derstood and misrepresented, and they
engaged in the work of the ministry before were not spared when the States were invaded,
coming to America. On their second visit to
On their second visit to being exposed to the requisitions of the Amer-
Virginia, as Sewall relates the facts, “ They had icans and the thefts and robberies of the British,
been pilloried, and each had been whipped with just as in the late Civil War the Friends in
thirty-two stripes, with a whip of nine cords, Virginia, who occupied territory contended for
and every cord with three knots ; and they were by both Federal and Confederate troops, were
handled so severely that the very first lash in turn exposed to the ravages of each. Mr.
drew blood and made it run down from their Weeks sets forth in detail their struggle with
breasts." They had recently experienced the the civil authorities for the rights of conscience
same sort of treatment in Massachusetts ; and the extent to wbich those rights were con-
“their goods were then seized, and they were ceded during the Revolution ; and although
expelled from the colony in June, 1664” (pp. individual Friends sometimes swerved from
21, 22).
their professed principles, and the Society itself
According to a law of Virginia known as the was not always entirely consistent, it was faith-
Conventicle Act of 1663, prohibiting the un-
ful to its testimonies.
lawful assembling of Quakers, they were for But Southern Friends appear at their best in


40
[July 16,
THE DIAL
their dealings with slavery. Mr. Weeks is which will surprise many people, namely, that
fairly justified in saying that “the mission of the Friends as a body were opposed to the un-
Quakerism has been to the slave. In this strug- derground railroad. It is not easy to see how
gle Quakers appealed to the universal con this opposition could have been very united or
science of mankind. Here they ceased to be earnest, if we bear in mind the great work of
propagandists of faith, and became propagan Levi Coffin and other Friends in shipping fugi-
dists of action. They announced their opposi- tives to Canada.
tion to the system when it had no other oppo In his ninth chapter, page 216, Mr. Weeks
nents, and they steadfastly maintained their makes a statement which invites comment and
testimony until its last traces were swept from correction. In speaking of Friends, he says:
the English-speaking world.” In their earlier They were not Abolitionists. They believed an
career in the South many of them held slaves, attempt by the general government to interfere with
and some as late as 1781 ; but as a body they
slavery would cause excitement and alarm. The power
over slavery, they said, was in the States. In 1836, the
were hostile to the evil from the beginning, and
Yearly Meeting attributed excitement on the question
this hostility steadily increased till the owning of slavery to abolition societies, and said that this had
of a slave was made a disciplinable offense. raised the people of the United States almost as one
The laws of Virginia and the Carolinas pro-
man against them, and had closed the door of useful-
hibiting emancipation were in their way, and
ness' on behalf of the negro. They bear witness that
the desire to emancipate was becoming more general in
against these they labored till the Virginia act Virginia. One of the last things done by the Virginia
of 1782 gave all slave-owners the power to Yearly Meeting is to warn Friends against the extremes
emancipate by will after death, or by acknowl of the Abolitionists."
edging the will while alive in open court, pro This passage shows how long a baseless fabri-
vided they agreed to support all the aged, infirm, cation, well-launched, can live. It must be at
and young persons thus set at liberty. This least sixty years since the charge was invented
law had been defeated the year before by Ben that the abolitionists proposed the overthrow
jamin Harrison ; and Robert Pleasants states of slavery through the action of the general
in his “ Letter Book " that forty of Harrison's government. The Friends believed this in 1836,
slaves had gone off with the British, and he and it is not surprising, for in the frenzied tem-
intimates that this was a punishment for his per of the public mind at that time the purpose
opposition to emancipation. Friends found an of the abolition societies was totally misunder-
other obstacle to the work of emancipation in stood. They always disclaimed any right on
the laws of Indiana and Illinois forbidding the part of the general government to inter-
masters to carry negroes there for the purpose meddle with slavery in the States, and conceded
of giving them freedom, and also forbidding that the power over it was solely in them. This
negroes already free to migrate thither. But was the position of the old Liberty party, and
they persevered in their work, and in the face of afterwards of the Free Soil and Republican
much difficulty succeeded in colonizing many parties. It was the position also of the Garri-
free colored people in the states named. Friends sonian abolitionists, who were in favor of a
who acted as overseers of slaves were disowned. peaceable dissolution of the Union, because the
They gave constant attention to the aged and general government had no right to abolish
helpless among the colored people, and spared slavery. And neither they nor any other body
no pains in inculcating the duties of thrift and of anti-slavery men ever asserted any right to
temperance and in supplying them with the interfere with slavery by physical force. But
means of education. It is a noteworthy fact in the passage quoted, Mr. Weeks not only
that the North Carolina Friends favored the ignores these well-known facts of history and
colonization of negroes, and it is still more re commends the Friends for repudiating a policy
markable that this cunningly devised scheme of which no anti-slavery party ever espoused, but
imposture and inhumanity which was intended he revives the exploded charge that the aboli-
to tighten the chains of the slave and perpet tionists had set back the cause of emancipation.
uate his bondage was at first almost universally We supposed that this accusation had been
favored by the leading Abolitionists of the buried too deep for any possible resurrection.
United States and England. In the earlier It did effective service for the sympathizers
stages of the anti-slavery conflict, Charles Os with slavery two generations ago, as a pretext
borne was the only man of prominence who for opposing all anti-slavery action; but its
comprehended the project and condemned it. work is done, and if it has any surviving friends
Mr. Weeks mentions another remarkable fact, they should beg for it the mercy of oblivion.


1896.]
41
THE DIAL
In speaking of the divisions and subdivisions The Society was handicapped by its action. It
of Friends, we think Mr. Weeks might with owed Charles Osborne much, morally and spir-
propriety have referred to the trouble in the itually ; but its love of consistency triumphed
Whitewater, Indiana, Yearly Meeting in 1842, over its conscience. The facts relating to this
which was caused by the action of that meeting transaction have been given to the public, and
in dealing with Charles Osborne for his anti we think that something more than a mere allu-
slavery position. This meeting represented the sion to them would have been appropriate in a
largest body of Friends in the United States. history of Southern Quakers. The truth ought
By some means the colonization and conserva to be told, and no man or party should be
tive element in the body had then gained the allowed to “escape history.”
ascendency, and abolitionism was regarded as Perhaps the most interesting portion of this
a terror. The society had forbidden the use of volume is the chapter on “Quaker Social Life.”
meeting-houses for anti-slavery lectures, and Their marriages were solemnized according to
the joining in anti-slavery organizations with regulations of the Society, and these frequently
those who did not profess to wait for divine involved them in trouble with the civil author-
direction. It also had advised against anti- ities, which at first declined to tolerate their
slavery publications by Friends, without first peculiarities. Friends were not allowed to in-
submitting them to the examination of a Meet- termarry with people outside their own body,
ing for Sufferings. Charles Osborne was then and disownment was the penalty for violating
a member of the Meeting for Sufferings, and this requirement. Second marriages were not
he and seven others refused to obey this unau permitted in less than one year; but the Caro-
thorized prohibitory advice. For this action lina Friends considered this period too long,
they were degraded from their positions as and reduced it to nine months. Friends were
“disqualified,” and their places filled by per- warned against costly attire, new fashions, and
sons who were willing to become the instruments superfluity of apparel; and against “striped and
of the Yearly Meeting. They were not accused flowered stuffs in making or selling or wearing
of any unsoundness in doctrine, nor were any of them.” They were to have no “foulds in their
formal charges preferred against them. They coats, or any other unnecessary
fashions or cus-
begged that the reasons for this action might toms in their dresses.” One of the North Caro-
be spread upon the minutes of the meeting, as lina Meetings, in 1752, advised that Friends
a matter of simple justice to themselves, and in " keep out of superfluity of meats and drinks
order that they might not stand recorded as and apparel,” and that no Friend wear a wig
transgressors; but their petition was disre without giving a reason for so doing, which
garded. A division in the Society followed, and shall be adjudged of by the meeting. Friends
a new branch, which became known as the were not to run in and out during service, and
Society of Anti-slavery Friends, was organized. young people were not suffered to sit too much
This action against Osborne and his associates in companies in the back part of the meeting-
was taken in 1842, at the Yearly Meeting house without having some solid Friend or two
which welcomed to a seat among the ruling to sit with them. Friends testified against ex-
elders Henry Clay, who, in his Menden ball cess in smoking in Virginia as early as 1701,
speech, the day before, had declared that the and those who used tobacco in North Carolina
Society of Friends take the right stand in rela were warned to use it with “great moderation as
tion to this subject.” Years afterwards, when a medicine, and not a delightsome companion."
the new Fugitive Slave Law, the repeal of the “Vain and vicious proceedings, as frolicking,
Missouri Compromise, and the struggle to fiddling, and dancing,” were testified against.
make Kansas a slave State, had revolutionized Liquors were not used to excess, and at a later
public opinion, the eyes of these Friends were period Friends were forbidden to keep taverns
anointed, and, like other religious bodies, they and retail liquors. State distillers in Virginia
saw their duties in a new light. The “world,” were disowned. No public paupers were mem-
on which they turned their backs in 1841 to bers of the Society, which took care of its own
avoid its contamination, had at last taught them poor. Friends were not allowed to go to law
more wisdom than any divine inpulse had been with each other, but they might bring suit
able to impart. But they refused to make any against a member who had been disowned.
atonement for their conduct in dealing with Friends were obliged to obey the rule, “Swear
these brave and faithful men, and insisted that not at all,” even if it was necessary to disown
the record of their condemnation should stand. the refractory member. They were known


42
(July 16,
THE DIAL
everywhere by their habits of industry and This great exodus of Quakers was disastrous
thrift, their friendship for the Indian and the to the South but fortunate for the Northwest.
negro, their devotion to the cause of education, Ohio and Indiana chiefly profited by it. It is
and their general benevolence. As a religious estimated that in 1850 a third of the people of
body they deserve especial commendation for Indiana were North Carolinians, or their chil.
their recognition of the rights of woman, and dren; and the stronghold of Quakerism in the
her practical equality with man; and we are United States, which came principally from
surprised that Mr. Weeks, in the course of his North Carolina, was the Whitewater settlement
many tributes to Friends, has failed to empha- of Friends at Richmond. These fugitives from
size this fact. From the beginning they put in slavery formed the best part of the population
practice what so many have preached in later of Indiana ; and, says Mr. Weeks,
times. The sincerity and zeal of Friends made · Nothing can be more unjust than to speak of 'poor
them efficient missionaries. They were among whites 'as a class without energy, character, or ambition.
the earliest settlers of the South, and the self Such is not the case. They are men who have always
denying labors of their travelling ministers as
had a fierce, even an unreasoning, love of liberty. They
related in the volume are most praiseworthy. English barons at Runnymede. They plucked victory
are the representatives of the men who stood behind the
They had to journey hundreds of miles through from the French at Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt.
the wilderness in order to reach such little set They are the men who braved the heat of the day in the
tlements of Friends as had been formed, and
Revolution. They furnished the bone and sinew of both
armies in the American conflict. Their typical repre-
were exposed to savages and wild beasts, and
sentatives are Jackson, Johnson, and Lincoln. These
often obliged to sleep without shelter.
were the men who left Virginia, the Carolinas, and
We have not space to follow Mr. Weeks in Georgia by thousands, because there was no liberty with
his account of the decline of Southern Quaker- slavery. These are the men - many Quakers, many not
- who contributed with their brain and their brawn to
ism, which began with the present century. It
the making of the central West.”
has disappeared entirely from South Carolina
GEORGE W. JULIAN.
and Georgia, is weak in Virginia, and has also
disappeared in parts of North Carolina. There
are two principal causes for this disappearance
of Quakerism in the South, namely, the growth
" THE RED PLANET MARS."*
and increasing domination of slavery in that
Mr. Percival Lowell's charming volume on
section, which became more and more intoler-
able to Friends, and the way of escape from
Mars must rank among the most noteworthy
contributions to recent scientific literature.
these evils which the Ordinance of 1787 pro- Only rarely is a scientific and philosophical
vided. By that Ordinance the states of the
great Northwest were forever free, and thither problem so ably presented, through the twofold
the Friends directed their way. Mr. Weeks
force of remarkable literary skill and a clear
specifies four principal lines of travel from the
grasp of the subject matter. The theme itself
South to this new land of promise. He says : layman and scientist alike, but in this very fact
is sufficiently unique to arrest the attention of
“ The first emigrants to the West went on horseback layman and scientist alike, but in this
with pack horses. They followed the buffalo trails, for
lies the great difficulty of avoiding the danger
where a buffalo could go a horse could go. All the always incident upon an effort to make a sci-
women and the boys above twelve carried guns, and sen entific discussion intelligible to the layman
tries were stationed at certain points, but whether this
without incurring the distrust of the technical
was a custom of the Quakers or not we are not told.
student. But a calm and careful perusal of
When two-horse wagons and two-wheeled carts came
into use a little later it was necessary to double or treble
the book from cover to cover will leave the
the trains in crossing the mountains; a man was put at most critical man of science assured that Mr.
each wheel to push; there were from two to four be Lowell has not said “ There are men on Mars,"
hind for the same purpose, and two to chock. These
but only that there is striking evidence on our
vehicles were usually covered with muslin or linen.
Some had no paint, but were pitched with tar instead,
brother planet of activity such as we never
while the horses were hitched to them with husk collars see even remotely duplicated here on earth
and raw-hide traces. The movers took with them cook by anything but man ; that on this other world
ing utensils and provisions; traveled in the day; camped there may exist beings having something ap-
out at night, and went singly or in companies. The
women rode in the wagons or on horse-back, and these proaching what we call intelligence. In brief,
companies were frequently followed at a short distance
* MARS. By Percival Lowell, author of "The Soul of the
by run-away negroes, who took this opportunity to make Far East," etc. With Illustrations. Boston: Houghton,
their way to the land of freedom.”
Mifflin & Co.


1896.)
43
THE DIAL
the argument of the story amounts to simply the astronomical problem that interests him
this : There is no negative evidence that pre has in it promise of success. A movable ob-
cludes the possibility of the existence on Mars servatory, equipped with an exceptionally fine
of beings somewhat human in character, and telescope, to travel from point to point on the
there is no present likelihood that we shall be earth at successive oppositions of Mars, so as
able to see, unless perhaps in the far distant always to secure the best possible locality and
future, such possible beings; but there are atmospheric conditions for observations; and
broad physical features in the planet's surface persistent devotion of the observatory to a defi-
whose origin it seems impossible to ascribe to nite limited line of work, — these provisions
other than intelligent agencies. That this latter together make possible a study that may be
critical point has a deep fascination for Mr. remarkably thorough and accurate.
Lowell becomes clear to us; and perhaps here As to the discussion of the various features
and there his enthusiasm, in consequence, gets of planetary detail upon Mars, we may make
a little the better of his conservatism. Yet it the following general comment: The two chap-
must be admitted that in pleading such a case ters upon “ Atmosphere ” and “Clouds and
some enthusiasm is justifiable ; and where prob Water on Mars ” state their argument in a
abilities may seem slightly over-stated, it be form that carries conviction with it. Granting
comes the duty of the reader to make himself a bare possibility that there may be some vital
certain just how literal the author meant the error in the conclusions, we nevertheless feel
force of his language to be. He neither wrote that rational probability stands wholly on the
nor pretended to write a coldly and merely side of the general suggestions that are made.
scientific treatise. Gleams of genial wit light
Gleams of genial wit light The two succeeding chapters, upon the canals
up many of the pages; and a large part of the and oases, make an interpretation of certain
whole is distinctly philosophical in tone, and strange and undeniable markings upon the
ably philosophical. And where the author has planet that at least demands more respectful
given reins to his imagination, and pictured attention than any interpretation that has ever
the suggestions that spring from some of the been made before. No fair-minded scientist
facts and probabilities, he has in no case failed can read these two chapters without feeling that
to state what is merely speculation ; and such even if it is difficult to affirm positively their
speculation as he offers is rational and legiti- complete probability, it is at least impossible to
mate, and, in fact, lends vitality to the discussion take any more negative stand toward them than
of a problem whose future solution depends as a suspension of judgment, with the balance of
much upon bold originality of thought as upon interest in their favor. The concluding chapter
mere persistent search for observational details. is the philosophical leaven of the whole book,
Clearness and simplicity of statement, and a and we finish its last paragraphs with an impres-
definite focussing of each chapter of the discus- sion fixed upon us that Mr. Lowell has spoken
sion upon fundamental points, are notable fea a word that may well give pause to those of us
tures of the whole style of the volume. Keen- who are too prone to be over-orthodox in our
edged criticism of the extreme absurdities of scientific faiths.
speculation, such as many Martian euthusiasts
T. J. J. SEE.
have indulged in, is the spice of the book's
argument. Altogether, it is evident that the
pages are the work of one who is a man of let The June number of The School Review” is devoted
ters as well as of science ; but their readable for the most part to reports of the work thus far done
character does not render them unscientific. An
by the Committee of the National Educational Associa-
tion appointed to investigate the subject of college en-
hypothesis so cleverly presented is certain to be
trance requirements. The tabular presentation of facts,
strongly suggestive to the most conservative which fills many pages of the magazine, is of the great-
scientific thinkers, even though it may fail in its est value, and enables us for the first time to see just
minor details.
what the problem is that confronts the advocates of a
Mr. Lowell has incorporated in his book only plicated as that of Christian unity, and it will not be
system approaching uniformity. The question is as com-
the general results of his work at Flagstaff,
easy to bring order out of such chaos. The work thus
Arizona, during the planet's recent opposition. far done by the Committee is, of course, only prelimin-
The more detailed and exactly technical ac ary; and the comment now published by Chairman
count of his work will be published as volumes Nightingale and others does not pretend to be more
of the “ Annals of Lowell Observatory.” The
than tentative. We may add that this number of the
“ Review" is about double the usual size, although the
whole plan of organization of his attack upon price (20 cents) is unchanged.


44
[July 16,
THE DIAL
Booth" with
Mr. Fuller.
was
extremely pleasant reading, and redolent through-
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.
out of authors “old-fashioned but choicely good,”
Cultivated readers of sound tastes
whom the world nowadays chatters about a good
A pleasant book
deal more than it reads.
and sympathies will find their liter-
of literary essays.
ary predilections pleasantly echoed
In a “ Puppet
We feel a considerable admiration
and warmly supported in Mr. E. Beresford Chan-
for Mr. Henry B. Fuller, because he
cellor's scholarly sheaf of essays in criticism, enti-
is always ready to follow the lead of
tled “Literary Types" (Macmillau). The papers
his highest interests. He tries his hand in differ-
deal respectively with De Quincey, Lamb, Carlyle,
ent directions, wishing to give adequate expression
Landor, Dickens, and Coleridge; and the author
has chosen the collective title of Literary Types"
to his mood and temper, and thus happily avoid-
because each writer treated seems to him to develop
ing the offer of machine-made goods. He did a
good thing in “ The Chevalier of Pensieri Vani,”
a special phase in literary history. Landor, for
and might easily have continued to put a saleable
instance, he terms “ Dramatist,” not because he
line of goods on the market, to the great satisfac-
wrote one or two plays, but because the work he did
tion of the consumer. But he happened to become
“ essentially dramatic in intention and execu-
interested in another kind of work, and so wrote
tion "'; while the epithet of “Man of Letters” is
“ The Cliff-Dwellers.” Now he tries something else,
assigned to De Quincey for the reason that no nar-
always seeking to express himself as an artist, and
rower term seems to adequately express his com-
shunning a weak strain after novelty as well as a
pass or versatility. The terms “ Essayist,” “ Phil-
commercial production of a marketable article.
osopher,” and “Novelist” are applied respectively
Whatever credit, then, attaches to sincere experi-
to Lamb, Carlyle, and Dickens. Mr. Chancellor's
ment (and with a man of ability, that is something
rather arbitrary classifications are a matter of sec-
worth considering) belongs to Mr. Fuller's new
ondary importance, not going at all to the essential
book, “ The Puppet Booth” (Century Co.). With
merits and interest of his work; but they seem to
all the respect, however, due to Mr. Fuller's ability
us in one or two cases at least open to cavil. Car-
and sincerity, we do not think he has scored a com-
lyle, for instance, in so far as he was a satirist and
plete success. The form which he handles is a very
preacher, may perhaps be loosely termed a philoso-
difficult one: it is so very easily misunderstood by
pher ; but certainly few writers were less genuinely
the average reader, and so very easily misused even
philosophical in temper and method. Mentally com-
by a writer above the average. Its true opportun-
paring the most philosophical of his books with the
ities are not readily perceived by the general pub-
work of such men as Locke, Hobbes, Kant, or
lic; but the opportunities it gives for poor work,
Stuart Mill, one perceives at once the generic dif-
especially flamboyancy and euphuism, are tempta-
ference. It is certainly no disparagement of Mr.
tions even to strong men. So, along with things
Carlyle to say that his real gift and function in lit-
which really make their mark, we have things which
erature were primarily dramatic and pictorial. This
are much weaker. The mixture is unfortunate;
fact is eminently apparent in his historical writing. people do not exactly know what to think of such
It is for the pictures of men and events, the “stereo-
things. Those who admire “ The Cure of Souls
scopic clearness" (to use Emerson's well-chosen ex-
will not see that “ The Light that Always Is” is any
pression) with which he evokes the historic drama,
better, and those who like “ The Story Spinner
and makes it pass before us with almost sensuous
may not see why “The Love of Love” is not so
vividness on the printed page, that we read his su good. Even when one manages to avoid failure,
perb “French Revolution," and turn again and
there is great danger of half-successes like “The
again, with reawakening zest, even to the intermin-
Ship Comes In ” and “The Stranger.” Something,
able « Frederick.” An artist by temperament and
however, can assuredly be done ; and in what range,
purpose, Carlyle did mainly artist's work some of
two such things as “ Northern Lights” and “After-
it scarcely surpassed in its way, not a little of it dis-
glow," along with the two other successful pieces,
figured by the mannerisms which, hardly apparent make very manifest. We do not suppose that Mr.
in his early work, intruded more and more into his
Fuller will continue to exploit this vein, now that
style after the publication of “Sartor Resartus."
he has tried his hand and freed his mind; but even
What reader of the “ French Revolution” has not
as it is, he has written one or two things not un-
resented with growing impatience the parrot-like worthy to be thought of with “ The Seven Prin-
iteration of such epithets as the distressing " sea ” and “A Northern Night."
green Incorruptible”? A French critic, by no means
unfriendly to Carlyle, observes: “Unluckily, it is
Some fifty years ago, it would not
the nature of mannerism to fix and stereotype itself
The Spirit
have been safe to write a book like
of Tuscany.
more and more, and it is not too much to say that
Mr. Maurice Hewlett's “ Earthwork
Carlyle's diction ended by becoming gibberish.” out of Tuscany” (Putnam), at least not with any
The same writer says elsewhere, with equal candor: expectation that people in general would know what
“Carlyle, who has been put forward as a sage, is the it was about. But since that time, the Renaissance
very reverse of one.” Mr. Chancellor's essays are has been very much in fashion; so that nowadays,
cesses


1896.]
45
THE DIAL
although the keen edge of interest has worn away, Shakespeare and Music" (Macmillan). The book
yet everybody feels very intimate with Botticelli is charmingly gotten up, uniform with the "Temple
and Della Robbia, while Pisa and Siena are like Shakespeare,” and contains a mint of information.
our own front yard. So everybody will have some The immense medley of songs, dances, instruments,
thing of an interest in Mr. Hewlett's book. As to customs, technical terms, is here put into some sort
subject-matter (for nobody could guess it from the of order and arrangement, so that he who reads
title), it might be called criticism ; but it is criti may become familiar with an important element in
cism put into imaginative forms. Or it may be the Elizabethan life which gives so much body to
thought of as fiction ; but it is fiction based on the Shakespearian imagining. One point about the
history of Italian art. Probably, however, neither book is worth further mention. As Dr. Naylor
fiction nor criticism was the author's aim, so much says, the student of the subject must consider two
as a reproduction of the spirit of Tuscan life, as things: he must show how music is historically pre-
absorbed by a traveller with a keen sense of the sented in Shakespeare, and also how it is emotion-
artistic. And so even the uninitiated reader, who ally presented. That is, we must first have accounts
glances at the book merely with the desire of a few of lutes and viols, galliards and pavans, burdens
new impressions, will find something interesting, and descants, catches and madrigals, and all the
just as in any clever book of travel; for Mr. Hew external circumstance of Elizabethan music. But
lett is very successful in assimilating a variety of then, under the second head, we must have any.
impressions and presenting them fused into one thing which might show how Shakespeare or the
image or conception. But the reader who knows Elizabethan age thought and felt of that one of the
the Renaissance — if only through Browning and arts which is perhaps the most purely artistic of all.
Ruskin, let alone Burckhardt and Symonds and The student of Browning, for instance, would have
more recondite authorities, — the instructed reader something to say here : curiously enough, the stu-
will have not only such pleasure, but also the charm dent of Shakespeare says in this regard absolutely
of comment and criticism on familiar things in imag- nothing. Historically, this book is full to overflow-
inative form. Mr. Hewlett has been compared with ing; ästhetically, it is barren. Whether the lack
Walter Pater and Vernon Lee. It would seem per be due to the author, or to Shakespeare, or to Shake-
haps as though the idea of the “ Imaginary Por- speare's time, would be hard to say.
We suspect
traits lay at the bottom of some of the pieces of the latter. It was not a self-conscious age; it en-
which the book is made up, as the idea of Landor's joyed itself, without much thought of how or why.
Imaginary Conversations” may have been at the In some ways England appreciates music more now
bottom of others. But otherwise there is not much than it did three hundred years ago.
ground for comparison. Mr. Pater was the student
of art in its broad relation to life, and as such was
Mr. Henry Clarke Warren, a gentle-
profoundly interested in the Renaissance. Mr. Hew-
man living in Cambridge, Massa-
in Translations."
lett loves Tuscany, and therefore loves its art and
chusetts, has spent many years in
its history. In so far as the two men deal with the making an extensive series of translations from the
same topic, we may compare them ; but we must
Pali writings of Burmah and Ceylon. These writ-
remember the great difference of their aims. Some-
ings, he says, “ furnish the most authoritative ac-
what the same thing may be said of Vernon Lee.
count of The Buddha and his Doctrine that we
Vernon Lee was at first a historian and subsequently
have, and it is therefore to be regretted that, inas-
more of a moralist, although in both cases she dealt
much as so little has been known in the Occident
with the things of art. Mr. Hewlett, however, is
until recently of either Pali or Pali literature, the
presenting impressions. He does give us ideas on
information of the public concerning Buddhism
art, and sidelights, too, on matters of history and
has been so largely drawn from books based on
morals, if it come to that. But the main purpose of
other, non-Pali, sources, on works written in the
his book seems to be the embodiment of thoughts Singhalese, Chinese, and Thibetan languages, and
and ideas called up by the life, the art, the history
in the Buddhist-Sanskrit of Nepaul.” Of late years,
of Northern Italy. And because his work is like however, a good many Pali manuscripts have been
that of the potter who gives living and beautiful
edited and printed, and it is upon these texts, to-
forms to the plastic clay, he calls his book « Earth gether with numerous manuscripts yet unedited,
work out of Tuscany."
that Mr. Warren has drawn in the preparation of
the present work. The following passage from the
The English people to-day hardly translator's preface is particularly interesting :
Music in
seems as musical as it was three “ After long bothering my head over Sanskrit, I
Shakespeare.
centuries ago; there is abundant found much more satisfaction when I took up the
evidence that in the time of Elizabeth people of all study of Pali. For Sanskrit literature is a chaos ;
ranks were not only appreciative of music, but, as Pali, a cosmos. In Sanskrit every fresh work or
a rule, familiar with its simpler technicalities and author seemed a new problem; and as trustworthy
even skilful enough performers. Everyone knows Hindu chronology and recorded history are almost
the constant musical allusions in Shakespeare, and nil, and as there are many systems of philosophy,
everyone will be interested in Dr. E. W. Naylor's | orthodox as well as unorthodox, the necessary data
“Buddhism


