ste what roast monkey
is like. It was being cooked when I entered the chalet. The
smell alone upset me, and the frightful savor took from me
all desire for meals of that kind. I never saw Mr. Swinburne
again.'"
"In' The Flayed Hand' Mr. Swinburne becomes a French-
man, and he is strangled in the night by the macabre object
which hangs in his bedroom. But, as has been remarked,
the story ... is not as good as the ordinary run of tales in
our popular magazines."
I think I am not the only reader of The Dial who
would like to know the source of this strange "scrap
of autobiography," and whether the facts bear it out.
My recollection of the study of Guy de Maupassant by
M. Maynial, and of the biographical notes contained in
the first volume of the fine new edition of his works
issued from the press of the Imprimerie Nationale, does
not include anything of the kind. I should be glad to
know whether the incident of the Flayed Hand (worked
over in Maupassant's youthful story of that name), and
that of the monkey-banquet, are to be regarded as au-
thentic. W. B. Blake.
Bradford Hills, West Chester, Pa., July 19,1909.
SHAKESPEARE OR BACON?
(To the Editor of The Dial.)
Perhaps no question is being forced upon the attention
of students of English literature with more persistence
than this: How can we prove that Francis Bacon wrote
the plays that are commonly attributed to William
Shakespeare?
I desire to call attention to a line of proof which has
been strangely disregarded. In looking about for a
means of conveying to a distant posterity information
which he was determined to withhold from those who
knew him personally, Lord Bacon could not adopt any
cipher, any veiled method of communication, which
required that an Elizabethan printing-office should do
its work carefully and accurately. The First Folio
edition of Shakespeare's plays (so-called) swarms with
manifest misprints of many kinds. These would utterly
dislocate and forever conceal any ordinary cipher mes-
sage which had been entrusted to the text.
It is necessary, therefore, that we look at the larger
characteristics of the plays in order to find the veiled
message that we are seeking. In particular, I wish to
direct attention to one striking peculiarity which is
present in all the plays ascribed to Shakespeare, with a
very few exceptions; and these exceptions are in them-
selves suspicious. I refer to the alternation of verse
and prose. Delius and other scholars have studied this
matter in some detail, seeking to find the law which
governs this strange fluctuation in the outward form of
the dramas; but they have missed entirely the larger
message which I will now indicate.
What is the natural symbolism of this feature of the
plays? Could any interpretation be more natural, more
unforced, more certain, than that which I express in the
following double equation?
Verse + prose + verse + prose = a streak of fat + a streak of
lean + a streak of fat + a streak of lean = Bacon.
It will surprise every reader of this communication
to learn that, though I have convinced several persons
by the above argument that Bacon wrote the plays in
question, yet I myself still cling with a foolish fondness
to the older view, and hesitate to become an apostle of
the new faith. Albert H. Tolman.
Chicago, July 17, 1909.


64
[August 1.
THE
DIAL
Uj geto goohs.
A Servant of Humanity.*
It is now three years since the first volume
of Mrs. Richards's "Journals, Life and Letters
of Samuel Gridley Howe" made at last acces-
sible the full history of that remarkable man's
earlier life — a period which was happily sum-
marized in the title chosen for the volume," The
Greek Revolution." The title of her second
volume, which carries his story to the end —
"The Servant of Humanity " — is equally apt.
It might, indeed, have been given to both; from
his earliest days the service of humanity was with
him a constant, brave, cheerful, absorbing pas-
sion. One feels, however, a true distinction
between the more adventurous and spectacular
circumstances of the years when he was busy
with the struggle between Greek and Turk,
Christianity and Islam, liberty and old-world
tyranny, and the habitually more quiet sur-
roundings of his unwearied efforts at home to
alleviate suffering, to illuminate darkness, to
lighten the burden of the lowly. The first called
forth his rare and buoyant aspiration of mind
and of spirit; the second proved it constant,
unbroken, unfailing to the very end. So, in
giving us these two phases of him separately,
his daughter, Mrs. Richards, has done well.
She has done well, too, in letting him tell his
own story; and she has done particularly well
in the matter of self-restraint. A work impelled
at once by enthusiastic sympathy and filial piety
is in danger of fulsomeness. From this the
volumes are refreshingly free. They present
historical facts, no doubt, from the extremely
definite point of view occupied by Dr. Howe;
they show us his friends and contemporaries
from his own angle of vision; wherefore, they
can hardly be accepted as critical history.
None the less, they are a faithful portrayal of
how life appeared, during the ardent nineteenth
century, — the century of Reform succeeding
upon Revolution, — to an impetuous spirit
intensely harmonious with the philanthropic
aspirations of his time.
Samuel Gridley Howe was born in Boston
on November 10, 1801. His father was a
Jeffersonian Democrat, a fact which probably
affected the son's opinions throughout life. The
dominant classes of New England at that time
•The Journals, Life and Letters ok Samuel
Gridley Howe. Edited by his daughter, Laura E.
Richards. With Notes by F. B. Sanborn. Volume I., The
Greek Revolution, 1906; Volume II., The Servant of
Humanity. Boston: Dana Estes & Co.
were mostly Federalists. No state of society
and politics could have been more favorable to
the growth of deeply implanted conviction, on
the part of one ancestrally in opposition, that
things are wrong because they are in the hands
of the wrong people, and consequently that who-
ever is in control of anything ought to be got
out of it for the benefit of mankind. Dr. Howe
was far too powerful a man — too practical, too
orderly and efficient — to entertain any such
fantastic doctrine of anarchy. Throughout the
story of his admirable career, however, you feel
an undercurrent of assumption that the under
dog is the better beast, that whoever has him
under may best be removed by a summary pro-
cess of thrashing, and that he may more than
probably be preserved from dangerous rabidity
by a judicious dose of freedom and moral sua-
sion, in varying proportions according to the
circumstances of his case. With some such
prepossession, the boy went to school in Boston,
took his degree at Brown College in 1821, and
became Doctor of Medicine at Harvard in 1824.
Before the end of that year he had already made
his way to Greece, urged thereto partly by his
enthusiasm for Byron. There, for years, he
played his brave part — surgeon, soldier, knight-
errant, friend and helper of a people striving to
rise, — in such manner as the first volume of
Mrs. Richards's work has already set forth. His
life-work would have been picturesquely and
admirably memorable had it ended iu 1832,
when outspoken sympathy with Poland got the
"Hero of the Greek Revolution '* for a while
into a Prussian prison.
It is possible, indeed, that the brilliant and
daring work of those early years was as fruitful
as any he ever did. Such spirit as his, infused
generously into the atmosphere at once thrilling
and stifling of eldest Europe, was needful to
make Greece what Greece has become—livimr
Greece once more. Distant from us, however,
both in time and by the width of Atlantic and
Mediterranean together, the result of that sep-
arate period, of his life seems splendidly indis-
tinct, at least in comparison with that of the
long and more coherent years which followed at
home. There, beyond peradventure, you find
his traces clear as ever, now when he has lain
a third of a century in his grave. So long as the
blind stay blind to light, or the feeble-minded
to reason, those whom their misery touches will
be forever happier for his work and his teach-
ings. No work or teaching can avert suffering,
or level the inequalities of Nature. None could
have done more than his to alleviate them. In


1909.]
65
THE DIAJL
Mrs. Richards's new volume, he tells his story
for himself. The teaching of the blind, the alter-
ation — which he always believed a vital reform
— in the traditional methods of education, the
strengthening of the feeble-minded, succeed one
another in turn, the new never supplanting the
old, but rather adding itself thereto in the sum
of a comprehensive philanthropic activity which
seems always ultimate until you find it re-
doubled and still inexhaustible. Such a tem-
perament could not have lacked what must
seem to some of us vagaries. He was as ready
to welcome Kossuth as he had been to call
into spiritual being the darkened soul of Laura
Bridgman; as passionate in his opposition to
slavery, and as relentless in sentiment to those
who saw our national agony in other ways than
his, as he had been merciful and benignant to
idiocy; and as devout, in his own unfettered
way, as if he had never strayed from the fold
of orthodoxy. He was an ardent advocate of
Free Soil in Kansas, a devoted admirer of John
Brown, a lifelong intimate of Charles Sumner.
He was a leading spirit, the while, in the benefi-
cent work of the Sanitary Commission, and in
that which after the emancipation of the slaves
inquired deliberately into the condition and the
prospects of the Freedmen ; he was deeply con-
cerned with the Board of State Charities in
Massachusetts; and in his old age he did his
utmost to help on the Cuban Revolution, and
to secure the annexation of Santo Domingo to
the United States. Through it all, beyond
most militant reformers, he kept his friends, or
at least retained the cordial respect of those
from whose friendship his restless and ardent
sense of duty debarred him. The title of Mrs.
Richards's final chapter — " The Good Knight
without Fear and without Reproach "— hardly
seems hyperbolical; and no one would deny the
truth of her simple words: "On January 9th
(1876) his great spirit departed."
"Great" seems none too great a word for
him, as you lay the volume down. Yet the dead
ride fast. Even in his own time he was not
precisely dominant; in ours his memory is per-
haps dim,-except with those who knew him, and
with those to whom — as to the readers of his
daughter's pages — he must always seem still
alive. Partly, no doubt, this is a matter of the
happy accident that his wife—the most brilliant,
accomplished, and beloved woman among the
American reformers of the Nineteenth Century
— was throughout the years of their union a
figure as admirably well-known, in public and
in private, as he; and that, years younger than
he, she has survived to our own times, when we
may fancy her, in the beautiful ripeness of her
unbroken and serene old age, thinking of his
seventy-five years as youthful. Partly, however,
it is surely a matter of the restless comprehen-
siveness of his unwavering philanthropy. Had
he been only the hero of the Greek Revolution,
he would have loomed more distinct; so if he
had been only the Savior of the Blind, or the
Creator of Reason in the Feeble-Minded; or
only a passionate Abolitionist, or a professional
minister to the sufferings of our soldiery. The
other men of his time were more willing com-
pletely to concentrate their powers. The secret
of his personality lay most of all in the certainty
that wherever you found the powers of others
concentrated for the welfare of the friendless,
there you would find him urging on the work with
all the intensity of an enthusiasm mature from the
beginning and youthful to the end. That which
pervades is never that which is most salient.
One might criticise, beyond dispute. By no
means all of us are sure that men are wiser than
Nature; that a life devoted to the strengthening
of the weak may not prove in the end to have
done troublous work by unwittingly weakening
the strong. By no means all that was best in
nineteenth-century New England was comprised
in its philanthropy; by no means all the philan-
thropists, high on their pedestals to-day, look
stainless when you come to scrutinize them. Any
reader of this volume who knows the period with
which it deals, however, is abundantly able to
make such comments for himself; and any to
whom the period is strange may turn to these
pages with full confidence that they truly set
forth what seemed daily truth to a spiritually
great man. Barrett Wendell.
Kuropatkix's Account ok the War
with Japan.*
"The General stands higher than any other
Russian officer, not only in Russian opinion but
iu that of professional soldiers all the world over;
and if any human agency can change the deplor-
able situation to Russia's advantage, Kuropatkin
may be the man to do it." So wrote the Man-
churian correspondent of the London "Times,"
in February, 1904, upon the announcement of
* The Russian Army and the Japanese War. Being
Historical and Critical Comments on the Military Policy and
Power of Russia and on the Campaign in the Far East. By
General Kuropatkin. Translated by Captain A. B. Lindsay.
Edited by Major E. D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E. With Maps
and Illustrations. In two volumes. New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co.


66
[August 1,
THE
DIAL
General Kuropatkin's appointment to command
the Russian army then operating in Manchuria.
It was indeed the irony of fate that elevated
Kuropatkin to this command, because he, more
than any other man in Russia, had striven to
prevent the declaration of war. Better than any
of his countrymen, he knew that the Empire was
not prepared to draw the sword in the Far East,
and he had sounded repeated warnings to the
Tsar that the policy of exploiting Korea and
ignoring the solemn obligation to evacuate
Manchuria upon the conclusion of the Boxer
rebellion would provoke the Japanese to arms
in defense of their interests. Nobody in Russia
understood so well the military preparedness of
the Japanese. He had visited the rival Empire
and had studied her military and financial con-
dition. But against his advice the Grand Dukes,
and eventually the Tsar, who were interested in
the timber exploitation on the Yalu, persisted in
the ways of folly until war became inevitable.
Kuropatkin's commission of command was
issued February 20, 1904 — two weeks after
the breaking off of diplomatic relations between
the Russian and Japanese governments, and
two days after the Russian declaration of war.
Retiring from the position of War Minister,
which he had held for six years, the General
left St. Petersburg March 12 and joined the
army at Liao-yang March 27. Nominally, he
was Commander-in-Chief of the Manchurian
Army of Operations; but in reality, until
October 25, 1904, he was subordinate to an
officer not actually at the front, being designated
as assistant to the Viceroy, Admiral Alexieff,
whose headquarters were at Harbin. March 17,
1905, he was superseded by General Linievitch;
so that the period during which Kuropatkin was
in independent command was limited to approx-
imately four and a half months. The principal
events of those four and a half months were the
capitulation of Port Arthur and the disastrous
battle of Mukden. After the appointment of
Linievitch to the chief command, Kuropatkin
continued to serve in a subordinate position in
command of the First Army until the close of
the war. After peace was concluded, in Sep-
tember, 1905, he remained in Manchuria super-
intending the demobilization of the Russian
forces, proceeding, upon the completion of this
task in 1906, to his country seat, Sheshurino,
in the province of Pskoff, where he entered upon
a life of strict retirement.
It was while the work of demobilization was
still in progress that the General undertook the
preparation of his history of the war. The task
was planned and executed on an ambitious scale.
Of the four ponderous volumes in which the
history was eventually published, the first was
taken up with a detailed account of the battle
of Liao-yang, written in large part by Colonel
Ilinski, of the General Staff; the second volume,
prepared mainly by Colonel Bolkhovitinoff,
dealt in similar fashion with the battle of Sha
Ho; the third volume, on the battle of Mukden,
and the fourth, a summary of the war, were
written by General Kuropatkin himself. The
entire work was suppressed by the Russian Gov-
ernment almost as soon as it appeared. For-
tunately, however, it has been made possible for
a translation of the most valuable portions to
be given to English readers, in the two volumes
at present under review. Volume I. of the
translation contains the Translator's Preface,
the Author's Introduction, and the first eight
chapters of Kuropatkin's original fourth vol-
ume. Volume II. contains the remaining four
chapters of that book, together with the Intro-
duction and Conclusion of Kuropatkin's third
volume (discussing the antecedents and the con-
sequences of the battle of Mukden^, and two
useful appendices. The English edition is much
abridged, but for the student and the general
reader alike it contains decidedly the most valu-
able portions of the original history.
What General Kuropatkin has sought to
do is to interpret the events and results of the
Russo-Japanese war in the light of the anterior
development and present condition of the Rus-
sian Empire. His earlier chapters take, there-
fore, the form of a running sketch of the salient
facts of Russia's political, military, and economic
history during the two hundred years since Peter
the Great. These chapters are suggestive, and
on the military side especially valuable; but
they constitute, after all, only a background for
the consideration of the principal subject dis-
cussed in the book — namely, the reasons for
the Russian reverses and the Japanese successes
during the recent war. In genuinely illumina-
ting and informing qualities, the four chapters
devoted to this theme have not been surpassed,
and it may be doubted whether the Tsar himself,
were he so inclined, could speak more authori-
tatively upon the subject.
The causes of Russia's failure in the war
are classified by General Kuropatkin in three
groups. The first comprises causes " independ-
ent of the war ministry " — the lack of diplo-
matic arrangements, such as Prussia enjoyed in
1870-71, permitting the massing of the entire
armed force against the enemy, the subordinate


1909.]
67
THE DIAL
part played by the fleet, the inferiority of the
Siberian and Eastern Chinese railways, and
the internal disorders in Russia, which affected
the spirit of the army. The second group of
causes includes those dependent on the War
Ministry, for which officers in the field were
not responsible — the delay in mobilizing the
reinforcements for the Far East, the delay in
promoting those who distinguished themselves
in the field, the deficiencies in technical equip-
ment and in the personnel of both officers and
men. The third group — those for which offi-
cers in the field were alone responsible — com-
prise the absence of a true military feeling
among the troops, the lack of determination on
the part of commanders of all degrees to carry
out the tasks entrusted to them, and the break-
down of the organization under the stress of war.
Viewing the question from the other side, Gen-
eral Kuropatkin considers that the Japanese won
in the struggle because of the preponderance of
their fleet, their superior acquaintance with the
theatre of land operations, their immense advan-
tages in communication and the transport of
supplies, their intellectual alertness and their
readiness to profit by experience. "But the
principal thing," concludes the writer, " which
gave success to the Japanese was their high
moral tone. It made victory seem worth any
sacrifice, and led directly to that determination
to win which characterized all ranks from
Commander-in-Chief to private soldier. . . .
One thing is certain: that if the whole army
had not been saturated with patriotism, if it
had not felt the friendly support of the nation
behind it, if it had not realized the supreme
importance of the struggle, the endeavors of its
leaders would have been in vain." Broadly
speaking, says Kuropatkin, "we underestimated
Japan's power, particularly her moral strength,
and entered upon the war far too lightly."
Notwithstanding all of this, it is interesting
to note—and herein lies the predominating argu-
ment of the book — the author's belief that the
war was brought to a premature conclusion, that
peace was declared at a moment when victory
lay within Russia's grasp, when her strength was
at its maximum and when that of Japan had
begun to ebb. The larger part of the army in
the field is declared to have shared this convic-
tion. The author maintains, in the first place,
that at the time when peace was concluded
Russia's material forces were steadily growing.
In evidence of this he cites the fact that during
the war the carrying capacity of the Siberian
Railway was increased sixfold, that at the end
of the war the army, already a million strong,
was still growing, and that the state of supplies,
stores, and equipment far surpassed that obtain-
ing when war was declared. It is maintained,
in the second place, that the army had undergone
marked improvement in morale, and the author
tells at some length of the measures which were
instituted during the period of his command to
promote the spirit of earnestness and comrade-
ship among the soldiery. And, finally, the
attempt is made, with a certain measure of
success, to demonstrate that in 1905 "the
enemy's army began to weaken in a moral as well
as a material sense," on account of the heavy
casualties, the draft system, scarcity of funds,
and the indifference to her successes which
Europe and America were beginning to exhibit.
That, in the midst of these conditions, the
serious state of Russia's internal affairs and the
sluggishness of the Russian people compelled a
premature abandonment of the war, is regarded
by the author as an unmitigated calamity.
"The consequences," he writes, "of making
such a peace, by which Japan was recognized
as Russia's conqueror in Asia, will have serious
results, not only for us but for all of the Powers
who have possessions or interests on that con-
tinent. The ' Yellow Peril,' the appearance of
which has only recently been foreseen, is now a
reality. Notwithstanding her victorious issue
from the war, Japan is hurriedly increasing her
forces, while China is forming a large army
under the guidance of Japanese officers and on
the Japanese model. In a very short space of
time she and Japan will be able to pour an army
of more than 1,500,000 into Manchuria, which,
if directed against us, could proceed to take a
great deal of Siberia from Russia, and reduce
her to a second-rate Power."
It is apparent from this, and from other pas-
sages that might be cited, that the author expects
another war. Indeed, he proceeds to point out
certain precautions which Russia must promptly
take if she is to be prepared for the renewal of
the struggle. She must be in a position inter-
nationally to make use of all her troops against
the enemy. She must have thorough railway
communication with the Ear East. She must
prepare the waterways of Siberia for the carriage
of heavy goods in bulk from west to east. She
must move the army's base as far as possible from
Europe into Siberia. And—what is most impor-
tant, and, one may add, most difficult—she must
make ready to carry on a new war, not only with
the army but with the whole of a patriotic nation.
Frederic Austin Ogg.


68
[August 1,
THE DIAL
Stage Plays and Poetical Dramas.*
Among the plays published during the past
winter and spring (and there have been this
year more than usual) there have been all degrees
of excellence. Some that need not be named
seem to have been good pieces of work for
amateur theatricals. Nor are such things to be
slighted. For if one of the requirements of the
drama at present be, as so many would have it,
an educated theatrical management, certainly
another requirement is an educated audience.
And for an audience to have a good appreciation
of the technical side of a play, nothing is better
than to have had experience in writing and acting
plays. So the more that sort of thing is well
and intelligently done, the more people are there
in the country who will want a good drama, and
in time will have it. Plays that seem somewhat
amateur in character are often excellent things
in their own way, even though they do not call
for much public notice. There are also, it must
be added, a number among the year's publica-
tions which cannot come under this head, and
which still fail of any real excellence, but prob-
ably it will be best to pass over all such.
Of the published plays that are really worth
while, there are two kinds. One is the usual
play, as we may call it— the stage-play, the play
written for the stage and acted with more or less
effect. Such, for instance, is Mr. Percy Mac-
kaye's " Mater," acted and published last fall.
This play should perhaps have received extended
notice at the time; and yet it may be as well
that it did not, for though certainly a stage suc-
cess, it was even on the stage a good deal of a
disappointment, and that disappointment became
more definite when the book appeared. One
regrets not to be able always to admire Mr.
Mackaye's work, for his effort is so certainly in
the right direction. Yet " Mater," although a
clever piece (I feel sure) in stage technique, and
undoubtedly amusing in presentation and in
point, did not really come near the possibilities
that it made obvious. The beginning of the
play showed what might have been achieved:
the end of the play seemed weak because it did
not achieve it. The play gave a chance to get
beyond the farce it really became, into something
•Mater. An American Stu y in Comedy. By Percy
Mackaye. New York: The Macmillan Co.
An Englishman's Home. A Play in Three Acts. By
Major Guy Du Maurier. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Herakxeb. By George Cabot Lodge. Boston: Honghton
Mifflin Co.
Hero and Leander. A Tragedy. By Martin Schutze.
New York: Henry Holt & Co.
which, while amusing and entertaining, should
yet show a reach after things of more account.
That is the trouble with many American plays
nowadays. They show at the beginning real
dramatic possibility, and then develop into farces
or melodramas, apparently because our play-
wrights cannot conceive their ideas fully, or are
unable to carry them out, or perhaps because
they feel that the audience does not care for such
matters. In "Mater," Mr. Mackaye had a fine
and original conception. He seems to have
begun with the notion of presenting the power
of a brilliant and poetic but common-sense and
human personality in the immense chaos of talk
and bombast that prevails in America to-day.
Mater could appreciate all the lyrics of her
poetical son and her philanthropic daughter,
yet she could go each one better by accomplish-
ing through simple common-sense the things
they sought to accomplish by exalted rhodomon-
tade. Surely that was a chance: that is America
in a nutshell; America is just the place for
humanity to show itself among the heroics. It
was a pity that Mr. Mackaye allowed this con-
ception to slip away from him while he pursued
a farcical and impossible intrigue between
Mater and a stage politician. We feel a sense
of disappointment which we should not feel if
the author himself had not shown us what he
might have accomplished.
No such sense attends the performance or the
reading of Mr. Du Maurier's " An Englishman's
Home''; just the reverse is the case. In this play
one waits expectant through the terrible tedious-
ness of the first act, wondering how any power
can relieve such a proceeding from oblivion; and
yet, as the play goes on, one becomes more and
more absorbed, and, in going from one interest
to a greater, sees that the sordid stupidity of
the first act was an absolute necessity to the
impression that is aimed at. The general point
of the play is doubtless widely known: it presents
an episode in an imaginary invasion of England
by some other country, now vaguely mentioned
as Nearland, elsewhere as the Empire of the
North. The book bears out well the strong
impression of the play on the stage, which comes
chiefly from the contrast between the superficial
sport-loving household of the English, and the
foolish inexperience and ignorant courage of her
volunteers, and the energetic business-like way
of the Black Dragoons of Her Imperial Majesty.
It is a hard hit at English life, — much of it
well-deserved without a doubt, and much of it
thoroughly appreciated over there. Yet it is
not merely a hard hit: the author is an English-


1909.]
69
THE DIAL
man himself, and shows clearly the true manli-
ness in the midst of the superficial foolishness.
Indeed, even with the slight and stupid sport-
mad boys and girls there are good points among
the bad one9. The typical old John Bull, who
at the beginning of the play is learning to play
Diabolo with a book, turns at the end into a
lion defending his home. But with all the strong
and good hidden under the weak and foolish,
there is not enough, in the general impression,
to cope with the business-like way of doingthings,
the reckoning with realities, of the foreigners.
But one need not take the play simply as a
criticism, needed or not, upon the English. Per-
haps the same sort of criticism is needed here,
though I think that we in America need more
the criticism that Mater might have given had
she been so disposed, the criticism of a warm
heart and a clear head upon our wonderful
exhibitions of buncombe and bustle. The warn-
ing of " An Englishman's Home" may not be
particularly necessary for America, yet it has a
significance wider even than America; it has
that appeal to human nature itself that, where
it is sure and clear, makes a thing great. The
remarkable power of M. Rostand, I used to
think, was because the courageous Cyrano and
the slight Due de Rostand were both such typi-
cal figures, giving us a feeling of kinship either
with the man who knew himself to be greater
than the world could ever rate him, or else with
the man who saw in the world opportunities that
were his, and yet were too great for him to
master. In somewhat the same manner, Mr.
Du Maurier's play has its universal appeal, for
everyone can feel the force of this tremendous
contrast between the light-hearted superficiality
that is content to amuse itself from day to day,
and the energetic realism that forges ahead
slowly in the line of fact.
Yet even here such an impression as this
would fail to make the play effective were it not
that it was well-written. And it is a consider-
able triumph that without the aid of variation
of circumstance and with little of strong char-
acter Mr. Du Maurier has made a play of
absorbing interest even to those who dislike the
melodramatic fusillades that seem to be neces-
sary. Not only are the general lines of the play
well-conceived, but the details are effectively
worked out in character as well as in situation.
It is true to life and uninfluenced by conven-
tion.* Reggie Brown, for instance, instead of
being roused by the great crisis to become a
hero, remains Reggie Brown to the end; his
* Except in the end of the play as given on the stage.
sister Maggie is full of a desire to help and be
of use, but has no single practical idea of what
to do. All this is realism; it may be that the
spectator will think the realism of the first act
too strong, there is certainly no let-up in the
dead-level of stupidity exhibited by touch after
touch. Yet not one touch is wrong, and it is
probable that each one is necessary to the con-
trast which is the life of the piece.
It is something of a change to turn from " An
Englishman's Home" to Mr. George Cabot
Lodge's " Herakles," and one may inquire why
the two should come into the same article. The
first answer is that both are dramas; which some
may think as satisfactory as it would be to say
that both were books. "Herakles " is a poetic
drama, a drama reminiscent of the Greek,
although I am not sure that Mr. Lodge felt
himself much bound by the canons of Athenian
tragedy. It is, then, not so much a stage-play,
but rather a poem, which the poet has chosen to
cast in dramatic form. I am a little more doubt-
ful than I used to be as to how far dramas of
this sort are comparable with plays written for
the present stage. A view of a Greek or a
Latin play, which one may easily have nowa-
days on some university occasion, — indeed, a
view of an Elizabethan play in Elizabethan
fashion,—is likely to take us so far from all ordi-
nary dramatic conceptions that we cannot make
any sort of comparisons with the plays we are
used to.
One comparison with the acting drama we
can make. We can assure ourselves that
"Herakles" is a very fine piece of work, and
that it makes a strong appeal to noble emotions
as a great play should. It is full of delightful
poetry, to which one will recur over and over
again; but it has also its main appeal, or im-
pression, by which we may think of it as a defi-
nite whole rather than a mere collection of
interesting facts. From its main idea, as I
understand it, I entirely dissent; but there can
be little doubt that the idea is well conceived
and strongly enforced. At the very beginning,
almost with the first words of the weary poet and
the chance-met woman, we are impressed with
the idea of something of reality behind the beau-
tiful imaginative lines which otherwise might
absorb our minds like the figures and costumes
and scenery at the theatre. We have not
space to run through the development, — the
hunger of the world for something finer and
nobler than their life yet gives, the appearance
of Herakles, restless but full of powers and pos-
sibilities, the recognition, and, as we may say,


70
[August 1,
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self-recognition, — but it is foolish to try to give
the idea. One would only spoil the poet's con-
ception, which one ought to get only as he gives
it. Mr. Lodge has taken old names and stories
and given them essential reality once more. I
suppose it is not the reality that they had to the
Greek; but that is a matter of archaeology.
More to the point is it that in these figures, —
the Poet, the Woman, Herakles, Creon, — we
have not merely vital personalities, but person-
alities of Life as we know it. Not in the cir-
cumstance in which we see it, of course; but
then, even in Mr. Du Maurier's play, the cir-
cumstance, though more carefully worked out,
is really a minor point. It is not life in the
form in which we know it, but certainly there it
is, with its pulsings and its possibilities, very
fine, very wonderful, very august.
I ask myself now and then how the play
would seem on the stage; and always return to
the idea that nowadays we cannot appreciate
poetry when recited, as those did who could not
read. I do not suppose Mr. Lodge had the
stage in mind when he wrote; but that is not
important, for everything is good on the stage
that people like to see, whether meant for the
stage or not, and I would far rather see this than
much that is actually meant for the stage. And
however that be, the poem as read is satisfying
to the lover of noble thought and lovely imagery.
Whether it be really a dramatic development,
I cannot be so sure; but still the drama is a
remarkable achievement, and one of which we
may well be proud.
There is little room left for a word on Mr.
Martin Schutze's " Hero and Leander." Cast
in a less classic form than Mr. Lodge's poem,
more modern in its rendering of the life and
color of Greek life, this poetic drama aims at
and gives a different impression. Lacking, as
I must think, the power of conceiving its motive
that seems needful to impress strikingly the
mind, it yet has very considerable imaginative
power, both in its figures and its details, and in
the curious directness of its verse. With all its
modernity, however, it has a classic beauty of
clearness and outline that gives it an especial
and singular charm.
These plays are all worth reading. Perhaps
they interest me too much, as representing phases
of current literary feeling, to appreciate them
quite correctly in and for themselves. Still,
even without regard to literary feelings and
fashions, they certainly have in them much that
is well worth while.
Edward E. Hale, Jr.
Arthl'r Symons as a Critic*
Mr. Arthur Symons's " Book of Theory," as
he calls it in the sub-title, is much more than a
new edition of his " Plays, Acting, and Music";
more, I mean, than is implied usually by the
words. He has omitted, added, and changed,
until one who possesses the first edition will feel
it necessary, in order to keep up with Mr.
Symons, to own this later volume. The volume,
moreover, is intended to form one of a series in
which the author's critical method as applied to
literature and the arts may be set forth. The
completion of the plan is not probable, in view
of the deplorable news that comes with regard
to Mr. Symons's health: his working days, it
would appear, are over.
At its worst, Mr. Symons's criticism has an
effect of the higher journalism: it is a review,
done for an occasion. The suggestive paper on
Paderewski is an example. But it is delightful,
and not without penetrating appreciation and
flashes of eloquence. At their best, on the other
hand, these brief impressionistic talks on the
great things of creative endeavor reveal a poet
sensitive to beauty and insistent on testing all
Art, subjectively but surely, by the test of
aesthetic pleasure and that higher pleasure that
is of the soul. The pages fairly teem with sug-
gestive, stimulating, and brilliant remarks, the
style in which they are conveyed being noticeable
for its warm sensuous simplicity.
This poet-critic's theory is not difficult to
state, and it is a sound one, to my mind. It
may be summed up in two sentences of his own:
"In all forms of art, the point of view is of
more importance than the subject-matter"; and
"art has to do only with the creation of beauty."
This insures breadth of view, because it escapes
the danger of making technic the final word:
with Symons, personality is the precious thing
which must cooperate with technic to produce
the desirable Beauty. And he would include
among his artists (since they make beauty) the
actor, the dancer, and the pianist; they create
what is lovely for an instant, but that is enough,
for " art is concerned only with accomplishment,
not with duration."
Mr. Symons varies in manner according as
his subject influences him. When discoursing
of the drama, he is keen, witty, full of fresh
thought; when music is his theme, he is pre-
dominately the poet; if he discusses painting,
the aesthetic seems to the fore. But above all,
* Plays, Acting, and Music. A Book of Theory. By
Arthur Symons. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.


