No More Learning

able ; one can see real fire spurting in every denote some such doctrine as that all We can only note briefly the shorter
emphasis, and recognise undoubtingly the
men will be ultimately saved. Nor can series of papers on Councils and Synods,"
faintest sly twinkle of humour, will o' the
Yet his
we regard his suggestion that one may consisting of a Buddhist and a Christian
wisps and volcanos together.
just as well call Confucianism Classi- section; and on Creeds and Articles,
books also seem but pails of water from a
river. . . ,"
cism as very happy, for Classicism does which in their Christian and Jewish por-
not of itself call to mind any set oftions must necessarily overlap what has
Amongst the more notable letters from religious ideas whatsoever.
already been said under Confessions
other correspondents is a vigorous ex-
The paper on ‘Conformity,' by Mr. in Vol. III. of the ` Encyclopædia. ' Much
position by William Morris of his political Henry Barker, includes the following attention will no doubt be bestowed on
views. Much of this correspondence
courageous and defensible expression of the long series of articles dealing with
is naturally concerned with
poets
Crimes and Punishments. ' Here is, in-
and their works. We are reminded that the day. Speaking of "clergymen who deed, matter that will be interesting alike
* Maud'
by nearly all the critics. Leigh Hunt, do not accept certain propositions in the to the moralist, the legislator, the jurist,
the
referring to the “ Indian Air” of Shelley's Apostles' Creed in their literal sense,” the and the historian. Dr. J. 'MacCulloch
writer says that
opens the list with an elaborate and
lines “I arise from dreams of thee,'
promises to send it to Allingham: "I am
" the only objective definition of the extent highly important contribution on crimes
to have it before long from the lady of the clergyman's obligation is that which and punishments in primitive and savage
is given to it by the authoritative organs times; and among the other writers are
herself, who furnished Shelley with it. "
of the Church's government. And if he Dr. T. G. Pinches (Assyro-Babylonian),
Mr. Rossetti showed that the story of satisfies his own ecclesiastical superiors, who, however, gives us rather less in the
Shelley having written the words to an outsiders have no right to apply to his action article than he appears to promise in the
air brought from India by Mrs. Williams a standard which implicitly sets aside the opening paragraph ; Sir Edward Anwyl
cannot be correct. Mr. Buxton Forman, Church's authority. ”
(Celtic) ; Mr. W. Gilbert Walshe (Chinese) ;
in his edition of Shelley (1882), says that As we are here face to face with a Dr. Th. W. Juynboll (Muhammadan); and
the air to which that lady sang it is very question of personal truthfulness as dis- Dr. M. N. Dhalla (Parsi, the writer holding
widely known in India, and can scarcely tinct from that of truth, it would not the rank of high priest among the Parsis).
be beyond finding. Yet, so far as we have been amiss to discuss this interesting Dr. R. F. Quinton's contribution under
know, that inspiring, but elusive melody problem under the heading 'Conscience, the heading ‘ Criminology,' which follows
has never been recovered.
à subject which is by no means treated the above-named series, deals effectively
exhaustively in the volume, the six articles with the theory, practice, and general
of the series only including, besides an results of punishments in modern times.
Introductory Paper, the Babylonian, The longest series of articles in the
Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics : Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Jewish, volume treats on Death and Disposal
‘
Vol. IV. Confirmation-Drama. (Edin- and Muslim branches of the theme of the Dead. The introductory and
.
'
burgh, T. & T. Clark. )
Why not, one may ask, an article on primitive section, contributed by Mr.
Christian Conscience'? and is there no E. S. Hartland, alone occupies pp. 411-44,
The new volume of this · Encyclopædia ' question of conscience in connexion with and is by no means too long, being filled
will be welcomed with as much heartiness Buddhism and other religious and philo- with well-arranged and highly important
as was each of the previous instalments. sophical systems ? Nor can it be said information on almost every conceivable
The treatment of the subject of 'Con- that the series, as it stands, satisfies part of the subject. It is, however,
firmation,' with which the volume opens, throughout all just requirements, for difficult to accept without qualification
presents an acceptable feature of some under the heading Conscience (Jewish)' his statement that “the obstinate dis-
novelty in the method of showing the we really have an essay on ethics rather belief in the necessity of death” in primi-
different aspects of the theme under con- than an article on conscience.
tive times was caused by “horror of
sideration. Canon H. J. Lawlor's article, Regretfully passing over a long list of death. ” The inability of the savage to
written from the usual Anglican scholarly interesting topics, such as ·Conscientious- understand the natural causes of physical
point of view, is followed by an equally ness,' • Consciousness,' • Consistency,' and decay must have been a strong con-
learned contribution from the pen of the Conviction,' we come upon a long series tributing cause, if not the chief one.
