No More Learning

Essays and Letters.
By J. HOLLAND ROSE, Litt. D. ,
MR. GEORGE CAMERON, the author of
'Billy,' which was produced at the Play-
Reader in Modern History, University of Cambridge.
house last Saturday, makes a mistake In this volume Dr. Rose presents a series of essays, supplementary to his Life of William Pitt, and
in supposing it possible to occupy three dealing with the characters and careers of Pitt and Napoleon. It will also contain a valuable seleotion
whole acts with a jeune premier's pos- of important new letters by and concerning Pitt.
session and loss of four false teeth. Not
all the talent and accomplishment of Mr.
DR. ROSE'S LIFE OF PITT.
A. E. Matthews as the footballer hero, Miss
Florence Haydon as the heroine's mother,
VOL 1. -WILLIAM PITT AND NATIONAL REVIVAL
and Mr. Robert Averell as a “superior
VOL. II. -WILLIAM PITT AND THE GREAT WAR.
Oxford man
can maintain interest in a
Medium 8vo, with Photogravure Platos, 160. not cach.
dilemma that could be disposed of by any "Taken together the two books remove the reproach which Lord Rosebery has before now insisted upon-that there
rational person in three sentences,
is no adequate life of one of the greatest English statesmen. Now at last we have a work worthy of the subject. . . .
There is far more material in the one-act
Few living scholars are better equipped for the work. He has laid the foundation broad and
deep, and brings to the
study of British statesmanship an intimate and curious knowledge of the existing records. His style is an excellent
play 'Their Point of View,' by Wilfred T. one for an historian, being clear, picturesque, and spiced with just a flavour of epigram. "-Spectator.
Coleby, which preceded 'Billy. The argu-
ments by which a slightly disreputable
THE MOST COMPLETE “PEPY8. "
BOHN'S LIBRARIES.
widow attempts to secure for her good boy THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS,
NEW VOLUMES.
the advantages of a school for first offenders
touch real life at point after point. The
M. A. F. R. 8. Transcribed from the Shorthand MS.
in the Pepysian Library, Magdalene College, Cam- BEDE'S ECCLESIASTICAL HIS-
mother is admirably acted by Miss Beryl bridge, by the Rev. MYNORS BRIGHT, M. A.
TOBY OF ENGLAND. Bovised Translation.
Edited, with Additions, by HENRY B. WAKATLEY,
Mercer.
F. S. A. In 8 vols. post 8vo, bs. net each.
With Introduction, Life, and Notes by A. M. SELLAR,
lato Vice-Principal, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
MR. WILLIAM BOYLE's new play, 'Family Diary and the Notes and Index, as in the ten-volume
This reprint contains the whole of tho text of the
(Now ready.
Failing,' recently produced by the Abbey edition, the volume entitled 'Popyalana" being omitted.
Theatre Company in Dublin, shows all the The original ten-volume library edition is still to be had. THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.
With Illustrative Notor, Analysis, and an Index,
defects and some of the merits of this author's Demy sro, with numerous Portraits and other Illustrations,
(Vols. 1-VIII. , the Diary; VOL IX. , Editod by J. A. GILKS, D. C. L. 36. Bd.
work. The plot is too thin for three Index ; VOL X. , Popysiana. )
(Ready immediately.
acts, and though the dialogue is amusing
London : G. BELL & SONS, LTD. , York House, Portugal Street, W. C.
124
401
402
402
422
401
401
401
402
123
MESSRS. BELL'S BOOKS.
6
8
P I T T
AND NAPOLEON.
6
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No. 4408, APRIL 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
429
CONTENTS,
PAGE
429
430
431
THE NEW HISTORY
432-433
mental Delusions of Home Rule)
435
435
136
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS
THE DOUBLE FBAST AT ATHENS
441
442
a garrison Mr. Routh's chapters on Life in Tangier,
445-446
446-447
448
seem to have touched is the evidence of gier, which in any case was less humiliating
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1912. Arabic writers, and the assistance of and less open to Continental criticism than
an Arabic scholar would have enabled him a sale or surrender to Spain or Portugal.
to identify the real Moorish names, which But Charles took all responsibility on
TANGIER AND JERUSALEM
are represented by uncouth English ver-himself, and sent out the Earl of Dart-
sions.
