supposed to know subtle doctrines   
and can  point the way to sthetic       
safety4 ,and yet all the time there are 
the  streets1 ,edgware ,road and ,euston

 ,road1 ,oxford ,street and ,holborn2   
there again are our cities1 ,leeds and  
,liverpool1 ,bristol and ,plymouth4     
,surely these potent and indeed blatant 
facts might raise doubts as to  the     
dogmas4 ,the mystification about        
architecture has isolated the  intimate 
building art from the common interest   
and understanding of  ordinary men4 ,to 
talk with a believing architect on his  
theories is  almost as hopeless as to   
chaff a cardinal4 ,all the ancient arts 
of men  are subject to the diseases of  
pedantry and punditry--music1 painting1 
poetry all suffer from isolation4       
,architecture is human skill and feeling
 shown in the great necessary  activity 
of building4 ,it must be a living1      
progressive structural art1  always     
readjusting itself to changing          
conditions of time and place4  ,if it is
 true it must ever be new4 ,this1       
however1 not with a willed  novelty1    
which is as bad as or worse than trivial
 antiquarianism1 but  by response to    

force majeure4 ,the vivid interest and  
awe with which  men look on a ship or an
 engine1 an old cottage or a haystack1  
come  from the sense of their reality4  
,they were shaped so by a higher power  
than whim1 by a higher aim than         
snobbery4 ,so must it again be with our 
buildings3 they must be founded fast on 
the rock of necessity4    ,wordy claims 
are often made for ,architecture that it
 is a ,fine ,art1  and chief of all the 
arts4 ,these two claims are indeed      
incompatible  and contradictory4 ,any   
mastership in architecture depends on   
its  universality and its service4 ,it  
is only chief in the sense that he who  
serves is the greatest4 ,but the ,fine  
,arts are by definition free from       
conditions of human need1 and           
architecture was specially ruled out    
from  among them by ,aristotle4 ,even   
so1 this idea of fine art unconditioned 
and free for delight was a heresy of the
 ,hellenistic decline4 ,to ,plato  and  
the great masters even the musical arts 

were to be not only  healthy but        
health-giving2 they were to be foods for
 the soul and not  sthetic raptures and 
intoxications4    ,on the other side of 
the account it may be objected that bare
 utility  and convenience are not enough
 to form a base for a noble             
architecture4  ,of course they are not  
if bare utility is interpreted in a mean
 and  skimping and profiteering way4    
,all work of man bears the stamp of  the
 spirit with which it was done1 but this
 stamp is not necessarily  ornament4    
,the unadorned indeed can never stand as
 low as that which  is falsely adorned  
in borrowed1 brazen bedizenments4 ,high 
utility  and liberal convenience for    
noble life are enough for architecture4 
,we confuse ourselves with these unreal 
and destructive oppositions  between the
 serviceable and the sthetic1 between   
science and art4  ,consider any of the  
great forms of life                     
activity--seamanship1 farming1          
housekeeping--can anyone say where      

utility ends and style1 order1          
clearness1 precision begin8 ,up to a    
point1 and indeed a long way on1  style 
is a utility4 ,we have to begin again   
and look on architecture  as an art of  
service from the communal point of view4
 ,the faces of  buildings which are     
turned outwards towards the world are   
obviously  of interest to the public1   
and all citizens have a property in     
them4  ,the spectator is in fact part   
owner4 ,no man builds to himself alone4 
,let the proprietor do as he likes      
inside his building1 for we need not    
call on him4 ,bad plays need not be     
seen1 books need not be read1 but       
nothing but blindness or the numbing of 
our faculty of observation can  protect 
us from buildings in the street4 ,it is 
to be feared that we are  learning to   
protect ourselves by the habit of not   
observing1 that is by  sacrificing a    
faculty4 ,general interest and          
intelligent appreciation of  public arts
 are a necessity of civilisation4 ,civic

 alertness1 honest  pride1 or firm      
protest are not matters of taste for a  
few2 they are  essential activities of  
the urban mind4 ,in cities buildings    
take the  place of fields1 trees1 and   
hedgerows4 ,buildings are an artificial 
form of nature4 ,we have a right to     
consideration and some politeness  in   
buildings4 ,we claim protection from    
having our faces slapped  when we       
venture into the street4 ,our cities do 
not wholly belong to  profit-lords1     
railway companies1 and advertisers4     
,architecture1 however properly         
understood1 not only concerns the  man  
in the street1 it comes home to all     
householders and households4  ,while our
 eyes have been strained on the vacuity 
of correct style1 the  weightier matters
 of construction and efficiency have    
necessarily been  neglected4 ,we need   
grates which will warm1 floors which may
 readily  be cleaned1 and ceilings which
 do not crack4 ,these and such as these 
are the terms of the modern             

architectural problem1 and in satisfying
  them we should find the proper style  
for to-day4 ,architecture is a  current 
speech1 it is not an art of classical   
quotation4 ,as it is it  is as much     
burdened by its tags of rhetoric as     
,chinese literature4 ,it  has become a  
dead language4 ,the house of the future 
will be designed  as a ship is designed1
 as an organism which has to function   
properly  in all its parts4 ,does this  
not concern everyone1 not only as       
economy  and comfort1 but in the mind8  
,our houses must be made to fit us like 
garments and to be larger projections of
 ourselves4 ,a whole row of  ambiguous  
words1 such as design1 ornament1 style1 
proportion1 have come  between us and   
the immediately given data of           
architecture4 ,design is  not abstract  
power exercised by a genius1 it is      
simply the arranging  how work shall be 
well done4 ,the more necessary the work 
and the more  obvious1 simple1 and sound
 is the foresight the better the design4

  ,it is not a question of captivating  
paper patterns1 it is a question  of    
buildings which will work4 ,architecture
 is a pragmatical art4 ,to  design in   
the ,classic1 ,gothic1 or ,renaissance  
styles is as absurd as to  sculpture in 
the manner of ,praxiteles1 paint like   
,holbein1 or write  sham ,shakespeare4  
,we do not really need a waxwork art by 
,wardour ,street  professionals4 ,we    
require an active art of building which 
will take its  style for granted1 as    
does naval architecture4 ,modern        
building must  shake itself free from   
its own withered and cast-off skins4    
,it is commonly supposed1 and architects
 themselves in older days  believed it1 
that an architect's business was to be  
an expert in style4  ,why he should be  
so was never explained1 except1 perhaps1
 by ,philibert  de l',orme4 ,according  
to this authority the ,temple of        
,jerusalem was  built in the ,classical 
style1 and this work was designed in    
heaven2  therefore this was the only    

true or revealed style4 ,an excellent   
argument2 modern practitioners have kept
 up a battle of the styles  without any 
such basis for their logic1 or rather   
their eloquence4 ,but  what is or was a 
style8 ,it is a museum name for a phase 
of past art4 ,as  a means of classifying
 what is dead and done the style labels 
are quite  useful4 ,it has1 however1 to 
be kept in mind that these styles1 while
  they lived and moved1 were processes  
which began1 continued1 and passed  into
 something else4 ,they were only phases 
like those of the changing  moon4 ,that 
which now professes to be designed in a 
style1 or1 as the  still more disgusting
 slang runs1 to be period work1 has not 
the  essence of life4 ,it is1 therefore1
 not actually of the style which it     
simulates but is only in the style of   
the style4    ,indeed1 the essence of   
all the old arts was in their vitality1 
their  response to the natural          
conditions and the psychology of their  
times4  ,the better we seem to reproduce

 their dead images the more we are      
unlike their soul-selves4 ,there is     
little more reason for an architect  to 
pretend to work in a style than there is
 for a chemist4 ,architects  are        
properly arrangers and directors of     
certain classes of structures4  ,i would
 like to say that they were building    
engineers1 were it not  that our        
engineers have failed so shamefully in  
hiring themselves out  for any form of  
exploitation and in showing no care for 
orderliness  and decency4 ,all the past 
of architecture1 as of engineering and  
shipbuilding1 belongs to us1 of course1 
as race experience1 but only as  far as 
the same is true in all fields of       
science and literature4    ,the ,orders 
of architecture are names for particular
 forms of ancient  ,greek temple        
building4 ,style-names apply to all past
 fashions of  buildings1 ,orders only to
 three--,doric1 ,ionic1 and ,corinthian4
 ,the  names are useful as history1 but 
that is all4 ,now that these ,orders    

have become shop advertisements1 even   
the would-be correct may be more  ready 
to give them up4    ,style in a modern  
and universal sense is equivalent rather
 to stylish  than to a style2 it        
interpenetrates the whole texture of a  
work2 it  is clearness1 effectiveness1  
mastery1 often it is simplification4 ,we
  have to conceive of it in the building
 art as we do in literature  or         
athletics4 ,the style is the man--yes1  
and it is also the thing  itself4 ,it is
 an informing spirit1 the spirit of     
form1 it is not a  varnish4 ,we have    
become so accustomed to architecture    
looking dressy  that we have forgotten  
the logic of clothes and bury buildings 
good  enough in themselves under        
outgrown rags4 ,it has been a true      
instinct  which calls sham architectural
 features dressings4    ,another word   
which the architecturally superstitious 
whisper with  great awe is proportion4  
,in dealing with such a limited field as
 the  ,orders1 old scholars examined    

existing examples by measuring them     
very carefully to find out their        
proportions2 but1 if we had them1       
,greek chairs and tables might be       
measured in exactly the same way4 ,no   
general rule of the ,greeks has ever    
been found out by these measurings1  and
 if it had it would prove nothing for   
us4 ,proportion1 of course1  rests      
properly on function1 material1 and     
size4 ,there maybe a perfect            
proportion1 for instance1 for a certain 
class of ships1 but that will  only be  
discovered experimentally1 and not by   
measuring ,greek galleys4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,i wish
 ,i could find some leverage of argument
 to bring a sense of  citizen           
responsibility for form in life into the
 minds and hearts of  all1 but right and
 reason are hardy enough4 ,we may1      
perhaps1 hope more  in a sense of       
international rivalry in the works and  
evidences of life4  ,civilisation is an 
,olympic contest in the arts and        

sciences1 a sort of  international      
,eisteddfod4 ,it is admitted that we    
must have literature  and we must have  
music3 we must also have building skill1
 and we have  to aim at inducing a      
flowing tide in all the things of       
civilisation4 ,of  words and arguments  
,i am rather hopeless4 ,one thing only  
,i would ask of  every benevolent       
reader3 that he would take notice of    
what he sees in  the streets4 ,do not   
pass by in a contemplative dream1 or    
suppose that  it is an architectural    
mystery1 but look and judge4 ,is it     
tidy1 is it  civilised1 are these fit   
works for a proud nation8 ,look at      
,trafalgar  ,square and ,piccadilly     
,circus1 and that terrible junction of  
,tottenham  ,court ,road with ,oxford   
,street4 ,play a new game of seeing     
,london4 ,we  need a movement in the    
common mind1 a longing to mitigate the  
vulgarity  and anarchy of our streets1  
and the smothering of the frontages with
  vile advertisements1 a desire to clean

 the streets better1 to gather up       
littered paper1 to renew blistered      
plaster4 ,some order must be brought    
into the arrangement of the untidy      
festoons of telegraph and telephone     
wires hitched up to chimneys and        
parapets4 ,these are the architectural  
works which are needed as a beginning   
and a basis4 ,the idea of beauty1       
daily-bread beauty1 not style pretences1
 must be brought back into  our life4   
,every town should set up an advisory   
committee on its  betterment4 ,we must  
try to bring back the idea of town      
personality  and town worship2 we must  
set up ceremonies and even rituals to   
bring  out a spirit of pride and        
emulation4 ,if we can only stir up      
general  interest all will yet go well  
or at least better4 ,by exalting our    
towns we should make a platform for     
ourselves4 ,as it is what can great     
money fortunes buy beyond swine comfort 
and titles8 ,man is more than a  stomach
 moving about on legs4 ,a mistake of    

modern education has been to  train for 
appreciation of the past rather than for
 present production4  ,such merely      
critical learning comes at last to be   
actually sterilising4  ,as production   
fails1 so even appreciation decays4     
,full understanding  depends on the     
power to do4 ,therefore1 leaving the    
things of the past1  press forward to   
produce1 to be1 to live4 ,remember      
,lot's wife4 ,there is  much talk of    
patriotism1 but patriotism requires a   
ground on which to  subsist2 it must be 
based on love of home1 love of city1 and
 love of  country4 ,let nothing deceive 
us1 civilisation produces form1 and     
where  noble form is attained there is  
civilisation4 ,life is a process1 a flow
  of being1 and where there is this     
vital activity music1 drama1 and the    
arts are necessarily thrown off4 ,living
 art comes on a tide of creative        
intelligence4          ,,bibliographical
 ,,notes ,,and ,,news                   
,correspondence from readers on all     

subjects of bibliographical    interest 
is invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the   
best of his ability1    answer all      
queries addressed to him4      ,,general
 ,,notes    ,we have just received the  
catalogue of the library of the late    
,dr4  ,daniel1 ,provost of ,worcester1  
which was bought in its entirety by ,mr4
  ,chaundy1 of ,oxford4 ,dr4 ,daniel1   
who died in the autumn of last year1    
was born in #ahcf4 ,from boyhood onwards
 his favourite hobby seems to  have been
 printing4 ,as early as #ahdf a small   
hand press at ,frome  ,vicarage1 in     
,somerset1 painfully produced a little  
letter1 and in #aheb  at least three    
numbers of the ,busy ,bee1 printed and  
published by ,h4  and ,w4 ,e4 ,daniel1  
at their office1 ,trinity ,parsonage1   
,frome4 ,in #ahef  two more substantial 
volumes 7,sonnets1 by ,c4 ,j4 ,c41 and  
,the ,seven  ,epistles to the ,churches1
 in ,greek7 were issued from ,frome4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,so much for origins4 ,the ,daniel      

,press known to fame only came into     
existence in #ahgd1 when the little hand
 press from ,frome was set up in        
,worcester4 ,the first book printed by  
the ,daniel ,press1 at ,oxford1 was     
,notes from a ,catalogue of ,pamphlets  
in ,worcester ,college ,library1  #ahgd1
 of which five-and-twenty copies were   
issued4 ,a copy of this  pamphlet is    
priced at #des4 in ,mr4 ,chaundy's      
catalogue4 ,a ,new ,sermon  of the      
,newest ,fashion1 printed from a ,,ms4  
found in the ,college  ,library1        
appeared in #ahgg4 ,in this volume ,dr4 
,daniel first made use  of the fount of 
type which had been cast for ,dr4 ,fell1
 ,dean of ,christ  ,church1 and which   
had lain forgotten in the ,clarendon    
,press for a  century and a half4       
,henceforth ,dr4 ,daniel was to make use
 of the ,fell  type in all his          
publications4           99       99     
99       99       99    ,the most       
treasured book of these earlier years is
 the ,garland of  ,rachel 7#ahha71 which

 consists of poems offered to ,miss     
,rachel ,daniel  on her first birthday  
by1 among others1 ,andrew ,lang1 ,austen
 ,dobson1  ,robert ,bridges1 ,john      
,addington ,symonds1 ,edmund ,gosse1 ,w4
 ,e4 ,henley1  ,t4 ,humphry ,ward1 and  
,margaret ,l4 ,woods4 ,only thirty-six  
copies were  printed1 one of which is   
priced in ,mr4 ,chaundy's catalogue at  
#dj4           99       99       99     
99       99    ,in #ahhb the old press  
was replaced by a much more scientific  
machine1  and among the first books to  
be printed on the new press was         
,prometheus the ,firegiver 7#ahhc71 by  
,robert ,bridges4 ,a number of the      
,poet ,laureate's poems were to be      
issued from the ,daniel ,press4 ,of the 
,poems of #ahhd one hundred and fifty   
copies were printed 7#c #ajs4 in  ,mr4  
,chaundy's catalogue74 ,the ,feast of   
,bacchus 7one hundred and five  copies7 
and ,the ,growth of ,love1 published    
anonymously in an edition  of only      
twenty-two copies1 appeared in #ahhi4   

,the year #aijc witnessed  the          
publication of two more pieces from ,mr4
 ,bridges' pen1 namely1 ,now  in ,wintry
 ,delights and ,peace1 an ,ode written  
on ,conclusion of the  ,three ,years'   
,war4    ,in #ahhd ,dr4 ,daniel made use
 for the first time of a number of fine 
seventeenth-century woodcut ornaments4  
,his printer's mark was a piece  of     
contemporary work1 designed by ,alfred  
,parsons1 representing ,daniel  in the  
lions' den1 with the motto1 ,misit      
,angelum ,suum4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,noteworthy     
volumes which issued from the ,daniel   
,press in the nineties  were ,our       
,memories1 ,shades of ,old ,oxford      
7#ahic71 a collection of  ,oxford       
reminiscences by various hands2 ,the    
,child in the ,house 7#ahid71  by       
,walter ,pater1 published only a month  
or two before his death2 ,poems  of     
,laurence ,binyon 7#ahie72 ,keble's     
,easter ,day1 of which only twelve      
copies were printed by ,miss ,rachel    

,daniel 7#ahig74 ,eight years before    
,miss ,daniel had printed ,the ,lamb1 by
 ,w4 ,blake1 in duodecimo 7#ahhi74      
99       99       99       99       99  
,besides those already mentioned1 ,dr4  
,daniel issued a number of reprints  of 
old books4 ,sixe ,idillia1 translated   
from ,theocritus by ,e4 ,d4  7possibly  
,dyer71 was reprinted from the unique   
copy 7#aehh7 in the  ,bodleian ,library4
 ,love's ,graduate1 a comedy1 by ,john  
,webster1 being  ,mr4 ,gosse's          
distillation of what was ,websterian in 
the ,webster-,rowley  comedy of #affa1  
appeared in #ahhe4 ,the ,muses ,garden  
of ,delights1 a  reprint of a unique    
,elizabethan volume1 edited with an     
introduction  by ,william ,barclay      
,squire1 was printed by ,dr4 ,daniel in 
#aija4 ,another  edition1 printed by the
 ,clarendon ,press1 was published in the
 same year4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,we have        
mentioned only a few of the ,daniel     
books4 ,a complete  bibliography of the 

publications of the ,press during its   
first thirty  years of activity may be  
found in an article by ,mr4 ,madan1 at  
that  time ,sub-,librarian of the       
,bodleian1 contributed to the ,times    
,literary  ,supplement of ,february     
#bjth1 #aijc4 ,as we have already had   
occasion  to mention in these columns1  
the ,daniel ,press is now in the        
,bodleian1  together with specimens of  
the books produced on it4           99  
99       99       99       99           
,contemporary private presses are fairly
 numerous4 ,the two which  produce what 
are1 from a literary point of view at   
any rate1 the most  interesting books   
are the ,hogarth ,press and the ,ovid   
,press4 ,from the  ,ovid ,press ,mr4    
,john ,rodker has just issued a very    
handsome edition  of the poems of ,mr4  
,t4 ,s4 ,eliot4 ,poems by ,mr4 ,eliot   
have also been  published by the        
,hogarth ,press1 together with works in 
verse and prose  by ,virginia and       
,leonard ,woolf1 ,katherine ,mansfield1 

and ,j4 ,middleton  ,murry4           99
       99       99       99       99    
,our ,french allies seem to be making a 
serious effort to break with  that      
tradition of bad printing which has for 
so long oppressed their  literature4    
,several new publishing houses have come
 into existence with  the avowed purpose
 of producing books that shall be       
handsome objects  in themselves4 ,the   
directors of the ,nouvelle ,revue       
,franaise have  set a higher standard in
 their publications than most of their  
rivals4  ,but even in their editions the
 most horrible atrocities1 such as the  
omission of a whole sheet of sixteen    
pages in the middle of a book1          
occasionally happen4 ,but the books     
produced by ,la ,sirne1 by ,la  ,belle  
,edition1 and the ,socit ,littraire de  
,france are worthy of  all praise4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,the selection of rare and valuable     
books from the ,arbury ,hall ,library   
which1 as announced in the ,january     

number of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury1 was 
to  have been offered for sale by       
auction at ,sotheby's on behalf of the  
owner1 ,sir ,francis                    
,newdigate-,newdegate1 ,k4,c4,m4,g41 has
 instead been sold  privately4 ,neither 
the name of the purchaser nor the       
destination of the  books has yet been  
made public4 ,since the collection      
contains editions  of ,elizabethan books
 of the utmost rarity1 and indeed some  
that are  apparently unique1 it is to be
 hoped that it will not pass beyond the 
reach of students of literature4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,collectors of ,swinburniana will be    
interested in ,a ,catalogue of the      
,works of ,algernon ,charles ,swinburne 
in the ,library of ,mr4 ,edmund  ,gosse1
 ,london1 privately printed at the      
,chiswick ,press1 #aiai4 ,only  fifty   
copies of this catalogue have been      
issued1 of which a few can  still be    
obtained from ,mr4 ,james ,bain1        
bookseller1 #ad ,king ,william  ,street1

 ,strand4           99       99       99
       99       99    ,many items of the
 greatest rarity are included in ,mr4   
,gosse's  collection4 ,among them we    
would note one of the fifteen copies of 
,the ,devil's ,due 7#ahge71 preserved by
 accident when the issue was  destroyed2
 ,laus ,veneris1 ,moxon1 #ahff1 one of a
 few trial copies  issued before the    
poem was included in ,poems and         
,ballads2 the  essay on ,william ,blake1
 ,hotten1 #ahfh1 with the original      
title-page1  afterwards cancelled1      
ornamented by the vignette of ,zamiel   
from the  ,book of ,job2 ,the ,jubilee1 
,the ,question1 ,gathered ,songs1 all   
three  published by ,ottley in #ahhg1 in
 editions of only twenty-five copies    
each4 ,among the ,swinburne ,,mss4 in   
the possession of ,mr4 ,gosse are the   
holograph of ,pan and ,thalassia1 and   
the holograph of the first draft  of    
,anactoria4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,the new ,public
 ,libraries ,bill1 which received the   

,royal ,assent in the  last days of     
#aiai1 should do much to assist the     
development of what  is already an      
important educative force4 ,we look     
forward in time to a  national library  
system1 with a central clearing house of
 books and a  free interchange between  
the individual libraries4 ,it is surely 
only  in this way that the multifarious 
needs of an increasingly alert and      
well-educated society can adequately be 
met4           99       99       99     
99       99    ,tuesday1 ,march #bcrd1  
is the date fixed for the sale of the   
second  portion of ,mr4 ,henry ,yates   
,thompson's collection of illuminated   
manuscripts4 ,thirty-four lots are to be
 sold--twenty-six ,,mss4 and  eight     
fifteenth-century books1 printed on     
vellum and more or less  illuminated1   
which mark the transition from writing  
to printing  444 and are an             
indispensable addition to any complete  
collection of  medieval illumination4   
99       99       99       99       99  

,the first fourteen lots are ,english   
manuscripts4 ,a twelfth-century  book1  
,hegesippus de excidio ,judeorum1 is    
remarkable for its  contemporary        
binding1 one of the very few of such    
bindings which have  come down to us4   
,lot ,,xl4 is a fourteenth-century      
,psalter1 which appears  to have        
belonged to ,john of ,gaunt1 and        
subsequently to ,henry ,,vi4 ,a  similar
 ,psalter1 evidently by the same hand1  
though of a rather later  date1 exists  
in the library of ,exeter ,college4     
,these two ,psalters  are1 in ,mr4      
,yates ,thompson's opinion1 the         
high-water mark of ,english             
illumination1 being perhaps second only 
to the ,st4 ,omer ,psalter4           99
       99       99       99       99    
,the eight printed books range in date  
from #adff to #adih1 and include a  copy
 of the excessively rare ,institutiones 
of ,justinian1 printed at  ,mainz by ,p4
 ,schffer1 #adfh4 ,the twelve ,,mss4    
which conclude the sale are  of ,french 

and ,italian origin and have all        
belonged to famous owners4  ,among them 
is an early fifteenth-century ,,ms4 of  
,boccaccio's ,des ,cleres  et nobles    
femmes1 illustrated by miniatures of    
that ,parisian school  of illuminators  
who almost renounced the use of gold for
 backgrounds  and made use of bright and
 rich colours in broad masses4 ,the book
  belonged to the ,admiral de ,cotivy1  
who was killed at the siege of          
,cherbourg in #adej4 ,mr4 ,yates        
,thompson quotes an extract from one of 
the  ,admiral's letters1 which proves   
him to have been an ardent lover of his 
books4 ,envelopez bien mes livres1 he   
writes to his servants1 giving          
directions for the packing and          
dispatching of his library1 et les      
faites enfoncer en pippes 7casks7 en et 
par manire que s'ilz cheoient  en       
l'eaue1 qu'ilz ne se puissent mouller ne
 gaster en aucune manire4           99  
99       99       99       99           
,,items ,,from ,,the ,,booksellers'     

,,catalogues    ,an extremely elegant   
little catalogue of old editions of     
,greek  and ,latin authors has been sent
 to us from the ,aedes ,dunsteri1       
,cantabrigi1 ,novang1 or in other words 
the ,dunster ,house ,bookshop1          
,cambridge1 ,mass4 ,no word in the      
vulgar tongue is allowed to pollute     
these classical pages1 where everything1
 with the exception of the  dollar sign 
in the prices1 is the choicest ,latin4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,we have already had occasion to speak  
of the ,daniel and other private        
,presses4 ,we are reminded by ,messrs4  
,maggs ,brothers' catalogue1 ,no4 #che1 
of the magnificent examples of          
typography and binding which have issued
  from the ,doves ,press and ,bindery4  
,a copy of ,paradise ,lost and ,paradise
  ,regained1 two volumes1 #aijb-aije1   
printed at the ,doves ,press and bound  
by ,mr4 ,cobden ,sanderson in tooled    
morocco1 is priced at #abj4 ,none of    
the fifteen ,doves ,press books         

mentioned in this catalogue is priced at
  less than #h #hs4 ,collectors will    
remember the boom in ,kelmscott  books4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,good prices were fetched at ,messrs4   
,hodgson's sale on ,january #bhth for   
first editions of ,stevenson4 ,an       
,inland ,voyage 7#ahgh7 was sold for    
#bb2 ,travels with a ,donkey 7#ahgi7 and
 ,virginibus ,puerisque 7#ahha7  went   
for #af #ajs4 each4 ,first editions of  
the ,ebb ,tide 7#ahid7 and  ,the ,wrong 
,box 7#ahhi7 may be bought for #abs4    
#f;d4 at ,messrs4 ,davis   ,orioli4     
99       99       99       99       99  
,messrs4 ,sotheran's catalogue of the   
library of the late ,sir ,edward        
,poynter1 ,p4,r4,a41 has just reached   
us4 ,out of the many items of the       
greatest interest which this catalogue  
contains we can mention only  a few1    
notably a fine set of ,piranesi         
etchings1 a collection of #bej          
caricatures by such masters as ,hogarth1
 ,bunbury1 ,gilray1 and ,rowlandson     

7#ge71 a copy of ,blake's ,illustrations
 to the ,book of ,job1 presented by     
,mrs4 ,opie to the ,french sculptor1    
,david1 with the inscription1 ,this     
work1 remarkable both for its genius and
 extravagance1 is the gift of  ,amelia  
,opie to her friend ,david1 whose own   
genius will make him prize  the former1 
while his excellent taste makes it      
impossible for him to  imitate the      
latter4 ,a complete set of the          
,kelmscott publications1  seventy       
volumes in all1 is priced in this       
catalogue at #ijj4 ,the main  bulk of   
the collection consists of books on the 
fine arts1 and a  certain number of     
original drawings are included4         
,a4 ,l4 ,h4          ,,correspondence   
,,american ,,copyright    7,to the      
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,in the second number of ,,the  
,,london ,,mercury ,i note a reference  
in an ,editorial ,note to the status of 
the copyright relations between         
,america and ,great ,britain4    ,you   

emphasize the unsatisfactory status of  
the ,american copyright law4  ,it is the
 case1 as you point out1 that the       
provision inserted in the  original     
,international ,act which went into     
effect in #ahia1 and in the  amended    
,act which became law in #aiji1 makes it
 a condition that any  book1 whether by 
an ,american or an ,english author1     
must1 in order to  secure copyright     
protection in the ,united ,states1 be   
published in an  edition wholly         
manufactured within this country4 ,it   
has also been the  law up to within the 
past fortnight that the ,american       
edition must be  brought into the market
 within a term of not less than sixty   
days from  the date of publication in   
,great ,britain4    ,this ,act1 as      
amended in #aiab and again in ,december1
 #aiai1 represents  the largest measure 
of copyright protection that it has thus
 far been  found practicable to secure  
for transatlantic authors4 ,the fight to
  secure any measure of recognition for 

the property rights of foreign  authors 
had continued from #ahcg 7when my father
 organised the first  ,copyright        
,league7 to #ahia1 when a provision for 
international copyright  first found    
place in the ,american statute4 ,i      
succeeded my father as the  ,secretary  
and executive of the ,international     
,copyright ,league4    ,as a            
representative of this ,league 7which at
 that time comprised  authors as well as
 publishers7 ,i took to ,washington in  
#ahhf the draft  of a ,bill which1 if   
enacted1 would have enabled the ,united 
,states  to become a member of the      
,convention of ,berne4 ,after four years
 of  effort with two successive         
,congresses1 ,i was obliged to report to
 the  ,copyright ,league that there was 
no possibility of securing favourable   
attention for any international         
copyright measure that did not make     
provision for ,american manufacture4    
,the ,book ,manufacturing ,union1       
comprising typesetters1 printers1       

binders1 etc41 had made clear to        
,congress that they would block the     
enactment of any measure that did not   
include the manufacturing  requirement4 
,in this position they were supported by
 the other unions  which had no direct  
interest in1 and in fact no knowledge   
of1 the  matter at issue4 ,the unions   
have1 wisely1 probably for their own    
interests1 held increasingly to the     
policy of giving a general support  to a
 claim made by any one union or group4  
,our ,league took the position that it  
was wiser to secure such measure  of    
recognition for literary property as was
 then practicable rather  than to leave 
without protection the books of         
transatlantic authors1  and the authors 
and publishers of ,great ,britain were  
in full accord  with this decision4     
,we are obliged to report that the      
unions have to-day a stronger  influence
 over ,congress1 and as a rule over the 
executive1 than they  had in #ahij4     
,there is no possibility of securing the

 cancellation of  the manufacturing     
requirement unless1 or until1 the book  
manufacturing  unions can be persuaded  
to give their assent4 ,there has been an
  increasing effort to this end1 and we 
hope yet to be able to make  clear to   
the book manufacturing trade that the   
,american printers and  binders are now 
quite strong enough to secure their full
 share of the  work done1 and that they 
do not need this special restriction in 
their  favour4    ,we have just         
succeeded in securing the enactment of  
an amendment1 a  copy of which is       
enclosed4    ,this amendment has two    
purposes3    ,first3--,the extension of 
the ad interim term of copyright from   
sixty  to #abj days4    ,an ,english    
author now has four months' time within 
which to complete  the arrangements for 
his ,american edition1 and there is no  
reason why  any book having value for   
,american readers should not secure the 
full  protection of ,american copyright4
    ,second3--,the ,bill has the further

 purpose of giving protection to the    
books of transatlantic authors which1   
under the special conditions  of the    
years of war and the dislocation of     
transatlantic mails1 had  failed to     
fulfil the requirements of the copyright
 law4 ,these books1  as far as they may 
not already have been appropriated1 are 
now placed  in a position to meet these 
requirements and to secure copyright for
  the full term4 ,it is1 however1 a     
condition of this special protection    
that the ,british authorities shall give
 reciprocal protection to books  by     
,american authors which1 under the same 
war conditions1 have failed  to meet the
 requirements of the ,english statute   
and have1 therefore1  forfeited the     
protection of the ,british ,copyright   
,act4    ,the ,american authors have    
here a fair ground for complaint against
  ,great ,britain4    ,the ,british ,act
 of #aiab provides that copyright       
protection will be  accorded only to a  
book which has been brought into        

bona-fide  publication1 and the ,courts 
take the ground that this means placing 
adequate supplies of the book in the    
market within the term  specified1      
fourteen days4 ,this term is1 you will  
note1 very much  smaller than the       
sixty-day term granted in the earlier   
,american ,act1 or  the #abj days which 
are now available4    ,in #aiaf books   
were included under the heading of      
luxuries1 the  importation of which into
 ,great ,britain was prohibited by the  
embargo  ,act4 ,great ,britain had1     
therefore1 granted copyright with one   
hand  and with the other1 under this    
embargo ,act1 had made it impossible    
for ,american authors to meet the       
requirements of the ,copyright ,act4    
,the copyright arrangement between the  
,united ,states and ,great ,britain     
that went into effect in #ahia1 and that
 was confirmed by the ,act of  #aiab1   
carried with it the obligations of a    
treaty1 and the embargo ,act            
constituted1 therefore1 as far as       

copyright was concerned1 a violation  of
 the treaty obligation4    ,i found1 in 
bringing this matter in #aiah to the    
attention of the  ,comptroller-,general1
 that this consideration had not        
occurred to the  ,british authorities at
 the time of the embargo ,act4    ,i    
pointed out to the ,comptroller-,general
 that as a result of this  embargo      
provision property rights had been lost 
not only for ,american  authors1 but for
 a certain group of ,british authors    
who1 not being  able under the          
manufacturing difficulties of the war   
period to secure  prompt publication of 
their books in ,great ,britain1 had made
 first  publication in the ,united      
,states4 ,in so doing they had forfeited
 their  ,british copyright1 although it 
had been their impression that they     
would be able when the war had come to  
an end to secure protection for         
,british editions4 ,the                 
,comptroller-,general agreed that the   
condition was  unsatisfactory1 and      

agreed further that if the ,united      
,states would do  what was now          
practicable to protect the publications 
of the war period  a similar protection 
of books of ,american authors would be  
arranged for  by the ,british           
authorities4    ,a fortnight back1 on   
the day on which the ,president signed  
the ,bill1  ,i cabled the report to the 
,comptroller-,general that books by     
,british  authors issued during the war 
period would be protected in ,america   
as soon as the ,british authorities were
 prepared to grant reciprocal           
protection4 ,i hope to hear that prompt 
measures have been taken to  such       
effect4 ,lord ,askwith has1 ,i may      
mention1 interested himself in  the     
matter and will1 ,i understand1 take    
prompt action to initiate the  necessary
 legislation4    ,i can but think that  
those who are critical of the present   
status of  the ,american copyright law  
should understand that the              
unsatisfactory  provisions in the law do

 not represent the opinion of the       
,american  people1 but the              
disproportioned influence of the        
manufacturing unions4  ,it would be in  
order also to give some measure of      
appreciation to the  ,american          
publishers and authors who have for many
 years been doing what  was in their    
power to secure adequate recognition for
 literary property  on both sides of the
 ,atlantic4--,yours1 etc41              
,,geo4 ,,haven ,,putnam4        ,the    
,american ,publishers' ,copyright       
,league1       ,office of the           
,secretary1 #b ,west #deth ,street1 ,new
 ,york1 ,january #crd4    ,major        
,putnam's news1 which we briefly        
recorded in our ,editorial  ,notes last 
month1 is excellent hearing4 ,in        
congratulating him on his  work in      
connection with copyright we must also  
mention the ,authors'  ,league of       
,america and our own ,authors' ,society1
 with their respective  indefatigable   
secretaries1 ,mr4 ,eric ,schuler and    

,mr4 ,g4 ,herbert  ,thring4--,,editor4  
,,mr4 ,,sturge ,,moore ,,and ,,flaubert 
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,in the review of 
,mr4 ,w4 ,k4 ,seymour's ,miscellany of  
,poetry--#aiai  7,,london ,,mercury1    
,february7 the best thing in the book is
 said to be a  long epistle by ,mr4     
,sturge ,moore1 which contains pictures 
as clean-cut  and vivid as those which  
made his ,micah so peculiarly rich a    
poem4  ,this is1 of course1 a very just 
remark1 but it is a curious thing about 
,micah that the particular piece of     
imagery which struck one reader at  any 
rate can be paralleled almost verbatim  
from ,salammbo4 ,i intend no            
discourtesy to ,mr4 ,sturge ,moore when 
,i say that ,i consider the parallel    
should have been acknowledged in the    
text4 ,he has written much about        
,flaubert and much also about the       
virtues of joint authorship1 and ,i     
think nothing but praise for what is    
apparently a verse translation  in      

,micah would have resulted from the     
acknowledgment4 ,as the matter  stands  
it seems that an explanation of some    
sort is wanting1 and ,i  suggest that   
when ,micah is published in a collection
 of ,mr4 ,moore's  poetry the point     
should surely not be overlooked4    ,the
 following are the lines referred to3   
,salammbo3      ,le toit de la haute    
maison s'appuie sur de minces           
colonnettes1    rapproches comme les    
btons d'une claire-voie1 et par ces     
intervalles le matre1 tendu sur un long 
sige1 aperoit toutes ces    plaines     
autour de lui1 avec les chasseurs entre 
les bls1 le pressoir    o l'on vendange1
 les bufs qui battent la paille4    ,mr4
 ,sturge ,moore3          ,the roof of  
that tall house lightly was raised      
,on slender colonnettes set nigh as     
close        ,as palings4 ,micah through
 these intervals        ,had oft at     
leisure from his couch surveyed         
,the plain stretched round him2 slingers
 in the corn        ,the wine-press     

whither they bring in his grapes4       
,unmuzzled and well fed1 slow oxen trod 
,the terrace threshing-floor4           
,yours1 etc41                  ,h4 ,w4  
,,crundell4      ,,prose ,,and          
,,mortality    7,to the ,editor of ,,the
 ,,london ,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,there  
is a good example of the recurrence of  
that one music and  one speech so richly
 instanced in your article ,prose and   
,mortality  7,january's ,,london        
,,mercury7 in ,keats's letter to ,brown 
written on board  the ,maria ,crowther  
off the ,isle of ,wight--good because1  
though  the music is not full nor the   
harmony flawless1 it is yet heard       
unmistakably in a familiar letter1 where
 it rises from the midst of an          
invalid's colloquial writing4 ,here it  
is3    ,land and sea1 weakness and      
decline1 are great separators1 but      
,death is  the great divorcer for ever4 
,when the pang of this thought has      
passed  through my mind ,i may say the  
bitterness of death is passed4--,yours1 

etc41            ,s4 ,p4 ,j4            
,llangollen1 ,february #hth4    ,this is
 a perfect example1 as it comes not from
 a set composition but  from a familiar 
letter4--,,editor4      ,,tamhtab       
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,there is an      
example of the ,moor ,eeffocist language
 which is not  open to ,a4 ,p4's very   
just objection4    ,when ,i was very    
young and had a vivid imagination ,i was
 taken into a  ,chinese ,restaurant1    
where ,i saw ,,tuo ,,yaw writ large on a
 glass door4 ,for  a long time ,i       
thought ,i knew at least two words of   
,chinese4--,yours1  etc41               
,,donald ,j4 ,,wardley4    #be ,elgin   
,crescent1 ,w4#aa1 ,february #gth4      
,,the ,,song ,,of ,,the ,,mandrake      
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,will you allow me
 to point out a curious slip in ,mr4    
,walter de  la ,mare's most wonderful   
little story1 ,the ,creatures1 in the   
current  7,january7 number8    ,on page 

#bha1 eight lines from the bottom1 he   
gives a list of  birds--,gull1 mandrake1
 plover1 wagtail1 finch1 robin4 ,does   
,mr4 de la  ,mare really mean his       
readers to understand that the mandrake 
is a bird8  ,if so1 surely the root must
 cry aloud as it is dragged from the    
ground  to be hurled into a different   
,natural ,order4--,yours1 etc41         
,w4 ,,walmesley ,,white4    ,ellergarth1
 ,budleigh ,salterton1 ,january #bhth4  
,,the ,,verb ,,to ,,do    7,to the      
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,will no one protest against and
 endeavour to check the ugly and  quite 
unnecessary modernism of as it does8 ,i 
give an example of a  sentence1 adequate
 and harmonious as written1 which would 
be spoiled  were the favourite          
journalese as it does inserted after the
 word  embracing4    ,the glorious view 
from this spot1 embracing the valley of 
,ville  d',avray1 the slopes opposite1  
the great city in the distance1 was a   
delight to ,balzac4--,martin1 ,stones of

 ,paris1 ,,ii41 #fi4--,yours1 etc41     
,r4 ,,owen4    ,belmount ,hall1         
,outgate1 ,ambleside1 ,january #abth4   
,,john ,,donne    7,to the ,editor of   
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7               
,,sir1--,mr4 ,robert ,lynd in his very  
readable essay on ,donne in your  last  
number has inadvertently fallen into the
 old error of saying  that ,donne was in
 #afab making use of his legal knowledge
 in order to  help the infamous         
,countess of ,essex to secure the       
annulment of her  first marriage4 ,it is
 true that ,donne wrote an ,epithalamium
 for the  ,countess's second marriage1  
and that is mortifying enough without   
any  further charge4 ,but ,professor    
,grierson pointed out some time since   
that  it was ,dr4 ,daniel ,donne 7or    
,dun7 who drew up the paper referred to 
7,grierson's ,donne1 ii4 #id74 ,if      
further evidence were needed1 it might  
be supplied from ,,ms4 ,rawlinson #achf 
in the ,bodleian4 ,on page #bja is the  
autograph ,daniel ,dun1 and someone1    

probably ,rawlinson1 has added ,sr4     
,daniel ,dr of ,civil ,lawes concern'd  
in ,somerset's ,divorce4    ,mr4 ,lynd  
very rightly insists that ,john ,donne  
is the supreme example  of a ,platonic  
lover among the ,english poets4 ,but he 
implies that  the impassioned logic of  
,the ,ecstasy is not quite consistent   
with  ,platonism4 ,what is ,platonism8  
,it is customary to develop a system of 
philosophy of love from a few famous    
pages of the ,symposium1 ignoring  the  
rest1 and this more or less hypothetical
 or mythical ,platonism has  caused many
 people to forget ,plato's real         
teaching4 ,a careful study of  the      
,symposium will1 ,i think1 show ,donne  
to be much more truly in the  genuine   
,platonic tradition than were some of   
the poetical ,platonists  who preceded  
him4 ,mr4 ,lynd is quite right on this  
point1 and ,i think he  might have put  
it even more strongly4--,yours1 etc41   
,,ben ,,crocker ,,clough4    ,oxford1   
,february #acth4      ,,dogs    7,to the

 ,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7   
,,sir1--,your reviewer in his notice of 
that interesting book ,seventeenth      
,century ,life in the ,country ,parish1 
referring to the dog-whipper1  says1    
,but why did the dogs of those days show
 such a church-going  disposition8 ,i   
would remind him that the dog-whipper's 
office was not  created in the          
seventeenth century1 but in those       
remoter times when no  gentleman        
appeared anywhere in public without his 
hawk on his wrist and  his hound at his 
heel4 ,in ,barclay's ,shippe of ,fools  
7#aeji7 he writes3          ,one time   
the hawkes bells jangleth hye           
99       99       99       99       99  
,and now the houndes barking strikes the
 skye                 99       99       
99       99       99          ,they make
 of the ,church for their hawkes a mewe1
        ,and canell for their dogges1   
which they shall after rewe4    ,it was 
the custom to supply a pew 7or pen7 for 
the dogs of the ,lord of  the           

,manor--the hall-dogs' pew--and as      
people worshipped 7in their  hats7 with 
the church doors standing open1 ,i      
suppose the hounds of  the lesser gentry
 and inimitative yeomen would run in and
 fight and  distract attention4         
,though in the seventeenth century the  
hawk had ceased to be an integral  part 
of a gentleman's equipage1 the dogs had 
inherited the tradition  of taking their
 masters to church1 maybe4 ,and as the  
worshipper1 even  in the seventeenth    
century1 went from ,divine service to a 
bull or  bear-baiting1 he would like to 
have his dogs on the spot4 ,and no doubt
  all the curs of the village would want
 to follow them into church and  ask the
 news of high life4--,yours1 etc41      
,g4 ,i4 ,,whitham4    ,lyneham ,cottage1
 ,chudleigh1 ,s4 ,devon1 ,february      
#acth4          ,,learned ,,societies1  
,,etc4      ,,the ,,society ,,of        
,,antiquaries    ,interest in the ,near 
,east is maintained1 and a useful lead  
was given in  #aiac by the ,cyprus      

,government1 who entrusted ,professor   
,myres1 assisted  by the ,keeper of the 
,cyprus ,museum and ,mr4 ,l4 ,h4 ,d4    
,buxton1 with a  good round sum to      
conduct excavations in the island4 ,the 
results were  described at length and   
illustrated on the screen1 the most     
notable  discovery being a ruined       
sanctuary containing a collection of    
stone  statues with many of the painted 
surfaces in brilliant preservation1     
ranging in date from the seventh century
 ,b4,c4 to ,greco-,roman times4         
,elsewhere many antiquities of the      
,bronze ,age were brought to light1 but 
at present there are few1 if any1 traces
 of a ,stone ,age in the island4  ,the  
first stratified series of ,cypriote    
pottery was provided by a  complete     
section of the ,bamboula ,hill at       
,larnaca1 and the situation is  full of 
promise4    ,a marble statuette1 now in 
the ,ashmolean ,museum1 was the text of 
,professor ,langdon's discourse1 and    
gave scope for surmise as well as       

scholarship4 ,it was found by the #adth 
,sikh ,regiment when entrenching  before
 the battle of ,istabalat1 eight miles  
below ,samara on the ,tigris4  ,the     
object originally carried on the head   
has disappeared1 but the  standing      
figure still holds a boomerang or       
sceptre1 and the dress was  made in     
imitation of the fleece1 a fashion to   
which ,aristophanes is  supposed to     
refer in the ,wasps1 perhaps three      
thousand years later4  ,various         
prehistoric specimens from ,england     
exhibited to the ,society  have an      
interest of their own1 but cannot       
compete with relics from the  cradle of 
civilisation1 and at present the        
watch-word is ,ex oriente  lux4         
,,the ,,egypt ,,exploration ,,fund      
,the third of a series of lectures      
arranged by the ,egypt ,exploration     
,fund 7to which we referred in our      
,december number7 was given at the      
rooms of the ,royal ,society at         
,burlington ,house on ,january #bcrd1 by

  ,professor ,t4 ,eric ,peet4 ,the      
subject of the lecture was ,el ,amarna1 
the  ,city of ,egypt's ,heretic ,king4  
,the lecturer said that from the        
evidence  of the mummy generally        
supposed to be his1 ,amenhotep ,,iv4    
appears to  have been little more than a
 boy when his father died4              
,nevertheless1  as early as the fourth  
year of his reign1 he introduced the    
worship of  the ,aton1 the ,disk of the 
,sun1 and did his utmost to establish it
 as  the ,state religion1 and to        
suppress the worship of ,amon and all   
other  ,egyptian gods4 ,the new religion
 was purely monotheistic in character1  
for the ,aton was regarded as the       
creator1 not of ,egypt only1 but of  the
 world4 ,the new deity was represented  
in the art of the period by a  picture  
of the disk of the sun1 from which      
emanated numerous rays1 each            
terminating in human hands1 some of     
which are holding out the sign of  life 
to the worshippers4 ,the king changed   

his own name from ,amenhotep  7,amon is 
content7 to ,akhenaton 7,the ,disk is   
pleased71 and he  shifted his capital   
from ,thebes to ,el ,amarna4            
,excavations at ,el ,amarna have brought
 to light remains of a temple  dedicated
 to the ,aton1 and a palace erected for 
the use of the king1  with beautifully  
painted floor1 fragments of which show a
 freedom of  drawing and lack of        
convention which distinguish this period
 from most  other ,egyptian art4 ,the   
remains of many private houses have also
 been  discovered1 and from these it is 
comparatively easy to gather the  size1 
design1 and general construction of the 
houses of the nobles of  that time4     
,most of them seem to have been built on
 the same plan1 and  comprise a central 
hall1 with small apartments surrounding 
and leading  from it4 ,some of these    
smaller rooms were used as workrooms1   
and in  one house excavated a number of 
plaster casts were found1 obviously     
taken from living models1 proving that  

the ,egyptians of this period  were     
experts in this work4 ,there were also  
many finished and unfinished  statues of
 the ,royal family1 some of which were  
in very natural  positions1 quite unlike
 the usual ,egyptian statues of other   
sites4    ,the tombs of the officials of
 the ,court were discovered in the      
cliffs  behind the town1 their walls    
being covered with sculptured scenes    
depicting the everyday life of the      
capital4    ,at the close of the lecture
 the ,chairman1 ,colonel ,h4 ,g4 ,lyons1
 ,f4,r4,s41  pointed out the extreme    
importance of systematic and scientific 
excavations in ,egypt and other         
countries1 and the gains which might    
accrue to science4      ,,the           
,,geologists' ,,association    ,at the  
meeting held at ,university ,college1   
,gower ,street1 ,w4,c4#a1 on  ,friday1  
,december #eth1 #aiai1 the following    
lecture was delivered3  ,geological     
,work on the ,western ,front1 by ,w4 ,b4
 ,r4 ,king1 ,b4,a41 ,f4,g4,s4  ,a short 

description was given of the geology of 
that part of ,belgium  and ,france over 
which military operations were conducted
 by the ,british  ,armies between #aiae 
and the summer of #aiah4 ,it was mainly 
confined to  the lithological divisions 
and did not deal with the palontological
  side of the subject4 ,the main        
physical features were taken1 showing   
how they are connected with the         
geological structure4 ,the effect of    
the geology and geological structure on 
certain questions of military           
operations was dealt with1 notably with 
regard to water supply and  military    
mining and dug-out construction4        
,particular attention was  paid to the  
problem of obtaining water from         
boreholes in the ,landenien  7,thanet7  
sands1 the causes and effect of the     
seasonal variation of  water-level in   
the chalk1 and the problem of the       
military mines near  ,messines1         
,givenchy-les-la-,basse1 and ,souchez4  
,the lecture ended with  a description  

of certain maps which were prepared for 
the armies in  ,france1 and notes on    
several other problems which had to be  
dealt with  by the geologists attached  
to ,general ,headquarters4    ,on       
,friday1 ,january #bnd1 #aibj1 ,dr4 ,a4 
,e4 ,trueman1 ,f4,g4,s41 read a paper   
on ,the ,liassic ,rocks of the ,cardiff 
,district4 ,the author said that  the   
greater part of ,south ,glamorganshire1 
from ,cardiff westwards to  beyond      
,bridgend1 consists of lower ,liassic   
rocks 7,hettangian and ,lower           
,sinemurian71 which are well seen in    
some #bj miles of magnificent cliff     
sections4 ,only meagre descriptions of  
these rocks have been hitherto          
published4 ,a detailed study has been   
undertaken1 first because nowhere  else 
in this country are such continuous     
sections of these rocks  available1 and1
 secondly1 because the normal deposits  
consisting of  limestones and shales    
seen near ,cardiff1 when traced         
westwards1 pass  into a littoral facies 

of massive limestones and conglomerates4
 ,in  the present communication an      
account of the normal ,liassic rocks of 
the ,cardiff district is given1 as this 
will form a basis for the  correlation  
of the modified deposits further west4  
,the lecture was  illustrated by        
lantern-slides and specimens4      ,,the
 ,,modern ,,humanities ,,research       
,,association    ,the ,january number of
 the ,bulletin of the ,modern           
,humanities ,research  ,association     
contains a summary of the ,presidential 
,address delivered  in ,october1 #aiai1 
by ,m4 ,gustave ,lanson1 the famous     
,french scholar and  critic4 ,the       
,association1 which1 though founded only
 in ,june1 #aiah1  numbers nearly #ejj  
members1 is now penetrating to some of  
the remoter  quarters of the globe2     
among the last candidates to be elected 
were  some from ,czecho-,slovakia1 the  
,malay ,states1 ,new ,zealand1 and      
,western  ,canada1 and most of these    
were at once put into touch with members

  at home belonging to subject groups   
representing their particular           
interests4 ,the ,hon4 ,secretary 7,mr4  
,e4 ,allison ,peers1 #bd ,beaufort      
,road1  ,kingston-on-,thames7 writes in 
the ,bulletin of proposals submitted to 
the ,association that it should produce 
a comprehensive ,bibliographical        
,annual1 a task which a body with so    
wide a membership seems peculiarly      
fitted to attempt4    ,the ,modern      
,humanities ,research ,association is   
fulfilling another  obligation which    
rests upon all who speak the ,english   
language in its  efforts to bridge the  
,atlantic and unite those on both sides 
who are  engaged in higher studies in   
,modern ,languages and ,literatures4    
,its  membership is growing in the      
,united ,states so rapidly that an      
,american  ,secretary 7,professor ,m4   
,blakemore ,evans1 of the ,ohio ,state  
,university7  has been appointed4 ,at   
its most recent ,london meeting1 on     
,january #fth1  too1 ,professor         

,carleton ,brown1 of ,minnesota1 was    
among the speakers  on ,conditions of   
,postgraduate ,study4 ,such interchange 
of help and  information as the         
,association brings about between       
,england and ,america  can have none but
 good effects4    ,among the            
,vice-,presidents of the ,association1  
prominent names are those  of ,sir      
,sidney ,lee 7its first ,president71    
,dr4 ,walter ,leaf1 ,sir ,a4 ,w4  ,ward1
 ,m4 ,jusserand1 ,signor ,farinelli1    
,professor ,jespersen1 ,professor       
,oliver ,emerson1 and ,sr4 ,menndez     
,pidal4      ,,the ,,royal ,,numismatic 
,,society    ,at the ,january meeting of
 the ,royal ,numismatic ,society the    
,rev4 ,e4 ,a4  ,sydenham read a paper on
 the ,coinages of ,augustus4 ,he began  
by giving  a chronological summary of   
the various series and groups of coins  
under  ,augustus4 ,there were seven     
species of mints3 7a7 the ,senatorial   
,mint  of ,rome2 7b7 ,military ,mints2  
7c7 ,mints in ,senatorial ,provinces2   

7d7 ,mints in ,imperial ,provinces2 7e7 
,autonomous ,mints 7issuing  bronze     
only72 7f7 the ,imperatorial ,mint2 7g7 
the ,imperial ,mint4  ,after brief notes
 on the ,senatorial ,mint 7#dc-cf       
,b4,c471 the military  coinage of       
,octavius in ,gaul and ,italy 7#da-ci   
,b4,c471 incidentally  attributing the  
,s4,c4 coins to camp mints of ,northern 
,italy1 ,mr4  ,sydenham proceeded to    
discuss the ,asiatic coinages 7#bh-ae   
,b4,c47 and  the ,imperatorial ,mint    
7#ba-ae ,b4,c474 ,besides coins         
generally attributed  to ,asiatic mints 
the reader proposed to give the undated 
silver and  gold with ,,caesar ,,divi ,f
 to ,asia rather than ,rome1 and        
criticised  ,laffranchi's attribution of
 certain coins to ,phrygia and          
,gabrici's to  ,athens4 ,the ,,ca bronze
 coins he attributed to ,asia reading   
the ,,ca as  ,commune ,asi4 ,the coins  
attributed to the ,imperatorial ,mint   
are  very distinctive in style and were 
probably issued under direct control  of

 ,augustus4 ,these coins had been       
attributed by ,grueber to ,rome and by  
,laffranchi to ,spain4 ,mr4 ,sydenham   
gave cogent arguments against these     
views and added reasons for considering 
them a distinct ,imperatorial  issue4 ,a
 theory on which a good deal of the     
argument turns is that  in #bh ,b4,c4   
,augustus made a formal surrender of his
 triumviral office  and the             
extraordinary powers pertaining to it4  
,included in the powers  was probably   
the right of coinage4 ,the surrender of 
this right was  merely an act of policy 
which ,augustus did not regard as       
permanently  binding4 ,but he held to it
 to this extent that for five or six    
years  he issued no coins of any sort on
 his own authority1 and even down to    
the end of his reign he issued no coins 
in ,rome4 ,after an experimental        
coinage through ,p4 ,carisius in ,spain 
7#bd-bb ,b4,c47 he inaugurated his      
,imperatorial ,mint1 but confined its   
operations to the provinces4  ,finally  

he fixed the ,imperial ,mint at         
,lugdunum 7#ad ,b4,c474      ,,the      
,,society ,,of ,,genealogists ,,of      
,,london    ,the ,society of            
,genealogists of ,london is collecting  
lists of books1  articles1 deeds1       
,,mss41 and documents generally in      
reference to  specific families and     
places4 ,it has many such lists and     
references  to documents1 as well as    
collections of documents themselves1 and
  wishes to add to them to facilitate   
research4 ,readers kindly supplying     
such lists1 long or short1 are assured  
that they are filed at once  by the     
,society in such a manner that they are 
immediately available  for reference4   
,an excellent example of the form such  
lists might take  is provided in ,mr4   
,walter ,rye's ,norfolk ,topography4    
,communications  should be addressed to 
#e ,bloomsbury ,square1 ,w4,c4#a4       
,,books ,,of ,,the ,,month      ,,poetry
    ,,mansoul1 ,,or ,,the ,,riddle ,,of 
,,the ,,world4 ,by ,,charles ,m4        

,,doughty4 ,selwyn   ,blount4 #gs4 #f;d4
 net4    ,we imagine that there is no   
difference of opinion1 amongst those who
  have read it1 about ,mr4 ,doughty's   
prose book1 now a generation old1       
,wanderings in ,arabia ,deserta4 ,it was
 one of the great prose works of  the   
nineteenth century1 a book which 7the   
geographers assure us7 was              
astonishingly accurate as a record of   
exploration1 and which repeatedly       
soared into passages of description and 
meditation unsurpassed for  muscularity 
and grandeur4 ,even that book1 however1 
was the work of a  man odd in           
temperament and outlook and possessing  
peculiar ideas as to  the use of the    
,english language4 ,in the volumes of   
poetry which he has  been producing so  
rapidly in his old age his              
eccentricities have been  projected very
 much farther4 ,we should not be        
surprised to hear that he  had never    
read 7barring perhaps ,shakespeare and  
,milton7 any poet later  than ,spenser2 

we are certain that he habitually reads 
no one later than  ,spenser1 and the    
poet with whom a comparison most        
frequently leaps to  the mind is someone
 earlier still1 namely1 ,langland4      
,there are those1 a  very few1 who      
swallow ,mr4 ,doughty whole1 who enjoy  
his archaisms1 real  and pseudo1 who    
think ,the ,dawn in ,britain the        
greatest poetical  work of our time1 and
 will hear nothing against even the     
topical  passages of his poem about the 
,german war4 ,there are more who find   
him  frankly unreadable in bulk1 but are
 willing to turn over his pages for  the
 sake of the occasionally lovely        
passages of description that they  find 
on them2 whilst the average intelligent 
reader would probably run  from any page
 of any of his poetical works1 so stony 
is the way that  the disciple must tread
 and so vigorous the discipline to which
 he must  subject himself4    ,for      
ourselves1 we read ,mr4 ,doughty through
 as in duty bound1 and we  perceive even

 in his knottiest and even in his navest
 passages the  workings of a powerful   
and original mind1 the observations of  
an eye  which looks at history and the  
material world as though they had never 
been looked at before1 the strivings of 
a heart that has always been  acutely   
aware of the world behind the seen4     
,nevertheless1 not even  this           
compensates us fully for a cumbrousness 
of style1 a malformation  of shape1 and 
a guttural obscurity of speech hard to  
equal in all the  annals of literature2 
and we are1 we fear1 to be most         
sympathetic  to that second class of    
readers who look to ,mr4 ,doughty only  
for  occasional flowers and remember1   
out of all they have read of his1  only 
stray images1 as of a shepherd on a hill
 or swallows circling  over the fresh   
meadows in the dawn of the world4       
,mansoul is all of a  piece with the    
others2 we almost think that in a few   
months it will1  in our own memories1   
have amalgamated with the others4 ,it   

opens in the  familiar mode1 the grand  
manner1 but just a little awry3         
,as chanced ,i sate on terrace of an    
house1        ,in summer season1 after  
sickness past2        ,and fell1        
surprised my sense1 into deep trance2   
,wherein meseemed1 much musing in my    
thought1        ,i cogitations heard1 of
 many hearts2        ,that came and     
went1 in ,,mantown',s market-place      
,whereon ,i looked4 ,and in my spirit ,i
 asked2        ,what were indeed right  
paths of a man's feet2        ,that     
lacking light1 wont stumble in world's  
murk4    ,there can be heard the grave  
voice1 there seen the something like    
majesty of port1 there noticed a little 
of ,mr4 ,doughty's obscurity and  some  
of his1 we daresay even unconscious1    
fads such as the avoidance of  particles
 and the refusal to use the apostrophe  
's4 ,thus it continues  for two hundred 
pages of contortion and clouds with     
flashes of sunshine  coming through     
them4 ,at one moment we are wondering   

why on earth ,mr4  ,doughty should call 
,tigris and ,euphrates ,digla and ,frat 
if he  has to translate these terms in a
 footnote2 at another we are giving  up 
an unusually dark passage in despair2 at
 another we are wondering  whether      
perhaps his best things do not actually 
gain something from the  mannerisms that
 normally make our heads ache4 ,the     
narrative is very  hard to follow4 ,the 
singer1 accompanied by ,mansoul and one 
,minimus1  peregrinates through the     
under world1 surveys past civilisations1
 and  converses with 7amongst others7   
,nebo1 ,zoroaster1 ,socrates1 and ,st4  
,stephen4 ,the ,kaiser 7we conceive7 is1
 in anticipation1 interviewed3          
,one crowned1 cast lately down unto this
 place    a ,warmonger and a coxcomb    
whose werewolfs face is now blotted by  
a loathly leprosy2 and there is a pagan 
to the soul of all things  at the end1  
the ,muse of ,britain and ,colin        
7presumed ,spenser7 being               
intermittently in mind throughout4 ,yet 

at any time ,mr4 ,doughty is  liable to 
break1 without the least awareness of   
writing a purple patch1  into a packed  
passage full of feeling and sweet to the
 memory4 ,take one  such3          ,i   
stayed1 where pleasant grassy holms     
depart2        ,those streaming waters1 
bordered all along2        ,with daphne 
and willow herb1 sweep sedge1 laughing  
robin2        ,with woodbind garlanded  
and sweet eglantine1        ,and        
azure-hewed in creeky shallows still    
,forget-me-nots lift our frail thoughts 
to heaven4        ,broods o'er those    
thymy eyots drowsy hum2        ,bourdon 
of glistering bees1 in mails of gold4   
,labouring from sweet to sweet1 in the  
long hours        ,of sunny heat2 they  
sound their shrill small clarions4      
,and hurl by booming doors1 gross       
bee-fly kin2        7,broadgirded1      
diverse hewed1 in their long pelts27    
,that solitary1 whiles there light      
endureth1        ,in summer skies1 each 
becking clover-tuft haunt4    ,we do not

 think that ,mr4 ,doughty should be     
ignored by anyone who wishes  to be     
familiar with all the good work done in 
poetry in our time4  ,but1 in           
recommending him1 we warn readers that  
they should approach  him almost as they
 would approach ,piers ,plowman itself2 
,chaucer is  distinctly more easy and   
modern4      ,,images ,,of ,,war4 ,by   
,,richard ,,aldington4 ,allen  ,unwin4  
#cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,,worms ,,and        
,,epitaphs4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,,garrod4       
,blackwell4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,the     
first of these small books seems to have
 been written on active  service1 the   
second on return to ,oxford after active
 service4 ,that ,mr4  ,richard          
,aldington's verse should have a larger 
content than before is  natural2 his    
pre-war verse1 to the non-,imagist eye1 
consisted largely  of sweet nothings    
starred with ,greek names4 ,we have here
 emotional  experiences of a less       
tenuous kind2 the poet is coming nearer 
a  comprehension of ,keats' remark that 

poets should express what all men  feel4
 ,this in ,trench ,idyll1 ,time's       
,changes1 ,reverie1 and other  poems he 
does2 and sometimes he conveys the      
emotion through the medium  of a careful
 picture1 as clear in its way as one of 
,mr4 ,kennington's  drawings4 ,here is  
,picket3          ,dusk and deep silence
 444        ,three soldiers huddled on a
 bench        ,over a red-hot brazier1  
,and a fourth who stands apart          
,watching the cold rainy dawn4          
,then the familiar sound of birds--     
,clear cock-crow1 caw of rooks1         
,frail pipe of linnet1 the ting6 ting6  
of chaffinches1        ,and over all the
 lark        ,outpiercing even the      
robin4444          ,wearily the sentry  
moves        ,muttering the one word3   
,peace4    ,here there is more of a     
rhythm than usual4 ,but the defect of   
,mr4  ,aldington and his ,imagist       
friends is that1 although they are quite
  right1 though not original1 in        
emphasising the need for concrete       

language1 they do for the most part lack
 that rhythm that makes poetry  what it 
is and rememberable4 ,it is not that    
they write in free verse4  ,rhyme is no 
necessary part of verse1 and nobody in  
the world ever  contended that all the  
lines of a poem should be of standard   
lengths4  ,but a poem in free verse--it 
is this which chiefly distinguishes     
,whitman's good from his bad            
poems--should have a continuous rhythm  
other than that of prose1 and will have 
it if it is written by a  man who is    
strongly moved and has the gift of      
musical expression4 ,mr4  ,aldington may
 have that gift1 but if so he represses 
it4    ,mr4 ,garrod's volume bears a    
picture of a graveyard3 therein the     
tombstones of ,messrs4 ,lloyd ,george   
and ,balfour1 ,lords ,haldane1          
,northcliffe and ,birkenhead1 and ,sir  
,edward ,carson4 ,this looks sweeping1  
but on reference to his epigrammatic    
epitaphs1 one finds that he  admires the
 ,old ,gang and deplores the ,new4 ,his 

verses are neat but  slight4 ,the best  
are those on ,rupert ,brooke1 on the new
 invaders of  ,oxford who vainly attempt
 to emulate the dead1 and on            
,reconstruction3          ,o soon you'll
 build the world again        ,with     
other and with better men2        ,and  
,i and plenty more will sit1        ,and
 sit1 and see you doing it4        ,in a
 large ,west-end hotel        ,rich     
non-combatants will dwell2              
,well-paid hands will ply the art       
,of binding up the broken heart1        
,a special sub-department deal          
,with the wounds that never heal1       
,deputy-,controllers pour               
,government oil on every sore1          
,and a civilian ,soldier's ,friend      
,furnish us forms world-without-end     
,god6 does a man like me want tape8     
,i've wounds1 man1 here1 that gape1 that
 gape4    ,we note that ,lord ,derby is 
described as vir teres atque rotundus4  
,,selected ,,poems4 ,by ,,lady          
,,margaret ,,sackville4 ,constable4 #fs4

 net4    ,,verses4 ,by ,,viola          
,,meynell4 ,secker4 #bs4 #f;d4 net4     
,mr4 ,wilfrid ,blunt1 in a lively       
introduction to the first of these      
volumes--in the course of which he      
suggests1 provocatively1 that blank     
verse is merely a dignified kind of     
prose1 pompous in recitation and  for   
common reading dull--says that ,lady    
,margaret ,sackville is the  best1 in my
 opinion1 of our ,english poetesses1 at 
least of the younger  generation4 ,it is
 a good thing that he added the         
qualification1 for1  apart from the fact
 that ,mrs4 ,woods has written poems    
better than  anything that ,lady        
,margaret has yet done1 there is ,mrs4  
,meynell1 whose  too exiguous volume of 
verse competes for quality with the best
 work of  her generation4 ,if there are 
scarcely any more exceptions to make we 
feel that the deduction is that women   
are at present doing very little  in    
poetry1 though there are vast numbers of
 them who write it4 ,in the  ,victorian 

age when ,christina ,rossetti and ,mrs4 
,browning1 both of whom  did immortal   
work1 were writing together there was a 
general impression  that these were the 
first fruits of women's emancipation and
 that  future ages would see women      
becoming more and more prominent in     
poetry4  ,but the wind bloweth where it 
listeth1 and the fact that1 at a time   
when an unusually large number of young 
men are writing sincerely and  strongly1
 not one young poetess should have won  
prominence has now led  to a general    
opinion that the peculiar qualities of  
passion and thought  that make poets    
are1 and will always be1 more normal in 
men than in  women4 ,lady ,margaret     
,sackville has a reasonable technical   
equipment3  a fair vocabulary1 facility 
with metre4 ,she never says quite stupid
  things1 she sometimes says pretty     
things1 and at times 7as in her war     
poems7 she reveals a certain depth of   
feeling4 ,but usually she is first  and 
foremost derivative2 sometimes from     

,swinburne direct1 more often  generally
 derivative4 ,you feel that she is      
giving a thin version of  something     
else1 even when you cannot say exactly  
what2 and her poems1  whether dramatic  
poems about ,dionysus and ,pan1 or      
dreams1 streams1  ,springs and things1  
are just saved from being ordinary verse
 by the  fact that she has a brain and a
 heart which infuse the bare minimum of 
reality into them4 ,the only things to  
be said in her favour is that she  is   
young and that her latest verses are her
 best4    ,something of what we lack in 
,lady ,margaret is present1 if          
intermittently1 in the small1           
charmingly-produced book by ,miss ,viola
  ,meynell4 ,her work is uneven1 and her
 handling sometimes awkward1 but  she   
has1 sometimes1 force2 she sees vividly1
 thinks strongly1 feels  strongly1      
imagines strongly4 ,the point of view of
 the whale that  swallowed strongly was 
a remarkable thing to try to adopt1 but 
her poem  on this subject1 despite a    

weak ending1 contains verses with more  
bite  in them than any in ,lady         
,margaret's book2 if she has read ,donne
 she has  not read him to her hurt4 ,the
 ,maid in the ,rice ,fields is charming1
  and ,poppy-seeds sent from the ,east  
is more than that3          ,travelled  
here in winter sleep        ,the young  
wild ,eastern poppies keep        ,their
 eyelids closed4 ,they nothing know     
,where is this land they lie in now4    
,the opening is delightful1 and the     
theme is developed with craft and       
passion4      ,,ducks ,,and ,,other     
,,verses4 ,by ,f4 ,w4 ,,harvey4         
,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #cs4 net4    ,mr4  
,harvey's first book1 ,a                
,gloucestershire ,lad1 appeared when he 
was  in ,france2 his second when he was 
a prisoner in ,germany2 this is his     
third4 ,the sequence has been too rapid 
to show much development2 both  his     
merits and his faults are what they     
were4 ,he is only occasionally  a good  
workman1 and he has not yet succeeded in

 getting himself  naturally and forcibly
 into his work4 ,this is explicable4 ,he
 loves his  country2 he wants to        
celebrate the old traditional           
simplicities of a  healthy country life 
and 7as propagandist7 to restore what we
 have lost  of them2 he stands1 he says1
 for ,romance1 ,laughter1 and the       
capacity  for innocent ,wonder4 ,there  
is no pretence about this1 but when a   
man  feels that he must defend the      
natural there is comprehensibly an air  
of  awkwardness and self-consciousness  
about him4 ,the drinking-songs 7,mr4    
,harvey also praises ale7 of modern     
singers are examples3 the roysterers    
always have an eye on the neighbouring  
teetotaller who they know is  watching  
them and whose opposed philosophy they  
wish to unseat in the  affections of    
their fellows4 ,mr4 ,harvey is best when
 he is forgetting  the general          
principles for which he stands and      
simply enjoying himself2  and the       
superiority of his more whimsical verses

 suggests that his  bent1 like that of  
,mr4 ,graves 7with whom he has much else
 in common71  lies more in that         
direction than towards large utterance  
or solemnity4  ,the title of his book   
suggests that he realises this3 the poem
 from  which it is taken is certainly   
his most successful4 ,it is really a    
close study of ducks made with infinite 
relish of their quaintness3             
,from troubles of the world        ,i   
turn to ducks1        ,beautiful comical
 things1        ,sleeping or curled1    
,their heads beneath white wings        
,by water cool4        ,or finding      
curious things        ,to eat in various
 mucks        ,beneath the pool1        
,tail uppermost1 or waddling            
,sailor-like on the shores        ,of   
ponds1 or paddling4    ,he sketches the 
main outlines of a duck's varied life by
 barn1 stable1  and stack3              
,they wander at their will1        ,but 
if you go too near        ,they look at 
you through black        ,small         

topaz-tinted eyes        ,and wish you  
ill4    ,on the whole1 he thinks the    
duck was the best of ,god's jokes3      
,and he's probably laughing still at the
 sound that came out of his             
bill4    ,of the more serious poems some
 are a trifle stale2 the glorification  
of one's county1 with place-names       
rhymed1 might be given a rest4          
,requiescat is a moving poem1 and the   
tenuity and familiarity of the  idea    
does not prevent ,song from lingering in
 the memory more than  anything else in 
the volume3          ,sweetness of      
birdsong shall fall upon my heart1      
,shall fall upon my heart2        ,nor  
will ,i strive to mimic          ,the   
beauty that ,i find1        ,but lie in 
a dream and open wide my heart          
,and let the song of the birds sink down
 into my mind4    ,this song is all of a
 piece1 a musical sigh4      ,,novels   
,,the ,,clintons ,,and ,,others4 ,by    
,,archibald ,,marshall4 ,collins4 #gs4  
net4    ,,peter ,,jackson1 ,,cigar      

,,merchant4 ,by ,,gilbert ,,frankau4    
,hutchinson4 #gs4  #f;d4 net4           
,,prelude4 ,by ,,beverley ,,nichols4    
,chatto  ,windus4 #gs4 net4    ,,limbo4 
,by ,,aldous ,,huxley4 ,chatto  ,windus4
 #es4 net4    ,mr4 ,archibald ,marshall 
is1 we dare to say1 one of the good     
writers  most neglected by contemporary 
critics4 ,he has brought nothing new to 
the development of the novel4 ,if a     
general description were necessary1  he 
might be most briefly and accurately    
classified as a descendant of  ,anthony 
,trollope4 ,but his talent in his own   
generation is unique2 and  no person who
 enjoys or studies the fiction of this  
age can afford  to neglect it4 ,in some 
ways his latest volume is the climax of 
his  performance and displays at their  
height his peculiar method and  gifts4  
,it consists of six stories4 ,one1      
perhaps the least interesting1          
describes how ,john ,clinton1 a         
prosperous city merchant in the time  of
 the ,regency1 rescued the family       

estates from his elder brother1  the    
prodigal ,beau ,clinton4 ,the second    
deals with a scientific peer1  innocent 
and absorbed1 who very nearly married a 
woman scientist1 of  origin much lower  
than his own1 who was attracted to him  
only by his  wealth and position4 ,the  
hero of the third is a speculative      
builder4  ,the fifth narrates the       
misfortunes of a patient and gentle     
clerk4 ,the  sixth is a story of old    
,squire ,clinton's reactions to the war 
and  of how he was reconciled to the    
different reactions of those about  him4
 ,the fourth1 which we have removed from
 its place1 tells how ,ann  ,sinclair1 a
 day-pupil at ,miss ,sutor's school1 was
 sent to ,coventry by  her companions   
because she was unjustly suspected of   
having damaged  in malice ,mary         
,polegate's illuminated chart of the    
kings of ,juda and  ,israel4 ,this is   
the longest story in the book1 occupying
 over one  hundred pages4 ,the principal
 characters are all school-girls of     

various  ages1 and no extraneous        
interests are introduced4 ,it seems     
almost  impossible with this material to
 hold a reader's keen attention for     
twenty odd thousand words1 and yet this 
is what ,mr4 ,marshall has done4  ,all  
the persons are vividly alive and       
convincing2 and there is a whole  range 
of them1 each individualised and given a
 real personality4 ,the  story is an    
especially good example of what ,mr4    
,marshall can do and how  he does it4   
,his narrative is extraordinarily quiet 
and unemphasised1  and shows by its     
restraint the author's complete         
confidence in the  interest of his      
subject and in the adequacy of his      
method4 ,in all these  tales events more
 or less moving take place or are       
referred to2 but the  teller never      
raises his voice or gesticulates4 ,he   
has no tricks4 ,his  characters reveal  
themselves in speech or action2 but if  
they do not  he has no modern prejudices
 against telling the reader what are    

their  motives and what is going on in  
their minds4 ,his explanations are so   
quiet and so straightforward that they  
immediately carry conviction4  ,when old
 ,squire ,clinton was passing through   
,paris with his daughter to  see her    
husband1 wounded and interned in        
,switzerland1 he was displeased  that   
his other daughter should take them to  
lunch in a restaurant3      ,he would   
not have objected to exactly the same   
meal served in her    apartment4 ,he    
would have eaten and drunk whatever had 
been set    before him1 and enjoyed it  
in spite of his always strongly         
expressed    preference for ,english    
food and ,english cooking4 ,the wine he 
might    have noticed and commented on1 
because he knew about wines1 and        
because you pleased your host by        
approving of his taste in them4    ,but 
this ordering of your meal in public1 in
 consultation with your    guests1 with 
a matre d'htel standing at your elbow   
and booking    your orders1 not without 

advice of his own1 struck him as very   
like    taking part in a mistress's     
consultation with her servants--almost  
an indecency4 ,the restaurant habit was1
 in fact1 entirely unknown to    him4   
,in his expansive youth it had been     
unheard of4 ,the nearest he    had ever 
come to it had been in giving luncheons 
or dinners at one of    his clubs--meals
 as elaborate as this and as carefully  
arranged1 but    arranged beforehand1 so
 that the guests should get the right   
flavour    of hospitality1 and accept   
the good things set before them as they 
would have accepted them at his own     
table4 ,neither ,joan nor ,nancy        
divined that half his displeasure1 which
 he could not hide1 was at    being     
obliged1 under ,inverell's hospitable   
pressure1 to express his    preference  
for this or that luxury1 with the price 
of it staring him    in the face on the 
menu1 when indulgence in any sort of    
luxury was so    far from his mood4     
,so delicate and exact and truthful is  

this delineation of a small  tract in   
the old man's character that it would be
 almost possible to  reconstruct the    
whole without any other guide1 as is    
done in the case  of louder roaring     
monsters than ,mr4 ,marshall's          
creations4    ,mr4 ,gilbert ,frankau's  
,peter ,jackson1 ,cigar ,merchant1      
presents  a curious contrast to the     
method of ,mr4 ,marshall4 ,mr4          
,marshall's  virtues are so quiet and   
unobtrusive that it is possible to      
overlook  them altogether4 ,mr4         
,frankau's defects are so vociferous    
that they  tend to obscure his real     
merits4 ,he paints in violent colours4  
,he  paints his sentimental passages    
with a yard broom4 ,his style1 as ,mr4  
,arnold ,bennett once observed of       
somebody else1 is such that even in     
,carmelite ,street the sub-editors would
 yearn to correct it4 ,he has  almost   
entirely eliminated the conjunction from
 his own version of the  ,english       
language3 the ands and buts omitted from

 this book would1  if they were         
restored1 increase its length by a      
hundred pages or so4  ,their absence    
gives the reader the impression that    
,mr4 ,frankau is in  an enormous hurry  
and is very short of breath4 ,all these 
defects are  closely woven into the     
texture of one of the most strident     
novels ever  written2 and it is quite   
impossible to escape from them4         
,nevertheless  this tale of a business  
man who became a gunner is one of the   
most  lively and credible pictures of   
the war which we have yet had4 ,it      
matters little in the end that1 whether 
he is describing the purchase  of a     
cigarette-factory or a love-scene or the
 battle of the ,somme1  the author      
scores exclusively for brass and big    
drums4 ,this method  certainly          
eliminates the love-scene1 but it is not
 inappropriate to  the other subjects2  
and in his accounts both of war and of  
business  ,mr4 ,frankau produces a huge1
 crowded chaotic picture which stuns and

  bewilders the reader1 but at the same 
time convinces him that he is  seeing at
 least one aspect of the truth4 ,mr4    
,frankau's high level of  verisimilitude
 and interest in such passages as the   
description of the  ,battle of ,loos    
depends to a very great extent on his   
peculiar power of  packing much detail  
into a small space2 and it is to this   
perhaps that  we owe the somewhat       
regrettable lack of the smaller parts of
 speech4    ,mr4 ,beverley ,nichols's   
book is another of the triumphs of      
precocity--a  novel describing the      
,public ,school system by a writer with 
very  recent experience of it4 ,and1    
like other novels on this subject1 it   
is a novel with a thesis4 ,mr4 ,nichols 
is far from disapproving of the  system4
 ,he sets out1 on the other hand1 to    
show that it is capable  of receiving   
and making comfortable the most         
eccentric of boys if he  will only make 
the least effort of adjustment to his   
environment that  can be reasonably     

expected of a human being in any        
circumstances4 ,his  hero1 ,paul        
,trevelyan1 has in an extreme form all  
the characteristics  of the heroes of   
such books4 ,he has been coddled1 he has
 unusual  tastes1 he cares nothing for  
games4 ,but1 very refreshingly1 ,mr4    
,nichols  treats with a firm hand both  
his characteristics and his sufferings4 
,paul undergoes just such discomforts as
 are required to rid him of  effeminacy 
and priggishness1 and mould him into a  
boy capable of  taking a place in human 
society with satisfaction to himself and
 his  companions4 ,the thesis of the    
book appears to be that the ,public     
,school  system does not necessarily    
deprive those who come under it of their
  individuality1 does not necessarily   
crush or torture those who depart  from 
the normal1 does act as a civilising    
agent on those who are in  need of it4  
,as a piece of evidence1 the book is    
interesting and useful4  ,as a novel it 
is less remarkable than ,mr4 ,waugh's   