Rev. H. Thurston, S. J. , which is designed, of articles under the heading Cosmogony | In the “ early Christian " part of the
not only to supplement the data furnished and Cosmology. ' The introductory subject we find (p. 457) a long list of
by the first-named writer, but also to article is by Dr. Louis H. Gray, and the authorities for the statement that “the
controvert some of his views from the list includes no fewer than
no fewer than eighteen Christians did not fear cremation, though
Roman Catholic standpoint. The two special sections, dealing, amongst others, they preferred the ancient and better
articles will no doubt be carefully scanned with the North American, Babylonian, custom of burying in the earth. '” In
by theologians of various schools of Buddhist, Chinese, Christian, Jewish, Poly- the Babylonian section, contributed by
thought.
nesian, and Teutonic branches of the Dr. S. H. Langdon, the question as
The design of placing before the reader subject. The longest of these artịcles to cremation in the regions concerned is
different sides of the same problem may is that on Buddhist Cosmogony, by Prof. decided in the following way :-
have also been present in the editor's L. de la Vallée Poussin, who has spared
“ Cremation appears to have been the
mind when he assigned the articles Con- no pains to make his contribution as com- rule in certain parts of ancient Sumer and
fucian Religion' and 'Confucius' to two prehensive as possible, both as regards Akkad, as in the region north of Lagash;
writers so different from one another as subject-matter and bibliographical infor- but in other parts interment in coffins and
Prof. de Groot and Mr. W. Gilbert Walshe, mation. The Christian section appears
vaults is more frequent. ”
the former aiming at being philosophical, rather meagre, notwithstanding its sub- Among the other sections dealt with are
and the latter writing down his statements division into an "early and mediæval” Buddhist, by Dr. L. de la Vallée Poussin ;
in as transparent a fashion as possible and a modern section; but fuller informa- Chinese, by Mr. W. G. Walshe; Coptic,
The impressions left on the reader's Ition on the cosmological systems of l by the late Mr. P. D. Scott-Moncrieff;
6
>
>
6
6
6
>
.


## p. 277 (#215) ############################################

2
THE ATHEN ÆUM
4402, MARCH 9, 1912
277
sects
nos-
ings.
rt of
nder
ntire
Erine
ther
6
orter
ods,"
Etian
Fles,"
por-
has
ons'
Cuch
on
with
in-
like
6
cist,
och
and
nes
are
en),
the
Ehe
y!
e);
und
ng
s).
er
6
>
73
6
No. Egyptian, by Mr. R. H. Hall; Muham-
madan, by Dr. Stanley Lane-Poole;
THE expressed purpose of Poetry and
Prose : being Essays on Modern English
and Tibetan, by Dr. L. A. Waddell.
POETIC CRITICISM.
Students of folk-lore and occultism will
Poetry, by Mr. Adolphus Alfred Jack (Con-
stable & Co. )"to make a little clearer
find abundant material to interest them Lectures on Poetry. By J. W. Mackail.
what every one feels about poetry"_is both
in the series of articles on ‘Demons and (Longmans & Co. )- This is the final instal-
vague and vast. It is moreover unsatisfy-
Spirits' and on ‘Divination. Of more ment of the lectures which Mr. Mackailing in view of the fact that a distressingly
general interest are the eleven papers delivered from the Chair of Poetry at Oxford. large proportion of modern readers do not
“ feel about poetry
under the heading ‘ Disease and Medicine,' In an inaugural lecture he announced his
at all. Whether or
not Mr. Jack has succeeded in his aim does
dealing with the various notions and purpose of taking the “ Progress of Poetry
as the dominating idea of his professorship. not greatly matter. He has, in either case,
practices in vogue among savages, in This idea he illustrated first in three lectures produced a series of critical essays of singular
mediæval times, and among the nations on Chaucer, Spenser, and Milton; next in a value and marked individuality. Much
of antiquity. It is, however, difficult series of lectures on the development of familiar ground has of necessity been re
to see why a brief survey, from the moral poetry in Greece; and now, in the volume traversed-eighteenth-century rhetoric and
and psychological point of view, of some
before us, he takes subjects apparently at didacticism, the inevitable Romantic Re-
present-day aspects of the subject should random Virgil and Virgilianism, Shake-vival," and the changing phases of the
have been excluded from an Encyclo- and Life, The Divine Comedy, Imagination o'er travelled roads'
speare's Sonnets, Arabian Romances, Poetry Victorian era. Such a “backward glance
pædia which avowedly embraces an ex-and treating these sometim
--and treating these sometimes from the instruct, suggest, or
may easily fail to
entertain, for the
ceedingly wide range of topics. Still literary, sometimes from the scholastic,
sometimes from the scholastic, average reader who dabbles in these things
less excusable seems to us the absence of sometimes from the philosophical point of is prone to think in the groove which criti-
an article on the modern stage from the view, still interweaves from time to time cism has hollowed out for him—to accept
series given under the heading 'Drama'
the idea of a progress of poetry.