1909.]
71
THE DIAL
his work is suggestive; that perhaps is the mis-
sion of the impressionist in criticism, —to drop
seed-thoughts, to arouse by charm of manner,
to make us think. I find his book, therefore,
helpful and attractive, and am saddened by the
reflection that such a man in what should be the
full prime of his powers must cease from his lit-
erary labor. But Mr. Symons has come a long
way forward since the "Yellow Book" days,
when he was grouped with the extremists and
degenerates. Richard Burton.
The Childhood of the Rac e.*
Leo Frobenius is one of the best-known of
German ethnographers. His Ursprung der
Afrikanischen Kulturen is one of the most
suggestive and illuminating of books upon Cul-
ture History. Preeminently a student of things,
he has brought together a remarkable private
collection of ethnographic objects, and has dili-
gently worked through many European museums
to acquaint himself with their contents. He
has been a special student of primitive warfare,
of the bows and arrows of the world, of masks
and their use and meaning. His studies have
centered upon Africa, and he has now made two
great expeditions into the continent — one into
the Kasai region of the Congo Free State, the
other into the Kamerun. The narrative of the
earlier of these journeys has been printed, and
contains much valuable information and sugges-
tion. Most of his writings exist only in German,
and therefore those who desire the advance of
knowledge and interest in ethnographic science,
among non-professional readers especially, will
welcome the appearance of one of his most pop-
ular and least technical works in an English
translation.
"The Childhood of Man" appeals chiefly
to a popular audience. To the serious student
or the ethnologist, its value is more suggestive
than informative. Frobenius is independent
and bold to a degree. His fellow-workers do not
assent to many of his most cherished dogmas,
and much of his most brilliant work is viewed
with serious misgiving or open hostility by
them. What he writes is always interesting,
often original, and usually deserves considera-
tion. The alternative title of the book before
us states it to be "a popular account of the
lives, customs, and thoughts of the primitive
races." The book consists of thirty-two chap-
• The Childhood of Man. By Leo Frobenius. Phila-
delphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.
ters, essays really, upon practices of savage and
barbarous life. Some of the subjects presented
are discussed in a single chapter; for the elucida-
tion of others, several chapters each are needed.
This unevenness of importance in the topics
treated is a defect in the book. There is no
serious development of all the phases of the
life of lower cultures, but rather the stringing
together of a series of disconnected essays.
Such topics as tattooing, drums, drum-language,
skull-worship and head-hunting, ancestor wor-
ship and fetichism, secret societies and masks,
the path of the sun, early history of war and
warlike peoples, are specialties of the author,
and their presentation is at once most informa-
tive, most suggestive, and most dangerous.
The greater part of Frobenius's material is
drawn from Africa and Melanesia; some is
from Polynesia, some from America. His best
material and his real value in discussion is in
the African and Melanesian field. He is at his
worst in discussing American themes. Thus,
the chapter upon picture-writing and decoration
is a poor rehash of two well-known and easily
accessible Bureau of American Ethnology
papers. Were there an object in the chapter,
or were the material well used or the matter
carefully digested, we should not complain.
One can but be surprised at Frobenius's use of
the term "primitive." Surely the bulk of the
populations upon which he draws most heavily
for material are far from primitive. The book
is illustrated with more than four hundred cuts,
mostly of artefacts.
Dr. A. H. Keane has edited and translated
the work. His contributions to ethnology and
ethnography are so many and serious that criti-
cism seems ungracious. It appears to us, how-
ever, that he has made an unwarranted and
undesirable addition to Frobenius's book. The
author himself would have improved the work
by omitting all the American Indian material;
he is not well acquainted with our field, either
as a museum worker or field investigator. Dr.
Keane further weakens the book by introducing
eight full-page plates reproduced from "exces-
sively rare water-colours belonging to the British
Museum." They are over three hundred years
old, "being taken directly from the volume of
admirable drawings in water-colours executed
by John White, one of the pioneer settlers in
Virginia, to which he made five voyages and of
which he was, for a short time, made Governor
by Sir Walter Raleigh. . . ." The pictures are
interesting enough in themselves, but they have
nothing whatever to do with this book; they do


72
[August 1,
THE DIAL
not fit the plan, or the style, or the argument.
Nor does the information accompanying them as
legends help us much. The pictures have, per-
haps, sufficient interest to warrant their inde-
pendent publication with descriptive and explan-
atory text, historical citations, references, and
the like; but here they are thrown away. It
is a pity that Dr. Keane has not given them to
us in the way indicated, rather than in this
work. Frederick Starr.
Pious Meditations from the
Quarter-Deck .*
Eeligious literature, reflective and devotional,
hardly stands any longer at the bar of general
criticism. Its standards are too narrow, its
purposes too restricted. It commends itself, if
at all, to a circle which radiates from the same
centres of belief. Those belonging to another
spiritual habitat easily fall into indifference
or repulsion. "The Harvest Within: Being
Thoughts on the Life of a Christian " is a work
of devout and disjointed meditations, springing
from a narrow and inflexible creed. It must
be chiefly of interest to those who share its
convictions.
One is somewhat surprised to find Saul
among the prophets — to find Captain Mahan,
who deals with naval affairs so lengthily, inter-
estedly, and jauntily, also one of those who
hold to and unfold religious impressions in a
manner consonant with the ministry. Yet, as
a matter of fact, such a union is not strange.
John Newton found the deck of a slaver a not
unfavorable place for devout reflections. Our
religious life, like our ships, may be built with
compartments. We hope in extremity to be
saved by opinions carefully divided from our
daily activities. The chief feature of our faith
seems at times to be the quickness and decision
with which we can shut it up within itself.
Naval thought, naval forecast, and a national
life to be built up by naval skill, may not be
inharmonious with a spiritual world chiefly
permeated with the sense of power. Napoleon
looked at military preparation as the assurance
of safety in the circumstances by which he was
surrounded. He filled the world with violence,
and then regarded violence as giving the clue of
action. The pious thoughts of Captain Mahan
stand, in his own mind, in no collision with the
naval policy of a nation. Devout faith main-
*The Harvest Within. ByA.T.Mahan, D.C.L., LL.D.
Boston: Little, Brown, & Co.
tains its footing with the ready exercise of force.
It is a mistake to suppose that religious beliefs
and social beliefs at war with each other cannot
be entertained in the same minds. They may
be so separated and so united that they make
good deficiencies and give plausible terms of con-
duct. The incongruity of incongruous things
may be lost to the intellect and yet be present
in character.
The progress which religious thought has
made, and is still making, lies chiefly in find-
ing the medium of communication and interpre-
tation between us and the spiritual world more
continuous, more empirical; a bridge on which
the feet may continually pass and repass though
its two abutments are wide apart. The method
in religious inquiry has not been unlike that
in the early research into the formation of the
world. A cataclysm was always close at hand
ready to explain any change. Constructive forces
were overlooked or underrated. The feeling did
not prevail that these forces gave rise to every
apparent cataclyism, and that each cataclysm
returned at once to these usual activities.
Religious beliefs have propagated each other,
and no need has been felt of a constant reference
to some familiar experience open to us all. The
world, physical and spiritual, lies between us and
God, the most undeniable and explanatory proof
of his being and government; the nearest, plain-
est, and most constant of his activities. This
perpetual presence we have dealt with carelessly,
as if we had some other and better terms of
apprehending him.
The world, as spiritual as it is physical, spir-
itual always and everywhere in formation and
development, instead of being regarded as a con-
stant revelation, has been looked on as an island
on which men have been marooned, to make
what gains they can of it. The world, the flesh,
and the devil have been alike hostile to redemp-
tion, and the remedy against them has partaken
of the nature of extermination. The divine work
has been but partially understood, and we have
striven to partake of it without being in har-
mony with it. A partial revelation has received
a harsh rendering, and by means of it we have
been brought into conflict with the habitual rev-
elation which envelopes us with spiritual incen-
tives. An historic Bible, Hebrew Psalmist and
Prophet, one phase of growth and disclosure,
have been employed to limit and arrest the
progress to which they were designed to con-
tribute. They are what they are by appealing
to the human mind, and working with it in its
own channels. We are thought to have rational


1909.]
78
THE DIAL
powers sufficient to discover the authority of
truth, but not sufficient to understand and grow
by the truth itself.
This is seen in the distrust, extending even to
conflict, which grows up between morality and
religion. Morality stands for the knowledge
which, by insight and experience, we come to
attain of the relations in conduct which we bear
to our fellowmen; the germs by whose develop-
ment we are made ready for the Kingdom of
Heaven. Religion often establishes itself on
some narrow dogma, as that of justice, and so
renders but little heed to the patience, repent-
ance, and forgiveness finding way in the social
world. There is a substitution in thought of
God's righteousness and God's gifts for our
righteousness and gifts; as if we might have an
experience of God's excellence and favor aside
from our own attainment. He that truly mag-
nifies human power, equally magnifies divine
power of which it is the highest expression. Our
author thinks that what we call " human hero-
ism comes to us because we reject the power that
God supplies." When the human mind acts
successfully, when it interprets correctly the
divine plan and concurs with the divine method,
it is most conspicuously religious. It is a strange
antagonism which is established between divine
wisdom and human wisdom, divine goodness
and human goodness. "In nothing," says our
author, "was more conspicuous the downward
tendency of a recent falling from faith than
when the man said of the Sermon on the Mount,
'These things I accept, not because Christ said
them, but because they commend themselves to
my conscience, to my own moral sense.' It
would be difficult to phrase more pathetically
the distinction between human righteousness
and God's righteousness." When the two cease
to be identical, cease to illustrate and sustain
each other, the spiritual world will drop into a
confusion to which there can be no redemption.
There is a religion in which salvation seems to
consist in saving unbroken its own intellectual
connections, and hardly at all in bringing to the
world an harmonious extension of every just
impulse, every kindly feeling. We do not say
of this faith that it does no good, or of "The
Harvest Within" that a considerable share of
it is tares which the reapers, in the final gather-
ing, will be charged to separate from wheat, for
this is the common lot of all human thought;
but we do say that if the tares and wheat are
to grow together it would be wiser to sow the
purest seed we have. The winnowing process
of the world takes place in the world itself: the
winds scattering the light and vagrant material
and letting the heavy kernels fall to the ground.
We are content to wait for these living agencies
to separate, in the future as in the past, the good
and the evil which men are still so freely con-
founding. John Bascom.
Briefs on New Books.
The city of the
Leaning Tower.
A valuable addition to the Dent-
Macmillan series of volumes on
"Mediaeval Towns " is one which tells
"The Story of Pisa." Few travellers in Italy give to
Pisa the time that it really deserves. Either they
stop over one train en route from Genoa to Rome,
or they take a single day's excursion to it from
Florence. In either case, there is a tradition that
the Leaning Tower and the buildings of its group
are "all that is worth seeing." Few, perhaps,
realize that Pisa is one of the most ancient cities of
Italy, was famous when Rome was but a hamlet, and
that it once treated on terms of equality with Chris-
tian Emperors in Germany and in Constantinople,
with Moslem Soldans in Bagdad and in Alexandria.
To deal with this long and varied history — Pre-
Roman, Roman, Lombard, Mediaeval, Florentine,
and Italian — in brief space is not easy, but it has
been done successfully by Mrs. Janet Ross in the
opening hundred pages of this volume. The parts
which the modern traveller will perhaps value most,
however, are the three hundred pages that follow,
containing the description of the city with drawings
by Miss Nelly Erichsen. Besides interesting chapters
about the most conspicuous "sights," the traveller
will find a great deal usually ignored by the guide-
books, especially the history of its palaces and the
people who have occupied them from time to time.
"No lovelier street can be seen in the whole world,"
wrote a traveller, in the year 1425, of the Lung'Arno;
and although only two or three of the palaces seen
by hiin have survived, his description is almost, if
not quite, true to-day. For although less picturesque
in its buildings than the Lung' Arno of Florence, it
surpasses it in beauty of line. The Arno itself is a
statelier stream here than at Florence; broad and
full, it has gathered the waters of many affluents
and rushes swiftly through the city as if eager to
reach the sea. Congenial to poets, Pisa has always
proved. Shelley said, "Our roots never struck so
deeply as at Pisa"; here Robert and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning spent the first winter of their
married life, and here she gained courage to offer
him her "Sonnets from the Portuguese"; here
Giacomo Leopardi found renewed health and spirits,
and wrote: "In April, after two years, I made
verses again, real verses as in the old days, and with
the heart of long ago." Whoever goes to Pisa with
this book in his pocket will be sure to come under
the spell, and will wish to remain weeks instead of
hours.


74
[August 1,
THE
DIAL
Our debt to Prof essor John B. Smith, author of
our insect "Our Insect Friends and Enemies"
neighbors. (Lippincott), has brought his sub-
ject home to us in a way that admirably combines
the scientific and the practical. The housekeeper who
wishes to know more about the "hexapod" that is
troubling her than merely its name, the farmer who
wishes to know what insects are helpful and what
harmful, and the casual person in search of general
information, will all find here what is wanted.
Having carefully marked off the insect from other
animals by defining it as "a ringed animal with
six jointed legs, breathing by means of air tubes or
tracheae," the author goes on to treat of it in its
relation to plants, to other insects — having regard
to that balance of survival so important to man but
so little understood by him — to other animals, to
man, and especially to the farmer. A final chapter
is given to the "War on Insects," and is full of the
kind of wisdom that can be assimilated and applied.
There is a colored plate of the commonest insects as
a frontispiece, and the illustrations from microscopic
slides, much enlarged, are numerous and plainly
marked. One might gather from these illustrations
that all insects, with their goggly eyes, their bristly
legs and horn-like antennae, would be uncomfort-
able and dangerous neighbors; but Professor Smith
assures us that on the whole they probably do more
good than harm. He says, for instance, that "were
all insect scavengers removed at one time and all
dead animal and vegetable material left to other
decays, the foulness and noxious odors that would
be thus let loose are beyond all description." As
an example of their usefulness in fertilizing plants,
he gives the history of fig-growing in Southern Cal-
ifornia, and shows how "a new industry, absolutely
depending upon a minute hymenopterous insect, was
finally established on a firm and scientific basis."
Of the family of insects, he says in his preface:
"Their presence or absence may make all the dif-
ference between sickness and health, irritation and
comfort, poverty or wealth, or, on the other hand,
wealth and poverty." The service which this book
renders in giving us accurate and easily available
knowledge on this little-understood subject is ines-
timable.
It may seem a curious thing that a
scholar and college professor like Mr.
Harry Thurston Peck should be so
prone to leave his academic labors in Latin to exhibit
himself to the reading public in the guise of a student
of anything else. His latest contribution to the book-
sellers is "Studies in Several Literatures" (Dodd,
Mead & Co.). The "studies"are chiefly from
English, American, and French literature, and being
lightly and plausibly set forth they may serve to
beguile an otherwise idle hour at a summer resort.
If, however, we desire to estimate them more seri-
ously, it will be enough to read the essay on Emerson.
Emerson and Longfellow, Professor Peck thinks, are
the greatest American authors, or at least the two
Rummages
in several
literatures.
who are surest of surviving; and of the two, he
thinks Emerson the greater, because while Long-
fellow has "beauty and fitness of form" Emerson
has "intellectual quality." We may suppose of the
latter, then, that he is worth serious effort. But if
we look to see what Professor Peck has to say on
Emerson's intellectuality, we find only that Emerson
has no system of philosophy, that he is a fountain of
isolated thought, that he was a champion of intel-
lectual freedom, that he gave supreme devotion to
the doctrine of an intense individualism, and that he
teaches in aphorisms. Now as these are matters that
everyone is familiar with who has read a text-book
of literature, we may ask how a man could proceed
to a study of Emerson knowing less, and if he gained
no more what could be the nature of his study? If
we may judge from these "studies," Professor Peck
is not a student in the ordinary sense: he is one
who picks up commonplaces about people and things,
and expresses them in a smart and chirpy style which
furnishes his readers a moderate degree of entertain-
ment. But the knack of using a breezy style for
giving distinction to the commonplace, of saying dis-
putable things in such a cock-sure way, is one that
may be overworked; and the reader comes to feel that
Professor Peck does push this dependence pretty far.
A guide to Dr- Charles F. Johnson's "Shake-
Shakespearian speare and his Critics" (Houghton)
criticism. jg a most, useful book — a veritable
literary Baedeker. It attempts to outline the entire
field of Shakespearean criticism, both textual and
literary, — British, American, and foreign. No
previous work has tried to cover this wide field.
The judgments of Professor Johnson upon the vari-
ous critics are well considered. His own incidental
comments upon the many questions that arise are
penetrating and valuable, and are choicely expressed.
The book is evidently the ripe fruit of many years
of study and reflection. It seems strange, however,
that although the work gives much space to Amer-
icans the name of Henry N. Hudson is not men-
tioned. In accuracy, and in some of the details of
book-making, the work is faulty. Many titles are
incorrect or inadequate; e.g.," the Stationer's Book,"
"the New Shakespearean Society." That an emenda-
tion of Rowe (p. 88) and a reading of a First Quarto
(p. 90) should be attributed to Pope, is perhaps
pardonable. Graver mistakes are: the statement
that " Lear is carried from Leicester to Dover"; the
omission of " Love's Labour's Won" from Meres's
list of Shakespeare's plays (1598); and the giving
of the name William Kyd to the supposed author of
the lost play of " Hamlet." On page 52 a quotation
from Kipling is dreadfully mangled. A chief defect
in the book is that the paragraphs cited from the
critics and the many passages quoted from Shake-
speare himself are not located. The latter are often
cited because containing typical emendations. Since
the information given by Professor Johnson in these
cases is necessarily scanty, and is not always entirely


1909.]
75
THE DIAL
accurate, the failure to give exact references is unfor-
tunate. In spite of its defects, the book is cordially
commended as a helpful guide to the more important
literature concerning Shakespeare.
niumincMno To deliver the Lane Lectures for
chapters on old 1908, Harvard University was for-
age* Historian. tunate en0Ugh to secure Dr. J. B.
Bury, Regius Professor of History in the University
of Cambridge. The lecturer chose as his general
theme " The Ancient Greek Historians"; and the
addresses are now published in an interesting vol-
ume (Macmillan). Long ago Professor Bury estab-
lished a reputation for penetrating criticism and
genuine historical acumen, as well as for felicity of
presentation; and all these qualities are manifest in
the present work. His pen passes illuminatingly
from "The Rise of Greek History" to the later
historians and "The Influence of Greek on Roman
Historiography." The least satisfactory pages are
those dealing with Roman writers; and the lectures
as printed would have been little poorer if these had
been omitted. The most interesting chapters are
probably the two on Thucydides, where Professor
Bury is at his best The index is adequate, and the
bibliography nearly so, although the latter might have
been enlarged without including negligible studies.
The volume is appropriately dedicated to Mr. Gar-
diner M. Lane, "who founded the lectureship some
years ago in the interests of humanistic study."
Those of us who have followed Professor Bury's
writings, and have also happened to hear him speak,
must envy his auditors at Harvard as we turn these
pages. The next best thing for those who are inter-
ested in the subject will be to read the book.
Mr. Thomas Cooper De Leon, prolific
ZTZTso^H. »uth°r ■»* playwright, well known
for his "Confederate Memories," his
"Four Years in Rebel Capitals," and his "Life of
General Joseph Wheeler," has produced another
book of Southern souvenirs and character sketches
entitled "Belles, Beaux, and Brains of the 60's"
(Dillingham). Born in South Carolina, four years
in the Confederate service, and now a resident of
Mobile, the, author is a thorough Southerner, "dyed
in the wool," and his chatty and attractive volume
proves it unequivocally. In his very first chapter,
in a characteristic protest against Mrs. Stowe's un-
preposessing picture of the slaveholder, it is pointed
out that the brutality toward the negro detailed in
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is all committed by a Yankee
overseer. Life and society in Richmond, Washington,
and elsewhere in the lower latitudes of our broad
land, are recalled with many illustrative anecdotes
and references to historic events and famous char-
acters. The portraits scattered through the volume
are almost beyond counting, and help to vitalize
these pages from a vanished past The book will
interest especially those older readers of Southern
antecedents who are fond of recalling good old times
"before the war."
Leave, from "Haremlik " (Houghton) is the work
the life of a of Demetra Vaka, now Mrs. Kenneth
TurkUh ladv. Brown, a native of Constantinople
and for a long time a resident in Turkey. We are
told that the book is not fiction, although the Fore-
word troubles the reader somewhat by confessing
that "there has been some rearranging of facts."
Mrs. Brown visited Constantinople again after six
years in this country, and found her girl friends pro-
vided — for the most part comfortably and happily
provided — with a fraction of a husband apiece.
She claims to furnish an impartial account of the
working of a system which, like other systems, is
compounded of good and evil; but her own conclu-
sion, both as to the merits of what she saw and the
manner in which nations and individuals should be
allowed to find their way to the light i* evidently
expressed in her word to the Turkish "suffragettes ":
"Since you do not like your system, — although it
seems to me admirable on the whole, — it is only
right that you should be allowed to live your lives
as you want to. Only, you must go about it in a
sensible way, and take into consideration the others
who are involved in it" Whatever may be the
book's value as documentary evidence for the sociol-
ogist, — and it is probably not impersonal enough or
general enough to give it a great deal of value in
that direction, — it is stirringly written, and two or
three little incidents of childhood companionships, in
particular, are told almost as prettily as anything of
the kind in literature.
From the industrious pen of the Rev.
XouZXL. P- H. Ditchfield there has appeared
a good-sized volume of clerical anec-
dotes and legend and history, under the attractive
title, " The Old-time Parson" (E. P. Dutton & Co.).
The same author issued not long ago a well-received
work on "The Parish Clerk," and now deems it
"only fair that the occupant of the higher tier of the
'three-decker' should share his honour." A friend
of the writer placed at his disposal "a manuscript
collection of clerical stories " which he had been get-
ting together for many years. Consequently there
is no lack of illustrative anecdote in the book; and as
clerical wit is proverbially of good quality, the volume
yields abundant entertainment The Saxon parson
and the mediaeval parson have each a chapter, neces-
sarily somewhat short, to themselves. Chaucer's
"poor parson of a town" is of course presented in
the poet's own descriptive verse, and "Piers Plow-
man" is made to furnish a pertinent passage. But
the chapter on "The Parson in Literature" might
easily have been extended to include more of the
familiar pulpit-founders of fiction. Charlotte Bronte,
for example, has pictured the country curate with
a pitiless fidelity that should not be passed over.
Among the witty parsons, Dr. South and Bishop Wil-
berforce figure conspicuously, and Robert Stephen
Hawker fails not to appear among the eccentric
parsons. Numerous portraits and other illustrations
contribute their share of interest to the volume.


76
[August 1,
THE
DIAL
Transformation. From the facts of paleontology comes
in the world of the evidence which in the last analysis
animal life. most definitely and cogently attests
that in the history of the living things which people
the earth there has been an organic evolution or
transformation. A book which marshals the data
of paleontology and shows their bearing on the prob-
lems of evolution is particularly timely in the year
when all over the world men are doing honor to
the memory of Darwin. Such a book is M. Charles
Depe"ret's "Transformation of the Animal World,"
the latest addition to the "International Scientific
Series" (Appleton). In these days when the dominant
trend in the investigation of evolution problems is to
apply the experimental method, it is refreshing to be
brought back once in a while to the literally as well
as metaphorically solid evolutionary record afforded
by the fossils. Broadly speaking, the aim of the
present book may be said to be to show, on the
basis of the paleontological data now in hand,
the phyletic history of the larger groups of animals
existing to-day. Doing this furnishes the occasion
for discussing the probable methods through which
the observed transformation of animals may be held
to have occurred, and also for outlining briefly the
history of opinion on these points. Occasionally the
translator (F. Legge) slips up on a technical detail,
but in general the style is accurate and pleasing.
It was high time that someone wrote
tM^uZme? an M<™ b°°k f°r Midsummer,
and the only defect in Mr. Winthrop
Packard's "Wild Pastures" (Small, Maynard & Co.)
is that the title does not indicate the scope and
character of the work. Somewhere in his Eastern
Massachusetts pasture Mr. Packard has discovered
a spring of words that express, as nearly as it would
seem that words can express, the magic of the
"Arabian days " of June, July, and August. Here
where the "cosmos of the wild has wiped out that
curious chaos which we call civilization " he waylays
the dawn of June mornings and "stalks " the wild
grape whose fragrance makes him "dream of pipes
of Pan playing in the morning of the world, while
all the wonder creatures of the old Greek myths
dance in rhythm and sing in soft undertones, and
the riot of young life bubbles within them." Beside
the pasture brook in the hot summer days he gets
glimpses of the life of the rock-bass and horn-pout,
and in the moonlight nights he watches the witch
faces on the hazel-bushes "detach themselves from
the limbs, put on their red caps and sail off across
the great yellow disk " of the full moon. He watches
the bluebirds and tanagers with as much interest in
their moulting as he has taken in their nesting, and
is acquainted with the personnel and separate instru-
ments of the frog-pond orchestra. Through the long
summer drought he sees how there is "in all the
pasture people a certain puritanical sternness of de-
meanor, a set holding-fast to the narrowing good of
life, a tightening of the muscles that are weary with
a long strain but may not for the good of the soul
loose their firm grip," until the first Fall rain releases
them from their suffering. The book is satisfactory
for not attempting too much, and accomplishing
what it attempts delicately and well. A few draw-
ings by Mr. Copeland help the reader to visualize
the text.
BRIEFER MENTION.
"A Pocket Lexicon and Concordance to the Temple
Shakespeare " (Macmillan) supplements that admirable
edition in a very useful way, besides being independently
valuable as an aid to the Shakespearian student. It gives
us a great deal of matter compressed within the limits of
a volume that is in the strictest sense pocketable.
"The Statesman's Year Book" for 1909, edited by
Messrs. J. Scott Keltie and I. P. A. Renwick, is pub-
lished by the Macmillan Co. This is the forty-sixth
annual issue of this invaluable book of reference. A
few economies of space have been effected, and there
are matters of special interest concerning the Belgian
annexation of the Congo, the Constitution of Turkey,
and new political conditions in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Sweden,
Persia, and China. An important addition is found in
the section devoted to the Hague Tribunal.
"Some Hidden Sources of Fiction," by Mr. Benjamin
Matthias Xead, is a small volume printed for private
circulation by Messrs. George W. Jacobs & Co. It
turns out to be, after a few introductory paragraphs, a
tracing of the indebtedness of Sir Gilbert Parker, in
his, f Seats of the Mighty," to the "Memoirs of Major
Robert Stabo, of the Virginia Regiment," published in
Pittsburg in 1854. A clear case of borrowing is made
out, and it would seem that the novelist might appro-
priately have acknowledged the source of so many of
the incidents of his book.
Volume II. of "Islandica," edited by Mr. George
William Harris, and published by the Cornell University
Library, consists of a bibliography of "The Northmen
in America," prepared, mainly upon the basis of the
Fiske collection of Icelandic literature, by Mr. Halldor
Hermannsson. Many of the titles are annotated, and
the work is a valuable guide to the literature of the sub-
ject. Much fantastic rubbish is found in this catalogue,
which admits vain speculations about Norumbega and
the old English mill at Newport to the company of
serious scientific discussions; but it is all very properly
grist for the bibliographer, even if it illustrates nothing
more than "a prodigious play of the imagination, un-
restrained by auy knowledge of the subject."
Notes.
Dr. William Edgar Geil, who has just returned from
his latest journey of exploration, is said to be the first
man to have traversed the whole length (over 1700
miles) of China's stupendous fortifications. The com-
plete journey is described in his forthcoming book,
"The Great Wall of China," announced by the Sturgis
& Walton Co. ,
F. Marion Crawford's last novel " The New Gover-
ness," is described as a story of English country life,
and the heroine is a charming girl who masquerades as
an ugly, deformed, and shy school-room dragon. It is
stated that Mr. Crawford left also the MS. of another


1909.]
77
THE DIAL
novel, as well as that of a " History of the Papacy in
the Nineteenth Century." The first volume of a three-
volume " History of Rome in the Middle Ages," in which
he had collaborated with Professor Tomassetti, is now
in type.
Simultaneous with the news of the arrival of Lieu-
tenant Ernest H. Shackleton in London came the
announcement that his book, giving a full account of
his eventful Antarctic expedition of 1907-9, would be
published in November by J. B. Lippincott Company. It
will be issued in two crown quarto volumes, and illus-
strated with color plates and reproductions from photo-
graphs taken by the author.
As a forthcoming instalment in their " Shakespeare
Library," Messrs. Duffield & Co. will publish early in
the Fall "The Shakespeare Allusion Book," in two
octavo volumes. The work will contain all known
references, or allusions, to Shakespeare and his plays
before the close of the seventeenth century. For the
first time these "allusions," originally collected by Dr.
Ingleby, Miss L. Toulmin Smith, and Dr. Furnivall, will
be arranged in chronological order and supplemented
with explanatory notes.
Professor Frederick Starr, the anthropologist and
lecturer at the University of Chicago, much of whose
time is spent in travel and researches in foreign lands,
will leave early in September for another extended trip
to Japan, where, with the aid of native assistants, he
will undertake on a large scale the task of investigating
and collecting the valuable anthropological, ethnograph-
ical, and archaeological material contained in Japanese
books — a mass of important matter almost unknown
and inaccessible to the outside world. An expert pho-
tographer will be a member of the party, with whose
aid Professor Starr expects to enlarge our knowledge
of present-day Japan by making some complete photo-
graphic records of its scenery, life, arts and industries,
architecture, etc.
One of the most important and interesting of the
autumn books will be the "Autobiography of Henry M.
Stanley," edited by Lady Stanley, for which Houghton
Mifflin Co. have secured the American edition. A part
of Stanley's notable and adventurous career is told in
his famous book, "Through Darkest Africa"; but here
for the first time in his own words we have the com-
plete story of his life,—his youth in America, his service
and experiences in the Civil War, his return to England,
his early dreams and ambitions, with the narrative of
their complete fulfillment. We also have for the first
time told in his Autobiography and the supplementary
narrative, which is made up from his letters, the inner
history of many important events and episodes which
have not hitherto been made public.
Topics in Leading Periodicals.
Augutt, 190U,
Ad Astra. Clifford Howard. Lippincott.
Alaska. Ten Years of Progress in. W.E.Clark. World"! Work.
Astronomy, Future of. Edward C. Pickering. Popular Science.
Autocrat, The, and his Fellow-Boarders. 8. M. Crothers. Atlantic.
Bacon, Delia, and After. John Walcott. Putnam.
Bacteria. Indispensible. William Hanna Thomson. Everybody'!.
Bam Doors. Walter Prichard Eaton. Scribner.
Big Apples, The Land of. H. G. Durand. World't Work.
Biologist'sStandpoint, Life front the. W.E. Bitter. Pop.Science.
Bird Life, Great Tidal Waves of. D. Lange. Atlantic.
Black Forest, A Pathway in the. F. van Buren, Jr. Scribner.
Bohemia, The Vanished. Arthur Bartlett Maurice. Bookman.
Building Construction, New Tests. G.E.Mitchell. Rev.of Reve.
California, Re-Discovery of. E. French. World't Work.
Calvin, John: Lawyer. Henry C. Minton. North A meriean.
Caravans. Our Coastwise. W. J. Aylward. Harper.
China, Along the Great Wall of. W. E. Geil. Harper.
Chinese Children at Play. Isaac T. Headland. Everybody's.
Classical Education in America. Homer Edmiston. Atlantic.
Cleveland, Grover. Richard Watson Gilder. Century.
Connaught. The Duke of. W. B. Bridgman. Mumey.
Consumption, The War upon. Irving Fisher. Century.
Cornwall. West, as a Sketching Ground. N. Garstln. Int. Studio.
Corporation Tax. The New. C. A. Conant. North American.
Correspondent, The Customary. Agnes Repplier. Atlantic.
Crop, Cornering a. 1. F. Marcosson. Muntey.
Dance, Poetry of the. Brander Matthews. Muntey.
De Martens, A Reminiscence of. Harry T. Peck Bookman.
Diamonds. Some Famous. Franklin Clarkin. Everybody'!.
Dickens. Charles, in Genoa. Deshler Welch. Harper.
Divorce. William Croswell Doane. Century.
Domestic Science in Schools. Helen Gray. North American.
"Druid Stones " of Brittany. J. S. KingSley. Popular Science.
Emmanuel Movement, The. F. B. Hodgins, Putnam.
Evolution, The Revelation of. Pcrcival Lowell. Atlantic.
Feminine. The Fantastic. Mrs. Wilson Woodrow. American.
Fields, The Face of. Dallas Lore Sharp. Atlantic.
Forests. Handmade. John L. Mathews. Everybody'!.
France, The Year in. Stoddard Dewey. Atlantic.
Fraternities, High School. William Hard. Everybody'!.
Friends, The Gentle Art of Making. T. S. Masson. Lippincott.
Gambetta and Leonie Leon. Lyndon Orr. Muniey.
German Hegemony of Europe. A. R. Colqnhoun. No. American.
German Navy. The, and England. North American.
Germany's Finances, Condition of. F. A. Ogg. Rev. of Revi.
Gettysburg, A Southerner at. J. M. Dickinson, Century.
Gibbs, Josiah Willard. Fielding H. Garrison. Popular Science.
Glasgow, Ellen. Frederick Taber Cooper. Bookman.
Glasgow, Ellen, The Personal. Isaac F. Marcosson. Bookman.
Golden Rock, Fall of the. Benjamin Sharp. Atlantic.
Halley's Comet, Approach of. R. B. Larkin. North American.
Handwriting, variational Factor in. J.E.Downey. Pop. Science.
Harland, Henry, in London. Mabel Kitcat. Bookman.
Health Conscience, Our New. E. Bjorkman. World'! Work.
Hewlett, Maurice, Arrival of. G. W. Harris. Rev. of Review!.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. W. G. Ballantine. North A meriean.
India in Transition. Saint Nihal Singh. Review of Review!.
Japanese Color-Prints, Vogue of. Bannister Merwin. Muntey.
Knox: "Able Citizen." Edward G. Lowry. Putnam.
Lloyd-George and the British Budget. W. T. Stead. Rev. of Rev!.
"Loco," Checking the Ravages of. CD. Marsh. Rev.of Revi.
MacTaggart,William, R.S-A. Alexander Eddington. Int. Studio.
Mathematics, Future of. G. A. Miller. Popular Science.
Meredith, George. Annie Kimball Tuell. A tlanlic.
Merriwold Dramatists, The. Bailey Millard. Bookman.
Monkeys, Imitation in. M. E. Haggerty. Century.
Nervous System, Origin of. G. H. Parker. Popular Science.
Newcomb,Simon: Astronomer. A.E.Bostwick. Rev. of Revi.
New York, The Lighting of. A. D. Howden Smith. Putnam.
Nominations, Initiative and Primary. H.M.Campbell. No. A mer.
Onas. Unknown Land of the. Charles W. Furlong. Harper.
Optimist, The Creed of an. Edward S. Martin. Harper.
Oregon Deadlock, The. E. W. Wright. World'! Work.
Peace. Heroes and Servitors of. C. C. Buel. Century.
Plantation Garden, An Old. Hamilton Witherspoon. Century.
Pullman Car, Politics of a. Henry S. Pritchett. Atlantic.
Railroads, Battle of the. 0. M. Keys. World'! Work.
Record-Breaking. Minna Thomas Antrim. Lippincott.
Reisinger, Hugo, Collection of. Christian Brinton. Int. Studio.
Rouen, Notre Dame of. Elizabeth R. Pennell. Century.
Saint-Gaud em the Master. Homer Saint-Gaudens. Century.
Schools—TheMainsprlngofDemocracy. W.A.White. American.
"Secession," Was it Taught at West Point? E.8. Dudley. Century.
Shakespeare and Famous Contemporaries. W. J. Rice. Muntey.
Show, The Moving-Picture. W. A. Johnston. Muntey.
Sidetractability—II. George Lincoln Walton. Lippincott.
Socialism, The Church and. Percy 8. Grant. North American.
South American Dictators. Passing of. J.R. Spears. Muntey.
Stanford, Jane Lathrop. David Starr Jordan. Popular Science.
Story Telling, Old and New. Mary Denson Pretlow. Bookman.
Student Activities. Theodore Stanton. North A meriean.
Sultan. The New, and the Young Turks. T. Schwarz. Muntey.
Teachers, Stories of Real. W. H. Maxwell. World't Work.
Tennyson. H. W. Boynton. Putnam.
Tennyson, The Human Side of. H. T. Peck. Bookman.
Thomas, Augustus. Van Wyok Brooks. World'! Work.
Uncompahgre Valley, Watering the. A. Chapman. Rev.of Revi.
Virginia Mountain Village. A. E. S. Nadal. Scribjier.
Welles, Gideon, Diary of— VII. Atlantic.
Wilderness, Battle of the — III. Morris Schaff. Atlantic.
Woman Suffrage. Impediments to. Mrs. G.E.Jones. No.Amer.
Women,— Are They Human? Ellis O. Jones. Lippincott.