,loom of ,youth4  ,that book was not    
only a contribution to a dispute2 it was
 also a work  of fiction astonishingly  
well put together for its author's years
 and  experience4 ,its characters and   
many of its incidents were extremely    
well observed and drawn4 ,mr4 ,nichols  
fails as a writer of fiction4  ,his     
characters are vague and unconvincing3  
they have no fundamental  individuality4
 ,the construction of his novel is      
extremely loose and  uneven2 and the    
passages of reflection are introduced   
with a very  clumsy hand4 ,whether he   
will succeed in correcting these faults 
it is  impossible to predict2 but he    
clearly has gifts which ought to come to
  something4 ,precocity in the things he
 lacks is not always a certain          
indication of success in maturity4      
,mr4 ,huxley1 alone among these writers1
 betrays traces of exotic  influence4   
,the last story in his book1 ,the ,death
 of ,lully1 might  have come from the   
,contes ,cruels1 perhaps1 in one way1   

has come  thence4 ,others of the        
collection show less definite           
resemblances to  ,french models and are 
less evenly and carefully composed2 but 
there are  in most of them traces of an 
alien exactitude and an alien wit4 ,mr4 
,huxley1 as we know already from his    
verse1 can write brilliantly4  ,his     
defect here1 as there1 lies in a        
deficiency of feeling caused by  an     
excess of self-consciousness4 ,this     
self-consciousness does not  make him   
awkward or effusive4 ,he is far too     
clever to betray it thus  rudely4 ,as in
 the behaviour of some persons1 it      
manifests itself in  his work by an iron
 rigidity of attitude1 an immovable     
equability of  tone4 ,when he invents   
characters he does not so much describe 
their  actions or let them act as       
criticise them2 he is led to adopt the  
pose  of the satirist more consistently 
than perhaps he intends4 ,reaction      
follows fast on action2 and the springs 
of his writing are laid bare in  an     

extraordinarily ingenious dialogue1     
called ,happy ,families1 where  he      
exposes the triple personalities1       
inciting1 betraying1 checking  one      
another1 of a young man and a young     
woman sitting out together  at a dance4 
,this piece1 which seems to have        
unnecessarily puzzled a  number of ,mr4 
,huxley's critics1 means nothing if it  
does not express  his opinion that in   
every human being there is a stratum of 
the animal  which is to be distrusted   
and restrained4 ,but1 here and          
elsewhere1  one wonders whether his     
watchfulness over this stratum has not  
led  him into exaggerating its extent   
and distrusting things which1 to a  less
 suspicious eye1 do not look in the     
least like it4 ,and in another  story1  
so fast are his reactions1 we find him  
mocking the shuddering  and ascetic     
revulsion from the purely animal in man4
 ,this is the  behaviour not merely of  
the critic dominant over the artist1 but
 of the  critic who leads towards       

,nihilism by discrediting all human     
impulses1  instead of arranging them in 
order4 ,mr4 ,huxley has1 however1 too   
much  of the poet for this to be        
fundamental in him1 too much            
appreciation of  bright and vivid things
 and bright and vivid phrases4 ,and it  
would be  gravely unjust to convey the  
impression that it spoils his book4 ,the
  ,farcical ,history of ,richard        
,greenow is an admirable invention1 full
  of possibilities for bitter comedy1   
most1 if not all1 of which have  been   
worked out2 ,cynthia is a good joke1    
though its title betrays  the climax a  
little too early2 and ,the ,bookshop is 
more human in  feeling than its         
companions4 ,but the important point to 
notice is that1  whatever may be the    
perversities or the affectations of his 
thought1  ,mr4 ,huxley always writes    
well1 with a style that is never shabby 
or  shoddy1 never flamboyant or flat4   
,,belles-,,lettres ,,and ,,criticism    
,,the ,,measures ,,of ,,the ,,poets4 ,by

 ,m4 ,a4 ,,bayfield1 ,m4,a4 ,cambridge  
,university  ,press4 #es4 net4    ,a    
,,study ,,of ,,shakespeare',s           
,,versification4 ,by ,m4 ,a4 ,,bayfield1
 ,m4,a4  ,cambridge ,university ,press4 
#afs4 net4    ,,lessons ,,in            
,,verse-,,craft4 ,by ,s4 ,,gertrude     
,,ford4 ,daniel4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4    ,mr4
 ,bayfield's ,measures of the ,poets is 
meant to be revolutionary4  ,he finds   
existing systems of prosody neither     
complete nor sound1 and  would sweep    
them away in order to install his own   
trochaic scheme4  ,practically every    
work of a predecessor is ignored1 and   
the author  himself regrets that        
,lanier's ,science of ,english ,verse1  
published  forty years ago1 did not come
 to his notice until the present book   
was written4 ,he does not mention       
,professor ,saintsbury's ,history or    
,manual of ,english ,prosody1 nor 7among
 other writings1 by recent or  living   
metrists7 the essays of ,patmore and    
,mr4 ,robert ,bridges4 ,a great  deal of

 contention is thus avoided1 but the    
probabilities of conversion  are also   
reduced4 ,he asserts that the normal    
foot of ,english verse is  trochaic1 and
 that the iambus cannot form a metrical 
foot1 because  the stressed syllable    
does not come first2 while ,professor   
,saintsbury  declares that the iambic is
 the staple foot of ,english verse and  
is  common to almost all prosodies4     
,how1 then1 let us ask the challenger1  
is the application of the  trochaic     
system justified8 ,in ,mr4 ,bayfield's  
scheme the plain norm of  the full blank
 verse line is an eleven-syllable       
arrangement of which  the first is a    
short1 followed by five trochees2 and   
the following  line 7quoted in his      
second book1 which takes up the subject 
anew7 is  given as specimen3          ,i
  come to  bury  ,csar1  not to  praise 
him4    ,but the full line does not     
happen to be the common form1 owing to  
its  feminine ending1 and so he admits  
that the prevailing type is the  checked

 form3          ,to  sleep2 per  chance 
to  dream3 ay  there's the  rub4    ,the
 anacrusis or up-beat1 marked off by 1  
is an integral part of the  new system2 
in reality it is the device by which the
 author changes  iambic to trochaic     
movement4 ,here1 indeed1 is the crucial 
point of the  dispute between iambic and
 trochaic4 ,under the first1 this       
up-beat or  take-off is neither very    
frequent nor very rare2 under the       
second1 it  is common4 ,mr4 ,bayfield's 
idiosyncratic use of it is illustrated  
by  himself thus3          ,my  heart   
aches1 and a  drowsy numbness pains1    
and--          ,or emptied some dull    
opiate  to the drains1    and by--      
,but  being too  happy in thine         
happiness2    the reader being left to  
discover for himself the reason for the 
difference of prosodic interpretation4  
,if the ear should be satisfied  with   
this difference 7and ,mr4 ,bayfield     
admits that the ear is judge  and jury71
 what might its verdict be as to the    

validity of a double  up-beat1 leaving  
only semi-syllables for the rest of the 
line8          ,and thy  mouth          
shddering  like a  sht  brd4    ,here   
let it be remarked that his system      
acknowledges monosyllabic feet1  but he 
is not well informed in denying them a  
place in the iambic  system4 ,he        
complains of ragtime scansions1 in      
referring to the fact  that the iambic  
system admits trochees whenever it would
 break down by  refusing them1 and seems
 to deplore a resulting loss of         
continuity of  rhythm4 ,yet he himself  
does not scruple to write of one of his 
own  illustrations3 ,a striking contrast
 in rhythm may be noted here4 ,that  of 
the first line and a half 444 is        
markedly trochaic2 the other line  and a
 half fall into an equally marked iambic
 rhythm4 ,he has not1 in  fact1 escaped 
from the difficulties and               
inconsistencies which beset the         
prosodist4 ,he does little more than    
prove that the music of the poets       

cannot be defeated or disguised by      
either system4 ,he gives this as        
containing a quinquesyllabic foot3      
,well1   ,juliet1 ,i will  lie with thee
 to-night1    and dubiously suggests    
hire as a disyllable in3          ,and  
hire  post-horses2  ,i will hence       
to-night4    ,he is aware that an       
alternative scansion may in some cases  
be correct1  but does not sufficiently  
realise that any prosodic system is but 
an  artificiality1 formed to explain1   
and not dictate1 the infinitely         
variable rhythms of poetry4 ,his own    
particular system1 for all its          
ingenuities1 appears more artificial and
 arbitrary than the iambic4  ,it is     
interesting to note that his examples   
are largely drawn from  ,shakespeare1   
,tennyson1 ,swinburne1 and ,shelley1 all
 fruitful ground2  while ,milton and    
,coleridge1 ,campion and ,keats are much
 less used  or left alone altogether4   
,might not these fascinating and        
delusive  excursions into the mysteries 

of rhythm be extended to certain living 
poets--at least to ,mr4 ,hardy and ,mr4 
,bridges8    ,shakespeare's             
,versification is a larger book1 in     
which ,mr4 ,bayfield  inquires into the 
validity of the early texts4 ,his       
purpose is3      ,first to give an      
intelligible and consistent account of  
the structure    and characteristic     
features of his dramatic verse1 the     
essential    principles of which appear 
to have been wholly misconceived        
hitherto1    and secondly to show that  
there are many thousands of lines of it 
that are given in modern texts not as   
their author intended them to    be     
delivered1 but clipped and trimmed to a 
featureless uniformity    that he would 
have abhorred4    ,he finds in ,antony  
and ,cleopatra the ideal of verse at    
which  ,shakespeare was always aiming1  
and denounces the depravity of the  text
 as it stands--in this as in many other 
of the plays4 ,the book  has a          
cumulative1 even a dramatic interest1   

for setting out to prove  one thing1    
,mr4 ,bayfield frankly ends by proving  
another4 ,with immense  care and        
patience he has examined and compared   
,quartos and ,first  ,folio1 and noted  
quite innumerable places at which the   
contraction and  condensation of words  
and lines have distorted or ruined the  
rhythm2  and he contends that if the    
verse is to be presented as the author  
meant it to be delivered1 these must be 
expanded into their full forms4  ,he    
begins by considering ,shakespeare's use
 of the resolved foot--that  is1 a foot 
of more than two syllables--and         
discovers a constant  tendency to reduce
 these resolutions by abbreviation2 the 
result  being1 for example1 that violent
 becomes vi'lent1 desolate des'late1    
,demetrius ,demetr'us1 etc4 ,he contends
 that from the outset ,shakespeare      
employed resolved rhythms more freely   
than his contemporaries1 and  gradually 
increased the proportion with his later 
plays2 and it is1  of course1 perfectly 

true that the growing liberation of     
style which  in ,shakespeare expresses a
 psychological development1 is equally  
noticeable in later poets4    ,now in   
comparing the ,quartos with the ,first  
,folio ,mr4 ,bayfield finds  that of all
 the differences the most conspicuous is
 the elimination  of resolutions1 the   
tendency shown by the ,quartos in this  
direction  being aggravated in the      
,folio4 ,the position is made clear in a
 ,table  relating to fourteen ,quarto   
plays1 which shows1 e4g41 that in       
,othello the ,folio eliminates          
eighty-six resolutions found in the     
,quarto1 and the latter eliminates      
fourteen which the ,folio displays2     
while a third figure1 #hd1 enumerates   
cases where1 guided by the  whole       
investigations and the revelations      
afforded by the first two  columns      
figures1 ,i believe that a resolution   
should be restored4  ,his deduction is  
that the ,folio is a metrical           
reactionary2 if it is  unsound to prefer

 its revision to the ,quartos1 it is    
equally unsound  to rely upon the ,folio
 for the plays not included in the      
,quartos4 ,he  strengthens his argument 
by showing that the prose 7of ,julius   
,csar1  for instance71 which has no     
metrical obligations1 is far more immune
  from illicit contractions1 although   
prose1 being nearer to ordinary  speech1
 might be expected to show very free    
colloquial abbreviations4  ,we are not  
prepared to follow ,mr4 ,bayfield       
blindly2 his trochaic  passions1 hitched
 to his resolution to resolve1 do not   
compel  unquestioning obedience2 we are 
not convinced by a line like1 ,from     
,syria to ,lydia and to ,ionia1 when the
 received text reads3                   
,from ,syria        ,to ,lydia and to   
,ionia1 whilst----    and his resort to 
,cross ,accent for the scansion of such 
lines as          ,her dowry shall weigh
 equal with a queen    is yet farther   
from persuading us1 and seems1 like so  
many of his  arguments and instances1 to

 be the mere expression of his hatred of
  the iambic4 ,nevertheless1 his        
abundant recital of divergencies from   
the ,quartos' resolved lines--to        
consider only that which is a matter  of
 simple enumeration--can be taken quite 
apart from the soundness or  unsoundness
 of his metrical prepossessions2 and    
what we have called  the cumulative     
interest of this treatise is most       
plainly felt in the  development of this
 theme as play after play is examined4  
,it is in the chapter called            
,conclusions that the interest suddenly 
becomes dramatic4 ,mr4 ,bayfield has    
been arguing that ,shakespeare is  not  
printed as he should be printed--that   
is1 with the clear and  uncramped       
enunciation of trisyllabic and          
quadrisyllabic feet--and  that the      
mangling of these was done for and by   
the players in order  to reduce the     
verse to the common disyllabic type     
which alone they  could comfortably     
manage4 ,but now he derives a flood of  

light from  the #afaf ,jonson folio1 the
 proofs of which are presumed to have   
been  corrected by ,jonson himself4     
,from the printing of ,sejanus he finds 
that ,jonson's resolutions are abridged 
even where the line makes their  full   
enunciation essential to the rhythm4    
,space will not permit the  tracing of  
the new argument here1 but ,mr4         
,bayfield at length concludes  that what
 he has supposed in the first three     
hundred pages of his book  to be        
attributable to the perversities of the 
,press1 are after all  merely recognised
 contractions which were never meant to 
suggest the  clipped pronunciations     
given to them4 ,his charge1 in fact1 is 
no longer  levelled against the early   
texts from which his affluence of       
instances  is drawn1 but against the    
interpretation of them2 the very        
apostrophe  7with division7 being in    
reality but a signal calling attention  
to the  resolution which generations of 
editors1 readers1 and players have      

supposed it was meant to abolish4 ,the  
dramatic interest is complete4    ,mr4  
,bayfield claims for his books the      
authority justly due from  forty-five   
years' application of prosodic          
principles to ,english verse4  ,we can  
but conclude with wishing ,shakespeare's
 ,versification a fuller  index and a   
wide study1 and suggest to the author   
that those who are  concerned with verse
 as writers and not as teachers have not
 always  failed to give the full        
syllabic value to the common            
abbreviations of  the text4    ,miss    
,ford's book is a practical treatise and
 might have been a  valuable one4 ,the  
first sentence tells us that many of her
 examples of  verse-forms are from her  
own pen1 while ,mr4 ,bayfield has at any
 rate  been content with ,shakespeare4  
,why should she write four stanzas in   
imitation of ,love in the ,valley8 ,she 
thinks it too well known to make        
quotation advisable1 yet gives us the   
commonest things of ,wordsworth  and    

,shelley and ,coleridge4 ,she misprints 
,shakespeare and ,wordsworth            
shamefully1 thinks that ,professor      
,saintsbury is dead1 and1 sparing  only 
four pages for the lyric1 devotes       
twenty-seven to such forms as  roundel1 
ballade1 etc4 ,her book1 we think1 has  
been spoiled by haste2  yet she has such
 enthusiasm and brightness as tempt us  
to regret that  haste and to hope for   
better work4      ,,rousseau ,,and      
,,romanticism4 ,by ,,irving ,,babbitt4  
,houghton ,mifflin ,company4  #ags4 net4
    ,metaphysicians have been forced by 
the impossibility of obtaining from     
observed nature either confirmation or  
disproof of their theories  to develop a
 technique the principal aim of which is
 coherence4 ,so  admirable indeed has   
this technique become in its logic and  
complexity  that it has been adopted by 
many workers in other fields1 on the    
whole  with disastrous results4 ,in this
 book ,professor ,babbitt applies it to 
literature1 although he appears quite   

able to follow more empirical  methods4 
,his reading has been extensive1 and his
 judgments are precise4  ,unfortunately 
he is not much interested in or amused  
by books save as  the symptoms of moral 
and metaphysical observations4 ,he eats 
nothing  out of them4 ,he only covers   
them with his cobwebs4    ,like most    
metaphysicians1 ,professor ,babbitt     
thinks in twos4 ,the trick  is familiar4
 ,define ,a4 ,call not-,a ,b4 ,one is   
very bad1 one very good1  and the       
history of life1 or of whatever else is 
under discussion1 is  the history of    
their conflict4 ,for this professor1 ,a 
is an emotional  and naturalistic       
romanticism1 and is very bad indeed4    
,rousseau is its  high prophet1 the     
great war its issue1 and smart young    
radicals its  dupes4 ,we are invited    
back to ancient ,greece1 where ,a is    
absent1 and  ,b1 that is to say         
classicism1 has neither artifice nor    
formality1 back  to ,socrates1 back to  
,aristotle1 back apparently to anyone   

who is a  philosopher and not a poet4   
,now there is an essential fallacy in   
grouping writers like politicians1  in  
ringing a division bell for ever in     
their ears and furthermore doing  their 
voting for them4 ,this talk of schools  
and of influences and of  disciples is  
extremely prevalent among the academic  
critics in ,america4  ,it may safely be 
said that they have illuminated nothing 
thereby4  ,writers may use the language 
of their times and their friends1 but   
it is as a vestment and not as a        
foundation4 ,of course1 the romantic    
revolution1 like the spluttering        
rebellions of our own day1 may have     
induced some subordinates to produce    
manifestos and call them works  of art4 
,some young men may be so excited by the
 eccentricity of their  form as to      
forget the necessity of any content4    
,but such works do  not usually occupy  
the critic for long1 and valuable       
appreciation of  literature will not be 
content with a quasi-botanical          

classification4    ,what are we to do1  
for example1 with ,charles ,lamb8 ,is he
 a classicist  or a romanticist8        
,professor ,babbitt has no qualms in    
affixing the  latter label4 ,lamb is as 
romantic as ,wordsworth is1 he says1 but
 about  towns instead of about the      
country1 and as a proof he refers the   
reader  to a letter in which ,lamb1     
writing to ,wordsworth1 says3 ,in       
,london  ,i have formed as many and     
intense local attachments as any of you 
mountaineers can have done with dead    
nature4 ,the lighted shops of the       
,strand 444 the old bookstalls1 parsons 
cheapening books1 coffee houses1  steams
 of soup from kitchens1 the pantomimes1 
and so on4 ,little can  be gained for   
the appreciation of ,elia or of the     
,lake ,school by  saying classic or     
romantic about this1 and if this is     
indeed a child of  ,rousseau1 we may be 
certain that he would have dropped it   
with the rest  at the door of the       
foundling hospital4    ,probably1       

however1 the professor does not want to 
foster appreciation4  ,his incursion    
into literature is a border foray1 and  
he is off at  once with his plunder to  
his ethical highlands4 ,we remain to    
count  our losses4 ,milton1 who on the  
whole is highly serious1 is not  much   
injured4 ,but ,keats is unwise4         
,browning is only half-educated4        
,wordsworth1 until he began the         
,ecclesiastical ,sonnets1 was betrayed  
by his penchant for paradox4 ,shelley   
was an emotional sophist1 with  a       
nympholeptic imagination1 who fell into 
sheer unreality4 ,these  judgments      
contain truth1 but a very little of     
truth4 ,to write thus is  too plainly to
 adopt the methods of a political       
opponent4 ,professor  ,babbitt warns us 
that if he had attempted rounded        
estimates these would  have been more   
favourable1 but that as it is he is     
severe because he  is laying down       
principles1 principles of discipline and
 authority as  against the unrestrained 

individualism of the modern4    ,one    
wonders1 too1 whether this massive      
series--the present volume is  the      
fourth--will contribute much more to    
ethics than to literature2  whether an  
intensive study of the ,west ,european  
literature of #agij to  #ahej will      
indeed1 as ,professor ,babbitt may      
expect1 dissuade readers  from          
surrendering to the emotions2 whether   
the indecorum of ,rousseau  does        
threaten civilisation with breakdown2   
and whether the imitation of  ,sophocles
 and ,dante would morally improve the   
character4    ,it is1 in short1 not very
 obvious why this book was written1 nor 
who will take pleasure in reading it1   
except for the enjoyment of a           
first-class mind1 even when it works in 
a vacuum4      ,,springtime ,,and       
,,other ,,essays4 ,by ,sir ,,francis    
,,darwin4 ,murray4 #gs4 #f;d4  net4     
,this is an amiable book of gossipy     
essays1 mostly in the key popular  at   
,university ,extension meetings4 ,some  

of them are reviews and rely  a little  
too much on extracts for any one        
familiar with the books  noticed to     
derive much excitement from them4 ,the  
title-essay1 however1  together with    
that on a ,procession of ,flowers1 and  
the paper entitled  ,recollections are  
both worth attention4 ,the essay on his 
boyhood and  youth shows that ,sir      
,francis has an eye for character1 and  
no little  gift for expressing himself  
neatly about his friends and            
acquaintances4  ,here is an admirable   
vignette of ,parslow1 the butler3       
,he had what may be called a baronial   
nature3 he idealised everything    about
 our modest household1 and would draw a 
glass of beer for a    postman with the 
air of a seneschal bestowing a cup of   
malvoisie on    a troubadour4 ,he would 
not1 ,i think1 have disgraced ,charles  
,lamb's    friend ,captain ,burney1 who 
welcomed his guests in the grand manner 
to the simplest of feasts4 ,it was good 
to see him on ,christmas ,day2    with  

how great an air would he enter the     
breakfast-room and address    us3       
,ladies and gentlemen1 ,i wish you a    
happy ,christmas1 etc4 ,i am    afraid  
he got but a sheepish response from us4 
,it has something of the air of those   
charming pictures of ,christmas  in the 
country which ,randolph ,caldecott used 
to contribute to the  ,graphic ,special 
,numbers4 ,sir ,francis's paper on      
,names of ,characters  in ,fiction does 
not seem to us an adequate treatment of 
a really  fascinating subject4 ,he just 
touches the fringe of it1 but he appears
  to us over-lenient to the bad old     
habit of naming characters after  their 
vices1 virtues1 or idiosyncrasies4 ,that
 is tolerable in purely  allegorical    
work1 such as ,bunyan's1 but becomes    
very tiresome in  ,thackeray--whom ,sir 
,francis rates far too highly--and      
frequently  absurd both in him and minor
 authors4 ,women novelists have here    
shown  more sense2 you do not meet such 
terrible monstrosities as ,mantrap1     

,lollypop1 ,fitzoof1 ,portansherry1 or  
,nockemorf in the novels of ,jane       
,austen1 ,charlotte ,bront1 or ,mrs4    
,gaskell4 ,a character's name is not    
perfect if one can imagine it different1
 and most of the typical  names are mere
 labels which have no real1 organic     
connection with their  wearers1 as have 
the names of ,flaubert's characters1 of 
,balzac's1 or of  ,henry ,james's4      
,,dickens1 ,,reade1 ,,and ,,collins1    
,,sensation ,,novelists3 ,a ,,study ,,in
 ,,the  ,,condition ,,and ,,theories    
,,of ,,novel ,,writing ,,in ,,victorian 
,,england4 ,by ,,walter  ,c4 ,,phillips1
 ,ph4,d4 ,new ,york3 ,columbia          
,university ,press4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4     
,mr4 ,phillips is rather a pathologist  
of fiction than a critic4 ,his  thesis  
here1 broadly speaking1 is that         
,dickens1 and after him ,wilkie         
,collins and ,charles ,reade1 were drawn
 into melodramatic invention by  the    
demands of the public and the conditions
 of publication of their  day4 ,his     

diagnosis is indisputable1 though his   
premises are not4 ,it  is not to be     
denied that ,dickens wrote melodrama4   
,he liked that kind  of thing1 and so   
did his public4 ,where ,mr4 ,phillips   
goes astray is in  assuming that        
,dickens was a tradesman who supplied a 
craving public4  ,the truth is          
otherwise4 ,dickens gained his public   
with the ,pickwick  ,papers1 and after  
that could do what he pleased4 ,it is   
quite another  thing to say that he was 
of like mind with his public1 and took  
in  melodrama through the pores4 ,it had
 been in the air for fifty years4  ,but 
,mr4 ,phillips sees little else in      
,dickens1 and thereby does his  subject 
and himself injustice4 ,for one false   
note which that great man  struck1 the  
trained ear will detect two dozen true4 
,if some of his  monsters--,quilp in    
particular--are pantomime monsters1 and 
some of  his angels pantomime angels1   
others of them1 monstrous or not1 have  
been added to the inhabitants of        

,english-speaking lands1 and still  walk
 in our midst4 ,no writer has ever      
increased the population to the  same   
extent4 ,mrs4 ,gamp may be more than    
woman1 or less2 she may be  a living    
proverb4 ,it does not matter1 since she 
lives4 ,dickens1 in  fact1 was a genius4
 ,he did what he chose1 or what he must1
 sometimes  superlatively well1         
sometimes incredibly ill4 ,we bolt the  
bad for  the sake of the good4 ,there is
 no concealment possible of the fact    
that he had unfortunate and occasionally
 unwholesome tastes4 ,the  worst of them
 was his pleasure in cruelty4 ,quilp and
 his wife1 ,jonas  ,chuzzlewit and his1 
,creakle and his boys1 ,squeers and his3
 there is a  gloating over such         
relations which1 to our mind1 is the    
worst blot upon  ,dickens's fame4 ,but  
,mr4 ,phillips1 absorbed in the         
commercial aspect  of literature1       
counting the words in the huge novels of
 that day1  calculating circulation1 and
 examining into profits1 has not had    

time  for such points4 ,he had been     
better employed there than in amassing  
statistics for ,the ,novelist as        
,wage-earner4 ,too much attention has   
been paid already to the finance of the 
business4 ,money-getting did not  affect
 ,dickens in the first flights of his   
genius1 when his direction  for good and
 all was determined4 ,it may have       
stimulated ,wilkie ,collins  and        
,charles ,reade--a very different pair  
of men4 ,mr4 ,phillips is in  the right 
when he hits them off as virtuosos4 ,not
 even ,stevenson1  he shrewdly says1 was
 more exclusively and hopelessly a      
writer of  story-books than ,charles    
,reade4      ,,history ,,and ,,biography
    ,a ,,galloper ,,at ,,ypres4 ,by     
,lieut4-,col4 ,p4 ,r4 ,,butler1         
,d4,s4,o4 ,unwin4 #aes4  net4    ,a     
,,kut ,,prisoner4 ,by ,h4 ,c4 ,w4       
,,bishop4 ,lane4 #fs4 #f;d4 net4        
,,the ,,romance ,,of ,,the ,,battle     
,,line ,,in ,,france4 ,by ,j4 ,e4 ,c4   
,,bodley4  ,constable4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4  

,here are three new additions to the    
colossal pile of war books--two  of them
 the personal records of soldiers1 the  
third a more pretentious  effort by a   
civilian4 ,colonel ,butler went out in  
#aiad with the ,seventh  ,division to   
,belgium1 was engaged in the first      
battle of ,ypres1 came  home wounded1   
returned to ,flanders1 went thence to   
the ,somme 7in  the days before the     
,somme became hell71 and leaves us      
finally at  ,marseilles on his way to   
some other theatre of war4 ,the book    
contains nothing very remarkable1 but it
 is agreeably written1 and  should give 
pleasure to the author's friends and to 
others who care to  be reminded again of
 ,somewhere in ,france1 where they have 
marched and  fought and billeted4       
,mr4 ,bishop's is a modestly told and   
mildly exciting story of an escape  from
 the ,turks4 ,he was an ,indian ,army   
subaltern captured at ,kut1 and         
interned at ,kastamuni4 ,thence with two
 companions he got away to the  ,black  

,sea coast1 was recaptured and rescued  
again4 ,the rescuers were a  handful of 
diverting brigands1 with whose help ,mr4
 ,bishop eventually  crossed the ,black 
,sea and made his way home vi ,russia4  
,there is no  attempt to generalise     
either about military matters or prison 
life4 ,we  gather1 however1 that ,mr4   
,bishop and his friends were not on the 
whole  badly treated by the ,turks4 ,and
 there was a time1 in #aiaf1 when they  
lived well--eggs at halfpenny a piece1  
good white flour at sixpence a  pound1  
and fruit practically gratis6 ,o blessed
 ,kastamuni6    ,mr4 ,bodley is more    
sophisticated4 ,in the first half of his
 book he  takes us over the battlefields
 of ,france1 and discourses of the      
captains and the kings1 the priests and 
politicians of past centuries  who      
fought and played and intrigued there1  
of the glories and beauties  of the old 
towns and villages of the ,somme and the
 ,marne1 of ,rheims  and ,verdun and a  
hundred other places4 ,but he completely

 changes the  angle of his attack in the
 second half of his volume1 which he    
calls1  ,an additional chapter on the   
results of the late war as affecting our
  national life and imperial interests4 
,his main theme appears to be  the      
necessity or desirability of continuing 
hostility to ,germany4 ,the  ,germans1  
he thinks1 are still a fundamentally    
evil race whose worst  faults we imitate
 and whose few virtues we eschew4 ,these
 virtues are  their commercial          
enterprise1 their zest for town-planning
 and housing1  and the comparatively    
small amount of money they waste in     
paying  lawyers4 ,lawyers1 it appears1  
are ,mr4 ,bodley's bte noire2 he regards
  them1 and especially the political    
barristers and the overpaid judges  and 
law officers1 as the curse of our       
unhappy country4 ,but what chiefly      
raises his ire are the abominations     
which we are said to have copied  from  
,prussia of bureaucracy and the system  
of honours--peerages1  baronetcies1     

knighthoods1 ,orders of ,merit1 ,orders 
of the ,british  ,empire1 poured out in 
bucketfuls on a motley crowd of corrupt 
or  undistinguished individuals4 ,this  
is1 of course1 an indictment which  any 
writer is entitled to make1 though some 
may think that ,mr4 ,bodley             
occasionally lets himself be carried    
rather far by his indignation4 ,but  the
 connection with the faults of ,germany 
seems a little far-fetched4  ,there are 
times1 too1 in the course of his special
 pleading when he  verges on the        
ridiculous4 ,is it not absurd1 for      
example1 to say that  the formidable    
machinery of state socialism 7meaning   
chiefly ,old ,age  ,pensions and        
,national ,insurance7 is incompatible   
with representative  government8 ,and   
who wants a long argument to prove that 
,queen ,victoria  was not responsible   
for the plague of ,germanism which ,mr4 
,bodley thinks  has infected ,english   
society8 ,the whole of this additional  
chapter  is a melancholy illustration of

 the effect of the war in causing an    
educated ,englishman to lose his sense  
of proportion4      ,,records4 ,by      
,admiral of the ,fleet ,,lord ,,fisher4 
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #a  #as4 net4      
,the plain man who walks in the trim    
garden of literature must feel1  in     
coming upon ,lord ,fisher in print1 as  
we imagine the shade of ,bach  might    
feel confronted by a jazz band1 or an   
elementary drawing mistress  before a   
canvas of ,mr4 ,wyndham ,lewis4 ,lord   
,fisher has for many months  been the   
talk of the town2 the respectable       
reviewer feels that  only in the talk of
 the town can the appropriate comments  
be found4  ,records begins thus3 ,of all
 the curious fables ,i've ever come     
across1 ,i quite think the idea that my 
mother was a ,cingalese ,princess  of   
exalted rank is the oddest6 ,one can't  
see the foundation of it6  ,and it ends 
with a letter from a fellow-,admiral    
suggesting that ,lord  ,fisher1 like    
,jesus ,christ1 is an ,enigma4 ,between 

those two passages  there is a roaring  
torrent of anecdote1 of quotations and  
exclamation  marks and capital letters1 
of criticism 7often highly indiscreet71 
of  apologia1 of confident prediction1  
of everything that is diverting and     
irritating and arresting and            
astoundingly human--a torrent that      
sweeps  the reader off his feet and     
leaves him gasping and incredulous4 ,the
  book is a monument of magnificent     
egoism4 ,one can only use its author's  
own word of a sermon by ,dean ,inge and 
say it is splendiferous4 ,we  are told1 
in parenthesis1 that he got into the    
,navy by writing out  the ,lord's       
,prayer1 doing a ,rule of ,three sum1   
and drinking a glass of  sherry4 ,we are
 told that he looks like a              
,christmas-tree when he wears  his      
decorations4 ,we have stories of how1 in
 his shirt-sleeves and with  a boot in  
each hand1 he entertained ,king ,edward 
,,vii4 in his bedroom1  and of a comic  
postcard sent to him by ,queen          

,alexandra4 ,there is one  chapter      
devoted to his views on the ,bible1 and 
another containing  a reprint of four   
speeches which he made3 one at the      
,royal ,academy  ,banquet1 a second at  
the ,mansion ,house1 the other two 7and 
these would  both go on a postcard7 in  
the ,house of ,lords4 ,there are        
numerous  photographs of him standing on
 his quarter-deck with ,kings and       
,tsars1  and gentlemen grotesquely clad 
in top hats and frock coats2 there is a 
long appendix containing a list of ,lord
 ,fisher's ,great ,naval ,reforms4  ,his
 style beggars description4 ,he throws  
epithets such as lovely  about like a   
high-spirited schoolgirl4 ,he tells us1 
with the candour of  a schoolboy1 that  
,sir ,william ,harcourt was a genial    
ruffian and ,sir  ,michael ,hicks-,beach
 a perfect beast4 ,the whole book is    
ablaze with  these bright flowers4 ,and 
let us not be misunderstood3 we say     
nothing  in disparagement of them4      
,would that more biographies were       

written so6    ,but ,lord ,fisher1 we   
suspect1 has suffered1 and will suffer1 
from  the defects--or should one say the
 excess8--of his qualities4 ,it  is     
harder for a camel to pass through the  
eye of a needle than for  an            
,englishman--and above all an official  
,englishman--to take a man  seriously   
who writes and talks and thinks like    
this4 ,hinc ill  lacrim6 as our author  
might say 7for he loves his tags74 ,and 
yet  there is serious stuff in this     
book--discussions of the conduct of the 
war1 of naval tactics and education1 of 
submarines and oil-engines  and guns1   
and ,admiralty limpets4 ,he has         
quarrelled on all these  matters--and on
 a thousand more1 no doubt--with many of
 his colleagues4  ,it is not for us to  
take sides in such ,homeric contests4   
,even now he  is trailing his coat again
 before the respectable public with a   
hectic  chapter entitled ,democracy4    
,democracy1 he says1 means 'equal       
opportunity for all4' ,a real ,democracy

 in ,england would not have  permitted  
secret treaties nor flouted the ,russian
 ,revolution1 nor kept  true ,labour    
leaders waiting on the doormat4         
,hereditary titles1 he  cries1 are      
ludicrously out of date 444 and the     
sooner we sweep away  all the gimcracks 
and gewgaws of snobbery the better4     
,and1 in short1  this old warrior of    
seventy-nine1 a ,peer of the ,realm1    
dressed like a  ,christmas-tree in his  
decorations1 the intimate of ,kings and 
,emperors1  declares himself a          
,republican1 and wants to sack the lot6 
,words fail  us2 we can only lay the    
book down and pant for the next6        
,,henry ,,fox1 ,,first ,,lord ,,holland1
 ,,his ,,family ,,and ,,relations4 ,by  
the ,,earl ,,of  ,,ilchester4 ,in two   
volumes4 ,murray4 #cbs4 net4    ,the    
deeplier we study eighteenth-century    
political history the more  satisfied we
 become that there were but two figures 
in it with the  gleam of statesmanship  
upon them1 and but one with the light of

 genius4  ,sir ,robert ,walpole deserves
 his son's boast3 ,he did maintain this 
country in the enjoyment of the twenty  
happiest years that ,england  ever      
enjoyed4 ,writing when he did1 and so   
far as it goes1 that is  true4 ,if his  
methods draw us to a cynical conclusion1
 the material to  his hand--a ,german   
,king1 a discredited opposition1 and a  
horde of  rapacious place-hunters to    
keep fed--must be remembered and allowed
  for4 ,pitt was a much more scrupulous 
man1 and a much more gifted man1  but he
 was less successful for those very     
reasons4 ,he had the honest  man's scorn
 of iniquity1 and he had less hold of   
himself4 ,sir ,robert  could keep his   
temper2 ,pitt never could4 ,he knew the 
,duke of ,newcastle  to be a liar and an
 old fool1 and as good as told him so4  
,fewer words1  if you please1 my lord1  
for your words have long lost all weight
 with  me4 ,there is not much           
accommodation about that4 ,sir ,robert  
suffered  fools gladly3 he could work   

with them better4 ,pitt was fastidious1 
and  would not soil his fingers with the
 only things they wanted of him4 ,as    
for all the rest they were a venal crew1
 timid as rats and greedy as  dogs4 ,a  
month or two ago there came under review
 in these pages the  life of one of     
them1 ,george ,bubb                     
,dodington--remarkable only because1 a  
thorough-paced rogue1 he turned himself 
inside out for the admiration  of       
posterity4 ,here1 at much greater       
length1 done with conspicuous  judgment 
and ability1 is the life1 in two        
volumes1 of another1 ,henry  ,fox1 the  
founder of ,holland ,house and its line 
of peers4    ,if a word were needed to  
explain the rise of the brothers        
,stephen  and ,henry ,fox1 the sons of a
 creature 7whom ,horace ,walpole called 
a footman7 of ,charles ,,ii4's1 it would
 be the word which explains  the whole  
of eighteenth-century statecraft1 the   
word ,patronage4 ,from  the ,king1      
fountain of honours1 this sacred river  

ran to the ,peers1  disposers of places1
 and from them broadened out into a pool
 where swam  the borough-mongers and    
jobbers1 owners of the ,house of        
,commons4 ,as for  the electorate1      
wherever there was one1 the business of 
the people  is to choose ,us1 said young
 ,charles ,fox1 while he was yet under  
the  influence of his father2 and       
although the capital letter is ours1 and
  not upon record1 we may be sure that  
it was not wanting in delivery4 ,it  is 
indeed but an echo of ,henry ,fox       
himself4      ,our elections1 thank     
,god6 do not depend upon the giddy mob4 
,they    are generally governed by men  
of fortune and understanding1 and of    
such our ministers1 for this twenty     
years past1 have been so happy    as to 
have a majority in their favour4        
,therefore1 when we talk of    people   
with regard to elections1 we ought to   
think only of those of    the better    
sort1 without comprehending the mob or  
mere dregs of the    people4    ,such   

was the nursery-ground of the hero of   
,lord ,ilchester's volumes1  from which 
that hero's son was able to lift        
himself4    ,by sitting still and       
stolidly manipulating his boroughs      
,stephen ,fox  served himself better    
than his more able brother4 ,he did not 
become  so rich1 though he never lacked4
 ,he had money1 he married money1 and   
became an earl4 ,he suffered none of the
 mortifications and humiliations  of the
 active politician1 who made himself the
 most unpopular man in  ,england1 and1  
after serving his ,king at the expense  
of his country1  was thrown out and     
thrown over4 ,to be sure he was         
,paymaster for eight  years1 during     
which time a sum of #df1jjj1jjj passed  
through his hands  to his immeasurable  
profit2 but to do justice to ,fox1 his  
riches  weighed as nothing beside his   
sense of the ingratitude of the ,rigbys 
and others of the sort whom he had loved
 and tried to serve4 ,though he  did not
 begin so well off as his elder brother1

 he cannot be said to  have been badly  
off4 ,at twenty-one he dropped into a   
sinecure office  of #dej a year and a   
capital sum which brought his whole     
income to  something like #ijj4 ,his    
first political acquaintance of note was
 ,lord  ,hervey1 and his next1 from     
whom1 to his credit1 he never swerved1  
was  ,sir ,robert ,walpole4 ,fox really 
loved that man1 was said of him1 and    
truly said2 and when ,sir ,robert fell  
and he was handed over to ,henry        
,pelham he was found faithful again4 ,in
 all this he differed widely  from ,bubb
 ,dodington1 having a heart as well as a
 stomach1 and if not  principles1 at    
least passions4 ,dodington was merely a 
merchant of  himself1 but ,fox suffered 
his feelings to act and react1 often to 
his temporal detriment4 ,as ,lord       
,ilchester shows1 he was not wise in    
his attachments1 nor always temperate in
 his actions4 ,he alienated  ,scottish  
sympathies by his vehemence after the   
,porteous riot2 he  made an enemy of    

,lord ,chancellor ,hardwicke by his     
opposition to the  ,clandestine         
,marriages ,act--an opposition which may
 have been grounded  upon the fact that 
his own marriage had been of that order2
 he became  the friend and ally of the  
,duke of ,cumberland1 and obnoxious on  
that  account to ,leicester ,house and  
the heir-apparent4 ,when ,george ,,iii4 
succeeded1 and ,lord ,bute became the   
all-powerful minister1 he attached      
himself there1 just in time to lose the 
friendship of the ,duke and to  share in
 the hatred and distrust which the whole
 nation turned upon  the administration4
 ,in these mischances his heart rather  
than his head  played him false4 ,yet1  
for all his pains1 neither of his       
masters liked  him4 ,george ,,ii4 owned 
that ,fox had never told him a lie1 and 
added that  he was the only man who had 
not4 ,but he never trusted him in spite 
of  that4 ,george ,,iii41 having after  
much hesitation given him a barony1     
steadily refused to advance him higher1 

though no man had worked harder  in his 
service or1 it must be added1 more      
discreditably4 ,it was ,henry  ,fox who 
set to work1 by methods which can only  
be called flagrant1 to  form a party in 
,parliament to be known as the ,king's  
friends4 ,that he  did not succeed was  
not his fault4      ,fox directly       
attacked two separate members of the    
,house of ,commons1    and with so      
little decorum on the part of either    
buyer or seller    that a shop was      
publicly opened at the ,pay ,office1    
whither members    flocked1 and received
 the wages of their venality in bank    
bills1 even    to so low a sum as two   
hundred pounds for their votes on the   
treaty4    ,twenty-five thousand pounds1
 as ,martin1 ,secretary of the          
,treasury1    afterwards owned1 were    
issued in one morning2 and in a single  
fortnight a vast majority was purchased 
to approve the peace4    ,it is perhaps 
going far to say that nothing more      
disgraceful was ever  done in           

,parliament1 but it is not too much to  
affirm that no greater  act of treachery
 was ever attempted against the theory  
of popular  representation by a member  
of the supposed popular ,house4 ,but he 
had  his barony1 and received it three  
years later than ,bubb ,dodington       
obtained his4    ,it is not ,lord       
,ilchester's fault that much of the     
intrigue he  elucidates is rueful       
reading4 ,the wonder is that he has     
found the  spirit with which to achieve 
it4 ,when one's native country1 its     
neighbour states and colonial           
dependencies1 when ,king1 ,lords1       
,commons1  ,army1 ,navy1 and ,church are
 all seen to have been counters in a    
great  game of grab2 when patriotism is 
as much an unknown quantity as even a   
rudimentary civic sense1 and the only   
certainty is that of one's own  and     
one's rivals' common dishonesty1 it is  
no wonder that the accidents  of his    
book count for more than the substance4 
,what we get of ,charles  ,fox makes    

amends for ,henry4 ,everything that     
,lord ,ilchester has to tell  us of     
,charles is good4 ,we have him first as 
a baby4 ,he is weakly1  but likely to   
live4 ,his skin hangs all shrivell'd    
about him1 his eyes  stare1 he has a    
black head of hair1 and 'tis incredible 
how like a  monkey he look'd before he  
was dress'd4 ,then he is at a           
preparatory  school1 in #ageg1 where it 
seems that ,charles has more emulation  
than  any boy almost ever had2 next at  
,eton1 where he and his brother ,stephen
  entertained their father at a dinner  
bespoke from the ,christopher3  444     
boil'd mutton and broth1 three large    
fowls1 and a leg of mutton  roasted4 ,it
 was at ,eton in #ageh1 when he was nine
 years old1 that he  thus announced his 
philosophy of life4 ,the father is      
writing to the  mother3      ,that odd  
dog ,charles said1 with a smile1 he     
wish'd his life was at an    end4 ,i    
asked the reason4 ,why1 says he1 it is a
 troublesome affair1    and one wishes  

one had this thing or that thing1 and   
then one is not    the happier2 and then
 one wishes for another thing1 and one's
 very    sorry if one can't get it1 and 
it does not make one happier if one     
does4    ,we can follow him to ,oxford1 
and wish we had room for his letter to  
his  father explaining with elaborate   
pains how he came to knock the bottom   
out of #aej1 or for another which       
announces the loss of eighty guineas  at
 cards1 and registers the first of a    
series of vows that it shall  never     
happen again4 ,all this will be found in
 ,volume ,,ii41 together with  some     
account of the stormy opening of his    
parliamentary career--at  nineteen2 but 
there or thereabouts we regretfully     
leave him1 the best  thing by far that  
,henry ,fox ever made4    ,if it were   
asked what this man had done in his days
 to deserve two  biographies on the     
scale of ,mr4 ,riker's and ,lord        
,ilchester's1 the  answer would be long 
in coming4 ,henry ,fox was a man of good

 but  moderate abilities1 a bad speaker1
 a fair debater1 one of the few1 at  any
 rate1 who ever stood up to ,william    
,pitt the first4 ,he conducted  his ,war
 ,secretaryship with diligence1 his     
,paymastership with what must  be called
 legal honesty4 ,he robbed his country1 
but no more than any  other ,paymaster  
had done4 ,he enriched himself by       
trading with the huge  balances left on 
his hands1 sometimes lending of them to 
the country  which found them at twenty 
per cent6 ,every ,paymaster except      
,pitt1 who  would have none of it1 had  
done as much1 and most of them did      
worse4  ,but one searches ,lord         
,ilchester's pages in vain for anything 
definitely  done by ,fox1 except1 to be 
sure1 the infamous attempt to betray the
  constitution by making the third      
estate of the realm a creature of the   
first4 ,even that he did not succeed in 
doing4 ,it was ,lord ,north who  reaped 
for ,king ,george what ,fox had sown4   
,and that is about all that  one can    

say1 and very much what ,lord ,ilchester
 himself says of ,henry  ,fox4 ,what    
should be added to that is that the book
 is admirable both  for lucidity of     
style and arrangement1 for gallantry of 
attack1 and  gaiety in action4          
,,recollections ,,of ,,lady ,,georgiana 
,,peel4 ,compiled by her ,daughter1     
,,ethel  ,,peel4 ,london3 ,lane4 #aibj4 
#afs4 net4    ,lady ,georgiana was born 
in #ahcf and is daughter of ,lord ,john 
,russell4  ,she should have memorable   
things to tell1 and perhaps she has4    
,but  ,providence1 which has given her  
length of days and illustrious  descent1
 has not conferred the garnering eye or 
the gift of tongues4  ,it is a pity1 for
 she has seen so much3 ,holland ,house  
and ,pembroke  ,lodge1 ,bowood in the   
days of its greatness1 ,sir ,robert     
,peel and ,lord  ,palmerston1 the ,duke 
and ,disraeli1 ,rogers1 ,tom ,moore and 
his wife1  ,tennyson1 ,dickens1         
,thackeray1 the whole ,victorian galaxy4
 ,she has  danced with the ,prince      

,consort1 and found him rather cross2   
she has  heard ,tom ,moore sing1 and    
seen him weep at his own music2 she has 
helped entertain ,garibaldi1 and dined  
with ,macaulay4 ,she was not1  however1 
impressed by that pundit1 found his     
monologue a bore1 and  agreed with      
,sydney ,smith when he said1 very       
gravely1 towards the end  of dinner1    
',macaulay1 when ,i'm dead1 you'll be   
sorry you never heard  me talk4' ,that  
is something2 and here is another thing 
equally good4  ,when ,lord ,john was    
about to take ,john ,bright down to stay
 at ,woburn1 a  candid friend wrote to  
the ,duke of ,bedford1 ,hope you'll     
count your  spoons4 ,here1 once more1 is
 a glimpse into the manners of that     
stately  place1 about #ahdj3      ,many 
were the happy ,christmases we spent at 
,woburn4 ,i remember1 to    our huge    
delight1 we were allowed to help throw  
mutton chops out of    the dining-room  
window for whoever cared to pick them   
up4 ,i think    that custom died out4   

,when ,i was a child each guest was     
provided with    a piece of paper in    
which to wrap up an eatable for people  
waiting    outside4          ,god bless 
the ,squire and his relations1          
,and keep us in our proper stations6    
,no doubt that was as good a way of     
doing it as any4 ,but such flowers  grow
 rarely in ,lady ,georgiana's garden1   
which is indeed something of  a hortus  
siccus where names and dates have to    
stand for more than  they will bear4 ,i 
remember ,mr4 ,kingslake coming down to 
,pembroke ,lodge  sometimes2 ,i don't   
think he had then begun his ,history4   
,he was always  very agreeable4 ,so much
 for ,eothen4 ,in connection with       
,william  ,warburton1 ,i remember ,mr4  
,matthew ,arnold1 for he was a great    
friend of  my brother-in-law's1 and a   
comrade in the inspection of schools4   
,and  so much for him4 ,of ,dickens we  
get something more4 ,in the evening1  ,i
 remember1 he was conspicuous1 owing to 
wearing a pink shirt front  embroidered 

with white4 ,disraeli1 too1 expatiated  
in shirts4 ,though  he talked           
incessantly1 ,i remember best his shirt 
front1 which was made  of white         
book-muslin over a very bright          
rose-coloured foundation1 which  shone  
through it4 ,the temptation to stick    
pins into it must have been  severe4    
,with these grains the reader must be   
satisfied1 and with such powers  of     
evolution as he possesses may extract1  
no doubt1 some more4 ,here  is one of   
,lady ,holland1 too good to be passed   
over4 ,she proposed  leaving to ,lord   
,john ,russell1 and did in fact leave   
him1 an estate in  ,kennington--where   
the ,oval now is4 ,lord ,john would only
 accept it for  life1 urging the claims 
of the son and daughter of the house4 ,i
 hate  my son2 ,i don't like my         
daughter1 said the great lady1 and      
settled it4      ,,politics ,,and       
,,economics    ,,the ,,history ,,of     
,,trade ,,unionism4 7,revised ,edition1 
,extended to #aibj47 ,by  ,,sidney and  

,,beatrice ,,webb4 ,longmans4 #bas4     
,twenty-five years ago ,trade ,unionism 
was vaguely apprehended in  the polite  
world as a growing force in industry1   
useful to the  working-class and even   
legitimate if kept within proper bounds4
 ,wise  employers recognised its value  
and treated with it2 the unenlightened  
fought against it or accepted it with a 
bad grace4 ,many even of its  friends   
and allies1 the ,socialists--and not a  
few of these were  themselves ,trade    
,unionists--rated it very low1 as being1
 in fact1  a mere palliative of the     
,capitalist system4 ,to-day it is safe  
to  assert that there is no institution 
in the country which bulks larger  in   
the public eye than the ,trade ,union   
movement4 ,in numbers1 wealth1          
solidarity1 and power it has developed  
out of all recognition4 ,its  leaders   
sit and bargain on equal terms with     
,ministers of the ,crown1  take their   
places on public committees and ,royal  
,commissions as of  right1 even         

threaten1 amid the angry protests of    
adversaries who were  once their        
masters1 to destroy the foundations of  
the established  social order4 ,the aims
 and activities of the ,trade ,unions   
vie with the  crime wave for first place
 in the columns of the newspapers2 they 
are  discussed in trains and clubs and  
drawing-rooms4 ,and1 in short1 the      
organisation1 which but a few years     
since was regarded as a more or  less   
private affair of workmen and their     
employers1 now appears as the  biggest  
problem that the ,state has to face--as 
something that may even1  as many will  
have it1 supersede the ,state itself4   
,it is hardly necessary1 in these       
circumstances1 to dilate on the         
importance of a new edition1 containing 
an account of the developments  during  
the last thirty years1 of ,mr4 and ,mrs4
 ,sidney ,webb's ,history  of ,trade    
,unionism4 ,when the book appeared in   
#ahid it was welcomed not  only by      
intelligent minds in the working-class1 

but by all students  of social history1 
abroad as well as in this country1 as a 
remarkable  piece of work2 it took its  
place1 and has kept its place1 as a     
classic4  ,yet it had a far smaller     
public than it deserved2 by #aiaa under 
#aj1jjj  copies had been sold4 ,of this 
new volume no less than #ai1jjj copies  
in a special edition have been bought by
 ,trade ,unionists before               
publication--a notable sign of the      
times4 ,we have called this edition  a  
new volume--and that it certainly is1   
for not only have ,mr4 and ,mrs4  ,webb 
revised the work throughout and at some 
points slightly amplified  it1 but they 
have added three chapters1 covering     
actually some two  hundred and fifty    
pages4    ,the increase of ,trade ,union
 membership has been1 as everyone knows1
  enormous4 ,in #ahib1 after more than  
two centuries of growth1 the number  of 
,trade ,unionists in the ,united        
,kingdom was not much over a million    
and a half4 ,at the outbreak of the war 

it was under four millions2 at  the     
present moment it is above six          
millions--perhaps nearer seven than     
six--and includes probably as many as   
#fj per cent4 of all the adult  manual  
working wage-earners4 ,but what is of   
peculiar interest to note  is the       
increase in certain industries and among
 certain sections of  the community4    
,the organisation of unskilled labour   
has in the last  few years been         
prodigious1 and so also has that of     
women of all sorts  from the            
braincombers in the learned professions 
to domestic servants  and the chief     
hands in the sweated trades4 ,the female
 membership of  ,trade ,unions1 which in
 the year before the war was in round   
figures  #cfa1jjj1 has risen now to over
 three-quarters of a million1 and it  is
 still rising4 ,very remarkable also is 
the increasing organisation  of the     
black-coated proletariat--civil         
servants1 clerks1 managers1             
supervisors1 technicians1 and the rest4 

,this1 as ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,webb  rightly 
insist1 is an important indication of   
the lines on which  industry is likely  
to be shaped in the future4 ,but with   
this vast  growth of numbers1 and a     
corresponding growth of amalgamation and
  federation1 there has been singularly 
little change in the central  machinery 
of the movement4 ,the weakest point1    
indeed1 is at the top4  ,the ,trades    
,union ,congress1 as ,mr4 and ,mrs4     
,webb put it1 remains1 as  we have      
described it in its early years1 rather 
a parade of the ,trade  ,union forces   
than a genuine ,parliament of ,labour4  
,its executive body1  the ,parliamentary
 ,committee1 does not provide that      
general staff  which the movement badly 
needs1 and ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,webb's       
criticism both  of this and of the whole
 question of what may be called the     
,trade  ,unions' civil service is very  
much to the front4    ,the history of   
,trade ,unionism in this century1       
however1 is by no means  exhausted by   

the records of its membership and       
organisation4 ,side  by side with this  
it has won an enhanced status1 and not  
the least  interesting of the three new 
chapters is devoted to an account of    
this  achievement4 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,webb 
give us an elaborate criticism of the   
famous ,taff ,vale judgment2 they       
discuss the ,osborne case and the ,trade
  ,union ,act of #aiac1 the relations of
 the ,unions and the ,government  during
 and after the war4 ,and last1 but not  
least1 they describe the  revolution in 
thought1 the influence of ,syndicalist  
and of ,guild  ,socialist theories in   
shaping the demand for self-government  
in  industry and in determining the     
attitude of the workman to strikes and  
,parliamentary action4    ,the final    
chapter deals with the political        
side--the rise of the  ,labour ,party1  
from its stormy birth just over twenty  
years ago1 to  the new era which opened 
for it at the election of #aiah4 ,mr4   
and ,mrs4  ,webb have much friendly     

criticism to offer on the subject of the
  present political organisation of the 
,labour movement4 ,it suffers1  they    
observe1 not merely from a lack of      
,party loyalty on the part of  ,trade   
,unionists1 but also from a confusion of
 central machinery4 ,it  suffers too    
7some say these are its chief           
shortcomings7 from a failure  to develop
 a staff of trained political officers  
and from a scarcity  of trained         
,parliamentary representatives4 ,but    
these weaknesses1 we  suppose1 are on   
the way to be remedied1 if the ,party as
 a whole1 as  well as its leaders1 is   
alive to them4    ,the reader is not to 
look in this history1 as its authors    
remark1  for any argued judgment on the 
validity of ,trade ,union assumptions   
or ultimate ideals4 ,nevertheless1 what 
little they have to say on  this hand is
 of profound interest4 ,the object and  
purpose of the  workers1 organised      
vocationally in ,trade ,unions and      
,professional  ,associations1 and       

politically in the ,labour ,party1 they 
warn us1 is  no mere increase of wages  
or reduction of hours4 ,it comprises    
nothing  less than a reconstruction of  
,society1 by the elimination1 from the  
nation's industries and services1 of the
 ,capitalist profit-maker1 and  the     
consequent shrinking up of the class of 
functionless persons who  live merely by
 owning4 ,what form in that             
reconstructed ,society is  the          
organisation of industry to take8 ,mr4  
and ,mrs4 ,webb expect to see  the      
supreme authority in each industry or   
service vested1 not in the  workers as  
such1 but in the community as a         
whole4444 ,the management  of industry  
444 will not be the sole sphere of      
either producers or  consumers1 but is  
clearly destined to be distributed      
between them--the  actual direction and 
decision being shared between the       
representatives  of the ,trade ,union or
 ,professional ,society on the one hand 
and those  of the community in          

,co-operative ,society1 ,municipality1  
or ,national  ,government on the other4 
,they do not see eye to eye in every    
detail  with the ,guild ,socialist4 ,but
 still less do they see eye to eye with 
that fabulous monster who stalks through
 the writings and speeches both  of     
,revolutionaries and ,conservatives--the
 bureaucratic ,fabian ,webb1  harbinger 
of the ,servile ,state6 ,there may be   
some1 we suppose1 who will  find a less 
detached outlook in this volume than in 
the original  edition4 ,if there is a   
difference of outlook1 it is natural    
enough1  for ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,webb are   
more inside the ,labour movement now    
than  they were in #ahid1 and their     
judgments and criticisms must inevitably
  show a subtle difference of tone4 ,but
 this is not to accuse them of  undue   
partiality4 ,no man can write an        
impartial history that is worth  reading
 of his own time and his own friends4   
,and we need not regret  that ,mr4 and  
,mrs4 ,webb1 in their detailed          

descriptions1 for example1  of the great
 railway strike or the miners' dispute  
of last year1 put  the workmen's case   
confidently and strongly since they see 
it as their  own case also and that of  
the nation4 ,the appearance of these    
three  new chapters1 we do not hesitate 
to say1 constitutes an event in the     
world of politics and of letters4 ,the  
,history of ,trade ,unionism will       
remain1 as it has been1 a work which    
every student of industry and  every man
 of affairs must read and re-read and   
inwardly digest4      ,,my ,,second     
,,country 7,,france74 ,by ,,robert      
,,dell4 ,lane4 #gs4 #f;d4    ,this study
 of the people and institutions and     
spirit of ,france is in  a class apart  
from the volumes of impressions of      
foreign lands with  which week-enders   
and passing travellers are prone to     
favour us4  ,france1 says ,mr4 ,dell1   
has been my home for more than twelve   
years1  but it was already my second    
country long before ,i went to live     

there4  ,indeed ,i cannot remember a    
time when ,france had not a large place 
in my  affections4 ,it is with an       
intimate knowledge1 therefore1 as well  
as  with a profound sympathy that he    
discusses the many phases of ,french    
life4 ,but his book is by no means a    
mere panegyric4 ,he is throughout       
candid and critical--often bitterly     
critical4 ,he exposes ruthlessly  the   
undemocratic character of the           
,democratic ,administration1 the        
impotence of ,parliament1 the           
demoralising influence of small         
property1  the evils of the petit       
bourgeois spirit1 the avarice and       
egotism of  the grande bourgeoisie4 ,how
 far his view of all these things is a  
just one will be a matter of            
controversy4 ,some may say he is        
violently  prejudiced2 no one1 after    
reading this book1 could deny that many 
of his judgments are biased4 ,in the    
final chapters there is really  no      
pretence of impartiality2 he argues his 

case and maintains his  propositions1   
like ,doctor ,pancrace in the play1     
,pugnis et calcibus1  unguibus et       
rostro4 ,mr4 ,dell is a ,socialist1 but 
not an ,etatiste2  he is a libertine and
 a revolutionary1 with an equal dislike 
of  bureaucracy and the bourgeoisie4    
,and his feelings in this matter are  so
 strong that we may venture to doubt his
 predictions as to how  the ,revolution 
will come4 ,for the rest1 ,mr4 ,dell is 
a determined  ,rationalist4 ,la ,france 
de ,voltaire et de ,montesquieu1 he says
 with  ,m4 ,anatole ,france1 celle-l est
 la grande1 la vraie ,france4 ,for      
religious ,france he has no use--neither
 for irreligious orthodoxy1  nor        
political ,catholicism1 nor ,modernism4 
,bergsonism1 too1 he holds  to be a     
baneful influence1 as reactionary as the
 ,church which eschews  it4 ,but the old
 superstitions and the new philosophies1
 he believes1  are losing their hold2   
the spirit of the true ,france is coming
 into  its own again1 and the young     

intellect of ,france is returning to the
  rationalism of ,voltaire4 ,in all     
this1 and much else1 he may be wrong1   
but he has given us a book that is at   
any rate profoundly interesting4        
,,russia ,,in ,,rule ,,and ,,misrule4   
,by ,brigadier ,c4 ,r4 ,,ballard1       
,c4,b41 ,c4,m4,g41  with a ,foreword by 
,general ,,sir ,,william ,,robertson4   
,murray4 #fs4 net4    ,this is a curious
 and nondescript book4 ,beginning as a  
history of  ,russia from the earliest   
times1 it ends rather as the impressions
  of a soldier who1 attached to the     
,eastern front during the war1 saw      
something of the ,russian revolution4   
,it is a soldier's book1 breezy1        
untrammelled by literary and historical 
conventions1 and distinguished  by a    
direct simplicity which disarms         
criticism4 ,the ,general gives an       
interesting account of what happened    
subsequently to the revolution2  but his
 account often gives only one out of    
many views of the facts4  ,thus his     

chapter on the ,kornilov incident is1 as
 he states1 merely a  summary of        
,kerenski's book1 and cannot therefore  
be accepted without  considerable       
reserves4 ,on pages #bad-baf he gives   
ten outstanding facts  about the        
,bolshevik rgime which can be proved    
over and over again  if proof be        
required4 ,we should like to see the    
,general's proof of  the first sentence 
in his tenth fact1 namely1 that there   
are no  elections of any kind4444 ,the  
,general has also succeeded in adding a 
new complication to the already         
complicated problem of the spelling of  
,russian names4 ,the gentleman whose    
name we have seen spelt variously by    
other writers ,cheidze1 ,chheidze1 and  
,tshcheidze appears in his book as      
,cheidsi4      ,,the ,,peace ,,in ,,the 
,,making4 ,by ,h4 ,,wilson ,,harris4    
,swarthmore ,press4 #fs4  net4    ,it   
would be unfair to compare ,mr4         
,harris's book with ,mr4 ,keynes's1     
though it covers something of the same  

ground4 ,mr4 ,keynes is analytic  and1  
in the end1 constructive1 and his       
subject is the rebuilding of  a ruined  
,europe4 ,mr4 ,harris is historical and 
reminiscent4 ,like a  good              
journalist--and it is unnecessary to say
 how good a journalist  he is--he tells 
us how they made the peace rather than  
what kind of  a peace they made and     
should have made4 ,it is true that in   
telling  us the story of peace-making at
 ,paris he does tell us also what kind  
of peace they made4 ,in fact his book   
has a distinct value as a clear  summary
 of the terms eventually hammered out by
 the three ,great ,powers  and accepted 
by ,germany4 ,but the angle of ,mr4     
,harris's approach to his  subject is   
that of the journalistic historian4 ,the
 result is a very  readable and         
interesting book4 ,putting ourselves    
into ,mr4 ,harris's  skilful hands1 we  
are enabled to see1 through the various 
journalistic  spectroscopes1 something  
of what took place behind the shuttered 

and  curtained council chamber of the   
,big ,four1 which in effect was a ,big  
,three4      ,,leagues ,,of ,,nations4  
,by ,,elizabeth ,,york4 ,swarthmore     
,press4 #hs4 #f;d4  net4    ,this is a  
useful book for those who wish to study 
the long and slow  development of the   
idea of a ,league of ,nations4 ,the     
author begins with  the idea of a       
,league in ancient ,greece and traces it
 through ,dante1  the ,grand ,design1   
,grotius1 ,penn1 ,saint ,pierre1        
,rousseau1 ,kant1 and  ,bentham to      
,alexander ,i4 of ,russia and the ,holy 
,alliance4 ,the value of  the book is   
considerably enhanced by its careful    
documentation1 and  by the fact that it 
gives us a translation of the text of   
many of the  schemes and covenants which
 are not easily obtainable by the       
ordinary  reader4      ,,the ,,new      
,,outlook4 ,by ,,lord ,,robert ,,cecil1 
,m4,p4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #as4 net4        
,this brochure has a double claim to    
interest all who concern themselves     

with politics4 ,in the first place it is
 a remarkable revelation of  the        
advancing spirit of democracy1 of the   
new social conscience and  widening     
outlook of our time4 ,for here we have a
 ,cecil1 the type of the  grand         
seigneurial family of high ,tory        
traditions1 calmly--or rather           
enthusiastically--offering us a         
political programme that a few years    
ago would have been greeted as wildly   
,jacobin4 ,in the second place the      
views of ,lord ,robert derive a peculiar
 importance from the position  which he 
occupies to-day in the public           
estimation4 ,his high personal          
character1 his idealism1 and his ability
 single him out among the  members of   
his ,party--if indeed he can be said in 
the present political  confusion to be  
of a ,party4 ,he gives us here          
half-a-dozen short essays  dealing with 
the ,league of ,nations1 the industrial 
problem1 finance1  the reform of        
,parliament1 and the ,irish question4   

,his practical  proposals under each of 
these heads will not commend themselves 
to  everyone in all their details1 but  
none will fail to admire the  generous  
and constructive spirit which underlies 
them4 ,those who are  pessimistic about 
foreign affairs may well wish that we   
had more men  of this stamp to put      
,europe on its feet again4 ,those who   
are exercised  about the situation at   
home will look anxiously for the next   
step of  this aristocrat among the      
democrats4      ,,empire ,,and          
,,commerce ,,in ,,africa4 ,by ,l4       
,,woolf4 ,labour ,research ,department  
and ,allen  ,unwin4 #bjs4 net4    ,mr4  
,woolf's object in this work is to      
answer the question3 ,what  has been the
 result and what the lessons of the     
application of the  power and machinery 
of the ,european ,state to ,africa8 ,he 
examines  very carefully and critically 
the history of the organisation of the  
,british1 ,french1 and ,german ,colonies
 in ,north and ,east ,africa1 as well   

as the ,belgian ,congo4 ,the results    
both for ,europe and for the natives  he
 finds on the whole to be evil4 ,the    
future1 if we are to continue the  old  
policy of economic imperialism1 offers  
no better prospect4 ,there  is hope in  
the ,league of ,nations1 but for the    
mandatory system1 as  proposed1 ,mr4    
,woolf has no enthusiasm4 ,to make the  
,league effective and  beneficent its   
forms and duties must be restated and   
clearly defined4  ,the book is one which
 ought to be read by all who are        
interested not  merely in ,african      
affairs but in the ,colonial policies of
 the ,european  ,powers4                
,,anthropology      ,,archaic ,,england4
 ,by ,,harold ,,bayley4 ,london3        
,chapman  ,hall4 #aiai4 ,medium  #hvo4  
pp4 #hid4 #bes4 net4    ,the publishers'
 announcement informs us that ,mr4      
,harold ,bayley by  his graduated       
studies in ,elizabethan ,literature1    
,symbolism1 and the  ,renaissance has   
established his position as an original 

and interesting  thinker4 ,again1 on its
 paper wrapper the present work is      
styled1  this profound and far-reaching 
contribution to ,english ,archology4    
,if a pill were to be puffed in this way
 the inference might be drawn  that the 
interested party did not belong to the  
medical profession4  ,by parity of      
reasoning one conjectured before opening
 the book that  ,mr4 ,bayley was not    
versed in the gentle tradition of the   
archological  fraternity4 ,but to read  
the introduction almost disarms the     
critic4  ,mr4 ,bayley cannot1 he        
confesses1 afford to emulate the ,oxford
 tutor1  described in a novel of ,mr4   
,stephen ,mc,kenna1 who set himself to  
write  a history of the ,third ,french  
,republic1 and thirty years later had   
satisfactorily concluded his            
introductory chapter on the origin of   
,kingship4 ,he complains that his       
literary hobbies have necessarily to  be
 indulged more or less furtively in     
restaurants and railway-trains4         

,nevertheless he tries to keep on as    
good terms as may be with  the exacting 
,muses of ,history1 ,mythology1         
,archology1 ,philosophy1  ,religion1    
,romance1 ,symbolism1 ,numismatics1     
,folklore1 and ,etymology4  ,thus       
circumstances have forced him to become 
a literary hustler2  and1 since         
self-advertisement is germane to the    
hustling temper1 and  moreover in this  
case is quite undisguised and nave1 it  
may almost be  forgiven4    ,not that   
,mr4 ,bayley wants to be forgiven4 ,it  
would seem that the  hustling and the   
hard-hitting tendencies are naturally   
akin4 ,for  the philologists have       
attacked him on account of another book4
  ,consequently1 in this book he        
pulverises the philologists one and     
all2 there is nothing left of them4 ,nor
 do the anthropologists come  off any   
better4 ,even sex does not protect them4
 ,miss ,jane ,harrison1  for instance1  
was rash enough to say that gods evolve 
from choral  dances and similar         

ceremonies1 herein but following the    
common opinion  that in the development 
of religion ritual is prior to dogma4   
,mr4  ,bayley will have none of it4 ,the
 theory here assumed1 he exclaims1      
grossly defies the elementary laws of   
logic1 for every act of ritual  must    
essentially have been preceded by a     
thought3 ,act is the outcome  and       
offspring of ,thought3 ,idea was never  
the idiot-child of ,act4 ,the           
assumption that the first idea of ,god  
evolved from the personation  of the    
,sun ,god in a mystery play or harvest  
dance is not really or  fundamentally a 
mental tracking of that ,god right home1
 but rather an  inane confession that   
the idea of ,god cannot be traced       
further backward  than the ritual of    
ancient festivals4 ,how can a reviewer  
proceed to  deal with ,mr4 ,bayley's    
views without trepidation8 ,fnum habet  
in  cornu4    ,to me1 says ,mr4 ,bayley1
 the divinities of antiquity are not    
mere  dolls to be patted superciliously 

on the head and then remitted to  the   
dustbin4 ,our own ideals of to-day are  
but the idols or dolls  of to-morrow1   
and even a golliwog if it has comforted 
a child is  entitled to sympathetic     
treatment4 ,it would have certainly been
 more  sympathetic if ,miss ,harrison   
had called ,apollo or ,dionysus a       
gollywog1  and let it go at that4 ,mr4  
,bayley goes on to moralise--and the    
passage  illustrates at once his        
discursive manner and the methods of the
  symbolistic philology--as follows3    
,the words doll1 idol1 ideal1  and      
idyll1 which are all one and the same1  
are probably due to the  island of      
,idea1 which was one of the ancient     
names of ,crete4 ,not only  was ,crete  
known as ,ida1 but was also entitled    
,doliche1 which may be  spelled to-day  
,idyllic4444 ,we shall also see as we   
proceed that the  mystic philosophy     
known to history as the ,gnosis was in  
all probability  the philosophy taught  
in prehistoric times at ,gnossus1 the   

far-famed  capital of ,crete4 ,from     
,gnossus1 whence the ,greeks drew all   
their  laws and sciences1 came probably 
the ,greek word gnossis1 meaning        
knowledge4 ,why probably8    ,but to    
proceed to ,mr4 ,bayley's main          
contention4 ,he would have  us take less
 pride in any connection we may have had
 with the  ,anglo-,saxons--were they not
 ,huns8--and1 contrariwise1 think more  
of  our far more worthy ancestors the   
ancient ,britons4 ,theirs was a wisdom  
ultimately derived from the             
culture-lands of the ,east4 ,are not the
  identities between ,welsh and ,hebrew 
close and pressing4 ,is it not  the fact
 that entire sentences of archaic       
,hebraisms are similarly  to be found in
 the now obsolete ,cornish language4    
,unfortunately the  ,phnicians have left
 no literature4 ,the ,greeks have1      
however1 and we  are thus able to       
connect ,achill in ,ireland with        
,achilles1 and so on4  ,similarly       
philology proves the truth of the tale  

that ,brutus with his  ,trojans landed  
at ,totnes and thence marched to        
,troynovant or ,new ,troy1  now known as
 ,london4 ,not that the ,trojans on     
their arrival found it any  easier than 
it is now to obtain decent lodgings in  
,london4 ,for tre  7which is obviously  
,troy7 means in ,cornish dwelling1 and  
in ,french  trou means hole4 ,so the    
earliest ,troys were maybe caves1 though
  they ultimately became towers or tors2
 witness the number of the  same in the 
,west of ,england4 ,it is likewise      
obvious that ,troy1 ,tyre1  and ,etruria
 are from the same root4 ,so it follows 
that the men of  ,tarshish1 ,tyre1      
,troy1 or ,etruria1 towed1 trekked1     
travelled1 tramped1  traded1 and        
trafficked far and wide4 ,indeed1 it    
might almost seem  that the language in 
which these culture-heroes were wont to 
express  themselves consisted entirely  
in the word ,troy and its derivatives4  
,but  no4 ,britain was called ,albion1  
and ,albion suggests ,albania4          