MOODS, SONGS, AND DOGGERELS
mouth with orders so secret that even
ABOUT BIBLIOGRAPHY (Catalogue of Printed Editions If the subject of Tangier comes up in Pepys, who accompanied the expedition,
of Holy Scripture; Fifteenth-Century Books in the
British Museum; Manuscripts and Books be-
conversation (when it will probably be knew nothing of its purpose till he had
queathed to the Museum by A. H. Huth; Guten- cited, erroneously, as * Tangiers ”), the been five days at sea. It took months to
berg - Gesellschaft Publications; The Revival of
Printing ; Bibliographical Society Transactions ; inevitable question is asked, Why did dismantle and blow up the forts and mole,
English Editions of the Classics printed before
1641)
England give it up ? The answer to which had taken years of toil and danger
AMERICA AND EDUCATION (The Society of College this is, first, that England, constitu- to build and strengthen, but it was done
Teachers of Education ; The Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching; Social Aspects
tionally, never possessed it. Tangier was at last; and Dartmouth sailed away from
of Education; Farm Boys and Girls). .
HOME RULE (Against Home Rule; The Military
434 part of the dowry of Queen Catherine of a razed city at the beginning of 1684 amid
Danger of Home Rulo ; Irish Home Rule; Funda. Braganza on her marriage with Charles II. , the jubilation of the Moors and the
WIDSITH, AN OLD ENGLISH HEROIC LEGEND::
and thus became the personal property of neighbouring pirates of Algiers, and the
the King. It was maintained out of the consternation of the British merchantmen;
*THE ROMANCE OF WORDS; THINGS THAT MATTER;
RO< 441 royal income, and it cost Charles 70,0001. a and to the great loss of England's prestige
FORTHCOMING BOOKS . .
year to keep it up even in a scarcely in the Mediterranean.
LITERARY GOSSIP
SCIENCE - TECHNIQUE OF THE TEAT AND CAPILLARY defensible condition, with
,
GLASS TUBE; NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS;SOCIETIES ;
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK; GOSSIP
43-444 mustering under 2,000, though these were
on the Garrison, the Pirates of Algiers,
FINE ARTS-NATURB IN ITALIAN ART ; Two EXHIBI. the stirpes of some of our most famous Col. Kirke, and the Morocco Ambas-
TIONS OF ETCHINGS ; GOSSIP
MUSIC - ORGAN MUSIC; GOSSIP; PERFORMANCES
regiments.
sador” are lively reading, and his account
NEXT WEEK. .
DRAMA-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS; PLAY-MÄKING ;
The whole period of occupation was a of the great though unfinished mole is
GOSSIP
447–448 perpetual struggle against the attacks and excellent. The illustrations are excep-
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS ::
::
intrigues of the Moors, finally led by the tionally interesting, for they comprise
greatest of all the Sherifian Emperors, plans and drawings by Wenceslaus Hollar
Mulai Ismail, and the struggle was carried and other contemporary artists which
on with inadequate forces, irregular pay give an admirable idea of Tangier as it
LITERATURE
and supplies, inefficient and self - seeking was in the days of the British occupation.
commanders-with distinguished excep-
tions, however, in Lord Teviot, Sir Palmes The appearance of Jerusalem in Messrs.
Fairborne, and a few others. It was Dent's series of " Mediæval Towns may
TANGIER AND JERUSALEM.
impossible that the King could continue seem paradoxical, but Rome had already
The history of the brief occupation of to bear the cost, especially after the great established a precedent, and Jerusalem
Tangier by England was but inadequately siege of 1680 had shown the need for fresh played a dramatic part in the Middle
Ages.
treated until Mr. Hubert Hall of the fortifications and large reinforcements. Sir Charles Watson, however, rightly
Public Record Office suggested the sub- Before this indeed, in 1679, the House decided that his historical sketch must
ject to Mr. Routh, who has carried out of Commons had “ordered a Bill to be begin at the beginning, and nearly half
the work in a remarkably thorough and brought in for annexing Tangier to the of his interesting volume is concerned
exhaustive manner, with the help of Imperial Crown of England,” which would with ancient times. It would be difficult
hundreds of unpublished documents. He have thrown the burden on Parliament to name a more competent writer for the
has ransacked the treasures of the Record instead of the King; and a resolution was subject. As Chairman of the Palestine
Office, with its rich Admiralty and Colonial passed “ that those who shall advise his Exploration Fund he is perfectly ac-
Office papers ; the British Museum, Bod- Majesty to part with Tangier to any quainted with the progress of archæo-
leian, and Cambridge University Library;
foreign Prince or State. . . . ought to be logical research in the Holy Land, where
the State Papers and Reports of the accounted enemies to the King and king brother officers of his Corps, such as
Historical MSS. Commissioners ; besides
dom. ” But things had changed by 1683. General Sir Charles Warren, the late Sir
contemporary pamphlets, ballads, and The fear of Popery was growing fast, and Charles Wilson, and Col. Conder, not to
correspondence. The result is a very Irish Catholicsit is recorded that during with signal success. In writing Wilson's
the Tangier garrison, containing many mention Lord Kitchener, have worked
full book, authenticated as to all impor-
tant statements by ample references.