46
[July 16,
THE DIAL
2
The Laureates
for the solution of the problem were usually lack que présentent les Etats-Unis à l'Europe ébahie.”
ing.” Mr. Warren's work is published as a volume Naturally, a special chapter is devoted to "Les Stock-
of the “Harvard Oriental Series,” under the gen Yards"; and here the Doctor re-tells with gusto
eral editorship of Professor C. R. Lanman, and is the swift and tragic “ Histoire d'un cochon améri.
a stout octavo of more than five hundred pages. cain." “ Une seconde,” he concludes enthusiastic-
Particularly noticeable is the fact that it is offered ally, “suffit pour tuer l'animal, et une minute suffit
for sale at the extremely low price of one dollar and pour effectuer sa transformation ; n'est-ce pas mer-
twenty cents, and will be sent, postage paid, to any veilleux !” The Chicago University (hopelessly
part of the Universal Postal Union, upon receipt of outshone, it seems, by the marvels of “Les Stock-
an order for that amount. Evidently there is no Yards") gets three lines of passing notice. It is
money in this enterprise, for such a book could hardly fair to say that the author emphatically repels the
be sold profitably for less than four or five dollars. charge that Chicago is merely "une ville d'affaires ";
the reproach, he says, is quite undeserved, for he
A recent number of the well-known
A sympathetic
knows of “no city which has made more sacrifices
biography of “ Dillettante Library" (Macmillan) for its own adornment, for its charitable institutions,
Leigh Hunt.
is given to a study of Leigh Hunt, and for the advancement of knowledge.” Other
by Mr. R. Brimley Johnson, the editor of “ Essays chapters treat of “ Les Religions”- the Shakers,
and Poems of Leigh Hunt” in the “ Temple Li the Mormons, the Oneida Community, Society and
brary.” Mr. Johnson's account of Leigh Hunt's
Morals, etc.; and the book closes with a brief ac-
life is perhaps the most sympathetic that has yet count of the Federal Constitution. Dr. Lutaud's
been written. This is shown in the treatment of recital is rapid, concise, and necessarily superficial;
such mooted matters as Hunt's connection with and it should serve to help his countrymen to a glim-
Byron and Shelley in Italy, and the book he after-mering idea of the present outer aspects of the great
wards wrote on Lord Byron and his contemporaries. republic which their forefathers generously helped
It may even be thought that Johnson becomes a
to found.
trifle uncritical in the extremely lenient view he
takes of this unflattering book on Lord Byron, when
In preparing his volume entitled
he says that had Hunt “written with less resent-
“ The Laureates of England"
of England.
ment, the book would have lost its vivacity, and
(Stokes), Mr. Kenyon West has
there is no reason to regret any part of the affair
done a good piece of editorial and critical work.
but the heated and persistent abuse with which one His plan comprises an introductory essay, brief
of the most tolerant and humane of men has been sketches (about four pages each) of the fourteen
loaded on account of it.” The author is, at the least, Laureates (Jonson, Davenant, Dryden, Shadwell,
decidedly generous to Hunt in this statement. Usu Tate, Rowe, Eusden, Cibber, Whitehead, Warton,
ally, however, his judgments are fair and just, and
Pye, Southey, Wordsworth, and Tennyson), and
sometimes even felicitous. He gives a neat sum-
selections from the work of each. Although the
mary of Hunt's merits and demerits in his state personal notices are about equal in length, and are
ment (probably suggested by Hunt's self-eriticism very brief, the selections are meagre or copious in
in “The Tatler”) that “ he was poet, critic, essay- accordance with the importance of their writers ;
ist, and politician -- sentimentalized." The book is
thus Wordsworth and Tennyson get, roughly speak-
furnished with a useful index, and an excellent por-
ing, half the volume to themselves. Mr. West
trait of Leigh Hunt reproduced from the unfinished rightly urges that Jonson was the first real Laureate,
one by Samuel Lawrence.
and that Chaucer, Spenser, and Drayton, often men-
tioned as belonging in the list, really have no place
A lively book Dr. Auguste Lutaud's sprightly book in it. Mr. West's estimates are carefully weighed,
on America, of American impressions, “ Aux but we think he does Dryden something less, and
by a Frenchman. Etats-Unis" (Brentano's), has al-Wordsworth something more, than justice. To say
ready reached a second edition. The author has that the former “ produced no poem which was the
twice visited our shores - once in 1865, and again outcome of an exalted mood " is as far from the
in 1895; and he is thus enabled to draw some in mark as it is to call Wordsworth, “ with the single
teresting comparisons. Dr. Lutaud is in the main exception of Goethe, the greatest poet of the mod-
a friendly, almost a flattering, observer; and the ern world.” And an avowed Wordsworthian should
American reader whose national pride is satisfied by not be guilty of the misquotation, “ Joy it was in
enthusiastic testimony to the rapidity and vastness that dawn to be alive," when the poet said “Bliss
of our material development will find in his pages was it in that dawn to be alive.” We note also that
abundant matter of gratification. Dr. Lutaud visited Nahum Tate's hymn,
some of our leading cities, New York, Boston, Phila-
As pants the hart for cooling streams
delphia, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, etc., find-
When heated in the chase,”
ing in each much to praise, something to be amazed at, although correctly printed in the text, is misquoted
and more to be amused at. Chicago he finds (and elsewhere, with "wearied" in the place of “ heated."
who will gainsay him?) “une des choses les plus sur We are sorry, too, that Mr. West uses the pedantie
prenantes, parmi les nombreuses choses surprenantes / spelling “ Vergil” for a poet the English form of


1896.]
47
THE DIAL
whose name has been irrevocably fixed by centuries which he proposes to better the social conditions of
of tradition. The illustrations which the publishers mankind. The purpose of the book is worthy of
have supplied to the book are simply atrocious, and all commendation. Its suggested remedies, how-
a serious disfigurement. As a manual of reference ever, are entirely Utopian, and, like Mr. Bellamy's
to
Pye, many of whom are ignored by the encyclopæ realized until the millenium is upon us.
dias and by such collections as Mr. Ward's “En-
Although Burns is one of the most
glish Poets,” the work has a permanent value. Two books for the
Burns Centenary.
untranslatable of poets, his continen-
The American publishers of the
tal admirers have not been deterred
Two volumes of
works of Robert Louis Stevenson from the attempt to reproduce his songs in many
collected verse.
(Scribner) have done well to collect languages. The recently-published work called
into a single volume all the scattered verse of that “Robert Burns in Other Tongues" (Macmillan),
winsome genius. The contents of three collections prepared by Mr. William Jacks, offers evidence of
-"A Child's Garden of Verse,” “Underwoods," as remarkable a tribute as has perhaps ever been
and “Ballads "- are thus brought within a single paid to the genius of a poet. Mr. Jacks has col-
set of covers, and the two-score posthumous poems lected for us translations of Burns, by many hands,
first published in the “ Thistle" edition are incor into no less than sixteen languages, including such
porated with “Underwoods," forming a third book tongues as the Czech, the Hungarian, the Gaelic, and
of that section of the work. A volume of 367 pages the Latin, besides, of course, all of the more familiar
results, with small but readable print, and a photo literary languages. The Spanish, in fact, is about
gravure portrait of the author.-— The task that has the only one that we miss. Mr. Jacks supplies notes
thus been performed for Stevenson by his publish- and editorial comments in abundance, and the book
ers has been done by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell for him is adorned by numerous portraits of the translators
self, and the resulting “Collected Poems” (Cen- represented. It is a curiously interesting publica-
tury Co.) includes the contents of no less than seven tion, and will be highly appreciated by readers of
volumes, published at various intervals during the polyglot proclivities. While on the subject of Burns,
past fourteen years. Dr. Mitchell's work is always mention may be made of the edition, “revised and
conscientious and refined, the graceful reflection of a partially-re-written" by Mr. William Wallace, of
highly-cultured intellect. It does not often reach the Dr. Chambers's “ Life and Works of Robert Burns."
heights of song, but, on the other hand, it almost Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co. are the publishers
never sinks to the lowlands of the mediocre and of this edition, which will extend to four volumes,
the commonplace. It is, and always will be, a two being now at hand. The work is handsomely
pleasure to read such work as “ Francis Drake," illustrated, and the price is moderate.
“François Villon," and "The Cup of Youth," with
their touches of an almost Elizabethan inspiration.
A very readable and commendably
A good Life of
succinct life of Cyrus W. Field has
Cyrus W. Field.
Mr. Fayette S. Giles's book entitled
been prepared by his daughter, Mrs.
More Utopian
“ The Industrial Army” (The Baker Isabella Field Judson, partly from an autobiography
Sociology.
& Taylor Company) is a discussion begun by Mr. Field himself towards the end of his
of certain proposed means of relieving and eliminat life. Mr. Field's life-story is well worth reading,
ing poverty and crime. The author asserts it to be even considered apart from his share in the great
his purpose" to seek for a just and pacific solution enterprise with which his name is honorably asso-
of social and economic questions which shall restore ciated'; and Mrs. Judson tells it modestly and di-
the rightful and necessary equilibrium between the rectly. Four chapters are devoted to an account
physical sciences and social and economic conditions; of Mr. Field's childhood in New England, his early
which shall confer upon the individual economic experiences as a mercantile clerk in New York, and
freedom and equality of opportunity; which shall his subsequent successful business career; while the
minimize poverty, want, and crime; which shall remainder of the volume is mainly confined to the
make for morality, civilization, and happiness ; and story of the Atlantic Cable — already told in some-
which shall preserve the political and personal free what fuller detail by Dr. Henry M. Field. The
dom and equality which our representative institu book is neatly made and acceptably illustrated
tions were intended to establish.” The author (Harper).
considers some of the economic and sociological
Cavalry
The military reader and the civilian
conditions necessary for the success of The Indus and artillery of military tastes will alike find Major
trial Army,” through which, he thinks, “an equita-
in action.
E. S. May's "Guns and Cavalry”
ble form of annuity, or a coöperative savings fund, (Roberts) a satisfactory and authoritative treatise
may be devised and maintained by feasible and just on the useful hybrid branch of the military service
individual equivalents rendered, which shall guar- commonly known as the Horse Artillery. The au-
antee and furnish upon demand, to each member of thor, an officer in the British Royal Artillery, is a
society, reasonable material comforts during the lecturer at Woolwich, and his book is a résumé of
term of his natural life.” The writer is not enter his lectures and articles of the last few years, writ-
ing a new or unworked field, in the schemes with ten in a style nicely balanced between the technical


48
[July 16,
THE DIAL
66
and the popular. The story of coöperating cavalry
LITERARY NOTES.
and artillery is one studded with brilliant names,
such as Murat and Kellerman, the fleeting unex “ The Sea Lions” is now published by Messrs. G. P.
pected chances offered by the circumstances under Putnam's Sons in their “Mohawk” edition of Cooper's
which cavalry and guns engage being the very ones
novels.
in which the man of initiative, of dash, resolution,
Humphrey Clinker," in two volumes, is published by
and expedient, may win his spurs. Major May's
the J. B. Lippincott Co., completing their tasteful edi-
tion of Smollett's novels.
book is at once an interesting historical narrative
and a lucid treatise. There are a number of illus-
“ Pierrette and The Abbé Birotteau" (" Le Curé de
Tours"), translated by Mrs. Bell, is added to the Dent-
trations, largely portraits, together with plans of
Macmillan edition of Balzac.
famous battles — Balaelava, Albuera, Wagram, etc.
“ Africa” and “Italy" are the subjects of two new
volumes in the series of “Stories by English Authors”
published by Messrs. Charles Scribner's Song.
BRIEFER MENTION.
“ The Hare,” by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson and
Pusey," by the Rev. J. O. Johnston; “Pym,” by
others, is the latest volume appearing in the “Fur and
Professor Gardiner; “ Raleigh” (Sir Walter), by Pro-
Feathers " series published by Messrs. Longmans, Green,
& Co.
fessor Laughton and Mr. Sidney Lee; and “Charles
Reade," by Mr. Charles Kent, are perhaps the most
It is said that 200,000 copies of a selection from
interesting of the longer articles in Volume XLVII. of Matthew Arnold's poems, published by Mr. Stead in his
the “ Dictionary of National Biography” (Macmillan), « Penny Poets," have already been sold. It seems as if
now published. From Puckle to Reidfurd is its scope, Arnold were at last having the “ turn "that he predicted
and it takes a thirty-page jump over the letter Q, the
for himself as long ago as 1869.
names of Quarles and Quillinan being about the only Early in the field for practical educational work in
ones to arrest our attention.
the political campaign is President Walker's “Interna-
In “Maynard's English Classic Series” we have a tional Bimetallism,” just issued by Messrs. Henry Holt
selection from Irving's “ Tales of a Traveler,” a selec-
& Co. Also in this field will be a work on “ The Mone-
tion from Prescott's “ Conquest of Mexico,” and an edi tary and Banking Problem,” by Mr. L. G. McPherson,
tion of “Silas Marner," all anonymously edited, and
to be issued at once by Messrs. D. Appleton & Co.
therefore not to be commended. Messrs. Ginn & Co. According to Mr. Harold Frederic, a remarkable
have now added to their « Classics for Children " White's illustrated Bible is soon to be published at Amsterdam,
“ Selborne,” with an introduction by Professor E. S. in Dutch, English, German, and French editions. There
Morse; and a volume of selections from Long's Epic will be twenty-five parts, and an even hundred illustra-
tetus, made by Mr. Edward Ginn. The American Book tions by such artists as Messrs. Burne-Jones, Gerôme,
Co. sends us Burke on “ Conciliation with the American Tadema, Israels, Sargent, Constant, Munkaczy, and
,
Crane
Lyr-
indicate that somebody has edited them.
ical Verse from Elizabeth to Victoria" (imported by
Messrs. Way & Williams are the American publish- Scribner), thus adding one more to the many attempts
ers of the new English edition of Mr. Stanley Water to rival « The Golden Treasury.” It is a good book,
loo's “ An Odd Situation.” The introduction written of course, but just how good must be determined by
for this work by Sir Walter Besant has already been the number of readers who find their own judgment
quoted from in our columns. The book itself is a serio coinciding with Mr. Crawfurd's in the matter of selec-
comic presentation of the absurdity of protective tariffs tion.
between Canada and the United States, and ought to The following item from “The Athenæum" delight-
prove effective as a political tract, although it hardly fully illustrates the hold that redtape still has upon
offers the material for a work of fiction at least for English officialism: “It appears that the costs incurred
more than a short story.
by the University of Oxford, in obtaining the consent of
There is little to say of Mr. Hector C. Macpherson's the Court of Chancery to change the title of the new
book on "Thomas Carlyle" (imported by Scribner) be-
Ford chair of English history from professor' to
yond noting the fact that it inaugurates a “Famous reader,' amount altogether to no less than £323, which
Scots” series of volumes, that it is highly fitting thus it is proposed to defray out of the accumulated income
to place Carlyle at the forefront of the series, and that
of the fund.”
the author has done his work with sympathy and good “ Book Sales of 1895,” published by Mr. Henry Ste-
judgment. The book comes endorsed by Professor vens, offers “a record of the most important books sold
Masson and Mr. John Morley, and rather takes the at auction and the prices realized.” It is compiled by
part of Froude in the controversy aroused by the pub Mr. Temple Scott, who provides an interesting intro-
lication of his notorious biography.
duction, besides supplying notes and an index. The
In a volume entitled “ Alexander Hamilton" (Put-
number of items catalogued is 5695. Mr. Scott ex-
nam), Mr. M. G. Dodge, librarian of Hamilton College, presses some interesting opinions on the subject of col-
has brought together the thirty-one prize orations de lectors' “ crazes,” telling us what sorts of his books are,
livered at that college in competition for the Head-
in his judgment, likely to increase rather than to decline
Prize. The literary value of the larger portion of these in value, and what are hardly destined for a more than
orations is unfortunately diminished by the prevailing
temporary vogue.
note of exaggeration which has never ceased to charac “Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyn-
terize college oratory in America.
dall, and Herbert Spencer are eminent scientists in
no editorial name, although the notes and introduction Me. Oswald Crawfurd has prepared a book of «
6


1896.]
49
THE DIAL
TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS.
July, 1896 (Second List).
American Financial Policy. H. F. Bartine. Arena.
Banking System, Our. L. G. McPherson. Popular Science.
Birds at Dinner. Harriet E. Richards. Popular Science.
Bulow, Recollections of. Bernard Boekelman. Century.
Causality. Fr. Jodl. Monist.
Criminal Jurisprudence. M. Romero. North American.
Folk Lore, American. Frederick Starr. Dial (July 16).
Good and Evil, Problem of. Paul Carus. Monist.
Ice Age, The. W. Upham. Popular Science.
Instinct, Holiness of. Woods Hutchinson. Monist.
International Delusions. F. E. Clark. North American.
Literary Critics and Criticism. Duane Mowry. Dial (July 16).
Mars, The Plánet. T.J. J. See. Dial (July 16).
McKinley, William. E. V. Smalley. Review of Reviews.
Ney's Execution. Mme. Campan. Century.
Paget Papers, The. Dial (July 16).
Parks, County. Thomas H. Macbride. Popular Science.
Pearls and Mother-of-Pearl. C. S. Pratt. Popular Science.
Petticoat Government. Max O’Rell. North American.
Polar Exploration, Proposed. Robert Stein. Popular Science.
Privacy, The Right of. J. G. Speed. North American.
Quakers, Southern, and Slavery. G. W.Julian. Dial (July 16).
Russia after the Coronation. Karl Blind. North American.
Sociology in Ethical Education. B.C. Mathews. Pop. Science.
South American Poets. Hezekiah Butterworth. Rev. of Rev.
Sporting Impulse, The World's. C. D. Lanier. Rev. of Rev.
St. Peter's. F. Marion Crawford. Century.
Theosophy and Mme. Blavatsky. Kate B. Davis. Arena.
Therapeutics, Suggestions in. W.R. Newbold. Pop. Science,
University of Chicago, The Dial (July 16).
Venezuela and Guiana, Glimpses of. W. N. King. Century.
Woman in Society Today. Anna E. U. Hilles. Arena.
their particular fields. It is to be regretted that they
have made the fascinating beauty of their style subserv-
ient to the spreading of many false and infidel theories."
This gem of criticism, comes from a book called “Les-
sons in Literature," published in Chicago by Messrs.
Ainsworth & Co. No further comment seems to be
needed, unless we mention the classification of R. L.
Stevenson, " by birth a Scotchman,” among American
prose writers.
The quickened demand for the works of Mrs. Stowe,
consequent upon her death, will be happily met by the
new and definitive edition of her complete writings, which
her publishers, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., have
for some time had in preparation, to comprise sixteen
volumes in their excellent « Riverside" editions of stand-
ard authors. The first volume will have a biographical
sketch, and all the volumes are to be thoroughly edited
and furnished with notes when necessary. Each of the
volumes will have a frontispiece and a vignette, includ-
ing several portraits, views of Mrs. Stowe's homes, and
other interesting designs. There is to be a limited large-
paper edition, each set of which will contain Mrs. Stowe's
autograph written by her expressly for this purpose a
few months ago.
A reviewer in “The Athenæum " has got hold of Mr.
Hopkinson Smith's “ Tom Grogan," and vents his spleen
upon it by means of such phrases as “so dull a story,"
and “such feeble trash,” concluding as follows: “The
publication of such rubbish is deplorable, and it is thrice
deplorable when it is stamped with the hall-mark of a
good name. Again we wonder at the vanity and weak-
ness of the mind that could write down such trash, and
the vacuity that could be amused by it, and the blind-
ness that could give a book so worthless to a world in
which there is a plethora of good books." Well, well!
this must be one of the reviewers who classed The
Red Badge of Courage "among the greatest novels ever
written in America or anywhere else.
The death of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, on the first
of this month, at the advanced age of eighty-five, strikes
from the list of living American writers the oldest of
its names, and ends the career of a woman of remark-
able force and ability. The world-wide popularity of
“ Uncle Tom's Cabin," her best-known work, makes it
impossible for any history of American literature to
ignore the woman who wrote it, although criticism can-
not give it a bigh rank considered as literature. A book
does not always need to have literary excellence to ac-
complish a noble purpose, and the triumph of this par-
ticular book was so great that its shortcomings, judged
by purely literary standards, are of slight account in
the total reckoning. The book did more than all the
arguments of the political thinker to awaken the moral
revolt that eventually overthrew slavery in the United
States, and therein lies the ample justification of its
existence. There was a closer approach to art in Mrs.
Stowe's delineations of New England life, for she knew
this subject at first-band; but they added little to the
great fame that she had won by her part in the aboli-
tionist propaganda. That fame was hardly dimmed by
her exploitation of the scandal which sought to blacken
the reputation of a great English poet, although partici-
pation in 80 wanton and unwarranted an attack would
have consigned almost anyone else to oblivion, and dis-
credited almost any other achievement than that of writ-
ing “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” The list of her books is a
long one, but few of them have any vitality, or are likely
to find many readers in the twentieth century.
LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
(The following list, containing 79 titles, includes books
received by THE DIAL since its last issue.]
HISTORY.
The Continent of America: Its Discovery and Baptism.
By John Boyd Thacher. Illus.,
large 4to, gilt top, pp.
270. New York: William Evarts Benjamin. Boxed, $25.
Oxford Manuals of English History. Edited by C. W.C.
Oman, M.A. Now ready: The Making of the English
Nation (B.C. 55-1135 A. D.), by C. G, Robertson, B.A.,
and King, and Baronage (A. D. 1135-1327), by W. H.
Hutton, B.D. Each 16mo. Chas. Scribner's Sons. Per
vol., 50 cts. net.
L' Evolution Française sous la Troisième Republique. Par
Pierre de Coubertin. 8vo, uncut, pp. 432. Etudes
d'Histoire Contemporaine." Paris : E. Plon, Nourrit
et Cie.
The Trent Affair. By Thomas L. Harris, A.M.; with Intro-
duction by James A. Woodburn, Ph.D. 12mo, gilt top,
uncut, pp. 288. Bowen-Merrill Co. $1.50.
BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIRS.
The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington. By J. Fitzgerald
Molloy. In 2 vols., with portrait, 12mo, gilt tops. Chas.
Scribner's Sons. $4.
The Life of James McCosh: A Record Chiefly Autobio-
graphical. Edited by William Milligan Sloane. With
portraits, 8vo, gilt top, uncut, pp. 287. Chas. Scribner's
Sons. $2.50 net.
Life of Henry David Thoreau. By Henry S. Salt. 8vo,
gilt top, uncut, pp. 218. “Great Writers." Chas. Scrib-
ner's Sons. $1.
Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sidney Lee.
Vol. XLVII., Puckle - Reidfurd. 8vo, gilt top, pp. 450.
Macmillan Co. $3.75.
Philip Augustus. By William Holden Hutton, B.D. 12mo,
• Foreign Statesmen." Macmillan Co. 75 cts.
Hugh Miller. By W. Keith Leask. 12mo, pp. 157. “Fa-
mous Scots Series." Chas. Scribner's Sons. 75 cts.
pp. 229. "


50
[July 16,
THE DIAL
GENERAL LITERATURE.
Lyra Celtica: An Anthology of Representative Celtic Poe-
try. Edited by Elizabeth A. Sharp; with Introduction
and Notes by William Sharp. 12mo, gilt top, uncut, pp.
440. Chas, Scribner's Sons. $2.25.
The Legends of the Wagner Drama: Studies in Myth-
ology and Romance. By Jessie L. Weston, 12mo, gilt
top, uncut, pp. 380. Chas. Scribner's Sons. $2.25.
The Colour of Life, and Other Essays. By Alice Meynell.
16mo, uncut, pp. 103. Way & Williams. $1.25.
Bibliographica: A Magazine of Bibliography. Part IX.,
illus., 4to, uncut. Chas. Scribner's Sons.
English Literary Criticism. With Introduction by C. E.
Vaughan. 12mo, uncut, pp. 321. "Warwick Library.”
Chas. Scribner's Sons. $1.50.
The Sonnet in England, and Other Essays. By J. Ash-
croft Noble. 12mo, gilt top, uncut, pp. 211. Way &
Williams. $1.50.
Lyrical Verse from Elizabeth to Victoria. Selected and
edited by Oswald Crawfurd. 16mo, gilt top, uncut, pp.
452. Chas. Scribner's Sons. $1.25.
Sir John Vanburgh. Edited by A. E. H. Swaen. With
portrait, 12mo, uncut, pp. 501. “Best Plays of the Old
Dramatists." Chas. Scribner's Sons. $1.25.
The Works of Max Beerbohm. 16mo, gilt top, uncut, pp.
165. Chas. Scribner's Sons. $1.25.
Michael and his Lost Angel: A Play in Five Acts. By
Henry Arthur Jones. 16mo, gilt top, pp. 107. Macmillan
Co. 75 cts.
The Ascent of Woman. By Roy Devereux. 12mo, uncut,
pp. 188. Roberts Bros. $1.25.
My Literary Zoo. By Kate Sanborn. 18mo, pp. 149. D.
Appleton & Co. 75 cts.
NEW EDITIONS OF STANDARD LITERATURE.
The Rape of the Lock. By Alexander Pope ; embroidered
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THE DIAL
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No. 244.
AUGUST 16, 1896.
Vol. XXI.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
A YEAR OF CONTINENTAL LITERATURE, II. . 79
TALES OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE. E. G.J. 83
Baillie - Grohman's Sport in the Alps. – Brehm's
From North Pole to Equator.- Baden-Powell's The
Downfall of Prempeh.-Lubbock's The Scenery of
Switzerland.- Fitzgerald's Climbs in the New Zea-
land Alps.
HOW PEOPLE LEARN TO COUNT. Frederick
Starr
86
THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL.
John Bascom
88
Kinsley's Old Faith and New Facts. - Brownson's
Faith and Science.- Donald's The Expansion of Re-
ligion.- Gregory's Christ's Trumpet-Call to the Min-
istry.-Watson's The Mind of the Master.- Carroll's
The Religious Forces of the United States.— Church
Unity.
RECENT FICTION. William Morton Payne
90
Zola's Rome.-Gras's The Reds of the Midi.-Rod's
The White Rocks. — Pontoppidan's Emanuel.
Koch's Camilla.- Kovalevsky's Vera Vorontzoff.-
Besant's The Master Craftsman.- Becke and Jef-
frey's A First Fleet Family.-Keightley's The Cava-
liers.-- Keightley's The Crimson Sign.- Prescott's
The Apotheosis of Mr. Tyrawley.- Prescott's A Mask
and a Martyr.-Pemberton's A Gentleman's Gentle-
man.— Ridge's The Second Opportunity of Mr. Sta-
plehurst.- Moncrieff's The X Jewel.- A Stumbler
in Wide Shoes.- Merriman's The Sowers.- Merri-
man's Flotsam.- Mrs. Cotes's His Honour, and a
Lady.- Dougall's The Madonna of a Day.- Miss
Wilkins's Madelon,– Miss Bell's The Under Side of
Things.- Hawthorne's A Fool of Nature.- Payne's
Jerry the Dreamer.
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS .
95
State control of railroads.- International relations
and arbitration.- More Jewish literature.- Jewish
women in ancient and modern times.- Local rates
in England.— Types and symbols in mediæval archi-
tecture.- Essays on the sonnet and other things.-
A record of some literary pilgrimages.— Knowing
trees by their leaves.
BRIEFER MENTION
98
A YEAR OF CONTINENTAL
LITERATURE - II.
The German writers most talked about at
the present day are the dramatists Herr Suder-
mann and Herr Hauptmann. At least, this is
the opinion of Dr.
Zimmermann,
who
opens
his
annual summary of German literature with a
discussion of their latest works. The former
has produced “ Das Glück im Winkel," a great
success, while the “ Florian Geyer" of the lat-
ter has proved a comparative failure. Herr
Sudermann's play deals with a modern and
domestic theme, presenting a problem, and
leaving us in doubt as to whether it has been
solved or not. “Florian Geyer," on the other
hand, is a historical drama, the subject being
taken from the Peasants' War of 1525. The
work suggests “ Götz von Berlichingen,” and
the two plays are thus contrasted :
“Both the men who gave their name to the plays
were leaders in the Peasants' War-one of them, Florian
von Geyer, by his own desire, the other, Götz, in spite
of himself. The former, who was really desirous to
reform society, both in its head and members, remained
with the peasants in good and ill fortune, and sacrificed
life and property to their cause; the latter, a mere im-
promptu knight, deserted the cause of the peasants, and
in the last decisive battle against the troops of the
Swabian league at Königshofen beat a disgraceful re-
treat. In comparison with Götz,' Hauptmann's play
has historical accuracy in its favor, Goethe's poetic
probability. Goethe's play acquires dramatic vigour and
human interest by the interweaving of the Peasants'
War with the family and love relations of Weisslingen
and Adelheid. Hauptmann's, which clings with slavish
accuracy to historic facts, and even models its language
on the now unfamiliar speech of that day, leaves the
impression of an historical chronicle in dialogue, and
has a stunted and uninteresting effect.”
A third important play, also historical, comes
from Herr Ernst von Wildenbrach, and is
called “ Heinrich und Sein Geschlecht." It is
a trilogy, and the performance requires two
evenings. In it “idealism in the sense of the
classsic ancients, so much opposed to the ex-
treme realism of the moderns, has won a tri-
umph,” says our writer. Turning to the sub-
ject of poetry we read the following interesting
statement :
“ In the domain of epic poetry the appearance of a
work of the extent, and, in spite of some excrescences,
the profundity, of 'Robespierre,' by the youthful poet-
ess Marie Eugenie delle Grazie, which came out last
.
LITERARY NOTES
98
.


