No More Learning

It
less valuable is the quality of it, for she strategy and military strategy as though
may
have been such to Continental
comes from a family which has main- they were distinct branches of knowledge Powers, but it was certainly known to
tained itself in spite of all the vicissitudes which had no common ground. The theory Clive and Pitt the best part of a hundred
of landlords, and still owns the old of war reveals that, embracing them both, years before Clausewitz wrote ;
and
Georgian house at Ross. Robert Martin, there is a larger strategy which regards the since to them, it was also, we may as-
a famous wit (often called Ballyhooley), ordinates their action and indicates the lines indeed, to whom it was of importance or
fleet and army as one weapon, which co-
sume, known to many others—to all,
lived and died in his mansion, and what on which each must move to realise the full interest, though they may not have given
his immediate relations can do is well power of both. "
known to the public in . The Recollections He is thus led on to illustrate the peculiar Mr. Corbett's service. By whatever name
it the technical names which are now at
of an Irish R. M. ' In the wild society
around them, and taking part in it strength of the two arms--sword, and it is called, however, the advantage is
all, this branch of the Martins survived buckler, perhaps, rather than “one very real, and has been practically known
and still survives. Any one who knows weapon "--acting in unison in what has by the English for more than 300 years.
Galway will appreciate a certain force which has been, in the main, to the Japan in her recent war against Russia
been happily called "amphibious war, Something of the same kind was held by
in the answer given to the question :
,
How does it come that co. Galway has advantage of Great Britain, and is for the possession of Korea. That the
the smallest percentage of lunatics in almost unknown to foreign nations. It material strength of Russia was enorm-
Ireland ?
“My dear sir, you must reflect is, primarily, that“ where the geographical | ously greater than that of Japan was
that in a population where everybody, is
conditions are favourable, we are able by manifest-
partially insane, it is not easy to pick of force our army will have to deal with”;
the use of our navy to restrict the amount
“so manifest that everywhere upon the
out the patients.
and secondly, that we have frequently enemy was regarded as the only admissible
Continent, where the overthrow of your
There were tragedies too, and the book been able
ends with one of the most affecting.
form of war, the action of the Japanese in
“ to establish ourselves in the territorial resorting to hostilities was regarded as
Martin of Ballynahinch, after a wild and object before our opponent can gather madness. Only in England, with her tra-
reckless life, died in 1847, at the very strength to prevent
that the dition and instinct for what an island Power
crisis of the great famine, leaving an only
daughter, heiress of 200,000 acres--the by endeavouring to turn us out. "
enemy. . . . must conform to our opening may achieve by the lower means,
Japan considered to have any reasonable
vast country beyond Lough Corrib. His
chance of success. '
debts were still "vaster, and his creditors, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy. By
swooping down upon his property, sold
The position was, in fact, somewhat
Julian S. Corbett. (Longmans & Co. )
everything and left the great heiress a
similar to that of the Allies in respect of
beggar, in the dolorous time when every
Naval Strategy compared and contrasted with
the Crimea in 1854–5, but more favourable,
the Principles and Practice of Military
one was full of his own troubles.
as there was no danger of a counterstroke,
She
Operations on Land. By Capt. A. T.
actually went as an emigrant among the
Mahan. (Sampson Low & Co. )
such as compelled England and France
starving poor to America, where she The Betrayal : being a Record of. Facts It was thus that the earlier stages of the
to keep a powerful fleet in the Baltic.
died forgotten and unknown.
concerning Naval Policy and Administra-
tion from the Year 1902 to the Present Time. war were entirely to the gain of Japan ;
By Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. (P. S. when she afterwards lost sight of the
King & Son. )
advantage of limiting the terrain, and, by
7
us. . . . SO
was
3)


## p. 154 (#130) ############################################

154
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4398, FEB. 10, 1912
a
once
a
66
GE
f
man.
I
te
0
IL
on
CG
one
al
advancing into Manchuria, measured her this view as unsound; as shown to be so
strength against that of Russia, the result historically. Such a ' fleet in being,' inferior, | The Life of the Right Rev. Ernest Roland
was comparative failure. The mistake, should not be accepted by an enemy as a Wilberforce, First Bishop of Newcastle-
which cost her dear, Mr. Corbett attributes sufficient deterrent under ordinary circum.