a siege the spoken communications to the biography and revising his article on
Our chief, indeed our only, criticism is outposts were in Irish, lest renegades Jerusalem in the recent edition of The
that the author, in his desire to include among the Moors should understand them Encyclopædia Britannica,' Sir C. Watson
every recorded detail, is in some danger --and these trained and efficient troops, had occasion to go thoroughly into the
of losing his sense of proportion. It is devoted to the King, were regarded as a many acute controversial points with
the familiar example of the wood and the menace to the liberty of England, especi- which the identification of sites fairly
trees. In the multiplicity of insignificant ally in view of James II. 's succession. bristles. He has carefully studied the
details—such as Mrs. Carr's quarrels with The Commons definitely gave Charles the great work of Dr. George Adam Smith,
Lady Fairborne-we are apt to lose sight choice between Tangier and the Exclu- the publications of the Palestine Pilgrims
of the salient events, whilst the throwing sion Bill, and the King declined to throw Texts Society, and the Quarterly State-
of much of the material into the foot-
over his brother.
ments of the Palestine Fund, and read
notes interrupts the flow of the narrative, “The nation. . . . was left with an in the chief books of travellers from the seven-
in itself not too fluent. But over-elabora- effaceable determination to be ruled neither teenth century to the nineteenth, such as
tion is at least a fault on the right side ; by priests nor soldiers. It is to these two Sandys, Maundrell, R. Pococke, Chateau-
and the brief occupation of Tangier offered
causes that may be traced the downfall briand, and Robinson. He does not refer
an exceptionally definite and restricted element of danger to Protestantism and cal description of Palestine (reviewed in
of Tangier, which was regarded. . . . as an to Mr. Huntington's admirable geographi-
range of documents, and thus encouraged to Parliamentary independence, and as a
a serious bid for finality. The only side weapon of which it might be well to he has missed the exceedingly graphic
The Atheneum, August 5, 1911); and
of his subject which Mr. Routh does not deprive the Royal House. '
account of Jerusalem under the Templars
Tongier : England's Lost Atlantic Outpost,
In the debate on the subject Sir William which was written by that interesting
1861–84. By E. M. G. Routh. (John Jones struck the dominant note: “Tan-
person
Usama ibn Munkidh, lord
Murray. )
gier has a Popish Church. "
of Shaizar, and translated by Prof.
The Story of Jerusalem. By Col. Sir C. M. It is said that Sunderland suggested H. Derembourg. He relies, perhaps a
Watson, R. E. (Dent & Sons. )
the demolition and abandonment of Tan- / little too confidently, on the authority of
8


## p. 430 (#322) ############################################

430
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4408, APRIL 20, 1912
none
>
Josephus and the Hebrew Scriptures, but that had passed from the time of the Cruci- kaf or gaf, not a ghain. The Ayyubites
may dispute their predominant fixion to the time of Constantine. Those
were not Memluk Sultans," nor did
importance.
who uphold the authenticity of the sites Harun al-Rashid immediately succeed Abu
Besides all this, Sir Charles Watson tradition as to their position, but of this Jafar (i. e. , Abu-Ja'far al-Mansur). Balkh
brings to his subject the military insight there is no proof, and, having regard to the
was not in Afghanistan. The only mis-
of a Royal Engineer officer, often of history of Jerusalem after its complete prints we noted are Arannah (p. 32),
considerable value in determining dis- destruction by Titus, it is not very probable. l'Estrange (p. 137), and “ account for
puted questions about lines of walls and all that is known for certain is that Macarius accounts (p. 22). To speak of the “Mosque
positions of forts; and he has evidently found them. ”
was ordered to find the sites, and that he of Aksa, when “ aksa is an adjective,
spent much time on the ground, making
is perhaps deferring to popular usage.