80
[Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
year, has driven all rivals out of the field for a long while
ures annually to the seemingly inexhaustible
to come. In the lyric domain also the publication of
supply of Goethe literature, partly by means of
the same author's collected poems secures for her the
its annual • Jahrbuch,' partly by original pub-
first place in the year's literature.”
lications." The latest volume of the great
Herr Martin Greif has begun an issue of his Sophia” edition of Goethe (the eighteenth)
collected poems; we read that as a lyric writer
"contains a newly discovered fragment of a
he “occupies a foremost place, and though drama hitherto unknown, which was to bear the
building on a loftier summit, he is akin to the
title. Das Mädchen von Oberkirch,' the action
unartificial comrades who, like Hans Sachs, being laid in Alsace at the time of the French
spring from the ranks of the people more closely Revolution ; but of this only a few scenes were
akin to nature from the artisan, peasant, or written. This serves as a fresh proof of the
even servant class.” A word is also said of
care which Goethe, the “unpolitical poet,' de-
the sacred poetry of the peasant woman, Frau voted to the poetical aspect of the greatest polit-
Johanna Ambrosius, and of the posthumous ical event of his century.” A new life of Goethe,
success of F. W. Weber's “ Dreizehn Linden,” by Herr Albert Bielschowsky, has been partly
which is even compared with that of Scheffel's
published, and “comes forward with the de-
famous “ Trompeter.” The most noteworthy
The most noteworthy clared intention of supplying a complete sub-
fiction of the year has been Im Blauen Hecht,"
stitute for the most vivid of Goethe biographies
by Dr. Ebers; “Chlodovech," by Herr Felix
- that by G. H. Lewes, which has now become
Dahn; “Ueber Allen Gipfeln,” by Herr
antiquated, in fact - and driving it from the
Heyse; “ Rittmeister Brandt,” by Frau von
position it holds with general readers and Ger-
Ebner-Eschenbach ; and an unnamed novel by man families.” The “ Ausgewählte Briefe " of
Herr Spielhagen. The novel of Dr. Ebers Strauss is one of the books of the year.
“ takes its title from the name of the inn, . Zum
“ These letters, addressed for the most part to his
blauen Hecht,' at Miltenberg, in Franconia, friend Vischer, extend from his twenty-second year
whence sprang Friedrich Weygand, the man (1830) to his death in 1874, and thus include nearly the
who drew
up for the peasants under the leader-
whole of his life. General readers will be specially
interested in those which refer to the pugnacious schol-
ship of Florian Geyer the future constitution of
ar's passionate affection for the opera singer Agnes
the German nation. . Ebers is always suc Schebest, Juno-like both inwardly and outwardly, and
cessful in imparting local and temporal color his marriage with her, which, happy at first, degenerated
ing to his stories; the stiffness — tiresome at
afterwards into tragedy. The mixture of harshness and
times so characteristic of his revenants from
softness so characteristic of the Swabian disposition ap-
pears as an inherited racial characteristic in the writer
the ages of the Pharaohs and Ptolemies, is
the uncompromising intellect whose critical faculty
exchanged in this work, as in the previous one knows no limits, and an over-tender heart which
dealing with a German imperial city, for an wonted breath causes to withdraw, wounded, into itself.
attractive fluency of style and characterization."
The latter then finds vent in appropriate poetic effu-
sions, which are scattered throughout the letters, and
On the other hand, “ Chlodovech" is said to be
reveal in the great stylist, whose prose is among the best
heavily ballasted with historic and archæolog of which the German language can boast, a poet who
ical learning. It is another story of the Völker excels in feeling as much as in form.”
wanderung. The “ Mutter” of Frau Goswine The letters of Count von Roon to Perthes, and
von Berlepsch and the “Seine Gottheit” of of Lassalle to Herwegh, have also been pub-
Frau Emilie Mataja are also novels deserving lished, and are of much interest. It is also
of mention. Weimar, once the literary metrop-worth noting that Herr B. von Simson has
olis, has now become the literary necropolis of added a sixth volume to Giesebrecht's great
Germany. “Owing to the establishment by but incomplete “ Geschichte der Deutschen
the present Grand Duchess of the Goethe and Kaiserzeit,” giving the history of Friedrich
Schiller Archive, it has become the lasting Barbarossa as suggested by fragments left by
treasure-house of the most precious heritage of Giesebrecht.
German genius.' The national undertaking, The story of literary Holland is told this year
unique in its kind, of an absolutely complete by Heer H. S. M. van Wickevoort Crommelin.
collection of the works of the poet of · Faust, In poetry, there is Heer van Eeden's “Lied
at the head of which stands the Grand Duchess van Schijn en Wezen," a striking philosophical
herself as heir to all the literary and artistic production, and volumes of lyrics by a number
works left behind by Goethe, assumes larger of writers. In philosophy there is Heer Meins-
dimensions every year.
The Goethe Society, ma's monograph on Spinoza, as well as two
working with untiring energy, adds new treas translations of the Ethica." There is also
any un-


1896.]
81
THE DIAL
Dr. Jelgersma's “ De Ontkenning der Moraal,” may expect to find an audience. There is a change of
a defence of conventional morality against the
taste slowly going on, and much experimenting both in
art and literature.
theories of Nietzsche and Ibsen. The most
Now and then the word symbolism
is thrown into the discussion by one or other of the ex-
important novel of the year is the “ Wereld- perimenters, but there is no symbolistic school worth
vrede” of Heer Couperus, a sequel to “Ma- speaking of. There is no fixed line, indeed, between old
jesteit."
and new, only a tendency."
“ Othomar thinks he has found out what the world Herr Jorgensen, a new writer who has recently
requires — peace. This blessing he will bestow on his become a convert to Romanism, “has written a
people, and he convokes a congress for international
most beautiful book, • Rejsebogen,' in which he
arbitration, which he opens under the enthusiastic ap-
plause of the multitude. But Liparia is no Utopia, and gives delicate pictures from old mediæval Ger-
as soon as the enthusiasm, in which a strong element of man and Italian cities in a noble style, whose
imitation and fashion plays its part, has died away, the serenity recalls the painting of the old mas-
people find that all the fine phrases uttered and all the
ters." Herr Drachmann, who is now living
words wasted have not lightened their burdens in the
least. Instead of universal peace ensuing, an insurrec-
abroad,“ this year celebrates the completion of
tion breaks out in Othomar's dominions, and the em twenty-five years of authorship.” He has pub-
peror has to extinguish his ideals in the blood of his lished “Kitzwalde," a mediæval novel, and a
own people.”
volume of “Melodramer." Other books are
Other works of fiction are “ Martha,” by Dr. Herr Pontoppidan's “ Dommens Dag,” Herr
Aletrino ; “Zijn Kind,” by Heer van Nouhuys; Michaelis's “ Æbelö,” Herr Peter Nansen's
" De Vreemde Plant,” by Herr Phocius ; and “Gud's Fred," and Herr Carl Evald's “ Den
two historical novels in the period of the French Gamle Stue,” a story of emancipated woman.
Revolution, by Professor ten Brink. There “ A young poet, Ludvig Holstein, has made a
seems to be nothing else in the report from mark in literature with a beautiful volume of
Holland that is deserving of special mention. melodious verse, bright as the sunshine of
Passing to the Scandinavian countries, we May.”
notice with regret that Sweden is not included Norway, it seems, has little but fiction to
in the “ Athenæum ” summaries of this year. offer this year, although the greatest event
Denmark, however, is dealt with by Herr Alfred chronicled is Herr Björnson's play, the second
Ipsen, and Norway by Herr Christian Brinch- part of “Over Ævne.”
mann. Outside of belles-lettres, Denmark has “Twelve years ago appeared the first part. There he
produced few notable books. The most impor. had forced us to realize the suffering involved in utter
abandonment of self, over and beyond natural capacity,
tant, of course, is the great monograph on
in the cause of religious enthusiasm. Now, in this sec-
Shakespeare by Dr. Georg Brandes. As Mr.
ond part, he leads us to feel with the political dreamers,
Archer has translated this work into English, themselves the offspring of those older martyrs who
it is sure of finding a large public. Dr. Alfred believed in miracles, their despair of any solution of the
Lehmann's work «On Superstition and Witch-
social questions, pointing, as they seem to do, to another
craft” is also of much importance.
fruitless martyrdom. Björnson has produced a drama
of overwhelming force and effect, marked by varied
“It is in many respects founded on the records of the delineation of human characteristics and clear analysis
English Society for Psychical Research, without the aid of social problems, and also full of genuine pathos and
of which the author could never have undertaken his poetical touches. Weighed in a balance, it would turn
task, though he has made a good many experiments on the scale against most of our modern tragedies."
his own account. The author is devoting almost a whole
volume to Spiritualism, which he considers partly as the
Dr. Ibsen has published nothing, but his plays
result of self-suggestion, and partly as the outcome of appear with biennial regularity, and one may
tricks played by conscious impostors, although he ad be expected the coming winter. Herr Lie's
mits that there are phenomena which cannot yet be " When the Sun Sets ” “ deals with the disas-
explained from natural causes. He mentions the experi-
trous influence on a home of the wife's infi-
ments of thought-transmission by Professor Sidgwick,
but Dr. Lehmann is a skeptic regarding the explanation delity, and shows at the end how the husband,
of them.”
at last suspecting his wife's proceedings, ar-
Coming to the subject of literature proper, the ranges matters in such a way that the next
time she goes to meet her lover she cannot fail
“ In general it must be said that the earlier form of to meet also certain death.” Among works of
realistic naturalism is slowly vanishing, or perhaps scholarship, we may mention the “Dictionary
rather changing into something new. Even the leaders
of Norwegian Dialects,” by Herr Ross, the late
seem to feel that nothing more can be done that way.
Eivind Astrup's book on the Peary Expedition,
At the present moment there is less dogmatism in lit-
erature than we have had for many a long year. Every- Herr Olsvig's discussion of Holberg's indebt-
body may do what he likes, and if he is doing it well edness to English writers, and the essays of
writer says:


82
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
Herr Nils Kjær, which place the author in the three books to her long list : “ An Australian,"
forefront of Norwegian critics.
a novel; “ Melancholy Beings,” a collection of
The Hungarian books of the year seem to stories ; and “ The Interrupted Song,
" the
have been “Fatum," a novel of Transylvanian prettiest tale” she has ever written.' The long
life by Miss Janka Horváth ; " The Lubló list of other books given in Mr. Belcikowski's
Ghost, and Other Stories,” by Mr. Kalman enumeration contains nothing of noteworthy
Mikszáth ; and “ Honthy's House,” a play by interest, and must be passed over.
Mr. Ferencz Herczeg, who brings out at least Mr. Paul Milyoukov opens his article by
one new book every year. The Millenial Cele- saying:
bration has called forth“ Millenial Hungary,' “I can only liken the condition of Russian society
“a highly interesting and splendidly got-up
this year to a river whose current has been suddenly
descriptive publication in four languages, En stopped by some insuperable obstacle. The stream has
not been sufficiently strong to break down the dam, nor
glish among the rest.” Four volumes of the
so weak as to be stopped entirely, and thus by over-
great “ History of the Magyar Nation” have flowing the banks, to turn the surrounding country into
already appeared, and two or three more are to a swamp."
follow. Herr Katscher says in a general way This is sufficiently discouraging, but seems to
of modern Hungarian literature that it “is be borne out by the facts. What he says of the
characterized, not by the towering qualities of controversy raging between “ Populists " and
a single leading personality, but by what might “ Marxites" may be quoted :
be called a popular spirit approximating to “ The first adhere to the old idea that the primitive
general European forms, subjects, and styles. collectivism of Russia is destined to become the founda-
Young Hungary must be estimated by its total
tion of the future structure of Russian industrialism;
production, instead of by one or two names.
while the others maintain that • Russia is no exception
to other European countries, and must, like them, take
The three Slavonic literatures remain to be
leave of the period of natural cultivation, in which alone
considered, but we have space for only little con- primitive forms of collective property-holding can be
cerning them. The Bohemian literature of the retained.'
present day, writes Dr. Tille, “ is characterized In the field of pure literature, he says, “ this
not so much by the actual works produced as year has been one of the most barren. A large
by a movement which, although going on for number of well-known authors have presented
some time, was never so marked as during the us with their works, but there is not a single
past year. This movement, which I should like remarkable production amongst them.” Some
to call . youthful impulse,' is not confined to remarks upon the writings of Mr. Volynski are
any one class; it is to be observed in all our interesting for the light thrown upon criticism
literary circles, and varies in its principles and in Russia.
tendencies in different individualities and par “ In his bulky volume on · Russian Critics,'Volynski
ties. Only one feature is common to all : the endeavored in vain to turn public sympathy away from
desire for a regeneration of literature, for re-
our veteran journalistic critics—Belinski, Dobrolioubov,
and Pissareff — and to prove that these old favorites of
formation, for new and better tendencies.” The
the public had an inadequate philosophic equipment for
young men are trying to start a Théâtre libre
their task. In reality Russian readers never valued
in Prague, and sustain several periodicals for highly any Russian critic who was the champion of any
the furtherance of their aims and theories. æsthetic theory, however philosophically grounded.
“ Vina," a drama by Mr. Hilbert, a new writer,
Thanks to the melancholy conditions of Russian society,
which still continue, the Russian critic, under cover of
"may be counted the best written in Bohemian.”
æstheticism, has always been a publicist, compelled to
The most interesting news from Poland is sail under a strange flag, and thus smuggle into print
that Mr. Sienkiewicz has published a three his contraband political and social opinions. Thus the
volume novel, “ Quo Vadis ?” of which the
very faults with which Volynski reproaches our critics,
and which would be serious defects in any society where
“ first persecution of the Christians at Rome
a normal public opinion existed, are regarded as their
forms the background. Individual episodes, principal merits by Russian readers."
such as the burning of Rome, the gladiatorial
combats, the martyr death of the Christians in
SIR WILLIAM GROVE, who died on the third of this
the circus, etc., are brilliant and described with
month, at the age of eighty-five, was a distinguished
wonderful plastic power, and the extremely physicist, and one of the earliest writers to enunciate
numerous dramatis persona, mostly historical
the doctrine of the correlation and conservation of the
figures, are as notable for psychological truth
forces of nature. His name will always be associated
with that of doctrine among students, and among labor-
as for fidelity to fact.” Madame Orzeszko, a
atory workers with the form of battery that bears his
writer of some thirty years' standing, has added
name.


1896.)
83
THE DIAL
for his supposed social superiors. To some
The New Books.
proud spirits this is doubtless true joy. Mr.
Baillie-Grohman (who has consorted much
with Grafs, Herzogs, and so on) seems to be
TALES OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE.*
aristocratical enough in his notions to think it
No better book of sporting lore and reminis- expedient that the killing of game in a country
cence has fallen in our way since the day when like Switzerland should be mainly the privi-
a happy chance buried us for an entire half- lege of the class whose interests and instincts
holiday afternoon in the breezy pages of old lead them to kill it in a rational and sports-
Christopher in his Sporting Jacket” than
manlike way, and to eschew the ruthless meth-
Mr. W. A. Baillie-Grohman's finely illustrated ods of the vulgar pot-hunter- but this smacks
“Sport in the Alps," an account of the chase
of heresy nowadays. Mr. Baillie-Grohman's
of the red-deer, chamois, bouquetin, roe-deer, book is too diversified in matter to be fairly
capercaillie, and black-cock, in the Central, exhibited here ; but the following captions may
Eastern, and Italian Alps. Mr. Baillie-Groh- help to indicate its general scope and trend:
man is a veteran hunter - his acquaintance “Chamois-hunting in the Old Days ”; “ What
with the deadly tube" dating from the time the Chamois is Like”; “ Chamois-stalking in
when as an urchin of seven he loaded a thimble Peasants' Shoots "'; “Stalking the Alpine
(with touch-hole drilled in the bottom) with Deer”; “Stalking Red-Deer in Hungary”;
grains of “ villainous saltpetre” pilfered from “The Bouquetin and its Chase,” etc. One of
the paternal gun-room, and discharged the the best chapters contains some sporting rem-
same, with delightful effect, against the glass iniscences of the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg -
panes of the nursery book-case. Copious as is
a mighty hunter, a just prince, a liberal Mæ-
the literary outcome of “ Alpinism,” no consid cenas, and withal a true friend and father of
erable attempt has been made hitherto to write
his people, who rejoiced in his prowess and will
of the Alps strictly from the point of view of long keep his memory green by the recital of
the sportsman; and this void it was Mr. Baillie- his deeds and benefactions. The Duke was a
Grohman's aim to supply. The Swiss Alps are superb shot; and the ring of his favorite .450
left almost unnoticed, for the simple reason that Henry Express rifle was the sure knell of many
but few chamois and no red-deer whatever are
and many a royal “ harte of grease" and stag
now to be found there. Republicanism and of ten. Once the author saw him bring down,
game-preserving assort ill together, constitu- with two double shots, four stags in full flight,
tional regard for the Rights of Man securing the nearest of them over two hundred yards
to each free-born countryman of Jean Jacques away. He died in 1893 —- perhaps a not alto-
Rousseau, from landowner to landlouper, his gether edifying example of the strength of the
natural and inalienable right to carry a gun ruling passion ; for his last words were, “Let
and to shoot therewith what he pleases where the drive commence !” The good “Herr Her-
he pleases -- a policy which, while soothing zog” was lamented far and wide by the hardy
to democratic sensibilities, naturally resulted mountain people, whose rugged tastes and sin-
in the speedy extinction of game. To the ewy virtues of mind and body he had, and even
Swiss “proletarian,” then, is left the dog-in. embodied. Though above them, he was of
the-manger satisfaction of knowing that, if them; and they loved him accordingly. As the
there is no game for him, neither is there any author was boarding the train, on his way to
* SPORT IN THE ALPs, in the Past and Present. By W. A.
attend the Duke's funeral at Coburg, at a moun-
Baillie-Grobman. Illustrated. New York: Charles Scrib tain station near the Hinter-Riss, a bare-legged
ner's Sons.
little peasant girl, pale with fatigue, hurried up
FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR: Studies of Wild Life
and Scenes in Many Lands. By Alfred Edmund Brehm;
to him, pressed a bunch of toil-won Alpine gen-
translated by Margaret R. Thomson. Illustrated. New York: tians and rhododendrons into his hand, saying:
Charles Scribner's Sons.
They are the only ones I could find still in bloom,
THE DOWNFALL OF PREMPEH: A Diary of Life with the
and I spent all day yesterday on the rocks to get them.
Native Levy in Ashanti, 1895–96. By Major R. S. S. Baden-
Powell. Illustrated. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott Co.
Please put them on the Herr Herzog's coffin — he was
so fond of them; and once he was so good to my mother,
THE SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND, and the Causes to which
it is Due. By the Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P.,
who died last month. I've been walking pretty well
F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D. Illustrated. New York: The Mac-
all night to get here in time.' Among the multitude of
millan Company.
gorgeous floral offerings from the crowned heads of
CLIMBS IN THE NEW ZEALAND ALP8: Being an Account Europe, which covered the coffin and the floor of the
of Travel and Discovery. By E. A. FitzGerald, F.R.G.S. mortuary chapel — where for the last time I saw the
Illustrated. New York: Charles Scribner's Son
calm features of the great sportsman — that little bunch


84
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
on
of half-withered Alpine flowers was certainly the hum dition to Abyssinia, in 1863, and completed in
blest. But I know which would have pleased the dead
1869. Meanwhile, Brehm had served at Ham-
prince most."
burg as Director of the Zoological Gardens,
An excellent publication is the handsome and at Berlin in establishing the famous Aqua-
volume styled (not very luminously) “ From rium — which partly realized his pet project of
North Pole to Equator,” being an English “a microcosmic living museum of nature. Ill-
translation of the lectures, recently collected health, social friction, and strained business
and published in Germany, of the lamented relations forced him to throw up his position,
German naturalist-traveller, Alfred Edmund and he again took up the role of popular lec-
Brehm, author of “ Bird Life" and the classic
turer, for which he was eminently qualified.
66 Tierleben.” To the translation has been
His literary pursuits and lecturing were inter-
added an introductory essay on the author and rupted by his Siberian journeys and by occa-
his work, an extended table of contents, an ap-
sional ornithological expeditions, notably those
pendix containing some useful editorial notes,
to Spain and Hungary, along with the Crown
and a fair index. For range, charm, and va Prince Rudolph of Austria.” But hard work,
riety, and as an example of picturesque pre- family sorrows, and finally, perhaps, the strain of
sentation of ordered scientific observations in
a long lecturing tour in America, aged Brehm
natural history, the book seems to us unsur before his time, and he died in 1884. The fol-
passed by any work of its kind and scope. lowing passage from the characteristic chapter
Comparing Brehm with Humboldt, the editor
“ Love and Courtship among Birds ” illus-
justly observes that we find in some of the trates Brehm's manner, as well as his tendency,
latter's Charakterbilder, for example in his noted by the editor, to read the man perhaps
“ Views of Nature,” “the prototype of those unduly into the beast.
synthetic pictures which give Brehm's popular
« All birds with a voice utter clear, articulate notes
lectures their peculiar value.” Brehm's de-
in their courtship, and their song is nothing more than a
scriptions of scenery, and of animal life and supplication of love. . - :: He (the male bird) is a poet,
traits as seen in nature, are of the clear-cut
who, within his own limits, invents, creates, and strug-
order that imprint themselves durably on the
gles for utterance; and the motive throughout is love
for the opposite sex. Dominated by this love, the jay
mind as the seal stamps the wax. Once read, sings, whistles, and murmurs, the magpie chatters, the
they are retained, and become part of one's croaking raven transforms its rough sounds into gentle,
intellectual furniture. Brehm (1829–1884) soft notes, the usually silent grebe lets its voice be
was born at Unter - Renthendorf, Sachsen-
heard, the diver sings its wild yet tuneful ocean-song,
Weimar, where his father, an accomplished its command may become a dull, far-sounding booming.
the bittern dips its bill under water that the only cry at
ornithologist, was pastor. Brought up in an . . . The bee-eater, whose voice is also unmelodious,
atmosphere of bird-lore, and accustomed to at sits for a long time on his perch, pressing closely to his
tend his father on his specimen-bunting tramps
mate, uttering scarcely a sound, but apparently content-
ing himself with casting tender glances from his beau-
in the Thuringian forest, young Brehm insen-
tiful bright red eyes; but be, too, takes fire, moves his
sibly and inevitably became a naturalist — hap-wings abruptly, rises high into the air, describes a circle,
pily not one of the mere Dryasdust sort, his utters a jubilant cry, and returns to his mate. ...
in born love of the poetic and the picturesque Tree-pipits and rock-pipits, white-throats, and garden-
being nourished and kept alive by his mother,
warblers behave exactly like the doves ; the wood-
warblers precipitate themselves from their high perches
who used to enliven the evenings' bird-stuff-
without ceasing to sing, fly up again to another branch,
ing and specimen-mounting operations at the where they finish their song, to begin it again a few
Pfarr-haus by reading aloud from Goethe and minutes later, and bring it to a conclusion with a similar
Schiller. In 1847 Brehm accompanied Baron play of wings. Greenfinches, siskins, and common bunt-
von Müller on an ornithological expedition to
ings, in the enthusiasm of love, tumble in the air as if
they had no control over their wings; the larks soar to
Africa, returning in 1852, rich in spoils and
heaven singing their song of love; the serin behaves as
experience, if poor in coin, to spend several if it had taken lessons from a bat. . . . And such be-
sessions at the universities of Jena and Vienna. havior is only the movement of a machine obedient to
In 1855 he took his doctor's degree, publishing
some external guiding force ? All these expressions of
in the same year his “ Reiseskizzen aus Nor-
a warm and living emotion which we have depicted
occur without consciousness ? Believe that who can,
dostafrika.” Early in 1861, after a zoological maintain it who will. We believe and maintain the op-
trip in Spain, he settled for a time at Leipzig, posite; the conscious happiness of the love and wedded
writing there for the “ Gartenlaube," teaching, life of birds appears to us worthy of our envy.”
and composing his “ Bird Life.” The monu Other chapters treat of “The Asiatic Steppes
mental “ Tierleben" was begun, after an expe- and their Fauna," “ The Steppes of Inner


1896.]
85
THE DIAL
Africa,” “ Migrations of Mammals,” “Apes ing might do him good.” Kumassi (the “death-
and Monkeys,” « A Journey in Siberia,” « The place”), Prempeh's capital, was literally a
Heathen Ostiaks,” . Family Life among the Golgotha, possessing three places of execution,
Kirghiz,” etc. The work contains a great num where the knife was seldom idle, and “two
ber of woodcuts from original drawings.
blocks of houses occupied entirely by the exe-
“The Downfall of Prempeh,” consisting of cutioners.” Any public function served as the
the diary of Major R. S. Baden-Powell, re pretext for human sacrifices; but if the king
counts briefly the events of the recent British
wanted some entertainment of the kind between-
De.
military expedition against the King of the whiles, he did not look far for an excuse.
Ashantis. Major Baden-Powell was in com- siring on one occasion a richer color in the red
mand of the native levy; and he prefaces his
stucco on the walls of his palace, he is said to
narrative with a pungent chapter, intended to
have used as a vehicle the blood of four hundred
make short work of the cavils of Mr. Cham- virgins (presumably captives) for the purpose.
berlain's " hecklers,” setting forth the reasons
At Bantama, a sacred village devoted to fetish
for the undertaking, which were briefly these:
sacrifices, was found the famous execution-
“ To put a stop to human sacrifice. To put an end to bowl, described by Bowdich in his account of
slave-trading and raiding. To ensure peace and security Kumassi in 1817 :
for the neighboring tribes. To settle the country and “ It is a large brass basin some five feet in diameter.
protect the growth of trade. To get paid up the bal It is ornamented with four small lions, and a number of
ance of the war indemnity.”
round knobs all round its rim, except at one part, where
That there were other and more vital reasons
there is a space for the victim's neck to rest on the edge.
The blood of the victims was allowed to putrefy in the
than these unimpeachable ones, some rather
bowl, and leaves of certain herbs being added, it was
naïve admissions in the Major's amazing pre considered a valuable fetish medicine.”
face lead one to suspect. After quoting with Inured thus to slaughter, it is no wonder that
approval the Gold Coast motto, “ Softly, softly, the Ashantis became imbued with a consuming
catchee monkey," he goes on to say, with an blood-lust, a wholesale execution being for them
effrontery which is enough to send our Jingo
as alluring a spectacle as is a bull-fight to a
statesmen into fresh spasms:
Spaniard or a foot-ball match to an English-
" By quietly taking possession of Ashanti, it has prac man. They were decidedly a people to be re-
tically acquired the vast Hinterland beyond - it has
softly caught the monkey. And the principle is being pressed, to be forced under the sway of the Pax
carried out in all quarters of the world. In Siam, in
Britannica whatever we may think of John
Venezuela, and up the Nile, England goes softly, softly, Bull's concurrent policy of “ softly, softly
catching her monkey."
insinuating the germ of a claim to the “ vast
Thus do the worst suspicions of our Jingo Hinterland beyond.” Prempeh's overthrow was
friends meet confirmation - assuming the au peaceably accomplished; but Major Baden-
thor to speak by the book. The Ashanti expe-
Powell's account of him almost makes one wish
dition ended, as we know, prosperously in the there had been a little expiatory blood-letting.
abject submission of King Prempeh, who em The book contains some striking illustrations.
braced the knees of the envoy, and promised to Sir John Lubbock's compact volume on
abstain from slave-driving and his pet diver “ The Scenery of Switzerland” is sure of its
sion of sacrificial slaughter for the future. welcome among intelligent readers generally,
There was no fight, much to the regret of the and should prove a true boon to Alpine tour-
humane Major Baden-Powell, who asserts that ists. Swiss scenery has been duly described,
he was “spoiling ” for one throughout. How sung, and apostrophized; but it has not, we
he might have felt about it had the delinquents believe, heretofore been explained — not, that
marched against been Oom Paul and his sharp- is, for the direct behoof of the general reader.
shooting boers, instead of King Prempeh and his One's enjoyment of it must needs be enhanced
“ niggers," is a question ; for the Transvaal bas by a fair conception of the forces to which it is
fallen into some disrepute as a parade-ground due, which have raised the mountains, hollowed
for British valor of late. Reading the Major's out the lakes, and guided the rivers — even if
account of Prempeh, we ourselves rather regret such knowledge bring with it a melancholy
that there was no fight; for the Ashanti chief inkling of the inevitable outcome of the slow
seems to be a most faithless, bloody-minded but potent counter-forces of denudation which
rascal; and it is clear that (as Mr. Lincoln must in time efface the rugged grandeur of the
was once driven to say of a peculiarly pestilent Alpine country, and pare down Mont Blanc
rebel-or was it place-hunter ?) “ a little shoot and the Jungfrau to the level of Snowdoq.or


86
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
E. G. J.
Helvellyn. For the Alps themselves, the time in no wise behind his distinguished prototypes.
honored types of eternity, are ephemeral too A decided feature of the work is the illustra-
though their day, measured with our brief span, tions, consisting of finely reproduced drawings
seems a long one. They have already, says the by Joseph Pennell, H. G. Willink, and A. Ď.
author, “ undergone enormous denudation, and McCormick. A large map of the Southern
it has been shown that from the summit of Alps of New Zealand from the latest govern-
Mont Blanc some ten to twelve thousand feet ment survey, with additions by the author, is
of strata have been already removed.” The enclosed in a pocket in the cover.
summer of 1861 was spent by Sir John in
Switzerland with his friends Huxley and Tyn-
dall; and since that date his vacation jaunts
have usually been to the Alps. Thus he be-
HOW PEOPLE LEARN TO COUNT,*
came interested in the problems offered by the
Everyone who has read Tylor's “ Primitive
physical geography of the country; and it oc Culture" must have been delighted with the
curred to him that a book presenting in pop- chapter on the Art of Counting. In his work
ular style the latest conclusions of the best
on The Number Concept,” Dr. Conant goes
thinkers on those problems would be desirable.
much more fully into the subject, and undoubt-
The present volume is the fruit of this idea ; edly brings together the greatest amount of
and it should be in the hands of every Alpine illustrative material ever gathered. It appears
tourist with a mind above Baedeker mean quite certain that primitive man must have had
ing, of course, no slur on that excellent and extremely vague and meagre number concep-
indispensable finger-post. With Baedeker as
tions; peoples even yet exist who have no words
guide and Sir John as philosopher and friend, for numbers beyond two or three, — indeed, it
the pilgrim to the land of Tell may cheerfully is asserted that the Bolivian Chiquitos have no
hope to make the most of his journey. The real numerals at all, expressing simply the idea
book is at once entertaining and instructive
of unity by a word meaning alone, etama. It
like other works of the author's, a happy blend is quite possible that some animals have as clear
ing of the popular and the technical.
a notion of number differences as have the De.
One of the finest works in our present group
mara, the Chiquito, and some Australians.
is Mr. E. A. Fitzgerald's “ Climbs in the New From such poor beginnings of mathematical
Zealand Alps” — a superbly made book which power man has moved onward. Many peoples,
inadequate space compels us to pass over much to keep their count straight and to focus atten-
too briefly. It is a simple record of explora- tion, have used their fingers and toes as tallies.
tion and adventure, a tale of the privations, While this has been and is common, curious
difficulties, hazards, and triumphs of moun differences exist in the exact method employed.
taineering, of the sort which the kindred ac After a discussion of counting in general, our
counts of Mr. Whymper, Sir Martin Conway, author investigates the “Limits of Number
and others have made us pretty familiar with. Systems. South America, Australia, and
The author was accompanied by our old friend some South Sea Islands, show limits soon
Mr. Zurbriggen, the famous Swiss guide who so reached. Many peoples stop their count at two,
materially assisted Sir M. Conway in the Kara some go to three, a multitude do not pass ten.
koram Himalayas. The most noteworthy climb Curiously, a considerable number of Australian
was that of Mt. Sefton, in the course of which tribes can count four, but do not go to the (to
the author narrowly missed falling down an us) very natural five. Still some savage
abyss of some six thousand feet. A plate ac races (the word is Dr. Conant's) go far in num-
companying the account of this lucky escape ber. “ In the great majority of cases” they
shows Mr. Fitzgerald dangling at the end of an “have the ability to count at least as high as
alarmingly thin-looking rope over the gorge
ten." This limit is often extended to twenty,
(down which his only hat is placidly sailing), and not infrequently to one hundred. Again
like the samphire-gatherer in “Lear," or a cap-
we find one thousand as the limit, or perhaps
tive cockchafer on a thread - a most parlous
a most parlous ten thousand; and sometimes the savage car-
predicament which ought to have cured him ofries his number system on into the hundreds
the “ mountain-fever” forever. Mts. Sealy, of thousands or the millions.
Tasman, Haidinger, and the Silberhorn were The origin of some number words can be
also scaled. The story of the whole is admir-
* THE NUMBER CONCEPT. Its Origin and Development.
ably told, Mr. Fitzgerald falling in this respect By Levi Leonard Conant. New
York: The Macmillan Co.


