No More Learning

FRI.
Mostyn Rell's Song Recital, 8. 15, Bechstein Hall.
Frederick Keel's Vocal Recital, 8. 15, Æolian Hall.
SAT. London Ballad Concert, 3. Albert Hall.
Eva Rosa's Vncal Recital, 3, Bechstein Hall.
Margaret Holloway's Violin Recital, 3. 15, Eolian Hall.
>
6


## p. 172 (#148) ############################################

172
Τ Η Ε Α Τ Η Ε Ν Ε U M
No. 4398, FEB. 10, 1912
-one
a
6
to humiliation. His cat-like clinging to his
OUR LIBRARY TABLE
YET another society has been formed to
brother's hearth disarms our irritation with promote the study of modern drama on the
The Drone, and Other Plays. By Ruther- the old fellow's incompetence. Mr. Whit-
lines of the repertory schemes at Manchester
ford Mayne. (Dublin, Maunsel. ) — This ford Kane, rightly cast in the present and Glasgow. Sir A. W. Pinero is the
volume contains four plays :
two very
instance, makes a very successful appeal | President, and the first piece to be per.
brief and tragic; two comparatively long for sympathy on his behalf, and, indeed, formed is 'The Silver Box' of Mr. Gals-
and less poignant. All four have been acted
this actor's performance, and that of the worthy.
so recently as last Tuesday, for author of the play in the more conven-
FIRESCREENS are common stage properties
which see our Gossip column below_two tional part of the farmer, are the outstanding
of them in London; and all four have features of the representation, though two in the everlasting comedy à quatre. They
are usually sent for by the wife when she
vitality, character, and a peculiar flavour farm-hands, impersonated by Mr. Stanley
of their own, difficult to analyze. The Gresley and Miss Nellie Wheeler, squabble wishes to prevent her husband being singed
Drone ' holds the attention as many a better-
More often than not
with amusing naturalness. No 'less droll by another woman.
are the boorish she draws the fire to herself by engaging the
constructed play fails to do, and keeps the than their altercations
reader following with eager sympathy the speeches of a Scotsman, capitally portrayed attentions of a spark or two; sometimes, as
strategy of the worthless old man who by Mr. Alec Thompson, who is as egregiously in Mr. Sutro's now play The Firescreen,
gives the play its title. No audience could egotistical as he is tactless in his facetious. produced at the Garrick last Wednesday,
see it on the stage without laughing-yet ness, and it should be added that, while she tries to save the situation by applying
the old adage-set a thief to catch a thief.
in the whole first act nothing happens. sentiment of a dry sort plays a large share
Dramatic skill and experience tell effectively
We have merely watched the sayings and in the action, there is a full measure of such
doings of a household of living people. farcical relief. The play is to be given in the scenes between the two women, and
in the ethically debatable third act. Mr.
That, as matter of fact, is all that again at two matinées next week, and pro-
happens in many a first act of Molière, too. spective visitors to the Royalty may be Sutro fails to give reality to a supposed
* The Turn of the Road' is more organic : delightful and not difficult
to an attentive
standard of honour among libertines, dis-
assured that they will find the dialect
cussion regarding which seems to have
a real conflict is fought out; it ought by
ear.
been dragged in for theatrical effect, and
all rules to be the better play ; but it has
to such length is the obvious insisted on,
not the same fullness of fluctuating vitality THOSE playgoers who recall ‘Pygmalion that throughout the noble Martha (Miss
as 'The Drone’; and it is in abundance of and Galateaand “Niobe, not to mention Violet Vanbrugh) is clad in white, while
human character that the strength of Mr. The Brass Bottle,' must be conscious, Angela (Miss Cutler) riots in an orgy of
Rutherford Mayne evidently lies. It is as they watch at Wyndham's the develop- colour. The babe-like “scientist with
even possible that his work might suffer ment of Mr. Alan Campbell's so-called the innocence of stage convention is played
from an attempt to render it more compact ; | fantasy The Dust of Egypt,' that all its by Mr. Fisher White, Mr. Bourchier acting
but it would be interesting to see him make situations have already been used by his the gay Lothario obedient to the delicate
the attempt.
predecessors, and they cannot but compare to request of the Martha to whom he is
repre-
the disadvantage of his farce the sprightlier sented as indebted, with his usual distinction.
Le Théâtre d'Ibsen. By W. Bertéval. treatment of the humours of anachronism
(Paris, Perrin & Cie. )- Into a little volume of supplied in ‘ Niobe. '
No notice can be taken of anonymous communications.
some 300 pages M. Bertóval has managed to
We cannot undertake to reply to inquiries concerning the
His revivified mummy, which assumes the appearance of reviews of books.
compress the essence of twenty-two dramas.