to her being under the influence of the the Japanese did not so accept it. '
stances. It has not been so in the past, and
on-Tyne, and afterwards Bishop of
Chichester. By J. B. Atlay. (Smith,
Continental school of purely military
Elder & Co. )
strategy, which has “ a natural difficulty of the successful transport of the Japanese THE Bishop of Texas
He continues to speak in some detail
in conceiving a war-plan that does not
racily
culminate in a Jena or a Sedan. ”
army, notwithstanding the threat of the described his episcopal brother at Chi-
Russian “ fleet in being” in Port Arthur. chester as“ pretty well fixed. ” The same
When he passes on to speak of the But he does not decide whether the authority wrote years afterwards that
command of the sea,” Mr. Corbett forms Russian fleet was in real, tactical being, or for himself the Bishop's “ picture with
the eminently sane conclusion that only in visible being ; whether it had not his wife and children grouped round
even permanent general command can
been made so sensible of its inferiority to
him had symbolized. . . . a hundred
never, in practice, be absolute. No degree anything required of it as to be without
No degree anything required of it as to be without times the ideal of an Episcopal home in
of naval superiority can ensure our com-
any tactical value. This must be, as it the old Mother Country. " Bishop Ernest
”
munications against sporadic attack from always has been, a matter for the judgment Wilberforce himself referred to “ the almost
detached cruisers or even raiding squadrons, of the Commander-in-Chief. Hundreds of awe-ful happiness of his married life. ”
if they be boldly led and are prepared to instances might be adduced to show that A bishop at forty-three, a man not of
risk destruction. Even after Hawke's deci- visible and tactical being are by no his famous father's mark, but generally
sive victory at Quiberon had completed the
overthrow of the enemy's sea forces, a
means the same ; and that success in or conspicuous and successful, he may seem
British transport was captured between restraint from any operation must depend to the average layman the type of the
Cork and Portsmouth, and an Indiaman in on the correct solution of the problem. “ well-fixed
As it happens, he
sight of the Lizard, while Wellington's
complaints in the Peninsula of the insecurity has most to say is the necessity of con-
But the point on which Capt. Mahan
was more: strong, as the athletic figure
of his communications are well known. ”
and steadfast gaze shown in the frontis-
centration, to which he is driven by the piece of this volume suggest ; effective ;
When these last had any real meaning, existence the noisy existence, it would by no means all things to all men, but
they were due to the activity of American seem-of a party in the United States in esteemed in the long run by those who
privateers, which had not then felt the favour of dividing their fleet equally disagreed with him.
A
“missionary
heavy hand of the British Navy; but between the Atlantic and Pacific, so as to bishop,” he saw one clue to life, and fol-
there is no doubt about the breaches of be ready to meet, on the one side, any lowed it. He had, says his biographer,
security after Hawke's great victory, European enemy,
,
the other any
a burning love for his Master and
including, as they did, not only commercial Asiatic. In the present state of geo- Saviour, a fierce desire to win souls to
and other losses such as those just graphy, with no possible way for the two Christ. ” He prevailed in life, and at
named, but the celebrated cruise of divisions to join, except the long sea route the end he died swiftly and painlessly.
Thurot in the winter of 1759-60, which, through the Straits of Magellan, such a
On many pages of his record
though eventually suppressed, was able proposal seems as suicidal as it is ignorant; hesitates to say whether such a
to do much mischief before the end came. but there are apparently men in the United has been more fortunate or more good. ”
Similarly, Mr. Corbett will not allow the States who entertainit-men, too, of The quotation is from Stevenson’s memoir
magical influence which has been claimed some education,
since Capt. Mahan
has of Fleeming Jenkin, of which Mr. Atlay's
for the “ Fleet in Being,” even if that some hopes of showing them the absurdity work occasionally reminds us. The happy,
phrase be understood to mean a fleet which of it. But though able to read, such men warrior in life, especially ecclesiastical
is able and ready to issue from its harbour must be supposed to be ignorant of history, life, is not usually a good subject.
and to carry on warlike operations. Of or Capt. Mahan would have appealed to Writing at the request of Mrs. Ernest
course a fleet in merely visible or material the instances in which the French Navy, Wilberforce, and himself bearing one
being, without physical or moral strength, trying to effect a junction by the much of the honoured names of the Anglican
is not “ in being in
any tactical sense. shorter line from Toulon to Brest Bench, Mr. Atlay might pardonably have
That a fleet in being may often have through the Straits of Gibraltar, has been disconcerted by the conditions of
singular power in preventing or restraining suffered the shipwreck of its plan-as at his task, and fallen upon dullness. In fact,
the operations of an enemy is freely ad- Barfleur and La Hogue,
as at Lagos and Dr. Wilberforce lives again for those who
mitted, and Mr. Corbett quotes from a Quiberon Bay, as at Trafalgar. Still, knew him, lives now for those who knew
letter of Kempenfelt's the opinion that Mr. Corbett has shown that there are many him not. The historian of. The Victorian
such a squadron, composed of ships of conditions and some localities in which a
Chancellors' has not done better than in
the highest mobility, hanging on to the fleet may be properly and advantageously the clear and graceful prose of this
enemy's large fleet,
broken up into detachments, while still
biography.
