No More Learning

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.
a particular phase in the life of this
His
to the assertion that all Socialists desired confusion and purblindness of thought
decade.
to enforce Socialism in its entirety at are such that we are forced to explain
The answer was to the effect that that Anarchism is a theory of social recon. The Outward Appearance. By Stanley V.
“one Socialist at least had never advo-struction, a philosophy tending perhaps
cated the lawful enactment of hellish re- to Utopian iconoclasm, and basing, its
Makower. (Martin Secker. )
volution. ” Though not incapable of appre- tenets on the regeneration of mankind. STANLEY MAKOWER’s historical study of
ciating ideals when enunciated by others The advocacy of militant methods by Richard Savage must have been
-witness his quotation from Fénelon, Anarchists is confined to a section, and excellent preparation for this posthumous
"I love my family better than myself
, by no means indicates their diverse and novel. Written with an ease and know-
my country better
than my family, complex doctrines. When Mr. Vizetelly ledge which the seasoned reader should
mankind better than my country”- writes such sentences as the following appreciate, it is set nominally in the
Prof. Jethro Brown seems curiously un- “ We are in agreement with the many eighties, with Gladstone and Parnell
ready to realize the birth and growth of writers who have pointed out the theory holding the political field, but it introduces
such feelings in his fellows, as is apparent of Anarchism as one which appeals to a second Chesterfield and a second Stan-
from his low estimate of present incentives the criminal mind” and “He had pre- hope. Vernon Le Beau, the accomplished
to industry. His scornful allusion to civil pared himself for Anarchism for several moralist and ineffective man of action,
servants and what is called “the Govern- years by a life of perfectly Free Love sensitive to ridicule, gracefully lax where
ment stroke” shows a want of know we are inclined to dismiss his book with morals are concerned, covers his lost
ledge of an estimable class and a deplor-out further comment. The rest of it, desires and relinquished ambitions by
able ignorance of the conditions under that is to say most of it—is occupied with his distinction of manner and repartee.
which most private enterprise is conducted. a chronicle of murderers and their dis- The object of his genuine attachment is
Our own experience goes to prove that tinguished victims, and is merely an a nephew, an emotional youth, whose
even the individual victims of bureau- expensive record of poniarding, bomb- tendencies disturb him. The Chester-
cratic methods have more often than not throwing, and sensation. Tolstoy, the pro- field parallel is carried still further. The
themselves to blame, in so far as they phet of Christian Anarchism, is squeezed elder man tries to mould the boy's cha
have shirked the undoubtedly onerous into a page or so, while assassins of racter, mainly through an intimate corre-
duty of exposing petty acts of tyranny, notorious mental instability and un- spondence; but, instead of becoming a
and have subsequently had to deplore balanced ferocity stand out in a kaleido masterpiece of originality and accom-
the growth of an evil which an early scopic background. Morris, Whitman, plishment, the boy dies, an imitation
expenditure of energy on their part and Carpenter, democratic and pantheist Le Beau, surrounded by no special halo.
might have nipped in the bud,
Anarchists, are not even mentioned. . Le Beau's wife, an American woman of
We had marked much else for comment
Meredith's type, wise, large-hearted, and
--for instance, the writer, in his allusion
compassionate even to the phantoms
to Continental labour homes, forgets to
of the past which occupy her husband's
mention the important fact that some of
life, supplies the warm human relief to
as
as
once.


## p. 189 (#153) ############################################

No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
189
3
the superficial elegance and gallantry so
awkwardness, the tendency to gloom, the
dear to him. If I were an historian,' The Indian Lily, and Other Stories. By touches of brutality which differentiate
she cries, “my chapters would be rhap- Hermann Sudermann. Translated by the Teutonic rendering of this theme.
sodies not on the Union, not on the Ludwig Lewisohu. (John Lane. )
Two of these stories fall apart from the
sanctity of Power, but on the Declaration
of Independence, the Irish Rebellion, and We cannot imagine that this collection of rest. One, “ Thea,' is an admirably clever
the liberation of France. ” Such
short stories from Sudermann will greatly fantasy, a man's vision and pursuit of
prosy
virtue, however, seldom intrudes. One please the general reader. Those who the “adventurous soul within his soul. ”
surmises that the creation of a new type be "moral" will lay the book down after story, very slight, yet a masterpiece in its
sincerely prefer that their fiction should The other, ‘Merry Folk,' is a Christmas
was not within the scope of Mr.
power.