,moreover1  by the present-day ,turk the
 ,albanians are termed ,arnaouts4       
,whether  this name has any connection  
with argonauts is immaterial4 ,so it    
evidently is1 seeing that many shiploads
 of young argonauts from one  or another
 ,troy reached the coast of ,cornwall4  
,but the proof of this  is the fact that
 so many of the ,cornish names begin    
with tre4 ,so even  the ,albanians      
called themselves ,troy for short4      
,there are nearly nine hundred pages    
composed in this vein1 and if  the      
reader wants more he can find it there4 
,mr4 ,bayley will not bore  him2 he     
wields a facile pen4 ,again1 he has read
 all manner of books1  good bad and     
indifferent1 and may provide useful     
material for anyone  whose critical     
faculty is sufficiently alert4 ,but     
,troy and the rest of  it--can this     
punning philology be seriously meant8   
,mr4 ,bayley would  connect our word pun
 with the ,hebrew pun1 meaning dubious4 
,no  doubt pundit comes from the same   

root2 and1 if so1 ,mr4 ,bayley is       
welcome to the title4      ,,science    
,,ions1 ,,electrons1 ,,and ,,ionising   
,,radiations4 ,by ,j4 ,a4 ,,crowther4   
,arnold4  #abs4 #f;d4 net4    ,in spite 
of the subject of his book1 ,dr4        
,crowther's index is free from  the     
names of ,wien1 ,lenard1 ,elster and    
,geitel1 and ,stark1 to mention a  few  
omissions which are somewhat surprising4
 ,it is true that subsequent  reading   
shows that one of these names is        
casually mentioned1 but  the pages on   
positive rays1 for instance1 are happily
 free from all  reference to the hated  
,hun and his works--and1 in consequence1
 are  somewhat misleading4 ,in the first
 flush we attributed these omissions  to
 ,dr4 ,crowther's intense patriotism1   
but further investigation1 and a  rough 
classification of other peculiarities1  
has convinced us that the  misfortune of
 these men lies not in being ,german1   
but in not having  worked at ,cambridge4
 ,if the book before us had as a        

sub-title1 ,being  the ,work of         
,cambridge ,physicists1 a source of     
misunderstanding would  be removed4 ,it 
consists of an account of the work of   
the ,cavendish  school1 enriched by free
 borrowings from ,sir ,j4 ,j4 ,thomson's
 famous  ,conduction of ,electricity    
through ,gases1 with occasional         
references  to the work of outsiders1   
not usually acknowledged by name4 ,the  
chapter on ,photo-electricity will      
illustrate to those familiar with  the  
subject the peculiarities to which we   
allude4 ,we doubt if many  physicists   
will be disposed to admit the author's  
claim that the book  furnishes a        
reasonably complete account of the      
present state of the  subject4          
,,engines ,,of ,,the ,,human ,,body4 ,by
 ,,arthur ,,keith1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,williams  
,norgate4  #abs4 #f;d4 net4    ,it is a 
commonplace to talk of the machinery of 
the body1 but it is not  widely realised
 how close are the analogies which can  
be drawn between  every detail of our   

physical structure and some feature or  
process of  modern mechanical           
engineering4 ,professor ,keith1         
realising how very much  more most of us
 know of the working of an engine which 
comparatively  few of us possess1 an    
internal combustion engine1 than of the 
working  of the engines which we all    
possess in our muscles1 has written a   
most informing and entertaining book1 in
 which the mechanism and  functions of  
our bones1 muscles1 heart1 lungs1       
joints1 brain1 and other  structures are
 considered in terms of their           
engineering analogies4 ,it  is hard to  
imagine a clearer or more charming      
exposition of elementary  physiology4   
,the book is based on a course of       
,christmas ,lectures given  at the      
,royal ,institution1 lectures primarily 
intended1 as every one  knows1 for      
children4 ,while there is little in the 
book which cannot  be understood by any 
intelligent boy--that we do not add or  
girl is  due to no reactionary denial of

 the full equality of the sexes1 but  to
 a belief that1 at present1 girls take  
less interest in1 and so are  less      
conversant with1 the working of         
motor-car engines than boys--few        
grown-ups1 even medical men1 will read  
it without lively interest or  without  
learning much4 ,there is hardly any     
function or structure in  our bodies for
 which ,professor ,keith does not find a
 counterpart in  iron or steel--the     
internal texture of a bone is likened to
 ,fairbairn's  crane1 a diagram of a    
force pump compared part by part with   
the diagram  of the left ventricular    
pump of the heart4 ,the varying length  
of heel  found in different races is    
considered from the point of view of its
  mechanical usefulness in different    
circumstances1 the superiority of  the  
ape type of arm to the human type for   
the tasks which confront an  ape is made
 clear in a few words4 ,a short         
historical sketch of what  ,harvey was  
taught concerning the blood1 contrasted 

with the wonderful  new knowledge which 
he himself discovered1 and the road by  
which he  arrived at it1 affords an     
admirable example of scientific method4 
,these are citations at random2 the     
whole book is full of commendable       
things4 ,the bearings of recent         
research1 such as the work of ,haldane  
on  ,respiration1 ,cannon on ,adrenalin1
 ,starling on ,hormones1 are skilfully  
indicated in simple language4 ,we       
congratulate ,professor ,keith on the   
production of a book of popular science 
which in clearness1 depth of  knowledge1
 and charm of style challenges          
comparison with the books  which his    
great predecessor1 ,faraday1 founded on 
his ,christmas  ,lectures4              
,,problems ,,of ,,cosmogony ,,and       
,,stellar ,,dynamics4 ,by ,j4 ,h4       
,,jeans4 ,cambridge  ,university ,press4
 #bas4 net4    ,we welcome the          
appearance of this book1 which is the   
essay to which  the ,adams ,prize was   
adjudged in the year #aiag4 ,with the   

exception of  ,poincar's well-known     
,leons sur les ,hypothses ,cosmogoniques
 there  is1 we think1 no other book of  
recent date dealing authoritatively     
with the attractive subject of          
cosmogony1 and in certain respects ,mr4 
,jeans's book is a considerable advance 
on ,poincar's4 ,the treatment is  more  
systematic1 and the author's own        
extensive contributions to the  subject 
add to its value4    ,the introductory  
chapter gives a survey of the scientific
 problem of  the origin of the universe1
 and points out the various uniformities
  which we have to explain4 ,it also    
includes a brief historical sketch  of  
the various theories of cosmogony put   
forward1 from the famous  nebular       
hypothesis of ,kant and ,laplace up to  
modern times4 ,this  chapter and the    
concluding chapter1 on the ,origin and  
,evolution of  the ,solar ,system1 are  
accessible to the non-mathematical      
reader1 and  enable him to put himself  
in touch with the latest observations   

and  speculations on these fascinating  
themes4 ,the remainder of the book  is  
highly mathematical1 yet the author has 
presented his analysis so  skilfully    
that a moderate knowledge of the        
calculus and dynamical  principles      
suffice for the following of all the    
deductions4 ,the general  dynamics and  
criteria of stability and instability   
are first developed1  and then the      
classical configurations of equilibrium 
of a rotating  homogeneous              
mass--,maclaurin's spheroids and        
,jacobi's ellipsoids--are  handled4     
,further systematic investigation leads 
up to the study of the  oft-attacked1   
formidable problem of pear-shaped       
figures of equilibrium1  which occupied 
the attention of ,poincar1 ,g4 ,darwin1 
and ,liapounoff4 ,so  far there has been
 question of stable configurations of   
equilibrium3  the author now passes to  
the dynamical problems presented when   
there  is no stable equilibrium1        
remarking that a statical problem may or

  may not admit of solution1 but a      
dynamical problem must always have  a   
solution4 ,poincar's cataclysm is for   
him merely a passage from  a statical to
 a dynamical investigation4 ,soon1 after
 summarising the  results for a mass of 
fluid which is incompressible and       
homogeneous1 he  proceeds to consider   
the case when neither of these          
conditions pertain4  ,here we are       
presented chiefly with the important    
advances made by ,mr4  ,jeans himself4  
,the evolution of rotating nebul and of 
star clusters1  of double and of        
multiple stars 7particular attention    
being given to  the process of fission  
and the subsequent motion71 come up in  
turn for  consideration1 and from these 
gigantic voyages through space we       
return1  at the end of the book1 to our 
relatively minute solar system and its  
evolution4 ,the book is illustrated with
 beautiful reproductions of  photographs
 of nebul1 taken at the ,mount ,wilson  
,observatory1 and is in  every way      

worthy of its author and its ,press4    
,,archives ,,of ,,radiology ,,and       
,,electrotherapy ,,for ,,december4      
,heinemann4    ,the ,december number of 
the ,archives of ,radiology and         
,electrotherapy  contains an interesting
 article on the work of the ,british    
,association of ,radiology and          
,physiotherapy4 ,one of the first fruits
  of its activities is that1 at its     
instigation1 the ,university of         
,cambridge has decided to institute a   
,diploma in ,medical ,radiology and     
,electrology4 ,a knowledge of the       
properties of the various radiations  of
 electrical origin on nature1 of direct 
and alternating currents1  and of       
electrotechnics in general1 is of such  
importance in modern  medicine that we  
heartily welcome the institution of a   
,diploma which  will guarantee that its 
possessor has a thorough knowledge of   
the new  and special technique required 
for the various electric treatments of  
to-day4 ,the syllabus of subjects and   

the regulations governing the  award1   
which provide1 among other things1 that 
the candidate must  hold a recognised   
medical qualification1 are published in 
full in  the number of the ,archives    
under notice4 ,a study of the syllabus  
of the course of studies provided at    
,cambridge emphasises the range  of     
physical phenomena1 which have a        
therapeutic value--radiant heat1        
,x-rays1 the rays from radioactive      
substances1 electrolysis1 direct  and   
high frequency currents1 and static     
electricity1 to name some of  the most  
important4 ,obviously it is time for    
adequate provision to be  made for      
instructing the medical man in the      
theory and manipulation  of the machines
 and devices peculiar to this side of   
his art1 since  the average ,m4,d4 has  
not a very deep knowledge of physics4   
,the only  suggestion we would offer is 
that some attempt might be made to      
simplify or standardise the nomenclature
 of the subject4 ,a glance at  this     

short notice will show the variety of   
titles given to the new  therapeutics1  
and of these the word electrology1 for  
instance1 is  given in ,webster as      
obsolete or rare4 ,surely there are     
sufficient  terms already without       
reviving it4                            
,,book-,,production ,,notes    ,by ,j4  
,h4 ,,mason      ,modern type is the    
name by which the design that came into 
general  use in this country between    
#ahjj and #ahjh is designated4 7,it is  
the type face still used in ,blue       
,books47 ,to quote ,luckombe in his     
,printer's ,grammar1 of #ahjh1 ,the     
great improvement which has taken  place
 of late years in the form of printing  
types has completely  superseded the    
,elzevir shape introduced from ,holland 
by the celebrated  ,caslon4 ,everyone   
must observe1 with increasing           
admiration1 the numerous  and elegant   
founts of every size which have with    
rapid succession been  lately presented 
to the public4 ,and then follow         

specimens from the  ,fry ,type ,foundry1
 the ,quousque tandem abutere1          
,catilina1 patientia1  mostra8 so       
affected by the older founders that it  
almost became a  proverb for type       
specimen4    ,well1 modern opinion has  
gone strongly back to ,luckombe1 and    
with good  reason4 ,the only definite   
quality--not very definite either--which
  calls forth his admiration is the     
elegance of the design4 ,i think we  may
 concede this without damaging the case 
for the old-style types4 ,the  letters  
are well drawn1 carefully and finely    
drawn1 and show a good  sense of        
proportion and of colour contrast in the
 thicks and thins  and hair-lines in the
 size shown1 called the ,luckombe       
,french ,canon1  equivalent to          
forty-eight point 7about two-thirds of  
an inch74 ,but is  elegant drawing the  
desirable point in type8 ,it is not4 ,it
 tends to  keep the single letters      
distinct units instead of their         
coalescing  into word1 phrase1 or even  

sentence units4 ,for the mind of the    
reader  is partly formed by the mind of 
the writer1 by his own experience in    
the manipulation of the pen1 and feels  
for the onward flow of the pen  in the  
letter design4 ,and this is found at its
 best in the ,italian  writing that     
developed the ,caroline minuscule and   
formed the model for  the early         
,venetian types4 ,the letter takes its  
character from the pen  in the hands of 
a master of his instrument1 and the ink 
and paper or  vellum play their part--it
 is not deliberately drawn and passed   
on1  but arrives in the continuous flow 
that strives to keep pari flumine  with 
the stream of thought4 ,the serifs or   
finishing strokes1 e4g41  of the capital
 ,c or ,t in modern1 are perpendicular  
palings that shut  off relations with   
their neighbours2 in old style they     
reach towards  their neighbours1 as     
though to join hands with them4 ,the    
onward flow is  felt in the curves1     
e4g41 of the small m of old-style type1 

but in  modern it stands almost coldly  
self-centred1 the elegance strikes us as
  primness4 ,the fine lines too are     
unsuitable for letterpress printing  as 
they are easily damaged and then the    
type becomes unsightly4 ,in  engraver's 
lettering on copperplates1 of course1   
this does not happen1  as the fine line 
is printed from a sunken scratch1 not a 
knife-like  edge in relief4 ,the        
engraver as a rule only used small      
groups of words1  not pages of          
continuous text4 7,i do not forget      
,pine--his ,horace dates  #agcc--;but of
 him another time47 ,i cannot help      
thinking that modern  type is the       
outcome of a mistaken standard1 that of 
the engraver2 as  if the finish of      
delicate gold-smithing were adopted for 
carving in  sandstone4 ,to the engraver 
the hair-line is perfectly simple1 to   
the  typefounder it is a tour-de-force4 
,the old-style design continued the     
manuscript tradition of form1 with only 
such changes as the process of          

typefounding involved1 such as the      
elimination of ligatures or tied        
letters4 ,it continued in use till the  
end of the eighteenth century1  when    
elegance displaced it4 ,in forty years  
7a short time compared  with the        
three-and-a-half centuries of old style7
 old style was revived  in the ,chiswick
 ,press ,juvenal and ,lady ,willoughby's
 ,diary1 and was  enthusiastically      
received4 ,new versions of the old-style
 design were  cut1 and it has continued 
in favour ever since4          ,a       
,,letter ,,from ,,france    ,,the       
,,young ,,reviews              ,paris1  
,february1 #aibj4    ,when among us a   
reader of literary tastes wishes to     
obtain a bird's-eye  view of the        
literature of the moment1 to see it     
mapped out with  all its currents1 he   
thinks of the reviews4 ,i mean by that  
not the  old-established reviews1 which 
after all are no more than magazines of 
the first class1 but the living1 active1
 combative reviews1 which are  the      

organs of groups1 of literary and       
intellectual parties4    ,while the old 
reviews1 in ,france as in ,england or in
 ,germany1  continued faithfully during 
the war to provide their usual articles 
on  contemporary affairs1 all the young 
,french reviews found themselves cut    
off1 the greater part of their staffs   
having been mobilised4 ,since the  war  
they have reappeared1 new reviews have  
been born1 and important  additions are 
announced for the spring4 ,but1 taken as
 a whole1 the  complexion of the world  
of the new reviews shows an aspect      
sufficiently  different from what it had
 before the war and above all from what 
it  had twenty years ago4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,the   
,nouvelle ,revue ,franaise has begun    
publication again since ,june  #ast4    
,the members of its pre-war staff meet  
again intact1 because for  the most part
 they belonged to a generation which    
reached1 or had just  passed1 its       
fortieth year in #aiad4 ,the most       

important among them1 the  figure round 
whom the group was first assembled1 was 
,andr ,gide1 and1  like ,gide1 most of  
them had gone through the ,symbolist    
,movement between  #ahij and #aijj4 ,but
 they were no longer at the age of      
enthusiastic and  violent prejudices2   
they cared much for analysis and        
intelligence and  sought above all to   
see clear4 ,hence came their taste for  
psychological  detail and for the       
literature of introspection1 of which   
,jean  ,schlumberger produced poignant  
examples and which made the ,nouvelle   
,revue ,franaise the natural country of 
,marcel ,proust4 ,hence also1  and above
 all1 the importance of its critical    
work1 and that state of  attentive and  
impartial clairvoyance which it has     
constantly striven  to preserve4 ,this  
clairvoyance did not exclude ardour or  
passion2 the  influence of ,pguy1 still 
more that of ,claudel1 was obvious in   
the  fiery intellect of ,jacques        
,rivire1 now the editor of the review4  

,unlike other reviews with an sthetic   
bent1 the ,nouvelle ,revue  ,franaise   
did not confine itself to the defence   
and the illustration  of some definite  
artistic method4 ,it welcomed1 like the 
,mercure  and the ,revue ,blanche of old
 days1 everything which seemed to  it   
interesting1 original1 and bearing the  
marks of authentic art4  ,obviously1 for
 it1 the centre of the artistic         
landscape was filled  by the most       
illustrious of the whilom ,symbolists1  
those who devoted  themselves in        
solitude to build according to those    
mysterious ideal  diagrams1 drawn by    
,mallarm upon a heroic and legendary    
sand3 ,gide1  ,claudel1 ,valry4 ,but the
 review became the home also of ,charles
 ,louis  ,philippe1 that master of      
sorrowful tenderness and rending        
pity--of  ,pierre ,hamp1 who1 in his    
stories of industrial life1 has drawn   
the  world of labour with a power       
frequently humorous and sometimes as    
original as ,constantin ,meunier's2 of  

,jules ,romains1 the picturesque and    
powerful creator of ,unanimist prose and
 poetry4    ,the ,nouvelle ,revue       
,franaise has emerged from its five     
years'  concealment with the same       
characteristics4 ,it still attempts to  
be a  milieu of pure art and            
disinterested literature4 ,but it is    
almost  impossible1 in ,france1 for     
artists to-day to divest themselves of  
political preoccupations4 ,they are     
divided1 often fiercely1 over  this     
problem3 ,should ,french thought to-day 
preserve or abandon its  war attitude8  
,should it remain defiant towards the   
foreigner and  subordinate everything to
 the continuance of the intellectual    
struggle  against ,germanism8 ,the      
editors of the ,nouvelle ,revue         
,franaise1  who are divided on that     
question1 endeavour in their review     
itself to  elucidate it by discussions  
amongst themselves4           99        
99       99       99       99    ,the   
,revue ,critique des ,ides et des       

,livres has also just reappeared4  ,it  
was the organ of a younger generation   
than that of the ,nouvelle  ,revue      
,franaise1 and that is why the majority 
of its old conductors  no longer respond
 to the call4 ,more than twenty of them1
 and notably  ,pierre ,gilbert1 who was 
the heart and soul of them1 were killed 
in  action4 ,as its name indicates1 this
 review is above all concerned with     
criticism4 ,you find in it few poems and
 no novels4 ,the young men who  united  
around it aimed at restoring to ,french 
literature a classic  discipline1 and   
fighting all the remains of romanticism 
from democracy  to symbolism4 ,that is  
why the review published special numbers
  dedicated to ,richelieu1 to ,stendhal1
 to ,mistral1 and on the occasion  of   
,rousseau's centenary a special number  
of another kind1 remarkably  violent1   
devoting to execration the ,genevese    
whom they held to be the  father of     
,french romanticism and the olus of all 
the storms4    ,the ,revue ,critique des

 ,ides et des ,livres was profoundly    
influenced  by ,charles ,maurras4 ,it   
was the literary organ of the ardent1   
patriotic  generation aroused in ,france
 by his influence and that of ,maurice  
,barrs4 ,nevertheless1 some months      
before the war it broke away from       
,l',action ,franaise2 or rather it was  
that paper1 the organ of ,m4  ,maurras1 
which declared itself unable any longer 
to commend without  reserve the         
tendencies of the ,revue ,critique4     
,this cleavage arose out  of some       
articles in the ,revue ,critique which  
praised the philosophy  of ,m4 ,bergson4
 ,now ,l',action ,franaise had opened   
war long before on  ,bergsonism for     
reasons which were not philosophic4     
,that is why the  ,revue ,critique1     
although still benevolently watched by  
,m4 ,maurras1  was considered by him as 
a lapse from orthodoxy4    ,in its      
resurrected form it has kept its        
classical tendencies1 its  taste for    
pure criticism1 the intellectual        

discipline which made it  subordinate   
everything to the national point of     
view4 ,but on the other  hand it shows  
an inclination to broaden1 to become    
more elastic1 to  take a less rigid and 
combative attitude than of old4         
,although most  of its editors are      
friends of ,m4 ,maurras and ,l',action  
,franaise1 it  preserves its            
intellectual autonomy intact and is no  
longer attached  to a political party4  
,its rle seems to be to revive the old  
tradition  of ,french classicism4 ,it   
maintains especially those discussions  
on the  problems of the day and the     
eternal problems1 those intelligent and 
passionate debates which have always    
given so much animation to young        
,french reviews4           99       99  
99       99       99    ,a new review1  
the work of which will often be in      
accord with that  of the ,revue         
,critique des ,ides et des ,livres1 is  
announced for  the month of ,march1 and 
that announcement has already aroused   

much  interest4 ,this is the ,revue     
,universelle1 the organ of the ,parti de
  l',intelligence4 ,this party1 which   
might well have found a less nave       
title1 is a nationalist group which     
proposes to keep the intellect of       
,france in the channels of national     
tradition and civic vigilance4 ,it      
includes almost all the monarchists of  
the ,action ,franaise1 but also  a      
certain number of patriotic writers who 
are not royalists1 including  ,camille  
,mauclair1 ,daniel ,halvy1 ,edmond      
,jaloux1 ,henri ,ghon1 and ,henri       
,massis4 ,it has been founded in        
opposition to the ,clart group of       
,romain ,rolland1 ,henri ,barbusse1     
,georges ,duhamel1 and ,pierre ,hamp1   
which  unites intellectuals with        
socialist and pacifist leanings4 ,it is1
 in  the world of letters1 a            
resurrection of the old leagues of the  
,patrie  ,franaise and the ,droits de   
l',homme1 which flourished at the time  
of the ,dreyfus affair4 ,but up to the  

present the majority of ,french  writers
 have not enrolled themselves in either 
body4    ,the title of the ,revue       
,universelle is based on the desire of  
the  ,parti de l',intelligence to make  
it an organ for propagating ,french     
intellectual influence abroad1 for      
ensuring the dissemination and          
establishing the primacy of the classic 
culture which is bound up  with the     
,french genius4 ,the ,revue ,universelle
 will attempt to give  to ,french       
nationalism1 which has hitherto confined
 its propaganda  to ,france1 an         
influence over the world4 ,it is        
patently a difficult  enterprise and one
 essentially a little paradoxical4 ,but 
it will  certainly be very interesting  
and will deserve to be closely watched  
abroad4 ,the ,revue ,universelle will be
 directed by the clearest  and strongest
 head amongst contemporary ,french      
students of foreign  politics1 ,m4      
,jacques ,bainville4 ,the names of the  
chief members of the  ,parti de         

l',intelligence assure from the start a 
staff of the first  order4 ,the ,clart  
group has not yet announced its         
intention of  founding a similar organ4 
,in the spring there will appear a      
review in ,french which will fill a     
place at present empty3 the ,revue de   
,genve1 whose editor will be  ,m4       
,robert de ,traz4 ,this will be a review
 essentially ,european1 which  will aim 
at giving an exact picture of           
intellectual ,europe to-day1 and  will  
examine objectively sthetic1 political1 
religious and moral1  national and      
international tendencies4 ,its founders 
believe that an  authoritative position 
is assured4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,most of these  
reviews are or will be reviews of ideas4
 ,in contrast to  what was the case     
twenty years ago the reviews which are  
devoted to new  and bold artistic       
manifestations remain on a lower level4 
,before the  war the ,phalange was a    
very live and picturesque review around 

which  were grouped a number of the     
old-time ,symbolists and newer writers1 
from ,francis ,vil-,griffin to          
,guillaume ,apollinaire4 ,almost all the
  young made their dbuts in the         
,phalange4 ,it is regrettable that its  
director1 ,m4 ,jean ,royre1 has decided 
not to revive it after the war4    ,the 
literature which is attached to         
,futurist and ,cubist art has for  organ
 the review ,littrature1 rather slender 
but curious4 ,during the  war there     
began to appear a very sumptuous ,cubist
 review of literature  and art1         
,l',elan1 which was very interesting but
 did not survive its  fourth number4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,it does not come within my present     
scope to refer to the old reviews1      
which are well enough known to ,english 
readers4 ,but ,i must mention  that in  
the last year a new one has been added  
to these1 the ,minerve  ,franaise1      
classical and traditional in tenets and 
of an excellent  literary standard4     

,finally1 as for the weekly papers1 half
 way between  the dailies and the       
reviews properly so called1 they are not
 so  important in ,france as in         
,england4 ,l',opinion and ,l',europe    
,nouvelle  are at present the most      
alive2 those and the ,revue             
,hebdomadaire1  which is in another     
category4    ,in fine1 the young ,french
 reviews to-day are preoccupied with    
ideas  first and art second4 ,it is     
difficult for them1 even when they are  
willing1 to avoid a definite orientation
 towards politics and the  problems of  
politics4 ,they are the natural voices  
of a generation which  is prevented by  
actual events from indulging in detached
 speculations4  ,but that period of     
transition will pass and will no doubt  
soon  help forward a movement in ,france
 for the recovery of the precious       
privileges of spiritual liberty4        
,,albert ,,thibaudet                    
,,bibliographies ,,of ,,modern ,,authors
    ,,maurice ,,hewlett      ,verse     

,a ,,masque ,,of ,,dead ,,florentines4  
,dent4 #ahie4    ,,songs ,,and          
,,meditations4 ,constable4 #ahif4       
,,artemision1 ,,idylls ,,and ,,songs4   
,elkin ,mathews4 #aiji4    ,,the        
,,agonists--,a ,,trilogy ,,of ,,god     
,,and ,,man--,,minos1 ,,king ,,of       
,,crete1 ,,ariadne  ,,in ,,naxos1 ,,the 
,,death ,,of ,,hippolytus4 ,macmillan4  
#aiaa4    ,,helen ,,redeemed ,,and      
,,other ,,poems4 ,macmillan4 #aiac4     
,,singsongs ,,of ,,the ,,war4 ,poetry   
,bookshop4 #aiad4    ,,the ,,song ,,of  
,,the ,,plow3 ,,being ,,the ,,english   
,,chronicle4 ,heinemann4 #aiaf4    ,,gai
 ,,saber3 ,,tales ,,and ,,songs4 ,a     
,collection of ,poems4 ,elkin ,mathews4 
#aiaf4    ,,the ,,loving ,,story ,,of   
,,peridore ,,and ,,perivale4 ,a ,poem4  
,collins4 #aiag4    ,,the ,,village     
,,wife',s ,,lament4 ,a ,poem4 ,secker4  
#aiah4      ,prose    ,,earthwork ,,out 
,,of ,,tuscany4 ,being ,impressions and 
,translations4 ,dent4  #ahie4    ,,the  
,,forest ,,lovers4 ,a ,romance4         

,macmillan4 #ahih4    ,,pan ,,and ,,the 
,,young ,,shepherd4 ,a ,pastoral4 ,lane4
 #ahih4    ,,little ,,novels ,,of       
,,italy4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #ahii4        
,,the ,,life ,,and ,,death ,,of         
,,richard ,,yea-,,and-,,nay4 ,macmillan4
 #aijj4    ,,new ,,canterbury ,,tales4  
,constable4 #aija4    ,,the ,,queen',s  
,,quair1 ,,or ,,the ,,six ,,years'      
,,tragedy4 ,macmillan4 #aijd4    ,,the  
,,road ,,in ,,tuscany4 ,macmillan4      
#aijd4    ,,quattrocentisteria3 ,,how   
,,sandro ,,botticelli ,,saw ,,simonetta 
,,in ,,the ,,spring4  ,mosher1          
,portland1 ,maine4 #aijd4    ,taken from
 ,earthwork out of ,tuscany4    ,,fond  
,,adventures4 ,tales of the ,youth of   
the ,world4 ,macmillan4 #aije4    ,,the 
,,fool ,,errant4 ,heinemann4 #aije4     
,,the ,,stooping ,,lady4 ,macmillan4    
#aijg4    ,,the ,,spanish ,,jade4       
,cassell4 #aijh4    ,,halfway ,,house4  
,a ,comedy of ,degrees4 ,chapman  ,hall4
 #aijh4    ,,open ,,country4 ,a ,comedy 
with a ,sting4 ,macmillan4 #aiji4       

,,letters ,,to ,,sanchia ,,upon ,,things
 ,,as ,,they ,,are4 ,macmillan4 #aiaj4  
,reprinted from ,open ,country4         
,,rest ,,harrow4 ,a ,comedy of          
,resolution4 ,macmillan4 #aiaj4         
,,brazenhead ,,the ,,great4 ,smith1     
,elder4 #aiaa4    ,,the ,,song ,,of     
,,renny4 ,macmillan4 #aiaa4    ,,mrs4   
,,lancelot4 ,a ,comedy of ,assumptions4 
,macmillan4 #aiab4    ,,love ,,of       
,,proserpine4 ,macmillan4 #aiac4        
,,bendish3 ,a ,,study ,,in              
,,prodigality4 ,macmillan4 #aiac4       
,,the ,,little ,,iliad4 ,a ,novel4      
,heinemann4 #aiae4    ,a ,,lovers'      
,,tale4 ,ward1 ,lock4 #aiae4    ,,love  
,,and ,,lucy4 ,macmillan4 #aiaf4        
,,frey ,,and ,,his ,,wife4 ,ward1 ,lock4
 #aiaf4    ,,thorgils ,,of ,,treadholt4 
,ward1 ,lock4 #aiag4    ,,gudrid ,,the  
,,fair4 ,constable4 #aiah4    ,,the     
,,outlaw4 ,constable4 #aiai4    ,he has 
also written introductions to ,bidder's 
,in the ,shadow of the  ,crown 7#ahii72 
to ,cynthia 7#aiah72 to ,twelfth ,night 

7,vol4 #b1  ,renaissance ,edition of    
,shakespeare72 to ,stendhal's ,the      
,chartreuse of  ,parma2 and to ,wilfred 
,thorley's ,confessional and other      
,poems4      ,,max ,,beerbohm    ,,the  
,,happy ,,hypocrite4 ,a ,fairy ,tale for
 tired men4 ,bodley ,booklets4 #ahig4   
,in #aiah ,mr4 ,lane published a new    
edition with coloured drawings by       
,,george ,,sheringham4    ,,the ,,works 
,,of ,,max ,,beerbohm4 ,lane4 #ahih4    
,,more4 7,essays47 ,lane4 #ahii4        
,,the ,,poet',s ,,corner4               
7,caricatures47 ,heinemann4 #aijd4      
,,yet ,,again4 7,essays47 ,chapman      
,hall4 #aiji4    ,,zuleika ,,dobson1    
,,or ,,an ,,oxford ,,love ,,story4      
,heinemann4 #aiaa4    ,a ,,xmas         
,,garland4 7,parodies47 ,heinemann4     
#aiab4    ,,fifty ,,caricatures4        
,plates4 ,heinemann4 #aiac4    ,,the    
,,second ,,childhood ,,of ,,john ,,bull4
 7,cartoons47 ,swift4 #aiab4            
,,catalogue ,,of ,,an ,,exhibition ,,of 
,,cartoons ,,by ,m4,b4 7,leicester      

,galleries47  #aiac4    ,,seven ,,men4  
,heinemann4 #aiai4          ,,drama     
,,marriage  ,,la ,,mode      ,it was    
impossible to know from the reception of
 ,marriage  la ,mode  at the ,phnix     
,society's production last month whether
 the numerous  complaints of the        
behaviour of the audience when ,the     
,duchess of  ,malfi was performed had   
had effect or not1 for ,dryden's comedy 
puts  no strain of any sort on the      
audience4 ,it is a sign both of         
,dryden's  greatness and of his         
weakness4 ,for that superhuman          
craftsmanship  of which ,professor      
,saintsbury speaks is the privilege of a
 writer  whose imagination does not     
outrun his powers4 ,there is nothing in 
his  mind that he finds difficult to    
express4 ,and the difference in merit   
between one ,dryden play and another is 
not a difference of degree in  technical
 accomplishment--of success in          
expression--as it is with  greater      
poets1 but a difference in the value of 

the subject-matter4  ,when ,dryden gets 
hold of a good dramatic idea he writes a
 good play1  when his material is       
deficient in interest his play is       
inferior4 ,there  are no violent ups and
 downs in any one play1 whereas a poet  
of more  passion and imagination does   
more mixed work4 ,some of ,shakespeare's
  finest scenes and passages are in his 
least satisfactory plays1 and  though   
,shakespeare's natural genius for       
language was immeasurably  greater than 
,dryden's so that it was impossible for 
him to write at any  length without     
writing here and there wonderfully1 yet 
he had1 almost  necessarily1 less       
absolute command of it4 ,dryden's was an
 intellectual  mastery that practically 
never failed him either in prose or     
verse4  ,he is not considered to have   
had any natural gift for comedy4        
,hazlitt  says3 ,dryden's comedies have 
all the point that there is in ribaldry1
  and all the humour that there is in   
extravagance4 ,i am sorry that ,i  can  

say nothing better of them4 ,he was not 
at home in this kind of  writing1 of    
which he was himself conscious4 ,his    
play was horse-play4  ,his wit 7what    
there is of it7 is ingenious and        
scholar-like1 rather  than natural and  
dramatic1 and more recent critics have  
suggested that  ,dryden was unfitted for
 the new comedy that became universal   
after the  ,restoration--the comedy that
 held a mirror up to ,society rather    
than to  ,nature--since ,dryden was not 
much a man of society4    ,it seems to  
me that this last criticism is largely  
true1 but if he is  not witty in the    
sense that ,congreve and ,sheridan are  
witty1 he is  often quite as amusing1   
and ,i cannot altogether agree with     
,hazlitt's  pronouncement that his wit  
was ingenious and scholar-like rather   
than  natural and dramatic4 ,nothing    
could be more natural1 for example1     
than the ,epilogue to ,marriage  la     
,mode1 spoken by ,rhodophil1 which      
convulsed the house at the ,lyric       

,theatre1 and ,i doubt if it would be   
possible to find among all the          
,restoration ,comedies an ,epilogue so  
dramatic--revealing such insight into   
the feelings aroused by the  play in the
 audience1 and making such effective use
 of that knowledge4  ,when ,rhodophil   
says3          ,there are more          
,rhodophils in this theatre1            
,more ,palamedes1 and some few wives1 ,i
 fear3        ,but yet too far our poet 
would not run2        ,though 'twas well
 offered1 there was nothing done4       
,he would not quite the women's frailty 
bare1        ,but stript them to the    
waist1 and left them there3        ,and 
the men's faults are less severely      
shown1        ,for he considers that    
himself is one--        ,some stabbing  
wits1 to bloody satire bent1            
,would treat both sexes with less       
compliment2        ,would lay the scene 
at home2 of husbands tell1        ,for  
wenches taking up their wives i' the    
,mall2        ,and a brisk bout1 which  

each of them did want        ,made by   
mistake of mistress and gallant4        
,our modest author thought it was enough
        ,to cut you off a sample of the 
stuff3        ,he spared my shame1 which
 you1 ,i'm sure1 would not4        ,for 
you were all for driving on the plot3   
,you sighed when ,i came in to break the
 sport1        ,and set your teeth when 
each design fell short4    ,the audience
 at the ,phnix ,society rose with       
uproarious laughter to  each hit1 it was
 so palpable4 ,again ,i find all the    
comedy scenes1 the  scenes between      
,palamede1 ,doralice1 ,rhodophil1 and   
,melantha wholly  admirable and         
exhilarating to a degree4 ,i would      
almost gladly give  up the whole of     
,congreve and ,sheridan for this        
poetical1 extravagant  and romantic     
humour4 ,the name of poet still clung to
 dramatic wits  in the time of          
,congreve1 and ,congreve had perhaps    
some slight excuse  for calling himself 
a poet1 but when the eighteenth century 

had  really arrived1 when the abominable
 ,sheridan came we had got into a  prose
 age indeed4 ,and yet ,i have no wish to
 call ,sheridan--and still  less        
,congreve--abominable1 except by        
comparison with ,dryden4 ,we also  have 
to acknowledge that the cultivation of  
verbal wit1 of repartee1  of elaborate  
social rococo1 was the expression of the
 poetic fire  instinctively preserving  
itself in an age so spiritually         
unfavourable  to romance that it had to 
make itself externally romantic4 ,having
 lost  imagination it fell back on      
decoration4 ,a whole elaborate social   
ritual  was built up to provide         
stimulants to the imprisoned senses4    
,when in  ,the ,way of the ,world ,mrs4 
,millamant says to ,mirabell3      ,good
 ,mirabell1 don't let us be familiar or 
fond1 nor kiss before    folks1 like my 
,lady ,fadler and ,sir ,francis3 nor go 
to ,hyde ,park    together the first    
,sunday in a new chariot1 to provoke    
eyes and    whispers1 and then never to 

be seen there together again2 as if we  
were proud of one another the first     
week1 and ashamed of one another    ever
 after4 ,let us never visit together nor
 go to a play together2    but let us be
 very strange and well-bred3 let us be  
as strange as if    we had been married 
a great while1 and as well-bred as if we
 were not    married at all4    ,it is a
 cri-de-cur4 ,it is of the very essence 
of poetry in a narrow  and worldly age4 
,it is such passages in ,congreve that  
justify ,hazlitt  in declaring--by      
comparison--that ,dryden's wit was      
scholar-like rather  than natural1 for  
there is not a passage in ,dryden's     
comedies so real1  in the sense of being
 so local an expression of that passion 
for  beauty which haunts the human heart
 and which in a society of the kind  in 
which ,mrs4 ,millamant moved will find  
such odd embodiment and be  to ordinary 
eyes so completely disguised4 ,in such a
 passage ,congreve  proves his right to 
be called a poet4 ,what poetry there is 

in the  society with which he is dealing
 he has expressed2 for that appeal of   
the fine lady to ,mirabell was a        
clutching at straws1 a last despairing  
attempt at the preservation of some     
particle of beauty1 of romance in  the  
sordid life in which the married woman  
of fashion was about to be  engulfed4   
,the poetry of this scene reaches back  
to the beautiful scene in  ,marriage  la
 ,mode between ,palmyra and ,leonidas1  
though1 as ,i have  said1 ,dryden is    
more romantic1 and so neither ,palmyra  
nor ,leonidas  are of any age1 they are 
merely the youth of all time4 ,but      
surely no  one can read the following   
passage without being moved to          
admiration  of its beautiful ease1 its  
romantic simplicity as contrasted with  
the  romantic luxuriousness of the      
,elizabethans3        ,,leon43 ,how     
precious are the hours of love in       
courts6             ,in cottages1 when  
love has all the day1             ,full1
 and at ease1 he throws it half away4   

,time gives himself1 and is not valued1 
there2             ,but sells at mighty 
rates1 each minute1 here3               
,there1 he is lazy1 unemployed1 and     
slow2             ,here he's more swift2
 and yet has more to do4             ,so
 many of his hours in public move1      
,that few are left for privacy and love4
        ,,palm43 ,the sun1 methinks1    
shines faint and dimly1 here2           
,light is not half so long1 nor half so 
clear3             ,but oh6 when every  
day was yours or mine1             ,how 
early up6 what haste he made to shine6  
,,leon43 ,such golden days a prince must
 hope to see1             ,whose every  
subject is more blessed than he4        
,,palm43 ,do you remember when their    
tasks were done1             ,how all   
the youth did to our cottage run8       
,while winter-winds were whistling loud 
without1             ,our cheerful      
hearth was circled round about3         
,with strokes in ashes1 maids their     
lovers drew2             ,and still you 

fell to me1 and ,i to you4              
,,leon43 ,when love did of my heart     
possession take1             ,i was so  
young my soul was scarce awake3         
,i cannot tell when first ,i thought you
 fair2             ,but sucked in love1 
insensibly as air4        ,,palm43 ,i   
know too well when first my love began1 
,when at our wake you for the chaplet   
ran3             ,then ,i was made the  
,lady of the ,may1             ,and1    
with the garland1 at its goal did stay3 
,still as you ran1 ,i kept you full in  
view2             ,i hoped1 and wished1 
and ran1 methought1 for you4            
,as you came near1 ,i hastily did rise1 
,and stretched my arm outright1 that    
held the prize4             ,the custom 
was to kiss whom ,i should crown2       
,you kneeled1 and in my lap your head   
laid down3             ,i blushed1 and  
blushed1 and did the kiss delay2        
,at last my subjects forced me to obey3 
,but1 when ,i gave the crown1 and then  
the kiss1             ,i scarce had     

breath to say1 ,take that--and this4    
,the whole of this beautiful scene was  
delightful on the stage1 and by         
,palmyra 7,miss ,rita ,thom71 in        
particular1 the verse was exquisitely   
spoken4 ,one had that experience1 rare  
indeed in the modern theatre1 of        
subconsciously feeling that the whole   
audience was hanging on the words4      
,again1 what could be finer in its way  
than the scene--greatly  helped by the  
stage-production at the ,lyric ,theatre1
 and by ,mr4  ,norman ,wilkinson's      
setting giving it an appropriate        
atmosphere of  masquerade--where        
,doralice and ,melantha are in boys'    
habits8 ,here  ,melantha's ,french      
affectation is used with the greatest   
skill to bring  about a scene which is  
the very essence of romantic swagger4   
,there are  few scenes1 if any1 in      
,congreve or ,sheridan that equal in wit
 this  repartee between the pretended   
boys1 ,doralice and ,melantha1 egged on 
by ,palamede and ,rhodophil1 leading up 

to ,melantha's final extravagance3      
,i'll sacrifice my life for ,french     
poetry1    and the audience rocked with 
laughter at ,miss ,athene ,seyler       
7,melantha7  and ,miss ,cathleen        
,nesbitt 7,doralice71 who were superb in
 their  representation of the parts4    
,whenever these old comedies are revived
 there is always bound to  spring up    
from somewhere a demand that they should
 be bowdlerized4  ,really the misplaced 
squeamishness of some men and women is  
something  to marvel at6 ,i have seen   
nearly every revue1 musical comedy1 and 
play that has been produced in ,london  
during the last two years1 and  ,i      
declare unhesitatingly that there is    
something radically wrong  with the     
mentality of the people who can go      
habitually to the ,london  theatres and 
music-halls and yet find that there is  
anything filthy  about ,dryden4         
,certainly there is no innuendo in      
,dryden1 he is frankly  outspoken4 ,but 
filthy6 ,shade of ,charles ,lamb6 ,what 

is to be done with  such people8 ,not   
once during the whole performance of    
,marriage  la  ,mode was there an       
occasion when the most sensitive of     
young girls  could have felt even       
momentarily uncomfortable4 ,such was far
 from being  the case with a play that  
had quite a long run at a ,london       
theatre not  long ago1 to which1 as far 
as ,i know1 no one objected6    ,but ,i 
do not want to resist any attempt to    
make the ,phnix ,society  bowdlerize    
,dryden on that ground4 ,dryden--even   
more than ,congreve--is  inoffensive4   
,there are dramatists with dirty minds2 
we often have had  their works performed
 in ,london--adapted from the ,french or
 in their  native ,english--but even    
these no one1 ,i hope1 would suppress4  
,dryden  emphatically is not one of this
 class4 ,a cleaner1 more wholesome      
writer  never put pen to paper1 and the 
morbid squeamishness that objects  to   
,dryden is the squeamishness of         
ill-health4 ,it is a case for the       

doctor1 for it is expressive of a       
pathological malady4 ,on the subject  as
 a whole it would seem an apt occasion  
to quote some sentences of  ,lamb's     
celebrated defence of ,congreve1        
,farquhar1 and ,wycherley1 as  there    
appear to be people who have not heard  
of it4 ,lamb explains that  these       
comedies have disappeared from the stage
 of his day--and he  lived at the       
beginning of the age of ,mrs4           
,grundy--because the times  cannot bear 
them4 ,it is not alone1 he adds1 the    
occasional licence  of the dialogue1 it 
is that they will not stand the moral   
test that  is so ridiculously applied to
 them4 ,the age screws everything up to 
that4 ,idle gallantry in a fiction1 a   
dream1 the passing pageant of  an       
evening1 startles us in the same way as 
the alarming indications  of profligacy 
in a son or ward in real life should    
startle a parent  or a guardian4 ,we    
have no such middle emotions as dramatic
 interests  left4 ,pursuing this idea1  

he adds3 ,we carry our fireside concerns
  to the theatre with us4 ,we do not go 
thither like our ancestors1  to escape  
from the pressure of reality so much as 
to confirm our  experience of it2 to    
make assurance double1 and take a bond  
of fate4  ,we must live our toilsome    
lives twice over1 as it was the mournful
  privilege of ,ulysses to descend twice
 to the shades4 ,here ,lamb with  the   
extraordinary penetration characteristic
 of that rare mind hit  upon one of the 
principal causes of the bankruptcy of   
the theatre  during the hundred years   
that were to follow him4 ,we are1 even  
at this  moment1 struggling to get free 
from that literal-mindedness which is   
the soul of materialism and which would 
fetter us down to what it  calls realism
 and will have no extravagance of       
thought or language1  and for whom an   
escape into the free speech of the      
theatre--an escape  most necessary and  
most salutary--is1 if you please1 filth6
 ,all that  neutral ground of character1

 laments ,lamb1 that happy              
breathing-place  from the burthen of a  
perpetual moral questioning--the        
sanctuary and  quiet ,alsatia of hunted 
,casuistry--is broken up and            
disenfranchised1 as  injurious to the   
interests of society4 ,the privileges of
 the place are  taken away by law4 ,we  
dare not dally with images1 or names1 of
 wrong4  ,we bark like foolish dogs at  
shadows4 ,we dread infection from the   
scenic representation of disorder and   
fear a painted pustule4 ,in our  anxiety
 that our morality should not take cold 
we wrap it up in a great  blanket just  
out of precaution against the breeze and
 the sunshine4 ,i  confess for myself   
that 7with no great delinquencies to    
answer for7 ,i  am glad of a reason to  
take an airing beyond the diocese of the
 strict  conscience--not to live always 
in the precincts of the law courts--but 
now and then1 for a dream-while or so1  
to imagine a world with no  meddling    
restrictions--to get into recesses      

whither the hunter cannot  follow me4   
,and concludes ,lamb1 with fine common  
sense1 ,i come back  to my cage and my  
restraint1 the fresher and more healthy 
for it4 ,i  wear my shackles more       
contentedly for having respired the     
breath of an  imaginary freedom4    ,it 
is not often given to any one man to    
have said the last word on  a subject1  
but ,i think that on this question      
,charles ,lamb has said  the last word4 
,modern science lends its support to his
 judgment4 ,the  psycho-analyst is      
beginning to realise that the damage    
inflicted by  socially necessary        
inhibitions can only be cured by art4   
,it is to be  hoped that we will hear   
less and less of this canting nonsense  
of  filth applied to such noble and     
beautiful work as ,dryden's4 ,it is     
also to be hoped that the ,phnix        
,society may have a long life1 for in   
the two productions it has so far given 
us it has more justified its  existence 
than has any society ,i know of founded 

in the last dozen  years4            ,w4
 ,j4 ,,turner          ,,the ,,fine     
,,arts      ,the ,national ,gallery     
,the ,national ,gallery nowadays is a   
constant source of novelty4 ,the        
familiar pictures which have been hidden
 so long are reappearing in  brighter   
and more deliberate surroundings1 and we
 are compelled to see  them anew instead
 of merely battening on our past        
impressions4 ,not all  the rooms are    
equally successful in their mural       
decoration1 but nearly  everywhere an   
improvement has been effected on the old
 gloomy colours4  ,the function of      
decorations in a gallery is             
unostentatiously to show  the works of  
art in the best contemporary light4 ,for
 it is one of the  paradoxes of         
classical art that1 although its beauty 
is immortal1  each generation sees this 
beauty from its own point of view4 ,in  
fact1  the immortality consists         
precisely in the possibility of         
continual  recreation1 and the          

environment is an outward assistance to 
such a  process4 ,mr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,holmes is
 only obeying the spirit of the period  
in introducing the clear colours of full
 daylight4 ,it is to be hoped  that the 
,british ,museum authorities will follow
 suit and make their  sculpture rooms   
slightly more exhilarating4    ,among   
the most interesting recent additions   
are the purchases made  at the sale of  
the ,degas ,collection in #aiah4 ,many  
of them have been  exhibited already for
 some time1 but a few have only appeared
 lately1  and several are still in the  
background4 ,the later appearances      
include  the large and rather prosaic   
study of soldiers1 by ,manet1 and a     
finely-drawn but                        
photographically-painted portrait by    
,ingres4 ,in the  neighbourhood of the  
,manet is an interesting comparison     
between two  ,corots1 one painted in    
,italy early in his career1 the other in
 his  later1 more typical period4 ,the  
early landscape reveals an aspect of    

,corot that is little known in ,england4
 ,the conception has a clearness  and   
thoroughness that is often lacking in   
his twilight fantasies1 which  are      
inclined to be stereotyped4 ,from the   
,studd ,bequest we have two  interesting
 but oversweet figure and landscape     
sketches by ,puvis de  ,chavannes4      
,our collection of ,french paintings is 
growing1 but we want many  more--if not 
permanently1 then on loan2 why not8     
,the most notable ,english additions    
during #aiai are the three ,whistlers   
from the ,studd ,bequest4 ,the ,lady    
with the ,fan is inclined to be         
sentimental2 the ,river ,nocturne has   
considerable charm1 but it is  on too   
large a scale for so slender a theme4   
,the ,nocturne with the  fireworks is   
the most nearly perfect4    ,when the   
rearrangement of the ,gallery is        
complete many pictures may  have to be  
kept downstairs4 ,there are several at  
present on view in  the ,english rooms  
which one hopes will be reserved for the

 curious and  the importunate4 ,there is
 also a large and unfortunate           
compilation  by ,holman ,hunt hung in   
one of the approaches which might be    
better  elsewhere4    ,the new ,el      
,greco is a very important acquisition1 
although it was  probably not a quarter 
the price of the family group by        
,romney4 ,it  contains the quintessence 
of ,el ,greco's nervously hard and      
dramatically  intense vision 7no1 ,mr4  
,roger ,fry1#bi not melodramatic671 and 
it is  not subject to exotic ,venetian  
influences1 as is his other composition 
on the same wall4 ,it has been carefully
 cleaned1 and the result is  a triumph4 
,apparently under the old blackened     
varnish the colours  were preserved with
 all their original purity and          
poignancy4 ,the  picture looks as though
 it were painted yesterday4 ,in another 
sense  too it is very modern4 ,i say    
this reluctantly because ,i am opposed  
to an arbitrary division into ancient   
and modern1 which implies an            

unwarranted depreciation of the ancient4
 ,obviously the modern is  a mere       
passing phase1 a torch which is hurried 
through the darkened  rooms of the past1
 lighting up now this room1 now that4   
,it is in fact a  question of temporary 
interest and relevancy1 not of objective
 merit1  although the latter may only be
 fully understood through the medium of 
the former4          #bi ,mr4 ,fry is   
compelled to admit a dramatic content4  
,but1             he says1 it is        
melodramatic 7implying it should not    
be there74 ,this is a subtle evasion4   
,for what if it             were not    
melodramatic8      ,recent ,sculpture by
 ,jacob ,epstein3 ,leicester ,galleries 
,mr4 ,epstein is a great portrait       
sculptor4 ,he has a wonderful power of  
living into his models4 ,he produces not
 only a likeness1 but also  that kind of
 likeness which we can enjoy without    
knowing the original1  and in a certain 
sense even more than the original when  
known4 ,for  he sees what we should     

scarcely be able to see without his     
vigorous  assistance4 ,standing before  
one of his portrait heads we have the   
consciousness of some magnetising       
influence1 evoking all kinds of         
subterranean thoughts and emotions2 we  
are drawn out of ourselves into  our    
external objective vortex4    ,it is    
objective and yet essentially the       
creation of ,mr4 ,epstein's  realistic  
vision4 ,realistic is a difficult and   
dangerous word1 but we  know what is    
meant by it1 although often when we try 
to explicate that  knowledge still      
further we arrive at something which the
 word does not1  or should not1 or need 
not1 mean4 ,it should not mean1 for     
instance1  photographic1 or immoral1 or 
ugly4 ,it may contain a consciousness of
  all these elements without being them1
 for to be conscious of them  surely    
means to supersede and dominate them4   
,realistic1 of course1  might be        
extended so as to cover everything1 but 
in the present  instance of ordinary    

usage it is limited to one particular   
aspect of  things1 which1 curiously     
enough1 is rather a negative than a     
positive  one4 ,it is the positive      
consciousness of negatives such as      
difficulty1  failure1 struggle1 pain3 it
 is the intense and overpowering desire 
to  know them fully1 to drain the       
imaginative experience of them to the   
dregs1 because once they have taken a   
hold on our awareness1 only by  that    
means can we triumph over them4    ,not 
only does ,mr4 ,epstein endeavour to    
bring home to himself and to us  in his 
character studies a sense of            
individualised conflict 7though  he is  
never gloomy71 he often approves of     
sternness and ruggedness as  good in    
themselves2 he enjoys the titanic       
groping of life4 ,and it is  perfectly  
true that without some sort of a fight  
existence would be  hopelessly inert and
 hyper-sthetic2 but we do want sometimes
 the calm  and untroubled pleasure of   
attainment4 ,indeed only the complete   

process  conjoining the two opposites is
 completely good1 yet we inevitably     
stress now the one1 now the other facet1
 placing in the centre of our           
consciousness either the fact of        
struggle and failure or the fact of     
success3 for art is itself part of the  
process4 ,and ,mr4 ,epstein's art       
stresses the realistic side1 not only in
 the sense that he is in  desire        
revolting from it1 but also that he     
appreciates it1 enjoying  the process as
 much as the arrival at the goal4 ,for  
instance1 he has  made several studies  
of his own baby1 over whom he has kept  
his head  severely4 ,indeed he seems to 
have been too ferociously interested in 
the animalism and precocious ugliness of
 a small baby to have been at  all      
tempted to idealise2 at the same time he
 is impressed with the  baby's vigour   
and vitality4    ,sometimes it seems to 
me he loses sight of the whole in the   
elaboration  of expressive detail4 ,in  
the bust of ,lord ,fisher in the ,war   

,museum  ,exhibition he has obviously   
attempted to produce the leathery1      
wrinkled  texture of an old man's skin1 
because he saw it as a significant      
feature4 ,but in the effort to get this 
difficult effect he has lost  sight of  
the significance and produced a mere    
verisimilitude of  wrinkledness4        
,similarly in his ,christ1 the feature  
which arrests  us most is the clay-like 
gruesomeness of the loosened wrappings4 
,we  shudder at the faint suggestion of 
decomposition and we are wounded  by the
 slit in the opened palm of the hand4   
,but practically the whole  force of the
 composition has spent itself in these  
subsidiary details4      ,paintings by  
,duncan ,grant3 ,wm4 ,b4 ,paterson and  
,carfax  ,co4 ,ltd41 #e ,old  ,bond     
,street    ,this is a very important    
exhibition1 and confirms the report     
which  has been current for some time   
that ,mr4 ,duncan ,grant is an artist of
  unusual originality4 ,i am            
deliberately emphatic1 not only because 

,i  am very enthusiastic about some of  
these pictures1 but also because  ,i    
feel sure that many people will have    
been put off from the first  by a few of
 them1 in which ,mr4 ,duncan ,grant1    
under the influence of  the modern      
abstractionist and pattern-making       
theories1 has taken  undue liberties    
with the human body4 ,even in these     
pictures there is  much that is very    
fine1 but it is quite independent of the
 stupid  distortions which only have a  
marring or comic effect4 ,but consider1 
for instance1 the ,still ,life ,no4 #bc1
 ,bowl1 ,skull1 and ,jar4 ,whatever     
other criticism may be levelled against 
it1 it is immune from the  charge of    
arbitrariness4 ,personally1 ,i have     
nothing but praise for it1  as being a  
magnificent piece of lyrical painting4  
,there are several  other               
pictures--landscapes1 still lives1      
interiors--possessing the same          
exquisite qualities1 notably ,nos4 #b1  
#d1 #g1 #i1 #ab1 #ba4 ,the last named1  

styled ,juggler and ,tight ,rope        
,walker1 which is in many ways the most 
brilliant of the whole collection1 does 
evince here and there a certain         
exaggeration4 ,this1 however1 can be    
overlooked because it does not  rivet   
our attention4    ,on the other hand1 in
 ,no4 #bi1 ,venus and ,adonis1 the      
placing of the  lady's neck on her      
left-hand shoulder1 with the consequent 
elongation  of the right-hand shoulder1 
stirs up in our minds a whole swarm of  
general reflections1 so that our sthetic
 enjoyment of other real  values in the 
picture is practically swamped4 ,it is  
true that in  caricatures we allow      
without cavil all sorts of liberties4   
,but only  because the result is        
expressive1 and actually where we       
appreciate  the caricature we do not    
notice any distortion1 we see the work  
as  convincingly true4      ,the ,black 
,country4 ,drawings by ,edward          
,wadsworth3 ,the ,leicester  ,galleries4
 7,january47    ,mr4 ,wadsworth has     

almost found himself in his ,black      
,country pictures1  or better he has    
found a real object which coincides with
 his  particular vorticist predilection4
 ,continually is he obsessed with a     
certain forked-lightning pattern which  
zigzags over the world4 ,where  it does 
not he often puts it there and1         
partially removing the world1  leaves a 
pattern4 ,however1 in the slag heaps and
 belching chimneys  and curved canals   
and splintered roofs of the ,black      
,country1 at any  rate sometimes1 this  
pattern comes back to earth1 and the    
result is a  striking picture4          
,vorticism and ,futurism1 in so far as  
they are art  tendencies1 represent the 
scientist and business man of the       
nineteenth  century emerging painfully  
into emotional expression4 ,mr4         
,wadsworth  and the ,futurists have not 
been the first to discover science and  
industry artistically1 but hitherto     
stress has been laid on the general     
impressiveness1 the mystery and         

atmospheric volume of the subject4 ,mr4 
,wadsworth's particular contribution    
concerns the sheer joy in brutal        
mechanical movement and in the deadly   
bulk and solidity of industrial         
products and by-products4 ,his best     
drawings are of ladle slag heaps1       
consisting of metallic-looking boulders 
hurled out into a desolation  that yet  
teems with the energy that made and     
discarded them4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,we have to     
congratulate ,mr4 ,d4 ,y4 ,cameron and  
,mr4 ,george ,henry on their  election  
as ,associates of the ,royal ,academy4  
,,howard ,,hannay          ,,music      
,,the ,,resurrection ,,of ,,an ,,opera  
,it was ,dr4 ,vaughan ,williams who1    
sometime about #aiab or #aiac1 suggested
  ,purcell's opera ,the ,fairy ,queen   
for performance at ,cambridge4 ,in      
#aiaa ,mr4 ,clive ,carey and a few      
others had organised at ,cambridge a    
performance of ,the ,magic ,flute4      
,mozart's last and greatest work for    

the stage was in those days not so      
familiar to ,english audiences as it  is
 now4 ,it had not been seen in this     
country1 as far as ,i am aware1  since  
it was given by the students of the     
,royal ,college of ,music about  twenty 
years ago4 ,that it should be attempted 
by ,cambridge amateurs  was regarded as 
preposterous--even ,covent ,garden had  
shied at it4 ,but  the promoters of the 
,cambridge opera were less nervous4 ,if 
they had  confidence1 it was a          
confidence in ,mozart and in the opera  
rather than  in themselves4 ,they knew  
the opera intimately enough to have     
convinced  themselves that the chief    
difficulty of ,the ,magic ,flute lay not
 in  the extreme compass of the two     
parts of ,sarastro and the ,queen of    
,night1 but first in the necessity for a
 clear and logical exposition of  the   
story1 secondly in the complication of  
the ensemble numbers1 and  thirdly      
perhaps in the psychology of what is    
really the most difficult  part of all1 

the ,orator 7,der ,sprecher74 ,if       
singers could be found  who were        
prepared to sing the parts of ,gabriel  
and ,raphael in ,the  ,creation1 they   
could make at least a decent show of    
,sarastro and the  ,queen4 ,ensemble    
singing was merely a matter of          
musicianship and hard  work2 the        
personality of the ,orator was of       
necessity a question largely  of luck in
 finding the right man and coaching him 
intelligently4 ,the  producers of the   
,cambridge performance were guided by   
two principles1  to aim at clearness and
 unity of style rather than at          
magnificence1 and  to pin their faith to
 a great dramatic composer rather than  
to a star  cast4    ,the reception given
 to ,the ,magic ,flute encouraged them  
to consider  the possibility of         
performing another opera in #aiad4      
,several operas  had been passed in     
review when ,dr4 ,vaughan ,williams made
 his brilliant  suggestion1 a suggestion
 which was very quickly adopted4 ,the   

opera was  prepared for performance and 
put into rehearsal in the summer of     
#aiad1  with a view to bringing it out  
in ,december of that year4 ,the musical 
portions of the first three acts were   
well in hand and most of the  dresses   
designed at the moment when war was     
declared4 ,as soon as the  war was      
definitely over1 and ,cambridge had     
begun to resume something of  its normal
 aspect1 the opera was resumed1 although
 a bare half-dozen of  the original cast
 remained1 and ,the ,fairy ,queen was   
finally presented  for the first time to
 a modern audience on ,february #ajth of
 this year4      ,purcell and           
,shakespeare    ,it may be of interest  
to those who witnessed the performance  
to learn  something of the peculiar     
problems which confronted the producers 
and  of the principles on which they    
tried to solve them4 ,the only material 
available at that time was the ,purcell 
,society's full score and a  copy of the
 original libretto of #afib4 ,the       

,british ,museum possessed  also the    
second edition of the libretto 7#afic74 
,the first thing to  do was to prepare  
and print an acting version and a vocal 
score4 ,it  must not be supposed that   
,the ,fairy ,queen is an opera in the   
modern  sense1 like ,dido and neas4 ,it 
is an abridged and altered version  of  
,a ,midsummer-,night's ,dream1 into each
 act of which is introduced  a sort of  
ballet-divertissement with songs and    
choruses4 ,these  musical episodes have 
practically nothing to do with the play4
 ,in ,act  ,i4 ,titania enters with her 
fairies and orders music to entertain   
the  ,indian ,boy4 ,this is interrupted 
by the appearance of a drunken poet1    
who is blindfolded and pinched by the   
fairies4 ,in ,act ,,ii41 instead of  ,ye
 ,spotted ,snakes1 there is a long      
allegorical scene introducing  ,night1  
,secrecy1 ,mystery1 and ,sleep4 ,in ,act
 ,,iii4 a divertissement of  a broadly  
comic character is commanded by ,titania
 for the amusement of  ,bottom4 ,in ,act

 ,,iv4 ,oberon summons up a pageant of  
,phbus and the ,four  ,seasons in honour
 of his reconciliation with ,titania1   
and lastly the  fairies provide in ,act 
,v4 the most magnificent and extravagant
 show of  all to celebrate the nuptials 
of ,theseus and ,hippolyta4 ,it will be 
seen  that there is a certain amount of 
dramatic reason and also of artistic    
unity and contrast about these musical  
episodes4 ,the first1 for the  ,indian  
,boy1 is fantastic and childlike2 the   
second1 for ,titania1  voluptuous and   
mysterious2 the third1 for ,bottom1     
half-comic and  half-erotic2 the fourth1
 for ,oberon1 is a sort of ,sun-,god's  
festival2  the last1 for ,theseus and   
,hippolyta1 an epithalamium4    ,the    
first difficulty to be faced was that of
 the ,shakespeare dialogue1  which is   
all spoken1 not sung4 ,should the       
librettist's textual  alterations be    
kept1 or the original restored8 ,had the
 textual  alterations been violent      
enough to stamp the whole play as       

belonging  definitely and unmistakably  
to the age of ,dryden we should have had
  no hesitation in sticking to them4 ,we
 were quite clear from the start  that  
we meant to produce ,purcell's opera and
 not ,shakespeare's play4  ,but the     
alterations to the text of ,shakespeare 
were just enough to  be irritating to an
 audience whom we assumed to be familiar
 with  ,shakespeare1 and troublesome to 
actors who were probably in the same    
case4 ,the chances were that the actors 
would forget the alterations  here and  
there and return unconsciously to the   
original1 and that  the audience would  
merely suppose that they had not learnt 
their  parts properly4 ,besides1 the    
opera was so long that drastic cuts     
were imperative4 ,here again we at once 
decided that as far as was  practicable 
it should be ,shakespeare and not       
,purcell that was to be  cut4 ,we       
therefore started by restoring the      
original text of ,shakespeare  in all   
the scenes which had not been cut       

altogether by the librettist1  and then 
proceeded to prune the ,shakespeare down
 until we had reached  either our       
time-limit or the limit of              
intelligibility4 ,the latter was        
reached first1 and on that we proceeded 
to cut down ,purcell4 ,an obvious       
course was to adopt the version of      
#afib1 rejecting the scene of the       
,drunken ,poet1 and the two songs1 ,ye  
,gentle ,spirits and ,the ,plaint1      
which were added in #afic4 ,but the     
scene of the ,drunken ,poet was too     
good to throw away4 ,the two songs we   
abandoned with some reluctance  on      
account of their singular beauty2 but   
they could easily be spared  from the   
point of view of the stage4 ,indeed ,the
 ,plaint would have  been impossible to 
accept2 it is dragged in for no reason  
by special  request of ,oberon1 and is  
not only extremely long1 but profoundly 
melancholy and totally inappropriate to 
the cheerful atmosphere of the          
,epithalamium4    ,one of the           

librettist's alterations was to transfer
 the whole of  ,pyramus and ,thisbe to  
the rehearsal scene in the wood4 ,the   
players  act it in our habits as we     
shall play it before the ,duke1 and the 
interruptions of ,theseus and the rest  
are assigned to ,puck4 ,here again  we  
restored the original1 if only to save  
time4 ,the idea then occurred  to us to 
save the play by having it acted in dumb
 show during the  ,entry ,dance of ,act 
,v4 ,this solved the problem of what to 
do with  this particular dance-tune2 it 
gave us additional time to prepare  the 
,chinese scene behind the               
tableau-curtain1 it saved the time      
occupied by the play1 and spared us the 
very tedious mirth of all the           
knockabout business which in ,a         
,midsummer-,night's ,dream has now      
become  traditional4 ,further1 it       
brought the clowns in again at the      
appropriate  moment1 and1 what was more 
important1 it associated ,shakespeare   
more  closely with ,purcell's music4    

,the little pantomime was worked out at 
rehearsal entirely by the actors        
themselves4 ,they first walked through  
the directions of the ,pyramus and      
,thisbe play2 then the music was  played
 and the action tried with it4 ,no      
further alteration was needed  at       
subsequent rehearsals1 for it so        
happened that every one of the  actors  
was musical1 and they stepped and moved 
to ,purcell's notes by  natural         
instinct4    ,there remained still a few
 bits of music to be disposed of4 ,in   
the  seventeenth century people had to  
sit in the theatre for a long time      
before the play began1 and to pass the  
time a concert was provided1  consisting
 of a ,first ,musick1 or ,second        
,musick1 and lastly the  ,overture4     
,under modern conditions it would have  
been more in  accordance with the spirit
 of ,purcell to send our orchestra out  
into  the street to play the ,first and 
,second ,musick to the queue that was   
waiting to enter the pit and gallery1   

but since we could not imagine  that    
police regulations would permit this1 we
 utilised the four little  pieces at    
different points as incidental music to 
the play4 ,in so doing  we knew that we 
were untrue to the strict traditions of 
,purcell's day2  but we did not wish to 
cut these pieces out altogether1 and we 
further  thought that they would help to
 ,purcellize the ,shakespeare4 ,we were 
somewhat surprised to find that several 
of the audience seemed to  expect ,a    
,midsummer-,night's ,dream in its       
entirety1 once the play had  started4   
,our assumption1 which apparently was   
wrong1 was that everybody  knew         
,shakespeare's play practically by      
heart1 and that we need do no  more than
 just indicate its outlines1 leaving the
 rest to be filled up  by the           
imagination under the inspiration of    
,purcell's music4      ,purcell and ,his
 ,orchestra    ,the opera is scored for 
the usual ,purcell band4 ,in the big    
instrumental  numbers two trumpets1     

kettle-drums1 and two hautboys are added
 to the  string4 ,a few numbers have two
 flutes1 but flutes and hautboys never  
occur simultaneously1 which leads me to 
think that in ,purcell's days  the      
flutes and hautboys were generally      
played by the same players4 ,the  solos 
are accompanied sometimes by violins and
 bass in three parts1  more often by the
 harpsichord and bass alone1 the other  
instruments  playing no more than the   
ritornelli4 ,on the question of         
orchestration  we never had a moment's  
hesitation4 ,we were determined from the
 very  first that we would not add a    
single note to ,purcell's score4 ,this  
meant1 of course1 that a very serious   
responsibility would be thrown on  the  
harpsichord4 ,we had experimented once  
with a harpsichord in a ,bach  ,concerto
 at a concert1 with the very            
embarrassing discovery that the         
harpsichord player could hardly hear a  
note that he played1 while the          
unfortunate conductor could hear nothing

 else but the harpsichord4 ,to  the     
audience1 as a matter of fact1 the      
result was quite satisfactory4  ,the    
harpsichord in the theatre was a more   
perilous problem1 especially  as we were
 not able to have any rehearsal of any  
kind in the theatre  until the day      
before the first performance4 ,would the
 harpsichord be  audible in the         
audience8 ,would it be audible on the   
stage8 ,would it  stay in tune under the
 very variable conditions of            
temperature8 ,would  one harpsichord be 
enough1 or ought we to have two1 as     
,hasse had at  the ,dresden ,opera      
,house8 ,would the harpsichord be       
monotonous as well  as inadequate8      
,ought we to have in addition a         
pianoforte or possibly  a harp8 ,we     
decided to do the very best we could    
with one harpsichord  and chance it4 ,in
 view of the probability that the       
harpsichord might  become amazingly     
monotonous1 the harpsichord part was    
considered with  the greatest possible  

care and no pains spared to make it as  
varied1  as effective1 and as expressive
 as possible4 ,once in the theatre1 the 
instrument was tried in various         
positions until the right place for  it 
was found4 ,it was clearly audible both 
on the stage and in all  parts of the   
house without ever becoming too         
insistent4 ,here ,i must  say how deeply
 we were indebted to the sensitive      
musicianship of the  player1 an         
undergraduate in his first year1 who1   
although he had never  placed his       
fingers on a harpsichord until about a  
fortnight before the  performance1 was  
gifted with exactly that fine sense of  
scholarship in  music which is the first
 essential of the complete maestro al   
cembalo4            ,,edward ,j4 ,,dent 
,,select ,,list ,,of ,,publications     
,,anthropology      ,,man3 ,,past ,,and 
,,present4 ,by ,a4 ,h4 ,,keane4 ,revised
 and largely re-written      by ,a4     
,,hingston ,,quiggin and ,a4 ,c4        
,,haddon4 ,cambridge ,university        

,press4 #cfs4      ,,art      ,,croce',s
 ,,sthetic4 ,by ,,bernard ,,bosanquet4  
,for the ,british ,academy4             
,milford4 #bs4      ,,medals ,,of ,,the 
,,renaissance4 ,by ,g4 ,f4 ,,hill4      
,oxford3 ,clarendon ,press4             
,london3 ,milford4 #ejs4                
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,an            
,,historical ,,summary ,,of ,,english   
,,literature4 ,by ,e4 ,w4 ,,edmunds4    
,cassell4 #es4      ,,springtime ,,and  
,,other ,,essays4 ,by ,sir ,,francis    
,,darwin4 ,murray4 #gs4      #f;d4      
,a ,,study ,,of ,,shakespeare',s        
,,versification4 ,by ,m4 ,a4 ,,bayfield4
 ,cambridge      ,university ,press4    
#afs4      ,,the ,,painter',s ,,voice4  
,by ,,william ,,kiddier4 ,fifield4 #bs4 
#f;d4      ,,dickens1 ,,reade1 ,,and    
,,collins3 ,,sensation ,,novelists4 ,by 
,,walter ,c4      ,,phillips4 ,new      
,york3 ,columbia ,university ,press4    
,london3 ,milford4      #hs4 #f;d4      
,,college ,,addresses4 ,by ,sir ,,hubert
 ,,parry4 ,macmillan4 #gs4 #f;d4        

,,essays ,,old ,,and ,,new4 ,by         
,,elizabeth ,,wordsworth4 ,oxford       
,university ,press4      #gs4 #f;d4     
,,biography ,,and ,,memoirs      ,,the  
,,manners ,,of ,,my ,,time4 ,by ,c4 ,l4 
,,dempster4 ,grant ,richards4 #ajs4     
#f;d4      ,,my ,,diaries4 ,being a     
personal narrative of events1           
#ahhh-aiad4 ,by      ,,wilfrid ,,scawen 
,,blunt4 ,two volumes4 ,secker4 #bas4   
each4      ,,recollections ,,of ,,lady  
,,georgiana ,,peel4 ,compiled by her    
daughter1 ,,ethel      ,,peel4 ,john    
,lane4 #afs4      ,,joseph ,,fels3 ,,his
 ,,life-,,work4 ,by ,,mary ,,fels4      
,allen  ,unwin4 #fs4      ,,henry ,,fox1
 ,,first ,,lord ,,holland4 ,by the      
,,earl ,,of ,,ilchester4 ,two volumes4  
,murray4 #cbs4      ,,letters ,,of      
,,anton ,,tchehov4 ,translated from the 
,russian by ,,constance      ,,garnett4 
,chatto  ,windus4 #abs4 #f;d4           
,,classical      ,,aristotelis          
,,meteorologicorum ,,libri ,,quattuor4  
,recensit ,indicem      ,verborum       

,addidit ,f4 ,h4 ,,forbes4 ,cambridge1  
,mass43 ,harvard ,university            
,press4 ,london3 ,milford4 #aes4        
,,roman ,,essays ,,and                  
,,interpretations4 ,by ,w4 ,,warde      
,,fowler4 ,oxford3      ,clarendon      
,press4 ,london3 ,milford4 #abs4 #f;d4  
,,the ,,agamemnon ,,of ,,schylus4       
,translated by ,r4 ,k4 ,,davis4         
,blackwell4      #ds4 #f;d4             
,,fiction      ,,the ,,moon ,,pool4 ,by 
,a4 ,,merritt4 ,putnams4 #gs4      ,,the
 ,,great ,,desire4 ,by ,,algernon       
,,black4 ,hodder  ,stoughton4 #gs4      
,,shuttered ,,doors4 ,by ,mrs4          
,,williams ,,hicks-,,beach4 ,john ,lane4
 #gs4      ,,shepherd',s ,,warning4 ,by 
,,eric ,,leadbitter4 ,allen  ,unwin4    
#gs4      ,,limbo4 ,by ,,aldous         
,,huxley4 ,chatto  ,windus4 #es4        
,,the ,,death ,,of ,,maurice4 ,by       
,,barry ,,pain4 ,skeffington4 #gs4 #f;d4
      ,,peter ,,jackson1 ,,cigar        
,,merchant4 ,by ,,gilbert ,,frankau4    
,hutchinson4 #gs4      #f;d4      ,,call

 ,,mr4 ,,fortune4 ,by ,h4 ,c4 ,,bailey4 
,methuen4 #gs4      ,,count ,,philip4   
,by ,,pierre ,,benoit4 ,hutchinson4 #gs4
 #f;d4      ,,prelude4 ,by ,,beverley   
,,nichols4 ,chatto  ,windus4 #gs4       
,,well-,,to-,,do ,,arthur4 ,by ,w4      
,,pett ,,ridge4 ,methuen4 #gs4          
,,history      ,,russia ,,in ,,rule     
,,and ,,misrule4 ,by ,brigadier ,c4 ,r4 
,,ballard1 ,c4,b4 ,murray4      #fs4    
,,the ,,cockpit ,,of ,,europe4 ,by ,a4  
,r4 ,,hope ,,moncrieff4 ,black4 #bjs4   
,,world ,,history4 ,by ,,viscount       
,,bryce4 7,the annual ,raleigh          
,lecture47 ,for      the ,british       
,academy4 ,milford4 #bs4      ,,church  
,,history ,,from ,,nero ,,to            
,,constantine4 ,by ,c4 ,p4 ,s4 ,,clarke4
 ,mowbray4      #gs4 #f;d4              
,,england ,,under ,,the ,,yorkists1     
#adfj-adhe4 ,by ,,isobel ,d4 ,,thornley4
 ,with a      ,preface by ,a4 ,f4       
,,pollard4 ,longmans4 #is4 #f;d4        
,,henry ,v4 ,by ,r4 ,b4 ,,mowat4        
,constable4 #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,the      

,,ancient ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,near   
,,east4 ,by ,h4 ,r4 ,,hall4 ,fourth     
,edition4      ,methuen4 #afs4          
,,naval ,,and ,,military      ,g4,h4,q4 
7,,montreuil-,,sur-,,mer74 ,by ,g4,s4,o4
 ,philip ,allan4 #bjs4      ,,the ,,gold
 ,,coast ,,and ,,the ,,war4 ,by ,sir    
,,charles ,,lucas4 ,milford4 #bs4       
,,the ,,confessions ,,of ,a ,,private4  
,by ,,frank ,,gray4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4
 #fs4      ,a ,,kut ,,prisoner4 ,by ,h4 
,c4 ,w4 ,,bishop4 ,john ,lane4 #fs4     
#f;d4      ,,ships' ,,boats4 ,by        
,,ernest ,w4 ,,blocksedge4 ,longmans4   
#bes4      ,,poetry      ,,the ,,pedlar 
,,and ,,other ,,poems4 ,by ,,ruth       
,,manning-,,sanders4 ,selwyn  ,blount4  
#cs4 #f;d4      ,,verses4 ,by ,,viola   
,,meynell4 ,secker4 #bs4 #f;d4          
,,valour ,,and ,,vision3 ,,poems ,,of   
,,the ,,war1 #aiad-aiah4 ,arranged and  
,edited      by ,,jacqueline ,t4        
,,trotter4 ,longmans4 #ds4 #f;d4        
,,sappho3 ,a ,,new ,,rendering4 ,by ,h4 
,,de ,,vere ,,stacpoole4 ,hutchinson4   

#cs4      #f;d4      ,,selected ,,poems4
 ,by ,,lady ,,margaret ,,sackville4     
,constable4 #fs4      ,,the ,,gates ,,of
 ,,bronze4 ,by ,t4 ,w4 ,,earp4 ,oxford3 
,blackwell4 #as4 #f;d4                  
,,fleurs-,,de-,,lys4 ,a book of ,french 
,poetry freely translated into          
,english verse4 ,with an introduction   
and notes by ,,wilfred ,,thorley4       
,heinemann4 #fs4      ,,politics1       
,,economics1 etc4      ,,empire ,,and   
,,commerce ,,in ,,africa4 ,a study in   
,economic ,imperialism4 ,by             
,,leonard ,,woolf4 ,labour ,research    
,department and ,allen  ,unwin4 #bjs4   
,,the ,,nationalisation ,,of ,,credit4  
,by ,,frank ,,lock4 ,sydney3 ,g4 ,b4    
,philip       ,son4 #es4      ,,mr4     
,,lloyd ,,george ,,and ,,the ,,war4 ,by 
,,walter ,,roch4 ,chatto  ,windus4 #afs4
      ,,the ,,nations ,,and ,,the       
,,league4 ,by ,ten ,representative      
,writers of ,seven      ,nations4 ,with 
an ,introductory ,chapter by ,sir       
,,george ,,paish4 ,fisher      ,unwin4  

#gs4 #f;d4      ,,democracy ,,and ,,the 
,,eastern ,,question4 ,by ,,thomas ,f4  
,,millard4 ,allen       ,unwin4 #abs4   
#f;d4      ,,the ,,famine ,,in ,,europe4
 ,swarthmore ,press4 #ds4 #f;d4         
,,the ,,russian ,,republic4 ,by ,colonel
 ,,malone1 ,m4,p4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #bs4  
#f;d4      ,,the ,,meaning ,,of         
,,democracy4 ,by ,,ivor ,j4 ,c4 ,,brown4
 ,r4 ,cobden-,sanderson4      #fs4      
,,the ,,history ,,of ,,trade ,,unionism4
 ,by ,,sidney and ,,beatrice ,,webb4    
,longmans4      #bas4      ,,food       
,,supplies ,,in ,,peace ,,and ,,war4 ,by
 ,sir ,r4 ,h4 ,,rew4 ,longmans4 #fs4    
#f;d4      ,,religion ,,and ,,philosophy
      ,,sir ,,hobbard ,,de ,,hoy3 ,,the 
,,religious ,,education ,,of ,,the      
,,adolescent4 ,by the      ,rev4 ,e4 ,f4
 ,,braley4 ,macmillan4 #ds4 #f;d4       
,,the ,,superstition ,,of ,,divorce4 ,by
 ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,chatto  ,windus4
      #es4      ,,contact ,,with ,,the  
,,other ,,world4 ,by ,,james ,h4        
,,hyslop4 ,werner ,laurie4      #bes4   