“ « will prevent their dividing into separate in-Chief. It is a point on which we think Samuel, and born while his father was
held under the control of the Commander-
Ernest Wilberforce was the third son of
squadrons for intercepting your trade or
spreading their ships for a more extensive Capt. Mahan has dogmatized from the still Rector of Brighstone, although already
view. . . . Such a squadron will be a check special conditions forced on his notice.
and restraint upon their motions, and pre-
named by Bishop Sumner for the Arch-
vent a good deal of the mischief they might Lord Charles Beresford—too thick to be child; he made no mark at Harrow; and
Even as we write, the small volume by deaconry of Surrey. He was an unruly
otherwise do. '. . . . But [adds Mr. Corbett]
its power of preventing a particular opera- called a pamphlet—has been put into our at Oxford was remembered as a bruiser,
tion, such as oversea invasion, is another hands. A measured criticism of the with the most perfect of arms. His degree
matter which will always depend upon the conduct and policy of the Admiralty was the now obsolete“ honorary fourth. ”
local conditions. If the fleet in being might be fairly thought to have a direct Not on scholarship, but on character, his
can be contained in such a way that it is bearing on major strategy ; but this pub-
impossible for it to reach the invading, line lication seems to consist of condemnation he married at twenty-three and lost his
success was founded. Bereavement (for
of passage, it will be no bar to invasion. ”
rather than criticism, assertion rather than wife a few years later), the influence of
But of course, if "contained,” it is no argument, invective rather than reason. Dr. Woodford, later Bishop of Ely, and
longer in tactical" being. ” Even stronger Its aims, so far as we understand them, are
some years in a small Oxfordshire parish,
on this point, and possibly more practical, somewhat personal and political, and, in where he developed his specific gift of
is Capt. Mahan, who says :
either case, lie outside the field which we forcible, straight talk, conjoined to form
“The extreme school has gone so far as
try to cultivate.
him. His other great faculty of organiza-
to argue that [a Fleet in Being) will stop an
tion was developed at Seaforth, Liverpool,
expedition, or should do so if the enemy, bel
to which Gladstone (in his private capacity)
wise, I have for years contended against
presented him in 1873. He was naturally
pa
er
IN
0
>
66
1
1
>
)


## p. 155 (#131) ############################################

No. 4398, FEB. 10, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
155
as
diffident, and probably opposition was affirming that he re-created the Church local legislation, drawn up for the guidance
of the ruling authority, soon after its power
needed to bring the best out of him. At of England in Northumberland.
was fully established. Besides this, 'The Oak
Seaforth, as Gladstone warned him, not
He paid for that privilege with over. Book' contains a large number of miscel-
poverty, but inertness and want of educa- strain, and Chichester, whither he was sent laneous documents concerning Southampton,
tion among people who were well off, were
in 1896, did not materially mend things. its disputes with neighbouring lords, churches
the difficulties. He roused the people by A man who-among many other duties and corporations, its privileges obtained
imposing a decent standard of worship, answers sixty-one letters a day, should from the Crown, and a copy of the well-
daily
services
, regular celebration of Holy economize his physical strength, and known Customs of Oléron, presented in a
Communion, and by putting new life into plainly Wilberforce overtaxed his muscular lished in The Black Book of the Admiralty.
earlier and
the Church schools.
system. Then there were the Ritual. All these documents Prof. Studer has tran-
There was endless opposition, but he ists of Brighton, Worthing, and the rest scribed and edited with elaborate care. If
faced and overthrew it. His reputation who demanded all his patience and charity. he has taken sometimes almost unnecessary
a very great parish priest began Briefly, the Bishop, while no friend to pains to set forth in type the nature of the
at Seaforth, and he went thence to win the performance of extremists, was for abbreviations of the manuscript, the labour
chester in 1878, amid general expressions of letting good men go on doing good works involved in this represents a praiseworthy
regret, drawn by Bishop Harold Browne's so long as they did not make themselves
ideal of scholarship. He has also supplied
a translation of a text which is sometimes
offer of a large missionary field in the
“impossible. ”
excessively difficult to make sense of, and
south-west. A resident canonry was to be
Mr. Atlay's absorbing chapters on if his methods of cutting the knot are
combined with the Wardenship of Wilber-
force House, and the work assigned to quench a layman's envy of episcopal coherent and intelligible version of the
Wilberforce at Chichester are of a kind
now and then rather heroic, he has at
least succeeded in making a much more
to the short-lived Wilberforce Mission to
be transferred from South London. Mr. glory, and prepare the reader for the whole than has hitherto been given of the
be transferred from South London. Mr. last scene of all at Bembridge in Septem- various parts which different scholars have
Atlay has an interesting passage on the ber, 1907. He quotes as testimony to here and there striven to turn into English,
Mission, and the reason why it fell
through. But, when Wilberforce desired of a friend who travelled with the Bishop German at Southampton, modestly disclaims
Wilberforce's personal charm the verdict Mr. Studer, who is professor of French and
to resign his canonry, the special oppor- to the Cape in April, 1904, and who tells
any special historical qualifications, and in-
tunity designed for him being no longer
forms us that he approached his task at the
open, the Bishop wisely insisted on its “how charming a companion he made him outset from a purely philological point of
retention.