1896.]
87
THE DIAL
10
;
made out, but many
of the names for small 9= five-four, three-threes, one from ten.
numbers do not tell their own story. This is
one group, two hands, balf-a-man, one-man.
15 = ten-five, one-foot, three-fives.
particularly true for the numeral words of
20 = two-tens, one-man, two-feet.
higher peoples : those of lower tribes are often
To us, a decimal system seems so natural
quite transparent. High numbers are quite com-
monly expressed by words compounded of the
that we are likely to forget that other bases
names of lower terms. This compounding may
than ten for number systems may and do exist.
begin far down, and even three and four may
A basis of some kind, a point in the count
be expressed by compounds, such as two-one,
where we begin again with a higher order of
numerals, is necessary if numbers are to be
one-two, two-two, or second-two. Compounds much developed. The number of bases either
may be produced too either by addition, as in
actually used or theoretically proposed for
sys-
our own language, where forty-two means two
tems is considerable. The great Leibnitz de-
and forty; or by subtraction, as in Latin, where
sired to introduce a system of numeration where
duodeviginti means twenty minus two. Where
finger-counting prevailed, it is natural that five only the two figures, 1 and 0, should be used.
should be called by the word for hand, and that especially in Australia and South America.
True binary systems are common enough,
its multiples should show evidence of finger Where developed so highly as to run up to six,
counting, or of finger-and-toe tallying. So in
the words in such a system will be on the plan
Arawak (Guiana) dialects, we find abbatek-
kabe = one hand = five ; biamantekábbe = two
-one, two, two-one, two-two, two-two-one, two-
two-two Ternary and quaternary scales are
hands = ten ; and abba-lukku = hands = feet =
less common. The assertion has been made
twenty. In Kiriri (South America) twenty is
expressed as mikriba misa idecho ibi sai-both
that systems based upon four were once com-
mon in Central Asia; very curious and com-
hands together with the feet. Twenty is often
the word man, showing that the whole natural plicated systems of the sort are found in Hawaii
and the Marquesas Islands. Traces of a senary
counting-board has been gone over. Often mul-
tiples of twenty are consistently expressed as so
system are shown in our terms used in regard
to dice; and survivals of systems based on
many men. Thus, in Maipure (South America), twelve and sixty-duodecimal and sexigesimal
they say papita camoneer one man = twenty ;
forty is two men, sixty is three men, etc. Some-
systems are found in our selling by dozens
times numeral words are simple descriptions of and grosses, and in our time reckoning and
circular measurement. From time to time a
the act done with the finger on which they fall
consistent return to twelve as a basis for a nu-
in the counting ; sometimes they are the names
meral system is urged by reformers among our-
of the fingers themselves.
selves. But while systems based on two, three,
“Often some characteristic word, not of four, six, eight, twelve, sixty may be found, and
hand derivation, is found " as a numeral. In
while they present much of interest, the com-
Yoruba (Africa) ogodzi - a string = forty, be-
mon systems of the world at large are the quin-
cause forty cowry shells made " a string ” in
ary, decimal, and vigesimal, based on five,
trade ; Maori tekau=bunch-ten, because yams ten, and twenty. This naturally results from
and fish were sold in bunches of ten. The words finger-and-toe count.
for one and two are sometimes simply “this” and
“Whether or not the principal number base of any
“that.” A suggestion from nature often gives a tribe is to be twenty seems to depend entirely upon a
numeral word ; things always occurring in pairs single consideration: are the fingers alone used as an
easily give “two.' The Abipone, for four,
aid to counting, or are both fingers and toes used? If
only the fingers are employed, the resulting scale must
says toes of an ostrich "; for five he uses the
become decimal if sufficiently extended. If use is made
name of a hide, which always presents a five of the toes in addition to the fingers, the outcome must
color pattern. After devoting two chapters to inevitably
be a vigesimal system. Subordinate to either
the origin of number words, Dr. Conant gives one of these, the quinary may and often does appear.
the following suggestive table:
It is never the principal base in any extended system.”
1 = existence, piece, group, beginning.
“ A pure quinary or vigesimal system is ex-
2 = repetition, division, natural pair.
ceedingly rare.” The Betoya scale is perhaps
3 = collection, many, two-one.
as good an example as any of a quinary sys-
4=two-twos.
tem : Five-band; ten-two hands ; fifteen=three
5 = hand, group, division.
hands ; twenty = four hands. No European na-
6 = five-one, two-threes, second-one.
7 = five-two, second-two, three from ten.
tion uses a true quinary system. Scales where
8=five-three, second-three, two from ten.
numbers up to ten are made on a quinary base


88
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
and then present a combination of quinary and complete and absolute, we not only rule out religion,
decimal are common, and the author presents
we rule out rational life as well. If we give an
examples from many peoples of almost all con uncritical form and ready admission to the super-
tinents. Vigesimal scales are known in Europe
natural, our faith takes on constantly a supersti-
and Africa. The French and Danish are cases
tious, irrational, and unproductive cast. To com-
pletely maintain the laws of action implanted in our
in point. We ourselves talk of scores, and
physical and our intellectual constitution, and yet
man’s life is “ three score years and ten.” In to maintain in the world and in ourselves that true
Asia such systems are far more common. Many personal and spiritual power which alone makes
languages of the Caucasus present such. Those these laws significant for us, is the summation of
of the Tschukshi and the Ainu are nearly per- sound philosophy.
fect. Nowhere are there more perfect viges “Old Faiths and New Facts,” by Dr. W. W.
imal systems, however, than in America. The
Kinsley, is a book of marked ability. It considers
languages of Mexico, Yucatan, and New Gran the relation of these two elements of our lives
ada present good specimens. 66 The scale is the natural and the supernatural — in connection
just as regular by twenties in Maya as by tens with prayer, with the personality of Christ, and with
in English.” Thus :
immortality. It is addressed to the intelligent be-
20 = kal.
liever, with the purpose of making his belief at once
20 kal = bak = 400.
more reposeful and more exhilarating. We should
20 bak = pic = 8000.
say of it that the lines of thought offered are sound
20 pic = calab = 160000.
rather than critical. The author feels more dis-
20 calab = kinchil = 3200000.
criminatingly the reasons which make for his posi-
20 kinchil = alau = 64000000.
tions than those present in comparatively few minds
A brief review can give little idea of the
which make against them. He does not — at least
interest of Dr. Conant's book. We have only
so it seems to us sufficiently curb the supernatural
indicated the treatment. The author's style is
to bring it into the full service of reason. As that
is the task which the bolder thinking of our time
simple, lucid, attractive. Although in subject
has undertaken, any failure to feel its need very
somewhat technical, in method scholarly, and
much weakens even the soundest defence of this
with much tabular material, the book will in-
essential term of our spiritual life. The author
terest even the ordinary reader. To mathe finds himself committed apparently to every alleged
matics it is an important contribution ; to eth miracle of the Bible, and so unduly burdened in the
nography and culture history it is a mine of discussion. Our faith needs to be purged and puri-
valuable information.
FREDERICK STARR.
fied on the side of the supernatural, and widely
strengthened and sustained on the side of the natu-
ral, before it can be that rational power which
spreads a world of noble activities before us, and
fully kindles the inner courage essential for their
THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL.*
enjoyment. There is much in the volume to be com-
Several of the books before us — notably the first
mended.
one - bring us back to that question of questions Mr. Brownson's “Faith and Science” follows
which underlies our rational life, the relation of the another vein running in the same direction. It is
natural and supernatural. The fact of such a rela an effort toward the reconciliation of faith and sci-
tion is the most patent and omnipresent in the his ence, religion and philosophy, by rendering the
tory of the human mind. Its final conception and common grounds of all knowledge. This the author
statement elude us all. If we make the natural does with the zest of a metaphysician. He shows
* OLD FAITHS AND New Facts. By William W. Kinsley.
the confidence and strength of one who feels sure of
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
the most general and permanent relations of truth.
FAITH AND SCIENCE; or, How Revelation Agrees with The book is refreshing, indicating as it does that
Reason and Assists it. By Henry F. Brownson. Detroit: not quite all have lost confidence in the mind itself,
H. F. Brownson, 35 West Congress Street.
or confidence in the product of thought as accumu-
THE EXPANSION OF RELIGION. By E. Winchester Donald.
lated by the past centuries. The race has not passed
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
CHRIST'S TRUMPET-CALL TO THE MINISTRY. By Daniel
through a growth of vagaries, and then at length,
S. Gregory, D.D. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co.
with a sudden burst of power, planted its feet on
THE MIND OF THE MASTER. By John Watson, D.D. (Ian firm ground. If there is any one thing for which
Maclaren). New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
we remain indebted to the Catholic faith, it is this
THE RELIGIOUS FORCES OF THE UNITED STATEs. By H. hold on the past this tap-root of an historic sense
K. Carroll, LL.D. New York: The Christian Literature Co.
of the continuity of the divine mind and methods.
CHURCH UNITY. Five Lectures, by C. W. Shields, D.D.;
E. Benjamin Andrews, LL.D.; John F. Hurst, D.D.; Henry
The counterpart of this truth, that the past must
C. Potter, D.D.; A. H. Bradford, D.D. New York : Charles flow freely with ready change into the present and
Scribner's Sons.
future, is not so well rendered. The philosophy of


1896.)
89
THE DIAL
the volume is penetrative, discursive, and historic, an emphatic way, and still find his audience but
but is not likely to interest those who have drawn partially responsive. The remedy is not found in
away from this form of thought. The intuitionalist, a more stentorian tone. Dr. Gregory's presentation,
though he may find some difficulty with the exact though carefully wrought out, is weakened by this
way in which the power of the mind to seize and underlying assumption.
understand its own is presented, will certainly take “The Mind of the Master,” by the Rev. John
pleasure in the fundamental idea. The author is
Watson (Ian Maclaren), is designed to draw pre-
appreciative of the contribution to knowledge of our eminent attention to the words of Christ as the very
time.
substance of the Gospel message, and to put some
“ Though our men of science, both by precept and
what in the background the teachings that accom-
example, have done their best to prove science impos-
sible and to efface all radical distinction between man
pany them and the dogmas that have arisen in con-
and the brute, and really have proved that rationalism
nection with them. This is virtually a return toward
left to itself soon ceases to be rational, their labors have
the natural. If we meet Christ simply as a medium
not been in vain, and by their unwearied industry they
of truth, a higher form of life, we are at once at
have amassed abundant and invaluable materials for the work under the laws of our own spiritual constitu-
construction of the sciences which the philosopher has tion; the natural and the supernatural, the deter-
hitherto lacked ” (page 111).
minate methods of growth and that insight and lib-
“The Expansion of Religion "- a volume of erty which enable us to employ them, begin to flow
Lowell Lectures is admirable in purpose and together in a product of conduct and character, as
thoroughly well executed. The title clearly ex-
firm as the physical and as free as the spiritual
presses the object of the author - to indicate the world. The volume is made up of a series of phases
growing ways in which a truly religious feeling is
of truth associated with Christ, such as: “ The Sov-
taking posession of the world for its guidance and ereignty of Character,” “ Devotion to a Person the
correction. This assertion of expansion is not true Dynamic of Religion,” “Optimism the Attitude of
of any single dogmatic faith, but is preëminently Faith.”. The work is done with fine insight, a subtle
true of that spiritual frame of mind which underlies spiritual temper, and decided literary excellence.
all religious life. The book widens out its discus The volume is one to which the reader may return
sion in the direction of spiritual beliefs, personal in many moods of mind, with much pleasure.
character, social structure, and organized religious The last two of the volumes on our present list
action. Its temper is a wise, sober, progressive one, are closely associated. The first of them, “ The
which we can heartily commend. The dominant Religious Forces of the United States,” by Dr. H.
K.
individual as wrapped up in that of the community, statement of the various forms of religious faith in
and personal life as the power of religious truth. the United States. Dr. Carroll had charge, in the
These are brought out everywhere with clearness eleventh census, of the statistics of churches. Not
and firmness.
only are the general facts given, they are made
“Christ's Trumpet-Call to the Ministry,” by Dr.
clear and forceful by tracing their precise form and
D. S. Gregory, is a very full and forcible putting of productive causes. Classification of the Churches,"
the case as to the importance and authority of the “The Causes of Division,” “The Distribution of
ministry in proclaiming Christianity. “Direct and
the Several Forms of Faith,” “The Evangelical
effective Gospel preaching” is with it “the imme-
and Non-Evangelical Elements,” “The Negro in
diate salvation of the world.” The volume rests on
his Relations to the Church,” are a portion of the
the supernatural character of Christian faith. Natu- explanatory topics. The work is a complete pre-
ral agents and methods receive but meagre recog-
sentation of the familiar but confused fact of the
nition. Indeed, the hortatory temper in religion manifold forms of religious belief in the United
almost always implies supernatural terms of action,
States.
supernatural aids to such action, and divine re The last volume, “Church Unity," is a plea in
sponses under it. The author and men of a kindred correction of a widespread and obvious evil. It is
outlook, thoroughly as they may be in earnest in a made up of five discourses delivered in Union Theo-
renovating work, seem to forget that the best of logical Seminary, by as many members of leading
preaching has issued in only qualified success; that churches, all of them representative men: Dr.
the obstacles to progress lie as deeply imbedded in Charles W. Shields, Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, Dr.
Christendom as in heathendom, and that if we were John F. Hurst, Dr. Henry C. Potter, Dr. Armory
to select any, the best body of believers, we should H. Bradford. The preface lays emphasis on the
still find in them only the germs of the Kingdom of "concord of opinion” between these divines, each
Heaven. The supernatural, separating itself from pursuing his own line of thought.
a wide discussion of the natural conditions and The division of the natural and the supernatural
methods of growth in society, leaves society in a is involved in this topic, as in the previous ones.
very inadequate, fitful, and uneven response to the Only on the supposition of an adequate and author-
duties which organize men in the Kingdom of itative dogma given by revelation can we expect to
Heaven. A preacher may say admirable things in return to church unity in connection with a creed.


90
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
We should deem it preposterous to push for unity
RECENT FICTION.*
in matters of science or philosophy, by accepting as
ultimate certain primary principles. The intellect The reader of M. Zola's “Rome” struggles
is necessarily analytic and divisive in its action. through the volumes with a sense of bewilderment,
Whatever unity is possible to it can only be reached and closes them with a somewhat reluctant recog-
by pushing onward in endless activity through and nition of their power. It is evident that the author
beyond the more partial and more variable aspects has gathered his material hastily together, and that
of truth. Activity means, and must always mean, the process of elaboration has been far from com-
diversity. This diversity is natural, is inevitable, is plete. In this respect, the Roman novels of Mr.
desirable ; it lies in the breadth of the topic and the Crawford are more finished productions, and afford
diffusion of thought. The unity of the churches us glimpses of the social and ecclesiastical life of the
under natural law is not the unity of a creed, but capital of Christendom that could not possibly have
the unity of an end pursued by all paths, through been revealed to M. Zola in the few weeks that he
all creeds, and with the aid of every rite. The gave himself for investigation on the spot. But the
Kingdom of Heaven cannot be anticipated by a scope of the French novelist's work is so vast, his
formal construction. It must have the diversity and method so well formed, and his synthetic power so
vitality in every part of it of a free living organism.
* ROME. By Emile Zola. Translated by Ernest Alfred
In spite of the preface, the “concord of opinion”
Vizetelly. Two volumes. New York: The Macmillan Co.
is not apparent in these lectures, or in their several
THE REDS OF THE MIDI. An Episode of the French Revo-
parts. The undeniable fact, the need of unity among lation. Translated from the Provençal of Felix Gras by
Christians, and the very disputable idea that the Catharine A. Janvier. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Chicago Lambeth articles are an open means to this
THE WHITE ROCKS. A Novel. Translated from the French
end, are not reconciled in the discussions.
of Edouard Rod. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
Unity,
EMANUEL; or, Children of the Soil. From the Danish of
growing out of concurrent action for the coming of
Henrik Pontoppidan by Mrs. Edgar Lucas. London: J. M.
the Kingdom, is one thing; and a formal unity, less Dent & Co.
or greater, under the articles of a creed, is another CAMILLA. A Novel. Translated from the Swedish and
and very different thing. The relation of the two
Danish of Richert von Koch. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
& Co.
is not thoroughly elucidated. Some of the lectures
VERA VORONTZOFF. By Sonya Kovalevsky. Rendered
have the one chiefly in view, and some the other.
into English by Anna von Rydingsvärd (Baroness von Prosch-
The two things seem to us incapable of being united. witz). Boston: Lamson, Wolffe, & Co.
The one form of unity relegates the creed to a THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN. A Novel. By Sir Walter
secondary position; the other conspicuously retains
Besant. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
it as a primary factor. The presentation of Dr.
A FIRST FLEET FAMILY. By Louis Becke and Walter
Shields is not easily harmonized with that of Dr.
Jeffrey. New York: The Macmillan Co.
THE CAVALIERS. A Novel By S. R. Keightley. New
Bradford, while the intermediate lecturers are not
York: Harper & Brothers.
careful to reconcile the two fundamental methods.
THE CRIMSON Sign. By S. R. Keightley. New York:
The several lectures of which the volume is com Harper & Brothers.
posed are of the best. Against the spirit of the
THE APOTHEOSIS OF MR. TYRAWLEY. By E. Livingston
discussion we have not a word to say. Our only
Prescott. New York: Harper & Brothers.
difficulty with it lies in the feeling that the result
A MASK AND A MARTYR, By E. Livingston Prescott.
New York: Edward Arnold.
implicitly involved in it must be perfectly formal. A GENTLEMAN'S GENTLEMAN. Edited by Max Pemberton.
So far as it should prove efficacious, it would be New York: Harper & Brothers.
likely also to prove hurtful by deadening that ac THE SECOND OPPORTUNITY OF MR. STAPLEHURST. A
tivity of thought which is, after all, genetic in the
Novel. By W. Pett Ridge. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Kingdom of Heaven.
THE X JEWEL. A Scottish Romance of the Days of James
VI. By the Hon. Frederick Moncrieff. New York: Harper
These discourses, however, have much of that
& Brothers.
temper which subordinates belief to action, and A STUMBLER IN WIDE SHOES. New York: Henry Holt
here we most heartily agree with them. The unity & Co.
which is coming to the Church must be found by THE SOWERS. A Novel By Henry Seton Merriman.
picking up its hopes, and casting them, with one
New York: Harper & Brothers.
FLOTSAM. The Study of a Life. By Henry Seton Merriman,
mighty fling, forward into the Kingdom of Heaven.
New York: Longmans, Green, & Co.
JOHN BASCOM.
His HONOUR, AND A LADY. By Mrs. Everard Cotes. New
York: D. Appleton & Co.
CITIZENS interested in preventive work among juve-
THE MADONNA OF A Day. By L. Dougall. New York:
nile offenders will do their cause a good service by help-
D. Appleton & Co.
MADELON. A Novel. By Mary E. Wilking. New York:
ing to circulate a little book entitled “Your Little
Harper & Brothers.
Brother James." It is written with skill by a lady who
THE UNDER SIDE OF THINGS. A Novel. By Lilian Bell.
has had experience as superintendent of the Children's
New York: Harper & Brothers.
Aid Society of Pennsylvania. The story is full of interest, A FOOL OF NATURE. By Julian Hawthorne. New York:
and the social doctrine taught is eminently sound. The Charles Scribner's Sons.
author is Mrs. Caroline H. Pemberton, and her address JERRY THE DREAMER. A Novel. By Will Payne. New
is Stamford, New York.
York: Harper & Brothers.


1896.)
91
THE DIAL
o
considerable, that the “Saracinesca ” books are in and the author, although he must be taken as the
most respects easily distanced. One finds in “Rome" champion of positivism, has enough of the historic
the evidence of wide reading, supplemented by sense to write a book as widely as possible separated
enough direct observation to give vitality to the from anti-religious polemics of the shallow Vol-
narrative. A guide-book to the topography, ancient tairean type. The author has set himself as a task
and modern, of the city, a summary of its history to see the whole of his subject, and to see it as
and its art, a study of its economic and social con steadily as possible; when we consider what that
ditions, and, above all else, a searching analysis of subject is, it may fairly be said that he has achieved
the Church in its latter-day workings and signifi a reasonable degree of success. It should be added
cance, are all embraced in M. Zola's magnificent that there is little of what we commonly think of as
scheme. To these features the private and personal “ Zolaism” in the book; with the exception of a
interest of the characters are strictly subordinated; single scene that, in spite of its power, good taste
the story of ecclesiastical intrigue and wire-pulling must condemn, there is nothing to give serious
has the first place, and the tragic love-story is of offense. The book is a far finer production than
only subsidiary importance. The chief figure is that “ Lourdes,” for which fact the subject matter is not
of the Abbé Froment, whom we learned to know in alone responsible.
“Lourdes.” Shaken in his faith and utterly dis We see the French Revolution from a new point
heartened by contact with the display of gross super of view in “ The Reds of the Midi,” a novel trans-
stition witnessed at the Grotto, he returns to Paris lated from the Provençal of M. Felix Gras by Mrs.
in search of a new religious ideal. This he soon Janvier. M. Gras tells the story of the famous
finds in a somewhat nebulous sort of Christian 80 Marseilles battalion that marched to Paris with its
cialism, and he pictures to himself a regenerated new war-song, filled the hearts of the revolutionists
Church in harmony with the teachings and practice with fr courage, and took part in the attack on
of primitive Christianity. His ideal presently pro the Tuileries on the Tenth of August. The story is
jects itself into a book, “Rome Nouvelle,” which placed upon the lips of a peasant, a participant in
embodies all the ardent aspiration of his youthful the march, who in his old age relates it to a circle
and deeply religious soul. But the book finds slight of
eager listeners. History has treated these Mar-
favor with the Church, and he learns, to his dismay, seilles patriots very unfairly, representing them as
that it is about to be placed in the Index. He
hastens to Rome to plead his cause, and the whole leading motive with the author to rehabilitate their
novel is the story of his efforts to gain a hearing. fame, and recent historical investigations justify his
As the weeks lengthen into months, while he is put partisanship. M. Gras himself is an exceedingly
off on one pretext after another, and sent from dig. interesting character, and no part of the book is
nitary to dignitary in his quest, his spirits fail him, more readable than the biographical introduction
and a sort of moral disintegration sets in, which is contributed by Mr. Janvier. He tells us that M.
furthered by his ever-deepening sense of the con Gras was born a little over half a century ago, that
trast between the ideal Church of which he has he attempted law and abandoned it for literature,
dreamed and the real Church which he gradually that he became associated with the Félibrige, and
comes to know in its chief stronghold and in the per is now its capoulié, or head, the successor of Rou-
sons of its chief representatives. The situation is manille, who succeeded Mistral. He has published
that of a nineteenth-century Luther, but a Luther epic and other poems, and stories of old-time Avig.
who in the end submits, as far as the externals go,
and non, and has written (but not yet published in the
reprobates his own work. We leave him seemingly original Provençal) the romance now translated,
crushed by the machinery that has been brought to which is thus given to the world for the first time
bear upon his will, yet not without signs of an in English dress. It is a noteworthy piece of story-
inward spring that is likely in the future to shape telling, and Mrs. Janvier's English is so good as to
his life to a deeper and more lasting revolt than the make it difficult to believe the work to be other than
one now in appearance subdued. M. Zola has often an original.
shown himself a master of irony, but never before One of the most remarkable French novelists now
so triumphantly as in the scene of the long-sought living, M. Edouard Rod, is introduced to the Amer-
audience with the Holy Father, when the priest ican public by "The White Rocks," a translation
makes his submission, seemingly persuaded of the of one of his most charming stories. M. Rod is a
error of his ways, but in reality more deeply than Swiss writer, which brings him into comparison with
ever before in antagonism with the Church. As he the veteran novelist, M. Cherbuliez; and his work
utters the formula of self-reprobation, there is shap- will bear the comparison fairly well, for it is deeper
ing itself deep in his heart the feeling that his and more convincing, although less animated and
dream of a regenerated Church was indeed an idle inventive. M. Rod's closest affinity is, however,
one, that the old vessel would crack were the new with M. Paul Bourget, for both have the same psy-
wine poured into it. “Rome” is a book calculated chological method, the same critical faculty, and the
to cause much controversy. Its weight seems, on same seriousness of
purpose.
“ The White Rocks"
the whole, to be thrown against the Church; yet the is a study of Swiss provincial life, and its leading
argument for the Church is stated with great force, I figure is a young Protestant pastor, whose peasant