78
[August 1,
THE DIAL
IjISt of New Books.
[The following List, containing 44 titles, includes books
received by The Dial since its last issue.]
BIOGRAPHY.
Life of Friedrich List, and Selections from his Writings.
By Marsraret E. Hirst; with introduction by F. W. Hirst.
8vo, pp. 331. Charles Scribner's Sons. |2. net.
HISTORY.
The Governors' Letter-Books. 1818-34. Edited by Evarts
Bontell Greene and Clarence Walworth Alvord. With por-
traits, large 8vo. pp. 317. Springfield: Illinois State Historical
Library.
Columbia University Studies. New vols.: The Conflict
over Judicial Powers in the United States to 1870, by Charles
Grove Haines, Ph.D.; Social Reform and the Reformation,
by Jacob Salwyn Schapiro, Ph.D.; Transportation and In-
dustrial Development in the Middle West, by William F.
Gephart, Ph.D.; Responsibility for Crime, by Philip Par-
sons, Ph.D.; A Study of the Population of Manhattanvi]le,
by Howard Brown Woo Is ton, Ph.D.; An Introduction to
the Sources relating- to the Germanic Invasions, by Carlton
Huntley Hayes. Ph.D. Each large 8vo, uncut. Longmans,
Green A Co. Paper.
GENERAL LITERATURE.
A Literary History of Borne, from the Origins to the Close
of the Golden Age. By J. Wight Duff, M.A. With photo-
gravure frontispiece, large 8vo, gilt top, pp. 897. "Library
of Literary History." Charles Scribner's Sons. $4. net.
The Great English Letter-Writers. Edited by William J.
Dawson and Coningsby W. Dawson. In 2 vols., 12mo.
"Reader's Library." Harper & Brothers. 12. net.
Books by John Jay Chapman. Comprising: Emerson, and
Other Essays; Practical Agitation; Causes and Conse-
quences. New and revised editions; 12mo, gilt tops. Moffat,
Yard & Co. Per vol., 11.25.
BOOKS OF VERSE.
The Pilgrimage. By Tone Noguchi. In 2 vols., with
frontispiece in color, 12mo. Yamakura, Japan: The Valley
Press.
Song for the Tercentenary of Lake Champlain. By Clinton
Scollard. 12mo, uncut, pp. 32. Clinton, N.Y.: G. W.
Browning. Paper.
Ave atque Vale, and Sonnets. By Thomas S. Jones, Jr.
Each ltmo, uncut. Clinton. N.Y.: G. W. Browning. Paper.
FICTION.
A Certain Rich Man. By William Allen White. 12mo,
pp. 434. Macmillan Co. $1.50.
The Infamous John Friend. By Mrs. R. S. Garnett. 12mo,
pp. 846. Henry Holt & Co. $1.50.
Jason: A Romance. By Justus Miles Forman. Illus., 12mo,
pp. 867. Harper & Brothers. (1.60.
The Goose Girl. By Harold MacGrath. Illus., 12mo. pp. 388.
Bobbs-MerrlU Co. $1.60.
A Quarter to Four; or. The Secret of Fortune Island. By
William Wallace Cook. Illus., 12mo, pp. 317. G. W.
Dillingham Co. $1.60.
There Bhe Blows I A Whaling Yarn. By James Cooper
Wheeler. Illus., 12mo, pp. 287. E. P. Dutton A Co. $1.20 net.
Redcloud of the Lakes. By Frederick R. Burton. Illus. in
color, etc., 12mo, pp. 374. G. W. Dillingham Co. $1.60.
When I am Rich. By Roy Mason. Illus., 12mo, pp. 343.
G. W. Dillingham Co. $1.60.
PHILOSOPHY.
The Education of the Will: A Popular Study. By T. Sharper
Knowlson. 12mo, gilt top, pp. 210. J. B. Lipplncott Co.
$1.60 net.
The Moral Economy. By Ralph Barton Perry. 12mo, gilt
top, pp. 267. Charles Scribner's Sons. $1.25 net.
TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION.
Mexico: Its Ancient and Modem Civilization, History, and
Political Conditions, Topography and Natural Resources,
Industries, and General Development. By C. Reginald
Knock. F.R.G.S. Illus., large 8vo. gilt top, uncut, pp. 360.
"South American Series." Charles Scribner's Sons. $3. net.
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, with Excursions to Ice-
land and Spitsbergen: Handbook for Travellers. By Karl
Baedeker. New edition, revised and augmented; with
maps and plans, 16mo, pp. 500. Charles Scribner's Sons.
$2.40 net.
BOOKS FOB THE YOUNG.
The Road to Oz. By L. Frank Baum. Illus., 4to, pp. 261.
Reilly & Britton Co. $1.26.
Kldbook Series. Comprising: Daddy Dime's Bank Book;
Timothy Trim's Clock Book; The Windmill, by Longfellow:
The House that Jack Built. Each illus. in color. Detroit:
Curtis Advertising Co.
BOOKS FOB SCHOOL AND COLLEGE.
Light and Sound: A Text-Book for Colleges and Technical
Schools. By Wm. S. Franklin and Barry MacNutt. Illus..
large 8vo, pp. 344. Macmillan Co. $1.60 net.
A Text-Book of Fsyohology. By Edward Bradford Tit-
chener. Parti., illus., 12mo, pp.811. Macmillan Co. $1.30 net.
The Forms of Discourse. With an Introductory Chapter on
Style. By William B. Cairns, Ph.D. Revised edition; 12mo,
pp.358. (Jinn & Co. $1.16 net.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Tuberoolosia: A Preventable and Curable Disease. By S.
Adolphus Knopf. M.D. Illus., 8vo, pp. 894. Moffat. Yard &
Co. $2. net.
The English Vegetable Garden. Written by experts.
Illus., large 8vo, uncut, pp. 361. "Country Life Library."
Charles Scribner's Sons. $3. net.
Christianity: Its Nature and Its Truth. By Arthur S. Peake.
D.D. 12mo. gilt top, pp. 800. T. Y. Crowell & Co. $1.25 net.
Die Traglsohen Komodlanten. Von George Meredith:
ubersetzt von I. L. Benecke. 8vo, uncut, pp. 280. London:
Siegle, Hill & Co. Paper.
True Detective Stories. By A. L. Drummond, former chief
of the U. S. Secret Service. Illus.. 12mo, pp. 827. G. W.
Dillingham Co. $1.50.
Tuberculosis among Certain Indian Tribes of theUnlted
States. By Ales Hrdlicka. Illus., large 8vo. pp. 98. Wash-
ington: Smithsonian Institution.
How to Identify the Stars. By Willis I. Milham. Ph.D.
12mo, pp. 60. Macmillan Co. 76 cts. net.
Theodore Roosevelt: Dynamic Geographer. By Frank
Buffing-ton Vrooman. F.R.G.S. 8vo, uncut, pp. 106. Oxford
University Press. Paper, 70 cts. net.
"The extremely satisfactory general index to
EARLY WESTERN TRAVELS
puts the reader at once into full possession, for purposes of
reference and comparison, of all the treasures of historical
information contained in the thirty-seven different works in-
cluded." — The Living Age.
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Unless otherwise ordered, subscriptions will begin with the current
number. When no direct request to discontinue at expiration of sub-
scription is received, it is assumed that a continuance of the subscription
is desired. Advertising Rath furnished on application. All com-
munications should be addressed to
THE DIAL, Fine Arts Building, Chicago.
Entered u Second-Class Hatter October 8, 1892, at the Poet Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
No. 556. AUGUST 16, 1909. Vol. XLV1I.
Contents.
PAOB
FIVE FEET OF CULTURE 83
A MAN FOR WHOM "WE HAVE A KINDNESS."
Warwick James Price 86
CASUAL COMMENT 88
Our debt to Oliver Wendell Holmes.—Guessing at
Authorship. — An interesting achievement in book
collecting. — The order of thought and the order of
speech. — A noted scientist's library. — The pro-
posal for an Edward Everett Hale memorial.—The
public library and the playground. —" The only
really native German poet." — Judicious library
advertising.
COMMUNICATION:
Shakespeare's Knowledge of the Law. W. L.
Stoddard 90
OUT OF THE JOURNALISTIC WILDERNESS.
Percy F. Bicknell 01
TAKING STOCK OF DARWINISM. Raymond
Pearl 02
AN OLD-TIME STATESMAN OF SOUTH CAR-
OLINA. David T. Thomas 94
RECENT POETRY. William Morton Payne ... 96
Davidson's Fleet Street, and Other Poems. — A. C.
Benson's Poems. — Trench's Apollo and the Sea-
man. — Hewlett's Artemision. — Northrop's In
Itinera. — Mackie's Andrea, and Other Poems.—
Pritchard's Owen Glyndwr, and Other Poems. —
Webb's World-Music, and Other Poems.—Mifflin's
Toward the Uplands. — Rice's Nirvana Days. —
Gibson's A Miracle of St. Cuthbert's, and Sonnets.—
Koopman's The Librarian of the Desert, and Other
Poems. — Mrs. Wharton's Artemis to Actxeon, and
Other Verse. — Mrs. Garrison's The Joy o' Life, and
Other Poems. — Miss Low's Confession, and Other
Verses.—Miss Birchall's Songs of St. Bartholomew.
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS 102
An old mystery newly explored. — Miscellanies of a
liberal-minded teacher and sage. — Last
of a reverent Liberalist. — Man's helps and
hindrances from animals. — Three great men of
the French Revolution. — The beginnings of our
Republic. — A French historian of gossip.
BRIEFER MENTION 104
NOTES 104
LIST OF NEW BOOKS 105
FIVE FEET OF CULTURE.
The story of the parvenu who builds a pala-
tial home, finds that a library with so many feet
of shelving is included in the specifications, and
orders it to be filled with books, has often been
imagined. It is somewhat worn, this jest of
stocking a library by linear measurement, but
it is fairly expressive of the bewildered state of
mind of a person who accepts "the library"
as one of the necessary adjuncts of the well-
appointed household, and who is desirous that
the appearance of culture shall not be lacking
in his establishment. And in fact, the man
who has been too busy in acquiring wealth to
become a reader might easily do worse than get
his bookish furniture in this way. An order like
this, placed in the hands of a library expert, or
a really intelligent bookseller (for such there
are), might have unanticipated consequences; it
might open real resources of thought to the owner,
hitherto untravelled in the world of books, or
it might prove unexpectedly helpful in shaping
the minds of the children who are growing up
in the house. Better far such a selection as this
than any the householder would be likely to
make for himself; immeasurably better than
any that would result from heeding the pleas of
the wily book-agent, with his fraudulent editions
de luxe and his subscription Rets of standard
authors. That way lies despair, not so much for
the deluded victim as for the friends who wish
him well and would gladly give him of their
counsel.
A recent instance of the reduction of literary
culture to linear terms is provided by Dr. Eliot's
widely-discussed selection of books for a five-
foot shelf. This is a matter of much human
concern; for it affects, not the plutocrat in his
palace, but the toiler in his hovel — or his flat,
to use the modern equivalent. Even the most
modest example of that ingenious device for
cellular housing will afford five feet of shelf-
room somewhere, and the half-hundred books
that fill it will be so en evidence that a good
deal depends upon what kind of books they are.
When Dr. Eliot made out his list, he probably
attempted nothing more than to indicate, from
his ripe educational experience, the sort of books


84
[August 16,
THE
DIAL
that should be kept near at hand by any person
who really wished to come in contact with the
best that had been thought and said in the world.
It was a simple and helpful suggestion, similar
to many others of its kind, made without a touch
of dogmatism or intellectual arrogance. Doubt-
less the last thing in the world that Dr. Eliot
meant to do was to sit in judgment upon the
world's literature, or to winnow the wheat from
the chaff. His was no selection of the "hun-
dred best books," but merely the naming of
a few that would be serviceable to the needs
of the average serious reader. Returning to
our metaphor, he picked up, almost at ran-
dom, a handful of the grains of wheat, know-
ing full well that many other handfuls equally
nutritive might be collected from the threshing-
floor.
We should not have thought of discussing
so trifling a matter were it not for the wide-
spread interest and extraordinary comment it
has evoked. The summer, as is well known, is
the " silly season" in journalism, and it certainly
has been improved to the utmost in the discus-
sion of Dr. Eliot's list. Some writers have
worked themselves up to a state of unwholesome
excitement over it, and have called it "amazing,"
"astonishing," "ridiculous," "preposterous,"
and such-like names. Editors and professors
and clergymen have taken its compiler to task
and belabored him in a manner that must have
excited the venerable Doctor's wondering sur-
prise. One indignant Cantabrigian truculently
wants to know by what authority the books listed
are announced for re-publication under the style
of "Harvard Classics "— as if " Harvard " were
not a name that any tradesman in a free country
might apply to a new soap, or a new breakfast
food, or a new automobile!
This disturbance in celestial souls may be
accounted for partly by the hot weather, and
partly by the same sort of feeling that makes
every man sure that he can poke an open fire
better than anybody else, or concoct a more appe-
tizing cocktail. Of course every reader knows,
deep down in his own heart, that when it comes
to making a list of the best books, he is the
only one really competent to do it. Those who
remember the discussion of Sir John Lubbock's
list, twenty-five years ago, will recall many
amusing examples of this species of self-conceit.
It is the same with anthologies; and no compiler
of a volume of selected poems ever completely
satisfied any reader but himself. Schopenhauer
tells us of a philosopher whose only weakness was
that he considered every one of his own beliefs
to belong to the store of intuitive knowledge
possessed by the entire human race. Dr. Eliot's
list claims no more than exceptional fitness to
keep the reader in line with what* is normal and
enduring in literature. Other lists, equally
sound in principle and helpful in use, might
easily be put together. It is no reflection on
Shakespeare and the Bible to find them missing
in the present case,—it simply means that some
things may be taken for granted. Nor does the
inclusion of some work in a special category —
like " The "Wealth of Nations," or " Dr. Faustus,"
or " Becket,"— mean that other works in these
categories are discriminated against. And we
can see no vital necessity for mirth or satirical
comment in the fact that attention is drawn to
such obscure writers as John Woolman and
William Penn. Those who know and cherish
these writers will understand; those who are
brought to make their acquaintance will be
grateful.
Any suggestion that tends to encourage the
reading of good books deserves praise. That
the books in Dr. Eliot's list are good books will
hardly be denied; if the present year of grace
produces any that will be reckoned, a century
hence, to be deserving of inclusion in such a list,
it will be beyond most years distinguished by that
fact. All the galvanism of advertisement and
puffery cannot keep a book alive if the vital prin-
ciple is not in it. If we prefer, to take Ruskin's
comparison, the society of stable-boys to the
society of kings, we may have it a-plenty; but
we may instead entertain royal guests if we
choose, and they await our bidding to " give us
manners, virtue, freedom, power." There is also
much to be said for Dr. Eliot's counsel concern-
ing the reading of good books. Their contents
are not readily assimilated, and every hour spent
over their pages requires several other hours
of inward meditation for its proper intellectual
fruition. We see nothing but a plain statement
of simple truth in the declaration that a few
minutes given each day to the reading of the
books named, or of others that have been
similarly tested by time, will in the course of
years provide the essentials of a liberal education.
There is no such thing as liberal education in
the abstract, and no universal prescription will
secure it; but every individual may acquire by
his own efforts the particular liberal education
which answers to his individual needs, and Dr.
Eliot's recommendation is elastic enough to cover
an infinite variety of cases.


1909.]
85
THE
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A MAN FOR WHOM « WE HA VE A
KINDNESS."
It is not only by such losses to the world of
letters as were' wrought by the recent deaths of
Swinburne and Meredith that we of to-day are
reminded how close we yet stand to that golden hun-
dred years of British literature which opened with
Burns and closed with Tennyson. Every month of
this present twelve has brought some name to put us
in mind of one or another of the great ones of that
just-closed era of splendor; and now August calls
back one who markedly was of that brilliant group
which dominated the last century's earlier days. On
the twenty-eighth of this month, a short fifty years
ago, Leigh Hunt died at Putney — where the singer
of the "Atlanta in Calydon" and "Laus Veneris"
breathed his last, only yesterday, as it seems. To
recall Hunt's life, however cursorily, is to look again
along the half-happy, half-wretched, wholly-careless
weeks and months of one who played, if a minor,
yet a considerable part in the breaking down of the
formalism which had come to rule eighteenth-century
verse. Keats, as much as any other, shattered for
all time the poetic fetters cast by Pope and his
fellows; and Keats was influenced in his work by
none more than by Leigh Hunt. Grant that Hunt's
own lines must be said to "trot smartly, rather than
fly," yet to him directly ■ is due not a little of the
freedom and lusciousness of "Endymion," — as was
recognised by the surly old "Quarterly Review"
when it first noticed that poem and called its author
merely "a neophite of the writer of the ' Story of
Rimini.'"
"To know Hunt was to hold him in reverence
and in love," wrote Lamb. "He is one of those
happy souls who are the salt of the earth," was the
tribute paid by Shelley, from whose melodious lips
fell also the briefer phrase, perhaps best descriptive
of the man, "He is constitutionally gay." "We have
a kindness for Mr. Leigh Hunt," was the more
dignified and eminently characteristic way in which
Macaulay saw fit to state a truth that is still a
truth; and Hawthorne, Emerson, even Carlyle, have
preached to the same text In brief, Hunt was such
an one as it is good for a work-a-day world to pause
and call up before its busy eyes. The part he played
in the literature of his time was quite important
enough to warrant one in using it now as an excuse
to think once more of a man of real charm; amusing
at times, pitiable at others, but first and last to be
regarded only with a warm and tolerant affection.
In every word he wrote he stands forth the exponent
of a cheery, sentimental optimism; in every line he
penned he poses the personification of some hoped-
for future when nobody will be damned or in debt, —
when everything will be but refined beer and skittles.
Born in a London suburb, October 19, 1784, he
was christened James Henry Leigh, though the first
two names were so promptly dropped as to be now
forgotten. His father was a decayed planter of
Barbadoes, who, while studying in Philadelphia,
married one of the Shewells; the son showing many
a trace of the happy-go-lucky West Indian blood,
and none at all of the methodical, thrifty little
Quakeress. The boy was nothing if not impression-
able. He himself tells the story of the deep effect
made upon him by some early memory of the word
"damn." He longed to voice the syllable and so
make it all his own; and he tells how, a full fort-
night after the thought had first lodged in his little
head, he retired to the safe solitude of the back yard,
where two or three several times he indulged himself
in the round-mouthed pleasure of the word, and then,
for weeks to come, whenever an aunt or elderly friend
would pat him on the head with praise of this or that,
he would torture himself with the secret accusation,
"They little think that I'm the boy who said damn.'"
Young Hunt followed Lamb and Coleridge at the
"Blue Coat School" (Christ's Hospital), studying
there for the eight years between 1792 and 1800,
and leaving this not attractive summary of the day's
routine:
"We rose to the call of a bell, at six in summer and seven
in winter. . . . From breakfast we proceeded to school, where
we remained till eleven, winter and rammer, and then had
an hour's play. Dinner took place at twelve. Afterward
was a little play till one, when we went again to school, and
remained till five in summer and four in winter. At six was
the supper. We used to play after it in summer till eight.
In winter we proceeded from supper to bed. . . . Our break-
fast was bread (half of a three-penny-loaf) and water, for
the beer was too bad to drink. For dinner we had the same
quantity of bread, with meat only every other day. On the
other days, we had a milk porridge, ludicrously thin, or rice-
milk, which was better. For supper, we had a like piece of
bread, with butter or cheese."
This does not seem much on which to feed a
Pegasus, yet young Hunt's was already cantering,
for, a year after his graduation (he was then only
sixteen) his father published for him a volume of his
poems. The " Lyrical Ballads," issued three years
earlier, had never "taken" so far as the reading
public was concerned, and Sir Walter's "Lay of the
Last Minstrel" was not to see types for four years
to come; "mouthy" Southey and Samuel Rogers,
the latter more banker than poet, were at the moment
dividing literary honors; and so it happened that
these very juvenile pieces of young Hunt's, imitations
of Spenser and Thomson, Collins and Gray, ran
through three editions, to an accompaniment of popu-
larity which cannot but seem strange indeed to-day.
A few years more, and the young man was con-
tributing excellent dramatic and literary criticism to
"The Traveller," a weekly owned and published by
his brother John, and soon succeeded first by " The
News" and then "The Examiner," Leigh eventu-
ally becoming editor as well as part proprietor of the
last named. At this time, too, he married Marianne
Kent. Their son Thornton, in the life of his father,
has told us that she was the "reverse of handsome"
and "wholly without accomplishments,"which might
seem a seeking after truth with all filial feeling for-
got if we did not have the testimony on the other
side of no less an one than Thackeray to tell us that


86
[August 16,
THE DIAL
Marianne had a pretty figure, fine eyes, and magni-
ficent black hair, with the further information that
"she had a strong bent for the plastic arts."
These early years were given up wholly to " The
Examiner," a daring sheet, strongly showing the
influence which the French Revolution had exerted
on English letters of the period. In 1812 it pub-
lished an article on the Prince Regent, later George
the Fourth, calling him "a fat Adonis of fifty,"
which was bad enough, but the paragraph went on
to speak of the future king as "a violator of home
ties," "a debaucher of the domestic hearth," "a
companion of demireps," with other such phrases
equally sure to demand " official" notice. The Hunts
were arrested and brought to trial for libel, and,
though defended by Lord Brougham, were sentenced
to a fine of £500 and two years imprisonment. Leigh
served his time in the Horsemonger Lane Goal, where
he promptly and surely became the fashion of "the
Opposition " of the time. The great Bentham him-
self came out to play shuttlecock; while Hazlitt and
Byron, Moore and Lamb, Shelley and Keats, called
almost daily, till the whole period, strangely enough,
stood to the prisoner as one of the happiest he had
known or was to know. His family was permitted
to be with him; he was allowed a suit of rooms
with a private garden; his parlor was re-papered
for him in a trellised design with blue sky for a ceil-
ing; his books, his busts, and his piano were installed
for his greater comfort; and, above all else, his board
and lodging was being cared for by a presumably
outraged government. For once at least Leigh Hunt
was pestered with no housekeeping cares. "The
Story of Rimini," which he wrote at this time, and
which was published soon after his release, was, not
unnaturally, the best thing he had yet done. Cer-
tainly it gave him an acknowledged stand among the
writers of the day, whilst its greatest praise is that it
so largely influenced both Keats and Shelley.
The five years following his release were devoted
in the main to his work for "The Indicator," a
weekly not dissimilar from "The Examiner" (though
seldom dabbling in politics), for which Hunt wrote
the best of his essays. They were always cheerful,
often fanciful, — " Some Thoughts on Sleep " being
a typical as well as a delightful example. But when
they touched upon literary criticism, one sees that
the author of "Stories of the Italian Poets" is not
always to be trusted, in spite of those two sound
volumes. Hunt loved literature passionately and
humbly; his best friends were books rather than
men; and yet the major part of his criticism is dis-
tinctly of a hasty and temporary sort. He could,
for instance, gush over Thomas Moore while voicing
a disgust for Landor; he conscientiously placed
Ariosto on a par with Milton, and thought Pulci the
equal of Spenser. On the other hand, he was aptly
accurate in calling the author of the "Faerie Queen"
"the most luxurious" of English poets; he saw
through Rogers and Southey, and had the foresight
to name Wordsworth as the chief poet of his age.
During this period of his life, Hunt was an
intimate at the Countess of Blessington's salon at
Gore House, where the Albert Hall now stands, till
he permitted his too-ready pen to speak of his hostess
as •• a Venus grown fat," after which, quite naturally,
her famous home no longer opened its doors to him.
Then (1821) he went out to Italy as a sort of literary
attachS to Byron, to whom he had dedicated bat
"Rimini," helping that "noble Lord" (along with
Shelley and Hazlitt) to edit his short-lived "Liberal.'"
Hazlitt soon ceased to write for the sheet; Shelley
was drowned; and Byron and Hunt quarrelled, the
latter returning to England (with Mrs. Hunt and
the many little Hunts) to write a particularly dis-
agreeable and wholly uncalled-for book.
The rest of Hunt's days were spent in or near
London. He was at Highgate for a time, with iU
memories of Coleridge; at Epsom and at Brompton,
at Kensington and at Chelsea. With Kensington
his name is inevitably and always associated through
"An Old Court Suburb," which must share with
"Imagination and Fancy " and "The Italian Poets"
the title of his best work. In Chelsea, where he
lived from 1833 to 1840, Hunt is a figure not soon
to be forgotten. The little house at No. 10, Upper
Cheyne Row, where Leigh and Marianne spent their
seven years of "tinkerdom,"—half in rapture at
the smell of the lime trees, half in terror as every
knock at the door suggested duns and bailiffs, —has
been described by their neighbor Carlyle in a para-
graph all but classic. Who cannot see the chairs in
that strange parlor halting in their mad hornpipe as
the sage enters, with the gypsy-like children playing
about in the littered room amongst last week's papers
and the morning's breakfast fragments! Who can-
not figure the host, in his tattered flowered dressing
gown, offering the caller the one sound-looking chair
of all and seating himself on a window-sill, to dis-
course, without apology, on literature and the rights
of man!" Pitiable and lovable," truly; to be used
"kindly, but with discretion."
Yet another picture of the man at this time comes
in a story of Mr. Smith, the publisher, who tells of
an early morning call which he received from the
much-disturbed Mr. Hunt. The night before, Smith
had paid him for the best of a year's work, the bank
notes totalling £1000. Now the author came to ex-
plain that these precious notes, left trustingly in the
rubbish on the parlor table, had been burned by
Marianne in the only house-cleaning in that estab-
lishment of which there is record. Could they pos-
sibly be replaced? was the anxious question; and as
it was put, the questioner gesticulated wildly with
a tiny statue of a naked Psyche, which, in spite
of his perturbation and threatened poverty, he had
bought from a street peddler on his way to the
office. Mr. Smith thought the matter might be
untangled at the Bank of England, as he had for-
tunately retained a memorandum of the numbers
of the notes; and together the two went down into
the City. There they were shown into a back room
in the solemn and unsightly home where "the old
lady of Threadneedle Street" lives, and seated


1909.]
87
THE DIAL
themselves in the silent presence of three venerable
clerks, bending over great ledgers on a green baize-
covered table. The only light in the room came
from a glazed skylight above; it was silent save for
the scratching of those three pens, — all dreadfully
different from anything to which Hunt had been
used. He stood it as long as he could, and then,
slipping quickly across to the table and laying a
heavy hand on the shoulder of the nearest clerk, he
asked, "And this is the Bank of England? And do
you mean to tell me that you sit here all day long,
writing with that nasty pen in that horrid old book,
and never see the blue sky or hear the birds?" And
then Smith captured the long-haired, wild-eyed man
who had been waving that naked goddess before the
startled eyes of the prosy employee. Does not
the whole story eloquently suggest not only Hunt
the impracticable visionary, but also that untidy,
careless Marianne, who was forever borrowing this
and that and the other from the Carlyles around the
corner? The best single stanza Hunt ever wrote,
"Jennie Kissed Me," a very masterpiece of trifling,
bears witness to the same humorously pitiful stories;
for " Jennie " was Jane Carlyle, and the chances are
at least even that she kissed the author because he
was at last bringing back some of the many articles
which his wife had borrowed.
"Jennie kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, jou thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in.
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad;
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me;
Say I'm growing old, but add —
Jenny kiss'd me!"
Hunt died on the 28th of August, 1859,'" just
exhausted." In view of Saintsbury's statement that
there are not in all of his work twenty consecutive
good pages, one may accept the dictum that he was
"a genius in spots"; if the phrase may be per-
mitted, a not inaccurate idea of his work may be
gathered from the Wall Street term that he was
"too extended." He wrote two religious books, and
attempted an historical novel, "Sir Ralph Echer";
he tried his hand at some half-dozen dramas, only
one of which, "A Legend of Florence," an attempt
in the Elizabethan manner, was acted; while the
bulk of his work, setting aside the poems, can be
best described as miscellaneous casual essays and
critical articles.
"He is a devilish good one," said Byron of Hunt,
"quaint here and there, but with the sub-stratum of
originality and with poetry about it that will stand
the test." This poetry has not stood the test —
though "Jennie Kissed Me," "The Glove and the
Lions," "Abou Ben Adhem," and the sonnet on
the Nile, are exceptions to the statement. The brief
stanzas which tell the pregnant story of the oriental
dreamer not only show Hunt's high talent for
epigram, but are real poetry; while his finest and
most famous line, "The laughing queen that caught
the world's great hands," is not only the best nine-
word description of Cleopatra, but is embodied in
fourteen lines justly held superior to the sonnets on
the same subject written in competition with it by
Keats and Shelley. Perhaps three other fragments
of his verse may be included with these as of per-
manent worth. One is the sonnet on " The Cricket
and the Grasshopper," also composed during the
Horsemonger Goal days in friendly rivalry with
Keats; the final six lines of a sonnet-sequence on
"The Man and the Fish"; and the poppy stanzas
in his " Song and Chorus of the Flowers." In the
second case, Hunt achieves what is both Grecian
and Jacobian in the lines:
"Man's life is warm, glad, sad, 'twixt love and graves,
Boundless in hope, honoured with pangs austere,
Heaven-gazing; and his angel-wings he craves:
The fish is swift, small-needing, vague yet clear,
A cold, sweet, silver life, wrapp'd in round waves,
Quicken'd with touches of transporting fear."
The stanzas in which the poppies tell their story, too
little known, are worth quoting entire.
"We are slumb'rous poppies,
Lords of Lethe downs,
Some awake and some asleep,
Sleeping in their crowns.
What perchance our dreams may know,
Let our serious beauty show.
"Central depth of purple,
Leaves more bright than rose.
Who shall tell what brightest thought
Out of darkness grows?
Who, through what funereal pain,
Souls to love and peace attain?
"Visions aye are on us,
Unto eyes of power,
Pluto's always-setting sun,
And Proserpine's bower;
There, like bees, the pale souls come
For our drink with drowsy hum.
"Taste, ye mortals, also;
Milky-hearted, we;
Taste, but with a reverent care;
Active, patient be.
Too much gladness brings to gloom
Those who on the gods presume."
Delightful at its best, Hunt's verse is trifling as
a whole; there is a "feminine quality" about it,
which, however pleasing at the moment, detracts
from lasting strength. Sentiment too often merges
into sentimentality; mere prettiness too often sup-
plants real beauty.
Hunt was a bundle of contradictions. "Widely
read he was, yet was he no scholar. One may not
actually term him a thinker, although now and again
he voiced thoughts so sweet as to warrant Allingham
in calling him an eglantine. At moments he showed
unquestionably fine taste, but quite as often was he
vulgar. His work again and again evidences that
delicately light touch which counts for so much, but
as like as not it would be employed on tedious sub-
jects. Beyond all question, he was full of poetry;
equally beyond all question, his verse was full of
faults. Invariably busy, he accomplished compara-
tively little, because he could not accustom himself
to what has well been called "the regular drudgery
of miscellaneous writing." Finally, and perhaps


88
[August 16,
THE
DIAL
as a necessary corollary to the last statement, while
he made much money he yet appears the shining
example of those men who " allow " their friends to
help them out. In 1844 he received an annuity of
$60 a month from the Shelleys; three years later
there came to him a Crown annuity of $1000 a
year; twice Charles Dickens gave benefits for him;
and yet he was always in debt. Considerable new
light has been thrown upon the reasons for this
chronic financial embarrassment, by some letters
which have been published only this summer in
London. The letters are written by Dr. Bird, who
for many years was the family physician of the
Hunts and intimately acquainted with their affairs.
According to this authority, it was not so much
Hunt's improvidence as his wife's extravagance and
his good-natured indulgence that caused the trouble;
and this explanation seems to be accepted by those
best qualified to judge. Some new letters of Charles
Dickens have also lately been published, in which
the novelist, while not disavowing that his character
of "Harold Skimpole " had originally been drawn,
in a way, from Hunt, disclaims any intention of
portraying Hunt in an unfavorable light, and
expresses the sincerest regret that he should have
been instrumental in casting a shadow over his
friend's good name.
Somewhere in one of his delightful volumes, Dr.
S. Weir Mitchell says that life holds for us no
examinations at conveniently set intervals, when, as
in the days of school and college, we may "catch
up"; but however true this is of our own deeds and
doings, there is a pleasant exception to be made to
his statement through the growing custom of anni-
versary commemorations. Busied as the present-day
world fitly is with its suffrage debates and stock
decisions, its hardy gardens and Oriental problems,
its child-raising and canal-digging, its prohibition
campaigns and political crises, each year brings to its
attention some names of the great ones of an often
half-forgotten yesterday, asking a monument for
one, a new " Complete Works " for another, possibly
something approximating an international fair for
a third, — and behold, under the agreeable fiction
of modern progress we have gone back to re-read a
page or two of the life of a generation more or less
ancient from our Twentieth Century point of view.
In that way we do " catch up," — review some early
lessons, revive some dormant friendship.
Nineteen hundred and nine has led us to a gener-
ous share of just this, — with our mighty Lincoln,
with that antithesis of his, John Calvin, with Darwin
and Foe and Tennyson, and those two so different
Doctors, the New England Holmes and the Old
England Johnson; and among the other and lesser
ones, FitzGerald and Milnes and Kinglake, we may
well give a leisurely hour to Leigh Hunt. No man
of his literary era is harder to summarize than he,
in a phrase or a page; but neither is any other of
his day more worth our affectionate recalling.
Warwick James Price.
CASUAL COMMENT.
Our debt to Oliver Wendell Holmes is not to
be discharged by any display of centennial fireworks
in the shape of birthday orations and magazine
articles commemorative of the inimitable Autocrat
Those who knew him in life, or who have even seen
him on the speaker's platform and listened to his
graceful utterance, whether in prose or in verse, will
cherish his memory and will know that if he had
never lived American letters and American life
would be to-day something different and poorer than
they actually are. His regard for the polite formal-
ities and elegancies, in conduct, in speech, and in
writing, was a lesson to his ruder fellow-citizens,
and one that we daily and hourly tend to neglect
Twentieth-century hurry has in it little of that win-
some urbanity which breathes in every page of the
Breakfast Table series. Years ago a writer in the
English "Quarterly Review" uttered this timely
word: "Opinions so directly contrary in many
respects to the main direction of American move-
ment brought Holmes at one time into disrepute with
the more advanced of his countrymen. He was
accused of attaching excessive importance to con-
ventionalities of dress, manners, and speech; he was
charged with using his influence to starve and paralyze
literary originality. To us it seems that his attitude
was abundantly justified. The debt which the best
American literature and all who in the Old World
and the New appreciate its mixture of freshness and
refinement owe to Holmes is very great. How great
the debt was has not yet been fully recognized by
his countrymen. When young America demanded
that the political revolution which separated the Old
and New Worlds should have its literary counterpart
in a similar revolt, Holmes threw all his influence
into the opposite scale. He urged, with keen satire
as well as with the force of example, that even a
Republic must recognize the laws of conventional
decorum, and that those who enter the Temple of
the Muses outrage propriety if they ostentatiously
flaunt their working-dress." Dr. Holmes was the
true Brahmin, in his books, in Beacon Street, every-
where and on all occasions. And yet that bright
playfulness of humor which so distinguished him
renders peculiarly applicable to him Cicero's words
descriptive of another: "Festivitate et facetiis . . .
etsuperioribuset mqualibus suis omnibus prwstitit."
• • •
Guessing at authorship is an old and favorite
game, which has lately been put in a new form before
the readers of "The Century." Probably most of
those who read in the June number the first of the
group of three stories dealing with the superstition
of "Thirteen at Table" felt rather proud of their
literary discernment in at once recognizing Dr. Weir
Mitchell as the author. It will be remembered that
the stories were published anonymously, but with the
statement that each tale was by one of the following
writers: Dr. Weir Mitchell, Mrs. Margaret Deland,