self to all on board, and how completely he view. Finding, however, that the subject
The experience acquired at Aldershot, revolutionized the notions of those who had to be dealt with historically also, he was
and more notably at Portsmouth, was of associated the English Episcopate exclusively bold enough to equip himself with the know-
with lawn-sleeves and gaiters. ”
ledge that was necessary for this task.
great service to the first Bishop of New-
Occasionally an odd statement shows that
castle. The offer of that new See came More sophisticated people than the mixed he still has weak points, but in most substan-
in 1882. Wilberforce had lately returned company of a Cape liner may profitably tial matters he has done his subject full
from a successful missionary visit to revise here their notions about the episco- justice.
Quebec, made at the request of the pate. Laborious days, strain, anxiety, and Perhaps the most important part of
Canadian bishops and clergy. His name courage are among the impressions of his work is, however, the Supplement which
was already linked with the cause of episcopal palaces which one receives from is substantially the third volume, and in-
temperance, and he and his young wife-Bishop Wilberforce's biographer.
cludes, with ample glossary and indexes, a
his felicitous second marriage with Miss
highly interesting study of the French dialect
Emily Connor had taken place in 1874
in which the greater part of 'The Oak Book :
is written. Prof. Studer rightly believes
took the pledge, in the presence of his
that the composition of a work like 'The
parishioners, at the first meeting of the
LOCAL HISTORY.
Oak Book' in French is proof that in the
Church of England Temperance Society in
first half of the fourteenth century French
Seaforth. He had seen what harm drink
The Oak Book of Southampton, of c. A. D.
1300.
was a familiar vernacular to the trading
Transcribed and edited from the classes in Southampton. As this speech was
worked
among the
poor in Liverpool, and
Unique MS. in the Audit House, with Trans-
he warmed to temperançe advocacy as if lation, Introduction, Notes, &c. , by P.
the natural language of an active community,
it was a boxing match.
he thinks it worthy of serious study, and
Studer. 2 vols. With Supplement. (South-
To the North he returned, but with ampton Record Society). - The Hartley
accordingly gives a very careful and elabo-
rate account of the phonology and inflexional
genuine misgivings.
“ Badly furnished. | University
University College at Southampton
system of the French spoken in Southampton
ill-endowed, under-manned, the Church in leges of England, but its staff and students however, seem to be aware that Maitland had
one of the youngest among the newer col-
in the fourteenth century.
He does not,
Northumberland," says the biographer well take legitimate pride in the bold- already written a similar study of the French
truly, was a bare and inchoate eccle- ness which inspired them to start the South-
of the ‘Year-Books' of the same period.
siastical territory rather than a diocese. ” ampton Record Society, and the skill with Happily they largely cover different ground,
“ The best appointment of Gladstone's which they have published and edited nearly for Maitland did not concern himself with
life," as the Bishop of St. Albans told the
a dozen volumes of important local records. phonology, while Mr. Studer, who is a pro-
Duke of Argyll, "meant trouble enough They are indeed, as the preface of these fessed philologist, devotes the longest section
volumes says, an “instance of the many of his study to an examination of the sounds
for the preferred. To many Churchmen sided and stimulating influence of the Uni- and spelling of Anglo-French speech. So
he seemed a Puseyite, and Joseph Cowen's versity College in our midst. ” Prof.
Hearn- little has been written with authority on
powerful influence was opposed to the shaw, the source of this inspiration, has now the grammatical peculiarities of the French
bishopric and the Bishop. Self-effacement moved far from Southampton, but he con-
used in England in the later Middle Ages that
and reticence were required of Churchmen tinues as general editor of the series, which is
a fresh contribution to our knowledge of it
by militant Dissenters, and these were enlarged by the publication for the first should receive a general welcome.
not Wilberforce's qualities as an eccle- time of the noteworthy fourteenth-century
collection called 'The Oak Book,' the printing
siastic. Mr. Atlay decorously admits that of which has long been demanded by all The 350 pages of The Story of Coventry,
the Bishop was sometimes betrayed into interested in municipal antiquities. The by Mary Dormer Harris (Dent), brightened
rashness of speech. ” It answered its very miscellaneous contents of The Oak by Mr. Chandler's illustrations, form &
purpose, for he championed the claims Book' are duly explained by the editor, pleasantly written and attractive guide to
of the Church sucoessfully in many a
Prof. Studer.
the history and topography of the ancient
controversy.