92
(Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
origin makes it impossible for him fully to acquire with the intimate life of one of the most interesting
the manner of men delicately bred, but whose essen of European peoples.
tial nobility of character wins the admiration of One is a little puzzled to learn from the title-page
those who look beneath the surface of a man's per of “ Camilla” that the novel is translated “ from
sonality. Temptation comes to him in the shape the Swedish and Danish of Richert von Koch." A
familiar to French novels, but he conquers it man prefatory note explains the mystery, however, tell-
fully, although the act of renunciation costs him the ing us that the original is Swedish, but that the
bitterest struggle of his life, and his horizon at the heroine, a Danish young woman on a visit to Stock-
close of the book is left well nigh cheerless. As a holm, speaks in her own tongue throughout the book.
study of the pettiness of provincial manners and “At first,” says the author, “ I let her talk Swedish,
ideals the book is full of subtle touches, and will but she was thereby changed into a wholly different
repay a close examination. Even the lesser char person. Such mighty influence has language not
acters, of whom there are many, are distinctly indi only over thought, but also over the whole person-
vidualized, and their delineation bears all the im- ality." The novel is a pretty sort of love-story,
press of truth.
with a strong pietistic flavor which keeps it from
With the three translations from the French just being very good art. There are many pages of
passed in review, we may discuss three rather im rather puerile religious discussion, and even the
portant translations from the recent fiction of the Sa
Salvation Army is taken seriously. The name of
Scandinavian North; and it is something of a co the translator is not given, but the initials N. H. D.,
incidence that the first of the three to be taken up, affixed both to the preface and the occasional notes,
Herr Pontoppidan's “Emanuel; or, Children of the warrant us in making a good guess.
Soil,” should be like M. Rod's novel in dealing with We are not informed in what language “ Vera
the experiences of a young and diffident pastor in Vorontzoff” was originally writt but we assume
a small provincial parish. Herr Pontoppidan's it to have been the Swedish, since the translation is
“Emanuel" is the first part of a sort of novel made by a lady of that nationality. The book is a
trilogy, in which the author has sought to exhibit straightforward intense narrative of the revolution-
the after-effects of the Grundtvigian movement that ary propaganda in Russia, sketching for us the sit-
stirred Danish society to its foundations in the fifties uation that is presented in far greater elaboration
and sixties. It is to be hoped that “ The Promised by Tourguénieff's “Virgin Soil,” and written with
Land” and “The Day of Judgment,” the two re marked sympathy and sincerity of purpose. There
maining sections of the trilogy, will also soon be can be little doubt that Madame Kovalevsky put a
put into English. The movement which will always good deal of her own life into these pages, with
be known by the name of Bishop Grundtvig was a such marvellous skill has she interpreted the emo-
religious revival and something more. It aimed to tions and the high-strung aspirations of the young
substitute a living Christianity for the dull formal girl who is the heroine. In many ways this story
ism that had taken hold of the church in Denmark, of a fictitious heroine is the story of the famous
and at the same time to awaken the historical con mathematician's own girlhood, as she embodied it
sciousness of the Scandinavian people by reviving in the wonderfully vivid autobiographical fragment
an interest in their magnificent inheritance of myth published a year or two ago. We do not find here
and tradition. It also aimed to exalt the peasant as the art of the novelist so much as the frank self-
the finest, because the least sophisticated, element of revelation of the woman of genius who cannot
the Scandinavian character. We
say
Scandinavian
escape, nor wishes to, from the trammels of her sub-
rather than Danish of set purpose, because Grundt- jectivity. We may smile at the ill-balanced enthu-
vig's influence was felt throughout the three countries, siasm that impels the heroine of this tale to self-
and because he never ceased to urge their union. The immolation in her chosen cause, but we cannot
novel now under discussion deals with the seventies, escape the impression that this is one of the most
when Grundtvig was no more, although his spirit genuine books ever written, or refrain from paying
was still abroad - and pictures for us the life of a tribute to the high qualities of mind and heart that
small peasant community hopelessly estranged from it reveals. Some of the pages, particularly those
the State Church, yet eager for spiritual guidance. relating to the Emancipation, are worthy of Tour-
The generous soul of the pastor soon brings him into guénieff himself, which is about the highest praise
sympathy with the aspirations of his people; he that it is possible to bestow.
marries a girl of peasant extraction, and breaks with In “The Master Craftsman," Sir Walter Besant
his ecclesiastical superior. At the last moment, the has given us an unusually good story, one that sus-
intervention of Bishop Monrad, who is wise enough tains its interest to the last and leaves a pleasant
to see and correctly interpret the signs of the times, impression upon the memory. Two young men,
persuades the hero to remain in the Church, leaving distantly related, and reared under entirely different
him free to work out his ideals under the protection circumstances, are the chief characters. One is a
of the organization. This hasty outline can give man of leisure and of the world, suddenly confronted
but an imperfect notion of what the reader will find with the problem of earning a living; the other is
to be a very genuine and charming book, fresh in a master boat-builder who plies his craft at Wap-
its interest and valuable as a means of acquaintance | ping where the Old Stairs were. The latter wants


1896.]
93
THE DIAL
man
to get into Parliament, while the former has no card-sharper and chevalier d'industrie, who falls
ambitions in that direction. To put the matter sentimentally in love with a schoolgirl, and deter-
briefly, they agree to change places, each instruct mines to lead “ a better life.” He has a hard time
ing the other in the ways of the world which he of it, but comes out all right at last, and finds a
desires to enter. So the man of society becomes a benevolent old uncle added to the other rewards of
boat-builder, and the boat-builder learns how to virtue. In “A Mask and a Martyr" we have for
conduct himself in polite circles, achieves his polit- hero a man who seems to be a coward, a drunkard,
ical ambitions, and becomes a power in the State. and a thief. After we have tried to become rec-
Incidentally, each of the men marries the woman onciled to the various forms of blackguardism to
whom nature seems to have destined for the other. which he appears addicted, we find out to our
The book has also a hidden treasure that comes to amazement that he has only pretended to be a
light just when it should, and a great deal of curi- scoundrel, that his wife is a dipsomaniac, and that
ous information about Wapping and the older part he has thus shaped appearances against his own
of London generally. It has the breeziness, the character for the sole purpose of shielding her, and
wholesome quality, and the entertaining improb- avoiding the exposure of her infirmity. Both of
ability of all Sir Walter's work, and needs no better these books do violence to every principle of good
commendation.
novel-writing, and their ingenuity of invention does
By“ A First Fleet Family” we are to understand little to save them from condemnation.
a family included in the first shipment of convicts Mr. Max Pemberton, after essaying several other
and their guard to Botany Bay in New South Wales. varieties of fiction with more or less success, has
The authors of the book (for it is a collaborative made an experiment in the picaresque, choosing,
work) have given us quite as much fact as fiction, and however, to set his rascally hero in a nineteenth-
told perhaps for the first time in readable literary century environment, instead of removing him to
form the story of the famous penal settlement in its the comfortable distance of the seventeenth century.
beginnings. The element of historical justification Piquancy is certainly lent to the story by the con-
enters quite considerably into this book, which may, trast thus offered between the modern setting, on
nevertheless, be read for entertainment alone with the one hand, and the old-fashioned sort of motive,
out any great disappointment, although judged as a intrigue, and literary manner, on the other. The
work of fiction pure and simple it has many short story is told by a valet — the “Gentleman's Gentle-
comings.
” of the title—and a precious rascal he makes
If we are not greatly mistaken, Mr. S. R. Keight- his master out to be. True to the picaresque model,
ley is a new novelist who will have to be reckoned the tale has but slight unity as a whole, and relies
with. His two works, “ The Crimson Sign ” and for its interest upon the episodes that it loosely links
“ The Cavaliers,” are as good historical fiction as together.
has been published in many a day, quite as good as " The Second Opportunity of Mr. Staplehurst
the early books of Mr. Weyman and Dr. Doyle. is a whimsical narrative of the sort that we associate
Of course, they are the same sort of thing over with the writer who calls himself F. Anstey. A
again, just as “ Micah Clarke" and “A Gentleman successful man of letters, who has reached middle
of France" were Scott and Dumas over again, and life, expresses the wish to begin his career over again,
equally of course, the man whose genius originates retaining the benefit of his already acquired expe-
a style and a manner stands on a pedestal far above rience. Greatly to his surprise the wish is granted,
the heads of the men who merely imitate him. This and he finds his youth renewed, although he still
reservation being made, we may give very high remembers all about his former existence. But he
praise to Mr. Keightley's novels. “The Crimson uses his “second opportunity "only to make a mess
Sign,” which is the less finished and effective of the of things, and ends by wishing himself back into
two, deals with the famous siege of Londonderry; his previous life. The story is extremely amusing,
“ The Cavaliers” has for its subject the Civil War although the conception is worked out in a rather
in England, the victories of Cromwell, and the trials reckless way, and a good many tag-ends are left for
of the King at Oxford and Carisbrooke Castle. In the imagination of the reader to adjust.
the latter book, as the title would indicate, our sym “ The X Jewel ” is an interesting romance, dis-
pathies are enlisted in the royalist cause, although appointing only because it is left in an unfinished
justice is not withheld from Cromwell in the strik state. This was doubtless intentional with the
ing portrayal of his character that the tale affords. writer, but we really have a right to know more
E. Livingston Prescott is a new name to us, and than he tells us of the mystery conce
cerned, and to
appears at about the same time upou the title-pages enjoy at greater length the reunion of the happy
of two novels. Both stories are of the most improb- lovers. The story deals with the turbulent Scotch
able sort, so irresponsible in their dealings with court during the early manhood of the son of Mary
human character that they hold the attention only Stuart, and affords us the novelty of reading about
by their appeal to curiosity. We wonder at every
Elizabeth in the character of an "old termagant."
step what fantastic twist of invention will be the The delineation of James would be masterly if it
next to be displayed by the writer. In “The did not clothe him as a boy with all the shrewdness
Apotheosis of Mr. Tyrawley " we have for hero a and pedantry of his later years. It is impossible to


94
[Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
accept this sketch of the King in 1585, although it ruptible, but unimaginative and philistine, English
would pass without question twenty or thirty years official, who tries to do his duty in his own stubborn
later. The tale is compactly told, and almost Stev way. We cannot sympathize very much with the
ensonian in the finish of its best pages.
particular thing he tries to do, and which in the end
The anonymous novel called "A Stumbler in leads to his overthrow and death, but we can heartily
Wide Shoes” deserves a better title. It is the very applaud the spirit in which he sets about what he
readable story of a young Dutch artist who marries conceives to be his duty. Mrs. Cotes, like most
an English girl, does not appreciate her simple other people who have lived for any length of time
devotion and strength of character, becomes en in India, understands very clearly how ill-advised
tangled with a beautiful Jewess, gets into desperate is much of the meddlesome legislation for the Em-
financial straits, and in trying to extricate himself pire that emanates from Westminster, and how nec-
becomes a thief. His character is so utterly worth essary it is that the colonial administrator should
less that we are hardly prepared for his final apoth- have a free hand in matters that do not affect for-
eosis. When he has realized the depth of his hu relations. This phase of the subject receives
miliation, he goes to Paris, starts a new life under sharp and effective satire at her hands. For the
an assumed name, becomes a great artist, and re rest, her story is lively and agreeable, and of the
ceives forgiveness from bis injured wife. It is true sort that is as easily read as forgotten.
that he was not only sinning, but sinned against as In “The Madonna of a Day" we hardly recog-
well, yet the rehabilitation of his character seems nize Miss Dougall’s hand until we have got well
to be beyond the limits of the possible. The scene into the book. It begins in so animated a fashion,
of the story is laid, for the most part, in Amster and holds out such promise of real excitement, that
dam, and one gets a vivid and faithful reproduction the author seems to have taken a wholly new de-
of the life of that interesting city.
parture. The dull and heavy earnestness to which
Mr. Henry Seton Merriman is a novelist of grow readers of her other books have become so accus-
ing power, and the two books recently published tomed appears after a while, but not before the
by him exhibit a distinct advance over his earlier story, as a mere piece of picturesque adventure, has
work. One of them, “The Sowers,” is essentially acquired momentum sufficient to carry its interest
a study of the Russian revolutionary propaganda on to the end. Miss Dougall's work is always orig-
in its phase of pacific philanthropical endeavor. inal, and the present story is peculiarly so. We are
There is an interesting plot, carefully constructed, tempted to call it the best that she has yet written.
a great deal of crisp and effective dialogue, and Miss Wilkins gives us in her new story some-
a fine ideal of human conduct. The characters thing more of passion and the play of the primitive
are well differentiated, and each of the more im instincts of humanity than she has been wont to deal
portant figures is a study by itself. “Flotsam” with, and the result, it must be admitted, is art
shifts the scene from Russia to India, and its inter of a less finished and convincing sort than that
est centres about the Mutiny, although but one im to which her books have hitherto accustomed us.
portant episode of that struggle — the siege of Delhi The figure of Madelon (who gives her name to the
-is described at length. The leading character is novel) is a little unreal and theatrical, and the
a man in many ways prepossessing, but fatally weak, other leading figures are even more difficult to live
and led by his lack of will to the disaster that wrecks with as actual human beings. It is in its minor de-
his life. It is evident that Mr. Merriman has write scriptions and delineations that the book is most
ten neither of these books from hearsay, but has ccessful, for it is in them that the writer is per-
visited the countries concerned, and made faithful mitted to exhibit the delicacy of touch that has
studies of the local coloring. The conscience thus given her so distinguished a place in our fiction.
displayed, together with a brilliant gift for charac The style of the book, in the non-dramatic portions,
terization and dramatic effect, put his novels among is admirable for restraint and poetic feeling, and in
the best of the season for entertainment, and, to no part compensates the reader for what he feels to be
small extent, for instruction.
the defects of the novel in its vital aspect.
Mrs. Cotes, also, has an Indian story for us in Miss Bell's third novel, “ The Under Side of
“ His Honour, and a Lady.” It deals with the Things,” is an improvement on her second, but we
social life of modern India, which the writer knows should hesitate to describe it as better than her first.
well, but displays, besides, no little insight into the Viewed as a whole, it offers a pleasant picture of
native character. It cannot be compared in this life in an Eastern country town, with glimpses of
respect with the work of Mr. Kipling and Mrs. West Point and one or two army posts.
The
Steel, but their example has made it henceforth characters are agreeably diversified, and two of
impossible for a novelist of India to give us the them — Mrs. Copeland and Kate Vandevoort—are
merely conventionalized background of native life triumphs of delineation. It is, however, in its care-
as we used to have it in Anglo-Indian fiction. Our ful working out of details that the book scores its
eyes have been opened, and even so superficial a chief success, and one has not read many pages be-
writer as Mrs. Cotes is forced to furnish something fore he comes distinctly to understand that this is
better than the old pretence of characterization. not a book to be skimmed over, that every line of
The story is essentially that of an earnest and incor it has been studied and will repay perusal. This
succo


1896.)
95
THE DIAL
State control
evidence of the artistic conscience is very gratifying
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS.
in our age of hasty novel-writing, and special atten-
tion should be called to it. There are many “smart”
Clearly, one of the greatest economic
sayings in the book, but the mere cleverness which
of railroads.
questions of the day is that which
it might derive from them alone is overshadowed
involves the governmental control or
by the delicate and tender sentiment that informs supervision-state or national, or both—of the rail-
the story throughout, and provides its chief charm. roads of this country. The vast and recent growth
Once or twice, indeed, this sentiment comes dan of the material, and especially of the agricultural,
gerously near to being “gush," and we fear lest interests of the United States makes the question
the limit should be overstepped. But the good sense of internal transportation one that vitally concerns
of the writer stands her in stead at these critical a very large majority of the people, and an ade-
junctures, and the situation is saved. No one but quate solution of the problem a matter of the very
a woman could possibly have written this book first importance. The railroad problem of to-day
any page of it; the feminine touch is everywhere is not the one that existed in the earlier history of
manifest, with its many pleasant implications, and, our government. The conditions which then ex-
we must add, its inevitable limitations.
isted did not require extensive internal communica-
One starts to read “A Fool of Nature" with tions, nor was there much demand for assistance
some misgivings, for it was awarded the first prize from the public or the government. A study of this
in a newspaper competition, and the realization vital question, in some of its essentially modern fea-
proves worse than the anticipation.
If this story
tures, is presented by Professor F. H. Dixon, in his
was the best of the hundreds entered, what must the treatise on “State Railroad Control” (Crowell).
others have been? The pity of it is that Mr. Haw He chooses to give a history of this control as illus-
thorne, who, although a third-rate novelist, is capa trated in the experience of Iowa, because that state
ble of far better work than this, should have so was the centre of the Granger movement, the move-
deliberately written down to the level of the intelli ment by which the questions of railroad manage-
gence that he surmised would be brought to bear ment were most bitterly fought out and settled; and
upon the awarding of the prizes. From first to last also because Iowa's experience includes nearly every
the book is unreal and unconvincing, written in a phase of the question of railroad control, and the
sort of slapdash journalese, and without any other Iowa Commission has been one of the best managed
adornment than the “smartness" of self-conscious and most successful in the country. While the law
ness and the glitter of a tinsel rhetoric.
of 1888 gave the Commission the right to prevent
Chicago is the scene of “ Jerry the Dreamer," and and punish extortion and unjust discrimination in
the story is from the pen of a new writer. It tells the rates charged for transportation of passengers
of a young man who leaves his home in central and freights on the railroads of Iowa, it had no
Illinois to seek his fortunes in the great city, of his jurisdiction over a large portion of the railroad busi-
trials and successes, and of the weakness of char ness on account of its inter-state character. The
acter that proves nearly, if not quite, fatal to his author concludes that, “ For adequate control of the
ambition. The author leaves us in some perplexity inter-state business, we must look to Congress ; and
as to the future of his hero, with the impression of
the solution of this entire question of control must
having got him into a fix and not knowing how to come through a combination of national and state
get him out again. The book shows many marks
control, and a judicious division of powers. . .
of inexperience, but is made attractive by a certain The state commission should have authority to inves-
freshness and genuineness of treatment, together tigate local complaints of unjust discrimination, with
with a direct simplicity that is distinctly engaging.
the right to certify to the courts refusals to obey their
The heroine is a very commonplace sort of girl, and
orders. ... To the national commission should be
may hardly be given the sympathy that the writer given full power of prescribing a general classifica-
evidently expects for her. But the book is, on the tion and a schedule of maximum rates for inter-state
whole, a promising first effort, and we shall hope business. If such a schedule were enforced, and the
to find its author's name upon another title-page
rates made stable, there could be no inducement to
before very long.
discrimination and rate-cutting within a state, and
WILLIAM MORTON PAYNE.
the local rates could be left to the railroads." Pro-
fessor Henry C. Adams, who writes the introduction
to this book, gives a graphic historical description
M. COPPEE's “ Le Pater," which made such a stir in of the relation of the Government to inland trans-
Paris a few years ago, is admirably fitted for use as a portation, and among other things, says: “The
French text, and we are glad to see that it has been
industry of transportation is fundamental in the
edited for college use by Professor de Sumichrast (Ginn).
But we cannot commend the work done by this editor
industrial organization of a community. He who
controls the means of communication has it in his
in abridging “ Les Misérables " (Ginn) for similar uses.
We must call all such work vandalism - there is no
power to arbitrarily make or destroy the business
other name for it. The “ Perdue” of “Henry Greville"
of any place or any person ; and it was because the
(Jenkins), with notes by Professor G. M. Harper, is a public recognized this great power, which from its
volume in the “Romans Choisis" series.
nature is dangerous when employed with a view to


96
[Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
in ancient and
modern times.
the private interest of corporations, that appeal was Synagogue of the Eastern Jews. That Synagogue
made to government for protection.” The publica- is, the author observes, widely different from the
tion of this treatise is a real service to those who more practical, and certainly more presentable,
are seeking some honest and sufficient solution of Synagogue of the West. “ Its places of worship
the questions with which it ably deals.
have no claims to beauty of holiness,' being in their
outward appearance rather bare and bald, if not
International
It was seemingly a piece of good repulsive; whilst those who frequent them are a
relations and fortune that the three essays and noisy, excitable people, who actually dance on the
arbitration.
addresses collected under the title Season of Rejoicing and cry bitterly on the Days
“ America and Europe," and added to the series of of Mourning. But among all these vagaries — or
volumes on “Questions of the Day" (Patnam), perhaps because of them — this Synagogue has had
should appear almost simultaneously with the pub-
its moments of grace, when enthusiasm wedded to
lication of the recent correspondence between Sec inspiration gave birth to such beautiful souls as
retary Olney and Lord Salisbury on the Venezuela
Baalshem, such fine skeptics as Krochmal, and such
boundary dispute and the problem of international saintly scholars as Elijah Wilna.” Other notable
arbitration. And yet, the attention of the American essays are: “A Jewish Boswell,” “ The Dogmas of
people is too closely fixed upon the opening skir- Judaism,” “ The History of Jewish Tradition,”
mishes of a momentous presidential battle to more “The Law and Recent Criticism," " « The Child in
than glance at the weighty utterances of even men Jewish Literature," " Woman in Temple and Syna-
like Mr. David A. Wells, Mr. Edward J. Phelps,
gogue,” etc. The papers are marked throughout
and Mr. Carl Schurz, upon political questions which, by scholarship, and should fulfil the purpose of
their
though vitally important, have no light to throw on
more serious side — to attract the attention of stu-
“16 to 1.” Mr. Wells, in the first paper, attempts dents to the neglected and potentially fruitful field
to dissipate the prejudice in many American minds
of Jewish mysticism and Rabbinic theology.
against the British method of building empire. Mr.
Phelps discusses the Monroe Doctrine in relation to
Miss Louise Mannheimer's scholarly
Jewish women
the Venezuela difficulty. He finds even less justifi-
translation of Nabida Remy's search-
cation for the intervention of the United States than
ing and at times eloquent study of
Lord Salisbury in his later correspondence appears “The Jewish Woman” (C. J. Krehbiel & Co., Cin-
to concede. He says: “ Till some man can stand cinnati) merits the attention of those interested in
forth and inform us how we are to be injured by the general theme a phase of which it discusses.
the adjustment of that Venezuela boundary line, I The work represents an effort made by a thoughtful
shall venture respectfully to assert that it is a con Christian woman to present a true, though broadly-
troversy we have no right to meddle with.” The
treated, picture of the idiosyncrasies of the Jewish
third
paper
is
upon
Arbitration in International
The work is not, like most of its class, a
Disputes. After celebrating the praises of arbitra- polemic for or against,- the author seeking mainly
tion, Mr. Schurz acknowledges there may be ques broad and essential truth of portraiture, and with.
tions of national honor which cannot be submitted
holding neither praise nor censure where either is
to any tribunal, but he thinks that “ It is time for
due. As Dr. Lazarus observes in his preface: “Her
modern civilization to leave behind it those media-
judgment of Jewish woman is candid and without
val notions according to which personal honor found bias, and if her growing admiration finds its climax
its best protection in the duelling pistol, and national in contemplation of their virtues in the olden times,
honor could be vindicated only by slaughter and de her keen criticism is aroused by the observation of
vastation.” He does not attempt to discuss the prac their failings in our own period.” We cordially
tical questions concerning the wisest composition of echo Dr. Lazarus’s wish that Mme. Remy's book
an international court of arbitration. These, how “ will be largely read by Jewish women,” who will
ever, need more attention just now than the princi not fail to find therein a high incentive to self-
ple of arbitration itself, if the present negotiations culture and elevation. The volume contains a por-
are to be pushed to a successful conclusion.
trait of the author.
“ Studies in Judaism” (Macmillan)
Mr. Edwin Cannan's work on “ The
More Jewish
is the collective title of a series of
in England.
History of Local Rates in England”
papers, by Professor S. Schechter,
(Longmans) consists of five lectures
Reader in Talmudic in the University of Cambridge, dealing with a phase of local taxation in England
reprinted in a revised form from “ The Jewish which is alike new and instructive. The author sub-
Quarterly” and “ The Jewish Chronicle.” The mits a vast amount of historical data and dry detail.
essays, while possessing a certain generic unity, are Yet, in the very first page of the book he admirably
rather diversified in theme - a distinct unity of prepares us for the investigations which follow. He
purpose being traceable only in the three opening says: “A great deal that is true is not worth know-
ones, on Chassidim, Krochmal, and the Gaon, which ing. The most inveterate bore is often the most
were written with a view of bringing under the notice truthful of men. All history should, I think, have
of the English public a type of men evolved by the some practical aim. Some moral, some lesson or
woman.
Local rates
literature,
-


1896.]
97
THE DIAL
guidance, should be afforded by it. Even if this is of Mr. Main's “Treasury of English Sonnets," is
not true of all history, it is surely true with regard still (where other commentators have lost themselves
to economic history. It would be absurd to study a in questions of origins and devious rulings about
subject so dry, not to say so odious, as local rates, form) sensible and suggestive, and, for the survey
except with a view to practical aims. We do not which it purports to be of the sonnet in this special
study such subjects from a love of truth in the ab- field, unusually practical. On the subject of the
stract . . . but because there are practical contro sonnets of Rossetti also, and of “The Germ” (the
versies about them, and we hope that we may learn pre-Raphaelite magazine which is the subject of the
something which
may
be of assistance in these con second paper), Mr. Noble shows something more
troversies.” It is the purpose of this work to mass than the mere timeliness of periodical writing.
the facts explaining the origin and progress of the Other numbers are on Robert Buchanan's poetry ; a
two great characteristics of the rating system which kind of defence of unlucky Leigh Hunt; and a
give rise to most complaint, namely, that rates are monograph of Hawker of Morwenstow, the pictur-
paid only in respect of certain kinds of property, and esque poet-priest of Cornwall, who is himself enough
levied from the occupiers and not the owners of that to give a book a second edition.
property. The author has made extended research
into the English statutes and the decisions bearing
“ To renew our fondness for the
A record of
upon the questions with which he treats, and has some literary motherland by thumbing over the
added a deal of unique information upon a compar-
pilgrimages.
pages of her story " is, obviously
atively obscure subject.
enough, the motive of Miss Alice Brown's “By Oak
and Thorn: A Record of English Days” (Hough-
Types and symbols Professor E. P. Evans has found in
ton). If the record is a good deal mixed with fic-
in Mediaeval "Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical tion, it is because the dwelling-places of great and
Architecture.
Architecture" (Holt) the subject for beloved souls,” for her, include both the actual and
a very interesting book, and a very amusing one the imaginary, and “Here stood,” or “Here might
too, despite the somewhat scholastic character
of its have stood ” is as potent as “ Here stands.” A pil-
title. It is an attempt (p. 16) to indicate the origin grimage into Devon, " The Haunt of the Doones,”
and signification of the most prominent types and « The Land of Arthur,” Eastcheap for Falstaff's
symbols in the curious and apocryphal natural his sake, and Knutsford or Cranford for Mrs. Gaskill's,
tory of medieval Christianity, which comes to its among the journeyings undertaken, bave something
most obvious presentation in ecclesiastical architec- significant in their added and somewhat naïve testi-
ture. The standpoint of architecture was happily mony to the power of England over certain phases
chosen, for we may see examples of animal sym of the American literary mind. The style, with
bolism in any mediæval building we look at, either its drollities of phrase, its allusions, quotations,
actually or in illustration; whereas other manifes- rhythms, apostrophes, shows more than ever the
tations of the tendency are, as a rule, to be observed results of eager reading. Perhaps the best paper is
only by the student. The subject is wide and often that on “The Brontë Country," where subject and
obscure, and Professor Evans would not assert that treatment and actual circumstance are most clearly
he has said the last word upon it. The book, how in accord.
ever, has an immense amount of example and illus-
tration which will be useful to the scholar, while it
Mr. F. Schuyler Mathews, in his
Knowing trees
“ Familiar Trees and their Leaves
is a perfect mine of entertainment to the more cur by their leaves.
sory reader. We cannot begin to give an idea of
(Appleton), explains the character-
the variety of quaint interpretation and singular
istic differences between the members of the great
allegory to be found in the work. It is an extremely
tree families in a way to be easily understood. The
entertaining volume, besides being valuable, and will appreciative reader will soon find himself plucking
doubtless open to many entirely new sources of
branches from the wayside trees and identifying
interest.
them by means of the fine illustrations and admir-
able descriptions here presented. Mr. Mathews
Essays on the
If temperance in judgment, pliancy classifies the trees according to the shapes and posi-
of style, and a knack of fresh and tions of the leaves, as simple or compound, oppo-
other things.
sympathetic presentation, are rea site or alternate, toothed or untoothed; but adds
sons enough for conferring success upon a volume also, for the benefit of the novice, descriptions of
of critical papers, they are not far to seek in Mr. bark, fruit, contour of the tree, habits, and minor
James Ashcroft Noble's “ The Sonnet in England, items. The book is a study of the trees from the
and Other Essays " (Way & Williams). A re view.point not only of science, but of beauty. The
perusal of this book in a well-made second edition, illustrations, over two hundred in number, are de-
printed, presumably without change, from the edi serving of special note; they were drawn by the
tion of 1892, is a pleasure to which one can testify author from nature, and preserve wonderfully the
with no very great reservations as to major matters. grace and charm of the originals. The book is one
The initial paper, one of the more noticeable of the to read, and then to keep at hand for continual
reviews written à propos of the appearance in 1880 reference.
Sonnet and