himself familiar with every part of the In this clear summary he has adopted We specially commend the admirable
city in a way that neither the desk his- Wilson's reasoning in Golgotha and the plan of Jerusalem appended to the work,
torian nor the mere tourist can approach. Holy Sepulchre, and he might have but a few of the names do not correspond
He writes in a clear, unemotional style, clinched the argument by the evidence as with the text, or rather the text gives the
not without touches of ironical humour to the position of the second wall; but, Arabic (Bab el-Hadid, Bab en-Nazir)
where such seemed permissible, and prefers as he admits, his view, though based on without the translations, whilst the plan
to give a lucid historical narrative instead very strong grounds, partly military, is gives the English (Iron Gate, Gate of the
of rhapsodical impressions. His book will not universally accepted.
Inspector). We should have liked also
be found both pleasant and instructive But the history of Jerusalem is fascinat- to see a reproduction of the Medeba plan.
by those whom he specially addresses, ing enough, apart from any “sites. ” Sir The book is profusely illustrated with
namely, travellers and students who Charles Watson makes one “ visualize" original sketches by Lady Watson, in
the little twin villages on the western and which the impression rather than detail
wish to continue their studies on the eastern hills, a thousand years and more is sought for; and there is a fine photo-
spot, and to picture to themselves, as far before Jerusalem is mentioned in writings, graph of the so-called Pool of Hezekiah
as possible, what Jerusalem was like at
different periods of its existence, and so to and see the primitive city of David, built for frontispiece. The index is excellent.
trace its story from the time when it was probably of wood-little more than a
just a village in the hills, long before Joshua chief's camp, with few civil inhabitants.
and the people of Israel crossed the Jordan He traces its growth and its many over-
and entered the Promised Land. ”
throws, and one marvels at its amazing The New History: Essays illustrating
Though orthodox, on the whole, in his power of recuperation after repeated the Modern Historical Outlook. By
treatment of the Biblical period, and destruction. Had Jerusalem not enjoyed James Harvey Robinson. (New York,
making no attempt to apply “ Higher
the unique privilege of being a Holy City the Macmillan Company. )
critical methods, further at least than for three great religions, it could never
Dr. G. A. Smith has sanctioned, Sir Charles have rivalled the fabulous Phoenix in its PROF. ROBINSON, writing plainly and
does not cater for the devout pilgrim's resurrections; and it is worth noting not vigorously in these Essays, gives us
hunger. He is too good an historian and only that the Mohammedans were the assurance of the work being done in
archæologist to palter with
to palter with “ sites,”
most scrupulous and merciful of all its America for the scientific treatment of
which, as he says,
conquerors, in admirable contrast with the history. The escape from the old out-
barbarity of the Crusaders, but also that look that saw history as a series of dra-
" can have no foundation in fact, as the under Islam the Sanctuary has always been matic episodes, or as a long narrative of
city, as it existed in the time of our Lord, guarded with pious care. It would be valorous deeds and appalling crimes, is a
has been completely destroyed, and in well if Christians would remember this slow business. Commonly in our schools
. . . . the present streets, so that the really when they bustle into the Haram-a and colleges, and even in our universities,
authentic sites can be counted on the fingers place more sacred to Moslems than to the literary and romantic influence still
of the hand. . . . The greater part of the places themselves, but one which, since Capt. prevails over the scientific mind where
shown in Jerusalem have been gradually Parker's adventures, they are less likely the teaching of history is concerned, and
selected during the course of many centuries to be allowed to disturb. We may be this in spite of the work of the last sixty
for the benetit of Christian pilgrims, and thankful that Joshua, in his wholesale de- years in the fields of geology, folk-lore,
some of the sites have been moved about, struction of Palestinian cities, was unable and archæology, and the discoveries con-
or grouped together, for greater convenience.
They are therefore not to be regarded as
to add Jerusalem to the list of his archæo- cerning primitive man and the conditions
How strong it
of barbaric and savage life.
authentic, but rather as pictures, like those logical erasures.
Of course,
of the Stations of the Cross hung up in may be gathered from its successful defi- we have had in Great Britain a good
Roman Catholic churches, which are in- ance of the Israelites led by a general number of men who have seen and urged
tended to bring the reality of the Gospel flushed with victories, its eighteen months' the importance of the scientific outlook,
history home to the mind. "
siege by the Babylonians, and later still and have insisted on the necessity of the
A typical instance is that of the places the remarkable resistance made by the scientific mind, so far as it is attainable,
of the Last Supper and of the Descent Greek garrison in the Akra to the attacks in historical investigation. York Powell
put the case for the “New History
of the Holy Ghost, which, when the of the Maccabees.