At any rate, the taste and the first few pages; those whose pre- kind, though we think the translator has
dressing of his familiar figures are worthy probably find it depressing: Not that
ference inclines the other way will failed to express its full pathos.
of the period of elegance.
we have here any weak-kneed concessions
The Room in the Tower, and Other Stories. I to the “jeune fille ”-those who know
By E. F. Benson. (Mills & Boon. )
anything about Sudermann will know
better than to expect that. But, having
THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. *
The author, in his Preface to this volume decided to describe the history of
of ghost-stories, fervently wishes his divers liaisons—which of all human his-
Miss WINIFRED STEPHENS has written
readers a few uncomfortable moments. ” tories is the kind most apt to show
in Margaret of France, Duchess of Savoy
Except with the very young, who had distinct beginning, middle, and end charming book about Margaret of Savoy
1523–74: a Biography (John Lane), a really
better not be allowed the chance, we the author has here in each case chosen and Court life in France in the sixteenth
hardly think his wish will be realized. to take up the course of events more or century. There are so many of those semi;
It is not that we complain of any lack of less at the middle, and thence trace it historical, semi-gossipy biographies, and
gruesomeness : mould, and blood, and relentlessly onwards to an end decidedly such a disproportionate rate, that one is
the numbers nowadays seem to increase at
sliminess, and shrieks, and icy blasts, and dreary. There is no question of punish- apt to hesitate before taking up such a
horrible eyes simply abound; in fact, ment from outside. All these people have volume.
they are so abundant and so dreadful stuffed their mouths
In this case, however, it would be
with Dead Sea
a pity not to overcome one's hesitation. The
that they produce on the imagination fruit, and are slow in swallowing it, book is a careful, scholarly study of an
as it were retinal fatigue, which reverses
or spuing it out. It is not pretty ; but interesting personality, and written in a
into one towards boredom. Yet in six pretty, and Sudermann can, of course, admirably printed, and provided with an
any original tendency towards horror then neither life nor art is necessarily pleasant, flowing, style that carries one
or seven, at least, of the seventeen stories | justify himself as an artist whose mastery excellent index and bibliography.
there is the making of something really sets him free to handle what he will. It is
good. The witch who on Gavon's Eve from the few who care for literature as
Margaret of France, though herself a
conjures up the dead body of a girl such, and will read him with a view to
learned and remarkable woman, has been
drowned in a pool; the ghost of the completing thus far their knowledge of famous Margarets, with whom she is, indeed,
overshadowed and obscured by two more
murderer who, after his execution, comes European literature as a whole, that this sometimes confused— Margaret of Navarre,
to the telephone, and over it contrives volume may best claim a welcome. This sister of Francis I. , and Margaret of Valois,
to confess his guilt; the weird tale of being
so, it is a pity that the translation wife of Henry IV. -our Margaret's aunt
the black hares on a Scotch shooting
runs awkwardly in places, that the dia- and niece. She herself was the daughter
4:
An’ the sickness about an’all," he added logue is sometimes halting, and that little of Franciz I. , and spentímost of her life at
indignantly. When the puir folk escape
the French Court, first of her father and then
from their peching fevered bodies an hour into the English.
or no“ atmosphere" has been carried over
of her brother Henry II. , for she did not
or two to the caller muirs'";
marry the Duke of Savoy until she was 36
the man who, for a mere song, got one
A main part of the interest of Suder- La great age for a Renaissance bride. Most
of the best rooms in a Swiss hotel—with mann, belonging as he does to the school of her biography deals, therefore, with French
a second bed in it; the Thing in the of the great obsession, lies in discovering describing such matters as the duel at which
Hall’ and the House with the Brick- what is his peculiar contribution to it. the "coup de Jarnac was struck, and the
Kiln': these ought to have made one's We saw him the other day compared to lawsuit that lasted thirty-four years between
flesh creep in proper fashion.