The newspapers at first The special peculiarity of Southampton city. The last chapter, entitled 'Old Coven-
abused him, but the men of the North among English" municipalities is due to try at the Present Day, will be helpful to
liked and respected his methods, and the fact that the merchant guild absorbed visitors whose time is limited.
The sections that deal with the beginnings
he ended thirteen years at Newcastle in itself the inchoate municipal organiz-
with Cowen and Dr. Spence Watson as
ation, and became the governing body of municipal government, the corporation
of the town. The greater part of “The and the guilds, and especially with the
his allies in all good work. A cloud Oak Book' consists of the guild ordinances, mayor, bailiffs, and community, show that
of witnesses, clerical and lay, unite in embodying many fragments of much earlier the author has closely studied the intricacies
is
may
irst
6
CUTII


## p. 156 (#132) ############################################

156
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4398, FEB. 10, 1912
-
was
а
PE
of mediæval town life and administration ; and the subject seems to have been a Henry landed with his forces in the South-
and in no other English town is there such lad of almost supernatural piety, and West of England in 1153, when the earls of
a wealth of available information. The learning. Burman's visit to Cambridge that district rose in his cause ; the evidence
whole question of local government was is the merest fragment; but it is most of the coinage closely corroborates that of
unusually complicated at Coventry by the interesting, and his allusion to University the chronicles and charters. Henry's own
rule of two rival forces, and this made the ceremonies of creating. Doctors by giving money was minted at Wareham, Sherborne,
struggle for municipal freedom all the them a cap, book, and ring is illustrated Malmesbury, and possibly Taunton, as well
harder. Coventry was divided into two by Prof. Mayor by extracts from Bentley as at Wiveliscombe ; · whilst other mints
lordships : one part was the property of which well repay perusal. At a feast of the West, including Dunster, struck
the Earls of Chester, and was termed the at Trinity they dined off square wooden the coinage of the several earls who sup-
Earl's-half ; whilst the other part pertained platters. Von Uffenbach visited all the ported him in his action against Stephen.
to the great Benedictine foundation, and libraries, and grumbled at everything-
was known as the Prior's-half. The diffi- somewhat unreasonably it would appear.
culties of tenure, custom, and privilege But the chief interest lies in Mayor's notes,
A History of the Manor and Township of
within the walls were considerable, and which reveal his erudition and remarkable Allerton in the County of Lancaster. By
frequently led to disputes between the powers of illustration. The Professor was
Ronald Stewart - Brown. (Liverpool, E.
Earl's men and the Prior's tenants.
an omnivorous man of learning a true
Howell. )-For centuries Allerton
To those who have made a study of successor of the giants of the seventeenth purely agricultural township, and during
the last hundred years it has been the home
Coventry, or have known it at first hand for century–who spent his life amid books,
of Liverpool's most
and whose diversions were more arduous
eminent citizens ;
some years, there are certain disappoint-
Such
than the labours of many scholars.
ments in this book, notwithstanding the
now its glory is rapidly fading before the
amount of trustworthy information gathered men as these have, however, seldom given onslaught of villadom and electric tramways.
within its covers.
The absorption of Allerton into the ever-
The town walls, for
the result of their toils in ordered form to
instance, were well worth more than the
the world.
spreading City of Liverpool is only a question
of a few years, so it is especially fitting that
brief allusions made to them, for in this
a chronicler should arise before its indi-
respect Coventry was of primary importance. Wifela's Combe: a History of the Parish viduality is finally lost.
The walls, as constructed in the middle of
of Wiveliscombe. By F. Hancock. (Taunton,
the fourteenth century, enclosed an area
Mr. Stewart-Brown deals in an interesting
Barnicott & Pearce. )—Prebendary Hancock
that was without a rival in the Midlands. is well known in the West of England as the ficing accuracy, to picturesqueness, and he
way with the manorial history without sacri-
Their circuit was about three miles; they writer of two good books dealing with the knows where to turn for his facts and how
were nine feet thick, of considerable height, histories of the adjacent towns of Minehead
provided with thirty-two towers, and pierced and Dunster.
to use those facts when they have been
He has now produced a found The story of the manor during the
by twelve gates. Again, the information as
volume on the history of the small Somer- last 150 years reads more like a romance
to the two friaries and the four hospitals
setshire town and parish of Wiveliscombe.