,,collected ,,fruits ,,of ,,occult      
,,teaching4 ,by ,a4 ,p4 ,,sinnett4      
,fisher ,unwin4      #aes4              
,,science      ,,the ,,use ,,of         
,,colloids ,,in ,,health ,,and          
,,disease4 ,by ,,alfred ,b4 ,,searle4   
,constable4 #hs4      ,,science ,,and   
,,life4 ,aberdeen ,addresses4 ,by       
,,frederick ,,soddy1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,dr4    
,lee's ,professor of ,inorganic and     
,physical ,chemistry1 ,university of    
,oxford4 ,john ,murray4 #ajs4 #f;d4     
,,engines ,,of ,,the ,,human ,,body4 ,by
 ,professor ,,arthur ,,keith4 ,williams 
,norgate4 #abs4 #f;d4              ,,the
 ,,london      ,,mercury                
,editor--,j4 ,c4 ,,squire               
,assistant-,editor--,,edward ,,shanks   
,vol4 ,i ,no4 #f                ,april  
#aibj          ,,editorial ,,notes      
,last month we referred here to the fact
 that a deputation was to wait  on ,mr4 
,fisher to press the claim of the drama 
to ,state encouragement4  ,the          
deputation1 which included critics1     

actors1 and representatives  of all the 
most important societies concerned1 was 
received on ,march  #acth4 ,whatever may
 or may not come of it1 its mere        
reception in  ,whitehall is an event    
which marks an important step in the    
evolution  of the official attitude     
towards the drama1 which1 until         
recently1 was  conceived as a thing with
 which the ,state had no relations save 
that  of blue-penciller4 ,for this we   
may chiefly thank the new and vigorous  
,british ,drama ,league and its         
secretary1 ,mr4 ,geoffrey ,whitworth4   
,several  resolutions were laid before  
the ,minister4 ,with some of the        
proposals  commended to him he had1 as  
,minister of ,education1 nothing to do2 
but  his reply to the deputation was    
very sympathetic in tone and showed     
full cognisance of the part that        
dramatic representation might play in   
national life4           99       99    
99       99       99    ,we do not      
propose to dwell at length upon all the 

suggestions which1  tentatively or      
confidently1 were made by the deputation
 or the  ,conference which instructed   
it4 ,one of them we frankly dislike1 and
  that is the proposal that the         
,universities should recognise the new  
status of the drama by establishing     
faculties of the drama4 ,those who      
propose this cannot mean merely that our
 dramatic inheritance should be  studied
 as literature2 for the encouragement of
 such study falls within  the scope of  
the ,english schools1 which are becoming
 more important  and more intelligently 
conducted every year4 ,they cannot mean1
 either1  we suppose1 that dramatic     
representation should be encouraged2    
that  is not the job of a faculty unless
 a ,doctorate or ,baccalaureate of      
,histrionics be contemplated4 ,they can 
only intend that a theoretical  and     
practical training in the dramatist's   
art should be given1 that a  scientific 
study of the principles--technics or    
some such thing would  be the word--of  

dramatic writing1 based on the analysis 
of admitted  masterpieces and 7perhaps7 
admitted failures1 should be followed1  
or  accompanied1 by the writing1 under  
surveillance1 of new dramatic works4    
,it is conceivable4 ,we met recently a  
lady who had won the ,doctorate of      
,philosophy in an ,american ,university4
 ,she had nothing about her of the  grey
 sobriety of the metaphysician or the   
ethicist2 and1 questioned1  she stated  
that she had taken her degree in the    
,school of ,short-,story  ,writing4     
,well1 we know those ,american academic 
treatises on short-story  writing3      
champion instruments for taking the     
bloom off any work of  art and killing  
the artistic impulses of any student    
simple enough to  surrender himself to  
them4 ,and though we do not know1 and we
 don't  think posterity will know1 the  
plays written by those graduates of     
,american ,universities who have gone   
out into the world as dramatic  writers 
of approved competence1 we have seen    

some of the manuals on  which they also 
have pastured3 manuals admirable only as
 subjects  for burlesque4 ,in the       
teaching of literature criticism of the 
drama1  examination 7if you like7 of the
 elements of dramatic construction1  has
 its place with other forms of          
criticism2 the history of the drama     
with other sorts of history4 ,there is  
no harm done1 and a certain  stimulus   
may be given to the talented1 if        
students are encouraged to  write       
original works1 and if a certain amount 
of academic credit  is given for such   
works4 ,but a school of dramatic        
production1 or  of novel-writing1 or of 
poetical composition 444 may we be saved
  from that6 ,the way in which teachers 
may develop dramatic1 as other          
literary1 talent is by encouraging the  
intelligent reading of good  literature1
 and by demonstrating the grand truth   
that its roots lie in  life fearlessly  
observed and passionately felt4         
99       99       99       99       99  

,the more amateur dramatic              
performance--of works which have some   
imaginative quality in them--the better4
 ,if the ,board of ,education1  which   
has already 7we think7 done a good deal 
to encourage both music  and mimetics in
 the schools1 can still further humanise
 the curriculum1  all the richer will be
 the community1 all the more amusing    
will be the  lives of the children1 and1
 in the end1 all the richer will be our 
art4 ,the ,universities may probably be 
left to take care of themselves4  ,very 
likely a word of encouragement from a   
,minister of ,education1 a  ,prime      
,minister1 or an ,archbishop of         
,canterbury might in some places  remove
 obscurantist opposition or secure      
facilities which have not been          
forthcoming4 ,but young men are not     
children4 ,they can arrange things  for 
themselves1 with the assistance of      
sympathetic and not necessarily         
official elders4 ,and that the junior   
members of the ,universities1  since the

 war1 have been taking with a new zest  
to dramatic production  is a matter of  
common observation4 ,if we go no farther
 than ,oxford  and ,cambridge we have   
seen during the present term--eight     
weeks old  as we write--the successful  
production of ,mr4 ,hardy's ,dynasts by 
the ,o4,u4,d4,s41 and at ,cambridge the 
,marlowe ,society's production of  ,the 
,white ,devil and the revival of        
,purcell's ,faerie ,queene1  organised  
by ,dr4 ,rootham1 ,mr4 ,clive ,carey1   
and ,mr4 ,dent4 ,this last was  an      
imposing operation3 a large acting cast1
 a ballet1 an orchestra1  dresses and   
scenery were supplied by junior members 
of the ,university  and local ladies4   
,next term the ,a4,d4,c4 are performing 
a modern  comedy1 and ,comus is amongst 
the other things mooted for ,may ,week4 
,organisation from above is nothing as  
good as this1 especially if it  takes   
the form of organisation of an academic 
course4           99       99       99  
99       99    ,but the place of the    

drama in education is too large and     
difficult a  subject to be dealt with in
 detail here3 what we do wish to say a  
few  words about is what1 after all1 was
 the main object of the deputation's    
visit to ,whitehall1 though it had      
little to do with the ,minister of      
,education1 as such--we mean the        
,national ,theatre4 ,it was to this that
  the speakers for the deputation1      
particularly ,dr4 ,courtney and ,sir    
,sidney ,lee1 chiefly addressed         
themselves4 ,here also we have a subject
  which invites extended treatment if we
 begin to contemplate the  possible     
relations between public authorities    
generally and the drama4  ,it is        
reported that in ,south ,london a ,town 
,council desires to give help  out of   
the rates to the new operatic venture at
 the ,surrey ,theatre2  and before long 
we shall probably hear suggestions that 
where local  authorities wish to        
maintain theatrical enterprises they    
should obtain  grants-in-aid from the   

,government4 ,that is a large and a     
complicated1  not to say a              
controversial1 matter4 ,but the         
,national ,theatre question  can be     
strictly localised4 ,all we need ask is3
 ,ought there1 or ought  there not1 to  
be a permanently endowed institution in 
,london where the  best ,english plays  
should be produced regardless of        
commercial risks1  and ought1 or ought  
not1 the ,state to lend its moral and   
financial  support to such an           
institution8 ,and since there exists    
already a  ,national ,theatre ,fund1    
which has acquired a site for a         
playhouse1 we  are faced ultimately with
 the question whether the ,government   
should  take a direct financial and     
administrative interest in that scheme4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,the ,national ,theatre scheme grew out 
of the preparations for  commemorating  
the ,tercentenary of ,shakespeare's     
death--which fell in  #aiaf1 during the 
war4 ,in #aijd a committee was          

organised1 and in #aije  it was         
resolved1 at a ,mansion ,house meeting1 
to collect funds for an  architectural  
memorial and1 if possible1 for a small  
theatre in which  ,elizabethan and other
 plays could be performed4 ,in #aijh    
another ,mansion  ,house meeting was    
held1 at which it was proposed to erect 
a statue in  ,portland ,place 7so       
convenient because it is very wide and  
nobody ever  goes there7 at a cost of   
not less than #ajj1jjj4 ,such an        
expenditure on  such an object horrified
 a great many people4 ,for some         
time--notably  after the publication of 
an admirable book by ,messrs4 ,granville
 ,barker  and ,william ,archer--interest
 had been growing in the proposal for a 
,national ,theatre4 ,the #ajj1jjj statue
 scheme naturally led to the  suggestion
 that a theatre would be a better       
memorial than a statue1  and that two   
birds could be killed with one stone if 
the ,national  ,theatre were to be the  
,shakespeare ,memorial4 ,the notion was 

accepted2  the two movements were       
amalgamated2 and a fund for a           
,shakespeare  ,memorial ,theatre was    
opened by a committee of which ,lord    
,plymouth was  chairman and ,sir ,israel
 ,gollancz secretary4 ,the public appeal
 was not  so successful as it might have
 been4 ,by #aiaj the sum of #ij1jjj had 
been collected1 of which #gj1jjj came   
from a single donor1 ,sir ,carl  ,meyer4
 ,the committee spent #fa1jjj on a site 
in ,gower ,street1 from  which a certain
 revenue has since been received4 ,then 
came the war4 ,the  collection of money 
stopped1 and it has not 7so far as we   
are aware7  been made clear to the      
public what the committee has been doing
 since  the ,armistice1 what it proposes
 to do in the near future1 and when it  
intends to make a bid for the rest of   
the four or five or 7it may now  be7 six
 or seven hundred thousand that is      
required for the erection and  endowment
 of a theatre4           99       99    
99       99       99    ,now it is      

evident that sooner or later the project
 must be resumed and  a further appeal  
made to the public4 ,it is possible that
 this appeal  will be more successful   
than the last4 ,after all1 we hear of   
twenty new  millionaires in ,bradford   
alone1 and any one of these could       
contribute  a large portion of the whole
 sum required1 thereby earning fame and1
  very likely1 a public honour better   
deserved than some4 ,it is obvious  on  
the face of it that if the ,government  
is known to look on the scheme  with a  
benevolent eye its chances of success   
will be brighter4 ,is  it impossible    
that1 should the whole sum not be raised
 from private  persons1 the ,government 
should guarantee a subsidy8 ,this would1
 of  course1 involve some measure of    
,government control1 and the presence   
of ,government representatives on the   
permanent body of ,trustees1  who would 
sit there precisely as do the two       
,government directors  recently         
appointed to the ,board of a ,cellulose 

,company4 ,we say this  without         
prejudice to the general question of the
 relations between the  community and   
the theatre4 ,the idea has been mooted  
that municipalities  should subsidise   
theatres and that the ,government should
 assist them  with grants-in-aid4 ,it is
 attractive1 and a ,whitehall ,committee
  might well be appointed to explore it4
 ,but the ,national ,theatre is a       
distinct and peculiar proposal4 ,what we
 desire is that there should  be in the 
capital one house with a position       
resembling that of the  ,comdie         
,franaise1 or the ,old ,imperial ,opera 
,house in ,petrograd1 a  house devoted  
to the production of good plays1        
provided with a stock  company1 and     
guaranteed against all the fluctuations 
of fortune4 ,in  brief1 the revival of  
the ,english classic plays should be    
systematised4  ,it should not be left to
 chance whether an ,englishman should   
live and  die without having an         
opportunity of seeing a competent1 or   

indeed  any1 performance of ,troilus and
 ,cressida1 of ,marlowe's ,faustus1 of  
,the ,duchess of ,malfi1 of ,the        
,critic1 of ,the ,knight of the ,burning
  ,pestle1 of ,the ,way of the ,world1  
of ,the ,broken ,heart3 to mention  but 
a few of the interesting plays that     
ordinary managers can scarcely  ever be 
expected to put on4 ,for the ordinary   
manager must almost always  build on    
hopes of a long run4 ,these plays       
probably would not hold  the stage for  
long runs2 and if one of them did have a
 long run1 it  would only mean that     
during that run no other play would be  
visible at  the theatre where it was    
being produced4 ,some of ,shakespeare's 
plays  have scarcely any prospect of    
being produced in our time in a ,london 
theatre1 save only at the ,old ,vic41   
which has so finely struggled for       
existence1 and so gloriously 7though how
 far does its permanence rest  on the   
continuance of a single life87          
succeeded4 ,theatres are limited  in    

number4 ,they have become the subjects  
of violent speculation4 ,even  if a     
private man with the most ambitious of  
plans obtained a theatre  we should have
 no guarantee that he would not pass his
 theatre on next  day to somebody who   
was willing to give him a handsome      
profit for his  lease and hoped to      
recoup himself by a year's run of revue 
or ,american  melodrama4 ,we conceive   
that if publishing houses were like     
theatres1  and could issue only one work
 at a time1 ,messrs4 ,methuen 7we hope  
they will allow us to use their name as 
an illustration7 might well  be excused 
if1 as between ,shakespeare 7of whom    
they publish admirable  editions7 and   
,tarzan of the ,apes they chose1 at this
 moment1 the  latter4 ,there is a public
 for both kinds1 but the smaller at any 
given  moment 7though over a long period
 the larger7 is very badly catered  for 
in the theatrical world1 where everybody
 is bidding for the great  rewards that 
the larger public can bestow1 and is1 at

 present1 under  the necessity of paying
 a shortage rent1 which will not go down
  unless some prodigiously rich and     
adventurous syndicate starts building   
new theatres wholesale4           99    
99       99       99       99    ,how   
far a ,national ,theatre1 especially a  
,state-assisted ,national  ,theatre1 can
 be expected1 or will consider it its   
duty1 to produce new  plays of merit is 
doubtful4 ,if that is one of its        
functions it will  not be its chief     
function2 were it so its work would be  
the centre of  perpetual tempests of    
controversy1 and its controllers would  
learn what  lobbying means4 ,it will    
have quite enough to do if it           
concentrates  on the systematic revival1
 on repertory lines1 of the best classic
  plays1 with occasional production of  
foreign plays and of old plays of       
historical interest4 ,that1 surely1 is a
 thing which should be done1 a  work    
which should be continually maintained  
and developed1 a work which  should as  

certainly be maintained at the public   
expense 7if necessary7  as should1 say1 
the ,encyclopdia ,britannica or the     
,dictionary  of ,national ,biography1   
should there ever come a time when no   
publisher felt able to spare the capital
 required to keep those great           
compilations going4 ,after all1 what is 
there to differentiate the cases  of    
these enterprises from that of the      
,british ,museum1 which nobody1         
whatever his opinion about public       
undertakings generally1 suggests  should
 be1 or ever could be1 stablished and   
maintained on its present  scale by     
private enterprise8           99        
99       99       99       99    ,the   
binding-case for ,vol4 ,i4 of ,,the     
,,london ,,mercury will be ready  early 
in ,april4 ,the case is of black cloth1 
with a white label in a  sunk panel4 ,it
 is designed to hold the six numbers    
plus an eight-page  index 7which will   
also be ready early in the month7 and   
minus the six  wrappers and the         

advertisement pages4 ,binding-cases will
 be supplied  from this office at #cs4  
#f;d4 post free4 ,if readers prefer that
 we  should bind their numbers for them1
 they may send them here and pay an     
inclusive #fs41 which will cover the    
cost of the case1 the work of  binding1 
and the return postage4 ,the volume will
 be rather a fat one1  but we felt that 
readers would think that twice a year   
was quite often  enough to have this    
labour imposed on them4                 
,,literary ,,intelligence      ,arthur  
,henry ,bullen died suddenly on         
,february #bith1 #aibj1 in his          
sixty-third year1 at                    
,stratford-on-,avon1 where he had lived 
since #aijf4  ,he used to say that in   
his boyhood1 as the son of ,dr4 ,george 
,bullen1  ,keeper of the ,printed ,books
 in the ,british ,museum1 he ran about  
the  ,library and browsed at pleasure1  
cultivating in his teens a taste 7no    
doubt inherited7 not only for the best  
in literature1 but for the best  in     

books too4 ,he went to the ,city of     
,london ,school and to ,worcester       
,college1 ,oxford1 as a scholar2 but1 to
 judge from his mature habits1  he must 
have been almost completely             
self-educated4 ,a pleasant glimpse  of  
him at ,oxford may be seen in ,professor
 ,poulton's ,viriamu ,jones4  ,he was   
already a man of very wide reading2     
within a few years of  going down from  
,oxford he began to make himself known  
as an editor of  ,elizabethan drama and 
anthologies4 ,lyrics from ,elizabethan  
,song-,books  and its sequels no doubt  
are the most popular of his books2 he   
rediscovered ,thomas ,campion1 and      
poured out reprints of ,old ,english    
,plays 7two series71 and the works of   
,john ,day1 ,marlowe1 ,marston1         
,middleton1 and ,peele4 ,to edit a book1
 however1 did not suffice him4 ,for  the
 last decade of the nineteenth century  
the firm of ,lawrence  ,bullen          
published a large number of remarkable  
works1 ancient and modern1  including   

not only familiar successes like ,miss  
,harraden's ,ships that  ,pass in the   
,night and ,mr4 ,w4 ,w4 ,jacobs' ,many  
,cargoes1 half-a-dozen  of the novels of
 ,george ,gissing 7a close friend of    
,bullen's71 and early  works of ,mr4 ,h4
 ,g4 ,wells1 ,moira ,o',neill1 and the  
authors of the ,irish  ,r4,m41 but also 
sumptuous and beautiful books1 such as  
,botticelli's  ,illustrations to ,dante1
 ,william ,strang's ,death and the      
,ploughman's  ,wife1 and illustrated    
translations of ,rabelais1 ,boccaccio1  
,straparola1  ,masuccio1 and ,ser       
,giovanni4 ,bullen's special taste was  
shown in the  ,muses' ,library1 which   
began with ,herrick1 and included ,keats
 7with an  incomparable introduction by 
,robert ,bridges7 and ,william ,blake   
7edited  by ,w4 ,b4 ,yeats74            
99       99       99       99       99  
,early in the present century he left   
the firm to continue publishing  under  
his own name4 ,to this period belong the
 ,irish ,plays and ,ideas of  ,good and 

,evil of ,mr4 ,yeats1 whose ,celtic     
,twilight and ,secret ,rose  ,bullen    
took over1 with other books1 from       
,lawrence  ,bullen ,ltd42 and  such     
characteristic contributions to         
,elizabethan research as ,dr4 ,w4 ,w4   
,greg's edition of ,henslowe's ,diary   
and ,mr4 ,r4 ,b4 ,mc,kerrow's ,works of 
,thomas ,nashe4 ,in #aijc he dreamed one
 night that some one offered him  a     
,shakespeare printed at                 
,stratford-on-,avon2 and within a year  
he had  started the ,shakespeare ,head  
,press in order to realise the dream1   
which  resulted in the ,stratford ,town 
,shakespeare in ten finely-printed      
volumes4 ,settling in ,stratford1 he    
devoted himself to printing and         
publishing1 chiefly scholarly works of  
,shakespearean lore2 but he  also       
printed the handsome ,collected ,edition
 of the works of ,w4 ,b4  ,yeats4 ,about
 #aijf1 in addition to his other        
labours1 he made a gallant  effort as   
editor of the ,gentleman's ,magazine to 

revive its ancient  glories1 and managed
 to collect a wide variety of excellent 
articles4  ,the best memorial to ,bullen
 would be the realisation of a scheme   
long  planned and fostered by him to    
make the ,shakespeare ,head ,press at   
,stratford-on-,avon a properly          
subsidised centre of ,british           
,shakespearean  scholarship4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,in person he bore1 especially in later 
years1 a striking resemblance  to ,mark 
,twain2 indeed1 at the time of ,mark's  
last visit to ,london1  ,bullen         
humorously complained of the awkwardness
 of being publicly  recognised as       
someone else4 ,he loved tramping and    
rambling--not exactly  walking--whether 
in country or town2 and as a young man  
had acquired a  knowledge of the        
high-roads and antiquities of ,england  
and ,wales that  was outdone only by his
 extensive and peculiar knowledge of    
various  brewages obtainable along the  
road4 ,here is a characteristic piece of

  ,bullen's writing--an ,editorial ,note
 in the ,gentleman's ,magazine in       
#aijf3      ,sylvanus ,urban1 then but a
 boy1 had started from ,chepstow on a   
solitary walking tour1 and was soon     
caught in a rattling thunderstorm    on 
the ,wyndcliff4 ,tintern ,abbey and     
,raglan ,castle are fresh in    his     
memory to-day4 ,a mile or two out of    
,monmouth he came upon    some excellent
 nutty-hearted ale that ,george ,borrow 
would have    immortalised4 ,as he      
pursued his way to ,raglan ,castle he   
pondered    on the ale--this way and    
that dividing the swift mind--until at  
length1 in despair of meeting an equal  
brew1 he turned back again    and had   
another tankard4 ,heavens1 what days    
were those6 ,in his pack    he carried  
the ,essays of ,elia and read them in an
 old inn at    ,llandovery1 where the   
gracious hostess lighted in his honour  
tall    wax candles fit to stand before 
an altar4 ,after leaving ,llandovery1   
he lost his way among the               

,caermarthenshire hills1 and was in very
    poor plight with hunger and fatigue 
when he reached the white-washed        
walls of ,tregaron4 ,at ,harlech he     
rested for a couple of days1 and    then
 covered the way to ,beddgelert--twenty 
miles1 if he remembers    rightly--at a 
spanking pace2 proceeding in the late   
afternoon to    climb ,snowdon1 and     
arriving at ,llanberis an hour or so    
before    midnight4 ,back to ,london1   
every inch of the way1 walked the young 
,sylvanus4 ,he indulges the hope that he
 may yet shoulder his pack    again4    
,he read and re-read unendingly2 he     
loved to talk of men and books with  a  
boon companion1 pacing to and fro1      
ruffling his grey mane and smoking      
continuously4 ,on such occasions he     
would stagger his friends with an       
unexpected display of familiarity with  
recondite literature1 or charm  them    
with impromptu quotations1 often at     
great length1 declaimed with  a loving  
appreciation of sound and rhythm4       

,everything that was old and  ripe with 
goodness he loved1 whether literature or
 furniture2 in poetry  above all his    
instinct for the best was infallible4   
,in ,english1 from  #aeej to his own    
day1 he seemed to have read and judged  
everything2  but the atmosphere of      
antiquity that he breathed shut him off 
from  appreciating many contemporary    
writers4 ,he would keep ,epictetus by   
his bedside1 and chant ,mrs4 ,browning's
 ,pan while he dressed2 he  championed  
,coventry ,patmore and could not admire 
,meredith4 ,his very  craftsmanship was 
antique2 he could not ride a bicycle1   
infinitely  preferring to walk2 a       
typewriter was offensive to one who     
wrote  innumerable letters all in his   
own hand2 he did not even shave himself1
  finding1 no doubt1 a daily pleasure in
 visiting the barber4 ,he was  equally  
sound in his judgments on mezzotints or 
mutton1 and preferred  old ,english     
fare1 with beer1 to ,frenchified fuss4  
,a chivalrous and  generous scholar and 

gentleman2 those who knew him will call 
to mind  the phrase in which ,bullen    
would refer to a dead friend--now with  
,god4           99       99       99    
99       99    ,mr4 ,g4 ,d4 ,smith1 the 
prince of book-dealers1 died suddenly in
 ,america  early in the month4 ,he had  
but recently been in ,england1 and a few
  days before his death was cabling to  
,england offers for an important        
library1 which he had tracked down just 
before leaving4 ,it was he who          
purchased the famous ,venus and ,adonis 
for #ae1ajj in the winter2 he  bought   
largely for the ,huntingdon ,library1   
and when he1 or one of his  millionaire 
clients1 really wanted a book in the    
,english salerooms the  prices might    
break records1 but there was no doubt   
about the book's  destination4 ,mr4     
,smith was not1 to put it mildly1 a     
reading man1 but  he had a wonderful    
nose for a good thing1 and he was an    
agreeable man  to deal with--a good     
business man1 but not one who attempted 

to trade  unduly upon people's          
ignorance4          ,,poetry            
,skindle's in ,poperinghe    7,the      
,salient1 #aiag7          ,shut the     
door1 ,jameson1 shut the blasted door-- 
,the whole road's blocked as far as     
,elverdinghe4        ,four ,bridge would
 hold you up an hour or more        ,so 
don't go crashing up to-night1 old      
thing--          ,what weather6         
,hall-marked ,flanders wind and rain6   
,come on inside4 ,my groom will take    
your mare        ,round to the smithy on
 the ,market ,square4        ,let's have
 a dekko at the carte again4            
,it's a posh lunch to-day1 ,suzanne's a 
vision1          ,and the room's lousy  
with the old ,division4          ,just  
now ,mac,martin stopped me on the street
        ,with news from ,amiens4 7,and  
,marguerite        ,sends you her love4 
,oh1 it's a bonzer war        ,in cushy 
billets at the ,poisson ,d',or67        
,mac is the same old swinger--he mistook
        ,his indicated route1 and lost  

his bunch1        ,jumped on a tender   
down from ,hazebrouck        ,and blew  
in here with ,willy ,braid for lunch4   
,they're in the bar with ,tupper1 back  
from ,blighty1          ,capping his    
yarns of ,baths and ,aphrodite4         
,yes--,i go back at dawn4 ,we're on the 
ridge        ,over the ,steenbeek by the
 corduroy bridge1        ,past the big  
pill-box with the double cleft          
,to the main route stumps on the        
sky-line--then half-left4          ,it's
 about an hour from the lorry-stand1    
unless        ,you take the duckboards  
near the ,r4,e4 shaft4        ,quicker  
that way1 of course1 but badly strafed4 
,you'll see a stranded tank             
there--that's the ,mess4          ,what 
is it like now8 ,smelly1 ,jim1 and      
muddy--          ,under restraint1 ,i   
call it fairly bloody4          ,nothing
 like ,nieuport4 ,why1 it seems an age--
        ,and yet the year is barely four
 months older1        ,since we got     
rounds up on the narrow-gauge           

,and visited ,belgian outposts in the   
polder4          ,that was the life1 old
 ,jimmy6 ,now it's a black        ,and  
gory business1 slogging away by pack--  
,most of it salvage--while the          
five-nines crump        ,our            
half-drowned hairies staggering from the
 dump4          7,well1 here's luck1    
,jim6 ,gone dry8 ,why1 ,i'd forgotten-- 
,another brand1 ,suzanne6 ,this sweet   
stuff's rotten47          ,there's a new
 mob to-night about the town--          
,the whole back area's stiff with guns  
and troops1        ,and ,proven road's  
chock-full with heavy groups            
,from six-inch up4 ,they've put the     
tape-lines down          ,and moved the 
forward dumps to ,poelcapelle4          
,battle-headquarters' somewhere near the
 ,bower1        ,all day and night we're
 brassing off like hell--        ,it's  
going to be a ,brock's at zero hour6    
,the ,hun's not loafing though--he's    
getting windy1          ,listen6 ,even  
from here you can hear the shindy4      

,two nights ago we caught it            
hell-for-leather4        ,the new relief
 had just gone on ahead1        ,leaving
 the altered signal green-over-red4     
,there was a little mist1 and some soft 
weather--          ,all quiet at nine   
o'clock4 ,hardly a sound4        ,i took
 my gum-boots for a last look round4    
,nothing was doing beside the usual     
cracks        ,of long-range shrapnel on
 the duckboard tracks1          ,and a  
crooning eight-inch1 humping along a    
load          ,meant for the siding on  
the ,pilkem road4          ,clusters of 
,very lights along the line             
,flickered and plunged4 ,they helped my 
eyes to mark        ,our barrage-lines  
across the battery-arc4        ,the     
pools were hoared with silver in the    
shine4          ,peaceful it was4 ,i    
strolled and smoked and stared--        
,there came a quickened rumble in the   
,east1        ,down the battalion front 
the lights increased4        ,machine   
guns raved and stuttered4 ,a rocket     

flared--          ,scarlet and          
golden-rain spouted and spread1         
,flares and skysigns and stars1 and     
,green-over-red6          ,watch for it1
 ,sentry6 ,there again4 ,yes6           
,battery-,action6 ,s4,o4,s46            
,shadowy man after man leaps to a gun4  
,flash from the centre--five then flash 
as one4        ,all round are flashes1  
lighting the livid        ,faces of     
straining gun-crews4                    
,vicious and vivid        ,fire spirals 
and cataracts--knives1 spikes        ,of
 fire stabbing the dark4 ,batters and   
strikes        ,on the ears the         
unutterable1 profound                   
,debauchery of sound--        ,the roar 
and clutter and whinny--sustained1      
obscene        ,as if the dead beasts of
 the ,pleistocene1                      
,spawned of the essence        ,of      
ravaged earth's womb and her churned    
putrescence        ,were howling over   
the mud their lusts unclean4            
,then--well1 when every hollow's a      

belching mass        ,of wrangling guns1
 guns bellowing to guns--        ,you   
cannot tell a burst of ours from the    
,huns'--        ,suddenly through the   
cordite ,i smelt the gas4          ,down
 went the warning through the roar and  
screech--        ,the spitting splinters
 ploughed us like a squall1             
,half-blinded gunners wrestled with the 
breech1        ,gas-helmeted1           
smoke-drenched--you know it all--       
,then the five-nines began4 ,a salvo    
came1          ,and ,number ,four went  
up in a gust of flame4          ,i      
thought the whole of the line was       
smashed and finished--        ,and then1
 through the reek of the fog and the    
dropping mire1        ,from the right   
flank1 steady and undiminished1         
,came the assuring crashes of           
section-fire1          ,timed and       
checked and re-laid4 ,we groped and     
plunged        ,to pull the stricken    
out4 ,still droned the steady           
,voice of the sergeants at the set and  

ready4        ,number ,one1 fire6 ,the  
muzzle flamed and lunged4               
,number ,two1 fire6                     
,by ,god1 those chaps are stunners6     
,search ,france1 you'll find no better  
than my gunners4          ,but some good
 men went ,west--some of the best4      
,horses or men1 the best must always    
go--        ,jim1 it's a mad-blind1     
lunatic1 filthy show--        ,destiny's
 pitch-and-toss made manifest4          
,i'm sick to death of it4               
,and yet--and yet        ,there's a hold
 somehow in this crazed eclipse         
,of the normal orient--a hold that      
grips--        ,nothing in life1 ,i     
suppose1 lacks credit and debt--        
,the battered brain may hanker for      
surcease1          ,but under the       
brain--its curious--there is peace4     
,hold on a bit4 ,last leave ,i met a    
fellow        ,who cornered me at the   
club and hiccupped crude                
,optimist zeal and tub-worn platitude-- 
,you know the sort4 ,slug-bellied1      

slushy1 mellow4        ,he winked1 and  
wagged his tubby hands1 and spouted--   
,break through next time1 old boy6 ,he  
knew1 he knew--        ,the final trap  
was laid--the ,hun was outed--          
,he'd had it straight from ,jones at    
,g4,h4,q4--          ,and--,then we'll  
see you sportsmen back at ,dover        
,covered with glory--sorry it's all     
over4          ,so ,i let fly4 ,i fed   
the blaze with faggots--        ,hinted 
that on the whole we liked the ,hun--   
,roughed out a sketch of charnel-heaps  
and maggots--        ,the side of war   
that isn't sport nor fun2               
,flung a few phrases chosen from the    
camps        ,at itch-struck females    
dashing about in cars        ,to pose in
 sketchy frills at snide bazaars--      
,at fat old profiteers and statesmen's  
ramps--          ,oh1 yes6 ,i piled it  
on4 ,he loathed the pill1          ,and 
barged his way out1 rosy round the gill4
          ,but was the swine half-right8
 ,it sounds like bliss        ,to sleep 

serene o' nights without surmise        
,of ,s4,o4,s4 lights screaming to the   
skies1        ,deep in the warmth of    
,blighty out of this--          ,it     
sounds like bliss to forget the         
dug-out's reeking1        ,the bitter   
fog in the eyes1 the life on a thread1  
,the crazed crescendo of the mortars    
seeking        ,half-callous living and 
the unheeding dead1          ,and drowse
 in everlasting furloughs1 under        
,the placid roofs of peace-time4        
,well1 ,i wonder6          ,if we get   
through it--if the ,immortals choose    
,to grant a span again1 when this be    
ended1        ,of ordered life1         
impenetrably fended        ,by small    
restraints and sanctions and taboos--   
,shall the recovered cares and leisures 
grip        ,the flabbier soul1 or shall
 desire return        ,back to the      
dug-out's care-free comradeship         
,and battle-time's magnificent unconcern
          ,for dim to-morrows8 ,shall we
 find1 once more1          ,peace has   

its surfeits too as well as ,war8       
,not the drab shadows only we'll        
remember1        ,but all the colour    
there was--the browns and blues         
,down the deep shaft of ,flemish        
avenues2        ,the swaying harvests   
gold-drenched with ,september2          
,and frosty mornings in the ,spring     
retreat        ,when the scrap opened   
out1 and it was good        ,to choose a
 gun-park in the greening wheat         
,and pitch a hidden tent in ,holnon     
,wood--          ,jimmy1 old son1 it    
made the pulses dance          ,to see  
those ,devon daffodils in ,france6      
,we shall recall the eager clank and    
jingle        ,of gun-teams on the pav1 
moving ,south1        ,the long         
off-saddle in the midday drouth1        
,feed in the cowslips by the wayside    
dingle2          ,the journey's welcome 
end amid the cool        ,clutter of    
sun-warmed barns and straggling pines2  
,the urgent fuss around the wagon-lines2
        ,sweat-roughened horses drinking

 at the pool--          ,and then the   
morning start1 with head-chains ringing 
,swinging along at ease1 the drivers'   
singing4444          ,and moments better
 still4 ,i thank the gods        ,for   
one white1 perfect hour at ,conteville1 
,with ,bosches massing on the nearer    
hill1        ,and open sights as near as
 makes no odds4          ,young ,grant  
was with us then4 ,the boy was daft1    
,blind to the snipers1 yelling like the 
damned3        ,oh1 good6 ,oh1 bloody   
good6 at every waft        ,of          
three-rounds-gunfire4 ,then left section
 jammed1          ,and back the buzzers'
 private signal rolled3          ,sweat 
on it1 chum6 ,we've got the bastards    
cold6          ,such memories blaze     
their imprint under the traces          
,of darker records on the palimpsest4   
,the blacker the time the deeper bites  
the zest        ,of sudden sunshine on  
the open spaces4        ,there's a rough
 justice fingering the scale            
,where greater guerdons risk the longer 

price--        ,hazard your neck1 and   
savour your cakes and ale--        ,seek
 ,eden-fruit1 and stake your ,paradise4 
,for though smooth road's good going1   
,jim--a kiss          ,snatched at the  
edge of ,hell is tenfold bliss4         
,one thing is sure4 ,this crazy         
round-about        ,destroys the        
introspective attitude4        ,action  
uproots the dreamy ,hamlet-mood1        
,and blithely cuts the yellow throat of 
,doubt4          ,your job is clear     
before you1 catalogued        ,from dawn
 to dawn4 ,you cannot miss the greens1  
,slice as you will--the fairway lies    
undogged        ,by furtive may-be-sos  
and might-have-beens--          ,flank  
unto flank no hesitation ghosts         
,the crude commands of ,corps           
,direction-,posts4          ,leave it at
 that1 then4 ,on your toes1 old son6    
,still with a grin for plagues we can't 
abolish--        ,the super-fatted      
,staff2 the wily ,hun2        ,the      
,army's tribal god of ,spit-and-,polish4

          ,blight seize 'em all6        
,i'll wander now and borrow        ,a   
couple of blankets from the ,r4,t4,o41  
,you can doss down with me an hour or   
so4        ,we'll trek together to the  
guns to-morrow4          ,finish your   
swipes1 old ,jimmy1 while you can--     
,walk--,march6 ,the blooming ride6      
,bonne chance1                          
,suzanne6                               
,l4 ,m4 ,,hastings      ,nobis cum      
,pereant          ,nobis cum pereant    
amorum          ,et dulcedines et decor1
        ,tu nostrorum prteritorum1      
,anima mundi1 sis memor4          ,on   
the mind's lonely hill-top lying        
,i saw man's life go by like a breath1  
,and ,love that longs to be love        
undying1          ,bowed with fear of   
the void of death4        ,if ,time be  
master1 ,i heard her weeping1           
,how shall ,i save the loves ,i bore8   
,they are gone1 they are gone beyond my 
keeping--          ,anima mundi1 sis    
memor6          ,soul of the ,world1    

thou seest them failing--               
,childhood's loveliness1 child's        
delight--        ,lost as stars in the  
daylight paling1          ,trodden to   
earth as flowers in fight4              
,surely in these thou hast thy          
pleasure--          ,yea6 they are thine
 and born therefor3        ,shall they  
not be with thy hid treasure8--         
,anima mundi1 sis memor6          ,only 
a moment we can fold them          ,here
 in the home whose life they are3       
,only a moment more behold them         
,as in a picture1 small and far4        
,oh1 in the years when even this seeming
          ,lightens the eyes of ,love no
 more1        ,dream them still in thy  
timeless dreaming          ,anima mundi1
 sis memor6                             
,,henry ,,newbolt      ,beechwood4      
,hear me1 ,o beeches6 ,you        ,that 
have with ageless anguish slowly risen  
,from earth's still secret prison       
,into the ampler prison of aery blue4   
,your voice ,i hear1 flowing the valleys

 through        ,after the wind that    
tramples from the west4        ,after   
the wind your boughs in new unrest      
,shake1 and your voice--one voice       
uniting voices        ,a thousand or a  
thousand thousand--flows        ,like   
the wind's moody2 glad when he rejoices 
,in swift-succeeding and diminishing    
blows1        ,and drooping when        
declines death's ardour in his breast2  
,then over him exhausted weaving the    
soft fan-like noises        ,of gentlest
 creaking stems and soothing leaves     
,until he rest1        ,and silent too  
your easied bosom heaves4          ,that
 high and noble wind is rootless nor    
,from stable earth sucks nurture1 but   
roams on        ,childless as           
fatherless1 wild1 unconfined1        ,so
 that men say1 ,as homeless as the wind6
        ,rising and falling and rising  
evermore        ,with years like ticks1 
ons as centuries gone2        ,only     
within impalpable ether bound           
,and blindly with the green globe       

spinning round4        ,he1 noble wind1 
,most ancient creature of imprisoned    
,time1        ,from high to low may     
fall1 and low to high may climb1        
,andean peak to deep-caved southern sea1
        ,with lifted hand and voice of  
gathered sound1        ,and echoes in   
his tossing quiver bound        ,and    
loosed from height into immensity1      
,yet of his freedom tires1 remaining    
free4        --,moulding and remoulding 
imponderable cloud1        ,uplifting   
skyey archipelagian isles               
,sunnier than ocean's1 blue seas and    
white isles        ,aflush with blossom 
where late sunlight glowed--            
,still of his freedom tiring yet still  
free1        ,homelessly roaming between
 sky1 earth and sea4          ,but you1 
,o beeches1 even as men1 have root      
,deep in apparent and substantial       
things--        ,earth1 sun1 air1 water1
 and the chemic fruit        ,wise ,time
 of these has made4 ,what laughing      
,springs        ,your branches sprinkle 

young leaf-shadows o'er        ,that    
wanting the leaf-shadows were no        
,springs        ,of seasonable sweet and
 freshness6 nor        ,if ,summer of   
your murmur gathered not                
,increase of music as your leaves grow  
dense1        ,might even kine and birds
 and general noise of wings        ,of  
summer make full ,summer1 but the hot   
,slow moons would pass and leave        
unsatisfied the sense4        ,nor      
,autumn's waste were dear if your gold  
snow        ,of leaves whirled not upon 
the gold below2        ,nor ,winter's   
snow were loveliness complete           
,wanting the white drifts round your    
breasts and feet4        ,to hills how  
many has your tossed green given        
,likeness of an inverted cloudy heaven2 
,how many ,english hills enlarge their  
pride        ,of shape and solitude     
,by beechwoods darkening the steepest   
side6        ,i know a ,mount--let there
 my longing brood        ,again1 as oft 
my eyes--a ,mount ,i know        ,where 

beeches stand arrested in the throe     
,of that last onslaught when the gods   
swept low        ,against the gods      
inhabiting the wood4        ,gods into  
trees did pass and disappear1           
,gigantic beeches opened and received1  
,then closing1 body and huge members    
heaved        ,with energy and agony and
 fear4        ,see how the thighs were  
strained1 how tortured here4            
,see1 limb from limb sprung1 pain too   
sore to bear4        ,eyes once looked  
from those sockets that no eyes         
,have worn since--oh1 with what         
desperate surprise6        ,these arms1 
uplifted still1 were raised in vain     
,against alien triumph and the inward   
pain4        ,unlock your arms1 and be  
no more distressed1        ,let the wind
 glide over you easily again4        ,it
 is a dream you fight1 a memory         
,of battle lost4 ,and how should        
dreaming be        ,still a renewed     
agony8        ,but ,o1 when that wind   
comes up out of the west                

,new-winged with ,autumn from the       
distant sea        ,and springs upon    
you1 how should not dreaming be         
,a remembered and renewing agony8       
,then are your breasts1 ,o unleaved     
beeches1 again        ,torn1 and your   
thighs and arms with the old strain     
,stretched past endurance2 and your     
groans ,i hear        ,low bent beneath 
the hoofs by that fierce charioteer     
,driven clashing over2 till even        
dreaming is        ,less of a present   
agony than this4          ,fall gentler 
sleep upon you now1 while soft          
,airs circle swallow-like from hedge to 
croft        ,below your lowest         
naked-rooted troop4        ,let evening 
slowly droop        ,into the middle of 
your boughs and stoop        ,quiet     
breathing down to your scarce-quivering 
side        ,and rest there satisfied4  
,yet sleep herself may wake        ,and 
through your heavy unlit dome1 ,o ,mount
 of beeches1 shake4        ,then shall  
your massy columns yield        ,again  

the company all day concealed4444       
,is it their shapes that sweep          
,serene within the ambit of the ,moon   
,sentinel'd by shades slow-marching with
 moss-footed hours that                 
creep        ,from dusk of night to dusk
 of day--slow-marching1 yet too soon    
,approaching morn8 ,are these their     
grave        ,remembering ghosts8       
444 ,already your full-foliaged branches
 wave1        ,and the thin failing     
hosts        ,into your secrecies are   
swift withdrawn        ,before the      
certain footsteps of the dawn4          
,but you1 ,o beeches1 even as men have  
root        ,deep in apparent and       
substantial things4        ,birds on    
your branches leap and shake their      
wings1        ,long ere night falls the 
soft owl loosens her slow hoot          
,from the unfathomed fountains of your  
gloom4        ,late western sunbeams on 
your broad trunks bloom1                
,levelled from the low opposing hill1   
and fold        ,your inmost conclave   

with a burning gold4        444 ,than   
those night-ghosts awhile more solid1   
men        ,pass within your sharp shade
 that makes an arctic night        ,of  
common light1        ,and pause1 swift  
measuring tree by tree2 and then        
,paint their vivid mark1                
,ciphering fatality on each unwrinkled  
bark        ,across the sunken stain    
,that every season's gathered streaming 
rain        ,has deepened to a darker   
grain4        ,you of this fatal sign   
unconscious lift        ,your branches  
still1 each tree her lofty tent2        
,still light and twilight drift         
,between1 and lie in wan pools silver   
sprent4        ,but comes a day1 a step1
 a voice1 and now        ,the repeated  
stroke1 the noosed and tethered bough1  
,the sundered trunk upon the enormous   
wain        ,bound kinglike with chain  
over chain1        ,new wounded and     
exposed with each old stain4        ,and
 here small pools of doubtful light are 
lakes        ,shadowless and no more    

that rude bough-music wakes4            
,so on men too the indifferent woodman1 
,time1        ,servant of unseen        
,master1 nearing sets        ,his unread
 symbol--or who reads forgets2          
,and suns and seasons fall and climb1   
,leaves fall1 snows fall1 ,spring       
flutters after ,spring1        ,a       
generation a generation begets4         
,but comes a day--though dearly the     
tough roots cling        ,to common     
earth1 branches with branches sing--    
,and that obscure sign's read1 or swift 
misread1        ,by the indifferent     
woodman or his slave        ,disease1   
night-wandered from a fever-dripping    
cave4        ,no chain's then needed for
 no fearful king1        ,but light     
earth-fall on foot and hand and head4   
,now1 thick as stars leaves shake within
 the dome        ,of faintly-glinting   
dusking monochrome2        ,and stars   
thick hung as leaves shake unseen in the
 round        ,of darkening blue3 the   
heavenly branches wave without a sound1 

,only betrayed by fine vibration of thin
 air4        ,gleam now the nearer stars
 and ghosts of farther stars that bare1 
,trembling and gradual1 brightness      
everywhere4444        ,when leaves fall 
wildly and your beechen dome is thinned1
        ,showered glittering down under 
the sudden wind2        ,and when you1  
crowded stars1 are shaken from your     
tree1        ,in time's late season     
stripped1 and each bough nakedly        
,rocks in those gleamless shallows of   
infinity2        ,when star-fall follows
 leaf-fall1 will long ,winter pass away 
,and new stars as new leaves dance      
through their hasty ,may8        ,but as
 a leaf falls so falls weightless       
thought        ,eddying1 and with a     
myriad dead leaves lies                 
,bewildered1 or in a little air awhile  
is caught        ,idly1 then drops and  
dies4          ,look at the stars1 the  
stars8 ,but in this wood        ,all ,i 
can understand is understood4           
,gentler than stars your beeches speak2 

,i hear        ,syllables more simple   
and intimately clear        ,to         
earth-taught sense1 than the            
heaven-singing word        ,of that     
intemperate wisdom which the sky        
,shakes down upon each unregarding      
century1        ,there lying like snow  
unstirred1        ,unmelting1 on the    
loftiest peak        ,above our human   
and green valley ways4        ,lowlier  
and friendlier your beechen branches    
speak        ,to men of mortal days     
,with hearts too fond1 too weak         
,for solitude or converse with that     
starry race4        ,their shaken       
lights1        ,their lonely splendours 
and uncomprehended                      
,dream-distance and long circlings 'mid 
the heights        ,and deeps remotely  
neighboured and attended        ,by     
spheres that spill their fire through   
these estranging                        
nights3--        ,ah1 were they less    
dismaying1 or less splendid6        ,but
 as one deaf and mute sees the lips     

shape        ,and quiver as men talk1 or
 marks the throat        ,of rising song
 that he can never hear1        ,though 
in the singer's eyes her joy may dimly  
peer1        ,and song and word his     
hopeless sense escape--        ,sweet   
common word and lifted heavenly note--  
,so1 beneath that bright rain1          
,while stars rise1 soar1 and stoop1     
,dazzled and dismayed ,i look and droop 
,and1 blinded1 look again4              
,return1 return6 ,o beeches sing you    
then4        ,i like a tree wave all my 
thoughts with you1        ,as your      
boughs wave to other tossed boughs when 
,first in the windy east the dawn looks 
through        ,night's soon-dissolving 
bars4        ,return1 return8 ,but ,i   
have never strayed3        ,hush1       
thoughts1 that for a moment played      
,in that enchanted forest of the stars  
,where the mind grows numb4             
,return1 return8        ,back1 thoughts1
 from heights that freeze and deeps that
 burn1        ,where sight fails and    

song's dumb4        ,and as1 after long 
absence1 a child stands        ,in each 
familiar room        ,and with fond     
hands        ,touches the table1        
casement1 bed1        ,anon1 each       
sleeping1 half-forgotten toy2        ,so
 ,i to your sharp light and friendly    
gloom        ,returning1 with first pale
 leaves round me shed1        ,recover  
the old joy        ,since here the      
long-acquainted hill-path lies1         
,steeps ,i have clambered up1 and spaces
 where        ,the ,mount opens her     
bosom to the air        ,and all around 
gigantic beeches rise4                  
,,john ,,freeman      ,shobeensho       
7,from the ,irish ,gaelic7    ,for my   
,granddaughter ,jenny          ,o not as
 the wife of a churl would wrap you1    
,in coarse country woollens so roughly  
to hap you2        ,between two sheets  
of the silk ,i'll lay you1        ,a    
cradle of gold in the wind to sway you4 
,i'd rock you to rest1 my bright        
new-comer1        ,one dreamy day in the

 height of summer1        ,under the    
eaves of whispering leaves1             
,drowsed by the drone of the wee        
bee-drummer4          ,may a dream of   
delight steal into your slumber2        
,till evening makes way for the ,starry 
,number1        ,and with ,god's bright 
angels around to mind you1        ,no   
finger of death ,i pray may find you6   
,,alfred ,,perceval ,,graves      ,storm
 and ,stars          ,naked night2 black
 elms1 pallid and streaming sky8        
,alone with the passion of the wind1    
,in a hollow of stormy sound lost and   
alone am ,i1          ,on beaten earth a
 lost1 unmated mind1        ,marvelling 
at the stars1 few1 strange and bright1  
,that all this dark assault of surging  
air1        ,wrenching the rooted wood1 
hunting the cloud of night1          ,as
 if it would tear all and nothing spare1
                    ,leaves supreme in  
the height4          ,against what laws1
 what laws1 what powers invisible1      
,sought not1 yet always found1          

,cries this dumb passion1 strains this  
wrestle of wild will1          ,with    
tiger-leaps that seem to shake the      
ground8        ,is it the baffled1      
homeless1 rebel wind's crying1          
,or storm from a profounder passion     
wrung8        ,ah1 heart of man1 is it  
you1 the old powers defying1            
,by far desires1 by terrible beauty     
stung1        ,broken on laws unseen1 in
 a starry world dying1                  
,ignorant1 tameless1 young8             
,,laurence ,,binyon          ,,the      
,,foreshore ,,of ,,london    ,by ,h4 ,m4
 ,,tomlinson      ,it begins on the     
north side of the ,city1 at ,poverty    
,corner4 ,it begins  imperceptibly1 and 
very likely is no more than what a      
native knows is  there4 ,it does not    
look like a foreshore4 ,it looks like   
another of the  byways of the capital4  
,there is nothing to distinguish it from
 the rest  of ,fenchurch ,street4 ,you  
will not find it in the directory1 for  
its  name is only a familiar bearing    

used by seamen among themselves4 ,if  a 
wayfarer came upon it from the west1 he 
might stop to light a pipe  7as well    
there as anywhere7 and pass on1 guessing
 nothing of what it  is and of its      
memories4 ,and why should he8 ,london is
 built of such old  shadows2 and while  
we are here casting our own there is not
 much time  to turn and question what   
they fall upon4 ,yet if some            
unreasonable  doubt1 a suspicion that he
 was being watched1 made a stranger     
hesitate  at that corner1 he might begin
 to feel that ,london there was as      
different from ,bayswater and ,clapham  
as though deep water intervened4  ,in a 
sense deep water does2 and not only the 
sea1 but legends of ships  that have    
gone1 and of the men who knew them1 and 
traditions of a  service older than     
anything ,whitehall knows1 though still 
as lively as  enterprise itself1 and as 
recent as the ships which moved on      
to-day's  high water4    ,in a frame    
outside one of its shops hangs a        

photograph of a sailing  ship4 ,the     
portrait is so large and the beauty of  
the subject so evident  that it might   
have been the cause of the stranger     
stopping there to  fill his pipe4 ,yet  
how could he know that to those groups  
of men  loitering about the name of that
 ship is as familiar as ,suez or ,rio1  
even though they have never seen her8   
,they know her as well as they  know    
their business4 ,they know her          
house-flag--it is indistinguishable  in 
the picture--and her master1 and it is  
possible the oldest of them  remembers  
the ,clippers of that fleet of which she
 alone now carries the  emblem2 for this
 is not only another year1 but another  
era4 ,but they do  not look at her      
portrait4 ,they spit into the road1 or  
stare across it1  and rarely move from  
where they stand1 except to pace up and 
down as  though keeping a watch4 ,at one
 time1 perhaps thirty years ago1 it was 
usual to see gold rings in their ears4  
,it is said that if you wanted  a bunch 

of men to run a little river steamer1   
with a freeboard of six  inches1 out to 
,delagoa ,bay1 you could engage them all
 at this corner1  or at the taverns just
 up the turning4 ,the suggestion of such
 a voyage1  in such a ship1 would turn  
us to look on these men in wonder1 for  
it is  the way of all but the wise to   
expect appearance to betray admirable   
qualities4 ,these fellows1 though1 are  
not significant1 except that you  might 
think of some of them that their ease   
and indifference were  assumed1 and     
that1 when trying not to look so1 they  
were very conscious  of the haste and   
importance of this great city into which
 that corner  jutted far enough for     
them4 ,they have just landed or they are
 about to  sail again1 and they might be
 standing on the shore eyeing the town  
beyond1 in which the fate of ships is   
known by those they never see1  but who 
are inimical to them1 and whose ways are
 inscrutable4    ,if there are any      
inland shops which can hold one longer  

than the place  where that ship's       
portrait hangs1 then ,i do not know     
them4 ,that comes  from no more1 of     
course1 than the usual fault of an early
 impression4  ,that fault gives a mould 
to the mind1 and our latest thoughts1   
which  we try to make reasonable1 betray
 that accidental shape4 ,it may be  said
 that ,i looked into this window while  
still soft4 ,the consequence1  everybody
 knows1 would be incurable in a boy who 
saw sextants for the  first time1       
compasses1 patent logs1                 
sounding-machines1 signalling-gear1  and
 the other secrets of navigators4 ,not  
only those things1 either4  ,there was a
 section given to books1 with classics  
like ,stevens on  ,stowage1 and ,norie's
 ,navigation1 volumes never seen west of
  ,gracechurch ,street4 ,the books were 
all for the eyes of sailors1 and  were  
sorted by chance4 ,knots and ,splices1  
,typee1 ,know ,your ,own  ,ship1 the    
,south ,pacific ,directory1 and         
,castaway on the ,auckland  ,islands4   

,there were many of them1 and they were 
in that fortuitous and  attractive      
order4 ,the back of every volume had to 
be read1 though the  light was bad4 ,on 
one wall between the windows a specimen 
chart was  framed4 ,maps are good2 but  
how much better are charts1 especially  
when  you cannot read them except by    
guessing at their cryptic lettering6    
,about the coast line the fathom marks  
cluster thickly1 and venture to  sea in 
lines which attenuate1 or become sparse 
clusters1 till the chart  is blank1     
being beyond soundings4 ,at the ,capes  
are red dots1 with arcs  on the seaward 
side to show at what distance mariners  
pick up the real  lights at night4      
,through such windows1 boys with bills  
of lading and  mates' receipts in their 
pockets1 being on errands to            
ship-owners1 look  outward1 and only    
seem to look inward4 ,where are the     
confines of ,london8    ,opposite       
,poverty ,corner there is1 or there used
 to be1 an archway  into a courtyard    

where in one old office the walls were  
hung with  half-models of sailing ships4
 ,i remember the name of one1 the       
,winifred4 ,deed-boxes stood on shelves1
 with the name of a ship on  each4      
,there was a mahogany counter1 an       
encrusted pewter inkstand1  desks made  
secret with high screens1 and a silence 
that might have  been the reproof to    
intruders of a repute remembered in     
silence and  dignity behind the screens 
by those who kept waiting so unimportant
  a visitor as a boy4 ,on the counter   
was a stand displaying sailing  cards1  
announcing1 among other events in       
,london river1 the fine ship            
,blackadder for immediate dispatch1     
having most of her cargo engaged1  to   
,brisbane4 ,and in those days1 just     
round the corner in ,billiter  ,street1 
one of the ,east ,india ,company's      
warehouses still remained1 a  sombre    
relic among the new limestone and red   
granite offices1 a massive  archway in  
its centre leading1 it could be         

believed1 to an enclosure  of night left
 by the eighteenth century and          
forgotten4 ,i never saw  anybody go into
 it1 nor come out4 ,how could they8 ,it 
was of another  time and place4 ,the    
familiar ,tower1 the ,guildhall that we 
knew nearly  as well1 the ,cathedral    
which certainly existed1 for it could   
often be  seen in the distance1 and the 
,abbey that was little more than        
something  we had heard named1 they were
 but the scenery close to the 'buses4   
,yet  ,london was more wonderful than   
anything they could make it appear4     
,about ,fenchurch ,street and           
,leadenhall ,street waggons could be    
seen  going east1 bearing bales and     
cases1 and the packages were portmarked 
for ,sourabaya1 ,para1 ,ilo-,ilo1 and   
,santos--names like those4 ,they had  to
 be seen to be believed4 ,one could     
stand there1 forced to think that  the  
sun never did more than make the floor  
of asphalted streets glow  like polished
 brass1 and that the evening light was  

full of glittering  motes and smelt of  
dust1 and that life worked itself out   
with ink in  cupboards made of glass and
 mahogany2 and suddenly you learned1    
while  smelling the dust1 that ,acapulco
 was more than a portent in a book and  
held only by an act of faith4 ,yet that 
astonishing revelation1 enough  to make 
any youthful messenger forget where he  
himself was bound1  through turning to  
follow with his eyes so casual an       
acceptance by a  carrier's cart of the  
verity of a fable1 is nowhere mentioned1
 ,i have  found since1 in any guide to  
our capital1 though you may learn how   
,cornhill got its name4    ,for though  
,londoners understand the ,guildhall    
pigeons have as much  right to the place
 as the ,aldermen1 they look upon the   
seabirds by  ,london ,bridge as vagrant 
strangers4 ,they do not know where their
 city  ends on the east side4 ,their    
river descends from ,oxford in more than
  one sense1 and ceases to lose their   
respect in the neighbourhood of         

,westminster4 ,it has little history    
worth mentioning below that4 ,to  the   
poets the river fails them1 it becomes  
flat and songless where at  ,richmond   
the sea's remote influence just moves   
it2 and there they leave  it4 ,the      
,thames goes down then to a wide grey   
vacuity1 a featureless  monotony where  
men but toil1 where life becomes silent 
in effort1 and  goes out through fogs to
 nowhere in particular4 ,but there is a 
hilltop  at ,woolwich from which1 better
 than from ,richmond1 our river1 the    
burden-bearer1 the road which joins us  
to ,new ,york and ,sydney1 can  be seen 
for what it is1 plainly related to a    
vaster world1 with the  ships upon its  
bright path moving through the smoke and
 buildings of  the ,city4 ,and surely   
some surmise of what our river is comes 
to a few  of that multitude which       
crosses ,london ,bridge every day8 ,they
 favour  the east side of it1 ,i have   
noticed1 and they cannot always resist a
  pause to stare overside to the ,pool4 

,why do they8 ,ships are there1 it  is  
true1 but only insignificant traders1   
diminished by sombre cliffs up  which   
their cargo is hauled piecemeal to      
vanish instantly into mid-air  caverns2 
,london absorbs all they have as        
morsels4 ,anyhow1 it is the  business of
 ships4 ,the people on the bridge watch 
another life below1  with its strange   
cries and mysterious movements4 ,a      
leisurely wisp of  steam rises from a   
steamer's funnel4 ,she is alive and     
breathing1  though motionless4 ,the     
walls enclosing the ,pool are spectral  
in a  winter light1 and might be no more
 than the almost forgotten memory  of a 
dark past4 ,looking at them intently1 to
 give them a name1 the  wayfarer on the 
bridge could imagine they were          
maintained there only by  the frail     
effort of his will4 ,once they were1 but
 now1 in some moods1  they are merely   
remembered4 ,only the men busy on the   
deck of the ship  below are real4       
,through an arch beneath the feet a     

barge shoots out  noiselessly on the    
ebb1 and staring down at its sudden     
apparition you  feel dizzily that it has
 the bridge in tow and that all you     
people  there are being drawn down      
resistlessly into that lower world of   
shades4 ,you release yourself from this 
spell with an effort and look at  the   
faces of those who are beside you at the
 parapet4 ,what are their  thoughts8 ,do
 they know8 ,have they also seen the    
ghosts8 ,have they felt  stirring a     
secret and forgotten desire1 old        
memories1 and tales that  were told8    
,they move away and go to their desks1  
or to their homes in  the suburbs4 ,a   
vessel that has hauled into the fairway 
calls for the  ,tower ,bridge gates to  
be opened for her4 ,she is going4 ,we   
watch the  eastern mists which take her 
from us4 ,for we never are so passive   
and  well disciplined to the routine of 
the things which compel us1 but         
rebellion comes at times--misgiving that
 there is a world beyond the  one we    

know1 regret that we never ventured and 
made no discovery1 and  that our time   
has been saved and not spent4 ,the      
bascules descend again4    ,there1 where
 that ship vanished1 is the highway     
which brought those  unknown folk whose 
need created ,london out of reeds and   
mere4 ,it is  our oldest road1 and now  
has many by-paths4 ,near ,poverty       
,corner is a  building which recently   
was dismissed with a brief humorous     
reference  in a new guide to our        
,city--a cobbled forecourt1 tame        
pigeons1 cabs1 a  brick-front topped by 
a clock-face3 ,fenchurch ,street        
,station4 ,beyond  its dingy platforms1 
the metal track which contracts into the
 murk is  the road to ,china1 though    
that is1 perhaps1 the last place you    
would  guess to be at the end of it4    
,the train runs over a wilderness of    
tiles1 a grey plateau of bare slate and 
rock1 its expanse cracked and  scored as
 though by a withering heat4 ,nothing   
grows there2 nothing  could live there4 

,smoke still pours from it1 as though it
 were  volcanic1 from numberless vents4 
,the region is without sap4 ,above its  
plains project superior fumaroles1 their
 drifting vapours dissolving  great     
areas4 ,when the train descends         
slightly1 then holes appear in  that    
cliff which runs parallel with your     
track4 ,the desert is actually          
burrowed1 and every hole in the plateau 
is a habitation4 ,something does  live  
there4 ,that region of burnt and        
fissured rock is tunnelled and          
inhabited2 the unlikely serrations and  
ridges with the smoke moving  over them 
are porous1 and a fluid life ranges     
beneath unseen4 ,it is the  beginning of
 ,dockland4 ,that the life is in upright
 beings1 each with  independent volition
 and a soul2 that it is not an amorphous
 movement1  flowing in bulk through     
buried pipes1 incapable of the idea of  
height1  of rising1 is difficult to     
believe4 ,it has not been believed4 ,if 
life1 you protest1 is really there1 has 

any sense which is better than  that of 
extending worm-like through the         
underground1 then why1 at  intervals1 is
 there not an upheaval1 a geyser-like   
burst1 a plain hint  from a power       
usually pent1 but liable to go skywards8
 ,but that is for  the desert to answer4
 ,as by mocking chance the desert itself
 almost  instantly shows what           
possibilities are hidden within it4 ,the
 train  roars unexpectedly over a       
viaduct1 and below is a deep hollow     
filled  with light1 with a floor of     
water1 and a surprise of ships4 ,how did
  that white schooner get into such an  
enclosure8 ,is freedom nearer here  than
 we thought8    ,the crust of roofs ends
 abruptly in a country which is a       
complexity of  gasometers1 canals1      
railway junctions1 between which the    
long spokes  of cabbage-fields radiate  
from the train and revolve1 and what is 
the  grotesque suggestion of many ships 
in the distance1 for through gaps  in a 
nondescript horizon masts appear in a   

kaleidoscopic way4 ,the  journey ends1  
usually in the rain1 among iron sheds   
that are topped on  the far side by the 
rigging and smoke-stacks of great       
liners4 ,there is  no doubt about it    
now4 ,at the corner of one shed1        
sheltering from the  weather1 is a group
 of brown men in coloured rags1 first   
seen in the  gloom because of the whites
 of their eyes4 ,what we remember of    
such a  day is that it was half of      
night1 and the wind played castanets    
with  the sheet iron1 hummed in the     
cordage1 and swayed wildly the loose    
gear  aloft4 ,towering hulls were ranged
 down each side of a lagoon that ended  
in vacancy4 ,the rigging and funnels of 
the fleet were unrelated2 those  ships  
were phantom and monstrous4 ,they seemed
 on too great a scale  to be within     
human control4 ,we felt diminished and a
 little fearful1  as among the looming  
urgencies of a dream4 ,the forms were   
gigantic  but vague1 and they were seen 
in a smother of the elements2 and their 

sounds1 sonorous1 melancholy1 and       
prolonged1 were like the warning of     
something alien1 yet without form1 which
 we knew was adverse1 but could  not    
recall when awake again4 ,we remember1  
that day1 a few watchers  insecure on an
 exposed dockhead that projected into a 
sullen dreariness  of river and mud     
which could have been the finish of the 
land4 ,at the  end of a creaking hawser 
was a steamer canting as she backed to  
head  down stream--she was obviously    
exposed now to a great adventure--the   
tide1 rapid and noisy on her plates1 the
 reek from her funnel sinking  over the 
water4 ,and from the dockhead1 in the   
fuddle of a rain-squall1  we were waving
 a handkerchief1 probably to the wrong  
man1 till the  vessel went out where all
 was one1 rain1 river1 mud1 and sky1 and
 the  future4    ,it is afterwards that 
so strange an ending to a brief journey 
from  a city station is seen to have had
 more in it than the time-table1        
hurriedly scanned1 gave away4 ,or it    

would be remembered as strange1 if  the 
one who had to make that journey so much
 as thought of it again2  for perhaps to
 a stranger occupied with more important
 matters it was  passed as being quite  
relevant to the occasion1 ordinary and  
rather  dismal1 the usual boredom of a  
duty4 ,its strangeness depends1 very    
likely1 as much on an idle and          
squandering mind as on the ships1 the   
river1 and the gasometers4 ,yet suppose 
you first saw the river from  ,blackwall
 ,stairs1 in the days when the windows  
of the ,artichoke ,tavern1  an ancient  
weather-boarded house with benches      
outside1 still looked  towards the ships
 coming in6 ,and how if then1 one       
evening1 you had  seen a ,blackwall     
liner haul out for the ,antipodes while 
her crew sang  a chanty6 ,it might put  
another light on the river2 but a light1
 ,i will  admit1 which others should not
 be expected to see1 and if they looked 
for it now might not discover1 for it is
 possible that it has vanished1  like   

the old tavern4 ,it is easy to persuade 
ourselves that a matter is  made plain  
by the light in which we prefer to see  
it1 for it is our  light4 ,one day1 ,i  
remember1 a boy had to take a sheaf of  
documents to  a vessel loading in the   
,london ,dock4 ,she was sailing that    
tide4 ,it was  a hot ,july noon4 ,it is 
unlucky to send a boy1 who is marked by 
all the  omens for a city prisoner1 to  
that dock1 for it is one of the best  of
 its kind4 ,he had not been there       
before4 ,there was an astonishing       
vista1 once inside the gates1 of sherry 
butts and port casks4 ,on the           
flagstones were pools of wine lees4     
,there was an unforgettable smell4  ,it 
was of wine1 spices1 oakum1 wool1 and   
hides4 ,the sun made it worse1  but the 
boy1 ,i think1 preferred it strong4     
,after wandering along many  old quays1 
and through dark sheds with wide doors  
that1 on such a sunny  day1 were stored 
with cool night and cubes and planks of 
gold1 he found  his ship1 the ,mulatto  

,girl4 ,she was for the ,brazils4 ,now  
it is clear  that one even wiser in     
shipping affairs than a boy would have  
expected  to see a craft that was       
haughty and portentous when bound for   
the  ,brazils1 a ship that looked equal 
to making a coast of that kind4 ,there  
she was1 her flush deck well below the  
quay wall4 ,a ladder went down to  her1 
for she was no more than a schooner of a
 little over #ajj tons4 ,if  that did   
not look like the beginning of one of   
those voyages that are  reputed to have 
ended with the ,elizabethans1 then ,i am
 trying to convey  a wrong impression4  
,on the deck of the ,mulatto ,girl was  
her master1  in shirt and trousers and a
 remarkable straw hat more like a       
canopy1  bending over to discharge some 
weighty words into the hatch4 ,he rose  
and looked up at the boy on the quay1   
showing then a taut black beard  and    
formidable eyes4 ,with his hands on his 
hips1 he surveyed for a few  seconds the
 messenger above without speaking4 ,then

 he talked business1  and more than     
legitimate business4 ,do you want to    
come8 he asked1  and smiled4 ,eh8 ,he   
stroked his beard4 ,the ,brazils and    
all6 ,a ship  like that6 ,there's a     
berth for you4 ,come along1 my son4 ,and
 observe  what we may lose through that 
habit of ours of uncritical obedience to
  duty2 see what may leave us for ever  
in that fatal pause1 caused by  the     
surprise of the challenge to our narrow 
experience and knowledge1  the pause in 
which we miserably allow habit to       
overcome adventurous  instinct6 ,i never
 heard again of the ,mulatto ,girl4 ,i  
could not expect  to4 ,something1       
though1 was gained that day4 ,it cannot 
be named4 ,it is  of no value4 ,it is1  
you may have guessed1 that very light   
which it has  been admitted may since   
have gone out4    ,well1 nobody who has 
ever surprised that light in ,dockland  
will be  persuaded that it is not there 
still1 and will remain4 ,what the       
foreshore of ,london is to some of us1  

and what those lights are which  we see 
as reflections coming down the waters   
from a far adventure1 to  others would  
be what they are4 ,the foreshore to them
 is the unending  monotony of grey      
streets1 sometimes grim1 often decayed1 
and always  reticent and sullen1 that   
might never have seen the stars or heard
 of  good luck2 and the light would be1 
when closely looked at1 merely a  high  
gas bracket on a dank brick wall in     
solitude1 its glass broken1  and the    
flame within it fluttering to extinction
 like an imprisoned  and crippled moth  
trying to evade the squeeze of giant    
darkness and  the wind4 ,the narrow and 
forbidden by-way under that glim1 a path
  intermittent1 and depending on the    
weight of the night which is trying  to 
blot it out altogether1 goes to ,wapping
 ,old ,stairs4 ,prince ,rupert  once    
went that way4 ,the ketch ,nonsuch1     
,captain ,zachary ,gillam1 was  then    
lying just off1 about to make the voyage
 which established the  ,hudson's ,bay  

,company4    ,it is a path1 like all    
those stairs and ways that go down to   
the  river1 which began when human      
footsteps first originated ,london with 
rough tracks4 ,it is a path by which the
 successors of those primitives  went   
out of ,london1 when projecting the     
original enterprise of their  ancestors 
from ,wapping to the ,guinea ,coast and 
,manitoba4 ,why should we  believe it is
 different to-day8 ,the sea does not    
change1 and seamen  are what they were1 
if their ships are not those we admired 
many years  ago in the ,india ,docks4   
,it is impossible for those who know    
them to  see those moody streets of     
,dockland1 indeterminate1 for they      
follow  the river1 which run from       
,tooley ,street by the                  
,hole-in-the-,wall to  the ,deptford    
,docks1 and from ,tower ,hill along     
,wapping ,high ,street to  ,limehouse   
and the ,isle of ,dogs1 as strangers    
would see them4 ,what could  they be to 
strangers8 ,mud1 taverns1 pawnshops1    

neglected and obscure  churches1 and    
houses that might know nothing but      
ill-fortune4    ,so they are2 but those 
ways hold more than the visible shades4 
,the  warehouses of that meandering     
chasm which is ,wapping ,high ,street   
are  like weathered and unequal cliffs4 
,it is hard to believe sunlight ever    
falls there4 ,it could not get down4 ,it
 is not easy to believe the river  is   
near4 ,it seldom shows4 ,you think at   
times you hear the distant call  of a   
ship4 ,but what would that be8          
,something in the mind4 ,it happened    
long ago4 ,you1 too1 are a ghost left by
 the vanished past4 ,there is a  man    
above at a high loophole1 the topmost   
cave of a warehouse which  you can see  
has been exposed to commerce and the    
elements for ages2 he  pulls in a bale  
pendulous from the cable of a derrick4  
,below him one  of the horses of a van  
tosses its nosebag4 ,there is no other  
movement4  ,a carman leans against an   
iron post1 and cuts bread and cheese    

with a  clasp knife4 ,it was curious to 
hear that steamer call1 but we know what
  it was4 ,it was from a ship that went 
down1 we have lately heard1 in the  war1
 and her spectre reminds us1 from a     
voyage which is over1 of men  who have  
gone4 ,but the call comes again just    
where the ,stairs1 like a  shining wedge
 of day1 holds the black warehouses     
asunder1 and shows the  light of the    
river and a release to the outer world4 
,and there1 moving  swiftly across the  
brightness1 goes a steamer outward      
bound4    ,that was what we wanted to   
know4 ,she confirms it1 and her signal1 
to whomever it was made1 carries farther
 than she would guess4 ,it  is          
understood4 ,the past for some of us now
 is our only populous and  habitable    
world1 invisible to others1 but alive   
with whispers for us4  ,yet the sea     
still moves daily along the old         
foreshore1 and ships still  go and come1
 and do not1 like us1 run aground on    
what now is not there4          ,,of    

,,prose    ,a ,,fragment#cj          #cj
 ,translated from the ,dutch by         
,alexander ,teixeira de                 
,mattos4    ,by ,,lodewijk ,,van        
,,deijssel      ,i love the prose that  
comes towards me like a man1 with       
sparkling eyes1  with a loud voice1     
breathing hard and with great gestures  
of the hands4  ,i want to hear the      
writer laugh and cry in it1 to hear him 
whisper and  shout1 to feel him sigh and
 pant4 ,i want his language to loom up  
before  me like a tangible and          
resounding organism2 ,i want him1 when  
,i read him  in my room1 to reveal to   
me1 from the characters that shimmer    
before my  eyes1 a spirit that enters   
into me and seems to ascend within me   
from  out of his pages4    ,i love the  
prose that comes rolling up from the    
infinity of the  artist's soul1 like a  
sea of sound1 flowing calmly with its   
wide  waves1 drawing nearer1 nearer1    
ever nearer1 smooth and broad1 suddenly 
illumined by intense gleams of light4   

,i love the prose that clashes towards  
me1 rushes up to me1 thunders  down upon
 me in a raging torrent of passion4     
,i love the prose that is motionless and
 awful as mountain ridges4    ,i love   
the prose that plays and rejoices like a
 waving forest filled  with birds in    
summer4    ,i love the prose which ,i   
see standing there before me1 with its  
sentences1 like a city of marble4    ,i 
love the prose that descends upon me    
like a golden shower of words4    ,i    
love the sentences that march like      
troops of broad-backed men1  walking    
abreast1 shoulder to shoulder1 following
 one on the other  in ever-widening     
ranks1 up hill1 down dale1 with the     
tramp of their  footsteps and the heavy 
movement of their strides4 ,i love      
sentences  that sound like voices       
underground1 but come rising1 rising1   
louder and  in greater numbers1 and pass
 and rise and ring and echo in the      
heavens4    ,i love words that arrive   
suddenly1 as though from very far1      

shooting  forth in golden brilliancy    
from a rift in the blue sky1 or toppling
  high in the air1 like dark rocks      
discharged from a straining volcano4    
,i love words that bang down upon me    
like falling rafters1 or words that     
hiss past me like bullets4    ,i love   
words which ,i see standing there       
unexpectedly1 like poppies or  blue     
cornflowers in a field4    ,i love words
 that suddenly waft a perfume to me from
 the course of  the style1 like incense 
from a church-door or scent from a      
woman's  handkerchief in the street4    
,i love words that in a moment rise     
softly1 like a child's murmuring  voice1
 from under the droning style4    ,i    
love words that just gurgle1 like little
 stifled sobs4    ,i love the prose that
 blazes its joy and its rapture like    
stars above  me1 that lights glowing    
suns of love1 that carries me over the  
thin  ice of its disdain1 through the   
rough black nights of its hatred1  that 
clangs down upon me the green1 copper   

voice of its irony and its  laughter4   
,if you would please me1 then stretch   
over my head a rainbow of language  in  
which ,i shall see red anger raging1    
blue gladness rejoicing and  yellow     
mockery laughing4    ,take me up and    
carry me where you will3 ,i crave for   
nothing more than  to be powerless      
against the power of your ,word4        
,strike me with your ,word1 torture me  
with your ,word and then let your  ,word
 fall down upon me like a rain of       
kisses4444          ,,henry ,,james     
,by ,,edmund ,,gosse1 ,c4,b4      ,i    
,voluminous as had been the writings of 
,henry ,james#ca since #ahge1  it was   
not until he approached the end of his  
career that he began  to throw any light
 on the practical events and social     
adventures  of his own life4 ,he had    
occasionally shown that he could turn   
from  the psychology of imaginary       
characters to the record of real lives  
without losing any part of his delicate 
penetration or his charm of             

portraiture4 ,he had1 in particular1    
written the ,life of ,hawthorne  in     
#ahgi1 between ,daisy ,miller and ,an   
,international ,episode2 and  again in  
#aijc1 at the height of his latest      
period1 he had produced  a specimen of  
that period in his elusive and          
parenthetical but very  beautiful       
so-called ,life of ,w4 ,w4 ,story4 ,but 
these biographies threw  no more light  
upon his own adventures than did his    
successive volumes  of critical and     
topographical essays1 in which the      
reader may seek long  before he detects 
the sparkle of a crumb of personal fact4
 ,henry ,james1  at the age of seventy1 
had not begun to reveal himself behind  
the mask  which spoke in the tones of a 
world of imaginary characters4          
#ca ,messrs4 ,macmillan are about to    
publish ,mr4 ,lubbock's                 
edition of ,james's ,letters4    ,so    
saying1 ,i do not forget that in the    
general edition of his  collected1 or   
rather selected1 novels and tales1      

published from  #aijh onwards1 ,henry   
,james prefixed to each volume an       
introduction  which assumed to be wholly
 biographical4 ,he yielded1 he said1 to 
the pleasure of placing on record the   
circumstances in which each  successive 
tale was written4 ,i well recollect the 
terms in which he  spoke of these       
prefaces before he began to write them4 
,they were to be  full and confidential1
 they were to throw to the winds all    
restraints  of conventional reticence1  
they were to take us1 with eyes         
unbandaged1  into the inmost sanctum of 
his soul4 ,they appeared at last1 in    
small  print1 and they were extremely   
extensive1 but truth obliges me to  say 
that ,i found them highly disappointing4
 ,constitutionally fitted  to take      
pleasure in the accent of almost        
everything that ,henry ,james  ever     
wrote1 ,i have to confess that these    
prefaces constantly baffle my           
eagerness4 ,not for a moment would ,i   
deny that they throw interesting  light 

on the technical craft of a             
self-respecting novelist1 but they  are 
dry1 remote1 and impersonal to a strange
 degree4 ,it is as though  the author   
felt a burning desire to confide in the 
reader1 whom he  positively button-holes
 in the endeavour1 but that the         
experience  itself evades him1 fails to 
find expression1 and falls still-born1  
while other matters1 less personal and  
less important1 press in and  take their
 place against the author's wish4 ,henry
 ,james proposed1 in  each instance1 to 
disclose the contributive value of the  
accessory  facts in a given artistic    
case4 ,this is1 indeed1 what we require 
in the history or the autobiography of  
an artist1 whether painter  or musician 
or man of letters4 ,but this includes   
the production of  anecdotes1 of salient
 facts1 of direct historical statements1
 which  ,henry ,james seemed in #aijh to
 be completely incapacitated from       
giving1  so that really1 in the         
introductions to some of these novels in

 the  ,collected ,edition1 it is        
difficult to know what the beloved      
novelist  is endeavouring to divulge4   
,he becomes almost chimra bombinating in
 a  vacuum4    ,had we lost him soon    
after the appearance of the latest of   
these  prefaces--that prefixed to ,the  
,golden ,bowl1 in which the effort to   
reveal something which is not revealed  
amounts almost to an agony--it  would   
have been impossible to reconstruct the 
life of ,henry ,james  by the closest   
examination of his published writings4  
,ingenious  commentators would have     
pieced together conjectures from such   
tales  as ,the ,altar of the ,dead and  
,the ,lesson of the ,master1 and have   
insisted1 more or less plausibly1 on    
their accordance with what the  author  
must have thought or done1 endured or   
attempted4 ,but1 after  all1 these would
 have been conjectures1 not more        
definitely based  than what bold spirits
 use when they construct lives of       
,shakespeare1  or1 for that matter1 of  