Franciscans were expelled from them,
Such criticisms as occur to us in reading with characteristic 'clearness of expression
were accommodated with other sites in this exceptionally interesting book refer and some exaggeration :
the vicinity. On the Invention of the to small details, which its assured popu-
“The New History is history written by
Cross Sir Charles is equally explicit :-
larity will enable the author to correct in those who believe that history is not a
future editions. It should have been department of belles-lettres, and just an
Suffice it to say that, acting imme- stated that the “ True Cross” was cap- elegant, instructive, and amusing narrative,
diately on the order of the Emperor; tured at Hattin and displayed by Saladin but a branch of science. This science, like
there can be no doubt that the sites, so fixed
at the siege of Akka ; but Sir Charles many other sciences, is largely the creation
of the nineteenth century. It deals with
by Macarius in A. D. 325, are the same as only mentions the demand for its restitu- the condition of masses of mankind living
those shown in Jerusalem at the present tion (p. 223). He is not quite consistent in a social state. It seeks to discover the
day. Whether they are the true sites is in his spelling of Arabic names : e. g. , laws that govern these conditions and bring
quite another matter, and those who believe Motassim, Mustassim, Hussein, Nasir-i- about the changes we call Progress and
that they are must also accept the fact that Khusrau (afterwards spelt Nazir), and Decay, and Development and Degeneracy
their recovery by Macarius was, as stated Mustanzir, where sin and sad are not
—to understand the processes that gradu-
by contemporary writers, a real miracle
for there is little question but that they had distinguished, neither should be doubled, ally or suddenly make up and break up
those political and economic agglomerations
The neglect
been completely forgotten, and not the or be represented by 2.
we call States—to find out the circumstances
smallest mention of them is made by any to indicate the 'ain is, we suppose, in- affecting the various tendencies that show
Christian author during the three centuries' tentional. “ Zenghi is spelt with a l their power at different times. Style and
was
>)


## p. 431 (#323) ############################################

No. 4408, APRIL 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
431
>>
no
the needs of a popular audience have no do at all as “New History. " There is it to carry. The phraseology is pregnant
more to do with history than with law or
abundance of evidence to show how large with meaning, frequently opening up
astronomy. Now at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, the science of history of the Middle Ages, and the author's gestion, the effect of which, if it is occa-
a part charity played in the mental life distant and visionary avenues of sug-
stage. We had amassed observations, but exuberant optimism has for once carried sionally enigmatic and enforces a pause,
we had not been able to correlate them or him over the line of scientific statement. is singularly arresting. The lines them-
to draw definite conclusions from them. ” The frequent quotations from Maeterlinck selves are packed with substance, and
are a source of irritation to the reader-are a kind of heavy armour containing
To York Powell, as to Prof. Robinson
and all students of the “ New History,
an altogether unnecessary irritation in a profound and intricate thought.
volume of historical essays.
the labours of Lyell and Darwin gave a
The results are not always felicitous.
key, long sought. With the flood of light The book, if it breaks fresh
We can see the machining process that
let in by scientific workers in biology, ground for English students of the lies behind the final evolution—the effort
anthropology, and geology, history is * New History," is eminently readable, that sets it in motion. Though the devo
steadily but surely coming into its own, thus satisfying the claim we make above, tion and the feeling that go to its making
and not, as heretofore, regarded as the it treats freshly a subject of the first are of the tensest, the craftsmanship
now
sport of political and theological partisans. importance, and it is of value as a mark is an irregular ebb and flow,
When, however, York Powell stated that of American progress. In fact, it is the surging into triumph, now limping along
style has nothing to do with history, kind of book to wake up our historical in tortuous, dissonant, and cumbrous
he made a grievous error. It has specialists at home to the deplorable rhythms. Mr. Galsworthy's poetry is less
everything to do with it, if history is state of things in our elementary and of a sublime discovery and revelation
meant to be read. The most valuable public schools in the matter of the teaching than a slow and somewhat painful “ ex-
researches, couched in the language of of history and the methods of the historian. foliation ” of a reflective temper into
the specialist who cannot write, are likely
poetic forms. We quote, as is only fair,
to remain infructuous for all but deter-
an example of the fusion of form and
mined students, and finally to be rewritten
matter into a resonant harmony, which
by somebody who has, perhaps, less
is rarer than we could wish :-
discrimination. Why should not
a Moods, Songs, and Doggerels. By John Then, as I choked and manned my soul
popular audience” read history ? The
Galsworthy. (Heinemann. )
For death, two stars came flying low,
fact that it is made unreadable is a
As might some disembodied owl,
Circling unsighted, but for glow
disgrace to learning. If Darwin had had MR. GALSWORTHY, in producing a volume Of its twin yellow eyes ; then all
the brilliant style of Huxley, he would of poems, some of them reprinted from
The owlish stars came clustering near ;
not have been less sound, and would have various periodicals and magazines, may
And from its horrid grandeur tall
That gallows-yew bent down to hear.