We do not undertake to give the value of books, china,
He writes not for those who know, but for shape of an Egyptian princess, and is trans-
pictures, &c.
those who want to know their Ibsen. In ported to an English country house, proceeds
to act on the lines of every other heroine
TO CORRESPONDENTS. --S. A. -H. C. O'N. -E. L-
dealing with such a complex subject in so
F. C. 0. -Received.
small a space many points which would of two different civilizations are mainly
of her type. The more obvious contrasts A B. C. -A. S. G. -Not suitable for us.
normally be covered by the comprehensive relied on for the fun, but so young a play-
title have to be ignored. Of these the
Τ Η Ε Α Τ Η Ε Ν Ε Ο Μ.
subject of technique is one. The reader's
wright can hardly be blamed for not having
SCALE OF CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS.
attention is not drawn to questions of form improved on the
methods of more experienced
a
or languagedramatic style or variety of
(Hall-Column) ::
A Columä . .
metre; no room is found for biographical | Campbell's effort merits indulgence.
Reduced in length, and taken at a quicker
:: :: ::
matter or history of stage production. The
book suggests rather the ideal analytical pace, this farce (which employs Mr. Gerald Auctions and Public Institutions, Five Lines 48. and 8d. per line
Pearl Type beyond.
programme which might conceivably be du Maurier in a rather thankless part, and
IN THE MEASUREMENT OF ADVERTISEMENTS, CARE
commanded by some future British Minister Miss Enid Bell, a princess of statuesque
of Fine Arts for the yet-to-be-realized State poses and dragging diction, more ambitiously)
theatre than a treatise on Ibsen's dramas. may well shape into an acceptable enter- The Athenaeum Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, E. C
The dominant idea of each drama from tainment.
*Catilina' to 'When We Dead Awaken’ is
We have received a lengthy communica-
Τ Η Ε Α Τ Η Ε Ν Ε Ο Μ,
traced, and comparison made one with
PRICE THREEPENCE,
another. Many who set out, as does M. tion from Miss Darragh concerning twelve
Is published every PRIDAY in time for the Afternoon Mails. Terms
Bertéval, to consider the plays not from plays she is presenting at the Gaiety Theatre,
a ‘Confession of
Three Months, 38. 10d. ; for Six Months, 78. 8d. ; for Twelve Months,
outside as critic or spectator, but in the Manchester, including
For six Months, 88. ; for Twelve Months, 183. , commencing from any
spirit of the disciple, get lost in a fog of Faith. ' We quote two salient paragraphs :
date, pryable in advance to
conjecture to symbolic origins. If, “ While we seek to represent to a certain extent
on rare occasions, our author is so tempted, the Feminist Movement and conduct the theatre The Atheneum Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, E. C.
he recalls himself and his readers with
more or less as a Woman's Theatre (owned and
“ Cherchons donc à refaire le drame avec
managed by women), it will be our aims to avoid
didacticism and only to permit such deliberate
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS.
Ibsen. ” We know of no English book
instruction' on the stage as is consonant with
which forms so lucid an introduction to the entertainment'; only to admit the play of
works of the Norwegian dramatist, con- ideas on condition that it is a play-a story told,
sidered not as isolated dramas, but in their
as it were, 'in the round. '
CHAPMAN & HALL
relation one to another.
“We open on February 12th, with a varied
programme comprising some twelve or more plays
EDUCATIONAL
by modern authors. Among them are The
EXHIBITIONS
Perfect Widow,' a new and brilliant comedy, by HARPER & BROS.
Gilbert Cannan ; ' Old Jan,' a Volendam study, by LECTURES . .
Dramatic Gossip.
Gertrude Robins (four of whose plays have LONGMANS & Co.
already been presented at the Gaiety); The Dear MACMILLAN & Co.
MAGAZINES, &c.
'THE DRONE' was discussed in these
Little Wife,' a Japanese sketch, by C. Dunn ;
columns when it first appeared in book
'The Cry,' 'a Siberian thrill, by Nita Faydon ;
NOTBS AND QUERIES
Alias Mrs. Fairfax,' a Suffragette sketch, by
form (Athenaeum, No. 4294), and we allude
George H. Jessop; The Notorious Mrs. Ebb- PAUL, TREXCH & Co.
to it again this week in noticing its republica- smith, The Walls of Jericho, Arms and the
tion with three other plays, so that there
Man'; 'The Fountain,' by George Calderon ; PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS
is scarcely need to say more of it than that
and The Likeness of the Night,' by Mrs. W. K.
SEELEY & Co.
Clifford. '
its quaint hero preserves his charm upon
SHIPPING . .