1909.]
89
THE DIAL
Mr. Owen Wister. The first story, "With the Coin
of her Life," ranks highest of the group—a convinc-
ing, simple, yet scientific presentation of the mental
effect of an idle fixe upon a young girl whose every
faculty is concentrated on the determination to be-
come a great actress. No one who read the story
could fail to see the impress of Dr. Mitchell in theme
and treatment—the psychology and pathology of the
"case," the quiet observation, the little touches of
reflective philosophy: all plausible proofs — only
it now appears upon excellent authority that Dr.
Mitchell did not write the story. It is Mr. Wister
who has played a joke on the astute public by a
brilliant and most successful masquerade — slipped
into the Hippocratic cloak of the older novelist, and
proved it so good a fit that probably few could hon-
estly say that they had guessed his identity. Of
course, according to the rules laid down by Foe in
his "Purloined Letter," the reader should have known
the story was not Dr. Mitchell's, because he was so
obviously and glaringly indicated as its author; but
the wisdom of Dupin is not common. Shrewd divina-
tions of the identity of the two remaining " thirteen"
story-writers are now in order.
An interesting achievement in book-
collecting would be the getting together of all the
curiously misprinted Bibles that have appeared in
our language during the four centuries and a half
that this most popular of books has been issuing
from the press at the rate of tens of thousands of
copies yearly. We have, for example, the "wicked"
Bible, printed in 1631, which omits the negative
from the seventh commandment, and which involved
the printer in a little unpleasantness with the con-
stituted authorities, ending in his reluctant payment
of a three hundred pound fine. The "place-makers"
Bible, of 1562, is so called from a substitution of I
for e in one of the Beatitudes. The "vinegar"
Bible has a little misprint in the heading of the chap-
ter relating the parable of the vineyard. A slight
typographical error in the sixteenth verse of Jude
has given us a "murderers" Bible, and another
trivial slip in the twenty-sixth verse of the fourteenth
chapter of Luke added the "wife-hater" Bible in
1810 to the already long list of similar freaks. The
"bug" Bible, the "to-remain" Bible, the "breeches"
Bible, and only the biblical specialist knows how
many more curious Bibles, are famous in biblio-
graphic annals. To get them all together — on a
twenty-foot shelf, if that would hold them — would
be an achievement indeed.
• • •
The order of thought and the order of
speech must be held to be about the same in the
speaker's mind, however different the arrangement
of noun, adjective, verb, and adverb, in different
languages. In the course of his recent Sorbonne
address on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniver-
sary of the Alliance Francaise, M. Paul Deschanel
said: "Our language is the simplest, in that it
employs the fewest words, and . . . one speaks the
words in the order in which one thinks them." Does
he, then, seriously believe that Germans and Hun-
garians and Patagonians and Chinese transpose and
rearrange their thoughts before putting them into
words? Merely because he himself says, for ex-
ample, "The daughter of the innkeeper has stabbed
the son eldest of the alderman apoplectic with a fork
at two tines," while a German would announce the
same tragic occurrence as," The innkeeper's daughter
has the apoplectic alderman's eldest son with a two-
tined fork stabbed," does he think himself justified
in declaring his to be the only natural and logical
arrangement of the words used? In economy of
terms, both the German and the Englishman would
easily surpass him in this instance. The thought
and its verbal expression, the psychology of the
speaker and the peculiarity of his idiom, are closely
correspondent. Hence the vast number and variety
of languages and dialects, and hence the blessed
impossibility of a universal language — even with
all the aid that simple spelling has been deemed
capable of giving toward advancing the claims of
our own tongue as a Weltspraehe.
• • ■
A noted scientist's library is seeking a
purchaser. The late Professor Simon Newcomb's
books — a collection rich in works on astronomy,
mathematics, and physics, and also containing many
publications on economic subjects — are to be sold
either collectively or in parte. Before the owner's
death a type-written catalogue was prepared under
his direction, and to any intending purchaser a copy
of this will be sent upon application to the executor
of the estate, at No. 1620 P Street, Washington, D. C.
One of the saddest events too often following a fa-
mous scholar's death is the dispersion of that silent
company of faithful friends and efficient aids in his
studies, his carefully chosen books. One cannot but
hope that Professor Newcomb's library may find its
way, unbroken, either into the hands of some appre-
ciative private owner or into the careful keeping and
wise handling of one of our larger public or univer-
sity libraries. The collection contains about 5000
books and4000 pamphlets, and includos what is prob-
ably the most nearly complete astronomical library
in this country, excepting only that of Harvard
University. . m ,
The proposal for an Edward Everett Hale
memorial has not yet taken definite form, but the
offering for sale of Dr. Hale's long-time residence
in Roxbury points the way to what might prove a
very suitable and inspiring form for the memorial
to take. If only his study could be kept in nearly
the same condition as when he and his secretary
made it one of the busiest of literary workshops, it
would be a spot well worth visiting. The library,
it seems, has been bequeathed to Dr. Hale's children,


90
[August 16,
THE
DIAL
to be equally divided among them; but inducements
not wholly of a pecuniary character might be offered
to ensure its preservation, nearly intact, in the room
or rooms that it has so long occupied. The Aldrich
house at Portsmouth, the Whistler house at Lowell,
and, to go further afield, the Johnson house at Lich-
field and the Shakespeare house at Stratford, have
been made to serve as memorials of the most inter-
esting and inspiring kind. So great-souled a man
as Dr. Hale might well have, and doubtless will have,
his name and memory attached to more than one
form of literary or charitable or educational enter-
prise; but the preservation of his house as a place
of unusual human interest is peculiarly appropriate.
• • •
The public library and the playground con-
stitute at this season rival attractions to the young.
In the Second Annual Report of the James Y. Brown
Library, of Williamsport, Pa., is a paragraph explain-
ing the falling-off in the use of the juvenile depart-
ment. "It should occasion neither surprise nor
regret," remarks the librarian. "In a locality which
is as ideal for out-door life as this is, such an amount
of reading as was indulged in by the boys and girls
last summer cannot be regarded as truly desirable."
An insufficient appropriation for book-purchases is
given as the undoubted cause of the decline in circu-
lation. The tax-payer kept his dollar or two that
might have gone for new books, and his children
enjoyed an extra allowance of fresh air and exer-
cise; therefore all was well. But in future it is
hoped to make the juvenile department of the library
a more formidable rival to the playground, without
necessarily impairing the young reader's health and
vigor. . . .
"The only really native German poet " is
the term — rather exaggerated, it would seem —
applied by "Young Germany " to Baron Detlev von
Liliencron, who died last month at the age of sixty-
five. He was a writer of novels and plays, as well
as poems, but is likely to be best remembered for his
poems, or for the best of them scattered through four
published volumes. In the dark hours of the Franco-
German conflict, and in moments of personal sorrow
or of serious thought, he showed himself capable of
poetic utterance of the most moving sort. Also some
of his prose works, as especially his KrieggnoveUen,
are highly rated. It is noteworthy that the German
Emperor, who has shown indifference or hostility
to many contemporary German authors, was so de-
lighted with Liliencron's war-stories, on first reading
them a few years ago, that he ordered a pension to
be paid to the poet-novelist as long as he lived.
• • •
Judicious library advertising appears to be
regarded as not undignified or in any way repre-
hensible. The latest report of the Haverhill (Mass.)
Public Library describes some methods it has adopted
to attract otherwise indifferent persons to its plea-
sant rooms. Mimeographed lists of recent accessions
in Italian literature were sent to Italian clubs and
to Italian residents enrolled in the city directory. A
similar course was pursued with the French inhabit-
ants. Who that has ever seen a non-English-speaking
citizen helplessly fingering the card catalogue of bis
city's free library, in the vague hope of chancing upon
a title in his own language, can doubt that these lists
answered a real need? A "Useful Arts Bulletin,"
also mimeographed, was from time to time mailed to
workmen likely to be interested in such practical
works as it treated of; and these lists were, in addi-
tion, printed in the local newspapers, besides being
freely distributed at the library and its branches.
Many persons were thus prompted to use the library
who had before been entirely unaware that it could
furnish them exactly the reading matter in which
they were interested. And this has been the experi-
ence of other places besides Haverhill.
COMMUNICA TION.
SHAKESPEARE'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW.
(To the Editor of The Dial.)
I cannot resist replying to the communication of Mr.
Johnson Brigham, in your issue of July 16, in which,
speaking of the question of " The law in Shakespeare "—
that point on which so many Baconians rest their case—
he illustrates, by the example of Browning, the theory
that a master artist "may gain sufficient technical lore,
even in a difficult field, to astonish his critics." The
method used by the poet in filling "The Ring and the
Book" with law, for instance, was to get the law from
the Book — that is, from his source.
In many cases, Shakespeare has done this. In some
cases, as in "The Merchant of Venice," the law was
part of the story, if not of the vocabulary of the story.
But in the majority of cases the law terms spring to the
poet's lips as the most natural words in which to express
his ideas. Richard Grant White, a lawyer as well as a
Shakespeare scholar, said: "No dramatist of the time,
not even Beaumont, who was the younger son of a judge
of the Common Pleas, and who, after studying in the
Inns of Court abandoned law for the drama, used legal
phrases with Shakespeare's readiness and exactness.
And the significance of this fact is heightened by
another, that it is only to the language of the law that
be exhibits this inclination. The phrases peculiar to
other occupations serve him on rare occasions by way of
description, comparison, of illustration, generally when
something in the scene suggests them; but legal phrases
flow from his pen as part of his vocabulary, and parcel
of his thought."
I will not ask your space to quote illustrations. They
are everywere available. The point I wish to make is,
that in Shakespeare the law is not "got up " for the
nonce, as a modern novelist "gets up " his local color.
It was in the dramatist's mind, as the phraseology of
the Bible is in the mind of the Bible student, and as the
terms of science are in the mind aud on the lips of the
botanist, the chemist, and the physicist.
W. L. Stoddard.
Boston, August 10,1909.


1909.]
91
THE DIAL,
Out of the Journalistic Wilderness.*
For wealth of opportunity to meet men worth
knowing and to see events worth witnessing,
few walks in life can compare with that of the
enterprising and successful journalist. Sir
Henry W. Lucy (he has been knighted since the
appearance of his book) presents, in a volume
entitled " Sixty Years in the Wilderness," some
extremely readable chapters of personal and
professional reminiscence covering nearly half
a century of newspaper work, preceded by a
period of dull toil in an uncongenial commercial
pursuit. Emancipation from seven years' drud-
gery in the " Hide and Valonia Business," as his
second chapter is entitled, with opportunity to
join the staff of the Shrewsbury " Chronicle,"
must have been a joyful release indeed to the
young man who began authorship in his twelfth
year with an essay (still unpublished) on the less
praiseworthy side of King David's character,
followed two years later by a novel (also unpub-
lished), with no plot in particular, and succeeded
very soon thereafter by some metrical composi-
tions that achieved publicity in the Liverpool
"Mercury."
Something of the daring and self-confidence
of genius early displayed itself in the young
journalist's manner of breaking a road for him-
self through the wilderness of newspaperdom.
Editor and joint proprietor of a weekly paper
at the age of twenty, he experienced a rapid
series of ups and downs — chiefly ups — until
an assured position as manager of the parlia-
mentary corps of the London " News," of which
he was afterward for eighteen months editor-in-
chief, and later a place on the staff of " Punch,"
in addition to his other appointments and engage-
ments, enabled him very effectually to keep the
wolf beyond howling distance of his door. Two
years'editorship of the commercially unsuccesful
"Mayfair," and the authorship of numerous
magazine articles, two novels, and a number of
politically reminiscent books, are also to be
placed to his credit. A tremendous worker, but
one whose execution is rapid and facile, and who
(an important item) does all his writing through
the medium of a stenographer, he has neverthe-
less found time for a good deal of play, includ-
ing three visits to the United States and a trip
round the world. To the general public, or that
* Sixty Yeakb in the Wilderness. Some Passages by
the Way. By Henry W. Lucy. With a Portrait by J. S.
Sargent, R.A. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
part of it that reads " Punch," Sir Henry has
been known for nearly twenty-nine years as
"Toby, M.P.," author of the weekly " Essence
of Parliament" which Shirley Brooks began and
Tom Taylor continued in the days preceding Sir
Francis Burnand's editorship.
Astonishingly small was the amount of
schooling enjoyed (or hated) by the boy Lucy.
Before reaching his eleventh birthday (suppos-
ing him to have been born in 1845, of which
he is not sure) he was cast adrift to sink or
swim, according to his capacity. A single para-
graph may here be quoted to help explain how
it was that this early suspension of pedagogic
drill was not the direst misfortune in his case.
"One day, whilst still at school, I was sent down to
a circulating library in Lord Street [Liverpool], to
change a book. The volume was 'Percival Keene.'
As I walked along I looked through the pages. Fasci-
nated, I began at the beginning and read steadily on,
walking through the crowded streets. The library was,
I think, called the Athensum, a sombrely respectable
place, led up to by stone steps. On one of these I sat
down and went on with the story. When I looked up
the aspect of the street was changed. Lamps were
beginning to twinkle here and there. People were hur-
rying homeward in a steady stream. It was evening,
and the library was closed! I had been sitting on the
steps all through the day, dinnerless. But I had fin-
ished ' Percival Keene.'"
Among the varied experiences that contrib-
uted to the completion of Sir Henry Lucy's
necessarily irregular education, he names a
balloon ascent in company with Fred Burnaby;
a descent into a coal mine in South Wales, and
one into a silver mine in Colorado; a voyage in
a submarine boat; and the witnessing of two
hangings. A short private secretaryship to a
railway magnate, and an eight-months' sojourn
in Paris to learn the language and habits of the
natives, also entered into his peculiar training
for journalism. But everything is, or ought to
be, fish that finds its way into the journalist's
net; and the young man appears to have
developed a most acute scent for news and a
happy knack of seeing the popularly interest-
ing side of all that occurred within his range.
From his rapid pen-pictures of noted men, with
which the book abounds, a passage on Mark
Twain and the attentions shown the great hu-
morist during his late visit to England is worth
quoting.
"Amidst a constant succession of honours paid him
during his stay in London, he counted at highest value
the bestowal upon him of an honorary degree by the
Oxford University and the invitation to dine at the
Punch table. This last was unique in its way, since
the Punch dining-room is 'tiled' more jealously than a
Freemasons' meeting room. Old traditions were pre-


92
[August 16.
THE DIAL
served to the extent that the dinner was not one of the
regular weekly symposia. But it was given in the dining-
room, at the table on which are carved the names of the
staff, going back to the days of Mark Lemon."
The author's long familiarity with Parliament
and parliamentarians enables him to give some
very interesting descriptions and comparative
estimates of the oratorical performances of Dis-
raeli, Gladstone, Robert Lowe, John Bright, and
other giants of debate, whose memorable speeches
find few parallels in the more hurried and infor-
mal utterances of present-day legislators at West-
minster. As to Gladstone's peculiarities, we read:
"His manner in speech-making was more strongly
marked by action than was that of his only rival, John
Bright. He emphasized points by smiting the open palm
of his left hand with sledge-hammer fist. Sometimes
he, with gleaming eyes — ' like a vulture's,' Mr. Lecky
genially describes them,—pointed his forefinger straight
at his adversary. In hottest moments he beat the brass-
bound Box with clamorous hand that occasionally
drowned the point he strove to make. Sometimes with
both hands raised above his head; often with left elbow
leaning on the Box, right hand with closed fist shaken
at the head of an unoffending country gentleman on the
back bench opposite; anon, standing half a step back
from the Table, left hand hanging at his side, right
uplifted, so that he might with thumb-nail lightly touch
the shining crown of his head, he trampled his way
through the argument he assailed as an elephant in an
hour of aggravation rages through a jungle."
Contrasted with this we have the parliamen-
tary appearance of Gladstone's great opponent.
"Disraeli lacked two qualities, failing which true
eloquence is impossible. He was never quite in earnest,
and he was not troubled by dominating conviction. Only
on the rarest occasions did he affect to be roused to
righteous indignation, and then he was rather amusing
than impressive. He was endowed with a lively fancy
and cultivated the art of coining phrases, generally per-
sonal in their bearing. When these were flashed forth
he delighted the House. For the rest, at the period I
knew him, when he had grown respectable and was
weighted with responsibility, he was often dull. There
were, indeed, in the course of a session few things more
dreary than a long speech from Dizzy. At short, sharp
replies to questions designed to be embarrassing he was
effective. When it came to a long speech, the lack of
stamina was disclosed, and the House listened to some-
thing which, if not occasionally incomprehensible, was
frequently involved."
A significant note on Du Maurier, one of the
author's old associates on the "Punch" staff,
arrests attention.
"With failing health, he was apt to be influenced by
low spirits. Success from a new avenue, sunlit by quite
unusual glow of pecuniary reward, came to him too
late. He never was the same man after he made his
great success with 'Trilby.' I remember one night in
the early summer, of the year of his death, dining with
us at Ashley Gardens, he met an old friend. Talking
about his next novel, Lord Wolseley asked what was
the title. 'I think,' said Du Maurier, with a humorous
smile, 'I '11 call it " Soured by Success."'"
Written in a brisk and effective style, though
with many of the lapses and inelegances of th?
current journalistic manner," Sixty Years in the
Wilderness " is likely to meet with such favor
as to encourage the issue of a second volume,
already half-promised in the preface to the first.
Among the inaccuracies, typographical or other,
of the book, one finds Mr. Howells writing to
the author a letter from " Killery Point," which
is almost an affront to historic old Kitten.
The frontispiece portrait of Sir Henry (a photo-
gravure from Mr. Sargent's painting) represents
the sitter as holding a quill pen in his left hand,
nearly in the position for writing. Is the pic-
ture transposed, or is Sir Henry left-handed?
Perhaps neither. Percy F. Bicknell.
Taking Stock of Darwinism.*
It is a very difficult thing for the average
man, who is not a special student of either sci-
ence or philosophy, to realize that the Evolution
theory is itself constantly in process of evolution.
The publication of the " Origin of Species " fifty
years ago led to a literally tremendous disturb-
ance in the thought of the world on nearly all
subjects. Only after a prolonged and bitter
struggle did the Evolution idea begin to gain
general acceptance. In spite of this long Sturm
und Drang period, the acceptance of Evolution,
when it finally came, was in the popular mind
very largely uncritical. In particular there
was, and still is, much confusion of thought as
to the distinction between "Evolution" and
"Darwinism." The idea that Evolution it
Darwinism prevails very widely. On this ac-
count there is at the present a good deal of dis-
turbance in the popular mind over the searching
criticisms of Darwinism which have been made in
recent years by such men as DeVries, Johannsen,
and others. On the one hand, one hears anxious
inquiries, from those who "believed" in Evolu-
tion on the supposition that scientific research
had made it as solid and unchangeable as the
rock-ribbed hills, as to whether " scientists " are
giving up Evolution because it is an exploded
doctrine. On the other hand come those eager to
reopen the old battle with an accession of enthu-
siasm and courage engendered by the supposed
* Dakwin and Modern Sciknck. Essays in Commem-
oration of the Centenary of the Birth of Charles Darwin
and of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of the
Origin of Species. Edited by A. C. Seward. Cambridge:
The University Press. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Fifty Ykabs of Darwinism. Modern Aspects of Evo-
lution. Centennial Addresses in Honor of Charles Darwin.
New York: Henry Holt & Co.


1909.]
93
THE
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discovery of a weakening and wavering of the
enemy. These triumphantly proclaim, and cite
published statements in their support, that the
scientific world is surreptitiously but not the less
actually "casting aside the Evolution theory."
It is the writer's belief that the two books
liere under review will do much to correct such
confusion of thought, by showing in an author-
itative and at the same time untechnical and
interesting manner what the present state of
expert scientific opinion regarding Evolution
and Darwinism is. Both books are symposia,
each containing contributions from a number of
different investigators; and both were prepared
in connection with great gatherings of scientific
men to commemorate the one hundredth anni-
versary of the birth of Charles Darwin. In gen-
eral, both books have the same purpose. In
method of treatment, the most noticeable dif-
ference is that which arises out of the fact that
in one case ("Darwin and Modern Science")
we are dealing with a collection of essays, while
in the other case (" Fifty Years of Darwinism")
we have a collection of addresses primarily in-
tended for viva voce presentation. The latter
mode of presentation obviously necessitates a
somewhat different treatment than can be used
in an essay.
"Darwin and Modern Science " is catholic in
its subject-matter and cosmopolitan in its author-
ship. The volume opens with an " Introductory
Letter to the Editor, from Sir Joseph Dalton
Hooker." This, and the following essay on
"Darwin's Predecessors," by Professor J.
Arthur Thomson, are chiefly of historical in-
terest. There follows a group of four essays
dealing with the several primary factors of
organic evolution as conceived by Darwin.
These are: "The Selection Theory," by the
illustrious exponent and developer of that theory,
Professor August Weismann; "Variation," by
the Dutch botanist Professor Hugo de Vries,
whose studies of this subject mark the beginning
of a new epoch in the investigation of the prob-
lem of organic Evolution, just as did Darwin's
fifty years ago; Heredity and Variation in
Modern Lights," an unusually temperate and
well-balanced essay by the leading student of
heredity at the present time, Professor Bateson
of Cambridge University; "The Minute Struc-
ture of Cells in Relation to Heredity," by one
who shares with Hertwig, Fol and Van Beneden
the honor of having "solved the long-standing
riddle of the fertilization of the egg, and the
mechanism of "hereditary transmission," Pro-
fessor Eduard Strasburger of Bonn.
The next three essays group about the relation
of Darwin's work to anthropology. Schwalbe,
one of the most eminent of living anthropologists,
contributes a critical essay on " The Descent of
Man." Professor Haeckel writes on " Charles
Darwin as an Anthropologist," and J. G. Frazer,
of Trinity College, Cambridge, discusses " Some
Primitive Theories of the Origin of Man." The
next three essays deal with the ontogenetic and
phylogenetic records of the evolutionary process.
The titles are: "The Influence of Darwin on
the Study of Animal Embryology," by Professor
Adam Sedgwick of Cambridge; and "The
Palaeontological Record,", the first section on
Animals, by Prof. W. B. Scott of Princeton, the
second section on Plants, by Dr. D. H. Scott.
In the succeeding group of three essays there
is discussed, from widely different view-points,
one of the most fundamental of Evolution prob-
lems, namely, the influence of environment upon
organisms. These essays are: "The Influence
of Environment on the Forms of Plants," by
Professor Georg Klebs of Heidelberg, known
for his brilliant and thorough researches on this
subject; "Experimental Study of the Influence
of Environment on Animals," by Professor
Jacques Loeb, the only American worker besides
Professor Scott to appear as a contributor to
the volume; and "The Value of Color in the
Struggle for Life," by Professor E. B. Poulton
of Oxford, who stands without a peer in the study
of animal coloration.
Following these come three essays by Sir
William Thiselton-Dyer, Dr. Hans Gadow, and
Professor J. W. Judd, respectively dealing with
the problems of the geographical distribution of
plants and animals and with Darwin's service to
the science of geology. Two essays, one by his
son Francis Darwin, and the other by Professor
K. Goebel of Munich, deal with Darwin's
botanical work.
The next seven essays have to do with the
relation of Darwinism to the so-called "human-
istic " fields of thought. In many respects these
form the most interesting part of the book. They
show more clearly than any of the other essays
how tremendous has been the influence of Darwin
in fields far removed from those in which he him-
self worked. Thus, an essay by Dr. Jane Ellen
Harrison, on " The Influence of Darwinism on
the Study of Religions," begins with these words:
"The title of my paper might well have been «The
creation by Darwinism of the scientific study of Religions,'
but that I feared to mar my tribute to a great name by
any shadow of exaggeration. Before the publication of
'The Origin of Species' and 'The Descent of Man,'
even in the eighteenth century, isolated thinkers, notably .


94
[August 16,
THE
DIAL
Hume and Herder, had conjectured that the orthodox
beliefs of their own day were developments from the
cruder superstitions of the past. These were, however,
only particular speculations of individual skeptics.
Religion was not yet generally regarded as a proper
subject for scientific study, with facts to be collected
and theories to be deduced. A Congress of Religions
such as that recently held at Oxford would have savored
of impiety."
Other essays in this group deal with Sociology
(Bougie^, Modern Philosophy (Hoffding), Phil-
ology (Giles), History (Bury), and Psychology
(Lloyd Morgan), in the relation of these subjects
to Darwinism. The last two papers in the vol-
ume, by Sir George Darwin and W. C. D.
Whetham respectively, have to do with Evolu-
tion in the inorganic realm; the subjects are
"The Genesis of Double Stars" and "The
Evolution of Matter."
It is obviously impossible within limited space
to discuss separately each of the essays that make
up this volume. The eminence of the contrib-
utors furthermore makes any commendation of
individual essays by a reviewer appear like pre-
sumption. It can, however, properly be said
that the volume as a whole forms a fitting and
worthy tribute to Darwin's memory. It is a
book that should be on the shelves of every
library, whether public or private, which aims
to reflect in its choice of books the progress of
contemporary thought.
The aim of "Fifty Years of Darwinism,"
while in general the same as that of the book
just under discussion, is less ambitious. The
addresses in this volume all deal directly with
biological topics in the narrower technical sense
of the term. These addresses were delivered at
a special Darwin Memorial meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science, at Baltimore, on New Year's Day of
this year. The first principal address, which
gives the title to the volume, is by Professor
Poulton of Oxford, who was the guest of honor
of the occasion. The address is historical, deal-
ing with the changes of opinion and ideas
regarding Evolution which have come about
since the publication of " The Origin of Species."
It gainB great charm from the wealth of anecdote
and personal reminiscence which the author is
able to contribute from his long acquaintance
with men and affairs in English scientific life.
The other addresses (with two exceptions)
deal with the several factors generally held by
biologists at the present time to be of primary
importance in organic Evolution, and present in
summarized and popular form the results of the
most recent investigations in those fields. A
simple list of the titles and authors will suffi-
ciently indicate the scope of these essays and
vouch for their excellence. These titles are:
"The Theory of Natural Selection from the
Standpoint of Botany," by Professor Coulter
of the University of Chicago; "Isolation as
a Factor in Organic Evolution," by President
David Starr Jordan; "The Cell in Relation to
Heredity and Evolution," by Professor Wilson
of Columbia; "The Direct Influence of Envi-
ronment," by Dr. MacDougal of the Carnegie
Institution's Desert Botanical Laboratory;
"The Behavior of Unit Characters in Heredity,"
by Professor Castle of Harvard; "Mutation,"
by Dr. Davenport of the Station for Experi-
mental Evolution maintained by the Carnegie
Institution ; "Adaptation," by Professor Eigen-
mann of Indiana University.
The last two addresses in the volume are some-
what different in character. Dr. Henry Fairfield
Osborn writes on "Darwin and Pakeontology,"
giving an interesting summary of his views as to
the method of organic Evolution. The closing
address is by President G. Stanley Hall, and
has the title "Evolution and Psychology."
Altogether, these make an interesting and val-
uable set of papers, and form a notable demon-
stration of the flourishing condition of American
biological science. In every case, the speakers
were men who have achieved international rep-
utation for the contributions which they have
made to the study of Evolution.
Raymond Peabl.
An Old-Time Statesman of South
Carolina .*
The title to fame of some characters in history
rests partly or wholly on some connection with
another of far greater eminence. The slighting
remark has often been made of Robert Y. Hayne,
that his only title to fame is the fact that he
drew from Webster one of his greatest oratorical
efforts. The falsity of this assertion is now fully
demonstrated by Mr. Jervey, in his new Life of
Hayne, which is likely to prove one of the most
important contributions of the year to American
biography. He does this by setting forth the
eminent public services of Hayne, both before
and after his debate with Webster.
Hayne's life may be said to have been devoted
to two things: the doctrine of Nullification, and
•Robert Y. Hayne and Hib Times. By Theodore
D. Jervey, Second Vice-President of the South Carolina
Historical Society, etc. With portraits. New York: The
Macmillan Co.


1909.]
96
THE
DIAL
the industrial development of South Carolina.
It is not difficult to see the relation of the former
to the latter.
Hayne's rise was rapid, but not meteoric. He
had gone the rounds of South Carolina politics
before being pushed into the United States
Senate, possibly a little prematurely, at the age
of thirty-two, by John C. Calhoun, who had
Presidential aspirations, and wanted William
Smith, a supporter of Crawford, replaced by
one friendly to himself. Though young in years
and without Congressional experience, Hayne's
position in the Senate was not inconspicuous.
As a member of the Committee on Naval Affaire,
he was the author of a bill to establish a naval
academy. The question of internal improve-
ments had been sidetracked by Monroe, and the
Tariff was becoming the dominant issue. Con-
spicuous among the opponents of Clay's bill of
1824 were Webster in the House and Hayne in
the Senate. Had both died at the close of this
session, Hayne probably would now be regarded
as the greater of the two. Just before the fight
opened on the Tariff of 1828, Webster entered
the Senate. By this time he was wavering;
consequently the Boston merchants, when they
desired to be heard against the bill, presented
their protest, not to Webster, but to Hayne, to
be by him laid before the Senate. In the end,
Webster supported the act of 1828.
South Carolina pointed to economic evils as
her reason for opposing the Tariff both in 1824
and 1828. As this failed to produce the desired
result, she then resorted to another argument,
which had been used before with telling effect,
unconstitutionality and nullification. An effort
was made to bring this into play in 1830, but
the Union party was able to stave it off until
the act of 1832 was passed.
Among the great leaders, the personal equa-
tion was not eliminated. Jackson had come to
the Presidency without committal on the Tariff,
but naturally had " low-tariff " leanings. Jack-
son and Clay were personal enemies; conse-
quently, when Clay announced, in 1832, that
to "maintain and strengthen the American
system, he would defy the South, the President,
and the Devil," there could be no wavering.
Unfortunately for the cause of the opposition
to the Tariff, but fortunately for the Union,
Jackson and Calhoun also were at outs.
However much we may differ with Hayne on
Nullification, we must recognize the greatness of
the man in his devotion to a principle for its
own sake, without being influenced by personal
animosities or partisan rancor. He had appealed
to reason in the Senate, and had failed to stem
the Tariff tide. He had devoted himself to the
interests of South Carolina, and he now believed
those interests so seriously threatened that an
appeal must be made to the final resort, Nulli-
fication, and possibly to forcible resistance. He
could do nothing more in the Senate; conse-
quently he resigned, and became Governor of
South Carolina,—not simply, as some represent,
to make a place for Calhoun, but because the
test of Nullification would be made in South
Carolina and not in the Senate.
Mr. Jervey thinks that the strong expressions
of nationality in Jackson's proclamation are
only the voice of Livingston, his secretary of
state. He also presents some evidence that the
President had written strong words of approval
to Hayne for his State's-rights views as ex-
pressed in the reply to Webster. Certain it
is that he expressed no violent animosity for
Hayne, while there is a not very well authen-
ticated tradition that he threatened to hang
Calhoun. Also, a few years later, Jackson
invited Hayne to spend a day with him at the
Hermitage. In view of this, one may be par-
doned for wondering if Jackson would have
allowed South Carolina to nullify, as he had
done in the Georgia case, had it not been for
his violent hatred of Calhoun. Probably not,—
but who knows?
The question of Nullification settled, Hayne
devoted himself with unremitting energy, for
the rest of his life, to the industrial development
of South Carolina. As population spread to
the west, the problem of transportation was ac-
centuated more and more. Hayne saw clearly
that this must be solved, if the South was to
hold her own, Tariff or no Tariff. As far back
as 1821, he appears to have been the first to
suggest the possibilities of a steam railroad con-
necting Charleston with Augusta and Columbia.
He now took up the greater problem of cross-
ing the mountains and tying the West to
Charleston. His scheme was to cross North
Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and reach
Cincinnati. Again and again he reiterates that
one motive of such connection was to tie together
with bands of interest the different sections of
the country, and so perpetuate the Union.
The scheme was worthy of a great industrial
leader and a statesman. South Carolina sub-
scribed liberally to the enterprise, as did also
Tennessee; but difficulties were encountered
in Kentucky, and Ohio did almost nothing,
Calhoun once gave his approval to the plan,
and even suggested that he might accept the


96
[August 16.
THE
DIAL
presidency of the road. Hayne never made any
such suggestion about himself, but was over-
whelmingly elected. Calhoun soon found objec-
tions to the French Broad route, resigned from
the directorate, and worked for a route across
Georgia to the Mississippi. One motive for this
appears to have been a desire to sectionalize the
country, tying the interests of the Southwest to
the old slave states, and allowing the great
Northwest to find its outlet through the East.
So great was the opposition to his scheme that
Hayne finally compromised on routes, only to
see failure written over his project before his
untimely death in 1839.
Concerning the great debate with Webster,
it is not necessary to add much here. The
notion that Webster completely demolished
Hayne, once widely current, is no longer so
generally accepted. Historically, except upon
the great absurdity of Nullification and the
beneficent influence of slavery, Hayne was
nearer right than Webster. But herein is to
be found the greatness of the latter when con-
trasted with the former. While Hayne was
harking back to the past, and looking to a
written instrument and its contemporary inter-
pretation as marking for all time the bounds of
development for the nation, Webster, perhaps
somewhat unconsciously, had turned to the
future, and in what on its face was only an
apotheosis of the Constitution he really com-
pressed into a few glowing sentences the national
aspirations of a great people which we are still
working out. Subsequent history has set its seal
of approval on Webster rather than on Hayne.
A word should be said of Mr. Jervey's book
as a bit of historical biography. First of all,
he should be commended for giving us an
entirely sympathetic account of Hayne, while
at the same time condemning one of the great
issues for which he fought, Nullification. He
also deserves praise for setting before us the
broad-minded patriot who appeared after his
favorite issue of Nullification had been side-
tracked. Is the undercurrent of hostility to
Calhoun, discoverable throughout the book, to
be justified? Perhaps so, because of his mani-
festations of littleness toward the main hero.
The author has made good use of source
material, some of which, such as contemporary
newspapers, is not readily accessible. But in
the matter of construction, his work is not
above criticism. Even his meaning is sometimes
rendered obscure by involved sentences and anti-
quated punctuation. Quotations are very num-
erous. The author has hardly protected himself
against criticism on this score by his defense of
Hayne on the same charge. Perhaps a more
serious criticism is that he has attempted to
delineate a national hero in a setting almost
entirely local. Even for the period when Hayne
was in Congress, the amount of space devoted
to national and local affairs is not well balanced.
All things considered, however, Mr. Jervej
deserves our thanks for this study of a man who
played a conspicuous part in one of the critical
periods of our history. David Y. Thomas.
Recent Poetry.*
"The time has come to make an end. There are
several motives. I find my pension is not enough:
I have therefore still to turn aside and attempt things
for which people will pay. My health also counts.
Asthma and other annoyances I have tolerated far
years, hut I cannot put up with cancer." Thus
grimly did the late John Davidson herald at once the
collection of poems that should complete his score of
volumes and the imminent end soon to he achieved
of his own free volition. Dying, he left us another
example of the tragedy of supersensitive intellect,
too weak to cope with the brutal realities of exist-
ence. From
"A huckstering world, alike incensed
By challengers and suppliants, and fenced
About with adamantine hearts,"
he turned indignantly away, to become once more a
* Fleet Street, and Other Poems. By John Davidsos.
New York: Mitchell Kennerley.
The Poems of A. C. Benson. New York: The Jobs
Lane Co.
Apollo and the Seaman. By Herbert Trench. Ne«
York: Henry Holt & Co.
Abtemision. Idylls and Songs. By Maurice Hewlett.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
In Itinehe. Poems by George Norton Northrop.
Oxford: B. H. Blackwell.
Andrea, and Other Poems. By Gascoigne Mackie.
Oxford: B. H. Blackwell.
Owen Glyndwb, and Other Poems. By Charles H.
Pritchard. London: Arthur H. Stock well.
World-Music, and Other Poems. By Frederick John
Webb. London: Arthur H. Stock well.
Toward the Uplands. Later Poems. By Lloyd
Mifflin. New York: Henry Frowde.
Nirvana Days. By Cale Young Rice. New York:
The McClure Co.
A Miracle of St. Cuthbert's, and Sonnets. Br
R. E. Lee Gibson. Louisville: John P. Morton & Co.
The Librarian of the Desert, and Other Poems.
By Harry Lyman Koopman. Boston: The Everett Press.
Artemis to Actjson, and Other Verse. By Edith
Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
The Jot o' Life, and Other Poems. By Tbeodosia
Garrison. New York: Mitchell Kennerley.
Confession, and Other Verses. By May Austin Low,
Boston: Sherman, French & Co.
Sonos of Saint Bartholomew. By Sara Hamilton
Birchall. Boston: Alfred Bartlett.