Maupassant. No attentive reader of these Mademoiselle de Rohan and the Duc de
The fact is that Mr. Benson's style stories will endorse that comparison. Nemours. Margaret's great political ability,
or lack of style—is precisely that least There is no evidence of a sense of form though foreshadowed in her brilliant ad-
fitted to give effect to a ghost - story. akin to Maupassant's ; none of the spirit, its highest until her marriage. At this time
It is all words, a flow as if from the pen detached and irresponsible, of the
the fortunes of Piedmont were very low ;
rather than the mind, full of tedious des- teur”; no humour ; and but little in five of its chief towns were occupied by
criptions and facetious digressions, which the characterization which keeps one the French, and two by the Spaniards.
relax and weary the reader to no purpose-
aware-as the French writer commonly Margaret, as a French princess, had excep-
and apt, when the climax is reached, to does—that the great obsession represents, tional influence, and this she used for her
husband's country with such successful
fall rather helpless. We catch too, 'not after all, but one side of a life.
diplomacy that before her death the French
seldom, that tone of half-complacent These stories of Sudermann's have some- had evacuated Piedmont, and the year after
coaxing with which an uneasy speaker or thing of the quality
of tragedy in that one the Spaniards followed them. Perhaps a
teacher will try to cover up a weakness sees nothing outside or around them. hardly smaller achievement was the conver-
in his discourse. Mr. Benson does not They read, too, like manifestos of revolt- sion of her apparently ruthless husband to
believe in his ghosts sufficiently. He though a revolt already half repented of the heretical Waldenses, which she man-
the idea of religious toleration on behalf of
suffers when compared with Stevenson His roués look with envy at the smiling, aged, in the teeth of the Pope (and Philip
in Thrawn Janet,' or to take an clear-eyed fathers of families. They them- of Spain. Margaret's influence seems, in-
example where the horror springs hardly selves, in their satiety, are filled with deed, to have been uniformly exerted in the
at all from the subject-matter, almost mortal disgust. The Teuton is not as the noblest directions, and one feels that she
entirely from the style with Borrow in Gaul. The naughtiness which comes
deserves De Thou's encomium, which Miss
'Wild Wales,' where he describes the lightly and naturally to the Gaul is in the Stephens appropriately writes on the title-
« Devil's Bridge over the Mynach, and Teuton the violation of an ancient racial eminente par sa sagesse, son irréprochable
“ Une femme
tells of the “ Plant de Bat. ” This lack | tradition—“ Nemo enim illic vitia ridet, vertu et l'énergie d'une âme vraiment virile. "
of grip is the more unfortunate, because
nec corrumpere et corrumpi sæculum
- unless you are to have your flesh vocatur ”-and it would seem that when
creep-it seems rather a futile occupation the moment comes the blood of the
* Under this heading we include notices which are
to read merely fictitious ghost-stories.
too lengthy to appear in our • List of New Books '
race can still avenge itself. Hence the in its present form.
>
con-
9)


## p. 190 (#154) ############################################

190
No. 4399, Feb. 17, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
6
any particular eminence; on the other hand, and the many other societies which are
YET another agreeable volume from an all appear to have been decent, well-living working for Women's Suffrage. Even more
active pen is given us in Afterthoughts, by persons, industrious landlords, painstaking remarkable is the statement on p. 64 that
G. W. E. Russell (Grant Richards). The clergymen, and honest magistrates. An
" the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
personal touch lends peculiar attractiveness early document is a writing book containing transferred the leadership
of the movement to the
to the papers on notable people whom Mr. specimens of decorated calligraphy from the National Women's Social and Political Union,
George Russell has known-James Payn, for hands of schoolboys, besides observations of whose members are known by the name of suffra-
example, and John Talbot, the late member
a simpler kind, such as the note that on
gettes. This transference of leadership took place
for Oxford University. Where that touch" the vij day of July
* Wyllam Prylles" in the autumn of 1905. "
is absent, we sometimes encounter dis- did pollº“ my Haar. ”
The statement that Mrs. Fawcett is the
appointment; thus the chapter on 'The
Young Disraeli’ does not rise above the
In the earlier part of the sixteenth century leader of the Suffragettes only adds to our
one John Betts was
level of an ordinary review of Mr. Mony amateur physician, and has left behind a
a traveller and an bewilderment.
Social and political conditions in Eng-
penny's, first volume. In 'Gladstone on book of strange prescriptions, in which he land are harder for foreigners to under:
Hymns' the author has a more congenial
mentions
visited
having
Taken
subject, and treats it charmingly.