SITUATIONS VACANT
the stage. His helplessness when he is THE VAUDEVILLE THEATRE is to open SITUATIONS WANTED
called upon to explain his model and face with a comedy entitled 'Kipps,' derived SMITH, ELDER & Co.
the criticisms of an expert makes us
SOCIETIES . .
from Mr. H. G. Wells's book of that name, TYPE-WRITERS. &c.
sorry for him as for a nervous friend exposed and written by him and Mr. Rudolf Besier. YOST TYPEWRITER
5 Lines of Pearl. .
75
£ 8. d.
0 3. 6
1 16 0
3 3 0
9 9 0
A Page
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO MEASURE FROM
RULE TO RULE.
JOHN C. FRANCIS and J. EDWARD FRANCIS,
of Subscription, tree by post to all parts of the United Kingdom: For
158. 3d. For the Continent and all places within the Postal Union.
as
JOHN C. FRANCIS,
AUTHORS' AGENTS
BAGSTER & SONS
BUSINESS FOR DISPOSAL
CATALOGUES
. .
DUCKWORTH & Co.
MISCELLANEOUS. .
PAGR
146
148
146
146
176
149
146
145
147
145
150
150
147
146
174
148
150
146
145
146
148
175
145
146
173
145
146
175
PAUL & Co.
PRINTRRS. .
SALES BY AUCTION
19
:
as


## p. 185 (#149) ############################################

No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
185
PAGE
185
187
Room in the
188189
. .
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK; SALE
LIST OF NEW BOOKS
LITERARY GOSSIP
191
192
. .
FINE ARTS—THE CLASSIC POINT OF VIEW; POM.
SON DRAWINGS; GOSSIP
200201
202
HIS
was
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
204
206
experiment in religion which has stood tude of scattered writings and reported
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1912. its intellectual trials not less prosperously addresses, published or in MS. , which
than the trials of persecution, and as a he wishes to be brought together and
CONTENTS.
moral asset of civilization which has done printed in a Book. ” Not all in one book,
a great, distinctive, and persistent work it is obvious from the tale of them. . For,
QUAKERISM OLD AND NEW . .
for humanity, and is still unwasted. though those were the days of volumes in
THE EXCESSES OF CIVILIZATION (The Life Story of J.
Pierpont Morgan; The Underlying Principles of
Among the related documents now for folio, it would have had to be a massive
Modern Legislation; The Anarchists, their Faith
and their Record)
the first time printed along with George volume indeed to contain between two
NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES (Views and Vagabonds ;
Fox's Journal, none is more interesting boards such a resurrection rally of printed
The Outward Appearance; The
Tower; The Indian Lily). .
than the series of testamentary papers and unprinted remains (including letters
TAIS WEEK'S BOOKS (Margaret of France ; After.
given at the end of the second volume. broadcast about the world, and adversaria
thoughts; A Year with the Gaekwar of Baroda ; Written about 1685, they show the great on margins and ily-leaves) as his directions
The Betts of Wortham; The Modern Woman's
indicate.
religious enthusiast and man of many
All the notes of the “ passages”
Rights Movement; The Principle of Individuality
and Value ; Monetary Economics ; Oscar Wilde) 189—191
travels arranging the final disposition of of Friends (=their adventures, vicissitudes)
his estate and belongings with a vigilant which he had collected were to be used;
196 attention to all that he possessed, and a
much more, therefore,
SCIENCE-DIESEL ENGINES ; LORD LISTER; SOCIETIES;
knowledge of where everything was to be “the great Jornall of my Life, Sufferings,
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK ; GOSSIP
198—199 | found, which would not have discredited Travills and Imprisonments they may be put
PEIAN DECORATIONS ; THE MODERN SOCIETY OF
the most matter-of-fact and stay-at-home together that Lye in papers and ye Little
PORTRAIT PAINTERS, AND OTHER EXHIBITIONS ;
minder of his own private business. These Jornall Books they may be printed together
MR. LESSER LESSER'S OLD MASTERS; ROWLAND- glimpses confirm the impression which in a Book,”
the Journal' ever and again conveys, the instruction being further amplified
MUSIC-GOSSIP; PERFORMANCES NEXT WEEK
DRAMA-THE EASIEST WAY; GARRICK AND
that George Fox, for all his unworldly elsewhere.