1909.]
97
THE DIAL
part of the " silence in the ether." Life had become
for him an obsessing horror. He could no longer
bear the .
"Awful lot
To lire with palsied souls and numb
Affections! Higher courage not
With sound of prayer or sound of drum
In battle or in martyrdom
Was ever shown by saint or knight."
And yet— strange perversity ! — in this very city
of dreadful night, in this very London with Fleet
Street as its epitome, he could find matter for gen-
uine poetry, and soar upon the wings of imagination
into the purest heavens. "Meet Street" is the name
of his last volume, and the title of its most impres-
sive poem — a poem which links the bricks of the
city in cosmic unity with the rings of Saturn. The
bricks are discontented, albeit an
"Indispensable, an integral
Component of the world's most famous street,"
and continue envious of the rings of Saturn, although
it is made clear that
"These seeming jewelled zones that shine so bright
Are the mere wreck of matter, broken bits,
Detached and grinding beaches of barren rock
Hung up there as a menace and a sign;
Circular stripB of chaos unredeemed,
Whirling in madness of oppugnant powers."
Urged to be proud of their "telluric destiny," the
bricks reply as with one voice:
"Upon my cubical
Content, and by our common mother, I
Had rather shine, a shard of chaos, set
In Saturn's glistening rings, the exquisite
Enigma of the night, than be the unnamed,
Unthought-of copestone or foundation-stone
Of any merely world-distinguished street"
The application of this parable to the poet's own
case is only too evident. The Crystal Palace, the
railway station, and the automobile, are among the
themes which he touches with the gleam of imagina-
tion, and he gives us a couple of new "Fleet Street
Eclogues" in the old fantastic vein. But bitterness
is the underlying note of his verse, and mordant
irony its characteristic method of expression. Him-
self out of tune with life, he hears only discords and
is powerless to effect their resolution.
"The Poems of A. C. Benson," in the form now
published, are not new. The stout volume of more
than three hundred pages is a selection from the
contents of half a dozen previously published vol-
umes. Mr. Benson is as fluent a writer of verse as
of prose, and his poems are thoughtful, placid, and
refined, but not distinguished. They may fairly be
taken at his own valuation.
"I cannot sing as sings the nightingale,
Frenzied with rapture, big with rich delight,
Till lovers lean together, passion-pale,
And chide the awestruck silence of the night.
"I cannot sing as sings the tranquil thrush,
O'er dewy thicket and untrodden lawn,
When early gossamers veil the frosted bush
In the chaste freshness of the sparkling dawn.
"I cannot sing as sings the brooding dove,
At windless noon, in her high towers of green,
A song of deep content, untroubled love,
With many a meditative pauBe between.
"I cannot sing as sings the dauntless owl
His shout of horror at a dark dead hour:
When the hair pricks, and startled watch-dogs howl,
And night-bells clamour in the lonely tower.
"But I can sing as sings the prudent bee,
As hour by patient hour he goes and comes,
Bearing the golden dust from tree to tree,
Labours in hope, and as he labours, hums."
We may say of this composition, as Mr. Saintsbury
once said of Lamartine's "Le Lac," that it is so
typically illustrative of the author's work as to make
unnecessary the quotation of any further examples.
"Apollo and the Seaman" is a long poetic dia-
logue. The seaman, who has recently come ashore,
is dispirited at the news that his ship has gone down.
"I heard them calling in the streets
That the ship I serve upon —
The great ship Immortality —
Was gone down, like the sun."
The god, who in mortal guise is seated with the
seaman at an inn, takes up the subject, and works
around to the suggestion that the good ship Earth
may in the end prove a more trustworthy craft.
"0 wrestler into consciousness,
Stand upon Earth! Away!
Long hath the journey been by night,
But roseate breaks the day;
Like a scroll I unfold the mountain-tops
And the windings of the bay."
To the seaman's question, "Is there a hand upon
the helm?" the answer is thus vouchsafed:
"Weigh thou thine own heart-fires,
And her wash of overwhelming dawns
And her tide that never tires —
Her tranquil heave of seasons — flowers —
All that in thee aspires.
How like an eagle on the abyss
With outspread wing serene
She circles! — thought rolls under her
And the flash from the unseen.
But if thy former priestly ship
Failed of the port assigned,
The overwhelming globe takes on
Her altar-flame of mind,
See that the oils that feed the lamp
Fail not."
And so, pursuing his high argument, the god opens
the seaman's eyes to a deeper truth than he has
ever visioned before, to the truth of the essential
oneness of things, to the realization that a man's
cherished individuality — which, he so passionately
hopes will be continued after his death — is but the
product of a fleeting illusion.
"Through the death-veil — looming silvery —
Through the self-veil's subtle strand,
Dawns it not? For that dawn thy heart
Hath eye — shall understand
Before its seeing rock-walls melt
And cracks the mortal band.
For when once the whole consummate strength
Of thy slow-kindling mind


98
[August 16,
THE DIAL
Can see in the heart's light at length
All the strange sons of mankind,
Then the Earth — that else were but a strait
Rock-sepulchre — is new:
Of what account to it is death?
It is glowing, through and through,
It moveth, alive with a God's breath,
Translucent as the dew!"
This symbolical poem is vigorous and even rugged
in expression, and has a nobility of thought and feel-
ing that makes it akin to the ripest work of George
Meredith. But the poem forms only a small part
of the contents of Mr. Herbert Trench's significant
volume, and other pieces claim our attention. The
"Stanzas to Tolstoy " repeat the teaching of " Apollo
and the Seaman," and we must reproduce one of
them.
"The Man upraised on the Judffian crag
Captains for us the war with death no more.
His kingdom hangs as hangs the tattered flag
Over the tomb of a great knight of yore;
Nor shall one law to unity restore
Races or souls — no staff of thine can urge
Nor knotted club compel them to converge,
Nor any backward summit lead them up:
The world spring wherein hides
Formless the God that forms us, bursts its cup —
Is seen a Fountain — breaking like a flower
High into light — that at its height divides;
Changelessly scattering forth, — in blaze and shower —
In drops of a trembling diaphaneity —
Dreams the God-breathings momently up-buoy
To melt a myriad ways. Those dreams are we
Chanted from some unfathomable joy."
And still again, in the lyric, "I Seek Thee in the
Heart Alone," Mr. Trench expounds his transcen-
dental philosophy.
"Fountain of Fire whom all divide,
We haste asunder like the spray,
But waneless doth Thy flame abide
Whom every torch can take away!
"I seek Thee in the heart alone,
I shall not find in hill or plain;
Our rushing Btar must keep its moan,
Our nightly soul its homeward pain."
"Song out of thought, Light out of power,
Even the consumings of this breast
Advance the clearness of that hour
When all shall poise, and be at rest.
"It cracks at last— the glowing sheath,
The illusion, Personality;
Absorbed and interwound with death
The myriads are dissolved in Thee."
The Meredithian glow and opulence, the Meredithian
swiftness of intellectual motion, are evident in these
examples, as throughout Mr. Trench's volume. How
high is his ideal of the mission of song may be seen
in the following " Stanzas on Poetry," in which the
muse counsels the singer and exalts his lofty calling.
"In thee Man's choir assembles, and finds tongue!
Thy soul like Roland's horn of echoes flung
Must seize the mountains that it gropes among,
Must strike and must betray the Invisible —
Black peaks that like a crowd of humbled Gods
Attend the benediction of the Dawn I
"Sing Valour, from the cradle to the pyre!
Sing thine own country's glories, grief and ire;
Hear thou the voice of every greening brier;
And in thy song let all her woods be temples,
Her rude heights and calm headlands clothed in foam
Nerve thee, and be within thee fortitudes!
"Sing Love, and all that counteth not the cost;
And many a beautiful and unborn ghost
(Even as the ever-widening starry host
Steals from the luminous blue gulfs of evening)
Softly shall join your ring of auditors
Outside the sitters round the Tavern-fire."
Some reprinted pieces, and a greater quantity of
hitherto unpublished verse, are given us in Mr.
Maurice Hewlett's "Artemision: Idylls and Songs."
The new matter consists chiefly of three long1 poems.
"Idylls of the Huntress," picturing the goddess in
her character as the implacable foe of earthly passion.
We will extract a passage from each of the three,
beginning with these lines from the tragedy of
,( Leto's Child," the nymph Callisto transformed into
a bear.
"See here
The end of that hot charioteer
Who gives the loose rein to that horse
That needeth most the bridle's force!
Nor boots to tell how Areas grew
Mighty hunter, or how he slew
Unknowing his mother; nor how She
That loved her still raised her to be
A starry wreath when Heaven lies clear:
So in the sky men watch the Bear
Mount with the shining host, and tell
What was Callisto ere she fell.
And thus sink they who serve Beauty
Otherwise than on bending knee,
Or dare to quench their fleshly dreams
At holy wells, in holy streams
To bathe their bodies. Beauty is rare
And delicate withal, so fair,
And thin a fabric, 'tis a breath
Of God's, whose prisoning is death."
In The Niobids," octosyllabics give place to heroic
couplets.
"Still gazing stood that mother, stricken blind,
Rigid in grief that stony is and numb,
For that it biteth in and leaveth dumb
The lips, and sealeth up the fount of tears:
And still, men say, her lonely image rears
A marble head among the empty hills,
But now't is scored about with countless rills
Whereby the traveller, hearing all the waters,
Knows Niobe weeps yet her sons and daughters.
For having pity on that grief so dry,
Our Lord Apollo gave her grace to ory:
Kinder than She (whose kindness were to kill),
The Mistress of the cold nights on the hill;
Whose footfall is the soughing of the trees,
And her white splendour seen when moonbeams freeze
The bleacht earth huddled lowly on the plain;
Who slays and passes, looking not again;
Who, all too lovely to be loved, still goes
Guarding with steadfast eyes her breast of snowa."
A stanzaic form is chosen for "Latinos," which is a
new version of the myth of Endymion. The goddess
has spoken her last words to him, and put him to
sleep.
"With that her pure throat let a little moan
That she was made so fair, that all alone
Her way must be, until in mortal man
That grace of God be given to look upon
Beauty for what it is, not what it can
Give unto us for sop to batten on.


1909.]
99
THE
"So she with light upon her like a wreath
Of stars sped on her way with undira'd breath.
One little sigh she suffered, such as Gods
May know, who watch our footsteps far beneath
Their skyey thrones — envying our abodes,
Envying our lives of love, perhaps onr death."
Mr. Hewlett is also a Meredithian, as we have long
since known from his prose; as a writer of verse he
rather emphasizes the Meredithian vice of ohscurity
then the penetrating Meredithian vision.
We always welcome the little hooks of verse that
come to us from Oxford. They are not tumultuous
calls from the world of action, but gentle reminders
that there still remains somewhere, for those who
care to seek it out, a world of contemplation in which
the fever of life is soothed. Such a reminder is
offered by Mr. G. N. Northrop's "In Itinere," and
particularly by the little set of verses entitled " Stars."
"The azure hive above is bright
With swarms of golden bees:
They glitter in the summer night
Above the plumed trees.
"Dear alchemists of light they sing
About their heavenly task:
They circle on with tireless wing
And no respite they ask.
"They store their treasure in the skies
For those to taste who will:
Their songs are full of sweet surprise
For those whose lips are still."
We must reprint one of Mr. Northrop's many beau-
tiful sonnets, and our choice shall be " For Ever,"
because of its harmony of grave diction and ripened
thought.
"They prate of that eternity that glows
Beyond the shadowed barriers we spend
Onr powers to mount: they tax their hours to rend
The veil, whose pattern dark with secret woes
Embroils our days and vanquishes repose.
They tell us that this dusty journey's end
Will bring unending peace and rest to mend
The bruised members from terrestrial blows.
"Believe them not! The hour at hand must reap
In joy her own reward. To-day is part
Of all eternity: the soundless deep
Lies under, not beyond. The valiant heart
Need seek no kingdom o'er the unmapped sea,
Discovering here and now his sovereignty."
This is the wisdom of Goethe; in fact, it is practi-
cally a paraphrase of a famous quatrain of " Faust,"
"Thor, wer dorthin die Angen blinzend richtet," etc.
An Oxford poet naturally thinks of Shelley, to whom
the writer now under consideration pays exquisite
tribute in a series of octave stanzas, two of which
we quote.
"Eternal friend to all aspiring youth,
Born in a storm-torn age to break Wrong's reign!
Impatient seeker of the hidden truth,
We mourn not thee, but those who call thee slain.
The wings of morning never droop nor tire,
Nor light grows weary of her crystal task:
The cloud that so obscures man's high desire
Is his own making, and a needless mask.
"Upon the altars of thy thought flamed bright
The Vestal fires of Truth: thy God was kind,
Not made with hands; nor worshipped aright
Except in deeds and longings unconfined
By barriers man-fashioned, absolute;
Through all thy days the heart's clear rhapsody
In gladness prayed and not one honr was mute:
And on thy lips a constant melody."
"Andrea," by Mr. Gascoigne Mackie, is an
incident of adventure in the Basque Pyrenees, a
story of simple peasant kindliness amplified in the
Wordsworthian manner. Other longish poems in
the little volume give us further philosophic moral-
izings occasioned by rather trivial matters. The
sonnet on "The Shelley Memorial" at Oxford will
best serve us for illustration.
"Above him hangs a sapphire-coloured dome
Superb with stars: but through the rifted floor
Breaks like eternity — his metaphor—
The light beyond. We envy not dead Rome
His little dust: for here — by fire and foam
Twice-purged from every stain of mortal wrong,
Th' imperishable soul of passionate song
Even thy spirit, 0 Shelley, finds a home!
"Here, through the ages, shall thy shrine be shown;
Here, vindicated, on thy pyre sublime
Lifted above the ebb and flow of time,
The world shall pay thee homage, and shall own
More strong than privilege and power and pride,
Genius — of all her martyrs justified."
Mr. Charles H. Pritchard, who is the author of
"Owen Glyndwr and Other Poems," cultivates the
ballad form of composition, and writes lays of the
legendary past after the fashion of Macaulay.
"Afar, on London's fortress vast
Where carrion birds were fed,
Stern Edward, ruthless to the lost,
Spiked brave Llewelyn's head,
And with derisive ivy bound
The brows fond Cambria's gold had crowned.
"As fast through Wales the tidings spread
Her bright-eyed maidens wept,
Her bards, to grace the Hero-Dead,
Their thrilling harp string's swept,
And place to greet Llewelyn gave
With Arthur and Cadwalla brave."
Thus in stirring jog-trot rhythm the poet sings of
heroes dead and gone. Now and then he writes in
lighter vein, as when he thus discourses of primitive
man: . ...
"He captured the girls he would wed,
And clubbed them to keep them afraid;
He worshipped the ghosts of his dead;
He revelled in blood-feud and raid;
The price of slow progress he paid
In ages of errors and woes, —
To struggle till evil shall fade
Man in the beginning arose."
Mr. Mackie is most serious in his sonnets, of which
"John Bunyan" is a good example.
"Immortal Dreamer! vainly was thy sight
By rage Satanic veiled in prison shade,
For Grace divine came swiftly to thine aid
And showed thee Christian, victor in that fight
Whence foiled Apollyon winged his dragon flight;
And taught thee how to traverse, undismayed,
The Valley of the Shadow, though waylaid


100
[August 16,
THE DIAL
By all that could the sinful soul affright.
Oft didst thou sojourn in Immanuel's land
Where amid fountains, flowers, and foliage green
The Hills Delectable, sun-crested, stand;
Whence by the Shepherds' glass is partly seen,
High o'er the gloomy river's farther strand,
The great Celestial City's glorious sheen."
Mr. Frederick John Webb writes of "Poetry " in
this exalted strain:
"I hold within my hand
The gift of vision and song.
From the twilight, shadowy land,
Where spirits immortal long
For the touch of an earth-born hand,
Come dreams and the spring of song.
"I bring, deep in my heart,
Passion and passion-won peace;
And visions that never depart,
And songs that will only cease
When the wayfaring, weary heart
Shall rest in the infinite peace.
"And in my soul are born
Dreams of the splendour of God;
To the soul of a creed outworn,
To the soul of the earth-bound clod
I call, and the souls, new-born,
Are merged in the new-born God."
Mr. Webb also writes sonnets of exceptional beauty.
We quote the sextet only of the sonnet on "Tristan
and Isolde."
"Wounded to death, in throbbing agony,
I dream of beauty, where my lips may drink
A draught of life, outlasting death's rude gust;
Beyond the stars, beyond eternity,
I hold but love, and leave all else to sink
To ancient chaos and unconscious dust."
We must also quote the latter half of " The End of
the Day," which is the envoy of the collection.
"Though our dream-songs all are flown
With the day on golden wing,
Yet the seed in morning sown
Aftermath of youth shall bring.
"In the night's impassioned strength
Prisoned nature bursts her bars;
Homeward we shall turn at length,
Reaping wisdom from the stars."
Seven lyrics and fifty sonnets make up Mr. Lloyd
Mifflin's latest volume, called "Toward the Uplands."
The most important of the lyrics is an ode to "The
Thrush," in the manner of Keats. The following
section fairly carries the burden of the poem's under-
lying thought, and may, without too much violence
to the context, be given by itself.
"Vain is the wish! T is not for me
To touch thy feet in minstrelsy.
The world hath need of sterner word
Than I, or thou, 0 darling Bird,
Could e'er articulate.
For thou art circumscribed by fate
In all thy melody;
The little circle of thy lay, elate,
Turns ever round thy mate and thee!
Thou hast no prescience in thy song
And so thou dost not feel
The agonies that come from Wrong
Dealt unto human weal.
What canst thou know of deep vicarious pain
In bosoms such as ours?
Of aspirations daily slain?
Of javelins in the quivering soul
From onset of the worldly powers?
What canst thou know of death, and famine's dole?
Or of the rising, world-ensanguined flood, —
The crimson trend of temporal things,
While tiger-hearted Kings
Lap, with their thiisty swords, the Nations' blood?"
From Mr. Mifflin's sonnets it is difficult to make a
selection, so many and deserving are the claimants
for distinction. "Sunset over Camelot" may be
given for the richness of its imaginative coloring.
"Faint, bannered towers of strange magnificence
Loom on the verge of evanescent steeps.
Donjons, dismantled, crumble into moaU
Of liquid jasper. Dim-emblazoned gates
Open on sumptuous aisles, where columned courts
Lead up to golden domes. And clarions blow,
Far off, to spectral hosts, where faintly seen,
Dissolving Legions girt with spear and plume,
File on in purple pomp. Raised Phoanix-wings
Of cloud, burn into life. With scarlet scales.
Pythons—whose tongues belch flame—in dragon-coils
Fade in unfathomed antres of the air
Whose darkest depths flash splendor; over all.
The encrimsoned Wyverns beat their vans of fire."
So opulent in diction is this poem, that the absence
of rhyme is hardly realized.
The poems which Mr. Cale Young Rice calls
"Nirvana Days" fall into "non-dramatic" and
"more or less dramatic" groups. The latter group
contains the more vigorous work, and we should be
glad to quote such a poem as "In the Flesh," for
example, did space allow. But we must rest content
with "The Soul's Return," a quiet and sincere lyrical
meditation.
"Let me lie here —
I care not for the distant hills to-day,
And the blue sphere
Of far infinity that draws away
All to its deep,
Would only sweep
Soothing the farther from me with its sway.
'* Let me lie here —
Gazing with vacant sadness on this weed.
The cricket near
Will utter all my heart can bear to heed.
Another voice
Would swell the noise
And surge, that ever sound in human need.
"Let me lie here:
For now, so long my wasted soul has tossed
On the wide mere
Of mystery Hope's wing alone has crossed,
I ask no more
Than to restore
To simple things the wonder they have lost."
The most important group of Mr. R. E. Lee
Gibson's sonnets is of Mexican inspiration, and
"Oaxaca" is a typical example.
"These hills, they say, are veined with precious ores;
Silver and gold their granite hearts contain,
Whereof each year, the toil-worn miners drain,
Out of the rocks, immeasurable stores.


1909.]
101
THE
DIAL
Exhaustless Ophira, to these alien shores
They lured, of old, those dauntless sons of Spain,
Whose mighty galleons plowed the Spanish Main,
Fraught with the wealth which here the earth outpours.
Hills of Oaxaca, from your aureate mould,
Pure hearts have sprung here, like your native gold;
Hearts that loved Freedom, and divined her day:
Intrepid Diaz, valorous and true,
Like Juarez, here the breath of life first drew;
Immortal names that shall not pass away."
Two longer poems, their themes taken from Chris-
tian legend, fill out the measure of Mr. Gibson's vol-
ume of refined and unpretentious verse.
From a professional librarian we expect bookish
verse, and Mr. Harry Lyman Koopman gives it to
as, with something besides. His long titular poem,
"The Librarian of the Desert," has for its subject
the great library of the Senussi brotherhood, in the
oasis of Kufra, in the heart of the Libyan Desert.
This library was removed in 1893, borne upon the
backs of several hundred camels, from its more
exposed northern location to its present home three
hundred miles farther away from danger. The
following passage describes the journey.
"So, day after day
For a score of days we press
Ever our southward way
Through a wilder wilderness,
To the region set apart
In the desert's deepest heart
To shelter our sacred lore.
There at last shall we halt,
Where the oasis lies enisled
In a hundred leagues of sand
That surge on every hand,
By the hot winds driven and piled
Barren as ashes or salt.
But, to the Faithful's eyes,
A blessed bound it lies,
No foeman shall pass o'er.
And the Truth forevermore
From the desert, as ever of yore,
On earth shall be shed abroad;
And the gardens of earth that bloom,
The gardens no less shall become
Of the holy Faith, and man,
In the desert brought face to face
With the infinite blessing and ban,
Shall live in every place
As under the eye of God."
The verse contained in Mrs. Wharton's " Artemis
to Actseon" has the qualities to be expected from
that accomplished writer. In her poems, perhaps
more than in her stories, we find great refinement of
feeling, sublety of thought, and a diction that will
bear close critical scrutiny. Intellectualized and
spiritualized in a high degree, it provides the satis-
faction that may always be got from intercourse
with a rich and serious mind. These very charac-
teristics place it outside the category of poetry in
the pure spontaneous sense; it is too sicklied o'er
with the pale cast of thought, its artifice is too evi-
dent, its song (as far as it sings at all) does not well
straight up from the heart. What we have said
may be well enough illustrated by a passage from
the titular poem, in which Artemis gives Actoeon an
elaborate explanation of the dulness of life upon
Olympus, and of the reasons which prompted her to
accept his worship and to slay him for his temerity.
He has, she urges, no reason to complain,—
"For immortality is not to range
Unlimited through vast Olympian days,
Or sit in dull dominion over time;
But this — to drink fate's utmost at a draught,
Nor feel the wine grow stale upon the lip,
To scale the summit of some soaring moment,
Nor know the dulness of the long descent,
To snatch the crown of life and seal it up
Secure forever in the vaults of death."
There is more of vitality in the poem which comes
a little later in the collection, taking the form of
a dramatic monologue spoken by Vesalius when
nearing the end of his days in exile. But even
these words offer but a pale reflection of life itself.
Mrs. Wharton's verse reveals only the grayer
aspects of human existence, and has its being in
the shadows.
"Age after age the fruit of knowledge falls
To ashes on men's lips;
Love fails, faith sickens, like a dying tree
Life sheds its dreams that no new spring recalls;
The longed-for ships
Come empty home or founder on the deep,
And eyes first lose their tears and then their sleep."
Thus opens the poem called "Non Dolet." The
title makes a brave pretense, but its irony is too
evident
Mrs. Theodosia Garrison's poems offer a refresh-
ing contrast to the drab coloring of the pieces just
mentioned. "The Joy o' Life" is their collective
title, and it finds expression in buoyant sentiments
set to swinging rhythms.
"Oh, the Joy o'Life she calls me from the valley,
Oh, the Joy o' Life she hails me from the height,
And her voice is like the thrill of the thrush when noon is
still,
And her laughter is the lilting of delight.
I follow through the sunshine and the moonshine —
(Oh, I have seen the waving of her hand!)
In the paths that know the fleet, flying touches of her feet,
At the music of her mocking of command."
A favorite form with this writer is a sort of sym-
bolical parable in ballad form, such as "Stains."
"The three ghosts on the lonesome road
Spake each to one another,
'Whence came that stain about your mouth
No lifted hand may cover?'
'From eating of forbidden fruit,
Brother, my brother.'
"The three ghosts on the snnless road
Spake each to one another,
'Whence came that red burn on your foot
No dust nor ash may cover?'
'I stamped a neighbour's hearth-flame out,
Brother, my brother.'


102
[August 16,
THE DIAL
"The three ghosts on the windless road
Spake each to one another,
'Whence came that blood upon your hand
No other hand may cover?'
4 From breaking of a woman's heart,
Brother, my brother.'
"Yet on the earth clean men we walked,
Glutton and Thief and Lover;
White flesh and fair it hid our stains
That no man might discover.'
'Naked the soul goes up to God,
Brother, my brother.'"
This writer does not avert her gaze from sorrow
and evil, hut faces them with a brave front and a
determination not to be cowed.
"God gives the battle to the strong —
His heroes armoured with their might,
To those undaunted souls who fling
Light laughter to sore suffering
And dare to stand, resist, and smite."
This exultant note is the dominant one from begin-
ning to end of her volume.
"Confession, and Other Verses," by Miss May
Austin Low, again invites us to the mood of mel-
ancholy.
"Chill is the night: Cold stars
Creep from the clouds, and stare
Down on the fields afar —
And branches brown and bare.
"Chill is ray soul: Cold winds
Spring from the past, to press
Their hands upon my heart, and wake
Grief's unforgetfulness."
Religious musing is an important element in Miss
Low's verse, and supplies what is perhaps its pre-
vailing note.
Miss Sara Hamilton Birchail, on the other hand,
chirps cheerily of the joyous and care-free life in
her " Songs of Saint Bartholomew." The sursum
corda appeal is heard even in those pieces which
admit the existence of a shadowy side of the human
pilgrimage, as in these stanzas on "The Failures."
"We burn our youth out gaily,
And, faith, we had our fun.
We laughed and dreamed and trusted Luck,
And now, at last, we 're done.
"The river is our kinsman,
Fettered and foul and blue,
With his yearning lap at the arches
Where the tug-boats elbow through.
"One day, when the farce is ended,
He '11 give us a friendly bed,
When the New Year's caught us napping
With a gray, dishonoured head.
"Not yet we '11 claim our lodging,
Good cousin, your sheets are damp —
The bitter east wind snatches
At the flame of the flaring lamp.
"Not yet. We '11 risk our fortune,
If the game goes up again,
We '11 kiss Marie at the corner,
And try your rest-house then."
William Morton Payne.
Briefs ox New Books.
A thesaurus of what, for want of a
tZgSSSZL b!tter name' we ^ ^ information
with regard to the status of the " Lost
Dauphin" controversy is offered in the volume
entitled "The King Who Never Reigned" (John
McBride ). There are several paragraphs of preface
by M. Jules Lemaitre, a reprinting of the old
"Memoirs upon Louis XVII." by the Royalist
Eckard, a hundred pages of extracts from the
memoirs of the insane imposter Naundorff, an
epilogue which supplements the memoirs to the
extent of furnishing a biography of the enthusiast,
an appendix explaining the circumstance on which
the false Dauphins founded their claims and giving
an account of the procedure of a dozen more promi-
nent pretenders among the hundreds who appeared:
and, finally, the ingenious essay by M. Joseph
Turquan entitled " New Light on the Fate of Louis
XVII." M. Turquan, who has found no new evi-
dence but has made a earful independent study of
the documents that exist, proves — to his own satis-
faction, at least — first, that the royal child was
assassinated in the Temple on January 19, 1794,
between eight and nine o'clock at night; second, that
he was buried in the moat at once and secretly; third,
that a child who suffered from an incurable disease
was put in his place, and that this child's death was
announced to the world as the death of the Dauphin;
and, fourth, that the Dauphin's sister, the Duchesse
d'Angeuleme, learned the whole story shortly after
her return to France, but, having been bound to
secrecy by an oath, was careful never to reveal it
It would seem that M. Turquan's evidences are some-
what scanty to cover so considerable an extent of
territory. The book, however, has interest and value
as an epitome of a famous historic controversy which
has long raged in France and found expression in
our own country nearly a half century ago in the
phrase "Have we a Bourbon Among Us?"
MUcellanie.of In an octavo volume uniform with
a liberal-minded the three containing his "Autobiog-
teacher and ,aUe. » and u pilgrimage to the Wise
Men of the East," there is issued by the same pub-
lishers (Houghton Mifflin Co.) a selection from the
late Moncure D. Conway's half-forgotten or out-of-
print or unpublished writings, under the title,
"Addresses and Reprints, 1850-1907," with a brief
biographical introduction, a frontispiece portrait of
the author in his old age, and an eight-page bibliog-
raphy of his writings. Two of the longest articles
reprinted in the volume — " Free Schools in Vir-
ginia" and "The Golden Hour"—are no longer
of very live interest in themselves, dealing as they
do with the establishment of public education and
with the removal of negro slavery; but as illustrat-
ing the growth of the author's mind and the develop-
ment of his skill and power as a writer, they are not
out of place. Other chapters, as those on "The
Gospel of Art," "Sunday Opening of Exhibitions,"


1909.]
103
THE DIAL
*' Public Service," "Dogma and Science," William
Penn, and Ellen Dana Conway (the author's wife),
are better worth reading for their own sake. As a
whole, the book impresses one with its writer's mental
and spiritual freedom and dignity, and also with his
mastery of a graceful and effective literary style.
Among the forcible utterances of the article on
"Public Service," let us quote the following:
"Whenever a nation makes a conquest, it must live
up to it or down to it; must surround every sub-
j ugated country with a Monroe doctrine, ever expand-
ing till it involves hostility to the whole world and
loss of that free-will which alone can really inherit
the earth and enjoy it" As a reverent free-thinker,
a sane and safe radical, and an ardent lover of and
seeker for truth at any cost, Mr. Conway deserves
the widest possible reading.
ImH mettaget Whatever Professor Goldwin Smith
of a reverent writes is worthy of the attention of
ZMeralM. ^ serious-minded people. He names
the volume containing his last religious messages
"No Refuge but in Truth" (Putnam). Although
the beautifully printed book contains less than a
hundred pages, yet, like the tiny branches of a
loaded fruit-tree, they are richly stored with great
thoughts and noble sentiments. The nine chapters
contain discussions in miniature of such supremely
important themes as "Man and his Destiny," "New
Faith Linked with Old," " The Scope of Evolution,"
"The Limit of Evolution," "The Immortality of
the Soul," "Is there a Revolution in Ethics ?" "The
God of the Bible," and others. The book closes
with a brief discussion of " The Religious Situation."
While there is little that is really original in these
beautifully-moulded testimonies, they present many
spiritual truths in a very fresh and helpful manner,
the frank expression of a fearless mind. There is
here no traditional or scientific dogmatism. To the
aged veteran in the service of many high causes, the
conclusion of the whole matter lies in this simple
statement: "There is no refuge for us but in truth."
Professor Smith accepts the doctrine of Evolution,
but contends that merely materialistic evolution fails
to account for man's higher nature, which calls for
other than physical explanation. A hint toward
what Evolution fails to explain in man is found in
the sentence, "Beavers are wonderfully cooperative,
but they have shown no tendency to establish a
church!" The robust faith of the author is given
in these words: "A plan of which we are ignorant,
but of which the end will be good, is apparently our
only explanation of the mystery."
Man's heipt and Under the rather too ambitious title
Mt Mmiraneet "The Balance of Nature" (Dutton)
from animal.. Mr< George Abbey classifies and
analyzes the common animals and birds with refer-
ence to the harm or good they do to man. The
classification into "Insectivorous and Harmless,"
"Partly Useful and Partly Injurious," and " Destruc-
tive," is applied in successive chapters to wild animals,
wild birds, water birds, migratory birds, reptiles, and
game. The author attempts neither to defend nor
condemn, but with scientific impartiality tells the
story of each creature's habits and conduct from the
standpoint of man's welfare. If any fault is to be
found with the author's sense of justice, it is that
while the second part of his book gives directions for
trapping or otherwise destroying those creatures that
sometimes do harm, no corresponding space is given
to directions for protecting and preserving those that-
do good. The third section of the volume is devoted
to domesticated animals, and makes many ingenious
and amusing suggestions. One case is reported in
which cats were employed successfully to patrol a
strawberry bed and frighten away the birds. This
was accomplished by placing collars around the cat's
necks, attaching chains to these collars, and allowing
the chains, by means of rings at the farther end, to run
on wires strung along the aisles of the strawberry
beds. "Saucers replete with milk and other evidence
of food being supplied, rendered the arrangement
complete." An abundance of cats and a scarcity of
strawberries would seem to be implied by this ingen-
ious scheme. Less fanciful and even more practical
suggestions are made which householders and gar-
deners might well give heed to. The volume is of
substantial size, well made, and illustrated with a
hundred and fifty "diagrammatical drawings." A
view of the trained cats doing police duty at the
strawberry beds would have been an interesting
addition.
. Mr. Charles F. AVarwick, a Phila-
Three great men Z~Z Y » *-
of the French delphia lawyer, is the author of three
Revolution. volumes on "the three most distin-
guished and representative men in each of the three
distinctive periods of the French Revolution" (Jacobs
& Co.). The first volume is on Mirabeau, the second
on Danton, the third on Robespierre. While the
volumes add little to what is known of the men or
the period, they are good popular expositions of
their subjects, and will be found useful as well as
readable. Especially interesting, in the volume on
Robespierre, are the first two chapters, containing a
character-sketch of that remarkable man—a mosaic
of the opinions of others bound together by the
author's own views. After a chapter describing the
early life of the great revolutionist, we are given
twenty-two chapters relating not so much to Robes-
pierre as to the Revolution — its causes, conditions,
and results; its leaders, interesting incidents, etc.
The concluding chapters trace the decline of Robes-
pierre's influence to his fall. The author's aim is,
in part, to show that Robespierre was incorruptible,
sincere, less radical than was commonly believed, and
less bloodthirsty, especially toward the last. "He
was possessed of a single ruling idea, and had a
fixedness of purpose, an indefatigable perseverance,
that neither fate nor defeat could weaken or destroy.
His reserve was impenetrable, and this made it
interesting as well as difficult to fathom his purpose.
By his earnestness, he impressed men with his sin-