theories of literary movement and tendency
at the end of the volume. There surely Mr. Mackail's emphasis is not laid, we without vitalizing them for himself by
is an aesthetic and ethical side in the think, on what is really most valuable in personal study. Mr. Jack, on the other
drama of recent times which demands his contribution ; and the ideas which under hand, while paying all reverence to expert
treatment in a work like the present. lie his treatment are, perhaps, too large and contemporary commentators and those great
ones who have gone before, has the merit of
We have so far dwelt mainly on the vague to be of much service in criticism.
principal series of articles contained in of poetry, we may mean its passage, pageant-
For example, when we speak of the progress independence, by virtue of which his “ back-
ward glance” becomes at once illuminativo
the volume, and we can now only refer like, from one country to another, or its and, in a mild degree, controversial. A
briefly to some few of the other contribu- successive appearance in the mind first of single instance will suffice.
tions which have specially arrested our one, then of another, representative poet ; Mr. Jack is keen to detect the elusive
attention. The article on Conversion we may mean that the form and content of beauties which lurk in Wordsworth's simplest
strikes us as valuable, though we think future poetry are conditioned by the form poems. We should imagine that the famous
that emphasis should have been laid on
and content of past poetry; or we may lines from ‘Peter Bell,' touching
the psychological aspect of the theme. simply mean that, as a poet grows older,
A primrose by the river's brim,
there will be progress, a developing mani-
Particularly bright and spirited are the festation of the spirit of poetry, in his work.
would arouse in him, and rightly, as much
papers on Criticism,' the history and The phrase, in fact, may have many different appreciation as they excited undiscerning
bearing of the Old and New Testament associations ; all of them useful and signi- laughter in the poet's own day. When,
parts of the subject being treated in dif- ficant, so long as we distinguish between however, he comes to the 'Ode on Intima-
ferent contributions. There well-them; but Mr. Mackail, in availing himself
tions of Immortality,'
he develops a tendency
more unorthodox. He writes :-
illustrated articles on the Christian Cross of them, fails to distinguish. Thus, in the
and non-Christian Crosses, as well as a
course of his lecture on The Poetry of “ The fact is of course, that these experiences
Oxford,' the question arises whether there are not spiritual at all, and Wordsworth's fond
separate paper on the American Cross. is at Oxford a progress of poetry or not.
thesis that the child is more spiritual than the
Mr. Andrew Lang writes on Crystal- Mr. Mackail's first answer seems to be in
man is the exact contrary of the fact. ”
gazing,' and Mr. Benjamin Kidd con- the affirmative. He quotes close
To those who are fated to dwell continually
siders Darwinism. ' The German heading hundred lines from 'Aeromancy,' a work of within sound of a nursery this view will seem
' Deutsch-Katholicismus' is given to an
the Oxford poetess, Mrs. Woods, and says plausible enough, but it is not poetical
interesting paper on the reform move-
that they exemplify “ the new method in criticism. Wordsworth bases his "fanciful"
Art,” and that in them " the poetry of theory on a doctrine of pre-existence which,
ment which sprang up within the Catholic Oxford speaks still the same language as being, as Mr. Jack observes, a belief, like
Church in Germany about the middle of that of the “Scholar Gipsy, though in a
all other beliefs is incapable of proof. ” He
the nineteenth century,” and has ended different manner and with a different accent ; omits to make allowance for the fact that,
in the renunciation of
and also, I may add, with a new grace. " for precisely the same reason, it is also in-
Yet he has hardly made this pronouncement capable of disproof, and does not appear to
"all definite formulation of doctrine, in before we find him admitting, apparently, perceive that its actual truth or untruth
order to avoid falling back into the dogmatic that the present period is unpoetical-50 is a question of no poetical moment. If we
Christianity which they condemn in other
Churches. "
unpoetical, and so deeply to be despaired of, approach the matter on scientific grounds,
that we might almost infer from our wintry such data as exist are both meagre and am-
Noteworthy in the history of this body is state the imminence of a new poetic biguous. But poetry has no concern with
the alliance into which they entered in spring:-
data. It has been given to the poet, in
1859 with the free Protestants known
the present case, to visualize for mankind
“The poet in every age is under the impression his own conception of existence ; and the
“the Friends of Light” (Lichtfreunde). that he has been born too late and that cry is militant-minded may reasonably contend
Among the comparatively few bio generally most audible just at the time when
graphies contained in the volume special and its most splendid achievements. ”
poetry is on the verge of its greatest movements that, inasmuch as Wordsworth's fanciful”
theory touches sublimer heights than those
mention might be made of the accounts
attained by Mr. Jack's eminently practical,
given of Constantine the Great, Democri-
Mr. Mackail is at his happiest, we think, somewhat prosaic view, it is therefore poeti-
tus, and Descartes, much stress being,
when he allows his rare power of critical cally more nearly true.