FRENCH FRIENDS; AN ACTOR'S HAMLET ; THREE fervour and his occasional propagandist
COMEDIES; GOSSIP
202—204 extravagances,
Here is a case where to misread the
yet wonderfully
*JULIUS CESAR' AT OXFORD
human, sane and sensible au fond, and motive is to miss the knowledge offered to
might have been very good company in this care to perpetuate his own memory
our intelligence. It would be easy to see
at an inn fireside of an evening, after he and utterances, not, indeed, ordinary
had “cleared himself fully” in regard to egotism, but an instance of that rather
the neighbouring steeple-house. Perhaps
LITERATURE
next to the housewife, indeed, there is no sorry self-preoccupation which will some-
one so practical and housewifely as the wayfarer who first set out, and prospered
times overtake in later life the spiritual
genuine traveller, and there is something in his mission to men, because he had no
of the woman—that is, of the
has to manage in the traveller's
attention thought of self at all. It would be easy,
QUAKERISM OLD AND NEW.
to little contrivances and his just respect but it would be inept. Rather we should
for material things. In the case of George expression of that commemorative in-
see here a conspicuous and important
PUBLISHED within a month or two of each
other, the two books before us make a
Fox the traveller's feeling also towards
notable addition to the resources available small personal belongings, towards the stinct (to use the latter term a little laxly)
for literary and historical students who trivial items of his equipment
which have which ought to be counted one of the
distinguishing characteristics of the early
may wish to look somewhat closely into accompanied him through long journeys Quakers. It is also, we think, to be counted
the story of Quakerism or the personal
and religious characteristics of its founder the direction that Thomas Lower shall one of their worthiest, since it results
have
The contribution of the one work towards my Spanish leather hood," and equally from their high practical intelli-
moral view of life, and
this result lies in the fact that, thanks S. Mead - my
Magnifying Glass and the their faith in the reality of a new spiritual
to the restoration of all (and it was
era.
The last sentiment, especially, is
much and various) that had hitherto been
Reminiscent of another famous will, clearly predominant in George Fox's
omitted from his Journal,' the personality and quaintly worded withal, is this from a
care for the publishing and distribution of
of George Fox is now more fully presented codicil regarding “ Petty's," a dwelling his own works, and for the formation of
than ever before, so that the reader will house and land near Swarthmore, in which Friendly archives and libraries. In love to
find more to wonder at, something perhaps his widow was to have a life interest :-
man and gratitude to God, and in glad
to forgive, and not less to love. That of
the other consists in telling the story & my great Chair & my sea Case with yo
“And my Ebeney Bed with yo Curtins childlike wonder at what he has seen
come to pass as well as been privi-
of Quakerism's heroic age-fully as to Glass Bottles in itt I doe Give to stand in leged to suffer, he wishes future genera-
narrative, wisely as to commentary and the house at pettyes which I have Given for tions to share in the triumph by knowing
interpretation - in a way which shows a Meeting place & ye Chair will serve for how, and through what animating trials,
that present-day Quakerism, at its best, ffriends to sitt on & ye Bed to Lye upon, the victory was won. If he wishes that
holds nothing by the tenure either of and ye Sea Case will hold some Liquour or
“all the passages of ffriends and their
enthusiasm or of mental inertia, still less Drink if any should be faint. ”
Travills which they have stiched up at
by the surrender of the scientific conscience Surely convincing token of that Swarthmoore may be Gathered up to make
to conclusions foregone. These works unity with the creation ” which he once a History of,” it is because the resulting
seem, indeed, fitted not only to render sought to place beyond dispute by putting history will be a brave thing"; and
account of their subject, but also to react to his lips the tobacco-pipe of a jesting again (in a paper dated 1688), because
upon it, by bringing it, so far as the wider youth, who had proffered it, thinking it is a fine thing to know yº Beginning of
public is concerned, to the starting-point thereby to shock a holy man:-
of a new career of influence and estimation.