won appreciation much earlier. If clear have wandered into a bypath of author-
writing is an art rather than a science, ship, but certainly not for the purpose of Nothing could be more alien to his lofti-
it is an art every one should practise " warbling his Doric lay” in easeful ness, austerity, and not infrequent arid-
Some great men have deliberately made dolce far niente, as his title might wellness of expression, than the pellucid
themselves difficult to understand, but suggest. It is merely that the peculiar cadences and tremulous fluidity of Mr.
they are not the greater for that. Is it spirit which has stamped an indelible mark W. H. Davies. Mr. Galsworthy lacks
a sin to be elegant and amusing as well upon contemporary letters has migrated the almost insolent lyrical carelessness
as instructive? We hope not. Writers intact into a different medium of self- of success which is the blossom of a
with these characteristics are always realization; so that, in scanning these consummate art. Endeavour is the pre-
suspected, but they do better service to thoughtful and earnest poems, we have vailing note of his poetry. As a con-
learning than the composers of unreadable not to analyze the quality of Mr. Gals- sequence of the most intense mental
monographs. We have emphasized this worthy's outlook and mind, but to groping, analogies, phrases, and images
point more than once, regretting that measure exactly how fruitfully he has come crowding into his net in unruly
Science, the great bringer of light to-day, acclimatized himself to his new mode of masses, not obedient to his beck, but
should have so many followers who are self - expression.
self - expression. If Mr. Cunninghame capriciously, suddenly, and now empty-
experts in tedium and obscurity.
Graham is the aristocrat of modern handed, now heavy-laden with gifts. The
Prof. Harvey Robinson makes great pudder of a world,” and Mr. Shaw its is a more adaptable instrument to the
literature, treading disdainfully
this more roomy, expansive character of prose
play over some of the mistakes of the
masters of the Old History and the
Puritan Mephistopheles, SO Mr. Gals-
purpose
errors in popular text-books. With a worthy, in equal aloofness, is its Hamlet-master of many moods. For that he is too
sharp pen and a critical faculty keenly grave, melancholy, and questioning- ruminative, too serious, too consciously
alert, he takes The Fall of Rome, for haunted by the riddle which baffles affected by the high office of his muse,
instance, as our school manuals deal with him, but which impels him, willy-nilly, Moodiness is too strong a word, but some-
it, and pricks one monstrous bubble of to wrestle with it. With this intro- thing akin to that informs much of his
error. A judicial eye for the value of spectiveness and its concomitant liabili- spirit, seldom oscillating, except to sway
evidence, à light touch in the summing- ties his verse is charged and impreg- into elegiac retrospectiveness or broaden
up, and a complete freedom from the nated, so much so that we are forced to into a more universal and capacious
pedantic follies which are apt to encrust scrutinize his achievement from the sub- solemnity.
the university professor's mind, give Mr. jective angle rather than from that of
We offer these criticisms in no un-
Robinson a great advantage in pre-
poetic creativeness.