Jerusalem, stand than those in other countries, and
Corphu,” and Rome. One prescription these blots, serious as they are, do not
to rank with Collections and Recollec- infirmities” and for “ye gouet,” as well as
as a whole, Afterthoughts’ is quite
worthy of an ointment good for all kindes of cold altogether detract from the value of what
tions," "Social Silhouettes,' and their com- for a gun-shot wound and a withered arm,
is in many respects a useful book. In a
panions. We like Mr. Russell much better begins thus :-
sense the writer has attempted an impos.
sibility-i. e. , to summarize in one small
when he has a definite person or movement
volume the economic, educational, political,
to write about than when he is discoursing “Taike a young dog of red haire : and keap him
and legal aspects of the Woman's Movement
at large on Coronation festivities or general 3 dayes without meat : and then strangell him with
elections. But the paper on
Christmas
& corde and let him lye dead a qwarter of an throughout the world, a task the harder
hower":
since, in the present period of change and
Cards' is a model of its kind, and that on
* Public Dinners' can be commended for after which the dog is to be boiled down date even before it is printed.
unceasing vigour, a chapter becomes out of
its good-natured banter.
in oil with various herbs and a good dish
full of great grownd wormes well washed,”
The Principle of Individuality and Value :
A Year with the Gaekwar of Baroda, by the and the oil finally drawn off for use.
Rev. Edward St. Clair Weeden (Hutchinson),
A fine damask cloth, woven with a
the Gifford Lectures for 1911, delivered in
is made out of letters written by the portrait of Queen Elizabeth, and another Edinburgh University. By B. Bosanquet,
(Macmillan. )
author during his stay of one year with with that of the young Prince of Orange
that monarch, and furnishes an interesting who was to become William III. , are historic “He that will write well in any tongue must
account of palace life. Some two months landmarks among the relics.
follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the
were spent in touring through familiar The opinion of counsel upon the case of
common people do, and to think as wise men do;
so shall all men understand him, and wise men
centres, such as Ajmere, Udaipur, Jaipur, Mrs. Martha Cullum, whose husband, being allow him. "
Rewah, Agra, and Delhi; and, later, a drunk, had betted that he would survive
visit was paid to his Highness's residence John Woolnoe, and had signed a statement The advice has been often repeated since
at Dotacamund, with glimpses en route to that effect, gives point to the saying, Ascham’s day, and as often ignored, especi.
of Khandalla, Kolhapur, and Poona, and“ Other times, other laws. ' He had, how ally by “wise men ” in the narrower sense.
the hill-station of Magableshwar.
ever, predeceased John, and counsel was clear Perhaps the presence of an audience re-
The writer, however, rarely probes below that Mrs. Cullum could not avoid paying minded Mr. Bosanquet that, besides satis-
the surface. The record consists of Durbar the money.
fying himself, he must be at pains to convince
functions and entertainments, and describes These and other papers formerly stored. Individuality and Value' he is convincing
others. Certainly, in 'The Principle of
palace life with Anglicized amenities and in the old house have been preserved ; because he is intelligible, and, whatever be
the usual shikar excursions.
indeed, towards the close of the book its and china were all dispersed by a sale after the cause, the result is happy. The Gifford
own criticism—that little or no
the death of the last surviving Miss Betts, philosophy, but never more so, we think
made of a unique opportunity to study when the heritage passed to a distant cousin, than in the volume before us.
native life, customs, and habits. The the descendant of a daughter of the family that it is not original, because it contains
author frankly admits that there is no place married more than 130 years earlier.
like the Raj Mahal, or State Palace, with
much that is not new, would be to have
its round of daily amusements and the
read it in vain. Besides, it is one thing to
charm of its Maharani and Princess.
The Modern Woman's Rights · Movement : suggest that in individuality we have a
The Gaekwar we see as a hospitable and macher. Translated from the Second German up the scattered threads and weave them
a Historical Survey. By Dr. Kaethe Schir- key to our difficulties, and another to gather
generous host, and incidentally a man of Edition by Carl Conrad Eckhardt. (New into an ordered whole.
princely moods, with a strong attachment
York, the Macmillan Company. ) Dr. Mr. Bosanquet begins by stating his
to theories of progress. But we find no hint Kaethe Schirmacher has for many years doctrine of the concrete universal. Its
as to the result of his ambitions upon the been associated with the Woman's Move character is to throw light on something
minds of his people, and no attempt to
ment.
grasp political and commercial problems, France and Germany, travelled in a number
Having lived and worked in both beyond itself, not because it is a general rule,
or to realize the many, administrative of countries, and acted for several years as
a principle depending on the repetition of
paradoxes of a modernized native State ;
similars and the recognition of them when
whilst the Anglo-Indian is viewed only at Suffrage Alliance, she has herself been a
an officer of the International Woman they occur, but because it is of the nature of
a world where every detail gains meaning
But the lighter side of palace
life, with the it with intimate knowledge. As no work time may be apprehended as part of
A second of
of the movement, and should speak of and intensity from the rest.