ye Spreading of ye Gospel after Soe Long
They can hardly fail to secure for it
“And I lookt upon him to bee a forwarde Night of Apostacy since ye Apostles Dayes,
bolde lad : and tobacco I did not take : butt that now Christ Reigns as hee did in the
renewed and enhanced attention as an
I saw hee had a flashy empty notion hearts of his people. Glory to ye Lord ffor-
of religion : soe I took his pipe & putt it ever, Amen. "
The Journal of George Fox. Edited from to my mouth and gave it to him again to
the MSS. by Norman Penney, with an stoppe him lost his rude tongue shoulde say
This note of high ecstasy, as of one who
Introduction by. T. Edmund Harvey. ! I had not unity with ye creation. "
is fighting a great and heavenly fight with
2 vols. (Cambridge University Press. )
holy glee, and who doubts not that the
The Beginnings of Quakerism. By William
But as illustrations of character, the sun and stars are at gaze for the memor-
C. Braithwaite. With an Introduction by most important of these testamentary able transactions now going on upon the
Rufus M. Jones. (Macmillan & Co. ) papers are those concerning his multi- earth-it is, upon the whole, the note of
a


## p. 186 (#150) ############################################

186
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
66
the 'Journal,' and is amazingly sustained. Ellwood, and does not allow sufficient To Mr. Braithwaite's book we can also
It lends confirmation to the view of the weight and insistence to the operations give very hearty praise. Though it
present editor that the narrative part of of the committee of censors to whom the is later in issuing from the press,
the work was entirely dictated. For if work was submitted for revision. To this
it is really the antecedent volume to
the manuscript often shows signs of the committee, called the Second Day Morn. The Quakers in the American Colonies,
writer's hand having been hurried, still ing Meeting, had to be submitted all by Dr. Rufus M. Jones (and others), to
oftener we seem to catch the very tones works of a religious nature or bearing which which we gave extended notice on August
of the rapt narrator as he recapitulates, Friends proposed to publish. A censor 19th, 1911. On that occasion we ex-
in a great gusto of recollection, the story ship, as one of the earliest institutions of pressed the opinion that if the series was
of a victorious struggle from which he Quakerism may sound paradoxical. Yet continued in the spirit of the first instal-
is even
now returned, happy,
"well
on a closer scrutiny it will be found to ment, it would " constitute a history of
breathed,” and aglow with life. It is all bear but little against their intellectual Quakerism in which the disinterested
in the mood of that full-hearted climax consistency, while it affords one token historical motive and point of view are
of Burke : “We did fight that day, more of their religious sanity and their for the first time predominant. ” That
and conquer ! ” It would be difficult, practical good sense.
expectation is abundantly confirmed by
it is true, to imagine any event in which And it must be owned that these the new volume, which in some respects
he was concerned that did not appear to qualities are exhibited plentifully through- reaches an even higher excellence than its
George Fox a victory for truth, and a out the two handsome volumes in which predecessor. It has one great advantage
discomfiture, if not a routing, of the we are now permitted to see how the in unity of authorship, and another in
forces of evil; so upholding was that first editors - Ellwood and the revising comparative unity of scene and action,
same holy glee in which he ever went, committee — dealt with the important, In documentation and detail, also, it
were it even into the ditch headlong from but highly singular literary bequest shows a great advance in thoroughness,
the hands of “rude people. ” Thence he which they had to deliver to the foot-note references to first-hand autho-
would emerge without anger, to tell them, world. Besides normalizing the spelling rities (published or in MS. collections)
reasonably enough, they should be and sometimes refining the expression, being given for almost every statement
ashamed to do soe. ” And if after that they decided that a great many little in the text. In knowledge of the annals,
they slunk away, or at least did not throw things were best left unsaid, or at least archives, and literature of Quakerism
him in again, why, certes, the power of unprinted. In almost every case — all Mr. Braithwaite can have few equals,
the Lord was over all ! ”
except about half a score out of several and any who might be so described have,
Something must be said of the "original hundreds—they decided wisely or reason- as his Preface indicates, gladly placed
MS. ” from which this edition is printed, ably, having regard to their time and the themselves at his service. When we say
though a brief account can hardly indicate purpose of the bequest. George Fox is that 500 out of some 580 well-filled pages
how original and full of interest it is. In now, of course, a privileged character ; of text are concerned with the history of
reality a collection of different MSS. which the more fully he reveals himself the the Quaker movement in this country alone
now lie, bound in two volumes, at the better we are pleased. That, however, is during the nine years to 1660, it will be
Friends' Reference Library in Bishops-because we do not take him, or any other seen that the story is amply told. Yet &
gate Street (of which Mr. Penney is the mystic, so seriously as the majority of marked feature of the book is the unusual
learned and ideally fit custodian), it con- Christian people were at least capable freedom from repetition. Its length is due
sists of a narrative portion, and a great of doing in the seventeenth century. Our to no lack of literary conciseness, but to a
number of inserted documents.
documents. The interest, at best, is apt to be somewhat careful mapping out which has ensured
narrative is (with the exception of a few psychological and trivial; it is marred that the whole ground is covered, and
pages at the beginning) all in the hand by indifference, and sterilized by every moment of the movement or aspect
writing of Fox's stepson-in-law, Thomas immunity. We are (alas ! ) in little danger of the subject adequately dealt with.