of the town is too scanty.
than sober history, and the great “ Hardman
The name is odd, and more than one
case” inevitably suggests Jarndyce v.
attempt has been made to supply its deriva- Jarndyce. Mr. Stewart-Brown gives also
The Royal Charters of the City of Lincoln : tion. Collinson, the county historian, men-
a very readable account of many of the
Henry II. to William III. , transcribed and tions two explanations which were current present-day landowners, though his frank-
translated, with an Introduction, by Walter
in his day, but both of them are obviously
ness will perhaps be more entertaining to
de Gray Birch (Cambridge University Press),
impossible. The one derived the name from those readers who are not directly con-
is a well-printed, handsome, and useful the prevalence there in early times of the cerned; it is a question how far some of
book, and the more to be welcomed as it grub called the weevil, whilst the other sup- the well-known families in the neighbour-
seems to be one result of recent efforts on posed that it had its origin in the presence hood of Liverpool will appreciate being told
the part of the Corporation of Lincoln to of weasels in the district. Mr. Hancock's that their ancestor of a little more than a
set in order their fine collection of records theory, however, is most probably correct, hundred years ago was an illiterate old man
and make them accessible to scholars. To namely, that it means the Combe which was
in poor circumstances, who could not sign
have had the series printed, arranged, and the possession of one Wifela, or Wyvel. his own name.
translated is a great thing. It is a pity,
The local pronunciation has long ago been
To the general reader the most attractive
however, that the editing shows some lack
simplified as Wilscombe.
section will be that dealing with the group
of order and method, and is not always The story of the parish goes back to early of prehistoric stones known as the Calder-
critical enough. The Introduction and Glos- days, for prehistoric folk established a great stones, a subject handled in a careful and
sary leave something to be desired, and the earthwork at Castle, a fortress which was discriminating way. The gillustrations are
transctiption of the texts has in different held in succession by Romans, Saxons, and well chosen, and, with the exception of two
parts of the book been carried out on some- Danes. Edward the Confessor bestowed early plans, well reproduced ; and the Index
what varying principles. There is a fair the manor on the bishopric of Wells, and is good.
translation, but a little more explanation here for centuries bishops occasionally
of difficulties would have been an improve- resided. The prebendaries of Wells also
London North of the Thames (A. & C.
ment. The facsimiles are attractive, though held a large estate about the town, exer-
some are on too small a scale for ordinary cising manorial rights and using an official volume, as the previous one describing the
Black) should have been styled the second
eyes.
seal; but the ecclesiastical affairs of the City is equally “ London North of the
parish were left almost entirely, to the Thames. " It is stated on the title-page to
Cambridge under Queen Anne, illustrated
care of the vicars. The story of the fabric be by Sir Walter Besant, but in the Preface
by Memoir of Ambrose Bonwicke and Diaries
of the church is sad ; it is now a tasteless
we are informed that he edited it and
of Francis Burman and Zacharias Conrad
building, erected in 1829, with a debased "wrote a good deal of it,” the remainder
von Uffenbach, and edited with notes by
semi-Italian interior.
being by Miss G. E. Mitton. The editing,
J. E. B. Mayor (Cambridge, Deighton, Bell Mr. Hancock has dealt carefully, and for however arranged, cannot be called satis.
& Co. ), consists partly of a reprint and partly the most part in an interesting fashion, factory. The plan is said to be a peram-
of the unpublished papers of the late Prof.
with the manor, the prebend, the vicarage, bulation of London formed from the con-
Mayor. The latter have been secured by the charities, and the industries ; he also tributions of those whom Besant called
the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, and draws successfully on the registers, which "perambulators,” with the design that their
the result is the delightful little volume begin in 1558, and the churchwardens' ac- accounts should all be welded into the
before us. The Provost of King's, in his counts, which date from 1681. The book Great Survey. "
preface, calls Mayor's notes “a mine of concludes with a few traditions and ghost If the contributors perambulated London
information about scholars at Cambridge- stories. Its 300 pages bear witness to Mr. on the plan described in this volume, we feel
nay, of Europe-two hundred years ago,' Hancock's industry as a gleaner from public certain that few will follow them in their
and those who dig in the book before us and local records, but there are several other route. Its impracticability may be seen
will find treasure enough. The three narra- sources unexplored from which further in- by a reference to the table of contents.