98
[Aug. 16,
THE DIAL
LITERARY NOTES.
BRIEFER MENTION.
Mr. A. E. H. Swaen has edited the best plays of Van-
brugh for the “Mermaid " series (imported by Scribner),
giving us texts of “The Relapse," "The Provok'd Wife,”
“The Confederacy,” and “A Journey to London." The
apparatus of the volume includes a bibliography, a gen-
ealogical table, a biographical notice, and Leigh Hunt's
essay, copiously annotated. There is also a fine etched
frontispiece from Kneller's portrait. The editor's opina.
ion of Vanbrugh is that, “though less witty than Con-
greve, he surpasses him in humor," and that “as a man
he decidedly takes the foremost place "among the
Restoration dramatists, "for, besides being a clever
writer, he was an eminent architect, possessed noble
qualities, and led an active life.”
The classical instructors of Harvard University have
just issued another (the sixth) of those volumes of
“ Studies” which that austere censor, Mr. Andrew Lang,
has recently used to point a rebuke to the levity of his
countrymen. Professor John Williams White repub-
lishes his convincing argument that the Opisthodomus
was a detached building, and not a part of the Parthenon
temple. Professor J. H. Wright discusses a Votive
tablet to Artemis in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Mr. William N. Bates endeavors to fix the date of that
Lycophron the Obscure whom “every schoolboy knows"
to have been Macaulay's pocket companion. Mr. Mau-
rice Mather writes in Latin on verbs compounded with
jacio, and Mr. George Edwin Howes presents a useful
and interesting compilation and discussion of all the
Homeric quotations in Plato and Aristotle.
David Baptie's small volume, “Sketches of the Glee
Composers ” (imported by Scribner) gives brief biog-
raphies of the principal glee composers between the
years 1735 and 1866. In every case are given the
number of each writer's glees, an ample list of his best
pieces, and a statement of the kinds of voices for which
each is written,—thus forming a useful handbook and
guide for directors of glee clubs and choral societies.
We have frequently had occasion to praise “The
University Series" of bandbooks for the use of Exten-
sion students. A thoroughly admirable book on “Shak-
spere and His Predecessors” (Scribner), by Mr. Fred-
erick S. Boas, is the latest issue in this series, and our
only complaint is that it attempts to do too much for a
single volume. Of the 555 pages, all but 88 are de-
voted to Shakespeare himself, and the introductory
chapters on the mediæval drama, Marlowe, Kyd, Lyly,
Peele, and Greene, are necessarily out of perspective.
Mr. Boas has evidently worked through the whole mass
of modern Shakespearian criticism, and his selection of
material shows discriminating judgment and rare schol-
arship. A better guide to the study of the dramatist
has never been written.
Professor R. G. Moulton's big book on “The Literary
Study of the Bible” (Heath) is made somewhat for-
bidding by its pedantic analytical schemes and classifi-
cation, yet will repay examination. Mr. Moulton has a
fine sense of the literary qualities of the scriptural writ-
ings, and the special object of his work is to awaken
this sense in its readers. He accepts the results of the
“higher criticism,” although they do not enter very con-
siderably into a work the chief purpose of which is lit-
erary rather than historical analysis. He uses the text
of the Revised Version, and treats the Apocrypha as an
essential part of the Bible.
“ Life on the Mississippi” is added by rs. Har
per & Brothers to their attractive library edition of
« Mark Twain."
Lady Tennyson died on the tenth of this month. Her
maiden name was Emily Selwood, and she was married
to the poet in 1850.
Dr. Weir Mitchell's new novel, “ Hugh Wynne, Free
Quaker,” will appear as a serial in the “Century”
magazine, beginning with November.
We have received the first number, dated July, of
“ Ex Libris,” a neat quarterly published under the au-
spices of the Washington Ex Libris Society.
The Rev. T. A. Goodwin's “ Lovers Three Thousand
Years Ago," a study of the Song of Songs, is reprinted
by the Open Court Publishing Co. in their “ Religion
of Science” library.
Dr. George C. Keidel, of the Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, has published “ A Manual of Æsopic Fable Liter-
ature” in the series of “ Romance and Other Studies”
upon which he is at work.
“ The Phantom Ship,” “Snarley-yow,” and “Olla
Podrida" are volumes just added to the library edition
of Marryatt now issuing from the press of Messrs. Little,
Brown, & Co. The latter volume includes « The Pirate"
and « The Three Cutters."
England has been going in for literary memorials of
late. Within the space of a few days last month there
were unveiled a Massinger window in a Southwark
church, a bust of Dr. Arnold in Westminster Abbey, a
statue of Cardinal Newman at Brompton Oratory, and
a monument to Heminge and Condell in the churchyard
of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury.
Mr. Henry S. Salt, socialist, vegetarian, anti-vivi-
sectionist, and philosophical radical, has always been one
of the stoutest champions of Shelley's memory against
the many attacks that have been directed against it on
personal and critical grounds. He made the poet the
subject of two monographs some years ago, and now
adds a third to the list. “Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poet
and Pioneer" (Scribner) is the title of the new volume,
which is not content with the apologetic attitude assumed
by most of Shelley's admirers, but is boldly aggressive,
defending both the poet's character and principles in the
most positive way. The thing is perhaps a little over-
done, but on the whole we think Mr. Salt more nearly
right than wrong, and commend his work as a brilliant
and well-nigh convincing piece of special pleading.
HOME SCHOOL
For a limited number of Young Ladies. Particular attention
paid to Composition, Literature, and Psychology. Apply to
Mrs. M. J. REID, 166 Ashland Boulevard, Chicago, Ill.
THE BOSTON FOREIGN BOOK-STORE.
A complete stock of French, German, Italian, and Spanish standard
works. New books received as soon as issued. Large assortment of
text-books in foreign languages. Complete catalogues mailed free on
demand.
CARL SCHOENHOP,
(T. H. CASTOR & CO., Successors), Importers of FOREIGN BOOKS.
23 School Street, Boston, Mass.
INTEREST TO AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS: The
skilled revision and correction of novels, biographies, short stories,
plays, histories, monographs, poems; letters of unbiased criticism and
advice; the compilation and editing of standard works. Send your MB.
to tho N. Y. Bureau of Revision, the only thoroughly-equipped literary
bureau in the country. Established 1880: unique in position and sue-
Terms by agreement. Circulars. Address
Dr. TITUS M. COAN, 70 Fifth Ave., New York.
cess.


THE DIAL
-
-
-
-
A Semi-Monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information.
PAGE
.
.
THE DIAL (founded in 1880) is published on the 1st and 16th of
each month. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, $2.00 a year in advance, postage
AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL
prepaid in the United States, Canada, and Mexico; in other countries
DOCUMENT.
comprised in the Postal Union, 50 cents a year for extra postage must
be added. Unless otherwise ordered, subscriptions will begin with the Mr. D. R. Cameron, for many years a mem-
current number. REMITTANCES should be by draft, or by erpress or
ber of the Chicago Board of Education and
postal order, payable to THE DIAL. SPECIAL RATES TO Clubs and
for subscriptions with other publications will be sent on application ;
for the past two years its President, bas jast
and SAMPLE COPY on receipt of 10 cents. ADVERTISING RATES furnished retired from his office in connection with that
on application. Al communications should be addressed to
body, and has made his final report the occa-
THE DIAL, 315 Wabash Ave., Chicago.
sion for a number of suggestions concerning
SEPTEMBER 1, 1896. Vol. XXI.
the future policy of the city schools. This re-
port is a weighty document, the product of
much reflection and experience, and is charac-
CONTENTS.
terized throughout by good clear sense and a
AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL DOCUMENT 105 recognition of the leading principles for which
CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH. Percy F. Bicknell 107 | public educators are everywhere contending.
The suggestions made by Mr. Cameron are so
THE SONNET. (Sonnet.) Margaret Steele Anderson 108
well stated, and follow so closely in the line of
COMMUNICATIONS
109
the best educational thought - as far as that
Dogmatic Philology. Edward A. Allen.
The “Passive Voice with Object” in Japanese.
thought deals with the problem of the large city
Ernest W. Clement.
school system — that we make no apology for
The Journalism of Parts of Speech. Caskie
bringing the essential contents of the report
Harrison.
before a wider audience than can be secured
THE DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF AMERICA.
for them by fragmentary publication in the
B. A. Hinsdale
111
daily newspapers of Chicago.
A SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHER AND AMERICAN
COLLEGE PRESIDENT. Grace Julian Clarke 114
The management of the public schools in a
large municipality is a serious matter, calling
CHILD-STUDY IN EDUCATIONAL WORK. Arthur
for the best appliances and the most careful
Burnham Woodford
116
consideration. How large a concern it is in
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN.
this particular instance may best be illustrated
Anna Benneson McMahan .
117
by a few figures taken from the statistics of the
RECENT BOOKS OF POETRY. William Morton
year that ended with last June. The enrollment
Payne .
119
Swinburne's The Tale of Balen.-Watson's The Pur of pupils for the year was 215,784, the number
ple East.— Noel's My Sea.- Dalmon's Song Favours. of schools was 224, and the total expenditure
Cochrane's Leviore Plectro.- Christie's Lays and
$7,328,531. The two chief problems presented
Verses.- Moore's Odes.- Miller's Songs of the Soul.
- Cawein's Undertones.- Miss Kimball's Soul and are the management of this enormous sum of
Sense.- Kenyon's An Oaten Pipe.-- Miss Meyrick's
money, and the direction of the educational
Songs of a Fool.- Miss Plummer's Verses.-Vicker's
America Liberata.-Miss Snow's The Lamp of Gold.-
forces brought to bear upon the training of
Miss Jewett's The Pilgrim.-Miss Brown's The Road this large army of youthful citizens. With
to Castaly.-Field's Four-Leaved Clover. -Scollard's
these two problems Mr. Cameron's report is
Hills of Song.-Lampman's Lyrics of Earth.
chiefly concerned, and both are dealt with in a
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS
125
preëminently enlightened way.
Memoirs of Dr. Barnard, of Columbia.- A Study of
the Woman of to-day.- Christian teaching in Brown-
As to the first of these questions, the recom-
ing.- Life and Letters of Maria Mitchell.— Thoreau mendation is thus stated :
as a Great Writer.- Cædmon and Milton compared.
It is my belief that a competent man of affairs, with
- A reference book for Labor Laws in the United
States.- True realism of army life.-- Antiquities of
large executive powers, conversant with men and values,
Pagan Ireland.- History of street names in London.
informed as to the mutual interest of all parties con-
- The English Cathedrals.
cerned in financial transactions of the board, inflexible
in demanding and dispensing justice in all matters of
BRIEFER MENTION .
reciprocal interests, if chosen to act in the capacity of,
LITERARY NOTES
128 let me suggest, a business directory of all its business
affairs, subject always to review of the board, at a lib-
TOPICS IN LEADING PERIODICALS
129
eral salary, would by the introduction of business meth-
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
. 129 ods into the administration of our affairs so effect a sav-
.
.
•
66
• 128
.
.
.
.


106
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
ing in our expenditures as would compensate for his tion of teachers to fill vacancies occurring in the more
salary many times over, and bring about a more rational important positions.”
system of procedure in all our business relations."
This is admirably concise and logical; what
Such a statement almost carries conviction in the writer calls his own “ solemn conviction'
its train. In the management of large concerns, on the subject is also the conviction of every
public or private, all experience goes to show serious educator in the country. There is no
that the best results are obtained when exec question, either in this proposition or in the
utive powers are concentrated and responsi- preceding one relating to business manage-
bilities enlarged. The business of a board of ment, of any abdication of authority on the
education that expends seven or eight millions part of the Board of Education. There is sim-
annually cannot be effectively and economically ply the question of a voluntary limitation of
controlled by committees and quasi-independ- the action of that body to the larger aspects
ent departments. It demands the same sort of of the public school policy, leaving all the de-
ability that is required of the president of a tails to the decision of competent executive
great banking or railway corporation. Such agents.
ability commands a high price, but it is to be Mr. Cameron refers in pointed terms to the
found in the market, and its employment would action taken last spring by the Chicago Council
be a real economy. It is, moreover, unfair to whereby the school appropriation for 1897 was
expect from the members of a board of educa made two millions short of what is obviously
tion, whose services are entirely gratuitous, the needed. On this subject he says:
sort of devotion that is needed for this work of
** In view of the almost unprecedented growth of the
business superintendence. Men who have oc- population of the city and the corresponding increase of
cupations of their own cannot be expected to school membership, the reduction of financial resources
this extent to neglect their own interests, and beyond those of the last preceding year seems like a
suicidal act, an act at least without the sanction or sug-
many of the most capable members of the Chi-
gestion of an enlightened policy. The whole policy of
cago Board of Education have found them-
a government is summed up in the requirement - edu-
selves forced to resign because they simply cate or punish. To neglect the former is to render the
could not, in justice to themselves, meet the
latter obligatory. The wisdom of the one is set over
multifarious demands made upon them by their
against the folly of the other. To cheapen the one is to
multiply the cost of the other by a large ratio. In the
office, yet were too conscientious to be willing face of this fact, the board is unhappily urged, nay
to neglect them. Mr. Cameron's proposal offers forced, to a most rigid line of economy and retrench-
a way out of this difficulty, and its adoptionment, whereby the possibility of financial embarrassment
would make it possible to enlist the services of
may be avoided. It is not a condition to be viewed with
the best men in the community without exact-
any feeling of complacency, that of a retrograde move-
ment in the management of the schools because of the
ing from them an unreasonable portion of their fact that the board is shorn of the legitimate and neces-
time and energy.
sary means for carrying to a successful issue the legal
On the subject of the strictly educational requirements of its department.”
work of the Board the report is equally out-
It is shown that during 1895-6, for the first
spoken, and equally in line with the most com-
time in years, new schools were built fast enough
petent educational thought. We read : to keep pace with the growth of the school pop-
“ Especially should the educational department be
ulation. The reduction for the coming year
left free from non-professional interference and restric means simply that building must stop alto-
tion, and the legal power of the appointment and removal gether for a time, making it much harder than
of teachers in the largest measure consonant with the before to catch up" when it is made possible
right of review by the board be cheerfully committed
to the Superintendent of Schools and his assistants. It again to go on with the work.
scarcely needs an argument to convince any member of
One more recommendation of importance re-
this board that the outlook of these executive officers mains to be noticed. The success of the exper-
over the educational field, their knowledge of school imental vacation school carried on in Chicago
affairs at home and abroad, their acquaintance with the
this summer by private subscription has been
trend and scope of educational thought, their familiar
associations with questions pertaining to school manage-
so marked that a real educational need is indi-
ment and discipline, their experience with school life, cated. Such schools should, of course, be very
their trained judgment as to professional merit in teach different in plan and method from those of the
ing, their professional pride, all unite to justify the regular school year, and the slight experience
commission to their hands, unrestricted by individual
members of the board, or by non-professional parties, already had with them shows how successful
the selection, appointment, assignment, and transfer of they might be made. Mr. Cameron, at all
teachers, the removal of incompetents, and the promo-
events, has taken to heart the lesson of this


1896.]
107
THE DIAL
rare,
summer's experiment, for he urges the organ The pulpit makes some pretence to the correct
ization of a large number of such vacation use of English, but even here colloquialisms are not
schools, and, at the same time, suggests that
The writer recently heard a clergyman of
the regular school year should be shortened
some claims to culture and refinement, in the course
one month. If the latter suggestion were made
of a sermon on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
by itself, its wisdom might be doubtful, but
exclaim with much fervor: “Oh, my brethren, what
a blessed world this would be if only we were all
coupled as it is with the plan for vacation
plumb full of God!” Another preacher whom he
schools, it commends itself to the intelligence. frequently hears is addicted to deploring, in his
There is no doubt that the summer climate of exhortations to spiritual-mindedness, a too great
Chicago is too tropical for the year of forty desire to keep up with the procession." The bar
weeks that has hitherto been maintained. A has long ago given up the attempt to furnish a
school term that runs from the beginning of model in the use of English. Not a few lawyers
September to the close of June is sure to en-
purposely make use of slang and faulty grammar
counter some unendurably hot weather at both in court, thinking thus more surely to hold the atten-
tion of the jury.
ends. During such weather almost nothing of
value is accomplished, and it is extremely prob- attention to their speech than we do, because in all
As bas often been observed, Europeans pay more
able that a curtailment of the term would result leading European countries correct and refined
in no real loss to the work of the year. For the utterance is an indispensable requisite for attaining
value of that work is not to be decided by any good social position. Irish and Scotch barristers,
rule of thumb, but results from a complex of seeking to make their mark at the English bar, take
forces in which the tone and vitality of teach incredible pains to get rid of their native accent.
ers and students is probably the most impor- Lord Campbell succeeded so far in this endeavor
tant factor. This is particularly true in the
that he said his Scotch origin was finally discover-
higher grades of the work, while any loss that
able only through two or three words which were
might be felt in the lower grades would be solicitor, which he always made soleecitor. In
always more than he could master; one of them was
more than compensated by the attractive and
France, Germany, and Italy, as well as in England,
wholesome training of the vacation schools,
among the educated classes the child's speech is
should both features of Mr. Cameron's sugges watched as carefully as are his manners and morals.
tion commend themselves to the wisdom of the
To the upper classes of society is assigned the care
authorities. All the suggestions made in his of their native tongue, and neglect in this matter
report are richly deserving of consideration, is punished by loss of social consideration. A little
and it is a good omen for public education in experience abroad will make an American painfully
Chicago that so ripe and thoughtful a docu-
conscious of his national defect. In the very act
ment should have been presented to the atten-
of introducing himself to a German as an Ameri-
tion of the body in whose hands the interests vowels, and, if he be from New England, fail to give
kaner, he will almost certainly slur the unaccented
of the schools are placed.
due value to the letter r. It is then that he will
begin to deplore the birthright of the modern Amer-
ican, the liberty to talk in any way he pleases, and
CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH.
to produce a jargon of slovenly pronunciation and
street slang, uttered with a harsh nasal twang. Let
Is conversation becoming with us a lost art, and us beware of reaching the condition of Greece and
the correct use of its medium a thing of the past? Rome of old, and of Turkey and parts of Germany
This is a question calling for the serious considera and France and other European countries of to-day,
tion of educators of the young. Spelling and com where the literary and the spoken languages are
position receive attention perhaps out of proportion entirely distinct, and the uneducated man is obliged
to their relative importance; some of the methods to study a book in his own tongue as he would a
of teaching the former - as, for example, the sing foreign language.
ing of the letters—being very peculiar, and demand Of course, the most assiduous attention to the
ing an undue share of the pupil's time. But neither rules of good talking will not produce conversation ;
in school nor at home are correct habits of speech for, as the “ Poet at the Breakfast-table” says:
inculcated. In no country in the world do the ed “Good talk is not a matter of will at all ; it depends
ucated classes pay so little attention to correctness -you know we are all half-materialists ng
nowadays—
of accent, clearness of enunciation, and the observ on a certain amount of active congestion of the
ance of grammatical rules, as in our own. Even brain, and that comes when it is ready, and not
in New England, where, during the first half of the before.” As in producing fire with tinder, flint, and
century, taking the whole population together, per steel, so in conversation, " after hammering away
haps the best English in the world was spoken, there with mere words, the spark of a happy expression
has been a sad degeneration.
takes somewhere among the mental combustibles,


108
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
and then we have a pretty, wandering, scintillating was started, rarely starting anything of his own, and
play of eloquent thought that enlivens, if it does not making it a rule to take as many half-minutes as
kindle, all around it.” And then we are told that he could get, but never to talk more than a half-
the explanation of the phenomenon lies in the fact minute without pausing, in order that others might
that a “chance thought or expression strikes the have an opportunity to strike in. In this he was
nervous centre of consciousness, as the rowel of a quite unlike the Frenchman who observed the con-
spur stings the flank of a racer. Away through all trary principle, and caused an envious and impa-
the telegraphic radiations of the nervous cords tient rival, watching for an opening, to murmur:
flashes the intelligence that the brain is kindling, “S'il crache ou tousse, il est perdu !”
and must be fed with something or other, or burn In general company, the conversational style
to ashes. And all the great hydraulic engines pour should be light and constantly passing from theme
in their scarlet blood - - a stream like burning rock to theme. If, as Dr. Johnson has said, solid con-
oil. You can't order these organic processes any versation be indulged in,“ people differ in opinion,
more than a milliner can make a rose."
and get into bad humor, or some of the company,
Too great an effort to make conversation is dis who are not capable of such conversation, are left
astrous to its spontaneity and charm. All have had out, and feel themselves uneasy." For this reason
experience of those men of esprit who, in the words Sir Robert Walpole said he always talked gossip
of the “ Autocrat,” “ have what may be called jerky and scandal at his table, because in that none were
minds. Their thoughts do not run in the natural too shallow-brained to join. Whatever be the theme
order of sequence. They say bright things on all of conversation, whether weighty or light, much
possible subjects, but their zigzags rack you to death. depends, for its ready flow and entire success, on
After a jolting half-hour with one of these jerky how much is taken for granted and how much is
companions, talking with a dull friend affords great left unsaid. Conversationalists should beware of
relief. It is like taking the cat in your lap after insisting on nothing but absolute truths rigidly
holding a squirrel."
stated in the form of propositions. Conversation,
Equally wearisome is the man with whom con like the other fine arts, aims at the ideal, and must
versation is impossible because he talks always in be allowed to state its truths with embellishment,
monologue. Coleridge would pump his listeners with modification, or even with exaggeration. One
full on the slightest provocation. “Zounds! I was man who persists in being literal can spoil the talk
never so bethumped with words,” exclaimed Sir of a whole company of wits ; like the production of
Walter Scott, in describing a dinner-party at which a well-trained orchestra, “its fluent harmonies may
he was forced to listen to a long and learned ha be spoiled by the intrusion of a single harsh note.”
rangue from the Highgate sage, on Homer and the Bacon has a word to say on the mode of delivery
Samothracian mysteries and the Wolfian hypothesis. in his “Short Notes for Civil Conversation ”-
Theodore Hook, after enduring a three-hours dis which may be of interest. “In all kinds of speech,"
course from “the rapt one with the god-like fore he says, “either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary,
head”- a monologue suggested by the sight of two it is convenient to speak leisurely, and rather drawl-
soldiers sitting by the roadside-exclaimed: “Thankingly, than hastily: because hasty speech confounds
heaven! you did not see a regiment, Coleridge, for the memory, and oftentimes, besides the unseemli-
in that case you would never have stopped.” The ness, drives the man either to stammering, a non-plus,
true master of the ready give-and-take of conversa or harping on that which should follow; whereas a
tion, as distinguished from monologue, is like Mr. slow speech confirmeth the memory, addeth a conceit
Bagehot's subtle reader in the essay on Gibbon: he of wisdom to the hearers, besides a seemliness of
pursues with a fine attention the most delicate and speech and countenance.” PERCY F. BICKNELL.
imperceptible ramifications of a topic, “marks slight
traits, notes changing manners, is minutely atten-
tive to every prejudice and awake to every passion,
watches syllables and waits on words, is alive to the
THE SONNET.
light airs of nice association which float about every A slender shape - a harp of but two strings,
subject the motes in the bright sunbeam - the Yet, when he takes it whose the instrument,
delicate gradations of the passing shadows." There is no other unto poets sent -
A common trick of the man who would converse Viol nor flute – doth such high rapturings !
fluently is to guide the conversation into some path-
These two short cords breathe out a thousand things:
way already many times trodden by him — into one
The hope of youth, with May's young passion blent,
of those ruts or grooves into which, especially if he
The face of Love, on face of Death intent,
Heaven's ancient word, Earth's ancient questionings,
be a professor or lecturer or schoolmaster or clergy-
Even as the harper will. Alas! when one
man, his conversation is perpetually sliding. This
Who is a common minstrel dares to take
is not a practice to be followed. We like rather to
The beautiful slight thing, its power is done;
converse with such men as Sydney Smith, who Only this broken music will awake
talked not for display, but because his mind was a Along the cords
whose finer harmony,
spring bubbling over with ideas, and, as he said, he O faltering hand, shall never rise for thee!
must speak or burst. He talked on any subject that
MARGARET STEELE ANDERSON.


1896.)
109
THE DIAL
enough for him, one of the greatest of modern stylists:
COMMUNICATIONS.
“I have no pretension to do more than to try and awaken
interest.'
DOGMATIC PHILOLOGY.
“But before we go on to try and verify, in our life and lit-
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
erature, the alleged fact of this commingling," etc.
A specimen of false philology, even more remarkable “And now to try and trace these in the composite English
than the one pointed out by a correspondent in your genius."
issue of August 1, appears in the following paragraph — seeing our American brothers themselves bave rather,
on p. 212 of the new “ Practical Rhetoric referred to like us, to try and moderate the flame of Anglo-Saxonism in
in your correspondent's communication:
their breasts."
“Pure sentences are grammatically accurate, and true to
(See also the “International Dictionary" under and.)
the genius of the English tongue; that is, idiomatic (from a We are informed, further, that
Greek word meaning one's own). To write in the idiom of a
“Adjectives follow verbs of existing, seeming, and feeling;
language is to employ its characteristic modes of expression.
as, to foel bad, never badly, unless the reference is to a blind
A man may use correct, but not idiomatic, English. . . . So,
man beginning to depend on his fingers."
by the English idiom, only transitive verbs can take a genu-
ine passive. 'He is gone' (elegant French); 'He was now
Is one, then, always to feel bad, never badly,— to feel
advanced within ten miles of the Sambre' (a translator's ren poor always, never poorly,— to look sick, never sickly,-
dering of Cæsar's elegant Latin), are not regarded as idiom kind, and never kindly? Who says that sickly, poorly,
atic by the best English writers. He has gone is the elegant kindly, goodly, badly in this use), are not adjectives as
English equivalent of il est parti."
well as lovely, friendly, daily, etc.? But it is not a ques-
The author of the above evidently mistakes is gone, tion of “intuitive philology”; is it then a fact of lan-
a genuine perfect active, for a present passive. But the guage ? Here are a few examples, selected at random:
most surprising thing is that he should regard is gone "I do not mean American coins, for those look less badly,
as a Gallicism, and hence unidiomatic. A glance into the more they lose of their original ugliness."— Lowell, Big-
an Anglo-Saxon grammar, or comparison with similar low Papers, Introduction.
forms in modern German, would have revealed that the In "The Foundations of Rhetoric," by Professor A. S.
perfect and pluperfect tenses of intransitive verbs are Hill of Harvard, “I came in late, and I felt bad when I wrote
regularly formed with be, of transitive verbs with have.
this theme " is corrected into “I came in late, and I felt badly
when I wrote this theme," with the remark: "In this exam-
Has gone is therefore originally a blunder, now ratified
ple, bad might, according to the rule just stated, seem to be
by usage, just as hat gegangen would be a blunder in
the proper word. The reason for preferring badly is that bad
German. Compare the lines in “Lycidas”:
is ambiguous, 'bad' being used in two senses."
“And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
The only sensible rule would seem to be, when you
feel
And now was dropt into the western bay."
bad, say so; and when you feel badly, say so, if you
The tense is the same in both; there is certainly no want to.
passive in sight. Other examples in the same poem are: Our Practical Rhetorician further says:
“Now thou art gone, and never must return."
“In our midst, for in the midst of us, is severely criticised
“That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed.” on the ground that we cannot possess a midst; the English
Under such instruction as the foregoing paragraph
possessive, in its modern use, being almost exclusively limited
conveys, how would the student come to regard Burke's
to the notion of property (usage approves 'a week's pay').
famous
“ But the age of chivalry is gone," or
Old English writers used in the midst.”
passage,
many well remembered passages of the English Bible,
Possess a midst ! Must we, then, give up “in our be-
such as “ Babylon is fallen," “ Think not that I am half," " for our sake," “ in our rear," etc., because we do
come,” etc.?
not possess a behalf, a sake, a rear? The use of the
In these days when Anglo-Saxon grammars are lying possessive adjective in the sense of an objective geni-
around in every English lecture-room, that a college
tive is not uncommon in any language. To illustrate, I
teacher of English, of “twenty years' experience," should quote from general literature:
have escaped the contagion, is simply astounding. But Sophocles, Trach. 485: Sen charin (for sou), equiva-
our author's dogma in no way invalidates the soundness lent to gratia tua (for lui), for thy sake (for of thee).
of his doctrine in another paragraph:
Homer, Od. II., 202: Sos pothos (desiderium tuum).
“With writers who pretend to instruct others, but are them Catullus, II., 2: periculo invidiae meae.
selves destitute of the first great essential to success,-clear
Cicero, Planc. I., 2: Vester conspectus reficit et recreat
vision of the subject taught, - obscurity is inevitable."
mentem meam (the sight of you, etc.).
After reading in the Preface, “ An invaluable aid to
Schiller, “ Maria Stuart,” III., 4:
such as desire to speak with propriety and elegance will
“Die fromme Plicht der Schwester zu erfüllen,
be found in Lessons XXI. and XXII. on common mis-
Und meines Anblicks Trost gewähr' ich euch.”
usages," one turns to these chapters with some degree
of interest. Much that is useful and necessary to the
Molière, “Le Misanthrope," 2, 3:
“C'est un homme à jamais ne me le pardonner,
young student is found there, along with much that
S'il savait que sa vue eût pu m' importuner.”
tends to purism, rather than to purity, of speech. One
is reminded at every turn of the stock of inhibited
Spenser, “Faerie Queene,” III., 27:
phrases that were going the rounds of the newspapers
“For since mine eye your joyous sight did miss."
a few years ago. Thus, we read:
Chauteaubriand:
• Try should be followed by a verb in the infinitive: 'Try
“Leur souvenir fait tous les jours
to exert yourself.' Avoid the colloquialisms, 'Try and do it,'
Ma peine" (Remembrance of them, etc.).
come and see me,' imitations of classical usage.'
"Ich bin's, bin Faust, bin deines Gleichen."
Having occasion, the other day, to read over Matthew “We ne'er shall look upon his like again” (similem ejus).
Arnold's “ Essay on Celtic Literature," I noted four "The deep damnation of his taking off.”
examples of this construction, which was evidently good This use of the possessive is not only general,— in this