of
tact and discernment to work untrammelled
the philosophical
course, laid
For the purpose of his volume the author
systems of the last two named. Nor
by any artificial scheme of thought. His has chosen poets representative of the
should one omit to mention Dr. Gold-
charming remarks on Shakespeare's ro- various phases of poesy-Gray for “social
mances, his enthusiastic tribute to Keats,
or prose poetry,” Burns for “natural or
ziher's
paper on the great Muhammadan bring him out in his true character, that of spontaneous poetry," Wordsworth for
jurist Dawud b. Ali b. Khalaf (815-33). a poet appreciating poetry. His philosophy basic or elemental poetry," and Byron for
We have looked in vain for an article on he holds in common with many other oratorical poetry"; while the “ Poetry of
the Intellect” is represented by Emerson,
the arch-heretic Dositheus. The missing writers, some of whom are perhaps able to
Arnold, and Meredith. The selection is
information may, of course, be supplied express it more persuasively than he ;
later under such a heading as
but, face to face with the poets, he shows perhaps a trifle unexpected ;
Heresies
we should
and Heretics,'but at least a cross-reference
an insight and a grace of sympathy which have imagined Browning—for one-worthy
al
are
1
1
6
on
a
66
>
as
on
6
are individual, and cannot be too highly of separate treatment; but Mr. Jack goes
from the name should have been given.
his own way, and we are on the whole
prized.
EL


## p. 278 (#216) ############################################

278
No. 4402, MARCH 9, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
can
or
a
content. Not infrequently he makes asser- to two or more words of different sense, and big policemen with eyes and feet that
tions to which we feel bound to take excep- radically or grammatically distinct. For turn naturally in the direction of shy young
tion, such as that (p. 63) to the effect that example, the lines assembled under the catch- girls. Through every scene runs a twisted
the small nations produce our only litera- word "well ” are printed in the order in thread of humorous observation and of
ture”; yet, as a set-off, it must be con- which they occur in the pages of the text, kindliness somewhat akin to the spirit of
ceded that he epitomizes with truth and not in three separate subdivisions exhibiting : Wee Macgreegor'; but the humour of
dexterity. Thus the eighteenth century is respectively the form “well ” as (1) sub- 'The Charwoman's Daughter 'is subtler, and
aptly described as a period of literary“stock- stantive, (2) adverb, and (3) interjection. its literary style is far finer. Some bits of
taking"; and of Gray's 'Elegy 'it is said — In a very few cases only-as in that of““ can description are exquisite. Page 135, for
“ Sometimes I think this Elegy the greatest, -has a subdivision of the group according instance, calls up all Dublin, and almost
the most universal thing in the world; it so
to the different senses of the catchword been all Ireland, in a single paragraph that con-
perfectly expresses the feelings of man as man, carried out; where this plan has been tains the very essence of a grey Irish as
of an erect peripatetic biped one day to lie quiet adopted, the subsection exhibiting the sense distinguished from a grey English day;
and at full length. "
of rarest occurrence is placed first under and the paragraph is not allowed to spread
In his estimates of Burns and Byron,
the common catchword of the group. into and overwhelm the history of a worthy
laying emphasis on the “terrifying ” lapses
Thus under ” the lines containing the woman's shopping. The women through-
of the former, and the latter's maddening noun are ranged first, and below them, in a out are the people of interest, the subjective
habit of stressing the metre as if his readers separate lot, those containing the verb. figures. The men matter only in so far
were metrically deaf,” Mr. Jack is felicitous Over against each line are printed (1) its as they affect the women.
and penetrating, as also in his exposition of paginal number, (2) the Concordance-title
Suddenly, all this sober story of real life
the power possessed by Arnold-pre-emi- of the poem whence it is taken, and (3) the
collapses into a fairy tale.
The char-
nently a "Poet of the Intellect "--of blend- number of the line itself. No attempt is woman's illusive dream of unearned wealth
ing the critical and creative faculties, so as
made to register the variant readings of comes true, the curtain runs swiftly down,
to produce that rarest of phenomena, the successive editions other than those recorded and the reader perceives ruefully why the
“critical poet. ”
in the 'Oxford Wordsworth. ' Poems not
name of the heroine waz Mary Makebelievce
Students of English poetry, and others,
included in this, but found in the ‘Eversley. '
will peruse Mr. Jack's volume with pleasure The Letters of the Wordsworth Family,'
edition, in that of Mr. Nowell Smith, or in
THE FABIAN WOMEN'S GROUP is producing
withstanding. A word must, however, be the editor. About fifty words-pronouns,
and much profit, differences of opinion not have been indexed for the Concordance by by degrees a valuable series of tracts, ali
of which deserve careful reading. The in-
spared for certain mannerisms.