,homer4 ,fortunately1 in #aiac1 the     
desire to  place some particulars of the
 career of his marvellous brother       
,william  in the setting of his         
immediate native and domestic air1 led  
,henry  ,james to contemplate1 with     
minuteness1 the fading memories of his  
own  childhood4 ,starting with a        
biographical study of ,william ,james1  
he  found it impossible to treat the    
family development at all adequately    
without extending the survey to his own 
growth as well1 and thus1  at the age of
 seventy1 ,henry became for the first   
time1 and almost  unconsciously1 an     
autobiographer4    ,he had completed two
 large volumes of ,memories1 and was    
deep in a  third1 when death took him   
from us4 ,a ,small ,boy and ,others     
deals  with such extreme discursiveness 
as is suitable in a collection of  the  
fleeting impressions of infancy1 from   
his birth in #ahdc to his  all but fatal
 attack of typhus fever at              
,boulogne-sur-,mer in 7perhaps7  #aheg4 

,i say perhaps because the wanton       
evasion of any sort of help  in the way 
of dates is characteristic of the       
narrative1 as it would  be of childish  
memories4 ,the next instalment was      
,notes of a ,son and  ,brother1 which   
opens in #ahfj1 a doubtful period of    
three years being  leaped over lightly1 
and closes--as ,i guess from an allusion
 to ,george  ,eliot's ,spanish          
,gypsy--in #ahfh4 ,the third instalment1
 dictated in  the autumn of #aiad and   
laid aside unfinished1 is the posthumous
 ,the  ,middle ,years1 faultlessly      
edited by the piety of ,mr4 ,percy      
,lubbock in  #aiag4 ,here the tale is   
taken up in #ahfi1 and is occupied1     
without much  attempt at chronological  
order1 with memories of two years in    
,london4  ,as ,henry ,james did not     
revise1 or perhaps even re-read1 these  
pages1  we are free to form our         
conclusion as to whether he would or    
would not  have vouchsafed to put their 
disjected parts into some more          

anatomical  order4    ,probably he would
 not have done so4 ,the tendency of his 
genius had  never been1 and at the end  
was less than ever1 in the direction of 
concinnity4 ,he repudiated arrangement1 
he wilfully neglected the  precise      
adjustment of parts4 ,the three         
autobiographical volumes will  always be
 documents precious in the eyes of his  
admirers4 ,they are  full of beauty and 
nobility1 they exhibit with delicacy1   
and sometimes  even with splendour1 the 
qualities of his character4 ,but it     
would be  absurd to speak of them as    
easy to read1 or as fulfilling what is  
demanded from an ordinary biographer4   
,they have the tone of ,veronese1  but  
nothing of his definition4 ,a broad     
canvas is spread before us1  containing 
many figures in social conjuncture4 ,but
 the plot1 the single  story which is   
being told1 is drowned in misty         
radiance4 ,out of this  chiaroscuro     
there leap suddenly to our vision a     
sumptuous head and  throat1 a handful of

 roses1 the glitter of a satin sleeve1  
but it is  only when we shut our eyes   
and think over what we have looked at   
that  any coherent plan is revealed to  
us1 or that we detect any species of    
composition4 ,it is a case which calls  
for editorial help1 and ,i hope  that   
when the three fragments of             
autobiography are reprinted as a  single
 composition1 no prudery of hesitation  
to touch the sacred ark  will prevent   
the editor from prefixing a skeleton    
chronicle of actual  dates and facts4   
,it will take nothing from the dignity  
of the luminous  reveries in their      
original shape4    ,such a skeleton will
 tell us that ,henry ,james was born at 
#b ,washington  ,place1 ,new ,york1 on  
,april #aeth1 #ahdc1 and that he was the
 second  child of his parents1 the elder
 by one year being ,william1 who grew   
up to be the most eminent philosopher   
whom ,america has produced4  ,their     
father1 ,henry ,james the elder1 was    
himself a philosopher1 whose  ideas1    

which the younger ,henry frankly        
admitted to be beyond his  grasp1 were  
expounded by ,william ,james in #ahhd1  
in a preface to their  father's         
posthumous papers4 ,henry was only one  
year old when the family  paid a long   
visit to ,paris1 but his earliest       
recollections were of  ,albany1 whence  
the ,jameses migrated to ,new ,york     
until #ahee4 ,they then  transferred    
their home to ,europe for three years1  
during which time the  child ,henry     
imbibed what he afterwards called the   
,european virus4 ,in  #ahee he was sent 
to ,geneva for purposes of education1   
which were soon  abandoned1 and the     
whole family began an aimless wandering 
through  ,london1 ,paris1               
,boulogne-sur-,mer1 ,newport1 ,geneva1  
and ,america again1  nothing but the    
,civil ,war sufficing to root this      
fugitive household in  one abiding home4
    ,henry ,james's health forced him to
 be a spectator of the war1 in which    
his younger brothers fought4 ,he went to

 ,harvard in #ahfb to study  law1 but   
was now beginning to feel a more and    
more irresistible call  to take up      
letters as a profession1 and the        
,harvard ,law ,school left  little or no
 direct impression upon him4 ,he formed 
a close and valuable  friendship with   
,mr4 ,howells1 seven years his senior1  
and the pages  of the ,atlantic         
,monthly1 of which ,mr4 ,howells was    
then assistant  editor1 were open to him
 from #ahfe4 ,he lived for the next four
 years  in very poor health1 and with no
 great encouragement from himself or    
others1 always excepting ,mr4 ,howells1 
at ,cambridge1 ,massachusetts4  ,early  
in #ahfi he ventured to return to       
,europe1 where he spent fifteen  months 
in elegant but fruitful vagabondage4    
,there was much literary  work done1    
most of which he carefully suppressed in
 later life4 ,the  reader will1 however1
 discover1 tucked away in the thirteenth
 volume  of the ,collected ,edition1 a  
single waif from this rejected epoch1   

the  tale called ,a ,passionate         
,pilgrim1 written on his return to      
,america  in #ahgj4 ,this visit to      
,europe absolutely determined his       
situation2 his  arrival in ,new ,york   
stimulated and tortured his nostalgia   
for the old  world1 and in ,may1 #ahgb1 
he flew back here once more to the      
,european  enchantment4    ,here1       
practically1 the biographical           
information respecting ,henry  ,james   
which has hitherto been given to the    
world ceases1 for the  fragment of ,the 
,middle ,years1 so far as can be        
gathered1 contains  few recollections   
which can be dated later than his       
thirtieth year4  ,it was said of        
,marivaux that he cultivated no faculty 
but that de ne  vivre que pour voir et  
pour entendre4 ,in a similar spirit     
,henry ,james  took up his dwelling in  
fashionable ,london lodgings in ,march1 
#ahfi4  ,he had come from ,america with 
the settled design of making a profound 
study of ,english manners1 and there    

were two aspects of the subject  which  
stood out for him above all others4 ,one
 of these was the rural  beauty of      
ancient country places1 the other was   
the magnitude--the  inconceivable       
immensity1 as he put it--of ,london4 ,he
 told his sister1  ,the place sits on   
you1 broods on you1 stamps on you with  
the feet  of its myriad bipeds and      
quadrupeds4 ,from his lodgings in ,half 
,moon  ,street1 quiet enough in         
themselves1 he had the turmoil of the   
,west ,end  at his elbow1 ,piccadilly1  
,park ,lane1 ,st4 ,james's ,street1 all 
within  the range of a five minutes'    
stroll4 ,he plunged into the vortex with
  incredible gusto1 knocking about in a 
quiet way and deeply enjoying my  little
 adventures4 ,this was his first mature 
experience of ,london1 of  which he     
remained until the end of his life      
perhaps the most infatuated  student1   
the most passionate pilgrim that        
,america has ever sent us4    ,but his  
health was still poor1 and for his      

constitution's sake he  went in the     
summer of #ahfi to ,great ,malvern4 ,he 
went alone1 and it is  to be remarked of
 him that1 social as he was1 and        
inclined to a deep  indulgence in the   
company of his friends1 his habit of    
life was always  in the main a solitary 
one4 ,he had no constant associates1 and
 he did  not shrink from long periods of
 isolation1 which he spent in reading   
and writing1 but also in a concentrated 
contemplation of the passing  scene1    
whatever it might be4 ,it was alone that
 he now made a tour of  the principal   
,english cathedral and university towns1
 expatiating to  himself on the         
perfection of the weather--the dozen    
exquisite days of  the ,english year1   
days stamped with a purity unknown in   
climates where  fine weather is cheap4  
,it was alone that he made acquaintance 
with  ,oxford1 of which city he became  
at once the impassioned lover which he  
continued to be to the end1 raving from 
,boston in #ahgj of the supreme         

gratifications of ,oxford as the most   
dignified and most educated of  the     
cradles of our race4 ,it was alone that 
during these enchanting  weeks he made  
himself acquainted with the unimagined  
loveliness of  ,english hamlets buried  
in immemorial leafage and whispered to  
by  meandering rivulets in the warm     
recesses of antiquity4 ,these1 too1     
found in ,henry ,james a worshipper more
 ardent1 it may almost be  averred1 than
 any other who had crossed the ,atlantic
 to their shrine4    ,having formed this
 basis for the main predilection of his 
,english  studies1 ,henry ,james passed 
over to the ,continent1 and conducted a 
similar pilgrimage of entranced         
obsession through ,switzerland and      
,italy4 ,his wanderings1 rapturous and  
solitary1 were1 as in ,england1         
hampered by no social engagement2 ,i see
 no people to speak of1 he  wrote1 or   
for that matter to speak to4 ,he        
returned to ,america in  ,april1 #ahgj1 
at the close of a year which proved     

critical in his  career1 and which laid 
its stamp on the whole of his future    
work4 ,he  had been kindly received in  
artistic and literary circles in        
,london2  he had conversed with ,ruskin1
 with ,william ,morris1 with ,aubrey de 
,vere1 but it is plain that while he    
observed the peculiarities of  these    
eminent men with the closest avidity1 he
 made no impression  whatever upon them4
 ,the time for ,henry ,james to make an 
impression  on others was not come yet2 
he was simply the well-bred1 rather shy1
  young ,american invalid1 with         
excellent introductions1 who crossed the
  path of ,english activities1 almost   
without casting a shadow4 ,he had       
published no book2 he had no distinct   
calling2 he was a deprecating  and      
punctilious young stranger from         
somewhere in ,massachusetts1            
immature-looking for all his            
seven-and-twenty years4    ,some further
 uneventful seasons1 mainly spent in    
,america but  diversified by tours in   

,germany and ,italy1 bring us to #ahge1 
when  ,henry ,james came over from      
,cambridge with the definite project1 at
  last1 of staying in ,europe for good4 
,he took rooms in ,paris1 at #bi  ,rue  
de ,luxembourg1 and he penetrated easily
 into the very exclusive  literary      
society which at that time revolved     
around ,flaubert and ,edmond  de        
,goncourt4 ,this year in ,paris was     
another highly critical period in       
,henry ,james's intellectual history4   
,he was still1 at the mature age of     
thirty-two1 almost an amateur in        
literature1 having been content1 up to  
that time1 to produce scarcely anything 
which his mature taste did not          
afterwards repudiate4 ,the ,passionate  
,pilgrim 7#ahgj71 of which ,i have      
spoken above1 is the only waif and stray
 of the pre-#ahgc years which he  has   
permitted to survive4 ,the first edition
 of this short story is now  not easy of
 reference1 and ,i have not seen it2 the
 reprint of #aijh is  obviously1 and is 

doubtless vigorously1 re-handled4       
,enough1 however1  remains of what must 
be original to show that1 in a rather   
crude1 and  indeed almost hysterical    
form1 the qualities of ,henry ,james's  
genius  were1 in #ahfi1 what they       
continued to be in #aiji4 ,he has       
conquered1  however1 in ,a ,passionate  
,pilgrim1 no command yet over his       
enthusiasm1  his delicate sense of      
beauty1 his apprehension of the         
exquisite colour  of antiquity4    ,from
 the ,french associates of this time he 
derived practical help  in his          
profession1 though without their being  
aware of what they  gave him4 ,he was   
warmly attracted to ,gustave ,flaubert1 
who had just  published ,la ,tentation  
de ,st4 ,antoine1 a dazzled admiration  
of  which was the excuse which threw the
 young ,american at the feet of  the    
,rouen giant4 ,this particular          
admiration dwindled with the passage  of
 time1 but ,henry ,james continued      
faithful to the author of ,madame       

,bovary4 ,it was ,turgenev who          
introduced him to ,flaubert1 from whom  
he  passed to ,guy de ,maupassant1 then 
an athlete of four-and-twenty1 and      
still scintillating in that blaze of    
juvenile virility which always          
fascinated ,henry ,james4 ,in the train 
of ,edmond de ,goncourt came ,zola1     
vociferous over his late tribulation of 
having ,l',assommoir stopped in  its    
serial issue2 ,alphonse ,daudet1 whose  
recent ,jack was exercising  over tens  
of thousands of readers the tyranny of  
tears2 and ,franois  ,coppe1 the almost 
exact coeval of ,henry ,james1 and now  
author of a  ,luthier de ,cremone1 which
 had placed him high among ,french      
poets4  ,that the young ,american1 with 
no apparent claim to attention except   
the laborious perfection of his ,french 
speech1 was welcomed and  ultimately    
received on terms of intimacy in this   
the most exclusive of  ,european        
intellectual circles is curious4 ,henry 
,james was accustomed to  deprecate the 

notion that these ,frenchmen took the   
least interest in  him3 they have never 
read a line of me1 they have never even 
persuaded  themselves that there was a  
line of me which anyone could read1 he  
once said to me4 ,how should they1 poor 
charming creatures1 in their            
self-sufficing ,latin intensity1 know   
what or whether some barbarian had      
remotely written8 ,but this does not end
 the marvel1 because1 read or  not read1
 there was ,henry ,james among them1    
affectionately welcomed1  talked to     
familiarly about technique1 and even    
about sales1 like  a fellow-craftsman4  
,there must evidently have developed by 
this time  something modestly impressive
 about him1 and ,i cannot doubt that    
these ,parisian masters of language more
 or less dimly divined that he  too was1
 in some medium not by them to be       
penetrated1 a master4    ,after this    
fruitful year in ,paris1 the first      
result of which was the  publication in 
,london of his earliest surviving novel1

 ,roderick  ,hudson1 and the completion 
of ,the ,american1 ,henry ,james left   
his glittering1 charming1 civilised     
,paris and settled in ,london4  ,he     
submitted himself1 as he wrote to his   
brother ,william in #ahgh1  without     
reserve to that ,londonising process of 
which the effect  is to convince you    
that1 having lived here1 you may1 if    
need be1  abjure civilisation and bury  
yourself in the country1 but may not1   
in pursuit of civilisation1 live in any 
smaller town4 ,he plunged  deeply into  
the study of ,london1 externally and    
socially1 and into  the production of   
literature1 in which he was now as      
steadily active  as he was elegantly    
proficient4 ,these novels of his        
earliest period  have neither the       
profundity nor the originality of those 
of his middle  and final periods1 but   
they have an exquisite freshness of     
their own1  and a workmanship the       
lucidity and logic of which he owed in  
no small  measure to his conversations  

with ,daudet and ,maupassant1 and to    
his1 at  that time almost exclusive1    
reading of the finest ,french fiction4  
,he  published ,the ,american in #ahgg1 
,the ,europeans and ,daisy ,miller  in  
#ahgh1 and ,an ,international ,episode  
in #ahgi4 ,he might advance in  stature 
and breadth2 he might come to disdain   
the exiguous beauty of  these           
comparatively juvenile books1 but now at
 all events were clearly  revealed all  
the qualities which were to develop     
later1 and to make  ,henry ,james unique
 among writers of ,anglo-,saxon race4   
,his welcome into ,english society was  
remarkable if we reflect that he  seemed
 to have little to give in return for   
what it offered except  his social      
adaptability1 his pleasant and still    
formal amenity1  and his admirable      
capacity for listening4 ,it cannot be   
repeated too  clearly that the ,henry   
,james of those early days had very     
little of  the impressiveness of his    
later manner4 ,he went everywhere1      

sedately1  watchfully1 graciously1 but  
never prominently4 ,in the winter of    
#ahgh-gi  it is recorded that he dined  
out in ,london #ajg times1 but it is    
highly  questionable whether this       
amazing assiduity at the best           
dinner-tables  will be found to have    
impressed itself on any ,greville or    
,crabb  ,robinson who was taking notes  
at the time4 ,he was strenuously living 
up to his standard1 my charming little  
standard of wit1 of grace1 of  good     
manners1 of vivacity1 of urbanity1 of   
intelligence1 of what makes  an easy and
 natural style of intercourse4 ,he was  
watching the rather  gross and unironic1
 but honest and vigorous1 ,english      
upper-middle-class  of that day with    
mingled feelings1 in which curiosity and
 a sort of  remote sympathy took a main 
part4 ,at #ajg ,london dinners he       
observed  the ever-shifting pieces of   
the general kaleidoscope with tremendous
  acuteness1 and although he thought    
their reds and yellows would have  been 

improved by a slight infusion of the    
,florentine harmony1 on the  whole he   
was never weary of watching their       
evolutions4 ,in this way the  years     
slipped by1 while he made a thousand    
acquaintances and a dozen  durable      
friendships4 ,it is a matter of pride   
and happiness to me that ,i  am able to 
touch on one of the latter4    ,it is   
often curiously difficult for intimate  
friends1 who have the  impression in    
later years that they must always have  
known one another1  to recall the       
occasion and the place where they first 
met4 ,that was  the case with ,henry    
,james and me4 ,several times we        
languidly tried to  recover those       
particulars1 but without success4 ,i    
think1 however1 that  it was at some    
dinner-party that we first met1 and as  
the incident is  dubiously connected    
with the publication of the ,hawthorne  
in #ahgi1  and with ,mr4 7now ,lord7    
,morley1 whom we both frequently saw at 
that  epoch1 ,i am pretty sure that the 

event took place early in #ahhj4 ,the   
acquaintance1 however1 did not ripen1 as
 people say1 until the summer  of #ahhb1
 when in connection with an article on  
the drawings of ,george  du ,maurier1   
which ,i was anxious ,henry ,james      
should write--having heard  him express 
himself with high enthusiasm regarding  
these works of  art--he invited me to go
 to see him and to talk over the        
project4 ,i  found him1 one sunshiny    
afternoon1 in his lodgings on the first 
floor  of ,no4 #c ,bolton ,street1 at   
the ,piccadilly end of the street1 where
 the  houses look askew into ,green     
,park4 ,here he had been living ever    
since  he came over from ,france in     
#ahgf1 and the situation was eminently  
characteristic of the impassioned       
student of ,london life and haunter of  
,london society which he had now become4
    ,stretched on the sofa and          
apologising for not rising to greet me1 
his  appearance gave me a little shock1 
for ,i had not thought of him as an     

invalid4 ,he hurriedly and rather       
evasively declared that he was not      
that1 but that a muscular weakness of   
his spine obliged him1 as he  said1 to  
assume the horizontal posture during    
some hours of every day  in order to    
bear the almost unbroken routine of     
evening engagements4  ,i think that this
 weakness gradually passed away1 but    
certainly for  many years it handicapped
 his activity4 ,i recall his appearance1
 seen  then for the first time by       
daylight2 there was something shadowy   
about it1 the face framed in dark brown 
hair cut short in the ,paris  fashion1  
and in equally dark beard1 rather loose 
and fluffy4 ,he was  in deep mourning1  
his mother having died five or six      
months earlier1  and he himself having  
but recently returned from a melancholy 
visit  to ,america1 where he had        
unwillingly left his father1 who seemed 
far  from well4 ,his manner was grave1  
extremely courteous1 but a little       
formal and frightened1 which seemed     

strange in a man living in constant     
communication with the world4 ,our      
business regarding ,du ,maurier was     
soon concluded1 and ,james talked with  
increasing ease1 but always  with a     
punctilious hesitancy1 about ,paris1    
where he seemed1 to my  dazzlement1 to  
know even a larger number of persons of 
distinction than  he did in ,london4    
,he promised1 before ,i left1 to return 
my visit1 but news of the  alarming     
illness of his father called him        
suddenly to ,america4 ,he wrote  to me  
from ,boston in ,april1 #ahhc1 but he   
did not return to ,london  until the    
autumn that year4 ,our intercourse was  
then resumed1 and1  immediately1 on the 
familiar footing which it preserved1    
without an  hour's abatement1 until the 
sad moment of his fatal illness4 ,when  
he  returned to ,bolton ,street--this   
was in ,august1 #ahhc--;he had broken   
all the ties which held him to residence
 in ,america1 a country which1  as it   
turned out1 he was not destined to      

revisit for more than twenty  years4 ,by
 this means ,henry ,james became a      
homeless man in a peculiar  sense1 for  
he continued to be looked upon as a     
foreigner in ,london1  while he seemed  
to have lost citizenship in the ,united 
,states4 ,it  was a little later than   
this that that somewhat acidulated      
patriot1  ,colonel ,higginson1 in reply 
to some one who said that ,henry ,james 
was  a cosmopolitan1 remarked1 ,hardly6 
for a cosmopolitan is at home even  in  
his own country6 ,this condition made   
,james1 although superficially          
gregarious1 essentially isolated1 and   
though his books were numerous  and were
 greatly admired1 they were tacitly     
ignored alike in summaries  of ,english 
and of ,american current literature4    
,there was no escape from  this dilemma4
 ,henry ,james was equally determined   
not to lay down his  ,american          
birthright and not to reside in         
,america4 ,every year of his  exile1    
therefore1 emphasised the fact of his   

separation from all other               
,anglo-,saxons1 and he endured1 in the  
world of letters1 the singular  fate of 
being a man without a country4    ,the  
collection of his private letters1      
therefore1 which is announced  as       
immediately forthcoming under the       
sympathetic editorship of ,mr4  ,percy  
,lubbock1 will reveal the adventures of 
an author who1 long  excluded from two  
literatures1 is now eagerly claimed by  
both of them1  and it will display those
 movements of a character of great      
energy  and singular originality which  
circumstances have hitherto concealed   
from curiosity4 ,there was very little  
on the surface of his existence  to bear
 evidence to the passionate intensity of
 the stream beneath4  ,this those who   
have had the privilege of seeing his    
letters know  is marvellously revealed  
in his private correspondence4 ,a       
certain  change in his life was brought 
about by the arrival in #ahhe of his    
sister ,alice1 who1 in now confirmed    

ill-health1 was persuaded to make       
,bournemouth and afterwards ,leamington 
her home4 ,he could not share  her life1
 but at all events he could assiduously 
diversify it by his  visits1 and        
,bournemouth had a second attraction for
 him in the presence  of ,robert ,louis 
,stevenson1 with whom he had by this    
time formed one of  the closest of his  
friendships4 ,stevenson's side of the   
correspondence  has long been known1 and
 it is one of the main attractions which
  ,mr4 ,lubbock holds out to his readers
 that ,henry ,james's letters to        
,stevenson will now be published4 ,no   
episode of the literary history of  the 
time is more fascinating than the       
interchange of feeling between  these   
two great artists4 ,the death of        
,stevenson1 nine years later than  their
 first meeting1 though long anticipated1
 fell upon ,henry ,james  with a shock  
which he found at first scarcely        
endurable4 ,for a long  time afterwards 
he could not bring himself to mention   

the name of ,r4 ,l4  ,s4 without a      
distressing agitation4    ,in #ahhf the 
publication of ,the ,bostonians1 a novel
 which showed an  advance in direct or1 
as it was then styled1 realistic        
painting  of modern society1 increased  
the cleft which now divided him from    
his native country1 for ,the ,bostonians
 was angrily regarded as  satirising not
 merely certain types1 but certain      
recognisable  figures in ,massachusetts1
 and that with a suggestive daring which
  was unusual4 ,henry ,james1 intent    
upon making a vivid picture1 and        
already perhaps a little out of touch   
with ,american sentiment1 was  indignant
 at the reception of this book1 which he
 ultimately1 to my  great               
disappointment1 omitted from his        
,collected ,edition1 for reasons  which 
he gave in a long letter to myself4     
,hence1 as his works now  appear1 ,the  
,princess ,casamassima1 of #ahhf1 an    
essentially ,london  adventure-story1   
takes its place as the earliest of the  

novels of his  second period1 although  
preceded by admirable short tales in    
that  manner1 the most characteristic of
 which is doubtless ,the ,author of     
,beltraffio 7#ahhe74 ,this exemplifies  
the custom he had now adopted  of       
seizing an incident reported to him1    
often a very slight and bald  affair1   
and weaving round it a thick and        
glittering web of silken  fancy1 just as
 the worm winds round the unsightly     
chrysalis its  graceful robe of gold4 ,i
 speak of ,the ,author of ,beltraffio1  
and after  thirty-five years ,i may     
confess that this extraordinarily vivid 
story  was woven around a dark incident 
in the private life of an eminent       
author known to us both1 which ,i1      
having told ,henry ,james in a moment   
of levity1 was presently horrified and  
even sensibly alarmed to see  thus      
pinnacled in the broad light of day4    
,after exhausting at last the not very  
shining amenities of his lodgings  in   
,bolton ,street1 where all was old and  

dingy1 he went westward in  #ahhf into  
,kensington1 and settled in a flat which
 was both new and  bright1 at #cd ,de   
,vere ,gardens1 ,kensington1 where he   
began a novel  called ,the ,tragic      
,muse1 on which he expended an immense  
amount of  pains4 ,he was greatly       
wearied by the effort1 and not entirely 
satisfied  with the result4 ,he         
determined1 as he said1 to do nothing   
but short  lengths for the future1 and  
he devoted himself to the execution of  
contes4 ,but even the art of the short  
story presently yielded to a  new and1  
it must be confessed1 a deleterious     
fascination1 that of  the stage4 ,he was
 disappointed--he made no secret to his 
friends of  his disillusion--in the     
commercial success of his novels1 which 
was  inadequate to his needs4 ,i believe
 that he greatly over-estimated  these  
needs1 and that at no time he was really
 pressed by the want of  money4 ,but he 
thought that he was1 and in his anxiety 
he turned to the  theatre as a market in

 which to earn a fortune4 ,little has   
hitherto  been revealed with regard to  
this sawdust and orange-peel phase  7as 
he called it7 in ,henry ,james's career1
 but it cannot be ignored  any longer4  
,the memories of his intimate friends   
are stored with its  incidents1 his     
letters will be found to be full of it4 
,henry ,james wrote1 between #ahhi and  
#ahid1 seven or eight plays1 on  each of
 which he expended an infinitude of     
pains and mental distress4  ,at the end 
of this period1 unwillingly persuaded at
 last that all his  agony was in vain1  
and that he could never secure fame and 
fortune1 or  even a patient hearing from
 the theatre-going public by his        
dramatic  work1 he abandoned the        
hopeless struggle4 ,he was by           
temperament little  fitted to endure the
 disappointments and delays which must  
always  attend the course of a dramatist
 who has not conquered a position which 
enables him to browbeat the tyrants     
behind the stage4 ,henry ,james  was    

punctilious1 ceremonious1 and precise2  
it is not to be denied  that he was apt 
to be hasty in taking offence1 and not  
very ready to  overlook an impertinence4
 ,the whole existence of the actor is   
lax and  casual2 the manager is the     
capricious leader of an irresponsible   
band  of egotists4 ,henry ,james lost no
 occasion of dwelling1 in private       
conversation1 on this aspect of an      
amiable and entertaining profession4    
,he was not prepared to accept young    
actresses at their own valuation1  and  
the happy-go-lucky democracy of the     
mimes1 as he bracketed both  sexes1     
irritated him to the verge of frenzy4   
,it was1 however1 with a determination  
to curb his impatience1 and  with a     
conviction that he could submit his     
idiosyncrasies to what he  called the   
passionate economy of play-writing1 that
 he began1 in  #ahhi1 to dedicate       
himself to the drama1 excluding for the 
time being  all other considerations4   
,he went over to ,paris in the winter of

  that year1 largely to talk over the   
stage with ,alphonse ,daudet and        
,edmond de ,goncourt1 and he returned to
 put the finishing-touches on  ,the     
,american1 a dramatic version of one of 
his earliest novels4 ,he  finished this 
play at the ,palazzo ,barbaro1 the      
beautiful home of his  friends1 the     
,daniel ,curtises1 in ,venice1 in ,june1
 #ahij1 thereupon  taking a long        
holiday1 one of the latest of his       
extended ,italian  tours1 through       
,venetia and ,tuscany4 ,edward ,compton 
had by this time  accepted ,the         
,american1 being attracted by his own   
chances in the  part of ,christopher    
,newman4 ,when ,henry ,james reappeared 
in ,london1 and  particularly when the  
rehearsals began1 we all noticed how    
deeply the  theatrical virus had        
penetrated his nature4 ,his excitement  
swelled  until the evening of ,january  
#crd1 #ahia1 when ,the ,american was    
acted  at ,southport by ,compton's      
company in anticipation of its          

appearance  in ,london4 ,henry ,james   
was kind enough to wish me to go down on
 this  occasion with him to ,southport1 
but it was not possible4 ,on the        
afternoon of the ordeal he wrote to me  
from the local hotel3 ,after  eleven    
o'clock to-night ,i may be the          
world's--you know--and ,i may be  the   
undertaker's4 ,i count upon you and your
 wife both to spend this  evening in    
fasting1 silence1 and supplication4 ,i  
will send you a word  in the morning1 a 
wire if ,i can4 ,he was so nervous that 
,i miswrite  and misspell4    ,the      
result1 in the provinces1 of this first 
experiment was not  decisive4 ,it is    
true that he told ,robert ,louis        
,stevenson that he was  enjoying a      
success which made him blush4 ,but the  
final result in  ,london1 where ,the    
,american was not played until          
,september1 #ahia1 was  only partly     
encouraging4 ,henry ,james was now cast 
down as unreasonably  as he had been    
uplifted4 ,he told me that the strain1  

the anxiety1  the peculiar form and     
colour of the ordeal 7not to be divined 
in the  least in advance7 had sickened  
him to death4 ,he used language  of the 
most picturesque extravagance about the 
purgatory of the  performances1 which   
ran at the ,opera ,comique for two      
months4 ,there was  nothing in the      
mediocre fortunes of this play to decide
 the questions  whether ,henry ,james   
was or was not justified in abandoning  
all other  forms of art for the drama4  
,we endeavoured to persuade him that1 on
 the  whole1 he was not justified1 but  
he swept our arguments aside1 and he    
devoted himself wholly to the           
infatuation of his sterile task4    ,the
 ,american had been dramatised from a   
published novel4 ,henry ,james  now     
thought that he should do better with   
original plots1 and he wrote  two       
comedies1 the one named ,tenants and the
 other ,disengaged1 of  each of which he
 formed high expectations4 ,but1        
although they were  submitted to several

 managers1 who gave them their customary
 loitering  and fluctuating attention1  
they were in every case ultimately      
refused4  ,each refusal plunged the     
dramatist into the lowest pit of furious
  depression1 from which he presently   
emerged with freshly-kindled hopes4     
,like the moralist1 he never was but    
always to be blest4 ,the ,album  and    
,the ,reprobate--there is a melancholy  
satisfaction in giving life  to the mere
 names of these stillborn children of   
his brain--started  with wild hopes and 
suffered from the same complete failure 
to satisfy  the caprice of the managers4
 ,at the close of #ahic1 after one of   
these  sordid developments1 he made up  
his mind to abandon the struggle4  ,but 
,george ,alexander promised that1 if he 
would but persevere1 he  really and     
truly would produce him infallibly at no
 distant date1 and  poor ,henry ,james  
could not but persevere4 ,i mean to wage
 this war  ferociously for one year     
more1 and he composed1 with infinite    

agony  and deliberation the comedy of   
,guy ,domvile4    ,the night of ,january
 #eth1 #ahie1 was the most tragical in  
,henry ,james's  career4 ,his hopes and 
fears had been strung up to the most    
excruciating  point1 and ,i think that  
,i have never witnessed such agonies of 
parturition4 ,guy ,domvile--which has   
never been printed--was a  delicate and 
picturesque play1 of which the only     
disadvantage that ,i  could discover was
 that instead of having a last scene    
which tied up  all the threads in a neat
 conclusion1 it left all those threads  
loose  as they would be in life4 ,george
 ,alexander was sanguine of success1    
and to do ,henry ,james honour such a   
galaxy of artistic1 literary1 and       
scientific celebrity gathered in the    
stalls of the ,st4 ,james's ,theatre  as
 perhaps were never seen in a playhouse 
before or since4 ,henry ,james  was     
positively storm-ridden with emotion    
before the fatal night1 and  full of    
fantastic plans4 ,i recall that one was 

that he should hide in  the bar of a    
little public-house down an alley close 
to the theatre1  whither ,i should slip 
forth at the end of the second act and  
report  how it was going4 ,this was not 
carried out1 and fortunately ,henry     
,james resisted the temptation of being 
present in the theatre during  the      
performance4 ,all seemed to be going    
fairly well until the close1  when      
,henry ,james appeared and was called   
before the curtain only to be           
subjected--to our unspeakable horror and
 shame--to a storm of hoots and  jeers  
and catcalls from the gallery1 answered 
by loud and sustained  applause from the
 stalls1 the whole producing an effect  
of hell broke  loose1 in the midst of   
which the author1 as white as chalk1    
bowed  and spread forth deprecating     
hands and finally vanished4 ,it was said
  at the time1 and confirmed later1 that
 this horrible performance was  not     
intended to humiliate ,henry ,james1 but
 was the result of a cabal  against     

,george ,alexander4    ,early next      
morning ,i called at #cd ,de ,vere      
,gardens1 hardly daring  to press the   
bell for fear of the worst of news1 so  
shattered with  excitement had the      
playwright been on the previous evening4
 ,i was  astonished to find him         
perfectly calm2 he had slept well and   
was  breakfasting with appetite4 ,the   
theatrical bubble in which he had lived 
a tormented existence for five years was
 wholly and finally broken1 and  he     
returned1 even in that earliest         
conversation1 to the discussion of  the 
work which he had so long and so sadly  
neglected1 the art of direct  prose     
narrative4 ,and now a remarkable thing  
happened4 ,the discipline of  toiling   
for the caprices of the theatre had     
amounted1 for so redundant  an          
imaginative writer1 to the putting on of
 a mental strait-jacket4  ,he saw now   
that he need stoop no longer to what he 
called a meek and  lowly review of the  
right ways to keep on the right side of 

a body  of people who have paid money to
 be amused at a particular hour and     
place4 ,henry ,james was not released   
from this system of vigorous            
renunciation without a very singular    
result4 ,to write for the theatre  the  
qualities of brevity and directness1 of 
an elaborate plainness1 had  been       
perceived by him to be absolutely       
necessary1 and he had tried to          
cultivate them with dogged patience for 
five years4 ,but when he broke  with the
 theatre1 the rebound was excessive4 ,i 
recall his saying to  me1 after the     
fiasco of ,guy ,domvile1 ,at all events1
 ,i have escaped  for ever from the foul
 fiend ,excision6 ,he vibrated with the 
sense of  liberation1 and he began to   
enjoy1 physically and intellectually1 a 
freedom which had hitherto been foreign 
to his nature4    7,to be concluded7    
,a ,,case ,,for ,,records    ,by        
,,hilary ,,jenkinson      ,it has long  
been a commonplace of depreciation to   
say that ,england  possesses more       

valuable collections of historical      
documents than any  other country1 and  
displays more indifference to them4 ,en 
,angleterre  tout est en dsordre1 says  
an eminent ,french critic3 and the      
,times  ,literary ,supplement quotes    
him4#cb ,since the middle of last       
century  the declared classes of public 
records in this country 7those of the   
,central ,government7 have1 it is true1 
had a settled habitation1 a staff  to   
look after them1 and a good deal of     
attention from a small section  of the  
public2 also a considerable1 though     
relatively small1 number  of            
publications has been devoted to them   
and some of the clamorous  interests1   
the genealogist's1 for example1 fed if  
not sated4 ,the same  amount of good    
fortune1 except by the hazard of their  
coming into the  hands of an enthusiast1
 has not in many cases befallen the     
records  belonging to local bodies2     
still less has it come to the enormous  
private collections originally          

accumulated in connection with the      
descent of real property1 and now1 since
 the invention of short  title1 no      
longer in any demand for their primary  
purpose4 ,if the  public records of the 
past may in our day be considered to    
have found  safety1 it is still possible
 to witness in this country the         
unedifying  spectacle of the museum or  
the rich collector buying up the pretty 
specimen from a collection of manorial  
records1 while the remainder1 of  which 
it should form an integral part1 after  
the lesser lights of the  collecting    
world have taken gradual toll of it1    
goes without protest  from any one to   
the tambourine-maker or the glue        
merchant4 ,it is as  though an          
anatomist1 having exhumed his           
great-grandfather1 should add  to that  
injury the insult of preserving an      
interesting metacarpal in  his cabinet1 
while he distributes the rest of the    
body to various  colleagues1 with       
remainder to the manufacturer of        

fertilisers3 one is  tempted to send    
science to blazes and wish the poor old 
gentleman might  have been left intact1 
if useless1 underground4          #cb   
,november #bgth1 #aiai4    ,i have      
spoken in this first paragraph of the   
unhappy state of the small  collections 
in ,england because that state is an    
obvious and striking  result of the same
 cause which has produced most of our   
mistakes in the  preservation1 sorting  
and editing of documents in the past2   
because  the distinction at present     
existing between the public and the     
private  collections is so symptomatic  
of our worst failure in this field3 in  
effect1 in all these years during which 
historical documents have met  with a   
certain amount of appreciation1 it has  
apparently never occurred  to us to make
 definite search for the essential      
features common to all  records1 high or
 low1 and to apply to all records a     
treatment based  on the examination of  
those features4 ,but the most           

interesting archive  question of the    
present time seems to me to be the      
question of the  records we ourselves   
are producing4 ,if our shortcomings as  
owners of  archives have affected       
adversely our treatment of what the past
 has  left to us1 are they not capable  
of doing quite as much harm to that     
which we ourselves are to bequeath to   
the future8 ,and1 further1 if  ,england1
 owing to its wealth of records1        
provides a particularly large  number of
 examples of things to be avoided1 is it
 not possible that the  application of  
the warning derived from these may prove
 to be common to  other countries8 ,it  
is1 indeed1 no new criticism of the     
,french ,school1  the acknowledged      
leader of the world in this matter1 to  
say that the  circumstances under which 
the ,french national collections were   
put  together have led it sometimes to  
consider the isolated document  rather  
to the exclusion of that record which   
forms only a single link  in a long     

chain4    ,we are led1 therefore1 to    
inquire how far certain generalisations1
  based on the character of our existing
 ,english records1 maybe applied  as    
criteria to the treatment of those      
records which are accumulating in  our  
own time in ,england and perhaps in     
other countries4    ,a record1 if we may
 venture here to give definition to a   
loosely-used  word1 is a document drawn 
up1 or at any rate made use of1 in the  
course of an administrative process1 of 
which itself forms a part1  and         
subsequently preserved in his own       
custody for his own reference  by the   
administrator concerned or his          
successors4 ,the process and the        
administration may be as important or   
unimportant as you please2 the  result  
may be the ,rolls of ,chancery or the   
deed-box of a manor3 the  essential     
features are the same in both cases--the
 administrative  origin1 the            
administrative reason for preservation1 
the preservation  in administrative     

custody3 so also are the results the    
same from the  point of view of the     
subsequent 'ologist--the two priceless  
qualities  of authenticity and          
impartiality2 the first proceeding from 
the fact  that the records have been    
always in custody1#cc and in a certain  
relationship one with another1 the      
second derived from the fact that  they 
were not drawn up for the information of
 posterity1#cd and1  therefore1 have no 
bias to one side or the other of        
posterity's  problems4 ,any number of   
interesting instances#ce might be       
adduced  from the records of the past1  
both of the value of these qualities    
and of the ease with which they may be  
flawed2 but let us here leave  for the  
time consideration of the records the   
past has bequeathed to  us and inquire  
how far the qualities which1 with all   
its historical  faults1 it gave us in   
most of its documents are going to be   
found by  our descendants in those we   
leave to them4 ,the unprecedented mass  

of  documents which the various         
executive departments must have         
accumulated  during the war may well    
frighten us into a serious consideration
 of  this subject at the present moment4
          #cc ,the licence of high      
officials has sometimes violated        
this1 a practice much to be deprecated4 
,i refer to             this again      
below4          #cd ,this fact may1 of  
course1 lead in ignorant times1 such    
as was the early nineteenth century1 to 
destruction4          #ce ,a well-known 
case is the volume1 belonging to the    
records of the ,master of the ,revels1  
which1 if             it is genuine1    
dates one of ,shakespeare's plays3      
unfortunately it was for a considerable 
time out of             official        
custody1 and doubts have been cast on   
the             authenticity of the most
 important page4    ,now1 the rules for 
safe preservation and custody are simple
 things1  matters of proved experience1 
a number of which are set out in a      

small book recently published in        
,england1 and at more length in the     
well-known ,continental treatise2#cf and
 though the standard of  archive-keeping
 by local authorities is at present very
 uneven1 we may1  for the shortening of 
this article1 dismiss that side of the  
question  with pious hopes4 ,assuming1  
then1 that the documents of our own     
time1  when they come to the state of   
archives1 will be preserved in suitable 
places and under proper rules of        
custody1 assuming further that we  are  
able to drill archivists into leaving   
their charges as far as  possible in the
 physical order and state in which they 
find them 7so  as to preserve the old   
association of document with document71 
we have  to face as our chief danger a  
threat not so much to the authenticity  
of the record as to its                 
impartiality--the most important of all 
its  qualities and one which1 once      
damaged1 cannot be restored4            
,interference  with impartiality may    

occur at two points3 in the first place 
it may  occur1 as indeed it has         
sometimes done in the past1 at or near  
the time  of the document's making2 the 
administrator who makes it may himself  
have an eye on posterity4 ,we shall have
 to recur to this again1 but  for the   
moment let us turn to the second1 which 
is the more serious  because it brings  
us up against the great modern record   
problem1 bulk3  impartiality may        
be--rather1 is--impugned when we come to
 the selection  of documents for        
preservation4          #cf ,c4 ,johnson3
 ,the ,care of ,documents 7,s4,p4,c4,k4 
,helps             for ,students of     
,history72 and ,muller1 ,feith1 and     
,fruin3 ,manuel pour le ,classement des 
,archives4    ,the obvious remedy for   
this is not to select--to preserve      
everything2  but this is in practice an 
equally obvious impossibility3 the      
instance  already quoted of the         
accumulation of our war records#cg would
 no  doubt supply apt illustration1 but 

the custodian of county records is      
faced on his small scale with exactly   
the same difficulty3 we are all         
confronted1 in fact1 with this main     
problem--how are we to reconcile  our   
desire to preserve in our records       
certain qualities which have            
accompanied in the past an uncontrolled 
accumulation with the necessity  of our 
own day for restriction8 ,up to now1 in 
face of this problem1 and  in face of   
the system of selection1 or destruction1
 which is actually  in use1 no one 7not 
even the ,royal ,commission1 which has  
obviously  devoted much attention to the
 subject7 has really gone further than  
to  tell the selectors that they must be
 very careful4 ,but can they8 ,let  us  
take a case of public records1 an       
imaginary class of1 say1 #bjj1jjj       
pieces to be dealt with in a limited    
space of time by a limited number  of   
people who have probably other work     
waiting to be done3 how can  they       
possibly say 7since they have not the   

time to make a detailed  comparison7    
that all the information contained in   
certain documents  which they propose to
 condemn is to be found elsewhere8 ,or1 
taking  another criterion1 how can they 
say that certain documents are going to 
be without interest for the future8     
,there are classes of documents in  the 
,public ,record ,office now frequently  
used and highly valued which  little    
more than fifty years ago might well    
have been destroyed as  having no       
interest for any branch of human study  
then known4          #cg ,records so    
vast that in its last report 7#aiai7 the
             ,royal ,commission has     
found it necessary to alter             
its original 7#aiad7 recommendations    
regarding the             provision of  
new repository accommodation4    ,at    
this point the natural thing is to seek 
the advice of the historian1  who is    
indeed1 being an enthusiast1 anxious to 
give it4 ,now1 the  historian may fairly
 claim to have done much for records in 

the past4  ,he is mainly responsible for
 the recognition of public records as   
things valuable and to be kept carefully
 for other reasons than that of  mere   
antiquity2 and he has done something in 
,england 7one always hopes  that he will
 do more presently7 for local and       
private collections4  ,but he cannot    
predict the needs of future research    
workers 7who may  not be historians at  
all7 any more than he was able to       
predict in the  time of the old ,record 
,commission the needs of our own day3   
witness  the indexes1 quite useless to  
an economic historian1 of the very      
important ,chancery ,rolls of ,king     
,john1 published about #ahcj4 ,even if  
we grant that he may make a better guess
 than other men1 we are met by  a still 
graver objection in the fact that we    
cannot rule out at least  the           
possibility 7since he is human and an   
historian7 of his having a  predilection
 for the evidence which will establish a
 certain view or  emphasise a certain   

line of inquiry4 ,the use of an         
historian1 or of  any other person who  
uses records for research purposes1 as a
 selector  seems to me incompatible with
 the preservation of their              
characteristic  impartiality3 there will
 be a possibility--and the mere         
possibility is  enough--of suppressio   
veri1 if not of suggestio falsi2 and    
what  should have been a record1        
preserved by circumstances which do not 
affect its value as evidence1 will      
become no more than the narrative  or at
 most the pice justificative of a       
specialist2 you might as  well allow a  
botanist to produce a hybrid in order to
 prove not its  possibility but its     
existence as a natural form4    ,but if 
we cannot use the historian for our     
purposes we may perhaps call  in the    
trained archivist4 ,i am afraid that    
here again we shall find  no help4 ,the 
archivist may take an interest in any of
 the subjects  upon which his           
collections furnish evidence2 but such  

interests have  nothing to do with      
7indeed they sometimes impede7 the      
duties that are  his of safeguarding1   
arranging1 and making accessible and of 
basing  himself for all these duties on 
the internal structure of the classes   
of documents in his charge3 with the    
possible exception of the last  there is
 nothing in these qualifications to make
 him more fit than the  historian for   
the work of selection--and destruction4 
,is there1 then1 no possible way--we    
will not say of dealing with our        
present accumulations2 they1 it may be1 
on account of their sheer bulk  must be 
dealt with by such ad hoc methods as the
 circumstances  admit of2 and into those
 methods it is not our province here to 
enter--but merely for our guidance in   
the future1 is there no chance  of      
reconciling the requirements of         
ourselves and posterity 7so far as      
these can be foreseen7 with the         
intrinsic interests of the records      
themselves--the external with the       

internal--or rather perhaps of  finding 
some method of treatment which will give
 to our records a  reasonable bulk while
 preserving their important             
characteristics1 and  at the same time  
will at least not sacrifice unduly the  
interests of  the research-worker8      
,perhaps an indication of such a        
possibility is  to be found in the words
 our present accumulations which we used
  above4 ,how would it be if we set     
ourselves in the future to prevent      
accumulations8    ,a certain amount of  
contemporary destruction of the more    
obviously  ephemeral papers--notes from 
one department of an office to another  
saying1 ,passed to you1 please1 and     
perhaps documents of a more  advanced   
type--does1 of course1 in our own days  
sometimes take place in  large offices4 
,and there are not wanting indications  
that a perception  of the need of       
something more1 especially in regard to 
public offices1  has been growing since 
the ,act of #ahgg1 provided that the    

,master of  the ,rolls might make rules 
respecting the disposal by destruction  
or  otherwise of documents which are    
deposited in or can be removed to the   
,public ,record ,office 7note the lack  
of any distinction between the  two     
classes7 and which are not of sufficient
 public value to justify  their         
preservation in the ,public ,record     
,office4 ,such an indication is  seen in
 the desire expressed by the late ,royal
 ,commission on ,public  ,records#ch for
 the substitution in ,government offices
 of destruction  and preservation of    
documents according to well-considered  
principles  for destruction founded on  
arbitrary1 varying opinions2 and for the
  relief of the ,public ,record ,office 
,repository from a cumbersome mass  of  
useless or unnecessary documents4 ,but  
no one1 so far as ,i am aware1  has yet 
summed up and balanced1 for the benefit 
of all records and  record-keepers1     
whether public or private1 the merits   
and demerits  of the various systems of 

destruction1 either in the light of the 
intrinsic character of records          
themselves or in that of the experience 
gained from a study of our ancestors'   
methods4 ,and the accumulations of      
documents1 many of which are            
subsequently judged not to be material1 
continue4          #ch ,first report1 p4
 #da2 cp43 second report1 p4 #ga1 etc4  
,now we may assume1 indeed we know1 that
 from the earliest times not  only      
selections of subjects for              
representation in permanent records  but
 also actual destruction of documents   
has been practised by the               
administrators who have left us their   
collections4 ,only--and here  is the    
distinction--since the question of bulk 
did not trouble them  as it does us1    
they were able to act solely on the     
ground that the  record in question was 
not required for their current          
administrative  purposes4 ,note that in 
this their impartiality was not affected
 by  the external considerations of     

either this world or the next1 neither  
by any interest in the history-writing  
of the future1 nor by the  exigencies of
 floor-space in the present4 ,any       
subsequent destruction1  direct or      
indirect1 by our ancestors was quite a  
different matter3  such destruction has 
invariably been the subject ultimately  
of adverse  criticism1 though no doubt  
the person responsible saw no particular
  harm in it4 ,for example1 take the    
case of the burning of the ,exchequer   
tallies in #ahcd4 ,the position of      
contemporaries is probably represented  
tolerably by that of ,charles ,dickens1 
who criticised the proceeding on  the   
ground not only that it burned down the 
,houses of ,parliament1 but  also that  
it was a wanton waste of firewood which 
might have been given  to the poor3 yet 
already we1 not a hundred years after1  
are regretting  it4 ,on the other hand1 
though historians are in the habit of   
saying  vaguely that much which was of  
incalculable value must have been lost1 

they refer always to the losses due to  
various forms of carelessness4 ,i  have 
never heard anyone venture to criticise 
the ,chancery1 for example1  because it 
did not preserve full copies of         
non-returnable writs or the  ,exchequer 
because certain draft accounts were     
destroyed4    ,what1 in fact1 are the   
principal gaps in old records which     
affect us  moderns8 ,if we take two of  
the documents which have thrown light on
  the personal history of ,shakespeare  
7not a matter of much moment to  his    
contemporaries7 we shall arrive at a    
clear distinction between  two different
 kinds of destruction1 or shall we say  
failure to  preserve8 ,on the one hand1 
we have a document signed by            
,shakespeare  as a witness3 all that    
mattered to the court here was that     
certain  evidence had been given by some
 indifferent person and accepted4 ,could
  we have blamed it if it had failed to 
preserve this signature which  we find  
so intriguing1 or had allowed it 7as was

 sometimes done7 to  be written in by   
the scribe who took down the deposition8
 ,or if it  had preserved the whole     
document only in the form of a summary8 
,most  certainly we could not3 how was  
the court to know that we should be     
interested in ,shakespeare's life and   
handwriting8 ,on the other hand1  take  
the case where ,shakespeare himself was 
party to a fine3 had the  court of      
,common ,pleas failed to preserve the   
foot of that fine1 which  was a         
recognised form of evidence of its own  
transactions1 we should  legitimately   
criticise its carelessness4    ,it      
appears1 therefore1 that the only       
criticism posterity will be able  to    
pass on us1 if we adhere to the practice
 of our ancestors1 will be  one based on
 the extent to which we leave record    
behind us of the work  of the various   
administrations2 and our further queries
 then resolve  themselves into two3     
7#a7 ,can we train our administrator so 
to keep his records at the time  they   

are made that they will give a fair     
picture of the activities of  his       
office1 and this without desiring him to
 do it for the benefit of  posterity1   
without making an historian of him8     
7#b7 ,can this be done so economically  
as to get rid of the bulk  difficulty in
 connection with preservation8    ,if   
the answer to each of these questions is
 ,yes1 then our problem is  solved4     
,it is not1 of course1 possible to      
answer them in detail here1 because  to 
do so would involve inserting a detailed
 scheme for the keeping of  archives in 
a modern office2 it would also involve  
going into such  highly technical1 and  
in some cases controversial1 matters as 
the  use and abuse of flimsies1 the     
whole position of the typewriter in     
record-making 7with an excursus on      
carbons and inks71 the comparative      
merits of various filing systems1 and1  
as regards this country at  least1      
liaison between ,government departments4
 ,but we may perhaps try  in the most   

general terms to lay down a few first   
principles and see  how far they        
indicate the possibility of an answer4  
,we may premise that  while no two      
accountants differ radically in their   
methods1 the name  of the various filing
 systems and practices is legion2 while 
we have  had double-entry for three or  
four hundred years1 no one has yet hit  
on  a system of filing correspondence   
and the like which commands general     
approval2 from which we may draw the    
corollary that almost everywhere  there 
are large redundancies4    ,if1 then1 we
 are to educate our administrator we    
should begin    7#a7 ,by explaining the 
trouble that has been caused by         
accumulations of  records in the past   
and the impossibility of dealing with   
them reliably  and satisfactorily in the
 present4 ,this trouble we require him  
to  prevent in the future by a system of
 personal attention and studied         
economy4 7,he would1 of course1 say at  
once that this could not be done2  the  

reply is ,have you tried87    7#b7 ,the 
next point is concerned also with       
authenticity1 but it is in  every way of
 primary importance4#ci          #ci    
,how important may be judged from the   
perusal of             more than one    
modern volume of more than one great    
statesman's ,private ,papers--many of   
them public             records which   
have been taken out of custody4 ,perhaps
             the new diplomacy may do   
something to remedy this evil4    ,every
 office1 no matter how small1 must have 
a registry2#dj i4e41  must be divided   
up1 qua records1 into two branches1     
administrative  and executive2 it must  
have a small branch which keeps and     
controls1  distinct from the large which
 makes and uses1 documents4 ,registry1  
the  keeper and controller of office    
papers1 is to lay down the way in which 
letters are to be written and whether   
copies are to be made4 ,when they  are  
made 7or received1 if they come from    
without7 all office documents  are the  

property of registry1 which is          
responsible for destruction  or         
preservation 7with1 of course1 the      
advantage of advice from the  executive 
side in a large office7 and for         
safeguarding and methods of             
arrangement4          #dj ,i hope ,i    
shall not be accused of ignorance of the
 fact             that registries do    
exist in some offices4 ,the point       
is1 first1 that their existence is not  
universal2             second1 that they
 have not yet been turned towards       
those functions which it is here        
suggested they should                   
fulfil4    7#c7 ,the golden rule for    
administrators is3 in preserving and    
arranging  documents keep in view a     
single purpose1 that of enabling an     
ignorant  successor by their means to   
carry on if you and the whole of your   
staff  were blotted out4 ,we depend     
largely on this rule for an answer to   
the  historian's objection that the     
administrator if left to himself will   

destroy all the valuable things--lose   
the ,shakespeare fine1 in fact4  ,it is 
not1 however1 inserted here for that    
purpose1 but because it is  obviously   
sound4    7#d7 ,apart from this rule the
 first principle should be economy2 and 
economy1 if registry is not to be       
overburdened with work1 must consist    
largely in rules carefully thought out  
concerning not the documents  which are 
to be destroyed1 but the documents which
 are never to be  made3 for example1    
probably at least #ej per cent4 of the  
copies of  out-letters which are        
preserved in a big office record nothing
 more  than despatch1 which could be    
done in two words or less in a general  
register4    7#e7 ,the ideal subject    
index1 it has been said1 would have only
 one  entry and any quantity of         
cross-references2 similarly there is an 
ideal  of a single master series in     
records3 being an ideal1 neither of     
these  things is realisable1 but it is  
possible to get near to them4 ,for      

example1 registry can and should have a 
record of its own1 a single  general    
register1 and a properly made entry in  
this would be amply  sufficient record  
of many transactions which are at       
present dignified  with a dossier4      
7#f7 ,in this connection we may refer to
 the necessity for the  intelligent use 
of mechanical devices3 many duplicates  
and unnecessary  documents are          
habitually kept owing to a failure to   
appreciate the  merits as distinguishing
 features of a red pencil and a blue1   
the  opposition of left to right1 the   
possibilities of the first and the      
second column1 not to mention the third1
 fourth1 and fifth4444    7#g7 ,registry
 should have a clear conception of the  
nature of  records--that there are only 
three kinds3 ,in-letters1 out-letters1  
and memoranda 7including accounts74 ,a  
realisation of this and of the  way in  
which records work into each other means
 economy in internal  arrangement1 and  
in the case of ,government offices      

might1 if liaison  were close and a     
single system of record-keeping in      
general use1 make  new economies        
possible as between departments4    7#h7
 ,so far we have been considering the   
possibilities of an economy  which      
consists in not making documents2 but we
 have1 of course1 to  consider also     
actual destruction1 of which there are  
three kinds3 7a7  ,first1 there is what 
we may call posthumous destruction1 the 
kind  which is now most in vogue1 and   
which we want to stop altogether3 that  
is the destruction which deals with an  
accumulation formed perhaps  years      
before--destruction for its own sake1   
because of over-great  bulk4 ,then 7b7  
there is immediate destruction1 which   
gives effect  to the judgment passed at 
the earliest possible moment on a       
document3  you wait only until a letter 
7let us say perhaps a letter making an  
appointment7 is acknowledged1 and then1 
since its actual terms concern  only the
 person addressed1 and for your office's

 purposes you have  sufficient evidence 
in your registry1 you destroy4 7c7      
,finally1 there  is deferred            
destruction1 the kind which comes into  
operation where  a document1 already    
condemned1 so far as concerns the       
purposes of the  office1 is temporarily 
preserved for some purely external      
reason2  for example1 in connection with
 the provisions of the ,statute of      
,limitations4    7#i7 ,a primary rule of
 destruction is that no letter-in1 copy 
of  letter-out1 or draft of office      
memoranda shall be kept which does  not 
mean a stage in advance for the office's
 business4 ,but it is  particularly     
necessary that this destruction should  
take place at the  earliest possible    
moment1 while the business is fresh in  
the minds of  those concerned2 because  
there are documents which1 though they  
have no  direct result themselves1 yet  
by that very fact mark an advance in the
  policy 7let us say7 of a department1  
and delay in the consideration of  these

 might conceivably be dangerous4        
7#aj7 ,for the purposes of deferred     
destruction some system of  automatic   
working will be necessary2 for instance1
 if large masses of  papers1 valueless  
otherwise to the office1 have to be     
kept1 say1 for  six years for legal     
reasons1 there should be a regular      
system by which  every day the register 
of six years back should be examined and
 the  papers there marked 7let us say7  
,d4,d41 for deferred destruction1 should
  be at once drawn1 disposed of1 and    
marked off4 ,it is possible that some   
system might be introduced to cover     
doubtful cases1 which could be  given a 
short lease of life--some statutory     
number of months1 pending  a decision by
 circumstances upon their value4 ,this  
would be a good  safeguard against      
careless destruction1 though that should
 never occur4    7#aa7 ,finally1 lest   
this compromise should let in abuses1   
there must be  a short time of probation
 for documents fixed1 perhaps not more  

than a  year2 and1 as soon as any       
document has passed through that1 it    
should  automatically go to the record  
class1 where no further destruction  is 
permitted2 it would probably in practice
 be subjected to a final  scrutiny a few
 days before it reached this happy      
state4 ,as many such  documents might   
still be needed for reference1 they     
would possibly  remain with those still 
on probation or go only to some         
intermediate  muniment-room1 not to the 
final record repository1 but they would 
be  records1 full-fledged4    ,the above
 suggestions are offered only as        
suggestions1 susceptible of  much       
revision and needing much more          
expansion4 ,the only claim made for     
them is that they do face the real      
difficulty of the record situation1  and
 do sketch lines along which the        
reasonable requirements of the          
historian1 or any other worker who may  
be destined in the future to  pursue    
strange learning along unthought-of     

paths1 are adequately met2  the question
 of bulk is met1 and the present system 
of dealing in a  hopeless kind of way   
with accumulations already formed and   
hardened is  got rid of2 and violence is
 not done to the structure of the       
records  themselves4    ,criticism of   
the proposed system will probably be    
divided between  statements that it does
 too much and that it does too little4  
,we may  reply that there is no inherent
 impossibility in the via media1 that   
all alternative systems are destructive 
of the most essential qualities  of     
records1 and that ours is1 therefore1 at
 least worth a trial4    ,attempts are  
from time to time made in most large    
offices to secure  the keeping of       
documents in a manner convenient to     
those who use them  for official        
purposes4 ,but why not something longer 
sighted1 a little  care for the records 
themselves8 ,why not a ,manual of       
,record ,making and  ,keeping for       
,clerks in ,government and other        

,offices8          ,,on ,,interpretation
 ,,in ,,music    ,by ,,sir ,,george     
,,henschel1 ,mus4,doc4      ,the        
question of interpretation1 especially  
in the field of music1  and more        
particularly as regards song1 has been  
prominent of late4  ,lectures on        
interpretation1 books on the subject    
have been announced  in the papers under
 more or less attractive titles1 but ,i 
fear ,i  have never read the latter1 nor
 gone to any of the former4 ,indeed ,i  
confess that throughout my life ,i have 
given little1 if any1 thought  to       
interpretation3 a fact not easily       
accounted for1 unless it be  that when  
,i was young1 people must have been more
 unsophisticated4  ,interpretation in   
music was a thing rarely spoken of4 ,if1
 for instance1  there was a ,beethoven  
symphony on the programme of a concert1 
people  went because they wanted to hear
 the symphony1 not how a conductor      
interpreted it4 ,it evidently sufficed  
these good people to have  confidence in

 the musicianship and skill of the      
members of an orchestra  and in the     
loyalty of their conductor as regards   
carrying out the  composer's wishes as  
to tempo and expression1 confidence     
altogether  in the efficiency of any    
artist ready to brave the test of       
publicity4  ,moreover1 conductors were  
then stationary2 the fashion of         
prima-donna  conductors1 travelling from
 one place to another1 each trying to   
outdo  his rival in so-called           
originality1 had not come into being1   
and there  was little opportunity for a 
comparison4    ,of course1 ,i had read  
or heard of points in law being capable 
of  different interpretation by         
different lawyers1 also was aware of the
  fact that interpreters are persons    
who1 being masters of several           
languages1 act between two people       
ignorant of each other's tongue1  or    
whose office it is to translate orally  
in their presence the  words of parties 
speaking different languages1 but ,i    

never connected  the term with music1   
which1 ,i thought1 being a language     
spoken and  understood all the world    
over1 did not require the services of an
  interpreter4 ,this1 of course1 was a  
very youthful notion4 ,but even in      
later years the question did not        
interest me very much1 and it was  not  
until three or four years ago the editor
 of an ,american musical  magazine asked
 me to write for his paper an article   
which he wished  to be entitled ,some   
,elementary ,truths on                  
,song-,interpretation that  the matter  
attracted my serious attention4 ,i      
remember answering the  gentleman3 ,my  
dear sir1--,since we are still waiting  
for a satisfactory  answer to the       
ancient question ',what is truth8' ,i   
must confess myself  utterly incompetent
 to gratify your flattering desire2     
indeed1 without  immodesty1 ,i hope1    
should be reluctant to accept any       
mortal's opinion  regarding a question  
of art as truth4 ,somehow or other1     

however1 the  thing got hold of me and  
,i began to be curious to see what could
 be  said1 or at any rate what ,i might 
be able to say on the subject4 ,so1     
first of all1 ,i consulted the ,oxford  
,dictionary to see whether among  the   
various definitions of the word         
,interpretation1 which that  wonderfully
 complete book was sure to offer1 there 
might not be one  applicable to music1  
or altogether to art4 ,and there ,i     
found that ,to  interpret may mean3     
,expound the meaning of1 bring out1 make
 out the meaning of1 explain1           
understand1 render by artistic          
representation or performance4    ,well1
 this was something to start from1      
anyhow4 ,let us see3 ,expound  the      
meaning of4    ,from the oracles of old1
 not infrequently more obscure on       
purpose to  give them greater           
importance1 down to a speech from the   
front benches1  utterances in words may1
 and indeed often do1 need expounding   
the meaning of1 but it seems to me in   

music1 and1 perhaps1 in art  altogether1
 the necessity for explanation nearly   
always indicates a  certain degree of   
inferiority4 ,i cannot imagine anyone   
looking at a  ,velasquez1 or ,titian1 or
 ,rembrandt1 or ,michelangelo asking    
,what does  it mean8 but ,i am sure we  
all have heard that question1 very      
likely  emphasised by the addition of   
two little words1 like on earth1 or     
something stronger1 at exhibitions of   
,futurist art4    ,so in a piece of     
absolute music1 i4e41 music without     
words1 for an  orchestra or a solo      
instrument1 any attempt at expounding   
the meaning  of1 make out the meaning   
of1 must1 in my humble opinion1 always  
be  more or less of a failure1 whilst1  
of course1 there can be no need  of such
 an attempt at all if the music be      
programme music1 or if1 by  the title   
given to it1 like1 for instance1 ,elegy1
 ,reverie1 ,humoreske1  ,nocturne1      
,barcarolle1 and so on1 the composer    
clearly has indicated his  intention4   

,there is no need asking what ,bach1    
,beethoven1 ,brahms meant  by their     
symphonies1 their fugues4    ,you might 
as well ask what the meaning of a       
cathedral4 ,these things  are there for 
us to wonder at the greatness and power 
of the human  mind1 to lose ourselves in
 admiration of the various forms of     
beauty  in which they reveal themselves1
 to bow down1 to worship4 ,on the other 
hand1 in music with words1 the poems    
chosen by the composer are rarely       
sufficiently obscure or eccentric to    
require expounding the meaning  of4     
,it seems to me1 therefore1 that the    
only definition of the word             
interpretation with which we need       
concern ourselves is ,render by         
artistic representation or performance4 
,and that would seem simple  enough were
 it not that when it comes to a song we 
have to deal with  a compound of poetry 
and music which complicates matters     
inasmuch as  there is art required for  
reciting a poem as well as for singing  

the  music4    ,that the music of a     
song1 as such1 may be beautifully       
rendered by an  instrument other than   
the voice we all know4 ,who--to quote   
only one  example--has not heard        
,schubert's ,ave ,maria played on a     
'cello8  ,and the words of a song       
detached from the music may find an     
ideal  interpreter in the person of a   
talented reciter1 who1 as regards music1
  may not know one note from another4   
,the perfect interpreter of a song1     
therefore1 would have to combine in him 
or herself the talents and  qualities of
 both a reciter and a singer1 and it    
will be seen at once  that1 as in song  
the music is of the first importance1   
not only should  an intending singer    
make a point of studying music as well  
as singing1  but the study of theory1   
harmony1 counterpoint1 etc41 that is to 
say1  of music as a creative art should 
always be made the foundation on  which 
all special studies for expressing that 
art should rest4    ,i have just said   

that in a song the music is first in    
importance4  ,should1 therefore1 by any 
chance a composer have failed1 as some  
of  the best have been known to now and 
then1 to make the music fit the  words  
completely1 it would be the duty of the 
singer to consider the  musical phrase  
in the first instance and fit in the    
words as well as  possible under the    
circumstances1 even at the risk of      
breaking between  two words which       
otherwise it would be better not to     
separate4    ,the question of breathing 
is altogether one which puzzles a great 
many  singers4 ,take1 for instance1 a   
,bach or ,handel aria1 with semiquaver  
runs1 often extending over half-a-dozen 
bars or more4 ,there are singers  who   
deem it beneath their dignity to breathe
 during such a run1 and  go on until    
they are red in the face1 or else1 if   
they see they must  after all1 put in   
additional words4 ,this is quite        
unnecessary4 ,such  occasions should be 
treated instrumentally4 ,give such a run

 to1 say1  an oboe player and you will  
find that he now and then will take an  
instantaneous little breath which       
enables him to do justice to every  note
 and carry the thing through            
successfully and without exhaustion4    
,it is generally the childish fear of   
being thought lacking in physical       
strength which induces some singers to  
delay breathing until the  thought of   
their bursting a blood vessel remains   
the only one left  in the poor listener1
 rendering anything like interpretation 
and1  therefore1 artistic enjoyment of  
such a performance utterly impossible4  
,if you know how to breathe1 i4e41 how  
to replenish your lungs in  the         
twinkling of an eye and imperceptibly1  
you cannot really breathe  too often1   
for by such judicious breathing you are 
infinitely better  able to              
satisfactorily accomplish the task      
before you4 ,i remember being  asked1   
years ago1 to hear1 with a view to      
giving my opinion on her  talent and    

voice1 a young singer1 now quite famous1
 and being horrified  at her utterly    
mistaken idea as to breathing4          
,disregarding all thought  of           
intelligent phrasing1 she actually never
 breathed unless positively  obliged to 
do so4 ,i stood it as long as ,i could  
and then got really  angry4 ,i stopped  
her short and said1 ,my dear young lady1
 do you wish  to show the people what   
wonderful lungs you have1 or what a     
beautiful  song it is you are singing8  
,you can only do one of the two things  
at  a time4 ,supposing even your        
breathing be good1 which1 being neither 
inaudible nor invisible1 ,i am sorry to 
say it is not2 you will have  to learn  
that an accomplishment1 be it ever so   
great1 in anything  pertaining to a     
detail in the mere technique of an art  
becomes a  fault the moment attention is
 drawn to it4 ,a singer who after the   
singing of a beautiful song is          
complimented on the excellent management
  of his breath or the wonderful        

articulation of his words should go home
  and resolve to do better next time1   
and not rest satisfied until he  feels  
that the singer's highest aim should be 
the full appreciation and  enjoyment on 
the part of the listener of the work    
interpreted4 ,that  aim being achieved  
he need wish for no greater praise4     
,for an intelligent and thoroughly      
satisfactory rendering of a song it  is 
absolutely imperative that the vocal    
technique of the singer--and  the       
breathing is as important a part of it  
as the actual singing--be  developed to 
a state of efficiency1 such as to need  
no more thought  than1 for instance1 a  
pianist interpreting a ,beethoven sonata
 should  have to give to the fingering4 
,all technical difficulties should have 
been overcome once for all and technique
 itself become a matter of  course      
before an attempt at interpretation is  
made4    ,the two principal factors in  
the technique of singing are            
vocalisation and articulation1 the one  

referring to music1 the                 
other--articulation--to speech1 each    
complementing the other1 though ,i  hold
 that of the two articulation is the    
more important1 since it is  not the    
vowels but the consonants which enable a
 singer to bring out  the meaning of1   
i4e41 to interpret a word4 ,you may sing
 the vowel1  for instance1 of the word  
soul ever so beautifully1 it is not     
until  you add the l with the same      
intensity of purpose that the word puts 
on flesh and blood1 as it were1 and     
becomes a living thing4 ,or take the    
word remember4 ,no actor1 impersonating1
 for instance1 the ghost of  ,hamlet's  
father1 could make an impression with   
the word by dwelling on  the vowel      
,reme-e-e----1 but leaving the vowel    
quickly and continuing  to sound the m a
 good actor could walk almost across the
 whole stage  holding on to that        
consonant without                       
exaggeration--,remem-m-m-ber4  ,it is   
the consonants1 as ,i said before1 which

 convey the meaning of  a word1 and they
 should be made the subject of special  
study4 ,if you  wish to interpret you   
should1 in the first place1 strive to   
make  yourself understood1 and that1    
with the best vocalisation in the world1
  you can do only by a mastery of the   
consonants1 i4e41 by a perfect          
articulation4 ,you all know that        
delicious story of the dear old lady    
coming home from a village concert1     
where the hit of the evening had  been  
made by a girl singing1 ,wae's me for   
,prince ,charlie4 ,being  asked whether 
she had enjoyed the concert1 she said1  
,not very much2  ,i couldn't understand 
half the people who sang1 except one    
girl who  sang a nice funny song4 ,do   
you remember the title8 ,no1 but she    
kept  on asking ',where's me fourpence1 
,charlie8' ,this singer evidently had   
not made a special study of consonants4 
,in vocalisation1 too1 there are certain
 details which often fail to  receive1  
on the part of the singer1 the attention

 which should be  paid to them4 ,one of 
them1 and1 in my opinion1 a very        
important one1  because of its great    
help towards interpretation1 is the     
colouring  of the tone4 ,i have heard   
many an otherwise good singer whose     
singing  became exceedingly monotonous  
after a while by reason of a lack of    
variety in tone-colour1 and ,i remember 
one lady in particular1 the  possessor  
of a beautiful rich contralto voice1    
from whose singing--had  it not been for
 the words--you could not possibly have 
told whether  what she sang was sad or  
cheerful4 ,and yet our five vowels ,a1  
,e1 ,i1 ,o1  ,u being what we may call  
the primary colours of the voice1 a     
singer  should be able1 by skilful and  
judicious mixing of these colours1  to  
produce as many different shades of1 let
 us say1 the vowel ,a as a  painter of  
the colour1 say1 of red4 ,i have in my  
long experience of  a teacher found it  
of the utmost value to make a pupil sing
 even a  whole song on nothing but the  

vowels of the words1 with the object of 
expressing the character of the music by
 mere vocalisation4 ,we all  love that  
glorious aria in the ,messiah1 ,he was  
despised4 ,well1 let  a student try to  
convey its sadness1 its deeply religious
 feeling in  that way1 i4e41 without    
words1 by the instrument of the voice   
alone1  and1 if after a while she       
succeeds1 she will have taken a very big
  step toward realising1 i4e41 toward   
interpreting1 the full beauty of  that  
exquisite blending of words and music4  
,for a thoroughly artistic  rendering of
 emotional songs of that kind or of     
songs of dramatic  character1 such as   
ballads in which the singer has to      
impersonate  character and run up and   
down the gamut of passion1 it is of the 
greatest importance that the singer     
should have under perfect control  not  
only his technique1 but his feelings    
too4 ,if your feelings get  the better  
of you before the public1 you are apt   
temporarily1 and for  physical reasons1 

to lose the mastery of your technique4  
,there is a  story told of the famous   
,american actor1 ,edwin ,booth1 whose   
daughter1  his severest critic1 always1 
at his request1 had to be in the        
stage-box  where and whenever he acted4 
,on one occasion the play was ,victor   
,hugo's  ,the ,king's ,jester1 known to 
us all from ,verdi's ,rigoletto4 ,the   
part of the ,jester was considered one  
of the best of ,booth's many fine       
impersonations4 ,when the harrowing     
scene came in which the poor man  finds 
the body of his murdered daughter in the
 sack1 ,booth on that  night for some   
reason or other was so overcome by the  
situation that  actual tears ran down   
his cheeks1 and he thought he had never 
acted  that scene better or with greater
 feeling4 ,the first thing his daughter 
said to him as they met in his          
dressing-room after the play was1 ,were 
you quite well1 father8 ,quite4 ,why8   
,because that scene with ,gilda's  body 
never made so little impression on me   

and on the people1 as far as  ,i could  
see4    ,and naturally4 ,when you lose  
control of yourself you must not expect 
to  be able to control your audience4   
,on the other hand1 there was a great   
singer1 ,wilhelmina                     
,schroeder-,devrient1 the greatest      
exponent of the part of ,leonora in     
,beethoven's ,fidelio4 ,in that         
wonderful scene in the underground      
prison when1 disguised as the jailor's  
boy1 and unrecognised by her            
unfortunate husband1 the chained        
prisoner ,florestan1 she hands the      
starving man a crust of bread1 singing  
to ,beethoven's touchingly  appealing   
notes1 and in a voice choked with       
emotion1 ,there1 take this  bread1 thou 
poor1 poor man1 that great singer was   
often known to  actually crack a little 
aside joke with old ,rocco1 the jailor1 
whilst  the front of the house was in   
tears4 ,that is what ,i call art4 ,very 
likely she had cried herself many a time
 over that same scene when  studying it4

    ,of course the actor--and by that ,i
 mean the operatic-singer as  well--has 
a not inconsiderable advantage over the 
concert-singer1 in  that he possesses in
 facial expression and gesture two      
additional aids  to interpretation1 both
 important and powerful4 ,i say two1    
although  facial expression is available
 to the concert-singer as well1 but     
whilst that and gesture form an         
essential part in the training of  the  
actor1 facial expression is hardly ever 
systematically studied  by the singer of
 songs who1 in this respect1 is left to 
his own  resources with often rather    
curious results4 ,i have listened to    
many  a singer--,i am sorry to say      
mostly of the fair sex--who1 very likely
  for fear of making grimaces1          
maintained throughout a whole song1  and
 heedless of the varying moods and      
sentiments expressed in it1 a  sickly1  
inane1 apologetic sort of a smile1      
whilst1 on the other hand1  ,i remember 
hearing a famous singer who1 in         

,schubert's great song1  ,der           
,doppelgnger1 allowed his features      
already during the short  prelude to the
 song to assume a most ghastly          
expression of pain and  terror which1   
quite apart from such a proceeding being
 apt to have  the opposite effect1 was  
in this case quite the wrong thing to   
do1  for the opening of the song is     
merely a sad recollection1 on the part  
of the unfortunate lover1 of happier    
times when his beloved was still        
inhabiting the house he is passing4 ,the
 night is still1 the streets  are       
silent1 'twas in this house my true love
 lived4 ,the tragedy and  horror only   
commence with ,there too stands a man   
and gazes up on high1  and wrings his   
hands in agony of pain1 reaching the    
climax with the  words1 ,i shudder when 
,i behold his face1 the moon reveals to 
me my  own image4 ,but when this climax 
came it was robbed of much of its       
impressiveness by the singer having     
anticipated it4 ,he evidently took  it  

for granted that his listeners knew     
,heine's poem and ,schubert's  song1 or 
had made themselves acquainted with the 
words beforehand by  looking into the   
book of words4 ,that is a great mistake4
 ,you should  always sing as if the song
 you are interpreting had never been    
known  or sung before1 and you were the 
first to make it public4 ,every one of  
you1 ,i am sure1 has at one time or     
other told a little fairy-story to  a   
child4 ,you know how deliberately such a
 story should be told1 how  distinctly  
the pronunciation of every syllable1    
every consonant1 in  order that the     
little ones may grasp the meaning of    
what you are saying  the very moment you
 are saying it1 so as not to lose the   
thread of the  tale1 to break the spell4
 ,well1 that's the way you should sing4 
,even if  you know that what you are    
singing is the most well-known1 popular1
  hackneyed thing1 always imagine one   
person in your audience--sitting  in the
 very last row--to whom it is something 

absolutely new1 and that  imaginary     
person should be the child to whom you  
are telling a story4  ,so you see all   
these little details have to be thought 
out4 ,the singer  should even be careful
 in the selection of his songs4 7,when  
,i speak  of him and his ,i1 of course1 
mean her and hers as well47 ,the        
greater the singer's art the more will  
he be able to force his hearers  into   
forgetfulness of a possible discrepancy 
between1 for instance1 his  personal    
appearance and the sentiment or         
character he is endeavouring  to        
represent4 ,but here1 too1 some         
discretion should be exercised4 ,a      
lady1 for instance1 weighing fourteen   
stone and a half should not1 as  ,i have
 heard one do1 put the audience's       
capacity for self-control to  too severe
 a test by singing baby-songs like1 ,put
 me in my little bed1  mother1 or ,if   
nobody ever marries me and ,i don't know
 why he should4  ,yes1 even the time of 
day1 and the scene and the occasion     

should find  a place among the questions
 to be considered by a singer when      
choosing  a song for performance1 as    
under circumstances the best            
interpretation  may not only fail to be 
appreciated1 but even produce an effect 
utterly  unlooked for4    ,it was many  
years ago1 two or three nights after    
,gilbert and ,sullivan's  incomparable  
,mikado had been launched on its        
triumphal career at the  ,savoy1 that   
there was a big evening party at        
,sullivan's flat1 to have  the honour of
 meeting the ,prince of ,wales and the  
,duke of ,edinburgh4  ,an excellent     
little programme of music had been gone 
through1 and just  after midnight1      
supper being over1 the whole party once 
more repaired  to the drawing-room for  
some jollier things4 ,nearly all the    
principal  singers from the ,savoy had  
come over in their ,mikado costumes and1
  with the composer at the piano1       
delighted the guests with excerpts like 
,three little ,maids from ,school and   