110
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
particular phrase, so unjustly condemned, it is purely It will thus be seen that “this logical and well-
idiomatic. Compare the Anglo-Saxon Gospels with the accredited form of speech," of using an accusative with
Latin Vulgate:
a passive (transitive) verb, is perhaps even more com-
“Tha nam he anne cnapan and gesette on hyra middele." mon in Japanese than in English. And this is not the
Mark IX., 36.
only instance where the Japanese language is more log-
"Et accipiens puerum statuit eum in medio eorum." ical than the English language.
Wiclif's literal translation of the Vulgate doubtless had
ERNEST W. CLEMENT.
its influence in the more general acceptance of “in the Tokyo, Aug. 1, 1896.
midst of.” With the Anglo-Saxon compare the German:
“Den pehm ich jetzt heraus aus eurer Mitte."-Schiller, W. THE JOURNALISM OF PARTS OF SPEECH.
Tell, 3, 3.
(To the Editor of THE DIAL.)
“ dass man den Freund
Aus eurer Mitte führte."— 4, 2.
Parts of speech are generally classed amongst small
“Verschwanden ist meine Bertha . . aus unsrer Mitte."-4,2.
matters by those who fail to realize that they are no
smaller to know than to be ignorant of, and that when
Whether one should say “in our midst” or “ in the
small matters are pertinent at all, they are as large as
midst of us seems merely a question of style. Both
the largest matters. The editor of “ The Bookman," in
are right.
answer to the criticism that “none but he could have
Comments on other locutions will have to lie over till
written " should be “none but him," etc., says that but
another time. In conclusion, in the words of Dr. Fitz-
here would be explained, “not as a preposition, but as
edward Hall, “ Philology is no province of ecclesiastics;
an adverb, equivalent to "only '- a common enough
it is not a species of theology, half dogmatism and half
denunciation. Its materials are facts which admit of
usage.” As there is no such equivalence and no such
rigid verification; and its processes are simple applica-
usage, the conclusion is irresistible that the editor, though
a college professor of Latin, not only cannot tell the
tions of common-sense.”
EDWARD A. ALLEN.
parts of speech in English, but does not even know the
Columbia, Mo., August 10, 1896.
principle of their classification. There is an adverbial
use of but in such cases as “ If I bad but known"; and
THE “PASSIVE VOICE WITH OBJECT" IN there is a vulgar colloquialism, not of but for only, but
JAPANESE.
of only for but, as in “I never sleep, only at night”;
(To the Editor of The Dial.)
but neither of these cases is analagous to the phrase in
It may interest those readers who followed the dis question, to which the editor's explanation does not apply.
cussion of « The Passive Voice with an Object" in your However, assuming that his explanation does apply, the
columns, to learn that this is a common construction in inquiry obtrudes itself, What is the construction of he?
the Japanese language. Indeed, it may be said, with Being in the nominative case, it cannot fill any of the
reference to the vernacular of this country, that from functions of that case appropriate to the preceding
one point of view it has no passive, but from another words, and its force must be sought in connection with
point of view its passive is a real one. Professor B. H.
what follows in sepse. Thus tested, he is found to be
Chamberlain, late Professor of Japanese Literature in the subject of could have written, that verb being read
the Imperial University of Japan, who has no superior, twice, once with none; and but is proved to be a conjunc-
perhaps no equal, as an authority on the language and tion, a classification as common as is its prepositional use.
literature of this nation, says in his “ Handbook of Col An adverb, taking a case, becomes a preposition, and,
loquial Japanese”: “ Properly speaking, the so-called taking a clause, becomes a conjunction; but here takes
passive is not a passive at all, but an active in disguise. a clause, and can be explained only as a conjunction: if
Such a form as utareru, for instance, is etymologically it were an adverb, it could modify nothing, he not being
uchi1 ari2 eru 3, as literally as possible, 'to get3 being 2 subject to adverbial modification.
beating?,' i. e., to get a beating,' to get beaten,' hence The same blunder has been made by the editors of
"to be beaten.' . . . Intransitive verbs [also] are sus “ Latin Readings,” published by the American Book Co.
ceptible of passive forms, such as furareru, .to get On præter ille Papirius, they first called præter an ad-
rained upon,' to have it rain,' from furu, 'to rain.'” verb. Criticism privately offered was resented, and their
And yet, though in form the Japanese passive is “an position defended by various citations; but, in the second
active in disguise,” yet in meaning it seems to be a true issue of the book, the note was changed to read “adverb,
passive, inasmuch as it represents the suffering or the
used as conjunction."
CASKIE HARRISON.
receiving of an action.
Brooklyn, N. Y., Aug. 17, 1896.
With reference to the use of an object with a passive
verb in Japanese, let me quote one or two illustrations
from the above-mentioned Handbook.
“ Kubi wo
A SECOND series of Mr. Charles G. Leland's “ Legends
hanerareta " (in which "wo" is the accusative postposi of Florence” (Macmillan) should repeat the success
tion) means literally, “ Head got-struck-off," i.e. "[He] scored by its sprightly predecessor. The tales bristle
got (his] head cut off," or loosely, “[His] head was cut with fancies, quaint, grotesque, gruesome, or bewitch-
off." “ Ashi wo inu ni kuitsukaremashita" means lit ing; and Mr. Leland tells them in a quite inimitable
erally, “Leg dog by [I] have-got-bitten," i. e., “[I] have way. The folk-lorist, the tourist, and the general reader
had (my) leg bitten by a dog," or, “[I] have been bitten may alike find their account in these pleasantly diver-
in the leg by a dog." The expression, “A dog has bitten sified pages, which are redolent of the atmosphere of
[my] leg," would be, “ Inu
ga
ashi wo kuitsukimashita." old Florence, The tales are drawn from the fountain-
The examples quoted by “ W. H. J.” will take the head — from the lips of the common people; and in re-
same construction when translated into Japanese. For wording them Mr. Leland has very happily preserved
instance, “ He was asked a question” becomes “ Kare the artless brevity and piquant phrase of the original
wa loi wo kakerareta"; and “I was taught to sing (sing narrators. The author's explanatory asides are instruct-
ing]” becomes “ Watakushi wa shoka wo oshierareta." ing and pleasantly characteristic.


1896.]
111
THE DIAL
was ever lost sight of, or that its identity could
The New Books.
become doubtful. Such, however, is the fact.
The islands that contend for the honor of hav-
ing been pressed by the Admiral's foot on that
THE DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF
AMERICA.*
memorable morning is not smaller than the
number of cities that contended for Homer.
The apparent motive in the preparation and
But we should not look at the matter from a
publication of Mr. Thacher's volume on The
Continent of America” is not difficult to dis-ica was an accident, and many subsequent dis-
modern point of view. The discovery of Amer-
cover. Its author had an ambition to relate the coveries made in the course of laying it open to
story of the discovery and naming of America the world were also accidents. The discoverers
on more sumptuous folio pages, set off by a
were not self-conscious ; often they did not
greater wealth of illustration, than any of his know what they were doing, either because they
predecessors. This cannot be called an un-
read what they saw in the light of preconceived
worthy ambition ; and, so far as we are ac-
ideas, or for some other reason. Columbus and
quainted with competing works, it has been
Cabot were both looking for Cathay; their fol-
gratified. Indeed, in what we regard as its dis- lowers on the westward paths were frequently
tinguishing feature we do not know that the looking for what they did not find — gold, or a
book has any real competitors. Some of the
later historical writers have used a profusion of tation, or a native kingdom to conquer; and
passage to Asia, or a favorable seat for a plan-
map reproductions and other illustrations with why should it be thought strange that they
great advantage in their works; but we recall
sometimes disregarded, or did not plainly mark,
nothing in its own sphere that can compete what did not for the time being meet their expec-
with the present work. In these respects, Mr. tations ? Then what havoc time has wrought
Thacher bears off the palm. We by no means with the literary memorials of that great
deny other merits to his book, but the word of period in history! To-day the scientific spirit
praise that has now been spoken is the highest is first in the mind of the scholar who seeks to
word that can be accorded it.
follow those paths, but it was commonly last in
The author first deals, in three short chap- the minds of those who discovered the paths.
ters, with the gradual growth of cosmography
The two letters that he wrote to Santangel
and the nomenclature of the old continents.
and Sanchez, as he neared Spain on his return
The familiar information about the first topic voyage, are the only contemporary printed ac-
is illustrated with admirable reproductions of counts, our author tells us, of what Colum-
the familiar maps, “ The World According to
bus had found in the West. Unfortunately,
Homer," “ The World of Hecatæus," etc.
they throw no light on the spot of the landfall.
Regarding the names of the continents, he has
We know that the Admiral kept a journal of
brought together an interesting collection of
his voyage, and that it was in existence for
theories, with a view, apparently, of preparing many years after his death ; but it has long
the way for the congratulatory remark, that
been numbered among the lost historical treas-
Americans not only know for whom their world
ures of the world. He wrote to the Catholic
is called, but the very day and hour of its bap- Princes that, besides the journal, he should
tismal ceremony.
draw up a nautical chart, which would include
The vestibule passed, we find ourselves face
the several parts of the ocean and land that he
to face with one of the two main theses of the
visited in their proper situations, and a book to
book. This is, that Watling Island is the same
represent the whole by pictures with latitudes
island that the natives called Guanabani and
and longitudes ; but if he executed these works,
Columbus renamed San Salvador ; or, in other they also are lost. But, fortunately, Ferdinand
words, that it was the scene of the landfall of Columbus, who had in his possession his father's
October 12, 1492. From a modern point of books and papers, wrote a biography of his
view, it might seem strange that Guanahani (sometimes called the “ Historie”), and this
*THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA : Its DISCOVERY AND ITS book contains an account of the landfall and
BAPTISM. An Essay on the Nomenclature of the Old Conti-
of the subsequent voyage to Cuba. Again, Las
nents. A Bibliographical Inquiry into the Naming of America
and into the Growth of the Cosmography of the New World; Casas, who knew Columbus personally, and
together with an Attempt to Establish the Landfall of Co who at one time had the Navigator's manuscript
lumbus on Watling Island, and Subsequent Discoveries and
Explorations on the Main Land by Americas Vespucius. By journal in his possession, wrote an account of
John Boyd Tbacher. New York: William Evarts Benjamin. the first voyage, and this contains a still fuller


112
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
account of the landfall and connected transac of Americus Vespucius. This navigator has
tions. Still, there are unpleasant questions been most unfortunate. No one who reads the
hanging around these documents, or rather the later books for a moment accepts the old tra-
first one: Ferdinand's “ Historie” was not pub- dition, to the effect that Vespucius attempted
lished until 1571, and Las Casas's abridgment to rob Columbus of the glory of discovering
of the journal not until 1825.
America; still, there is a Vespucian contro-
How, then, shall the inquirer proceed in his versy, and a very strenuous one. The question
effort to identify Guanahani? Mr. Thacher is whether or not Vespucius first discovered the
lays down three methods. One is to apply to American continent. The competition does not
the Bahama Islands the physical descriptions lie between him and Columbus, but between
of Guanahani found in Ferdinand Columbus him and John Cabot. Mr. Thacher sets Cabot
and Las Casas ; another is to trace the course aside in the following summary fashion :
of the fleet backward from Cuba by means of “ If the voyage of John Cabot, alleged to have been
the sailing memoranda found in the same made in the spring of 1497, to what is now the coast of
works; the third is to follow the history of the the United States was worthy of credence, the ten days
voyage from the Canaries to Cuba and note
between May 10, as given in the primitive text, and
the distances sailed. The third method might tion, would be of the first importauce in order to land
May 20, as in the Latin translation of the St.-Dié edi-
seem to be the best one, but it fails completely. our Americus on the continent of America in advance
" At whatever island in the Bahama group we of the Genoese-Bristol sailor. Henry Harrisse has so
attempt to land by this reckoning, we find his effectually disposed of the claims of the Cabots that no
log has overrun it by many miles ”- Watling in continental discoveries” (p. 70).
scholar to-day seriously contends for English priority
Island by 317 miles. According to the method
of his time, Columbus estimated his distances,
The old story is that Cabot made his land-
and, like most other estimators, fell into exag-
fall on June 24, 1497. The 10th and 20th of
geration. Mr. Thacher holds that both the first May are the days on which, according to dif-
and second methods of identification point con-
ferent texts, Vespucius sailed from Cadiz on
clusively to Watling Island ; and, to give the
the so-called Vespucian voyage of that year;
reader an opportunity to judge of the argument
and when we reflect on the distance from Cadiz
for himself, he gives many pages of Ferdi-
to the coast of Hondurus, we see the import-
nando's history and Las Casas's abridgment of
ance of the discrepancy in the dates.
the journal, first the Spanish originals and pucius is to be brought to Hondurus before the
then translations. Great names can be quoted 24th of June, the ten days will be found ex-
in favor of other identifications ; but Mr. tremely convenient. But Mr. Thacher says
Thacher errs, if he errs, with a majority of the that Mr. Harrisse has so discredited the Cabot
best later authorities.
voyage that no scholar now thinks of regard-
To most readers, Guanabani is but a name.
ing it. Now what is the fact? Mr. Harrisse's
This short quotation will help to make it a
last word on the subject is found in his work
reality, provided always the identification is
entitled “ John Cabot the Discoverer of North
correct.
America, and Sebastian his Son” (London,
“Watling Island has a political existence. Its pop-
1896). If the title of this work be not suffi-
ulation of 673 souls unite with the 367 inhabitants of cient, then the first sentence of the preface will
Rum Cay to form a constituency which sends one mem certainly answer the purpose : “In the year
ber to the House of Assembly for the Babama Islands. 1497, a Venetian citizen called Giovanni Ca-
The seat of local government is in the island of New
Providence. It is said that at one time the island was
boto, having obtained letters patent from Henry
celebrated for its live stock, and in particular horses,
the Seventh the year previous for a voyage of
cargoes of these being sent annually to Jamaica. The discovery, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and,
principal settlement in the island is Cockburn Town, at
under the British flag, discovered the continent
the point where we find the landfall. It has a sea ap-
of North America.” Mr. Harrisse subjects the
proach, with a good and easy anchorage. On Dixon Hill,
on the northeast end, is a lighthouse with the most pow-
Cabot documents to the most searching criticism
erful light in the Bahamas. It is situated in latitude and corrects many things that he holds to be
24° 6' and in longitude 74° 26'” (p. 58).
false in the Cabot tradition. He attacks both
Mr. Thacher next takes up a question that the moral and professional character of Sebas-
is more difficult, and historically more impor- tian Cabot with unsparing severity. He does
tant, than the identification of Guanahani. It not, however, attack John Cabot, but rather
is one of the vexed questions of early Ameri accords to him, fully and without reservation,
can history, and starts up at once at mention the honor of being the discoverer of North
If Ves-


1896.]
113
THE DIAL
America. He seeks to show that Cabot made rative, but also as regards the manifold blun-
his landfall on the coast of Labrador, and not ders of the printer of the little book which re-
on Cape Breton Island. He contends that he cords the voyages.” And again he writes that
made it earlier than June 24. Still, he holds it was in 1499 that Vespucius “ seemingly
expressly, not only that Cabot discovered the em barked for the first time to the new world,
continent, but that on his two voyages, 1497 “ since it is likely that out of this expedition
and 1498, he sailed along its front from Cape the alleged voyage of his in 1497 has been
Chudley in the North to Florida in the South made to appear by some perversion of chro-
(see the two maps, pp. 110-111, 140–41). nology” (“ Christopher Columbus,” pp. 337,
What shall we say, then? Mr. Thacher says 341, 373). Mr. Fiske, on the other hand, con-
that Mr. Harrisse has made it impossible for a tends stoutly for the genuineness of the voyage.
scholar to take Cabot seriously. If this be so, He brings Vespucius to Cape Hondurus on
then Mr. Harrisse has indeed discredited him June 21, and into the Bay on the 24th. Re-
self, for he certainly takes Cabot seriously. It ferring to Cabot, he says that Vespucius prob-
is therefore clear, either that Mr. Thacher is ably saw the continent two or three days before
ignorant of Mr. Harrisse's last work on the Ca. him. “ The question may have interest for
bots, or that he allows his zeal, to put it mildly, readers fond of such trifles” (“The Discovery
to outrun his judgment.
of America,” Vol. II., p. 87, note). The ques-
Mr. Thacher arranges in order the voyages tion is indeed a "trifle" in itself, but when
to America previous to the publication of Juan writers occupy themselves with it they should
de La Cosa's famous map of 1500. He puts try to be accurate. Mr. Fiske is inconsistent
at the head of his list, of course, the first and with himself, for he says, in another place
second voyages of Columbus, 1492, 1493; then (Vol. II., p. 23): “John Cabot was probably
comes the first so-called Vespucian voyage, the first commander since the days of the vik.
1497; next the two Cabot voyages, 1497, 1498; ings to set foot upon the continent of North
then follow the third of Columbus, 1498, and America.” Into the real merits of the case we
the second of Vespucius, 1499. He then makes cannot enter. It will be for the specialists to
the following claim for his hero:
say whether Mr. Thacher has relieved a diffi-
“The first voyage of Vespucius began May 10, 1497. cult subject of any of its difficulties. He has
The door of the continent was thus opened by the Flor- certainly made a bad beginning in his misrep-
entine adventurer for the first time. On this voyage
resentation of the view of Mr. Harrisse.
Americus landed on the Bay of Hondurus, having passed
to the south of Cuba, thus proving to himself and La The breadth of the author's treatment can
Cosa, the pilot of Columbus on the first two voyages, be readily shown. He has dealt “ with the life
that it was an island; skirted the Gulf of Mexico,
of Vespucius, with an account of his voyages,
rounded Florida, and skirted the coast as far as Cape
Hatteras in 36° of north latitude" (p. 200).
and an attempt to establish the landfall on the
This is a controverted matter. The question continent of North America ”; “ the first voy-
is not merely whether Vespucius landed on the age of Vespucius, its published narration with
the Italian, Latin, and English texts of the
coast of Hondurus a few days before Cabot
landed on the coast of Labrador, but whether Medici] ; the baptismal font of America, St.
first part of the famous letter” [to Lorenzo de
Vespucius visited the new world at all that year. Dié, the little town in the Vosges mountains
The subject is involved in numerous difficulties, where the new world was christened ”; “ the
involving the genuineness, authenticity, and
integrity of documents, and perhaps also the Cosmographiæ Introductios,' the book which
conferred the name America, with a review of
veracity of the explorer. The two foremost
the four alleged editions printed at St. Dié in
American writers who have recently dealt with
the subject are Dr. Justin Winsor and Mr.
1507.” Then follow parts VII. and VIII.,
“ Scientific Geography and the “ Charto-
John Fiske. Dr. Winsor does not allow the
Florentine's claim. He says it is “at the best
graphy of the New World.” It remains only
but an enforced method of clarifying the pub- documents and of maps, many of them in fac
to add that Mr. Thacher's reproductions of
lished texts
concerning the voyages, in the doo
simile, give a substantial value to his volume
hopes of finding something like consistency in
their dates. Any commentator who undertakes quite apart from the value of his conclusions
to get at the truth must necessarily give him-
as to Watling Island and the priority of the
self up to some sort of conjecture, not only as
discovery of North America.
respects the varied inconsistencies of the nar-
B. A. HINSDALE.


114
[Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
A SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHER AND AMERICAN
easy to see how, under these circumstances,
COLLEGE PRESIDENT.*
young Robert Burns was so easily led astray
by the flax-dresser of Irvine, when he went to
Although Professor Sloane's “Life of James
live there."
McCosh” is chiefly autobiographical, as its
James McCosh was sent to school at the age
title-page announces, the editor has shown both
of six, and was intended by his father for the
taste and skill in the admirable manner in ministry. The boy himself seems not to have
which he has arranged and woven together his
material. He writes sympathetically, but his
had any very strong and impelling motive in
this direction. He says he did not care much
praise is never extravagant, and one lays down
for farming, nor for mixing drugs and visiting
the book with regret that so charming a story the sick, nor for the law, as he“ disliked wrang,
is not longer.
ling.” But he was always fond of books and
Dr. McCosh's ancestors were farmers in
southwestern Scotland, with the picturesque and he looked to the ministry as a means of
of acquiring knowledge on all sorts of subjects,
and rugged virtues made familiar to us in the
gratifying these tastes. “I felt all the while
writings of Barrie and Maclaren. He was born
that if I was to be a minister, I must be pious.
near the river Doon, in April, 1811, and he
Often, therefore, did I dedicate myself to God,
thought that the wild mountain scenery, the
praying earnestly, but not regularly or sys-
romantic glens, lakes, and meadows of his na-
tematically.” His father died when the boy
tive place were responsible for his intense love
of outdoor life and nature. His picture of the
was nine years old, and at thirteen he was sent
to Glasgow University. The five years spent
Scotch people, given in the second chapter, is
there are chiefly remarkable because it was
well drawn.
during this period that his taste for philosophy
“Of all the people I bave met with, the Scotch have
the least of what we call. manners' in their intercourse
asserted itself and the ambition was formed to
with the members of their family, with their neighbors,
win fame in this field. He made few acquaint-
and with the world generally. The Scot loves his wife ances at Glasgow, devoting himself exclusively
and family, and would make any sacrifice for them, but to books, and reading with avidity everything
he seldom or never utters a word of compliment to them.
He doubts the sincerity of such words and acts, and is
that appeared from the pens of Scott, Moore,
apt to regard them as hypocrisy, having some selfish and Byron. In his philosophical investigations
end in view, and speaks of them as Frenchified and he took up Hume and Combe; and it is inter-
unworthy of an honest Scotchman. I confess I have
esting to note that it was after perusing these
often been repelled by the cool manner in which Scotch
authors that this lad, not yet sixteen years old,
people, after long absences or in critical emergencies,
often meet with each other. I remember going up to a
formed the plan of his life work. Thoughts
most excellent man to comfort him when he was trying
on the Method of the Divine Government were
to restrain his tears as he hung over the body of his already floating in his mind,” his biographer
son, just deceased. I was chilled when all that he could
tells us. He was also making observations that
utter was, .This is a fine day, sir.' We can thus ac-
count for some of the oddities of Thomas Carlyle."
were to be of great use to him in his future
relations with students and colleges. Although
Dr. McCosh speaks of the high degree of
the instruction at Glasgow was not above me-
intelligence among the common people of Scot-
land, and attributes it to the work and influ- diocrity in some respects, a great many original
written exercises were positively required from
ence of John Knox.
each student, and Dr. McCosh was so impressed
“ He insisted on having a school in every parish, an
academy in every burgh town, and a university in every
with the value of this literary training that he
large city. In every school the Bible was taught; in laid great stress on it years afterwards at Bel-
some districts it was the Book of Proverbs that was fast and Princeton. He learned another thing
used as a text-book, and helped to give the people their
that was helpful to him in his relations with
shrewdness. This education did not and could not pro-
duce the genius of Burns, of Scott, or Carlyle, but it
young men. During his five years at Glasgow,
came out in the massive sense by which they were distin- although he was an able and conscientious stu-
guished among literary people."
dent, not one of the professors ever showed
He dwells upon the prevalence of the drinking him any attention; and his case was not unique.
habit at that time, to which even the minister
He felt that this isolated life of the young men
was often addicted, and of immorality among
was abnormal and dangerous, and at Princeton
young men and women ; remarking that it is
it was one of his chief aims to know personally
all the students, and to have them all feel his
* THE LIFE OF JAMES MoCoss. A Record, Chiefly Auto-
biographical. Edited by William Milligan Sloane. With Por-
interest in them. Says his biographer :
traits. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
“ The notion that a professor's duty began and ended


1896.)
115
THE DIAL
sky."
with the instruction of his class-room was abhorrent to the organizers of the Free Church, and he re-
him. He thought it the most serious problem of the
garded this as the greatest event of his life.
higher education to secure the oversight and unremit-
ting care of students, without espionage or any injudi- Perhaps his most distinguishing characteristic
cious interference with the liberty of the young men.”
was an absolute devotion to truth. In its ser-
The years from 1829 to 1834 were spent at
vice he was utterly unselfish, and the straight-
Edinburgh, and we are told that the magnet
forward way in which he describes his labors
which drew him thither was the teaching of
in aid of the new movement is very impressive.
Dr. Thomas Chalmers, then professor of theol.
During these exciting scenes he yet found
ogy in the most famous of the Scotch universi-
time to pursue his favorite studies, and in 1850
ties. Other attractions were the beautiful sur-
appeared his long-dreamed-of " Method of the
roundings of the city, the numerous historic
Divine Government,” which attracted wide-
associations, and the fact that it was then the spread attention, and procured for its author
home of many eminent men, chief among them
call to the chair of Logic and Metaphysics
being the “Great Unknown,” as Scott was
in Queen's College, Belfast. He was loth, how-
called.
ever, to leave his ministerial office, which was
"I was never introduced to him, but I could get agreeable to him, and in which he knew he was
quite a near view of him when he occupied his place as
doing a good work; but the opportunity to fol-
Clerk of the Court of Session. As be sat there he had low his natural bent, and to appeal to and im-
at times little or nothing to do, and his countenance,
press young men, was too tempting to be re-
though pleasant, was then somewhat heavy and dull.
But the young barristers were proud to have a brief
fused. His labors in the slums of Belfast, his
talk with him, and to bear a story from him. He was
active interest in the workingmen, his careful
always willing to gratify them, and as he roused him-study of educational systems, and his outspoken
self his countenance was lighted up like the morning sympathy with the North in our late war, show
that his time outside of the class-room was fully
There are also fine sketches of Francis Jeffrey, occupied.
“ Christopher North," Sir William Hamilton, Four chapters of the work are given to
and others. Dr. McCosh regarded Chalmers Princeton, where Dr. McCosh took the Presi-
as, upon the whole, the greatest man he ever dent's chair in 1868. It is inspiring to read
met, and expressed the opinion that he exer the account of his life and work in this univer-
cised a greater influence for good on his coun sity. In conversation with Princeton men, one
trymen than any minister since John Knox.
is always struck with the tone of veneration
“ He made the old Calvinistic creed of Scot and real affection in which they speak of the
land look reasonable and philosophic, generous Doctor,” and after reading this book one does
and loveable.”
not wonder at it. It was a great work that he
The atmosphere of Edinburgh was literary did, as president, author, teacher, leader in
and philosophical, and the young man had church discussions, and citizen, interested in
many advantages that Glasgow had not af all the things that make for the bettering of
forded. The professors invited him to their humanity. A very striking trait was his open-
homes, and on Friday evenings he had a stand mindedness. He always turned his face to-
ing invitation to take tea with the great Chal-ward the light, kept watch of the signs of the
mers. His studies in philosophy were prose- times, and was ready to take up his stakes and
cuted with renewed zeal, and he prepared "the set them farther along. He had the courage
ribs of what, in after years, when clothed in of his convictions. He had the highest regard
flesh and blood,” became his work on “The for Augustine as a great thinker, but deplored
Method of the Divine Government.” The stu his “superstitions.” He was unwilling to be
dents had meetings, too, where they discussed classed as an Augustinian or a Calvinist, and
all sorts of subjects. “But,” adds this always freely criticised both Calvin and Jonathan Ed-
thoughtful and rigidly self-examining young wards. In his later life he favored a revision of
man,“ some of us did not inquire into our spir. the Westminster confession of faith, referring to
itual state before God as we should have done. some passages in it as “ knotty, crabbed, and
Yet there were times when we did so.”
hard to digest." There was a vein of senti-
The experiences of the young minister in his ment in his nature, and his sighs over a young
first two pastoral charges are related with de man hardened in vice were those of a father,
lightful freedom and simplicity, and a full ac and tears of joy sprang unbidden to his eyes
count is given of the great Disruption of the on the return of a prodigal. When the fight
Church of Scotland. Dr. McCosh was one of of the churches against Evolution was at its