A super:
fluity of foot-notes may perhaps be a fault
prepositions, auxiliary verbs, &c. —belong-
formation in Women and Prisons, by Helen
Blagg and Charlotte Wilson, is full and
on the right side, but the same can hardly objective and invariable
in use and meaning,
ing to the fixed element of the language,
particularly well arranged, and no thinking
be said of the use of “poeticalize and
similar words,
the phrase quite
find no place in the Concordance ; while person will be able to read the twenty-four
one hundred and fifty of a similar character, pages of facts without perceiving the
uniquely " ; while the dictum that “ Dickens
certain reforms. It
when he is most Dickens has no consciousness yet not wholly incapable of subjective treat- urgent necessity of
1910-11
is shocking to think that in
of a vast” recalls faintly the two “Literary
ment, are partially indexed.
24,999 women
The distinction of Wordsworth's vocabu- default of payment of fines. Even if we
Ladies, friends, it will be remembered,
were sent to_prison in
of the Mother of the Modern Gracchi. lary lies less in its numerical strength than
subtract thousand to represent such
in its delicacy as an instrument of precision.
Discarding the suits and trappings of poetic to pay on principle, we have 24,000 women
women as Militant Suffragists who refused
A Concordance to the Poems of William
Wordsworth. Edited for the Concordance the potentialities of common speech ; and punished with imprisonment, not because
Society by Lane Cooper. (Smith, Elder by dint of enormous pains he finally attained poverty enforced it. Upon many of these
& Co. ,—This Concordance is a portly demy that perfect mastery of the dynamics of the mere fact of having been in prison
quarto of some eleven hundred and fifty
plain words which “makes his work, at its
pages. Within a year after his announce-best, as inevitable as Nature herself. ”
must have brought the further punish-
As
ment of the enterprise in December, 1907, in his choice of subjects, so in that of words,
ment of being debarred thenceforward
from honest employment. When it is con-
Prof. Lane Cooper had enrolled a staff of his aim was to give the charm of novelty to
sidered that in the same twelvemonth the
forty-six volunteer assistants, and issued
things of every day. He new-minted the
his Instructions to Collaborators. ' The well-worn coinage of ordinary life. Words
total number of female prisoners (including
* Oxford Wordsworth' was chosen as the dimmed and devitalized by custom acquire 43,000, we see how comparatively small is
reconvictions)
considerably under
basic text, and loose sheets distributed. at his hands a point, a pregnant force, a the number of convictions for serious crime
With scissors, paste, and rubber stamps, nice fitness, which lift them above the
incurred by women.
slips of copy,” mainly in type, to the dead level of prose to the plane of poetry.
The corresponding
number of men convicted was nearer to
number of about 211,000, were prepared, Wordsworth toiled indefatigably to render
sorted, and finally arranged in groups for his style a transparent, colourless medium
199,000 than to 198,000. In fact, the pro-
the printer ; and in this way—though the of his thought-a" window plainly glassed. "
blem of crime among women resolves itself,
editor and most of his staff were new to the So resolute was he to avoid whatever might which two (drink and prostitution) are
practically, into three lesser problems, of
work—the huge task of compiling the whole defeat this end that he would discard the
was accomplished within less than seven most familiar word (such as “ frame,”
large, and one (feeble-mindedness) is small.
months. After some delay a publisher was removed from over thirty places in the
Important as it is to reform an inhuman
found, and in May, 1910, the printers set text of 1827) rather than retain it with an
prison system that works evidently more
to work. Within two years and three months obsolescent or unusual shade of meaning,
injuriously upon women than upon men,
from its actual beginning, the whole was The vocabulary of so conscientious an artist
it is more urgent still to fight these
in print. To the editor's wise foresight, his must surely deserve and repay diligent
evils nearer to their source ; and the only
careful partition and economy of labour, study.
effectual ways of fighting them are, on the
and the zealous co-operation of all concerned,
one hand, by opening to women
this satisfactory result is due. Of him and
avenues of independent and adequate earn-
his staff it may be said, in the words of Prof.
ing, more social interests and safe recrea-
Dowden, that they “ have shown their
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
tions, more knowledge of the dangers
reverence for Wordsworth, if not by fervid The Charwoman's Daughter. By James
around them, and more education in the
words, at least by industry and fidelity Stephens. (Macmillan. )—It is not easy to duty of taking care of themselves ; and, on
in their record of facts. ”
the other hand, by the punishment, for an
decide precisely why this book is charm.
offence common to both, of men as well as
The plan of the Concordance is, briefly, ing, but charming it certainly is, in spite of
this. Under each catchword is cited, in a mixture of styles that might reasonably
of women, and by a genuine attempt to
render really dangerous and unprofitable the
the page-order of its occurrence in the basic be expected to spoil it. A very young girl,
trade—now extremely lucrative-of persons
text, every line or versicle in which the word delicately and realistically drawn from her
appears. The quotations or excerpts from own point of view, occupies the centre;
who live upon the immoral earnings of
the text are in every instance limited to a slightly behind stands the less fully in-
single line—those from the prose portions dicated figure of her mother, stronger, more
The Borderers' alone consisting of passionate, perhaps more really interesting. Histoire abrégée de la Franc-Maçonnerie.