tives, which were intended to form part of formation might have been gained. In one The “perambulator” sets out by visiting
a much larger work, are the life of Ambrose place the information given is insufficient and what, by a slight stretch of language, may
Bonwicke by his father, and accounts of the to some extent incorrect. We are told that still be called the suburbs, viz. , Hammer-
visits to Cambridge of Francis Burman, a Wiveliscombe possessed a mint at which smith, Fulham, Chelsea, Kensington, and
Dutch minister and professor of theology, coins were struck in the reign of Stephen, Paddington; he then writes a chapter on
and of Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, the probably by some great baron. " The ‘May Fair and Belgravia,' in which occurs
indefatigable book - collector, a native of extant coins of this mint are those of the first part of the description of Piccadilly;
Frankfort. The life of Ambrose Bonwicke Duke Henry, afterwards Henry II. This then one on Westminster, followed by
is called 'A Pattern for Young Students,'' is a matter of historic moment. Duke the curious division - The Strand District
a Sud
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No. 4398, FEB. 10, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
157
6
66
survey
or
The latter is divided into three parts:- by its realism alone is it essentially unfruitful--parasitic, in the end, on the life
Part I. , “West and North of Charing Cross,' different. Precisely on this point we con- and work of others.
begins with Hyde Park Corner, because sider the criticism of Brunetière inadequate. In his main thesis Prof. Eucken urges
there is a small outlying portion of St. Classicism, by its adherence to rules,
us to accept the reality of the spiritual-
Martin's parish there. Part II. , ' Piccadilly its limitations of models, its definition of as of an independent sphere of being into
and St. James's Square, contains a literary genres,” and its exclusion of the
which man has grown beyond Nature. By
continuation of what is said of Piccadilly particular, failed to represent nature entire. a life centred there the antithesis of subject
in the chapter on May Fair. Part III. is Ît portrayed a nature corrected according and object is transcended. The illustration
devoted to the Strand proper. After the
to reason.
It is, therefore, in dealing with nearest to us of such a transcending is found
Strand district we pass on to Marylebone, the particular to the exclusion of all method in work “as a spiritual occurrence, for
Hampstead, St. Pancras, Holborn, Blooms- that the Romantic School, freed from its “ in work the object loses its alien nature,
bury, Clerkenwell, and then start off to extravagances and faults, most clearly de- and is taken up into our own life. ” Since
St. Luke's, Islington, Hackney, Stoke parts from tradition.
so he argues-man is not a spiritual being,
Newington, Shoreditch, and East London. We note a valuable chapter on language not a personality, from the beginning, but
A more suitable arrangement might have and metre, and an extremely interesting only possesses the power to become one,
been attained by gathering the various analysis of George Sand. In his treatment it is by work that, in the first instance, he
places under the now recognized headings of of the later developments of the nineteenth develops into spirituality. For this de.
the borough councils, but this opportunity century M. Pellissier is, we think, par- velopment neither a continuance of existence
has been lost. There certainly is no street- ticularly illuminating. Naturalist theorists, in the “ merely human,” nor mere reflection
to-street survey, as one is led to expect by Zola in particular, somewhat disdainfully and reasoning, can prove effective : for by
the Preface. The use of the term
dismissed the Romantics as merely clearing neither does man relate himself to and appro-
is dangerous, as it challenges comparison the ground for its successors, and regarded priate the independent spiritual life which
with Stow's great work.
their period as chaotic and necessary.
is the basis of his own. This appropriation,
In the Appendix are two lists: (1) of
this development, is the common inward
distinguished people and the streets they M. Victor Giraud, who considers the task which deepens the life of peoples as of
lived in, (2) streets and distinguished in subject of his volume, Nouvelles Études sur individuals, dignifies failure, gives signifi-
habitants. Such lists would be of great Chateaubriand (Hachette), the most powerful cance to what otherwise is meaningless, and
utility if they were carefully verified and literary influence of the nineteenth century imparts the firmness and tranquillity which
fairly complete, but these hardly fulfil these in out of France, may be said to come from confidence in ultimate victory,
conditions, and in some instances names represent the bulk of French academic The means to this conduct, activity, and
are merely given under districts such as opinion, and particularly that of the Revue one section of the book deals with. Activism :
Hammersmith and Hampstead.
des Deux Mondes, as opposed to those who a Profession of Faith. '
think, with M. Jules Lemaître and M. Paul This--as his readers would expect—is
Bourget, that Chateaubriand will live only fundamentally religious. Indeed, in describ-
in his Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe. ' A course ing how religion--which, for his present
of lectures by M. Lemaître, which were purpose, he practically identifies with Chris.