104
[August 16,
THE DIAL
cerity, and he was so far removed from every form
and feature of venality that he was in time designated
'The Incorruptible,' this term being applied neither
in irony nor in contempt. . . . Cold, repellant, with-
out generous emotions, he yet had qualities that
enabled him to force his way to the front, and by a
relentless policy to overthrow his adversaries, attain
eminence, and in one of the stormiest periods of the
world's history to exercise a power that was almost
imperial. . . . He was a product of the eventful
and exceptional times in which he lived."
In a small volume attractively illus-
^BepZL ^ted and clearly printed, Mr.
Charles Stedman Hanks tells the
story of "Our Plymouth Forefathers, the Real
Founders of the Republic" (Estes). Beginning
with a chapter on "The English Separatists,"
which gives the commonly accepted account of
King Henry VIII.'s rupture with Rome, the author
traces the course of the Pilgrims from Scrooby to
Holland and America, the greater part of the
book being naturally devoted to the vicissitudes of
the colony at Plymouth. Due honor is paid to
Provincetown, as the place of our forefathers' first
landing; and some account is also given of the
Buzzards Bay, Connecticut River, and Penobscott
River trading posts, with one chapter on "The
Puritan Settlement at Boston." The author is in-
clined to see the hand of fate leading these early
settlers in their wanderings, and his final chapter
he entitles "A People of Destiny." In the imme-
diately preceding chapter some glimpses are fur-
nished of the every-day life of our Plymouth
ancestors. The book is well suited to the needs
and tastes of young students of American history,
and is good reading for older persons also.
A French
hUtorian
ofgouip.
M. JosephTurquan, who has acquired
a position in France as an historian
of gossip, has achieved a volume on
"The Love Affairs of Napoleon," a very good trans-
lation of which, by Mr. J. Lewis May, is published
by the John Lane Co. A volume on such a subject
could scarcely be expected to be proper literary diet
virginiims puertsque; and although there is perhaps
nothing unnecessarily offensive in M. Turquan's
method of handling it, we have chroniquescandaleuse
from the first page to the last. The work is, of
course, no more than a compilation. Fragments of
more or less well-authenticated gossip are regularly
sandwiched with cheap comment which strives to be
at the same time cynical and respectable; yet this
narrative, in common with everything from M. Tur-
quan, possesses the merit that covers a multitude of
literary defects—the merit of being eminently read-
able. A psychologist might even find it possible to
show that this author possesses both the virtues and
the faults that make for popularity; although a
moralist might deplore the application of these quali-
ties — in this volume at least — in a direction so
little edifying.
BRIEFER MENTION.
One who takes his history not too heavily will find
Mrs. Julia Henderson Leveruig's volume on " Historic
Indiana" (Putnam) worth reading. It is written in an
attractive style, and narrates the story of Indiana from
its earliest beginnings under the French regime down to
the present time, bringing out forcibly the dramatic
elements in the history of this frontier State. While
adding nothing especially new, such volumes have their
legitimate use in popularizing the knowledge reached
at the time of publication. As scholarly research ad-
vances, similar books will be written, so that new view-
points and more accurate interpretations may become
known by a larger reading public. The volume is well
and attractively illustrated.
Three new Baedekers are ready for the present
tourist season. "The United States," still edited by
Mr. J. F. Muirhead, is now in its fourth edition, and
includes excursions to Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, and
Alaska. Americans seem to be learning that a Baedeker
is no less useful for travel in their own country than in
foreign parts. The volume now fills over eight hun-
dred pages, and is equipped with some eighty maps
and plans. The 11 Northern France," now in its fifth
English edition, covers the region from the Channel to
the Loire. The "Norway, Sweden, and Denmark,"
now in its ninth edition, includes excursions to Iceland
and Spitzbergen. All these are imported by the Messrs.
Scribner.
Mr. J. Redding Ware's "Passing English of the
Victorian Era" (Dutton) is a dictionary of slang as
now current among our English cousins. The entries
are illustrated by quotations, and the book, while serving
a serious purpose, will also be found highly entertaining.
The flavor of the examples is of course insular, but
American readers will not find themselves wholly at
sea in the pages of this dictionary. "Nark the titter"
may be a puzzle to us, but " Damfoolishness " and "Up
to the scratch " will be recognized as old friends. We
are not quite so sure about "Ticket-skinner," said to
hail from New York; it may be as expressive as " Ticket
scalper," but we have never heard it used on this side
of the i
Notes.
Miss Elizabeth Robins's new novel, announced for
early publication in the autumn, is to be entitled "The
Florentine Frame." The scene is New York City and
the characters are all American.
To the " Tudor and Stuart Library " of reprints, pub-
lished by Mr. Henry Frowde, has been added " Wilson's
Arte of Rhetorique, 1560," edited by Mr. G. H. Mair,
who writes an elaborate critical introduction.
The "Agricola" of Tacitus, edited by Professor
Duane Reed Stuart, it a new volume of "Macmillan's
Latin Classics." The thirty pages of text get over a
hundred pages of notes and commentary, which is cer-
tainly a liberal measure.
"De Quincey's Literary Criticism," edited by Mr. H.
Darbishire, and published by Mr. Henry Frowde, is »
volume of extracts from that brilliant but erratic
writer, including chapters on Pope, Milton, Words-
worth, Southey, Lamb, and Landor, besides the essay
on "Rhetoric " in the guise of a review of Whateley'i
text-book.


1909.]
105
THE
DIAL
Messrs. Ginn & Co. publish "Essentials of Public
Speaking for Secondary Schools," by Messrs. Robert L.
Fulton and Thomas C. Trueblood; and an " Elementary
Modern Chemistry," the work of Messrs. Wilhelm
Ostwald and Harry W. Morse.
Messrs. B. H. Sanborn & Co. publish "A Secondary
Arithmetic, Commercial and Industrial," the work of
Messrs. John C. Stone and James F. Millis. The prob-
lems are numerous, and of the strictly practical character
demanded by the conditions of modern business.
A biography of the late Professor Simon Newcomb
is being prepared by his daughter, Mrs. Anita Newcomb
McGee, who invites assistance from any of his friends
who may have letters from or reminiscences of him to
contribute. Her address is 1620 P St., Washington, D. C.
"Light and Sound," by Messrs. William S. Franklin
and Barry Macnutt, is a college text-book of physics
recently published by the Macmillan Co. It combines
advanced theoretical discussion with a wholesome ten-
dency to keep the practical application constantly in
view.
"Spanish tales for Beginners," edited by Professor
Elijah C. Hills, is published by Messrs. Henry Holt &
Co. It includes both short stories and poems, and has
the usual notes and vocabulary. Messrs. D. C. Heath
& Co. publish a volume of " Spanish Anecdotes," edited
by Messrs. W. F. Giese and C. D. Cool.
FrSulein Ida Louise Benecke, with permission given
her many years ago by George Meredith, has published
a German translation of his story of Lassalle and Helene
von Racowitza, and we now acknowledge the receipt of
"Die Trigischen Komodaanten" from Messrs. Siegle,
Hill, & Co., London. This translator is not, however,
the first in the field, since a German version of the work
by Fraulein Julie Sotteck appeared in Berlin a year ago.
Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co. are all the time
discovering new categories of things that " every child
should know." We are not sure about all of their groups,
but when it comes to "Wild Flowers Every Child Should
Know" there can be no doubt of the usefulness of the
guide. Mr. Frederic William Stack is the author of
this book, which adopts a simple color classification, and
is attractively illustrated with photographic plates, some
of them colored.
"Theodore Roosevelt, Dynamic Geographer"—it is
a novel appellation, and it forms the title of a pamphlet
published by Mr. Henry Frowde. The author, Mr.
Frank Buffington Vrooman, simply means by it that
Mr. Roosevelt has set out to conserve the natural
resources of the United States, and his summary of
the progress made, and largely due to Mr. Roosevelt's
initiative, is now printed upon the basis of a lecture
given last March at Oxford.
The Columbia University "Studies in History, Eco-
nomics, and Public Law " yield a new group of mono-
graphs, six in number, rather exceptional in their
interest. They are as follows: "An Introduction to
the Sources Relating to the Germanic Invasions," by
Dr. Carlton Huntley Hayes; "Transportation and
Industrial Development in the Middle West," by
Dr. William F. Gerhardt; "Social Reform and the
Reformation," by Dr. Jacob Salwyn Schapiro; "Re-
sponsibility for Crime," by Dr. Philip A. Parsons; " The
Conflict over Judicial Powers in the United States to
1870," by Dr. Charles Grove Haines; and "A Study
of the Population of Manhattanville," by Dr. Howard
Brown Woolston.
List of New Books.
[The following List, containing 32 titles, includes books
received by Tee Dial since its last issue.]
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.
Simeon Solomon: An Appreciation. By Julia Ellsworth
Ford. Illustrated, 4to. pp. 77. New York: Frederic Fair-
child Sherman. $3.50 net.
Edward Gayer Andrews: A Bishop of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church. By Francis J. McDonnell. With portrait,
8vo. pp. 291. Eaton A Mains. $1.60 net.
Correspondence of Thomas Ebenezer Thomas: Mainly
Relating to the Anti-Slavery Conflict in Ohio. Published
by His Son. With portraits, large 8vo, pp. 137. Robert
Clarke Co. (1. net.
GENERAL, LITERATURE.
The Shadow on the Dial, and Other Essays. By Ambrose
Bierce. 8vo, pp. 249. San Francisco: A. M. Robertson.
12. net.
The Foe Cult, and Other Poe Papers. By Eugene S. Dldier.
With portrait, I2mo, pp. 301. Broadway Publishing Co.
11.80.
The Gest of Robin Hood. By W. H. Clawson. Large 8vo,
pp. 129. University of Toronto Library. $1.
FICTION.
The Old Wives' Tale. By Arnold Bennett. 12mo, pp. 578.
George H. Doran Co. $1.50 net.
Half a Ohanoe. By Frederic S. Isham. Illustrated, 12mo,
pp. 383. Bobbs-Merrill Co. $1.50.
Diana Dethroned. By W. M. Letts. 12mo, pp. 317. John
Lane Co. $1.50.
The Compact. By Ridgwell Cullim. 12mo, pp. 306. George
H. Doran Co. $1.20 net.
The Illaster of Life: A Romance of the Five Nations. By
W. D. Lighthall. Illustrated, 12mo, pp. 261. A. C. McClurg
4 Co. tl.50.
The Goose Girl. By Harold MacOrath. Illustrated, 12mo,
pp. 383. Bobbs-Merrill Co. $1.50.
A Castle of Dreams. By Netta Syrett. With frontispiece.
12mo. pp. 345. A. C. McClurg & Co. $1.50.
The Man of Destiny. By Thomas Gold Frost. Illustrated,
UnO, pp. 312. New York: Gramercy Publishing Co. $1.50.
Zarlah the Martian. By R. Norman Grisewood. With
frontispiece, 12mo, 194 pages. New York: R. F. Fenno &
Co. $1.
RELIGION.
Modern Light on Immortality. By Henry Frank. 12mo,
pp. 467. Boston: Sherman, French & Co. $1.85 net.
Bethlehem to Olivet: The Life of Jesus Christ. By J. R.
Miller. Illustrated by modern painters, 12mo, pp. 180.
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. $1.50 net.
The Mind of Christ: An Attempt to Answer the Question.
What Did Jesus Believe) By T. Calvin McClelland, D.D,
12mo, pp. 210. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. $1.26 net.
The Socialized Churoh: Addresses before the First National
Conference of the Social Workers of Methodism. Edited by
Worth M. Tippy, D.D. 12mo. pp. 288. Eaton & Mains. $1. net.
BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.
Stories of Norse Heroes: Hero Tales from the Eddas and
Sagas. Retold by E. M. Wilmot-Buxton. Illustrated, 8vo,
pp. 260. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. $1.50.
A Child's Guide to Amerioan History. By Henry W.
Elson. Illustrated, l2mo, pp. 364. Baker & Taylor Co.
$1.25 net.
In Nature's School. By Lilian Gask. Illustrated, 12mo,
pp. 320. Thomas Y. Crowell A Co. $1.50.
Found by the Circus. By James Otis. Illustrated, 12mo,
pp. 180. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. $1.
BOOKS OF REFERENCE,
gjmnal Magazine Subi eot-Index for 1908. By Frederick
Winthrop Faxon, A.B. Large 8vo, pp. 193. Boston Book
Co. $3. net.
Bibliography of the Chinese Question in the United
States. By Robert Ernest Cowan and Boutweli Dunlap.
Large 8vo, pp. 68. San Francisco: A. M. Robertson. $1.40 net.


106
[August 16,
THE DIAL
EDUCATION.
Teaching Children to Study. Bj Lida B. Earhart. Ph.D.
12mo, pp. 181. "Riverside Educational Monographs."
Houghton Mifflin Co. 85 cts.
Introduction to Economics. By Alvin S. Johnson, Ph.D.
l2mo. pp. 404. New York: D. C. Heath & Co. $1.50 net.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Elements of Military Hygiene. By P. M. Ashburn'
Umo, pp. 814. Houghton Mifflin Co. $2. net.
Chile: A Handbook. Compiled by the International Bureau
of American Republics. Illustrated, large 8vo, pp. 236.
International Bureau of American Republics.
Report on the Progress and Condition of the U.S.
National Museum for the Year 1808. Illustrated.
large 8vo, pp. 138. Washington: Government Printing
Office, tl.
Wit and Humor of the Stage. Edited by Frederic Reddah.
With portrait, 16mo. pp. 236. O. W. Jacobs & Co. 60 cts. net.
The Errors of Mind Healing. By Reinhold Willman, M.D.
8vo. pp. 179. Advocate Publishing Co.
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THE DIAL
Tk Snni=f5lanti)lg Journal of Etterarg Criticism, Discussion, ant Information.
THE DIAL (founded in 1880) is published on the 1st and 16th of
each month, Terms or Subscription, 82. a year in advance, postage
prepaid in the United States and Mexico; Foreign and Canadian
postage 50 cents per year extra. Remittances should be by cheek, or
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THE DIAL, Fine Arts Building, Chicago.
Entered as Second-Clau Matter October 8, 1892, at the Poat Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3,1879.
No. 557. SEPTEMBER 1,1909. Vol. XLV1I.
Contexts.
PAGE
THE MOST MONSTROUS FABLE IN THE
WORLD. Charles Leonard Moore 113
CASUAL COMMENT 116
Echoes of the Tennyson centenary celebration. —
The tragedy of Victor Hugo's daughter. — The
scope of a city librarian's beneficent activities. —
Misspelling among the educated.—The artistic as-
pect of things. — Unworked Shakespearian mines.
— A faithful portrait-painter of the North Amer-
ican Indian.
COMMEMORATIONS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.
Warren Barton Blake 118
Woodberry's Life of Poe, Personal and Literary.—
Didier's The Poe Cult, and Other Papers. — Har-
rison's The Last Letters of Poe to Mrs. Whitman.
A FAMOUS CHAPTER IN AMERICAN POLITICS.
F. H. Hodder 120
GREAT ACTORS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CEN-
TURY. H. C. Chatfield-Taylor 122
MORE OF THE "ETERNAL FEMININE." Annie
Russell Marble 124
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS 126
A naval war that was not declared. — The French
Revolution as seen by an American.—A new book
by Pastor Wagner. — The ideal of immortality. —
Andrew Jackson's statesmanship newly set forth.
BRIEFER MENTION 127
NOTES 128
TOPICS IN SEPTEMBER PERIODICALS . . .129
LIST OF NEW BOOKS 129
THE MOST MONSTROUS FABLE IN
THE WORLD
One of the most curious freaks of human
intelligence is the instinct to attribute any
remarkable thing or work to somebody else than
the person who did it. There are of course
occasions when it is right to suspect a " ghost,"
but men overdo suspicion. "Garth did not
write his own Dispensary," sings Pope, ironi-
cally. Homer did not write the "Iliad";
Thomas a Kempis did not write the "Imita-
tion"; Emily Bronte did not write "Wuthering
Heights"; General Grant did not write his
Memoirs.
As a rule, this instinct has its root in envy.
Like the aspiring youth who fired the Ephesian
dome, the people who possess it, knowing they
are incapable of doing anything great them-
selves, are determined to take those who can
down a peg. They do not seem to see that,
the works remaining, the wonder remains. In
the case of Shakespeare and Bacon they only
add to the wonder by their inexplicable sugges-
tions. Bacon wears a massy crown of his own,
and to give him Shakespeare's would be to create
a power out of nature.
However, it is not necessary to fall back on
this instinct of jealousy to account for the
Baconian craze. The supremacy of Shake-
speare's works themselves has been attacked of
late by a good many leaders in literature —
Count Tolstoy, Mr. Bernard Shaw, Mr.Howells,
Mark Twain, to name no more. The same set
or current seems to be drifting others against
the man Shakespeare. As their arguments,
though bizarre enough, are by no means novel,
so the answer to them must be a twice-told tale.
But it seems necessary to make it.
The one giant obsession of their minds is what
they take to be the profound learning displayed
in Shakespeare's works. Bacon, they say, must
have known a great deal more than Shakespeare.
Doubtless in some realms he did. But it is
admitted by everybody that whoever wrote the
plays was a mighty genius. Now genius is
capable of almost anything, and surely it is
capable of the acquisition of mere knowledge,
which the dullest, by dint of industry, can attain
to. And the learning in the plays is by no means


114
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
what the Baconians imagine it to be. They
claim, for instance, that these works are evi-
dently the productions of a trained and profound
lawyer. Let us see.
There is a strong probability that Shake-
speare served some time, in his youth, as a law
clerk. The accusation was brought against him
soon after his arrival in London. Now the law
which he is proficient in — the law of property
dealings, actions for trespass and dispossession,
the law of commercial intercourse — is just the
kind of law that he might have picked up in a
country lawyer's office. And he tosses its terms
about as though proud of such new-discovered
riches — as though putting his whole wealth
in the show-window. Bacon, on the contrary,
— if I may trust my readings of his works,—
seldom uses law-terms or illustrations. He
writes as one assured of being a classic, who is
above business, cant, or slang words. Later
in life, Shakespeare's property interests would
have confirmed him in a knowledge of this
kind of law. Thousands of laymen since have
acquired a larger stock of knowledge than the
writer of the plays need have possessed. It is
hard to think that a sound lawyer would have
based a plot on the preposterous law of " The
Merchant of Venice."
But of the old law,— the great law of En-
gland, the law that is embodied in Littleton's
Institutes, a treatise which Sir Edward Coke was
moved to declare "the most perfect and absolute
work ever written in any science,"— of this law,
Shakespeare knew nothing. Making a list of
about thirty of the major words and law terms
of this work, and going through the Shakespeare
Concordance, we can find only two of the most
common of them. Of course, if Shakespeare
did not use the law terms he did not discuss the
law matter.
There is another species of law, the law of
nations and of kingly inheritance, with which in
his historical plays Shakespeare does show ac-
quaintance. But, as Mr. Churton Collins has
pointed out, the passages where he deals with
this are taken mainly from his authorities, gen-
erally with only enough change to turn prose
into verse. Shakespeare is no more responsible
for the law of such passages than for the exist-
ence of the historical personages themselves.
As with Shakespeare's law, so with his other
learning — excepting only his close knowledge
of nature and country customs, of which there
is not a trace in Bacon. Shakespeare's knowl-
edge was wide, varied, and vivid; but it was
never exact, minute, scholarly. It was, again,
such knowledge as a great intelligence would
pick up from casual or purposed reading, con-
versation, and experience of life. There is such
a thing as a paralysis of learning; as witness
Gray and Landor. Shakespeare's was the kind
which the greatest poets have instinctively aimed
at. Lowell says that when Goethe wanted any
facts about antiquity, he would take a ruminating
Professor of Greek or Sanscrit aside and quietly
milk him. No doubt Shakespeare did the same.
His knowledge, however, is more flawed and
questionable than that of more cautious modern
poets. Bacon would have shuddered at some of
the blunders, historical, geographical, or liter-
ary, which Shakespeare makes. I have read
the English version of all of Bacon's works,
and I can recall no error of grammar in them, as
grammar was practised then. But, as everybody
knows, Shakespeare's grammar is a law to itself.
There is, I think, a class feeling growing up
among the educated and patrician class against
Shakespeare. They believe that Shakespeare did
not belong to them, and that Bacon did. As an
argument against genius, this is of course an
absurdity. The two English poets, Burns and
Keats, who perhaps come nearest to Shakespeare
in vividness of realization and gift of language
were of far lower extraction than he was, and one
of them was of practically no book education at
all. But let us see how the case for gentility
stands between Shakespeare and Bacon.
The name of Shakespeare has certainly a
noble sound, and, despite the numerous bearers
of it scattered over England, most of them in
the poorer walks of life, it is at least possible
that some remote ancestor may have been of
noble blood. Shakespeare's father certainly got
a coat of arms. Such transactions have always
been open to question, but it is purely gratuitous
to assert that the Heralds were wrong in grant-
ing it. No direct attack was made on it at the
time, though some other like grants were ridi-
culed. Even if there had been a query of it,
we at this late day could not tell whether this
was not due to envy and malice. As it is,
Shakespeare is in possession. His enemies must
prove an ouster, which so far they have not done.
On his mother's side, fortunately, there is no
doubt. It is generally conceded that Mary Arden
was of long and gentle descent. The genealogist
traces her back to Alfred the Great.
Now, what of Bacon's descent? His father,
Sir Nicholas Bacon, was a distinguished man,
the Lord Keeper of the Seals. But his grand-
father was a tutor who acquired a Prince's favor.
Bacon's mother's name was Cooke. Shake-


1909.]
115
THE
DIAL
speare and Arden, Bacon and Cooke, — what a
contrast of cognomens!
Another delusion about Bacon is that he was
from the first a great and powerful nobleman,
quite able and willing to fling away such trifles
as the Shakespearian plays. As a matter of fact
he was, until the succession of James in 1603,
a struggling lawyer and courtier, laboring under
the disfavor of Elizabeth and the rivalry of a
greater lawyer, Sir Edward Coke. In 1598,
when Shakespeare must have been entering into
the enjoyment of an income which Mr. Sidney
Lee estimates as equal to $35,000 a year now,
Bacon was arrested for debt. If there is any-
thing absolutely established about Bacon's char-
acter, it is that he was greedy in the extreme —
venal. He accepted presents from anyone who
would give them; and he took bribes. Is it
conceivable that such a man would give away
works that were mainly responsible for Shake-
speare's princely income?
But it is urged that Shakespeare took no care
of his works, — did not bring out an edition of
them. Well, neither did Bacon. The latter
was alive when the First Folio was published
with all its horrors on its head—blunders, omis-
sions, bad arrangement. Anyone who knows an
author's sensitiveness as to misprints and mis-
takes in his published works will accept the fact
that Bacon did not secretly or otherwise exercise
any supervision over the folio, as good proof that
he had nothing to do with its contents. Shake-
speare died suddenly, at a comparatively early
age. His plays belonged to the theatre, and he
probably could not have brought them out had
he wished to.
We have said above that the author of the
Plays was unquestionably a great genius, and
that genius is capable of almost anything. Is it
more incredible that Shakespeare, decently born,
decently bred, should have been able to acquire
the knowledge exhibited in his plays than that
a starveling Corsican lieutenant, without money,
without friends, should have been able in ten
years to make himself master of Europe?
But the chief evidence for Shakespeare, to
those competent to judge, is internal. The differ-
ence between the minds of Shakespeare and
Bacon, between their tempers, their ideals, as
expressed in their works, is as great as between
any two men or any two sets of productions in
the history of the world. They are antipodal.
It is the contrast between the metaphysical
and poetic mind and the historical and scientific
mind. Lord Bacon's boast that he had taken all
knowledge for his province is ill-founded; for
he evidently knew comparatively little about
pure literature, and not much more about pure
philosophy. He called the metaphysical sciences
barren virgins. He was a utilitarian, a scientist
almost of the modern type. He had largeness
and greatness in his style, and his dreams of the
future of science are grandiose; but he declined
to meddle with the things of the spirit, the
emotions of the soul. Shakespeare, whether he
had much reading in philosophy or not, is meta-
physical by bent. He throws himself into all
emotions and passions, and the great questions
of life and death and the hereafter haunt him
eternally. Lord Bacon got his death by getting
out of his carriage to stuff some snow into a fowl,
to see if that would preserve it. Perhaps here
was the germ of our modern cold-stoiage sys-
tems; but can we imagine the creator of Hamlet
thinking of such a thing?
Lord Bacon left some verses. If any critic
can believe that they were written by the hand
that wrote Shakespeare's poetry, then King
Midas has a lineal descendant.
Lord Bacon, interested in many things, gath-
ered together in his Apothegms a large number
of witty or humorous stories. Some of them are
really good; but they are told in so dry a style,
with such an absence of unction or lightness,
that we can only think of the creator of Falstaff
reading them with despair.
Lord Bacon also attempted a romance. "The
New Atlantis" is a philosophical story, whose
central idea has merit. But dreary abstractions
take the place of personages, and there is only
the vaguest realization of scene or action.
One of the most remarkable characteristics
of the Plays is their stagecraft — the knowl-
edge of stage effects and stage business which
permeates them. They have been tested for
three hundred years, under all conditions, and
have outlived most of the theatre-pieces of the
world largely by reason of this skill and knowl-
edge. It is improbable, to say the least, that
anyone but a man intimately familiar with
the stage, its methods and secrets, could have
wrought this miracle. Certainly Francis Bacon
had no such experience.
But enough. The best answer to the Ba-
conian balderdash is silence. And the men most
competent to speak have practically adopted it.
Dr. Georg Brandes, in his monumental Life of
Shakespeare, gives a paragraph to the question.
Mr. Sidney Lee gives it a note of a page or so.
Mr. Walter Raleigh does not mention the matter
at all. Dr. Furness, 1 believe, has never chosen
to discuss it. But mischief is being done. By


116
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
constant reiteration the delusion is effecting a
lodgment in the public mind. The newspapers
joke or equivocate about it. People think there
must be something in a claim which is so dinned
in their ears.
If Lord Bacon had made any claim to the
works, if any contemporary or writer in the
next generation had hinted at it, there might be
a case stated — Lord Bacon might have an
arguable interest in the works. But nothing
of the sort happened. It was reserved for the
last sixty years to unearth this mare's nest and
exploit it with an expenditure of ink and paper
which makes it the most monstrous fable of the
world. The intolerable injustice of the attempt
made to rob one of the world's supreme bene-
factors of his reputation and glory does not
seem to strike anyone.
Charles Leonard Moore.
CASUAL COMMENT.
Echoes of the Tennyson centenary cele-
bration, just passed, are many and diverse. The
most interesting contributions to the occasion come
from those who knew Tennyson and are able to give
some personal impressions or recollections of him.
Of this number is Colonel T. W. Higginson, who
visited the poet at Farringford in 1872, and now
for the first time gives (in the Boston "Transcript")
an account of the event — he having conscientiously
refrained from publishing it heretofore by reason of
an assurance he had given his host that he had not
come for the purpose of gathering literary material.
But the narrative has not spoiled by keeping. Mr.
Higginson describes the poet as "the very most un-
English looking man" he had yet encountered, and
adds: "He was tall, high-shouldered, careless in
dress and in attitude, yet most striking and com-
manding in figure. With an unusually high and
dome-like forehead, he had beneath it brilliant black
eyes and tangled grayish hair and beard, which, as
I find recorded in my diary, 'gave him rather the
air of a partially reformed Corsican bandit or else
an imperfectly secularized Carmelite monk than that
of a decorous and well-groomed English citizen.'"
After a momentary dissatisfaction at failing to per-
suade his visitor to smoke with him in his study, the
host led the way to the garden, where the two "sat
down beneath a large tree, and he talked quite freely
about his own books, reciting little passages here and
there. He reminded me," says Colonel Higginson,
"of descriptions of Wordsworth, whom I had never
seen; that is, of a man rather too isolated in his
daily life and too much absorbed in his own fancies.
Lord Houghton, his lifelong friend, said to me after-
wards, 'Tennyson asks unmixed flattery.' This I
should not venture to say; but I observed that when
speaking of other men, he would mention as an
important trait in their characters the fact whether
they liked his poems or not. Lowell, as Tennyson
evidently thought, did not appreciate him. Perhaps
this distrust is a habit of all authors, and it was only
that Tennyson spoke out, in a rather childish way,
what others might have kept back." Much mora
serious than the amiable weaknesses depicted by Col-
onel Higginson are some faults of character brought
out in an article on "The Human Side of Tennyson"
in "The Bookman " for August. The writer charges
not only that the poet sometimes showed "selfish-
ness and perhaps ingratitude," but had "a strong
vein of coarseness " in his nature. An incident given
in illustration is not very convincing — one which
the writer thinks "has never before been printed,"
whereas it has been in print for twenty-five years or
more, although in its present form it is so badly told
that the effect is changed and the point well-nigh
lost. The story, which many of our readers doubt-
less have heard or read, is that of a somewhat
heated discussion between Tennyson and Carlyle,
in which the former had driven the irascible hero-
worshipper into a defence of the hated Norman
Conqueror and his depredations upon English soil;
to which Tennyson had retorted by giving pretty
forcible expression to his notion of what would have
happened to the invader " if he had come around my
premises with your d—d doctrine that might makes
right." In other words, that was a game that two
could play at. Tennyson's expression was energetic,
even fierce; but it did not necessarily imply coarse-
ness, any more than the execution of the savage
threat would have indicated coarseness in a man
who stood as the defender of his home and land.
More astonishing still is the same writer's statement,
made without qualification of any sort, that "when
Longfellow first visited Tennyson the Englishman
entertained him for an hour or more with the nar-
ration of obscene stories." This is certainly going
pretty far in the study of "personality." It has
been said that Lincoln, in his fondness for story-
telling, did not always draw the line at delicacy; but
we have never heard that he could tell "obscene
stories" by the hour to a perfect stranger and a
gentleman of obvious refinement and distinction who
was his guest. The chances are that the Longfellow
incident has been greatly exaggerated and distorted,
and does not at all warrant the sweeping statement
that in Tennyson was to be found "a strong vein of
coarseness that belonged to the very nature of the
man." . . .
The tragedy of Victor Hugo's daughter is
recalled by the preparations now in process for a
grand Hugo celebration this month in Paris, on
the occasion of the unveiling of a new statue of the
French author by Rodin. The day chosen is the
26th, the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of
"La Llgende des Sibcles"; and among other fes-
tivities there will be a revival of " Le Rot a'Amuse"
at the Come"die Francaise, where a box will be re-


1909.]
117
THE
DIAL
served for Adele Hugo, the poet's daughter, whose
tragic and mysterious history rivals in interest any
romance of her father's. In her girlhood she was
kidnapped — so the story runs — and carried away
from her home in the isle of Guernsey. Europe was
searched in vain for her by the distracted parents,
but after Beveral months they received word of her
from a different and unexpected quarter. In the
streets of New York a girl had been found wander-
ing alone and apparently demented, answering all
inquiries with "I am the daughter of Victor Hugo,"
and nothing more. She was sent back to her home,
but with wide-staring eyes she remained dumb to all
questioning as to her disappearance, except to repeat
the assertion of her parentage. Never wholly re-
covering her reason, she has lived a life of gloom
and solitude in her father's villa, occasionally visit-
ing Paris to witness from the back of a darkened box
one of his plays, but having no friends and receiving
no visitors. . . .
The scope of a city library's beneficent
activities is acknowledged to be wide, despite the
occasional indulgence on the part of some less wise
librarian, or children's librarian, in what may rea-
sonably be judged to partake of foolishness and trivi-
ality. A good example of vigorous and effective
energy exerted in various legitimate directions is
furnished by the Free Public Library of Newark,
New Jersey. "The work of the library," writes
Mr. Dana, in his latest report of progress, " is not
confined to the lending of books. The main build-
ing is far more spacious, relatively to the size of the
city and the number of volumes, than any public
library building in the country — to say nothing of
its advantages in conveniences and attractiveness;
and through the generous policy in regard to its use
which the trustees have adopted and the city has
approved, this building has become a centre for no
small amount of literary, philanthropic, art, science,
civic, and general educational activity. This is
shown in a measure by the gatherings for mutual
and public welfare and improvement held here in
1908, which reached a total of 662, with about
22,106 in attendance; and by the 15 exhibits of the
year, with an attendance of 30,000." Especially
noteworthy is the Newark system of numerous
branches and deposit stations, there being in all now
324 such centres of distribution for the convenience
of book-borrowers. . . .
Misspelling among the educated, or the sup-
posedly educated, is apparently on the increase —
thanks, it may be, to the passing of the "spelling
bee" and to the crowding of the school curriculum
with a multitude of studies unknown and undreamt-
of by our sturdy ancestors; and thanks also, perhaps,
to the present movement for phonetic spelling, which
the indolent are tempted to interpret as "spelling
as you please." In a statistical analysis of the spell-
ing of his students, Professor William B. Bailey of
Yale makes some startling revelations. Of 171
essays written by seniors and juniors, only twenty-
five were orthographically correct, while fourteen
per cent contained each ten or more misspelled
words, and one heterographic genius achieved thirty-
one mistakes of this sort. There were 443 mis-
spellings in all, and six especially troublesome words
were "separate," "superintendent," "governor,"
"committee," "comptroller," and "privilege," the
last masquerading as privalege, privilige, priviledge,
privelege, privilidge, and privaledge. Certainly the
later years of a course in a great university are not
the occasion for remedying the deficiencies of ele-
mentary studies in the common schools. Ill fares
the school, to latest fads a prey, where courses multi-
ply and the three R's decay.
• • •
The artistic aspect of things, it is encourag-
ing to be assured by Mr. Henry T. Bailey, of the
national Bureau of Education, is not altogether
eclipsed in this money-making country by (he com-
mercial and industrial and practical aspect. In a
statistical account of the millions that go every year
for art and art instruction, it appears that a round
million is spent in subscriptions to art periodicals,
and half as much in the support of our summer
art schools. Two millions and a half are received
yearly by private schools of fine and applied art,
and about the same amount by teachers of art in
other schools and colleges. Massachusetts and New
York take the lead in every branch of art education,
but the other States are moving forward rather than
backward in this department of liberal culture.
• ■ •
Unworked Shakespearian mines still await
the delver in Shakespearian lore, despite the tons
of literature that the immortal dramas have already
inspired. A recent Danish work, by Mr. August
Goll, on "Criminal Types in Shakespeare" is
spoken of as possessing interest of a novel kind. Its
author, failing to find in Lombroso and in studies of
actual criminals the data he desired, resorted at last
to the imaginary but ever-living types of rascality
to be met with in Shakespeare's pages; and the
results of his researches ought to be especially wel-
come at this time, if only as proof that in Shake-
speare's works we do, after all, possess something
more than a puzzle-book of ciphers and cryptograms.
• • •
A FAITHFUL PORTRAIT-PAINTER OF THE NORTH
American Indian is treating his readers to pen-
pictures of the vanishing redskin's manners and
customs, of a sort that greatly contents many of us
to whom Cooper's artificial and impossible Indian
and conventional and hackneyed plots are unbear-
able. Mark Twain's well-known strictures on the
author of the Leather-stocking tales conspicuously
fail to apply to Mr. Frederick R. Burton, author,
musician, and composer, who has lived among the
Ojibways, studying their music and their morals,
their character and their traditions, and whose "Red-
cloud of the Lakes" (as in a lesser degree also his
earlier " Strongheart") is a noteworthy production,
full of high purpose and absorbing interest.