"what seemed to be the most germane bit Beyond the pair lie, first, their immediate Par Robert-Freke Gould. Traduite de
of context. ”. This arrangement of the lines neighbours, and then the streets of Dublin, l'Anglais par Louis Lartigue. (Brussels,
in the sequence of their paginal numbers with shop - windows and people going into Lebègue. That Mr. Gould's work should
holds even where the catchword happens theatres, in clothes that charwomen and have been translated into French is indeed
to be a homograph, that is, a form common their daughters love to stand observing, high testimony to its appreciation on the
was
more
women.
of


## p. 279 (#217) ############################################

No. 4402, MARCH 9, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
279
was
a
cise"
Continent, where already the subject of
Freemasonry has found such able philo- In Two Visits to Denmark (Smith & Elder)
sophic exponents as Findel, Ragon, D'Alvi. Mr. Edmund Gosse has made no attempt
NOTES FROM RUSSIA.
ella, and many others.
at writing a travel book, but, in jotting
The work has received the further recog. down impressions received at first hand, has, ACCORDING to the interesting paper on
nition of having been awarded the Peeter. as he himself puts it, “sought to present 'Public Libraries in Russia 'read before the
Baertsoen Prizo of 4,000 francs by the the portrait of a condition of national
Moscow Bibliographical Society by Madame
Grand Orient of Belgium, as being the most culture as it existed in Denmark some
L. Havkin, there are now in Russia 633
important contribution to Masonic literature forty years ago. This composite portrait public libraries in European Russia 509,
in the decade 1899-1909. Hence, is made up of a number of individual ones,
in Poland 40, in the Caucasus 35, and in
it
fitting that distinguished and the author supplies a series of vivid Siberia 49. The province of Moscow has
Belgian Freemason, M. Louis Lartigue, pen-drawings of many men whose names 37 libraries, more than any other Russian
should have been entrusted with the trans- have since become household words in province. The public libraries in Russia
lation, and he appears to have brought to Europe, as well as of the intellectual and usually receive subsidies from the Zemstvos
his aid much scholarship and sympathetic artistic life of Denmark --and especially of (county councils), and only 11 libraries are
perception. To all who are familiar with Copenhagen - in those days. His friend. subsidized by the Government. The average
Mr. R. Freke Gould's History of Free ship with Hans Christian Andersen provides income is 2501. , although the richest-as,
masonry ’in three quarto volumes his recent some interesting side-lights on the character
for instance, that in Kharkoff-have 2,8001.
Concise History of Freemasonry' must be of that prince of fairy story-tellers. “The
a year.
very welcome, for to render his work “
The biggest library in Vilna has
con- face of Hans Andersen," Mr. Gosse tells us,
200,000 volumes, those of Kharkoff and
he has eliminated what was but of
was a peasant's face, and a long lifetime of Odessa about 140,000 volumes each; but
local or personal interest, while adding much sensibility and culture had not removed from it some have fewer than 1,000 volumes—the
new matter of the highest value. The result the stamp of the soil. But it was astonishing average being 9,000 volumes. Roughly
is
a . compact book, which, though of how quickly this first impression subsided, while
necessity covering an enormously wide place. He had Lut to speak, almost but to smile, the public libraries in Russia.
a sense of his great inward distinction took its speaking, there are 7,000,000 volumes in all
The Riga
field, presents to the reader a well-knit and the man of genius stood revealed. I ex- library has 8,500 subscribers, but several
history, full of references, and impresses perienced the feeling which I have been told that towns have under 100 subscribers—in Lalsk
him with the vast research and labour many children felt in his company: All sense of there are only 12 subscribers !
devoted to its production.
shyness and reserve fell away.