,the flowers that bloom in the  ,spring1
 tra-la1 doubly fascinating then on     
account of the novelty of  the thing4   
,everybody1 and none the least so the   
two ,royal guests1 who occupied  two    
armchairs in front1 with the programme  
in their hands1 enjoyed  the            
entertainment to the utmost1 and the fun
 was at its height when  one of the     
guests1 a celebrated contralto1 famous  
for her rendering  of ballads--,i mean  
the style of ballads in vogue           
thirty-five years  ago--was asked if she
 wouldn't sing one of them4 ,she1 of    
course1  readily consented1 solemnly    
mounted the little platform1 and there  
was a hush as she stood there1          
motionless like a statue1 her face      
expressing a seriousness so strangely in
 contrast with the mirth and  laughter  
that had pervaded the room but a few    
minutes before1 that ,i  noticed the two
 ,royal programmes being brought        
somewhat nearer the  ,royal faces4 ,then
 the accompanist struck the first chords

 of the  introduction and--could we     
really believe our ears8--the lady began
 to  sing--you'll never guess--,the     
,three ,fishers6 ,higher and higher up  
went the ,royal programmes1 a dead      
silence reigned in the room until  it   
came to the ,three ,corpses1 when1      
little by little1 small noises  like    
half-suppressed sneezes or sobs could be
 heard here and there1  increasing in   
frequency and volume1 and when it came  
to the refrain--it  was now a little    
after #a a4m4--,the sooner it's over the
 sooner to  sleep1 the last             
moa-oa-oa-ning was drowned in a         
vociferous applause  of a character such
 as ,i am sure that ballad had never    
before evoked4    ,and now ,i should    
like to mention another factor in the   
rendering  of music1 the importance of  
which is often underrated1 and that is  
the tempo4 ,good music1 ,i have found1  
not only does not lose but  rather gains
 by the tempo1 whatever it might be1    
being taken with  deliberation4 ,there  

are degrees in any designation of time1 
and one is  apt to forget that the      
,italian words in common for that       
purpose may  refer1 not only to the     
metronomic measure1 but also to the     
character1  the mood of a piece4        
,allegro means lively4 ,but there are   
degrees of  liveliness4 ,an elephant may
 be lively1 but ,i take his liveliness  
to be  of a somewhat different kind from
 that1 for instance1 of the frisky      
little chap whose antics are so         
deliciously and humorously described  in
 ,goethe and ,berlioz's immortal ,song  
of the ,flea in ,faust4 ,i  remember    
once hearing ,schubert's ,erlking taken 
at such a break-neck  speed that ,i     
wondered both father and child were not 
killed before the  end of the first     
stanza4 ,it reminded me of a rather     
amusing series of  telegraphic versions 
of celebrated poems1 which many years   
ago appeared  in the ,fliegende         
,bltter--the ,continental ,punch--and of
 which that  of the ,erlking might be   

rendered in ,english by something like  
this3  ,night wild--,father and         
child--,ride through the dark--,erlking 
out for a  lark--,boy                   
frightened--,father's grip              
tightened--,father1 ride on--,yes1 my   
son--,reach home in fear and            
dread--,father alive1 child dead4       
,when we recall the definition of the   
word ,interpretation as it refers  to   
music and poetry1 viz41 ,rendering by   
artistic representation or  performance1
 we shall find that that little         
qualification artistic  makes all the   
difference in the world1 inasmuch as it 
clearly shows  that a mere              
representation or performance may not   
necessarily be an  interpretation and   
that it requires an artist to make it   
such4 ,and it  follows that there must  
be any amount of variety in the         
interpretation  of one and the same     
thing4 ,an old ,latin proverb says3 ,duo
 si faciunt  idem1 non est idem4 ,when  
two people do the same thing1 it isn't  

the  same thing4 ,well1 if that be true 
in any undertaking1 how infinitely      
great must be the possibility of such   
variety when the two people  of the     
proverb are artists6 ,for though we     
speak of the artistic  temperament as if
 it were something absolute and         
definable1 we know in  how many         
different ways such a temperament may   
manifest itself4    ,there are no two   
painters who1 put before the same       
landscape1 would  paint it1 i4e41       
interpret it1 in the same way4 ,neither1
 ,i maintain1  are there two actors who 
would interpret ,hamlet1 or two singers 
who  would sing the same song exactly   
alike4 ,they each have1 when they have  
attained maturity1 their own style1 and 
style1 as an eminent painter  of the    
last century has admirably expressed it1
 is the leaving out of  everything      
superfluous1 a definition which fits our
 subject equally  well4 ,no two artists 
will think the same thing superfluous2  
indeed1  what the one considers so1 the 

other may deem essential4 ,here1 too1   
the actor--to come back to poetry and   
music--is better off than the  musician4
 ,he has a far greater scope1 i4e41 a   
far wider outlet for  his imagination4  
,he is given the words to do what he    
likes with4 ,one  actor--to keep to     
,hamlet--might after long study have    
come to the  conclusion that1 for       
instance1 the last lines of that fine   
monologue at  the end of the second act 
should be triumphantly exclaimed in a   
loud  voice3          ,the play's the   
thing        ,wherein ,i'll catch the   
conscience of the ,king4    ,whilst     
another1 equally eminent1 would make an 
equally great impression  by almost     
whispering the words to himself1 as if  
afraid of betraying  the secret3 ,the   
play's the thing4444 ,who could say of  
the one or  the other interpretation    
,this is right1 or ,this is wrong8 ,in  
this  case the same result is arrived at
 by different means4 ,on the other      
hand1 ,i remember a little story my     

father told me when ,i was a boy1  of a 
man who had been made very angry by a   
letter from his son at  the ,university 
asking him for money4 ,in that mood he  
is met by an  old friend who asks him1  
,what's the matter8 ,why are you thus   
out of  sorts8 ,well1 says the other1   
look at this impertinent letter ,i've   
just got from my son1 ',father1 please  
send me money6'--reading out the  words 
in a quick1 impatient1 commanding voice4
 ,of course1 he adds1 ,i  shan't do     
anything of the kind4    ,let me see the
 letter1 the benevolent friend asks--he 
was very  fond of the boy--and1 reading 
the words with a gentle1 pleading1      
affectionate inflexion of the voice1 he 
says1 ,why1 my dear fellow1  it's a very
 charming letter4 ,he writes1 ',father1 
please send me  money4' ,ah1 says the   
father1 if he writes like that1 he shall
 have  it6 ,here1 without doubt1 the    
different interpretation had a different
  result4 ,certainly the son will have  
thought so4    ,varieties such as just  

quoted are1 however1 quite impossible in
 music4  ,here we are faced by absolute 
orders given by the composer who says3  
,this is to be forte1 this piano2 here  
you must increase1 there  decrease2 here
 hurry1 there retard4 ,but this apparent
 clipping of  the interpreter's wings is
 only a blessing in disguise1 for it    
makes  it possible for even a singer of 
inferior intelligence to render by      
artistic representation or performance1 
i4e41 to interpret a song2 so  that1    
whilst we would not listen to a         
representation of the character  of     
,hamlet by a stupid or uneducated man1  
we may thoroughly enjoy the  rendering  
of a song by a singer with a fine voice1
 even if he be a most  uninteresting1   
commonplace person otherwise1 as long as
 he masters  the technique of his art   
and loyally and conscientiously follows 
the  directions given by the composer4  
,a loyal1 reverent attitude to the      
author is a thing on which too  great   
stress cannot be laid4 ,a work deemed   

worth performing should be  rendered as 
the author wrote it4 ,by this ,i do1 of 
course1 not mean that  an orchestral    
work or an organ fugue or a string      
quartet should not be  played on the    
pianoforte4 ,quite the contrary4        
,skilful transcriptions  and            
arrangements are indeed as great a boon 
as are reproductions  of the famous     
masterpieces of painting or sculpture1  
without which  our knowledge of the art 
would be lamentably defective4 ,there   
have  also been cases where one great   
master has thought it desirable to      
complement the work of another1 either  
by writing accompaniments to  originally
 unaccompanied instrumental works1 as   
,schumann did to ,bach1  or by          
strengthening the accompanying orchestra
 in a choral work1 as  ,mozart did to   
,handel's ,messiah4 ,as far as ,i know  
the original text  has in all such cases
 been allowed to remain intact2 and     
works thus  treated being obtainable in 
the original as well as in the          

complemented  version1 the choice is    
left to the personal taste of the       
musicians  responsible for the          
performance4 ,what ,i mean is that the  
text of the  composer should not be     
tampered with4 ,there have now and then 
attempts  been made at improving        
,beethoven's scores on the plea that    
some  instruments employed by the       
master--like1 for instance1 the         
flute--have  been developed so as to    
allow notes to be played on them now    
which  were impossible at the time      
,beethoven wrote1 and that very likely1 
had  these notes been at the master's   
disposal1 he would have made use  of    
them4 ,this may or may not be so1 but it
 seems to me a dangerous  theory to work
 upon1 for once you commence meddling   
with a master work  it would be         
difficult to know where to draw the     
line1 and there is  no saying whither it
 would lead4 ,besides1 every great      
period in the  history of art has its   
own characteristics4 ,a so-called full  

orchestra  in ,beethoven's time was a   
very different thing from what we are   
accustomed to consider one to-day1 when 
woodwind1 brass1 percussion1  harps1 and
 what not often alone outnumber the     
entire personnel of a  grand orchestra a
 century ago4 ,moreover1 if you leave   
,beethoven's  scores untouched1 his     
mastery of orchestration becomes all the
 more  wonderful4 ,there are            
instances--just think of that glorious  
climax in  the ,third ,leonora          
,overture1 or the end of that to        
,egmont--where1  even considering only  
the mere physical power of sound1 he    
gets results  from his orchestration    
that no modern writer has as yet        
surpassed4    ,it is hardly credible    
that1 arrogant enough as such attempts  
at  improving ,beethoven's orchestration
 are1 there exist people who go  further
 still and actually alter a great       
composer's directions as  to expression4
 ,most of us know how particularly fond 
,beethoven was  of interrupting a       

seemingly increasing fortissimo by a    
sudden  pianissimo4 ,you will recall    
that splendid scherzo in the ,seventh   
,symphony1 where he commences with an   
exultant fortissimo1 evidently  meaning 
to continue in that vein1 when all of a 
sudden the ft on the  last crotchet of  
the second bar is followed by a pp on   
the first  crotchet of the third1 the   
result is simply marvellous4    ,well1  
some years ago ,i had to conduct that   
symphony as a deputy for  the regular   
conductor1 who was prevented from being 
at his post on  that occasion4 ,can you 
imagine my surprise and disgust when1 at
 the  rehearsal1 commencing with the    
,scherzo1 and looking forward to that   
sudden pp on the first note of the third
 bar1 that pp appeared  already on the  
last note of the second bar1 which      
should have still  been ft4 ,stopping   
the orchestra indignantly1 ,i asked1    
,what on earth  are you doing1          
gentlemen8    ,we have got it so in our 
parts1 was the answer4 ,impossible1 ,i  

said4  ,let me see6 ,the leader handed  
me the part1 and there1 to be sure1 ,i  
was flabbergasted to find the mark of pp
 on the first note of the  third bar    
actually transferred in blue pencil to  
the preceding note1  thus not only      
completely spoiling ,beethoven's fun1   
but altering and  weakening the subject1
 which1 as anybody might see1 commences 
with  the down1 not the up beat4 ,i     
wonder if one should envy a man or pity 
him for a degree of self-estimation     
which could render him capable of       
blue-pencilling ,beethoven6    ,he      
certainly has arrived at what a witty   
,american friend of mine would  call the
 ,shoehorn stage4 ,to my enquiries about
 a mutual acquaintance1  that gentleman 
answered1 ,he8 ,why1 he's that big now  
he has to use a  shoehorn to put on his 
hat6    ,but this is by no means an     
isolated example of the lamentable lack 
of  reverence in this country toward the
 works of the great masters of  music4  
,however much one might be horrified at 

the utterly mistaken  tempi one often   
has to listen to in the rendering of the
 classics1  especially ,mozart and      
,beethoven1 that1 after all1 sad and    
deplorable  as it is1 may only be the   
consequence of ignorance or the result  
of  insufficient musical training on the
 part of the performer4 ,it is  the     
wanton1 deliberate tampering with the   
text of a great composer  which is      
unpardonable4 ,no one among the classics
 was more explicit  or exacting as to   
the way he wished his works to be       
rendered than  ,beethoven4 ,take once   
more that surpassingly beautiful        
,leonora  ,overture ,no4 ,,iii4 ,who has
 not been thrilled to the innermost     
depths  of his soul by those distant    
trumpet-calls1 each ending with a long  
pause on the last note1 and followed    
immediately1 i4e41 without  any further 
pause and whilst that last note still   
lingers in one's  ears1 by one of the   
most divinely inspired phrases ever     
penned by  even that great master8      

,after the first call the orchestra     
plays it1  in a mysterious pianissimo1  
in the same key as the call itself--,b  
flat2 after the second1 more impressive 
still1 a third lower1 in ,g  flat4      
,well1 at a recent performance of that  
great work the conductor1  according to 
the papers an acknowledged authority on 
,beethoven1  coolly added a general     
pause on to each of those two pauses on 
the  last note of the trumpet-call2 that
 after the second call lasting  for     
fully ten seconds4 ,no words can express
 my disappointment1 my  indignation1    
for1 of course1 the sublime beauty of   
that low ,g flat with  which the        
double-basses and 'celli enter whilst   
the high ,b flat of the  trumpet-call is
 slowly dying away in the distance was  
lost completely4  ,indeed it would have 
mattered little now in what key the     
orchestra  had come in--the thing was   
irretrievably spoiled4    ,anywhere on  
the ,continent the audience would have  
given unmistakable  signs of their      

disapproval1 and the ,press been        
unanimous in the  condemnation of such  
practices on the part of the conductor4 
,here  that gentleman was vociferously  
applauded by the audience and--with1  ,i
 think1 one solitary exception--lauded  
to the skies by the ,press1  the one or 
two papers which were bold enough to    
timidly admit his  occasionally taking  
liberties with ,beethoven declaring such
 liberties  to be those of an intimate1 
an adept4    ,intimate indeed6 ,if a    
hundred years ago an intimate of        
,beethoven's  had dared to do such a    
thing in ,beethoven's presence1 the     
master1 as  we know him from his        
letters1 would have flung the score at  
his head1  thundering1 ,knave1 canst    
thou not read8 ,dost thou think if ,i   
had  wanted those two general pauses1 ,i
 did not know how to put them in my     
score8    ,what are we coming to8       
,irreverence1 contempt of traditions1   
breaking  with a glorious past1         
disregard of law1 of form--are they also

 in the  realm of music a sign of the   
times1 a sort of ,bolshevism8    ,fancy 
an actor1 tired of that everlasting ,to 
be or not to be1 and  thinking it too   
hackneyed1 surprising the audience by   
commencing the  great monologue for a   
change with ,to exist or not to exist2  
or  another1 going one better1 and      
considering the absence of rhyme in that
  monologue rather a mistake of         
,shakespeare's1 hitting on the happy and
  original idea of correcting it into   
something like3          ,to be or not  
to be--        ,that is what staggers   
me4    ,and yet that would not be one   
whit less of a sacrilege4    ,and take a
 song or an aria2 how often does one not
 hear even good  singers change a note  
into a higher one1 with the object of   
showing the  voice to better advantage1 
or of making a phrase1 generally the    
final  cadence1 more effective1 so as to
 get a few more handfuls of applause1   
or perhaps even an additional recall at 
the end8    ,that's villainous1 says    

,hamlet1 and shows a most pitiful       
ambition4    ,this altering of notes    
brings me upon a question which has ever
 been  the subject of much controversy  
among musicians3 ,are there any rules as
  to the singing of recitatives or1     
rather1 to the substituting now and     
then1 in the singing of recitatives of  
notes other than those written  by the  
composer8 ,should1 for instance1 the    
phrase in the ,messiah    ,illustration3
 ,music    ,my answer as regards the    
first of these two examples is as       
decided a  ,no as my ,yes is in regard  
to the second4 ,this may1 perhaps1 be   
considered somewhat arbitrary and       
entirely a matter of taste1 but ,i      
venture to hope that after what ,i have 
to say on the subject it will  be found 
to be only partly a matter of taste1 and
 of arbitrariness not  at all4 ,i base  
my objection to the alteration in the   
first1 and my  approval of that in the  
second example on a theory which seems  
to me to  commend itself by its         

simplicity1 and may be explained in the 
shape of  a rule something like this3   
,take the note as to the changing of    
which into a higher or lower you  are in
 doubt1 and look first at the note      
preceding and then at the  note         
following that doubtful note4 ,then see 
if the note you wish to  substitute for 
the printed note lies on the way from   
the preceding to  the following note4   
,if it does1 you are justified in making
 the change2  if not1 leave it alone4   
,here is our first example3             
,illustration3 ,music    ,the doubtful  
note is the ,c on shep1 the preceding   
one is the ,g below1  the following is  
the ,c4 ,now1 does the ,d you wish to   
substitute for the  ,c on shep lie      
between that ,g and that ,c on the      
second syllable of  shepherd8 ,no1 let  
the phrase therefore remain as written4 
,in the second  example3                
,illustration3 ,music    ,the           
questionable note is the ,a on ,da and  
does lie on the way from  the ,c sharp  

to the ,a on the second syllable of     
,david2 it is1 therefore1  not only     
perfectly legitimate1 but even good to  
make the change1 and  the phrase should 
be sung3    ,illustration3 ,music       
,the question of taste enters when it   
comes to the exception to the  rule4    
,according to that it would be          
legitimate1 taking yet a third  example 
from the ,messiah3    ,illustration3    
,music    ,in this case1 however1 it    
would be decidedly better to leave the  
phrase  unchanged1 for we have had four 
,b flats already in that short sentence1
  and the ,a1 coming pat on the ,f major
 chord1 is rather relieving and         
refreshing4 ,here1 as in many other     
cases1 let your own discretion  be your 
tutor4 ,of an exception to the rule as  
regards the first of  these three       
examples being either justifiable or    
advisable ,i know no  instance4 ,of     
course1 all ,i have said on this subject
 refers to the  slow1 deliberate1       
serious recitative in oratorio and other

 sacred music  only1 and not at all to  
what is called secco recitative in      
opera1  which is practically no more    
than speech somewhat rapidly delivered  
in  specified musical terms4 ,there you 
should change the doubtful note into    
one above or below it at every          
opportunity1 for by doing so you impart 
a certain spontaneity and freedom to the
 sentences1 emphasising their           
resemblance to the spoken word4 ,here is
 an example in the style of  ,mozart3   
,illustration3 ,music    ,but ,i am     
reaching the limit of the space allowed 
for this article and  fear my chat has  
been on kindred topics rather than on   
the alleged  main theme of              
interpretation4 ,but surely none of my  
readers expected  me to answer the      
question ,how to ,interpret8 ,if so1 ,i 
should be as  truly sorry for having    
disappointed them as ,i was some years  
ago to  have been obliged to disillusion
 the organist of the little ,parish     
,church of ,alvie4 ,i don't mean myself1

 for ,i only officiated there in  that  
capacity during the summer months1 when 
,i was at home4 ,i mean the  regular1   
appointed1 salaried1 real organist4 ,she
 was a young girl of  sixteen1 a native 
of the parish1 who1 fond of music1 like 
all ,scots  people1 could strum two or  
three tunes on the piano1 and to whom ,i
  had given a few lessons in the        
managing of the ,american organ in the  
church4 ,at the request of my old       
friend1 the ,rev4 ,james ,anderson1 our 
late and much lamented minister1 ,i had 
introduced the playing of a  voluntary  
during collection1 always1 of course1   
improvising on the  ,psalm or hymn tunes
 of the day's service1 or on whatever   
came into my  head4 ,well1 a week after 
,i had left ,alvie for ,london1 the     
first year of  that innovation1 ,i      
received a letter from the young lady1  
consisting of  the following five lines3
 ,dear ,mr4 ,henschel--,mr4 ,anderson   
wishes me to  play voluntaries during   
collection1 just as you did4 ,would you 

please  let me know how you do it8    ,i
 was touched by so much faith and       
innocence4 ,the playing of an           
instrument--and singing1 as such1 is but
 playing on the vocal  instrument in our
 throats--may be taught and1 with       
patience and  perseverance1 brought to  
as near a degree of perfection as       
humanly  possible2 that is a matter of  
craft1 of physical1 ,i may say muscular1
  skill4 ,the mystery of what is best1  
imperishable in any art1 lies in  the   
soul and in the brain4 ,if dormant1 it  
may be awakened and fostered2  if       
absent1 it cannot be acquired by        
teaching4 ,interpretation1 though  but  
recreative1 certainly is an art1 or at  
least part of one4 ,and art  is long and
 life is short1 and of learning there is
 no end4    ,to have a chance of        
becoming an artist in the true sense of 
the word1  the student1 fortunate in the
 possession of the heavenly gift of     
talent1 should from the outset resolve  
to strive for none but the  highest     

ideals1 refuse to be satisfied1 both in 
taking and giving1 with  anything but   
the best and purest1 and last1 though by
 no means least1  resist the temptations
 which the prospect of popularity and   
its worldly  advantages1 frequently the 
result of lowering that high standard1  
may  place in his way4          ,,robert
 ,,bridges',s ,,lyrical ,,poems#da      
#da ,october and ,other ,poems4 ,by     
,robert ,bridges4                       
,heinemann4 #aibj4 #es4 net4 ,poetical  
,works1 ,excluding             the      
,eight ,dramas4 ,by ,robert ,bridges4   
#aiab4 ,oxford             ,university  
,press4 ,for other works see            
,bibliography             in current    
issue4    ,by ,j4 ,c4 ,,squire      ,i  
,mr4 ,bridges's new volume of poems 7the
 first that he has published  since he  
became ,poet ,laureate7 must be read for
 what it is1 the work  of a man         
seventy-five years of age4 ,this        
statement is not made as  an excuse3    
there are weak--occasional and          

patriotic--poems in the  book1 but some 
also which are beautiful additions to   
his canon4 ,but  some of his critics1 so
 inadequate is still the recognition of 
what  he has done1 have treated the book
 as though his claim to be a great  poet
 rested partly upon it1 failing to read 
it1 as they should1 in  the light of all
 that has gone before it4 ,properly     
regarded1 it  awakes not disappointment1
 but wonder that a poet so old should   
still  sometimes have the genuine       
impulse1 should still keep his spirit   
fresh1  and should still be capable of  
ingenious and fruitful experiments  in  
technique--experiments moreover in which
 the content is never  subordinated to  
the form1 however exacting and          
interesting the form may  be4 ,october1 
,noel1 ,our ,lady1 ,flycatchers1 ,the   
,west ,front1  ,trafalgar ,square1 and  
,fortunatus ,nimium are all poems that  
any man  might be proud to write in his 
prime2 and beyond these there is the    
delicious invention of ,the ,flowering  

,tree3          ,what ,fairy fann'd my  
dreams          while ,i slept in the   
sun8        ,as if a flowering tree     
were standing over me3        ,its young
 stem strong and lithe          went    
branching overhead1        ,and willowy 
sprays around          fell tasselling  
to the ground        ,all with wild     
blossom gay          as is the cherry in
 ,may 444          ,the sunlight was    
enmesh'd          in the shifting       
splendour        ,and ,i saw through on 
high          to soft lakes of blue     
sky3444          ,so ,i slept enchanted 
under my loving tree        ,till from  
his late resting          the sweet     
songster of night1        ,rousing1     
awakened me3          ,then6 this--the  
birdis note--        ,was the voice of  
thy throat          which thou gav'st me
 to kiss4    ,the occasion may suitably 
be seized to make a few notes on ,mr4   
,bridges's shorter--never mind the title
 and the word lyrical--poems  as a      
whole4      ,,ii    ,mr4 ,bridges is    

often written of as though he were      
primarily a  technician4 ,he has always 
taken a keen interest in prosody2 he has
  written books1 and formulated         
theories1 about it2 his experiments  in 
classical metres and his notions about  
,english spelling have1 to  those who   
have not troubled to discover the       
intellectual strength and  the strong   
common sense which commonly marks his   
linguistic writings1  given him         
something of the air of a pedant4 ,but  
the theoriser and the  innovator of the 
shorter poems has nothing to do with    
pedantry4 ,there  are poems in which the
 scrutinous eye may detect very         
elaborate pains4  ,april #ahhe is a     
fabric of internal rhyme1 assonance1 and
 alliteration  which it would be hard to
 parallel in ,english3          ,wanton 
with long delay the gay ,spring leaping 
cometh2        ,the blackthorn starreth 
now his bough on the eve of ,may3       
,all day in the sweet box-tree the bee  
for pleasure hummeth3        ,the cuckoo

 sends afloat his note on the air all   
day4          ,now dewy nights again and
 rain in gentle shower        ,at root  
of tree and flower have quenched the    
winter's drouth3        ,on high the hot
 sun smiles1 and banks of cloud uptower 
,in bulging heads that crowd for miles  
the dazzling south4    ,that may be     
called a tour-de-force2 as a rule1      
though ,mr4 ,bridges's  variety of      
stanza and rhythm is immense1 the       
craftsman never intrudes4  ,his         
ingenuities merely serve their purpose2 
his music cannot be  separated from his 
sense2 his rhythms are sought1 and      
found1 as the  only suitable rhythms for
 the words and the scenes that are being
  expressed and described4 ,how         
otherwise than in the beautiful movement
  used can we imagine the picture of ,a 
,passer ,by8--the fresh blue day1  the  
crowded sail1 the vision of a queenly   
progress across the world to  a far     
harbour in the south8 ,it is one of     
fifty such feats1 triumphs of           

fastidious art1 never completely        
understood until the poems are read     
aloud4 ,his power of music has developed
 steadily throughout his career1  but   
scarcely a poem of any period can be    
quoted without illustrating  his        
surpassing technical gifts4 ,we shall   
come to many presently2 here1  when we  
are thinking primarily of the skill with
 which he weaves a  close-fitting       
garment of sound for his thought1 we may
 take as a single  example1 ,london     
,snow3          ,when men were all      
asleep the snow came flying1        ,in 
large white flakes falling on the city  
brown1        ,stealthily and           
perpetually settling and loosely lying1 
,hushing the latest traffic of the      
drowsy town        ,deadening1 muffling1
 stifling its murmurs failing2          
,lazily and incessantly floating down   
and down3          ,silently sifting and
 veiling road1 roof1 and railing2       
,hiding difference1 making unevenness   
even1        ,into angles and crevices  

softly drifting and sailing4            
,all night it fell1 and when full inches
 seven        ,it lay in the depth of   
its uncompacted lightness1        ,the  
clouds blew off from a high and frosty  
heaven4444    ,the accuracy of the      
description is extraordinary and        
continues as the  town awakes1 and boys 
go snowballing to school1 a few carts   
creak  along1 and the pale sun rises to 
awake the noisier day4 ,but the         
observation1 the accuracy1 the response 
of the heart to the beauty of  the      
scene1 might have been found elsewhere3 
the astonishing management  of the      
rhythms1 which1 even when divorced from 
the meaning of the  words1 translate the
 steady falling1 the wayward            
criss-crossing1  the lightness and      
crispness1 and soothing persistence of  
snow in an  almost windless air1 is     
peculiar to ,mr4 ,bridges4 ,words and   
music are  with him always inseparable3 
he is at the opposite pole from the man1
  often not unintelligent in other ways1

 who forces his material into a         
strait-jacket of jingle4 ,in this       
respect his taste is as flawless1 his   
subtlety as unfailing1 as any in the    
records of literature4      ,,iii    ,it
 is possible1 and it has often been     
stated1 that ,mr4 ,bridges will  chiefly
 live as a poet of the ,english         
landscape4 ,certainly he would  live if 
only his landscape poetry were          
preserved4 ,it may seem a large         
assertion1 but no ,englishman has       
written so large a body of good         
landscape poetry4 ,there are two obvious
 things to be said about it4    ,the    
first is that his landscape is the      
landscape of the ,south of  ,england1   
more particularly of the ,thames ,valley
 and the downs by the  sea--two regions 
which he significantly chooses as       
typical1 when1  in ,the ,voice of       
,nature1 he wishes to point an argument4
 ,he never  describes foreign or remote 
scenes2 and--it may be regarded as      
symbolic  of his attitude to the more   

violent things of life--he never leaves 
the land for the sea4 ,even ,british    
territorial waters he never sails2      
there is much of the sea in his work1   
but it is the sea as seen from  the     
shore1 blue and smiling and dancing1 or 
whipped by the wind1 caught  in a narrow
 peep between shoulders of the downs or 
watched from a hill  through a          
telescope3          ,there many an hour 
,i have sat to watch2 nay1 now          
,the brazen disk is cold against my     
brow1        ,and in my sight a circle  
of the sea        ,enlarged to          
swiftness1 where the salt waves flee1   
,and ships in stately motion pass so    
near        ,that what ,i see is        
speaking to my ear4    ,mr4 ,bridges's  
landscape is bounded by the ,english    
,channel2 his hills  are the ,downs2 his
 rivers are clear and gentle streams2   
his trees oak  and beech1 elm and larch2
 he is as surely of the ,south of       
,england as  ,wordsworth is of the      
,north4 ,and the second obvious thing is

 that1  being a true landscape poet and 
not a romantic who exploits nature to   
find backgrounds for his passions1 it is
 of ordinary landscapes that  he writes4
 ,tennyson1 too1 was an observer1 but   
many of his best-known  landscapes are  
of the selected kind4 ,it is one thing  
to write of the  sort of natural scene  
traditionally approved as remarkable3   
sunset on  a marsh1 sunrise on the      
,alps1 stupendous cliffs1 high          
cataracts1 and  breakers in the moon4   
,it is another to describe1 giving the  
breath  of life to your description1    
what any man1 going out on any day in   
any season1 will see when he looks over 
a five-barred gate or takes  a footpath 
through the woods4 ,mr4 ,bridges writes 
of nature like a  countryman4 ,his      
abnormal scenes are rare2 he sees the   
beauty in the  normal4 ,he sings of     
nightingales when he hears them1 but    
rooks are  far more frequent in his     
verse2 his suns seldom go down in       
flaming  splendour1 but drop red into   

the grey or die invisibly4 ,one by one  
scenes from his familiar landscape have 
moved him to verse1 until his  books    
contain a complete catalogue of the     
,english rural year1 all its  ordinary  
recurrent colours1 and scents and       
sounds1 trees1 flowers1  birds1 skies   
and waters4    ,spring4 ,a village in   
the downs1 and men winnowing in a barn4 
,the  palm-willows and hazels4 ,the     
first flowers1 primroses and green      
hyacinth spikes1 shooting up amid moss  
and withered undergrowth4 ,brisk        
ploughmen4 ,birds happily courting in   
the jocund sun4    ,summer4 ,the garden1
 with bees on the flowers and in the    
overhanging  limes1 and rooks cawing in 
the elms4 ,the hayfields in the sun2    
fields  green with waves of rustling    
wheat2 the hum of insects and the song  
of larks in a sky pure blue1 or heaped  
with slow pavilions of  caverned snow1  
sunshot palaces of cloud2 the downs1    
starred with  small flowers1 where      
rabbits nibble the grass2 the noise of  

scythes4  ,the river3 still water1 the  
dip of oars1 a boat that glides with its
  reflection past flowering islets and  
dipping branches and meadows1  where the
 lazy cows wrench many a scented flower2
 bathers2 fish  leaping in the pools2   
the peace of evening as it falls over   
water and  trees2 moonlight on the      
flashing weir4 ,there are storms that   
blacken  the sea and beat down the corn1
 but they pass and the sun comes out    
again1 gathering strength4    ,autumn4  
,the garden in ,september1 with late    
flowers4 ,the ripe orchards  and fields 
where the sun spots the deserted        
gleanings with decay4 ,the  winds of    
,october that come and fill ruts and    
pools with golden leaves4  ,the later   
storms that mingle the leaves with snow4
    ,winter4 ,the short days and the    
infrequent sun on lonely songless lands4
  ,rooks after the plough1 the team     
against the skyline4 ,a rough sea and   
snow on the beach4 ,robin on the        
leafless bough4 ,dark afternoons and    

evenings by the fire1 companioned or    
alone4    ,all those signs of the       
seasons and hundreds more could be      
illustrated  from ,mr4 ,bridges4 ,one   
cannot do more here than huddle together
 a few  characteristic fragments from   
which the whole may be deduced4 ,if the 
first three are records of the shape1   
colour and movement of clouds1  it is   
fitting3 all ,mr4 ,bridges's landscapes 
have skies1 and most of his  skies      
7being ,english7 have clouds3           
,from distant hills their shadows creep1
          ,arrive in turn and mount the 
lea1        ,and flit across the downs  
and leap          ,sheer off the cliff  
upon the sea2          ,and sail and    
sail far out of sight4          ,but    
still ,i watch their fleecy trains1     
,that piling all the south with light1  
,dapple in ,france the fertile plains4  
,and o'er the treetops1 scattered in    
mid-air1          ,the exhausted clouds 
laden with crimson light                
,floated1 or seemed to sleep2 and1      

highest there1          ,one planet     
broke the lingering ranks of night4     
,the upper skies are palest blue        
,mottled with pearl and fretted snow3   
,with tattered fleece of inky hue       
,close overhead the storm-clouds go4    
,their shadows fly along the hill       
,and o'er the crest mount one by one3   
,the whitened planking of the mill      
,is now in shade and now in sun4        
,with gentle flaws the western breeze   
,into the garden saileth1        ,scarce
 here and there stirring the single     
trees1        ,for his sharpness he     
vaileth3        ,so long a comrade of   
the bearded corn        ,now from the   
stubbles whence the shocks are borne1   
,o'er dewy lawns he turns to stray1     
,as mindful of the kisses and soft play 
,wherewith he enamoured the             
light-hearted ,may1        ,ere he      
deserted her2        ,lover of          
fragrance1 and too late repents2        
,nor more of heavy hyacinth now may     
drink1        ,nor spicy pink1          

,nor summer's rose1 nor garnered        
lavender1        ,but the few lingering 
scents        ,of streakd pea1 and      
gillyflower and stocks        ,of       
courtly purple and aromatic phlox4      
,and at all times to hear are drowsy    
tones        ,of dizzy flies1 and       
humming drones1        ,with sudden flap
 of pigeon wings in the sky1        ,or 
the wild cry        ,of thirsty rooks1  
that scour ascare        ,the distant   
blue1 to watering as they fare          
,with creaking pinions1 or--on business 
bent1        ,if aught their ancient    
polity displease--        ,come         
gathering to their colony1 and there    
,settling in ragged parliament1         
,some stormy council hold in the high   
trees4          ,in the golden glade the
 chestnuts are falling all2        ,from
 the sered boughs of the oak the acorns 
fall2        ,the beech scatters her    
ruddy fire2        ,the lime has        
stripped to the cold1        ,and       
standeth naked above her yellow attire2 

,the larch thinneth her spire        ,to
 lay the ways of the wood with cloth of 
gold4          ,out of the golden-green 
and white        ,of the brake the      
fir-trees stand upright        ,in the  
forest of flame1 and wave aloft         
,to the blue of heaven their blue-green 
tuftings soft4          ,out by the     
ricks the mantled engine stands         
,crestfallen1 deserted--for now all     
hands        ,are told to the           
plough--and ere it is dawn appear       
,the teams following and crossing far   
and near1        ,as hour by hour they  
broaden the brown bands        ,of the  
striped fields2 and behind them firk and
 prance        ,the heavy rooks1 and    
daws grey-pated dance3        ,as       
awhile1 surmounting a crest1 in sharp   
outline        7,a miniature of toil1 a 
gem's design7        ,they are pictured1
 horses and men1 or now near by         
,above the lane they shout lifting the  
share1        ,by the trim hedgerow     
bloom'd with purple air2          ,the  

long dark night1 that lengthens slow1   
,deepening with ,winter to starve grass 
and tree1        ,and soon to bury in   
snow        ,the ,earth1 that1 sleeping 
'neath her frozen stole1        ,shall  
dream a dream crept from the sunless    
pole        ,of how her end shall be4   
,the best of all 7such as ,the ,downs   
and ,the ,storm is ,over7 cannot be     
quoted except entirely2 they are        
landscapes complete1 earth and sky4     
,but let it not be supposed that ,mr4   
,bridges is ever a mere describer  who  
sits down mechanically in front of any  
scene with his little box  of           
water-colours4 ,we have known such1 and 
sometimes they have been  learned in    
botany2 their exactitude of detail is   
dull1 their serried  statements useless2
 only the man who is touched by the     
beauty in a  scene1 or aroused by a     
scene to an awareness of beauty behind  
it1 will  fuse the several things he    
sees into a whole4 ,the writer who has  
felt  no emotion communicates none1 and 

the greatness of ,mr4 ,bridges's poems  
of landscape is derived not solely from 
his knowledge of landscape1 the  wary   
eye1 but from his feeling for it1 the   
eye of love4 ,his scenes are  precise1  
but they are never photographs2 there is
 no doubt about the  sentiment that he  
felt when he saw them4      ,,iv    ,and
 ,mr4 ,bridges1 even when at his best1  
is not only a landscape poet1  but a    
poet cunning in the experiences of the  
heart4 ,very many of his  poems are love
 poems and many of them are beautiful3  
if the fact  has not been widely        
observed it must be because they are    
happy love  poems1 or at least because  
they are not excessive in expression4   
,the  proclivity that makes him1 in     
another sphere1 write not about storms  
but about calms after storms1 is seen   
always3 he has no violence1  no vehement
 abandonment4 ,but there is little of   
that in ,wordsworth  and other poets the
 depth of whose affections1 the reality 
of whose  suffering1 cannot be doubted4 

,mr4 ,bridges's love-poetry makes no    
brutal  assault on us4 ,his constant    
reference to ,virgil1 ,mozart and the   
old  composers is significant4 ,he never
 declaims1 never raves1 despairs1 or    
burns in print3 but he knows the ways of
 lovers' hearts1 and his quiet  stanzas1
 whether their subject be the pain of   
doubt1 or separation1 or  the joy of    
union1 or calm affection by the warm    
domestic hearth1 have  a truth and      
strength which outwear the ardours of   
many poets4 ,in ,when  ,my ,love was    
,away1 ,my ,spirit sang all day1 ,i will
 not let thee go1  and twenty more he   
lover's calendar is written as that of  
the seasons  elsewhere1 and if his      
praise is soft and measured like the old
 music in  which he so constantly       
delights1 love's fine extravagance is1  
for all  the tempered sound1            
nevertheless there3          ,her beauty
 would surprise          ,gazers on     
,autumn eves1        ,who watched the   
broad moon rise          ,upon the      

scattered sheaves4    ,he is            
self-controlled and never shouts2 he    
does not hunt the universe  for new and 
strange sorrows nor harrow himself      
overmuch with the  problems of          
existence2 but those griefs that fall to
 the common lot  of mankind have come to
 him and drawn beautiful poetry from    
him4 ,many  poets have written          
habitually of ,death2 few have said as  
little about  ,death as ,mr4 ,bridges2  
but he has said all he has to say and   
need say  about death1 loss1 and sorrow 
in two poems1 the poem which begins3    
,i never shall love the snow again      
,since ,maurice died1    and the other  
,on a ,dead ,child3 ,perfect little     
body1 without fault or  stain on        
thee4444          ,so ,i lay thee there1
 thy sunken eyelids closing--           
,go lie thou there in thy coffin1 thy   
last little bed--            ,propping  
thy wise1 sad head1        ,thy firm1   
pale hands across thy chest disposing4  
,so quiet6 doth the change content      

thee8--,death1 whither hath he          
taken thee8            ,to a world1 do  
,i think1 that rights the disaster of   
this8            ,the vision of which ,i
 miss1        ,who weep for the body1   
and wish but to warm thee and awaken    
thee8        ,ah6 little at best can all
 our hopes avail us            ,to lift 
this sorrow1 or cheer us1 when in the   
dark1            ,unwilling1 alone we   
embark1        ,and the things we have  
seen and have known and have heard of1  
fail                    us4    ,in      
,winter ,nightfall there is all the     
complaint of ailing old age1 in  ,pater 
,filio the passionate anxiety of parent 
for child2 the normal1  inevitable      
griefs and dejections are all here1     
expressed with gravity1  yet always with
 poignancy4 ,but normal and inevitable  
they are4 ,one gets  the impression     
that1 beyond the common lot1 the poet   
has had few  distresses4 ,intense       
joy--nobody has given it better         
definition than  he--is as rare as      

intense sadness1 but ordinarily he is   
happy1 or at  worst not uncomfortably   
melancholy1 and the happiness has become
 more  pervasive as he has grown older4 
,he is the poet of a leisured country   
life1 led by a sensitive physically     
healthy man1 with whom the major  things
 of life have gone well and who1 in     
those circumstances1 is  temperamentally
 inclined to a grateful contentment4    
,v    ,mr4 ,bridges has not made the    
easy appeal by violence of expression2  
and  he has not made the easy appeal by 
violence of doctrine4 ,if he has been   
less discussed than many inferior       
writers1 it is not so much that he  is  
without doctrine as that he is without  
novel doctrine and has never  been a    
doctrinaire4 ,any noisy demonstrator    
with a new lie may attract  attention1  
if it is only the attention of those who
 wish to dispute  with him2 and it is   
easier to dispute 7or agree7 with the   
man whose  views are explicit than with 
him who leaves them implicit4 ,the mere 

fact that ,mr4 ,bridges's practical     
philosophy has been held by hundreds  of
 millions of ordinary people in many    
ages does not prove that he has  no     
philosophy4 ,he is a ,christian1 but he 
says little about that4 ,he is          
politically sceptical of systems1 but he
 says little about that4 ,he  accepts   
life1 with its pains and pleasures1 and 
he is happy that his  life has been cast
 in an ordered traditional civilisation4
 ,he sees life  in proportion1 with the 
greater goods clear3 childhood1 the love
 of a  woman and of children1 the beauty
 of the earth1 days of peace1 joyful    
work1 friendship4 ,he does not proclaim 
a way of life1 but it will be  easy for 
his critics to deduce one from his      
poetry3 if he does not  tell people how 
to enjoy life it is because he is too   
busy enjoying  it himself1 and if he    
does not expound his religion1 it is    
because  he probably holds it to be the 
religion of all sensible men4 ,he  never
 loses hold of his settled philosophy4  

,in depression he does not              
imaginatively revel in the gloom of a   
,universe gone black1 but consoles      
himself out of his knowledge3           
,o soul1 be patient3 thou shalt find    
,a little matter mend all this1         
,some strain of music to thy mind1      
,some praise for skill not spent amiss4 
,in the peace of a churchyard he can    
write3          ,nay1 were my last hope 
quenched1 ,i here would sit        ,and 
praise the annihilation of the pit4     
,he lives through the moments of        
dejection and awaits1 with sure hope1   
those moments when          ,life and   
joy are one--we know not why--          
,as though our very blood long          
breathless lain        ,had tasted of   
the breath of ,god again4    ,there are 
times when he is at almost that pitch of
 bliss for days  together1 and he says  
with each evening3          ,that ,i    
have known no day        ,in all my life
 like this4    ,and with any dawn may   
come the exhilaration and the resolve   

,i too will something make        ,and  
joy in the making4    ,very rarely some 
slight dogmatic statement is actually   
present1 the  affirmation of something  
which is not necessarily false because  
it  is as old as man1 and modestly put4 
,for howso'er man hug his care1  ,the   
best of his art is gay4 ,he sees ,spring
 in ,winter more often than  ,winter in 
,spring3          ,and ,god the ,maker  
doth my heart make bold          ,to    
praise for writing works not understood1
        ,who all the worlds and ages    
doth behold1          ,evil and good as 
one1 and all as good4    ,it may by some
 be called an easy acceptance2 by others
 the answer will  be made that the      
refusal to accept does not get us much  
further4 ,mr4  ,bridges's own answer    
would perhaps be ,lycomedes'3           
men who would live well        ,weigh   
not these riddles1 but unfold their life
        ,from day to day4    ,no attempt
 has been made in these brief notes to  
do more than indicate  the artistic     

virtues and the outlook of ,mr4         
,bridges3 the elucidation  is scant     
enough1 and there was no space for      
reasoned criticism or  for discussion of
 the qualities which he lacks and which 
other poets  have possessed4 ,but it    
may1 in conclusion1 be repeated that he 
is1 as an artist1 as careful and skilful
 as any poet who has ever  written1 and 
that as a man he has never lied1 never  
posed1 never  assumed a factitious mood 
because it might impress or a factitious
  opinion because it might startle4 ,he 
is sensible1 and he is 7in  the best    
sense7 commonplace in his outlook and in
 his affections  and admirations2 the   
changing conditions of our times have   
affected  him little2 he thinks more of 
the man harrowing clods than of the     
breaking of nations2 the river1 the     
cornfields1 the village church1  the    
domestic fireside1 do obscure for him   
the mental and physical  struggles of   
our world2 he has his ideal of the sound
 mind in the  sound body1 and he cannot 

see why anything should modify it4 ,but 
his  philosophy will not stale when many
 of our controversialists have  gone the
 way of ,godwin and ,malthus2 and a     
reader who went to him for  knowledge of
 how to live would certainly not be led 
on the rocks1  little as ,mr4 ,bridges  
may directly say on the subject4 ,nobody
 could be  less like an apostle1 but    
serenity1 delight1 cleanliness1 and     
honesty  are in him--and courage4 ,the  
thought of death does not appal him1 it 
braces him to work and joy4 ,man hath   
his life1 says ,thetis in one of  his   
dramas1 that it must end condemns it not
 for naught4 ,the same  certainty is in 
the lyrics3          ,daily thy life    
shortens1 the grave's dark peace        
,draweth surely nigh1        ,when      
good-night is good-bye2        ,for the 
sleeping shall not cease4               
,fight1 to be found fighting3 nor far   
away        ,deem1 nor strange thy doom4
        ,like this sorrow 'twill come1  
,and the day will be to-day4    ,the    

greatest of practical truths could not  
be put more stoutly1 nor  with a finer  
imaginative touch4                      
,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,and ,,news  
,correspondence from readers on all     
subjects of bibliographical  interest is
 invited4 ,the ,editor will1 to the best
 of his ability1  answer all queries    
addressed to him4      ,,mr4 ,,yates    
,,thompson',s ,,illuminated ,,books     
,these lines are written before the date
 at which the second portion of  ,mr4   
,yates ,thompson's illuminated books are
 to be sold at ,sotheby's4  ,they have  
no reference therefore to the relative  
value of the books  as realised under   
the hammer4 ,the intrinsic value of     
books1 however1  should not be measured 
merely by their market price4 ,splendid 
as are  the ,french and ,italian        
manuscripts and the eight printed books 
which  are included in the sale1 the    
greatest interest of all has its centre 
in the fourteen books which show the gay
 piety of ,english illumination  between

 the last quarter of the twelfth century
 and the middle of the  fifteenth4      
,indeed1 no other group in all the      
hundred books to which  ,mr4 ,yates     
,thompson definitely limited his famous 
collection has quite  the same claims of
 artistic and historical interest as    
these4 ,they  do not1 of course1 cover  
the whole range of ,english             
illumination4  ,there is no example of  
the art of outline drawing1 which       
flourished  with amazing vigour in      
,england for a century and a half before
 the  ,norman ,conquest1 convicting ,mr4
 ,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton of inexactitude    
when1  in a recent number of ,,the      
,,london ,,mercury1 he suggests that    
medival  illuminators used their paints 
before they had learned how to draw4    
,the vivacity and grace shown in those  
early drawings1 chastened but  not      
subdued by ,continental and ,byzantine  
influences1 left traces in  ,english    
books1 and continued to afford a firm   
groundwork for ,english  illumination   

for more than three centuries4 ,there   
are but few examples  of them in private
 hands4 ,neither has ,mr4 ,yates        
,thompson any example  of the great     
,winchester ,school1 represented in the 
tenth century by  the ,benedictional of 
,st4 thelwold1 now the property of the  
,duke  of ,devonshire1 and in the       
twelfth by the great ,bible at          
,winchester  ,cathedral4 ,but ,english  
art had its flowering time in the       
fourteenth  century1 and its late summer
 in the fifteenth2 and amongst the books
  offered for sale at ,sotheby's are    
brilliant examples of both these        
periods4           99       99       99 
99       99    ,taking the more         
important of these ,english books in the
 order of their  date1 we have first the
 ,life of ,st4 ,cuthbert1 with its      
series of  fifty-six lovely full-page   
miniatures1 probably painted at ,durham 
about  #aahj1 a delightful example of a 
rare type of book4 ,the ,apocalypse  has
 an important chapter to itself in the  

history of painted books1  and the late 
thirteenth-century copy in the          
collection is one of the  finest        
surviving copies of that favourite      
picture-book of the ,middle  ,ages4 ,it 
has much in common with the copy at     
,lambeth1 and ,dr4 ,m4 ,r4  ,james      
traces them both to the same birthplace1
 probably ,st4 ,augustine's  at         
,canterbury4 ,the copy in the sale has  
no less than #aeb miniatures1  some of  
which seem to have been painted in      
,italy1 whence more than six  centuries 
later ,mr4 ,yates ,thompson brought it  
back to ,england4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,the three      
fourteenth-century manuscripts in the   
group are a ,psalter of  ,northern      
origin1 probably written for a member of
 the ,yorkshire family  of de la        
,twyere2 an early ,sarum ,missal1 with  
historiated initials1 in  which some of 
the figure-drawing recalls that of      
,queen ,mary's ,psalter  in the ,british
 ,museum2 and the ,psalter of ,john of  

,gaunt1 to whom it  is believed to have 
been given1 perhaps on his marriage with
 ,blanche  of ,lancaster in #acei4 ,many
 of the miniatures in this splendid book
 are  enshrined in ,gothic canopies and 
painted in gold and silver2 and the     
silver1 so apt to turn black through    
oxydization1 has on most of these  pages
 kept its lustre4 ,this ,psalter is one 
of the finest examples of  ,english work
 which has survived from the second half
 of the fourteenth  century4 ,mr4 ,yates
 ,thompson confesses that it cost him a 
bigger price  than any other of his     
books4           99       99       99   
99       99    ,the ,hours of ,elisabeth
 ye ,quene1 so called from the signature
 of the  ,queen of ,henry ,,vii4 written
 at the foot of one of the pages1 is a  
very  rich and beautiful example of that
 new spirit in ,english illumination    
which has been connected with the       
marriage of ,queen ,anne of ,bohemia  to
 ,king ,richard ,,ii4 in #achb4 ,dating 
from that event1 ,english work  for     

almost the first time takes a character 
which is quite distinct  from           
contemporary ,french or ,flemish        
illumination1 and the change is         
attributed to the work and influence of 
the artists whom the ,bohemian  princess
 brought in her train4 ,the strong1     
clear outline1 made by pen  or pencil1  
which had been a tradition from the     
beginning of ,english  pictorial art1   
now yields place to soft brushwork4 ,the
 human figure1  which has hitherto been 
represented by types1 assumes           
individuality and  realism4 ,there is   
found1 too1 a new character in          
portraiture1 with the  features         
carefully and delicately moulded4 ,the  
rich borders of books of  this period   
have details unknown in the ,french     
work1 which1 hitherto1  has been so     
nearly akin to that done in ,england4   
,the kinship can be  traced rather to   
contemporary books painted in ,italy and
 ,southern  ,germany4 ,these ,english   
borders are apt to have a certain       

heaviness in  design1 especially when   
compared with the graceful ivy-leaf     
pattern in  ,french illumination of the 
same date4 ,thanks1 however1 to the     
greater  brilliancy and gaiety of the   
colouring1 which is also a note of the  
new  ,english style1 this heaviness in  
design is hardly felt4 ,in this ,book   
of ,hours the colours1 which for the    
most part are delicate shades of  red   
and blue1 heightened with white1 and    
richly gilt1 are especially  brilliant4 
,the class of illumination which it     
represents belongs to a  limited and    
distinct period of ,english art which   
has yet to be fully  explored4          
99       99       99       99       99  
,the group of eight books printed on    
vellum which follows the ,english  books
 in the order of lots1 and in the       
catalogue is sandwiched  between them   
and the ,french and ,italian            
manuscripts1 is quite worthy  of such   
good company4 ,these printed books show 
how deliberately and  how successfully  

the first printers sought to copy the   
manner and  also the special beauty of  
the finest manuscripts of their own age4
  ,amongst these fine volumes are the   
,mainz de ,officiis of #adff2 ,peter    
,schoeffer's ,justinian of #adfh2 an    
illuminated copy of ,jenson's  ,pliny of
 #adgb--the type of which had so notable
 an influence on the  work of the       
,kelmscott and ,doves ,presses2 ,john of
 ,verona's ,valturius  of #adgb1 the    
earliest book to be printed in ,italy   
with ,italian  woodcuts--and this copy  
is illuminated too4 ,the group shows how
 far  from vain even in an artistic     
sense was the boast made in the colophon
  of one of the earliest ,venetian      
printers that already by his new craft  
,calami superaverat artem4              
,b4 ,h4 ,n4      ,,general ,,notes      
,messrs4 ,dobell's catalogue for ,march1
 #aibj1 contains mention of a very      
curious and beautiful book of designs   
made exclusively of feathers4  ,there   
are about one hundred and fifty of these

 designs1 which were  made1 according to
 the inscription on the title-page1 by  
,dionisio  ,minaggio ,giardinero ,di sa 
ea ,guobernator ,del ,stat di ,milano4  
,inventor et ,feccit ,lano ,del #afah4  
,his ,excellency the ,governor of the   
,state of ,milan was fortunate in       
possessing so talented a gardener4      
,dionisio ,minaggio was1 in his way1 a  
remarkable artist4 ,his feather         
pictures1 which include a beautiful     
series of birds portrayed in their  own 
plumage1 a series of hunting scenes1    
illustrations of musical  instruments1  
and a number of charming figures from   
the ,old ,comedy1 are  often quite      
enchanting4 ,the designs are reminiscent
 of the best sampler  work1 while the   
feathers give a richness1 variety1 and  
unexpectedness  of colouring such as no 
sampler has ever possessed4 ,feather    
work of a  much later period is not     
uncommon2 but we should imagine that so 
large  a series of such an early date is
 something quite unique4 ,the book is   

priced at #bjj4           99       99   
99       99       99    ,the catalogue  
of the library of ,mr4 ,walter ,thomas  
,wallace1 which is  to be sold in the   
last days of ,march by the ,american    
,art ,association1  in ,new ,york1 has  
just reached us4 ,mr4 ,wallace's        
astonishingly rich  collection includes 
copies of the four ,folios of           
,shakespeare and of  several of the     
,quartos4 ,among the ,elizabethan       
rarities are ,the ,palace  of ,pleasure1
 ,sidney's ,arcadia1 ,the ,faerie       
,queene1 and other poems  of ,spenser4  
,among the eighteenth-century treasures 
is to be found one  of the two known    
copies of ,goldsmith's ,threnodia       
,augustalis4 ,keats  and ,shelley are   
well represented4 ,there is a very      
complete collection  of ,tennyson first 
editions and an almost unique series of 
,lamb books1  including a copy in the   
original binding of the almost extinct  
first  edition of ,poems for ,children  
7#ahji74 ,there are also remarkably     

complete sets of first editions of such 
,american authors as ,poe1  ,bryant1    
,longfellow4 ,we anticipate some new    
records in the way of prices4           
99       99       99       99       99  
,as we go to press the first reports of 
the beginning of the ,buxton  ,forman   
sale at the ,anderson ,galleries1 ,new  
,york1 reach us4 ,they  emphasize the   
present flourishing condition of what   
the late owner of  the books in question
 once1 in an unguarded moment1 called   
,the ,keats  and ,shelley business4 ,two
 copies of books by ,keats1 which       
belonged to  ,fanny ,braune 7afterwards 
,mrs4 ,lindon71 were included in the    
first day's  sale4 ,the ,poems 7#ahag71 
inscribed with her name1 ,frances       
,lindon1  and presumed to be a          
presentation copy from the poet1 and a  
first  edition of ,lamia1 ,isabella1    
,the ,eve of ,st4 ,agnes1 etc4 7#ahbj71 
inscribed on the title-page to ,f4 ,b4  
from ,j4 ,k4 ,these two books  fetched  
#agej and #djjj1 and1 at the normal rate

 of exchange1 #cej  and #hjj            
respectively4 ,even a series of eighteen
 letters from ,george  ,keats sold for  
#ahjj4 ,apparently it is better to be a 
poet's brother  than oneself a poet1 for
 an eight-page autograph manuscript of  
,william  ,blake's poem ,genesis1 which 
is still unpublished1 was bought by the 
,rosenbach ,company1 of ,philadelphia1  
for #acej4           99       99        
99       99       99    ,other items in 
this sale were ,browning's ,pauline1    
first edition  7#ahcc71 an uncut copy   
with the original boards and paper label
 intact  7#befj7 and the ,,ms4 of       
,colombe's ,birthday1 title and         
fifty-nine folio  pages 7#abjj74 ,eight 
hundred dollars1 normally the equivalent
 of #afj1  was the price paid for a copy
 of the first edition of ,adam ,bede    
7#ahei71 presented by ,george ,eliot to 
,thackeray4            ,a4 ,l4 ,h4 and  
,i4 ,a4 ,w4          ,,correspondence   
,,american ,,copyright    7,to the      
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    

,,sir1--,i trust you will find room to  
insert this letter after the space  you 
have given to ,mr4 ,g4 ,h4 ,putnam4 ,we 
are all grateful for the work  that ,mr4
 ,putnam has done1 but--to use an       
,american phrase1 which no  doubt he    
will appreciate--there are others who   
have worked equally  hard1 and not      
infrequently with a more satisfactory   
result4 ,we must  thank you1 therefore1 
for your brief ,editorial ,note in the  
,march issue4    ,the real reason1      
however1 for this letter is to correct  
some of the  statements made by ,mr4    
,putnam4 ,he glorifies the new ,american
 ,act  because of its liberal allowance 
of #abj days' interim copyright4  ,he   
has understated his own case4 ,the ,act 
gives sixty days from the  publication  
abroad in which to deposit a copy at    
,washington1 and four  months from the  
date of deposit in which to take up the 
copyright1  subject to the numerous     
harassing technicalities of the ,act4   
,an author1  therefore1 has #ahj instead

 of #abj days4    ,in ,mr4 ,putnam's    
second statement he tries to score a    
point against  ,great ,britain4 ,as in  
the former paragraph he understated his 
case1 in  this he would overstate it4   
,he complains that ,american authors    
have to make a bona-fide  publication in
 ,great ,britain within fourteen days of
 the publication in  the ,united        
,states4 ,he italicises bona fide4 ,he  
must have overlooked  the fact that     
publication is an essential part of     
copyright in the  ,states just as much  
as it is in ,great ,britain4 ,this item 
then can be  ruled out4    ,he          
contrasts1 however1 the meagre allowance
 of fourteen days under the  ,british   
,act against the liberal allowance of   
#ahj 7not #abj7 days under  the         
,american ,act4 ,it must be pointed out 
with due emphasis that when  the author 
is not hampered by typesetting clauses1 
printed copyright  notices1 and filing  
difficulties1 time in the matter of     
publication is  really of little        

account4 ,the ,american publisher has   
merely to ship off  a consignment before
 he publishes the book in the ,states   
and to await  instructions from the     
,london house that the consignment has  
arrived4  ,there is no difficulty in    
this step4 ,so long as the              
technicalities of  ,united ,states ,act 
still stand we are sick of these        
counter-irritants1  which1 now the war  
is over1 cut no ice4    ,we have heard  
that the ,typesetters' ,union--of which 
,mr4 ,putnam seems  unduly              
alarmed--could be made to understand    
from statistics supplied  that they are 
standing in their own light4 ,but1      
perhaps1 if they are  still obdurate on 
the practical side1 they might be       
influenced by  the argument of the      
idealist that it is a disgrace to a     
civilised  nation to stand outside the  
intellectual ,union of other civilised  
,nations4 ,the ,americans have had the  
opportunity of joining the revised      
,convention of ,berne for many years1   

but have neglected to do so4    ,it is  
not astonishing1 therefore1 that        
,president ,wilson cannot  influence    
them to follow him into the ,league of  
,nations under the ,peace  ,treaty4     
,for the last paragraph of ,mr4         
,putnam's letter--his  apologia  for    
,american authors and publishers--all   
authors in ,great ,britain are          
grateful4 ,if ,british authors have not 
followed with appreciation the  efforts 
of their brothers in the ,states1 they  
should have done so4 ,we  gladly now pay
 tribute to the work of those who so    
long and earnestly1  yet unsuccessfully1
 have struggled to bring the ,united    
,states to join  the ranks of other     
civilised nations4--,yours1 etc41       
,g4 ,,herbert ,,thring4    ,march #aath4
    ,perhaps ,major ,putnam will        
reply4--,,editor4      ,,flaubert ,,and 
,,mr4 ,,sturge ,,moore    7,to the      
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,mr4 ,h4 ,w4 ,crundell thinks   
that ,i should explain the absence of  a

 note to my poem ,micah2 the presence of
 the one he suggests would  have        
appeared to me an impertinence4 ,did    
,gray and ,arnold call attention  by    
notes when they adapted a few lines from
 ,pindar8 ,did ,tennyson thus  docket   
what he owed to ,homer and ,virgil8 ,to 
me the explanation seems  rather due    
from ,mr4 ,crundell3 why he wrote his   
letter1 and from you1  why you printed  
it4 ,however1 obviously you think       
differently1 so this  occasion may as   
well serve me to allay an innocent      
curiosity that ,i  neither intended to  
provoke nor to baffle4 ,besides ,mr4    
,crundell's find  there is a longer     
passage from ,salammbo in my ,mariamne4 
,i put a  line from ,goldsmith's ,she   
,stoops to ,conquer into my ,rout of the
  ,amazons1 a phrase from ,myers'       
translation of ,pindar into ,at ,bethel1
  and a phrase from ,milton into ,love's
 ,first ,communion4 ,excepting the      
usual array from the ,bible1 ,i believe 
these to be all my verbal and  literal  

appropriations4--,yours1 etc41          
,t4 ,,sturge ,,moore4    ,p4,s4--,i have
 forgotten an unintentional one1 a line 
from ,keats in  ,mariamne4    ,by       
printing ,mr4 ,crundell's letter we     
didn't mean to suggest that we  agreed  
with his argument2 we were merely       
interested in the derivation  of a      
beautiful passage in a beautiful        
poem4--,,editor4           99       99  
99       99       99      ,,mansoul     
7,to the ,editor of ,,the ,,london      
,,mercury7    ,,sir1--,your review of   
,mr4 ,doughty's ,mansoul reveals an     
attitude  somewhat similar to that of   
,jeffrey towards ,wordsworth4 ,may a    
humble  reader hesitatingly retort the  
phrase--,this will never do8 ,your      
reviewer does not think ,mr4 ,doughty   
should be ignored1 but he finds         
,chaucer easier and more modern1 and    
considers this poetry at best a  thing  
of tough shreds and purple patches4     
,with this opinion ,i do not contend1   
for ,i do not clearly understand  upon  

what principle of criticism your        
reviewer is acting2 but ,i should  like 
to suggest that his opinion springs from
 a misconception which  ought not to be 
nourished by the ,,london ,,mercury4 ,he
 seems to think that  ,mr4 ,doughty's   
guttural obscurity of speech1 his style 
in general1  is a vital fault4 ,i submit
 that he assumes rather than proves such
  a degree of obscurity1 and that he    
puts an excessive value upon the  merely
 formal and conventional graces of      
,english blank verse4 ,he does  not     
recognise that ,mr4 ,doughty is making  
not only his own poem1 but his  own     
style1 and that the poetry is to be     
judged not exclusively by its           
conformity with traditional verse--the  
false standard of the eighteenth        
century--but by the success with which  
its style empowers and lucidly  presents
 the author's conception4 ,casual       
wrynesses1 unaccustomed  inversions1    
idiosyncratic punctuation 7forgive1 dear
 ,cobbett1 the long  words7 do not      

affect this central question4 ,your     
reviewer admits the  greatness of the   
poet's conception1 admits that it has   
the substantial  elements of noble      
poetry--,i mean such elements as we find
 in ,paradise  ,lost and ,the           
,dynasts--but is unwilling to admit that
 his form is his  natural form1 the form
 that expresses not only his explicit   
intention  but his implicit character1  
and1 therefore1 a good form4 ,i submit  
that  ,mr4 ,doughty's style in poetry is
 the inevitable expression of his mind  
at work upon imaginative themes4 ,i     
submit that a true poet does not  and   
cannot choose his style1 and that the   
test of his style is not  its degree of 
conformity with ,chaucer's simplicity1  
,milton's lofty  sweetness1 ,tennyson's 
effusive delicacy1 but the fullness with
 which  it expresses his own imaginative
 vision4 ,mr4 ,doughty has written1  not
 a few miscellaneous lyrics1 but a vast 
body of poetry in which  a perfectly    
clear apprehension of past and future is

 presented4 ,his  themes are unfolded   
with such fullness as enables us to     
judge whether  the expression of them1  
unusual as it may seem1 ruins them or   
preserves  them unspoiled1 sustains or  
dulls their brightness4 ,with extreme   
diffidence ,i suggest that your reviewer
 has not addressed himself to  this     
proposition1 and that this proposition  
remains an elementary  principle of     
criticism4 ,and ,i would remark that    
,mr4 ,doughty's own  observations upon  
his style 7note to ,the ,dawn in        
,britain1 ,volume #f7  might suitably be
 referred to for a precise statement of 
his attitude  towards the ,english      
language4    ,the principles of         
criticism do not change1 but may be     
eclipsed  or clouded4 ,they are         
familiar1 yet need constant reassertion 
and  illustration4 ,difficult as it may 
be to reduce these abstractions to      
clear and useful formul1 ,i think it    
would be a service to letters  if you1  
,sir1 would state and clarify them      

afresh4 ,wanting definition  and        
illustration1 creation and criticism may
 become discordant1 with  unhappy       
results for each4 ,it is my suspicion of
 a faint discord that  must form the    
apology for the length of this          
letter4--,yours1 etc41            ,s4   
,e4    ,we did not dispute that ,mr4    
,doughty's style is natural to him4 ,we 
merely said that that is his and our    
misfortune4--,,editor4           99     
99       99       99       99           
,,john ,,donne    7,to the ,editor of   
,,the ,,london ,,mercury7               
,,sir1--,after reading the most         
interesting paper on ,john ,donne in the
  last number of ,,the ,,london         
,,mercury1 ,i wonder whether ,browning  
had not  him in mind when he wrote ,the 
,grammarian's ,funeral4 ,an hydroptic   
immoderate desire of human learning and 
languages consumed the soul  by-droptic 
grammarian no less than ,donne2 like    
,donne even to the  crumbs he'd fain eat
 up the feast1 ,aye1 nor feel quaesy4   

,he knew  nothing1 it is true1 of the   
quaesy pain ,of being beloved and       
loving2  his was a passion of mind only1
 though1 like ,donne1 he knew the       
sickness of the body overwrought4 ,the  
analogy could be traced further4    ,for
 more reasons than the tracing of       
remembrance of ,donne in one poem  it   
would be interesting to know how longe  
,browning hadde ygo to the  earlier     
poet4--,yours1 etc41            ,j4 ,r4 
,,rackham4    ,queen ,mary ,high ,school
 for ,girls1 ,anfield ,road1 ,liverpool1
 ,february  #acth4           99       99
       99       99       99      ,a     
,,point ,,in ,,sheridan    7,to the     
,editor of ,,the ,,london ,,mercury7    
,,sir1--,in one of the scenes of        
,sheridan's ,school for ,scandal occurs 
the following passage3 ,you may see her 
on a little squat pony with  her hair   
plaited up behind like a drummer's4444  
7,act #b1 sc4 #b47    ,i presume that   
the underlined words1 which have often  
puzzled me1 are  an allusion to the     

manners of the time1 with which ,i am   
insufficiently  acquainted4 ,as none of 
the editions ,i have been able to       
consult give  any explanation on the    
point1 perhaps one of your readers would
 oblige  me by throwing some light on   
the matter4--,yours1 etc41              
,f4 ,,pellisier4    ,remiremont1        
,vosges1 ,february #afth4               
,,learned ,,societies1 ,,etc4      ,,the
 ,,society ,,of ,,antiquaries           
,vandalism in ,egypt is deplored in     
,london1 but in the present             
circumstances we cannot throw stones4   
,rubbish-heaps are often romantic1  and 
those of ,fostt 7,old ,cairo7 contain   
masses of medival pottery  and other    
treasures well worth preserving2 but the
 local authorities  propose to create a 
new suburb by erecting workmen's        
dwellings all over  them4 ,systematic   
excavation cannot be hurried1 and       
careful search might  throw light on the
 origin of maiolica4    ,for the first  
time perhaps in its long history1 the   

,society has devoted  an ordinary       
meeting to the discussion of ,ways and  
,means4 ,the following  are the         
principal alternatives3 7i7 ,to raise   
the subscription and  invite donations2 
7ii7 to extend the franchise and        
popularise the  ,society2 and 7iii7 to  
economise further and lower the output4 
,the  argument that thousands are       
waiting to join in the work of the      
,society  is not convincing2 and as     
about ninety per cent4 of the ,fellows  
do  not attend the meetings1 the        
publications are their only tangible    
reward4 ,if the standard is to be       
maintained1 few would expect the same   
return for half the subscription they   
paid on joining1 but to double  the     
annual levy would be a drastic reform2  
yet the ,society is further  committed  
to field-work of considerable public    
interest4 ,the rich we  have always with
 us1 but their presence is not felt so  
much here as in  ,america4      ,,the   
,,society ,,for ,,the ,,protection ,,of 

,,ancient ,,buildings    ,during the    
last few weeks the restoration of the   
,lady ,chapel of  ,worksop ,priory has  
been in progress4 ,it was a roofless    
ruin1 retaining  much fine              
thirteenth-century work4 ,it is being   
re-roofed1 the fallen  portions rebuilt1
 and missing parts renewed in the style 
of the  original building1 the new work 
being made to resemble as nearly as may 
be what the old is believed to have     
been4    ,this on the face of it sounds 
reasonable enough1 but experience has   
shown that in practice the result of    
such treatment is the reverse of        
satisfactory4 ,it is exactly what the   
restorers of the last century  did1 and 
what people with any knowledge or love  
of old buildings  deplore to-day1       
whenever it comes to their notice4 ,it  
is just such a  case as this which goes 
to the root of the matter in which the  
,society  interests itself1 and its     
customary ruling thereon may be stated  
in the  following way3    #a4 ,the ruin 

should be subjected only to repairs     
needed for its upkeep4    #b4 ,if the   
site is absolutely necessary to the     
community for the  purposes of its daily
 life1 it has a right to use such ruins 
and even  in extremity to demolish them4
    #c4 ,confronted by a similar        
necessity it may be justifiable to      
incorporate an old building in a new    
one4 ,the danger in this case  lies1    
however1 in the fact that the desire to 
restore for the sake of  restoration may
 outrun the actual need of a new        
building designed to  fulfil some       
special purpose4    ,having made this   
concession to a genuine demand1 the     
,society still  stands out against      
restoration4 ,the new work should be    
good and in  harmony with the old1 but  
it should also be living architecture   
and not  a study in dead style4    ,as  
,professor ,lethaby expressed it1       
,architecture is a current speech1  it  
is not an art of classical quotation4   
,but the ,lady ,chapel of ,worksop      

,priory is actually being restored4     
,so1 though much more might be said1 the
 case ends here1 save for the  thought  
that with better guidance different     
conclusions would have been  reached4   
,the promoters of the scheme1 having so 
far determined to make  use of the ruin1
 might have asked the advice of a       
selected group  representative of our   
best men--a group which should include  
within it  one real authority versed in 
the building methods of the same period 
as  that of the ruin1 an acknowledged   
authority on modern architecture1 a     
representative both of the ,society of  
,antiquaries and the ,society for  the  
,protection of ,ancient ,buildings4 ,to 
these one would add a local  architect  
or builder conversant with the local    
conditions and material4    ,to such an 
advisory board would be committed the   
task of choosing an  architect1 whose   
plans would be submitted for approval   
before being  recommended to the        
promoters4    ,the scheme may seem to   

savour too much of the ideal which has  
no part  in actual life1 yet it is worth
 consideration1 for from it1 one might  
say almost inevitably1 good work must   
result4    ,as a matter of fact the     
,committee does comprise within itself  
the  qualities of such an advisory      
board1 but the above suggestion is made 
for those who may prefer1 for one reason
 or another1 to ask advice  elsewhere4  
,,the ,,egypt ,,exploration ,,fund      
,the work of this ,society has two main 
branches3 the first is the  excavation  
of ,egypt's buried treasures and the    
publication of careful  records of the  
finds2 the second is the preservation   
and translation  of the inscriptions1   
including papyri found in the course of 
excavation4 ,the ,society has already   
published hundreds of papyri1 the  most 
important being included in the         
,oxyrhynchus ,papyri edited by          
,professors ,grenfell and ,hunt4    ,in 
a lecture given at the rooms of the     
,royal ,society1 ,burlington ,house1  on

 ,friday1 ,february #bjth1 on ,the      
,historical ,value of ,greek ,papyri1   
,mr4 ,h4 ,idris ,bell1 a member of the  
staff of the ,british ,museum1 gave  a  
scholarly review of the work already    
done in the publication of  papyri1 both
 in this and in other countries1 and    
laid stress on the  necessity for       
further work in this direction4 ,he     
pointed out that1  although this country
 was holding its own in the matter of   
publication  of fresh material1 it was  
falling behind other countries in the   
work of  comparing and computing results
 and the tabulation of the information  
thus obtained4    ,the lecturer said    
papyri help to correct the false        
perspective in which  we see history4   
,we tend to see it as a succession of   
dramatic events  and of great           
personalities1 and economic processes   
attain a precision  and clearness which 
is not obvious to contemporaries4 ,but  
this is not  our attitude towards our   
own time1 and documents show us that it 

was  not that of our predecessors4      
,great events of history occur but      
seldom1  and when they do they are      
recorded from the purely personal point 
of  view4 ,the historian cannot         
chronicle minor interests1 but the      
papyri  serve as the acid test of the   
objectivity of his narrative1 and for   
this reason it is well that the student 
should supplement his reading  of       
history by some study of documents1 and 
for no department of ancient  history   
have we a body of documentary evidence  
comparable to the papyri4    ,papyri    
make us acquainted with the ordinary    
man1 his style of living1  his domestic 
relations1 and his family life2 it thus 
becomes possible  to study the popular  
psychology of ,grco-,roman ,egypt1 and  
so1 by  analogy1 to some extent1 the    
,grco-,roman world4    ,with regard to  
administration papyri show us the actual
 working1 not  the theory1 of           
administration1 and the two rarely      
exactly coincide4 ,so  too with law2 the

 practice of the law usually differs    
from the theory  of law1 and papyri     
reveal the practice and show us the     
applied law4    ,turning to religion1   
papyri mostly illustrate the popular    
attitude  towards religion2 there is not
 much on mystery cults1 but they show   
the attitude of the individual towards  
the deity4 ,it is also possible  from   
them to trace the borrowings of         
,christianity from ,paganism and to     
contrast the ,christian and the pagan   
attitude4    ,the lecturer gave many    
interesting illustrations from papyri1  
including  letters from parents to      
children and children to parents1       
letters of  condolence1 letters from men
 engaged upon business or war to their  
wives and families1 which give a vivid  
picture of the life of the time4    ,sir
 ,frederic ,kenyon1 ,k4,c4,b41 who was  
in the chair1 in thanking the  lecturer 
emphasised the importance of the study  
of papyri and the  scope this branch of 
research opened for original work4 ,here

 is a vast  field of labour1 at present 
only superficially worked2 the harvest  
is  plentiful1 but the labourers are    
few2 certainly they are indefatigable1  
but more workers are needed if the full 
value is to be extracted from  these    
papyri4 ,other countries are alive to   
the importance of the work1  but our own
 ,universities are somewhat apathetic   
and need arousing4      ,,the ,,royal   
,,numismatic ,,society    ,at the       
monthly meeting of the ,royal           
,numismatic ,society on ,february       
#aith1 ,mr4 ,percy ,h4 ,webb exhibited a
 portion of a find of late ,roman  coins
 from ,egypt4 ,the find covered the     
period ,a4,d4 #bih-cac1 ,domitius       
,domitianus--,maximinus ,daza1 and was1 
said to have comprised nearly two       
bushels of coins4 ,the coins which ,mr4 
,webb had been able to examine  belonged
 to the last five years of the period1  
and were of three  rulers only1         
,galerius ,maximian1 ,galeria ,valeria1 
and ,daza4 ,the bulk  of the coins were 

of the ,alexandria mint1 although       
,antioch1 ,cyzicus1  and ,nicomedia were
 also represented4 ,the find presented a
 number of  interesting features and    
afforded an interesting opportunity of  
testing  ,m4 ,jules ,maurice's work1    
which it supported in every detail4     
,mr4 ,g4 ,c4 ,brooke read a paper by    
,mr4 ,r4 ,c4 ,lockett on ,the ,coinage  
of  ,offa4 ,the most reasonable         
suggestion for the date of the beginning
  of the ,mercian coinage was after the 
battle of ,otford in #ggd1 but it  might
 be as late as the ,council of ,chelsea1
 #ghf4 ,the mint was probably           
,canterbury1 as seven of his moneyers   
struck coins for ,coenwulf1 and  three  
of these worked for ,eadberht1 ,cuthred1
 and ,baldred4 ,coins bearing  the name 
,eadberht were probably to be attributed
 to ,eadberht1 ,bishop  of ,london1     
#ggb-ghg4 ,another penny with the name  
hitherto not read  satisfactorily should
 probably be attributed to ,higberht1   
,bishop of  ,lichfield1 who was made    