Lower, the inserted documents being in of being influenced by what we read in this These moments are many, and some of
more than fifty other handwritings. Only kind, still less of pressing some ill-chosen them exceedingly dramatic; while the
one paper
is in Fox's autograph; and in a term of George Fox too far, and forthwith aspects in which Quakerism has to be con-
mixed and marvellous assembly of idiosyn- * running out” into some new sectarian sidered give abundant opportunities to
cratic spellings it is uniquely strange, variation of our own; or of being wounded a writer whose historical and philosophic
making us surmise that
the scornful dis- by a personal reference; or disconcerted knowledge seems wide and sure,
and whose
putant who once challenged him to spell by an apparent lapse from dignity or faculties of moral interpretation and
Cain was taking a mean advantage. This charity in a revered personality. But literary expression are both beyond what
collection was evidently used by Thomas our poorer spiritual estate brings its is usual. This makes it curious that before
Ellwood in preparing the first edition, liberties, if not its compensations. So closing his fine chapter on the 'Fall of
published in 1694. But he made use of here at last George Fox—all that is fine Nayler' he did not attempt to deal
documents which are not now in the and all that is flaw in him—has leave to directly and carefully with the problem
collection, and passed by a great many speak in his own voice, and takes his of Fox's reluctance to be reconciled to
which are still there. Unfortunately, the chances with the reader as he took them the penitent. The difficulty is to be
first fifteen leaves are entirely lacking, so
with many a rougher audience. We feel explai
We feel explained, we think, by reverting to that
that we must always go to Ellwood's in the end that the soldiers who had charge purity” of Fox to which the author
printed text for the only surviving first-over him at Scarborough Castle spoke and Dr. Rufus Jones repeatedly refer,
hand account of George Fox's boyhood, excellently, when, at parting, they pro- but of which even they, in our opinion,
his early spiritual searchings and dis- nounced him as stiff as a tree and as have failed to take the full measure and
coveries, and the beginnings of his mis- pure as a bell! ”
value. In Fox a passionate purity was not
sionary career. Neither at the beginning Having braved the editorial blue pencil so much a consequence or aspect of his
nor the end, indeed, do the MS. and the thus far, we still find it impossible to religious nature as it was the beginning
editio princeps cover the same ground. More indicate a tithe of what there is of interest, and cause of the whole religious quest and
important yet is the fact that there are a both for history and character, now for achievement, so far as the cause lay in him.
great number of differences between them the first time brought to the light. High Now there was that in the Nayler episode
from point to point throughout the narra- praise is due to the Syndics of the Cam- which struck at a nature, so constituted
tive or Journal proper differences evi- bridge University Press not only for their and possessed, more deeply and wound-
dently dictated by the taste or judgment enterprise in producing this authoritative ingly than ever the three spires of
of those who had the final voice in deciding edition, but also for the beautiful setting Lichfield “strucke att his life"-making
what should appear, and in what form. and form of the work. As to Mr. Penney's the recovery of charity a slow work
In regard to this, we think Mr. Harvey labours, we can truthfully say that out for his religion, reinforced even by his
(who writes an admirable Introduction) side classical scholarship we have hardly reason and his habitual kindness, to
rests too much of the responsibility on' met such learned and faultless editing. achieve.
> >


## p. 187 (#151) ############################################

No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
187
THE ATHENÆUM
was
a
Again, considerable space is devoted to his to solve; for it is useless to talk of
THE EXCESSES OF CIVILIZATION. Mr. Pierpont Morgan as a philanthropist, the market value of labour as unalterable.
THE three books under consideration, if, Steel Trust being lightly glossed over of adjustment and change as the salary
the labour question involved in the On the contrary, it is as much a matter
to use the language of science, not con-
stituting a compound, may nevertheless Morgan's skill in dealing with intricacies
-only touched upon to demonstrate Mr. of the organizer himself, and depends to
be likened to a chemical mixture—the and detail in organizing and executing while the private report on the conditions
a large degree on his attitude. Mean-
subjects of the first and the last being great undertakings. Mr. Hovey's teleo- prevailing in some of Mr. Morgan's under;
danger, while the second is the medium logy finds its ultimate aim in the accumu- takings lies in the office of the Imperial
which reduces the risk of an explosion.
lation of money, in vast capitalistic Institute of Social Service, and Mr. Morgan,
control and undertaking. Finance is a disdaining these matters, practises philan-
There are not a few biographers who find game of Titans, and success the criterion. thropy and remains not the least
the idealization of their heroes inevitable, Capital must organize, and eliminate interested ” in any remedial change,
and Mr. Carl Hovey is among them. internal friction, war, and waste among its advancing his own interests—“his most
Certainly some aspects of Mr. Pierpont factors and segments. Mr. Morgan has telling and characteristic service to the
Morgan's personality lend themselves always worked for example, in the case public. ”
readily to such treatment, and in this of the Steel Trust—to bring about a
book his indisputable financial genius is strengthening of the power of investment. wondering how long the social conscience
For ourselves we close the biography
set forth in dramatic fashion—it is a The more wealth is gathered into the will allow wealth to be used towards
portrait painted in bold strokes, and hands of a ring, the cheaper the cost of the satisfying of the individual desire of
many who can
can see only the ugly side production.