The
average
reader has no idea of the diffi. Mr. Gosse's narrative flows on in that easy, The Imperial Academy of Science in
culties dogging every step in the path of distinguished style which is the most com- St. Petersburg has recently undertaken the
him who would trace the rise and progress of pelling of all, since it carries the reader along great work of describing
all the species of
any secret society. Societies which really without effort, while leaving on the mind animals living in the Russian Empire and
have any secrets worthy the name will be distinct impressions—and those of per- in the adjoining countries of Asia. This
careful to keep these inaccessible to the manent value—that make him anxious to work will be published in a series of several
uninitiated—they are still perpetuated from learn more.
volumes under the general title 'The Fauna
master to pupil, mouth to ear. Hence the
of Russia. ' The real soul of this great
barrenness of real inside knowledge which
work is Prof. Nasonoff, the Director of the
disappoints the reader of books on Alchemy, We have not found that The New Life of Zoological Museum of the Academy. The
Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry, should George Borrow, compiled from unpublished first volume, dealing with Russian fishes
he be without the key thereto. At times, official documents, his works, correspond- and profusely illustrated, has just appeared
however, these contain in the guise of fable ence, &c. , by Herbert Jenkins (John Murray),
or allegory much of real value to the differs very materially from the old ;
The most gifted of living Russian poets,
enlightened searcher for truth. For instance, good deal of fresh knowledge is now avail.
K. Balmont, has published his eighth
Mr. Gould himself would seem to mistake able, but hardly enough to prevent the volume of poems among these volumes
the Rosicrucian husk of allegory for the present work from seeming in the main will rank with the best that have ever been
kernel when he tells us that
a repetition of work excellently done before made in Russia. A quarter of a century has
" a universal practice of the sect—without dis-
It is, of course, convenient to have an
tinction of philosophers and Fraternity-was a authoritative account of Borrow's career in passed since Under Northern Skies, the
search for the substance which is at the base of
the vulgar metals"-
one volume, and certain passages in it the first volume by Balmont, appeared. This
affaire Borrow in particular, which nearly little book had a
in statement we must traverse, by saying brought about serious misunderstandings Before its issue the general view of the
that this is such a veil or allegory as is used between England and Spain--appear in even
Russian educated classes on literature and
in the Masonic ritual—used to mislead the brighter colour and more picturesque than poetry
was that they had no value or purpose
careless and indifferent, but to illumine formerly, now that their details and in.
but that of serving to formulate the ideals of
the student who has really been given tricacies are more fully known. Borrow's social justice. Balmont challenged that
the light. ” It is thus that most writers great gift of romantic description is apt to view, and assorted that Art had its own
on Freemasonry impressus they are create a suspicion that he had the romantic value, and must be judged not by its social
concerned
about dates, charters, cast in his eye, and saw romance at will in the usefulness, but by the standard of eternal
constitutions, archæology, and
other daily prose of life. His gift was in effect much beauty, which appears in numberless dif-
interesting
essentials, than
about profounder ; it was the gift, as one might ferent forms. The motto “ Art for Art's
sake
the cosmic verities enshrined in the symbols say, of romantic drama, of making the
was thus introduced into Russian
literature.
and allegories of the records.
actualities of life romantic wherever he
Mr. Gould tells us that symbolism is the went. This appears nowhere more strongly Quite a sensation has been created recently
soul of Freemasonry. Concerning the body than in the wonderful letter which he wrote in the artistic circles of Moscow by the dis-
he is naturally silent, but the garments
— from St. Petersburg to his employers of the covery of a new picture of The Holy Family:
our Manuscript Constitutions—have come down
Bible Society, explaining all the processes which is attributed to Raphael or to a pupil
to us from very remote times, and are the con-
and transactions through which he had of his. A small tradesman bought it at an
necting links--in a_corporeal sense-between arrived at the printing of the New Testa. auction for a few shillings, and sold it to
Ancient and Modern Freemasonry. '
ment in Manchu. This letter had not come
He recognizes the Moors as passers-on
to light in Dr. Knapp's days, but Mr. Jenkins at once offered several thousand pounds
an antiquary for 1401. The antiquary was
of the torch which has never been totally gives it to us in full ; it covers six pages in from Berlin and Paris, but so far he is not
extinguished. They shed its light over Spain close print, and is as good reading as any disposed to sell. Count Molegari, the Italian
from 712 to about 1250, when its rays were six pages Borrow ever wrote-a romantic | Ambassador in St. Petersburg, suggested
dimmed by the persecution of Christian eccle- achievement literally described.
to the Russian authorities that this picture
siasticism, and those wandering literati were The tone of Mr. Jenkins's narrative is might be one lately stolen in Italy, but
driven out whose influence was so marked a pleasant and unobtrusive, but he does not received an answer in the negative.
feature in the mediæval history of Europe. often give the impression of new knowledge,
These had their signs of mutual recogni. except of the accidentals of his hero's life; N. Kaptereff, a Professor of the Ecclesi.