expected to present his decapitated head tianity-has, in his opinion, failed to satisfy
FRENCH BOOKS
surrounded by garlands of flowers, have man, he dwells chiefly on the disturbing
AND GERMAN TRANSLATIONS. stimulated the cult of Chateaubriand. Re- effect of intellectualism and other reactionary
newed interest in his works has already been tendencies, and finds little or no fault with
Le Réalisme du Romantisme By Georges signalized by the advent of M. de Cassagne's the Christian theory itself. Yet, if funda-
Pellissier. (Hachette & Cie. That a book La Vie Politique de Chateaubriand. ' Like mentally religious, "his view of life is not
)-
by M. Pellissier should fail to be interesting it, the Correspondance,' shortly to be completely so. Exactly all that he under-
and illuminating is difficult to imagine. This published by M. Thomas, will probably stands by the spiritual he leaves the reader
volume, particularly important to students subvert accepted ideas and surprise many, to discover for himself ; and, if on one page
of the Romantic movement, should, by for the study of Chateaubriand has re- we seem near to the acknowledgment of a
reason of its clarity and simplicity, its mained till now where the facile, but scarcely Self behind all phenomena, on another the
ordered presentation, and its charm of unbiased pen of Sainte-Beuve left it. Independent Spiritual Life which our en-
style, appeal to a large public. Few
M. Giraud foresees that Chateau-deavours are to appropriate looks impersonal.
literary contests have equalled in intensity briand will once more become the fashion, The author's attitude towards Chris-
and duration that which heralded the Ro- and to this new recognition contributes tianity is known to be highly sympathetic
mantic movement in France. Victor Hugo, five essays: (1) on the origin of 'Le Génie if a little patronizing. Yet, thoroughly as he
in the famous preface to ‘Cromwell,' claimed du Christianisme’; (2) on little-known must understand Christian history and
Romanticism as liberalism in literature ; episodes in the youth of Chateaubriand ; doctrine, we come upon passages which seem
while in the second half of the nineteenth (3) on the remains of the MS. of the to imply some rather deep-going misappre-
century realists and naturalists, fighting in • Martyrs’; (4) on two sets of unpublished hensions. Thus, to take one example, he
the name of reality and nature, saw in the letters; and (5) on the influence of Chateau- reproaches Christianity with the annulling
movement only a transitory disease or an briand throughout the nineteenth century. of all differences, even of spiritual capacity;
extravagant fantasy. M. Pellissier's book
and the displacement of justice through
is welcome, not only for itself, but also because Life's Basis and Life's Ideal. By Rudolf pity. ” The New Testament surely furnishes
modern criticism to have been Eucken. (A. & C. Black. )-This is a trans- plenty of disproof to the second charge ;
inspired unduly by the spirit of reaction. lation, by Mr. Alban Widgery, of Prof. and, as an illustration of later Christian
M. Faguet finds in Romanticism a horror Eucken's book 'Die Grundlinien einer neuen tradition with regard to the first, we would
of reality,” while Brunetière is alternately Lebensanschauung,' the latest and best suggest to Prof. Eucken a re-reading of
luminous and grotesque.
Essentially sub- statement of his philosophy--though, as the third canto of the ‘Paradiso. Again,
jective, literature of the Romantic period Mr. Widgery truly remarks in his Introduc. his account of Christianity as, at the outset,
has been accused of an inability to picture tory Note, Prof. Eucken is rather an ethical an anodyne, or consolation, to a world grown
the truth, and in order better to prove the teacher than a philosopher in the strict mortally weary, and his call to her to throw
thesis criticism has been directed mainly technical sense of that term. We have, off this character, which still lingers, and
against lyric expression. Subjectivity, as first, a statement and criticism of individual become joyful and energetic, is-merely
M. Pellissier ably points out, though the systems of life; whereof the author recog- from the historical point of view—so one-
capital feature of Romanticism, is neverthe- nizes five : Religion and Immanent Idealism sided a presentment of the facts as to be
less but one of many qualities. Alfred de on the one hand, Naturalism, Socialism, and almost untrue.
Vigny, who the greatest idealist Individualism the other. Each has We would not, however, end on any
among the Romanticists, affirms that art much to say for itself ; each, in his opinion, carping note. If this work fails to give us
should be “ semblable à la vie. " Indeed, has failed, in the long run, to satisfy man any ultimate rationale of life and the world
it is the element of realism, which, as M. -Idealism, because of its aristocratic trend ; in which thought can find repose, it is
Pellissier shows, was the leaven' which Naturalism, because it fails to appropriate admirable both negatively, in its exposure
transformed the romantic conception of art the experiences and results of man's his. of the unsatisfactoriness of the “ merely
by virtue of a principle essentially naturalist, torical development; Socialism, because it human,” and positively, in its vindication
and infused new vigour into all forms of ignores the spiritual life of the individual, of the spiritual, and in a certain power and
artistic expression, including lyricism. This and, moreover, ignores, or arbitrarily wrests persuasiveness tending to incite the inquirer
is the heart of M. Pellissier's book, and the into accordance with its own theory, the at least to make trial of the spiritual life.