of Mr. Morgan's activity, yet look upon
possession. At any rate, so long as our
him
Organization crushes competition, and leaders in religion and sociology die in
as representing a type conse-
quent upon a period of transition.
efficiency and economy hover over the field an odour of sanctity, leaving vast accumu-
of
At the Social Democratic Convention
carnage. About the feet of the Colossus lations of investments capable of immediate
of Paris twelve years ago it
creep the petty men, toiling to build and transference to what are called charitable
recognized that the capitalist organ its gangs of slaves under the lash of the to the purposes hitherto served so long
unify the structure. Ancient Egypt, with objects—in contradistinction, we suppose,
teristics, is tending towards the social- taskmaster, worked to similar purpose, must something akin to admiration be
ization of the instruments of production. " and the comparison is hardly exaggerated, expected by men like Mr. Pierpont
But the book, though interesting, is far for the Steel Trust demands—we quote Morgan, who, making no particular protes-
from the book-
tation of altruism, yet give away a portion
from convincing. There is much in it about
Mr. Morgan's probity and patriotism; but “tons and tons of fresh, muscular, solid
of their superfluous wealth during their
lifetime.
in the process of strengthening his case human flesh from the backward districts
it has been found necessary to slight of Europe - Hungary, Poland, and Russia Our disagreements with Prof. Jethro
host of other financiers. The provided with little brain, but bruto strength Brown, which are many, start with his
whole atmosphere is one of justification, for the making of steel. . . . It is worth very title, the pretentiousness of which is
and there is throughout a subtle under-
while to think it the incarnation of only mitigated by the conspicuous honesty
current of defence. At the outset Mr. Pierpont Morgan. In a way it is the best of his purpose in seeking to find the basic
Morgan is presented merely as a superior life, there is. ”
ideas which dominate the legislation of
specimen of the business man—whose aim
our day. His second page supplies a
in life is to “advance his own interests”;
Unionism has been completely crushed, passage so apt for recollection when we
in the course of the book the attention is its workers effectually disorganized. In come to consider Mr. Vizetelly’s diatribe,
directed to Mr. Morgan as one unfailingly its relation with Labour, Mr. Morgan's that no excuse is needed for quoting it:
righteous and sound, neither untrust corporation is “paternal. ” It hires the
“Few of the great causes
that have
worthy nor destructive of public utility;
men individually, and stifles any attempt
and, lastly, considerable emphasis is laid at an improvement of the conditions of inspired devotion in the past have suffered
80 much as anarchy from the uncritical
on details of his social tastes and philan- work. by a peculiarly vicious method. depreciation that confuses essentials with
thropic achievement.
Criticism of the methods of the Steel accidental associations. "
It is when Mr. Morgan steps from mere
Trust or unrest is silenced by allowing
a bonus to those “ who show a proper
A few pages later Paine's dictum, which
and control of the finance of business interest in its welfare and progress. ”Any is nothing less than an indictment of the
that we begin to find Mr. Hovey inade attempt at an organization of labour present phase of social evolution, is
quate. The organization of railways means that the worker must refuse the revived : “Society is produced by our
appears in the light of a patriotic under bribe, or find his wages curtailed. To wants, and government
by our wicked-
crown all, there often takes place a
ness. ”
taking, but we hear nothing of the devious
Steel dinner,” at which the heads of There is much in the opening chapter,
methods of railway finance. Whether the various companies of workmen meet entitled 'The Challenge of Anarchy,'
the railways secretly control the appoint- the Steel Corporation, and
which merits attention if we
are to
ments of the Inter-State Commerce Com-
approach what purports to be the subject
mission and the United States judges is " at which is breathed through the innocuous
of our next notice in anything like a
a question left untouched. We see only medium of after-dinner speeches that"
the discreet side of the railway magnate's ditions are good in the steel industry," judicial spirit, whilst the hero of the
operations. Yet it is known generally and, it is well to let matters run on as they preceding book may well ponder how
much truth is contained in the words,
that both Commissioners and Federal
judges have been, and are, under obliga- It is the investors' Golden Age, and to Mr. is not the anarchist, but the individual
“The enemy to the existing social order
tion to controllers of railways for their Morgan more than any other man is due who thinks only of himself and of his
appointment.
the credit of organizing and directing the class. "
After such a far-sighted asser-
monstrous super-machine. His remark- tion it comes as a shock to find our author
The Life Story of J. Pierpont Morgan. By able ability in business organization has stating that the great struggles by which
Carl Hovey. (Heinemann. )
left the lot of the employee not merely
The Underlying Principles of Modern Legis where it was, but actually depressed.