kindly feeling towards these impressive
senting his case. With all his scholarship Mr. Galsworthy is the warrior, the poems, but as the outcome of a genuine
and wide reading there is an ample human psychologist, the pitiful explorer of life, regard for Mr. Galsworthy's work in
sympathy and understanding, so that he rather than the poet. Indeed, there all the departments of literature he
writes easily and well on his subject, and is more actual poetic abandon in his has enriched. His broad and tolerant
the Essays are within the range of the prose than in his poetry. In spite of a humanity, his deep sympathy, the subtlety
average reader. There are some state-curiously static and architectural quality and keenness of his insight, his force and
ments that cannot yet be accepted as in the design and structure of the verse, penetration, have been equalled by but
settled fact, and the Professor, it seems as persistent in the short as in the long few of the men of letters of our day,
to us, hardly does full justice to the poems, it is not, as a whole, a unified and whatever channel of expression they have
Middle Ages. To compare “ the unthink- delicately woven fabric. We are selected. Neither his verse nor his prose
ing charity of the Middle Ages” with stantly brought up sharp on the reflec- is to be counted ephemeral. It is in no
"the organized social work of to-day,' tion that too onerous a burden is laid spirit of paradox that we suggest that the
to the disadvantage of the former, will not l upon the metrical body of the verse for former would gain by a more prolific use
con-


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432
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 1408, APRIL 20, 1912
In no
a
of the graceful slightness of his 'Land |tion of it, and the main factor, for good many early editions, even of the Bible, it
Song of the West Country:-
or evil, in the development of the is impossible to be sure whether any
There's many a drop of tender rain
character of our race, from the intro- particular copy is complete or no. The
As we go jogging, jogging on,
duction of Christianity among our Anglo- 1577 Geneva New Testament is such a
And many a while that's fine again. Saxon forefathers to the present day. case. Even Mr. Fry, the greatest authority
There's many a dip and many a rise,
And many a smile of friendly eyes.
It is not our intention to pursue the train on English Bibles and a lifelong collector,
There's many a scent and many a tune, of thought these considerations awake; was deceived in thinking he had a perfect
And over all the little moon,
but even considered merely as a printed copy, for in reality two “ signatures”
As we go jogging on.
book, the Holy Scripture holds pride of were missing. The Kalmuck versions of
Or take the tender and whimsical lines place. From the time of Coverdale to the 1820 (? ) seem to be imperfect, and pro-
To My Dog':-
present, the output of Bibles has been one bably some other Oriental editions are
My dear, when I leave you
of the mainstays of the printing trade in the same condition. Apart from un-
I always drop a bit of me-
This Catalogue describes a thousand edi- avoidable deficiencies of this kind, for
A holy glove or sainted shoe
Your wistful corse I leave it to,
tions of the Scriptures in English before which every student must be prepared,
For all your soul has gone to see
the nineteenth century, answering to an the editors are to be warmly congratulated
How I could have the stony heart
output of four or five million copies. on one of the most accurate, as well as the
So to abandon you.
During that century the Bible Society most valuable, annotated bibliographies
My dear, when you leave me
alone circulated over seventy-five million ever produced,
You drop no glove, no sainted shoe ;
copies, while the output from other
And yet you know that humans be
Modern bibliography has long emerged
Mere blocks of dull monstrosity
presses, British and American, was pro- from the rhapsodical stage, in which one
Whose spirits cannot follow you
bably equally great.
other described one's feelings at a sight of the
When you ’re away, with all their hearts,
As yours can follow me.
language has there been the slightest book, gave a few personal anecdotes of its
approximation to such
circulation, noble owner, praised the binding, and
My dear, since we must leave
(One sorry day), I you, you me;
though several European countries pos- finally gave the number of pages-often
I'll learn your wistful way to grieve; sessed printed translations of the Bible inaccurately. A bibliographer now aims
Then through the ages we 'll retrieve long before Tyndale's time, and the issue either at noting the existence of a book
Each other's scent and company;
And longing shall not pull my heart-
of new ones has never altogether ceased.
or its presence in a particular library, at
As now you pull my sleeve ! But the great growth of Bible translation indicating the contents for the benefit
The spell of these verses and the quick is due to British initiative, and coincides of students and readers, or giving such
stab of their appeal penetrate where more
The information about it as may enable others
ambitious raptures cannot reach.
Catalogue before us describes trans to ascertain whether a copy is complete
lations of the Scriptures into nearly four and perfect, and whether it belongs to
hundred distinct languages, in addition the same issue. The necessity for an
to three hundred distinct dialects—the elaborate description increases with the
ABOUT BIBLIOGRAPHY.
greater proportion of them made in the age of a book, such a description being
nineteenth century by missionaries who indispensable for those printed in the
THE first volume of Messrs. Darlow and were British or of British race.
first three decades of typography.