tion, their vows, and practical brotherhood. he brings little constructive penetration to astical Academy in Moscow, has just pub-
We are told by our historian on the bear upon his theme, with the result that his lished in two volumes 'The Patriarch Nikon
authority of Cumont that the exclusion of comments sometimes rather flimsy, and the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovitch. ' He
women from the Mithraic mysteries preceded and the want of a keen critical appreciation holds the opinion that the schism in the
their downfall. Has it ever occurred to him is also felt. His industry in the search for Russian Church which took place in 1667
how much Masonic labours would gain in new documentary evidence deserves our was the result of a collision between the civil
breadth and significance of meaning by the gratitude, and we congratulate him upon its and occlesiastical powers, and that it was
admission of women ?
success,
due to a great extent merely to a personal
a
-
more
non
.
are


## p. 280 (#218) ############################################

280
No. 4402, MARCH 9, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
9
as
conflict between the Tsar and the Patriarch ;
Creed as a key to the mystery and significance
he also considers that the Ecclesiastical
of life. Historical only in a small degree, it
LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
comprises a series of discussions upon some of
Council in 1667 which pronounced the “old.
the problems which each clause of the Creed
believers " beyond the pale made a great (Notice in these columns does not preclude longer raises.
mistake. For these liberal opinions Prof. review. ]
Owen (E. C. ), The Plain Man's Creed, 2/ net.
Kaptereff was even refused the well-merited
ENGLISH.
Wells Gardner
diploma of Doctor of History,
Mr. Owen's dissertation will be apprehended
Theology.
by the majority of “plain men,” but we doubt
Campbell (R. J. ), Christianity and the Social if it will make any great appeal to those of the
Order, New and Cheaper Edition.
class who are thinkers. Mr. Owen makes in
Chapman & Hall his first chapter a mistake which we should
The book constitutes an attempt to show the
have thought a serious theological writer
correspondence between the principles of Chris-
might have avoided — that of assuming that
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.
tianity and those of modern Socialism, and is agnosticism necessarily postulates immorality.
written from the point of view of one who
The rest is a kind of running commentary on
believes that there will be a return to the
the Gospels.
I am not acquainted with "a hundred
primitive Christian evangel, freed from its Robertson (William P. ), Immortality and Life
instances in which a French minister, limitations and illusions.
Eternal : a Study in the Christian Contribution
writing to Saint-Mars about a new prisoner, Carter (Jesse Benedict), The Religious Life of to a Universal Hope, 3/6 net. Skeffington
gives a wrong description of the man; Ancient Rome : a Study in the Development The sub-title of this book indicates the
for example, says that he is a valet, whereas
of Religious Consciousness from the Foundation position that the author seeks to make good,
of the City until the Death of Gregory the Great, viz. , that the belief in immortality is practically,
he is an ecclesiastic ; probably a Jesuit. The
8/6 net.
New York, Houghton & Miffin universal, and is “ normal to the human mind,
man introduced to Saint-Mars as a valet,
London, Constable but that Christianity made a special and unique
yet a person to be instantly run through The matter of this volume, slightly modified contribution to it. He takes a cursory view
the body if he begins to talk, is he treated and adapted to the exigencies of book-form, of the non-Christian beliefs in the ancient and
is derived from eight lectures delivered in
as a person of the lowest class ! We know
modern world-Egypt, Babylonia, Judea, and
Boston over a year ago. It treats succinctly, Persia in the ancient world, Buddhism and
how scanty was his wardrobe. Was it
and with much attractiveness of style, the Hinduism in the modern. He devotes two
usual thus to treat prisoners who were in phases and significance of religious manifesta- chaptors to psychical research-one to. Appari-
Orders! One instance I do remember, a tions and intuitions in early, republican, and tions,' and another to 'Automatic Writings. '
mad priest. But Monsignor Barnes must
imperial Rome, and subsequently gives a lucid Two interesting chapters are devoted to the
sketch
of the great struggle between the Pagan
remember that the man
conceptions of life eternal in the Gospels and
was not only
and Christian systems of thought, up to in Paul's writings. The author's view concern-
officially described to Saint-Mars as a valet, the “first streaks, the early dawn," of the ing the Resurrection, which makes belief in an
but was also employed as valet to Fouquet. Holy Roman Empire. The author intersperses empty grave one of the foundations of Chris-
Would a Jesuit be set to shave that unhappy
much fertile theory of his own amid the business tianity, will surprise and shock many. He is
financier ?
of chronicling.
on sounder ground when he emphasizes the
Church of England Official Year-Book, 1912, 31 teaching of Christianity that life is essentially
The valet behaved as a Catholic ; and
S. P. C. K. ethical and spiritual rather than physical,
it does not seem likely, I admit, that his
This year-book, now in its thirtieth year of and that thus physical death drops out
issue, records all the activities of the Church
a negligible factor. There is much in
master, a Huguenot conspirator, would for the past year, including the Colonial, Irish, the book that is well thought out and well
employ a Catholic valet. For the rest, and Scottish episcopates. The special appendix expressed.
except that the man took his fortunes with dealing with the report of the Royal Commission
S. P. C. K.