our political liberties have been gained
lation. By W. Jethro Brown, (John
are past. We hasten to affirm, lest such a
Murray. )
Had Mr. Morgan accepted the creed of sentence turn a host of thinking women
The Anarchists, their Faith and their Record, his class, the matter would be at an end, and some men from further consideration,
including Sidelights on the Royal and Other but his position is obscured by the glitter that this sweeping assertion is, by in-
of the name of philanthropy. It is a ference, much modified throughout the
By Ernest Alfred Vizetelly. (John Lane. ) hollow pretence that the problem is not rest of the book. But one of our chief
are. '


## p. 188 (#152) ############################################

188
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
we
regrets is that it is nowhere contradicted these combine efficiency with an increase
with sufficient emphasis.
of revenue to the State but we feel that NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES.
Between the Prologue and the con-
we have said enough to show the breadth
Views and Vagabonds. By R. Macaulay.
cluding Outlook we have to wade through of the subjects touched on and the wide
(John Murray. )
much trite statement which will prove reading of the author, as well as the fact
ANY novel by Miss Macaulay is sure to be
wearisome to those who are seeking that his ground is highly controversial.
justification for the author's title. Never-
sincere, interesting, and worthy of careful
If we have ventured to criticize, we
attention. Sometimes, as in “ The Furnace,'
theless, the truth of the pronouncement have done so in no merely
no merely carping she has produced fine work. • Views
that the twentieth century will go down spirit. The ultimate chapter, entitled The and Vagabonds is not so good as its
to posterity as the social century does Outlook, leaves us with the impression predecessor ; it lacks the atmosphere,
emerge with sufficient clearness to make of having spent some profitable hours the poignancy, and the almost uncanny
the reader thankful that he has per- with an honest searcher after truth, who, charm ; it even, at some few moments,
severed with Part I.
if he will not go so far as we could wish, lapses into caricature. But its central
In Part II. — The Principles of Appli- yet impresses us in the last passage we idea is original, and strikes deep; and
cation are again compelled to shall quote with the need for carefully one of its persons—the factory girl whom
submit to the perusal of much that can balanced judgment :-
the hero marries-is a triumph of cha-
only be called “fine writing,” in order to
enjoy such good sense as this :
“The supreme problem of the future will racterization. So genuinely good is she,
be, not how to thwart the movement towards so inarticulate yet sensitive, so shut-in
“If they (the rudiments of political and State control, but how to direct it in such and (in no bad sense) self-sufficient, that
economic science] were so taught, the pupil a way as to achieve legitimate ends without the reader is divided between sympathetic
would not only gain a few useful ideas as sacrificing, the individuality of the citizen. admiration and helpless impatience. Never
to the principles upon which
the questions He who clings blindly to the status quo in has a novelist succeeded better in drawing
at issue between political parties should be legislation, while economic, political, and the unapproachableness of some duli
,
decided, but what is still more important moral conditions are rapidly changing, is
-- he would leave the school prepared to a menace to the very social order he affects gentle, well-doing human beings. To the
learn. "
to defend. "
end her husband can never have known
The title of Mr. Vizetelly's book is both how this thing or that would affect her.
her real mind; he can have known only
While discussing the doctrine of “Laissez
Faire," the author might have found space disproportionate and deceptive. The
The brother and sister of ' The Furnace'
to modify and elucidate such assertions portion devoted to
to expounding the
as the following :
Anarchic “ faith " is infinitesimal. This is reappear, and, by their happy-go-lucky
interpreted variously as “ a form of lesson to the strenuous, reforming hero.
kindliness, furnish both a contrast and a
“An Imperial State, if it attempts to en individualism, as the denial of all As for that excellent and difficult young
force this good thing (monogamy)upon a com: authority, and as a kind of hypnotic con.
munity of individuals who are incapable of federacy for the stimulating of enfeebled man, he is treated both sympathetically
experiencing anything more than a passing minds to assassination. Periodic and and humorously. There is a chapter
if sertion and imikelyativ establish, monogamý elusive references to Zeno (the founder of called " The Wayfaring Man’ touched in
the Stoics), John Ball, Godwin, Proudhon, so soberly, so delicately, and with such
The statement that
Socialist Tolstoy, and others, and the enumeration perfect truth that it might be preserved
advocates public ownership in all of published propaganda, are a tasteless
a model for young writers in the
cases, and
a matter of
course," seasoning of the summary of Anarchic present, and a record for the future of
reminds us of an answer we heard given principles which the author affords.