118 THE
DIAL [Septl,
Iteto §oohs.
Commemorations of Edgar Allan Poe.*
It is not too much to say that most of the
books and critical articles on Poe published in
this his centenary year have been a negligible
quantity. This has been true of what has ap-
peared in French and English reviews, as well
as of what we have written in Poe's own gas-
lighted Philistia. The romance of the life was
written by the poet himself, and by those ear-
lier admirers for whom he wore a green halo.
Then came the Griswolds and their like, on the
one hand; and, on the other, extravagant ad-
mirers and apologists like Mr. Didier. Last of
all came the opportunity of the critical biog-
rapher, whose privilege it is to clear the life of
its legends and to arrive at its facts. This is
just what Professor Woodberry essayed to do
some years ago, in his memoir of Poe contrib-
uted to the " American Men of Letters " series;
and in the new two-volume biography which he
calls "Personal and Literary" he takes several
steps further in the same direction: seeking
to represent a Poe who was neither hero nor
superman nor scoundrel, merely a man of un-
questioned intellectual force, of keen analytical
powers, of intense if never very varied imagin-
ation,— a man'lacking only in that fine some-
thing that may or may not accompany genius,
moral strength.
The enlargement of the memoir which he
wrote more than twenty-five years ago has given
Professor Woodberry the opportunity to include
here an increased quantity of material descrip-
tive of that sad career. We realize more than
ever how the poet's life was forever embarrassed
and troubled, and with what a whole soul Poe
could cry out," To coin one's brain into silver,
at the nod of a master, is, to my thinking, the
hardest task in the world."
"Most wretched men
Are cradled into poetry by wrong:
They learn in suffering what they teach in song."
And yet it is not solely in biographic detail
•The Like of Edoab Allan Poe, Personal and
Literary. With his Chief Correspondence with Men of
Letters. By George E. Woodberry. In two volumes, illus-
trated. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
The Poe Cult, and O ther Papers. With a New Me-
moir. By Eugene L. Didier. New York: Broadway Publish-
ing Co.
The Last Letters of Edgar Allan Poe to Sarah
Helen Whitman. Edited by James A. Harrison, in Com-
memoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of Poe's Birth,
January 19, 1909. Published under the Auspices of the
University of Virginia. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
that Professor Wood berry's memoir has been
enriched in the rewriting. Thus, in the earlier
biography the name of Hoffmann does not so
much as appear; while in the first of the two
new volumes several pages are given to an ex-
amination of Poe's possible debt to or kinship
with the German romancer. Professor Wood-
berry is skeptical here. "It is essential," he
writes, "to show Poe's contact with Hoffmann
before that time," the time, that is, of the pub-
lication of " The Visionary," in October, 1833.
He adds:
"This contact could not have been direct; it is as
little likely to have been in French [sic], the only
translation at that time being of the date 1830, issued
at Brussels, and Poe's chances of encountering it being
remote indeed. What he knew of Hoffmann, there-
fore, may safely be referred to magazine notices of that
writer and other German romancers. . . . Hoffmann
was at most only one of many contemporary influences
playing upon Poe's receptive and pliable genius, and
the knowledge Poe had of him must have been of the
slightest, as none was available except through Carlyle
and Scott, who had brought him forward in 1827 in
English reviews."
Carlyle'B article on the German novelists belongs,
all the same, to the year 1825; nor does Pro-
fessor Woodberry note the fact that as early as
1824 there appeared in Blackwood's a transla-
tion of " Die Elixiere des Teufels," sometimes
associated with " William Wilson "; that in 1826
"The Lost Eeflection" ["Die Geschichte vom
Verlornen Spiegelbilde"] figured in the "Boston
Athenaeum, or Spirit of the English Magazines";
and that in the same year no less than three of
Hoffmann's tales appeared at London in trans-
lation, " Das Fraulein von Scudery," " Das Ma-
jorat," "Meister Floh." The biographer refers
to the four-volume translation of Hoffmann pub-
lished at Brussels in 1830, as the first French
translation. Publication of the well-known
Loeve-Veimars version of the tales was none the
less begun at Paris in 1829 (to be concluded
four years later); and publication of a transla-
tion by Toussuel was begun in the year 1830.
To suggest that Poe's opportunities of knowing
Hoffmann were at least larger than Professor
Woodberry leads his readers to suppose, is, how-
ever, very far from claiming that Poe " was mis-
placed in America ... a German born out of
due latitude, a Hoffmann come into the world
in a land of alien ways and spirit."
The earlier memoir, as has been suggested,
is the basis of the two volumes now published
— their more or less fleshy skeleton. In mod-
ernizing his former work, Mr. Woodberry has
found it necessary to modify very few of his
opinions; he has, however, dealt more fully


1909.]
119
THE DIAL
with the question of Poe's weaknesses and with
the controversial aspects of his subject, — for
he has everywhere used a greater amplitude of
detail. The study of Poe gains, by this method,
as a record of fact, as a repository of much
useful information: here, be it confessed, rather
than in firmness or proportion. Professor Wood-
berry seems to have found it impossible to
incorporate all of his material in these volumes;
each volume is swelled by undigested notes in
the form of appendices, along with various
pieces justicatives and unpublished letters.
As an encyclopaedia of the professional and
private adventures of Poe, this new memoir is
indeed of the highest value. It is Professor
Woodberry's modest suggestion that while
"there will be other lives of Poe" he will be
content "to have here edited with care the
materials for his life," making easier the way
of the future "ideal biographer.'' This sen-
tence has phrased the final criticism of the book
before us.
A newspaper paragrapher has justly enough
remarked that some critics know better what
Poe drank than what he wrote. Chacun son
gout. Some find the details of a poet's amours
no less attractive. We have had minute ac-
counts of "George Sand and her Lovers," of
"Rousseau and the Women he Loved," ad
nauseam. In Poe's case this kind of interest
centres upon his relations with the various
"poetesses," both before and after Virginia's
death. It is true that no one in recent years has
questioned the fidelity of Poe to his child-wife.
One of Professor Woodberry's chapters is,
then, devoted to Helen Whitman. It will be
remembered that the Rhode Island poetess was
one of the two women whom Poe asked to marry
him in the period of his widowerhood. It seems
a great pity that these matters ever became the
subject of controversy or even of discussion.
They reflect no credit on any side—though the
scandals which mischief-makers have sought to
weave around them have fallen flat enough.
In giving his account of Mrs. Whitman, and in
quoting Poe s letters to her, written in the year
1848, the biographer has been obliged to follow
the incomplete and garbled versions of Poe's
letters supplied by Ingram. Now, however,
we have "The Last Letters of Poe to Sarah
Helen Whitman," edited by Professor Harrison,
and published " under the auspices of the Uni-
versity of Virginia." Professor Harrison writes
that in foreign countries it is the custom to
celebrate the jubilee of a distinguished author
by a Festschrift, "or Literary Memorial of
some kind containing unpublished data, original
research, or memorabilia of a notable kind";
and that "it seemed appropriate that the Alma
Mater of Edgar Allan Poe should carry out
this graceful custom in honor of his Hundredth
Birthday." The memorial volume is hand-
somely printed, and very scrupulously prepared
from the original manuscripts; its text is pre-
ceded by a reproduction of the unfamiliar
miniature of Poe painted when he was aged
twenty-six — the earliest known portrait. It
is none the less difficult to share Professor
Harrison's enthusiasm for these letters, that
"rival the 'Sonnets from the Portuguese' or
the letters of Abelard and Heloi'se in interest
and eloquence." Their issue serves at least to
emphasize the inaccuracy of the portions of
these " Last Letters " previously reproduced —
to emphasize certain inaccuracies even in Pro-
fessor Woodberry's book. Words altered by
the meddlesome Ingram; passages suppressed
without indication of the fact; mistaken dates,
—these remain to be corrected in the reprinting
of the fourteenth chapter of this latest biog-
raphy. Professor Woodberry attributes also to
Miss Anna Blackwell, and not to Miss Lynch,
the description of Mrs. Whitman given to Poe
before his meeting her, referred to by him in
his letter of October 1, 1848, which is repro-
duced in part (undated) on pages 266—267.
These are matters of detail, however; the biog-
rapher's general statements remain true enough.
"Poe had made up his mind," is the conclusion,
"to adopt Mrs. Shew's advice, and to try to
save himself in what she had declared the only
possible way, — marriage. He meant to extri-
cate himself from his poverty by marrying a
woman with property. This was his practical
plan, wholly aside from his entanglement with
any particular woman; but he worked it out
under the conditions of his temperament. He
had found romantic attachments consistent with
his previous marriage, and he did not consider
them inconsistent with his wooing. He was irre-
sponsible"; and, besides, "the contact of such
abnormal natures as Poe and Mrs. Whitman
was full of danger."
There is every reason to accept Professor
Woodberry's affirmation that his attack upon
some of the questions raised here was rather
against his will—that it is only the circumstance
that so many lies have been told that makes it
worth while to tell the whole truth. As far as
these last matters go, they only remind us of what
Ik Marvel wrote, — words quoted in The Dial
only a few months since. "He was never the


120
[Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
same again" after the loss of Virginia — the
culmination of his troubles. "It were better,
perhaps, if the story of it all had never been
told." Had good taste been used from the be-
ginning, it never would have been told. Yet,
since part has been repeated, it is well that we
should now have it all out and done with. And
if the story is not, even to-day, complete, it is
as fully documented as it is ever likely to be.
Warren Barton Blake.
A Famous Chapter in American
Politics.*
Professor Kay's book on the origin of the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise treats of
so important a subject, and brings together so
much new contemporary newspaper evidence,
that it will be of great interest both to the pro-
fessional student and to the intelligent reader
of American history. In a speech at Atchison,
Kansas, during the fall following the repeal of
the Compromise, Senator Atchison claimed for
himself the credit of having originated that
measure, asserting that he had required that
Douglas should either resign the chairmanship
of the Senate Committee on Territories or bring
in the bill. Atchison was reported to be under
the influence of liquor when he made the speech,
and his claim has usually been regarded by his-
torians as the braggadocio of a drunken man.
Professor Ray finds in it, however, the key
with which to unlock the mystery of the origin
of the Repeal.
By way of background to his narrative he
gives an account of the movement in Missouri
politics which resulted in the retirement of
Benton from the United States Senate. The
first attempt to defeat Benton was made by
the Calhoun faction in 1844; but the attempt
failed. The opposition to Benton next showed
itself in 1847. The Bentonites carried through
the Missouri legislature a series of resolutions
affirming the Missouri Compromise. The oppo-
sition replied with counter-resolutions denounc-
ing the Compromise and asserting that the right
to prohibit slavery in a territory belonged exclu-
sively to the people thereof, and could be exer-
cised only when forming a State Constitution.
These resolutions, defeated in 1847, were car-
ried in 1849. Benton immediately issued an
"Appeal" from the instructions contained in
* The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise: Its
Origin and Authorship. By P. Orman Ray, Ph.D.
Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co.
them, and replied in a famous speech at Jef-
ferson City, the substance of which he repeated
throughout the State. The issue was the val-
idity of the Missouri Compromise; and on this
issue Benton was defeated for reelection to the
Senate.
In 1853, the Richardson bill for the organ-
ization of Nebraska as free territory passed
the House, but failed in the Senate. In the
Senate, Atchison supported the bill, despite
its recognition of the validity of the Missouri
Compromise, explaining afterward that be did
so at the urgent request of a colleague. Imme-
diately thereafter, Benton began a campaign
to secure his own return to the Senate as
Atchison's successor. As a platform, he de-
clared for a Central Pacific Railway and the
organization of Nebraska as a free territory, and
appealed to Western land-thirst by asserting that
Nebraska was immediately to be opened to set-
tlement. Atchison retorted by an appeal to the
pro-slavery sentiment of Missouri, declaring
that he would not vote for the organization of
Nebraska as free territory. Meanwhile the
Wyandott Indians organized the Provisional
Government of Nebraska, and mass-meetings in
Missouri and Iowa memorialized Congress for
the organization of the territory. This was
the situation when the first session of the thirty-
third Congress met.
Professor Ray has done good service in show-
ing that the Nebraska issue was forced upon
Douglas by frontier conditions, and that the
issue between a free and a slave territory,
between affirming and repudiating the Missouri
Compromise, had already been made in Mis-
souri. He has also shown that Douglas's prior
interest in the organization of Nebraska was less
than has been supposed, and he has collected
newspaper comments that indicate that Atchi-
son's connection with the Kansas-Nebraska bill
was greater than has been supposed. Further
than this we are unable to follow him. We can-
not think that Atchison was in any real sense
the author of the repeal of the Missouri Com-
promise. The issue of organizing Nebraska was
made in Missouri by Benton. The bill for its
organization was introduced in the Senate by
Dodge of Iowa, and was referred to Douglas's
committee. Atchison very probably urged
Douglas to repeal the Missouri Compromise.
The two are represented by one newspaper to
have been personal friends. It is not at all
probable that Atchison could have displaced
Douglas as chairman of the Committee on
Territories, even had he desired to. His influ-


1909.]
121
THE DIAL
ence in the Senate was slight compared with
Douglas's, and his position as President pro
tempore was due solely to his seniority of ser-
vice. The force of the claim that he made in
his speech at Atchison is broken by the very
slight claim that he made in his earlier letter of
June 5,1854, and in his later speech at Platte
City in February of 1856. January 4, 1854,
Douglas introduced his celebrated report and
bill. It must be remembered that he did not
originally intend directly to repeal the Missouri
Compromise, but to leave the status of the pro-
posed territory as to slavery in abeyance or in
effect to the decision of the Supreme Court.
Professor Ray brings out the interesting fact
that various newspapers had already urged that
the Compromise of 1850 repealed that of 1820.
January 16, Dixon of Kentucky forced Douglas's
hand by moving a direct repeal. Professor Ray
thinks Atchison may have inspired Dixon's
motion; but this is pure conjecture, and there
is every reason to think that Dixon acted inde-
pendently of outside influence. Atchison was
associated in the Senate with the radical
Southerners, Mason, Hunter, and Butler, who
accepted Calhoun's doctrine that Congress could
neither prohibit slavery in the territories nor
allow their inhabitants to do so. Douglas's
bill, both as originally introduced and as subse-
quently recast in the Democratic caucus, em-
bodied the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, and
this was as much opposed to the Calhoun theory
as it was to the Missouri restriction. Atchison
cannot therefore be regarded as the author of a
measure which was fundamentally opposed to
his own theories, however much his influence
may have contributed to bring it about. Pro-
fessor Ray finds confirmation of his theory of
Atchison's authorship in a partisan speech made
by Francis P. Blair, Jr., in Missouri, in 1854,
and in Parker's "Secret History" written in
1880. But there is no probability that Blair
could have had inside information in regard to
the history of the repeal, and Parker's article,
written thirty-six years after the event, when the
author was seventy-six years of age, gives no clue
to the source of his information. Moreover, the
"History" is so inaccurate upon other points
as to preclude its being regarded as a serious
authority upon this one.
The question as to what was Douglas's
motive remains very much the same as before.
It is necessarily a matter of pure conjecture,
since there is no particle of evidence bearing
upon it. His primary purpose probably was
to secure the success of the bill, since the fate
of the Richardson bill had shown that Nebraska
could not be organized under the Missouri
restriction. His most probable secondary pur-
pose seems to have been to compromise opposing
opinions in his own party with respect to slavery
in the territories. There is a significant sentence
in Douglas's private letter of November 11,1853,
to Walker and Lamphier: "The party is in
distracted condition, and it requires all our
wisdom, prudence, and energy to consolidate
its power and perpetuate its principles." The
Whig party had been destroyed by the Compro-
mise of 1850, and similar destruction threatened
the Democratic party. Northern Democrats
insisted upon the power of Congress to prohibit
slavery in the territories, and Southern Demo-
crats denied it. Douglas undertook to com-
promise the opposing opinions by referring
the question to the inhabitants of the terri-
tories, as suggested in Cass's Nicholson letter.
Northern Democrats accepted the compromise
upon the theory that the inhabitants could act
during the territorial period, and Southern
Democrats upon the theory that they could not
act until the territory was admitted as a State.
By this expedient, Douglas actually postponed
the disruption of the Democratic party until
1860; but the political necessity of sustaining
the Dred Scott decision involved him in a logical
absurdity from which there was no escape.
The preservation of the party might ultimately
redound to Douglas's advantage; but Professor
Johnson has shown that, so far as his presiden-
tial aspirations were concerned, he was under no
necessity of currying favor with the South.
Professor Ray devotes an appendix to the
contention that the organization of Nebraska
was not bound up with the question of the route
for a Pacific Railway. In this opinion we can-
not agree with him. The question involved too
many interests to make it possible to interpret
the vote from the standpoint of any one of them.
The Senate vote on the Richardson bill, however,
indicates that the two measures were closely con-
nected; and the House vote is not unfavorable
to the same view. In New York, opinion was
divided. The Erie canal interest favored a
northern route for the Pacific Railway,and prob-
ably voted for the organization of Nebraska.
New York City capital was invested in Panama
steamship lines, and was promoting the construc-
tion of the Panama railway; and on that account
it was opposed to any trans-continental railroad,
and to the organization of Nebraska. New
Orleans capitalists were promoting the Tehuan-
tepec Railway, which they expected would give


122
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
their city the advantages which are now antici-
pated from the construction of the Panama Canal.
They were also opposed to any trans-continental
line. Apart from the Tehuantepee project, the
interest of Louisiana in the proposed Southern
Pacific Railroad was slight, since it was to pass
to the northward and terminate at Charleston,
S. C. The two Louisiana votes in the House for
the Richardson bill may have been intended as
a diversion from the Southern Pacific Railroad,
which at the time seemed to be almost upon the
point of construction. Only one Texan vote was
cast in the House against the Richardson bill;
but Texas had but one other representative at
the time, and he may have been absent or from
some other cause prevented from voting. The
remarks of Dodge upon the Douglas bill indicate
that the division of Nebraska into two territories
was made partly as a result of the desire of the
Iowa delegation that the Pacific Railroad should
pass through their State. Douglas was estopped,
both before and after the passage of his bill,
from bringing out the connection between the
organization of Nebraska and the northern route
for the Pacific Railroad. If he emphasized the
importance of the northern, or rather the cen-
tral, route, he antagonized his friends in the
South. If he favored a Chicago terminal, he
sacrificed the interests of his constituents in
Southern Illinois and laid himself open to the
charge of favoring his own private interests. If
he favored a St. Louis terminal he sacrificed his
own interests and those of his Northern Illinois
constituents. The dual nature of Douglas's
Illinois constituency was his greatest difficulty.
It was one reason for his attempt to find middle
ground on the subject of slavery, and for his
silence on the subject of the Pacific Railroad.
That he was alive to the importance of the latter
is indicated by his writing Walker and Lamphier
before the Session began: "The Pacific Rail-
road will also be a disturbing element."
Professor Ray anticipates criticism on ac-
count of the length of the quotations in his
text; but we are thankful for all of them, as
they throw new light upon various phases of
the Nebraska struggle, particularly upon the
conference with President Pierce. We think
Professor Ray attaches too great importance to
the recollections of W. C. Price. Men who have
outlived their influence habitually exaggerate
their earlier exploits. James Madison Cutts,
described as Douglas's "Boswell," was his
father-in-law instead of his son-in-law. Pro-
fessor Ray might have remarked that although
Benton was defeated, his campaign for free
territory saved Missouri to the Union during
the Civil War. We dislike to criticize the
typography of the book, but we cannot refrain
from mentioning that the printing of notes at
the foot of the final pages of the chapters, apart
from the text and even without any related text,
gives the volume a somewhat unsatisfactory
appearance. F H Hodder.
Great Actors of the Eighteenth
Century.*
So painstaking a historian of the stage is Dr.
Karl Mantzius, and so voluminous is his work,
that one is loth to censure him upon the ground
of incompleteness. Yet his " Great Actors of
the Eighteenth Century," the fifth volume of
his "History of Theatrical Art," is rendered
incomplete by its failure to treat of the Italian
actors of that epoch—the brightest in the history
of the Italian stage. Biassed, it appears to be
as well, in the amount of space devoted to German
histrionism. Fully half of the volume treats of
the actors and actresses of the latter country,
two-thirds of the remainder being allotted to
France, and one-third to England.
Were Dr. Mantzius a German, this dispro-
portion might be more comprehensible. Being
a Dane, he has possibly been influenced unduly
by his country's neighbors. An Anglo-Saxon is
likely, however, to challenge the justice of devot-
ing fifty-three pages to Schroder and fifty-five to
Konrad Ekhof, while dismissing David Garrick
with a paltry thirty-six. Lekain, too, is but
casually mentioned; and Talma, although he
made his debut in 1787 and won renown in
1789, is included among the great actors of the
eighteenth century only by a remote mention.
If, in his allotment of space, Dr. Mantzius
appears biassed, his failure to recognize the
Italian theatrical art of the eighteenth century
is negligent, to say the least. True, the title of
this volume is " Great Actors of the Eighteenth
Century " — and in Italy, the theatrical art of
that period is distinguished by dramaturgy rather
than histrionism. Striking the death-knell of
the commedia delFarte, in which the actor's
ready wit supplied the dialogue and the leading
characters were the conventional masks — Pan-
taloon, Harlequin, Brighella, and the Doctor,—
Goldoni gave Italy a realistic and national
comedy; Alfieri, in his tragedies, sounded the
•A History op Theatrical Art in Ancient and
Modern Ttmeb. By Karl Mantzius Authorised Transla-
tion by Louise von Cossel. Volume V., The Great Actors of
the Eighteenth Century. Philadelphia: J. B. LippincottCo.


1909.]
123
THE DIAL
first true note of nationalism heard in the
Peninsula since Dante's time. The scenario
being then subordinated to the play, the actor to
the dramatist—Dr. Mantzius, himself an actor,
resents perhaps this dethronement of his craft;
yet, granting there were no Italian actors in the
eighteenth century worthy to be dubbed great,
it is nevertheless apparent that, until Goldoni
sent young Collalto — trembling at his own
transformation into a human being—unmasked
and in plain clothes upon the stage of the
S. Angelo Theatre at Venice to speak written
lines, there had been no actors in Italy at all,
if the actor be differentiated from the masked
buffoon who for centuries had extemporized
Italian comedy. If Antonio Sacchi, Cesare
Darbes, and their colleagues, are small when
compared with Garrick and Schroder, it is
because of the smallness of the Italian tradition
requiring the acting of human parts in masks
and grotesque clothes; yet the very commedia
dell arte, which is responsible for this stilted
tenet, was the mine from which Moliere, and to
a lesser degree Shakespeare, drew comic plots.
In a previous volume Dr. Mantzius indicates
the influence of the unwritten farces upon the
comedy of other countries, yet dismisses Goldoni
with a sentence. In the volume of which we
are treating, the creator of the Italian realistic
comedy, the man who first sent Italian buffoons
upon the stage unmasked to speak written lines,
is mentioned only as the author of plays, trans-
lations of which were acted in Germany and
France.
In our author's defense, it is but just to quote
from Mr. William Archer's Introduction to his
voluminous work. "It will be observed," says
the English critic, " that Dr. Mantzius does not
profess to write a history of the Drama, but of
'Theatrical Art.' In other words, he studies
literary developments only in so far as they are
affected by and, in their own turn, react upon
the actual processes of representation."
The Goldoni period in Italy is assuredly one
in which a literary development affects the
"actual process of representation." Dr. Mant-
zius's failure to give it consideration is, to stig-
matize it mildly, an oversight. Moreover, as
a history of French and English acting in the
eighteenth century, his volume is somewhat
deficient. As an account of the German actors
of the period — their lives and their art — it is,
however, a valuable addition to dramatic litera-
ture; yet Lessing and Goethe and Schiller are
slighted equally with Goldoni.
Among dramatists, Voltaire, who played but
an insignificant part in the theatrical history of
his own country, alone is treated as a literary
man whose work had "a lasting effect upon
the actual process of the representation of
plays." In this " History of Theatrical Art"
during the century of Schiller, Goethe, Lessing,
Goldsmith, Sheridan, Goldoni, Marivaux, Beau-
marchais, and Alfieri, he is the sole dramatist
whom Dr. Mantzius honors with a chapter.
Apparently the only reason for giving him this
undue prominence lies in the fact that he upheld
the rights of actors as he did those of others he
believed incapable of upholding their own, or
possibly because he was publicly crowned at the
Comedie-Fran caise.
"Voltaire, recois la couronne
Que l'on vient de te presenter;
H est beau de la mdriter
Quand c'est la France qui la donne."
France gave it. That is Voltaire's chief reason
for meriting his dramatic laurel crown. The
Frenchman's critical ability, however, is far
keener than that of his Danish chronicler, for it
was Voltaire who acclaimed Goldoni as " Painter
and son of nature — the Italian Moliere!"
If the historical acumen of Dr. Mantzius is
occasionally dimmed and his sense of proportion
dwarfed by Germanic influence, he is never-
theless a painstaking student who has made the
history of his craft his life-work. In being a
gatherer of valuable information rather than
a historian lies his chief merit, there being a
lack of order in his presentation of facts, which
makes him at times difficult to follow. Still, his
work is almost monumental; indeed, it should
find a place in the dramatic alcove of every
library, for in no other single work has so much
information concerning the stage been brought
within reach of the student and thoroughly in-
dexed. It is, however, a chronicle of actors and
acting, rather than a history of theatrical art—
a work in which one may trace the story of the
various schools of acting, the development of
the various forms of theatres, by reading assidu-
ously between the lines. One seeking a knowl-
edge of the history of the stage from both a
dramatic and histrionic point of view will find
Professor Brander Matthews's single volume on
"The Development of the Drama" a clearer
and safer guide than the five volumes from Dr.
Mantzius's pen which have appeared in English
translation.
Of the latter, "Great Actors of the Eight-
eenth Century" is perhaps the most entertain-
ing, but the least analytical. It is a gossipy
chronicle of the lives and doings of Carolina


124
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
Neuber, Konrad Ekhof, Schroder, Iffland, and
lesser lights of German histrionism, during the
century when the German drama had his birth,
together with a more hurried view of their
French and English confreres; in a word, it
is a rambling and diverting book about actors
and actresses, but less than any previous volume
of this work entitled to be called a "History
of Theatrical Art." The Introduction, dealing
with professional dramatic art in Germany, the
literary and social condition, the internal and
external state of troupes, in the days when the
German drama was in its formative stage, is by
far the most illuminating portion of the book.
H. C. Chatfield-Taylor.
More of the "Eternal, Feminine."*
If the reader of Mr. Reich's book on
"Women through the Ages " is already famil-
iar with the author's previous work in socio-
logical and anthropological research, he will be
prepared to find in this study of womanhood
much valuable data and some philosophical
acumen, together with scattered passages so
extreme and iconoclastic, and representing
views so distorted by prejudice, that they will
arouse resentment and often justify ridicule.
In his preface Mr. Reich disclaims any preten-
sions to writing a history of Woman, but rather
he has given " a number of more or less inter-
esting notes on the condition and influence of
women in a few centres of Western civilization."
The query comes to us, Why should there be a
separate history of Woman, since, as Mr. Reich
asserts, she represents more than half of human-
ity, and her influence must be included in all
general histories of civilization?
The two volumes consist, in large part, of
collated notes upon the customs, dress, marital
status and other conditions of women, from
early Egyptian and Assyrian history down to
the present aspects of social life in European
countries and in America. The method in the
earlier chapters is encyclopaedic, drawing from
such standard sources as Erman, Rawlinson,
Wilkinson, and Maspero's " Dawn of Civiliza-
tion." The pictorial element is more marked
in the treatment of Greek and Roman women.
Greece has given to the world " eternal types";
its women furnished prototypes of many later
characters, from the women of the Renaissance
•Women through the Ages. By Emil Reich. In
two volumes. Illustrated in photogravure, etc. New York:
E. P. Dutton & Co.
and the chatelaine of the Middle Ages to the
Feminist of modern times. The author con-
trasts the noble women of early Greece, in the
days of small kingdoms, with their successors
under Imperialism. Here he gives the first
note of challenge, which is sounded with loud
assurance in the last chapters of the second
volume: "Just as Imperialism in modern times
has, in its excessive form, produced the domi-
nating, almost masculine, women of America
and Russia, and in its milder manifestation the
retiring and somewhat lifeless English woman,
so in ancient Greece this same force occasioned
the unrestricted freedom and undisputed ascend-
ancy of the Spartans as opposed to the rigid
exclusiveness and dependent inferiority of the
Athenian woman."
The book relates many stories, both authentic
and apocryphal, of Roman matrons. A few
heroines — Cornelia, Aurelia, and others — are
chosen for types of women whose learning
was tempered by devotion to their family and
country, in contrast with the later degenerates
with a compulsive desire for excitement and
notoriety. The essay on Roman life is admir-
able in condensation and effectiveness. After
two or three dull chapters on mediaeval women
in palaces, harems, and convents, there fol-
lows a fine pen-portrait of Joan of Arc. Mr.
Reich writes fervently — as does Mr. Andrew
Lang in his "Maid of France" — of the
patriotic zeal, the spirituality and magnetic
courage, which impelled this mystic maiden to
become the deliverer of France in a crucial
period. The tendency toward idealism in the
study of Joan of Arc is in contrast with the
stern, unsparing censure of Isabella of Spain,
"a fanatical agent of priest and monk." Mr.
Reich is not the first historian to shatter the
pretty picture of Isabella pledging her jewels to
Columbus, and to substitute the vision of her
cruelty to Jews and Moslems.
Women of England and France are con-
sidered chronologically from the periods of the
Tudors and Stuarts to the French Revolution
and the Empire. "A queen often typifies the
women of her country and time" is an axiomatic
statement which precedes special emphasis upon
the traits and influence of Elizabeth, Mary
Stuart, Queen Anne, and Marie Antoinette.
There are no new interpretations of character,
but the phrasing is sometimes terse and force-
ful, as thus: "Marie Antoinette was wilful,
capricious, and captivating, with enough unrea-
sonableness to ruin any monarchy." With a
striking sentence of amusing simile, Mr. Reich


1909.]
125
THE DIAL,
diverts attention from the amorous, intriguing
women of the French court, and the brilliant
hostesses of the salons: "To turn to the
English woman of the eighteenth century, after
contemplating her French sister of the same
period, is like eating a penny bun after enjoy-
ing a delicate eclair." The repressive influ-
ences of England made the women insular and
dull, with a few exceptions like the Duchess
of Marlborough, Lady Montagu, and Fanny
Burney.
"Literary Women of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury" are treated briefly, and very inadequately,
in a single chapter. Jane Austen and the
Brontes meet with approbation; but it is a cause
of amazement to the author that George Eliot
"should have acquired such a reputation in
England, one so infinitely surpassing that of
her infinitely more gifted husband. . . . She
developed the German dry-as-dust system in
relation to English fiction; she provided a tin-
selly, besmudged perversion which she induced
the fiction-reading public credulously to regard
as a mediaeval Florentine romance." To Mr.
Lewes should be accredited all the inspiration
of George Eliot's best work, says Mr. Reich;
'j the feeble didacticism and verbosity are her
own." George Sand is treated yet more cava-
lierly, as "an unworthy vampire, who sucked
the vitality out of at least two great men —
Alfred de Musset and Frederick Chopin."
The limits of his space, the breadth of his
theme, and his personal sympathies have visibly
restricted and hampered Mr. Reich. There is
no effort to consider, except incidentally, the
many women of later centuries who have won
honor in art, music, science, or on the stage.
However difficult it must have been for him to
"pour gallons into a pint measure," he has
placed few restrictions on his space — or on his
animus — in the last two chapters of the work,
"Feminism of the Nineteenth Century" and
"Women in America," in which he pronounces
anathemas against the " bold, assertive,' defem-
inized' woman of modern life, who is clamor-
ing and scheming for ' emancipation.'" Quite
apart from the question of suffrage, there is gen-
eral recognition of the fact that under present
political conditions women can forward many
reform movements of much value to society.
Mr. Reich, however, holds very positive views
on the usefulness—or, rather, the uselessness —
of such efforts toward moral betterment. "It
is in the West," he says, " that the only move-
ment comes, a movement — at its mistaken
best — which makes a crusade against prostitu-
tion, alcoholism, and war; all of which must
exist as hideous necessities, and which, if they
could be swept away, would in their disappear-
ance utterly upset the balance of civilization."
There are many besides women who will dissent
emphatically from this unjust disparagement.
In his book " Success among Nations," pub-
lished five years ago, Mr. Reich devoted his final
chapter to expressing his convictions regarding
the inferiorities of America in general, and
especially of the "hyper-educated" dashing
American woman. For five unbroken years, he
tells us, he lived among us; but he surely was
unable to arrive at broad and just interpretations
of our social conditions. In this later work he
says that he has "been treated to wall-shaking
criticism on account of ignorance and wilful mis-
representation," but he insists upon expanding
and emphasizing many of his earlier strictures.
American women seem to him distinct from the
genus as found elsewhere, as "unwomaned,"
"Amazonian," without spontaneity or elemental
talent, and with "sensational" and unreasoned
energy. In previous essays, as well as in the
present book, he has discovered an antagonism,
"a latent contempt," heaped by American
women upon the men, who are represented as
"male Cinderellas" and "mere lamplighters
in the orchestra of life in the United States."
With a vehement "Horribile dictuf" the
author asserts that the climax of vices in the
American woman is her prevailing "humour-
ousness" at the expense of her "enamel and
morning-dew." This "humorousness " will find
free scope for its exercise in reading critically
Mr. Reich's chapters on American women of
to-day. Many of the passages are so perverse
that they cannot be taken seriously. Mr. Reich
has seen and faithfully portrayed certain kinds
of women in American life, of both higher and
lower social strata; but he has no warrant for
generalizing their deplorable qualities as na-
tional traits. We will quote a paragraph from
what he has to say on this subject.
"I am quite aware of the fact that hundreds of thou-
sands of American women are hard-worked house-
keepers and mothers and wives. All these hundreds
of thousands of American women, de facto devoted to
nothing but to the cares of their homes, do not in the
least invalidate my thesis. While the mere external or
material fact of their hard work inside their homes is
undeniable, yet they too are potentially as hostile and
indifferent to their homes, husbands, and maternity, as
are such of the American women whom here I take to
be the type of American womanhood. I mean this:
whenever a woman of the States does devote her prin-
cipal attention and labour to her home, she does so be-
cause, owing to the insufficient income of her husband,