116
[Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
height, Dr. McCosh had the courage to defend true that the ideal teacher, like the poet, is
the latter, and became a peacemaker by show- born, not made ; but it is equally true, as Mr.
ing that it was not irreconcilable with Chris C.D. Warner recently remarked, that industry,
tianity.
training, and the right method will do wonders
In 1888, at the age of seventy-seven, he re in the education of a teacher.
Under our
signed his Presidency, not because of physical present way of running the educational machine,
or mental infirmities, or because he felt the tens of thousands of hands' are employed, at
responsibilities of his position burdensome, but low wages, who would be much more appropri.
because, says Professor Sloane, " he feared lest ately placed if they were tending spinning-
the infirmities of old age might gradually cloud jennies.”
his judgment, lest the advancement of Prince Perhaps nothing in our modern life is hav-
ton might thus suffer a check, lest the dignity ing a stronger influence in turning the work of
and influence of a long life might be impaired school education, particularly of the younger
by feebleness at its close." He delivered nu children, into the hands of experts, than the
merous public addresses after that time, and movement for child-study; certainly nothing
during the last three years of his life jotted tends so directly to strengthen the esprit de
down the notes which form the basis of the corps among teachers, and to raise the profes-
present volume. He passed away November sion to a dignity like that enjoyed by law, med.
16, 1894. His was a life inwrought in the icine, and theology. On the other hand, few
lives of many,“ like a fine gold thread in an movements are fraught with more serious
endless tapestry.” That it was singularly pure immediate dangers from unscientific work. It
and noble and earnest, means that these qual- is primarily to meet these dangers that Profes-
ities were sown by him wherever he went; for sor Sully has written his Studies of Child-
he influenced others to an uncommon degree. hood.” He pleads in the preface that the book
It is wholesome to read such a biography as is not a complete treatise on child-psychology,
this, and it will undoubtedly have a large cir-but merely deals with certain aspects of chil-
culation on both sides of the Atlantic. The dren's minds which happen to have come under
work is beautifully executed from a mechan his notice and to have had a special interest
ical point of view, and the five pictures add for him. He nevertheless proceeds in succes.
greatly to its interest and attractiveness. The sive chapters to cover systematically the entire
last of the portraits, taken at the age of eighty- field of child life, from the time of the earliest
one, is the best of them all, and one turns to imaginings, through the dawn of reason and
it again and again as to the face of a venerated the age of questioning, until definite products
father and friend.
of child-thought are reached — thoughts of na-
GRACE JULIAN CLARKE. ture, of self, of God, of mind, matter, and mor-
ality. Through it all, Professor Sully is calling
attention repeatedly to our present inaccurate
CHILD-STUDY IN EDUCATIONAL WORK.*
or incomplete notions of the child's way of
thinking of men and things—its doll, the colors
Teaching is an art; teachers are artists, and
of things, number, etc.; and of the difficulty of
those who would enter the “ profession.” should acquiring the desired knowledge. The author
recognize the necessity of special training for confesses that, in spite of some recently pub-
the work. The American public is slowly lished highly hopeful forecasts of what child-
coming to see that education is not simply a psychology is going to do for us, he thinks we
formal process; that a teacher needs something
are a long way off from a perfectly scientific
more than the capacity to read a text-book pre account of it. Our so-called theories of chil-
scribed by an upscientific board, and to hear
dren's mental activity bave often been hasty
the children " recite their lessons ; that the
generalizations from imperfect observation.
education of young children is one of the most The sentimental adoration of infant ways,
important subjects that can occupy the public amounting almost to baby-worship, is highly
mind, that it should be in the hands of experts, inimical to the carrying out of a perfectly cool
and that it is worth paying for. It may
be
and impartial process of scientific observation.
* STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD. By James Sully, M.A., LL.D. Moreover, a child is very quick in spying
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
whether he is observed, and as soon as he sus-
THE CHILD AND CHILDHOOD IN FOLK-THOUGHT. By
Alexander Francis Chamberlain, M.A., Ph.D. New York: pects that you are specially interested in his
The Macmillan Company.
talk the chances are he will try to produce an


1896.)
117
THE DIAL
effect, and it becomes difficult to measure the have figured in the world's history and its folk.
result of the outside influence thus brought to lore as “magi” and “ medicine-men,” as priests
bear on his mind. Similarly, it wants much and oracle-keepers, as physicians and healers,
fine judgment to say whether an infant is as teachers and judges, as saints, heroes, dis-
merely stumbling accidentally on an articulate coverers, and inventors, as musicians and poets,
sound, or is imitating you. Again, children actors and laborers in many fields of human
are by no means so open to view as is often activity; have been compared to the foolish
supposed. All kinds of shy reticences hamper and to the most wise, have been looked upon as
them; they feel unskilled in using our cum fetiches and as gods, as the fit sacrifice to
brous language; they soon find out that their offended Heaven, and as the saviors and regen-
thoughts are not as ours, but often make us erators of mankind (page 6). A chapter at
laugh.
once interesting and instructive is devoted to
For these and other similar reasons resulting the child in each one of this curious medley of
from the nature of the observed, or of those characters — as member and builder of society,
who are in the best position to make observa as judge, hero, and divinity ; the excellence of
tions,- the mothers, – Professor Sully is in the matter presented being surpassed only by
clined to be somewhat pessimistic regarding the the manner in which the author has offered it
results of the study of child-psychology. A for the use both of the advanced student and
third of his book, however, is devoted to an the general reader. The work closes with half
effort at understanding the child's method of a dozen chapters of proverbs from every tongue
expressing his thought with tongue and pencil; for the one, and a bibliography of over five hun-
and nearly a hundred pages of fine print are dred titles for the other ; not the least valuable
given to extracts from a diary in which some feature of the book for either being the three
loving father has chronicled the doings and say. indexes, which cover thirty pages. Child-study
ings of his small boy, covering a period of six is certainly profitable and scientific if it leads
years, the boy being, according to Mr. Sully, to presenting a fund of information in such
apparently a normal and satisfactory specimen serviceable form.
of his class,— healthy, good-natured, and given
ARTHUR BURNHAM WOODFORD.
to that infantile way of relieving his animal
spirits known as “crowing.” That there is good
reason for hopefulness on the part of students
THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
of childhood is also shown by Professor Sully's
OF WOMEN.*
account of George Sand's childhood, with
It has been the ill-luck of women in the past
which he closes the volume.
to be credited with qualities that placed them
If anyone is disposed still to doubt the im-
on a plane apart: at one time, as by the early
portance of a scientific study of children, he Church, they have been endowed with a sub-
need but glance at the table of contents of Mr.
human wickedness; at another, as by the age of
Chamberlain's book on “ The Child and Child. Chivalry, they have been invested with a super-
hood in Folk-Thought. The work is a most
human virtue. St. Chrysostom pronounced
scholarly treatise, the author having searched
woman to be “ a necessary evil, a natural temp.
all literature, and gathered from every people tation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a
tive society, and the survival of that activity in deadly
fascination, and a painted ill.” Chivalry
arose, creating an ideal womanhood that stirred
the social institutions and culture-movements
the imagination and the poetic fancy, and then
of to-day. His object is to treat of the child
raised it to a pinnacle where it was impossible
from a point of view hitherto entirely neglected, for the actual woman to remain. Thus, both
to exhibit what the world owes to childhood
priest and knight did woman a great wrong.
and to the motherhood and the fatherhood
Whether as the “painted ill” of the Father's
which it occasions, to indicate the position of imagination, or as the immaculate star of the
the child in the march of civilization among romanticist, she was equally cut off from all
the various races of men, and to estimate the
chance of development.
influence which the child-idea and its accom-
Whatever the faults of the present age, it is
paniments have had upon sociology, mythology, under no delusions with regard to the humanity
religion, language ; for the touch of the child
is upon them all, and the debt of humanity to
*WOMEN IN ENGLISH LIFE, FROM MEDIÆVAL TO MODERN
TIMES. By Georgiana Hill. In two volumes. New York:
the little children has not yet been told. They The Macmillan Company.


118
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
of sex.
of woman. There are few trials, difficulties, or ment appears in regard to learning. In the
unpleasantnesses that she escapes on the score sixteenth century, learning among women was
She is not considered incapable of held in high esteem ; in the eighteenth, it was
bearing a part in the common life of the world counted something to be ashamed of; in the
on account of any ethereal qualities, nor is she nineteenth, it again finds favor. During En-
held up before men's eyes as a temptation to be gland's great literary renaissance of the six-
made war upon. In the place of mere gallantry teenth century, women stand out prominently
on the part of men, and coquetry on the part of among the ranks of scholars. It was not thought
women, there is now the simpler and healthier unfeminine to speak good Latin, write correct
relation of comradeship.
Greek, or translate from the Hebrew. To be
Except in the case of the sovereigns and a sure, they had the advantage of having their
few heads of great families, English historians attention concentrated on a few subjects. There
have given little attention to the place held was less arithmetic and history and geography
by women as factors in the life of the nation. taught than is now imparted in the district
Accordingly the new book on “ Women in En- schoolhouse. The curriculum of a lady of rank
glish Life," by Miss Georgiana Hill, covers an did not include many things that have now be-
almost new field. In it are depicted the chief come matters of common knowledge among the
causes and consequences of changes in the children of the working-class. On the other
status of women, prominence being given to hand, the education, if narrow according to
domestic life, as embracing the larger number modern ideas, was thorough ; without the stim.
and as not having been summed up in the nu ulus of college life, competitive examinations,
merous accounts of noteworthy women.
or the prospect of rewards and honors in the
The position of women in England cannot shape of degrees, the attainments of women in
be regarded as an orderly evolution. It does the sixteenth century, in the subjects to which
not show unvarying progress from age to age. they had access, were of a high order; and
There have been breaks and gaps in the gen- their knowledge of the classics was more inti-
eral advance, so that certain periods appear at mate and exact than that produced by the
a disadvantage in comparison with their pre- higher education of the present day.
decessors. For example, in the old days of After the rigorous and healthy awakening in
feudalism, it is evident that in the eye of the the time of the Tudors, a period of reaction
law women ranked on an equality with men. set in. The seventeenth century combined all
Narrow as was the view taken by legislators of the faults of all the ages — laxity of morals,
their industrial life, and absurd as many of indifference to high aims, together with relig-
their enactments seem now, it was reserved for ious fanaticism and a lack of appreciation of
modern times to set up an artificial barrier be knowledge and learning. By that time, Shake
tween the sexes, to push the working woman speare was considered out of date and vulgar
down a step, and rank her with children and by an age of fops and élégantes who could read
“ young persons.
” The ancient guilds knew no Wycherley without blushing. James I., though
distinctions of sex. They were formed in the a professed pedant, was adverse in every way
interest of the trading community, for purposes to the progress of women. He treated them as
of mutual help, and were as much for the ben- inferiors, with ponderous levity, and nothing
efit of the “ sisteren as the “ bretheren.” The was further from his mind than the giving of
attitude of these early guilds toward women any encouragement to the cultivation of learn-
was essentially different from that of the mod- ing among the ladies of his court. One scholar,
ern trade unions, and more liberal. In their writing to the Duchess of Newcastle, speaks of
ordinances relating to labor, everywhere the authorship as an “inferior employment,” un-
principle of equality is apparent. Not until meet for the rank and qualities of a lady like
her Grace.
petitors
, not co-workers with men, and that it The Puritan movement served to retard the
is better for women to be dependent upon their intellectual advance of women. Under the sway
male relatives than to make their own way in of Puritanism, women were taught that all na-
the world a theory which still has its sup- ture's gifts to mind or body were so many snares,
porters, but is having much trouble to bold its and that true life consisted in crushing out all
own in the face of a surplus female population, aims and desires not connected with the saving
and certain other insistent facts.
of the soul. A catch, a song, a dance, were
Another curious variation in public senti- I looked upon as destructive of modesty, and only


1896.)
119
THE DIAL
fitted “ for them that live in the lusts of the
RECENT BOOKS OF POETRY.*
world.” It was little wonder that, with learn-
ing at a discount, and accomplishments de In reviewing the poetical product of a few weeks
nounced as sinful, women became frivolous and or months, it is often difficult to determine what
narrow. The light-hearted, in rebellion against
name should be honored with the first place among
the austerities of their Puritan neighbors,
those that call for mention. There are so many
minor poets who write about as well as one another
plunged into excesses, and the more serious
subsided into a round of domestic drudgery.
and all upon the same dead level of mediocrity
that to prefer one of them to his fellows seems
Far back in the days of the Lancastrians invidious. Happily, no such perplexity assails us
may be traced the progenitors of the political upon the present occasion, for the greatest name
woman. They did not shrink from "memo among all those of poets now living stands upon
rials” and “petitions," even when these in our list, and must stand in the forefront of this sur-
volved a good deal of publicity. Everything vey. Á somewhat larger silence than has been
that concerned their families or the common-
usual separates Mr. Swinburne's new volume from
weal they felt to be within their “sphere," and
its immediate predecessor, but such gifts as he alone
the idea that politics was the concern of one
may bring us are worth waiting for, and all the
sex alone had no place in their minds. That
more precious for the delay. “The Tale of Balen ”
is a long narrative poem, and, like the only other
complex creature known as “the New Woman,
poem of this character to be found in the extensive
to whom is ascribed, among other things, an list of Mr. Swinburne's works, has drawn for its
unfeminine taste for politics, is not so modern
material upon the rich storehouse of Arthurian
after all.
legend. The chapters of Malory's "Morte Darthur"
Arriving at a view of women in the Victo numbered 26 to 44 in the first volume of Wright's
rian Era, we are shown what English women edition have provided the poet with both the frame-
have done and are doing as travellers and ex-
* THE TALE OF BALEN. By Algernon Charles Swinburne.
plorers, in literature, art, trade, business, as
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
factory hands, domestic servants, nurses, doc THE PURPLE East. A Series of Sonnets op England's
tors, and in public and political life. Plainly,
Desertion of Armenia. By William Watson. New York:
Stone & Kimball.
the Victorian age resembles the Elizabethan in
MY SEA, and Other Poems. By the Hon. Roden Noel.
being a time when the nation has cast its intel Chicago: Way & Williams.
lectual shell and become a new creature. Fam Song FAVOURS. By C. W. Dalmon. Chicago: Way &
Williams.
ily and social life are affected as much as intel-
LEVIORE PLECTRO. Occasional Verses. By Alfred Coch-
lectual progress. The conception of woman's
rane. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co.
place in society has undergone a process of re LAYS AND VERSES. By Nimmo Christie. New York:
making in this century. Domestic life has so Longmans, Green, & Co.
changed that the old role of the wife as the
ODES. By Charles Leonard Moore. Philadelphia : The
Author.
home-keeper must be modified. To spend the
SONGS OF THE SOUL. By Joaquin Miller. San Francisco :
best hours of the day in what is called “ look The Whittaker & Ray Co.
ing after the house” is an anomaly in the pres-
UNDERTONES. By Madison Cawein. Boston: Copeland
& Day.
ent stage of civilization. In olden times, women
SOUL AND SENSE. By Hannah Parker Kimball. Boston:
had to superintend and take part in a dozen Copeland & Day.
operations that are now performed in factories AN OATEN PIPE. By James B. Kenyon. New York:
J. Selwin Tait & Sons.
and workshops, and of which the modern house-
SONGS OF A Fool, and Other Verses. By Geraldine Mey-
wife sees only the results. Many women who rick. San Jose, California: The Author.
are not compelled to earn a living prefer to VERSES. By Mary Wright Plummer. Cleveland : Lem-
assume some daily outside occupation that en-
perly, Hilliard & Hopkins.
ables them to keep up a more luxurious home
AMERICA LIBERATA. By Robert H. Vickers. Chicago :
Charles H. Kerr & Co.
and releases them from the monotony of sewing THE LAMP OF GOLD. By Florence L. Snow. Chicago:
and household work, and gives them also some
Way & Williams.
definite purpose and interest.
The many ex-
THE PILGRIM, and Other Poems. By Sophie Jewett. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
cellent folk who tremble lest the world shall
THE ROAD TO CASTALY. By Alice Brown. Boston: Cope-
suffer from the adoption by women of modes of land & Day..
life unsanctioned by tradition may be consoled
FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER. Being Stanford Rhymes by Car
by the reflection that Nature is stronger than
olus Ager (Charles Kellogg Field). San Francisco : William
Doxey.
fashion or opinion, and will at once make her HILLS OF SONG. By Clinton Scollard. Boston: Copeland
voice heard whenever the lightest of her laws is
& Day.
transgressed. ANNA BENNESON MCMAHAN.
LYRICS OF EARTH. By Archibald Lampman. Boston:
Copeland & Day.


120
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
A very
work and the substance of his book. Unlike Ten- the supreme place among living singers, not only
nyson, who in his supplementary idyl of Balin and of his own country, but of the whole world.
Balan," used the text of Malory in a merely sugges There is a fine rhetoric-albeit somewhat touched
tive way, Mr. Swinburne has kept close to his model, with hysteria—in Mr. Watson's Armenian sonnets,
and in many passages gives us the words of Malory
“ The Purple East ''; whether there is in them poe-
with only the most trifling changes. For example, try of a high order is questionable. They are also
we read in the “ Morte Darthur”:
very uneven; “ The Turk in Armenia,” for exam.
" And Balen smote him with such a might that it ple, and “ England to America" are of a far finer
went through his shield, and perished the hawberke, and inspiration than most of the others. We quote the
so pearced through his body and the horse croupe, and former of these two:
Balin anone turned his horse fiersly, and drew out his
"What profits it, О England, to prevail
sword, and wist not that he bad slaine him, and then he
In camp and mart and council, to bestrew
saw him lye as a dead corps."
With argosies thy oceans, and renew
In “ The Tale of Balen” this becomes :
With tribute levied on each golden gale
Thy treasuries, if thou canst hear the wail
“But Balen's spear through Launceor's shield
Of women martyred by the turbaned crew
Clove as a ploughshare cleaves the field
Whose tenderest mercy was the sword that slew,
And pierced the hauberk triple-steeled,
And left no hand to wield the purging flail?
That horse with horseman stricken reeled,
We deemed of old thou held'st a charge from Him
And as a storm-breached rock falls, fell.
Who watches girdled by this seraphim,
And Balen turned his horse again
To smite the wronger with thy destined rod.
And wist not yet his foe lay slain,
Wait'st thou His sign? Enough, the unanswered cry
And saw him dead that sought his bane
Of virgin souls for vengeance, and on high
And wrought and fared not well.”
The gathering blackness the frown of God!"
In many passages, of course, the author gives him Of course, Mr. Watson's view of the whole Ar-
self a freer hand than this, and paraphrase almost menian situation is the product of emotion unbal-
melts into original poetry. We quote once more : anced by calm consideration of the facts.
“For in that place was part of the blood of our Lord
noble
poem, “ Natura Naturans," and a
Jesus Christ that Joseph of Arimathy brought into this dozen shorter pieces, make up the contents of Roden
land; and there himselfe lay in that rich bed.”
Noel's posthumou8 volume. Among the minor poets
Transmuted into the gold of Mr. Swinburne's song, of the recent period, Noel had a distinct place, and
this becomes :
the quality of his utterance was individual, although
“For in that chamber's wondrous shrine
his affinities with the Wordsworthian school were
Was part of Christ's own blood, the wine
obvious enough. The friend who writes the intro-
Shed of the true triumphal vine
Whose growth bids earth's deep darkness shine
ductory note for this modest collection claims more
As heaven's deep light through the air and sea;
than may reasonably be allowed for his poet in rank-
That mystery toward our northern shore
ing him “with the greatest of his contemporaries,"
Arimathean Joseph bore
For healing of our sins of yore
yet his analysis of Noel's delicate poetic endow-
That grace even there might be."
ment is sympathetic and helpful. In “ Natura
The poet becomes strictly himself only in a few philosophical veneration for nature (so far removed
Naturans,” he says with justice, “we find a fine
stanzas introductory to the several sections of the
work. He gives us in this way a new “Song of Four fully exemplified. And we may note in passing
from a mere sensuous appreciation of her beauty)
Seasons," more beautiful, if that be possible, than
how the poet does not hesitate, in this poem, and in
the old. This is the stanza that sings of winter :
many others, to touch upon much that may seem
“In winter, when the year burns low
ironical or cruel in nature, or even to explore the
As fire wherein no firebrands glow,
And winds dishevel as they blow
darker shadows of life.” The passage which speaks
The lovely stormy wings of snow,
of the maiden driven to suicide by despair may be
The hearts of northern men burn bright
quoted in illustration of the above dictum, as well
With joy that mocks the joy of spring
as of the rich quality of the poet's diction.
To hear all heaven's keen clarions ring
Music that bids the spirit sing
" 'Mid gorgeous autumn gold she creeps to die ;
All the deep forest burns with wondrous fires;
And day give thanks for night."
The low red san glares like God's angry eye,
Enough has been quoted to illustrate the extraor-
Through black contorted boughs, whose leafy lyres
dinary beauty of this noble poem, as well as its tech-
Are mu ng veiled oracles on high,
While she flits haggard through rain-sodden mires,
nical mastery of a difficult stanzaic form. A word
Her heart a-flame; wild-eyed and pale she fares;
should be said of the tragic atmosphere in which The branches pluck at her the while she goes ;
the work is bathed, of the solemn sense of impend-
Few songsters warble where the hectic flares,
ing doom that deepens as we follow the fortunes of
But on a wine-dark bramble the wind blows
Some soft gray down blood-reddened ; an owl scares
the fated knight, of the pity and chastened pathos
Her hooting from the hollow oak; she knows
of the tale. Mr. Swinburne has done no deeper That place too well; the lake is at her feet,
work than this, and hardly any work more infused
Where she and he lay lapped in beaven's bliss ! ”
with sheer loveliness of conception and performance. A calmer and perhaps a deeper mood of the poet is
It asserts once more his now indisputable title to revealed in the following verses from “Midnight":
97


1896.]
121
THE DIAL
“Young Love, who leaps to life like Rhine,
“In cooler blood I sympathise
Child of the hills, reverberates morn,
With all New Woman's aims,
With laughter and with joy divine,
Her hansom cabs, and sailor ties,
Exulting only to be born,
Her latch-key's burning claims.
He crowned, abounding, feeds with corn
But now I doubt if she be wise
The races, warms their hearts with wine,
To vanquish us at games."
Yet the life that blest the lands
Dies dwindled in ignoble sands.''
Here are a couple of pretty stanzas from “ The
Blackbird's Song":
Noel's technique is imperfect, as the editor admits
“What was it that the blackbird sang,
and these lines witness ; but the subtlety of his
Who whistled in the hedge
thought atones in part for this defect, although not
A jovial note that rose and rang
to the extent claimed. And it is a poor and disin-
Along the spinney's edge ?
genuous apology to assert that “sustained perfec-
“He sang that in a sheltered spot
That morning he had seen
tion” is “ more often the result of artifice than art.”
A budding snowdrop, and a knot
Those who require sustained perfection " in poe-
Of primrose breaking green.'
try do not mean the perfection of artifice, and are We commend “ The Golfer's Dream” (too long for
not to be deceived by it.
quotation) to fanatics of the game.
The next book calling for notice upon our list is Mr. Nimmo Christie is also a minor poet who
Mr. C. W. Dalmon's “Song Favours," and we must does not pretend to be anything else, and this is his
quote, for its very appositeness, the lines written in modest confession:
memory of Roden Noel, and called “The Flight of
The mad wind blows a little space,
the White Bird.”
Then sinks into a breath and dies ;
In meadows where its path we trace,
"The golden bowl lies broken on the floor,
The silver cord is loos'd: earthbound no more,
And 'mid the corn, the poppies rise.
Our White Bird flies out seaward from the shore.
“A little space the sunbeam falls,
And warms and brightens ere the night;
"Knew you the Blessed Island, fisherman ?
And apples glow on orchard walls,
Its cliffs are hung with harps Æolian.
And roses bloom where it was light.
Our White Bird seeks it at the call of Pan.
“So, when we pass into the dark,
"The silver cord is loos'd-if daylight fail ?
And think to leave no record here,
Our White Bird needs no guiding mast or sail;
Some friend unknown, perchance, may mark
He knows the secret of the nightingale.
The blank, and hold our memory dear-
· His sad mates settle round the temple door
Some one may hear with radiant face
To coo among the lilies on the floor.
The song we sang a little space."
Our White Bird flies out seaward from the shore." Mr. Christie's poems include a series of Scotch
This is, however, less characteristic of Mr. Dal songs, some very acceptable sonnets, and a number
mon's work than such a.song as “ Parson Herrick's of simple, smooth, and heartfelt lyrics.
Muse," which ends thus :
Mr. Charles Leonard Moore is well-known to
“The landlord shall our parson be;
students of poetry as the author of several volumes,
The tavern door our churchyard gate ;
the most noteworthy of which is a collection of re-
And we will fill the landlord's till
Before we fill the parson's plate !
markably powerful sonnets, a collection unsurpassed
“But here's to Parson Herrick's Muse!
for poetic energy by any American writer. He now
Drink to it, dear old comrades, please!
appears as a singer of strong-voiced “Odes,” the
And, prithee, for my tombstone choose
best passages of which challenge comparison with
A verse from his Hesperides."
the great writers, now with Lowell, now with Keats.
Graceful fancies, embodied in tripping measures,
“What fervent and funereal pipes are set
with here and there a serious note by way of vari-
To shape ope ditty from the shifting air?
What notes of wild reluctance, what regret
ety, are the gifts chiefly brought us by this pleasant
Sobs through the tree-trunks bare?"
little book.
This opening of the “Dirge for Summer" will jus-
In the first of his songs, “ Leviore Plectro,” Mr. tify our mention of Keats, and the reference to
Alfred Cochrane classes himself frankly among the Lowell derives even ampler warrant from the ode
minor poets, and expects that his “pensive caroll “ To America,” in which we find such verse as this :
ings" will,
“Thou art the peer of Greece in those proud stories
“Unseen of any eye,
Where battles bear out dreams;
Disport themselves in print and die,
For twice, idea-urged, hast thou arisen,
Like some midsummer butterfly,
Not moved by passion or a prince's halter,
Without his gorgeous wings."
And burst her bonds who balf-time sits in prison,
And poured thy best lives out on Freedom's altar:
This is really too modest; for the writer, although
And where Fate called thee thou hast spurned fatigues,
undoubtedly a minor poet, is a deft weaver of vers
So ever on thy marches westward border
de société, and has little to fear from compari Ran a thin line of blood four hundred leagues,
son with his rivals in the field that he has chosen Chaos before – behind a world of order:
for his verses vain. Witness the close of his apos-
Dispatched such deeds: And now for what comes next
Thou waitest in thine invulnerable West,
trophe “ To My Lady" (who has beaten him at
Blazoning more large thy living-lettered text,
croquet):
*Chance and the tools to those who use them best.'
7


122
(Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
" Ab see,
We must make one more extract a section of Mr. series of booklets have just been published. Mr.
Moore's superb “Ode of the Vision."
Cawein's “ Undertones reproduces the sensuous
the moon from yonder hill swings clear,
mood of his earlier volumes, their romantic feeling,
With mellow lamp searching her crystal sphere; their passion, and their tinge of melancholy. There
But in our realm below
is a fine large utterance in such a stanza as this
Her ineffectual torches dimly go ;
from “The Wind of Spring":
Landmarks effaced, all things habitual, lose
Their surety of use;
“The wind has summoned, and I go, -
The world grows foreign and all out of doors ;
To con God's meaning in each line
Masked revellers bear abroad the Bacchic laws:
The flowers write, and, walking slow,
Not in this moontide jungle can the Soul
God's purpose, of which song is sign,-
Keep its clear purposed paths to ends foreknown,
The wind's great, gusty hand in mine."
Shadows o'ertake it and upon it roll
Reiterate gales from magic gardens blown ;-
“Gusty hand ”is forced, and typical of the lack of
Tired sentinel, its fires grow dim,
finish that so often disappoints us in Mr. Cawein's
White arms are near, frank eyes dissolving swim, work. The restraint so needed by him seems to
And the wine-caps o'erbrim."
have been cultivated to some purpose in this newest
We should like also to quote from the “ Idola The-
collection. Miss Kimball's “ Soul and Sense” is
atri," and the elegy on Poe; but space does not simpler and less sensuous verse than Mr. Cawein's,
permit. Mr. Moore, it must be confessed, is an
with an added touch of the spirit, and a note of
uneven poet, and some of his pages are both turgid mysticism.
mysticism. “Contrast " illustrates the gift as well
and obscure. But he has at his best the large utter-
as the limitations of this writer.
ance, the vision, and the power of harmonious ex-
“Rout and defeat on every hand,
pression that characterize poetry of the higher class;
On every hand defeat and rout;
and our literature has cause to be proud of such
Yet through the rent clouds' hurrying rack
The stars look out.
work as may be found in this volume.
“Decay supreme from west to east,
A long silence has been broken by the publica-
From south to north supreme decay;
tion of “ Joaquin” Miller's “ Songs of the Soul,” a
Yet still the withered fields and hills
Grow green with May.
volume which contains three long poems, and four
short ones. They will not add noticeably to Mr.
“In clod and man unending strife,
Unending strife in man and clod;
Miller's reputation, for his imagination, although it
Yet burning in the heart of man
seems to have lost little of its glow, is as ill-regulated
The fire of God."
as ever, and all that he says now he seems to have
said before in similar and better terms.
Mention of “An Oaten Pipe" may fitly follow
copy a stanza from “ Mother Egypt":
our comment upon the “Oaten Stop” volumes. Mr.
James B. Kenyon, the author, has mastered many
“Dark-browed, she broods with weary lids
Beside her Sphynx and Pyramids,
of the simpler forms of verse, and his work is
With low and never-lifted head.
infused with genuine feeling and a true instinct for
If she be dead, respect the dead;
the beautiful in nature and life. Most of his pieces
If she be weeping, let her weep;
skim the surface of emotion in their rather airy
If she be s