Gaekwar and his family circle as a paramount
centre, is warm with the Eastern sun.
on exactly the same lines exists in English, minute, of a musioal phrase, or of an act of
Oriental hospitality is apt to disarm criti. But the first condition of utility is accu-
a translation would naturally be welcomed. forbearance," and its meaning varies accord-
cism or to afford no leisure for it.
ingly. In each case we pass beyond the
The
writer chronicles his enjoyment in an un-
racy on the part of writer and translator, given, not, as in the abstract universal,
and this, unfortunately, is
fettered epistolary style, aided by some
not always attempting to reproduce reality with omis-
attained. Dr. Eckhardt
fine photographs of Baroda and its ruler. have ascertained from the American Suf- the whole, in thought which aims at con-
could easily sions, but by an impulse from the given to
The book as a whole is, however, limited frage societies, which are in close touch with stituting a world.
to matters of ephemeral interest.
the English, the equivalent for certain This distinction between the recurrence
titles before committing himself to the of similars and the identity of a differen-
Miss KATHARINE DOUGHTY has performed statement that the two great feminist tiated system is the root of Mr. Bosanquet's
an act of piety to the dead and usefulness associations in this country are the “ English theory. In the light of it he disposes of
to the living by collecting the memorials of Federation of Women's Clubs
" and the
the contention that the uniformity of nature
the ancient family of The Betts of Wortham “ Woman's Suffrage League. ” The former is inconsistent with the individuality of man,
in Suffolk (Lane), who dwelt from 1480 to is a mistranslation of Bund englischer Frauen. and draws the conclusion for which Dr.
1905 in a house of which the oldest portion vereine, known to us as the “National Union Bradley's destructive criticism in the open:
went back in all probability to the earlier of Women Workers,” while the latter appears ing chapter of his 'Ethical Studies had
date. The will of a maternal grandmother to comprehend the activities of the National prepared the way. There is a strange
is some twenty years older still. None of Union of Suffrage Societies, the Social and passage in Taylor's ‘Elements of Meta.
the Betts family seems to have attained to 1 Political Union, Women's Freedom League, physics,' where the desire to save personality
> >
use was
CC


## p. 191 (#155) ############################################

No. 4399, FEB. 17, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
191
>>
was
makes the author argue that there is no is best calculated to feed and stimulate determined zealot and a prophet of realism,
uniformity of the kind which science de- the minds of his pupils. Mr. Carlile does will not bear examination,
mands. The plea is valueless, and the need not begin wi h money, and does not end In the plays Wilde carried his delicate
of it springs from the identification of with an orderly exposition of the outlines | jesting to a consummate pitch. The eclectic
scientific uniformity with logical coherence, of economics to his credit. He begins with phantasmagoria of . Salomé,' • Vera,' and the
or relevancy, as Mr. Bosanquet prefers to long girdings at the “ marginalists "—that other tragedies is too transparent to need
call it. To remember this is to see what is, at every living economist of repute, and criticism, but «The Importance of Being
lies at the root of M. Bergson's philosophy, then, after dealing with money and wealth, Earnest’ is in the line of great comedy,
and of the tendency to emphasize the tails off into disjointed chapters on topics Over Wilde's previous output the swelling
solvent and analytic character of intellect, selected, as far as we can see, because his harmonies of 'De Profundis' and the
or the antithesis of imitation and invention, views on them do not tally with those of poignant heart-cry of the ‘Ballad of Reading
of repetition and creation. ” To dissociato other people.