126
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
she is absolutely compelled to do so. But let that hard-
working and apparently home-loving American woman
learn of a substantial increase in her husband's income,
and all her potentialities will at once step out into con-
crete reality, and she will become, from one day to
another, nothing but a pleasure-ridden and sensation-
ridden frequenter of all bazaars, lectures, operas,* exhi-
bitions, 'crazes,' and an eager purchaser of the 'latest'
costumes, jewellery, books, and furniture. The French
bourgemse will, in nineteen out of twenty cases of such
a sudden improvement in her husband's income, alter
not an iota in the manner or method of her life; in her
the potentialities of the 'shining stunner' and sensa-
tionalist are very feeble indeed. In every woman in
America they are stronger than any other propensity.
This is why I am disinclined to admit any real exceptions
with regard to the type of womanhood in America."
(VoL II., p. 260.)
The value of Mr. Reich's work is marred by
passages like this, which reveal narrowness of
view and prejudice; otherwise it would be an
authoritative contribution to sociology. No
distinct chapter is given to German women, yet
the author by incidental references shows favor-
itism toward them, as typifying his model of
womanhood. In comparing the prediction of
the Goncourts' Journal, regarding the inspira-
tion of American women, with their failures, he
says: "The same Goncourts, in the same part
of their invaluable Journal, speak of the Alle-
mande or the German woman as one who can
and does rouse in man the more ideal senti-
ments. Well, it is Germany and not America
that has, in the last thirty years, made the most
remarkable conquests."
The two volumes are tastefully produced, and
illustrated by thirty-six well-selected reproduc-
tions of paintings, sculptures, and photography.
Annie Russell Marble.
Briefs on New Books.
a naval war Toward the close of the eighteenth
that wat not century, hostilities occurred between
declared. tne navies of the United States and
France, and some sharp engagements took place at
sea, although war between the two countries was not
actually declared. The story of this exciting epi-
sode in our national history has been well told by
Dr. Gardner W. Allen, in a volume entitled "Our
Naval War with France" (Houghton Mifflin Co.).
This book, with the author's previous volume on
"Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs," published
a few years ago, relate the history of the American
navy from 1785, when the last national vessel of the
Revolution was sold, to 1812, the beginning of the
period of greatest naval brilliancy. These years
had been previously covered, of course, by such
standard histories as those of Spears and Maclay;
but they had not devoted much space to this some-
what neglected era, and Dr. Allen has written the
first complete account of our conflicts with France
and Barbary. The initial chapters of the more
recent volume, on our war with France, are entitled
"Early Misunderstandings," "Negotiations," and
"French Spoliations," and treat of the causes that
led to the actual hostilities. The five following
chapters, "Naval Preparation," "The Opening of
Hostilities," "Events of 1799," "The Last Year of
the War," and " Private Armed Vessels," deal with
the establishment of the navy and the naval and
privateering operations of the war. The four con-
cluding chapters, entitled "The Convention of
1800," " Reduction of the Navy," " Spoliations after
1801," and "The Spoliation Claims," are mainly
concerned with events growing out of the war. In
the appendix there is a list of the sources of informa-
tion used by the author, some extracts from treaties
and decrees for the years 1778-1807, lists of vessels
and officers in service in 1798-1801, and a note on
the nautical day. Two fine French prints, repre-
senting the engagement between the "Constella-
tion" and the "Insurgente," which appeared in
1799, are now republished — it is believed, for the
first time. The book is written in a simple and
direct style, and presents a clear and readable
account of the stirring events described.
The French Again the story of the French Revo-
MevolulUm , f. • . «■ % . .«
teen bv an lution is told and its significance
American. explained — this time by an Ameri-
can historian, Professor R. M. Johnston of Harvard,
whose Short History of the Revolution is issued by
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. The book presents a
brief statement of a few chief events, with more
extended discussion of their causes and significance.
The introductory chapter, entitled "Perspective,"
is a rapid review of the work of preceding historians
who dealt with the same events, from Madame
de Stael to the microscopic specialists of the twen-
tieth century; with the conclusion that the earlier
writers distorted the facts, while our contemporaries
are inclined "to establish beyond question the pre-
cise shade of the colour of Robespierre's breeches,
but to give up as unattainable having any opinion
on the French Revolution as a whole." Then fol-
lows a simple, readable, and thoughtfully discussed
narrative, that is not so radically different from other
succinct histories of the period as the critical preface
might lead one to expect. The volume ends with a
chapter headed "Art and Literature," containing
Fabre d'Eglantine's explanation of the months of
the Revolutionary Calendar, with their correspond-
ence to the months as we have them; as well as
several poems of the period, principally from the
pen of Andre1 Ohenier. In view of the fact that the
results of the upheaval are still variously estimated,—
certain distinguished students even failing to find
decided permanent results, — it is worth while
quoting Professor Johnston's opinion in the matter.
"The gradual political education and coming to


1909.]
127
THE
DIAL,
power of the masses," he says (page 9), "is a
process that is the logical outcome of the Revolution;
and the joining of hands of a wing of the intellect-
uals with the most radical section of the working-
men is a sign of the times not to be passed over.
From Voltaire before the Revolution, to Anatole
France at the present day, the tradition and devel-
opment is continuous and logical."
A new volume of Sunday discourses
Home of the Soul" (Funk & Wag-
nails), will be read with pleasure and profit by the
many appreciators of the author of "The Simple
life" on both sides of the Atlantic. It takes its
name from the church where the author preaches in
Paris, Le Foyer de VAme, where from Sunday to
Sunday there gathers a remarkably cosmopolitan
congregation, in which may be found Jews, Roman
Catholics, and free-thinkers. The volume is the
first literary product of Pastor Wagner's ministry in
his new church home. The fifteen discourses here
printed are filled with the spirit of that simple,
earnest, humane piety which has given the preacher
a unique place in the modern world. They do not
discuss the ancient dogmas, although some of them
are mildly implied. There is no effort made to
reconstruct theology, but rather to enrich and de-
velope human life. The aim is not to set forth the
religious values of science, or to plead a socialistic
programme. The purpose at work here goes deep:
to reach the heart and arouse an earnest desire for
the spiritual life. But the spiritual life thus advo-
cated is mainly humanitarian and profoundly ethi-
cal. The book opens with a characteristic sketch
and estimate of Pastor Wagner, full of warmest
praise eloquently expressed, by the Rev. Dr. Lyman
Abbott. It contains four attractive illustrations, two
of Mr. Wagner and two of his church.
The brilliant paper by Mr. G. Lowes
Zm^taliti. Dickinson, "Is Immortality Desir-
able?" is issued by the Houghton
Mifflin Company in a small volume uniform with
other numbers in the series of " Ingersoll Lectures,"
in which course it was first delivered. Obviously,
Mr. Dickinson's title does not involve any funda-
mental treatment of the primary difficulty as to
whether the soul is immortal or no ; and the lecturer
contented himself with a delightfully written expan-
sion of a thesis which may be found in one sentence
of the address: "But what I do maintain is that
life would have indefinitely more value if we knew
that beyond death we should pursue, and ultimately
to a successful issue, the elusive ideal of which we
are always in quest." Throughout the lecture, as
printed, we feel the old charm of Mr. Dickinson's
graceful presentation; but we miss one feature that
is so attractively present in most of his other writ-
ings. For in the present instance he has neglected
his adherence to the sublime Platonic tenet that we
must follow unhesitatingly whithersoever the argu-
ment may lead. It is still Mr. Dickinson that is
speaking — not Mr. Dickinson with some slight
limitations, whether imposed by himself or the oc-
. . T„ . ,. In a substantial volume of over five
Andrew Jackton't _ _
itattrmmahip hundred pages, Professor Thorpe has
newivet forth, brought together a number of offi-
cial papers and letters to illustrate "The States-
manship of Andrew Jackson" (The Tandy-Thomas
Company). There is also a biographical outline of
four pages, and an introduction of the same length.
The letters, seven in number, all relate to Nullifi-
cation, and all were addressed to Joel R. Poinsett,
except one which was addressed to Robert Oliver.
They are "now for the first time printed, literatim
et punctuatim "/ they cover twelve pages, and in-
clude about all the contribution this volume can be
said to make to historical literature which is not
already easily accessible to the student. The rest
of the book is made up of material found in
Richardson's collection of "Messages and Papers
of the Presidents." However, the student wishing
to make a special study of Jackson will find in this
volume a handy collection of his official papers,
together with occasional comments selected from
Benton's "Thirty Years' View."
BRIEFER MENTION.
Mr. A. M. Robertson, San Francisco, publishes a
'■ Bibliography of the Chinese Question in the United
States," by Messrs. Robert E. Cowan and Boutwell
Dunlap. It does not include periodical references or
government documents, for which classes of material
other guides are already available.
Professor Alvin S. Johnson's "Introduction to Eco-
nomics" is an excellent modern text-book for high
schools and colleges. It puts much emphasis upon
theory, which to our mind is a virtue, although some
may find it a reason for adverse criticism. Messrs.
D. C. Heath & Co. are the publishers.
The John McBride Co. publish a volume of " Love
Letters of Famous Poets and Novelists," edited by
Messrs. Lionel Strachey and Walter Littlefield. The
following writers, seventeen in number, are represented:
Byron, Hugo, Pope, Burns, Schiller, Bulwer, Lamartine,
Congreve, Keats, Goethe, Poe, Heine, Balzac, George
Sand, Scott, Sterne, and Me'rime'e. This is a suffi-
ciently cosmopolitan company to furnish the amatory
epistle in great variety. The volume is the first of a
series.
Messrs. Moffat, Yard & Co. publish new and revised
editious of Mr. John Jay Chapman's three books of
prose studies: "Emerson and Other Essays," "Practi-
cal Agitation," and "Causes and Consequences." Mr.
Chapman's breezy style and distinctive personality as a
critic of literature and politics are qualities that make
these books stimulating in a marked degree. Several
of these essays had their first publication in The Dial.
Three small volumes of the author's clever plays for
children—"Four Plays for Children," "The Maid's
Forgiveness," and "A Sausage from Bologna " — will
complete this republication of his works.


128
[Sept. 1,
THE
DIAL
Notes.
"Actions and Reactions " is the title of Mr. Rudyard
Kipling's forthcoming volume of short stories — his
first since 1904.
The author of "The Lady of the Decoration " has
at last written a new book. "Little Sister Snow " is
its title, and it will appear in October.
The veteran dramatic critic, Mr. William Winter, has
prepared an elaborate work on "The Life and Art of
Richard Mansfield," which will be issued this fall.
After numerous delays, it now seems probable that
Mr. William De Morgan's new novel, "It Never Can
Happen Again," will appear during the present month.
A volume of essays by Sir Alfred Austin, bearing
the title "The Bridling of Pegasus; or, Prose Papers
on Poetry," will be issued this year by the Macmillan
Company.
The interesting "Home Letters" of General Sher-
man, which have been a feature of "Scribner's Mag-
azine " during the past few months, are soon to appear
in book form.
"My Lady of the North," Mr. Randall Parrish's pop-
ular novel of a few years ago, is to be followed this fall
by another story by the same writer, to be called "My
Lady of the South."
"The Foreigner," Ralph Connor's forthcoming novel,
will have Saskatchewan for its scene, and for its char-
acters various types of the foreign population of the
Canadian Northwest.
Mr. Maurice Hewlett has written a new novel, soon
to be published, dealing with the early life of that lov-
able tramp-artist-philosopher, Senhouse, who figured so
prominently in " Halfway House."
"The Forms of Discourse," by Professor W. B.
Cairns, is published in a revised edition by Messrs. Grinn
& Co. The changes made are many, but not radical
and the book is better than ever adapted to its purpose.
"Teaching Children to Study," by Miss Lida B.
Earhart, is a useful little book, the outcome of much
experience and observation. It appears in the " River-
side Educational Monographs " of Houghton Mifflin Co.
"Cyrus Hall McCormick and the Reaper," by Mr.
Reuben Gold Thwaites, is published by the State His-
torical Society of Wisconsin in commemoration of the
centenary of the inventor's birth — for he also was of
the great year 1809.
"Something of Men I Have Known " is the title of
the volume of reminiscences by the Hon. Adlai £.
Stevenson, Vice-President under Grover Cleveland, and
a prominent figure in national politics, soon to be pub-
lished by Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co.
Mrs. Lecky has written a memoir of her husband,
the late Right Honorable W. E. H. Lecky, and Messrs.
Longmans, Green, & Co. hope to publish it in the
autumn. The volume will contain many interesting
letters, and will be illustrated by several portraits.
Mr. Robert Hichens's latest novel, which will be
issued in September or early October, will be called
"The Knock on the Door." It is said that in the new
story the author has returned to the scene and the
manner of his earlier and best book, " The Garden of
Allah."
One of the most important of forthcoming books is
Dr. Sven Hedin's record of adventure in the bleak wil-
derness of Tibet. "Trans-Himalaya: Discoveries and
Adventures in Tibet" is the full title of this book, in
which Dr. Hediu tells, with the aid of many photo-
graphs and sketches brought home by himself, of his
successful effort to force his way into the forbidden
city of Lhassa.
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. will publish very soon
"Hellas and Hesperia; or, The Vitality of Greek
Studies in America," three lectures by Basil Lanneau
Gildersleeve, Francis White Professor of Greek in the
Johns Hopkins University and formerly Professor in the
University of Virginia.
"The Reader's Library," edited by Messrs. W. J.
and C. W. Dawson, an enterprise hitherto in the hands
of the Fleming H. Revell Co., has been transferred to
Messrs. Harper & Brothers, who now reissue the two
volumes of " The Great English Letter-Writers," upon
which we made favorable comment last year.
"The Pageant of English Poetry " is to be published
immediately by Mr. Henry Frowde. It is a collection
of 1150 poems and extracts from poetical works, written
by upwards of 300 poets from the earliest to the present
times. The poets appear in alphabetical order, and
great pains have been taken to ensure accuracy in the
texts.
The warfare against tuberculosis has been succinctly
described in a new book soon to be published by Messrs.
Thomas Y. Crowell & Company —"The Great White
Plague," by Dr. Edward O. Otis. The work is de-
scribed as popular in treatment and designed to aid every
reader with practical hints as to eating, sleeping, and
breathing.
Part I. of "A Text-Book of Psychology," by Pro-
fessor Edward Bradford Titchener, is published by the
Macmillan Co. It is a substitute for, and enlargement
of, the author's " Outlines of Psychology," dated 1896.
The latter work will, however, be kept upon the market
until its successor is completed by the publication of a
Second Part.
A new volume of " Collections of the Illinois State
Historical Library" gives us a series of "Governors'
Letter-Books" from 1818 to 1834, covering the terms
of Bond, Coles, Edwards, and Reynolds. Portraits of
all four executives are given. The volume is edited by
Messrs. Evarts Boutwell Greene and Clarence Wal-
worth Atwood.
Notwithstanding Meredith's declaration that he would
"most horribly haunt" the man who should publish a
memoir of him, such a work has been undertaken by
Mr. Edward Clodd, and will appear in the course of a
year. An authorized collection of Meredith's letters is
now being prepared for publication by the competent
hands of Lord Morley.
"India: Impressions and Suggestions" is the title
of a book by Mr. J. Keir Hardie, M.P., to be published
immediately by Mr. B. VV. Huebsch. Mr. Hardie is
well known as the leader of the Labor Party in Par-
liament. He spent two months in India studying
social, political, and economic conditions, and writes
frankly and freely of what he saw.
The autumn fiction list of Messrs. Little, Brown, &
Co. includes a new " Aunt Jane " book by Mrs. Eliza
Calvert Hall, entitled "The Land of Long Ago"; •
romance by Mrs. Maud Wilder Goodwin, "Veronica
Playfair"; Mr. H. B. Marriott Watson's "The Castle
by the Sea "; a collection of stories by "Anne Warner,
entitled " Your Child and Mine"; and a story by Mr.
Halliwell Sutcliffe, " Priscilla of the Good Intent."


1909.]
129
THE DIAL
Topics in Leading Periodicals.
September, 1900.
Alphonso XIII. Rachel Challice. Putnam.
Athletics. International. D. A. Sargent. Putnam.
Atlantic City. Bookman.
Aqueduct. The World's Greatest. A. D. Flinn. Century.
Barga. Mary Heaton Vorse. Harper.
Big Bad Lands, The. N. H. Dan ton. Seribner.
Bond Issues for Permanent National Improvements. No. A mer.
Botticelli. Sandro. Frank Jewett Mather. Atlantic.
Bread-Hunger, A Threatened. W.C. Tiffany. Rev. of Review!.
British East Africa. Hunting In. Percy C. Madeira. Metropolitan.
Brussels Sugar Convention, The. B.Taylor. North American.
Canals, Abandoned New York. E.Van DeWarker. Pop. Science.
Character-Leakage. George L. Walton. Lippineott.
City Farms and Harvest Dances. J. A. Riis. Century.
Cleveland's He-Election and Second Administration. Century.
Collecting and Camping Afoot. A. S. Hitchcock. Popular Set.
Cooperation Close to the Soil. Forrest Crissey. Everybody':
Diplomatic Buildings, Government Ownership of. North A mer.
Divorce in America and England. Britannlcus. No. A merican.
Drama. The Canned. Walter Pricbard Eaton. American.
East, Alfred, Landscapes of. Leila Mechlin. Int. Studio.
English Railways, Position of. W. M.Aeworth. No. American.
English, The Simplicity of. James C. Fernald. Harper.
Great Wall of China, Along the. W. E.Geil. Harper.
Griscom, Lloyd Carpenter. Hugh Willard. Putnam.
"Harmonlzer'8 " Outlook, The. Marrion Wilcox. Putnam.
Hawaiian Problems of To-day. Forbes Lindsay. Rev. of Rev!.
Hill against Harriman. George H. rushing. American.
Holmes. Oliver Wendell, Theology of. E. S. Turner. Putnam,
"Hudson's River." Montgomery Schuyler. North American.
Illuminating Engineer. Work of the D. C.Shafer. Rev. of Reve.
Immortality. The Expectation of. George Hodges. Atlantic.
India, The Unrest in. Henry Cotton. North A merican.
Individual Development, Theory of. F.R. Lillie. Pop. Science.
International Language, Necessity for. I. Kellerman. Pop. Sci.
"Joan of Arc" at Harvard. Anna Alice Chapin. Metropolitan.
Keram ic Arts Exhibition,N. Y. Society of. International Studio.
King of England, The. By an Englishman. Metropolitan.
Kipling, Joseph R. Harry T. Peck. Bookman.
Living Animal, What is a? A. F. A. King. Popular Science.
London Police, The. William McAdoo. Century.
Macaulay: Then and Now. Edward Fuller. Bookman.
Maine Coast, Queer Folk of the. Holman Day. Harper.
Moraine, On a. Charles D. Stewart. Atlantic.
Mark Twain —Is he Dead? Engene H. Angert. No. American.
"Mellowdrammer." The. Porter E. Browne. Everybody'!.
Middle West, Agrarian Revolution In. J. B. Ross. No. A mer.
Missionary, Romance of the. E. A. Powell. Everybody'!.
Nerves. Hugo Munsterberg. Metropolitan.
Nervous System, Origin of the. G. H. Parker. Popular Science.
New England —What Alls Her? E. Vallandigham. Putnam.
New York Police in Politics, The. T. A. Bingham. Century.
Oklahoma. Day O. Wllley. Lippineott.
Old. —What Shall We Do with the? R.W. Child. Everybody'!.
Optimism, A Side-View of. W. A. Gill. Atlantic.
Parisian Wedding Parties. Frances Wilson Huard. Seribner.
Peale's Museum. Harold S. Col ton. Popular Science.
Photography. Pictorial, International Exhibition of. Int. Studio.
Playwrights. The United States of. G. J. Nathan. Bookman.
Poincareand the French Academy. M. F. Masson. Pop. Science.
Police Commissioner's Task, The. T.A.Bingham. Metropolian.
Population Capacity of the U. 8. A. P. Brig ham. Pop. Science.
Pratt, Bela. Christian Brinton. Century-
Railroad Authority and Efficiency. JamesO.Fagan. Atlantic.
Railroad Brotherhoods and Efficiency. W. J. Cunningham. A tl.
Reislnger Collection, The — II. Christian Brinton. Int. Studio.
Religion, The Prostitution of. A. A. Ewing. Bookman.
Retrospections of an Active Life. John Bigelow. Metropolitan.
Rich. Lodgings for the. Arthur E. McFarlane. Everybody'!.
Rothenburg, From, to the Danube. Everett Warner. Seribner.
Schools. Some Famous American. Ralph D. Paine. Metropolitan.
Sea, The, from Harbors. Lucy 8. Conant. Atlantic.
Shakespeare's " Antony and Cleopatra." J. Douglas. Harper.
Simmons, Amelia: An American Orphan. T. Taylor. Atlantic.
Sky-scraper. Evolution of the. Montgomery Schuyler. Seribner,
Social Settlements. J. Laurence Laughlin. Seribner.
Soils, Our, Making Better Use of. H.H.Bennett. Rev. of Revt.
Spain, Present Situation in. Luis G. Guyarro. Her. of Rev!.
Species-Forming, Another Mode of. L. Burbank. Pop. Science.
Speculation and Stock Exchange. 8. O. Ordway. Seribner.
Steamboat, Fulton's Invention of the. A. C. Sutcliffe. Century.
St. Etienne of Bourses. Elizabeth R. Pennell. Century.
Unchurched, Faith of the. Ray Stannard Baker. American.
Unmarried Women, Position of. Carolyn Shipman. No.Amer.
Ward, John Quinoy Adams. Montgomery Schuyler. Putnam.
Welles, Gideon, Diary of (continued). Atlantic.
Wilderness. The Battle of the — IV. Morris Schaff. A tlantic.
"Williams. C. 8. A." William Gllmore Beymer. Harper.
Women under the Roman Republic. F. F. Abbott. Seribner.
Women and the Occupations. W.I.Thomas. American.
List of New Books.
[The following List, containing 66 titles, includes books
received by The Dial since its last issue.]
BIOGRAPHY.
The Life of Major-General Sir Charles William Wilson.
By Colonel Sir C harles M. Watson. With portrait, maps,
and illustrations, large 8vo, 419 pages. E. P. Dutton ft Co.
$5. net.
Nelson, and Other Naval Studies. By James R. Thursfietd.
Illustrated, large 8vo, 884 pages. E. P. Dutton ft Co. t4.net.
Nathan Bangs. By A. H. Tuttle. With portrait, 18mo, 128
pages. Eaton ft Mains. 26 cts. net.
HISTORY
"Rasplata" (The Reckoning). By Commander Vladimir
Semenoff. Large 8vo, 489 pages. E. P. Dutton ft Co.
$3.50 net.
Manors of Virginia in Colonial Times. By Edith Tunis
Sala. Illustrated in photogravure, etc.. large 8vo, 310 pages
J. B. Lippineott Co. $5. net. .
The Works of James Buchanan: Comprising his Speeches
and State Papers, and Private Correspondence. Collected
and edited by John Bassett Moore. Vol. II., 1858-1855.
Large 8vo, 489 pages. J. B. Lippineott Co. 15. net.
GENERAL LITERATURE.
Lauras NobUls: Chapters on Art and Life. By Vernon Lee.
12mo, 316 pages. John Lane Co. $1.50 net.
Essays of Poets and Poetry, Ancient and Modern. By T.
Herbert Warren, D.C.L. Large 8vo, 328 pages. E. P.
Dutton ft Co. 13. net.
The Young Man's Affairs. By Charles Reynolds Brown.
12mo, 166 pages. Thomas Y. Crowell ft Co. $1. net.
The Chlswlok Calendars. New titles: A Thoreau Calendar,
edited by Annie Russell Marble; A Wordsworth Calendar,
edited by Albert E.Sims; A Stevenson Calendar, edited by
Florence L. Tucker. Each with portrait, 12mo. Thomas Y.
Crowell ft Co. Per vol., 60 cts. net.
BOOKS OF VERSE.
A Vision of Life. By Darrell Figgis; with Introduction by
G.K.Chesterton. 16mo, 100 pages. John Lane Co. $1.25 net.
The Englishman In Italy: A Collection of Verses Written by
Some of Those Who Have Loved Italy. Arranged by George
Hyde Wollaston. 12mo, gilt edges, 316 pages. Oxford Uni-
versity Press. $1.76 net.
Songs of the Open. By John Myers O'Hara. 4to, 41 pages.
Portland: Smith ft Sale.
FICTION.
The Soore. By Lucas Malet (Mrs. Mary St. Leger Harrison).
12mo, 823 pages. E. P. Dutton ft Co. $1.50.
The End of the Road. By Stanley Portal Hyatt. 12mo, 334
pages. D. Appleton ft Co. $1.60.
The Hungry Heart. By David Graham Phillips. 12mo, 502
pages. D. Appleton ft Co. $1.50.
Happy Hawkins. By Robert Alexander Wason. Illustrated,
12mo, 352 pages. Small, Maynard ft Co. $1.50.
The Shadow of the Cathedral. By Vincent Blasco Ibafiey.
Illustrated. 12mo, 341 pages. E. P. Dutton ft Co. $1.35 net.
Sixpenny Pieces. By A. Neil Lyons. 12mo. 305 pages. John
Lane Co. $1.60.
The Calling of Dan Matthews. By Harold Bell Wright.
Illustrated, 12mo,8S4 pages. Chicago: Book Supply Co. $1.50.
Daphne In Fltzroy Street. By E. Nesbit. With frontispiece.
l2mo, 417 pages. Doubleday, Page ft Co. $1 JO.
The Confessions of a Con Man. As told to Will Irwin.
Illustrated, 12mo, 182 pages. B. W. Huebsch. $1. net.
The Need of Change. By Julian Street. Illustrated, l6mo,
79 pages. John Lane Co. 50 cts.
The Seven that Were Hanged. By Leonid Andreiff. 12mo,
80 pages. London: A. C. Fifield. Paper, 16 cts. net.


130
[Sept. 1,
THE DIAL
The Novels and Tales of Henry James, New York Edition.
New vols.: The Golden Bowl, 2 vols.; The Ambassadors, 2
vols. Each with frontispiece in photogravure, 12mo. Charles
Scribner's Sons. (Bold only in complete sets by subscription.)
TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION.
Stained Glass Tours in England. By Charles Hitchcock
Sherrill. Illustrated, 8vo, 248 pages. John Lane Co. $2.50 net.
An Egyptian Oasis. By H. J. Llewellyn Beadnell. Illustrated,
large 8vo. 249 pages. E. P. Dutton & Co. $3.50 net.
Seekers in Sicily. By Elizabeth Bisland and Anne Hoyt. Illus-
trated, 12mo, 282 pages. John Lane Co. $1.50 net.
John Chinaman, and a Few Others. By E. H. Parker. Illus-
trated, 12mo, 380 pages. E. P. Dutton & Co. $1.25 net.
SCIENCE AND NATURE.
The Slaking of Species. By Douglas Dewar and Frank Finn.
Illustrated, 8vo, 400 pages. John Lane Co. $2.50 net.
Wild Flowers and Trees of Colorado. By Francis Ramaley,
Ph.D. Illustrated, large 8vo, 78 pages. Boulder, Colo.: A. A.
Greenman.
Third Report of the Welcome Research Laboratories at
the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum: Andrew Balfour,
Director. Illustrated in color, etc., 4to, 477 pages. New
York: Togo Publishing Co. $2.50 net.
BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.
The Book of Famous Sieges. By Tudor Jenks. Illustrated.
l2mo. 305 pages. Doubleday, Page & Co. $1.50 net.
Historical Stories of the Ancient World and Middle Ages.
Retold from St. Nicholas Magazine. Comprising: Stories
of the Ancient World, Stories of Classic Myths, Stories of
Greece and Borne. Stories of the Middle Ages, Stories of
Chivalry, and Stories of Royal Children. Each illustrated,
12mo. Century Co. Per vol., 65 cts. net.
EDUCATION.
Practical Argumentation. By George K. Pattee. 12mo, 363
pages. Century Co. $1.10 net.
Health Studies. By Ernest Bryant Hoag. Illustrated, 18mo,
221 paces. D. C. Heath & Co. 75 cts,
Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, English Idyls, and Other
Poems. Edited by Beatrice C. Mullmer. 12mo, 174 pages.
Oxford University Press.
Crowell's Modern Language Series. New vols.: Exercises
in French Conversation and Composition, by Gustav Hein;
One Thousand Common French Words, by R. De Blanchand;
Dornroschen, von Emma Fisher. T. Y. Crowell & Co.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Austria-Hungary. By Geoffrey Drage. With maps, large 8vo,
646 pages. E. P. Dutton &. Co. $6. net.
Drugs and the Drug Habit. By Harrington Sainsbury.
11 lustrated. large 8vo. 307 pages. E. P. Dutton & Co. $2.50 net.
Douris and the Painters of Greek Vases. By Edmond
Pottier; translated by Bettina Kahnweiler. Illustrated,
Kvo, 91 pages. E. P. Dutton & Co. $2.50 net.
Gnide to Librarianship. Edited by James Duff Brown. 16mo,
93 pages. London: Libraco, Ltd.
The Sheaf Catalogue: A Practical Handbook on the Compil-
ation of Manuscript Catalogues. By James Douglas Stewart.
Illustrated, large8vo, 65 pages. London: Libraco, Ltd.
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THE DIAL
2. jSnnisfttanttyu Journal of Utteraro Criticism, ©isrusflton, anfc Enformation.
THE DIAL (founded in 1X80) is published on the 1st and lf>th of
eitr h month. Terms or Subscription, S2. a year in advance, postage
prtfuiid in the United States and Mexico; Foreign and Canadian
pottage 50 cents per year extra. Remittances should be by check, or
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Unlets othericise onlcrcd, subscriptions will begin with the current
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is desired. Advertising Rates furnished on application. All com-
munications should be addressed to
THE DIAL, Fine Arts Building, Chicago.
Entered as Second-Class Matter October 8, 1892, at the Post Office
at Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
No. 558. SEPTEMBER 16,1909. Vol. XLV1I.
Contexts.
PAGE
BOOKS OF THE COMING SEASON 169
THE BOOKS FROM QUEER STREET .... 171
CASUAL COMMENT 172
Present-day ten encies to mysticism. — The degra-
dation of words. — An entirely new edition of the
"Encyclopaedia Britannica." —The travel-tale as a
favorite form of literary hoax. — The advantages of
a layman's point of view. — Lord Bacon as a writer
of verse. — " Fletcherism " applied to reading. — A
ferocious vocabulary of peaceful sports.—An Amer-
ican scholar's study of Sterne. — A new definition t>f
culture.—The life of library books.—The two-mill
tax for public libraries.
HOBHOUSE, FRIEND OF BYRON. Percy F.
Bicknell 175
A NATURALIST IN SOUTHERN MEXICO.
Frederick Starr 176
THE STUDY OF MODERN ENGLISH. C. B.
Wright 177
MEMOIRS OF A ROYALIST EXILE. Henry E.
Bourne 178
RECENT FICTION. William Morton Payne ... 180
White's A Certain Rich Man. — Scott's The Woman
in Question. — Metour'a In the Wake of the Green
Banner. — Locke's The Plotting of Frances Ware.
— Crawford's The White Sister. — Oldmeadow's
Antonio.—Deeping's Mad Barbara.—Cull urn's The
Compact. — Miss Knapp's But Still a Man. — Miss
Ray's The Bridge Builders. — Miss Glaspell's The
Glory of the Conquered. —Mrs. Wright's Poppea of
the Post Office. — Miss Parker's Homespun. — Miss
Kenealy's The Whips of Time. — Miss During's
Love's Privilege.—Mrs. Garnett's The Infamous
John Friend.
BRIEFS ON NEW BOOKS . 184
A great inventor: his life and work.— Kobert Fulton
and his Hudson river steamboat. — Inside views of
French politics in the Republic. — The principles
and practice of modern advertising.—A gay pageant
of English scenes and characters. — Recollections of
sixty years of the English stage.—Ways of life in
the middle West fifty years ago. — An aid to the
understanding of our government. — The most fa-
mous fortress in the world.
NOTES 187
ANNOUNCEMENTS OF FALL BOOKS .... 188
(A classified list of the new books to appear during
the coming Fall and Winter season.)
BOOKS OF THE COMING YEAR.
Perhaps the most notable characteristic of
our full classified list of publishers' announce-
ments of new books, published elsewhere in this
issue, is afforded by the great variety and
interest of the biographical category. A good
biography of an important person is the most
satisfactory kind of a book. It may have all
the interest of the best type of fiction, with the
added interest that comes from our conscious-
ness that it is the portrayal of a real rather
than of an imagined life. Readers of the next
few months may revel in this form of literary
enjoyment, since all tastes seem to have been
provided for. From Boccaccio to G. B. Shaw,
from Joan of Arc to John Bigelow, the chrono-
logical gamut is run; the frivolous are remem-
bered with gossippy memoirs, the sober with
lives of statesmen and actors and men of af-
fairs and men of letters.
One could not go far astray in searching
among these forthcoming biographies for " the
book of the year," and in fixing upon the
"Retrospections of an Active Life," by Mr.
John Bigelow. This wonderful old man, now
completing his ninety-second year, with an
intellect whose keenness is no whit dulled by
age, has told his life-story, with reflections upon
a historical period quorum pars magna fait,
in three volumes that cannot fail to be of ab-
sorbing interest to all American readers. It does
not seem likely that any other publication of
the year can have quite so strong a claim upon
our attention. For a fair second, we may men-
tion Mr. William Winter's "Life and Art of
Richard Mansfield," which we trust may be far
from the last work of its veteran author, now
freed from the bondage of ignoble journalism.
Long may he continue to praise whatever is
of good report in the drama, and to castigate
the stage corrupters of public morals! Among
biographies of famous Englishmen we are to
expect one of Stanley written by himself, of
Sheridan by Mr. Walter Sichel, of Lecky by
his widow, of Richard Jefferies by Mr. Edward
Thomas, and of Lord Kelvin by Mr. Silvanus
P. Thompson. Among Americans, there will be
a Grover Cleveland by Mr. George F. Parker,
a Stephen A. Douglas by Mr. Clark E. Carr,
and a J. D. Wh