Moule's monumental work Bibles The Bible House Library was founded Incunabula have now a great and in-
appeared in the centenary year of the in 1804, and is now, with the possible creasing commercial value. Any one of
British and Foreign Bible Society ; its exception of that in the British Museum, the the thirty thousand fifteenth-century books
completion closes the tercentenary com- largest collection of printed copies of the is worth, when clean and perfect, a sum
memoration of our Authorized Version. Scriptures in existence. In these circum- between two and a thousand pounds,
Its subject and the way in which it has stances the compilers, when entrusted according to age, subject, and rarity.
been compiled alike justify us in placing with the task of producing an historic The issue, therefore, of a complete biblio-
it among the most important pieces of catalogue of the library, wisely deter-graphy of the British Museum incunabula
bibliography of the day. The Bible is mined on making an annotated biblio- is amply justified on that account alone,
not only the chief book in English lite-graphy, embracing not only the books though students of this history of culture
rature, not even approached in importance before them, but also all other important will be more interested in the light it
by any other, but also the very founda- editions of which copies could be examined throws on the comparative civilization and
and described. The first volume, pub- literary requirements of the age, or even
Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions lished in 1903, dealt with 1,400 editions in the methods of book-production which
of Holy Scripture in the Library of the of the English Bible, and has already can be deduced from it. In a full
piled by T. H. Darlow and H. F. Moule. taken rank as the standard work on the collation of an early printed volume a
2 vols. 4 parts. (Bible House. )
subject. The second, issued in three parts paragraph is devoted to a summary of the
Catalogue of Books printed in the Fifteenth for convenience, describes some 3,400 facts about the book. It is then further
Century now in the British Museum. -editions in other languages, ancient and described by quoting the beginning and
Part II. Germany : Eltvil-Trier. (British modern, with the scholarship and accuracy end of the text and the last printed
Museum. )
which distinguished its predecessor. No words. The beginning of another page
Catalogue of the Fifty Manuscripts and work of reference seems to have been left is often quoted to help in the identifica-
Printed Books bequeathed to the British unsearched, no living authority uncon- tion of imperfect copies; the number of
Museum by Alfred H. Huth, (British
Museum. )
sulted. We have given close attention lines on a given page and the measurement
Veröffentlichungen der Gutenberg-Gesellschaft. to those parts of the work on which we of twenty lines of type are added. A
-8-9. Catalogue raisonné des premières could form a first-hand opinion, and the collation must also show the number of
Impressions de Mayence (1445–67). Par result has been a feeling of intense ad separate sheets which make up the book,
S. de Ricci. —10–11. Die Bamberger Pfis miration for the way in which it has been and the number of pages in each. Only a
terdruckel und die 36-zeilige Bibel. Von. compiled. There are many good books long experience can test the accuracy of
The Revival of Printing : a Bibliographical on the bibliography of the Bible, but in these collations, which are now of the
Catalogue of Works issued by the Chief the various editions of it in every lan value of books worth several hundreds of
none of them has so much information on greatest commercial importance, as the
Modern English Presses.
duction by Robert Steele. (Macmillan guage been put before the reading public. pounds will depend on agreement with
& Co. )
After a very careful search we have found them, but the names of those responsible
Transactions of the Bibliographical Society. but two or three, not mistakes, but mis- for the compilation will be sufficient
List of English Editions and Translations of apprehensions, excluding, of course, mat- guarantee that no care has been omitted
Greek and Latin Classics printed before ters under discussion. Collations can, in to ensure it.
1641. . By Henrietta R. Palmer. (Biblio the nature of things, only be taken from What is interesting about modern
graphical Society. )
the copies available, and in the case of bibliography is the way in which small
on


## p. 433 (#325) ############################################

No. 4408, APRIL 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
433
indications are caught up and their con- printed in England ; three Shakespeare Son, printed by Schott and supposed to
sequences deduced. A number of pages quartos, the very rarest of the set; the be lost, is the same as “The true belief
in a particular copy of a book are faintly only copy in private hands of Cervantes's in Christ' (London, 1550), with another
inked, and you thus find that a printer is Galatea'; à volume of seventy Eliza- preface and title-page, is a curious instance
able to print eight octavo pages at a time, bethan broadside ballads absolutely price of the conveyance of matter (“convey,
who a few months previously was in the less ; eight French incunabula of the finest the wise it call") which has gone on ever
habit of printing only four at a time. A kind, and a manuscript containing twenty- since printing, began. This reference
discoloured slip of proof from a binding one engravings, seventeen of them by (p. 195) may be compared with one at
throws light on the method of printing the “Master of the Berlin Passion, the end of Mr. Scott's paper (p. 187),
in black and red, or a watermark on the some of them unique, and all of them of where Mr. Steele’s discovery is also men-
paper proves that a long-lost book has the highest rarity, are but a few of these tioned. Further evidence of borrowed
been hidden under a new title and a pre-treasures.