Gaol' were like a funeral oration. His work
identity and diversity is to make them un. For example, he will not have the quantity here displays the mellowing, humanizing
meaning, but to conceive them rightly is theory of money. In a new country where result of tragic experience, qualities it never
to see that “invention and creation are everybody had as much bread as he could had before. Nevertheless, even De Pro-
present in every pulse of thought," and that want, would an increase of money cause a fundis,' that mellifluous chant of a spirit
pure repetition is an impossibility for rise in the price of such bread ? He replies that had fed upon the bitter herbs of dis.
intelligence. Virgil's_ critics blamed him (p. 153):
illusion and social ostracism, is tainted by
for plagiarizing from Homer; he replied that * Why should it? If no one wanted more the artificiality which was Wilde's disease.
it was easier to rob Hercules of his club of it, what can be more certain than that no one
than Homer of a single verse.
would give any of his freshly gained wealth in
The transition to value from individuality, exchange for any of it. ”
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.
thus conceived, is clear. If individuality This is just the sort of answer that gets a
St. Andrews, Feb. 12, 1912.
is that coherence and freedom from contra- “dead plough” in the Pass Schools. Unfortu-
From a note in ' Literary Gossip ' (Athe-
diction which is of the nature of a whole, nately for most of us, the prices of goods do
may not value also lie in a similar completo not depend solely on what we are willing that”Mgr. Barnes has'a "new candidate for
ness ? Some may seek to sever value from to pay for them. Motor-cars might be as
the title of “Man of the Mask. ” The Man
thought by saying that we cannot argue
common as perambulators if this were so.
about value, as though we do not argue A stern, strong determination to criticize is no longer “a son of Charles II. ,” but
daily and change it in consequence, or that makes the fortune of a leader-writer, but his own as such in a number of most
reputable
it depends on immediate feeling, as though ruins an economist. Mill and Marshall are
books on the Restoration. The 'D. N. B. ,'
immediacy was not a form which any content not such weak reasoners as Mr. Carlile
I think, must “ look sharply to its eye
!
may take and which is peculiar to none.
would have us believe. If he were more
What of indifference ? others will say.
modest and less pugnacious, his gift of clear Mgr. Barnes's new candidate appears to be
Mr. Bosanquet replies with Oliver Wendell writing and his wide and fruitful reading happens, a French student is engaged on a
Holmes's remark that in principle every
.
work in which the Man is emphatically not
man loves every woman, but individuals
Oscar Wilde : a Critical Study, by Arthur a Jesuit. I must not anticipate the dis-
may excuse themselves by non-acquaintance, Ransome (Martin Secker), is pitched on a closure of the secret, which, in my opinion,
special cause of dislike, or a limited capacity less staccato note than Mr. Sherard's, but, promises well; but why was a cleric de-
for affection. The same is true of the indi for all its brilliant composition, does not scribed as—and employed in prison as a
vidual's love of perfection. On this theory, reveal,"we think, the esoteric significance of valet? A French valet in England, wo
value gets its objectivity from the fact that Oscar Wilde. The present book leaves the know,
wanted by the French
individuals are not a mere plurality such as impression of a wilful, but misunderstood and Secret Service just before the Man was
cannot be unified in their contribution to a pathetic personality, whose " soul was like captured—and described as a valet. He
common experience.
à star and dwelt apart. ' But the time was the valet of a Huguenot conspirator
The book ends with a parallel illustrating when Wilde needed a rampart against his who had been broken on the wheel. In
the relation of the Absolute to nature and vilifiers is past. What we need now is not Scottish Covenanting circles it was reported
our finite selves. It is equally relevant
an apologia, but an estimate of him. The that the Duke of York, concealed behind a
to the whole course of the argument: The popular conception of Wilde also needs curtain, overheard a conversation held by
Absolute is compared to Dante's mind as revision. He is envisaged as the spokesman the valet's master, and betrayed him to
uttered in the Divine Comedy. ' Here exter of the sophists of the last generation, or as
Louis XIV. So writes the Rev. Mr. Law
nal nature, Italy, is an emotion and a value, the prince of a queer, rarefied, and dandified in his Memorials. The valet may have
not less but more than spatial ; each self, world of costumiers in art, which has known this (if the story be true), though
Paolo or Francesca, is still its real self, but vanished as swiftly as a shower of meteorites. even that is hardly a reason for keeping
is also a factor of the poet's mind which is These fanciful theories err in taking Wilde him so hermetically sealed.
A. LANG,
expressed in all these selves together; and too seriously.