,archbishop in #ghg4 ,cynethrith's      
coinage was  evidently struck in ,offa's
 lifetime1 either as a complimentary    
issue1  or in a period of regency during
 ,offa's absence4 ,a classification  of 
the pennies of ,offa was proposed1 based
 on their affinity to the  coinage of   
,jaenberht and thilheard4               
,,books ,,of ,,the ,,month      ,,poetry
    ,,flowers ,,in ,,the ,,grass4 ,by   
,,maurice ,,hewlett4 ,constable4 #es4   
net4    ,in recent years ,mr4 ,hewlett1 
who earned his first fame as a romancer1
  has been devoting himself most        
seriously to verse4 ,and he has done a  
very remarkable thing4 ,two or three    
years ago1 with perhaps twenty  novels  
and several books of poems behind him1  
he brought out a long  poem--,the ,song 
of the ,plow--which was a new thing in  
poetry1  and which was indisputably the 
finest thing he had done in either      
harmony1 an epical poem1 which was as   
easy to read as an excellent  novel1 and
 as good to read the third time as the  

first4 ,there were  lovely detachable   
things in it1 but it was most striking  
when taken as  a whole1 racy1 muscular1 
original4 ,he followed it with ,the     
,village  ,wife's ,lament1 a tragedy of 
the war1 only less striking in so far as
  it was less long4 ,we have here a     
collection of his recent lyrics4 ,they  
have not the outstanding merit of those 
works on the larger canvas1 but  they   
are far superior to his early lyrics1   
and bear new witness after  their manner
 to his late poetic flowering4    ,the  
poems are all rural3 mainly ,wiltshire1 
the ancient downs1 the  valleys1 the    
villages1 the spire of ,salisbury4 ,but1
 save for a few  delicious fancies about
 flowers1 they all contain the human    
too4  ,landscape for ,mr4 ,hewlett1     
however beautiful1 however forbidding1  
is always a background for human        
character and human history4 ,on  that  
great hill the ledges were planted with 
corn by primitive men2  on that other   
the ,roman sentries stood2 in that field

 there is a  ploughman whose eyes and   
hair and thews are ,saxon4 ,quotation   
from him  is difficult1 because of the  
very largeness of his imagination2 his  
details are so subordinate that1 though 
he usually gets the phrase  right in its
 context1 he seldom gets the phrase     
arresting out of its  context4 ,now and 
then he is gentler1 his language more   
honeyed1 his  rhythms less rugged1 and  
in poems like ,summer ,night he falls   
into a  beautiful and a very            
contemporary music4    ,that1 and       
,jacob's ,ladder1 and ,the ,cedar1 and  
the uncanny and  impressive ,chelsbury  
are among the best things in the book2  
the last  two show his historic         
imagination at its best1 economical     
though the  expression is4 ,but the best
 of all1 we think1 is ,in the ,fire4    
,the fire burns low2          ,now the  
dying embers        ,twinkle and glow   
,like village lights1        ,seen from 
the heights          ,in dark           
,decembers4          ,there's the foggy 

gleam          ,from the ,horse and     
,groom1        ,where topers dream      
,in front of their liquor1        ,and  
candles flicker          ,as pipes      
allume 444    ,the whole village passes 
across the vision3 the smithy1 a pair in
  a farm1 an amber blind with girls'    
shadows on it1 a candle and one  reading
 in a loft3 the lights go out one by one
 till all is dark4 ,it is  a charming   
picture1 and the stanza is beautifully  
suited to it4 ,it is a  pity that ,mr4  
,hewlett mars it in places with a       
stumbling-block word or  rhyme4         
,,country ,,sentiment4 ,by ,,robert     
,,graves4 ,martin ,secker4 #es4    ,it  
must be confessed that the very title of
 ,mr4 ,graves's new book  awakes in us a
 feeling of pleasure4 ,mr4 ,graves has a
 flair for  titles4 ,we remember his    
,beside the ,brazier and ,fairies and   
,fusiliers with a sense that the author 
has always succeeded in getting  a      
suggestion of his individual quality    
into the names of his books4 ,in  the   

volume before us ,mr4 ,graves repeats   
some of his former successes4  ,the poem
 ,a ,frosty ,night is a good example of 
that dialogue form which  ,mr4 ,graves  
uses with great skill1 and in which we  
may see the influence  of the old       
ballads3          ,,mother4             
,alice1 dear1 what ails you1            
,dazed and white and shaken8        ,has
 the chill night numbed you8            
,is it fright you have taken8           
,,alice4          ,mother1 ,i am very   
well1          ,i felt never better4    
,mother1 do not hold me so1             
,let me write my letter4    ,it is a    
quiet beginning1 and it looks very easy 
to do1 but that  appearance is          
deceptive4 ,to write with economy and in
 an almost  conversational tone without 
becoming flat and banal is extremely    
difficult1 but ,mr4 ,graves's hand      
rarely loses its cunning in those       
awkward passages of low emotional pitch 
which are unavoidable in any  sort of   
narrative verse4 ,when the pitch rises  

he has a remarkably sure  touch and can 
give us a vivid picture without any of  
the elaborate1  detailed word-painting  
which is the bane of so much modern     
poetry4 ,what  could be finer1 for      
example1 than the stanzas that follow   
those already  quoted3                  
,,mother4          ,sweet1 my dear1 what
 ails you8            ,,alice4          
,no1 but ,i am well2        ,the night  
was cold and frosty1        ,there's no 
more to tell4            ,,mother4      
,ay1 the night was frosty1              
,coldly gaped the moon1        ,yet the 
birds seemed twittering                 
,through green boughs of ,june4         
,soft and thick the snow lay1           
,stars danced in the sky4        ,not   
all the lambs of ,may-day          ,skip
 so bold and high4          ,your feet  
were dancing1 ,alice1          ,seemed  
to dance on air1        ,you looked a   
ghost or angel          ,in the         
starlight there4          ,your eyes    
were frosted starlight1          ,your  

heart fire and snow4        ,who was it 
said1 ,i love you8            ,,alice4  
,mother1 let me go6    ,mr4 ,graves     
resembles ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,davies in the   
quiet freshness of his  best work4 ,if  
he has a fault it is that he is rather  
too apt to point  a moral4 ,he may have 
caught this--along with much of his     
rhythmic  subtlety--from his study of   
nursery rhymes1 but there is very little
  of it in the present book1 which is   
full of the most charming fancy4        
,perhaps ,mr4 ,graves's most            
characteristic work is to be found in   
such a  poem as ,vain and ,careless1    
which begins3          ,lady1 lovely    
lady1          ,careless and gay6       
,once when a beggar called          ,she
 gave her child away1    and which      
continues in a quaint fantasy of thought
 and expression that  is entirely ,mr4  
,graves's own1 and is an original       
contribution to modern  poetry4 ,one of 
the best poems in the book is called    
,thunder at ,night1  and it describes   

two children into whose dreams the real 
thunderstorm  outside their house       
enters4 ,the boy is dreaming of a bear1 
the girl of  monkeys and snakes4 ,the   
hot1 confused feeling of the night is   
vividly  suggested and then the poem    
suddenly ends with a stanza that is a   
complete change in temperature and      
beautifully suggests the approaching    
dawn3          ,they cannot guess1 could
 not be told          ,how soon comes   
careless day1        ,with birds and    
dandelions gold1          ,wet grass1   
cool scents of ,may4    ,the book is    
well named ,country ,sentiment1 for it  
has much of the  beauty and the         
fragrance of the countryside4           
,,lines ,,of ,,life4 ,by ,,henry ,w4    
,,nevinson4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #cs4 #f;d4  
,,the ,,pedlar1 ,,and ,,other ,,poems4  
,by ,,ruth ,,manning-,,sanders4 ,selwyn 
,blount4  #cs4 #f;d4    ,,skylark ,,and 
,,swallow4 ,by ,r4 ,l4 ,,gales4 ,erskine
 ,macdonald4 #es4    ,of the authors of 
these three books of verse ,mr4 ,henry  

,w4 ,nevinson is  the only one who has  
made a reputation as a prose-writer1 and
 it is not  surprising that his work    
should show the widest range of thought 
and  expression4 ,his poems maintain a  
high level of accomplishment2 here1  for
 example1 is a sonnet3    ,a ,,german   
,,winter4          ,on leagues of solid 
land the snow lies deep1        ,the    
snow falls crumbling from the leaden    
sky2        ,all but the fir is white2  
with timorous eye        ,strange little
 birds in at the window peep1           
,from frozen forests come2 black rivers 
creep1        ,shrunk with the cold till
 half their bed is dry1        ,along   
the ice-hung ozier reeds1 and by        
,the wooden villages with gables steep1 
,huddled around their spires4           
,oh1 far away        ,a purple mountain 
rises from the sand        ,the golden  
sand beneath the golden day2            
,down the bright steep the waterfall    
plunges free        ,from ledge to      
radiant ledge1 and on the strand        

,sounds the long murmur of the eternal  
sea6    ,but it is the accomplishment of
 a sensitive and highly-trained mind1   
accustomed to literary expression rather
 than the work of an original  poet2    
none the less it reveals sympathies and 
perceptions which the  author has not   
been able to put into his prose4    ,mr4
 ,r4 ,l4 ,gales is an old hand who has  
written a great deal of charming  verse1
 which has been widely enjoyed by those 
who can appreciate  smoothness and      
sweetness better than music1 colour1 and
 imaginative  power4 ,mr4 ,gales has a  
genuine vein of feeling and real skill1 
as the  following extract will show3    
,long ago        ,in their towers       
,the clocks struck        ,old hours    
,that went so slow          ,long ago   
,in ,george ,hubert's parsonage         
,the wood-fire of old apple-trees       
,it flamed and flared and flickered so4 
,long ago        ,at ,hampton ,court in 
the mild sun        ,in the tall limes  
great clumps were hung        ,of       

mistletoe                 99       99   
99       99       99          ,long ago 
,peace has fallen upon the pain         
,the grief1 the madness of these twain1 
,lovely lovers by ,love slain1          
,long ago4    ,in some ways ,miss ,ruth 
,manning-,sanders' work is more         
ambitious than  ,mr4 ,nevinson's or ,mr4
 ,gales'2 but if she essays more1 she   
performs1 if  anything1 less4 ,there is 
evident in her work an ardent searching 
of  the spirit and a philosophical      
tendency that are worthy of praise1 but 
nowhere are her emotions and thoughts   
transmuted into poetry's gold by  any   
magical touch4 ,we have1 in other words1
 much of the raw material  of poetry    
spread out before us1 but not poetry    
itself4 ,nevertheless1  there is a      
distinctive quality in her work which   
has affinities with  some               
seventeenth-century poems2 it is present
 in the poem entitled  ,emotions1 which 
begins thus3          ,spirits to whom  
my lady's little world        ,is but a 

tree of rest1        ,whence birdlike   
free1 ye rise and soar        ,each on  
your several quest        ,above the    
heavy hills that close around        ,my
 strip of ground1    but does not keep  
at that level4    ,it may be that ,miss 
,ruth ,manning-,sanders will achieve    
considerably more  than she has so far  
succeeded in doing4      ,,kossovo3     
,,heroic ,,songs ,,of ,,the ,,serbs4    
,translated from the original by        
,,helen ,,rootham4 ,introduction by     
,,maurice ,,baring4 ,historical ,preface
 by  ,,janko ,,lavrin4 ,frontispiece by 
,,toma ,,rosandi4 ,blackwell4 #ds4 #f;d4
 net4    ,the frontispiece of this      
volume is as crowded with names as a    
modern  theatre programme2 we looked at 
the top for licensee and lessee4  ,but1 
unlike the plays1 the book is good4     
,serbia1 which has several  great cycles
 of epic-ballads1 is the one country    
where the creation  of poetry on        
primitive lines still flourishes2 a     
cycle seems to be  developing out of the

 retreat through ,albania4 ,the greatest
 group of  all1 however1 is the group   
which grew out of the defeat 7in #achi7 
by the ,turks on the ,field of          
,blackbirds4 ,the originals 7and ,miss  
,rootham's versions7 are all in trochaic
 decasyllabics4 ,they deal with  one    
group of figures3 the ,tsar ,lazar1 who 
was killed2 his wife ,militsa2  the hero
 ,milosh ,obilish1 who stabbed the      
victorious ,sultan in his tent2  ,jug   
,bogdan1 his ten sons1 and the traitor  
,vuk ,brankovitch4 ,the warriors  march 
off1 they are defeated1 they die3 ravens
 or other messengers  carry the news to 
the stricken ,tsaritsa in her tower3    
teamsters  years after find the ,tsar's 
head1 still preserved in a well1 and it 
miraculously joins the body4 ,all a     
nation's sorrow is in these songs1  all 
the great memories and defiant resolve1 
that kept the race alive  and proud1 and
 led the recapturers of ,kossovo1 in our
 own day1 to fall  to their knees on the
 sacred ground4 ,the translation seems  

very good2  the fire remains in the     
whole1 but the magic has inevitably     
escaped  from the parts4 ,we can only   
quote a specimen at random3          ,to
 his feet leaps ,milosh1 that great     
warrior1        ,to the black earth bows
 himself1 and answers3        ,tsar     
,lazar1 for this thy toast ,i thank     
thee1        ,thank thee for the toast  
and for the goblet1        ,but for     
those thy words ,i do not thank thee4   
,for--else may the truth be my          
undoing--,never1        ,tsar ,lazar1   
was ,i unfaithful1        ,never have ,i
 been1 and never will be4        ,and   
to-morrow ,i go to ,kossovo        ,for 
the ,christian faith to fight and       
perish4      ,,fleurs-,,de-,,lys4 ,a    
,book of ,french ,poetry freely         
translated into ,english  verse4 ,by    
,,wilfrid ,,thorley4 ,heinemann4 #fs4   
net4    ,we may heartily congratulate   
,mr4 ,thorley upon his ambition and his 
industry4 ,he conceived the prodigious  
idea of giving ,english versions  of    

poems by all the representative ,french 
poets from the earliest  age until our  
own time4 ,he has translated three      
hundred1 and he has  increased his      
labours by doing the earlier ones into  
archaic ,english4  ,for example1 his    
first specimen 7twelfth century7 is     
entitled ,the ,twa  ,systres1 and       
begins3          ,the mirk did fa' lang 
syne1 lang syne1        ,when twa fond  
systres wi' hands that twine            
,went down to bathe whaur the waters    
shine4    ,and ,villon's most famous    
ballade opens3          ,o tell me where
 and in what lande        ,is ,flora and
 the ,roman lass8    ,he knows his      
ground1 and his selection of originals  
is admirable4 ,but  his versions usually
 take the bloom off4 ,baudelaire's      
,o ,mort1 vieux capitaine1 il est temps1
 levez l'ancre    becomes          ,haul
 up the anchor1 captain old1 ,o ,death1 
for it is time3    which is the same    
thing with a difference4 ,sometimes he  
even fails to  get essential parts of   

the sense4 ,in recommending his book1   
therefore1  to those many to whom such a
 survey in ,english would be useful1 we 
warn them that the translations at best 
are graceful versifying4 ,mr4  ,thorley1
 happily1 is usually on his own highest 
level1 and the book can  be read with   
very little annoyance and a certain     
amount of edification4      ,,the       
,,paths ,,of ,,glory4 ,a ,collection of 
,poems written during the ,war1         
#aiad-aiai4 ,edited by ,,bertram        
,,lloyd4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #ds4 #f;d4 and 
#cs4    ,the title of this anthology is 
presumably ironical4 ,he who would have 
a comprehensive selection of war poems  
reflecting the sentiments of  the mass  
of our people1 and most of the ,british 
soldiers1 must go to  ,miss ,jacqueline 
,trotter's ,vision and ,valour          
7,longmans'71 which we  shall review in 
our next issue4 ,this collection is a   
collection with an  avowedly            
propagandist aim4 ,it contains poems    
exposing the cruelty and  filth of ,war 

in general1 which were inspired by the  
late ,war4 ,it is not  yet complete4    
,for instance1 ,major ,brett-,young's   
,bte ,humaine might  suitably have been 
included4 ,but most of the poems        
included are genuine  and well written4 
,amongst the authors covered are ,a4    
,e41 ,paul  ,bewsher1 ,geoffrey         
,dearmer1 ,walter de la ,mare1 ,wilfrid 
,gibson1 ,laurence  ,housman1 ,margaret 
,sackville1 ,siegfried ,sassoon1 ,dora  
,sigerson1 and ,alec  ,waugh4           
,,novels    ,,an ,,imperfect ,,mother4  
,by ,j4 ,d4 ,,beresford4 ,collins4 #gs4 
#f;d4 net4    ,,eli ,,of ,,the ,,downs4 
,by ,c4 ,m4 ,a4 ,,peake4 ,heinemann4    
#gs4 net4    ,,the ,,banner4 ,by ,,hugh 
,f4 ,,spender4 ,collins4 #gs4 net4      
,,roast ,,beef1 ,,medium4 ,by ,,edna    
,,ferber4 ,methuen4 #fs4 net4    ,in ,an
 ,imperfect ,mother ,mr4 ,j4 ,d4        
,beresford has set himself the          
extraordinarily difficult and delicate  
task of describing a mother's           
unorthodoxy as seen by her grown-up     

children4 ,of ,mr4 ,beresford it  can   
generally be said that he is quite      
fearless of the troubles he  makes for  
himself4 ,yet in this particular        
instance some doubt might  be left in   
the reader's mind as to whether his     
designing of the book  was hurried or   
certain obvious issues deliberately     
shirked4 ,some  compromise may be       
arrived at between the two alternatives 
when we  consider the overwhelming      
evidence of this author's sincerity and 
his  inflexible allegiance to his art4  
,here the reader cannot fail to ask     
himself--what would ,i do--what could ,i
 say1 if my mother had run off  with    
someone8--well knowing that in an       
enormous preponderance of cases  such a 
question is comfortably absurd4 ,it is  
even indecent to put such  a question to
 yourself1 is it not8 ,it is the        
defilement of a sacred  place8 ,exactly4
 ,so is the book condemned at the very  
outset because its  theme is            
disagreeable or delicate or unusually   

unpleasant8 ,that  is where one's first 
doubts of ,mr4 ,beresford's complete    
fearlessness  are bred4 ,in his         
treatment of that disagreeable idea     
there is nothing  disagreeable4 ,you    
feel that there should be4 ,mr4         
,beresford has gilded  his pill with a  
sugar of a too vigorous refinement4 ,he 
has been at  pains too great to disguise
 the fact of its nastiness4    ,what did
 these children think and do8 ,the boy  
,stephen1 just leaving  school1 is the  
only one that counts for much1 though   
his two sisters1  sketchy as is their   
appearance in the story1 are excellently
  considered4 ,before the actual crash  
comes they whisper together about  their
 mother's goings on1 try to make their  
father speak of what  they believe      
should be uppermost in his mind1 and    
insist on a full  discussion with       
,stephen4 ,one of them was a school     
teacher1 the other  subsequently married
 an elderly chemist4 ,in a way they     
enjoy the  scandal2 you feel that some  

excitement has come into their dull     
lives1  with the piquancy of            
self-righteousness added to outraged    
innocence4  ,they want to make the most 
of it4 ,they are not genuinely ashamed4 
,emily turned the embarrassment of her  
steady gaze immovably upon her          
father4      ,i don't know what's come  
to mother lately1 she said4      ,mr4   
,kirkwood began to fidget with his      
sparse little beard4 ,she's a    little 
out of sorts1 perhaps1 he hazarded      
feebly4      ,well1 oughtn't we to do   
something1 father8 ,emily continued1    
still    pinning him with her stare4    
,oh6 ,what can you do8 put in ,stephen  
irritably4444      ,emily turned herself
 about and focused her attention upon   
her    brother4 ,if she's out of sorts  
she ought to see a doctor1 she said4    
,that wouldn't be any good1 ,stephen    
returned without hesitation4      ,well1
 but why wouldn't it8 ,emily inquired1  
with a meaning in her    tone that could
 not be mistaken4      ,no good asking  

me1 was ,stephen's evasion4      ,well1 
,i think it's time something was done1  
,emily said1 sharpening    the point of 
her now obvious intention4      ,i don't
 know what you mean1 ,emily1 little     
,kirkwood put in nervously4      ,emily 
knew1 they all three knew1 that their   
father's remark had    been intended as 
a reminder that any open discussion of a
 mother's    failings was impossible    
between father and children2 but ,emily 
had    made up her mind that the time   
had come when they must1 in her own     
phrase1 face the facts4      ,i don't   
think it's right for us to let things go
 on and not make    any effort to stop  
them1 she said in a low but determined  
voice4    ,i don't see the good of our  
going on pretending1 when we all know   
perfectly well what's happening4 ,do    
you1 ,hilda8      ,no1 ,i don't1 ,hilda 
emphatically agreed4    ,but with       
,stephen it is different4 ,he really    
cares very little about  appearances1   
though he dreads facing his             

schoolfellows4 ,he is wounded  because  
his mother prefers another man to his   
father and himself4 ,and  there is an   
occasion when he might have changed his 
mother's decision  had he known4 ,does  
he really want her1 does he need her8   
she asks  herself4 ,and just on that    
very day ,stephen had been smiled upon  
by  the little daughter of his          
headmaster4 ,she is fourteen1 he        
seventeen4  ,impossible dreams fill his 
mind4 ,he has said nothing to his       
mother1 but  she knows4 ,as though she  
had seen the whole of the little        
trifling play  enacted--for it was no   
more than one bright smile cast over a  
dainty  shoulder2 no word had been      
spoken--she knew that another interest  
had come1 since yesterday1 into the     
boy's life4 ,he doesn't need her  any   
more4 ,his protestations would have been
 passionate had they been  genuine4 ,she
 goes4    ,the view of the children     
towards the problem must depend entirely
 upon  their upbringing and the degree  

of sensitiveness in their relation to   
their mother4 ,in regard to ,cecilia    
,kirkwood's family1 ,mr4 ,beresford has 
expected a good deal of our faith in    
him4 ,they were born and bred in a      
small cathedral town1 their father was a
 bookseller1 their degree was  humble   
but respectable4 ,yet from beginning to 
end ,stephen can only find  it in his   
heart to think of his mother's flight as
 a callous desertion4  ,he appears to be
 completely oblivious of the moral      
involved and of  all that is implied by 
his mother's running away with the      
handsome  organist4 ,a closer scrutiny  
would have been horrible6 ,yes3 but     
would  not ,stephen have made it1 and1  
unpleasant or not1 should there not be  
in the story some indication that he did
 make it8    ,to speak of a handsome    
organist is1 in passing1 liable to      
misconstruction1 for ,dr4 ,threlfall was
 not only good-looking but clever  and  
accomplished in manner2 not only an     
organist1 for when he left  ,medboro' he

 gave up playing the organ for the      
composition of light  opera1 and became 
an emphatic success4 ,taking ,cecilia   
for granted1 we  can well imagine that  
she would run away with ,threlfall1 and 
would do  all the other things that ,mr4
 ,beresford makes her do1 and talk as   
she  does4 ,but it is hard for the      
reader to take her for granted1 just as 
it was hard for her neighbours in       
,medboro'4 ,cecilia's father was a      
philosophic tuner of pianos4 ,he had    
been against her marriage in the  first 
instance1 but he rather approves of her 
adultery 444 but it is  understood that 
the nature of piano-tuners is warped4   
,cecilia was an amazing wife for a      
country bookseller1 and she tries1  one 
sometimes thinks1 to be grande dame in  
conversation1 setting the  whole of the 
little provincial town by the ears with 
her outlandish  brilliance and daring1  
making it grovel at her feet because of 
her  beauty and amiability4    ,can a   
lady kiss her toe8    ,yes2 she         

might--she might do so--sang another    
novelist1 who indulged in  rhyme4 ,so it
 is with ,cecilia2 she might1 she might 
have done so1 but  ,mr4 ,beresford has  
failed to make it inevitable of her4    
,old ,kirkwood1 the father1 dies insane1
 and ,stephen1 adopted by a  rich       
builder who was sympathetic because his 
own wife was a little  difficult1 works 
hard and finally superintends the       
erection of a big  newspaper office in  
,london4 ,there he falls in with his    
mother once  more1 and with the         
schoolmaster's daughter who had smiled  
upon him  long ago4 ,the old tussle is  
re-enacted4 ,the mother is jealous of   
the  girl4 ,she sees her son blundering 
in his courtship1 and she only has to   
hold her tongue to keep him by her side1
 a devoted slave4 ,she is not  happy4   
,her organist-composer is jovial1 but   
unfaithful4 ,she longs for  the fealty  
of ,stephen4 ,at this point ,mr4        
,beresford introduces a little          
,freudian interest in the explanation of

 what was1 for all he says about  it1 a 
matter of secondary importance to       
,stephen--his disgust at his  mother's  
hysterical and untimely laughter1 and we
 feel that1 whilst he  was about it1 he 
might have examined ,cecilia's psyche a 
little more  thoroughly4 ,there were one
 or two dark places in her character and
  disposition upon which a more         
searching light might1 with some profit 
to the story1 have been thrown4 ,there  
is much enjoyable reading in ,an        
,imperfect ,mother1 but on the whole1   
coming from ,mr4 ,beresford1 it is a    
little disappointing4    ,in ,eli of the
 ,downs ,mr4 ,c4 ,m4 ,a4 ,peake         
introduces himself to the  public with a
 distinguished piece of work4 ,he has   
been content to  make his own variation 
of the archetype of great stories--the  
joys  and sorrows at home1 the          
adventures1 and1 finally1 the return of 
the  wanderer4 ,this is the story of    
,eli ,buckle1 as gleaned by the teller  
from ,eli himself1 and from his old     

friend and neighbour ,anne ,brown1 and  
it is the story of a perfectly simple   
and sincere man1 a shepherd1 who  is    
perfectly happy in the remote solitudes 
which his calling entails  upon him1    
with the wild flowers which arouse      
feelings his creator does  not try to   
make him express4 ,he is proud and happy
 when as a boy of  twenty-one he has    
saved five pounds4 ,these facts are     
simply stated1  and yet there is not the
 least hint of sentimentality or of     
bathos4 ,he  marries the girl of his    
heart1 and unexpectedly the knowledge   
comes  to him of what he has been in    
need4 ,oh1 ,mary1 my dear1 my dear6 he  
whispered4 ,you won't never know how    
lonely ,i've a-been4 ,a little  while   
goes by and he is lonely again1 for     
while he is out in the night  in the    
lambing season ,mary falls from a chair1
 and by the time ,eli gets  home she and
 the child that should have been born to
 them are dead4    ,after that1 in sheer
 desperation1 ,eli leaves his old home  

and goes away  to sea4 ,his is the old  
quest of a wounded man for the purpose  
which  lies behind all events4 ,once    
before1 when ,mary had told him that he 
could be a preacher if he had the       
ambition1 he had for a moment found  his
 voice4      444 ,i believe ,i could    
study fast enough1 and ,i know ,i could 
preach4    ,i could make them listen to 
me2 aye1 have 'em all gaping after me   
like a nest of young thrushes1 if ,i    
chose4 ,but ,i'd have to tell 'em       
what they wanted to hear1 an' dress it  
up the way they likes1 which    is what 
they mean by the ,gospel and the ,truth4
 ,but that ,i won't do1    for ,i'm not 
sure that their ,gospel is my ,gospel1  
or their ,truth any    ,truth at all for
 the matter o' that4 ,and about ,god1 my
 dear4 ,whether    ,he is1 or whether   
,he isn't1 what folks say1 ,i can't     
testify till ,i    know1 know of my own 
knowledge1 and not because ,i read it in
 a book    or someone told me4          
,occasionally the narrator of the story 

makes a little confidence to  the reader
 which1 apart from its humorous candour1
 serves a definitely  useful purpose4   
,now the scenes of ,eli's childhood were
 the scenes ,i lived among when    ,i   
too was a child1 and the land where he  
spent the years of his    middle age ,i 
knew and loved1 as youth and man1 but   
though ,i have    crossed many waters1  
,i am no sailor1 and ,i cannot see the  
ocean as a    mariner sees it4    ,in   
the course of his life as a sailor ,eli 
has many adventures1 which  are         
wonderfully told1 dramatic without one  
word of melodrama4 ,here  the author who
 can lovingly describe the wild flowers 
in the lost  corners of the ,downs      
excels again1 for in a few words he can 
truthfully  describe how a particular   
species of liar describes himself1 or   
how  nervousness passes into wild terror
 in the eyes of a ,san ,francisco  crimp
 who is discovered trying to drug his   
victims4 ,but well as ,mr4  ,peake      
describes the rascalities of the        

adventurous life1 he is more at  home   
with the kindlinesses of the countryside
 and the gentle wisdom of  ,cathay4     
,this is a novel1 uneven in quality to  
be sure1 but touching at  certain points
 real beauty4    ,mr4 ,hugh ,f4 ,spender
 in ,the ,banner describes a revolution 
in ,england1  organised by the ,league  
of ,youth1 backed by the ,people's      
,army1 and  inspired by ,helen ,hart1   
daughter of a millionaire1 who has a    
bias  against the landed gentry4 ,most  
elderly people in the book come in  for 
a good deal of facetiousness directed   
against their ponderously  old-fashioned
 views4 ,one young lordling1 deaf and   
dumb from shell  shock1 has his senses  
restored by the mere sight of the new   
,joan of  ,arc1 and falls in love with  
her4 ,she refuses him at first because  
she  is vowed to ,the ,cause4444 ,for a 
moment she resisted1 resisted almost    
fiercely1 and then she lay passively    
like a child in his arms4 ,mr4  ,spender
 has invented a young man who willingly 

throws up both title and  title-deeds at
 the call of the ,people and becomes    
plain ,citizen2 but it  is a pity that  
the author in creating another peer     
should have given  him an existing name4
 ,regarded either as fiction or as      
propaganda this  is a poor book4        
,roast ,beef1 ,medium is the curious    
title that ,miss ,edna ,ferber has      
given to the ,business ,adventures of   
,emma ,mc,chesney4 ,this ,american      
authoress1 who writes vivaciously in her
 own language1 gives bright and         
cheerful expression to her belief that  
people should be earnest and  good and  
that ,roast ,beef 7not too underdone is 
conveyed by medium7  should as a staple 
diet take precedence of flaked crab meat
 with  ,russian sauce4 ,these business  
adventures are certainly not caviare4   
,emma ,mc,chesney is a bagwoman1        
representing ,t4 ,a4 ,buck's            
,featherloom  ,petticoats4 ,rivals make 
love to her and try to get the better of
 her  alternately1 and she has a young  

cub of a son to support4 ,very sick of  
hotel life1 she longs for a house of her
 own--especially a kitchen4  ,in the    
last chapter she gets them4 ,the book is
 full of homely advice4  ,emma was fresh
 and wholesome in appearance1 though not
 so young as the  picture on the wrapper
 deceitfully indicates4 ,but she was a  
good sort  and refused to ,marry ,t4 ,a4
 ,buck himself because she didn't love  
him4  ,she was1 in fact1 a worth-while  
woman4      ,,belles-,,lettres ,,and    
,,criticism    ,,an ,,interpretation    
,,of ,,keats',s ,,endymion4 ,by ,h4     
,,clement ,,notcutt4 ,printed  for the  
,author by the ,s4,a4 ,printing ,co41   
,capetown4    ,mr4 ,notcutt1 who is     
professor of ,english in the ,university
 of  ,stellenbosch1 believes that       
,endymion enshrines an allegory1 or  at 
least that it contains1 in a clear      
unbroken stream beneath the  surface1 a 
meaning that corresponds with the ideas 
that filled the  poet's mind4 ,the      
alternative can hardly be impugned2 it  

is as true  of ,keats as of most poets1 
and in the interpretation of ,professor 
,notcutt it appears to mean little more 
than that there is a general  reflection
 of the ardour of the poet's mind and   
his desire of beauty  and beauty's      
immortality4 ,if it is a question of    
allegorising to a  greater extent than  
that vague generality1 then ,keats is   
surely the  last poet who can be taxed  
with it4 ,professor ,notcutt recognises 
some  of the objections and says that   
the reason why ,keats did not explain   
his allegory was that he was            
dissatisfied with the poem and          
discouraged  by its reception2 but that 
does not explain why1 in the intimacy of
 his  letters 7many of which allude to  
,endymion7 he did not give a hint to    
anybody that there was an allegory to   
explain4 ,the letters1 indeed1  with    
which ,professor ,notcutt shows an      
excellent familiarity1 speak  freely of 
imagination and invention1 in reference 
to ,endymion1 but  of recondite         

suggestions and esoteric gospelling     
there is nothing4 ,nor  can we regret   
this4 ,a heavenly meaning attached to   
the earthly story  would not have made  
,endymion a better but a worse poem4 ,it
 is one of  the most beautiful1 if one  
of the most faulty1 poems in the        
language4  ,it was ,keats's privilege to
 see and create beauty and present it as
 a  finer reality in the midst of the   
crude and half-unreal realities of      
common life4 ,had he lived he might have
 enlarged even this office in           
fulfilling it1 but it is sufficient that
 ,endymion shows that he could  fulfil  
it4      ,,cervantes4 ,,by ,,rudolph    
,,schevill4 ,murray4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    
,,tolstoy4 ,by ,g4 ,,rapall ,,noyes4    
,murray4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,for most of
 us ,cervantes is ,don ,quixote3 even if
 we are familiar with  ,the ,exemplary  
,novels and the ,journey to ,parnassus1 
we do not get  from them any idea of    
personality which infringes on the      
overwhelming  effect produced by the    

,knight of ,la ,mancha4 ,even ,mr4      
,schevill1 who is  a ,professor of      
,spanish ,literature in the ,university 
of ,california1 in  his effort to give  
us an idea of ,cervantes only succeeds  
in producing  an idealised portrait of  
,don ,quixote4 ,how odd this is can be  
realised  if we try to think of other   
imaginative authors in the terms of     
their  characters4 ,if we are tempted to
 think of ,shakespeare as ,hamlet1  we  
immediately correct ourselves by        
recollections of ,falstaff1 of          
,prospero1 of ,coriolanus1 or ,juliet4  
,no one1 however much he may be         
persuaded that the ,papers of the ,club 
are the author's best book1  begins to  
compare ,dickens with ,pickwick2 nor1 to
 take an author nearer  ,cervantes in   
time1 has one any inclination to        
identify ,rabelais with  ,pantagruel4   
,two explanations of this odd fact about
 ,cervantes are possible3 one  is that  
he had exhausted his capacity for       
creative1 imaginative work  in the      

writing of ,don ,quixote--but this view 
cannot be upheld by  anyone who loves   
the ,exemplary ,novels4 ,the other is   
the simple one  that ,cervantes was ,don
 ,quixote4 ,it is a commonplace of      
psychology1  especially of ,catholic    
psychology1 that men of fine temperament
 will  always be severer on faults which
 are their own4 ,cervantes found in     
himself the exaggerated chivalry which  
he starts to mock1 but still  loves in  
,don ,quixote4 ,he had the ,crusader's  
heart1 but he lived in a  time          
when--pace ,mr4 ,chesterton--the        
,crusading spirit was dead1 or  knew the
 uglier ends4 ,so in his immortal story 
,cervantes presents the  last knight    
with tonic humour and loving laughter4  
,ultimately nothing  can make anyone    
ridiculous but success and prosperity2  
and from these  ,cervantes preserves his
 hero4 ,mr4 ,schevill's book is not very
 lively  reading4 ,he gives us the facts
 of ,cervantes' life1 and his treatment 
of ,cervantes' art in comparison with   

other ,spanish popular works of  the    
period has no like value for ,english   
readers4 ,at one time ,spanish          
literature was well known in ,england1  
but to-day we have no doubt that  ,mr4  
,schevill's detailed accounts of ,la    
,lazarillo and ,la ,celestino  are      
necessary4    ,tolstoy himself might    
have been imagined by ,cervantes4 ,that 
is the  thought that occurs in reading  
,mr4 ,noyes's book directly after ,mr4  
,schevill's4 ,apart from that1 no two   
great artists could be more  dissimilar4
 ,tolstoy is always uneasy4 ,it is his  
uneasiness which  caused his quarrel    
with ,turgenev4 ,it is his uneasiness   
which makes  it impossible for him to   
remain steadfast to his own convictions4
  ,for years there was a false idea of  
,tolstoy1 which is only gradually       
yielding to the facts4 ,he was neither  
saint nor prophet2 but an  ordinary man 
with a capacity for self-analysis       
enormously magnified--so  magnified that
 he seems a giant4 ,it is this huge     

quality which  makes so many critics1 as
 ,mr4 ,noyes1 class him far beyond      
,turgenev  and ,dostoevsky1 and put him 
in a position which he is willing to    
occupy in the future4 ,of direct        
personal criticism ,mr4 ,noyes gives  us
 little4 ,he is overcome by the amount  
of his material1 and is too  fond of    
approaching his subject through the     
books of other critics4  ,for instance1 
he quotes ,mereshkovsky's comment on the
 end of ,war and  ,peace1 as if it was a
 locus classicus on ,natasha's          
psychology1  instead of a piece of      
ill-natured criticism on a great artist 
by a  showman4 ,the end of ,war and     
,peace1 which shows us ,natasha absorbed
  in ,cervantes' life1 is the same      
criticism on wars1 grandeurs1 and       
world-spooks as is made by ,hardy's poem
 on ,the ,breaking of ,nations2  and    
neither has any cynicism in it4 ,mr4    
,noyes's picture of ,tolstoy  the man   
adds nothing to ,aylmer ,maude's        
exhaustive volumes2 and he  values too  

seriously and literally a great deal of 
,tolstoy's detailed  religious writing4 
,his book is1 however1 worth having1    
even if only for  the superb lines      
written by ,tolstoy to some abject      
person who objected  to ,resurrection as
 smutty4 ,we will not give his name1 but
 he was1  alas6 ,english4 ,tolstoy1     
writing in ,english1 defends himself and
 then  says3      ,when ,i wrote the    
book ,i abhorred with all my heart the  
lust1 and to    express this abhorrence 
was one of the chief aims of the book4  
,if ,i    have failed in it ,i am very  
sorry1 and ,i am pleading guilty if ,i  
was    so inconsiderate in the scene of 
which you write that ,i could have      
produced such a bad impression on your  
mind4 ,i think that we will    be judged
 by our consciences and by ,god1 not for
 the results of our    ideas1 which we  
cannot know1 but for our intentions1 and
 ,i hope my    intentions were not bad4 
,did ever great artist humble himself so
 generously8 ,his attacker1 with  his   

unpleasant mind1 will be numbered with  
the excellent ,mr4 ,hyde1 who  inspired 
,stevenson to his defence of ,damien4   
,,books ,,in ,,the ,,war4 ,by ,,theodore
 ,,wesley ,,koch4 ,boston3 ,houghton    
,mifflin  ,company4    ,,village        
,,libraries4 ,by ,a4 ,,sayle4 ,richards4
 #es4    ,mr4 ,koch's amply illustrated 
book is1 in the main1 a record of the   
achievements in the war of the ,american
 ,library ,association4 ,as such  it is 
exhaustive1 if rather wanting in        
variety4 ,the soldiers' demand  for     
books1 after all1 and gratitude for     
their bestowal1 were much  the same in  
,america as in ,france1 in the trenches 
as in hospitals1  so that by the time he
 has finished this book the reader is   
somewhat  wearied by the repetition of  
feats of distribution1 surveys of the   
vast literary field covered1 instances  
of literary recalcitrance  overcome by  
deft suggestion and so forth4           
,nevertheless1 it is a book  of         
considerable interest and will bear     

permanent witness to the fact  that1 in 
all future wars1 libraries will have to 
be mobilised with  the armies4 ,over and
 over again the fact1 which we have all 
learned1  is insisted on that food for  
the mind is one of the most important   
sustainers of moral4 ,not only is       
reading an anodyne1 but it is a         
disinfectant and a prophylactic1 as     
necessary in war as chloroform1  lysol1 
and anti-typhoid vaccine4 ,in all that  
vast organisation of  intense           
welfare--work which1 spasmodic and      
fragmentary in peace1 was by  a supreme 
irony perfected in war--the supplying of
 books to soldiers  and sailors held a  
high place4 ,every taste had to be      
catered for1 every  degree of education 
given its appropriate food4 ,to some the
 ,army was  an elementary school1 to    
others it almost fulfilled the functions
 of a  university1 especially after the 
,armistice1 when ambitious educational  
schemes were set on foot to calm idle   
and chafing warriors1 and when  our own 

,war ,office deluged ,france and        
,germany with piles of lofty            
literature1 very little of which1 we    
believe1 was read4    ,the belligerent  
nations learned at last that it was just
 as worth while  to tempt a soldier to  
read as to teach him to shoot4 ,the     
question  now remains what fruit this   
discovery is going to bear in peace1    
where the problem1 apparently simpler1  
is really harder4 ,soldiers at  war had 
not the opportunity of using their      
leisure as they wished2  they were      
circumscribed in place and opportunity4 
,the free citizen  is less fettered1    
and1 being more scattered1 is less      
amenable to  propaganda4 ,yet for       
citizens at peace1 no less than for     
soldiers at  war1 propaganda1 tactful   
and patient1 is necessary if they are to
 be  induced to apply the medicine of   
reading to their minds4 ,from a quite   
different point of view this truth is   
made clear by ,miss ,sayle's  little    
book1 which is a development of an      

attractive article in the  ,new         
,statesman describing the beginning and 
development of a library  in a small    
,hampshire village4 ,it is a book which 
all who have similar  ambitions for     
their villages should read1 for it will 
save them many  natural and fatal       
errors1 besides telling them all they   
need know about  organisation1 finance1 
book-buying and book-housing1 in plain  
words  with plenty of humour4    ,miss  
,sayle very strongly insists on it that 
a village library must  be simply and   
solely a circulating library1 stocking  
the books which  its members want to    
read and no others4 ,more ambitious     
efforts may  be made wherever the       
,public ,libraries ,act is applied1 but 
a village  library will almost always be
 supported by voluntary subscriptions1  
and can only afford books which pay     
their way4 ,she shows how much          
propaganda is needed to start even such 
a library and to keep it  going--a      
library from which practically every    

book that was not  agreeable fiction had
 to be ruthlessly weeded4 ,in twelve    
years the one  visible sign of progress 
has been the tendency of ,mrs4 ,alfred  
,sidgwick  to replace ,mrs4 ,henry ,wood
 as the favourite4 ,yet she holds that  
it has  been worth while1 and we agree4 
,a small agricultural community has     
been induced to own1 manage1 and take a 
pride in a library1 and even  the fact  
that father went less often to the      
',anchor' as the result  is a solid     
testimony to its value4 ,if life of     
villages in the future  regains its old 
vigour without becoming entirely urban  
in character1  enterprises of this kind 
will be a duty incumbent on their more  
enlightened members4 ,and they will only
 be successful if ,miss ,sayle's  maxims
 are followed4 ,her dont's are          
admirable1 and the biggest one of  all  
is don't get slack4 ,she might have     
added the lesson of ,mr4 ,koch's  book  
and of the whole war3 don't forget that 
any reading is better  than a vacant    

mind4      ,,from ,,friend ,,to         
,,friend4 ,by ,,lady ,,ritchie4 ,murray4
 #fs4 net4    ,perhaps the most         
distinguishing of the pleasant          
,victorian  characteristics was the     
combination of dignity with charm1 and  
few of  the artists of the period had   
that combination to a greater degree    
than  ,thackeray's daughter4 ,this last 
volume of hers is entirely civilised    
and urbane in its appeal1 and yet has1  
with its urbanity1 a warmth of          
affection and a genuine love for and    
interest in others which are often      
lacking in the better1 more             
highly-coloured works of contemporary   
art4  ,it is a book of memories1 and    
what ,lady ,ritchie remembers is not    
mere  gossip1 not what can be had by    
observation1 but the deeper things of   
friendly intercourse1 and the light     
thrown on character by circumstance  and
 intimacy4 ,the title-essay is mainly   
concerned with that remarkable  woman1  
,julia ,margaret ,cameron1 who was the  

friend of all the great  men of her day1
 and the first woman to attempt artistic
 portraiture  in photography4 ,in       
telling of her ,lady ,ritchie cannot    
avoid a certain  kindly humour2 but the 
,victorians' laughter was not cruel1 and
 though  ,mrs4 ,cameron must have been  
at times rather a burden1 one can feel  
sure  no one of her friends let her     
guess it4 ,certainly worse fates might  
overcome one than to be nursed by her4  
,mr4 ,cameron was ill and his wife  gave
 him home care and comforts4 ,during the
 crisis he had strong  beef-tea         
thickened with arrowroot six times a    
day1 and when he was  convalescent1     
,the patient has poached eggs at night1 
gets up at eleven1 has his    dinner    
7gravy soup and curry7 at one1          
mulligatawny soup and meat at    five1 a
 free allowance of port wine1 averaging 
a bottle a day4 ,ten    drops of        
,jereme's opiate every morning1 a dose  
of creosote zinc and    gum arabic      
before his meals1 and a dose of quinine 

after each meal4    ,there are essays on
 ,mrs4 ,sartoris and ,mrs4 ,kemble1 a   
brief  note on a ,roman ,christmas1 when
 she saw ,lockhart driving with         
,frederic ,leighton1 a few slighter     
pieces1 and then1 last of all1 a        
tale--,binnie--belonging to the ,mrs4   
,williamson series4 ,not many  people1  
one supposes1 now read ,old ,kensington 
or ,miss ,thackeray's  other novels1 but
 there should be something of a demand  
for them by  those who first meet her   
lucid1 gentle narrative talent in the   
story of  ,binnie4      ,,one ,,hundred 
,,pictures ,,from ,,eden ,,phillpotts4  
,selected by ,l4 ,h4 ,,brewitt4         
,methuen4 #fs4 net4    ,the snare of    
descriptive writing in novels is as the 
snare of  decorative passages in an     
imaginative painting2 the descriptions  
may  fail to combine1 remain detached   
from the meaning and purpose of the     
novel1 and finally the novelist may be  
tempted by his skill in such  writing to
 indulge in it at the expense of his    

proper task4 ,french  novels1 the worst 
of which have as a rule a composition   
too often  absent from ours1 rarely     
abound in purple passages--certainly    
with no  ,french novelist of equal      
standing could an admirer do what ,mr4  
,brewitt  has done with ,mr4            
,phillpotts4 ,here are a hundred of ,mr4
 ,phillpotts's  best decorations1 full  
of observation1 sensitive at times to   
another  beauty than the merely         
observed1 but rarely fused by that      
imaginative  ardour which makes some of 
,mr4 ,hardy's and ,mr4 ,conrad's        
descriptive  passages an essential part 
of the novel4 ,sometimes1 especially in 
his  description of violence1 ,mr4      
,phillpotts's meaning is obscure3 for   
instance1 in the account of the ,flood  
from one book you have a simile  which  
is of no assistance to the              
picture--,yelling1 like some incarnate  
and insane manifestation of the elements
 massed in one1 the hurricane  launched 
itself upon the valley4 ,he is more     

successful as a rule when  he catches   
nature in softer moods1 quick with      
spring or flushed with  summer3 there is
 a genuine charm of fancy1 if no        
imaginative depth1 in  this pastel of a 
sleeping forest3      ,the trees indeed 
sleep1 but they also dream4 ,in the     
heart of every    leafless oak a dryad  
whispers that the days are fleeting2    
that the    icy-footed winter hours are 
drawing into the snow-wreaths away in   
their chill processions2 that the       
fountain of the sap will soon rise      
again to spring's unsealing2 that       
swiftly will the bud-sheath swell    and
 pale and shimmer silkily down1 like a  
cast-off veil at the feet    of the     
vernal beeches4    ,mr4 ,phillpotts     
rarely drops into that snare of the     
writer of  picturesque prose1 the rhythm
 of blank verse2 but his style is not   
always equal to the demands he makes    
upon it4 ,it never has the sombre1      
heavy-hearted gravity of ,hardy's1 nor  
the gloomy colour and triumphant        

ecstasy of ,ruskin's4 ,this is indeed a 
photograph album rather than a  book of 
pictures4      ,,history ,,and          
,,biography    ,,the ,,story ,,of       
,,purton4 ,a ,collection of ,notes and  
,hearsay gathered by  ,,ethel ,m4       
,,richardson4 ,bristol3 ,arrowsmith4    
#aiai4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4    ,mrs4         
,richardson1 something of a new-comer to
 ,purton1 as it would  appear1 makes no 
pretensions to original research1 and   
has contented  herself so far with      
giving rather a guide to ,purton than a 
history of  the village1 a pleasant1    
ample1 and leisurely place in ,north    
,wilts1  with a fine church and an      
unusually fine stone-built manor house  
to  its name4 ,her explanatory          
sub-title1 ,notes and ,hearsay1 prevents
 the  expectation of anything           
exhaustive4 ,the notes1 though excellent
 as far  as they go1 might have been    
considerably extended with advantage to 
the  book2 and as to the hearsay1 it    
must be owned that1 so far1 she has not 

heard of much--nothing1 we will engage1 
to what she will hear if she  lives in  
,purton long enough to be accepted by   
the natives4 ,there is  abundant        
material in every old village in        
,england for a good and useful          
contribution to history1 and1 if ,mrs4  
,richardson looks forward 7as it  is to 
be hoped she may7 to a new edition of   
her little book1 we would  recommend to 
her notice ,kingham ,old and ,new1 by   
,w4 ,warde ,fowler1  which was published
 by ,mr4 ,blackwell1 of ,oxford1 in     
#aiac1 and is a  model for any such     
work4 ,another which might help her is  
,how to ,write  the ,history of a       
,parish1 by the ,reverend ,john ,charles
 ,cox1 of which a  fifth edition was    
published in #aiji4 ,her first care     
should be to get  hold of the ,enclosure
 ,award and ,tithe ,commutation ,map1   
which ought to  be in the vestry4 ,one  
will give her the names of the ,common  
,fields2  the other1 compared with the  
large-scale ,ordnance map and helped by 

local knowledge1 should enable her to   
find them all4 ,then1 with the  ,parish 
,registers and1 with luck1 some ,court  
,rolls1 she should be able  to get well 
back in the centuries1 and might then   
make arrangements for  a prolonged stay 
in ,london and daily attendance at the  
,public ,record  ,office4 ,what she     
might find there1 or fail to find1      
there's no telling4  ,if she were       
fortunate she would light upon some     
great old ,chancery or  ,exchequer      
suit--better than the one in the        
,star-chamber1 good as that  is1 which  
concerns the adventures of the image of 
,saint ,george1 and  is one of her      
happiest discoveries--in which the      
pleadings would be  written in pure     
,shakesperean prose1 and the depositions
 of witnesses  record very often the    
ipsissima verba of the peasantry of its 
time4  ,behind all that--since ,purton  
belonged to ,malmesbury ,abbey--she     
would  find very much more than she has 
found so far concerning the economy1    

temporal and spiritual1 of her parish   
and manor4 ,she should undoubtedly  find
 ,subsidy ,rolls which would record the 
names and status of the  villagers back 
to the day of the ,poll ,tax4 ,some of  
the early ,court  ,rolls may be there1  
and possibly also a ,survey or ,extent1 
which would  give her the services and  
boon-works due from the bondsmen to     
their  lords4 ,there is no limit to be  
set to what diligence1 and help from    
,mrs4 ,story-,maskelyne 7whose chapter  
on ,braden ,forest and the parish       
boundaries is the best in the book71 may
 recover from the ,mausoleum in  ,fetter
 ,lane4 ,to that adventure we heartily  
commend ,mrs4 ,richardson1  that of a   
good book she may make a better4        
,,the ,,manners ,,of ,,my ,,time4 ,by   
,c4 ,l4 ,,hawkins ,,dempster4 ,richards4
 #aibj4  #ajs4 #f;d4    ,miss ,dempster1
 who died in #aiac1 was authoress in her
 day of certain  novels1 of which one1  
called ,vera1 was translated into       
,russian1 and  another1 ,blue ,roses1   

was to be found on every bookstall in   
,america4  ,it met1 she tells us here1  
with the favour of the late ,duke of    
,albany4  ,ah1 said his ,royal          
,highness1 that is a wonderful book6    
,but why  did you make it so sad8       
,please to make your next one end well4 
,the  next one will be all right1 sir4  
,it is a ,scotch story1 and it does end 
well4 ,that was at ,cannes1 where ,miss 
,dempster lived and moved in  a society 
of exiled kings1 ,russian grand dukes1  
princes1 statesmen1  high ladies and    
clergymen4 ,the manners of such folk are
 without doubt  as worthy of record as  
those of any other people whomsoever2   
but  ,miss ,dempster1 in the letters to 
an unnamed uncle1 of which her book     
chiefly consists1 contents herself for  
the most part with recording  their     
names1 entrances and exits upon the     
scene of the ,riviera4 ,we are          
irresistibly reminded of ,captain ,sumph
 in ,pendennis4    ,i remember poor     
,byron1 ,hobhouse1 ,trelawny1 and myself

 dining with  ,cardinal ,mezzocado at   
,rome1 ,captain ,sumph began1 and we had
 some  ,orvieto wine for dinner1 which  
,byron liked very much4 ,and ,i remember
  how the ,cardinal regretted that he   
was a single man4 ,we went to           
,aix-la-,vecchia two days afterwards1   
where ,byron's yacht was--and1 by       
,jove1 the ,cardinal died within three  
weeks2 and ,byron was very sorry1  for  
he rather liked him4    ,incidentally1  
one may call attention to the           
letterpress4 ,on page #adh a  lady is   
referred to in a note as a grandchild of
 ,mr4 ,nassau1 senior1  now married to  
,mr4 ,st4 ,loe ,strachey4 ,it is not1 we
 believe1 even true  of that particular 
grandchild of ,nassau senior's4 ,we read
 of the great  coups de logis of a      
castle in ,normandy1 of the causus belli
 of  the ,franco-,prussian ,war4 ,on    
page #bac we have an epitaph which is   
worth  preservation3           ,,lic    
,,jacit      ,,casparus ,,ha,,ser       
,,nigma       ,,pi ,,lemporis           

,,ignoto ,,nativitas        ,,occulta   
,,mors           #ahhc4    ,sic1 or lic1
 at any rate jacit1 or lies1 the record 
of the  unfortunate ,caspar in this     
work4      ,,the ,,british ,,academy3   
,,seals ,,and ,,documents4 ,by          
,,reginald ,l4 ,,poole4 ,oxford         
,university ,press1 #bs4 #f;d4 net4     
,recently an important transaction was  
nearly stopped because one of the       
parties saw on an official document what
 he took to be the initials  of a       
particular person4 ,the letters were1   
however1 only an indication  where the  
seal should be affixed4 ,dr4 ,poole's   
,seals and ,documents1  an offprint from
 the ,transactions of the ,british      
,academy1 deals  with earlier days1 and 
may induce similar ignorance4 ,it is but
 twenty  odd pages long1 but full of    
matter which the judicious reader will  
value as from a master of diplomatic4   
,it summarises much learning1 and       
suggests1 by the way1 several inquiries1
 e4g41 as to the displacement  of       

papyrus by parchment2 the period at     
which a seal to close a secret          
letter--like our modern                 
sealing-wax--went out of fashion2 and   
the  use of the diminutive sigillum     
instead of the classical signum  for    
seal4 ,dr4 ,poole shows how easy it was 
for a seal to be lost1 and  mentions    
that a unique document in the ,bodleian 
has been irreparably  mutilated under   
the direction of the late ,librarian4   
,when parchment  was used1 thin pieces  
of the actual material could be stripped
 from it  to tie it up with a seal      
affixed4 ,it is odd that this simple    
practice  has not been carried further  
back4 ,much of interest is given        
concerning  the ,papal bull1 a bulla of 
lead used in warm countries where wax   
would not retain its distinctness4      
,bulls employed by the universal  ,papa 
remind us of the classical bulla worn by
 boys4 ,the most  ancient in existence  
is that of ,pope ,deusdedit 7#fae-h74   
,in ,england the  bull is earlier than  

the wax seal1 but the double-pendent    
seal which  led to the ,great ,seal is  
an ,english invention4 ,the whole       
subject is  confused by the existence of
 forgeries1 which need erudition like   
,dr4  ,poole's to dismiss4      ,,the   
,,stones ,,and ,,story ,,of ,,jesus     
,,chapel1 ,,cambridge4 ,traced and told 
by  ,,iris and ,,gerda ,,morgan4        
,cambridge3 ,bowes  ,bowes1 #bas4 net4  
,jesus ,college1 ,cambridge1 has a      
unique beginning1 as it grew out of  a  
,benedictine ,nunnery1 and ,bishop      
,alcock1 of ,ely1 its founder1 when  he 
did away with the discredited           
sisterhood1 adapted their ruined        
buildings instead of destroying them4   
,the college was erected to the  honour 
of the ,blessed ,virgin1 ,st4 ,john1 and
 ,st4 ,radegund1 but ,alcock  added the 
new title which it still bears4 ,the    
names of ,prioresses  are preserved from
 ,letitia1 circa #abac1 to ,joan        
,fulbourne1 #adic4  ,though we do not   
know precisely when the nuns began1     

there is an  unusual amount of records  
left concerning them which tend to show 
that  they were distinguished in family 
rather than learning1 and given to      
hospitality as well as good works4 ,they
 owed their butcher #ba at a  time when 
a sheep cost a shilling4 ,let us hope   
that the good man's  daughters learnt   
something as boarders in the ,st4       
,radegund ,guest  ,house4 ,what can be  
gathered concerning early days is told  
pleasantly4  ,it may seem odd that a    
nunnery should exist in ,cambridge1     
quite near  the site of the famous      
,sturbridge ,fair2 but the ladies       
started before  the colleges began1 and 
they were some way off the nucleus of   
academic  buildings4 ,the excellent     
sketches are a great addition to the    
book4  ,the beautiful piscina figured on
 page #bhf has long been familiar to    
lovers of ,cambridge architecture1 but  
new discoveries have been made  since   
,le ,keux published his ,memorials in   
#ahde4 ,jesus has been lucky  in its    

antiquaries and historians1 also in     
escaping the full fervour  of that      
debased ,gothic which flourished in the 
nineteenth century4  ,the discovery of  
the ,chapter ,arches by the ,rev4       
,osmond ,fisher in #ahic  is quite a    
romance4 ,he was able to supplement many
 years earlier the  indolence of a      
,master and save the ,tower from        
falling4    ,the notes1 other than      
architectural1 chronicle the varying    
fortunes  of the foundation1 with       
details of the plague1 plays in ,english
 and  ,latin1 militant and destructive  
commissioners1 and worthies like ,tobias
  ,rustat1 ,yeoman of the ,robes to     
,charles ,,ii4 ,cranmer's is the first  
name  in the college lists1 and it has  
always been distinguished in theology1  
though for most people its main modern  
reputation is for athletics4  ,this side
 of the college is1 however1 not touched
 by the authors1 who  deal with reverend
 signiors and men famous in literature4 
,the college can boast of ,sterne1 whose

 grandfather was one of its  masters2   
but nothing is known of his academic    
behaviour4 ,this is just  as well1 since
 his associate ,hall-,stevenson can     
hardly have been a  model young man4    
,coleridge1 the only poet1 we think1 who
 ever won an  academic prize for a      
,greek ,ode1 was decidedly eccentric1   
and had a  reputation for saying good   
things1 as we learn from the lively     
pages of  ,gunning4 ,he was treated with
 great leniency by the dons of ,jesus1  
and  left through his own perversity4   
,his poetry at this time is negligible1 
and his lines to a young ,jackass on    
,jesus ,piece1 whom he wished to  take  
with him1                               
in the ,dell        ,of ,peace and mild 
,equality to dwell1    reveal the coming
 exponent of ,pantisocracy4 ,we do not  
think that his  rowdiness at the trial  
of ,frend in the ,senate ,house is to   
his credit1  in spite of his            
explanations4    ,the work of both      
writer and artist shows a genuine       

enthusiasm for the  college and its     
memories4 ,both illustrations and print 
gain by the  ample page2 but a book     
weighing well over two-and-a-half pounds
 will  hardly do as a handbook4         
,,comrades ,,in ,,captivity4 ,by ,f4 ,w4
 ,,harvey4 ,sidgwick  ,jackson4 #ajs4   
#f;d4 net4    ,mr4 ,harvey's book       
strikes one immediately as amazingly    
truthful4 ,he not  only gives one facts 
about his prison life in ,germany1 he   
avoids giving  too many facts4          
,deliberately he refuses to be          
preoccupied with the mere  horrors1 or  
the beastliness of some of his captors1 
or the nervous  strain on the prisoners4
 ,and this surely is artistically right1
 if one  is to get a picture of what    
prison life meant to the average normal 
prisoner4 ,the men who wished to retain 
sanity had to keep out of their  minds1 
so far as they could1 the things which  
,mr4 ,harvey leaves out of  his book4   
,they endeavoured by work1 by lectures1 
by concerts1 by games1  by theatrical   

performances to recall continuously to  
themselves that  normal life still      
prescribed in spite of their untoward   
fate4 ,and nobly  most of them          
succeeded4 ,perhaps some of their       
efforts were a little  uncalled-for4    
,for instance1 ,mr4 ,harvey tells us    
that on their first  arrival at         
,guterslob new prisoners were treated   
quite formally by their                 
fellow-countrymen3      ,new arrivals   
were not ignored by the ,british4 ,there
 was a system    whereby they even fed  
7,german food being totally inadequate7 
until    their own parcels began to     
arrive4 ,clothes1 too1 were served out  
to    those who seemed in need4 ,and    
there were invitations to tea with      
senior officers and officials4 ,such    
preliminaries accomplished1    however1 
one was dropped like a hot coal--for a  
time1 that is1 until    one had proved  
oneself4    ,and he also states that    
when at ,crefeld all prisoners other    
than  ,british were turned out4 ,we     

thought it damnable4 ,the truth is our  
,allies had been1 far more than we      
realised1 an interest and diversion  in 
captivity4 ,certainly it must have      
seemed odd to be made welcome  by       
,russians and ,french rather than by    
one's fellow-countrymen1 and  we think  
it is due not1 as ,mr4 ,harvey1 to the  
national tradition1  but to the public  
school and university tradition of the  
new boy  and the freshman4 ,mr4 ,harvey 
enlivens his book with specimen         
lectures--including an excellent one of 
his own on ,shaw--poems and  anecdotes2 
and there are amusingly rough sketches  
by ,mr4 ,c4 ,g4 ,b4  ,bernard4          
,,william ,,smith1 ,,potter ,,and       
,,farmer1 #agij-aheh4 ,by ,,george      
,,bourne4 ,chatto4  #aibj4 #fs4 net4    
,mr4 ,bourne has written a beautiful and
 sensitive little book about his        
grandfather1 and his own memories of his
 grandfather's village4 ,it has  in it  
that deep and still appreciation of     
,english country and of the  ways of    

,english peasants1 which is so common to
 all who know and love  them1 and so    
very rarely expressed4 ,it has the      
quality of ,jefferies  at his best1 and 
of ,mr4 ,hudson too4 ,the scenes which  
he evokes--the  broad green spaces1 the 
silence1 the interminable round of      
tasks1 the  handling of the earth and   
its store--will never come again in the 
places of which he tells us4            
,farnborough1 ,frimley1 ,camberley1     
,yateley  are suburbs of ,london1       
over-run by the spawn of ,aldershot and 
the  railway4 ,nowadays one must go     
further afield to realise the presence  
of  ,saint ,use2 and a term seems to be 
set even there4 ,it is not that1 in  the
 ,roman poet's phrase1 ,nos patri fines 
et dulcia linquimus arva3  rather that  
those fair fields are flying further    
from us--as well they  may1 seeing what 
we make of them4 ,such a book as ,mr4   
,bourne's will be  treasured hereafter  
for the sake of the quiet beauty and    
homely virtues  which it records1 but   

very much also for the tenderness and   
fidelity  with which it does its work4  
,,politics ,,and ,,economics    ,,coal  
,,mining ,,and ,,the ,,coal ,,miner4 ,by
 ,h4 ,f4 ,,bulman1 ,m4,i4,min4,e41      
,assoc4 ,m4  ,inst4 ,c4,e41 ,f4,g4,s4   
,methuen4 #aes4    ,,nationalisation    
,,of ,,the ,,mines4 ,by ,,frank         
,,hodges1 ,secretary of the ,miners'    
,federation of ,great ,britain4 ,with   
,foreword by the ,right ,hon4 ,j4 ,r4   
,,clynes1 ,m4,p4 ,leonard ,parsons4 #ds4
 #f;d4    ,mr4 ,bulman is a mining      
engineer who has been a colliery manager
 and  a director of colliery companies1 
and he has a wide knowledge of the      
subject4 ,he has much of interest and   
value to say about the getting  of coal1
 the technical processes and the        
machinery1 the work of the  miners and  
their dangers4 ,but he does not confine 
himself to these  matters2 he deals with
 many of the controversial questions    
that  are exercising the public mind at 
the moment4 ,his book was written       

unfortunately--or fortunately--before   
the ,coal ,commission1 as he  puts it1  
commenced its novel proceedings1 and his
 allusions to the  evidence it took and 
the reports it issued are confined to a 
note or  two here and there4 ,there is  
no doubt1 however1 which side he is on4 
,though sympathetic enough to the       
miners1 he has plenty of hard words  to 
say of their ,trade ,unions4 ,he        
deplores the prevalence of ca'canny1  of
 absenteeism1 of the aggressive spirit  
shown towards the employers4  ,over     
,government interference he waxes very  
bitter2 many of the rules  and          
regulations imposed on the management   
for the safety of the miners  rouse his 
ire1 whilst the ,minimum ,wage ,act he  
regards as utterly  mischievous1 since  
it encourages the indolence which is so 
prominent  a characteristic of human    
nature4 ,the longest chapter in the book
  discusses in considerable detail--and 
with many attractive plans and          
pictures--the housing of the miners4    

,mr4 ,bulman thinks that it is very     
unfair to throw the blame for bad       
housing conditions on the colliery      
owners1 who1 he says1 have done more    
than most employers to provide  houses  
for those they employ4 ,but many1 we    
think1 who have read the  evidence given
 to the ,royal ,commission1 whatever may
 be their views on  the proper method of
 running the coal industry1 will find   
themselves at  issue with ,mr4 ,bulman  
on that point4    ,mr4 ,hodges makes a  
direct and ably-reasoned appeal for the 
nationalisation of the mines4 ,he is1 we
 think1 at rather needless pains  to    
disclaim politics in his book4 ,his main
 emphasis is certainly  on the economic 
aspect of the problem2 but he cannot    
avoid being  political in the largest   
sense4 ,he exposes1 with a good deal    
more  stress than ,mr4 ,bulman1 the     
wasteful methods of coal production by  
the  #ccjj ,british collieries operated 
by #adeb companies1 and subject to the  
dead-hand of #djjj royalty owners1 as   

well as its wasteful methods  of        
consumption at the collieries and       
further afield4 ,he discusses the       
decrease of output1 the main reason for 
which he will by no means admit  to be  
the naughtiness of the miners4 ,and he  
directs the notice of  the unhappy      
general public to the fact that we are  
faced at the same  time with a decline  
in production and a large increase in   
profits4  ,what1 then1 does ,mr4 ,hodges
 want8 ,he sees no other remedy except  
that  of ,national ownership of the     
entire industry1 with joint control by  
the full personnel of the industry and  
representatives of the whole  community4
 ,the miners1 he avers1 are as much     
opposed to bureaucracy  as the most     
extreme of anti-nationalisers4 ,both the
 ,sankey scheme  and the original scheme
 of the miners 7,the ,nationalisation of
 ,mines  and ,minerals ,bill1 which is  
printed as an ,appendix to the book7    
guard  against this4 ,the ,state is to  
own the industry1 but the machinery  of 

,pit and ,district ,committees and a    
,national ,mining ,council would  mean  
management by those engaged in the      
industry1 together with  representatives
 of the consumers4 ,this last part is   
important1 for  the ,syndicalist idea of
 the ,mines for the ,miners is1 in ,mr4 
,hodges'  view1 antisocial and repugnant
 to our communal instincts4 ,nor will   
he allow that there is any substance in 
the fear that the initiative  secured by
 private ownership will be lost4 ,if    
this initiative really  exists to-day1  
it will be increased a hundredfold1 he  
argues1 when  scope is given to the     
brain-workers who are responsible for   
the running  of the industry4           
,altogether the book is one which is    
worthy of the most  careful study by    
nationalisers and anti-nationalisers    
alike4      ,,social ,,theory4 ,by ,g4  
,d4 ,h4 ,,cole4 ,methuen4 #es4    ,it is
 a commonplace of our sceptical and     
disillusioned age that all our          
cherished institutions are in the       

melting-pot4 ,the old economic order  is
 tottering2 the finger of scorn is      
pointed at the hollowed principle  of   
,parliamentary ,government4 ,eager      
reformers preach ,democracy and yet     
more ,democracy4 ,but the discontented  
citizen finds himself getting  ever a   
larger portion of the shadow of         
,democracy and ever less of the         
substance4 ,to him in his perplexity    
comes ,mr4 ,cole1 offering a new  social
 theory1 to explain the causes of the   
evil and its true remedy4  ,what is     
wrong1 he asserts1 is the false doctrine
 that endows the ,state  with sovereign 
attributes and makes it supreme in every
 sphere4 ,his  treatment of ,leviathan  
is drastic4 ,he is not merely for       
curbing it1  nor1 on the other hand1 for
 its complete destruction4 ,what he     
wants is  to deflate the monster1 so to 
speak1 and reduce it to the status of a 
decent domestic animal with a carefully 
limited sphere of usefulness4    ,the   
democratic society which ,mr4 ,cole     

foresees will be a co-ordinated  system 
of functional associations1 guilds of   
producers1 co-operative  societies of   
consumers1 and many others4 ,the ,state 
will no longer be  sovereign1 it will   
merely be one of those associations1    
confined to  its own specific functions4
 ,for each function in society there    
must  be found an association and method
 of representation1 and for each        
association and body of representatives 
a function4 ,representative  democracy1 
as we see it to-day in a single         
omnicompetent ,parliament1  is a        
mockery2 for no man can represent       
another man1 and no man's will  can be  
treated as a substitute for1 or         
representative of1 the wills of  others4
 ,this does not mean that ,mr4 ,cole    
denies the validity of all              
representative government1 only that he 
wants it put in a truer form4  ,and that
 form is functional representation4 ,the
 elected representatives  of the future1
 of whom clearly there will be many--and

 ,why not8 says  ,mr4 ,cole--are not to 
be mere delegates1 but each will have a 
more  limited rle1 subject to more      
constant and closer criticism and advice
  from their constituents and1 in the   
last resort1 to recall by them4  ,it is 
in this functional organisation that    
,mr4 ,cole centres his hopes  of social 
and economic peace and progress1 of     
political justice1 of  liberty and      
happiness for the individual4 ,it is a  
theory that is open  to criticism at    
several points1 and no final judgment of
 it can1 of  course1 be passed on the   
basis of this book4 ,but ,mr4 ,cole at  
least  argues his case very clearly and 
trenchantly1 and he has made a notable  
contribution to political science4      
,,theology    ,,first ,,christian       
,,ideas4 ,by ,e4 ,c4 ,,selwyn4 ,murray1 
#is4 net4    ,the late ,dr4 ,murray was 
of that type of scholar which ,england  
produces to perfection1 and of whom ,dr4
 ,abbott is our most notable  and       
distinguished example4 ,an untiring     

patience1 a close attention to  detail1 
a rather over-dogmatic manner1 and at   
times a simple felicity  are the chief  
marks of the school4 ,in this posthumous
 volume ,dr4 ,selwyn  continues his     
argument1 advocated in previous books1  
that the writers  of the ,new ,testament
 were familiar with the ,septuagint     
rather than the  ,hebrew1 and that a    
great deal of the ,new ,testament is    
,midrash--that  is1 hortatory           
comment--on ,old ,testament stories4    
,that he proves this  thesis it would be
 too much to affirm2 but he certainly   
strengthens  his case by the careful    
handling he gives here to selected      
passages1  especially the narratives of 
the ,infancy and the ,temptation4 ,at   
times one meets sentences in which one  
recognises the old headmaster  rather   
than the student4 ,for instance1 ,the   
origin of the term ,mass  is ,mazzoth1  
the cakes of unleavened bread1 and no   
other etymology is  worth a moment's    
consideration2 but generally ,dr4       

,selwyn's points are  made carefully1   
modestly1 and carry conviction4 ,this is
 especially true  of a really startling 
piece of exegetical translation in      
,chapter ,,iii4  ,the upholders of the  
,helvidian view that the brethren of    
,jesus were  the children of ,mary are  
fond of quoting the phrase of ,st4      
,luke1 ,she  brought forth her          
first-born son4 ,dr4 ,selwyn1 with a    
simplicity that  seems unaware of its   
force1 removes this argument in the     
following  passage3      ,here we may   
notice two points which show his ,luke's
 close    observance of ,scripture4 ,the
 first is one that opens a just         
complaint    against ,r4,v41 which      
renders ,she brought forth her          
first-born son    7     ton huion auts  
ton ,prtotokon74    ,luke is not        
speaking of uterine children of ,mary1  
but he is declaring    a solemn title1  
on which ,st4 ,paul had already dwelt4  
,the title is    based upon ,ps4        
#hi--;,i will make him my ,first-born1  

higher than the    sons of the earth4   
,which renders the ,greek best1 the     
,r4,v4 or ,she    brought forth her son1
 the ,first-born8 ,there can be no      
question4    ,it is unfortunate that    
,dr4 ,selwyn wrote an extremely         
unattractive  style1 and is singularly  
unmethodical in the arrangement of his  
material4 ,we have little doubt that    
this and his other books will be        
pillaged by popular preachers and       
theologians who have none of his        
scholarship4 ,after all1 such a fact is 
not an unworthy conclusion to  the life 
of a great schoolmaster1 who belongs to 
a profession which is  fated to give    
ideas to those who will but rarely admit
 or even remember  their source4        
,,pagan ,,and ,,christian ,,creeds4 ,by 
,,edward ,,carpenter4 ,allen  ,unwin4   
#ajs4  #f;d4 net4    ,no one would deny 
the correspondence between much of the  
theology  and ceremonial of the         
,christian religion and previous creeds4
 ,what  significance is to be attached  

to that correspondence will depend on   
the bias of the student4 ,the ,christian
 historian will see in the facts  of    
anthropology evidence that ,christianity
 is a natural as well as a  revealed    
religion1 and that its claims are       
greatly strengthened just  because of   
pagan premonitions4 ,the sceptic may be 
inclined to dismiss  all ,christian     
refinement of older myths as so much    
rubbish1 of which  the world must be rid
 before it can live coldly in the bleak 
light of a  scientific materialism4     
,anyhow1 there seems little advantage in
 anyone  writing elaborately on the     
subject who is not a scholar4 ,mr4      
,carpenter  is amiable1 occasionally    
interesting1 more often merely          
garrulous1 but  he seems to have no     
claims to scholarship1 nor1 what is ever
 fatal1 to  be able to estimate the     
value of previous scholars' works4 ,one 
instance  will suffice4 ,he names the   
few eccentrics1 ,drews1 ,robertson1     
,bossi1  ,jensen1 who deny the          

historicity of ,jesus ,christ2 calls it 
a large  and learned body of opinion1   
and adds that a still larger 7but less  
learned7 body fights desperately for the
 actual historicity of ,jesus4  ,the    
statement is really absurd4 ,not to     
mention orthodox scholars1  ,harnack    
alone could swallow his learned body    
without feeling  discomfort4    ,his own
 method shows too great an eagerness to 
produce parallels at  all costs4 ,he    
notes that many gods1 ,dionysus1        
,mithra1 ,osiris were born  in caves2   
,jesus ,christ was born in a stable4    
,but why call a stable an  underground  
chamber8 ,the facts are twisted to suit 
his theory2 indeed1  the whole book     
reminds one of those strained           
allegorical treatises  which were common
 in the ,middle ,ages4 ,the principal   
flaw in his book1  as in all similar    
essays1 is that he never approaches the 
records of  the different religions1 to 
which he is comparing ,christianity1    
with a  hundredth part of the severity  

he applies to ,christian documents4 ,he 
does not even discuss the age of        
manuscripts1 a question of the first    
importance in the problem of religious  
origins4 ,how many religions  can show  
pre-,christian manuscript authority for 
the traits which1 in  the absence of    
that evidence1 we may have believed were
 borrowed from  ,christianity itself8   
,,anthropology    ,,man--,,past ,,and   
,,present4 ,by ,a4 ,h4 ,,keane4 ,revised
 and largely rewritten by  ,a4          
,,hingston ,,quiggin and ,a4 ,c4        
,,haddon4 ,cambridge ,university ,press4
 #cfs4    ,what are the chief natural   
divisions of mankind1 and how did they  
come  to be formed8 ,such is the        
specific problem of ethnology1 and it is
 one  on which the whole body of the    
anthropological sciences may be said  to
 converge4 ,in a sense physical         
anthropology--that is to say1 the  study
 of the bodily characters of man--has   
the most direct bearing  on the subject4
 ,the members of the human family are   

distinguished by  marked differences of 
physique1 which are clearly to a large  
extent  the product of heredity4 ,on the
 other hand1 adaptation to environment  
must tend to confine each variety to the
 most suitable area2 so that  geography1
 in the specialised form known as       
anthropo-geography1 will be  required to
 help the argument out4 ,moreover1 the  
history of culture1 as  variously       
comprising ideas1 institutions1 arts1   
and languages1 provides  important      
evidence of those movements and         
clashings of peoples whereby  our       
ever-shifting balance has been          
maintained between the forces making    
severally for a differentiation and for 
a fusion of types4 ,nor is  it enough   
for the ethnologist to keep his eye     
fixed on the existing  distribution of  
these types over the wide surface of the
 globe4 ,his  outlook as it turns       
towards the past must embrace a tract of
 time even  more formidably wide1       
inasmuch as we can never hope to explore

 it as  thoroughly4 ,altogether1 the    
speculative problem is as baffling as it
  is alluring4 ,on the practical side1  
too1 there is the question to be  faced 
how far civilisation can afford to      
experiment in the direction of          
race-amalgamation--whether1 in short1   
physical diversity is or is not         
compatible with moral unity within the  
kingdom of man4    ,dr4 ,a4 ,h4 ,keane1 
for some time ,professor of ,hindustani 
at ,university  ,college1 ,london1 was  
born in #ahcc and died in #aiab4 ,he was
 the only  ,englishman in               
post-,darwinian times to attempt a grand
 synthesis of  the facts relating to the
 origin and interrelation of the main   
human  groups4 ,in ,ethnology 7#ahif7   
and ,man--,past and ,present 7#ahii7 he 
put  forward what is in effect the same 
theory--one to which he adhered for  the
 rest of his days1 as may be gathered   
from his article on ,ethnology  in      
,hastings' ,dictionary of ,religion and 
,ethics1 published in the year  of his  

death4 ,this theory amounted to a       
vindication on evolutionary  grounds of 
,linnus' genealogical tree of the human 
family1 with its  four branches1 the    
thiopian1 ,mongolian1 ,american1 and    
,caucasian4 ,keane  postulated that     
these primary groups were independently 
derived from a  common primeval         
ancestry1 first the negro family        
branching off1 then  somewhat later the 
,caucasian and ,mongolo-,american       
splitting out of the  main stem4        
,thereupon he brought geography into    
play1 supposing each  type to develop in
 an isolated cradle-land where its      
fundamental  characters became fixed1 so
 that no subsequent intermingling could 
wholly obliterate them4 ,nor is it for  
him simply a question of physical       
differentiation4 ,there are mental and  
moral peculiarities likewise  that go   
with the race1 and these are reflected  
in markedly divergent  outgrowths of    
culture4 ,on the strength of these      
assumptions it was  possible to         

construct a highly systematic account of
 mankind in the  mass4 ,for the big     
differences were taken as established at
 the outset  once for all2 whereas the  
myriad smaller differences that actually
  distinguish the peoples of the earth  
were regarded as mere aberrations  from 
these primary norms4    ,twenty-one     
years1 however1 of further discovery do 
not confirm this  bold explanation of   
the genesis of human diversity1 but even
 militate  against it in a negative way1
 in so far as some of ,keane's most     
trusted  proofs are shown to be invalid4
 ,the great antiquity1 for instance1 of 
certain fossil men found in ,america    
turns out to be by no means so  certain 
as he was ready to believe1 and the     
claim of the ,new ,world  to rank as an 
area of primary characterisation is     
correspondingly  weakened4 ,again1 a    
great deal more is now known about the  
racial types  of ,pleistocene ,europe1  
and their multiplicity is hard to       
reconcile with  the view that in early  

times a given geographical province     
would foster  a single well-marked      
variety4 ,thus1 so far as regards the   
prehistoric  evidence1 the bottom is    
pretty well knocked out of the theory2  
and  thereupon the genetic significance 
of the attempted classification of      
types disappears1 unless a new theory of
 origin can be substituted4    ,now to  
attempt such a reconstruction of the    
whole argument is a  task which no      
editor as such could well undertake1 for
 he must in  that case assume           
responsibility for every word that      
appears1 the  original author being     
reduced to a mute shade in the          
background4  ,on the other hand1 if the 
explanation of the present heterogeneity
  of mankind has become more difficult  
than ever1 the description of  it may be
 improved by incorporating the results  
of the latest field  work4 ,hence the   
questionable pedigree is withdrawn2 but 
the list  of the surviving members of   
the human family is carefully revised4  

,a systematic appearance is imparted to 
the catalogue by dividing  up the groups
 according to the nature of their hair4 
,this leaves  ,keane's classification   
almost unaltered in its surface         
appearance1  since his thiopians form   
the woolly-haired division1 his         
,caucasians  the wavy-haired1 the only  
difference being that the ,australians  
who  count as wavy-haired must now come 
across from the negroids1 of whose      
characters they otherwise appear to     
possess a share4 ,as for the            
,mongolians and ,americans1 since both  
alike are straight-haired1 they  need no
 longer be kept apart4 ,it is a clever  
feat of substitution1  yet is one that  
is of little use to the student of the  
evolutionary  problem4 ,the systematist 
gets on very well with hair as his      
differentia  until the question of      
development is raised4 ,he thereupon    
finds1  first1 that to relate present   
types to former ones is impossible by   
this means1 since prehistoric skulls    

have lost their hair entirely2          
secondly1 that the interrelations of    
present types are not made any  clearer1
 since no one has worked out the effects
 of cross-breeding  on the hair of the  
offspring4 ,thus it is a scandalous fact
 that  despite the copious interbreeding
 of whites with woolly-haired negroes   
and straight-haired aborigines in       
,america1 no trustworthy data are       
available from this or any other quarter
 in regard to the physical  results of  
such miscegenation4 ,is waviness of hair
 a pure or a mixed  form1 or sometimes  
one and sometimes the other8 ,our       
authorities do  not seem to know2 yet1  
so long as the matter is left undecided1
  relationships based on similarity of  
hair can have no genetic  significance4 
,another consequence of the suppression 
of the theory of a radical  division of 
the human stocks brought about by their 
development in  isolation is that the   
assignment of a special kind of         
mentality to  the different races loses 

most of its point4 ,this never was a    
very  convincing side of ,keane's work1 
for he seemed to lack the delicacy of   
touch needed in order to bring out the  
subtler shades of meaning in  primitive 
religion1 and hence could hardly do     
justice to the surest  diagnostic of the
 mental life4 ,as it is1 one is inclined
 to smile  at the drastic               
characterisations of peoples that       
survive1 without  the excuse of a       
genetic explanation1 in the revised     
text4 ,thus the  former edition summed  
up the ,papuasian as even more cruel    
than the  ,african ,negro4 ,this goes   
out in the present edition2 but as we   
read  immediately below that the        
,tasmanian1 another branch of the stock1
  was far less cruel1 we have lingering 
doubts about the ,papuasian  character  
as regards the habit of seeing red4     
,without altogether  denying the        
possibility of an ethnic psychology1 one
 may ask what  scientific basis is      
provided for one here4 ,whether ,keane  

was right or  wrong1 he did mean that   
temperament went with ancestry4 ,but the
 present  work does not intend us to    
deduce a man's morality from his hair2  
so  that the bearing of mental traits on
 the problem of classification can  no  
longer be regarded as essential4    ,in 
conclusion1 it is only fair to state    
that no pains have been  spared to      
secure the utmost accuracy in the       
statement of facts4 ,as  an ethnology   
the book may be disappointing1 because  
it amounts to an  admission that        
,keane's original attempt to construct a
 genealogy of the  human race outran the
 evidence4 ,on the other hand1 as an    
ethnographic  conspectus it will be very
 serviceable to the student4 ,the       
idealist1  too1 who is in a hurry to    
establish a uniform civilisation for all
 may  here come upon a useful reminder  
of the actual diversity of mankind1     
though he may console himself with the  
thought that1 as ,heracleitus  long ago 
observed1 opposite friction knits the   

world together4      ,,science          
,,science ,,and ,,life4 ,by ,,frederick 
,,soddy4 ,murray4 #ajs4 #f;d4 net4      
,this is a collection of addresses and  
articles indicative of the  author's    
activities as a chemist and as one of   
the leading figures  of ,aberdeen       
,university4 ,a proportion of the       
addresses may be grouped  together as   
representing successive expressions of  
one leading thought1  the social        
advantages which may accrue from an     
intelligent application  of the method  
and results of scientific research to   
the utilisation of  natural sources of  
energy4 ,scientific research is capable 
of raising  the general standard of     
life1 without limit1 by the solution it 
affords  of the material and physical   
problems that prevent progress--this  is
 one of ,professor ,soddy's chief       
themes4 ,the disadvantage1 largely      
inherent in a collection of such        
addresses1 delivered to different  types
 of audience1 is that1 instead of having

 before us a clearly  reasoned and      
cumulative treatment of the problems    
involved1 we take up  the matter afresh1
 from a slightly different aspect1 in   
each separate  address and run over very
 much the same ground1 at one time as a 
member  of the ,independent ,labour     
,party1 at another as a member of the   
,aberdeen  ,chamber of ,commerce1 and so
 on4    ,there is much overlapping1 and 
a certain feeling is aroused that we are
  not much further than we were in the  
preceding address4 ,nevertheless1  the  
problems which ,professor ,soddy handles
 are of such importance that1  while we 
regret that he has not judged fit to    
embody the matter of  several of his    
separate addresses in one consecutive   
essay1 we believe  that it is right that
 his opinion should be placed           
permanently on  record4 ,besides these  
addresses on the place of science in    
society1  we have two popular           
expositions of the march of science1 in 
which  ,professor ,soddy has himself    

made such notable advances--one on the  
,evolution of ,matter and one on        
,radioactive ,change4 ,the views on the 
transmutations of the elements1 which   
attracted much attention in the  daily  
,press1 are not1 of course1 new1 but the
 account is remarkably  clear and       
affords an excellent summary of the     
present state of the  science of        
radioactivity1 which can be understood  
by the average  reader4 ,elsewhere in   
the book1 both in separate articles and 
in  addresses1 there is much criticism1 
of more or less parochial interest1  of 
the administration of the ,carnegie     
,trust for the ,universities of         
,scotland4      ,a ,,text-,,book ,,of   
,,hygiene ,,for ,,training ,,colleges4  
,by ,,margaret ,,avery4  ,methuen4 #gs4 
#f;d4 net4    ,this little book has     
apparently been written chiefly to help 
students  at training colleges through  
their examinations1 and suffers from    
many  of the usual faults of cram books4
 ,the information is scrappy1 and  the  

style so condensed that in many parts   
the book reads more like a  series of   
notes than a connected treatise4 ,a more
 serious fault is that  the scientific  
information is not always correct--for  
instance1 the  examination of recruits  
and pensioners during the war has       
disproved the  common assertion that the
 cause of short sight is reading small  
print1  doing fine sewing1 and so on1   
and has tended to show that excessive   
physical exertion of certain types1 such
 as lifting heavy weights1 is  in many  
cases the inducing cause4 ,this is a    
point of importance to  school teachers1
 as short sight is aggravated by many of
 the physical  exercises now in vogue4  
,in other cases1 the most recent work is
 not  quoted4 ,but the book is largely  
redeemed by the very sane way in which  
wide social topics1 such as temperance  
and eugenics1 are discussed4 ,the       
latter subject is handled with a desire 
to get at the facts1 uncoloured  by     
prejudice1 which is to be commended1 and

 ,miss ,avery seems for the  time to get
 away from the haunting thought of the  
examination syllabus4  ,the book will   
appeal to all interested in primary     
school education1  for it contains a    
good deal of information as to actual   
conditions in  various centres4         
,,herschel4 ,by ,,hector ,,macpherson4  
,society for ,promoting ,christian      
,knowledge4 #bs4 net4    ,this short    
biography is the latest addition to the 
,men of ,science  section of the series 
,pioneers of ,progress now being        
published by  the ,s4,p4,c4,k4 ,it gives
 an excellent little account of the life
 of the  older ,herschel1 and1          
necessarily1 tells us something of his  
devoted  sister ,caroline1 probably the 
first woman to do work of importance  in
 the exact sciences4 ,a poor ,german    
musician1 who left--some say  deserted  
from--the band of the ,hanoverian       
,guards to come to ,england1  ,herschel 
built up for himself a considerable     
position in the ,english  musical world 

before he turned his attention to the   
science in every  branch of which he    
made magnificent advances4 ,his theory  
of the  stellar system opened a fresh   
field for observation and speculation2  
his studies of ,saturn and ,mars gave us
 our first detailed information  about  
these planets2 he discovered            
,uranus--loyally named ,georgium        
,sidus--and binary stars1 and           
contributed important observations in   
every department of observational       
astronomy then known4 ,his theory of    
the sun1 if ludicrous in the light of   
our present knowledge1 was the  first   
attempt at a general treatment of solar 
problems4 ,considering  the small size  
of the book1 ,mr4 ,macpherson's         
treatment is remarkably  comprehensive1 
and provides a graphic and sympathetic  
sketch of the  life and works of the    
great astronomer4      ,,discovery4 ,a  
,monthly ,popular ,journal of           
,knowledge4 ,no4 #a4 ,january1  #aibj4  
#f;d4 net4 ,no4 #b4 ,february4 ,john    

,murray4    ,this new periodical appears
 under distinguished auspices1 the      
trustees  of the deed by which it is    
maintained being ,sir ,j4 ,j4 ,thomson1 
,sir ,f4  ,g4 ,kenyon1 ,professor ,a4   
,c4 ,seward1 and ,professor ,r4 ,s4     
,conway4 ,the  object is to give a      
popular presentation of advances made in
 the  chief subjects in which           
investigation is being actively pursued1
 and  it is announced that the articles 
will be written in plain1 simple        
language4 ,an imposing list of writers  
who have made or promised  contributions
 assures us that they will be           
authoritative4 ,the purpose  of the     
promoters of this journal is worthy of  
all praise1 and the  articles in the    
first number range over a wide field of 
interest1 and  include ,the ,secret of  
,phil 7,professor ,conway71 ,the ,modern
 ,study of  ,dreams 7,professor ,t4 ,h4 
,pear71 and ,discovery and ,education1  
written  by the ,master of ,balliol1    
with his usual forcefulness and insight4

  ,while paying tribute to the spirit of
 the undertaking1 we venture1 with  some
 diffidence1 to offer the opinion that  
in many points the paper  might be much 
improved by more informed editing4 ,in  
the first place  it does not seem that  
any clear idea has been formulated as to
 the  class of reader to whom appeal is 
to be made2 every author appears to     
have a different standard of erudition  
in view4 ,for instance1 is it  assumed  
that to the average reader of the       
,times1 say1 the vocabulary  of ,dr4    
,slater ,price's article on ,smoke      
,screens at ,sea--chlorinated           
hydrocarbons1 kieselguhr1 thermite1     
oleum1 and so on1 offered without a     
word of explanation--is plain1 simple   
language8 ,this article might have  been
 written for professional chemists who  
want to know what chemicals  have proved
 suitable for producing smoke screens2  
that on ,sound  ,ranging1 on the other  
hand1 with its forced breeziness1 reads 
as if  intended for a school magazine4  

,the make-up is not very attractive1    
not vastly superior to that of the      
average parish magazine4 ,the  single   
illustration which adorns the pages is a
 crude and amateurish  pen-drawing far  
better omitted1 if nothing better could 
be found4 ,in  short1 the paper seems to
 suffer1 at present1 from lack of policy
 as  regards public1 and lack of high   
standards as regards production and     
illustration4 ,we have no doubt that    
experience will rapidly rectify  these  
minor points1 and we sincerely hope that
 the paper will find its  public and    
develop its sphere of usefulness4       
,,book-,,production ,,notes    ,by ,j4  
,h4 ,,mason      ,the ,gazette du ,bon  
,ton1 now beginning its third year1 is  
so  extraordinarily clever that it sets 
one thinking about the  typographical   
importance of magazines4 ,it is in them 
that typography  is seen at its         
liveliest1 and it is a pity that after a
 comet-like  career we frequently lose  
sight of them4 ,why do not ,british     

publishers  and printers establish an   
exhibition hall on the lines of that at 
the  ,buchgewerbehaus in ,leipzig8 ,the 
exhibitions should be varied1 not       
permanent1 although there should always 
be an exhibition connected  with this   
all-important group of trades4 ,the     
book-production of one  nation after    
another1 their magazines1 their book    
illustration1 their  types and posters1 
their paper1 their colour printing and  
newspapers  would provide ample         
material4 ,printing in its many forms is
 an almost  omnipresent element of our  
lives1 and for this reason the forms it 
takes are more important than the       
much-canvassed forms of modern          
pictorial art4 ,in the series of        
exhibitions there should be one of      
magazines1 particular care being taken  
to include those with a limited         
circulation1 or those which were        
experimental and ran only for a  short  
period4 ,gordon ,craig's ,mask1 the     
,neolith1 the ,hobbyhorse1  the         

,manchester ,playgoer1 the ,russian     
,apollon1 the ,imprint1  the ,game1 are 
just a few that occur to me as certainly
 not well  known1 and yet they are all  
suggestive attempts to deal with        
magazine  typography1 format1 paper1 and
 illustration4    ,the ,gazette du ,bon 
,ton would certainly be included in such
 an  exhibition or section of an        
exhibition4 ,its two most important     
features  typographically are its type1 
a revived old style based on a design of
  ,nicolas ,cochin1 and its coloured    
illustrations4 ,three sizes of type  are
 used1 in the ,avant-,propos a large    
#ah-point1 and in the body of  the      
magazine #ad-point and #aj-point 7,i    
give the nearest equivalents in         
,british sizes74 ,the #ad-point is an   
excellent choice1 both in point of      
weight and scale4 ,i should prefer using
 it all through the magazine  to form a 
stable background to the very varied    
illustrations and the  capricious choice
 of initials and captions4 ,the fine    

line illustrations  of page #aj are too 
light to keep the page together as they 
are meant to  do4 ,the drawings were    
probably made without being tested by   
comparison  with the strong line of the 
type4 ,the illustrations1 in black with 
one  or two flat tints or full colours1 
give a real colour value that is  never 
obtained by the three-colour process4   
,take any book illustrated  by this     
process and test it by comparison with  
these ,bon ,ton colours1  and if the    
colour sense has not been vitiated by a 
wrong standard  for coloured letterpress
 illustrations--such as oil             
paintings--the  superiority of the flat 
colour will be obvious4 ,even the       
chiaroscuro  block prints are capable of
 very pleasing effects1 a hint of them  
appearing in the tail-piece on page #d4 
,the ,gazette du ,bon ,ton continuera   
d'tre 444 le lieu o les  couturiers et  
les peintres collaborent pour composer  
la silhouette de  leur temps4 ,that     
sentence from the ,avant-,propos sums up

 what ,i have  to say of the type1 the  
illustration1 and the work as a whole4  
,the  large type attracts attention at  
once1 it spreads itself a little--a     
shade wide--it slightly emphasises its  
idiosyncrasies 7see the y with  its     
terminal serif1 or the s1 or the capital
 ,g1 they have the very  accent of our  
own time72 it is elegant1 but not       
content with elegance2  it is on a good 
model1 but perfection1 the golden       
mediocrity1 is felt  as constraint2 it  
attains--reaches something a little     
outr4    ,,note4--,last month ,i        
inadvertently wrote ,luckombe for       
,stower1 although  the latter's         
,printer's ,grammar was on my table at  
the time4          ,,bibliographies ,,of
 ,,modern ,,authors      ,,robert       
,,seymour ,,bridges 7,poet ,laureate7   
,verse    ,,poems4 ,pickering4 #ahgc4   
,,the ,,growth ,,of ,,love4 ,poem in    
,twenty-four ,sonnets4 #ahgf4 ,reprinted
 with  omissions and additions1 #ahij4  
,,carmen ,,elegiacum ,,roberti          

,,bridges3 ,,impensis ,,eduardi         
,,bumpus4 #ahgg4    ,,poems4 ,by the    
,author of ,the ,growth of ,love4       
,bumpus4 #ahgi4    ,,poems4 ,by the     
,author of ,the ,growth of ,love4 #crd  
,series4 ,bumpus4 #ahhj4                
,,prometheus1 ,,the ,,firegiver4 ,drama 
in ,verse4 ,daniel ,press4 #ahhc4       
,reprinted by ,bell1 #ahhd4    ,,plays3 
,,nero1 ,,palicio1 ,,ulysses1           
,,captives1 ,,achilles1 ,,humours ,,of  
,,the  ,,court1 ,,feast ,,of ,,bacchus1 
,second ,part of ,,nero4 ,bumpus4       
#ahhe-id4    ,,eros ,,and ,,psyche4     
,poem in twelve measures4 ,from         
,apuleius4 ,bell4 #ahhe4  ,again        
,revised #ahid4    ,,the ,,feast ,,of   
,,bacchus4 ,a ,poem4 ,privately printed1
 ,oxford4 #ahhi4    ,,the ,,shorter     
,,poems ,,of ,,robert ,,bridges4 ,four  
books4 ,bell4 #ahij4 ,frequent          
reissues1 the later have five books4    
,,selections ,,of ,,the ,,shorter       
,,poems ,,of ,,robert ,,bridges4        
,contemporary ,poets4  #ahia4 7,edited  

by ,a4 ,h4 ,miles47    ,,achilles ,,in  
,,scyros4 ,reprinted4 ,bell4 #ahib4     
,,humours ,,of ,,the ,,court4 ,a ,comedy
 and other ,poems4 ,bell and ,macmillan4
  ,copyright for ,america4 #ahic4       
,,ode ,,for ,,the ,,bicentenary         
,,commemoration ,,of ,,henry ,,purcell  
,,and ,,other ,,poems4  ,the ,shilling  
,garland4 ,elkin ,mathews4 #ahif4       
,,poetical ,,works4 ,smith1 ,elder4     
#ahih4    ,,hymns ,,from ,,the          
,,yattendon ,,hymnal4 ,daniel's ,private
 ,press4 #ahii4    ,,now ,,in ,,wintry  
,,delights4 ,a ,poem with a ,note on    
,prosody4 ,daniel ,press4  #aijc4       
,,demeter1 ,a ,,masque4 ,clarendon      
,press4 #aije4    ,,an ,,invitation ,,to
 ,,the ,,pageant4 ,ode4 ,the ,oxford    
,pageant ,book4 #aijg4    ,,poetical    
,,works1 excluding the ,eight ,dramas4  
,clarendon ,press4 #aiab4    ,,poems    
,,written ,,in ,,the ,,year #aiac4      
,privately printed by ,st4 ,john        
,hornby4  ,ashendene ,press4 #aiad4     
,,ibant ,,obscuri4 ,an experiment in the

 classical hexameter4 ,oxford4          
,clarendon ,press4 #aiaf4    ,,ode ,,on 
,,the ,,tercentenary ,,commemoration    
,,of ,,shakespeare4 #aiaf4      ,prose  
,,on ,,the ,,elements ,,of ,,milton',s  
,,blank ,,verse ,,in ,,paradise ,,lost4 
,clarendon  ,press4 #ahhg4 7,revised1   
with additions1 #ahic47    ,,on ,,the   
,,prosody ,,of ,,paradise ,,regained    
,,and ,,samson ,,agonistes4 ,clarendon  
,press4 #ahhi4    ,,john ,,keats4 ,a    
,critical ,essay4 ,privately printed4   
#ahie4 ,originally  published as        
,introduction to the ,muses' ,library   
,keats4    ,,milton',s ,,prosody ,,and  
,,classical ,,metres ,,in ,,english     
,,verse4 ,w4 ,j4 ,stone4  ,oxford4      
#aija4    ,,on ,,the ,,influence ,,of   
,,the ,,audience4 ,vol4 #aj1            
,shakespeare's ,works4 #aijg4    ,,on   
,,the ,,present ,,state ,,of ,,english  
,,pronunciation4 ,english ,association4 
#aiaj4 7,reprinted1 with three plates1  
#aiac47    ,,essay ,,on ,,keats4        
,revised in ,poetical ,works of ,john   

,keats4 ,hodder and  ,stoughton4 #aiaf4 
,,poetical ,,works ,,of ,,john ,,keats1 
with ,critical ,essay4 ,clarendon       
,press4  #aiaf4    ,,an ,,address ,,to  
,,the ,,swindon ,,branch ,,of ,,the     
,,workers' ,,educational  ,,association4
 ,clarendon ,press4 #aiah4    ,,the     
,,necessity ,,of ,,poetry4 ,an ,address4
 ,clarendon ,press4 #aiah4    ,,on      
,,english ,,homophones4 ,oxford4 #aiai4 
7,s4,p4,e4 ,tract ,no4 #b47    ,he has  
also edited the ,poems of ,r4 ,w4       
,dixon1 ,digby ,dolben 7with  ,memoirs71
 and ,gerard ,hopkins4      ,,alice     
,,meynell      ,verse    ,,preludes4    
#ahge4 ,h4 ,s4 ,king4    ,,poems4 #ahic4
 ,lane4    ,,other ,,poems4 #aijj4      
,privately ,printed4    ,,later ,,poems4
 #aijb4 7,printed in ,u4,s4,a47         
,,poems4 ,burns  ,oates4 #aiac4 ,a      
,collected ,edition4    ,,poems ,,on    
,,the ,,war4 #aiae4 ,privately ,printed4
    ,a ,,father ,,of ,,women ,,and      
,,other ,,poems4 ,burns  ,oates4 #aiag4 
,prose    ,,the ,,poor ,,sisters ,,of   

,,nazareth4 #ahhi4 ,burns  ,oates4      
,,the ,,rhythm ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,other
 ,,essays4 #ahic4 ,lane4    ,,the       
,,colour ,,of ,,life ,,and ,,other      
,,essays4 #ahif4 ,lane4    ,,the        
,,children4 #ahif4 ,lane4    ,,london   
,,impressions4 #ahih4 ,constable4       
,,john ,,ruskin4 #ahii4 7,modern        
,english ,writers47 ,blackwood4    ,,the
 ,,spirit ,,of ,,place ,,and ,,other    
,,essays4 #ahii4 ,lane4    ,,children   
,,of ,,the ,,old ,,masters4 #aijc4      
,duckworth4    ,,ceres' ,,runaway ,,and 
,,other ,,essays4 #aiji4 ,constable4    
,,mary1 ,,the ,,mother ,,of ,,jesus4    
#aiab4 ,medici ,society4    ,,essays4   
,burns  ,oates4 #aiad4 ,a               
,collected-,selected edition4           
,,hearts ,,of ,,controversy4 ,burns     
,oates4 #aiag4    ,she has also written 
,introductions to numerous reprints4    
,she has also selected or edited the    
following3 ,poems of ,t4 ,g4 ,hake2     
,extracts from ,samuel ,johnson 7with   
,g4 ,k4 ,chesterton72 ,poems of ,j4 ,b4 

,tabb2 ,the ,flower of the ,mind4       
,,drama          ,,the ,,three ,,sisters
 7,tchekhov7          ,,court ,,theatre 
,,medea 7,euripides72 ,,candida 7,shaw7 
,,holborn ,,empire      ,,pygmalion     
7,shaw7                      ,,aldwych  
,,theatre      ,,the ,,young ,,visiters 
7,daisy ,ashford7    ,,court ,,theatre  
,,john ,,ferguson 7,st4 ,john ,ervine7  
,,lyric ,,theatre1 ,,hammersmith        
,,miniature ,,ballet--,,russian         
,,miniature        ,,theatre            
,,duke ,,of ,,york',s      ,,grierson',s
 ,,way 7,h4 ,v4 ,esmond7                
,,ambassadors    ,the list of plays     
which ,i have selected from those ,i    
have seen during  the last month is not 
without interest4 ,it contains one play 
which  is not ,tchekhov's finest work1  
but which nevertheless has no rival     
among the others on the list1 and it was
 performed for exactly one  afternoon by
 the ,art ,theatre under ,madame        
,donnet4 ,the plays next in             
merit--,euripides' ,medea and ,shaw's   

,candida--were given by ,mr4 ,lewis     
,casson and ,mr4 ,bruce ,winston at     
matines at the ,holborn ,empire for     
exactly one week each4 ,shaw's          
,pygmalion and ,daisy ,ashford's ,the   
,young ,visiters may be expected to     
run--the former in proportion to its    
merits1 the latter in no equality at    
all1 either with its notoriety or  its  
charm--for a couple of months4 ,at a    
considerable distance comes  ,mr4       
,ervine's ,john ,ferguson1 a play which1
 if considered by the  side of those ,i 
have already named1 must be ranked very 
low1 but if  considered with all those  
,i have not named--now being played at  
,london  theatres--must be ranked as    
respectably good1 neither very much     
better  nor very much worse than the    
average ,west-,end theatrical           
entertainment4  ,for ,john ,ferguson1   
like ,tea for ,three at the ,haymarket1 
is an  entertainment1 only it does not  
make you laugh2 it entertains you as a  
street accident does--a very bloody     

street accident4 ,finally--leaving  out 
the ,russian ,miniature ,theatre1 which 
is really ,ballet--we come to           
,grierson's ,way1 the resuscitated      
by-product of ,mr4 ,h4 ,v4 ,esmond4     
,here  we come to a play that--if1 as   
our tabulation almost suggests1 plays   
run in inverse proportion to their      
merit--should run for ever4    ,of      
,tchekhov's ,the ,three ,sisters ,i     
shall not attempt to say much4 ,like    
all ,tchekhov's plays1 it must be       
extraordinarily difficult to act1 and   
,i did not think that1 on the whole1 it 
was acted very well1 although  ,miss    
,dorothy ,massingham 7,irina71 ,miss    
,helena ,millais 7,natasha71 ,mr4  ,tom 
,nesbitt 7,audrey71 ,mr4 ,leyton        
,cancellor 7,chebutikin71 ,mr4 ,william 
,armstrong 7,kuligin71 and others made  
praiseworthy and not altogether         
unsuccessful efforts to present the     
characters they were playing4  ,there   
was also something very plausible and   
real about ,mr4 ,harcourt  ,williams's  

,vershinin1 and ,mr4 ,williams has a    
great advantage in his  voice4 ,it was  
the production rather than the acting   
that was at  fault1 but1 inadequate as  
it may have been1 it could not prevent  
the  extraordinary force of the play    
making itself felt4    ,there are some  
people who would call ,tchekhov a       
realist and ,the ,three  ,sisters       
realism1 but it is ,mr4 ,ervine in ,john
 ,ferguson who is the  realist1 if by   
that one means reproducing on the stage 
as closely  as practicable what might be
 happening off it1 with the action and  
language rendered as faithfully as      
possible4 ,it was probably ,mr4         
,ervine's knowledge of this fact1 and   
the serious deficiency which it         
indicates1 that made him introduce the  
village idiot to talk about  wee stars1 
and give the audience what is always the
 realist's idea  of a little poetry4 ,as
 a man of letters1 and not a mere       
theatrical  hack1 he knows of the utter 
barrenness of the photographic          

reproduction  method in art4 ,he        
probably knows also that it is not even 
enough to  select1 that the artist must 
create4 ,unfortunately this is just what
  the mere intellectual1 the merely     
clever man can never do1 and when he  is
 clever enough to know that he must make
 an attempt at it he produces  something
 like ,mr4 ,ervine's village idiot1     
something that is borrowed  and         
extraneous to the real matter power of  
the play4 ,the poetry1 the  creative    
power of ,tchekhov1 on the other hand1  
is immanent and infuses  the whole      
conception of ,the ,three ,sisters4 ,so 
true is this that when  we saw the play 
in the auditorium of the ,court ,theatre
 we felt that it  was our lives we were 
watching1 our destinies we were seeing  
played  out2 and this in spite of the   
fact that every detail of the scene was 
strange1 every custom unfamiliar1 and   
the wealth of local colour such  as to  
produce a sensuous impression as strong 
as music4    ,nothing extraordinary     

happens in ,tchekhov's play4 ,the       
characters  meet1 talk1 fall in love1   
part1 die in the casual way in which we 
all do these things--the actual events  
in ,mr4 ,ervine's play are far  less    
usual1 just as a street accident is an  
occurrence less frequent  than afternoon
 tea2 but the whole play is an          
imaginative expression  of the inner    
feelings of three human beings--the     
three sisters4 ,it is  extraordinarily  
imaginative1 that is the point ,i want  
to make1 and  it is useless to ask me   
why it is imaginative--that is          
,tchekhov's  secret4 ,you never feel    
this is what actually happened three    
hundred  miles from ,moscow in the year 
#ahib2 you feel1 on the contrary1 that  
this never happened at all1 but that it 
is what goes on inside us1  millions of 
us1 all the years of our lives1 although
 it may never or  very rarely come up to
 the surface of our consciousness and   
fill us  with the spiritual agony of    
,the ,three ,sisters4 ,in ,mr4 ,ervine's

 play1  on the other hand1 although1 as 
,i have said1 the actual events are in  
themselves of less common occurrence1 we
 meet with something that we  feel      
certain must have happened yesterday and
 will happen to-morrow1  and its        
significance1 somehow1 seems to be nil4 
,what artistic or  spiritual            
significance has a collision in the     
,strand between a taxi-cab  and a       
lamp-post8 ,whatever significance it    
has1 it is that kind of  significance   
that ,mr4 ,ervine's play possesses4     
,if ,the ,young ,visitors had been      
produced by that ,russian ,society      
called ,zahda1 or by the ,russian       
,miniature ,theatre1 it would have been 
hailed as a wonderful masterpiece of    
bizarre and original art1 and all  the  
young freaks of ,london who frequent the
 ,russian ,ballet and sneer  at ,gilbert
 and ,sullivan would have flocked to see
 it and talked of  nothing else for     
months4 ,as it is a product1 however1 of
 the despised  ,english--the ,english   

who have produced the greatest          
imaginative  literature of the          
world--and as also it has the misfortune
 to have been  in its book form         
enormously popular1 there is little     
likelihood of its  being adequately     
appreciated4 ,i must confess1 however1  
that by the side  of ,mr4 ,j4 ,v4       
,bryant's production of ,miss ,daisy    
,ashford's ,the ,young  ,visiters1 the  
productions ,i have so far seen of the  
,zahda ,art ,council1  which includes   
men of ambitious mind1 and of the       
,russian ,miniature  ,theatre have been 
distinctly jejune and unexhilarating4   
,the ,young  ,visiters is the later     
,victorian world looked at from the eyes
 of a  child4 ,it is1 therefore1 a      
fantasy1 and the note of fantasy has    
been  admirably struck in the stage     
production4 ,those who have read the    
book  will naturally imagine that it is 
spoiled upon the stage1 but they will   
be wrong4 ,it is even conceivable that  
some--there are such people--who  have  

not liked the book will enjoy the play  
immensely4 ,they should1  at all events1
 not let any distaste of the book's     
vogue prevent their  seeing the play1 if
 they have the opportunity4 ,they will  
be rewarded  by ,mr4 ,harold            
,anstruther's marvellous presentment of 
that wonderful  creation ,bernard       
,clark4 ,he is a masterpiece in costume1
 voice1 gesture1  and make-up1 and ,i   
expect ,i shall have to wait a good many
 years before  our ,russian friends give
 us anything comparable for excellence  
with  him4 ,another perfect--the word   
perfect is accurate--presentment is     
,mr4 ,john ,deverell's ,earl of         
,clincham--the earl who thought that the
  glories of this world were but piffle 
before the wind4 ,mr4 ,lawrence         
,hanray's ,procurio is also perfect4 ,i 
have never used the word perfect  about 
any acting before1 so there is obviously
 some magic about ,the  ,young ,visiters
 to have three parts played perfectly4  
,i wish ,i could  say the same of that  

delightful person ,mr4 ,salteena4 ,mr4  
,ben ,field's  effort is by no means    
without merit1 but he does not satisfy  
our  preconceived notion of what ,mr4   
,salteena ought to be1 as the others  do
 for ,bernard ,clark1 ,clincham1 and    
,procurio4 ,nevertheless1 as we get     
more used to ,mr4 ,field's ,salteena we 
get more satisfied with him4 ,we  never1
 unfortunately1 became satisfied with   
,miss ,edyth ,goodall's ,ethel          
,morticue1 clever as ,miss ,goodall     
undeniably is4 ,miss ,goodall's ,ethel  
is sophisticated1 ,ethel was not4 ,the  
,prince of ,wales at the ,levee was     
excellent1 and the ,duchess's singing of
 ,ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay superb4  ,it was  
an inspiration to think of it4    ,of   
,mr4 ,esmond's play1 ,grierson's ,way1  
,i should say no more if it were  not   
that it has been praised by the same    
critics who have written of  the filth  
of ,dryden's ,marriage  la ,mode4 ,those
 of us who pride  ourselves on a        
somewhat catholic taste1 who can see the

 good points of  a revue1 a musical     
comedy1 a melodrama1 a farce1 and a     
tragedy1 who  find that1 although we may
 prefer ,webster1 ,dryden1 and ,tchekhov
 to  ,shaw1 and ,shaw to ,arnold        
,bennett1 and ,arnold ,bennett to ,oscar
 ,asche1 we  are none the less able to  
be amused by the ,pounds sisters in     
,pretty  ,peggy1 and to enjoy ,alfred   
,lester in ,the ,eclipse--those of us1  
let me add1 who do not turn scarlet at  
the sight of a bare back are            
still--strange as it may appear to the  
pharisaical and the prudish--not        
without moral sense4 ,and ,grierson's   
,way is a play that offends  our moral  
sense4 ,it is1 ,i would venture to      
add--using the word with  its true but  
not its current popular meaning--a      
thoroughly immoral  play4 ,that is to   
say its ideas are false1 its sentiment  
slobbery1  and thoroughly rotten with   
the rottenness of bad fruit4 ,it is     
worth  discussing the play because so   
few people know a bad thing when they   

see it4 ,they judge by externals1 not by
 the spirit1 for the simple  reason that
 it is so very much easier4 ,their idea 
of morality is like  that of the old    
lady who overheard her gardener say     
,damn and said  ,what a bad wicked man6 
and dismissed him1 although he was an   
honest1  good-hearted fellow1 to put in 
his place a smooth-tongued1 insincere   
rogue who cheated her for the rest of   
her life4 ,of course it served her      
right2 men and women have no excuse to  
throw up the task of feeling and        
thinking after real righteousness and   
beauty in ,art or ,life for the  easy   
rule-of-thumb method of judging         
everything by rote or formula4  ,no     
doubt it is terribly difficult for many 
of them to feel either  beauty or       
ugliness1 good or evil1 but without that
 sensitiveness of the  intelligence they
 can never hope to criticise the        
productions of the  human mind4 ,the    
foot-rule1 whether it is a rule for     
measuring damns  or split infinitives1  

or rapes or murders1 or the number of   
bare backs  in a play1 is useless for   
measuring its artistic quality1 and a   
play  can have no other quality1        
provided its murders are not real and   
its  indecencies not practised before   
our eyes4    ,in ,grierson's ,way we    
have the story of a girl who is loved by
 a  middle-aged bachelor who has a      
maundering delight in bad music1 and    
also by a once famous violinist1 who has
 lost an arm in an accident1  and now is
 a doddering drunkard1 who talks of ,art
 and his soul in the  approved manner of
 the sentimentalist who does not realise
 what an  offence his sickly1 insincere 
slobber is to any profoundly-feeling1   
austere1 and clear-brained artist4 ,the 
girl has fallen in love with an  ,army  
man of the conventional novelette type1 
who is already married2  she is about to
 have a child by him when she gets a    
letter from him to  say that he is going
 away and will never see her again4 ,the
 middle-aged  bachelor offers to marry  

her as a way out of the difficulty2 she 
accepts4 ,the man she loves returns1 his
 wife having died1 and the  husband1 at 
the instigation of the violinist1       
commits suicide4 ,the  curtain falls    
leaving this creature expressing with   
sickly gusto his  opinion that the dead 
husband will now stand for ever between 
her  and her happiness4 ,this account of
 the play's theme can give no idea  of  
the false sentiment1 the maudlin        
splutter of fine words1 and the         
melodramatic rant with which the play is
 loaded4 ,miss ,cathleen ,nesbitt       
strove to preserve some personal dignity
 in the foul mush of words that  flowed 
from the invertebrate jelly-fish around 
her1 but nothing she  could do could    
redeem the play1 which is1 frankly1     
disgusting4      ,,dramatic ,,literature
    ,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,playwright4 
,by ,,clayton ,,hamilton4 ,allen        
,unwin4 #gs4  #f;d4    ,this is a book  
by an ,american critic1 and it ranges   
over almost the  whole field of dramatic

 art4 ,although it consists mainly of   
articles  reprinted from ,american      
magazines1 it is on a much higher       
general  level of intelligence and taste
 than we are accustomed to expect from  
work of this kind4 ,mr4 ,hamilton       
discusses all the modern ,english       
dramatists1 and1 although he is not free
 from his countrymen's tendency  to     
exaggerated praise--for instance1 few   
,english critics of reputation  would   
endorse his opinion that ,hindle ,wakes 
is a great work--yet  he is far from    
being undiscriminating1 and his         
criticism of ,mr4 ,shaw  and ,mr4       
,galsworthy is penetrating and fresh4   
,mr4 ,hamilton has the great  merit of  
thinking for himself instead of merely  
repeating the current  catchwords of the
 day4 ,he is not afraid to argue that   
,henry ,arthur  ,jones and ,pinero are  
finer dramatists than ,mr4 ,bernard     
,shaw1 but1 on  the other hand1 he can  
appreciate ,mr4 ,chesterton and ,lord   
,dunsany4  ,again1 he is full of        

ingenious suggestions on the subject of 
dramatic  construction1 but he is far   
more conscious of the foolishness of    
dogmatising and laying down             
hard-and-fast rules than such a good    
critic  even as ,mr4 ,william ,archer1  
to whom his book is dedicated4 ,on the  
subject of ,american plays1 as          
represented by the work of ,mr4 ,george 
,m4  ,cohan1 he is scathingly severe1   
and that is a good omen for the future  
of the drama in ,america4            ,w4
 ,j4 ,,turner          ,,the ,,fine     
,,arts      ,,auguste ,,renoir          
,renoir is admired by almost all schools
 of taste1 both conservative  and       
radical1 and naturally each school      
endeavours to claim him as  its own4    
,the impressionists1 for instance1      
emphasise his adoption of  the          
impressionist palette1 his studies in   
the manner of ,monet and  ,pisarro1 his 
general preoccupation with atmosphere   
and sunlight2  the anti-impressionists  
point out his deviation from the        

stippled  technique1 with its           
juxtaposition of the colours of the     
spectrum1  his increasing interest in   
form and composition as contrasted with 
atmosphere1 and his own disclaimer of   
adherence to the naturalistic           
principle3 ,avec la ,nature on fait ce  
qu'on veut et on aboutit  necessairement
 a l'isolement4 ,moi1 je reste dans le  
rang2 also the  famous reply to the     
question1 where one should learn        
painting3 ,au  muse1 parbleu6    ,the   
reflections upon art of even the        
greatest artist are not  necessarily    
correct1 and though an artist preaches  
one theory he may  actually practise    
another4 ,nor are these brief and pithy 
utterances  of ,renoir's altogether     
unambiguous4 ,in order to appreciate the
 real  meaning of any statement of      
theory it is necessary to bear in mind  
the  opposite view which it is          
combating4 ,we cannot infer from        
,renoir's  objection to the             
indiscriminate realism of the later     

impressionist  doctrine that he was in  
favour of ,cubism1 for ,cubism was not  
at the  time under discussion4 ,nor does
 his reference of students to the  old  
masters 7au muse7 imply in the least    
that he would abolish  painting from    
nature4 ,there is1 in fact1 not the     
slightest need to  read into ,renoir's  
simple1 somewhat irritated replies any  
abstruse  semi-metaphysical meaning4    
,they will bear a very normal           
interpretation1  which seems to me to be
 not only the true one1 but also the    
truth4  ,renoir did not believe in the  
chaotic and uninspired painting of      
anything and everything1 nor in the     
pretended complete severance with       
tradition and the past4 ,he knew that   
the study of the old masters had        
assisted him in giving expression to his
 emotion1 and he left the  matter at    
that4 ,actually all his life long he    
painted from nature1 and  it is said    
that he hardly ever worked without a    
model4 ,indeed many of  the             

intellectualists have been compelled to 
class ,renoir as a naf1  who was content
 with the unmediated charms of the      
external world1 and  never aspired to   
more deliberate abstract construction4  
,the ,meaning of ,impressionism    ,this
 distinction1 however1 between the      
realistic impressionist 7,monet71  the  
naf 7,renoir and the douanier           
,rousseau71 and the intellectually      
constructive artist1 such as ,czanne1 is
 apt to be thoroughly  misleading4 ,it  
is true that the theory of              
impressionism1 in its later             
developments1 was a scientific formula  
calculated to fetter rather  than help  
the artist1 but it does not follow1 nor 
is it by any means  true1 that ,monet   
and ,pisarro were not sometimes very    
fine artists4  ,they elaborated a style 
which expressed admirably their own     
brisk  and vivacious sentiment1 and the 
result was neither photographic nor     
discontinuous with the past4 ,surely    
nothing but prejudice and the new       

pedantry of hybrid abstract design could
 deny sthetic value to ,monet's  ,gare  
,st4 ,lazare1 and ,pisarro's ,red       
,roofs1 in the ,luxembourg4 ,often1     
however1 ,monet's work is distinctly    
laboured and only differentiated  from a
 photograph by the worried surface of   
the paint4 ,he is more  monotonous and  
uninspired than his contemporaries1 but 
he is none the  less the author of some 
remarkably good prose descriptions4     
,in short1 impressionism has come to    
stand for two quite distinct  things3   
one a genuine attempt to articulate an  
emotion connected  with light and       
atmosphere1 the other a scientific      
theory of colour  and light4 ,with the  
latter1 few of the important            
impressionists were  concerned4 ,seurat 
is the only one who seems to have been  
influenced to  any noticeable extent and
 yet to have remained an artist4 ,but   
with the  former the whole group were   
more or less concerned1 including       
,renoir  and ,czanne4 ,they all revolted

 from the old sombre colours1 expressive
  of the worship of hoary antiquity1 and
 astonished their contemporaries  by    
plunging into the brightness of the     
present4 ,their different modes  of     
reacting to this general tendency were  
the natural result of  eminently        
desirable differences in temperament4   
,this is the essence of  the divergence 
between1 say1 ,monet1 ,renoir1 and      
,czanne4 ,for the very  reason that they
 each possessed a personal vision their 
work differed1  both technically and in 
its content4 ,it simply is a            
misrepresentation  to say that ,czanne  
indulged in ,cubist deformations4 ,to   
quote a  biographer of ,czanne3--,ce    
sont ses disciples1 ses plagiaires qui  
raconte qu'il deforme4 ,ses             
deformations1 que des cuistres voient si
  bien1 eux qui ne sont pas peintres1 ce
 sont des gestes1 des attitudes1  des   
contours vrais pour ,czanne4 ,il ne     
voyait pas autrement4    ,of course it  
is possible to soak oneself in ,czanne  

to such an extent  that almost          
everything else will seem uninteresting4
 ,but this is  not a magnetism peculiar 
to ,czanne2 it is common to all artists 
of  any comprehensive range1 not        
excepting ,renoir4 ,pass quickly after  
enjoying a collection of ,renoir's      
completest and most lucid work to  some 
of ,czanne's paintings4 ,most probably  
they will appear wooden  and            
unattractive4 ,but this will be a       
psychological illusion1 due to  a sudden
 contrast and the fact that the whole of
 one's emotional  consciousness has been
 shaped to a certain form1 and will not 
immediately reshape itself4 ,our minds  
at any single moment are unable  to     
contain more than a few powerful        
conceptions and impressions1 and  there 
must therefore be times of clashing and 
transition4    ,but there is a sense in 
which ,renoir might very well be        
described as  naf and ingenuous4 ,this  
would refer not to his method or        
technique1  but to the spiritual content

 of his work1 what he means and has to  
say4  ,the centre of his enjoyment lay  
always in something charming1 radiant1  
opulent1 and1 if you like1 sensuous4    
,and so those who are ascetically       
disposed1 if not in their life1 in their
 tastes1 condemn ,renoir as  pretty and 
sentimental4 ,but often they go further 
and conclude that  he was facile1 that  
he painted without difficulty or        
trouble1 as the  birds sing4 ,it may1   
however1 have been as difficult for him 
to attain  a satisfactory expression of 
his emotion1 which was of facility1  as 
it was for ,czanne to express his       
intense consciousness of beauty  struck 
out of conflicting opposites4 ,indeed1  
very often there are  distinct          
indications of a struggle in ,renoir1 of
 inability to get  exactly what he was  
aiming at4 ,a superficial glance might  
put this  down to bad elementary        
draughtsmanship4 ,but one has only to   
consider  the technical proficiency of  
his earlier work 7see ,le ,cabaret de la

  ,mere ,antony1 ,diane ,chasseresse7 to
 realise that the cause of this         
apparent ineptitude must be deeper4 ,it 
is the honesty of the artist who  is    
always developing and refuses to        
overcome difficulties by resort to  the 
camouflage of the obvious and the       
hackneyed4 ,consequently the very       
failure has its appeal4      ,different 
,periods    ,there is a great deal of   
difference of opinion as to the         
respective  value of ,renoir's earlier  
and his later work1 and this has        
afforded  an excellent opportunity for  
the conflicting schools1 who all join   
in admiring ,renoir1 to set up within   
this ostensible union sacre  their old  
party divisions4 ,the conservatives     
adhere1 of course1 to the  first great  
period from #ahgj-ahha2 that is to say  
between ,renoir's  thirtieth and        
fortieth years4 ,in the rest they see a 
gradual decline of  inspiration1 an     
increasing predilection for rotund and  
almost coarse  sensuousness1 a pathetic 

loss of technical power until1 when     
tortured  by gout and hopelessly        
paralysed1 the old master could only    
apply  chaotic dabs of hot and hotter   
colour1 his work became worthless4  ,the
 extremists1 on the other hand1 see a   
steady1 though uneven1  development4    
,they admit readily the enchantment of  
the period of early  maturity when      
,renoir was at the height of his        
physical powers1 but  they have an      
uncomfortable feeling that this kind of 
art is a trifle  too normal1 it is      
something that practically anyone can   
enjoy with a  little effort4 ,the later 
work is more difficult4 ,renoir never   
lost his  peculiar charm1 even when     
painting the fattest of models 7his     
model1 ,i  think1 just grew fatter71 but
 he experimented in different           
directions1  passing from the study of  
light more and more to that of form4    
,latterly1 when an invalid1 he was      
compelled to confine himself within     
narrower bounds1 and the appeal of his  

work has less volume in it4             
,nevertheless1 it is maintained these   
last are the two greatest periods1  if  
not in positive achievement1 at any rate
 in intention4    ,i am disposed1 if    
anything1 to favour the work done in the
 first two  phases1 between his         
thirtieth and sixtieth years1 and ,i am 
not sure  that some of his most perfect 
pictures do not belong to the earlier of
  the two4 ,for he did not produce many 
perfect pictures2 it is nearly  always  
possible to trace some defect4 ,for     
instance1 there has recently  been      
exhibited at the ,eldar ,gallery one of 
the remarkable series of  ,baigneuses4  
,this particular canvas was painted in  
#ahhh4 ,there is a  great deal that is  
very beautiful in it1 but it is not a   
whole4 ,it  is a studio picture1 the    
nude and the landscape have no          
inevitable  connection1 and little      
interest is displayed in the face4      
,further1  the body is cut off1 or      
rather smoothed off1 from its           

environment by  a swish of paint1 which 
signifies nothing1 except that ,renoir  
became  too excited by the actual touch 
and feel and putting on of the paint1   
and also that he had an ide fixe about  
the gradual merging of  the outline into
 its surroundings4 ,this was the        
sentimental echo of  his former genuine 
enthusiasm for plein-air effects4 ,in   
many of  his otherwise admirable figure 
studies this spongy film 7especially    
affecting the hands7 spoils the         
precision of his rendering4 ,sometimes1 
however1 it is appropriate2 for         
instance1 in the famous picture1 ,la    
,moulin de la ,galette 7#ahgf74 ,here   
the flowing atmospheric technique  and  
the significance coincide4 ,the radiant 
coolness of the dappled  light and shade
 is expressed with a freedom and        
spontaneity which is  often lacking in  
,monet and ,pisarro4 ,yet in spite of   
the unalloyed  delight of this dancing  
scene ,i always feel a lurking          
criticism4 ,this  is not because of the 

kind of sentiment which might be        
mistaken for  sentimentality2 it is due 
to something else1 a sameness and       
repetition4  ,there is an absence of    
diversity in these light-hearted        
revellers2 in  fact they are just one   
man and one woman duplicated many times 
over1  and flushed with exactly the same
 translucent emotion4 ,renoir did not   
possess great constructive imaginative  
power1 and he had very little  interest 
in character4 ,this general limitation1 
however1 only became  a concrete        
limitation 7that is to say1 a defect    
observable inside a  picture1 instead of
 one of the infinite things that the    
picture is not7  when he was actually   
portraying some scene necessitating a   
variety of  individual characters4      
,it is in some of his landscapes1 or in 
portrait heads such as that of  ,madame 
,charpentier1 or studies such as ,la    
,loge1 and some of the later  nudes that
 there is the completest fusion of the  
content and the form1  of the technique 

and the emotion4 ,it is frequently said 
that ,renoir  was not a landscape       
painter1 but was par excellence a       
painter of  women or of woman4 ,the     
latter statement undoubtedly has some   
truth in  it1 although the interest was 
not so much in woman as in a particular 
roseate emotion1 more evident in women  
than in men4 ,but he was also  a very   
considerable landscape painter1 and his 
figures of women are  usually placed in 
the open air1 amid scenery possessing   
the same soft  and sweeping texture4    
,even when an invalid he still painted  
out of  doors1 in a specially           
constructed glass house1 while his model
 posed1  often naked1 in his garden4    
,about #ahha he seems to have exhausted 
his direct interest in the  plein-air   
movement4 ,incidentally1 he took a      
journey to ,italy1 but  there is no     
evidence of any influence of this visit 
upon his work1  except that it may have 
served to throw into stronger relief the
  peculiarities of the ,french school   

and his own kinship with it--that       
school which 7in his own phrase7 est si 
gentille1 si clair1 de si  bonne        
compagnie4    ,this1 however1 is least  
applicable to the artist towards whom   
his own  inner development seems to have
 guided him1 namely ,ingres4 ,to put  it
 in the usual superficial and rather    
unsatisfactory way1 he was  passing from
 the study of light to that of two      
dimensional form4 ,the  actual result   
was a synthesis in which brilliant      
colour and light  played a part never   
dreamt of by ,ingres4 ,at first his work
 showed an  unusual hardness and lack of
 skill4 ,he never possessed the sureness
  of touch of ,manet1 which often was   
mere virtuosity2 nor does one ever  feel
 behind his hand the overwhelming       
impetuosity of ,van ,gogh4 ,he  feels   
his way gradually1 producing a great    
deal1 in fact too much1  and succeeding 
only in certain moments4 ,the           
culmination was reached  in the large   
composition of the four bathers 7which  

,i have not seen7  in the collection of 
,m4 ,j4 ,e4 ,blanche4 ,opinion seems to 
differ as to  its value1 but1 whatever  
defects it may possess1 it is clearly of
  a monumental character1 and probably  
represents the highest point  that      
,renoir was able to attain in the       
attempt to bring together the           
sculpturesque qualities of one of his   
first large compositions1 ,diane        
,chasseresse1 and the luminosity and    
richness of the ,moulin de la  ,galette4
    ,between the years #ahhe and #ahig  
there followed a whole succession of    
remarkable pictures1 including ,les     
,enfants ,benard1 ,mre et ,enfant1  ,les
 ,filles de ,catulle ,mends1 ,les       
,parapluies1 and ,au ,piano1 of  which  
there are two examples1 one being at the
 ,luxembourg4 ,although  ,renoir was    
moving away from his former softness and
 mistiness1 as if in  dissatisfaction   
with the youthful joy in mere sensation1
 he never left  it right behind1 he     
remained on the borderland and looked   

back on it1  contemplating it with      
maturer insight4      ,about #aijj to   
#aiai    ,the last stage constituted a  
partial return to the first2 he reverted
  to his former freedom and suppleness  
of touch4 ,but the method is more       
direct and the content more realistic   
and crude1 although there is  still the 
same lyrical tenderness4 ,his colours   
are bolder and hotter1  and it is       
alleged that he strengthened them       
purposely with a view to  their being   
modified by time4 ,this appears to me a 
most dangerous  doctrine4 ,how could one
 ever be certain that the present wrong 
tones  would be altered by exposure to  
exactly the correct tones8 ,and why  put
 oneself to such pain in the present for
 the sake of an uncertain  future8 ,for 
it must be very painful to a sensitive  
artist to create  something out of tone1
 even on purpose4 ,for these reasons    
7and  without the backing of any        
authority7 ,i rather doubt whether there
 is  much truth in this intended excuse4

 ,and ,i doubt whether any excuse  is   
necessary4 ,i believe that in the       
majority of cases ,renoir meant         
something by this hotter colour1 and    
that in this respect the pictures  are  
their own justification4 ,it is         
impossible to hail all of them as       
masterpieces4 ,many definitely betray   
loss of vitality and imagination4  ,but 
,i cannot agree that the work of this   
period is that of an invalided  old man 
who is living sentimentally on his past4
    ,there has recently been on view1 at
 the ,chelsea ,book ,club1 a collection 
of oil paintings and pastels by ,renoir4
 ,some of them were relatively          
unimportant earlier works1 but the      
majority belonged to the later  period4 
,none of them1 with the exception1      
perhaps1 of a flower piece  and a small 
head of a woman1 can be ranked very     
high2 but they indicate  the limits and 
at the same time the mellow charm of the
 work of this  time4 ,this charm is not 
perhaps immediately felt2 it grows upon 

one1  but it is quite real4 ,in his old 
age ,renoir remained as much as ever a  
poet1 only his poetry is thinner and    
more fragile4    ,renoir was born in    
#ahda and died in #aiai4 ,of his famous 
contemporaries  only ,claude ,monet is  
still alive4            ,,howard        
,,hannay          ,,music      ,,the    
,,naturalization ,,of ,,opera ,,in      
,,england    ,in ,italy opera is a tree 
which has sprung from a seed and grown  
swiftly  in the course of centuries to  
an exuberant1 perhaps an over-exuberant1
  maturity4 ,it has been fertilised from
 other countries1 but its  trunk has    
kept one firm straight line by its own  
perfectly natural  development4 ,in     
,england that tree has not flourished4  
,various attempts  have been made to    
naturalize it1 but for the most part the
 ,english  cultivators never produced   
more than stunted and distorted growths4
  ,even when they seemed to do well for 
a time they bore curiously little       
resemblance to their original parent4   

,other gardeners1 observing how         
meagrely the tree prospered in the open 
ground1 transplanted opera  full-grown  
from ,italy1 and did their best to      
provide it artificially  with its own   
soil and its own climate4 ,it was an    
expensive amusement1  and the more      
expensive it was the more successful its
 promoters  proclaimed it to be4 ,but it
 could not be called naturalization4    
,the  only course which has shown any   
signs of being practicable was to graft 
the foreign shoot on to a sturdy native 
growth1 if a suitable stock  could be   
found4 ,but it is a process requiring   
careful handling and  careful watching1 
for the tree takes a long time to become
 thoroughly  acclimatized4    ,it is    
pretty generally agreed that ,english   
opera must be preceded by  opera in     
,english4 ,our public--our real public1 
that is to say1 not the  handful of     
people who concentrate a special        
attention on opera1 both  ,english and  
foreign--will not be ready to take new  

native operas to  their hearts until    
they have got thoroughly into the habit 
of enjoying  those popular works which  
form the international repertory4 ,those
  operas--,faust1 ,carmen1 ,il          
,trovatore1 and the rest--are popular in
  ,england already1 it will be said4    
,yes1 as operas go1 they are indeed     
popular2 but only among those people1 in
 whatever section of society1  who have 
developed the opera habit4 ,for even in 
what are called the  popular theatres1  
where they are played in ,english to    
cheap and crowded  audiences1 they are  
almost always exotic still4 ,if it were 
not that a  large majority of operas are
 called by the names of their principal 
characters1 we should see more          
significance in the fact that we speak  
of the others in nearly every case by   
their native titles1 and do not         
translate them4 ,we have learnt to talk 
of ,the ,magic ,flute and ,the  ,flying 
,dutchman2 but even at the ,old ,vic4   
they keep the names of ,il  ,trovatore1 

,la ,traviata1 and ,cavalleria          
,rusticana4    ,wherever they are played
 by ,english singers in ,english        
theatres they  remain1 as it were1      
extra-territorial4 ,to begin with1 the  
translations  of nearly all popular     
operas are abominable4 ,this has been   
said many  times before4 ,but what has  
not been said so often is that1         
abominable  as they are1 there is hardly
 an opera-singer who is willing to learn
  a new translation1 even when it is    
candidly admitted that the new          
translation is easier to sing than the  
old one4 ,there are plenty of  sound    
reasons for this apparent obstinacy4 ,it
 is not due merely to  laziness or to   
the vested interests of publishers4     
,what is far more  important is that a  
new translation1 if it is really good1  
involves  a new style of singing1 a new 
style of acting1 a new scheme for the   
entire production of the opera4 ,the    
average opera-singer learns his  parts  
in a spirit of routine4 ,he cannot waste

 time over trying to  find out the plot 
of the opera or to analyse the          
personalities of the  characters4 ,he   
learns the traditions and is ready to   
step into his part  without rehearsal in
 any operatic company that may happen to
 engage  him4 ,it may sound very        
shocking to the reader that operas      
should be  put on the stage without any 
rehearsal whatever2 but it is nothing   
unusual in the world of actual fact4    
,after all1 it is not much more         
unreasonable that an opera company      
should sing ,maritana without           
rehearsing than that an orchestra of    
professionals should give an            
unrehearsed performance of the overture 
to ,william ,tell or the ballet  music  
from ,rosamunde4      ,the ,function of 
the ,audience    ,sir ,thomas ,beecham1 
when he first formed his opera company1 
sought out  youth1 intelligence and     
enthusiasm4 ,he began in a brave and    
gallant  spirit1 and in his company     
there is still something of that spirit 

left4 ,at the beginning it was hardly   
expected that he would do much  better  
than the well-known provincial companies
 which used occasionally  to give a     
season in ,london4 ,but he aimed at     
storming ,covent ,garden4  ,covent      
,garden was inaccessible during the war1
 partly because no  foreign singers were
 available to fill it1 and partly       
because it was  already filled with     
furniture4 ,the war ended1 the old      
,covent ,garden  exotic opera           
reappeared4 ,sir ,thomas1 however1 did  
not leave its  territory inviolate1 and 
he is now in complete possession4 ,but  
,covent  ,garden has been too strong for
 the invaders4 ,like the barbarians who 
invaded ,italy1 they are becoming       
,romanised4 ,at ,covent ,garden there   
are  boxes and box-holders who adore    
,melba1 ,caruso1 and the rest4 ,there is
  a splendid orchestra1 there are fine  
singers1 there is magnificent  scenery4 
,but the longer the company stays there 
the less chance there  seems to be of   

their preparing the way for the real    
,english opera of  the future4    ,what 
,english opera wants is an audience4    
,and the best audience that ,i  have    
ever seen in any opera-house in ,europe 
is the audience at the ,old  ,vic4      
,italian audiences are reputed to be    
appreciative2 but they are  interested  
primarily in singing and in little else4
 ,they are critical  of this only1 and  
they have a certain tendency to be      
cruel4 ,the ,old  ,vic4 audience1 if it 
is bored1 lets the actors know it2 but  
it is  never cruel1 and it is ready to  
appreciate other things besides mere    
singing4 ,once its attention has been   
secured there is no audience to  equal  
it for quick intelligence and           
responsiveness to both tragedy and      
comedy4 ,but ,covent ,garden has no pit1
 and its gallery is too small and  too  
distant to assert itself4    ,half-way  
between the ,old ,vic4 and ,covent      
,garden stands the new  enterprise of   
,messrs4 ,miln and ,fairbairn1 at the   

,surrey4 ,the ,surrey has  secured its  
audience4 ,it has begun with the old    
familiar favourites1  but it has also   
included in its repertory ,the ,flying  
,dutchman and  ,don ,giovanni1 both of  
which have drawn full houses4 ,very     
wisely the  management has not wasted   
its money on elaborate scenery1 though  
it  is in a position to stage the       
,flying ,dutchman quite adequately1 and 
that is no small matter4 ,there is an   
orchestra which1 if not large1 is  at   
least complete4 ,it began by being      
rather rough1 and even in ,don          
,giovanni1 for which it is just exactly 
balanced in proportion of  wind and     
strings1 it only too forcibly recalled  
the criticisms made  by ,mozart's       
contemporaries on his overpowering      
orchestration4 ,it is  in their singers 
that ,messrs4 ,miln and ,fairbairn have 
been peculiarly  successful4 ,youth1    
intelligence1 and enthusiasm are        
certainly well  represented here4       
,the ,surrey's ,opportunity    ,mr4     

,fairbairn1 who is responsible for the  
production of the operas1 has  in this  
company a wonderful opportunity1 if he  
will only seize it4 ,here  is a splendid
 house that combines the dignity of an  
eighteenth-century  design with the     
practical convenience of an interior    
recently  remodelled2 an audience with  
no critical and social pretensions to   
keep  up1 but unsophisticated1          
appreciative1 and alert2 and a company  
of  young singers keen to learn and     
ready to throw themselves generously    
into their work4 ,starting on such a    
basis1 the ,surrey has every chance  to 
develop into a great and flourishing    
school of ,english opera4 ,but  to      
develop such a school needs more than   
average courage1 initiative1            
intelligence1 and hard work4 ,it means  
that gradually1 one by one1 the         
translations of all the standard operas 
must be thoroughly revised4  ,along with
 this revision there must be a          
thorough-going revision and             

reconsideration from the beginning of   
the system on which each opera  is      
produced4 ,tradition must be abandoned  
if it cannot be justified by  common    
sense4 ,each opera must be worked out   
afresh from the beginning1  as if it had
 never been put on the stage before4    
,and the director of  such a school must
 be prepared to face possible hostility 
towards his  revisions4 ,there will     
always be some among his audience who   
prefer the  old tradition1 good or bad1 
simply because they like to hear what   
they  have always heard4 ,such people   
have got to be convinced and converted4 
,that is not impossible4 ,even operatic 
audiences have a certain amount  of     
common sense1 and it is to common sense 
that an operatic producer  must not be  
afraid of appealing4 ,the plots of most 
operas are generally  admitted to be    
nonsense1 but that is no reason why one 
should not make  a vigorous effort to   
put sense into them4 ,few plots could be
 more  absurd than that of ,il          

,trovatore2 but if ,verdi succeeded in  
writing  music that1 by virtue of its   
persistent directness1 its unswerving   
pursuit of its dramatic end1 has made   
,il ,trovatore one of the  greatest     
operas ever composed1 surely it is worth
 a producer's while  to concentrate     
attention on making the libretto as     
clear and as sure  of its dramatic      
intention as the music is4 ,the         
translator of an opera  must not rest   
satisfied with merely translating each  
line as singably  and as reasonably as  
he can1 just as it happens to come      
along4 ,he must  regard the libretto as 
a literary whole1 must endeavour to     
attain  some unity of style1 and still  
more to achieve a cumulative dramatic   
effect by little touches1 significant   
phrases to fit important musical        
phrases2 he must in each recitative or  
aria see at once where the  climax is   
and fit it with a telling point1 to     
which the rest of the  movement will    
lead up4 ,he must differentiate his     

characters1 giving  each its own        
literary individuality4 ,if his original
 text is a bad one  he must improve upon
 it4 ,there are many cases in which a   
librettist has  had a good idea but has 
failed to express it adequately4        
,sometimes the  composer has understood 
the idea and has clothed the wretched   
words  with music that lifts them on to 
a higher plane4 ,the translator here    
finds his opportunity1 and must do his  
best to find ,english words which  may  
express the poet's intention rather than
 his actual achievement4    ,the singer 
who meets with a good translation is no 
longer  uncomfortable1 nervous1 and     
ashamed about his part4 ,he finds that  
he  can bring home his songs to his     
audience in a way that he never could   
before2 he learns to realise his part as
 a personality1 he may even get  as far 
as beginning to imagine what the        
character in question might  have said  
or done when he was not on the stage4   
,in this way the double  appeal to the  

audience can be made1 the appeal that is
 irresistible1  the appeal to their own 
common sense1 coupled with the          
overwhelming  appeal of real personality
 in the actor4    ,if all operatic      
directors insisted resolutely on good   
translations and  insisted that their   
singers should sing them like real      
natural ,english1  we might develop a   
really ,english school of opera4 ,our   
own poets and  composers could watch and
 listen1 and possibly learn something   
which  would guide them in the          
construction of their own original      
librettos  and music4 ,they would       
gradually come to find out what even our
  song-writers have only very partially 
discovered1 namely1 what are the  true  
dramatic possibilities of ,english      
voices singing ,english poetry4         
,,edward ,j4 ,,dent          ,,select   
,,list ,,of ,,publications      ,,art   
,,john ,,zoffany1 ,r4,a43 ,,his ,,life  
,,and ,,works1 #agce-ahaj4 ,by ,,lady   
,,victoria      ,,manners and ,,dr4 ,g4 

,c4 ,,williamson4 ,john ,lane4 #g #gs4  
,,belles-,,lettres      ,,shakespeare   
,,identified ,,in ,,edward ,,de ,,vere1 
,,the ,,seventeenth ,,earl ,,of         
,,oxford4 ,by ,j4 ,,thomas ,,looney4    
,cecil ,palmer4 #bas4      ,,the        
,,english ,,ode ,,to #affj4 ,an ,essay  
in ,literary ,history4 ,by ,,robert     
,,shafer4 ,princeton3 ,university       
,press4 ,london3 ,milford4 #cs4 #f;d4   
,,some ,,modern ,,novelists4 ,by ,h4 ,t4
 and ,w4 ,,follett4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #gs4
      #f;d4      ,,books ,,in ,,general4
 ,second ,series4 ,by ,,solomon ,,eagle4
 ,secker1 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,biography   
,,and ,,memoirs      ,,the ,,prime      
,,minister4 ,by ,,harold ,,spender4     
,hodder  ,stoughton4 #ajs4      #f;d4   
,,from ,,authority ,,to ,,freedom3 ,,the
 ,,spiritual ,,pilgrimage ,,of ,,charles
      ,,hargrove4 ,by ,l4 ,p4 ,,jacks4  
,williams  ,norgate4 #abs4 #f;d4        
,,the ,,life ,,and ,,letters ,,of       
,,george ,,alfred ,,lefroy1 ,d4,d41     
,,bishop ,,of      ,,calcutta ,,and     

,,metropolitan4 ,by ,h4 ,h4             
,,montgomery1 sometime ,bishop of       
,tasmania1 late ,secretary of the       
,s4,p4,g4 ,longmans4 #ads4      ,,lord  
,,grey ,,of ,,the ,,reform ,,bill4 ,by  
,g4 ,m4 ,,trevelyan4 ,longmans4 #bas4   
,,silvanus ,,phillips ,,thompson3 ,,his 
,,life ,,and ,,letters4 ,by ,,jane      
,,smeal      ,,thompson and ,,helen ,g4 
,,thompson4 ,fisher ,unwin4 #bas4       
,,classical      ,,sappho ,,and ,,the   
,,vigil ,,of ,,venus4 ,translated by    
,,arthur ,s4 ,,way4 ,macmillan      #cs4
 #f;d4      ,,the ,,trees1 ,,shrubs1    
,,and ,,plants ,,of ,,virgil4 ,by ,,john
 ,,sargeaunt4 ,oxford      ,blackwell4  
#fs4      ,,drama      ,a ,,little      
,,drama ,,of ,,the ,,crucifixion4 ,being
 a modernisation of the                 
,crucifixion in the ,towneley ,mystery  
,plays1 circa ,a4,d4 #adjj4 ,by         
,,dr4 ,,ernest ,j4 ,b4 ,,kirtlan4       
,epworth ,press1 #as4 #c;d4      ,,what 
,,is ,,wrong ,,with ,,the ,,stage8 ,by  
,,william ,,poel4 ,allen  ,unwin4 #bs4  

,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,playwright4 ,by 
,,clayton ,,hamilton4 ,allen  ,unwin4   
#gs4      #f;d4      ,,fiction      ,,an
 ,,imperfect ,,mother4 ,by ,j4 ,d4      
,,beresford4 ,collins4 #gs4 #f;d4       
,,the ,,black ,,curtain4 ,by ,,douglas  
,,goldring4 ,chapman  ,hall4 #gs4 #f;d4 
,,miser',s ,,money4 ,by ,,eden          
,,phillpotts4 ,heinemann4 #gs4 #f;d4    
,,pirates ,,of ,,the ,,spring4 ,by      
,,forrest ,,reid4 ,dublin3 ,talbot      
,press4 ,london3      ,fisher ,unwin4   
#gs4      ,,the ,,triumphs ,,of ,,sara4 
,by ,w4 ,e4 ,,norris4 ,hutchinson4 #gs4 
#f;d4      ,,adventures ,,in ,,marriage4
 ,by ,,ward ,,muir4 ,simpkin1 ,marshall4
 #fs4      ,,mary-,,girl4 ,by ,,hope    
,,merrick4 ,collins4 #gs4      ,,uncle  
,,lionel4 ,by ,s4 ,p4 ,b4 ,,mais4 ,grant
 ,richards4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,the       
,,house ,,of ,,baltazar4 ,by ,,william  
,j4 ,,locke4 ,john ,lane4 #gs4          
,,the ,,white ,,pope4 ,by ,s4 ,r4       
,,crockett4 ,liverpool3 ,books ,limited4
 #fs4      ,,roast ,,beef1 ,,medium4 ,by

 ,,edna ,,ferber4 ,methuen4 #fs4        
,,rachel ,,fitzpatrick4 ,by ,,lady      
,,poore4 ,john ,lane4 #gs4              
,,tatterdemalion4 ,by ,,john            
,,galsworthy4 ,heinemann4 #gs4 #f;d4    
,,admiral ,,teach4 ,by ,c4 ,j4          
,,cutcliffe ,,hyne4 ,methuen4 #gs4      
,,the ,,gods ,,of ,,mars4 ,by ,,edgar   
,,rice ,,burroughs4 ,methuen4 #fs4      
,,history      ,,medi,,val ,,forgers    
,,and ,,forgeries4 ,by ,t4 ,f4 ,,tout4  
,manchester3 ,university      ,press4   
,london3 ,longmans4 #as4      ,a        
,,history ,,of ,,the ,,venerable        
,,english ,,college1 ,,rome4 ,by ,his   
,eminence      ,,cardinal ,,gasquet4    
,longmans4 #aes4      ,,erasmus ,,and   
,,luther4 ,by ,,robert ,h4 ,,murray4    
,s4,p4,c4,k4 #bes4      ,,the ,,english 
,,catholics ,,in ,,the ,,reign ,,of     
,,queen ,,elizabeth4 ,by ,j4 ,h4        
,,pollen4 ,longmans4 #bas4      ,,naval 
,,and ,,military      ,,my ,,campaign   
,,in ,,mesopotamia4 ,by                 
,,major-,,general ,,sir ,,charles ,v4   

,f4      ,,townshend1 ,k4,c4,b4         
,thornton ,butterworth4 #bhs4           
,,naval ,,operations3 ,,vol4 ,i4 ,,to   
,,the ,,battle ,,of ,,the ,,falklands1  
,,december1      #aiad4 ,by ,,sir       
,,julian ,s4 ,,corbett4 ,longmans4 #ags4
 #f;d4      ,,the ,,american ,,army ,,in
 ,,the ,,european ,,conflict4 ,by       
,,colonel ,,de ,,chambrun      and      
,,captain ,,de ,,marenches4 ,the        
,macmillan ,co4 #ahs4      ,,realities  
,,of ,,war4 ,by ,,philip ,,gibbs4       
,heinemann4 #aes4      ,,the ,,south    
,,african ,,forces ,,in ,,france4 ,by   
,,lieut4-,,colonel ,,john ,,buchan4     
,nelson4 #aes4      ,,with ,,the        
,,die-,,hards ,,in ,,siberia4 ,by       
,,colonel ,,john ,,ward1 ,c4,b4         
,cassell4      #ajs4 #f;d4      ,,poetry
      ,,country ,,sentiment4 ,by        
,,robert ,,graves4 ,secker4 #es4        
,,the ,,white ,,road4 ,by ,,eva         
,,martin4 ,philip ,allan4 #cs4 #f;d4    
,,more ,,translations ,,from ,,heine4   
,by ,,philip ,g4 ,l4 ,,webb1 ,c4,b4     

,allen       ,unwin4 #cs4 #f;d4         
,,flowers ,,in ,,the ,,grass4 ,by       
,,maurice ,,hewlett4 ,constable4 #es4   
,,ulster ,,songs ,,and ,,ballads4 ,by   
,,padric ,,gregory4 ,dublin3 ,talbot    
,press4      ,london3 ,fisher ,unwin4   
#bs4 #f;d4      ,,the ,,well ,,of       
,,being4 ,by ,,herbert ,,jones4 ,lane4  
#es4      ,,politics1 ,,economics1 etc4 
,,fleet ,,street ,,and ,,downing        
,,street4 ,by ,,kennedy ,,jones4        
,hutchinson4 #afs4      ,,social        
,,theory4 ,by ,g4 ,d4 ,h4 ,,cole4       
,methuen4 #es4      ,,the ,,unsolved    
,,riddle ,,of ,,social ,,justice4 ,by   
,,stephen ,,leacock4 ,john ,lane4       
#es4      ,,the ,,social ,,worker4 ,by  
,c4 ,r4 ,,attlee4 7,the ,social ,service
 ,library47      ,bell4 #fs4      ,,coal
 ,,mining ,,and ,,the ,,coal ,,miner4   
,by ,h4 ,f4 ,,bulman4 ,methuen4 #abs4   
#f;d4      ,,economics ,,for ,,to-,,day4
 ,an ,elementary ,view4 ,by ,,alfred    
,,milnes4 ,dent4      #cs4 #f;d4        
,,the ,,evolution ,,of ,,sinn ,,fein4   

,by ,,robert ,,mitchell ,,henry4        
,dublin3 ,talbot      ,press4 ,london3  
,fisher ,unwin4 #es4      ,,economic    
,,democracy4 ,by ,,major ,c4 ,h4        
,,douglas4 ,cecil ,palmer4 #es4         
,,the ,,new ,,germany4 ,by ,,george     
,,young4 ,constable4 #hs4               
,,international ,,economic ,,and        
,,financial ,,problems4 ,by ,,dr4 ,g4   
,,vissering4      ,macmillan4 #ds4      
,,religion ,,and ,,philosophy      ,,the
 ,,eucharistic ,,sacrifice4 ,by         
,,darwell ,,stone4 ,robert ,scott4 #cs4 
#f;d4      ,,the ,,re-,,making ,,of ,a  
,,mind4 ,a ,soldier's ,thoughts on ,war 
and      ,reconstruction4 ,allen        
,unwin4 #gs4 #f;d4      ,,morning       
,,knowledge4 ,by ,,alastair ,,shannon4  
,longmans4 #ads4      ,,the ,,sword ,,of
 ,,justice4 ,by ,,john ,,eyre           
,,winstanley ,,wallis1 ,brasenose       
,college1 ,oxford2 ,vicar of ,whalley4  
,with an ,introduction by ,,ernest      
,,barker1 ,fellow and ,tutor of ,new    
,college1 ,oxford4 ,oxford3 ,blackwell4 

#es4      ,,science      ,,an           
,,introduction ,,to ,,the ,,study ,,of  
,,cytology4 ,by ,l4 ,,doncaster1 ,fellow
      of ,king's ,college1 ,cambridge2  
,derby ,professor of ,zoology in the    
,university of ,liverpool4 ,cambridge   
,university ,press4 #bas4      ,,the    
,,foundations ,,of ,,einstein',s        
,,theory ,,of ,,gravitation4 ,by ,,erwin
      ,,freundlich4 ,cambridge          
,university ,press4 #es4      ,,the     
,,theory ,,of ,,the ,,imaginary ,,in    
,,geometry4 ,by ,j4 ,l4 ,s4 ,,hatton1   
,professor of ,mathematics and          
,principal of ,east ,london ,college4   
,cambridge ,university ,press4 #ahs4    
,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,aerography4   
,by ,,alexander ,mc,a,d,i,e4 ,harrap4   
#bas4      ,,collected ,,scientific     
,,papers4 ,by ,,john ,,henry ,,poynting4
 ,cambridge      ,university ,press4    
#cgs4 #f;d4          ,transcribers'     
,notes3      ,greek transliterations    
provided by transcribers are enclosed in
 curly  braces4 ,greek letters and      

special symbols that cannot be displayed
  with simple text have been omitted    
from some versions of this e,book1  and 
may be displayed as question marks on   
some mobile devices4    ,footnotes have 
been moved to immediately follow the    
paragraphs or  headings that refer to   
them4    ,since this e,book contains    
text written by many authors1           
inconsistencies  in spelling and        
punctuation have not been changed4      
,simple typographical errors were       
corrected2 occasional unbalanced        
quotation marks retained4               
,inconsistent hyphenation and ambiguous 
hyphens at the ends of lines  were      
retained4    ,text uses both ,newdigate 
and ,newdegate4    ,page #ec3 ,god bless
 your ,majesty is missing ending        
punctuation4    ,page #fe3 the corn of  
the crocus perhaps should be corm4      
,page #bja3 rallying-point or the new   
perhaps should be of4    ,page #bjb3 an 
was added by ,transcribers to a familiar
 thing from an  unfamiliar angle1 as    

there was empty space where a short word
 belonged4    ,page #bdc3 ,les          
,prcieuses ,ridicules was printed       
without the acute  accent4    ,page     
#bfb3 ,keatsiam probably should be      
,keatsian4    ,page #cfg3 ,unclear      
whether the punctuation after ,ramsay   
,macdonald is a  comma or period4       
,page #chh3 rake-hells was printed that 
way4    ,page #chh3 with a priceless    
gift had blank space where the a has    
been added in this e,book4    ,page     
#efj3 as the authors' record was printed
 with the apostrophe4    ,page #fjh3    
deeplier was printed that way4    ,page 
#gad3 ,the printing of twenty more he   
lover's was defective4    ,page #gai3 e 
represents the superscript e4    ,page  
#gbj3 a represents the superscript a4